CHAPTER 2

Sniffing, Logan realised that the figure they were about to attack, probably kill and maybe worse was a mutant girl of no more than eighteen and very out of breath. Growling again he made his way to the mouth of the alley silently, sizing up the seven truckers; they were all pretty heavily built but hadn't yet cultivated the unique flab of a veteran trucker, he could take them and probably protect the kid as well. Probably.

"Oi, Mutie! Hey, I'm talking to you!" the leader said again stopping, as Joss reached the dead end, his arms crossed and feet apart no doubt enjoying the anticipation of what was to come. "Where you going? We still need to speak to you, teach you to try and scam us outta three hundred grand." he leered at her back before turning to his companions "She's a pretty one boys, we might have a bit o' fun with this one!" Logan growled in fury but remained in the shadows.

Joss stayed where she was not moving but Logan could hear her heart racing guessing her train of thought; the wall in front too sheer to climb, the seven men behind her too big to fight. He waited, knowing he should step in but interested to see how she handled herself, wondering if her mutation would be of any help.

He was correct, both of those two options occurred to her. Unfortunately his assessment of them both was also correct, what Logan didn't know was that Joss was also aware of his presence, not knowing whether he intended to join in with the truckers or to attempt to help her out she decided to count against him and help out herself, like usual.

Turn to fight, change to something fast, run.

To the eight men behind her, Joss appeared to come to a decision; squaring her shoulders she shouldered the large canvas bag she had in her hands and produced the short wooden bo staff Logan had noticed strapped across her back. Wielding it like an expert she executed a few spins in front of her and took a couple of paces towards them.

"Bring it on" she retorted, chin raised defiantly a fierce look in her dark eyes masking her fear.

Kids got guts, Logan thought impressed, going to get her self killed though. Better intervene. Stepping out from the shadows where he'd been concealed he announced his presence by kicking a can at the guy closest to him wearing a Sharks hockey shirt. It rebounded from his foot and he turned staring at Logan.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"That a mutant?" Logan asked by way of reply nodding towards the girl.

"Yeah, you want a piece?" he asked, sneering, making Logan struggle to contain himself. He walked forward till he was just a few feet from the guy then extended his claws snikt enjoying the look of horror that spread over his face before burying them in his gut.

"This a mutant, bub?" he growled, retracting his claws, and dropped the shark's fan to the ground. The remaining six men spun around one producing a handgun, two others brandishing knives.

Joss had no idea who this hairy stranger was but she seized her opportunity and brandishing her staff took out the lead trucker immediately with one loud thonk to the back of his head, he went down like the proverbial sack of potatoes.

The smaller two of the remaining five, one wearing a deerstalker the other a baseball cap, rushed her while the lasting three advanced on Logan.

He took out one with little difficulty throwing him against a dumper. In the split second he had his back turned the man with the handgun loosed a couple of rounds into his back, roaring with pain and anger Logan spun around and ran at him. The man backed off in panic from this seemingly indestructible madman and started shooting wildly in front of him screaming.

"Get away from me you freak!!!" and continuing to shoot, a few bullets grazed Logan's arm but the rest sailed harmlessly past.

Joss meanwhile had gotten her back against the wall of the alley and was keeping the other two men at bay with a pair of short swords she had produced from her belt when suddenly she cried out in pain dropping one sword and clasping at her arm. She took her hand away and blood started pumping from a gunshot wound to her upper-left arm.

"Ow!! Ah...Fuck!!! Son of a bitch!!" She yelled, wiping the back of her arm over her face to clear her vision. Logan, keeping an eye on her as he fought saw her freeze as she brought it back down and caught a glance of exactly what it was she had spattered all over her face; Joss paused...pondered...realized...gagged... "Ewww!! Aww GROSS!!!" she shook her hand around wildly cursing.

Logan, finishing off the last of his guys ran over to see what was happening just as Joss slammed the deerstalker guy against some crates and drove the remaining short sword through his chest pinning him to the wall and twisted it before giving him a final kick and turning her attention back to her arm.

Logan raised one eyebrow, surprised at her brutality then turned to face the remaining standing man in the baseball cap, he wasn't moving. Logan frowned and moved around to his front

"Jesus Fuck!" he exclaimed; the guys expression was completely motionless, there was a thin, crimson trail of blood running down the centre of his face from a small round hole in his forehead showing threough to the alley behind him. A small prod in the chest from Logan and the body collapsed, hitting the ground with a resounding thud.

Logan grimaced and looked at Joss, remembering her wound. She was standing nearby with both short-swords retrieved and pointed at him. Her breath was strained and while the bullet wound in her arm was bleeding the worst she was also losing blood through a knife wound across her abdomen and a deep cut above her eye but her hands were steady and now, the fear he had seen in her eyes was gone, replaced completely with a feral kind of rage.

Great, he thought, now she's not scared!