Author's note: Thanks to those of you who continue to review. It makes me feel a lot better about writing. I've only had one person talk to me about changing the rating of this story to R. So if by after this chapter, no one has said anything, I'm going to go ahead and change it. Hopefully it won't affect any of you. Thanks a bunch. Mmmmm, forbidden doughnut. Gaaaaaaaaahggg
bubbleyum( ): Thanks. Don't worry; I've had something planned for Lance for a long time. Bwahahahaha
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Logan turned his bike into the parking lot Fritz and Mystique had been in only two days ago. Fritz released his tight grip on Logan's jacket as they came to a stop in front of the huge warehouse doors. Logan dismounted and took off his helmet. He sniffed the air and looked around the dark lot.
"Okay kid, where's this car?" Logan asked. Fritz could tell Logan was on the defense and hoped whatever Mystique was planning to do wouldn't hurt either one of them.
"It's uh...inside." Fritz pointed to the warehouse. He could see a faint light on inside.
"You sure it's here?" Logan sniffed the air again. "Something doesn't smell right."
"Fuck," Fritz cursed himself. "That's what the guy on the phone told me." He just realized he still had his helmet on so he un-strapped it and set it on the back of the bike.
"Then lets just hurry this up." Logan started towards the door. "I don't like it here." He opened the door with a creak and cautiously stepped inside.
Fritz followed and stepped around the Canadian to get a better look. The warehouse was divided into smaller rooms, like a house. They were in the main lobby, and then off to the sides were smaller rooms that were separated by glass windows. In front of them was an old reception desk. The walls were an off white with a little yellow here and there. The floor was covered in dust and the majority of the windows that were supposed to separate the rooms were either gone or smashed. This place hadn't been used for quite some time.
Logan saw a light in the room across from them. "Ok, what's going on kid?" Logan knew this place hadn't been used for many years and he also knew that there wasn't a car in here.
"Not a clue." Technically Fritz wasn't lying because he really didn't have a clue about what was going on.
Logan moved in front of Fritz and opened the door to the room with the light. Logan looked around and saw that the light was coming from a lamp on another desk in the far corner of the room. Behind the desk sat the blue skinned woman, Mystique.
"What the hell?!" Logan unsheathed his claws and moved back a step.
"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Mystique leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Sorry." Fritz stepped away from Logan and moved closer to the shape shifter fearing what Logan might do.
"You mean you--and her?" Logan couldn't believe the two of them had tricked him into coming here.
"That's right Wolverine. I've shown Fritz what humans are really like," Mystique said, not taking her eyes off of Logan.
"What are you doing bub? What's she been telling you?" Logan took a step towards Fritz but kept his guard up.
"She's told me the truth. Humans aren't going to accept us." Fritz said. "You have to realize that Logan."
"She hasn't told you the truth kid, she's lying to you." Logan was getting pretty upset at Fritz now. "She's using you, Fritz."
"No she's not! I'm helping her help you." Fritz reached into his pocket.
"I can't let you do that pal." Logan charged at Mystique but stopped half way there and looked down. In his stomach was a yellow dart. He looked up with blurred vision and saw Fritz standing there with a tranquilizer gun in his hand. "...no," was all Logan got out before he sank to his knees and collapsed on the floor.
Mystique got out of her chair and walked over to Wolverine's limp body. "Quickly, we don't have much time before those tranquilizers wear off." She lifted Logan by his arms while Fritz carried his feet. The two struggled to move him into the next room; he weighed more than it looked like. Fritz forgot about Logan's adimantium skeleton. They lifted Logan up and laid him down on an empty table.
This room was different than the others. The walls were clean, the floor was shiny, and there weren't any windows, instead there were normal white walls. In the corner sat a large computer. Against the far wall was another table with tools of all sorts. To Fritz's left were a few cabinets. Over the head of the table where Logan lay unconscious, there was an odd looking machine. It had more buttons and knobs and levers than Fritz thought possible on one device. It was square around the base but elongated into a swivel arm at the top. The end of the arm was shaped like a "U". Around the inside of the "U" were multiple colored lights that were flashing ant random intervals.
"What's that?" Fritz pointed at the machine.
"That," Mystique said. "Is a magnetically charged particle neuro condenser." She walked over to it and started pushing buttons.
"Oh yeah, one of those, duh." Fritz said as he sat down in a chair.
Mystique gave him a sour look, but then continued entering numbers into the magnetic particle thingy. "This is what's going to help Wolverine here see Xavier's lies. It's similar to telepathy." A couple minutes later Mystique walked over to the other side, then came back. "We're ready."
Fritz jumped up and walked over to her. "What should I do?"
"Nothing, you've helped by bringing him here. Now all you have to do is stand back and watch." Mystique lowered the "U" and fit it around Logan's head. She then walked over to the computer in the corner and sat down. Mystique typed something into the computer, hit a few keys then turned her chair around to face Logan and the machine.
The giant machine started to hum. The lights on the "U" began flashing faster and in a more synchronized pattern. Logan's eyes shot open but he didn't move. Fritz was about to jump up and check on him but Mystique gave him a nasty look so he sat back down. The machine started vibrating uncontrollably, and then it all just stopped; as if someone had cut the power.
Mystique stood up and walked over to the table. She removed the "U" from around Logan's head and pushed the machine away. Apparently it was on wheels because it rolled away into the corner. Fritz got up from the chair and walked over to the two. Mystique had a clipboard in her hand and was writing something down.
"What now?" Fritz asked, looking down at Logan. The bigger mutant still hadn't closed his eyes. Fritz noticed something strange though. Logan's eyes weren't there natural brown, but a light green. "Are his eyes supposed to look like Frankenstein's?" Fritz asked the blue skinned woman.
"Completely normal," Mystique said. She set the clipboard down and walked around the table to where the machine used to be so she was directly over Logan's head. She looked down into his eyes, "Get up." She commanded him as if he was going to listen.
But, to Fritz's surprise, he sat up willingly. Mystique took a step back, "stand." Logan did as she said; he got off the table and stood up. Mystique walked around him slowly. Logan stood still, he didn't move or flinch or anything. It was like he couldn't, even if he wanted to.
Fritz walked around to face Wolverine. The man had a blank expression on his face. The only thing that showed sings of life were his piercing green eyes. "Is he going to be okay?" Fritz waved his hand in front of Logan's face.
"What's not okay?" Mystique asked. "Logan, listen to me, what do you think of humans?" She was looking at him directly in the eyes.
"Humans are a plague. They need to be destroyed." Logan said in a monotone voice.
"Whoa, wait! Hold on." Fritz turned to Mystique expecting an answer. "What the hell is he talking about?"
"What do you mean? This is what we wanted." Mystique said with a grin.
"No! I wanted to help Logan and the professor understand the humans not turn them against the humans." Fritz was starting to think Mystique didn't have the same idea.
"Hahaha, silly boy. Don't you understand yet? Mutants and humans can't live together. So one of them has to go, and it's not going to be us." Mystique said.
"So you were just using me to get to Logan and Xavier!" Fritz stepped back a bit. "I should have known." Fritz ran over to Logan's side and started shaking him. "Come on Logan, snap out of it."
Mystique pulled a device out of her pocket and swung it in the air. "This is a neruo controller. He'll only listen to the one holding this." She held it tightly in her hand. "Now, you can give this up, and help me get to Xavier, or I can test out my new toy on you." Mystique was good at manipulating people so she was hoping this kid would be easy too.
"...no. I can't let you do that." Fritz lunged at the remote in Mystique's hand but she sidestepped and he hit the ground. Fritz jumped to his feet and spun around the face the shape-shifting mutant. "Give me that!" Fritz yelled at her. "Bravo, she's really going to listen."
"I gave you a choice. Sorry you chose the hard one." Mystique said. "Logan," she spun the controller in her hand a few times. "Kill him."
Fritz looked back and forth between Mystique, and Logan. Mystique had the remote that controlled Logan, but Fritz couldn't get to the remote as long as Mystique was controlling Logan with it. He suddenly had an idea. But Logan came out of nowhere before Fritz could react and shoved him into the file cabinets against the wall.
Fritz regained his balance and ran off to the other side of the room. He knew he didn't stand a chance like this so he crouched to the floor and mutated. His skin darkened to its shade of crimson red as his head elongated to form a beak of razor sharp teeth. He finished his mutation just as Logan charged at him again, slamming Fritz into the wall behind him. He crashed into the wall busting the drywall but not going through. Fritz slid to his feet and dodged a punch from zombie Logan.
Fritz noticed that Logan was stronger like this, but he was also much slower and dumber. Fritz hoped he could use this to his advantage. He ducked under another one of Logan's punches but didn't see Logan's other arm and was knocked back a few feet. Logan started to advance on Fritz again. Fritz pushed heavy oak table over to block Logan's path. It didn't do much because Logan merely pushed it out of the way like it was made of plastic.
Fritz looked around the room quickly; he'd forgotten about Mystique. She was standing in the far corner of the room with the remote device still in her hand. He hoped his idea would still work. He had to get closer to Mystique though. Fritz stepped around Logan and started to sprint towards the blue skinned woman. But he didn't get very far before agonizing pain shot through his shoulder; Logan had grabbed onto one of Fritz's wings. His feet slipped out from under him and he fell to the floor hitting his head hard on the tile.
He lay there not feeling or recognizing much. Fritz felt two strong hands grip his arms and lift him into the air. He was then slammed twice into the wall. The drywall crumbled and fell to the ground as Fritz's body hit it. He looked up to see Logan and his expressionless face. He was slammed into the wall again which actually helped to clear his head a little; not that it didn't hurt like hell though.
Before Logan could abuse him anymore, Fritz grabbed onto Logan's forearms with his hands and sank his sharp talons into Logan's flesh. Wolverine didn't show any sign of pain, but Fritz knew that if he could, he would have.
Logan dropped Fritz immediately and tried to stop the bleeding. Fritz knew the wounds would heal in a matter of seconds so he dashed away from Logan and made his way towards Mystique. She saw him coming but didn't move, only grinned. Fritz was once again forced to the ground as something hit him in the side, hard. Wolverine had thrown a desk lamp at him. The zombified mutant unsheathed his claws and ran towards Fritz.
Fritz tried to stand up but stumbled and fell again. He backed up as far as he could until he ran into the neuro condenser. Logan pulled his arm back and thrust his clawed fist forward towards Fritz. The red mutant ducked and swung his tail out at Logan's legs. Logan stumbled and lost his balance. His claws tore through the metal casing of the neuro condenser like it was paper. The lights in the room flashed and Logan's body started to shake. Smoke billowed out of the damaged machine as Wolverine fell to the floor, unconscious.
Fritz jumped to his feet and looked across the room at Mystique. "Give me the controller." Fritz clutched his aching side in pain.
"What's with you X-Men and always fucking ruining my damn plans!?" Mystique threw the remote on the ground and was about to charge forward when a red beam smashed hit her in the chest and sent her flying through the wall.
"What the?" Fritz looked around the room and in ran Scott with his hand on his visor. Scott ran across the room and looked out the hole he made in the wall.
"Damn it!" Scott swore. He took his hand away from his visor and looked over at Fritz and the unconscious Logan. "What the hell happened?" Scott ran over to the two and knelt down next to Logan to check for a pulse.
"Uh...long story." Fritz cloaked his wings around him and flinched as he moved his injured one.
"We have all night." Xavier said right as he entered the room. "How are you Fritz?"
"I'll live." Fritz responded.
"Good. Now then, Jean, would you please help Scott carry Logan into the Velocity?" The professor asked as Jean walked into the room.
"Sure professor." She used her telekinesis to lift Logan off the ground and slowly carried him out of the room.
"How did you know we were here?" Fritz was still holding his side.
"The machine you used on Logan played havoc with Cerebro," Xavier said.
"Oh, about that..." Fritz started but was interrupted by the professor.
"Don't worry, I know Mystique can be very persuasive sometimes." Xavier said. "I think we should be getting back to the institute now." Xavier turned around and rolled out of the room.
Fritz almost forgot, he ran to the far side of the room and grabbed the neuro controller off the ground. Satisfied that it still looked like it was in working order, he left the room and followed the professor to the Velocity.
Fritz explained the whole thing to the professor and the rest of the X-Men; everything from first meeting Mystique, to right before Scott showed up. He also told them all about the neuro remote. Now that the condenser was destroyed, there was no way Xavier or Beast could try to find a way of breaking Logan's hypnotism. Beast had finished studying the remote and came up with nothing. No one could figure out how to break Mystique's hypnosis.
Logan stood there not moving, not blinking, not doing anything. If no one could figure out how to bring Logan back to normal, he would stay like this forever. Not even the professor and his telepathy could help Wolverine.
All the students and teachers of the institute were in Xavier's study with Logan. Fritz slowly got up and moved over to him. "Logan, if you can hear me, I'm so sorry." Fritz bowed his head. "I never should have let Mystique trick me into helping her. This is all my fault. I'm sorry." Fritz looked up at he once strong man, now he was nothing but an empty shell.
"Wait!" Jean jumped up from the couch she was sitting on. "Give me that." She took the neuro controller from the professor and walked over to Logan. "You said Logan has to do whatever the person holding this remote tells him to do, right?" She asked Fritz.
"Well, yeah." Fritz had a confused look on his face. "But what good is that going to do us? He's still hypnotized."
"Let me try something." Jean looked over at the professor.
"Go ahead, we have nothing to lose, and Logan to gain." The professor rolled a little closer to Jean.
Jean looked up at Logan. "Logan?" She said. Logan turned his head to look her in the face with his strange green eyes. "I'm holding the neuro controller now. So you have to do what I say." She wasn't sure this was going to work. But like the professor said, they had nothing to lose.
"I command you to," she paused and looked around the room at all the faces. "To act for the rest of your life as if you were never hypnotized." She stood back and looked up at him again.
For the first time in a while, Logan closed his green eyes. He moved his head around a bit and when his eyes opened, they were his natural brown. "You did it kid." Logan said. "Thanks." He wrapped Jean up in a big hug.
The rest of the X-Men all rushed over to greet their instructor. They were all happy to see him back to his old self again.
"Good to have you back to normal." Xavier rolled forward and shook Logan's hand.
"Thanks, it's good to be back to normal." Logan turned to face Fritz who was still standing next to the desk.
Fritz walked up to the Canadian and looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact. "I'm sorry Logan." Fritz kept his head down.
Out of nowhere Logan punched Fritz's shoulder rather hard. Fritz looked up suddenly fearing there was more to come but was met with a smile. "That's for the splitting headache bub."
Fritz didn't know whether he should punch Logan back or hug him. "Sorry about that."
"How about you? I saw what I did to ya', just couldn't stop myself." Logan admitted.
"I'm fine. I actually don't feel that bad at all." Fritz couldn't feel any of the injuries he sustained while he was morphed. It's like they all just went away when he morphed back to normal. "Is there anything I can do to make up for all this?'
"Just don't pull any kind of shit like this again and we're even." Logan extended his hand to shake Fritz's but pulled back and the last second. "Oh, and destroy that remote thing for me."
"Done." Fritz took the controller from Jean and dropped it on the floor where he stepped on it with the heel of his shoe. He was satisfied when he heard the crunch of metal and plastic breaking. Fritz reached for Logan's outstretched hand and shook it, finally feeling better about he whole thing.
Author's note: There's the fifth chapter. So much writing. It hurts my brain. I think this is the most I've ever written. Like combining all of my school work together, and this is still more. Ok, so maybe I exaggerated. But you know what I mean. If you read this chapter, please pay the fine of one review. Until next time.
Sherman