Professor Xavier glared at the Professor. "That is the price you pay for attempting to turn a human being into a killing machine. I can easily enter anyone's mind but I recognize the moral price and consequences of such an action. Jean, you have to stop him. Shut down his mind until we can fix it."
"You used both the potential boosting actions, Charles. There's no way I can reach that distance and still be able to stop him."
"The purple skinned girl, Clarice! She's a teleporter! We tested her; she can teleport to places simply by having the location mentally placed in her mind!"
Jason Barnett
**********
"Charles, do you know where Logan is? Do you have a location I can give her?"
"He was in some sort of bar in New York, with his friend Nina and an associate of his, Maverick. Let me try to send it to you."
"No, Charles. You're still too weak. I'll use Cerebro and get the information from Domino. You rest. I'll be back soon with Logan."
-----
Jean walked into the kitchen to find Clarice sitting with Sabretooth and having a pleasant meal. His change in temperment was remarkable. He was actually being almost tender and attentive to the young mutant.
Sabretooth sniffed and turned to look at the doctor as she approached and bent down to talk to the girl.
"Clarice, we need your help. Our friend is in trouble and we need to get to him very quickly. I need you to take me to him. He is about 250 miles away. Do you think you can do that?"
"It's further than I've ever done."
"Wait a second," Creed interrupted. "You can't expect her to risk herself just because you're in a hurry."
"Please, this is a life-or-death situation. We don't have time."
"Who's your friend."
"His name is Logan. We went to the lab where you were being kept because we were looking for him."
"I'll try."
-----
Wolverine leaped up, pushing Marie aside and unsheathing his claws. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know who he was. Images were flashing through his mind unbidden. The people before him changed like they were shapeshifters. First, they were a girl with white streaks and a guy with red eyes. Then, they were ninjas, sworn to the Hand, ready to strike. Then they were scientists with scapels at the ready. The scenes kept changing every few seconds. He knew all the people, but he didn't know any of them.
That familiar girl-scent stayed, hanging in the air between them. He knew that scent, and he knew he couldn't hurt them, but he couldn't focus, couldn't keep control through the changing visions. He had to get out of there. Sheathing his claws, he attacked the man, who was now a Canadian Army Major, pushing past him and running down the alley, out to the street.
Khaki
**********
Rogue followed Logan outside. If she could just touch him, then he would be unconscious. She might go berserk, but she didn't have huge adamantium claws.
Jason Barnett
**********
Rogue slowly approached Logan, who was sniffing the air, searching the street, his claws once again extended. She had removed her right hand glove and was reaching for Logan's bare neck when he spun, claws flashing in the street lights. She jumped back, but couldn't move fast enough, and would have been gutted had not a metal staff come between her and Logan in that instant.
"Get back, chere!" Remy commanded, defending himself against the insane creature before him. He was grateful that his staff was adamantium as he blocked and parried Wolverine's strikes.
"Remy, if I can touch him, I can stop this."
"Non, look in his eyes, chere. He don't know you. He'll kill you before you can grab hold."
Rogue looked and saw that Logan's once kind eyes had become crazed and wild, and for the first time, she was afraid of him.
Gambit kept fighting. If he stopped, if he lost his concentration for just one moment, he was a dead man. He was fast, but Logan was faster and a sweep of his claws came just under the staff, grazing Remy's ribs. He wasn't hurt badly, but it was enough to knock him to the pavement, sending his bo staff flying from his hands. He reached into his jacket to get his cards, but he knew it was a futile gesture. He'd never get them out and charged in time.
"Logan!!!" Remy heard the shout coming from the bar's main entrance. It was Jean and her hand was out, straining against an unseen force.
Wolverine was frozen mid-strike, straining with all his power to follow through on his attack. Remy quickly scooted out of range of those deadly claws. He saw Jean close her eyes and then Logan's eyes rolled back in his head, his claws retracted, and he collapsed to the pavement.
Jean ran over to the prone man, a young purple elf, Domino, and Maverick following her. "We have to get him back to the mansion."
"Dr. Grey, I can't. I took us too far. I don't have the energy to take us back."
"That's ok, Clarice," Jean said, turning to the group. "Does anyone have a car we can take him in?"
"I have his Jeep," Marie offered.
Remy and Domino replied that they came on motorcycles.
"Ok, Remy, Domino, head back on the cycles. Marie, go get the Jeep."
Marie, Remy, and Domino ran back towards the motel where they'd left their vehicles. Domino noticed that Maverick was following. "Where're you going?"
"Well, from the looks of it, you've got my missing purple mutant. This was all a set-up, and I want to know who did it and why. I'm tagging along."
Khaki
**********
They quickly loaded Logan into the back seat of the jeep with his head in Jean's lap so she could keep him asleep until they could get him back to the school. Blink climbed into the front seat next to Rogue who was getting in behind the wheel. Blink was asleep with in minutes. The escape and the use of her powers were just too much. It was a good thing as Rogue's driving was leaving Jean clutching the armrest with white knuckles.
Gambit carefully pulled out on his bike as soon as the jeep got on the road not wanting to attract the attentions of any of the extra police still in the area from the fight at the hotel an hour ago. He didn't think that Professor Xavier would be pleased by some of his extra curricular activities that would come to light if bail had to be posted.
Domino retrieved Scott's bike from in front of the motel, the officer nearest it getting a call on his car's radio which was parked a block away as she walked up. Maverick climbed on behind her.
"Hold on. This bike is custom built." She told him as they followed Gambit on the road. Maverick found out that she wasn't joking once they hit the freeway and she opened it up.
"I have got to get me one of these!" Maverick yelled as the wind tore his words away.
Domino just grinned in a way that had been known to make sane men tremble in fear.
-----
Ambassador Becker paced the cell he was in. Nick Fury had placed him in 'Protective Custody' on board the helicarrier. He was being told to resign his postion, that his new identity was being put together. He had overheard one of the guards talking about it. Fury had personally instructed his assigned case manager in the Witness Protection Program to make him a garbage collector in Nowhere, Texas. The was actually a town named Nowhere!
-----
Silver Fox watched as a jeep and two motorcycles approached the gates to Xavier's School for Gifted Students. Someone opened the gates electronically and the procession headed up the driveway. She used her night vision glasses and watched as some of the same mutants from the base came out. She watched as Sabretooth picked up a sleeping mutant girl, and Logan was loaded onto a stretcher. When Maverick climbed off the back of one of the motorcycles and helped with Logan, she smiled a cruel smile. Four of the people she wanted dead most in the world were all in one place.
She quietly moved through the underbrush to where she had hidden her mini jet. She picked up the radio and called headquarters.
"Is everyone in place?"
"Yes, we have also located where the officals funding the project are as you instructed. All can be eliminated without problem with the exception of Ambassador Becker. Our sources on the inside say that he has been placed in 'Protective Custody' by Fury on-board the helicarrier," came the voice at the other end.
"I want you to take out the Project X base. Kill everyone and burn it to the ground. Try to retrieve what you can from the computers. Make it EYES ONLY classification and put it on my desk. I also want everyone involved with the funding taken out. That includes Becker. Activate our agent inside the helicarrier. I want that bird blown out of the sky. We'll take care of him and Fury at the same time. I will be returning shortly."
"As you command." The radio went silent.
Lurker
**********
Jean and Maverick maneuvered Logan's stretcher down to the med bay, Marie running alongside. As they entered, the found Professor Xavier in his wheelchair getting ready to leave with Scott beside him.
"Charles!" Jean chastised. "You are still too weak to be out of bed. How could you help him, Scott?"
"He can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be." Scott said, then mentally added, ~I just couldn't take that off-key psychic singing of 'Henry the Eighth, I Am' any more.~
She gave her fiance an understanding smile. "Well, ok, but I expect you to rest, Charles," she said wagging her finger at him like she would a disobedient child, then allowed him to leave.
She went back to Maverick and Rogue, mentally moving Logan from the stretcher to a medical bed. Once the captive Professor saw who was taking up residence beside him, he started to struggle with his bonds.
"No, please. You can't leave him there. Without his mental blocks, he'll kill me. He told me he'll gut me. You can't do this. I have rights..." The Professor's protestations grew louder and higher pitched until he was practically shrieking in panic. To save her sanity and her hearing, Jean relented, moving him to a quarantine room. It wasn't what he wanted, but it was a sound-proofed, locked room, and with the communication unit turned off, Jean could finally hear herself think again.
"You'd think he doesn't want to be around Logan," Maverick said with a wry grin. He could vaguely remember the Professor and all of those memories left him with a feeling of joy at any discomfort the Professor was forced to endure.
"Ok," Jean said, directing Maverick, Rogue, and Scott to the exit. "I'm going to need you all to leave if I'm going to help Logan."
Maverick left, but Marie and Scott stopped. "What are you thinking, Jean?" Scott asked.
"I'm going to try and see if I can't sort out some of his memories. Right now, I have to psychically hit him about every thirty minutes to keep him unconscious, and I can't do that forever. I'm going to have to sleep sometime."
"What about drugs?"
"His healing factor will adapt to any drugs I give him. Each time they're administered, they'll last a shorter amount of time."
"Jean, you're not strong enough. The Professor..."
"Won't be strong enough for days," Jean interrupted.
"Ok," Scott relented, "but I'm staying here."
"We both are," Marie said, stepping forward.
"You can't be here. You'll distract me."
"We'll be quiet," Scott assured her. "I'm not leaving you alone."
-----
Scientists, surrounding me, cutting into marked skin. The clink of champagne glasses, the metallic smell of the air from the mask, the feel of liquid flowing into my body, surrounding my bones, burning, the pain. A scientist leaning over me with a scapel. Square-rimmed glasses behind his mask.
A mask, red and black, a samurai's mask. The clang of swords meeting, the smell of the green earth in the sparring circle. Ducking, blocking, striking, parrying, a battle with two winners: master and student. An error, a cut, blood on the green earth.
Blood everywhere, in the waves, on the beach, further in-shore. Soldiers yelling, bombs exploding, bullets wizzing past. The smell of napalm, blood, sweat, fear. Running up the beach. Have to find cover, a safe haven.
The cabin. A haven from the outside world. A Native American woman, laughing, running. A birthday. My birthday. Sweet smell of cake, spicy scent of her perfume. A surprise, the scent of blood. Her dead flesh in my hands.
Hands, hands on my shoulders, shaking me. "Jean!!!"
Jean pulled back, looking up into Scott's worried face. "Jean, what happened?"
"I can't... can't do it. Too many memories, overlapping, out of order, some different but occurring at the same time. How can two different things happen to someone at the same time?"
"It's ok, Jean. When the professor is better, he'll help. Logan will be ok."
"I'm not so sure."
-----
When Silver Fox returned, the EYES ONLY file was waiting on her desk. Smiling, she turned to her assistant, "Report."
"The Project X facility has been destroyed."
"What about the helicarrier?"
"The operative has not reported in yet."
"Very well. Prepare for the assault on the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters."
Khaki
**********
The Contessa Valentina De La Fontiane was finally able to call it a day, as second in comand of the S.H.E.I.L.D. helicarrier, there was always something demanding her attention. All she had to do now was check her e-mail and then she could take a bath.
"Good thing Nick is due back tonight," she said to herself as she opened her e-mail account. "We need a quiet evening to ourselves."
One message was marked urgent so she opened it first. Her computer screen flashed in a strobe effect for exactly three seconds.
-----
She moved quickly down the corridor to the cell holding Ambassador Becker, making sure that she wasn't followed. There was only one guard at the door.
"Contessa," he said as he snapped to a salute.
She pulled up the gun she had hidden in her jacket and shot him between the eyes before he could even register it happening. She looked around again. The silencer muffled the sound enough. No one had noticed anything. She took her master keycard and opened the cell door. Becker looked up.
"Contessa, come to take me to that hell Fury has assigned me to? I wouldn't have thought that he'd send his girlfriend." Becker glared at her.
"No Ambassador. I did come to send you to hell but it is compliments of Hydra, not Nick Fury." She brought up her gun and pulled the trigger.
-----
Nick Fury finally made it back to the helicarrier. He had been spending another day at the UN. It was good to be back. He was looking forward to his night with Val. He made it to her quarters and used his keycard to open the door and closed it behind him.
The room was lit only with candles and there were two glasses next to a bucket full of ice and a chilled bottle of champagne. His Contessa lounging on the couch in next to nothing. Nick smiled until he saw the gun aiming at his head.
"Uh Val," he got out as he quickly ran through him mind anything that he could have said or done to set her off.
"You're just in time, Nick." she said as she pressed the button on a small box in her hand. "In exactly five minutes the bomb will go off, and Hydra will have its revenge. My orders are to keep you here until it blows. A bullet to the knee should see to that." Her gun's aim changed as she squeezed the trigger.
Nick's reflexes kicked in and rolled out of the line of fire. He changed directions and launched himself at the woman on the couch.
Lurker
**********
Knowing that Jean would need rest soon, Scott rigged up a cell just off the medical lab in a containment room. It had originally been set up as a safe place for students whose powers had gone out of control to regain control over them. Scott enlisted the help of resident genius Henry McCoy to create a kind of force field over the doorway. They hoped that by using an energy-based barrier the claws would be useless. Young Hank or Beast as he was known by the other students said that it worked in theory. A tranquilizer gun with a range of sedatives was set nearby just in case it didn't. Mariko volunteered to take the first watch. They placed Logan on the floor and covered him with a blanket. Mariko sat on the floor just outside the door in the lotus position to meditate, the gun within reach but out of site. When he woke, she didn't want to give off any aggressive signals. They wanted him as calm as possible until Professer Xavier was well enough to try to help him.
-----
Sabretooth carried the exausted girl upstairs to the dormroom that Storm led him to. He carefully laid her down on the bed, pulling the blanket over her.
"Thank you, Mister Creed." she said sleepily opening one eye.
"You're welcome, kid," he replied more than a little uncomfortable with the situation. The kid was almost too polite. She was already asleep. He turned to leave and saw Maverick was standing in the doorway.
Lurker
**********
Nick blocked Val's next shot, hitting her wrist and knocking the gun out of her right hand. Her left hand pulled out a wicked looking knife, and she struck. He blocked her attack with his arm, howling in pain as the knife cut through to the bone. Pushing away from the couch, he got out of knife-reach and pressed his comm unit.
Val yelled, flinging herself off the sofa at him, knife at the ready. He dodged to the side, grabbing her knife hand as she went past, earning a gouge in his other arm.
He could hear the comm unit buzzing and crackling. Dum Dum's voice came on. "Nick, what's wrong? I'm coming now."
Nick couldn't afford the second it would take to answer. He pulled Val back towards him. They were now standing together, her back to his chest, still struggling over the knife. He released his hold on the knife with one hand, grabbing her around the waist and running towards the wall, intending to knock her unconscious against it. Instead, she put up her legs, bracing herself against it and pushing off. Overbalanced, they toppled to the floor, Val on top.
The breath was knocked out of him as the woman landed on his chest, but he kept fighting her for the knife. She was kicking with her legs and got close enough to his arms to take a bite out of his flesh. He screamed again, and then rolled them together so he was on top, their arms over their heads. He used his leverage to sit up a bit, keeping her on the ground with his weight and the grip of his legs. Pounding her hands against the ground to loosen her hold, he felt the knife fall from her hands and snatched it, throwing it away from both of them. She was shrieking in outrage now, kicking and pushing, trying to get out from under him.
Dum Dum burst through the door, taking in the scene before him. "I've heard of lover's quarrels, but..."
"No time, Dum Dum. She's been manipulated by Hydra. We've got about four minutes before the Helicarrier blows up."
-----
Logan woke, or was he asleep? He couldn't tell the difference anymore. Awake or asleep, he saw faces, heard voices. So many, all at the same time. So mixed up he couldn't distinguish one from another. He looked around, trying to tell what was real and what wasn't, without much success.
There was a woman sitting past the doorway. It was hard to make her out past all the other people in the room with him. She said something, but he couldn't hear her through all the other voices.
There was a scent. Strong. The smell filled him with anger, shame, panic, and fear. He knew the man behind that scent. An older man, with square-rimmed glasses. A ghost of the man was in the room with him, but the scent was coming from somewhere else, the room next-door. The real man was a room away. There was only a wall between them. Soon there would be nothing between them. *SNIKT*
Khaki
**********
Maverick watched his old teammate and shuddered. He knew what Creed was like. He just didn't know what Creed had planned for the girl on the bed.
"Step away from her, Vic. I called her parents. They'll be here in the morning. I'm keeping an eye on her until then. You try to hurt her, and I'll cut your heart out." Maverick kept his voice calm as he simply stated a fact. He'd been the one to talk Creed down on more than one mission and knew how to handle it.
Sabretooth sniffed the air. The brown haired man smelled familar, but like most of his other memories, this one was just out of reach. It was like they were all crammed behind a barrier he couldn't get past. His head hurt when he tried to pull them from behind it, but he was finding that if he relaxed, they could kind of leak out here and there. From the scent he knew that the man meant what he said. Sabretooth wasn't in the mood to fight now, though.
"I know you?"
"Yeah, we used to work together. Did Government spook work. We were part of a team until you went off on a mission."
Sabretooth thought about it. He could see himself doing it. If it hadn't been for that Karma frail, he would have gone off after getting out of that lab.
-----
"Dum Dum, evacuate the helicarrier! I want everyone off Now!!" Fury ordered still struggling with the woman on the floor. He knew that there wasn't time to get everyone off. At the moment, the helicarrier was at maxium capacity on a training exercise with the new graduating class of agents. Dum Dum knew it too, but took off giving the order.
"Where's the bomb Val?"
She spat in his face.
"Where did you put the bomb?!"
He was losing more blood than he thought. The Contessa seemed to sense it and fought harder. Fury shifted his weight to keep her hands away from him giving her the opportunity to bring her knee up between his legs. As he instinctively began to curl up in pain, she freed her hand and grabbed the knife. Nick again tried to get it away from her, but it ended up between them, and then she went still.
Lurker
**********
The Professor was bored. They'd kept him in this quarantine room for hours. It was actually a suite, he realized, with two bedrooms and a main room, sharing the same air. They hadn't thought him worthy of a suite, though, locking him into one of the bedrooms.
He heard shuffling and low whispers outside his door about a half hour ago and wondered what they were doing out there. Were they discussing his fate? He didn't know what had happened to the facility once he had been taken. Was there anyone left to look for him?
He heard a low buzzing start, the sound of electricity running freely, and then the voices faded. Were they going to try to kill him? Electrocute him in this room? No, that was silly. He'd been in here too long, and his imagination was working overtime. Just to be safe, though, he moved away from anything metallic.
Soon he heard a shuffling in the bedroom next to his. They'd brought someone else here. Locked him up, too. Could it be someone from the lab?
His question was answered in moments. It was indeed someone from the lab. Someone with six sharp adamantium claws that were now piercing the wall between the rooms.
"Nooooooo!" the professor screamed, running to the furthest corner, away from those deadly scythes. 'They are trying to kill me,' he thought.
-----
Mariko noticed when Logan stirred from the floor in the small room. His eyes scanned the room. She knew he saw her, but then he continued on, focusing on other objects and even on blank air.
"Logan... Logan, it's me, Mariko," she said in English, rising to her knees, but he didn't seem to hear her.
He whipped around towards the wall, breathing deeply through his nose. Then, with a roar, he unsheathed his claws and plunged them through the wall.
She was shocked for a moment by his actions reaching out for the tranquilizer gun. It was useless, though, with the forcefield covering the door. 'What can I do to calm him down?' she thought desperately. 'Well, first I've got to calm myself down. The wall is thick. I have some time to act.'
She folded her legs back into the lotus position and began to chant the ancient phrases in Japanese.
-----
The words called to him. Through the haze of anger and fear. They wrapped him, soothed him. Looking around the room, he saw the people slowly fading, their voices and smells drifting away. They didn't belong here when these words were spoken. They did not know this language. Soon, there was only a calm, diginified Japanese woman and a samurai with a red and black mask. The samurai had a katana piercing his chest.
'I killed you,' Logan thought and the samurai disappeared as well. Then there was only the woman. He watched in amazement as the ghost of the woman walked past him to the doorway, merging with a twin that was already sitting there. The words, the positioning of her body. It was familiar, and he sat down, mimicking her. Soon, both their voices were slowly chanting.
Khaki
**********
Several people were watching this scene.
"I was always very impressed with Logan's skills," Tyger observed. "He told me that he took up the arts to control his animal nature. I never knew how much it was true."
-----
"Mr. Creed?"
Sabretooth looked down at the purple girl. "Yeah, kid?"
"Do I have to go back to my parents? They hate me."
"They hit you?"
"No, but they ignore me, and I have to go to my room if they have a party and I have tutors instead of going to school. They don't want people to know they have "mutie" daughter."
Jason Barnett
**********
Creed looked over at Maverick with raised eyebrows. "And ya wanna send her back?"
Maverick froze, staring at the man he knew was a stone cold killer. "What the *&+@# did they do to you, Sabretooth?"
"Watch yer mouth in front of the kid," Creed growled. "Look, some of the kids around here, they said this place was a school for mutants, like us, like Blink."
"Doesn't mean that she shouldn't go back to her folks," Maverick said firmly.
Clarice sat up with a sleepy frown and pushed the blankets down. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Mr. Maverick. Is it true? Is everyone here a mutant, too?"
"Yes, it is," Cyclops said as he moved past Maverick into the room. "Creed, Maverick, get out." The hard scowl on his face softened as he turned to face the young girl sitting on the bed. "We'll talk about you staying here when your parents come, okay?"
Clarice nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."
"Try and get back to sleep, Clarice," Cyclops said gently. He turned back to the two older men. "I thought I told you two to *get out*."
Creed frowned as he sniffed the air. This guy wasn't scared of him either, and he had been giving the orders earlier. Good orders actually, now that Creed had the chance to think about it. "Fine. Get some sleep, pup. I'll see ya in the morning."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Creed. Good night." Clarice laid back down and rolled over on her side. She was asleep before they were out of the room.
Maverick turned on Creed and jabbed a finger into his massive chest, hard. "I don't know what you want with that kid, Creed, but I'm not going to let you hurt her!"
Sabretooth grabbed the offending finger and bent it back to the limit. "I. Won't. Hurt. Her."
"Cut it out," Cyclops said tiredly. "He can't remember what he was like before, Maverick. Just let it go for now. Jean says he won't hurt the girl, and I trust her."
"Well, I don't!" Maverick snapped as Creed let go of his hand.
'Uh-oh,' Creed thought as Cyclops' head snapped around, 'that was the *wrong* thing to say.' He remembered how the dick reacted when the redhead frail was in pain.
"*I* trust her," Cyclops said sharply. "*You* on the other hand are only here because Domino trusts you for some reason. Don't even think about proving her wrong. You won't like the results."
"And what are you going to do, little man?" Maverick snarled.
The red light behind the visor flared for a moment. "Don't push me. I've got enough trouble without having to knock you through a wall."
"Or the building," Creed added. He shrugged when the other two looked at him blankly. "Hey, I just saw him fight."
Mac
**********
LIVING/TV/GAME ROOM
All of the students were here, well most the students that knew Logan. Kitty, Bobby, John, Rogue, Karma, Jubilee, and Gambit. They were huddled together in a big group wondering what would happen to their friend.
"Man oh man! I never thought Wolvie could look so bad. I mean I thought that neck wound he got like a while back was gross, but this is like mind deep matter stuff going like around here." Jubilee said as she chewed her hair.
Sparrow