A New Hope

Chapter Six

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: For once I don't know what to say here, wow. A little warning here, the language gets a little rough, and there's some violence too. Have I got your attention yet? Please enjoy, read and review.

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Logan was pissed off, he'd been calling Charles all morning, no answer. He'd let Scott make sure everyone got breakfast and went to school, he'd been too busy with dialing Charles. Nothing, not on the cell phone, the hotel room or even the Doc's laptop, and he was quickly getting suspicious. Though he hesitated to use the telepathic link between him and Charles, he had used it and had been completely surprised when he hadn't gotten an answer. He'd checked the news shortly after Charles hadn't answered, no problems in Washington over night, but that didn't explain why Charles hadn't called back, or answered. Logan glanced at his watch, they weren't suppose to speak before Congress for another hour if his guess was correct, so they should still be in the hotel. Picking up the phone he tried the hotel front desk again. "Room 532, please." He growled, the desk cleric recognized his voice and patched him through right away. Nothing, no answer, and Logan slammed the phone down. Thinking swears he remembered from his days in the army he tried every phone again with nothing. Desperate, Logan turned on the television and started flipping through channels. He didn't pay attention to the news, what he read in the paper was sports, weather and just a casual glance at the head lines in case Sabretooth showed up. He didn't have a clue if the Congressional hearings were being televised, but he was better safe than sorry. He found it in a mass of news channels, and the Doc was standing at a podium. Something must have happened to punch up the time of the speeches, he thought, if that was so, why didn't Charles called to tell him him? Logan frown, he had to wait, but he didn't see Wilson Trask sitting in the crowd. That was a good thing; he didn't want any of them getting close to Trask until he got word from Fury about the second search. He leaned back against the counter behind him, folded his arms over his chest and stared at the screen. The Doc looked pretty calm, neat as a pin dressed in her little pin stripe suit, and the senators paying close attention to her. The cameras loved her too, he thought, all of them were doing close up images of her face. He spotted Charles, Ororo and Hank over the Doc's shoulder, everyone looked all right. Still, why hadn't Charles called, that was nagging at him, but without actually going to Washington or waiting for them to get back, he was left dealing with the nagging feeling. Slightly mollified, Logan left the television on to listen to the hearings, might as well see what Charles was going to say, but he sat down at another consol to do work.

"These bills are far reaching," The Doc said, her voice loud and clear, "Other countries are looking to us to decide on how they will handle their own mutants. If the registration bill passes, will the next bill call for segregation?"

"Dr. Chandler, we've asked you here to speak on your experiences in the Xavier Institute." It sounded like a chairperson.

"That's correct, sir," The Doc said still calm, "If you would exercise some patience, I will be getting to that." Logan felt a smile tug at his lips, the Doc had certainly put that guy in his place, "If the restriction bill passes, then mutants all over America will be put in danger. On the level I have seen, working with the students at the Xavier Institute, with the proper training they do not need restrictions. They know the limits and effects of their powers and can exercise restraint and caution. Through my experiences at the Instit…" Logan frown and looked up from his work, the television screen was black, but the channel's logo was still in the lower right hand corner of the screen. He turned around in the chair to watch, a reporter in a newsroom, looking slightly confused, replaced the black screen.

"Uh, well we seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties with our satellite hook up," The reporter said, "We'll see if we can get sound and picture back for you shortly." Logan picked up the remote and started flipping through news channels. Nothing on any of them, every channel it seemed was experiencing some technical difficulties. Something went off in Logan's head, some sort of uneasy feeling that had him getting to his feet and reaching for the phone. Panic went steadily through him, but years of training let him channel it into calm and he dialed without trembling hands and kept one eye on the screen to see if the picture came back.

"This is a private number, access code please," An automated voice said after a few rings.

"Weapon X," Logan growled, then listened to more rings.

"S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Get me Fury," Logan ordered, "Now."

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"They know the limits and effects of their powers and can exercise restraint and caution. Through my experiences at the Institute," Hope said steadily, glancing only occasionally at her speech, "I have seen the worst of mutant behavior, even with these bills some mutants, because of human behavior and not their genetic makeup, will still be dangerous. The students at the Institute will defend and protect…" BAM! Hope was thrown forward, she went over the podium, and landed on the other side, on her side. Hope coughed, trying to suck back the breath that had been forced from her lungs.

"Hope, are you alright?" Hank said, jumping the distance between them.

"What's going on?" She managed, blinking away tears.

"I don't know, the door, argh!" Hank clutched his shoulder and Hope felt blood splash across her face. She heard gunshots again, and pulled Hank behind the podium.

"Good thing there's a doctor close by, huh?" Hope asked him as she propped him up.

"It's just a scratch," Hank said, though Hope could see the wound was deep.

"Alright, Hank, a scratch," Hope tried to joke as she pulled off her jacket, "You've been shot clean through the shoulder, just press this as hard as you can against the wound and I'll find you a band-aid." Her hands were warm with blood as she pressed the jacket against the wound; she could feel it on her face and fought back the sense of panic that was flowing through her. Years of medical training had her focusing on the wound and looking around for other victims.

"Hope," Hank said, reaching for her, "Don't go."

"I have to go see if Charles and Ororo are alright, Hank," She held his hand tightly in hers, "I'll be back, I promise." Hope finished on a gasp as she was lifted up off the ground by her hair. Hank started to get up, but a man dressed in black and wearing a ski mask pressed a gun against the side of his head.

"You do anything but cooperate, and your friend gets another hole in him," the man said, even as Hank growled a warning.

"Don't," Hope said quickly, "I'll cooperate." Bull shit, she thought and swung her hand back. She connected with skin and blasted the man holding her up. Her hair stood on end, her skin crackled and the man behind her crumpled. She lunged forward, already throwing bolts out towards the man with the gun. By luck or fate she jerked his wrist up just as he fired a shot. The man collapsed, and the gun was in Hope's hands. She hated guns, was deathly afraid of them, and instead of holding onto it, tossed it away from her as far as she could. By now she was able to get a look around the scene, smoke was slowly filling the room, billowing through the vents and the door, men in black and ski masks were by the doors, and most of the security guards were on the floor, bleeding. She could see Ororo on the ground, clutching her side, Charles lay before her, but Hope couldn't see any wound on him.

"Don't move!" Another man in a ski mask ordered, leveling what looked like a sub machine gun at Hope.

"I'm sick of people telling me to stay put!" Hope yelled and threw her hands forward. A cascade of white blots raced towards the man, before he even had a chance to touch the trigger they were on him and he was down. She flung her hands towards one end of the room, trying for the two guards that blocked the emergency exit and then staggered under a blow to her head. She went down on her knees as another blow came across her temple and then she fell forward, dazed. She managed to roll on to her back and looked up; Wilson Trask was standing over her, a gun held in his hand.

"You had to make it difficult, didn't you?" He said, pointing the barrel of the gun at her.

"You…bastard," Hope managed trying to lash out with her power. All she managed were a few small bolts that didn't even go a few inches away from her.

"Now, that's not nice language Doctor, what kind of example are you setting?" Hope watched his image and the image of the gun swim before her, slowly blending into one terrible image as she passed out.

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Logan acted quickly when Fury answered and told him there had been an attack at Capitol Hill and that the X-men were needed. He ran from the control room, grabbed his uniform off a hook and raced for the X-jet. He'd stop off at the school, grab the kids and go. He leapt over the stair railing down into the second level walkway of the hanger, then vaulted over that railing to land on the floor of the hanger. He hit the button to open the hanger doors on his way to the jet, clicked the remote button to open the stairs and dove up them two at a time. Once inside he punched in the code for take off while stripping of his shirt. He dialed Scott while the jet taxied down the runway, and when the kid answered, he was quick and to the point.

"Attack in Washington, get everyone ready, I'll be there in five." And then he closed the line. Scott wouldn't question if he knew what was good for him, Logan thought, tossing away his jeans. There was no time to hesitate; the adrenaline was pumping through him and for all his training he was thinking a little franticly. Charles, The Doc, Ororo and Hank, all of them were in the Capitol building, and he was back in Bayville. He took over piloting the jet when it cleared the hanger, banking into a turn towards the high school, thinking the football field should be large enough to land on. It was a tense flight to the school; hundreds of possibilities flying through Logan's head as he carefully set the jet down. Waiting on the field was Scott and the other X-men, their faces grim or astonished. He lowered the stairs and the filed in, Scott instantly taking the seat next to Logan.

"What's happened?" He asked while Logan piloted another take off.

"I was watching the proceedings in Washington when the cameras went dead," Logan explained, pushing the jet to its limit, "Called Fury to find out what was going on. He said the building had been attacked and that we were needed."

"What about the Professor?" Jean asked from behind him.

"Nothing, no mention of anyone," He growled and everyone went silent. The air was tense, palatable as they waited. Everyone had their ears tuned towards the communications panel, waiting for the beep of an incoming call. Everyone was praying that in another second the Professor's face would fill the screen, or Hank or Ororo, one of them would call and tell them it was all right. They'd say everything was under control that they would only be needed for clean up and transport. But Logan was a realist, it took a well-organized, steady thinking and well planned attack to even think about attempting an attack on the Capitol building and the execute the attack and succeed. S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles surrounded the Capitol building, but a space was cleared for the jet instantly, and Fury was waiting outside when Logan came down the steps.

"What's happened?" He asked Fury without preamble, the students fanning out behind him.

"Not sure yet, we just closed down the scene," Fury said, leading the group towards the door, "The witnesses are being treated for shock at the hospital, can't talk to them until the doctor's have finished."

"How about our doctor?" Logan asked as Fury held the door open for him and the students to pass through.

"Haven't found her," Fury held up his hand, "But we just got most of the senator's cleared out, there's still people in there."

"And the professor?" Scott asked, fixing on his visor.

"Haven't found anyone of the Institute yet." Fury lead them down another hall way, "This way and don't touch anything." Logan could smell the smoke, the rustic lingering scent of fire and the metallic tang of blood. He could smell the gun powered smoke, shots had been fired, and then he saw the door. It had been blown of its hinges by what looked like well placed charges, and the doors were suppose to be bomb proof.

"What happened to the doors?" Logan challenged, stepping in front of Fury.

"Look, I brought you here to see if there was something you could get from the scene, for now Logan, shut up." Fury grabbed his shoulder and pushed Logan through the door. Everything was in chaos, benches and seats had been turned over along with tables. Papers were scattered everywhere, and blood was thick in the air. Logan scanned the scene and took off running for Hank when he saw Hank on a gurney surrounded by EMTs and S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

"McCoy," Logan said, pushing aside the EMTs, "Where's Charles?"

"Took him already," Hank mumbled, Logan could see they'd given him something for the pain, "Hospital."

"Alright, and Ororo? Where's the Doc? Where's Hope?" Logan shrugged off the agents trying to pull him back and away.

"Trask…took…had a gun…" Hank grabbed his arm, "She dead?" and he was gone, passed out. He let the agents pull him away and the EMTs rushed Hank out.

"The Professor's at the hospital," Logan said when Scott came forward, "So is Storm and McCoy's on his way there." Logan took a deep breath, "Fan out, look for any signs of Dr. Chandler. If anyone is conscious, ask them about her and what happened," Logan ordered, "Teams of two." He turned to Fury, "Where are the FBI agents? Weren't they supposed to be watching out for everyone?"

"We haven't found either of them," Fury ran a hand through his hair, "Agent Akelm was outside by the doors, his body hasn't been recovered. Agent Wayne was found in her apartment this morning, bound and gagged. We have Mystique locked up in an air ship."

"I want to talk to her," Logan growled.

"You will, later," Fury said, "Look, we need to talk."

"About?" Fury placed his hand on Logan's back and steered him to a corner of the room, as secluded as it was going to get with hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D agents sifting through the rubble. Fury turned Logan's shoulders and made him look at him; "We need you on this."

"You have me and the X-men," Logan said, watching the students out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't mean you and the X-men."

Now Fury had Logan's attention, "What?"

"I need you, not as Wolverine, but was Weapon X. If you just want to be Wolverine, I'm not going to be able to tell you anything. All you're going to get is what's on the news."

"Bull shit," Logan pushed Fury away, "My people, my friends are involved in this, we get news as fast as you and S.H.I.E.L.D."

"No you don't, this is a terrorist attack on home soil, and you know the rules on that. Tight lipped, tons of red tape, unless you're involved. You can know everything that we know as soon as we know it if your involved as Weapon X."

"I don't do that anymore," Logan growled.

"But you can, you see the way these guys work, they're good. You're better, you can track them down, faster than any of the agents we have now," Fury pointed out.

"And I can track them down as Wolverine too, I don't need S.H.I.E.L.D. or you to get information," Logan shot back.

"And that's interfering with a federal case, that's jail time. Look around you Logan, you can get these guys, you want to get these guys. I'm giving you that chance."

Logan ran his hands through his hair. Oh yeah, he wanted these guys, but he had other responsibilities now. Now he couldn't go charging out on his own and leave the kids unattended, Fury had to understand that, "Everyone else is in the hospital, who's going to watch the kids while I'm playing super solider?"

"Your kids can lead themselves, you've seen their perfectly capable of that," Fury gripped Logan's arm tight, "We've been over this place looking for bodies, we haven't found Dr. Chandler. We checked the hotel, not there either, she's gone Logan. Whoever did this took her, tried to kill your friends, and killed some good men. We need someone like you on this, she needs you on this."

"Damn it, Fury, damn you," Logan looked around the room; saw the kids competently moving through the debris, picking out clues. "Alright, but I work alone. I'll report what I find to you, only you, and you give me everything, free reign to handle this the way I want to handle it, or else I'm gone."

"If you find them you call us first, don't move in on your own, if you do that, I'll let you do what you think is best," Fury agreed. Logan nodded stiffly, "When you're done here, we'll take you and the kids to the hospital." Fury stepped back, and Logan turned towards the nearest object, the main podium where the chairperson had sat only hours before and punched his fist clean through it.

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Author's Note: Look, interesting stuff! I picked up the plot and it's just going to keep getting more interesting as the story goes on. Sorry to leave you hanging about what happened to Hope, and with the cliff hanger-ish ending. I'm sorry if I messed up Logan in parts, I think I lost his character after writing so much of him, please don't kill me. Please read and review.

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