Ta-da! Here's a new update, apologies again for the wait! My third third novel, "Evolved" by Aubrey Coletti is indeed available (!) so do feel free (compelled? Propelled?) to check it out if you enjoy this!

Season Three, Episode Seven: Red Right Hand

South Lawn, Grounds, Xavier Institute

"So!" Logan boomed out over the assembled X-men as they ranged over the lawn, slowly cleaning the fields. "What did we learn from this?"

"I dunno," Bobby said as he shoved broken bottles into his trash bag. "That Remy sucks as lookout?"

"Non!" Remy protested, as he kicked cans into the bin Sid held open, lightly charging them so that they popped inside like muffled gun shots. "Ce n'est pas ma faute! TinMan was s'posed to be de one takin' care o' de security!"

"Yeah, but you were supposed to be watching the kids," Kitty reminded him, as she phased a knife out of the trunk of one of the smaller trees. "Not playing 'Live Action Bottle Rocket' using them as the bottles and your powers as the rocket fuel. David got stuck upside down in that tree."

Sid snorted, and then looked sheepishly away at Logan's glare. "Sorry. But if you had seen it—"

Logan's eyebrow raise alone was enough to shut Sid down. "He could'a hurt the kids," he growled. "You're supposed to be setting a good example for them — keeping them safe."

"None of them got hurt," Rogue said softly, almost absently, as she raked some of the trash littering the ground into a bag. "And they seemed to really love it."

Logan's frown deepened when he saw the Cajun's head whip around and try desperately to catch Rogue's eye. She continued to look down, but the expression of growing hope in Remy's grin made Logan give another growl. "I don't know what it takes to get you to realize that you got a responsibility to—"

The scent reached Logan's nostrils a second before the scream did. "No," he whispered, for a rare instant unable to react.

Sid was the first to move. "Jubilee!" he screamed, racing off in the direction of her cries. Remy was off like a shot after him, and the rest of the young team followed at breakneck speed. Logan felt himself move as if through molasses, each step painful as it brought him closer to the scent of blood.

Logan screamed himself through grit teeth when he came close enough to see Jubilee sprawled on the ground, clutching her bleeding stomach. He stumbled to his knees beside her.

Sid desperately tried to staunch the bleeding. "We have to get her inside—"

"Oh God, oh God," Kitty whimpered, as Remy pulled off his shirt, ripped it in two and handed it to Sid. Sid used it to wrap up Jubilee's stomach. Rogue clenched her gloved hands, shaking as she looked at Jubilee's pale, pale face. "Juju . . ."

"Gambit, go to her shoulders with Sid," Bobby instructed, "Piotr, with me. Kitty, go under her, we have to keep her back straight . . ."

The sounds of his students voices faded as Logan's ears sought out the source of the attack. His blood pumping through his veins, making him heave like the animal he still was, Logan listened. There. Off in the distance he could hear it — the pounding feet of the other animal, its scent and violence mirroring his own.

TITLE SEQUENCE:

TITLE SONG: "Evolutionary" Composed By Emilie Autumn

Cast:

Wolverine: Hugh Jackman

Storm: Halle Berry

Professor Xavier: Patrick Stewart

Jean Grey: Famke Janssen

Cyclops: James Marsden

Beast: Kelsey Grammar

Rogue: Anna Paquin

Gambit: Taylor Kitsch

Iceman: Shawn Ashmore

Kitty Pryde: Ellen Page

Piotr Rasputin: Enver Gjokaj

Jubilee: Julia Ling

Written by Jonathan Glassner

Directed by Joss Whedon

Created by Joss Whedon

War Room, Xavier Institute

"It was him, Chuck." Logan paced like a caged version of his namesake, muscles bulging as he flexed them uselessly. "I know Sabertooth's scent. I just don't understand why I didn't sense him sooner! Damn it!"

"How did he get past the defenses?" Ororo asked practically, as Xavier rubbed his head and Scott stared down at the floor.

Logan bristled. "The damn — party, the kids threw. They busted part of the internal wiring for the nets and the alerts. He must have slipped in, somehow." Logan closed his eyes, tried to calm himself, and failed. With a roar, he slammed a fist into the wall. "And now the kid is in the MedBay, bleedin' out her guts."

"Hank says there's a good chance she'll make a full recovery," Ororo soothed, unnerved by the silence of the other two men. "You can't blame yourself, Logan."

"Bullshit, 'Ro," Logan snapped. "The only reason he's here is because I am. Anything that happens to Jubilee — it's on me."

"How are we gonna deal with this?" Scott said. Logan grunted, but Ororo narrowed her eyes at their long-time team leader. Something in his tone, and the sardonic half-smile he gave, made Ororo uneasy. "Call out the cavalry?"

"No," Logan decided with yet another growl. "This is my deal. I'll deal with it. Just keep everyone else inside the mansion. I will hunt him down. I will kill him. No one else needs to be a part of this."

MedBay, Xavier Institute

"You'll be okay, alright? We're all right here," Sid said, rubbing the unconscious Jubilee's hand as he knelt at her bedside. "You just focus on getting well. Just keep breathing, keep, uh, keep resting — you'll be fine . . ."

Hank bit his lips gently with his deadly fangs, watching the boy continue to speak to the silent girl as he had for an hour. He turned to his other students, who hovered nearby, and cleared his throat softly. "All there really is to do now is wait. She's stabilized, and the healing process is going to take time."

Kitty swallowed back a sob, her face wet with tears, and clung more tightly to Piotr. Remy swore in soft French, while Rogue looked away. Bobby met his teacher's eyes and nodded. "We want to know exactly what her status is, and whenever it changes, please, Dr. McCoy."

Hank smiled wanly. "Of course, Bobby."

Bobby watched, steely, as Hank moved back over to Jubilee's side to adjust her IV. He turned around to the others, and murmured, "We can't let this happen again. This is our fault — we should have been paying attention, we should have — we have to do something."

Kitty laughed a pained sob. "Do what? Go out and look for her attacker? You think Logan will let any of us out after this?"

"We need to secure the perimeter, guard the entrances and exits, keep the school locked down," Bobby stated sternly, listing the actions to be taken in a clipped, hard voice. "We have to keep everyone safe, and we have to make sure no one else—" His voice trembled, for a moment the boy breaking through the man, before he plowed on. "We have to make sure no one is — hurt."

"I agree," Piotr said supportively, subtly loosening his hold on Kitty. "We must take precautions. We can do nothing better for Jubilee now. It is best if we . . ."

Remy had been waiting for the moment when the anxious, skittish Rogue would make her move. When the discussion between Piotr and Bobby deepened she slipped away to the door. Remy let her get out into the hallway before making himself known. "You ain' t'inkin' o' goin' out by yo'self. I know that, sure 'nough. Hmm?"

Rogue stopped up short, before turning around, her jaw stern. "Logan is gonna go out lookin' for him. Remy, I know this mutant. He's worked with Magneto, and he's come after me before. Logan saved me. I have to help him. Don't try to stop me."

"Never said I was gon' stop you," Remy said, walking up to her slowly, hands in his trench coat pockets. "Said you wasn't goin' alone, oui?" Rogue opened her mouth to protest, and Remy took another step in, closing the distance between them. "Ain' gon' back down on dis, chere. Kills this one to see lil' Jubilee laid out like that. Ain' gon' watch it happen to you."

Rogue felt any answer she might have had catch in her throat. When she spoke, she was proud of herself for her steady voice. "Fine. But don't make me look after you. I can't be worryin' bout both you and Logan at once."

Remy grinned. "Wouldn't dare, gal."

Professor's Study, Xavier Institute

Scott grit his teeth as he made himself wait outside the Professor's study. He could hear Xavier within, speaking in low, slightly agitated Japanese. Scott tried to breath through his nose and control the waves of emotions that had been threatening to drown himself for days now. But his patience was worn thin after half an hour of holding back. "Screw it," he mumbled roughly, and forced his way through the door.

"Hai, wakarimasu," Xavier was saying into his phone as he looked up at Scott, and Scott could see the man's irritation. "Chotto matte, kudasai — Scott, please. I am in the middle of a very important call."

"This is important, Charles," Scott said, knowing that some of his desperation was leaking into his voice, his lack of control beginning to show. "And it's been important for a while, and you haven't made time for it, so I'm sorry, but I'm making it now."

"Shazai shimasu," Xavier said into the phone, before pressing a button. "Scott. What do you expect to accomplish by this?"

"You don't have to ask that," Scott said bluntly. Xavier sighed. "Scott. I cannot contact the dead—"

"I'm not asking you too," Scott snapped, striding forward and placing both hands on the Professor's desk. "She's out there, Charles. She's alive — in some way, somewhere."

"Scott." Xavier closed his eyes. "I had hoped to help you deal with your grief, and so to—"

"You said yourself she became more powerful than any mutant alive," Scott cut off feverishly. "That we've barely scratched the surface of what the human mind is capable of — right? A few years ago alien contact would have seemed impossible. We would have seemed impossible! So how can you act like Jean's continued existence isn't possible?" Scott was heaving, but he felt a manic grin pull at the edges of his lips. "This isn't grief, Professor."

"No, Scott," Xavier said sadly. "It's hope. And I know how seductive that can be. But I cannot encourage you in it. It would be unethical, for me, to lead you deeper into what can only bring you more pain."

Scott blinked. "How . . ." He had to pause to draw in breath, realizing he had lost it. "You can't make that choice for me. Don't — bullshit me, Charles. This is my life, my choice!"

"Yes," Xavier said, his crisp accent icy now. "And so you can choose to pursue it alone."

Scott curled his fists and for one wild moment considered hitting his mentor of over 20 years. He could see in Xavier's eyes that the older man knew it as well.

What are you going to do, Scott? Xavier asked silently and calmly.

For a few mad seconds, Scott thought clearly of violence. He half-expected to find himself frozen through the power of the Professor's incredible mind. Instead, as he glared down at Charles Xavier, Scott saw before him a weary old man, more unable to help than unwilling.

"I am sorry, Scott," Xavier murmured aloud.

Scott just bit his lip as he backed slowly out of the room, his eyes pitying and accusatory. Through the closing door, he could just glimpse Xavier drop his head into his hands.

Dunn Park, North Salem, New York

"Sabertooth!" Logan roared, pacing through the forest floor without bothering to hide his steps. "Sabertooth!" he screamed again, sniffing harshly to try and narrow down the diffuse scent. "Saber—God," he cut off, muttering. "Where did you get that stupid name?"

Logan tried to ignore the little voice in his head that whispered, Probably the same place you got yours. "Shut up," he grumbled to himself, as he finally caught wind of the scent. "You ain't Charles. Don't have to listen to you."

Logan jogged through the woods now, smacking branches aside, letting thorns rip into his regenerative skin. "I got you now," he snarled, grinning ferociously as he leapt over a fallen tree trunk, the scent thick in his nostrils. "I got you now."

Logan turned a sharp corner, taking a leap through bushes and into a clearing. His eyes widened when he saw the figure standing against a large oak tree. "Ha — tired of runnin'? Or finally ready to—"

The measurements were wrong. Sabertooth was a big, burly, mammoth of a man— if he could be called a man at all. This body was—

"A boy." Logan stumbled, sickened as the scent of blood choked him again, for the second time that day.

"No. No, no, NO!" He ran forward, dropping to his knees and trying to prop up the boy. But the corpse slumped into his arms. Shaking and biting back screams, Logan forced himself to look at the face.

He didn't know him. It was relief and horror all at once. The boy was black, small, wiry; he looked to be around twelve or thirteen. A child. A child he'd never met, but who had been slashed to pieces, his face macerated, the contents of his stomach now rancid and covered with maggots as they spilled over onto the grass and dirt. A child he'd never met, but one who had been found and killed because of him.

Logan's eyes refused to close. He couldn't stop the burning and the tears, so he turned his head to the side and let his body shake with fury and pain. He gripped the blood-stained clothes until his fingers ached, and welcomed the pain of his claws unleashing as he emitted an inhuman scream.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Just Outside Xavier Institute, North Salem, New York

"Alright den, chere." Remy stood up and dusted off the dirt from his landing on the outside of the protective fence around the Institute. "You got any idea where Logan run off to, you?"

Rogue frowned and folded her arms. "Last time he went off to Alaska for months."

Remy raised both brows. "Well — must say. Can track jus' bout anybody in cities or towns, but . . ." He scratched his head. "No' sure how well I can track a man like Logan if he decide to run up into de mountains. Can' say I'm all that great with wolves or bears, me."

"You ain't gonna track him," Rogue said, pulling her gloves on more firmly. "I am."

Remy's brows went up again. He whistled as he followed her out into the trees to their left. "Well, now. Must say this one is impressed. You been holdin' out on me, chere. Since when you got dese skills I ain' seen?"

Rogue tried and failed to keep a quick smile from her lips as she swiftly located the broken branches and cut trees that indicated where Logan had passed. "Some of it he taught me. Some of it . . . is from the time I absorbed him."

Remy snorted. "What — he get on you nerves so much you just had to stop him, hein?"

"No." Rogue's tone went icy, as she carefully stepped around a moldy birch tree. "It was when I had just got here. He was — it was night, and I went to see him, and he was dreamin', and when I got too close he—"

Rogue swallowed instead of continuing on a shaky voice, but Remy nodded in understanding. "He cut you? He hurt you?"

"He didn't mean it," Rogue said immediately, kicking aside a rock blocking their path. It hurled ten feet to the right and smashed loudly into the trunk of a maple. Remy fixed his gleaming red eyes on Rogue as she pivoted to stare him down. "He just woke up surprised, is all. He didn't expect me to be there, but I was, and he — he — I had to touch him. To take his powers. Borrow his powers."

"Course you did," Remy said with a Gallic shrug. "Seems like you both turned out fine, mais oui? Hmm?" He cocked his head at Rogue's expression. "You ain' feel right bout dat? Don' see him blamin' you fo' it."

"I coulda killed him," Rogue said. Somehow it came out weak and soft, more afraid than angry. "Meanin' it or not."

Remy nodded softly as if considering her words, and then walked over to her. Rogue took a step back, and bumped into a young sapling. Remy caught her arms to keep her from falling, and she pulled away as soon as she could stand. "You too hard on yo'self, chere. How is it everybody see dat but you?"

"Hard on myself." Rogue smiled bitterly. "Which self? Right now I can hear bits and pieces of Logan in there, tellin' me how to smell, where to look to find him. Somewhere behind there is Bobby, talkin' about how I gotta focus on the mission." She let out a slow, controlled breath as she raised her emerald eyes to meet Remy's fiery ones. "Somewhere in there is even a bit of you. But he's a lot quieter than the Remy I know; hard to find." She watched as Remy flinched slightly, looking away for a split second. She cracked a pained smile again. "You say you love me. How do you even know me?"

Remy opened his mouth to snap back but Rogue was already pulling away. "Over there. I can sm— I just know. He's there."

"Anna—"

"This way," Rogue said as she moved deeper into the forest. "We can catch him if we hurry."

Dunn Park, North Salem, New York

The ringing finally made Logan let go of the body of the boy. He laid the unknown kid carefully on the ground, before taking out his phone. He clicked it on but didn't speak.

"Logan?" Scott's voice was sharp and shrill. Logan pulled the phone away from his ear. "Logan?" Scott repeated.

"Yeah." Logan found he could look slightly above the body of the boy.

"Logan, it's Rogue and Gambit," Scott said bluntly. "We can't find them in the mansion."

Logan blinked, for the first time since seeing the body. "What? What did you just say to me?"

"They aren't here," Scott repeated, his own voice agitated. He sounded as though he was running. "We've searched the whole mansion, but Hank was focused on Jubilee, and Ororo was monitoring the younger kids. We didn't think it would be one of the team that would get out."

"No." Logan got to his feet, wincing as for once his knees creaked. It was almost as if he were old. "No — Chuck — Charles — the Professor! He couldn't have let this happen."

It sounded over the phone as though Scott came to a stop. "The Professor has been locked in his office for hours, talking on the phone in Japanese. He hasn't come out."

"What? No, he— dammit!" Logan stumbled, banging into an overhanging branch. "He wouldn't let this— what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, Logan," Scott confessed, through gritted teeth that were detectible over the phone. "He isn't — he isn't addressing things, he isn't answering questions. He just kept babbling in Japanese, with people I've never heard him speak with before, and—"

Scott's words twisted and fell away as Logan was struck by a blinding headache. His vision blurred.

"Itsu . . ."

"Boku no koto aishiteru?"

"Hai."

Logan fell backwards, as snippets and flashes assaulted him. A beautiful woman, smiling at him, laughing widely, the ocean behind her. A feeling of happiness, of peace. Then, the awful, well-known sensation of something missing, and emptiness in his head where the name and identity of the woman should have been.

"Logan? Logan! Dammit, did you hear me?" Scott's voice phased back into Logan's awareness. "Logan—"

"I can't." Logan let the phone drop from his bloodstained hands. His claws sawed in and out of his fists, reopening the wounds again and again. "I can't—"

"Remy!"

Rogue's scream cut like a knife through his skull, but it pulled Logan back to the world around him. He started forward, fumbling through the underbrush clumsily. "No." He began to pick up speed as he picked up their scents. "No." He slapped away branches, and jumped, two-footed, over fallen logs. He raced through the forest with the skill of one who belonged there, and when the screams drew him in, he unleashed his claws. He saw the three figures in the clearing through the trees, Remy's red-purple flashes followed by explosions of wood and answered with bellows so like Logan's own. Logan took a leap and slashed an X with his claws in the two slim trees in front of him to part his way. He shot forward with his mutant agility, landing on a roll in the middle of the fray.

"Let her go!" Remy screamed, throwing a charged card that almost hit Logan in the face. Logan's head whipped around as it exploded. He crouched, frozen, trying to process the scene in front of him.

The man that held Rogue had claws like Logan's; he held his fist so that his right set's four blades threatened Rogue's throat. The left hand set of claws — Logan recognized with a horrific twist of his stomach — were already thrust through Rogue's left side. The man stood like Logan, his feet braced apart in the same way. His short form was muscled like Logan, and his scent had the same kind of animalistic musk.

"You're not Sabertooth," Logan said slowly.

The man turned to him, and Logan saw that he wasn't quite a man at all — more a boy. He looked close in age to Rogue, who was choking and gasping in the grip of his arm and his claws. "No," the boy said. His voice was accented — Logan realized he could place it as Japanese. "I'm not that."

Rogue gasped, blood dribbling out of her mouth. Logan sensed the movement behind him, and caught Remy as he tried to run at her. "He's killin' her!" Remy screamed, hoarse-throated. His red eyes burned, and Logan could feel the energy reverberating throughout his body as he held him back. "I'll kill you! Je vais te tuer! Tu es mort!"

The boy smiled. He was handsome, with mixed Asian and Caucasian features, and long, shoulder-length black hair. He leaned slightly backwards, and Rogue sank back more onto his claws. "I can feel her heartbeat," he said, in a voice that was cold. Dressed all in black, Rogue's blood blended into his shirt. "It is getting slow. Just a few inches to the left, and I'll end her pain." He looked at Logan with blue-green eyes. "Should I be merciful?"

Logan held Remy back, having to fight hard against the straining, furious Cajun. "Whoever you are," he began. "We—"

The boy hissed. "Whoever I am? Oh." He swayed, and Rogue emitted a soft, pained cry. "Whoever I am. As if you don't know."

"I know I'm gonna kill you," Remy swore, his voice a low, deadly rumble. The boy spared a quick, cursory glance at Remy, but then turned back to Logan. "Another one of yours, is he? Good. And what about the little one — the Chinese girl?" He grinned manically. "Is she dead yet?"

"Why are you doing this?" Logan growled loudly. Remy tried to make a break for Rogue, and Logan yanked him back harshly. "Think," he hissed quickly into Remy's ear. "Wait."

"Why?" The assailant wore an expression of uncontrolled fury so horrifying it made Logan shiver. Then the unknown boy broke into another grin. "Because I like it. Because you deserve it. You deserve to be followed by a trail of dead bodies wherever you run. All your little children." He pushed his fist forward so that the claws pressed deeper against Rogue's throat.

"No!" Remy growled, and Logan had to use all of his strength to keep the boy from twisting out of his hold. Logan kept his eyes on that of the unknown attacker, so that he wouldn't notice Rogue's hand inching up towards his face.

"I don't know you, bub," Logan said evenly. "But if you know me, you know what you're doin' is buyin' a first rate way to die."

"Oh, I do know you!" the boy boasted. "Better than you know yourself, James. I've been waiting for years now to hunt you down."

Logan let go of Remy, who moved to the side, heaving and tightly wound, but having caught on. Logan spread his arms as he took a step forward. "So here I am, kid. Take me on."

"Kid?" The boy spat. "Kid? Now you think to call me that?" He pulled Rogue in closer, showing off her pale face and lolling eyes to Logan. "This is a kid. Your kid. One of your precious children that you mentor and teach and love." He moved his face closer to Rogue's increasingly pale one. "You know what else she is? Meat. I'm the butcher. The cleaver. I'm the on—"

Rogue had been saving her strength, signaling with her eyes to Logan. When she made her move and slapped her bare hand against her captor's face, Logan was ready. The attacker gasped as Rogue drew from him his own abilities and strengths, black veins sprouting all over his face. He retracted his claws and stumbled back, releasing Rogue. Remy rushed forward and caught her as she fell, and Logan barreled forward at the unknown boy.

Still reeling from the effects of Rogue's drain, the boy took a slash from Logan's claws across his unprotected chest. He contracted and then slashed back, the claws of his left hand coming together with Logan's with a ringing that echoed around the woods. For a split second they held, each testing the other's strength. Logan saw out of the corner of his eye how the blood on the boy's shirt lessened to a trickle, the cuts on his skin closing up rapidly.

With a growl, Logan whipped his head up and pivoted just in time to dodge a blow from the boy, turning to the side to narrowly avoid being impaled. Logan directed a punch towards the boy's seemingly unprotected head, and then suddenly found himself sprawling on the ground, courtesy of a spinning back kick he hadn't had the time to block.

The boy sheathed his claws and grinned. "Too slow, old man? What a disappointment. To think, I had hoped for a real challenge when we at last met."

Logan seethed, and flipped himself back onto his feet. He feinted to the left, and then came at the boy fast and hard, with targeted slashes and jabs of his claws. The boy neatly dodged and blocked all of them, catching Logan's claws, blades up, in both hands. Gritting his teeth, the boy brought them together, body-to-body. Logan's eyes widened as he breathed in the other's scent, felt his similar strength. The boy let out a long, low sound of exertion and then whispered harshly to Logan. "Watashi wa anata no hōfukudesu."

Logan's eyes were still wide when the boy wound up and kicked him hard in the chest. Logan flew backwards, scraping up dirt and grass as he landed. He groaned, feeling soreness and pain like he hadn't felt in years. He shook himself off and hurried to his feet to run after the assailant.

"Dieu, hell — hold on, chere. Oh Jesu, Rogue—"

Remy's words stopped Logan mid-run. His blood was still boiling, his head pounding, his heart still beating fiercely with the need to go after the boy.

"Please, Anna," Remy pleaded, half-in-a-whimper. "Hold on, ma chere . . . Dieu . . . j'taime . . ."

Logan closed his eyes and fought through the flashes that played behind them of a small house by the sea, of peacefulness and love, and then of gaping holes. Then he turned and sprinted over to where Remy lay, clutching a pale and gasping Rogue. Logan knelt down and took swift inventory. The wounds where Rogue had been impaled were half-closed, but they still oozed blood. "She's still bleeding internally," Logan summarized.

"Sh— she was healin', but she stopped," Remy stuttered, his gloved hands shaking as he tried to put them over her wounds. "She's coughin' blood."

"We'll never get her back to the mansion in time," Logan muttered, and found himself grabbed by the neck. "Heal her!" Remy demanded, his broken voice somehow still capable of yelling loud enough to bruise Logan's ears. Logan shook with the force of the boy's red-purple energy, and for a split-second he was almost afraid of the wild, demonic fury in his blood-red eyes. "Don' you let her die, or I swear—"

Logan broke the boy's hold, and snapped out a hand to catch Remy by the throat. "Don't threaten me today, kid." He squeezed Remy's throat, and the energy buzzed painfully up his arms. Rogue moaned weakly, and Remy's panicked red eyes grew wider as he turned to her. Logan let the boy go, and reached his hand out carefully to touch Rogue's face, wincing in anticipation before pressing his skin to hers.

"God, I hate this," Logan managed, before the pull of Rogue's mutation robbed him of speech. He was dimly aware of falling down on the forest floor as she drained him, his own blood mixing with another's.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Rec Room, Xavier Institute

"Remy!" Rogue laughed loudly, shoving the deviously grinning Cajun aside with an exaggerated expression of mock anger. "Ain't I told you to watch your mouth around me, boy?"

"This one does!" Remy protested, as Kitty whispered something to Piotr, who uncharacteristically giggled. "Jus' don' know why you be so angry at me all de time. Ain' said nuthin' bad, me."

"Guys, guys," Bobby reminded them, nodding his head to the right. "Here she comes."

Sid walked into the Rec Room supporting a shaky but smiling Jubilee, and the other five mutants applauded and stood up. Remy and Bobby both gestured grandly for her to take a seat on the couch.

"Guys!" Jubilee protested, as she was escorted over to her throne. "I don't want you all treating me all delicate and weird. I'm not a freakin' invalid."

"We decided we'd give you first choice on all video games for the two weeks Hank says you need until you're fully healed," Sid announced.

"I am an invalid. In pain. Tremendous pain." Jubilee snapped up the controller and grinned around at everyone. "Halo? Now please?"

From his vantage point in the front hall, Logan watched the young team reabsorb Jubilee easily into their fold. He nodded to himself before hoisting his pack up over his shoulders and turning to head towards the door.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Ororo repeated it for the fifth time that day, as she walked up behind him.

"Yes, I do." Logan didn't bother turning around. "Even if he doesn't try and come back after me, the—" Logan was glad he was turned away, so that the weather-witch couldn't see him flinch. "The boy he killed. It'll look like it was done by me. I gotta take the heat on that with me. I'll solve this, far away from any of you here."

"And then?" Ororo asked. "Will you be back?"

Logan looked to the door, and didn't answer. "Well," he heard Ororo murmur "I think there's one person you should tell before you go."

Logan bit the inside of his mouth as he heard Ororo's footsteps fade, and another's set hurry up behind him. "Hey, kid."

"You're leavin' again," Rogue stated. It wasn't a question.

"You ain't gonna try and talk me outta it?" Logan asked, turning to face her and raising a bushy brow. Rogue shook her head softly. "No. I got you up in my head, remember? I know there'd be no point."

"Sorry, Stripes. Wouldn't wish me on anyone," he said, gently tugging on a piece of her white hair. They shared a smile that slowly faded as Rogue stared him down. "I got him in my head, too."

"I know, kid."

"I could — if you need me to tell you things," Rogue began, but Logan shook his head, his jaw hard. "I know all I need."

Rogue waited for a moment, before carefully murmuring. "He's your son, isn't he?"

Logan nodded slowly, processing the strangeness in hearing it spoken aloud. "Yeah."

"Are you gonna find him?" Rogue asked, her sweet accent achingly vulnerable. "Do you— know what you're gonna do if you do?"

"Can't say. But if he's focused on me, I can't be here," Logan asserted. He swallowed through the lump in his throat. "He knows me better than I know him. He went after— I need to sort this out, kid. Myself. But I'll be back."

"I know," Rogue said, with a small smile, surprising Logan. "Oh yeah?" he said, huffing a laugh. "Guess you know me better'n I do, then, huh?"

"I guess I do."

Logan warred with himself for a long moment, and then pulled Rogue into a quick, careful hug. She extended it, tugging him tightly and making him grunt with discomfort. "Urgh — right. Forgot you got that — extra strength." He ruffled Rogue's hair when she finally let him go. "You gone and grown all up on me, kid."

Rogue rolled her eyes, and Logan cleared his throat to break the moment. He gestured awkwardly over to the Rec Room. "Better go and take care of the Cajun before he comes over here and makes a scene. Might have trouble shakin' him off for a while after that."

Rogue shrugged, but Logan could see her pleased blush. "Yeah. Be seein' you, Logan."

"Yeah," Logan acknowledged, and watched the young woman walk back over to rejoin her friends. "Mmm-hmm," he grunted, clearing his throat again. Right.

Turning, the Wolverine quietly slipped out of the mansion.

ENDING CREDITS

Promo For Next Episode: When Sid receives a dream of warning about his family, the X-Men head out to Tornado Alley. But with all their power, are they any match for Nature herself? Or will they lose one of their number fighting the fury of wind and sky?