Someone arrived to the Slaan Alles Warehouse ahead of Logan and Domino. She was in the concealment of the shadows of the catwalk as they entered the building. In that instant, she sat down cross-legged and rested her forearms against the rails to watch the events unfold. It was only a matter of time before everything would go south for the loose canon of the X-Men and the failed Weapon X project turned mercenary. Gleefully, she waited.

Before long, Logan and Domino arrived on the west end of the warehouse. Both of them on their guard. Domino kept her pistols pointed to each side while she scanned the area in front of them for any potential threats. Logan just looked around as if he was not at all concerned. If he was, he hid it well.

They got to the center of the building and looked around. Logan dropped and stomped out the cigar he had been smoking before turning to Domino. "This is where that blue bodied, idiot foreigner told us to come. He had better not be wrong, though I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Considering who all he decided to pal around with when he was in the mansion. I don't see or sense anyone who could be a tiny, scared mutant," he said irritated.

Domino rolled her eyes, "Give him a chance. A lot of the things he does to help us lately is to earn your acceptance."

This time Logan rolled his eyes. Suddenly his posture stiffened and he began to sniff the air around them. Before Domino could ask what was wrong, he extracted his Adamantium claws as he jumped in front of her. He looked around defensively for the whoever it was that was the potential threat.

Domino had her pistols pointed in the same direction. Logan looked over his shoulder and nodded. With that, she shuffled to the shadows that were to her left behind a row of crates marked, Fisk Inc.

Logan started moving to the East end of the warehouse on alert. Down a flight of stairs emerged Ulysses, his face near glowing red with fury. Within seconds he was within striking distance of the mutant. To Logan's surprise, the one armed man was not carrying any weapons. They stared each other down and didn't move.

Ulysses was the first to speak. "Tell me why you did it and I might let you crawl out of here." He was going to give back what Marius got and then some.

Logan bared his teeth. "I didn't do nothin' bub! You're interfering in my business. Now beat it and I'll let you leave with your dignity."

"Why did you hurt him?" Ulysses demanded.

"I didn't hurt anyone that didn't have it comin'. You don't wanna do this bub!" Logan warned with a curled lip.

"What do you want with her? Who sent you?" Ulysses barked. He was done playing games, he wanted answers. He wanted Mina safe and would do what was necessary for that.

"None of your business," Logan spat back. "Now I suggest you scram before I leave you with nothing to jerk off with. Righty." It was his final warning.

"She's mine and you can never have her!" Ulysses roared, the veins in his neck were showing and his shoulders were squared.

"I wasn't sent by whoever you think it is. And I'm here for someone else asshole! But if you wanna go, shut the fuck up and lets go!" he said and lunged at Ulysses with his claws.

Ulysses rolled to his right and punched Logan in back of the head. With a grunt, Logan spun around and swiped upward. Tearing the vest of Ulysses' suit. He looked down and saw his shirt was also ripped with three slashes that were changing red as his blood painted it.

He let out a war cry and landed another blow to Logan's face with the back of his fist. Logan glared at him even angrier. He charged at the one armed man who jumped out of the way again.

"Stop trying to toy with me. It only pisses me off! Now fight me you crippled piece of shit!" Logan shouted and kicked Ulysses in the gut.

Ulysses was knocked back and when he looked up was promptly hit in the side of the head by an elbow. Suddenly he felt himself being choked by his own tie before hearing the sound of metal retracting and receiving multiple punches to his right kidney.

Out of desperation, he reached behind himself, grabbed Logan by the hair and flipped him over his shoulder. Logan landed on his ass and looked up confused. He then saw Ulysses foot coming in with a kick. Quickly, Logan lifted his arms and his fists collided with Ulysses leg.

Ulysses crumbled to a knee and looked at Logan in shock. Logan grunted and lunged at him. Ulysses head butted him and was temporarily dazed when he felt something collide with his shoulder. Suddenly more pain surged through his body and the sound of metal extract. He looked up again in time to catch Logan's other wrists and saw the tips of Adamantium claws mere inches from his eye.

Frank followed the signal from the GPS on Ulysses' phone and entered through the East entrance of the Slaan Alles Warehouse. He heard a commotion and followed it. He got close enough to see that his boss was fighting an assailant, and he could see Ulysses in front being choked by his tie. Immediately he swung his riffle around and pointed it the direction of the fight. Just as he lined up the shot, he felt something hard press against the back of his head. He cursed at himself for letting down his guard.

Then a voice said, "Drop it and stand up slowly."

With a sigh he set down his riffle and stood up. When commanded he turned around and he chuckled seeing it Domino that had a gun on him. "I should have known. You're the only person who could ever sneak on me, Priscilla Sutherland," Frank said with mild amusement.

Domino grinned. "Likewise, 'Johnny Tower.' It's been a long time."

"What are you doing here, Domino?"

"We're here on official X-Men business."

"Divulge at least something that will keep me from doing what I'm paid to do." He rolled his eyes and sighed.

Domino looked over at Ulysses and gave Frank a disappointed look. "You sure lowered your standards if that's who you're giving your services to."

Frank cracked his neck. "Not important. I'm waiting. Working on something bigger."

She chuckled again. "Same old, Frank," she said and he glared at her, "Alright. A shop owner was beaten up by two men. One of them is possibly Max Eisenhardt. So I don't think I need to mention the other. We were told he was holed up here."

"Wait a minute. My boss got a call and was told they wanted to meet with him here," When Domino looked at him baffled, Frank suddenly realized who she was and who was fighting with his boss. "Oh shit! We need to go stop that fight before Logan kills him!"

They then heard Ulysses scream and saw the Adamantium claws protruding through the back of Ulysses shoulder and ran that direction.

Logan flicked his right wrist to twist his claws inside the other mans shoulder while fighting to put left hand through his opponents eye. Logan didn't realize the two mistakes made until it was too late.

Ulysses kicked him in the groin and pulled the Adamantium claws out of his left shoulder. He grabbed a nearby steel pipe and hit Logan in back of the head with it repeatedly. After each shot, the dark haired man kept looking up and shouting as his face became bruised and bloodied and his jaw dislocated. The sound echoed throughout the empty warehouse. After the fourth hit, Logan went limp and his claws retracted into his skin.

Ulysses dropped the pipe and leaned over. That was his mistake.

Suddenly a growl emitted from Logan as he shot up and landed a punch into Ulysses left ear. He followed it up with a swipe from his left hand, put cuts across Ulysses nose, chin and the third one went under his collar bone and across his nipple. Ulysses cried out in immense pain and stumbled back. The next thing he knew, he was tackled to the ground by the unusually strong man that hit harder than most.

He further surprised to see that Logan's face was healing on it's own and his jaw reset itself. "You think that's funny you son of a bitch?" he said in a deep raspy voice. "Let's see how you like this asshole."

Logan held his fist in front of Ulysses groin and prepared to extract his claws again. Before he could, he heard the sound of a gun being fired and was knocked backwards by the bullet that struck him.

Frank lowered his gun and knelt next to Ulysses. "The fuck you doing 'ere?" Ulysses struggled to say as he spit blood on the ground. "Where is she?"

"Saving your ass like always. The kid's at home." Frank grunted as he helped Ulysses get to his feet.

Domino straddled Logan and looked down at him. "At ease soldier."

Logan opened his eyes and looked down at her breasts that were inches from his face, "Not that easy at the moment."

"Later… bub." She teased and put her hand on his groin, pushing down on it as she got up. She stood between Logan and the other two men with her hand on her holstered pistol.

Logan got to his feet slowly and grunted at the sting. The bullet that Frank fired at him popped out of his forehead, right between the eyes and the open hole closed itself. The bullet fell to the floor with a 'plink' and rolled somewhere beside him.

"Who the fuck is he?" Logan asked Domino.

Frank gave her a knowing look, asking her to keep his identity a secret as he had done for her many times. "This is Frank, his body guard. We worked a few jobs together awhile back, I vouch for him." Domino explained.

Logan didn't like it, the air smelled off still. "So you're all friends now?" he said sarcastically.

"We were set up. All of us. Magneto called and said to meet here alone. It was a fucking set up." Frank growled as he supported Ulysses who had his arm over his shoulder.

"We got our intel from one of ours." Logan said and looked to Domino with a scowl.

"What? You think he set us up? No way." She shook her head, talking about Nightcrawler.

"Something is off." Logan said and looked around, sniffing the air around them.

"Magneto came for my girl. Hurt the old man." Ulysses glared at Logan, still wanting to finish the fight. "Then you show up shortly afterwards. Why should we trust you?"

"We had nothing to do with the shop owner. We're trying to protect her." Domino explained.

"I protect her." He growled through grit teeth.

"Doing a great job of that, ain't you bub?" Logan was baiting him, it was his nature.

"We know what she is. She needs to be with her own kind-" Domino was cut off by Ulysses.

"SHE'S MINE!" he roared. His face full of rage as blood poured out of his wounds. Even a hurt beast was still deadly. "You keep your filthy mutant hands off her."

Domino and Logan had a predatory grin, it clicked in their minds who she was. The same girl that Colossus had a crush on, the recruit that could have been. Both thinking about Colossus and where he was right now.

"Trust me, bub. I wouldn't be the first mutant to touch her." Logan teased. He winked and blew a kiss to Ulysses.

"Liar!" Ulysses tried to step forward to swing at him but Frank was still supporting most of his weight.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Domino said in a sing-song voice and shook her finger at him.

"Enough. No more games. We aren't the enemy here. Magneto set both of us up. There's a rat somewhere and we all gotta watch our backs." Frank cut in.

"We've been hunting Magneto for a year now. What's his beef with you?" Logan nodded his head to Frank, obviously he was the one with the answers.

"Made a deal. Ultron blew up our supply. Magneto doesn't like waiting." Frank didn't care what they knew, X-Men didn't deal with small time shit like weapon deals.

"We done here?" Ulysses said sarcastically to Frank. "You lot stay away from my girl, can't have you bringing anymore trouble around her." He warned the two mutants.

Domino had enough, "You were the one making illegal deals you couldn't uphold. You were stupid enough to think that nothing would come of it. If it's anyone's fault she got caught in the crossfire, it's yours. Perhaps you should think about what you do and how it affects those around you. She would be better off with her own kind, not some washed up thief with a grudge against the world."

Ulysses tried to reach for Frank's gun but he pulled it back. "Everyone calm down and shut the hell up! We're leaving- I suggest you do the same. There's nothing here for X-Men."

The figure in the shadows slowly stood and silently walked along the cat walk. She could take out two of them, maybe three but not with Logan back on his feet. The catwalk led to the roof where her ride was waiting for her.

When she sat in the pilot seat she made the call as she took off. "They both showed. The sponge bitch's intel was right but they caught on too soon."

"Mystique, such language doesn't suit a lady." Magneto scolded through the comm.

"What now?"

"Come home. We have work to do." He ordered and disconnected the line.

Frank threw Ulysses in the backseat of the truck and peeled out of there with gravel flying behind them.

"Mina…" Ulysses moaned from the backseat. He was sitting across it with his back against the door. He was in so much pain that he couldn't keep his eyes open. The X-Men were gone, he didn't have to put on the show anymore.

"Hang in there, we're going to the kid's place. She'll patch you right up and we can go home." Frank said from the driver seat.

"Everything goes to her." Ulysses rasped.

"What?" Frank looked at him in the rearview mirror.

"The business is yours… but the rest of it… it's hers. The money, the cars, all of it goes to Mina." Ulysses couldn't pick his head up, he just kept his chin resting on his chest.

"That's crazy talk, boss. You're gonna make it. You'll see." Frank sped the truck up, running red lights and skidding into turns. He couldn't let him die, not now. Not when he still needed him.

"Promise me." Ulysses went silent after that, only his shallow breaths could be heard.

Frank slammed on the brakes and almost popped the curb in front of her apartment. He jumped out of the truck and pulled his boss out of the back seat. Thanking whatever gods may be that it was late into the night and no one saw him carrying a bloody mess up the elevator.

He knocked on her door twice and readjusted the weight of Ulysses on his shoulder. Frank was impatient, if he had to knock the door down he would. He reached for the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked.

He pulled out his pistol and kicked the door open, looking for whoever might be waiting with a gun of their own. Mina jumped up from the couch and rushed to them. Frank saw the pistol he gave her sitting on the kitchen island, something was up. He looked around the apartment but didn't see anyone but her.

"The fuck is going on kid?" he asked her.

"Lee! Oh my god –Frank, what happened?!" she ignored his question and rushed to clear the kitchen table. "Over here- I need to heal him."

Frank rushed to the table and carefully lowered him from his shoulder to the table, spread out with his legs hanging off the edge. Mina started by ripping what was left of his shirt open, "What the fuck happened? Did he get into a fight with a bear? What the hell, Frank?"

"Something like that- just hurry the fuck up and heal him." He barked while walking around the apartment making sure it was secure.

Mina placed her hands on the front and back of his left shoulder, it was the biggest open wound where he was losing the most blood. The bright white light glowed from under her hands and the skin sewed itself back together. The pain woke him up, he started to squirm on the table and scream.

Frank rushed forward and helped hold him down so she could finish with the shoulder that Logan stabbed. "Stay down, boss. We gotta stop the bleeding."

When the shoulder finally closed and there was nothing left but blood covered smooth skin, she moved to the head of the table. She stood over him and looked down at the cuts on his face, chest and stomach. "Hey- hey- slow down. Calm down. I'm here." She cupped his face with her hands and made him look up at her.

"Mina…" he struggled to say.

"That's right. I'm right here. I need you to be strong for me. You are so strong." She kept talking to him as she ran her hands through his hair. Then she started to take the pain from him, wincing at the sudden sting of superficial wounds and the soreness of his body.

He shook his head and moaned, "No… stop." He finally reached up with his hand and pushed her hands away from his head. "Keep…." He struggled to form the words because he was still in pain, had major blood loss and the endorphins that Mina released in his brain.

Frank stepped forward and leaned over him, "Hey- let the kid do her thing."

"Don't… let her… take pain." Ulysses finally said through bloody teeth.

Frank looked at her and back to his boss, "Can you give it to me?"

"What?!" she did a double take.

"You can take his pain- can you pass it to me? Like a fucking bridge or something- can you do it?!"

"I don't- I don't know! I've never done that- just take the pain. It could be bad." She said honestly.

Frank rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and held his hand out for her to take, "Now's the time to try isn't it. Hit me."

"But-"

"I SAID FUCKING DO IT!" Frank screamed at her, making her jump. He took fast heavy breaths from his nose, "He did this for you- all of this was for you, kid. I tried to tell him to leave your ass in the dust- but he couldn't leave well enough alone. So please- for fuck's sake, just fucking do it."

Without saying anything she put her hand to Ulysses' cheek, cupping his jawline as he looked up at her with hazy eyes. Her other hand she grabbed Frank's arm while he braced both hands on the edge of the table. He took quick deep breaths to prepare himself and gave her the nod.

Frank began to tense and the muscles in his jaw were tight. The wounds on Ulysses were closing fast and he tilted his head back with a heavy sigh of bliss and closed his eyes. Mina scrunched her face in concentration and tried to hold onto Frank who was tensing and about to drop to his knees.

Frank gripped the table so hard it started to splinter where Piotr sat. The loud bang made Frank and Mina jump back and break connection as the table collapsed under Ulysses.

"FUCKING SHIT! COCKSUCKING MOTHER FUCKER!" Ulysses screamed in pain and arched his back- the splinters of the table digging into his back.

Frank looked to Mina and they both grimaced but said nothing. He reached for her hand again and put it on Ulysses forehead. At her touch he instantly calmed, his eyes got heavy and he stopped moving. She let go of both of them and ran a bloody hand through her hair, not caring at all that she was covered in someone else's blood again.

"What did you do to him?" Frank asked while still on one knee. His shoulder was drooped and his other hand holding his chest. He had taken all the pain that Ulysses received from Logan but without the physical wounds themselves.

"What I should have done in the beginning. I'm stupid. I'm sorry. I didn't think of it- I… didn't know I could do it until now." She was rambling but not answering his questions.

"Kid.What did you do?" he said firmly, she had a wandering mind and mouth when put under stress.

"I released an ungodly amount of serotonin into his bloodstream. If you want I can do you next, that way you can sleep through the pain. It's great that it worked, but I'm sorry you had to do it. I would have gladly taken it." She pointed to their hands that were still touching.

"No, he didn't want you to. Someone has to stay up and keep watch. Help me get him to the couch." Frank winced as he slowly got up.

"No, put him in my bed. He's been through a lot, so have you. Thank you, Frank. Really. It's probably been a long time since he's had more than a few hours of sleep." She ran her hand through Ulysses hair affectionately, it was softer than she thought.

"Longer than you think, kid."

kept the author's notes for the end of this chapter. thanks to the always awesome thegranddisciple for writting the mind blowing fight scene.

my face melted. ive read it like ten times and it just keeps getting better.

poor ulysses.

next chapter is the aftermath. professor x calls piotr into a meeting.