Chapter 1
When Logan had said he'd wanted a trip to the beach, what he hadn't meant was the kids dragging him to some desolate shore to play chaperone when he couldn't even swim. Well, at least he could sunbathe. He couldn't tan... probably, but the sun here was better than anywhere he'd found at the Institute. His adamantium skeleton still weighed down on his chest, his head, his whole, but it was better in the sun. And when he was asleep, but that wasn't really an option at the moment.
So, all he was left with was a coconut—cracked in half for the water, courtesy of his claws—a lawn chair that barely held his weight, and industrial-grade sunglasses that Chuck had lying around for some reason or another. Life was good, even if those kids he was supposed to be watching had started screaming at each other for one reason or another. Logan grumbled and settled further into his chair, taking a sip from his coconut and resting his head in his hand.
Wait, the kids were screaming. Not screeching or yelling in the way that Logan had learned meant that either they were having a horrendous amount of fun, or an argument was going on that he couldn't help resolve until one of them came to him for his opinion on the matter. No, this was screaming, the kind that he thought would only come if someone got swept out or was drowning. Logan shot up immediately, pulling his sunglasses off and tossing the coconut to the side. The kids—his kids—were huddled around a particular spot on the beach that the wave still lapped at. He couldn't see Scott- goddamnit, the kid hadn't lost his glasses in the water and hurt someone, had he?
"Hey, the hell's going on over there?" Logan shouted, jogging over and pushing some of the kids to the side. Sorry Kitty, Kurt, but the situation took precedence. The situation, which happened to be some... strange kid, dressed in scales and gold, who seemed to have washed up and was gasping like a thematically accurate fish out of water. Logan hissed out a curse, shoving Scott to the side—oh, that's where the kid went—to get at the stranger. He knelt down, pressing one ear to the kid's chest and listening to his lungs. Logan cursed again, hoisting the kid onto his shoulder. "Get everyone back to the jeep," He ordered Scott, his expression softening just slightly when he noticed the boy's concerned expression, "We're headed home."
"But what about him?" Kitty shot out, pushing her way through her peers similarly to how Logan himself had. "Shouldn't we take him to a hospital? He was in the water for a really long time! That's, like-... mega bad!"
"No, Logan's right," Scott interjected, already herding the other kids to the big old jeep that most of them had made the journey in. "That guy's a mutant- didn't you see the web- uh.. wing things on his feet? And Kurt thinks he saw gills on the guy." Kurt himself piped up with an affirmative 'Ja', pulling contemplative, if worried, mutters from the rest of the group. "No way he can go to a regular hospital. Mr. Logan knows what he's doing, come on."
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Logan did not know what he was doing. No bit of common sense in his mind had agreed that this was a good idea. Hank was a good scientist, sure, but the man was no doctor. This kid was some sort of fish... person... thing, and he wasn't getting better. If anything, he was getting worse. Hank had the kid hooked up to machine after machine that monitored something or another with incessant beeping and clicks and so many noises. Logan could just leave. He had no obligation here besides his own misguided guilt for not finding the kid sooner. Who knew how long he'd been in the water? Could he even swim?
Logan scowled, watching the kid's vitals go down another tick. It wasn't looking good, not good at all. He glared at the diminishing saline drip, watching the little droplets feed down the tube into the kid's arm. No way the kid could be dehydrated, he reasoned, he'd just been pulled from an entire ocean. A whole ocean. Enough water... or maybe ,I>not enough.
Logan shot up in his chair, his eyes widening as his cloudy thoughts worked overtime along this line of reasoning. The kid had gills, was looking blue around the lips, and had webbing between his fingers. How could he be so stupid? And, on another note, how hadn't Hank noticed anything? Well, actually, that was understandable. Again, the man wasn't a doctor. But Logan had an idea and no one around to stop him. Not even the Professor was rummaging around in his head right now. Ororo would be on her rounds, so no interference there, and most of the kids were too scared of him to do anything about anything he did, no matter how many times he told them he wasn't, and never would be, in the mood for child meat.
But that wasn't important right now. What was important was his theory. What if the kid hadn't been drowning from the water, but instead literally suffocating on the air? It was a long shot, but he could talk himself out of any trouble he got into because of it easily enough. The kid wasn't doing well in the status quo, so instead of ruminating on it further, Logan simply snagged the various cords and tubes running across and into the kid's skin, yanking them out with a firm tug. Loigan ignored the blood seeping out of the kid's pinprick wounds, carefully scooping him into his arms with little to no care for if his clothes got stained. It could wash out easily enough.
Now the hard part.
Logan dashed through the halls of the Institute's scientific wing, ignoring the tugging unease in the corner of his mind at the sight of all the equipment that could be used to poke and prod and intrude. He couldn't slow down now- if he didn't do this now the logic of the situation would win out and he wouldn't go through with this. But he had to. Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on Storm deciding to take a detour on her usual route. Right beside the Institute's pool, hidden by some nearby shrubbery. He couldn't have predicted it, and it put a serious damper on his plans. No way she would approve of him taking the risk of chucking an unconscious kid in the water.
"Logan!" Ororo snapped, stepping out from behind the shrubbery with an expression of righteous fury. "What do you think you are doing?"
Logan paused, his grip on the kid tightening. No, he couldn't stop now. "Sorry, 'Ro," He grumbled, taking another step towards the pool, "I got a hunch. An' I'm not one t' ignore a hunch."
Storm lurched forwards, a storm already brewing at her fingertips as she reached towards Logan. Logan, who had already dashed across the last stretch and dumped the kid into the deep, warm water.