What's up guys, it's me again with another installment of my biggest story so far.
This chapter will be another time skip of about six months as we learn something about Lincoln's parental grandfather, Logan and a good friend of his back in the day so we're gonna see some flashbacks.
With that said, please enjoy.
Chapter 12: Tales of Logan
Another day bites the dust as the final bell of the day rang as kids ran out of their last classes of the day as quick as they can, one of which is Lincoln.
"Ah, finally spring break", the young mutant said to the reader as he walked towards his locker, "The last break before the end of the school year. While trying to be a superhero isn't going so great as I thought, at least things are getting a little better for us", when the young white haired mutant arrived at his locker, he saw the word 'Undies the Weirdo' written in marker. Lincoln sighed as he knew who wrote it, he opened his locker and took out a spray bottle and a rag and cleaned it off.
At least he wasn't alone with this, all of his friends fell victim to Steak Stankco's bullying, Clyde himself was even cleaning his locker which had 'Butt Buddy' written on it, "You too huh?"
Lincoln nodded as he and Clyde headed outside to the front curb and walked down the street.
Later the two met up with the their friends, along with Margo, Francisco and Lynn at a popular burger place.
When they sat down, Margo saw two familiar faces none of them really wanted to see.
"Uh oh", Margo said.
"What's up?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"Stankcos."
They group then looked towards the front door and saw both Stan and Steak Stankco entering the restaurant.
"Oh god", Zach said worried, "Act casual. Maybe they won't notice us."
Everyone then quickly acted casual, trying not to attract the brute's attention. Unfortunately, they saw them.
"Hey, look what we got here. It's undies boy and his loser gang", Stan said mocking them.
"What's up undies?", Steak said as he wrapped his left arm around Lincoln with a cocky smirk.
Lincoln didn't say anything, the white haired boy just had an annoyed look on his face, but he didn't show him attention.
"What's the matter? Got a wedgie and can't talk?", Steak asked playfully. He then glanced down at Lincoln's burger, "You gonna eat that?"
"Yes", Lincoln replied with an annoyed attitude.
"Oh, did you try their new sauce? Here try some", Steak removed the top bun of Lincoln's burger, and spit on the patty and put it back, "Steak sauce."
Both the Stankcos started laughing as Lincoln's frustration started to boil as his face began turning red with anger.
Steak then glanced at Zach nearby, "Nice shades shorty."
"Hey, don't drag me into this", Zach replied.
Steak simply ignored Zach's remark, "Can I see them?"
"What!? No!..."
"Thanks", Steak then removed Zach's red sunglasses, but Zach closed his eyes tightly before Stankco removed them.
Everyone gasped.
Both the Stankcos noticed that Zach had his eyes closed tight, "What's the matter kid?"
"I have sensitive eyes. Give them back!", Zach reached around trying to grab his shades.
"Then open your eyes and take 'em."
Lincoln then snatched the shades from Steak and gave them back to Zach.
"Dude, what's your problem?", asked an angry Ronnie Anne.
"You hang with undies boy here", Stan said, "Anyone with undies is a loser just like him."
"Jesus, you guys are pathetic", Lynn spoke up, "You keep bring that one thing up. Is there anything else you two brutes have done in your worthless lives? Get a life!"
Both Stan and Steak were getting furious. Stan then marched right up to Lynn, "Were the raining bodybuilding champions of Los Angeles County six years running. Don't piss us off girl. You'll regret it."
"Really? You don't look like", Lynn snapped back.
"What?"
"Your muscles aren't real, Stanny boy", the Stankcos turned around to see the source of the voice was none other than Wade entering the restaurant.
"Stay out of this Wade", Steak said.
"Well it's clear that your precious muscles are just nothing but fucked up roids."
Stan then shifted his attention to the cocky teen , "I don't take steroids. These muscles are all real."
"Are you sure about that? Cuz the evidence is clear in your moobs."
"My what?"
"Your man boobs."
Everyone heard what Wade said and just started laughing.
Stan and Steak just got served and they didn't like it one bit. Furious, Stan punched Wade in the nose.
As a fight was about to break out, the manager quickly intervened, "Hey! If you wanna fight, take it outside", the manager said to Wade and then turned to Stan, "And you and your son are not welcome here. Now get out or i'm calling the cops."
With that threat, Stan didn't escalate the situation, "You irritate me!", he shouted to the manger as he and his son left the restaurant.
Wade then picked himself back up and twisted his nose back into place, "God, that was something."
"Jeez, Wade, who the heck do put up with those guys?", asked Stella.
"I've known then a hell lot more than you guys. But you shouldn't really need to worry about them next week."
"Why's that?", asked Sid.
"Because those two are just so damn cocky, they made such a big ass deal announcing their vacation in Cancun on twitter. They even had the balls to delete my creative negative tweets about them."
"Well at least that's one good thing for us", Lincoln said.
"Yes, you guys get to rest easy here while I take care of business down in America's theme park trash capital."
"Again, what's a mercenary doing business in Orlando?", asked Lynn.
"That's a classified info", the teen said as he leaned towards Lynn, "They have amazing Buffalo Wild Wings", he whispered to Lynn.
Lynn laughed, "If you need anyone to help in your line of work, gimme a call."
"I bet you'd fit right in Flame Princess."
"Well good luck with 'business'", Lincoln said.
"Thanks snowball, I'll even get you a little something special."
"Really? Is it gonna be something better then what you got me for Christmas?"
"What? You didn't like my gift?"
"'Big Chungus' isn't a real video game."
Ronnie Anne then broke out laughing hysterically, "Classic."
"See she gets it. Alright this time I really mean it, its something real this time."
"Okay, what?"
"It's a surprise", Wade then winked at the reader.
In Great Lakes City, Bobby was all over the internet, trying to find his little sister. Ever since him and Lori planned on going to LA in the summer, both he and Lori have been looking for anything to give them a certain location. He even had his family even help in his search.
"Bobby, why are you using the mercado's laptop out here?" asked his grandfather, Hector. Rosa then entered the bodega to check up on Bobby.
"Sorry abuelo, i'm still looking to see if I can find Ronnie Anne. She's out there with Lincoln and Sid. I just wanna see my little sister again."
Both Hector and Rosa were so touched by Bobby's effort, "Mijo", said Rosa, "You have un corazon de oro. To help, I will do anything in my power to make sure you and tu amor will find her. Ronalda is lucky to have un angel de la guardia de tu", Rosa then went back to the apartment to make one of Bobby's favorite foods to help cheer him up.
Bobby then felt more sad, "Yeah, her Guardian Angel."
"Bobby, what you and Ronnie Anne have is a gift. You shouldn't get upset about it, be proud of it. You know we would never judge you", Hector said placing his hand on Bobby's shoulder.
"But how is...that, a gift? Don't I look weird?"
"Mijo, your hiding them under your shirt. But no, it's just another part of you that makes you and Ronalda so special. Do you think she's weird?"
"What? I'd never call her weird."
"Then you have your answer."
With the words of advice his grandfather said, Bobby then began to think that his new found gift is something that makes him special but still wasn't a hundred percent sure, "Maybe your right."
Just then, Hector and Bobby saw that they just received an email, "What's this?"
Hector then opened the email from the Great Lakes City School District. It said:
To all Parents/Legal Guardians,
Regarding the mutant hunt and attacks in Royal Woods, Michigan back in June 2016, our main priority at our schools is to ensure that they are safe places for our children against any mutant threat.
Effective on the Monday once Spring Recess ends, all public schools in the district from Grades K-12 will conduct mandatory Mutant tests. Each student will be tested at a assigned time for any traces for the Mutant X gene, if a student tests positive for the gene, you will receive a letter from the school nurse within 3-5 business days. If the student's mutant abilities is a threat to others safety on school grounds, Sentinel officers will detain them and send them to a designated rehabilitation facility until they are no longer deemed a threat.
Please be aware if your child is tested positive as a mutant, and keep them well in check.
Sincerely,
Superintendent Mateo Cruz
Then Bobby and Hector's blood turned cold, they now started to worry about Carl and CJ. It's bad enough they lost Ronnie Anne, but they didn't want to loose the rest of their family too.
Then in no time, the first weekend of spring break arrived. As the sun began to rise, Lincoln was still asleep but was tossing and turning like crazy, apparently having yet another nightmare.
In his mind, the young boy dreamed of the time when Lori found the letter explaining why she was the worst sister ever. She was so furious, she attacked Lincoln, threatening to turn beat him to a pulp. She chased him down the stairs, tackling him. "Your gonna regret ever being born!", she lifted her fist about to punch him in the face. Lincoln close his eyes but instead of feeling pain in his face, he heard Lori scream.
He opened his eyes to find Lori in pain. Lincoln looked down to see his claws impaled into Lori's chest. Lincoln scream as he pulled his claws out of his eldest sister as she fell into a pool of her own blood, "NO, NO, NO! LORI! LORI, NO! I'M SORRY!"
But Lori had lost too much blood, and she expired. He killed his own sister.
The poor boy's hands were covered in sister's blood as he began to crying histrionically as he held Lori in his arms in unbelievable regret, thinking to himself if what she said was right about he should have never been born.
Lincoln then suddenly wakes up from his emotional dream with tears pouring down his face and is drenched in sweat, his claws popped and was breathing heavily from all the emotions.
He wiped his eyes and face as his claws retracted back into his arms and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, "Calm down, Lincoln", he said to himself, "It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream."
He did manage to calm down a bit, and soon he headed to his room's small balcony overlooking the backyard to get some fresh air.
Outside, he felt the warm light breeze flowing through his hair and some relaxation as he finally calmed down. Then he just stood there gazing at the views of the city, just enjoying the peaceful moment.
"Normally I would spend most this time out here doing nothing but reading and drawing in my undies, but I got plenty of time to do that", Lincoln said to the reader, "Really I just wanna spend time with my family, friends and just enjoy the peace knowing that your worst enemy is gone for the entire break. With the people you know would never think your a monster."
Lincoln then headed upstairs to join his friends and family for some breakfast.
On a typical day like this, most of them would have gone out to their jobs. Even though Carol's father was paying for the power and everything in the house, some of them took part time jobs for some extra money:
.Luna worked at a popular music store in the mall.
.Sam and Sid worked at an animal shelter. Anne joins them on occasions.
.Carol worked as a clerk at the Chateau Marmont Hotel.
.Clyde and Zach worked at one of the most famous cinema antique store in Hollywood.
.Liam works as either a farm's hand or a landscaper.
.Lana on occasions works with Liam or Sam and Sid but mostly works as a helper in an auto body shop with the mechanics there very impressed with her skills.
.Lisa works and dose studies at the local science institute at UCLA, one of the youngest in the college's history.
.Stella volunteers at the local Soup Kitchen.
.Rusty handed out flyers at the local mall.
.Margo worked as a junior Lifeguard at Santa Monica Beach.
.Lincoln made commissions for people at popular tourist spots in the city.
But today was a day for all of them to just take it easy. Lincoln got Luna, Sam and Tabby a gig at a popular club down in Hollywood, so they were practicing in the garage for tonight.
Sid wasn't working at the shelter today either so she planned to spend the day with Ronnie Anne and Lincoln. She invited Clyde too, but he couldn't come due to a rare famous movie prop being in the antique store.
But never the less, the three of them still decide to spend the day together. They decide on the Santa Monica beach, which would be good idea for Lincoln to draw some portraits for tourists at the pier.
Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Sid, and Margo took the bus and arrived at the Santa Monica beach. Margo was dressed in her life guard shirt, sunglasses and trunks, while Ronnie Anne, Sid and Lincoln were in their beach clothes. Ronnie Anne was wearing her usual swim suit of a purple tank top, dark pink swim trunks and sandals. Sid's was a blue tank top and black shorts and sandals. Lincoln's was a white tank top, open orange beach shirt, blue shorts, brown sandals, sunglasses on top of his head and his finger less gloves. He also had an artist side bag full of all his art supplies.
Margo took a deep breath, "I love the smell of the beach. Alright guys, enjoy yourselves and stay out of trouble. You know where to find me", she then headed off to the Lifeguard Station.
"I'll meet up with you girls later", Lincoln said as he headed to the pier leaving the girls with their own hang time.
The two girls then headed towards the beach where Ronnie Anne saw a small sad look on Sid's face, "Sid, what's the matter?"
"It's nothing, it's just... I wanted..."
"Clyde to come", Ronnie Anne said.
"Uh, W-What makes you say that?"
"You invited Clyde to come along, and i've seen when your near him."
"What do you mean?", Sid said trying not to answer.
"You like him."
Sid bushed, "Is it that obvious?"
Ronnie Anne chuckled.
Lincoln soon found the perfect spot to set up space on the pier between the amusement park and the restaurant at the end, drawing portraits for anyone who wanted to see what drawing this young artist can do, and lots of them were very impressed.
Really this day just felt like any other day for him now, a little peace, doing what he loves. But while he enjoyed this, he saw many families having fun together on the pier, that sight made him think about his family back home in Michigan. He missed them all so much, and hoped they were okay.
Today was a busy day on the pier, since it was spring break, it was full of mostly students of all ages to see the sights and just to enjoy the weather. Among the many people visiting the pier today was a group of senior citizens, one of whom saw a young boy drawing portraits.
"Excuse me."
Lincoln heard the elder man's voice, and immediately recognized it, he turned around and looked up to see a very familiar face, "Pop-pop?"
"Lincoln?", asked the man who was in fact his grandfather, Albert.
Lincoln started to tear up as he pulled his grandfather into a hug as Albert quickly returned the hug, "Your okay. Oh Lincoln I missed you so much."
"I missed you too Pop-pop", Lincoln then broke the hug, "What are you doing here in California?"
"Me and some of my buddies are on a senior trip to Los Angeles and a few of us wanted see the pier. And now I'm so glad I came here. Look at you, you look great! I always told Rita you'd look good if you let your hair grow a bit", Albert said as he played with his grandson's hair making Lincoln laugh. Then he remembered what the news said about his grandson, "Lincoln, is it true?"
Lincoln's smile quickly turned into a sad frown as he sighed, "Yeah", Lincoln looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him or his grandfather, he saw the coast was clear and slowly his three claws emerged from beneath his gloves.
Albert was shocked but surprised, "You got claws."
Lincoln sadly nodded as he quickly retracted them before anyone else could see, "I'm a freak", he said softly.
He then felt a hand placed on his shoulder, "Lincoln your not a freak, at least not to me. Those claws of yours remind me of an old buddy of mine in the army. He was one tough cookie."
When Lincoln heard what Pop-pop said about a tough guy with claws, one person came to mind, "Logan?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Because-because, he's family too."
Albert was confused, "What do you mean kiddo?"
"When my powers came, Lisa said the reason why I had this was because Dad's real father is some guy called Logan Howlett."
"What?", Albert was surprised, "Logan, out of all them men in the world is Lynn's father?"
"You knew him?"
"Yeah, I knew him a while back. We were pretty good friends actually. You don't know much about him do ya?"
Lincoln sadly shook his head, "I only know he's got the same things I know about him is that he's got the same powers me, Luna, Lynn and Lana have", then Lincoln got an idea, "Hey, you were friends with him, right Pop-pop?"
"Sure did."
"Do you think you could tell me what he's like?"
Albert smiled, "Sure thing kiddo."
Lincoln smiled, as he packed up his stuff into his art supply bag and followed his grandfather to the end of the pier.
There the two then sat down on a bench overlooking the Pacific ocean.
"So Pop-pop, what was Logan like? How did you two know each other?"
"Well, we met back in the army", Albert was now thinking back to his time in the military.
Vietnam, 1968
The war was still going on as more and more Americans landing in Vietnam in choppers.
One of the soldiers landing was a young white haired man, Albert, been in the army for less than a few years. This was his first wars he's fought it so far, he didn't know if he was gonna return dead or alive. One thing was for sure, he was in for one hell of a ride.
He was sent to one of the bases in the jungle a few miles outside of Siagon near a river.
He didn't really know what to expect here, or if he'll even get out of there alive.
Albert saw a few soldiers drinking, playing cards, and even barbecuing steaks and playing some music on the radio.
Not exactly what you'd expect to see when join the army in a country at war.
The sky was full of american helicopters carrying soldiers heading towards the war zones.
Seeing those choppers and the thought that he was gonna be doing the same thing and could get hurt made his blood run cold.
He was fine flying some of the army's war planes such as A-1 Skyraider, but he never thought he would be fighting on the ground.
He just arrived, and was already having second thoughts about his transfer to the country.
"Excuse me", Albert heard the voice that made him snap back to reality and saw the source of the voice was an army women with blond hair, "Albert Thomas?"
"Yes."
"You were staring into space. You shouldn't do that in a place like this."
"Oh, i'm so sorry, Miss..."
"Sargent Raven Darkhölme. Please come with me."
Albert then followed her to one of the cabins for the soldiers to sleep as many of them were returning to their bunks, "Your bed has your name on it."
"Thank you."
Albert headed inside and walked across the cabin to try and find an empty bed towards the center. He found his bed and dropped his stuff. His bed was next to a fellow solider in his 20's or 30's with black hair with slightly trimmed facial hair.
The man saw the worried look on young Al's face, "Nervous?"
"What makes you say that?"
The man sighed, "Cuz that's the look new guys always have when they get here bub."
"How long have you been here?"
"Ever since this damn war started. Just keep your head up and your feet dry. You'll survive."
Albert then reached his arm out to his bunk neighbor, "I'm Albert."
Seeing this, he accepted his greeting, "Logan."
Then at that moment, another man then hopped on top of the bunk above Logan. He was about an inch taller than, had short dark brown hair, and slightly trimmed facial hair similar to Logan. He also appeared to have unusually long and sharp looking fingernails on all of his fingers that resembled the claws of a tiger. He looked at Albert and even sniffed the air once and made a toothy smirk, showing he had canine teeth that almost looked like fangs, "Fresh meat."
"Victor, easy."
With that said, Victor didn't escalate anything.
"Friend of your's?", asked Albert.
"No, brother", Logan responded.
"He had a brother?", Lincoln asked surprised.
"Yup. His name was Victor Creed. He was a mutant too", Albert confirmed.
"Wait. They told you?"
"No, not right there. I saw it for myself when we were sent out on our first battle."
After some time after Albert arrived, they were all deployed into the war.
The solders were all walking in formation for any signs of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
Albert was trailing right behind Victor and Logan. Al saw the eager look in Victor's eyes for action.
"Is he always like that?", Albert whispered to Logan.
"All the time", Logan answered.
Albert looked over at Victor, a vicious animal always ready to pounce.
As time went on and on for a few days, and nothing. It really just seemed like they were just walking with guns to scare others. A massive waste of time.
Suddenly, they were met with by the sounds of riffles and bullets flying towards them and even a soldier next to Albert was hit and dropped dead.
"TAKE COVER!", shouted their Lieutenant as they all dropped to the ground as the rain of bullets continued and even several explosives dropped from above.
It was the moment Victor was waiting for, he immediately picked up his riffle and started firing like a mad man.
Logan and Albert followed suit, aiming their firearms at the enemy and started firing back.
But they were very out numbered as the enemy threw grenades and guerrilla warfare, taking out many of their own.
"Retreat!", their Lieutenant commanded. The troops pulled back and ran out.
But Victor didn't budge, in fact, he went a step further. Victor then ran towards the opposing soldiers, still firing his machine gun.
Logan and Albert ran back into the deep jungle, but Logan stopped when he saw that Victor wasn't there.
Albert saw him, "Logan what are doing?"
"You head back, I'll meet you at base", Logan then ran back into the fight to find his brother.
Victor on the other hand was running straight through on all fours beyond enemy lines. He climbed a high tree with ease like a cat and waited at the top, as he saw enemy soldiers approaching.
As the enemy soldiers were charging after his troop, Victor let out an animal roar as he jumped from the tree and gets the drop on them as he plunges his claws into several soldiers.
Some tired to shoot Victor, but Victor clawed them and even bit some of their throats out.
One was able to shoot Victor in the shoulder, but the wound did nothing. He simply removed the bullet from his wound as it healed in a matter of seconds. He then pounced at the shooter.
Logan was still running through the jungle, following the sent of his brother.
But before he could get closer, he was shot in the chest by a sniper as other enemy shoulders quickly charged towards him.
Like his brother, his bullet wound healed but was quickly met by enemy troops surrounding him and took away his gun. It appeared he was about to be taken prisoner of war.
But Logan had a trick or two up his sleeve, or in this case his forearms.
He jumped up and slashed a shoulder's neck and stabbed another in the chest and threw him to another. While Logan was preoccupied with the men infront of him, he didn't see that another was approaching him from behind raising his riffle.
He was about to shoot, but he was quickly struck in the face by the back end of a riffle. Logan turned around to see that the one who took out the man behind him was Albert, "Al? The hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help Logan", Albert looked down to see three bone claws coming from both of Logan's knuckles, "What's..."
Logan quickly retracted his claws, "It's nothing", Logan sniffed the air and headed back to find his brother, "Al, go back, I got this."
As Logan ran back, Albert quickly followed him, "I'm coming with you."
"No your not!"
"Logan, let me help!"
Logan was starting to get annoyed, "Al, this is none of your business!"
"I know but your brother's really important to you, and i'm not gonna stand around while you risk your own life. I wanna help you."
While Logan didn't want to get Albert involved, he was touched that someone genuinely wanted to help him.
Logan huffed, "Alright, stay close."
Albert agreed, as he followed Logan. While running, Albert wondered how Logan knew where to find Victor, let alone how he got those bone things in his hands. But this wasn't the time to question him.
Soon in the distance, they found Victor. When they finally caught up to him, Victor had already killed several enemy soldiers and was still attacking them. He even managed to take one soldier's head off.
"VICTOR!", Logan ran up to his brother and grabbed his arm, "That's enough!"
Then the two's attention was shifted to the sounds of planes coming from the north.
"Guys!", the brothers turned around to see Albert looking at the sky and saw the planes were low and were armed, "It's a raid!"
Seeing this, the brothers and Albert then ran as fast as they could out.
While they were almost back at base, there was the sound of a gun and Albert fell to the ground with a sharp pain through the right side of his back.
Logan stopped, "Al!", he quickly ran back and saw that he was shot and that the bullet was still inside him.
"Jimmy! Leave him, he'll just slow us down", Victor said.
Al couldn't get back up, the pain was too much and he couldn't stand. Logan picked him up, "Hold on tight", and Logan carried Al in his arms.
Victor was annoyed with this and just kept running with Logan following close behind.
Albert could barely think of anything else but the pain of his gunshot wound, but looked behind Logan to see that the enemy's planes were dropping bombs in the spot were he was and more were being dropped closer and closer.
Logan turned back as saw more explosions and pushed himself to get him and Albert to safety.
But Logan couldn't out run the enemy planes that were rapidly approaching. One of the last planes managed to drop one final bomb, and exploded just several mere feet behind Logan. Logan used his own body to shield Albert from the explosion. The force of the blast catapulted Logan and Albert several feet.
The two landed in an open spot near a river.
Albert was fine aside from his gunshot wound, but Logan was horrific sight.
Logan's backside of his torso and legs were covered in second and third degree burns and the back of his clothes were charred. Albert heard Logan grunting in pain as he tried to get up.
Albert managed to drag himself using his arms to check on Logan, "Help! Some please help!", Albert shouted for one of his fellow troops to come help.
Bu before anyone came, he looked up to see Logan slowly getting back up onto his feet. Albert was facing Logan's back as he saw the most unusual thing. He saw Logan's red charred burned and blistered skin began to change back to normal as his blisters began to shrink and dissolve back into his skin. In less than a minute, Logan appeared to be back to normal, as if his injury never happened.
Logan turned back and saw Albert on the ground with a look of utter shock on his face, "How..."
Before Albert could finish, Victor and the other troops arrived on the scene to help Logan and Albert. They saw Logan's clothes were burned but he appeared to be alright.
The medical troops came to Albert and put him on a makeshift carrier out of wood and cloth.
As Albert was carried away back to base for medical treatment, Logan followed him.
Lincoln was amazed at his grandfather's tale in Vietnam.
"He saved your life? That's amazing! But how come you we'rent afraid of him when you saw him heal?"
Albert just smiled, "He saved my life. Who am I to judge? You can't judge a book by it's cover. He had a good heart Lincoln."
"Wow, he sounds like a really great guy."
"He was. I was the only one he trusted with his and Victor's secret. Logan told me he got his claws when he was about your age."
"Really? How old was he when you guys met?"
"Well, he said he was over a hundred years old."
Lincoln was amazed, "A Hundred Years old?!"
"That's what he told me. He said he and Victor fought in almost every major war from the Civil War onward. They even fought together in D-Day and Logan was in Japan during the Atomic Bomb in Nagasaki."
"Wow! That's incredible! He's like an all time veteran. What about Victor, were you close to him too?"
"Not really, Victor was a completely different story", Albert took a pause as he tried to explain Logan's brother, "While, Logan did have animal-like abilities, but Victor... he was truly an animal. He loves all the fighting and bloodshed we all had to witness on the front line. And once he fights, he doesn't stop until he's won. Logan told me never get on his brother's bad side."
"Is that why you ended your friendship with him?"
"No, me and Logan were still friends, but Victor was the reason why I never really heard from either one of them."
"What happened?"
Albert sighed, "It was a few years after I arrived. We were all sent out again."
1971
The troops just landed at a small village, but things were not going as planned.
While Albert was speaking with Logan as another chopper landed, Victor was up to other things. They heard the scream of a young lady from a far. At first, they thought it was someone screaming just at the sight of guns, but Logan sniffed the air and smelled his brother, "Victor."
Albert couldn't hear what Logan said lightly, "What?"
Knowing his brother, Logan started running as fast as he could, following the sent of his mutant brother.
"Logan! Wait!", Albert the ran after his friend as others followed Al.
In the village, Victor was carrying a young Vietnamese women into a hut and threw her onto a bed. The women was afraid as Victor had plans for her.
The women's screams caught the attention of one of the senior officers nearby, he ran towards her screams and saw Victor, "Stand down soldier!".
As the officer ran up behind Victor, Victor immediately turned around and plunged his fingernail claws deep into the officers chest, killing him.
There, other soldiers nearby saw Victor murder the officer and then immediately charging at him, pointing their guns at him, Victor just kept attacking them, sinking his claws into their throats. Victor even appeared to be getting a kick out of slaughtering the other soldiers.
"VICTOR!", Logan then tried to intervene and pushed several men away from his brother, but still more came and Victor just kept on killing them.
Albert just made it and even tried to help Logan as the men pointed their guns at the brothers.
Logan ran behind his brother and popped his bone claws towards the men while Victor let out a growl-like roar, trying to stand their ground.
The two mutants were surrounded, one move and they'll be shot. Albert just arrived, but there wasn't anything he could do.
A month later, both Victor and Logan were charged with killing a senior officer. Their sentence was for them to be executed by firing squad.
The next day was the day of their execution. The two were tied to wood stands as the firing squad were loading their riffles.
"Ready?" shouted the lieutenant.
"Wake me when it's over", Victor said.
Logan didn't say anything.
Then the clock struck the hour of Ten that morning.
"FIRE!"
Victor let a roar-like yell as the guns went off.
Albert heard this and chills ran down his spine. Knowing Logan and his brother's secret, he knew that they'll survive, but what worried him was how they would treat them once they saw their gifts.
Later that afternoon, Albert snuck off to the cell house were Logan and Victor were being held.
"Excuse me", Albert turned around to see a high ranked man in a military suit and tie standing behind him, "What are you doing?"
"N-nothing, Mr...", Albert looked at the man's name tag, "Stryker."
"That's Colonel Stryker", he said, "Now get out of here or else, this is a classified matter."
Albert didn't want any trouble with Colonel Stryker, so he cooperated and headed back to the base.
A few hours later, Albert was at the airstrip of the base when he saw Logan and Victor with duffel bags boarding a Lockheed C-5.
Albert ran up to the plane, "Logan!", Logan turned around to see Albert coming towards the plane, "They let you go?"
"Looks like", Logan said.
"What happened?"
"A guy come to see us."
"Colonel Stryker?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I-I tried to see you guys to check if you were okay, and he saw me."
"Did he?", Albert nodded, "When they saw me and Victor survived, they called Stryker because he's the guy who knows about mutants.
"And he's fine with it?"
"That's what he said. He wants us to join some secret special team of his."
"So your leaving."
"Yeah."
Albert didn't know what to say, "Well, I guess this is good-bye."
"Probably", Logan extended his arm and Albert accepted the handshake, "Good luck to you Al."
"And to you."
"Logan", Stryker said from onboard the plane.
Logan then headed inside the plane as Stryker stood there as the rear door closed looking at Albert.
Minutes later, Albert was far on the tarmac as he saw the C-5 lift off the ground and fade away in the distance.
"That was the last time I ever saw him."
"You never knew what happened to him?", asked Lincoln.
"No. Stryker's team was top secret. No one knew about it or were they were going."
"I'm really sorry Pop-pop."
Albert smiled as he put his hand on his grandson's shoulder, "It's alright Lincoln. Logan always pulled through anything, and I did the same thing after that. It's what kept me going during my time in Vietnam. Then your mother came along and the rest is history."
"Who'd a thought that he made that much of an impact on our lives? You know, once this whole thing blows over, we were planning to head to New York and meet him."
"Really? You know where he is?", Albert asked surprised.
"Yeah, that's the only thing we know about him. He's in New York as part of this mutant team called the X-Men. Do you think that's his secret team?
"I'm not sure. But when you see him, tell him Albert said 'Hi'."
"Hey Al!" called out an elderly man a bit older than Albert with dark glasses, white mustache and combed back hair, "The bus is leaving. First one back on get's the best seats on the plane!"
"I'll be right there Stan!", Albert called back to his friend as he turned back to his grandson.
"Do you really have to go Pop-pop?", Lincoln asked.
"Afraid so", Albert pulled his grandson into a final hug, "Take care of yourself and your sisters kiddo. So long", Lincoln watched his grandfather as he hopped back on his group's tour bus. Albert sat in a window seat and with a smile on his face waved goodbye to his grandson as Lincoln waved back to him as the motor coach drove off into the sunset.
Lincoln then heard Ronnie Anne calling him from behind, "Hey Lincoln! Ready to go?"
He turned around to see Ronnie Anne, Sid and Margo ready to leave, "Yeah", the young boy then ran up to his friends to the bus stop. He couldn't wait to tell his sisters about Pop-pop and Logan.
Meanwhile in Orlando, a man was at the door in his house, having a disagreement with a pizza delivery boy.
"Look would it help if I cut the price in half?" the pizza boy suggested.
"For the hundredth time. I. Did not. Order. The pizza!" the man stated.
"Is this, Seventy-three, forty-eight Red Ledge Drive?"
"Yes"
"Are you Mr. Murdoch?"
"Yes, the Mr. Murdoch, who didn't order, the damn pizza!"
"Then who placed the call?"
Before Murdoch could even say anything, "I did", they heard someone from inside and the sound of a toilet flushing as they saw a college age kid coming down the stairs, who turned out to be Wade wearing an open white bathrobe over his clothes and drying his hands with a rag, "Pepperoni and Bacon?", the pizza boy nodded his head as he held out the pizza, "Meaty and savory."
Murdoch was confused about what's going on, "Who the hell are you? How the hell did you get in...", before he could finish, Wade pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man.
"Is that stuffed crust?", Wade asked the pizza boy while still pointing the gun at Murdoch.
The pizza boy was nervous about the whole situation that just turned, "I-I hope so."
"Look guy", Murdoch said to Wade, "Your breaking into a TSA officer's home. And if you don't leave immediately, I'm gonna need ...", Wade then fired a bullet right next to Murdoch, scaring him. "Yo-you know what, just take what ever you want", the frightening man said as he gave the teen with the gun his wallet.
"Thanks", Wade replied as he accepted the wallet and put tit in his pocket.
"Sir. Uh, before you do anything to him... you uh, mind if I get a big tip?" the pizza boy asked.
"Uh, Sean is it?", the pizza boy nodded and Wade smiled and offered him a fist bump, "Wade Wilson", Sean then returned Wade's fist bump, "That is a no go on the tipero Sean. I'm not here for him", Wade then showed Sean the gold card with his name on it and pointed his gun at him, "I'm here for you."
Murdoch then let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, well if that's it, then can you guys take this outside..."
Wade then bopped Murdoch on the forehead with the front of the gun now pointed at him, "Your not out of the woods yet! You and I need to have a serious talk about what you did to a boy with white hair and his father in their underwear."
Murdoch then remembered what he was talking about, "That? Those jokers underwear streak is violation of ten security rules. We gave them a cavity search for that under se..."
"I will shoot your fucking cat", Wade interrupted him again and put the gun to his forehead, pushing him back down to his knees.
"What are you talking about? I don't have a cat."
"Then whose kitty litter did I just shit in?"
Murdoch didn't really know what to say, so there was an awkward silence.
"Anywho", Wade then shifted his attention back to Sean as he put the gun away and pulled out a big knife, "Tell me something. What situation, isn't improved by pizza?", the teenage merc opened the pizza box and held it open with the knife up to Sean's face, "Do you happen to know a Megan Orflosky, getting that right? Olafsky? Aro-Oro-Orlofsky?"
Sean fearfully nodded.
"Good. Cuz she knows you", Wade said eating a slice, "Sean, I belong to a group of guys who take a dime to beat a fella down", he walked over to Murdoch offering him the slice, but instead deliberately dropped it cheese down onto his carpet floor just before he could grab it. "And little Megan, she's not made of money, but lucky for her, I got a soft spot."
Sean was getting really nervous, "I'm..."
"A stalker. Threats hurt Sean, but not nearly as badly, as serrated steal. So keep away from Megan", Wade pointed the knife at Sean's face as the boy was quivering in fear, "Cool?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Then we're done."
Sean was caught by surprise as he saw him put the knife away, "Wait. You serious?"
"Yeah, totally done."
Wade then starts cracking up from the look on Sean's face and Murdoch's eailer, "You should have seen your face", he said pointing at Murdoch who was fake laughing so Wade wouldn't hurt him.
"I didn't know what else to do", Murdoch said with an uneasy tone.
"Soft spot remember."
Sean was now laughing too.
With the Pizza boy's guard down, Wade suddenly grabbed Sean by the neck and pinned him against the wall, "If you even look in her general direction again! You'll learn in the first of ways, that I have some hard spots too!", he then realized what he just said, "That came out wrong. Or did it?"
Wade then kissed Sean on the cheek, making me start to tear up again.
"Okay. Now can you please leave my house", Murchoh asked.
"Oh no, I an't done with you either", Wade then kneed down to Murdoch, "You see, when I heard you searched my friend and his dad, inside and out that day, that really got to me. You said they broken ten security rules by dancing sweet victory in their tightly whites. Well you playing 'treasure hunt' with them broke god knows how many rules with me. So now, i'm gonna need to talk to you", Wade then put on rubber medical gloves.
Murdoch then knew what the guy was about to do and got scared, "This is not gonna end well for me..."
"This is not gonna end well for you, no", Wade spoke as Murdoch was finishing his sentence.
"Okay, okay, If you want me to apologize, I will just please..."
"A di di di di di di", Wade put his latex covered index finger over the security guard's lips as he hushed him, "Oh your gonna apologize all right. But first, you might wanna look away for this", Wade then slightly pushed the reader's view away from him and Murdoch, facing the reader to Sean still standing against the wall looking, "Now these little piggies are going to..."
Murdoch then screamed like a coward as Sean threw up at the sight.
Alright everybody, that's it.
We got to learn more about Logan's past with his old friend Pop-pop back in Vietnam, and Lincoln got to see Pop-pop again, yay.
The Vietnam scene takes place during the early events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, were both Logan and his brother Victor were fighting in Vietnam where they both met a young Albert. That part of X-Men Origins I kept along with Team X since it took place before Logan left in 1973, shortly after X-Men: Day's of Future Past. Plus that Team X Wade Wilson is actually the uncle of my Wade Wilson (his father's older brother) in the story but he never got turned into Weapon XI (thank god).
In addition to that, I imagined young Albert during his time in the army being voiced by Josh Hutcherson (with a little reference to another one of my favorite movies). His last name of Thomas is from the fanfic story 'Brother in Shade' by Immatureboys.
Lincoln's beach outfit was created by GriffinLee0 on Deviantart.
And another thing you noticed is the ending scene with Wade just like the pizza delivery scene in the movie but different. As you read before, I was very unhappy how the episode 'Legends' ended with Lincoln and his Dad getting a cavity search, and I though who would want to give payback for him (Lincoln doesn't know Wade did this at all, by the way) than our favorite mercenary, Wade, an eye for any eye (Or in this case, something else which I shouldn't say cuz I want to keep this T rating) to the main security guard who stopped them in the episode, who I named Murdoch.
Plus if you noticed, I changed the pizza boy's name to Sean, played by Sean Ryan Fox who voiced Lincoln in the original pilot short of The Loud House in 2014.
Also if you know Marvel movies you know that one of the best parts is the Stan Lee cameo in the film. Stan Lee is one of Albert's friends whose with him and his friends while their visiting LA on this senior trip.
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the voice of Pop-pop, Fred Willard who passed away while I was writing the previous chapter, and since this is the first chapter to have Pop-pop in it, I'd like to dedicate it to Fred.
So leave a comment and tell me what you think and share this story. See you guys soon.
In loving memory of Fred Willard: 1933-2020 and Stan Lee: 1922-2018, R.I.P.