Chapter 1 A New Beginning
The flight had been long and boring, but Logan finally arrived at her destination. She had heard all kinds of stories about New York City and had seen it on the news shows, though she was not going to the city, but just outside it. Once she was off the plane, she walked outside into the bright light. She was stunned at first but once a cloud dimmed the light she decided she was lucky to only have a carry on bag. The other people on her plane were now at the baggage pick up and they looked very tired. A car pulled up in front of her and the driver rolled down the window on the passenger's side.
"Xavier Institute?" he asked. Her eyes lit up and she nodded. He unlocked the doors and she got into the back seat. "I'm Sam," he said, "I live at the Institute too. You'll like it there, I know you will." Logan smiled and nodded. She stared out the window and watched the buildings turn into residential homes as the left New York City. She turned back inside and studied Sam in the rearview mirror. He had shaggy yellow hair; hair that would blend in so well in a field of corn that Sam would just disappear. He must have been just about twenty-two or so and he had very boyish looks and a strong country accent.
It was fall and the leaves outside had turned colors of brilliant red and orange as they fell. They turned a corner and the mansion came into sight. Logan knew this was her destination because, well, where else would you hide a school full of mutants? Sam turned into the circular driveway and said, "You can get out at the front, the professor will be waiting there, but I have to put the car back in the garage." Logan grabbed her knapsack, which was green and had once belonged to a soldier before Logan bought it in a pawn shop. She got out and walked up the stairs where a bald man in a wheelchair sat.
"Welcome Logan, welcome to the Xavier Institute, I am Professor Charles Xavier, I trust you had a good flight?"
"Yes the flight was very nice," Logan said. "This is a mighty big house you have," she told him.
"Mighty big indeed, but it's hardly empty. Let me show you to your room and once you get settled in I'll introduce you to the other students." Logan said she liked this idea and followed him into the elevator up to the second floor.
Her first impression of the mansion had been incredible. It was a huge, stone building with large windows and balconies littered all over the outside. The fall leaves had gathered on the driveway and spattered the landscape. When the car had driven up the exhaust blew up the leaves like tiny birds. Logan had been able to see acres of grass and trees to the left of the mansion and a basketball court and other extracurricular areas to the right. The sight of the basketball court made her heart flutter. All in all it looked like a picture out of a fancy living magazine. However, the inside of the mansion had put the outside to shame. As soon as she walked through the door the scent of rich, dark wood had filled her nostrils. All the furniture was made of dark maple and the red, deep upholstery made her want to dive into the chairs and fall asleep. The hallway ahead of her had been filled with the busts of famous scientists and literary icons. She had felt like she was in a regal high society home until she left the artworks hanging on the walls for a stainless steel elevator. It was quite a difference and even Logan had been taken by surprise. The professor noticed and said, "You'll find that living here will be like living in two different worlds at first, but in a few weeks everything will mold together and you'll be right at home."
They arrived on the second floor and Logan was led to her room. "There's a bathroom connected right through the door and it actually leads to another student's room; whom I'll introduce you to later. I'll be back to check on you in a few minutes, but I am needed downstairs for a moment." He wheeled out of the room and back into the elevator. Logan looked around her room admiring it. Everything was the same dark wood from the front hall and all the fabric was of varying shades of dark green. Her bed was parallel to the wall with the door she had come through; it stuck out from the center of that wall. It had a soft down comforter and pillows that were deep emerald and would keep her warm in any temperature. There was a desk and chair on the other side of the room and a large window was above the desk. It had dark green drapes that could keep out the light of the early morning sun. Near the desk was another set of drapes that reached high up the wall. Behind those drapes were two clear French doors that opened to one of the balconies she had noticed on the outside of the mansion. Across the room from the bed was the bathroom door which separated a vanity and an armoire. The vanity held a mirror, drawers, a push under seat, and a small lamp. She unpacked her bag which held two changes of clothes, a book, and some other minor things. Once she put it all away and hung the bag in the armoire, she spotted a full length mirror. She walked over to it and studied herself. She was tall for her age and built very well. She had a 'well endowed' feminine frame that seemed almost Amazonian. She was wearing a top that exposed a small bit of her midriff and a pair of worn jeans. The top was black and had three straps; two fell over her shoulders and the last crisscrossed on her back. Her jeans were held up with a thick belt that had a large oval buckle. Overall it was a cute but don't-push-me look that pleased her and fit her very well.
Before meeting the other students she decided to freshen up, so she went into the bathroom. She splashed a little water on her face and dried it. She grinned and looked at her teeth, they were white and healthy looking. She brushed some of the hair out of her face. It was dirty blonde with red and brownish highlights and fairly short. Pieces always hung in her eyes and it tended to look playfully messy. The professor knocked on the door and when he came in he was followed by two women and two men.
"Hello Logan, I have some people I'd like you to meet, this is Jean Gray." One of the woman with neat red hair and bright smile waved hello to her. "This is Scott, also known as Cyclops, and Ororoe Munroe, or Storm. Last, but no least, this is Kurt Wagner, known sometimes as Nightcrawler." Scott had short brown hair and was quite tall, he also wore rose sunglasses. Ororoe was a tall African-American woman with snow white hair even though she could not have been over 35. Finally, Kurt was quite a spectacle. He didn't stand very tall and his skin was dark blue. He had a prehensile tail, fangs, and yellow eyes; he looked like a demon from a horror movie. To the surprise of all, Logan didn't seem to be affected by his ghastly appearance.
"Ah, hello there Logan, I don't mean to be rude, but most people are…confused by my appearance," Kurt said haltingly.
Logan smiled, "Believe it or not Kurt, I've seen weirder things, and no offense, but you don't scare me. Besides blue is my favorite color, I find it relaxing."
While Logan was talking to Kurt, Jean had communicated telepathically to Scott, 'Does she look oddly familiar to you?'
'Yeah I was just thinking about that, but we just met her. Maybe she just has one of those faces' he replied. Jean agreed but wasn't totally convinced; the feeling that she knew her was just too strong. Jean was shaken from her thoughts when Kesskallome came through the bathroom door.
"I thought I heard voices in here," she said. Kesskallome was a petite girl who was Logan's age. She had dark skin and long black hair. She reminded Logan of the women she had seen on those shows about the ancient civilizations in Egypt.
"Kesskallome, this is Logan, your new bathroom mate. Storm and Nightcrawler located her in Canada and she just arrived here," the professor explained.
"That's wonderful," she said in a strong accent, "I used to be the only girl in this hallway. You can imagine my joy now that I am not alone."
The professor told Logan that they will give a tour while her goes to his office, there was still some work that needed taking care of. They began their tour by pointing out other rooms such as the kitchen and the dinning room. The tour was quite boring but Kesskallome livened it up with different comment on the way. "By the way," she said to Logan, "You can call me Kess, my full name's a bit long I know. But on the battlefield it's Medusa, you'll see why a little later." Logan thought she would get along very well with Kess, very well indeed. Over some type of intercom system the professor called the name of Kess and a few other people. Kess sighed, "Trouble again I bet, always needing my help." Storm rolled her eyes as Kess waved goodbye and headed down another hall.
They took another high-tech elevator down to a floor that was below the regular building. They entered a room labeled 'Training Room' and Logan was immediately impressed. It was a large room with all kind of machines and equipment that they used to control and exercise their powers. Logan walked into the center of the room and looked around. Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and turned around just in time to see a pair of long silver claws coming at her. She quickly dove to the side to avoid them. She could see her attacker now, he was taller than she was and had dark brown hair, three long claws that stuck out from his knuckles and a look on his face of revenge. She had only a moment until the unexpected happened. Her opponent's claws plunged into her stomach. She pushed herself off his claws and looked down at her stomach. Three small red dots were clearly visible. A bead of sweat ran down her temple and for a moment her face was contorted and then she smiled and looked up. The red dots disappeared and the skin on her stomach was flawless. Her attacker looked confused but charged again, Logan faded away easily, though now he had her pinned in a corner. He raised his arm and brought it down to slash her face when the crisp clang of metal hitting metal echoed through the huge room. Logan had met his claws with an identical pair just an inch from her head, saving her life.
"Wolverine No!" shouted Scott, who had only been able to watch in horror because the actual ordeal took barely a minute. Wolverine, the attacker, backed off in shear surprise though Logan stayed ready in case of another advance. Being the smart fighter she was, she wisely moved out of the confining corner and into the middle of the room as Wolverine watched her.
There was an awkward silence and then Storm came over, "Are you alright?" she asked Logan, who nodded. "Well Wolverine I believe you have met your match."
"Why did you attack?" Jean asked him.
"Now you probably won't believe me because I can't even make sense of it myself, but I swear I sensed the presence of Mystique and Sabertooth," Wolverine replied. He looked at the pint-sized fighter and noticed a pair of army dog tags around her neck. "Where'd you get those?" he asked, fingering them with his claws.
"I've had them forever. For as long as I can remember," she answered. Jean had called to the Professor telepathically and he came into the room followed by Kess. The professor was told what happened and was relieved that everyone was alright. He introduced Logan to Wolverine, telling her that, like Cyclops and Medusa, Wolverine was only a codename. His real name was none other that Logan. Once introduced, Logan asked this girl where she was from. "Well I lived in Canada, but I really just moved from place to place. I'd fight in these cages at bars to make money. People always paid more to see the reigning champion defeated by 'some kid'," she explained.
"So it's safe to say you've lost a few fight," Scott said, there was no way this girl could have won.
"No, I have never lost," she said plainly, "what would make you think that?"
Wolverine grinned to himself, 'I like her,' he thought, but he was still confused as to the reason behind his sensing of Mystique and Sabertooth.
'I'm confused about the same thing Logan,' said the professor telepathically, 'I think we'll have to talk about that.'
Wolverine looked at the professor with a glare then a smile, 'You always startle me when you read my mind,' he said.
'Right, sorry Logan.' "Why don't you rest of you finish her tour," Xavier said to Storm.
"Good I'll show you all the important places," Kess said lowly to Logan, "I'll introduce you to my boyfriend John. He's a…great guy, you'll like him. He's got a bunch of nice friends, you never know," she winked and Logan smiled.
"You know Kess, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she said, it was nice to have her first friend her age.
As they turned to go another girl about Logan's age ran into the Training Room. She had pale skin and dark auburn hair with a ling streak of white in the front, she was also covered from her neck to her boots including a pair of long gloves, and her name was Rogue. "Logan!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah?" both Logans answered, which caused some confusion.
"I think having two Logans is going to be a bit too confusing," said Jean.
"And Logan doesn't like being called Wolverine all the time," Storm added, "Is there any other name you go by?" she asked the female Logan.
"Well my dad used to call me Jamie all the time. My real name is James Logan. I think my dad was hoping for a boy. But yeah, Jamie is fine," she said.
They agreed on Jamie and Rogue said in a thick southern accent, "Well it's nice to meet you Jamie; I guess I'll see you all at dinner, I'm going to go find Bobby." Rogue left and Storm, Jean, Scott, and Kess finished Jamie's tour.
Logan and the professor stayed behind to talk. "Well Charles, what do you think?" Logan asked.
"Well honestly Logan, I know no more than you do. I don't doubt your senses and it seems just too odd that they would be wrong when they have never failed you before. The best I can do is to research her and if it becomes a problem I can read her mind to find out more," the professor explained. "I think that we should probably just leave it alone until we better understand her; and you'll have to be more cautious about attacking at the first 'sense' of danger," he finished. Charles put emphasis on the word sense.
Logan nodded in agreement as the professor left the Training Room. He went over to the gym area and began to lift some weights and think about the mysterious new mutant whose past was so similar to his. "Those eyes," he said to himself, "they were on fire they were so full of rage. Then again maybe they are only like that when she fights." He dropped the weights and left the room now wondering about where she could have gotten her claws. Even while he asked himself that question he already knew all to well where they had come from, all too well he knew.
