Logan waited impatiently for the elevator, a frown on his face as he considered what he was doing. Rogers hadn't even wanted him to come on this mission. Busting up a HYRDA lab barely registered as something he cared about - illegal alien tech or not - but he'd been bored, out of beer, and too annoyed with Chuck to head back to the school. So he'd ignored the offer to stay back and joined the rest of the Avengers on the mission.
The lab had been out in the middle of nowhere in northern Pennsylvania. From outside an abandoned industrial park. Of course that was before the anti-aircraft guns had started firing and the HYRDA soldiers started pouring out. Hell he even spotted Viper, a few dozen HAMMER drones, and Taskmaster just to make things interesting.
Logan let Thor, Rogers, and Stark deal with that. He headed straight inside and did what he did best. They were just here to level the place anyway and Logan wanted the stretch. Besides ... HYRDA was still Nazi as far as he was concerned. He sliced his way through the first building without breaking stride.
When he got to the second building he spotted Clint firing arrows everywhere as Cage took his time slapping HYDRA soldiers around. But when he didn't spot Widow right away he paused, noticing her running along the outside of the fight and through a set of doors. Seeing Clint and Cage taking care of things Logan ran to cover Nat.
Once Logan got through the doors though he paused. While the buildings so far had looked like every other warehouse weapons depot he'd ever seen, these halls were different. Clean. White. Spartan. Sterile.
Only labs looked and smelled like this. One glance into the rooms down the hall was all it took. Logan's growl was on instinct. He hated labs.
Taking a sniff he easily located Widow's scent and started after her. Rogers hadn't mentioned anything about gathering intel but it wouldn't be a shock to find out Nat had her own agenda. Woman loved having her own private missions.
He knew he was catching up but as he came towards a fork he slowed. It took a moment for Logan to realized what had got him to stop when he knew Widow had made a right ... and that's when his mind caught up to his eyes: claw marks.
Logan walked closer to the wall and ran a hand over the five gauges set into the concrete. Following a few feet further down the left hall he noticed the claw marks jumped around ... from the floor to the walls. Hell even on the ceiling at one point. Something had been dragged this way and had put up one hell of a fight.
Logan glanced over his shoulder back towards the way he knew Widow had gone. With a shrug he followed the claw marks. If Nat could have her own little mission ... so could he.
Logan followed the claw marks and after shrugging off a few security turrets and even a laser grid, Logan had made his way to the end of hall and the elevator he was currently waiting for. When the elevator arrived he stepped in and before he could wonder which floor saw that there was only one button to push. As time passed he realized just how far down he must be going though no sooner did he think it the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.
If the sudden difference in the lab hallways above had gotten Logan to pause this definitely did. It was like someone had turned a single hallway into a bombshelter. Metal barricades and bulletproof glass jutted out of the walls to break up the single path ... along with the few dozen HYDRA soldiers pointing guns straight at him. He smirked just before he popped his claws and let out a roar as he rushed forward just as the first wave of bullets hit him.
The HYDRA guards never stood a chance. As Logan made his way through, slicing open doors as they slammed down he heard a shout over his own series of snarls, "SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT NOW!"
Logan assumed that particular order was directed at him and was sure to slice the idiot that yelled it next but when a roar that wasn't his hit him he actually stopped for a moment and managed to see six soldiers running away from him towards what must be the end of the hall where he once again heard that roar ... or almost a roar? It wasn't any he'd heard before, not deep enough or strong enough to be anyone he could think of, but it definitely sounded pissed. Then yet another metal barricade came down and cut off whatever he heard. Logan thought of the claw marks that had led him down here and with a roar of his own made quick work of the two dozen guards left in the now blood soaked hall.
Wolverine managed to slice through what he hoped was the final barricade and rushed into the space, not sure what to expect but what he saw was not something he ever would have expected.
The space wasn't very large, the walls a continuation the hall but practically bare stone and after about a dozen feet the space was broken by a series of metal bars and then opened up into what he suspected was an opened cell that was covered in the same claw marks he noticed upstairs. With this much blood everywhere Logan's nose wasn't much use but he could see in the dark just fine despite the limited light leading into the cell. In there he could easily make out be a number of bodies littered across the stone floor ... one or two pieces even making their way out it.
Now Logan's curiosity took over and he stalked into the cell glancing around expecting to see the body of whatever had made his job a little easier when he let out a snarl of pain as he felt a set of claws slice arcross his back. He slashed as he turned only to feel his legs burn from a series of deep cuts, Logan kicking out on instinct which earned a snarl of pain as Logan turned back towards the center of the cage - more cave as he stood in it - and find out who the hell was slicing him.
And standing there, hands up and clearly ready for a fight, was something new: a feline feral.
She was young. That was the first thing that struck Logan. The fact she was a panther standing on two feet actually the second. She was just shorter than he was and lean ... too lean if he had to guess. Her limbs looking a little too long for her body another mark of how young she probably was. Barely a teenager if that. The fur was dark ... darkest thing he'd maybe seen which made the glaring dark amber eyes and her strange markings stand out that much more. Logan raised an eyebrow, they almost look liked tear marks, or sharp daggers... those unusual triangular markings... Perfectly perpendicular decorating the bottom of those furious eyes.
A contrasting orange against the midnight black. OK so not a full panther then, he concluded as he caught sight of two more of such stripes on each of her arms. Her hair was long and the same color black though he noticed hints of orange and red in there, mostly at the tips. Her face looked mostly human, but then again definitely feline if she just changed the angle of her head... the hint of a muzzle likely doing it. It was hard to tell what she was wearing, the black compression shorts and top blending so completely with her fur. The third thing Logan finally noticed was that she was covered in blood, shaking, and it was her growl filling the space.
Logan figured she'd been clinging to the cieling above the cage door in hopes of surprising him. Best guess it had been what she'd done to those HYDRA soldiers currently littering the cave. Thinking of that he realized how he must have looked and while he stayed in a defensive stance withdrew his claws and slowly squatted down so that he was shorter than the smaller and clearly on edge feral.
"Hey kid. You got a name?" Logan's low, calm timber cut through the steady stream of growls but didn't do much to slow them down. That earned a sigh from him. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on but he really didn't want to wait to find out if there was more HYRDRA coming down here.
"Logan," he tried, this time taking off his cowl which at least got the kid to tilt her head as she clearly took him in though he noticed the quick look past him through the hole he'd come through. Logan glanced over his shoulder and back at the pantheress.
"I'm gettin' outta here. Wanna come with?" Logan's tone was low and gentle as he reached out a hand but that just got a new wave of growls as the pantheress moved a hand to her neck seemingly without thinking as Logan noticed the collar hidden against the dark fur and the metal cord attached to the wall behind her. That explained why she hadn't already made a run for it. Logan forced down a growl of his own. Assholes.
"Here ... lemme help with that. No one should be locked up like this," and as Logan popped a single claw to cut the kid free the smaller feral's hackles shot up and she latched her claw's into the extended forearm as she slashed with her other hand toward Logan's neck. Kid was fast but not faster than Wolverine and while he grimaced at the claws embedded in his arm he easily deflected the attempt at his neck and the next one aimed at his stomach.
With a growl the kid jumped back but she let out a snarl of pain as Logan saw her grip her side where he noticed she was bloodiest. The trembling was getting worse and she was taking deep breaths. Didn't take a genius to figure out why.
"You're hurt," Logan kept himself small but his tone wasn't gentle anymore, "we need to go now. Let me help you."
"No." Her voice was a bit deeper then he'd expected from a girl her size but it was soft. Hesitant almost.
"Not up for discussion." Logan was considering the best way to get this kid to trust him or at least cut her free.
"Not - not back." Logan's brow went up with that one. She thought he was taking her back to whatever place made this hole in the ground seem safer.
"Don't plan on it. I'm taking you someplace safe. Now let me get that damn collar off ya and let's get out of here." Logan was about to step closer when the pantheress lunged.
"NO!" Logan saw the lunge coming and sidestepped and while she managed to slice up his arms some more Logan swiped his claw and easily cut the cord, the kid stumbling forwards a few feet seemingly at the sudden lack of tension ... right before she rolled and snatched one of the guns left on the floor. She looked at Logan over the barrel of the rifle clearly trying to figure if this was some sort of trick while edging closer to the way out of the cell.
"Wanna trust me now? Cause unless you got someone else comin' I'm guessin' I'm your best ride outta here." Logan tried again with his arms raised.
"Trust ... no one ..." the girl breathed out, the gun trembling in her hands more of a concern than the gun itself. Logan took a slow but confident step forward.
"Not a bad motto kid. But I'm offering you a way out and someplace safe. You got a better option right now?" The pantheress seemed to consider that for a moment while Logan silently wondered how much longer before she hit the ground. Judging by the amount of blood she'd lost the feline had stood up for longer than he'd thought ... kid was tough.
"What's it gonna be?" Logan kept his eyes locked on the younger feral's, making it clear he wasn't going to force her, and after a few seconds the pantheress finally blinked.
"Kara." Logan smirked as he saw the muzzle begin to inch lower but threw his hands back up on instinct as a series of muffled gunshots filled the space. Both ferals looked at the other in surprise until the gun clattered to the flood and Kara reached over her shoulder to pull out a metallic looking dart, looking at Logan with a mix of confusion and anger, before dropping to the floor with a soft thud.
"Well this is awkward." Natasha's tone seemed casual as Logan's growl reverberated around the space. He knew the kid was still breathing but that didn't make him any less pissed ... not to mention Widow still had her gun out if not pointed directly at him.
"What the hell Widow. You popping kids now?" Logan moved to check on Kara but with an audible click the gun was now indeed trained on him.
"It'll be fine. But you need to leave this alone Wolvernine. Just head back upstairs. Your'e good at walking away and pretending something never happened if I remember our time correctly." Natasha smirked, never one to miss out on a chance on some good banter.
"I'm takin' the kid with me." Logan glared, "And I'm curious if you think you got enough left in that clip to take me down before I really get pissed."
Nat seemed to be considering the same thing and Logan didn't stop this time as he ripped off part of his uniform as he kneeled down to wrap Kara's still bleeding side. Black Widow kept her gun trained on him but didn't seem inclined to stop him. Yet.
"We really gonna do this Nat? Over a damn mutant kid?" Logan growled as he lifted the passed out pantheress in his arms.
"I can't just let you walk out of here Logan." Nat's tone changed as Logan started to walk past her.
"Sure you can. Or if it makes ya feel better, think of it as I'm letting you walk with both hands still in place." At this point Logan was already headed down the hall and towards the elevator but he didn't relax even as he stepped in and turned to see Natasha slowly shaking her head.
"It's not worth the trouble Logan." Natasha called out.
"Not to you." Logan rumbled to himself as the doors finally closed.
As the elevator rose, Logan ignored the calls on his comms from Rogers asking where he was. Logan muttered something about finding his own way back and that Nat needed some help in the lower level as he slashed the elevator button and tossed his comm as he walked out.
Last thing he needed was the kid going back with him to SHIELD after what he'd seen from Widow. After all ... he'd promised he was taking her someplace safe.