The temperature plummets and the snow deepens as they trudge further up the mountain. Jamie's mutation has always seemed to grant her some strange ability to withstand just such conditions with relative ease, and Jake's thick coat of blue fluff keeps him well insulated. The others, however, clearly aren't doing so well.

"I thought..this gear..was supposed to help." Sarah stutters. Her shivers have grown downright violent; her thin frame seems to be particularly ill-suited to the cold.

The thick winter coats that Storm had purchased for them are, in fact, 'helping'; without one Sarah would be frozen half to literal death by now. Jamie refrains from saying so out loud. "Cold soaks into your bones no matter what when there's this much snow to trudge through. Nothin' for it after a point."

"You really used to..to go hunting up here? How could you stand it?" Sarah questions in response, sounding just curious. "Or is your mutation like...I mean, you do feel the cold, right?"

Jamie shrugs. "I do..sort of. Mean, I'd freeze out here eventually same as you, sure, but I don't know that it would..." Kill me. Jamie doesn't wanna think on that too hard. "Ah. But the cold never bothered me like it should, I've always figured its gotta be part of my mutation. Come to think of it, Logan mentioned once that he's the same way. Anyway, my grandfather was always prepared. Heater for the tent and things like that. Grandma never cared what money he spent long as he stayed outta her hair."

There's another pause. She's quieter when she goes on. "You know that's gotta be kinda weird. I mean there are others out there with technical invincibility but it's usually those who are altered in a lab or..or something. And even then it's usually only technical. If they..do get hurt somehow, they're just hurt. They have to..to just wait it out like the rest of us until they're better. But you...there's got to be a lot of different people out there who'd love to..to get there hands on..." She trails off, glancing at Jamie uncomfortably.

"Weird?" The feral raises an eyebrow. "That's what you got to say? It's 'weird'."

"Yeah. Just weird."

"Huh. Most people think it sounds awesome. Never get sick 'r anythin', break an arm and it's all better in no time flat."

"But you feel the pain still."

"Yeah. There's that."

"Seems like a funny sort of gift to get given." Sarah says, gentler now.

"Gift? To call it that, now there's a joke." Jamie snorts. "Then again, I guess I can't blame you. You can turn your gift off if you want."

Another moment of silence.

"Perhaps you're right. I never thought of..of it like that before."

Jamie just shakes her head.

They keep trudging on.

.

"How do you do that, Russel? I doubt the cameras even picked you up." Jake marvels.

Russel - rounding out their motley crew with what basically works out to be super speed - shrugs his shoulders, a light blush creeping up to color his cheeks. "They might've. Snow makes things harder."

"How did you know this door was here?" Sarah burst, sudden and forceful as she glowers at Jamie.

"Who says I knew?" Jamie grunts, setting the last of three guards so his backs against a large old tree.

The girls step back as the ground beneath rumbles a bit. A short ways behind them, Sparrow - their resident plant-master - lifts her hands as her eyes glaze over white. The roots of the tree dance up out of the snow and snake around it's trunk and the three guards sat against it, tying them up there.

Sarah turns back to the door in question. "I say you knew, because there's a reason there's only three people guarding it. This place is a concrete fortress and you said it yourself, the terrain up here is a little rocky for anyone to be trying to camp out, no ones finding this entrance just by chance. So how did you know?"

Jamie could lie. But she can't be bothered. "Called in a favor, that's all. Now are we ready, or not?"

Jake comes up alongside Jamie, rolling his shoulders a bit. "You and I were born ready."

"I'm almost looking forward to a fight as long as we're out of this cold." Sparrow adds, hugging herself.

Sarah huffs, but puts her visor on. "Alright. Lets move."

...

~Sarah~

Whispers. She hears them the moment they slip in through the door she'd just blasted open. She can't fully make out what they're saying but she definitely... "You hear that?" She murmurs.

A short ways ahead of her, Jamie halts them all for a brief moment, head titling in a way that suggests she's listening close. Her brows furrow. "I don't hear anything."

"You don't hear the whispers? No voices?" Sarah insists.

"No, I mean I don't hear anything." The feral answers. "There should be guards in here. Or maintenance guys, yah know, cleanin' up or somethin'. Right? Jake, you hear anythin'?"

He shakes his head. "But this place seems huge. Maybe just this part isn't occupied?"

"Could be." Jamie answers, but she's got a stance she takes - her hackles are raised.

Sarah deliberates, looking around. The halls are dimly lit and she can't see very well, but the whispers... "C'mon. I think I might know which way to go." She darts forward ahead of the rest and sweeps off around a corner to their left.

"Anyone else getting horror movie vibes off this joint?" Russel grumbles as the group follows.

"Yeah, try the minute I saw the outside of it." Sparrow fires back. "This is starting to seem like a bad idea. Do we really know what we're doing?"

Sarah glances back but her belly feels like it's twisting itself into a knot. She can''t think of a thing to say.

"Little late to turn back now." Jamie answers instead, gruff. "Summers seems to know where to go, just watch yahr step and keep quiet, will yah?"

Sarah makes a mental note to thank the feral later. They keep moving. The whispers grow louder, become more distinct. There are many and some are downright malicious. But the one that tells the redhead to take a right, then another left...somethings different about this one.

It's clearly the voice of a child, for starters.

"You see those?" Jake points it out. "On the ceiling, aren't those cameras? There's so many, they must've seen us by now."

"Oh, they've seen us." Jamie responds, but doesn't elaborate.

Sarah has a feeling she knows what the feral is thinking. They've seen us and are just watching. They know they can annihalate us, they just want to know what we're here for first. She keeps moving. The voices are loud and clear now, but the little girls voice, it keeps her attention above the rest somehow. The child sounds frightened and tired but hopeful.

There's a different presence too now. Something else, something... cold. And clearly, very malicious, but it seems startled. It wasn't expecting Sarah to be able to probe it back.

Hell, Sarah doesn't even know how she's doing what she's doing right now. Telepathy was never part of her powers.

"Hey Summers, hold up. I got a feelin' about somethin'." Jamie murmurs.

"What is it?"

The feral stalks over to a door that has every appearance of leading to an office of some kind - the word 'professor' is written out on a clouded glass window, though the name beside it has been scraped off. Jamie tries the handle but it's locked. Sighing, she glances up and down the hallway, but it's clear they're quite alone. Shrugging, she brings up a fist and sends it sailling through the window, not even halfway hesitant.

"Are you insane." Sparrow hisses.

Jamie shrugs again, shaking her hand out, wincing just a bit. The glass dislodges itself from her skin and the wounds are healed in moments. "Whatever works." She peers into the room.

"Anything that could prove useful?" Sarah asks.

Jamie huffs a low growl. "Nope. It's been cleared out. Rooms empty. Not even a desk."

"Empty?"

"How much you wanna bet they're all empty?" Jake points out. "Whoever ran this place is long gone, we're on a wild goose chase."

"No." Sarah answers. "No, there's people here."

"How could you possible know that?" Jake sounds exasperated. "This place is clearly abandoned."

"I...I can hear them. In my head, I don't know how, but I can hear them. And anyway, I mean, why would there have been gaurds outside? Why does it still have electricity?"

"She does have a point there." Russel pipes up.

"Which way do we go then?" Jamie asks.

Sarah takes a deep breath and begins leading them onward again.

.

They're watchin'. Let meh... The little girls voice. It talks continuously, keeps Sarah focused. The redhead wonders how old the child is. It's difficult to tell. She's very well spoken, and there's an accent behind the words, Southern, like Rogue's but even thicker and more polished somehow. Head to the left. There's guards that way, yah gonna have to fight.

"There's guards up ahead." Sarah says out loud.

"But I don't hear..." Jamie stops short, brows furrowing. She grimaces as though in pain. "Wait. Wait a minute, that wasn't there before. She's right. There is someone up ahead."

Ah can't hold it back fahever.

"Hold what back?" Sarah says aloud, not realizing...

Jamie ignores her and presses forward, urging the others to follow. Sarah trails along. She can hear voices now too. They've got another corner to round up ahead. She stalks forward with a hand held up to her visor, her power switched on and ready. Only a few steps ahead of her, Jamie peers around the corner, her claws already extended.

A moment passes. Jamie glances back and as her claws slide back in, eyebrows raised. " There's about six of 'em, guardin' a door. Five of 'em men, big boys too. Looks like just the way we need to go. I got an idea. You trust me?"

Sarah just shrugs. They've got little to lose at this point.

Jamie unzips her snow gear and slips out of it, stripping down until the only thing she's wearing up top is a plain white tank top. Then, without an ounce of hesitation, she slips around the corner and stalks down the hallway, hips swaying.

"Hey there boys." She calls out, voice low and downright sultry. "S'a cold one outside now, isn't it? I jus' can't seem to shake the chill."

The men (and woman) all reach for what appears to be taser guns at their hips, though some do appear to be more heavily armed. They're clearly confused. "Hey. You stay back."

"Awww, but see, I think we can come to an understandin'. Mean, I don't know about yah, now, but I sure could use some warmin' up." She sashays forward a few more paces and reaches down, pulling up on her tank top. She wears no bra beneath. The mens eyebrows shoot up as they stare with abandon, drinking in what the tiny feral has to offer, and the one woman just seems confused.

Peering over Sarah's shoulder to watch, Jake just manages to stifle a laugh. "Hah! That's my girl!"

Sarah huffs. "Russel." She spits. "You first. Now."

"Yes, ma'am." He darts off.

.

~Jamie~

The guards really don't see Russel coming this time. He snatches a taser out of one their belts, hitting one over the head with it and then using it to stun another. Sarah slips out next and uses her telekenesis, throwing back the first guard to recover his senses. Jake leaps out to fully clobber another guard before he can stun Sarah.

Jamie sends her claws sailing through another guards arm, and then his belly, and then stumbles back, startled by the blood that splatters across her tank top. She'd made the moves without thinking. Hearing a familiar growl, she looks over just in time to watch as Jake brings one big blue paw up to slash his own claws across his opponents belly, downright vicious. He looks almost proud of himself, too.

Her belly is doing flip flops.

One guard remains, a woman with short black hair and a mean look in her eyes. With everyone else distracted, she creeps up on Sarah, pulling a small hand gun out from it's holster at her hip. Her intent is unclear - she may mean to take the redhead hostage - but it doesn't matter. A knife sails through the air, small but sharp. It whistles right past Sarah's ear, and lands solidly in her attackers arm. Another follows quickly, this time hitting the guards shoulder, a little too close to her heart for comfort.

The dark haired woman drops the gun and snatches up the key card around her neck as she throws her good arm up in surrender. "Fine, you win, I surrender, here! Jesus, who are you people?"

Sarah snatches the key card out of the woman's hand.

Sparrow strolls calmly along down the hallway, slipping her last throwing knife back away where she'd had them all hidden.

Jamie watches her, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Sparrow offers a mischievous smile in return. "Makes for a fun hobby believe it or not."

Two large metal doors open as Sarah swipes the key card over the pad next to the door, and they all dart through.

"Well, well. You know, Ms. Logan, I'm beginning to think you're a bit more trouble than you're worth."

Jamie would've half expected it to be Trixie LaBelle waiting for her. That would've seemed the most fitting when looking at the bigger picture. But it's not Trixie LaBelle. In fact, this woman seems to be a new player entirely.

She's only maybe a few inches taller than Jamie and shouldn't be terribly imposing even besides, but something about her is almost ethereal. She strolls across the room so gracefully she might as well be floating, and the look on her face isn't one of anger. If anything, she appears simply curious as her eyes fix on Jamie and Jamie alone.

Wildthing races to the surface, not fooled for a moment. She can feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. This woman is... all wrong somehow. Wrong wrong wrong.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm quite certain you'll never have heard of me before, I tend to try and stay out of the spotlight these days." Her voice is high and chiming, like church bells. "My name is...well. They just call me M, I think."

Wildthing's fists clench as the strange woman comes closer. "What is this place?" She barks. "Where are the X-Men?"

"Here, close. Safe and sound. We knew you would come for them. I needed only to be sure this facility was cleared out before you arrived. Couldn't have you sticking your pretty little noses into anything that isn't your business, now, could we? What they came here for, however..tsk tsk. I'm terribly sorry but the child is off limits, I'm afraid."

Wrong wrong wrong.

Wildthing looks around, trying to figure out what... oh.

There's only two other guards stood at attention behind M, but they don't seem terribly tense. That's probably because the rest of the rooms occupants are now frozen in place. Sarah and the rest of the Junior X-Men are all frozen mid stride, poised as though ready to attack but not actually moving.

Jamie's claws shoot out and Wildthing takes further control. "What've you done to them!"

"There's no harm done dear, I promise. I just wanted to get a look at you. Mmmm." She trails a slow circle around the feral. "Trixie was right. You don't look like much. Oh, but then, one could argue that I don't either." Without warning or hestation, she reaches out quick and graceful to snatch up Jamie's hand. Her fingers slide along one of the long, sharp spikes of bone protruding from the knuckles as she inspects it. "Tell me, is it true they can cut through metal?"

Jamie gives a nod, shakier now. "Some, yes."

"Oooh, how very fun! May I have a demonstration?" She glances over at one of her guards, snapping her fingers. He comes forward with no hesitation. "I have been meaning to test out this new armor they made for my lovely boys, you know. He's well trained in combat, I'm sure the fight would be enjoyable for you, I'm told you like a challenge."

"Look." Jamie eyes the guard up, not liking the blank look in his eyes. "I just want our friends. Ok? If - if you're gonna let us have 'em than let us have 'em and we'll all be outta yahr hair."

M crosses her arms and huffs, lightly petulant. "Oh, you're all such spoil sports. Very well then. Do whatever you must for now. I'll have you eventually." She waves a hand. Jamie turns just in time to see Sarah and the rest of the Junior X-Men come back to life, gasping, clearly startled.

"What happened?" Sarah stutters, forceful. "What did you do to us!"

"Oh, hush, child. I could've done far worse."

"Where're are the X-Men?" Jake stalks forward, teeth bared in a snarl. "What game are you playin' at lady?"

"Jake, don't." Jamie takes his arm, trying to hold him back.

He tears his arm away, forceful, stalking towards M, poised to attack. He only makes it maybe halfway to her, though. One of her guard comes forward without an ounce of hesitation, drawing a pistol from its holster at his leg. Jake sees the thing but claws forward with reckless abandoned.

Jamie barks at him incoherently, begging him not to do what he's about to, but it's too late. He lashes out just twice, quick and precise - he means to do it. The gun in the guards hand drops as his hand trails up to his neck, and he collapses, soon to move no more.

Things happen so rapidly from there, Jamie never has time to react. A shot rings out, M's second bodyguard reacting on impulse. Jake staggers back, a hand held to his left shoulder, eyes wide in utter shock. Sarah's hand is at her visor again in moments; she sends out two quick blasts, one to take care of the armed guard that's still standing, the second to take out M herself.

Only one set of beams hits home.

Jamie wonders, idly, somewhere in her frazzled mind, why the bodyguards were even necessary. M appears to be protected by a forcefeild of some kind. Because of course that's a thing.

Ms' eyes narrow, glaring at Sarah. "You know not who you're dealing with, so I will be merciful in my punishment." She waves her hand again.

Sarah falls to her knees in an instant, tearing her visor off in favor of holding her hands to her head, clearly in pain. The visor slides across the floor to land at Jamie's feet; she stares down at it as her mind seems to lose whatever capacity it had left for thought.

She doesn't feel right. Why is the room spinning? Her vision goes fuzzy.

The floor rumbles. There's a sound as though the very foundations of the place are splitting right apart, and then she heras voices off in the distance somewhere, men shouting. Jake staggers to his feet, hurt but able to keep moving.

"Sarah? Sarah what happened? What's wrong?"

"I can't." She stutters. "I can't turn it, I can't turn it off."

Jamie's head is pounding and her hands shake, but she manages to work through the fog enough to stoop down and retreive the redheads eyepiece. Stumbling a bit, she reaches down to take Sarah's hand, placing the visor in it. "Here."

There's a crevasse splitting the middle of the room now, thin and jagged. Sarah had opened her eyes, not realizing her powers were still active. That must've been the rumble Jamie felt a moment ago.

The redhead puts her eyepiece on and gets to her feet. A tear slips down her cheek from beneath it. She's smells of fear.

"Jamie, who was that?" Jake. Tired exasperation colors his words. "What did she tell you?"

The pain in Jamie's head subsides some, but she feels sick to her stomach, shaky. "I don't..remember." She really doesn't. The conversation is just...gone.

"Come on." Sarah says, trying for commanding. "We've still got a mission to complete."

Some few rooms away, a metal door with hydraulic locks stands strong and shining, dominating most of one large wall. Sarah, shaken though she is, manages to keep enough control to slice through it using her powers.

And sure enough, there they are. Logan, Dr. McCoy, Iceman and...

Oh no.

...

"I have to go look for my Mom, she has to be here somewhere -"

"There's no way we're going back in there, we've only just made it out, those men have guns!"

"I'm not asking you to go, Jamie can help me -"

"Yeah, nice try bud. Jamie is going to do what Sarah thinks is best," the feral herself cuts in, "because Sarah's the boss lady."

"And besides, you've been shot!" Sarah resumes.

"Jamie can heal me and you know she and I could tear through those goons like they're nothin'!"

Sarah's fists clench. Anger radiates off of her in waves. Her voice lowers and becomes a clear command. "You run off with her for an entire month only to come back here talking like some kinda - some kinda -"

"Like a backwoods, cage fighting thug." Jamie finishes for her, a little more subdued, maybe even apologetic on a level.

Sarah falters a bit at this but only for a moment. "Like that!" She barrels on. "And then you get yourself shot, and then, and then you think you're gonna go off half-cocked like this? Even the Cavewoman knows better than to try something that dumb!"

"...I have ears, yah know, Barbie." Jamie grumbles.

Sarah rolls her eyes and points back towards the woods, where the others have limped out of sight. (Iceman and Dr. McCoy had been involved in some kind of altercation with their captors and are wounded, while Logan had been outfitted with a device that was rendering him temporarily mutation-less.) "They need our help getting out of here, and how well do you think I'll be concentrating if you're up here trying to get yourself killed? I need you and Jamie, it's dark and there's just as much danger out there in the woods as there is here now."

Jamie huffs a frustrated growl and reaches out to take his hand, closing her eyes. Jake hisses in pain, but the wound is surprisingly superficial. She heals it with relative ease. "I hear men heading our way, we need to move fast."

"I can't leave without her." Jake says, shakier now.

"It won't matter anyway if they catch the rest of us too." Sarah snaps back.

A growl tears past his lips. But he lumbers off into the woods. The girls wince as he lets his anger out on a tree; his fist connects hard enough that a bit of bark splinters off.

"You should go, now. Jake can sniff out and take down anything dangerous out there." Jamie tells Sarah. He'll likely be far bigger and more threatening than anything aggressive, unless there's a bear around somewhere...but they'll just have to cross that bridge if they come to it.

"Wait, what are you going to do? I thought you said..."

"I'm gonna see if I can hold these guys off. I just needed Jake to go cause he ain't thinkin' right."

"Alone? You're gonna face down a troop of assault rifles alone?"

"You got a better idea?"

Sarah shakes her head. "No. Damn you. Fine. Just try not to do anything too stupid!" She darts off into the woods.

Jamie turns to stalk back inside the facility, claws out as she tears out into a hallway. There's a security officer coming down the it from the other direction; he stops short at the sight of her, calling for his comrades. When they don't appear quick enough for his liking, he steps forward and shoots, unloading half a clip, stopping just as his team appears at his side. He's not aiming well in his haste and the shots mostly miss anything important, hitting her shoulder - arm - lower leg - belly, tearing straight through her side.

She staggers to the side, leaning heavy against a wall. She hurts, but the pain is welcome. It brings on the rage, and that's just what she needs right now.

A shout comes from someone behind the men, who are watching with eyes wide as her wounds stitch themselves back together rapidly. "What is it? Shoot, damn you, shoot!"

The command seems to have less effect on them than it ought to.

Now, faced with odds so ridiculous, why is it that they would hesitate? What reason could they possibly have? They could mow her down all the same. But unless she's quite mistaken, there's fear in the air. Wildthing takes full control and breathes deep the sweet scent of twelve large, well armed men sweating bullets because they now think it's possible she could kill them all even still.

They're right.

She grins a grin that's so wide and manic it could almost seem phsycotic. And then she pounces.

...

Gunshots ring out, frightening loud as they make it to the jet. Logan feels half deaf with the contraption on his wrist dampening his senses but he thinks he hears dogs, too, and...and did he just hear...?

"What is that? Is that a wolf?" Jake McCoy's eyes widen an he turns to scan the treeline.

"Doesn't matter. We'll be out of here soon." Sarah urges him to keep moving, helping along a limping Iceman.

"Hey, kid." Logan snatches up Sarah's arm as the others disappear inside the jet, pulling her aside. "You think you can get this blasted thing off my arm?"

"Well, I..."

"Look, I don't think it was a wolf we just heard, but I need my ears back to know for sure, so can yah do it or not?" She blows out a breath, steps back, brings a hand up to her visor. He holds his arm out, steady. "I know yah have the control." He tries to be a little gentler. "One quick blast, yah won't hurt me."

She fires away.

He shakes his arm out - it's singed, but should heal quick now. He closes his eyes and waits, but it takes a good minute.

He hears it again. A howl, high and whining, a cry for help, but that's not...

"Get those engines runnin' and get the rest of these guys the hell outta dodge. Don't wait up, yah understand?"

Sarah's eyes widen franticly. "No no, wait, but where are you...?"

"I'm goin' to get my daughter, is where I'm goin'! We'll find our own way out if we have to, now go get those engines up. Go!" He barks at her, and she darts off into the jet.

The howl sounds again, closer this time and frantic. He takes off running into the woods.

...

She can't keep running forever. All her winter gear is still sitting abandoned back at the facility. Even with her blood pumping so hard, even with so much adrenaline flooding her veins, the cold is beginning to slow her. The dogs on her tail are fast and beginning to catch her up and there's little chance Wildthing can take them on her own. And that's not even minding the fact that the guy with the sword could possibly chop her head clean off and be done with it. Her only half hope is to beg for a phonecall, just one. If she calls Trixie LaBelle, maybe they can work something out.

The snow prevents her from seeing the tree root she trips over. She lands hard, on her knees, shivering violently. She doesn't bother trying to get back up, just throws back her head and gathers what strength she still has and pushes out another howl. She has no idea where the sound comes from, she's certainly never made it before today, but her instincts had never led her astray before, so she doesn't stop to question it. Just hopes.

They surround her quickly; the dogs snarl and bark but don't attack as they haven't yet been ordered to. Their masters aim guns at her heart and head but she pays them little mind as she catches her breath. She's not afraid, really. She can hear the whir of large engines roaring to life in the distance; her mission was accomplished. She'd stalled them long enough. That's all she cares about.

The man with the sword comes forward. "You're not really going to make me use this, are you?"

She glares at him defiantly, but says nothing.

(Her ears pick something else up. Footsteps, crunching just lightly through the snow. The dogs whimper, restless.)

"What's the matter with these dumb mutts?" The man with the sword barks at his team.

"All the way out here, who knows what they're pickin' up, best just ignore 'em boss."

"I just need you to let me make a phone call." Jamie says quietly, pulling in the Swords attention again. "My name is -"

"I know who you are, Ms. Logan. You're making quite a name for yourself, but that doesn't excuse you breaking into our facility here."

"My friends were going to come up here with or without my help, I didn't have much choice."

"Someone must suffer the consequences all the same, what would you propose I do about this?"

Something catches Jamie's eye. Movement, just behind one of the men aiming a gun at her head. Hard hazel eyes, flushed heavily with gold. A slight smirk set on lips surrounded by stubble.

Wolverine winks.

She nods. "I would propose." She answers the Sword slowly. "That..you..all..duck."

"What're you...?" He spins around, back turning to her, clearly trying to figure out what she's looking at.

Her limbs feel stiff, frozen, but somehow she finds the strength to reach up with claws out; they sink knuckle deep into the Swords back on either side. By the time the Sword collapses, Logan has wrestled a gun away from one of the other men; he brings it up and shoots, sweeping it around in a wide arc. He hits multiple targets, and the rest scatter to find cover. Jamie leaves the Sword laying in the snow and tries to force her legs to move but she's half buried in snow and so cold. So very cold, so... Shivers wrack her body, so violent her teeth chatter, and she's not sure she can move.

She hears what goes on next more than she really sees. More gunshots ring out. Logan lets loose a thunderous roar, and then there's just a lot of rustling and snarling and shouting, until all goes mostly silent.

The jet hasn't taken off yet. Jamie can still hear it in the distance. Damn. Why aren't they leaving already?

Footsteps sound, coming up behind her, and she braces herself...but it's only Logan. "Can you run?"

"I don't think...I don't think I can." She stutters. "Too...cold."

"I can carry you."

She nods. He stoops down and lifts her, over his shoulders so she's sort of hanging off his back. He jogs through the snow, shockingly quick, as though she weighs nothing.

She probably does compared to him, she supposes.

The wind whips at her cheeks and bare arms, downright painful.

They're getting closer to the jet.

"They should've taken..taken off already." She murmurs.

"Yeah, I figured Summers would be too stubborn." He grumbles.

"I'm gettin'.. sleepy. Why sleepy?"

"Adrenalin's wearin' off and yahr dressed in next to nothin' in what, 0 degree weather at best? Hell, I'm surprised yah made it far as yah did, yah're probably bout two steps from froze solid."

Somewhat inexplicably, Jamie giggles. "About -20, actually."

"Huh?" He glances back at her.

"Celsius. It's -20 degrees." She manages to stutter between chattering teeth. "Yah been spendin' too much time in New York, old man."

There's a pause as he thinks on that, and then lets loose a chuckle himself. "Yeah. I guess you're right kid, I have. Hold on tight for me, we're almost there." He picks up the pace as the jet comes into veiw.

...

She heals Dr. McCoy of his wounds, and tries to muster the energy to do the same for Iceman, but she's exhausted. Mr. Drake eventually, gently, sends her off, thanking her for the effort. "The Doc can fix me up. You need sleep."

Logan suggests she should eat first and then sleep. He sits her down in the kitchen and, much to her pleasant surprise, begins going about the task of fixing her something himself. "I know you're tired but try to stay with me. Sleep will only do yah so much good, yah gotta refuel first." Eggs and bacon and some veggies all appear on the counter. He starts chopping.

"What happened to you guys up there?" She asks quietly as she watches him.

He doesn't miss a step, just calmly keeps to cooking while he answers. "Not sure I fully know. Seemed like someone was playin' mind games with the others. Don't always work so well on me. Heads too hard." He sends a wink in her direction. She giggles a bit and he goes on. "But Ororo put us down in that feild and there wasn't much I could do. Next thing I know they're all marchin' off into the snow, I followed 'cause I didn't have much choice."

The bacon and veggies sizzle in a skillet, doused in olive oil. The sound and smell is tantalizing; Jamie's stomach starts to growl. "But they all woke back up eventually? How did Dr. McCoy and Iceman get hurt?"

Logan doesn't answer this one immediately. The bacon cooks through and the veggies do their thing; the eggs are scrambled and poured into the skillet, left to cook a minute. He faces Jamie, hands in his pockets. "They put that thing on my wrist soon as they got ahold of me, guess they saw my claws and didn't wanna take any chances. So I was useless. An' they left us alone for a while in that cell. Couple hours maybe. The others got..sleepy. I don't know, they weren't actin' right. Kinda seemed to pass out until some men came for 'Ro." He goes back to cooking, shaking his head. "Hank fought 'em like hell, can't remember the last time I seen him so rabid. But it didn't do too much good. Bobby got caught in the crossfire and they didn't seem to pay me much mind at all, go figure."

"They didn't see you as a threat without your powers."

"I'm not sure I am one without them." He dishes up the eggs.

What appears in front of her isn't really an omlette. It's more just regular old scrambled eggs with a bunch of other yummy stuff mixed up in them. It smells heavenly, though. He begins to rinse and repeat with the ingredients, presumably beginning the process of fixing up enough of the simple dish for the others to eat as well.

"You could kick ass without them." She points out. "You beat me with skill."

"Skill counts for a helluva lot less when the other guys got a gun, kid."

Fair point. She digs in to her food. It tastes somehow even better than it smells.

"Do you know where Jake went?" She asks between bites, the thought just occuring to her. "He hasn't said a word to me since...I mean, I know his moms still MIA but what was I sup'osed to do?"

"You were sup'osed to do exactly what yah did." Logan points out, gruff now. "But he may not see it that way. He wanted yah to charge in with him. S'not your fault yah knew better."

"Yeah, I guess not. Still, maybe I should've..."

"You barely made it out on your own, and you actually knew what you were doin'. If you had taken him it might not have ended well for either of yah." He takes the dish away, as it's now quite empty. "Feel better?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Good. Go get some sleep. Don't worry about Jake. He's a big boy and he was gonna have to start handlin' his shit like one eventually. Nows as good a time as any. You've earned a rest."

She nods, and gets up, her thoughts growing jumbled and hazy as exhaustion takes over her again. A strange urge works at her, though, something she never would've thought of before but...but he's acting so much like a dad and the impulse takes her. Without warning, she spins around and darts across the room to throw her arms around his middle, hugging him tight. "Thank you."

He tenses at first, clearly startled. But soon enough his hand comes up to run through her hair a bit, soothing. "For what?" He asks softly, a touch of amusement coloring his tone. "Making sure my daughters got food in her belly 'fore goin' to sleep? Thought that was pretty standard."

She looks up at him. "No. For everythin' else."

There's a pause; he studies her for a minute, eyebrow raised, and then leans down to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Anytime, kid."

He always says that, anytime he does something for her. Anytime, kid. This time she takes note of the look in his eyes and thinks what he really means is I love you.

She sleeps peaceful on the thought and has no nightmares.