Chapter 1
It was early morning in Westchester, the early morning sun gently brushing the walls of Xavier’s Academy for Gifted Youngsters. Within the stone confides of the school, dozens of teenage and young adult mutants were slowly waking to begin their day. On the second floor of the building, a man stood. He was a gruff man, seemingly more at home in the wilds then in the majesty of this grand house, hence his moniker, The Wolverine. But those who knew him called him Logan.
Logan was strolling down the hall, black cigar clenched between his teeth. The house rule was no smoking inside where the children could see him but Logan had never paid any mind to Charles’ rules. After all, he had already lived 2 lifetimes of them, thanks to his impromptu trip to 1973 to change the future.
Finally, Logan stopped at a small window overlooking the courtyard. It was a secluded spot, one where he wouldn’t be seen but could look out over the property, on guard from any intruders, even as he relaxed in the sun.
The mutant unlocked the window and pushed it open before reaching into his pocket for his lighter. He paused as he noticed a flash of light, his senses on edge. He sniffed the air, testing for danger.
Below in the courtyard, a yellow taxi was pulling to a stop.
Reaching up, Logan took the cigar out of his mouth as he watched three people get out of the vehicle. The first was a young man, stocky build wearing a large blue jacket. The man, little more than a boy was talking to an African American woman in black clothing who had stepped out of the back seat on the opposite side of the vehicle. The woman said something before turning and reaching back into the vehicle.
Logan suppressed a growl as he saw what could only be a child, wrapped in a blanket, carefully lifted out of the vehicle and into the woman’s arms. The child wasn’t moving, either asleep or in a worse state and the woman held it with care but that still didn’t stop the stab of anger in Logan’s chest. He had seen this scene far too many times.
Parents, frightened by their mutant offspring, packing them up to dump on Xavier’s door, the children left to wonder why they had been thrown out of a loving home, abandoned by seemingly perfect parents, all because of their mutation.
If the African American woman was the mother, the third figure must be the father. Logan could see a tall, clearly male figure in red step out of the front seat, his back to the building. He must have been wearing a red hood, his face hidden from view. Probably some big-wig who thought his career would be ruined by a mutant child, looking to hide his ‘shameful secret’. Logan didn’t want to waste his time on something so disturbing.
A sudden movement caught the mutant’s attention.
At the door, Piotr stood in his flesh form, arms crossed at his chest, waiting to greet the new arrivals, no doubt sent by Chuck to deal with them. Logan wasn’t surprised. Piotr had a remarkable tolerance for bullshit, far higher than most with the possible exception of Summers who was a Grade A Boy Scout. He would be able to talk to the parents, reassure them that they were doing the right thing, or as much as the right thing in their minds. Sure, Logan knew that it could be worse. Weapon X came to mind. But still, to abandon a child…
No longer feeling like a cigar, Logan pulled the window closed and turned away. Anyway, he had a self defence class to teach.
As he disappeared from the window, Logan failed to see below in the court yard, the figure in red turn to look up at the window, white lenses of a mask narrowing.
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‘Logan, would you come to my office’
Logan had been half way to the Danger Room for his class when the summons came, Charles calling him to his office. Changing direction, Logan followed the well worn path to the older mutant’s office and pushed the door open without knocking.
Xavier was in his usual place, seated in his wheelchair at his desk. On the opposite side, the other chairs were also taken. Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Hank McCoy and Ororo Munroe all sat in silence, waiting. Jean and Scott were holding hands, probably having a telepathic conversation and Hank was reading from a folder but Ororo turned and smiled at Logan as he took the last seat. Clearly whatever this conversation was about, it was for the ears of the senior ‘X-Men’.
“I am sorry to pull you all away from your classes” Charles began once Logan was seated and the group’s attention was on him. “But a matter has arisen which will require assistance from you all.”
The telepath turned to look at Logan.
“Later today, we will be entertaining a guest. His name is Doctor Nathanial Essex. He is a geneticist who has specialised in mutations. He has expressed an interest in investing in the school and offered his help in locating and educating our students. Logan, Ororo, I want you two to provide him with a tour of the school and answer any questions while he is on the grounds.”
“With all due respect, Professor, shouldn’t you leave that to Jean and me?” Scott asked as Logan was about to open his mouth and protest doing what was basically a glorified baby-sitting task. Normally, either one or both of them tended to do these tasks and Logan kept far away from them due to his short temper. Logan immediately changed his mind about the task.
“Why Slim, scared of him seeing what the school is really about?” Logan asked. He smirked as Scott shot him a dark look, eyes flashing under his glasses.
“Stop it.” Jean ordered, placing her hand on Scott’s a shooting Logan a warning glance. She then gave her boyfriend a softer look, clearly holding him to a better standard then Logan.
“Unfortunately, Jean, Scott, I have a more pressing matter for you.” Charles continued once the tension eased in the room. Reaching to a switch on his desk, he activated a small screen. On it, an image was shown. “What do any of you know of X-Force?”
The whole room went quiet, its occupants looking at the image. The picture of several people. They were heavily armed and looked more like a strike team than anything else. Finally Logan spoke.
“Isn’t that, that lunatic Deathbowl or something? The one Piotr is always talking about?” He asked, nodding towards a red and black figure on the screen.
“Deadpool.” Charles corrected him. “They are a very secretive group but I have managed to find some information on them. Deadpool, or Wade Wilson, is a survivor of the Weapon X project like yourself Logan.”
Involuntarily, Logan’s claws appeared at the mention of the program, an action which everyone in the room ignored.
“From what I can tell” Xavier continued. “Mr Wilson escaped from the program with incredible healing abilities but his sanity didn’t survive. He has survived as a mercenary and it seems that the rest of this X-Force may have similar occupations.”
“They are Mutant Mercenaries. We need to stop them. Mutants are already persecuted enough. Having a mercenary group out in public could do serious damage to our cause. Or worse. What if they team up with the Brotherhood.” Storm stated from her seat. Charles glanced at her before shaking his head.
“Magneto would certainly have a use for a group of mutants acting as mercenaries.” Hank added, still reading the file in his hands.
“Unfortunately, we currently have no proof of this group having committed any crimes. I suspect that they may have been involved in the murder of several orderlies at an orphanage as well as the breakout of several high level prisoners from the ‘Ice Box’ prison but as all the security cameras failed during both incidents and none of the children are willing to talk about what happened, I cannot prove anything at this point.”
“Wasn’t that orphanage discovered to be a front for a mutant conversion centre?” Scott asked, voice dropping dangerously. Logan nodded in agreement at the disgust in the other man’s voice. Several of the kids had been re-homed in Westchester after the orphanage was destroyed and the tales of what those kids had endured at the hands of those monsters were enough to make all the X-Men angry.
“It was. However vigilantism does us no good.” Charles replied, sending calming thoughts into Scott’s mind. As leader of the X-Men, which was technically a group of vigilantes, Scott needed to maintain a calm front at all times to show that they were doing the right thing.
“So why bring them up. If we can’t prove they have done anything, we can’t exactly stop them from living their lives. Unless you believe Magneto is planning to recruit them?” Jean asked.
Xavier reached up and changed the picture on the screen, zooming in on one of the figures. It was a middle aged male, stocky build with a military style haircut and visible scars on his face. He was wearing a long sleeved jacket but that did little to hide just how strong he was.
“This is one of the X-Force members. He goes by the code name Cable. From what I can discover, he is an Omega Level Telepath with similarly strong Telekinetic abilities. I also suspect he has latent Time Travelling abilities and possible Superhuman strength.”
Logan couldn’t help the impressed whistle. He only knew of one Omega Level mutant and that was Jean. The fact that this guy had her abilities and then some was something else.
“So he’s strong.” Hank stated. Logan glanced over to the blue furred man who was placing the file on the desk.
“Yes, He also needs our help. Although they are not very forthcoming, it appears that this X-Force was involved in a fight last night with an unknown ground. During the fight, this Cable was hit by a blast intended for Deadpool and has apparently been de-aged. They have contacted Piotr who has offered for Cable to stay in the mansion for the time being.”
“And you allowed this?” Logan asked, glancing that Charles. He had thought the older man would know better than to allow a dangerous, unhinged group into his home, after the Stryker mess.
“Yes. Cable is, at this point, physically a child. And, I believe he has also been mentally deaged. I suspect he has no memories past the age in which he has been reverted to. Given what I also learnt, I feel it prudent to offer him a home until this can be sorted out.”
“What have you learnt Professor?” Storm asked softly.
“I learnt Cables real name.”
All the X-Men glanced at each other before, as a group, they lent forward, the tension in the room raising sharply.
“I have learnt that Cable was raised many years in the future in the middle of a war, as a child soldier. His real name is Nathan Christopher Summers. He is biologically a perfect mixture of the DNA of Scott Summers and Jean Grey.”
Charles looked over to where Jean and Scott sat in dumb silence.
“He is your son.”
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The X-Men strolled through the halls, heading towards the kitchen. In front, the Professors Wheelchair rolled at a leisurely pace as he explained what he knew about the newly revealed Summers.
Behind him, Scott, ever the loyal son, silently walked. He appeared to be listening intently to everything the Professor was saying but behind his visor, Logan could almost see the thoughts rushing through his head as he tried to make sense of what had been revealed to him.
It seemed that this Cable, although now physically a child, still had his mutations. That level of power in a child’s body was beyond frightening and Logan agreed, could not be left in the hands of an unknown group. Charles had already instructed Piotr to escort this X-Force to the teacher’s kitchen where they would be out of sight of the students until anything could be decided.
Jean was also silent, her head bowed, lost in her own thoughts as she walked beside Scott. Logan could see in the lines of her shoulders that she was tense.
Logan and Ororo brought up the rear, Hank having to return to his lab to check on some experiment or another.
For once, Logan had nothing to say. Generally, he enjoyed riling up Scott but he knew that this was an unprecedented situation and as much as Logan liked annoying the leader of the X-Men, he and Scott had worked hard to form a friendship both on and off the field (even if, to an outsider, it appeared less of a friendship and more thinly vailed attempts to murder each other) and Logan wasn’t going to push in this matter.
Suddenly, the Professor stopped, raising his hand to his head. Jean gave a sudden gasp. Scott immediately grabbed her hand in his.
“Jean?” He asked as Ororo pushed past, placing a hand on Charles’ shoulder.
“Professor?” She asked.
“I’m alright.” The Professor replied, lowering his hand as Jean gave Scott a small nod. “But it seems that young Cable has awoken and is not happy. And it appears he has found the knife block. I think we should hurry to the kitchen before his teammates get injured.”
All of them picked up the pace, intent on getting to the kitchen. As they drew closer, Logan’s advanced hearing could pick up voices.
“How did he get those knives?” A female voice asked.
“I dunno. You’re lucky. You tell me.” A male voice replied.
“That’s not how it works, Asshole.” The female replied.
“You should not be using such language around a child.” A deeper voice with a Russian accent said. “Talk calmly and all will be well.”
“You wanna try it? Be our guest Metal Nuts!” Another male voice replied. This one was younger, with an accent Logan recognised as from New Zealand.
“Cable. I know all seems strange but if you put the knife down…” There was a loud, sharp sound of metal hitting metal.
The first male voice returned, laughing.
“Holy shit! Did you see that aim! Baby Priscilla is a bad ass!”
“You are not helping Wade!” The Russian voice growled.
The first male continued as if lost in his own train of thought.
“Oh look. He found the Cream Cheese Spreader. How cute, taking after his Uncle Deadpool. Come here you little monster, I have to hug you.”
“WADE!”
“He just got that from the other side of the room without moving! It fucking floated!” New Zealand stated.
“Please tell me you didn’t bring any of your guns.” The female stated.
“Why? You think I should pull a gun on a child?! What the fuck Domino!?”
“You’ve done it before.” New Zealand replied.
“Shut it Firefist! I do not…Argh! In my leg! You little fucker! Right. I’m ending this!”
There was another metal sound.
“Put down the knives now Mini Agent K!”
“You brung swords into a school?” The Russian voice asked, sounding horrified. “Why?”
“Clearly you’ve never been to a public school! Ouch! Son of a bitch!” The male shouted.
“Shit! He’s got the Cheese Spreader again!”
The door to the kitchen opened.
In a matter of seconds, several things happened. In the corner, a young boy was standing, his back pressed against a wall. The rest of the rooms occupants were standing on the opposite side of the room. Piotr and a male in a red and black suit standing between the boy and the rest. The red and black moron had two swords in his hands and Piotr was in his protective metal skin. As the door opened, the boy turned and, clearly surprised, threw a small, bloodied knife towards the door. The group of people inside the room turning to watch it, frozen in their tracks. Logan drew his claws, already knowing that he wouldn’t be able to stop it even as he felt the others move into attack position.
The knife sailed through the air, flying towards its target before freezing, the very tip of knife resting against the Professor’s forehead.
The room fell quiet for a few seconds before Logan finally released the breath he was holding.
“Nice catch Red.” He muttered towards Jean, recognising the telekinetic hold on the weapon.
“That wasn’t me.” Jean replied, still frozen with her hands partly raised as if to block the weapon.
“No.” Charles stated. “I believe it was our young friend here.” His eyes fixed on the young boy who was staring at him. “It’s ok Nathan. We are not going to harm you.”
The boy looked at the group, clearly searching for any signs of danger, even as he pressed himself further against the wall. Logan took the opportunity to study the kid. He was maybe 6 years old, untamed blond hair with white bangs which reminded Logan of Rogues hairstyle. Blue eyes looked out from under the bangs and Logan could see, several noticeable scars around the boy’s right eye. But what had Logan freeze in horror was the kids left arm. It was metal.
The boy continued to stare at the group, mixed emotions crossing his face when his eyes fell on Scott and Jean, as if the kid recognised them.
After a few tense seconds, the kid raised his metal arm. The knife suddenly flew backwards, away from the group, the kid catching it expertly in a hand that was all metal.
“Scott. Jean. I think you should meet Nathan.” The Professor said softly, eyes still on the armed child. Logan could feel the calm Charles was sending into the room as his own claws retracted. Inside the kitchen, the group of people relaxed slightly, the red moron lowering the swords.
Logan could almost feel the telepathic conversation between the couple before Scott slowly stepped out from behind the Professor’s chair, hands open to show the kid he was unarmed and not a danger as he slowly moved forward. Jean was behind him and Logan could tell, she was on edge, ready to block if the boy decided to attack again. This was a familiar motion for all the X-Men when dealing with frightened young mutants but Logan suspected, this was also a completely alien experience for the leader of the X-Men.
“Hello Nathan.” Scott said in a calm voice. “Do you know who I am?”
Slowly, the boy nodded, relaxing slightly but still keeping a firm grip on the knife.
Scott smiled and lowered himself to his knees, allowing himself to be closer to eye level with the boy, while still being at a distance comfortable to the child. The boy looked into Scott’s glasses for a moment and Logan saw his left eye flash a golden light.
“Nathan. I’m your dad.” Scott said.
“Alright…. What. The. Fuck!”