The steering wheel creaked ominously under Logan's grip, and he forced his tense fingers to loosen.
"There's no reason for the kid to be there," he growled for the third time, knowing even as the words left his mouth that the argument had already been lost.
Xavier favored him with a long-suffering sigh. “She is an adult, Logan, and allowed to make her own decisions. She has as much of a stake in this as we do, and she has promised to stay in the car with Jean. In any event, we need her to identify the boy.”
“She could have done that remotely. No damn need to get her anywhere near this bastard.”
Xavier’s keen eyes caught Logan’s glance in the rear-view mirror. “Rogue has been keeping her distance from everyone at the mansion. I see her willingness to become involved in this mission as a very good sign.” His voice became more persuasive. “If she forms connections to us, and understands the principles for which we are striving...” A knowing look entered his eyes. “She may decide to stay.”
Logan could only growl at this blatant manipulation. His gut was telling him that everything about this meeting was wrong, and having Marie anywhere nearby was a mistake.
He pulled up to the curb, slamming the car into park. “We’re here.”
______________________________
Logan carefully navigated Xavier’s wheelchair down the path. From the corner of his eye he could see the car with Jean and Marie pull up and park, but he was careful not to let his gaze stray in that direction.
He pushed Xavier’s wheelchair towards the elderly man sitting at a chess table, a sullen-looking teenage boy standing beside him. Despite the metal helmet on his head, the elderly man only received the occasional second glance from passing joggers. Only in Manhattan.
“Erik,” Xavier said, his eyes lingering on the helmet with the faintest note of mockery.
“Charles.” Magneto took in Xavier’s all-plastic wheelchair with a similarly ironic expression. “Would you be so kind?” He inclined his head towards the passers-by, and Xavier nodded curtly, spreading a telepathic field to subconsciously guide bystanders away from the area and ensure that whatever occurred would be ignored by anyone who did happen past.
Xavier’s hands tightened on the arms of his chair. “May I presume that this is Johnny?”
The boy, who had been restlessly flicking a lighter, lifted his head. "It’s Pyro to you, grandpa," he snapped.
Magneto's mouth twitched up in a smirk. “We are still working on his manners, obviously,” he said dryly.
From the corner of his eye Logan saw Jean flash her lights once, signaling that Marie had confirmed the boy was the one she had seen in Freddy’s memories.
Magneto’s cold grey eyes lifted to Logan. "And this must be the notorious Wolverine. It is a true pleasure.” As Magneto’s gaze swept him from head to toe, Logan felt an odd humming through his metal skeleton. He clenched his jaw against the eerie sensation, unwilling to give Magneto the satisfaction of a response to this obvious provocation.
“Yeah, well. Wish I could say the same. Now what in the hell do you want from me?”
Magneto chuckled. “You do not disappoint, Wolverine. You are every bit the blunt instrument I expected.”
“Enough of this,” Xavier interjected. “Erik, if you know anything more about who has Kitty and Jubilee, you must tell us. You cannot expect us to believe that Weapon X has something to do with this. Nick Fury personally assured me that the program had been shut down -- entirely disbanded.”
Magneto tilted his head back, his eyes hooded and unreadable as he regarded Xavier. “Far be it for me to disagree with such an illustrious personage as Nick Fury, but...” He pulled two folders from his coat, tossing the first on the chess table. “The Weapon X program may have lost government funding, but you of all people should know that a man obsessed would not allow his life’s work to be eradicated by a few signatures on some government documents.”
Xavier reached for the folder, flipping it open to a dossier page. A gray-haired man with glasses looked solemnly out from a photograph.
“Dr. Abraham Cornelius,” Magneto stated. “Former second-in-command of the Weapon X program. In contrast to what General Fury may believe, he has not resigned himself to an early retirement. When the government shut down Weapon X, he recruited several key scientists and took the core of the operation private. They abduct mutants. Sell the ones with less...potential...to fund the continued experimentation and weaponization of the others.”
The cold grey eyes snapped back to Logan. “Together with this man. He’s in it purely for the money.” The second folder was tossed to Logan, and he caught it automatically.
He opened it up. A straggly-haired blond man stared out from a mugshot, his malicious smirk exposing sharp canine teeth. Logan had never seen the man before, but for some reason his pulse sped up, his blood rushing through his body at the sight of him. “Victor Creed,” he read aloud.
“Victor Creed,” Magneto affirmed. His sharp eyes remained steadily on Logan. “Do you know him?”
Logan met Magneto’s gaze, every sense alert -- Magneto’s tension had increased at the question despite his continued facade of nonchalance.
“Never heard of ‘em. Why?”
“No reason in particular, Wolverine. I thought you might enjoy an introduction. You have much in common, after all. Both feral, both superhealers...”
“Enough bullshit,” Logan growled, the leash on his temper finally snapping. He stalked towards Magneto, his claws snicking out. “These are the guys who have Kitty and Jubes? Where are they? What else are you keeping from us, you sonuvabitch?”
Magneto’s casual posture disappeared instantly. He held out a hand, freezing Logan in place by his metal skeleton. A twitch of his fingers and Logan was lifted off his feet, his body stretched and twisted by the pressure on his skeleton.
“Don’t bark at me, you mangy dog,” Magneto hissed.
“Erik! Release him!” Xavier snapped.
“Stay out of this, Charles. There is a war brewing, and I need to know if your mutt here is as loyal as he appears. So tell me again, Wolverine. Have you ever met Victor Creed?”
He spread his fingers and Logan’s claws spread wide, tearing at the fine muscles and tendons of his hand. Logan closed his eyes and clenched his jaw against the haze of pain, a roar of rage stifled in his throat.
“Put. Him. Down.” Marie’s clear voice cut through the pain, and Logan’s eyes snapped open to see her standing next to Magneto, an ungloved hand inches away from his face. Fuck.
The pressure on Logan’s skeleton diminished somewhat as Magneto’s attention snapped to the kid.
“And who might you be, little girl?”
“I’m the one you didn’t care enough to help. The one who kills with a touch,” Marie hissed.
Logan saw the awareness enter Magneto’s eyes as he instinctively shrank back from her hand.
Pyro made a sudden move towards her and she held her other ungloved hand out in his direction. “Don’t even try it. I’ll drain the life from you before you can even make a spark.”
Magneto caught himself and straightened. His eyes mockingly swept over her small figure -- the slender frame still wrapped in Logan’s huge jacket, the bruised face, and finally the trembling ungloved hands.
“And you think to threaten me, child?” His mouth turned up in a mocking smile. “I believe you have forgotten something.”
Quick as a flash, Logan’s dogtags whipped up from around Marie’s neck, tightening on her throat with a force that sent her stumbling back a few steps.
Logan struggled helplessly against the force holding him in place, snarling as he watched the tags pin Marie back up against a tree. Her small fingers were scrabbling at her throat, trying to loosen them, but Magneto was merciless.
“Erik!” Xavier roared. “Stop this immediately! Let them go!”
“Oh, I will, my friend. But I think that they both need a lesson. And I have a wish to see exactly how well your metal man here can heal.”
A flick of his fingers, and Logan was sent careening toward Marie. He saw her eyes widen even further in panic as she understood Magneto’s meaning. He strained futilely as his hand was drawn up by Magneto’s force to press firmly against Marie’s face.
For two long seconds everyone was frozen in place, and then suddenly the pain wracked him -- more than he had ever felt before. It felt like every nerve in his body was on fire, every muscle seizing, every cell exploding. Through the red haze of agony he saw dark veins pop out over his hand and arm as tears leaked out from under Marie’s closed eyelids.
A moment later and they were thrown apart. Logan landed on his back, the impact of the hard ground echoing through his ravaged body. He managed to curl on his side, coughing and gasping. Through dimmed vision he saw Marie, fallen to her knees by the tree, the tags now lying laxly against her chest.
Marie raised her head, her deep brown eyes flashing golden amber. Logan blinked, thinking his vision was failing him, but it was not -- before his eyes, the dark purple bruise was fading from her face, the red mark of the chain disappearing from her neck. She struggled to her feet, growling -- Logan’s own, feral growl.
“Fascinating,” Magneto murmured, and Logan felt a sinking sensation in his gut at the intent interest in his voice. “You have hidden depths, little girl. I think perhaps you may be coming with us after all.”
“Charles!” Jean’s voice rang out, as she telekinetically pulled Magneto’s helmet from his head.
Xavier’s response was instantaneous. “Sleep,” he said, and Magneto and Pyro slumped, Jean cushioning the boy’s fall.
Marie was crawling on her hands and knees now, snarling, making her way towards Magneto.
“Rogue -- sleep,” Xavier said, and she slumped to the ground as well.
“Marie...” Logan ground out. He pushed up on his elbows, trying to get up, but his head spun dizzily. The ground seemed to pitch and roll underneath him, and his vision dimmed again before blackness overtook him.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
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Chapter End Notes:
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