A/N: Don't own these characters so don't sue me!
Many thanks to Lady Isis, hope your feeling better soon! Also to DaisyJane for the help and inspiration.
Shout outs to: Hepburn, KittyBatman, Icha, Elpiza, HawkAngel (here is the chapter you have been waiting for ;)),StormyNightengale and OmniPharoah (One story at a time ;)). If I missed anyone sorry. :(
Challenge to you other writers. If you have a story or a idea for the character I sort of created (not really created, just change Dark Claw's history.) write about it, I don't own it. I would truly love to see more Bruce/Logan stories, Amalgam comics teased us all with there short run.
Another A/N: I've sort of based the X-Men on the 90's cartoon series. I'm not a comic book fan, more of a Cartoon fan of all the characters from Marvel and DC.
Enough lets get to the story, enjoy all!
Dark Claw
Chapter 14: Meeting the X-Men.
Bruce and Diana walked through the ring and appeared instantly in the middle of a forest. It wasn't a tropical forest like the Amazon Rainforest - the evergreens and pine trees told them both it was in a northern location. The dark night was illuminated by a full moon. Diana looked around; all she saw was trees. Bruce pulled out a batarang and pressed a button on it, he then threw it into a nearby tree. The tiny red light blinking; the homing device would be used to find this location later.
"Where are we?" Diana asked him.
"We should be in New York state. Our current location is a few hundred miles north of New York City. Fly around the tree-line and see if you can spot a town," Batman told her.
Diana lifted up into the air and disappeared into the shroud of branches and leaves.
"I see a small town east of our location, Batman," Diana told him over his communicator.
Batman pulled out his PDA and started to scan for radio, television and wireless internet frequencies. He smiled when he was able to get each of them, though the signals were weak from his current location.
Diana touched down next to him as Bruce tried to locate a search engine on the limited internet he was getting. He sighed when he found one.
"Guess Google is going multi-dimensional," he said with a dry wit. He turned and saw a very upset princess next to him. Her fists clenched tightly as she rested them on her hips.
"What?" Bruce asked her.
Diana gave him the you-better-remember-why-I'm-mad-at-you-jackass look.
Bruce rolled his eyes under his cowl, causing Diana's lip to turn into a sneer. Can she see through the lens? he asked himself as he swallowed. He then heard a foot tapping and he stared down at her feet, one was tapping hard against the ground.
"I'm sorry, Diana, for insinuating you can't infiltrate a stronghold. But your bright costume..."
He saw the glare in her eyes intensify, and tried to rectify his mistake. Oops, did I just call the Amazon Champion's armor a costume? He tried to backpedal out of this one, but Diana's eyes softened a bit before he could.
"The Amazon Champion's armor is for battle, not sneaking around. I understand," Diana finally said.
Bruce mentally sighed in relief until Diana gripped him by his suit and pulled him very close to her. Her voice was low and very threatening. "But if you ever call it a costume again..." Diana trailed off, letting her evil smile say the rest. It almost reminded him of the Joker's smile.
"Perfectly understood," Bruce managed to squeak out.
"Good. So why are we here?"
Diana released him and raised her hands high in the air. Bruce, remembering why they transported here, returned to to his PDA and found the address he was searching for had returned its results. 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center was the location of Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. From the knowledge he shared with Logan, he knew that was the location Wolverine was to be found at.
"We are here to get Logan's help; I remember him dealing with similar robots when I got glimpses of his mind during the link," Bruce told Diana.
"Which way?" she asked him. Bruce's PDA finally found the right frequency to this world's GPS satellites and he smiled.
"We are West of its location. Twenty five minutes that way," he said, pointing. Diana wrapped her arms around his torso and the two lifted off.
"Are you not glad I came now?" Diana said sweetly into his ear.
Diana felt him shiver after she spoke close to his ear. She smiled at the thought of causing Batman to shiver. The two remained quiet as they flew above the tree tops at a manageable speed. The two spotted a highway in the distance. Once they past it they saw the extensive grounds of Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.
Suddenly a blast of laser fire shot past them, it was a warning shot. Diana dove to the ground and landed, released Bruce as they touched down. The two suddenly found themselves surrounded by a group of people. A man with a red visor stepped forward.
"You are trespassing on private property," he told them.
But before Bruce or Diana could explain why they were here, a deeper and rougher voice spoke up. "Why are you here Bruce ? ...or would you prefer Batman?" Logan said as he stepped out from behind a tree.
Bruce relaxed his defensive posture as Logan came into view. Diana continued to stay on the defensive.
"Batman," Bruce stoically answered Logan. Logan gave him a nod. The man with the red visor spoke up.
"You know them?" he asked Logan.
Logan turned his attention from Bruce to Diana. "Him, yes. Her only from his dreams, Scott," Logan said with a smile as he returned his gaze to Bruce.
Bruce's jaw tightened up from Logan spilling his inter most private thoughts. Diana's face turned from ready for action to shock at Logan's admission. She turned slightly towards her companion. She saw the tell tale sighs of his embarrassment. His cheeks held a very slight pinkish hue to them and his jaw was extremely taught.
"Can she be trusted?" Scott asked Logan.
"She can, but if she wanted to harm us, there isn't much we could do to slow her down. Diana could possibly take the Hulk and Thor on at the same time. And win," Logan told Scott, matter of fact.
The group that had surrounded them stiffened up at this information as they stared in awe at the tall beautiful woman.
Bruce, getting tired of wasting time, spoke up. "Have you ever heard of Sentinels?" Bruce asked Logan.
Logan's eyes widened. "Yeah! They are a menace," he growled.
"Well they are in our universe. I managed to retrieve the person's name from the device that brought us over. His name is Bolivar Trask, he brought over the Sentinel technology from your universe and has merged it with some of our technology," Bruce told him.
"Batman, I know how you think. Let's have Xavier see if your telling the truth before we continue this talk," Logan said as he motioned for Bruce and Diana to come with them.
Diana looked at Bruce and he nodded his head for them to follow Logan. He was totally correct; Bruce would never have believed this story without some kind of solid proof to back it up.
As they walked towards the mansion a tall dark haired man with glowing purple eyes kept pace next to Diana. "All the dames as beautiful as you are, back home?" he flirted in a thick cajun accent.
Diana cocked her head as she stared at the man. Logan turned his head without stopping his pace. "Marie will not be to happy when I tell her you're flirting again, Remy!" Logan's deep voice threatened Remy.
Gambit smiled but ignored Logan's warning. "Don't fret, miel, Remy LeBeau will treat you right," he said with a wink. Diana's mouth dropped open at his outrageously flirty banter; he was worse than Flash.
Diana heard Bruce's teeth grinding. "I'm already spoken for," she told him, before Bruce did something stupid.
Remy's eyes lit up with excitement of a challenge. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him," he said with a predatory smile on his lips.
Diana smiled back at him then pointed with her thumb at the man standing next to her.
"Don't know about that, you should ask him," Diana said as Remy drew his attention from Diana to Batman.
Batman was giving Gambit his most threatening Batglare ever - the one that made the Joker wet his pants - Gambit swallowed noisily as he looked at the man next to her.
Gambit turned away from the glare and mumbled something about, "Never mind."
Diana turned and winked at Bruce. Is she enjoying my jealousy? Bruce asked himself.
It took them almost ten minutes to enter the large mansion and to be brought to Charles Xavier.
Charles was behind a large desk as Logan, Scott and Remy showed Bruce and Diana in. Charles had looked at both and smiled after confirming there stories in a matter of moments. Bruce allowed this intrusion into his mind when he felt the presence because he wanted this mission over with as quick as possible.
"They are who they say they are, and it's is very unsettling the news they bring," Charles said with a worried look to his eyes. "So you want us to come over and help?" he asked Bruce.
Batman nodded his head. "Yes, because I've seen from Logan's memories that you have dealt with them before, and succeeded."
"Let's go and assemble a group to help you then," Charles said as he wheeled himself out from behind the desk. Diana watched him and thought he was a very remarkable person. Charles gave Diana a smile in gratitude to her kind thoughts.
Scott followed right behind Charles as Remy and Logan took up the rear. Bruce and Diana were basically forced in the middle. They entered a large elevator and descended down into the bowels of the mansion. The group entered a metal-walled hallway and proceeded down it. The group stopped at round doorway with an large X on it. The door split open four ways and allowed them entrance to the large room. In the middle was a large table with many chairs around it.
Charles wheeled over to the front of it as the rest took a seat. Bruce sat next to Diana, taking in everything. He estimated they were between twenty to fifty feet below the mansion. The underground complex was built like a bomb shelter. He knew Diana could smash their way out if they had to.
Four people entered the room and took seats also. Once everyone was seated Logan spoke up and pointed.
"This is Anna Marie, she likes to be called Rogue." The brown haired woman with white streaks smiled and nodded her head at Bruce and Diana.
Logan continued the introduction. "The blue-faced demon is Kurt Wagner, we call him Nightcrawler."
Kurt looked on in horror at Logan calling him a demon. "I am no such thing," he said quietly in a heavy German accent as he made the symbol of the cross over his chest with his hand.
Logan chuckled. Scott and Charles gave Logan a disappointed look.
"He isn't," Logan coughed out in embarrassment.
"The beautiful lady with the white hair is Ororo Munroe, her alias is Storm," Logan said.
Diana and Storm shared a smile as Logan continued.
"The fiery redhead is Jean Grey," Logan said with a bit of passion in his voice. Bruce placed her face with the memories he shared with Logan. Bruce smirked as he spoke out.
"Yes, the memories of her were very...vivid," Bruce said in his deep baritone voice. Logan stiffened up and gave Bruce a harsh stare. Bruce simply smiled back at Logan as he sort of paid him back for what he said about Bruce's dreams concerning a certain Amazon Princess.
Logan tried his best to ignore Bruce as he continued.
"Everyone except Charles will be coming back with you both," Logan said as he retook his seat. Bruce spoke up.
"Where is Hank McCoy? I have some information for him. It's the plans to the Gateway, if it's destroyed on our side it might be prudent to have a backup one in place."
"Hank is on a mission, but if you have the plans I can give them to him," Charles said.
Bruce pulled out a portable USB drive for his utility belt and slid it across the table to Charles.
Charles looked at it and smiled. "It seems are universes are not so unalike," he said.
Bruce nodded his head in agreement, other then the different heroes their technology was almost the same.
Storm said, "Are we going now or later?"
Diana stared at the African beauty and said, "As soon as possible, we don't know how long the Gateway will stay open."
Scott stood up from his chair. "Let's go then, give us ten minutes to get our gear together." Everyone left the room expect Charles, Bruce and Diana.
Once the door was closed Charles spoke up. "I've read both of your minds. My X-men are good but one of them isn't what she seems. If Jean changes in anyway have J'onn send this command to her mind," Charles said to Bruce as he hid a mental command inside Bruce's mind. Bruce closed his eyes and felt a burning sensation in the back of his skull for a brief moment.
"You can't access it, Bruce, I'm sorry I had to do it to you. But your mind is better suited to hiding things than Diana's mind," Charles said with remorse in his voice.
Bruce growled in his mind, but accepted that he had to do this. "Fine, will it permanently be there?" he asked.
Charles shook his head. "No, once J'onn takes it from you it will be gone forever."
"Fine, let's get this over with," he barked out as he stood up from his chair about to leave the room. Diana placed a hand on his wrist and looked over at Charles.
"May we have a moment in private?" she asked him. Charles simply smiled and wheeled himself out of the room. Bruce stared down at Diana's hand touching him.
"What's wrong, Bruce?" Diana said as she stood up and looked into the cold lenses of his cowl.
Bruce tightened up at her inquiry. He didn't want to say that he hated Remy for flirting with her, or that he wanted nothing more then to punch his teeth out. Or that Charles invaded his mind and placing something that he didn't know about. Also, why was Charles almost fearful of Jean Grey changing? There were too many questions that he knew he would not get any answers to. He pulled his cowl off and looked into Diana's loving but concerned blue eyes.
"Nothing, Diana," he lied to her.
Diana knew he had but simply pulled him towards her and gave him a kiss on his lips. She rested her head on his forehead and exhaled deeply. "I know you like to bottle things up inside, Bruce, but I'm here for you. I don't expect you to tell me everything that is on your mind," she sighed. "Just remember I'm here." Diana pulled away and stared deeply into his eyes.
Bruce sighed out. "Will do, Princess, but we don't have the time for a heart to heart. Raincheck?" he asked her.
Diana rolled her eyes, as if she would be able to redeem it with his secretive nature. "Fine, but we will talk about this later," she told him in her best commanding Royal Princess voice.
Bruce replaced his cowl and nodded his head as he left the room. Diana sighed and made a silent prayer to Hera that all would be fine.