Title: Spirit of Solitude
Chapter 1
Author: P.Bear
e-mail: tigerms@erols.com
webpage: www.tigermoon.com/thai/fiction.htm
Summary: Those with courage enough to wage war and
stand in the front line against evil have always
sacrificed themselves to a cause higher than any and
all of their beliefs.
When the lines of sacrifice and survival blur, who is
left to save those that save us?
Blurb: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, The
Lone Gunmen, and The X-Files belong to Chris Carter
and all the amazing actors as well as 1013
Productions. Wolverine, Sabretooth, and the X-Men
belong to Marvel Comics. I am just attempting to do
these characters justice and am using them without
permission.

--

(2:35 AM – Washington, DC)


A night's cool breeze sweeps through the streets,
alleys, parks, lakes, and buildings. It touches
everything in a soft caress, playing a melody of
comfort as it cools what is heated. The empathy of
night brings either a feared darkness of humility or
a soothing emptiness and solitude.

The breeze sweeps over the reflecting pool, creating
a misty haze as it travels. It hesitates when it
confronts the body of a little girl lying prostrate
before it. Her body draped such that from her waist
down is immersed in the slow rippling movements of
the now red tainted water. Her body is facing
skyward, eyes open in shock, and skin pale as the
moon that reflects off from the water around her.
Even to the breeze that slowly wraps itself around
the little body it feels the coldness emanating from
the prone form. The girl's eyes, red from burst
vessels, peer through the shifting coolness that
envelops her.

Having given the lifeless body what comfort it could,
the breeze moved on leaving the body as it had done
with a few other bodies such as this a few nights
ago. Leaving the body as a marker that indeed
hunting season had begun.

**
(3:30 AM)

A lone figure crouched at the top of the building,
catching a glimpse of the police activity buzzing
around the reflecting pool. His spot was downwind
and he took a cautious sniff. He smelled blood,
guts, and pain. He smelled death. He smelled the
frustration and disgust radiating off those working
the scene. He heard them arguing and cursing under
their breaths. It didn't matter to him; he focused
on that smell of death. He was able to see the
splatter of blood written next to the little girl.
In the child's blood, dry and rusted now, it read:
"RUNT". He could smell the scent of the murderer
who did this to the little girl. He knew that scent
well, as if it was his own. He remained and observed
for a few more minutes, his anger boiling faster and
hotter than it had in a long time. He stalked off,
biting the cigar that he had in his mouth close to
the point of dismemberment, and jumped off the roof.
He disappeared into the alley; it was time for him to
start his hunt.

**
(30 minutes before – 3:00 AM)

Fox Mulder tiredly rubbed his right hand over his
face, grimacing as he tried to pull his eyelids back
up. He looked at his clock, waiting for his vision
to clear and focus. A red blaring "03:00 AM" jumped
at him.

He slumped back into his sofa and stared at the
ceiling. He was yet again on probation because of
their last X-File. He wasn't the only one on
probation this time either. Scully caught a big end
of the reprimand that Skinner had thrown at them,
even though he had to admit that this time it was
mostly his fault. How was he supposed to know that
the ugly looking animal that he had tackled and
fought with was actually the town's mascot? Who
would have thought that a hog was their mascot, an
ugly one at that? He was about to shoot the thing
with his Sig Sauer when the Mayor of the town and
Scully came running up to him, telling him to stop.
That was when he looked over at Scully and
accidentally left his backside unguarded to the evil
creature. Mulder rubbed his right butt cheek where
the bite mark had left a nice red imprint, it still
hurt. A hog in deed.

Yup, Scully got thrown on probation as well. That's
what she gets for laughing so hard Mulder thought
through a grimace as he tried to remain off of that
cheek.

This was the beginning of the third day of his
fourteen-day probation period and he was totally
bored. He had spent the first day over at the Lone
Gun Mens' (?) threatening to kill them if they didn't
stop laughing after he had explained the situation.
Eventually they were able to converse and show him
the new UFO sitings amidst occasional snickers and
laughter. The second day he had spent playing
basketball, only to have his backside complain loudly
to him about it's previous abuse. Now here he was
lying on his sofa on the third day trying to figure
out what to do.

Mulder checked his clock again, 03:01AM. An annoyed
groan came out of his throat.

He rolled onto his side and faced into his sofa,
trying to will himself to sleep. He was about to try
counting sheep when the shrill ring of his phone rang
out through the quiet room. Grumbling he rolled
himself towards the noise and reached for the phone.
Scully wouldn't be checking on him, she had gone to
California with her mother to visit her brother.
Besides, she was probably still mad at him because of
the probation.

"Mulder." He grumbled into the phone.

"Agent Mulder, this is AD Skinner." The gruff voice
at the other end of the line sounded.

Mulder sat up automatically and grimaced as an
annoying flare of pain went through his backside. He
sat on the edge of his sofa, resting his elbows on
his knees and covering his face with his left hand.
Skinner calling while he's on probation, Skinner
calling at three in the morning, Skinner calling
period meant that he was not going to like what he
was about to hear.

The first thing that popped into his mind was Scully.
Could she be hurt or in danger?

"Is it Scully sir?" Mulder responded, a little more
concern than he had hoped revealed in his voice.

"No agent. I assume Agent Scully is fine. I'm
pulling you off your probation." Skinner replied and
waited to hear what the other man had to say.

"What? Why?" Mulder definitely knew something was
not kosher.

"It will be clear to you soon. I haven't contacted
Agent Scully on this case because it does not require
her expertise at the moment. There's already a
pathologist on this case." Skinner took a deep
breath. "I think she deserves the rest at this
moment due to the nature of this case. I would not
have alerted you to it but the director has already
made it clear that you will be involved."

Mulder remained silent, trying to compile the
information that he had just heard. Skinner wanted
to keep Scully away from this case, and himself as
well so there must be a certain danger for them.

"What is this?" Mulder asked, his voice firm
belaying the apprehension he felt.

"You know of the Child-Hacker case that's been going
on I presume." Skinner said, his voice softened just
a notch.

Mulder fell against the sofa, sinking into it as if
he'd wish to be swallowed whole. The pain flaring
from his rear went undetected. He had heard of it,
everyone had heard of it. Four little girls brutally
killed over a time span of four weeks. The FBI had
put an extremely tight clench on information about
this case. The media was griping because they could
get no info. Inside the Bureau itself, it was near
impossible to get any information unless you were a
part of the task force.

So they needed him to come and do what ever it is
that Spooky does to make things right. Sink into
this evil that now preyed upon these little girls.
An exasperated sigh left his mouth, one that Skinner
caught.

"The last victim was a friend of a high ranking
official, and thus it has been made extremely clear
to us that we had best put an end to this yesterday."

"Four girls dead." Mulder whispered as he tried to
comprehend the situation.

"Five." Skinner said in a deadly tone. "There's
been another one found at the reflecting pool. I'll
meet you there in thirty minutes." The phone
conversation ended there as Skinner hung up the
phone.

Skinner got up from his bed. He had a phone call
from the office, a relay from the D.C. police. His
morning was not starting out on a high note. Scully
wasn't going to be too happy about being left out
either, but he knew that it was going to be better
this way. At least he hoped so.

Mulder still had the phone in his hand a minute after
Skinner had hung up. He had wanted to ask why this
was such a danger that Skinner had hoped to keep
Scully and himself out of it. Shaking himself awake
he went to the bathroom.

As Mulder left his apartment, the clock read 03:14
AM.

The chill from the pre-dawn breeze rolled over
Mulder's body, almost pulling him toward the covered
body as he trudged to the frenzy of activity at the
reflecting pool. Whispers of "Shit, it's Spooky",
"What the hell is he doing here", and a few other
bitter comments were not lost to either Mulder's or
Skinner's ears. Skinner looked abruptly around and
the agents scattered, trying to find something to do
or else they'd suffer an ear load from the AD.

Mulder nodded to Skinner as he walked past him,
heading for the little girl's body. He still knew
nothing about this case, and he was supposed to
figure out some way to solve it?

Stopping over the covered body Mulder looked around
him. He looked at the reflecting pool, now tinted
like cherry Kool-aid. The girl's body was still half
in the water and he wondered how much longer her
humiliation would persist. Swallowing, Mulder bent
down and removed the top of the white sheet only to
lose balance and fall to his knees. Bile rushed
rapidly up this throat but he stamped it down.

Mulder took a look at the little corpse again, only
to see a girl that looked strikingly familiar. He
was looking at a girl that could have been Emily's
sister. Emily, Scully's dead daughter.

Snickers were heard around him as the other officers
saw Mulder flounder, but Mulder didn't even know it.
A heavy hand was placed on his shoulder and Mulder
looked up to meet the intense gaze of AD Skinner.

"This… this…" Mulder stammered out, unable to
finish.

"This is the reason why I didn't want Agent Scully
involved yet." Skinner handed him an envelope. "And,
this is why I didn't want either of you involved at
all."

Skinner remained silent, standing next to his agent.
He knew his agent was a pain, a severe pain. He also
knew that Mulder was a damn good agent and one that
he could, to a certain degree trust. Mulder wasn't
in the game to get glory, no he was the true thesis
of the hero. Mulder wanted to save lives.

Mulder hesitantly opened the envelope and peered
inside, only to have his throat constrict. The first
things that he saw were the pictures of the other
victims. Four of them, two looked like the girl
lying on the ground in front of him. Girls that
looked strikingly similar to Emily. The other two
looked like Samantha, his sister. He read their ages
quickly. All were around eight years old.

Mulder slapped the envelope shut and closed his eyes.
No use, his mind had already captured the photos and
now the images of all five girls danced in his head.

"Agent Mulder?" Skinner said as he looked worriedly
at the man fighting to maintain control.

Mulder's eyes snapped open, but he did not look at
the AD. "Yes sir?"

"Everything ok?" Skinner asked quietly.

Mulder slowly shook his head, "Yeah, I can handle
this." Mulder looked around, looking at the people
starring at him with either amusement or worry on
their faces.

"I can handle this." Mulder said finally as he
pulled himself together. He knelt next to the girl
again, distancing himself emotionally from
everything. He pulled the cover completely off the
girl and stared at the brutal destruction that now
described what used to be a beautiful young girl.

Mulder began by looking at her legs that were
submerged in the water. He motioned for some people
to come over.

"Have you already taken your photos?" Mulder asked
the forensics photographer.

"Yeah, got everything." The man said quietly as he
walked off.

Mulder had a few of the men pull the girl out of the
pool and lay her down. He scanned her little legs.
They were wrinkled now from being supersaturated with
the mix of water and blood. There were tears in her
legs that went from the middle of her thigh to above
her ankle. Flesh torn away in anger, in fierce
animal like quality Mulder thought.

The girl had been disemboweled, her intestines and
what attached organs lain outside of the almost empty
cavity. Mulder closed his eyes and hoped that the
girl had already been dead when this happened. He
looked closer, no gunshot wounds visible that he
could see and the tears that occurred all over her
body looked just like that. Tears. Not cut, not
knifed. They didn't look like any blade marks that
he could imagine. They looked more animalistic.
Like claws and teeth.

He looked at the girl's hands and noticed underneath
her fingernails there were a few strands of blonde
hair. Putting on a pair of gloves he took the small
tuft of hair and placed it in wo evidence bags. He'd
hand one over to the FBI forensics team but he'd give
the other set to the Gunmen.

Mulder silently covered the girl's body, thanking
whatever fortune was out there that Scully wasn't
here to witness this. There was going to be no way
that he would allow Scully to be involved in this,
even though he wished he could have her there with
him. He needed her, but he'd be damned if he would
allow any form of hurt flutter through the deepest of
her blue eyes. His only hope was to run this as far
as he possibly could himself, and hope that he
wouldn't lose himself in the process.

Mulder walked over to the writing. The word 'RUNT'
was written in what could only be called a fierce
scrawl in the little girl's blood. Was the killer
seeing the girls as runts? Is that what displeased
him so? Mulder looked at the shape of the girl.
Granted she looked small for being eight years old
but she wasn't a runt, and such a callus word at
that. Why did the killer harbor such hate.

Mulder shook his head and looked around the area.
Something didn't feel right. The word didn't fit
with the girl. That was wrong. But right now, he
felt like he was being watched.

"What do you think Agent?" Skinner said as he walked
up next to him.

Shaking his reverie off, Mulder looked at the files
in his hand. "I'm going to need to go over these
sir. I'll be in my office."

Mulder walked quickly passed the surrounding media
that was being held at bay by DC police officers. It
began to rain, hard. They were shouting questions at
him, but he ignored them. Mulder pulled his trench
coat above his head trying more to keep himself than
trying to keep dry.

The word 'RUNT' kept going through his mind.

**

Dana Scully was helping her mom and Tara prepare
breakfast in her brother's California home. She had
been seriously mad at Mulder when she got put on
probation. The past two days here though had really
been great and her mood had lightened. She was just
annoyed now. Of course Bill couldn't help but throw
in off color remarks every once in a while about
Mulder but she had learned to tune that out early.

"Damn…" Bill's breathless voice resounded from the
living room.

The women went out to see what he was doing when they
saw what was on TV. It was a news cast of a little
girl's murder.

Scully looked at her watch, from what the looks of
things they found that little girl 4 hours ago. It'd
be around 1 or 2 pm Washington time right now. She
paid more attention to the news report.

"At 2:45 AM this morning in the DC metropolitan area,
the police were notified of a little girl's body.
Police and FBI have taken over the area, not allowing
the media to gain any access. This is the fifth
murder in what has been dubbed the "Child-Hacker"
murder cases. All attempts at getting information
has been rebuked with 'no comments'" The video shot
initially from a helicopter, showing the red pool and
the quickly moving police and agents, changed to show
a few agents quickly moving past reporters to get to
their cars.

Scully swore she saw Mulder pass by the camera, but
she didn't get a good look since the object in
question put his raincoat over his head. She didn't
think it was Mulder, he was on probation just like
she was. If he was taken off, they would have
notified her as well.

"Poor dear." Maggie Scully said as she walked back
into the kitchen.

"Hope they catch the bastard." Bill said.

Scully could only nod as she thought about giving
Mulder a call. Something didn't feel right.

**

AD Skinner looked at his watch, 1400 hours. He
hadn't heard or seen Mulder since that morning.
Hopefully the agent had gotten something to eat, but
he doubted that. Skinner knocked on the door and
waited for a response. A minute passed and no
response so Skinner opened the door to a dim room.

The only light came from Mulder's desk lamp. The man
behind the desk didn't seem to notice the intrusion
into his office. If anything, Skinner couldn't even
tell if the man was alive or not. The slight
movements in Mulder's chest were the only proof that
he was still with the living.

Mulder's hands were covering his face, his elbows on
the table. His shirt sleeves were already rolled up,
his tie discarded in a corner of his desk. The
file's contents were scattered over the surface of
the desk. Photos and reports placed sporadically as
if strewn about.

"Agent Mulder." AD Skinner called him, using a
conversational level voice. The man still didn't
move, and Skinner began to wonder where he was.

Mulder's mind was shooting a slide show of images of
the crime scene and victims at a speed that only his
subconscious could view. Images, words, and reports
flew by and were trying to settle themselves into a
pattern. But none came. His mind speed through the
reports again, dictating verbatim what he had read
initially. His eidetic memory throwing images and
words at him that he had only glanced at.

Mulder kept coming back to the word "RUNT." There
was an important significance there. He just
couldn't figure out what it was. He had a few ideas,
but none of them came even close to feeling right.

An image of victim number two flashed in his mind,
and he physically flinched. Victim number two, Jenny
Applesmith. Eight years old, brown hair in pig
tails, beautiful child's face. A copy of his sister
Samantha.

The pattern from victim one and on in term of similar
looks was Emily, Samantha, Emily, Samantha, and now
Emily. The next one, in another week, would be
Samantha. He didn't know if he could survive it. It
didn't matter, he knew he had to. There were little
girls out there that required it.

Mulder felt a hand on his shoulder and he startled
awake, almost as if he had been sleeping. In a daze
he looked around and up, spotting AD Skinner standing
over him with a worried expression on his face. He
automatically straightened and brought back his game
face.

"What have you got agent?" Skinner asked, noticing
that there would be no use seeing if his agent had
all his senses. That was something that only Scully
seemed to be able to do, but she wasn't here.

'Whose fault is that?' Skinner's mind reeled at him.

"Something's been puzzling me here sir. Why Samantha
and Emily, why them? Of all the children out there,
this is too much of a coincidence. Is that smoking
bastard behind this?" Mulder said, his voice going
from calm to barely restrained rage. He looked
straight at the AD, challenging him to answer.

"As far as I know, this is not even related to that
man. I'm as clueless as to what's happening as you."
Skinner replied, not backing an inch.

Mulder stared hard at the man, trying to find any
signs of betrayal or untruth. He found none. What
he saw instead were the eyes of a tired soul, having
fought and seen too much. Mulder dropped his gaze,
his shoulders slumped, and he leaned against his
table.

"I don't understand it then. This has got to be a
straight attack or threat against Scully and me. No
one else knows of Emily or Samantha, besides those
associated with us. What type of sick game is this?"
Mulder ran his hands over his face, scrubbing it as
if he was washing it. "Then, there's that written
message at each seen. 'RUNT.' That doesn't
correlate to any of this. The message of the victim
choice is plain and simple; it's going after us. But
the written message isn't. It doesn't match!"

"Perhaps the killer was calling the victims runts."
Skinner replied, sitting in Scully's chair. He saw
Mulder flinch.

"No, that doesn't make sense either. The victim's
weren't that small for their age. Calling them runts
would imply that they were much smaller than their
supposed size. Let's go over the victim's again."
Mulder answered, despite his best efforts he already
looked tired. He sat in his chair and placed his
elbows on the table and clasping his hands in front
of his face.

"Victim one. Sharon Pluconch, eight years old, found
gutted at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring,
Maryland. She was walking home from school with
friends. Friends say that when they turned a corner
she had disappeared. They didn't see anyone,
anything, or hear anything. She just disappeared.
Only to be found dead one day later, not far from
where she was missing. Her stomach ripped, carved
out, all intestinal organs left in the open. Slash
marks left by what can only be described as some
animal's claw and teeth along her appendages. The
word 'RUNT' written in her blood along the rocks
surrounding her. She looked like Emily.

"Victim two. Jenny Applesmith, nine years old, found
gutted as well in the woods alongside North Glebe
Road in Arlington, Virginia. Found a week after
previous victim. She was having a birthday party,
just turned nine. Went to the bathroom, when people
heard glass breaking and the girl's cries. By the
time they got the door open, they found the bay
window in the bathroom smashed and blood smears along
the wall. Autopsy reports same as previous victim.
'RUNT' was written in her blood on the trunk of one
of the bigger trees. She looked like Samantha.

"Victim three. Crystal McCloud, seven years old,
found gutted along Maryland's side of Great Falls.
She had been walking home from school with her
mother. Mother reports being grabbed and violently
thrown into a tree where she was knocked unconscious.
When she woke up, her daughter was missing. Victim's
body found a day later splattered on the rocks by the
river. More bruising done to her body than previous
victims, as if she was bashed against the rocks.
Neighbors living around the area reported a strange
howl the previous night. 'RUNT' was written in her
blood on the rocks around her. She looked like
Emily.

"Victim four. Megan Olsten, eight years old, found
gutted and speared on the horns of the Triceratops
outside of the Smithsonian. She had been sitting in
the car at night, while her mother went into the
grocery store. The doors were locked, but people
around heard the window smashed as well as the girl's
cries. No one saw anything though, they said it
happened too fast. When bystanders got to the car,
they just saw the smashed window and drops of blood.
She was found a day later. Same damage report as
previous victim, more than the first two. And the
spearing. The word 'RUNT' was written in her blood
on the Triceratops. She looked like Samantha.

"Victim five. Janet Greene, eight years old, found
gutted and half submerged in the reflecting pool in
DC. She had been sleeping in her room. Parents
heard glass and wood breaking as well as the victim
shrieking. When they got to her room, they found the
window literally smashed and blood smears around the
bed and floor. She was found a day later, with the
same level of damage as the first two victims. The
word 'RUNT' was written on the sidewalk next to her.
She looked like Emily."

Skinner watched with sick fascination as Mulder
recited the victim list. He had seen the man go from
strong and firm to weak and tired as he progressed
through the monologue. He had known that the toll
that was being taken on him was great, he just didn't
know it would sap away at his strength so fast.

Mulder's hands were clasped together so hard that his
knuckles and fingers turned white. He needed a
grounding force, he needed something to know he was
still with the here and now, he needed something to
hold him up or else he'd collapse, mentally and
physically. He needed Scully.

There was at least something about the last victim's
capture that he had caught in the photos of the
house. He wasn't sure if Skinner would like what he
was going to say. He wondered if he should say it at
all.

Skinner saw the look on Mulder's face, like he wanted
to say something but was unsure. At this point, he
needed to hear anything possible.

"What is it Mulder?"

Mulder regarded him with a strange look and pressed
on. "The window of the last victim's house. We know
that it was smashed in, but it looks more like
whoever did it was too big to fit through the window.
You see here where the wood from the windowsill
split? That looks like what a shoulder would do if
it was strong enough to break wood."

Skinner's eyes widened, but he remained calm. No one
could do that, but he would hear the man out. This
wouldn't be the first time that his wild ideas were
actually on target. He followed as Mulder continued
his explanation.

"Here is a picture of the outside of the window. See
these marks to the upper left?" Mulder asked waiting
for a confirming nod from Skinner. When he got it he
figured it was time to jump in with what he thought
happened.

"There are five deep penetrating marks on the side
wall of the house. Almost as if something with claws
had held onto the house using it's left hand and
broke through the window with it's right hand and
upper body." Mulder manipulated his hand to make it
look like a clawing gesture. The gesture that seemed
to fit the gash marks on the house. When Mulder saw
that the AD was about to rebuke, he decided to finish
it off with a one-two punch.

"Here are another set of marks as well, these weren't
noted in the report and I don't know why not. I had
them enhanced and they look like footprints. Judging
by the size, it would have to be well over six feet
tall, if not seven."

Damn the man Skinner thought. From the photo
evidence, it seemed to support exactly what Mulder
was saying. But was it possible?

"The evidence seems to fit agent, but there's no man
that can ram through a window with one hand and break
the windowsill. The only possibility is that the
wood was rotten."

"Nope. I checked, the family built the house two
years ago. The wood was sturdy."

"Jesus." Skinner whispered as he sat back in the
chair.

Mulder's phone rang and they were both startled.
Mulder gave a sheepish look and answered the phone.
Skinner watched as a look of excitement and energy
went over Mulder's face before hung the phone up.

Mulder grabbed his jacket and headed to the door,
"Sir, I gave the Gunmen a sample of the hair fiber
from the scene this morning. They got something
really strange. I'll check back in with you when I
find out what it is."

Skinner got up and nodded as he watched Mulder almost
run to the elevator. He was beginning to wonder if
he should bring Scully in.

**

The man stood in the pouring rain, his dark hair
matted to his face and his cigar long put out.
Everyone gave him his way, not getting anywhere close
to him. The man emanated danger and anger.

Logan was pissed. He'd been tracking the killer's
trail for the past few hours. He had to backtrack a
few times in order to pick up the killer's scent.
Logan sniffed the rain-drenched air.

"Flamin' Hell!" He cursed silently and spat out his
wet cigar. Logan clenched his fists and stared into
the Potomac River. It appeared that the killer had
leapt off the edge into the river. He had read the
paper, Sabretooth had been on a killing spree. Five
children brutally slaughtered. Definitely
Sabretooth's style.

His nails dug into his palm, a trail of blood
streamed out and mingled with the rainwater, diluting
it into a pink stain as it hit the concrete. His
fist unclenched and the blood stopped flowing. The
cuts healed instantly, without scars.

Logan looked into the sky, feeling the rain pelt his
face. He turned abruptly around and headed to his
Harley. He needed to back track again. This time,
he was going to go to the house that this girl was
taken from. He had seen it on the news as he was
passing the streets. He'd track Sabretooth down and
then he'd kill him.

As he started his Harley the rain slowly came to a
stop. Logan smiled an angry smile. Oh yes, things
were starting to go his way and Sabretooth was gonna
be in a world o'hurt real soon.

A few minutes later Logan parked his Harley a few
blocks away from the house. He would walk around
here and wait till it got dark before he'd take a
better look around.

**

Mulder stared in stark fascination at what the Gunmen
had to shown and told him. "A mutant?"

"Yeah, you see here." Frohicke said as he tapped the
screen, pointing to a strand of DNA. "That's the
normal human DNA strand, but if you look at this
screen you see the DNA from the hair strand. There's
some mutated factor in there."

"Is it branched DNA?"

"Nope, it's completely different." Byers remarked.
"This is natural. The mutation is a normal growth of
the DNA"

"What you have here Mulder." Langly piped in, "Is a
real mutant."

"Kinda like your flukeman." Frohicke snickered.

Mulder just grimaced when he remembered the creature.
"Let's hope not."

Mulder leaned against a table and began thinking.
"Could you guys print and sort everything you guys
found. I want proof evidence on paper."

"Not a prob Mulder." Langly said as he sat down in
front of the terminal and starting typing and
clicking away.

"Any way of telling what this mutation is?" Mulder
asked hopefully, his lower lip captured between his
thumb and index finger.

"Sorry Mulder. That's impossible for us to figure
out. I don't think anyone can tell you either."
Byers remarked.

"Make another set and you guys keep it for safe
storage. I'll take this set. Thanks again guys."
Mulder said as he took the folder of information and
headed out.

As Mulder was driving back to the office he noticed
that it was dark and that it had stopped raining.
Making a quick decision he headed for the Greene's
house. They had temporarily moved to Mr. Greene's
parents' house. The house was under protection from
the DC cops. He wanted to take a look around the
house and a close look at those marks.

Mulder pulled outside of the house and showed his ID
to the stationed cops. They waved him through as he
went into the building. He walked into Janet
Greene's room and closed the door behind him.

Slowly walking around this child's room he took in
the pastel colors that were muted by the darkness.
Mulder didn't bother to turn the lights on. The
killer came at night, he wanted to see through the
killers' eyes. But he couldn't. He couldn't grasp
what this killer wanted. To strike at Scully and
himself, if so then why did he write 'RUNT'?

Images of Janet Greene filtered through his mind as
he touched things in her room. He touched a teddy
bear that was lying at the foot of her bed and an
image of Janet Greene's blood stained eyes staring
into the sky came into his mind. He felt the cotton
sheets of her bed and the image of Janet's torn and
bloody dress danced before his eyes. After a while,
Mulder could see nothing but her dead eyes staring at
him and the red tinged pool of water. He sat down on
her soft bed and put his head in his hands. Slow
tears born from decades of pain began to flow down
his cheeks.

God he needed Scully here. He lifted his face up and
stared outside. There was a chill wind that swept
through the broken window. The breeze wrapped around
him like a blanket, hovering over him, soothing away
the heat of hurt. Mulder shivered.

Mulder felt so lonely and useless right now. He
couldn't get a handle of this killer and he was
staring at dead Samantha's and Emily's everywhere.
Flashes of his Samantha and Scully's Emily came to
haunt him. Slowly those images began to distort into
distraught faces of the two girls screaming at him in
pain. The last image that came into his mind were
both Samantha's and Emily's dead eyes looking at him
accusingly.

Mulder rushed to the bathroom and emptied what little
he had in his stomach.

**

Logan sat watching the child's house from the roof of
a neighbor. He could still smell Sabretooth's
lingering sent here, as well as the girl's. He
didn't know what he had expected to find here, but he
needed to be here.

A cold biting wind hit him in his face. Logan closed
his eyes and smelled it. Fresh grass, dew drops, and
earth. So much like his home, so much like Canada.
Canada's winds were wilder, colder, and fiercer.
That was his one true home, no where else. He didn't
know how long he had lived, he didn't even know his
full name or where and when he was born, but he knew
that no matter where he had lived Canada was his
home. His first memories were of Canada. Memories
he knew to be real and not the implanted memories
that have been forced into his mind without his
knowing.

Logan opened his eyes as he heard the front door
open. From his view point he could only see the back
of the house, but the front door had a greaseless
squeak to it. His heightened senses allowed him to
hear the man exit the house. He heard each and every
foot step.

He saw the man walk unsteadily to the rear of the
house. Logan crouched down even further and took a
sniff. The man smelled of sunflower seeds, leather,
sadness, and pain. The man's face was pale and Logan
could smell the faint hint of bile coming from him.
The man looked up at the window, searching. He
looked down on the ground and all around him. He
then popped a flashlight out and pointed it at the
claw marks that Sabretooth had left. He fixated on
that for a while.

Suddenly the man turned around, flashing his light
about. Almost searching.

'Smart man aren't-cha bub?' Logan thought to himself.

**

AD Skinner was sitting at his desk, another late
night trying to sort the mess that this case was
bringing out. He looked at his watch and then at the
phone. It was 20:35, he hadn't heard at all from
Mulder. He reached for the phone to call Mulder's
cell when his phone went off.

"Skinner." He responded abruptly after he recovered
from the startle.

"AD Skinner, it's Agent Scully sir." The voice at
the other end replied. Skinner could tell that she
wasn't too happy. Shit.

Skinner put on his brusque AD voice and responded,
"Agent Scully I thought you were on probation?"

"Sir, I've been trying to get in contact with Agent
Mulder since this morning, around noon your time. I
haven't been able to reach him in his office, at
home, or on his cell. I called the Gunmen up and
they were telling me that he was working a case. Not
on his own, but one that was official. When did
Agent Mulder get pulled off probation and why wasn't
I told about this?" Scully's voice, quiet yet
deadly, answered.

Skinner sighed, damnit. He had been expecting this.
He just had hoped it would happen later. His voice
softened. "Scully, I pulled Mulder off of probation
this morning. There was another victim and the
director made it clear that in no uncertain terms
Mulder was to be put on the case."

"Fine, but why wasn't I notified?" Scully rebuked,
she wasn't backing down. Of course he didn't expect
her to.

Skinner paused, he might as well bring her in the
fold. It might prove useful to Mulder, but he
wondered if she could handle the situation. "Agent
Scully, I did not deem it necessary at the moment to
bring you into the matter at hand. Agent Mulder
agreed with me when we had discussed this." Skinner
paused for a brief second. Did he just implement
Mulder into the fault department? Damn! Oh well.
"There were certain matters that pertain to this case
that made me question both yours and Mulder's
usefulness."

"With all do respect sir…" Scully tried to
interject. She was angry now. Mulder had agreed
with him not to inform her? What was it about this
case that they felt the need to protect her?

"Agent Scully." Skinner began again. "At this
moment, it is my intention to pull you from your
probation as well. When can you get here?"

"I've already booked a flight for tonight. I'll be
there in the morning."

"Meet me at eleven am Agent Scully." Before Skinner
could even say anything else the line went dead.

'Well, that didn't go so bad.' Skinner thought with
a grimace.

**

Logan decided that he had spent enough time here. He
needed to get on Sabretooth's trail before another
girl died. Dropping from his spot on the roof he
stalked to his Harley. Starting it up he peeled out
and decided it was time to find a place to hide his
ride.

After he had stashed his Harley under some dense
foliage, Logan donned his other persona. He pulled
the cowl over his face and adjusted the yellow and
blue skintight costume. Logan was now Wolverine,
member of the X-Men and the best at what he did.

Wolverine headed into the woods, following the trail
that Sabretooth had made before he had captured the
girl. He needed to find his hide out.

Two hours passed and Wolverine was deep in the
Northern Virginian woods, Sabretooth's scent kept on
going. Wolverine had stopped because he saw a
campfire 50 yards in front of him. Crouching down he
approached the campsite in complete silence, looking
like a large predatory cat stalking its dinner.

He watched the four men sitting at the campfire
drinking beer and laughing. They look like they
hadn't showered in days and they all had weapons
slapped to them. Wolverine sniffed them. Blood,
dirt, and evil. This did not bode well.

One of the men stood up and finished his beer in a
single swig. "Bring the bitch out here Scott!" The
man bellowed.

A fifth man dragged a near naked woman from a tent,
while she kicked and screamed. Wolverine growled.
He smelled the blood and dirt on her. He saw the
blood pouring from some of the wounds on her body.
He bared his fangs and patiently waited.

The man that had initially spoken took the woman and
slammed her to the ground. He pinned her hands above
her head and with his other hand he felt her body.
Wolverine didn't want to give himself away, didn't
want Sabretooth to know he was after him. He didn't
have a choice, he couldn't let this woman alone.
Growling softly he crawled into a better position.

The woman was struggling fiercely, tears streaming
down her face. The pain of her body was nothing
compared to the humiliation and pain that the man's
hands felt as he ran it over her body. She kept
kicking and fighting and when she felt his hands grip
the torn fabric of her jeans she tried even harder.

In the next second she heard a SNICKT and felt wet
drops hit her face. She looked up and saw that there
were two protruding blades that were sticking out
from each side of the man's neck. The blades cut him
enough to make him bleed. The man's face had gone
into shock.

"Leave the lady be bub. I ain't gonna repeat myself.
You and your boys best be leavin' or else you ain't
gonna be able to." A deep growling voice came from
behind the man.

The man began to get up slowly but suddenly jumped
forward only to fall back down holding his neck.
Both sides of it were cut deeply now and blood was
pouring out.

"God damn fucker! I'm gonna kill you!" The man
raged as he made a grab for his gun. The guy's other
friends all went for their weapons and brought them
pointing at Wolverine.

Wolverine slowly walked away from the woman, and she
saw the two blades protruding from the back of his
right hand.

"I'm giving you one more chance. Put your guns down
and leave. No more blood need be shed." Wolverine
growled.

"I don't know what you're thinking crazy man! We're
the ones with the guns. What the hell you dressin'
up for? Halloween?" The guy named Scott was yelling.

"…Gonna kill you asshole!" The man with the bleeding
neck raged and pulled the trigger.

The woman mustered her strength and hid behind a
tree, coming out to look at the fight. She new that
the crazy guy with the costume was going to loose.
Two knives against five guns? What she next saw
would stay with her for the rest of her life.

After the man had pulled the trigger she could have
sworn that she saw the costumed guy jump straight in
the air. With another resounding sound of SNICKT a
third blade, identical to the others, joined the two
nine-inch long blades. His left hand sprang three
more blades and then the costume guy came down on the
first man. A downward swipe of his right claw and
the man's hands were separated from his body, and
then a quicksilver frenzy of swipes and that man was
gutted and lying on the ground.

The other men stared in horror before they all began
to shoot at the same time, blasting blindly and
running away. The lady watched the costume guy
crouch a little, his muscles rippling in his legs for
less than a second before he sprang into the air with
claws extended. He leapt at one of the men and
twisted in mid-air to avoid a bullet and rolled right
in front of the man. The costumed man's arms swept
out in front of him and literally took the man's legs
from under him. The man's howl of pain was quickly
silenced by a set of claws thrust into his heart.

The costume man twisted and ran amazingly fast before
jumping at a tree. Before he collided with it, he
flipped and his feet made the connection with the
tree. The costumed man spring boarded off the tree
and hurled himself into the air, flipping over
another of the guys who was shooting wildly at him.
As the costumed guy came down behind the man he spun
in a circle and his claws lashed out. The costumed
man landed on his feet, his stance amazingly low,
while that gunner had fallen, his back a shredded
mutilation hanging from his skeleton.

From his crouch positioned he charged wordlessly at
the other man. The man was running away shooting
backwards as he went. The lady watched in awe as the
costumed guy ran faster than the gunner and over took
him. Once he was ahead he spun and did a swift round
house kick. She heard a sickening crunch as she saw
the gunner's head snap in the oddest fashion.

The last man was standing there, his pants soaked
with his own urine, pulling the trigger on his gun
repeatedly in hopes of hitting his target. The woman
watched as the costume man sprang onto a tree and
jumped from branch to branch like an acrobat before
nose diving at the gunner. The next thing she knew
the gunner had dropped to the ground.

Everything had happened in just a few seconds.

She stared in fear and fascination as the costumed
man flicked his wrists and the blood that was on his
blades slid right off. Another SNICKT and the
blades were gone. The man looked at her and began to
walk forward. The woman panicked and was looking for
a way to escape.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya darlin'." The costume man
said as he stopped five feet away from her.

She took a close look at the man now and noticed his
stature. He was short but heavily built, and hairy.
He was probably five feet three and very well
muscled. He extended a gloved hand that amazingly as
it seemed was free of blood.

"Come on darlin', let's find you some cloths and get
you back to civilization." The man's warm voice
said.

Hesitantly she took his hand and stood up, towering
over him. He didn't seem to care as he started to
rummage through the tents for some cloths. They
started walking once she felt warm enough. The man
took a tent and some supplies in a pack and hefted it
over his shoulder easily.

"We ain't gonna reach any transportation or towns for
another 3 hours of hard hikin'. We're gonna get away
from this mess and make camp so you can rest up.
We'll go back in the mornin'." The man said.

The lady shook her head, not really even knowing what
to do. She was afraid of him, but she felt at ease
enough to follow him.

"Who… Who are you?" The lady asked quietly.

"The name's Wolverine darlin'." The man said as he
was walking along side her.

"Je… Jessica." The woman's horse voice replied.
"What about those men?"

"Bears'll be hungry, they can get a snack."

A pair of golden eyes peered from the treetops
downwind of the pair. An evil smile plastered itself
across its face.

"Logan my boy, how nice to see you." The voice
chuckled softly. "I think it's time to speed things
up."

**

11:00AM

Scully quickly parked her car in the Bureau garage
and headed straight for AD Skinner's office.
She had been hoping to see if Mulder was in the
office but since she was late she didn't have a
choice.

Reaching the outer office to the AD she spotted Kim.
"The AD's waiting. You can go in Agent Scully." Kim
said, her voice belaying a profound sadness that
befuddled Scully.

Scully opened the door and looked inside. The room
was darker than normal; she automatically looked in
the corner to see if CGB Spender was sitting there.
She let out a breath of relief before she knew it and
entered the room.

Skinner was behind his desk facing the window, his
back to her. Scully cleared her throat and the AD
turned around. Scully was shocked. His normal
appearance of stern leadership was replaced with a
tired and almost fragile one. The dark bags under
his eyes told of even his lack of sleep. Good lord,
what of Mulder then? But Mulder was only on this for
a day, he couldn't be that bad off.

"Have a seat Agent Scully." Even his voice was
tired. Scully complied, realizing that she was
holding her breath waiting for the Skinner to bring
whatever horrible news that had occurred since she
had phoned the previous night.

"Sir?"

"There's been another one." The AD said as he took
his glasses off to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Another one sir? So soon?" Scully said quietly.

"She isn't a body yet, she was taken from her home
last night. We initially didn't think that it was
our man; he had a one-week interval. To take one so
quickly just doesn't make sense. This is a drastic
change. After we took a look at the scene, Mulder
was sure it was our guy. This time though, he didn't
bother coming through the window." Skinner paused
here, putting his glasses down and rubbed the space
just above his eyes.

Scully waited, something else had happened.

"He slaughtered the whole family." Scully gasped.
"This… This thing barreled through the ceiling of the
house into the master bedroom and gutted the parents.
He crashed through the wall into the children's
bedroom and killed their eight-year-old son. He
grabbed the eight year old girl from her room and
escaped by creating a hole the size of a tank through
the wall."

Scully sat stunned, her breath caught in her throat.
What kind of monster could do all that damage? But,
with that much damage then there must have been trace
evidence.

Scully looked at Skinner, "There must have been
prints or blood marks. Something that the killer had
left." It almost came out as a plea.

Skinner nodded his head. "Yes, there were
fingerprints and bloodstains left at the scene.
They're the same fingerprints that are left at all
the scenes. It matches none of any databases. We've
run it through everything."

Skinner got up, "Scully, let's go down to see
Mulder." He grabbed his jacket.

Scully got up, a questioning look on her face.

"Mulder knows something. He's afraid to tell me what
he knows, but he knows something… and, he needs you
Scully." With that Skinner left the office, not
waiting to see if Scully was to follow.

Arriving at the door to their office, Scully was
stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Scully…" Skinner said, a warning. He didn't need
to go further. There was something that was beyond
that door that was going to shock and scare her.
Taking a deep breath and holding it, it seemed she
was doing that so many times just this morning, and
opened the door.

There was darkness in the room. At first they didn't
think that anyone was there but they heard a light
breathing sound. The only light that permeated the
dark was the ambient hallway light that peered
through the door.

Scully raised her hand to the light switch only to be
stopped by Skinner's whisper.

"Leave it off. I don't want to freak him out."

Scully rustled out a small flash light from her
trench coat pocket and dimly set it about the room.
The desk lamp was on the floor, broken and looking as
if it had been flung there. Mulder's desk was
littered with case files and paper. Nothing else
seemed to look in disarray.

The door suddenly slammed shut and both Skinner and
Scully spun around, both reaching for their weapons.
Scully shined the flashlight in the direction of the
door, but saw nothing.

"There isn't anything that you can do when it's
dark." Mulder's disembodied voice echoed through the
room. "Turn the light off Scully."

"Mulder…" Scully replied, her hand still on her gun.

"Turn the light off Scully."

Scully switched the light off and unsnapped her
holster's strap, freeing the gun. Skinner already had
the gun out and at his side, his safety off but
within a thumb's reach. There was silence and as they
waited their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Shapes
slowly formed, black outlines upon black space filled
the dark emptiness that was originally there.

They suddenly saw a shape move from their left.
Mulder had been crouching in a corner and he slowly
walked right in front of them.

"What are we Scully?" Mulder said as he slowly backed
toward his desk. "We live on and on, our life
seemingly steady as we perch ourselves at the top of
the pyramid. Look at this situation. You had your
guns, your flashlights, and yet you were at a
disadvantage."

Mulder sat down in his chair, not bumping into
anything as he had walked. As if he could see in the
dark. As if he had been in the dark for a while.

"What about those girls Scully?"

Scully and Skinner flinched when he flicked on the
monitor as it brought a sudden bright blue glow into
the room. They both flinched when they saw Mulder's
face. It was drawn, tired, and totally emotionless.
It was like looking at a stone statue. His eyes were
closed, and they saw nothing but hollow pits of
darkness.

"Mulder?" Scully asked as she slowly edged toward her
partner, her hand resting away from her body, no
longer touching her gun. She tried to look as
unthreatening as possible.

"What about those girls Scully?" Mulder's eyes
finally opened. The glimmering reflection from the
monitor highlighted across his pupils. "What about
them?"

"Mulder, we're going to find them. We're going to
save them." Scully said as she got to his side and
touched his forearm.

"Mulder, we're going to turn the lights on now."
Scully said softly as she gestured Skinner.

The lights came on and Mulder clasped his hands in
front of his eyes. He rubbed them as they became
focused and the light didn't hurt.

"How long have you been in the dark Mulder?" Scully
asked.

"Not long." Mulder said as he looked at the both of
them through his blood shot eyes.

"Scully, there's something about this case that you
need to be made aware of before we proceed." Mulder
said as he gathered the files and photos. He left
the file and photo of the most recent girl out on
purpose. Mulder handed them to Scully to look
through.

Scully had wanted to talk to Mulder more about what
had happened, but thought that maybe later would be
better. Scully opened the folder, and sucked her
breath in. All thoughts fled from her mind. The
color drained from her face and she felt the tight
constricting in her throat that signaled a need to
vomit. She tried to say something but her lips moved
without any sound coming from them.

"They look like Emily and Samantha." Mulder said
gently, his voice offering support for her as she
bravely looked through the folder.

"The girl that was just taken today?" Scully asked,
her chin stuck slightly out and her jaw set.

Mulder handed the file for the new girl over to
Scully, a Samantha look a like.

"Ann Parker, age eight. She was forcefully abducted
from her home late last night, her parents and twin
brother killed. Something happened to the killer last
night. Something that made him speed his time table
up tremendously. We don't know if he's going to keep
her for a week before he kills her, or if he's going
to stay on target for this and kill her in 24… now
only 8 hours away." Mulder said as he assumed his
FBI persona and pushed all emotion to the side.

Skinner decided to voice his concern at this moment.
"Mulder, what happened to you a few moments ago, were
you thinking through the child?"

Mulder nodded. "I couldn't get the feeling of the
killer, and I knew we were running out of time."
Mulder flushed a little. "I got amazingly upset and
started to throw things around. Before I knew it,
the whole room was trashed, save for Scully's area."
Mulder flushed even more, but quickly stamped down on
it. Scully flushed as well.

"When I saw the destruction, something hit me. I felt
fear, almost like what that girl must have been
feeling last night. I saw familiar things destroyed,
things I cherished broken, and didn't understand why.
Scully, sir, I think that the killer is waiting for
someone. Someone he calls 'RUNT'. It could be his
accomplice; it could be anything or anyone. I'm not
sure what but I'm sure that there's someone else."

Scully was about to ask how he knew that, but Mulder
put a hand up. He handed over another file to her.

"There's more. In that file you'll see data gathered
from hair and blood sample that was taken off the
killer. Notice anything Scully?" Mulder asked,
folding his hands in front of him.

Skinner tried to look over Scully's shoulder but all
he could see was Scully's shocked expression.

"This… this is impossible." Scully babbled.

Mulder shook his head, "No it's not Scully. I had
the boys run it and then I had the FBI run their
tests as well. Both came back with the same data.
Not only is this killer a mutant, but also from what
the tests shows he can heal very fast. Abnormally
fast. They couldn't fathom how fast that would be in
the macro world, but when in the micro world, the
damaged cells healed instantly. What if Scully,
what if this guy is nature's answer to the next
predator? He's fast, amazingly strong, deadly, and
can heal from wounds amazingly fast. He would make
the perfect killing and hunting machine."

Scully shook her head, not quite believing it, even
though everything was recorded right in front of her.

Mulder got frustrated, everything was right there and
she still wouldn't or couldn't see it. "Scully, it's
all there! Solid scientific proof that a mutation is
on the loose…" Mulder didn't get to finish as his
cell phone rang.

Frantically searching for his jacket in the wrecked
office, he finally shouted in silent triumph as he
found his phone.

"Mulder." Skinner and Scully watched Mulder's face
almost glow with excitement.

"Where?" Pause as Mulder pulled his jacket on.
"We'll be right there!"

"Agent Mulder?" Skinner asked as he and Scully stood
up.

"That was the K-9 unit. They've tracked the killer's
scent to the North Virginian woods." Mulder answered
as the ran out the door, Skinner and Scully behind
him.

In the car, Skinner was driving; he wasn't going to
let a man that practically had a nervous breakdown a
few moments ago behind a 3-ton vehicle.

Mulder's energy was palpable. He had caught the
questioning looks from both Scully and Skinner. "I
remembered having watched this really cheesy ninja
movie a long time ago. A line in the movie sprang
into my mind. 'Only a ninja can kill a ninja.' I
played a hunch and got the K-9's involved. The dogs
were growling and howling when they took a whiff at
the house. The trainers said that they smelled
danger. I told the trackers to give me a call if the
trail went cold or if they were going to find
something. They're call back there? Well, they're at
the edge of the Northern Virginian woods. The
trail's still strong and the tracks almost look
fresh, and they found bodies."

"What?" Skinner bellowed.

Mulder and Scully looked in shock as Skinner
frantically reached into his coat pocket with one
hand and flipped open his cell phone.

"Agent Kelly? This is AD Skinner, I need you to call
the team together. Mulder just got information about
where the killer might be. I want swat, heavily
armed and heavily protected, as well as a fresh set
of dogs. Yes dogs. Agent Mulder will tell you where
to meet, and this is to happen yesterday." Skinner
handed the phone over to Mulder.

Mulder relayed the information over the other agent
on the phone as Scully sat back and began reading the
files, trying to ignore the fact that three of the
girls looked so much like her's.

**

Wolverine stood up, his nose sniffing at the smells
carried by the wind. Something was wrong. The woods
had suddenly quieted down, almost as if a predator
had walked into its mist. He had woken at dawn that
morning and had hoped to start walking back to town
with the lady. When he took a look at her, she was
burning with fever and couldn't even get up. He had
left her to track down a stream and brought water
back to keep her hydrated. She woke up a few hours
later, barely able to walk and he had carried her on
his back, but even then she needed to take rests.
They needed to find a doctor fast.

"Sabretooth." Wolverine growled quietly as he caught
a familiar scent, but his anger increased when he
smelled fruit, candy, and innocence. Sabretooth had
another little girl with him.

"Well, well boy'o. Ain't this a pleasure?" A deep
voice laughed from Wolverine's left.

Wolverine turned around, his eyes narrowing at the
site of the bloodied girl. She didn't seem too
injured. She mostly had some cuts and bruises.
Wolverine looked at Sabretooth, the man was sneering
his left hand out stretched holding the little girl.
Sabretooth was six foot six inches tall, blonde
haired, built as savagely powerful as his namesake.
The man had claws instead of fingernails. The man
had been his enemy since his most vivid memory, there
was blood that needed to be repaid between the two.

"Leave the girl be Sabretooth. We got a score to
settle, let's finish it and leave these people be."
Wolverine's growl depended, his hands in a tight
fisted ball. He couldn't make a move or Sabretooth
would slash the girl's throat without a second
thought.

"Boy, this ain't about us this time. I'm here on a
mission and I intend to finish it." Sabretooth
responded teasingly as he ran a claw against the
girl's forearm, a small trail of blood spilling out
as the girl cried out.

SNICKT

Wolverine's claws unsheathed themselves from his
hand. His body trembled with a red haze rage.

"CREED!" Wolverine raged as he crouched low in an
almost cat like stance. His fangs visible and his
claws ready for a taste of blood.

Sabretooth's eyes gleamed and narrowed, as he tasted
the girl's blood from his claw. "Tastes awfully
young Logan." He said as his voice increased and in
one motion threw the girl to the side, directly at a
tree.

Wolverine sprang from his couch, hurling himself in
the direction the girl was headed. Sabretooth
flipped into the air and as the two men met at the
girl, Wolverine sheathed the claws in his left hand
and grabbed her against his body. At the same time
Sabretooth made a deep slash into Wolverine's back as
he arched over him.

Both men landed, Wolverine crouched low his left arm
cradling the girl to his chest and his right arm
poised ready. His healing factor already kicking in
and the wound was closing, but it didn't make it any
less painful. Sabretooth stood up and dragged his
tongue across his claws. Sabretooth sported a wicked
grin.

"Tasty as ever runt."

**

A storm of dark armor clad men and women assembled
along the edge of the woods. A van setup with
sat.com dishes on its roof stood close by. A group
of ten men, each heavily armed and each had a dog
strapped to a leash.

"The trail leads straight in there, the tracks look
relatively fresh only a few hours old. We could
catch up 15 minutes to an hour if we press hard
enough." A man said as he sat in a squad car. The
men that had been tracking the trail since that
morning were taking a break, their dogs tired,
thirsty, and hungry.

The group of them walked carefully into the forest
towards the campsite where the initial trackers had
found the bodies. The walk had been quiet, the swat
team on guard as they went in and the dogs were
sniffing around going in separate directions.

"Jesus." One of the swat members whispered as they
found the five dead and slaughtered bodies at the
campsite.

"Looks like they were shooting at something. They're
missing rounds." Another swat member said as he
squatted over one of the dead men.

Skinner looked around, he hadn't seen anything like
this time of hack job in any serial murder case
before. He looked over at Mulder to gauge the man's
reaction.

Mulder noticed Skinner's stare, "This is different,
this isn't our man."

"Mulder, take a look at this." Scully said as she
pointed to one of the dead men. "The victims this
morning had slash marks that looked like claws from
an animal. There were deep penetrating and one weak
penetrating wound at each slash. Here, we're looking
at blades and not claws. These blades are also in a
set of three and they're longer than the claws that
were used."

"AD Skinner!" One of the agents with the dogs
called.

"Yes." Skinner said as he walked up to him, Mulder
and Scully following behind him.

"We got two scents. One that the earlier team picked
up never reached this campsite; it's around this
campsite but never in it. The other sent that was
picked up headed North from here. Sir, the trail
that the morning team had been following, looks like
it would have intercepted this new trail as well."

Skinner nodded. He got the attention of the other
group members. "We got possible lead onto the suspect
or suspects. The dogs go in first, the rest of us
will be weaving through with no more than fifteen
feet between people. I want weapons ready, evidence
shows that this guy is big and strong but do not and
I repeat do not fire first. Stay within radio
communication, the dogs will tell us where to go.
Keep your eyes open people."

Skinner faced a man that was standing next to him.
"You got point behind the dogs Agent Wong."

The man nodded and rounded up his troops. Giving out
his orders as he needed.

Mulder and Scully approached Skinner. "Sir?" Scully
asked.

Skinner looked at them, "Fifteen?" Mulder asked.

"We're tracking one or possibly two suspects. With
this many people I want a close knit unit so that we
can collapse upon each other in case we're ambushed."
Skinner said as he listened in as well to what Agent
Wong was telling the rest of the group. Skinner
looked back at his two agents. "That's Agent David
Wong, one of the best swat leaders out there. He did
black ops in 'Nam."

Skinner looked deeply into the woods. "He knows
jungle warfare like no other man I've ever seen. I
trust him." Skinner remembered a back at the war
where he saw a Chinese man disappear and reappear in
the jungle, taking down enemy after enemy as if he
knew exactly where they were.

The trio looked at the assembled group of swat
members as they heard the last bit of information
from Agent Wong.

"I want radio silence, but communications on. Leave
the channel open for the dogs. Break silence only if
you spot anything of importance." Agent Wong turned
towards Skinner. "Sir, you along with Agent Mulder,
and Agent Scully will be behind us. We'll cover your
sides, keep up with us because were gonna be pushing
hard and fast."

Skinner nodded as he readied the weapon he had
grabbed from the swat vehicle. Checking the M-16, he
patted in confirmation of the three other magazines
that were tucked into his suit belt. He, Mulder, and
Scully were the only ones out there that were
unprotected in SWAT armor.

Mulder and Scully checked and cocked their side arms,
keeping the safety on. They wanted to keep light and
not be clumsier with accessories. Speed was their
importance.

The agents with the dogs went in first, the dogs
pushing against their leashes, growling silently.
Agent Wong and his troop spread out in the woods,
forming a trapezoid with no gaps larger than fifteen
feet. Mulder and Scully looked as Agent Wong
communicated with his team by hand gestures, leaving
the radio free for the dog team.

Their pace was relentless, as they pushed into the
woods. Every once in a while Agent Wong would point
to a blood stain on a branch or leaves, leaving the
agents to worry if the little girl was alright.

An hour into their trek they heard an inhuman roar
and sounds of two animals fighting, when suddenly
everything went silent.

**

(10 minutes before…)

The majority of Wolverine's costume was slashed and
blood stained, an assortment of deep cuts were
stilling bleeding and healing as he was crouched
facing Sabretooth. One of his knees rested on the
ground as he tried to catch his breath. He was
tired, trying to assault Sabretooth as well as defend
the little girl was beginning to tire him out. A
deep gash in his chest kept bleeding as his
peripheral vision told him that the girl was still
there hugging the tree and crying. The lady he had
rescued from the previous night was lying besides
that tree in a semi conscious daze, her fever taking
hold of her.

Sabretooth glared at his bloody enemy. Sabretooth's
own brown, orange, and yellow costume looked like it
had been in the blender. He had wounds that were
healing as well but his left arm was almost hacked
off by a swipe from Wolverine's claws. He was
ignoring the pain as he felt his arm heal back up,
tissue mending, bone rebuilding, and veins merging
back together.

Wolverine was too tired, the blood was seeping too
fast out and his total damage was beginning to way on
his healing factor. His body wanted to slip into a
healing coma so that it could heal fast. He needed
to get Sabretooth out of the picture and fast. He
was desperate and he let the bloodlust and anger
build in him. He let his humanity go as he welcomed
the animal that he always tried to hide inside and
the berserker rage that was within him.

Sabretooth saw him slipping into that bestial mode
and smiled. It was time to get serious. The two
combatants launched at each other as a frenzy of
claws and punches were traded. Splatters of blood
and meat flew as the fight progressed. Wolverine's
fighting was now brutal, he didn't follow the method
that his martial arts teacher Ogun had taught him, he
was now fighting as a beast. In so doing, he left
his left leg open and Sabretooth slashed a claw
deeply into it but left his stomach open. Wolverine
plunged all six of his blades all nine inches into
Sabretooth's stomach and began to slice. Sabretooth
howled in pain, lifting the shorter man up and in the
process ripping Wolverine's abdomen as well.

Both men fell kneeling to the ground. Their arms
wrapped around their midsections as they tried to
keep the intestines and stomach from falling out.
Keeping their organs in their body so that their
healing factor could seal their wounds up.
Sabretooth sniffed the air as he was panting and
smelled gunpowder and sweat. Smiling he made a dash
with all his strength to the hillside leaving the
other wounded warrior, the sickened woman, and the
little girl. He had left his trail purposely obvious
so that the law enforcement agents could track him
down, and he brought them straight to Wolverine.

The beast that was Wolverine crouched to the grown,
both knees planted as he gritted in pain. His enemy
had escaped, but it didn't matter now. He had to let
his healing take into affect, and he had two people
to take care of now.

The little girl slowly released the tree when she saw
the thing that had captured her run away. She looked
hesitantly at the costumed man that had been fighting
with it and didn't know if she should be afraid. Her
mind was made up when the man hunched over as blood
poured from his gut wound. She ran over to him.

"Mister, are you al right?" She asked. The man
looked at her and she saw his wounded face slick with
new as well as dried blood. She only got a pitiful
growl in response and she felt sorry for him. The
man's blades were gone now as he tried to hold his
stomach. The girl was suddenly startled as she heard
branches breaking and a voice shout out.

"Step away from the girl! Drop your weapon and step
away from the girl!" A horde of men with weapons had
surrounded them and they looked like those she had
seen on TV. She was about to tell them that the man
was hurt and that he had helped but the beast that
was Wolverine felt threatened.

Wolverine reacted instantly despite the pain. He had
to protect the girl and in as quick a motion as he
could he reached out and grabbed her flinging himself
back against a tree with a thud. He popped the claws
in his other hand, ready to defend himself.

"Holy shit." Someone said.

Agent Wong stepped forward slowly, flanked by six
men, their guns at the ready.

"Put the girl down and step back!" He shouted.

Wolverine's grip tightened on the girl as he kept her
to him, using her as a barrier to hold his stomach's
content in as well as try to protect her from those
around him. He answered them with a growl.

"Shit, this guy isn't human!" Agent Wong heard one
of his team say.

"AD Skinner, I can take a head shot right now. I
have men around him and can grab the girl right
after." Agent Wong said softly into his mic.

Skinner was very hesitant about taking the shot with
the girl in that creature's arm, but they couldn't
afford to loose her. "Ok. Take it!"

Agent Wong was already ready and he lined his shot
up. He heard Mulder protesting in his ear piece but
ignored it. A soft pull on the trigger and the
bullet hit it's mark.

Wolverine's head flew back as the bullet hit him in
his forehead, his arm released the girl and two
agents rushed to grab her while she was repeatedly
screaming, "No, No!"

What shocked the agents were the metal "Ting" they
heard as the bullet hit Wolverine in the head. What
shocked them even more was his head snapping back and
his leaping for the girl.

"Open fire!" Skinner yelled.

A barrage of weapons discharged as a few dozen clips
were emptied into Wolverine's body and punching him
back against a tree. His body slumped down
motionless.

When the echo of the guns cleared, Mulder, Scully,
and Skinner could hear the little girl.

"No! He saved us! He saved us!"

The agents finally saw the sleeping form of the
battered woman and then looked at the lifeless form
against the tree, "Oh God."

--

To be continued in Chapter 2