Hmm... not quite the end of the weekend, but I'd say this update is a bit better than promising next week and disappearing for two months. Lately life seems to like throwing off my groove, but we'll see how long that lasts! So here is another chapter, since it was admittedly kind of cruel to leave you with a cliffhanger.
Thank you SuniGyrl, for your suggestions - they made a WORLD of difference!
"Good catch, cub," said a gruff voice. Then Betsy could see him clearly; a man that she had never met, but had seen inL ogan's mind enough to know that he wasn't someone to be trusted. He casually walked past Kendall, patting her head lightly.
"Thank you, Uncle Victor," she preened as she unwrapped what looked like a small piece of candy.
The vision faded and Betsy swore. Everyone's minds were swarming with activity. Everyone except for Logan. His mind was silent as death for several seconds before there was an audible click within his mind.
"Damn it," Betsy hissed. The vision had come on so suddenly, there had been no time to shield it from others if she wanted a clear image for herself. Even if there had been time, Storm would have easily found a way to see it, possibly without Betsy even knowing.
It hardly mattered now, it was obvious that Ororo had shown the image to Logan without so much as letting Betsy try to interpret it – her own vision – first.
It seemed unlikely to Betsy that Victor Creed was behind Kendall's kidnapping (from the stories she'd heard, he seemed like a do-it-yourself kind of criminal) but to Logan in his current state, it probably made perfect sense. It answered the question, "Why my daughter?" It also seemed to break his already fragile hold on his control.
Logan separated from Wolverine, folding into himself with all the emotions that were too intense for him to deal with on the surface. His eyes dilated until they were mostly black, and he lunged forward to stab. Betsy had a brief vision of him stabbing the table, tearing apart the room and leaving everyone unharmed as long as they weren't within reach.
Everyone else only saw what was happening in front of them. That split second she'd been watching what could've been had been her only window to warn everyone to be still, but it was too late.
Kurt disappeared from his spot across the table, reappearing in between Kitty and Wolverine. Thinking that he was going to attack her, Kurt used a good bit of strength to kick Wolverine back and coil his tail tightly around Kitty before teleporting them to the opposite end of the room.
Nearly everyone jumped in surprise and fanned out to stand against the wall and as far from Wolverine as possible. A few of them visibly trembled as they watched him stand back up and let out a growl so low that they felt it rather than heard it.
That kick – a blow that would've knocked out anyone else – only seemed to fuel Wolverine's adrenaline. He blinked only once before his eyes locked onto Kurt better than any radar and he lunged clear across the table in a leap that was as deadly as it was graceful. "Watch his claws!" Kitty screamed, throwing her arms around Kurt's waist and digging her fingers into his chest. When Kurt seized Wolverine's wrists, his hands went through the skin and muscle, catching the dense adamantium bone. Doing a complicated cartwheel, Kurt managed to again flip Logan away from the two of them and that was when Betsy chose to intervene.
Wolverine hardly paused, attacking whoever was closest with vigor.
For Betsy's part, her focus was split between dodging Wolverine, making sure everyone else was out of reach of them, and mentally trying to snap Ororo out of her shock. All she heard in the weather witch's mind was white noise, her mind clearly trying to wrap itself around the fact that in the near future her child would be with Victor Creed. She couldn't imagine a single scenario where Victor having her daughter wasn't catastrophic, and she was on the verge of a shutdown as intense as Logan's.
"You can't do this to her!" Betsy shouted, speaking to both Wolverine and Ororo. "You're wasting her time!"
Wolverine didn't seem to hear her, but Ororo was able to lock her emotions away almost immediately. Barely able to keep up with him, Betsy returned her full focus to Wolverine, remaining defensive. She resisted materializing her katana since she wasn't sure how the blade would react to his adamantium claws. The outcome could range from destroying his claws permanently to destroying her mind permanently.
Betsy's vision shifted momentarily and she Saw Warren try to intervene. The next instant he lay hunched on the ground, one wing clearly broken and chest wheezing as though he had broken ribs and possibly a punctured lung. Blinded by a foreign emotion, Betsy moved like lightning to place herself between an idiot Angel and rabid Wolverine. She waited until she could sense Warren just out of reach before she made her move. Turning so that Wolverine couldn't clearly see Warren, Betsy grabbed the angel's arm, yanking him forward. She roughly twisted his wrist until she heard it snap lightly and elbowed him between the eyes hard enough to stun him before he did something ridiculous like try to save her.
As though nothing had happened, Betsy continued ducking and dodging Logan's blows, slowly drawing Wolverine away from Warren's prone body. She became so focused on her task that she didn't notice Kurt until he blocked a potentially fatal blow just in the nick of time.
With commendable skill – possibly because he only had three fingers – he managed to grab Logan's fists at just the right angle to prevent his claws from so much as grazing his blue skin.
"You have to talk him down," Kurt said, managing to use Logan's forward momentum to throw the enraged Canadian over his shoulder.
Betsy shook her head, feeling the heat of the butterfly mask around her eyes. It was only after she glanced at Kurt that she realized that he was talking to Ororo, not her.
She stood apart from the chaos, her eyes glowing faintly white and her fingers held to her temple. "He won't hear it," she said, frustrated. "His anger is making it impossible for him to focus."
"So break through that anger," Kurt said, cracking his tail like a whip in his agitation. "You must force him to hear reason!"
Betsy felt Ororo gather a considerable amount of energy into her mind and target Wolverine, drilling a thought into his mind like a spike. He flinched, but recovered fast enough, though he didn't seem any less enraged. "They're not the target?" he snarled, his voice about two octaves lower and much raspier than usual. "How do you figure she's not to blame?"
Betsy wanted to screech at the injustice when she turned and saw who he was referring to. Emma appeared to be casually leaned against the wall, but Betsy could feel her fatigue and knew that it was more for support since she couldn't stand upright on her own. No doubt she had sensed the agitation from Ruby – still being held by Remy, who hadn't been able to escape since his exit was being blocked – and had come down to see what was happening.
And at that exact moment.
Excellent fucking timing, Betsy snarled inside the blonde's mind. But Emma had eyes only for Wolverine, and those eyes were narrowed in challenge, despite her weakened state. "Emma," Betsy warned. The blonde was very much like Logan when it came to getting lost in her temper.
"How the hell is it my fault?" she demanded as though nothing at all was amiss. "You want me to feel sorry for you and wish that Ruby had been taken instead?"
"Maybe if you didn't flaunt your money around and invite someone to extort – "
"Fuck you!" she snapped. Her voice was a little slow, as though she thought Wolverine was dim, but in reality her mind was fuzzy and Emma was wildly grappling for mental and physical balance so she didn't pass out. She wasn't supposed to be out of bed for at least a few days, but here she was trying to pick a fight with Wolverine only hours after nearly causing her mind irreparable damage. "I don't have to live in fear over every little thing just because the world is full of danger!"
"No, you don't! Just make sure you can sidestep any dangers and pretend to care when someone else has to pay for it!"
Emma didn't react to that statement, nor did Betsy. There was no doubt in either of their minds that it was only Wolverine talking. Distraught though he was, Logan knew that they all cared deeply for Kendall and weren't 'pretending to care' by offering to help in any way they could. But Logan wasn't coherent, nor was he the one they were talking to. He was swirling in a black, endless abyss of terror, unable to function while Wolverine sought to protect him by placing blame.
It then occurred to Betsy that this split in his personality had to be a defense mechanism. Usually the two coexisted normally enough, but the extreme emotions had forced them to separate, and because Logan couldn't function, Wolverine was looking to take out the threat. But Wolverine had to be just as scared as Logan, because instead of fighting the actual threat, he was forced to wait until the threat revealed itself to him.
So he was, in the simplest of terms, throwing a fit.
Before Betsy could try forcing an image of Victor into his mind to give him a reason to save his pent up rage, he lunged at the blonde. Betsy got ready to take his feet out from under him while Kurt teleported himself to take the force of a full on body slam, but before the impact both were blown aside.
Kurt managed to right himself as though he had planned to do that, but Warren had to catch and steady Betsy to keep her from taking a graceless spill. Despite her attack, Betsy heard only concern for her inside the angel's mind. If she'd had time to think it through, she might've felt… guilty. But he wouldn't have fared nearly as well as a broken wrist and a bruised ego if she'd let him intervene, so she didn't dwell on that guilt. Instead, she reached into his mind and muted his perception of pain, at least until they got this situation with Wolverine figured out.
Ororo replaced the two defenders in front of Wolverine. Seeing her didn't slow his attack, but she really hadn't expected it to. She held out her hands as though to catch his fists, but compounded the air pressure between his claws and her hands until the blades stopped about two inches from her skin.
"They aren't to blame," she told him as calmly as she could manage. She needed to be strong for him, but she hated seeing him so distraught. The only thing that held her together was the memories of all the times she'd lost it and he'd kept a cool head for her sake. Now it was her turn to do the same for him. "They're going to help us!"
He pushed forward with all his strength, forcing Ororo to intensify the density of the air to avoid getting slashed. After a few seconds of furious struggling he pulled back abruptly and roughly kicked Ororo's feet out from under her, sending her to the ground with a hard thump.
"It's because of her that they took our daughter!" he growled, circling around her like a predator. There was no sign of the amber eyes that she always fell into when she looked at him – only a thin brown ring around pupils so dilated that his eyes seemed black. She caught a glimpse through his eyes and saw various shades of red, herself at the very center and colored the most vivid crimson of anything in his line of sight.
"That doesn't make you angry?" he hissed. In his eyes she looked calm, so calm that it made him edgy because subconsciously he wanted her to be as afraid as he was. I am afraid, she wanted to tell him, but it would do no good. He'd want to see her fear, and he'd vehemently deny his own.
"Do you even give a damn about her, since you want to wait for something bad to happen and fucking rest? !"
She didn't want to listen, didn't want to give in to his goading… But he'd pushed exactly the right button to get a reaction. No one accused her of not caring for her baby!
She waited for half a second until his leg was at the right angle before kicking behind his knee and sending crippling static all throughout his body. The air hummed around her as she reached into the depths of her mind and lit a spark, unleashing the omega power that was her own version of Wolverine; Storm.
Betsy seemed to realize that the situation was spiraling downward and Storm vaguely noticed her swiftly and mentally directing everyone out of the War Room through the now unblocked door, leaving the two lovers to their 'discussion'.
As red as Wolverine's vision was, everything in Storm's eyes became blindingly white. Wind and static pushed her hair out of her face so she could see clearly, and the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees in a matter of seconds. Her target became blurs of various lines and colors that she read much like Doppler Radar. She could see the assortment of different temperatures of every inch of his body, inside and out. She could see where certain changes in temperature or pressure on his body would do him the most harm. She could cripple him easily by dropping the temperature of his skeleton, by compounding the pressure in his eardrums, by sending a shock of static through his internal organs. She could do any number of other things to him, none of which would quite satisfy her rage.
Lost in her violent thoughts, Storm grabbed Wolverine around the throat and slammed him into the ground, towering over him. There wasn't a hint of fear in his eyes, only rage. The absence of the emotion she wanted to see only fueled her fury, though it didn't occur to her that moments ago he'd been in that same position.
"If you want to start throwing blame, why don't you start with yourself," Storm seethed. "Regardless of whose fault it is for her being taken, it's you brother that now has her! Your irrational grudge with him has brought us to this! It's your fault that she's gone! !"
He threw her off of him and managed to knee her in the spine. Fuming, she gripped the limb that was closest to her and sent powerful shocks of electricity straight through his muscle and right into his veins. A yelp of real pain from him snapped Storm out of her fury, but the pain wasn't enough to stop Wolverine. As the thermal image of her enemy materialized into Wolverine, he immediately began attacking again, punching and slashing and kicking at any angle he might be able to reach her. She dodged flawlessly, still tapped into those omega powers that gave her otherworldly power, but able to separate herself from the emotion that had caused her to hurt him.
"He's not going to tire," Storm said inside Betsy's mind. It was more of a statement than a question, but she wanted some semblance of confirmation from the telepath.
"Not for a long time," Betsy agreed, tracking Wolverine's thought patterns furiously from outside the room. She was having trouble keeping up, but Storm knew that she wasn't as familiar with his mind as she was. There was no change to suggest that his rage had run its course, and it seemed at the rate he was going – because Logan had manifested his anger in the form of Wolverine and had separated himself from that anger – he could probably go for hours like this. At this point his fatigue would only be in his mind, and he was too focused to feel tired.
I need to bypass Wolverine and talk to Logan, Storm thought. She'd tried that already, but he was so smothered by fear that he was beyond being reasoned with while he was in darkness. She'd just have to try a different approach, but the most likely option to shock him out of it made her hesitate to act. She knew that she could reach the man she loved and pull him to the surface, but he was going to absolutely fall apart when that happened. For that reason, she wondered if she should just go the route of trying to tire him out. The last thing he'd want would be to break down. She knew how weak it would make him feel.
But, she reasoned to herself, what he wanted didn't matter – she had to give him what he needed.
And there's only one way to do it, Storm thought, thinking back to several incidents that they'd had over the years. In a blind tantrum, the thing that snapped her out of her rage without fail was realizing that she'd hurt him.
"NO!" Betsy cried.
Storm didn't listen, and powered down just as Wolverine moved to kick her square in the chest, subconsciously expecting her to dodge it. She didn't attempt to dodge him and she went to the ground hard. She hissed in pain as her head slammed against the ground, but he didn't pause. His fist came down on her lightning fast, claws fully extended. She didn't flinch, because she knew him, trusted him, LOVED him.
At the last second he moved his arm a fraction and he imbedded his claws in the tile floor inches from her head as he glared down at Ororo, panting heavily.
That stunt – "SUICIDAL!" Betsy screeched in her mind – had worked just as Ororo had meant it to. That small hiss of pain had brought Logan to the surface, and he'd redirected his claws to the ground rather than her chest. She'd known that it would work because he had no desire to truly hurt her. Neither did Wolverine, but Logan underestimated the influence he had over his other side.
Betsy tensely monitored his mind while Remy gently pushed and prodded his emotions. Both knew that they weren't quite out of the clear yet. Ororo knew that the worst of it was over, but didn't bother discouraging them. She needed to focus on Logan, and he needed to focus on her. Ororo felt their outrage as she stretched her internal static shield to cover Logan's mind and force them out.
Confusion was the strongest emotion swirling in Logan's mind as his panting soon became sputtering gasps, then shock and shame as those gasps quickly became wrenching full-body sobs.
He didn't speak, but inside he was screaming. What did I do to you? !"
Ororo shook her head, stroking his cheek lightly. "You didn't hurt me," she told him out loud.
I JUST TRIED TO KILL YOU! ! He collapsed on top of her, shaking violently. Partly from exhaustion, partly from despair, and partly from anger at himself.
She framed his face and made him look at her. There were no tears in his eyes, and somehow that made her heart ache all the more for him.
"You were never going to kill me," she told him, her voice level. More than compassion, he needed an anchor of calm to latch onto. That's what she needed to be for him, and that's what she'd give him. "YOU WERE UPSET, AND YOU WERE THROWING BLAME, AND YOU WERE ATTACKING ME, BUT I *KNOW* YOU."
You don't know, he told her, shaking his head as he struggled to get his breathing under control. That monster… was me.
"A part of you," she corrected. "But I trust you. All of you."
"Why," he managed to choke out loud.
"Why do you trust me," she countered.
"Because I love you," he answered without hesitation. And he said it in such a matter-of-fact way that Ororo had to smile a little. It was the same way he'd tell someone that the earth was round, or that the sky was blue.
She planted a small kiss on the corner of his mouth, just enough to distract him from his thoughts. "After all this time, do you still not see that I love you just as much?"
She saw a spark of that soul-consuming love in his hazel eyes before he closed them and took a deep breath. A large part of her needed to know what was going through his mind in that instant, but she forced herself to stay out.
He surprised her by rapidly gathering his self control and locking away his emotions. She wasn't sure she approved, but they really had no other choice at the moment. And she had no room to be critical of that since she did it all the time.
"What do we do now," he asked, his voice a bit hoarse.
"Everyone else knows what they can do to help. You and I are going to help Betsy with finding Kendall and possibly Victor using Cerebro. That'll give us the chance to rest and help at the same time." She didn't need to mention that Emma needed rest; he could smell the lingering scent of her exhaustion and near death from the other side of the door.
With that, Ororo stood herself up and helped Logan stand as well. The telepath and empath were still lingering outside the door to monitor Logan's mind, but Ororo mentally waved them off. If anything, he needed some time alone. He wasn't a ticking bomb.
When he seemed to have a manageable hold on his emotions, they opened the doors to the hall, and found only a fraction of the people that had occupied the room. Among them was Ruby, standing so close to Remy that she was practically on top of his shoes and looking between Ororo and Logan hesitantly. When her eyes met Ororo's, she quickly looked away and stared down at her feet.
"Oh, honey," Ororo cooed as she pulled the toddler into her arms. Ruby was afraid that that she'd upset Ororo and Logan somehow, and that their anger was somehow pointed at her. We're not mad at you, Ororo said inside her mind.
After a few moments she hiccupped and glanced at Logan out of the corner of her eyes, glassy with unshed tears. "'M sorry I lost Kenny," she mumbled shamefully.
Beside her, Ororo felt Logan recoil as though he'd been slapped. "I…" Logan shook his head, staring at Ruby for a long moment before taking her out of Ororo's arms and holding her the way he did his own daughter. He'd held them this way to chase away nightmares, to soothe injured egos, to embarrass them, and to make everything all better. Ruby didn't flinch away, and in fact clung tighter to Logan than she had to Ororo as she let tears spill over. Logan said nothing, only continued shaking his head.
From the physical proximity of their minds, Ruby was able to read what the gesture meant; don't be sorry.
"B-But," she hiccupped, "I w-wasn't watching – "
He drew his head back and looked straight into the child's eyes, his tone and expression calm but firm. "No. You didn't do anything wrong." This statement seemed to lift an immense weight off of her shoulders, and as Logan held her she fell asleep in under a minute.
Emma avoided looking Logan in the eye as he handed Ruby over, her thoughts a mix of anger at what he'd said about her and regret because in the back of her mind she felt mildly responsible.
Though her exhaustion was to the bone, she found the strength to nestle Ruby safely in her arms before turning to leave. Logan spoke, halting her. "It wasn't true," he told her. "What I said about you, I mean."
Emma turned and looked him over. Ororo and Betsy had only moments to feel anxious before Emma nodded, easily accepting his apology. "You weren't yourself," she told him, and with that went back up to her room to rest.
Logan took a shaky breath and Ororo lightly brushed her fingers against his. "You have to know that we'll find her," she murmured encouragingly in his ear. "Have faith in that."
He nodded and they began making their way down the hall towards Cerebro. Distracted as she was by everything that was happening, it took Ororo a few steps to realize that the light pressure at her side was Logan leaning against her as they walked side by side.
