Professional Documents
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PART 1
CHAPTER 1
“My name is Veronica House. But everyone calls me ʻRonʼ or ʻRonnieʼ. I am
a mutant. A neko (a neko is part cat part person). From England. From a secrete
world where mutants live. A peaceful world. Everyone gets along with one
another. No crime. No rage or anger at anyone. No humans. Thatʼs right. No
humans live in the world I lived in. We mutants donʼt get along with you Homo
Sapiens. Why? Because some humans hate and fear us even though some of us
try to help you humans. Humans try and kill us every chance they get. Mutant
hatred is worse in England than in any part of the world. Thatʼs why we live in a
world of our own. With no humans around at all. We live normal lives like you.
We have schools, everyday jobs. You name it, we got it. But the only difference is
that we are mutants. Some mutants donʼt understand why humans donʼt like us.
It is because we were all born different. Because we are not what you call
ʻnormalʼ. But we are. We are just mutated people.
“But humans donʼt believe that. the human adults donʼt want us to go to
school with their children. Thatʼs in the United States. In England human adults
donʼt even want us mutants to look at their children. We wouldnʼt, of course, do
anything to them. Teenaged mutants and humans somewhat get along. They
both hate and like us. Itʼs weird, actually. Very strange. Very, very, strange.
Younger mutants and humans donʼt understand. Adult mutants and humans donʼt
bother with one another. Every night three young adult mutants and three young
adult humans sneak out and meet at Hyde Park. Iʼm one of those three young
adult mutants. The other two mutantsʼ names are Alfred and Bruce Walton.
Theyʼre both twins. They are my foster brothers. The humansʼ names are
Jonathan, William, and Charles Dawes. They are triplets. We are all the same
age. How cool is that!? Our parents, of course, donʼt know about our meetings.
And itʼs going to stay that way. Until we get caught. Which will never ever
happen. Never.
“But what if the humans turn on me and the twins? Will that ever happen?
No, that wouldnʼt happen. We are too good of friends. Tonight me, the twins, and
triplets are going to sneak out and, as always, meet in Hyde Park.”
Weapon X Program
25 years ago:
Ronʼs mother held her baby close to her. Her baby was going to be one in a
few days. Ron could talk well and loved running. Ronʼs mum looked through the
window at Wolverine. He had come back unconscious and was laying on an
examination table, wires covered his suited chest. His chest was covered with
bullet holes that were healing. Thatʼs what the doctors were doing. Monitoring
how fast his healing factor worked. Logan was coming to and the doctors in there
dragged him over to what looked like an electric chair. But it was no electric chair.
The head piece was used to erase Loganʼs memory of what they would do to him
after his “missions”. But they wouldnʼt erase the memory of Ron. Ron was like a
daughter to Logan and because Ronʼs mother said not to. Heʼd care for her while
Ronʼs mother was working. They strapped him to the chair. They worked quickly.
By the time he realized what was going on, he had no memory of what just
happened. They had him unstrapped as Ronʼs mother went into the lab.
“How are you feeling, Agent Logan?” Ronʼs mother asked, putting her hand
on his shoulder.
Ron and her brothers finished dinner. Mrs. Walton had cooked it. She was a very
good cook. Mr. Walton was a business man. Mr. and Mrs. Walton had found Ron
when she was fifteen wandering the streets of the human world. She was
wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, shorts, hightop Converse, a Boston Redsox
cap on backwards, and a backpack at the time. They knew she was a mutant
because they just knew. Ron has stayed with the Waltons for five years so far.
Only because they wouldnʼt let her leave. They said it was too dangerous for her
to be out on her own. She stayed with them that long because she needed to
keep track of where she had been so she wouldnʼt double back. She went all
over the world looking for Logan.
Ron had a big world map on her wall. She had crossed out where she had been.
She had been to Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, South America, parts of North
America, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It was time for her to leave for
the United States and smell him out. She had a belt buckle that belonged to
Logan. She smelled his scent on it. The aroma on it was still strong. She took the
belt buckle everywhere she went. It was just about the only thing Ron had left of
him. She also had a photograph of Logan and her. It was taken 25 years ago
when she was five. Before her powers. Before Loganʼs claws and skeleton.
Before the time she would never see him again.
Ron planned to leave in a few days, but she didnʼt know how she would.
She could run away in the night or she could tell the Waltons, but they wouldnʼt
want her to leave. But what could they do? Ron wasnʼt a child anymore. She was
grown up. She could do what ever she wanted. But she did live in their house.
Under their rules. She would also have to tell the mutants. Sheʼd tell the twins
instead, but theyʼd want to go with her. Itʼd be fun to have them go. Sheʼd want
company on her journey. Ron went to her brothersʼ room and went inside. They
She growled as a tall, strong human man approached her. Her brothers were
gone. The man had a large beer bottle. Ron had one claw on each hand. He ran
at her swinging the bottle. She retracted her claws, grabbed him, and slammed
him against a wall, her claw in her right hand emerged under the tall manʼs chin.
Ron was only five inches shorter than him. She said, “Donʼt attack me or you will
be dead, you worthless sack of meat!”
He nodded.
Ron released her grip and let the man go.
“That goes for the rest of you lot!” Ronʼs claw retracted and she left the bar.
Ron had turned around after walking two blocks to she if she was being
followed. No one from the bar followed Ron. Theyʼre smart not to follow her or
else theyʼd be dead in a heartbeat. Literally. Ron sniffed the air and followed her
brothersʼ scent down the block. She found them in an alley. She ran over to
them. She said, “What the hell happened back there?”
“I dunno,” Alfred said. “My teleportation powers have gone bonkers! This
has never happened before.”
“Nor with me,” Bruce said.
“With it work now?” Ron asked. “We canʼt stay here after what happened
back in that bar.”
“It might work,” Alfred said.
“Well then try it--” she stopped. She sniffed the air. “The cops from the bar
are following us. We need to leave now!”
“How far are they?” Bruce asked.
“That bar is only two blocks away,” Ron said. “They could be here any
minute.”
“Alright,” Bruce said, “grab my hands. Iʼll get us to New York.”
They did what he said and the teleported just as the police went by. They
made it to New York, but something went wrong. Bruce teleported them right in
the sky and they were falling, screaming, and headed straight for the ground
where cars were flooding the road. Bruce and Alfredʼs teleportation power were
going bonkers again. They were high enough that the cars almost looked like
toys. They were falling beside the Empire State building. Ron yelled to her
brothers, “Grab onto me!”
The did as ordered and Ron released her claws and drove them into the
building, trying to stop them from falling. They were going too fast. She put her
heels against it and they were starting to slow down. People below watch in awe
Weapon X Program
20 years ago:
Ronʼs mother had died two years ago from liver failure. Ron was now five. Logan
was the only family she had. He had taken care of her, but that may not ever
happen again. She had witness what the program did to Logan. Watched them
infused Adamantium into his skeleton. Saw his newfound claws. Watched him get
two Adamantium bullets to the fore head. Stryker walked away, not knowing what
Ron had seen. Once Stryker was gone, Ron ran over to Logan. The holes in his
forehead were healing and he got up. He said, “Where am I?”
“Logan?” Ron said.
“Who am I?”
“Youʼre name is Logan and you are also known as Wolverine.” Ron had
read the dog tag and it said Wolverine.
He got up, but still looked very confused. But Ron knew what they did to
him and what was wrong with him. Those bullets erased his memory somehow of
who and what he is. He didnʼt die though. He just lost his memory. Lost his
memory of Ron. She looked up at him and two doctors were coming their way.
He ran. She just watched him disappear and she did the same. She ran to where
Logan slept. There was the picture of him and her that was taken earlier that day
on his night stand. There was also a belt buckle that was on the floor. She
suddenly fell to the floor unconscious.
New York
6:00 am
Ron fell right onto a taxi cab. The roof dented inward all the way. She lie there
motionless as people circled around the wrecked cab. Ron groaned as she
climbed out of the wreck as her brothers ran out of the Empire State Building.
The people gasped and backed off at the sight of this mutant making its way from
the cab. They also did that because of her appearance. All the cuts were healing.
She didnʼt break any bones because of her Adamantium skeleton. Her brothers
New York
Xavierʼs office
8:00 am
There was knocking on Xavierʼs door and Ron put her hood back up. Kurt
appeared as his blue and fuzzy self. He looked at Ron then to Xavier.
“Sorry for interrupting, sir, but maybe I can help this new mutant,” he said
in a German accent. “Yʼknow, talk about. . .appearances.”
“Yes, Kurt, that just might work,” Xavier said. “Can you take. . .”
“Ron,” Ron said.
“Ron to a guest room?” Xavier asked.
“Yes, sir,” Kurt said.
“ʻRonʼ. Is that short for Veronica?” Xavier asked.
“Yes,” Ron answered.
“Iʼll be up to check on you later,” Logan said.
Ron nodded and followed Kurt.
Ron looked at Kurt the whole time they went up stairs. He was just like her.
He had an appearance that he was born with. He has blue hair, was blue, three
fingers on each hand, and had a blue devil like tail. She wondered how he
blended in with humans. Probably got help from Xavier. Ronʼs room was on the
second floor. Ron looked around. Big, large bed, chair, bureau with a mirror.
Nothing too fancy. Ron liked it. She took her backpack off and tossed it on the
bed.
She turned to Kurt. “Whatʼs your name, Blue?”
“Kurt,” he said as Ron took her hood off. “Iʼm also called Nightcrawler.”
“I can see why.” Ron smiled. “You look like something that crawls at night.”
“Whatʼs your name?” Kurt asked
“Veronica,” Ron answered. “You can call me Ron.”
Ron sat in a chair and Logan stood in Xavierʼs office. They both looked at him
and Logan said, “Whatʼs this about, Charles?”
“I have seen Ronʼs powers in the Danger Room,” he said, “and they looked
similar to yours, Logan.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Ron may have a Adamantium skeleton somehow,” Xavier said
looking at Ron.
“What?” Logan said confused. “How?”
“Heʼs right, Logan,” Ron said. “You know about my powers, but you donʼt
know what happened after you abandoned me because you werenʼt there.”
“What happened after I escaped?”
“It started 20 years ago. . .”
Ron had finished what she said. Xavier and Logan listened. But Logan was
very furious with Stryker. Ron could see the anger in Loganʼs eyes and her ears
drooped. Xavier didnʼt need physic powers to pick up on Loganʼs emotions. Ron
didnʼt have that much to say because some of her lost memories. She had hoped
that Xavier could also help her with some of the memories. She figured Xavier
helped Logan a lot because he remembered Ron. He didnʼt 20 years ago.
“So, ʻtheyʼ put Adamantium on your bones?” Xavier asked.
Ron nodded. “Iʼm the new weapon. Weapon 24 or X24.”
“How could anyone put a child through that?” Logan said. “A child shouldnʼt
go through that kind of pain! And he erased your memory!”
Logan was so angry that Stryker put Ron through that Adamantium
procedure. No child should be put through anything like that. But he had put Ron
through that.
“Not all of it, though,” Ron said. “My memory.”
“How much of it?”
“Well. . .”
“They could have erased it all and implanted fake memories to make you
say and think that,” Logan said.
“I donʼt know what they did,” Ron said, “but I will never forget the pain they
put me through to be their Weapon 24. And from the Adamantium I got these.”
Her claws released with a snikt!
“You have claws?!” Logan said.
“Yes.” Ron retracted them. “They. . .” Ron couldnʼt go on.
“They what?” Logan knelt beside her.
It was sunset and Ron headed to her room. She was tired and didnʼt eat any
dinner. Ron crawled into bed and went to sleep. But she didnʼt have sweet
dreams.
Weapon X Facility
10 Years ago
Ron was strapped to a chair. She just had her memories erased some
more. She was unstrapped and fell to the floor. She didnʼt get up.
“Get up,” the doctor said.
Ron didnʼt.
“Get up, I said,” the doctor ordered.
Ron slowly got to her feet. She was a tough teenage girl, but she was
feeling weak and crappy. She was wearing a tank top and leggings that went
down right above her knees She looked at the doctor. He had a staff in his hands
that sends off high volts of electricity when it touches a mutant. It has no effect on
humans. She scowled at him. She started walking to The Adamantium procedure
room. The last time they tried was when she was ten. Now she was fifteen and
stronger than before. Her mutation evolved more a year ago. Neko. They had
changed her mutant name once her mutation evolved more. She had cat eyes,
teeth, and claws that came out of her nails. Theyʼre like Sabretooth, but a tiny bit
smaller. She was also sort of muscular. She inherited the features from
Sabretooth. Strength, reflexes, too. She had inherited the heightened senses and
healing factor from Logan. Also the bone claws. She thought she was all mutant.
The powers that she inherited from Logan and Sabretooth were each doubled in
strength. Ron couldnʼt fight because of the staff. If she disobeyed in any way, the
doctors or who ever she was with would electrocute her. Almost enough to knock
her out.
Ron was forced onto the table. They strapped her in, and put the oxygen
tube on her mouth and nose. She struggled as the table was lowered into the
water. The drills came down. She would have to go through the pain again. As
the drills sunk in and filled her bones with Adamantium, She screamed in pain. It
was more worse than before. The pain far, far, worse.
Ron screamed at the top of her lungs. Her heart was beating very fast. The
covers and pillows everywhere. She was panting. Sweat poured down her face.
The X-Men burst in. Scott turned the light on and Logan ran over to Ron. She
was staring into space. Students gathered outside her room. She looked at
Logan. He knew what happened. Ron had a nightmare of her past. But it was
about the Adamantium bonding procedure that scared her. Logan had
nightmares like that. He knew what she was going through.
“Are you alright?” Logan asked.
Ron shook her head.
Xavier appeared at the door. “The rest of you can go to bed. Except Jean
and Scott.”
They went over to Ron.
“What happened in your nightmare?” Xavier asked.
“I donʼt really remember,” Ron said.
“Relax and concentrate,” Xavier said.
Xavier saw the dream. The memory. Saw everything that had happened in
that procedure room. He took his hand off Ronʼs head and opened his eyes.
“What did you see?” Scott asked.
“The procedure that gave Veronica the skeleton and claws,” Xavier said. “It
was far worse than before.”
“How?”
“I donʼt know,” Xavier said. “But we should all get back to bed.”
Everyone did as they were told. Logan stayed in Ronʼs room. He asked,
“They did it a second time?”
“ten years ago,” Ron said, calming down. “It was worse than before. I donʼt
know how, but it was. The pain felt ten times worse. But the bonding was
complete. It didnʼt work the first time. So they waited ten years.”
“Why?”
“I donʼt know,” Ron said. “I donʼt remember. All I remember is the pain, you,
the training, and the abuse. Thatʼs it.”
“Charles can help some more in the morning,” Logan said.
Ron nodded.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly for Ron. Except for at lunch. There was
an itty bitty little problem. Ron had been keeping her cool pretty well that day so
far. Kurt had kept telling her to do so. She felt he was really her only friend.
Besides Logan that is. She was a loner, but wasnʼt really when she lived with the
Waltons. She hated humans. Really hated them. She had learned to like only
three back in England because they were the only ones in London that liked
mutants. But here was sort of different and sort of wasnʼt. It didnʼt matter how
different America and England were. Ron didnʼt want to associate with any of the
humans nor mutants. Except for Logan, Kurt, and Xavier. At lunch Kurt and Ron
sat at a table in the middle of the lunch room. Scott had joined them. Ron just
picked at the food, wondering if it would crawl off her tray.
“Howʼs your day so far?” Scott asked.
“Alright,” Ron said. “Been hard.”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “But weʼll all be here if you need us.”
“That might start today, Summers.” Ron looked over to her right.
That same football player and his football player friends from earlier
walked past their table with a boy that looked a little like a toad and took him
outside. Ron sensed that toad like kid was in trouble. She could smell fear from
him. Ron scowled at the football player. You didnʼt need to see Scottʼs eyes to
see that he didnʼt like the kid either. Ron got up from the table and followed the
football players. Kurt followed her and so did Scott. They knew she was going to
do something. She didnʼt care if the kid was human or not. She didnʼt like kids
getting picked on. In fact it really ticks her off. She followed the football players to
the side of the school. She peeked from a tree and saw those morons pushing
the boy around. The poor kid was helpless. Ron growled. She was about to get
over there, but a strong arm grabbed her arm. It was Scott.
“I donʼt like kids being picked on.” She glared at the football players .
“Itʼs probably not a good idea,” Scott warned.
“Do you think you can talk to them without loosing your cool?” Kurt asked.
“Doubt it.” Ron walked over to the football players. “What are you guys
doinʼ to that kid?”
“Whatʼs it matter to you, skunk-head?” asked the boy who seemed to be
the leader.
“I donʼt like people picking on people.” Ron was in front of the football
player. He was only an inch taller but was two times her size. “Let the boy go and
there wonʼt be any trouble.”
It was late and Logan wanted to check on his niece before turning in.
“Ronnie.” He knocked on the door.
No answer.
“Ronnie!” This time banging on the door.
No answer.
He tried the door. Locked. He kicked the door in. She was nowhere in
sight. All there was was an empty dresser drawer and the windows wide open
with the curtains blowing in the wind. He ran over to the balcony.
“Ronnie.”
Logan walked to Xavierʼs office and entered.
“Sheʼs gone,” Logan said. “Just gone. Everything. Gone. I didnʼt even get
to tell her. . .”
“Itʼs alright, Logan,” Xavier said. “Weʼll find her.”
“No,” Logan said. “Iʼll do it. Alone. Just locate her for me, please, Charles.
Sheʼs all I have left.”
It sounded as if Logan was close to crying. She meant that much to him.
Xavier nodded. They went to Cerebro and Xavier put the helmet on. Soon the
Logan had made his way to the cabin. As he approached it, Logan saw his
brother get up from the ground. Logan ran at him and punch him in the face.
“Where is she?!”
Sabretooth glared at Logan. “I donʼt know, but Stryker took her away.”
Logan growled. “He took her?!”
Sabretooth nodded.
“Why was she here with you?!” Logan held him by his shirt front.
“Magneto left and so did Mystique,” Sabretooth said. “He wanted her to
join us. So did I. I had Magneto help me find her. Ten years ago I found out what
Stryker did to her and wanted to find her and take her home.”
“I havenʼt had her with me at all!” Logan said. “I havenʼt thought of the kid
for twenty freaking years until a while ago!”
“I figured that out when Ron told me,” Sabretooth said. “Iʼm still pissed at
you. Always will be.”
“ ʼCourse you will,” Logan let go of his brother. “But weʼve got to team up
save Ron. Iʼm sorry about Helen.”
“Donʼt apologize,” Sabretooth said. “She was just a human that I fell in love
with.”
“Yeah, and had a kid with her,” Logan said.
Sabretooth didnʼt say anything more. They looked at each other. They both
knew it. Ron was part human and part feral. Born part human and part feral. But
she didnʼt know it. It was the only thing she had left of her mother. The human
part. Ron hated humans and her mother was one. Sabretooth had loved his
daughter dearly. Search for her and finally found her. And then she was taken
away. Logan had also loved his niece, but he hadnʼt seen her for 20 years or
even knew he had one until Xavier helped him regain his memories. He had only
seen her for a few days. Sabretooth had only seen her for a few hours. He was
just as angry with Stryker as Logan was.
“We will need help,” Logan admitted. “Magnetoʼs and Xavierʼs.”
Sabretooth nodded.
“Where is the girl?”
Logan and Sabretooth turned and saw Magneto behind them.
“Stryker took my daughter away,” Sabretooth said.
Ron awakened in a cell and her wrists were cuffed to the wall. She looked
around and there was another mutant in the cell. The mutant was a girl. She was
also cuffed to the wall. She was unconscious. Her skin was a teal, her hair white,
and she was wearing a tank top and jeans. She had been here for a long time by
the looks of her clothes. They wear stained and ripped. She has been here for a
long time, Ron thought. Ron struggled with the cuffs. She extended her
Adamantium claws and looked at them. She sighed and retracted them. The girl
was coming to and looked to her left where Ron was. She said, “Whatʼs your
name?”
“Ron,” Ron said. “Or Neko. You?”
“Jasmine,” the girl said. “Or Shifter Jumper. Arenʼt you. . .?”
“X24.” Stryker appeared at the cell door. “Welcome back.”
“Where am I?” Ron asked.
“Where you were born,” Stryker said. “Where you were trained and
became X24. Donʼt you remember?”
“Yes,” Ron said. “Since I was a teenager. Itʼs the only thing I remember.”
“That may change,” Stryker said.
“How?” Ron said.
“Bring X24 down,” Stryker ordered his men, “and Iʼll show you what this
weapon can do after X24ʼs memory is erased forever.”
They nodded and took her chains off. She fell to the floor and stood up.
She glared at Stryker. She looked at the men and released her claws from her
wrists. She attacked the men, slashing them one by one. All four of them were
dead, laying in their own pools of blood. Ron ran at Stryker. But an arm grabbed
her from behind and planted her face in the floor. It was the first soldier she had
killed. Or thought she killed. She had slashed him across the chest and the
wounds were healing. Her eyes widened. The soldier had a healing factor. She
couldnʼt kill him. Seconds later the rest of the team got up as well. They all had
healing factors.
Stryker led his men to a chamber where Ronʼs memory would be erased.
Stryker wouldnʼt put a bullet to her brain. He only did that to kill Logan. Ron was
dragged to a chair and was strapped to it. A mutant emerged from the shadows
Logan, Sabretooth, Magneto, and Mystique were on their way to Canada. Logan
had gone back to the mansion and gotten a helicopter. He wasnʼt happy about
teaming up with these freaking morons. But he didnʼt have any choice. It was just
like with saving those students, Scott, and Xavier. The X-Men needed help from
the enemy to get in. He didnʼt really mind Magneto and Mystique, but he did
indeed mind his brother, Sabretooth. He hated the guyʼs guts. Sabretooth the
same. They were getting at each other the entire time, ticking off each other more
and more. They both wanted to tear each other to shreds, but that would wait
after they rescued Ron. Logan wondered what they were doing to her.
Sabretooth and Logan kept their distance in the chopper. Logan was piloting it
while Sabretooth was in the back.
Logan saw some familiar land and flashbacks of his past came back to his
head. He sighed and continued looking out the window. He saw a clearing ahead
and landed the chopper on the ground. The facility was a mile away. They all
stepped out into the cold. It was still dark out, but the moon was out. Logan and
Sabretooth picked up on Ronʼs scent. She was out here somewhere. Stryker was
probably making Ron have a training session. He probably erased her mind, too.
Sabretooth and Logan looked at each other. Sabretooth growled at his brother
and started walking to his right.
“I ainʼt going that way and get caught by Stryker,” Sabretooth said. “Her
scent is to the left, but thatʼs where Stryker is, waiting for her. Ronʼs scent is
stronger to the right. She left Stryker and went this way, so thatʼs where weʼre
going.” He continued walking right.
Logan didnʼt say a word and followed Sabretooth. They caught up with Ron
but kept a little distance between them. Plan A was to have Mystique shape shift
as Stryker and convince her to go with them. Logan figured that it wouldnʼt work.
Mystique could change shape but not change scents. Logan knew that Ron
would know the difference and refuse to go with them. Thatʼs why he told them
that he should convince Ron to come back. Sabretooth agreed and went with
Loganʼs plan instead. Logan saw Ron stop and sniff the air. Her cat claws
released from her fingers, thinking that she was being followed by Strykerʼs men.
She continued to walk. They continued following Ron for only a few minutes
when she turned around and saw them.
Ron didnʼt speak. She just stared at them. Logan walked up to his niece.
Ron just stared at him. They stood a foot away from each other. Ron asked,
“What are you doing here, Logan?”
X24 was dragged to her cell and they threw her in. Literally threw X24 in. She
was cuffed up against the wall and Stryker walked up to her with some sort of
remote in his hand. She then realized that the cuffs were not completely made
out of metal. They had tons and tons of wires wrapped on the inside of the cuffs.
That meant Stryker was going to torture her by electrocuting her. She wasnʼt
afraid. She would heal up. But she wondered how much power was in those
cuffs.
“Now, Iʼm giving you only two times to give me the right answer,” Stryker
said. “If you donʼt then Iʼll force it out of you. Will you do what your ordered?”
“No” was X24ʼs answer. That was what Stryker didnʼt want to hear.
“Wrong answer.”
He pushed the button on the remote and electricity ripped through her. An
endless series of jolts rammed her body making her scream in pain. The
electricity was so bad that burns appeared on her skin. Bad burns. They were
healing over but slowly after Stryker stopped electrocution. He looked at X24 who
glared at him. She was so sore from being electicutated. It hurt like hell, but that
didnʼt change her mind.
“Now will you do as ordered?!” Stryker demanded.
“Screw you,” X24 said. “Iʼm not gonna do a damned thing for you.”
Stryker didnʼt bother to electrocute her again. Instead he told his men to
stay there and he returned a few minutes later with the telepath.
“I want you to make X24 do as I say and make her be what she was born
to be. A weapon. X24.”
“You want her to be the weapon she was meant to be?” the telepath asked.
“Yes,” Stryker said, “so that she will not be difficult and will listen to me.”
Sabretooth was still looking for his daughter. He was trying to track her by her
scent. He sniffed the air. The scent was still strong. For about three hours he
followed Ronʼs scent to New York. Sheʼs stronger than I thought, Sabretooth
thought. He continued following the scent and ended up back in Bayville. On a
rooftop Sabretooth scanned the area with a pair of binoculars. He immediately
found his daughter running down the street, shoving people, so she could get by.
And did they move. Ron didnʼt activate the image inducer, so she was running
around as a neko. People were shouting at her but she didnʼt care. Sabretooth
jumped off the roof and followed Ron to an alley. Ron stopped and hid in the
Ron wanted so badly to thrash Logan right there, but Magneto stopped her.
“Wait until we are at a more secure place, Neko,” Magneto said.
“Fine,” Ron growled as she twisted the pipe in her hands. Literally twisting
it in odd shapes. “Letʼs go.”
Magneto nodded and Sabretooth slung his brother over his shoulder and
they left for the helicopter that was a mile away. Ron was behind her father and
she looked at Logan then to the ground at back. She wanted to him to pay for
what he did to her. But she was starting to have second thoughts. Sabretooth
noticed.
“He abandoned you and you know it,” Sabretooth said, hoping to make her
more angry at Logan. He enjoyed it. Now there was no way the Ron would go
back. “Face it, he abandoned you because he didnʼt want you anymore.”
“Youʼre right.” Ron looked from Sabretooth to the unconscious Logan over
Sabretoothʼs shoulder. “He didnʼt want me and still doesnʼt.”
A few minutes later they arrived at the helicopter. It was big. Mystique
started it up and the others got on. Sabretooth dropped Logan on the floor.
Literally dropped him and chained him to the floor in a small room in the back
and went to sit down. Ron joined the others for the somewhat long flight to
Magnetoʼs lair. Logan woke up. He tried to get up but something forced from
getting up. His neck and wrists were chained to the floor. He snapped his claws
out and sliced the chains off and stood up from the floor. The back of his head
was throbbing from the blow he took on his head.
“Where the hell am I?” he asked.
He heard foot steps and clawed at the back of the wall. He managed to
make a whole and saw that he was thousands of feet in the air.
“The hell?” he said.
The door opened and he turned to see Magneto, Mystique, Sabretooth,
and Ron. He didnʼt understand what was going and he wasnʼt sure if he wanted
to know. Ron wasnʼt thinking lunged at Logan, making the both of them fall out of
the helicopter through the hole that Logan made.
“Veronica!” Sabretooth yelled. “Dammit, kid!”
“She should be fine,” Magneto said. “Sheʼs gonna get what she wants and
what better place than the wilderness?”
Logan woke up to see the morning sun sink into the cave and that Ron was
making another fire. He yawned and got up with little trouble. Ron looked at
Logan and smiled.
“Morning, Uncle Logan.” Ron was putting fresh caught carved fish over the
fire on a stick. “Thereʼs a small pond a one mile down that has fish in it, but it ainʼt
good to drink,” Ron said and drove the stick into the ground and from the weight
of the fish it hung right over the fire. She had melted snow, cooled the cup in the
snow, and handed Logan the cold water. “Drink. Youʼll feel better.”
Logan did and set the cup down.
“I need to change the bandages.” Ron had some in her jacket pocket and
got them out. “Then we can leave for that lake that we landed in, but first you
should eat something.”
“What about you?” Logan asked.
“Iʼm not feeling hungry at all,” Ron took the fish and stuck it on another
stick. “You eat something. With your healing factor down a little, you need to keep
your strength up. You may be the mighty Wolverine, but you still need it more
than I do.”
Logan nodded and took the cooked fish and ate it. It was damn good fish.
Logan was impressed that Ron could do that. He would have to talk with her
about teaching his class with him once they got to Xavierʼs school. She would
need a lot of help with her memories. It would take a long time to get all those
memories back. Xavier said that there were blocks in her mind to prevent
telepaths from getting into her mind. Hopefully Xavier would be powerful enough
to break those walls and get through. Logan would help all he could. Logan set
the stick down, stood up to stretch, and moved around.
Ron sat in front of Xavierʼs desk. She already knew that he wanted to help her
with her memories like he did with Logan. She wondered how much of it was
gone. Xavier answered her question.
“Iʼm sorry, Veronica,” Xavier said, “your memories are gone. They are all
jumbled up inside your mind.”
“Is it as bad as Loganʼs was or is it worse?” Ron asked.
“Iʼm not sure,” Xavier said.
“When can we start?” Ron asked. “Can we start now?”
“If you want,” Xavier answered. “It may be hard to get through the first wall.
The first wall is to block telepaths of any class, but I will try and be gentle when
getting rid of the wall.”
“Will it be painful?”
“Perhaps,” Xavier said.
Logan was starting to leave but Ron grabbed his arm. He sat back down,
knowing that she wanted him to stay.
“Just try and relax.”
Xavier pulled his wheelchair to Ron and sat in front of her. He put his
hands on either side of her head and started to try and get past the wall. But
Xavier didnʼt even get started and was repelled from her mind. The withdrawal
ended to quickly. Ron yelped in pain and fell to the floor from her chair. Xavier
was rubbing his temples and Logan help Ron get back in her chair.
She groaned. “What happened?”
“The wall blocked me,” Xavier said. “I tried to get past it, but it forced me
out. Weʼll try again at a later date if you donʼt mind.”
“No, I donʼt mind,” Ron said.
“Cʼmon, Ronnie,” Logan said. “Night, Charles.”
“Good night, Logan, Ron,” Xavier said.
Logan took Ron to her room. She wasnʼt feeling good after her mind
repelled Xavier out of her head. Logan noticed it. Not really notice it. He smelled
it and she looked a little pale. He lead her to her bed, but she pushed away from
him, ran into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut. Retching sounds came
from the bathroom, the toilet being flushed, and Ron opened the door. The room
was spinning and Ron fell back against the wall holding her head.
“You okay?” Logan walked over to her.
“Will be once the room stops spinning,” Ron said as Logan carried her to
her bed.
There was a scream. Ron sat straight up panting hard and in a cold sweat.
Logan burst into the room and ran over to Ron, claws out.
“Ronnie, you okay?” Logan asked, retracting his claws.
Ron looked at Logan. “Nightmare.”
“About those Weapon X people?”
“Yeah,” Ron answered. “The Adamantium.”
She was shuddering at the thought. She put her head in her hands and
started crying. Logan sat beside her on her bed. He let her cling to him and cry
on his shoulder. The nightmare scared the hell of and scared her so much that it
made her cry. She remembered the pain. The horrible pain. She didnʼt want to go
through anything like that again. Logan looked at the nightstand clock. 2:00 am.
They sat there for a good hour and Logan was tired. Ron was only shaking a little
now, but she was dozing off. Logan was too. He put his niece in the bed and
made his way to his room and onto the bed. Soon they both fell asleep.
The alarm clock on the nightstand started going off. Ron growled at it from
under the covers. It must have belonged to the previous owner who stayed in
here, Ron thought. She started pounding on it trying to make it stop. It wouldnʼt
stop. She got angry and threw it at the wall. That shut the damn thing up, Ron
thought. Forever. She tried to get back asleep but then another beeping sound
started going off. She growled. It was coming from Loganʼs room. She gave up
and went downstairs to the kitchen. Nobody was down there yet. She looked at
the clock on the kitchen wall.
“What the hell?” She blink a few times. “Who the hell gets up at five in the
morning?!”
“The last kid that owned that room did for early sessions with me.” Logan
walked over to the coffee maker.
“I think that itʼs too early.” Ron walked over to the island, sat down, and laid
her head on her arms. “I ainʼt a morning person. I hate getting up early in the
morning. Why do you still get up this early if that owner is gone?”
“Habit,” Logan answered. “I also do some martial arts in the morning
sometimes.”
Ron looked at her uncle. “Martial arts?”
He nodded.
“Huh,” Ron said. “Iʼm so tired from, like, three hours ago from the
nightmare.”
END OF PART 1
WORKING ON PART 2