Mystery Unraveled
This is not what Sabretooth had expected when he tracked Jennifer Granger all the way out here. He had wanted to kill the Granger girl and keep up his hunt for Milady and the other survivors of Weapon X. What he had found was Granger, Rogue, Milady, and some other freak already packaged nicely in that little log cabin.
Thinking his job was practically done for him, Sabretooth was going to take his time and enjoy his kills, torturing the one that got away. Milady didn't remember anything but Sabretooth figured that he could force jog her memory by killing Rogue slowly. It might even have taken the death of her winged friend but Sabretooth is a patient beast.
His whole world fell out from underneath him when the X-Men showed up. Now he's out fighting for his life against that runt Wolverine again. To top it off, he's got Cyclops and Colossus taking shots at him while he's busy defending himself against Wolverine. He roars in rage and throws Wolverine to the side, violently hitting a tree. Ribs must've snapped but Wolverine just gets up to come at him again.
"Wolverine, back off for a minute!" Cyclops shouts suddenly. With both men's healing factors, this battle could go on for much longer than anyone wanted. Wolverine blatantly ignores Cyclops and keeps going after the larger mutant.
Colossus looks at Cyclops, waiting for his next command. He sees Cyclops nod in Wolverine's direction and knows what Cyclops has in mind. He sighs deeply and grabs Wolverine by the back of the uniform, yanking him backwards.
Cyclops lets a huge optic blast loose, blowing Sabretooth through several trees. Wolverine jerks out of Colossus' grip. "What's the deal, Cyke?" he asks dangerously, approaching Cyclops in a feral manner.
"What the hell is going on here, Sabretooth?" Cyclops ignores Wolverine, a dangerous move on his part, he knows, but he needs to show the little man why he's in charge. "What mutant happy organization has you under its thumb this week?"
Sabretooth is getting up slowly, letting the deep gash that has torn through his side stitch itself up. He snarls. "No one's got me under his thumb, X-Man…"
"Then what the hell are you doing?" Cyclops. "Beating on kids and business men the latest craze for mutant baddies?"
Wolverine raises his eyebrows. Cyclops is purposefully goading Sabretooth. He can see that Sabretooth is preparing for another strike. "Nah, this pussycat just likes his prey mushy. A man o' his age needs t' take care o' his pointy dentures."
Sabretooth's glare focuses on Wolverine. "Thos kids're Weapon X rejects. Got more guts in their pinkies than you got in yer whole body, punk!"
"So this does have something to do with Weapon X?" Colossus asks, his stomach turning. That whole project had been a terrible way for humans to manipulate and control mutants for war methods. After their brief stay in the labs, Beast had been changed from a big, but otherwise normal looking guy, to a blue furred monster.
Sabretooth shakes his head, getting annoyed with the questioning. "I just wanna get them back fer what they did back at the facility. Granger got us all locked up there and Milady got outta there with nothin' more than those scratches… laughin' at us…"
"Seems I ain't the only one who escaped those psychos," Wolverine says. "Good fer her."
"She got me t' let her out!" Sabretooth roars. "Used her brain powers t' force me inta carryin' her ass outta that dump and headin' in without even a second thought!"
Wolverine sees Sabretooth charging him. "If y' had a first thought, I'd be surprised, ya sack of wasted muscle!"
Cyclops doesn't have all the information he needs but he can't get anything else out of the men while they're fighting. He speaks into the communications link that connects him to the rest of his teammates. "Gambit, you need to approach Donovan Milady with extreme caution. She's a psi as well as having her physical prowess."
DEEPER INTO THE WOODS:
"What's prowess mean?" Gambit mumbles to himself as he looks around. "I don' see dem nowhere, mon ami."
"We can land and look around on foot now," Warren replies. They land in a clearing, not realizing that they're closer to Jennifer and Rogue than to Donovan. "You have any kind of tracking ability, kid?"
Gambit smiles. "I can find my way 'round pretty good, homme," he says. He strains his ears. "I hear talkin' nearby… must be de robot and de young'un."
"She looks to be about your age," Warren says. "You want to call her a young'un?"
Gambit shrugs and starts to follow the sound of the voices. Warren follows him quickly. They pause just before getting to Rogue and Jennifer. Jennifer is trying to get Rogue to get up but the girl is obviously weak from loss of blood.
"C'mon, kid…" Jennifer says nervously. "I need you up and running when Donovan catches up to us. Don't die on me now…"
"Not dyin'…" Rogue murmurs softly. Her eyes are closed and she's leaning heavily on Jennifer. "Ah'm so sleepy…"
Jennifer sighs. "Sabretooth cut you up pretty bad, huh?" she tilts Rogue's head slightly, revealing a nasty slash. She cringes. "Donovan should be able to heal this when she gets here."
"How?" Rogue asks, dreamily. She's really falling out of it. Her knees buckle and she starts to fall.
Jennifer catches her quickly. "Part of my ability to manipulate another person's powers is an understanding of them. She heals while in that stone shell of hers. If I understand it correctly, she can transfer that healing onto you if you share the stone casing with her."
"Why doesn't she remember us?" Rogue asks. "Is it that Mandy girl?"
"Not totally, but I'm sure she has a big part of what's going on in Donny's head. Weapon X mostly screwed with her mind," Jennifer says. "You stay here… not that you can go anywhere… I'm gonna go see why it's taking Donny so long to find us."
Jennifer walks right into Warren, who has his arms folded across his chest and a stern look on his face. "You're not using Donovan for any of your games anymore, Granger."
Gambit hurries to Rogue's side. He does a quick check and grimaces. "She ain't doin' so good, Mr. Worthin'ton. She needs medical attention real bad."
"That's why I'm going after Donny. She's the only one around for miles who can help her," Jennifer replies. She expects Warren to step aside and is infuriated when he doesn't move. "Are you deaf? She needs Donovan's help!"
"I don't know who you think you are, Granger, but I don't buy any of your mush anymore. You're not going anywhere without giving me some answers!" Warren snaps. "Who the hell are you and what do you know of Donovan Milady?"
Jennifer shakes her head. "We don't have time for this! She's going to die!"
"I don't give a damn about some little brat who got into the wrong place at the wrong time," Warren says. "You picked the wrong girl when you messed with Donovan."
"You know what? Screw you!" Jennifer shoves Warren back. "You have no business here! Why the hell are you here anyway? I called for Donovan to meet me up here, not her uppity old boss who can't handle life outside his bubble of existence. I'll bet you've never dirtied your hands before in your who life…"
Jennifer would have gone on if Rogue didn't start sobbing again. She turns and sees that Gambit is doing his best to apply pressure to the wound without actually touching Rogue's skin. His hands are wrapped in his trench coat but he doesn't want the dirt and grime on it to infect her neck. "She lost so much blood, I don' even t'ink dis gonna be much help. If she ain't taken care of soon, dis is gonna be a big waste o' time."
"See?" Jennifer snaps. "Let me get her help!"
"Not until you answer my questions," Warren says stubbornly. He really doesn't care if Rogue is killed. He sees her as another person to manipulate Donovan and he will not tolerate that for his friend.
Jennifer sighs in frustration. "Fine, we'll walk and talk. Keep her safe, kid. We'll be back!"
Jennifer grabs Warren by the arm and they start to walk back in the direction they had come from. "My name is Jennifer Granger. To make a long story short, I'm an entrepreneur in the mercenary trade. Well, trying to be, anyway. I used to want mutants to take over but that would just be a chaotic nightmare. So I'm going to include humans but only the warrior ones that accepts mutants as the next step in human evolution. I build an army, a dictator with my same goal buys my army, the humans and mutants coexist, and I'm a millionaire."
Warren shakes his head in disbelief. "You're out of your mind if you think that's going to work."
"You're out of yours to think that it won't," Jennifer shoots back. She shrugs. "Regardless of whether you have faith in my plans or not, Donovan is a big part of them. I first met up with her after reading about her in the tabloids. She was considered a homicidal gargoyle even though she really hadn't killed anyone. She gets kinda crazy now but that's because the her first girlfriend, who was killed by anti-mutant bigots trying to kill Donovan, is still in her mind, The girl'd been a telepath but now she's a lunatic with complete control over Donny's head. She hates anyone getting too close to Donny's heart and messes with her head to keep her in check. As long as she doesn't know most of her past, Mandy, the ex, is a happy camper."
"Sounds farfetched to me," Warren says slowly, letting Jennifer's fast speech sink in.
"Whatever," Jennifer is sick of recapping Donovan's life. She just wants to get out of this crazy situation. This has gotten way out of hand. "Donny! Where are you?"
Warren sighs. "Why is Donovan so important to you?"
"Do you know how handy it would be to have a super strong, super healing, super smart mutant as your right hand man… err, girl?" Jennifer replies. "She can battle, think, and heal up in a matter of minutes, making her the perfect general for the army I wanna create. Besides, most of my investors have already heard of Donny and she's my ace in the hole."
"You already have investors for this thing?" Warren is incredulous.
"Oh yeah. World domination is popular item on many peoples' wish lists. The right bidder could own the world with what I'm offering!"