A/N
I realize I am really, really late in updating this fic (sorry!). In the meantime I started four others, and completed three. Hopefully I can switch my focus back on this one now.
Thanks to all who have read and reviewed!! Please note that this chapter is where X-Men the movie leaves off, and the AU takes over. There will be a few similarities, however.
Ch2.
Sabertooth lay on his bunk, resting. He was awake, but he kept his eyes closed, relying on his other senses to tell him what was happening in the environment surrounding him. He could smell Magneto well before he heard his steady, purposeful footsteps. Sabertooth sat up, hastily making sure Wolverine's dog tag was safely tucked away inside his shirt. He knew it was useless to do so. Magneto could identify the smallest trace of metal on his body, but he still wanted to keep it hidden from Magneto's eyes for personal reasons.
Without warning, the bars to his room bent aside with a forceful groan, allowing Sabertooth to duck out of his sleeping cell just as Magneto approached it, and stopped. Behind Magneto, Mystique stood as blue and alluring as always. She raised her hand and placed it possessively on Magneto's shoulder, then winked at Sabertooth by way of flirtatious greeting, which he chose to ignore.
Sabertooth respected Mystique as a colleague, but his feelings went no deeper than that. More than once she had approached him, trying to seduce him with the temptation of taking on any form he wished. Sabertooth was not interested, and he had let her know that by his lack of pursuit. His experience with women was such that their bones broke far too easily when he became really excited, and forgot to temper his lust. That tended to put a damper on his sex life, especially since he liked his foreplay a bit on the rough side. Mystique knew this, but she still tried to tempt him, hoping one day Sabertooth would change his mind.
"Come, Sabertooth," Magneto said in his commanding voice. "There are plans to discuss."
Silently, for such a large man, Sabertooth followed the two out of the cold hall, and into Magneto's office, where Toad was already squatting in a corner of the room. With a vague gesture of his hand, Magneto beckoned two metal chairs, and they scraped across the floor towards his desk, behind which he seated himself. Sabertooth took one chair, Mystique the other. Toad remained squatting where he was, his head flicking back and forth as he followed the path of a fly around the room.
"There are two issues I need to discuss with you," Magneto said looking around the room at the three mutants staring back at him. "First, there is the issue of the mutant machine. Secondly, of Senator Kelly.
"Now, the prototype for the electromagnetic generator is almost complete, but before we test it on humans, we need to make sure it will not cause damage to our brother mutants. It is unfortunate, but we must find one or more mutants and test it out before we can proceed with our real purpose. It will not further our cause to find out the machine will create mutants out of humans, but end up killing real mutants in the process."
Mystique blinked here yellow eyes at Magneto, and spoke up. "I have a few mutants in mind that we could use," she said mockingly in her echoing voice.
Magneto looked at her with warm affection. "I am afraid I will need your particular talents for another mission, my dear." He looked around at Sabertooth. "I believe our feral colleague here will have no trouble locating one in the next day or so." Sabertooth turned his black eyes to look at Mystique, and smelled her disappointment, but he made no comment.
"Mystique, I will need you and Toad to go and collect the good Senator, and bring him back here. There will be an excellent opportunity three days from now, when he is transported away from a press meeting. That should give you plenty of time to scout out the security and integrate yourselves. I will leave the details up to you on how you do it. We need him alive, so be careful."
Toad looked over at Mystique with a comical grin on his yellowish face. "Careful… right," he said his grin suggesting otherwise.
Magneto ignored the comment. He knew Toad would not really harm the Senator. If he did, he would have to answer to him.
"Now are there any questions?" Magneto asked, looking at each of them in turn.
Sabertooth spoke up. "Any suggestions where I can pick up a mutant without much interference?" he asked. "I would prefer not to get one that is too tightly integrated into the human network, as it would draw too much attention to us."
Magneto turned his cold, blue eyes on the giant mutant in front of him. "Where do you know of where mutants can be found in abundance, especially runaways?" he asked pointedly. "Personally, I know of a certain school in upstate New York that caters to nothing but mutants. That would be a good start," he said, condescendingly.
Inwards, Sabertooth smiled. He ignored the taunt, as Magneto just gave him permission to do exactly what he had wanted to do; go to Xavier's school. In some ways, being so physically large made those around him think he was stupid – all brawn and no brains. Sometimes he had to play the part of the meathead to keep up this illusion. He did not care what others thought of him if it meant he would get what he wanted in the end.
"Now, I suggest we adjourn. Sabertooth – I want a mutant here, within two days. Mystique, Toad, Senator Kelly within three. That is all."
Sabertooth stood to leave. This day was turning out to be better then expected, he thought, unconsciously fingering the dog tag beneath his shirt. However, he needed time to think and plan. He knew he had a major decision to make, and quickly. If everything worked out properly, he would see Wolverine soon, and hopefully get a chance to talk to him. That thought left a warm sensation lingering in his chest. However, in the back of his mind here knew that by making this commitment, he would forever make an enemy out of Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood.
That thought left a cold chill running down his spine, and he was not one to frighten easily.
**~*~**
Sabertooth stood in the bushes outside the Mansion, peering into a window of Xavier's school. He had thought long and hard on this decision, and he knew most likely it would not work out the way he had planned. But, he had to take his chances. If all else failed, he would have to go on the run, but at this point in time it was a risk he was willing to take.
He waited until he saw the group of young children gather up their books and start to leave the room before he cleared his mind. He hoped this worked. Taking a deep breath, he silently called out. He watched as Xavier paused, swivelled his wheelchair around, and rolled over to the window to look out. Xavier was not exactly looking towards him, but that did not matter. Sabertooth knew he could still reach him through his mind.
"Sabertooth? What do you want?" Xavier asked in his mind. The effect of hearing that voice so loud and clear in his mind was disorientating, and made him nervous. He ignored that, and pushed on.
"What do I want? Help. To bring you a warning. To ask you a favour," he thought. He tried his hardest to project his genuine sincerity, however it was hard to do after keeping his thoughts and feelings so tightly protected, for so long.
Sabertooth watch as Charles wheeled over to the doors that opened out onto the adjacent deck. He opened them wide, then wheeled out a few feet, but still within the safety of the building.
"Come out where I can see you please," Xavier called towards the bushes where he thought the feral was hiding. In response, Sabertooth parted the shrubs and took a few steps closer to the Professor. They just stared at each other for a moment.
Without warning, a scream of anger and rage filled the air, and Sabertooth looked up just in time to see two claws outstretched, and a bundle of powerful muscle being projected over the railing of the deck, right at him. Wolverine had walked past Professor Xavier's office when he caught a whiff of a scent he would never forget. Him. His body reacted before he had time to think. He had started to run as soon as he saw the Professor open the outside doors and wheel himself through them. Running at top speed he manoeuvred around the Professor, and unsheathing his claws, he launched himself off the end of the deck towards the source of that scent.
Sabertooth had less than a second to react to the surprise attack. Turning aside to avoid the lethal claws, he managed to push Wolverine off balance as he came at him, which gained him a few precious seconds to prepare. Wolverine was fast. He picked himself off the ground and was coming at him again, still filled with rage. This time Sabertooth was ready. As the mutant rushed towards him, claws out, he managed to pull Wolverine's arms apart, but Wolverine's forward momentum forced them both to fall backwards, Wolverine atop of Sabertooth. He felt the weight of the shorter man on top of him, and with all of his feral strength, Sabertooth simply held his arms apart, preventing himself from being impaled. Wolverine struggled, trying to release his hands from the iron grip that held him.
Sabertooth looked at him with his inky black eyes. The scent of the man was heady to him. With sudden realization that the smaller mutant was on top of him, struggling in such a way that he could feel the whole length of solid muscle and masculinity against his body, Sabertooth could feel in his body begin to respond with sheer lust. The scent combined with the close physical contact was enticing him, stimulating, and intoxicating. For once, he had met someone who he could grasp, and not hurt.
"Wolverine! Stop!" Xavier called from atop the deck. They both ignored him.
Sabertooth rolled over such that Wolverine was pinned beneath him, his arms safely outstretched to the sides. He let the weight of his seven-foot frame cover the other mutant, and lifted his pelvis slightly so that he would not feel the start of a very large erection pressing insistently against him. Although he desired the shorter mutant, he did not want to scare him off.
Wolverine felt the softness of the long blond hair that fell around Sabertooth's face, and across his own. He could feel the strong heart beat of the feral against his chest. He looked up into jet-black eyes that were but mere inches from his own, and was surprised to see no malice in them. Excitement and… something else, but not malice.
"What are you doin' here?" Wolverine snarled, still struggling for release. He was not used to being pinned down, as he was almost always the stronger when it came to hand to hand combat. Then again, he had never before come across a seven-foot giant of man who was not only as strong as him, but it seems, a bit more agile. He did not think it was possible for someone that large to have such fast reflexes.
"I came here to talk," Sabertooth said defensively, still putting pressure on Wolverine's wrists in order to keep them outstretched and the claws away from him.
"Talk 'bout what?" He continued to struggle, and in doing so his hips bucked up to meet those of the feral giant. For a moment Wolverine was confused. Did he just feel what he thought he felt? He had had erections before, but never quite like the mother of all boners he had just felt. He took a quick whiff of the man laying so intimately on top of him. Lust. Wolverine looked up in astonishment, to see the giant gazing down at him, a hungry, yearning expression on his face.
"You," Sabertooth replied.
With a scream of fury, Wolverine shifted the weight of the giant, and rolled to the side, breaking free of Sabertooth's grasp. As he rolled, he gave a swipe of his claws, aiming directly for Sabertooth. His feline reflexes saved him from being mortally wounded, but Sabertooth still received the impact of the wound. Sabertooth gave a roar of pain and anger at letting his prey go. Wolverine's claws left four parallel slash marks diagonally up his chest and across his face. Blood started to pour out of the wounds, and was leaking into his eyes, blinding him.
Realizing this was not going the way he intended, Sabertooth prepared for one more offensive attack, and then hoped he could leap over the ground walls, and get away.
He turned, crouching low, to face the shorter man when he saw a beam of ruby red hit Wolverine squarely in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Sabertooth did not wait, he gathered himself up, preparing to leap when he realized he could not move. Something held him, preventing him from leaping. He heard a shot sound, like a gun firing, and felt a sting in the side of his neck. He just had time enough to scent the air around him and realize that he was no longer alone. He could smell Xavier, but there were other mutants close by… at least three others. His vision clouded, but not from the blood dripping into his eyes. He felt his limbs go numb, just before he lost consciousness, and fell to the ground.
Xavier looked around at Jean, Cyclops and Storm. He sensed their collective thought. Now what?