Star woke to darkness, but her memories were crystal clear. She had suffered minor injuries during the explosion, but they were nothing that her healing factor could not take care of in a matter of minutes.

She felt a welcome flutter within her swollen abdomen and knew that her child, too, had survived. But what of the others?


The building had partially collapsed during the energy release caused by Star's re-entry into the real world. She crawled carefully through the debris, searching for the people who had taken her in and tried to help her. She found Kurt first. He was breathing, but he did not respond when she touched him. She extended her healing senses into his body, and was relieved to find that he was not badly injured. Just beyond him she found Moira. The older woman's head was bleeding and Star once more extended her healing powers. She could feel the cells respond to her silent urging and the bleeding stopped. She turned away from the doctor and looked back at the rubble strewn kitchen. She was growing tired and dreaded trying to reach Kitty and Lorna through the tangle. She sat back on her heels, closed her eyes, and concentrated, reaching for the two missing mutants. She found Lorna first and used her powers to stabilize her. When she finally found Kitty, the other girl was so badly injured that Star knew she would be pushing the limit of her abilities just to keep her alive.

As she concentrated, the collapsed ceiling suddenly shifted. She cried out and threw her arm over her head. She was astonished when some of the debris was deflected away from her. The largest portion of the ceiling lifted majestically, and moved slowly to the side. She knew she hadn't the strength to move such a weight, even if her telekenetic powers had been miraculously restored.

The bright morning sun blinded her as the last of the wreckage dropped from view. She blinked in the brightness, most of her attention still focused on Kitty. A figure came into view and Star gasped, for it was none other than the notorious villain Magneto. She was suddenly terrified. The X-Men dreaded battling him, and she was all alone. Her powers were more useful after a battle, anyhow. She looked hopefully toward Kurt, but he showed no sign of rousing.

He landed gently before her and offered her his hand as she struggled to her feet. She hesitated for a moment, then accepted his assistance. He released her hand and turned slightly toward Kurt and Moira. Star shifted so that she remained directly before him. She trembled as he watched her shrewdly, and nearly leaped when he extended his hand once more.

"I do not believe we have met," he said as he bowed over her hand.

"I am Eric Lensherr. Magneto."

"I know," she whispered as he straightened once more. He waited, then said,

"And you are?"

"Oh! I'm Star. Uh ... Emily Logan."

"Logan?" he said thoughtfully. "I once knew a man called Logan," he watched her carefully. "He is also known as Wolverine. Would you be related to him?" Star just nodded. "You are, perhaps, his daughter."

It was not a question. Star lifted her chin.

"No," she said proudly. "I am his wife." His eyes flickered involuntarily to her swollen abdomen, and she flinched, wondering if she had placed her child in danger. His eyes returned to her face for a moment before he turned away.

"Do your ... companions ... require my assistance?" Star swallowed.

"L .. Lorna and Kitty are buried. I can't move the beams."

"Lorna," he said as he began to shift the debris from the two women.

"That would explain the disturbance in the magnetic field." As he moved the last of the rubble, Lorna moaned and sat up, one hand to her head. As Star helped her to her feet, Magneto bent over Kitty's still form.

"She lives, though I do not see how. The beams should have crushed her."

"What ...?" Lorna said, looking around in puzzlement.

"They did," Star replied, seating the disoriented Lorna near Kurt and Moira."I could not allow her to die." Magneto looked at the tiny woman before him with interest, as he magnetically lifted Kitty and moved her to where the others lay. Star stepped forward and took Kitty's hand as he lowered her battered body to the floor.

"It is easier with physical contact," Star said, focusing her energies on Kitty once more. Kitty stirred and opened her eyes.

"Em ... Emily?"

"Rest, Kitty. I haven't the strength to completely restore you."

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up. "Magneto!" she gasped as she saw him.

The sound of her long time enemy's name galvanized Lorna. She snapped her head up and, without saying a word, hurled a bolt of magnetic energy at him.

"Lorna, no!" Star shouted, stepping between the two mutants whose powers were so similar. She cried out as her body intercepted the energy meant for Magneto. He caught her as she fell, throwing a powerful magnetic shield around them both.

"Emily!" Kitty cried, trying to rise. Lorna stood shakily, testing Magneto's shield with her powers.

"I did not come here to fight you, Polaris," Magneto said angrily, Star's body limp against him.

"Then why are you here?" Lorna demanded.

"Oddly enough, I sought to offer my assistance," he replied coolly.

"It was not I who destroyed your establishment, nor did I cause this child's injury."

"Why," Star said quietly, her overtaxed healing factor beginning to repair her own injuries. "Does everyone insist on calling me a child?" Magneto eased her to her feet, but continued to support her, and she leaned on him gratefully.

"Perhaps it is your size," Magneto answered her seriously, continuing to watch warily as Kurt, and then Moira, began to stir behind Lorna and Kitty. Lorna cautiously reigned in her powers, and turned to help them. Kitty got painfully to her feet, and inclined her head toward Magneto.

"Your assistance is appreciated," she said. "But do you know what happened?"

"I believe I am the cause," Star said, at last able to stand on her own. "I was not quite synchronized to this plane of existence when I came here. When you touched me, a great deal of energy was released. Lorna was caught in the shock wave while using her powers. The result ... you can see around you."

"You and your companions no longer require my assistance, I can see. I will go now." Magneto said into the silence that followed Star's statement. He looked at her for a moment, then added "If you ever need a sanctuary, you will find yourself welcome in my home." Then, using his powers, he lifted himself effortlessly into the air, and was quickly out of sight.

"Vas that Magneto?" Kurt asked, still groggy from the explosion.

"Yes," Star answered. "Without his help, Kitty would have died. Why do you all hate him so?"

"It is not an easy thing to explain, leibshen," Kurt said, turning to offer his hand to Moira. "Ve haf been enemies for a very long time."

"You could call it a basic difference in philosophy," Moira put it. Star just shook her head.

"But he came here to help you."

"Did he now?" the doctor continued. "If ye hadnae been here tae see, what do ye think he'd ha' done while we were helpless?"

"If he had wanted to harm you, do you think I could have stopped him?"

"Aye, lass. After lookin' at yuir genetic structure, I believe you could ha'." Star shook her head.

"Most of my powers have been destroyed. The only thing I have now is a healing factor."

"'Most of'?" Kurt asked. "Yust who are you?"

"I am Emily Logan, as I told you, she paused. "You may know of me as Star."

"Star?!? Kurt said, startled. "The X-Men haf been looking for you for months, leibshen!"

"I imagined as much. I was taken by a man who called himself Mr. Sinister. He ... persuaded me to train a young mutant with a metabolism similar to my own," she unconsciously placed a hand on her swollen abdomen, leaving no doubt in the other's minds as to the form of the persuasion.

"Yesterday, Matthew did something to my mind. He accidentally ... shut me off. I guess it was yesterday. I don't know how long I was out, but he restored me somehow. Later that day, the alarms went off, and I managed to get out of my room. Sinister was teleporting Matthew away and I tried to stop him. But Matthew pushed me out of the field, and I woke up in Scotland," she paused. "Matthew is a very dangerous young man, right now. I don't think Sinister knows just how dangerous. I've got to find him."

"Moira left a message for the X-Men. They vill probably be here soon." Star looked away, and when she looked back Kurt was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

"I can't wait for them. And I can't ... I can't face Logan."

"Nonsense, girl," Moira interrupted. "The mon's worried half ta death o'er ye."

"Then you must tell him I'm all right."

"Vhy not tell him yourself?" The tears ran down her cheeks as she looked up at Nightcrawler.

"The baby isn't his, Kurt." She drew a deep breath and made an effort to stem the flow of her tears. "Logan is not the father."

Kitty stared at her from her seat on the rubble that was once their kitchen.

"You cheated on Wolverine?"

"Kitty!" Moira said sharply, but Shadowcat ignored her.

"Cheated? I don't understand."

"You slept with someone ... all right, had sex with someone other than your husband. How could you do that to him?"

Star straightened her shoulders, her eyes suddenly dry and her face expressionless.

"I must find Matthew," she said, turning once more to Nightcrawler.

"Why?" Kitty demanded, "is he the father?" Star looked at her and Kitty was startled by the intensity of the smaller woman's eyes.

"Katherine Pryde, that'll be quite enough out o' ye," Moira interrupted. "Ye cannae just flit off again, Star. How would ye find the lad, anyhow?"

"I will find him," Star answered. "I must." Before he hurts anyone, she said to herself. She half bowed to Moira. "I thank you for your assistance, and I regret the damage done to your people and to your home because of me. If I am able, I will make reparations." She faced Kitty, "I will return your clothing as soon as I am able."

"Keep 'em," Kitty replied, still fuming.

"Kurt, I thank you for befriending me, as well as for the very instructional trip to your island."

"Instructional, leibshen?" Before Star could answer, there was a flash of brilliant white light, and a clap of thunder so loud that the ruins of the building shifted. An image appeared, larger than life.

Nightcrawler and the others saw a young man standing over them, a cruel smirk on his face. Star recognized him as Matthew, though he appeared several years older than when she had last seen him just the day before.

"Hello, 'Mama'," he snarled at her.

"Matthew," she replied softly, instinctively reaching for him with one hand. "Are you all right?"

"Stop playing games with me, Mother. I know you don't care about me. You are no better than Sinister. You both wanted nothing more than a weapon. In fact, you are by far the worst. When I was a helpless infant, you let me die, even though it was within your power to save me." Star stared at him, as she realized the truth. Matthew was indeed her son. She shook her head.

"That is not true, Matthew. My powers have evolved gradually. I gained the ability to heal long after you were born."

"I don't care! You should have done something!" He glared down at her, ignoring Nightcrawler and the others.

"I could not."

"Very well," he said, his voice quiet once more. "Then you shall not save this child either!" He reached toward her, his hand closing into a fist. Star cried out and staggered as if she had been struck. Nightcrawler caught her before she could fall. The image of the young man reached for them both, but Nightcrawler teleported them a short distance away.

"No!" Matthew thundered. "I will not be denied!" His image rapidly grew in size until the building itself was dwarfed by him. He fisted both hands and slammed them down upon the ruins, further smashing the building. Kitty grabbed Moira and Lorna and all three women phased so that the rubble passed harmlessly through them. Nightcrawler teleported Star to safety outside the building.

"Your shields are stronger than they were, Mother. But I shall win." He lowered his hands to his sides. "You see, I have something you want."

The image expanded to reveal Wolverine, trapped within a force field bubble. He was unconscious.

"Logan," Star whispered.

"Yes, Mama. I have your precious 'husband'. My soon to be unlamented father." He grinned maliciously. "Which will you save, Mama? The man you profess to love? Or the child, the thing put in you by a man who only wanted to hurt you? Decide, Mama. And come to me." The image faded and was gone.


Nightcrawler released Star when he was sure she could stand on her own. Shadowcat phased back in and Moira immediately moved to check on Star. Lorna looked like she wanted to punch somebody, if only she could figure out what was going on. Her powers had been useless in this fight.

"Are ye all right, girl?" Moira asked.

"Yes. He didn't attack me, he attacked the baby."

"Ye blocked his strike?"

"No. She defended herself." Moira looked thoughtful.

"What now, leibshen?"

"I'm going after them."

"Ve vill come vith you." Nightcrawler said.

"No." She turned away from them and her form began to shimmer slightly. Nightcrawler leaped forward and put both arms around her as her figure faded from view. He disappeared as well, but not before Moira heard him say,

"Ya!"


"What is going on?" Lorna demanded. "That kid looked just like Logan, only not as hairy."

"If what they said is to be believed, he is Star's son. And Logan's."

"But I thought their baby died."

"It did, but the little corpse was stolen. Matthew is probably a clone." "Oh, man, another clone?"

"T'would appear so."

"Moira, Star said the baby defended itself. What did she mean?"

"I do nae know, lass. If we ha'e any power to the phones, or to the lab computer, ye'd best be f'r contactin' the X-Men, while I look at the bairns chromosomes again."


"Kurt, what are you doing?" Star demanded as they reappeared, inside a building.

"Let me catch my breath, frauline. Being teleported by another is alvays a little ... unnerving." Star turned and moved toward the door.

"Vhere are you going, leibshen?"

"To find Logan. And Matthew."

"He vill be vaiting for you."

"I know. Please go home."

"Nein." He followed her without another word.


The room opened into a hallway with many doors down its length. Star opened the first door, and froze with a gasp.

"Vhat is it?" Nightcrawler demanded. She shook her head.

"It's all right. I just wasn't expecting this. This is the lab where I was hatched." Nightcrawler didn't question her choice of words. "He's come here deliberately. He took my memories, and chose the place he thought would frighten me most."

"And is this it?"

"Yes." She closed the door, and move on to the next one. She started to open it, but slowly turned and opened the door across the hall instead. Wolverine lay within, still unconscious.


"Well, Mama, that didn't take you very long." Matthew stood at the back of the room, his arms crossed. The lighting in the room was almost theatrical.

"Let him go, Matthew," Star said as she stepped into the room.

"So, you have chosen? Once more, you choose an innocent to die?"

"Let him go. He has done nothing to you." Nightcrawler silently entered behind Star. He stayed in the shadows, hoping to remain unnoticed, if not undetected.

Wolverine groaned and Matthew turned toward him.

"Nothing, Mama? You may be right. But you see, I don't care." He gestured, closing his hand slowly on nothing.

"Ah!" Wolverine cried out, throwing his head back. Matthew staggered, then looked at Star in surprise.

"Why, Mama. You were always so gentle. I didn't think you had it in you."

"I don't want to hurt you, Matthew. But I will do whatever is necessary."

"Will you really?" He reached toward Wolverine again, but the injured man, having risen to his knees, did not react.

"Very good." Matthew smiled at Star. It was a cold, cruel smile.

"But can you shield yourself and still protect him?" He extended one hand toward Star, the other toward Wolverine.

Neither Matthew nor Star moved, yet the room was heavy with energy. Wolverine, battered and bloody, gained his feet. Nightcrawler cautiously made his way closer to his friend, still seeking the shadows. He did not want to distract Star. Nor did he particularly wish to draw Matthew's attention.

"What the flamin' hell is goin' on here?" Wolverine demanded. Matthew looked at him coldly.

"I won't let you hurt him, Matthew," Star said quietly. "I won't let you hurt anyone."

"Not anyone, Mama? Not even him?" He pointed toward a corner of the room behind Star, and a figure appeared. It was the Reaver, long thought dead, that had raped and beaten Star. She gasped, then, straightening, said,

"No. Not even him."

"Or them?" The three punks from the mall appeared. "Or maybe them?" This time it was the thugs from the dock. All of them looked confused.

Star remained motionless, but the strain of extending her power to protect her enemies from her son was beginning to tell on her.

Wolverine started toward Star, but stopped when her voice, inside his head, said,

"No, Logan. I must deal with this myself." He took another step forward, but came up against an invisible barrier. He growled low in his throat, frustrated.


"Wolverine."

"Elf! Where did you come from?"

"I came vith Star."

"You brought her here?"

"Nein. She brought me." He looked sideways at Wolverine. "You are hurt."

"Been worse."

"Often?"

Wolverine didn't answer for a moment. Then he said,

"No, not often. Kid KO'd me. Never even saw it comin'."

"He comes from good stock, nein?"

"Wouldn't know, Elf." The two mutants looked out on the room at the motionless combatants.

"Remind you of anythin'?"

"Ya. The "sorcerer's duel" in The Raven."

"That's the one." Wolverine paused, "Think ya can get me in behind him?"

"Ve can try." Nightcrawler grasped Wolverine's bloody arm and concentrated on the area behind Matthew. With a "Bamf!" of imploding air, the two men disappeared, only to reappear a moment later behind Matthew. The young man did not seem to notice them. Wolverine extended his claws and leaped towards him. He was thrown violently back and slammed into the rear wall. He slid down, unconscious once more. Nightcrawler tried to teleport to Matthew's side, hoping to take him by surprise, and take him on a wild teleporting ride. He was dismayed to find that he could not teleport.

"Kurt," he heard. "Please get Logan out of here. I can't protect everyone. It's just too much."

"I vill bring help, leibshen," he said as he turned to Wolverine.

"No! Just get out! Now!" Nightcrawler disappeared with Wolverine.


Star's skin was beginning to glow, the effort of defending Matthew's hostages requiring more energy than a small city consumed in a week. She began to notice a pattern to his attacks. He was powerful, but untrained. Fortunately for her. When he concentrated on the three punks from the mall, she used her newly mastered power of teleportation to remove the Reaver from the "playing field". Matthew was furious. He attacked her directly, and she used the distraction to remove the three punks. He shrieked at her and ran across the room, physically knocking her back. She fell, and he pounced on her, striking her with his fists. She banished the thugs back to their dock. He landed one hard blow to her distended abdomen and she gasped with the pain, her concentration momentarily broken.

She felt a rush of energy from the infant inside her, and Matthew staggered back. He clutched his head and screamed. Star tried to block the infant's unexpected power, tried to protect Matthew, but the child struck at her as well and she collapsed, her body wracked with pain. Matthew fell to the floor beside her, unmoving.


The lab was silent save for the wailing of a newborn babe.


Star awakened, aware that something was different, but at first she couldn't place the change. Then she realized that the pressure and weight of her baby's presence were missing. She sat up with a cry and saw Matthew's motionless form lying beside her, and she almost wept. She didn't know if he was alive or dead. Then she heard a tiny sound from behind her. She turned quickly, and found the baby, aimlessly waving her tiny arms. Star's body had already healed from the damage inflicted by Matthew, and by the unexpected, and unattended, birth of her daughter. Matthew groaned, and she felt a surge of relief, followed by an equal surge of fear. She knew she could not defeat him, and she feared what he had become.

"Mama?" he said in a small voice.

"I'm here, Matthew."

"Where are we? What happened?"

"You don't remember?" He shook his head.

"Do you remember Sinister?"

"Huh uh," he responded, still in a little boy's voice.

"He made you want to hurt some people, and we had a fight."

"You didn't let me hurt anybody, did you Mama?"

"You only hurt one person, sweetheart. And I'm sure he'll be OK."

"Who?"

"Logan."

"Your husband?"

"Yes. And your father. Come on, I'll take you home."

"Back to Sinister?" he asked, drawing away from her.

"No." She turned and picked up the squirming infant, then faced her son once more. "No, I'll take you to my friends."

"The X-Men?"

"Yes, dear."

"I'm afraid of them, Mama. Please don't take me there. They'll just want to stick me in another lab, like they did with you. Please, Mama, please don't take me there."

"All right, Matthew. Don't worry. I think I know a place where you can live and be safe."

"Will you live there?"

"No, darling. But I will visit you."

"OK." He looked down at the baby. "That my sister?"

"Yes."

"What's her name?"

"I don't know yet." She peered into the cooing infant's tiny face.

"We may have to ask her."


Wolverine awakened in the med-lab of Muir island. Moira MacTaggart, Kitty Pryde, and Kurt Wagner were in attendance. He sat up abruptly.

"Where's Star?" he demanded.

"I could not reach her, mein freund."

"What do ya mean, ya couldn't reach her?"

"I tried, Logan. There vas a ... barrier, through vhich I could not pass."

"Try again!"

"Wolvie,..." Kitty began.

"No! Do it, Elf! Now!"

"Ya, I vill try." The blue furred mutant, his face grim, disappeared. After what seemed an eternity, he returned.

"The barrier vas gone,"

"Good!" Wolverine interrupted.

"No. There vas no one there. No one."


Star and Matthew, along with the infant girl, appeared in a large storage room aboard the space station Avalon, home to Eric Lensherr, Magneto, and his people, the Acolytes. Alarms began to sound and Matthew cringed. Star threw a shield about them, and spoke quietly to Matthew, calming him.

The guards burst into the store room, ready for a full scale invasion. They were surprised to find only one tiny woman, an infant cradled in her arms, and a half grown boy. Their surprise did not stop them from attacking the supposed invaders. Star's shield flared brightly as she warded off the combined powers of the guards. Matthew stood, frightened but ready to fight back.

"No, Matthew," Star said quietly. "This is their home and we have entered uninvited." The guards withdrew from an all out attack when it became obvious that Star was a passive invader, willing to wait them out.

The Psi among them attempted to probe Star, but met a solid shield.

"Who are you?" he demanded aloud.

"My name is Star. Eric Lensherr extended an invitation to me should I have need. Please tell him I am here with my children, and that I need his help."


Eric Lensherr held Star's tiny daughter and watched while Matthew cautiously tasted a piece of chocolate cake which one of the Acolytes had brought for him. Star smiled.

"He was raised, as I was, in a laboratory. I doubt that he's ever eaten chocolate before." Magneto played with the baby for a moment more before saying,

"What is it you expect from me, Star?" Star sighed.

"I need a home for Matthew. Someplace where he can grow to adulthood, and into his powers, without the bitterness he has suffered before."

"He does not strike me as a bitter young man."

"No longer. I believe she had something to do with that." Magneto raised an eyebrow and looked down at the drowsy infant in his arms.

"The small one?"

"Yes. She exhibited powers several times before her birth."

"She seems babyish enough now," he replied.

"Yes, she does, doesn't she? She does not seem to have inherited the frantic metabolism her brother and I share." She took the tiny hand in her own and the baby drifted off to sleep. "Perhaps there is a chance for her."

"You speak of Matthew as if you would leave him."

"Yes. Though it may be necessary for me to return as well. I do not wish to be the cause of a conflict between you and the X-Men, and I fear that Logan will not release me without a fight."

"If you wish to be free of him, tell him so. He is not always a reasonable man, but he is honorable. He will release you if that is what you want."

"It is not what I want. But for his sake, it is what must be."

"Why?" Star bent and kissed the tiny fingers, wrapped tightly about her own.

"She is not his daughter, and I would not have him constantly confronted with the face of his enemy's child as a ceaseless reminder that he was unable to protect me." She shook her head. "And I would not have her see the man she calls 'Father' grow to hate her."

"Perhaps you do not give him enough credit." Magneto said, as he gently place the child back in her mother's arms. "He is a strong man, and if his love for you is half as powerful as you have said, it will not matter to him where you got this child, or under what circumstances." He stood and watched Matthew as the boy stared out the view port at the stars. "Your son is welcome here. He will be trained in the use of his powers, as well as in more mundane matters." He put his hand on her shoulder. "And if I am wrong, if Logan is less than the man I believe him to be, you and your daughter are welcome here as well." He laughed, "Though my guards would appreciate it if you announced your arrival beforehand." Star smiled.

"Thank you, Eric. I should not have doubted Logan without giving him a chance."

"You will be going now?"

"As soon as I tell Matthew good-bye."

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