There was complete silence throughout the room, and as Rogue scanned the various faces, she saw absolutely no hint that anyone was going to begin an explanation.
‘Look, what the hell is going on??’
Her voice came out high-pitched and slightly squeaky with panic, and despite the current situation she saw the corner of Logan’s mouth quirk up. But still no-one was speaking. She turned to the Professor.
‘Professor? What’s happened? Who are these…these…’, she searched for a word that didn’t sound vaguely insulting, ‘…people?’
The Professor sighed, and Rogue noticed for the first time how tired he looked, and she wondered whether he had slept. When he spoke he sounded weary.
‘Relax, Rogue, everything is fine. I’m just trying to work out where to begin.’
At these words, the tall blond-haired man shoved his hands into his pockets and leant back against the door frame.
‘Perhaps we should begin at the beginning?’
Logan snarled, the animal in him clearly screaming for respect. The blond man smiled at him, more than a hint of mockery in the expression.
‘Or failing that, perhaps with an introduction? Stripes there on the couch is looking at me as though I eat kiddies for a living.’
‘My name is Rogue.’
Her voice was quiet, cold, but he didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
‘And my name is Alex. Now then, first name terms, isn’t that better?’
Another snarl ripped from Logan’s throat, this one much fiercer. The lazy smile on the man’s face widened, and he stepped forward.
‘Someone’s feeling a wee bit grouchy this morning. Didn’t we sleep well?’
Logan stepped away from the wall, lip curling, and with a deadly sounding ‘snikt’, his claws shot out from his knuckles, the adamantium gleaming in the sunlight. Anyone with sense would be running like they were training for the Olympics right now, but this man smiled, a light dancing in his grey eyes, and stepped forward as well, removing his hands from his pockets.
He unfurled his hands and held them out from his body, palms up. A metal swish echoed through the air, and Rogue watched, feeling her eyes widen in horror, as five long snakes of metal grew out from his palms, coiling through the air around him, until he was surrounded by a mass of twisting metal rope. His smile widened.
‘They call me Tendril.’
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Logan’s eyes were tracking the process of the metal ropes as they furled and unfurled in a web that Rogue had the feeling you really didn’t want to get caught in. Tendril grinned, the spider at the very centre of the web.
‘Want to try your luck wolf man?’
Logan’s eyes darkened, hazel bleeding into flat matt-black and he let out a furious growl, tensing as though to pounce.
{E-NOUGH!}
The mental voice made everyone in the room wince, and Rogue clapped her hands to her forehead, trying desperately to stop the painful ringing of the mental command. It had the desired effect on Logan however, as he swallowed hard, fists clenching as his claws slowly slid back in. Rogue knew how much effort that must have taken, and how hard it must be for the animal in him to just back down from a fight.
The voice had had no such effect on Tendril however. He was smiling, metal still twisting, regarding Logan with the sly eyes of a man goading his prey.
‘Scared of a fight Wolverine? And they told me such tales.’
A ripple of fury ran through Rogue at this, and she removed one glove slowly. The blond woman standing towards the back of the group noticed this, and she moved forwards.
‘Alex, enough!’
She sounded commanding, formidable even, but the words had no effect. Alex didn’t even move, didn’t even appear to have registered the words until the third man stepped forward, touching three fingers to the small of his back. Alex looked over his shoulder at that, and their eyes connected for a second, before he exhaled sharply, and the metal tendrils coiled back carefully, melting into his palms, the skin closing over them. He stepped back. The woman muttered, ‘Well done, Marcus’ before the Professor spoke again, addressing the three.
‘You have come to us to ask for our help. We did not judge you, despite the obvious reasons for mistrust. We have agreed to lend you our support, and we ask nothing in return. But if any behaviour like that is ever displayed again inside my home, then I will turn you over to Magneto myself. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Crystal.’
The Professor smiled at the woman, it was a little frosty, but a smile nevertheless, which in Rogue’s eyes displayed some quite remarkable self-control.
‘Now, perhaps we might start with some introductions? Preferably without any more displays of arrogance and bravado.’
‘What do you want to know? Real names? Code names? A quick life history?’
‘You can skip the life history.’ Logan did not sound friendly. Unsurprisingly.
The woman stepped forward first, clearly appointing herself group spokeswoman. She was very…very…once again Rogue attempted to find a word that wasn’t rude or insulting. She failed. Again. The woman was strange that was all. Perhaps some might say beautiful. She was petite; small and slim, and if it wasn’t for the aura of danger, Rogue might have used the word breakable. Her hair fell midway down her back, and was a very pale blonde. It would have been pretty, except for the fact that it was interlaced with multiple streaks of white, silver, and very pale blue, and her face was highlighted by two thick locks of vicious black. In conjunction with her bizarre hair, her skin was so white it was almost translucent, and her eyes, in stark contrast, were bright shiny black, strange streaks of glowing silver whirling in their depths. The overall effect was slightly creepy.
When she spoke her tone was clear, sharp, and if Rogue were to hazard a guess at her personality, she would say they were looking at the very incarnation of the phrase ‘does not suffer fools gladly’. She introduced them briefly, pointing and saying a name, and Rogue was strongly reminded of the weekly sessions of Show-And-Tell she had suffered through in primary school.
‘My name is Tia Whitley. Bolt. This is Alex Larson, Tendril, and Marcus Hunt, DeathTouch.’
At the last two names, she indicated first the blond man, and then the tall, thin man standing at the back.
‘And her?’ That was Logan, straight to the point as usual.
Tia smiled, and gestured the little girl forward. She came reluctantly, clutching at the scruff of the wolf’s neck and dragging it forward like a soft toy. It seemed ‘oddly’ reluctant to go anywhere near Logan.
‘This is Leyna. Leyna Allerdyce.’
Over in the corner Bobby stiffened. In fact, all of the Junior X-Men drew a breath at that. Of all the surnames the little girl could have had. Logan however, either appeared not to notice, or just plain didn’t care. Pick one.
‘Does she have a ‘nickname’?’
There was no mistaking the slightly sneering tone of voice, and Tia straightened up slightly, her tone cutting as she replied,
‘No, Wolverine, she is seven years old.’
The girl tugged at Tia’s sleeve, brown eyes staring up at her beseechingly. Tia looked confused, and to her credit, neither of the two men seemed to realise what Leyna wanted either. Eventually the little girl turned to Logan, perhaps feeling that he had earned her pets respect and therefore he warranted the introduction most. She pointed to the wolf at her side,
‘Freddie.’ She announced solemnly.
The hazel eyes on the wolf remained fixed firmly on the floor, and had it not been an animal, Rogue would have sworn it looked embarrassed.
There was a brief moment’s silence. And then Jubilee started to laugh.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Apologies for the short nature of this chapter as well. I have never attempted plot before, so I am going to take it a bit at a time :) Hope this is okay. Special thanks to AnnieHowlett, Tasa, and velvetemr73 for the reviews. They make my day :)