Fallen Future

"Where is he?"

Batman blinked at me, his face emotionless. I wanted to snatch the mask and rip it up and kick at him until he showed something, anything, even if it was anger.

"What are you talking about?" Even his voice gave nothing away.

"Logan," I snarled. "I've been teleporting all over the fucking place and he's gone. Just gone. And he wouldn't leave. Not without-"

My voice cracked and Batman placed a gentle hand on my arm which I shrugged off. I didn't want him touching me. I was still in yesterday's clothes. A half-buttoned shirt and slacks; my hair sticking up all over the place and smelling mostly like Logan's cologne. I knew exactly what it looked like. Which partly it was. We'd spent the night together yes, and maybe technically I had kissed him but-

My thoughts were cut short, spluttering to a halt. I'd kissed Logan. I'd forgotten up till now- I had done it when I was half asleep, after all. I immediately flushed bright red and turned my back on Bats. I pressed my fingers to my lips. I'd kissed Logan and he'd let me.

"My first kiss," I whispered under my breath, smiling like a twelve year old girl. I shook my head at that thought, turning back to Bruce who still wore the same blank expression in the same way he wore his mask. "Where is he? You know everything, right? So you must know where he is."

"Jinx, you're sadly mistaken," he shook his head. "I have no idea on where Logan would go. He never let's anyone know. He doesn't answer to Xavier half the time, never mind me."

"Professor X, of course," I muttered. "Thanks."

"No probl-"

Before he could finish his sentence I'd vanished and appeared in front of the Professor who was having breakfast in the dining area. Raven was with him, and neither looked startled to see me. I paused a moment, my adrenaline rush waning slightly as I looked at the Professor's calm demeanor. Surely if Logan was in danger, he wouldn't be calmly passing toast back and forth?

"You want to know where he is." It wasn't a question. He very rarely had to ask me anything. Either I was too obvious, or my thoughts were easy to pick up on. "He deliberately asked me not to tell you, but I have the feeling you won't leave me alone until you know. And personally, I'd rather have Logan annoyed with me than you."

He smiled at me, letting me know he was on my side. I smiled back easily, even though I was still shaking inside, thrown off by the morning.

"Please, I need to know."

"I sent him. He came to my room early this morning, asking if there was anything he could do to get away from here, any missions I could send him on. And there is. There's been an alarming increase of electrical surges and storms over Paris, France, along with some strange reports from a survivor who arrived a few days ago. I've sent Logan to investigate."

"I have to go," I muttered, tugging on my hair.

"I can't let you, Jinx," the Professor shook his head, his smile gone. "It's too dangerous there, we have no idea what the terrain is like or what we'd be sending you into. Plus, with Max and Zero gone and now Logan, we really can't afford to let you go. Nor can we afford to spare the crew to pilot you there. I'm sorry, Jinx, it's not possible."

I stay standing for a moment, my thoughts in turmoil. Then I smiled at the Professor, which clearly threw him.

"You know, in my experience so far, I can only teleport comfortably to places I've already been," a look of realization dawned on Raven's face a split second before the Professors, but I was already backing slowly away, clenching and unclenching my fists, my mind focusing. "Time to test that, huh?"

I took a deep breath, focused completely on the image in my head, and then the base surrounding my shivered, and disappeared completely.



I woke, as if from a long sleep, sitting up. I could taste blood and my head was spinning. I rubbed my forehead, feeling dizzy as I blinked and tried to take in the area surrounding me. I half expected to still be in the base. But what reached my view first was a crowd of shabbily dressed people emerging from a broken building. When the saw I was awake, the yelled something I couldn't understand, and then bolted.

I stared after them, then stood shakily, turning in a circle. I was in the middle of a cracked and broken road, littered with abandoned cars and bodies in varying states of decay. And at the end of road, not too far in the distance, a familiar stone arc- even if it was half destroyed.

"I made it," I muttered to myself as the little sunlight that was left vanished behind storm clouds. My good mood vanished as the air tingled with electricity. Storms, the Professor had said. That wasn't good.

Suddenly the ground shook and ripped underneath me, a crash coming from behind me. I whipped around, heart hammering.

"Who are you?" A man yelled at me and I backed away. He'd appeared as suddenly as I had, but he looked a lot more threatening than me. Dirty blonde hair to his shoulders, and some strange sort of uniform and a huge hammer clutched in one hand. He was definitely no ordinary survivor that was for sure.

"My name's Eve," I called back, eyes darting everywhere for an escape route. "Who are-"

"You are not welcome here! This city is under my protection!"

Before I could try and tell him he didn't have to protect anything or anyone from me, he was swinging his hammer round in impossibly fast circles and then launching it at me. I had a split second to wonder what the hell was going on, then it hit me with the force of a truck.

I flew backwards, all air pushed out of my lungs, crashing into a building and falling crumpled to the floor. My eyes rolled back in my skull, the world was coloured black and tasted like metal, like blood. Everything was tilting around me and I wasn't even sure if I was breathing or not.

"How did you get here?"

Somebody was shaking me by the shoulders and my vision swam back to me. The hammer guy was holding me a good foot clear of the ground, his face just inches from mine; his eyes studied my face.

"I don't know," I muttered. "I was... looking for Logan"

I barely managed to get the words out, they hurt too much and I felt my eyes well up. I longed to screw them shut to block out the world as it came in sharper focus, along with my pain, but I didn't dare take my eyes off the one who'd attacked me. The hammer had looked almost harmless from a distance, but I was positive something inside was broken. I may not have been able to bleed to death, but I wasn't sure I could survive a fractured rib puncturing a hole in my lung.

"You're nothing more than a mere child," he muttered, setting me back on the ground, surprisingly gentle. His face had been filled with anger a moment ago, now he looked puzzled and disturbed. "Bruce? Bruce, I need you!"

My head swam with visions of Batman swooping down and saving me, but I knew that was unlikely. They'd still be running around the base, trying to figure out where I was. I'd be dead or wishing I was dead before they got here.

So instead of Batman appearing, a younger looking guy with glasses emerged from a nearby truck.

"I thought I asked you not to disturb me, I need quiet if I'm working. I haven't got a hope of triangulating their exact location with us moving around like this, not to mention trying to figure out the right components we need for the jet."

"Do you know her? That child there?"

"Can't say I do. What happened to her?"

"She appeared out of nowhere in this empty street. Does the name Logan mean anything to you?"

"That's my contact. Why? What did you do?"

The conversation washed over me. I'd managed to drag myself into a sitting position, lifting up my top to inspect what damage I could see. My ribs were already multi-coloured with bruises, a few bumps which I guess would be broken bones and a deep gash on my side which had already stopped bleeding. I was in pain, but I wasn't going to die after all.

"Logan, he's your contact?" I interrupted their hushed conversation, and the one called Bruce came over to bend down next to me. "Like, 'Wolverine' Logan, with Professor X, that guy?"

"Yeah, I managed to stay off the radar for the most part, but the Professor tracked me down. Said the world needed my, well, unique set of skills. I guess there's a shortage of doctors," he laughed at this, for some unknown reason, then continued. "He said he was sending somebody named Logan to pick us up," he bit his lip, adjusting his glasses slightly. "Do you know him?"

"He's kind of like, my mentor, I guess," I fumbled for the right word. "You said you're a doctor? Any chance you could fix me up? I'm pretty tired of being all beaten and bloody and I really don't want to explain how a measly hammer managed to kick the crap out of me."

"My apologies," the blonde one extended a hand and helped me to my feet. "I acted too hastily, and I was wrong. So I, Thor Odinson, am in your debt."

I blinked at him, head spinning again. My Greek mythology was a little rusty, but I was pretty sure a demi-god had just said he was in my debt.