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** ** indicates telepathic communication
‘ ’ indicates thought
“ ” indicates spoken words

Somewhere in the Alberta province of Canada,

“Thank you for coming doctor,” the blue furred behemoth smiled at the dark skinned woman walking next to him. “And thank you for bringing in these supplies.”
“Its no hassle doctor,” he got a smile and an emphasis on the doctor. “I only had to transport them up from the city. As you said yourself, if I wasn’t coming, one of you would have driven and picked them up.”

“Nevertheless, thank you,” Beast smiled at his counterpart. “And please call me Henry.”

“Only if you call me Cecelia,” came the instant answer.

“Very well…Cecelia.”

Reaching the end of the corridor they were walking along, they started up the stairs, continuing their conversation.

“By the way, where is Logan?” the Puerto Rican stunner asked with concern. “He was supposed come to by yesterday, Jubilee along with him. I waited for them, finally I gavbe up and decided to make an impromptu trip myself. Although I must say, the drive over is a tough ride, even in the no-snow fall weather.”

“He had some work come up,” Henry initially tried to avoid revealing the truth of the situation, but deciding not to. Checking for any one else within hearing distance, especially Rogue, he spoke softly. “He had to go to Westchester.”

That wiped the smile off Cecelia’s face, her body tensing up at the news. “Xavier’s?” she asked tightly.

“Yes,” Beast replied with a slight nod. He knew about Cecelia’s aversion to Charles Xavier and his X-Men. She blamed them for the one of the largest disasters of her life…..the loss of everything she had built since her birth.

--

It had been more than three years since that accursed day, when Charles Xavier had showed up at her hospital, his two ‘yuppie’ students in tow.

He had asked her some of her time to talk and had then gone on to give her his usual sales line, (according to her) about the betterment of the mutant race and its peaceful co-existence with humans. Cecelia had told him in no uncertain words that she was already living in peaceful co-existence with humans and did not want any part of his great vision. When even after repeated tries on behalf of Xavier and his companions, she didn’t agree, they had left peacefully and silently, with Xavier giving her his assurance that he wouldn’t contact her again, nor reveal to anyone that she was a mutant.

However, by that time the damage had been done. Unknown to Xavier, his archrival and one time best friend Erik Lehnsherr aka. Magneto had his own tracker, the feral Sabertooth on Xavier’s trail. He was under orders not to reveal himself or confront either Xavier or his students Cyclops and Marvel Girl. He was just supposed to get information on the mutant they were going to contact.

‘If only Xavier hadn’t come to me,’ that thought had come often to Cecelia. Not fifteen minutes after Xavier’s leaving, Sabertooth, improvising on his orders, decided to get some action with the beautiful Cecelia. He attacked her right there in the hospital, slashing and killing two orderlies who tried to confront him. He would surely have raped her….even killed her, had it not been for her using her mutant powers and the handy defibrillator to shock the living daylights out of him, over and over, until he wasn’t able to get up.

What she didn’t know then was that Sabertooth possessed a killer healing factor and soon enough he was up and running again, looking for her. He stopped however, when his master got news of his indiscretion and reprimanded him accordingly.

Cecelia didn’t know any of this because she didn’t care. She was too busy running to save herself, her life as a newly appointed resident surgeon at New York’s Mother of Mercy Hospital and as the person known as Cece to her family and friends, over. In their eyes, she had become a thing, a mutie freak….and for that she blamed, then and even now, a single man, Charles Xavier.

She had gone to Xavier and told him as much. She had cursed him and everything he stood for.

//Flashback//

“This is all YOUR fault,” Cecelia screamed at the silent Xavier, Scott and Jean standing by his side like obedient soldiers. “You had to come in my life, you had to spew all that garbage of yours, you had to….had to….destroy me.”

“Cecelia,” Xavier motored his chair towards her, trying to get closer to console her.

“Stay the hell away from me,” the distraught woman let out a blast of her power, stopping the wheelchair in its tracks. “I don’t want you or any of your freaks near me.”

“You are one of us freaks,” the much younger Jean couldn’t contain herself.

“No, I am NOT,” Cecelia shook her head, the look in her tearful eyes one of pure murder. “I’ll never be one of you. Not until I am able draw breath. NEVER.”

“Cecelia….” Xavier got a glare, which made him to paddle back on the familiarity meter. “Dr. Reyes, I am sorry for your loss. Please give me a chance to make it up to you. I would like to help you in any way…..”

“Help,” Cecelia chuckled sarcastically. “What are you going to do? Take over every mind in the hospital and everyone whom they have told about me and remove that memory. Even then you couldn’t give me my life back. Unless you destroy the security tapes of me killing that…whatever that was.”

“Sabertooth,” Scott supplied the name. “And you didn’t kill him. He got up after your left and ran away before the cops got there.” The X-Men had seen the video footage and knew everything that had occurred after their departure.

“Great,” the doctor threw up her hands in exasperation. “That makes me one less thing. At least I am not a killer. I can tell that to anyone who doesn’t kill me first for being a mutant. I only wanted one thing in life, which was to be a doctor, a person who could save lives.”

“You decided that after your father’s death, didn’t you,” Jean’s supposedly considerate words got a paperweight lofted at her, which she barely stopped in time.

“Stay the fuck out of my mind, you boneheaded bimbo,” Cecelia lashed out as she had never done, ever, ignoring all semblances of civilized talk. “That is one thing I still have that is mine. I don’t want anyone meddling in it, not him….” she pointed towards Xavier. “…and definitely not you. Try that again and I’ll forget my vow to never lose or take a life.”

“Jean,” Xavier’s hard tone silenced the fuming teenager. “Dr. Reyes, I am sorry for your loss…” he was struggling with his words. He had never expected such a thing to happen. First of all he had thought that a learned mutant like Cecelia would welcome a chance to help others like her and secondly, he hadn’t factored in Magneto completely. He had been keeping a track through Cerebro and none of the Brotherhood members were active in the area. “I know a way that maybe to your acceptance.”

“I am not living or working here,” Cecelia gestured towards the walls of the room, implying the school.

“You won’t need to,” Xavier’s answer surprised all three people present in the room. “You might however need to change countries, at least for some time. If you agree with that, I could explain it further and make the appropriate arrangements.”

Cecelia was silent for few moments. “I am listening,” she said finally.

//End Flashback//

Xavier had used his contacts and obtained a clean record from the hospital she had been working in. That, her entire life’s savings and four boxes worth of clothes, books and other stuff, was all she took when she left New York and America, moving to Canada, first to Toronto, Ontario where she searched for a job for three months. Finally she got one, but not in Toronto, but in Calgary, Alberta.

It had been there, that she met a young woman, a mutant, who knew a man who needed help with a mutant boy, whose mutation was obvious to the naked eye, thus making it impossible for him to come to the hospital.

That man’s was cryptically called Wolverine. That chance meeting led to a sort of pseudo-friendship cum family-doctor relationship between the transplanted Cecelia and the gruff man she came to know as Logan.

Their arrangement had continued until Logan’s household gained a new runaway, the blue furred *Beast*, or Dr. Henry Phillip McCoy aka. Hank. After that Cecelia’s visits as a doctor ended, but that as a friend and older sister to Logan’s extended family continued. She made it a point to try to come every fortnight, something she found herself doing on a regular basis since the past six months. The reason for that was the man walking next to her.

With Henry, she had found a level of like-minded thinking she hadn’t with anyone, human or mutant, at least not since her debate days in med school. He could talk, even if at times it was more than normal, on any subject, from classical opera to junk food to the latest developments in any field of medicine, engineering or anything else. Even if theirs wasn’t a romantic relationship, it was definitely something more than the usual friendship.

--

“Would you like to partake some tea before you depart for Calgary?” the gentle voice didn’t seem as if it would come from such a hulking form.

“Only if you join me,” Cecelia replied with a smile. “And by tea I mean tea and something wholesome to eat, not just twinkies.”

Beast’s eyes twinkled at the mention of his favorite food of all. “Maybe we can have them for dessert,” he offered good-naturedly.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

-----

Back in Salem Center, New York,

“You of all people ain’t one to talk,” Logan snarled at the ebony beauty in front of him, her arms crossed at her chest, her cerulean eyes livid with barely contained anger.

“What do you mean by that?” Ororo’s tone mirrored the dark clouds overhead.

“I mean, its none of yer business what I do or say,” Logan snapped at her. “So butt out.”

----

Earlier,

“Mr. Wolverine sir,” the shield soldier stepped up the scowling Wolverine and his young companions.
“Yeah,” Logan gave him a slanted look, meaning speak before I gut ya. “What?”

“General Fury has asked you to wait for him,” the younger man gulped at the sight of the metal claws still sticking out from Logan’s clenched fist. X23 had let hers slide in once they reached the front door of the mansion.

“Now what’s his problem,” Logan turned back to look at door as if expecting to see Fury there. ‘The fucker has the stealth of a cat,’ he thought to himself turning to face the uniformed soldier. “Anythin’ else?”

“No sir,” the man seemed more than happy to leave the immediate surroundings. He had heard of the claw wielding legend that was Wolverine during his post-induction training with SHIELD. It had been specified clearly, on more than one occasion, not to engage the one time agent of SHIELD, and more importantly, as a non-official warning, not to piss him off. That bit of sage advice had come from General Fury himself, who visited the class on only once and that when they were being taught about extreme-special-cases. Wolverine’s name had come in that list, along with a few others, once of whom was the cause of the current emergency.

--

Minutes later, the X-Men and Fury came out from the opening that was supposed to hold the front door. They saw their three guests perched on and around the truck. Logan was leaning against the front fender, a stogie sticking out of his mouth. X-23 was standing erect next to the passenger’s side door, where Jubilee sat shaking her head in tune with the rhythm of the song playing on her new ipod mp3 player. She had finally managed to save enough to pay for half of it, borrowing the other half from Rogue and X, both of whom had been promised that they would be paid back either in cash or in kind, in the form of household chores. The only person that wasn’t visible was Remy, who stepped out from the driver’s side door as soon as Jubilee alerted him of the X-Men’s presence.

“You know, those two could be related. Both have the same pissed off look.” Bobby whispered to Kitty, both blanching as Logan’s head snapped towards them.

“Mind what you say young man,” Fury warned him. “They can cut through titanium, for them ice is nothing.”

“Uh-oh….uh….thanks for the heads up,” Bobby replied, falling back to the rear of the group, ready to ice-away at the slightest moment’s warning. He had seen what happened to Scott and wasn’t too interested in that happen to him. In fact, he was down right averse to the whole idea. He loved his body parts too much for that, every icy-bit of them.

“What dya want Fury?” Logan grunted as Fury stepped off the last stair, the X-Men alongside him, save for Xavier who had taken the wheelchair ramp. “I’ve gotta hit the road. Gotta throw Gumbo back in that shithole your guys yanked him from.”

“We have a situation, one that requires your expertise,” Fury answered, raising a hand to silence Wolverine. “Don’t tell me that its not any concern of yours, because its is. You have been specially requested by Canadian Government, your old colleagues at Department H putting in a word for you.”

“What do those fuckers want now?” Logan growled through clenched teeth. “Green boy went crazy or what.”

Although he had meant it as a joke, Logan’s momentary smirk fell at Fury’s silence. “Nick.”

“Sorry Logan,” Fury shrugged noncommittally. “He got out and headed straight for the Canadian border.”

“Get those frickkin’ Avengers of yours to stop him. I get their membership brochure every goddam year,” Logan growled at him. “Or those Fantastic Four. Grimm is always talking the big talk that he could take the Hulk in a fight. Let him at it. Let him get the shit beaten outta him for once. Or better yet, take these puppies,” he gestured towards the X-Men. “They wanna play superhero, let them. Its not my fight, not anymore.”

“Logan,” Fury’s tone changed from his usual all business no nonsense one. It gained a sort of familiar camaraderie that none of the X-Men had heard from him, not even with the Professor. “As of 1723 hours and 45 seconds eastern standard time, the Hulk crossed over into Canada. The Canadian Government has refused anyone who is not a Canadian. That leaves us with very few viable choices.”

“What about Alpha Flight?” Logan’s growl lost some of its anger. “Heather, Mac and the others.”
“They are tied up in the arctic region,” Fury seemed to have all ends covered.

--

A tense silence settled over the gathering, as both Wolverine and Fury seemed to be playing a game of who blinks first.

“I’ll do it,” the Canadian grunted finally. “Just give me time to get the kids to a safe place.”

“You could leave them here,” Ororo and Jean offered simultaneously, get an oblique glance for their words.

“Yer kiddin’, right?”

“Logan, we don’t have the time,” Fury seemed to agree with the two X-Women. “As we speak, he is tearing through Ontario. We have to stop him before he gets to Muskoka, or at least steer him towards an uninhabited area, so that he can cool down.”

“Why? What’s he got there?” that piqued interest. “Got a cabin to hole up in fer the winter?”

“Not him,” Fury knew what was coming next. “But General Ross does.” At Logan’s silence he started again. “General Ross as in….”

“I know who the fuck Ross is,” the angry growl was back. “Yer tellin’ me, I gotta go through all of this just to stop him from getting a woman….a piece of ass.”

“What does he mean General?” Xavier voiced the question running through all the X-Men’s minds.

“The Hulk as you all know is the alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner,” the older X-Men nodded at that, the younger ones standing in stupefied silence. “Before he became the Hulk, he was engaged to Dr. Betty Ross, his colleague and only daughter of General Ross, the person now in charge of containing Banner. Ross seemed to have some problems with Banner being the choice of his daughter. He had always envisioned her marrying an army officer, not some science-nerd, which Banner was in his eyes.”

“What’s that got to do with the Hulk tearing through the American and Canadian countryside?” Scott voiced his question.

“It seems that the General sent Betty off to Muskoka and appointed the son of an ex-army buddy of his as the head of her security.”

“So?” Scott was still lost. “That still doesn’t explain how Dr. Banner got hold of that information, although it does clear up as to why he is headed in that direction.”

“Fuckin’ idiot,” Logan expressed his disapproval. “Mooning over a woman.”

“In your eyes, if a man loves a woman, he is an idiot,” Jean was quick on the uptake, her remark having no affect on Wolverine, whose growl had by then, settled into a continuous rumble.

“Jean,” Ororo laid a hand on the shorter woman’s shoulder. “Let it be. Its not worth your time.”

That seemed to rankle Wolverine, eliciting a biting; love is something that you women use to jerk us guys around, from him. “Ain’t it right Ms. Monroe? How many men do ya think Red loved before she settled on one-eye here,” he smirked sarcastically.

“That’s none of your business Mr. Logan,” Ororo answered a bit angrily, her loss of control surprising even her. “It shouldn’t concern you,” she composed herself and answered calmly.

“I don’t give a shit whomever ya wanna fuck,” Logan snarled at her. “You of all people ain’t one to talk.”

“What do you mean by that?” Ororo’s voice cracked with emotion for the second time, the clear sky suddenly growing gray with dark ominous clouds.

“I mean, its none of yer business what I do or say,” Logan snapped at her. “So butt out.”

“Logan,” Fury stepped in. “We’ve got to make a move.”

Sparing one last heated glance at the silken haired Ororo, Logan turned around and stepped towards the truck.

“Ten minutes,” was all he said as he opened the door and lifted himself through it.

-----

“Jean, please make arrangements for our guests,” Xavier smiled at the girls. “Your names children?”
“None of your business,” X23’s growl was an exact copy of Wolverine’s.

“I’m Jubilee,” the younger one seemed more open and outgoing. “She’s X.”
“X?” Kitty asked in a surprised tone. “X what?”

“X23,” the older, scarier girl answered for herself.
“X23? What is your real name?” was Bobby’s question. “By the way, I am Bobby,” he offered his hand for a handshake, which he didn’t get from the feral girl. All he got was a “Hn.”

“That means, keep your paw to yourself,” Jubilee answered as an interpreter. “Unless you want to lose it.”

“You don’t need to feel threatened child,” Ororo tried softly. She had sensed that although the younger girl was talking quite freely, both were wary of their surroundings and wouldn’t hesitate to attack if the need arose.

“Yeah, right,” Jubilee looked up at her, staring into her deep blue eyes. “Nice talk lady. But its not gonna work, not on us. Not when you guys are going to throw us in the brig.”

“Yer gonna to lock them up?” everyone turned around at the menacing growl, which was preceded by the -snikt- of metal sliding over metal, the claws of Wolverine’s right hand sticking out of his gloved limb.

Before anyone could say anything, Scott blurted out. “You are Weapon X.”

-SNIKT- -SNIKT-

Two sets of claws were out in an instant, one from Logan’s free hand and two each from X23’s hands.

“You have a death wish, shithead?” Logan snarled at him, his yellow and blue mask grasped within one clenched fist. “’Cuz you are one word away from gettin’ gutted.”

“Logan,” Fury interrupted impatiently. “Leave the kid alone. He must have seen some old footage of yours from your uniformed days. By the way, why the spandex?”

“Just nostalgia Nick,” Logan’s eyes didn’t turn from the silent Scott. “Reminder of my first time with greenie.”

“Come on, lets go,” Fury started towards the jet that had been specially called for ferrying Wolverine to the drop zone.

“Gimmie a minute, gotta talk to the kids.” Logan got a over the back wave as a confirmation.

-----

He first one to the younger of the two girls. For all her bravado, Jubilee was worried for her friend-cum-mentor.

“Get on with the speech,” she huffed.

“Don’t talk too much,” were the first words for her. “Eat all you like, but only after having X confirm it is not drugged or something.” That got gasps and snorts from the X-Men. Logan knew that they wouldn’t do such a thing, but it was a golden chance for yanking some x-chains and he didn’t let it slide.

Stepping closer to the girl, he whispered so that only she and X23 could hear his words. “An’ if somethin’ happens to me, contact Hank. He’ll get someone to take your from here and to him. X knows her way around the city, so if you need to get away, you can do that too. Gumbo knows how to take care of himself, just get him out of here in one piece. Then he is on his own.”

“Alright, alright,” Jubilee’s eyes were damp with tears now as she reached forward and hugged him tightly. “I’ll do all that and more. You do just one thing for me.”
“What?” Logan let a gloved hand rest over her head, caressing it lovingly.
“Just come back in one piece…..alive.”

Pushing her back from him, Logan wiped the stray tear rolling down her cheek. “You got it kid. One piece an’ alive.”

Stepping back from her, he turned to the older and more stoic X.

“You know what to do,” he got a silent nod for that. “Got any words?” another nod. “What?”
“Don’t die.”

Logan gave an understanding nod. There were no hugs for them, not in front of strangers. X23 was still learning the emotional aspect of her free life, something her training as a weapon of the Hydra had tried to eliminate from her personality. She still had trouble sometimes in controlling her berserker anger, another remnant of her days with the terrorist organization.

“Take care of her,” he jerked his head towards Jubilee. “An’ yerself. You know where to go if you need to get away,” he whispered under his breath.

A nod and an equally low Elektra, answered his question.

--

His bonding with his children done, Logan donned his mask, completing the original Wolverine attire.

“Anything happens to either of them,” that warning was for Xavier and the X-Men. “You all die…slowly.”

“You have our promise that no harm will come to them,” Xavier’s words were answered with a snort.

“Yer words an’ promises mean jack,” the white eye-slits of the mask narrowed at the Professor. “I know what happens to the people you make them to.” The next words from Wolverine, came, not vocally, but as thought projections, which only the Professor and Jean caught.

**Or forgotten what you did to Cecelia Reyes**

Before either the Professor or the redhead could respond, Wolverine’s mental bocks were back in place, the man himself walking away towards the jet. Fury had already taken off and was heading towards the border in his private jet, his two aids gone along with him.

-----

Once the place was out of sight, Xavier turned to the silent Ororo. “Ororo, if you could please get Jubilee, X….23 and Mr. Lebeau situated in the guests rooms.”

“Yes Professor,” Ororo answered, her words joined by a ’we stay together’, from X23.

“Scott, please join me my office,” Xavier asked of his team leader. **You too, Jean** he telepathically communicated to Jean. “The rest of you, please continue your day.”

--

Five minutes later, Xavier, Scott and Jean were in Xavier’s office, a pensive look on the Professor’s face.

“What is it Professor?” Jean asked concernedly. She could sense the worry rolling off from the older telepath.

“Professor, are you worried about the girls?” Scott tabled his question. He hadn’t liked that someone like Wolverine was traveling around with two young, teenage girls, both of them mutants. Even though, one of them seemed to share his mutation and appeared to be family, and the other one was equally attached to the guy, it didn’t improve matters all that much in the cautious Cyclops’s eyes. But, even he gave leeway after witnessing Wolverine’s departure.

“I am concerned with many things Scott,” Xavier sighed. “Not the least of which are the two young ladies currently under our roof. It seems Wolverine has some very expansive contacts.” He then went on to tell Scott about the comment Wolverine had made about Dr. Cecelia Reyes, something which had come as a bolt from the blue for the Professor. Then there was the matter of Dr. Henry McCoy, about whom Xavier didn’t mention to his students.

“But that is not the thing foremost on my mind. Its something more closer to home,” that surprised both Jean and Cyclops. “That’s why I have asked you two to come here.”

“What Professor?” Both chimed in unison.

“Its Ororo, I am worried about .”


Note: New characters introduced and their descriptions (In order of mention/appearance)

Dr. Cecelia Reyes (No Codename): Don’t have much info about this character. Most will be from the top of my head. As you already read, she has a grudge against ol’ Charlie Xavier and his merry band of mutants. Haven’t decided if her friendship with Henry will progress to something more intimate, after all not everyone can been with somebody. You need friends. Mutant powers and profession same as in the Uncannyverse i.e. Surgeon with ability to generate a translucent psioplasmic bio-field around herself as a protective force shield or reshape it into a variety of patterns and forms (Age: Mid to late twenties…..26 to 29)

Dr. Bruce Banner (The Hulk): Well, I have seen the movie and read some of the comics and even seen some of the cartoon shows. So, will be taking from all those. And although may use an inspiration from the Ultimates comics series, neither Dr. Banner, nor his beloved Betty Ross will come from that. One is too wimpy in that, and the other to slutty. No offense to any Ultimate Hulk or Betty fans. For starters, think of the movie Hulk and build from there…..and please, I know, the movie sucked on so many levels, so no comments on that. (Age: Late twenties to mid thirties…..29 to 34)

Dr. Betty Ross: Although, she hasn’t appeared as such and might not anytime soon, or ever, my character takes from the movieverse Betty Ross. She is a scientist like Banner and has a hard-ass for a father, whom I will not explain here….saying only that, his character is completely movieverse. (Age: Sort of late twenties…..26 to 28)

And for Wolverine's uniform, couldn't resist the yellow and blue. His usual attire will be black leather, but with yellow and blue overtones. Wolverine without that is like Storm without a cape, just doesn't cut it for me.

Please, don’t forget to review!!





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