Chapter 3:

Logan stood in the middle of downtown New York, staring up at the high rise office building in front of him. He double-checked the address that he'd gotten from the Professor before heading inside. Logan was not looking forward to this, but he reminded himself that things could've been worse. After all, the Professor had strongly suggested that Logan bring Scott along with him.

As Logan rode the elevator up to the proper floor, he couldn't help but notice the uneasy and disapproving looks on the faces of the other passengers. Their reactions weren't exactly surprising, since they were all wearing business attire while Logan was dressed in his usual leather jacket and jeans. Logan ignored the stares, keeping his eyes focused on the floor indicator numbers as the elevator rose. He was sure he heard a sigh or two of relief when he finally got off.

Logan strode down the hallway, checking the numbers on the office doors until he found the one he wanted. When he opened the door and stepped inside, he was met by the sight of a young woman with freckles on her nose seated at a desk, her eyes focused on the computer screen in front of her while her fingers typed away at the keyboard. The young woman looked up when Logan entered, and her immediate reaction was very similar to the people on the elevator, her eyes widening somewhat as she took in Logan's appearance. Shortly afterwards, however, her professional training seemed to kick in.

"May I help you?" the young woman asked in a well-rehearsed tone.

"I'm looking for Erin Maguire," Logan replied, wondering if he'd somehow ended up in the wrong building.

"She's in the inner office," the woman said, nodding towards a closed door across the room. "This is the outer office. I'm Ginny, Ms. Maguire's assistant."

Logan was headed across the room towards the inner office door before the assistant even finished speaking.

"She's on the phone with a client right now," the young woman called after him.

But Logan was already opening the door.

It looked as if a hurricane had swept through Erin Maguire's office. Furniture was overturned, papers were scattered everywhere, and there was a large hole in the drywall. Thankfully, the hole hadn't gone completely through the wall and into the office next door. Ms. Maguire herself was standing behind her overturned desk with a cell phone pressed to her ear.

"It's alright, Dr. Banner. It's understandable, given the situation, and nobody got hurt," she was saying as Logan walked in.

Ms. Maguire nearly did a double take when she saw just who was entering her office, but she managed to keep her composure. Even so, she was genuinely surprised to see Logan there. She was also concerned that he may have overheard her addressing a client by name. The names of Ms. Maguire's clients were privileged information. Even her files referred to them by codename only. After all, if word got out that someone moonlighted in tights, so to speak, their family and friends could become targets.

The caller on the other end of the phone was still talking in Ms. Maguire's ear, though she was no longer paying attention to what her client was saying.

"Doctor," Ms. Maguire interrupted, after taking a moment to collect her thoughts, "one of my other clients just walked in. I'm going to have to call you back."

A few more words were exchanged before Ms. Maguire disconnected the call. She then focused her complete attention on Logan.

"If you came here to kill me you would've done it by now, so what can I do for you?" Ms. Maguire asked.

Logan was thrown a bit by her words. After all, most people wouldn't be so casual about the fact that someone had tried to kill them, or that they thought someone had tried to kill them. Ms. Maguire waited patiently for Logan's answer.

"I came to apologize," he said finally. "I was pissed off about the ice cream thing. But I didn't know you were in the car."

Ms. Maguire acknowledged Logan's words with a nod and then said, "Professor Xavier sent you, didn't he?"

"How'd you know?" Logan questioned.

"So he did send you," Ms. Maguire verified.

"Yeah," Logan admitted. "He thought I might've scared you off."

"I don't scare that easily," Ms. Maguire told Logan. "I just know when to give my clients their space."

Ms. Maguire's tone was as level and professional as always. 'Didn't anything rattle this woman?' Logan silently wondered. As he was thinking over the question, his gaze drifted back to the hole in the drywall.

"What happened in here?" Logan asked. "Looks like a tornado came through."

"One of my other clients," Ms. Maguire replied. "You weren't the only one who got burned by that ice cream deal." She turned her attention to the damaged wall and, as if making a mental note to herself, she said, "I'll have to get a contractor in here before the building superintendent finds out. I'm on thin ice with him as it is." Ms. Maguire then turned back to Logan and said, "I don't suppose you'd know if the Professor could recommend someone."

Logan studied the hole in the wall critically before saying, "I could probably patch it for you. Throw on some fresh paint after that and no one would know the difference."

Ms. Maguire studied Logan for a moment, giving him a calculating look. Then her eyes narrowed.

"I don't sleep with clients," she said bluntly.

Logan's jaw dropped.

"Who asked you too?" he questioned, obviously shocked.

"You'd be surprised," Ms. Maguire said dryly. Then she added in a suspicious tone, "And you've never been this nice to me."

Logan felt a flash of annoyance. Here he was, trying to do this woman a favor, and she was questioning his motives.

In a harsh tone, Logan said, "Look, when you first showed up at Xavier's, I didn't know if we could trust you. A lot of good people's lives depend on you keeping your mouth shut. I didn't know if you'd be up for the job we hired you for either. Thought you might turn and run after a week. But you didn't. You stuck with us. And since it looks like you're gonna be around for the long haul, I'm gonna have to start being civil. I owed you an apology anyway. So yeah, I offered to fix the damn wall!"

The expression on Ms. Maguire's face slowly shifted as Logan was talking. She seemed to be genuinely considering his words.

Finally she said, "I had a rough time getting where I am now. When you're a mere mortal dealing with superheroes, it's not easy to earn their respect, especially for a woman."

It wasn't exactly an apology, but Logan could see where Ms. Maguire was coming from. Besides, he'd sort of gotten the impression that Erin Maguire wasn't the type to apologize for anything. Then again, neither was he. Logan was only here now because the Professor had insisted, and he'd figured it wasn't a good idea to say no to someone who had the power of mind control.

"Truce?" Ms. Maguire asked.

Though Logan's initial hostility had cooled, he wasn't about to let Erin Maguire win that easily. It just wasn't his style.

"Tell you what," Logan said, "How 'bout I pick up some supplies and meet you back here, then we get to work on this wall?"

Ms. Maguire tried to maintain her professional demeanor, but she couldn't fully suppress a look of mild irritation at Logan's roping her into the drywall project.

She quickly regained her composure, however, and said in a neutral tone, "I'll send Ginny out to get some coffee while I start moving out the furniture."

"Sounds good," Logan told her.

As he left the inner office and passed by the assistant's desk on his way out, Logan's heightened senses picked up Erin Maguire's voice, muttering a quote from Casablanca in a sarcastic tone.

"This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."