Memories

The Hunter and The Hunted

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.

Luke looked around the place nervously. Ever since he'd sent his teacher into a series of haunting illusions that had driven her mad, he'd been terrified he'd be caught out as a mutant. And he had been. But by the X-Men. Two of whom had been in a team with Captain Britain. But news didn't filter across the pond much about the X-Men. So he was intrigued by the woman in the photo. She never appeared in solo photos, only groups. She was a redhead, with a black streak in her hair and warm golden eyes. She seemed to like hiding in the photos, so all he saw of her would be a flash of hair or an arm. The only one where she was on show was the group photo, where she was standing behind the Professor. Eloise had just looked sad when he'd asked about her. So when he found the locked room, he was intrigued. Using the skills Remy had taught him, he'd picked the lock. And was now in the bedroom of an obvious couple. A proper king-sized double, not the queens from the other rooms. Books lining one wall, a small collection of katanas and Japanese art the other. A desk with an empty mug that had a cartoon cat painted on it. Two influences were there. He walked over to the desk and saw the half-finished drawing. Wolverine, a look of kindness on his face Luke had never seen before. Someone obviously came here often and dusted. A downy black feather told him who. Etana had been the only one who hadn't avoided his questions. She'd just answered that the woman had been a friend. He examined every part of the room, reading the titles on the books, looking in the bathroom and finally spotted the photo album. Hidden under the pillow. He pulled it out and opened it. The woman, head tilted to one side, pensive. It continued with photos of all the X-Men. Then the woman he was interested in suddenly gained scars on her face. She looked happier though. And then there was a photo of what he knew was last Christmas as each had been dated in a flowing hand. Her and Wolverine kissing under mistletoe. Then it became obvious they were a couple. Finally he stopped. A wedding, dated May. Wolverine and the Woman. Then Japan when it was only the two had been there. The book had a gap for one photo dated May and with the note 'Wish Logan had told me he was talking this' then the flowing hand had stopped and the rest had been finished in a spiky, almost illegible hand. Tears had stained a few photos, mainly ones that had Logan and her together. A quiet cough made him turn. Etana was standing in the door, feathery eyebrows raised slightly.

"This room was locked. Now the door is open. I need to have a word with Remy. Anyway, there are better ways of opening locked doors. I'll show you how to open a door with a needle."

"A needle?"

"Very tricky thing to do, but a lot less incriminating than a lockpick."

"Who is this woman? Why isn't she here? I didn't know Logan was married."

Etana's eyes registered a slight sadness.

"Not anymore."

"What? Did she leave him or something? Cos I can understand if she did, he's obnoxious."

She tilted her head in a bird-like movement.

"She left us all. To cry and to wish she would return."

Luke was confused. But Etana always talked like that, in riddles and half-riddles.

"Where is she?"

"I will take you to her."

She offered him her hand and Luke got the crushing feeling that came with being teleported. When the light reappeared, he wasn't in a house. Instead he was in the woods.

"What?"

Then he saw the stone and the words carved on it.

Tora Logan

December 1984-10th June 2006

Hero, Friend, Lover

Never to be Forgotten

Luke gulped. Suddenly he became aware that under him, a woman lay dead. A woman who had hopes and dreams, a mutant like him. His hand slid to the tiny book tucked into his jumper. A notebook. He'd snatched it from the desk. He wanted to read the words this woman had traced onto the paper with a living hand. Etana saw the look on his face.

"That is why we are sad and why Logan acts like that. We mourn for her that has left us, never to return again. For those that cross the darkling stream, may not return, unless you're a superhero or villain and have severe problems with friends."

He glanced at her slightly worried look. She pointed.

"House is that way. Would quite like to have a little chat later."

And she disappeared, just like she always did. Luke pulled out the small book and sat down with his back to the gravestone. He opened it and found the flowing handwriting.

My Dreams

One day, I'd like to stop being a hero. I want to live a normal life, be normal.

I want to have the horrors that haunt me erased.

I want to find a way of making up with my family.

I want to learn how to sing.

I want to get a job.

I want to be able to walk down a street without pitying looks.

I want freedom to be myself.

I want there to be the slightest chance this will happen.

Luke turned the page. The next sheet made him feel terrible.

Reasons I love Logan

He listens.

He loves me.

He understands.

He's like me.

I see the man beneath.

He's Logan.

Turned the page again, trying not to cry.

Things I Love

Logan

Coffee

Mint

Etana being Etana

Being an X-Man

Queen

Mornings

Stuff I would write down but there are kids in the house

Things I Hate

Shopping with Jubilee.

Shopping for clothes.

Sabretooth.

Bigotry.

Weapon X

Being forced to be something I'm not

People talking about films when they know I can't understand

Villains attacking between 8:3o and 9pm on a Saturday

Myself

Luke couldn't help himself. He started crying. Tears smudged the ink of the last word.

Phoenix looked at the other woman.

"Myself?"

"What had been done to her."

"Okay…"

The battle was ferocious. But they lost. Each X-Man had a knife under their throat. An emotionless artificial voice rang out.

"Drop the knives. I will take them to the holding cells."

They turned and saw a woman encased in metal, with a blank full-head mask that had dull green glowing eyes. The leader of those they were fighting snorted.

"You! Ya may be second in command Hunter, but ya ain't orderin' me about no more."

"Please refrain from speaking, you lower the average IQ of the entire human race."

"Ya $£%*& £*%$."

"And may I remind you, I am senior in this operation. You follow my orders or you answer to Strucker."

"I ain't afraid of no mutie £%$."

"I did warn you."

And the woman moved so fast they almost didn't see her and the man fell with a knife in his chest.

"I avoided wounding you fatally. Next time, you won't be so lucky. Listen all you. You are wondering, if we all leap on her, will we beat her? Well the answer is no. But feel free to have a shot."

The men all shifted. They obviously feared this woman. She turned to the X-Men.

"HYDRA will accommodate you until the trial by combat."

Wolverine obviously didn't think much of that. Twisting free he leapt, claws outstretched, only to find them stopped.

"Adamantium armour."

The woman was twisting his arm with relative easy.

"You see, I know the properties of adamantium. I may not be able to break your arm but I can dislocate it. Like so."

She twisted and Logan screamed.

"Stop whining. Look, I've put it back in place for you."

She dropped him and he almost collapsed, managing to pull himself back up at the last minute.

"Follow."

The guards led them to a cell. The woman who seemed to be called Hunter stood aside.

"Enter."

"Can you speak in anything more than single words?"

"Yes I can Miss Shadowcat."

She turned and Wolverine, in usual fiery impulse, attacked. A knife swung round and his costume was torn. A single photo fluttered to the floor. Hunter picked it up, looked at it then her head snapped up to look at Logan.

"Take him to the interrogation rooms. I want to speak to him. All video evidence must be destroyed."

The guards nodded nervously. Wolverine was soon hustled into a room which seemed oddly empty of machines of horrendous torture. Hunter turned to look at him. Then pushed the photo of Tora in Japan over towards him.

"What is your relation with this woman?"

Logan looked at the expressionless mask in astonishment. That wasn't what he was expecting. He didn't see anything wrong with answering.

"My wife. Why, got a problem with that?"

The glowing green eyes dropped.

"No. I want to ask. Did she find her family? How did she escape? Is she…is she happy?"

OK, that was weird.

"Why do you want to know?"

The voice gained a little emotion. Not much, but enough to show how the person inside the armour was feeling.

"Because that woman, Xii, was my best and only friend for most of my childhood. She sacrificed her freedom to give me hope."

Logan couldn't quite get his head around this. The woman answered his unasked question.

"My name is Eva De Souza and Xii was my companion at the facility we were held at."

"What…?"

"I was Project: Eden, a spin-off of Weapon Plus. I was never the star but Xii looked out for me and kept me safe. She was always better than I was. And when we escaped, she ordered me on while she remained behind. She hurt herself and couldn't keep ahead of the dogs."

Logan remembered the slight change in width around one ankle, a bone reset before adamantium was implanted. Hunter was staring at him with a look Iron Man would have coveted.

"Where is she? Xii would never consent to remain away from a battle."

The question hurt Logan more than he was prepared to admit. He mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"DEAD! She's dead and I wish I was too! She was everything! She was everything."

He wasn't expecting what happened next. The woman screamed, a scream of loss and pain. Then she fell to her knees and he heard the muttering.

"No…can't be…needed to thank…you always survive…please no…you saved me…always…there…Xii…can't be…no…"

He watched as she suddenly stood up and looked at him.

"The trial will be in three days. I will not be there. I have a meeting with a rather angry person. Private business. If you survive, you will spend the rest of your life in a comfortable cell. No evil tests run on you or anything. I will have food sent to you later. And Wolverine…I'm so, so sorry."

Then the HYDRA goons entered and dragged him back, leaving the woman encased in metal to cry quietly in the empty room. But the tears were trapped inside the armour she was forced to wear. No escape. Except one.

The image stilled on the blank mask. No emotion. A robot that happened to have swallowed a human. A human hiding. A dagger in the dark.

When the sandwiches were pushed through the door, no one knew why Hank burst into tears over his Twinkie sandwich. Jean scanned him and found memories of Tora bringing down an identical sandwich when he was running some tests to make sure she'd healed fully after Doom removed most of her intestinal tract. This lead to some gentle teasing about the unhealthiness of sugary treats in what was supposed to be a meal. Eventually Beast managed to get down to snuffles and Logan was able to tell them what he'd discovered. But the last comment had a line wandering around his head. 'A meeting with a rather angry person'? That was code. An angry person? Furious? Fury? Was she working for Fury? OK, he could almost believe Fury would be able to get a twenty-something woman into a position of power in SHIELD's worst enemy. And she had mentioned Strucker. Was that just a threat, or did she personally know him? If she did, was Nick planning a hit on the main HYDRA leader? And Tora? She was still there. How was it the person who saved their lives also knew Tora well? It was like she had managed to get Hunter –Eva –into HYDRA just in time to save them. Not that Logan believed in guardian angels. Anyway, if he did, then Etana had him covered. But Tora seemed to be still there, finding a way to keep him safe. From the note he found on the healing halter 'Don't you DARE use this on yourself!' to the scribbled message on the back of the unfinished sketch saying that she loved him. Somehow he thought she guessed something was going to happen to her. He was still thinking about Christmas when a wall slid away. The X-Men just looked at each other. Trap or a viable option? Piotr stepped out and picked up a sheet of paper.

Third left, second right, right, left, eighth left and you're out.

This is for Xii.

Tell Fury to keep an eye on HELMET.

Ok, that classed as very weird, even for the X-Men. Meeting a deceased teammate's childhood friend who she had never mentioned, who was working either for the most evil man on the planet or for Nick Fury and trying to bring the aforementioned most evil man on the planet down, who rescued them from insane HYDRA grunts, locked them up and then showed them a secret passage out. That was stretching the belief brain cells a little too far. Aliens? Easy, dealt with them every other day. Mutant Terrorists? Come on, little more credit please. Ex-members' childhood companions? HELP!

They followed the instructions and were soon blinking in the sunlight before heading off to where they had landed the Blackbird.

And inside the HYDRA base, Hunter stood impassive as her fellow second in command prepared to tell tales to Strucker. She didn't really get on with him. If she worked in a normal post, she would have reported him for sexual harassment. As it was, she didn't trust Strucker alone with her. He was looking at her in the usual lewd way.

"I might not tell him the X-Men escaped on your watch. If I get to see under that armour of yours."

"I'd rather face Strucker."

He rammed his face up close to her mask.

"One day I'm going to see you. All of you. Whether you want me to or not. Then you'll suffer."

She struggled to stop herself deploying the knives in her arms and beheading him. He was irritating beyond belief. She would enjoy visiting him in prison. And removing her helmet so he could realise how close he had been to a horrendous death.

Phoenix grinned.

"When I met her, I assumed Tora's shields must be implanted. Exactly the same. And the adamantium blocked the scent."

Her companion smiled back slightly.

"Christmas Eve?"

"If you please."