Chapter 078 – Old Friends

[2009 – July]

"Logan.", Fury greeted as he took a seat opposite him in the small booth, the table already filled with dozens of empty whiskey glasses and at least half a dozen cigar butts.

Even though Logan did not enjoy living longer than many of his loved ones due to his healing factor, the fact that he could so wantonly abuse his body without having to care about liver problems or lung cancer did make him somewhat glad, as he had seen those afflicted with such and it wasn't a pretty sight.

The fact that alcohol had practically zero effect on him though was something he did not enjoy.

"Fury.", he greeted back with his gruff voice as he looked at the stoic spymaster, whose left eye was covered by a black eyepatch.

"It seems you have been here for a while.", Fury stated with a raised eyebrow, looking at the empty glasses and stubs.

"Well, not long enough that it would have helped with my mood.", Logan replied, still rather depressed that his daughter had left his side again.

"Wanna talk about it?", Fury asked calmly.

"Talk about it?", Logan smirked as he looked at one of his oldest friends alive, "Please, if I were to approach you to pour out my heart, then you can be damn sure that it ain't me you are talking to and can just blow my head off."

"Fair enough.", the spymaster replied, a small smile of his own appearing briefly on his face.

"So, you wanna talk about the boy?", Logan asked.

"I just want to know if he is a threat, and if there are countermeasures if things get hostile.", Fury stated calmly.

Snorting in response, Logan replied: "I have known you long enough to know that that's bullshit. You wanna know what you can do to control the boy in case you might need him for something. Don't insult me by telling me the same lies you tell your subordinates."

Not commenting on Logan's remark, Fury just looked on silently as he waited for Logan to continue.

Sighing to himself, he eventually did: "Look, I can't tell you about the boy's powers, but what I can tell you is that neither I nor any other X-Men can probably take him down in a one-on-one battle. I tried and fought him, but the boy didn't even break a sweat as he took me and several other X-Men down."

"And even if I told you about his power, I am pretty sure that it would just be the tip of the iceberg as he seems to have abilities that he didn't reveal to Charles. The only thing I can tell you is that the Professor classified him as an Omega-class mutant, and you know what that means, don't you?", Logan added.

No matter his friendship with the spymaster, the older mutant knew where his loyalties lay, so he naturally did not expose Elijah's powers in front of Fury. He knew that this information could be used to harm the young mutant, and despite their 'disagreement', he didn't want Elijah to be hunted down by SHIELD or any other organization that managed to get their hands on the intel he gave Fury.

Frowning deeply, Fury nodded: "Extremely dangerous with basically no upper limit."

"Yeah, but it's more than that.", Logan sighed as he shook his hand, "It also means that the boy's power development is unpredictable. He has only been a mutant for a few weeks and is already incredibly powerful. I have never seen a mutant with that much control over their own powers after such a short period of time."

"Is he a threat?", Fury asked, silently thinking about Logan's words for a short moment.

"No.", Logan answered while shaking his head, a wry smile on his head, "The boy won't make you trouble if you leave him alone. He isn't one to use his powers to harm innocent people."

"And what about Jean Grey?", Fury questioned with a grave tone in his voice, "We detected a disturbance yesterday night atop the Statue of Liberty, and we have reason to believe that she was the reason for that. We also know that Elijah Frost was by her side when she caused the disturbance."

"I can't tell you anything about that, but she isn't a danger.", Logan said, not surprised that SHIELD had detected the anomaly like Xavier had done, as their technology was most likely as advanced as Hank's, and their resources simply immeasurable.

"That's not enough, Logan.", Fury stated with a shake of his head, "The council wants assurances that there won't be a mutant just razing a whole city because they were scared or angered. If I can't give them those assurances, then they will want to see those threats incarcerated."

"Then try and arrest them.", Logan replied with a snort, "Though I suggest bringing everything you got because that's what it will take. And prepare enough bodybags, because you will need them too. Jean and Elijah aren't a threat if you don't make them one."

A few moments of tense silence spread between them as they stared each other in the eyes, or eye in the spymaster's case, neither of them willing to relent.

"Okay.", Fury finally said as he sighed, "I trust you, Logan. But there will be others that don't."

Shrugging, Logan replied: "There always are."

"But enough about that for now.", he added while signaling for the barmaid to bring over another two glasses of whiskey, so they could have a drink together, "How is Natasha? Still doing a good job?"

"One of my best ever since you brought her to me.", Fury stated with a sigh, remembering the past and taking a swig of the well-aged whiskey that had just been served by a pretty brunette.