
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/10977114.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      F/F, F/M, M/M
  Fandom:
      X-Men_Evolution
  Relationship:
      Evan_Daniels/Pietro_Maximoff, Logan/Kurt_Wagner, Lance_Alvers/Kitty
      Pryde, Remy_LeBeau/Rogue, Jean_Grey/Scott_Summers, Erik_Lehnsherr/Charles
      Xavier, Azazel/Raven_|_Mystique_(X-Men), Irene_Adler_(X-Men)/Raven_|
      Mystique, Victor_Creed/Kurt_Wagner, John_Allerdyce/Victor_Creed
  Character:
      Evan_Daniels, Pietro_Maximoff, Logan_(X-Men), Kurt_Wagner, Lance_Alvers,
      Kitty_Pryde, Remy_LeBeau, Rogue_(X-Men), Jean_Grey, Scott_Summers, Erik
      Lehnsherr, Charles_Xavier, Azazel_(X-Men), Raven_|_Mystique, Irene_Adler,
      Victor_Creed, John_Allerdyce, Ororo_Munroe, Emma_Frost, Hank_McCoy,
      Graydon_Creed, Wanda_Maximoff, Fred_Dukes, Toad_(X-Men), Principal_Kelly,
      Nick_Fury, Bolivar_Trask, Original_Female_Character(s), Original_Male
      Character(s), Warren_Worthington_III
  Additional Tags:
      Alpha/Beta/Omega_Dynamics, High_School, Consensual_Underage_Sex, Past
      Character_Death, Past_Violence, Canon-Typical_Violence, Erik_Logic_Is_The
      Best_Logic, Pietro_&_Wanda_are_awesome_siblings, Humor, Angst, Smut,
      Comfort/Angst, Angst_With_A_Bittersweet_Ending, mentions_of_mpreg,
      Charles_Has_Issues, Threesome_-_F/F/M, Lance_Is_a_Good_Bro, BAMF_Logan,
      Mutant_Politics, Mutant_Hate, Mutant_Segregation, Past_Domestic_Violence
  Series:
      Part 2 of Xmen_Evolution:_Omegaverse
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-05-23 Updated: 2017-06-13 Chapters: 2/12 Words: 6471
****** Three Months ******
by Femalefonzie
Summary
     Set after Two Weeks
     Just as Pietro and the Brotherhood are settling into their new lives
     with the Xmen, and Kurt & Logan are returning from Germany, two
     mutants begin a murderous rampage attracting massive media attention.
     With the mutant secret out in the open, friends and foes from the
     past entering the picture, and relationships coming into question,
     can the Xmen rise to the occasion.
***** Chapter 1 *****
Three Months:
Prologue
To say that they had been waiting a long time to do this would be an
understatement. Over sixteen years had passed since they were unjustly torn
apart from their loved ones, and forced to confront the bitter reality that
they were alone once again. Alone, except for each other.
Neither worked well alone. The woman, who still managed to present a certain
amount of elegance and flair despite her growing age, had been alone for as
long as she could remember. Alone, abandoned, and left to rot inside a tiny
little cell the size of a broom closet. She was gifted, that she knew,
otherwise she would have been killed long ago. It was in that tiny cell that
she learned to hone her craft, learned to predict, and manipulate, and prepare
for her eventual escape.
Then they brought her in.
She was the same age if not a little younger. Small, frail, and screaming her
heart out. She had been begging, calling for someone. Her mother. "Mama! Mama!
Don't leave me with them!" She cried out. Her mother was already gone. She took
the price offered for her only daughter and sold the child into a life of pain,
misery, and experimentation for the so called greater good.
The woman, then a girl, felt pity. They were in the same boat, but had ended up
there for different reasons. She had, in a sense, climbed into this hell
herself but the other girl...she had been tossed aside. Sold. Like property. At
night she could hear this child cry for her mother, for her father, for her
brother, all people who she would never see again. The woman, still just a
child herself, wondered what it would be like to have someone to call out for
when in such dangerous circumstances. Had the other girl's father and brother
known about what her mother had been planning? Were they calling out for her
somewhere too?
They talked through the cracks in the wall. About where they lived before, of
what they remembered about their families, about what they'd do when they got
out. The woman, still naive enough then to not know better, wanted to travel.
She wanted to see the world and meet different people. The other girl did too
but she was done with people. She wanted to go some place far away, where there
was no one around to hurt her, and she could do whatever she wanted.
They decided to escape together, and stay together. Three years after they were
sold into hell, they left in a flurry of blood, guts, and bullets, and took as
many people as they could with them. There had been over 150 people imprisoned
there, and 23 managed to make it to the trees line outside. The two girls made
it, and got as far from that place as they possibly could. They'd both seen
some horrors, stuff they'd rather forget, but they made it. They survived, and
we're going to continue surviving together.
He came along sometime later. Years later. Like them he had been alone for a
long time, had been hurt and kicked around by the world, but he had a good
heart. He wanted to help, to stop the hurting, and he believed that even the
most evil of people could change. Admittedly, his now partner in crime didn't
much care for him at first. She could see the way he looked at her friend, at
her sister, the only family she had left. He looked at her like he wanted to
remember her face for all of eternity, like he never knew when he was going to
see her again. They could have been standing on the precipice of heaven, the
most beautiful place in existence, but rather than admire it's complexity and
wonder, he'd rather look at her. It was sweet in a way, but yet maddening. It
took the woman years to realize that her sister and him being together did not
mean loosing the only person she cared about.
Gradually, she came to see the man as a friend. As her brother-in-law (though
not quite so. It was impossible for any actual legal ceremony to take place).
There were others in their circle. A man with sweet eyes, the father of the
year and his wonderful little girl, and a woman who was both an elegant flower
and a fiery queen. The woman grew to love them all deeply, but none as much as
the first real friend she'd ever made. Then she found out she was going to be
an aunt and it was like seeing the sky for the first time.
She loved them immediately, and openly declared it to everyone who would
listen. She made plans to teach the child how to play the piano, and do
backflips and cartwheels. She was going to spoil them, going to buy them
everything their little heart desired, take them to the movies and the park,
and protect them from anything and everything that could cause them harm. Both
she and her now partner planned, in growing anticipation, for the arrival of
the little one.
Then it all went to shit. They lost everything. Their home, their jobs, their
friends, and their family...neither the baby or its mother made it and the pair
were left trying to think of what to do next.
It wasn't as hard as they originally had anticipated. She wanted the world to
burn and he was tired of loosing everyone he loved. They were skilled, they
were smart, and they were powerful. Mercenary work came to them easily.
"Are you ready?" He asked. This was the big one; the job they'd been waiting
for since they started this line of work. The only reason the two bothered to
stay alive. After this nothing else mattered.
They stood outside an empty office building that had been locked up tight since
the 70s. It looked like a run of the mill government building but then again
looks could be deceiving.
"Yeah Aza. I'm ready." Once upon a time she had hoped to never have to step
back into that place. A lot could change in 31 years."
Azazel nodded but he wasn't so convinced as to his partner's comfort. "This is
where the records were kept. Of everything they ever did to you, and to
Raven..."
"I know."
"They were, most likely, the ones who attacked the mansion..."
"I know."
"They killed them Emma."
"I KNOW!" Emma Frost snapped in response. "I know what they did! I was there!
And after decades of waiting I finally want to kill these bastards!"
They killed her sister, and her sister's child. They robbed her of any cancel
she ever had at a normal life. Not just her though, they stole the lives of
hundreds of mutants. Their day had finally come. It was time for Homo Superior
to rise up and overthrow their human oppressors! To expose the countless
injustices they had done to mutant-kind, to eliminate those who had persecuted
them, and deliver justice to those who had suffered!
Once they got the necessary information from this hellhole they just had to
call their benefactors; The American politician who was in far over his head,
and an old friend.
Emma grabbed a hold of Azazel's wrist and they teleported inside.
~~~~~~~~~
Life in the Xavier Institute was a lot different than life in the Brotherhood
house. For starters it was far cleaner than that old place ever hoped to be.
Anyone who moved in after Mystique's crew were going to have to wash the entire
place down with bleach and a cocktail of the world's strongest cleaning
chemicals. It was disgusting, in every sense of the word, but somehow the
former brotherhood team found themselves nostalgic over the mess.
"See this dent up at the top of the stairs?"
"Yeah! That's from where Toad smashed his head trying to break into Mystique's
room!"
"I'm surprised he didn't get brain damage. That was quite a hit."
"Eh. I'm used to it yo."
"Also it's not like he has a lot of brain to damage."
"I swear to the aliens Tabitha-"
Every dent, every stain, every remnant of their careless destruction had a
story behind it. From the torn up old couch, to the broken window in the dining
room, to the huge vomit stain turning the kitchen tile a faded green. The house
was vile, it was sick, but it had been home for the majority of their high
school experience and it was hard to see it go.
Mystique wasn't coming back. She left weeks ago, powerful, still thirsting for
Magneto's head on a platter, but her ties with Xavier and his students had been
(somewhat) stabilized. Seeing as no one on the team wanted her dead, Mystique
took this as her que to leave and disappeared a couple nights after Pietro had
been rescued. No one knew if she was still communicating with the Professor, no
one knew if she would come back, and no one really wanted to talk about it.
Since their leader was gone, their cash flow had run out, and the Brotherhood
house was one more accident away from being condemned, they all agreed that it
would be for the best to stay at the Institute. Running water, fresh food,
power, heat, and easy access to certain members of the Xmen...it was a hard
offer to pass up.
They weren't, technically, Xmen. They weren't ready for proper training, most
still had emotional issues to work through, and Pietro was still coming to
terms with being an omega and what happened with his father and Graydon. At the
moment they weren't ready to join their former rivals, but someday soon they
would make fine additions to the team.
They weren't taking much from the house. Most of the furniture was broken or
moldy, and it wasn't like most of them had many possessions. Lance had a
dufflebag full of clothes and his guitar, Toad only had enough junk to fill a
box, most of Fred's belongings were with his grandpa, and Tabitha and Pietro
had a couple of bags each. Most of it had been brought over in the weeks that
followed their initial move in but since Kurt and Logan were going to be
returning any day now, and that was going to be a disaster, they decided to
wrap things up today. No point in dragging out the inevitable.
Lance finished gathering his stuff first and packed it into the back of his
jeep. Toad, Tabitha, and Fred hung around inside the house, basking in
nostalgia and searching for hidden items they'd stashed around the place over
the years. The human rock tumbler pulled a box of cigarettes out of his pocket,
and rooted around the glove compartment for a lighter. He could, out of the
corner of his eye, see Evan and Pietro goofing off in the side yard near the
woods. Lance smirked at the pair, and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. His
speedster friend had been out of heat for a couple days and it hadn't been easy
on anyone. With what Graydon had done to him...
Lance shook his head. He didn't want to think about that right now. Pietro had
a lot weighing on him but being around Evan was helping him a lot. The former
brotherhood leader hated to admit it, mostly because he hated the majority of
the X-Dorks with a passion, but Evan was good for his friend. He kept him
happy, and loose, and knew exactly how to comfort and calm Pietro down. It had
been weeks since he went into heat, since Graydon and Magneto had took off, and
since Pietro had used that controversial healthcare product. It was too early
to tell how it may have affected the young omega down the road, but until then
everyone was holding their breath. No one wanted to be a teenage parent.
The speedster had the brilliant idea to wrap a rope around his waist and pull
Evan around on his skateboard. So far, the younger of the two had only fallen
flat on his face once so they were considering this little idea a success. It
was stupid and childish but damn it, it was also pretty fun. Pietro couldn't
remember the last time he'd done something like this.
"When everyone's all packed up, we should try and take it to the institute!
Think you could hold on for that long?" Pietro asked with a grin.
"Sounds like a challenge." Evan fired back, using his mate's old motivation
against him. "I think I'll manage."
Pietro skid to a halt and spun around. Still grinning, he charged forward and
tackled his mate off his board and onto the ground. Evan laughed and wrapped
his arms around the other boy's slim waist, and pulled him into deep kiss.
Gradually, his hands started to move a lower until he was cupping his mate's
ass. Pietro giggled into the kiss and slipped a hand down Evan's shorts to-
"You guys aren't going to bone are you?" Lance called over in hopes of
reminding the pair that they were still in public and that they weren't alone.
"Because I'm pretty sure that's illegal to do in public."
Pietro bolted up and away from his mate, tumbling backwards onto his ass while
Evan tried to brush some dirt off his clothes and look more presentable. "Fuck
off Lance!" Pietro shouted back, taking the time to flip his old buddy off.
"Like you and Kitty don't do the exact same thing when no one's looking!"
"Yeah! When no one's looking!" Lance yelled back. "You guys want to say goodbye
to the house, if you know what I mean? Let Evan be the last dude you ever
brought up to your room for some 'alone time'? How many have there been over
the years? 10, 23, 46?"
"How 'bout you go suck a dick Lance?"
"You offering there Sonic?"
"One more word outta you and I'll tell Kitty all about how you still sleep with
a teddy bear!"
"SO DO YOU!"
Evan couldn't help but chuckle. "Does everyone in the Brotherhood sleep with
childhood toys or just you two?"
"...Fred does."
"Tabitha has this old Chatty Cathy her dad got her. It sounds like a 96 year
old, smoker grandma. It's the stuff of nightmares."
"Toad has this slinky from 1992. It doesn't even slink anymore! It's just a
line of plastic at this point!"
And these guys were supposed to be the Xmen's biggest threat. Hard to take them
seriously when you pictured the crew of them sitting around the stairs trying
to get a broken slinky to the bottom step. "You're all adorable. And I never
thought I would say those words to you. And if you, Lance specifically, ever
tell anyone that I said that I'll kick your ass."
"You and me in the danger room Spykey-boy! I ain't afraid to make you look like
a punk in front of your mate!"
"My mate is an even bigger punk!" Evan replied with a laugh and a playful
smile.
Pietro raised his arms triumphantly over his head. Punk was (probably) the best
thing he'd ever been called. "Damn right I am!"
For just a moment they could all act like regular teenagers, like stupid kids.
It's funny how looking back on moments like this, moments were everything is
just normal, just mundane, makes them seem farther away than they actually
were. If any of them, Pietro, Evan, Lance, or anyone else in the Brotherhood,
knew what was in store for Mutant kind next, maybe they would have lingered
around the old Brotherhood place a little longer, enjoyed being a kid for just
a little while longer.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***** Chapter 2 *****
Chapter 1
Kurt didn't expect to be welcomed home with open arms. He and Logan had just up
and left, taking the Blackbird with them without so much as a note. Worse yet,
they'd left at a time when they were needed. The teleporter knew that he should
have stayed, should have waited until Pietro's issues were resolved before
taking off, but he had been so eager to take a mate....his judgement had been
little foggy. Then there was the matter of Victor. How was he going to explain
his sudden departure to his newfound friend? He just wished he could have
stayed at his mate's side while the Professor spoke with him.
They landed a little after lunch. To Kurt's surprise, he could see Toad, Blob,
Rogue and that Remy guy all hanging around at the pool. Remy he could
understand. He was an omega, Rogue was an alpha, and they got along rather
well, but he had figured that the brotherhood would have left after Quicksilver
mated. He hoped this meant that the speedster was still hanging around the
Institute but he wouldn't be surprised if this was just the result of the
Brotherhood boys being bored in a warm day.
He leaned slightly against Logan and asked, "Vhat do you think they're going to
say?"
Logan didn't care what people said. It was one of the many things that made him
Logan. He cocked an eyebrow at his young mate, "What do you mean by that
Darlin'?"
"Ze age difference. Plus, technically, you're a teacher here-"
"More like a coach/bodyguard but I see your point." The age difference, the
teacher/student relationship, the fact that they stole a billion dollar jet!
Logan knew that they were going to get an earful the minute they stepped in the
door. "Whatever it is, I'll handle it. Chuck will just bitch for a bit,
probably stick me with some extra training sessions, and then after a week
forget all about it. Like the Thanksgiving of '94."
"Vhat happened in 1994?"
"We don't talk about that baby. Ever."
It couldn't have been worse than Taco Tuesday in the Danger Room. Then again,
that ended with taco shells and baked beans being thrown around at about 90 mph
so not much could be worse than that. The team were still finding stray pieces
of lettuce whenever they did training exercises!
The hanger was deserted. Kurt considered this a good sign. If they moved
quickly, he and Logan could probably get their stuff upstairs and unpacked
without drawing much attention to themselves. After that it would be in their
best interest to search out the Professor themselves. He may go easier on them
that way. Stick them with dish duty for the next three years. They teleported
up into Kurt's room. It was empty but the bed that had been set up for Pietro
to use looked slept it. His stuff was still in dufflebags on the floor.
"Looks like the Roadrunner is still staying here." Logan said, and gave one of
Pietro's bag a nudge with his foot. "Guess that means he made it through his
heat alright."
"Zat could explain vhat Ze brotherhood is still doing here." That and the
institute was a much better facility than the boarding house. Cleaner, for one.
With power, heat, and water, for another.
"Yeah. Otherwise Scott and Avalanche would have killed each other by now."
Logan looked back over his shoulder and out into the hallway. "I think I'm
going to go look for Chuck. Get this over with. You finish up here and when he
wants to see you...well you'll know." At least this way Wolverine would get the
blunt of it. Time to bite the bullet.
Kurt nodded and started putting his clothes back into his dresser. A couple
minutes after Logan had left and he was on his last shirt, the German boy
noticed that the Rock Sabertooth had given him had been moved. He was sure he'd
left it on his dresser and he couldn't think of a reason why Quicksilver would
have moved it! Kurt looked around the room and spotted it over by the window. A
note had been placed under it on a tattered looking piece of paper that had
been torn out of some old book. Kurt took it out from under the rock and read
through it. The writing was almost illegible, but he could make out the jest of
it.
Dear Kid Kurt,
I want to thank you again for saving me. I know a lot of people wouldn't have
bothered with all the shit I've done. I don't blame them. Still, you saved my
life and I'm grateful.
If you ever need my help, I'm still a phone call away. Even with the Runt 'n me
still hating each other.
I'm leaving for a bit. Promised John I would help him out with something. I
don't know when I'll be back, but I'll let you know.
Runt's lucky to have you.
I hope you're happy together.
Your friend,
Victor.
His friend Victor. Kurt smiled and put both the rock and note into the top draw
of his dresser for safe keeping. When Logan and him were through with the
Professor he'd let him know where the Big Cat was. It would sooth his mate's
mind to know that his rival for nearly a century was no longer in town, or
interested in fighting (at least for the moment). Speaking of Logan, Kurt
supposed he better see how he was getting along with Ororo and the Professor.
As he headed to the door Kurt could hear something coming from the bathroom. It
sounded like the shower was running...and giggling...
Kurt knew better than to just teleport inside. He'd gotten himself into trouble
with Scott and Jean once by doing exactly that. The teleporter knocked on the
door and called in, "Hello? Who's there?"
Silence followed quickly by a familiar voice saying "Kurt?" There was rustling,
hushed whispering, and the door creaked open just enough so Kurt could see the
person's face but not their body. Most likely, Kurt suspected, because they
were undressed. He could hear the shower turn on in the background. Pietro
stuck his head out and grinned, "It is you! You're finally back!"
Well this was an improvement over what Pietro had been like the last time he
and Kurt had spoken. This caused Kurt to grin himself, "Ja! Ve just got back!
It's zo good to zee zat you're feeling better! You took a mate, ja?" The person
who had started the shower behind the speedster. "Vas it Lance? Or vas zat just
hormones?"
"Ew! I would never sleep with Lance! He's so...Lance! Moody, and angry, and
greasy! He needs a shower and a decent haircut!" Not as badly as Toad but
enough that his teammates had brought it up to the teen on a few occasions. "I
uh, I found someone else."
"Oh? Zomeone from school?"
Pietro looked back over his shoulder at his mate. "Someone from the institute."
He said, "Sooooooo long story short, it looks like the brotherhood is hanging
around. Signing up. Moving in-"
"You're mooching off the Professor?"
The speedster shrugged. "More or less. Anyway, I did move in to be closer with
my mate but he doesn't have a private bathroom and Scott was in there having a
shower so we popped in here. That's...that's okay with you right buddy?"
"Scott does take long showers." Half of the mansion's hot water was used up by
the team's leader alone. He could spend up to an two hours at a time of someone
didn't yell at him to get out! "Nein! I don't mind. Feel free to use it
vhenever you vant!"
"Thanks Kurt. When I'm done in here you're going to have to tell me about what
happened in Germany. Everything. I wanna hear all about what you and old man
Logan got up to. I'm talking about size-"
Before Kurt even had time to blush and stammer a set of arms found themselves
wrapped around the Speedster's shoulders. "Think you could wait until after our
shower to talk about this? Not that I'm not excited to hear all about Logan's
dick."
"Evan?!" Kurt exclaimed. "Yo-you and Pietro...? You're m-mates...?!" He knew
that they had been getting close since the Brotherhood moved in but going from
enemies to being in a committed relationship within a matter of weeks was a
pretty big step. "Wow...I uh...did not see that one coming."
Evan chuckled and ducked back into the bathroom. "It caught a lot of us by
surprise. Anyway, can you holding off talking about your sex life for about
twenty minutes? Be a pal?" He called back out.
"Uh...ja. Ja, go ahead. I'm going to go find Logan. Make sure the professor
isn't being too hard on him." Logan had been fine with the idea of them not
actually having sex until Kurt was 18. It had been the omega's idea to fly off
and make it official. He just hoped that the Professor understood that.
~~~~~~
"What you did was completely irresponsible! I cannot believe that someone with
such training, such trust, would go behind our backs and do something so
inappropriate!"
It was going to be bad. Logan had absolutely no doubts about that. Ignoring the
fact that he had taken an underage student as his mate and promptly fled the
country together, he had stolen school property, left at a time when both he
and Kurt were needed, and didn't even bother to resolve the issue with
Sabertooth with the Professor. He had known that the Speedster was in trouble
but everyone had underestimated how grave it was. Magneto being an oversized
dick, the arrival of that Graydon Creed, the need to pull Wanda Maximoff off of
an institution in order to defend her brother...Logan's little rogue stint
couldn't have come at a worse time and Chuck wasn't afraid to tell him that.
The Professor had been in his office, Ororo and Wanda hovering nearby. Storm
stood behind the Prof's desk, silent and stoic, but judging her teammate. He
could see the disappointment in her eyes. Then there was Wanda, relaxed out on
an old, posh sofa reading some vampire romance novel. She didn't seem to care
about the situation. She just stuck close to the Professor. He was the only one
Wanda felt comfortable interacting with on a daily basis. Hopefully once she
got training with the team Wanda would come out of her shell.
"Well?" Chuck asked, "What do you have to say for yourself? What possible
excuse do you have for acting like some one dimensional character in a crappy,
pre-teen, romance novel!"
Logan shrugged.
"GOD DAMN IT LOGAN! You cannot act so impulsively!" The Professor cut himself
off with a loud and dramatic sigh, and dropped his head onto his desk.
"Logan....why...? You knew you shouldn't have done that...why..."
"I'm gonna take care of him Chuck. I love-"
The telepath groaned but didn't bother to lift his head up. He felt like he was
screaming into a well, like Logan had earplugs in and couldn't hear him. What
had gotten into his former second in command?! "Don't think for a second I'm
going to let you two move in together! What would the parents think?! He's
still just a teenager Logan!"
Logan had met Kurt's parents when they were in Germany. He'd gotten the Elf's
parents' blessing. They had been fine with their son mating an older man....but
he knew that other parents wouldn't be as accepting. It would look more than a
little unusual to any visiting parent to see a teacher so close with a student.
"...I suspected as much. Fine. We won't share a room but he's still my mate
Chuck! I'm going to look after him-"
"-When he's 18 I don't care what you two do together but right now I'm putting
a stop to it! No sleeping together, no moving in together, no sex, no stealing
the Blackbird to fly around the world and have sex, nothing that would be
considered inappropriate by any persons who happened to be visiting-"
"Define inappropriate."
"No touching. No kissing. Nothing. If I so much as see you blow a kiss his way
I'll have you spend the rest of your life thinking that you're Toad's six year
old sister! Do I make myself clear?!"
Logan gritted his teeth together. "Crystal." He stuck his hands into the
pockets of his jeans and spun around on his heel. "I'm going to make a
sandwich."
And totally not use the Blackbird to sharpen his claws. He hated to sound like
some bratty teenage girl but this just wasn't fair! It wasn't his fault he had
feelings for the kid! It wasn't his fault that Sabertooth suddenly took a
liking to him! He had to protect Kurt! Kurt wanted them to be together! It
wasn't like he forced it...
He shut the door behind him and ignored the hushed whispering that followed his
departure. It had been a long time before someone was talking behind his back
who wasn't a student. Even then, most of the students hear would just gossip
about how big of a pain in the ass his training exercises were. They didn't
give a rat's ass about his lifestyle.
The mansion was still fairly empty. It was a Saturday and The Professor had
called most of the training exercises scheduled in order to help the
Brotherhood relocate. Logan could hear some splashing coming from around back,
assumed most of the kids were in the pool, and proceeded on into the kitchen.
Tabitha, Amara, Bobby, Sam and Jubilee were all lingering about the stove.
Dirty dishes and half-empty bags of flour were scattered across the room. The
back of Tabitha's shirt was covered in a light brown substance that smelled
like cookie dough. Great, someone had decided to let these culinary school drop
outs try and bake...
"-Baking soda and baking powder are not the same thing...-"
"-they totally are-"
"No! Soda is salty. If you put in the soda then you don't need salt-"
"-you said that last time and we baked up a batch of hockey pucks!"
Logan turned around and left before any of them could notice he was there. The
guy had already been through more than enough with Charles today, he wasn't
about to become some Guinea pig for teeth breaking cookies or salmonella
surprise! He wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Luckily there was one room
in this mansion where no teenagers dared to enter. Logan's bedroom was a "no-go
zone" ever since he caught Bobby, Jamie, and Ray in there one night trying to
pull the ol' itching powder in your boxers prank. Logan got the last laugh. He
made the boys run through a couple training exercises after making them pour
the powder down their own pants. When they brought it up to the Professor and
Ororo, the pair just laughed and told them to leave their other instructor's
belongings alone.
With nothing else to do until the kids finished up whatever monstrosity they
were baking and got out of the kitchen Logan flopped down onto his bed and shut
his eyes. Kurt would come looking for him soon, and then he'd have to tell him
everything, but for now he just wanted to rest.
"GUYS! GUYS! COME QUICK! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!"
Logan forced his eyes back open and growled. "Every god damn time..."
~~~~~~
Once it hit noon there was nothing good on TV. All the cartoons stopped and
were replaced with absurd amounts of golf, game shows, re-runs of soap operas
from the late 70s, and those weird commercials that were two hours long. Lance
had been lucky enough to finish up at the Brotherhood house and make it back to
the Institute in just enough time to catch the last couple cartoons with Kitty.
He'd missed a lot of his favorites but Jackie Chan Adventures, The Mummy, and
What's New Scooby Doo? hadn't aired yet and he considered that a win. Kitty had
a bowl of chips in her lap and had taken the liberty of grabbing them both some
sodas from the fridge.
"You missed Sailor Moon and Powerpuff Girls," She informed him with a mouth
full of buttery popcorn. "Don't worry. I taped them for you."
Lance Alvers was a damn lucky man. He smiled, leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you. Things took a little longer than expected. Is everyone else back
yet?"
"They went over with you in the jeep, didn't they?"
"Yeah but Evan and Pietro came back by themselves."
Kitty shrugged and popped a couple more popcorn pieces into her mouth. "I think
they're back. Coulda sworn I felt a rush of air blow past me. Everyone else is
around somewhere."
Lance grabbed a hand full of popcorn from the bowl, leaned back, and put his
feet up on the coffee table. Usually his teammates liked to watch Kids WB with
him but there was other things to do now, other people to see. He and Kitty
could enjoy this time together without someone bursting in and making it
awkward.
As programming would have it What's New Scooby Doo? came on first. It wasn't
anything groundbreaking; pretty much the same set up as the old 60s cartoon,
but the animation looked alright and a couple of the jokes landed right. The
episode was about the gang visiting some SKI lodge for a Snowboarding
competition, something snow related. About midway through the episode Kitty
leaned over and whispered, "Bet you five bucks that it's that snowboarder guy."
"Avalanche Anderson?!" Lance replied. "We just saw him get hurt! No, no, it's
definitely that billionaire guy. He's loosing money, can write off the monster
and collect insurance, it's him."
"What kind of insurance company covers monster attacks?" Kitty asked.
"Big ones! Big insurance companies! For people so loaded that they buy every
protection available for that wealth! You just think Avalanche did it because
of his name, don't you?"
"That may or may not be a factor."
"You're on then! I'm 100% certain that it's that billionaire guy!" And with
that five dollars, Lance would treat himself to the best junk food the school
vending machines had to offer! Those chips that were lodged into the rack and
wouldn't budge no matter how long he shook the machine, a can of Surge soda,
fuzzy peaches!
The rest of the episode went over quickly. After the big chase scene there was
really only one direction to go and that was to wrap things up as quickly as
possible before kids started poking holes. The snow monsters had been caught,
the gang and an assortment of one-time characters stood around the fallen the
foe. Lance and Kitty exchanged devious looks, both believing themselves to be
the victor, as Velma reached to reveal the villain's true identity....-
The screen changed. It turned to static for a second then to the familiar logo
of the Bayville News station. "We interrupt this program for an important
message."
"NO! NO! NOOOOO!" Kitty exclaimed. "COME ON! We almost had it..."
Lance started rooting around the couch cushions of the television remote.
"Change the channel! Maybe it's on somewhere else!"
Kitty found the remote laying discarded on the floor, dove for it, and started
channel surfing. No cartons, no infomercials, not even a round of golf,
everything channel was broadcasting various news stations reporting
on...something. After the 24th station in under two minutes, Kitty gave up and
slumped back into the couch. "Damn..."
What Lance did not know was that she had seen that particular episode before,
and remembered who the bad guy was. If it had only kept playing, she would have
been five dollars richer...
"It uh...it must be pretty big if every station is covering it." Lance said,
trying to take his mind off what he believed to be a guaranteed victory. "You
don't think we were attacked again, do you?"
Kitty shook her head. "No. We would have heard about it sooner. And the
reporters wouldn't look so calm. I don't think this is a military thing
either...it's so sudden..."
The anchor looked unusually pale. Her hands were shaking as she tried to read
from the notes passed to her. "Sh-shocking news from Calgary today...a series
of top secret documents have been made public following a break in at a
government facility. Said documents were published online just hours ago and
any attempts to take them down have been fruitless." She paused, looked down at
her notes, gulped, and continued. "Now...what I'm about to describe may be
disturbing to some viewers."
Kitty Pryde wasn't a damsel in distress. She was a "girly" girl but she had
been in more fights than any of the guys at school, she'd stared feat in the
face, and laughed, and kicked it in the balls, but something about this didn't
sit right with her. She looked up at Lance who had turned a little pale. It
could be anything...and when you lived in a world were people had such amazing
powers anything could easily be a threat. She hooked onto his arm and pressed
her check to his shoulder. He leaned back and wrapped an arm around her
shoulders.
The reporter was stuttering, trying her best to sound professional with the
information that had been presented to her. "These...classified files have
revealed...have revealed a top secret arms ra-race that seems to hav-have
occurred during the ea-early 1970s...to the be-beg-beginning of the 1990s! The
document make it...make it clear that Canada and the U.S. were collab-
collaborating on the venture while refere-referencing several countries working
on solo ventures..." A picture of one of the stolen documents appeared on the
screen to replace the poor reporter. Her address continued. "In this arms
race...the we-weapon of choice....appears to have been human soldiers."
Kitty couldn't help but snort at that. "Human soldiers? That isn't news. That's
the army! How was Canada going to get a leg up over the communists with
human..." Oh no...no. It couldn't be possible...
The anchor woman was still struggling to finish her report. "Civilians
were...brought in...and over a period of years we-were subject to
experimentation, both to them-themselves and rep-repo-reproductively!"
This wasn't good! Oh god, this definitely wasn't good! Kitty shot up, knocking
Lance off her and started screaming. "GUYS! GUYS! COME QUICK! YOU GOTTA SEE
THIS!" She knew what arms race the world had just stumbled onto! Everyone on
the team knew about it! From that terrible military abomination...came
Wolverine.
Weapon X had just gone public.
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