Chapter 5

  Arc 1 - Ch 5: Csses

  Date: Friday, June 4, 2010.

  Location: Xavier Institute, Scarsdale, New York

  Tyson awoke with first light, eager to start his day. He slipped out of bed a down the dormitory hallway, the plush carpet soft under his bare feet. The institute was bed in early m silence, most of its residents still fast asleep. Tyson appreciated the quiet calm as he ehe unal bathroom. The lights flickered on automatically, revealing the empty shower room. Tyson stripped off his sweats and stepped into one of the shower stalls, turning the faucet to release a steaming cascade. The hot water was a wele relief, rexing his muscur frame.

  Living in a school full of mutants, Tyso least one of them eeper. The Professor said he'd had trouble reading Tyson, but Jean's telepathic abilities seemed to pick up on his thoughts and knew what he was doierday in his dorm room. As far as he khere could be someone invisible ihroom, or someoral projeg, or looking through the walls. He chuckled ruefully at the situation as he rihe soap from his body. The curveballs kept ing, but he would adapt. This was his life now, for better or worse.

  He shut off the faucet, stepped out, and toweled off, ready to seize the new day.

  His first day as a student at Xavier's Institute.

  With a resigned sigh, Tyson slumped into the hard pstic chair of his desk in Professor Xavier's first-period Physics css. Despite his newly acquired superpowers, enhanced learning was not among them. And trying to keep up with the physics css, in the middle of June nearing finals, roving to be an exercise in futility.

  plig matters further was the distrag presence of Illyana Rasputin, who sat at the desk beside him. Her proximity made it hard to focus on the lecture, especially when she seemed i on needling him.

  Several desks away sat another distra; a young woman whom Tyson couldn't quite pce. Though he was certain they hadn't met the day before, something about her seemed familiar. More than once, he caught himself stealing gnces in her dire trying to pce her face, instead of paying attention to Professor Xavier's lecture.

  "Physics isn't your strong suit, is it Tyson?" Illyana said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "Or is it simply my presehat has you so... unfocused?"

  Tysohe nearly overwhelming urge to snap back, to put Illyana in her pce. But he held himself in check.

  "Maybe if you didn't radiate such a distrag aura, I'd find this lecture easier to pay attention to," he replied evenly.

  "You should feel grateful. At least one of us here is worth noting." she gloated ihick Russian at.

  Throughout the entire css, she took pleasure iing his self-trol. Illyana's every move seemed desigo capture his attention and draw his focus from Professor Xavier's lecture. At one point, she deliberately let her eraser slip to the floor. Her attempt to capture Tyson's attention was as transparent. With slow, deliberate movements, she leaned forward in her seat, arg her back to provide him a view down the front of her bck top. The low nee revealed just a hint of cleavage as she aowards the floor. Tyson's gaze followed helplessly along the line of her colrbone, down to the entig swell of her breasts. For a moment she became his entire world, the fading away as he found himself ensnared by her deliberate dispy. Illyana khe effect she had. Something as simple as dropping an eraser became a subtle power py, a remihat she need not rely on words to draw his focus.

  Raising back up, her eyes locked with Tyson's. "Now how's that for a distra?"

  Tysohe feral instincts of Sabertooth stirring within him, threatening to override his self-trol. Illyana was trying to provoke a rea, and the primal part of him was taking the bait. He imagined grabbing her, feeling her smooth skin under his hands as he asserted his dominance. How long could she withstand his touch? Long enough for them to indulge in some mutual pleasure?

  He shook his head sharply, reining in those dangerous thoughts.

  Tyson fought to restrain the ferocious alter-ego that was noart of his psyche. Sabertooth's personality and powers may be fused with his, but he refused to surrender his trol. Fog his will, Tysohe ravenous beast caged, though Illyana's antics tested the limits of his restraint.

  This was his new reality, for better or for worse. The influence of Sabertooth's animal magism and hair-trigger temper threateo overwhelm him. But Tyson was determined not to lose himself to the savage killer's unsated appetites. He would o adapt to these ges while retaining as much of his true self as possible.

  The door creaked open uedly. Logan stalked in still wearing worn jeans and a simple white t-shirt. He sed the room warily and his posture radiated tension.

  The students froze at the stranger's sudderance. All except Tyson, who weled the interruption to the lecture.

  Professor Xavier remained unfazed, merely turning his attention to the rugged man. "Good m, Logan," he greeted warmly. The clock's releig marked the aause before the shrill bell signaling the end of css.

  "I'd like your definitions of the weak and strong anthropic principles on my desk by Wednesday," Xavier said to the students as though nothing was amiss.

  Tyson's gaze shifted between Logan and the professor, sensing the palpable tension in Logan's coiled muscles. Raising his hands in a pacifyiure, he spoke, "Take it easy, Logan. No need for cws here. It's just a school," he said, hoping to defuse the votile man.

  Logan rexed and the css let out a collective sigh of relief.

  Illyana stood, shooting Tyso defiant gre before striding out of the . Meanwhile, the petite brue who had seemed so familiar to Tyson rose gracefully, pag her books int. "Bye Professor," she said sweetly.

  "Goodbye Kitty," Xavier replied warmly. Tyson snapped his fingers as the name clicked into pce. Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat. Of course.

  Logan stayed silent as he watched the students leave. His eyes spoke of mistrust and suspi, at odds with the schorly setting. His brows furrowing in fusion as he regarded Tyson. "Kid, is that you? What the hell happened?" he asked bewildered.

  Tyson chuckled. "Yeah, you missed a bit while you were napping," he responded lightly. And so he began reting the rest of the harrowing enter with Sabertooth, his voice painting a vivid picture of the battle. As Tyson spun his tale, the door opened and three new figures ehe .

  The first was Ororo Munroe, following her was Scott Summers, and close on Scott's heels was the redhead student Tyson had met yesterday, Jean Grey.

  As Tyson tinued reting his story, their faces dispyed varying degrees of as they listened.

  Upon the pletion, Professor Xavier steepled his fihoughtfully beh his before replying, "You'll be safe here from Mago."

  Logan's brows furrowed once more, creasing his rugged features. "What's a Mago?"

  "A very powerful mutant who believes that a war is brewiween mutants and the rest of humanity," Xavier expined calmly. "I’ve been following his activities for some time. The man who attacked you was an associate of his called Sabertooth."

  "Sabertooth?" Logaed, his tone incredulous. Then, with a g Ororo, he grumbled, "Storm." His gaze swiveled back to the Professor, a challenge flickering in his eyes. "And what do they call you? Wheels?" he scoffed derisively, his words dripping with disbelief and annoyahis is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard," he said as he turo leave.

  Scott Summers stood in the doorway, arms crossed, blog Loga.

  "Cyclops, right?" Logan's asked, grabbing the visor-wearing man's shirt in his hands. "Get out of my way."

  Before tensions could escate further, Professor Xavier's calm voice cut through the charged air. "Logan, it's been almost 15 years now, hasn't it?" Xavier's pierg blue eyes were steady, probing. "Drifting from pce to pever settling, never remembering who you are."

  Logan bristled, a snarl curling his lip. "I said shut up."

  Unfazed by the hostility, Xavier pressed on, his voice smooth and impl. "Just give me a ce. I believe I uhe answers you seek."

  Tyson's sudden interruption broke the standoff. "Your name is James Howlett. Logan is just a niame."

  A heavy silence desded on the room. Xavier and Logan both turo Tyson, surprise flickering across their faces.

  Logan's eyes narrowed, his voiderid with vulnerability. "How the hell would you know that?"

  Tyson tapped his temple. "Sabertooth knew you. His memories became mine when I absorbed him."

  Logan tensed, wary yet hungry for answers. "Expin. Now," he bit out.

  Tyson's eyes took on a distant gze as he delved into Sabertooth's memories. "It started before the wars," he began, "Sabertooth had a cruel tradition with his brother, Saul. Every year on his birthday he would track him down, no matter where he was, a him mercilessly to assert his dominance."

  Tyson's voice took on a harsh edge as he eled Sabertooth's simmering rage. "But one year, his brother was o be found. Turns out, Saul had been killed." Tyson locked eyes with Logan, voice heavy with meaning. "It was you. You were the one who killed him."

  "I don't remember any of that," Logan responded.

  Tyson pressed on, lost in the dark tide of memories. "Sabertooth was furious. More because you had disrupted his tradition than out of brotherly love. He needed a arget for his violent obsession, someoo take his brother's pce. And who better than the one who stole his prey?"

  Logan's face drained of color. But his eyes remained fixed on Tyson, desperate to uand, to recim the fragmented pieces of a fotten life. "Keep going," he urged.

  "He tracked you across the wilderness," Tyson tinued, his voice detached and mournful, "finding you at st amongst the Bckfoot people. There you had found a brief soce, a sense of belonging. And love, in the form of a woman named Silver Fox."

  Logan forced himself to ask, "What happeo her?"

  Tyson swallowed hard, a craing in his narration as his emotion seeped through the recolle. "Sabertooth took her from you, just as you had taken his brother. And then, to seal his vengeance, he fed a radition. Every year, on the anniversary of his brother's death, he would hunt you down a you within an inch of your life, just as he had doo his brother."

  Logan sank into a chair, head bowed uhe staggeri of memories he did not possess. He radiated impotent rage and the raw need for closure. Professor X wheeled closer, pg a geeadying hand on Logan's slumped shoulder, silent support.

  Fan, the revetion was a glimpse into a past he yearo recim. For Tyson, it was a burden, bearing the memories aions of another man. Professor X's eyes were solemn, knowing the story would only deepen Logan's o fill in the bnk spaces, to find the closure that still eluded him. Jean watched with quiet empathy, sensing both men's anguish as if it were a living thing.

  Tyson's eyes took on a faraway look as he tinued his tale. "You might not believe it, but there was a time when you fought on the same side."

  Loga out a derisive snort, arms folded across his broad chest. "Yeah, that's hard to picture."

  "The world was at war," Tyson said, "World War II, to be precise. Nations crumbling, i lives lost by the thousands." He paused, holding Logan's skeptical gaze. "You and Victor fought alongside Captain America himself."

  A heavy silence fell over the room. Even Logan seemed momentarily taken aback, eyebrows raised in surprise.

  Professor Xavier leaned forward in his wheelchair, steepling his fingers with i. "That's a part of history ferivy to. Please, go on."

  Tyson nodded, his eyes gzing over as he delved into memories not his own. "The three of you were an unstoppable force. Victor was raw power and animal fury. Logan, you were tactical and skilled. Both of you were able to heal from any wound. And Captain America, the embodiment of freedom, led the charge. For a time, you cast aside your differences and united."

  Logan shifted in his seat, jaw tightening. "So what, we pyed at being heroes?" he asked gruffly.

  "War makes for unlikely alliances," Tyson said, "Enemies became rades. The world needed saviors, and for a time, despite everything... you were."

  "What else? There's more, isn't there?"

  "The war ged much," Tyson began solemnly. "But some habits die hard. No matter where you went, Victor always found you. You spent time in Madripoor, then Japan. For a while, there eace. Happiness." Tysoated, then pushed.

  "You'd started a family."

  "Victor discovered your wife regnant." Tyson held Logan's pained gaze. "He inteo end it. To kill her as he'd killed your lovers before. But fate intervened. Itsu was taken from you... before he could."

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. Logan's grief and rage were almost palpable, hanging heavy in the air. Lost in distant memories, haunted by ghosts, he could only sit in tortured silence.

  Tyson's voice softened with empathy. "But the past didhere. There was... the on X program."

  Logan flinched as if struck, his body tensing. Pain flickered across his features a the mention of that name.

  Professor X leaned forward. "Logan, it's important that we discuss…"

  "They took you in," Tyson interjected, tinuing over the Professor, f him to fall silent. "Pyed with your mind, your memories. Grafted the unbreakable adamantium onto your skeleton, transf you into... what you are now."

  "Sabertooth watched it all from the shadows. Your torture. The procedure of grafting adamantium to your bowisted envy brewed within him as he withe living on they fed you into. The memories get hazy here. on X messed with his memories as much as they did yours, but Creed was always able to hold on to his better than you were. But in time, he lost track of you, prowling the wilderness and desding into feral savagery. His recolles bee just fshes of fury and bloodlust, with scarcely a scrap of humanity left. His memories blurred, ed by animal rage and instinct for years on end, until Mago finally found him."

  "Fate brought you two together again while Sabertooth carried out his new master's bidding." Tyson paused. Turning to face the professor, his expression grew solemn. "I 't glean much about Sabertooth's thoughts after his feral years roaming wild. But I do know Mago sent him after me, not Logan. It was my st he followed. I was his intearget."

  Xavier leaned forward, his eyes radiating passion and resolve. "You have nothing to fear here, Tyson. Within these walls, you are safe. And should you leave the institute for any reason, we will ensure one of the professors apanies you for prote."

  Logan sighed, the fight draining from his body. In its pce remained only weariness. "What's done is done. Anything else?"

  "That's the heart of what I could easily access," Tyson replied, his voice returning to its normal timbre. "Memories tainted by hatred, jealousy, a thirst for power. Sabertooth's perspective of your past is distorted, tinged with his own dark twist. But it's a glimpse."

  Thick silence followed, saturated with paiion, aant acceptance. Professor X finally spoke, "These memories, however agonizing, are part of who you are, Logan. It's vital to front them, learn from them."

  Logan lifted his head, meeting Tyson's gaze. He saw how the memories affected Tyson, and how the young man lived through them as he spoke.

  "You may have his memories, kid, but you're not him."

  Vulnerability etched itself across Tyson's face. His voice trembled slightly. "I know, intellectually, that I'm not Sabertooth. But when I tap into his memories, feel the raw emotions, the experiences... it's hard not to believe that was me, that those were my choices."

  Professor Xavier leaned ba his wheelchair, fingers steepled in ption as he regarded Tyson. "It be challenging to navigate even normal minds, you'll have to tend with s which recolles truly belong to you, and which you have absorbed from others."

  Tyson shifted uneasily. "I feel like I'm being torn in two dires, Professor. Part of me wants to embrace these memories and follow where they lead. But there's another part that recoils at what I see." He ched his fists, the veins in his muscur arms standing out. "Even now, I have this urge to fight Logan, to give in to the animal rage I absorbed from Sabertooth."

  Xavier nodded sagely, his eyes geh uanding. "You have e to the right pce. This school exists to aid mutants in trolling their abilities, and the css we offer our psychic students help give you the mental framework you need."

  Surprise flitted across Tyson's face. "But I'm not a psychic."

  "No, you are not," Xavier agreed. "Yet the teiques we teach help anize and partmentalize your memories. They will give you an iructure, a means of separating your true self from the psyches you've absorbed."

  From across the , Jean Grey added, "I'd be happy to work with you, Tyson. My telepathy, bined with my training, help guide you through this."

  Tyson gnced between them. "Thank you, both of you. I just want to look in the mirror and reize the person staring back at me."

  Jean stepped forward, pg a supportive hand on his broad shoulder. "You will," she said firmly, resolve glinting in her eyes. "With time and perseverance, you'll find yourself again."

  Logan's eyes darted around the , lingering on the dark wood paneling and rows of leather-bound books that lihe walls. He asked, "What is this pce?"

  "Anonymity is a mutant's first defense against the world's hostility," Xavier began. "To the outside world, this is merely a school fifted youngsters." He paused, his pierg blue eyes meeting those of Scott and Ororo, two of his first students. "Cyclops and Storm were among my inaugural css here. I sheltered them and helped them uand and trol their extraordinary abilities. In time, they learo impart this knowledge to others." His wheelchair glided forward slightly as he surveyed those before him. "Most of our students are runaways. Frightened and alone, many possess gifts so extreme as to make them a dao themselves and those around them."

  "Take your friend Tyson here," Xavier tinued. "Burdened with formidable power, he is incapable of physical human tact, likely for the remainder of his life. Yet this m he stood among peers, learning and growing. Not shunned or feared, but accepted fully for who he is."

  As the weight of Xavier's pronou sank in, Tyson swallowed hard, his mouth dry. 'The rest of my life,' the words echoed bleakly in his mind as he mumbled them aloud.

  Tyson refused to accept that.

  Steeling his resolve, he whispered under his breath, "Not if I help it."

  Tyson's defiant thoughts echoed in Jean's mind. As she listeo his voang of sympathy welled up within her. She khat struggle all too well; the burden of a gift that could feel like a curse.

  "e on," she said gently, "The professor wants to talk to Logan, and we've got physical educatio."

  Tyson gnced down at his physique, flexed his bicep, then back up at Jean, eyebrows raised skeptically. "Really?" he questioned. "What's gym css going to do for me?"

  A rosy blush bloomed on Jean's cheeks. "PE is as much about learning to trol your powers as it is using them," she expined.

  Her words removed all traces of skepticism. "Alright the's get to it!" he agreed eagerly.

  Tyson turned back to face Professor Xavier, pointing a dramatiger at the wheelchair-bound man. eling an anime protagonist, he yelled with gusto, "I'm going to prove y, old man!" Then, in a calmer tone, he addressed Logan. "If you decide to leave… make sure you don't go without saying goodbye." With those parting words, Tyson spun on his heel and strode out of the room following Jean.

  Behind the Ses

  - This se is directly inspired by X-Men (2000).

  - The reting of Logan’s history is an amalgamation of ics, cartoons, and his solo movies.

  - In X-Men Evolution there’s a se where Captain Amerid Logan rescue a young Mag WW2. I like the e so much, sider it for this story.

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