Disclaimer: see prev. ch.

A/N: I'm updating faster now, aren't u proud of me! I LOVE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET!!! ::pets internet service:: hehehehe. I hope you all are liking my story, and if a reader is a Buffy fan, u'll notice that one of the kidnapped kids has a name similar to a Buffy char, Riley Finn. Not the same person, I swear. I do't own Buffy's Riley either, which is unfortunate 'cause he was hot... Anyways, I just couldn't think of another last name that went with Roley, forgive me... Enjoy the chap.

Rouge struggled against the muscled arms that held her tightly and painfully. The person holding her was in his early twenties with longish blonde-brown hair that hung loosely in his devastatingly blue eyes. He had a vicious snow-white smile playing across his face.

"Hello again, Rouge." He whispered close to her ear, lips brushing against her cheek. She froze and her eyes widened. Logan saw the change in her disposition and stepped forward. The man holding her jerked her back by her hair, raising a glinting silver blade to her throat.

"Let her go." Logan snarled, the hair on the back of his neck rising and his claws extending as far as they could go. Something was wrong here. Not just that this man held Rouge hostage, but something else was off, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I rather think not," the man replied, a slight English accent slipping into his voice. He pressed the tip of the knife slightly deeper into her pale skin, but not deep enough to draw blood. Rouge locked large, fear-filled eyes on Logan's smoldering ones. Yup, there was definitely something bigger going on here, Logan decided. Logan had stepped in front of Bobby, shielding him from the knife-wielding man.

"What do you want with her? He growled.

"Oh, I think she knows," He chuckled quietly at his own little joke. Rouge squeezed her eyes shut as his words.

"Maybe she does, but we don't, so why don't you tell us." Logan kept his voice deceptively calm.

"No, I don't think I will. But I can tell you that I intend on using her as my own personal shield so I can get out of here unscathed by those pretty little claws of yours. The other reason," He snarled and pressed the blade deeper. Rouge flinched and whimpered as the blade bit into her flesh and a trickle of blood ran down the hollow of her throat. "Well, let's just say I'm keeping her for my own reasons. The others I intend to add to my...collection." He cracked a grin.

"Collection?"

"Of mutants, of course." He laughed harshly and Rouge's eyes widened visibly and Logan growled deep in his throat.

"That's sick," Scott spat in disgust. "We may be mutants, but we're still people, and this is still kidnapping."

"I'll keep your secret, if you keep mine." He grinned again, taking his index finger off of the blade and touching a drop of Rouge's blood with his finger and smearing it across her throat. Logan made as if to leap forward when a quiet ringing noise broke the near-silence, making everyone jump. Scott pulled a small phone out of his pocket and answered to Logan's rolling eyes.

"Now's really not a good time." He snapped, then there was a pause in which Scott's eyes got increasingly wider, then narrowed to angry slits. "We're on it." He hung up abruptly and raised fierce eyes to the man before them.

"Who was that?" Logan spat in annoyance.

"Storm. This arrogant bastard kidnapped eight other students."

"What!?" Logan growled.

Rouge had stayed utterly still and silent since her friends' arrival on the scene of her potential kidnapping, with her arms pinned tightly to her sides, but now her eyes flared with anger at her situation and for letting herself be caught again by this man from her past, Zachary Stanton. She slowly, carefully lifted her fingers to the top of her glove and curled her fingers around the fabric. She looked straight into Logan's eyes and he read her intentions perfectly. He knew what she was about to do and he shook his head, making her lower her hand grudgingly and glare at him in annoyance. Deep inside, she knew that it was an irrational and dangerous plan, she also knew that he was looking out for her safety, but it didn't make her any less angry or make her feel any less helpless.

She gasped sharply when Zachary yanked her arm behind her back. She bit her lip to keep from crying out at the pain that shot through her arm, but she couldn't stop the tears that formed in her eyes.

"Now, Rouge, love, let's you and I and some of your freaky little friends go for a little trip, shall we?" He grinned maliciously and pulled her backwards by her twisted arm, making her gasp again.

"No!" Logan yelled and began to run forward to stop him, but ground to a stop when Stanton pulled a small handgun out of his belt and cocked it, pressing the barrel against Rouge's temple.

"Logan," Rouge spoke up suddenly. "I'll be okay. I'll keep an eye on the others and make sure they're alright."

"Rouge," he began.

"Logan," she interrupted, "Please. Listen closely, twelve dash one twenty eight dash ninety two." He looked at her, bewildered. She felt her arm being pulled again and back away, easing the sharp pain in her arm. "Remember Logan, remember."

"Shut up, Rogue." Zachary snarled, not liking that she was talking about something he didn't understand with the most vicious looking man he'd ever encountered. He took the butt of the gun and slammed it into the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

"Rouge!" Bobby exclaimed, running forward and being held back by Logan as they watched helplessly as Zachary slung Rogue over his shoulder and fled the school. One man, flanking Zachary fired a final explosive over his shoulder. Logan shoved Bobby and Scott around the corner and jumped away from the plummeting chunks of ceiling.

When the dust had cleared, Bobby and Scott looked around for Logan, coughing slightly on the settling dust. They called for him but got no answer. "Oh my God," Bobby breathed, catching sight of a leather-jacketed arm protruding from beneath a huge slab of rack and plaster from the ceiling.

"Logan," Scott murmured, running over to where the other man lay, crushed beneath the rock. He and Bobby tried to lift it off of Logan, but with no success. "He can't heal himself unless we get him out from under there. The weight will crush him to death before his mutation gets a chance to work effectively. We have to get him out of there."

"How the hell do we do that? It's huge."

"I don't know," Scott sighed, trying to think of a possible solution. Suddenly the rock began lifting into the air, and then was set off to the side as Xavier rolled into view, face grave. They watched in tense silence as the blood all over Logan disappeared and he gasped as air was finally able to enter his crushed body. He coughed and his breath came out in shallow gasps for several long moments before he got control of his body. Scott rushed over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" He asked quietly. Logan groaned quietly and shook his spinning head, but he nodded. "Come on," Scott offered Logan his hand and helped him to his feet, steadying him when he swayed, and leaving him to stand against a wall to keep himself upright independently. Scott knew that Logan hated to feel like he depended on anyone. The Wolverine helped himself.

"Logan, are you alright?" Xavier asked.

Logan 's eyes shot up from where they had been looking at his feet and glared at Xavier, dark eyes smoldering. He held his stomach as his crushed ribs healed.

"Where the HELL were you?!" Logan growled angrily, taking an unsteady step forward. "Where the hell were you when those people attacked your school and took your students!?" He took a few more steps forward until he was only a foot away form Xavier's face. "Where were you when they kidnapped Rogue!?" He was shouting now. "We had to watch while he held a knife to her throat! We had to watch while he hurt her and put a gun to her head! We had to watch while he hit her and took her away! I couldn't help her without getting her killed! None of could! But where THE FUCK were YOU!!??" He screamed into Xavier's face, who, for the first time, looked less than passive. He looked ashamed and a worried. Bobby and Scott glared at him fiercely and Xavier could tell that they agreed with every word Logan had said. He knew that, should the time come, they would not be backing him. He sighed.

"I'm sorry," and he truly looked sorry. "I only just back. I was visiting an old friend. I came as soon as I heard what was happening. I wish I had been here to help you stop them. But we will get them back. All of them. I promise." He paused. "All we have to do is figure out where he took them. I've already tried with Cerebro, but I got nothing. Not even a tiny blip."

"What does that mean?" Scott asked.

"One of two things, either he's found a way to block my telepathy...or..."

"Or what?" Logan growled, already knowing the answer, but wishing that he didn't.

"Or...he's already killed them." Xavier downcast his eyes and Bobby inhaled sharply.

"Don't say that! Don't ever say that!" Bobby exclaimed fiercely, once again having to be restrained by Logan, who was having a hard enough time restraining himself, the urge to rip out Xavier's heart with his bare hands overwhelming him. He pushed the morbid thought away, knowing that Xavier was probably the only one who could find Rogue.

"I'm not saying that, Bobby." Xavier replied calmly. "I'm just telling you the only two possibilities."

"Well, for that bastard's sake, he'd better hope it's the first one," Logan spat. 'If anything happens to her..."

"We'll get her back." Scott assured him.

"Who else?" Bobby asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Logan and Scott said in unison, raising their eyebrows at him. Xavier gave him a quizzical look.

"You said eight other students, beside Rogue, were taken. Who else did he get?"

"Oh!" Scott said as realization dawned. "Alex Felton, Tina Cordet, Rachel Stevens, Tyler and Shane Basset, Emma Dunkin, Ana Michaels, and Riley Flynn."

Alex was twelve. He was telepathic. Rachel, also a telepath, and was sixteen. Shane, Tyler, and Ana were also sixteen. Ana was an empath, Shane and Tyler could mass, making themselves invincible, Shane could also become invisible, and Tyler could phase, meaning objects could pass through him, or he could walk through solid objects, much like Kitty. Tina was thirteen and had telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Emma, fifteen and fairly sane for her age, could levitate and control wind. Not all weather like Storm, just the wind. Riley, also fifteen, was an empath like Ana.

"Jesus, they've got kids from almost every age group." Logan sighed.

"Yes, and Rouge, she's what, sixteen, seventeen?" Xavier asked.

"She'll be eighteen in a month and a half." Bobby answered absently. "Hey Logan, what were those numbers she told you before?"

"I don't know. It was kinda weird of her to say something that random..." He turned to Xavier. "Professor, do these numbers, twelve dash one twenty eight dash ninety two, mean anything to you?"

A thoughtful look came over Xavier's face as he pondered the question. A slow smile crept onto his face then he grinned. "Good girl, Rouge, very good!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: See, one f-word usage...I'll try to keep teh swearing to a bare minimum, but we all know what Logan's like, don't we?