Chapter 15

The rest of the evening was divided between sex (of course), food (because lots of sex equals big appetites) and watching old movies on the tv in the bedroom. It wasn't until the next day that Marie remembered the other thing she'd wanted to ask her men, "So were ya'll serious 'bout playin' for clothes after you teach me poker?"

"Darlin'," Logan had mistakenly inhaled his coffee and after a coughing fit looked at her reproachfully. "Warn a man before you say somethin' like that."

Marie smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes. Victor, of course, found the entire thing hilarious, calmly sipping his own coffee. She'd learned in the three quarters of a year she'd known her men that the coffee maker was something into which the two brothers put serious thought. She liked a cup just as well as the next person, and it was invaluable when she was actually working, but so long as it had caffeine and didn't torture her stomach she didn't really pay attention to the quality of the beans or coffee maker.

Victor and Logan though, only distilled water in the machine, only good coffee beans (she had no idea about their criteria there because it seemed to vary depending on mood and season) and only the best (if easily operated) machine.

"Drink your coffee Jimmy," Victor ordered mildly before he turned his attention to her. "Yeah, we were serious. Not that we'd really want anyone else in the game but us."

"Could have LeBeau over, play for candy or something though, if you want to practice with someone besides us," Logan suggested now that he'd sipped his caffeine infused beverage and looked slightly less sleepy. Of the two of them Logan would cheerfully sleep until noon. It didn't matter if he'd gone to bed early (by their standards) or not. He loved to sleep.

She would have thought Victor'd be the one who enjoyed sleeping since his feral nature was much more distinctly feline. But the elder of the two brothers would get up at dawn if he'd gotten four to five hours of sleep. After a few hours he'd prod his brother out of bed, or wake Marie up in a much more enjoyable fashion, thus waking up his brother, and then they all got going for the day.

"Ya'll don't want to play for clothes with LeBeau around I take it," She grinned at the two of them. "You know that if he ever saw me dance he'd likely see just as much as he would in a poker game."

Victor growled a bit but nodded, conceding her point, "True. I think we'd prefer you get used to the idea and the game first though."

"Of course, honey," Marie finished her coffee and put the mug in the dishwasher. "But it'd be fun to learn the game."

"What're you up to Marie," Logan focused his eyes on her.

She smiled. The two of them did know her pretty well by now and learned more each day they lived with her. Victor wasn't the type to ask the question, he'd usually wait and see what mischief she had in mind. Logan though, both of the brothers could be straightforward when need be, but Logan tended to ask questions whereas Victor would simply observe and draw his own conclusions. It worked for them really, in nearly every situation, because what Logan didn't learn Victor would. She got the impression that Logan had spent a long time either thinking he wasn't the brightest or hiding his brain. He asked questions like he'd never heard of finesse when she knew damn well he was just as smart and could be just as circumspect (or sneaky) as Victor.

"I thought, since I can't seem to find work as a dancer, that I might pick up enough to be a dealer?" She tilted her head inquiringly.

"If you could do a pull off LeBeau you'd get some of his knowledge and a jolt of his mutation," Victor murmured. He looked at his brother, "Think he'd go for it?"

"For the pleasure of her company, even with us around, I think he might," Logan nodded slowly. "Trouble would be his mouth. He's not indiscreet but he's talkative."

"So we make it plain that her mutation isn't one that should be talked about," The Sabretooth gleamed in his eyes for a moment as Victor smiled. "He'd keep his mouth shut then wouldn't he?"

"You know he's trustworthy," His younger brother nodded.

"Anyone who'd help you stay off the radar, yeah, I think so," Victor was watching her like she'd disappear in front of his eyes.

"What is his mutation, besides his eyes," Marie looked back and forth at the two of them curiously.

"It's kinda…energy?" Logan frowned thoughtfully. "He can put energy into objects, make 'em explode. Tends to use playing cards since he's always got some on him."

"Could be useful," Marie nodded. "If he wouldn't freak out."

"The man doesn't freak out easy," Victor chuckled. "Don't recall him blinkin' an eye when Jimmy shot his claws out. Just glanced up, said 'dat dere's an' int'restin' trick', and kept dealing his cards."

She grinned her appreciation of Victor's imitation of the Cajun's accent and leaned against his side. "What do you two think of the idea though? Dealin' cards?"

"It ain't a bad one," Logan nodded.

"Always good to learn another skill," Victor agreed. He smirked, "Jimmy, give LeBeau a call, see if he's interested in helping our girl learn the game."


It turned out that the Cajun was interested. And in the privacy of another club's backroom, minus other players, comfortable enough to comment on their relationship. "Remy, he could not believe his ears, when you're tellin' him you have a woman," He commented as he dealt the cards. Victor and Logan were firm believers in learning by doing so they were playing for pennies.

"You've seen me with women before," Logan reminded him, a short cigar clenched between his teeth. He'd put it out before they'd entered the club, but when he was playing cards apparently, he liked the taste of a cigar even if he couldn't smoke it. Victor had just rolled his eyes and muttered about blunting his sense of smell. Marie didn't really mind the smell of the smoke, though she didn't like it in an enclosed area.

"That Remy has," The man agreed. "But a woman you claim as yours…an' more so, your brother claims as well, that, you must admit, is a horse of a diff'rent color my friend."

"Claimed is the right word," Victor nodded and tugged the collar of his shirt down to expose Marie's mark on his throat. Logan wordlessly did the same and LeBeau's gaze snapped to her throat. She guessed last time they'd met he hadn't really noticed the marks they'd given her. Or he might have thought they were fresh bites.

Since she'd wound her hair up into a modified Gibson girl pompadour knot and wore another of her mini dresses, this one a cute print that reminded her of calico with spaghetti straps, and an asymmetrical ruffle that flirted around her upper thighs, nothing hid the marks they'd given her. Gleaming silvery scar tissue on either side of her neck where it met her shoulder.

"Mon Dieu, Remy, he is lost for words," The Cajun simply stared for a moment and took a breath.

"Be lost for more than words if you don't stop staring," Victor growled, and the man recollected himself.

"Pardonnez-moi," LeBeau apologized. "You understand, this thing, this is…"

"Unusual is the word I think you're lookin' for," Marie half smiled as she studied her cards.

"Non, ma petite," He shook his head, all traces of joviality gone from his face. "Your men, they are known, and known far an' wide, as dangerous men to cross. Even his memory half gone, Logan was très formidable." Marie wondered if he slipped into French more when he was worried or upset or when he was trying to make a point. "Together, they are dangereux and more so when angered."

"LeBeau," Logan took the cigar out of his mouth. "What's your point?" Another example of Logan's tendency to cut to the chase. Victor seemed content to let the man rattle on.

"Your woman… Should your enemies learn you have a woman, they will waste no time in securing her, to gain your cooperation or simply to force your surrender," LeBeau sat back as if waiting for an explosion.

"Hear that sweetness," Victor purred at her. Menace and amusement wound through his voice as he smiled, lazy and dangerous. "He thinks you're helpless."

"Could prove to him that I ain't," She tilted her head.

"Might be a good idea," Logan nodded. "Remy, let her touch you. Promise you'll be all right after a bit."

"Mam'selle, Remy dare not say do your worst," LeBeau extended his hand with a charming smile.

Marie let her mouth spread in a grin that felt extremely feral, taking his hand as if to clasp it in a handshake, and turned her mutation on. Raw energy, a disturbing amount of power in such a deceptively laid-back individual, memories and thoughts… Thieves, assassins, card games, traveling, exile… She let go after a minute and watched as LeBeau heaved in one deep breath after another. His eyes hadn't changed, hadn't faded to anything so mundane as human, but she could feel the power of his mutation in her fingertips as his presence chuckled wickedly in her mind.

A deep breath, Victor's hand on the back of her neck, Logan's palm covering hers from across the table, flip through the memories. Inevitably with mutants, when they realized what she was doing, borrowing their powers, their minds flew to how their mutation worked, or manifested. Sometimes they didn't even know exactly, like the telepath who'd crashed into her as they both ran from the cops in west Jersey and had been instrumental in helping her control her skin.

Funny, a student of psychology being a telepath, and one with a gift for reaching the subconscious. But the knowledge had been invaluable and once the girl recovered she'd explained as much as she could before they'd had to part ways. Marie had to figure out the rest on her own.

Gambit though (he was older, much older than he looked), he knew his mutation, understood it, inside and out, and while she organized a quaint little study with a desk and a deck of cards for him she learned exactly what he could do. Finally, she opened her eyes to find him studying her thoughtfully. This man was dangerous, as dangerous in his own way as her men, intelligent, experienced and cautious. She was lucky Logan called him a friend.

"That's some kick you got there, ma petite," He commented.

"Should wear off in about an hour, hour an' a half," Marie shrugged and picked up a scrap of paper, charging it as his mental presence coached her, and flicked it up in the air to explode in a tiny burst of red.


Of course, it took more than just drawing in his memories and mutation to really learn poker, learn to deal and how to play. And they couldn't do that all day long after all. So Victor and Logan, with LeBeau's words in mind, began to teach her more of how to fight. How to use their mutations, how to use others in her arsenal, and just plain old down and dirty fighting.

They also taught her how to scent people, how to read what their body language and scents told her, another language entirely and one only ferals truly understood. Poker was great practice for that and since she wasn't finding work (still) they began to spend some nights at underground poker games. Nothing illegal though. None of them had any desire to get swept up by the Los Angeles Vice squad. She still couldn't beat Victor or Logan but she had a fifty-fifty shot at Remy and regularly won hands against other players who weren't familiar with her or as experienced as the Cajun.

Logan and Victor were working, though it was more sporadic than regular. She got the impression that they'd come to Los Angeles simply to leave Vegas and weren't too concerned about regular jobs. That didn't mean they were careless though. Just that they were only gone a day at a time, if that. When they began training her their schedule got even more irregular.

Victor and Logan hadn't gotten around to taking her to any of the more risqué clubs they knew. She didn't mind really, it would be fun, but also a bit daunting. Dancing half naked (or more than half) for a living was somehow different than standing around half naked making conversation. Maybe because Victor and Logan loved Marie, and only cared about her dancing because she cared. They were proud of her sure, and they wanted her to be happy, but they didn't identify her as Magnolia the exotic dancer in their minds. To her men she was Marie and dancing just happened to be her job.

She was also conscious of the fact that people in Los Angeles were some of the most judgmental she'd met since leaving Mississippi. And she was in no hurry to expose herself to their criticism. But with learning poker and training with her men, at least she wasn't bored.


She wasn't sorry to leave Los Angeles, Marie decided as she climbed into the back of the SUV Victor and Logan had brought home. They'd leave the Navigator in the garage of the Long Beach house. Out of sight. The new vehicle, some sort of Land Rover, looked as if it could climb a mountain on a muddy road, but once inside it was just as luxuriously appointed as the Navigator.

"Figured if anyone makes the connection a different vehicle is a good idea," Logan explained as they loaded up the luggage.

"Are you thinking someone will figure out that I'm with you?" She wondered, unable to keep the concern out of her voice. She knew that Logan had been in a lab of some sort. Metal coated bones were not a mutation found in nature. From what little he and Victor had said (as it was an uncomfortable topic at best) it had been government run.

She had no doubt that the government wouldn't mind having Logan back in their 'custody'. And adding Victor to their hoard would be the icing on the cake. There'd been a reason she had worked so hard, and still did, training, learning to fight, and trying to hide who she was. Mutants like Magneto might want to use her. But if the government could find a use for Logan and Victor (two of the most contrary uncontrollable men it had ever been her pleasure to meet), she was sure they'd find a use for her as well.

"Not really," Victor didn't sound concerned as he handed her the overnight bag to stash in the back seat with theirs. "Mostly it's precaution and habit. We switch out cars every few cities, sometimes every city."

"Depends on how paranoid we're feeling," Logan chuckled and kissed her as he handed her up into the back seat.

"So where are we headed," Marie waited until they'd started the SUV and pulled out of the driveway.

"Figured we'd head up the coast," Victor told her. "San Francisco for a couple days. Then farther north. Winter's comin' on, we'll need to stop and get you a good coat."

"And some boots," Logan agreed.

"Ya'll don't worry about someone getting your credit card statements and seeing that you're buyin' all this stuff?" Marie wondered, "Or someone hacking your company's servers and pulling the information?"

"Got precautions in place," Victor took her question seriously. "Because of who we are, the company's security is some of the best. And we're constantly upgrading."

"It'd take someone like Gambit, only tech savvy as well, to get into the servers," Logan added.

She'd nodded her understanding and looked out the window at the scenery. Maybe it was her paranoia, her fear of being found by someone else who wanted to use her, but something was niggling at the back of her brain. It didn't feel good.


Modesto, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, they stayed a few days in one town, a week or two in another, long enough for Marie to pick up a shift or two dancing, for Victor and Logan to work, and then they were gone again. And every day, when they stopped, Victor and Logan found a place to train her, teaching her as much as they could of what they knew about surviving a fight (which was a not inconsiderable amount of knowledge).

Then they went across the border into Canada and headed for Vancouver.

Victor and Logan had both looked around, scanning the road and their surroundings when they stopped to gas up the SUV. Gold had flared through their gaze, spines stiff and fists clenching. She'd seen Victor pulling his claws in as they edged out on their own. The hair on the back of her neck prickled and no amount of rolling her neck released the tension gathered there. Flicking her skin on and off occupied her slightly but she couldn't sit back in her seat and quietly read the book she'd brought. Staring out the window at the passing scenery had no effect on the worry gripping her mind. She hadn't been able to stop herself from looking around nervously whenever they had to stop. Too bad she hadn't absorbed someone clairvoyant or precognitive, one of those abilities would come in handy at the moment.

The greasy spoon (with a garish neon sign proclaiming 'Snack Shack') they'd pulled up to was the only light for what seemed like miles (or kilometers since they were in Canada). Only two other cars in the lot, neither of them as new or well cared for as the Land Rover, and Marie was willing to bet that they belonged to the employees on shift and not customers.

When they stepped inside she had the thought that 'greasy spoon' was more than just a figurative description. It seemed to be a literal one as well. The placed smelled of fried food in not particularly new oil, onions and (more appetizingly) hamburgers. At least nothing seemed dirty. She'd been in some dives while on the road that seemed to have oil coating everything.

The bell had jingled over the door when they entered and a tired looking blonde in a waitress's apron came out from the kitchen, "Take a seat anywheres and I'll grab you some menus." She gestured to the entire place impartially before shouting back to the kitchen, "Charlie! Got customers!"

Victor and Logan both headed towards the booth in the far corner. By now Marie had gotten used to the way they chose their seats, never with their back to the door and always with the best possible view of the room, exits and entrances. And they always put her between the two of them, the most easily defended position. Sometimes she wished she did absorb in physical traits, so she wouldn't feel completely helpless compared to them. And just as often she was grateful she didn't. Her men would hate it if she got something like Logan's claws, with the accompanying pain each time they emerged.

By the time they were seated the rattle of pots and cooking utensils could be heard from the kitchen and in a minute they had menus in front of them. Scanning it didn't allow for much choice if she wanted to avoid anything fried. She glanced at Logan and Victor and fought an amused smile. Logan, she'd learned, would pretty much eat anything you put in front of him. Victor was a bit pickier about his food, and he looked like he was thinking the same thing about the fried food.

"Cheeseburgers," He suggested. "A couple of 'em, and milkshakes."

"Probably best," Marie agreed and set the menu down. Victor ordered for himself and her and Logan echoed them, with the addition of some French fries. His brother smirked, shaking his head, and Marie giggled softly.

"What," A corner of Logan's mouth quirked up. He knew damn well why they were amused. Victor joked often enough about his little brother eating almost anything.

"Nothin' sugar," Marie pressed a kiss to his whiskered cheek. "Just teasin'."

The burgers were pretty good. Victor liked his almost raw in the middle and was pleased when the cook got that right. Marie's lone burger looked a little forlorn on her plate compared to the four piled up in front of each of her men, but she was perfectly happy with it and her shake.

It had been decided when they pulled up that once they'd eaten they'd push on to the next town with a decent motel. Food would fuel them up and their mutations would keep them going despite needing sleep. Victor had been this way before, so he knew the area and Logan had vague recollections. Coming on winter there wouldn't be much tourist traffic and finding a place to stay would be easier. Downside of that was they'd be a little out of the norm.

She had gotten the idea that Victor and Logan had work up here because much as they enjoyed wide open spaces, the outdoors in general and wilderness (ferals, duh), they tended to stick closer to cities. They might not like crowds of people or the noise and smells that came along with them but unless they avoided people altogether, it was easier to hide in a crowd.

Whatever kind of work it was (it had to be at least fairly lucrative, or they wouldn't even bother) it put her men on edge a bit more than usual. There had been some discussion of setting her up in one of their houses, in Portland or Seattle, and not even bringing her along with them. She hadn't liked that idea one bit. Neither had they to be honest. To leave their mate behind went against every instinct. The only time they'd ever be able to leave her would be if she was pregnant or there were children to protect. And even then, it would be incredibly difficult.

The training had intensified after that discussion. And in an effort to be as much of a help as she could, Marie had practiced keeping their mutations active.

So when they exited the diner (charitable description that) and the hair on the back of her neck stood up she'd paid attention. "Victor, Logan..." She murmured. "Something's—"

She never got to say 'wrong' but what happened next made that redundant. Gunshots, sharp in the chilly air, Victor and Logan's bodies jerking, blood, everywhere. The smell of it might have terrified her once. She fell to the ground along with her mates, instinctively seeking cover and realized that she hadn't even been grazed. Rhythmic thudding in stereo, and then quieter, a background beat to the sound of gunfire.

Voices, harsh, clipped, military speak, buzzed in her mind, bursts of words through static (thank you Emma Frost) and Marie scowled furiously. 'Men down, take the woman, exchange, warning,' And she got the gist of their intentions. These men didn't know what mate meant (beyond Australian slang), but they knew the brothers had begun traveling with a woman. A weak point, a bargaining chip, used to guarantee their compliance.

"Like hell," She muttered and let Erik's mutation flow through her. Metal, everywhere, isolate it, locate what she needed, and manipulate. Guns lifted out of the hands of their owners. Bullets fired uselessly in the air before they whipped around and hailed down upon the black clad men emerging into the twilight parking lot from the darkness of the fields and trees lining the road. 'Always leave one alive, for interrogation', Victor's shadow in her mind reminded her and she averted the path of a few bullets. They took out the knees and hands of one man, killed the rest, and Marie took a breath blocking out the cries of pain.

Bullets to the head would take her men a little while to heal, less for Logan thanks to his adamantium covered skull. A flick of Erik's mutation opened the doors to the Land Rover. Another manhandled Logan into the back seat. Bryan's telekinesis helped her load Victor into the front passenger seat. And thank the Lord she'd been practicing so much, or this might have been a lot worse.

The one she intended to take prisoner took a little more doing, but with a judicious use of a couple combat knives she had metal enough to twist around his wrists and ankles. She shoved him (thank you Erik) into the backseat next to Logan and mentally evaluated the personalities in her head for driving skills. Everyone had something to offer, and she had enough to at least get them out of the immediate vicinity.

A rhythmic thumping and a buzz along Erik's mutation and she realized how the mercenaries (commandos?) had gotten so close without giving way their position with headlights. A helicopter, likely designed for night maneuvers (Victor and Logan were invading her mental vocabulary), had dropped the men in. It would follow their vehicle, since she couldn't really drive without headlights, unless she did something about it.

"The bigger they are the harder they fall," She murmured and gave a mental yank on the large amount of metal she felt above her, flinging it towards the trees and fields across the road opposite the diner. She heard the resulting explosion and saw a few flickers of orange flames as she drove away.


Logan woke up after an hour, growling, his feral instincts going into overdrive with the smell of blood, his, Victor's and the prisoner she'd taken. "Sugar, take a breath…I'm fine," Her voice calmed him down some. "Victor's healing, just a little slower since he doesn't have metal on his skull to keep the bullets out."

"Wish I didn't," Logan grumbled.

"I could fix that for you if you wanted sugar," She offered, her mind half on the road still.

"What?" She'd surprised him, something she wasn't entirely certain was possible.

"Erik's mutation, manipulating magnetic fields and metal," She reminded him. "Pretty sure if you wanted I could figure a way to take it off you."

"Had to be put on in liquid form," He grunted. "Bucket Head really able to do somethin' with it?"

"I'd want to practice on some that wasn't on you first," She admitted.

"Probably a good idea," Victor joined the conversation as if a bullet wasn't pushing itself out of his skull. "I'd keep the metal on his claws though," He suggested with a groan as he adjusted his jaw with a sickening click. "They're bone under the metal, just like the rest of him and it hurts like hell when they break."

"Good to know," Marie nodded. "Now I've been driving in this direction for a while and haven't seen any towns. I don't know if we're lost or not. I was mostly worried about getting us all away from the scene of the crime."

"That why you took one with us," Victor turned and looked at the frightened man bound up behind him.

"I remembered what you said about never getting rid of a source of information," Marie nodded. Mentioning that it was the Victor in her head that had said it seemed like a bad idea what with their prisoner able to hear every word.

"Same road the diner was on," Her older mate asked as he scanned the road in front of them.

"Yeah," She nodded.

"If you haven't passed a town yet we should hit one pretty soon," He told her. "We can find a motel there. Pick up some food and give our healing something to work with."

"We can stop at a drive thru or something," Marie suggested. "Seems like every town has at least a McDonalds."

"Good idea," Logan rumbled behind her. "We get cleaned up I'll go get some supplies to clean out the Rover. Thank god you got the leather seats Vic."


"Oh, thank the good lord," Marie sighed as she caught sight of the golden arches and reached into her purse for her wallet. Long held habit had kept her from getting any bank cards (or a bank account) but she had cash and that seemed like just the thing considering people had just tried to kill her men (however temporarily) and kidnap her.

The drive thru wasn't busy, though there was a slight wait while the absolutely huge order was prepared. She'd gone for double quarter pounders, shakes, fries and bottles of water as two separate orders and gotten herself one regular quarter pounder, fries and a caffeine laden soft drink.

"No honey," She held up her hand to stop Victor from digging in his wallet for his AmEx and handed the cashier several folded bills. Despite the large denominations there wasn't a lot of change to go with the three bags.

One huge bag went to Victor, the other to Logan and the little one she kept. Thankfully the motel was easy to see from the fast food place and she was able to go to the office, get a room and back out again without anyone seeing her blood covered mates.

She'd remembered to ask for a room in the back so it would be quieter and she'd gotten one well away from the doors with other cars in front of them. Far enough away that no one would see them clearly. And hopefully no one would hear them either.

By the time she'd pulled around to the room her men had scarfed down half of the food in their bags. "Go on in," She told the two of them. "I've got our overnight bags and him," She nodded at the still bleeding (albeit sluggishly) prisoner.

"I can get him sweetness," Victor shook his head. "You just grab the bags. Jimmy, get my equipment. You know which bag I mean." Logan nodded and reached under the seat for one of the bags he and his brother didn't really like to let her see. Victor waited for Marie to open the door and grabbed the prisoner, hauling him in by throwing the smaller man over his shoulder.

She grabbed the bags, her purse, the food and used Erik's mutation to shut the doors before she headed into the room. The bag Logan had grabbed for Victor must have held the plastic sheeting she saw on the floor. The straight back chair couldn't be terribly comfortable, but she wasn't exactly concerned with the man's comfort. "The bleeding stop yet?" She put their bags down on the bed.

"No, still trickling," Logan shook his head as he grabbed his bag of food.

"Honey, you want me to get him fixed to the chair?" Marie sat on the bed and began to eat her food. Using all these mutations was hungry work.

"That'd be helpful," Victor nodded as he grabbed his own bag of food. She nodded and used a bit more of Erik's power to manipulate the metal binding his wrists and ankles, using it to hold his ankles and wrists to the chair legs and arms. "Thanks sweetness." He tore a piece of the man's shirt off and shoved it in his mouth.

"Sure honey," She nodded and finished her burger.

"You need to eat more than that," Logan observed her in concern and handed her one of the burgers from his bag. She wasn't in any mood or condition to argue and if she couldn't finish it Logan or Victor would.

"You two want to shower?" She rubbed the back of her neck, the weight of her hair made it ache when she was stressed.

"Not until after we're done with him," Victor shook his head. "No point in getting another set of clothes dirty." He turned and looked at her, "You all right with being here? You might pick up something we don't," He tapped his temple meaningfully and she nodded.

"I can handle it honey."


Victor was…good at his work. She'd never had any doubt about that. And the man she'd taken captive wasn't exactly the finest example of resolve and loyalty. Three broken fingers, one cigar burn, and two pulled nails (not necessarily in that order) and he was ready to sing. And while seeing, hearing and smelling his discomfort (agony, torture?) wasn't high on her list of favored activities, Victor was right. With the telepathy she had from Emma Frost she would hear more than Logan and Victor. She needed to be present. No matter how ill she felt.

She'd told her men what she'd picked up while they'd been shot, that she'd been the target, so that they could be manipulated or controlled. In hindsight, that might have had something to do with how long Victor made the man's death last.

When he was finally dead Logan took the body and carted it outside and she went to be sick. Deep breaths, water (and toothpaste), and a stern reminder to herself that she would not make her mate feel bad for doing what he had to do in order to keep them all safe. "You all right," Victor's face held no expression but that was usually when he was at his most wary.

"I'm fine honey, just not used to it is all," She pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I hope you never have to get used to it sweetness," He frowned. "If there'd been any way to keep you from seeing…that, I'd have taken it."

She shrugged, "It couldn't be helped, and you needed me here. What will Logan do with the body?" Sometimes she wondered if there was something wrong with her that she could so easily accept the violence her men would do to protect her. Little fourteen-year-old Marie would have run screaming. Adult Marie was more concerned about her two men than what anyone else would think of her. In the end whether she was (or it was?) a mental aberration or not, Victor and Logan were hers and she wouldn't try to change them or tell them what they did to protect her was wrong. They hadn't done anything truly heinous (in her opinion at least). It wasn't like they were torturing three-year-old kids for information. The man had been trying to kill them (however temporarily) and kidnap her.

Victor shrugged, "Jimmy knows how to strip a body, remove any identifying features and get rid of it deep in the woods. We aren't near any large bodies of water, or we'd weigh it down and sink it."

"So the men who wanted to use me, they're competitors of yours?" She moved on from logistics of body disposal to the actual problem.

"They're competitors of the people Jimmy and I are here to do a job for," He shook his head. "But we've taken the most meandering route, and we've changed credit cards at a couple stops."

"They shouldn't have been able to catch up to us so quickly then," Marie frowned thoughtfully. "His thoughts… honey, a few times, when he talked about the one who tracked us… it almost sounded like it wasn't a skill he was talking about." She began to take her hair down, "He said 'Llewellyn can find anyone. No matter where they are, he'll hone in on them'."

"You think he was there," Victor and Logan never dismissed her ideas the way some men might. They liked that she had brains. She wouldn't ever have guessed they were born well over two hundred years ago from their attitudes towards women.

"I heard…two helicopters when the gunfire started. At the end there was only one," She told him quietly. "I took it out, but I was too busy fighting the men with guns to do anything about the first one. I'll bet it had 'Llewellyn', whoever he is, in it and they took off with him once the fighting started."

"If you're right, then we're sitting ducks," Victor frowned. "But you're too tired to drive and Jimmy and I are still a little too beat up to go unnoticed."

"Paid cash for the room, one night," Marie told him. "We can leave whenever we want."

"I think we rest here; it'll take them a little time to regroup," Victor suggested. "And we don't have much choice."

"Get cleaned up," Marie suggested. "I'll see if there's an all-night pharmacy, grab some more towels and cleaning supplies, I need to get the Rover cleaned up. When Logan gets back he can shower, I'll go after him and then we'll rinse off the plastic sheeting in the tub."

"I don't like you goin' out by yourself sweetness," Her big man frowned automatically, and she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Honey, of the two of us, who rescued who?"


Logan got back when she was halfway through cleaning out the Land Rover. "Darlin' I said I'd do that," He frowned when he saw her with a plastic bucket and rags.

She shook her head at him, "Sugar, you go on and shower. We'll need to get that tarp and Victor's…tools (odd way to refer to torture instruments but whatever) cleaned too. Victor'll be able to fill you in on what we think is going on." She nodded towards the room, "Sooner we're all rested the sooner we can leave."

He capitulated to her argument and headed inside. Not long after Victor came out and began to help her, "Jimmy's showering. I'll give you a hand here until he's done, then we'll deal with the plastic."

"You think as soon as they figure out the first attempt was a failure they'll try again," Marie realized. She'd thought (hoped) maybe they'd have a little more time, but Victor was usually right about these things.

He nodded, "There weren't many ways for us to go from that diner."

"If it is a mutant who can find anyone, maybe it's better if we let them," Marie suggested thoughtfully. He took a breath but let it out slowly and nodded for her to continue. "We know they're after me, so they can use me to control you and Logan," She continued to clean the leather seats as she spoke. "I could listen for another attack, someone focused on us. Maybe get an advance warning?"

He nodded slowly, "Now that we know they're using helicopters to approach, Jimmy an' me can keep an ear out as well. Choppers sound pretty distinctive. Even made for stealth, our ears will pick 'em up." Grey eyes fixed on her face, "They find us again, can you bring the chopper down without killing everyone in it?"

Marie nodded slowly, considering the question, "I think so honey. What're you thinkin'?"

"I'm thinkin' that they likely need this mutant Llewellyn to find us, to lead them to us," Victor told her. "If we can grab him…"

"If I can touch him, I can absorb that ability," Marie was considering the possibilities. "I'd have to hold onto him for a while to kill him though, and I'm not sure I want to really."

"No, Jimmy and I still hate that you had to with that bitch in Reno," Victor shook his head. "If you absorb him some, and then let go, it should knock him out right?"

"Yeah, I can pull enough that he'll go unconscious," She nodded.

"Then that's all you'll have to do," He told her flatly. "Me or Jimmy'll take care of the rest."

"If I know they're coming I can keep you from getting shot too," Marie knew that the two of them healed. They'd promised her that so far nothing, not even losing half a skull and part of the brain had really killed them, so she could trust in that. But she still didn't like to see them hurt so badly.

"Then let's finish this up," Victor inhaled and nodded in satisfaction. "Only a little bit more to go, and we'll rest for a couple hours before we hit the road again."

"Where to," She inhaled, searching for the scent of blood and leaned forward to press the rag she held into the crease of the seat and backrest.

"From here there's about four miles to a split in the road. We'll head east, there's a lot of empty country in that direction," Victor began to gather up the rags, bucket and cleaners. "That should tempt the enemy into making a move."

Marie nodded, pushing the backrest forward and cleaned the now exposed back of the seat cushion, "Sounds like a good plan. How much time do you think we have?" She put her rag in the bucket with the rest and stowed all of the things she'd bought back in the plastic shopping bag, storing it in the footwell behind the front passenger seat.

"Shower, clean the plastic, rest for a couple hours," He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "We'll have to leave in three hours or less. With our eyes we see better at night without the headlights, so our exit'll be fairly discreet."

"Okay," She took a deep breath and leaned into his side for a moment, taking comfort in his warmth and solid body. "I'm gonna get that shower."

"Helluva woman we've got," Victor tipped her chin up and pressed a warm kiss to her mouth.


Victor and Logan insisted she sleep while they got everything else cleaned up and Marie found herself dreaming at the drop of a hat once she'd showered off the sweat of fear and adrenaline. Her men wrapped themselves around her but all too soon the three of them had to get on the road again.

Logan drove along the route his brother gave him, car lights off, and Marie sat in the back seat, listening with Emma Frost's telepathic abilities to the area around them. There was nothing to hear except for Victor and Logan's thoughts, and those a quiet murmur at the edge of her mind.

The wee hours of the morning was a time when the world should be fairly silent so the tense muttering she suddenly 'heard' seemed so out of place she stiffened, instinctively on guard. "I'm hearing something," She looked out the window uselessly. "You two hear anything?"

"Choppers, two of 'em," Victor answered after a moment.

"So they are coming," Marie took a breath. "Do we stop?"

"Let's slow down some so we don't get in a wreck when they try to drop in," Logan suggested. "Just enough that it looks like we're being cautious."

"The voices I'm hearing are getting clearer, closer I think," Marie took another breath and forced herself to exhale slowly. Erik's voice, 'true focus lies between rage and serenity', and she reached out, feeling the metal beyond the Land Rover. "I've got two large amounts of metal above and in front of us…"

"That'll be the helicopters," Logan had agreed with she and Victor when they'd explained the discussion they'd had while Logan was cleaning up. He hadn't liked any of it, but he couldn't argue that the plan was a good one. Her biggest problem would be dealing with all the metal in the area while excluding him and the Land Rover.

"Hear anything else," Victor inquired in a mildly interested voice. His way of trying to relax her Marie guessed.

"I think they're using ropes to come down, not landing," Marie frowned trying to interpret the thoughts she was hearing.

"Let's not give 'em the option. Bring both choppers down if you can," Victor ordered. "Jimmy, hit the brakes."

The Rover came to an abrupt stop and Marie concentrated on that metal in front of her. "I need to get out to see better," Pushing the car door open and standing behind it, something of a shield. Victor's feline mutation letting her see farther in the dark.

"Be careful," Logan cautioned her, and she half smiled.

"You too, both of you," She retorted. "I'll try to keep all the bullets back but I'm still working on this."

A short conversation while she concentrated on that metal and bringing it closer, containing all of it, forcing it down to the road. Kevlar, guns, bullets, knives, helicopter blades churning the air, almost frantic, the buzz of voices, panicked in her mind, thoughts going mad…

The helicopters were forced to the ground, and she held them there, engines whining as they struggled to rise again, the stench of oil burning as engines overheated. "That's good sweetness," She heard Victor's voice under all the extraneous noise. "Can you keep 'em there?"

"They ain't movin' honey," She assured him and heard the strain in her voice. Using two mutations at the same time, not in tandem like she had before, wasn't the easiest. "I'm gonna pull the guns away, but I can't grab anything else without pulling the guys with it." It required more finesse than she had at the moment to remove knives from sheaths. Close as the blades were to the Kevlar she was more likely to pull the entire man forward rather than the knife. Guns were separate, held and easy to pull away, piling with a clatter in the lane beside the Rover.

"That's fine," Logan assured her. "We can handle the rest."

"Okay," She took them at their word, focusing on keeping the enemy transports on the ground. Victor took point, any man who charged off the helicopter to attack met his claws. Kevlar was good for bullets, but it couldn't cover everything. And her man was a master at finding the weak spot.

Logan remained close to her. Anyone that got past Victor quickly got impaled on the Wolverine's claws. Now that they were all on the ground her job was to keep anyone from escaping and to find the mutant who was tracking them.

Soon the only sounds she heard were moans, labored breathing, mental babbling for someone to help… and she was so tempted to stop listening for a while… "Darlin'," Logan's voice, reminding her of the goal, grounding her.

"Yeah…" She shook her head, trying to scatter the other thoughts and narrow her focus down to one. "I think I've got him."

"Vic," Logan got his brother's attention. "You good?"

"Yeah," Victor sounded a little disgruntled and Marie realized that along with the rest of the noise she'd heard a couple of gunshots. Holstered handguns were just as bad as knives for being hard to retrieve individually.

"Sorry honey," She murmured as she focused on that mind.

"I'm bringin' her up," Logan's hand under her elbow, guiding her past the bodies to the helicopter farthest from the Rover. Helicopter pilots, Erik's power holding the machines in place as they struggled to flee, engines overloading until flight was impossible, fear making their thoughts gibber like chimpanzees. Ignore them and focus on the one man left in the rear of the helicopter.

Dark hair, deep blue eyes, scruffy, tanned skin and a smirk… thinking that now he'd seen her, he could find her anywhere, just like he could find the Wolverine and Sabretooth. "Llewellyn," She spoke his name, just to be certain, and while his face showed no reaction his mind practically jolted in shock.

Victor's clawed hand grabbed the man's shoulder and Marie eased her mental hold on the man's Kevlar, reaching for his face, "Big mistake," He taunted (an accent she'd never heard before but the Victor in her head identified as Welsh) as her fingers rested on his cheekbone. "There's no where you can hide from me now."

"That's what you think," Marie murmured and turned her skin on, pulling hard and fast, shunting off his memories into the room she'd prepared in her mind as quickly as she could. Hard to block out the screaming, mental and aural but it had to be done. His scream faded to a whimper, and she let go, breathing hard.

"Marie," Victor's voice, worry, love, awe…

"I'm… I'm good… just…need…need a minute…" She took deep breaths between her words.

"You get enough," Logan hadn't let go of her, holding her up.

"Yeah," Marie nodded and focused. Two telepaths in her head instead of one made for interesting conversations and while she might be a bitch Emma did know a lot about the mind. Many interesting things that Marie planned to put to good use when she got the time. The things Marie had learned from her made it much easier to get the assorted personalities in her head slotted neatly into their rooms. And now she knew how to more thoroughly prepare a room for someone whose mutation she planned on taking. While it was still a fight between her mind and the consciousness she absorbed, it was now a fight more easily won. Long minutes of concentrated effort and she exhaled in relief, 'Compass' as he called himself, was safely locked in a room. "We're good to go honey."

She looked at the mutant who'd had no qualms about helping a hostile force take her hostage and wrinkled her nose. "It'll take me a little bit of meditation to figure out how it works, though I guess from what he said if he meets someone he can find them no matter what."

"Well they won't be able to use him to find you or us," Victor snapped the man's neck easily. He glanced at Logan, "Get our woman in the backseat where she can rest, and we'll make sure of the rest of 'em."

"Yeah," Logan nodded and scooped her up into his arms. Her man did enjoy carrying her around. And now and then she liked letting him. She hadn't needed rescuing in a long time. And her men wouldn't love her half so much if she'd still been only that timid sweet girl who'd been thrown out of her house. She'd grown, become an adult, and with that came all the difficult choices that naive girl hadn't understood. They loved her strength, the pragmatic woman she'd become. But Victor and Logan reveled in and cherished her softness, the sweetness she couldn't get rid of without becoming someone completely different.

Logan tucked her into the back seat and buckled a seatbelt across her waist after he helped her lie down with her head on one of the duffle bags. "Get some rest darlin'," He ordered in his gruffly adoring tone. "Me an' Vic'll clean up out here and get us on our way."

"Love you sugar," She murmured.

"Love you back darlin'."


Author's Note: I have this head canon that Marie, in the time since she'd gotten thrown out of the house and been on the run since Liberty Island, has changed a bit. She's more pragmatic about what needs to be done in order to survive. She's learned to deal with her fears and move past them so she's a lot more of a self rescuing princess these days. Not that she doesn't love that her men want to take care of her and protect her but she's not going to cringe and cry and wait for them if she can do something about a problem herself.