(Ten)

Logan had been cruising down the road, the wind blowing through his hair, when trouble found him. He had come upstate like this because he just had to get away. He wanted to be surrounded by trees and smell some real air. He was working on the second day of a rip roaring drinking binge and was having a great time. He should have up and gone a long time ago. It was full dark, the roads lit by a huge full moon so bright he had no trouble seeing where he was going even with no street lights around. My kinda place, he was thinking, Wild an' free, just like me.

He was in full relax mode when he was struck by tiny needle like barbs. He barely had time to utter the prerequisite curses before the toxins turned his body to mush and he lay the bike down hard at top speed, nearly flaying his backside down to the bone before he stopped. He had left a trail of gore and leather almost for almost fifty feet. He had worn a helmet only so the cops wouldn't pull him over, but it paid off this time - his head was still attached to his body. Regardless, the pain from his forced landing was unbelievable, the drugs hadn't stopped him from feeling any of that oh, no. That would have been too much to ask for.

His vision blurred and he barely registered Shakra as she stood over him, blocking out the moonlight above him. Jael's team had been tracking him. He wasn't a difficult man to find so long as you checked all the biker bars in the area. "Hey there, handsome," she purred and brushed his cheek.

"Don't tell me this guy's still alive?" her partner in crime asked, incredulous.

"Of course he is, Thomas. He's Wolverine."

"Holy crap! We are so fucking dead! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would whine just like this. Don't worry, he may not be out but he's down. Razel, you there?"

"Coming, dear," Razel chirped, pleasant as ever as he 'ported right beside her. "Oh, my. This one's seen better days. He smells!"

"Gonna...kill...alla...you..." Logan slurred, still unable to move.

"Well, we'd best be going then," Razel said, shivering with artificial fear. He laughed and away they went.

(break)

Logan came to a few moments later. He was still heavily drugged, but was now chained to a table in a room with walls of carved stone. The room was dimly lit with torches and kind on his eyes, he was hung over from the booze and Shakra's drugs. He tried to move, but was fixed firmly on his back. It was like the air was made of Jello, he could hardly breathe and barely even move. He could feel a metal collar on his neck, no doubt some kind of inhibiting device, but it didn't seem to be turned on at the moment. His back was one huge agonizing itch, which was good. He was healing.

All of his senses were intact as well. He saw the walls around him were made of carved stone and he could smell the Morlock tunnels all around him. He would never forget the smell of that place, not as long as he lived. He was back there again somehow, he was certain of it. He had a feeling he had booked the same trip that Remy had taken earlier and he was now in Jael's lair. Remy had been right to look down under Manhattan where the Morlocks had lived. Somehow the thief's efforts had been thwarted.

He was in some kind of laboratory, he could see medical machines and first aid supplies. His eyes narrowed when he spotted a large quantity of black Siskan hologram cubes stacked neatly on a table against the wall. What were those doing here? Jael was looking for Kimble, but that was some kind of mistake, right? Perhaps not. There were a lot of cubes there, far more than one 'gram would ever need. Guardians. Kimble supposedly was a Guardian. There were many Guardians, that's what Anya said. How many? Looked like Jael thought there were a lot and wanted to be ready.

He squinted as bright light blasted his eyes when the door to his room suddenly opened.

"Well, I see you've awakened," someone spoke in a deep rumble.

The light dimmed and Logan could make out the figure of a man with the head of a lion.

"Jael?" Logan questioned, pretty much stating the obvious.

"At your service. Now I hope you'll be at mine," the man replied, coming closer and into the light. He was indeed a Dognan half breed as Remy had said. His body was covered with Clan tattoos.

"Go...fuck...yerself..."

"Tsk, tsk. How rude. And after all the effort I went through to bring you here."

"Whatcha...want..from...me..?"

"Information."

"What makes...ya think... I know anything...ya wanna know?" Logan wheezed. Damn it was so hard to breathe like this!

"I picked up a friend of yours. Does the name Joseph ring any bells, huh?"

"No..." Logan lied, trying to work the mess in his mind. He had no idea why Jael would even care about the Clansman or even have the desire to speak with him.

"Too bad. Seems he knew you well enough. At least he did before he died. He had an unfortunate accident with a dear pet of mine, Grog. He won't trouble us any more. Ever. He was quite informative, before his demise. I had a telepath pick his brain. Looks like you had quite an adventure not long ago. Had a taste of fine Clan hospitality. Picked up a few new friends. I would like very much to know them better. Tell me about Kimble."

Logan snorted. "Yeah...that'll...happen."

"Oh, come on, my dear fellow. It's my understanding the two of you had something of a falling out. What do you care what happens to him?"

"Fuck you...I ain't..tellin' you...anything!"

"We'll see about that. I'd like you to meet Tanya. Tanya, meet Wolverine."

A slim, pretty woman bent down into view. She was a striking brunette and moved with a feline, animal grace. In another world, in another place, he might have asked her out. Now all he wanted to do was kill her. "Hello, there," she said softly, lightly touching his face. He tried to bite her, but she jerked away easily and without fear. "Easy there, fella. I won't hurt you."

She was lying and Wolverine knew it. He gasped when he felt her jump into his mind as if he had invited her there himself. He snarled and tried to move, but the drugs and chains held him. "Get outta my head, ya bitch!"

"Don't try to fight me, Wolverine," Jael said, his voice surprisingly compassionate. "You'll only make this harder than it has to be. I want you to tell me everything you know about Kimble."

"He's dead!" Logan growled, frothing a little at the mouth as he struggled.

"Not quite, nor do I truly believe you think this is so. He survived being melted by an oversized plasma burst, my friend. I assure you that warehouse fire didn't even touch him, either. Kyle Franks brought him out intact. But you knew this already, correct?"

"Liar! Bishop's guys were nuthin' but chunks all over the place!" Wolverine snarled. It would be better if Jael thought Kimble was dead, but it was painfully obvious that Jael's intel was as good as his own if not better. Jael must have spies all over, good ones.

"Pity about the warehouse. It seems Kimble had something of a nervous twitch. That sort of thing usually happens when you have your self esteem ripped to shreds. Care to elaborate on how that might have happened?"

"Fuck you!"

Jael just smiled. Logan couldn't know just how vast his spy network actually was. He had a mole in Cameron's camp, someone quite close to Kimble actually. Michael had proven to be his best investment ever and he couldn't have been prouder of the man. Michael had been one of his first recruits and the most loyal. He had been living in Cameron's camp for a couple years now. He had been placed there as soon as Jael first caught word of the Game and had learned that a Guardian or two might show up here. Any one of the mutant factions was sure to find them and Jael wanted to know right away. Michael's intelligence had also helped him keep tabs on the events going on in the city and on some of the things happening at Xavier's that came through on Cameron Bishop's grapevine. So far, Jael hadn't been able to plant a spy in the X-men's camp. It wouldn't stop him from trying.

On top of this, he did possess someone with the Sight just as Gambit suspected. He had found a talented Seer named Charlotte. She wasn't quite as old as Anya, but just as clever. He wasn't like Cameron Bishop, relying solely on her talents. No, Jael was no fool. He backed up her visions with facts as much as possible. It had saved him and made him the powerful man he was today.

"Tanya?" Jael said, breaking out of his thoughts and getting back to work.

Logan jerked again as he felt her walking around through his psyche some more. He yelped loudly in shock as he was blasted with a bright light. He blinked and then found himself in the foyer of a large empty house. He had been moved somehow, teleported. No. This was much, much worse. He shuddered in fear. He recognized this house as the framework designed by Weapon X when they fragmented his memory. He was in his own mind, lying on the floor and looking up at a ceiling that wasn't real. Long corridors branched out in all directions lined with rooms with locked doors. He stood up and turned when he saw Tanya materialize beside him. He lunged for her defensively, but was blocked by some kind of invisible barrier.

"Don't be afraid, James," she whispered softly.

"That ain't my name."

She raised her hand and twirled a large ring of keys. "I am Tanya, but I am also known as the Keymaster. There isn't a mind or a locked door that can keep me out."

"Better men than you have tried, darlin'. You ain't gettin' nuthin' outta me!"

She just smiled at him indulgently and walked down the closest corridor. "I see you've had quite the mental make over. Those guys at Weapon X must have earned every dollar. It won't keep me out. You're not the first of theirs I've cracked."

Logan followed her, trembling with real fear. He had lived with a broken mind for so long, he wasn't sure who he really was any more. He was fiercely territorial and didn't want her here, but at the same time there was so much he didn't know.

She turned to face him. "Are you going to tell me what Jael wants to know?"

"Why's he so interested in Kimble?"

She smiled. "Because he wants to win the Game."

"What Game?"

"Tell me about Kimble."

"No."

"Last chance. Tell me now or pay the price."

"You can't touch me, lady. I'm the best there is."

"At killing perhaps. But not this."

She paced a few more doors, twirling her keys. "Now...where to begin. At the beginning, I suppose."

Wolverine trailed her, but couldn't come any closer than a couple of feet from her. They walked to a large central circular room. On the floor was a large X in a circle, a huge pressure plate in the center. It was an elaborate locked door, one that Charles Xavier himself had never been able to get past.

"And what is this?" she asked.

"A whole world of trouble," Logan growled.

"Well, this gaudy thing will have to go," she complained and took a key from the ring. There was a small keyhole next to the pressure plate. Logan was amazed and horrified when the key not only went in, but turned the lock.

"Hey!" he shouted, but was too late.

There was a loud exaggerated sound of a huge key turning and Logan was sucked into the whirlwind once more as the huge trap door in the floor fell open and he was falling...falling!

To be continued in Truths