Chapter 11: Wolverine

Awareness came slowly. For a normal human, it wouldn't have come for a long time, but this was no normal human. He was Wolverine of the X-Men. And if there is one thing he does well, it's recover. He opened his eyes and growled irritably. Whatever had knocked him out, had taken him by surprise. And Wolverine did not like surprises.

But, he realized that he did not have time to find the little hand shaped creature that had attacked him. He now knew where the aliens' nest was. And that was something that the rest of the X-Men would need to know.

He pushed himself to his feet, feeling his strength return quickly. But something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but he knew, something was wrong. With him. But it didn't matter. He'd seen how these things reproduced. It was a fate he wouldn't wish on his greatest enemy, Sabertooth. Well, maybe him. At the rate these things multiplied, they would be a threat to the entire planet if not stopped soon. And the X-Men were the only ones he knew who could do that.

He stumbled from the nest, still groggy but recovering fast. He caught a faint scent ahead of him. Mud, blood, and gunpowder. A human. He had to get them out of here, it wasn't safe. He ran quickly towards the source of the scent. He rounded a corner and came to sudden stop. He knew this man, and instantly reassessed his chances with the Aliens.

"You look like shit Punisher." he growled. Indeed, it was obvious that Frank Castle had been in a huge fight. Wolverine had never seen him with anything less than a small arsenal, and now, he had only a knife and handgun. He had several cuts all over his body, some deep. He was covered in blood and his clothes had many holes where the acidic blood of the aliens had landed on him. In short, he did indeed look like shit.

"You should see the other guys." Punisher smiled grimly.

"I've my fill of them thanks. Besides, even fully healthy, I probably don't look much better than you."

"Actually I think you could give some people nightmares. You look like the monster under the bed."

"All right, enough jawin'. You know the way out o' here?"

"I just got here. I ain't leavin' until these things pay for what they've done."

"How dense are you? You barely survived one encounter with em. What are you gonna do when you run out o' ammo? You stay if you want pal, but I'm goin' for the big guns. And that means finding a way out o' here so's I can tell em where the nest is. Now are you comin' with or not?"

"We're closer to the Fantastic Four's head quarters. We should probably head there. With the equipment they've got there, we could tell the whole world where these things are."

"Good thinkin' let's go." Without another word, they began to back track their way towards the heart of New York city. Some would call that going from the frying pan into the fire.

Next: Generation X