DISCLAIMER: I do not own the X-men characters, and I make no money from this fan fiction.

Wolverine VS X-23

by

Rhonnel Ferry

Chapter 2 – The Father

I find a deer in one of the many lush forests of Canada. With eyes wide in shock, it gasps for breath, fighting to stay alive. It's been ripped apart, limbs cut clean off, blood and intestines scattered across the grassy ground.

Laura's handiwork. Her scent is all over the poor animal.

I pop out the claws through my knuckles, and drive the Adamantium blades into the beast's skull, ending its suffering.

#

X-23, Laura Kinney, is my clone and replacement in the X-Men mutant team. A month ago, she was kidnapped by a mysterious, underground organization that specializes in snuff films. Their clients humiliated her, raped her, tortured her, and then killed her over and over again, and all on film.

Laura has inherited my healing factor. Her body can heal any injury. But it couldn't heal her mind. By the time I got to her, she was so far gone, she couldn't even recognize me. Came at me with tooth and claw. Dr. Hank McCoy had to trank her like some wild animal, before we could safely take her back to the X-Mansion.

Once there, Emma Frost, our resident telepath, wiped out Laura's entire memory of her horrific experience at the hands of those sadists. And for a while, we thought it worked. She became calm, lucid. We thought we fixed her.

And then the nightmares started coming. The bastards had violated her to the core. So much so that she's subconsciously aware of the trauma, even though she doesn't remember the details. I don't know. Maybe that made it worse. It's frustrating knowing that something is wrong with you, and you can't figure out why. I certainly know what that feels like.

In just a short time, she reverted to being nothing more than a wild, uncontrollable animal again. We had to put her in isolation, to keep her from hurting the other students. But she escaped. Should have seen it coming. No cage can hold her. She's just like her old man. Technically, I guess that's who I am.

On her way out, one of the students, a close friend of hers I'm told, tried to stop her, reason with her.

She killed him.

#

Been tracking her for days, and now I'm close. She didn't kill that deer for food, or self-defense, or for territory. She killed it because she could. Killing is all she knows now. Like a wounded animal, she'll kill anything and anyone that crosses her path.

It's already dark by the time I catch up to her.

I sniff at the cold air, and catch her scent in the wind. I leave my motorbike by the side of the road, and continue on foot. It's started to snow a little, but it ain't that bad. Wont need snowshoes or anything. Wont need my costume either. I'm not here as a superhero. Hell, I haven't been a superhero in years. A pair of boots, jeans, a shirt, a jacket over it, my dog tags, and an old cowboy hat is all I need.

She must have heard me coming or caught my scent, too when the wind shifted. Because when I enter the forest, I find her waiting there for me. Her clothes are wet, torn, dirty, and stained with blood not her own. The claws in her fists and feet are extended. She's growling, and staring at me with eyes filled with fury and blood-lust.

I don't talk her down. I've tried that. It's way too late for any of that. So I just pop the claws through the spaces between my knuckles, and wait.

I don't wait long.

With a snarl, she starts swinging at me with her claws. But she attacks wildly and without strategy, that I easily sidestep or parry every strike. Sure, going berserk works sometimes. It's worked for me in the past, too. But now is not one of those times.

She kicks at me with the blade in her foot. I see it coming, but her reach is so long, that she still manages to cut me in the chin. If I hadn't leaped back, she could have cut my throat. Smelling my blood, she goes for the kill!

I duck under her arms, and then stab her under the rib cage with all six of my Adamantium blades, puncturing her lungs! Her eyes and mouth go wide, as she struggles, desperately trying to gasp for air.

"It's alright, Darlin'," I softly tell her. "Just let go. It'll all be over soon."

Her eyes roll back in her head, her body becomes limp, and she loses consciousness. I retract the claws, and let her fall into my arms.

A lot of people think that mutants with healing factors like myself can't be killed. Those people would be wrong. We're not immortal. It can be done. We can be killed. The evil mutant Sabretooth had once killed a mutant called the Native, in spite of her healing factor. The process is slow, arduous, and very very painful. Which is why I'm thankful that Laura will be asleep while I end her suffering.

#

I sit there, in the snow, rocking back and forth, wailing like a madman, still cradling Laura's corpse in my arms. I don't know how much time has passed. Hours? Days? Weeks? What does it matter? In my heart, I'll be crying for her forever.

END