Logan
Three days had gone with no word from Remy. Tony was a mess. He had locked himself in the workshop and refused to come out. Clint had to sneak in through the vents and check on him. He had reported back that Tony had been drinking Dummy’s smoothies and coffee and actually managed to sleep around three hours per night. On the fourth day Natasha and Pepper decided that it had to stop. They went down to the workshop together with Wanda and Bucky who had become Wanda’s shadow since Remy left. It had proven to be a good thing to do because she had lost control over her powers five times and everyone had a silent agreement to let Bucky deal with her since he seemed to have much experience in doing that. When the women and Bucky came to the workshop the door opened as soon as Natasha wrote in her code. Tony was sitting with his back to them. The music was blaring at the highest volume but it became quieter when they went in. That was when they noticed that Tony was talking.
“Not up. Come on Dummy! You know what? Keep still. No. Don’t move. DON’T MOVE! Fuck!”
They heard Dummy make a sad whirring noise and Tony sighed.
“Yeah I know. I’m sorry. It was my fault this time. You were good.”
They realized that he hadn’t noticed them yet so Pepper stepped forward.
“Tony?”
He whirled around and hit the table in the process. He swore when one of the machines he had been building fell to the floor and crashed into pieces. Natasha went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Let’s go upstairs Tony. You need to eat something more than Dummy’s smoothies. Although I have to admit that I am grateful that he is taking care of you when you forget to do that yourself.”
He was thinking for a long time so she used the ace she had.
“Clint is making that omelette you like so much.”
That caught his attention. He stood up and nodded.
“Fine. I’ll come upstairs. Log everything that makes any sense Fri.”
He followed them to the common floor that had been cleaned out after Fury had taken all the beaten Hydra soldiers away. They arrived in the kitchen just as Clint was putting the omelette over to the table. Fury was sitting at the table and speaking to Steve about how they could beat the Dark Avengers as well as the Marauders. Tony ignored them, went over to the food and sniffed in the air.
“That smells wonderful.”
Clint smirked and they all sat down. But just as they were going to start eating the door slammed open. In the opening stood a man with his hair sticking up on both sides almost like wolf ears. In his arms he held Remy. The cajuns feet were bandaged with wet rags and there were bandages around his left shoulder both wrists and his head. His hair was full of dried blood and his eyes were closed. Tony and Wanda shot up from their seats and rushed over to the newcomer. He growled at the girl but she didn’t stop. Natasha flew up from her seat just seconds later and said quickly:
“Put him on the couch in the other room. Clint. The medical kit. Now.”
While Clint and Bruce raced to the medical wing to get the kit, Tony and the new man had managed to get Remy settled on the couch. His eyes opened slowly and he looked confused for a second. Then he smiled painfully.
“Hello cherie.”
His voice was raspy and while he was coughing they all saw the red marks around his throat. The newcomer put a hand on the cajun’s neck. After a few seconds the coughing stopped. He leaned backwards again and sighed.
“Why did you bring me here?”
The man just growled but it seemed to be enough of an answer because Remy quieted. The man stood up and put himself behind the couch so Wanda went over and sat down so that Remy could put his head on her knees. She didn’t seem to mind the fact that he had blood in his hair and started to thread her fingers through it. That was when Clint and Bruce came back. Bruce went over to Remy but stopped when he saw how the cajun tried to move away from him. Tony sighed and took the medical kit from Bruce. He went over to the couch and asked the man behind it:
“What happened?”
The man growled before he answered.
“That idiot got himself captured by some Hydra idiots. He was tortured before I managed to get to him and get out of there.”
Tony simply nodded and that made the others understand that the time for questions would come later.
“What is worst?”
Another growl.
“His feet.”
Tony nodded. When he took the wet cloth away from one of the feet a few gasps were heard. The cajun’s feet were burned. Remy closed his eyes and concentrated on taking calming breaths. His face didn’t show any pain and the Avengers felt sudden respect for the cajun. With such extent of injuries he was bound to be in pain. The only reaction Tony got when he started to clean the injured feet was a purple flicker in Remy’s eyes. Tony cleaned both feet and they were all surprised by how good they looked.
“How long did you say you were tortured?”
Remy looked over to Natasha. He knew why she was asking.
“My mutation makes me heal faster if I concentrate enough on speeding it up. It isn’t as fast as Logan’s or Creed’s but it makes a difference. I should be able to have my feet fully healed by tomorrow. Or at least healed enough to be able to walk. I couldn’t fully heal them while I was there because I was spending more time over the fire than not. So back then I was simply working on keeping the burns from getting life threatening. The other cuts and bruises should take a few hours.”
Bruce was suddenly very confused.
“But if you can heal so fast why didn’t you heal those wounds on your chest before they got infected?”
Remy hissed when he felt Tony place a cool cloth on his feet but then took a deep breath and answered.
“I didn’t want them to heal. I wanted them to get infected. Coward’s way out.”
Bruce lowered his head for a few seconds. Suicide. In a way. When he told about it the first time it had looked as if he didn’t have any other choice but to die. Now that they knew that he could heal himself it would be suicide. Then he looked back to Remy.
“Can I take a look at your other wounds?”
Remy looked hesitant. He glanced towards Tony but this time no help seemed to be coming from that direction. He turned his eyes back to Bruce.
“I… I don’t trust doctors.”
Bruce nodded and smiled. He had been through that conversation with Tony and Clint before.
“I get that. It’s fine.”
Tony continued with taking the old bandages off, cleaning the wounds and putting new bandages on while Wanda kept dragging her fingers through the cajun’s hair. Remy closed his eyes and after a few minutes his breathing evened out. He was asleep. Sam looked over to the man that was still standing behind the couch.
“And you are?”
“Logan. They call me Wolverine.”
Tony finished with the bandages and, with Wanda’s help, started to carefully clean Remy’s hair with clean water. When they were done Wanda took her old place and Remy’s head was placed on a pillow on her knees. Meanwhile the others had taken seats around them. Tony nodded towards one of the armchairs and Logan sat down. Tony went over to another armchair and flopped down onto it.
“What happened to him?”
When Logan answered his voice was holding an angry undertone.
“I looked for him after you called. In the beginning he was pretty hard to pin down but when they started to torture him the scent of his blood became very clear. When I found him he was hanging from the ceiling by his hands and there was a fire started under his feet. I got him down and to a hotel where I patched him up a bit. Then I took him here.”
“And Creed?”
Logan shook his head.
“Not there. His scent was nowhere near.”
They all quieted. After some time Clint asked:
“Who is Creed and what does he want from Remy?”
Logan and Tony looked at each other. In the end Logan was the one to explain.
“Victor is a feral mutant. Like me. But while I have full control over the animal, Victor doesn’t care about control. He is like a wild beast. One day, while they were still the Marauders, Remy trained with Victor. Creed bit him to break his concentration and accidentally broke the skin. He got a taste of Remy’s blood and became addicted. After that he got rough with Remy. They trained more violently, Victor hurt him intentionally. Everything to get to his blood. I even remember Remy telling me that Sinister had to send Creed away for some time. When he came back he talked to Remy and the stupid cajun agreed to let Victor drink his blood sometimes as long as it would keep Victor focused on the missions. But he hated it. After Stryker, Remy tried to hide but Victor was always finding him. That was when I met him. He was trying to get away. I was trying to find Victor and was following his scent when I found Remy. He had so much of Victor’s scent on him that I kinda confused their scents for some time while I was tracking him. He needed to get away so I helped him escape.”
Clint frowned.
“How? You said it yourself. His scent is stronger than normal. And Creed had been following him.”
Logan smirked at the memory.
“Yeah. We did it another way. I told him to fill a bathtub with the most flowery scents he could find and sit in that water for two hours. Meanwhile I took his clothes that literally reeked of Victor’s scent and made a track with them. Then I told him to put on my clothes, put him in my pickup and drove away. Victor followed the scent that I had made with Remy’s clothes. When he realized what had happened and came after me I had already dropped Remy off.”
They heard a small whimper from Remy and Bruce thought how he could kinda relate to the boy. They had both been hunted by crazy men who destroyed their life. Natasha stood up and went over to the kitchen door.
“Come on. He is asleep. We can as well eat now. You are welcome to join us Logan.”
Slowly they all went over to the kitchen. Logan was the one that stayed the longest but he smiled when he noticed the way Wanda was watching Remy. When he was gone Natasha turned to Wanda and said:
“I’ll bring you some food here.”
Wanda smiled and the spy went into the kitchen. She was met by Tony’s smile and she understood what he was feeling. She felt it too. The whole family was home again.