Memories

Lesson Plan

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

Tora stood for a second before going into the classroom. With the influx of students increasing, she had been roped into teaching the Languages class and also ran the elective Espionage, Principal Protection and Mutant Rights classes. As such, she was glad Scott had allowed her off active duty, especially since they'd put her in charge of a group on six young mutants. She had wanted the self-defence classes but Logan had taken them. Piotr was teaching Art, Kurt, Drama, Scott Tactics and Elective Leadership, Jean, Telekinesis and so on. Apparently, despite the ex-New Mutant Moonstar teaching American History, they couldn't find anyone to teach World History as the most knowledgeable person had died. And Emma-not a baddie anymore-Frost was teaching English and Ethics. Tora entered the classroom and a quiet hush descended.

"Salut. Je m'appelle Tora Logan et je suis votre professeure des langues. Cette leçon, nous allons étudier la langue français. Can anyone tell me what I just said?"

There was silence.

"It wasn't too hard. French is based in Latin, and English has many roots in both French and Latin."

Again silence.

"I don't bite."

Then a tentative hand rose.

"Qui?"

"What happened to your face?"

Tora sighed then resigned herself.

"My megalomaniac clone attacked me."

That only drove the class into a deeper silence. This was going to be an uphill struggle.

"Does anybody speak any other languages?"

More silence. At this point Tora gave up and sat down, sitting in a silence that seemed to cut through the room. People shifted, nervous until finally a hand went up.

"Yes?"

"Can you please stop doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Just…staring at us."

"I am simply mimicking you."

A ripple of voices at that, then someone laughed.

"Right, can we get on with the lesson now?"

A chorus of 'Yes Miss'es rang out. Tora smiled slightly and started scribbling on the board.

"I will not be teaching you set sentences. Instead I will teach you the rules of the language and basic nouns and infinitive verbs. Irregular verbs must be learnt by heart. We have here the three verb endings. –er, –ir and –re. Can anyone give me the verb endings?"

By the end of the lesson she just wanted to hit her head of the desk. Thankfully things had picked up in the end and she had them laughing. But now she had the Espionage class, which had proved to be so popular they'd split it in two. Sighing she stood up. She'd have time to feed Jamie before going to the Danger Room. She'd programmed it last night.

Jean laughed.

"That was a hilarious lesson to watch. Can we see the other one?"

"If you wish to."

Tora stood looking at the class.

"So who took this class because they thought it would be all James Bond style stunts?"

A few hands guiltily were raised.

"I know it's more than those three."

The rest of the class raised their hands.

"Well it's not like that. I happen to be one of the best covert operatives in the world. Maybe only the Black Widow is as good as I am. So today, I am going to have each of you take a test to see how suited you are to the course."

It would be simple. Each person had to try and deliver a folder of secret documents to their contact. The first two people blundered straight into the first alarm and had the guards arrest them. The third was shot as they tried to grab the folder. And so on. None succeeded. Then Tora turned to look at them.

"You all acted as if you were in a film. I am going to show you how it's done."

She walked in and first found the security booth. In there, she stabbed the hologram and watched as it collapsed. Ruthless and she would normally have just concussed him but she needed to show the students that spying was a merciless business. For a second, the man's body changed into that of Poacher's spread-eagled on the ground and with fearful eyes. She shook the vision away before it distracted her.

Then she hacked into the security network and put the cameras on a loop. Standing, she sauntered down the holographic corridors, waving cheerily to a man walking past her, as if she had every right to be there. She reached the filing cabinet and carefully removed the wallet folder, making sure she didn't leave fingerprints. Then she photographed each page. Placed the folder back into the wallet then sauntered out. She was about halfway out when the alarms sounded, meaning the Danger Room had decided the body had been found. She walked with the others to the main foyer and spotted her contact. She walked past him, dropping the camera. He picked it up and then Tora saw him nod. She broke for the door, pulling out the knife as she did so. The guards levelled the stun guns at her and she knew she could have made it to the door but the students wouldn't. So she turned and brought the knife up to her throat. The guards lowered the guns slightly. She knew that. Try to keep the infiltrator alive for interrogation. Then she started to lower the knife, before stabbing herself in the chest. She heard the screams from both the holograms and the students. She saw her 'contact' slip away in the confusion and then the Danger Room voice stated quite cheerfully,

"Mission successful."

The students filed in looking slightly terrified.

"I needed to show you that espionage isn't all explosions and card tricks. By the way, word of warning, never play poker with Gambit. He cheats. But I digress. Sometimes the only way to complete a mission is to die. I programmed this scenario so that the only way for my contact to escape and therefore my mission to succeed was my death or mutilation to distract the guards. And if given the choice between death and capture, chose death. It's normally better in the long run."

The students shifted slightly.

"Right, the period ends in ten minutes. I'm dismissing you early. Go get lunch."

The students hurried out and she heard the whispers. She'd scared them. But it was for the best. They would need to learn what they might have to do if they joined the X-Men. Unbidden, Etana's face swam to the forefront of her mind. Sighing, she wandered out of the mansion, stopping to pick up Jamie, and walked into the cold November air. She wandered, almost as if she didn't know where she was going, but her feet took her to a black marble stone, with carved wings heading it. It was incredibly plain, not even much of an inscription. Etana had asked for it to be discreet. To name all her accomplishments would have taken up too much room. Tora turned and saw the large man walk towards her.

"Hi Nate."

"You miss her."

"Yeah. She understood better then most about Logan and everything else."

"In the short time I knew her, I liked her."

"What was your Etana like?"

Cable frowned then sat down as well, scooping Jamie up in his techno-organic arm.

"You have to understand that alternate realities can lead to…changes in those we love."

"Nate?"

"In my world, or the world I grew up in at least, Etana was the Horseman of Death, Apocalypse's most faithful servant…and his wife. I had a number of run ins with her, all resulting in my injury."

"Etana…"

"Yes. Take the Etana you knew. Turn her modesty into hubris. Turn her compassion into cruelty. Turn her into a living, breathing maniac and you still wouldn't be anywhere near."

Tora shuddered.

"I could show you. Not her, but the one survivor of the attack on the X-Mansion."

"Someone survived? But I thought it was three-thousand…"

"Yeah. Someone survived. Or something at any rate."

"Something…"

"I wouldn't say she was human anymore. Not after what Death did to her."

"What happened?"

"Her family were exterminated. She begged to be killed but she was simply scarred and injured. Then they kept her in a room alone for over thirty years. She ended up as Etana's slave. This was from a person who valued freedom so highly, she would die rather than let herself be chained. Then she ended up as Stryfe's personal slave. In the end, we rescued her but it was too late. This brilliant mind had been shattered. We do our best, but she just sits on a bed all day in her old costume and rocks backwards and forwards. And since I've met the person she used to be, I grew to hate Etana even more."

"Who was or is it?"

"I'll show you tonight. After lessons, I'll take you to see what Etana did to her."

Tora nodded and picked up Jamie from Cable's arms.

"Why do you want to show me? Really I mean."

"Because there are some questions you could answer about the person."

"So…"

"Yes. We can't get a sensible answer out of her. You may be able to help her recover."

"I'll see you after lessons."

"Yes. And Tora…?"

"Yeah Nathan?"

"I understand if you don't want to see this."

"It can't be worse than what I've gone through."

She turned and walked away before Nathan could tell her that nothing could prepare her for what he was going to show her.

Phoenix frowned.

"I never heard about this."

"You wouldn't have. Tora never mentioned it."

"Why?"

"You'll see."