I don't really have anything to say about this one except: Enjoy! It's finally time for Wolverine to show what he is best at.
Chapter 16- Waiting is the Hardest Part
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Wolverine knew how to be patient. He could stalk his prey for days before making a move. He knew how to wait until his quarry came to him. He had been in enough wars to know that most of war fare involved plenty of waiting. Didn't mean he had to like it. Especially now when he was waiting for a green SHIELD agent to mess with the base's cameras and alarms while his ward crawled into the thick of it. If he was honest, that was the part that rankled the most, sending Clint back into enemy territory with only a mental map and a Paleolithic weapon. It was a solid plan and even untrained, Logan trusted Clint, but it was still difficult to sit here while someone else did the heavy lifting.
"Would you stop growling?" Agent Reynolds snapped at him.
Logan whipped around to look at the agent. He hadn't even realized he had been snarling under his breath since Clint had disappeared into the vents. "Just tell me he's okay," he grumbled instead of admitting that.
Reynolds rolled his eyes before turning back to the computer. "He's fine. No alarms have sounded and none of the sensors in the vents are working. I think they were planning this for a while, making holes in our security, like the vents. Who would check to see if the motion sensors and alarms are working in the ventilation, you know? Your arrival and Clint's trip through the vents tipped their hand, making them move before they were completely ready." He turned to grin at Logan. "Lucky for us."
"Are you ready yet or not?" Logan growled, not really caring about the logistics right now. He was willing to believe that Hydra was just that stupid.
The agent hit a final button on the console and all the screens went black for a second before coming back up. "Yep, all feeds looped and all access locked with clearance that I'm really not supposed to have. Hydra has their hands tied, but they probably won't figure it out for a while," Reynolds declared cheerfully. He collected all the weapons of his fallen comrades that Logan had left by his chair after dealing with the bodies. The Hydra traitors were stuffed in the closet while the agents were laid out respectfully out of sight of the door.
With a nod the temporary partners slipped outside into the night. They couldn't afford to bring any attention to the stairs that Clint was in charge of securing with the help of loyal SHIELD agents, so Logan and Reynolds would have to find another way. After reviewing the situation, Logan chose the air intake pipe hidden in one of the barns. It was wide enough to climb down on purpose, as a last resort escape route, and with the sensors in all the vents disabled, it was a gaping hole in the security. That and the proximity to the labs made it perfect for their purposes.
Wolverine took the lead, dodging through the shadows with ease. He disappeared better than one would expect from a man in bright blue and yellow. Reynolds wasn't too shabby either, keeping up and keeping quiet. Logan wondered (not for the first time) what a promising young agent like him was doing on a backwater base like this.
They were half way to their target when a pair of guards appeared before them. Logan held Reynolds back as he sniffed the air trying to decide whether it was worth the fight. When he caught the smell of blood and fear lingering on the two men, he made his decision. He leapt out of the shadows, releasing his claws and digging them deep into the chests of both men. They died with barely a whimper as the sharp claws pierced their lungs and hearts. Logan snarled silently as he stood over his kills.
"Why'd you do that?" Reynolds asked, somehow sounding more curious than frightened though Logan could smell his unease. "We could have just avoided them."
Logan shrugged. "Didn't want to leave them at our backs," he explained sharply before deciding to admit to the rest of his reasoning. "They smelled like blood and fear. They got off on hurting their fellow agents and I just couldn't let that stand." He glanced over, not regretful but a little apologetic. "Don't tell the boy."
"Got it," Reynolds said, saluting with the rifle in his hand. "Hey, you just saved me the trouble of killing the traitors myself."
They moved on, not meeting anymore patrols until they reached the barn with the intake pipe. Two agents, a man and a woman were watching the door. The woman checked her watch before sighing. These two were up wind, so Logan couldn't pick up anything from them. They needed to avoid a fire-fight so after an exchange of hand signals, they split up and came at the guards from different sides.
Coming along the side of the wall, Logan finally got a sniff from the two Hydra. They didn't have the stink of fear and pain as the last two, so Logan knocked out the man with a blow to the back of his head. The turncoat went down without a fuss. Reynolds had a little more trouble with the woman. When he saw Logan make his move, the young agent jumped the woman, putting a hand over her mouth and catching her in a choke hold. She bucked against him and broke his hold before jabbing an elbow in his stomach and spinning a way. She turned to face him with her gun up and aimed at his head. He stared up into the muzzle of the automatic, knowing there was no way he could reach any of his weapons in time to stop her from pulling the trigger.
A snarl sounded behind her and she turned without changing her aim to face a very angry Wolverine. She screamed and tried to bring her weapon to bear against the new threat but Logan was on her before she could even shift her aim. He knocked the gun out of her hands with one hand and struck her a blow on the temple that made her crumple to the ground with his other hand.
"Sorry," Reynolds groaned.
"Forget it," Wolverine dismissed the sentiment easily. He sliced through the lock and pushed through the door. They dragged the Hydra agents inside the door and confiscated all of their weapons before restraining them and locking them in a supply closet. Finally they turned their attention to the huge fan in the middle of the room. Luckily, there was a door for access to the pipe without going through the fan that pushed air down and into the vents. It was locked but Logan took care of that quickly enough. Reynolds poked his head in and down the hole, lit only by tiny emergency lights at intervals.
"That's a deep hole," he groaned.
"You ain't scared, are ya?" Wolverine teased.
The agent shivered but resolutely turned around and started to climb down the ladder built into the side of the pipe. Logan watched the kid's progress for a while before leaping out into draft created by the fan. He caught himself with his claws on either side, letting them slow his decent enough that he could keep track of his depth. When he reached the floor he wanted, he retracted his claws and snagged the ladder. The metal rung creaked under his sudden weight and he felt a couple muscles in his arm tear, but he stopped at the perfect place to reach the access door. He cut the lock and rushed into the utility room, expecting more Hydra but the room was empty.
"Coast is clear," Logan called up, poking his head back out into the pipe.
"Yeah, yeah," Reynolds grouched. "Just 'cause you took the express route, doesn't mean that I can," he grumbled to himself as he continued to climb down.
By the time the young agent reached the access door, he was panting with exertion and nerves. "Let's not do that again," he gasped before visibly steeling himself and went over to where Logan was standing by the door. "What do you see?"
"Seen at least one patrol," Logan said. "They're moving in pairs and it looks like all the ones inside the complex have changed the emblems on their uniforms." He bared his teeth in a parody of a smile. "At least that will make it easier to tell who the enemy is."
Reynolds snorted. "Okay, so we need to get up to the R&D level without being seen and wait for Clint's signal. How's the transceiver?"
Logan pulled out the tiny device that was the only link to his ward. If Clint ran into trouble or completed his mission, he'd trigger the transceiver which would make it beep. They had agreed that a radio was too dangerous, but Logan would really like to know exactly where the archer was. He stuck the device back in his pocket. "It's fine. Let's get into position."
They slipped into the hall and carefully made their way through the complex. Everything was quiet, nearly deserted. That was not a good sign. Logan took a deep breath through his nose, trying to scent where people were or what had happened. The first thing he smelled was Clint, surprising him into stopping. He was distracted enough by his ward's scent he almost didn't pick up on the other dominant scent: explosives.
"I can smell the kid," Wolverine whispered, pointing at the vent above their heads. He scanned the area for explosives, but didn't see anything. That was worse than if he had just found the bomb.
"Is he alone?" Reynolds asked, unaware of Logan's unease.
Logan nodded. "He must not be at the barracks yet." He held up a hand, preventing Reynolds from moving on. "I'm also picking up explosives, but I don't see a source."
The SHIELD agent frowned, looking around for himself. "That's not good news, Wolverine."
"Just keep yer eyes open," Wolverine advised. "Let's get into position."
Silently they worked their way to R&D. It was slow going since they didn't want to raise an alarm. It was smooth going; despite the pace, but the scent of explosives was getting on the feral's nerves. The stink seemed to permeate the air, which was not good. He couldn't even track it at this rate, not until they passed a hall that smelled stronger than the rest. He grabbed his agent shadow and pulled him down the hall to investigate. A few doors down they found a string of wires connecting packets of C-4 spread out along the wall.
Logan snarled at the bombs, frustrated at the new wrinkle.
"We don't have time to stall," Reynolds declared after releasing some of his own tension in a blue streak that even Logan found impressive. "You continue to R&D. I'll start disabling this mess and start looking for others."
Wolverine wanted to argue, to say that he couldn't leave a greenie alone in an enemy controlled base, but the kid was right. They needed to split up or they wouldn't save anyone.
"Be careful," Logan growled, and took off at a run. After seeing that set up, he knew time would be short. They probably had strings like that on every level and if even one of them blew, it was all over, the whole base would collapse.
Wolverine reached the entrance to R&D with little resistance, which he was quick to deal with silently. He peeked around the corner. There were a dozen Hydra agents, all fully armed standing guard. It was a good bet that there were more inside the labs. Logan didn't really care about the odds, but he knew that if he made a move, it was not going to be quiet. As soon as he showed his claws, things were going to get messy. He pulled out the transmitter.
Logan knew that Clint had completed most of his mission. The archer had reached the barracks and recruited some more vent crawlers before Logan had found the bombs and Reynolds had split off to deal with them. Logan also knew that Clint and the SHIELD agents weren't in the vents now, and hadn't been for several minutes. He looked at the device in his hand again, but it stayed frustratingly silent.
Wolverine didn't have time to waste. He activated the transmitter and unsheathed his claws. Time to do what he did best.
The next few minutes were a blur of slashing, stabbing, and gunfire. Each shot hurt like the devil, but nothing slowed the mutant down as he plowed into the goons. Then the door to the labs opened and more cannon fodder joined the party. At that point, Wolverine let loose, releasing his animal side. He wasn't beserk, not quite, but he wasn't holding back against these men, these traitors.
Finally, he ran out of enemies. Logan looked at the carnage around him and shrugged. He might have gone a little over board and if Slim were here, he'd get his ass chewed, but he didn't regret it. He felt even less remorse when he entered the lab. Half of the scientists were huddled in the corner, most of them showing signs of beatings, at least two were dead. The other half were working, and while two more guards watched over them. Commander Smith stood near the beaten lab-coats, a recently fired pistol in his hand.
"This stops now," Logan snarled as he stalked into the room.
Smith turned, and aimed his weapon at the scared prisoners. "Wolverine," he sighed. "I had hoped that you would come back. Hey, hey, don't move, unless you want me to shoot one of these hostages."
"What do you want, Smith?" Wolverine rumbled. He halted, not because of the threat, but more to take in more of the situation.
"Hail, Hydra," Smith crowed. "I'm going to bring my superiors all of the research that SHIELD has been doing on chemical and biological weapons. Then we can finally come out of the shadows and take control of the world."
"That's been tried before," Wolverine snorted. "Didn't work too well in WWII." He took a measured step forward.
"That was before, things have changed," Smith rambled, his voice slipping into the pattern of obsession. "With the research and physical samples, Hyda will be unstoppable. We've learned from history, Wolverine, have you?" He spun around to shout at the scientists who had stopped working. "Don't stop! Keep working you worthless worms!" he screeched.
Wolverine took the opening, launching himself at the fake commander and putting the two of them between the frantic scientists and the startled guards, who opened fire on the raging hero. The mutant barked at the scientists to run before he threw the man at the guards, sending all three of them down in a heap. Logan leaped on them, claws sheathed to reduce collateral damage. The talk of samples had him worried, he knew he would probably survive a release of one of those samples but he wasn't the only one at risk. His mind immediately went to a young archer who had been crawling through the vents.
The SHIELD researchers were no fools, they grabbed their injured and ran to the door. Logan took a shot to the chest from one of the guards before he broke the man's wrist. The blast got one of the men's attentions and he turned to offer his help to the mutant.
"Get out of here," Logan growled through his teeth as he grappled with the two guards. Smith was unconscious on the floor at the moment. "Get to the stairs, the loyal agents should have it secured. Go!"
The man, his face bruised and bloody, nodded and helped a young woman who was limping on a swollen ankle. Once the last of the scientists were outside, Logan turned his full attention to taking out the two Hydra agents. They were better than most of the trash he had fought tonight, but they still fell under Wolverine's claws.
"Wolverine!" Smith screeched. He had woken up and moved along the wall to one of the work stations. He held up a canister of a green liquid. He was bleeding from his gut, shot by his own men, and Logan could smell death coming to him. "Hail Hydra!" He slammed the canister against the counter, shattering it and releasing the liquid. The green fluid splattered on the dying man, melting his flesh like acid before it started to evaporate. The rest of the fluid corroded everything it touched; metal, plastics, and glass alike. Logan back peddled, staying ahead of the cloud. He ducked out the door and hit the emergency lockdown button outside. Magnetic seals hissed into place, sealing the labs off from the rest of the base.
Wolverine quickly caught up with the limping scientists, who had just reached the stairwell. As quickly as possible, he explained about the weapon. He needed to know the ramifications.
The man who had offered to help, Dr. Hertz, shuddered. "That's a universal solvent," he whispered. "It's a complex bio-acid that will dissolve everything. It will eat through even the magnetic locks if given enough time and volume. We had dismissed it as a weapon because it's too volatile. It will keep eating everything until it's completely spent or diluted."
"Why did you still have it in the lab?" Wolverine snarled, pushing the man against the wall and getting in his face. "How do we stop it?"
"Fire," said a petite Hispanic woman. She crossed her arms and looked down at Logan. It was intimidating even if they were the same size. "Chemical reactions until there is nothing left to react or breaking it down under intense heat is the only way to eliminate it."
"So, an explosion," the X-man groaned. "Okay, get out, get everyone out. Tell the agents to get everyone out and away from the base."
Dr. Hertz nodded. "What about you?"
"I need to set off an explosion," Logan said, already turning away to track Reynolds so they could set off the bombs he was trying to defuse. He stopped and turned back to the grey haired man. "If you see a young man with a bow and arrows, make sure he gets out safe. Tell him not to worry about me, got it?"
"I swear," Hertz promised.
Logan snorted and turned to race down the hall. He passed by the lab. From what he could see, the entire room was filled with green smoke, which dissolved almost everything. And as predicted, it was starting to melt through the doors. Logan put on an extra bust of speed to where he had left Agent Reynolds. It didn't take long to pick up Reynold's scent and he tracked it down two levels to where the agent was carefully pulling detonators out of blocks of C-4 stuck to the side of a power box. Every SHIELD agent he saw on his way was ordered to evacuate immediately. The stairs were getting crowded.
"Stop, bub," Logan ordered the young agent.
"What? Why?" Reynolds exclaimed, surprised both by Logan's sudden appearance and the state of his uniform which was bloody and full of bullet holes.
"There was a leak in the lab, the techs said we have to burn it. Explosion of C-4 will do nicely," Logan explained. "What did you do with the rest of the explosives?"
Reynolds tugged at the bag strap over his shoulder. "I have it all right here, over 15 lbs of the stuff. I ran into other SHIELD agents, who were disabling the bombs, what should we do?"
"We need to get everyone out then blow what we have at the lab, make sure that stuff doesn't get out," Logan explained his very simple plan. He led the way back up to the hallway to the lab. He noticed that someone was smart enough to turn off the ventilation for the base, which was turning the place into an underground oven. "I'm not going to worry about the rest of the bombs, between you and the other agents, we did what we could. Containing the threat is the first priority now."
Reynolds didn't waste his breath replying. The thick, hot air was weighing him down, making the man pant like dog. Logan was feeling it too. He had to wipe the sweat from his eyes and he could feel rivers of it flow down his back but he didn't slow down. Finally they reached the R&D level. The acid had almost completely eaten through the doors. Thin wisps of green smoke leaked through cracks, until it reacted with the walls or ceiling, using itself up as it melted anything it touched.
"Shit," Reynolds said, freezing for a moment. Wolverine shook his shoulder to snap him out of it.
The two men wasted no time and started laying out blocks of explosive and connecting the detonators. It was taking longer than he liked, but there they had to take care if they didn't want the stuff to go off in their face. Then Logan took a handful of the explosives, connected with cord to the rest down the hall to bracket the dissolving doors. He felt the acid in his lungs when he inched past the doors, hugging the opposite wall; just enough to make him choke as his body healed the damage. He held his breath until he was on the other side and he could lay out the bombs. Then he ran back to where Reynolds was waiting, as far back as possible.
Logan ran out of breath and gasped for air before he was clear. He felt the solvent in his lungs and this time it was stronger. He choked on blood from the stuff eating his throat and lungs before his healing kicked in enough for him to breath. He didn't stop though. He pushed Reynolds down the hall, hurrying the younger man back to the stairs.
"Everybody out?" the X-man rasped to the handful of SHIELD agents milling about on the stairs. Blood was still filling his mouth and he spat it out.
"The lower levels are cleared," a small woman with mousy blond hair reported with a sharp salute. "We have everyone still alive evacuating on transports as we speak."
Logan looked back over his shoulder, through the small window in the door. There was starting to be a distinct green tinge to the air. He nodded and waved everyone ahead of him. Reynolds and the mousy woman slung his arms over their shoulders, helping him keep up when his knees threatened to give way. He must have zoned out for a minute because the next thing he remembered was reaching the surface.
"We're almost out, stay with me, old man," Reynolds ordered, pulling the almost limp mutant forward.
"I'm fine," Logan grumbled then winced at the feeling in his throat and chest. Still, he had healed enough that he could walk on his own. He shrugged off the help from the agents and started moving faster.
The whole group burst out into the clear air, narrowly missing an over loaded jeep following a string of other vehicles driving away into the Oklahoma dawn. Reynolds led the way to a barn on the edge of the complex. Inside, the last and only vehicle was the truck Logan was promised, with the trailer where his bike was already secured. All of the agents with them piled into the bed and the trailer.
"Well, it's a little over due, but here is your truck," Reynolds said with a grin. He let a set of keys dangle from a Captain America keychain.
Logan rolled his eyes and snagged the keys out of the brat's hands. "Just get in the truck," he groaned.
The truck ran like a dream when Logan turned the key and he pulled out of the building. He was the last vehicle in the line and he drove for a minute before stopping and looking over at Reynolds who was stuck in the middle seat with the small mousy woman beside him. Now that his nose was working better, Logan recognized her as one of the scents that had joined Clint in the vents. He narrowed his eyes at the female agent. "Where is Hawkeye?" he snarled with more heat than he intended.
"We sent him out with the first group," she replied, unfazed. Reynolds, who was trapped between them flinched. "They planned to set up a base of operations in a hotel in the next town. It's about an hour from here. I left him with Agent Lee and Dr. Hertz."
Logan nodded, appeased for now. "Do you have the detonator?" he asked. He ran a hand over his face to wipe away the blood and push back his mask. "Will it work from here?"
Reynolds nodded and pulled out a transmitter, similar to the one they used to signal with Clint. "It should reach from here, even unground," he explained as he fiddled with it for a moment. He looked over at the female agent. "Are you sure everyone is out? Even the Hydra agents?"
"We tied up any we found alive and tossed them in a horse trailer. We were as through as we could be," she said through gritted teeth. "Now hurry up and push that thing. Hertz told me what was down there. If it leeches into the soil or the water table, it would be catastrophic."
The young agent took a deep breath and met Logan's eyes. The mutant nodded and Reynolds pushed the button.
There was a thump, and the ground shook for a second. Logan threw the truck into gear and started driving as fast as he could and be safe with the men in the trailer behind him. Behind them the complex of disguised military buildings started to shake apart and collapse. Logan watched through the review mirror as the SHIELD base practically disappeared from sight.