The Siren's Cry Chapter 1

By BSPunk

Rated M for violence and explicit language

If you would like to add this story to your site, please ask me first.

Author's Note: This is my first X-men fan fiction so bare with me ladies and gentlemen.

Disclaimer: I do not own Logan or any of the other X-men characters. I only own Marissa, her family, and the plot line. Thank you for not suing.

Summary: Nine years ago in Manhattan, a young mutant child single-handedly decimated an entire city block and the families within it. They called her... The Siren.

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"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."

- Joseph Stalin

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Chance Encounters

-Present Day, Near the Canadian Border-

The stench of cigarettes and stale beer fogged the already polluted air, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. It was exactly the sort of place you'd find the man known as Wolverine -or Logan for those few who came to know him. He loved being in this environment, mainly because it had everything he needed, good beer and a bar fight or two. Something was off about this bar though (Chuck's or Charley's? He knew it was named after someone), but he couldn't place the oddity. That made him tense, he didn't like not knowing.

Sort of like how he didn't know why he had been here in the first place. One minute he was teaching Rouge, a fellow x-men and friend, how to fix a car, and the next he was being sent off on some sort of mystery mission to Canada by Xavier. Maybe it was the thick blanket of smoke that was clouding his mind, but things just weren't piecing together for him. What had really bothered him, was the last tidbit of information Xavier had given him. "You will know what to do when the time comes." What had he meant by that?

A squeaking of the old doors called for his attention, and he chanced a glance at the newest intruder. At first nothing seemed out of place, just another loner looking for a drink. He couldn't really tell if it was male of female, due to the multiple layers of clothing. As he was about to turn around he noticed their demeanor, eyes darting side to side, head held low as if to hide. There was a hat pulled low on their face, and a scarf pulled up over their nose. That bothered him, they looked too conspicuous to be a normal traveler.

Setting himself on full alert, he turned away from the stranger, senses keen to their every move. He couldn't really explain why he was acting the way he was, the boy? Or was it a girl? He couldn't tell for sure. Whatever it was though, they looked to be pretty small, nothing he couldn't handle. So then why did he suddenly feel so threatened by their presence?

He heard a bar stool squeak, no more than one or two chairs away from him and he looked over to see that it was the stranger that had taken residence so close to him. Half gloved fingers twiddled in front of them, and he watched as their eyes continued to shift back and forth.

After a few moments the bartender approached her, he was a rather large man, maybe in his late forties, he couldn't be sure. Becoming increasingly curious as to the identity of the enigma, he tuned his ears into their conversation.

"If ya ain't gonna buy anything I'm ask you to leave." The bartender looked suspicious as he spoke, and Logan half wondered if he was getting the same odd vibes off of the stranger.

The girl, as Logan had come to assume, didn't show any sign that she had heard him, simply staring at her twiddling thumbs. He saw the bartenders growing agitation, and watched as he motioned for one of the muscle-bound guards to come carry her out.

He guessed she understood the situation as well, seeing the slight narrowing of her partially hidden eyes. It suddenly felt as if someone had increased the gravity in the room ten-fold, and Logan found it hard to sit up straight. No one else seemed to notice this change, causing him to narrow his eyes in suspicion. The sudden pulse like waves that shook the ground only helped to confirm his suspicion. Mutant.

The guard stood no more than two feet from her and was slowly reaching a hand out to grab her, when she suddenly slipped off of the bar stool. Everything after that seemed to move in one large blur. The stranger had somehow reappeared with the bar stool in hand and had swung it into the guards chest, sending him soaring half way across the room. Somewhere in her movements the over-sized hat had fallen off, sending tendrils of long blond hair cascading around her like a curtain.

Logan's eyes widened immediately in surprise, so it was a girl. Something about her seemed strangely familiar though, something that was triggering red flags in his mind and caused his feral side to jump at it's cage. Trying to shake his head clear of cob webs, he refocused on the girl to see that she was surrounded by most of the bar, obscenities being shouted left and right. mutant. murderer. demon. The list continued.

He watched slightly for a moment as the conflict seemed to escalate, studying her very move, battling with his subconscious on whether or not he should help. As he continued to watch a small grin forced its way onto his lips, no matter how close the intimidating group grew, the lithe girl remained defiant. Logan couldn't help but notice the way she held her chin up or the way her frosted eyes glinted dangerously. After a few moments of silent tension the girl spoke up, her voice suddenly timid and shaking, showing signs of struggle. "Please... please leave me alone. I don't want to hurt you..."

She had only wanted to warm her frozen body in the quiet bar, her several layers of clothing doing nothing to fight the bitter frost outside. Maybe if she had apologized to the old man at the counter, given some sign that she had heard him, she would have been left alone. Instead she chose to remain quiet, paranoia overriding her common sense.

Now she stood, a broken stool gripped in her small fingers, and most of the bar surrounding her. Her hat and scarf had fallen earlier, ultimately destroying her cover. She could only hope that news had not reached Canada, that they hadn't recognized her. They called her a mutant, a demon... a murderer. Tears forced their way to the backs of her eyelids and she let the broken stool slide soundlessly from her numb fingers. They continued to shout at her, but she no longer heard their threats.

She just wanted to be left alone, why couldn't they leave her be? Her body continued to send waves of energy through the ground, in a vain attempt to control it. She couldn't lose control, no, not now. There were too many people, too many poor innocent lives. In an attempt to show control she lifted her chin, and tried to warn the people away by narrowing her eyes. No matter what she did though, the crowd refused to back away. Continuing to struggle for control she tried one last time to make them leave.

"Please... please leave me alone. I don't want to hurt you..." There was no use, even as the words left her lips she knew it was no good. They wouldn't listen to her. Her head dropped in defeat, causing her long hair to fall in front of her closing eyes. She heard, rather than saw, the beer bottle soar past her skull to shatter on the wall behind her, but she didn't flinch.

A half-gloved finger reached up to touch the heart shaped locket around her neck as she took a deep breath, her voice barely audible, even to herself. "Please forgive me... mother."

Suddenly she heard the scuff of boots directly in front of her, and her head snapped up only to meet a man's back. Frosted eyes widened as she tightened her grip on the locket. The waves of energy that had previously shook the bar quickly faded as she focused on him. Her mouth opened, as if to say something, but she was quickly cut off by his gruff voice. "Why don't you guys leave the little lady alone."

It wasn't a question as much as it was a command, and her brows furrowed in confusion. Why was he protecting her? He sounded American, surely he watched the news. Or read the newspaper, or even listened to the general panic of humans around him. As if hearing her internal fears the small television screen in the bar blared to life and a masked version of her picture appeared, along with the familiar bulletin.

"... this is the latest image captured of the mutant serial killer Marissa Letti Jupiter, more commonly known throughout Manhattan as The Siren. Estimated body count is said to be past fifty. Criminal is considered armed and dangerous, do not approach. If you have any information regarding The Siren, please contact the Manhattan police immediately...."

By time the broadcast was done, she was gone. The worn hat and scarf, the only evidence that she had ever been there in the first place.

She ran, ran as fast as her weary legs would carry her. She needed to get away, far away from the bar, from people in general. Marissa knew that she couldn't hide peacefully forever, knew that eventually the news would catch up with her. What she hadn't expected was that it would follow her all the way to Canada. That had been a surprise.

The broadcast from earlier continued to ring in her ears. fifty people dead? Is that what she was accused of now? The first forty were understandable, but where had the last ten come from? Was it that easy for them to place blame on an unstable mutant? Did that help them sleep easy at night? Tears burned at the backs of her eyelids.

It had seemed like hours before her legs gave out beneath her, sending her tumbling into the thick snow below. Everything seemed to come to a head at that moment, sending her into a fit of tears she hadn't even known she'd been fighting. Her body curled itself into a fetal position as tears continued to leak freely from her eyes. It was her fault, people always died when she was around. Sometimes she wondered why she continued to walk amongst the living. It's your punishment. Her subconscious was right, this was her punishment. To walk amongst the living with the constant reminder that she had ended lives, to live with the nightmares that shook her to the bone every night.

Marissa was so wrapped in her self misery that she almost didn't catch the sound of footfalls no more than a few feet away. Almost out of instinct her body began to send vibrations through the ground, her way of warning off intruders. When the foreboding presence refused to back down the vibrations increased.

After a few moments, the intruder still remained and she let out a slow sigh, tears still dripping silently down her face. "Jus' a matter of time I suppose..."

So that was it? Another mutant had come to take her away, to put her out of her misery. She slowly pulled herself to her feet and wiped her eyes. If they wanted her, they'd have to beat her. Just as she was about to look at her opponent he spoke up.

"I ain't here to haul you off... Jupiter." Her throat seemed to close at the sound of his voice, and her heart began to race in her chest. Confusion shining through her frosted eyes she looked up, only to be met with the face of the man from the bar. Finally finding her voice she spoke up, eyes narrowing defensively. "You... you're the guy from the bar. What do you want with me?"

He held his hands up slightly to show that he meant no harm, though she saw the cautious stance he had instinctively taken. "I jus' wanted to talk."

Her eyes narrowed even further, body moving into a defensive position out of instinct. "Talk about what? What is there that we could possibly talk about? Hmm? Were you not listening to the news?" The tears she had fought so hard to keep down forced their way back up to her eyelids, making her throat burn with strain. "... I'm a murderer..." The bitter frost she had long since forgotten about made its presence known once more, sending frozen wind and snow through her torn and faded clothing. Chills shook her entire body and she had almost lost her footing again, catching herself halfway.

For a while she heard nothing but silence, and a broken sigh escaped her lips. It was for the better that he left, one less person that could be hurt by her. She just had to keep reminding herself that she couldn't be around other people, it was safer that way, no matter how much she hated it. She would never be normal... could never be normal. Closing her eyes with a shiver she turned to walk away, only to be stopped in her tracks by a single question.

"You need a ride?"

A/N: And that's it for chapter one ladies and gentlemen. For those of you who have been waiting I hope I haven't disappointed you. Yes, I know the chapter is short, I'll make up for it in chapter two I promise! Comments and creative criticism is welcomed. Bashers, however, are not. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed!!