Disclaimer: My characters are mine...the rest belong to other people.

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Chapter 13.

(Angela)

After Logan left, I turned back to the Professor. "So, what aren't you telling him?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, keeping his tone even.

"Don't bullshit me, Professor. I've been around too long to fall for that. I'm no telepath but I do know people. There's something you're not telling him and I want to know what it is."

"Angela, I assure you. If I knew anything that would be helpful to Logan right now, he'd be the first to know."

"Then I guess it's all right to tell me now and he can be the second to know. Or the third, since you technically knew first."

He chuckled. "I can see what he sees in you."

"Thank you. But you're not changing the subject that easily." He leveled a cool gaze on me, his face betraying nothing. I sighed. "Look, if you don't want me to say anything to him right away, I won't. But I can't promise I'll keep anything from him forever. If I think he has a right to know, then he'll know."

He considered my words carefully before continuing. "How much did he talk about his past with you when you were partnered with him?"

"Not much, really." I said with a shrug. "He was very private about himself even back then. But I did get a few stories out of him about World War I."

Xavier's eyes widened briefly, a flicker almost too subtle to catch. "Then, you already know what I haven't told him."

"If you're asking me if I can do math, the answer is yes. I've had a good estimate on how old he is longer than you have."

"Does it bother you? That he's old enough to be your grandfather?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. "Oh, Professor, you have no idea what you're talking about!" He looked a bit confused, so I explained. "I haven't told him yet. Hell, I never told him before, back in the Bad Old Days." I leaned forward and looked him right in the eye. "He might be old enough to be my brother, maybe my father, but he's not old enough to be anything else. I was born in 1901."

It's always neat to surprise a telepath. After all, a really good one like Xavier can poke around in your head and you'd never be the wiser. But I also knew from things Logan had told me that Xavier would never do that; he had his own personal rules about it. "Dear God, I had no idea."

"Yeah, I know. Look good for my age, don't I?" I said with a smile. "And before you ask, no he isn't my brother or my father. I do know that he was born in Canada somewhere. I was born in Virginia. I didn't move into Canada until some time after Prohibition."

"Are you absolutely certain he was born in Canada?"

I nodded. "Yep. It's one of the few things he told me before they started to strip his memories away."

"This is actually great news. I've been working under the assumption that he'd only been in Canada as far back as Alkali Lake. But if he was born there, it'll make searching for clues to his past that much easier. Do you know which province?"

"Not offhand, no. But I'm pretty sure it's not Ontario, his accent is all wrong for that. If I had to guess, I'd say Alberta, maybe British Columbia."

"Thank you for this news. I'll contact some people I know up there and get them on this right away." He smiled briefly. "I also suppose this means that I don't need to convince you to let me read your mind. You seem to have a complete memory."

"That I do. I'll tell you what you want to know on one condition."

"Whatever you say."

"If I don't want to talk about something, I won't. Ever." Now it was my turn to give him the cool gaze, the impassive face. "There are some things that no one needs to know and other things I wish I could forget. So, don't push me about those things, ok?"

He nodded in agreement. "Very well, I can accept that." The clock in the corner gave a chime. "Looks like it's time for lunch. We'll save that conversation for another day. In the meantime, why don't you have a look around?"

I stood up and we shook hands. "Don't mind if I do. Thanks, Professor."

We left the office and he went to join the others for lunch, while I gave myself a tour of the mansion. I made mental notes about all the possible escape routes and to also ask Logan later about the locations of the tunnel entrances he'd told me about. Once I felt comfortable enough with the inside, I went out.

I knew the grounds were big, but it wasn't until I started to explore them that I realized just how big they really were. Except for desert and tundra, there was a bit of everything. I decided to leave the undeveloped portions of the grounds for later and turned towards the rose garden.

I'm not one of those women who enjoys working in gardens and being all up close and personal with nature. I respect nature but I do so from a distance and let those who are actually good at keeping growing things alive do so. I've often thought that I have a secondary mutation of "the Black Thumb", because I can't even keep a cactus alive. The first thing I noticed about the garden was how wonderfully it was maintained. The bushes appeared carefully tended, yet they didn't have that look of artifice that so many other rose gardens seem to have. There were more varieties there than I could ever name and a couple that I suspected were personal crossbreeds done by whoever it was that took such great care of it. I slowed my pace on the path, pausing every so often to bend over and drink in the heady scent the flowers were giving off. I was so lost in reverie that I barely heard the footsteps behind me.

They were too heavy to be Rogue or Storm (the only other women I'd met so far) and too light to be Logan, so I guessed it had to be Scott. I turned slowly, arms crossed over my chest and fixed a blank stare on him. "What do you want?" I asked, making sure to let a note of irritation color my voice.

"I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I'm sorry if I came across as…"

"An asshole?"

His mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yeah, pretty much. Jean was the one who usually helped the new people out at first, but since she…well, I'm still not used to the role, if you know what I mean."

I softened enough to uncross my arms. "Your apology is accepted. Now, if you'll excuse me." I turned to continue my walk, but he came up beside me to walk along. I resisted the urge to sigh.

"I can walk with you. I love the rose garden. It's so…relaxing. And it's a nice place to get acquainted with someone."

What the hell was with this guy? I'm usually pretty good at reading people, but a good portion of doing that is to read their eyes. But I couldn't see Scott's eyes, which from what I understand is a very good thing. However, everything I could read from his general demeanor and attitude just screamed restraint. And not the kind where you stop at two beers or you don't punch the guy who just grabbed your ass. No, this was so far beyond that it was almost painful to look at. It was like he kept everything about himself under such complete control that absolutely nothing leaked out. No emotion, no personality, he might as well have been a carefully constructed robot that could mimic being human in all things except those that actually make someone human.

It only took me a few seconds to come to this conclusion. "For the record, getting acquainted is a usually a two-way street. Since I have precious little that I want to share with you, there isn't going to be much acquainting going on."

He stopped and (I assume) stared at me and I turned to him. "Oh, so you're going to pull a Logan and just expect me and everyone else here to trust you from the onset without knowing anything about you?"

"There's nothing I could ever tell you that would make you trust me. Probably quite the opposite." I crossed my arms again.

"Why, because you were at Alkali Lake with Logan? From what I can see, you seem to have come out of it all right."

"Then you're not looking hard enough." I turned to leave, but a hand on my right arm stopped me. Scott sure had a selective memory.

"Look, I didn't come out here to argue with you. I just wanted to apologize to you and to try to help you understand that you are amongst friends. If you'll let me."

"I've already accepted your apology, take that for what it is. Now remove your hand or I will." I have no idea what he was thinking, but the hand stayed.

"Hey, come on. Let's start this all over, ok? It's time for lunch, I'll take you there."

I'd had enough. I didn't even think about it, I just acted. I grabbed his hand with my left, spun him around and shoved. He stumbled forward, barking his shins on a stone bench nestled between a couple perfectly lovely yellow rosebushes and turned back towards me, his hand instinctively reaching up to the side of his visor. But the hand never made it; I grabbed him and twisted his arm upward, holding it underneath my own while my other flashed forward, claws bared and I stopped the slash a mere hairsbreadth from his throat. Without releasing him, I leaned towards him so my face was only inches from his. "I told you before, never touch me unless you're invited. And you are not invited, not now, not ever. You've got two strikes now. Pray you never get a third." I let him go and started walking away.

"I should have known you'd be as much of an animal as Logan! You're just as crazy as he is!" He called after me. I stopped in my tracks and turned slowly to face him.

"That's where you're wrong, pal." I smiled coldly. "I'm crazier. If you can't remember anything else, remember that."

I turned and walked as calmly as I could until the path took me around a bend and out of his sight. Once I was alone, I kicked off my shoes and took off running. I didn't know the grounds at all, but I could see a bit of woods towards the back of the property and I headed towards them. I was so pissed off I could have killed something, but a good hard run will always do in a pinch. It didn't take me long to be amongst the trees and once there, I slipped out the claws on my feet and picked up my pace. I let my instincts drive me, even though they were screaming to me to just leave this place and never look back. I knew in the back of my mind that Cyclops wasn't a threat to me in any way, shape or form, but it was just too much too soon. I hadn't been around other mutants for so many years and now I was surrounded by more than I had ever seen in one place, including Alkali Lake. Even then, the only one I'd spent any real time with was Logan. I'd seen the odd telepath here and there, but most of the other ones had been kept separate from us, since they weren't part of Stryker's main program. I'd only had occasional glimpses of them as they were brought in and on a few occasions, they'd been sent to spar with me. But that was usually only a single session and then I'd never see them again. I could only guess that I was a kind of litmus test in that way. If they did well against me, they were advanced. If not…I didn't even want to think about what happened to them.

If that makes me a bad person, then fine, I'm a bad person. But all I'd wanted back then was to survive, get my daughter (and later Logan) out and just get so far away they'd never find me. I didn't expect anyone besides Logan to understand that and no amount of talking about it would make anyone else get it. Once we'd gotten out of there and after we'd parted, I had done everything I could to stay so far under the radar that no one would ever connect Hellcat with any of my personal incarnations since that day. The closest had been seven years ago, just before I'd moved to Detroit and that had been sheer coincidence.

I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and saw that I was underneath what had to be the biggest tree on school grounds. It was a massive oak, a wonderful example of the species and easily the largest one I'd seen in a very long time. I looked up into the branches and decided to climb. I slipped out the rest of my claws and started up the trunk, not using any of the other branches until I had to. I climbed as high as I thought I could and nestled into the crook where a branch met with the trunk. It bent slightly under my weight, but not enough to worry me. I lit a cigarette and let my thoughts drift back to the near-miss so long ago.

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You're sitting in a little bar on the outskirts of Chicago, drinking the latest in a long line of beers and wondering what the hell you're doing. You'd most recently been in California, but the imp of the perverse had contrived a way to make it so you couldn't safely stay there anymore and you'd moved on. To all appearances, you don't have much to your name: a battered backpack, the clothes on your back and another bag that holds a lacquered box, about the size of a cigar box and a few other items. What no one else can see is that you also have about $9000 hidden in the lining of that bag, though all the money you've been buying your beers with has come out of your jeans pocket. You have more money than that, but it's in various accounts that you've set up over the years. You spare the time for the thought that you might just be ridiculously wealthy by now, but you've never tried to put all your cash in one place before. Better to pretend that it's not there, so that when you do really need it, you'll have it.

You finish your beer and signal to the bartender for another one. He looks at you incredulously; how can someone your size drink this much and not be drunk? He doesn't know how many years of practice you have at this. However, he's not paid to make drinking decisions for anyone, his job is to pour the drinks and take the money. He sets it down in front of you; you slide him another bill and tell him to keep the change. You've just taken your first sip of the cold brew when a voice somewhere behind your makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. You don't want to, but you have to look. The voice is hauntingly familiar, but you can't place a face to go with it. You rotate your head as though cracking your neck and take a quick glance around the room. You find the source of the voice sitting at a table in the corner with a male companion.

Recognition widens your eyes and you casually turn back to your drink, but now your hearing is focused completely on that table. It's something that took you so long to perfect, but if you concentrate, you can functionally ignore any noise that you want, filtering it out to concentrate on the sounds you need to hear. What was that guy's name? Walker, Walter? Something like that. At any rate, he'd been at Alkali Lake, he'd been there when they killed you over and over to augment your skeleton. He'd been a big part of your training. He was a walking dead man.

"Frank, what was so hellfired important that you had to drag me out here while I'm in the middle of an important project?" The male companion was saying.

"We think we have a lead on them, John." Frank said. It was then you remembered; his name was Frank Wallace.

John swallowed hard. "You mean…you don't mean?"

"I do." Wallace said. "I'm actually quite impressed with them, really. It's a credit to our training that they've avoided detection this long. But a contact of mine in Los Angeles sent me this." You hear him hand something to his companion.

"What's this? 'Body of unknown robbery/murder victim missing'? Come on, Frank. It's Los Angeles, anything could have happened."

"If you keep reading, you'll see the part that tipped my guy off. It seems that the body went missing with no one entering the morgue, no sign of a struggle and the only other things missing were some scrubs and a pair of shoes. When my guy questioned the night guard, he said it was like she just got up and walked away."

"You really think it's her, don't you? Hellcat."

"Yes, I do. And wherever she is, you know Wolverine can't be far behind."

"I don't know, Frank. We trained them well. I'd bet they split up years ago, after that fiasco in Ontario."

"Be that as it may, if we can get her back it'll go a long way to getting the program up and running again. We'll just wipe her mind and set her loose to bring Wolverine back in." You hear him settle back in his chair. "If anyone can do it, she can."

"Well, if she vanished in L.A., why are we here?"

"My guy had a picture of her and after that corpse walked away, he took it to every train and bus station in the city, using the cover of a concerned brother looking for his missing sister."

"Why not the airports too? She could have flown out."

"Oh, that's right. You weren't there long enough to know. Hellcat's petrified of flying. We couldn't get her on a plane without enough Phenobarbital to kill a bear. She'd never fly by choice."

"Ah, I see. So, what did your man find out?"

"A woman matching her description bought a one-way ticket to Chicago. I have teams deployed all over the city right now, looking for her. We know what she was last wearing and she's probably traveling light. She's probably changed her appearance, so we have enhanced photos with every possible change she could do. We'll have her in a couple days, mark my words."

You don't stick around to hear the rest. It's time for a strategic retreat, followed by an ambush. You calmly pick up your pack and head out the door, running a finger through the short, spiked hair, which has been changed from the jet black you had done back in L.A. to a violent shade of turquoise. You're pretty sure their enhanced photos don't show anything like that. You pause on the sidewalk, scanning the area for a good place to grab Wallace. You figure when they leave, they won't do so together, so you'll only have a small window in which to operate. There's an alley about forty feet away and you slide into it, hiding behind a dumpster. You stash your packs behind a pile of boxes and slip off your shoes before settling in to wait. Ten minutes later, you hear footsteps approaching the alley. You slip silently from your hiding place, clinging to the shadows that paint the walls. You risk a very quick glance and you smile when you see that it's Wallace, all right. Your muscles tense as you prepare to spring.

As soon as he's even with your position, your hand flashes forward and clamps around his throat. You drag his struggling form into the alley, your hold on him making him essentially mute. You toss him against the shadowed wall, making sure he can see it's you. His eyes widen in recognition, but you just give him a smile that makes his blood run cold.

"Hello, Wallace, you unbelievable bastard." You say. He opens his mouth, but you spring forward and clamp your hand over it. "Long time no see." You see him reaching behind him, probably for a weapon, so you slip your claws out and slash him across the forearm, severing ligaments and tendons. He makes a strangled sound that would have been a scream, if your hand weren't clamped over his mouth. "Stupid move, Wallace. You should know better than to try that with me." You reach behind him and remove the gun, popping the clip out to the ground at your feet and tossing the weapon as far down the alley as you can. "Now, I'm going to let go of your mouth. If you say even one word that isn't an answer to a question, I will kill you immediately. Understand?" His eyes get even wider, but he nods in agreement. You slowly release him and back away a mere step. "Where's Stryker?"

"I don't know." He replies, wheezing. "Somewhere in Canada, looking for the prodigal son, but I don't know where."

"Prodigal son? You mean Lo…Wolverine?"

He nods. "Yes. It's the name he gave the search for you two, Project Prodigal. As soon as none of the bodies from that blizzard turned out to be you two, he's been obsessed with getting you back."

"I see. So where's the main base now?"

"We recently moved back to Alkali Lake. We'd been in the Hudson Bay area for a while until we could move everything underground up there."

You consider this for a moment. "So, the project was never terminated?"

"No. We just shifted focus for a little while, trying other methods of controlling your kind. We needed to find something that would keep them from being able to break conditioning and escape like you two did. Once he found it, Stryker moved back to Alkali Lake."

"And what is this new method?"

"I don't know. He's got some mutant there that can make people believe anything he wants them to. I think Stryker's using something from him to concoct a mind-controlling agent that'll even work on Wolverine."

"How does he know?"

"He's got another one, some little Asian mutant. She heals like he does and it works on her just fine. Stryker's probably augmenting her even as we speak."

A cold rage wells up inside you and you decide you don't need to hear any more. But you do have one more question for Wallace before you're done with him. "Is everything you told me true?"

"Of course it is. A dead man has no reason to lie."

You smile again. At least he knows what's about to happen. "Wow. And here I was kinda hoping you'd forget how well you trained me. Pity. Oh well, at least I'll give you something you never gave me, not once."

"What's that?"

Your hand flashes out and tears across his throat. As he falls, your slash your other hand over his face, slicing it open to the bone. As he struggles for breath, you look at him emotionlessly. "A quick death."

As soon as he's dead, you go through his pockets and find his car keys, then retrieve your packs and leave the alley. Chicago is too hot right now, you'll have to leave. Maybe you could try Detroit. Now that you have a vehicle, you can at least get out of this city with ease. With your mind made up, you find his car and use it to make your escape. The next day, a headline in the Chicago Sun Times reads "Military Official Found Dead in Alley". The smaller headline underneath reads "Early reports indicate he was mauled by animals". You just smile.

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I was alerted to the fact that I had company by a rustling sound in the tree beneath me. I caught a very quiet grunt of effort and recognized it as Logan, so I didn't bother looking. A few moments later, I heard him settle on the branch beneath mine.

"Hey darlin'. Somethin' on your mind?" He asked.

"Just thinking." I replied, taking a final drag off my cigarette then stubbing it out on the branch in front of me. "What's up?"

"I ran into Scott a little bit ago. Said you almost took his head off. I just wanted to find you to ask why you didn't wait so I could watch."

I couldn't help it, I smiled. "Well, there wasn't much time." I shifted a little so I could look down at him. "Is he always a complete asshole or is he just incapable of listening to simple directions?"

"Why, what'd he do?" Logan asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing really bad or anything. But earlier, before we met with the Professor, he grabbed my arm to get my attention. I told him never to do it again. He tried to apologize a bit ago and he did it again. Is he stoned or just stupid?"

"My votes for stupid." He said with a chuckle. "But that doesn't scan with what I know about the guy. He ain't normally the touchy-feely type."

"Maybe it's my charming personality and rapier wit. He can't keep his hands off me."

He growled. "He better or I'll take them off."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm pretty sure he'll think more than twice before trying anything like that again." I sighed. "Logan, do we have to stay here? I keep having second and third thoughts about this."

"Darlin', I ain't gonna lie to you. I ain't had anythin' like a home for so long that it surprises me how much I do wanna stay here. But if you really don't want to, then we'll go, anywhere you like."

"Why? I mean, what makes you want to be here so badly?"

He took a deep breath before speaking. "First, I did promise Rogue I'd take care of her. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the kid's got a crush on me, but that's not why I promised. I did it because she was the first person in so long that wasn't afraid of me and…I don't know, somethin' in me just wants to keep her safe, you know? And her mutation…not bein' able to touch people, it hurts her. None of the other kids or the adults here will come right out and say it, but they're all a little afraid of her. She walks around and there's always a little extra space between her and everyone else. I spent fifteen years in isolation because I wanted to. She's surrounded by people and more alone than I ever was."

I chewed on my lip as I thought about that. I'd done the same as he had for a long time, but I realized I needed to be around people if I was ever going to conquer the animal inside me. "So, is that it? You just want Rogue to know there's one person who won't keep their distance?"

"In the beginning, yeah. But then Liberty Island went down and before we had a chance to think, Stryker invaded. And I realized that night that this place needs me. I was in the right place at the right time and for the first time I can remember, I was able to use everythin' I can do to help. Deep down, I always knew that I'd been used for somethin' terrible. Why give someone unbreakable bones and nine-inch metal claws unless you want them to kill and be really good at it? Now I know the claws were always there, but it don't change anythin'. Now that I remember the Bad Old Days, I know that whole part of my life was based on lies. So, maybe before they got me, I wasn't always just a killer. Maybe I was doin' good with these things and now I got a chance to do it again."

"Damn it. Who said you were allowed to keep making sense in my general direction?"

"Darlin', I already told you before that it happens from time to time." He smiled at me and I scowled back. "So, why do you always perch in trees when you wanna be alone?"

I shrugged. "Mostly because people don't normally follow me when I'm in one. Something about heights freaks most people out."

"Good thing I'm not most people. But it's not very comfortable up here."

"I like it." I lit up another smoke. "So, is that the only reason you followed me all the way up here? To see what happened with Mr. Uptight?"

"Actually, no it was somethin' else. But I'd rather talk about it on the ground, ok?" I nodded and we made our way to the ground. Once down there, he gently took my hand and led me to where a nice little stream wound its way through the grounds. I smiled when I saw it and sat down on the bank to soak my feet. A few minutes later, he surprised me by joining me and twining his fingers with my own.

"Ok, we're out of the tree. What did you need?" I looked over to him, studying his profile, but his expression was carefully guarded. I waited a little longer but he remained silent so I nudged him. "Earth to Logan? I can't read your mind so if there's something you want to talk about, you'll have to use actual words."

He smiled a little at that, then turned to me. "Angela, remember back in Detroit, you said I told you stories from World War I?" I nodded. "Well, I got to thinkin' about that earlier and…do you know? How old I really am?"

"No, not exactly. But I have an estimate. And I don't care about that, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not." He said softly, his eyes dropping to our joined hands. "It made me wonder how much I've lost, how many people are back there where I can't remember them. How many I've probably had to watch as they just got old and died but I stayed just the same."

I nodded, my throat suddenly tight. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

His head snapped up and he looked at me intently. "Do you? Cuz it scares the hell outta me that everyone I know won't be here in a hundred years, but I probably will be. I thought my claws made me a big enough freak, but to find out that I'll never die of old age? That I'll wake up one day and it'll be the day I have to bury you?" He swallowed hard. "Even worse, that I'll have to get up the day after that and wonder why your nine lives couldn't save you from that and I'll hate you for it, hate you for leavin' me like that. It's killin' me just thinkin' about it and that's probably another forty years away. But that day will come and you'll take the best of me with you again."

I wiped a tear from my cheek before placing a hand gently on his face. He looked so vulnerable and I loved him all the more for it. "Lover, you won't have to worry about that, all right?" He furrowed his brow. "I'm not quite as old as you are, but I'm also not as young as you think I am." And I proceeded to tell him when I was born and some of the things I'd been through. I also told him my theory on the nine lives, how it didn't just bring me back but also restored me to what would be considered a woman in her prime. As I told him, the look on his face went from fear to amazement to relief and finally to joy. When I finished, he took me in his arms and held me close, and I felt a shudder pass through him. We stayed that way for a long time before he looked up and kissed me, pouring so much emotion into that one gesture that it took my breath away. Then, without words, we professed our undying love to one another and fell asleep to the soothing music of the water.

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AN: Two more down, how many chapters to go? Only me and my beta readers know...:) Special thanks to Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel for doing that beta thing and to DBK(tm) for his continued inspiration (coughharassmentcough)...Extra Special thanks to Dee (MidLifeCrisis) for her excellent advice...:) And Super Extra Special thanks to everyone who reviewed...think of them as the equivalent of bribing me with chocolate...the more i get, the happier i am...of course, if anyone wants to send me chocolate, PM me and i'll give you an address to send it to:)