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Chapter 3

(Angela)

Logan and Kyro returned from Germany in just under twenty-four hours. Evie was already asleep when they got back, so Logan was able to give me a breakdown of the mission right away. The files and disks they found were taken immediately to Buzz and Sage, who would pick them over for any details that might lead us to the ever-enigmatic "Director". It frustrated us all that he was never given any other name or title, since it was now painfully obvious that he was the real mastermind behind Weapon X. None of the information we'd found so far gave any indication to where he made his main base of operations, so we just had to hope that we'd be able to take him out by chance.

Weeks passed, students came and went and we were still no closer to an answer about him. Kyle and Jubilee both went off to college, the latter of which depressed Buzz to no end. Teams changed, people advanced and life returned to what passed as normal around the mansion. I taught strategy with Logan, we both taught defense and did Danger Room with the teams. Evie got cuter and wrapped Logan around her little finger just a bit tighter. Life was pretty good, our personal mission notwithstanding.

It was because of that mission that I found myself in a heated argument with Sarah, of all people. As someone who was former military, she felt a certain kinship with those still in the service and thought that what Logan, Kyro and I were doing was plain wrong. Naturally, I had other ideas. So it was after a particularly bloody Danger Room session that I found myself toe-to-toe with her.

"Look, I just think that you should give some of those soldiers the benefit of the doubt!" She shouted.

"Sorry lady, but anyone who's pointing an automatic weapon in my face doesn't get the benefit of ANY doubt." I replied, barely keeping my anger in check. "And before you get all high and mighty about men and women who are just following orders, remember what they did to us."

"But they are just following orders! Most of them probably don't have a clue about what goes on in the labs!"

"That's NOT an excuse!" I finally lost my hold on my temper and my claws slid out involuntarily, my vision coming over in that familiar scarlet haze. "Anyone and I mean ANYONE, who follows an order that includes the torture and mutilation of another person is as guilty as the guy with the knife."

"You should know as well as I do that the lower you get on the ladder, the less likely it is that someone knows exactly what's going on!" Her hair was starting to move around like a living thing, writhing about in a manner that was most disturbing to see. "You have innocent blood on your hands."

"What else is new? I'm a fucking ASSASSIN, in case you've forgotten! I've killed people for far less reason than the people I'm killing now!"

"Most of the people you're killing now weren't even there when they did what they did to you! But you just go in and take out everything that moves, no concern for their personal involvement, you just send them all to hell."

I narrowed my eyes. "You wanna know about hell? The one Logan and Kyro and I went through? I'll show you hell." I raised my right hand and slashed my left arm open to the bone. Blood sprayed Sarah's face and she flinched, her hair springing out in all directions. I hissed as I pulled my own flesh apart to show her the gleaming silvery color of the adamantium inside me. "THIS is hell, Sarah. They cut me open and killed me over half a dozen times to do THIS to me. They did it to Logan, they did it to Kyro and that woman we found a couple years ago proves they're STILL doing it." I tore off my tank top and wrapped it around my injured arm. "Don't talk to me about hell, sister. I've been there."

I turned and stalked out of the Danger Room to make my way to the infirmary, clad only in my cargo pants and sports bra. Hank was spitting mad at me for what I'd done and lectured me as he wrapped up my arm. I just sat there, gritting my teeth and said nothing to deny his words. He was right, I knew he was right, but I was sick to death of defending my actions to people who didn't know anything. Hank finished with my arm and I got up to leave, but he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder to stop me. "I want you to stay here until that's healed." He said firmly.

"I can't, I have strategy in ten minutes." I replied, much shorter with him than I'd intended.

"Let Logan teach it today. There are a few things I would like to discuss with you."

"Oh crap, Blue. I'm not pregnant again, am I?"

He chuckled. "No, you're not, I assure you." I breathed a sigh of relief. I love kids and I wanted to have more with Logan…eventually. Hank smiled at me and patted my shoulder. "Come with me to my office, please?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, whatever. Let me call Logan and tell him I won't be there today."

He went to his office and I met him there after I got off the phone. Hank's office was decorated in what I always thought of as "controlled chaos". A pair of fairly comfortable modern-style armchairs sat in front of a huge desk, which was piled with files, papers and other miscellany, but he could always put his hands on exactly the thing he needed when he needed it. He motioned for me to sit down before taking the chair next to me and offering me a cup of tea. I declined, having never been much of a tea fan in the first place, except when I was pregnant and only because coffee wasn't allowed.

Once he was settled in with his own cup, he peered at me over the rim of his glasses. "Angela, why did you do that to yourself?"

Oh, so that's what this was about. "Blue, I don't need psychoanalyzed if that's what you're thinking. I didn't do it for the sake of cutting myself open. Some people just need to see the horror with their own eyes before it's real to them."

"You slashed your own arm open to the bone. You could have bled out before you got here."

"I know exactly how much injury I can take before it'll kill me, doc. I was fine, I am fine. This'll be gone in a couple hours and it won't even leave a scar."

"I'm just concerned for you, that's all. With this vendetta you have going, I've noticed that you've been taking a lot of risks. And I'm not the only one."

I felt my temper rising again. "Oh yeah? And just what business is it of anyone's except me, Logan and Kyro?"

He set down his teacup and took my hand in his huge furry one. "We're your friends, Angela. We're concerned about you, that's all. Perhaps you should put aside your revenge, just for a little while."

I snatched my hand away from his as I sprang from the chair. "Put it aside? What, you guys think I'm doing this as a way to kill myself once and for all?" I tore off the bandage he'd so carefully applied just a little while before. The bleeding had already stopped and I could feel the burning sensation of my flesh knitting itself back together. I held my arms out, right under Hank's nose. "Can you see the scars where I tried that, Hank? Or the ones on my head?" I lifted my chin, exposing my throat. "How 'bout this one? Huh? Nineteen thirty-seven, Hank, I was living in New York City and I'd just lost a good man because he saw my claws and called me a freak, left so fast he didn't even pack. Kitchen knife, right across my throat, so deep I couldn't even moan. Nineteen forty-nine, everyone I knew had a man overseas but did mine come home? Nothing like a nice hot bath and a razor to the wrists to do the trick, let me tell you."

Hank reached out to stop me. "Angela, please. You don't have to prove anything to me."

"YES I DO!" I shouted. "Nineteen sixty-three and I'd just come back to the States from Canada for the second time. Vietnam claimed over four million lives and my lover was among them. Single gunshot to the temple and the first time I had to sneak out of a morgue. Nineteen eighty-one and I was just tired of living. I was seventy-six years old and didn't look a day over thirty. I was sick of moving every five or ten years just to keep my friends from figuring out what I was, sick of losing friends if they did find out. Hell, Detroit was the longest I'd stayed anywhere in almost thirty years and even that was almost over. And do you think it's just me? I know Logan's tried too, tried to just put an end to it.

"You don't know what it's like, Hank, watching people you love get old, get sick and die, knowing that it'll probably never happen to me. I've seen the worst that people can do to each other and I've had it done to me." I sat back down and sighed, my anger spent for the moment. "I can't stop, not as long as they're still out there. I don't have a death wish, I got over that a long time ago. But no one should have to live through what we lived through and I am going to make damn sure it never happens again, no matter what it takes."

"I just…Angela, I'm worried that you're going too far, that's all." Hank said, taking my hand again. "You're not immortal or invincible, you can be killed permanently. Don't you think those people know how to do it?"

"I'm sure they do. But they'll never get the chance to find out." I stood up and replaced the bandage on my arm as well as I could. "I'm going to kill them all, Hank, all the way to the top if that's what it takes. Weapon X will die or I will die trying. Either way, it'll be over end of story." He opened his mouth to speak again, but I turned my back and left the office. Strategy class was still going on, but I didn't feel much like teaching the last half. Instead, I made my way to the rose garden, which was just coming into bloom in the cool spring air. I sat down heavily on a bench and just stared at the bushes in front of me, trying not to think. I'd finally succeeded when I caught the faint whirring sound of Charles' wheelchair. I closed my eyes, hoping he'd think I was dozing and move along, but I know better than to fool a telepath. He stopped in front of me and waited. After a few minutes, I sighed and opened my eyes. "Not you too, Charles."

"No, not me too." He replied with a smile. "Hank means well, but I can understand his concern."

"Well, it's totally misplaced."

"Is it?" His expression was mild when I met his eyes. "He's your friend. For that matter, so am I. This place needs you, all three of you. I wouldn't have asked you to stay otherwise."

I sighed again and ran my fingers through my hair. "I know, Charles, I really do. But this is something we have to do, don't you get that? We already know that Evie is positive for the X gene. What if she turns out just like us? What if they find out about her somehow and come for her? Shit, I worry about Kyle every day, out there at USC all alone. What if they find out about him? It's not all about vengeance, Charles. It's about protecting people we love." I shook my head slowly. "I'm not gonna stop this, I have to do this."

"I'm not asking you to stop. I simply want to make certain you don't become a victim all over again, only permanently."

I smiled. "I won't, Charles, I promise. No matter what happens, I'll always come back here." He returned my smile and we sat there in comfortable silence until the sounds of children released from their classes began to fill the air. I stood up and the two of us went back towards the mansion, a little more understanding between us. I knew he still didn't agree with what I was doing, but I hoped he understood why.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day, we had a going away party for Piotr and Kitty. They'd both been accepted to Cornell and were already packed and ready to go that weekend. We didn't want them to leave, they'd both become valuable members of the team, but they had to be free to live their lives any way they wanted and if the Ivy League was where they wanted to go, the least we could do was send them off right.

Of course, they made us promise that if they were ever needed for a mission that all we had to do was call. We promised them we would, but deep down I knew we wouldn't, as long as they had school to focus on. Over the summer, sure, but not until then. So, we celebrated until the wee hours of the morning and I watched as two more of my students went out into the real world for the first time since they'd arrived at the mansion, two more people to worry about.

That was the thought weighing heavily on my mind as I slipped into bed after checking on Evie. I snuggled into Logan's chest with a sigh and he wrapped his arms round me. "Somethin' on your mind, darlin'?"

"Yeah. I can't help but worry about our kids, going out there all alone."

"They ain't all alone. An' it's not like they'll forget everythin' we've taught them here. They'll be fine."

"I wish I had your confidence. They all still seem like children to me."

He chuckled. "A few years ago, you argued with Cyke that they were old enough to vote, so they were old enough to train. You changin' your mind?"

I slapped him playfully and looked up at him with a smile. "No, I'm not. But I hadn't invested any time in them back then. Now? I look at them and I see Evie all grown up and leaving for college. Just feels like time is getting away from me and there's so much left to do."

"I know, tiger. But we do our best here to make them ready for the world."

"I just wish we didn't have to. I wish that I could wake up tomorrow and have the world just accept us all. I wish I didn't have to train them to fight and strategize and kill. I wish…"

"Shh, darlin', I know how ya feel. Wishin' ain't gonna make the world a better place. That's what we're for."

"Logan, do you ever think that maybe we're going too far, with the Weapon X thing?"

He sat up and frowned at me. "Whattaya mean?"

"Hank thinks we're going too far with it, that we should stop."

"Do you agree?"

I shook my head, my eyes hardening. "No, never. Not until we've gotten them all."

"Then who gives a fuck what Hank thinks? We swore a long time ago that we'd kill 'em all an' I ain't one to go back on my word."

I nodded and cuddled back up to him, my head resting on his shoulder. I didn't want to give up our path of revenge, there was too much at stake to discard it so easily. I wasn't just thinking of our daughter, but everyone in the mansion, every mutant in the world. As long as Weapon X lived in even a single person, no one was safe.

AN: I know, kinda short-ish...sorry...:) Special thanks to my beta readers, Zac and Turiel Tincdaniel, for being so wonderfully supportive...Extra Special thanks to DBK(TM) for his neverending begging for new chapters...Super special thanks to the readers, just for reading...and Super Swanky Special thanks to the reviewers, who were the aforementioned taigh01, sela103 and levanna...:) taigh01 - thanks for taking the plunge! Hope you've been having fun! sela - glad you liked it! levanna - Well, what can i say? As i said at the very beginning, every character in my stories has a tendency to grow and that includes Logan...however, i can say that even in canon, he's always had a soft spot for the ladies...:)

Now for all of you readers who haven't reviewed, please give it a try! As you can see, i'll keep my word and make sure you get a new chapter...:) What are you waiting for?