Logan lab
It had been a full year. I woke up slowly, the passage of time feeling like a single, long breath. My eyes adjusted to the dim clinical lights of the chamber before I reached out and pressed the release button. The green-tinted healing solution began to drain, swirling away as the internal pumps hummed to life. With a heavy hiss of pressurized air, the door slid open, and I stepped out.
"Thank you, Owayodata." I felt something brush against my head. As I walked, I opened my pocket dimension and let the nanites crawl all over my body to make new clothes.
I pulled my phone out from the pocket dimension. I needed to make a call, and the first person I dialed was Emma, I had to know if everyone was okay. I pressed call.
I waited until the call connected. Once I heard the line pick up, I simply said, "Emma."
The response was immediate. This is the first time i heard people talking to me at once than I had ever experienced, second only to the time I spent with my Master.
"You fucking prick, how dare you?" she erupted. "You dare go fight something like that and then crawl into your lab like a worm? And now what? You want to say you're okay now? Then what? Will you go fight another powerful being again?"
She kept going for almost five minutes. I let her rant, but I held the phone far away from my ear.
"Emma, Emma, hey it's okay," I said lightly. "As long as you guys are safe, I have no problem."
"What were you doing, fighting that guy? You think you're tough now?"
It wasn't that Emma really wanted to be angry, she just had a good life now. When the person who gave her that life goes out and fights something like Apocalypse, of course she's going to lose her mind. She thought that day was the scariest she had felt in her entire life, a fear she had never felt before, not even with her father.
Did you guys think about how she knew? A cameraman actually filmed the scene from afar. While the picture isn't very clear, she would know those claws any day.
She ended up telling everyone on the board. They actually came to my lab once, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone came inside. They had never set foot in here before. It's not that they aren't allowed, it's just that this lab is the only place where I can work without being disturbed. They can meet me outside or anytime they want, so why bother coming in here when they could just see me elsewhere?.
When they saw me in my healing chamber, unconscious, they were terrified for my life. In that moment, they finally understood: just because I was here protecting them didn't mean threats wouldn't come from the outside. With someone as powerful as Apocalypse, it wasn't a question of how, it was only a question of when.
"Okay, Emma. Let's meet at the gathering in the hall tomorrow. Bring food," I said, trying to release the tension.
"Okay, James. Tomorrow," she said, and then she just hung up. She had many things to do.
Then I called the second person, honestly, I hated myself for it. I took a breath and pressed the call button for Peggy.
"This is Carter," I heard that familiar voice answer.
"Peggy, it's me," I said.
And then I heard the same rant all over again. I honestly think my ear might have started dripping blood just now. This was only two people, if it were ten, I think I might actually go deaf.
"Okay, okay, Peggy, when are you going to retire?" I asked, changing the subject.
"Maybe in a few years, once I find a new director and get everything settled. Why do you ask?" Peggy was curious.
"You remember the thing I promised you?" I asked. She knew exactly what I meant.
"You were actually successful, James?" She sounded shocked, her voice suddenly energized.
"Yes, I was. Retire and come here. I've set up a house for you right next to mine," I offered.
"I'll take that offer, James. I'm tired," Peggy admitted. She started telling me about how everything had been going, and we talked for an hour before promising to meet in a year or two when she officially retires.
I exhaled, exhausted. I just wanted to sleep today.
****
A day later, I headed to Charles's school. While Charles had taken precautions once he knew about Apocalypse, that monster was still far stronger than him. He and his students had nearly died that day.
I wanted to check on Alex, but I also had a plan: I needed to bring Darwin, Sean, Angel, and Azazel to Charles and let him handle that whole situation. Genius, isn't it? I grinned.
I'm sure he'll be shocked, but I don't think I want to explain myself to him.
As I brought the "sleeping beauties" out from my lab, I used my Chi to lift them and wake them up. Azazel was the fastest come to conciousness. When he tried to move and found he couldn't, he looked at me. He didn't even know who I was, but I held him fast, not letting him teleport.
While Darwin, Sean, and Angel started to adjust to the light, looking up, down, left, and right, Angel's eyes landed on Darwin. She was completely shocked. She had been there when he was killed, after all, but now he seemed to be alive and well.
But Sean was different. He was the one who actually grasped what was going on. He knew he was supposed to be dead, yet here he was, alive and well.
Sean wasn't the blockhead the movies made him out to be; he was actually quite sharp. The moment his eyes landed on Darwin, the pieces clicked into place. He realized exactly what I had done, that I had pulled them back from the brink.
"Thank you, sir," Sean said.
I gave him a small smile. I didn't have the energy or the desire to explain the details to the others while they were still flopping around like fish out of water, trying to make sense of the world. Instead, I simply opened a portal directly into Charles's house, stepping through and arriving instantly in his main hallway.
Before I even faced Charles, I reached out and gently erased the location of my lab from their memories. I didn't need anyone, not even the people I just saved knowing exactly where I did my work.
As I walked down the hallway with four saved and recued mutants in tow, the students couldn't help but stare. They remembered me from the time I helped heal Alex Summers, but seeing me march through their school with a group of strangers, including a man who looked suspiciously like a demon, was another level of strange.
"Delivery!" I shouted, kicking open the door to Charles Xavier's office.
Charles looked like he had seen a ghost. Actually, he was looking at four of them. Every person I had brought with me was supposed to be dead. Even with his telepathy and his glimpses of the future, he had never seen a timeline where these specific people survived.
He just sat there, frozen behind his desk, his mind probably racing through a thousand impossible explanations.
I knew exactly what was racing through his head, but I cut him off before he could start the interrogation.
"They didn't die," I said flatly. "I replaced their bodies with lifelike duplicates and laced the dummy bodies with their DNA. That's why the 'corpses' looked real. That's how I saved them."
That was it. That was all the explanation he was going to get from me.
I dropped the four mutants off in the middle of his office and turned on my heel.
"Ciao," I said over my shoulder, i open a portal and disappear.
****
X-mansion
Charles watched the four of them for a long moment, his gaze finally settling on Azazel with a look of dry disbelief.
"Erik wasn't here, so you need to make do with us for now," Charles began, his voice weary but steady. "While I don't know the specifics of how James managed to save you, it's clear he has been healing all of you for a very long time. Especially you, Darwin, by every law of nature, you should have died that day. Yet, here you are. Alive."
He paused, the scientist in him already overriding the shock. "We'll need to run some tests. We need to see if your biology has changed, or if James did anything while you were under his care."
While Charles and the four mutants walked down the hall, they ran into a wall of familiar faces. Hank McCoy, Raven, and Alex all came to a dead stop, standing directly in front of Sean and darwin. They were gawking at both as if he were a ghost which, to them, they was.
Raven, in particular, was overcome. She had seen the cold, clinical lab reports on Sean's "death" in Bolivar Trask's office a long time ago. Seeing him standing there, breathing and solid, broke through her tough exterior and she began to cry.
"What? How is this even possible?" Alex asked, his voice cracking with confusion.
Sean just gave them a tired, knowing smirk. "Your teacher saved us all," he replied simply, while james did teach him as well, but not extensively as alex.
The tension finally snapped. They surged forward, pulling each other into a massive, breathless hug, finally letting out the grief they had been carrying for years.
****
Logan pov
I was back at home, taking a moment to breathe before the night's meeting. Tonight wasn't just about the board, it was about the family. Lily, Robin, Jason, and so many of the original group were ready to step back. They've earned the right to go behind the scenes, just like me, to live their lives however they want without a target on their backs.
They're aging slowly now, but the public has already started whispering. They were already showing their age when I gave them the serum to slow the process down, and now, at almost eighty years old, they still look like they're in their prime or slightly seasoned. It's time. It's time for them to let the next generation take the lead. Even their own children are already in their 40s and 50s, ready to carry the weight.
While the politics of the outside world was messy, things here were different. Robin had been paving the way for years, and now his son has already become the mayor of this town.
When outsiders come in trying to compete for office, the locals don't even bother showing up to their speeches. Why would they? They've lived here for years and seen nothing but progress. Their lives have consistently improved under our watch, so they have no reason to listen to a stranger's promises. Still, we never get complacent, we stay on standby, just in case something tries to disrupt this peace.
When the meeting started, I stood before them and kept it simple. I told them I was proud of them, and that their parents would have been proud of them, too.
A heavy silence followed, but it was the good kind. For everyone in that hall, from the veterans who had been with me since the beginning to the "kids" now running the town, those few words were enough. They didn't need medals or public parades, they just needed to know that the man who saw everything acknowledged their sacrifice.
I told them that I still care about this world, that I care about all of them. I told them I was still protecting the world for their sake, and that I truly enjoyed looking after them.
When I said that, the room shifted. Some of them actually started to cry. These were people who had spent decades being the shield for others, and hearing that someone was still the shield for them was more than they could handle.
They have been at the forefront of the company long enough, now, it's time for them to move behind the scenes.
It was a quiet conclusion to an era. These people were the face of the organization when the world was at its most chaotic. They took the hits, navigated the politics, and built the foundation. Moving them to the "background" doesn't mean they are useles, it means they've become the foundation itself, supporting the structure without having to stand in the spotlight.
****
I sat in my house, the silence a heavy contrast to the noise of the last few days. I lit a cigar and cracked open a beer, just watching the smoke curl toward the ceiling.
I knew that after today, everything had changed. The timeline I once knew was gone, replaced by an amalgam, a collision of the Mutant and Avengers worlds. It was uncharted territory, a future even my memories couldn't predict.
While I was lost in thought, I heard the door open. It was Emma. She didn't say a word, didn't ask for an explanation, and didn't start a new rant. She just walked straight up to me and kissed me.
Well... everything after that was omitted.
After that, Emma and I became a real thing. It had been so long since I'd been with anyone, I had been so hyper-focused on surviving that I hadn't actually let myself love anyone until today. I realized I liked her, a lot. She was beautiful after all, I mean, who wouldn't fall for her?
The next morning, I kept things simple and cooked us a breakfast of sausages and eggs, paired with some fresh orange juice. As we ate, I asked her about the hotel.
She told me that the place had become the most luxurious hotel in the world, so much so that it was officially recognized as the world's first seven-star hotel. That rating alone tells you everything about the sheer amount of effort we put into it. It's become a sanctuary for the kids, they go there whenever they need to decompress and let loose, and of course, they get everything for free.
While we talked, I asked her if she had any friends she wanted to bring to the hotel. She told me she didn't really have anyone outside of the people in this town, who had basically become her family. Aside from me and her brother, she didn't actually like to mingle with other people.
I told her she should just bring her brother to live here at her house. While things were moving fast, I pointed out that it made sense for them to be together. After all, with the way we're aging now, "getting old" is going to take a very long time for them, and they might as well spend that time with family.
She agreed, and we spent the rest of the day tucked away inside the house. We didn't feel the need to go anywhere or do anything grand. We just stayed there, cuddling and relaxing, letting the world outside wait for a while.
****
Next morning.
Do you remember how I was trying to make my arsenal steel-proof? Well, that plan is out the window now. When something that good is handed to you on a silver platter, you'd be stupid not to take it. Thanks to the hard work of my friend, William Stryker, I'm even stronger now. Thank you, Stryker, your help won't be forgotten.
Well, I lost the chance to meet Steve and Baby Stark, but at least this timeline is still intact. I'd been wondering if Steve went back in time in this reality or another, so I went to check on Peggy. She was home alone, while she isn't as sad as she was forty years ago, she's still holding onto hope. Part of that is thanks to my serum, which ensures she'll live past a hundred, and the other part is the hope that they'll eventually find Steve in the ice. She's had a few relationships here and there, but nothing lasts when there's another man living in your head.
I'll just push those thoughts to the back of my mind, it's not like they were that important anyway. You might be wondering why William Stryker or anyone else who can detect mutants hasn't come to Houston. Well, that's thanks to yours truly. I've placed a barrier around the city: a Sanguine Codex suppressor that prevents any mutant signals from leaking out. And yes, as an extra precaution, I gave Emma a tattoo that suppresses her mutation as well.
It doesn't actually suppress their powers. To put it simply: everyone wonders how mutants are detected in the first place, and that's where it gets fascinating. Mutants emit a type of radiation that's different from normal humans. Because their genes are 'awake,' they're like lightbulbs in a dark room. That's why some geniuses were able to build devices to detect that specific radiation.
specific genetic marker called the X-Gene (specifically the Exon-24 region of the 24th chromosome).
Today, I'm going to do something extra: I want to build an underground community for the Morlocks. At the very least, they'll be able to live normal lives down there. Even though Emma is with me and the Hellfire Club hasn't existed since the '70s, there are still supervillains out there who are smarter than the rest. Who knows what kind of clones might pop up next?
I made my way to the back of my mountain, where it's nothing but forest. I'm thinking about building a wildlife recreation park there. I'll need to get a permit for it, mostly because I don't want anyone wandering in and stumbling upon the mutants or the Morlock society. Since they'll be living underground, I might go overboard with the scale, I want to give them enough height and space to build an actual city down there.
As I was monologuing in my head and using my Codex to construct the underground city, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and realized I didn't recognize the number. 'Who could this be?' I thought. I took a breath and picked up.
"This is James," I answered. I was curious, how could someone call me when no one even knows I exist? If it were a family member or Emma, their names would have shown up on the screen. This was something else entirely.
On the other end of the line was Moira MacTaggert. She had actually managed to find me after searching extensively and I mean very extensively. She couldn't quite place where she'd seen me before, until she remembered seeing me back in school, I had been part of Steve Rogers' entourage during the war. That's how she knew who I was. Knowing that Peggy Carter is still alive through her CIA connections, she asked Peggy to help her get in touch with me.
"This is Moira MacTaggert. Can we speak for a moment, Mr. Howlett?" She sounded like she knew everything. I suppose CIA agents tend to act that way once they get their hands on a little bit of leverage.
I smiled at that. Did this girl really think she could intimidate me? "Yes, you're that little girl who was with Charles," I said with a smirk. "What can I do for you?"
And there goes the secret. If she knows, her boss knows. If her boss knows, everyone knows. And once everyone knows, it's only a matter of time before Hydra knows. I have no idea why Peggy gave her my number, but she must have had a reason.
Howard didn't even know my number. The only person in the outside world who had it was Peggy.
Moira thought she was in control, but once she heard what I said, her confidence faltered. She needs to steel herself now, or she'll be too afraid to speak. It's time for her to make her intentions known.
"Mr. Howlett, can you come to CIA headquarters and meet with my superior?" Even as she said it, she must have realized how absurd the request sounded. When she first reported her findings, her superiors probably thought she'd lost her mind. But she's curious to her core. When someone as powerful as I am has walked the earth for this long and alongside Steve Rogers, to boot, it's enough to make even someone like her feel afraid.
"Did you lose something?" I asked. She'd seen what I was capable of, yet she was asking me to go to her headquarters and talk with her superior. "You know how absurd that sounds, right?"
At this point, Moira was probably regretting that she had called me. She doesn't even know yet that she's a mutant, maybe in the future, her X-gene will awaken. But even though she can reset the timeline itself, our starting points are so different that even if she finds me, I wouldn't kill her. I'd probably just put her in stasis letting her live in there forever without ever coming out or truly dying.
I might actually need to meet her, if only to place a spell on her soul. That way, every time she dies and resets, my memories will travel back in time hand-in-hand with hers. Maybe in this timeline she won't awakened her mutant powers, but as they say, precaution is the best defense.
"Well, we actually want to know if you could be of assistance to the CIA. We could use some help from someone like you." She really needs to get her story straight. Someone as powerful as James Howlett isn't a plaything for ordinary people like her. If she blunders and her lies fall apart, Moira MacTaggert might not live to see tomorrow.
The spunk on this girl is starting to make me see her in a new light. "Okay, little girl," I said to her. "Let me hear about this 'help' you need from me so badly."
She exhaled sharply. "Sir, there are mutants out there as powerful as En Sabah Nur. If something like that happens tomorrow, we don't know what we'd do. If they can laugh off a nuclear strike, we'd be helpless." Her voice sounded much more respectful now, she was truly scared. She'd heard me call her 'little girl' from the start, and while that might have rubbed her the wrong way, I'd earned the right to say it. Given how long I've lived and how strong I am, everyone is a child to me.
I was curious now. Based on the way she talked, she clearly didn't know that her organization was responsible for the mass killing of mutants in the '60s. How many mutants had been experimented on from that day until now? I said to her, "Girl, I think you really don't know anything, do you?"
Moira was stunned. She clearly hadn't expected a reply like that. It was as if I were making a formal statement against her entire life's work. "What do you mean, sir?" she asked, her curiosity finally outweighing her fear.
"Where do you think the word mutant came from?" I didn't wait for her reply. "You guys in the CIA were the ones who gave us humans with extra abilities that name. And why do you think, even now, there aren't as many mutants as other humans? Aren't you curious about that? You were there at the Cuban Missile Crisis, you saw how many of us were there. Where are those people now? Didn't you ever ask that question? You didn't actually believe they all just went on vacation, did you?" My voice was flat, cold as ice.
"Stop playing with things you don't understand, Miss MacTaggert. If you had come to me asking for a favor to help others, I might have considered it. But given the history of your organization, did you really think I'd go out of my way to help you people? That's why I said you sounded absurd, little girl." I didn't wait for a reply. I simply pressed 'end,' slid the phone back into my pocket, and returned to my work, digging and compacting the earth for the city below.
****
Moira Mactaggert pov
"Tutttt... tutttt..." The rhythmic drone of the dial tone was the only sound in the room. Moira stared at the receiver for a long time before slowly lowering it back into its cradle. Her perspective had shifted, the polished floors and "patriotic" mission of the CIA suddenly felt cold and hollow.
She realized then that she had missed the most vital question. In her haste to recruit a legend, she'd ignored the obvious: If the world was teeming with mutants in 1962, where did they all go? Where were the people who stood with Charles and Erik?.
Moira knew, deep down, that the idea of Charles and Erik's followers simply "going on vacation" was more absurd than her request to me. In her defense, she had clung to the old files, the ones showing James Howlett in uniform with Captain America. She had hoped that the man who fought for the country then would want to protect it now.
But as she sat there in the silence of her office, she realized just how misplaced her confidence had been. Asking for help wasn't just a mistake, it was a farce. She was beginning to understand that the world was far more dangerous, and its history far bloodier, than any CIA briefing had ever dared to admit.
Moira was certain of it now. The 1962 mission had been greenlit by her own organization, and she had been the point of contact for the mutants during the crisis. She had seen so many of them there. While she had forgotten those details when Charles erased her memories, everything had come rushing back once he restored them.
Yet, she hadn't stopped to ask the most obvious question: where did they go? She had been too fixated on James Howlett's staggering display of power when he fought Apocalypse. In her awe of the "man who doesn't exist," she had completely overlooked the disappearance of the people she once stood beside.
After some time spent digging discreetly into the files, Moira's investigation finally alarmed the top brass at the CIA. When the order came down for her to stop accompanied by a silent, deadly threat, the blood drained from her face. She finally saw the truth: she had personally sent a child to an experimentation table.
Her body shook so violently that she couldn't stop the tears. Her mind was so badly rattled that Charles Xavier felt the psychic shockwave from miles away. Realizing she was in immediate danger from her own mind, he could feel her psyc was breaking, he didn't hesitate, he sent Nightcrawler to pull her out from the CIA headquaters.
Charles realized that if he left her to deal with this on her own, her mind wouldn't be able to compute the horror. The psychological weight was too much, without his intervention, she might descend into madness. He had to be the anchor and let her son calm her to make sure that kept her from drifting into a complete mental breakdown.
When she arrived at the school, Charles could see that her mind was completely shattered. He immediately used his power to project a wave of calm over her, easing the sharpest edges of her panic.
"Moira, what happened? Why are you so rattled?" Charles asked gently.
Though he could have simply plucked the answers from her thoughts, he made it a point never to use his powers when he could simply ask. He sat there in his chair, now completely bald, looking at her with a patient, heavy concern that only a man who has seen too much could possess.
"Charles... Charles, they killed them. They killed the kids," she sobbed, unable to stem the flood of tears. She thought of her own son waiting for her at home, to her, the mere idea of hurting him was unthinkable. Yet, she had just discovered that there were people, people she worked with, who wouldn't even blink while dissecting a child. The weight of her complicity was crushing her.
Charles understood everything now. She was talking about the countless mutants who had been abducted and handed over to the labs. Recognizing the immediate danger to Moira's family, he turned to Nightcrawler once more and instructed him to bring her son to the school. To ensure the transition was quiet, Charles reached out with his mind and gently nudged the nanny at Moira's house into a deep, peaceful sleep, ensuring she wouldn't be frightened or remember the blue teleporter taking the boy.
When she saw her son arrive, Moira ran to him and threw her arms around him, sobbing as if her heart were breaking. She couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that people in power, people she knew, could do something so heinous to a child. Her cries echoed through Charles's office while he and Kurt stood by in silence, watching her grief pour out. Though her son didn't fully understand, he simply held her tight. Both Charles and Kurt could feel the raw, overwhelming waves of sadness radiating from her.
After some time, she finally cried herself to sleep. Her mind was utterly spent, exhausted by a world that seemed unable to differentiate between a human being and a monster. As she drifted off in the safety of the mansion, the lines between her duty to her country and her duty to her conscience had finally, violently, blurred into one.
While Moira's son sat quietly beside her as she slept, the rest of the original team gathered in the hallway. Raven, Hank, Alex, Sean, and Angel all watched the scene with growing unease. They had never seen her this rattled, and though they knew something horrific must have happened, they didn't push Charles for answers, not yet.
Azazel was on his own now. He never could see eye-to-eye with Charles, the Professor's idealism was like a foreign language to him. He was likely with Erik now, or perhaps carving out his own path. After all, a man like Azazel doesn't stay in one place for long unless there is a war worth fighting.
Later that evening.
"Charles, what happened?" Raven asked, her voice echoing the curiosity of everyone else in the room.
Charles sighed, his shoulders slumping as he continued to look out at the lawn. "She found out that her organization was killing children. Mutant children. It triggered her motherly instincts."
He didn't need to explain any further. The room went cold. Everyone standing there Raven, Hank, Alex, Sean, and Angel, understood exactly what those words implied. The "disappearances" weren't accidents, and the CIA has hand in it.
to be continued -