The soft knock on her office door had Helen glancing up with a faint smile, “Come in.”
The door swung open and Helen nodded at the man standing there a dark look on his face, his eyes filled with rage and horror. Watching him in silence as he stalked across the room she sighed, he moved so much like his father had, he was so much like Richard that it hurt a little to watch him, but it was a good pain, one that let her know she was alive, that she still had a part of her she’d long since believed gone.
Sinking into a seat Logan stared at the woman across from him, “I want answers.”
“I don’t know the whole story myself but I do know this. They took Rogue to make another ‘machine’ for killing. The other two were kept for entertainment value.”
Logan swallowed at the rising bile, “Entertainment?”
Helen nodded, “Yes I’m certain that Tank filled you in a bit on what happened. Just so you know, Tank tried to repair the damage as much as was possible but it was rather extensive. It’s his assessment that we’re making the assumptions of the limitations placed on both girls. Their wounds were too extensive.”
“What sort..?”
“They uh, they tried to sew her vaginal area shut. Did it repeatedly then raped her. Of course it tore the stitches out leaving her with jagged, ugly scars that never healed. Over time the scar tissue that built up made the ‘stitches’ unnecessary but the treatment didn’t stop. Apparently he likes his whore’s tight; I believe is what she muttered in her sleep night after night.”
“And Jubilee?”
“The loss of an eye, part of her right nipple when they pierced it then ripped the ring out. She also has incision marks from both knees up to her genital area and scarring around..”
“Don’t tell me, I can guess the rest,” Logan snarled rising to pace around the room the urge to shred something strong. Tank sure hadn’t been far off in the whole mutilation statements that he’d made. “What about Xavier? What’s he doing to help them?”
“Nothing. The girls want revenge; I see no good reason not to let them have it. He sent them out to a hot spot, left them in a lab cell for months, and will probably act like it wasn’t that big a deal if he sees them again. Its one of the reasons that they’ve begun training daily with Val.”
Logan nodded the memories tickling at the back of his mind, the face and name familiar and yet he didn’t remember any of these people. “Should let ‘em have it.”
“They cross our paths they’ll get it. Look I’m gonna be honest with you, Rogue is a very lucky young woman that the drugs didn’t kill her. Only the fact that she held some of your healing prevented an overdose, and her skin protected her from the same treatment as the other two but still. She’s feeling delicate, feeling as though you’ll look down upon her or not want her.”
“Bullshit. She’s mine.”
“I know that, all I’m saying Logan is that you have to let her come to you. Don’t rush any of them, don’t touch without asking permission, and don’t look at the scars on their faces, their hands, bodies. Don’t bring up bad memories.”
Logan nodded, “Nightmares?”
“Every night,” Helen sighed, “Son this is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen such disregard for life before, and I’ve seen a lot. Frankly it would have been more merciful to kill them than to let them live but I’m not the one who makes that decision. They had to choose, and they chose life.”
“I should never have left, if I hadn’t..”
“You didn’t have a choice. Now it’s been a long day, lets both try to get some rest, tomorrow’s going to be a painful, hard day.”
Long after the woman who called him son had left him in a large room Logan laid staring at the ceiling, his mind whirling with memories, his body filled with rage. Rage at Xavier for not doing more to protect Rogue and her friends, rage at himself for being foolish enough to trust a man who ‘respected’ humanity so much, and rage at the inability to do something right then. He wanted to hunt the men down who’d hurt the girls and make them pay but he couldn’t, he needed to be close to Rogue when she woke up.
Smothering a groan at the agony in her head Rogue shifted on the bed, realizing that once again she’d managed to find herself back in sickbay. Swearing softly she wondered why her arms no longer hurt why her entire body’s slight aches and pains were gone and why her headache was rapidly fading away.
“Hey darlin’, how you doing?” the low, familiar growl had her jerking toward the sound and her eyes flying open to stare into warm hazel eyes.
“Logan, you came,” Rogue sighed tearfully, “I thought I saw you earlier but I wasn’t so sure and then everything was so blurry and unsettled. I can’t seem to keep anything clear in my head anymore, everything’s so tangled up and such a mess.”
With a smirk he shrugged, “Of course. Couldn’t leave my best girl out here alone. Not when I need her so bad I can’t sleep, can’t eat, and can’t drink. Nearly lost a match in my last fight.”
Chuckling brokenly Rogue smiled at him before closing her eyes at the rapid swell of pain in her chest. Sobbing brokenly she raised her arms, holding her hands over her eyes as she cried for the innocence lost, for the agony of having her body violated, of having some small part of her taken away before she could give it to Logan.
“Hey, hey it’s okay. I’m not gonna let anything bad happen to you ever again. I promise,” Logan whispered moving to hold her carefully, tenderly.
Nodding Rogue sobbed all that much harder, “Jubes, Kitty, have you seen them?” she cried, “Did you see what they allowed them to do? God Logan, I thought we could trust him, I thought…”
“Shhh,” Logan whispered softly, “You aren’t expendable kid, and not a one of you are. Now I seen Jubilee and Kitty but ya gotta know I ain’t gonna look upon ‘em as any different.”
“But they are. I am.”
Sucking in a deep breath Logan nodded, “I know baby, I know. You aren’t alone now. I’m gonna fix this, I’m gonna make things better – I don’t know how but I will.”
“I hate him so much Logan, I hate..”
“I know,” Logan sighed and glanced up at the soft sound of a door open to see a familiar faced girl staring at him for a few seconds before she ducked her head to cover the scars that covered her face. “Hey Kitty, you’re looking good.”
Kitty shrugged and moved further into the room followed quickly by Jubilee who smiled shakily, “We heard Rogue crying.”
“Lots of people did,” Logan whispered softly kissing her through her hair gently, “But its okay. Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll protect you.”
“All of us?” Kitty whispered softly, hesitantly.
“All of you,” Logan replied with a firm growl. “You’re not alone now, you’re not a monster, what they did isn’t about you.”
Crawling onto Rogue’s bed Kitty sat next to her and glanced at Logan through her hair, “They did horrible stuff to us.”
Logan nodded, “I heard, but you know what? You’re a fighter, we’re survivors and nothing is gonna take that away. It might not be worth a whole lot but I’ve got your back…and I trust you to have mine.”
Smiling her understanding Kitty launched over and hugged him tightly, “Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“Professor Xavier thinks we’re gonna forgive and forget,” Jubilee declared plucking at a stray thread. “They shouldn’t have let us go.”
“I know. And the woman in charge said..”
“You mean your Mom?” Rogue giggled through her tears at Logan’s stunned expression, “She’s a nice lady, and has one too many personality traits that have carried over to you.”
“Look kid I don’t think..”
“She is you know,” Rogue smiled through her tears, “There’s things she knows about you that only a mom would know. Besides even if you don’t like it…”
“I ain’t related to that over grown sewer rat. The woman is one thing, but Victor that’s just disgusting.”
“It’s a very distant relation. Besides, I like Helen, she’s a nice lady.”
“Yeah she is,” Logan smirked at her and tugged on a streak, not willing to get into a verbal disagreement with Rogue, “She said you’ve been training which is good. When you’re back on your feet we’re gonna go back, we’re gonna get you three an apology, some closure.”
“All of us?”
“All of us,” Logan promised. “Now you two better get some sleep, tomorrow I start training ya.”
Laughing softly Kitty and Jubilee slid out of the room quickly, secure that Rogue hadn’t led them wrong, that Logan would protect them, help them. Neither of them saw the silent man watching in the hallway, nor saw the small smile that graced his face before he drifted away leaving the sickbay level to them.
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