You Think You're The Only Superhero In The World? x 18.

18.

“He’s your brother…” I repeated and nodded slowly.

“Yes. We’ve fought wars together. We’ve been put on death row countless times and survived,” he told me. Colossus was sitting next to me, looking amazed at Logan’s story. He sat down on the couch next to Kitty, who was sleeping peacefully, and started to tell us all about his life.

“But there’s still so much I don’t know. Apparently my claws used to be made of bone, but something happened and they were turned to adamantium. Some freak experiment…” he shook his head, “He knows what happened, but he wanted me to find out on my own.”

“Why?” Colossus asked.

“I don’t know. Self realization I guess,” Logan chuckled with a weak smile, but I knew he was still hurt on the inside. He’d just found his long lost brother, who was coincidentally the sarcastic madman that was trying to murder me.

“He’s right. It’ll be good for you,” I nodded quietly. I can’t believe I was agreeing with the man who was trying to assassinate me; only God knows why. Nobody in the room spoke for a few minutes. I was lost in my own thoughts, staring into the flames of the hot fireplace.

“I’ll keep you safe tonight Katie,” Logan told me quietly. I couldn’t help but chuckle: he was practically on an emotional rollercoaster and he was thinking about my safety.

“What’s left of tonight, anyway,” I answered. It was getting to the early hours of the morning – the sun was rising and there was a little pink staining the sky around the stars. We all went upstairs after that and checked on the students. Most of them were asleep now, but there was one room that was still a little jumpy. Two of them were our youngest X-Men: Rogue and Bobby. They were worried and slightly annoyed that they couldn’t help us out when there was so much action.

“Don’t worry guys, it’s all over. Its 5:30 now, get a little sleep before breakfast,” I told them with a warm but exhausted smile.

“What was it?” Rogue asked in her strong accent.

“It was just an intruder. Logan got rid of him though. No worries,” I said and winked at them. Bobby still looked worried and Rogue looked even worse.

“Why was it so loud then?” Rogue asked.

“He was a tiny bit indestructible, but it’s alright. Logan can protect us,” I informed them. Logan was standing behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I glanced back and smiled at him.

“Get some sleep. You have class in a few hours,” Logan ordered. They nodded with smiles and settled back into bed. Storm left the room and turned out the light, closing the door behind her.

“Is he gone?” Storm asked in a low voice.

“For now,” Logan answered and turned off into his room.

“He wanted you. Why,” Storm said softly after Logan closed his door.

“I have no idea. He said something about me ‘being on his list’,” I told her and winced. I had no idea what he meant. I didn’t know whether or not it was his list or whether he was working for someone… he said he was ‘doing what he was told’.

“We’ll sort it out. Don’t stress over it Katie, you’re safe here,” she smiled comfortingly at me and then walked down the hall to her bedroom. I stood there alone for a minute, taking a few deep breaths. She was right about not stressing out, but I couldn’t help but feel a little wound up. I decided to go to bed and try to get in a few z’s before I had to get up again in the morning. I didn’t bother changing or getting under the covers. I just collapsed onto my bed and closed my eyes. There was a few seconds of peace in the silence before a thought started running through my head over and over again.

Tony Stark: Miserable at Best.

I rolled over and gripped my pillow tightly. It was clear to me that I wasn’t going to get any sleep, so I decided to get lost in my thoughts for a while. It was painful to think about Tony but I couldn’t help myself. As much as I hated to admit it, I missed Tony. I just wanted to have him around. Storm was right – he made me happy. Miserable at best… Did that mean that he was still thinking of me? Of course I didn’t want him to be miserable but I still hoped deep down that he was missing me. I imagined what it would be like if I went back to see him. Would he turn me away or never let me go? If he did take me back (which seemed highly unlikely at the moment) he would eventually have to know about Nick and S.H.I.E.L.D. Then he’d figure out that in the beginning I was just using him to see what was going on down in his work space. I cringed at the thought of his reaction, getting his heart broken again by the same girl, and realized that I’d been tossing and turning for hours while I thought about it all. Kids were starting to wake up and get ready throughout the house, so I thought I’d better do the same. I changed out of my blood stained clothes and into some hipster jeans, my black pointed toed heels and an oversized white button-up shirt. I looked at myself in the mirror and groaned. I had massive bags under my eyes and my hair was messed up beyond repair. I decided to just throw it back into a messy pony tail and leave it at that. I was too tired to do anything else. The kids were going to be thrilled today – I wasn’t going to make them do anything today. I walked out into the hall just as a couple of 14 year old boys raced past my door towards the stairs. One of them suddenly vanished and reappeared halfway down the stairs and laughed cheekily.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” the other one yelled and pointed his hand towards the boy on the stairs feet. The stairs boy suddenly tripped and the other one bolted down past him.

“OI!” the boy that tripped wined and pushed himself up off the ground and down the stairs. I laughed at them and decided not to get up them for using their powers on each other. There was no harm in a little friendly competition. I noticed that the hallway was now abandoned and I decided to call Nick and give him the update on Victor. I dialed his number and he picked up almost immediately.

“Katie, I haven’t heard from you in weeks. What is going on,” he asked in a serious tone.

“I’ve been busy teaching, Uncle Dearest, but I do have some interesting news for you,” I said and leaned against the wall next to my bedroom door.

“Go on,” he answered gruffly.

“Victor showed up here last night looking for me,” I said casually.

“What? Are you alright?” he asked. He sounded just as casual as I did.

“Yeah I’m fine. A few scratches and stuff but nothing long term. I guess that means that he is tracking me, huh,” I said and stared forward, biting my lip.

“I guess so. Maybe you should come back to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. We can protect you there,” he suggested.

“We handled ourselves pretty well last night, Nick. Victor shouldn’t be a problem,” I told him.

“Who’s ‘we’?” Nick asked.

“My friends here at the school. You know, Logan and Storm and all that,” I explained.

“But how long is it going to be before Victor comes back and they don’t handle it? Innocent people could get hurt,” Nick said.

“Aren’t I an innocent person?” I frowned.

“Well, you are, but… Never mind. Just out of mere curiosity, have you heard about the Iron Man?” my Uncle asked me. I pouted and shook my head.

“Nope, why?” I answered simply.

“It’s been all over the papers,” Nick said. That didn’t really answer my question, but he got my mind off that fact anyway.

“The only paper I’ve seen lately is the one with Tony on the front being miserable,” I shrugged.

“Ah yes, that was last week’s paper. Now it’s all about Iron Man… Some sort of metal man that’s been helping those in need and taking out terrorist camps in Afghanistan,” he said. Something clicked in my mind and a huge smile spread across my face. The Iron Man from my dream. The terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Making a scene for the love of attention. This had Tony Stark written all over it. That’s what he was working on before I left. The massive secret that no one but Tony knew. He built an indestructible man.

“I see,” I added.

“He’s making too much of a scene. There is meant to be some sort of discretion with these things but he just doesn’t get it,” Nick growled. “We’re going to have to do something.”

“Do you know who he is?” I asked.

“No, that’s the problem. We’ve got no idea. No one does. It’s like he’s invisible,” Nick said. I closed my eyes and laughed silently. It had to be Tony. He was capable of making himself invisible. I decided not to tell Nick my theory. I was going to wait and see what happened.