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Professor X sat by his desk, looking at the computer screen.
Cerebro had found traces of a mutant not too long ago, most likely a small child. The small mutant seemed to be alone and hadn't changed location in a few days. There were no signs of other mutants nearby which raised a question. Why was the child alone and for so long. Professor X feared it had something to do with the mutant gene awakening. So many children were forced to flee from their home because of their guardians intolerance. Charles remembered being young and realizing he was special. More specifically, he could hear what everyone around him thought at all times. He also remembered feeling overwhelmed and so very afraid. He felt lucky to be born into such good conditions that he could continue to live almost normally among other humans.
Children that were left to fend for themselves had a difficult time understanding their powers. They were afraid and in most cases grew up resenting their parents or guardians for leaving them. In some cases however Charles was able to help them and offered to teach them how to use and harness their powers responsibly.
But to find one mutant this young was rarer. This child seemed to be only four of five years old. The mutant gene shouldn't awaken until around puberty. So it meant that the child must have felt very afraid of something or someone. This sometimes happened when a mutant experiences trauma very early on in their life, starting the process earlier than normal.
The professor decided that is was for the best if the x-men retrieved the child to safety. Just in case they were in danger, and Charles never wanted a child to be left alone and possibly hurt. Charles closed his eyes and signaled the x-men to his office. It might be too much to call the whole team, but more there were people looking for the child, the better were the chances of them finding the child.
He hoped that by the time the team got there it wasn't too late.
"X-men, I need you in my office. Please be quick we need to go and retrieve a mutant that might be in danger.
---
Logan opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. He had been helping Hank fix the training room all morning after a student trashed the place with some sort of acid spikes. Logan didn't know the kid and couldn't fault him for it, god knows how many times he has broken something that should not be broken when he was in there. He was going to take a sip but stopped half way when he heard the voice of professor X in his head.
"X-men, I need you in my office. Please be quick we need to go and retrieve a mutant that might be in danger.
Logan groaned and cursed who ever decided that there was going to be a mission at this moment. Of course he knew that no one controlled this sort of thing and when there as someone in need of saving they would do it no questions asked.
When he heard walking he looked and saw Scott already walking towards the office, he must have been in the living room watching some show Jean had forced him into. Speak of the devil Jean walked right after him and when she saw Logan she waved at him before continuing walking. Huh, might be for the best if I show up for once, Logan thought grimacing. Last time he didn't show up because apparently 'I just didn't want to' isn't a good enough reason, Storm shouted his ear off about responsibility and how everyone needed to work as a team yada yada.
Logan knew that, he just didn't think he would be needed in a small mission that needed two people at best. And Logan was never the one to talk people out of doing things, he mostly just punched people when they needed punching. The rest of the x-men could handle the more talkative jobs. He could just imagine the lecture he was going to get if he din't get moving soon so he put the water back into the fridge and nodded at Storm who now passed him by. Well it doesn't count as being late if he technically arrives at the same time as the person before him, right?
"Yes Logan, it would be considered as coming in late. Now hurry up please we need to get started and I want everyone to be here." He heard Charles say to him, clearly amused by his thought process. Logan sighed and made his way into his office. He grumbled about his day being ruined but his heart wasn't in it, he just needed something to complain about. He hadn't had the time to annoy Summers nearly enough recently with the students exams and all that wonderful stuff.
He could sit a whole day in a car with Kitty rather than watch the kids when they took their exams. In that sense he wasn't jealous of Scott at all. He had to sit all day all week making sure that the kids got everything done on time. He smirked a bit when he remembered how a student had lit the test on fire accidentally and Scott had to evacuate the whole classroom. Scott raised an eyebrow at Logan when he saw that he was smirking when he came in but Logan just waved him off.
When he closed the door behind him the professor immediately started to tell them their mission. Must be a pretty important one if the professor is so eager to begin. He sat down next to Hank and looked at the map Xavier had for them. It sounded like there was a child that they needed to get, a mutant.
"Isn't the normal age for the gene to activate between 10 and 14?" Logan wondered. He hadn't listened much when they went into details explaining the whole process of the gene and how it carries from the father to the child and and how it must be triggered by puberty or a trauma. It saddened Logan that there was only one logical reason as to why the child was so young, but it made him feel pity nonetheless. He remembered how he got his mutation but he was at least half as old as the kid they were supposed retrieve. Sure, Logan would have liked it better to have avoided the whole event and forget how it even happened, but seeing you father die on the cold floor and then the feeling of blood on his hands hadn't left his brain. Even the temporary amnesia hadn't watered down the emotions he felt from that day.
"We do not know where the child is exactly, but I have it narrowed down to a small area so you should be able to find them without trouble. And of course try to be as gentle as possible,"
Now the professor glanced at Logan, clearly less than impressed with his track record of not being very gentle with anyone. Logan huffed and rolled his eyes, signaling that he understood. Yes, he wasn't the most delicate person in the world he could admit that, but he also knew not to be a total dick to a child. Professor smirked a bit, no doubt reading his face like an open book, he tended to to that a lot.
"As I was saying, please be gentle, we have no idea what kind of a past the child has. I'm sure we all have a faint idea what most likely happened but still, I trust you to bring them to safety." Charles finished with a small smile, feeling trusting that they would bring the child to the school and out of harms way. Scott nodded and stood up facing the rest of the team.
"Get ready and we'll meet in the hangar." Then he turned to Logan
"Don't be late." Logan groaned again exasperated and slightly annoyed.
"It was one time bub, when are you going to let it go?" Logan growled, he was not in the mood for lecturing right now someone out there needed their help. Logan did remember the instance though, and it had something to do with Bobby creating a wall of ice in front of his door so he had to climb out of a window. Bobby scrubbed the danger room from floor to ceiling the next week, Logan bet he wouldn't try to do it again. Still, it clearly wasn't his fault that he was late.
But Scott was already out of the door and and so was Jean. Storm just shook her head, amused by his behavior and bid the professor goodbye before leaving to go prepare for the mission.
"You need to start doing the things you say you do or no one will believe you my friend." Hank said as he too walked past him and gave a short laugh when Logan growled in his general direction. Logan was silenced when professor called out his name however.
"Logan, there is something you may want to know before you leave."
Logan turned to face the professor, now curious and tilted his head slightly as he wondered what that something could be. He was more confused when the professor gave out a short laugh, not understanding what was so funny. The professor assured him that it was nothing of importance before he got into the point. Still, it left Logan feeling like he just missed out on an inside joke.
Charles had secretly wondered if Logan was aware of the mannerisms he was showing or if it was just a part of who he was. The almost adorable way he always tilted his head when he was confused reminded Charles of a puppy.
"Logan I cannot be sure but I think Cerebro showed signs of a similar mutation that you yourself have." Logan tilted his head once again confused by the news.
Logan could feel a chill going through him, now worried what the professor was talking about.
"Similar?"Do you mean my claws? Are you saying that the kid was-" Logan was beginning to worry that Charles meant they might run into Weapon X, well what was left of it anyway.
"No Logan thank goodness no." The professor interrupted him. Logan breathed out relieved, that was a can of worms he was more than glad to leave alone.
"No I rather meant your other mutation, if you can put it like that. I sensed something feral in that child, like I sense in you." Charles clarified.
Logan furrowed his brows and looked thoughtful for a few seconds before asking,
"Alright, but why are you telling me this? It's a little kid I don't think I'm going to be fighting a lot today."
Logan was surprised by the news that the kid might be a feral like him. He hadn't met other ferals in a long time, not like there was a lot of feral mutants running about anyway. Hank was a feral mutant but mainly on the outside. Logan could sense him and he knew that Hank senses something in him but he wasn't as wild as Logan. He was on a different level according to him. Hank had asked him a few questions once about being a feral mutant, seeing that there was not a whole lot of information on feral mutants. Logan could feel the nature around him live and grow while Hank could only slightly feel it with his heightened senses.
Charles smiled understandingly before continuing, now moving away from the table and closer to Logan.
"Yes I doubt that you'll be doing any fighting as well. I am just telling you this so you know how to proceed if the child acted hostile. You know better than anyone how it feels to have that side control you." Charles spoke now directly to him looking him in the eyes.
Logan nodded "I understand professor. Don't worry, I won't let Cyke rough the kid up too bad." Logan said with a smirk before lifting himself up and walking to the door.
The professor rolled his eyes at the childish behavior.
"Is there anything I can do to make you and Scott stop this bickering?"
Logan only smirked wider,
"I'm afraid not bub, he does it all by himself I just retaliate." Logan left the room with a laugh and closed the door behind him.
---
"Good of you to show up Logan." Scott said immediately when he saw Logan walk through the hangar door with his uniform on.
"Hey I wasn't going to let you fuck this mission up, we all know that it's me who has to go after you and fix your mistakes." Logan shot back but quieted down when Storm gave him a glare that meant trouble if he didn't behave. Scott sighed deep and led everyone to the blackbird.
"It won't take long for us to arrive at the point the professor showed us." Scott informed everyone before starting the engines and reporting to the professor that they were leaving.
"Yeah yeah bub just take us there alright." Logan said irritated, he hated flying. There was no reason why humans hadn't invented teleportation yet, they just didn't want to because airports made a lot of money. Bunch of bullshit in his opinion. Who even liked flying? Anything could happen and you're fucked when you're thousands of kilometers in the air. Logan would survive the fall no problem, but he still wasn't too fond of the idea.
"Shut up Logan and just enjoy the flight, we'll be there before you even notice it. There is a barf bag to your right if you need it." Scott barked from the front. You'd think a man who is over a hundred years old would get used to flying but no. Logan just had to complain about it every single time they had to fly.
Logan flashed him the middle claw. Hank, Jean and Storm were used to this so they didn't even react anymore. Hank was reading a medical magazine and Storm was looking at the window, no doubt keeping a lookout for bad weather. She was able to change the weather to whatever she wanted to but she felt that she wasn't entitled to mess with 'mother earths cycle', Whatever that meant.
This was going to be the longest 30 minutes of his life, Scott thought before concentrating on flying.
Logan closed his eyes and tried to relax the best he could, it would be over in no time and he would have earth under his boots again soon.
---
When the blackbird landed Logan opened his eyes and looked out of the window. There was nothing but trees, kind of a strange place for a kid to live.
"Hey Jean, is there anything else but trees here? Houses of farms or anything?" Logan tried asking. There had to be something near by, it made no sense that the kid was this far out by themselves.
"No, I didn't see anything from the plane and I don't sense any other humans near by except us and the child." Scott turned to Jean raising his eyebrow.
"You can sense them already? So the child must not be far." Scott reasoned. He was prepared to walk around for hours before finding anything. This made everything much quicker and they had a chance to find the kid while there was daylight. Scott didn't mind the night but the faster they find the child the faster they can leave this place and get back.
Hank turned to Jean "Can you try to figure out in which direction the child is?"
Jean closed her eyes and focused on the child.
"That way, They're somewhere near those trees there." Jean opened her eyes and pointed at the trees a good mile away from them.
"Well then," Scott said. "Lets get moving so we find this kid." Logan grunted but started trying to find the kids scent anyway. He didn't have to walk for long before he could smell a slight change in the air, the wind carrying a scent.
"I got it, the scent is coming from that bush." Logan said once they were closer to the trees. He continued to scent the air and was surprised when he smelled something familiar, the kid was a feral like him. Huh who would have thought. Hank seemed to notice it now too, slowing down and glancing at Logan.
"Be careful Scott, I think this child might be a feral mutant." Hank warned Scott when he walked closer to the bush the kid was supposed to be in. Scott turned around and looked and Hank for a second before asking.
"So how should we proceed? Do you think we should just try to grab the kid or try to talk to them?" Scott wondered. He didn't have any experience on feral mutants outside of Hank and Logan and he liked to think Logan was not the best example of what a feral mutant was. Hank was much calmer and he was also a feral mutant from what Scott understood.
"What, just grab the kid? Like he would let you just take them, For all the kid knows you're trying to eat them for fucks sake Slim." Logan was obviously not happy about the situation. It felt wrong to just talk about the kid like they were talking about a wild animal.
Scott scrunched his eyebrows and looked at Logan with impatience.
"Well I'm not hearing other ideas from you am I Logan?"
Logan growled deep and just as he was about to tell Scott just what he thought about his plan they all heard a small whimper coming from the bushes. The kid was clearly there and started to get scared of the loud noises.
Logan froze and immediately fixed his stare to the bush and started to listen if the kid made any other sounds.
Soon enough there was a second whimper and this time Logan heard himself respond with a small chuff before he had any time to think about it.
Scott turned to look at him incredulously and Logan felt Jeans and Storms stare on his back but he didn't turn around. Hank seemed to be the only one who wasn't looking at him strangely so he must know at least somewhat what is going on. Or he doesn't want to admit when he doesn't know the answer, well no matter.
"What the hell was that?" Scott asked him in a low voice as to not spook the kid in the bush.
"I don't fucking know Slim, what do I look like to you? A fucking naturalist?" Logan responded with annoyance, maybe a little bit embarrassed as well because he wasn't absolutely sure what was going on. He just knew that when the kid showed signs of fear something in him wanted to soothe the kid. To make the kid feel safe.
"Well you're the one who keeps making noise you dolt !" Scott started to raise his voice irritated by the strange situation when Jean tried to calm them down. That wasn't much help however, the kid moved in the bush and made another distressed noise.
Logan responded again by removing his eyes from Scott's angry ones and instead moved his gaze to the bush again, trying to catch a glimpse of the kid inside. When there was no further noise Logan made a low sound which sounded like a whimper but gentler somehow.
"See?! You're doing it aga-what?" Scott asked when Hank interrupted him and signaled him to be quiet and stop shouting. He nodded in Logan's direction and Scott saw that Logan was now crouched near the bush peering inside while responding to the child when ever there was a sound. Scott was confused and shared a look with Hank as he cleared his throat softly to not scare the kid into backing away further.
"Logan are you.." Hank didn't know how to ask this. It wasn't exactly his field if expertise. "Do you understand the child?" He decided to ask.
Logan didn't answer anything at first, he just kept his back to them and stared into the bush.
"He's scared." He finally said
Hank raised his eyebrows in surprise and Storm stepped forward.
"It's a he? Can you see the child?" Storm asked relieved. If Logan could see the child they weren't too late and had a chance of saving the poor boy.
Logan nodded and lowered his head a bit more so he saw the kid more clearly. The kid looked very small and dirty. He had probably been here more than a week, how on earth did he survive? The feral mutation must have protected and kept him alive, somehow. The boy stared back at him, afraid of the man now looking at him. He couldn't see the others behind Logan which was for the best. The kid would have freaked out if he found out there were more than a few of them there. He didn't know why they were there. His instincts were probably screaming for him to run to safety but when he hears the bigger feral chuff he locked eyes with him.
The others looked at Logan when he kept responding to the child in confusion. But when they too saw the boy when he crawled a little bit closer to the bigger feral they could see that he was very small and incredibly young. Storm frowned when she thought what he must have gone through, she wanted to get the child to safety now.
Logan was now sitting on the ground just almost touching the boy. The boy had now crawled closer and was scenting him, no doubt smelling strange to him. He didn't know if the boy had feral parents or if he was the only one. Any way it would be a shock to the system to have all these new sensations and instincts running through your system. Logan lowered his head more so the boy could sniff his face. He flinches a little bit but when Logan made an encouraging sound he came closer and touched his face with his small hand. When Logan was sure the boy wasn't going to spook more anytime soon he nudged the child with his face, scenting him without thinking about it. The boy didn't know any better so he pushed back and nudged him back with his forehead, making a low sound from his throat. Then Logan's protective instincts went haywire for a few seconds, he had to keep the pup safe, if he smelled like him no one was going to mess with the pup, he was going to protect the pup. The boy was so small it made his feral instincts more worried, he should have been eating more, where are his parents, you can't leave a cub this young alone.
Logan thought about the boys parents and felt rage, he growled deep from his chest and the boy looked up at him frightened. Logan understood his mistake immediately and quickly nudged him again to make sure that he was fully covered in his scent. The boys whimpers died down so Logan thought he must be doing something right, whatever that it. He isn't sure what he's doing. He is just doing what his instincts tell him to do, mark the pup, make him feel safe, protect him.
So when Storm came from behind him scaring the pup making him hide behind the larger feral. Logan snapped his head around and bared his teeth and let out a guttural growl before he realized that he was quite literally protecting the cub from his friends. Storm immediately stopped and raised her hands, not wanting to get maimed by Logan.
"Logan I am sorry-I was just asking if the boy was alright-"Storm started to explain apologetically before Hank walked next to her and turned her so that he was in front of her and talked to Logan with a quiet voice.
"Logan, it's just us, Ororo didn't mean to scare the boy, she's sorry, we're not going to hurt the pup, alright" Hank was still speaking with a calm and collected voice while keeping his hands visible so Logan's mind had no reason to suspect him. Logan blinked a couple times before he realized that he was still growling and keeping an arm around the boy, effectively hiding him from sight. He stopped growling and loosened his grip on the boy who looked at Storm with fear from behind him
"I-I am so sorry 'roro I don- I don't know what happened." Logan tried to apologize but Hank waved him off.
"It's quite alright Logan. The professor said something like this might happen, we couldn't be too sure of it though." Hank said while looking at Logan and the looking at the boy. Logan tilted his head in confusion "The professor knew about what?" Logan asked now confused himself. He would have to talk to the professor when they got back with the boy. He didn't like when people knew something about him that even he didn't know about. It made him uneasy.
"Whats going on Hank did you understand anything that just happened?" Scott asked while still looking at Logan who was holding the boy,
"Let me explain." Hank said calmly.
"You're a feral mutant as we well know and the professor told me that this boy might be a feral mutant as well. Now, we know feral mutants live by their instincts, yes even you Logan." Hank said when Logan looked like he was going to interrupt him.
"You eat a lot of meat, you consider this team and the people close to you your pack of sorts intentionally or not, you are incredibly protective of the people around you." Hank continued and Logan listened as Hanks said the things he didn't think he'd have to confront any time soon.
"And feral mutants are rare, so it makes sense that when a feral finds a feral pup they want to protect it intensely to make sure that they don't perish."
Logan stared at Hank and then looked at the boy who was now looking at him from his arms. The boy made a small questioning sound and Logan answered with a low growl, a confirmation of sorts. Then he realized what he was doing and glared at Hank from the ground.
"Hey don't shoot the messenger my friend, I'm just telling you what's happening. You have to take it up with yourself." Hank smirked before moving closer to check on the boy who was now being held by a standing Logan. That is if Logan didn't take a step back and angle himself so that the boy was again hidden and growled low at Hank. Logan immediately noticed that he was again acting like a hormonal mother hen so he let Hank quickly look the boy over. He didn't let him touch the pup however. That would mess up his scent.
"It looks like he's alright, probably just very hungry and tired. That's something that we can fix at the school." Hank stood straight once again. "Speaking of school we should be heading back now that we have found the boy before it gets too dark." Hank started to turn around and walk back to the plane.
"So the pup will be alright?" Logan asked as they were walking back, the boy now asleep against his chest under his jacket that he had zipped halfway up to support the sleeping boy.
"Pup?" Jean asked and looked at Logan for answers.
Logan was about to answer but Hank beat him to it.
"-Feral children are typically called cubs or pups because of their feral nature." Jean nodded understandingly at Hank, it made sense to her.
"I didn't know there was so much information about ferals." Scott sighed while looking at the boy.
Logan looked at him before he too looked down at the boy.
"yeah well Slim, I'm a feral mutant and even I don't know why I do all the stuff I do it's just, instincts y'know?" Logan tried to explain. This is why he hated trying to explain anything to anyone because he felt that even he didn't know what he was talking about and he was talking about himself for fucks sake. How much can there be that even I don't know about myself, Logan wondered.
"Can you make it to your seat without waking up the little guy so we can start our way back?" Scott asked once they were walking into the plane.
Logan just rolled his eyes and huffed and Scott. "You think I haven't carried a baby around I'll be fine Cyke just get us home so we can get some food into the pup."
Logan sat down slowly to not jostle the boy as he slept. The boy made a noise but soon settled down and sleep claimed him once more. Logan sighed and closed his eyes as well, it had been a long ass day and he couldn't wait to get back home.