Three
Contravene

"Why ain't we doin' somethin' ta save 'Ro? Some power hungry freak with one eye gouged out carries her off, an' we sit here playin' house like Martha fuckin' Stewart?" Logan grumbled to himself as he stalked the hallways of the mansion for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

He muttered to himself, every other word an indecent expletive that would make a sailor blush. When Scott and Ororo had briefed them on the specifics of the mission, Logan had wanted to snort at the simplicity of it all. He had smelled that trap from miles away, but what were they suppose to do? The bastards had kidnapped Jubilee and used her as bait to reel them in.

They had snatched the kid at the mall. No surprise, considering that was where she spent her every stolen moment. She probably put up a valiant fight; she was a tough kid, but she had probably been outnumbered, out-powered, or both. The big tip-off that it was all just a setup was the fact that they left Jubilee's backpack and a strategically placed a business card on top of the bag with the address to the Bali-Thai, a restaurant, in Hua Hin, Thailand.

It was obvious that they wanted the X-men to come to them. Why else would they leave behind such an apparent clue to their whereabouts? It was obviously a trap; it was just too simple not to be.

They found out from some of their Thai sources that the Bali-Thai was rumored to be housing an underground drug cartel headed by a Victor Sagat, but it was debatable whether or not he actually worked from the Bali-Thai himself. Sagat probably just had a few trusted men looking over things while he reaped the rewards. Didn't they always?

Once this vital information was revealed, Ororo worked herself overtime in devising a rescue mission with the team for Jubilee. She was putting in a full 110 percent, not that she would have done anything less, but something about this that really seemed to bother her.

Logan questioned her on her erratic behavior.

"What's wrong, darlin'?" he asked her one night. She was outside, pacing the grounds. She held her fingers to her temples, something she did often when she was trying to unravel some problem.

She jumped at his words, spooked. "I did not hear you walk up," she said. In the moonlight, he could see her harrowed expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, but she shook her head at him.

"I am just worried about Jubilee being with such dangerous people," she said. Logan sensed there was more to the story than Ororo was telling, but sometimes it was harder to get her to speak on a certain subject than it was to get Scott to lighten up.

Once they got to Thailand, they spent a couple of days trying to find out where they were hiding Jubilee. The people there were very tight-lipped about everything in Logan's opinion, and Scott pointed out that it was probably Logan's less than likable manners that offended them. He graced Scott with a steely snarl for that comment. They still hadn't found the kid, and Ororo was exhausting herself. She barreled off on her on, working late into the night. One night she didn't return until the next morning.

Their next order of business had been to scout the Bali Thai. It sounded like a fair enough plan to Logan. He could go for something better than that crap they served at the hotel anyway. The Bali-Thai lived up to its superb reputation; it was a lavish restaurant that boasted live, alluring entertainment and great food. Logan wasn't having such an easy time with the food part. Three waitresses had already walked passed him each offering him only a revolted glimpse.

"Hey lady," Logan said brusquely to one of the servers. He crooked his forefinger at her, beckoning her to come, and she looked at him with that familiar disgusted glance before she turned away. "Why can't I get any fuckin' service? They ain't gonna like it when I start takin' names and kickin' ass." Logan grumbled, his stomach growling in agreement.

Ororo sighed. "Here in Thailand, waiters and waitresses don't take kindly to being beckoned at. They see it as a form of disrespect; they equate that action to how you would call a dog. Here, let me show you the proper way to gain the servers' attention." Ororo put her palm on the table and pulled all her fingers in toward her body; seconds later, Ororo had a waitress at the table ready to take their orders. He wondered where she learned to do that. She never mentioned she'd been to Thailand before.

Ororo mostly picked at her papaya salad while Scott talked. Scott was always talking. Logan got sick of hearing Scott talk. Scott thought that they should question one of the servers. Logan thought they should just tear the place apart until they got answers. Of course, Scott thought that idea was too risky and "so like Logan." Ororo finally laid her fork aside and began to fidget. Logan couldn't believe she was actually fidgeting. Cool, calm Ororo fidgeting? Finally, she excused herself to the restroom.

That might work with the others, but it doesn't work with me. Logan said to himself, not missing the gleam of determination in her eyes. He left the table himself, not giving any explanation, and followed Ororo behind the thick curtains separating the kitchen and the restrooms from the huge dining room. He hid in a dark corner of the hallway as Ororo looked behind her and hesitantly pushed opened the double doors of the kitchen. Logan sauntered from his hiding place and peeked through the window of the double doors.

"What are you doing? You cannot be back here," a chef said Ororo excitedly, waving his knife dangerously in the air. He saw Ororo move closer to him and speak in a language he couldn't understand. The chef nodded and pointed towards the back of the kitchen, then turned back to his own work and pretended like nothing at all had happened.

Logan furrowed his eyebrows deeply and burst through the doors nearly running into a waiter who was about to make a run with a large platter of food. The food tottered dangerously in the waiter's hand, and Logan quickly stabled it for him. Logan walked toward the chef he had seen Ororo speak too. "Where'd the lady go?" Logan demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What lady? You cannot be back here!" the chef said, using the same line as before. Logan snarled at him and slammed the chef against the wall. He unsheathed his claws, frightening the poor chef. He positioned his claws at the base of the chef's throat. "Demon! Get away from me!"

"I'll ask you one more time. Where'd the lady go?" Logan said. The man said spastic prayers in his native language, his mouth moving with furious speed. Logan shook him violently.

The chef let out a small cry. "She went into the meat cooler to get to the basement. Please, demon, kill me now because once Lord Sagat finds out what I did, death will be too benevolent of a punishment in his eyes."

Logan ignored the chef's pleas for death and dropped him, going toward the direction of the meat cooler. He opened the door of the meat cooler and walked around the frozen, uncooked meat. Near the back of the cooler was a door. If he hadn't known that there was suppose to be a door in there leading to the basement, he might have not noticed it.

That had to be the covert effect they were going for. It also helped that Ororo left the door slightly ajar. Logan disappeared behind the door and walked down a long, dark corridor that led the top of a set of rickety steps. Logan walked down the slowly, adjusting his eyes to the growing darkness.

At the base of the steps, he saw Ororo peering into a dimly lit room. He walked down them quietly and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. She spun around startled. "What are you doing here?" she asked, a hint of anger tingeing her voice.

"I could ask ya the same question," he countered, looking over Ororo's shoulder in the room where Jubilee was sitting tied to a chair. Her eyes were closed, and she was taking slow, steady breaths. She looked unscathed at first sight, but sometimes wounds ran deeper than just the physical.

"They have left Jubilee here alone. I am going to get her, and we are going to get out of here," Ororo said simply. Logan's eyes searched Ororo's face in the weak light for any sign reason, but she still held that same determined look.

"I don't think ya should go in there. Why would they just leave her there with no one watchin'? Ororo, it's a trap. Just think-" He started trying to make her see, but she silenced him with one commanding hand.

"What other choice do I have Logan? This opportunity may never rise again," Ororo said with distress in her voice. Logan knew her mind was made up, and there was nothing he could do but watch her back.

Ororo walked quietly in the room with the stealth of a panther. Logan stood at the door, poised ready for action. Within minutes, Ororo and Jubilee exited the room. Logan expected hundreds of men to crawl out the woodworks trying to assault them, but nothing happened. This set him on edge even more; it couldn't be that simple. Nothing was that simple.

They rejoined their friends in the dining room and quickly left, not wanting to chance their good fortune. Logan and Ororo's actions earned them a severe berating from Scott, but all in all, everyone was relieved that Jubilee had been rescued with no confrontation.

The plan was to get out of that city as soon as possible. The Blackbird lay hidden in the thick brush of the Thai jungle; they made haste to its location, hoping to be home soon. They couldn't wait to be home in their own dwellings. The hair on Logan's next prickled as they walked through the jungle. He put it off as being paranoid.

He heard shuffles in the underbrush. It's probably just some animal looking for food. Logan said to himself. No, his nose smelled other people. It could be native foraging for food or whatever they did, but he knew better. They were almost to the jet, anyway. If they could just make it a few steps further...

Before they could board the plane, a taunting voice called out to them. "I would think such an esteemed team of your caliber would know to check for tracking devices. I thought the X-Men were supposed to be real professionals."

There was a tracking device on Jubilee, and Sagat's men had followed them all the way to the Blackbird. Jubilee started pulling at her clothes frantically, searching for the device that had led their enemies to them.

"Let me save you the trouble. It's in the right arm seam of your jacket," Sagat said, moving to reveal himself in the moonlight. He puffed on a cigar nonchalantly as Jubilee produced a very small, black tracking device.

"What do you want with Jubilee? We ain't gonna just let you take her from us again," Rogue drawled her voice steady and dangerous. There was silent agreement among the other X-Men, but something was missing. Why would Sagat let them rescue Jubilee only to take her back? Logan tried to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together, but he couldn't.

"You offend me. You think I want a mere girl?" He chuckled and his band of men followed suit, letting out sarcastic chortles until Sagat raised one hand to silent them. "What use do I have for a child when I can have a goddess?" He looked pointedly at Ororo whose brows were furrowed in silent fury. What wasn't Ororo telling them? Did she know Sagat?

"Well, ya ain't takin' her either, pal." Logan snarled, unsheathing his claws. This gesture of warning only made Sagat laugh harder. Logan didn't think Sagat would be laughing when his intestines were hanging from a tree.

"You really are an amusing group. Too bad we won't get to make each other's acquaintances." Sagat snapped his fingers. Out from the shadows appeared a woman. Sagat thought he was going to take out the whole team with this one woman. Logan couldn't see much of the woman's face; she hid behind a cloak. He could make out what appeared to be a long scar on one cheek. "Kill them if you must, but bring the white-haired woman to me alive. If you fail me, I will strangle the life from you with my bare hands."

The woman snorted at him in a challenging manner. Sagat turned to walk away from the group. Where in the hell did he think he was going? Did he really think they were about to let him walk away from them? Logan made the first move rushing as Sagat's turned back. The woman was the only obstacle between Sagat and Logan. Piece of cake. He said to himself. He was prepared to shove her out of the way, but was surprised when he was met with a kick that nearly sent him flying back. Then without warning, hundreds of men literally streamed from the depths of the jungle.

The battle was long and hard. They were outnumbered by Sagat's men. They never stopped coming. As soon as it looked good for the X-men, more men seem to ooze from the shadows. Logan had long lost sight of the mysterious woman, but spotted her again from the corner of his eye. What happened next happened so quickly, he didn't want to believe it had happened. The woman had somehow managed to jump on Ororo's shoulders from behind, catching Ro off guard. The woman flipped forward using her weight and powerful legs to flip Ororo over with her. Ororo landed hard, too hard. Logan fought his way toward the scene.

The woman produced something from her jacket pocket, a needle, and jabbed Ororo with it. She then motioned with her hand for someone to come out of the dark. He was a tall guy, very muscular. He picked up Ororo with ease and threw her over his shoulders like she was a sack of potatoes. Logan pushed forward harder, coming face to face again with the woman. Once again, she was his only obstacle between the fleeting figure and himself. He was beyond angry as she punched at him. He grabbed her wrist, slung her to the side, and followed the man who carried Ororo off. "Don't worry 'Ro, I'm comin' for ya." He called behind them.

Logan pursued them, but was stopped again by a deadly punch to the face. The person executed a series of powerful punches, driving Logan back from the force. The punches rained on Logan only allowing him a glimpse of his attacker. He heard sinister chuckling, and that was the last thing Logan remembered as the man kept driving at him, causing him to hit a tree at breakneck momentum. Those blows would have finished a lesser man, but they only managed to knock Logan out cold.

Now here they were back at the mansion when they should've been in Thailand causing some serious trouble. Logan didn't know how they had escaped, and he really didn't care. He just knew that Ororo needed saving. Scott said the team needed to recuperate. How could they save Ororo when they weren't fit to fight? The team needed medical attention. It was bullshit. If Jean had been kidnapped, Scott would have gone to hell and back to find her. "Bullshit," he said aloud.

"You still walkin' around these halls? Dey not goin' nowhere, ami," Remy said, peeking out the door of his room at Logan. Logan didn't even grace the Cajun's quip with a retort. "Don'tcha worry, we gonna get 'er back."

"When?" Logan asked loudly, his voice reverberating against the walls of the mansion. Remy seemed to recoil a little from Logan.

"Je ne sais pas, Logan, but Scott says -" Remy started, and Logan let out a low growl of disapproval at Remy's choice of words. Remy stopped short of finishing sentence at the strong action from Logan.

"Fuck Scott an' fuck what he says. He hasn't made one effort yet ta get off his ass an' find her. It's been almost two days. She could be dead by now," Logan said, hoping that he was wrong, and she was still alive. Logan stormed away from Remy, retreating to his own room. "I'll find her myself." He concluded once the door was closed.

If Scott knew what Logan was planning, it would lead to an all out brawl. Not that Logan didn't like a good fight, especially when Scott was involved, he just didn't have time to listen to Scott's philosophical bullshit on why they should wait until they formed a plan to save Ororo. Who needed a plan? Things never went as planned anyway.