(Four)
In his holding cell in the Diamond, his back a wasteland of pure agony, Kyle howled for Grace, tears streaming from his eyes. Even through his screams, Kyle's thoughts were no farther from that horrible day with Grace than hers had been. It hadn't been said but he knew what his punishment for his actions that day would be - to be forever banished from her side.
His screaming mind was flashing back to that day, that moment. He saw himself as if from far away, of how he had shoved her down. He had surged with a red hot lust now unleashed, wanting her, forcing himself roughly between her legs and pinning her down with his more powerful body. Those terrible dark secrets that had been hidden away in his personnel files had jumped right to the fore, taking him over.
Kyle's sexual life was the stuff of nightmares. As a young teen and still a virgin, he had found himself alone and lost on the streets starving, forced to prostitute himself for money just to survive. He hadn't been born a homosexual, it was just the only way he could earn enough to eat. The men had come easily enough, paying him for what he could do with his mouth. Being so tainted and living in the worst parts of town, he had never had a woman so much as glance his way. As winter settled in, the colder weather meant less customers and Kyle's very existence was hanging by a thread. Frozen and half starved, he finally got desperate enough to consider to go beyond oral services to the grimy men who sought him out. Just his bad luck, it was a procurer from the Weapon X Program who found him first and it hadn't been sex the man had been after. He had come looking for someone no one would notice if they disappeared.
And disappear Kyle did, deep into that program. They had trained him in many things, but sexual etiquette hadn't been on their menu. It wasn't until Kyle had broken out for the first time of many that he finally had his first taste of women. He had broken into the house of a single woman looking for refuge and the sound of her screams brought out a new kind of need in the boy. He took her by force and then ripped her throat out, drinking her blood down and then feeding on what was left. That was how he had lost his virginity and the feeling of sweet release combined with the blood had never left his dark and corrupted soul.
Once he had felt those lovely sensations of joy and sated hunger, like a heroin addict, how he burned and burned, tormented by dark lusts that demanded they be fed again once more. He was never more than one or two steps away from complete insanity. Suffering under the harsh life of being a Weapon X plaything, Kyle escaped as many times as he could. Once outside of their fences he always made for the nearest town, needing to meet all those burning desires that howled at him constantly – the need to feed on steaming hot human flesh but also to see his fierce sexual urges put to rest. He broke into the first houses he came to and once there he slaughtered the adult males and children he found just to get them out of the way, saving the women for last. First he would unleash his darkest lusts on them and when he had reduced them to tatters, fed on their flesh, filling his belly.
Becoming a true sexual person in this horrific way meant that for Kyle, sex with women had always been about him dominant. They had been nothing more than prey and his to do with as he pleased. In his long life, he had never once taken a women gently or for her pleasure. One by one they had all gone down hard and losing to him no matter how hard they fought. He had been forced to submit to all the dominant males that had victimized him in the past, but with the women, the roles were reversed and he reveled in it. Finally having control over something instead of being the one tormented only made the sex sweeter and the meat all the more savory. Kyle managed to escape time and time again, needing to feed more than just his belly. The body count continued to mount until, disgusted with what Kyle had become, the Program finally locked him away for good.
Years later, when Jael discovered Kyle in his prison and stole him for his own use, the terrorist had wanted him for only one thing – to consume the prisoners that Jael no longer wanted to care for. Some of them had been women and they had fared no better than the ones Kyle had taken by surprise out in the world.
These things the X-men had only learned about during private therapy sessions after Kyle and Sabretooth had been taken into their custody when the Game came to its bloody conclusion. Notes were taken, files were made, but only people with special clearance could actually access them. Poor Grace would have done well to have known all these grisly things in advance, but alas, all of these dark and terrible secrets had been beyond her reach. Had she known, things in the storage closet might have gone very differently.
Once Kyle had Grace under his full control in the storage closet, she smelled like prey to him as all those previous women had and without Skye's empathic control, those darker appetites swamped him, overriding the deep affection he had once felt for her. He no longer saw her as a person who could be loved and cherished, he knew only desire. He clawed at her, scratching her arms as he shoved her down, the smell of her fear only driving him on.
He cared only now to have this need filled, it had been months since he had had any kind of intimacy with another person that didn't involve being beaten. He had been thinking about her all this time and now that he actually had her in his control, he was on fire. He just went red, perhaps not for blood, but for having this single burning desire finally quenched.
Once Grace had shifted to goat form and finally knocked Kyle back to his senses, he was locked in place with horror. He flashed back to his previous rapes and kills and was instantly filled with shame and self loathing at what he had almost done to this girl whom he had grown to love. It was just as well that she had been able to separate herself from him, he couldn't had lived with himself if he had been able to complete the red bloody act that had gone through his mind.
Well he needn't worry about it now, she would never go near him again. He had certainly seen to that, hadn't he? It was a simple mistake, his thinking he could ever have someone as good as her anyhow. How could he have been so stupid? It was too dangerous and he was far too ugly inside and out. What Romulus was doing to him was just. He deserved every moment of it.
It still made him sad. He hadn't felt this way about anyone since Skye and his time with Grace had been even better than that. He had no fear that she would ever try to mess with his head the way that Skye had, she didn't have his twisted sense of cruelty. She was sweet and kind. It had been nice, being with Grace as she made his world larger by the day. It was so nice not to feel lonely and empty all the time. He had her visits to look forward to. With Skye there had never been equality between them, Skye was his Master and Kyle had been under his harsh rule even as he was given enough love and pleasure to make it tolerable. Grace had made it clear early she was different, that they were on the same level, even friends. The reality was that if things had gone better, she would have been his first real lover.
But all of that was over now. Kyle's violent affections in the storage closet the previous day had been bad enough to see an end to what short a love affair they might have had, but now her knowing what he had allowed Skye to do to him would no doubt finish off what little they had once had. He felt dirty all over again, full of shame.
Kyle hadn't confessed to Grace his terrible crimes, though he certainly had been given opportunity enough, but he hadn't dared. It was bad enough that she had seen him feeding that one time on one of Jason Frost's guards when they had rescued the kids from Twilight. How could he look her in the eye and say it hadn't been the first time and it most likely wouldn't be the last?
Kyle also hadn't told her the truth that Skye, a rough master though he might have been, had at the same time done a lot for him. Skye's powerful empathy had begun to tame some of Kyle's darker sexual urges and that was part of what had bonded the pair so tightly. Skye had taught Kyle to make love, something significant. Of course Skye had used his powerful empathy to wear the boy down, wise and clever creature that he was, knowing he would ensnare Kyle with love instead of endless beatings. He had wanted Kyle fierce out in the field but not so much in the bedroom for play. Kyle wasn't stupid, he knew some of this and feared that without that control from an outside source, he might never be able to perform for another person's pleasure. Skye had calmed the beast and Kyle had learned what honest love could be, opening the door for Grace. But alas, Grace did not have the same ability as Skye to calm Kyle's inner beast and so as he feared, in the storage Kyle's dark passions had run unleashed to ruin everything.
Blissfully ignorant, Grace had not known what a huge step it had been for Kyle to even have kissed her so tenderly and with such feeling. Yes, he had lost it there at their last meeting, but it could have been so much worse for her. So much worse.
But now that chance was gone. She had seen his inner beast and been frightened away. She had also learned what a filthy dirty creature he was, a perversion. He was going to die now, his flesh melting away under Romulus' harsh treatment, but before he was gone, though, there was something he had needed her to know. "Grace! Grace! I didn't mean it, Grace! Mrr! Mrr! I'm so sorry! Grace! Oh, God... ! Grrraaaace...!" he shouted, not knowing if she even cared to listen to him or not.
Once Kyle had run out of words to say and the energy to express them, he sagged in his chains, one shoulder still all crooked and wrong from its earlier dislocation. Mewling now and miserable, his only frustration was that his body still stubbornly refused to die.
"Who the fuck is Grace?" Sabretooth asked, his head cocked to one side in confusion. He was still having trouble sorting this out. When no one answered his first question, he asked another, "He ain't actually prayin' is he?"
"I didn't take him for the praying sort," Daken replied, unsure himself what was really going on here. Nothing Kyle was doing today matched the information they had managed to gather on the boy. It was odd for Romulus to be this off base.
"That's because he isn't," came Romulus' own terse reply. His mind was racing as he considered his options. Was this something they could use? Was this Grace person here or was the cry rhetorical? The message could have been passed on easily to the proper recipient by those who were listening down in the holding cells. He couldn't assume that the girl herself was even here.
Throughout Kyle's ordeal, Daken had still been compliant enough to his Master's wishes and had continued to time the rate of Kyle's healing from being burned. The stopwatch ticked away and after a moment or two the slim Asian man dared enough to crouch near Kyle where he lay in his miserable slump. He risked injury to brush away some of the ash on his back, wanting to get a better look at what was really going on under the mess. The smell of Kyle's skin had already predicted that most of the damage was somewhat healed, a remarkable feat and enough to impress, but there was more than one way to check something. Satisfied that the test was officially over, he stopped the watch and showed Romulus the time.
"How remarkable," Romulus praised, glancing over at Sabretooth. "His recovery time is even better than yours."
"Maybe so," Victor grumbled, clearly miffed. "But I can still whup his ass in a fight without breaking a sweat."
"A challenge for another time," Romulus said, unimpressed with the larger man's bragging. "Too bad he seems so emotionally frail, but perhaps given time we can cure him of it. See that he's fed. Let him rest a while and then prepare him for shipment. We leave for the Sapphire in the morning."
"Yes, Master."
While Sabretooth turned for the door and brought in a cart from just outside, Romulus took a moment to crouch down to where Kyle lay. He had some final things to say. He grasped a fistful of Kyle's filthy hair and used it to raise the boy's head enough to make him look at him.
"Just so you know what is at stake here, I am going to tell you what I told Logan — all the true Lupine will soon be vying for the ultimate seat of power. My seat. These tests we have given you today have revealed your inheritance, though it comes from science and not by blood. It will be enough that others will seek you out and eliminate you from the running. What a glorious trial this will be, seeing who will actually have the mettle to best all the others. Alas for you, my young son, as much as you may be true Lupine now, clearly your emotional attachments are enough that you will surely perish in the long run. They make you weak. Perhaps it is for the best, seeing as how blood will always trump science.
"I could offer you some training if you wish, you are Lupine enough for that."
"Mrr... fuck you!" Kyle managed to gasp. His eyes were filled with tears and he could only just make out Romulus' face but it was one he wished never to see again. Why on earth would he wish to remain in the company of those who regarded him as trash? While it might be true that he had more in common with these Lupine than actual humans, he would never be able to truly find a place here. Every other Lupine here would surely target him for their own amusement if not advancement. Only a fool would desire such a thing and Kyle, while he was many things, was simply not that stupid. He would rather run and starve in the woods.
"Very well," Romulus answered gruffly, obviously already guessing that this was going to be the boy's answer. "Lower the chains so he can eat but leave him cuffed."
He rose at the same time that Sabretooth leaned down with a large silver bowl. The dish contained a generous helping of shredded, bright red, raw meat that glistened with juices and fat. While Kyle had earlier vowed to himself that he would refuse whatever they might offer him, he was at the moment too weak to remember it. The broken animal in him saw only nourishment and the moment the chains were lowered enough that he could eat, he lunged for it, face down in the bowl and gobbling it down without dignity, barely registering at first that the one thing that made this particular meal so enticing was the fact that the meat was nothing less than human. He consumed it faster than he could form the thought that this scrumptious meal could have been one of his teammates. It had been still warm, only minutes from having once been alive.
Well it was too late to do anything about it now. It was too late for a great many things. Kyle slumped once more, resting his face on the cool rough surface of his cell, closed his eyes and cared no more about anything.
"Toldja he'd eat it without thinking twice," Sabretooth joked harshly. "Fuckin' cannibal."
"Of course he would," Daken replied, smiling that dark smile that never seemed to reach his eyes. "He has much of you in him."
Victor growled at the insulting tone, but he it hadn't been a lie. He had been a cannibal himself long before Kyle had been born and had reveled in it without guilt. Still, he hadn't liked the way Daken had said it. Victor would have loved to fight over it – rank and file had always been so important to him – but he knew that Daken was Romulus' Second. At least for now. There would be time to change that later. Much later. He grunted and left, following Romulus out the door.
Daken lingered a minute, pausing to look over the work his Master had just completed. These burn tests had been the norm for some time and he had witnessed many, but this one had been just a little different. He couldn't quite put his finger on why this one had impressed him so, perhaps it had been the apology. It had been so heartfelt. And so tragic. He shut off the microphone and packed it away, that little job done, but loitered, still thoughtful.
Daken crouched down once more, his enhanced hearing telling him that Kyle did not sleep even though his eyes were closed. "You cannot have her, you know," he said, brushing his fingers lightly across the blacked ruin of Kyle's shoulders. It was a tender gesture in spite of the ugly words that came with it. Touching was a big deal with ferals, something Daken knew well. It was how they bonded and learned about each other. Daken had learned to use it well, for both good and for ill. His voice was as soft as that touch as he spoke wicked truths. "I know what you did. I saw her on the train. You bad little boy."
Kyle flinched just a little, betrayed by another traitorous surge of emotion. It might have been that Daken was fishing, but somehow Kyle didn't think so. Unfortunately he was in no position to do anything about it.
Daken smiled, his guess had been correct. Grace was the girl with the horns who had been mauled. That didn't mean he would pass that on to his Master, however. Some games he liked to play alone.
"I'll keep your little secret," he promised as if they were two old friends. "But you are a fool if you think that one of us could ever be embraced by one of them. You will kill her eventually, though perhaps that would be for the best. You wouldn't want to see what I would do to her, given the chance, once the fighting begins."
With that, he rose and left, leaving Kyle alone to his own cruel thoughts.
And Kyle had many. In all of the time he had spent with Grace he had never once considered the possibility of her ever becoming someone that could be used against him. He had hardly dared to dream of the kiss and the lovemaking, never mind that there could be something beyond even that. The thought of Daken killing her made the meal sit uneasily in his stomach. He had to do something to stop this.
She's going to leave you anyway so I wouldn't worry, came the next thought after that. It's already done. She won't be around for him to hurt.
So Kyle lay as he was, exhausted and done, still tasting the blood from his quick meal in his mouth. He would be a liar if he were to deny how much he had enjoyed it. It was really the only thing that could have satisfied him in his current condition. It was like heroin to an addict that has been making due with methadone for far too long, or a long time drunk with a non alcoholic beer. And why should he have refused it? He was in bad shape and certainly wouldn't be going home now, not after that very public confession of his perversion and weakness. Maybe Victor and these other freaks were not wrong to embrace their darker halves.
Still his enjoyment of the raw human flesh pissed him off just a little bit. Not just today but earlier he had made a promise to himself back at the Complex, when Grace had first made clear that she wanted him, that he would finally give up this particular dark appetite for good. He was breaking that vow as well. It was like being raped all over again, this being forced to go against what he hoped would be his better nature. He had been a circus freak on display here, being forced to perform for an unsympathetic audience. The microphone that had been used only proved this. Beaten and burned, the whole thing had been just for show. How could these guys have assumed that humiliating him like this again and again would somehow magically make him want to join their little group. What could be more ridiculous?
The meat, taboo as it might be, was helping poor Kyle to recover just the same. Sleep would have been better, but it eluded him. The echoes of Daken's dark promise would not leave him, all he could think about even now was Grace. The pain was bringing back the instructive teaching that Remy had so thoughtfully given him and he found himself drifting back to the fantasy of what could have been.
Oh, that first kiss. The one in the Solarium before things had gone so terribly wrong. Yes it had been clumsy on account of his stupid clunky teeth, but it had made him feel in ways he had no words for. Grace smells so good to him, like peaches and vanilla. Fuck it all, he still wanted her now in spite of everything.
With Grace, he had begun to see a powerful possibility – of a life without pain, without being yelled at to be better faster, whatever. Where he could simply be Kyle and no one else. It was fleeting but it had made him feel more alive than he had in years. He loved it, craved it, wanted more. Grace was the only one who ever looked at him square, like he wasn't some kind of freak. This, even after she had seen him eat someone at Twilight. More than that, she had wanted him as he was, not as what someone else thought he ought to be. Her attraction hadn't been forced and it had meant everything to him. With the team he had found his self esteem. His time on the team had been well spent and one of the few bright spots in his long dark life. Remy had never touched him, the first trainer to go hands off, the Thief could never have known what that one thing had meant. To be spoken to with real respect, not contempt. Inspired by these memories, he knew he had to overcome this, for better or for ill. He has to do his part to get the team out if he can, even if they leave them behind after.
Well, if he truly wanted this he was going to have to fight for it, even as depleted as he was. But he was going to have to come up with a plan quick, time was running out with what Romulus had said about their leaving in the morning.
(break)
Even as he was listening to Kyle being tormented and teased by Romulus, Remy was still watching Grace and thinking. He was still surprised that he had missed their paring off, knowing he shouldn't have. It wasn't like they hadn't had the opportunity. He knew that Grace was helping Kyle out and tutoring him, that Kyle had even been left alone in her care more than once. She had bought him an iPod and was getting him interested in music and movies, not just academics, something Remy had thought harmless enough. Kyle needed to be brought out into the larger world and since none of the other kids were all that interested in doing it who was he to complain that it was Grace? He just hadn't thought it had blossomed into anything other than friendship.
The fact that Remy knew Kyle was severely damaged and only one or two steps away from being a monster had a lot to do with his lack of foresight. He hadn't considered for a moment that any of the kids, Grace included, were reckless enough to even think about dating the guy. Of course knowing what he knew now, Remy could recall a recent instance that he now realized he had taken all the wrong way.
Just a few days before he had left for Logan's cabin there had been a particularly hard work out session where Kyle had really shone. They were working on their spatial awareness and dodging foam projectiles. Kyle had been swift and sure as he dodged them easily and let them pass him by, so graceful as he moved with feline elegance and making it look too easy when it was anything but. He was still painfully thin but all that leanness just showed off all what musculature he had in sharp relief, a long distance runner's dream.
Remy had noticed Grace watching Kyle move in all his feral glory and that it had her full attention. Remy knew the kids were young and had all their hormones running, it wasn't the first time he had noted one kid admiring another during practice. It was only natural given their age and proximity to one another. It didn't mean they would act on it, it was just teenaged fascination with the opposite sex. Remy could see in Grace's shine that seeing all that animal power and hard strength was giving her a bit of flush. It was a natural thing, nothing to argued about, but the trouble here was that Kyle was every bit that feral animal and it would be better if he didn't pick up on it. He wasn't much less than a dangerous criminal and a relationship with him was not to be encouraged.
Just as Remy feared, when Kyle finished his run and passed her by, he caught a whiff of her scent and knew that she was aroused. Remy didn't need it to know what was going on, but he caught sight of the dark crimson that ripped right through Kyle's shine, the color of sexual arousal. That dark red was tinged with black, though, an unhealthy darkness that hinted at a darker version of that appetite. Something dangerous that should not be indulged.
Kyle paused, his eyes meeting Grace's and they both stood still evaluating each other. Grace remained steadfast, unafraid of that powerful gaze when she certainly should have been. He was looking at her like she was something good to eat something that would have creeped out any of the other kids. It wasn't her fault, it was that she didn't know who Kyle really was. None of the kids truly did.
Remy didn't hesitate. He drew his whistle and gave it a sharp blast. Kyle turned to him obediently and when Gambit signaled him to run a few laps on the nearby track, the boy obeyed well enough. His first few strides away were slow, though, he was still feasting on that scent as any feral would, but it didn't hold him fast. Soon enough he was focused on the task at hand and his mind had moved on.
While Remy was very much aware that he had averted something that was potentially troublesome, none of the kids seemed to have picked up on any of it. It wasn't unusual for Remy to have Kyle run laps. They thought it was just a means of getting poor scrawny Kyle into some kind of shape. They didn't realize that with Gambit, it was all deliberate. Like an over playful puppy, it was best to run the boy a bit ragged, keeping him too tired to get into much trouble.
Gambit had figured that the incident was a one time thing, a random event. He couldn't have been more wrong, he realized now. Remy wasn't stupid, Kyle's apology today had been too heartfelt to be anything but in response to an attempt at intimacy gone wrong. A few misplaced words couldn't have brought out so much pain as he had never heard before in Kyle's voice like that. The real question was, just how long had the pair been intimate?
Remy had missed what was going on with his team and he had no good excuse for being out of touch like that, not one. It was his job to know these things, even if he chose not to interfere, so he could manage the group skillfully. It looked like he had fallen behind on more than just his stupid paperwork.
Gambit looked over his group now, inwardly pleased when he saw the other girls draw close to Grace, doing their best to make it not look like what it was. It wasn't that obvious, even behind him some of the boys had instinctively bunched together in the same way even if they didn't touch. It would be hard for anyone without a soul to not be upset after hearing Kyle cry out like that.
Remy knew that even if they got out of here all in one piece, the memory of all of this was going to be hard on the kids. It took a certain kind of person to volunteer for this kind of life. It wasn't like joining the Cub Scouts, it was more like the army. You gave up a lot in the service to others – time, pain, and in some cases the ability to have a stable family life. It was a team effort and you had to be able to risk everything for someone else and hope that at the same time they will risk all for you.
It was one thing to be taken by some random authority and questioned, bribed even, another to be tortured, but then at least three quarters of his team had come from Twilight and the hard times there. This wasn't exactly new to them. Kids should just be kids, out there and having fun, not having to go through stuff like this repeatedly. He made a quick mental promise to take them somewhere fun after this.
Remy had heard Romulus laying it all out to Kyle about the fight to come and it just made him furious. Is this what the whole meet was about? Remy grumbled to himself in complaint. Kyle had been trying so hard these days, enough that Remy was feeling especially protective of him. He could care less that Kyle had cannibalism in his past. What Skye had put him through had Remy directing his anger at the wayward Siskan, he placed no blame on Kyle for any of that and wasn't repulsed by the boy at all. All he could think about now was getting Kyle out of this and somewhere safe. Kyle didn't deserve any of this any more than he had deserved getting mind fucked by Skye. Kyle had enough on his plate without this.
The idea of a competition with only one winner sounded a lot like the Game that was just played out in Arizona, one where so many innocents had died to satisfy the power lusts of a few. This was getting sickening already. It also meant that many other ferals the X-men had never seen were probably going to come out of the woodwork now. Not just Kyle and Logan but any other ferals they had on their teams would have to be looked after.
That impacted Remy directly. He was married to Molly, Sabretooth's daughter. Of course that freak was sure to come for her, though perhaps Molly might be safe being female and this seemed to be a male dominated bunch. But what if she and Remy produced a feral son down the road like Logan had with Carter? They had longed for a big family and it was no secret that the twins they had now was just their idea of a good start. The more children they had the more risk they brought down on themselves. Just the thought of it pissed Gambit off, the thought that outside forces would impact his family planning like this. These freaks had to be put down or put off.
Remy was still holding on to Julien, but it was his other charge he was thinking of as he spoke to his group, "We gotta get Kyle outta dis before dey take him outta our reach."
"Do we?" Hercules questioned softly from behind him, keeping it down. "He's just as much of a monster as they are. Maybe he belongs with them."
Remy sighed, disappointed to hear it. He had been hoping for better leadership than this. He gave voice to what should have been obvious. "We don' leave nobody behind, even if we don' agree wit what dey done."
"You heard what he said. He hurt Grace."
"Bien sur, but until she say in what manner, he come home wit us. Innocent 'til proven guilty. We sort it all out later. We a team and it's time we started acting like it. Time to put all dose drills we run to use."
(break)
Remy and his young charges weren't the only ones subject to having to overhear poor Kyle's horrible and lengthy ordeal. Logan had also been listening to all this with an ever growing amount of pure rage. His perspectives on things were not exactly the same as Remy's however.
Logan was sympathetic to Kyle's plight, the kid didn't really deserve to be here though it didn't mean that Logan was absent surprise. Logan had made a kind of peace with the kid. They had forgiven each other for past brutalities, but Logan still thought the kid should have tried harder in life. As long as Kyle continued to lack the drive to reform himself, people were going to walk all over him time and time again. Jael had done so and even Skye who perhaps had used him the worst of all, torturing him with fantastic distortions of what real love could be, the cruelest weapon of all.
And poor Grace, what of her? How could Gambit have been so stupid to allow her to get so involved with a hopelessly broken feral monster like Kyle? Logan didn't believe for one minute that Remy hadn't known about it. Of course the Thief was always funny about things like love, always thinking that dangerous people like Kimble and Kyle still deserved love no matter the collateral damage that might happen along the way. Geez. If there ever was a sign that Remy shouldn't be in charge of teenaged kids there it was. He might have to drop a word or two to the folks back home in charge about this. This was getting out of hand.
How much trouble was it going to be to get Grace out of this mess? Logan had always admired her, her strong spirit and pluck. He had seen many kids come and go over the years but she had gotten in him quick. Maybe it had been her audacity in nabbing his jacket at Twilight, he had certainly never allowed any other kid to get away with that. It was a pride thing, you see, never letting a Gold Team jacket like that out of your hands. But he had been unable to push the issue even though he had seen her wear it from time to time in the Complex. His feelings for her were entirely platonic and he regarded her as some kind of kid sister, but damn she had gotten in fast. If anything were to happen to her, he would feel the loss, that was for sure. Maybe it was as simple as the fact that she wasn't one of those pathetic, "woe is me" kids that were always running around the place with a big chip on their shoulder. She certainly commanded more respect from him than Remy's kid who barely even tried fitting in.
On the other hand, outing Kyle in public that had earned Romulus the All Time Losers cake. There was bullying and then there was outright cruelty. Hearing Kyle break down like that afterwards just made the whole act unforgivable. Logan was very familiar with Kyle's sordid past, he had been through enough without this piled on. Romulus didn't know it but he had crossed one of Logan's lines that could never be ignored or permitted to fall into obscure history. He would be getting his comeuppance by day's end if Logan had his way. Wolverine's new sole purpose for living was not stopping until he made that insane fuck pay and pay dearly.
Not that Logan was even close to breaking out of here. As much as he tried testing his bonds he was held pretty fast. They had had him in mind when they designed this stupid fucking chair and it was doing its job, keeping him firmly in place.
Fuck Romulus for doing this to him, as if he had the right to fuck around with anyone he pleased. It was obvious the guy was completely mad. They say your brain goes with age so there you go. Being nearly immortal isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just the idea of someone like Romulus sitting back and controlling so many aspects of his own life was beyond maddening. Romulus claimed to have made sure the Program picked him up and had a hand in dumping all of the metal in him. He claimed to have made sure Itsu died to drag Logan back in when he had tried to run. Stole his kid, bloody from the womb and then bent his head around, turning him into some kind of terrorist loser.
Fuckin' Daken. Logan could only wonder just how many horrors Daken had endured at the hands of this man. No wonder he was such an asshole. Daken had a quiet eerie way about him that let Logan know he was as utterly mad as his surrogate father. The only real question was - could Daken even be salvaged? Was he even remotely recoverable? It wasn't like Remy was having great success with his own progeny and Julien wasn't a freak on the same scale. Lord have mercy.
Logan let slip a dark, ironic chuckle. Do they have support group meetings for this out in the world? Hey, my name is Logan and my son is an asshole. They could both go, him and Remy.
Of course thinking of assholes made Logan's poor tortured mind think back on what Charles Xavier had asked him to do on that last disastrous mission. Really, was it much different than anything Romulus was doing? Logan had been manipulated once more into doing someone else's dirty work. Granted Charles sent him out to do the quick kill, to be merciful death. There were worse fates than death as Logan knew all too well. It wasn't out of the question that if the government had gotten their hands on the girl that they would have locked her up in some lab and done God knows what to her all in the name of science. Or in the name of defense for that matter. Logan hadn't forgotten about those Stark-tech dirty bullets. Didn't Daken say they had manufactured Flush rounds already? Mutherfuckers!
Yes, Logan had done what Charles had asked of him even though the crippled wonder hadn't used so many words to demand it. Maybe that was what had made it all the worse, not knowing the full scope of the crime he was about to commit until he had seen that red scarf. He had enough shit to carry around in his heart without having to add another spoonful onto an already overloaded plate. It wasn't like the Professor was asking him to just go around the corner for a damn carton of milk. But that was Charles for you. A little light on the details at times.
Ever the obedient little dog, Logan had gone to that train station and once he located his target as per Charles' rough description and taken that poor child and given her the mercy Charles had asked of him, doing what needed to be done. He could still see it now as if watching a movie or looking back on some strange dream. It seemed unreal but it was anything but.
He had watched Marcus lead the girl through the station and once Marcus headed over to the men's room for a little pit stop Logan had taken advantage of opportunity. He followed the man in and pleased that Marcus had at least had the decency to leave the girl outside for him, took Marcus down in the bathroom, doing it quick and quiet.
Once that was done, Logan returned outside, happy that no one else had followed him in while he had been busy with Marcus. He then looked down at the pretty girl and used all of his limited charms to lure her back inside the mens' room with him. "That guy you came with, he asked me to fetch you."
"Okay," she replied easily enough, following him in without question. In that moment he got a quick snapshot of her life – kept away from others, never given a reason not to trust other people. In secreting her way as his secret weapon, Marcus had fostered her innocence and trust. It broke Logan's heart even as he knew it was a tool he could use. It worked beautifully and she came along easily enough. It was only when she saw Marcus on the floor that she began to suspect Logan might not be so safe to be with. "What's wrong with my daddy?"
Well, that made Logan's stomach clench. He knew by scent alone that Marcus was no real relation of hers and was nothing more than sick fuck mutant trash. He dragged the guy into the handicapped stall but his feet were still sticking out a little. "Don't worry, none, kiddo. He's just sleepin'."
She looked at Marcus lying there all crumpled but in the end, Logan's soothing voice kept her from alarm.
He had looked into her big blue eyes, so innocent. "Don't be afraid," he had whispered to her the same as he would have soothed one of his own daughters. It was a lie of course, in light of what he was about to do, but it worked, she calmed at once and smiled back at him, shattering his wicked murderer's heart into a million pieces.
"What's yer name, darlin'?" he had dared to ask.
"Mindy," she answered easily enough, charmed by him in some way.
"Well, Mindy, I have a secret to tell you, but you got to come up close."
She laughed and complied. He pulled her tight as if to hug her even as his lips brushed her tiny precious ear. Helpless in his big strong hands, he jerked her quick, snapping her neck in one quick break, Merciful Death indeed. He whispered roughly in her ear, "I'm sorry," even as he lowered her to the floor, touching her gently as she died, his eyes blurring with tears.
He knew it had needed to be done, the scent of her sickness was burning his nose and confirming all of Xavier's concerns. Logan's sensitive senses were as good as any dog's and told him things that people didn't know, that illnesses have smells. Logan couldn't help but wonder, how had Marcus been able to survive such an intense exposure? A quick pat down of the man with his hands helped him to discover the reason – those strange medical patches that Hank was looking over even now in the Lucky Dragon.
Mindy had blonde hair in a pony tail just like his own daughter, Jessie, often wore. Oh, his chest. So tight... How could he ever look her in the eyes again without seeing Mindy looking right back at him? Her little hat had fallen off onto the filthy floor, pom pom dirty now, discarded, like all she did was take it off and leave it like his kids did all the time, knowing mom would pick it up after them. Another twist of the knife.
Logan had no time for further reflection on his crime, he had to clean up the mess he had made. As quickly as he could he planted the explosive charges he had been given and left as fast as he could. It was important that no one discover his actions too soon before the devices went off.
And so it had been done, this horrible thing. Logan hadn't spoken to Charles since other than sending a quick text to let him know that he had done the deed. As for the effects of being so close to the one responsible for the Flush plague, Logan had the sniffles for the day, nothing more. His healing factor had taken care of the sickness in his body, but not the residual effects of the job on his poor battered mind.
Charles. Romulus. Fuck them both. He was done doing other people's dirty work. He was going to bust out of here and take care of Romulus and then after that? Well, he might have to take care of Charles, too. Not kill him, but yeah, he was going to give him a piece of his mind. Whatever bullshit Romulus had been going on about, he had been right about one thing – Logan had been chosen for that job because of who he was. It would be the last time.
And after that? Well, he was going to go and kiss his wife and hug his kids. He was going to hold Carter tight and make sure that when he grew up, he was nothing like Daken. Carter was a broody child, unlike the girls who were X- gene negative. He doesn't smile much and he had inherited his father's gruff temper. Was the decline into insanity inevitable amongst these so called Lupine as Romulus called the ferals of the world? Could it be prevented by having a normal, everyday childhood where he was wanted and accepted as he is? Or should Logan abandon Carter in the hopes of removing his own negative influence? Impossible. Logan was much too loyal to seriously consider such a thing. Then again, Daken was messed up quite nicely without ever having known him. Maybe it was better for him to stick around and give Carter a better way to deal with all of those animal energies. Logan's biggest fear was that Carter would let that anger consume him over time and his life will be a wreck like his own has been. He didn't want that for his son. He would love for Carter to become a doctor or a lawyer, something helpful to others. Anything to keep the blood at a distance. He didn't want the boy to deteriorate into a criminal and only a strong guiding hand could do that, preferably his own.
That was a solemn oath he was never going to break.
And that John guy? The pale white wonder who claimed to be his long lost brother? Well, he might have to see about him, too. And if all that turned out to be a lie, well, he would take care of that too, one way or another.
Of course he would have to get out of here first. Details, details.
Logan paused from his thoughts as he began to hear some scratching sounds. His head snapped to his left when he heard the metal clink of a vent panel falling open near to the floor. He wasn't sure what to expect but was surprised when he next saw a slinky white rat slither out and then sit back on its haunches peering up at him. What followed was even weirder – a tiny girl, no bigger than a couple of feet crawled out. He barely had time to note that she carried what looked like a screw driver in her hands, he was too busy greedily taking in the Red Team uniform she had on. It wasn't as sleek as her teammates were because it was in Barbie doll form and had probably taken some skill to assemble. Still it was a welcome sight.
His diminutive guest brushed cobwebs from her blonde, punked out hair and peered up at him before wisecracking, "Hey, Mister Logan. Did you miss us?"
To be continued in Making the Grade.