It was just after dawn the following morning when Victor picked up the smell of burnt chrome and leather. He was halfway across a bridge but that didn't stop him from slamming on the brakes, hitting the hazard lights, and leaping out of the truck headed for the bridge rail. Scanning the valley floor, a good hundred feet below him he picked out a patch of scorched black earth, a hunk of charred something in the middle.

It took him forty-five minutes to find a way to the valley below, pulling up to the object in question he could tell immediately it had at one point been a motorcycle. Heading for the twisted wreck he had to check, was it Logan's? Pulling away parts he found a piece with a partial serial number, that confirmed his fears, it was Logan's bike, but where was Logan.

Twisted into the wreckage was Logan's leather jacket, melted into a charred bubbled mass, scraps of fabric that looked like they would have come from a shirt. He scoured the nearby area, despite his nose telling him there was no scent, which meant Logan wasn't there. It did allow him to track the bikes fall though, he was able to determine the bike came down in the middle of the valley, as if it had been thrown over the railing, which ruled out an accident, which meant it was probably a decoy. Whoever had Logan knew he was onto them, and now he had lost two hours of time he could have been on their trail.

Cursing under his breath Victor leaped back into his truck, spinning around on the dusty surface before heading for the track he had taken down the hill. As he pulled back onto the highway a short time later, he dialled Xavier again to update him and give him a new search area.

--

"Sir, he's left the disposal site, continuing west south west," a camouflaged soldier radioed his superior.

"Copy that, pull out and return to base," a voice crackled back in response.

--

Once he had spoken to Charles, Victor dialled Marie, he didn't doubt she was already awake. Sure enough she answered on the first ring.

"Have you found him?" Marie begged.

"I've found a lead," Victor replied gently, "He has been taken, I found the place they held him for a few hours but then they moved on, by the look of it he's putting up quite a fight, and they know he heals so they aren't being so careful trying to keep him down. I found where they dumped his bike and some of his clothes, off a bridge, maybe trying to make it look like he had an accident, he definitely wasn't with the wreckage though-" Victor reassured her when he heard the girls worried inhale- "I'm following what trail I've got to go off but I'm probably about five or six hours behind them, your Uncle's doing psychic sweeps to see if he can pick anything up but if Logan's unconscious that's probably not going to turn anything up. Tell Marty not to bother coming out, I've got this covered, when I find these guys he'd just be in the way. And Marie-" he waited for her to acknowledge him- "We'll find him, no matter what."

"Okay, we'll wait to hear from you," Marie replied, he could tell from the sound of her voice she was crying again, the patter of feet in the background telling him Lucy was up too.

"I'll call as soon as I have news," Victor said before hanging up.

--

"Grandpa's not found daddy yet, has he?" Lucy asked softly, as she hugged her mommy where she sat sobbing on the floor after hanging up the phone.

"No sweetie," Marie murmured, hugging Lucy back as the little girl began to cry.

"Why would they take daddy? Daddy never hurt anyone, daddy’s always nice," Lucy sobbed.

"Some people aren't nice," Marie replied, "But your daddy will be okay, he won't stop fighting them until he can get back to us, you'll see, and Grandpa won't stop looking for him until he's home. Little Lucy, you know your daddy loves you more than anything in this whole world, right?" Marie said, tugging the little girl back to look her in the eyes seriously.

"No mommy, daddy loves you more, but he loves me lots and lots too," Lucy replied, with a big smile. "I don't want to go to kindy today," Lucy said suddenly, as she sat in her mother’s lap, leaning against her chest, just enjoying being held and loved.

"Okay sweetie, no kindy today, but tomorrow ... daddy wouldn't want us to stop living, that would be too much like giving up, and your daddy never gives up, so tomorrow, you're going to go to kindy, and be a good girl, and I'm going to go to college, and we're going to keep going, so when daddy gets back, he knows we didn't give up, not on him, and not on us," Marie replied encouragingly, a pep talk just as much for her as it was for Lucy. Right now, all she wanted to do was curl up in a fetal position and cry until he came back to her. A knock sounded from the front door a short time later and the girls extracted themselves from their hug.

"Go get dressed sweetie," Marie prompted Lucy, ushering her back down the hallway as she went to answer the door.

"Any news?" Marty asked, as soon as she had the door open.

"Dad's found a trail, someone's definitely taken him, he's trying to track them, he said to tell you not to bother coming after him, he's already a few hours out but he reckons they're about six hours ahead of him..." Marie choked up again, no matter how hard she tried to hold herself together and hold back the sheer terror that was the thought she would never see Logan again, she just couldn't seem do it.

Marty pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back softly as she sobbed, it wasn't the same as Logan but she was grateful. "You want me to stay with you and Lucy?" Marty asked softly, once she pulled herself together some and wiped away her tears.

"No, no, we're good, we're just going to spend the day at home today, we both need the comforting, we'll be back to work tomorrow, in the meantime, you're the shop boss... oh, I'll need to ring Tony-" Marie suddenly pounced on the distraction of that thought.

"No need, I'll deal with that, you just focus on you and Lucy," Marty said, before bidding her goodbye.

Closing the door softly after him, Marie leaned her head against the cold, hard wood as more tears trickled down her cheeks. "I need you Logan, I can't do this alone," she whispered softly. Footsteps padded up behind her a few moments later.

"Come on mommy, daddy would say today was a waffles and ice-cream for breakfast day," Lucy declared, gently taking hold of her mother’s hand and tugging her toward the kitchen.

"You know what," Marie replied with a chuckle, "I think he totally would."

--

Logan slowly swam to consciousness through a sea of pain, his whole body was on fire, the twitching spasms in his leg telling him that was broken, and unable to heal while on such an unnatural angle. His head was heavy, and stuffy, opening his eyes all he could see was darkness, it took him a moment to realise something was covering his eyes. Reaching up with a hand he was startled when a resounding metal clang reverberated in his ears as his hand, or more specifically the gauntlet that was wrapped around his fist, collided with whatever was on his head.

The helmet, for lack of a better term, was covering his eyes and ears, limiting his sight, and hearing. The gauntlets, that completely encased his fists, took touch and his claws away from him. The only senses he had left to utilise were smell and taste, and he didn't want to taste anything in this place, didn't particularly want to smell it either, he quickly decided.

Whoever these people were, they were good, they'd driven up behind him at a roadworks stop-go, hit his bike from behind, seemingly innocently. When he had turned around to confront them, the road works truck had spilled soldiers, left right and sideways; he had been surrounded in seconds. They had shot him to shit with tranquilizers before he had even had time to react, which scared him more than anything, these people knew who he was, or rather, what he was, and they had come prepared. As he had sunk into unconsciousness the first time his thoughts had been on his family, 'Please God, don't let them get Marie and Lucy!' was all he could think.

Testing the air around him he was relieved to find it lacked the scent’s of his mate and child, for now at least, they only had him. Sitting up, grunting in pain at the effort that took, he righted his leg as best he could until he felt the muscles calm and the burn focus on where it was healing. He tried to scoot backwards, the easiest direction to move, in search of a wall or piece of furniture to lean against, a tug at his wrists as he leaned back against the wall told him he was chained to something. When he was feeling less shitty, he would figure out what it was he was chained to, last time he regained consciousness it had been a wooden wall and he had been able to almost rip the bolts out of the wall before they caught him trying to escape. This time it wouldn't be so easy, it seemed this place was all concrete and metal.

Hours later he was finally able to move, searching out the source of the chain he found it was looped, between his hands and through a ring on the floor. Going back to the wall, he followed the wall as best he could, he located three walls. The fourth he couldn't find, either there was no fourth wall, which would explain why he was chained to the floor, or the chain wouldn't allow him to reach it, which probably meant there was a door there.

Muffled sounds began to filter through the helmet, a moment after his nose picked up the scent of people approaching. A muffled, tinny voice sounded a moment later, when the boots stopped near him.

"I see you are awake, excellent, we will begin shortly then," a masculine voice said curtly.

"Begin what? Who the hell are you, and where the hell am I?" Logan demanded.

"Begin the next stage of human evolution, survival of the fittest, and I intend to see that be humanity, not the scourge that is mutants, and you are going to help us achieve those means. As for who I am, I am the man you will answer to from now on, I will give you an order, you will carry it out, you need only refer to me as 'sir'. This place, it is your new home, your base. Your life outside of this place is over, your family believes you are dead, there will be no rescue, and no escape, get comfortable." With that the footsteps retreated, leaving Logan alone again in darkness.
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