Freedom in Hope
By: Lily Handle
Author's Note: This is a write in for the episode X23. This was possibly the hardest write in I've had to do so far. I'm a little iffy on the character X23, I just don't see why they needed to reinvent Logan. But the drama in this chapter is just too good to pass up because I love drama. Please read and review.
Dr. Hope Chandler stayed off to the side of the Infirmary, politely trying not to listen into the conversation between Charles and Rogue. Charles was sitting by Rogue's bedside talking with her. The girl was physically recovered, no brain damage, no neurological disorders, no nothing, but mentally. Mentally Hope was unsure how recovered Rogue was, but she needed to get out of the Infirmary.
"Well, as far as I can determine, you've fully recovered from your recent experiences," Charles was saying, gently but firmly to Rogue, "And if you want to rejoin the other students, I don't see why…"
"Uh, no!" Rogue said quickly, "I, I man, I suppose I feel a little bit better, but I just think I could use some more time." Hope kept her head down, smiling at her hands so neither of them could see her. Sounded like Rogue was hedging, "It's just that…"
"Rogue, Rogue, take as much time as you need," Charles reassured the girl, but Hope was pretty sure that Charles was a little suspicious about Rogue's motives.
"I just don't think I'm ready to be around a whole lot of people yet." Rogue did sound a little afraid and lost, but Hope was still a little skeptical.
"I understand." Hope listened to Charles leave, so she turned to have her own conversation with Rogue, but Charles was still there in the doorway, "And I'm sure it has nothing to do with avoiding Logan's training session." Hope couldn't quite stifle the chuckle that escaped, but she quickly turned it into the cough, hiding her smile behind her hand.
"What? What? No!" Amazing how squeaky Rogue's voice had gotten, and how nervous she suddenly looked, "Was, was that today?" Hope bit her lower lip now to keep from laughing, Rogue was hedging. Once the door closed Hope cleared her throat, trying to act normal.
"I just don't want to put people at risk," Rogue muttered.
"That's a better excuse than "was that today", try that first next time," Hope said, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed, "You are taking up a bed I'm going to need sooner or later." Hope had learned the hard way when she had first started as a doctor that there were times she needed to be tough, but she hated those moments. She liked taking care of people, even those who really didn't need it.
"Doc," Rogue was pleading with her eyes and voice.
"Oh no, I know you students have figured out I'm a softy, but there's nothing medically wrong with you," Hope interrupted, before she got suckered in, "You're healthy, your strong, you need to go back. I'm going to give you two more days, only because you can mentally prepare yourself, then I'm kicking you out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to tell Charles my opinion on all of this." Rogue pouted, but Hope ignored her as she walked out. She took the stairs instead of the elevator to catch up with Charles, but at the top of the stairs she froze. She could swear she heard helicopters and helicopters around the Institute was never a good sign. She went to the window nearest the sound, glancing out she could see a large black helicopter, and what looked to be six or seven figures. Six of the figures walked off, leaving one figure staying on the top of the hill, watching the helicopter as it powered up and took off. Who had they taken? Hope wondered, already deciding that she should find out the answer to that question. She met Charles at the back door, the look on his face didn't put Hope at easy.
"Is something wrong, Charles?" She asked when he noticed her.
"I'm not sure, Doctor, why don't you come with me? I think it would be best if I was able to talk with all the Instructors." It was something serious, Hope realized, if the Charles wanted to talk to everyone, it just had to be. She followed him down the hall, trying not to ask any questions because it looked like Charles needed to be alone with his thoughts. Hope's thoughts were jumping around from Rogue in the infirmary, the helicopter and who might have been on the hill. She suspected it was S.H.I.E.L.D. right off the bat, the helicopter had certainly looked like a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter, and who did S.H.I.E.L.D always deal with? Logan, Hope thought, instantly more concerned than before. She stopped suddenly, connecting to the back of Charles's wheelchair. Hope looked around, trying to see what Charles might have stopped for.
"Wait here, Dr. Chandler," Charles said, and Hope stepped to the side so he could get past. He went right back down the hallway they had just walked down. What was going on? Hope wondered, Charles never just walked away without an explanation. Curiosity warred with respect, and curiosity won, like always. Hope followed the path Charles took and found him inside the common room. He was leaning over, looking down at someone. Suddenly the someone lunged, knocking Charles from his chair, even as Hope rushed forward, the someone placed something, almost like a mine, on the side of Charles's head. Hope brought her hands up and covered her eyes as the mine sparked.
"What are you doing?" Hope asked, stumbling back, from the someone. The someone was actually a girl, remarkably familiar to Hope, but she couldn't remember any name or place to where she had seen this girl before. The girl growled and lunged at Hope, another mine in her hands. Hope turned and ran for the alarm, if she could just alert the school to the fact that there was an intruder inside, there might be a chance for Charles. Hope didn't know if he was all right, but he looked to be breathing, there was still time. Hope never made it, a hand slammed against the side of her head, and after a brief flash of pain, the world went dark.
Her head was ringing when she came too, but Hope pushed herself up on her arms, shaking her head. She sat there on the floor, trying to steady herself by putting a hand to head. The mine, she thought when her hand touched something metal. She yanked it with all the force she could muster, and then threw it as hard as she could and she had some arm. Two seconds later it blew, throwing Hope backwards with the force. Stupid idea, Hope thought, staring up at the common room ceiling. If it looks like a mine, it's probably an explosive mine, so don't touch. Too late. Hope rolled on her side, pushed herself back to sitting and remembered.
"Charles!" She called, making an attempt to get to her feet, "Charles are you okay?" She managed to her to her feet, stumbling like a drunk as she headed towards the over turned wheelchair. Charles was right where Hope had remembered him being, and she dropped heavily to her knees. She pushed him onto his back, checked his pulse and stared at the mine. Remove it or leave it? Leave it, Hope decided, if hers exploded, his would too. She froze when the doors to the room flew open.
"Scott! Ray!"
"Doctor!" Scott glanced down, "Professor!" Scott and Ray joined her kneeling by the Professor.
Ray made a startled gasped, "That's the same thing I found on Magma!" Hope was about to comment when the second set of doors to the room rattled. Scott and Ray looked towards the door and then her, she nodded and they carefully walked to the doors. Scott held up one finger, two, then three. They flung the doors wide and Rogue gave a startled shout.
"Stop, it's me!" Scott grabbed Rogue and dragged her into the room, "Ah! What's going on?" She asked, hands on hips.
"Someone's infiltrated the Institute," Scott said, then pointed to the unconscious Professor, "They've already taken down the Professor."
"Oh no." Ray joined Hope kneeling next to the Professor.
"It's small," Ray said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, "But I think I can zap it off without hurting him."
"Do it," Scott said quickly.
"No, it'll…" Hope started, but the doors flew inward again and Logan came storming in.
"Those things are wired to explode," He explained then frowned at Hope, "You got yours off?"
"I think my powers did something to it," She shrugged, "Is everyone alright?"
"Logan, who's doing all this?" Scott interrupted.
"We gotta get you outta here," Logan glared.
Scott pointed a thumb at himself, "No, I'm not leaving without the others."
"Me neither," Rogue said.
"I'm staying too," Ray agreed and Logan growled.
"Look," Hope spoke up, "I say we start moving people to the Infirmary so we can figure out a way to remove the mines and get them conscious. How many are down?"
"Everyone who's not talking," Logan paced back and forth.
"Then we should start at the top floor and work our way down," Hope looked at everyone, seeking a sign of support.
"Whatever did this isn't going to stop, we have to find it," Scott muttered, "We have to stop it."
"No, you help the doc, I'll stop it."
"No…" Scott was cut off when a crash came from the living room. "Let's go!" Hope glanced once at the Professor.
"He's not going anywhere, Doc," Logan grabbed her shoulder and hauled her to her feet. She followed at the stumbling run, and when they reached the living room it was in total disarray. A window was broken, a desk smashed and other furniture overturned. Ororo and Roberto were lying on the floor, mines blinking on the side of their heads.
"This is impossible," Ray cried out, "The Professor, Storm, Bobby," He turned towards Logan, "Not even you could take us all out." Logan growled, and another crash echoed to them.
"We're always one step behind!" Scott yelled and took off again. Like everyone else Hope followed him.
"Logan, do you know what's doing this?" She asked as she jogged next to him. He just shook his head and jogged faster. Great, just great, Hope thought angrily. We have a ghost in the mansion that leaves mines on people, explosive mines. Peachy, just peachy. Scott led them into the library where Hope stumbled over an unconscious Jamie clone.
"Hank!" Hope dashed across the room, vaulted the couch and crouched next to him, running her hands over Hank, looking for injuries.
"You have to tell us what's going on." She heard Scott and glanced over the top of the couch. Scott was once again in Logan's face.
"It's complicated," Logan growled back. There was a shick, then the floor beneath Logan gave way and he disappeared from sight. A girl leapt up through the hole and landed at Ray's feet. He tried to zap the girl, but she flipped out of the way, heading towards Scott. Hope scrambled away from Hank, her thoughts now on Logan. She carefully climbed down through the hole, and dropped next to Logan. He looked stunned, but was getting to his feet.
"You're alright?" She asked, though there really was no point to asking.
"Stay outta the way, Doc, this is going to get ugly," He replied and started to climb out of the hole.
"Sure thing, that's fine," Hope muttered, watching him climb, "I'll just let you get beat up. Not!" Hope looked at the edges of the hole, just like climbing trees at home, she tried to tell herself, but in reality it was a splinter-laden death trap. She fell three times before she managed to haul herself back into the room, but it was empty. She could hear the fight though, and it sounded rough. Hope lit her hands with her power and headed towards the noise. She caught up with them in the foyer, just in time to see Logan get taken down by a bust.
"Logan!"
"Stay outta this, Doc!" Logan called, but her interruption cost him. He was caught by a piece of a pillar and got thrown into another. The girl attacked, kicking and punching viscously, but Logan blocked. The girl flipped over his head and onto a tall bookcase. She slammed her claws into the ceiling, kicked the bookcase over, and dropped. Logan dodged the bookcase, but tripped and smashed into the TV. Hope started forwards, but the fight moved on, into another room. She scrambled off after them, burst through the doors and almost instantly had to stumbled back as the chandelier came crashing to the floor.
"I know what happened to you!" Logan said to the girl in front of him, "No one should have to go through that, especially a child."
"I'm…I'm not a child!" But Hope could see it now, the resemblance in the nose, the eyes. This girl looked similar enough to Logan to be his daughter. For the first time Hope noticed the claws, two of them, exactly like Logan's. The girl didn't feel any sort of daughterly affection to Logan, she tried to stab him, but he caught her wrist.
"You are," Logan continued trying to talk to her, "Even though they tried taking that away from you." The girl flipped away from him, kicking him in the chest. She landed, got a running start and leapt. Hope gasped as a claw popped from her foot. The kick connected and it sent both combatants out the front doors.
"I'm doing a wonderful job of rubber necking," Hope muttered to herself as she followed them.
"But why come after us?" Logan asked the girl as they fought.
"Not them, you!"
"I don't understand."
"This is your fault!" The girl yelled, slicing at him, but Logan dodged, "Everything I am is because of you!" The girl rushed him again, but he ducked and she went sailing over.
"You're mixed up, I didn't know anything about this," Logan soothed, but the girl just charged again.
"You're lying!" She kicked out with her foot, the claw catching Logan's shirt and ripping it. Logan popped his claws when the girl kept coming. Their claws connected, sparks flying as they slid together. The girl tried to get closer, pushing against him. When she couldn't move Logan she gave up, sinking to the ground.
"I'm the one person on this planet who understands you," Logan said, sliding his claws home. The girl was crying, but she still tried to fight, punching at Logan. He just caught her wrist, "And maybe the closet thing you have to family."
The girl shook her head, still crying, "No. I can't have a family. I can't!"
"Your feelings, you can't fight 'em anymore and win." The girl stared up at Logan, tears streaming down her face and then hugged him, crying harder. Logan put a hand on her back and looked up at Hope. She started down the front steps and stopped at the sound of helicopters. The girl took a step back from Logan and they all watched as helicopters approached. When a search light snapped on, Logan pointed behind him, "Go."
The girl stared incredulously at him, "I'll take care of them," to Hope it sounded like he was making a promise, "Get outta here. Now!" The girl took another step back, cast one last look at Logan then took off. Hope joined Logan on the lawn, wincing when a spotlight caught them. She was tempted to reach out and take Logan's hand, but restrained herself. Instead she watched Fury as he walked over towards them.
"Logan, forget about her," Fury said, glaring at Logan.
"She's been through enough."
Fury jammed a finger against Logan's chest, "I can't just let this go."
"Yeah, you can and you will." Logan turned on his heel and marched back towards the Institute.
"Is she here?" A woman ran up to Fury, "Did they get her?"
"Yeah, of course we did," Logan called, "Because she's definitely better off with you!"
"Colonel, I don't mean to intrude," Hope said, "But what's going on? Who was that girl? And who are you?" She asked the blonde woman.
"Dr. Deborah Risman," the woman held out a hand, "It's nice to meet you Dr. Chandler, I've followed your work for years."
Hope frowned, "Thank you," She said, "I don't mean to be rude, Doctor, but if someone could give me a hint as to what's happening. The whole Institute is unconscious, they have explosives strapped to their heads, please."
"They're a HYDRA design, I can disarm them," Dr. Risman said, looking between her and Fury.
"Fine, fine, get to work. Show Dr. Chandler how to disarm them, I will supervise my men in the search."
"You won't find her," Dr. Risman said softly, "She's gone."
"Please, follow me," Hope said, "But I wouldn't try anything."
"No, no, I wouldn't dare, not with Weapon…Wolverine around." Hope almost stumbled at the mention of Weapon X. This woman knew about Logan's past. How involved was she in this whole mess? Whatever this mess was.
"How did you disarm your mine?" Dr. Risman asked, distracted Hope from her thoughts.
"I didn't," Hope muttered, "I pulled it off."
"But, the mines are designed to limit neurological function, you should have been paralyzed," Dr Risman said in surprise.
"Dr. Risman, it takes a lot to limit my neurological functions, due to my mutation I have a tough nervous system," Hope glanced at the woman over her shoulder, "I guess when the mine tried to take over my powers fought back."
"What's she doing here?" Logan growled, stopping them in the foyer.
"She knows how to disarm the mines," Hope explained, "She's going to show me how so I can help her."
"Infirmary's been trashed, she must have bad memories about hospitals," Logan glared at Dr. Risman, "I've been moving everyone into Chuck's office."
"Thank you Logan, we'll start there."
Disarming the mines was a rather simple process of entering a code. After the mine dropped away, the victims woke up rather quickly. Hope keyed in the code, the mine gave three bleeps and dropped from Rogue's head. Hope carefully watched over Rogue until her eyes opened.
"Easy, Rogue, you're okay now," Hope said gently when the girl started to struggle.
"What happened?" She asked.
"You've been knocked out, just take it easy," Hope soothed, keeping a hand on the girl's shoulder so she would stay down. "You need to rest."
"But what happened?"
"Someone attacked the Institute," Hope explained, "They're gone now, just rest." Rogue seemed to accept the explanation and stopped trying to get up. Hope rose from her crouch beside her and pulled off the gloves she had put on to check on Rogue. All around her the students lay, some sleeping off the effects of the mines while others stared at the ceiling. Ororo, Hank and Charles were probably still in the foyer, dealing with Fury and Dr. Risman, trying to explain the whole situation. Hope had declined joining the meeting in favor of tending the students, but with that task done she figured she might as well join them now. She walked carefully through the rubble to the foyer and looked around. Logan was no where to be seen, but everyone else was standing in a loose semi-circle near the front door.
"A clone?" The Professor was saying as Hope made her way towards the group, "All attempts to clone mutants so far have failed. From what I've read the DNA is too unstable."
"Well, it was," Dr. Risman replied, "I had trouble at first, but some of Dr. Chandler theories helped me stabilize the DNA."
"You did what?" Hope said in surprise, stopping dead in her tracks, unbelieving what she had heard.
"Ah, Dr. Chandler, are all the students awake then?" Charles asked her.
"Yes, they're fine," Hope closed the distance between her and the group, "But, Dr. Risman, you used my theories to clone what exactly?"
"The girl who attacked the Institute, X-23 we called her, she's a clone of Mr. Logan. Your early work on the X-gene, specifically, the possible locations for the anomaly, and as it turns out you were very close, by the way, to its actual location, helped in identifying the sequences I needed to stabilize," Hope moved to stand toe to toe with Dr. Risman, who looked confused.
Hope took a deep breath, "Let me get this straight, my theories were used to help create this girl?"
"Yes, I kept failing, because of the stability problem and started looking around for research on the X-gene. Your work was very theoretical, but it turns out you provided exactly what I needed to…" Hope's hand made a solid crack as she struck Dr. Risman across the cheek cutting off the rest of what the woman had been going to say.
"My theories were created to help people, not to be used like this, perverted like this. How dare you call yourself a doctor or a scientist? You're nothing but a woman looking to play God." If there was one thing Hope couldn't stand it was science that made people into Gods. She was against cloning of any sorts, and was furious that someone had taken her work and violated it.
"Dr. Chandler," Charles started but Hope held up her hand.
"If I didn't think S.H.I.E.L.D. would protect you, I'd hand you over to the proper authorities." With that Hope turned on her heel and strode out of the foyer and out on to the front lawn, riding high on anger. How dare that woman! She thought, heading away from the S.H.I.E.L.D helicopter and towards the back of the house. How dare she use my work like that! Calling herself a scientist, calling herself a doctor when all she was doing was…was barbaric, Frankenstein science!
"I should have hit her harder," Hope growled, clenching her hands into fists, "Shouldn't have held back."
"I'd say she's going to have one hell of a mark, Doc." Hope whirled around as Logan walked from the shadows, watching her, "That was one good solid hit."
"I've learned from the best haven't I?"
"Doc, I don't slap people." Logan actually looked offended that Hope would suggest such a thing.
"Well, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about my mother," Hope tilted her chin higher in the air, "She is an expert."
"Next time I see your mother, I'm going to kiss her," Logan studied her, "You all right?"
"No," Hope snapped, starting to pace again, "She did exactly what I was trying to prevent, experimentation with X-gene DNA, to see how far it could go outside the range of normal human DNA. My theories were to help medical science, to make sure there was someplace doctors could go to for answer. Not answers on how to make mutants into science projects or lab rats! To make sure they could give them the best care possible, to give mutants a fighting chance at some semblance of normal life! It disgusts me that she could even consider work like this, doing this to someone else, least of all an innocent child!" Hope suddenly found herself pulled tight against Logan, she splayed her hands against his chest to steady herself, but her fingers curled into his shirt when he kissed her.
"Well, now you made me lose my place in a perfectly good rant," Hope said when Logan stopped kissing her. "What did I do?"
"You're one hell of a person, Doc."
"Thank you," She smiled then sighed, "So, you think you'll ever see her again?"
"She needs time to figure things out, learn how to cope with what happened to her," He shrugged, "If she does come back it won't be for awhile." Hope bit her lip, "Just ask, Doc."
"Everything they did to that girl happened to you too, didn't it?"
"Yeah, maybe they refined the process by now, but yeah she got the same treatment I did," He growled, "Bet they never asked her either."
Hope frowned and looked puzzled, "Wait, you got your claws against your will?"
"Doc, how many people in the world are going to volunteer to have molten metal injected into their bones?"
"Jesus," Hope whispered, "That's…that's what they did?"
"What did you think they did?"
"Well, replaced the real bone with metal ones? Maybe plates? I never thought…never even entertained the idea that…how did you survive something like that?"
"Same way I've lived so long," Though she shrugged, trying to be casual, Hope could see the cold fury in his eyes.
"Monsters, the whole lot of them," Hope muttered, "Barbarians, all of them. They should have hot metal injected into them and see how they like it."
Logan raised an eyebrow at her, "When did you get to be so blood thirsty, Doc?"
"It's easy when you have someone worth being blood thirsty over," She said, easily and Logan kissed her again, slower this time and with gentle tenderness he rarely showed.
"You're one hell of a person, Doc."
Author's Note: Now normally I don't change the original dialogue of an episode so much, like I did in this one, but what a dull story it would have been if Hope had spent the whole time unconscious. So forgive the tweaking, please. Also, when I originally saw this episode I thought Dr. Riseman was a wishy-washy twerp with nothing but her best interest in mind. So, I had Hope slap her! Ah, that was fun, wasn't it?