Family Forgotten
Chapter 5: The Homestead
The ride to Alberta was calm and quiet, which was perfect because my father needed to unwind. Crossing from Saskatchewan to Alberta we skimmed past Medicine Hat and took the trans Canada highway all the way down just before Crow's Nest Pass then turned north to go up to Calgary. Riding west out of our short stay in Calgary we made our short hour jog out to the ranch's location, we left the pavement and headed out on the gravel and went about six of seven miles south again to get there. As we pulled up we found the ranch to be in working order yet, the house and the other buildings were looked after all these years. The lawn was a bit tall but it had been cut a few times, and there were cows grazing in the distance. The house was a standard two-story farmhouse painted white with forest green trim and all of the other buildings were painted to match. The panel fencing was painted white leaving the rest to be barbed wire. For the age of the yard the farm wasn't doing that badly, my father looked more stunned than ever he was about to fall over before Ororo and I caught him.
"Do you remember any of this at all Logan?" Ororo asked.
"The images are weak but this was my home, I remember having horses in the front pens here and a few cows and pigs over by the barn. We were a pretty well off family living here and I had an upstairs bedroom in the house," he told us looking around.
"Hard to believe that this place has been around over a century huh?" I said.
"Yeah I know that feeling, sometimes I wonder that about myself," my father said picking himself up off the ground and walking out to the house. "I just wonder if anybody is home, I mean somebody has to be living here if everything is kept as nice as it is,"
"Yeah you have to be right about that," I said to him.
We headed up to the house to be greeted by a young woman leaving the porch area, my father was the first to approach her.
"Hello there may I help you?" she asked.
"Yes, my name is James Howlett, do you live here?"
"Nice to meet you James my name is Beth. At the present moment yes, I'm only renting the house everything else is still held in the estate,"
"Really, so who pays for all the repairs done to the yard and such?"
"Oh all that is taken care through the estate. ungh .what did you say your last name was?"
"Howlett,"
"Your not James Jr. are you?"
"No, my parents are John and Elizabeth Howlett,"
"You see that can't be, that would put you over 100 years old and sir you don't look it at all,"
"Why thank you, but no that is my real name and this is my son Jack here,"
"Hello," I said to her.
"You know that this is a bit unexpected, the heir to the estate was expected to be over 100 and you're not,"
"Listen to him please, he isn't lying to you, because I'm over 100 as well. I've fought in both world wars and seen every bit of history in the past 20th century,"
"Yeah right, if you're over 100 I'm Bet Middler,"
"Are you?"
"NO!" she screamed at me. "Ok if you're over 100, how come you don't look that old?"
"That's because we are.mutants," I told her.
"Really, then where is all your powers and stuff,"
"Well you're looking at them. My father and I both have an accelerated healing factor and predatory senses,"
"That's it?" she asked.
"No, we also have adamantium skeletons and claws," I told her extending the three in my left hand,"
"Holy shit," she said stunned. "And you mean to tell me that you were born that way, with metal bones and claws,"
"Well not exactly, the metal came after an incident with the government along with my eyes and tail," I finished uncoiling it from around my waist and taking off my glasses.
"Oh my god!!! Are you sure you can see out of those?" she asked coming toward me to get a better look.
"Yes I can by the way!!! I can see in the dark too that's why they gave them to me," I explained to her. "Now that we have cleared all that up, would you happen to have the name of the lawyer that is over seeing the estate now?"
"Her name would be Beth Richards, and you would happen to be looking in the right place," she said.
"You're the lawyer?" my father asked.
"Yeah, I've been on this case now for about eight years and it was pretty much dead until you showed up today," she told us. "Now that you are here I guess we should finally look over the will and get things settled out over here,"
"Sounds good to us, may we come in," my father asked.
"Yeah of course it was your house at one time after all," she said heading up the steps to the porch.
Upon entering the house we found it to be very antique looking, very much the way it was originally beside the addition of electricity and indoor plumbing. All original hardwood stained in a dark and glossy chestnut along with the trim along the doorways, the baseboards, and ceiling trim. We walked down the main hallway down to the family room and found she had set up a station for her laptop and printer.
"Let me pull up the records on the estate and then I can see what the will was based on,"
"Ok, my memory is really weak, how did my parents come to pass?" Logan asked.
Giving him a "you are fucked up" look she said, "Well your father was killed by the gardener and his son Dog, your mother committed suicide just after the incident happened, for some reason the gardener was also killed showing signs that the fight between your father and him ended in a stalemate. A young lady by the name of Rose and yourself were nowhere to be found and Dog had already fled the scene,"
Logan sat back into an armchair and looked dead, completely pale faced and zoned out.
"Yo dad you in there?" I asked him.
"Hey Logan honey, snap out of it alright your startin' to freak us out," Ororo said putting her hand in his.
"It can't be!" he said sternly to himself.
"What can't be dad?" I asked him.
"He couldn't be Creed, there's no way in hell that could be him,"
"What?!" Ororo asked.
"Dog, he's Creed, when Weapon X got him they must have changed his name; that's the reason why we have been fighting all these years, it was over Rose. The problem for him was that she hated his guts and he couldn't see it," Logan said finally coming back to reality.
"So Logan you're saying that Sabretooth is the son of your grounds keeper?" Ororo asked.
"Yeah you got that right runt!" he said slyly walking around the corner into the room.
"CREED!!!" Logan yelled out.
"Did ya miss me? I was listening to your whole conversation outside and it was quite the memory jolt there bub. Who would have guess this could have all happened over a woman, god we're good," he said coolly leaning against the doorframe.
"What do you want Creed, I don't want to fight here," Logan said adjusting his posture in the chair he was in.
"Oh but I did, but since this is a question and answer period. Who is the spry lad next to ya, I can see he is a mutant cause of his eyes and tail but what connection does he have to you?" Creed asked looking me over.
"He's my son,"
"Is that so, I'll just have to call him mini runt until then,"
"No, you can call me Wolf until then Creed," I told him getting up and extending my claws.
"Hmph, like father like son. From what I take it Weapon X got em too eh?"
"Yeah not too long ago either. Do you realize this is about the only time we have ever had a sensible talk without resorting to fighting," Logan said keeping an eye on his movements.
"You know you're right, shit I must be gettin' soft or somethin'," he said inspecting his claws.
"Let's take a walk outside,"
"Yes, let's,"
The two of them walked out of the room with my father in tow, about thirty feet from the deck they were already at it. Claws were flying and growls could be heard from the both of them as they battled it out on the front lawn. All that Ororo and I could do was watch the fight ensue between the both of them. Before too long the two of them were beginning to tire as their movements became a bit slower and accuracy was becoming a forgotten factor. My father was swinging hard and leaving the temporary marks to prove it as Creeds wounds were apparent but healed almost instantly. As for Creed he was taking a beating but was holding his own as the last few of his punches got through and put my father down for the count.
"You really must be losing your edge runt, you can't even take a decent beatin' no more," Creed told him keeping his distance. "Maybe your boy here should throw a few at me, or is he weaker than you?"
"I can hold my own," I told him, a light growl escaping from my throat.
"Now Jack don't be getting into this, that's all he wants is a good fight," Ororo advised me placing an arm on my shoulder.
"And I plan to give him one," I told her extending my claws and leaping off the deck. "Better watch out Creed I'm comin' for ya!!!"
I hit him hard in the chest pushing him to the ground and slightly winding him. Getting off his chest I stepped back to let him size me up, I truly hoped he found me fair game. I found him to be hesitant, which provoked a question out of me.
"What's the matter Creed you scared?"
"Heh, kid if I was scared would I do this!!!" quickly he grabbed hold of me and got into a bear hug.
Using his strength he started to try and crush my adamantium spine, noticing my hands out to the side and near his flanks I pierced his ribs hard with my claws causing him to drop me on the ground. As he rubbed his sides helping nurse the pain away I used the brief opportunity to give him a good toss, running at him I leapt over and grabbed hold of him by the neck. Placing my feet at the base of his spine I rolled him right back onto his neck. From there he lay motionless, making the mistake I walked up to check him. He grabbed my foot and spun me around slashing my abdomen and chest as he got up. I fought hard and was able to get a claw behind his knee to disable him for a bit while I could recover.
"You're pretty good kid, you fight differently than your old man,"
"You think so huh, he was the one that taught me,"
"Really? Ain't that somethin'," he said re positioning himself. "How about round two?"
"Your on!!" I told him getting ready to leap at him. "Both of you stop this at once!!!" Ororo yelled holding a bolt of lightning above her ready to strike. "This is no place for a fight, so break it up or this will get ugly,"
Taking her word I backed down and moved away from Creed, he on the other hand had other ideas. Leaping at her she gave him a full blast of electricity tossing him back a good fifty feet. Looking down were he had landed I seen him slowly get up, and quickly make his exit for the time being. The two of us made our way over to my father who was still a bit out of it he took a good hit to the head but he would be alright in a couple minutes or so.
"Jeez dad you can't really take a hit no more can ya?" I asked him helping him sit up.
"When he punched me upside the head my mind was elsewhere and then it went blank," he told us rubbing his temple. "By the way where did he go?"
"He left after Ororo here gave him a good blast to break up his fight with me,"
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's pretty strong but he's slow too and that's where I have the advantage over him in battle,"
"You're learning fast kid, that's good because he will want another tussle sometime in the future from you so be ready,"
"Gotcha dad, now lets finish up things in the house and we can leave back to New York," I told him.
"Good idea," Ororo said helping my father off the ground.
"I second that," he told us dusting himself off.
Heading up the steps we found the young lawyer waiting for us a bit dazed but able to grasp the situation. We went back to the office to finish the will and look at the possibilities as far as inheritance. As far as it was set up James was supposed to receive most of it, for at the time his brother John, my uncle, was still young and it was unknown if he would survive his child hood. (A/N: I don't have any info on his brother John so if somebody knows about it please inform me about it asap). This inheritance included the ranch and most homely possessions, including a decent sum of money from the estate. His brother John was supposed to receive a bit of land and a sum of money, for being at his young age. The land that was promised to James was about 1000 acres, mostly large pastured plains that would have been very inexpensive to purchase at the time and also incredibly large compared to the other ranches of the period averaging only about 200 acres at the most. The amount of money that was left for him was pretty significant too, being in the range of about 3 million dollars. Of course this present amount has grown over the past years due to interest and nothing significant has been removed from the estate due to funds coming in from rent for property usage leaving the principal amount to grow. To tell you the truth I had no idea my family was this well off before they died so it was all a bonus in my mind. Leaving the ranch was a bit hard for my father, even though he just remembered it, it was as if he already spent an eternity there and could never leave. We had our long ride ahead of us back to New York but surprisingly everyone was quiet, maybe it was the whole truth being revealed thing that made people think, I don't know but I can tell you my head was on overdrive still trying to comprehend how my father could change so significantly during his life. He was a young, rich, and part of a respected family, then he became a rugged bushman then finally a sentimental, and confused warrior. Almost like the master less samurai of Japanese legend. Maybe there was a chance that he would shed his fighting ways and become the refined gentleman that he was supposed to back when he was a child, but I think that would be one of the very last things on his list. So now we had a lot of our answers but new ones had come up, like what would we do with the inheritance? Or even what would we do with the ranch? But the most dominant one in my mind anyway was who was my uncle? John Jr., my father's brother was out there somewhere dead or possibly even alive, we didn't know but I sure wanted to. It was more like I needed to, I have found my father and his family but where is the rest of mine. I was curious to know if the professor could dig something out of my father's head that would help us look for him.
Chapter 5: The Homestead
The ride to Alberta was calm and quiet, which was perfect because my father needed to unwind. Crossing from Saskatchewan to Alberta we skimmed past Medicine Hat and took the trans Canada highway all the way down just before Crow's Nest Pass then turned north to go up to Calgary. Riding west out of our short stay in Calgary we made our short hour jog out to the ranch's location, we left the pavement and headed out on the gravel and went about six of seven miles south again to get there. As we pulled up we found the ranch to be in working order yet, the house and the other buildings were looked after all these years. The lawn was a bit tall but it had been cut a few times, and there were cows grazing in the distance. The house was a standard two-story farmhouse painted white with forest green trim and all of the other buildings were painted to match. The panel fencing was painted white leaving the rest to be barbed wire. For the age of the yard the farm wasn't doing that badly, my father looked more stunned than ever he was about to fall over before Ororo and I caught him.
"Do you remember any of this at all Logan?" Ororo asked.
"The images are weak but this was my home, I remember having horses in the front pens here and a few cows and pigs over by the barn. We were a pretty well off family living here and I had an upstairs bedroom in the house," he told us looking around.
"Hard to believe that this place has been around over a century huh?" I said.
"Yeah I know that feeling, sometimes I wonder that about myself," my father said picking himself up off the ground and walking out to the house. "I just wonder if anybody is home, I mean somebody has to be living here if everything is kept as nice as it is,"
"Yeah you have to be right about that," I said to him.
We headed up to the house to be greeted by a young woman leaving the porch area, my father was the first to approach her.
"Hello there may I help you?" she asked.
"Yes, my name is James Howlett, do you live here?"
"Nice to meet you James my name is Beth. At the present moment yes, I'm only renting the house everything else is still held in the estate,"
"Really, so who pays for all the repairs done to the yard and such?"
"Oh all that is taken care through the estate. ungh .what did you say your last name was?"
"Howlett,"
"Your not James Jr. are you?"
"No, my parents are John and Elizabeth Howlett,"
"You see that can't be, that would put you over 100 years old and sir you don't look it at all,"
"Why thank you, but no that is my real name and this is my son Jack here,"
"Hello," I said to her.
"You know that this is a bit unexpected, the heir to the estate was expected to be over 100 and you're not,"
"Listen to him please, he isn't lying to you, because I'm over 100 as well. I've fought in both world wars and seen every bit of history in the past 20th century,"
"Yeah right, if you're over 100 I'm Bet Middler,"
"Are you?"
"NO!" she screamed at me. "Ok if you're over 100, how come you don't look that old?"
"That's because we are.mutants," I told her.
"Really, then where is all your powers and stuff,"
"Well you're looking at them. My father and I both have an accelerated healing factor and predatory senses,"
"That's it?" she asked.
"No, we also have adamantium skeletons and claws," I told her extending the three in my left hand,"
"Holy shit," she said stunned. "And you mean to tell me that you were born that way, with metal bones and claws,"
"Well not exactly, the metal came after an incident with the government along with my eyes and tail," I finished uncoiling it from around my waist and taking off my glasses.
"Oh my god!!! Are you sure you can see out of those?" she asked coming toward me to get a better look.
"Yes I can by the way!!! I can see in the dark too that's why they gave them to me," I explained to her. "Now that we have cleared all that up, would you happen to have the name of the lawyer that is over seeing the estate now?"
"Her name would be Beth Richards, and you would happen to be looking in the right place," she said.
"You're the lawyer?" my father asked.
"Yeah, I've been on this case now for about eight years and it was pretty much dead until you showed up today," she told us. "Now that you are here I guess we should finally look over the will and get things settled out over here,"
"Sounds good to us, may we come in," my father asked.
"Yeah of course it was your house at one time after all," she said heading up the steps to the porch.
Upon entering the house we found it to be very antique looking, very much the way it was originally beside the addition of electricity and indoor plumbing. All original hardwood stained in a dark and glossy chestnut along with the trim along the doorways, the baseboards, and ceiling trim. We walked down the main hallway down to the family room and found she had set up a station for her laptop and printer.
"Let me pull up the records on the estate and then I can see what the will was based on,"
"Ok, my memory is really weak, how did my parents come to pass?" Logan asked.
Giving him a "you are fucked up" look she said, "Well your father was killed by the gardener and his son Dog, your mother committed suicide just after the incident happened, for some reason the gardener was also killed showing signs that the fight between your father and him ended in a stalemate. A young lady by the name of Rose and yourself were nowhere to be found and Dog had already fled the scene,"
Logan sat back into an armchair and looked dead, completely pale faced and zoned out.
"Yo dad you in there?" I asked him.
"Hey Logan honey, snap out of it alright your startin' to freak us out," Ororo said putting her hand in his.
"It can't be!" he said sternly to himself.
"What can't be dad?" I asked him.
"He couldn't be Creed, there's no way in hell that could be him,"
"What?!" Ororo asked.
"Dog, he's Creed, when Weapon X got him they must have changed his name; that's the reason why we have been fighting all these years, it was over Rose. The problem for him was that she hated his guts and he couldn't see it," Logan said finally coming back to reality.
"So Logan you're saying that Sabretooth is the son of your grounds keeper?" Ororo asked.
"Yeah you got that right runt!" he said slyly walking around the corner into the room.
"CREED!!!" Logan yelled out.
"Did ya miss me? I was listening to your whole conversation outside and it was quite the memory jolt there bub. Who would have guess this could have all happened over a woman, god we're good," he said coolly leaning against the doorframe.
"What do you want Creed, I don't want to fight here," Logan said adjusting his posture in the chair he was in.
"Oh but I did, but since this is a question and answer period. Who is the spry lad next to ya, I can see he is a mutant cause of his eyes and tail but what connection does he have to you?" Creed asked looking me over.
"He's my son,"
"Is that so, I'll just have to call him mini runt until then,"
"No, you can call me Wolf until then Creed," I told him getting up and extending my claws.
"Hmph, like father like son. From what I take it Weapon X got em too eh?"
"Yeah not too long ago either. Do you realize this is about the only time we have ever had a sensible talk without resorting to fighting," Logan said keeping an eye on his movements.
"You know you're right, shit I must be gettin' soft or somethin'," he said inspecting his claws.
"Let's take a walk outside,"
"Yes, let's,"
The two of them walked out of the room with my father in tow, about thirty feet from the deck they were already at it. Claws were flying and growls could be heard from the both of them as they battled it out on the front lawn. All that Ororo and I could do was watch the fight ensue between the both of them. Before too long the two of them were beginning to tire as their movements became a bit slower and accuracy was becoming a forgotten factor. My father was swinging hard and leaving the temporary marks to prove it as Creeds wounds were apparent but healed almost instantly. As for Creed he was taking a beating but was holding his own as the last few of his punches got through and put my father down for the count.
"You really must be losing your edge runt, you can't even take a decent beatin' no more," Creed told him keeping his distance. "Maybe your boy here should throw a few at me, or is he weaker than you?"
"I can hold my own," I told him, a light growl escaping from my throat.
"Now Jack don't be getting into this, that's all he wants is a good fight," Ororo advised me placing an arm on my shoulder.
"And I plan to give him one," I told her extending my claws and leaping off the deck. "Better watch out Creed I'm comin' for ya!!!"
I hit him hard in the chest pushing him to the ground and slightly winding him. Getting off his chest I stepped back to let him size me up, I truly hoped he found me fair game. I found him to be hesitant, which provoked a question out of me.
"What's the matter Creed you scared?"
"Heh, kid if I was scared would I do this!!!" quickly he grabbed hold of me and got into a bear hug.
Using his strength he started to try and crush my adamantium spine, noticing my hands out to the side and near his flanks I pierced his ribs hard with my claws causing him to drop me on the ground. As he rubbed his sides helping nurse the pain away I used the brief opportunity to give him a good toss, running at him I leapt over and grabbed hold of him by the neck. Placing my feet at the base of his spine I rolled him right back onto his neck. From there he lay motionless, making the mistake I walked up to check him. He grabbed my foot and spun me around slashing my abdomen and chest as he got up. I fought hard and was able to get a claw behind his knee to disable him for a bit while I could recover.
"You're pretty good kid, you fight differently than your old man,"
"You think so huh, he was the one that taught me,"
"Really? Ain't that somethin'," he said re positioning himself. "How about round two?"
"Your on!!" I told him getting ready to leap at him. "Both of you stop this at once!!!" Ororo yelled holding a bolt of lightning above her ready to strike. "This is no place for a fight, so break it up or this will get ugly,"
Taking her word I backed down and moved away from Creed, he on the other hand had other ideas. Leaping at her she gave him a full blast of electricity tossing him back a good fifty feet. Looking down were he had landed I seen him slowly get up, and quickly make his exit for the time being. The two of us made our way over to my father who was still a bit out of it he took a good hit to the head but he would be alright in a couple minutes or so.
"Jeez dad you can't really take a hit no more can ya?" I asked him helping him sit up.
"When he punched me upside the head my mind was elsewhere and then it went blank," he told us rubbing his temple. "By the way where did he go?"
"He left after Ororo here gave him a good blast to break up his fight with me,"
"Really?"
"Yeah, he's pretty strong but he's slow too and that's where I have the advantage over him in battle,"
"You're learning fast kid, that's good because he will want another tussle sometime in the future from you so be ready,"
"Gotcha dad, now lets finish up things in the house and we can leave back to New York," I told him.
"Good idea," Ororo said helping my father off the ground.
"I second that," he told us dusting himself off.
Heading up the steps we found the young lawyer waiting for us a bit dazed but able to grasp the situation. We went back to the office to finish the will and look at the possibilities as far as inheritance. As far as it was set up James was supposed to receive most of it, for at the time his brother John, my uncle, was still young and it was unknown if he would survive his child hood. (A/N: I don't have any info on his brother John so if somebody knows about it please inform me about it asap). This inheritance included the ranch and most homely possessions, including a decent sum of money from the estate. His brother John was supposed to receive a bit of land and a sum of money, for being at his young age. The land that was promised to James was about 1000 acres, mostly large pastured plains that would have been very inexpensive to purchase at the time and also incredibly large compared to the other ranches of the period averaging only about 200 acres at the most. The amount of money that was left for him was pretty significant too, being in the range of about 3 million dollars. Of course this present amount has grown over the past years due to interest and nothing significant has been removed from the estate due to funds coming in from rent for property usage leaving the principal amount to grow. To tell you the truth I had no idea my family was this well off before they died so it was all a bonus in my mind. Leaving the ranch was a bit hard for my father, even though he just remembered it, it was as if he already spent an eternity there and could never leave. We had our long ride ahead of us back to New York but surprisingly everyone was quiet, maybe it was the whole truth being revealed thing that made people think, I don't know but I can tell you my head was on overdrive still trying to comprehend how my father could change so significantly during his life. He was a young, rich, and part of a respected family, then he became a rugged bushman then finally a sentimental, and confused warrior. Almost like the master less samurai of Japanese legend. Maybe there was a chance that he would shed his fighting ways and become the refined gentleman that he was supposed to back when he was a child, but I think that would be one of the very last things on his list. So now we had a lot of our answers but new ones had come up, like what would we do with the inheritance? Or even what would we do with the ranch? But the most dominant one in my mind anyway was who was my uncle? John Jr., my father's brother was out there somewhere dead or possibly even alive, we didn't know but I sure wanted to. It was more like I needed to, I have found my father and his family but where is the rest of mine. I was curious to know if the professor could dig something out of my father's head that would help us look for him.