August 14, 1992
"I want to make this very clear to you both," Scott said, "We're on an investigation. Things are not supposed to get messy unless something goes wrong."
He looked over at Ororo. The three of them were in the teacher's conference room. With most of the teachers out for summer break it was a safe enough place to have a quick talk about strategy before they headed to Boston.
"We're not going to start anything," he said, "We need to find out the facts about Warren's death. Nothing more."
Ororo folded her arms. Scott wouldn't understand. He had never gotten on with Warren which was, at least in part, Jean's fault. Ororo was past the petty differences that they had all had as teenagers, but she knew that there had never been any real love between Warren and Scott.
Did he even feel any sorrow at the news of Warren's death? Jean had expressed her sympathies, and Scott had said some kind things, but only as their team leader. His voice was strong and compassionate, but it didn't really mean anything. He was trying to support her as a friend and a teammate, not as someone who shared her pain.
She supposed that was how it was always going to be. Warren hadn't really made any friends. She knew that he and Calvin kept a fully professional relationship until the past few years. Calvin still resented the hate he had initially received from Warren, although Ororo knew that it was because, in part, Warren hadn't apologized in later years. Ororo had done that and Calvin had finally been able to relax around her.
Then again, Warren had held his own personal brand of resentment towards everyone as time went by. Ororo had seen him let it go when Clarice and Calvin had gotten married. Ororo hadn't asked him what had happened. It was too close to acknowledging that his resentment had existed in the first place. It was the only subject that the two of them had never discussed.
Now that he was dead Ororo wished that she had talked to him about it. She wished that she had talked to him about everything, and that she had done it more often. She liked to think that, whatever it was that he had been burdening himself with, he had let it go entirely by the time he had died. It was a comforting thought.
"What's with the pow-wow?"
She looked up and saw Logan opening the door, chomping on his cigar. Scott tilted his head, his jaw tightening a bit. Logan smirked and tossed him a set of keys.
"Your bike's empty," he said.
Scott tossed the keys back. Logan caught them, his eyebrows raised.
"Fill her up," Scott said.
"Looking for someone Logan?" Ororo said.
He turned to her and chomped on his cigar again. She just caught the way his eyes flickered to Jean. Everyone always loved Jean. It wasn't a jealous thought, just a matter of fact. She never had been jealous of her friend. The attention that Jean had received from Scott and Warren had done nothing but cause trouble. She had a feeling that history was repeating itself with Logan.
It was possible that she could do something about that.
"Any of you seen Wheels around?" he asked.
"He's probably in his office," Ororo said, "I think he's discussing school matters with his wife."
"No, her tutoring sessions began fifteen minutes ago," Scott said, "He should be available."
Logan cocked his head. Ororo remembered that he hadn't met Moira on his last visit.
"And his office is...?" he asked.
"You forgot already?" Scott said.
"Why so concerned one-eye?" Logan asked, "Do you want me around more?"
"Enough," Jean said.
She looked over at Scott.
"We still have to get the Blackbird ready," she said.
"You two take care of it," Ororo said, "I'll take Logan up."
She got up from the table and gestured to the door. Logan nodded and turned. She wondered if she should tell him to put his cigar out, but decided against it. She doubted it would matter. With a final nod to Scott and Jean she guided Logan out into the hall.
"You guys havin some sort of war meetin or somethin?" he asked.
"Long story," Ororo said.
"You don't say," Logan said.
He blew out some smoke from his cigar. He pointed back down the hall with his thumb.
"By the way, didn see Rogue out there," he said.
Inwardly Ororo nodded to herself. They could count on him to defend the Institute for Rogue. He might do it for Jean too, but she wanted to make sure that he didn't get any ideas about that. She'd already seen where that sort of thing ended.
"She's in class," Ororo said, "It started two minutes ago."
Logan made a face, and Ororo wondered how much it rankled him that he had just missed her. She wondered if he was planning on staying long. She didn't think so.
"I think that she's taking French right now," Ororo said.
"How's she doin?" Logan asked.
"Better. Apparently someone's tutoring her," Ororo said.
"No, I mean in general," Logan said.
Ororo sighed.
"About as well as we can expect. She's in a new environment, and she's just been through some bad experiences," she said, "Maybe she's even doing a little better than expected. She has friends, and...she's not alone with having a mutation that she can't control. She's getting support."
He glanced over at her.
"And who's supporting her?" Logan said.
"Max," Ororo said.
Logan raised his eyebrows.
"Who is?" he asked.
She almost laughed at the protective tone in his voice.
"A friend. His mutation is similar to hers and he had an...incident as well," Ororo said, "He's very strong though. His parents are both mutants, and he's receiving a lot of support from them, but they can't be here all the time. He told me the other day that Rogue is like family now."
Logan grunted. She supposed that he approved of that. Ororo decided not to discuss the interest that both Bobby and Remy were showing in Rogue, although Remy did have a habit of flirting outrageously. She hadn't seen him pursue anyone with so little encouragement for as long as he had pursued Rogue though.
"This kid's parents are mutants?" Logan asked.
"Yes," Ororo said.
She smiled to herself.
"Actually, his parents are Alex and Lorna Summers," she said.
Logan made a face.
"Related to one-eye?" he asked.
"Alex is his brother," Ororo said, "Max is his nephew."
Logan groaned.
"What is it with the Summers?" he asked.
"Well," Ororo said, "Alex and Scott are brothers, and Alex led the X-men before Scott. He trained us all really, and then Lorna became a member and they got married."
She decided not to mention Lorna's membership in the Brotherhood or her parentage. Logan might be a recurring visitor, and she had the feeling that the Professor might be right about him showing up often, but he wasn't one of them.
"And then they retired and had two children," Ororo said, "Max is one, and he has a sister named Luna. It's quite the dynasty."
"You can say that again," Logan said.
There was a pause. Ororo looked around the hall, making sure that there was no one there to hear what she was about to say.
"And of course, Scott and Jean have practically been engaged for the past couple of years," she said, "So they're probably going to be adding to that soon."
She saw Logan tense immediately.
"You have somethin to say?" he asked.
Ororo gave him a frank look.
"I'm not an idiot, and I don't think that you are either," she said, "So I'm trying to give you a friendly word of warning."
She paused for a moment and composed her words.
"Scott and Jean have been together since they were teenagers," she said, "And, I know that they don't look it, but they're very much in love. It's not as obvious as I think it might be with most people-"
"Then my presence won't do anythin, an you're just bein nosy," Logan snapped.
Ororo winced.
"Oh, trust me," she said, "It does something."
She thought back to Warren and Jean. It hurt to think about Warren, but some part of her had softly muted her grief. It would come back when they figured out why he'd been murdered, she knew it would, but for now it was quiet.
Ororo hadn't blamed Jean for what had happened between her, Scott, and Warren. Even at the time Ororo had recognized it for what it was: a mixture of bad timing and terrible misunderstandings. It had been a bad situation and Jean wasn't equipped for dealing with it. She was too young, too shy, and far too naïve.
She'd still had some anger over the situation on Warren's behalf: of course she had. Unlike Warren she hadn't directed her anger at any one person though. She hadn't seen what the point was, or if there was anything to actually be angry about.
Now it was happening all over again. She just hoped that, this time around, Jean wouldn't be uncertain about telling the runner-up off. She still remembered Warren telling her about it, the humiliation raw in his voice.
"And it doesn't end well," Ororo said.
Logan inhaled deeply.
"We near Chuck's office?" he asked.
Ororo pointed.
"Thanks," he said.
Ororo watched him go and sighed. At least she had warned him. There were other, more important things that she had to look to now.
Sean looked at the schematics the lab had taken of what was left of Magneto's machine. He was glad that Coulson had overseen the clean-up crew. Sean didn't know if he trusted anyone else around a machine that powerful.
Even with SHIELD's reconstructive skills most of the machine was still missing. Whoever this Logan was, he'd really done a number on the machine. Sean couldn't help but be impressed.
There were worrying aspects to the machine though. It was highly advanced tech, and the last time Sean had checked the Brotherhood didn't have any tech people. Mystique, Emma, and Magneto knew enough about technology to make the X-men's lives difficult, but not like this.
"Anything?" Coulson said.
Sean glanced over at him. He enjoyed working with his friend's son, even if he thought he was too much of a Captain America fan. He really needed to stop talking about those cards sometime.
He also had the habit of speaking in a dry, almost clipped tone when time was running out. It didn't help the situation much.
"Not from the schematics," Sean said.
He cracked his neck. His flight had been long and he hadn't gotten a chance for much shut-eye. As he rotated his neck back to its original position he saw the schematics at a different angle.
Sean froze and stared. Coulson walked next to him and frowned.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
Sean picked up the different schematics and began rearranging them. Inside his head he chanted that this couldn't be true, that he couldn't be reliving this situation over again. At the same time he heard a small voice saying that, unfortunately, he was.
"Is something wrong?" Coulson repeated.
"Yeah," Sean said, "We need to get back to base. Now."
"Why?" Coulson said.
Sean grabbed his coat and glanced at the schematics, at the vagaries of the familiar design.
"I want to make sure that Sinister's secure," he said.