Chapter 3: Complications
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters or logos.
It was a bustling day in New York, as people wandered the streets going about their daily business. Parents and children shopping together while other people were heading to and from different jobs. Many people had their days off and were simply spending time with friends.
To the average person it was just another day, but one many had an entirely different motive for being outside today. Magneto wandered the streets in plain sight as he sought another mutant that could possibly contribute to his own cause in some way. Being out in the open, the master of magnetism wore the same outfit he had that day he had stalked Angel in the very same city over a year ago. He had ditched his helmet and cape in exchange for a shabby hat and a large brown trench coat so that he would not be recognized by possible enemies.
As he walked the streets, the mutant extremist searched the signs of the street name that corresponded with the lead he had received while interrogating mutants in the streets of Bayville not long ago. Apparently there was a clairvoyant who worked as a fortune-teller in the bowels of New York City, but preferred to remain anonymous for the most part. Truthfully he had gone looking for her during his visit to recruit Angel, only to find out that she had vanished.
It had taken some work to find out what had become of this mysterious woman, but more recently his Acolytes had gone searching for fresh clues and now he knew exactly where to find her. His eyes flashed behind the shadow of his hat as he caught sight of the street sign indicating that he had found his destination and continued down the street in silence. Several bystanders noted his shifty style of dress, but made no comment as they passed out of sight.
Looking both ways to make sure no one was watching, Magneto slid down an alleyway a few buildings down. He kicked aside a bag of garbage lying in his path and continued walking until he reached a solid brick wall. He looked relatively unfazed by the obstacle and merely extended his right hand causing the hologram projector to flicker slightly as it fazed right through the illusion. Once he was completely certain it was safe, he proceeded through and found a small metal door beyond.
"It appears that her attempt to hide from the world has failed…" he mused to himself.
His attempt to open the door revealed that it was locked, but that was hardly a problem for someone with his powers. He clenched his fist and focused on the lock, causing the door to swing open as the he manipulated the interior of the handle. He already assumed that whoever was inside might have heard him already and entered without announcing his presence to simplify things.
Magneto entered the room beyond, immediately noticing the strange surroundings and old-fashioned interior design. It appeared to be a type of living space, but from the looks of the dust and cobwebs covering several objects it appeared as though whoever lived here cared very little for this room. A screeching noise echoed through the room as he started a sleeping cat, but he paid the animal no mind as it ran through the open doorway and into the alley beyond.
Poking around the dingy apartment, he found a bathroom, and a small kitchenette, but further inspection revealed a small strip of light coming from underneath the door on the other side of the room. "There you are…" He followed the source and entered without hesitation, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of the next room.
A large curtain was drawn separating him from the other half of the room, but a mysterious shadow visible behind it alerted him that he was not alone. The source of light was a small lamp that also seemed to be positioned behind the drape, which cast the shadows of what was beyond like an old film projector. A small metal table and a few randomly placed shelves were present in the room, but the room's occupant addressed him before he could observe them more closely.
"A visitor, eh… I had a feeling you would come eventually." an elderly woman's voice chortled from the other side.
Magneto found the tone to be irritating at best, but did not back down from the confrontation at all. "Reveal yourself!" he hissed venomously.
The master of magnetism clenched his fist, causing the metal loops holding the curtain in place to slide backwards across the steel bar that held them in place, revealing the feeble form of an older woman. Her mid-length hair was gray and her wrinkled skin signified her age, but other than this her appearance seemed anything but normal. She wore a form fitting red outfit that seemed to hide her feet from view, and her eyes were covered by what appeared to be some kind of visor. She sat upon a strange chair connected to an apparatus consisting of several different cords and tubes, all of which came together in the shape of a spider web.
"Well it appears you have a serious lack of manners, seeing how you were so kind to walk on an old woman without knocking first." She spoke to him condescendingly.
Her visitor's eyes glittered menacingly from beneath the shadow of his hat. "Your petty lectures not interest me… I have come to…"
"I had a feeling that you would seek me eventually in your crusade. Unfortunately you will receive no help from me." The strange woman replied with a small frown. She let out a good-humored chortle in response of her visitor's glare, taking a moment to enjoy the aura of dissatisfaction radiating from him. "After all, what could a paralyzed blind woman possibly do to help the great Magneto?"
"Do not take me for a fool, Madame Web!" his tone became more dangerous as he moved so that they were standing a few yards apart. "I know that your mutant abilities gifted you with the powers foresight and telepathy."
She paused for a moment, her lower lip twisting into a small grimace. "So it appears you already know more about me then I would care to reveal. Very amusing indeed… You are every bit as interesting as I expected you to be."
Magneto found his patience slipping once more as he eyed the crippled woman. "So, would I be correct to assume you already know what I've have come to ask?"
"I shall admit that I foresaw that you would come to me for information, but I would prefer not to offer it to you." His host looked amused as she raised an eyebrow behind her visor. "Having spent my younger days as a fortune teller, you can imagine the things I saw during that time. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that knowing the future does not always mean you will be prepared to face it."
"That is my desire… After all we have witnessed in this world there is undoubtedly a dark future in store for our kind." The master of magnetism intensified his glare. "I believe that you may be able to fill in the blanks and provide specifics to this end so that we will be prepared."
Rather than crumple under his gaze, her facial expressions gave him the impression that she found him almost comical, but this image changed to reveal a less scrutinizing expression. "It appears that you possess an interesting philosophy centered around your misguided series of beliefs."
He raised a hand, crushing one of her metallic shelves, as effortlessly as most people would crumple a sheet of paper. "This is not a joke!" he replied abrasively.
"I never said it was…" Madame Web replied curtly.
Magneto seemed to calm down almost instantly, but his voice still held a note of hostility. "If you refuse to tell me anything, I believe you may regret it."
She let out a small cough. "Just remember that my body is connected to the machine you see before you. If you wish to kill me it would be simple, but I sincerely doubt that it will further your own goals. Consider this before allowing an irrational impulse to influence your actions. Such childish behavior may very well lead to your own demise."
Her visitor considered her for a moment before clenching both hands, his powers causing the surrounding shelves and some components of her machine to rattle. She looked slightly startled by his reaction, her eyes widening behind their visor as the chair supporting her back hoisted her a few inches off of the ground. After a few seconds the room stood still once more, but neither of them spoke for several more minutes, until he took a step backwards.
"Is there even a reason why you refuse to speak to me, or must I threaten your life in order to obtain this answer as well?" Magneto questioned solemnly.
"You are a curious one, but I'm afraid that sometimes it is better to allow fate to play out as it should." She replied with a stern expression. "Attempting to tamper with that which is meant to be can have disastrous results. I'm sure that your old friend Charles Xavier would agree…"
The mutant extremist turned to face her once more, his expression unreadable. "You seem quite knowledgeable of happenings in the world around you for someone who cannot make use of their own limbs."
"My precognitive abilities show me many things." Madame Web replied cautiously. "You'll find that I know many things that even you are unaware of, but at the moment I do not believe it would be best to share this knowledge. If you have no more to ask of me, then I see no reason why you should remain here."
Turning around once more, he pushed up the collar of his trench coat and swept from the room without so much as a backwards glance. "You are a fool." Magneto responded with a note of hostility.
He opened the door and moved into the unkempt living area beyond, crossing the space with a few strides and exiting the small dwelling and back into the streets beyond. As he prepared to depart, the master of magnetism gave his hand a casual wave, closing and locking the metal door for the all the good it would do. Madame Web sat in silence as she found herself alone once more, a slightly affronted expression gracing her elderly features as she waited for his footsteps to die away.
"No, Magneto… It is you who are the fool." The blind woman uttered in a gravely tone.
With Wolverine
It was a pleasant day for the most part. The skies were completely clear today, but despite the presence of the sun, it wasn't unbearably hot either. There was a gentle breeze in the air, making it the perfect day to go outside and enjoy the scenery, a time when kids would go outside and spend time with their friends, and parent would take their families out for a picnic lunch. The only drawback was that the previous weather patterns had left the scenery wet and muddy, although as the sun continued to rise, these conditions were slowly beginning to change.
Even so, it seemed to be the perfect day to hit the open road and enjoy life. The roads had dried rather quickly after the storm, making them perfect for traveling. This was one of the many advantages that rain had over snow, of course to someone as strong-willed as Wolverine, nothing would stop him from accomplishing a task if it was something that he really wanted to do. Still cooperation from the weather was always welcome to him, but he would have journeyed out in the worst conditions if he deemed it necessary.
It was been a rather uneventful morning for the ill-tempered mutant, especially considering that he spent the entire night fixing his partially totaled vehicle in preparation for this errand he had accepted from Charles Xavier. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in more than a day's time or even eaten breakfast before the departure, but it was bound to take a lot more than that to hamper his pursuit of any given objective. The task he was about to undertake could prove more difficult if he had delayed any longer, so sometimes small sacrifices had to be made for the sake of the mission.
He had been traveling for hours now by motorcycle, but he enjoyed this time spent along riding the streets. It had always been something he was fond of, as he had some time to himself during which he could enjoy the scenery and clear his thoughts without interruption. At times like this, the mutant found himself paying little more attention to the other vehicles on the road then to avoid crashing. He was alone with the sound of the engine and the feel of the wind rushing against his body as he cruised down the American highway.
Several hours passed as he sat in silence, only pausing to stop as he encountered traffic lights and stop signs. While Logan was usually indifferent towards these jobs that Charles occasionally gave him, he always placed his full efforts into tracking down whomever he was told to find. It seemed at first like business as usual, but he couldn't deny feeling sense of responsibility for this particular assignment, even if it was only subconsciously for a moment.
Wolverine found the ride particularly uneventful so far, but then again he had spent much of his free time traveling the highways of this country, and his experience on the road made it so that he rarely found himself lost. It wasn't likely he could navigate a route through every town scattered across the continent, but if left alone in the back roads he would sooner use his own wits to find his way back home before calling for assistance.
Pressing the gas pedal a little harder, the mutant rider increased his bike's speed by a reasonable margin so that he would reach his destination faster. Granted that he did not know where exactly he was going to find X-23 yet, but due to the information given to him by the Professor earlier that day, the girl was bound to be within a certain area around the outskirts of New York City. He personally guessed that she would probably be hiding in one of the more rural areas, but was still planning on heading into the main city first to refuel, considering he knew the area fairly well and planned to start the search from a familiar point.
Logan increased his bike's speed again in the belief that doing do would cut his traveling time by an even larger margin, while also hoping that the cops didn't show up. The last thing he wanted to have to deal with right now were a bunch of uniformed law enforcers who believed that were better than everyone else. Last month he received a ticket for reckless driving when he hadn't actually done anything wrong, and it sickened him to think that some overweight donut eater sitting on the side of the road had the gall to talk down to him like that. Needless to say, it taken him every last bit of self-control he had not to slash the man's tires flat on the way out. As a matter of fact there was a time in his life when he would have done just that.
As he approached the next exit, the short-tempered mutant noticed another man riding a motorcycle driving in an erratic manner and coming closer by minute at an alarming speed. If he were to estimate, he would probably guess that the guy was driving over one hundred miles per hour. The opposing man seemed to slow down as he closed the gap between them, allowing Wolverine to get a better look at him. An unpleasantly familiar scent filled his nostrils, but a second later it was too late for him to react properly.
"Sabretooth…" Logan hissed, his eyes narrowing with intense hatred as he recognized his old enemy.
Without warning, the opposing bike rammed into him, running them both through the boundaries of breakdown lane. The bikes smashed against the guardrail with a metallic crunch, coming to a halt as their riders went flying over the side of the highway and tumbled into the wilderness below. The dueling adversaries struggled as they fell down the slope, but Logan retaliated by planting a powerful kick in his opponent's stomach, effectively separating them at the base of the ditch.
The man eyed his longtime nemesis for a moment and shifted his feet against the ground as he felt the ground beneath them. Sabretooth seemed to copy the gesture as they let out low growls like a pair of animals that were getting ready to tear each other apart. Standing in the large ditch below the place they had fallen, the two men began circling around each other in an almost primal manner.
"Well, isn't this an unpleasant surprise? It's been so long since I've seen you, I thought you dropped off the face of the earth!" Wolverine growled, producing his claws for the following conflict. "Looks like you saved me the trouble of having to track you down!"
Sabretooth's eyes were burned with anger. "I was hoping you'd show up sooner or later! Now I can finally put an end to you!" he screamed.
The smaller man glanced up at the broken bits of his bike and scowled angrily. "You trashed my motorcycle, bub… No one does that and gets away with it!"
"If I were you I wouldn't be dwelling about that piece of junk. You should be more worried about yourself!" the murderous mutant replied challengingly.
With a roar of fury, Sabertooth charged towards his opponent with full force, tackling him the ground with his full weight. The two men grappled for a moment as Logan slashed him across the face, getting in a deep enough cut to loosen the bestial man's vice-like grip. He released him with a scream of pain, allowing Wolverine to push him off with a kick to the opposing man's stomach. Sabretooth grabbed his face with one hand as he staggered backwards in pain, opening his eyes just in time to dodge another series of strikes from the enemy's adamantine claws.
Logan slashed forward in a stabbing motion in an attempt to impale his old adversary, but the animalistic mutant seized him by the wrist, sinking his own claws into the enemy's hand with deliberate force. He shot a death glare at the larger man for a fraction of a second before being hurled into the air and into the trunk of an unusually large tree several meters from where he had been standing. The irascible landed with full force, making a series of cracks in the large hunk of wood, but managed to recover rather quickly from an injury that would have knocked out an ordinary man.
Wolverine attempted to focus his vision as he struggled into a standing position, but strangely enough it looked as if his enemy were heading in the opposite direction. His eyes widened slightly as he figured out what the other man was doing. Upon reaching his planned destination, Sabretooth bent over and picked up a boulder, tossing it at his opponent with a growl of rage moment later.
Unable to dodge the incoming stone, Wolverine dug his claws into the bark of a tree and climbed to avoid the impact. Once the danger was over, he hurtled over a tree branch and leapt back towards the enemy, slashing his dagger-like weapons repeatedly in an attempt to bring down the enemy the best way he knew how.
Sabertooth retaliated by seizing a nearby tree branch and swinging in a circular motion, pulling himself out of the reach of his adversary's claws. He swung himself over the tree branch and came back down with an agile flip, nailing Wolverine in the spine with a powerful stomp as he landed. The blow sent his opponent flying backwards and into the trunk of a smaller tree, during which the murderous mutant seized his chance and pounced again in an attempt to finish the job in a single blow. Logan saw the attack coming and rolled sideways from his position on the ground to avoid being crushed by the other man's superior size and got back to his feet.
"Stand still and die like a man!" the larger man bellowed as he charged again.
"Like that's gonna happen, bub!" Wolverine dove to the right and rolled across the ground before returning to an upright position, causing his opponent to smash headfirst into a large boulder. "Looks like you're slow in both senses of the word if you think I'd actually let you beat on me."
Sabertooth lunged again with his animal-like hands only to meet air as the heroic mutant leapt into the air and caught hold of another tree branch, only this time instead of coming down for an aerial strike he began climbing even higher up. Digging his own claws into the tree, Sabertooth began his own ascent into the tree, ripping through branches and pushing aside leaves as he pursued his enemy further into its sturdy boughs.
The shorter man leapt out of reach again before turning to face him. "Magneto sent you, didn't he?" he questioned the other man.
"Bastard… Like I need him to convince me to put an end to your life." the villain retorted with an almost humorous look on his bloodthirsty features.
"Don't try to throw me off like that! I know he's the person holding your leash!" Wolverine retaliated with a fierce growl. "What is he after?"
Sabertooth looked more entertained than intimidated. "You think I would waste my breath telling his secrets to a dead man!"
The two combatants clashed again as they moved through the canopy of the tree, scuttling around and taking swings at each other whenever the chance arose, causing branches and leaves to crash down from the three as the intensity of the fight happening inside increased exponentially. After moving a few feet higher, Wolverine waited for his enemy to climb towards him and severed the limb in an attempt to send him towards the ground, but Sabertooth grabbed onto a lower branch and swung his body upwards like a skilled acrobat.
"Was that the best you can do?" the murderous mutant screamed in triumph.
"Not even close!" Logan hissed with a stiff expression. Jumping to another branch, he sliced through the branch he had just been standing on moments before, sending it crashing into his pursuer moments later.
The larger man scrambled to the other side of the tree to avoid the falling branch and continued to climb up the opposite side of the tree until they were standing across from each other once more. Once both fighters had regained their footing, they began leaping from branch to branch, dueling like animals whenever they drew within range of each other. Seeing that his opponent was preparing to pounce again, Wolverine leapt to a higher branch and swung downwards, smashing into Sabertooth and causing him to begin to fall back towards the ground.
The animalistic villain growled as he seized his longtime enemy by the ankle less than a second before he fell in an attempt to take the other man with him as he fell. The two men fell together, but Wolverine managed to sink his claws into the side of the trunk, stopping his free fall as the enemy landed on his back in the ditch below. The ill-tempered hero jump down after his enemy, but Sabertooth rolled sideways to avoid the strike, jumping to his feet and taking another swing.
"Is that the best you got?" Wolverine shouted as he dodged sideways. Taking advantage of his enemy's failed attack, he slashed upwards and managed to plant another cut on Sabertooth's body, causing him to recoil in a frenzy of pain and fury.
He attempted to follow up the first jab, but Sabertooth seized him by the wrists before he could get too close and hurled him over his shoulders, sending Wolverine headfirst into a rock. Logan blinked twice as he felt the pain pulsing through his head, trying to clear his vision, but by the time he managed to shake off the feeling, his nemesis had already gotten too close for comfort. Sabertooth charged him again, planting a few slashes with his own claws on the smaller man's face as he slammed him to the ground.
Logan grunted in pain as he attempted to stand, but his eyes widened as he saw Sabertooth advancing him with a thick log held high over his head. "You never were a match for me… Now I'm putting an end to this once and for all."
Unable to move quickly enough, Wolverine sprouted his claws and prepared for the impact, but soon found it unnecessary as a dark shape shot through the nearby trees and plowed into his enemy with a diving kick. The joy died from Sabertooth's face as he crumbled under the force of the surprise attack, spiraling backwards as the log he was holding came crashing down with him, landing on top of his defeated form seconds later.
Wolverine crinkled his nose and let out a small growl as he prepared to tell off whoever had interrupted his battle, but found himself lost for words as a familiar hand seized him by the wrist and wrenched him into a standing position. "Well what a surprise to see you here, kid…" he replied nonchalantly.
"Don't call me that!" X-23 returned his comment with a glare. She turned towards the struggling enemy who had just had the wind knocked out of him. "You should just be grateful that I was passing through here!"
The older mutant scowled in response. "I didn't need your help taking that bastard down." He replied, pointing a finger at his longtime nemesis.
She imitated his expression for a moment but decided against starting a confrontation. "I was only repaying you for helping out the last time we met. We won't meet again…" She turned to leave only to find his claws inches from her face. "Move!" she warned him.
Wolverine retracted his claws with a look of uncertainty. "Look kid, I came out here searching for you and as luck would have it you just happened to run into me out here." He explained gruffly. "I want you to come back with me to the institute and meet Professor Xavier."
X-23 displayed little sign that she heard him, but for a moment her thoughts returned to that strange encounter she had the previous night. It seemed as if all of a sudden people were out to recruit her into their mutant groups, but the idea only disgusted her. "I have no interest in working for anyone… I mean it!"
Neither of them said anything for a moment or two, but a loud rumbling quickly caught their attention. Sabertooth burst out from beneath the log that had landed on his back, his eyes alive with rage and his fangs bared like a feral beast. Reaching behind him, the animalistic mutant lifted the log with both hands and tossed it in the direction of his enemies with every bit of strength he could muster. Logan pushed his female clone to the ground as the chunk of wood soared overhead.
Once they were clear she shoved him away in frustration, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I don't need your help!" she screamed at him.
Logan was too preoccupied with the battle to talk to her now, and his eyes instantly gravitated towards the enemy instead. "Look out!" He pushed the girl backwards as their attacker charged again, barely managing to get her to safety in time.
Sabertooth shoulder-rammed him so hard that his already injured body smashed clean through the trunk of a nearby tree, the rest of the plant coming down on him moment later. Wolverine retaliated by slicing through the falling tree and stepped between the branches to avoid getting crushed, but his enemy had expected this approach and countered by taking advantage of the distraction he had made. The murderous villain attempted to finish off his old rival, but as he dashed in to deliver the finishing blow, he was interrupted mid way.
"Hiyah!" X-23 bolted into his path and tripped him with a sweeping kick to the ankles, extending the claw in her foot to maximize damage.
The enemy let out a furious roar as he caught himself mid-fall, using his arms to brace himself from hitting the ground. "You little runt!" he shouted, turning to face the second assailant.
"Pay attention… In case you forgot, the fight's right here!" Wolverine ran in from the opposite direction, stabbing his own claws down in an attempt to impale his nemesis.
Sabertooth moved his neck just in time to avoid a beheading and returned to his feet with one single movement, but before he could refocus a slash to his back diverted all attention towards the girl standing behind him. He maneuvered around and attempted to pounce at X-23, but Wolverine seized his outstretched arm with both hands and tossed him over the side of the ditch. The bestial man was thrown into a patch of dirt beyond where he landed close to a nearby hill before catching his balance once more.
Without waiting for the man to come after them again, the female mutant leapt over the side of the ditch in hot pursuit, her claws extended as she nailed their attacker with a leaping kick. The metallic spike on the end of her foot slashed Sabertooth across his midsection, sending streaks of blood flying as the large figure crumpled once more. Wolverine appeared just in time to watch as his long-time adversary tumbled down the hill and into a raging river below.
"This isn't over Logan!" Sabertooth screamed as he fought against the tide, his arms thrashing around as he struggled to keep his injured body above the water.
After a moment of frenzied movement, the bestial man caught a hold of a piece of wood allowing him to stay afloat easier as the rushing water pushed him further upstream. The two remaining mutants waited in silence as their enemy was pushed out of sight, leaving no signs of scent as the water washed him away. Once they could no longer sense his presence, Wolverine and his female clone retracted their claws and exchanged a pair of matching thorny expressions.
"I didn't need you help." He reiterated with a stern expression. Looking down at the river he thought of what had just happened and shrugged to himself. "It'll take more than that to kill Sabertooth, but at least next time I'll get a chance to settle things personally."
X-23 ignored him once more and leapt into a nearby tree, leaping from branch to branch in an attempt to put some distance between her and Wolverine, but the sound of rustling leaves behind her basically gave her the impression that he was following her lead. At the moment she was angry with herself for interfering in that battle. Normally she wouldn't have cared about the troubles of others, but this was the second time she had found herself stepping in to help someone else.
"Hey kid!" He called to her through labored breaths. After a few minutes of pursuit, he lost his patience. "Slow it down, half-pint!"
She stopped and returned to the ground, prompting him to do the same. Although they were standing several feet apart, the expression on her face was that of anger. "Why are you still following me?"
"Like you don't know." Logan shot back, sounding more annoyed than anything else. He waited for his anger to dissipate before addressing her again in an attempt to sound less hostile this time. "Look, I told you before that the Professor wants to see you back at the institute."
"I don't need help from anyone!" she cut him off, her face alive with fury. "No one wants to help me!"
Wolverine sighed in response to her reaction. "At least talk to Charles before shooting us down! If you come to the institute maybe we can help you out."
"I was conditioned by HYDRA to be the ultimate killing machine. They ruined my life and made me into what I am… Nothing more than a weapon that everyone wants to get their hands on, and even now this hasn't changed." she replied angrily. "My creators are still hunting me and some guy trying to recruit mutants tracked me down last night."
Logan stepped towards her aggressively. "We've been through this before, kid. I went through the same thing you did. I know what it's like to hate people for what they've done to you, to wish that all the pain would just go away! Even so, if there's one thing I know it's that you can't get through something like this without some kind of help."
"I'm not like you!" she screamed, taking a step away from him as if scared to admit the truth.
"You're more like me than you would ever know… I know you because I know myself!" Wolverine snarled, closing the gap between them with each step. "You're lost and confused, and you feel like nothing makes sense."
"Shut up!" X-23 advanced forward and drew her claws and sliced at him, but he sidestepped her with relative ease.
His expression became unreadable for a second as he watched her cringe in anger. "If you had really wanted to kill me with that swing you wouldn't have missed just now. I saw you hesitate. You've saved my life more than once. You feel emotion. You're still human even though those freaks at HYDRA tried to take all of that away."
X-23 stared him down, but her glare seemed to falter if only for a second. "You don't understand." She glanced at the ground for a moment before resuming. "Even if I did stay with you guys it would only put your friends in danger."
The two only stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of them was particularly good at placing subjects like these into words. Wolverine was naturally the type to spend a lot of time alone, and the girl standing across from him had been conditioned to avoid emotions in favor of her vulgar duties, but in this brief moment there seemed to be a small understanding between the two mutants. The girl retracted her claws in a gesture of non-aggression, but for some reason she still seemed hesitant to look him directly in the eye.
Wolverine sighed again, looking much less hostile then before. "There's no obligation to stay if you don't want too." He explained calmly. "I'm sure the Professor has already though up a plan to keep you hidden if you want to stay. All you have to do is go back to the institute and we'll see what happens from there."
"What will happen?" she asked with a tone of suspicion.
"That part is all up to you. Just come with me." Logan answered with a stiff look.
Her gruff expression wavered for a moment, but before she could give him an answer the two mutants sensed en enemy approach. X-23 sniffed the air with a tense expression, her claws sliding back into place, Wolverine following her example seconds later. As if driven by instinct, the pair of combatants moved so that their backs were facing each other and took defensive stances in preparation. Whoever was coming seemed to be giving off a sense of hostility, something that they both knew from participating in countless battles.
Wolverine shifted his feet against the dirt as shapes began to emerge from the trees. "Here they come!" he muttered warily.
Moments later a stocky brown-haired man wearing sunglasses and a green and yellow jumpsuit emerged from behind the foliage. Although he might have appeared somewhat comical otherwise, the man had four large mechanical arms shooting out of his back and an evil expression that made him seem oddly sinister.
Doctor Octopus advanced of them caused the sunlight to reflect menacingly off of his dark eyewear. "X-23… Come with me or you will suffer dire consequences!"
Note to Readers: Well I introduced the clairvoyant mutant, Madame Web, into the story this chapter. I borrowed her condescending personality from the old Spider-Man cartoon, but basically she's basically largely like she was in the comics to a certain extent. Apparently Magneto ran into another dead end, while Wolverine and X-23 have found themselves in some big trouble more than once during this chapter.
I could really use some support now, considering how little I've received. Ideas, comments, and criticisms are all welcome. Sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors, but I usually write when it is late at night.