2014.04.18 - Weapon X meet Weapon XIV

They were the Five-in-One and they were in... Westchester County of all places. If they could still feel they would be going "Ew."

But this is where their telepathic scans had lead them. This is where the Wolverine, Weapon X, was. They need to know more.

When they walked into Harry's Hideaway and they frowned, not because of the decor. They think that when they could feel they'd call it 'quaint.' No they frowned because there was no way that Weapon X was here. This was not a place for a living weapon to be....

Or maybe they'd just see him drinking at a bar. That would draw another 'Ew' if they were still having emotions, but they didn't.

Regardless they didn't mind control several people to come to Westchester for nothing, they wanted to talk to Weapon X, and there he was.

Dressed in blue sweatpants and white t-shirts the five identical blondes (hair tied up because it made no sense to be down, no make-up because make up makes no sense) walked up to the man called Logan and said in a cold unison and a London accent, "You are a hard man to find. And we do not mean that in the traditional movie cliche, you are literally a hard man to find."

Turning to see the five girls all dressed similarly Logan's memory kicked in. He remembered talks with Xavier about Emma Frost and her Stepford Cuckoos. A group of five telepaths that were so similar it was eerie. These were the reasons Chuck was giving Emma a cautious eye. Looking them over slowly Logan took in their appearances and tried to find small differences between them, "The five-in-one," Logan said to them in a type of addressing.

"Good. You've heard of us. The limited research we could do on you told us you were affiliated with Charles Xavier. We were hoping you would know of us. Because that would make this part easier."

An inhalation from the girls and their eyes start to glow, everyone in Harry's seems to freeze in place, "They can no longer hear us, no longer understand us. We have frozen them in their moments. We are the Five-in-One, correct. We are also known as Weapon X. I. V. A fact about us we only just learned."

"And you are Weapon X. We wish to learn from you. We want to escape our fate."

Seeing everyone freeze as if suspended animation cascaded over all of them didn't cause Logan to flinch. Professor Xavier was the master of that trick. "I know the drill," Logan said as if that sort of things just happened day to day. "Sit," he said to the five of them. When they were all comfortable Logan started, and he would not speak until they sat down, "Are you sure you wanna go down this path? Yer gonna have to know things about yerselves that cannot be unseen. You know that, right?"

"Mr. Logan," the girls all said in a cold, distant, but unified voice, "We already know what we are for, we already know we do not like it."

Their eyes were still glowing as they all looked at him together, in the same slow head turn, "We are the Five-in-One. We abide. And we grow from that."

"Weapon XIII already told us what we were. "We already accepted it. We wish to know more." they said together, no emotion, no difference in scent, no difference in body language, "Please, show us. We do not think we can understand without you or Captain America. But he is Weapon 0, he does not know what you know."

"If yer lookin' to escape you gotta realize the person you were before findin' this out is the real you. Yer not a weapon. You mighta been made to -be- a weapon, but that don't make you one. Some days are gonna be harder than others. You just gotta live. Find out what makes you feel...whole," he looked down and then back to the girls. "I lost my memory after rebelling against the programming. Turned my back on it. Went around the world to find myself. Some days I gotta confront what I was made for but I don't let it dictate what I do," he was being brutally honest to these girls. It was not going to be easy. Being your own person was worth it. The things in life that mattered were never easy though.

"We lost our memory too," the Cuckoos stated together, "We don't know who we were before a year ago before we came to the Academy."

The girls looked at each other for a moment and back to Logan, "But we are telepaths, to us memory, thought. It is everything."

"Ms. Frost taught us that we must understand who we were and prepare for who we become. And the present is meant to be enjoyed."

The cold face of the emotionless Five-in-One looked into Logan and said, "But we are not enjoying who we are in the moment, we do not understand who we were. And we neither fear nor prepare for our future."

"We have come to you for guidance. You are the only one who can explain this for us. Weapon XIII cannot explain it."

There was no emotion in their faces, no body language to show that the were hurting, but they were, "Mr. Logan. Please. Tell us that Weapon XVI is not our life."

"It's not but the five of ya gotta do some soul searching. To not be Weapon Fourteen...you gotta learn to like stuff. Learn to embrace what it is to be a person. Weapons don't have interests. They do not care for other things. They do not have something to fight for or a purpose to live for. You gotta find these things," again he was trying to lay it all out for them. His blue eyes looked of them sympathetically. He wondered if this was the organizations new MO. That Wolverine wrecked things up so badly they tried to remove emotions from future weapons. Laura, the stepfords, they were proof of this potential new direction.

"We chose this non-emotional state, " The Stepford Cuckoos replied, "We have a power that allows us to cut off emotions."

All five of the girls were starring into Logan's eyes, their eyes were this pale blue, their hair was natural blonde, no smell of peroxide, no smell of plastic on their eyes

"We are sorry that the Weapon X project has continued. We did not know of X-23... Laura," their voice never changed, no melody, no emotion, just perfect unison.

"We believe that we are meant to be a strategist and a sort of radar. Like a Cerebro or a Sentinel genetic scanner." The girls continued without missing a beat.

"We had feelings before now, we had cares. Sophie loved politics and history. Phoebe liked causes and documentaries. Irma liked poetry and art and music. Celeste loved shopping and fashion and had a thing for super-heroes. Esme wanted to be apart but wanted to be in control of us all."

They all shook their head for a moment, they considered turning their hearts back to normal but they didn't. Instead they asked, "How hard is it, to accept that you were meant to kill all you love?"

Their question was a factual one, one that had no malice, no sorrow, no.. anything. A callow question.

"The five of you should stop cutting yourself off from emotions. Learn to let a little of them in. They'll help you live," Logan spoke from experience as he tried to push them away at first. Then as he learned to trust people, let them in, deep down he knew they did help him live.

The question was a prolific one. It carried a lot of weight, "It's hard at first. Even long after it might keep you up fer a night or two. You just gotta remember that yer not the weapon. No matter how much you may fear you might become it...You gotta remember yer Irma. You gotta remember yer Sophie. You gotta remember yer Celeste. You gotta remember yer Phoebe. You gotta remember yer Esme. That NONE of you are a number or never will be," he was trying to make sure all of them understood by looking into their eyes individually as he called out their names in the speech. "Who are you?" he said to each one individually. If they did not answer the way he wanted he would keep asking until they did.

The Five-in-One looked at Wolverine and their eyes stopped glowing, slowly but surely the people of Harry's Hideway started to move again, "We are the Five-in-One, Mr. Logan. We are never alone, but always such."

They were still emotionless but the information was absorbed, "We will always be Sophie, Phoebe, Irma, Celeste and Esme. We will always fight against...it."

They stood back up and said, "We appreciate your time, Mr. Logan," one of them let down three hundred dollar bills on the bar, "Your tab is on us. And before you argue against it."

The Five-in-One walked to the door and thought to Logan, |"We were never here."| there telepathic voice just as cold as their real voice was. They walked out into the parking lot, they would find/force someone to taken them back home to Metropolis, from there they could walk.

Seeing the money Logan said to the tender, "Next round is on me." The people just had their brains tinkered with. A round was more than deserved. Looking at the room Logan saw they were gone. He would have to tell someone about the Stepfords. A few names were in his mind. It was just a matter of tracking them down.