Special Notice: In response to one of my reviews, i would like to remind everyone that i update every three days unless the site is being evil and won't let me for some reason...i never even upload a single CHAPTER until the story is finished, so although it's technically complete, i'm a big meanie and i make you wait three days between chapters...:) Now, if i get a review from someone who's never reviewed before (hinthint), i'll reward that person by updating immediately...:) I now return you to your regularly scheduled story, already in progress...:)

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Interlude: Washington, D.C.

Senator Robert Kelly walked through the halls of the White House for his meeting with the new President. The man had been in office a little over three months now and had already managed to tear down all the bridges that had been built between normal humans and mutants, bridges the Senator had worked very hard to construct. While he'd been en route to Washington from his vacation home in Arizona, reports of some sort of attack in Des Moines, Iowa came over the news feed. Human nature being what it is, they were blaming the mutants. Unbeknownst to the public at large, the attack had been on a safe house FOR mutants, one of hundreds in the United States alone. The Senator knew all about these safe houses, but had been very careful not to leak that information to anyone who didn't need to know. In other words, anyone who wasn't a mutant.

The Senator arrived at the outer office that serves the famous Oval Office and was asked to wait a few minutes while the President finished another meeting. He excused himself to the men's room for a moment, needing to relieve himself before facing the leader of the western world. Once in there, he locked the door, took a deep breath and CHANGED. His immaculate navy blue suit, perfectly shined shoes and carefully cultivated appearance became that of a strikingly beautiful woman, her skin a remarkable shade of blue with blood red hair and glowing yellow eyes. Mystique took a moment to compose herself, her heart beating so hard in her chest it was almost painful. Deep down, what she really wanted to do was wrap her hands around the President's throat and squeeze the life out of him slowly. She wanted to put a gun to his head and force him to sign a suicide note begging forgiveness for his misguided attempts to eradicate mutants before she pulled the trigger. She wanted to kill him in any number of very colorful ways. But she wouldn't.

Erik needed information and the only person with that information was the President. She didn't have much time left, since it was a Senatorial election year and Senator Kelly had already announced that he was not going to seek to retain his seat in Congress. Mystique simply didn't have the energy to maintain the role anymore and continue as Magneto's most trusted lieutenant, especially now that there had been an outright attack against mutants. An attack that she knew the President was responsible for, she just didn't know how he'd managed to pull it off.

She took another deep breath and morphed back into the guise of the Senator, adjusted her tie and flushed the urinal. She washed her hands and left the men's room, plastering a smile on her face. A few moments later, she was ushered into the Oval Office.

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Chapter 14

(Logan)

I saw them again that night after I went to sleep. I still see them now, years later, almost every night, the old nightmares replaced with the new. But back then, the sight was still fresh in my mind and the only part that didn't bother me was that Angela hadn't been there. I know she's a strong woman and she's been the cause of plenty of bloodshed in her own right. But we'd never killed kids, never killed babies and never, NEVER killed anyone that wasn't part of the mission. At least, she hadn't. My own past wasn't as pretty but I didn't talk about those parts.

My memory continued to open up bit by bit, but with far better results than the initial burst. The further back they went, the easier they were to deal with. In some cases, I wasn't bothered by the things I did, such as during World War II when I'd gone on covert operations to take out Nazi supply lines. I had no problems at all taking out a few dozen Nazis in the bargain. In other cases, I was sickened by my own actions, during Vietnam for example, when there'd been a situation with an American soldier. In between the wars, there were other lives I'd lived, other people I'd been, other things I'd done. I'd been everything from a miner to a samurai, a loner, a husband and father. So many lives.

It's been said that history is broken up not by the times of peace, but the times of war. Just about every country on the planet has its own story of civil war and we even have two World Wars to look back on. And here I was, alive through many of them and still around to fight in a civil war on a worldwide scale, a war that would take so many people from us before it was over. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

The attack on the safe house in Des Moines made the news in record time. It had been initially blamed on mutants, go figure, until autopsy reports came back that the main target had been the safe house. There was a lot of speculation as to the purpose of this house full of mutants, most of them children, but since the computer in the house had been destroyed with no chance of recovery, no one ever knew the truth about it. Except, of course, for the X-Men and the underground. We mourned their passing, but we couldn't indulge ourselves for long. There was just too much work to do.

Late May brought us evenings where it was finally warm enough to return to the patio for our after-dinner brandy and cigar sessions. It also marked the home stretch for Angela's pregnancy. Hank and Dr. Owens took her off all active duty after she had the baby, which did nothing to improve her mood. After the Des Moines incident, she'd had a couple days of spotting and cramping which were attributed to stress, so she wasn't even allowed to man the security office anymore. Kyro took over the strategy and tactics classes, which left Angela with nothing to do. She hated every minute of it.

"Come on Hank! I feel fine!" She was arguing with Big Blue that she could still teach. "I haven't had one little spot in weeks and no cramps at all."

"My dear, I know that you're frustrated." Hank replied as he swirled his brandy. "But with everything that's going on, the last thing in the world that you need is more stress."

"It's just two classes a day! It's sitting there in front of a computer while the kids sit in front of their computers and work the scenario. Hell, it's hardly like working and I still can't believe Charles pays me to do it."

"You are not going to change my mind or that of Dr. Owens. You need to rest."

"I'm not going to. He's still content to play the drum solo from 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' on my bladder at all hours."

There were a few chuckles all around and I slipped my arm around her shoulders. "Tiger, you know you can't win an argument with Blue. You lost before you even started."

"Logan, I am bored to tears here! If I don't do something, I'm gonna go crazy."

"Isn't it a little too late for that?" Scott quipped and she shot a glare at him. "Look, I'm just saying."

"Since when do you play the insult game?" She asked him. "I thought we were supposed to pick on you."

"Yeah well, having Alex around gives everyone a much better target and he gives me someone to practice on."

What he said was true. I thought One-Eye was the biggest dick on the planet, until I met his brother. Sure, Scott was the very definition of uptight, but I've never known him to be mean. Alex Summers was a real piece of work and had a bit of a cruel streak in him. Not that I think he'd pull the wings off flies or anything, but he had this kind of arrogance about him that came out in the most unpleasant ways. I had no idea I could ever dislike anyone as much as I'd disliked Scott when I first came to the mansion. A month with Alex in the house and I was ready to try some first-rate homicide.

It all started with Angela and her temper. Alex, along with Sarah and Peter, had asked to join the team. When told they would start an evaluation period with Gamma team, Alex got pissed off and demanded to know why. After all, he was a former student and military trained besides, why should he have to put up with a bunch of kids? The Professor had smiled at him and said that he no longer made the decisions about the team, he'd long ago put that in the hands of those better suited to make them. Naturally, Alex had asked who those people were and immediately went searching for Angela and me. I had been in the middle of a Danger Room session with Delta at the time, so it was Angela he confronted.

He found her in the lounge with Rahne, helping her go over the latest strategy scenario Kyro had given them and trying to figure out where she went wrong. Alex didn't even try to be polite, he just demanded to speak to her alone. By the time Angela told me the story, she laughed through the whole thing, but I could see the whole thing as it must have happened…

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"Angela, I want to talk to you. Alone." Alex stood over her, glowering. She met his gaze impassively and they stared each other down for a moment.

"Rahne, I'll catch up to you later." She said, not breaking eye contact with Alex. "But the answer is right in front of you, you're just not looking in the right place."

"All right." Rahne replied as she hastily gathered up her papers and scurried from the room. Angela stood and crossed her arms over her chest, her mouth set in a tight line. After a tense moment, she jerked her head towards the patio doors and he broke eye contact first to make his way out there.

Once outside, she took the lead and noted with satisfaction that he fell in behind her with perfect military precision. She stopped when they got to the reflecting pool and turned to him. "What do you want, Summers?"

"I want to know why I have to start on Gamma with the babies when I have more training than anyone else here." He snapped, his eyes blazing.

"Oh, you think?" She replied, her temper beginning to flare. "And what, precisely, makes you believe that?"

"For starters, I was one of the first students here. I was fully X-Man trained when I decided to join the military. So now I also have six years of Air Force training."

Angela couldn't help it, she laughed in his face. "And you think that means you're better trained than anyone else here? Has no one told you what lives under this roof these days?"

Alex scoffed as he gestured dismissively. "Oh sure, you and Logan and that Japanese guy are all assassin trained or whatever. It's hardly the same thing."

"Hardly the same thing? Are you new? And Logan isn't just assassin trained, he was in the Canadian Special Forces before that and he's fought in almost every war since World War I." She uncrossed her arms and took a step forward. "Hell, I'm ready to drop a baby at any moment and I could take you without breaking a sweat."

"I'd like to see you try it."

She was sorely tempted, but knew in her heart of hearts that Hank would find out somehow and she'd spend the next ten weeks locked in an isolation room. She still made a great show of sliding her claws out and polishing them on her shirt. "Lucky for you, I enjoy my freedom much more than I would enjoy teaching you a lesson." She slid her claws back inside her fingertips and recrossed her arms. "Xavier gave control of training the teams over to me and Logan for a reason. We instituted the team structure the way it is for a reason."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm talking to it."

His face reddened and he grabbed her arm. "Now look here!" He started, but that was as far as he got before Angela grabbed his wrist, claws out and twisted with a grace that her swollen belly didn't seem to allow for, bringing the younger Summers to his knees with his arm wrenched painfully behind him.

"Lesson the first. Never touch me without permission. You Summers men have a huge problem with that. Let's hope you learn faster than your brother did." She gave his arm another shove and he winced in pain. "Lesson the second, never assume your opponent is helpless when she's a pregnant woman. There is a reason I'm called 'Hellcat'." She pushed him face down on the ground and stepped back. "Last, but not least, lesson the third. You want to make the team? Then remember that there's only room in the classroom for one attitude. Right now, it's mine. Other classes, it's Logan's. Gods forbid you ever piss him off, I can't guarantee you'd survive the experience with all of your limbs intact."

Alex lay there for a moment to catch his breath before levering himself back to his feet. "I've never seen anyone move that fast." He said in open admiration, rubbing his wrist.

Angela rolled her eyes. "Look, bullying doesn't work on me and charm even less so. Just ask Remy. You want to be an X-Man, you start on Gamma or you go start your own superhero squad. We don't have time for your arrogance around here. Some of those so-called 'kids' you don't want to train with could probably kick your ass fifteen ways from Friday with one hand tied behind their backs. Starting on Gamma makes you all equal. If that's not good enough for you, that's your problem not mine."

"So how long would I be stuck on Gamma, anyway?"

She smiled cheerlessly. "When you prove to us that you're worth the effort." Without waiting for a reply, she turned her back and walked back to the mansion. "There was no part of that that wasn't fun." She said aloud to herself.

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So the "merry month of May" was anything but for me. Sarah and Peter were fine with the situation; they were the "new kids", so to speak and they understood the need to be evaluated before they could be advanced. Summers on the other hand tried my patience at every turn and that's saying something. I know I have a reputation for being impulsive with a hair-trigger temper, but that's only partially true. What most people don't realize is how much waiting goes into being a covert operative, so my patience is actually pretty infinite. Just because I normally choose not to exercise it is another story. The temper part's fair.

Finally, near the end of May, I pulled him aside after a particularly brutal Danger Room session. "Summers, we need to talk."

"About what?" He snapped, clearly annoyed.

"About your performance in there, that's what." He crossed his arms and glared at me, which I returned only with more style. "Dahell did you call that today?"

"Danger Room session with Gamma team, why?"

I gritted my teeth. "You're on pretty thin ice here, bub. I suggest you stop tryin' my patience and listen for a change."

He sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine. What?"

"C'mon, I got somethin' to show you." I led him up to the observation booth where Jubilee was already calling up the video captures from the last six sessions. I motioned for him to take a seat before taking one of my own. Jubilee started the first one and we settled in to watch. In each session, strictly against the orders of the mission commander, Summers put himself in direct confrontation with the main enemy. Two of those sessions were supposed to be strictly covert retrievals, two were heavy combat and two were defensive exercises. Now, I'm the first one to tell someone that the best defense is a good offense, but that's the kind of lessons we save for the more advanced teams.

Another thing we saved was when to disobey an order. Gamma team needed to learn to work as a team before any of them would be advanced and that was where Summers was really fucking it up. In that last session, which was a combat scenario against Magneto and his crew, he'd blatantly disobeyed the order to hold the line given by the commander for the day, which had been Peter. Instead, he'd tried to rush the old man and gotten himself wrapped up in the remains of a Buick for his trouble, knocked out cold. When the scenario was over, he was fine but the rest of the team had suffered for the loss of his powers. Had he done what he was told, there would have been fewer injuries all around. It was an ongoing theme with him, as though showing that kind of initiative would impress me. What he wasn't getting was the part where it's one thing to break ranks to save a life. It's something else to go against the parameters of the mission because you think you deserve better than you're getting. At the rate he was going, he'd be lucky if I let him clean the bathrooms, much less join the team.

Once the last video was over and the lights came back up, he turned to me with a scowl. "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is your attitude." I said, popping a cigar in my mouth and chewing on it. "Now Jubilee here'll tell you how well I like followin' orders. But these lessons ain't just for you, bub, they're for the whole team. An' right now, you're teachin' those younger ones some very bad habits that'll take me months to break."

"Look, just because I don't want to sit around and wait for things to play out in there doesn't mean I'm not serious about being on the team!" He exclaimed. "It's not like it's real anyway."

"An' that would be the other problem." I replied. "We make everyone train in there, Alpha all the way down to the youngest kid in basic defense an' we do it for a reason." I took my cigar out of my mouth and gestured out the window with it. "In there, we can fuck you up in a million different ways an' it ain't permanent. You try that shit you pulled today with Mags right in front of you an' you won't live to regret the decision."

He snorted. "You sound like you're afraid of the guy. He's what, half your age?"

I growled and popped my claws about an inch from his face. "I got this shit all through me, pal. Angela and Kyro got it too. We get within half a mile of Magneto an' we're his bitches an' that ain't somethin' I like to admit. But at least I recognize that an' try not to get too close to the asshole. He's more powerful than you know."

He at least had the courtesy to look ashamed. "I've already been through full X-Men training, Wolverine." He made my name sound like a curse. "I don't see where you've got anything to teach me that I don't already know."

"You don't join the military an' start at the top, Havok. In case you haven't noticed, there's a full on war startin' out there. We ain't just trainin' X-Men anymore. We're trainin' an army. The sooner you figure that out, the sooner you'll advance." Without waiting for his answer, I stuck the cigar back between my teeth and stalked out of the booth. I heard him follow a few seconds later, but I chose not to hold the elevator for him. Let him hoof it up the stairs if he wanted to confront me so badly. When the elevator opened on the main floor, I headed straight for the patio doors. A couple kids had looks like they wanted to talk to me, but thought better of it when I shot a scowl their way. Unfortunately, that look doesn't work on everyone.

"Logan, wait up!" I heard One-Eye shout behind me. I didn't bother to wait for him, which forced him to jog to catch up to me. I stopped by the reflecting pool and finally lit my smoke. He came up beside me a few seconds later and made a face when I exhaled a huge cloud of smoke in his general direction. "Has anyone ever told you that smoking is a disgusting habit?"

"No one who's survived the attempt." I said. "Whattaya want Cyke?"

He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Just wanted to know how it's going with Gamma team."

"The whole team or just your asshole brother?" I replied and he actually smiled.

"You noticed that huh? Or does it just take one to know one?"

"Don't push it, I ain't in the mood." I took another deep drag off my cigar. "Have you ever had Hank check you guys for extra chromosomes that control annoying behavior?"

"Very funny." He said dryly. "Believe it or not, I got all the charm in the family."

"You're right, I don't believe it." I flicked the ash off my cigar and watched it swirl away on the breeze. "I honestly never thought I'd find anyone that irritated me more'n you do. I shoulda reserved judgment a little longer."

"Little brothers seem to have that effect on people." He sighed and turned away. "It's almost funny, really. I was thrilled when the Professor found me in the boy's home back in Nebraska. I'd lost my whole family and had this freaky thing happening every time I opened my eyes, but he came along and showed me I wasn't the only person with powers. I didn't think anything could make me happier." He swallowed hard and I wondered why he was telling me all of this. I knew a little about all of this, but I'd never really cared enough to get details. After about a minute, he went on. "A couple months later, the Professor says he has good news, he found my brother and that became the happiest day of my life. Until he showed up here."

"Not the brother you remembered?"

"Not even close. It's like I had this idea in my head, this picture of who he was and how he'd turned out. The reality was a lot different. It was like his mutation manifested and he became this arrogant prick who thought he was better than everyone. I kept wondering what happened to that little kid who was always following me around and trying to be just like me, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean, only I was the little brother." I actually did know. I'd had a brother once, over a hundred years ago. I was really young when he died, but I could remember following him around and wanting to be just like him. It wasn't until years later when Thomas Logan broke into my house to kidnap my mother that I knew how accurate that was. I'll never know the whole story about my brother, but I could hear my mother screaming "No, not you too!" like she was standing in front of me. Years later, Rose told me about the scars she'd seen on my mother's side one day and it didn't take a genius to figure out that I was exactly like him, except I was alive and he wasn't. At least I know his blood isn't on my hands.

He shook his head. "Alex made such a pain of himself around here that there weren't that many people who were sorry to see him go. I'd hoped that military life would straighten him out some, where he'd just be another face in the mass." He chuckled bitterly and looked over to me. "Looks like it didn't work. He's a bigger asshole than you."

"An' that's sayin' somethin'." I took another long puff on my cigar. "Look, Cyke. I know we ain't exactly what you'd call friends but…well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I was a dick. You got enough of that with little bro here." I looked at him sideways and smirked. "He's a bigger asshole than you."

"And that's saying something." He replied with a smile, then turned and held out his hand. "Truce?"

I paused a moment before taking his hand and shaking it. "Truce. Can't promise I ain't gonna keep ribbin' you. Old habits die hard."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't expect anything less." We stood there for a few more minutes and I finished my smoke. "You still didn't answer my question." I raised an eyebrow. "About Gamma team?"

"You're right, I didn't." I said then turned and walked back into the mansion. I wasn't sure what had happened there, but I was glad the battle between Scott and I was finally over. There was still a much bigger battle ahead of us and I knew it would require all of our attention if we were all going to make it through.

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A couple days later, Angela and I were going over the video captures of Gamma team's last Danger Room Session. I don't know if it was something I said or someone else, but Alex finally managed to make it through a whole session without going off half-cocked and getting the whole team in a mess. It wasn't enough to advance him to Delta, but it was a start.

"Huh." She said at the end of the video. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say do a DNA screen on him to make sure that was really Alex."

"I know." I replied, switching off the computer. "Surprised the livin' hell outta me an' I was right there for the whole thing."

"Maybe he'll make an X-Man yet." She said, then winced a little. She was about thirty weeks along and couldn't find a comfortable way to sit, stand or even sleep half the time. I wished there was something I could do for her, but she always pointed out that I had done "quite enough already, thanks" with a glance to her expanding stomach. After fidgeting for a minute, she sighed and settled back into the chair. "Of course, he'll have to wait until after summer break."

"Officially, yes. Unofficially?" I stood up and crossed to the window overlooking the Danger Room. "I got a bad feelin' that somethin's comin' that we ain't even considered. I've thought about this a lot an' if it comes to it, full X-Man or no, we'll need every trained body we can get, includin' Alex."

She shifted in her seat again. "You know I don't like that." She made another face then glanced at her watch. "And the rest of Gamma will scream that it's not fair."

"I don't like it either, darlin', but we might not have much choice. Besides," I knelt in front of her and put my hand over our baby, "this here is the first X-Baby. Ain't a person in this whole house that's not willin' to do what's right to keep him safe."

"X-Baby. I like it." She smiled and placed her hand over mine. "It sucks as a name, but it's cute."

I smiled and leaned over to kiss her hand. "How's he doin'?"

"He's fine. Keeps moving around and kicking me in the ribs, but I'll survive."

"Good." I slipped my arms around her and kissed her soundly, my hand sliding upward and burying itself in her hair. She moaned in the back of her throat and pulled me closer, her scent telling me what was on her mind. I answered with a growl deep in my chest and started working her shirt over her head. I'd just about gotten it off of her when there was a knock at the door.

"No fucking way!" She whimpered.

"Tell me about it tiger." I rumbled, looked down and took a deep breath to compose myself before calling out. "Who is it?" I snapped.

"It's Kitty. Can I come in?"

I bit back a curse then looked up at Angela. Her eyes promised me we would finish this later, so I sat back down in the chair I'd been using before, rolling it so I was sitting right at the desk. No need to advertise what was going on in here, after all. As soon as Angela had herself back in order, I called out to Kitty to come in.

She phased right through the door, not bothering to unlock it. For a young thing, she's pretty observant and she smirked at the both of us. "Um, the door was locked, so…"

"Yeah, well, we're workin' in here.'

"Mm-hmm." Her smirk widened to a grin and I scowled at her. "Working. I get it."

I sighed and Angela stifled a giggle. "Whatcha need?"

"It's four o'clock. Alpha has Danger Room now."

I cursed under my breath. "Right. Gimme ten minutes."

"Sure thing boss." She gave me a mock salute and phased back through the door.

Angela finally let the giggles get the better of her. "That was smooth lover, really."

"Woman, how many times do I have to tell you that you're not funny?" I growled even as I smiled at her.

"About as many times as I'll remind you that I'm a riot." She levered herself out of the chair and gave me another passionate kiss. "I'll see you later." She purred.

It should go without saying that Alpha finished Danger Room in record time that day.

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AN: Hey everyone...i find myself at a loss for words today, so i'll just get to the thanking portion...:) Special thanks to the beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel...Extra Special thanks to DBK(tm) AND Turiel for assuring me that a pure humor chapter in the NEXT story isn't too over the top (hehehehe...you all have to wait!)...Super Special thanks to my readers for, well, reading...:) And Super Special Swanky thanks to the reviewers, who were sela103, reeltreble1031 and Mary Sue's Assassin...sela, thanks for the compliment, but Zac (who is also my fiancee) says to be careful what you say, you'll give me an overinflated ego...:) reeltreble, try not to mangle your chair too much...you'll need those armrests later, i promise...:) And MSA, thanks for taking me out of your crosshairs...when i say that patience is a virture when it comes to some of my plot points, i mean it...and it's not like Angela didn't tell you she wasn't psychic all along...:) And even though it'll be a while before she gets this far, i'd also like to mention ButNothing, who just reviewed chapter 5 of "Devil Inside"...hurry up and get with the program...:)

Now for those who haven't reviewed, please do so...even if it's just to say hello! After all, there's an update on demand if you do!