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But when Blair had asked her where she lived, she'd clamed up and said, "Oh—an hour away from here" in a constricted voice.
And Blair just couldn't help but to wonder—did this girl have something to hide?
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[Two Days Later]
Finally they were there—standing on solid land, staring across a vast amount of water and straight at the Three Mile Island.
"This is it?" Logan said indifferently. "That's not much of the "top secret hideout" I was thinking of when I pictured this place. No moats…no alligators…no lasers…just towers…."
"Logan, this isn't a movie," Blair snorted, trying to sound far more mature than usual.
Logan narrowed his eyes at Blair, so her smile flickered and she said nervously to Kira, "Er—Kira—you mentioned something about a boat…" her voice slipped away.
Kira nodded. Her face looked dangerously sullen and wary, but she managed to keep a strong smile, which was a lot to manage. She hadn't slept in two days. "Right…boat…" she said warily, yawning tiredly. "It's—it's docked right over there…." She pointed to the left of Logan, and the boat was clinging by a rope to the dock.
"That's a dingy…" Logan said disappointedly. "That'll only fit two people—are you kidding me?"
Kira shrugged. "S-sorry," she said, stifling a yawn. "That's all I can offer…."
Logan's eyes went back and forth between Kira, Danny, and Blair. "Well, I'm going—obviously. Now, the question is—who's coming with me?"
Blair opened her mouth to volunteer, but Logan quickly snarled, "I don't want you going, Blair."
"What?" Blair said, bemused. "But—I'm the only person here with an offensive power," she reminded him crisply.
"Yes…," Logan admitted irritably, "but Victor just tried to kill you, and like I said before, he'll be pissed you're not dead."
"Actually," Blair said mockingly, "you said he'll be furious, not pissed. And besides, I don't care. Kira can't go, she's powerless. And Danny's power isn't, er, useful when it comes to fighting…no offense…Dan…." She smiled feebly and winked at Danny.
"The stupid brat over there!"—he pointed to Kira—"shouldn't have even come! I could care less if she gets killed. If she comes with me and dies, it'll be no big loss," he snarled.
"LOGAN!" Blair shrieked as Kira whimpered, offended. "What is your problem?" she snarled.
"I'm not one to trust people. Especially not big-mouthed, thirteen-year-old girls," Logan growled. "She shouldn't have come."
"You trusted me," Blair reminded him, her voice shaking with fury.
"Not at first," Logan mumbled.
"Well," Blair said, her anger dropping slightly, "maybe you'll learn to trust her."
Logan shook his head furiously and growled, "Danny, you're coming with me."
"Me?" Danny questioned unsurely, "well—if you're sure."
Logan nodded and hopped into the boat, beckoning Danny in with him. Danny cast an uneasy look at Blair, who was furious, and Kira, who was bemused, before following Logan's lead.
"Why him?" Blair growled, her face reddening slightly.
"Because," Logan replied, all of his anger gone, "I don't want you to get hurt."
Then he untied the rope attaching the boat to the dock, and floated across the water with Danny beside him.
As Logan and Danny's boat disappeared, Blair turned sharply to Kira, smirked, and plunged into the water.
Kira stared down at the now-soaking-wet Blair as she came to the surface. "What. Are. You. Doing?" she gasped.
"Swimming," Blair said simply. "I'm not staying behind—I've got to go and help. Are you coming?"
Kira looked uneasy for a moment, but then she put on a confident smirk. "Of course," she said eagerly, and she plunged into the water too.
[Logan/Danny]
It had only taken minutes to arrive at the Three Mile Island. Logan pulled the dingy onto the shore instead of tying it up, and got out. Danny followed.
"Danny, go find Gambit. Turn invisible so you won't get caught, and keep quiet. I've got other things to take care of," Logan instructed stiffly.
Danny nodded understandingly, blinked to turn invisible, and took off.
As Danny disappeared, it was up to Logan to decide who he would go after first—Victor or Stryker.
His first instinct was to kill Victor, the one who'd murdered Kayla. But he had to be reasonable. Stryker was most definitely here, at the island, doing experiments on unwilling mutants—Victor could've left Gambit and took off.
So he would go after Stryker first, then….
Logan sniffed, hoping to take it a bit of Stryker's scent. It was weak, but he was able to track it to the back of the large building towering in front of him. He sprinted towards the building, rounded behind it, and arrived at a single door. Well, there were actually hundreds of doors, but it was the only metal door that emitted Stryker's vile smell.
Logan could feel his feral senses kicking in as he stalked slowly towards the door and yanked it open, and he had to try his hardest to suppress them until they were officially required.
So now Logan was standing in a white room, dozens of people with the "doctor-like" appearance surrounding him. He spotted Stryker immediately, for he was so familiar to Logan.
Stryker was hunched over a figure draped in a snow white sheet. Logan couldn't tell who the figure under the sheet was, but he assumed it was probably just another unwilling, helpless mutant….
Stryker stiffened slightly as he noticed Logan come into the room. But he was not afraid…he knew how to break Logan….
"Logan," Stryker began confidently, "welcome back."
"Before I gut you," Logan snarled in return, thrusting his claws from his hands and taking a step towards Stryker, "I want to know why."
Stryker didn't seem fearful at all. He simply chuckled darkly, smiled, and responded, "I needed your power for the pool. The Deadpool."
"What?"
Stryker smirked weakly. "Its a little experiment—a body, where all the powers can coexist without ripping it apart. My son was the first piece of the puzzle—you, Logan, you were the last. I asked you to help but—" he paused and sighed—"you said you wanted the quiet life."
As Logan stalked another step towards Stryker, he suddenly felt a presence loom behind him, and a familiar scent wafted into the air.
It was Kayla's scent.
Logan turned sharply. When he saw Kayla, his supposedly-dead girlfriend, he felt like he wanted to be sick.
"Who are you?" he demanded, his face paling slightly.
"Ooh, she's real," Stryker said. His eyes then wandered over to Kayla as Logan looked bemused, and he said, "Tell him about the day you died."
Kayla nodded and glanced at Logan with an utterly blank expression, then said, "They gave me a shot of hydrochlorothiazide. It reduces the heart rate so low that the user appears dead."
"You know," Stryker interrupted, obviously pleased, "Kayla's a real credit to your species. Did you know that her sister has diamond hard skin? Kayla's mutation is tacto-hypnosis."
As Stryker said this, Logan flinched slightly and looked at Kayla with a bewildered expression. A mutant? Kayla was a mutant? He'd never known that…she'd never told him….
Stryker went on eagerly, "She's able to convince people to do whatever she pleases as long as she touches them. It's a very useful tool in seduction. It was never real, Logan. "
Now a rock had dropped in Logan's stomach.
He loved Kayla. He'd gone through so much already to try and avenge her…and he'd hurt so much when he'd found her lifeless body…. But…now he knew the truth—their whole relationship had been one big lie.
Logan glanced up at Kayla for a moment. He could definitely see something in her eyes that resembled regret—but he didn't care at the moment. He was too hurt and angry….
"You know that story you told me—about the Moon and the Wolverine?" Logan said abruptly, his voice close to cracking. Kayla looked at him curiously, tears in her eyes, so he went on, "I had it backwards. I thought you were the Moon and I was your Wolverine—but you were just the Trickster, weren't you?"
Kayla took a step towards Logan, but she seemed to step back abruptly after earning at glance from Stryker.
So Logan was silent for a moment, glancing back and forth from Kayla and Stryker, his eyes blurry. Then, as Stryker continued smirking and Kayla did nothing, Logan stormed out of the room and into the sticky air of the outside once more.
Kayla didn't love him. She had used him. He'd been there for her…protected her…loved her…and it had all been a lie. Every moment…every kiss…it had all been false affection….
And Victor hadn't killed Kayla. She'd been fully alive every second he'd been after him. She'd never been harmed—she was perfectly okay. What was he supposed to do now? Still kill Victor? No, he couldn't. It was clear now that Victor hadn't done anything horrible enough to Logan for him to have any reason to kill him…. Sure, he'd killed other people—but it was instincts—something that, maybe, if Logan had stopped trying to deny he would've ended up better than this…not heartbroken….
But still, although Logan wasn't sure that Kayla really loved him, he still loved her. That wouldn't change…she'd ripped his heart out and left him to bleed…but he still loved her….
And that's why when he heard her scream, he still had to save her.
[Blair/Kira]
"Blair—Blair—hold on," Kira pleaded, shaking her dark hair out as she swam to the shore of the Three Mile Island. "That was some swim," she said tiredly.
"Yeah," Blair agreed vaguely, squeezing the water out of her torn shirt.
"Hey—what happened to your shirt, anyway?" Kira said curiously.
"Long story. Don't want to talk about it. Hey, we've got to go find—is that Danny?"
Kira cast a look at where Blair was glancing, and sure enough, there was the blond headed boy, turning visible once again.
"Danny! What are you doing!? Have you got Gambit?" Blair called, rushing over to him.
Danny flinched slightly at the voice, but relaxed when he noticed it was Blair. "I can't find where—wait, BLAIR? You're not supposed to be here!"
"I'm not one to sit at the sidelines," Blair said hotly. "Why haven't you gotten Gambit yet? I mean—that is what you were doing, right? Looking for Gambit?"
"Yeah," Danny said, ruffling his bright blond hair. "I can't find where Stryker's holding the prisoners. I'm not Logan—I can't track scents…" his voice slipped away.
Blair opened her mouth to give Danny a reply, but she heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked from behind her. And when she turned, their was a single guard standing a few yards away from her, pointing his gun in her, Danny's, and Kira's direction.
The guard smirked, said nothing, and slowly began pulling the trigger. He seemed to be savoring the tension of the moment.
"KIRA! MOVE!" Blair screamed, shoving Kira out of the bullets' path and gripping Danny tight by the arm. "Danny—turn invisible and RUN! I'll follow!"
Danny obeyed as there was a loud bang and the bullet came speeding their way. He took Blair by the waist and dived out of the way, the bullet brushing the top of his head in the process.
The guard snarled in an aggravated way and cocked the gun a second time.
Kira was panicking the most, for she was utterly powerless—and completely aware of it. "Blair—what do we do?" she pleaded, as both Danny and Blair reappeared a few feet away from her.
"I'll—I'll have to—have to kill the guard, I think," Blair replied, her voice hardly a whisper, horrified at what she had just admitted.
The guard dropped the gun to his side for a second and chuckled. "Who do you think you are, girl?"
Blair's eyes narrowed. This guard infuriated her—mostly because his attitude resembled Victor's in a distinct way—he seemed to like to play with his victims before he killed them.
"Danny—Kira—stand back," Blair demanded. She glanced down at the souvenir Victor had left her—slightly clawed fingernails. "Guess I'll have to use these…" she mumbled.
Danny and Kira cast each other unconvinced glances. They didn't believe that Blair was actually going to go through with it—but they still obeyed and backed away from her as she readied herself.
The guard's eyes made their way to Blair's hands, and he noticed the claws. Becoming slightly panicked, he raised his gun again and shot a bullet directly at Blair's head.
Blair felt her heart race as the bullet came near her—and she was hardly able to dodge it.
The guard jumped a step back as Blair dodged the bullet, and, now obviously fully panicked, he wasted no time in cocking the gun a third time.
However, Blair was faster. She lunged herself at the guard, aiming for his throat, and sliced it open before he had a chance to scream.
A disgusting gurgling sound emitted from the guard's throat, and he toppled to the ground, a pool of blood beginning to surround his head.
Blair was trembling as she wiped the blood off of her hand and onto her ragged shirt. She'd never, ever killed anyone before. She'd never had a reason to. And now she'd just sliced this man's throat open….
However, she couldn't deny the feeling of the adrenaline pumping through her veins when she'd lunged at the man. She could see why Victor seemed to enjoy his murders so much—the feeling of power and rage was terrifying—yet pleasurable.
But only a true killer, Blair realized, could appreciate the feeling to its full extent. And she wasn't sure if she would ever shake the nagging guilt that was now eating at her conscience…she had just taken someone's life….
Danny noticed as guilty tears came to Blair's eyes, so he put a comforting hand on her shoulder and said, "Blair—let's get out of here before more guards show up." Then his mouth dropped open, and he stared at the hand that was resting on Blair's shoulder peculiarly. "Whoa—Blair—shouldn't the, er, the claws have disappeared by now? I mean—I've touched you twice already—shouldn't you have, ya know, exchanged one power for another by now?"
Blair's tears disappeared spontaneously as she pondered what Danny had just said. Exchanged one power for another—yeah, that sounded about right. And the creepy mini claws weren't disappearing—were they? And did she still have the healing?
Curiously, Blair scratched her arm and let it bleed to test her suspicions. Blood leaked out of the wound she had received by committing self-harm, and Blair waited in silence. Danny and Kira stared at her anxiously, but they didn't rush her.
So Blair waited. One minute passed. Then two. Then three—four—five—and so on.
And as soon as seven minutes had passed, the wound on Blair's arm disappeared. So she did still have the healing power. It obviously wasn't as dependant as Logan's was, but she could still heal, nonetheless. Her power was much, much more complex than she had first realized…she barely understood it, and she didn't know if she ever would learn its secrets….
"Blair," Danny said quietly, taking her hand, "let's go."
"Y-yeah," Blair stammered, still thinking hard. "Let's get out of here…."
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