Canuckle, Retro, Cheshire ... my rocks. Thanks for the speedy feedback as always.

Guest - yea, this is actually the second arc. For the FULL story, I'd suggest reading Cheshirecat's Tigra and the X-Men and if you want the full 906 universe be sure to check out everything Canucklehead Cowgirl has written (warning spoilers). Either way, thanks for the review and signin next time to get a proper shoutout.

Cheshire - sorry for the bad break there. You know how crazy things have been lately but I promise, steady posts for the foreseeable future : )


It was the next morning that found Greer back down in the Danger Room and once again ... pacing.

She had woken up that morning with a groan. After reaching out across the mattress for that familiar mix of muscle and fuzziness a few times her eyes slowly opened to stare at the empty spot in her bed. She had frowned for a moment as everything came back to her. Her frown quickly turned to a scowl and was accented with a short growl as she tore off her blanket and headed for the bathroom, not bothering to worry about the time.

When the tigress came out, her eyes were narrowed as she towelled off and quickly got dressed in a pair of leggings and a tank. She took one moment for herself before realizing that the shower hadn't cooled her off like she'd hoped. In fact ... if anything being more awake just had her more agitated, more restless ... just from being in this damn room. Alone.

With a low snarl, Greer grabbed one of her suitcases from the closet and started throwing things into it, clothes, shoes, books, anything of importance. Tossing her hair behind her, Greer took a look at her handiwork and then around the room, ignoring the scents that lingered there. Their scent ... that deep spice mixed with hints of some citrus forest.

That got her to pause for a moment ... giving her head a little shake Greer bared her teeth and zipped the suitcase shut, tossing it onto the bench at the end of the bed. What was the hurry? It wasn't like Colton was here to witness this grand departure.

"I'll just grab it later." Greer muttered to herself before heading downstairs.

The tigress had her head down as thoughts about what she was not thinking about ran through her mind until she came to an abrupt stop as she found a barely lit and empty kitchen waiting for her. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was barely 6 am earning a huff.

"Wonderful."

Though even an empty kitchen and a cup of coffee didn't calm Greer down. She kept rubbing her arm, tail swinging ponderously, as she continued glancing over to the corners where Colton and Logan were supposed to be. The fact that she couldn't even tell anyone about what was going on ... how she hadn't heard anything - I mean she knew she wasn't supposed to hear anything - but still. It just made her worry even more, and then get angrier at the giant panther who seemed to make a habit out of this. Stupid panther.

Greer stood against the island for close to an hour lost in thought until her ears swiveled as she heard the start of the rumblings of the Mansion awakening.

"Ah yes ... time to act normal with everyone while trying my best not to consider that Colton and Logan are out probably severely injured, or locked in some facility, or on some freaks table. Just great," Greer thought before sneaking a look out towards the grounds in case the bloody duo decided to return. No such luck of course, instead she could see Scott finishing up his run. For a moment she considered waiting for Jean or Ororo but the thought of being around all those people ... all that noise ... having to pretend ... Greer was in the elevator headed down to the lower levels before Scott reached the porch.

She tried working out, grinding herself through a set of circuits that left her gasping for air as she took a pull from a water bottle as she sat on the floor with her back to the wall. She had just beaten her own record, a little sweaty smile on her face. But after a few moments her eyes kept glancing over to the bench press ... to the cage ... Greer just gripped the bottle loosely in her hand before crushing it and whipping it in the direction of the weights and watching it explode. Of course that didn't help and soon she felt the growl setting back in.

Rolling her shoulders a few times Greer popped back up and considered heading to the high bar but that wasn't what she wanted and instead headed for the Danger Room. Classes were in session upstairs so she'd have it to herself for at least a couple hours.

Greer took a deep breath as she poured over the simulations. She had enough of Creed and knowing her chances of outperforming herself from last time seemed highly unlikely. The tigress went for Lady Deathstrike and some cyborgs, annoyed that the last time she had faced the Japanese assassin, Colton had intervened after her arm was slashed by those awful claws. He'd ripped her arms off. Well he wasn't here now.

Soon the Danger Room was a mess of robot parts, fur and roars.

Greer panted, bleeding and worn out, and called a halt to the simulation. It felt pointless. She didn't know the Deathstrike. Or at least, never faced the real one and thus made it impossible for her to muster up the hate she usually harbored towards the Weapon X bunch to REALLY do any sort of worthwhile damage.

She let a few minutes pass as she healed up but she still wasn't satisfied and pretty soon she was back at the console scrolling through more simulations. Colton had given her access to most of his own program ... most being the operative word earning yet another growl as she scrolled. Wild Child was easy enough and she had made peace with the Kimura simulation. She had yet to figure out how to actually stop the impenetrable bitch but beating on her certainly felt good. Greer narrowed her eyes at the next selection and paused.

X-23

Greer narrowed her eyes at the familiar figure. Her hand floating to her tail remembering how their last fight went. If she'd even call it a fight ... she hadn't even manage to land a hit on the psycho-kid. Well, to giver herself some credit the reason was because Greer felt it wrong to hurt a child. Of course by the time she realized that was a mistake it had been too late. Actually, now that she thought about it ... it was her fault why she was in this whole mess with Colton to begin with.

Greer felt her hackles rise before instinctively pressing the select button teeth already bared. She readied herself as the petite teenage girl came to view, still covered head-to-toe in black with only the top of her face showing. Greer wasn't going to make the same mistake this time. If she was going to prove she was ready to be rejoin X-Force, she might as well start by beating the thing that got her kicked out in the first place.

She didn't flinch as the claws popped out and instead just growled.

"Let's go bitch."


"We're live."

Apex's eyes flashed open and he could hear Wolverine's rumble of an affirmative. The panther counted slowly down from twenty and ... right on time the muted sound of alarms started to fill the air.

The plan itself was simple: Oyama arrived at the facility and would be greeted by the sniper fire of Fantomex. This would of course trigger the lockdown protocols and after Warpath eliminated a few of the patrols sent out to find the shooter, Oyama would be rushed to one of the two saferooms within the inner compound. The intel they had said that Oyama kept the bulk of his research on his person. All of their plans to grab him had been a low probability. Logan had made it clear that in the face of being captured, either Oyama himself or one of his cyborgs would likely kill him. So Apex had simplified the strategy ... and by the sound of things Logan would be disappointed.

"Isogimasu! Isogimasu!" The stressed voice of Oyama preceded him as the door to the saferoom creaked open. Apex sniffed the air ... yes, they had followed protocol. With the search parties being picked apart by X-Force, Oyama had sent the majority of his personal security to take care of the threat that had been terrorizing his organization for the few weeks before they could reach him, leaving Oyama with only two men.

Apex took their heads off before Oyama even turned around at the sound of the door locking him inside. If Oyama couldn't be reached ... Apex had made Oyama come to him.

"An - Anatahadare?!" The well dressed Japanese man sounded shaken as he slowly backed away, the color draining from his face as Apex looked up from the mix of oil and blood that covered his claws.

"Shi."

...

Logan glanced around the lab one more time. This was the third and last one and he really didn't feel like having to come back here to finish. But none of the bodies that littered the trashed high-tech workstations were moving ... no heartbeats to hear. But Logan hardly felt satisfied ... he had come here for Oyama.

"Punk kids ..." Wolverine muttered as he lit the bit of cloth to the hastily constructed molotov and tossed it towards the back of the lab where it exploded in flames and quickly started to spread. Three labs ... three fires. The place would be an inferno in the next few minutes. The things they had planned to do ... the bodies of mutants he had found discarded like trash ... it made doing what he did a bit easier.

Logan managed to slash his way through a few more guards that were busy running through the compound in some failed effort to save the place as he made his way to the checkpoint. Wiping away the blood so he could check his tracker, Logan slowed down to a walk when the screaming started echoing down the hall and a cold smile crept across his face as he took in the scene.

His hands bound behind his back, a bleeding Oyama was being led by a silent Apex as Oyama let out a stream of curses, letting Apex know just how important he was, that he was protected and promising a prolonged death for him and those closest to him. But all of that yelling came to a stuttering stop when Oyama happened to look down the hall and see who he was being dragged.

That's when the real screaming started along with Oyama's renewed struggle to break free. The only success leaving expensive scuff marks on the floor as Apex simply dragged him along. He kept up a mix of pleading and yelling at the still mute Apex and looks of pure rage mixed with abject terror as the heir to the adamantium process was brought down the hall.

"Gajin dog! Defiler ... Jikken garbage!" Apex finally seemed to get tired of his package and without warning he roughly jerked Oyama's extended bound arms upwards. Logan's smirk fell and a far more serious look replaced it at the sound of both sockets popping. The shock shut him up as Apex let the target drop to his knees, his arms useless.

"You bringin' me presents now kid?" Logan didn't look up to get Apex's reaction, his eyes still resting on Lord Dark Wind's oldest son. Apex smirked a bit to himself as the scientist caught his breath, finally trying to show some semblance of honor in the face of his sworn enemy. A weak attempt to hold on to what little honor the Oyama clan had left.

"I am no gift, gaijin. I will not cooperate. I would rather die!"

"That can be arranged," Logan growled. "Where's the data, Kenjiro?"

"You have taken too much from my family – stolen the experiment for the bonding process ... that you flaunt in front of me now ..." Logan shook his head and glanced up at Apex for a moment before addressing Kenjiro again.

"Your old man'd be proud. You're a carbon copy ... what a waste," Logan grumbled as he advanced on the insolent scientist. "But I'm gonna get what I came for ... one way or another."

Oyama spit a wad of blood at the approaching Wolverine.

"You will get nothing from me gajin."

"The data is on a slim drive embedded in his left palm." Apex's rumble caused Oyama to look up at him in shock before quickly turning back at Logan as he popped his claws.

"We can start with that."

...

Logan and Apex were heading back to the chopper as the now familiar site of yet another Weapon X asset burned to the ground. Apex's tail was gently swaying behind him, a clear indicator of his good mood. Logan however had had a scowl on his face since they had finished with the now deceased Oyama.

"Don't do that again." Apex glanced over at Logan's growl.

"Do what?" Logan put his arm out and the two ferals came to a stop a dozen yards from where the rest of the team was waiting for them.

"We come here to tear these places down and get the information that we need. We're here to do a job. Our own ... personal motivation ain' got no place."

Apex just stared at his partner for a second.

"You didn't seem to have that problem with Oyama." Apex didn't have to point on the layer of blood covering most of Logan's uniform.

"That's my point. You could have gotten that data yourself and what he told us ... we can't mess this up. We need to stay focused."

"I am focused." Logan just shook his head at the younger man's growl.

"On the wrong thing." Logan was replaying their exit from the facility. As Logan had headed for an exit Apex had stopped him, saying they needed to exit through a side entrance. When Logan had asked what the hell was wrong with the closest exit, the panther hadn't even stopped walking when he asnwered, 'I locked the rest.' Now Logan understood why the kid had suggested they burn the place. down.

"This can't be about punishment. Oyama said he hadn't heard from Stryker in months except that that there was someone else in charge of Weapon X now. That they'd all be protected. And from what we saw in that place they're ramping things up. And that means we need to keep our focus on finding whoever's at the top of Weapon X. Stryker ... Creed ... they're gonna have to wait. Now isn't the time to be settling personal vendettas." Apex narrowed his eyes at Logan's words.

"You can't remember what Weapon X did to you ... can you?" Logan's eyes narrowed and a growl erupted before he could begin to censor himself.

"Leave my memory out of it. What the hel-"

"I can." Logan's shoulders dropped a bit and his face relaxed as Apex's growl deepened as he stalked towards the rest of the team, Logan following a few steps behind. Logan had never asked about the kid's background at Weapon X ... never really had to. And his own history at Weapon X - the parts he could remember - were not memories he often dug up. Though it seemed Weapon X wasn't relegated to memories for the panther. They were still wounds ... not scars.

"Well that took you two long eno - hey!" Proudstar had pushed off the tree he had been leaning on at their approach only to get brushed aside by Apex. Logan was on the tall Native American's arm before he could go to his knives.

"Just leave it Jimmy." Warpath looked down at the grim feral for a moment before looking back at Apex who had continued on to meet up with Domino and their ride.

"What the hell is his problem?" James nodded, his hand dropping. Logan looked towards the retreating form of Apex as well.

"If we do our job right, nothin' you ever gotta worry about."


Greer had sat in the locker room showers for close to an hour before finally feeling up to making her appearance upstairs. She had finally exhausted herself to the point that she was actually able to sit with Jubilee at lunch and talk about her helping with next semesters gymnastics team. Some of the girls had been talking about wanting to compete in the local public school league and aside from Greer, Jubilee was the only one with any experience at that level. It didn't hurt that Jubilee was also amazing at gymnastics.

But Greer's nerves slowly started to get the better of her as the hours slowly passed and Colton and Logan still hadn't made their return. By mid-afternoon she had barely been able to sit through her tutoring hour and being careful to avoid Jean or Xavier, she just knew her thoughts were screaming at this point, Greer was back outside and ditching her shoes near the debilitated barn headed for the treeline. She had a long way to walk and honestly didn't have the patience to pick her way through the forest. Besides ... she suddenly felt the need to run.

Throttling through the forest helped her mind clear. She didn't have the space to think about why Colton wasn't back yet ... what kind of shape he was in ... what they might have found out ... how pissed she was at him ... hell at Logan too when she thought about it ... no - no she was running ... there was no time to -

"OWWW!" Greer stopped mid-stride and slapped her thigh.

"Stupid bugs ..." The tigress growled checking her hand for any remains of the offending insect. Thing hurt like a sona-bitch. Wiping her hands on her jeans and giving the air a quick sniff to refind her path, Greer took off again.

She had gone about another mile when she slowed down again, giving her head a little shake as she came out of her run to stand back on two legs and started walking, thinking she was just winded. But after a few minutes she hadn't caught her breath. Greer put a hand on a nearby oak as she felt ... weird.

"Well that's what I get for ... fighting stupid Weapon X all morning ..." Greer's brow furrowed as she noticed she was still taking deep breaths. And why was it so bright outside? She thought it was almost dark ... wasn't it?

"Where am ... what - I don' ..." She didn't remember leaning against the tree ... wait ... slow down ... the world was spinning ... she felt hot ... her chest felt like it was on fire ... what was that thumping sound ... was - was that her? now she was staring up at the sky ... that was weird ... her chest hurt ...

"No - no I need ... uhhh ..." the tigress tried rolling over back to her feet but barely got to stand before collapsing as the thumping increased in volume. Nothing seemed to be working ... and her head ... her head hurt.

"I am impressed child."

That voice ... Greer didn't know that voice. Her body hurt. She just wanted to close her eyes but a little voice was yelling at her to run. To stay awake.

"Coln ... fnd ... Coln" Greer let out a pained growl and managed to get to all fours, barely aware of something standing over her, saying something ... why did her chest hurt so much? She managed to crawl a few more feet before her entire body just crumbled, the only movement the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

And then the forest was silent.


Apex took his time getting back to the shack. Warpath and Fantomex had headed their own ways. It would take some time to work through what they had recovered from Oyama and they were taking the chance to do whatever it was they did in between missions. Apex wasn't particularly interested either way. Logan would arrive earlier so as to not raise any suspicions, which left the panther alone as he slowly worked his way through the forest.

He could perfectly picture Greer to be there waiting for him, pacing with her tail twitching irritably behind her, and ready to pick up where they had left off. Maybe he should let her rejoin the X-Men ... put her training to good use. X-Force just wasn't right for her. Couldn't she see that? That she was just too ... good.

But Greer wasn't waiting at the shack. That didn't really surprise him. After all, she was probably at the Mansion with her friends.

Getting to his room, Apex noted that Greer's scent was here but clearly she hadn't been in the room for some time. Glancing around he noted the amount of drawers left open and the state of the closet. If it wasn't for the overstuffed bag still sitting by the end of the bed Apex would have thought Greer had gone on a trip. And maybe she was ... and had chosen not to tell him. The thought brought out a short growl.

Him and his ... 'girlfriend' were going to have a talk.

He just wanted to keep her safe.

...

Logan had pulled his Harley into the Mansion a little before dinner. He dropped his bag off in his room and picked up a beer before heading to the kitchen and grabbing some things for his plate. He mostly ignored Scott's rehashing of the classes he covered, as he flirted with Jean ... which of course only infuriated Scott.

Some teachers was just finishing up a little pool tournament when Colton came into the room clearly scanning the place. Remy glanced up from his game and noticed as well.

"She ain' here panthère." Remy drawled as he sank the bank shot, earning a curse from Bobby.

"Who?" Logan had been waiting for his turn at the cajun and passing the time working his way through a bottle and get some distance from the last few days.

"Greer ... have you seen her?" Logan frowned a little and shook his head along with the rest of the table. Logan glanced over at Jubilee who was sitting over by the couches with some girl friends.

"Hey, Jubes!" The perky teen twisted to look over the couch.

"Tsup Wolvie? You guys playing doubles?" The smile on her face was clear but Logan cut her off.

"Weren' you blabbin' something about you and Greer at dinner?" Jubilee frowned for a second in thought before answering.

"Oh ... yea! She asked me to help her with the gymnastics team but she never showed up after class. Why?" But Apex was already gone and hunting for Jean, finding her snuggled up with Scott as they flipped through the TV.

"Was Greer in the library today?" Jean and Scott both looked up in surprise as the red head smiled at the panther's return.

"Greer? Yea ... yea she was there for her tutoring hour till like four. It's good your back by the way, that girl really ne -"

"But she wasn't at dinner?" Jean paused but Scott was the one to answer.

"No, she wasn't there. I thought she headed out?" Apex furrowed his brow and pushed out of the doorway and headed back to his room, calling Greer for the sixth time on the way. Once back upstairs he pulled out his tablet and started rewinding the security feed looking for the missing tigress. He knew he was being irrational ... that was only six hours unaccounted for. Greer was fine. But Oyama's words rang in his head as he looked harder at the screen, not raising his head to acknowledge Logan now standing in the door.

A few minutes of silence passed until Apex touched the screen, pausing the feed. There ... she had headed out one of the many side entrances, used originally for the maids, and headed south. He tracked her movements until she disappeared behind the barn ... a deadzone. Apex slowly put down the pad as he processed what he knew. Greer had left a little over three hours ago and headed for the forest. She had pinged one of the sensors he had placed around the perimeter but hadn't passed back through. She wasn't picking up her cell phone and had left her communicator on the dresser. And there was only one thing in the direction she was headed and that was the shack.

But Greer hadn't been there waiting. Now Apex looked up to find Scott and Logan both waiting for him.

"We need to find Greer."

...

"GUUUUH!"

Greer spasmed awake as she suddenly found herself gasping for breath. Her body was sending a thousand signals at once ... it hurt to breath ... it hurt to think ... it hurt to move ... she could tell it was night but somehow even that hurt her eyes as she screwed them shut. She just laid there taking haggard breaths, her body splayed out on its side for ... she wasn't sure how long it was.

Greer felt very bad. Like she had a hangover that was trying to throttle her at the same time her brain was trying to crawl out of her skull. And she felt hot ... very hot. And her chest hurt.

But there was that little voice inside her head again ... it sounded oddly a lot like Logan. Something about her needing to get up ... get moving. Not to just lay there. Greer tried listening ... she really did. She tried to will herself to just close her eyes and get back to her feet but all that did was set of a new waves of spasms that had her once again gasping for breath as her claws dug into the earth like she was going to fall off of it and her chest burned ... a steady thumping in her head.

Greer let out a few more gasps as her body seemed to get back under control she fought against it for only a few moments before she was back in darkness.


At first only Logan, Colton and Betsy had headed out to the forest in search of the missing tigress. But as Betsy sent word back that they still hadn't found her, pretty soon the rest of the X-Men were out searching as well. Xavier tried reaching out to locate her but aside from picking up glimpses of the forest ... her mind wasn't coming through. Scott put the school on lockdown ... just to be safe.

Colton meanwhile seemed like a man possessed. He was tearing through the forest as if it was on fire. Internally, Apex struggled to maintain his focus. He was going to find her ... she was fine ... he was going to find her ... why hadn't he found her yet?

There was something in the air ... it burned his senses and clouded everything. The scent reminded him of the bear that had attacked him in the woods. The thought got him to stop ... he was in the right area. He was close he just -

"Here! I found her! Here!" Apex snapped his head at the sound of Ororo's call and tore in that direction, snorting out through his nose as the stinging smell got stronger. He slid to a stop next to Greer's prone body opposite the kneeling Ororo. He noticed one thing immediately

Greer was breathing.

Jean had a hand to her mouth and the other to her temple as she likely was alerting Henry to get ready. Yes ... Henry ... he needed to get her to Henry.

Other people had started talking, Scott was saying something to the group, but Apex wasn't listening. That was just noise. He scooped Greer into his arms and moved to head back towards the Mansion when Rogue reached out to stop.

"Colton wait for Kurt. He's gonna bring 'er back why don' you just -" Logan was fast enough to grab Rogue across the waist and pull her back as Colton's growl quieted everyone. Scott's hand went to his visor on instinct.

"Keep outta the way, kid," Logan grumbled out as Apex just glared at the group for a moment before he darted past them, Greer in his arms. As soon as he was out of sight brimstone filled Logan's nostrils as Kurt bamfed not ten feet away.

"Vhere is she? Hank said Greer was in need of help." Kurt asked, looking at each of them in turn and noting the lack of any tigress and the tension in the air.

"He's takin' her in," Logan replied, his eyes scanning the surrounding area as he crinkled his nose. Damn smell.

"Vhy didn't you wait for me?" Kurt sounded a bit hurt and annoyed.

"Cause you weren't quick enough." Logan muttered right back, as most of the group started heading back to the Mansion in whispering groups, wondering what had happened to their friend.

"But I could have gotten ihr there much faster -"

"He needed to get her there. S'nothin' personal, Elf." Logan didn't wait to see if Kurt had taken his words seriously, and broken into a jog ... though not back towards the Mansion. Logan wanted to find out what the hell had happened to Tigger.

Apex meanwhile held Greer close as he ran through the forest. She was breathing ... she was fine ... Greer was going to be fine.


Things had been tense those first few minutes that Colton had brought the wheezing Greer into the infirmary.

"Colton hurry, bring her here." But Apex hadn't moved, instead his grip on the limp tigress had only increased. Henry stopped his prepping and took a careful look at the panther as he lowered his voice and slowly approached.

"Colton ... I want to help Greer. Isn't that what you want? To help her?" Apex couldn't know that Henry had a scalpel behind his arm. Greer needed medical attention and while he'd rather do this any other -

Apex kept his eyes on Greer as he crossed the short distance to put her on the waiting gurney before hesitating for a moment and silently stepping away.

"Thank you." And with that the Doctor went to work. Just from checking her pulse he knew something was very wrong. It vacillated from weak to strong far too quickly. He held open her eyelids to try and get a read on her pupils before drawing a large vial of blood. Soon Greer was hooked up to wires with an oxygen mask.

"How is she doing?" Apex blinked, slightly surprised he was leaning against a wall, to find both Jean and Ororo standing next to him.

"Not well." The rumble was the only answer he could give. Apex had had trouble following the random bits of thought Dr. McCoy would randomly go on about.

"She's been poisoned ... I think." Now Apex was off the wall and standing at attention.

"Poisoned? But how ... why?"

"I'm not sure but the more pressing matter is what?" Hank looked up from a microscope with a grim expression. Jean and Ororo looked confused but Apex understood.

"You can't identify the poison." He didn't say it as a question and Hank shook his head in confirmation.

"But shouldn't she just ... fight it off?" Ororo came to stand by her friend and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"Yes but ... every time her body fights the poison off she goes back into cardiac arrest," Apex looked at the still Greer ... he had dug his claws into his hand when Hank had begun working as all that noise had come from the machines, "so I've put her in an induced coma. Or at least as close as I can get with a healer of her level."

Everyone just stood silent for a few moments when suddenly Apex headed for the door, catching them by surprise.

"Colton! Where are you -"

"To find the poison." Apex didn't care if they heard him. Henry couldn't derive the original agent from Greer's blood. So he needed to find whatever had poisoned her. Now.

...

Colton didn't say a word as he slipped in with Logan and Scott as they scoured the forest. At this point it was well past midnight and unlike the two ferals Scott was using the nightvision installed in his visor. It earned a nod of respect between the two, but now wasn't the time.

It shouldn't have taken Logan long to retrace Greer's steps. Even with one sense clouded, his tracking skills were some of the best in the world. But the fact that he couldn't had led him to a different conclusion ... she'd been moved. By someone equally skilled in not leaving a trail to follow, even when carrying an over two hundred pound tigress.

So it had taken time but eventually Logan had found his trail and it was on that path that now he, Apex and Scott were working. Apex had moved to all fours, his eyes scouring when after close to an hour he noted something that didn't fit. The glint of steel. Careful to not touch the tip, he used two claws to pull a dart from the brush.

When the three ran back into the Mansion, Scott stayed behind to fill the tired group that had stayed up waiting for news in the kitchen as Logan and Apex hurried down the stairs. Jean startled awake, her head snapping up from where it had been resting on Greer's bed as Hank broke from his conversation with Ororo. Apex noticed that Greer's breathing had worsened ...

"You found it?" Apex looked away from Greer and answered by carefully placing the dart in the doctor's palm and he quickly went to work. Only a few minutes later they got their answer.

"Cardiac Glycosides ... you shifty bastard." Hank growled as he set to work. Apex watched apprehensively as Dr. McCoy dashed around the lab, mixing solutions and muttering to himself until he was injecting a slightly red liquid into Greer's IV drip.

"And now ... we wait." Hank said tiredly.

Ororo looked at Colton for a few silent moments and gently gathered up Jean, sharing a nod with Logan, the three had a quite word with Hank before heading upstairs. Apex nodded his head as Hank explained he'd be sleeping in the infirmary to keep an eye on Greer's vitals and then ... he was alone with her.

Greer didn't look peaceful like she usually did when she slept. Her brow was furrowed and her body tense. As much as he wanted to ... the hospital bed simply didn't have space for the two of them, so Apex pulled up a chair and rested his muzzle near Greer's side and just listened.

At first he could hear her lungs wheezing and the irregular heart beats. She didn't sound like Greer. Hank came out a few times throughout the night but didn't say anything. Apex continued to listen and slowly ... very slowly ... things began to change. Her breathing eased ... her heart relaxed back into a familiar rhythm. Her brow uncreased and finally Apex was convinced the tigress was truly asleep.

She was safe.


Isogimasu - Hurry

Anatahadare - What are you?

Shi - Death