Memories
Old Friends, New Friends
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
The Avengers party seemed to be going very well. At least until Etana arrived. She seemed quite friendly with the X-Men but insisted on living outside. But when she turned up later than the X-Men most people just stopped and stared. She was dressed comfortably in a red vest top and trousers. It wasn't the clothes that made people stare. After all, it was a party of heroes. It was the weapons she was carrying. A quiver of arrows fitted on her belt, along with what looked like a folding bow. Katanas crossed down her back, fitting in between her wings. Various other weapons were strapped onto her belt but they all had things in common. Everything had been invented before guns. There were swords, knifes, throwing stars and sais but no guns. She turned around.
"I am sorry I'm late. There was a drugs cartel I've been meaning to deal with for weeks. The entire New York cell is now outside the police HQ with a sudden urge to confess."
"Shadow? Shadow, is that you?"
She turned and her face spilt into a smile.
"Captain! I was pleased to hear about your recovery from the ice. It's been…62 years?"
"More like nine years for me."
Iron Man, visor flipped up looked between his colleague and the strange woman.
"You two know each other."
"I worked with The Shadow in the War. Best hand-to-hand fighter I ever met. We had each other's backs for a while in Poland. She was protecting a town there."
"It's Etana to you Captain. I've been hiding behind Shadow, Fallen Angel and so on for much too long."
"Excuse me, but you expect me to believe this woman fought in World War Two? She'd too young."
"Are you saying that three millennia is too young to have fought?"
"Impossible! Are you some sort of god?"
"No. My grandfather fought for the title Satan but really he was just a mutant. Like I am. But some of us are almost impossible to kill. Selene for one. The Cloaked One for another. Not that I can't be injured. It's just very hard to do."
"I thought you preferred to work alone?"
"I'm staying with the X-Men for a few days. And I came here to renew old acquaintances."
"I'm honoured. So any of our others friends survived."
"Actually, one is here tonight."
"Really? Who?"
"Guess. LOGAN!"
Wolverine came over, Tora close behind.
"Logan, will you take your mask off for a second?"
"Why?"
"An old friend."
Logan grimaced then obliged.
"Jim… Lucky Jim Howlett… I don't believe it…"
"Great, someone else who knows me."
"We were on the D-Day landings together. Remember?"
"Nah. Memory wipes."
But a flashback suddenly drove through him. Running beside this tall man with his shield and a boy next to him dressed similarly. The man turned to look at him and grimaced, speaking but the words were muffled. But what was clear was they were friends. He staggered slightly and felt hands catch him.
"Logan?"
"Memory got through."
"You called yourself Logan when we first met. In Madripoor. 1941. Rescuing Natasha."
"Sorry, haven't a clue. Some high and mighty government types wiped my memory. Along with turning me into a living weapon."
"What happened to the girl you were with?"
Etana answered.
"Murdered."
Logan turned and spoke with ice in his voice.
"You were watching the entire time and never helped."
"You told me not to."
Tora's hand tightened on his arm. Most people wouldn't notice the fact she was putting a lot of pressure on his arm. But in a room of people who's lives are often on the line unless they can read a single movement it was as plain as day.
"Logan, don't."
He relaxed as her grip lessened. She switched to Japanese, to give them some privacy.
"You heard what Charles said. You told her not to interfere in your life. "
"But she stood by while whoever this woman was died. "
"At the time she had other things to worry about. The town she was protecting for one. "
He scowled slightly then noticed a look of polite indifference on Etana's face. She knew. She spoke Japanese, she'd told him about it when he'd asked her more about his past.
She gave a slight nod then turned to go. But not before turning and speaking in Japanese.
"When were you going to tell me about your happy news? "
A single silver eye disappeared as she winked.
"You know? "
"You were like a son to me. I can read you like a book. "
She smiled slightly then disappeared to do whatever was next on her list of things to do. She knew more about him than anyone and he couldn't help but feel glad that out of all the people in the world, it was her who knew about his past.
"So 'Logan', what have you been doing over the last six decades?"
"Haven't a clue. Everything is sort of blank until what I suppose was the mid-eighties when I started running wild in the Canadian wilderness. Since then I've been a spy, a assassin and various other things."
"Any other woman since that apparent failure from the War?"
"Lots. But only a few who were worth anything."
"Logan, I think 'Ro wants to talk to me."
"Who's the girl? Whoever she is, she guessed you wanted to talk to me alone."
"Tora. Tigress to most people. My successor at Weapon X. Not someone you want to cross."
"A successor? What does that mean?"
"It means they kidnapped a toddler and tortured her until she did what they wanted. And when she refused to kill, they sold her to a homicidal, raving manic."
"What happened?"
"She learnt how to control the beast inside her. Something I can't do. So you knew me?"
"Lucky Jim Howlett. So called because you'd survive absolutely everything they did to you. You were taken prisoner just before I had my 'accident'. Haven't a clue what happened to you. The Shadow seemed to know, I'd ask her. The only time I ever saw her scared was when she thought you'd seen her. Wouldn't tell me why."
"She made a promise years before she wouldn't interfere in my life. Stupid thing to make her promise. Most of the bad things in my life wouldn't have happened if she'd been there."
"You know her?"
"She calls me her son. Adoptive only."
"How old are you? If she thinks you're her son then…"
"I'd rather people don't ask about my age."
"So you're helping this Tora deal with her past?"
"She does that by herself. If anything she helps me deal with mine."
"She seems pretty unique."
"That's the word I've been trying to find to describe her."
She returned and pulled her mask off.
"This place is so crowded. Is there anywhere I can breathe?"
"There's the balcony. Along the corridor, right and out the long windows."
"Merci."
"Don't you want me to repeat the instructions?"
She tapped the side of her head.
"Photographic memory."
She walked off then turned round and smiled at Logan.
"If Etana guessed, shouldn't we start telling people?"
He shrugged and she mouthed a final "Love you" before leaving the room, but not in the same dramatic way Etana had.
"What's she talking about?"
"For some crazy reason I feel like telling you. I suppose I must get some of the memories of trusting ya, so here goes. We're engaged. It's stupid, we've only known each other for a year but when either of us could be dead tomorrow then it doesn't seem to matter."
"We all bond quicker with those in our walk of life. It's the constant fear that does it."
His short companion from the war gave that slightly scary smile of his.
"If it's any consolation, you don't seem to have changed much. By the way, what happened to her face?"
"She refused to kill a villain in the course of her job and got her face sliced up for her trouble. She's too kind fer her own good. And it ain't the worst of her scars."
"What do you mean?"
"We found her back had been ripped open when she was a kid. And for a while she flinched when we moved too fast."
"What happened to her?"
"Ya don't wanna know."
Phoenix sighed.
"He told Cap before he told any of us. His friends!"
"Cap was his friend."
"Yes but he didn't remember that."
"Why am I always the voice of reason?"
"Because you're balanced and sensible and as grounded as a cosmic entity can be."
She stood on the balcony overlooking the city. She'd needed to get out of the crush, out of the multitude of thronging heroes. Suddenly Etana was standing beside her.
"Tora."
"Etana."
"You're right for him."
"Pardon?"
"Out of all the women he's been with, you're the only one who I feel has the slightest chance of surviving the Cloaked One's manipulations."
"Who is this Cloaked One?"
"I don't dare fight him. He has been scheming for almost all of humanity's life. He was old when I was born. Most of what I hear is rumours. He leads the Lupine, a sub-sect of mutants. They are as powerful as the Neyaphim were in the height of their powers."
"I thought you banished the Neyaphim."
"I did. But I had an advantage. The Cloaked One relies on shadows to hide his existence. He uses his people as a shield. And he's trying to groom Logan to take over from him. For even us, the so called Immortal mutants age, wither and die. Selene steals life-force so she doesn't count. But the Cloaked One is aging. Dark hair has become grey. He needs a successor. And Logan is everything he prizes."
"Why are you telling me this? Shouldn't Logan know?"
"Because another is being groomed for the role. One who Logan would kill me if he knew. One day the two will have to fight to be the new Pack leader. One will have to kill the other. Logan will either kill or be killed by his own son."
"He has a son?"
"The man is sixty years old. And he's been trained to hate Logan."
Tora looked the woman who looked only slightly older than her in the eye.
"Who are you? Really I mean?"
"I am the one who studied under the Dragon. The one with the power of a god but was not a god. She taught me everything. And she told me that when I met a boy who had a wolf inside him I was to train him. She told me about the future. She taught me a lot."
"Who was she?"
"She made me swear not to tell. One day you may meet her. Then you'll understand."
She reached around her neck and unhooked a silver chain. Hanging from it was a tiny stone, all the colours of water.
"She told me to give this to my daughter. I'm not exactly the sort to have children. Logan is like my son. When I was raised, if a woman married a man, the man's mother called her daughter. So you're the closest thing I'll ever have to a daughter. Here. The chain may need replaced over time."
She pressed the small necklace into Tora's hand and disappeared before she could protest. Tora held the blue stone up to her eyes. It was carved into a winged Chinese dragon and when she flipped it over, a tiny inscription in Hebrew made her look at it harder.
"I am She Who Rides the Waves of Time."
That was odd. She held the tiny stone in her hand and felt the heat being drawn from it. But the stone didn't warm. She suddenly felt a kinship with the Fallen Angel she hadn't felt with anyone else. Etana had suffered in a way few could. She had friends and comrades and they died while she lived on and she made new friends and they died and she was stuck in an eternal cycle of losing those she was close to. That was the sorrow in her eyes. The sorrow of watching everything she built being destroyed. A familiar scent caught in Tora's nose.
"Ororo."
"Logan just told me."
She didn't need to know what Logan had told her. She turned and felt warm arms wrap around her.
"You deserve some good luck Tora."
"I don't believe in luck. It's all probability. That and pure skill."
She felt 'Ro's arms tighten even harder around her. Caught the exotic plant scent that she used all the time.
"You know what I mean."
The short woman smiled at the tall woman who she considered a friend.
"You realize you're suffocating me?"
"Sorry. What's that?"
Storm was looking at the tiny necklace in Tora's hand.
"Etana gave it to me."
Ororo scooped up the silver chain and swept back Tora's hair, deftly fitting the chain next to the cross Kurt had given her that Christmas.
"Thanks."
Suddenly something dark-haired and moving incredibly fast knocked into Tora.
"'tbelieveit!"
"Hello Jubilee."
"And Logan's now sitting at the bar with Captain America and they're laughing. And drinking quite a lot. Or rather Logan is. Cap's just sitting with one drink."
"Is he?"
"And Iron Man just took one look at Wolvie and walked out."
"Oh-"
"And the Invisible Woman's looking for you along with She-Hulk, Jean, Ms Marvel, Wasp and pretty much every female superhero here."
Tora went very pale.
"What happened?"
"Well Logan told Cap, who told Iron Man who shouted it out through his speakers."
"'Ro will you please just kill me?"
"Please can I laugh?"
"Fine. Just don't blame me if you slip on the ice."
"She was so scared when we all descended on her and started planning everything for her. I heard she gave Etana half her book collection for 'rescuing' her."
"Tried to. Etana had a pretty impressive collection in her various safe houses."
It may be a while until I update. One of my best friends' dad died recently and I need to be there for her.