Thanks as always to the new followers/favs and special thanks to Cheshire and Chimera629 for the reviews. Cheshire glad you appreciate why it takes me some time to get these chapters out ... gotta plant those seeds and who doesn't love a good payoff? Plenty more of that to come. And yea ... Kara's background won't be a mystery forever. Oh and more Rahne to come.
If you can't tell I love me some reviews so ... yea. There's my one pitch. We got some more fluff in this chapter though not to worry plenty of action to come. Read and review!
"Somethin' on your mind comrade?" Logan grunted as he pulled a bit of uniform that had managed to heal itself into his shoulder. Hated when that happened.
"It is about the pantera." Piort answered, taking off his own uniform with a shrug. The pair had been out with Jean and Bobby on another pickup, this time the local police department and what had looked like most of the town not taking kindly to the X-Men showing up to interrupt their lynch mob.
"What bout her?" Logan was already back in his jeans and tshirt, the whisky in his room calling to him and not really feeling like bothering with yet another 'teacher' with comments about Salem. Seemed everyone had their own ideas of what was best for her.
"This." Colossus pulled a folded up piece of paper from his locker and offered it to Logan who just stared at it for a moment before taking it and unfolding it without much thought.
"Never been much for art tinman ... what's this supposed to be?" Logan grumbled, giving the clash of colors on the page a once over before passing it back to the tall Russian but Piotr pointed back at the page.
"You have been holding Kara too close. The devushka needs to be with ... friends. Like the rest." Piotr explained, Logan looking from him back to the page.
"Appreciate the insight Pete but Salem ain' like the rest of the kids here. Besides trainin' with me a couple times a week ain' pullin' her from her friends." Logan's tone clear he disagreed but Piotr shook his head and pointed back to the art.
"Kara feels differently." Logan grudgingly looked back down and actually took some time. He saw where Peter was pointing to ... it was a black dot near the bottom of the page. In fact it was the only solid shape in the whole piece. Everything else was a clash of colors, melding and crashing together ... but the black dot was underneath it all and a small space of solid white surrounded it.
Logan took a breath and slowly got back to his feet, the page already folded and in his back pocket as he slammed his locker shut.
"You plannin on just doin' art lessons tonight or you least mind doin' some drinkin' while you're at it?" Logan rumbled as he shot Colossus a look as he headed for the exit. Piotr smiled and slapped Logan on the back as he dropped in next to him.
"Vsegda - always comrade." Piotr laughed as the two headed back upstairs.
"We gonna talk about it?" Logan took a drink from his bottle as he kept an eye on Kara. They'd been at it for almost two hours since 5 this morning.
"About what?" Kara didn't look over at Logan as she dropped to her haunches with a huff.
"You know what." Kara had trained with Logan two times since he'd introduced Creed and so far the pantheress had simply refused to even acknowledge what had happened.
Logan had even popped Creed up again at their last session but this time Kara had seemingly been prepared. She'd just sat there ... her eyes fixed only on Logan until he'd turned the sim off and Kara had waited for Logan to dismiss her which she did without a word and only a pair of claw marks gauged into the floor.
"No," Kara brushed past the question with a shrug as she rubbed her shoulder, "again?" Kara asked as she looked up from her crouch at him, her sweat steadily dripping onto the floor as she ignored the water Logan had told her to start bringing.
"Tired Salem?" Logan smirked, but Kara just got back to her feet and headed over to the sparring circle the Danger Room had constructed for them. A soft wide circle of sand in the otherwise modern looking dome. The sand doing a better job of absorbing the claws of two ferals training. For a moment Logan thought she might complain.
But she didn't.
The kid never complained. Never asked to skip a training. Never asked to train earlier or later in the day. Never pestered him to be let out early. Not like every other kid he worked with or had in detention. They always complained. Constantly. At first Logan had appreciated it ... he wished more kids were like the disciplined younger feral. But Logan's mind drifted back to that drawing. Kara's drawing.
"Hmmm." Logan rumbled to himself and slowly walked over to his place opposite Kara. He matched her unblinking stare that only a predator could pull off and knew that the kid was tired ... from the breathing to the tail to the way she was holding herself ... and for the first time considered the possibility that Kara didn't know that she could admit she was tired.
The thought didn't sit well with the older feral. His conversation with Peter from the other night crossing his mind again. That black dot among a sea of colors, separated and alone ...
"We're done for today Salem. Hit the showers and get to class." Logan's instruction not getting much reaction from Kara who dropped from her ready stance and headed for the girls lockers. Logan noted how Kara didn't look at him as she passed, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
To be honest, Kara was glad training was over. She had to study for her science fnal and she wanted to get to breakfast before the older boys got there. They always took ... well most of everything. It was very annoying. And they smelled terrible.
Besides she had training scheduled with Wolverine for tomorrow night.
Kara cracked her neck as she tossed her training uniform into her backpack and quickly showered off before changing again into her preferred shorts and tank.
She wondered if Logan would try him again. Why else cut training short? A low growl escaped Kara before she gave her head a hard shake as she gripped her shoulder. She didn't think about him. Any of it.
She was in control. Safe.
"Screw you." Kara rumbled as she grabbed her bag and stalked back upstairs. Logan could try whatever he wanted. She'd be ready.
The Next Day ...
"You comin' Kara?" Rogue asked as lunch winded down, Mako and Bolin pausing the constant steam of food into their mouths at the question. Kitty of course didn't pause.
"Course she's coming! Right?" Kitty's enthusiasm high as always regardless of whatever particular attitude Kara might have been feeling. Which as always was difficult to figure out.
"Where?" Kara rumbled back quietly, unsure what they were talking about. Then again it was a constant at this point.
"To za campfire. Ve're all going." Kurt explained, teleporting over to their side of the table with a smile. Kara glanced around to see everyone nodding and clearly excited.
"Campfire?" Kara's question coming off more as unsure as opposed to confused. The kids were used to Kara needing some 'normal' things explained.
"Yea ... I mean we only got like two more finals left and Kitty is supposed to go back home before the weekend so we're all gonna head down after dinner tonight to this spot near the lake. Bolin and Rogue set it up yesterday. We got winter break coming up so thought it'd be fun." Kitty explained hurriedly, listing off a number of things Kara didn't understand including 'smores.'
"Can't. Training." Kara rumbled with a shrug, honestly okay with having an excuse ... though not particularly focused on why she was looking for one.
"No way! Oh c'mon Kara come on you train more than the junior team. Professor Logan's gotta give you at least one night off ... right?" Mako asked, the rest of the table encouraging Kara to either ask Logan to give her a break or just skip the training all together. Whatever that meant.
"Training." Kara repeated, her rumble a bit louder this time as she fixed her amber eyes on floor and headed off to Ororo's English class.
She just wanted to get through her day and get to sleep. No one needed - her brow furrowed ... no that wasn't right ... she tried again ... her not being there wouldn't make much of a difference anyways.
"In here Salem." Kara had decided to eat her dinner on the deck, the weather now far too cold for the rest of the students and she'd enjoyed the quiet. She'd slipped back inside to grab her extra training uniform and head down to meet Wolverine ... but it sounded like he was in the garage so Kara turned and headed down the hall to find Logan working on what looked like a new bike.
"Been a while since we talked in here." Logan rolled over to his workbench and grabbed the tool he was looking for and pushed back to the bike, "take a seat."
Kara rubbed her shoulder for a moment before pouncing onto a nearby roller. She was curious why Logan was in here and not down in the Danger Room. Though they had trained outside before ... maybe now they were going to use the garage?
A few minutes of silence passed as Kara's tail flicked behind her and Logan continued to work.
"Training?" Kara prodded.
"In a second," Logan took a breath and turned around to face the pantheress who met his gaze with her amber one, "you ain't goin' down to the lake tonight?"
"What?" Kara's ears shot straight up as her tail paused its swaying, clearly surprised by the question.
"Heard the other kids talkin' bout it. Thought you'd wanna be there." Logan prodded right back.
"I - we train tonight." Kara's rumble unsure. She didn't understand ... was this a test? A way to see if she was slipping or -
"Not anymore." Logan smirked at Kara's growl. Kid thought she was in trouble or actually pissed at no training. Definitely a first.
I did something wrong." Kara didn't phrase it as a question. It was a statement as she tensed. Amber eyes bore holes into him. This was bad and the panthress started to cycle through all the possible scenarios. Logan wouldn't train her anymore. She wasn't allowed to with - with her friends. So that was it. She was just going to just be kept here like - like before. It was -
"Heh ... wouldn't be so bad if you did somethin' wrong every so often Salem." Kara looked both insulted and confused at that but Logan continued, "But you should be gettin' ready to head to the lake ... good to be on the same page as your new team."
Logan let Kara process that for a moment, he had planned to break it to her as low key as possible and it seemed to be working as the pantheress looked back at Logan with her brow furrowed until it dawned on her.
"Wait I ... I can train ... with team?" Kara soft rumble was steady as always but her tail waved hopefully behind her.
"You gonna kill anybody?" Logan asked, his smirk even wider now as Kara gave the question serious thought.
"I'll…" she struggled for a moment. Deep in thought.
"I'll protect." I mean she'd try not killing anyone but she didn't like breaking promises. Raven had explained that promises were important. Keeping your word. Besides protecting seemed like a better alternative … so yea. Actually the more she thought about it, the more Kara decided she liked that answer.
"Fair enough. Then yea Salem, you start trainin' with your friends next week. You got the rest of this one off. And you'll be havin' private sessions with me outside the Danger Room every so often. That sound good?"
"Good."
Logan was all too experienced with seeing an overjoyed student dart off with the announcement of cancelled training but surprisingly or unsurprisingly at this point ... Kara stayed still aside from her tail swaying.
"Well what ya waitin for?" and he watched a little confused as Kara made her way off the roller and very slowly padded out of the garage ... the always fluid feline suddenly moving as if unsure of herself. And then he watched, now more than a little amused, as Kara stopped just before driveway and turned back around.
"I-" she had started before going silent again. Now fiddling with her claws ... Kara wasn't sure what ... to say ... she didn't know what - what were you supposed to do? Logan didn't think she was dangerous. He trusted her. To be with her - her friends.
"Thank you." Kara finally managed to rumble - actually Logan actually thought it closer to a purr, something Logan definitely hadn't heard from her before, and that's when Kara finally darted off. Logan sat there for a few seconds longer before chuckling and with a shake of his head turning back to his bike.
Things had finally seemed to quiet down concerning the pantheress. He'd frozen out Fury and threatened to add the Avengers to that list until he'd called off the SHIELD team Logan had marked a few miles from the Mansion weeks ago. No whispers regarding a missing feral had popped up in over a month. The only thing nagging at Logan was the fact that Widow had now gone completely dark. Clint was out looking but ... he'd likely do his own visit to Russia with Pete if he didn't come up with anything.
Logan opened another beer. The kid was gonna be alright.
Kara didn't bother grabbing anything and sprinted on all fours straight from the garage towards the lake. She didn't even know why she was sprinting so fast ... a few minutes ago she'd been telling herself that she didn't care. It didn't matter if she was with her friends or not.
But Kara just picked up speed as she spotted the group coming from the other end of the mansion. Usually the thought of being with the entire group didn't exactly seem like fun to the pantheress. But ... Kara blinked at the realization ... she wanted to be there. Was it to protect them?
Kara put that thought away for another time as she silently slipped in next to Raven, who managed to keep her surprise at the sudden appearance of the dark pantheress next to her to an equally subtle eye roll ... though there was a grin.
The moon was almost full and with the fresh powder from the day's first snow covering the ground Kara both managed to stand out and almost disappear all at once. Though Kara's appearance wasn't a secret very long despite her best efforts.
Once the rest of the group realized Kara had shown up there was a bunch of 'welcomes' and Kurt practically teleporting into the young feral with a clearly mischievous smirk, the two quickly restarting their never ending game of tag, as the kids headed for the lake to a chorus of growls and bamfs.
Bolin and Rogue had done a good job of creating a pit and after gathering enough dry wood, protected under an old blanket, it didn't take long for Mako to get a serious fire going. The logs had been pulled together earlier and soon the entire group was huddled around the warm flames, exchanging stories, watching Jubilee's fireworks and taking turns poking fun at each other.
Kara was sitting between Rogue and Raven with her back resting on their shared log. I mean this was kinda nice, Kara considered, just watching everyone doing their own thing ... and Kara slowly relaxed, enjoying the warmth from the fire.
Then suddenly her ears swiveled back towards the forest. Kara turned around to fix the woods with a glare but soon it was Kara's turn to grin.
"Hey! Kara where you goin?!" Bolin called out as the group turned to see Kara calmly pad off into the forest without a word. Everyone took a few seconds to look at each other.
"Are we - should someone go after her?" Warren asked as everyone gave a collective shrug.
But almost as quickly as Kara disappeared she returned ... and she wasn't alone.
The entire group seemed to forget how to breathe as Kara calmly came back to the circle and slid over the log to reclaim her seat ... and with one last look over her shoulder at the woods ... soon joined by a familiar figure. Green eyes, red fur ...
"Is - is that ..." Mako managed out.
"Rahne!" Kitty squeaked out, causing the red she-wolf to backpedal a bit, clearly still very skittish and unsure. Rahne kept shooting looks between the forest and Kara, who had her eyes fixed on the fire before shooting a meaningful look at her friends, who took the hint and did their best to pretend Rahne's sudden reappearance was totally normal. Which they did ... or at least tried to.
Kara let out a low rumble that Rogue and Raven were barely able to feel never mind hear but it seemed to calm Rahne enough that she slowly closed the distance and settled herself next to Kara with a soft thump.
With some effort and a few elbows from Mako and Kurt, the group returned to normal with some nervous laughter mixed in. Warren started passing out smores and after some trial and error even Kara managed to figure it out and after tossing one to Rahne she tentatively bit into her own and Kara saw the teen untense a bit as her tail began to wag.
"Would you ... can I?" Kara glanced up to find Kitty standing in front of her though her eyes were fixed on Rahne who seemed suddenly very shy despite her easily being twice the size of the diminutive brunette.
"Not up to me." Kara rumbled out, though subtly she had a hand resting on Rahne's flank out of sight, calming the nervous teen to stick around.
Kitty looked briefly back to Kara before taking a hesitant step closer to Rahne before seeming to run out of patience and suddenly lunging forward to wrap the red wolf in a hug. Kara had half-lept to a crouch concerned that Rahne would bolt but-
"I missed you so much! WherehaveyoubeenI'vebeensosoworried..." Kitty's voice mostly swallowed up by Rahne's auburn fur and the giant wolf was now laying her face against Kitty's shoulder. The rest of the group had silently watched the display but had enough sense to just smile at each other and get back to the fire as Mako refreshed it.
Kara rumbled and just as she was about to slide into a more comfortable position against the log, she jerked back as Rogue dropped down next to her and bravely - though unapologetically - leaned on the pantheress' shoulder, snuggling in for warmth.
There was a chuff but Rogue hushed her.
"Aw c'mon ... I'm freezing. Besides, Kitty seems cozy enough." Glancing over Kara saw that Kitty had actually passed out, snuggled into Rahne who had practically enveloped her friend. Kara looked the other way and saw Raven rubbing her forehead but noticing Kara's stare ... and then Rogue ... the young feral soon had the usually moody empath leaning on her other side.
"Headache." Raven muttered with a small shrug as she took Rogue and Kitty lead and rested her head on Kara's fuzzy shoulder.
Kara looked up at the bright November sky, for the first time realizing just how much had changed since waking up here, and let out a low rumble, earning a new fit of giggles from Rogue and a soft poke from Raven.
Kara curled her tail around the three of them, finally in a comfortable position… she felt safe.
The next morning the entire school was slow to wake up. Finals were finally over and that meant the teachers were just as satisfied to sleep in as the weather truly turned to winter.
Logan was no exception although he was tired for other reasons having been up late helping Daredevil clean up some Hand business in the city. He'd managed to get back and fall into bed (without Elektra this time) for a couple hours of sleep but it wasn't long before he was up and in his usual spot in the far corner of the kitchen.
"You seen Forge?" Logan took a breath before he slowly folded his paper and looked up at Summers as he picked up his coffee and took a sip as if carefully considering the question before answering.
"Nope." Logan smirked as always at the chance to rile the kid up. Took himself way too seriously for a pup.
"He was supposed to help me with some upgrades to jet today but the logs say he didn't come back last night ... hey where you going?" Scott started to follow Logan who'd gotten up and headed for the exit, shooting a look over at Kara, earning a different kind of smirk.
"Not your business Slim. Go bug 'Ro if you're worried 'bout Forge." Logan's tone enough for Scott to stop following him and shake his head as he changed course to start looking for the storm goddess. Logan could hear Scooter's teeth grinding as he walked away.
Logan sipped his coffee as he walked through the halls, most students either still asleep or wise enough to avoid him, as he headed for Xavier's office.
Logan turned into the right hallway when he stopped, his head tilted to the side as he listened ... was that an explosion?
Logan took a step back the way he came when the power in the Mansion suddenly cut out. Forge had upgraded the mansion's security years ago in case there was ever a system wide power outage with a series of generators to keep the place running. But it took a few minutes to kick in ...
"Forge." Logan muttered to himself. The mug broke on the wooden floors as Logan sprinted the last dozen feet to Professor X's office, practically breaking the door off its hinge.
"Chuck!" Logan rushed in as he saw Xavier sprawled on the floor near his bookcase. He rolled him over, relieved for a moment his friend was still breathing, but he was sweating and his head shook as if fighting off a bad dream.
"Chuck what the hell happened? Nevermind don't matter. I'm taken' you to Hank." Logan moved to lift Xavier and take him down to the infirmary but he gripped Logan's arm as his eyes shot open.
"The students." Xavier managed out before groaning and gripping his head in pain.
Logan heard the shots but felt the explosion as the entire room burst into flames.