Faye opened the door to her studio and they stepped in. The moldy smell of it hit Logan's nostrils like a truck on a brick wall. He held his breath a while to get used to the smell as he watched Faye drop her bag and walk around like a busy bee. Tom had already opened a portal on one of the walls.
"I'm crossing, do you wanna come or are you just gonna sit there?" she asked.
"I'll wait here, if ya don't mind. I hate crossing."
"Suit yourself, I'll be back in a bit."
Logan leaned back on the couch and pulled his hat over his eyes. She looked at him for a while, then turned around and crossed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"About time," said Tom from his tank. "And you brought company! How delightful!" he added, sarcastically.
"Shush, Tom," Faye said stepping into his little sanctuary.
It was a square room. The walls were made of metal and there were no doors nor windows. In the middle of the room was Tom's tank, a big, round, cylinder-shaped glass dome that reached the ceiling and was connected to a bunch of computers and other machines through wires and tubes. Inside the tank rested Tom's body. Physically, he was tall and lanky, his hair was now light blue due to the many chemicals that kept him alive and his eyes were deep green. On his head, he had the same band that Faye uses; with one difference, his jewel was deep yellow. Tom was connected to a bunch of wires that ran toward the top of his tank.
"Where's the tape?" she asked.
"First things first, why are you putting yourself in such situations?" he asked looking at her.
"What are you talking about?" she said, sitting on a nearby table.
"Don't play dumb, or in your case, you aren't playing."
"Ha-ha. The university, right?"
"Yes, why must you torture yourself this way?"
"Tom, I wanna know."
She jumped down from the table and paced around in front of the tank, Tom followed her closely with his eyes.
"There's nothing to know," he said quietly.
"There has to be!" she exclaimed.
She walked around the tank fiercely now, then she abruptly stopped and placed one hand on the glass. He pushed himself forward and touched the same place on his side of the glass.
"Faye, you know I love you dearly. We've been through so much together, I know you better than anyone, you're a wonderful human being."
"I'm not sure if I'm even that," she said, placing both hands, one on top of the other, on the glass and resting her forehead on them. Tom did the same thing. She looked deeply into his eyes and sighed.
"Let me continue," she whispered.
"Fine," he said, pushing himself upright. "I can't stop you in any way. Will you at least tell me what you're doing so I can tell if it's illegal or not?"
"I'm conducting the same kind of experiments that were done on me and all the other kids on Project Gene. I, on the other hand, started with a couple of amoebas and other single-celled organisms."
"So, you're using radiation? Gamma rays and all of that?"
"Yeah, if it works out, I'll try to move on to some small animals. Maybe then I'll have my answer."
"Fine," he answered after a while. "Keep looking. Meanwhile, I'll look for the cause of our little misfortune today. You know the drill, place the communicator on the scans."
"Yea, I know," she placed the first earpiece on a machine with scanners all around.
"Tell me what you find out, ok?" she said moving toward the portal.
"The tape is on the table, by the way," said Tom, putting on a pair of goggles that came down from the ceiling.
"Thanks, I'll be going now," she said.
He motioned goodbye with his hand and started up the machine. She crossed over and the portal started closing.
*Poor darling,* Tom thought. *She's been searching for an answer so long she's forgotten the question.*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ok, I'm done," she said, stepping out of the portal.
"'Bout time," said Logan. "Where are ya headed now?"
"The Institute. I need to keep watch."
"And you're not gonna take care of yerself first?"
"No time. Don't worry, I can handle it."
"Right, the same way you handled yerself...."
"Don't say it! I don't need another lecture. I've had a tough enough day as it is."
Logan looked at her and opened his mouth. He was going to say something else but it didn't seem as important anymore. Reluctantly, he closed his mouth once again.
*Chuck was right,* he thought. *She does need a lot of support right now.*
"Chuck wanted ta talk ta ya," he said, picking up his keys.
"What? Why?" she said, and picked up her mask. She had already changed into her uniform and was now closing the buckles on her cape.
"Scott talked to him today. They think ye're a mutant. Well, not ya, Jade."
"Christ! That's great! Just what I needed..."
"He told me that it's up to ya when ye're gonna meet."
"Ok, that might be a good thing then. Maybe I can buy some time. Tell him that you talked to me but I couldn't stay long because of..."
"...the university..."
"Right and that you'll be able to meet me on Saturday. No, no, Sunday. I have something else to do on Saturday."
"Ok, I can say that I'm gonna try ta gain yer trust first..."
"...and that you need to check if I'm really a mutant before saying anything, so..."
"..it'll all be safer. I think that's good, let's go," he said walking to the door. "Ye're covered."
"For now," she said, closing the door.
She was about to lock it but stopped halfway and looked around her. Her eyes searched for an invisible foe, they glowed bright orange as she kept on looking; she saw traces of silver energy everywhere but no source.
"What? What did ya see?" asked Logan.
"I don't know, something. Whatever it was, it's gone now," she answered, still looking around. "I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched."
"Maybe ya are."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I smelled something. A stink of some sort."
"I know what you're thinking and it's not Sabertooth. I left him in Alaska last week, before I even came here. I'm the only one that could've traveled that fast, and....ahhh...!! Uh....!" she grunted and groaned in pain.
In her ear, Tom screamed, also in pain. Faye gripped the sides of her head and crawled up. Her muscles were very tense. She wanted it all to go away, she wanted some peace, but there was always something.
Logan caught her shoulders and struggled to bring her up, but she was already slipping into an unconscious state. He opened the door and saw that Tom had already opened another portal; quickly, he picked Faye up and ran inside the house, while outside, a monstrous figure watched the scene with cold eyes and a wicked obsession.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Logan stopped in front of the portal and hesitated for a moment. He looked at the moving particles and changing colors and swallowed hard--he really hated crossing, there was always this sinking feeling at the bottom of your stomach that he could never get used to. However, one look at Faye's limp body was enough to make up his mind. He held her face close to his chest and stepped through.
Traveling to another dimension was one of the worst feelings he could ever experience. No words could explain it; it was as if all reality got distorted and at the same time everything passed by like a rollercoaster. As Logan stepped inside the metal room, he tried shaking the sick feeling he always got from Zhar's realm.
"Tom!" he called out to the tank.
Tom lifted his head dizzily, things were short-circuiting and exploding everywhere, and the scan disks were spinning like crazy.
"Put her on the table," Tom managed to say, gasping for breath.
Logan complied and then walked to the scans. He extracted his claws and pierced through the scans; he took the earpiece Tom was examining, and looked at it. Tom closed his eyes and concentrated. The jewel on his band glowed as he accessed Faye's powers. In no time, her white jewel started glowing, as well as her body. Tom used all his strength into wielding her healing powers. Absentmindedly, Logan let go of the earpiece and walked toward the table. He didn't see it get stuck to one of the walls.
Faye moved her head from side to side as she started waking up; she managed to draw herself up and looked around wobbly, her eyes rested on Tom, who was now nearly unconscious.
"Logan...," she whispered.
Logan moved in closer to her , and,with his help, she pushed herself up. She walked toward Tom's tank and placed her left hand on one of the tubes, running up to the ceiling. She made her healing powers run through it and reach Tom. When she was done, she collapsed on Logan's arms.
"Thanks, love," said Tom placing his hand on the glass.
Faye smiled weakly and did the same. Logan held onto her, he wasn't feeling jealous, after all Tom and Faye had been together since the beginning. She placed her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulders. Tom, still with his hand on the glass, kept on looking at Faye, he was breathing normally now.
"What happened?" Logan asked.
"Can't say," answered Tom.
"Ya've been goin' 'round with Faye for too long."
"Perhaps."
"So, what do I tell Rat?"
"Tell him what happened."
"He'll want ta know more."
"He'll contact me if he needs to know anything else. I suggest you get out of here, Logan. It isn't safe. Besides, we all need some rest."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After gently placing Faye on the bed, Logan locked up and left. He got into his bike and pulled his helmet on, but not before discreetly sniffing the air around him and picking up someone's scent. He revved the machine and drove away.
The streets were empty, Logan's bike glistered in the streetlights. Logan stopped at a red light and checked his rearview mirror. There was no one behind him, but he still could smell someone close by, and he wasn't alone. He knew he was being followed, but he didn't really know who they were not where they were; their scents were either hidden or too distant to be distinguished.
The light turned green and Logan started moving. He checked his mirror again, this time he saw a shadow quickly move out of his view; he gripped the handle of his bike and sped up. He was racing down the street at nearly seventy miles an hour, when suddenly he made a sharp left turn into a narrow street, hit his brakes and spun his motorcycle. Logan jumped out of it , threw his helmet off and popped out his claws. He had moved too fast for whoever was following him. He waited for him to catch up, listening to nothing but his own heart beating. Anticipation started building up, so much that Logan could hardly contain it. He could smell him coming nearer.
*One person can move as fast as ya, Faye dear,* he thought. *Maybe even faster.*
"All right, hairy, show yerself. I know ye're there," he shouted.
Sabertooth jumped from an alley and attacked Logan. Logan maintained his ground, but he picked him up and threw him into a nearby wall.
"Remarkable, Logan. I came all this way to see someone and instead I find you," said Sabertooth, pushing Logan against the wall.
"Yeah, well, maybe she don't wanna see ya, Creed," Logan grunted.
"And how would ya know that? Maybe ye're pushing yer thoughts on her again, Logan."
"She's smarter than ya think, ugly."
Sabertooth growled and Logan kicked him in the stomach. Sabertooth grunted, Logan, aiming for his shoulder blade, attacked with his claws extended. He dodged to the right and Logan barely scratched his arm. Logan attacked again, this time perforating Sabertooth's thigh. He howled in pain and hit Logan in the chest; Logan slammed into a lamppost and fell to the ground.
Logan recovered, Sabertooth prepared himself for another attack. Suddenly, a noise came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It sounded like metal creaking under a lot of stress. Logan looked around him, the buildings weren't moving but they seemed to mock him.
"He's mine!" Sabertooth growled. "Stay away! STAY AWAY!!!"
Logan backed up into a building looking for the source of the noise, but couldn't find anything. The noise kept getting louder and louder. Suddenly, the wall behind him came tumbling down.