Chapter Four - The Once and Future Queen
Her powers certainly would have killed them, and were it not for Hank's reflexes that pulled the car to a stop, they would have crashed in the open road. A large semi blared its horn as it hurtled past them.
Manipulating the metal buckles, Erik lashed her down firmly with the car's seatbelts. It wasn't tight as to hurt her, but it was enough to just restrain her to be able to focus and calm down.
Logan and Erik immediately begun to pacify her, and while she didn't recognise Logan's hushing (which if he were honest, stung quite a bit), she visibly relaxed when she identified Erik who held her shoulders. "Calm yourself, little one." Erik murmured.
At once, the power that surrounded her receded, seeming to dissipate in the very air around them. "Prisoner One?" she said.
"Erik," he provided. "We're outside. They're gone."
"How?" she asked, her voice small.
"Zoe." another man said, calling her attention. He was seated in front of her, his sideburns dark and scratchy looking.
"You know my name?" her brows bunched together, to her right and left, Erik and Peter were also intrigued. Peter, on her left tried to give a wide berth between them.
The man took a deep breath, "Zoe Kinney. My name is Logan. These are my friends, Hank, Charles, Peter and Erik. You don't know me right now, but trust me when I say you're safe."
"Why would I trust you?"
"Because we're friends, or...we will be." He felt Erik's eyes bore into him, "Point is, you're one of us and we're not here to hurt you, okay?"
The girl eyed him skeptically, her lip curling.
"You were born July 28, 1958 in Stanford, California. Your earliest childhood memory was of your dog, Buster; when your dad was still alive, he would read you T.H. White, he and your mom would dance with you, playing Louis Armstrong all day. I'm not another government spook." he enunciated. The girl was rendered speechless, her eyes becoming wide, "Believe me, they...they can't hurt you anymore. You're safe now..."
The young girl had tears in her eyes, her head bobbing up and down numbly in acknowledgement. She didn't understand how he could possibly know all those things about her, she barely knew half of it herself, but Zoe could tell that he wasn't lying.
"Okay." She swallowed. Beside her, Prisoner One unwound her binds without lifting a finger.
It was the first time she's seen the sun in years. Her last memory of the outside world was watching men with guns kill her mother and steal her away. All at once she felt a surging feeling of relief, guilt and anxiety. Relief, to escape from her prison, her captors and the scientists who tried to understand what she was; guilty for being the reason her mother was dead; and anxious of her new predicament.
Zoe jumped when Hank started the car once more but forced her breathing to slow. She was still understandably quite tense during their trip, though she soon began to be engaged with her surroundings.
"Where are we?" she asks Erik to her right.
"Washington."
The girl looked down at her hands, she was slightly embarrassed for lashing out. They didn't even seem to be freaked out by her mutant abilities, just more or less preoccupied with something. Exactly what, she didn't know, but it appeared to be important.
They were mostly quiet for the rest of the ride, Erik and Charles seemed perfectly content in ignoring each other and Hank had turned on the radio.
The girl turned to face a boy who looked close to her age, he had been staring for the past two minutes. "Do I have something on my face?"
"You're hot." He blurted, then froze. Panic sinking in his eyes as he cleared his throat, "I mean, you, you must be hot. Lemme-uh, I'mma crack open this window right here for you." he said, turning red from his neck to the roots of his silver locks. To her other side, Prisoner One groaned.
It was her turn to stare at the silver haired teen as he cranked the window open and turned his face away towards the scenery, puffing his cheeks out when he blew his breath."So you're uh, freckles...you have them. They're nice." He said casually.
He was relieved when she found her voice. "Um, thanks." Zoe acknowledged, smiling bashfully, her eyes turning downwards, "Your hair's pretty cool."
"Glad you think so...otherwise I would have had to shave it all off if a pretty girl like you called me out on it." Maximoff said as he faked arrogance. His finger scratching along the vinyl of his seat.
The 'pretty girl' giggled quietly before catching herself. She bit her lip and rolled her eyes, intent on focusing on the road ahead.
"I'm Peter."
"Zoe."
Unbeknown to them, The Wolverine was smiling to himself about the exchange. It was a whole lot cheesy, the kids were such saps that way. But he had to hand it to the boy, she warmed up to him quite fast. He didn't know if he should have felt relieved or concerned.
They had already changed so many things. What would happen now that Zoe and Peter were forced to meet about thirty years too soon? What about him? What would happen to him now that he wouldn't have Zoe with him in Stryker's lab? They wouldn't have the same memories together, perhaps they would never be friends. Logan wasn't prepared to lose one of the people he was most closest to… I can't be selfish. Change the past, live the better future. It was for the better, he thought. For the better.
It was the first time Zoe and Logan had been alone since Peter came into Xavier's.
They were walking the grounds, a casual stroll. Zoe said the air was good for him. "Saves you having to give the kids cancer from your second-hand smoke." she mentioned.
They were quiet for the first minute or so, happy enough just to feel the summer breeze wafting into Westchester. Distantly, they heard the kids running around on the lawn, water guns in hand. A kid named Billy was pushed into the fountain by two of his buddies, they were laughing without a care in the world. Just like they should.
Logan was lighting another cigar. "You trust him?" he asks.
She didn't need to question whom it was that Logan referred to, she knew. "I do. I trust Peter." She walked like she always did, with her hands held behind her back.
"Sure? It's not just us anymore, Zo. There's the kids, our kids, our school."
"I know. Believe me, I do. Peter is good, Logan."
Logan gave her a skeptical look, "Why? After everything his dear ol' dad did, he could be just like him."
Zoe had a sad smile on her lips, "If we were gonna be judged by the sins of our fathers...our grandfathers, then you'll have a lot more people than Peter to worry about. No one would be innocent by birth alone."
"But how do you know?" Zoe couldn't blame Logan, they had been fighting Magneto on and off for so long, they never knew where he truly allied himself.
"Because," she says, a sweet smile on her face, "Because I can see myself in him...We were both under someone else's control for more years than we had to ourselves, but it doesn't stop him from trying to live the life he deserves. And when he looks at me - like I've always wanted to be looked at - I think he sees that too."
Logan had never brought up any issues of trust against Peter after that. If Zoe was so convinced, if he was good enough for her, then he's good enough. Period. If anything was to rival the woman's growing feelings for her new 'friend' it would have been her loyalty to her students, to her family. Zoe wouldn't dare to gamble with that.
They soon arrived at the airport, there was a small plane waiting for them already, the place looked fairly empty. The six of them shuffled out of the car.
"This is where we leave you two." Charles says, turning to the kids and shaking their hands. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Peter, Zoe." Beside him, Hank waved amiably. "I hope to meet you both again one day, under better circumstances."
Zoe's eyes widen in alarm, she was breathless, "You're leaving?"
Erik and Logan turned to her distress. Erik just frowned and Logan steered her away to the side, the walked some steps out of earshot, his arm around her shoulders, their heads ducked in quiet counsel. "Sorry, kid. We got a job to do."
She was at a loss for words, "I...I don't know what to do," she confessed, "I don't know where I am, or who I am. They took that away from me. I'm lost, Logan." She looked panicked, "You said I could trust you."
The thing adults had to know was that kids hated it when you tried to talk down to them, better to just give it to them clear and straight. It was why some young kids actually chose to seek out Logan when he was teaching. Despite his gruff demeanour, they could tell he never lied, and he made it a policy not to; and they looked up to him for it. Logan made sure they couldn't be heard, this was a private conversation and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to take his sweet time talking to a friend he hasn't seen in years. He tried to appreciate it as much as it lasted. It may well be the last they would have in decades - if everything goes to plan. "Look, Zoe. This is gonna sound absolute batshit but just gimme a chance, okay?"
Zoe nodded.
"I'm not from here, I was sent from the future."
At the moment, the brunette looked half-confused, half-terrified. "The...future?"
His expression remained deadpanned, she couldn't quite believe herself buying his story, but had a feeling it was probably all true. "I was sent back so I can change the future and stop a war. Trask and his Sentinels will bring about mutant extinction if we don't stop him. That's what we're trying to do. But I can't in good conscience bring you with me. As much as I want to, I have the responsibility of keeping you safe. Peter can give that to you, and when all this is over, you'll have a place at Xavier's School." Logan handed her a card he swiped from Charles' wallet.
The man tried to give her a reassuring smile, though it only seemed to distress her further. This Zoe was young and fragile, like an exposed wound, the Zoe he knew was a hardened scar. He didn't know the woman that was, only a possibility of the woman she could become. She was not the same, he couldn't comfort her the same, and yet, she trusted him. Like a cub beginning to imprint itself.
Her fingers were stiff as she took it, rubbing the card with her thumb. She was lost in a memory, her brown eyes were turning an opaque colour of milk seeping from pupil, to iris and finally blending with the whites of her eyes; "When I was in my cell, I had a dream. I dreamt of meeting you for the first time in a canteen with green walls. I dreamt of a school that I made my home. I dreamt that I died trying to save my team, that I...passed away in the arms of someone I loved."
It was hard for Logan to swallow, the more she talked, the more he relived the future he dreaded so much. She began speaking once more, her eyes returning back to normal, "But you see, I don't think it was a dream. I think it was a possibility, futures competing against one another. It's hard to look at you, I can see past, present and future colliding around you, bending, warping..." she grasped his arm tighter, "I will know you, Logan. Just not in the way you remember. I do believe we'll see each other again, that's a certainty." She smiled, then threw her arms around his neck in a grateful squeeze. "You've saved me already. You sent me a friend."
He returned her hug, it seemed easier now to say goodbye. "Stay with Peter, he's uh...less of an ass once you get to know him. You can thank me later." She'll have more years with Peter now, and if he can help it, he'll meet her again. "Hey kid, when a bum with my mug walks into your school in say, 27 years time...befriend him?"
Zoe smiled more, her eyes returning to their original colour, tears brimming again. "You got it, big guy."
They headed now to where the rest were waiting, his hand on her shoulder. "I'll be dragging around a young looking girl who's a lot like you. She'll call herself Rogue, but her name's Anne Marie, she'll love you. Don't forget us, you hear?"
"Never." It felt like one of those moments, the ones she could tell she'd never forget. She would remember Logan's broad back as he retreated and his misty eyed farewell; the way the plane engine sounded as Hank started it confidently and with ease. She would commit to memory the way Charles and Erik glowered at each other with a million words unspoken and the fashion in which her silver haired friend was looking at her despite trying not to. Someone had to remember all these new histories.
With that, Logan walked away, she swore she could hear him sniffling as he said something to Peter in passing, clapped him on the shoulder, then climbed into the jet.
Erik trailed behind, the Polish-Jew hesitating. He wasn't much for goodbyes. "Take care of yourself, oh-Two."
"Don't lose yourself, oh-One." she counters with a small wave.
They had returned to the house in good spirits, their paths separating as Logan went to go have a talk with the Professor and Zoe padding off to the small study in the west wing where Peter had been waiting for her.
He had sat in an alcove by a circular window, his silver hair falling to his forehead as he bent over a thin volume. His eyes flickered to her before going back to his page. "How was your chat?"
"Fine." she said coyly, making her way to the crystal decanter of brandy and a glass that lay unused on the table at Peter's side. She poured a drink for herself and drank quickly, taking it in one gulp.
He closed his book, his head angling to one side. "Should I be worried about a wolverine being set loose on a innocent, defenceless man?"
"You're far from innocent, or defenceless, Maximoff."
"Maybe I just need a strong protector from the Big Bad." he said, batting his dark eyes. It was a priceless look, coming from a middle-aged man.
Zoe just smiled and flipped her hair back, pouring more brandy into her glass. Peter had chucked his book behind him as she sat herself down on the seat next to his cushion, her feet folding underneath her. She pressed her glass to his lips, Peter taking it wordlessly. He tried to read her as much as she tried to read him.
"Oh, don't worry," she says teasingly, leaning close, "I will."
The plane ride itself was smooth, Logan was thankful Hank had always been good with handling aircrafts, but it did not completely alleviate the tension he always had with flying, nor did it prevent him from worrying about the friend he left behind with a hormonal teenage boy.
"Where did they dig you up?" Erik addressed him nonchalantly.
Logan leaned across the table, "You're gonna find this hard to believe... but, uh, you sent me. You and Charles. From the future." That certainly caught the metal manipulator's attention. After Logan explained his mission to Erik, he was sent another wave of questions.
"You know, Logan, I'm surprised you left her with Peter. I thought for sure you'd take her with us. How do you know the girl?" Erik began to address him in a weary tone.
"Zoe." Logan corrected.
"How do you know Zoe?"
Logan lit a cigar, paying no heed to the 'NO SMOKING' sign on the wall. He took a breath before starting,"In my future, I work for a man named Stryker for a while, when I was recruited, she was already on the team. They had her longer though, and I never knew where they got her from until today. She was my best friend. The kind that put up with your shit and had your back." The best kind. He wanted to add, "Got sent on missions together, worked fine for a couple of years. But what we didn't know was Stryker's next phase, which involved more genetic experiments on people like us to force evolve mutations and make better soldiers." He knew he shouldn't dwell. It was all behind him now. Was it? Is it? "They wiped our memories, turned us into animals. Soon after, we escape together, killed practically everyone on the base." At least it had a happy ending (while it lasted). "We found ourselves at Chuck's," he said, trying to meetthe Professor's gaze, tried to express how much they needed him now, and in the future. "It took a long time before we recovered our memories, but hadn't left since."
"What else do you know?" Charles asked, fascinated by the story, "I can't help but feel you're trying to hide something. What aren't you telling us?"
They watch as the plane takes off, hands to their foreheads to shield their eyes from the sun. The two teenagers lean against their rental car, the keys to which, jangle in Peter's hands as he twirls it. He opens the car door for her and piles in after with his super speed.
They were driving in companionable silence for a good few minutes until Peter anxiously spoke, "You know, I was thinking-"
"Yes?" she says, cutting him off.
Peter meets her happy eyes and blushes again, "I was thinking, since I broke you out of prison and all, that maybe you'd like to stay with me? Logan might have mentioned you didn't have a place to stay."
The girl was stunned, "I mean, would that be okay? He said that I would have a place in Charles' school after everything blows over…"
"My mom has a lot of experience, she raised three kids and two of them are mutants. So I don't think you'd be a bother. She's a natural mother hen, she won't be able to help herself from taking in someone that needs it. Her name's Magda, she'll like you, promise."
The girl played with a loose thread in her jumpsuit. "You're sure?"
"Positive." he replies, "Though we'll have to return the car first. Hope you don't mind me running us back."
Logan heaved a heavy sigh, "The girl you met, will be one of the most powerful mutants you'll ever come across. Lay a finger on her and I wouldn't have to kill you myself, she'll be the one to do it. Her powers are volatile at best, and she won't have full control yet. I don't know how her powers will develop now that she won't be forced to work for Stryker, but maybe if you teach her...who can say?" he tells Charles, "More than that...I know she has a history with a very touchy subject of yours."
"And which sensitive subject might that be?" Erik tested.
"Sebastian Shaw." at his reply, a dark look flashed across Erik's face. Hate simmering at the surface.
"Then why leave such a precious commodity with young Peter? If she's as dangerous as you say." he spat.
"Because I know she'll be safe with him, and until Charles reopens the school, it's the best place for her to be with other kids. With her powers, any threat that they'll come across, Zoe or Peter can take care of it. Apart from me, or Chuck, he and his twin sister always knew how to help her."
Erik grew impatient,"What does this have to do with Shaw?"
"She's Shaw's granddaughter."
Erik nearly jumped a foot, "Shaw has a granddaughter?" her shook his head in regret, he chuckled grimly, "I should have left her in that cell."
"Now, don't get your panties in a bunch, bub. You think you're Shaw's only victim? "
Erik stood up, his blue eyes positively piercing. "Sebastian Shaw deserves more than one lifetime of suffering. He made sure of that when he experimented on and tortured my people."
Logan ignored him, "Sebastian Shaw married Elise Kappel in 1927, their daughter, Laura Kappel was born in 1934. The Shaws separated in 1939, Elise took Laura and migrated to the United States in Stanford, California. Elise couldn't live with herself, knowing about her husband's work with the Nazis. The mother and daughter legally changed their names to Kinney to escape Shaw. In 1956, Laura worked at Stanford University, researching genetics, she was actually close in discovering the X-gene. That's how Shaw tracked her down."
"Through her research. I remember tailing him to the United States," Erik spoke, deep in thought, "He went there for some three years, but I was late and he was already gone."
"A man named Satoshi Ishikawa was a Japanese ex-pat that moved to America in 1952, he became a physicist, worked at Stanford too. There, he caught Shaw's eye. Surviving the bombing at Nagasaki triggered his X-gene, gave him a mutation that could manipulate gravity. Satoshi was another direct source of mutation, Nagasaki was ground zero, literally one of the cradles for Shaw's new mutant race. It was 1957 when Shaw made his move, he was going to have his next big mutant weapon, one he could control from birth. He wouldn't repeat the mistakes of the past, the mistake he had with you." It seemed a lot of his problems begun and ended with Magneto. "Laura and Satoshi. They were the perfect candidates, she was his closest biological relative and while she wasn't a mutant,"
"Dear god. She was a carrier of the gene," Charles realised from his seat, "A blank slate."
Logan nodded, "He took their biological material, then made his Laura bring to term a genetically advanced mutant. Shaw forced his own daughter to grow him a baby for his mutant war, isolating their biological material so he could choose which fertilised embryos could secure him mutant offspring. Sebastian Shaw used his own flesh and blood and bastardised her for his own agenda..." Logan did not notice he had risen from his seat in agitation, he sat back down, forcing himself to regain composure. "Laura gave birth to Zoe Carolyn Kinney on the 28th of July, 1958."
Erik rubbed his face. He knew what kind of monster Shaw was, truly he stopped at no boundaries to achieve his goals. Mutant experimentation. Eugenics. He couldn't imagine doing that to his own kind. Not to mention his own family.
Logan continued his story, watching Erik closely. "They were under his thumb until 1963 when you put a stop to him. Laura and Satoshi who eventually fell in love moved to Pennsylvania and raised their daughter there. Satoshi died of brain cancer in 1966, when Zoe was eight years old. Three years later in 1969 Laura Kinney was found murdered in her home, believed to have died during an attempted burglary. Zoe disappeared. She isn't heard from again until Stryker and his men get hold of her in 1980, at least twenty years before we find the X-Men.
You think you're the only one left with scars, Erik? She's lived through hell, only to be passed down the hands of another maniac. Despite all that, in my future, she finds friendship, family and love. March 31st, 2001, Zoe Kinney marries Peter Maximoff in Westchester, New York. They were happy until 2012, when the Sentinel Program is reactivated. She lasts seven years until May 2019, we were on the mission and she stayed behind to save good people, she dies in Peter's arms. Her husband's remains were recovered the next week." Logan rubbed his head, his eyes had a far away look. "Don't you see? We have to change it, all of it. Or I'll lose the people I love again. This is bigger than any of us. These are the lives of millions upon millions of people. We are their last hope. This is my last chance."
"But there was a time when each of us stood naked before the world, confronting life as a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned… Further back, there were times when we wondered with all our souls, what the world was, what love was, what we were ourselves." - T.H. White, The Once and Future King
A/N:
It's almost 2am here in Melbourne. There are commitments in the morning and I regret nothing. Actually, maybe ask me later.
I snuck in a little easter egg for those who's up for some hunting. I hope you've enjoyed this update. It really does a lot in terms of short-handing backstory without having to write an obscene and complicated sequence. Maybe I'll spin off of that, I don't know.
To my reviewers, thank you. Though you are few, it really made me happy to get a response so I dedicate this update for you. :)
TenebrisSagittarius:Dark Matter is a real and existing theory in physics regarding our universe. Zoe's powers are varied though I doubt we'll get a definitive outline of her powers until after she's had some time controlling them and learning about it (most likely during X-Men Apocalypse). She needs room for growth and exploration. So that's a big something.
anonymouscsifan (guest): In the lines of another Quicksilver, "You didn't see that coming?" Sorry, I had to. You truly are, a fellow fan after my own heart. Orlando Bloom's Legolas was probably one of my first ever crushes. He gave me so much life at such a tender age. THAT SCENE IN TWO TOWERS WHEN HE SKATEBOARDS ON THAT SHIELD DOWN THOSE STAIRS WHILE SHOOTING ORCS! AGHH TOTAL SWOONAGE! Give me extended editions or give me death. Wow, I'm so glad people are actually responding to these. I've made friends!
~Rusty14~ & peggyscxrter: You're welcome, ma cheries!
Calliope's Scribe: I'm so glad you guys like it so far! I hope the progression of their relationship (though forced) will seem believable and natural.
ROCK ON, MY DUDES!
Have an opinion? I want to hear it. PM is always open for a chat, or leave a review if that floats your boat.
I do not own any characters you might recognise, they are the property of Marvel (and maybe Sony Pictures?). I do own my OC Zoe.
Many thanks! And happy fanfic hunting!
-HannahBananasxx