Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men or Marvel. Well, guys, Avengers: Endgame happened. And that's all I'm going to say for people who still need to see it.

Chapter 31: All Good Things...

By the time I made my way back to where we'd started from in upper Manhattan, I was still a head case. I'd taken my time to give myself a chance to cool my heels and refocus, but my mind was stuck on Megan. The way we parted left me with an uneasy feeling in my gut.

All of my people-reading ability told me that things weren't good with her. But the worst thing I could have done was smother her. Perhaps absence would make the heart grow fonder? After all, how could you miss someone if they wouldn't go away?

...It was just a shame that I had to resort to that kind of reasoning to ease my mind after only a month of being back around her regularly.

Eventually, I found Laura (or she found me – I'm not sure which), and we got back to work on our original reason for coming to New York in the first place. Of course, she'd had... limited success in finding any sign of this Daken guy in my absence.

For someone who was waiting for her, he kept a very low profile, which left us wandering around trying to get a clue. It was remarkably boring, which was bad for me trying to not think about the sinking ship of my relationship. So, I started running my mouth.

"The Cuckoos don't have codenames," Laura pointed out in the middle of our conversation. She walked in step with me as we continued to search the streets and converse.

"Yeah, they do," I argued back in return, "They do have a codename – the Three-In-One. It just sucks, and calling them the Cuckoos is easier and sounds cooler, so no one ever uses the actual one-," I stopped when I realized that I'd been had, "...Oh, I see what you did there."

For someone who wasn't very good with people, Laura was surprising adept at manipulating a conversation. She'd either picked that up over the course of her extensive training, or she'd been spending way too much time around my manipulative ass.

As the search dragged on, Laura went increasingly silent, more focused. Her head down, her eyes darted between everyone we passed, nostrils flaring every few moments. Where her hands were normally shoved in the pockets of her jeans or her jacket, they were now at her sides, ready for action at a moment's notice.

I had never actually paid attention to her mannerisms when we were in the middle of something like this. Usually, I was more focused on keeping my head on a swivel and making sure no one else on the team screwed up, myself included. Rarely did I have to worry about her in the field. I was more of a liability than she ever was.

"This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," I said, once we'd sat down on a concrete planter to take a break and gather ourselves. The chances of Laura catching a whiff similar enough to what was on that letter in a city with seven million people seemed nearly impossible to me, "...A smelly haystack with six-thousand different scents on every block."

How could she possibly distinguish between anything? I was smelling at least five different things at once at any given time, and I didn't have a superpowered nose.

This didn't seem to be what the issue was for Laura, "I have already located the scent attached to the letter. We've been following it for a while, but we aren't getting any closer."

If finding the scent wasn't the issue, maybe the problem was coming from the other end, "Laura… if he's your brother, Wolverine's son, whatever, what are the chances that you guys have the same power?"

Laura's eyes went wide in realization. Similar backgrounds likely meant similar powers, "He has my scent as well," She said to herself, "But why avoid me?"

"Maybe it's me?" I offered. There might have been a chance that Daken didn't want a meeting with a third present.

Laura shook her head, shooting this down, "No, this has been happening since before you returned. What if it's a test?"

The thought of some dude stringing along my claw-wielding teammate irked me. And I was pissed to begin with, "If this is some kind of stupid test, I suggest we turn around and go home right now."

The idea of just abandoning a quest and leaving it unfulfilled left Laura at a loss, "But… we came all this way," She sounded just like a kid. It was adorable, and actually got me to cheer up.

"-And I'm probably going to lose my relationship over this, yes," I added as a bitter aside while I made my point, "But you shouldn't be in the business of jumping through hoops for some douchebag who sent you a vague letter. He asked to see you, not the other way around. Have some value of self, woman."

Big talk from me, who was the poster child for self-loathing. Maybe Kevin Ford from the Hellions or Jay Guthrie from the New Mutants could give me a run for my money, though.

Laura looked thoughtful, as though she were really considering my words, "Do you really think we should leave?"

I wasn't about to get into the habit of making her decisions for her. I had her back and all, but this was her show, "I gave you until Sunday night to wrap this up, so it's your call. But if what's-his-face doesn't start cooperating and runs out our clock, I say to hell with him. He can schedule a school visit like a functional member of society," Laura didn't owe him anything, even if they apparently shared DNA.

"The name is Daken, actually."

An individual I hadn't noticed before, seated on the opposite side of Laura spoke up. I hadn't even noticed anyone sit down, and I had been looking that way the entire time while I'd been talking.

He had black hair in slicked down mohawk and wore pretty normal-looking clothes – a black waistcoat and slacks, and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and at least two buttons too many undone. He had a big ass tribal tattoo going up the left side of his chest and down his entire arm.

I flinched hard. Laura didn't, however, keeping her cool in a way I could only wish I had the poise to do, "Did you know he was getting closer?" I asked, Laura nodding in response, "Well, goddamn. Some heads-up would have been nice. Guy could have shot me in the head, and I'd never have noticed."

"I would not have let that happen," Laura assured me before turning to our new friend, "Daken. You sent for me?"

Daken had something of a sneer and a smirk on his face as he sized Laura up. It was a particularly shit-eating expression. Just from the first thirty seconds of making his acquaintance, I didn't like him, "You really expect me to believe that you're a clone of Wolverine?"

Well, that was an unpleasant way to make a first impression, and I let him know as much, "That's kind of rude. Is it because she's too fine to be his clone? Because, I mean, I agree, but that's still pretty shitty."

Laura didn't even bother turning around to dignify that with a glance my way, "Bellamy, hush," Her eyes never left Daken, "You reached out to me, knowing this information in advance. If you doubt it, why am I here?"

"Maybe so I can kill you for telling the most ridiculous lie ever?"

"I was made in a lab from Logan's DNA. That is not a lie."

"Prove it."

Laura held up a fist, prepared to pop her claws, and that had been enough of that. I grabbed her hand and lowered it, "She doesn't have to prove anything," I went to stand and take her with me, "Okay, thanks for reaching out! Keep in touch. She'll be sure to send you a Christmas card."

I could feel the tension in the air. We were not about to get into a fight in downtown Manhattan in broad daylight just because some guy turned up out of the blue and started popping off.

Before I could get Laura any farther than five steps away, something bounced off of the back of my head. When I turned around and looked down, I saw a ball with a pink string attached. It looked a lot like a human eyeball.

You know that weird watering mouth feeling you get right before you throw up? I got it at that moment, "...That's a legit eye, isn't it?" I asked the obvious.

Instead of being nauseated, Laura, on the other hand, looked furious as she stared down, "What did you do to Logan!?" It was the most reaction I'd ever heard out of her. The claws were officially out, and I couldn't stop it this time. I was too busy staring down at the eye on the ground.

"That's Logan's eye?" I said, just repeating the obvious, "You gouged out Logan's eye? Why?"

"Because I couldn't get the rest of him. And now I have you right where I want you."

Laura yanked me out of the way before Daken could sever my spinal cord. At least, that's what I think he was going for. I only caught the tail end of what he was doing, since I tumbled ass-over-teakettle from Laura's pull. When I rolled through to a manageable position, not only did Laura have her claws out, Daken had his own out.

Because of course he had claws.

Unlike Laura's and Logan's claws, there was no metal on them. They were pure sharpened bone. Two from his knuckles, and one from his wrist. Was that what Laura and Logan's claws would look like without the adamantium? It was then that I realized that they were duking it out.

...Duking it out in the middle of a Manhattan side plaza, with spectators standing back and watching the blood fly. Because blood was definitely flying. I had sometimes wondered what a fight between Laura and Logan would look like. I had expected it to be more technical, because they were both really good martial artists.

I had forgotten that at their cores, Logan, and by proxy his children and DNA copy, were driven by rage. There was little technique to be had between the two of them. The best description of the fight I could give was that the two of them looked like a tangled ball of muscle, clothes, and swinging claws.

Did I mention the blood? Because there was a lot of that. I cannot stress that enough. Some of it got on me... in my face. And that was the last straw for me. After sitting back and watching Laura and Daken stab each other and cut chunks out of each other for ninety of the most intense seconds I'd ever watched up close, I hopped up and fired an explosive blast that hit the both of them and sent them flying.

I just wanted them separated. Whatever damage I did to Laura, she could heal from. It couldn't have been any worse than what Daken had been doing. I grabbed her by the hand, snatched her up, and took off running.

They'd be at it all day trying to kill each other, and the cops were undoubtedly coming. Besides, I'd seen enough of Daken. I hoped we didn't cross paths again anytime soon.

XxX

"I can't believe you did it again," Eddie sounded equal parts amazed and exasperated when he called me after Laura and I had gotten back to the hotel just outside of Mutant Town, "You ended up on the news again. Twice in one week."

I was seated on my bed, jacket set aside as it had been covered in Laura's blood from dragging her off. She was in the bathroom, cleaning herself up, "I didn't mean to end up on the news again. Everyone has a goddamn camera these days! This is New York! A fight like that on the street should be page three or quarter-hour news. What, was today slow or something?"

"Dude, Summers is gonna be so pissed."

"I know. He's been trying to call me," Mister Summers had sent texts that I'd muted, and left messages on my voicemail. I didn't have the heart to read or listen to any of them, "Do you think he's willing to use Cerebra to find us?"

"Maybe. I'd lean more towards him scorching your ass with detention for the rest of the semester. This better not tank our Field Day chances, Sol."

I scoffed and shot a look toward the bathroom where the shower was still running, "You're more concerned with that than Laura getting cut up like a side of beef from Mister Logan's demon seed?" Granted, she'd healed within moments, but the girl lost literal chunks off of her body during that fight, "He took Logan's eye too. Not that long ago from the looks of things. When did that happen? Laura said he was in Europe on business."

"I dunno. But you can handle it. You seem to have a decent enough track record with fucked up X-Men offspring so far."

If that was what he wanted to call it, sure. I wouldn't have, but that's just me, "Whatever. Either way, we met Dickface-."

"-I thought his name was Daken."

"I know what I said," I replied, doubling down on my statement, "We met him, it didn't go well, and now we're out of here. Laura actually packed extra clothes, so she can wear something that isn't shredded or bloody. On the flipside, I'm shit out of luck until we pass a corner store or something."

"That sucks," He didn't know quite what to say in regards to our situation, which was fine. I wouldn't have expected him to, "So... Pixie made it back to campus, just so you know."

I closed my eyes and breathed out a sigh, "Good to know," Especially seeing as how she didn't let me know that she made it back okay, the way I had asked her to. Not that I had a right to get a courtesy text after suddenly running off to New York in the first place.

"She-."

I stopped Eddie before he could carry on with whatever he had to say next, "Wingman, I don't want to know. I'll talk to her myself when I get back. Whatever you have to tell me should probably come from her anyway."

"Alright, you're the boss."

The shower had turned off a minute or so ago, which was a good enough sign to wrap the call up before it dragged for too long, "I'll see about getting out of here. With any luck, I'll see you jerks tomorrow morning, maybe."

"Just don't get on the news again. If anything else happens, Summers might slap an ankle bracelet on you."

"Later," I said, hanging up the phone as Laura walked out of the bathroom, blood-free, wound-free, looking clean and refreshed in her undergarments.

I felt my eyes go wide at the sight of her and then snap toward her travel bag where her changes of clothes were. Again, with being half-naked in front of me. Why didn't she take those in with her? Have some modesty, girl.

...I mean, I looked this time, unlike the night before. But I didn't vocally react to it. I just let her do her thing, "You okay?" I eventually asked.

"I wasn't hurt that badly," Laura assured me, facing away and wiggling into a pair of jeans. It was the hardest I'd stared at anything in days, "Daken inflicted no injuries that I couldn't heal from by the time we were away from him."

That got me to I roll my eyes and break my focus on the pretty sight before me, "That's not what I meant," Her getting hurt was hard to look at, but I'd seen her in a far worse state before, "You know that him getting Logan's eye doesn't mean anything. I'm pretty sure you and Logan have left body parts all over the world," That would explain how an organization like the Facility got the DNA to clone Laura into existence in the first place, "He's probably fine. Well, fine now."

"When we were fighting, I think I understood," Laura said. An impressive feat, given that all I'd gotten out of their tussle was that both didn't seem to have much of a problem with getting stabbed repeatedly, "Daken wants to destroy Logan."

"So why do anything to involve you?" I asked, "Last time I checked, you and Logan aren't the same person."

Laura sat down on the edge of her bed, looking down at the floor, "It doesn't surprise me. For most of my life, I have been living in Logan's shadow," She said, sounding particularly glum over this fact, "When people meet me, and learn of my origin, they expect me to look like Logan, act like Logan, fight like Logan," She punctuated this by popping the claws on one of her hands.

"That's bullshit," I said, "You're way prettier than Logan," Unsurprisingly, my attempt at a joke fell flat, "Sorry. It's just, when people around me feel like this, I feel bad. I want to make them feel better," It was the truth. I was just awful at empathizing, "...And you definitely deserve better."

Laura smiled at me, letting her claws slide back between her knuckles, "You are a good friend."

It was a nice sentiment, and I tried to be. It didn't seem like I did the best job of it, but I tried, "I feel like a terrible friend. I can't ever stop anything bad from happening to you guys," I started thinking of my various failures involving my friends and loved ones, "The Reavers kidnapped Ruth. Miss Pryde is hurtling through space somewhere. Hisako got leveraged against me by my asshole son from the future. I keep giving Mister Rasputin headaches having to clean up my messes. And poor Pix..."

"You never mentioned how that ended," Laura commented. And no, I hadn't, because it hadn't ended well.

"I told everyone I'd be a shitty boyfriend," I said, as though it had been some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. But that was just an excuse and I knew it, "I'm not-. I can't-," Words wouldn't form correctly, and I eventually gave up on trying to articulate, "Whatever. I don't think it's gonna last much longer, and if it doesn't, it's my fault."

Laura wringed her hands about in her lap, "I'm sorry. I didn't make things any easier with what happened before-."

I had to stop her right there, "No. Nothing is your fault," She was not going to apologize to me for liking me. I wasn't going to allow that miscarriage of justice, "You shouldn't worry about it. It's nothing you did. It was never about you. It's all on me."

If I were better. Funny how that always seemed to be a theme in my head whenever something went wrong. Some would say that was a beneficial way to look at things. Dr. Garrison told me that the degree I took it to was self-destructive. That I would never enjoy any of my successes if all I took the time to reflect on were my perceived failures, some of which I couldn't have prevented.

Well, I was the leader. When things went well, the credit was supposed to go to my squad – to the people around me. When things went bad, it was my fault. That extended into life affairs as well, didn't it?

Laura didn't think so, and much to my surprise, she glared at me, "Bellamy, you're a hypocrite."

I fell out of my own thoughts at Laura's declaration, "Say what?"

She didn't back down. That wasn't her nature. Instead, she doubled down on her point, "You tell me I can rely on you, that I'm not to blame for so many things I've been involved in, but you're just as harsh on yourself as you tell me not to be to myself, and you try to take so much on your shoulders alone. You should value yourself more."

This coming from a person I've seen charge into automatic gunfire and take bullets just because she knew she could heal from the wounds, "...I'm just gonna let that one slide," I mumbled to myself.

I wasn't willing to argue over the issue, but that didn't mean that Laura was finished, "You don't think you're the right person to lead the Paladins, you don't think you're good enough for a relationship with Megan," There was a slight quizzical tilt to her head, "What do you think you're good enough for?"

I never got the chance to think very hard about the question, let alone the chance to answer. Laura suddenly straightened up alertly. I'd been around her long enough to know that when she did that, shit was on.

For a moment, I feared Daken had followed us to try and get another piece of her, before she revealed more information, "Heavy footsteps are coming this way, and I hear the rattle of equipment."

Her training was much more thorough than mine, but my own still kicked in. Equipment meant weapons. Weapons meant guns. Any decent gun would shred the walls around us like paper mache.

Laura popped her claws again and huddled herself into the bathroom by the door of the room. I flipped my bed onto its side and used a finger laser to carve a hole into the wall into the next room.

She didn't ask what I was doing, or what my plan was. She didn't give any advice, or tell me her own thoughts. She had her own schemes, and trusted that I had my own, "They are setting up positions. Fifteen seconds."

My heart began pounding in my ears. With my laser hole finished, I quietly pushed the separated wall down and crawled through, "Please be empty. Please be empty," I mouthed silently to myself.

If I had been moving into a trap, Laura would have stopped me. If I were cutting into an occupied room, it would have been very awkward. The moment I shuffled through, the door was battered open and two gunmen filed inside to sweep the room, while a third checked the bathroom.

Poor bastard was doing the right thing, and got two claws right through him for his troubles. I didn't need to see it to know what Laura's snarl and the pained gasp that followed meant. A body dropped, calls went out, and gunfire started. I tiptoed my way to the door of the empty room and took a handful of deep breaths before yanking the door open. A man who had been leaning against it preparing to head in against Laura fell through onto the floor.

I shot him in the face with an explosive blast and didn't spare him a second glance, instead leaping out into the hallway. Laura had taken on the vanguard of three, while the second wave had been waiting to go in, not willing to cram ten people into a tiny hotel room. Smart. With the guy I probably killed, that left six more people, most of whom had tunnel vision on the room that was supposed to have us in it.

A combatant across the hall from the door I'd come out of saw his partner go down and lifted his weapon to shoot at me. I moved the barrel out of my way and punched him hard enough to leave his jaw hanging by a thread and the facemask he had on.

His allies heard the impact and turned to see me. I used the body of the person I'd hit as a shield, soaking up bullets while I took down anyone I could see around my new very dead friend.

A body flew out of the open door of Laura's and my hotel room, throwing off the murderous fire of my enemies. It gave me enough of an opening to snipe two in the head with explosive shots. The safety was off – I was fighting to put people down quickly, and for good.

Laura swept out of the room and diced up the nearest people she could reach with her claws. One person collapsed to the ground, clutching their throat. Another lost half of their gun and their arm up to the elbow. The third and fourth were preoccupied with avoiding the deadly blades and weren't looking my way when I blew their heads off.

The entire fight took less than two minutes, and it left the hallway looking like a scene from a slasher movie.

Laura and I stared at each other across the expanse of fallen bodies on the floor. Only one whimpering gunman was left alive, and not willing to leave well enough alone, he reached for a gun that hadn't been cut apart. Laura went to finish him off, but light blasts are faster than melee claws, and I shot him first.

She looked up at me, and I gestured with my head to our room, "Go get your stuff. We've gotta go."

Laura nodded and ran to grab her bag while I started toward the end of the hall. Outside, we could hear screaming and sirens. With a moment to stop and think, I looked down at the bodies of our dead attackers. They wore black cloaks with a large white cross emblazoned across the front. More than a few had crosses dangling from their necks.

Okay, holy warriors. Well, hopefully your little divine assassination mission was worth getting shredded and blown apart.

Laura rejoined me right around the time I started checking the stairwell. I started going downstairs when she grabbed my arm and shook my head, pointing up as an alternative. I heeded her advice, and she broke the lock at the top of the stairs to get us to the roof. Leading the way outside into daylight, she pulled back quickly at a gunshot that nearly got her.

"There is someone watching the roof," She informed me, stating the obvious. Behind the cover of the top of the stairwell, she pointed in a general direction, "Aim there. I will draw their fire."

Draw their fire? She had a lot of faith in my marksmanship. That wouldn't have been my first idea, but if that was the plan, I certainly wasn't going to let her down.

Fearlessly, she darted out from cover. I heard a shot and ignored my first instinct to check if she'd been hit or not. I saw the shooter, only using the edge of an adjacent roof for cover, and blasted him from afar. I didn't know if I hit him in the head, neck, chest/shoulder, or what. Either way, enough of him would be missing that it was a fatal wound.

Laura came over, and without prompting wrapped her arms around my neck so I could boost jump us across the street to where the shooter had been. I had gotten him right in clavicle. Not a good spot to have something explode on you. He crawled on the ground, trying to get away from us, a trail of blood from where he'd been previously perched. We could hear him choking, and just watched until he stopped crawling, then went still completely.

It was at that moment where I felt we had overstayed our welcome in New York City.

"Well, we should probably find somewhere else to stay right now. Agreed?" I offered, getting a nod from Laura, "Good. Let's, um..." I suddenly found myself staring at her chest, being that she was still in her bra. I blamed the adrenaline, "...You throw on a shirt, and I'll call a ride."

Goddamn adrenaline hormones.

XxX

Amazingly enough, we weren't in trouble.

Hisako had the foresight to actually tell the people she needed to tell that we were gone, and we couldn't rightly be blamed for any dust-ups that we hadn't started. I'd expected a loud telepathic call in my head the moment we set foot on campus, but nothing of the sort happened.

Eddie had said Mister Summers would be pissed, and honestly, I'd wanted to be in some kind of trouble. It would have been easier navigating the minefield of discipline than to deal with what I knew was coming next.

I think I've said it before; I can deal with people being angry. It's when I feel like I've let someone down, or otherwise failed my friends that I start feeling like garbage. Well, I felt like I failed my girlfriend, and I needed to remedy that as best as I could.

So, it was with heavy footsteps that I marched through the halls of the dorm the next day, heading to my fate.

Hisako of all people seemed to be the most concerned, "Do you want any of us to come with you?" She asked, following alongside me, "I mean, you don't have to do this all alone. She's not going to be all alone."

I had eyes and ears around the school; more than just my teammates. While I'd been gone for the entire day of Saturday, it had not been a good day for public opinion on me. One of the rumors, according to what I'd been told, was that I'd run off with Laura to bang her in a hotel away from prying eyes and nosy mind-readers.

Goddamn mutant high school.

First of all, just, no. Second of all, who was spreading this information? The only people who knew were my team and Megan... and probably Megan's friends, who would have seen her after she'd gotten back.

Well, with that, it seems I answered my own question.

I put my hands on a stern-looking Hisako's shoulders, who actually seemed protective of me, "I love you to death, but if you're there, it's just gonna escalate things," I didn't want to start a fight.

Hisako sighed at hearing my decision, "Look, I know I yelled at you this morning, but we all know you and Laura didn't do anything," She said, "You don't deserve-."

I stopped her with a gentle shake, "-No one deserves anything," And Hisako knew I never felt like I deserved Megan, "It is what it is. Nobody knows what's going to happen yet."

Seeing Hisako's expression, I was reminded by what Laura had said the day before about my apparent hypocrisy, "This sucks. I want to help. Are you sure you have to do this today? You don't want to let her sleep on it a bit more? Like, until tomorrow or Tuesday?"

I scoffed in return, "I almost got killed twice yesterday. I want this done before something else stupid happens," Hisako was able to laugh at that, but her heart wasn't in it.

The two of us butted heads a lot, but I never took it personally. Hisako was a good friend. A great friend, actually. As loyal as I could ever have asked for. Eddie was a bro, Ruthie was a sister, but Hisako was a friend. More than any of the others, she made sure my head was on straight, and was more protective of me, whether I thought I needed it or not. That extended to away from the field as well.

She meant well, but I had to handle this on my own. This was a relationship between two people, so it had to be the two of us who handled it... or so I thought.

I knew Megan wouldn't have been alone. Hisako said as much, and I was smart enough to figure it out on my own. I had figured that she would have at least come to her own door though. When I arrived at her dorm room and knocked, it was Megan's roommate Hope that answered, opening the door just a crack to see me.

The reception was less than welcoming, and I knew it, "Hey, Trance," I greeted, trying to sound cool. Not nearly as cool as the icy stare Hope gave me in return, but whatever, "How's it going?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, as if to say, 'Is that really what you want to ask about?' She was right, of course. But I was trying to gather my wits. Inside, I could hear hushed voices – other girls. That did not bode well for me. And yet, I pressed on. What other choice did I have?

Calm and steady, that was how I had to play things, "I was wondering if Megan was available for a minute or two," I knew Megan could hear me and answer me herself, but I cordially played along with the whole relaying-a-message thing. No need to rock the already tumultuous boat.

Hope shut the door, leaving me standing outside awkwardly for a moment, until she came back with an answer, "She really doesn't want to see you, Bel."

Ouch. And yet, it had been expected, "I figured," I muttered more to myself than to anyone else, "Look, I get it. I'll make myself scarce until she's willing to. Is there some time this week we can get together and talk?"

Hope looked inside for a moment before addressing me again, "One sec," Again, a closed door served as the barrier between me and trying to smooth things out with Megan, while the female tribunal discussed the whole affair inside. This time, I was out there for longer than the first time, but eventually, Hope reappeared. Her best attempt to look stern left me with a feeling of foreboding, "...Megan wants to break up."

What the hell? That was not the sort of thing that should have been relayed secondhand, "...For something that big, I kind of need to hear that from her," I said, feeling knocked for a loop. Any confidence I thought I could have mustered had evaporated, just like that, "Did-. I mean, I've gotta hear why."

Hope let out an exasperated sigh, and I felt a vein pulse at my temple. Oh, was this troublesome for you? So sorry. Send Megan my way, and you wouldn't have to deal with it! "This has been a thing since the summer. You had Laura all to yourself back then, and now you sneak off to the city, just the two of you-."

I stopped her right there. I had to. That was a poisonous narrative that could go any further, "I didn't do anything. You know I didn't do anything."

Hope had the temerity to roll her goddamn eyes at me. I'd blasted people for less, "I don't know what you did or didn't do-."

"-I'm not talking to you," I ice grilled Hope and actually got her to lose the attitude, before speaking past her to who I was really there to see, "Pix... I know you can hear me. I can't make you talk to me. I can't make you change your mind if this is what you want. I just... I need to hear it from you."

I waited, and didn't hear anything from inside. No one speaking, no one moving around to get up. Even Hope turned around for a moment to see what was happening. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, I got an alert on my phone. A text, from Megan.

We should breakup

I stared at my phone, then at Hope, then at the phone. It was hard to believe. I mean, I saw it coming from day one. I'd always figured that Megan would realize she was too good for me, sooner rather than later. But not like this. Not over something that I didn't even do.

I couldn't even get the courtesy of a face-to-face.

And so, I turned and walked away. I don't even remember the trip back to my room. I just remembered telling myself not to do anything stupid. The next thing I remembered happening was spotting Saberwolf at the foot of my bed, staring at me, "You are troubled," He stated as a fact, "It is clear from your body language and how you are trying to control your breathing."

That was a very technical way to describe the act of trying not to cry or fly into a rage, "I just got dumped, Wolf."

Wolf hopped his heavy-ass front legs up onto the bed, nearly flipping me out of it, "I am aware of the significance of the term in regards to your human relationships. I believe the next thing one should ask in this situation is, 'Are you okay?'"

Not really. Even expecting Megan to eventually dump me, it still sucked. In my head, I figured it would have been like getting punched in the face when you were braced and ready for it, as opposed to getting sucker-punched. In reality, I didn't know if it was any better or not.

It just went to show; you could prepare for disaster all you wanted. Sometimes, it was still going to hit you hard enough to hurt.

"I... think I will be soon enough," I said after a deep breath, "Just give me a few days," Give me something to distract myself. Squad challenges were starting. That would be a good enough focus.

Wolf was odd. He could clearly tell I was down, yet had no idea how to help. We were pretty similar in that regard, "…Would you like to play Mortal Kombat?"

"Will you let me win a match?"

"No."

At least he was honest about the asswhooping he was going to give me. Some things I could still count on, "…Yeah, sure. Turn it on."

XxX

Going back to classes on Monday was decidedly awkward. Walking the campus, it seemed like everyone who cared to know about what happened did. Why as many of them gave a crap as they did, I have no idea. But if the perception of me as a grumpy dick had been there before, it was overwhelming now.

For kids to part like the Red Sea when I walked past, my face must have looked quite the sight. With headphones in, I couldn't hear if anyone was saying anything about me. Probably for the best. I didn't need those kinds of problems. My plan of gutting this entire thing out went swimmingly, until I actually sat down around friends of mine and had to interact with them. To their credit, it took most of the day for anyone to say anything. Even Julian had the good grace to keep his mouth shut at lunch. He and the rest of the Hellions just let me scowl and murder my food in peace.

It took until the end of history class in the afternoon for anyone to bring anything up to my face. Eddie was the first person to do so, because as good of a job as he'd been doing keeping quiet, he could only do so for so long, "So... are we just not gonna talk about it?"

I could tell he was testing the waters, and he needed to know that they weren't calm, "No, we're not gonna talk about it," I replied. Nearby, Noriko and Sofia winced.

Eddie was unconcerned, and with good reason. He was probably my best friend. What exactly would I do to him if he didn't stop? "It's just, dude, other people are talking about it. You sure you don't want to get out in front of this thing and try to spin it?"

"Sphere of influence," I said, confusing him at the vagueness of the statement, "Eddie, I don't care about what anyone I don't know personally thinks of me," I gestured to him, Noriko, Sofia, and to a lesser extent, their teammate Laurie, who I didn't know that well by comparison, "I care what you guys think, because I talk to you every day. So, New Mutant gals, what's the verdict here?"

Noriko seemed amused by how direct I was being, "On whether or not you've been cheating with Laura? My verdict is, what kind of idiot actually believes that?" I opened my mouth for the smart remark that had immediately come to mind, before she realized she'd set herself up and interrupted me, "-Okay, what kind of idiot that knows you? Yeah, you're an ass sometimes, but you're always loyal."

Loyalty may have been what had gotten me into this. Loyalty and a feeling of obligation to someone else besides who I was dating.

At least I still had decent friends that cared enough to try and help, "Why don't you give it some time and try to speak with her about it later?" Sofia offered as a suggestion.

No. I'd given that a try. I'd offered to wait until Megan figured she was ready. That had failed, and I wasn't about to do it again, "Screw that. I'm not begging anyone for anything. No one is obligated to be in my life. We can still be friends if she wants, but we'll deal with that whenever it comes up," Olive branches could wait to be extended, "What does it matter to any of you, anyway?"

Eddie slumped back in his chair, at a loss at how to remedy my situation, "It's just, you kind of got the shaft on this one, Sol."

Not that I needed to be told that. I could feel how unnatural the smile pulling at my lips was, "Never value something you aren't prepared to lose," I hoped it looked as disturbing as it felt.

"Well, that's just cynical," Noriko grumbled.

"You call it cynical; I call it pragmatic," I replied.

Eddie leaned over and gave me a consoling/encouraging pat on the back, "He more or less said this was always going to happen. I'm just glad he's not saying something like, 'I told you so.'"

I glared at him half-heartedly, "Yeah, because I'm such an asshole, I'd find any way to celebrate even the smallest part of my relationship crashing and burning," Eddie just shrugged in return, "Never change, buddy."

"It's also making you look bad," Noriko added.

And what did that mean to me? That no one else would wish to date me anytime soon? Oh, what a shame, "It's a good thing I'm not trying to fuck anyone else at this school then, isn't it?" I said. As if I had the stomach for that sort of thing anyway.

An uncomfortable silence reigned between all of us until the bell excusing the class rang. One of us, not being able to leave things as they were, had to add one last tidbit.

"Does this mean I should take Pixie out of the 'Skip's future mom' pool?" Eddie asked as we got up. He quickly found a glowing fist pointed in his direction, "Sol, don't shoot!"

He flew out of the classroom in a hurry. Good man, because he knew I absolutely would have.

XxX

Another day, another post-squad exercises Paladins team meeting...which basically meant sharing dinner, and because it was fall, huddling around a TV in one of our dorm rooms (usually mine or the room Ruth and Laura shared). It was something everyone insisted on that evening as a means on insulating me so that I didn't spend too much time moping around, or do something stupid.

Nosy bastards... I love my team.

The girls were watching whatever Hisako had pulled up for entertainment on Netflix, Hulu, or whatever on the TV, while Eddie and I huddled around my laptop so we could stream Monday Night Football and crap all over whichever two teams were playing.

Whenever there was a lull, we'd get to talking about team stuff, or whatever major events were affecting us as a whole. I was lucky on this night, as my very recent break-up wasn't the topic of universal interest. Instead, it was the attack Laura and I had endured in New York.

Never had I been so grateful that someone had tried to kill me. There was no better distraction from teenage drama in the world than mortal peril.

"They are called the Purifiers," Laura explained from where she lay at the foot of my bed with the rest of the girls, "X-Men archives say they are Reverend Stryker's personal army."

Eddie sat off to the side with me in desk chairs as he swiped through images Laura had taken on Saturday, "Anyone else think it's kind of unnerving that Laura has pictures of dead bodies on her phone?"

"Not when it's evidence. Way to cover our collective asses, Laura," I said, praising her. I had been more concerned with getting us away from there before things could get even worse. She'd made sure that we could follow up on who was after us once we'd made it out, "Okay, so these guys tried to kill us. Now what?"

"You," Laura said, pointing over Ruth's back directly at me.

I didn't get it at first. The one-word reply was too vague for understanding, "'Me' what?"

"They were after you, Bellamy," Laura continued, green eyes boring a hole through me, "You were the target at the hotel. Not me."

I wanted to doubt her; to ask her how she knew, given how quickly it had all happened. But she had been the first to engage, had better hearing than me, had more experience than me, and had actually collected the pictures we were all pouring over.

Needless to say, coming from her, I accepted what I was told very quickly, "Whyyyyy?" I turned in my chair and banged my head on my desk, "Why fucking me? Why kill me?"

Luckily, Laura was there to prevent any misunderstandings, and corrected me, "They were not there to kill you. They were there to extract you. You were meant to be captured."

-Because that was so much better. I let my thoughts be known with smart remarks, as was my nature, "Could have fooled me, what with the automatic weapons, and the sniper posted outside."

"Nah, Laura's right," Eddie piped up, showing me things he'd been checking on in Laura's phone, "Remember the simulations with Miss Pryde in the Danger Room? These guys are rolling too light to be an extermination squad, see?" As our reconnaissance guy, he started pointing things out, "Small arms, light armor. If they were there to put you down and did any scouting, they would have brought bigger shit to deal with you and Laura."

Laura helpfully pointed out a detail that I had missed in all of the mayhem, "They carried vibranium weaponry."

Hisako seemed impressed by the nature of the weaponry, "Isn't that what that one Wakandan kid is tattooed with to keep his powers from killing him? That 'Gentle' guy?"

Eddie let out a low whistle as he threw Laura her phone back, "I don't know about that, but I know that's what Captain America's shield is made of."

Vibranium was really nasty stuff. Expensive too. Good on Laura to notice it. The good reverend's collection plates seemed to be very full to afford that kind of equipment, "Thank God they were stupid enough to attack in close quarters, huh? That stuff would have torn us to shreds if it had hit us," Laura only responded with a silent nod.

"None of this changes Bel's question though," Hisako said, pushing herself up onto her knees, "Why would Stryker send a team after him? What, did he find out that you blow up the world too?"

"Don't even joke about that," I warned half-heartedly. If Dr. Richards didn't have a strictly need-to-know policy with others like S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, I was sure I'd have been shot into space by now for safety, "That's the last thing I need to do – give a mutant-hating extremist a somewhat legit reason to come after my balls."

Hisako seemed vexed by what all of this speculation actually meant for us, "Okay, so Stryker shot his shot at Bel while he and Laura were in New York, and we don't know why. So what? What do we do about it now? What are the X-Men going to do about it now?"

Laura and I had told Mister Rasputin about it all when we'd gotten back. Now we were just sharing it with our friends. After all, this was Paladins business.

Eddie pointed between Hisako and I, "Aren't you two technically X-Men?"

We looked at each other before I turned back to Eddie to answer him, "We're more like part-time X-Men. We need more seasoning, or something."

"X-Men interns," Hisako said, piggybacking off of my dumb comparison.

I kept the ball rolling, starting to enjoy the impromptu game, "X-Men National Guard."

"D-League X-Men."

"Arena Football League X-Men."

"Triple-A minor league X-Men."

"'Break glass in-case of emergency,' X-Men."

Hisako seemed to agree enough with that last one, basing the rest of her explanation off of it, "Like, we're not first or second-string if a team needs to get sent on a mission-," No. Absolutely not. The sheer thought of it was way out there, "-But if the school gets attacked, or something like the Danger Room going berserk happened again, the two of us are in charge of the rest of you lemmings."

I walked over to the bed and held up my hand for a 'too sweet', for both Hisako's succinct explanation and her insulting of the entire student body. She returned it without a fuss. I was happy for the first time in a few days, if only for a moment.

Ruth had been very quiet while we'd been talking about the Purifiers. She wasn't always the most talkative, and when she did talk, it wasn't always the easiest thing for others to understand, so I just figured she was keeping to herself. After Hisako and I had our moment, Ruth tugged on my pants to get me to stoop down by her. When I was close enough, she reached out and pressed my forehead to hers.

And then the vision came.

Everyone was outside in uniform, gathered in their teams. It was the meeting before the first Field Day competition. The speech was boring, and we were all just waiting to hear what the events would be for the day's competitions.

And then, someone exploded. Honest-to-God blew up, just like that. There was some kind of power flickering that I couldn't quite distinguish, and then BOOM!

I'd gotten accustomed enough to Ruth's jarring visions that I didn't collapse, or otherwise physically react when it was done, but what I saw was surprising enough to get my heart racing. I fell back onto my butt, staring at Ruth's face with wide eyes. Everyone else stared at me. I paid them little mind, with the exception of my precognitive little telepath laying on my bed with a worried expression.

"Oh! Oh!" I exclaimed and leaned over to planted a big kiss on Ruth's cheek, "Mwwah! Oh, you beautiful fucking walking magic 8-ball, you!" I said, jumping to my feet.

Eddie was one of the three alarmed at my reaction, "What? What happened?"

I needed a moment to wrap my head around things, "I just saw some SHIT. That's what happened," I finally told him, before questioning Ruth, "Was that real?"

The sights, the sounds, the smells. All of it was too distinct to be fabrication. It felt like I'd been there. Ruth confirmed as much, "As real as real can be, yes," She sat up on the edge of the bed, still frowning, "Pardon. She knows Bellamy told her not to show things to others, but... sorry."

No. No apologies. This was the kind of thing her powers could be used for, should be used for. Now it was time to make a difference... by finding someone who could make a difference.

"I need an adult. I need an adult right now," I said, grabbing Ruth by her hand to come along with me, just in case the burden of evidence was set upon me, "Come with me, Ruthie."

Out of the room and through the halls we went, until we found the room of our senior advisor. Mister Rasputin answered the door, towering over the two of us without a shirt. I could only hope to be so ripped one day. But that was neither here nor there.

"Did you need something, Bellamy? Ruth?" Mister Rasputin asked.

"Yeah... uh, can we come in?" I asked, not really wanting to have a conversation about impending doom in the middle of the hall. He graciously let us in. His room was pretty spartan in its layout. There weren't many decorations there, which was fine. It gave me more opportunity to focus on what was important, "I don't know how to say this, but Ruthie just projected a dude exploding in the middle of Field Day assembly into my head."

"Exploding?" Mister Rasputin said, raising an eyebrow, either in interest or confusion, "What do you mean, exploding?"

"Violently combusting," I made an explosion gesture with my hands, "Like, kills a bunch of kids lined up outside in rows 'violently'."

Not the nicest way to put things, but to hell with sugarcoating matters. Motherfuckers were going to die in a week or so if this was accurate. Mister Rasputin cringed at the description, "And you're sure about this?"

"Ruthie and I have a rule," I said, as Ruth wrapped her hand tightly around mine. She seemed pretty shaken, having seen what she'd had. I probably only got a taste, and only for a few seconds, compared to what she experienced, "She doesn't tell other people about her precog visions unless it's relevant and really important."

Even then, she was to bring it to me first. Usually because when she verbally told people about what she saw, I had a better chance of interpreting her cryptic words than anyone else.

"I see," Mister Rasputin muttered, "And is it you who explodes?" A great question. Given recent revelations, I would be the prime candidate for involuntary detonation.

I shook my head in the negative, "No. That's the thing, actually. It's not."

Ruth suddenly interjected with her own piece, "They fall down, yes, and take others with them. Powers betray the body. No control, no. Many pay the price."

"...Right," Neither Mister Rasputin or I knew how to react to such a macabre declaration. But I was more used to it than him, so I accepted it quicker, "We told you, so you can get the others to maybe do something. I dunno what, but something."

"I know what," Mister Rasputin assured me, much to my relief, "I will not say do not worry, because this is worrisome situation. But it will be handled."

Yes. This time, someone was listening to me. Action would be taken before anyone got hurt. If this was happening during the Field Day assembly, we had two weeks until then. Plenty of time to find a potentially explody student and help them before it was too late.

Good deed done. Now that's hero shit. It wasn't all about violent fights and saving the world. Those were just the things everyone heard about after the fact. That was what you did when there weren't any other options. Sometimes it was about solving problems before they could become problems.

We needed more of that around there. And my fingers were crossed, not just because I wanted everyone to be okay, but because personally, after what had just happened with Megan, I needed some kind of a win like no one's business.

That's it for now, the end of the chapter, and I'm intrigued with how things have been interpreted by you guys thus far.

This whole first-person perspective of things makes it harder to Trojan horse plot points into the story without being heavy-handed about it – in case people miss it, then when something comes back to roost later in the story, it confuses them. I just wonder how things are coming off from a reader's perspective.

Obviously, I like it well enough, because I'm writing it and releasing it. But even though I mostly only write for my own amusement, you all sit down and occupy yourselves by reading it. Despite the fact that this is run as a dictatorship, I am a tyrant who is willing to listen to the opinions of those populating Kenchi-land.

…Also, I'm going to have to think of a better name for my hypothetical country, because that one did not seem good to me.

Anywho, next time we get back to business! More dealing with relationship shit! More grumpy-ass Bel! More mortal peril, either overt or underlying! And more Colossus, because he's fucking worth it!

Kenchi out!

Now... back to Mortal Kombat 11! I love you, Johnny Cage! You too, Kano, you gross bastard! Keep giving me tons of multiplayer wins!