Logan was weighing the pros and cons of killing a boy named Bobby Drake when the train screeched to a sudden halt. He threw his arm out to prevent Marie from being thrown completely out of her seat, and hoped that she wouldn't panic like the humans. Frightened screams echoed through the train half a second later, and the smell of fear radiating off of them nearly made him choke.

Marie frowned at him and he stood to look around. No one seemed severely hurt, only startled. The lights flickered menacingly and an electric current pulsed in the air, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Was Ororo in some kind of trouble outside? Various metal objects groaned and bent and thrashed about and Logan ground his teeth. Son of a bitch…

The back of the cart rattled violently until it finally bent and peeled open like a banana. Humans screamed and ran towards the front of the cart, but Logan stayed where he was, watching the electrical wires shoot sparks in every direction and wondering if what he was seeing was possible.

A strong copper scent assaulted his nose as a figure floated into view and landed in the cart gracefully. He wore a cape, a metal helmet of some kind, and a wicked smile that could only mean danger. Magneto.

Glancing at Marie to make sure that she'd stay down, Logan pushed his claws out of his knuckles and took up a defensive stance, paying no heed to the thirty-seven erratic heartbeats that he caused to spike.

"You must be Wolverine," the old man said conversationally, strolling up to him like they were old pals. Logan tried to take a step towards him, but Magneto threw his arm out and Logan became completely immobile. What the hell?!

"That remarkable metal doesn't run through your entire body, does it?" He spread his fingers and Logan's body snapped up straight, his arms spread wide and his entire body under Magneto's control. He spread his fingers more and Logan's and bones spread out, slowly pulling all of the muscles in his body apart. "I guess it does after all."

"Cute trick," Logan said through grit teeth. Sweat formed on his brow immediately, but he refused to cry out in pain. The back of his mind registered that he was being lifted off the ground, but the pain was so intense that he didn't care.

"Stop!" Marie screamed hysterically. "Stop it!"

Logan focused. There had to be some way to get his body under control. He had just promised that he'd take care of Marie, and now Magneto was going to drag him away from her for whatever grand plan he had set in motion.

"What the hell do you want with me?" Logan growled.

Magneto raised his eyebrows in honest curiosity. "You?" he chuckled. "My dear boy, who ever said that I wanted you?"

Logan's heart froze as everything clicked into place. Marie had been with him when Sabretooth had attacked him. Marie was with him now, crying on his behalf. Xavier didn't know what Magneto wanted with him because Magneto didn't want Logan at all. With difficulty, Logan turned his head to look at Marie, silently pleading to her to run. But her fearful wide eyed gaze was fixed on Magneto as she slouched down in her seat. Now she knew it too. Magneto was after her.

Magneto closed his hand into a fist and Logan was thrown with deadly force all the way to the front of the cart, his head hitting something so hard that he was out before his feet touched the ground.

-

"Logan?"

He groaned, reaching for the back of his head. His entire skeleton was humming in a very painful way, and the sounds of his pulse mixed with the pulses in the area were much too loud. He probably had another concussion. Fantastic.

"Logan? Are you okay?"

"He got Marie, didn't he?" Logan grunted.

Ororo sighed, sounding both relieved and frustrated. "Yes, he did."

Logan let out a string of colorful curses before he finally opened his eyes and was met with a somewhat frazzled looking weather witch. Her hair was in disarray, the smell of burnt flesh was clinging to her skin, and it looked like a bruise was forming on her throat.

She reached around and helped him to sit up. He hissed in pain but inhaling her scent numbed the pain a little, or at least gave him something to focus on. "Did he get you too?"

"What? This?" She touched her throat lightly, her jaw clenched. "No. While Magneto is quite powerful, I'm not sure he's the type of person to do something like this."

"But apparently he's the kind to order someone else to do it."

Ororo simply gave him a tight smile and helped him to his feet. "Xavier said that he tried to reason with Magneto, but by the time I led Cyclops out to the car, Magneto and his henchmen were already gone."

"You had to lead him?"

"His visor got knocked off. The professor, Jean, and Scott are waiting for us in the car now. We have to go."

"Scott's bike is still here."

"So is my car. Scott just needs a new visor and Jean's going to drive him and John back here to pick up the bike and my car."

Logan nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose. He really didn't give a damn about the bike, or Ororo's car, whoever the hell John was or how anyone was planning on getting the vehicles back to the mansion. He cared about his bones ringing and he cared about healing himself so that he could find Magneto and snap him in half.

Leaning heavily on Ororo, who didn't seem the least bit affected by the extra weight, Logan closed his eyes against the bright lights and allowed her to lead him to the car. The noise was deafening as well, so he focused on putting one foot in front of the other and the rhythm of her heart beat.

After plenty of walking, he heard a car door open and he waited for Ororo to get in. There was a very good chance that he was going to fall asleep on the way to the mansion, and he'd be damned if he was going to risk falling asleep on Scott. Ororo seemed to understand this and got in without complaint. Logan followed after and closed the door. Jean turned the car on and they were officially on their way back to the mansion. No one spoke, which was just fine with Logan, as the sounds around him were already overly magnified to his sensitive ears.

He breathed deeply, pinpointing Ororo's deep heartbeat and blocking out the sounds of everything else. Focusing on the scent of her skin and her pulse, the pain slowly began to ebb away and he could feel sleep pulling him under. He leaned his head against the hard glass and winced when a bump caused his head to lightly thump against the glass.

Cool hands touched both sides of his face and moved his head to the other side, resting on Ororo's shoulder. As he felt himself slipping into blissful darkness, he heard her musical voice whisper, "I'm softer."