Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. Ilehana Xavier belongs to Corrinth. All
other characters belong to me.
A/N: Thank you again to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars. Hope you enjoy this one, let me know what you think? Timeline wise, its set immediately after 'Overload', so six-ish years after X2
Scene 01
Several months previously.........
The sterile lab with its clinical lighting and stainless steel coolness was busy with efficient scientists in full bio-protection suits and protected air supplies. They moved with military efficiency as he watched from behind the security of the observation window. A shadowy figure, he had his arms crossed across his chest as he majestically ignored the triumphant chatter behind him from his minions. Yes, this was a big day for all of them. But they had not succeeded this far without cost, nor had they yet been assured of success. Everything rested on the next few moments.
The girl was terrified. A street kid with messy hair and a muddy face, her lavender eyes almost obscured by the extreme widening of her pupils. The scientists around her treated her with the same indifference they would have a lab rat. Strapped to a table, too scared to struggle, she watched as one filled a syringe from a bottle labelled simply 'X'. Her stomach lurched and she choked on a child's sob, squirming against her bonds as the scientist approached, tapping the syringe with his fingers to eradicate air bubbles.
Another scientist grasped her arm hard above the elbow, raising a clear vein for the needle to be inserted. They were oblivious to her screams. The needle pierced the vein, the plunger depressed. She had no idea what they were injecting her with as she turned her face away, looking pleading through the observation window at the unresponsive man stood in the shadows.
It took two days for the first mutant test subject to die. An unpleasant death, caused by excess of fluid in the lungs, from boils that ruptured all over the skin and in the body cavity of the infected person. The virus was more efficient than he could have dreamed of. Now all that remained was to make sure that the virus would not affect normal humans in any way, and he would have his tool to rid the world of the mutant menace...
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Day 01, Monday.........
"You're a fool Wolverine!" A male voice shouted from across the room. Logan squirmed frantically, trying to get his claws around far enough to slice through the chains that bound his wrists. It wasn't easy, and it was extremely painful. The chains were tight, and he had to lift his feet clean from the floor, making his muscles scream, but still he could not twist well enough to free himself. His captor laughed. "And now we're going to make an example of you, so your dear Professor will know not to mess with us again!"
Logan quit squirming and looked about him. That threat sounded ominous, and sure enough a youth was approaching with an evil glint in his eye. They were in a warehouse, Wolverine and the gang of mutants he'd successfully infiltrated for Xavier over the past few weeks. Xavier wanted them disbanded, and Logan hadn't been far off that goal, playing one member of another as they fought their war for mutant superiority in their home city. But then somebody had figured out what he was doing...
The kid's hands were white hot like pokers. That was his name, Poker, and it pretty much described what he started doing to Wolverine, jamming his fingers all over Wolverine's bare chest and back, making the X-Man holler with pain. Fighting back, Logan lifted himself up by the chains again, swung his feet around and caught Poker in the chest. The kid fell backwards, but the gang had been ready for that. Only Poker's eagerness to damage the man who he'd looked up to for the last few weeks, the man who'd betrayed them, had convinced them to let him even get close.
April didn't need to get close. She was a clumsy telepath of the most twisted kind. Hands to her temple she put Logan's mind in a vice, making him scream out again. Air gasped in and out of him. His claws retracted unwillingly and his head slumped.
Mace had iron fists. Wolverine could feel them pummelling his body but could do nothing after April's attack to stop it. He could only trust his super-healing ability to keep him safe. Venom spat at him, the tiny blonde woman's saliva dissolving Wolverine's flesh like purest acid. He writhed at the sensation, wondered in some distant place how much more of this punishment he could take? But then a sudden whirring overhead made all the gang look up as if they could see through the warehouse's roof.
"The X-Men! We gotta get out of here!"
"Finish him!" The gang's leader told Mace coldly, already leaving. Mace nodded, but the sound of his teammates' imminent arrival had given Logan all the focus he needed. Reaching up he grabbed the chains in his hands, pelted Mace the same as he had Poker. Outside there were yells as the gang ran into sudden resistance. A blast of red laser energy taking out the wall of the building could only Cyclops. Mace ran. Then came a brief throbbing noise, a streak of light and the chain above Logan's head exploded, sending him crashing to his knees on the floor.
It was only then the damage done to Wolverine became clear, as he could not keep himself knelt upright. Hands still tied together and behind his back, he fell forwards flat on his face. His vision blurred, he tasted blood, and then he passed out.
"Nice work Gambit." Cyclops was sarcastic. "Now we're gonna have to carry him out of here."
"Hey, I t'ought he supposed to be a tough guy." Gambit shrugged, entering the warehouse behind Scott, with Ilehana Xavier and the pretty redhead known as Blaze. Ilehana, a medical doctor, ran practiced hands and eyes over Logan's fallen body, as Blaze put a hot finger to the chains that bound her friend's wrists and freed him.
"He'll heal." Was Ilehana's verdict, little as it had taken for her to arrive at it, she was still relieved. "But he's still in a lot of pain."
"Chere, the man bin a pain since the get go." Gambit quipped, shuffling cards casually in his hands.
"That's not funny Gambit." Scott retorted, but Gambit spotted the amusement in Blaze's dancing brown eyes and winked at her whilst Ilehana carried on speaking.
"Sorry to have to labour you with this, Scott, but I'm putting Logan further under telepathically until I can get him to the infirmary." The blonde animorphing telepathic daughter of Charles Xavier frowned briefly, then visibly relaxed as Wolverine slipped into a more easy stillness. "Everybody else okay?" Vixen asked as Scott obediently lugged Logan to his feet to carry him back to the X-Jet.
"Burnt my stitches out again." Blaze admitted, her English accent ashamed as she tugged her uniform gloves off to reveal bleeding hands and wrists. She wouldn't meet Gambit's worried eyes as he placed a hand between his best friend's shoulder blades. The injuries, though accidental, were self- inflicted. Blaze was struggling on boldly, trying to hide how close she'd come to losing all sanity completely through carrying on with her normal duties as schoolteacher and X-Man. But she didn't fool Gambit or Ilehana, both could sense her fear. And neither was she helping her own recovery, barely going five minutes without tearing the cuts on her forearm and hands open again.
"Don't worry." Ilehana offered gently. "I've a med kit on the jet. Wont be much use on Logan, but if Scott can keep the jet steady, I'll have you patched up again before we even get back to the mansion."
A/N: Thank you again to all my reviewers out there; you really are all stars. Hope you enjoy this one, let me know what you think? Timeline wise, its set immediately after 'Overload', so six-ish years after X2
Scene 01
Several months previously.........
The sterile lab with its clinical lighting and stainless steel coolness was busy with efficient scientists in full bio-protection suits and protected air supplies. They moved with military efficiency as he watched from behind the security of the observation window. A shadowy figure, he had his arms crossed across his chest as he majestically ignored the triumphant chatter behind him from his minions. Yes, this was a big day for all of them. But they had not succeeded this far without cost, nor had they yet been assured of success. Everything rested on the next few moments.
The girl was terrified. A street kid with messy hair and a muddy face, her lavender eyes almost obscured by the extreme widening of her pupils. The scientists around her treated her with the same indifference they would have a lab rat. Strapped to a table, too scared to struggle, she watched as one filled a syringe from a bottle labelled simply 'X'. Her stomach lurched and she choked on a child's sob, squirming against her bonds as the scientist approached, tapping the syringe with his fingers to eradicate air bubbles.
Another scientist grasped her arm hard above the elbow, raising a clear vein for the needle to be inserted. They were oblivious to her screams. The needle pierced the vein, the plunger depressed. She had no idea what they were injecting her with as she turned her face away, looking pleading through the observation window at the unresponsive man stood in the shadows.
It took two days for the first mutant test subject to die. An unpleasant death, caused by excess of fluid in the lungs, from boils that ruptured all over the skin and in the body cavity of the infected person. The virus was more efficient than he could have dreamed of. Now all that remained was to make sure that the virus would not affect normal humans in any way, and he would have his tool to rid the world of the mutant menace...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Day 01, Monday.........
"You're a fool Wolverine!" A male voice shouted from across the room. Logan squirmed frantically, trying to get his claws around far enough to slice through the chains that bound his wrists. It wasn't easy, and it was extremely painful. The chains were tight, and he had to lift his feet clean from the floor, making his muscles scream, but still he could not twist well enough to free himself. His captor laughed. "And now we're going to make an example of you, so your dear Professor will know not to mess with us again!"
Logan quit squirming and looked about him. That threat sounded ominous, and sure enough a youth was approaching with an evil glint in his eye. They were in a warehouse, Wolverine and the gang of mutants he'd successfully infiltrated for Xavier over the past few weeks. Xavier wanted them disbanded, and Logan hadn't been far off that goal, playing one member of another as they fought their war for mutant superiority in their home city. But then somebody had figured out what he was doing...
The kid's hands were white hot like pokers. That was his name, Poker, and it pretty much described what he started doing to Wolverine, jamming his fingers all over Wolverine's bare chest and back, making the X-Man holler with pain. Fighting back, Logan lifted himself up by the chains again, swung his feet around and caught Poker in the chest. The kid fell backwards, but the gang had been ready for that. Only Poker's eagerness to damage the man who he'd looked up to for the last few weeks, the man who'd betrayed them, had convinced them to let him even get close.
April didn't need to get close. She was a clumsy telepath of the most twisted kind. Hands to her temple she put Logan's mind in a vice, making him scream out again. Air gasped in and out of him. His claws retracted unwillingly and his head slumped.
Mace had iron fists. Wolverine could feel them pummelling his body but could do nothing after April's attack to stop it. He could only trust his super-healing ability to keep him safe. Venom spat at him, the tiny blonde woman's saliva dissolving Wolverine's flesh like purest acid. He writhed at the sensation, wondered in some distant place how much more of this punishment he could take? But then a sudden whirring overhead made all the gang look up as if they could see through the warehouse's roof.
"The X-Men! We gotta get out of here!"
"Finish him!" The gang's leader told Mace coldly, already leaving. Mace nodded, but the sound of his teammates' imminent arrival had given Logan all the focus he needed. Reaching up he grabbed the chains in his hands, pelted Mace the same as he had Poker. Outside there were yells as the gang ran into sudden resistance. A blast of red laser energy taking out the wall of the building could only Cyclops. Mace ran. Then came a brief throbbing noise, a streak of light and the chain above Logan's head exploded, sending him crashing to his knees on the floor.
It was only then the damage done to Wolverine became clear, as he could not keep himself knelt upright. Hands still tied together and behind his back, he fell forwards flat on his face. His vision blurred, he tasted blood, and then he passed out.
"Nice work Gambit." Cyclops was sarcastic. "Now we're gonna have to carry him out of here."
"Hey, I t'ought he supposed to be a tough guy." Gambit shrugged, entering the warehouse behind Scott, with Ilehana Xavier and the pretty redhead known as Blaze. Ilehana, a medical doctor, ran practiced hands and eyes over Logan's fallen body, as Blaze put a hot finger to the chains that bound her friend's wrists and freed him.
"He'll heal." Was Ilehana's verdict, little as it had taken for her to arrive at it, she was still relieved. "But he's still in a lot of pain."
"Chere, the man bin a pain since the get go." Gambit quipped, shuffling cards casually in his hands.
"That's not funny Gambit." Scott retorted, but Gambit spotted the amusement in Blaze's dancing brown eyes and winked at her whilst Ilehana carried on speaking.
"Sorry to have to labour you with this, Scott, but I'm putting Logan further under telepathically until I can get him to the infirmary." The blonde animorphing telepathic daughter of Charles Xavier frowned briefly, then visibly relaxed as Wolverine slipped into a more easy stillness. "Everybody else okay?" Vixen asked as Scott obediently lugged Logan to his feet to carry him back to the X-Jet.
"Burnt my stitches out again." Blaze admitted, her English accent ashamed as she tugged her uniform gloves off to reveal bleeding hands and wrists. She wouldn't meet Gambit's worried eyes as he placed a hand between his best friend's shoulder blades. The injuries, though accidental, were self- inflicted. Blaze was struggling on boldly, trying to hide how close she'd come to losing all sanity completely through carrying on with her normal duties as schoolteacher and X-Man. But she didn't fool Gambit or Ilehana, both could sense her fear. And neither was she helping her own recovery, barely going five minutes without tearing the cuts on her forearm and hands open again.
"Don't worry." Ilehana offered gently. "I've a med kit on the jet. Wont be much use on Logan, but if Scott can keep the jet steady, I'll have you patched up again before we even get back to the mansion."