Dr. Lorna Dane

"Lumberjackin' is just the warm-up, Dane," he grunted, setting the mug back down on the wooden surface with a soft thud, his voice a little smoother now that the highway dust had been thoroughly washed out of his throat. "Out in the Yukon, if you aren't movin' three-ton pines or haulin' your own frame in winter supply blocks, the cold just snaps you in half." He leaned his large forearms back onto the top of the chair, his eyes tracking the slight splotch of coffee on her Fleetwood Mac shirt with an amused, silent scoff before shifting up to meet her gaze. "I think the Canadian pine is permanently baked into my skin at this point."

He listened without interrupting as she broke down the current state of the mansion, a sympathetic rumble crawling in his chest when she mentioned the kids. He could practically see it--------- the chaotic explosion of mutant puberty that Xavier so stubbornly tried to organize into a structured curriculum. "Yeah, well, the kids bein' convinced they can take on the world or that the world is endin' because of 'em... that part never changes," Logan muttered, reaching for his coffee again and taking another slow sip. "Better you teaching 'em how to manage those fields than lettin' 'em find out the hard way." His expression warmed just a bit, a rare touch of genuine camaraderie showing through his weathered features. "And don't go sellin' yourself short on the mentoring gig. Chuck might be an idealistic old goat, but he isn't blind. If he says you're good for these kids, it's because you are. They need to see someone who knows how to handle the noise without lettin' it break 'em."

His thick brows furrowed slightly, however, as her words shifted toward the Professor's recent behavior, his mind instantly turning over the implications of Xavier being unusually scarce. He stared down into the black depths of his mug, the relaxed air in the kitchen shifting into something more focused and pointed. It wasn't like the old man to fade into the background, especially not within the walls of his own school, unless there was a storm brewing on the horizon that he was trying to keep the residents from spotting.

"No, he didn't tell me a damn thing," Logan admitted as he thought back to their brief encounter in the wilderness. "Just gave me the usual speech about responsibility, finding a purpose, and how the school could use a combat instructor who knows how the real world operates. But he looked tired, Lorna. More than usual." He shifted his stance, the wood of the chair groaning slightly under his bulk as he leaned in closer to the island. "Lately, even out in the brush, I've been pickin' up stray radio broadcasts and catchin' old news reports whenever I rolled through a border town. The talkin' heads on the television are gettin' louder again. Some new mutant registration subcommittee formin' in Washington, a couple of unexplained skirmishes near the industrial borders up north, and the usual anti-mutant rhetoric startin' to creep back into the evenin' press. I figured Chuck was just keepin' his eyes on the political theater, but if he's bein' scarce around here, he might be trackin' somethin' a lot closer to home."

his answer about charles pulled some of the amusement from her expression, the corner of her mouth softening instead of lifting. she stared into the swirl of cream and coffee in her mug for a moment longer than necessary before taking another small sip and setting it back down against the counter with a quiet clank. “yeah…you’re right.” lorna conceded. there were few things where she didn’t at least maintain a facade of confidence, but being a mentor, being an example to others, was one of the things she still struggled to see herself as anything other than an imposter.

lorna ran a hand through her hair, shifting it over one shoulder. it was still slightly damp from her shower just hours ago, a small reminder of how little sleep she’d gotten. “it feels strange,” she admitted after a moment. “how long everyone’s been gone, i mean.” one shoulder rose and fell in a small shrug. “i know that’s always kind of been the x-men way, so to speak. disappear for weeks or months, show back up bruised and bleeding, save the world, repeat. but this just feels different somehow.”

her fingers tapped absently against the marble countertop between them. as much as she was enjoying the casual conversation - someone to commiserate with who she felt had some semblance of understanding - she also needed to get this off her chest. “for a while i just assumed he was buried in cerebro.” she gave a small snort. “if he had the option to live in that room full time, i’m pretty sure he would. man probably dreams in psychic feedback and government surveillance reports.” of course, deep down, she was grateful for it. it was how he was able to get through to her, after all.

for a moment she hesitated, debating whether she should even say it out loud, especially after logan admitted what he’d witnessed and what he’d been told: the professor needing a combat instructor, the exhaustion, the heightened media frenzy over mutants. “but…” her brows knit together slightly, not quite looking at him directly. “a few weeks ago i was in his office looking for something i definitely wasn’t supposed to be looking for.” there wasn’t even a hint of guilt in her voice. “and i saw files on his desk. classified, maybe. reports. all labeled with something called sentinels.” the name sat heavy in her mouth despite how little she actually knew about it. “i didn’t get a good look before hank walked in and i remembered self-preservation was a valuable life skill.” an air of laughter escaped her.

lorna didn’t want to think much of what she saw, of what governments and news stations tried to paint public opinion of them as. deep down she knew all of that animosity simply brought out the one group she wished to not see come out of their hiding hole. it lingered at the edge of her thoughts anyway, uninvited, like her father and the brotherhood always did when things started to feel too tense between humans and mutants.

she leaned back slightly against the stool, folding her arms loosely across herself, one hand fidgeting at the bracelet on her wrist. “between that, the professor acting like a ghost in his own school, and now him dragging you back here out of the yukon?” she shook her head. “i don’t know. maybe i’m paranoid.” a beat. “actually, no. scratch that. i know i’m paranoid, t’s kind of my brand.” a small grin returned to her face then. “ah, i think they’ll let us know if they’re really concerned. i’ve been trying to act business as usual.”

Was it the minds natural way of dealing with trauma or had her memories been strategically wiped clean? Had she been force fed drugs that would help to dampen her abilities and subsequently cloud her mind enough to the point where she wouldn’t be coherent enough to use them? How long would the effects last?

The possibilities were endless and he could only guess based on experience and the knowledge he had about the tactics often employed by the opposition.

He would not voice it however. All of the details could be worked out in time. In a moment when it was more appropriate. Instead he chose to focus on their primary concern. Their escape route and what they planned to do afterwards.

her gaze shifted away from him and toward the ruined corridor ahead instead, boots crunching over shattered concrete and twisted metal as the facility seemed to collapse around them. "safe hasn't really been my thing for a while."

the words came out drier than she intended, but the exhaustion beneath them was harder to disguise. she had spent so long building a life around contingencies and exits and making herself difficult to find that she wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to do now that someone had found her anyway.

then he said it: there is always room for one more. room for you. there always has been.

for a moment, she forgot about the alarms. forgot about the bodies they were stepping around and the metal vibrating faintly beneath her feet in answer to both of them. her jaw tightened slightly. because room for one more was one thing. room for you was something else entirely.

lorna let out a quiet breath through her nose, her eyes remaining fixed glaringly ahead rather than on him. "wow, what a time for a family reunion, huh?" the sarcasm was laced through every syllable. a beat passed before the corner of her mouth pulled upward into something that half resembled a smile, though it was wry and fleeting.

"you know, the annoying part is..." she shook her head slightly. "...i think i actually believe you." her expression settled after a moment, at this point, no matter how resistant she felt towards his offer, she had little choice other than to accept.

"so...what exactly did i just agree to?" she asked, finally glancing over at him again. "because i have a feeling this isn't the part where we disappear into the woods and pretend the government isn't going to come looking for us."

"if you say so."

angela wasn't offended by the other's tone or words. just confused. or merely something more akin to hesitant. some sort of combination of that. "your apology is not necessary though. i am not hurt at all," the tall woman replied.

her attention shifted to the offered hand, then back to angela's face at the introduction. "thor's sister," she repeated, eyebrows lifting slightly as she accepted the handshake. "that's one way to make an introduction memorable. feeling a bit mortal, all of a sudden."

it made sense why the other seemed...otherworldly. not as if they couldn't fit in, but every feature seemed entirely perfect. "lorna dane," she offered in return, the corner of her mouth tugging upward faintly. "it's nice to meet you, angela, so you're from, like, an entire other realm, then?"

@magneticfaultlines ⊹ lyric based sc. ⊹ randomised song

❝ you're  the  queen  of  the  superficial  and  how  long  before  you  tell  the  truth? ❞

“superficial,” she repeats softly, almost amused, as if testing the taste of it on her tongue. “is that what you think this is?” a faint tilt of her head follows, the metal in the room humming ever so slightly in response to her mood, as if she tilted the world itself on it's axis without realizing. “if you mistake control for performance. that’s your problem, not mine.”

her attention sharpens then, lorna always wore her emotions on her face, like her armor, only seeing one side of questions that usually painted her in a particular light. “tell the truth.?” lorna exhales through her nose, a quiet, controlled breath. “people usually ask that when they’ve already decided they won’t like what they hear.” a pause, measured and intentional. the air tightens again, faint vibrations threading through anything metallic nearby. her fingers come to her temples to calm herself. "what...what are you asking me?"

“Enough.”

Realizing moments later that Lorna was likely looking for reassurance, he pushed himself to elaborate.

“It is often best to work with a small team. Less room for mistakes. It is only myself and handful of people that I trust. We were not expecting to add another.

How did you allow yourself to be captured?”

of course it was enough. she wasn't entirely sure what answer she had been looking for in the first place. reassurance, maybe. confirmation that she wasn't simply another obligation he'd collected on his way out. the thought irritated her more than it should have.

though, his explanation followed a moment later, and some of the tension in her shoulders eased despite herself, it seemed as though he were...trying.

"right." she glanced away briefly, stepping over a twisted section of metal that had once been part of a security door. "less room for people to screw things up that way." she rephrased, there was something strangely familiar about the logic of it.

his question, however, caught her off guard, and lorna's jaw tightened almost immediately. "i don't remember."

that was the answer. in truth, she did not. if she were being honest, she had been foolish, let her guard down too much, thought she was off anyone's radar enough to finally relax. she inhaled as they continued to navigate the rubble and chaos. "i suppose i can't go back home, though. so if there's room for me, i'll take it." for now.

From the little bit he did know about her, he was banking on the notion that her intelligence would be able to override her emotions. That she would understand the necessity and be able to make a logical choice.

His bloodline was messy and tainted. Some would even call it cursed. But it knew very well how to survive and survive it would.

He slowed his pace just enough to make it easier for her to catch up with him, while every single one of his senses remained on high alert.

“Outside.”

A fatherly answer, if he had ever heard one; pointing out the obvious before pausing for just a moment.

“We have an aircraft waiting. You are free to go wherever you desire, but I would suggest that you board it. There are not many safe places left in this world for us. It would be wise to lay low for a while.”

Navigating the sterile, industrial corridors was a much more difficult feat in the shadows of the crimson hued emergency lighting system. The alarm seemed to grow louder the more it was allowed to screech. If only his helmet was also able to filter that out as well. Perhaps it would be easier to concentrate.

lorna almost laughed. for a moment, she wasn't sure if it was irritation or disbelief that sparked the near-reaction. maybe both. after everything that had happened, after all these years, that was what he gave her. outside.

her jaw tightened, but she kept pace beside him through the corridor. the crimson emergency lights cast everything in bright shades of red, jarring, stretching shadows across the walls and turning the facility into something almost unreal. the alarms seemed louder now than they had before, each pulse rattling through the structure around them. she decided to focus her sights on the way out. outside. lorna could not fathom why that response was so aggravating.

"a month. maybe 6 weeks. i'm not sure." she answered, voice slightly clipped and to the point. while her mind swam with a thousand other questions, she knew she had to set that aside, for now. they passed by several scientists and staff members amongst the halls, some barely recognizable anymore. lorna might be considered dangerous, but she clearly wasn't the most dangerous.

"this is a pretty big place." she stated after another few moments, a turn down one hall and then another. "how many do you have with you?"

"Four days, actually, if you're countin' the hours I spent fixin' a blown gasket outside of Thunder Bay," Logan muttered in a gravelly rumble that sounded like it'd been dragged through a rock quarry. He reached up, running a thickly calloused hand over the silver-threaded fuzz along his jaw, the rough friction making a dry rasping sound in the vestibule. "And the smell is a delicate blend of Canadian pine, premium unleaded, and a complete lack of givin' a damn, Dane." He let his hand drop back down, hooking his thumb into the belt loop of his grease-stained jeans, bulky frame practically swallowing the space at the bottom of the stairs. Even caked in dirt, there was an undeniable presence to him; the sheer width of his chest and the rippling muscle under his plaid flannel shirt made it clear that the wilderness hadn't softened him one bit, even if the crinkles around his eyes looked a little deeper than they had the last time he'd flown the coop.

He leaned one shoulder against the oak banister, looking down at her with a faint, wry quirk of his mouth that passed for a smile on a face as roughened as his. "Didn't expect to find you guardin' the staircase, though. I guess Chuck knows exactly which strings to pull when he wants to drag the stray dogs back in." He paused, his gaze moving over the subtle shift of her posture, recognizing the shared understanding of what it meant to be tethered to this place by a telepathic old man's stubborn optimism. "So, what's the verdict? You actually stickin' around to teach these kids, or you just hidin' out between research gigs like the rest of us?"

Before she could offer up an answer, Logan held up a thick, oil-smudged hand to cut her off, shaking his head as a fresh wave of exhaustion finally caught up to his bones. "Actually, don't answer that just yet, because if I don't hit a shower in the next five minutes, I'm gonna start growin' moss." He pushed off the banister, gesturing toward the upper floors with a jerk of his chin, though he lingered for a second longer just to finish the thought. "Give me twenty minutes and meet me down in the kitchen after?"

--

she had, admittedly, spent at least a portion of those twenty minutes debating whether or not she should have told him where the coffee was and saved herself the trouble of waiting. for once she could feel the weight of sleepiness begin to make it's way through her body. ultimately, she ended up staying. despite her earlier teasing, there was something reassuring about seeing a familiar face return to the mansion. especially the one who always seem to come and go as she did.

by the time he finally wandered into the kitchen, she had claimed one of the stools at the island. a mug rested comfortably between both hands, the coffee inside considerably lighter than a true cup of coffee should be. before her sat a second mug, darker and untouched, waiting. at least, she assumed he took his black. the intrusive thought of putting engine oil in his mug crossed her mind given the figure that arrived some twenty minutes ago, but she gave a light laugh to herself and shrugged it off.

her eyes immediately lifted to him, setting the porcelain mug before her with a small clank upon the counter. he certainly cleaned up nice, and certainly smelled a hundred times better than before. "well, i'd say now you smell like canadian pine." she quipped, followed by a soft grin.

one leg crossed over the other, her flannel pajama pants a stark contrast to anything resembling the professionalism of a teacher at this school. of course, she didn't much care right now as she didn't intend on running into any students, hopefully. her cropped tee, a bleach-washed gray color with a fleetwood mac logo printed on it, already had the slight splotch of spilled coffee on it, a result of her impatient nature rather than clumsiness.

she watched as he sat before her, not entirely meaning to momentarily gawk at his arms, but raising her mug in a gesture of toasting before taking a small sip of the liquid within. "christ logan, what kind of lumberjacking workout routine have you gotten into." it was a half-joke, half...attempting to brush off the previous moment of staring.

lorna was relieved he asked a question she could answer without covering herself with some bad joke, again. "well, the students are still students," she said with a soft sigh. "which means they're equal parts brilliant, raging with hormones, and convinced they're either completely invincible or personally responsible for every problem on earth. i spent two weeks helping a kid learn how to manipulate electromagnetic fields without frying every electronic device within a hundred-foot radius." the corner of her mouth twitched. "which, admittedly, was a little nostalgic."

hand lifted to tuck several loose strands of hair behind her ear. dark brown mixed with faint traces of green caught the kitchen light. years ago, her aunt had insisted she keep it dyed. these days the habit lingered more out of familiarity than necessity, though some part of her still found comfort in the disguise.

"i've mostly been splitting my time between research and mentoring. charles keeps insisting i'm good at it." she shrugged, clearly not quite believing that. "the rest of the team is gone a lot, some half-retired, i think. i imagine that's why he called you to come, but i don't ask professor a lot questions. he's been strangely, more absent than usual though."

that thought lingered longer than she expected. her lips pressed briefly to one side as she considered it, as though she'd only just noticed it herself.

then again, that wasn't entirely surprising. lorna had always been good at finding something to occupy her mind before it could drift somewhere dangerous. research, field work, mentoring, volunteering for problems that weren't technically hers to solve - anything that kept her moving. anything that kept her from sitting still long enough for doubt, guilt, or old mistakes to start clawing their way back to the surface. as a result, it wasn't uncommon for her to miss things that didn't immediately demand her attention.

the motorcycle had announced itself through the estate's drive, the vibrations reverberating like a ripple through water. a ripple she felt through every cell in her body. it was familiar enough that she recognized it without much effort. the engine, the steel, the distinct metallic signature moving steadily up the drive. by the time the sound itself finally reached the mansion, she was already slowly making her way toward the main entrance. lorna had a suspicion of who it was, but her curiosity got the better of her.

she hadn't been back at the mansion very long. in truth, lorna seemed to navigate life in a constant state of emotional and scientific chaos, where one day she was out in the field researching geomagnetic signatures and the next she found herself relying on a friendly telepath, or xavier himself, to help quiet the doubt and chatter that occasionally filled her mind. it was often how she ended up back here: conducting research in her own time, mentoring students in return for charles' kindness, and pretending she hadn't accidentally made the school her home again.

the entrance quickly filled with the smell of someone who had clearly spent a long time on the road - sweat, grime, and the faintest scent of steel filling the air about him. that, combined with the dirt and mud now smeared across what had once been polished wood flooring, painted a fairly complete picture.

her brown hues, speckled with the slightest flecks of green, assessed him from her stance at the bottom of the stairs, hand still on the railing as though she hadn't entirely decided whether she was about to say hello, or simply turn around and head back to her rooms. after the briefest silences, however, a faint smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "seems we all find our way back here, somehow."

lorna wasn't sure what brought the wolverine himself back, but she figured it was also xavier's doing. she finally descended the last few steps, her right foot meeting the ground floor before the left followed. a few more steps carried her forward, though she still left several paces between them.

There was nothing special about it.

Concrete structures with steel bones. Fitted with aluminum light fixtures and metal studs. Guarded by men and women with metal weapons that fired iron projectiles. A fortress easily weaponized by one who had the power to rip its insides out.

Floor by floor prisoners were liberated and enemies were felled. A long overdue clean up that was nearly complete.

The sensation was unmistakable. One he had felt before. A pull reminiscent of the one that came right from the earth. In the red hue of the emergency lighting system, the man known as Magneto froze.

How had he not known?

Leaving the others to finish the job, he followed the pull. Stepping over bodies and freezing bullets only to reverse their trajectories. An invisible shield that would keep him safe and the same force that had released her from her collar.

He would have wrenched the door of her cell right off its hinges, if she hadn’t beat him to it. The young woman nearly collided with him as she sprang forward into the hallway.

There was a brief moment of hesitation while the screeching of the alarm droned inside his ear drums. There was no time for a proper greeting. No room for formalities.

“We do not have much time. Enough blood has been spilled for one day. Come now. This way.”

she could feel his power practically reverberating through his presence, just as surely as he could feel hers. had he come here because of her? it was a strange thought, one she quickly shoved into the deepest corners of her mind.

his voice cut through the blare of the alarms, demanding her attention without entirely meaning to. lorna hesitated for only a moment, feeling her fists clench and unclench at her sides. whether it was anger or some other complicated emotion she couldn't quite name, she wasn't sure. when he turned to leave, she had little time to decide whether she intended to follow.

magnets of the same pole repelled each other, and for a moment her feet seemed reluctant to move, as though physically incapable of following him while some unseen force pushed her away. then one foot stepped forward, and then the other, until she found herself only a few paces behind him.

her lips pressed into a firm line, an attempt to keep herself from chewing on the inside of her cheek, a habit she had mostly outgrown. these days, she usually acted on whatever impulse she was trying to suppress.

"where are we going?" she asked.

lorna rolled her lips, taking a deep breath in order to gather herself again. she could feel the agitation creeping up her spine, but the woman before her was not quite deserving of being a victim of such feeling.

"no, i'm sorry." she stated, voice even, not sympathetic, but not dishonest, either. "think i'm just having an off day, is all."