Author's note: Oh my God, an update. Thank God, I though I was dead for a second. Or just in permanent writer's block. Actually, my store is transitioning to new ownership so it's been hectic there. Hopefully, things will start to calm down soon and I won't have to do so much work after work. :-)
Chapter Ten:
Night was falling over Xavier's School for the Gifted, and a solitary figure stood by an open window on the second floor, listening as the dozens of children in the mansion went about their nightly routines.
Logan took a long drag on his cigar. He held the burning smoke in his lungs for a few moments before expelling it out onto the evening wind. He watched as the escaping tendrils of smoke curled away from him and then quickly disappeared. He sniffed once at the outside air, as if expecting to sense some kind of approaching danger, but only felt the typical scents of a March evening.
Logan stared out over the lawns, toward the trees, wanting to believe he understood everything that lie beyond the safety of the school. However, even after what he had learned of his past during his time with the X-Men, Logan knew he still had no true answers about who he had been before Stryker's experiments.
He frowned as he thought back on the previous day's events, and about his final encounter with William Stryker. The crazed 'general' firing on the last of the mutants he still controlled...and then turning his gun toward Rogue.
In that moment, Logan had been the Wolverine, all of his inborn instincts reacting almost involuntarily for one simple need. Protect his family. Nothing else had mattered. All the answers that man may have given him lost all importance when the people who had become the most important to him were threatened.
Then, there was Deathstrike. The Lady. The other like him. Her own claws tearing through Stryker, her own need for vengeance fulfilled...for now. Her words lingered with him...she had called him brother.
Logan thoughts trailed on to those lost mutants he watched die in the now destroyed base. Apparently experimentation on mutants had gone on long before Stryker's time, and Logan knew they would probably continue now that he was gone.
The SHOP, Systems Operations, Alkalai Lake...the same monsters under different names. They had invaded this school once, and they very likely could try again.
Staring out with his keen eyes, Logan saw the first scattered stars beginning to appear in the sky. He took another thoughtful pull on his cigar, and did not turn as the soft whirring of Xavier's wheelchair approached from behind him.
Logan heard the Professor stop close by, and he blew another puff of smoke from his lips before speaking.
"It was another close call yesterday," Logan said, continuing to stare out the window.
"I know," Xavier said gravely, "The past few years have created more dangers for mutants than all my years before. From the time Erik mobilized the Brotherhood...to these new threats which don't seem to have a name..."
"But still threats," Logan said firmly, and then turned to look at Xavier, "Still dangers to these kids."
"Sadly, yes," Xavier replied, "Which makes training sessions for the students here all the more necessary."
Logan turned back toward the window and snuffed his cigar on the outer brick wall.
"We're makin' them into soldiers," he said with disgust, "Just like Stryker was with those other mutants."
Xavier sighed and looked down, "Hopefully...what they learn here will never need to be used."
Logan looked back at the Professor doubtfully, but then frowned and folded his arms.
"How much information do we have here about those other places that did mutant experiments?" he asked.
"Only what scattered data we've collected over the years," Xavier said and then smiled apologetically, "Most of which you have gathered for us in your travels."
Logan nodded, "Which wasn't much."
"Unfortunately, the Council does not readily interfere with other powerful organizations," Xavier explained, "Nor would they concern themselves with scientific studies of mutants. The Council made a clear division on what was considered a mutant event compared to what they considered supernatural events."
Logan scoffed, "We're not considered supernatural? Aren't they calling us homo superior now?"
Xavier grinned, "I'll let you read through some of my case notes from the Council. You'll see that what one encounters as a Watcher can rival any army of giant humanoid machines."
"I think I should," Logan said, "And, I'm going back to that underground base where I found those old videos. Maybe there's something else there I missed..."
"What do you think you'll find?" Xavier asked with a curious frown.
"What do I think?" Logan said with a smirk, "Don't you just know what I think?"
"I don't eaves drop unless it's necessary, Logan," Xavier replied matter-of-factly.
Logan's smile faded, "I just want to know if anyone else is still doing what Stryker did. If any of those experiments are still happening."
"And if they are?" Xavier asked.
Logan looked out the window again, frowning deeply in though and memory.
"Then they won't be for long."