After the War

36

I was at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I usually visited the school every three months or so to check up on Mia. I was the only family she had, and I was technically her legal guardian.

"So how've you been, kid" I asked her.

"I'm fine, like I was three months ago" she laughed and rolled her eyes "you ask me that every time you're here. How's my pa".

"He's still in prison. He actually got put in solitary confinement for beating his cell mate to death" I stated.

"Sounds just like that old bastard. I'm happy that you put him in a cell".

"So I came up with this idea a while back, and I'm not sure if my boss will like it. I want to open up a safe haven for victims of abuse, orphans, and kids who are bullied. It wouldn't be just for mutants either; I want to teach kids how to fight".

"That's sounds like a great idea. Why wouldn't your boss like it".

"He hates my guts, and he's convinced that all abuse victims turn out like their parents".

"But he's met you right. You're an orphan, an abuse victim, and you were bullied. Why can't he see that we don't all turn out like our parents".

"He hates me because I don't always follow the rules. He can't fire me because I'm good at my job, but that doesn't stop him from hating my guts. Not to mention the fact that I agree with vigilantes".

"You should introduce him to Logan, maybe he'd reconsider".

"I know for a fact that I'm just as scary as Logan".

"Maybe your boss is sexist".

"He is; the only other woman at the station is the secretary. The only reason I got hired was because the detective that interviewed me found out about my past and thought that I'd be useful".

"Why don't you quit".

"Because being a vigilante doesn't pay the bills, and I need crooks to stay off the streets. I might be an assassin, but if I start killing people then the cops will start hunting me".

"Why aren't you the boss".

"Because I like being in the field. I like the rush I feel when I stop someone from getting hurt. As the police captain, I shouldn't be in the field that much, but I do the work of a detective and a captain. If I was the chief then I would spend the rest of my days working on paperwork. I work fifty hours a week as a cop and another twenty as a vigilante. I'm surprised that I haven't died from stress and being overworked. A doctor once told me that if I keep working seventy hours weeks then I'll be dead in two years".

"Quit your job and work here. You can teach art with Logan" Mia suggested.

"I would, but I really like Denver. Besides, you know exactly how I feel about being close to New York City".

"What would life be like if we had normal childhoods" Logan came into the room at that moment.

"Well, I'd probably be working for NASA, and you wouldn't be part of this messed up world that we live in. You'd be in high school, and your parents would love you, and you'd have normal friends" I said.

"If I was normal, then I would have died about two hundred years ago" Logan finally spoke.

"I forgot that you were born back in the 1800s. Thank god that you and I aren't normal" I muttered.

"'Now you run on home to your mother tell her everything's alright, and there aren't any more guns in the valley.' Except Will and I are the weapons, and none of us have mothers" Logan whispered.