In the depths of the silence and darkness of night Logan woke with a start. He managed to avoid waking Marie, leaving her sleeping next to the baby. He had heard a solid sounding thump he was sure, and as he listened, he heard another.
He moved to the window, standing in the shadows he watched the treeline in the direction he thought the sound had come from. Sure enough he saw movement, just inside the treeline, illuminated just enough by the filtered moonlight.
Silently he pulled on his jeans, checking the video baby monitor as he did, to be sure the boys were still in their beds, before padding down the stairs. Checking outside again, he saw movement behind the tree line still, though getting quickly further away from the house. He tossed up running straight out to chase whoever it was down but decided he would move faster if he threw his boots on first.
He slowly unlocked the door and popped it open, thankful he had oiled the hinges recently so it didn't squeak. He hit the emergency lock and alarm as he closed the door behind him, he would know immediately if anyone tried to go in while he was out. He scented the air, as he stood in the shadow of the house to see if he could get an idea of what he was up against. The scent of gun oil and powder was noticeable, for him, while the human scents were muted, like someone had attempted to cover their scent; whoever he was up against must know something about his mutation.
As near as he could tell there was no one nearby, so he quickly dashed across the open yard to where he had seen the first movement. He saw an indentation where something hard and heavy had hit the ground. Above him in the tree, about three metres up, a human size crow’s nest was camouflaged among the spindly branches.
Cursing to himself, wishing he had woken Marie up and sent her to the panic room before he came out, he followed the footprints that led off through the wood toward the road. Scenting the trail ahead, he stumbled when he picked up a familiar scent.
Sabretooth.
With a growl Logan moved faster, sacrificing stealth for speed, catching up with the other mutant just before he got to the road. He was carrying two black clad bodies but dropped them unceremoniously when he heard Logan's claws slide out as he burst through the trees behind him. Logan was surprised when he held up his hands in submission, making no move to engage him, though leaving his options open to retreat.
"Didn't mean to wake you, just out for a spot of hunting," Sabretooth replied, kicking one of the bodies at his feet.
"You better have a damn good excuse for this," Logan growled, Sabretooth had been given the only warning he would be getting about staying away from their family.
"Mystique apparently got pissed and decided to try and screw over anyone she could from the inside, Rogue was at the top of her shit list. An ... informant, advised she had ratted out the family, all they needed was to find out where you were--" Sabretooth began to explain.
"If I find out you led them to us--" Logan started furiously but Sabretooth quickly shook his head.
"They followed Rogue's mother - she didn't know she was being tracked - let's just say the father's death wasn't an accident. There's a U-Haul out on the road, they've been using that to monitor you for the last week, they wanted to wait until your guests were gone before attempting to move in," he advised.
"Still doesn't tell me what you're doing here," Logan pointed out, still a little sceptical of his story.
"I said I would keep tabs on Mystique and make sure she didn't bother you, that includes by using third parties. Just going to return the minions to their master, they won't bother you again," Sabretooth replied, moving to collect his prey again.
Logan followed him to the U-Haul, and chuckled in surprise when the door was opened and the two bodies were added to an already substantial pile inside.
"I should have got everyone but keep an eye out just in case I missed one," Sabretooth told him, as he shut the cargo door and headed for the cab of the truck.
"I'm coming with you," Logan answered, not trusting the guy to deal with the threat sufficiently, what reason did he have to trust him after all.
"Nope, you're staying here, and looking after them, anything happens to that family of yours I'll come back and kick your ass myself, I can take care of this," Sabretooth replied, surprisingly sensibly.
"I'll be telling Chuck what you're planning," Logan warned him, making it clear he would be keeping tabs on him.
"That's fine, just tell them to stay out of my way, I'm not out to take prisoners and I will take down anyone, absolutely anyone, who gets in my way." With his piece said, Sabretooth slammed the cab door shut and drove away, leaving Logan standing in the middle of the road with an odd feeling of familiarity at the interaction.
As Logan made his way back to the house, he kept his senses open, scanning for more intruders, and mentally analysing the terrain for future upgrading of the property's security system; no one should have been able to get so close to their home.
Logan punched in his override code for the emergency lockdown of the house, and the door popped open so he could step inside. He had turned to shut the door when he heard Marie speak behind him, relief evident on her voice.
"Shit Logan, warn me before you disappear like that next time!" He turned back toward her as he locked the door. Not only was she up but she was armed too, and he watched as she unloaded one of the rifles he kept strategically hidden around the house.
"Sorry darlin, I thought it was just a wild animal, I didn't expect to be gone so long, where are the kids?" he asked, as he double checked the gun had been fully unloaded before returning it to its hiding place.
"I moved them to the panic room, when I saw you disappear off in the direction of the road. What was out there?" she asked worriedly.
"It's all sorted now darlin, nothing you need to worry about," Logan replied, kissing her gently and offering her a reassuring smile.
She wasn't going to let it drop though. "I mean it Logan, you've never tried to keep secrets from me before, what's going on?"
Logan sighed, as he picked up the phone, she was right, and he shouldn't keep things from her, especially not something as important as this, though he drew the line at sharing the inference that her father had been murdered.
"It was military, apparently Mystique tried to sick them on to us, it's being dealt with but I need to pass on the info I've got to Xavier," Logan told her.
"Who's dealing with it if the Professor doesn’t know yet?" she asked in confusion.
"Sabretooth," Logan stated bluntly.
"He was here!?" Marie asked in uneasy panic.
"He followed the soldiers, took them out, and he's returning them to base, with our regards," Logan shared.
"But ... why?" Marie asked, even more confused.
"He promised to keep an eye on Mystique and stop her from bothering us, he's keeping his promise I guess, he's gone now though darlin, and I have to tell Xavier so he can track him and figure out where these guys came from, and who they're working with." Logan dialled Xavier's emergency line as he spoke, it was answered as he finished his sentence.
He quickly rehashed the whole story again, filling Xavier in, extracting his promise to scan their area first and let him know immediately if Sabretooth had missed any military goons. Once the call was made, and the X-Men were on alert, Logan pulled Marie into his arms and suggested they go back to bed. The kids were still asleep in the emergency bed in the panic room, the boys lying together, back to back tugging backwards and forwards periodically on the blanket laid over them. Keaira was snoring softly in a little nest between two pillows.
"Why don’t we just leave them here?" Logan murmured suggestively, as they stood in the doorway watching their children sleep soundly. Marie giggled and shook her head, picking up Keaira gently and leaving the boys for him to sort out.
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