She slumped on the couch, defeated look on her face.
“Fine. You caught me. What it is that you want from me? You seemed to know about my mutation, but perhaps I should remind you about it. I have a lethal skin. You can’t touch me.”
“I already told you what I want. I have been paid to deliver you to a certain professor Xavier. He runs a school for mutants in Westchester. Some time ago his rival developed a machine. We don’t know what it does, but what we do know is, that he needs you to operate that machine. Magneto’s not the most sane or sensible man on this earth. What ever that machine of his is built for… Trust me, it isn’t good.”
She rubbed her face tiredly. Sunstroke. She must have gotten a sunstroke, because there was no other reason for why his story was starting to make sense to her.
“But why me?” She asked, trying to find something, anything that would get her out of this hook.
“We don’t know. But Magneto’s goons have been looking for you ever since he finished working with his machine. A girl who’s able to absorb life, and mutations as well,” her kidnapper finished his story. For a moment they sat in silence.
“Look… I have had a shitty day. I may have been taking it out on you. I’m sorry about that. How about we start this over?” Man suddenly asked and extended his gloved hand. She took it and he squeezed gently.
“I’m Logan. And I really came to help you.”
“I’m Marie. And I really would like to believe you, because I have had a shitty life and today it got even worse. I need a place to stay because I lost my job and I can’t afford to pay rent.”
“Pack your stuff. I have a truck waiting outside. I’ll take you to Westchester.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. I’ll… I’ll go and wait outside. When you’re finished, come to the café opposite this building.”
There was every possibility that she chose to flee again. In that case he would hunt her down and really smack some sense in to her. Woman or no woman, he wasn’t the type to go around telling people three times what they’re supposed to do.
He ordered a cup of coffee. He’d much rather have a beer to chase off the hangover that still sat on his shoulders, but it wasn’t the way to solve the problem now. He’d have to stay clear headed. There was every possibility that Mystique or Toad was somewhere near. Hell, he had managed to found Marie and he wasn’t even looking for her that eagerly. Mystique’s and Toad’s living depended on finding her.
Coffee was hot and black as a tar. He grimaced and took a careful sip. Decided to discard the spoon before the rest of it melted in to the hot liquid they called coffee in this place.
“Doesn’t fucking anybody in this town know how to cook?” He muttered silently, staring at the front door of the apartment complex where Marie lived. There were several exits all around the building, but she would be leaving through the front door if she had come to her senses. Minutes ticked by. Turned to ten. Then twenty. Well, she was packing all her belongings.
Thirty. She probably had some neighbors she wanted to say good bye to.
Forty. Fucking half of the town. She’d decided to throw a farewell party.
Fifty. What the fuck could take so long?
And hour. Half empty coffee cup sat on the table, alone. Logan was crossing the street, his eyes glued to the door in front of him. She didn’t have this much stuff to pack. She wasn’t completely clueless or stupid. He had given her a promise. He intended to keep it even if he had to tie her to the back of his trailer with his motorcycle. One way or the other she was coming to Westchester with him.
After Logan closed the door behind him, she just sat on the couch for a moment. Westchester. Her would be –kidnapper appeared to be a nice guy after all. Probably. Maybe. She wasn’t completely sure, but what the hell did she have to loose if she went with him? At worst the whole thing would turn out to be the last hoax from Adele and her friends. At best Logan had really told her the truth.
She rose from the couch and looked around in her small apartment. There was almost nothing she wanted to take with her. Clothes, some books and CD’s. And Frank. Frank was her most beloved belonging, big brown teddy bear. She had gotten it from her father when she was just a kid, and all this, her crappy life and mutation, were things in the future.
First she changed to more comfortable clothes. She’d have to return sweatpants and the T-shirt to Logan ASAP or she would forget them. She put on comfortable pair of worn jeans, long sleeved green shirt and dug around in her small closet until she managed to find her old sneakers. Granted, the pair she had lost at the road when Logan had grabbed her was old, but these were even older. She wondered if she could ask Logan to buy her new shoes. Probably not. She shook her head and continued packing. Panties, bras and socks to the bottom, then her nightgowns. On top of those shirts and jeans. And on top of them Logan’s shirt and pants.
She closed the bag, then opened a small pocket on the side of it and put in her favourite CD’s. She wondered if Logan liked music. He didn’t look like he would, but people were often full of surprises. If he did like music, what kind of it he listened? She could easily imagine him sitting on his motorcycle, and some kind of guitar was playing in the background. She shook her head. No. He most likely was not in to music.
She was almost ready, tying Frank on top of her bag with a piece of string when there was a knock on the door.
“Coming! You sure are in a hurry…” She cajoled walking to the door and opening it. Last words died in her throat. It wasn’t Logan on the other side of the door. Instead of him there stood tall, blonde man. An obvious mutant, with black talons on his hands and wide smile that revealed perfect rows of sharp, gleaming fangs. She tried to shut the door, but the man was faster. He pushed his way in and forced her to back away.
“Marie D’Ancanto?” Man growled. Like a lion. She nodded, all the time backing away from him until she felt the wall of her apartment behind her back. Trapped.
“I have been looking for you for quite some time now. You’re coming with me.”
What was it with wild, feral mutant men today? First Logan, then this.
“Get in line. I already have a ride.”
“I don’t think so, girly… I have been busting my ass for the last five months to find you. You’re coming with me now,” man growled. Something dark appeared behind him to the doorway.
“I don’t think so, bub. She’s coming with me.” Logan. The newcomer turned to look at him, giving Marie temporary escape. She fled to bathroom and locked the door.
He wasn’t about to give his hard-earned reward to some mangy alley cat like Sabretooth. He had waltzed with him before, and he knew it would be a close call. With Sabretooth he couldn’t be sure about his victory, but this time there were no other options. Logan would have to beat the crap out of him if he wanted to get out of here with Marie.
“Nice to see you, runt!” Sabretooth growled before grabbing him and throwing him on his back to the floor.
“It’s nice to see you, too… Victor. Ready for your haircut?” Logan asked climbing back on his feet and releasing his claws. Six deadly metal appendages sprouted from his hands in a blink of an eye. Victor. Sabretooth hated that name. Magneto had gotten him in to believing that it was some sort of sign of submission, taint of human in him to have a human name instead of rather stupid sounding Sabretooth.
Sabretooth threw back his head, long jagged mane of his blonde hair falling down on his back and growled. Last time they had encountered each other Logan had knocked him unconscious and shaved his head. It had taken several months to grow it back even with the aid of his healing mutation.
Logan wasn’t going to wait for an answer. Instead he barrelled straight against the bigger mutant, his shoulder in front, trying to push him out of the window. Fall from the third floor would take Sabretooth out of commission for few minutes, he could grab Marie and run. Except that good old Vic wasn’t on board with that plan. Big lug dodged his attack with cat-like agility, and next thing Logan realized was the he was screwed.
Hanging in mid-air just outside of Marie’s window, claws of his left hand plunged deep in to the window frame. Soon gravity would find him. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable. Retracted his claws to minimize the damage from the fall.
“Sorry about this, kid…” He muttered silently. Sabretooth was still on the window, scratching his head.
“Aren’t you supposed to fall down?”
It took him a while to realize that Sabretooth’s lack jawed amazement was justified. He wasn’t falling. He wasn’t going anywhere, just floating up in the air, facing Marie’s apartment and Sabretooth in it’s window.
“What the fuck…”
Jean. Had to be. Aside from Magneto he didn’t know anybody who could manipulate him like this. Jean was somewhere close. And she didn’t go anywhere without that pansy-ass of a husband of hers. Scott. They were both here. That meant that the whole crew of Xavier’s, the X-men were here. Good. They could cough up the rest of the reward, kid would leave with them, and he could continue of what he did best. Minding his own business.
To his utter amazement Sabretooth let out a surprised gasp and floated out of the window. Jean sure had developed her skills from the last he had seen her in action. Juggling not one, but two muties at once?
“Looks like we’re on the same flight. Peanuts?” Logan couldn’t resist asking when Sabretooth floated next to him. Blonde mutant tried to punch him, but missed and ended up swirling around several times, spinning wildly around Logan like satellite on orbit. When he stopped Logan kicked him, sending him careening towards the brick wall of the building in front of them. Sabretooth collided and bounced back. Logan kicked again. This time Sabretooth was ready and grabbed his leg.
“Hey! No groping!” Suddenly Sabretooth had gotten surprisingly heavy. Only think keeping him up in the air was his hard grip from Logan, sharp talons anchored deep in his thigh.
“If I go down, at least part of you is going to come with me…” Cat-like monster purred, digging his claws even deeper in to the muscle, parting flesh and veins.
“Jean! Do something!” Logan shouted. Pain was unbearable. He could feel and hear when tendons keeping the muscle intact started to give up. Sabretooth would peel his leg like a fucking banana if Jean let him fall down now.
Familiar face surrounded by a mass of coppery hair appeared to the window of Marie’s apartment. Pressure in his leg diminished and Sabretooth was floating again. Logan managed to slip free from his grasp and plunged his claws deep in to the other mutant’s abdomen.
“Jean, let go! Now!” Sabretooth’s eyes widened and he tried to grasp Logan’s shoulders, but it was already too late. He was falling, and Logan’s metal coated claws were slicing his gut to ribbons. Last swift yank to open his chest cavity, and Logan retracted his claws, letting mutilated mutant fall to the ground below. Sound of breaking glass and bending metal grated Logan’s ears. His truck.
“Fuck me.” Sabretooth had fallen smack dab in the middle of the hood of his truck, breaking the windshield and mangling the front of the vehicle completely.
When he floated back in to the apartment Scott Summer’s, the leader of the X-Men was trying to persuade Marie to come out of the bathroom. He looked at Logan who landed next to him, his knees still slightly wobbly from his shortlived fight with Sabretooth.
“She won’t come out.”
“She will,” Logan grunted and kicked the door open.
“Time to go, kid. These are the people I told you about earlier… Oh, for fuck’s sake! I’m tired of this shit!”
Bathroom was empty. Lid of the air ventilation shaft was wide open. Shaft was wide enough for a small girl to crawl through, but even for Jean it would be a tight fit. For Scott or Logan it would be impossible to follow Marie.
Sun was setting. It had been raining for few hours, and her clothes were soaked through. It started to look like Logan had been telling the truth. Town was practically crawling with mutants. She had seen a blue-skinned woman and dirty, slimy looking man from a distance, as well as the monstrosity that had invaded her home earlier that day from a distance. She had seen other mutants as well, not so obvious as before mentioned ones. A man with red sunglasses. Two women with him, one with red hair, and one with dark skin and white hair. She hadn’t seen Logan after she had locked herself in to the bathroom. She wasn’t so sure if she even wanted to see him anymore. Her life hadn’t been great before, but after he stumbled to her path it had started to suck royally. She didn’t need or want all this attention. She didn’t care if there was some fucking machine. She didn’t care if there was some divine do-gooder named Xavier who wanted to help her. She just wanted to be left alone.
Violent sneeze nearly toppled her over and she had to brace herself against the wall of the alley she was hiding in.
“Great. And the day just keeps getting better…” On top of everything she was apparently developing flu.
Sound of footsteps approaching made her slink back in the shadows. Who ever it was, she didn’t want to be found. She’d wait out here until the road was clear. Then she’d find a nice, decent trucker, preferably non-mutant and hitch a ride to somewhere far from here.
“How the hell am I supposed to keep my promise if you keep running away from me?” Whisper came from behind her, tickling the side of her face. She screamed and bolted away before realizing who it was. Logan. He stepped out of the shadows, looking positively murderous. Weird, pointy hair hanging limp around his face, clothes soaked through from the rain, leather of his coat gleaming wetly under the fluorescent light of the streetlamps.
“You scared the shit out of me!” She shreaked. Logan just grunted, dark shadows swirling in his eyes.
“Good. Now, be a good girl and come with me, and I don’t have to put you on a leash. Deal?”
“No…” Her defiance was marred with sudden series of coughs and sneezes, and she had to lean against a trash bin to keep her balance.
“Yes. I’ll take you to Scott and Jean. They’ll take you to Westchester,” Logan spoke with a clipped tone, grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Shit. You’re sick.” Girl was burning up. He could feel the heat radiating from her through layers of clothes he had on.
“I wouldn’t be sick if you had left me alone…”
“You would be on your way to Magneto with Sabretooth if I had left you alone.”
“No. I wouldn’t. I’d be walking home right now. I’d still have my crappy job, and tomorrow Nate would probably order me to a permanent kitchen duty, because only thing I could really do in there was to cook.”
“Right. Keep talking. If it makes you feel any better, my day wasn’t any peachier than yours,” he grunted, shifting her weight a bit so she rested on his shoulder more comfortably.
“Scott and Jean?” she suddenly asked, her whole body tensing.
“Yeah. They’re working for Xavier. They’re going to take you to Westchester.” And give him a hefty reward for finding her.
“What about you?” Girl asked.
“What about me?” Logan asked puzzled.
“You said you’d take me there.”
“What’s the difference? With me you’d have to settle to a ride at the back of my cyke. Sabretooth trashed my truck. Scott and Jean have a jet. You’ll be in Westchester in few hours.”
“I hate flying…”
“Well, tough luck. That’s the only mode of transportation right now. Besides I’m going to the wrong direction, anyway…”
He had been planning to tag along with Jean and Scott, but seeing them together only served to remind him of how taken Jean really was. It would be literal Hell to stay close quarters with her and not be able to nail her. Of course there was always Ororo, but she’d never really warmed up for him. Once it had been a close call. Just once. And after nearly getting caught by professor Xavier the good lady had clamped her thighs tightly shut.
No. There really wasn’t any good reason to go to Xavier’s, but several excellent reasons not to go.
“But you promised…”
“Yeah?” She wasn’t going to get all mushy now, wasn’t she? It wasn’t like he had sworn his hand on the bible or anything. And in a sense he was making good of his promise, leaving her with people who would keep her safe.
She started squirming and nearly fell off from his shoulder. He had to grab a better hold of her, and he turned her on his front side, securing her against his chest before lowering her to the ground.
“I don’t want to go alone…” Her face was turned up towards him. Eyes watering, those full lips trembling. He had seen it all before. On a face of dozens of women when they realized he wasn’t going to stay put. It hadn’t worked before. It shouldn’t have worked now. But when he opened his mouth to say no, his treacherous vocal cords formed a completely different answer from which he wasn’t liking a bit.
“I’ll come with you.”
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