Kate woke with cotton mouth and a headache. She had been drugged. The memories of what happened were fuzzy. The light on the room was making it difficult to think. Her head pounded without mercy. Suddenly, she felt another mind touch hers and the headache lessened.
Looking around, she found herself tied to a chair. She was decidedly uncomfortable. Her legs and arms were cramping and she had to go to the bathroom.
"Hey," she yelled. "Any one there?"
"What do you need Kate," a familiar voice called out.
"Michael," she asked. "Is that you? Come here and untie me. I need to get out before they come back."
Michael walked out of the shadows. Tall and handsome, he wore an expensive suit and Italian shoes. He exuded power. He was the head of research at BioGen. "They're already here, Kate."
"You're the one responsible for this mess?"
"No dear, you are," he told her. "You procured the test subjects. You are responsible. I'm still wondering how you found so many prepubescent mutants. Powerless as of yet. Most of them never went active but the few that did were very informative, especially post mortem."
"How many did you kill?" she asked through clenched teeth.
"All of them," he informed her. "I couldn't take the chance that someone would believe your claims and come looking for them. I also needed their codes to find a way to kill them. That's the main objective; to find a was to kill them all."
"Are you insane?" she demanded. "Do you realize how many people you're talking about?"
"Doesn't matter. They all have to die. We need to take back our world. It's not like they're human."
"They are human, you fool. They're the next stage of evolution. They're what we're becoming."
"They are not human," he yelled. "They're animals, only fit for experimentation."
He walked to her and leaned down and looked into her eyes.
"Where is the disc?" he asked.
"What disc."
"I know you copied the files. Where is it?"
She remembered Logan's instructions. "I sent it to a friend."
"You don't have a friend. I made sure of that."
She was stunned. This man always presented himself as a kindly supervisor. He had been genuinely sorry when her father was killed. He made sure his staff was happy. Requests were granted so often she had wondered if he was worried that a competitor was going to snatch them away. He wasn't concerned about competitors; he was concerned that they would talk to the police or FBI.
"You ordered the killings," she whispered.
"Of course I did," he told her. "I needed to make sure none of you have any distractions. It is important that this research continue. We must take our world back."
She was stunned. He never showed his bigotry before. She couldn't understand it. How could people think this was after the turmoil of the 1960's?
Haven't we learned our lesson? She thought.
"Where is the disc?" he asked again.
"Bite me," she snarled. "I won't help you spread you're hate."
The hand holding her chin tightened painfully.
"Give her the pentobarbital," he ordered.
A man dressed in a lab coat left the shadows. She recognized him. He was Kevin, her lab assistant. He was also holding a syringe half full of a clear fluid. Swabbing her arm, he injected the fluid.
"Kevin," she gasped at the burn. "Why are you doing this?"
"Don't worry Kate," he smiled. "Just tell him what he wants to know and you'll be fine."
Buzzing filled her head as the drug took effect. Voices blurred and wavered. She lost concentration.
And so, the questioning began.
It went on and on. She had no sense of time passing. She was tired but they refused to allow her to sleep. She was struck several times. Her only thought when that happened was Logan will be angry. She had no idea what she told them.
"What language is she speaking," Kevin asked.
"I have no idea," Michael said angrily. "I've never heard it before."
He was frustrated. She hadn't spoke English for several hours. The only thing they got from her was that Logan would be mad. She obviously didn't know he was dead. The last team assured him of that.
It was getting late. He had a benefit to attend. He ordered Kevin to continue the drugs and questions. Maybe she would slip back into English and give them some idea where the disc was.
Logan watched the man leave. Mystique had let him into the building and left on her rounds. Security was heavy here. Two goons stood outside the lab while five more were on rotating rounds in the halls. He had taken care of the wanderers. Now to take care of the doormen.
Slipping around the corner, he stepped up to the guards and popped his claws. Driving them deep into the chests of both men, the dropped without a sound. Looking through the door he saw the man inside hit Kate with a powerful backhand. Anger faired to life in him. This one will be a pleasure to kill.
With a flash of claws the door opened. The man inside jumped away from Kate with a squeak.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I'm your worst nightmare," Logan told him.
With a flash, he was on him. Logan usually killed with a minimum of effort. A quick thrust to the chest or abdomen and move on. This man was abusing Kate however. Him, Logan carved into small pieces. He walked carefully over the blood slicked floor and slashed the bindings holding Kate to the chair. She was mumbling in a strange language. Logan spoke many tongues. He'd never heard this one before.
"Come on darlin," he said quietly. "Lets get out of here."
He lifted her into his arms and left the room. He mad it back to the entrance where he ran into Mystique holding on to a tall, older man.
"I think you'll want to talk to this one Wolverine," she told him.
He set Kate down on the floor and flashed a warning to Mystique.
"You in charge of the hell hole?" he asked.
"And just who the hell are you," the man asked defiantly.
"Names Logan,' he told him. "You've been trying to kill us?"
The man paled. "They told me you were dead." They also told him Logan was big trouble.
"I'm very hard to kill, bub," Logan growled. "You didn't get my message. I told you to stop. Now you pay."
Logan flashed out with his right hand claws and sliced the man from neck to leg. Blood flowed. The man's hands clenched at his abdomen attempting to hold his guts in.
"I didn't start this bub, you did. I will finish it."
He picked Kate up and left the building. He was mildly surprised to find the Blackbird sitting on the lawn outside the lab with Cyclops and Storm waiting beside the ramp.
"We take care of our own Logan," Scott replied to the question in Logan's eyes.
After take off, Storm confirmed that Kate was drugged but would recover in a few hours. Logan contacted the school and let Xavier know what he found.
"I didn't find any mutants Charlie," he told Xavier. "Only the stench of death. I think they killed them all to cover up their activities."
"You're probably right Logan," Xavier replied. "How is Dr. Dempsey?"
"Sleepy and banged up a little," Storm replied. "She'll be fine."