~2253~
**Misfit & Legend**
"Xavier Mutant University is the most prestigious institution of higher learning, mutant or human, in the western hemisphere. It is mainly a university for mutants, but is also open to non-gifted mutant family members…" the tour guide said smugly. "The Mansion's restoration was completed in 2158. The lower levels, though not open to the public, were restored in 2212, and house the Mutant Archives…"
Jesse frowned at the sting that comment always gave him, non-gifted family members. What the guide meant to say was half-breeds, like him. Jesse's father was a legend at XMU, a football star, and now a coach. Carter 'Jett' Stanley was fast, like near light speed fast. That was his gift. But he was a horrible father, and cast a very large shadow for Jesse to stand in. Jesse's mother, Andromeda Stanley, had been a brilliant Librarian at the University and was in charge of the extensive historical archives and rare books. She was an incredible beauty, which would explain her popularity despite being an ordinary human. Her IQ readings were not even measurable, but still she was dumb enough to marry his father. Jett was verbally and emotionally abusive to her, and made her life a living hell. 'Damned human!' had been his father's pet name for her. Her untimely death had been ruled an accident, but Jesse would always have his suspicions. It would be an understatement to say that Jesse was a disappointment to his father. Jesse was a scholar, not a jock. Jesse was an embarrassment.
Children of mixed families had a fifty percent chance of inheriting the mutant gene, but Jesse was not that lucky. He inherited his mother's good nature, and IQ, but had not manifested any powers. It was rare for mutant powers to remain dormant beyond early puberty, and Jesse was already twenty. He was what mutants maliciously called a throwback. So why did he love being here? He knew it was because of his mother. She had loved this mutant world, and everything about it reminded him of her. That's why he was a Mutant History Major. He had completed the coursework for his Masters Degree, and was staying in the mansion to research his Thesis. Unfortunately, part of the requirement for staying at the Xavier Museum, was to help with the weekend tours.
Tours. He was sick to death of them. Every weekend it was the same, four tours full of humans coming to ogle at the history of the Mutant Movement. This Museum was not meant to be a sideshow for the general human public. This was the most illustrious and historically significant site on the entire planet. The Xavier Mansion was almost a holy monument to any mutant. This is where all those brave X-men first banded together under the direction of Professor Charles Xavier the Great, the founder of Mutant Civil Rights. Their early struggles and sacrifices made this world what it was today, peaceful.
Jesse combed his fingers through his black hair and straightened the nametag on his shirt. He prepared for his speech about his section of the tour. He dreaded the inevitable questions: So do you have a mutant nickname? What's your power?
Humans. Many of them were nice, like his mother; otherwise the peace would not work. But most of them were just plain stupid. It was the stupid ones that kept the peace from being too comfortable or easy. He let out a long sigh, and stepped into the gallery to take over directing the group.
"Welcome to the music gallery," he said cordially. "My name is Jesse. I'll be showing you the rooms on the main level." He paused here, and then continued with same old speech, "During the Mutant Underground period, when the Mansion was known as the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, this gallery was used as a classroom..."
"Who were some of the teachers here then?" a young boy interrupted.
"Most of the early X-men taught classes here at one time or another. The Great Lady, Ororo Munroe, known as Storm, taught History in this room," Jesse answered the boy with a genuine smile. It was always the children who showed the most sincere interest.
"Who else?" a shy girl asked with a blush.
"I'm glad you asked me that," Jesse said smiling at her warmly. "During the early twenty-first century, this gallery was the classroom of Scott Summers, better known in the history books as Cyclops. He taught Mathematics, and Auto Shop. Dr. Jean Grey taught Biology, and Dr. Hank McCoy, or Beast as he was called, taught Chemistry."
"What about combat training?" a gruff looking man at the back of the group asked. He looked completely out of place in a museum. He was dressed more like a late twentieth century thug, in jeans and leather. His hair was thick and a bit unruly, and his face sported full sideburns. He stood there with his arms crossed and a shadowy expression. Jesse instantly took a disliking to the guy.
"Battle simulations and training took place in the danger room, on the lower level. Several senior team members taught hand to hand combat, including the legendary Wolverine," Jesse told the group, trying hard to hide his annoyance at the man. It was an inevitable question, so why did Jesse get so irritated?
As he led the group to the next room on the tour, Jesse could feel the dark man's stare. What was this guy's problem?
"This 'Wolverine,' what was he like?" the dark man asked him with a smirk.
Jesse tried not to sound annoyed or condescending. It was his job to answer their questions. "Very little is known about the Great Wolverine, he was actually a very mysterious figure on the early X-men team. There are, of course, no photographs of any of the team members I've mentioned. During the underground years, mutants preferred anonymity to hatred and ridicule. Most records of the early X-men members, including births and marriages were lost in the fire of 2083. But there are descriptions from eyewitness accounts in some of the newspapers of the day that record various battles, and some of their deaths. Wolverine's death was never recorded; he just dropped out of history. According to the New York Times, Wolverine was described as being of average height, with a very muscular build, and nine-inch retractable adamantium claws. We do know that he was definitely a mutant to stand aside from," he finished with a cocked brow and a charming smile.
The tour group all laughed at Jesse's comment. The dark man leaned against the wall casually and smiled. Is that what he was? A man to stand aside from…
The rest of the tour went on without any further outbursts from children, or that rough looking fellow in the back of the group. Jesse was relieved to finally turn the group over to the next tour guide. He had to get back downstairs to the archive and work on his research. He wanted to finish his thesis this summer so he could apply for the job opening in the Museum Archive department. For him, there could be no better job in the world. He would actually get paid for maintaining these historical books and databases.
Jesse sat at the desk and reopened the research he had started that morning. Ironically, it was on the original X-men team that he had just been talking about on the tour. Just as he was about to start typing, he heard a very faint sound out in the hallway. There were exactly three people that had permission to be in the lower levels of the mansion: the Director, the Archive Specialist, and Jesse. Since the other two were away at a conference, Jesse knew it was an intruder. He quietly stood up and went to the door.
Wait a minute. This was not a fortress anymore, it was a museum. It was probably someone from the tour trying to sneak a look, or just plain lost. Jesse walked into the hallway, and was faced with none other than that grouchy man from his tour group.
"Sir, I'm sorry, but this area is off limits to visitors. Let me show you to the exit," Jesse said with firm authority.
"No, Jesse, we need to talk," the man said quietly.
"Look, you can ask all the questions you want upstairs in the tour. If you hurry, you won't miss much…" Jesse said while trying to steer the man to the elevator. The man was completely unmovable, and rude enough to interrupt.
"I didn't come here for the tour, kid, I used to live here. This is business, and you are more important than you know," he said.
"Just who the hell do you think you are mister?" Jesse asked angrily.
"I'm the great Wolverine," he said with a broad smile. "Now let's go back into that office and talk."
Jesse was in shock. Wolverine was a legend. A three hundred year old legend! He was standing right here, right now, and he wanted to talk to him. Why would a bookworm with no powers be so important?
"How do you know me? I'm just a history major, a nerd, a throwback with a famous father," Jesse said bitterly.
"Don't use language like that around me, boy," Wolverine hissed. He really hated terms like that. He saw a flash of pain in the boy's eyes, but he covered it quickly. The poor kid did not have an easy life. Logan softened his expression and spoke less rudely. "Hey, quit looking at me like I was a ghost or something. My name is Logan."
"That's not in any of the records," Jesse said bluntly.
"The fire, remember?" Logan said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Convenient answer," Jesse said dryly. "Prove it."
*snikt!*
Jesse jumped straight up out of his chair. He stared at the, gulp; nine-goddamn-inch razor sharp claws that er… Logan had just extended from between his knuckles. He quickly regained his composure and sat down.
"Proven," he said quietly.
Logan chuckled as he retracted his claws. He was looking the kid over a bit. Jesse's hair, which he kept relatively short, was as black as India ink, and he was wearing a couple of ring earrings. He was of average height and build, and he was obviously dressed in a tour guide's uniform, very boring. Logan wondered what the kid was like when he wasn't working. Did he wear pocket protectors? Or was he a hippie, like the earrings implied? Where was this kid coming from?
"You said this was important," Jesse prompted.
"Something is going to happen in the mansion soon. There are only three people with access to these rooms, and you are the only one I trust. The Director and Records keeper are suspects," Logan began.
"Suspects of what?" Jesse asked, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.
"Trying to alter history in their favor," Logan said angrily. So many years he'd spent trying to prevent this, but here he was, at the beginning of the end. He might have to entrust all their fates to Jesse. He prayed the kid was ready.
"Who would want to do that?" Jesse asked.
"There are too many renegade mutant groups to know which one this guy is working for. All I know is, he has support, in the present and the past, and his name is Odium," Logan explained.
"What's he trying to change?" Jesse asked. He could see the urgency on Logan's face. This was no joke. The man was exactly who he said he was, and whatever was going to happen was real.
"He wants to kill Professor Xavier, and as many of the original team as he possibly can," Logan said angrily. Odium wanted a lot more than that, but Logan was keeping this basic.
"Why are you coming to me?" Jesse asked, suddenly apprehensive about his place in all this.
"If I can't stop him here, you have to follow him, and help the X-men stop him there," He explained.
"Why don't you go?" Jesse demanded with a touch of panic.
"I can't go. Some sort of bizarre rule of time travel about meeting yourself," he said.
"I thought you were here from the past," Jesse said. This was beyond weird. This was insane.
"No, Jesse, I don't age, I live in this present time, just like you," Logan said. He watched Jesse process all of this information. The kid wasn't stupid, that was for damn sure. But he wasn't very trusting either. Logan wondered if he should tell him the rest. No. He wasn't ready for the whole story. He'd find out soon enough. Logan just hoped he could find Odium and stop him in the present. If he didn't, it would be up to Jesse to stop him in the past. If Jesse failed, all would be lost.
*****
"I'm telling you he's here right now," Bella said, clinging to the phone.
"Wolverine hasn't shown his face in at least twenty years. You have a look-alike there," Odium said harshly.
"No. It's him, and he's left the tour group. I have a couple students helping me look for him, but they have no idea who he is. They think he's just lost," she said nervously.
"Find him! Don't let him into the lab, and don't let on that you know who he is. Play it like he's lost. If he knows we're on to him, it could get dangerous. And Bella, remember that he is four hundred years old, don't try to be a hero," he ordered. "I'll be back tonight. Make sure everything is prepared. The day of our victory is at hand!"
"To the cause!" she said.
"To the cause!" he said, and hung up.
Bella was tired, and she was mad. Why did he have to pick today of all days for an unannounced homecoming. The last thing we need is that psycho switchblade of a mutant sabotaging their plans. Everything was in place, and the time travel device was completed except for the one object Odium had gone to acquire. A diamond, a large, perfectly cut priceless diamond. Tonight she would send him back in time, and he would set himself up as the founder of the mutant movement. He already had key people in place to make everything work. Odium would have to be cautious, but he could get close enough to kill him. Once Xavier was gone, and the X-men were divided, their real plan would fall into place.
*****
"They're looking for me, kid. I better go and pretend to be lost. I don't want them knowing I talked to you," Logan said as he stood to go. "I'll be close, but don't look for me, just act normal. You'll know when it's time," he added as he walked out the door.
Jesse shut down his research and opened a new topic. Time travel. Who was Odium? Just what kind of future was he trying to create?
*****
Jesse spent the afternoon researching as much as he could about the early X-men and Professor Xavier. He realized that his father's ancestor, the first to show the power of speed, was actually an enemy of the X-men, Pietro Lehnsherr, -Quicksilver. His father could claim a long line of important historical mutant figures, mostly bad ones, but his mother was a mystery. She had no living parents or relatives, but had told him she had traced her ancestry once. Jesse had begged her to show him, but she always refused. It was in the archives somewhere, or in her personal files, buried in the database.
Jesse sighed with annoyance as he slammed his laptop closed. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired. He grabbed his laptop and headed for the elevator. The mansion would be empty by now, and he could enjoy a little peace and quiet. He double checked that the security system was set, and then headed up the stairs. He was tense, and apprehensive. He couldn't believe he'd actually met the Wolverine right here, in this house. He'd said he would be close, but not to look for him. That thought was both comforting and disturbing.
It was getting late, and Jesse showered and changed into jeans and his XMU: X-Men Baseball Team T-shirt. Now was the time he spent with his baby. He grabbed his music disc and headed for the garage. He stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of pop and a bag of chips on his way.
Jesse opened the door, and there she was, his favorite toy, a 1964 Mercury Comet. It was a dark red, and had a kicking stereo, of a more contemporary type than it was manufactured with, but other than that, she was all original. Jesse was in the process of tweaking the engine a bit, and needed to change the oil. He opened the door and sat down in the driver's seat. He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying the feel of his hands on the wheel of the old speed demon. The cars they made today had no personality. Jesse sighed. I'm living in the wrong century, he thought. He turned the key back one click, and turned on the stereo. He slipped the disk in and cranked it up. The group was called Nirvana from the end of the twentieth century, and he loved their retro punk sound.
He got out and popped the hood as the centuries old music blared. He was checking the fluid levels when a voice growled behind him.
"Does that heap even run?" Logan asked him.
Jesse nearly banged his head on the hood he was so startled. "What are you doing here?" Jesse asked. He hadn't expected to see Wolverine again so soon.
"Heard the noise," he said, nodding at the stereo, "and came to see what you were up to, kid."
"Why do you keep calling me kid?" Jesse asked, a little annoyed by the condescending sound of that nickname.
"I'm over three hundred years old, Jesse, everyone is a kid," Logan said dryly as he looked over the spotless engine. The kid knew good music, and old cars. Logan was intrigued by the boy.
"You don't act, or look much like the modern bunch. You remind me a lot of the kids at the institute," Logan said, more to himself than Jesse.
"It's just my style, casual. I hate those stupid monotone outfits most people wear these days. I like my twentieth century grunge," Jesse said as he checked the mix on the antifreeze.
"Where do you get the leaded fuel for this old thing?" Logan asked.
"I got a friend that makes it for me," he said. "It's a collector, so I have a special permit to pollute, a little," Jesse added with a smirk.
Logan gave the kid a closer look than he had that afternoon. Jesse had dark brown eyes and sideburns. They were well trimmed, narrow sideburns that followed his jaw line, but sideburns nonetheless. Logan smiled. The kid was wearing a Team sports shirt, and Logan just had to ask.
"You played Baseball for XMU?" Logan inquired.
"Two years, but not as a Grad student, there were scheduling conflicts," he said nonchalantly.
"What position?" Logan asked as he sat in the driver's seat and looked over the console and turned off the stereo.
"First base," Jesse said as he closed the hood. "What do you think of her?"
Logan looked at the kid and could see the pride in his eyes. He knew that feeling. He'd had that same look in his eyes for a certain motorcycle. "Pretty fantastic, kid. Too bad there are so few relics like this left," he said with sincerity. Logan was really beginning to like this kid.
Jesse smiled warmly.
Logan heard a faint beep sound and looked at Jesse. "What was that?" he asked quietly.
"The alarm was just reset, someone has entered the mansion," Jesse told him.
"How many people have access?" Logan asked as he suddenly went on guard.
"The three you mentioned this afternoon, but I thought I was the only one in town," Jesse told him, suddenly feeling uneasy.
Logan stalked silently toward the door that led into the house, and beckoned for Jesse to follow. The house was dark but Logan had no trouble seeing. He perked up his ears and nose. The basement. The intruders were already in the basement. The lab was in the basement. They didn't have much time. They got in the elevator, and Logan realized how nervous the kid was. He had to calm him down and give him the plan.
"Jesse, no matter what happens, if Odium goes through the portal, you must follow," Logan said sternly.
"What do I do when I get there?" Jesse asked.
"Find me there, tell me what Odium is planning," Logan said firmly.
"But you won't know me there," Jesse protested. "You're not remembered as being overly trusting," he added with a hint of sarcasm.
"Logan reached inside his shirt and pulled out his dog tags. They were tarnished and worn around the edges from the years of constant wear. He gave them to Jesse. "Show me these, I'll believe you," he said. "Now let's go."
The elevator door opened silently, and they were face to face with a small slender blonde woman.
"Jesse, who's your friend?" she asked harshly.
"Oh, Miss Carr," he said startled by her sudden appearance. "He's…my uncle, from Connecticut," Jesse offered quickly.
Logan just stood still and tense, never taking his eyes off of her. He smelled this Mutant before, and she was a handful of trouble. "Why Bella the Butcher, we meet again," he said sneeringly. So the little wench was working for Odium now. She was a lot more dangerous than she looked.
"Wolverine, I missed you so," she said dryly. "Shall we dance?"
You've got to be kidding, Jesse thought.
Logan's answer was to *snikt!* pop his claws out and lunge for the innocent looking monster.
She side stepped and launched two five foot long whips out of her palms. And they wrapped around Logan's feet. Thorns popped out of the ends of the whips, and dug into his ankles painfully. Bella smiled down at him, but her triumph was short lived. Logan cut one of her whips with his claws and she yanked the other one away before he could damage it too.
"Have you any idea how hard it is to grow another one of those?" she yelled as she retracted the damaged whip and then re-extended a new one.
Jesse was shocked to see the soft spoken Miss Carr fighting ruthlessly. The woman was obviously a watch dog, so the real enemy must be Director Williams. Jesse worked his way around the two battling mutants to try to get to the lab, but Bella spotted him and caught his leg with her whip. She yanked him to the ground as Logan tackled her.
"Where's yer boss?" Logan growled down at her.
"Go to hell," she hissed as she wrapped her spiked whips around his back and then yanked them away again ripping his flesh.
Logan roared with pain and jerked backward reflexively, giving the tiny woman an opening to get away. She turned and ran right into Jesse, who put her in a headlock.
"Jesse, no!" Logan yelled. Bella would happily slit his throat with one of those sharp whips.
Logan groaned with pain as he got to his feet to unwrap Jesse from the vicious whips that had just snaked around him. He rested a claw against Bella's throat. "I'm only gonna say this once. Release the boy, or this fight is over," Logan warned as he pressed the blade a little more firmly against her delicate throat.
Her whips immediately uncoiled, and she retracted them. Logan grabbed a handful of blonde hair. He put his fist against her throat with his outside claws extended on either side of her neck. She could feel the point of the center claw brush against her throat.
"You can let her go, I got her," Logan said.
Jesse released her and stepped back.
Suddenly there was a burst of bright light pouring out of the lab just down the hall. Logan dragged the screaming Bella along as he and Jesse headed to the disturbance. There was Odium, standing in front of a swirling storm of light and wind. He glared at Logan.
Logan could see instantly that there was more between the pair than work. "Get away from that portal, or I'll kill her," Logan warned as he lifted her chin and inched his center claw closer to her neck.
Odium gave Bella a tender look, and moved closer to the portal. Bella thrust her whips out and wrapped them around Logan's throat, and Logan extended the third claw, killing her instantly. Her whips fell away, and she slumped to the ground in a pool of blood.
"You will pay for that, Wolverine. I won't kill you, I'll kill everyone else," Odium hissed. "I'll kill your love the way you killed mine!" he screamed as he launched himself into the portal.
Oh,God, Dani.
Jesse was in shock. He had never seen so much blood. Some of it was Logan's, and he ran to help him.
"Forget me kid, I'll be fine. Save Xavier," Logan said as he shoved Jesse toward the closing portal. "Save us all," he added quietly as he watched the boy disappear along with the time portal.
