He awoke with dirt in his mouth. He tried to open his eyes and found his eyelids felt like lead. He was lying on something hard, and cold. The ground? There was a throbbing pain in his head. He tried to remember. Something about...Jubilee? A fight?
He lay there for a moment, just breathing, before he realized he could open his eyes. He did so, and the images swam before him, making him nauseous. There was a familiar blur.
"J-Jubes..?"
His voice was cracked, he was thirsty.
"Logan...Logan, don't move, you're hurt."
It sounded far away, like he was dreaming. And Logan, of course, being Logan, moved. It was sluggish, and it made his head jackhammer, but he pushed himself up, blinking to try and clear the image that still stood blurry before him. He felt the restrictive metal around his neck. Damn, I've been collared. No wonder I got so much hurtin'
"Logan, oh, God, you scared me...I thought you'd...I thought..." He turned his head instinctively towards the sound of her voice, which was a bad idea. The world spun dizzyingly, and he doubled over and retched. He felt comforting warm hands on his back as his stomach stopped clenching, and he wiped his mouth and spat.
"Shit. I feel like I've just been on a ten day bender."
Jubilee smiled, rubbing his shoulders. That was more like the Wolverine she knew. She let out a puff of air she'd been holding in. He would be all right.
His vision had cleared enough that he could see Jubilee before him. He managed a weak smile.
"Don't happen ta have a tic-tac on ya, do ya darlin'?"
"Gee," Jubilee said sacastically, rolling her eyes. "Of course I do. Never without them-- the X-Mansion, poolside, dingy jail cell..." She looked at him seriously.
"Logan...what are ya doin here?"
"Well, I was, uh.." He felt gingerly at the bump on his head and looked away. "Tryin' ta rescue you, Jubes." He sounded a little sheepish.
"Looks like I didn't do the best job."
He surveyed his surroundings. His head was still in a world of pain, but at least he could see clearly now. It was a dirt prison, crudely built, and the shaft of light that fell on the floor in front of him came from the only opening, a sort of barred skylight.
Cursing at the pain in his head, he got to his feet and tried to measure the distance from the ground.
"Forget about it," Jubilee said, glancing above her. "Already tried. Even with both of us we couldn't reach it."
He looked back at her."You make one short joke..." Wolverine growled. Jubilee smiled despite herself.
"You don't hear me complaining, do ya, Logan?" The joking mood died as they both took a moment to comprehend all that had happened. Logan was looking for a way out, but despite the primitiveness of the jail, it seemed secure.
"Logan..." He looked over at Jubilee, at the tone of her voice. "Logan...are we...you know, ever going to get out of here? What's going to happen?"
She bit her lip as she said it, trying to keep her voice steady. Wolverine looked her straight in the eye.
"Whatever happens, Jubes, you know I ain't gonna let them get to you without one helluva fight. 'Sides, I think it's me they really want." He paused. "Must be my animal magnestism..."
He smiled wickedly at her, and she grinned back, leaning forward. Their lips touched, and Jubilee let herself relax into the kiss as she felt his tongue slide...
"Oh-- ugh--pah---" Jubilee suddenly broke off, spitting, and gave Logan a dirty look. He shrugged.
"Don't blame me, darlin', you're the one who ain't got any tic tacs."
She smiled at him, shaking her head disbelievingly. Then, on sudden impulse, she embraced him. They didn't move, just sat there on the dirt floor, she drawing strength from his arms, wrapped tight around her shoulders. With all the uncertanties in her life, this was the moment, she decided, when she knew she would really love him forever.
They were a team.
* * *
"Scott, damage report!"
"They've taken off a chunk of the left wing!"
"Jean! Use your telekinesis to try and hold the damn thing together!"
The blackbird was in chaos. Seconds earlier, they had flown over an abandoned complex, ready to bring Wolverine and Jubilee back home, and now they were hoping just to make it themselves.
"What happened? Who would've guessed they'd have air missle defenses?" Scott shouted, answering his own question, trying to keep the ship's from deteriorating to a downward spiral.
Rogue was holding on the hatch with her bare hands and willpower alone.
"We got two more closin' in!" Gambit bellowed.
"Okay, people, we're gonna make it, but this is gonna be rough."
"Like it ain't already, homme?" Gambit yelled to be heard, as his teeth rattled in his head.
"I am deploying emergency landing gear!" Storm reported to Cyclops.
"Jean...you've got to hold on..."
"Hatch...too much....to...."
"Everyone!" Scott was barely heard over the din. "Everyone, brace for impact!"
The X-Men all reached for the nearest stable object, and gripped tight as the ground raced up at them with unnerving speed. And then...
It was earthshattering when it came. Dirt flew up, over the ship, shattering the front window. Rogue flew into Storm, and Jean's head bashed a wall before she was thrown to the back. Cyclops was holding onto the now useless navigation stick as the world bounced and jilted out of control. The shrill of the emergency sirens was the last thing anyone heard before their world was encased in darkness.
* * *
Cyclops woke up gradually, and painfully. He reached for his visor instinctively, and shut his eyes tightly shut when he realized it wasn't there.
"It's ok, Scott. They've put us in collars."
At the sound of his wife's voice, he cracked opened his eyes. No cosmic explosions or laser beams. He looked carefully down at himself. He'd be sore for days, but all the important parts seemed to be intact.
He stood up.
"They took him. They took him and I don't know where they took him...I don't know what they're doing to him..."
It came to Scott as a low keen, and he was surprised to see Jubilee, a strange, desperate look across her usually sunny face. The other X-Men were silent, Rogue had one arm around Jubilee's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Cyclops' response was automatic.
"Who was taken, Jubilee?"
She turned to him, her eyes wide.
"They took Logan...Scott, Scott, they've taken him...He's already been through so much..."
Scott was brokenhearted by the look on the youngest X-Man's face, and confused at the same time. He looked to Jean for support.
"It's all we can seem to get out of her, Scott."
He accepted this and began to pace the cell. After some moments of silence, penetrated only by the low murmer of conversation between Storm and Gambit, he looked around, exasperated.
"Hello! Hello? Anybody there?!"
"It's no use," Jean said quietly, gently taking his arm. "Looks like we're just gonna have to wait this one out."
"Sugah," Rogue started, Jubilee still under her arm, "Can ya tell us any more about this place? Ah mean, I know Logan meant a lot to yah, but--"
"You don't know! You don't know!" Jubilee screamed suddenly and unexpectedly, throwing off Rogue's arm and startling them all. "You don't know goddamn anything! He means more than my life to me! I love him! He and I, we--we--" She stopped, realizing what she'd just said.
The whole prison quieted as Jubilee stood, nearly shaking with exaustion and anger. The X-Men were frozen in place. The silence stretched, long and unbroken. It was Gambit, after a short hesitation, who spoke first.
"Ah, chere...Why din' you tell us?"
His tone took them all a little aback. It was sincere, held a deep sadness none of them usually associated with Gambit. She turned towards him, unsure.
"I understand," He said softly, approaching. "I know what it's like, chere, not to be able to touch de one you love."
Rogue avoided his gaze, and stared intently at her toe, which was making a hole in the dirt on the prison ground.
"An' dere be plenty o' times when de woman I love is in danger, an' I know not'ing is really gonna help, except for that you trust he o she can take care of dimselves."
No one saw the touched look on Rogue's face, as she turned herself away from the light. Remy draped his arms around Jubilee, who stayed stiffly against him.
"I realize this is--" Cyclops began before Gambit cut him sharply off.
"Alor! Jus' be quiet!" He yelled rather harsher than he had meant to. "De chere, she in love."
* * *
"Get yer damn hands off me! I said--!"
"Sir! Please, permission to use sedative! He is-- auugh!"
"Get'm off me! Get 'em off! Somebody!"
"Ggggrrrowwrrr..."
A sound of ripping could be heard as blood spattered the nearest wall.
"Reinforcements!"
"We got him targeted!"
Logan felt the sharp prick of the traquilizer dart in his shoulder. He only had time to growl and lunge for the man before he felt himself suddenly under the effects. If I had my healin' factor I woulda shaken the thing off already, he thought to himself. Suddenly, his limbs were not under his own control. He heard, but barely registered, the deep voices around him.
"Call clean up. And we'll need a good cover story. Look at that mess."
"Did you see him? He was like an animal! He just-- Even with the collar, he--"
"I say we just kill the mutie scum now, instead--"
He lost contact with the real world, and found himself floating somewhere in between reality and unconsiousness. His head, which had been killing him, now felt strangely and not unpleasantly light. His arms and feet felt like weights; he couldn't move them. His thoughts slowed.
For the next what he could guess to be hours, the images only came to him in distorted memories. Faces above him. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what...Weapon...Something about a weapon. They were hurting him. He wanted to cry out. He wanted to lash out, to tear them up. Tear their hearts out. Make them suffer, make them bleed. But all he could do was watch in his own head. So he screamed the only way he could, inside.
* * *
Mystique looked down at the half-alive thing on the table before her. Her hard, bright eyes might've held pity had they been able. Logan. No, the great Wolverine, brought down to this-- another animal to experiment on.
"Is this really necessary?" She asked coldly as she watched them, with a distasteful look on her face, biopsy a healthy piece of Logan's arm. The man in the white surgeon's mask looked up at her with an expression akin to annoyance.
"Should you be in here?"
"I go where I choose to go."
Logan's collar was sitting on a table beside him. Without his healing factor, he couldn't survive this. But because of his immunnity to sedatives, he had a steady IV drip.
"Label this sample. Jackson, hand me the scalpel."
It glittered sterile silver in the harsh white light of the room. Mystique, against her own better judgement, looked down at him again. His eyes were open, and he was staring as though he was seeing nothing at all. His strength, his energy...She'd seen him in action. This was like a shell, some sick twisted, This is not your place to judge. You got your money. Leave it alone.
The surgeon's hand reached down, and she could see a tiny line of blood as the surgical knife bit into his skin. She saw the muscles in his face imperceptably twitch. And then, as if it took incredible effort, she saw his eyes move to rest on her. And for a moment, through her outward hardness, Mytique suddenly glimpsed a haunted soul, and blinding pain. So much pain. They said he wouldn't feel any pain.
The scalpel opened up the skin. Crimson stained the crisp white of the surgical gown.
"Stop it!"
* * *
They couldn't get another word out of Jubilee. Jean tried. Rogue tried. She seemed most inclined towards Gambit, but still she said nothing. They had all temporarily given up, and now sat. Gambit was riffling through his cards-- He'd played enough solitare to make himself sick. Storm was off by herself trying to fight claustrophobia.
"Did y'all hear that?"
Rogue looked up from picking at her fingernails to gaze around at the X-Men. A few of them looked up.
"I hear something," Cyclops stated. "It sounds like..."
RRRRRWWWAAARRRRRRRR
Jubilee's eyes snapped open. And all their heads turned to look up. A second later, the grid in the roof was lifted, and Logan was thrown in. He landed in a crouch, his claws already out, and looked around frantically.
"Scott! Look out!--"
Jean, though her powers were dampened, still sensed the danger.
Scott immediately reacted, and jumped back just in time to avoid getting his throat torn open as Wolverine lunged for him. The rest of the X-Men instantly took up battle positions.
"He doesn't recognize us, he--"
" Logan, it's de X-Men, don't--"
He growled low in his chest and advanced like a cornered animal ready to fight to the death.
"Everbody! Move back slowly. Especially you men, get away. You're more of a threat to him."
Jubilee's voice rang out as Rogue, Gambit, and Cyclops stood, frozen. Jean and Storm were already against the wall.
"I said NOW!"
The total authority in the words got them moving, and Gambit slowly backed himself into a corner. However, he thought to himself, if Jubilee got herself in trouble he was prepared to defend her, even if it meant...He swallowed. He really didn't want to die this way.
Woverine's head snapped to Jubilee, and he looked at her warily, claws still out. As he approached her, she stood perfectly still. The rest of them didn't dare breathe. He sniffed her from a distance, scrutinized her, then moved closer and sniffed at her neck. It tickled like hell, but she wasn't about to make any sudden movements and become a shish kabob.
He gave another soft growl, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, ready for the impact of claws on her skin.
She gave a sudden gasp of surprise as she felt his mouth descend on hers, and his hands grab her roughly by the waist and pull her to him. And a single word,
"Mate."
Oh, Lord help me. Jubilee was hit with a load of emotions, everywhere from relief, to fear, to surprise, to arousal, to ones she couldn't label. He wasn't wasting any time, and she was trying to force words out as his hands roamed.
"Logan, it's not that I--Oh, god, stop that!--it's just not the right--Stop that!!!"
He didn't even pause, and Jubilee began to feel weak in the knees. Ok, time for somebody else to step in and help, please. Talk about going from bad to worse. Not to mention the audience, as the rest of the X-Men still stood, gaping. Jubilee gave into a kiss, against him and her own impulse at the same time.
Gambit gulped audibly and stepped forward.
"Hey, homme, like de lady says, now ain't de--Alor!"
Luckily, Gambit's nimbleness kept his chest from being torn open, but two cards he was holding were sliced to ribbons, and fluttered to the floor as Wolverine suddenly released Jubilee to to focus on the intruder.
"Hey!" Jubilee yelled, fully aware again now that her body was no longer under siege.
"Don't do that! You coulda hurt him. Bad Logan!" Before even she knew what she was doing, she whacked him hard across the nose. There was an audible intake of breath. But instead of turning on her, he backed off, whimpering a little. The rest of them looked incredulously at her, in unabashed astonishment.
"T'ank's for de save, chere," Gambit said, still rather shaken, and in his eyes was disbelief. Jubilee looked down at Wolverine, who was looking at her with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, stop it, Logan, I didn't mean it," She said. Yeah, ok, he gets to me. She looked around to the others as Logan embraced her again, nuzzling at her neck.
"What're you all staring at?"
"Er...Uhmm.." Cyclops made a valient effort to speak, but nothing really came out.
Storm summarized it for the rest of them. "Nothing, Jubilation. Nothing at all."