It takes a moment for my head to stop spinning, but when it finally does I realize that I'm staring up at numerous lights that have been fixed into the ceiling. They're familiar lights, lights that I've stared at for a long time whenever I've gotten bored or just need to lose myself in thought. Oh, also Beast and Professor Xavier are staring down at me too.

"What are you two looking at?" I ask them as I push myself up, rubbing the back of my head as I do so. The blue furball offers me a hand, which I take and he helps pull me back up to my feet. "Thanks. Well, your portal worked Beast."

"Yes, Logan. You should be lucky Charles was so familiar with your mind or we may have never found you among the multiverse," Beast explains.

"Yep. I'm home."

"Indeed you are Logan, but I can't help but notice that you are here by yourself," Chuck points out. I groan as he says this. Time for me to explain myself. I walk over to one of the walls and lean up against it, making sure to empty my mind as best I can so that Chuck can't read my thoughts. He usually respects my privacy, but this might be a case where he'll look inside. I've got to be safe about this.

"Things were looking up for a while. I found where Alicia was, and I was enroute to pick her up," I begin to say, making sure that I keep my eyes closed the entire time I'm talking. "But then I found out something horrible. The natives of the world I ended up on were being killed. Slaughtered is actually the better term for it. Men, women and children were mercilessly killed and their homes were burned. So I took a detour to kill whatever had been attacking them."

"That was noble of you, Logan. I take it this was not long after we spoke?" Chuck asks me. I nod in response.

"I finally tracked down the culprit in the ruins of a city. And guess what it was? A Sentinel." The air in the room changes after I say this, and I can smell the concern coming off of the other two. "But this one was different. This one could shoot energy from its eyes, call down lightning bolts and teleport. Oh yeah, it also had a set of adamantium claws."

"My god," I hear Beast whisper to himself. "Logan, do you have any idea what this means? The government built a Sentinel that can mirror our powers now. And that was only with one Sentinel. Imagine what would happen with a whole army of those. Perhaps I should contact the Captain and tell him of this news."

"Go ahead, but yer going to miss out on story time," I inform Beast, while still keeping my eyes close. He mutters something that even I can't hear, but I don't hear him leave the room so I guess he's sticking around. "So yeah, had to fight that thing to the death. Seems they haven't worked out all the kinks in it yet, because it was nowhere near as hard to stab as Summers can be. It's now a pile of tiny pieces."

"I am glad to hear that you managed to destroy the Sentinel, Logan. But what became of Alicia? If a Sentinel was brought with you to that world, then there is no doubt that they would have hunted her as well." The prof's a smart one. He already figured out that Alicia's powers are what brought the Sentinel to the world of ponies. But now I've reached the dilemma. What do I tell them...?

"Yer right Chuck, they did hunt her. And not just the Sentinels, but a few of Magneto's goons as well," I mutter with some rage, getting a gasp out of Beast while Chuck lets out a small sigh. "They had been tracking her too and all three sides found her at the same location. A village where the natives had been taking care of her. What are the odds we'd all meet each other at the same time, huh?"

"You can guess what happens next. We fought, but I was hopelessly outnumbered. I managed to get to her first, but you better believe that they put up one hell of a fight to make sure that I didn't put my hands on her. I fought as hard as I could Chuck, ya gotta believe me on that. I don't think I've ever had such a tough battle in my life, unless ya count the Avengers or cosmic threats. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't get her away from them."

"...Logan, I do not like the tone in your voice. What happened?" I let out a small sigh before I answer. They're going to hate me for this, that's for sure. But I'm used to being hated. And it's the only way.

"You said it yourself, Chuck. We couldn't let her fall into Magneto's or the government's hands. Who knows what they would do with her," I said in a very dark voice. I could smell the fear coming off of my companions as they started to piece together what I had 'done'. "So before they could take her, I made sure that no one would ever use her powers for evil."

"In the name of God, Logan. Please tell me that you didn't-"

SNIKT.

"Don't worry, Beast," I say to him as I lift my claw to my face and open my eyes, looking into my reflection to see a face that was completely blank. "She's in a better place now. Where no one will ever hunt her again." Beast turns his head away from me in disgust when I say this, unable to even look at me. Charles is staring down at the floor, his hands white while he keeps them clasped together.

"There, I've given you my report. Can I go to my room now?" I ask the pair of them. Beast turns on me with fury flashing in his eyes, but instead of saying anything he walks right past me and out of the room. I then cast a quick glance at Chuck, who has a cold look upon his face that I have not seen in some time. He's beyond mad at me. I can't say I blame him.

"And that is your full report? The whole truth?" he asks me. I nod once again and his eyes narrow. "Very well, Logan, but do know that you and I will be having a very serious talk later...about your actions and about whether or not you are still fit to be a member of the X-Men after...what you did."

"Sure, Chuck. I've also got a few memories that I want to have erased from my head, if ya wouldn't mind," I inform him as I walk over to the exit. I place my hand on the wall and quickly look into the reflection of my claws. I can see Chuck sitting in his hover chair with a sad expression on his face. I've hurt him today. I've hurt him badly. Another sin I'll have to shoulder, I guess.

I never have liked having my memories erased. I've had it done enough times to me already. But I also don't do it because I want to remember as much as I can. Every friend I've had, every place I've been...the face of each person I've killed. I don't want to forget any of it.

'This is my home! They are my family! And if you take another step towards them, then I'll stop you! I won't let you destroy this family as well!' I find humor in what Alicia said to me. Here I was, thinking that I was going to keep her safe, going to take her to a place that she could call home. That I would make sure no monster ripped apart her life again. But she had already found a home and a new family. And had she not stepped in, I would have torn apart her new family. I almost was the very thing I swore that I would stop. I was her monster. How's that for ironic?

I reach my room and push open the door, finding everything exactly the way I had left it. Good. I crash down face first onto the bed and lay there for a few minutes, not bothering to change out of my costume. I had to tell them she was dead. That I had killed her. Because if they knew she was alive, it was only a matter of time before everyone else figured it out as well. And even if they didn't say it, there's a lot of telepaths in this world. It wouldn't take long.

So, I had to tell them I killed her. That she's dead. And yeah, they'll all hate me for it. Probably kick me out of the X-Men and the Avengers. But she'll be safe. No one else will know that she's alive. No one, not even Chuck, except for me. And I've had my mind read before. I can't let that happen. I can't let them know where she is. So I have one choice.

"Logan, I'm ready to erase those memories that you wished to be rid of," I hear the voice of Chuck say from outside the door. I hate to do it, but it's the only way to keep her safe. I won't remember where she is, what kind of world she's in, or even what happened to me while I was there. All I'll remember is that she's in a better place and happy. But if me losing my memories of her gives a mutant kid the chance to live without fear, without having to look over her shoulder because she's being hunted, then it's a burden I can bear. It's what a samurai does.

Enjoy your life, Alicia. And I hope you never have to see me again.

||X||

"Faust, you still look terrible," Lyra says to me with a sad smile. I smile back at her before I gently adjust my pillow and then glance over at Imp, who's fast asleep on the other side of the hospital bed. Been here for about three days now. Been hurting like hell that entire time. Well, most of me. The doctors are still trying to see of they can repair my spine or if I'll be wheelchair bound the rest of my life.

"Well, I feel pretty terrible," I reply to her in a soft voice. "The creature did screw me up good. Everything hurts, I've lost a ton of blood, and I'm pretty sure one of his claws messed up my perfect mane. Oh, does his evilness know no bounds?" Lyra rolls her eyes and shakes her head at me.

"Now I know you're not feeling well, if you're making jokes that bad," she says in a tone that's filled with relief and kindness. "I'm just glad that Twilight and everypony else finally bucked off. You didn't need that amount of noise while you're trying to recover."

I smile as I think back to the previous day, when Twilight, her friends, my friends and Luna all showed up to shower me with praise, amazed that I had managed to fend off the monster and push him back to his own reality. Of course, they only had my word for it. And that's what I had told them. I said nothing to them about Imp's special powers...or how the monster was the one that left on his own accord.

I still don't know how I feel about that. About it simply...leaving. Or the look that it had given me before it had left. It was almost like...he truly did care about Imp. That whatever she had said to him was what caused him to leave. And I know it had to be what she said, because the image of my broken and bleeding body probably didn't instill any terror in him.

"Bon, did you hear me?" Lyra ask, apparently for the second time. I shake my head weakly and she lets out another sigh. "I said that I'm amazed how well you're taking this. Just two days ago you were fighting for your life, and now you find out you might never be able to use your hind legs again...but you still have a smile on your face. Why is that?"

My response is to turn towards Imp and gently place my hoof on the back of her head. She lets out a small groan before she slightly moves her head, but she's snoring soundly a moment later. I watch her sleep for a moment before I give Lyra another smile.

"Because our family is still together. Because the creature didn't take her from us. We're still a family." Lyra's expression softens at my words, but then another look spreads across her face and she leans in close to me with a look she only gives me when she's seen through one of my lies.

"Bon, between you and me...you didn't beat the creature back to its own world, did you?" she asks me. "In the state that you were in, I doubt that you could barely move, let alone fight. So what did happen back there? How did you really get rid of the monster?" I think about my answer for a long minute, wondering how much I should tell her. But after all she's gone through, between worrying about both me and Imp, she deserves to know the whole truth.

"I didn't. After our battle, he was the one left standing. I was, as you said, unable to move, let alone fight. And he was ready to kill me. But then Imp intervened. She used her telekinesis to throw the creature away from me and placed herself between me and him."

"Then why didn't he just take her?"

"I'm not sure. The two of them started to talk to one another, and whatever Imp said to him was enough to cause him to leave," I tell Lyra, but I don't tell her about the look that the creature gave me--a look that demanded I take care of the little human. "So in reality, she's the hero in all of this. All I did was get stabbed a bunch."

"I guess she is then, isn't she?" Lyra agrees as she gives a loving smile to the human, before a large smile spreads across her face. "And I guess that you're not the undefeated monster hunter that you once claimed to be, huh? Seems that there's finally an L in your column."

"...Nah, not really. No monster has still managed to best me," I say after a moment. Lyra responds with a look that demands I explain myself. "That creature was a lot of things. He was smart, he was one hell of a fighter, and he had an animalistic ferocity that I don't think any creature in Equestria could match. He was the greatest foe I've ever fought." I then look out the window at the blue sky and wonder where the creature is now. And I think of the compassion and caring in his eyes that I had seen when he spoke with Imp. And then when he looked at me.

"But he wasn't a monster. I saw a soul behind those wild eyes. A soul that looked...a lot like mine. But now that we've dealt with the Wombat, we need to start investigating those towns we lost. If that fight told me one thing, it's that there was a lot more going on that we didn't know about."

Author's Note

And with the hunt finally over, it's time to move from forests and towns to cities and skyscrapers. Because when you have the ability to climb any surface, sense danger sneaking up on you and can swing through the buildings, some might just call you amazing. But perhaps amazing isn't a good enough word to describe our next hero. In fact, some might call them...

Superior.