You were really beginning to worry. It had been over a day since you had last seen Logan, and though he did have a tendency to wonder off, you felt a deep pit in your stomach. Something was wrong. You had tried to bring up the concern with the others earlier, but they didn’t seem to be nearly as concerned as you.
“I understand why you would worry about him, but Logan is capable of looking after himself.” Ororo said, resting a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to relax you. If anything, it made you feel worse. Claustrophobic. Your heart sank. Storm was your last attempt at trying to convince the X-Men that Logan was in trouble. Even if it did sound ridiculous. Part of you considered that perhaps Logan had left without saying goodbye to you. His motorbike had gone. You had grown closer to him over the past few months after he had returned from his latest excursion, and Jean had even hinted that he had similar feelings for you that you had towards him- not that you believed her. She was a telepath, a great one even, but she was also your friend. It wasn’t an impossible idea that she’d lie to give you some hope. Your mind raced as you tried to piece together your next actions. Ororo seemed to sense that she wasn’t successful in reassuring you,
“Sometimes Logan gets… A bit overwhelmed. Perhaps he left to clear his mind, and perhaps he was overwhelmed with certain… emotions and just needed to leave immediately.” She suggested, also apparently a strong shipper of the two of you. That was the fault of your copious girls’ nights, alcohol, and telepaths. You shook your head,
“I just feel…” You struggled for the word, but you grasped your chest in an attempt to charade your emotions. She nodded,
“You’re upset. That’s natural. Just get some rest and we can talk about it more later.” She smiled, removing her hand from your shoulder, turning to walk to her classroom. You nodded,
“Yeah, I will.” Perhaps she was right, you mused. You hadn’t been sleeping well and he would be fine. He was a better fighter than you, the best you knew. Who could possibly even capture a Wolverine? You pondered the question as you headed to your room. They’d have to know him really well. It wouldn’t have been Magneto. If it were, Professor Xavier would have definitely found out by now. The mystery suspect would also have to know the basics of the X-Men team, to avoid being noticed. They’d also have to somehow get him somewhere he’d be vulnerable. Logan wasn’t exactly known for being vulnerable, emotionally or otherwise. Especially with his super heightened senses. And there’s no way you’d be the only member of the team to notice. Right?
Right.
You had arrived at your door, hand poised to open the door. It wouldn’t hurt to just check Logan’s room, would it? He might be a bit upset if he came back later to his belongings moved and your scent dusting everything, but he’d understand you. Surely. His room wasn’t that far from yours. You looked over to his door from where you stood. It stood in shadow and you could just about to make out light claw marks scratched onto the door from one of the times Logan had decided that the door was actually the root of all evil. Apparently the Professor had grown tired of replacing his door constantly, so since the damage wasn’t too extensive, it stayed. You liked it. It added character. You walked towards it, lightly touching the scratches to try and ground yourself. Nothing was wrong. But just a quick look in his room would let you relax a bit more. You opened the door quickly and quietly, mostly shutting it behind you as you stood inside. The first thing that grabbed your attention was the smell. It smelled of him. Even more than Logan smelled of Logan since the Professor had banned Logan from using his cigars indoors. You adored Logan, but it was definitely the right choice. You noticed your breathing had improved since, and so had Logan. Which was probably why he had actually followed the new rule.
You looked around the room and walked towards his bed. He had changed a lot in his room as he stayed for longer, but there still wasn’t much there. His bed was unmade. It was obvious that he had gotten up and not looked back at it. His clothes from previous days were on the floor beside your feet. Mostly jeans and his tight-fitting shirts, nothing out of the ordinary there. His phone sat on his bedside table, beside his dog tags. That was weird. His phone usually was forgotten- he always preferred to keep it to emergencies only. Even though he hated it, if he left to go somewhere, he normally brought it with him, just in case. And you weren’t sure when you saw him without the dog tags last. You picked them up by the chain and dangled it in front of you, reading them. You heard quick, light footsteps approaching and quickly pocketed them. You weren’t sure why you did that, but you’d reserve the judging yourself for later. When it didn’t seem like you were just stalking the man you liked. A gloved hand pushed the door open, and a familiar friend walked in.
“Rogue?” You called quietly. She jumped, looking like a cat who’d just been frightened.
“I was just-“ She began, before a look of confusion crossed her face, “Wait, why are you here?” She asked, pointing at you as she closed the door behind her. You hadn’t wanted to worry Rogue, so you had mostly asked the other X-Men about Logan whilst she was busy in her classes. Which she should’ve actually still been in. You took in a deep breath, gathering your thoughts.
“I’m worried about Logan. This isn’t like him.” You said, tugging at your hair nervously. Rogue smiled,
“Yes! I was thinking that too, but no-one would take me seriously. I just knew that he woulda said goodbye to me before leaving. And if he didn’t say anything to you, there must be something wrong.” She said, walking quickly up to you. “Find anything?” She asked. You shook your head, pointing to his phone,
“Just that. And…” You pulled his dog tags out of your pocket, “These.” You said. Her eyebrows narrowed.
“That ain’t right.” She said, twirling the tag around to study it, just as you had. You nodded. “But no-one’s been here. We’d have known.” She let go of the tag and looked around the room again, approaching a set of wooden drawers.
“He must’ve left in a hurry then.” You said, pocketing his dog tags again, picking up his phone. It was an old flip phone. You were currently working on trying to get him onto something newer- it wasn’t like he was very proficient with the flip phone anyway. You opened it, and the menu greeted you. At least these ones didn’t have passwords. You heard Rogue opening one of the drawers before she quickly shut it. You looked at her questioningly as she looked embarrassed.
“Some shirts. And, uh, some underwear.” She responded awkwardly, tapping the set of drawers as if it were a dog. “Don’t think there’s anything there.” You shook your head in agreement,
“No.” You responded, and she moved to the bed, lifting up the blanket, checking underneath.
“What sorta person would even be able to get Logan anyway?” She asked. You shrugged. And that’s when you saw the text on the screen. He met up with someone, and it didn’t seem amicable. The message was just some numbers in a sequence. Co-ordinates. Time to summon the X-Men.
As it turned out, perhaps gathering the X-Men wasn’t the best idea. They had already proven to you that they thought you were too invested in Logan, and had been refuting anything you and Rogue had been trying to add to the conversation. You knew it came from a good place, but it still irritated you. From Rogue’s expression, she was on the same page as you. You put your hand in your pocket and anxiously fiddled with Logan’s dog tags. The metallic, cold weight in your hand reassured you. That’s when it hit you. Logan didn’t talk much about the few memories he had of his time as Weapon X, but he had mentioned that the dog tags were the only thing he had when he began building his new memories. That must be it. Weapon X. The team had mentioned coming across people who had worked for Weapon X before, but was it possible that one slipped through the cracks? Went by, unnoticed?
It was a long shot. Very unlikely, but it was the only thing that made sense to you. If Logan had gone alone, especially unaware that it was someone from the whole Weapon X thing- or even just someone who somehow had their information on him- perhaps he was taken off-guard. You tried posing your question to the room.
“Could it be someone from his past? Like Weapon X past?” You queried, but were instantly shot down by Scott.
“No. That’s too unlikely.” He shook his head, pacing the room. You leaned back into the seat, sighing. Scott and Ororo had both decided it would be took risky to go into the situation unknowing. Because if they could catch the Wolverine, they could catch anyone.
Unless you were right.
If they only knew Logan’s weaknesses, that would mean there was a chance that you could get there and get out. You felt guilt stir inside of you. You had made a risky decision, but you had to take the risk. You just hoped that Jean or the Professor couldn’t sense what you were going to do. Because you decided that you would go. Alone. The longer you waited, the worse you had been growing to feel. Who knew how long he had been gone? You had made a shallow excuse for your departure, heading quickly to your room. You had dressed into your X-Men suit just before Scott had assembled some of the X-Men. A few had been excluded in hopes to keep the children in the school calm and unaware. You understood, though you thought Logan deserved better. So you were going to do that. He’d do everything to rescue you. You knew that. That was the type of person Logan was, despite the fact he’d deny it at any opportunity. You were usually a strict rule-follower, and today you had decided to go against every atom in your being. Because Logan deserved it. You quickly gathered everything you thought you could possibly need into a small bag, hurriedly zipping it up and about to set off before the door opened. Your anxiety spiked before you realised who it was.
Rogue.
You relaxed.
“You’re leaving.” Rogue said, and you gestured to her to quieten.
“They’re taking too long. I need to do something.” You said, playing with the bag’s straps.
“I’m coming with you.” She said. You immediately shook your head. “I can help!” She exclaimed. You raised both hands in defence,
“I know you can.” You responded.
“Then let me come with you!” She begged.
“I need to go alone.” You said, holding up a finger to silence her before she could protest again, “but I’ll need you to cover for me. They can’t stop me, I really think we need to get to him soon.” There was a moment of silence, Rogue shifted where she stood.
“If you are right, and it’s those people again…” Rogue began, saying the word ‘people’ with vitriol, “He’s in a lot of trouble, ain’t he?” You nodded in response. “Go to Kurt.” She said.
“What?” You asked.
“Before you came here, they had an X-Men mission near those co-ordinates. I wasn’t allowed to go, but Kurt did. He could get you there before the others find out.” She toyed with her gloves, “And I’ll cover for you both.” You thought about what she had said.
“Do you think that’ll work?” You asked. She nodded,
“I really do.”
“Right then. Where’s Kurt?” You asked. You weren’t sure how you were going to get there before, at least now you had a plan. If only Kurt would agree to help you, of course. He was one of the X-Men delegated to ‘act as if nothing were happening’, he could be anywhere in the mansion or on the grounds.
“I think I know.” Rogue said, opening your bedroom’s door once more. Good think the resident telepaths seemed otherwise occupied. If they weren’t, your plan probably would’ve ended before it started. You were dreading their inevitable reaction when they do find out, though.
“Please Kurt, for Logan.” You asked, standing beside the chair he sat on in the empty corner of the library.
“I do not feel as though this is the best approach. It is very dangerous.” Kurt said, placing his bookmark into his book, and he twirled his tail nervously.
“Please Kurt. If something bad happens, the X-Men know where to go. Logan could be suffering right now.” Rogue emphasised. Kurt sighed, closing his eyes,
“I must meet with Scott soon. If I don’t, we will worry him further.” Kurt said.
“Then just drop me off. If you don’t hear from me in an hour, bring some of the others.” You leaned towards him, “Kurt, please. I wish I didn’t have to bring you into this, but I really am terrified for Logan. It could be nothing, but if it is…” You paused, gathering your emotions, “…I don’t think I could live with myself.” A look of defeat crossed Kurt’s face, and he brushed some of his blue hair away from his eyes.
“Half an hour. If you don’t call, I will bring the X-Men to you. Immediately.” He responded. You hugged him,
“Thank you, Kurt.” You said as he reciprocated the hug.
“Don’t get hurt.” He responded. You pulled away from him and looked over to Rogue.
“I’ll go back to the others, see what I can do from there.” She said, turning to leave, before pausing and giving you a quick hug.
“Come back safe.” Said Rogue.
“I’ll do my best.” You promised. You tried to disguise your anxiety from her- this was the first time you were going to do something so important on your own, and you were worried that you were right, and that you weren’t going to be able to help him.
“Half an hour.” Kurt reminded you, after bringing you to the door of the building. You could feel the electricity in the building hum. Your powers were mostly defined by electricity, and the manipulation of electricity, but you could sense it too. Whatever was in the building took a lot of power to work. You could single it out to one point in the heart of the building. Better start there, you decided.
“Good luck.” Kurt said as you moved closer to the door. You thanked him, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
You were now alone. You gently rested your hand on the steel door, feeling the thrum of electricity flow through it. You concentrated, diverting the electricity away from the door, hoping it would open and not sound the alarm. The door clicked open gently.
Yes.
You gingerly opened it, peeking through the crack of the door, checking that it was empty before entering. No one was there. You slipped quietly though the gap and shut it, feeling the electricity rush back into it. You cringed slightly, bracing yourself for an alarm to sound. There wasn’t one. You relaxed slightly, but you felt like something was wrong. Why was there no alarm? There should be one. You looked around, taking in your surroundings. It was dimly lit; the floor was tiled with what you guessed used to be white but had become more yellow as time passed. The walls were plain and all the doors you could see matched the one you entered through, besides the exit sign. As you walked along the halls, your foot fit some paper. You crouched down to pick it up and study it. The text seemed to be written partially in German, partially in some form of code you didn’t understand. There was a part of the German text that was covered in a black bar. You didn’t remember Logan mentioning anything about this, or the others. You dropped the paper back where you found it when you heard approaching footsteps. You pushed yourself into one of the shut doors, trying to use the shadows to conceal yourself. A man in a lab coat walked to the door opposite you, pulling out a keycard to open the door. He was rambling in another language, talking to someone on his earpiece. You didn’t know the language, but you could tell the old man was upset. Angry, even. He entered the room after a few attempts at using the keycard, closing the door without ever turning to face you. You felt relieved and took a deep breath, trying to slow your speeding heart rate.
That’s when the door behind you opened.
You spun around instantly, finding yourself face-to-face with another strange man. This one seemed younger. This one also had something the other hadn’t. A gun. He threw a punch in your direction out of reflex. You could tell it was reflex because otherwise he’d have alerted the others- however many others there were. You took the punch to the jaw, using his position to your advantage. You wrapped a hand around his wrist and drew on the electricity surrounding you. It rushed through your body, making your veins feel as if they were on fire, and you redirected the flow of electricity into his body. Not enough to put him down permanently, you hoped. You weren’t used to using your powers so close to an enemy before. The dim lights surrounding you flickered, and he dropped to the floor with a loud thump. You froze in place again, looking over your shoulder to see if the older man in a lab coat heard.
No movement.
You relaxed again, looking down at the man’s unconscious body at your feet, feeling a pang of guilt even though he was most definitely going to kill you. Your jaw ached badly, and you knew that pain was only going to get worse your body’s inflammatory system kicked in. He had mostly fallen in the room he had come from, so you shoved his legs into the room before shutting the door. You were really trying your best to not be noticed, and you could only hope that there weren’t many other people in the building. You stood in the middle of the corridor, widening your stance and closing your eyes. You focused on the buzzing you could sense in the air, trying to find the heart of it all. You walked through the corridor, first turning right, then left, then right again. It felt as though you were trying to follow invisible breadcrumbs. You weren’t entirely sure if you were headed in the correct direction. That’s when you felt a jolt of electricity through your body. On your left.
You turned to the door on your left which was ajar. You followed that burning feeling in your veins that grew as you stepped closer. You could hear fans working hard, trying to keep some large machine functioning. As you entered, you were greeted by wires running across the floor, the walls, and just in the air. You ducked under the wires at the entrance, careful not to disturb anything. It felt as though the inside of your body was dancing with electricity, like one of those plasma balls dialled up to a million. There was a strange desk to your left with hundreds of different sized and shaped buttons, levers, and switches. Many of the wires were plugged into the desk and lead to the centre of the room. On a small elevated part of the room stood an adult-sized glass and metal tube. That was the source of all that electricity. You ran up to it and leaned on it, seeing a small window, where you could see Logan’s face, seemingly looking back at you, his face covered in small parts of frost. You grabbed the long handle to the casket-like contraption and tried to pull on it. It wouldn’t budge, and when you tried to redirect the electricity from it, the door locked further. You stepped back to take in the device in its entirety. It reminded you of the sort of thing that they’d apparently used on the Winter Soldier. It didn’t resemble anything close to the weird metal box full of water Logan had described before. You looked for a latch of sorts, hoping you could open it. There was a sound from behind you, and you turned to see the man in a lab coat, standing behind you, holding a clipboard.
“I should’ve known one of you would come for it.” He said.
“What do you want with him?” You demanded, turning to face him.
“It would be a shame to waste such a weapon.” He said, causing you to glare angrily at him. If looks could kill… “I’m a big fan. I’ve read all of the papers on the Weapon X.” He said, running over to a pinboard, covered in mad scribbles, nothing coherent in sight. Was the man… sane? You felt your anxiety swirl inside of your stomach. There was something very wrong with that man. That made him dangerous.
“Look, I won’t hurt you if you just let him go.” You said, trying your best to reason with the man.
“Let him go? With you? He could be so much more!” He said. You tilted your head, narrowing your eyes at him angrily.
“Free. Him.” You said, drawing on the copious amounts of electricity in the air. Your body was burning, and badly. You had to release the energy soon. If you used it on him, he would most certainly die. More so than the last guy. And you weren’t done with him yet. As it seemed, it was only the two of them here, in some defunct ex-base of something. How did they manage to catch Logan. The man shook his head,
“No. He must stay. To achieve greatness.” The man said, approaching the desk with a hundred buttons.
“He really doesn’t need your help to do that.” You said, watching the man closely. He left the desk and ran towards you angrily,
“Leave my project alone, it needs time to be restored to its former glory.” The man spat in your face, “You have yet to see its true potential. It is the weapon to win against all other weapons.” He gestured to where Logan lay trapped in the machine.
“He’s not a weapon.” You hissed back, the anger building in you.
“You fail to see the truth.” The man responded, stepping closer to you.
“I see all I need to see.” You responded, raising your fist and perfectly striking him on the face, knocking him unconscious. You knew that whatever was happening her would need further investigation. The X-Men would probably handle that. You checked your watch and realised that it had been just under an hour since you arrived, meaning that the X-Men were on their way. They were probably taking the jet, as you would have seen them earlier if Kurt was delivering them to you. You turned back to Logan and walked up to the object, pushing all of that pent-up electricity into its circuitry. A loud bang sounded, the lights turned off, and at last… You could open the door.
The back-up generator kicked in. You could feel its electricity buzzing, much less than before. Seemingly, it held just enough power for the lights to come back on. With the door open, you climbed partially into it so you could lean over Logan as he opened his eyes.
“Logan?” You said softly. He looked up at you and called out your name,
“What are you doing here?” He asked.
“Someone took you an put you in here.” You explained. He nodded,
“I know how I got here. Whatever they tried to do to me didn’t fully work. I was conscious the whole time, but I couldn’t move.” He explained, shifting in place.
“Then why-“ You began, but Logan cut you off.
“Why did you come alone? You shouldn’t have done that.” He said, still looking at your face. He raised his hand and gently brushed it down the side of your face, careful to avoid the blooming bruise on your jaw. You watched him for a moment and took in his appearance. He seemed tired, other than that he seemed okay.
“Although I did enjoy hearing you talk about how great I am.” He said, smirking. You blushed. “I also loved it when you got all defensive over me.” He said, tucking a loose strand of your hair behind your ear. You broke eye contact as your blush grew. The worst part was that he could definitely hear your heart stutter as he flirted with you. You climbed back out of the machine so that Logan could do the same, and he stood in front of you, only briefly glancing at the very unconscious man on the floor. He put his hand under the uninjured side of your jaw and pushed it up, forcing you to look at him.
“Thank you.” He said, and for a moment the world stood still as the two of you looked at each other in close proximity. He kept his hand under your chin, smiling, until familiar voice carried through the building. You closed your eyes,
“I’m so dead.” You sighed. Logan laughed.
“Don’t worry about it.” He said, moving his hand away from your chin, wrapping his arm around your waist instead, moving to stand beside you. You opened your eyes as you leaned into him. His body was back to his normal, inviting warmth. The two of you watched as panicked X-Men stumbled into the room.