Part XXIX
With almost anyone else, Logan would already have been past the limits of his patience. But this was Hank and one heavy factor in his favor was the fact that Vic liked him. That did make him more inclined to view Hank's insistence on staying a bit more positively, but not by much. The first couple of hours finally led to a relaxing of tensions.
It was shortly into the third hour that Victor's body jerked and then began to spasm. Hank moved over to help hold Victor in the best position he could manage as he began coughing out chunks of coagulated blood as well as the remains of the muddy water from his lungs. Hank hoped to heaven never to hear anyone that sounded more miserable than the blonde man did as his body fought itself between wanting to expel the foreign matter and wanting to take in air. It struck Hank as a touch odd, but the sound of Logan's voice seemed to be making things worse, so he took the chance of arousing Logan's anger.
"Logan, I fear all of this is going to exhaust Victor. I've got a good hold on him to help him get this up and out, so do you think you could head back to bring back some food and clothing? I know how the two of you are about the others seeing you in this sort of condition."
Logan was torn and it showed in his expression. Hank sympathized.
"Logan, old friend... no-one will get to Victor without getting through me and I have the medical experience to try and get him through this as quickly as his body will allow. But we both know that healing factor demands protein in copious amounts."
A deep breath as Logan ran a hand through his hair, then he nodded.
"Yer right... yer right. I'll be back soon."
Hank knew he had guessed correctly when he felt Victor's body relax slightly when Logan exited.
"While I will concede that the two of you find plenty of good uses for your stubborn streaks, I occasionally think you take it too far, my fangy friend."
He shifted Victor again and then sighed, rubbing him on the back as another round of spasms took him. Hank really couldn't bring himself to scold the man when he was in the process of coughing out his lungs. It seemed a long time before the convultions ended and Victor was finally able to take a deep breath.
Now that the worst seemed to be over, Hank picked Victor up again and moved him to a cleaner area while giving a glance around. The old storage area wasn't used for much of anything anymore, but there was still some cloth scraps and a couple of containers of stored water. Stale, but he was mostly after some water for cleaning. He opened up one of the small water kegs and looked back to find Victor's eyes following him. The eyes were bright, but did not seem to have the usual intelligence behind them. Just as well he hadn't continued his earlier scolding. Victor really wasn't back enough yet to understand it. While he wasn't quite sure why Victor was more comfortable with him than Logan in this state, he decided that now was not the time to look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, even when he wasn't at full power, Victor could be quite the handful if he took it into his head to stop being cooperative.
"We've done splendidly so far, Victor. Now - will you let me clean you up a bit without a fuss?"
The eyes might not have had the normal intellect behind them, but there was a definate spark of animal cunning. When Hank got close enough, the water keg was snatched and, stale or not, some of the water lapped up. Hank really couldn't blame him. The after-taste Victor was bound to have in his mouth had to be highly disagreeable. He decided to leave that keg as it was and went to open a second to use for cleaning.
A light growl emerged as Hank started mopping off the dried blood, but he continued as the tone seemed to be more in the line of 'hey, this is unpleasant' rather than 'hey, if you don't stop, I'll take your arm off'. Fortunately, he read the growl correctly. He was just really hoping that once Victor got some food in him that his mind's healing would catch up with the rest of his body.
Arriving at the old camp didn't take Logan more than two minutes, but, as Hank had known would happen, he couldn't exactly just grab what was needed and head back. For one thing, his pups were not going to be ignored or his mate either. For another, seeing Magneto sitting on the sidelines eating rather took him off-guard as well. After a couple of minutes of staring, he stopped by to have a couple of words with Ororo before leaving a request with Kitty about what he needed food-wise, trusting that she would get it ready while he grabbed something for Vic to wear.
Despite being antsy to get back, Rahne managed to coax him to sit long enough to grab a few bites of food while she took the clothes from him and put them into a sack. By the time he'd polished off the food, Kitty was standing by with another sack. Grabbing both, he promised to be back soon and headed back.
When he reentered, he backed again as Vic glowered and growled at him. Puzzled, Logan looked over to Hank who gave him a shrug.
"Your guess is as good as mine, mein freunde - but if I were to guess, I would say that there is something in your scent that he is viewing as aggressive. Anything back at the homefront that set you on edge?"
"Yeh... Bucket-head's there. Just sittin' an' eatin' like he just wandered in fer dinner. Gimme a minute."
Passing the twin sacks over to Hank, Logan retreated to a far corner and sat down. Closing his eyes, he took deep cleansing breaths and began to meditate. Across the room, the intense cat eyes watched him until Hank distracted him by offering a skin of still warm goat's milk. While the milk was being drank greedily, Hank pulled out the meat. By the time Victor started in on the meat, he was no longer paying any attention to Logan at all. Hank just shook his head, amused.
"Score one for the zen masters of old. Mellow spirits seem to soothe the savage beast as well as music does the savage breast."
The meat didn't take long to disappear and was followed by a bit more of the water. Then came a promising noise. Victor gave a large yawn as his body started shutting him down for further healing. It was definately a sign that Logan's meditations had done the trick. Victor would have fought going to sleep if he felt there was a threat still in the same room. Logan remained quietly seated until the regular breathing told him his brother was soundly asleep.
"You come up with th' damndest sayin's, Hank."
"I do but humbly repeat some of the wisdom of the bards of years past with a touch of my own inspiration tossed in now and again."
That got a soft snort.
"One day, you'll come up with a short answer."
"And on that day, I fear you will all jump me and accuse me of taking the place of the real Hank McCoy. Once the confusion clears, I shall razz you endlessly about the incident. Still, it will give me a story with which to amuse our grandchildren on summer evenings."
"So... any idea why Bucket-head is still there in any form other than a pile o' smolderin' ash?"
"Partly my doing - partly the doing of our beloved tree-rodent."
"Dorrie? Don't tell me..."
"You know her, compadre'. When Erik told us without details that he had taken care of you both, Doreen walked right up to Magneto and before any of us knew what was going on, she slashed his cheek. Umm, the facial cheek not the below waist variety. Reed pulled his dear bride out of harm's way before Erik recovered his senses enough to do anything her direction. After that, everything that was said seemed to rattle him more and more until Doreen's squirrel friends came back reporting that they had found the pair of you. I asked Ororo and the others to keep Erik entertained while I went with Doreen, Reed, Ben and Kitty to attend to you and Victor. And well, after that, you know more about what is currently going on at camp than I do."
"So basically, you all got him offbalance so much that he lost his momentum?"
"No pun to Doreen intended, but yes, that is the situation in a nutshell."
A rumble of thunder echoed briefly.
"Weather is still unsettled, I hear."
"Will be until 'Ro gets t' see Vic with her own eyes. Be one thing if she decides Vic ain't her type. She sure th' hell ain't gonna put up with anyone else makin' that decision."
The way that was phrased puzzled Hank a bit, but he decided not to question it. It did make him wonder slightly if Ororo didn't see her pairing with Victor as the complimentary partnership that he saw it being.
