The Howlett Complex

​ᴀɴ ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛᴏʀʏ ᴄᴏᴜʀꜱᴇ ᴏɴ ᴡᴏʟᴠᴇʀɪɴᴇ ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ

Logan Howlett is a man of many complexities, if the definition of complexities is a man with an imperfect balance of irritations and moments of raging attractiveness. It is hard to explain in exact terms, but his best descriptors are as follows:

Logan is tall, dark, and handsome (hot), brooding and moody (slightly less hot), and wildly animalistic (very hot). Unfortunately, he is also short-tempered, closed-offish, stubborn, and impossible to work with (the least attractive attributes a man could possibly have). 

You've known the man for many years, ever since you had attended Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as a student and he as an instructor. Somehow, despite now being X-Men and thus equals, against all odds and reason, he has gotten worse (which until now, had seemed nearly impossible).

He is constantly irritable, never not on edge, never staying in one place, chain-drinking himself into drunken fits of rage... This was his normal. What wasn't normal was this odd quiet you found him in, this infuriating silence you were met with, the lack of words he had to share with you. He had decided you deserved the silent treatment, and one lacking any resemblance of anger at that. Every time you spoke to him, attempted to exchange words, it was like he lost his train of thought, and his expression twisted into one of restlessness, like he wanted to be anywhere but there...

...and it drove you nuts. You never really wanted to talk to him because every conversation felt like talking to an angry brick wall with claws, but it still made you want to throw something at his stupid head. The guy was already the most intolerable asshole you'd ever met, but now, after years of knowing him, he had the gall to give you the silent treatment out of nowhere? Hell no. 

It was making it even more impossible to talk to him on missions, because rather than rolling his eyes and choosing to ignore your commands, he ignored you all together, a panicked look on his face before running in the opposite direction. It was like he was scared of you, which made you all that more irritated now in active combat.

The mission was supposed to be simple. Like most missions the professor chose to send you out on, it was intended to be an extraction, a retrieval of young mutants who had found themselves in captivity by one of many anti-mutant organizations plaguing the U.S. It was no surprise that it was a breeze to get into the compound, because anti-mutant bigots were just flat out bad at fighting against mutants (a detriment to them and a bonus to you). Getting the young mutants out of their confines was easy, and they went willingly once they heard where they'd be going once they were rescued. The plan was solid down to the last details, every hour planned accordingly down to where the jet would pick you up. 

What the professor had neglected to tell you, and likely for good reason, was that the mutants had been there not for torture, but for the purpose of militant power. The young mutants were there to be trained as members of the Weapon X program, a coveted government operation to turn mutants into weapons of mass destruction... one that Logan was all too familiar with. 

The primary issue with you not knowing about the context of the facility was that Logan also had no clue what he was walking into.

As previously mentioned, the mission was planned down to the minute, and the escape had to be flawless for all of you to leave untouched and in one piece. The plan had to be executed flawlessly with no unplanned stops along the exit route...

...Thanks to Logan, that didn't happen. 

In Logan's defense, not knowing that a mission you are involved in revolves almost entirely around the organization that tortured you to make you a government weapon... is kind of a big deal. That is not to excuse the fact that he did behave irrationally and against clear mission protocol, because he did put the entire operation in jeopardy. Still, the man deserves at least a little grace, a little wiggle room to get some answers.

Logan's memories of anything before 1979 were muddled, a collection of glimpses and flashes of memories he didn't entirely remember to the finest of details. If you were to ask him about World War I, he'd remember it down to the kill count, but if you asked him what he was doing when he wasn't in combat, he'd barely be able to tell you anything. It frustrated him to no end, because he wanted to remember, he really did. Instead, his memories came in terrifying and unexplainable blinks, mostly at night, when he wakes up screaming, tearing six long gashes in his bed sheets (never ask the professor what the budget for Logan's new bed sheets is).

Any hint or clue of what Logan's life looked like before his mysterious memory wipe, he'd leap at it, damning the consequences and throwing caution and care to the wind along with his sense of reason. If you got in the way of him during moments of "self-discovery," you better have a clear schedule, free to spend in the hospital. In this particular moment, the one you are recalling now with a grimace, you happened to be right in his line of fire...