X-24: WOLVERINE REBORN

CHAPTER IV

Dani drove down the road as the sun began to rise over the horizon. She looked over to see John was asleep with his head rested against the seat. He must have not gotten enough sleep last night. He was sleeping on the ground last night after all.

John was dreaming again as he found himself walking in a white void with no beginning or end. He could hear the rush of sounds coming towards him. He heard the sound of a girl screaming again, then the same sound of a man yelling like an animal.

"What is this!?" John yelled holding his head.

"You still have time."

John turned around quickly only for his eyes to fly open. He was in the truck with Dani who was looking at him.

"Another dream?"

"Yea," he responded. "They don't feel like dreams though."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it I-," he stopped, seeing there was a man standing in the middle of the road. "Dani?"

Dani looked to see the man and saw he was holding a grenade launcher. He had a cigarette in his mouth and sunglasses.

"Oh shit," Dani said stomping on the brakes.

It was too late as he fired the weapon hitting the car causing it to flip off the road and roll down a grassy hill hitting a tree that was just on the edge of the woods. Pretty Boy looked down at the damage taking off his glasses.

"Alright Reavers!" Pretty Boy yelled. On cue dozens of men all with various augmentations came behind him standing next to him was Deathstrike and Skullbuster. "Go get our prize."

Down below John's eyes slowly opened as he heard the many footsteps coming from up the hill. He saw Dani had blood coming from her head and her eyes closed shut. He ripped the seatbelt off both of them kicked the door open carrying Dani in his arms. He rushed into the woods holding her tight as the sounds of the augmented men running after him.

John ran as fast as he could wanting to find a means of escape. They were in a forest with nothing but trees in sight. He tripped falling to his knees. He was breathing hard and looked down as Dani who had blood coming from her head. John also had bruises all over because of the crash and he could feel the ache all over his bones.

"He went this way!" one of the Reavers shouted.

"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" John repeated rocking back and forth holding Dani tighter and tighter.

John stood and started running again coming to a stop. An aura of change suddenly came over John as he went behind the biggest tree he could find and placed Dani down. He took off his jacket covering her up then tossed as many leaves on top of her trying to camouflage her as best he could. The footsteps were getting closer and closer.

"I'll be back," John said popping out his claws.

The Reavers moved deeper into the woods keeping their eyes open searching for X-24 and the girl. There metal parts could be heard throughout the forest as leaves fell from the trees. Above them John hung from a tree by the claws as he kept his eye on the attackers. There were a lot of them. Much more than the men that came to the house. They seemed more dangerous too.

One of the Reavers got close to the tree John was hanging from and with a deep breath he pushed himself off falling straight down on top of the back of the man stabbing his claws into him. He didn't hesitate as he ran at the next guys and cut them down. The other Revears noticed this was happening and got there weapons ready. They wear too slow as John cut one of their guns in half and thrust his others into his neck. He rolled out the way of gun fire and thrusted his claws into the gut of another.

He was hit in the back by a bullet as he turned catching the arm of a Reaver with a metal arm and then cut it off. He head-butt the guy sending him to the ground as he was caught off guard with a blow to his head making him fall to his knees. He cut the legs of the man behind him and as he fell to the ground he stuck his claws through him. He got up swiping wildly at the attackers trying to get them to back off.

One of the bigger Reavers came from behind a tree with a harpoon gun and fired it at John. John heard him in advance and dodged it by moving to the side as the harpoon hit on of his allies. John went back to cutting down the Reavers as they tried to surround him. He got lost in all the violence he was going off pure instinct. Blood went everywhere falling all over his body more and more. He plunged his claws deep into the gut of one of the men and yanked them out full force turning to face the others.

They however weren't moving towards him but away as they retreated back into the woods away from the feral mutant. John had a bad feeling about this as he slowly walked backwards to where he left Dani. They hadn't found her and she was still knocked out. He need to get her help quick. He lifted her up keeping his coat wrapped around her and began to move through the woods. It was weird that they stopped there attack. Maybe he was taking down to many and they were regrouping.

He came to an abrupt stop when he caught the smell of metal and blood. And it wasn't the blood all over him but from someone else giving off a killer instinct. He kept moving knowing he will be fighting again soon.

He stumbled until he came across a wall of stone. It must be mountain of some kind. He walked along the path and found a tiny gap in the mountain just big enough for Dani. He placed her inside and rubbed her hair. She was the only person in his life and he wasn't about to lose her. He rips his torn bloody shirt off as he walked out into the middle of the forest claws slowly coming out.

The leaves in the trees began to fall as the wind blew them all around him. He rotated trying to figure out where ever this mystery enemy would attack. Whoever it was they have been watching for some time. He walked a little further into the woods as he suddenly felt the soft brush of hair against his neck.

"You know it's funny," a feminine voice said. John lunged quickly turning to miss. But he had eyes on the attacker finally. A tall woman of Asian origin standing before him. She was wearing light armor all over her body with a skin black suit underneath it all. She was also barefooted for some reason. Her red bandana blew with her hair as she stood before him. "I'm also carrying the name of a previous warrior who is now dead. She went by Deathstrike as do I. You are the clone of the Wolverine himself. The funny part is the two of them had quite the rivalry. So shall we continue what our predecessors never got to finish." John didn't say anything as his eyes stayed glued to her. "Well aren't you boring."

She raised one of her hands and from each finger a long metal nail came out. Her other hand did the same as she raised both taking her stance. John screamed on rag charging at her as she flipped over. He turned aiming for her neck but she leaned back with a smirk as he missed. She kicked him straight up into the jaw and then a roundhouse kick to his face making him fall near a tree. He got up again with a barrage of attacks. She weaved out the way of the attacks bringing her hand up to clash with his claws. She kicked him in the chest then scratched him across the chest then the legs. John couldn't keep up with her movements as her breathed heavy.

"Just a wild beast," Deathstrike said. "No grace, no training, just pure instinct."

John lunged again trying to land a hit but she was too quick she blocked another attack of his then stuck her nails into his shoulder pushing him into a tree. He gritted his teeth as he looked her dead in the eye. He wasn't going to be able to beat her, not like this anyway. He brought his other arm up and dug her nails out of him using his claws he kicked her off. Both took a fighting stance about to charge when they both heard footsteps coming. John turned to see Dani coming towards them. Deathstrike smiled suddenly charging at her claws ready to dig in.

"DANI!" John yelled.

Dani looked up at the woman except her eyes weren't the normal light brown. They glew purple as Deathstrike came to a stop and began to yell in terror falling to the ground holding her head. Dani then looked at John with tears falling from her eyes as she fell to the ground. John didn't know what just happened but he had to take this opportunity. He picked up Dani talking off as fast as he could.

In the distance in the woods Pretty Boy and Skullbuster watch through there binoculars. Pretty Boy was cracking up looking at Deathstrike cry out in terror as Skullbuster frowned at this.

"We didn't sign up for two mutants," Skullbuster said.

Pretty Boy was still laughing wiping a tear away. "I know I'll call to double the payment. Go help her will you and see how are other guys are doing.

"We should have just attacked him together," Skullbuster tells Pretty Boy.

"Hey she wanted her one on one and she got it. We'll take him together next time."

Skullbuster headed towards Deathstrike as Pretty Boy dialed a number on his phone.

John stumbled losing more blood by the second as he finally was able to find a road. He wobbled across the road as rain began to fall. He wasn't able to go much further as he fell to the ground. The blood from both him and Dani mixed with the rainfall as the last thing he sees is the headlights of an incoming vehicle as he blacked out.

Graydon sat his phone down on the table. He was sitting in his office having just got off the phone with Pretty Boy. The Moonstar girl was a mutant. He would say that's impossible but considering where they were living they could have a lack of exposure. The real question is does her father know. He guesses it really doesn't matter. The man has an iron will like he's never seen before. The girl could be used for studies in the future if she is immune to their gene tampering. He stands up looking at the video screens that stretched across one of the walls in his room. Most had footage of the facility but others had footage of prisoners in their cells. One showed Moonstar sitting in a room where he sat calmly with his eyes closed. There were other screens with people in their cells including one with a rather large man with long hair sitting in a corner. He hopes the Reavers could handle the job because he doesn't want to risk sending out another weapon.

Dani's eyes opened with burst of purple but slowly averted back to their normal color. She felt around seeing she was in a bed. She got up seeing she was in a different pair of cloths. She looked around the room and it seemed fairly normal. She was trying to remember what happened as it slowly came back to her. She opened the door to her room and was met by a woman.

"You're up," she said.

"You're that waitress," Dani said confused.

"Rose," she reminded Dani.

"This your place?"

"Yeah, I found you and Joh in the middle of the road. Figured you wouldn't want to go to a hospital."

"Good call," Dani said really appreciating that. "Where John?"

"I think he is still outside. I told him he needs to rest but he seemed restless."

Dani walked out the back door to see John was chopping wood. He swung the axe hard cutting each log in half with a single swing. He was shirtless with bandages wrapped all over his torso, arms, and hands. He looked up at Dani who was walking up to him arms folded.

"Blowing off steam?"

"We need to talk," he said seriously.

Rose watched as the two outside began to talk. She was lucky to come across them when she did or they may have not made it. She walked into her kitchen just as the front door opened and a rather large man with a graying brown beard. His hair was in a ponytail that was halfway down his back. He was wearing camo pants and jacket as he walked in carrying a big bag.

"Saul," Rose said. "I need to give you a heads up."

"What is it?" he responded in a gruff voice.

"I picked up a few stragglers," she said pointing to the back.

He walked up to the window and saw the little girl and then looked at the man she was talking to. His eyes went wide as he turned to Rose.

"Get upstairs!"

"What is it?"

"NOW!"

John and Dani were having their conversation when Saul suddenly came out the house in a frenzy. John moved Dani behind him as the large man came towards them. He took his jacket off leaving just a white muscle shirt. He suddenly showed his teeth as fangs emerged and his nails became like a wild animals.

"I don't know who sent you but I know you aren't my brother," he said beginning to growl.

He suddenly jumped on all fours and pounced at John.