Memories
Down in the Alley
Disclaimer: What do you think? If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
"Come on, you can't call a kid that. It's not a common name."
"I don't see what's wrong with Etana Logan."
"As a middle name, fine. But you can't call her that. Anyway, you'd end up confusing everyone."
"How?"
"By talking about Etana as in Shadow and people thinking you meant Etana as in our daughter."
"Like anyone would mistake a child's comments for Etana's. What?"
"Do you know what Jamie said yesterday?"
"What?"
"This smells worse than London in the 17th century. And where do you think he learnt that from?"
"Oh…"
"Hank took him to Stephan to make sure he wasn't possessed."
"Oh."
"How about Eva?"
"Logan… You'd call her that. If we have a girl."
"Yeah. I reckon you'd want some way of remembering her."
"And if we have two girls?"
"I… Why are you looking at me?"
"Eva Etana is our first choice and Eva was my friend and I wanted to call my daughter Etana. So you get first dibs on the second choice girls name."
"I… I've always… Rose. I like the name Rose. And Jean as a second name."
"Anyone you know? Or knew?"
"I… I don't…I don't think so…"
She sighed slightly.
"Right. Number One Girls Name, Eva Etana. Number Two Girls Name, Rose Jean. Boys names? I think Kurt."
"You can't call a kid Kurt when Elf's still alive. That would get way too complicated."
"Curt with a C? Short for Curtis?"
"Isn't that the name of the creepy scientist who turns into a lizard?"
"So? The name doesn't mean they're all bad. Anyway, he'd probably end up being called C or Lil' Wolvie or something."
"Don't. Call. Me. Wolvie."
"Jubilee calls you that. Now, we can't use Charles as that's Jamie's middle name. I'd use Steve as a middle name."
"So Curt Steve? Curtis Steven? I would want to use Logan but Logan Logan would just be a trifle too silly."
"I feel that I don't have much choice in this."
"No Carcajou. You don't."
"John? I remember the name John… from somewhere…"
"I like Henry."
"There are far too many Henrys. Hank McCoy, Hank Pym, Henry Peter Gyrich."
"Most of them are Hanks. And John Henry sounds fine."
"Right then. Put them on the list."
She smiled.
"I always get my way, don't I?"
"Well, you smile and I forget I'm supposed to be sensible."
She laughed.
"I really love you, you know."
"I should hope so."
He pulled her in for a hug, careful not to hurt her too much.
"I can't wait. You know that?"
She smiled.
"I've been working with Hank on the delivery notes. Twins are smaller than singles but there's still some dangers. Oh, and Emma is certain they have a telepathic link. At any rate, one calmed the other down with a bond. Charles doesn't think it's a telepathic link though. He's going for an empathic link at best."
He smiled softly and placed a hand on her stomach.
"You two kids have the best mother ever, you hear?"
"Don't bias them Logan."
"It's true!"
"Bias? Only she would say that."
"Well it's true."
"What, she was the best mother or Logan was biasing them?"
"Both… I think…Er…Um…"
"Cosmic entity of indecision coming through!"
"OI!"
She stepped into the cold February air and breathed deeply. Alone. Logan and Hank would have kittens when they found out she'd 'ran off' to get out of the cosy, warm, restrictive atmosphere of the mansion. Not that it wasn't nice or anything. But she was a free spirit and needed to get out. Out of the cloying and coddling and niceties. She was Tora and she was a wild, feral mutant under all the layers of pretence. And Dragon… Oh, Dragon pretended as well. Pretended to be the scholar, the archivist. But really was as wild and free and Phoenix. Most of the time, Dragon pretended to be a plodding river or a calm sea. But in reality, it was the storm-swept seas, the tsunami, the wild rapids that were the true heart of Dragon. Of course, they both hid it well. They had to. Tora had learnt early on with the X-Men. Conform to civilisation, even if you do not understand. Well she was sick of conforming. So this was her little act of rebellion. Leaving the mansion, even if it was just to go to a coffee bar in the wrong end of town. The place was tiny, grubby tables and possibly mugs as well. The coffee was great though. So she came here once a week, never at the same time, never on the same day. Once a week but with enough variation to prevent the others becoming suspicious. She smiled as she walked along the street and down the alley. A short-cut. She could easily handle any low-lifes. All it would take was a flash of the claws and they ran screaming. Or if that failed, a little Dragon would scare them senseless. Of course, if a powered crook attacked her, the best thing to do would be to paralyse them and ring Spidey. Spidey would joke around and make stupid remarks but he was capable of keeping his mouth shut when he needed to. She sighed. Then turned as the scent caught her nostrils. Two men, both carrying knives.
"What have we here? A little lady walking all on her own."
"I don't want to hurt you. Just leave me alone and the police will not have to reassemble you."
"Bit stupid lady, when we're the ones holding the knives and you aren't in a fit state to fight."
"Really? I can already see eighteen ways to kill you, fifteen of which are slow and painful."
"What are you?"
"Have you heard of the Black Widow?"
"You aren't her. She's a Russian chic."
"Well, I'm about eight times better than her. And a lot more secret."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really."
And the slender silvery claws slid out of their sheathes.
"Adamantium. Can cut through anything except proto-adamantium and adamantium."
Then why were the men leering?
"Good. You just confirmed you were our target."
The knife slashed and she brought the claws up. Normally the metal of her claws would slice straight through the metal of the knife. Instead sparks flew as they grated together. And her eyes widened as she realised that this had been planned.
The woman in black with the ice mask winced.
"That was plain evil, setting two thugs on a woman who was unable to defend herself."
"Well, it was the only way to defeat her unless you used a powerful electromagnet."
"That's cheating."
"Well it worked."
"Xavier School for Higher Education."
"Mr Logan?"
"No. He's teaching at the moment. Is he in trouble?" The last sentence was indecently hopeful.
"Who is this?"
"Mr Summers, headmaster."
"Mr Summers, I think that Mr Logan should come immediately. This is the Westchester State Hospital."
"What…!"
"I'm afraid I can't talk to anyone but a relative of a Mrs Tora Logan."
"Would…would her sister do?"
"I feel her husband would be a better choice."
Scott pressed the button.
"Logan, up here now."
"Slim, the class is in the middle of an exercise."
"It's important."
"X-business?"
"No. Logan, it's about Tora."
No answer. Then Scot started counting down from fifty. He'd got to thirty-eight when Logan burst in.
"Tora? What's wrong Slim?"
"I have Mr Logan here now. Logan, you should take the phone."
"Mr Logan?"
"Yeah. Who is this?"
"Dr Hamilton of the Westchester State Hospital. It's about your wife."
"Tora…"
"She was found in an alley after being attacked. She suffered multiple stab wounds and a beating. What worries us more is that she is six months pregnant. Mr Logan, I'd advise you to come to the hospital as soon as possible."
"What's wrong?"
"Your wife is about to have twins three months early. And there are…complications."
A series of swear words came after this remark.
"Slim, cover my classes. I have to get there as fast as possible."
"Kurt, can you come here please."
Logan smiled.
"Thanks Slim."
"Tora's my friend Logan. I care about her just like you do."
There were no words. What could be said in this frozen room, where time had no meaning, by three beings that were not human about the most human plight of all.