Cris-X: Am not! Am not! Am not! Okay, so maybe a little. But it was a good cliffhanger, you've got to admit.
Christy-S: I ain't sayin' nothin'.
Harry: Heh, just wait.
Lucky439: Poor baby? More like poor whoever stole her. *insert evil grin here*
Ishandalf: I won't tell a soul, I swear.
Disclaimer: It's a bird, it's a plane…whoops, wrong comic book…It's Marvel's.
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Logan slammed the tiny man against the wall and snarled at him, "Either you tell us where Creed is or I tear yer lungs out!"
The wheaselish man gasped for air against the force and managed to choke out, "I swear, I don't know!!"
"Yer lyin!!"
"L-l-look," he stammered, "alls I know is that he said he'd be gone for a couple a days and not t' come lookin' for him. Th-th-that's all! I swear!!"
Still holding the man against the wall, Logan turned to look back and Gambit and Rogue. "Rogue, darlin', you wanna do th' honors?"
She cracked her knuckles menacingly and nodded. She stepped up to the man and placed her hands on either side of his face.
"Now you just relax, sugah. This won't hurt…much." She then proceeded to rip through his mind with all her absorption powers, taking every thought and memory she could. Finally, she dropped him to the floor in disgust.
"Pervert!" she spat out.
"He know anyt'in' chere?"
She shook her head, "Nothin', 'cept a bunch a porn sites an' the fact that Creed's gonna kill him when he hears we've been here." She released the man's memories back to him.
Gambit sighed, "Anyone left?"
Logan shook his head, "Nope, we cleared the place out. They'll all be too scared to come back here for a while."
Rogue sat down in a nearby chair, rubbing her temples and sighing. Gambit put an arm around her shoulders.
"It's alright, chere, we find her."
"It's been two weeks already, Remy! She could be anywhere by now, she could even be…"
He crouched down to her eye level and put a finger over her mouth, "Shh, mon amour, we find her, I promise. No matter how long it takes, we find her."
She nodded and stood, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Ahright, Logan, next bar?"
He was standing completely still, "We won't have to, I can smell him."
Rogue and Gambit struggled to keep up with the hairy little mutant, jumping over trash cans and other garbage. He moved with such purpose, you'd think it was his daughter that had gone missing. Cyclops' comm broke the silence.
"Rogue, Gambit, anything?"
"Shh," Rogue hissed into her comm unit, "We've got a lead," she whispered, "we'll let you know if it's worth anythin'." She turned the comm off. "Ah don't want them bargin' in on us, this is personal."
Gambit nodded, "You got it chere," and he turned his off as well.
Cyclops placed the radio down and gave a large sigh.
What's wrong Scott?
Jean asked."They've gone silent, which means they've found him and they don't want anyone help."
Would you?
He shook his head, "No, I suppose I wouldn't, but Jean, Creed's a vicious man. He could rip any one of them into shreds."
It was Jean's turn to shake her head, I doubt it Scott. You've never seen a mother's rage. If anything, I'm scared for Victor.
Logan rounded another corner and met a dead end. At the very back of the alley was an old bar. The light above flickered erratically and hung at an odd angle.
"He's here," he whispered.
Both Gambit and Rogue stepped forward.
"Wait," he said, holding his arms out to block them, "Let me go in first. No offense or anythin', but I feel a lot better about gettin' my ass kicked than the two of you."
They nodded and watched him cautiously approach the steel door.
Several loud crashes came from inside the bar. A few of the patrons scrambled out the front door, and the two mutants only stared as they passed them. After several more thuds and crashes, they looked to each other and nodded. They walked calmly into the bar.
"Awww, Logan," Gambit began, "you didn' leave anyt'in' fo' us."
"Sorry," he lamented as he brushed dust off of his clothes, "got caught in the heat of the moment."
"Where's Creed?" Rogue asked darkly.
Logan jerked his head to the side indicating a chair holding the unconscious form of Victor Creed, also known as Sabertooth and never a nice man to deal with.
"Ah'm not even gonna ask how you accomplished that."
"Charm, darlin', charm."
She smiled a little, a sight that was very rare these days. "Let's wake 'em up."
Logan smiled back. He backhanded Sabertooth across the face. "Wake up, ugly."
Victor growled, "Whaddya want runt?"
"Look, Creed, either ya deal with me, or I hand ya over to my friends."
He laughed, "That frail ain't gonna do nothin' t' me! And the Cajun couldn't fight his way outta a paper bag!"
Both Rogue and Remy sneered at him.
"Look, Creed," Logan hissed, "I'm gonna make this simple, tell me what I want to know, or I hand you over to them. And the state they're in, you better be worried."
Victor sighed, "Alright, runt, I'll entertain ya. Waddya wanna know?"
"What do you know about a two year old mutant girl?"
He stared at Logan for a few minutes in disbelief and then suddenly, he started to laugh. "A little girl?! All this trouble for one measly little brat?! You gotta be kiddin' me. You've gone soft, Logan!"
Logan grabbed Victor by the shirt and shoved him against the wall, "I ain't kiddin' Creed. That little girl was kidnapped and so help me if you had anything to do with it, I'll let her mother tear you to shreds!!"
He gave Logan an hard look and then glanced over to Rogue and Remy, "Oh I get it. I never figured you fer the marryin' type Lebeau. Y' think y' know somebody…"
Logan threw him against the wall harder.
"Look, runt, I don't know nothin'! I ain't heard squat about a little girl. You know that ain't my style. I didn't even know those two were married."
Logan dropped him to the floor, "He's all yours, darlin'."
Rogue nodded and placed her hands on either side of his head as she had done with the whimpering man at the other bar. She closed her eyes for a long moment and then stumbled back into Remy.
"You okay, chere?"
"Yeah, that one just took a lot outta me."
"Anyt'in'?"
She shook her head, "He might know where she is, but there's a lot o' empty space up there. Like somebody wiped it clean."
He nodded, "Le's take him back wit' us, see if de Professor can figure anyt'in' out in his head. Maybe piece toget'er what happened."
Logan nodded in agreement and hefted Sabertooth's unconscious form between Remy and himself and dragged him back to their car.
Back at the mansion, Professor Xavier listened intently as the three explained their story.
"That was very dangerous what you did, but I understand why you did it, so you are excused." He chuckled a bit, "Scott was also displeased with you decision, but I think cooler heads prevailed there."
Logan smiled a little.
"Now as for Victor, I am unsure of any progress I can make with him or even if he'll allow it, but for your sake and Lucretia's, I will do what I can. We will find her."
Later that night, Rogue was visited by another mysterious dream. She was in a darkened bar. The air was hazy and dank and smelled of beer and cigars. The music in the background sounded like a funeral dirge. The bar was empty save for a woman in the back, playing pool. She wore stiletto heeled boots with black leather pants and tight red halter top. She had shining black hair down to her back and a pale complexion. A black cigarette hung out of her mouth as she squinted down the pool cue. She sank the eight ball and turned. She held the cue in one hand and the cigarette in the other. She walked closer to Rogue. She smelled like raspberries and smoke. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Find the girl, and get her out of there. The sooner you get away from Xavier the better. Trust me." She leaned in and whispered right into Rogue's ear, "The timeline must remain unaltered," and she vanished in a flash of light.
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Sorry it took me so long to update. You know how these things are. This was a really hard chapter to right, but I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, review! I mean it! Don't make me sick the minis on you!
