Ch 66 My Student
Logan's spine tingled for a second as he imagined an arrow from one of the Multiverse's most dangerous Green Arrow's was pointed at his head, and then he increased the density of his body as much as he could. "Well hello Mr. Archer, any chance you are here to help me rescue these kids that were being gathered for some nefarious purpose by a world threat psycho or organization?" Logan asked, hope evident in his tone.
"Actually I think I'm saving them from some radical that is taking offense that a world power for justice is gathering children that could pose a danger to themselves and others if not properly guided and mentored."
Logan slowly turned around to look the Green Arrow in the face. "Moving them around at 3am and erasing any proof that they were at orphanages does not really seem like something a legitimate group would do. You cannot blame a guy for looking into it. As for the violence, well you can ask the roof guy. Take note that I do not exactly have a place for keeping a gun in this onesie, I will assume he is a new recruit from some New York police department. Only place near here that plays by the rule book he was using."
A voice came from the side, "You must admit he is right Clint." Mr. Terrific said through his T sphere.
Relaxing the arrow on his bow a bit, Archer said, "You're in on this Holt? Who is this new kid?"
"He is Logan J'onzz, he is new to the watchtower. He contacted me earlier just in case this was more than it seemed. Looks like he was smart to do so. Since when is SHIELD recruiting so young?"
"It is a new initiative from the higher-ups. Gather some new talent if they are willing and train them to be safe if they have no interest in serving. It's not much different than what your Professor X does."
"Did I hear my name?" With a puff of smoke and a smell of brimstone, three figures appeared from this air. One is Charles Xavier in his hover chair, another Lpgan recognized as Nightcrawler, with his blue fur and demon-like appearance. Then finally a short muscular man whose every move screamed brutality that Logan could never mistake, The Wolverine.
Wolverine's eyes took in the whole warehouse, and he sniffed the air almost constantly. His eyes fell on me, and he growled in warning, Logan was easily able to make out his warning to cause his people no trouble. He simply nodded to him, returned his density to normal practice level, and made sure he wasn't presenting himself as a challenge. Wolverine ignored Logan after that and focused on Green Arrow as he was by far the most dangerous person in the warehouse.
Charles spoke in his even tone, "I applaud the SHIELD for working to ensure the children have a place to grow and learn their powers in safety. However, like young Logan here I find it distressing that all records of these children are being erased. Care to explain Nick?"
In a blink, a man appeared in the warehouse. A black man of average height and average looks if one took away the eyepatch that covered his right eye. A face no one would think to remember at first glance, perfect for the world's greatest spy. Nick Fury, "You sound like you think we are some nefarious group, out to abduct and experiment on these children Professor."
James Howlett, known as The Wolverine or his common name Logan spoke in a gruff voice "The government didn't exactly ask my permission to cover my bones in adamantium Nick." With a metal-on-metal grinding sound, three claws popped out of Wolverine's fist. "But they sure played nice before that when I was part of the Howling Commandos."
Nick Fury, "Different government and different time's Jimmy. What happened to you will not happen to anyone else while I'm in charge of SHIELD."
Charles spoke again, "That's the thing, Nick. You may be in charge today, but the government can replace you whenever they want. The Meta community is going to want more than your word that you're not weaponizing children. No different than the government monitoring my school for the same thing."
Logan (the green one) decided to be the voice of reason here, "Maybe we should calm down a bit gentleman, we are starting to scare the children."
"Put it away Clint." Nick Fury said.
Archer lowered his bow and said to Logan, "Your partner is tied up 2 buildings to the south. She is fine and her identity still secure. I am a bit jealous of your luck kid, you get a hottie like her, and I get him for a partner." He pointed to Nick Fury with his thumb.
"I am your boss, not your partner Archer!"
"Get me a hot partner like his and I will acknowledge you as my boss, until then, we are partners."
Logan rushed up the stairs to the roof and changed into an owl, then headed to where Green Arrow indicated. Logan found Devilgirl tied up and pulled to a corner where she wouldn't be casually seen. Thinking it would be smart to wake her up before he untied her to reduce the chances of getting hit, Logan gently shook her until she started to come around.
"Ugh my head. Wait!" Devilgirl looked around and started to struggle to free herself.
"It's ok, you are safe, I got you." Logan tried to calm her down.
"He came from out of nowhere! He took me down in 3 moves. Not even Devilbat can do that." She said with fury in her voice.
Logan smiled at her, "Yeah, well he is Clint Archer AKA Green Arrow. If he claimed to be the second-best martial artist in the world, then Devilbat would talk about how he is smarter than Clint and leave it at that. Let's go see what's going on."
After freeing her, Logan filled her in on what had happened and specifically told her he told them he heard about the missing kids through a third party. Let them make up their own stories. As they returned to the warehouse together, Logan saw Nick fury sitting in a chair talking to Professor X and Mr. Terrific appeared as a hologram being produced by his T Sphere.
About 20 feet away he saw Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Green Arrow talking together. Logan walked towards them and Devilgirl followed him.
Archer was speaking as they approached, "I think Fury is just as worried as you guys about the welfare of the kids honestly. He has been dragging his feet on bringing them in, but the committee is pushing hard to recruit those with special powers. Everyone knows people don't really treat the Meta kids the best when they start to show abilities and that just makes the kids hate non-Meta people and who can blame them? So, Fury was concentrating on those in orphanages because that's a rough life even if you don't have the Meta gene."
"Hydra is brainwashing everyone they can find that has powers into joining them and other organizations are following suit. You X- Man can't even cover all of America let alone the world. Just imagine if they get someone on the level of Magneto or even Professor X from some shithole country that everyone has taken turns bombing like Sokovia. Or some idiot with more brains than caution makes a super AI that finds humanity a bother." Archer shook his head at the thought.
Wolverine took a cigar out of his mouth, "Not disagreeing with ya bub, but you got to recognize that the government's track record with rounding up possible Meta kids ain't stellar Clint. Your hearts and minds may be in the right place but what about everyone else that has a hand in SHIELD?"
Nightcrawler nodded his head, "Every time the government experiments on creating a super weapon out of a Meta child they push us closer to Magneto's vision of a war, just for the right to exist."
"Not to interrupt the grownup's table here, but it never made sense that people are so against metahumans. There are movies out there of love stories between Vampires and Zombies but a simple gene is active in the body and the world hates you with a burning passion. Even aliens are more accepted than metahumans."
Charles overheard the question, "That my young Logan, is a very good question and one we have been asking for a long time. You have come a long way in a short time my young friend. You are much more natural in your body than the last time we met."
Assuming the meeting with Fury was over, Logan answered, "I still have a long way to go, Professor, I learn more about myself almost every day. I had planned to come to your school for a few lessons on controlling my more animalistic nature, but I want to get as far as I can on my own first."
Charles frowned, "As your powers are more Martian than Meta, I am not sure we could help you much."
Wolverine blew out a puff of cigar smoke, "You're wrong Chuck, this one would be my student." He walked around Logan sniffing the air and watching his reactions. "He isn't talking about controlling the animal and forcing it back like I have to. He needs to learn to let it out, to cut loose."
Charles just nodded, "We are done here. The agreement is that we will provide some teachers to help and monitor the children and SHIELD can recruit at our school once a month."