Sundry IV: 2160

Title: Sundry IV: 2160
Fandom: X-Men: Evolution and other various X-Men Universe/Marvel Universe comics
Summery: 100+ years after the original fic. Joanna is the last one of her friends, but she’s still got a lot of years a head of her. How is she going to cope with her newest loss while maintaining control of a growing school system?
A/N: -The summery pretty much sums up my thoughts of where this is going. I just want to add how completely invulnerable Joanna is...because it is awesome. I am like...genius :) -Gloating in my own glory. Sorry. I love her. Even though I hate her name...whatever. -I hope you like it. This makes three Sundry Stories in the works -oh wait, no...four! I forgot about my smutty one-shots ;)
Chapter One: Stages
(Joanna POV)
My husband died yesterday. That shouldn’t surprise me, considering his age. Considering his occupation. Considering our former occupation, that is. What hurts the most isn’t that he’s gone –it’s that I have no one left to comfort me. My, no, our, friend’s all died long ago of various causes, and Logan and I were unique with our powers. We’ve far outlived our closest and dearest friends, and alas...I have outlived him.
Looking at his corpse in the steel coffin, that is today’s burial standard, Logan looks peaceful. Old and peaceful. Me? I’m still young, and beautiful. Many questioned us along our travels –why a woman of 30 would be with a man of 50 or more! Simply put, because I was only 74 or so years younger then him. While he lived to be nearly 280, I’m only a little under 180 myself, and I’ve still got a lot in me. More then Logan did, probably. When we were together though, our ages didn’t matter. Not until today, anyway.
"C’mon Mrs. Logan. I’ll drive you back to the house."
"It’s alright." I shook my head. "I’d like to stay here for awhile. I’ll pop back up in a bit."
"Okay." Charles was a student at Xaviers, which I was now headmistress of. After the Professor had died, followed by Storm, and Scott and Jean, the institute and fallen onto the shoulders of Logan and I. All of our old friends were buried on the grounds, just a few feet in either direction from Logan’s own grave.
Logan died peacefully, in his sleep. I’m sure that’s not how he would have liked to go –he had always wanted to go down fighting and I wish that he had too. He had been ill for awhile, but I guess eventually your heart just has to stop, especially after such a long time, and so much strain.
Either way, I hope he’s someplace nice. Someplace he’s happy. Maybe back in Canada.
"Mrs. Logan–"
"Charles, if you call me that again, I will personally rip out your lungs. What do you want?"
"New arrivals."
"You deal with them, Charles. I’m not in the mood."
"I think you’d like to take at least one of them on personally."
"Oh?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "And why is that?"
"Well, uh...she’s Rogue’s Great-Granddaughter."
Ragsta was the spitting image of her Great Grandmother, my best friend. Unfortunatly, the similarities weren’t just in the body, but also in power.
"It took Rogue years to control her power, Ragsta. I hope you don’t think that I can magically ‘cure’ you just because I helped her."
"Of course not." Ragsta shook her head. "But, if anyone at all can help me, it’s you."
"Hmm." I nodded. "Well, I’ll have Margo show you to your room -you’ll be sharing with Stefina."
Margo, a pretty girl, regardless of her furry mutation, stepped forward out of the shadows of my office.
"Thank you, Joanna. I know you’ve been trying to fan out your students between the other schools," she turned from where she was heading out of the door with Margo, "I was sorry to hear about Logan, I know Rogue would have been very sad to see him go."
"Thank you." I closed the door behind them with a wave of my hand.
Xavier’s had grown a lot since my introduction there. We now had four schools, one in each corner of the US, one in Canada, two in Europe, and three in Asia –all overseen by me, but tutored by the firm hand of my selected teachers. New York was still my Baby-School so to speak, but I visited each school monthly, tested the faculty and the training of the students, and the students themselves.
"Mrs. Lo– sorry, Joanna?" Charles leaned in the door. "Do you have a minute?"
"I may have more then one. What is it?"
"I just...wanted to tell you how great you are. I mean, you’ve been through so much...and you just keep going."
I smiled, "Thank you Charles, now what’s the bad news?" Charles always buttered me up before delivering bad news.
"It’s California. They got hit pretty bad by that last Earthquake. Shadow wants to know what you plan on doing about all of the students."
I sighed, "Divide them up between the three remaining schools by skill levels. Low level and struggling students here, iffy students to Washington, and higher level students to Florida -they need all of the help they can get -then I want volunteers from all of the schools to go clean up and help with the rebuild. I knew that setting up in California would be disaster, but does anyone listen to me? No, of course not. Heaven forbid we put up a school someplace sensible, like Wyoming." I turned to him after my rant, "Well? Get going, Charles!"
"Oh my god, Shadow. What happened?" I covered my face. "This is not an Earthquake!"
"I’m afraid it is." Shadow’s black cloak waved in the wind, "Got hit bad, but no one was hurt. How many students are coming to help rebuild?"
"We’ve got over two-hundred and fifty volunteers. We may need more." I turned to face the house, "We’ve seen worse."
Shadow nodded, "I know. ...Joanna?" He looked at me with his dark black eyes, "Are you alright?"
"I’m fine." I forced a smile. "Just a little tired, but I guess my work is just starting."
"I know it’s hard, Jo." Shadow put a hand on my shoulder as we moved toward the car. "And to lose Logan like that –we all thought he had a lot more in him..."
I smiled again, "It’s alright, Shadow. I had more then a lifetime with Logan –and who knows, maybe this lifetime will bring someone new."
"You always tried to find the silver lining." Shadow opened the car door, letting me slid in first, "Mayhap you can find it in our disaster."
___
"Okay, Sparks, I want you to turn left at the next section–."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Sparks, you have to go left!"
"No way, Remedy!"
"I can see everything, it’s safe!"
"Sparks, this exercise is about teamwork and trust, if Remedy is telling you to go left, you need to listen to him and trust him." I rubbed the space between my eyes. "Put your differences aside for one simulation, please?"
"But Sundry, going left leads me back around! He’s making me go in circles!"
I narrowed my eyes, looking into the simulation maze. "Go left, Sparks. I see where Remedy is going with this."
"Fine, but if I die, we’re going to have to make the grave yard a lot bigger ‘cause I am so not going alone!"
Remedy pulled his communicator out of his ear, "She doesn’t trust me, Sundry."
"I wouldn’t trust you either." I raised my eyebrow, letting hin know that I knew about his tryst with another young girl at the institute while he had been dating Sparks.
"Hey! That was one time! You can’t use that against me!"
"Nicolas, come to my office after your session is over. I think we should talk."
"What’s the matter, Nic?" I asked. "You’ve been hot headed and irrational for days now."
Nicolas, Remedy, slid into one of the chairs in front of my desk, "When you were young, did you ever... did you have a lot of boyfriends?"
I laughed. "I wouldn’t say that I did...I’ve only had two real boyfriends my whole life."
"I find that very hard to believe."
I shook my head, "I found Logan very early in life –and Warren barely lasted a month..." I rolled my eyes. "...And Peitro wasn’t really a boyfriend, just a husband."
"Well, anyway, my problem is...I really like Naomie, but part of me keeps pulling me to all of these other girls."
"Nic, if you cared for Naomie, you wouldn’t see other girls."
Nic shook his head, "I don’t understand how Mr. Logan stayed faithful to you for so long -and vice versa. It just blows my mind, everytime I think about it."
"That’s because we loved each other, Nic, but we had to work at it. Maybe Naomie isn’t your soul mate, but you’ll find her, some day. Probably when you least expect it."
"Maybe." Nic looked away for a moment before looking back at her, "Mrs. Logan?"
"Hmm?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Does it hurt? To lose him, I mean."
"Of course." I nodded. "But it will get better -it always does after you lose someone you love -trust me, I know. I’ve lost a lot of people."
He nodded, "Do you think there is someone else out there to replace him?"
I shook my head, "No one could ever replace Logan, Nicolas. I may find someone else to love again, but he would never replace Logan."
Our room seems so dark and empty. I keep trying to pretend that he’s just away on another one of his trips, trying to fool myself into sleeping, but I can’t do it. I still know, I know that he’s goine. Not coming back. I felt the same way after Rogue died, and all of the rest of my friends.
I cry myself to sleep most nights, not wanting to let the students see how much it hurts just to breath some days. I hold it all back for as long as possible, until I can be alone, or at least have a private, free moment with my thoughts.
The tears aren’t even coming tonight though. It’s been a month since Logan died, and the snow is just starting to fall. Logan loved the snow; when we would go to the manor, he used to drive me crazy, waking up at four in the morning to go romp in the snow like a puppy, usually dragging me along with him.
I miss that.
I leaned in the doorway of the balcony, watching a few of the students have a snowball fight in the fresh powder below my window. I looked up at the clouds, just waiting to be burst open and put another layer on the ground. I resisted the urge to open them up, letting the kids continue to play.
"Are you spying?" A semi-familar voice was suddenly beside me, and I turned to see Ragsta at my shoulder.
I smiled, "No, of course not. Just watching them with a bit of nostogia. It amazes me sometimes how these kids do things that I used to do when I was there age..." I moved to sit on the edge of the balcony. "What brings you to this side of the castle?" I raised my eyebrow.
She shrugged, "Just wanted to say good morning. -So...good morning."
"Good morning." I looked back down on the ground where Nic was tackling Naomie in the snow. "Shame on him..."
"Who? Nic?" Ragsta joined me near the edge of the balcony, keeping her distance. "...Oh. I see."
I took a glance at her, "You like him?"
"Oh, no...I mean," She scoffed, tossing her red hair over her shoulder, "of course not. Are you kidding me with that? What a joke."
I laughed, "Do you want to play?" I asked, scooping together a snowball from the powder on the ledge of the balcony.
"N-no thanks. I don’t want to ruin it for them."
I smiled, "Watch." I lined up six snowballs, one for each of the students in the fight below, and raised them in the air before pelting them down at their targets below. The students looked surprised, looking up.
"Hey! No powers!" Nic called, a smile on his face.
"Well then I guess it’s a good thing I’ve got a height advantage up here, huh?" I smiled.
"Not for long, Sundry." Gabriel unfurled his impressive wingspan, leaping into the air with a snowball in his hand that hit me in the shoulder.
I dusted the snow from my sleeve, "Hmm...not playing completely fair, huh Gabe?" Snowballs began packing together on the railing of the balcony. His eyes grew, and stepped into the balcony.
"You wouldn’t really...I mean..."
I raised an eyebrow, the large number of snowballs raising up into the air.
"Oh, you would..." He jumped from the balcony, zooming over the roof, the snowballs following him.
"You could hit him if you really wanted to, couldn’t you?" Ragsta asked, still standing as far away from the edge of the balcony.
I nodded, "I could...but I let them think that they are better then me sometimes. It builds their moral."
After the snowballs finally pelted Gabriel, and he sat dizzy on the ground, I called down, "Don’t forget that you still have sessions today! Mutant Academy closes for no weather!"
"Yes, Sundry." They called back, before hustling inside for the sessions.
I turned back to Ragsta, "Speaking of sessions...we should set you up with a schedule."
"Pixie here will show you around." The tiny girl landed on my palm. "You’ll have classes together most of the day. "Pixie, be nice?"
"Of course, Sundry." Pixie hovered off of my palm, growing back to her full size, losing the wings. "C’mon, Ragsta, before we’re late."
Charles was at my shoulder only a moment later. "Shadow called to say that the repairs are coming along nicely and they should be prepared to take on their advanced students next week. Ram is going to be staying behind to help out with all of the tech stuff that might pop up, along with Cypher."
"Okay." I nodded. "And?"
"Hong Kong says that their numbers keep growing. They’d like to build another addition."
"They’ve already built on five!"
Charles shrugged, "We could always build another school..."
"It’s not in the budget for this year -not without more funds."
"We could always raise the tuition."
"No. We’re not raising tuition, Charles. We’ve discussed this."
"Then we need to find another Contributor."
"I just said that, Charles."
"I’ll get on the phone with some people that ’ve helped us in the past..."
"Maybe. I’ll call our current contributors and ask if they’ve got any leads on do-gooders..." I sighed. "Oh, what’s my schedule for visits this month?"
"All are in secession, next week."
"Good." I nodded. "You’ve got the programs I’ve been working on for their tests?"
He nodded, "You’re sure these aren’t a bit much for them?"
"Not for the older students." I shook my head. "They should just be happy I’m not unleashing myself onto them."
"...Good point."
Day one, Canada. Logan’s pride and joy school, built just a few miles away from the Howlette Mansion, that had been restored time and time again. It was our smallest school, and the training grounds for our most promising X-Men. Students who showed interest in joining the team, or a teacher at our schools, were sent to the Ontario Academy to learn the ropes of X-Men-hood.
There was a distinctive air when I stepped foot onto the campus, slightly weakened from the teleportation –but only slightly. I was able to stop the canon-ball like creature that plummeted my way with a step out of the way, sending Karlton Agures neck deep into the snow.
"Nice try, Karlton. Next time, I may not be so lucky." I smiled, helping him out of the snow pile.
"I will get you one of these days, Professor." Karlton brushed off the snow, and looked up at her. "And then I’ll be able to join the X-Men, right?"
I smiled. X-Men-In-Training liked to believe that they had to defeat me in order to join the X-Men. It was a legend that I let live, just out of amusement. I didn’t want to be a killjoy. "Maybe some day, Karlton. You have to do a lot more then push me into a snowbank to become an X-Man."
Karlton sighed. He was almost nineteen, and with a combined power of speed and flight, he was known as Bullet, with metallic colored skin that was nearly impervious, which looked a little funny with his shock-orange hair.
"C’mon...I’ll show you the new program I’ve got devised for you upperclassman." I put an arm over his shoulder and lead him towards the school.
It wasn’t long before my first test set, ten of the upperclass students, including Karlton in the front ranks, had assembled in the CA-Danger Room. Hound, the head of CA, stood next to me, reviewing the program while I breifed the students on it.
"I’ve been working on this program for three months. It is undeniably one of the hardest programs I will ever unleash on you, here in the Danger Room. If you can pass this test...I shall have to come up with a great reward for you." I smiled over them.
"Are you in it?" Karlton asked.
I laughed, "No Karlton. Maybe next month –if you pass."
"Right." Karlton pulled his blue goggles over his eyes, stancing himself, "What do we need to know?"
"Don’t kill the wrong person –oh, and if you get hit, remember you’re out for good." I pushed the button, shaping the Danger room into...ironically enough, a very dangerous room...
"You’re sure they can handle this?" Hound asked.
"Joshua...there are no real bullets involved, just paint. And I have faith in them." I sat beside him to watch. "They are safe. The paint pellets really will just bruise them...I hope." I bit my lip as I watched Starlight blast the wrong droid. She was about to realize just what happened when you killed a "queen".
"Oh my god, they’re multiplying!" She shrieked, "What did I do?!"
"You killed the wrong one, stupid!" Decay yelled.
"How was I supposed to know? What made that one so special?" Starlight yelled back.
"Don’t you ever listen? Psyche specifically said that the ones we couldn’t kill were recognizable by their eye color! All of the ones we’re not supposed to kill are blue eyed!"
I laughed. Psyche had picked up on the false information I had let her pick up on. They would find that out a moment later.
"But...it was green eyed!"
"Never believe anything you hear from me." I hinted. "Do you really think I would let it out that easy, guys? C’mon..."
Suddenly, Karlton was down, his back coated in a thick green paint.
"Aw, man!" He pounded his fist into the floor, "This sucks!"
It wasn’t long before the others of the team were overwhelmed as well, and I shut the simulation off, not even half way into it.
"It was an honorable try." I entered the observation deck, looking out over them, "You all did very well."
"We lost." Decay unzipped his uniform part way down his chest, "Not to mention the fact that we are all covered in paint..."
"Keep working and we’ll try this again next month." I smiled, "And remember –you cannot tell any of the other units about this simulation until after tomorrow. Understand?" They all nodded, "Alright, go get cleaned up." I dismissed them back to the dormitories.
Through the rest of the day, the other groups didn’t do much better. The younger groups did better then expected on their separate simulations, but it still wasn’t as well as I would have liked.
"You expect to much out of these kids." Hound sat in one of the empty chairs across from his desk, as I sat behind it, looking over student files. "It isn’t the glory days anymore."
"Hound...if anything, these kids are even more powerful then when I was a kid. Don’t give me any crap about me expecting to much out of them. If anything, I should expect more."
He tilted his canine like face, his eyes narrowing, "You are not taking your angry at Logan out on these kids in these simulations, are you?"
"I was never angry with Logan. What are you talking about?"
"Logan was your last connection to your younger days. Of course you are angry at him, and with good reason. He left you, Sundry."
"He died." I looked back to the student files, my eyes scanning over the screen, "He did not leave me out of choice."
"But it was sudden. You had plans...things you wanted."
"Every one has things that they want. It was Logan’s time, Joshua. That’s all."
"Just admit that you are angry with him, Sundry." Hound rounded the desk, standing at my side, "You feel guilty about still wanting him..."
"Of course I do. What is this about?"
"This is about you trying to kill my students."
"I am...look, the last unit of students is tomorrow morning, alright? And then I will not be ‘trying to kill your students’ for a whole month. Alright? Can we please just get through the night?"
"When do you plan on ending these maddening tests?"
"When they are ready."
"Ready for what? Time has changed."
"Time never changes, Hound. There is always a threat, lurking out there...you just have to wait for it to show."