DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters present in my story. Marvel does. I am making no money off of this and I'm doing it simply for enjoyment.
T-Minus Ten
Sam Guthrie walked down the halls of the building once known as the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. The capture team that Scott sent out a week ago had just gotten back not even a half hour before, and he was on his way to review the report that Juggernaut submitted to him, detailing the particulars of the capture. What he really wanted to know was why the entire team, except for Cain, was currently undergoing emergency surgery for wounds suffered on the mission.
It was odd that the Juggernaut had written and submitted the report himself; he hated doing them, always leaving it for someone else to do if at all possible. The fact that he'd been forced to write it indicated how seriously the rest of his team had been injured. Sam wanted to find out exactly how powerful this mutant was. He'd been able to put an entire capture team, made up of the most powerful mutants available at the time, in the med lab.
As he rounded the corner towards the executive offices, he once again reflected on how great it was to be second in command of the X-Men. Getting a large office with a comfy chair was the least of the benefits. He still slept in the same room as when he first joined the X-Men, but now he had his own personal scrambled comm unit for talking to the other divisions, or just to his sister over in England. As he entered his office and closed the door, he thought how unfortunate it was that he didn't have time to go over Cain's report thoroughly, or to interview him. Apparently Cain was currently occupied in the med lab restraining the mutant they brought in.
He pulled out his chair from his desk and sat, finding the report sitting on his desk right where he'd been told it would be. Flipping it open, he skimmed over the part concerning the trip there and the subsequent tracking of the unknown mutant. Coming to the part where they first spotted him, he stopped and began reading more thoroughly.
"We spotted the target from the air as it darted into the cover of the forest. I told Burn to land the jet somewhere nearby and jumped down to start chasing down the target. I was followed by Morgue and Starlight while the others waited for the jet to land before following. Once on the ground, we began searching for the target's trail, hoping that it wasn't skilled in evading pursuit. Unfortunately for us, the target was extremely skilled, leaving us to wander around in confusion before giving up and waiting for the others to meet us. We made sure to watch the forest around us for any signs of the target, since if it was dangerous as it was skilled, then we could have some difficulty."
"Fifteen minutes after Morgue, Starlight and I initially jumped from the jet, the others found us and we discussed how we'd found a whole lot of nothing. Mentat scanned the surrounding area as far as her telepathy would permit, and said that she found nothing out there. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to say that she found nothing human, for seconds after her announcement that she couldn't find the target, Burn spotted it sitting in a nearby tree, watching us. Once it realized it had been spotted, it leaped away and vanished once more."
"We were able to confirm several things from that brief sighting of it. First of all, it was male and not wearing any clothes. Secondly, he didn't appear to be very large, but moved like a stalking animal and looked to be quite strong. Mentat thought that he didn't know how to speak since he never said anything when we spotted him. She also figured that he must have mentally regressed since she didn't find any human minds and he behaved exactly as a pursued animal would."
"After seeing him, Mentat tried looking for him again, but her telepathy was unable to find anything other than some animals. Either his mind was indistinguishable from an animal's, or he was able to shield himself. At that point we let Thunderbird, since he was the best tracker out of all of us, have a look around the area to see what he could find. He couldn't find any tracks or signs of movement, but he was able to catch a faint scent from the target. He said it was enough to track him."
"We followed his trail until it suddenly stopped at the edge of a small clearing, obviously not a natural one from the way the trees on the ground had been destroyed. We moved into the clearing, keeping a watch out for him, but our target failed to show himself. Then Thunderbird yelled out that he had found something, and we rushed over to see what it was."
"Thunderbird found a skeleton, one that appeared to be made of metal. The skeleton wasn't from a human, it was obviously mutant. The long blades extending from each finger were only possible for a mutant. Out of a sudden suspicion, I picked up the skull from where it lay and pressed as hard as I could on either side; it resisted my strongest effort. My hunch confirmed, I showed it to my team and told them that it was adamantium, and that only three mutants had ever had the indestructible metal bonded to their bones. From the finger blades, I thought that the one we found must have been Lady Deathstrike."
"We didn't get a chance to look around the clearing anymore, because it was then that our target attacked. He flew out of the edge of the forest from somewhere and attacked Thunderbird, probably because he'd figured out who was tracking him. It happened so fast that we didn't have time to react before Thunderbird was down and bleeding, somehow having been knocked unconscious. Generator was the first to react, launching the strongest bolt of electricity he could."
"It struck our target and flung him back, causing him to smash through several trees. To our combined amazement, as we neared where his body had fallen, he leaped up and attacked Generator. I was completely shocked. How could he even be alive after being struck like that, let alone fighting back against the guy who struck him? We didn't bother figuring it out and went to help Generator. By the time I reached them, Generator was down with both arms and one of his legs horribly broken. I hit our target with my best punch, flinging him into the forest."
"I turned to the others and told Mentat and Burn to get Thunderbird and Generator back to the jet as soon as possible, then to return and help me, Morgue and Starlight subdue him. They picked up our fallen comrades and left, going in as direct a line as possible back to the jet. The three of us remaining in the clearing prepared ourselves for the fight we knew was coming. When he didn't return to the clearing, we wondered if maybe we had frightened him off. I was about to go looking when Mentat's psychic scream tore through our minds and demanded that we go help as they'd been ambushed by our target on their way back to the jet."
"I turned and ran as fast as I could, trampling everything in my path with Morgue and Starlight close behind. We found them almost back at the ship, Mentat, Thunderbird and Generator were all injured, and Burn was flinging fire around, trying to hit our target, or at least drive him off. He was dancing around Burn, easily avoiding everything thrown at him until he got close enough to hit back. He was concentrating so hard on Burn that he didn't notice me until I picked him up and started pounding him in an effort to subdue him."
"Somehow, he twisted out of my grasp and that was when I noticed that all the burns he had gotten from Generator's attack earlier, as well as the slashes and punctures from crashing through trees, had all healed and he was in the same condition as when we first encountered him. I lunged at him, but he tripped me and rolled past, going after Burn once more."
"By the time I got to my feet, Burn had been slashed open and Morgue had been stabbed, both with some weapon that I never saw. Our target was currently fighting with Starlight, who was one of the best at the mansion, but horribly outmatched now. I watched in horror as three blades sprang from the knuckles of each of his hands and rammed through Starlight's chest, cutting through her armour like it wasn't even there. After she went down screaming, he turned his attention to me as I charged him..."
Sam skimmed over the rest of the report, reading how the Juggernaut had finally subdued the unknown mutant and got everyone on board the jet and back to the mansion where the team could receive medical attention and the mutant could be helped. Still there was something bugging about that report, something that he felt should be obvious, but wasn't
.
He went over the report again without looking at it. It all added up to something, but how. Animalistic behaviour...extreme fighting skills...vastly increased healing and durability...three blades coming out of the knuckles on each hand... His eyes widened in realization. He picked up the report again and began flipping through the pages at an extremely fast rate matching the excitement he felt. Once he found confirmation, he jumped up from his chair and left his office, barely remembering to open the door first. He ran down the hallway, dodging anyone he encountered along the way.
Sam ran past curious mutants wondering what was going on, ignoring their shouted questions as he turned the final corner to get to the office of the current leader of the X-Men. He charged through the doors of the office, interrupting a debriefing involving one of the other teams. He stopped and began began babbling incoherently about what he'd just read.
Scott Summers looked very irritated at being interrupted during his debriefing of the team. "Can't it wait Sam, I'm in the middle of something important here."
Sam caught his breath and tried again to explain what was going on. "Sorry Scott, but I just read the report that the Juggernaut wrote about the mission his capture team went on!"
Scott just looked at him like he was crazy; the report was nothing to get excited about. "What is so important that it can't wait until I'm done here? Wait, why did Cain write the report? He hates doing them."
"Because he's the only one not currently undergoing emergency surgery for wounds caused by the mutant that they were sent out to capture!" Sam was speaking so quickly that he was nearly intelligible. "We have to go the the med lab now!"
"Sam calm down. Now explain again why we have to go to the med lab just to see this new mutant." He looked confused about what was going on, and the team he had been debriefing was quite amused by Sam's antics.
"Because the mutant they brought has three metal claws that come out of the knuckles of each hand!"
At those words, all the blood drained from Scott's face. "It can't be..." he whispered faintly before turning to the team he had been in the middle of debriefing when Sam had interrupted. "I'll finish this later, stay here." Then both he and Sam ran out of his office and down the hall toward the elevators.
For the first time, they both wished that there were stairs to the lower levels, so that they could get down there even faster. When the elevator came to a stop at the med lab, Scott turned and ordered Sam to go get Hank and ran down the hall in the opposite direction to where the examination rooms for newly arrived mutants were. As he got closer to the examination rooms, he heard what sounded like a full out war inside the one at the end, the one that had been constructed to hold the most dangerous mutants. He keyed open the door and gasped at what he saw inside.
The room looked like a long and bloody battle had been fought inside. Everything that had once been in the room was smashed, shredded and trampled on the floor. Blood was splattered on the walls and large areas were blackened from intense heat. In the middle of the room, the Juggernaut and another member of the X-Men, a giant Russian called Dragon because of his enormous strength, scaly skin and ability to breathe fire, were struggling with the new mutant that had just been brought in, trying to restrain him so he could be examined by one of the doctors. As Scott watched, the new mutant slipped out of Cain's grasp and began slashing at Dragon with the claws that protruded from his right fist.
It was Wolverine.
As Cain tried to grab hold of Wolverine's slashing arm, Dragon started to buckle under the assault as a multitude of wounds were opened by adamantium claws. When Dragon went down to one knee, Scott stepped in and unleashed an optic blast that thew Wolverine off of Dragon and stunned him just long enough for Cain to once again grab him. The two of them struggled, Wolverine's claws flailing at his captor as Scott went to help Dragon get to his feet so that he could be taken to one of the operating rooms.
They were waiting outside, watching Cain struggle with Wolverine, when Sam arrived with Hank right behind him carrying a medical bag. Hank first went to check on Dragon, but was waved off and told to go help Cain. Hank took one look inside the room, and said, "Oh my stars and garters."
He turned to Scott for confirmation. "Yes, it's him. I don't know how and I don't care right now. We need to sedate him so that we can figure out what happened to him and why he disappeared for the last twenty-five years." Hank immediately began rummaging through his bag, looking for something that would be strong enough to sedate a crazed Wolverine. He selected a vial and filled a syringe from it before entering the room to administer the dose.
After repeating the procedure several times, always with a higher dosage and a stronger sedative, Hank began to look worried; Wolverine's struggles showed no sign of even slowing down, his healing factor having fought off the sedatives as soon as they had been introduced into his blood stream. He'd tried every sedative that he had on him and nothing seemed to be having any effect. Scott and Sam both looked worried, because if Wolverine couldn't be sedated, it was only a matter of time before he got loose and went on a rampage through the mansion.
Hank spoke up after thinking things through for a moment. "I have one more thing that might work, but I am not sure of the correct dosage to give him."
The strain of watching the fight was evident in Scott's voice. "I don't really care what it is, just get it and get back here so we can get him under control. At this point, that's all I ask."
Hank left, moving quickly down the hall to where he kept his medical supplies and experiments. He returned a few minutes later with the largest syringe yet filled with something they couldn't identify. He went into the room where Wolverine was being held and carefully administered it while Cain tried to hold him still. After injecting Wolverine with the contents of the syringe, he stood back and watched what happened.
Wolverine's struggles began to weaken, imperceptibly at first, then to the point where he would have had trouble walking, and finally he passed out and collapsed. Cain immediately put him into the restraints they had built into this room, making them out of adamantium so that they could hold anyone they captured. Once he had been secured, they closed the door and Cain helped Dragon to the infirmary while Sam and Scott conferred with Hank.
"What did you give him?" Sam was very obviously relieved that Wolverine had been sedated, having had visions of his possible rampage running through his head for the last while.
"I injected him with cobra venom, it was all I could think of that might actually work, considering that I gave him enough sedative to kill anything else." It was right then that the alarms began to sound, indicating that a hostile intruder had breached the mansion's outer defenses and was currently heading towards the mansion itself.
Scott's head snapped up in surprise; the current psychic connected to the latest version of cerebro hadn't seen this coming. He gave his orders before charging from the room to find out what was going on. "Hank, stay here and make sure that Logan gets properly restrained. When he gets back, tell Cain that he is to stay here and help you in case Logan wakes up before you're done. Sam, come with me. Something tells me that we're going to need all the firepower we can get."
Leaving Hank to his work, Scott ran through the med lab with Sam close at his heels, dodging the doctors and patients scattered in confusion throughout the hallways. They hit the elevator just as another pair of mutants were heading up to help defend the mansion. Within minutes, the two of them were standing at the front door of the mansion, gaping in complete and absolute shock at the sight that met them.
Calmly striding through the twisted and shattered remains of the front gates was a giant of a man that both Scott and Sam knew very well. The serenity and ease of his movement was belied by the way that his left eye blazed as he moved toward the mansion. He was very heavily armoured, wearing some form of highly advanced body armour and carrying a rifle nearly large enough for a mobile artillery weapon in both hands.
Not two metres from the wreckage of the front gates, the mansion's second line of defense sprang into action. Scott winced as he thought of what the high powered laser cannons and flamethrowers were going to do to this man, but his worries were assuaged as the blasts merely splashed around some invisible shield that was surrounding his entire body. A handful of well placed shots from his rifle dismantled the entire system, as well as the stun nets that were set to go off next.
By this time, a large number of the mansion's current inhabitants had swarmed out of the building and were attacking the intruder for invading the mansion. Sam and Scott tried vainly to restrain them or convince them to cease their assault on this man, but to no avail. They simply wouldn't listen; all they was was an intruder to their home, one who had shown his hostile intent, and it was their job to stop him.
Realizing that their pleas to stop this foolishness were going unheeded, the commanders of the X-Men could only watch in astonishment as the most highly trained and powerful mutant strike force in the world was taken apart in front of their eyes. It was really quite sad.
The first two to reach the intruder were the two strongest, apart from the Juggernaut, and the most feral and wild of everyone at the mansion. Their speed, strength and ferocity were nearly unmatched and unstoppable. Before they even reached him, the intruder glanced in their direction, and they were hammered mercilessly into the ground, unconscious before they began to fall. Scott's eyes widened as he watched it; the intruder hadn't been able to do this the last time Scott had seen him.
The next attacks were in the form of energy blasts, a combined wave of fire, electricity and pure force that would have been enough to ravage the surface of the continent. They all splashed against the same shield that had earlier held the cannons at bay. Everyone who attacked him was taken down. Some were shot out of the sky where they flew; others where smashed into the ground so hard they bounced. The land bound ones, for the most part, simply clutched their heads and screamed before collapsing. A few others were shot or blasted with the same unseen force that had already taken down so many of their friends.
Before three minutes had passed, the defenders that were the first outside were all down for the count. Only one was left standing to face the intruder because she hadn't yet attacked him, afraid of what her power could do if she lost control. More of the mansion's residents were undoubtedly on their way, but for now it was up to her to keep this stranger from advancing any farther.
Sally calmly walked down the path to meet him, not showing any fear at the stranger's awesome show of might. Only fourteen, she looked to be too sweet and innocent to be a part of the X-Men. In reality, she was already the most powerful telepath they had, and she would only become more powerful as her abilities and skills increased. Scott hoped that she wasn't going to try anything stupid. The intruder looked almost bored as he walked toward her. His deep voice broke the silence.
"Don't make me hurt you."
Scott saw the look of surprise and then anger move across her face; no one at the mansion had ever spoken to her like that. She was the match of almost any of them, and had proven it several times. Sally angrily put her hands to her temples, a sure sign that she was using her powers. She seemed to think it was necessary, even though none of the other telepaths did it. Her brow furrowed in concentration an instant before the intruder's eye blazed even brighter and she fell with a scream that would have put Banshee to shame.
The intruder walked past her, glancing down with what appeared to be a small amount of regret. He ignored the mutants still rushing outside who were looking to Scott or Sam for direction. Seeing their leaders so calm with everyone else unconscious on the ground completely unnerved them. He walked up the steps to where Scott was and dwarfed him with his sheer size. He spoke for the second time since breaking through the mansion's defenses.
"Hello, Scott, Sam. You're looking well."
Scott tried to say something, his mouth opening and closing several times, but Sam beat him to it. "Cable! What the hell are you doing here? We thought you were dead, or gone back to your own time!"
Amusement showed in Cable's face as he replied. "Obviously I'm not dead, or I wouldn't have been able to take down your team. It looks like training has really been slipping since I've been gone, I never could have taken down the old team so easily. As for why I'm here, I know that you brought Logan in earlier, and I must see him."
Scott finally managed to get his shock under control and was able to speak once more. "How do you know about him? I myself just found out minutes ago. And for your information, most of the more powerful members of the team are either out on a mission or in the med lab because of Logan's capture."
"How do I know about him? You're forgetting that I'm from the future. I know much about things that haven't even happened yet, and I know what needs to be done to make sure the world I just came from never exists. Now will you take me to Logan, or do I need to go find him myself?" Cable started through the front door.
Scott's mind was reeling from the events of the past couple of minutes; his son wasn't dead, the future needed to be altered and Logan was somehow a part of it. The questions would have to wait though, some of the team members obviously needed medical attention and Cable needed to be shown to where Logan was being kept. He turned to Sam with his orders. "Sam, I need you to go and make sure everyone is ok, and explain to them what is going on. I'll go help Nathan with whatever he needs to do here." Sam would get everything under control, he was quite capable as a leader. As an after thought he added, "Make sure to explain to them who he is, and that he isn't our enemy," before entering the mansion behind his son.
He caught up to Nathan quickly and led him down into the holding cells near the med lab where they were keeping Logan, and where Hank and Cain were watching him try to free himself from the adamantium restraints they'd put him in. Both of them started in surprise when Scott entered leading Nathan. "Don't worry, he knows all about what's been going on," Scott said as he walked up to them. "Has he been doing this all the time I've been gone."
Hank was the one who replied. "Yes. We had barely gotten him restrained when his healing factor removed the cobra venom from his system and he regained consciousness. He was very agitated at finding himself restrained from attacking us, so I thought it would be best if we removed ourselves from the room to try to get him to relax. So far it has not worked as intended."
Cable walked up to the door and opened it without saying a word. When he moved to enter the room alone, the others began protesting vehemently, saying that Logan was extremely dangerous like this and that someone else should be there in case he got loose and attacked. Cable looked at them. "Leave me with him. Go find something to do until I'm done." When they still refused to let him enter by himself, he telekinetically forced them away from the room and locked the door. He closed the shutters on the observation window and that was the last they saw.
When it became apparent that he wasn't coming out anytime soon, Scott turned to the others. "How about we go upstairs to my office and I'll explain to you what happened earlier?" With their agreement, he led them up to his office and, once everyone was comfortable, told them about Cable's grand entrance to the mansion grounds and how quickly he went through the defenders.
Sam entered part way through the narrative and remained silent until Scott was finished. Once he was done, Sam gave his report on how serious the injuries were. "We've got a couple team members with broken bones, nothing too major though. Three have concussions and the rest are just really banged up. They'll be sore for a few days, but no permanent damage. Sally's going to be fine, she's more shocked than anything, not only at finding that there's a telepath stronger than her, but at how strong Cable actually is. Does anyone know how he learned to control his powers?"
The four of them discussed and speculated on what Cable's reappearance meant, ranging from Sam's opinion that he simply missed everyone at the mansion to Scott's bleak outlook that the end of the world was coming again. After the first explosion shook the mansion, they rushed downstairs to the holding cells to find what seemed to be a war. Half of the X-Men were down there, trying to figure out what was going on and why so many screams were coming from the holding cells. After two hours of hoarse screams, explosions and the sounds of an intense battle going on in Logan's cell, Scott ordered everyone upstairs to go get something to eat; he would let them know if anything changed.
Ten hours later, the screams finally stopped and a bone weary Cable emerged from Logan's cell. He closed the door softly as he left and sagged against the wall. "It's done." A tired groan was forced from him as he pulled himself upright with Hank's aid. Disregarding any concerns for his health he handed Scott a piece of paper and said, "Give this to him when he wakes up. It says what he has to do next." With those words, he pulled a device from his belt, punched a few numbers, and disappeared in a flash of light.
Their concern for his well being last only until they looked into Logan's cell. The original wreckage in the room had been reduced to ash and blood was splashed everywhere, coating the walls and floor with bright red. The ceiling was mostly spared, but the thing that immediately drew the eye was the amount of blood covering Logan. He had obviously been injured many times and even though he was already healed, it must have weakened him greatly.
Scott ordered Hank and Cain to put Logan into a bed for rest and monitoring, trusting that Cable had done everything he said he was going to. He then took Sam upstairs with him to try and explain this whole mess to the others, knowing that they would be waiting for some explanation of the events of the past twelve hours. He also asked one of the more experienced psychics on the team to prepare to take a look inside Logan's head as soon as they could get his permission.
Three days later, Scott, Sam and Cain were called down to the room where Logan lay, all others being warned to stay away to remain safe. The three of them joined Hank at the side of the bed where he simply pointed to the EKG readings. Logan was waking up, and they wanted to be sure that he wasn't going to go berserk on them again.
Before too long had passed, he finally opened his eyes, all trace of madness gone. He took one look the the people gathered at his bedside, and said, "Cyke, where the hell's your visor?"