Almost Alone

Logan a.k.a. Wolverine

Christina V., a.k.a. Cobra - Logan-like character w/ venom mutation

Professor Xavier

Marvin - Logan like character, telepathic

Storm

Cyclops a.k.a. Scott

Jean Grey

Mystique

Rogue

Logan trudged slowly into the small Canadian town. He looked around himself, gauging his surroundings cautiously. "This should prove to be interesting." He said to himself as he felt the first few snowflakes fall from the thick cloud cover above. He pulled his brown leather jacket tighter around himself to try and retain what little warmth he had maintained since he got off the train from New York. He walked down the street toward the bar in which he had once fought triumphantly in what the locals called ‘dogfights.’ Just him, his opponent, and an eight-foot-tall steel cage about eight feet around. No rules, just carnage. It was how he had made a living. People who bet against him had lost their asses most of the time. He had been a strong fighter, and it was the only job in this rinky-dink town worth looking into for a guy like him.

He had been kicked out of that bar a while before he had left for New York. He wasn’t sure how the people who owned the place would react to his rather sudden return, but he also knew that he had only one way to find out. Go in, talk to them, and maybe threaten their lives, who knows. You never know how people’s demeanors work until you threaten the things they hold dear.

Logan walked up to the small bar’s front door, taking a deep breath before entering. Almost as soon as he walked in, he saw that the dogfights were still a huge attraction there. There were two fighters he didn’t recognize in the cage this time. One of them was a large, very muscular-built man, and the other was a tiny, almost painfully small woman. Logan stopped in his tracks, as he had never seen a woman fighter in the bar

before. She and the other fighter circled each other slowly, their eyes locked on one another’s.

"Come on, you pussy bastard...fight me!" the young woman screeched. "You can’t fight me!" she crowed. "You don’t have the BALLS!!!"

The man roared and charged her quickly. She easily turned and watched as he drove his own head into the chain-link cage that surrounded them. She then raised her arms over her head, clasping her hands together to form a tight ball. She moved so she was standing directly over his head, then brought her fist down roughly onto the base of the man’s skull. He pitched forward almost violently, smashing his face into the wall of the cage.

The room erupted into a raucous mix of boo’s and cheers. The young lady walked to the door of the cage and rested herself against the wall as the call for another challenger was called. Logan raised his hand up briefly, then stripped himself of his heavy jacket and the t-shirt he was wearing beneath that, revealing the well-worked muscles beneath. He walked up to the platform as the bartender grabbed for his arm.

"You can’t be here...we know what you are." The stout bartender said slowly, catching the angry flare in Logan’s eyes.

"If you know what I am, you should know what she is." Logan said threateningly. "Now let go of my arm and place your bets."

The bartender did as he was told, watching warily as Logan entered the ring. He collected the bets from people around the bar, some of which had seen Logan when he had fought here before and sat down next to the ring in a chair that looked over Logan’s left side.

"Name?" the young woman called, straightening her back and standing to her full, but still meager, height.

"Wolverine." Logan said calmly, bending his knees and assuming a fight position. "Yours?"

"Cobra." She answered, mimicking his position.

"Why do they call you that?" Logan asked as the two began to circle each other. He held his hands out in front of himself defensively.

"You’ll see soon enough...why do you ask so many questions?" she asked, keeping her hands at her sides as she moved herself around the ring, her legs moving in a criss-cross motion.