And now for some action, here's Chapter Twenty-Six!
Logan froze in place, his sensitive ears picking up movement around the house. Footsteps. A lot of them. Too many to have been a few children up for a late night prank.
"What is it?" Bobby asked tensely.
"Shh!" Logan closed his eyes and held his breath, concentrating on any and everything he could hear. Helicopters in the distance, hurried footsteps on every floor, calm and steady pulses. And one of those pulses was very close.
Logan's eyes snapped open. Bobby looked apprehensive, but was otherwise completely unaware of how serious the situation was. He was also unaware of the green dot that sat right in the middle of his forehead. Logan cursed under his breath as he sprang up from his seat, turning around. The soldier he saw held a submachine gun – a Heckler & Koch MP5, to be exact – and managed to squeeze off a round in their direction before Logan reached him.
A bullet grazed his shoulder, but he barely noticed as he grabbed the barrel of the weapon, forcing it upwards as the soldier squeezed the trigger on full auto. The ceiling and walls were peppered with bullets and Logan grabbed his trigger hand, breaking it. "You picked the wrong house, bub!"
Logan slammed the soldier's back into the counter hard, hoping that the pain would make him pass out. Bobby had sensibly ducked behind the island and the temperature in the room dropped to well below zero. Logan could see his enemy's ragged breath. He was struggling against Logan's strength, and another hard shove would probably put him out, if not snap his spine.
A high pitched shriek broke Logan's concentration, and both men shouted in surprise and pain. In terms of raw decibels, a military jet on full afterburners would have been quieter. And being that Logan's ears were much more sensitive, the sound showered his eardrums like white hot needles. Glass everywhere shattered, from the windows and sliding glass doors to the Coke bottle he'd left on the counter. His eardrums felt like they might burst at any moment and all he wanted to do was clap his hands over his ears and press until the noise faded away. His grip on the gun and the man loosened and the soldier finally broke free of his grasp, elbowing Logan in the face.
Logan let go and covered his ears as the soldier produced a knife. He might have succeeded in stabbing Logan if the shrieking hadn't stopped at that very moment. He felt a light slice across his face, but it was healing, as was his bullet graze. Logan grabbed the soldier's arm as he tried to take another stab at the mutant. Logan squeezed his arm, breaking it in at least three places. The soldier howled in pain and looked down at Logan's shoulder in horror as the wound finished healing completely.
He looked truly frightened as he looked back up into Logan's eyes, and time seemed to stop as Logan felt himself change in that instant as well. A film of red tinted his vision and he was suddenly running on adrenaline, instinct, and such raw fury that all coherent thought completely disappeared.
Wolverine's claws jumped out of his knuckles and he shoved the man hard against the fridge, stabbing him in the chest with both claws and letting out a furious cry that raised the hairs on the back of his own neck. He withdrew his claws and the man slumped to the ground, dead. Wolverine's breath was ragged as he looked back to the kitchen island, sure that Bobby had been shot in the scuffle. But the young boy's terrified eyes peaked over the counter at Wolverine, his pulse so wild that he could have been running a marathon.
"You all right?" Wolverine asked gruffly.
Any trace of adulthood that Bobby had possessed had disappeared, leaving only the face of a terrified child. Shaking terribly, Bobby simply nodded.
Wolverine gave him one curt nod. "Come on." To his credit, Bobby followed the order without question or hesitation. Wolverine looked around the corner into the hall and saw at lest four soldiers dressed in the same special ops gear. Before Bobby could peek around the corner, Wolverine shoved him back into the kitchen. "Stay here."
He moved stealthily, pushing his claws out and targeting the soldier nearest to him. His back was turned, completely unaware of Wolverine creeping up on him. Wolverine threw his hand over the man's mouth and stabbed him through the heart from behind, letting him fall to the ground with a light thud.
He moved for the next soldier and stabbed him in the chest, pinning him to the wall and letting him slump to the ground as well. He gave the other soldiers the same treatment, killing them quickly and silently as he moved down the hall. When he'd taken down all of them, Wolverine sprinted in the direction of frightened screams at top speed. Six terrified looking humans raised their guns to him and took aim, but Wolverine jumped right in the middle, surrounding himself.
They opened fire but he began slashing in every direction, and in a matter of ten seconds he was the only one left standing. Wolverine paused for a moment and pulled three darts out of his skin. He felt slightly dizzy, but the feeling disappeared with a light shake of his head. He heard quiet gasping and looked down to see the small boy who'd been watching TV earlier blinking rapidly. He too had the odd darts sticking out of his throat, and Wolverine pulled them out and tossed them aside as he picked up the child, some of his fury evaporating. He had to get this child to safety.
He picked up the mixed scents of the mutant children and found a tall, bulky man ushering the frightened children into a hidden door in the wall. Wolverine passed the unconscious boy off to the man. "Hey, take him too. He's stunned."
"I can help you," the man called in a thick Russian accent.
Wolverine shook his head, turning back. "Help them. That's an order."
The man sighed reluctantly and disappeared behind the door, and Wolverine followed his ears to where there was the most commotion; the foyer. He smelled the sweat of the humans, as well as the distinct scents of dry ice, gasoline, and peppermint. He bolted down the hall and arrived at the balcony, looking down at the three mutant children as four heavily armed soldiers burst through the doors.
With a primal scream that was more animal than human, Wolverine jumped down from the balcony and dropped onto two of the soldiers, arms stretched and claws out, knocking them to the ground. He was up on one knee in a flash and dug his claws into the legs of the other two, flinging them like over his head effortlessly. He was upright on both feet with his claws sheathed by the time they hit the floor behind him.
His vision turned from red to a dull pink as he saw Marie, and a part of Logan returned, fearing for her safety. She was certainly frightened, but not of him. It was clear that Bobby was scared, though his friend looked more amused, like he wanted a piece of the action. Logan hoped that the boy wouldn't get his wish. "Let's go."
He ran them back to the door that the Russian and the other kids had disappeared behind and Bobby seemed to realize where they were going. He reached the wall first and pushed it in. "This is it," he said excitedly as the door opened.
The two boys raced in with Marie in tow, but Logan stopped. Marie stopped as well, half her body through the threshold. "Keep going," Wolverine snapped.
"Logan!"
Wolverine leaned forward and gave her a shove, shutting the door in her face. He turned around to face the soldiers that had begun swarming the hall.
They took up their positions and began taking aim at him and Wolverine felt his temper flare once more. "You want to shoot me? Let's see who walks out of here alive! Shoot me!"
"Don't shoot him," someone cried out. "Not yet…" More troops filed into the hall with their guns trained on him, but last man carried nothing but an arrogant smile.
"Wolverine?" The man's voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and a low growl rumbled in his chest without his permission. "Well, I must admit, this is certainly the last place I'd expect to find you." Wolverine tried not to let the voice get to him, but something about it was hauntingly familiar. "How long has it been? Fifteen years? You haven't changed one bit. Me, on the other hand…" He advanced on Wolverine until they were close enough to shake hands. The face didn't look familiar, but the eyes chilled Wolverine to the bone. "Well, you of all people know. Nature takes its toll."
Wolverine frowned, and curiosity began replacing his anger. This man spoke as though they knew each other. Did he know how old Logan was? Did he knew where he'd come from and how he'd lost his memory? He felt his claws slowly retract as he looked at the man in wonder.
"I didn't realize Xavier was taking in animals," the man continued. "Even animals as unique as you."
Wolverine ignored the insult. "Who are you?" he asked slowly.
The older man grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Don't you remember?" he asked sweetly.
Wolverine took a step closer. It was coming to him. It felt like something in the back of his mind was materializing that centered on this man, but before he could grab the man and demand that he stop bullshitting, a thick wall of ice separated them. Wolverine stared at it dumbly for half a second. What the fuck…
"No! NO!!" He pushed at the ice, hoping that it was a thin layer but knowing that it was probably twelve inches thick. With a few slashes of his claws, he could probably reduce the wall to ice cubes, but he turned to the teens first, glaring murderously.
Bobby's pulse rose, his friend took a step back, but Marie held him, eye to eye, with a look so stubborn that it almost made him proud. At the moment, however, the very last feeling he had was pride in her. It was a struggle not to curse at her in his fury.
"Logan," she pleaded. "Come on. Let's go!"
He ignored her and watched as the old man's shadow tilted his head to the side and touched the ice wall. Wolverine raised his hand to hover over it. It had been on the tip of his tongue! Goddammit!
"Logan!"
"Do as you're told, Rogue," he snapped, turning back to the ice wall. "I'll be fine."
"But we won't." Wolverine froze. He knew that tone. He turned to look at her again and saw the look in her eyes. He had to go. The frightened look she wore was the same as when she'd seen him in the bar, positioned between the bartender and the drunk that tried to stab him.
Marie wasn't frightened for herself, nor was she frightened for him. She feared for the lives of the humans on the other side of Bobby's ice wall. She knew that one wrong move on their end and Logan would cut them all down with quick and deadly efficiency.
"Goddammit," Wolverine growled out loud, reluctantly stepping away from the barrier. "Go," he barked, disappearing with them into the hidden tunnel. "Keep going."