1Chapter Eight
No POV
Logan's jeep parked noisily in front of the Howlette mansion very early the following morning, just as the sun was about to rise. He stretched his arms out above his head, and then fished into the pocket of his jacket for the tiny cellular phone.
A sleep voice answered the phone after a few rings, "Xavier Institute -at five thirty in the morning..."
"Hi Kurt, sorry to wake you. I was hoping for Joanna. Could you get her for me?"
"Just a bamph away my friend...hold on." The phone crackled for a moment, and Logan heard some talk on the other send before Joanna's voice greeted him.
"Hey, Logan."
"Good morning, Sunshine." Logan's lips curved in a smirk.
" Are you at the house?"
"Yea, I just got here...wanted to let you know that I was all right."
"Good. Go get some sleep then, before the work crew arrives."
"I will." Logan nodded. "And I'll call you tonight, and let you know how everything is going, okay?"
"Alright. Talk to you tonight then." Joanna yawned. "Love you."
"I love you too, Jo."
Logan hung up, and tapped the phone against his lips for a moment, thinking, before swinging open the door of the jeep to make the trek into the house.
The couch was comfortable enough for an hour or two of sleep, and Logan kipped down, tossing an army blanket over himself and closing his eyes.
"Jo, this stuff is going to take a little longer then I first thought." Logan was leaning against one of the remodling crew's trucks, the cell phone tucked against his ear. "I don't think these guys have ever done a project this..."
"Huge? Yea, your manor needs a lot of work...you should have warned them, hon." Joanna sighed. "It's OK. Do you want some of us to come down and help?"
"No, no...I think we've got it covered up here...I'll help 'em out, and hopefully I'll be out of here by next Saturday."
"Are you sure you don't want some help?"
"No, and I don't want you away from the institute...that bastard who shot you is still out there someplace..."
"I know, Logan. I know. I'll be fine...I'm staying inside, and running my students through Danger Room exercises with help from Remy, and Rogue."
"Good." Logan nodded. "So, how is everything then? Are you feeling alright? Any changes?"
"No...I had a problem this morning...I swear I could hear people across town... But it didn't last very long, and I actually teleported down to breakfast this morning."
"Well, don't strain yourself, okay?" He looked up, observing the crew that was working on the roofing, and then over at the bunch working on replacing, and restoring the brick in the walls. "I think I'd better go put in a helping hand. I'll see you soon."
"Alright. Have a good day...don't...get to bossy with the crews."
"I won't." He smiled, and hung up on her, just as the foreman of the entire operation, Sigmund Briar approached him.
"Well, Mr. Logan... I think everything is coming along nicely, now that we've got a plumber in to take care of those pipes...and the electrician to take care of the faulty wiring throughout the house. You're sure that you afford all of this work?"
"I'm positive." Logan nodded. "How are they coming on the roof?"
"Pretty well, we'll be finished with the main roof by tonight, and tomorrow we'll start on the sub-roofing, over the tower, and the upstairs library." Briar looked over his clipboard of notes. "The bricking crew is almost complete with their work as well. You've invested in a fine piece of real estate, Mr. Logan."
"Thanks. I rather liked it, myself."
"Now, since the outside is almost complete, perhaps it time to start thinking about the inside. These are the plans we talked about the last time you were up," Briar handed him a few sheets of paper, and then opened up a blueprint of the house on the open tailgate, leaping into typical shop talk. "Is that what you still wanted?"
"Yea." Logan nodded. "Essential repairs, and my fiancé and I will worry about everything else later."
"Very good." Briar nodded. "The entire project will probably go into the winter, but should be done by Christmas."
"Good, good." Logan nodded. "Now, where can I help?"
Joanna yawned, leaning back in her chair in the control booth of the Danger room. Rogue was at her side, still working diligently, "It's late, Rogue. I think I'm going to bed."
"Alright. I'll finish this up." Rogue glanced over at her. "You okay?"
"Yea, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Logan, I guess." She shrugged.
"Look, we both know that Logan can do more then take care of himself."
"I know." Joanna pushed her self up and out of the chair. "I just feel better when I can see him, and know what he's really doing."
"Don't worry, Jo. He's fine. He's probably ripping up carpeting or something, worrying about you, and trying to keep his hands busy."
"You're probably right, Rogue. I'm going to go to bed, okay?"
"Alright. G'night...I'll try not to come in to late."
Joanna was just about to turn into her bedroom when her cell phone vibrated against her thigh, and she paused to remove it from her pocket.
"Joanna Darius." She started firmly upon answering.
"Hey Jo." Logan's voice was a relief.
"Hey, how's it going? I didn't expect to hear from you for awhile longer."
"I miss you. It's lonely."
Joanna smiled, closing the door to her bedroom behind her. "Well, I was just getting ready for bed...it's interesting not to have the option of sleeping next to you."
Logan laughed softly, "I've been thinking, Jo...if we're serious, about this marriage thing...maybe it's time that you moved out of your and Rogue's room. I mean...you spend most of your time with me anyway...and I'm sure Rogue wouldn't mind having the extra space."
Joanna's POV
I bit my lip, sitting on the edge of my bed, kicking off my shoes. "Oh, gosh Logan. I don't know. Of course, obviously I would eventually...but already? It kind of seems like I'm ditching her...like I'm losing something."
"It's just something to think about, Jo."
I nodded. "So, anything special going on?"
"No, not really. The Crew and I accomplished a lot today. It was good to be working with my hands on something like this, again."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Logan."
"What about you?" He asked. "You do anything exciting today?"
"Not really. Just normal institute-stuff."
Logan was quiet for a second before his voice lowered to a soft, sexy sort of growl, "What are you doing right now?"
I smiled, biting my lip, "Getting ready for bed."
"Mm... what are you wearing?"
"At the moment, my street clothes, but I was thinking of putting on that black tank, the one with the really low neckline that you like, and that pair of short-shorts that I only wear to bed."
"Because wearing them in public would probably be illegal?"
"That's the pair."
"I bet you'll look real sexy."
I laughed out loud, "Logan, knock it off...go to bed. You don't know what you're saying."
"Hey, I'm just trying to broaden our horizons -why do you think I called your cell rather then the land line?"
"Oh, Logan... if only you knew how much I really loved you."
"If you loved me, you'd play along with me..." He tried to coax me into his little phone-sex scheme.
"Nothing beats the real thing, hon."
He snorted, "You don't have to tell me that."
"I'm going to get ready for bed now... Dream about me?"
"I always do, sweetheart. I always do." I heard him click the phone off, and I smiled to myself, hanging up as well, and setting the phone on the side table as I moved to
The next morning, I participated in my first Danger Room exercise in over a year. We ran Logan-Joanna Lesson 1, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, and I. It was weird, being back on the shifting floor, in my adaptable uniform.
My powers were slowly starting to come back under my control, and I could notice the blue tints across my skin beginning to change color, and the mask across my face becoming a lighter shade. The wings and tail were beginning to shrink all together. I had fewer of the uncontrollable fits, hearing the amplified voices in my head, plasma beams shooting from my eyes, inadvertently dumping a foot of snow over the Institute...
I went to see Dr. McCoy after the Danger Room exercise, and he ran another head scan, comparing it to the old x-ray, pointing out the noticeable repair in the damaged areas.
"If you continue healing at this kind of a rate, Joanna...I'd say that the skin tones will be gone within the next few weeks, and the wings and tail by Thanksgiving."
"That's when Logan wanted us to go up to the Manor... after Thanksgiving."
"By then you should probably be able to be in public places without the experiment inducer." Dr. McCoy shrugged, turning to look at the x-rays again. "It's amazing, Joanna... This completely baffles me...any other person, and I might call it some kind of a miracle."
"Will I need to see you again soon, Doc?"
"No...no...come back after the tones are completely gone... We'll look at how much longer until everything else has disappeared too, alright?"
"Alright. Thanks Dr. McCoy."
I went to bed that night as I would have any typical night, thoughts of Logan drifting through my head, plans for our wedding ever looming in my mind... I had no idea what I would wake up to the next morning.
It was surreal, and for a few minutes I thought I was dreaming...but I wasn't. I was chained inside of a liquid-filled tube, breathing through some kind of mask. The images my eyes were sending to my brain were cloudy, but I could make out a laboratory of some kind -a 'doctor' I didn't recognize was talking into some kind of microphone...and then the needles stabbed into me.
That is when I knew that it wasn't a dream -it was painful...needles, stabbing into my skin, grating against the bone, injecting a material against them, coating them. I screamed silent fury when they were removed, tearing out of my skin.
"That's it, Sundry. Let it out." The calm voice mocked me from outside of the tank, the unfamiliar face looming closer. "Technology has come so far since we last tested this experiment, but I doubt we'll ever be able to subdue the wrenching pain."
"Where the hell am I?" I asked.
"You're in the previous Weapon X lab, the new Eternity Project Lab." The man told me. "I believe our facility may look familiar to you, if you take a closer look..."
I glanced around as the liquid began to drain from the tube, allowing me a better look around. "You...You're the ones who laced Logan's body with adamantium.."
"Oh, now...you say that as if it were a bad thing..." The balding man made a pouting face. "Is he not better because of his indistructive skeleton?"
"How did I get here?" I ignored the question.
"Why, we stole you away in the night, of course... Quicksilver here, is very fast on his feet... Broke into the Xavier Institute, and got out quicker then the alarms sensor could function.. No one will know that you are missing until morning."
"What did you do to me?"
"The same thing we did to your...what is he now? Fiancé?"
"You animals..."
"No! You are the animal... Freaks of nature, who need to be tested, observed, put through trials to test your resistance..."
I gritted my teeth, unleashing my itching claws, the new adamantium tearing through my skin, but I barely noticed. The glass shattered away, and I stepped out of the tubing, ready to draw some blood, namely the unnamed Doctor's.
Quicksilver was at my side in a moment, grabbing me from behind, whispering in my ear, "You don't want to do that... Just play along for awhile, okay?"
"Are you crazy?" I hissed at him, as the Doctor meandered away, off to check on his next 'patient'.
"Look, there are a lot of us here, and when there are enough of us, we'll get out...but I'm not going to have you go all gung-ho, and fuck it up, alright?" Quicksilver ran a hand through his hair. "Getting out of here is a lot harder then it would seem."
"Can I at least get some decent clothes?" I requested, motioning at my bare essential coverings.
"Of course, follow me." Quicksilver nodded, leading me out of the testing room and into a storage closet of sorts, grey sweat suits with a sideways eight, infinity, emblem on the sleeves of the zip-up sweatshirt. "You can put this on, for now." He handed me a set from a middle shelf.
"Thanks...I think." I pulled the pants on, tightening the strings around my hips, and then put on the sweatshirt on over my shoulders, zipping it up.
"We're free to roam the compound, but if you take one unauthorized step, the security in here amplifies three-fold." Quicksilver whispered, pulling me down the hall. "You'll be fitted for a collar like this," He pulled at the metallic collar around this throat, "this afternoon. There are sensors all over the compound that monitor our whereabouts at all times. Now do you see why we haven't broken out on our own yet?"
"How many are there?" I asked.
"Mutants, or men like Trask?"
"Both."
"There are about twenty mutants, including all of us from the Brotherhood, excluding my father." Quicksilver pushed in an access code, the door in front of us sliding open noisily. "There are about a hundred men working for Trask, divided into three shifts. We've been watching them closely...the weakest shift is at night."
"Tonight?"
"No, then it would seem like we were waiting for you to help...we can't make them think that you are stronger then they think...that you have a reputation among us."
"Don't I?"
"...You do." He nodded, with a slight smile. "But they don't know that."
No POV (Back at the Institute)
"What do you mean she's gone?" Logan's voice was a low growl as Rogue tried to explain the situation to him over the phone.
"I don't know what happened Logan. We thought she had just gone out for a morning jog or something, to...get back in shape, but...she's been gone a really long time. We're starting to get worried."
"I'll get back as soon as I can. Have the professor do whatever it takes to track her down with Cerebro and call me back when you've got good news for me. I'll worry about the bad on my own."
"Alright Logan. We'll try." Rogue hung up the phone with a heavy hand before making the stroll down to the Cerebro room, where Jean Grey was standing behind the Professor's chair, her hand on his shoulder.
"Do you think she left on her own?"
"No, I don't Jean, but I don't see how our security was breached." He pondered. "Jean, why don't you and Kurt watch last night's security tapes again. I'll search for her on Cerebro -hopefully she, or someone else, isn't blocking my physic connection with her."
"Logan said he would be back as soon as possible." Rogue knelt down by the side of the Professor's chair. "What can I do Professor? I want to help."
"I know you do, Rogue." He patted her gloved hand. "Why don't you help out by subbing for Joanna's classes today? We must remember to keep everything as normal as possible, even in these tense and confusing times."
"Alright Professor. I'll try." She nodded.
It was many hours later, and there were no fruits to be found in the labor that the entire staff of the Xavier Institute had produced. Jean and Kurt had gone over the security tapes dozens of times, the Professor had nearly worn himself out in his search for some sign of Joanna, and Rogue, though trying her best not to, fretted relentlessly.
"Let's have one more go at these tapes, mmm? She could not have simply disappeared into thin air." Kurt sighed. "Why don't we watch it frame by frame this go, hm?"
"Who do we know that could move that fast, Kurt?"
Kurt raised an eyebrow, "I think that you have just answered your own question, Jean."
Jean raised an eyebrow, tilting her head, "What?"
"Our good friend Pietro... Quicksilver. Faster then a speeding bullet." Kurt fast forwarded the tape, pausing and playing, pausing and playing until they caught it -the faintest glimpse of who had stolen Joanna away. A few frames more, and they saw the return trip, Joanna out like a light in Quicksilver's arms, whisked away in the dead of night.
Jean was deep in thought, conversing with the Professor, who arrived in the room a few moments later.
"Quicksilver, hm?" The Professor looked at the screens. "He's been missing in action for quite some time. No one has seen hide-nor-hair of him in months. He was thought to have been captured -but by whom, no one knew."
"Then he must be taking orders from someone." Kurt speculated, "Perhaps the same person that shot Joanna on her birthday?"
"Perhaps, Kurt... Although that could have just as easily been an accident, and this is someone different. It all feels so strange."
"Maybe you should try looking for Quicksilver, Professor? Joanna still doesn't have complete control over her powers, and could be inadvertently blocking your search."
"I'll try. Jean, find Rogue and ask her to call Logan with the news."
"Will do, Professor." Jean nodded, as Professor Xavier rolled from the room.
"What do you mean Quicksilver kidnapped Joanna? That doesn't make any sense!" Logan was half way back to the manor by the time that Jean placed her call. "No one has seen him in months! What is he doing?"
"We don't know that much yet, Logan, but the Professor is searching for him now, instead of Joanna. We're sure, where she is, that...she's fine. She can protect herself."
"I don't know, Jean...It's been awhile since she's done any training, and...lets face it, since her accident, she doesn't have much control over anything."
"She knows what she's doing, Logan. And Dr. McCoy says that she's making a lot of improvements. The Wings and Tail are going to be gone soon, the markings are completely gone. She's healing very well. It's only a matter of time."
Logan thought for a moment, "If she's healing, that means...my claws are going away too."
"Well, I would imagine so." Jean sounded confused.
"Who would want to make sure that some things don't change? Who needs a new guinea pig?"
"Boliviar Trask?"
"The one and the same, darling. I'd bet money he's looking to perfect some of his damn techniques. We've got to find her. It may be to late, and she's already had the infusion of metal, but she's still being held captive."
Meanwhile, Joanna was being fitted for a tracing collar in one of the underground labs in at the compound that Trask was calling home.
"It's a little tight...I can't breath."
"Good." The technician didn't seem to care a whole lot for her comfort.
"So, what do these things do again?" She asked.
"They track your movement throughout the compound, and outside of it. You try to take it off, it sends an electrical shock through your entire body, large enough to put out a bull elephant."
"Oh? Really?" Joanna unleashed her new claws, sliding the cleanly under the collar, "What's a little pain?" She ripped through the collar in a shatter of sparks and metal. "You're a real moron, you know that? Powerful enough to put out a bull elephant? Are you kidding me with that?"
"You bitch!" The technician swore, "Do you know how much a piece of equipment like that costs?"
"Maybe your boss should have thought about expenses before he gave me this." She waved the claws in his face. "You can fit me with another one, I'm serious about it not being to tight this time... I'll play a good little girl, but in exchange, I expect to not get any problems from peons like you... I'm a hell of a lot more powerful then you all know. You may think I'm still damaged from the little stunt you all pulled back in July, but I'm still healing...slowly but surely."
The technician nodded, "Alright fine. How loose would you like it?"
"Loose enough I can't get it over my head and make you look bad." She taunted.
The man nodded again, picking up another collar, letting it click around her neck, settling it around the base of her neck, "How's that?"
"Perfect." She nodded. "Thank you." She got up from the chair, and let her claws slide back into her hand.
"You can go back to your cell -room, now then."
"You don't tell me what to do... These will cut through more then metal. I've seen the best ones at work." Sundry gave him a small grin before walking out of the lab.
Quicksilver was waiting for her outside of the door, "You really shouldn't taunt them, you know."
"Why not? It's so damn easy."
"Because...if they catch on about our plan...it could get a lot of us in trouble."
"Pietro...why are we still here? I could break the two of us out of here right now, we could go get help, and come back for the others. I've got your speed now... Granted, I haven't had much practice with it, and I'm a still a little wonky when it comes to controlling powers, but...we could do it."
"I know we could...it just...it doesn't seem fair to leave the rest of them. What if we didn't make it back?"
"You realize the X-Men are probably looking for me already?"
"I know. Hopefully they'll get here in time to help us. I'm sure they've found where we are by now... It's only a matter of time. Trask doesn't realize what a can of worms he has really opened here."
"Well, he'll soon find out, Pietro. He'll soon find out."
Logan stood in the map room of the Institute, the other members of the X-Men gathered around the table where he was pointing out the location of Trask's last laboratory.
"I'm pretty sure that this is where he is. It's the only place I can think of that he'd have the right equipment, and is far enough away from a community that I can think of."
"It's worth a try." The Professor nodded. "Alright my X-Men... Suit up, and board the Blackbird. We'll leave in ten minutes."
Joanna sat on the uncomfortable cot, having been placed in a solitary cell in the farthest corner of the corridor. Quicksilver was placed in the cell across from hers, the doors locked up tight for the night.
"This is so stupid, Pietro." She sighed.
"Just relax, Joanna. We aren't going to do anything until your friends get here, remember? And when they do, we'll bust into action, alright?"
Joanna sighed. "Right...right."
"It shouldn't be a whole lot longer now, I promise."
"You said that an hour ago."
"Did I? I guess I did."
Joanna sighed, "I hate feeling useless...I'm itching to go. I haven't had a decent fight since...well, the night I left the X-Men over a year ago now."
"I remember the fight...you and my father reached a stalemate, I believe. You gave this little speil about us all being pointless."
"Well, it's true! None of you were fighting for anything!"
"I was fighting for my father." Pietro sighed. "When he was gone, before Mystique broke him out of that prison Professor Xavier put him into... we had no direction. Magneto gives us direction, something to hope for."
"And what is that?"
"A time of peace...when mutants don't have to hide. A time when Homo Superior can rule, like we meant to."
"Maybe we were meant to rule along side of homo sapien. Have you ever thought of that?"
"Have you ever thought that a human would make a nice pet? That's what I'm going to do with Trask when the time comes for us to rise about all of this...filth. I'm going to make very human I find into faithful little dogs, that will-"
"Pietro! Stop! You don't mean it!"
He sighed, "No. I don't. But I still hate them."
"You don't hate all of them."
"Most of them. They spend so much time-."
"Shh." Joanna put a finger against her lips, crawling down off of her cot, to the bars, peering down the hall. "I just heard something."
"What?" Pietro made a similar movement towards the bars of his cell. "Do you think it's them?"
"No...it can't be...well...it could be...but...not if Logan is with them... He's more of a berserker-get-the-job-done sort of guy."
There was a cloud of dust and the smell of brimstone filled the air.
"Kurt!" Joanna coughed, standing. "Kurt, where is everyone else?"
"We had a little trouble upstairs...they're coming, I promise." Kurt began to fiddle with a lock pick on her cell.
"Kurt...allow me." Joanna stopped him, unleashing a claw, to slice through the bars, before crawling through the bars.
"I take it we're a little late, huh?"
"No hard feelings, Kurt." She hugged him. "Besides, I kind of like them. They really make Logan and I pair, don't they?" She smiled, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "You and Pietro," she clawed through the lock on his door, letting the door swing open, "go up and help the others...I'll unlock all of these doors."
"You sure? I can help." Pietro offered.
"No...go. Make sure no one gets down here to disrupt me." She moved down the hall, slicing open the locks, letting the doors swing open on their hinges.
"Is she always this bossy?" Pietro asked, as he and Kurt bamped back to the upper level of the compound.
"Well...she hasn't since July...It's nice to see that she's back." Kurt shrugged with a smile.
It didn't take Joanna very long to release the other captives, and led them upstairs where the fight was still hot and heavy.
"Follow me...there will be room for everyone on the Blackbird." Joanna lead them around the fight, through a side door. "Follow the tunnel." She directed them, making sure that they were all out of the compound before going back to join in the fight.
"Hey honey." Logan had one of Trask's peons pinned up against a glass tank. He paused long enough to press a short kiss to her lips. "You alright?"
"I'm just fine..." She shrugged. "Go easy on him...he was right nice to me for a time." She smiled at him before turning away from the blood splatter that emerged from the man's nose as Logan broke it.
"What did you do with the others?" Logan asked, jogging along with her towards the exit, the others close behind.
"Directed them towards the Blackbird."
"Good. Kitty and Charles are still on board. They'll take care of the others."
Once everyone was onboard the Blackbird, Storm and Jean set the plane into lift off, and Logan settled into the seat next to her. She yawned, leaning against his shoulder, feeling secure next to him again.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Logan asked, clasping his hand over hers, his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm fine." She shrugged. "Tired...but fine."
Logan grunted, and pressed another kiss to her lips, "You gonna tell me what he did to you, or let me find out later?"
"I think we both already know, Logan." She sighed. "Can we not talk about this right now...in front of everyone?"
"Sure, darlin'. Sure."
Once back at the institute, Kitty, Jean, Professor Xavier, and Scott helped to get the newcomers settled in for the night, offering rooms to each of them, and Logan and Joanna retired back to his room where they got comfortable on his bed, Joanna straddling his hips, sitting back against his bent knees.
"What is this you're wearing?" Logan asked, brushing a lock of hair back behind Joanna's ear, then tugging at the sweat suit. "Grey is not your color, darlin'."
Joanna shrugged, "I don't know...it's what Pietro gave me to wear after I broke out of that containment tube." She looked down at it. "It's not half bad...I sort of like it, in a way."
"Lets get this damn collar off of you, hm? I think we got everyone elses but yours...they could still be tracking them." Logan started to move to unleash his claws, and she stopped him.
"I can it." She sighed, letting the metallic claws slide out from her knuckles.
"Darlin'..." Logan whispered, as the bits of collar fell down against his chest.
"They're not so bad..." She shrugged, pulling them back into her fist. "Besides the fact that I weight a hundred pounds more then I did two days ago doesn't really help, but..." she shrugged.
Logan hissed between his teeth, pulling her down for another kiss. "I suppose it's just another way we're perfect for each other, hm?"
"I like to think about it that way." She smiled.
Logan grunted again, pulling her down beside him, and turning over onto his side, brushing the pieces of the tracking collar to the floor. "Well, I think we've both had enough excitement for awhile... how about some sleep?"
"Sounds good to me, Logan."
