Two shots were headed directly for Kristine, and before she could
even react, one had lodged itself into her shoulder, and the other found
its way into her abdomen. Kristine staggered for a moment before she
dropped to her knees clutching her stomach. She was about to fall on her
face when Logan caught her in his arms.
"Kristine." He whispered to her, "Don't let her win." Kristine weakly smiled at him as she brought her hand up to his face and ran her fingers down his cheek.
"Not so quick now, are you?" Viper laughed. At that moment, Lane ran into the room from the opposite direction.
"MOM!" she screamed, "You do you think you are?" Lane stalked towards Viper, "Bust up my house, kidnap my brother and me, and shoot my mother!"
"Lane, NO!" Logan called to her, but Lane was too angry to listen to anyone than her head at that moment. She stalked closer to Viper.
"Let me see your abilities now." Viper smirked at her as she raised her gun to the child, "Show me what you've got." With a scowl on her face she held her hands up to her sides and released a pair of adamantium claws. Shocked, Lane stopped in her tracks and examined the addition to her hands.
"YOU!" Logan growled as he propped Kristine against a wall and stood up, "She's nothing more than a child and you saw it fit to do that to her!" Logan extended his own set of claws and stalked up behind her. Viper turned her back to Lane to deal with, what she thought, was the real threat.
"This hardly has anything to do with you." Viper told him. Logan was about to charge at Viper, when something stopped him. "Nature." Viper simply stated. Logan stopped in his tracks and his claws retracted back into his hands, "I read your file Logan, I know your fail/safe." With that, Viper fired the first shot at Logan hitting him in the shoulder. Logan was knocked to the ground clutching in arm. She walked up to Logan, who was already starting to heal, "This is where I say good bye." As she placed the barrel of her gun right on Logan's chest.
"I don't think so." A voice came from behind him. Viper didn't have time to turn around before she felt a pair of claws baring her signature pierce the skin on her back, "Drop the gun." She sternly said as her victim dropped to her knees. Viper dropped the gun, which Logan quickly picked up. As he did, Lane retracted her claws allowing Viper to fall to her imminent death. Logan walked over to his daughter and took her hand in his.
"Come on; leave her here to die alone." Logan said as he led his daughter away. Kristine who had latched on to Logan's power was slowly starting to heal. Logan picked her up and the three walked in silence away from their past.
As Viper watched the three leave her sight, she weakly pulled a small communicator out of her coat. She pressed a small blue button on the side of it, instantly blue lights began flashing about the entire building, and a loud warning signal blared in its wake. Viper began laughing to herself.
"If I'm going to die here, so are you!!" Viper continued to laugh.
Logan stopped in his tracks as he walked with Kristine in his arms and his daughter at his side. He looked around at the lights and the sound; he knew what was going on.
"We've got to hurry; this place is going to go up in smoke." He said to Lane as they began to run towards the exit.
"I think that the exit is two floors up," Lane said, "There's an elevator around here somewhere."
"Lead the way, darlin'." Logan said as Lane took the lead. The two ran as fast as they could around corner after corner looking for the elevator. Just as they reached the elevator, a red alarm light began to blare, "The elevator's out."
"How do you know?" Lane asked.
"Red means fire; something has already caught fire in this place." Logan said, "But there's gotta be a stair well somewhere." Logan took lead as his daughter followed while they looked for the stair case. As they ran past an open hallway towards a dead end, Lane stopped in her tracks.
"Hey, fire exit!" She said as she pointed down a hallway. Logan stopped and turned around.
"Logan, put me down." Kristine said, "I can make it." Logan put the woman on her feet, as the two ran down the hallway that Lane pointed to. Within minutes the three came to a dead end at a door. The two women stood aside as Logan sliced through the door with in a matter of seconds. As Logan burst through the hole he created, Kristine turned the doorknob and opened the remainder of the door. Kristine smirked at Logan as she watched her daughter walk into the stairwell that they had for so long searched. They ran up several flights of stairs before they reached their destined level. As Logan opened the door to the main level, a tremendous rumbling could be felt throughout the whole building.
"The lower level has already started to blow." Logan said, as they began to run towards the entrance. Just then another loud rumbling could be heard close by.
"It's getting closer!" Lane yelled. After a few more turns they finally reached the hole Scott made allowing them an entrance to the building. They ran out side of the building and through the hole that Scott had also made in the side of the base wall. More explosions could heard as they ran further and further away from the base. As they made it to the forest the rumbling became louder as the building exploded in a fury of fire and flames. Kristine stopped in her tracks and turned to watch the building burn, the wind blowing her brown hair out of her face. Logan and Lane continued to run towards the Blackbird, unknowing that Kristine had stopped. Kristine shed tears of an unknown emotion as she watched the building burn. Maybe it was confusion, or sorrow, or relief, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she didn't know anything about herself. She choked on her tears as she turned and slowly walked in the direction of the Jet.
Once Logan and Lane had reached the jet, Lane stopped and turned back to her mother who wasn't there. The door opened on the jet and James came running out to his sister and wrapped her in a bear hug. It was then that Logan noticed that James towered over his sister by about a foot.
"Where's mom?" Lane said with panic in her voice. Logan noticed as well that Kristine wasn't behind them, but he wasn't worried.
"She's coming." Logan told her, "Use your senses; we're going to teach you a lot about what you can do."
"Who are you?" Lane asked as X23 came walking out of the jet.
"Yea, you said we'd get acquainted later." James recalled.
"I might want to leave that explanation to your mother." Logan said as he signaled to them that there mother was walking closer to Jet. Both children ran off to greet their mother. Logan watched as both children threw their arms joyously around Kristine, but was heartbroken to see how hesitant Kristine was to hug them back.
"Mom, are you ok?" James asked, "You seem so worried." Kristine looked up at her children with pride and tears in her eyes.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Kristine said.
Everyone was on their way back to the mansion, Kristine had spent a good time looking at her children, starting to believe what Viper had told her was true. But, how could that be, she had all these memories of their conception, of her life with Logan before he disappeared, and not one of them is real. Kristine stood up from her sitting position and turned her back to them.
"Mom, were kind of sick of waiting for explanations." James said to her, with impatience in his voice.
"Kristine," Logan started, "We're all waiting for some sort of explanation here."
"15 years ago, I was pregnant with triplets, and when they were born, I was told only two survived." Kristine said finally turning to them, "They told me of some wacko complication with my third child. They never let me see the body of my second daughter." Her eyes rested on X23, "I named her Lilianne." Logan's eyes widened.
"My name is Lilianne?" X23 said
"You were the child they stole from me." Kristine said as tears welled in her eyes, "Just like my life."
"I have a sister?" Lane said with a smile looking at Lilianne. Kristine noticed the smile on both Lane and James faces.
"Here's the kicker," Kristine said turning her back to them again, "Logan is your father, but I'm not your mother."
"What!" James and Logan snapped.
"I was only supposed to be a surrogate, of sorts." Kristine sighed, "Another woman's eggs were used. I knew that neither of you have any of my traits, I just assumed you got all of Logan's."
"But if you're not their mother, who is?" Logan asked as he stood up, "Did Viper tell you that?" Kristine shook her head.
"I don't care!" Lane snapped, "I don't care, you raised us, you're our mom." Tears began to fall from her daughters eyes. Kristine turned to smile at her.
"Mom?" Lilianne said standing up and wrapping her arms around her mother for the first time.
"It's not over," Kristine said as she turned to Logan, "apparently, my "memories" of my life with you were all fake."
"Fake?"
"Viper or someone put the memories in my head." Kristine said as more tears rolled down her face, "The first real memory I have is when Hyrda dropped me off in Windsor, right after I gave birth. Everything I know is a façade. To top it off, I know all this stuff about your life before the project, and I don't even know if it's true to tell you. You know even little about yourself than I do, and I can't even fill in your gaps. My name might not be Kristine, I may not be from Montana." Tears were freely falling from her eyes know, "Who gave her the right to do this to me? To us? I have the right to know who I am." Logan walked over to Kristine, put his arms around her, and held her tight.
"I don't give a crap what that woman told you back there. You are the mother of my children, do you hear me?" Logan sternly told her, "We'll figure out our lives together, because maybe that's the way it meant to be, and I'm willing to take that chance with you." Kristine rested her head on Logan's shoulder for a minute before James, Lane and Lilianne got up and joined in the family hug.
A few weeks had passed since Kristine had found out the truth about her children and her supposed life. Logan and her children were a strong support for her. Logan had spent a great deal of time helping Lane adjust to her new abilities and showing her how to not let the pain bother her. James and Lane were both now attending high school with the other students. Lane and Lilianne had bonded quickly and both loved the idea that they were sisters. Lilianne helped Lane adjust to her new ability and Lane helped Lilianne adjust to civilian life. Jason had become great friends with the other kids in the institute and looked forward to the excitement that laid ahead of them in their training. Kristine knew her children were happier than they had ever been. She wished she could feel the same. Kristine stood in front of the window in her room. She had latched onto the professor's power to look into the present to know where to start looking for her life. But, she found she didn't have the control needed to achieve
"Find anything out there." Logan asked as he walked into her room.
"No." Kristine sighed, "I don't have that kind of control. But, I did feel some mighty powerful forces out there. You might want to keep on your toes."
"I know this is hard for you." Logan said, "Believe me, I know how you feel. I've been searching for years for some shred of evidence that I was even born, and I've got nothing. At least you have some sort of memories."
"You see me as Kristine Treubaux," Kristine sighed, "mutant assassin, waitress, mother; but I don't see that. I see myself as nothing, now."
"But you are something."
"And I have to find out what that is." Kristine said, "You know as well as anyone the desire to find out who you are, to piece together something you've lost."
"Where are you going to go?" Logan asked, "Do you even know where to begin?"
"I'm going to have to get in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. or go to the CFG main head quarters." Kristine said, "It'll be difficult, but it's a start."
"When are you leaving?"
"Now." Kristine said. She hesitated a few minutes before she spoke again, "Can you promise me a few things?"
"Anything," Logan responded with a genuine smile on his face.
"Tell the kids I'll be back as soon as I can and not to hate me for leaving." Kristine choked back her tears, "and tell them, I love them." Logan walked up to Kristine, wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her close to him.
"Only if you promise me something." Logan said as Kristine hugged him back.
"Anything," She smiled into his shoulder.
"If you need anything," Logan sternly told her, "and I mean anything, you'll call me."
"I promise." Kristine said as she looked at him. They released their hold on each other and Kristine walked over to the dresser where her bag was. She picked up her bag and walked back to Logan and quickly kissed him on the cheek, "I'll be back."
"Is that a threat?" Logan teased.
"No, it's a promise." Kristine smiled as she walked out the door.
Kristine walked out of the mansion and off the grounds of the school, thinking about where her past would take her now. Her first stop was back in Windsor to pack up things there, and send them to the Mansion. But after that, she had a tough mission ahead of her and there was no telling where she would end up now.
"Kristine." He whispered to her, "Don't let her win." Kristine weakly smiled at him as she brought her hand up to his face and ran her fingers down his cheek.
"Not so quick now, are you?" Viper laughed. At that moment, Lane ran into the room from the opposite direction.
"MOM!" she screamed, "You do you think you are?" Lane stalked towards Viper, "Bust up my house, kidnap my brother and me, and shoot my mother!"
"Lane, NO!" Logan called to her, but Lane was too angry to listen to anyone than her head at that moment. She stalked closer to Viper.
"Let me see your abilities now." Viper smirked at her as she raised her gun to the child, "Show me what you've got." With a scowl on her face she held her hands up to her sides and released a pair of adamantium claws. Shocked, Lane stopped in her tracks and examined the addition to her hands.
"YOU!" Logan growled as he propped Kristine against a wall and stood up, "She's nothing more than a child and you saw it fit to do that to her!" Logan extended his own set of claws and stalked up behind her. Viper turned her back to Lane to deal with, what she thought, was the real threat.
"This hardly has anything to do with you." Viper told him. Logan was about to charge at Viper, when something stopped him. "Nature." Viper simply stated. Logan stopped in his tracks and his claws retracted back into his hands, "I read your file Logan, I know your fail/safe." With that, Viper fired the first shot at Logan hitting him in the shoulder. Logan was knocked to the ground clutching in arm. She walked up to Logan, who was already starting to heal, "This is where I say good bye." As she placed the barrel of her gun right on Logan's chest.
"I don't think so." A voice came from behind him. Viper didn't have time to turn around before she felt a pair of claws baring her signature pierce the skin on her back, "Drop the gun." She sternly said as her victim dropped to her knees. Viper dropped the gun, which Logan quickly picked up. As he did, Lane retracted her claws allowing Viper to fall to her imminent death. Logan walked over to his daughter and took her hand in his.
"Come on; leave her here to die alone." Logan said as he led his daughter away. Kristine who had latched on to Logan's power was slowly starting to heal. Logan picked her up and the three walked in silence away from their past.
As Viper watched the three leave her sight, she weakly pulled a small communicator out of her coat. She pressed a small blue button on the side of it, instantly blue lights began flashing about the entire building, and a loud warning signal blared in its wake. Viper began laughing to herself.
"If I'm going to die here, so are you!!" Viper continued to laugh.
Logan stopped in his tracks as he walked with Kristine in his arms and his daughter at his side. He looked around at the lights and the sound; he knew what was going on.
"We've got to hurry; this place is going to go up in smoke." He said to Lane as they began to run towards the exit.
"I think that the exit is two floors up," Lane said, "There's an elevator around here somewhere."
"Lead the way, darlin'." Logan said as Lane took the lead. The two ran as fast as they could around corner after corner looking for the elevator. Just as they reached the elevator, a red alarm light began to blare, "The elevator's out."
"How do you know?" Lane asked.
"Red means fire; something has already caught fire in this place." Logan said, "But there's gotta be a stair well somewhere." Logan took lead as his daughter followed while they looked for the stair case. As they ran past an open hallway towards a dead end, Lane stopped in her tracks.
"Hey, fire exit!" She said as she pointed down a hallway. Logan stopped and turned around.
"Logan, put me down." Kristine said, "I can make it." Logan put the woman on her feet, as the two ran down the hallway that Lane pointed to. Within minutes the three came to a dead end at a door. The two women stood aside as Logan sliced through the door with in a matter of seconds. As Logan burst through the hole he created, Kristine turned the doorknob and opened the remainder of the door. Kristine smirked at Logan as she watched her daughter walk into the stairwell that they had for so long searched. They ran up several flights of stairs before they reached their destined level. As Logan opened the door to the main level, a tremendous rumbling could be felt throughout the whole building.
"The lower level has already started to blow." Logan said, as they began to run towards the entrance. Just then another loud rumbling could be heard close by.
"It's getting closer!" Lane yelled. After a few more turns they finally reached the hole Scott made allowing them an entrance to the building. They ran out side of the building and through the hole that Scott had also made in the side of the base wall. More explosions could heard as they ran further and further away from the base. As they made it to the forest the rumbling became louder as the building exploded in a fury of fire and flames. Kristine stopped in her tracks and turned to watch the building burn, the wind blowing her brown hair out of her face. Logan and Lane continued to run towards the Blackbird, unknowing that Kristine had stopped. Kristine shed tears of an unknown emotion as she watched the building burn. Maybe it was confusion, or sorrow, or relief, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she didn't know anything about herself. She choked on her tears as she turned and slowly walked in the direction of the Jet.
Once Logan and Lane had reached the jet, Lane stopped and turned back to her mother who wasn't there. The door opened on the jet and James came running out to his sister and wrapped her in a bear hug. It was then that Logan noticed that James towered over his sister by about a foot.
"Where's mom?" Lane said with panic in her voice. Logan noticed as well that Kristine wasn't behind them, but he wasn't worried.
"She's coming." Logan told her, "Use your senses; we're going to teach you a lot about what you can do."
"Who are you?" Lane asked as X23 came walking out of the jet.
"Yea, you said we'd get acquainted later." James recalled.
"I might want to leave that explanation to your mother." Logan said as he signaled to them that there mother was walking closer to Jet. Both children ran off to greet their mother. Logan watched as both children threw their arms joyously around Kristine, but was heartbroken to see how hesitant Kristine was to hug them back.
"Mom, are you ok?" James asked, "You seem so worried." Kristine looked up at her children with pride and tears in her eyes.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Kristine said.
Everyone was on their way back to the mansion, Kristine had spent a good time looking at her children, starting to believe what Viper had told her was true. But, how could that be, she had all these memories of their conception, of her life with Logan before he disappeared, and not one of them is real. Kristine stood up from her sitting position and turned her back to them.
"Mom, were kind of sick of waiting for explanations." James said to her, with impatience in his voice.
"Kristine," Logan started, "We're all waiting for some sort of explanation here."
"15 years ago, I was pregnant with triplets, and when they were born, I was told only two survived." Kristine said finally turning to them, "They told me of some wacko complication with my third child. They never let me see the body of my second daughter." Her eyes rested on X23, "I named her Lilianne." Logan's eyes widened.
"My name is Lilianne?" X23 said
"You were the child they stole from me." Kristine said as tears welled in her eyes, "Just like my life."
"I have a sister?" Lane said with a smile looking at Lilianne. Kristine noticed the smile on both Lane and James faces.
"Here's the kicker," Kristine said turning her back to them again, "Logan is your father, but I'm not your mother."
"What!" James and Logan snapped.
"I was only supposed to be a surrogate, of sorts." Kristine sighed, "Another woman's eggs were used. I knew that neither of you have any of my traits, I just assumed you got all of Logan's."
"But if you're not their mother, who is?" Logan asked as he stood up, "Did Viper tell you that?" Kristine shook her head.
"I don't care!" Lane snapped, "I don't care, you raised us, you're our mom." Tears began to fall from her daughters eyes. Kristine turned to smile at her.
"Mom?" Lilianne said standing up and wrapping her arms around her mother for the first time.
"It's not over," Kristine said as she turned to Logan, "apparently, my "memories" of my life with you were all fake."
"Fake?"
"Viper or someone put the memories in my head." Kristine said as more tears rolled down her face, "The first real memory I have is when Hyrda dropped me off in Windsor, right after I gave birth. Everything I know is a façade. To top it off, I know all this stuff about your life before the project, and I don't even know if it's true to tell you. You know even little about yourself than I do, and I can't even fill in your gaps. My name might not be Kristine, I may not be from Montana." Tears were freely falling from her eyes know, "Who gave her the right to do this to me? To us? I have the right to know who I am." Logan walked over to Kristine, put his arms around her, and held her tight.
"I don't give a crap what that woman told you back there. You are the mother of my children, do you hear me?" Logan sternly told her, "We'll figure out our lives together, because maybe that's the way it meant to be, and I'm willing to take that chance with you." Kristine rested her head on Logan's shoulder for a minute before James, Lane and Lilianne got up and joined in the family hug.
A few weeks had passed since Kristine had found out the truth about her children and her supposed life. Logan and her children were a strong support for her. Logan had spent a great deal of time helping Lane adjust to her new abilities and showing her how to not let the pain bother her. James and Lane were both now attending high school with the other students. Lane and Lilianne had bonded quickly and both loved the idea that they were sisters. Lilianne helped Lane adjust to her new ability and Lane helped Lilianne adjust to civilian life. Jason had become great friends with the other kids in the institute and looked forward to the excitement that laid ahead of them in their training. Kristine knew her children were happier than they had ever been. She wished she could feel the same. Kristine stood in front of the window in her room. She had latched onto the professor's power to look into the present to know where to start looking for her life. But, she found she didn't have the control needed to achieve
"Find anything out there." Logan asked as he walked into her room.
"No." Kristine sighed, "I don't have that kind of control. But, I did feel some mighty powerful forces out there. You might want to keep on your toes."
"I know this is hard for you." Logan said, "Believe me, I know how you feel. I've been searching for years for some shred of evidence that I was even born, and I've got nothing. At least you have some sort of memories."
"You see me as Kristine Treubaux," Kristine sighed, "mutant assassin, waitress, mother; but I don't see that. I see myself as nothing, now."
"But you are something."
"And I have to find out what that is." Kristine said, "You know as well as anyone the desire to find out who you are, to piece together something you've lost."
"Where are you going to go?" Logan asked, "Do you even know where to begin?"
"I'm going to have to get in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. or go to the CFG main head quarters." Kristine said, "It'll be difficult, but it's a start."
"When are you leaving?"
"Now." Kristine said. She hesitated a few minutes before she spoke again, "Can you promise me a few things?"
"Anything," Logan responded with a genuine smile on his face.
"Tell the kids I'll be back as soon as I can and not to hate me for leaving." Kristine choked back her tears, "and tell them, I love them." Logan walked up to Kristine, wrapped his arms around her waist, and held her close to him.
"Only if you promise me something." Logan said as Kristine hugged him back.
"Anything," She smiled into his shoulder.
"If you need anything," Logan sternly told her, "and I mean anything, you'll call me."
"I promise." Kristine said as she looked at him. They released their hold on each other and Kristine walked over to the dresser where her bag was. She picked up her bag and walked back to Logan and quickly kissed him on the cheek, "I'll be back."
"Is that a threat?" Logan teased.
"No, it's a promise." Kristine smiled as she walked out the door.
Kristine walked out of the mansion and off the grounds of the school, thinking about where her past would take her now. Her first stop was back in Windsor to pack up things there, and send them to the Mansion. But after that, she had a tough mission ahead of her and there was no telling where she would end up now.