Chapter Two: Contamination
Logan's head felt like he'd gone a few rounds with the Hulk. His eyes didn't want to cooperate with the hands that were on his arms, and as he pushed them back, he popped his claws, just to make a point. The sound of people scrambling back was clear, and from the smell of the air around him, he wasn't in Europe anymore.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, realizing that he was on the helicarrier. He wondered to himself what the hell happened for them to put him there. Wasn't he healing right? As he started to sit up, he got his answer. Tight bandages around his entire torso and a good part of his legs as well, many old bloodstains in several places. He didn't feel as if he had any open wounds though.
Cautiously he ran his hand across his chest, feeling for any sore spots. But no, he was all fixed up. He popped a claw and cut the bandages off before looking around the medical bay. There was one other person there in plain sight, an agent that had broken his leg during the same mission Logan had been shot up. Looks like Nick finally told 'em to give me space when I wake up, Logan thought to himself just as a door closed gently behind a doctor as she entered the room. He couldn't quite see what had been behind it, but upon seeing Wolverine up and about the SHIELD doc simply brought him his civilian clothes without a word spoken. He dressed quickly and headed to the bridge. Might as well since Fury'd be looking for him before too long.
When he got to the bridge, he wasn't overly surprised to see Nick and Cap along with a handful of high ranking agents watching a live feed of a group of SHIELD personnel hauling Viper into a jet, oxygen mask on her face with blood splattered on the inside and strapped very securely to a gurney, though the blood was soaking through the sheet that covered her body.
"What happened? You get an agent that lost his temper?" Logan asked, startling Fury and earning a very guilty look from Cap. Fury didn't waste any time beating around the bush, giving Logan a very quick rundown of the events from less than an hour earlier.
Logan's gaze locked back on the screen as they wheeled out his little bride tied down like Hannibal Lector, complete with what appeared to be an adamantium laced straight jacket similarly secured to a gurney as she was loaded up as well, Stark and his assistant, Pepper, looked entirely frazzled as they loaded up right behind K. Logan felt his temper flare and got all of five steps towards Fury and Steve when Thor blocked his path with a hand on his shoulder.
"You would be wise to wait before you pass judgement," Thor said, stony faced.
"She fought like a tiger," Steve said when he saw that Logan was allowing Thor to stop him. "You'll be able to see exactly what happened along with us."
"She's only tied up because she damn near killed four of our agents." Fury said, trying to appease Logan when he saw the look on his face.
"What'd they do to get her riled?" Logan asked, his expression still hard.
"Nothing. Viper poisoned her. She's having...a bad reaction," Fury replied with a tone of interest, though he too, was angry that the entire thing had devolved to this point.
They watched the screen for a moment longer before the feed zoomed in on the resuscitative efforts being used by the team. "The amazing thing from what Stark told us, was that she took a massive dose from those damn darts and still managed to take Viper down," Fury said, admiration clear in his voice, a rare compliment.
The monitor behind him beeped, signaling the completed transfer of the surveillance from Stark's house. Fury kept it on a small monitor, sending out all unnecessary personnel before locking down the bridge and blowing it up for them to watch on the big screen.
They saw as K and Stark had entered the building and Stark immediately ran off to the lower reaches of the house leaving K to herself once Pepper slipped over to her office. She was off screen for a moment but when she came back into view, Viper had a gun to her head and was clearly directing the smaller woman on what to do. K sat with her, calm and stock still while Viper hissed in her ear until Tony reappeared, looking and sounding jovial. The altercation between the two women was so fast that Fury had to rewind it and slow it down just to see what had happened. Logan cringed when he watched K disarm and beat Viper with her own pistol before Viper unloaded her hidden gun on her. The darts flew and Fury froze screen, counting up how many had actually made contact with the little woman.
"All 6 of 'em," Logan said before Fury could finish count, he watched K on screen start to slip into a full on rage. He knew two or three was a hard hit. Enough to take him down, so what the hell was twice that going to do to her little body? Logan felt himself ready to snap when the gun slipped from K's hand as she visibly swayed – a total switch from less than a moment earlier. He watched, holding his breath as Viper examined her rings on screen with a grin. The whole room went silent when she grabbed K's head.
"She's not -" Steve said, dropping his thought as Viper did indeed kiss the smaller woman just before K popped her claws, followed by both of them hitting the ground.
The bridge was silent. No one so much as moved as they stared at the screen, where the only movement between the two women was that of Viper coughing up blood and struggling to breathe as she lay in the growing pool of blood. Viper began to shake as Stark finally got to her to administer some field first aid – and Fury flipped off the screen and stared out the window as the still silence stretched out over the group of gathered men.
"Well, that didn't turn out real good." Fury said, a grimace as he tossed the file in his hand on the table in front of him. "They're on their way here. Won't know for sure what kind of condition your wife or your ex-wife is in until they get here. And for as much of a disaster as this otherwise smooth mission seemed to be, at least we have some good news. Seeing as we now have Madame Hydra under lock and key." He turned to look at Logan with a ghost of a smile and was met by Logan's fist, flattening him out before Logan stalked off to the deck with Steve in his wake.
The flight to New York was a rough one. Aside from the fact that they hit major turbulence and a thunderstorm, the medics couldn't use their normal protocols with K. The straightjacket was discarded not long after they were airborne when she went limp, her eyes rolling wildly as her body convulsed. When her heart stopped, CPR was worthless – the adamantium on her ribcage prevented them from being able to do any useful compressions. They were cautious with mouth to mouth seeing as they could still see the smear of Viper's poisonous lipstick, and Tony didn't expect her to give up what she'd used even if she wasn't unconscious.
But just as it seemed that K was in it deep, one of the medics gave her a last chance shot, against orders from the doctor in charge. As the lead on the medical team shouted for the medic to stand down, he tied K tightly to the gurney and cut her open, reaching into her chest to manually force the heart to beat.
Tony was horrified, but he could see the sense of it. If Logan could see this in that moment, he'd probably never let him live. The fast flying jet was over Chicago when K finally started breathing on her own. Her heart didn't start working until after they landed.
Meanwhile, Logan paced the flight deck waiting for K to arrive. He'd run through every scenario in his mind a hundred different ways to kill Viper if this didn't end up doing her in. When the transport landed though, Logan lost every single one of them as they rushed K out first, the medic was sitting on top of her with his hand shoved up under her ribcage with blood everywhere. Pepper was in shock and Tony was pale. When they got K into the medical bay, they switched over to the more permanent looking monitors. The medic that had pushed to keep her around, stopped his work to get off her when her heart picked up on it's own. He panicked when the wound around his arm was in tried to close itself around him.
"Get off her! She's healing'!" Logan shouted, as the medics scrambled to get out of his way.
"I couldn't get the compressions to work," the medic explained, half to Logan, half to the doctor on staff. "The metal wouldn't move enough... "
"You did fine," Logan growled out as the results of the initial blood samples were being drawn. The monitors showed that her heart was weak, but at least functional. Tests were ordered on her blood to determine what they needed to give her, if anything. And once the initial frenzy of activity fell to the wayside, Logan removed the gold chain from her neck, slipped the rings back on her finger and pulled up a chair, staring at her, trying to will her to wake up.
After a few hours, Fury sent word to him that he was needed at the bridge, which of course, Logan ignored. Some time later, Pepper came down to the medical bay, figuring she'd test the waters with him, see how angry at Tony he was. She was surprised to see Logan absently holding her hand, gently caressing the back of it with his thumb as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"How are you holding up?" Pepper asked, looking concerned. Logan looked at her and shook his head but didn't answer. "I'd be happy to sit with her for a while if you'd like. We spent a lot of time together," she offered. He mumbled a quiet 'no thanks.' Pepper didn't know what else to do, so she simply retrieved K an extra blanket and covered her with it before she left them alone.
But by the time Pepper had left, Logan had gotten tired of waiting. He pulled out his com link to the X-men and Scott was, of course, the one to pick up.
"Slim, we hit some trouble," Logan said, though his voice betrayed his weariness. "Send the blackbird to get us. Make sure Hank's on board, we're on the helicarrier."
Scott paused a moment, not sure what would have Logan sounding so dejected. Especially when he knew that the missions were supposed to be easy ones. "I'm on the way," Scott replied.
Logan breathed a sigh of relief before he thanked him and cut the link. Thank God Scott didn't bother with the list of questions he usually ran by him when he asked for a pick up out of the blue, because he sure as hell didn't want to answer any. Logan didn't like the way that some of the docs were looking at K. One of them looked familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen the guy before and that on its own had him on edge.
Within an hour, the blackbird was there and Hank was rushing into the medical bay. "Oh my," Hank said softly, announcing his arrival. "What has she gotten into this time?" He began a gentle yet thorough examination, and although she was clearly weak, all seemed to be in order except of course that she was not awake. Hank looked to Logan over his glasses. "I don't suppose you'd mind just holding her on the way back rather than taking the gurney?" Hank teased.
"Even if she didn't need it, you know I won't turn that down, Henry," Logan replied, removing the leads attached to her then carrying her bridal style for the exit. Suddenly two of the doctors in the bay moved to block his way.
"You can't take her out of here, she needs to be cleared by Director Fury first!" the obstinate young doctor proclaimed, not fully aware yet that Wolverine's reputation was well founded. But the growl and icy glare Logan gave him was the only warning he got, seeing as Logan was more than willing to put him in a bed next to Viper. Before he could make good on his unspoken threat, the doctor spooked and nearly squeaked as he scurried out of Logan's path.
The X-Men were already headed to the deck when Fury, Thor and Stark came around the corner, already well aware that Logan was moving her out. Now.
"You can't just walk out of here with her. We're not finished yet. She needs to be debriefed," Fury told him.
"Watch me, Nick. I'm takin' her, and there ain't anyone that's gonna stop me. You can talk to her after she recovers if she wants to talk," Logan growled out, stepping through the door and towards the blackbird with Hank and Scott watching his back.
Fury swore and turned on his heel, deciding to follow them, putting Steve in charge of keeping Viper under strict supervision. The last thing they needed now was for her to slip away, even if she was nearly bled out.
Celia met the little group at the hangar in Westchester and drew more blood, trying to gauge her progress, if any, from the test results Hank had looked over at SHIELD. If there was improvement, another blood draw in a few hours would let them know how quick she was progressing, if she hadn't already woken up by then. Logan stayed at her side, determined to be there when she woke up, praying that it would be sooner rather than later.
When Fury pulled up a chair maybe an hour after they'd arrived, he too took up his own version of a vigil with his old acquaintance. "How'd you get mixed up with her anyhow?" Fury asked. Logan narrowed his eyes at him, not really wanting to talk to him. "I mean, she's cute, but I thought you went for red heads and Asians."
For a long moment, Logan didn't reply, not in the mood to deal with him, but he really couldn't resist a little bit of sass. "I never could resist a girl with a nice set a claws," Logan replied, a little smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth that earned a chuckle from Fury.
"Well good luck with that. She seems to get into as much trouble as you do," Fury said, leaning back in his chair. A little bit of time passed before Fury let out a breath. "I'm not just here to debrief, Logan. You oughta know that. She did a great job. Better than if we'd have used one of our own agents. She was convincing. I want to offer her a position in SHIELD, if she wants it."
"Get out." he growled. Nick watched him meeting his stare, but not moving.
"No. Not until I get to talk to her." he replied, every bit as stubborn as Logan.
The little feral glared back at him, but he knew it wouldn't be very good for either of them if he kicked him out right then. For years, Fury hadn't interfered with the X-Men unless necessary, and Logan knew that was purely luck. He didn't need Fury under the impression that they were building up anything other than the sanctuary that Charles had worked for years to establish.
So instead of telling Fury where to shove his eyepatch, Logan growled low and leaned back. "The decision is hers," Logan insisted. "You have the entire mission on film. You and I both know you don't need her debrief."
"And you know better than anyone that someone with your abilities may very well pick up something that the cameras and microphones can't," Fury replied calmly as he settled in nearby, waiting for K to wake up.
It wasn't until nearly three in the morning before K's eyes fluttered open, her body aching and every breath burning a little less. Logan was watching her, his expression passive.
"You sure know how to scare a man," he said quietly. "Let's get out of here, sweetheart." He helped her to her feet, and made sure she was draped halfway over him as they headed out of the lab. Halfway up the stairs, K motioned to stop, her chest burning like fire. Logan watched her for a moment then swept her off her feet, carrying her the rest of the way.
"Yeah, that stuff burns," he told her as she breathed heavily, her face red. "Give it 'til mornin'."
K gave up trying to move herself and just surrendered to him, resting her head on his shoulder, and gladly letting him take care of her. The sensation of his arms around her let her relax and take a break.
"This sucks," K whispered, doing her best not to cry at how horribly the entire fiasco had gone. But he snuggled in next to her after he laid her on the bed, letting her use his chest as a pillow as they curled up.
"It sure did. But you're here with me now," he told her kissing the top of her head as she relaxed into his arms, clutching him though every inch of her was body aching.
When she woke up the next morning, she was still sore but her lungs had stopped burning at least. She still felt like she had water in there though, wheezing a little every now and again. She closed her eyes again and turned her face into his chest, kissing her way up to his mouth, Logan was smiling at her as she did, obliging her and slipping his hands up her sides.
"We're gonna have to talk to them." he told her between kisses.
"Shut up, we're staying here," she replied, a little growl in her voice.
He looked back at her, grinning. "Yes, ma'am," he growled back, pulling the covers up a little further.
After the newlyweds cleaned up in the shower, they took their time getting dressed and headed downstairs. Fury was with Scott, filling him in on the details that he felt were relevant for Scott to know, though it was clear that Scott wasn't happy with the lack of information.
"You're leaving out a lot, mister ..." K said, catching both of their attention as her gaze locked on the director and she poured herself some coffee.
"Fury. Look who's up and around. You should be dead right now," Fury replied, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest with an unreadable expression, watching her carefully.
"Is that disappointing? No one said that woman would be anywhere near Tony, just that she was possibly in the states," K said in a conversational tone. "Do you normally send out your people without all the information they need, or is that only something you do with 'unknowns'?" K kept her expression completely neutral, especially when she saw Scott smirk beyond Fury's shoulder.
"Not your call as to what you get to know when you go out. You know what you need to know," Fury told her as patiently as he knew how, seeing as he had to have had this conversation hundreds of times.
"No. I knew what you wanted to tell me. Which was nothing," K set down her mug and narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms and leaned on the counter, her focus purely on Fury as his gaze intensified. "You have a longstanding problem in SHIELD," K said in a tone that read she knew exactly what she was talking about - and it had nothing to do with the mission at hand. "You want to know why your missions are failing? Look in the mirror. You leave out key information and wait for your people to die because of it."
"What do you know about that?" Fury asked, tipping his head to the side slightly.
K gave him her most cocky smirk as she glared. "Same thing you've known for years. You've allowed Hydra and others to infiltrate your organization from half assed screening processes and your failures in the field are a direct result of your intelligence gathering abilities complete incompetence. I understand that secrets are what makes your tiny world go around, but it doesn't do anyone any good when you keep them all to yourself. How's that for a debriefing, director," she growled before turning and leaving the kitchen, abandoning her coffee entirely.
Fury was clearly livid, even before the door to outside closed with a snap. "You need to get your woman under control," Fury said angrily to Logan, who shook his head.
"Why? Seems to me she's willin' to tell ya what no one else will. She's right Nick. You almost got both of us in a bad way. We're done," Logan replied, also leaving his mug to follow her out the door.
Logan found K down by the lake, her bare feet dangling over the pier, toes in the water. He sat behind her, slipping his legs around her, and pulling her back into his chest. "So you don't like Nick, I take it," he said with a smile in his voice. "What's botherin' ya, darlin'? Ya ripped him a new one without a stitch of warning. Not many people willing to do that do him."
She let out a sigh and leaned her head back to rest on his shoulder. "They knew Viper was there. They knew and they didn't warn us," she said quietly. "I could have ended it without anyone getting hurt if I'd known she was there."
"I hope you're wrong, darlin'," Logan told her, kissing her temple.
She was quiet a moment as she stroked his knee. "I'm not," K said firmly. "I'm not spy. Not … really. But I know when someone's been lying to me, and I know when I'm set up, and this was a set up."
"That's half of bein' a spy. The other half is bein' sneaky and bein' able to lie," Logan told her as she turned to look him in the face.
"I don't like to lie and I hate being manipulated. I don't care what my file says … or what they think I did - or know I did. They're on their own," K said angrily as Logan turned her head to him for a quick kiss.
"I'm real glad to hear that. Fury was gonna offer you a position," he told her.
She instantly bristled in his arms and got him to smirk. "I'd have to be stupid as hell to work for that jackass after that fiasco. What the hell's he thinkin'?" K growled, obviously getting pissed off just at the idea.
Logan smiled and pulled her tight, even as K started struggling against his grip. "Let me up – I'm not done with him yet," she grumbled, but he tightened his hold. On her and kissed her behind the ear.
"Yes you are. You told him what you thought and walked out," he said reasonably.
K growled and pinched him on the inner thigh, making him yelp. "Damnit woman! Quit that – you really wanna finish out your honeymoon with Fury?"
She stopped and turned her head as far as he'd allow her in his tight grip. "We have more time?" she asked, a smile creeping over her face. He nodded biting his bottom lip. The tension melted away as she slid around in his arms to face him, wrapping hers around his waist as he loosened his grip on her, and the two of them kicked off the second leg of their honeymoon right on the dock.
