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Chapter 4

We all come into a room with a sphered ceiling which is entirely black. In the center of the room is a huge - for lack of a better term - device. Part computer, part super- structure, it is the sort of precision tangle of metal and wire that would make Da Vinci weep. It has a space in the bottom that seems to fit Charles and his chair perfectly. Suspended above its center -- a web of wires, tubes, and cables all connecting to the heart of the device -- a chrome skullcap. Logan slowly circles the device. I looked at it amazed.

"You designed this yourself?" Logan asks, looking at Charles.

"Actually, Magneto helped me put it together." Charles tells him. I look at him surprised.

"He helped you?" Logan asked suprised.

"We were friends once... But that was a long time ago." We all watch as Charles fits his wheelchair into the huge machine, and the chrome skull cap lowers onto his head, fitting like a second skin. It comes to life. What was dark and menacing is now a brilliant explosion of colored lights.

"I've found her, Westchester Mall." Charles informs us.

"I'll go." Logan says.

"No...I'll go." Scott says. Logan and Scott look at each other for a minute.

"Okay, sport... You go." Logan says.

I sit in my room, my eyes closed. I was trying to remember but it wasn't working very well.  Every time I close my eyes all I remember is pain. I open my eyes to see Logan. I jump back slightly. "Can I ask you a question?" he asks while leaning against the doorway. I nod while getting off my bed. I smell blood and I immediately know it's from my shirt last night that I forgot to dispose of. I do my best to ignore it.

"What's your question?"

"Do you even see the point in any of this?" I look around.

"I see it as a safe place. For kids to be normal."

"Normal? No one here is normal." he had a point.

"They can be as normal as they can be here. I'm guessing not many mutants got that." Logan walks into the room. He looks around, I immediately know what he's looking for. The source of the blood. He walks over to the closet.

"What are you-" I start but Logan raises a hand to shut me up. He opens the closet and he looks around. He pulls out a shirt. A bloody one.

"Not the best hiding place." I walk over to him and I snatch the shirt.

"I was tired." I mumble as I throw it in a drawer and I slam it shut. Logan is about to ask something else.

"Logan?" We both turn out head at Rouge. "Logan. The Professer want a you right away." I look at her. She didn't seem herself.

"Hey Rouge, tell Caitlin What you told me last night." rouge looks confused and I look at her skeptical. I resist the urge to eject my claws.

"The Professer--" Logan walks closer to her.

"You remember. About woman." he moves closer.

"Logan--"

"Whatever you say about them being the same..." Logan ejects his claws and lunges at her. "No two woman smell alike." he grabs her by the throat. Rouge, or whoever she is, looks at me for help. I notice Logan's left hand an her throat and nothing happens to him. She then morphs into a blue woman.

"I never thought I'd get to meet you." I spin around to see an elderly man. He looks as old as Charles. I'm betting he's Magneto. "I've heard about you...the human that was turned mutant." Suddenly my dresser flies at him but he avoids it and throws me against the wall.

"Telekinesis. Fascinating. What I wouldn't give for that. I bet you don't like it though." I growl. "Alas, metal is all I'm good for. But that's why I have you pinned against the wall, correct? Because of the adamantium."

"Go to hell." is all I say. He chuckles and forces both of my hands to be pointed directly at my stomach. I don't dare move. Logan looks at me for a minute and soon realizes it.

"I do love a good checkmate."

"What do you want?" Logan asks.

"Come with me and I won't hurt the poor girl." I feel my claws come out the slightest. I try to control it but it doesnt work.

"You think I care about her?" Logan asks. Honestly, no. We barely knew each other.

"Then hurt her. Stab her." I can tell this catches Logan off guard. "Do it. Either you do it or me." Logan thinks for a minute and he retracts his claws. This suprised me. Not expecting it, Magneto let's me go and I fall to the ground. Since I didn't expect it my claws eject into my stomach. I wince in pain and Logan is about to say something but the blue girl injects something into his neck instantly making him weak. I'm about to pull my claws out but Magneto forces me to keep them in.