Notes: CC: Oh yeah, the wedding looked amazing in my head and I may have to add it to the list of things I want to draw, for real. I mean, I do a lot of blogging for wedding photographers, so it's not like I'd be hard up for reference photos...
Arly: Yeah, I wanted to show that there are people outside of the X-Men who are okay with mutants (especially because Book Four is going to be about mutant-human relations shhh spoilers shhhh). I couldn't leave you hanging for too long, but...
I am so, so sorry about this chapter. It's... rough.
Chapter 13: Too Far
After the wedding, Barney was excited to go back to the cottage with K and Clint for the holidays together before he'd have to start up school. It was close enough to Thanksgiving that they were planning to make a big family trip of it.
Logan had already gone up separately to get things ready at the cabin — and to give K some time with the boys as they took their time saying goodbye to their friends at the circus and got Barney all packed up for the next few months.
Clint was sure to tell Barney all about how much he was going to like the school the whole time they loaded up, though he was starting to tire out from all the excitement. Still, he wasn't about to stop anytime soon. "We should all make s'mores tonight," he told K. "We gotta get groceries anyway, right? We should get marshmallows and stuff while we're there."
"We do," she agreed. "Steaks … sweet stuff … yes."
"Not gonna lie; I'm looking forward to home-cooked stuff," Barney said with a smile. "Rock candy and popcorn gets old after a while."
"Yeah, nothing fried, don't worry," K said with a little laugh.
"Oh good. At this point, I'm pretty sure my blood is half batter," he teased right back.
"That's what happens when you insist on sucking down a dozen corn dogs at a shot," she said, not missing a beat. "I can't believe it, but I think I'm gonna have to introduce you to something called 'vegetables'. I've heard they're good for you, but you know …"
"I think they're made up," Barney said without missing a beat.
"Yeah, definitely fictional," K agreed.
"Except for pumpkins," Clint put in. "And pumpkin pie."
"Okay, fair," Barney laughed.
The bulk of the drive north was quiet, and after the comedown of adrenaline from the wedding and the kiss and everything, Barney even fell asleep for a while. They were covering ground and working their way north at a good clip, and by the time they finally rolled in to the town nearest her cottage, it was dark out.
"Just a minute to grab some groceries," K said before she poked Barney in the shoulder. "You need to pick out a few things you've been missing too, mister."
Barney smiled shyly at that. "Well, uh, it would be nice to have those loaded potatoes…"
"You got it," she agreed, and the three of them headed in to shop.
Barney tipped his head when he saw that K had picked up four steaks. "So… he's sticking around?"
"Yes … he is. He's been splitting wood, I'm sure. He wanted to make sure the cabin was warm and save you two some work …"
"I like him already," Barney teased.
Clint grinned. "He's real strong."
"Well, good. Then he can have the wood chopping forever," Barney chuckled.
"He wouldn't mind it," K said as they paid for their things and headed back to the jeep. The boys helped load up, and K closed the back door as the two of them roughhoused in the parking lot for a moment, shoving each other in the shoulder a few times — especially when Clint started teasing Barney about his 'girlfriend'.
K whistled for Sicem as the boys screwed around. It had been a long day of travel for everyone, and she was sure the dog was more than happy to stretch his legs out. But the boys' little teasing shoves turned into a full-blown wrestling match as they waited for Sicem — not paying attention in the least to the lack of sound around the trees. They missed the fact that K had frozen entirely, though, and was staring beyond the parking lot, looking for something in the slowly darkening trees.
"Boys," K said quietly, almost over a breath. "Get in the car."
Both of them froze at the tone K was using and glanced over at her. Clint quickly let go of Barney and rushed to the car, with Barney only a few steps behind. Barney yanked open the door to all but jump into the passenger's seat, but before Clint could follow him, he heard his brother let out a strangled sort of sound.
"Clint — no—" Barney started to say, but Clint had already climbed in and saw what had stopped Barney: Sicem was in the front seat, but he wasn't moving. And there was a lot of blood…
Clint scrambled back so fast that he ended up falling back on his backside, his eyes wide and a look of pure shock painted on his face; he couldn't get his breath right in his chest.
K turned their way as the wind shifted, and she finally caught the scent of blood in the air. She swore outright and turned to Barney. "Get out of here."
Barney started swearing as he closed his eyes and tried to move Sicem out of the front seat so that Clint wouldn't see him. "C'mon, Clint," he called out, glancing over his shoulder to see that Clint was still sitting on the ground where he'd fallen. He swore again and started to climb back over to get Clint — when the door slammed shut in his face, leaving him inside and Clint outside.
Barney let out a surprised sort of gasp when he saw the huge blonde smirk at him and turn toward Clint, who was almost crab walking back away from him.
K made a rush at Creed, if nothing else to try and draw him away from Clint, growling all the while when she sunk her claws into his side, but that really only got a roar from Creed that rattled the windows of the Jeep as he backhanded her aside.
"Don't you touch her!" Clint shouted — a split second before Barney shouted more or less the same thing, heard through the back window of the truck as he tried unsuccessfully to open the door where it was now fairly jammed.
For a moment, Creed did stop — but only long enough to glance between the brothers through narrowed eyes and then growl. He reached over and snatched up Clint with one hand, tucking him under one arm as he turned back to K, swearing at her and calling her every name in the book as he got closer — plainly furious with her now that it was clear, considering Barney's age, that Clint wasn't his. To hear him snarl, it was clear he was going to pay K back for lying to him — even if it was his own delusion in the first place.
But by that time, Barney had crawled over to get out of the other side of the truck, and when he saw Clint struggling and in actual tears of panic, that was enough for him to throw caution to the wind as he rushed the huge blonde, drawing his sword in a single fluid motion to drive it into Creed's side.
"Don't. Touch. My. Brother," Barney bit out as he twisted the sword for good measure.
Creed snarled at the action and turned faster than he should have been able to, considering his size. With his free hand, he extended his claws and picked up Barney — sure to graze his chest when he grabbed a handful of his shirt and picked him up to eye level. "This brother?" he said, jostling Clint roughly. "You're gonna come at me with your little pig sticker and tell me what to do, boy?"
Barney looked wide-eyed at the fact that the sword hadn't done any damage, but he tipped his chin up. "Nobody gets to put their hands on my little brother," he said.
Creed smirked crookedly — showcasing his overly large lower canines for an instant. "I had a brother once. Two of 'em." He leaned closer so that every breath was moving Barney's bangs. "Killed one of 'em for fun."
Barney was totally silent as he cringed away from Creed, shocked into silence and honestly scared for the first time since Jacques had died.
"Put him down," Clint said, squirming and trying to get leverage to get free.
"Let them go," K said as she got to her feet and squaring up with him. "They have nothing to do with you."
"No," Creed drawled out.
She tipped her chin down and headed for him, taking just a moment to pull Barney's sword out of Creed's side and then sink it right back into him just below the belt. "Can't hold on to both of them and not bleed, Victor."
He growled lower at her, and she took a chance at stabbing him again with her claws — higher and clearly in an effort to cut through something that would force him to let go — but he wasn't about to let her get away with it.
She was just pulling her hand back to hit him again when he tossed Barney halfway across the lot and then grabbed her by the throat. He took her right to the ground and pinned her one-handed, squeezing the breath out of her and kneeling on one of her hands as she abandoned trying to stab him and instead tried to get him to loosen his grip.
Clint was swearing at him, yelling at him to stop, which was what Barney heard when he got his senses back and picked his head up to see the situation — and quickly realized that this was just not something that he was equipped to handle. The guy had been stabbed, like, how many times now and was still going strong?
He swallowed hard and then took off running for the Jeep, grabbing the keys from the purse K had dropped nearby and peeling out in a rush — since he did at least know where there was a hero close by.
Logan was, as K had predicted, working around the cottage. He'd stopped when there was a solid rick of wood split and stacked under the porch's overhang and had moved on to a few repairs that the place needed. Nothing big — but he didn't want to go deer hunting and have some kid come back to a dead deer in a tree. Especially since he didn't know much about this one outside of the fact that Clint thought he hung the moon.
When he heard the Jeep coming down the two-track, he let out a breath and climbed down from the roof, only just brushing off his hands on his pants legs when the Jeep skidded to a stop and jackrabbited when the clutch wasn't pushed in all the way. "The hell …" He frowned deeply and started toward the Jeep, though he didn't make it more than a few steps before Barney stumbled out of the driver's seat.
It was plain to see that he was in trouble, from the blood on his shirt and hands to the fact that he was as pale as death and hyperventilating as he rushed over to Logan.
"What happened?" Logan asked as he got a hold of the kid's arm to halfway hold him up, though he made a face when he caught the scent that was all over Barney. "Where's K and Clint?"
Barney shook his head, panting heavily and looking like he was on the verge of a full-on breakdown. "They're not — this guy — I had to—" He shook his head before he started to cry, despite his best efforts not to.
"Where were they? That's all I need," Logan said.
"The g-grocery store," he said.
Logan nodded at that. "Go on inside. I'll be back."
"But I — I gotta… I can't leave — not again," Barney said, sounding outright devastated.
Logan let out a breath at that. "I can't ask you to go after this guy with me."
"I left him," he said in a breath. "I left him there — I gotta — I can't just—"
Logan had a hold of him by both shoulders. "Take it easy. If you're gonna go, you're gonna be armed. How are you with a rifle?"
"I… I don't really… do guns," he said. "I... I stabbed him and he walked it off."
"Alright," Logan said, nodding. "Then I'll make it easy. Forget the rifle. You know where she keeps her shotgun? Go get it."
The boy nodded quickly and halfway stumbled over himself rushing over to get the shotgun, still clearly upset by the time he got back.
Logan had gone to the Jeep and took a moment to find the scents on the Jeep — matched up with the scent clinging to Barney. He started the Jeep up and had it running to go by the time Barney came back with the shotgun and a couple boxes of shells. "You sure you wanna do this?"
Barney nodded, the look of determination familiar to Logan when he'd seen that exact same expression on Clint before.
"Then if you get an open shot on the guy, take it. Don't even think about it if Clint's near him, though."
He shook his head. "Yeah, no. I just… I just want to get my brother," he breathed out.
Logan nodded, and the two of them took off down the two track faster than Barney had even see K book it out of there. When they came up to the paved road finally, Logan barely slowed down to make the turn, barking the tires in the top two gears once he was on pavement. "When we get goin', stay close," Logan warned. "And if I tell you to back off or hide — do it."
Barney nodded quickly. "Yeah, got it."
"Good." Logan said, only slowing down when they got to the parking lot where Sicem was still laid out on the concrete. He parked almost exactly where the Jeep had been before he took a quick couple of spirals out from the Jeep and then whistled at Barney to catch his attention. "Time to move." He barely waited for the kid to catch up before he darted off into the dark trees at a steady clip.
The trail was more or less straight, but as they came up on a drop off, Logan stopped and took a step back, frowning at the somewhat familiar set up. He turned his head and looked a little deeper into the woods — the only real light the full moon overhead. He turned toward Barney and made sure that Barney could see him enough to understand when he held his finger up in front of his lips and then took a hold of his arm to pull him behind him down a different path. "Climb this tree," Logan whispered over Barney's shoulder. "Keep your focus toward any noise you hear. Got it?"
Barney nodded quickly. "Yeah. Got it," he said.
"If I'm right, that clearing down there is gonna light up once I get there. Keep your eyes closed until you hear the jackass shouting."
"Got it," he said again, nodding sharply. "And then we'll get Clint and K, right?"
"Oh yeah," Logan said, nodding. "You might need to get 'em outta here, though."
Barney looked a little paler for a moment before he nodded. "Right. Yeah. Got it," he whispered.
Logan gave him as close to a smirk as he was able. "Then we'll fill you in about this crap later." He waited just long enough to be sure that Barney was making his way up the tree before he turned and darted off silently into the woods, going away from Creed's scent trail to circle around and try to get the lay of the land before he walked into the trap.
He wasn't too surprised to see that he was right on just about every count — or that both Clint and K were tightly bound and gagged, while Victor was anxiously glaring into the trees and waiting. Be a shame to disappoint, Logan thought to himself before he picked up a heavy rock and tossed it right where it looked like the original trail went down the hill.
The crashing got a grin out of Creed, and as he reached for the light, Logan grabbed a hold of Clint and pulled him out of the line of fire. He was crouched down behind a rock with Clint, cutting through the rope, when Creed flicked the floodlights on his hummer on — lighting up the whole cove with bright light.
And then Creed started swearing.
"Stay down, stay hidden," Logan told Clint quietly — as Barney opened fire on Creed. Logan looked over to the clearing and handed Clint a knife, waiting for the obviously shocked boy to acknowledge him and grip the handle before Logan rushed toward Creed before he could go hunting the gunman.
Creed was mid roar when he finally heard a few quick footsteps behind him and turned just in time for Logan to plant a fist full of claws dead center in his chest with a roar of his own. The two of them were in a full out brawl in no time — blood flying both ways, claws cutting through air and flesh as Clint finished cutting himself free.
Clint made his way over to K in a careful crawl, ignoring Logan's advice to stay hidden to instead start cutting through the ropes holding K tight, even if it looked like she was still out, which was only serving to fuel his panic more. He kept glancing up at Logan and Creed to make sure that their fight was far away from them, quietly crying as he tried to get K to respond.
Unlike most of the times that Logan and Creed fought, Logan wasn't rising to Victor's bait, and he wasn't answering any of his goading comments — which honestly ticked off Victor a lot quicker than Logan was expecting him to get it. "Finally gonna get heavy on me are you, boy?" Creed growled out as Logan squared up and waited for Creed to come to him.
"You went too far," Logan said, crouching down slightly just before Creed rushed. There was a swipe of claws, and as Logan side-stepped him at the last possible second, he popped his claws and sliced Victor open from his armpit to his hip and tripped him with a half-way done sweep.
The move wasn't perfect, and Logan ended up hitting the ground himself when he wasn't quite clear of Creed as he fell. But that only meant that their fight was a lot more violent and bloody version of what Clint and Barney had been playing with in the parking lot earlier. And again, the little guy was winning — ultimately.
Creed couldn't quite shake Logan's holds. When he got mad and grabbed ahold of Logan's throat with his claws, Logan got ticked off and popped his claws into Creed's chin — straight up and through the top of his head. Which of course, stopped the fight entirely when Creed went totally limp.
Though Logan had to keep a hand over his own throat, as soon as Creed's hand fell from him, he used his free hand to hack off Sabretooth's head and kicked it across the clearing. Then, he let himself drop back into the leaves and broken ferns the rest of the way.
The clearing was silent for a long time before Logan could hear Barney approaching cautiously. "Coast clear?" he called out.
"Yeah," Logan croaked out quietly.
That was all the invitation Barney needed to all but slide down to where Clint and K were — and while Clint had been trying to rouse K, once he saw Barney, that was it. He just grabbed his brother by both shoulders and halfway buried himself in Barney, curling into his brother while Barney tried to apologize for leaving him behind, even if he was a lot worse at words than his brother was and kept stopping and starting.
"'Sokay, Barn," Clint said through his obvious sniffles and nearly silent hiccoughed sobs.
"Yeah," Barney breathed out before he just hugged Clint tighter, trying to be careful where he could see blueish bruises — though Clint was in enough shock that he didn't seem to care either way.
Logan took his time to sit up again, and when he finally could afford to do that much, he got his feet under him and staggered over to where K was — his hand still over his throat even as he crumpled to the ground again to make sure she was just unconscious and nothing more alarming. When he'd established that, he half pulled her over to keep a hand on her while he waited for his throat to stitch the rest of the way.
Barney glanced over the top of Clint's head Logan's way and, in an obvious effort to make Clint laugh, gave Logan a small smile. "So. Um. I guess if you're gonna kill people in Mom's defense, you're okay."
Logan frowned at him and closed his eyes, shaking his head lightly. "He was beggin' for it."
"Right. Yeah. He really was," Barney said before he gently pulled Clint to his feet. "Is she, um… is she okay?"
"Drugged," Logan said. "I'll carry her out." He moved his hand, grimacing as he did so, but when he didn't feel anything but fresh skin, he roughly wiped his hand off on his jeans and then got to his feet with a little groan. "Sooner than later, eh?" He shifted to pick up K and then, as he crossed the span to where the boys were, made a point to kick Creed's head again — a lot harder than he'd done before. "You two gonna hang out here or what?"
Barney shook his head quickly, though he was a little slower than usual when Clint was halfway hanging on him all the way back to the Jeep, and he was starting to get seriously concerned about how quiet Clint was being.
"C'mon, Clint," Barney muttered under his breath, though Clint was doing the same sort of thing he'd done when he went deaf… just staring at the ground and only following instructions
Logan let the boys climb into the Jeep before he settled K into the passenger seat and then climbed in to drive. He took a moment to let out a breath as he started the engine and rubbed his hands over his face. "You boys can clean up first when we get back," Logan said as he finally put it in gear.
Clint nodded, and Barney swallowed as he looked back the way they'd come. "He can't grow another head, can he?" he asked.
"Nope," Logan said. "All the same, once you three are back at the cottage, I gotta come back and deal with this."
Barney nodded, keeping one hand on Clint's shoulder the whole time. "I don't know how to … help K with the drugs?"
"She just needs to sleep it off," Logan said, turning to look over his shoulder. "Nothin' else you can do."
"Oh okay. As long as she'll be okay," Barney said, letting his shoulders drop just a little bit to show his relief before he simply scooted closer to Clint and let his brother hide in a hug for the duration of the drive back to the cottage.