Redemption

Chapter Seven

In a week or so, I was back in the freezing cold, holding onto memories of the warm bar. But, in the cold, even that was hard. Thankfully, we were reaching the end of winter and it was going to be getting warmer. I watched my breath fog up the air in front of me. No deliveries had arrived for days. We were used to this, sometimes deliveries took weeks to arrive. Hopefully it didn't reach a month before arriving. I looked around for something to do. Part of me was hoping for a Josh incident to happen, so there was at least something to talk about besides the occasional "It's really cold," and "When do you think a van is going to come?"

Josh had arrived in late June of last year. I can't believe I've been working at the bar for so long. That I've been clawless for that long. I try not to think about that. I pulled the sleeve of my jacket back and looked at the deep cut in my forearm. It was healing up very well, only visible as a thin line. Then a thought struck me. What if I'm not clawless? What if I just don't have my wrist claws! I can't test this theory in front of my co-workers. I push my jacket sleeve back up just as a van rolls around the corner into the alley. Me and my co-workers rush forward and pull the back open. It's full. This will take us a while.  

It had started snowing towards the end of work and when I got back to my apartment, I was still whipping off snow. I closed my door and locked it. I balled my fist and raised it up in front of me. If I still had my claws, why hadn't they come back? Why hadn't they come out when I tried? Someone has to have the answer! Some mutant has to know. The name hit me in the stomach like a train. Logan. 

No. No way. I am not going to Logan about this. I can't. He has something to do with my losing my claws, I can feel it. I don't remember how I lost them, but I know I did. I feel a pricking between my knuckles. Two claws start peeking their way out from between the outer knuckles. They kept growing until they were at full length. I grinned and touched the side of one of them. I have them. 

"Who's this mutant?" Storm asked.

"Someone only two mutants besides me have met," said Logan. "And he doesn't like to be seen."

They walked into Professor X's office. Cyclops and Beast were already there.

"You heard about Rogue?" Cyclops asked.

Logan nodded.

"We need all the mutants we can get," said Charles Xavier. "Any ideas?"

"Logan has one," said Storm. "He was telling me about the mutant on the way here."

"Who is it?" Hank asked.

Logan looked at Scott.

"That one?" asked Scott. "Logan, he didn't even look at you at the beginning of your conversation!" 

Xavier was looking at them with interest.

"Is it one of yours Logan," he asked. "The one we talked about?"

Logan nodded.

"Who is it?" Storm demanded.

"It's one of Logan's children," Xavier said.

"Well, that's going to be easy!" said Hank. "We can just ask them to do it and they will!"

"It's going to be a lot harder than that," said Logan.

"How? They're your kid!"

"What if Magneto took Rogue or Iceman when they were born?" Logan demanded. "They wouldn't be the do-good innocents they are now!"

He glared at his fellow x-men, daring them to say something. When they didn't, he turned towards the door.

"Call me when you have a plan on how to kill a younger me," he said. "He'd rather die than help you." 

And with that, he left.

"He was the worker," said Charles Xavier to Scott. "He was the one who saw you and Magneto."

"That was him?" Scott gaped. "I thought it was Logan!"

"But this boy is more dangerous than his father," Xavier said. "He can control emotions."

"How are we going to stop him if he can do that?" Scott demanded. "He'll just make us believe he's a good guy!"

"If he's anything like Logan," said Xavier, "he'll only do that if he absolutely needs to."

I sit, staring at the claws coming out of my skin. I'm still wrapping my mind around how I still have my claws. I know I lost my claws but why did they suddenly come back? I tried using them over the past couple years but why did they just come now? I sigh and my two remaining claws slide back under my skin. I flex my hands, remembering using my claws. There's a knock on the door.

"Hello," a voice called. "I'm Laura, one of your neighbors. I think we met in Mark's apartment during the blackout."

I stand up and open the door. The woman behind it smiles.

"May I come in?" she asked.

"Sure," I said, stepping out of the way.

She smiled and walked into my apartment.

"When I first met you," she said, turning around. "I thought I recognized you."

She stepped forward, peering closely at me.

"You definitely look like someone I know."

"A lot of people say that," I smiled, keeping the nerves out of my voice. The last person to recognize me was an X-man. I don't want to be recognized like that again. Laura smiled, clearly believing me. My nervousness ebbs away.

"Anyway," she said. "I came here to check up on you."

I said, "I don't think you needed to come into my apartment to see if I was okay."

"You find out a lot about a person by the space they live in," said Laura.

"And what does my apartment say about me?" I said.

"You're running from something," she said.

"And?" I asked, fighting hard to keep my face expressionless.

"I'm exactly the same," said Laura. "Maybe at some point we could meet up to talk about it?"