Chapter 30- X-man teaches a New Mutant

  Over the Atntic Ocean – inside the Bck-bird private Transport - Oct 23, 2008 (21:00)

  James ‘Logan’ Howlett- (Wolverine)

  Logan was dressed in his yellow and blue spandex costume that he wore as an ‘X-man’, his facemask was sandwiched between his neck and the headrest, as he looked over the satellite images of their destination.

  "A topical jungle at the bottom of the world… Even after all I have seen, I never would have guessed that," he muttered softly, before pcing his half-smoked cigar in his mouth. He was soft even for his ears, as most of the X-men and New Mutants, were taking a nap in the passenger compartment of the jet.

  Still with his senses he could tell where everyone was, and what they were doing. Most he knew were sleeping, getting that little extra rest before their next possible battle. Yet still a few were awake. Storm was doing what he was, reading up to refresh herself on their possible enemies, but in the co-pilot's seat, instead of at the communications station like he was, not that there wasn’t an extra seat for her.

  While he could hear Lilith in the pilot's seat, she was manning the controls of the jet. While the jet was currently set to auto-pilot, when flying above the speed of sound someone still needs to be at the helm in case something happens, and they were currently cruising at Mach 2.

  Then in a higher volume so that Strom could hear him, Logan asked. “What did Chuck give us on the mysterious boy that Mags is protecting?”

  The attractive ebony woman pressed a button on the panel before her, causing the seat to slide backward before rotating so she could face him. Like him, Strom was in her own costume. A mostly bck form-fitting suit but it also had white shoulder pads, gloves, and cape. The only accessories that she wore extra were a metal hair band that he knew she could use as a lock pick if she needed to, and that tribal neckce that prince 'what's-his-face' gave her.

  ‘I know I should be nicer to him, because his dad and me fought together back in the day, but the prince isn’t good enough for her.’ He thought after gncing at the neckce.

  His team leader sighed, before admitting. "Not much, Charles is certain the boy is not a mutant, and yet Erik is determined to protect him." A thought must have struck her, because she started looking through the pile of notebooks and papers in her p. "I think he gave a mental image that Colossus used to draw a sketch here somewhere."

  "That doesn't sound like Magneto to me," Lilith commented.

  As she looked through the papers Strom replied to the other woman’s comment. “Charles said that this boy is the st of his people, that the rest were killed in some ancient war, Hank and he both think that Magneto is seeing a reflection of the Jews, in the boy's story… Ah, here it is." The bck beauty then pulls out a loose sheet of thick sketch paper and hands it to Logan.

  The war veteran looked over the drawing. It was of a young man with long bck hair, in some nondescript clothing. What really drew an observer's attention were the man's eyes, which were filled with some color. Not mostly white. It was hard to tell what the color was supposed to be given that it was done all in pencil, but still, it reminded Logan of that mutant in New Orleans that once snuck into the X-Mansion.

  “What kind of person has eyes like that, and isn’t a mutant?” The gruff man asks, before handing the page back.

  "I noticed that too, Charles says they are even more impressive up close." His leader agreed while taking back the sketch.

  “Maybe he is like my dad. Not entirely human.” Lilith said after she stole a gnce over her shoulder at the drawing too.

  Even with the chair in the way, Logan knew what the female pilot looked like, as his eyes could perfectly make her out in the reflection on the windshield. Lilith Trepes, aka the Crimson Witch, wore her very revealing bck leather onesie, fishnet leggings, and high heels. A yellow utility belt and mask, which was currently at her feet, completed her outfit.

  She was the younger of two human children sired by Vd Trepes, aka Dracu, the king of the vampires. How? Only the blood king could tell you, and so far he hasn't. Instead when the UN and NATO decred his country absolved he snuck his wife and two teenage kids into a safe house in France before going into hiding of his own, a couple of years ter their powers awoken and their mom called Charles.

  Storm stopped looking for a spot to pce the drawing in the pile as she mulled over their pilot's words. Meanwhile, Logan twitched at the sound of kissing he heard coming from the passenger compartment.

  "It is possible. While much of the world doesn't want to admit to the existence of alien life, we have learned the hard way that they are out there. And is a very real threat, to both us mutants and the regur humans." Their team leader agreed but then added. "But I don't see Erik protecting a non-human, too much bad history with them."

  "I agree," Logan said, and then reminded the pilot. "The only vampire that Mags' likes is your father, Dracu, and that is only because he actually fought alongside him during the war against the Nazis.” When he brought his zippo lighter up towards his cigar, he noticed the look he got from Storm, so he unstrapped himself and left before lighting it.

  It took a couple of puffs, before the thing was properly lit, all the while he heard more kissing and giggles from the passenger compartment. The sounds really made him want to punch the boy receiving the affection, but instead, he decided to pull rank.

  "Cyclops get over here, I know you're awake, I can hear you and Prestige back there," Logan said in a regur tone, as angry as he was he didn't care if he awoke the others.

  He heard the teen clear his throat, and mutter. "Be right back." Before the bean pole of a boy stood up and walked towards the entrance of the cockpit. Once he was closer the boy with his visor covering his eyes, thus his alias, asked. "Did you want something, sir?"

  "Yeah, I want you to look at what you are wearing," Logan told him, before taking another puff off of his cigar.

  As he did the almost eighteen-year-old looked at his uniform. It was like all of the other New Mutants costumes, mostly bck jumpsuits, with crossed yellow suspenders to form an 'X' on their chest. Each member had some variation, in this boy's it was the yellow-painted visor and its ruby lenses that stopped his optic bsts from tearing apart everything in his line of sight apart.

  “I am in my New Mutants uniform.” Cyclops said.

  “That’s right, you are. So why are you thinking with the head in your pants instead of the one on your head?” Logan asked him after pulling the cigar from his mouth. The older man didn’t give him a chance to answer. He instead continued to berate the boy. “You are their team leader. When you and the others are in their costumes, you need your head on mission and on their survival, and not in your girlfriend’s tits.’

  “One of these days, you will be an X-man, either as a member, or as its leader, but in the field and in your costume you need to have your head in the game. Because it’s not just your life, on the line, or Prestige’s, it’s your entire team’s lives that are on the line.’

  “We are going to an unknown nd to confront the Brotherhood of Mutants. And I can assure you that there are real killers on their team, who won’t even bat an eye before taking someone on your team’s life. Not everyone is like me and can heal. Or like Thunderbird or Colossus and can take a beating.’

  "Some are like you brother or like Spike, and all it takes is one magnetized ball bearing to the head, and they are dead… Would you like to be there, when we go to Storm's sister's house, and let her know that her son is dead, only because you were more worried about your girlfriend's booty, rather than her son's life?"

  The teenage mutant took a deep breath several times during Logan's rant but remained silent till the feral man took another puff off of his cigar. "Why am I getting this when she…."

  Wolverine cut him off and jabbed his fingers holding his cigar into the younger man's chest. "Because at the end of the day, you're the team leader, and she is sub-leader. That means the responsibility is on you… When I joined the school I was just a member, I only took this position when we lost Agni.'

  “And I saw that I was the best man for the job. Just like how someday, I will answer to you, because we think you’re the best man for the job. But you won’t be, if you keep making mistakes like that, out in the field. When you're in uniform, you're on duty, and when you're the leader, you have to be aware of everything. Because at the end of it all, everything is on you as their leader.” He was pointing passed the teens shoulder at Colossus, who was letting Sprite use his p as a pillow as they both slept.

  While Cyclops stared out at his teammates, he was quickly becoming angry over the ass chewing he received, some of what the veteran said through got into the man's skull and the weight of it really hit him. While he was still heaving in anger, the younger man said. "Thank you, for the advice. Is there anything else, sir?"

  Logan took the time to put his cigar in his mouth again before adding. “Look I get it. I was sixteen once too, but we mutants, especially us X-men, we need to be better than the average teen.” Then the feral mutant waved the younger man away.

  The teen leaves and instead of returning to his redheaded girlfriend, the young leader finds an empty reclining seat and sits before ying back, and tries to get some shut-eye.

  Prestige sits up after a moment, and as he ignites it to take another puff of his cigar, she just gres at the veteran. Logan smiled around his cigar and waved at the other teen, and wasn’t surprised when she crawled back into her sleeping bag.

  However, while he didn't jump, he was a bit startled when he heard Strom mutter. "That was rather harsh of you Logan. Back in the Ready Room, you growled at them, now this why?"

  Wolverine exhaled the smoke in his lungs, before turning around and taking a step closer to his leader. There was a lot he wanted to say, because he respected the woman in front of him, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do more than let the beast in the back of his head shied the truth of his heart so instead he simply says. “She deserves better.”

  “Uh-oh, sounds like someone is jealous.” Their pilot teases him. Yet the older man ignores her, knowing that she is right.

  Storm looks offended before she says. “Wolverine you are old enough to be her grandfather.”

  Logan chuckled and corrected. “I am old enough to be your grandfather. Heck, I am old enough to be Chuck’s or Magneto’s grandfather. You got to remember that this scared ugly mug is a lot older than it looks like, and I don’t remember half of it, maybe even more… stupid blood test.”

  That was why he wasn't worried about the young female teen's powers, as he walked through the craft. After all of the years beside the professor, he knows how hard it was to get through all of the 'feral protection' that Charles called it, that he had. Logan just called it the beast, the feral side of him that begged him to let loose. He also knew that he wasn't the only one to have simir abilities, as he could now recall when he was on a team with other powers like his, and they too were resistant to telepaths.

  'Weapon X… My own foolishness in trusting them in the first pce, but with what little I know, they are the reason my head is as messed up in the first pce. What with all the mind fuckery that they did to us. The only good thing that came out of it was the metal they ced my bones with.' The man thought as he made his way to the back of the craft and its only restroom. ‘But they sure had us kill a lot of mind benders while we pyed their games.’

  Then as he neared the end of the passenger compartment, He felt a shiver down his spine. That feeling he got when another predator like him locked in on him. Instinctually, he unsheathed the three cws out of the back of his left hand as he sniffed and looked around for whatever triggered that feeling.

  A pair of glowing red eyes opened from the depths of the engineering compartment.

  Realizing that the source of the feeling was the man before him, Logan asked. “Well Drake, or should I call you Alucard? Have you lost yourself to the thirst, or are you just trying to get a raise out of an old man?”

  The other mutant stepped out so that the restroom's mp illuminated the man. As he did, Drake rexed his powers, transforming into a rather handsome young man. Both Alucard and Colossus wore rather simple costumes, because of their mutant powers allowed them to transform. But Drake's had gotten worse since they rescued him from some crazy cultist te st year. So all he wore were now were bck sweatpants. Still, now he was back to looking like a Goth, clearly needing more sun in his life.

  "If you love her, you should pursue her. We are hunters after all." The twenty-something-year-young punk told him.

  Logan retracted his cws, the sound of the metal bdes scraping against the metal on his bones, making a notorious sound, which was louder than the feral man's chuckle. Then he shook his head, gauging where the others were and if they would be able to hear them if he humored the young man.

  In the end the sub-captain of the X-men just pointed out something the other man had kept from them, saying. "Your hearing must have gotten better if you heard me all the way back here."

  “Everything about my Predator From has been changed or improved, but you’re ignoring my point.” The tortured man told him.

  “And I was being polite, by not trampling on your opinion. You see, she’s still a kid, she is still maturing. And if I pursued her now, like you suggest, she wouldn’t be the woman that I am attracted to. She would be molded into some kind of idolized thing of mine. And I don’t want that. I want her to be her.” The older man told the other.

  “But she could be tainted while you wait.” Drake countered.

  “And?” Logan asked, when the other man clearly didn’t get the point, he gave an example. “Look at Storm. Did you know your father turned her, back when she was only eighteen?”

  That really confused the boy, as he stated. “But you can’t reverse vampirism.”

  “Yes, you can, but only if you get to it early enough, before everything, all the changes, settles.” The feral man corrected the boy’s assumption.

  “How?” Drake asked confused.

  “Only the one that turned them can release them, and seeing as how your old man owed me a favor, he changed her back for me. One less debt on his pte he called it, or something like that he said.” The war veteran told him. “Regardless, my point is, that look at her now. If you are right and my hypothetical feeling weren’t pointing me elsewhere, and she wasn’t already engaged to some rich prince… Well, circumstances can always change in a decade or two. Believe me I have lived through enough of them."

  The other mutant rubbed his chin in thought, but in the end, nodded in understanding muttering. "You wish to drink only seasoned wine."

  Logan smiled at the boy's conclusion, and returned his own musings. “Something like that. Just remember to leave the kids to their fellow kids.” Then he gestured to the bathroom the man was standing next to, and asked. "Now if you don't mind? I need to take a shit."

  Drake moves to the side to let the shorter, but heavier man through, and after Logan closes the door, he hears the other man ask him. "Spray, please? It wasn't only my hearing that got better."

  "Welcome to my life kid." Was all Logan muttered as he undid his belt as he closed and locked the bathroom door, before he sat down.

  DLRhanna