Chapter 9: X-Men's Day Off
Stokes County Maximum was the place for the worst of the worst. It held not just the scum of the earth, but the scum that were gifted with powers. Powers that they've abused in a life of crime, and now they're here to pay for them.
One of these inmates was kept in a large tank. He was a very big man. Almost inhuman with how large he was, which explains the extremes that went with his prison. He had a chain on each arm at all times, along with some on his legs, and his tank was filled with a fluid that paralyzed every part of him, putting him in a coma-like state.
Despite this being a possible infringement of human rights, it was necessary to keep him contained.
Only a fool would think about releasing him.
Which was why Mystique walked into his cell, disguised as a prison guard.
Using her form's finger prints and retina scan, she was able to gain access to the cell. She then went to the computer console and pressed a button, making the tank come up, exposing the unconscious prisoner. Another button was pressed, which caused all the fluid to be drained. No longer paralyzed, the prisoner's eyes opened, regaining consciousness.
Shifting into her true form, the shapeshifter smirked.
"Wake up, Cain." She said. "It's time you had a long-overdue family reunion with your brother. Charles Xavier."
His eyes narrowed at the name of his brother.
"You will not be making wallets, necktie racks, or paperweights." Sergeant Hawk said to the line of students that had just stepped off the bus to spend a day at Iron Back Survival Camp. A camp that brought out the soldier in everyone.
The students that consisted of the X-Men, Brotherhood, and other teens from Bayville High all stood at attention as Sergeant Hawk gave his speech.
"You will not engage in potato-sack races, water-balloon tosses, or pony rides." He continued.
"Damn, I was looking forward to the pony rides." Danny whispered to Rogue, making her giggle.
"You will be taking twenty-mile hikes, rappelling two hundred-foot cliffs, and crossing treacherous water with no more than a rope and courage." Hawk finished before turning to his new recruits. "Do you read me?"
"Yes, Sergeant Hawk, sir!" They all shouted.
"I said, do you read me?" Hawk repeated.
"Yes, Sergeant Hawk, sir!" They shouted even louder.
"Welcome to Iron Back Survival Camp. A name you won't forget." He told them.
"I'd rather take my chances at Camp Crystal Lake." Danny whispered to Rogue, making her giggle again.
Hawk was now standing in front of Scott. "Now, here we have a young man, Scott Sumner."
"Summers." Scott corrected.
"Whose scholastic achievements at Bayville High earned him the rank of group leader." He continued. "You will be following his lead. You've got ten minutes to stow your gear and report to the training field. Dismissed!"
As all the students went to put their stuff away, the X-Men stayed back in front of the bus.
"Oh, I'm gonna be dead in, like, two days." Kitty groaned, not wanting to deal with this.
"What about me?" Evan said. "I'm a city kid."
"What did we do to deserve this?" Kurt asked.
"We were born, that's what." Danny said.
"I'm going AWOL." Rogue picked up her bag. "Anyone know how to hot-wire a school bus?" She looked at her boyfriend, hopefully. "Danny?"
Danny nodded. "I think I can do it." He was about to go get the bus up and running when Scott grabbed him.
"Whoa, slow down, private." Scott said. "We're not washing out in front of the school. Besides, Professor X endorses this place."
"Yeah." Jean agreed. "At least he gave us a choice. Survival training here or with Wolverine."
"Some choice." Rogue whined.
"Come on. We can do this." Scott said as he stepped forward to observe the camp. "We can brave through this camp. Together, no obstacle can get in our way. And you want to know why. Because we're the X-Men." He turned around. "Now, who's with me?"
The sight Scott was greeted with was the bus taking off, leaving him and Jean alone.
"What the hell?" Scott exclaimed before he and Jean started chasing the bus. "Hey, come back here!"
The Brotherhood was nearby and saw the whole scene.
"Wow, didn't expect the goodie goodies to actually ditch." Lance said, impressed that the good guys broke the rules for once. "I'm actually kind of jealous."
"Yeah, we should've hopped on that bus as well." Toad added. "I can't believe Mystique signed us up for this."
"Well, we better get going before Sergeant Hawk decides to make us drop and give him twenty." Lance said as the Brotherhood went to put their stuff away.
"Cellular paralysis biofluid." Mystique observed as the fluid finished draining. "Amazing. It actually stopped the unstoppable." She opened the tank. "It'll take a few moments before you can move." She then pressed another button, which made his chains release him. "Then I'll sneak you out of this prison; where, now, who was it that locked you away?" She said mockingly. "Oh, that's right. Your brother, Charles Xavier."
The Juggernaut growled.
"Sore subject?" Mystique asked.
"Who are you?" He asked her.
"A dealmaker." Mystique answered as she went to a small door on the wall. Opening it, she pulled out a large dome-like helmet. "I arrange your early release, and you deliver to me one item in your brother's possession. His mutant detection system known as Cerebro."
"And my brother?" Juggernaut asked.
"I leave his fate in your capable hands." Mystique said as he placed the helmet on him and connected the straps. "You are, after all, the unstoppable Juggernaut."
Juggernaut narrowed his eyes. "If you want it so much, why don't you just steal it from him?"
"Unfortunately, Charles is rather protected by his students, the X-Men." Mystique revealed.
"X-Men?" Juggernaut raised an eyebrow. "Students?"
"Yes." Mystique said. "Most of them are at this survival camp, so they won't be a problem when we go meet Charles." She then started heading out of the cell. "Now, I have a plane waiting. It will take you-"
She was interrupted when Juggernaut pushed her aside as he left.
"No one." He grunted. "No one takes Juggernaut anywhere. And nothing gets in my way."
"Charming." Mystique said sarcastically at this brute's treatment of her.
Juggernaut rampaged through the security of the rest of the prison, throwing guards aside and crushing their guns. He made his way to several more cells and broke out three more prisoners. He might need them just in case.
One of the prisoners was a young man in a green jumpsuit. His entire head was glowing with yellow electrical energy. This was Electro.
Another was a buff man wearing armor, with long hair and an iron mask over his head. In each of his hands was a whip made of pure energy. This was Whiplash.
The final was an anthropomorphic dragon-like creature called Dragon Man.
The three prisoners looked at Juggernaut with hesitation and a bit of fear.
"Here's the deal." Juggernaut told them. "I let you out, so you owe me a favor. You help me pull off a little job, and then you're free to go. Refuse, and I'll beat you black and blue and throw you back into your cells. So which is it?"
The three looked at each other before looking back at their rescuer.
"We'll help you." Electro said, itching to get out of here. Then, after this was all done, he could get some payback against Spider-Man for putting him here.
"Yes." Whiplash agreed, wanting to get even with Iron Man.
Dragon Man nodded, not wanting to stay here after being defeated again by the Fantastic Four.
The Juggernaut smirked before going over to Mystique and grabbing her by the throat.
"Now tell me where this survival camp is." He demanded.
"Are they still following us?" Danny asked as he was driving the bus.
Rogue looked through the window to see that Scott and Jean were still chasing them. "Yep."
"Wow, still?" Danny said in awe. "That's impressive. Okay, they earned it. I'll stop."
He hit the brakes as the bus stopped and opened the doors for Jean and Scott to come in.
"What the hell, Danny?" Scott berated.
"How can you take off with the others?" Jean scolded him.
Danny simply sighed. "Look, I'm not in the mood for military training, okay? So I was thinking that maybe instead of spending the day running and doing pushups, we go out, maybe see a movie, check out the arcade, and maybe do some shopping." He turned to the other X-Men, who took off with him. "Who's with me?"
"Yeah." Kurt said happily.
"Totally." Evan agreed.
Kitty clapped her hands together. "You had me at shopping."
Rogue placed a hand around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "You sure know how to brighten up a girl's day."
"No way." Scott said as he placed his hand on the wheel. "We are turning this bus around."
Danny stared at Scott. "Scott, I like you, bro, but if you touch this wheel, I will throw you out of this bus. Now you can go back to the camp and probably get into a fight with Avalanche, or you can sit in the back and enjoy a day off. What will it be?"
"I can't believe he talked me into this." Scott said as he stood in line for popcorn at the movie theater.
"I know he's very persuasive." Jean said with a smile before she noticed Scott's dreary mood. "Oh, come on, Scott." She said, trying to cheer him up. "It'll be fun."
"Professor Xavier expects us to be at that camp and not slacking off." Scott argued. "This is a bad idea, Jean."
"Look, I know that it's not cool to ditch the camp, but it's not like it's the end of the world." Jean reasoned.
"Yeah, but we could get in trouble." Scott pointed out.
Jean pointed over to Danny, who was with Rogue getting their sodas. "I doubt Danny would let that happen. He seems to have a plan for everything."
"Of course he does." Scott muttered as he crossed his arms.
"Scott, what's wrong?" Jean asked.
Scott looked down. "It's just that I'm jealous of Danny." He confessed, feeling depressed when he compared himself to his friend. "He's so suave and cool. Walking around with no worries or concerns. Just living life freely, and everything seems to work out for him. He doesn't care about anything. Nothing scares him. He can do anything. Nothing's impossible for him."
'He can even manage to date the girl that he likes, while I can't even admit my feelings to Jean.' Scott thought to himself bitterly as he saw Rogue give Danny a dazzling smile.
"Sometimes I wish I was like him." He revealed to Jean.
Jean smiled sympathetically as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Scott, you're perfect the way you are. Danny is cool, but we X-Men depend on your leadership and responsibility. Don't worry about what Danny's doing. Just be yourself."
Scott smiled back. "Thanks, Jean."
"Anytime." Jean said. "Now let's go. The movie's about to start."
"Well, at least it's better here than back at the camp." Scott said as they headed into the theater.
"58, 59, 60." The Brotherhood groaned in pain as they were doing pushups. The four boys were placed in an exercise that consisted of rowing boats, but their arguing over who got the paddle earned them punishment from Sergeant Hawk.
"Now on your feet." Hawk commanded as they finished their pushups. He pointed over to an obstacle course. "I want you maggots to run that obstacle course ten times. Go!"
"I really wish we ditched this place." Lance said as the boys started running.
"You and me both." Toad said.
Xavier was at Cerebro looking for any mutant signatures, and strangely, there weren't any. He couldn't even detect his students. He assumed that they weren't using their powers while they were at the camp.
"Is Cerebro locating new mutant sigs?" Logan asked as he walked into the room.
"No." Xavier answered. "I can't pick up any. Not even our students up at Iron Back. They haven't been active that much."
"Did you tell them not to use their powers?" Logan asked.
"No." Xavier replied. "I was hoping they'd make that decision themselves. And they did." He said proudly.
"Well, I still say you should have let me handle their survival training." Logan told him.
"I gave them that choice, Logan." Xavier reminded him. "They felt they had a better chance of surviving the camp." Cerebro then went off, catching their attention. "Well, well. Seems we have a new mutant on the scene after all."
"Discovery: Enhanced mutant signature." Cerebro said. "Identity confirmed and matched to archive file."
"Archive file?" Xavier asked. "Who would-" He stopped as he saw a picture of the mutant in question. The Juggernaut.
"Name: Cain Marko." Cerebro revealed. "Residence: Stokes County Maximum Security Prison. Current Location: In transit, upstate New York."
"No!" Xavier exclaimed in fear.
"Cain Marko?" Logan said. "Who's-"
"My half-brother." Xavier revealed. "Somehow he's escaped. But that's impossible."
"What's an enhanced mutant signature?" Logan asked, picking up on what Cerebro told them.
"He possessed an X-gene at birth." Xavier informed him. "But it was dormant most of his life. So he awakened it with mysticism."
"What kind of powers does he have?" Logan questioned, wondering what they were dealing with.
"He's become a juggernaut." Xavier said. "Invulnerable."
As Xavier and Logan were wondering what to do, the four escaped prisoners were walking down the road towards Bayville as two police cars came towards them. Electro blasted one of them, while Dragon Man let out a stream from its mouth, burning the other.
Another pair came right away, with Whiplash slicing one in half with his whips while Juggernaut smacked the final car aside like it was nothing.
With no more obstacles in their way, the four made their way to the survival camp.
"That was a good movie." Kurt said as they walked out. "I give it two thumbs up."
"Alright, we saw a movie." Scott said to Danny. "Now what?"
"We go shopping!" Kitty said.
"Whoa, whoa!" Scott tried to keep them from getting off track. They had their fun, and now it was time to go back. "Come on, we have to get back to camp soon."
"We will, Scott." Danny told him. "At the end of the day, when it's time to go."
"But-"
"Trust me, Scott." Danny reassured his friend. "We'll be back in time to leave, with no one else the wiser."
"Yeah, you need to relax." Rogue said. "You're acting as bad as Sergeant Hawk."
This made Scott worry. Sergeant Hawk will realize that they ditched. "Sergeant Hawk will know that we've been gone." He panicked.
Danny, however, wasn't worried in the slightest. "I doubt that man is paid enough to care about a few missing teenagers. You just need to lighten up, Scott. It's all gonna work out."
"Danny's right, man." Evan said to Scott. "You just got to go with the flow."
"Now, come on, let's go!" Kitty cried, itching to get some shopping done. "I'm sure there are some great deals we can get at the mall. You interested, Jean?"
Jean smiled and grabbed Scott's arm as she dragged him to the mall. "Let's go, Scott!"
"Hey! Wait!" Scott cried as he was brought along.
Storm was currently in the Blackbird as she was activating the autopilot. "Engage autopilot." She then stepped on a platform that raised her through the hatch on top of the Blackbird.
Closing her eyes and concentrating, she summoned a mist that surrounded the entire area.
"Efforts to locate these powerful convicts have been hampered by the unexpected appearance of dense inland fog." A reporter said on the monitor that Xavier was watching. "Let's go to Haley Taylor for more on this strange weather."
'Very good, Storm.' He said to her telepathically. 'Keep it up.' He then turned his attention back to Logan. "If no one can see Cain and his fellow escapees, then no one will be foolish enough to try and recapture them."
"If I can't stop them, Charles, your best protection will be in the Danger Room." Logan told him. "I've got it ready."
"Yes." Xavier entered the elevator with Logan. "It may slow him down. But it won't stop him."
"Do you have any defense against him?" Logan asked.
"Just one." Xavier revealed. "My mind. With enough psychic blasts, I can disable him, unless he's wearing his helmet."
The Brotherhood stood with the rest of the campers in front of Sergeant Hawk, exhausted and ready to collapse at any moment.
"Alright, maggots, it's time to go fight it out in the wilderness." Hawk told them. He pointed to the mountain in the distance. "Your goal will be to snatch the flag I planted up there on Mount Humiliation."
Lance held back a cry of frustration. "Could this get any worse?" He asked himself silently.
Out of nowhere, a blast of yellow electrical energy struck Hawk, knocking him into a tree.
"What the heck was that?" Fred cried.
"Uh, guys." Toad pointed to Juggernaut, Whiplash, and Electro approaching them.
"Run!" Lance cried as everyone tried to make a run for it, with Pietro using super speed to escape, leaving his teammates alone.
As the group of children tried to escape, Dragon Man flew overhead and fired a steam of fire, creating a ring of flames that trapped the Brotherhood and the other kids.
"Yo, what kind of mutants are these guys?" Toad asked fearfully.
"Which of you runts are Charles' students?" Juggernaut demanded as he approached them.
All the students simply stared at him and the others with terror in their eyes.
"No answer, huh." Juggernaut smirked as he thought of an idea. "Well, I guess we'll have to weed out the freaks from the normal. And I got the thing to make you use your powers."
He snapped his fingers, making Dragon Man grab Toad and fly off into the air.
"Toad!" Lance and Fred cried, catching Juggernauts attention with their concern and familiarity with Toad.
Dragon Man flew Toad right next to Mount Humiliation, making the mutant cry out in fear before he shot his stretchy tongue to grab the peak of the mountain, saving himself from falling to his death.
Seeing that he was indeed a mutant, Dragon Man took hold of Toad again and flew him back to Juggernaut, dropping him at the giant's feet.
"Is he one of them?" Juggernaut asked, getting a nod of confirmation from his cohort.
"Guess that means you two are also Charles' students." He said to Lance and Fred, remembering their fear for Toad's safety. "Bring them forward."
Dragon Man grabbed the two and brought them before Juggernaut as he cracked his fists in anticipation.
"Wait, you got it all wrong!" Lance yelled. "We're not with Xavier. Honest."
"Pathetic." Juggernaut said as he looked at the three miscreants. "But I will take great pleasure in destroying my brother's pets. Now, how do I do it? Perhaps I can break all your bones and have Dragon Man set you on fire."
The three boys looked at each other in fear. For once, they wished the X-Men were here to save the day.
"Cain's failed relationship with our father and his resentment of me fueled his anger." Xavier said to Logan as they entered the Danger Room. "But after he was empowered, that anger became destructive and dangerous. He had to be locked away. I had no choice."
"Strange, he should be here by now." Logan said, expecting Cain's arrival to be any second now.
Xavier went to a computer console to look at the news.
"Police have surrounded Iron Back Survival Camp, where the four escaped convicts have taken the people there hostage." The reporter said, making Xavier's eyes widen.
"Oh, no!"
"You know this has been a great day, sugar." Rogue said as she walked through the mall with her boyfriend hand in hand.
"I aim to please." Danny chuckled. The two met up with the rest of the X-Men, with Kitty and Jean carrying several shopping bags in their hands.
"Alright, what's next?" Kitty asked.
The kids then heard the sound of the news on the nearby TVs in a store.
"There have been no demands from the four convicts since taking over this military camp." The reporter said as footage showed police outside the outskirts of the camp.
The X-Men all had dumbfounded looks on their faces at the news.
"Crap." Danny said.
"Well, what do we do now?" Scott said to Danny.
Before Danny could say anything, the X-Men, except for Danny, all received a telepathic message from Xavier.
'X-Men, are you all right?' He asked with dread in his voice, hoping his students were safe.
There was a pause before Jean finally answered. "Yes, professor, why?"
'My brother and three other criminals are at your camp. Where are you?' Xavier demanded.
"Jean, let me talk to him." Danny said as he opened his mind up to Xavier. 'Professor, what's going on? We're deep in the forest on a hike. What's the problem?'
'Oh, thank God none of you are hurt.' Xavier said. 'My half-brother and three others are there. I believe they're there to hurt you to get to me. I need you to be extremely careful. Help is on the way.'
'We will, professor.' Danny said before cutting off the connection. "Looks like we'll have to save the day and not get caught."
The X-Men all gave Danny incredulous looks, not believing that everything would work out.
"How?" Scott asked.
Danny smirked. "Trust me. I got a plan. Let's go!"
"Please, we're telling the truth." Lance said to Juggernaut. "We're not with Xavier!"
"So, you're a bunch of mutants that just happen to be here?" Juggernaut asked sarcastically. "What do you think I am, stupid?"
Meanwhile, the X-Men had all arrived at the camp. Danny drove the bus back, and using his powers of intangibility and invisibility, he managed to get past the police blockade.
"Okay, you guys deal with those three." Danny said to the others, pointing at Juggernaut's henchmen. "I'll handle the head honcho."
"What about the other people?" Scott asked, pointing to the other teens who were watching what was going on. "We'll risk exposing ourselves."
"I got a plan for that." Danny told him. "Now let's go!"
Juggernaut was about to throw a punch at the Brotherhood when an ectoblast blasted him.
"Hey, asshole!" Danny shouted as he and the X-Men confronted the bad guys. "You looking for us?"
Juggernaut snarled at the X-Men. "So you're the runts my brother has taken under his wing? I'll kill you!"
Danny blasted the Juggernaut into a cabin. "Your battle is with me, big guy! Try and keep up!"
As Danny was battling the Juggernaut, the X-Men were dealing with the other three.
Scott fired his optic blast at Electro.
"Ah!" Electro cried in pain at the blast.
"What's wrong?" Scott taunted. "Too much of a shock for you?"
"The gloves are off!" Electro shot another blast at electric energy, which collided with Scott's optic blast.
As the two were trying to win the struggle, Kurt teleported Rogue behind Electro as the goth touched Electro's head, absorbing his power.
Electro collapsed to the floor as Rogue glowed with electricity.
"Wow, this guy is really messed up." Rogue said as she was taking in Electro's memories.
Dragon Man was trying to hit Kitty with his fire, but she kept phasing through it. Using this distraction, Evan impaled the villain with his spikes.
"Looks like you seen my point." Evan joked.
Whiplash was fighting Jean. He was about to attack her with his whips when Jean used her telekinesis and took control of them, using them to wrap up Whiplash before Rogue electrocuted him with a blast of electricity.
Only Juggernaut was left.
"You can't stop me! I'm the Juggernaut!" Juggernaut cried as he kept throwing punches at Danny, but he kept dodging them.
"Why did you want us anyway?" Danny asked.
"To pound you into smithereens to hurt my brother." Juggernaut answered.
"Aw, is the big man jealous of his brother?" Danny teased. "Can't blame you. I mean, Xavier has money. He also has respect, a mansion, and people who care for him. What do you have?"
"Shut up!" Juggernaut roared.
"You can get angry all you want, but you can't escape the truth." Danny told him. "No matter how big you are, you'll never be able to break out of your brother's shadow."
Juggernaut let out a shout of rage at this kid mocking him. Before he could grab a hold of Danny's neck, the hybrid phased through his fist and into his body.
"What? What are you doing?" Juggernaut cried as he felt his control of his mind slip as his eyes turned green.
"Just decided to have you take yourself out of the game." Danny said through his body as he slipped off his helmet before punching himself in the face. The X-Men watched as Danny phased out of the Juggernaut's body as it collapsed to the ground. He then turned to Jean. "Jean, contact the professor. Tell him we beat them and to erase the memories of the campers who saw us use our powers."
Jean nodded. 'Professor?' She asked telepathically.
'Jean, are you all right?' Xavier asked desperately.
'Yes.' She answered. 'We managed to beat them all.'
'You did?' Xavier couldn't believe that they would be able to stop not only the Juggernaut but three others as well. 'Is anybody hurt?'
'No.' Jean told him. 'We're all right, professor. But some of the campers saw us use our powers.'
Xavier smiled, happy that his students were safe and sound. 'Don't worry, Jean. I got it.'
He connected his mind to those of the other campers and erased any memories of the X-Men using their powers.
The X-Men saw all the kids looking around in confusion and wondering what had happened.
Danny smiled at his team. "I told you it would all work out."
Scott patted him on the back. "Sorry, I doubted you."
Back at Stokes County, Xavier was looking over his brother, who was now back in his tank, paralyzed again by the fluid.
"You can't control the will of others, Charles." Logan said to the solemn-looking professor. "They do what they want."
"And we do what we have to do." Xavier said as he left with Logan. Danny and Scott, who also tagged along, walked behind them.
"Hey, I wanted to say thanks for taking us out that day." Scott said, making sure the two couldn't hear their conversation. "It was really fun, I'll admit."
"Scott approving of breaking the rules; is this the apocalypse?" Danny teased.
"Ha ha." Scott elbowed Danny jokingly. "But no, really. I think you're right. Sometimes I just need to relax a bit, you know."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't be able to pull stuff like this if you weren't there, making sure I don't go too far." Danny told him. "Sometimes I wish I was like you. All put together, with your life on track."
Scott felt touched that Danny thought that about him. "Thanks. But every now and then we need to loosen up again, which is why we have you. You're a credit to this team."
"So are you, Scott." Danny smiled. "So are you."
Chapter 10: Kurt's Past
"Thanks for lending it to me." Rogue thanked her boyfriend for loaning her one of his books as they walked toward her room. "I thought it was great."
Danny kissed her. "Anything for my lady." He said in a faux gentleman-like voice.
Rogue blushed. Since dating him, Danny has proven to be an affectionate boyfriend, showering her with hugs and kisses.
"What was your favorite part?" Danny asked her.
"The part at the end where he turned into a werewolf and nobody knew it." Rogue answered. "You ever fought a werewolf?" She asked him, wondering if he actually fought one head-on.
"I teamed up with one once." Danny admitted as he remembered Wulf. "He was very friendly. Though he was hard to understand since he spoke in Esperanto."
"Esperanto?" Rogue asked, not knowing what that was.
"Some language that my old friend once knew." Danny elaborated before deciding it was time to head to bed. "Anyway, sweet dreams, Rogue." He kissed her again before he started walking to his own room.
Rogue smiled at her boyfriend before heading to bed herself.
The hours past as Rogue slumbered, tossing in her sleep as she had a strange dream.
A wolf howled in the distance in the woods as a medieval-looking castle lay in the center. In one of the towers of the castle, there was glowing green energy coming from test tubes and all kinds of machinery.
"Monster!" A familiar voice cried out. "What have you done to him?
In the lab, there were two shadows as they confronted each other. The dream then changed to a woman in a cloak with the hood on, covering her face as she fled the castle. In her arms was a baby who was crying.
As she burst out of the castle, she was followed by a man who flew in the air, wearing a cape and a helmet.
"Come back at once!" The man demanded, but the lady kept running as she stomped through the snow, attracting the attention of a pack of wolves. She made her way to a rope bridge when the wolves all ganged up on her as they snarled at her. She held the bundle up in the air to keep the infant safe from the ravenous animals when one jumped at her, causing her to drop the infant as it fell below into the water.
"NO!" The woman cried mournfully as she watched the baby fall to its presumed death.
The woman then turned to see one of the wolves walking towards her, as its eyes glowed red and its entire head was consumed in white flames.
"Everything falling to pieces." The wolf said in a cruel voice. A voice so scary that it frightened Rogue awake as she screamed.
Immediately, Danny phased through the door and went to his girlfriend's side. Scott and Jean followed later as they opened the door.
"Rogue!" He cried out in worry. "What's wrong?" He brought her into a protective hug as he rubbed her back, assuring her that everything was okay.
"I don't know." Rogue said as she was hanging onto Danny for dear life. "I was dreaming. Some kind of awful nightmare with these images. It was horrible."
"Yeah." Kitty said from the bed across from Rogue's. "Her shrieking totally freaked me out. I just about phased through the bed."
"Whoa!" Scott replied. "Finals must be really getting to you."
"No! It's not the first time." Rogue said. "I've had this dream before." She then thought about the being with the red eyes and flaming hair. "But this was time; it was different."
"How different?" Danny asked her. "And how long have you been having them?"
"These dreams started after that trip in the mountains." Rogue answered.
"What's going on, man?" Evan said sleepily as he and Kurt entered the room. "You guys okay?"
"Rogue's having creepy nightmares." Kitty told them.
"Whoa, what about?" Kurt asked.
"I'm not sure." Rogue replied. "There's a castle and wolves." She then remembered the baby falling to its death. "Oh, little poor baby. I didn't really see his face. But I seem to know..." She then looked at Kurt with a look of astonishment. "To know him somehow!"
"What?" Kurt said. "Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?"
Rogue pointed at him. "It was you!"
"What was me?" Kurt asked.
"Somehow I just know it was you, Kurt!" Rogue realized.
Kurt was now really confused. "What are you talking about?"
"In the dream, there was a baby crying." Rogue explained. "Someone, a woman, I think—I didn't really see her face—was running. And the baby was dropped into the river."
"And you think that baby was me?" Kurt asked.
"Why am I having this dream?" Rogue asked herself.
"I think it may be a repressed memory." Danny theorized.
"But I was never there!" Rogue cried.
"Not a repressed memory of yours, but someone else's." Danny elaborated. "You absorb memories as well, right?" When Rogue nodded, he continued. "You told me that when you first discovered your powers, you were experiencing that boy's memories."
Rogue took this in as she nodded. "I think you're right. But whose memories are they?"
"Well, Rogue, what women have you absorbed since that field trip?" Danny asked her, making her eyes widen in realization.
"Mystique!" She yelled. "I'm having her memories."
"Wait, Mystique was holding me as a baby." Kurt said. "Why? Unless-"
"Maybe the professor can help us sort this out." Jean interrupted. "But let's do it in the morning. It's late."
'That's all right, Jean.' Xavier's voice telepathically said to all the students, except Danny. 'This is important. Rogue, Danny, and Kurt, please come to the library with Jean. And the rest of you, get some sleep. You all have finals tomorrow.'
"Man, there's no keeping anything from that dude, is there?" Evan asked as they all left Rogue's room.
"I've always known that my parents adopted me." Kurt said as he, Rogue, Danny, and Jean were with Xavier in the library. "But they never said anything about me being fished out of a river. And what does Mystique have to do with this?"
"Don't worry, Kurt." Xavier assured him. "We'll try to sort this out. Rogue, since this was your dream, I think I should start with you. Would you mind sitting here, please?" He gestured to the chair next to him. Rogue obliged as she sat down. "Now, just relax. Try to think of the dream."
"You sure this isn't gonna hurt?" Rogue asked hesitantly.
"Yes." Xavier answered. "Now please, just concentrate."
As he entered Rogue's mind, he saw visions of the laboratory in the castle.
"Monster!" The woman cried out. "What have you done to him?"
As he saw her running from the man, the professor managed to get a good look at her pursuer and recognized him as Magneto. He then witnessed the wolves cause her to drop the baby. As she reached for him, Xavier was able to get a peek at her face, confirming that it was Mystique.
Falling to the ground in despair, Mystique looked at Magneto with broken eyes.
"Why?" She asked him. "Why?"
Magneto didn't say another word as he floated back to the castle.
The memory then continued as it showed the baby floating down the river, where it was picked up by a couple. The infant held out its hand, revealing it to be blue, confirming that the infant in question was Kurt. The couple then headed inside with the baby, with Mystique watching them in the distance. She had a look of regret on her face as she turned around.
The memory then changed to show the wolf from before with the red eyes and the white flames. Xavier felt fear as he realized that it wasn't a memory. The wolf was looking directly into his eyes.
"Hello, Xavier." It said, causing Xavier to exit Rogue's mind. He was sweating and breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself.
"Professor, are you okay?" Danny asked him in concern.
"I don't know." Xavier said. "I saw something that was more than a dream."
"Danny told me it was a repressed memory of someone I absorbed, probably Mystique." Rogue told him.
Xavier nodded as he pushed aside what he had just seen in Rogue's mind. "Yes. And it is likely those are memories of Mystique, who appears to know about Kurt's past."
"Maybe you got those memories from me." Kurt suggested.
"You were just an infant in the dream." Xavier told him. "It is highly unlikely they were your memories."
"Then that must mean that Mystique is my mother." Kurt said as he sat down, taking in this bombshell. His mother. His real mother. Was Mystique.
'How could this be?' He thought to himself. How could Mystique have left him all alone? Why? Did she even care for him? And if she was his mother, then who was his father?
Xavier gave a look of sympathy to Kurt. "Kurt, I think we should try and find more evidence before we start making assumptions, and we've had quite enough excitement for now."
"But, professor!" He protested.
"Tomorrow, Kurt." Xavier said, not budging on the issue. "After school, I promise." He then turned to Rogue. "Rogue, have you been having this dream for quite a while?"
"Yeah." Rogue answered. "The same thing every time. Except for tonight."
"What was different about tonight?" Xavier asked, though he felt he already knew the answer.
"This time in my dream, there was someone else." Rogue explained. "I don't know who."
Xavier could only ponder what that thing was. "I understand, Rogue." He then decided to head back to bed. "Good night."
"Night." Rogue said as Danny escorted her back to her room.
"It'll be all right, Rogue." Danny told her as he tucked her in. "I've had nightmares before. They don't last long."
"About what?" Rogue asked him as she tried to fall back asleep.
Normally, Danny would've changed the subject, but since he was feeling sleepy, he confessed what was in his dreams.
"Nothing much. Just red eyes and white fire." Danny told her, making Rogue stiffen in fear as she remembered that particular wolf with the same features.
"What's wrong?" Danny noticed that Rogue was on edge.
"Can you stay with me tonight?" Rogue grabbed his hand as she pulled him closer. "Please." She implored when she saw Danny's silence. "I don't want to be alone."
"I'm right here, you know." Kitty said from her bed as she was cuddling a dragon plushie.
The two ignored her as Danny felt conflicted about staying with Rogue, not wanting to get in trouble.
"Rogue, I don't think that's a good idea." He told her, but he couldn't help the tugs on his heartstrings that occurred when she gave him that pleading look.
"Please, Danny." Rogue begged. "I need you. I'm so scared."
"Alright." Rules be damned, his girlfriend needed him. He then got under the covers as he and Rogue cuddled. "Night."
"Night." Rogue wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, feeling secure now that he was here.
The two then drifted off as Kitty decided to make a joke before heading to bed.
"Just promise me you two won't keep me up all night with your making out." She teased.
"Shut up, Kitty!" Danny and Rogue shouted, feeling embarrassed.
"You've been carrying a terrible burden for many years, Mystique." Xavier said to her. The two were in the principal's office at Bayville High, with Mystique currently in her Darkholme disguise. "Rogue's recent contact with you seems to have given her your darker memories. Nightmares about an unfortunate incident involving an infant."
"You're fishing." Mystique said suspiciously. "You know nothing."
"I know about your relationship with the boy, Mystique." Xavier revealed. "What I don't know is what Magneto did to him. Why did you run that night?"
Mystique got up from her seat. "Dear, dear Charles." She said mockingly, but Xavier could tell she was putting up a front to hide how she really felt. "How incredibly frustrating for you to realize that amazing mind of yours knows so very little, really."
"What were you two up to in that castle?" Xavier pressed. "Was it worth the loss of your son?"
At this moment, Mystique flashed back to that very night.
"Monster! What have you done to him?"
She could see herself as she witnessed Kurt fall to the banks of the river.
"No!"
Thrown off kilter by this, she accidentally dropped a book she was holding before turning around to glare at Xavier.
"Get out!" She demanded. "Get out now!"
Xavier complied as he went to leave, but he still had one last thing to say to her.
"Just in case you're curious, he turned out to be a very fine lad." He then left Mystique alone as she looked down in regret.
Leaving the school, Xavier then telepathically contacted Logan. 'Logan, I've got the coordinates.'
"Fire away." Logan replied in the seat of the Blackbird as he flipped a few switches as the jet took off.
Back at school, Kurt was waiting anxiously for class to end when the bell went off. He handed his test to the teacher before going to his locker to get his things.
As he was heading there, he saw Danny and Rogue approaching him.
"There you are, Kurt." Rogue said. "We've been looking for you. What's the rush?"
"You know." Kurt answered. "Prof said we would look for more answers after school. I can't believe my mother might be Mystique."
"I know, man." Danny said. "I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. You haven't tried talking to her, have you?"
"Of course not!" Kurt responded. "What would I even say? Hi mom, I'm your son, and I just found out about it from a dream Rogue had."
Danny looked at Kurt with sympathy. "I'm sorry that you're having to go through this, Kurt."
"Yeah." Rogue agreed. "You sure you want to know?" She asked him.
Kurt went to his locker as he got out a book. "Rogue, haven't you ever wondered who your real parents are?"
"I guess so, yeah." Rogue said as she thought about it. She always asked Irene about it, but she was always vague about the answer. "Sometimes. But Irene was always a good mom to me until after she pulled that manipulating shtick with Mystique." She said bitterly, making Danny squeeze her hand in support.
"And what about you, Danny?" Kurt asked his friend, knowing nothing about his family history.
"My parents are dead." Danny said bluntly, catching Kurt and Rogue off guard with the lack of emotion in his voice.
Kurt felt regretful about asking that question. "Oh, man, I'm so-"
"Forget it." Danny cut him off. "It's the past. And I wish I could give you some advice on what you're going through, Kurt, but all I can say personally is that what's in the past is best left there."
"How could leaving my own past behind be good?" Kurt asked incredulously, getting Scott and Jean's attention. The two were talking to a fellow classmate when they decided to see what all the commotion was about.
"Because it might be too painful to remember." Danny stated to his friend.
"Maybe you can live without knowing the past, but I've got to know the truth about my life." Kurt said in frustration as he pressed the button on his watch, revealing his true form. "I'm out of here." He then teleported away.
"Kurt, wait." Rogue tried to grab him, but Danny held her back.
"Let him go." Danny told her. "He needs to figure this out by himself."
Rogue sighed, feeling bad for Kurt. "You think what you said is right?" She asked him. "Leaving the past behind."
Danny just gave an indifferent shrug, trying to hide what he was feeling on the inside. "Sometimes the past is too painful to think about."
"Man, what was that about?" Scott asked as he and Jean approached them.
"He's still worked up about last night." Danny answered.
"Ah. Well, we better go find him." Scott said as he went to look for him.
"Actually, Scott, I think it's best that we let him cool off on his own." Danny suggested.
Scott nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
The group then walked off, not noticing that the boy Scott and Jean were previously talking to had heard everything. The boy then walked past a corner and turned into Principal Darkholme, who had a conflicted look on her face.
"Are you sure about this?" Pietro asked as he and Darkholme met behind the bleachers outside. He was handed an envelope and told to deliver it to Nightcrawler. "I've seen the defenses they've got."
"Don't worry." Darkholme reassured him. "You're fast enough. You should be able to get in and out of there undetected."
"Why is it important?" He demanded. "What are you telling that blue-furred freak?" He asked suspiciously.
Darkholme narrowed her eyes. "Never mind. That's none of your business. Just deliver it."
Knowing that it wasn't wise to test Mystique right now, Pietro sped off to fulfill his task.
Meanwhile, Xavier was at a computer in the underground area of the school, waiting for Logan's report.
"Looks like this is the place, Charles." Logan said to him over the Blackbird's communicator. "I'll set her down in the woods nearby and go in on foot."
"Good." Xavier said as he was looking at a map that displayed the Blackbird's location. "Keep me informed."
"Right. Logan out." The X-Man responded, as Charles sensed Pietro's presence as the speedster jumped over the gates and made his way into the institute.
'Quicksilver.' He thought to himself.
The speed demon passed through the front door and dashed past Kitty, who was reading a book. The sudden wind caused the pages to turn.
"Hey, who opened a window?" She asked Evan and Storm, who were also in the foyer with her.
Kurt was hanging upside down from his ceiling, staring at a photo of him with his adoptive parents, when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He teleported outside to see who it was, but no one was there. Confused, he teleported back inside his room, only to find someone had slipped an envelope under the door.
Picking it up, he opened it and found a note.
"If you want to know the truth, come to the new mall construction site at sundown. Come alone." Kurt read. He slipped the note and envelope in his drawer as he looked at the sun lowering.
"Why not?" He asked himself as he teleported away, determined to get the answer to his past. If he stuck around, he would have heard another knock on his door.
"Yo, Kurt." Scott greeted as he walked into the room. "Professor X says he may have some info..." He found the room empty. "Kurt?" He looked up at the ceiling in case he was hanging there, but Kurt wasn't there either. "Kurt?"
As the sun was beginning to set, Pietro was leaning against a tree as he was speaking on the phone with Magneto. The one who truly ran the Brotherhood.
"That's what the note said." Pietro said. "She's gonna meet that little blue creep tonight. And that Wolverine guy and the Blackbird were gone, just like you said."
"Hmm." Magneto pondered. "As I feared. Good work, Pietro." He praised the boy as he was in a lab that was inside the same castle from the dream. He was looking at the monitor in the lab as he was watching out for the Blackbird, knowing that Wolverine would be here soon enough.
"Now I need you to do something further for me." He said to Pietro. "Get the others and intercept Nightcrawler before he gets to Mystique." He commanded as he saw the Blackbird land. "She must tell him what he wants to know. I have to take care of a visitor."
After landing the jet and navigating through the wilderness, Wolverine soon found himself in view of the castle. He managed to climb up the rocky surface before pulling himself up on the drawbridge.
He sniffed around as he caught a familiar scent.
Magneto.
He then entered the castle and hid behind a pillar to overlook the interior. It was empty. He then climbed up some stairs, and as he was about to enter a hallway at the top, he was electrocuted by two devices on either side of the wall that shot out a pulse at him.
Hissing in pain, he managed to stab one of the mechanisms, causing the electricity to stop.
As he continued on his path, two turrets appeared and shot lasers at the orange-suited mutant, who dodged the blasts as he jumped off a wall and propelled himself to one of the devices and slashed it, causing it to propel to the other one, destroying both in the process.
Wolverine then found a set of wooden doors, and preparing to engage in a one-on-one confrontation with Magneto, he burst through the doors and into the lab, only to find everything trashed.
Shelves were pushed down. Shattered glass from beakers littered the floor, along with all kinds of research equipment that was damaged beyond repair.
As he walked down the stairs to closely observe the site, he heard Xavier's voice over his walkie-talkie.
"Wolverine." Xavier said. "Report."
Wolverine took the device off his belt to respond. "Looks like I was expected. I think this place was some sort of..." He sniffed the place as he got the answer. "DNA lab or something. But whoever was running it pulled out recently. Real recently." Wolverine added, as he could tell that this place was destroyed not too long ago. He then noticed a bomb on the wall, counting down from ten seconds.
"Sorry, doc! I gotta sign off. Now!" Wolverine said to the professor before he jumped out of the window, barely managing to escape the explosion, which caused the entire castle to crumble as Wolverine ran back to the Blackbird.
Danny was walking down the halls of the institute when Scott came up to him.
"Danny, Kurt's taken off." His friend told him. "The professor wants us to check out his room."
"What are we looking for exactly?" Danny asked as the two entered Kurt's room.
"I'm not sure." Scott answered. "Professor X thinks Kurt might have had a visit from Pietro this afternoon."
"That little pipsqueak?" Danny groaned at the thought of him being involved. "Great."
"Yeah, and I guess he could get past the mansion security with no problem." Scott assumed.
As the two were looking around, Danny went through Kurt's drawer, where he found the note from earlier. He read it and sighed, knowing what had happened to Kurt.
"Shit." He mumbled. "Scott, look at this." He showed Scott the note.
Scott read the note before looking over at Danny. "Get the others. We gotta move."
At the construction site, Kurt teleported in as he took a couple steps forward, looking for whoever told him to meet here.
"Okay, so I'm here." Kurt said.
"Hello, Kurt."
Kurt looked behind him to see the same woman from Rogue's dream, wearing the same robe with a hood over her face.
"You!" Kurt cried as he remembered the description of the figure that Rogue gave. "Who are you? And why don't you show yourself?"
"You already know me." The woman took off her hood, confirming Kurt's fear that it was Mystique. "Son."
"No!" Kurt shouted at the revelation that Mystique really was his mother. " No! It's impossible!" His shock then turned to rage as he was confronted with the identity of his biological mother. "What happened to me? Why didn't you-" Before he could say more, Blob landed on his feet in between the two of them.
"Get out!" Mystique commanded Blob, but he ignored her as the rest of the Brotherhood surrounded Nightcrawler.
"Whoa!" Quicksilver said as he showed up. "Far as you go, fur boy. This conversation's over." He was then lifted off his feet by an invisible force and thrown into a pile of planks.
The force then revealed itself as Danny as he turned visible. He shot some ecto-blasts from his eyes at Toad, knocking him into a cement mixer. He then grabbed Blob by one of his legs and swung him around before throwing him at Avalanche, launching the two into a brick wall.
"What kind of game is this, Mystique?" Nightcrawler accused, thinking that this was a setup.
"I didn't summon them, I swear." Mystique said. "I just want to talk."
Danny then turned to Kurt. "We'll be waiting outside if you need us." He then vanished, leaving the mother and son alone.
"Why did you leave me?" Kurt demanded, wondering if Mystique had abandoned him.
"I didn't want to, Kurt." Mystique confessed as she got closer to her boy. "You fell into the river. I tried to find you, but you were already discovered." She began to tear up. "I wanted to take you back, but I realized you were safer with them."
"Safe from who?" Kurt pressed.
"Magneto." Mystique snarled. "He experimented on you to try and force the X-gene to activate at infancy."
"You let him experiment on me?" Kurt was justifiably horrified at the fact that Mystique did that to him. But could he really say he was surprised? He knew how she manipulated and tormented Rogue, or how she shot Danny. So why was he really shocked by this?
"How could you?" Kurt said quietly, trying to hold back his tears.
"Trust me, I didn't know what he was planning." Mystique said, her voice filled with regret. "I took you out as soon as I found out. Please, Kurt." She held out a hand to her son. "Come with me, my son."
Kurt looked at the hand and contemplated a bit as he thought about it. Being with his mother, his real mother. It was like a dream come true, but the dream was now murky, for it was Mystique, the enemy. The one who was in charge of the Brotherhood. The one who tried to trick Rogue into joining their side. The one who shot Danny and tried to attack him in the mountains. He wanted a relationship with his mother, he really did, but he knew that it would be hard with them on different sides. And also, he felt himself wishing he didn't know the truth as now everything felt more complicated than ever.
He knew that right now was not the right time. He... he just needed to think this over. before he finally made his decision.
"I... I can't." Kurt confessed sadly to Mystique. "Not right now. Not when you're like this. I'm sorry but I can't go with you. Goodbye, mother." He then teleported away, leaving a crying Mystique behind.
"There was nothing of the lab?" Xavier asked Logan as the two of them, along with Scott and Jean, were in the library.
"Nothing." Logan confirmed. "Whoever was running it didn't want us finding anything. But before it went kablooey, it looked like a place Dr. Frankenstein might have been comfortable in."
"Genetic experimentation on mutants." Xavier said to himself, disgusted by the thought. "I hadn't realized that he was willing to go that far. And poor Kurt."
All four of them looked down, feeling sympathy for the blue mutant.
Kurt was on the roof, with Danny and Rogue on either side of him.
"I still can't believe Mystique is my mother, and she let that happen." Kurt bemoaned as he looked down.
"I'm sorry, Kurt." Danny apologized, wishing that he could take away his friend's pain.
"You were right, Danny." Kurt said. "The past is best left forgotten."
"Yeah." Danny sighed before he looked Kurt in the eye. "And that's why we focus on the present because right now, Kurt, you have family." He gestured to himself. "You got me, Rogue, the professor, Logan, Storm, Evan, Kitty, Scott, Jean, and your adoptive parents." He patted his friend on the shoulder. "You have people who love you, Kurt. Never forget that."
Kurt smiled sincerely at Danny. "I won't." His face then had a look of melancholy. "But how long until this pain goes away?"
"Never." Danny grunted. "It doesn't go away. You just have to be patient, and soon it will lessen as time goes on." He put his hand over Kurt's shoulders. "But we'll be there to help you through your pain."
Kurt then gave Danny a look of gratitude. "Thank you."
Mystique, sadly, had no one to comfort her as she looked out the window of her office. She saw a car drop off a girl, who thanked her mom for the ride.
"Thanks for the ride, Mom. See you after school."
Mystique closed her eyes, hurt by the rejection from her own son.
Chapter 11: Caging the Wrong Animal
In a darkened room, the lights turned on one by one, revealing a giant test tube that contained Logan. The poor mutant was unconscious as he floated inside a capsule of some kind of green liquid with several tubes connected to his body. A breathing apparatus was on his face, supplying him with the needed oxygen as he continued to slumber quietly.
The silence was soon interrupted as his eyes snapped open. He clenched his fists as his claws spurted out. Slashing through the glass, he made his escape as he wandered through the wilderness. As he managed to get himself together, he flashed back to his prior experimentation and escape with flashes of a bald-headed scientist looking over him appearing in his head.
He then got into a fighting stance as he noticed Sabretooth approaching him. Growling, he leaped onto his opponent, determined to protect himself.
Only to crash onto the floor of his wrecked room.
Breathing heavily, he got back into bed as he realized he was just having a dream.
Kitty's alarm went off, signaling that it was time to get off. Groaning, Kitty phased her hand through the alarm clock, which read 6:30, turning it off.
She then got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom, phasing through the door while not noticing the occupied sign that was on the handle.
"Wah?" Rogue said in confusion as she noticed Kitty was in the bathroom. "Hey, do you mind?" She asked in an irritated tone.
Kitty snapped out of her daze as she realized she had walked in on Rogue. She backed up as she phased through the door as Rogue opened it to angrily confront her.
"The sign says occupied." Rogue told her. "The door was locked."
"Who can read at this hour?" Kitty asked innocently.
"Who phases through doors at this hour?" Rogue shot back.
"Hey, just be glad it was me this time instead of Danny." Kitty pointed out. "It would be more awkward if it was him."
"I doubt Danny would be that rude." Rogue replied as she slammed the door.
"Sorry!" Kitty said in annoyance as she walked away.
Later in the day, Kitty was dressed in her normal clothing as she sat on her bed, writing a letter to her parents on her laptop.
'Dear Mom and Dad.' Kitty wrote. 'Today started out just like all the other school days, with everyone feeling a little crowded, me included.' She saw Rogue barge into their room. 'Especially with a roommate like Rogue. Though it's not real easy to get close to her, or healthy either. If it weren't for Danny, I don't think I would ever see her smile.'
Her concentration was then ruined by the sound of Rogue's hairdryer. Deciding to find somewhere else to write in private, she phased through the door, only to run into the others as they passed by her to get ready for the day.
Glaring at them in displeasure, she went to the kitchen, where she continued writing her letter.
'Finding a place to be alone around here is really a matter of timing. Sometimes you have to settle, like when Mr. Logan's around.' She glanced at the elder mutant, who was sipping his coffee as he read the paper. 'But that's okay because he doesn't wanna talk to anybody.'
"What's the matter, half-pint?" Logan asked her in an amused tone. "Am I reading too loudly for you?"
"Uh, no, just enjoying how quiet it is." Kitty answered before the rest of the students burst in for breakfast.
"Alright, breakfast!" Scott cheered.
"I'm starving!" Evan said as he poured himself some milk.
"Eggs! Part of a balanced meal." Kurt said as he helped himself to the food. "I like that."
Scott then turned on the TV as it showed a news report.
Logan turned up the volume as he wanted to hear the news, unknowingly annoying Kitty in the process.
"Witnesses have described a bigfoot-like creature in the Canadian wilderness." The reporter said as it showed a familiar forest to Logan.
'It's like sometimes Mr. Logan can be so incredibly rude, you know?' Kitty wrote in her letter.
"As a result, authorities have closed Mount McKenna National Park until further notice." The reporter continued.
"Mount McKenna?" Logan asked as he narrowed his eyes. He threw the remote control away as he stormed out of the room, much to the X-Men's concern.
"Hey, Logan, you okay?" Scott asked, but Logan ignored him.
'I mean, Professor Xavier is always saying that we're kind of like a family here, and we all got to get along.' Kitty wrote as Evan took a muffin.
"Hey, Kurt. Incoming!" Evan threw the muffin at Kurt's head as the two started a food fight.
'But Mr. Logan doesn't act like it.' Kitty wrote as Logan went into his room, gripping his head in pain. 'He's always going off doing this lone-wolf thing. I mean, it's not like his life is so much tougher than ours.'
Logan then threw a chair, shattering it as he started to growl in pain.
He popped out of his claws and started slashing around as his claws tore through his door, right as Kitty was walking past his room.
"Mr. Logan?" Kitty asked shyly as Logan opened the door, showing that his room was destroyed.
"Oh, hi." Kitty said awkwardly. "Sorry, I..." She noticed that he seemed much more aggressive than before. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, fine, fine." Logan grunted as the pain went away. "Just redecorating." He closed his bedroom door and walked away.
Brushing off Logan's weirdness, she went to the living room, where she saw Evan lying on the couch, shooting spikes up into the ceiling. She looked up to see that he had used his spikes to put a poster of The Festering Boils on the ceiling.
"Evan, what are you doing?" Kitty asked.
"Didn't have space for this in my room." Evan answered.
"We all share this area, you know?" Kitty said. "What if some of us don't like The Festering Boils?"
"You could deal with it." Evan shot out one more spike before leaving. "See you."
Sighing at Evan's childishness, she sat down on the couch and continued writing.
'Evan is the youngest, and he is so immature, you know? It's like he has no idea how his actions affect the rest of us.' The poster then fell down on Kitty. 'Then again, like, maybe he does.'
Deciding to go outside to get some privacy, she climbed up into a tree as she continued her letter.
'Some of the kids around here are pretty nice, like Scott.' She looked over at him as he was working on his car. 'Sometimes he tries to be so responsible for Professor Xavier and the other students. Then other times, he acts just like a regular high school kid.' The sound of his car's engine, along with the radio's music, almost caused Kitty to fall out of the tree. 'Today he's definitely a kid.'
The valley girl then saw Danny, who was currently kicking his busted moped in frustration. 'There's also Danny. He's a really cool and sweet guy. And he can also phase through stuff like me. Between you and me, if he wasn't dating Rogue, I would totally go after him.'
She saw a butterfly fly past her, and as she admired it, she noticed Xavier approaching Logan. 'Thank goodness for Professor Xavier. He keeps a lid on things around here; not an easy job sometimes, especially with Mr. Logan. I bet he really gets after him for trashing his room.'
"Something in that news story, I don't know what, set me off." Logan said to the professor.
"Let's talk about it." Xavier said to the pacing mutant. "Sit down."
"Charles, there's something in my head, buried there." Logan said. "How about you get inside and see if you can't pry it loose?" He suggested.
"Alright." Xavier accepted. "But first, you need to relax."
"Heh. Yeah, easy for you to say." Logan said sarcastically.
Xavier then placed a hand on his head as he entered Logan's mind. Both mutants saw Logan peering out from his tube at a bald man in a military uniform wearing goggles.
The connection then broke as Xavier exited Logan's mind.
"Tell me that was a dream or something." Logan said.
"No, a memory long forgotten, or rather, suppressed." Xavier replied. "I believe that was a glimpse of how you came to acquire your unusual implements. Do you wish to continue?"
"Go for it." Logan prompted.
As Xavier did just that, Logan saw a memory of himself in the woods right after escaping the lab, where he was confronted by Sabretooth. In the distance, he could see the same scientist in front of a jeep. The memory then ended as Sabretooth charged at Logan.
"You all right?" Xavier asked his old friend.
Logan rubbed his head. "Whatever happened to me, that's where it started with that ghoul in the black coat. He's the guy who did this." He popped out his claws. "I gotta go."
He was about to walk off when Xavier grabbed his arm. "You're going to that mountain in Canada, aren't you?" The professor asked. "The one you saw on TV and in your nightmares."
"Happen to pick that up while inside my head?" Logan shrugged off the arm as he went on his way.
"Do you want company?" Xavier asked.
"Do I ever?" Logan replied dryly.
As the Blackbird was stationary, Kitty was inside it, finishing her letter.
'Well, I guess I better sign off before Kurt pops in here and finds me. He's always doing that; totally freaks me out.' She looked at her watch. 'Besides, I'm about late for school.'
Danny phased into the jet. "Kitty, why are you in the Blackbird?"
"Out of, like, necessity." Kitty replied as she closed her laptop.
"Necessity for what?" Danny asked.
"Privacy." Kitty complained. "I can't get one moment alone in this stupid mansion."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Is this because of the astrophysics test you have today?"
"No! I mean, well, that's part of it, but really, I just can't have any privacy here." Kitty confessed before the jet started to shake, signaling that it was taking off.
The two fell to the floor as the jet left the hanger with Logan piloting it.
The door to the cockpit opened as Kitty and Danny saw that Logan was flying the plane.
"It's Logan." Danny said as he was about to go up to the guy when Kitty held him back.
"I wouldn't." Kitty warned him. "He's been acting, like, mega-weird all morning."
Danny nodded as Logan caught their scents, tipping him off that Kitty and Danny were on board.
"Engage autopilot." Logan commanded the jet as he moved over to the two kids while clutching his head in pain. "Why are you following me?"
"We're not following you." Kitty explained. "I was just-" She was cut off as Logan pulled out his claws.
Danny moved Kitty back as Logan made a swipe at them.
"Logan, what's wrong?" Danny demanded, wondering what was going on with their instructor.
"I gotta take you back before..." Logan mumbled before he fell to the ground. "You gotta get away. Something in my head. I can't control it. Can't be trusted." He pressed a button, causing the door to the cockpit to close as he reached with one hand toward the two as his claws extended and cut through the metal door.
"He shut himself in so we'd be safe." Danny realized. "From him."
"We gotta get out of here." Kitty said.
"No!" Danny shook his head. "Didn't you hear him? Something's in his head, and he can't control himself." Danny recalled the time that he was controlled by Freakshow with that red orb. How he was forced against his free will to rob banks for that demented psycho. "He needs our help. And wherever he's going, he's probably heading there to get help." His eyes flashed with determination, not wanting Logan to go through the same thing he once went through. "We'll make sure that he's all right."
"Question is, where are we flying to?" Kitty said.
The two simply waited until the Blackbird finally landed in the Canadian wilderness. Logan got out of the plane as he started to look for any trace of who had experimented on him. He failed to notice Kitty phase through the plane as she walked a couple of steps forward to see where Logan was heading off to.
She turned to see Danny phase through the plane as well.
"Did you get into the cockpit?" She asked.
"Yeah, but something's jammed the transmitter." Danny revealed. "So we're on our own for this one."
The two then went to follow Logan, not knowing that they weren't the only ones in this forest.
In a lab, the same doctor from Logan's memories was at a computer console looking over an image of Logan's cranial area that displayed the active chip that was inside him.
"Excellent." The doctor praised. "You see, that chip in his brain is still active after all these years. Oh, I did such good work in those days." He said, feeling nostalgic for the old days. "And yet, through sheer force of will, he's managed to subdue it. Until now."
"Well, why now?" Sabretooth asked as he stood at the back of the lab.
"Oh, I suppose he just got too comfortable with Xavier, let his his guard down." The doctor said casually, as if he were having a normal conversation. "Certain news footage did the rest. Isn't that right, Bigfoot?" He teased.
"Don't call me that!" Sabretooth growled.
"Tell you what, Sabretooth." The doctor said with a smile. "Why don't you go greet our old colleague?"
Sabretooth let out a roar as he went off to confront Logan as the doctor messed with a dial, increasing the chip's strength.
Logan gasped in pain before he smelled a familiar scent and spotted Sabretooth.
Sabretooth charged at Logan as he knocked his smaller foe to the ground.
"Wolverine!" Sabretooth snarled.
"Sabretooth!" Logan returned. "I thought something stunk about this forest." Sabretooth tried to smack Logan, but he backflipped out of the way. Logan was then punched into a rock as Sabretooth charged at him for another attack, but Logan managed to dodge that one.
He moved past another attack as Logan got on his hands and kicked Sabretooth in the chest.
Having had enough with this, Sabretooth grabbed a big rock and threw it at Logan, but the smaller mutant jumped out of the way of the rock and tackled Sabretooth to the ground before Sabretooth kicked him off.
Wolverine then pulled out his claws. "Alright, fuzz-bub, playtime's over. Now I want some answers!" He was about to stab his foe when he heard another voice.
"You'll get your answers, Wolverine, but you'll wish you hadn't." The doctor said as he stood a couple feet away from Wolverine. In his hands was a remote control. Smirking at his former test subject, the doctor pressed a button on the controller, making Wolverine cry out in pain. The X-Man fell to his knees as Sabretooth came up behind him and hit him in the back, knocking Wolverine out.
"Welcome home." Sabretooth said with a toothy grin.
"You've aged remarkably well, Logan, if at all." The doctor said as he stood before Wolverine in the lab. "Your recuperative powers have served you well. Now it's time they serve me. Especially since your enhancements represent quite the financial investment.
Wolverine looked over to his right, where he saw a destroyed tube. The same tube that he escaped from back in his dream.
"Who?" Wolverine growled. "Who ordered it?"
"What? That Adamantium skeleton of yours?" The doctor asked as he placed his hands behind his back. "I can hardly believe you haven't figured that out by now." He then saw Sabretooth enter the room. "Ah, Bigfoot." He greeted, getting a growl from Sabretooth. "Are we ready for training?"
"We are." Sabretooth confirmed.
The doctor started typing on his computer as the monitors showed Danny and Kitty wandering the wilderness in search of their friend.
"Yes, and I see our test subjects are in position as well." The doctor said.
Wolverine tried to fight against the effect of the chip, refusing to hurt Kitty and Danny. "No!"
The doctor pressed a button on the remote, making Wolverine howl in pain.
"It's time we resume Project Weapon X." The doctor told Wolverine. "Your development as the ultimate mutant slayers."
Back with Kitty and Danny, the two were still searching for Wolverine.
"He should be around here somewhere." Danny said as Kitty looked around and spotted him.
"There he is!" Kitty pointed over to a hill that Wolverine was standing on. "Mr. Logan, over here!"
The two saw Wolverine look in their direction as Sabretooth came up behind him, but Wolverine didn't seem bothered by how close Sabretooth was.
"Looks like he's brought a friend." Danny observed.
"Sabretooth!" Kitty exclaimed as Sabretooth jumped down, with Logan following. "But they're, like, mortal enemies."
"Guess he forgot that part." Danny said as he saw the two start to approach them. "Come on!" He lifted Kitty into his arms and flew into the air, where Sabretooth and Logan couldn't catch them.
"He can fly?" The doctor said as he watched the scene from his lair. He sighed. "This is gonna take some time."
Danny then threw an ecto-blast at Sabretooth, knocking him out, before Danny grabbed Wolverine with one of his arms.
The mutant tried to attack Danny and Kitty, but his attacks only went through Danny, as he kept himself and Kitty intangible.
Danny then flew them to a cliff, where he dropped Wolverine roughly to the ground before setting Kitty down as he got in front of her to protect her. Coincidentally, he took them to a place where the doctor couldn't observe them on his monitors.
"Logan, it's me." Danny said as he realized that Wolverine was being controlled by something. "What's wrong with you?"
"Danny! Kitty!" Wolverine raised his claws to attack them, but he was twitching as he tried to hold himself back, trying to take back control before he hurt his friends.
Danny could see the hesitation in his movements. That meant that Wolverine could take back control. He just needed help. "So you still recognize us?" He walked closer to Wolverine. "Logan, I know what you're going through. I've had control taken from me before, but I took it back, and so can you. You just need to fight back!"
"Yeah, Mr. Logan." Kitty agreed. "We've always been friends." At seeing Wolverine let out a growl, she corrected herself. "Okay, maybe not friends, but close enough."
In the lab, the doctor was increasing the chip's power to take back control of Wolverine as he started to move closer to the two.
"Logan, fight back!" Danny urged as he and Kitty backed up to the edge of the cliff. He remembered Sam being in the same position back on the train when she was trying to reach him. It wasn't until Sam fell that he finally broke free of the staff's control.
Realizing that he would have to do something similar, Danny grabbed Kitty and threw the two of them off the cliff.
Kitty screamed as they plummeted. Danny, however, was calm as he turned them invisible before flying to safety.
"What's wrong with you?" Kitty shouted at him.
"I was thinking he would snap out of it if we thought we were dead." Danny answered with no hesitation.
Kitty smacked him in the chest. "You're crazy! That's never going to work."
Wolverine watched as the two disappeared. He looked at his hands.
"Kitty? Danny?" He then let grief consume him as he howled in sadness as the rain came down. "No!"
Danny and Kitty then appeared behind Wolverine as the feral mutant's sense of smell told him that they were still alive.
He was about to attack them when he stopped himself at the last minute, holding his claws just inches away from Kitty and Danny.
"It's me, Kitty." Kitty reminded him as she took off his mask. "Remember? Half-pint? Please try. We had breakfast together just this morning. Kind of. Look, whatever they did to you, you're fighting it. You can win.
"She's right, Logan!" Danny told him. "Remember who you are! You say bub a lot, and you're a great fighter who's been teaching us all you know. We still groan about your training sessions in the Danger Room, but we all know it's your way of preparing us for what the world will throw at us."
Danny looked into his eyes, as he could see that Wolverine indeed recognized him.
"Fight it, Logan!" Danny encouraged him. "I know you don't want to hurt us!"
"Don't give up!" Kitty spurred.
Wolverine was fighting with all his willpower against the chip. "I..." He clutched his head as he fell to his knees. "Chip!"
"Chip?" Danny asked. "What chip?"
"Something in my head." Wolverine grunted. "Making me do this."
"Well, let's get that out." Danny placed his hands on Wolverine's shoulders and turned his entire body intangible as the chip fell through him and to the ground, where Danny stomped on it.
Wolverine then started to breathe heavily as he realized that the pain was finally gone.
"You all right?" Kitty asked in concern.
Wolverine narrowed his eyes. "I will be when I get my claws into that slimeball." He then ran past them and toward the doctor's lair. Danny and Kitty watched as he sped off before noticing that Sabretooth was following him.
"I think he may need some help." Danny said as he took Kitty in his arms and flew after them.
"Sabretooth, where is Wolverine?" The doctor panicked as he tried to look for any sign of Wolverine.
Sabretooth looked down at the smashed entrance to the underground bunker. "He's entered the lab."
"No!" The doctor cried. "Get down here and protect me!" He turned around to see Wolverine cut right through the door to the lab.
"Don't make me do this, Logan." The doctor placed his hand on the dial that increased the chip's power, unaware that the chip had been removed. "You're too valuable!"
Sabretooth dropped down in the bunker in search of Logan when Danny and Kitty appeared in front of him.
"Get out of my way!" Sabretooth roared.
"You touch me, and I will phase you to the center of the earth." Danny threatened as Kitty phased through the door behind them to find Wolverine.
The feline mutant wasn't scared at all by Danny's threat. "You don't have the guts, runt!" He was about to slash Danny with his claws when the hybrid fired his ghost ray at the furry mutant, severing his arm.
Sabretooth screamed in excruciating agony at the loss of his limb.
"Don't tempt me!" Danny warned him. He knew that Sabretooth had regenerative powers like Wolverine did, so he would be fine. He then phased through the door to join Kitty.
The doctor was trembling in fear as Wolverine finished cutting through the door.
"I warned you!" He increased the chip's power to 100% as Logan fell to his knees.
The doctor smirked as he walked up to Wolverine. "Looks like I win, Logan."
His arrogance then turned to fear as Wolverine grabbed his hand.
"Gotcha!" Wolverine said as he threw the doctor back into his monitor. Realizing the chip wasn't working. He pressed a button, causing several spider-like security droids to come out and surround Wolverine.
They shot out tentacles to restrain the mutant as they wrapped around him.
Danny and Kitty then came in and noticed what was going on.
"Not a big fan of labs; let's see if I can fix that, shall we?" Danny fired his ecto-blasts at the drones, freeing Logan as Kitty ran at the monitor.
"Ok, I see the problem." She phased through the monitor, causing it to explode.
"Whoa!" Kitty phased through the fire as she saw the entire lab was about to come down. "It's about to get totally hot around here."
The doctor could only watch as his work was slowly being destroyed as Wolverine came up to him.
"You caged the wrong animal, bub." Wolverine snapped.
"Stop!" The doctor pleaded with the advancing Wolverine. "This place is gonna blow!"
"Let it!" Wolverine retorted. "Danny, Kitty, leave!"
"Not without you!" Kitty argued, but Danny grabbed her and phased them through the ceiling.
"I think Logan can survive one measly explosion." Danny assured her as they went above ground.
Wolverine then saw Sabretooth behind him with the doctor in front of him. The two people from his dreams and his past. It was time for this nightmare to end.
"Project Weapon X has been terminated." Wolverine said before the whole place was caught in a massive explosion.
Danny and Kitty watched the explosion occur as they waited for Wolverine to return. They waited for at least ten minutes until they saw Wolverine stagger toward them, his costume torn.
The X-Man could only walk a couple more feet before he collapsed to the ground.
"Mr. Logan." Kitty went to his side.
"He'll be fine." Danny said confidently as he started to carry Wolverine back to the Blackbird.
Logan lay in a bed in the infirmary before he shot up from his bed.
"Relax, my friend."
Logan turned around to see that Xavier was by his bedside.
"You're back at the institute." Xavier said. "You're safe."
Logan sighed in relief before he remembered Kitty and Danny. "What about the kids?" He asked worriedly. "Are they..." He feared the worst.
"Both fine." Xavier said with a smile. "Danny and Kitty have been in here every hour checking on you. Do you feel any pain, Logan?"
"Yeah, but not from any wounds." Logan answered as he laid back down in his bed. "Someday, though, I'm gonna find out who had this done to me." He vowed. "That's a promise."
"Glad to see you're up on your feet." Danny said as he walked into the room.
"It wouldn't have been possible without you getting that chip out of my head, bub." Logan grinned. "Thanks."
"Hey, no problem." Danny said, happy that Logan was back to his normal self.
Kitty was back in her room. Rogue was at the movies with Danny, so she had the room all to herself as she finished her letter.
'So, like I said this morning, it's been another normal day here at the Xavier Institute. Funny, I've been complaining about not having enough time alone, right? But I think I, like, miss bumping into everyone. It's part of the deal when you're a part of a family.'