The confusion was thick enough for Logan and Erik to slip through the fence. Logan thought he saw tape covering the cameras, and had to shake his head at Peter. No wonder Erik had been shocked when Logan said he was his nephew. There was an irritating playfulness in Peter that Erik point blank lacked.
Kayla had shared a basic floor plan with them through Charles. She'd been jumpy at the idea of someone inside her head, even if it was the man who had helped her at Westchester. He'd had to hold onto her shoulders the entire time Charles was inside. Even though he knew Charles was being as gentle as he dared, the fact that her hands kept twitching told him it wasn't something she'd repeat. He hoped she never had to.
He moved behind one of the trucks as a man he recognized charged out. His claws slid out effortlessly, still hurting as they bit through his skin.
"Leave him to Kayla," muttered Erik.
"He's right there," Logan hissed, glaring at Zero's back.
"And he's also shot some people I care about," Erik said.
"He didn't just shoot her," said Logan, "Bastard needs ta die."
A shot rang out, hitting him in the forehead. Logan watched as Zero sank down to the ground, blood puddling beneath him.
"It looks like Kayla agrees," Erik said, "Inside, now."
Logan gave his lover's handiwork another look before nodding. He followed Erik, swearing to himself this was the last time Kayla needed to do this. When they left Japan, she could go back to being a teacher, a sister, figure out what it meant to be a mother while he figured out what it meant to be a father.
After everything was over, they could go somewhere, take Laura and start over. It might be at the school, it might be a lumberjack community for all he cared. But this was the last time she would need to take lives to defend herself.
They entered the factory. Most of the workers had already gone outside, no doubt evacuating for what they thought was industrial espionage. Or, given their employer, maybe they thought it was some sort of organized crime ring. He didn't really care and, in any case, they weren't worried about the drones.
Essex's lab was toward the middle of the complex, right next to Stryker's office. They could end this if they took both of them out. He knew that Peter had spoken of bringing them to trial, something like that, exposing their secrets. He'd shared a look with Erik on the ride up, made sure it was understood that wasn't an option. Stryker had friends in the military. He had friends in Congress who might be more interested in saving their asses than seeing justice done.
The door to one of the side rooms opened and Erik pulled him into one of the side corridors. Guards were pouring out, no doubt the first wave of responders. They'd had perhaps three minutes of total mobility before the guards had come out, so he supposed that was a good thing.
He watched them, wondering if any of his old comrades were running among them. He thought he glimpsed a cowboy hat for a minute, and then they rounded the corner. They waited a moment longer, Erik looking warily down the hall.
There was a flicker behind his left shoulder and a hand suddenly grabbed his arm. He turned around, but the world was already blurring. Logan's lip curled, and, despite feeling like his entire lunch was about to go everywhere, he slammed his fist straight into John's face.
The world stopped in one of the antechambers. Pipes hung from the ceiling, steam hissing from a boiler. John was getting his balance, but Logan's fist caught him in the jaw, knocking him backwards.
"You're goddamn predictable, ya know that?" snapped Logan.
John wiped blood off his lip as Logan moved closer, his breathing uneven. They locked eyes for a split second. He didn't know what John had expected to see. What he did evidently surprised him and Logan saw fear there. Good. He wanted him to be afraid.
He flickered away, but Logan jerked his elbow out, slamming it into where his nose would be. John stumbled and Logan grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him into the wall. He needed him disoriented. You disoriented teleporters if you wanted to live.
"I meant what I said about predictable," Logan snarled.
He gripped the shirt around his throat tighter.
"Did you think this was a goddamn joke?" he said, "That I wouldn't care what you did to her? That thing was cutting into her throat. She was gonna die, and you all just stood there while she was Essex and Stryker's goddamn pawn! Did you think I wouldn't care?"
There was no answer. He slammed his head into the wall again.
"DID YOU THINK I WOULDN'T CARE?" he roared.
"Logan, please, just please stop."
He looked over his shoulder. Chris was there, leaning on crutches and looking frightened.
"Vic gonna pop out behind a boiler?" demanded Logan, his claws sliding from his spare hand, "Cause there's a shit ton I wanna say ta him."
"I don't know where your brother is-" Chris said.
"Oh, he doesn't get that damn title anymore," said Logan, "Hasn't been his since he pulled Kayla from that cabin."
He cracked his neck, getting ready to toss John at Chris.
"You shoulda stayed in your hospital bed bub," he said.
"Look, we just wanna talk," Chris said, "John brought you here so we could talk. Okay?"
"Nothing I wanna say ta you two assholes," snarled Logan, "And you're after him, cripple or not, I know that doesn't make what you do any less dangerous-"
"Logan, I didn't know what happened to her when you asked me for information that night," Chris said, his eyes still darting to John, "We didn't know about the collar until after Westchester-"
"Bullshit!"
"It's true," John coughed, blood splattering on his shirt, "We didn't have an opportunity ta take her away. We knew somethin was wrong though, with the collar. We exaggerated her symptoms mad Essex rethink his plans..."
He dissolved into a hacking cough. Logan wanted to toss him aside let him deal with it on his own time, but he was still a teleporter. Even injured he might be able to make his life hell. He just needed to keep him disoriented.
"John, let me talk. You need...that looks bad," Chris said.
"It'll get worse in a minute," snapped Logan.
But the urge to smash John's face in was slowly disappearing. They didn't look like Zero had, all business. They looked like they were trying to figure out what to say or do. Chris and John had always been shit at poker.
"What happened to her was wrong, no questioning that," said Chris, "And we're sorry we didn't stop it sooner. But we wanted to talk to you right now, because we found out where Essex is getting the mind control serum from. It's not good."
He paused, trying to quell the rising hatred in his throat. If he was honest, he wanted to kill them. He wanted to rip them apart and leave them as a warning to the next person who tried to lay a finger on Kayla, on Laura. He wanted to hurt them.
But there was a little girl watching him, even if she wasn't there. Taking her for motorcycle rides, even joking about letting her smoke, that was one thing. Bathing himself in the blood of anyone who came for them was another, and Laura was always watching him now.
And her mother, who had seen him off with a gentle kiss, had never wanted him to be an animal.
"You thought it might be good?" asked Logan.
"Not really," Chris said, "But I didn't think he was siphoning his son's cerebral spinal fluid."
Something flipped inside his stomach, making him feel physically ill. That had been on Kayla's skin. That had been eating into her flesh.
"The hell?" he demanded.
"Yeah, I know," said Chris, "I lost my lunch when I found out. Every time Kayla's eyes would become unfocused and I knew he was dosing her again-"
"First off," Logan growled, dropping John, "You don't get ta say her name. Let's get that clear bub."
"Okay," Chris said, shrinking back.
Logan rubbed the back of his neck, still thinking. An image flashed in his head of Laura, raising her arms to be picked up. The revulsion in his stomach tripled. Stryker had done this to his own child.
"His son," said Logan, "He down with this?"
"Not sure," said Chris, "I...I actually think he might be brain dead."
"Ya get that much shit removed from ya head, yeah, I think I'd be too," Logan said.
John was getting back to his feet, and Logan swore to himself. This was disrupting the plan, having these two telling him this, giving them another goal. That being said, he didn't know if he could just leave this particular stone unturned.
The door flew open, smacking into Chris. He yelled in pain as Erik walked in, his hand stretched out and flexing. He stopped, however, when he saw Logan standing, unperturbed. He looked down at Chris, now trapped underneath the door.
"Are you all friends now?" asked Erik.
"No way in hell," Logan said, "But ya should hear this."
Kayla took out the first four of the guards before they figured out where the gunfire was coming from. She looked over at Peter, who was eating the smashed remains of a twinkie. She decided not to ask where he'd gotten it.
"Ready to go to location B?" she asked.
"Yup," he said, licking his fingers, "Let's do this shit."
Raven rolled her eyes, but Kayla barely had time to react before she was at the second location. She knelt down as she checked for the ammunition. It was still there, hidden beneath the moss and rocks.
"Okay, gotta go take Mystique in," Peter said, "You sure you're gonna be okay?"
"You sure you are?" she asked, "I have to deal with an itchy trigger finger for ten minutes until you get back. You've still got blood loss, and I am just praying your hand doesn't get infected."
He laughed, tapping his goggles.
"All good ma'am," he said, "Just making sure you're still in one piece. Might not have the coordination to pick you up."
She rolled her eyes and gave him a good-natured punch in the shoulder. Peter might be in his twenties, but there was something in him that reminded her why she'd wanted to be a teacher. Maybe that was why he'd been attracted to a school in the first place.
"Take care of yourself," she said.
"You too Miss Wolverine."
"What?" she asked.
"First codename I could think of," he grinned.
She opened her mouth, but he darted off. Kayla smiled before kneeling and reloading her gun. It was one of the nicer models. Part of her wanted to ask Raven where she'd gotten it when everything was over, and the rest of her never wanted to pick it up again.
Kayla pulled the scope up to her eye. It gave her a good angle on three of the men, all of them facing the direction she'd been a moment ago. She capped them off easily. With so much confusion, people weren't noticing the people who'd fallen in the back.
The next two drew some stares though. They turned then, and she ducked behind her cover. She breathed slowly for a minute, getting ready to go again. In any case, her hand was doing the jerky thing again, and she needed to make sure it didn't get out of control.
She raised the gun again, firing twice before they started returning fire. It rang in her ears as it pinged off some of the nearby rocks. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the blasting echo and take a few more down.
Kayla saw that they were trying to get in some sort of organized cluster. She couldn't let that happen. Even without Zero leading them, Stryker had some damn good marksmen on his staff. She'd need to take them out.
Something grabbed her foot, jerking her backward. The gun flew out of her hands and she clipped her head on the rock formation. When she looked up, she saw Vic staring down at her, his lip curled in a smile.
"Look who's decided to join the party," he said.