A World Not My Own: Chapter 3
An X-Men Fanfic
Panic dulled his reflexes. The kids . . . where were the kids? If Mystique was here in the kitchen, she couldn’t have done anything to hurt them, right? Not yet.
She glanced up and their eyes locked. So much for the element of surprise. She grinned, the white of her teeth flashing against the deep blue of her skin. “Hello, Logan.”
He pounced, knocking her back into the counter and holding his claws against her throat. “I’m going to give you five seconds to tell me what you’re doing here.”
“How kind of you.” She pulled her legs up and kicked his chest hard enough to knock him backwards. “I heard you’d finally woken up.” She climbed up onto the counter, and as soon as he had regained his balance, jumped, wrapping her legs around his neck to choke him. He slammed his body back against the fridge, trying to knock her off.
“Logan!” Rogue screamed, and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway. Mystique’s grip had loosened just enough for him to duck out and drop her on the floor.
“Get out, Rogue,” he said, not taking his eyes off Mystique. She rose to her hands and feet smooth as an angry cat. “I’ll handle this.”
“But–”
“Go ahead, sweetheart,” Mystique’s smile was unnerving. “Let the grownups talk.” Rogue’s footsteps clattered as she ran away. Hopefully she would warn someone.
Slowly, she stood upright, and Logan waited for her next attack. It didn’t come. They both stood, warily, to see who would break first.
“You want those kids, you’ll have to go through me,” Logan said.
That gave her pause, her smile slipping for an instant. “That would certainly be entertaining.”
“Logan! Just what do you think you’re doing?". Ororo stormed into the room, literally, with the lights flickering as she moved and her hair standing on end.
He thought that was pretty obvious, unless Mystique had changed form as soon as he looked away. He glanced back. Nope, still her usual blue form, though she looked remarkably pleased with herself for some reason.
“Well?” Ororo asked, still staring at him as though Mystique weren’t even there.
“She’s the one who broke in!” Too late, he realized he sounded like Bobby whenever he got in trouble. He crossed his arms and stood straighter, reminding himself that he was, in fact, an adult and not a student in trouble with his teacher.
Ororo glanced at him skeptically, then at Mystique, then back again. “She broke in?”
“I didn’t break anything,” Mystique said. He wanted to wipe that smug look off her face. “I used my key like I always do.”
The room spun. “Your . . . key?”
“Yes, Logan, my key.”
Well that would explain why no alarms had gone off (they did have those in this timeline, right?), but why on earth did Mystique have a key?
Ororo sighed, giving him a look that clearly said their discussion was not over, then she looked at Mystique. “Charles wants to talk to you, if you’re ready.”
Mystique turned to Logan. “Well, looks like my dear brother calls.” She stalked out of the room, pausing in the doorway to blow him a kiss.
Ororo waited until she reached the staircase to say, “Now I don’t know what problems you have with Raven in your universe, but here she is an important member of the X-Men, and the professor will not appreciate you causing trouble with her.”
“She’s an X-Man?” How did that happen?
“One of the founding members.”
He scowled. “And how does Rogue feel about that?”
Ororo crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Well considering that’s why Rogue is here in the first place, I think she’s rather glad for it. Is there some reason she shouldn’t be?”
“So you’re telling me she didn’t kidnap Rogue and–wait, what do you mean that’s why Rogue is here?”
“Raven is the one who found her. Rogue is a very powerful mutant, and the professor found her on Cerebro right after she left home. Thankfully, Raven was already in the area and she was able to find her before she got into any trouble.” She was quiet for a moment, letting him process this. “How did she come here in your timeline?”
“I–I found her,” Logan said numbly. Something twisted inside him at Ororo’s story, and he refused to consider that it might be jealousy. “And Mystique . . . she took her here?”
“Where else would she take her?”
“To Magneto.”
She actually laughed. “They were barely on speaking terms back then. Him taking Rogue just pushed them over the edge. They haven’t spoken in twenty years.”
It all felt so backwards. He had known things would be different in this timeline. The fact that the mansion was still standing, that so many friends were still alive, told him that much, but so much of it felt the same that he had thought he would manage.
This, though, he didn’t know how to reconcile it. How to accept that this woman Ororo described was the same as the villain he had known. And how to accept that his memories, his experiences, had been taken from him and given to someone else.
And where did that leave him? What was his role in Rogue’s life? Did he have one?
Jean leaned into the kitchen. “Storm, have you seen–oh, good, you’re both here. The professor wants to talk to us. Raven just got back.”
“We noticed,” Ororo said, glancing at Logan. He crossed his arms and glared at the floor. Her explanation hadn’t done much to calm him. He had said something about Raven kidnapping Rogue in his timeline, but she suspected there was more to it. Well, he would just have to get used to her being on the team.
Jean left the kitchen and Ororo followed, stopping when she realized Logan hadn’t moved. “Are you coming?”
Still scowling, he followed, grumbling to himself. Or, she thought he was grumbling. The sound was quiet enough that she couldn’t actually make out any words. He might have just been growling.
When they got up to the professor’s office, they found Scott, Hank, Kurt, Raven, and Jubilee already waiting. Jean joined Scott by the professor’s desk, so the only room left for Ororo and Logan was by the door.
“I heard you ran into Raven in the kitchen,” Hank said, smiling innocently at Logan.
“Shut it, furball.”
“Please,” the professor said. “We have something important to discuss. Raven, would you tell them what you just told me?”
Raven leaned back against the desk in a possessive gesture clearly directed toward Logan. “The scientist Bolivar Trask is dead. I have information that–”
“Wait,” Logan said. “Trask is dead? Who killed him?”
“Why would you assume–” Jean began, but the professor interrupted.
“We don’t yet know, but rest assured, it was by human hands.”
“Right. Or at least hands that look human.” The room grew silent as everyone realized what Logan was implying.
“Why would I wait fifty years to kill him?” Raven asked.
Logan stepped forward. “I don’t know, but if I find out you did it . . .” The blades in his knuckles finished the sentence.
“Logan,” the professor began warningly, but Raven lifted her hand to stop him.
She stalked forward and leaned into his space. “I wanted to kill him. I wanted to right up until he drew his last breath. I wanted to make him hurt until he begged for death, just like my friends he cut up and tortured. I won’t deny it. But I made my decision fifty years ago, and if I killed him now, it would be my family that would suffer, and as much as I hate him, I love them more. So go ahead. Tell me you still believe I killed him.”
Silence fell at Raven’s admission. She had told them most of her old friends were gone, but she had never explained why. Ororo was no stranger to the anger that could simmer under an outward appearance of calm, but it hadn’t taken her long to see she was alone in that among her teammates. The venom of Raven’s words had caught them all by surprise.
The shick of Logan’s claws sliding back echoed in the silent room, and he took a step back. Hank let out a deep breath.
“So what’s the big deal with this guy anyway?” Jubilee asked.
“Trask was a scientist,” the professor explained. “He studied and experimented on mutants in order to learn how to, for lack of a better word, exterminate us.”
Jubilee pulled a face. “So why are you so upset about him dying, Logan?”
The professor spoke before he could. “The important thing is that when Dr. Trask died, his research was also stolen.” He gave Logan a hard look. “And not by any mutant.”
“I tracked them down to a lab,” Raven said, “but it’s too big for me to take by myself. And we have another problem.”
“Oh, goodie,” Jubilee muttered.
“While I was there, I saw them bringing in captured mutants. I have no idea how many there are, but they are our priority now. We can always come back and get rid of the research later, but we need to get those mutants out.”
“Storm, Hank, Scott, I want you ready in ten minutes,” the professor said. “You’ll go with Raven on the Blackbird–”
“And me,” Logan said.
“Logan, perhaps it’s best if you–”
“I have to do this, Chuck. I’m going.”
“Very well.”
“Oh good.” Raven grinned at Hank and Logan. “It’ll be just like old times.”
“Raven,” the professor sighed, “and Logan. I need to speak with you both privately.”
The rest of the X-Men filed out of the room, but Ororo made no move to go. There was no way she was leaving the two of them alone with only the professor to keep them from killing each other. The professor looked at her, then at Logan, who grunted, “it’s fine.”
The professor smiled, pleased at that reaction, then grew serious again. “I’m well aware that the two of you have a history. Even more so for you, Logan, but I do hope you can find it within yourselves to put it behind you for the sake of this mission.”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll get along fine,” Raven said.
Logan glared. “Fine, but I make no promises about tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” the professor said. “Oh, and Raven, I can’t believe I have to say this again after all these years, but please, do not stand on the countertops.”
Next chapter coming soon!