"Plague Chapter Two"

THEME: Adventure

RATING: M (some swearing and a little bit of violence)

SUMMARY: Logan helps two mutants from some trouble and takes them back to Xavier's School.

FEEDBACK: I'm always eager to hear your views so please contact me and let me know at tanyajoy74@hotmail.com

DISCLAIMER: X-Men and all their affiliates belong to Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox Studios for the time being. All other characters belong to me. No money is being made from this exercise.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Late the next morning Logan wandered down the hallway towards Alex and Andy's new room. He finished off the piece of toast he had been eating and pounded on the door. "Get your lazy butts outta bed. Chuck wants to see you two."

He heard the dull thump of something, probably a pillow, bounce off the closed door and grinned to himself. There was a grumbling noise in the room followed by an object being moved about and the lock turning. The door opened to reveal Alex fully clothed, except for shoes. Her hair was a bit of a mess and she was holding a chair in one hand. Logan presumed she had wedged it up against the door handle the night before.

"Piss off," Alex mumbled as she moved back towards the lump in the bed that represented Andy.

"Well didn't we wake up all nice and chirpy this morning," Logan moved into the room. "Hey bub," he added to Andy who had just woken up.

"Hi," Andy rubbed his eyes.

"The Professor wants to see both of you after breakfast," Logan crossed his arms. "You think you're up to it?"

"Do we have a choice?" Alex retorted.

"Of course you do," Jean walked into the room carrying an armful of clothes. "I thought you might like something fresh," she placed the pile on the bed.

"I thought welcoming committees usually brought fruit baskets?" Alex said flippantly.

"Well we ran out so I had to improvise," Jean replied smiling. "And how are you today?" she asked Andy.

"Okay, I guess," he started picking through the clothes. "We're here?"

"Yeah Andy," Alex picked up a sweater and held in front of the boy. "You were dead to the world when we arrived last night so I thought I'd let you sleep through."

"You promised you'd tell me when we arrived." Andy frowned at the piece of clothing and picked up a different shirt.

"So sue me," Alex said dryly. "Besides you didn't miss much, just two grown men fighting over a missing bike." She smirked at Logan, who sniffed haughtily and ignored her.

"We'll leave you two to change and then, after breakfast, we can all see Charles," Jean tugged on the Canadian's arm. "Coming Logan?"

He let himself be led from the room but couldn't resist a final parting shot at Alex. "Don't wear the green top, it'll make ya look fat."

As he left the room, something large and solid hit the closed door behind him.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Alex smoothed down her new blue shirt as she, Andy, Logan and Jean all walked towards Professor Xavier's office. She hadn't felt this nervous since that time back in high school when she'd been called to the Principal's office to give her account of a mini explosion that had almost decimated the science block. Just because she hadn't been involved then hadn't made it feel any better; as a matter of fact she wasn't feeling all that happy about now, either. Andy was frantically trying to scrub away a small strawberry jam stain that had magically appeared on his sleeve and Logan just looked bored with the whole thing.

Jean halted in front of a solid ornate door; she looked to them and knocked. "I'll just make sure everything's ready, shall I?" She opened the door and walked inside.

Alex shifted restlessly from foot to foot. This whole place looked like a museum. She found it hard to believe that teenagers ran amok in these rooms. It was just the sort of building that should have 'do not touch' signs plastered all over it.

"You okay?" Logan asked quietly. He had noted her anxious looks and nervous energy.

"Yeah, of course," Alex snapped back at him. She gently rested the fingertips of her left hand against the closed door and concentrated. "Four of them in there? What did he do invite the whole damn school?"

Logan turned to her in surprise when Jean opened the door and invited them in. "How'd you do that?" he muttered as he noted four people in the room.

A bald distinguished man in a wheelchair was sitting behind a desk. "Hello," he spoke in a quietly cultured voice. "I'm so glad to see you arrived safely."

"Let me introduce everyone," Jean moved forwards. "You, of course, met Scott Summers last night," she indicated the young man with the glasses who was seated in one of the chairs. "And this is Ororo Munroe." A dark skinned woman with startling white hair smiled at them. "And you already know Logan, so that just leaves Professor Charles Xavier," Jean smiled at her mentor and friend.

Xavier pushed a toggle on his wheelchair and moved towards Andy. "Hello there, welcome to my school," he looked up at Alex. "Both of you."

Alex avoided his glance by staring at a potted plant.

"Hi," Andy replied awkwardly. "Um, nice place."

"Do you think so? You could stay if you like," Xavier said. "I have many young people staying here who I'm sure you'd like to meet."

Andy looked from the Professor to Alex. "That's why I'm here, I guess. It's safer than at home," he shrugged. "Any where's better than home."

"I'm sorry to hear that Andrew," Xavier looked seriously at the boy. "But you are always welcome here."

Andy looked at Xavier. "How'd you know my name?" he demanded.

Xavier tapped the side of his head. "The same way you know things."

"Oh," Andy nodded as if that was perfectly understandable and a common everyday occurrence.

The Professor turned his attention to the other newcomer. "It is an honour to finally meet you, Alexandra."

Alex looked dubiously at the man in the wheelchair. "Why?"

"Because you have helped so many children by bringing them here away from danger, like young Andrew."

Alex crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah, so?"

"It's an admirable thing to do, helping others."

"Listen I'm not aiming for a Nobel peace prize or something - I'm only here for the kids. As far as I'm concerned, you can take your school and shove it," Alex glared about the room.

Scott bristled at Alex's tone but subsided at Xavier's gesture.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," the Professor replied calmly.

"And I thought I gave you a hard time," Logan said as he leant against a wall enjoying the whole scene.

Andy reached up and tugged on Alex's arm. "Behave," he said.

"Listen," Alex began. "Thanks for the threads and the use of a room but I've got to be going."

"You would be better off staying here for a few days," Xavier said. "It's too dangerous for you right now, especially after what happened last night."

"How'd you -" Alex turned to glare at Logan. "You been reporting back everything?" she spat at him.

"Hey!" Logan held up his hands. "I didn't say nothin', so don't start."

Andy grabbed both of Alex's hands diverting her attention. "You have to stay."

Alex crouched down in front of the boy. "Listen we had this conversation already remember? You know I'm not a long-term commitment. I'm a 'breeze in save the kid and ride off into the sunset' kinda person, Andy."

"But you have to stay. The bad man is coming, you know that."

Alex rocked back on her heels and looked at the boy. "What bad man?"

Andy leaned in and whispered. "He's coming for all of us Alex. You have to stay," he placed a small hand next to her head. "In there tells you to."

Alex paled, as a cold shiver ran down her spine, and stood up suddenly. "Who's the person with the visions here?" she feebly joked.

Ororo stood up and looked to Andy. "I have an English class starting soon, are you interested in joining?"

Andy looked from the white-haired woman to Alex. "Are you staying?" he asked his protector.

Logan was surprised to find himself speaking out. "Listen, it wouldn't hurt to lay low for a few days. It would give Andy a chance to settle in and give your friendly thugs time to forget last night."

"Please?" Andy begged.

"Crap," Alex spoke quietly. She seemed to reach a decision. "Alright but only for a few days and only for Andy."

"Great," Andy looked over to Ororo. "Can I write stories in this class?"

"Of course," she took the boy's hand. "We have a 'story wall' that you can add it to when you've finished," 'Ro looked over to Xavier. "I'll talk to you later, Professor."

Scott stood up and walked over to Jean, placing an arm about her waist. "We have classes too," he looked over to Alex. "Nice to meet you."

Alex nodded absently as the three adults left the room, Andy in tow. She looked over to Logan.

"Don't look at me, I don't teach nothing," he said.

"This group that gave you trouble last night," Xavier began. "Is this common?"

"The PHL?" Alex finally relaxed enough to sit on one of the chairs. "They usually smash windows and harass anyone different from them, but lately," she tugged thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "Lately they've become more aggressive. If this keeps up, they're gonna kill somebody."

"They almost killed you," Logan pointed out.

"Yeah well, almost don't cut it."

Xavier maneuvered his wheelchair towards his desk. "Your report seems to correspond with an alarming recent upsurge in aggression towards mutants," he said, moving some papers towards him. "This bears investigating," he looked back up towards the two. "Logan would you please show Alexandra about the school."

Logan grimaced at the thought of playing tour-guide. "Yeah sure, I guess."

Xavier nodded and turned his attention back towards the reports he had sitting on his desk. Logan shrugged at Alex as if to say 'well class dismissed.' She smiled back at him and stood up.

They were halfway towards the door when Xavier spoke up again. "I'm glad you found us Alexandra and I hope you come to understand, and appreciate, our work here."

Alex turned at the door and spoke to the Professor. "I'll reserve judgement. Don't ask for more than that."

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Logan had showed Alex the classrooms, the stables and most of the living quarters for the students. They had ended up outside walking along one of the many trails that criss-crossed the property. Logan spied a bench and steered Alex towards it.

"So how did you do that thing?" he asked sitting down.

"Thing? What thing?" Alex sat next to him.

"You know," Logan spread out the fingers of one hand and mimed pressing it against an imaginary surface. "That whole 'I sense four people behind door number one' act."

Alex stretched her legs out in front of her and tilted her head back. "It's just something I can do."

"Well what else can you do?"

"Why do you want to know, you doing a survey or something?" She tucked her legs back in and hunched herself over. "If I wanted the whole world knowing my business, I could have voted for the mutant registration."

"Take it easy. I'm just curious."

"Well don't be," she snapped back. "I don't like people nosing about my life."

"Fair enough, forget I ever asked," Logan sat back, placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Several minutes passed in silence before Alex spoke up.

"You have no idea what it's like having those images pop into my head," she began. "I'm surprised it hasn't driven me crazy," she laughed quietly. "Or maybe it already has."

Logan just sat there, saying nothing.

"And if the images weren't enough sometimes I can feel their pain, too. I watch them die and there isn't a goddam thing I can do about it. Some gift, huh?"

Alex looked across at Logan. "Do you ever feel like the world's out to get you? Like its deliberately throwing shit at you just to see you suffer?"

Logan turned his head and opened one eye. "Sometimes," he conceded, before facing forward again. "But isn't that what life's all about? Surviving the shit that gets thrown at ya?"

"I guess. But it doesn't seem fair."

Logan snorted. "Fair don't exist sweetheart, at least not around here."

"That other thing you saw me do is much more fun. I can sense how many people are in a room, a building or even on grounds like this one. I just wished it had appeared years before it did. It would have given me one hell of an advantage playing 'hide and seek' as a kid. As to anything else," she smirked at him. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

"I like a challenge."

Alex turned and stared at the man beside her. "What about you? What else do you have up those sleeves, apart from some kick-ass claws?"

Logan sniffed. "Mind your own business."

The pair laughed quietly.

 

"Why don't you like this place?" Logan asked, after they had settled back down.

"What's there to like? Your Xavier has this stupid idea in his head that segregating the mutants from the rest of the world will make everyone happy families. It's crap. I live in the real world, and I think you do too. There is no way that normal people will ever accept mutants if they all live behind closed doors. All they'll think is that you're hatching some scheme to take over the world, or something. It'll only make them more paranoid and more prone to violence."

"First of all," Logan held up a finger, "he's not my Xavier. Second," another finger followed the first, "wherever mutants go they'll be persecuted by someone. It's the way of the world. Chuck just thinks that giving them a safe-haven helps. And finally," he closed his fist and looked at his knuckles. "If it wasn't for people like Xavier, where would kids like Andy go to live? The guy's got a dream and no matter how corny you might think it is, you've gotta give the man credit for trying."

Alex rubbed her temples. "Yeah you're probably right. I just -" she tried to find the right words. "I dunno, I just find myself thinking the worst about this place. Like there's some sort of hidden agenda. Like I'd settle down here and think everything's rosy and then bang," she slapped her palms together. "It all goes to hell."

"That happens everywhere."

"Gosh, I didn't realise there was going to be a free shrink session and a lecture with this tour," Alex said all wide-eyed and facetious.

Logan grunted and looked about the place. "Just don't go telling everyone about it otherwise they'll all want one."

Alex stood up suddenly and faced the Canadian. "I'm bored so I'm going back to my room."

"Is that an offer?"

"No dear. Although I do admire your optimism," Alex's mouth quirked. It amazed her how quickly they had fallen into this friendly rapport. She hardly knew the guy but they seemed to connect. Besides the flirting wasn't half bad either.

"Shame, you don't know what you're missing," Logan teased back.

She grinned and lifted up her long sleeved shirt to reveal a green top underneath. "Make me look fat will it?"

Before Logan could answer she was jogging down the trail back towards the mansion.

"Yes life is looking up," he muttered to himself with a smile.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Robert Dunn sat in his office looking at a map of the state that hung behind his desk. It was peppered with coloured pins; red pins represented the whereabouts of known mutants, white the residences of his men, green for mutant sympathisers. It was obvious that the red and green pins far outnumbered the white ones.

Dunn was a prominent member of the Pure Human League (PHL) and saw it as his sworn responsibility to protect the human race from the murdering clutches of these mutants. They were fighting a war and it was one that they seemed to be losing. After Senator Kelly's abrupt about face on the Registration issue they had lost ground with the public. More and more it seemed that the man on the street was becoming complacent towards the freaks. Little did John Q. Citizen realise that, as soon as the world relaxed their vigilance, the mutants would rise up, overthrow the democratically elected leaders, and place the average person under chains. Dunn shook his head sadly. If it wasn't for people like him and his men, the thin human line that bravely and unselfishly defended the unknowing public from slavery, then his children and his children's children would find themselves playthings of the most unspeakable horrors.

 

A knock on his door interrupted his reverie. "Yes?"

The door opened and the leader of the thugs, who had attacked Alex the night before, stood outside in the hallway.

Dunn swung his chair around and indicated for the man to enter. "Nigel how did last night go?"

Nigel looked at the thread-bare carpet in front of him. "Not so good, Mr. Dunn."

"Explain."

"Well, we lost them."

Dunn leant forwards in his chair, an earnest look on his face. "Please explain to me how you and your men could lose a boy and an unarmed woman."

Nigel squirmed a little. "It wasn't our fault, Mr. Dunn. There was this guy, you see, he attacked us and they all escaped."

"A man?" Robert's voice was deceptively quiet but the iron tang of anger lay underneath it. "Just the one? Because you gave me the impression that your men were crack troops, hardened soldiers. How could one man defeat six pure-blooded humans with God on their side?"

"He wasn't just a man, sir. He was a friggin' mutant with fucking blades popping outta his hands. Pardon my swearing, sir."

"So they all escaped?"

"Yes, Mr. Dunn, but they couldn't have gotten far. Not without some sort of transport."

Robert Dunn let the fact that access to transport wouldn't be exactly hard to find, not when you can find a quiet street with parked cars along it, any fool with a bit of know-how could break into a car and hot-wire it, and Alex Stringer was nobodies fool. Dunn knew that all too well.

"Any casualties?" he asked.

Nigel cleared his throat and sifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Well, uh, the two of us that got away are fine. I don't know yet about the others."

"You left men behind?" Dunn shouted as he rose out of his chair.

Nigel backed up a couple of steps, his hands held out in front of him. "Mr. Dunn, sir," he began.

"Soldiers do not leave their fallen behind, do you hear me?" Dunn's face was crimson as he roared at Nigel. "Now get out there and find them, all of them, or so help me, it will be your ass on the frontline the next time we come up against a mutant. Now get out of my sight."

Nigel bolted for the door, leaving Robert Dunn behind grimacing as he rubbed his temples. Another headache was coming on and he needed to remain alert, needed to present a strong front for his men.

 

Nigel stood outside Dunn's room, fuming silently. This freelance gig is a waste of time, he thought to himself as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses. His eyes briefly glowed yellow as he put them on. Who cares if Wolverine creams a few humans, anyway. The less of them there are, the happier I am.

The mutant impersonating Nigel walked down the hall towards the front door. Mystique was just doing this on a hunch - she was certain something was going to happen and until she had more information about exactly what this 'something' was and how she might exploit it, she'd just have to put up with Dunn the Small-Minded and all his little pure-blooded cronies.

Nigel sniffed and adjusted the crotch of his jeans. A woman's lot is never an easy one, he thought.

 

è CHAPTER THREE