Part 25- ‘Caught Up In Her Sights…’
Logan hit the floor, the broken glass from the window cutting into his arms, he felt the flesh open up and close over again, he heard the crack in the air as the sniper fired another round into the room. The bullet hit the back wall with deadly impact, pieces of plaster shaking loose and falling to the floor.
He growled loudly, his eyes roving in the darkness until he caught sight of Marie from the space underneath the bed, he saw her legs lying at awkward angles, she wasn’t moving and he hissed in a sharp breath.
His progress was painfully slow, forced to move across the dirty cheap carpet dragging himself along on his elbows and knees, keeping his head down, keeping out of the sight of the sniper. Every second was a painful thud on his chest, every second pulled into eternity, stretched out until he almost screamed in frustration, the deadly silence resounding as loud as a jackhammer pounding away at his skull.
He reached her at last, and saw her lying on her back surrounded in a pool of blood, with trembling fingers, unsure and afraid he passed his hands over her arms, until he came to the part her skin fell away under his fingers, the top of her right arm a pulpy mess of shattered bone and open wound.
The wound was singed, the cordite from the bullet having burnt her flesh, she was bleeding heavily, but as far as he could tell the bullet had passed cleanly through, a clear exit wound puncturing the back of her arm through the shirt. He stripped away the sleeve, pulling the material as carefully as he could, still lying flat on his stomach, careful, being ever careful not to expose himself or Marie.
He reached across her to the bed sheets and pulled the material shredding the cotton with an easy swipe of his claws, tearing it into strips he hoped it was clean enough, the last thing she needed now was to die because of septic blood poisoning. Taking her arm carefully he wrapped the makeshift bandages around the wound, tying the dressing off tightly.
Marie stirred at last, a loud groan escaping her as she opened her eyes slowly, her other hand flying to the arm Logan had just bandaged, she drew in a sharp painful breath as her hand probed the wound, she tried to pull herself upright, dragging her legs so she could sit up.
Logan heard the sharp crack in the air, and this time it was his turn to pull her back down to the floor, covering her body with his own as another bullet hit the wall above them and yet more cheap wall plaster rained down his back.
He kept her pinned to the floor, his face mere inches from hers as he shook his head slowly, ‘Don’t move.’ She nodded before her eyes drifted shut again and she murmured, ‘Ah like the idea sugah, but fact is one of is gonna have to take that fucker out if we’re gonna get outta here. Cause ah ain’t reckonin’ on growin’ old and grey in this shit-hole…’
He stared down at her, the implication of her words burning into him; she prised open her eyes to smile gently up at him, ‘ah’d volunteer but seein’ as ah’m temporary out of commission,’ she tried to lift her arm, the strain from the effort causing her to breathe harder.
Logan nodded his head slowly, she sighed, he couldn’t read her features, relief, had she always known she’d talk him round, you’re a killer Logan, always were…always will be…’. He raised himself away from her slowly, keeping low turning around back to the doorway.
Ready to move he felt her hand grip his arm, she pulled him back, in this tight spot wedged between the wall and the bed, the only position that was safe was to lie literally on top of her.
She reached up and gripped the back of his head. ‘Listen…’ she whispered, her voice harsh and cut with the promise of pain, ‘snipers take up positions almost two hundred yards away, high, from the angle this fuckers shooting ah reckon they’re on that roof opposite this motel.’
She gritted her teeth, ‘They’re patient Logan, hell they’ll wait ‘til hell freezes over, if they have to, it’s what makes ‘em so fuckin’ good.’ Logan nodded; he knew all this but made a point of listening to her all the same.
‘Night vision goggles…’ her voice fell, ‘ya gotta blind ‘em, hit the lights, it’ll buy ya a few seconds. Ah hope you’re a fast worker Logan, ‘cause that’s all you’re gonna get ‘fore she starts aimin’ to hit ya right between the eyes.’
He raised an eyebrow, ‘She…?’ he repeated.
Marie nodded, ‘some of the best snipers in the world are women, patience of a saint and all that shit.’ She smiled and her eyes flashed brightly in the dark.
He scoffed, ‘guess it’s a whole new take on that girl power thing right…?’
She stared down the sight of her scope, the cross hairs illuminated in the green light of the night vision spectrum, adjusting the sight slowly she stared down the rim of the rifle. A slow smile playing on her lips, she knew where they were, that little bitch and that asshole Logan, she had them pinned, rats in a cage.
She’d shot her, she’d seen her go flying, hit that back wall, a broken doll, just a matter of picking them off now, and she had all night.
Lowering the cap on her head, brushing the rain from the end of her nose as it dripped off the rim of her hat, she tightened her hold on the trigger, the barrel of the gun jammed into her shoulder, lying flat out of the roof, the end of the rifle resting on the edge of the roof.
Pressing her eye to the scope she stared, and in a flash of light that saw her pull away from the gun with large gasp, as the green flared into a blinding white and she was temporarily blinded, ‘Shit…!’
Shaking her head quickly, she looked down into the motel room again the door to the room had been kicked open and that’s when she saw him racing across the car lot, head down already halfway across.
She had to put him down, now…now, before he disappeared into the alley behind the cheap five and dime building she was hiding on, put him down…now!
Logan moved faster than even he thought he could, heading straight for the side of the building two hundred yards directly in front of him, he heard the sharp crack of a bullet racing through the air, knowing even if she hit him, it wouldn’t stop him.
You’d better be aimin’ right between my eyes sweetheart, ‘cause ain’t no way you’re goin’ be slowing me down otherwise.
The bullet hit the brick wall above him, a loud audible thud making his feet move faster, another shout, closer this time, bearing down on him, training her sights on him, split seconds for her to reload, to fire again, his heart was pounding in his chest, louder and louder, legs and arms pumping faster and faster, closer now, almost there.
Sweat pouring into his eyes; mingling with the rain that blinded him, he saw the darkened alleyway at the side of the five and dime, taking a huge desperate gulp of breath he dived into the darkness, his shoulder colliding into the trash cans and rubbish bags, he lay for a few seconds, blood thumping in his ears at a hundred miles an hour, fighting to keep the adrenaline coursing through his body as another round from her rifle embedded into the wall opposite.
Pulling himself to his feet, and out of her sight now he looked around, seeing the fire escape hanging a few feet above his head he jumped up and pulled the ladder down, climbing quickly up the metal stairwell, he moved as silently as he could.
He stepped out onto the roof, and saw her crouched on the edge of the roof, she must have known he was there, she’d seen him race across the car lot, seen him dive into that space behind the building, but she didn’t move, not even when he stood only a few inches behind her.
‘You think it’s a good idea to leave your little girlfriend all alone in there?’ She spoke smilingly, her words clear and unafraid.
Logan crouched down behind her, ‘Why not, it ain’t as if the rest of your team survived.’
She shrugged and chuckled low, ‘nice trick with the light, she tell you to do that?’ He didn’t answer, ‘figures, odds always were stacked in her favour…’
‘Who are you…?’ Logan asked, close enough so he could have been whispering in her ear, ‘what d’ya want from Marie?’
‘Come on Logan, or should I say Wolverine,’ she smiled and turned to face him, ‘what do they always want? But if you think Weapon X was bad, what they’re doing to her will make that project look like little boys playing with their chemistry sets…’
He staggered as she mention that name, ‘weapon X’ something so familiar, so intrinsic to the base animalistic nature inside him that he howled in recognition at that name. A thousand images flooded his mind, flashes of light in the darkened corners, pain and blood, and snow, blinding white snow as he runs and runs, savage and feral.
Blindingly in his rage he grabbed her about the neck, the gun falling from her hands and hurtling to the floor, his hands pressing down on her throat he choked her, shaking her like a rag doll, fire and fury burning through him, an ancient rage out of control and wild, aware only of his hate.
She hadn’t been afraid of him, but she was now and as he stared down at the fading light in her eyes, he saw himself, and the monster that he appeared, ‘you’re a killer Logan, always were…always will be…’. Growling loudly he slowly released his grip around her throat and let her drop to the floor, she choked in a grateful shudder of breath.
‘You let them know,’ he spat down at her, ‘you let them know, I ain’t giving up on her, what you did to me you won’t get the chance to break her the same way, I’ll see us all to hell before that happens.’
He strode purposefully back across the roof, hearing her cough and choke, his jaw clenched tight and his eyes narrowed.
The rain beat down as he stepped back inside the room; Marie was sat up, her back pressed against the bed, low enough to avoid a sniper’s bullet.
He kneeled down in front of her, she was pale and he could see the blood seeping through the bandage, she smiled as she looked up at him, staring at him a while before she spoke. Her mouth twisted into a cold smile.
‘Ya couldn’t do it, could ya…? Ya didn’t kill her did ya…?’ she asked.
He ignored her words as he tentatively slid one arm around her waist, with his other arm he gathered up her legs and hauling her upwards carried her out of the room and towards the bike. She rested her head on his shoulders, her injured arm hanging uselessly by her side.
‘That was a mistake Logan…’ she whispered gently as he carried her carefully across the car lot, avoiding the stares of the storekeeper across the street.
Her head lolled forward and he heard her sigh, her soft body yielding to his strong arms, his voice, grated as he spoke, ‘I’m tired Marie…’ He thought she had drifted into a deep sleep. But she moved slightly and he felt her good arm shift slightly to hold on tighter to him.
‘Ah know, so am ah…’He smiled down at her as her soft words drifted up to him, he carefully reassured her as he placed her on the front of the bike, settling in behind her he revved up the bike.
Aware now of the hollow aching in his chest, for the first time in his life more afraid than he had ever known, a dull ache settling into every one of his bones, he stared down at Marie as he cradled her form in his. He wondered if it really was possible to love and hate someone in the same breath, ‘cause over the past few months Marie had given him reason to do both.
And realising as he made that final push back to New York and the Academy, that it didn’t matter, whatever he did or didn’t feel for her anymore, it would have to come second, right now it seemed both their collective pasts were gonna come crashing in head first, and the fallout promised to be somethin’ else.
Weapon X and everything God-awful that he remembered came along with it, hate and rage, and tremendous pain…all that but something even worse for Marie?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
He wondered if it really was possible to love and hate someone in the same breath, ‘cause over the past few months Marie had given him reason to do both.