Looking For A New Connection

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

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Chapter 12- Asking Me Lies

-The Xavier Institute

Bayville, New York

"--damn sonuvabitch's gone too far this time"

For the man known as Logan, this morning has obviously not had the best of starts. However, this current obscenity-laced tirade that resulted in the breaking of a coffee mug (Logan's favorite actually) had nothing to do with a recent losing night of poker, but rather could be attributed to the report that the man in question had just seen on one of the morning television news shows.

"Sorry, Charles." Logan now said in response to the none-too-subtle telepathic reminder that he had just received from Professor Xavier, asking him to please try and calm himself. And, for him to remember that there were students' present there in the kitchen with them.

Logan then stood up from the breakfast table, wiping what remained of the coffee that he had just spit out from his lower lip and chin, and continued over towards the small TV in there. He wanted to turn the volume up as the morning's top story was now being repeated, just so that he could listen closely to every single word from the show's anchor-host and make sure that his enhanced hearing hadn't misheard anything that she had said.

"...surprise announcement at this morning's press-conference from Avenger's Mansion, where current team chairperson Janet Van Dyne introduced their newest member to the public.

Who, turned out to be none other than the legendary World War II hero Captain America!

When asked how a man, who was reported as killed in action more than sixty years ago could still be alive and appearing to be as young now as he was in those archival war-time newsreels, it was revealed that he had been unexpectedly discovered in an Arctic region near the coastline of Iceland. Which is where he been left frozen in a natural state of suspended animation since the--"

"Bull--" Logan was just about to say in response to what he was hearing, when he was quickly cut-off by another of Professor Xavier's telepathic nudges.

Professor Xavier then asked Paige, Doreen, and Laura to go ahead and head down to the dining hall to join the other students, who were already gathering in there and where breakfast would be served shortly. Leaving just him, Logan, Hank, and Ororo behind in the kitchen.

"From what you had told me previously, you and this Captain America were very close partners, and friends. I would have thought you overjoyed at hearing the news of his miraculous return?" Professor Xavier said to Logan, who had come back over to his seat.

"I sure as hell would be, if that really was him. But that guy on TV, that ain't Steve Rogers. They're just usin' his memory and some imposter to jerk the public around to get some more support for this new Avengers project, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let Fury and his little super-squad get away with it!!" Logan angrily responded, while sitting and staring at the television screen so intensely that he could've burned a hole right through it.

And his last statement now had Professor Xavier, Ororo, and Hank each envisioning to varying degrees Logan on the news causing a VERY public and violent disturbance out on the front lawn of the recently-formed Avenger's home and headquarters. But right at that moment, Logan paused all movement and turned his attention towards a nearby window when his heightened sense of hearing suddenly detected the sound of approaching helicopters off in the distance.

"Well, well. Looks like X-Mas came early for somebody this year!" Logan sprang back up from his chair and said with, what was for him, a sickeningly huge smile.

It was then followed by a more familiar 'Snikt!' sound that came with the emergence of three razor-sharp adamantium claws, as they unsheathed themselves from out of each of Logan's hands.

And was usually a good indicator that all hell was about to break loose.

As Logan quickly exited the kitchen and headed towards the front door to properly 'welcome' their guests, those left behind finished listening to the remainder of the morning news being replayed in there. Which, was far more troubling for them to hear again.

"...Avenger's press conference this morning, ironically enough, comes on the heels of Governor Creed following through on his election day promise to provide a counter to the state's rapidly expanding super-powered population. Issuing a state executive order creating a new Sentinel civil defense force with the purpose of bolstering a depleted National Guard, the governor further elaborated on the reasoning behind this somewhat controversial decision:

'While our brave men and women are being utilized in a larger role to aid in this nation's global war on terror, the citizens' of this great state can rest-assured that steps have been taken to equally protect them from the spectre of domestic mutant terrorism that has reared its ugly head here back at home. Mutant anarchy, such as that exhibited in Bayville last year following the Matthew's verdict, will not be tolerated! Never again will we sit idly by and be forced to live in fear of being subjected to such lawlessness from these mutant vigilantes, or of a Federal government so unprepared to handle these basic threats to our safety...'"

After hearing these words from Graydon Creed again for, what seemed like, the hundredth time since they were first spoken just a few days ago, Ororo abruptly stood up and was the next to leave the kitchen.

In part, because she could feel herself growing angrier by the second at Creed's dubious attempts to broadly paint all of mutantkind as some kind of menace to society for his own self-serving motives. And she didn't want to wind up inadvertently causing a major weather event due to her current emotional state. But, it really had just as much to do with the fact that Ororo knew on some level that there was a degree of justification for the public to fear mutants, for the very reasons that the staunchly anti-mutant governor had just listed.

And that it was her own nephew, along with the rest of the Morlocks, who were the principal cause of and whom bore a more than fair share of the responsibility for helping to create this entire mess. A fact, which both pained and shamed Ororo to have to admit.

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Meanwhile, Logan had made his way out through the Institute's front doors and now ardently strode across its sizable front lawn towards the SHIELD personnel transport craft that was landing just a few dozen yards ahead of him. And while the sight of 'the Wolverine' heading towards them at a near charging pace with all claws extended would've been enough to unnerve even the most hardened of soldiers, Colonel Nicholas Fury didn't seem to be fazed in the least by it as he stepped off of the descending chopper.

Which shouldn't have been a surprise, since this survivor of wars and countless other engagements all around the world over the last several decades had come here expecting as much. And it was why Fury had decided that it would be better for him to pay his old friend a visit and for them do this out in the open here at Xavier's, rather than wait and give Logan enough time to jump on the first thing smoking aimed at his SHIELD helicarrier.

"I got a bone to pick with you, Fury. So you'll excuse me if we skip the formalities, and jump straight to me carvin' ya out a new asshole!!" Logan said in a low-pitched growl, all the while drawing ever closer to the transport helicopter.

"If I had a dime for every time I heard that, I--'' Fury was coolly saying, when he was quickly cut off.

"--still wouldn't have enough to buy your way outta the ton o' hurt I'm fixing to lay down on ya!" Logan emphatically finished for him.

"Alright, at least give me a chance to explain first. Then we can settle this the hard way, if ya still want?" Fury asked Logan in response, as they met in the clearing not too far away from the helicopter.

Logan stood there for a moment in silence with less than a foot between him and Fury, showing tremendous restraint as he appeared to be seriously weighing his options.

"Fine. But, you got no idea how damn convincing these next words outta your mouth to me better be!" Logan warned, his anger still very much apparent, as he held one set of his claws up and pointed them mere inches away from Fury's face, before retracting them back into his right hand.

"I assume you saw the press conference this morning?" Fury said, albeit as more of a rhetorical conversation starter, as he pulled two cigars from out of the interior pocket of his SHIELD logo-emblazoned leather jacket. He then handed one of the cigars to Logan and struck a match to light the both of them with.

"You're damn-straight! If you think for one minute I'm gonna let you get away with havin' some joker dress up and pretend to be Steve, just so you can parade him around in front of TV cameras for your new super-team, then you not only lost half of your eyesight, you lost what little mind you got left Nick!!" Logan took the cigar, and then got right to the point and remarked.

"It's not an imposter, Logan. That really is Captain America...er, Steve Rogers." Fury promptly revealed.

"He's movin' around pretty good for a guy who was terminal before he got put on ice. What, you just all of a sudden came up with a miracle cure for him?" Logam sarcastically queried.

But Nick Fury didn't respond, at least not immediately. Instead, he took a deep puff from his cigar and paused, before continuing with his explanation.

"Logan, there's something you need to know. That guy we've had in cryo-stasis, it's Captain America. But, it never was Steve in there." Fury revealed to Logan, and got the next reaction that he had been expecting from him.

"What the HELL do ya mean, it was never Steve in there!!" Logan angrily yelled, loud enough that he could be heard all of the way back inside of the mansion.

"As best as I've been able to figure out, he was just one in a long list of guys who went through the Rebirth process. And, managed to last long enough to stand in as a limited replacement for Cap at the end of World War II." Fury further explained, but was only raising more questions than he was answering for Logan.

"Replacement? Nick, you're not makin' a damn bit of sense!" Logan said, who by now was growing more and more flustered by the minute at what he was hearing.

"You really don't remember, do you? Our last mission together, when we finally raided Kleiser's strong-hold? That rocket explodin' out over sea with Rogers on it..." Fury said, once again for rhetorical effect since he already new the answer, which Logan's lack of response only helped to confirm, "After they thought he'd been killed, there were several attempts to replicate the process that originally created Captain America. But, since the guy responsible for inventing the super-soldier process in the first place had been killed right after putting Steve through it, his successors were forced to work from whatever notes of his that they'd been able to cobble together, and it showed. The reconstituted serum formula proved unstable, and when exposed to the vitalization rays inside of the Rebirth chamber, it caused a rapid and massive cellular breakdown in test subjects. But, you already know about all o' that."

"No, I feel like I know less and less by the damn minute!" Logan said, now frustrated more than anything, "We known each other, what, how many years now? How could keep somethin' like this from me?"

"Trust me Logan, it wasn't easy for me. But, with the way you've been holdin' on so damn hard to those implanted memories of you and Cap in action together at the end, it was like you'd at least gotten some sorta closure from it all. And I didn't know how to break the truth to you, so I didn't." Fury replied with a trail of smoke from his lips to accompany his words, "Besides, it's not like I ever imagined in a million years that Rogers'd come back from the dead like this."

"It was still downright shitty of you to do." Logan pointed out, his previously seething anger now morphing into a steely realization of the situation.

"Makin' the tough and shitty decisions is pretty much where I live, day in and day out Logan." Fury responded.

"Yeah, and that's got me wonderin' now about what the hell else you been holdin' out on me with? For my own good, of course." Logan scornfully said, speculating on what other secrets were being kept from him.

And on that note, Colonel Fury remained conspicuously silent. Instead he made a brief and simple hand gesture, and was immediately given a forest green folder from one of his agents' standing silently close by.

"Here, consider this a peace offerin'. My way of sayin' I'm sorry." Fury said, as he took the folder and then handed it to Logan. Which, Logan promptly opened up.

Inside of this dossier were several pages of field reports submitted directly to Fury by his SHIELD agents’ that were operating from within the tiny island nation of Madripoor. It documented their findings regarding a ring of criminal activity in the broader Pacific region, which they had tracked back to Madripoor as the chief originating point.

As Logan skimmed through page after page detailing the progress of their investigation as they slowly infiltrated their way into this shadowy organization, he was just about to give the folder back to Fury and ask him why the hell he was wasting his time with this, when a surveillance photo paper-clipped to one of the subsequent pages caught his attention.

And caused his jaw to drop for the second time this morning.

"Madame Hydra..." Logan said with something of a gasp at his instant recognition of this individual in the picture, despite the her now longer hair and the dark-colored shades that she was wearing.

"Figured you'd find that of interest. It just came across my desk this morning." Fury replied.

"What, she also managed to miraculously come back from the dead? I was there with you when she went down in flames with that HYDRA mothership." Logan suspiciously remarked while continuing to study the photo, "Or, you gonna try and convince me my memories're playin' tricks on me there too?"

"Wouldn't dream of it. But, you do raise an interesting point, about memories 'n all. Seems I remember 'someone' tellin' me that X-23 had died in that crash too? Guess that same someone must've just been mistaken?" Fury came over close to Logan again and reminded him, staring eye to eyes with him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Logan gruffly postured.

"Now who's playin' games with who?" Fury smirkingly asked his old friend, "I've known about her living here for a while now."

"I'm surprised you didn't send your boys' in here to try and get her." Logan replied.

"Why would I do that? She's right where I want her to be." Fury said, his smile still present, "Turn that page, I think there's some more in there that you'll want to see."

Which Logan did, and was greeted by yet another high-quality digital still of a familiar face in this file folder.

"Madame Hydra, who now goes under the new alias of Viper since hooking herself up with an outfit calling itself the Serpent Society, went out and got herself some top underworld muscle to back her up." Fury continued, "The fella in that picture, who we believe she helped to bust outta prison recently and's been working as her private bodyguard and overseein' their entire smuggling operation, amongst other things, has been positively ID'd as Keniuchio Harada. But you probably know him better as--"

"The Silver Samurai!" Logan finished for him, as he grimly read through the remaining documents, and contemplated the inevitable course of action about to arise from what he'd just learned.

"I kinda figured you'd recognize him." Fury now said, as Logan handed him the dossier folder back, "Way I understand it, you two have something of a history together. Says in there he's the brother of Mariko Yashida, who was at one-time a resident of this Institute, and an old girlfriend of yours."

"Girlfriend? 'fraid you got your wires a bit crossed there, Nicky. Things aren't quite like that between us." Logan replied, and was the one who was smirking now for a couple of reasons.

"Not according to a report filed from our operatives in Tokyo a few months back. In it, you and Ms. Yashida were observed leaving the scene of a disturbance at a local bar together, and in rather cozy fashion. A disturbance, which I'm sure you had a healthy hand in startin'." Fury said.

"Hate to break it to you, but it sounds like you guys got fed some bad intel all around about that whole incident. But comin' from one o' your agents, I'm sure you've gotten more than used to that by now?" Logan said with an even larger smile, but one that would quickly fade, "Tell me, why'd you come and lay all of this on me to run off and take care of, now of all times. Right now, I gotta house full of kids back there wonderin' whether their teacher's gonna live to see another day? And wonderin' the same thing about themselves, worried that Sentinels're about to come bustin' through our front door."

"I haven't told you to run off and do anything. All I did was pass along some info I thought you'd want to know about." Fury responded.

"C’mon, you knew exactly what you were doing. Just like you knew I'd come lookin' for you when I found out about Cap, you knew she'd head straight for Madame Hydra once she heard about this. And, that I'd be along for the ride to watch her back." Logan said with a nod directed back over his right shoulder, gesturing towards one of the many large and aged trees that surrounded the Institute.

Where, Logan was well aware that Laura had been perched up on one of its branches and eavesdropping on their entire conversation, after secretly following him outside. Just so she could keep an eye on things, and make sure that Logan was okay.

"Somethin' else just occurred to me. You need us to do your dirty work for you in this case, since your hands're tied up in all kindsa political and jurisdiction red-tape when it comes to you officially makin' any major moves in Madripoor. Else, you woulda already sent one of your SHIELD special-ops squads in on this.” Logan perceptively pointed out, “Or better yet, turn loose that new super-team of yours over there that you've had such a hard-on all these years to have workin' for you."

"And here I thought all this time it was those little blue pills I been takin' doin' that for me?" Fury sarcastically replied to Logan’s remark.

Then a moment of silence and seriousness crept in between the pair.

"Logan, I need to know if the two of you are in or out on this job, before I start callin' up some o’ my less preferable contingency options?" Fury asked point-blank, acknowledging that Logan had been correct in his assertions, "Although, I'm pretty sure I know what one of your answers is gonna be, despite what you might say."

Fury' comment was followed by another silent pause, as Logan appeared to be seriously considering his ultimate response.

"Give us five minutes to get our gear together, and we'll be airborne out of here with you." Logan told Fury, albeit with some internally held reservations about this.

"I'll make arrangements en route for your transport into Madripoor. It'll be ready to depart as soon as the two of you are in place." Fury said, as he turned around and made a gesture to another of his agents, who immediately opened a communication line via the advanced technology built into his equipment to relay the Director’s instructions.

"Fine. But we're making a pit stop along the way." Logan now told Fury.

"Okay, where at?” Fury curiously asked.

"Wherever an old friend of mine I ain't seen in over sixty years is. We got us quite a bit of catchin’ up to do." Logan clarified, wearing a smile now that was, for the first time this morning, the result of him feeling genuinely happy for a change.

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A/N: Logan and Laura's adventure to be continued in a new upcoming fic entitled Ride...

Next chapter: The Queen is Dead...The Queen is Dead...The Queen is Dead...