Connections

Logan had just knocked out another faceless cage fighter opponent when he felt it. A sharp twinge in his chest.

Frowning, he rubbed his hand over his bare chest.

'That only happens when something was happening with Marie,' he thought. 'But she should be safe at the Mansion. Probably just a delayed reaction to a punch that I'd received earlier.'

But it still nagged him. So, much to the objection of all the spectators betting on how many men he could take down before the night was through; he stepped out of the cage and collected his belongings.

Once outside, he leaned on his motorbike and pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. He smiled as he looked at it. He'd bought it an hour after he'd left the mansion; calling her immediately to give her the number so that she could have access to him if she ever needed him. He'd made her a promise and he intended to keep it.

Again, he thought of the twinge in his chest.

'If she needed me, she would have called,' he thought.

But he still dialed the number to the mansion.

"Xavier High," came the agitated greeting.

"Hey Storm, how's it going?"

"Logan! Thank God! We've been trying to locate you for days."

Frowning, Logan growled, "Why?!"

"Rogue's missing!"

He felt his heart stop; just for a second, he felt his heart literally stop and his world blacken.

Gasping, he asked, "What do you mean missing? How the hell could you have lost her, already? It's only been forty eight hours."

"It's just that after you left, everyone just wanted to give her some space. So no one really checked on her until about twenty-four hours ago. Jubilee went to get her to go shopping and found out that she wasn't there. All her clothes are missing, all her pictures, and all her personal items are gone, but…" she stopped, not wanting to tell him the rest.

"But what Ororo?! Finish it dammit!! What's the rest?!" he snarled through the phone.

"That picture of the both of you… you know the one you nearly killed Jubilee for taking… it's… it's…"

"It's what, dammit! Just get on with it, Storm!"

"Itwastorntobitsandleftinthemiddleofthebed," she said in a rush, "and your dog tags were on top of them," she said, fearfully. "Logan, this doesn't feel right."

"I agree. I'm coming back. Send the Blackbird to get me," he said, his voice hard.

"Where are you?"

"Laughlin City."

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He buckled himself in as Bobby flew them back to the Mansion.

He'd known something had been wrong. That twinge had been the first sign, but when Storm had told him about that picture, his suspicions had been raised, and then confirmed when she told him of the dog tags.

Marie had loved that picture. She had teased him about for days after Jubilee had taken it. He remembered that day well. He'd been teaching her the basics of mechanics on his bike. They'd both been sweaty, greasy and oily, when Jubilee had snuck up on them and taken the shot. He'd asked her to pass him a wrench and being Marie, she'd sassed and teased him, until he'd grabbed her and held her in a friendly headlock and ruffled her hair.

"You need to stop sassing me, kid, if you want me to teach you anything," he'd growled.

"But ya've already taught meh a lot, Logan," she'd replied.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like this," she'd said, and then proceeded to growl at him.

He'd looked at her in shock at first. She'd sounded exactly like him. And then they'd burst out laughing.

And that's when Jubilee had taken the shot. She under his arm, in the headlock, the two of them laughing like a couple of hyenas.

He'd wanted to kill the little firecracker, or at the very least, destroy the camera. But Marie had stopped him.

"Leave her be, Logan. Ah actually want a picture of us together. It'd comfort meh when you're gone."

They'd sobered after that. The sad look on her face had caused his chest to ache.

"I may go, Marie. But as long as you have those," he said, holding his dog tags around her neck, "you know I'll always be back."

Marie would never leave his dog tags behind, he was sure of it. So it meant that she'd taken against her will.

He let the Wolverine take control, a warning growl starting low in his throat. No one touched what he'd claimed! He saw Bobby tense up even more on hearing it, and smiled slightly. It gave him some satisfaction to see the Ice Dick on guard around him, especially given what he'd done to her.

His claws sprang out as he taught of what she could be experiencing at this very moment, while he sat here, unable to help her.

"Can't this thing go any faster," he growled menacingly at the boy.

"Hold on to your seat, then, Wolvie," Bobby sneered, as he took them into hyper-drive.

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Storm was waiting for them when they arrived.

As soon as Bobby opened the hatch, Logan was striding out, heading directly to Marie's room Storm struggling to keep up with him.

"We've kept everything as we found it, Logan. Both Jubilee and I have just done a cursory scan of the room. We didn't want to disturb anything that might help you to pick up on something."

He ignored the stares that he received, from students and mutants alike, as he continued towards his goal.

They found the door to Marie's room open, with Jubilee standing in the middle of the room looking lost.

She looked up as they walked in.

"I was trying to pick up some stray thoughts of whoever was here last. But it's clean. Normally I'd pick up something, even if it's just a snippet of a dream. But there's nothing. She must have been drugged."

Wolverine growled. "Are you sure, kid? I mean, you powers have just started developing, you could be mistaken."

She tensed, insulted and affronted by his remarks. But then she thought about who was speaking. You didn't get between Wolverine and Rogue. You'd end up suffering more than helping. Those two were really close. So she could understand that he would be naturally wary of any info he got.

"Yeah, I am. My powers as a telepath may be raw, but it's strong! I always pick up something even if I don't want to. This… this is strange."

He didn't respond; just walked to the bed and looked at the torn picture with the dog tags on top. Reaching down he picked the dog tags up. They looked strange in his hands. He'd gotten accustomed to seeing it on Marie's neck, after he'd given it back to her a second time.

Then he looked at the torn picture. Gently he picked up the pieces and tenderly placed them into his pocket, next to the dog tags.

It was only as he glanced back at the bed he noticed the small envelope.

It was addressed to him.

"I didn't notice that before," Jubilee said.

"Neither did me," Storm volunteered.

Slowly he opened the envelope and withdrew the single sheet of paper.

On it was typed neatly, one line, a succinct message. And it was enough to bring the Wolverine to the pinnacle of bloodlust.

It said quite simply: 'Wolverine, do you think that you can rescue Rogue from the bowels of hell?!'

His claws popped out of its own accord and his lips peeled back in a snarl so terrifying that both Storm and Jubilee took a couple steps away from him.

"Those bastards better find a good rock to climb under and hide! They better start praying to all the deities under the stars, because no one touches what is mine! No one messes with my mate! There's no way to hide that I won't find them!" he roared.

A/N: So what do you think of this third chapter? Did I get Wolverine right? Tell me if you like it people!!!!!!