I don't own the X-Men and would ask that Marvel not send squads of Ninjas after me for using their characters in a story that I will not make any money off of. Thanks Stan, you da man.
This a little didy about a bad man who became good ,who is trying to do something nice for a good friend he almost did some thing bad to.
A Picture
"Xavier's."
"Wolvie?"
"Angelo?"
"Hey, I need a favor Hombre."
"Don't call me that."
"Don't call you what?"
"Wolvie, don't call me Wolvie."
"But J calls you...."
"grrrrrrrr..."
"Okay Logan..uh Mr.Logan."
"Now what's the favor, you and Jubes in trouble again?"
"Naw, but it is for her."
"Okay, spill it."
"I need you to go to California with me to get her sweet sixteen gift."
"CALIFORNIA! What the flamin'...wait.... her birthday?"
"Duh, this Friday."
"That's two days."
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"....So what's in Cali?"
"A picture."
"A picture? Why the flamin'..."
"Of her parents on their wedding day."
"Oh."
Eighteen hours later at LAX.....
"We'll need to rent a car."
"Angelo, I was wonderin', now that we done flown across the country and all. Why me? Sean would gladly brought ya, in the Blackbird two none the less?"
"'Cause I knew you had forgotten the little pain-in-the-ass's birthday and she would be FUBAR if you didn't show up to her party with this gift. It'll be great coming from me, it'll be like the second coming of God if you gave it to her. Figured you could at least help in the recovery."
"Oh,....Thanks kid."
"No worries Hombre, I hate to see the chica cry."
"See been crying?"
"Uh..I didn't..."
"grrrrrrrrrrrrr"
"A little...she misses you."
"Oh."
Twenty minutes later on the road....
"I hate LA traffic."
"Want me to drive, Mr. Logan?"
"Naw, I think the newspaper is off the next ramp."
"Ride the shoulder, we'll get out of this quicker."
A second or two later, After they got a ticket for driving on the shoulder....
"GRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Hey, don't kill me, I didn't see 5-0 sitting two cars back"
"Pipe down we're here."
"We need to find Carol Reds, she has the picture."
"Why couldn't they just mail it?"
"Something about that being a security risk and about privacy rights and blah blah blah."
"Oh."
In the basement of the Los Angeles Times, Angelo and Wolverine, lead by Ms. Reds, made their way through a maze of metal file cabinets and abandoned office furniture. They came to a darkened corner with a red light above a metal door. When she knocked , the light blinked into obivion and the door swung open. A spooky looking photo lab tech emerged from the murky blackness beyond the open door. He was clad in a rubber apron, latex gloves and maginifing glasses that bugged his eyes out. He looked Ms. Reds over as she muttered a few polite sentences neither Ange or Wolverine could hear from where they were standing.
The tech looked them over before returning back into the lab. A few seconds later he reappeared with a large manilla envelope and thrusted at Angelo. Taking it with a shaky hand, Angelo returned to Logan's side and the man disappeared back into the darkness, slamming the door behind himself. A second later the red light fired back up.
Ms.Reds lead them back to the parking lot and bid them a fond forwell. Driving away Logan only shook his head at all the weirdness of the visit.
"Hey, Angelo, what was their problem?"
"Crazy, Cali does that to you. Too much sun, too much glam. Look at Jubes, she's from here. That girl is loco in her cocoa...."
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
"Okay, okay she's the sweetest thing in the world and the most wonderful person I have ever known. 'Side I'm from here too you know?'
"Whatever, what time does the flight leave?"
"Six."
LAX..one in the morning...
"I don't believe this, Jubes is gonna kill me for keeping you from her party if we don't get back by tomorrow afternoon."
"I'm gonna kill you if we don't get back in time."
Logan sat motionless in his rather uncomfortable plastic chair that was connected to six others by a metal bar. He looked out at the flights grounded on the runway due to a freak blizzard in New York City and most of the eastern seaboard.
He looked at the envelope Angelo was guarding with his little grey life and snatched it away. He had never seen Jubilee's parent's before, he had always wondered were she got her blue eyes from. He'd only know one other Asian kid with blue eyes. Well he didn't know her it was more like he almost killed her.
"Oh muh Gawd."
Logan's unlite cigar tumbled out his gawking mouth as he looked at the happy young married couple, smiling big happy newlywed smiles. He knew them, he had almost killed them Sixteen years ago, them and their newborn baby girl with blue eyes. He lowered his eyes to the floor, the realization that the girl he loved more than life itself, Jubilee, was the daughter of a man he'd once been paid to kill.
His mind darkened and slipped to a place where he could hear a sad soulful blues gituar playing "Life Ain't Worth a Damn". He was back in a bar in West Hollywood, seated across from Slick Howard, the worst kind of scum anybody would have the misfortune to meet.
"Logan, I have job for you. Wetwork in the Hills de Beverly."
"Yeah what's the pay?"
"Hundred grand now, two hundred later."
"Well now someone wants somebody real dead for that kind of money."
"Yeah some banker trying to bump off his partner. He wants it to look it an accident. The house is brand new, a gas leak'll do. Gas with cigarettes equals big boom."
"Why me, any of your grunts could have done this?"
"It's a gated community, 'lots of guards and security systems. The client wants this clean and by the numbers. It could ruin his "Man of the Year" imagine if this was to go south. You in?"
"Yeah, I'm in. Accident uh, tonight, I'll do it tonight."
"Very cool, here's a picture of Lee and his wife."
Logan took the picture of the couple dressed in the best wedding attire Rodeo Dive had to offer.
"Musta been one hell of a wedding."
That evening Logan jumped the brick fence around Rio Alto Gardens and walked down the street without sighting even a barking dog. This so called secure community, with it's million dollar houses, was a joke. He would have told this Lee guy that moving here was a waste of money if not for the fact he was about to kill him.
18954 Christmas Lights Lane was on a street lined with new palms and more million dollar homes with perfect lawns and expensive BMW's in the driveway. Logan chuckled at the excess, give him his Harley and the open rode any day. Money was nice, but it had it's place, like at the tables in Vegas.
He entered through an open window, smirking at how easy this had all been. For a guy to pay all this money to live in a secured community, to leave the window open was a little more than ironic. Logan quietly made his way to the kitchen where he found the gas line connected to the stove. He wiggled it until it came lose without completely detaching from the back of the oven.
It would a few minutes before the house filled with enough gas to blow up. He'd have to check the house for any open windows that would vent the fumes. He went into his nap sack and removed a rag, pouring cholarform on it then he made his way upstairs. He went into the first room at the top of the stairs and entered quiet as a mouse. There was sleeping couple interlocked in each other arms, they'd just made love he could tell. He opened the cloth and placed it over their noses. This was made easy by the fact they were laying so close together.
He nudged them with his boot, actually it was more like a kick. Assured they were out, he closed their window and moved on. Soon he heard a sound that sent a chill up his spine, a baby crying. He followed the sound to the end of the hall. Upon enter a very pink cheery nursery that completely clashed with his ninja black commando killing suit with matching boots, he could clearly see a small something moving in a crib. He moved across the disgustingly pink princess room to the crib filled with ever manor of stuffed animal, he peered in. Two of the blue-est eyes he had ever seen looked up at him, she quieted her wail and giggled.
He smirked, pissed to all hell that Slick had omited the fact that there would be a kid. He looked down at the little angel who was smiling back with gas, she was too young for a social smile. It melted his well frozen heart. He looked up at the table next to the girl's crib, there was an uncompleted neddle point with a pink moon and silver stars. In the middle were two crafted letters, a 'J' and a 'U'. He wrinkled his nose.
"Bet your name is Julia...or Juliet. Yeah Juliet, you sure are cute enough to be a Juliet. Bet you'd grow up to be a real heart breaker too."
He picked her up, the urge to do so overwheling him. He bounced her gently in his arms, cooing baby talk like an idiot. Her gentle breaths kissing his rough hands. She was perfect, he didn't understand this feeling of protection that was welling up in him. He put her back in the crib, it had been the gentlest thing he'd ever remembered doing.
Logan lowered his head, all the windows were closed, the house was full of gas. All he needed to do was go to the door and light a cigar and toss it in. But little 'Juliet' just kept looking at him with those damned eyes. Logan brushed a gentle hand across her soft cheek, he'd surprised himself at how gentle he had done it. He exhailed. The money was too good to pass up. He looked around, there was nothing stopping him from taking her outside, she'd be safe when the house went up. No, then it would clear this was hit.
Again she giggled and fussed. He smiled and grunted a laugh. He couldn't do it, defeated by a newborn, oh yeah the guys at the bar would love this one. He thought about her dying and for some reason,the voice of Fate yelled to him that this was incredibly wrong. This child was meant for something more than a death by fire. She had an incredible life ahead of her and he knew he would be sorry as hell to end it.
Logan returned down stairs and wiggled the hose back into place. He opened a few windows and left the way he came. He even called the police on Slick; didn't matter the reason Slick had warrant on top of warrant out on him. Slick was going to do time now, maybe the kid and her family would safe, or at least that's what he had wanted to think.
Angelo's nudges and calls finally snapped Logan back to reality. He'd wrinkled the prized photo a little, no real damage done.
"We got a flight, we should be back in New York by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. If the roads are okay, we should make it to the party on time, if they are even still havin' one. I hear the weather's a bitch back home."
"Life's a bitch Angelo."
Angelo only looked at his clearly frustrated travelling compaign. Angelo shrugged it off as a mood swing, Jubilee had always said Logan was prone to them.
The Flight was quiet as Logan reflected on what he'd just discovered about himself. He'd almost killed her, if she hadn't cried she'd be dead now and it would have been his fault. His mood didn't change once they got on the road to Massacheutts. He just looked out the window at the mounting snow gruffing everytime the newsman on the radio warned against going outside. Angelo had suggested they call and explain themselves to her. They could stay at a hotel and go home the next day, Logan would have none of it. He needed to see her, see her eyes.
At 4 am they pulled into the school, Jubilee's party had been cancelled by her. She told Sean it was too dangerous for anyone to travel, but the real reason was Logan had taken off again. Or at least that was what Bobby called and told her. Frosty claimed, Logan got a call and bolted. She couldn't plaster a fake smile on for her party, the snow was just a convinent excuse.
Jubilee sat on her bed, alone in the dark of her newly rebuilt room that still smelled like smoke. She clinched Logan's hat, soaking it with tears that she had fought so hard all day to hide. She was just greetful that she no longer had a room mate that would witness her moment of weakness.
"Wha'cha cryin' fer Darlin'. Ol' Chucklehead had a stop to make."
"Wolvie?"
There they were those blue eyes that could talk him in or out of anything, only filled with tears. He flopped on her bed and took the little thing up into his arms. He apologized, but she only cried harder.
"I thought you had forgotten me again or I had done somethin' wrong."
"Now you hush up, you could never do a thing wrong to me Darlin' it ain't in ya. I only hope this explains where I been."
He handed her the manilla envelope with shiny pink bow on it. She laughted through her tear and squizzed him. He hurried her to open it explaining it was from both him and Angelo.
Her face lite up every shade of happy he'd ever seen on her, more tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes. The picture of her parents was a wonderful gift, but the best gift of all was him. She hugged him for another minute or so. Finally, Logan decided to tell her about their run-in from the past and what he had almost done. It would kill him to do it, to see her eyes turn sad again, but she had a right to know.
"Darlin' I need to tell ya some..."
She slumped forward even more, like dead weight. He looked down, she was asleep. He exhailed. Laying her back on her bed he covered her up with a blanket and kissed her on her forehead. It could keep, he'd broken her heart enough for one lifetime, this could keep.
This a little didy about a bad man who became good ,who is trying to do something nice for a good friend he almost did some thing bad to.
A Picture
"Xavier's."
"Wolvie?"
"Angelo?"
"Hey, I need a favor Hombre."
"Don't call me that."
"Don't call you what?"
"Wolvie, don't call me Wolvie."
"But J calls you...."
"grrrrrrrr..."
"Okay Logan..uh Mr.Logan."
"Now what's the favor, you and Jubes in trouble again?"
"Naw, but it is for her."
"Okay, spill it."
"I need you to go to California with me to get her sweet sixteen gift."
"CALIFORNIA! What the flamin'...wait.... her birthday?"
"Duh, this Friday."
"That's two days."
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"....So what's in Cali?"
"A picture."
"A picture? Why the flamin'..."
"Of her parents on their wedding day."
"Oh."
Eighteen hours later at LAX.....
"We'll need to rent a car."
"Angelo, I was wonderin', now that we done flown across the country and all. Why me? Sean would gladly brought ya, in the Blackbird two none the less?"
"'Cause I knew you had forgotten the little pain-in-the-ass's birthday and she would be FUBAR if you didn't show up to her party with this gift. It'll be great coming from me, it'll be like the second coming of God if you gave it to her. Figured you could at least help in the recovery."
"Oh,....Thanks kid."
"No worries Hombre, I hate to see the chica cry."
"See been crying?"
"Uh..I didn't..."
"grrrrrrrrrrrrr"
"A little...she misses you."
"Oh."
Twenty minutes later on the road....
"I hate LA traffic."
"Want me to drive, Mr. Logan?"
"Naw, I think the newspaper is off the next ramp."
"Ride the shoulder, we'll get out of this quicker."
A second or two later, After they got a ticket for driving on the shoulder....
"GRRRRRRRRRRR"
"Hey, don't kill me, I didn't see 5-0 sitting two cars back"
"Pipe down we're here."
"We need to find Carol Reds, she has the picture."
"Why couldn't they just mail it?"
"Something about that being a security risk and about privacy rights and blah blah blah."
"Oh."
In the basement of the Los Angeles Times, Angelo and Wolverine, lead by Ms. Reds, made their way through a maze of metal file cabinets and abandoned office furniture. They came to a darkened corner with a red light above a metal door. When she knocked , the light blinked into obivion and the door swung open. A spooky looking photo lab tech emerged from the murky blackness beyond the open door. He was clad in a rubber apron, latex gloves and maginifing glasses that bugged his eyes out. He looked Ms. Reds over as she muttered a few polite sentences neither Ange or Wolverine could hear from where they were standing.
The tech looked them over before returning back into the lab. A few seconds later he reappeared with a large manilla envelope and thrusted at Angelo. Taking it with a shaky hand, Angelo returned to Logan's side and the man disappeared back into the darkness, slamming the door behind himself. A second later the red light fired back up.
Ms.Reds lead them back to the parking lot and bid them a fond forwell. Driving away Logan only shook his head at all the weirdness of the visit.
"Hey, Angelo, what was their problem?"
"Crazy, Cali does that to you. Too much sun, too much glam. Look at Jubes, she's from here. That girl is loco in her cocoa...."
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
"Okay, okay she's the sweetest thing in the world and the most wonderful person I have ever known. 'Side I'm from here too you know?'
"Whatever, what time does the flight leave?"
"Six."
LAX..one in the morning...
"I don't believe this, Jubes is gonna kill me for keeping you from her party if we don't get back by tomorrow afternoon."
"I'm gonna kill you if we don't get back in time."
Logan sat motionless in his rather uncomfortable plastic chair that was connected to six others by a metal bar. He looked out at the flights grounded on the runway due to a freak blizzard in New York City and most of the eastern seaboard.
He looked at the envelope Angelo was guarding with his little grey life and snatched it away. He had never seen Jubilee's parent's before, he had always wondered were she got her blue eyes from. He'd only know one other Asian kid with blue eyes. Well he didn't know her it was more like he almost killed her.
"Oh muh Gawd."
Logan's unlite cigar tumbled out his gawking mouth as he looked at the happy young married couple, smiling big happy newlywed smiles. He knew them, he had almost killed them Sixteen years ago, them and their newborn baby girl with blue eyes. He lowered his eyes to the floor, the realization that the girl he loved more than life itself, Jubilee, was the daughter of a man he'd once been paid to kill.
His mind darkened and slipped to a place where he could hear a sad soulful blues gituar playing "Life Ain't Worth a Damn". He was back in a bar in West Hollywood, seated across from Slick Howard, the worst kind of scum anybody would have the misfortune to meet.
"Logan, I have job for you. Wetwork in the Hills de Beverly."
"Yeah what's the pay?"
"Hundred grand now, two hundred later."
"Well now someone wants somebody real dead for that kind of money."
"Yeah some banker trying to bump off his partner. He wants it to look it an accident. The house is brand new, a gas leak'll do. Gas with cigarettes equals big boom."
"Why me, any of your grunts could have done this?"
"It's a gated community, 'lots of guards and security systems. The client wants this clean and by the numbers. It could ruin his "Man of the Year" imagine if this was to go south. You in?"
"Yeah, I'm in. Accident uh, tonight, I'll do it tonight."
"Very cool, here's a picture of Lee and his wife."
Logan took the picture of the couple dressed in the best wedding attire Rodeo Dive had to offer.
"Musta been one hell of a wedding."
That evening Logan jumped the brick fence around Rio Alto Gardens and walked down the street without sighting even a barking dog. This so called secure community, with it's million dollar houses, was a joke. He would have told this Lee guy that moving here was a waste of money if not for the fact he was about to kill him.
18954 Christmas Lights Lane was on a street lined with new palms and more million dollar homes with perfect lawns and expensive BMW's in the driveway. Logan chuckled at the excess, give him his Harley and the open rode any day. Money was nice, but it had it's place, like at the tables in Vegas.
He entered through an open window, smirking at how easy this had all been. For a guy to pay all this money to live in a secured community, to leave the window open was a little more than ironic. Logan quietly made his way to the kitchen where he found the gas line connected to the stove. He wiggled it until it came lose without completely detaching from the back of the oven.
It would a few minutes before the house filled with enough gas to blow up. He'd have to check the house for any open windows that would vent the fumes. He went into his nap sack and removed a rag, pouring cholarform on it then he made his way upstairs. He went into the first room at the top of the stairs and entered quiet as a mouse. There was sleeping couple interlocked in each other arms, they'd just made love he could tell. He opened the cloth and placed it over their noses. This was made easy by the fact they were laying so close together.
He nudged them with his boot, actually it was more like a kick. Assured they were out, he closed their window and moved on. Soon he heard a sound that sent a chill up his spine, a baby crying. He followed the sound to the end of the hall. Upon enter a very pink cheery nursery that completely clashed with his ninja black commando killing suit with matching boots, he could clearly see a small something moving in a crib. He moved across the disgustingly pink princess room to the crib filled with ever manor of stuffed animal, he peered in. Two of the blue-est eyes he had ever seen looked up at him, she quieted her wail and giggled.
He smirked, pissed to all hell that Slick had omited the fact that there would be a kid. He looked down at the little angel who was smiling back with gas, she was too young for a social smile. It melted his well frozen heart. He looked up at the table next to the girl's crib, there was an uncompleted neddle point with a pink moon and silver stars. In the middle were two crafted letters, a 'J' and a 'U'. He wrinkled his nose.
"Bet your name is Julia...or Juliet. Yeah Juliet, you sure are cute enough to be a Juliet. Bet you'd grow up to be a real heart breaker too."
He picked her up, the urge to do so overwheling him. He bounced her gently in his arms, cooing baby talk like an idiot. Her gentle breaths kissing his rough hands. She was perfect, he didn't understand this feeling of protection that was welling up in him. He put her back in the crib, it had been the gentlest thing he'd ever remembered doing.
Logan lowered his head, all the windows were closed, the house was full of gas. All he needed to do was go to the door and light a cigar and toss it in. But little 'Juliet' just kept looking at him with those damned eyes. Logan brushed a gentle hand across her soft cheek, he'd surprised himself at how gentle he had done it. He exhailed. The money was too good to pass up. He looked around, there was nothing stopping him from taking her outside, she'd be safe when the house went up. No, then it would clear this was hit.
Again she giggled and fussed. He smiled and grunted a laugh. He couldn't do it, defeated by a newborn, oh yeah the guys at the bar would love this one. He thought about her dying and for some reason,the voice of Fate yelled to him that this was incredibly wrong. This child was meant for something more than a death by fire. She had an incredible life ahead of her and he knew he would be sorry as hell to end it.
Logan returned down stairs and wiggled the hose back into place. He opened a few windows and left the way he came. He even called the police on Slick; didn't matter the reason Slick had warrant on top of warrant out on him. Slick was going to do time now, maybe the kid and her family would safe, or at least that's what he had wanted to think.
Angelo's nudges and calls finally snapped Logan back to reality. He'd wrinkled the prized photo a little, no real damage done.
"We got a flight, we should be back in New York by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. If the roads are okay, we should make it to the party on time, if they are even still havin' one. I hear the weather's a bitch back home."
"Life's a bitch Angelo."
Angelo only looked at his clearly frustrated travelling compaign. Angelo shrugged it off as a mood swing, Jubilee had always said Logan was prone to them.
The Flight was quiet as Logan reflected on what he'd just discovered about himself. He'd almost killed her, if she hadn't cried she'd be dead now and it would have been his fault. His mood didn't change once they got on the road to Massacheutts. He just looked out the window at the mounting snow gruffing everytime the newsman on the radio warned against going outside. Angelo had suggested they call and explain themselves to her. They could stay at a hotel and go home the next day, Logan would have none of it. He needed to see her, see her eyes.
At 4 am they pulled into the school, Jubilee's party had been cancelled by her. She told Sean it was too dangerous for anyone to travel, but the real reason was Logan had taken off again. Or at least that was what Bobby called and told her. Frosty claimed, Logan got a call and bolted. She couldn't plaster a fake smile on for her party, the snow was just a convinent excuse.
Jubilee sat on her bed, alone in the dark of her newly rebuilt room that still smelled like smoke. She clinched Logan's hat, soaking it with tears that she had fought so hard all day to hide. She was just greetful that she no longer had a room mate that would witness her moment of weakness.
"Wha'cha cryin' fer Darlin'. Ol' Chucklehead had a stop to make."
"Wolvie?"
There they were those blue eyes that could talk him in or out of anything, only filled with tears. He flopped on her bed and took the little thing up into his arms. He apologized, but she only cried harder.
"I thought you had forgotten me again or I had done somethin' wrong."
"Now you hush up, you could never do a thing wrong to me Darlin' it ain't in ya. I only hope this explains where I been."
He handed her the manilla envelope with shiny pink bow on it. She laughted through her tear and squizzed him. He hurried her to open it explaining it was from both him and Angelo.
Her face lite up every shade of happy he'd ever seen on her, more tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes. The picture of her parents was a wonderful gift, but the best gift of all was him. She hugged him for another minute or so. Finally, Logan decided to tell her about their run-in from the past and what he had almost done. It would kill him to do it, to see her eyes turn sad again, but she had a right to know.
"Darlin' I need to tell ya some..."
She slumped forward even more, like dead weight. He looked down, she was asleep. He exhailed. Laying her back on her bed he covered her up with a blanket and kissed her on her forehead. It could keep, he'd broken her heart enough for one lifetime, this could keep.