Phoenix Rising: Chapter 7
Logan found himself in the Holo deck standing at the control panel. How did I get here? he wondered. The events of this morning came rushing back. Jubilee didn't recognize him. He should have expected this. She knew him better than anyone else alive when they were with the X-Men. Four hundred years will change anyone, even him. He will need to work with her and regain her trust or she would be a liability on the mission, not to mention he wanted her to trust him for other, more personal reasons.
The door ground open to admit Worf. The large Klingon looked at him expectantly."You are planning to train?" he asked.
"I was plannin' ta tear somethin' apart." Logan growled.
"May I join you?"
"I'm turnin' the safeties off." he informed him. "I need a good workout."
Worf nodded slowly. "Agreed." He didn't often train with the safeties off. The programs tend to be deadly.
Logan quickly tapped in the program he wanted and place it on hold.
"This is how we trained when I first went ta the X-Men," he told Worf. "Ya ain't got powers so I have the computer goin' lite on ya and trainin' ya like a Klingon instead of a mutant. It won't be easy. Yer gonna get a real good workout."
Worf glared at Logan, insulted. He was Klingon. He feared nothing.
"Trust me on this," Logan told him. "Yer gonna be glad I didn't treat ya like a mutant."
He turned hand waved Worf over to the other side of the room. "Computer, start program." The room dissolved into the room Logan remembered from centuries ago. "Hold." he called. The sim stopped. "The goal is ta get ta the other side and hit the button on the wall."
"Simple," Worf scoffed. "This is unworthy of a warrior."
"The room will try ta stop ya," Logan explained to him. "There's gonna be a lot of defenses tryin' ta kill ya. Ya have ta make it ta the other side alive."
Worf nodded, still thinking this was unworthy. By the time he got to the other side of the room, he had revised his thinking. He had several smoldering gashes and cuts that looked like they would need medical attention. He slammed his palm on the large red button, gasping for breath. He found himself unnerved by the intensity of the workout. It was considerably harder than he had thought it would be. He turned to find Logan leaning against the wall on the opposite side, a knowing smile on his lips.
Worf leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. "You have trained like this many times?" he gasped.
"This is a game we used ta train the kids." Logan told him. "It's a test of their powers and their ability ta avoid danger. We didn't use this one much once we were assigned to a team."
Worf straightened and looked at the smaller mutant sourly. "I will do this again." he demanded.
"Get yer wounds looked at." Logan told him. "It ain't good ta overtrain." He walked up to the control panel and ended the program.
"I wish to try this sim again," Worf insisted.
"Nope," Logan said as he opened the door. "Next time, I'm gonna introduce some powers ta the trainin'. But first, I need a drink."
"A drink?" Worf asked, confused.
"I need a strong drink," Logan insisted. "Any real Romulin Ale on this barge?"
"Come with me," Worf told him as he walked out of the Holo deck. They were quickly joined by Riker. Logan was beginning to suspect Regina had something to do with the appearance of both officers.
"I have Romulin Ale and a bottle of scotch from earth," Worf said as he let them into his quarters. "As a Klingon, I have a very high tolerance for alcohol."
"Not higher than mine," Logan told him. "Healin' factor, ya know."
Worf's eyes narrowed at him. "Shall we start with the ale?" he challenged.
"Probably should start with the scotch. Wanna taste the stuff before we burn out our tastebuds with the ale."
Worf crossed the room and opened a cabinet to pull out a bottle of golden liquid. He blew the dust off of the bottle and handed it to the burly mutant.
"Damn," Logan whispered, reading the label. "This shit's over a hundred years old. Even I don't have any that old."
"Should be good," Riker spoke for the first time. By the time the scotch was gone, Riker was listing to port.
"Women need to come with an instruction manual," Worf announced. His speech was steady and clear.
"More fun to peal 'em and figer 'em out one part at a time," Riker slurred.
"My Jubes didn't know me," Logan mumbled. Worf's hearing was nearly as good as Logan's. The Klingon's eye widened in surprise. Logan almost appeared morose.
"How long ya known her anyway?" Riker boomed in.
"I met her when she was thirteen," Logan told him as he opened the first bottle of Romulin Ale. "She saved my life."
"You owe the girl a blood debt," Worf nodded. He understood that. It was typically Klingon to repay a blood debt with your life.
"It's more than a blood debt," he growled. "She's the other half of my soul. Jubes is the only one who can bring be outta the berserker rages I can fall into. All she needs ta do is touch me and I come back."
"And you have never hurt her?"
"Not physically. I've hurt her in other, more damagin' ways." he admitted. "When she was younger, every time she got hurt or somethin' went wrong on a mission, I'd run off ta my cabin in Canada and get my thoughts together. Every time I did it, I hurt her." He poured three glasses of ale and passed one to Worf. He turned to give Riker his glass and saw him slowly keel over. The insensible first officer hit the couch with a boneless thud and stopped moving.
"Can't hold his liquor," Logan grunted. He made sure the man was still breathing and returned to his conversation with Worf.
"Took me too damn long ta figure out how much she meant ta me," he said tossing the bright blue liquid back. The color reminded him of Hank McCoy. His fur was just that color. Strangely enough, one of Hank's descendants was the chief medical officer on the original Star Ship Enterprise. He never told Hank that he had met the gruff Georgian doctor but he kept his eye out for his descendants.
"You love this woman?" Worf asked.
"Yeah," Logan sighed. "Only problem is, she doesn't believe I'm who I say I am."
"You have worse problems than her memory," Worf warned. "Unless you can prove she is who she claims to be, you will have to turn her over to the Ferengi." His words were beginning to slur with the continual ingestion of the potent ale.
"I know," Logan said sadly. "I have four hundred years of continual genetic tracks. Jubilee doesn't. Her genetic profile was destroyed when the mansion was blown up not long after she disappeared. All I got is a picture."
"That will not be enough." He emptied the last of the ale in his glass and tossed it back. "Are you not feeling the drink?"
"I had a bit of a buzz 'bout ten minutes ago. It's gone now."
Worf shook his head in wonder. It had been a long time since someone was able to out drink him. This man was born on the wrong planet. He should have been Klingon. He could have ruled the entire race.
"I concede," Worf said. "I cannot continue if you are not going to feel the effects of the ale."
"I wasn't drinking fast enough ta get drunk," Logan admitted. "Wouldn't matter. I only stay drunk fer about an hour no matter how drunk I get." He rose from the chair with a grunted. "I needs ta work out Jubilee's therapy. I need ta get her back in shape quick of she's gonna get hurt."
It wasn't that easy. He returned to sick bay to find Jubilee and Regina and a full meld. She still looked haunted and pale but Crusher reported that she ate and was able to keep the food down.
"Regina is showing her the past four hundred years in fast forward," Deanna told him as he watched them. "She wants her to understand how much time has passed. It's the only way she'll accept that you are who you say you are."
"I was replaced once by a War Scrull," Logan told her. "No one noticed. Jubilee was in school at the time so she wasn't there. I ain't sure if she ever met the Scrull, but I know she heard about it."
"Scrull?" Deanna asked.
"One of the many races wiped out by the Shi'ar." he told her. "Them and the Brood. No loss, in my opinion. They were both like the Borg; bent on conquest."
"She had a very interesting childhood." Beverly remarked.
Logan grunted in agreement. "I talked ta Picard. There's a class M planet near here that we can use fer training. Is she ready ta be released?"
"If you're planning to take Regina with you, I'm fine with it." Crusher told him.
"I'm gonna take the strike force." he told her. "I wanna get in as much trainin' as I can. It ain't easy ta bring a team together on short notice."
Logan had taken the time and contacted the other mutants on the ship. One, he could not use. Shawan was beautiful; the spitting image of her ancestress, Ororo Munroe. She had similar powers but was limited to the atmosphere of a planet. Her powers were useless in space. When he introduced himself to her, her eyes went wide with surprise. She hadn't realized that he was still alive and had many questions. He answered as many as he could and gave her his comm code on Earth so she could keep in touch. It was always good to hear from his descendants.
Another mutant he contacted had been raised of Vulcan and easily passed for one. T'Fol refused to participate for many reasons, the main one being she had to maintain her cover. He could understand her reasoning. She had been adopted by a Vulcan couple when she was two and had been raised Vulcan. If it were known that she was human and a mutant, her parents would be in hot water with the Vulcan counsel. Vulcan did not condone the exclusion of mutants but they didn't protest either. She felt that it was best not to rock the boat. It was too bad. He could have used another telepath on the team.
Finny was a teleporter with no relationship to Nightcrawler. He was born on the mutant colony planet, Genosha, but immigrated to Mars soon after reaching adulthood. The Martian government had a 'Don't ask; Don't tell' policy that made it easy for him to fit in. He didn't have an obvious mutation so he passed for human.
Roulard was a descendant of Remy and Rogue's and bore Rogue's trademark white streak in his hair. He had powers like Remy's but not the lusty Cajun's empathy. Too bad he didn't. Logan found him to be an ugly human. He could compare him to the geeks of the 20th and 21st centuries. The only thing missing was a pocket protector. He was, however, as agile and strong as his ancestor and his skill with the bo staff surpassed Remy's.
Two others were unpowered but were considered mutants because they had an inactive X gene. He didn't include them for obvious reasons.
The final mutant was Applebee. She was extremely secretive and refused to tell him much about herself except that she had trained for a period at Xavier's and took the code name of Speedy. A subspace call to the school got him more information but not much. She had left the school over ten years ago after a mishap on a mission. The details were sketchy at best but several team members were injured, one severely. She had super speed and strength and had come to the school knowing how to control her powers. That was all he could get. Her files disappeared after she left and Wetzel couldn't remember her at all.
Thompson and Williams agreed immediately to join him and he hoped that Jubilee was well enough when it came time to take Phoenix down. Finny and Roulard were in and Worf had asked to go as well. That brought the team to seven, six mutants and one Klingon. He wanted to include Applebee but Regina told him that the woman had extremely strong shields and she was not able to tell if she was loyal or not. He couldn't take the chance that Applebee would prove herself on the mission. Too many things could go wrong.
The team beamed down to the dayside of the planet twelve hours later. Logan had requisitioned several pieces of equipment that they would use for training and had them beamed down as well.
The first day was spent setting up camp and exploring the surrounding area for threats. He noticed that Jubilee stayed very close to Regina the whole day. She had become dependent on the telepath for safety. Logan decided he needed to break her of that habit as soon as possible. He had Regina remove the blocks from the girl's mind and free her powers.
Jubilee looked at her glowing hands, frightened.
"Those are yer powers," Logan told her. "Ya need ta relearn how ta control 'em. Concentrate on pullin' the energy back in ta yer body."
"How?" she wailed as plasma blobs shot into the sky and exploded in a multicolored display of fireworks.
"Concentrate," Roulard told her. "Imagine a string attached to your hands and pull it in with your thoughts."
Jubilee felt a click in her mind as her control centers reactivated and the glow died.
"Something happened in my head," she told them, looking at Regina. She took a quick look into the girl's mind.
"Your control centers have just remembered what they are supposed to do," Regina told her. "It's new and they may not remember everything, but it's a start."
Jubilee walked off, looking at her hands and occasionally shooting a plasma blob off. She wanted to explore this talent awhile.
"It's a start," Regina repeated to Logan.
"She used ta be able ta make shapes and control the movement of her paffs," he told her. "She could place them anywhere she wanted just with her thoughts. She could make 'em any strength she needed, almost like she knew how much energy ta use."
"That may be something that is instinctive." Regina said. "We'll have to see tomorrow when we set up the targets."
"We need ta wean her from ya." Logan said.
"I know," Regina replied. "I'm going to insist that she sleep with you tonight."
Logan stopped in his tracks. "Yer crazy," he exclaimed.
"It's the only way. Her subconscious mind knows you and trusts you. We just need for her conscious mind to figure that out. When she's asleep, her subconscious will take over and draw her closer to you."
"Ya don't understand, Gina."
"I understand. You find her attractive and you want her. You're going to have to control the impulse to make love to her and rebuild the trust."
"I ain't sure I can do that," he told her.
"I you need an outlet, let me know."
"Ya volunteerin'?" he asked.
"If necessary," she replied, looking him straight n the eye.
He looked at her appraisingly. She was a beautiful woman. He had almost taken her the night after he arrived but he stopped himself in time. He shields were too new at the time. They weren't now.
"I won't work," he told her. "I recover from sex about as fast as I do wounds. I'd end up stayin' all night with ya. That won't make her trust me."
"I can't damp down your lust. It never works."
"I'll control myself," he told her. "It ain't gonna be easy, but I'll do it."
He steeled himself and entered the tent. She hadn't returned from her exploration of the surrounding area yet so he was alone. He wondered how he was going to sleep in the same tent as her without making love to her.
He had been waiting for four hundred years for her to come back to him. Now that she had, he couldn't touch her until her mind could accept that he really was the same man she knew all those years ago. He'd rather have his adamantium ripped out again than have to do this but if it would help Jubilee, he'd do it.
He busied himself rolling out the bedding and arranging things so they were at his fingertips. One of the lasting lessons he had learned was to expect anything and everything. The last thing he did was to tuck a phaser pistol under his pillow. He didn't usually use them but when it came to Jubilee's safety, he wasn't taking any chances.
He left the tent to make sure his other charges were making similar preparations. Williams and Thompson were doing much the same as he was. He figured that they might. They had been trained at Xavier's and the school taught them never to let their guard down. Roulard and Finny needed to be told what to do. They hadn't been trained to protect themselves except by Star Fleet. Roulard, he wasn't worried about. He had been trained by the Assassin's Guild in old New Orleans. He could take care of himself. Finny, however, only had the training Star Fleet had given him in the Academy. Not nearly enough for the mission. Hopefully, he could adapt to using his powers in a fight.
"Some of ya know what we're gonna try ta do," he said at the fireside that night. "We gotta stop Phoenix."
Jubilee's sharp intake of breath interrupted him.
"Jean?" she squeaked.
"No darlin'," he told her. "Our job'd be easier if it was Jean. She could control her. This time, the host is Demetria Grey, one of Red and Cyke's descendants. She ain't as powerful as Jean was and I don't think she can control Phoenix."
"What are we gonna do, kill her?" demanded Finny.
"If we have ta," Logan told them.
"I can't kill anyone!" He exclaimed.
"Ya need ta get over that right now," Logan told him firmly. "They won't hesitate ta try ta kill you. If ya go in there thinkin' ya won't kill, yer already dead."
"But..."
"I ain't sayin' ya need ta go in guns blazin' but be ready ta kill if ya need ta. Don't worry 'bout Phoenix. I'll take care of her. Ya need ta concentrate on the crew."
"What's the crew?" Roulard asked. "What kind of powers are we going to be dealing with?"
"The ones I knew fer sure are a telepath and a teleporter. The telepath ain't very strong so Gina should be able ta deal with him. The teleporter is very strong. He can port from a distance of about half a light year but I think he's been augmented. If we can knock out his power source, he may only be able to port himself and a passenger but not someone he ain't in contact with. That'll keep us from being ported out inta space so he's the first priority. I suspect that they have a techno mutant who has been hiding the ship from the sensors. I ain't too worried 'bout that one. Techno's have problems thinking smaller than their ships. I also think there's a metal manipulator on board. Jubes, that one's yours. I won't be able ta deal with 'em. I'll deal with Demetria Grey."
"What about the baby?" Regina asked. She had been privy to the discussion between Logan and Q.
"If she ain't had the baby yet, she goes to the Q. If she has, I kill her and the baby goes to the Q."
"That's the deal you made?" she demanded.
"They can contain the Phoenix but only if there's no echo fer her ta grab onto and pull her back. I don't like it myself but I don't see another option."
"You would put a human child in the hands of the Q? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. They're humorless monsters."
"If they're that bad, maybe you shouldn't do it," Jubilee said quietly.
"It's not my choice, Jubes. If I don't let them take her, they'll kill her." He looked at both women. "I don't want ta do it. Their first idea was fer me ta kill both of 'em."
"Why?" Regina demanded.
"The Grey women have been the host fer the past four hundred years. It started with Jean and went from there. The Grey line has been loosin' power fer the last two hundred years. None of 'em have been able ta control Phoenix since Rachel. She's killin' people now. She goes from host ta host, eatin' suns and no one has been able ta stop her. If I don't take her out, along with the last of the Grey line, she'll be uncontrollable."
"How are you going to contain the Phoenix force?" asked Jubilee. "No one's ever been able to do it."
"That's up ta the Q." he told her. "Let's get ta bed. We're gonna start trainin' tomorrow so everyone get a good nights sleep. I'm wakin' everyone up just before dawn."
Regina pushed Jubilee back down when she attempted to follow the telepath to her tent. The tiny Asian's cheeks went pink as Regina told her the plans for the night. Logan could see the temper rising in his best friend as she learned where she was sleeping that night. Regina's expression went stern as the conversation switched to the telepathic form. Jubilee's anger finally drained and she nodded. She walked over to the fire and sat down opposite him, looking at her feet.
"Regina says I need to learn to trust you again." she murmured.
"If ya can't trust me, yer a liability," he told her. "I know a lot of time's passed but I'm the same man ya knew."
"Are you?"
"Have I changed that much?"
She looked at him for the first time since he ran out of the sick bay after she woke up. Her eyes went over him carefully, taking in the details.
"You look ten years older now," she told him. "You have gray in your hair that wasn't there before and a few extra lines in your face. Your eyes are harder; more guarded. And you smell different. I feel like I don't know you."
"It's been four hundred years, Jubes. I don't age very fast but I do age."
She couldn't argue with that.
"What happened, darlin'? I went ta get ya after the party and ya were gone."
"The last thing I remember is seeing Gateway in my room when I went upstairs to change."
"Gateway took ya?"
"Must have."
"Yer the only one he ever talked ta. Did he say anything?"
"Something about you needing me," she told him. She shook her head. "I can't remember exactly what he said but he told me you needed me."
"But I was just outside." he protested.
"I said the same thing. Look, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and accepting that you're my Logan but I'm going to have a hard time trusting you for awhile."
"I don't know what I can do ta make ya trust me." he said
"You can't make me trust you. I have to come to trust you without you pushing me."
"I know, darlin'," he sighed. "I wish we had time ta do it right but we don't. I need ta take care of the Phoenix once and fer all. And I need ya ta trust me ta get ya back alive."
"Can I try something?" she asked quietly.
"What?"
"Regina says I'm a touch telepath. Maybe if I could see into your mind, I can convince myself that you really are my Wolvie."
"Ya want ta do a mind meld?"
"Would you mind?"
"If it'll help, I'll let ya look anywhere ya want."
She looked at him suspiciously. Her Logan hated for anyone to look into his mind.
"I've changed, Jubes," he told her, reading her reaction correctly. "I know I never let Chuck or Jean into my head but I want ya to see what I've been doin' fer the past four hundred years." She still looked suspicious of him. "I trust ya darlin'. Ya never betrayed me and ya ain't about ta start now."
She nodded slowly and reached for his head. When she left his mind, she was crying.
"Oh god, Wolvie," she sobbed. It was really him. A Scrull or a clone wouldn't have the memories that he had. A Scrull or a clone wouldn't have the remembered emotions he felt. He pulled her into his arms and rocked her. "So much has happened to you. Such ugly things." She nestled closer to him, trying to banish the scenes from her head.
"It hasn't all been bad," he whispered.
"'Ro?"
"I loved her," he said.
"I know," she murmured. "But what happened after Amy was killed..."
"We'd been havin' problems fer a few months but Amy's death was the last straw. 'Ro never recovered."
"She blamed you."
He nodded miserably. "She was right," he said. "I shoulda been there."
"What were you going to do? Abandon your mission in Japan? You and Betsy were the only Japanese speakers on the team. You were the one with all the connections."
"I shoulda left the mission ta Betsy. I coulda introduced her ta my connections and gone home. I knew Storm had ta be in California and the kids were home with Emma."
"Logan," she turned his face toward hers, "I love you but you try to take the blame for everything that goes wrong. You haven't learned that you aren't responsible for every bad thing that happens. Sometimes, it's fate."
"Fate?" he snorted. "Was it fate when I lost ya?"
"Gateway said you needed me," she told him. "Maybe you needed me now, not then"
He pulled her into this massive arms, hugging her closely. "I always needed ya," he murmured. He held her until he felt her stiffen.
"We need to get some sleep," she said, embarrassed. Her thoughts were taking a turn that she knew he wouldn't understand.
He released her reluctantly. "I need ta check the perimeter and set the shields," he told her. "I'll be a few minutes. Ya got the left side."
She nodded and entered the tent.