Chapter 10.

(Logan)

Angela was completely freaked out about something, but no matter how hard I pressed her, she wouldn't say anything. She did assure me it had nothing to do with the baby, which was a huge relief for me, but she was so distracted all the time that everyone was beginning to notice. Most surprising of all was that Xavier had no idea what she was worrying about so much, which meant she was employing every anti-telepath technique we knew to keep him out. It's not that hard to do, really, when you're a feral like us. We just let the more primitive thoughts of "hunt, mate, kill" take an upper hand and even a telepath as strong as the Professor will have a hard time getting past it.

She was also spending a great deal of her free time closeted away with Buzz. She had him working overtime on something she just called a "special project" and wouldn't give any details on what this project was. The fact that she'd been completely barred from Danger Room sessions by Hank, including overseeing things from the booth, meant that she had free time to spare. At least when we were alone she was still the same Angela I fell in love with, but the public one was getting a little scary. In the space of a couple weeks, she went from easygoing and approachable to a state of hyper-vigilance that made me look positively comatose. Something had her spooked, that's for sure.

In the meantime, the kids were in a state of complete chaos, since regular classes were cancelled and only Beta and Delta had to continue with Danger Room and Delta still had strategy and tactics three days a week. Warren surprised us all by showing up at the Danger Room with Delta team about a week before Christmas, saying he didn't want to decide not to join the team without seeing what it was all about first. Now I'm not positive, but suspected it had something to do with the fact that he'd been spending a lot of time with Chasca's roommate Sofia and she'd been wanting to join the team for some time. I let him join that one time with the understanding that this was just a trial run for him and if he really wanted to join the team, he'd be put on the new Gamma team after the holidays. After that one session, he made up his mind and the first member of Gamma was chosen. The kid did really well in there and I was happy to include him on the new team.

Of course, our other new friend wasn't nearly as popular. Remy had already pissed off all the boys in school before Angela and I got home, but once Rogue woke up he only had eyes for her. Naturally, this made for a very irritable Bobby and I overheard Storm comparing his temperament to mine on more than one occasion. Personally, I thought this was unfair since I didn't think I was that much of a dick, unless One-Eye was around. It didn't help any that Rogue thought Remy was the greatest thing since sliced bread and defended him whenever she and Bobby fought about him. Angela really didn't like the guy and I know she threatened him with bodily harm at least once a day, but this little factoid went right over Marie's head. Usually my woman can find a way to warm up to just about anyone. I mean, she was even friends with Scott, which I will never understand if I live to be a thousand years old. But Remy just rubbed her fur the wrong way for some reason.

For the record, I wasn't crazy about the guy either. I didn't want to gut him or anything, but I couldn't see the two of us going out for beers like Sam, Kurt and I did from time to time. For the most part, I was indifferent about him. A lot of his charm seemed a bit phony to me and I'm sure he was full of shit based on some of the stories he told about growing up on the streets of New Orleans, but I didn't think he was all bad either. I decided to just let the whole thing play out however it would and take it from there.

With the approaching holidays, the unseen serving staff at the mansion transformed the place into something right out of Dickens. Garlands of real evergreen were draped everywhere, wreaths hung in every window and an immense tree was set up in the lounge decorated with ornaments that looked like antique heirlooms. In deference to those who don't worship Santa, a menorah had been set up on the mantle for Sam and Kitty who were both Jewish and there were several wreaths and garlands made of holly and mistletoe that were scattered about for both Angela and Storm. A large Yule log had also been brought in and was waiting for the twenty-first to roll around so they could light it.

I wasn't sure about the whole holiday thing. It had been over fifteen years since I celebrated anything and I was a little uncomfortable with all of it. I'm not precisely an atheist, because I do believe there's a God. I just happen to think he's a complete bastard with a sick sense of humor. There is simply no other explanation for giving someone a mutation that'll make them live for as long as I have, not to mention allowing that same person to have the majority of that life stolen from him by a sadistic motherfucker for his own twisted purposes. Yeah, I'm a little bitter. I hope that if I ever do die, I can have an hour or two with him before I get sent on my way to whatever hell I'm slated for. He's got quite a bit to answer for.

So December passed with someone giving gifts to each other for days on end. Sam gave Angela and I a gorgeous sculpture of the two of us on a motorcycle. Kitty gave me humidor for my cigars and Angela received some maternity tops with clever things written on them. My personal favorite was the one that said "Got MILF?" on it. One-Eye had no idea what that meant and no one was about to explain it to him. I guess you could say that Kitty accidentally gave me another gift, since it was extremely amusing for me to laugh at him every time she wore it.

The twenty-first rolled around and it was Storm and Angela's turn. They lit the log, did some really involved ritual of some sort that was really quite beautiful, then gave out all of their gifts. I won't list what everyone received, but Storm gave Angela and me a gorgeous African wall hanging. Angela gave me a new dog tag that had a picture of her laser etched on it with the words "Yours Forever" on it. I hated to admit that I'd felt naked without my old tag; I'd worn it for fifteen years and as satisfying as it had been to toss it at Stryker's feet, I was used to it. This was the perfect replacement as far as I was concerned. She grinned hugely when I put it on and reached under her shirt and pulled out a tag of her own that had my picture on it and the words "Mine Forever". No arguments here.

Finally, Christmas day arrived and it was time to give the news to Beta team. We'd thrown the official school party on Christmas Eve, another all-day affair in Club Danger Room and the kids had given out their gifts to each other and the staff at that time. Again, I won't bore you with a huge list of the things we all got, but I was unexpectedly touched by their generosity. I mean, I'm the Wolverine and I always thought the kids were a little afraid of me. Maybe they are, but they didn't let it stop them from including me.

We called Beta team into the study right after dinner, which surprised them because they knew that was the adult's time to unwind. We sat them down on the sofa and loveseat and we stood before them. The Professor started the proceedings with a little speech.

"As you know, I started this school so that mutants, especially children, would have a safe haven from the fear and hatred of the world at large." He began. "For more than a decade, I have done my very best to teach you that with great power comes great responsibility. I have watched many of my students go on to do great things, while others have stayed here out of a desire to assist me in my endeavor. In that time, I have also watched as normal humans have come to regard mutants with increasing hostility, while other mutants have come to look upon the ungifted as an obstacle that must be eliminated." He looked at them gravely with a touch of sadness in his eyes and I knew he was thinking of Magneto, who had once been his friend. "It had been my hope that mutants and humans could resolve their differences peacefully, but in spite of what the leaders of the world may think, people in general are still finding us a difficult reality to accept. It is because of this that a line must be drawn, a line that will be used to protect every living person on this planet from harm."

He turned to me and I stepped up, my hands on my hips. "Look, I ain't a fancy speaker like the Professor here, so I'm gonna get right to it. We made the six of you a secondary team of X-Men because you all told the Professor that's what you wanted to do. Now you've all seen some action, been in the thick of it an' it hasn't always ended well." I looked at Rogue when I said that, but she seemed to be holding up so I went on. "So, I'm givin' you this one last chance to change your minds. Bein' an X-Man ain't some glorious thing. It's hard work an' it's dangerous. If you have any doubts, right now is the time to back out. Do you still want to be X-Men?" Not a single one of them hesitated in saying yes. I smiled and turned to Scott who took the floor while Angela, Kurt, Hank, Storm, Sam and I retrieved the packages that were hidden inside the liquor cabinet.

"Then it is my honor to welcome you all to the team, officially." He said, beaming. "From this day forward, you are no longer students, but X-Men. You will still have to participate in the official graduation at the end of the year, but from now on you will be expected to help us teach the students. We'll worry about what you'll each do later, so enjoy your vacation while you can. Also, now that you've officially become X-Men, you are no longer considered the Beta team, but a part of Alpha. After the holidays, we'll meet and go over everything that means. Congratulations."

Kitty and Rogue had tears of happiness running down their cheeks, while Bobby and Kyle were struggling to maintain their dignity. Jubilee just looked shocked and Piotr was as stoic as ever. They finally opened their packages, which contained their new X-Men uniforms. They all followed the same basic design, with slight differences where needed to allow for their mutations. Kyle's had the same kind of gloves and boots that Angela has and it was trimmed in a kind of bronze color. Piotr's had a vest instead of a full jacket and dark red trim. The rest only varied in color for the trim: ice blue for Bobby, lemon yellow for Jubilee, green for Rogue and pink for Kitty. I thought pink was a damn silly color for a superhero uniform, but I'm not the one who has to wear it.

Angela and I only managed to stick around to celebrate for a couple hours before she was too tired to go any longer. We said our goodnights and made our way to our room, where she stripped down and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. I sighed and climbed in next to her, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head. Sure, I was disappointed, but Hank had told me that this was common and not to worry. I didn't have the heart to tell him it didn't worry me in the slightest; it just left me frustrated.

I was awakened a few hours later when Angela kicked me in her sleep. Normally, something like that would have gone pretty much unnoticed, except that she had her claws out and raked them all the way down my shin. I was up and out of bed in a flash, claws popped, and I scanned the room for any sign of intruders. It only took me a second or two to determine we were still alone, so I retracted my claws and looked over to the bed. Angela was in the grip of one nasty nightmare by the look of it and I wondered if this is what it looked like when I was dreaming. Her breath came in harsh gasps and she lashed out over and over at something only she could see. I sat down next to her and shook her gently, saying her name, but she didn't wake up. She shouted, "They're coming!" and lashed out again, raking me across the chest. I cursed even as the wounds closed over and gave her a hard shake. "Angela! C'mon tiger, wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around for a second before collapsing into my arms. "For fuck's sake, this has got to stop!" She said with a shudder.

"What was it?" I whispered.

She shook her head. "I can't…Logan, I don't want to talk about it, not until I know more."

I clenched my jaw and resisted the urge to snap at her. She was keeping something from me and I didn't like it one bit. "Darlin', whatever it is, you can tell me. You know that."

"I don't want to upset you over something that might not even be real, ok? Just chalk it up to the weird dreams pregnant women have for now."

I was officially over this whole secrecy thing she had going. "Look, I don't care. Somethin's got you freaked, somethin' big an' you ain't helpin' anyone by keepin' it to yourself. So either tell me what it is or I'm sleepin' on the sofa in the study."

She pulled back and glared at me. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." I said, glaring back. "This is the first time ever that you kept somethin' from me and I'm a little pissed about it. No, I'm a lot pissed about it. Hell, even Chuck can't figure it out, which means you're blockin' it on purpose. I don't know why you'd wanna do that, unless it's somethin' you don't want anyone to know." I let her go and stood up. "I don't know what the fuckin' deal is, but if it's somethin' that's a danger to us, then we gotta right to know what it is."

She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, shivering. "If I tell you this, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else." She looked at me gravely. "Not even Charles."

"Darlin', I can't…" I began but she cut me off.

"I'm dead serious! I don't know enough to be sure that it even is a threat." I sighed and dry-washed my face. At that point, I'd take whatever I could get, so I nodded. She motioned for me to sit down again, then told me about the dream she'd had a couple weeks previous, when she remembered seeing the plans for mutant-killing robots called Sentinels. The original schematics were for these huge machines, three stories tall, equipped with all manner of weaponry and other means of disabling or killing our kind. She'd had Buzz looking for evidence that this Project Wideawake was well and truly dead, but he hadn't found anything yet. "And that's it. Nothing to prove it's alive, nothing to prove it's dead. But I keep dreaming about it and I'm sure it's just because I'm paranoid. I can't help it, Logan! What if someone still has the plans for those things and I bring this child into a world where it's only going to be hunted?"

I gathered her into my arms and smoothed her hair, trying my best to comfort her as much as I could. She'd never mentioned anything about these Sentinels to me, not even back in the Bad Old Days. Then again, she didn't speak Russian, so she'd had no idea if the project had gone beyond the planning stages in the first place. I felt her relax in my arms and I lowered her carefully, then stretched out beside her, trying not to think about everything she told me. I had no idea how I was going to keep this from the Professor. I knew he'd never read my mind without permission, but it was going to be hard not to think about this all the time and strong thoughts and emotions are harder for him to ignore.

I rolled over and slipped my arm around my woman, closing my eyes as I breathed in her scent. In a few short months, she would be bringing our child into the world and I wanted everything to be perfect for him or her. But it wouldn't be, not if there was even a chance that these Sentinels could still be in the works. I finally drifted back to sleep and my dreams were full of enormous robots that leveled everything in their path and ate children for fuel.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The New Year came and went and the students who'd gone home returned for the new school year. We'd worked out a new class schedule, including the newly elevated X-Men in the mix. Piotr and Bobby were now the permanent defense teachers for the younger kids, which made me happy as all hell. It's not that I don't like little kids, it's just that I don't have the temperament to handle them for more than about fifteen minutes at a stretch. But the two of them seemed to have infinite patience for the task and I gave up the under twelve crowd gladly. Rogue was now teaching American history from the Civil War to the present, which allowed Storm to focus on World history exclusively. Jubilee surprised us all by volunteering to teach chemistry of all things. She'd always complained that she hated the class, but I think that was mostly because Scott, then Hank, wouldn't let her blow things up on purpose. Hank was happy to give up teaching the subject, as it freed up time for him to spend on his various research projects. Kitty took over teaching computer science from Scott, which gave him time to focus on the classes he liked best, which were math and shop. Kyle rounded out the rest of the staff by taking over the American literature class from the Professor, who still taught physics, Classic literature and ethics, but didn't mind giving up one class to the new teacher. The school was starting to feel like a real school for a change.

A week after the start of the term, we announced the new Gamma team and explained the way the teams would work from now on. Gamma was the first step, the freshman X-Men class for lack of a better term. Anyone fourteen and older who wanted to be an X-Man would be allowed on Gamma team. Depending on their performance, behavior and skill level, they would be advanced to Delta team, then to Beta and eventually to Alpha if they continued to progress and still wanted to be X-Men by then. Angela or I and one other member of Alpha team would personally evaluate each student before they would be advanced to the next team. We told them nothing about the Omega team, since they would only need to know about it if one of them was needed for an Omega mission.

So, the Gamma team consisted of about a dozen students, including Warren, Remy and Sofia. We wanted to get at least four of them trained to advance to Delta team. We'd seen no reason to hold Delta back anymore, so we'd made them into the new Beta team. Except for Kyro and Chasca, they all had the same restrictions as the original Beta team. I had to keep a close eye on Jamie, since he'd taken to sending copies of himself to classes from time to time so he could slack off whenever he wanted to. It didn't matter to me that whatever the copies learned, he would retain as well. I expected the one, true Jamie in my classes and whenever I found out he'd sent a copy instead, he became my instant sparring partner. Many bruises later, he learned his lesson.

Naturally, Angela was a little irritated that Remy was even allowed on Gamma team. But she wasn't around in the defense classes anymore and since Hank had also restricted her from even watching the Danger Room sessions, she didn't see him in there. For all that he was still a great source of annoyance to most of the boys in school (especially Bobby), once a scenario started he was all business. Sure, he had a tendency to keep up a running commentary, but he managed to remain focused on the job at hand and his gift was one of the more useful ones I'd seen. Being able to charge anything he touched and throw it to blow things up was something I could see coming in handy. I really wanted to get some kind of weapon in his hands to see what he could do with it, but the whole blowing up thing was making it difficult to find something. Hank had a theory that something made out of adamantium would be able to withstand the kinetic energy output, but we didn't know where to get any. I decided to keep my eyes open if Buzz found us another base to destroy, just in case they had something lying around.

Near the end of January, Angela got a couple surprises. The first one had to do with the baby. By her reckoning, she was about fourteen weeks along and doing well. But one morning, as she was getting dressed for the day, she started cursing and struggling with her pants. Curious, I poked my head out of the bathroom. "Darlin'? Somethin' wrong?"

"Yes, something's wrong!" She snapped. "None of my pants fit!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Let me see."

"What? No!"

I walked over and looked her over carefully. "Tiger, I think you're startin' to show." I said, lightly stroking her belly.

"Already? I swear, I didn't start showing with Emma for another two or three weeks."

I took her hand and opened the closet, where she'd hung a mirror months before inside one of the doors. "I'm serious darlin'. Take a look." She sighed, but did as I asked. Sure enough, her stomach was extended just the tiniest bit, not quite enough to make it obvious she was pregnant, but definitely enough that she was going to have to rethink her wardrobe. She scowled at her reflection, while I just smiled like an idiot. She would say that it's "kinda creepy", but I'd known for a long time that the difference in her scent was because of the pregnancy. However, this was visual evidence, something I could see and I swelled with pride. "There he is, our little one."

"He could have waited." She replied sourly. "I haven't bought any new clothes."

"Oh, you'll use anythin' for an excuse to shop." I commented and she slapped me. "Don't worry about it right now. There's plenty of sweats around here ya know."

She sighed and grabbed a pair, pulling them on viciously. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

I chuckled and gave her a quick kiss, then let her finish getting herself put together. We'd decided it would be best if I did all the defense classes and Danger Room sessions while she was teaching strategy and tactics, so she wouldn't be tempted to try and disobey Hank's orders. I had Gamma team that day and I'd asked Sam to come and oversee the class with me to help me decide who was going to be advanced to Delta. I wasn't happy that it had remained dormant for this long and I wanted to get it active again as soon as I could. I hadn't said anything to anyone about the Sentinels, but they were always in the back of my mind and I would sleep a lot better knowing there was another full team ready in case we needed it.

So, for the next two hours, we ran them through everything they'd learned in defense over the past month, then activated a mid-level scenario for them to get through. Sam acted as the observer in the booth while I stayed in the room with them in case anything happened they couldn't handle. Of course, it was only set to level five, but they were still pretty new and there's always a chance that something could go wrong. By the time it was over, half of them had been disabled and of the rest, only four of them had performed to the level that I wanted to see in order to advance them. I ended the program and sent the rest to the showers while keeping the new Delta team behind.

I stood before them and considered each of them. Warren stood tall; he was in the best condition out of all of them since he'd been flying above the opposition and managed to avoid the worst of the assault while still managing to do some damage. Remy was also in pretty good condition, since he could blow things up from a pretty good distance. I'd had no idea a regular playing card could travel the distances he could fling them and he was damn good with them. Sofia was also in pretty good shape, although she'd taken a bit of flying shrapnel from one of Remy's explosions when she'd been a little slow reversing a dive. But she'd kept her head and managed to come out of it ok. Since her mutation gave her control over air movement, she'd also been able to toss small pieces of debris at the attackers, distracting them and giving other team members a chance to do some damage. The last one who made it through was Rahne Sinclair. She was a feral mutant, but her gift was closer to Kyro's than Angela's and mine. She could shift into a half-wolf form, but she also had a full wolf form as well. Unfortunately, she didn't get a healing factor along with the feral package, but in her shifted form she still had the heightened vision, hearing and smell that we had. It had taken her some time to get control of her feral instincts while in full wolf form, but her progress was promising and I thought the boost to Delta would do her some good. Sam had agreed and the new Delta team was born.

"Ok kids, I'm sure you're wonderin' why I held you back here." I said, hands on my hips.

"We're not all kids, you know." Warren pointed out. "Some of us are already old enough to be on the main team."

I glared at him. "It ain't a question of age, bub. It's all about what you know and how well you do in here that counts. And if I say you ain't ready, then you ain't ready, period. You want a shot at bein' an X-Man? You do it my way or get the hell outta here." He looked down and I continued. "Now, like I was sayin', I'm sure you wanna know what you're doin' here." They all nodded. "See, it's like this. Gamma team is just where ya start, where I see what ya got and if it's good enough to put you on a team. Well, from what me an' Atlas saw today, you four just might have what it takes, so we're takin' a chance on you. From now on, you're the Delta team." It took a second for it to sink in, but once it did they all let out a cheer and started to congratulate each other. I put up a hand to stop them. "Now, don't be too happy. This means ya have to take the strategy and tactics class now an' you get an extra defense class plus two extra Danger Room sessions a week, including one Saturday a month. If you don't pass strategy, you stay on Delta until you do. Same goes for defense. You'll be learnin' new things to do with your powers. It's a lot of hard work with not a lot of payoff. Delta team won't see a lot of action unless there's an extreme emergency. You prove yourselves, we'll put on Beta. Any questions?"

Sofia raised her hand. "Yeah. Why is there a Delta team if it never goes anywhere?"

"Darlin', who do you think we'll leave in charge around here if the rest of us hafta go somewhere? You'll be the ones we trust to keep everyone here safe, by any means necessary." I gave her a hard look. "And you know what I mean by that." She nodded. "If any of you have a problem with that, tell me now so I can call one of the other kids in here to take your place. Anyone that isn't prepared to do what it takes ain't got no place bein' an X-Man." No one said anything, but I could see they were considering my words carefully. Good. I had no use for anyone that couldn't handle extreme measures in extreme situations. I congratulated them myself and sent them on their way.

It wasn't until much later that night that Angela got her second surprise, but this one wasn't a good one. We were sleeping and she was quite peaceful for a change. Around three in the morning there was a soft knock at the door and we were both instantly awake. No one bothered us at night unless it was important and I cursed softly at the interruption. Angela motioned for me to stay in bed while she pulled on a pair of sweats and went to the door.

When she opened it, I saw Buzz standing there. "Hey Angela." He whispered. "Sorry to wake you, but I thought you'd want to know."

"What is it?" She asked, wrapping her arms around herself. "Something wrong?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. I found them."