Chapter 2
By, 2280
Disclaimer: Dim and Claire are mine, everyone else belongs to marvel *sigh*
Logan
threw the door to the danger room open in time to see Claire fly through the
air once again as Magneto deflected her attack..
"End
simulation," he bellowed into the air. If he had looked towards the control
room he would have seen the occupation inside it cringe.
"This
isn't going to be pretty is it?" Cable asked.
Jubilee
watched as Logan stalked over to where Claire was lying on the ground. "Nope."
Below
Logan covered the ground behind himself and Claire quickly. He watched as she
rolled over on to her back and looked up at him.
"What
in the HELL do you think your doing?" She growled at him.
"Saving
your sorry hide that's what. If I
hadn't turned the simulation off then Magneto's men would have finished you
off."
Claire
slowly stood up and stood inches away from Logan's face.
"That
would have made things easier on you wouldn't it? Pa." She sneered, not backing
down even when she saw the scowl on his face deepen.
"Watch
it. I never asked for this, but I'm
dealing with it the best I can darlin'"
Claire
did something the people in the booth couldn't believe. She stood inches from an angry Wolverine,
bleeding and wounded, and laughed in his face.
"That
is the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard in my life you pathetic little
hairball!"
"Do
you want to prepare the casket, or should I?" Jubilee asked Remy.
"That's his daughter chere, you don't tink dat he would, um, never mind." He turned and ran toward the danger room as Cable shouted into the mike.
"Logan!
I order you to stop immediately!"
"You
can stuff your orders bub!" Was the only reply they received as they watch
Logan pick Claire up and through her across the room.
"Look,
I've tried to be patient and understanding!" He stalked towards her and picked
her up again, "I've tried to ignore the danger you have put my friends in!" He
tossed her again and she bounced off of the floor, this time rolling into a
crouch.
"There
we go!" she sneered at him. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you
showed what a bastard you are."
"You
think I'm a bastard now? Let's see what
you think when I'm done with ya darlin."
"I'm
not your darlin!" She charged at him, suprising him by bounding over him when
he tried to deliver an upper cut, and kicking him in the back instead.
He
picked himself off of the floor, only to have roll out of the way as she
brought her knee down where his neck used to be.
Turning
he delivered a powerful kick to the upper back, flipping her over.
"That
was good kid, you surprise me. Enjoy
it, cause it will only happen once." They both stood up and circled each other, not pausing when they heard a
pounding on the danger room door.
Remy
pounded on the door, he was sure that they were gonna kill each other.
"Beast!
Open the door!"
"I'm
trying," Beast's voice came over the intercom, "however they have locked the
door. I am trying to break the code."
"Oh,
move over Blue, let someone competent do it. No offense, you're a miracle worker with the body, but you suck with
circuits."
Remy
smiled at Jubilee's candor, if anyone could break the code it was p'tite.
Inside
the to people in combat were oblivious to the fact that everyone was scrambling
to separate them.
"So
is this how you deal with all of your problems? You kill'em?"
"Think
what you want, kid." He reached for her and snagged her arm, only to pull away
when spikes sprung out and pierced his hand.
"Son
of a bitch!" he hollered.
She
spun around and slammed her fist into his face, the force causing him to spin
onto the floor. She gritted her teeth
as she felt the bones in her hand fracture.
He
stood up, shaking his head. "What's the matter girl, get more that you
bargained for?"
p
She
narrowed her eyes and smiled, "let's wait a couple of minutes and then you tell
me." Her head was throbbing, and her ribs ached from when she hit the floor,
but she wasn't going to back down, not now.
Shnick!
p
She
looked up surprised to see, Logan, her estranged father rushing at her with his
claws extended. She quickly pivoted,
pulling a knife out of her boot, and dropped to her knees using her knife to
cut through the tendon at the back of Logan's knee, and he fell with a bellar
to the floor.
Outside
the door Remy jumped when he head Jubilee scream over the intercom "Get in
there now! He's out of control!" The danger room door sprung open and Remy
stopped in his track at what he saw.
Logan
was on his knees leaning over Claire with his claws protruding from her
chest. The oddest thing was that Claire
was laughing.
"What's
the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Logan
made a wheezing noise and fell over onto his side, pulling Claire with him.
Remy
ran forward and grabbed Claire's shoulders and gently lifted her off of Logan's
claws. "Chere? He rolled her over, and
let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw her eyes open and
look at him.
"You
ok chere?"
"I
will be in about a half-hour." She gave a weak smile, and tried to sit up. She fell back down and had to let Remy help
her to her knees.
"Wolvie?"
Jubilee came running into the room, with Beast close behind her. She knelt by his side and got panicky when
he didn't respond.
"Wolvie? What's wrong with him? What did you do?" She turned on Claire.
"I
didn't do anything, he did it to himself," she snarled in return.
"You
better hope he's all right." Jubilee's voice dropped.
"Or
what? You gonna spank me?"
No
one had time to blink as Jubilee paffed Claire hard enough to knock her to the
ground.
"P'tite!
Stop it!" Remy yelled, reaching down to help Claire up again.
"I'm
gonna let that one slide kid, the next time I retaliate." She wiped blood out
of the corner of her mouth. She turned her head as Remy lead her out of the
danger room on Beast's urging, "next time, all bets are off."
Claire lay in the medlab, again and waited
for someone to come stitch her wounds shut. She looked at the door to see Kurt walk in.
'Great,'
she thought, 'the priest, just what I need.'
"You
seem to have quite the vound there fraulin."
"That's
usually what happens when someone stabs you with s set of six inch knives that
can cut through steel like butter."
He
raised one blue eyebrow. "I can see zat ziss hasn't improved your temperament."
"It
took me years to perfect this attitude problem, why would I go and change it?"
Claire sneered at him.
He
shook his head as he put gloves on and came to inspect her wounds. He pulled down her uniform to look at her
shoulder. The puncture wounds were
clean, there wasn't much tearing, but they were deep. Not that Claire had too much to worry about in the line of
infection, but the bleeding needed to be stopped.
He
picked up a needle and threat, "I'm zorry, but zis may hurt a little."
"Why
are you sorry? It's not like you'll be
the first to hurt me, and certainly not today."
Her
tone caused him to pause and look at her, but her eyes were hard as she looked
at him. "I apologize because I do not
ever enjoy inflicting pain on another, I'm not like that."
The
corner of her mouth rose a little, "Ohhh, so the little choir boy has a nasty
streak? I have to say I didn't see that
one coming." She smirked.
He
laughed softly as he bent over her chest to insert the needle, plying it in
time with the rise and fall of her breath.
"So
aren't you gonna miss it?"
"Miss
vhat?"
"Sex."
He
paused midstroke to look at her. "I am sure zat at times I shall miss it,
however I feel that ziss is my calling."
p
"Your
calling? Is that how you justify it?"
He
sighed deeply and sat back, so he could look at the woman who was staring at
him so skeptically.
"Vhat
do you mean 'justify it'?"
"You
know what I mean, your running, giving up. You haven't been able to make a difference this way," she indicated her
war battered body, "so you've decided to run and try another way, haven't you?"
"Zis
may surprise you, but I have somezing called 'faith', I know zat god shall
watch over me, and I in turn shall watch over all of you."
He
felt his anger rise when Claire snorted in response. This girl was so ungrateful, such a loose cannon, she had no
respect for anything, he thought. He never got a chance to respond however as
Professor Xavier came into the room.
A
very angry Charles Xavier. "Would you
mind telling me what that little spectacle was about Claire." He stopped in
front of her with a sever frown on his face.
"It
appears that Logan and I tried to kick each other's asses, but I could be
wrong."
He
took a deep calming breath before continuing. "I realize that your situation is, different, than many of the people
here, you life has been much different and I have tried to make allowances, this
cannot and will not be tolerated. X-men do not fight X-men."
Claire
sat up quickly popping the stitches that Kurt and just put in. She swung her
legs over the edge of the bed and leaned forward so she was eye to eye with
Xavier.
"Really? Would you mind telling me when exactly this
rule was instated? I think I missed the
memo."
"We
have never fought within the team."
"That
is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard coming out of your mouth. Do you want to know the real reason why this
team doesn't operate? The real reason
why you can't achieve your 'dream'?"
Charles's
eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything so she continued.
"You
people can't even get along amongst yourselves, you fight and you bicker about
petty grievances. You focus on winning
small battles instead of winning the war. That fact is the very reason why you never truly beat your
adversaries. You fight by this code of
ethics and morals, and what has it gotten? Your friends killed, that is all it has gotten you." She hissed at him.
"You
couldn't stop Magneto until you blurred the lines between right and wrong, so
you know that I'm right, but your so afraid to become one of them that you hold
onto these ridiculous notions of right and wrong. Guess what Charlie, he's back, he's pissed, and guess who he's
coming after? It's not me, it's you. So
why is it that I'm the only one who sees the truth here?"
"And
what truth would that be?"
"The
dream is dead. And if you don't wake up
so are your precious X-men. For years
you couldn't cure the legacy virus, but someone who you call a terrorist and a
madwoman provided you with it only because she was willing to use means you
wouldn't. What good are your morals if
you're too dead to use them Charlie, tell me that."
As
Kurt watched the exchange he saw something in Professor Xavier's face that he
never thought he would see—defeat. With
out a word he turned and left the medlab. Apparently it surprised Claire too for she sat there for a moment with
her back to him, head bowed. He reached
forward and put his hand on her shoulder causing her to jump.
"You
need to lay down so I can fix zee stitches."
"Hmm?
Oh, yeah." She stared at the ceiling for a moment while he worked at repairing
the damage.
"Do
you really believe that?" Kurt finally asked her.
"Believe
what?"
p
"Vat
you said."
She
gave a bitter laugh. "I don't believe in anything Kurt, not anymore."
"When
did you lose your faith?"
"In
what? In god or humanity?"
"Both?"
"I
lost my faith in humanity as soon as I realized they would kill me as soon as
look at me, now I know I have to get them before they get me. When you lived a life that I have you grow
up fast, and you see things for what they really are, no illusions."
He
looked up, "you are not the only one who has had a hard life frauline."
"Kurt,
you're a nice guy, but you don't know anything about me, so stuff it."
He
was silent for a moment as he tied off the stitch and placed a bandage over
it. He walked over to the garbage and
took the gloves off. He turned back to her to see her getting off of the table
and head towards the door.
"I'll
be outside getting some air if anyone wants me."
"Claire?"
She
turned, "Yeah?"
"What
about God?"
She
gave him a bitter smile, "it's more like he gave up on me." She walked out and
let the door swing shut behind her, leaving Kurt to ponder what she said.