"Honestly, it's nothing short of a miracle."
In the sterile lab, a blond woman spoke to a man covered in blue fur. They were looking at Clark, whose breathing had just begun to stabilize on the examination table.
The woman was Jean Grey, the Phoenix, and the man was Hank McCoy, the Beast. As two of the X-Men's smartest scientists, they had believed Clark's chances of survival were almost zero when he arrived.
His cervical vertebrae had been broken for too long, and he'd been deprived of oxygen for an extended period. Even though Cyclops and the others had rushed him to the academy, the journey itself had taken too much time.
A normal person would have died in transit, but this young boy had clung to life with incredible tenacity. His vital signs were weak, but he was alive; his heart was still beating faintly. This was the only reason they had decided to attempt to save him.
"You're right," Beast agreed, preparing the surgical tools. "No mutant could survive an injury like that, let alone this ordinary child." They planned to perform a dangerous surgery, cutting open Clark's neck to reconnect his broken vertebrae.
"Are you sure... he's just an ordinary person?" Jean asked, her voice thoughtful.
Beast knew what she was implying. "You're suggesting he's a mutant, like Logan, and his healing factor is what's kept him alive?"
Jean nodded. Logan's mutant ability gave him a powerful healing factor and a near-indestructible adamantium skeleton, making him almost impossible to kill. The only logical explanation for Clark's survival was a similar ability.
"But if a boy like him existed, the Professor would have found him long ago," Beast countered. "There's no record of him." Professor Charles Xavier possessed the most powerful mind on Earth.
While he was careful not to read minds without permission, he regularly used his psychic abilities to search for newly awakened mutants around the world. Every new mutant was logged in their database. The fact that this eight-year-old child wasn't on record was why Beast never considered the possibility that Clark was a mutant.
"Let's save the discussion for later and get ready for the surgery," Jean said.
"Right."
As Jean and Beast prepared to operate on Clark, another laboratory nearby housed a different patient. Logan, shirtless, was sleeping peacefully. Unlike Clark, his body was protected by an adamantium skeleton, and no injury could kill him. He had simply been knocked unconscious by kinetic force. His powerful healing factor had already sealed every wound. He was merely recovering from exhaustion.
"Agh!"
Suddenly, Logan shot up, his eyes wide with panic as he looked around the room. "The lab... we were captured?" Logan had spent years on the run, hunted by unknown enemies. He knew how attractive his abilities were to certain powerful individuals. The moment he saw the sterile lab, he feared the worst. If he'd been knocked out, Clark and Rogue must have been defenseless.
"I need to find them."
Without even thinking to find a shirt, Logan sprinted out of the lab. He found himself in a gleaming metal corridor and was instantly lost. He had no idea where he was or where to find Clark and Rogue. He could only look around and move with a sense of frantic urgency.
"Where are you going?" a strange voice echoed in his mind.
Logan flinched and instinctively hid behind a wall. Several elevators were nearby, but he couldn't operate any of them without clearance.
"Come here."
Suddenly, the elevator behind him opened, and a voice in his mind urged him to enter. The voice held no malice and didn't cause him any discomfort. He would have walked in instinctively, but right now, his mind was only on the children.
"Get out of my head! Where's Clark? Where's Rogue? Where are they?"
In his office, Professor Charles Xavier finally understood Logan's panic. He wasn't worried about himself; his only concern was for the children. Seeing a new side of Logan's compassionate nature, Charles didn't force him to come to his office. The elevator doors closed slowly.
At the same time, the Professor's voice sounded in Logan's mind again. "If you're looking for the boy, keep going. You'll find him."
Logan had no direction before, but now that he had a lead—whether it was real or not—he had to follow it. He moved forward cautiously. As he approached a metal door, his enhanced hearing picked up voices inside.
"It's a success. The paralysis is perfect. The neck bone has been reattached. Now we're starting to sew him up."
"Neck bone?"
Logan had lost consciousness before he knew about Clark's injury. He knew Clark had taken the gas tank and saved Rogue, but he didn't know about the broken neck. Hearing the words, his mind jumped to two terrifying conclusions: either Clark or Rogue had been captured and was being experimented on.
It wasn't an unreasonable thought for Logan. After 15 years with no memories, living in a world that was profoundly hostile to mutants, he had grown used to expecting the worst from people. Even with a kind heart, years of hatred and fear had taken their toll.
He didn't hesitate. With a snarl, Logan extended his claws and sliced through the lab door in two quick strokes. He burst inside, seeing Clark on a surgical table.
"What did you do?!"
Before he could process the scene, anger overwhelmed him. No one could stay calm after seeing the boy they were protecting hooked up to machines, with a fresh surgical wound on his neck. Logan charged at Jean Grey, his claws extended, looking as if he would cut her in two.