Star took the book off the shelf and gazed at the cover for a moment. She had read it over a dozen times already, but it was one of her favorites. "The Complete Works of Tolkien, Volume One", she read silently, then smiled. She met Wolverine in the hall.

"Care ta join me, darlin'?" he asked as they walked together down the hall toward the weight room.

"Perhaps later," she answered, indicating the book. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him gently. He slapped her rump as she turned into the main living room, where Jubilee was watching yet another talk show. He went on to the weight room.

Star watched the talk show with Jubilee for a few minutes, then picked up her book and left the mansion, crossing the back deck with unhurried steps. She'd found that she preferred to read this particular book in solitude. She walked through the woods until she reached a small natural clearing where she sat down with her back to a tree and began to read. She'd been there for some time when she heard an odd sound from behind the tree. She turned toward the noise and something struck her in the jaw. Dazed from the blow, she looked up and saw a large man dressed in blue, wearing a red lined cape. He reached for her, lifting her effortlessly from the ground, his hand twisted in the front of her blouse. She felt the book fall from her fingers as he touched her cheek with his free hand.

"Your son has a most interesting genetic structure, but there are some difficulties. Perhaps the original template will help me correct the problem."

"What...?" she said.

"I will explain later, my dear." He smiled at her, chilling her. Then he hit her again and the world went dark.


"We will find her, Wolverine." Professor Xavier told him as he removed the helmet which allowed him full access to Cerebro.

"But you ain't found her yet." Wolverine's hand rested on the cover of the book he had found in the woods, and which he had carefully cleaned of the dirt which had smeared the pages.

"No. But her signature has always been difficult to isolate." He sighed. "It may take time, but we will find her." Wolverine made no reply, stalking from the ready room with barely suppressed fury which was only made more intense by his sense of helplessness. Star had been taken from him yet again. Would they never be granted peace?


Star awakened in a small room. She lay on a high, padded table. When she sat up, a sharp pain stabbed through her head. Gingerly, she reached up and touched her cheek. She could feel the bruise even as it began to fade. The pain dimmed, and then was gone. She swung her feet off the side of the table as the door opened and the man in blue stood framed within it. He smiled at her, and she shivered.

"I am pleased to see that your healing factor is still effective. It was with great regret that I learned you had destroyed your other abilities. You had great potential ... number thirty six!" She glared at him, and he laughed.

"Do you know who I am?" Star didn't answer, refusing to be baited by her captor. "I have been called Mr. Sinister. My specialty is genetics, which is what made the good doctor's project, and you, of such interest to me." He stepped into the room, and her eyes flicked over the open door behind him. "Don't try it, my dear. Without your powers, you wouldn't get past my people. And I do prefer to have you in an undamaged condition." She continued to watch him, waiting for an opening to present itself. "You see, I find myself in need of your cooperation." He stepped up to the table, and took her chin in his hand. She jerked her head away from his hand, leaped to her feet and dashed past him, despite his warning, toward the door. He caught her effortlessly, twisting her arm behind her and throwing her to the floor. He knelt then, pinning her with his knee. 'Sometimes,' she thought, 'having so little mass to throw around is a real disadvantage.'

"I would prefer," he said quietly, as she struggled in his grasp, "to have your cooperation. I am, however, willing to coerce you as needed." He stood and yanked her to her feet, her arm still twisted behind her. "You will do as I wish. There are more lives at stake than you know, and I can afford to wait longer than you can." He thrust her from him and she stumbled into the table. He stepped from the room and closed the door in her face.


After carefully examining every square inch of the room, and finding nothing of any use, Star sat on the floor, her back to the wall nearest the door, and waited. She was angry, frightened, and, despite herself, curious. "More lives at stake than you know," he'd said. Had he captured the other X-Men? What did he mean? And did the others even realize that she had been taken? She needed answers before she could decide what to do. She snorted. Brute force was out of the question. She drew up her knees and folded her arms across them. After a while, she dozed.


Wolverine grew more difficult to deal with as the days passed with no word of Star. Once more he tried using his own contacts to locate her, to no avail. Sinister had gone to ground completely, apparently without leaving a single clue as to his, or Star's, whereabouts. Wolverine's frustration grew greater with each new failure.


Star didn't know how long it had been since the man calling himself Sinister had locked her in this room, but it had been a long time. Several days at least. When at last he opened the door, she found herself to weak to even stand, much less attempt to escape. He stepped into the room and stood before her, his hands on his hips.

"Are you ready to cooperate?" She glared up at him, her throat too dry to risk a response. He grasped the front of her blouse and lifted her until her feet dangled well above the floor. She gasped at the sudden motion, dizzy as the blood rushed from her head. "Your healing factor will not save you from starvation, though it will extend the process, as your body consumes itself." He looked down at her and smiled his chilling smile once more. "Long before you die, however, you will lose the child you carry within you." At her startled glance, he laughed, throwing his head back and lowering her until her feet touched the floor. He released her suddenly and she slumped against the wall, one hand instinctively pressed to her belly.

"The stakes just went up, did they not? You killed your first child through an ignorance of your own abilities." He smiled again, nastily. "Would you repeat your mistake? Murder yet another innocent? Think about it," he said as he stepped back through the door. "But don't take too long. An early fetus is notoriously fragile." He closed the door and she heard the lock click into place.

She sank back to the floor and fought back the tears she could not afford to shed. Wolverine had told her of their son, who had been unable to live outside her body, his incredible metabolism causing his body to be misformed beyond the ability to survive. She sobbed once, brokenly, and Sinister, watching through a camera concealed in the ceiling, smiled, knowing she would cooperate for the sake of her child.

"Two for the price of one," he said quietly, his fingers lightly touching her figure on the screen. He watched her as she fought her tears. She looked up once, and the expression of stubborn resolve was gone from her face. The expression she wore now was fear, and it made her look like a lost child. He turned and looked at the child behind him. His expression was identical to Star's.

Sinister had decided that, while Dr. Richardson's work was basically sound, he had erred in the method he had used to raise his animals. Sinister had removed the boy from the growth chamber while he was still physically an infant, and had tried to raise him as if he were a normal child. He had lavished him with attention, had seen to his every need, both physical and emotional, but the boy had not responded as he had hoped. He had never learned to speak and did not respond to the "affection" his attendants pretended to feel. Perhaps this woman, Star she called herself, would be able to reach him. She would be able to understand the boy's needs, his fears, for she had been genetically blessed with the same frantic metabolism and had grown to adulthood in a few short years. She should be able to reach the child, to teach him to control the powers which would soon begin to blossom within his rapidly maturing body. Sinister hoped she would be able to help, for the powers this child would develop were far too dangerous to be allowed to grow unchecked, and the boy would otherwise have to be destroyed. The fact that she was also his genetic mother could be of benefit as well.

He waited several hours before re-entering the room. Star looked up at him and struggled to her feet.

"What is it you want from me?" she asked him, her voice harsh, rough from the dryness of her throat. He looked at her for a moment then stepped forward and took her by the arm, ignoring how she flinched away from his touch.

"Come with me." She was far too weak to resist him as he pulled her from the room. In spite of her weakness, she took careful note of her surroundings, prepared to use the knowledge should an opportunity arise.

He jerked her to a stop in front of a long low window. It looked upon another room, where the boy sat motionless on his bunk. Star gasped, for the room was much like the cage she had grown up in.

"What...?"

"I need your help with the boy."

"My help?"

"Yes." Star shook her head.

"Why didn't you just ask?"

"I did not have time. If you cannot reach him before his powers develop, I will be forced to destroy him." Star looked at him in horror.

"He's just a child!"

"Yes, but a very dangerous child. And he will not remain a child for long." He looked at her speculatively as she continued to watch the boy, one hand raised to touch the glass.

"You have three lives to gain by helping me." She glared at him for a moment, then closed her eyes and nodded mutely.

"I thought you could be reasoned with." He took her arm once more and shoved her toward a man wearing a white lab coat. "Get her something to eat and get her cleaned up. Then bring her back here." The man nodded. "And keep an eye on her," Sinister added.

"What's his name?" Star asked suddenly. After a long moment Sinister answered.

"I've called him Matthew." Then he turned his back on her and stalked away down the hall. The man in the lab coat half led, half carried Star in the other direction. She looked back over her shoulder at the child as he sat huddled in his room.


The boy shook his head as the people moved away from the glass wall. He could not see them, but he was always able to sense their presence. His long red hair fell into his face and he brushed at it irritably, looking at his reflection with more knowledge than Sinister had given him credit for. There had been a new person today, someone he had never felt before, but who felt very familiar. She was frightened and unhappy to be here, but she also feared for him, something no one had ever felt before. They were afraid of him, yes, but never for him. He decided to wait and see what would happen, listening to her thoughts, though she was much harder to hear than Sinister or the others. Her feelings for him were genuine, not feigned. She would help if she could.


The man took Star to a small kitchenette and seated her at the table. He opened a can of soup and heated it for her. She sipped it cautiously, wanting to gulp it, but knowing that it would only make her sick, and she needed the nourishment too badly. When she had finished, the man watching impatiently, she put the cup on the table and he stepped forward and helped her to stand. He took her to a large shower room and told her to strip.

"I am capable of bathing myself," she said.

"Sorry, lady. Just following orders. Boss man said I was to keep an eye on you, and that is exactly what I'm going to do. Now get out of those clothes, or would you rather I did it for you?" Lifting her head, Star peeled out of her soiled clothing and stepped up to the shower controls. She adjusted the water and stepped into the stream. The man crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, watching her. She stayed in the water as long as she dared, her parched body absorbing the moisture through her skin, as well as through the damp air she breathed in. When she shut the water off, the man tossed her a towel, and had a clean shirt ready for her. As small as she was, it was quite long enough to cover her body and she put it on quickly.

"Come on," he said when she had finished dressing and she followed him back into the corridor. He took her back to Matthew's cubicle and, opening the door, gestured for her to enter. She stepped inside and heard the door close behind her. The boy looked up at her, but made no other move.

"Hello, Matthew," she said. "My name is Star." The boy watched her silently. "May I sit down?" she asked, placing one hand on the back of the chair. His eyes flicked from her face, to the chair, and back again. She took it as an invitation and sat down. He watched her without blinking.

"I grew up in a room almost exactly like this, Matthew, so I know a little about what it must be like for you." He just looked at her. Star sighed and the boy echoed her.


He felt the woman returning and watched as the door opened and she entered. He felt her heart leap when the door closed behind her, though she was scarcely aware of it herself. She spoke to him for a moment and he found he had to pay careful attention to her because her mind voice was so quiet. She leaned on the back of his chair and he could sense her weariness. Why didn't she just sit down? That's what the others did when they came to bury him with their thoughts. When he looked at the chair, she smiled at him and sat down. She continued to speak to him and he caught glimpses of another child in another room. She sighed and he sighed with her as he realized that he was seeing her memories, that she was the child in the room. He got up and walked over to her. She looked up at him and he realized that she was much smaller than any of the other people he had seen. He was easily as tall as she, and he was far from grown. He put his hand on her shoulder and they both shuddered from her remembered pain. He cried out and snatched his hand away. She slumped in the chair, leaning heavily on the table. When she looked up at him, he backed away from her, until he ran into the wall behind him.


When he touched her, her fatigue weakened shields crumbled and the boy was bombarded by her memories. Unfortunately, the clearest memories were of the pain she had endured, first during her time as a lab animal, then later with the X-Men. The electric shocks when the Doctor was dissatisfied with her progress, the terror and aloneness of the sensory deprivation chamber; Wolverine's anger as he stood over her, with his claws extended; the men at the mall; the flight from the courtroom; Wolverine again, as she lay, broken and bloodied, in the woods by the mansion; Sabretooth's claws on her back; the Reaver's crushing weight as he raped her, and on and on. The boy screamed and backed away from her. She forced her shields back into place, then turned to try and comfort the terrified child.


His eyes widened as her mental presence faded completely. He cowered against the wall as she approached him. When she touched him, he nearly screamed again, but all the contact brought was a gentle awareness. And he realized that she had built a wall around her mind to protect him. If he concentrated, he could understand what she wanted. She was so quiet!


"Matthew, it's all right. I'm sorry, son. It's OK. I won't let it happen again, I promise." He flinched when she touched him, then relaxed imperceptibly. He looked up into her face, his blue eyes flickering from one of her silver flecked blue eyes to the other, then he threw his arms around her neck and clung to her.


He was astonished to find that she genuinely cared about him, that she wanted to comfort him. He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She held him and he felt protected, loved for the first time in his very short life.

"Mama?" he said hesitantly, mumbling into her hair.

"Yes, darling. You can call me Mama," she answered quietly.


Sinister watched them on the monitor, smiling tightly. Already the boy responded to her. The only difficulty he could foresee would come when she was no longer necessary, and he had to separate them. Well, he would just deal with that when the time came.


Wolverine would not accept the thought that Star might never be returned to him. He continued to search long after the others had lost heart. He could not give up, even though there had been no sign of Star or Sinister in the long weeks since her disappearance.


Star's pregnancy became more obvious as the weeks passed. Matthew sat down next to her, and placed his hand on her abdomen.

"Baby?" he asked. He rarely spoke to anyone other than Star, and he always used the fewest words possible. Star looked up at him, for he was now taller than she, and smiled.

"Yes, Matthew."

"Thought so. Can hear."

"You can hear the baby?" Matthew nodded, then looked puzzled.

"How?"

"How can you hear the baby?"

"No. How baby?"

"Ah, I understand." Star smiled at him, then, remembering what she'd read about the technical portion of human reproduction, and embellished with her own feelings towards her child's father, she began to explain.


"Do you understand?"

"Yes." He frowned. "Who Logan?"

"'Who is Logan'. Please, Matthew, other people will have difficulty understanding you if you don't vocalize the entire sentence."

"'kay. Who is Logan." Star smiled at him again, sadly this time.

"Logan is my husband. I love him very much, and I miss him."

"I be husband. You love me."

"I do love you, Matthew. But I loved Logan first, and in a different way."

"Logan father?"

"Yes."

"You go back?"

"Please, Matthew." Matthew sighed, and began again.

"Do you want to go back?"

"Yes. I'm certain that he is terribly worried about me."

"Tell him you are okay."

"I can't, Matthew. I no longer have the ability to speak to him with my mind."

"Why not?"

"I ... tried too hard, and hurt myself. That's why we are being so careful with you, why you must practice so much."

"I can hear you."

"Yes, you can. But that is because of your powers, not mine." Matthew did not look satisfied, but he did not ask any further questions.


Sinister smiled as he watched the little drama unfold on the screen. He'd done extensive testing while Star was unconscious when he'd brought her here. And Matthew had told him more after the two mutants had touched minds and the boy had begun to speak. He could use the information he'd gathered to insure that she didn't try to escape. He'd seen her watching his guards and knew what she had in mind.

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