As soon as Storm left the room, Kitty switched back to the information on the disk.
"OK, as I said that was the only information on Logan. The name given for the soldier was John Logan. His rank is listed as Sergeant," Kitty said. "The rest of the information doesn't make much sense. It's mostly seems to be some kind of financial information for some government agency referred to as S.H.E.I.L.D. It doesn't say what they want with John Logan, though."
"All right," said Bobby, "I say we get online and see what we can find on one Sergeant John Logan. Ms. Monroe did say to work on history. WWII would count wouldn't it?"
"I'll get into Canadian Army records," said Kitty.
"I'll look into this Madripoor place," said St. John sitting down at another computer.
"Rogue and I'll look up American military records of the time," said Bobby as he and Rogue grabbed the third computer.
-----
Around the walls of the school crept a small army of men in masks. They kept to the shadows taking advantage of the growing dark as the sun set in the west. Their orders were to wait until dark and then take the one named Logan alive. Anyone else was expendable.
Ogun sat on a low hanging branch with his men around him. 'Soon my old 'friend'. Soon' he thought to himself.
-----
Logan looked at the man who stood in front of him. He was 6' tall with black hair greying in places and a patch over one eye. He was smoking a cigar and looking like he'd seen a ghost.
'Do I know him?' Logan asked himself. He took a deep breath through his nose letting the air swirl around in the back of this throat. 'The scent is familiar. I know that smell.'
Lurker
**********
Their plan might have worked if the house they were surrounding didn't contain one of the strongest telepaths in the world. Unfortunately for them, this one did. The professor had been observing the reactions from Logan and Colonel Fury when he felt the strange minds. Dozens of strange minds. They were after Logan, and they were going to attack the school.
~Students, this is Professor Xavier. Wherever you are, I want you to bolt your doors and close the shutters on your windows. If you are not in an area that can be secured, please move as quickly and quietly as possible to a safer location. Jubilee, join the students in the computer lab.~
-----
It took the girl moving into the house to break his focus on Logan. "Hey, come back here."
"Colonel Fury," the professor said. "Thank you for returning our student, but perhaps it would be best if you left now."
Khaki
**********
Fury wanted to argue but had the same strange feeling he'd had in his previous talk with the Professor, that everything was fine and to just leave. That's why he'd wanted the girl to talk so bad, but she hadn't intimidated easily, and there was only so much he could legally do to her.
As he questioned his impulse to leave now that he had finally found his friend or at least someone who looked enough like him to give him some answers, the lights went out in and around the school. He caught a glimpse of a red haired woman and a man with red sunglasses racing up the hall. Then all hell broke loose.
-----
Jubilee knew she was going to be in trouble when she got back, but a hoard of ninjas? 'Yes Lee, life as a mutant is definitely weird even by California standards.'
She had just made it through the door and turned to fight. Logan and that Fury guy were already outside the front door punching and dodging. She saw one ninja coming up behind Logan and paffed him then stepped outside to get some more. She was careful not to kill them, though that didn't mean that they wouldn't be feeling it for some time to come.
'Who is this guy?' she asked herself as she watched Logan fighting off five ninjas at once. 'He has moves that would turn Jackie Chan green with envy.'
-----
Fury caught glimpses of the people around him fighting. These were definately the same mutants from the Statue of Liberty. The white haired woman was floating in the air while gusts of wind blew the ninjas away from her and lightning struck the ground keeping them away from the school. The man with the strange visor/sunglasses was blasting groups apart and the red haired woman had one just hanging in midair in front of her.
Some noise to his right caught his attention and he looked in awe as some ninjas that had tried to get into the school through an upstairs window were sliding off on a thick sheet of ice with their pajamas on fire thanks to two teenage boys sticking their heads out the window. The boys high-fived then glanced in the Professor's direction before going back inside and closing the window again. Fury was trying not to laugh as he took down another opponent.
He saw Logan fighting beside him with the girl throwing out fireworks as cover. Logan took a sword stroke to his cheek, not being able to move fast enough to avoid it. Fury watched it heal immediately, as he had many times in other fights. Yep, it was definately Logan.
-----
Ogun figured enough playing. He worked his way through the fight to within a couple of feet of Logan and withdrew some small round pellets. He threw them in the middle of the group fighting to defend the front door. The pellets exploded with a bright flash and thick gas formed as the chemicals came in contact with the oxygen in the air. Six people fell down unconscious leaving only the beautiful windrider fighting to defend her friends.
-----
There were just too many of them. Storm did her best but couldn't stop the ninjas from taking Logan, and then the one in the red and black demon mask paused and picked up Jubilee. Storm tried to follow but another pellet was flung at her, and as the gas hit her, she fell to the ground just inside the front gates where the blackness claimed her.
-----
Logan woke up to a deep thrumming sound and the sensation of being on an elevator. He was sore and his head hurt but he was mending. He lay still with his eyes closed, trying to take in his surroundings using his other senses. He was definately on a plane.
"I know you are awake Logan-san. You have no need to pretend with me."
Logan opened his eyes and saw a ninja with a red and black demon mask holding a knife to the neck of a still unconscious Jubilee. Yep, he was on a cargo plane full of ninjas.
"Who are you and what do you want with me? Whatever it is let the girl go and we can settle it," he said to the masked man. It was best to find out what was going on and look for escape possibilities, not that he could see any options.
"I am wounded that you would forget your old teacher Ogun. You are returning with me to be what you once were, my top assassin. As for the girl, she will be insurance and holds potential." He said as he caressed her cheek in a way that made Logan's skin crawl.
"Returning where?" Logan asked.
"Japan," Ogun replied.
Lurker
**********
Jubilee woke when she felt the prick against her neck. Someone was holding her and there was something sharp at her throat. 'Oh, J, this is so not good.'
She slowly let her eyes drift open and immediately regretted it. The light in the plane was making her splitting headache that much worse. 'Wait a second, plane?'
She opened her eyes again to see that she was indeed inside a cargo plane, surrounded by ninjas. Logan was across the aisle talking to the guy holding her. She must be hurt worse than she thought. She couldn't understand a word he was saying. She felt like she was in a bad foreign film, without the subtitles. She half expected Godzilla to grab the plane any second.
"When did you learn Japanese?" she asked Logan.
-----
Nick Fury woke with a splitting headache and looked around. There were teenagers everywhere and the professor and the other people that had been fighting were waking up around him. Wait a second, strike that, Logan and the gal with the sparkler hands were gone.
He grabbed the blonde haired kid that had iced the roof earlier as he walked by. "Where's Logan?"
"They took him. They took Jubilee, too."
"What? We've got to go after them."
The professor spoke, "Colonel Fury, perhaps it would be best..."
"No way, you're not pulling that trick on me again. I know who you are. I know who you all are, and I know that was Logan. I'm going after him and you can join me and help or get outta my way."
Khaki
**********
"Kid, stay still and shut up," Logan growled at Jubilee his eyes never leaving Ogun's face. He wished that he could see the man's face. "They ain't playing with a full deck. Not if they think I'll do their killing for them."
Jubilee wanted to yell and kick and scream, but the way Logan said it, she listened.
"Oh I am quite sane, and you will kill for me," Ogun replied again in Japanese.
Logan tested the chains holding his arms, but there was no way to get his claws out and do any damage. Jubilee's hands were behind her and she couldn't use her powers either. Ogun motioned to one of the masked ninjas and a cloth with a strong smell was tied over Logan's face. Jubilee's face was the last thing he saw as he slipped back into unconsciousness. 'Is my past worth this?' was the last thought to make its way through his head.
-----
Jubilee watched them drug Logan and he didn't fight it! She started to struggle, and the dude with mask just tightened his hold and laughed. The ninja that just finished with Logan came towards her. She kicked at him, but he maneuvered around it, and another wet rag was put over her mouth. She went out like a light.
-----
Jubilee felt a cold hardness under her. It was quiet and still. Slowly she opened her eyes. She was alone in a cell somewhere. There was one window high on the wall, and bars on the door. She got up to look out the window since no one appeared to be in the corridor in front of her cell.
She saw Logan in what looked like a garden, tied upright between two stakes. He was being beaten, and it looked like it had been going on for some time. He also didn't look like he was healing right away. The masked man sat and watched along with another Japanese man, and the place was full of ninjas and some other tough looking guys. A man in a monk's robe stood near Logan though he wasn't talking to him, just looking really hard. She had to get out, but her hands were still tied behind her. She couldn't use her powers, and she couldn't pick the lock. So she watched.
As the day progressed, the anger grew in her stomach as they just kept it up. At one point a beautiful woman in traditional Japanese clothing came out to sit by the Japanese man.
"Bitch," Jubilee hissed under her breath, "Probably his girlfriend coming to watch the show".
Later a man approached. He wasn't a ninja but more a suit and tie type. He bowed low, spoke, and handed a file to the now red in the face Japanese man. Even Mask Boy turned his attention away from Logan for a time. "Oh poor babies, bad news? Believe me once I'm out of here you'll have bad news," Jubilee mumbled to herself as she pulled against the ropes around her hands for the hundredth time that day and for the hundredth time they stayed put.
The Japanese man was up and motioning to henchmen to follow. Even Masked Man got up after giving orders to the ninjas. Some went with him and a few stayed but they stopped beating on Logan and just left him hanging. Jubilee noticed that the woman stayed, though her face unreadable. Finally as the sun was setting and Jubilee could hear cars pulling away, she too left. That was when the rain started, the cold spring kind. They still hadn't taken Logan down. He just stood there and so did Jubilee.
There was the sound of footsteps approaching her cell. A ninja and a woman with a tray of food came in.
"Lady Mariko has ordered to feed you. She has also ordered that you not be harmed." Miko said.
Jubilee looked at the food and hungry as she was, she didn't trust them. On the other hand they had to untie her to eat right?
"Sure," she said as she started to turn her back to the woman. Miko untied her but as she turn around to attack there was the ninja's sword less than an inch from her throat. He shook his head and at that point English, Japanese, Polish, it didn't matter. She understood perfectly.
Jubilee ate quickly and was retied before they left. She went back to her post at the window. No one seemed to be feeding Logan and the rain still came down.
-----
Mariko had been sitting by her father when the foreigner, Logan, was being disciplined for leaving all those years ago. He bore it as silently as possible with only a few grunts and groans. When he lost consciousness they would pause to let him heal and start again. She hated it. There was a nobility to this man and her father was being a fool.
Then one of the men from the Madripoor office came and made a report that a rival gang had taken over part of her father's territory there. He went through the roof. He and Ogun made plans to leave immediately for Madripoor and teach the competition proper respect. It felt wrong to Mariko, but there was no stopping her father, and it gave her an opportunity to at least protect the girl for now. As soon as the men had left she ordered that the girl not be touched. Unfortunately, she had been ordered not to move or feed Logan until Ogun's return.
-----
Two days had passed and no word from her father. Then came word that he had disappeared in Madripoor and the worst was assumed.
"Lady Mariko, you should contact your cousin," Miko said softly to her mistress.
"No time," said Mariko as she put on her sword. "He may be the my only male relative, but he is out of the country now."
Ogun was behind this, she knew. She had to solidify her hold as her father's daughter and head of the family. She knew that her father was dead, Ogun would not have left him otherwise. Why her father had chosen to align himself with criminals simply for profit, she didn't understand. He had sold her family's honor. Theirs was one of the oldest samurai clans in Japan.
She would need help and the man staked out in her garden was that help. The ninjas feared him even as they beat him daily. She and Miko heard the stories whispered among them of his past battles and skill. He did not deserve what was being done to him. She knew the story as to why he had left Ogun. He had been ordered to kill a woman and two children simply because a client had wanted to pressure the husband. He had refused and exposed the client to the authorities instead.
She was going to get him out of there.
Lurker
**********
"Ok, I'll need your security camera footage. A place like this, you've got security cameras, right? I also need any information you have on why ninjas would be interested in Logan." Nick Fury was taking charge so as not to waste a moment in the search.
"Wait a second," Scott interrupted. "Who're you to be giving us orders."
"Look, kid. Logan and I were kicking butt long before you were born. I think I have a little more experience. Plus I do have some resources you don't have available. First thing we have to figure out is who that guy in the mask is. If I can get a good picture of it, I can send it to my people and track down the owner..."
The professor interrupted. "Scott, it's obvious that we've been discovered. It's pointless to withhold any help we can give that would help return Logan and Jubilee. Scott, Ororo, get the security footage and pull out any good shots you can. Jean, get Rogue and sit down with Colonel Fury. I want you to tell him everything we know about Logan. I'm going to Cerebro."
-----
Two days later, they'd still found nothing. The mask was an ancient samurai headpiece that had been on display in the British Museum until about 50 years ago, when it'd been stolen. It hadn't been seen since.
The information that Jean and Rogue had on Logan was sketchy at best and didn't extend past 15 years ago.
The Professor had been unable to locate them with Cerebro. At first he picked up a few stray thoughts, but the link disappeared before he had a chance to find a location. He thought perhaps they'd been rendered unconscious.
Now, however, they could be anywhere in the world. That was a lot of minds to go through. He was exhausted and he wasn't even through U.S. and Canada. A standard search expanding out from Westchester just wasn't going to work.
Ninjas had attacked them. Maybe he should focus his attention on Japan. The professor put the Cerebro headpiece on and went back to work.
Khaki
**********
Jubilee stared helplessly at the figure outside of her cell.
'He doesn't look so hot,' Jubilee thought.
Jubilee slumped down to the cot that was serving as her bed for now. She looked around at the room.
'What am I doin'? They want me confused and scared by staring at Logan. They're trying to scare me into not escaping. I can get rid of these ropes! It's the oldest trick in the book. Argh! And I fell for it,' Jubilee shouted in her mind at her lack of thought.
Jubilee kneeled down on the ground and fell to one side and brought her knees up and extended her arms so that she could bring her arms through her legs.
'Ah-ha! Did it, eat that you second rate bunch of ninjas.'
Jubilee then started to attack the rope on her hands with her teeth savagely.
Sparrow
**********
"Marie, you alright, chere?"
"Ah'm okay, Remy. Jus' worried 'bout Logan."
"Dat's understandable. Remy want to help out if he can."
"Ah don't know how ya could."
"Well I hear somethin' bout a mask dat was stolen. I might be able to get some info 'bout it."
Jason Barnett
**********
Miko came quietly down to the cell and paused to watch the American teen trying to eat her way through the ropes.
"Perhaps this will make things easier?" she asked holding up a knife.
Jubilee nearly jumped out of her skin and had said some very nasty things about sneaky ninjas.
"I am not a ninja child. I am a samurai of the same clan as Lady Mariko and am here to get you out."
-----
Logan sagged in his ropes. The drugs that they had been slipping him in the water they gave him was keeping him confused and his healing factor from working fully. The nightmares were the worst. Unconsciousness brought them on with a vengeance. And for some reason, he couldn't get a berserker rage going. If he could release the beast inside he could get out, but it seemed to have been caged somehow.
He wasn't sure how long he was hanging out there, but he'd survived what those butchers had done to him in his nightmares, and he'd survive this. If he could make them think that he was worse off than he was, maybe they would slip up. Not much of a plan but it was the best he could hope for. He waited, and he hoped.
-----
It was night now and the rain had finally stopped. He heard the soft footsteps coming and stayed still. He heard the thump of a body hitting the ground, and he stayed still. The smell of blood came in his direction. He felt a small hand gently caress his face and smelled the now familiar scent of the beautiful woman who had been watching him since he had first woken up here. Under other circumstances, he'd have asked her out for a drink. Right now, he knew he couldn't trust her. He stayed still.
-----
Mariko stepped over the body of the monk, her sword gleaming in the moonlight. He'd been a telepath in the employment of Ogun, trying to break Logan's mind while the ninjas worked on his body. Now he would not be able to interfere. Her people were in position to take out the remaining handful of ninjas. Ogun had taken his most skilled fighters with him, leaving only a few lesser trained men behind. Her home would be hers again. There was just the matter of uniting her clan and regaining its honor, and for that she needed this man's help.
He looked like he was barely breathing. She reached out and touched his face with her free hand. She meant the touch to see if he was conscious, but it turned into a caress. She was so caught up in the feel of his skin under her fingers that she didn't register at first that he was watching her. Their eyes locked, and she felt herself blush. This was not the time.
"Logan-san," she said softly, "I know that you are a man of honor. I will release you and the girl on condition that you give your word to help me stop a war."
Logan looked her hard in the eye. That touch had affected him more than he wanted to admit, and she was with the enemy. He shouldn't give her his word on anything, but it wasn't just him in this situation. He had dragged that student of Xavier's into it, too. Jubilee didn't deserve this.
"You help me get the girl out of here, and I give you my word." he rasped out.
Mariko cut the ropes and tried to catch him as he fell. Jubilee's hands were helping her as Miko stood guard with her sword drawn. The sounds of fighting could be heard at that point as the samurai clan fought with the ninjas.
"Take him to where the map shows you," Mariko said looking Jubilee in the eye. "Everything you need will be there. I have to help my family now."
Jubilee started pulling and pushing the barely conscious man to a side door in the wall of the garden.
"Come on Logan, let's blow this place."
-----
Nickie stopped outside Col. Fury's quarters and knocked on the door. She heard his muffled "Come in" and stepped in.
"Nickie have a seat," Fury said motioning to the couch.
"You should be getting some sleep," she said.
"I needed to ask you if you knew anything about a man named Charles Xavier."
"He helped discover the X Factor gene, he now lobbies for mutant rights. Yeah I've heard of him" she replied.
"Ya know he's a telepath like you?" Fury asked.
"No I didn't though it makes sense," Nickie replied.
"He runs a school full of mutant kids training them to use their powers. Most of them are runaways. Some of them along with an old friend of mine brought down this Magneto character".
Nickie looked at Fury. They had worked together for a few years now. She knew that she was the only telepath that he trusted in his head and even that was at a minimum. She knew it was due to his need for control and to keep his secrets and not because she was a mutant. She could appreciate that and they had formed a strong friendship.
"A school to train mutant kids. You know, I've been hearing other people's thoughts since ever since I can remember. Before the X Factor gene was discovered they figured I was crazy because I could hear voices in my head. I remember being given medicine to try to make me normal. Afterwards, I was still a freak, only now we knew there was no way to make me normal. I could have used with a school like that. Probably saved me some grief." She said looking Nick in the eye.
Nick looked away and rubbed his eyes to try and lessen the headache he had going. "I've been careful what I've written into any reports, but I need the situation monitored. Think you can keep an eye on this school? So far they've done nothing but help, I just want to be able to say that we were aware of things if need be. I may want to recruit some of his older students too, form a team of our own. It's our job to keep the world safe not civilian vigilantes."
Nickie smiled "I'd love to."
Lurker
**********
'Ok, this guy is, like, really heavy.'
"C'mon, Logan. Think you can help me out? It's just a little further."
She got no response, but he kept stumbling along beside her, so she figured he was doing the best he could.
It had just started to rain again when they finally reached their destination. It was a gazebo. The roof was covered, and as she entered she discovered that it was heated. In one corner, were blankets, towels, and a suitcase. There also appeared to be a jug of water and a container of what smelled like some kind of soup.
She set Logan down by the entrance and went to get the towels. As she started to dry him off, she saw him look up at her.
"Hey, Logan. Think you could eat some soup?"
He nodded.
She got up and grabbed him a bowl of soup.
He reached for the soup with shaky hands.
"Don't sweat it. I'll help you," she said as she held the bowl up to his lips.
-----
Professor Charles Xavier had been searching in Cerebro for hours without a break when he felt it. It was like a haze had suddenly cleared. Like a telepath he hadn't even known had been there was gone and along with him, the shields around the people he was guarding.
He took off the helmet, and to the 'big, round room' he said, "I know where they are."
Khaki
**********
Logan finished the soup with Jubilee's help and leaned his head against the wall. He was starting to feel a little better. He figured it was around midnight. He should be completely recovered by morning.
He opened his eyes again and looked at Jubilee.
"You ok, Kid?" he asked. "They hurt you any?" He didn't see any bruises.
"Don't call me Kid, and I'm fine. Masked Dude was busy with you and then split. Your girlfriend back there put out standing orders to leave me alone." She had noticed the exchange between the two as Miko led her away from the cells even if she couldn't hear what they were saying. Here she was trying to save his butt and he's flirting with bad guy's bimbo.
Logan didn't understand the hostility but let it slide for now. "Sorry to get you into this. I'll get you out and back to the professor and your folks. That's a promise."
Jubilee looked away. "My parents died when I was ten. The only people who care if I live or not are there at the school. They're my family now."
Logan didn't know what to say so he stayed silent. His body wanted to sleep but he knew that they were still in danger. He had to stay awake.
"Why'd you help me?" he asked breaking the silence.
He noticed that Jubilee looked embarrassed. "Marie is my and Kitty's roommate now so that makes her family, and you're special to her so that makes you one of us, too. You like saved her life and like saved the world and then left. Then we were watching the news, and your face was all over it, so when this old dude with an eyepatch and a badge came to talk to Dr. Grey, only she was like gone so he had to talk to the professor, and I heard your name, I like decided to like check him out." She paused for a breath while Logan closed his eyes like he was in pain. "You ok?" Jubilee asked.
"Yeah, Kid, I'm ok. And you still haven't told me how you ended up with Fury."
"I'm getting to that part and DON'T CALL ME KID!" she yelled the last part. "Anyhoo, like I was saying I decided to check him out, so I went out to his car and...." Jubilee proceeded to tell him about her ride in Fury's car and her trip to the helicarrier.
"So Kitty has the files and Fury is connected to S.H.E.I.L.D." Logan said trying to make sure he actually understood the girl.
"Yep. He kept asking about you, but I think it was more personal. I showed me this photo of the two of you together in some war. Looked like you were partying, only it was a really old one. It was black and white and the women you were with looked like they fell out of one of those old black and white movies."
Logan closed his eyes again and tried to take this in. The sound of a twig breaking let him know that someone was coming. He motioned for Jubilee to get back from the door and unsheathed his claws.
-----
Mariko stepped into the gazebo and was greeted by Logan's claws next to her throat.
"Logan-san, you gave me your word you would help." She held out a file.
Logan growled as he put away his claws and opened the file. Inside were pictures of him. He sat back down. He was holding a part of his past. There were a couple of him in samurai clothes, but most were of him wearing an eyepatch?
"What?" he started.
"My family is one of the oldest in Japan, but my father was greedy. He began doing business with various criminal organizations. He is part of a network of crime bosses throughout Asia. Usually each has their own territory, but again my father's greed led to trouble. He began to expand his operations into Madripoor, and this has led to a conflict with the leader of Madripoor's underworld, your acquaintance Tyger Tiger. My father went to settle things, thinking that it would be easy and that she was just a woman, but he's disappeared. My clan thinks that Tyger Tiger caused this and want vengeance. I believe it was Ogun, and that my father is now dead."
"How am I supposed to help?" Logan asked looking up from the photos.
"I want to sit down and call a cease-fire with Tyger Tiger before more people die. You can get close enough to her to set up the meeting. I also need to know what happened to my father, and if he is dead as I fear, as well as proof of Ogun's involvement to show my family. I need you to go to Madripoor as Patch."
"Who's 'Patch'?" Logan asked.
"It was the name you used when you helped make Tyger Tiger the head of the Madripoor crime syndicate sixteen years ago." Mariko told him as she handed him an eyepatch, some money and two plane tickets. "There should be a suit that will fit you and clothes for your companion in the suitcase in the corner. I will meet you there at the Mariott in two days." Mariko got up and left.
Lurker
**********
"Wait a second, I can't take the kid..." Logan started, but Mariko was gone.
"Look," Jubilee said, her jaw clenched. "I'll tell you one last time, and then you're gettin' a face full of paffs. I'm not a kid and I can take care of myself." She picked up the suitcase and brought it over. "Now get dressed and we'll get outta here."
Logan blushed. She couldn't believe it. The big, tough, hard-as-nails guy actually blushed. "I won't look. I'll just sit over here facing the wall. Tell me when you're ready."
A few minutes later, a hand rested on her shoulder. "How do I look?"
She turned around, and couldn't help the giggle from escaping. "Well, the suit's fine, but the patch just screams 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' I don't think you've got it on right."
"This is how it looks in the pictures."
"I guess you're right. It just looks so corny. Ya don't need it, and you probably never did. Why'd ya used to wear it?"
"Don't look at me. I don't remember any of this. Although it feels kinda familiar. Everything about this feels kinda familiar. Who woulda thought. After 15 years wandering around Canada, all I had to do to find out about my past was get on TV."
"Yeah, you coulda gotten a job on those ginsu-knife infomercials and saved yourself a lot of trouble."
"Here, Ki... Jubilee, your turn to change," he said as he handed her the suitcase and sat down to go through their travel papers. The name on his papers made him chuckle. 'Logan W. Patch. Well, that's me, all right.'
The VISAs were good. It'd be hard to tell they were fake even if you were looking for it. 'Now where did that thought come from? How do I know how to spot fake IDs?'
"Ok, ready," Jubilee said.
"Great, let's go."
-----
"They're in Japan." Professor Xavier said.
Scott, Jean, and Ororo exchanged worried glances. Rogue jumped up.
"Ok, let's go get them."
"Rogue," Scott said patiently, "It doesn't work that way. The jet can't get to Japan and back without refueling."
"Ok, let's book a flight."
"Rogue, we're probably going into battle. We can't take you with us."
"Wanna bet? I'm coming and that's final. They've got Jubes and Logan! One of my best friends and a guy who's like another part of me. I can't sit by while they're in trouble. Besides, Japan feels really familiar. Like I've been there before. If these are people from Logan's past, I can help."
-----
The flight had only lasted a few hours, but it'd given Logan a chance to get some shut-eye and he was already feeling better than he had in days.
They dropped their luggage off, what little they had, at their rooms at the Marriott in Hightown. Logan'd wanted to go out and get a feel for the city. It was so familiar and strange at the same time, he couldn't quite get a handle on his feelings. He knew he didn't want to leave Jubilee alone at the hotel, though. He knew enough not to trust this city for a second.
He hailed a cab.
"Hey, bub. Know some places in Lowtown?"
"There's only one place in Lowtown you'd be wantin' to go, Patch. And that's the Princess Bar."
'The Princess Bar.' The name alone made his heart thrill. He'd been there before. "You know me?"
"By reputation only. You've been gone a long time, but people don't forget a guy like you."
"Take us to the Princess Bar."
Khaki
**********
The cab made it's way through the poorer part of town and pulled up in front of a two story building that looked like it had been there for ages. As Logan climbed out and paid the man he took a deep breath. The smells of ocean air, jungle vegetation, and city squaller were so familiar. So was this building.
"So, this is the place?" Jubilee asked after awhile. Logan was just standing there staring and they were definitely drawing attention to themselves.
"I've been here." was all he said and headed through the front doors.
When they entered the place went silent. Everyone was looking at them. Some looked to be in shock, others happy and many just curious. Logan looked around. A giant, old, scarred oak bar took up the length of the room. Behind it hung a mirror and rows of bottles. The place looked faded and battered, it smelled of smoke and spilt whiskey. He felt like he'd come home.
"About time you showed up." said a voice from the bar.
Logan turned to look at her as she moved towards him. She was a petite Asian woman in her late 30's. She wore a rose colored silk dress that plunged here, was cut to there, and clung to her in all the right places. He caught a glimpse of black stocking as she got closer, fastened at the top by a garterbelt? Did women even wear those anymore?
"Tyger?" he asked. She was close now. Her scent was a mix of tropical flowers, exotic spices, and that smell that was uniquely female.
"'Patch'" she said as she reached up and drew his head down into a kiss. Any lingering doubts he had about this place were gone with that kiss. His body definately remembered her even if his mind didn't.
She pulled back from the kiss, and before he could catch his breath, slapped him, leaving a clear handprint across his left cheek.
"That's for not calling," she said as she turned and went back to the bar.
Lurker
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