“How the hell could you let this happen?” Were the first words out of the Wolverine's mouth as he burst through the doors of the Professor's office.
“Logan!” Storm's mouth fell open seeing him barge in. It was the first time in months any of them had seen him.
Scott and Jean didn't speak but their own shock was written across their faces. The Professor seemed to be the only one in the room unsurprised to see Logan practically break in the door.
“Logan,” Xavier's voice maintained its usual steady cadence, “We were just discussing the best course of action.”
“Best course of action?” Logan growled, “You fucking lost her over eighteen hours ago and you don't already have a plan? You're supposed to be the genius here, Professor. It's not that hard to figure out that we're getting her back.”
“You must understand-”
“What is there to understand?” Logan slammed his fists onto the desk in front of him, bringing him eye to eye with the Professor, “He-” Logan swung an accusatory finger at Scott, “Was supposed to have her back and he got her kidnapped. Every second those bastards have her is another second they could be-”
He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. He was familiar with the group that had taken CiCi. The XCisor's. She'd dealt with them before during many of her solo ops wreaking havoc on mutant trafficking operations. Their men were the ones who had dubbed her the Wraith in the first place.
As word had spread of the mutant that struck trafficking operations without warning and with little evidence of their presence left behind, the name stuck. It had even become a beacon of hope for the traffickers’ victims. She was as feared by the monsters she hunted as she was a target. They'd put a bounty on the Wraith's head years ago. The fact that they had her now…
“I did not get her kidnapped,” Scott jumped to defend himself, “I almost died trying to get to her.”
“Clearly, you didn't try hard enough if you're still standing here.” Logan turned his anger on Scott.
“At least I was here-”
“Scott, don't.” Jean tried to reel in her husband's anger.
“No, this asshole doesn't get to blow in here after months without a single word to any of us or Luce and blame me for this,” Scott yanked his arm free of Jean's grasp, “At least I was here. Where were you Logan? Let me remind you that she almost died in Atlanta and you left before she even woke up. Do you have any idea what that did to her?”
“This isn't about that.” Logan bristled. Scott's words had clearly struck a nerve.
“Like hell it isn't.” Scott kept pushing, “You wanna come in here and blame me for getting her kidnapped? Whatever. But you do not get to just blow back in here and act like you didn't abandon her.”
Every muscle in Logan's body coiled tightly at Scott's accusation. He was about to launch himself at the other man when the Professor cut in.
“That's enough.” His tone left no room for argument, “We are not going to leave anyone in the hands of that extremist group, let alone Lucie. But we cannot rush into it either, Logan. During your absence we learned that we’ve greatly underestimated what they are capable of. Less than an hour ago we received information that leads us to believe that this was a targeted attack. They set a trap specifically to catch the Wraith.”
“And you walked her right into it.” Logan turned his fury back to the Professor, “Didn't you?”
Charles simply ignored Logan's accusation, “Now that you're here, I think we stand a much better chance of rescuing Lucie without significant risk but we are in a race against the clock. XCisor has sent word through their network that they will be executing the Wraith in four hours.”
“Four?!” Nearly the entire room exclaimed at once. Clearly that was new information to everyone and not just Logan.
Charles’ revelation squashed any further desire to fight amongst themselves. Instead it triggered a flurry of activity that resulted in a rescue plan being finalized in record time and a team being selected for infiltration and extraction. Regardless of their extreme efficiency, their best plan only left them an hour to infiltrate the compound Lucie was being held in and get her out before her time ran out.
Their arrival and subsequent breaking into the compound was flawless. Storm, Beast, Scott, Jean, and Logan worked as a well oiled machine. Their plan was going exactly according to expectations right up until the door slid open to the area they'd learned Lucie was being held in.
What they expected to find was Lucie bound on a platform at the center of the cavernous room, surrounded by the highest ranking members of XCisor. What they actually found was a massacre and at the center of it was the Wraith.
The image her appearance painted was every bit as violent as her reputation amongst those she hunted. Her torn and tattered stealth suit was splattered with blood and gore, as were her hands, arms, and face. Some of it hers but most of it belonged to the bodies scattered around her.
The door had slid open on the scene just in time for the team to witness the last body fall from a a machete-like weapon she'd stolen from one of the now-dead guards.
“Luce?” Logan's stunned voice echoed through the room.
Lucie's head whipped towards the door.
“Oh,” Her mouth fell open, her weapon dangled loosely from her grip, “Hi, guys. Sorry I made a bit of a mess.”
Logan recognized that she must be in some degree of shock as he carefully approached her because she didn’t even seem to register that his presence should have been unexpected.
“Are you alright?” Logan placed a steadying hand on her shoulders as she wavered on her feet. His eyes roved across her body searching for major injuries but it was too hard to discern anything from the mess she'd made of herself.
“I think so,” Lucie nodded but her eyes were glassy, “I just need to-”
Before she could finish her sentence, her knees buckled. Logan caught her, effortlessly scooping her up. By the time he had her secured in his arms, she was completely unconscious.”
The first thing Lucie registered as awareness seeped back into her body, was that she hurt… a lot. The next thing she registered was a familiar scent lingering in the air nearby. The part of her subconscious that recognized it, began pulling her towards conciousness.
When her eyes finally managed to crack open, she found Logan at her bedside and he was watching her with his penetrating light brown eyes.
“You're awake.” His entire body seemed to relax the second her emerald eyes met his.
“You're here.” Lucie blinked hard. She had a vague memory from the compound of him being the one to catch her but she'd thought it was a hallucination.
“I am.” Logan swallowed hard, “I can go if you want. I just…”
He trailed off and when she didn’t immediately respond he took that as his cue to leave. He'd barely made it to his feet and turned towards the door when a raspy word was spoken.
“Stay.”