Prologue
There was only pain and hunger and need.
The animal paced restlessly, fangs bared and leaving behind bloody footprints. Every step stung, each turn of the body stretching raw wounds that weren't allowed to heal. Shivering from the last blast of the firehose, it shook water from its pelt and tried to go about it's routine for sleep.
When the light went away, it was time to rest. It lapped water from a bowl,having initially resisted the liquid for a reason it now couldn't remember. Half starved, the drink helped stave off the worst of its hunger.
After taking a brief moment to be certain it wouldn't be attacked, the animal trotted from the water to it's mess corner, taking a piss that smelt far too much like blood. The injury from the last hunt was still healing then.
This done, it moved onto its bed. Scraps tossed in by it's captors that rubbed at sores trying to heal, the animal patted it down,circled and curled up.
Today had been particularly hard.
The humans had forced it to hunt,put the bulky head thing on and ran it until only the sharpest whips slicing into it's back could get the animal to move. When they threw meat in for its meal, it tore it to pieces, gnashing with its teeth and shredding the protein with its claws. Clamouring for more, pain and hunger in its belly increasing its rage. The captors had laughed,kicked it with their steel toed there was something the humans did not know.
It was smart. It could plan too.
The Wolverine would have it's freedom.
Chapter 1: Animal I have become
"Little one, we're landing soon. I need to check you over."
As she finished her stretching against the wall of the room, Victor took a minute to study the young woman. For two and a half months, every second not spent studying school work was studying schematics, studying fighting styles.
He'd run her into the ground, pushed her harder every time they sparred, all but put a loaded gun to her temple (the gun that HAD jabbed at her skull had no magazine in it) and had to admit, had made good progress. Jimmy was missing and The Rogue was out to make people bleed, this was not a time to hold back.
It kept them both sane anyway.
Now Marie D'Ancanto rose, her slender form muscular from his training regiment and scorched whiskey eyes hard like steel. Her long hair had been braided back, no low life grunt would be getting a chance to snatch at loose hair. Slim hands with almost musically long fingers were left bare and deadly. His sister mate had her game face on and Victor approved wholeheartedly.
"Has the professor connected yet?" She asked. Instead of answering, he lunged and she easily sidestepped his surprise attack.
"Yes. He said he believes that Jimmy is being kept on the seventh floor down but something's off. We need to go in quiet." Victor replied, as though he hadn't just nearly shish-kabobed the girl. He braced himself, just in time for Marie to begin her own silent assault.
She began with a roundhouse kick that allowed him to flip her over by her ankle, a response she took in stride. When he dumped her to the ground she was up in a flash, bare hand pressing to his arm. "Touch." Her lips tilted, the word familiar and welcome while they ran through their warm up. The skin to skin contact was all she needed and a warning tingle reminded him she could drain him dry if she wanted.
"Good girl. Stay focused." He reminded,yanking a gun from his belt,finger already on the trigger. Marie dropped immediately, sweeping her leg and knocking his feet out from under him. As he went down she grabbed the gun and kept it trained on him, hand on his chest now.
"Touch." She said again, using their code word. As he'd been training her, Victor had insisted she take note of every opportunity to use her mutation. Touch signaled a chance to drain someone, which meant a quick fight and less risk.
"Don't lose focus. Our priority is Jimmy, nothing else matters right now. If you die, he dies." He warned, the mantra he'd been repeating for weeks. It had given her strength while training, had made her force down swallows of food to keep herself healthy.
"If ah die,he dies. If ah die, he dies." Marie repeated, even when he shoved her arm aside and flipped them over, pinning her down with her hands above her head.
"Distraction makes you sloppy." Victor snarled.
"Yes it does." She replied and smiled. He glanced up, realizing why. With her arms stretched, the wrists he held were left sans fabric.
"Touch."
Satisfied that his packmate was alert and ready, he rose and offered a hand, one she waved off.
"No thanks, ah remember that trick."
He grinned as she stood.
"Not my fault you weren't on the lookout." Marie glared and returned his gun.
"Ah still have bruises from where yah dropped meh!"
Victor shrugged.
"I offered to kiss it better."
"Kiss mah ass Victor Creed."
"That's what I was trying to do!"
Snorting, Marie fixed her braid, secretly thankful for the jokes and teasing. It helped keep away the worst of her nerves, even if smiling felt awkward on her face. There hadn't been many smiles of late.
"Ah don't think Lola would appreciate that." She replied, checking her sleeves.
"Not unless she got to join in." Victor smirked back. Probably picturing she and his mate in some sordid embrace
Marie didn't have an answer for that, but her blush spoke volumes. All they were missing was one of Logan's grunting quips. She bit her lip,tugging at her braid.
"Stop it. We're getting him back today, I can feel it." Victor murmured. Marie swallowed down the lump that rose in her throat. Twenty six attempted retrieval missions already and twenty six times they were let down, coming home without her mate.
"Ah dunno if ah can get through another disappointment Victor." She whispered back. He smoothed her hair, the way he used to do to Jimmy when he was little.
"Hang in there little one. We're gonna bring him home." She blinked rapidly and tried to regain her focus, her certainty. Just because the other times had been busts didn't mean this would. They'd tracked Stryker's companies and hiding spots, flushing each out as soon as they could. The professor used cerebro to track Logan's mental waves pattern, but it was growing more difficult and Stryker never kept him in one spot for long. Victor and Marie had been on every mission. And she would keep going, until they found him or she was dead,whichever came first.
"We're going to touch down in less than five minutes, everybody in your seats please." Storm announced over the intercom. Marie did as told, while Victor did some grumbling and huffing before finally taking a seat and buckling himself in.
When the jet did land though, she was the first one out, with Victor right on her heels.
-Somewhere in the compound-
The two men walked into the holding cell, their gray fatigues armed to the teeth and buzzcuts matching. In the darkened corner was the test subject, who's barely there pulse and slow rising breathes reassured them he was unconscious. The knockout gas had dissipated, leaving a slight chill hanging on the air. The first was a cocky soldier for hire who had a score to settle, the other grizzled and thoroughly disillusioned with the world.
The older one looked to his companion, who had a tranq gun trained and ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"You won't be needing that. Poor Bastard is out cold." He commented. The younger man narrowed his eyes and used the toe of his boot to kick the feral in already badly bruised ribs. The mutant twitched but remain unmoving.
"Can't be too careful. Sonofabitch took a chunk out of my arm last month, he's a crafty one." He grumbled. His scowl deepened when the older man gave him a sharp cuff to the back of the head.
"Your vendetta's are gonna get us canned. Just keep the gun up while I get the new collar on him." When he was satisfied the grunt would do as told, he turned back to his task. The electro shock monitoring collar had been made barbed for maximum torture proficiency, but that didn't stop the mutant from slicing through it every chance he got. He'd managed to cut it off for a third time, and they were tasked with putting a new one on.
Lifting the feral's head by it's shaggy mane of hair, the guard went to wrap the collar around his neck but was caught off guard but the red alert alarms blaring in the hall.
"What in the he-"
The words died in his throat, right alongside his pulse as The Wolverine's claws went clean through his body. The other soldier immediately began to fire tranquilizers, only succeeding in pumping his companion's lifeless body full of darts. The animal charged, still holding the corpse and slashed at the air, removing the head from his body with ease.
Snarling in triumph, it punted the head across the room and was on the move. The loud noises and flashing lights were a painful nuisance to his feral senses, but the animal pressed on and let the annoyance fuel his rage.
More guards came out, with their guns and marching ahead of the same scientists that had hurt him in the first place. The very ones who ran screaming now.
Even as the bullets riddled it's body, Wolverine continued to run. It leapt mid air, catching the first row of soldiers and letting its claws rip through each of them. The next were taken down just as easily, though the feral allowed itself a moment to heal before moving for the scientists.
These few seconds allowed their escape into the elevator but the Wolverine would not be deterred. It tore into the steel, wrenching the doors open and hauling out bodies from inside.
By the time the carriage reached the next floor, the animal was the only thing alive on board.
It pressed on in much the same manner, cutting down bodies and reveling in the blood of its flashing lights were ripped from the ceiling, the alarms slashed at until little more than torn wires were left. When the sixth floor was devoid of life, the animal headed for the next floor, a trail of chaos in it's wake.
When the elevator doors groaned open, it strode forward, on the hunt for more prey and intent on killing anything that walked into it's path. The copper scent of blood stoked it's ire, it's purpose singular and devastating…
Until it smelt her.
