Curt looks up at us from his holding cell. Etana is standing there, staring at him, her face impassive. When I enter, Curt leaps up, slamming his hands against the reinforced glass of his cell.

"You killed her! You killed my mother, because you ignored her! She trusted you to come, to save her! But you didn't! You let her die! She's dead because of you! You and your Avengers!"

His face is streaked with tears. And now I can see the teenaged boy who has lost his mother, who lashes out at a world which hasn't been kind to him.

But as Black Wolf, he's endangered innocent lives, all to get back at us –at me. Etana's not taking his tears at all.

"How dare you! How dare you blame the Avengers for the death of Tora! She made her choice! She chose to die, to save you and me and everyone else! You were killed on Utopia, weren't you? You'd crept out, and gone with the other X-Men to try and help and you were cut down! And your mother died to save you! She chose your life over her own, because that was who she was! And now she would look at you and be disgusted! Her own son, striking out at her friends, the people who tried to save her! She would not recognise you, boy! And neither do I."

She turns and stalks out. Curt's face crumples up, and it looks as if he's about to cry. And then he looks at me and his face hardens. I see the pure, undisguised hatred and it shakes me to the core. Curt Logan, the son of Logan and Tora, two of my closest and most trusted friends. Curt Logan, whose kidnapping as a child almost broke Tora's heart. Curt Logan, who fought beside me during the mess with the SHRA. Curt Logan who is one of the Young Avengers and messes around with Speed as they try and find a way of blowing stuff up. Curt Logan, who once put firecrackers under Tony's bed. Curt Logan, who once ripped a Doombot's head off to save my life. Curt Logan, whose chronokinetic powers allow him to slow down time in his own localised environment, making it seem as if he has super-speed. Curt Logan, who is bonded to an alien symbiote that gives him extreme strength. Curt Logan, who has a highly personal reason to feud with the Avengers.

I was blind not to see it before. No. I wasn't blind. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to believe it. But Curt was really the only option. The only one who was strong enough, who knew us well enough, who was close enough to Tora to be able to strike at us like this.

And yet the thought of the slightly crazy, happy-go-lucky boy being the one who put Protector in intensive care doesn't… It doesn't feel right. Curt shouldn't be like this. Not full of wrath and vengeance and a desire to hurt.

I step forward and he darts back, holding his arms up defensively.

"Go on! Beat me up! Do whatever it is you do to the people like me, the protestors, and show what you really are!"

I drop the shield and sit down in front of the glass.

"We're going to let you go."

His brow furrows. He opens his mouth to speak but I silence him with a raised hand.

"But your dad will have to come and collect you. He'll know exactly what you've been doing and your punishment will be up to him."

Curt's face goes white.

"No… Please, no…"

I get up.

"You should have thought of that."

And just before I leave, I look over my shoulder.

"You blame me for your mother's death. I understand. You hate me for it. Well get in line. Because there's no way you hate me as much as I hate myself."


A.N. Sorry this took so long. I was really busy, having to do some work for the ELT and the JWST at ROE, which probably means nothing to you so don't bother too much except to know I will be very, very busy for quite a while, and may end up having to do a whole extra course that I thought I didn't have to so from now, please don't expect updates with any great regularity. I hope you understand this, and it won't annoy you too much.

S-99