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Ch. 4 – New Beginnings

Slash woke again in the infirmary. As he glanced around, the beds that Wolverine and Gambit occupied were both empty. Cyclops was still next to him, but he was sitting up.

"Good morning sharpshooter. Takes a lot to take me down. I'm Cyclops, leader of the X-Men."

"I thought Xavier was in charge."

"He is. I'm just the one who usually leads the missions in the field. Like our attempt to rescue you was my operation. You did a good job resisting us."

"It wasn't that. You guys surprised me. I mean, I had never seen anything like you guys. Your plane, the African American woman with white hair, and your approach all surprised me. I targeted you because in training we are told to shoot first and take down the leader. Guess my aim was a bit off. I was targeting to kill, and not wound."

"My wife would be glad that you didn't kill me."

"Who is your wife?"

"Jean. She's the one with…"

"Oh yeah. I know her. Xavier and Jean came in to check on me when I was last awake. You have quite a woman there Cyke. Take good care of her. I lost mine…" His voice began to crack. "You never know how much you truly love them…until they are gone." Tears welled up in Slash's eyes.

"I'm sorry Slash. Jean has been abducted from me many times, but I got her back."

"Tell her you love her Cyke, every opportunity. My love was taken from me. Her last words were that she loved me. But I have sworn to avenge her death. I will find who tipped my mutant identity and personally execute him. I mean I know over 200 ways to kill a man. One of them has to work."

"Sounds like my kinda guy." Wolverine entered to check on them.

"Must be good to have that healing factor Logan. I could use some right now."

"You'll be fine One Eye." He then turned to Slash. "You owe me one pal. I'm mad as all get out with you. As soon as Beast clears it, you and me are goin' one on one in The Danger Room."

"And that would be now. I believe our Lieutenant has been cleared to leave the infirmary. Cyclops will be ready within the next few days." Beast came out of nowhere to make his normal rounds to check on Slash and Cyclops.

"Well then. Want the nickel and dime tour? It won't even cost you fifteen cents."

"I would be happy to Wolverine. Just tell me about this Danger Room."

"I'd be happy to." A big smile spread across Wolverine's face as the door shut behind them.

"What happened to Wolverine that I don't know about?"

"Let's say that our SEAL friend happens to be an excellent marksman. He shot Wolverine with a Colt Carbine. Not only did he do that, he hit Wolverine with 17 out of 20 rounds. At a range of a quarter mile."

"Hmm. Slash doesn't know what he has gotten himself into…"

Wolverine took Slash to the Rec Room, where Gambit and Storm were watching TV.

"Ah, the white haired African American. Greetings ma'am. My name is Slash."

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ororo Munroe. But I am called Storm because I control the elements."

"Wow. Don't want to make you mad then. Heh heh. It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Munroe."

"Gambit tink Wolverine could use some lesson in manners from our Naval friend."

"Grrr. I can silence that voice Cajun. The hard way." Wolverine drew his claws.

"That's impressive. We could have used you in the teams. You're a man after my own heart."

"We'll see if your wussie military training can handle these babies."
"You're on!"

"Follow me."

Wolverine was going to take Slash to the Danger Room, but Xavier intercepted them.

"Logan, Slash will be along shortly. I have to take him to his quarters."

"Sure thing. But don't think that this makes us even bub." Wolverine took a side corridor, and headed off to the Danger Room.

"Touchy little guy. You think he's still holding a grudge that I shot him?"

"Logan has many issues to deal with. His past has been erased, so until after a certain time, he has no knowledge of what his past is." They stopped in front of a door. "Here we are. Before we go in, I want to tell you that we can easily redecorate."

Slash was confused, but he nodded. The door opened, and Slash realized why Xavier had said that. On the front wall was his three guns, neatly cleaned and hung carefully on the wall. Beast created a shadowbox for his medals, since Slash would no longer be in the military. That sat neatly under the guns. Gambit had flown back to Virginia and the wreckage of the house to find things that had survived the fire. Matt's medals had been in a firebox, and they were in their medal cases next to the shadowbox. Above the closet, which housed his new uniform of the X-Men, was the SEAL emblem: the Eagle and Trident. Next to his washbasin was a picture Gambit found, and enhanced. It was the wedding day of Erin and Matt from many years before. On the bed was his new uniform, designed by Xavier: A camouflage top with his name "SLASH" over the right breast pocket (with the X-Men logo on the shoulders), and olive drab spandex pants would be his uniform for this command, the X-Men. A quivering smile broke over his face, as he again shed tears.

"Does it meet your satisfaction? Do we need to change anything?"

"No, it's fine."

"ARE WE GONNA FIGHT OR AM I GOING TO GET YOU IN THERE? " came an impatient sounding Wolverine over the intercom.

"Let's get it ON!" came the reply from Slash, as he had changed into his new uniform. He found a new team to belong to, similar to the SEAL brotherhood he recently worked for: the X-Men.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.