The name "Magneto" sounded vaguely familiar to Marie, but she just couldn't seem to place where she had heard it before.
His sparkling blue eyes roamed over her body, "So...this is her."
"Yes, this is her...and this is him..." Victor said as he put a hand on her belly.
Erik raised a brow, "I see. Well, it is lovely to make your acquaintance, my dear."
Victor quickly spoke up, knowing Marie wouldn't respond to their guest, "The pregnancy has been a little difficult for her."
That earned a somewhat sympathetic nod from the older man before they all moved to the large dining table. She was relieved they were finally about to eat. Ever since the nausea had started to let up, her appetite seemed to kick into over drive.
As conversation swirled around her, she ate in silence, concentrating on the delicious pork tenderloin that was in front of her. Of course, she felt eyes on her at all times, but the burning gaze of Raven was inescapable. Halfway through her main entree, she looked up to see Raven glaring at her from across the room. She hadn't been invited as an official guest to the dinner party and was standing just outside of the doorway leading into the kitchen.
Marie took a sip of her water and sighed. That shape shifting bitch could have Victor and their sick cult...she would trade places with her in a second if she could.
When someone mentioned a "birthing ceremony", Marie's head snapped up, "I'm sorry...the what?"
A green skinned male mutant leaned over to look down the table at her, "The birthing ceremony..."
She furrowed her eyebrows, "What is that?"
Victor took a gulp of his drink, "When you go into labor, the highest members of the Brethren Court will be granted the astounding privilege to witness the birth of the child."
Marie started to shake her head and express her outrage, but Emma, who was leaning against the opposite wall, seized control of her ability to talk and rendered her speechless. She squeezed her utensils so tight, she actually succeeded in bending the fork.
When Victor escorted her to her room that night, she snatched away from him, stomped to her bed and threw her shoes across the room, "I am NOT gonna allow some group of sickos to stare at my...at my EVERYTHING while I'm giving birth! Labor and delivery is hard enough without a bunch of strangers staring at your ass for the fun of it!"
Victor crossed his arms, "This is how it's supposed to be done. Deal with it."
When Scott and Jean caught up to one of Magneto's henchmen somewhere along the Western coast of France, they immediately called Logan to let him know they found someone that might be valuable in getting a step closer to Marie. Unfortunately, the fast talking mutant who called himself "Multiple Man" was not willing to cooperate with Scott and Jean's diplomatic questioning tactics.
He'd tried to escape several times, but Jean's ability to block his mutation kept him from being successful in his attempts.
Logan had hopped on a plane as soon as he found out that they were having problems with getting information out of the guy. If there was information to be had...he would get it out of him.
He arrived in France, jet lagged and cranky...primed condition for interrogation.
He entered the countryside cottage Jean and Scott were in and immediately punched Multiple Man in the face, breaking his nose.
Scott jumped, "Jesus, Logan! Was that necessary?"
Logan grabbed the bleeding mutant by his collar and sat him back up as he snarled at Scott, "You've had him for over 11 hours and you haven't gotten a word outta him. I've waited over three months for a lead on her and this bastard is holdin' out on us, so...yeah. It was necessary."
Jean stepped forward and quickly reset the man's broken nose, making him cry out in pain and cradle his bleeding face, "God! What the hell is wrong with you?"
Logan suddenly leaned down and stared into Multiple Man's eyes, "She may be able to reset a nose, but I can do some damage that is irreparable" he growled and unsheathed his claws, "Start talking, or I start removing body parts."
The mutant's eyes widened as Logan took his hand and got ready to slice into his finger, "OK! I'll talk!"
Logan quickly sheathed his claws, "Where's Magneto?"
"He...he went out of town for the weekend."
Scott crossed his arms, "Why? Out of town where?"
Jean tossed Multiple Man a towel for his bleeding nose as he spoke, "He said he was looking into joining forces with some religious group. Sounded like a cult to me."
Jean and Scott's eyes widened as they looked at each other. That definitely sounded like The Mutant Brethren...
"Where did he go?" barked Logan.
Multiple Man's eyes darted about. Either he was busy trying to come up with a lie or he was desperately trying to remember the truth that could possibly save his limbs, "Uh...uh, I'm sure it was near a beach. I was jealous because Arclight and Calisto kept talking about tanning and I wouldn't be there to see it..." His voice trailed off as he noted the angry look on Logan's face. Obviously, it was time for him to get on with the story. "It was...a Spanish island...it was off the coast of Spain."
Jean stepped forward, "You're sure?"
He nodded in certainty, "Yeah. I remember Mags saying they'd have to take a plane to Valencia, then take a ferry boat to the island, but I don't remember the name! Honest!"
Logan looked up at Jean, "How many islands are off the coast of Spain?"
She raised her shoulders, "Three? I think? I'm not sure."
"That's better than having to cover a whole country...Scott, you bring your laptop?"
He nodded, "Always."
Logan looked back at their prisoner, "Good...there's gotta be a property owner's database...we have 'em in the US."
Jean nodded, "Right. We can find out the name of the counties on the islands and search the municipality records...maybe they have a tax assessor's site or something."
An hour later, Jean called Logan over to the computer, "There's three islands. I figure he'd go for the smaller, more exclusive ones rather than be near the larger population. We found a string of large properties."
Logan, who had just finished securing their hostage, rushed over to look at the laptop screen, "You find owners?"
Scott scrolled down the pages, "Wow...some pretty famous people own property there..."
"George Clooney?" Jean suddenly exclaimed as Scott scrolled past his property profile. Both men, and even their captive, rolled their eyes. She looked at Scott, "What? He's a movie star..."
"Right..."
"We can't assume that Victor would be dumb enough to put the property in his name. He knows people would be looking for him."
Sure enough, they didn't find anything in Victor Creed's name. They spent hours, looking for dummy corporations and anagrams. Even after Scott and Jean had fallen asleep in nearby chairs, Logan was still searching through the large list of property owner names.
He rubbed his eyes and stood to wander into the kitchen and find something to eat and drink. He hadn't had anything since he boarded the plane nearly 24 hours ago. He helped himself to a sandwich, then desperately searched the cabinets for libations.
Of course, being France, the only thing he found was wine.
Oh well...this'll have to do.
As he rubbed his neck and stood in front of the open laptop, he happened to glance at the screen and spot a homeowner's name. He turned his head to the side and squinted before slowly reading it aloud, "Verrediccto y Asociados..."
Jean yawned and sat up, "What did you say?"
Logan was too busy grabbing the pen and writing out "Verrediccto". As he began rearranging the letters, Jean and Scott walked over to him and gasped upon seeing that he was able to spell out "Victor Creed" by rearranging the letters.
"Verrediccto and Associates...this is it. This is the dummy company he used to buy the property!" Jean exclaimed.
Scott cocked his head to the side as he pulled up the survey of the property which included two guest houses and one servants quarters, "How many bad guys do you think can fit in sixteen thousand square feet?"
Logan looked down at the computer screen and noted how large the property was, then turned to Jean, "Call the professor...we're gonna need reinforcements...lots of 'em..."
Victor took Marie out of her room and walked her around the hallways of the mansion, showing her off to the various followers who lived on the grounds and worked inside of the estate.
Upon her request to go to the library, he took her there, then sat down on the couch while she browsed the shelves, looking for a few more books to take back to her room.
"The TV isn't working out for you?"
She rolled her eyes, "Everything's in Spanish."
"You watch movies?"
Marie glared, "No Victor. I'm the first young adult in the history of the modern world that doesn't watch movies. Congratulations, you've made a real discovery."
"Have you always been this much of a bitch or is it the pregnancy?"
"I think it's the whole, being held against my will, thing. I'm sure you can realize how unpleasant being held hostage can make a person."
Victor stood and walked over to her, "Strangely enough, I get turned on when you talk to me like that..."
She stealthily moved away to look through another row of books, "I'm sure that you'll wanna kill me after I have this baby."
He narrowed his eyes, "No I won't. What makes you think that?"
"You can honestly tell me you don't fantasize about killing me?"
Victor casually shrugged his shoulders, "I fantasize about killing everyone. It's what I do."
"That's a comfort", she said sarcastically as she turned back around to pluck a book off of the shelf.
He suddenly put a hand on her shoulder and turned her back around, "I'm serious. I want you...by my side..."
Marie furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
"I mean...if you agree to be my wife, I might have less of a reason to kill you after the baby is born." He noted the startled, taken aback look on her face before leaning down to lay a quick kiss on her cheek, "Think about it..."
And with that, he was gone...much to her relief.
By now, Marie realized that there was no way he would continue taking advantage of her. She knew that he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the health of the child she carried, so she typically tolerated his groping, kisses and caresses for a few moments before he disappeared to find Raven and make her turn into *Marie* so that he could have his way with her.
The entire thing made her sick, but she was just glad she wasn't having to subject herself to his vulgar intentions.
Almost as soon as Victor left, one of her guards appeared and sat in a chair just inside the doorway of the library. Marie sighed and sat down on the couch to read, doing her best to ignore the large man's presence.
About an hour after Victor left the library, Raven entered, looking as bitchy and put out as ever. Possibly because she'd just been forced to have sex as *Marie*.
The shapeshifter turned to the guard, "You can take a break. She's fine with me."
Marie raised a brow at that and closed her book, "What are you doing here?"
Raven ran her hand over one of the statue closest to her, "Just checking on you...to see if you're still being an ungrateful bitch."
Marie glared, set her book aside and stood, "Well, it certainly is good of you to check...because I am. Is that all?"
She crossed her arms, "I suppose you know what Victor does..."
"Victor does a lot of things..." Marie murmured as she averted her eyes.
Raven suddenly raised her voice, "Every day! He makes me turn into you! You pathetic little ingrate!"
She didn't know what to say to the hysterical woman in front of her, so she tried to walk past her toward the door. Raven grabbed Marie's arm and snatched her back with surprising force, "I love him! Did you know that? I wanted him! But he couldn't see me past his want for you! You ungrateful cow!"
Raven punctuated her last word by pushing Marie hard in the shoulders, making her stumble backwards. Marie retaliated by shoving Raven back and yelling, "Back off, bitch! It's not my fault that you're so crazy even Victor doesn't want you!"
Suddenly, the shapeshifter's eyes flashed yellow before landing a hard punch to the side of Marie's face, knocking her off balance and sending her crashing into a statue behind her before falling to the ground among the shattered pieces of porcelain.
Raven jumped on top of her and wrapped both hands around her neck as she began squeezing, effectively cutting off Marie's air supply.
Marie kicked and clawed at Raven's face as her yellow eyes glared down at hers.
Just when she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen, Raven was suddenly snatched from atop her and thrown clean across the room. She crashed painfully against a book shelf, then landed with a heavy thud against the floor.
Victor stalked toward her with his chest heaving, his claws out and his teeth bared. Raven sat up and tried to scramble backwards, "Victor...please...I'm sorry...don't do this. I lo-"
She didn't have the chance to finish her sentence. All Marie could see were droplets of blood and all she could hear were Raven's screams and Victor's angry roars as he angrily ripped into her.
Marie had curled up in a ball on the floor and covered her face until the room fell silent. She jumped when she suddenly felt a pair of arms easily lift her off of the floor and carry her out of the room, "Have the midwife meet me in the infirmary! Call the physician!"
Victor took her outside to, what used to be, a guest house that now served as her own, personal infirmary. When Marie opened her eyes and looked around, she saw Victor standing over her, covered in blood and still panting from anger and exertion.
She looked down to realize that he had inadvertently gotten Raven's blood on her clothing. A brief glance in the mirror revealed a bruised cheek and a drop of blood at the corner of her mouth near a small cut.
"What happened?" the midwife asked as she entered the room and immediately turned on the ultrasound machine.
Marie stuttered, "I was attacked...I was punched and I fell into a statue...then she choked me."
Victor stepped forward, "Check the baby now...I need to know-"
The midwife nodded, "Yes sir."
She pulled over the ultrasound machine before squirting some gel onto Marie's belly, then placed the wand on her stomach and began moving it around. No one else could see what she was seeing on the screen since it was turned to face only her.
There was a heavy silence that fell over the room in the moments before the physician arrived to clean and bandage the cuts on Marie's hand and arms that had been caused by falling to the floor with the broken pieces of statue.
When he finished patching her up, he walked over to the midwife and looked at the ultrasound screen.
Victor's patience had run out, "Is the baby alright?"
"Yes sir. I know you can't feel it yet Marie, but the fetus is moving quite a lot. It's a bit hard to get a clear view of everything when your little one does laps around your uterus...", the midwife flipped a switch, which immediately activated the speaker system on the machine, allowing them to hear the strong, regular heartbeat of the baby resting safely within Marie's womb.
Victor let out a breath as his shoulders relaxed visibly. He gave Marie an unwanted kiss on the top of her head, then went into the next room to wash up. He had someone bring him fresh clothes from the house and returned to Marie's side, cleansed of the evidence of his violent act.
The midwife gave Marie strict instructions to take it easy and stay off of her feet as much as possible for the next few days. Victor picked her up and carried her back to the mansion without saying a word.
When they passed the library, one of the doors was closed and a few people were scurrying about, cleaning and disposing of the various body parts.
Victor gently deposited her on her bed just before Danielle brought a tray of food in, then silently excused herself.
He sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the floor as she picked over her food.
"Eat", he said quickly and firmly, making her jump.
Despite her hate for him and her knowledge that he wouldn't actually hurt her, she knew that now wasn't the time to push him, so she took a sizable bite of her sandwich.
After a few moments, he glanced at her, "Why'd she do it?"
Marie swallowed the last of her sandwich and looked down, "I think she...she was jealous. She just went crazy."
He moved her food tray and laid on her bed. When she looked at him confusedly, he gently pulled her down onto the bed and placed a hand over her belly, "After you give birth...you will become my wife. You will stay here to raise our child. You will not try to leave. You will not require Emma's constant attitude readjustments. You will do all of these things...or you will die."
She was too stunned to respond, but she did take the time to contemplate her chances...and honestly, death didn't sound all that bad at this point. If the child really is Victor's and the prophecy was true, she'd have to contend with being the mother of the modern day, mutant version of Adolf Hitler.
Marie didn't want any part of it.
Maybe when the time came and the child was born, she would choose death, and hopefully run into Logan in the afterlife.
The following day, Storm, Hank, Bobby, Jubilee, Kitty and John met Logan, Scott, Jean and their hostage in Valencia, Spain.
They rented a yacht, then set sail to do some recon work by circling the island. When they reached the tiny little piece of Mediterranean paradise, Logan, Jean and Hank stood on the balcony of the large boat, taking turns looking through a pair of binoculars as they circled the island.
Jean shook her head and handed the binoculars back to Logan, "Jesus...it's huge. Security looks tight."
Logan grunted as he scanned the villa estate, which sat atop a beach side cliff, "Best point of entry looks to be the cliff. We're gonna have to climb."
Hank nodded and took the binoculars, "If only we had more time. We could watch the security personnel for shift changes..."
"Gather the troops, we've gotta go in there with a tight plan of attack."
A few minutes later, the X Men had gathered in the living room of the yacht, wearing their leather uniforms and awaiting word from their team leader.
Scott looked at all of them, then turned to Logan, "I think you should be the one to lead this..."
Logan nodded and stepped forward, "We're not going in to exterminate them. We're not going in to be heroes. We're just going in for Marie, got it?"
"But...won't they keep coming for her?"
He nodded, "Yes, but the followers, we can handle in the long term. Victor, the leader...he's the problem, and I intend on handling him personally. I am the only one who can kill him. He has my healing factor, my reflexes, my strength and my speed. I need you all to be the ones to get her out while I take him out."
All of the heads in the room nodded as choruses of "We won't let you down" resounded among the team members.
Logan lowered his head and put his palms on the table in front of him. He was going to have to get to the hard part now...
"Now, when it comes to Marie...you have to be careful. There's a really good chance that Victor...that he...uh...that she's pregnant, so if we do have to climb the cliff to get in, that won't be the way you'll be able to get out if she's with you."
Everyone in the room traded uneasy looks. By now, the news of Logan's feelings for Marie had made its way through the X Men grapevine. They all knew that this was a labor of love for Logan...and they all felt sorry for him.
Kitty took a closer look at the blue prints and pictures splayed out on the table and pursed her lips, "It looks like there's a cave at ocean level...it's right below the property. Do you think there's a way to access the main house from there?"
Everyone joined her at the table to examine the evidence. Hank nodded, "There's a possibility. If this villa is as old as I think it is, it was common for aristocracy to have homes with secret passageways and water access."
Logan nodded, "Alright. That looks like our best bet. We go in three hours under cover of darkness. These people are organized, strong and they're all mutants, so you might encounter powers and abilities you've never heard of before."
After going over tactical details, rendezvous points and synchronizing watches, they prepared to penetrate the estate.
Logan stood on the balcony, staring at the mansion as darkness began blanketing the landscape, providing a natural concealer for their impending attack.
He closed his eyes and whispered, "I'm comin', baby...I'm gonna make it alright..."
REVIEW please! I know I say that at the end of every chapter, but I mean it! I keep getting all these story alerts and favorites in my inbox, but only like one or two pieces of feedback. Please tell me what you think.
Coming up next...
Victor and Logan have an epic show down
Magneto helps his new allies confront his old enemies
Someone makes a narrow escape
A heartfelt reunion takes place