Taming a Beast

The next day, I woke up to a sore body and tired eyes. I barely made it to my first class of the day on time, and taught with such lack of enthusiasm that three of my kids fell asleep. I apologized for my behavior, and then, my saving grace appeared.

“Will all senior X-Men please report to the conference room?” Xavier asked over the PA. I nodded to Shadowcat, who kind of acted like my TA for this class, and she stood up and continued the lesson with much more jazz than I had bothered with. I walked out of my classroom, being pulled aside by Logan who kissed my lips. I laughed and pulled away.

“Logan, how many times do I have to remind you about little kids walking around with the potential to be scarred by your strange sense of affection?” I asked him, walking down the hallway as he followed. I could see him smirk next to me out of the corner of my eye.

I shifted into one of Magneto’s telepaths since I had newly learned that possessing Xavier or Jean’s own abilities messed with their minds. Logan and I walked down the hallway to the conference room looming at the end of the hall, and I tried to focus on the thoughts of Magneto. I concluded that he had gotten ahold of a new helmet, because it was like trying to break through a mental brick wall.

Logan suddenly grabbed my hand as he whipped me around, placing his lips on mine. I lost my focus and phased back down to my regular being, and I felt Logan smile as he pulled away. I gave him a curious look and he just grinned, shaking his head as he said, “Your lips are better than anyone else’s you could phase into.”

I scoffed, smiling at him. “Well, that’s good to know.”

“We don’t have time for you two to play Romeo and Juliet,” Gambit said as he walked past us. I quickly pulled away from Logan, but he kept his hand right next to mine so they brushed when we walked. Occasionally, our fingers would hook only for me to pull it out. I saw Logan trying to hide a smirk.

“Okay, so what’s the plan, boss?” Gambit asked as we finally reached the conference table. Professor Xavier and Scotty looked up from the schematics they had spread out in front of them, and nodded at each other before facing the rest of us.

“Magneto’s army is hidden in the forest by some lake in Canada, plotting his next move, as we all know,” Xavier began. “But it seems Magneto himself has taken refuge in a nearby warehouse. I’m afraid that, before he got his helmet back, I was able to read a bit of his mind and he has fearsome things in store. So I’m also afraid that we will have to go fight him.”

“Bring out the snowsuits,” Gambit said, smirking and rubbing his hands together.

“We need a strategy, however,” logical Scotty said, giving a disappointed look to Gambit’s enthusiasm for fighting. “Should we take the younger X-Men?”

“I think we should,” I said, all eyes swiveling towards me. “They need to be exposed to more real-life fighting, and, from the size of the threat Xavier is talking about, we could use all the help we can get.”

“But what if they’re not ready?” motherly Storm countered. “We might be risking them.”

“Sometimes, it’s necessary to take risks,” Xavier spoke up, and when he did, his word was practically law. Usually the only three who had the balls to argue with him were Storm, Logan, and I, but none of us disagreed with him at the moment. Or, if one of the others did, they didn’t speak up.

“Okay, so yes to the younger X-Men coming. We should leave in two days, giving us time to fit in some last-minute training. Wolverine, you, Gambit, and I will really start drilling into Colossus and Iceman. Storm, Jean, Rogue, I want you three to take Shadowcat,” Scotty said to them, nodding. I looked around.

“Am I supposed to stand off in the corner and pick my nose or something?” I asked. Logan tried to stifle a laugh beside me, and Rogue quietly giggled.

Scotty looked increasingly uncomfortable as he looked to Xavier. Xavier met my eyes and said, “Everybody has been telling me I’ve been pushing you much too hard since you got back. After your last few... over-exhaustions, I’ve decided they’re right. You’re off duty for now, but be ready at any moment because you could be called to help, especially with the guys. They may need all the help they can get.”

“Xavier, are you kidding me? I can help, we can split up. Logan and I can take Colossus, while Scotty and Gambit take Iceman. That would make things easier,” I said, trying to persuade him. He drilled his eyes into mine, and I could feel him invading my inner membrane. I shut my eyes and said, “Stop, please.”

“What are you doing to her?” Logan asked him, grabbing me. I fought Xavier, refusing to let him change my mind forcibly. Logan roared, “Stop!”

“I’ll stand down if you just stop,” I said weakly. Xavier stopped and I leant against Logan, glaring at Xavier. He gave me an amused look. “I don’t appreciate you taking away my free will, Xavier.”

“You don’t appreciate it? Well, your opponents are not going to care about that, now are they?” Xavier asked me in his teasing tone he always used in our training sessions. Everybody looked surprised at the sarcastic side of him that they probably hadn’t seen in such quantity before. But his harsh words were the only ones that could normally get through to me back in my stubborn days when I first arrived here.

I pulled out of Logan’s grip and asked Scotty sharply, “Are we done here?”

“Uh, yes,” he said, looking a bit baffled, “we are. You are free to go, but be aware that we may call for more meetings in the next two days.”

I walked out of the room and Logan was right behind me. He turned me around and got close to me, shushing me and rubbing my arm. “You can’t let him get to you.”

“I know, but I just...” I let out a frustrated breath of air. “I don’t know.”

“Shiloh?” Someone asked. I looked over and saw Hank was wrenching his hands, probably worried about interrupting Logan and I. He cleared his throat before saying, “Since you don’t have a class next period, I was wondering if you could come down to my lab and just help me with preparing some things.”

I nodded and kissed Logan real quick before accompanying Hank on the journey down to his lab. We discussed random fighting tactics and whatnot before we finally made it to his lab, where he gave me a legitimate to-do list for me to gather small stuff around the house.

I was waiting for him to finish something up so I could take it back to my room for the next day, some kind of new weapon or something, and that gave me time to think-- too much time. I thought about how my birthday was coming up soon, and I’d be a year closer to the age Logan was stuck at... and only a year less than him at that. It was like I was in that stupid tween book Twilight, where the idiotic main character wants to be changed into a vampire so she doesn’t age older than her vampire boyfriend. But now, I realized, maybe she wasn’t so idiotic. Here I was, wanting the same thing.

I looked over at Hank, poring over his desk, the chemicals, and the scattered papers covered in long words and calculations. I remembered back before I had left, he had asked me if Logan had ever told me how he became so-called invincible. I told him I didn’t know, and neither did Logan. Logan remembered nothing before arriving at the mansion, much to his pain. But maybe, since then, Hank had figured something out.

“Hank,” I said, twirling a piece of hair around my finger. “Did you ever find out why Logan was invincible?”

Hank slowly turned towards me, and I batted my eyelashes. Although it was common knowledge that Hank was in love with Storm, he was an absolute sucker for any girl who asked for anything nicely enough. He sighed and sat down in a chair in front of me, looking me dead in the eyes as he said, “What I tell to you right now does not go to Logan, alright? At least, as far as his personal past is concerned. For whatever reason, Xavier hasn’t tried repairing yet, and although he won’t give me an explanation as to why, I respect his wishes.”

“Understood,” I said, nodding my head. “So, what’s the story?”

“When Xavier first brought Wolverine in, we did a body examination. We found copious amounts of iron in his body. Xavier, Scotty, and I did a little research and found out Wolverine had been involved with a government project to see how much iron could be injected into a body and to see if that person would, in a sense, become nearly invincible. See, iron itself is hard to cut through, but when it is, the actual nutrient of iron is quick to heal its wounds.”

“That’s why he heals so fast after a bad cut that could’ve been fatal to you or I,” I said. Hank nodded.

“Precisely. And, don’t tell any of the other people about this, but the same warehouse where Magneto is hiding in Canada? It’s the place where they conducted the experiment. That’s why Xavier was hesitant about moving in. He’s afraid Logan may remember everything in one sudden flash and just flip,” Hank said. I nodded, and Hank continued. “Anyway, that’s how he became invincible.”

“Do you think it’s possible for someone like, Shadowcat, to become invincible?” I said. Hank’s eyes narrowed. Although easily persuaded, he surely wasn’t stupid.

“If they had an extremely high pain tolerance and didn’t overdose like Logan nearly did, then yes,” Hank said, tipping his head. “What are you up to, Shiloh?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said, standing up. “Thanks, Hank, you’ve been a great help!”

“Shiloh, don’t do anything stupid!” He yelled after me. I ran out the door and down the hallway, the smile growing bigger and bigger on my face with every step I took. Finally, I had a place to start to become invincible and start aging, a place to become equal with Logan.

The time for step one of my plan to be completed was coming close.