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Title: The New Mutants II, Volume XVI: Secret Lair
Author: kanedax
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse, with other Marvelverses
Rating: R for language and sexual suggestion
Spoilers: X3, New Mutants I & II (see above)
Summary: Logan brings the Parkers to the X-Men
Notes: Barring any extreme summarizing, it’s looking like NM II is going to end up being longer than NM I, at least from a chapter/volume/whatever standpoint. But I am finally allowing myself to see the end of the tunnel. As usual, I don’t own the X-Men, Marvel Comics, 20th Century Fox, or a secret island base.
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Logan felt his teeth rattle in his mouth as he drove over another deep pothole, hidden in the dark. He angrily stared at his passenger.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” he asked.
Peter Parker stared at the napkin with the notes scrawled on it. “As well as I can be.”
“This can’t be right…”
“Hey, don’t blame me,” Parker said angrily. “We ran out of road on these directions a few miles back. If he had written ‘take a right at the pretty tree’ or ‘shake hands with the next bear you come across, he’ll tell you what to do,’ it would probably be more instructional.”
“Can’t you call him?” Mary Jane Parker asked from the backseat. Next to her, May Parker giggled happily at the roller coaster ride that Logan’s car was taking her through.
“They’re in hiding,” Logan responded. “No communications except through secure channels.”
“Well, they sure picked a hell of a hiding spot,” Peter countered. “You have the advantage, I can’t even see where we are.”
Logan’s heightened senses allowed him to see in the dark more clearly than most humans, but he still wasn’t seeing much.
“Oh, fuck it,” he growled, stopping the car. “We’re walking from here. Everybody out.”
“How much walking are we looking at?” Mary asked.
“Well, according to the directions,” Parker said, looking at the trip odometer, “we’re really close.”
“I’m doubting that,” said Mary as she got out of the car and opened the trunk. “Are you sure you got it right, honey? There’s nothing but trees.”
“He’s right,” Logan said. “We’re close. I can smell it.”
“Is that a literal or figurative smell?” asked Peter.
“Literal,” Logan answered. In the distance he could hear the waves of the ocean crashing against rocks. The salty odor crossed his nostrils. He could smell a mixture of odors that he recognized as Ororo and the others from the Academy. And, beneath it, something faint. Old, yet familiar.
“Remind me to tell you again how creepy that is,” Parker said, hefting his backpack onto his shoulder. “Do you have a compass?”
“Don’t need one,” Logan said, waving them to follow him.
“Never mind, you don’t need to remind me,” Peter said as he took May’s hand. “I’ll say it again: That’s creepy.”
“What about the car?” asked Mary Jane. “Won’t someone see it?”
“No one followed us,” Logan said. “I’m not hearing anything, and didn’t see anyone behind or above us for the drive. We should have enough time to find out where the others hid their vehicles before we attract any attention.”
“My tingle’s at its lowest decibel since this guy first showed up on our doorstep,” added Parker. “I think we’re safe.”
“But you’re still feeling something?” Logan asked.
“We’re wanted fugitives who barely escaped two attacks by the government in the past twenty-four hours,” Peter said. “And now we’re looking to hang out with more fugitives. It’s safe to say my Spidey-Sense isn’t shutting off any time soon.”
“Hm,” Logan said somewhat inattentively. His eyes happened upon a patch of grass within the trees about fifty feet to the east. He held his hands out to stop the three, then slowly walked toward it.
“Got something?” Parker asked.
“I think so,” answered Logan, lightly running his hands across the grass. “They were here. Recently.”
“How do you know?”
“The grass is trampled down,” he answered. “They were all standing here.”
“Where’d they go?”
“Nowhere,” said Logan, walking a little further past the patch, where the ground ended at a jagged cliff. “No tracks going anywhere past here.”
“Maybe they went into the water?” Parker asked. “Do the X-Men have any submariners, or anything?”
Logan heard a faint whistling noise. He turned to see a purple glowing object streak towards him, and didn’t have time to react before it connected with his chest. He flew backwards as the object exploded, getting his breath knocked out of him as he landed on his back.
“Get behind the trees!” he yelled, his voice coming out as nothing more than a wheeze. The Parkers seemed to hear him, though, and Mary Jane lifted May onto her shoulder and ran back towards the car. Peter stood his ground, and launched a string of webbing into the trees near where the attack originated. He heard a girl’s high screech, then the thump of a body hitting the ground.
“Theresa!” a voice yelled in the dark.
“LeBeau!” Logan howled, his breath returning quickly with his fury. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Mr. Logan?” Remy asked. “Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me,” Logan answered.
“Nice welcoming committee you have here, Logan,” Parker said angrily.
“Who’s with you?” Remy asked in the dark. Logan could hear a rustling noise, and the sound of muffled exertion. “Another mutant?”
“Something like that,” said Logan. “Don’t blow them up.”
“Why not?” Remy said angrily. “He hit Theresa.”
“Because I’d get cranky,” Logan said, finally catching enough of their scents to approach them. Peter followed close behind, and the two came across Remy LeBeau, crouched on the ground. A set of night-vision goggles rested on his forehead. Beside him lay Theresa Cassidy, her face covered and her arms stuck to her sides by Peter’s webbing. Her own goggles were still covering her eyes.
“Is she okay?” Peter asked anxiously, kneeling beside her and pulling the webs from her mouth. She gasped in pain as it was yanked from her skin.
“It covered my mouth,” she answered, wincing. “I was flying surveillance, but I couldn’t fly with my mouth covered.”
“Are you hurt?” Logan asked.
“A little bruised,” she said as they pulled the rest of the webs from her body. “What is this stuff?”
“It’s my web fluid,” Parker answered.
“Your fluid?” Theresa asked nauseously. “And you shoot it out of your body?”
“From my wrists, yeah.”
“Okay, could probably be worse, but I suppose your pants are still on, so I could have eliminated a few things,” Theresa said. “Still. Ick.”
“Sorry about that,” said Peter. “We weren’t expecting a welcoming committee.”
“Didn’t Jones tell you we were coming?” Logan asked.
“No, he didn’t,” Remy said flatly. “When did you talk to him?”
“A few hours ago at the mansion.”
Remy nodded. “He and Forge have been keeping constant surveillance over the school since we left. They’ve barely left the communications room since we got here. Just like him to forget mentioning you to the rest of us.”
“The Feds showed up a few minutes after we left,” Parker said as Mary Jane and May slowly approached from the car. “I’m guessing they forgot about us pretty quick.”
“Who are you?” asked Remy shortly as he helped Theresa to her feet.
“It’s a long story,” Logan replied. “Where’s the base?”
Remy pressed his finger to his ear. “We need a pickup,” he said. “Someone there to see the signal?”
“Earpiece?” Logan asked Theresa, who nodded, then closed her arms around him in a big hug.
“It’s good to have you back,” she said. “Things have been crazy.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“They’ll explain inside,” said Theresa. “We’re just here for surveillance. Dad’s out here somewhere, too, we’re going in shifts.”
Logan nodded, then pulled away from her. As he did, he noticed some of her red hair came with him.
“I think you still have some stuff on ya,” he said.
“What?”
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” blurted Peter.
She touched her hand to her head and grimaced. “Oh, uck. Does it come out?”
“No,” Mary Jane said flatly, “It doesn’t.”
“I apologized about that enough, haven’t I, MJ?” Peter said haltingly. “I mean… it was an accident.”
“Still difficult to explain to my mother why I came back from our honeymoon with a haircut,” she said.
Peter shrugged guiltily. “I was nervous…”
Theresa sighed. “Well, I guess I’ve always wanted to see what my hair looked like short.”
“I’m sure you’ll look great, gaienne,” Remy said from the edge of the cliff, where he was holding a small pen-like object out towards the water.
“Well, your opinion will count more than most,” Theresa said, blushing slightly.
A poofing noise sounded behind them. The Parkers all screamed in unison at the blue demon standing in front of them, his blue pointed tail whipping behind him. He wore identical goggles as Theresa and Remy.
“Guns down!” Logan yelled as he reached out quickly and grabbed Peter’s hands before he could get a shot off. “Kurt…”
“Shhh,” Kurt Wagner said, putting his finger to his mouth. “Be quiet, Wolverine. Do you want to attract attention?”
“Not particularly, no,” Logan said. “Are you our escort?”
“Who are the others?” Kurt asked.
“Friends,” said Logan. “Where are we going?”
Kurt took off his goggles and handed them to Logan. After putting them on, he was aimed towards the water. Kurt pointed off towards the dark horizon, where Logan saw the faint outline of a small island far off.
“Can you really teleport that far?” Logan asked, handing the goggles back.
“As long as I have a signal to see exactly where to go,” Kurt said as he put them back on, “I can travel a great distance.”
“How’d you all find a place like this to lay up?”
“Marie found it,” Kurt said. “She remembered it.”
Logan opened his mouth to ask more questions, and then closed it again. He figured he could ask Rogue when he saw her. “We leaving?”
“Ja, sofort,” Kurt said, turning to the others. Mary Jane and Peter instinctively took a step back, and May just stared at him with her mouth wide open.
“Don’t worry,” Logan told them, “He won’t bite.”
Kurt smiled nicely, sharp pointed teeth glimmering in the moonlight. Mary Jane moaned.
“Just grab onto my shoulder,” Kurt said comfortingly. “Or my arm or my tail, wherever you can reach.”
“May!” Mary Jane said as May ran forward, giggling as she grabbed onto Kurt’s tail. He gasped as she playfully tugged on it.
“Not so hard, kleines Mädchen,” he said, laughing despite himself. Mary Jane looked nervously at Peter, who shrugged and walked up to Kurt, laying his hand on his shoulder. Slowly, Mary Jane walked towards him and hesitantly grabbed his arm. Logan chuckled and put his hand on Kurt’s other shoulder.
“Do you want to head back?” Remy asked Theresa. “Get cleaned up?”
“You wouldn’t mind?” she asked.
“I think I can survive,” he answered. “See if you can send someone back, so it’s not just me and Professor Cassidy out here.”
Theresa kissed him on the lips. “Stay safe,” she said.
“You, too,” he replied, squeezing her hand as she walked over to Kurt and took a hold of his tail along with May.
“Nightcrawler’s coming back,” Remy said into the earpiece. “Send a signal.”
“Hold on,” Kurt told them. “It’ll only take a second, but it might make you a little ekelerregend.”
“What’s ‘ekeglerant’ mean?” Peter asked right before the group disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“Oh,” he said as they reappeared on the island. He started swaying, and his hands went to his stomach. “That’s what it means. Urgh.”
“We don’t ever have to do that again, do we?” Mary Jane asked, flopping down on the rocky ground.
“Do it again!” May Parker said, her hands still gripped around Kurt’s tail.
“No,” Peter said, sitting down wearily next to his wife. “Never again. Ever.”
“Who’s this?” came a voice from the darkness.
Logan smiled as the figure approached. “I thought ‘Ro said you weren’t one of us anymore?”
Alison Blaire shrugged, putting the infrared penlight, identical to Remy’s, into her pocket. “Shit happens. Who’s this?”
“They’re the Parkers,” Logan said. “Where’s ‘Ro?”
“Downstairs,” Alison said, motioning toward a cave in the rock face of the island. “You okay, Cassidy? Thought you were patrolling.”
“I was, but I got some gunk in my hair,” Theresa answered. “Remy said it’d be okay if I came back, as long as I sent someone out to replace me.”
“Gunk?” Alison smirked. “Cassidy, you’re supposed to be patrolling, not giving blowjobs in the bushes.”
“Alison…” Theresa gasped.
“Children present!” Mary Jane said, putting her hands over May’s ears.
“Hey, I’m not the one with the ‘Something About Mary’ hair gel…” said Alison.
“It’s web fluid,” Parker said.
“Not helping, sir,” Theresa said to him crossly. “Anyone we can send back out?”
Alison’s brow furrowed. “You’ll have to talk to Professor Munroe. Jones and Forge are still locked up in Hernando’s Hideaway, and I don’t think any of the rookies are ready to head out there. Rogue’s practicing in her room, so I think Pete might be available.”
“What?” Parker said. “I just got here, and you’re already putting me on patrol?”
Logan, Alison, and Theresa all shared the same look at him. “You’re a Peter, too?” Alison asked.
“Peter Parker,” he replied.
“Oh, that’ll make things so much simpler,” Alison said, rolling her eyes.
“I’ll get him up here,” said Theresa. “But isn’t he still wiped out from taking care of Rogue?”
Alison shrugged. “We don’t have many other options, Cassidy. He’ll have to take a shift.”
“I suppose,” Theresa replied. “I’ll try to make it a quick cleanup.”
“Good idea,” Alison said. “Might have to change your panties, too. Cajun probably made you soak them up pretty bad.”
Theresa sighed. “It’s so good to have you back,” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
“Glad to be back, baby,” Alison replied, winking naughtily. Theresa shook her head and waved the group towards the cave.
“I could take a shift if you need it,” Logan said as the stone floor of the cave gave way to metal. “Adrenaline’s still pumping.”
“Probably later,” Theresa answered. “Professor Munroe’s going to want to talk to you first. To get you up to date on things.”
“Makes sense,” said Logan. “What happened to Rogue? And why are you so short-handed? Couldn’t Bobby or Kitty take a shift? Hell, Bishop can take care of himself out there, too.”
Theresa tightened as Logan said their names. “You’ll have to talk to the Professor,” she said quietly.
“Why?” Logan asked. “What happened? Are they hurt? And what happened to Marie?”
“Jones didn’t tell you anything…” Theresa said as they climbed down a set of metal stairs.
“No, he didn’t,” said Logan, growing impatient. “Why, what’s…?”
His voice cut off as he entered a large, lit cavern. The walls were rock, but with pieces of metal covering sections of it, as well as the floor. The floor was littered with bags, clothing, and equipment. The only furniture lay at one end of the room, a large metal desk. In its chair, Ororo Munroe looked up from a pile of papers and smiled sadly at Logan.
“Welcome back,” she said wearily, standing and walking to him.
“Nice to see you, ‘Ro,” he said, and was surprised when she embraced him tightly. “And this is kind of new.”
“Sorry,” Ororo said, pulling away. “It’s just good to see a familiar face again.”
Logan put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. “I’m thinking the same thing.” As she stepped away, her smell faded from his nostrils and the odors of the room hit him for the first time. The faint scent he had picked up on the shore was back again, more strongly than before. He recognized it, along with other smells that he knew. His nostrils flared. He smelled Raven Darkholme. John Allerdyce. Sabretooth. Toad.
“Magneto,” he said, a growl rolling in his throat. “This is his.”
“Was,” Ororo said. “This was the Brotherhood’s old hideout.”
“Why?” he said angrily. “Why are we here?”
“Because there’s nowhere else,” Ororo snapped. “They were here before Ellis Island. Erik came back, even after he had been… interrogated by Stryker, so I’m thinking he was too busy asking about Cerebro and the school, and not caring about where Magneto used to be. No one in the government knows this place exists, or it wouldn’t be here now.”
“I don’t like it,” said Logan.
“Tough,” said Ororo. “We’re here until we decide what’s next. Should we get down to business, or do I have to give you the tour first?”
“Where’s Peter?” Theresa asked Ororo. “I need to take a quick patrol break.”
“He’s in bed,” Ororo said. “Why, what happened?”
“He did,” Theresa poked her thumb at Parker and left the room. Peter waved shyly.
“And you are?”
“Peter Parker,” Parker said. “This is my wife, Mary Jane, and my daughter, May.”
“Are you mutants?”
“Kinda?” Parker said. “I mean, depending on your definition…”
“He’s a spider something,” Logan said.
“Spider-Man,” Parker said quickly. “It’s Spider-Man. And thanks for blowing my cover, by the way.”
“Get out of town,” Ororo said, perking up. “You’re Spider-Man?”
Parker smiled cockily and poked Logan in the arm. “See, told you someone’s heard of me.”
“I never said they didn’t…”
“It’s just great to meet you,” Ororo said, shaking his hand. “You were a big inspiration for me when I was first starting out with the X-Men. Jean loved you, too.”
“Aw, shucks, little lady,” Parker said, “You’re making me blush. You have anything for me to autograph?”
“Peter…” Mary Jane said, her arms crossed.
Peter cleared his throat and turned back to Ororo. “Maybe later,” he said.
“Business first,” Logan said. “What’s going on around here? And keep it to small words, would ya? This guy’s been talking my ear off all day.”
“Alison’s concert was last night,” Ororo said. “Or two nights ago, I’ve lost track of the time. A few of the students went to the concert. A few mutants and a few anti-mutants got into a brawl, and a riot broke out. The Defenders showed up, and things got worse. Not everyone made it out.”
“Who died?”
“None of ours, as far as we know,” she continued. “But some were taken into custody. Bobby, Kitty, Lucas, Jimmy, and Sam were arrested, and the X-Men are being framed for starting the riot.”
“And we know we didn’t start it?”
“Remy, Theresa, Peter, Cecelia, and Paige all agree that the footage the Defenders have released is doctored. Some thugs and some mutants started the riots, but Project Defender escalated it. We admit that we were involved in some of the collateral damage, but I agree with them that it was done in the best interest of the crowd’s safety.”
“How’d you get from there to here?” Logan asked. “I know Pete and Marie had been here when they were getting Magneto’s kids, but none of us knew the location.”
“Rogue did,” Ororo explained. “She had absorbed Magneto’s memories back at the Statue of Liberty. When she came back from the concert, she was in a bad state. She still has a long way to go, but Franklin helped her clear up some memory issues.”
“Who’s Franklin?”
“Franklin Richards,” said Ororo. “He’s our new resident psychic. Anyway, after that it was simply a matter of her trying to remember the… Logan?”
Logan had turned to Parker, who shared the look of unease on his face.
“Franklin Richards,” Peter mumbled.
“You still have the list?” Logan asked, and Peter reached into his pocket.
“What’s going on?” Ororo asked as Parker handed her the two scraps of paper. “What’s this?”
“Fragments of a list that had been given to Parker by Mystique a few years back,” Logan said. “She pulled it when she was looking for the location of Magneto’s prison and for information on Cerebro.”
“She mentioned a list of names to me before we went to Alkali Lake,” Ororo said. “She said it was fairly complete, with the names of almost every mutant we’ve ever known. We just assumed it was a basis for a registry.”
“It might be,” Parker said. “But it’s the other list that we’re concerned about.”
“What are these?”
“Project code names,” Logan said.
“You’re sure?” Ororo asked Parker. “You’re sure that this name isn’t supposed to be on the other list?”
“Cross my heart,” replied Parker. “I remembered it specifically, it was the only formal name on the list.”
Just then Peter Rasputin arrived to join the group. “I’m going out, Professor,” he said, yawning. “Theresa said she’d swap back out in a half hour.”
“Where’s Franklin?” Ororo asked.
“Oh, hey, Logan,” Rasputin said to Logan, noticing him for the first time, then turned back to Ororo. “He’s asleep, why?”
“Come with me,” she said, storming off. Peter, looking tired and confused, followed behind.
“What’s going on?” Mary Jane asked.
Logan sighed and flipped himself up onto the desk, knocking aside Magneto’s metal balls in the process. “Looks like I’m not the only Weapon X project in the building.”
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