Cyke and Emma were taking their sweet time though it gave him time to smoke a cigar and walk through his plan again. He’d also been there long enough to see the helicopter leave, and he suspected the team that brought Marie in were taking off again. That bit of revenge would have to wait for another time.
He’d already made the required cuts to the roof, all it needed was some added weight and he was in. The lack of security around the place was bothersome, but then again maybe Trask didn’t think his laboratory and data center would draw any attention. Trask obviously wasn’t looking at the bigger picture in the right way and it would cost him in the end.
~Emma~
~Almost in. The system is unique… inefficient code.~
Wolverine re-shouldered his pack, at least it was a widespread security issue. Probably hadn’t bothered to update much with the economy the way it was.
~Got it.~ Cyke broke in, ~Latest acquisition secured in level three next to Lab A.~
If Cyke’s blueprints were right, he would drop into a small room on the top level two floors above where he needed to be. Wolverine kicked at the corner of his intersecting cuts and the square gave way. He easily dropped into the room and paused a split second to let his eyes adjust to the difference in lighting.
The room turned out to be a janitorial storage closet. Not a bad place to start. Quickly he found a concentrated floor cleaner. Cutting open the container, he tossed it by the door and slashed the other containers on the shelf, letting the liquid run everywhere.
Before igniting the cleaner, he made the incisions in the floor to the room the next level down. It would do him no good to catch fire. He’d heal but it would slow him some and he needed to stay a step ahead of any team that might respond to the fire or the intrusion. The fire and the explosive he was leaving should cover the latter.
Setting the timer for a couple of minutes, he lit the cleaner and let himself down to the next room. Another supply closet, this one full of paper products. Wolverine could already see the flames dripping into the room from above and hear the fire alarm in the distance. Getting to work he sliced the final hole in the floor. He dropped into yet another storage room as the explosive two levels up detonated.
This series of rooms were close to the stairwell and he could hear people starting to move along them to investigate the fire on the top level. Someone entered the hall just outside his location, whipping the door open he caught the person as they passed. Stepping out, he used the momentum of the guard to slam his reinforced elbow into the man’s forehead. The guard went down like a sack of bricks. Wolverine drug him back into the room and took his earpiece for any relevant chatter and his sidearm.
He could smell Marie’s scent in the hall, she hadn’t come this far, but she’d been in the hall. The smell of burning material was overriding her scent, and he needed to hurry. The security feed let him know that their response was limited to the fire and discussion of the seriousness of the situation and possible evacuation.
Signs were hung from the ceiling indicating labs and other rooms, the second room on his right was labeled Lab D. Wolverine jogged to the end of the hall where Marie’s scent was strongest. There were elevators and a series of doors across from them. The hanging sign here implied Lab A was in this hall. There was a light coming out from around the nearest door into the dimly lit hall.
Trying the handle it turned, but the door resisted moving easily. Putting his shoulder into it, he gave a shove and forced it open. Stepping over a couple of bodies that had been pushed against the door, he did a quick visual sweep of the room. She was definitely here if his nose was working right, but she’d found a hiding spot.
“Marie?”
There was a stir of noise from the grouped pipes that ran parallel with the air ducts overhead. A second later her face appeared at the far edge.
“Hey, Sugar.” He could hear the relief in her voice. Slipping over the edge of the pipes, she hung for a moment before sliding down into his arms. “What took you so long?”
Rogue caught the twisting of his lips, somewhere between a snarl and a smile. He didn’t refuse the kiss she offered, but he made it brief before setting her on her feet. Damn after all that had happened, she simply wanted to curl up in his arms and feel safe.
Wolverine allowed a quick hug to quietly assess her well being. Her heart rate was good under the conditions and he could hear the faint whoosh of a second small developing heart. It brought a small measure of comfort to him but this wasn’t over yet. He needed to get them out and away.
She was still in the clothes he’d last seen her in so they wouldn’t need to rustle up any. “A little dusty up there?’ he asked examining the suppression collar.
Tilting her head so he could place a claw behind the collar and slice it off, she answered, “Not bad. Hank would be appalled by the top of the cabinets though.”
He saw her grimace at the mention of Hank and tried to reassure her as he turned his attention to the two bodies on the floor. “He was comin’ round when we left.”
Another fire alarm when off then an announcement over the room’s intercom. “All personnel please evacuate the building.”
Wolverine glanced at Marie then eyed the two bodies. He pulled the lab coat and scrub pants off the shorter technician. Tossing the clothes at her, he pushed the bodies further out of the way of the door. “Put those on over top of your clothes.”
Rogue did as instructed and turned away as to not see how limp the one technician was. Her zip tie cuffs had broken around his neck and he’d gone down hard. The other guy at least moaned as he was pushed around.
Even in this getup, she wouldn’t pass for a worker under scrutiny, but people would only want to get out during a fire not examine her. Logan, on the other hand, could easily be mistaken for one of the guys who brought her in. They could probably bluff their way out and if not she trusted Logan to get them out whatever way he saw fit.
~Wolverine.~ It was Emma again, they should be finished and headed to the Blackbird. ~The Data storage below you...do you have any explosives left?~
~Some.~ He looked at Marie and tapped the side of his head hoping she understood.
~It is the collection point for all DNA samples taken at the free clinics.~
~Consider it gone.~ There were very few reasons to stockpile mutant DNA, especially by someone like Trask, and none of those reasons would lead anywhere good.
~Good luck.~ She said as a way of signing off.
“Change of plans, Darlin’,” he stated pushing the bodies back against the door.
He could see the way Marie stared at the body of the dead tech. Two dead people in a few short hours wasn’t something she was used to and he could tell it was weighing heavily on her. “Marie,” he said softly and her eyes jumped to his. “We good?”
Swallowing hard, she blinked back the sting of tears. It was all overwhelming, and she wasn’t sure if the tears were for what she’d done or relief that Logan was here. Then her mind drifted to a small life growing in her, she’d been forced to make a choice. “Yeah, we’re good,” she sighed.
He kissed the top of her head and went to work on the floor repeating the cutting procedure from earlier near the far wall. After a solid kick, the slab fell, landing on something metallic below. The room underneath them was two stories, his senses told him it contained industrial cooling units and some computer servers if he read the humming correctly. The piece of floor had landed on a cooler so their descent into the room wouldn’t be the full height either.
After helping her down he took the remaining explosive devices and placed them in the most critical areas for maximum damage. Just as he was finishing the electricity flickered then went out. The emergency lighting came on and the room’s backup generator. Perfect, the last explosive would take that out, while the others took out the supports around the cooling units.
“Time to go, Darlin’,” he said walking toward the exit.
Rogue slipped out from her hiding place, falling in step with him. The smoke had gotten bad enough that even she could smell it now. The security doors for this area easily opened for them and she almost smiled at Logan’s perturbance at such a facility’s lack of attention to detail.
Pausing he handed her the backpack and the guard’s firearm. “If anything happens keep up with the others until you get outside and wait for me by the vehicles.”
She nodded, not bothering to ask how long she should wait. Checking the handgun before placing it in the side pocket of the backpack, she knew it was a last line of defense if things went sideways. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but with the way her day was going there was no guarantee.
Quickly she kissed him, “Don’t make me wait this time.”
Snorting, he opened the door, and they entered the hall. Marie immediately fell in with the dozen or so other lab-coated individuals while he hung back aiming for the security room that should be near the checkpoint at the entrance to the building. There was still no report of the missing guard or the two techs, they weren’t aware of his activities only the fire. For all the effort Trask put into locating and obtaining Marie his regular building security was substandard.
The building suddenly shook from the explosion in the Data room. There were a couple of screams as the doors to the room buckled and belched smoke. The workers began to run for the checkpoint as the one security guard there waved them on. Marie spared a backwards glance at him as she jogged to keep up with the others. Only when she was clear did he make his move.
Swiftly, Wolverine entered the security office and came face to face with the head honcho. The man looked like he sounded in the earpiece, overweight and out of shape.
“What the hell? You’re supposed to be…” he trailed off realizing that this man in front of him wasn’t one of his people.
Wasting no time, Wolverine clocked him with a roundhouse punch to the head. The man fell back into his chair before it tipped over and he hit the floor and lay still. Despite the man’s other failings, he was organized and Wolverine easily spotted the keys to the company vehicles. Surveying the pegboard, he found what he wanted and left the office heading for the checkpoint.
“Hey,” the guard at the checkpoint shouted as Logan vaulted over one of the barriers. “Send Gerard back in.”
Outside Wolverine followed Marie’s scent to the company parking lot. She was doing a good job of mingling in with the others watching the smoke and flames shoot from the top floors. There was a secondary explosion from deep inside the building and he could hear the roof collapsing. The crowd gasped, ducking and moving further away from the building.
Marie was moving with the group but at an angle that would intercept him. She caught up with him as he made it to the first of the security vehicles. When she was close enough, he pressed the unlock button, and they met at the SUV with the flashing parking lights.
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