Logan came awake with a suddenness that sent his claws shooting out of his knuckles and Marie’s name spilling from his lips.
“Easy, Logan. Relax. You’re safe now.”
With an angry growl, Logan tore away from the hand pressing against his chest and rolled off the table he was lying on. He kept his claws extended outward, backing away from the other people in the room.
“Take it easy, Logan. We’re not going to hurt you.”
In response, Logan merely growled again. “Where’s the kid?”
“I’m sorry, Logan, but Rogue wasn’t there,” Jean informed him, albeit somewhat reluctantly.
“What?” Logan roared, his anger flaring to astronomical levels. “If she’s not here then why the hell am I?”
“You were injured, Logan. We were barely able to save your life,” Chuck said, alerting Logan to his presence for the first time.
Unnerved by the fact that he hadn’t been able to sense Chuck’s presence sooner, Logan shook his head in an attempt to clear it. “You shouldn’t have worried about me. I heal. You should have stayed to look for Marie. She’s more important than me.”
“Someone poisoned you, Logan!” Jean cried, her eyes flashing. “Whoever attacked you knew about your mutation and created a poison that you’re healing factor couldn’t fight. If we hadn’t got there when we did, you would have died!”
Feeling momentarily lightheaded, Logan squeezed his eyes shut and clutched at a nearby table. “Do you really think I care? Those bastards left me behind which means the were there for Marie. That means I’ve gotta find her!”
“Logan, you were hours away from dying. You can barely stand now as it is. How likely is it that you are going to find Rogue in your condition?” Chuck rationalized as he wheeled his chair closer to Logan.
“I promised I’d take care of her. Somehow I don’t think that involves sitting on my ass when she’s in danger,” Logan snarled.
“Now, Logan--”
“Stuff it, Chuck! I’m going. End of discussion,” Logan informed the older man as he advanced towards the door of the med lab.
Jean held out a hand, attempting to restrain Logan as he walked past her. “Storm and Cyclops are up at Alkali Lake looking for Rogue as we speak. They’ll find her. You, on the other hand, need to rest, Logan. You’re still very weak. You’ll be of no use to Rogue if you go out and get yourself killed because you’re too stubborn to admit that you’re hurt.”
In response, Logan pulled away from her violently. He glared at her darkly, a low growl rumbling deep in the back of his throat. “Just tell me where you put my clothes and I’ll be outta your way, Jeanie. I don’t feel like going on a rescue mission in nothing more than my shorts.”
“Logan, I really don’t think that--”
“I’m going, Jean!” Logan shouted, his angry snarl cutting her off instantly. “So just tell me where my clothes are.”
Defeated, Jean looked over at Chuck who reluctantly nodded his head. Both were well aware of the fact that they wouldn’t get Logan to stay when he didn’t want to.
“Everything is in your room, Logan,” Jean informed him. “But I strongly suggest that you rest for a few more days while the poison works its way through your system. I’m not sure if we were able to flush it all out of your blood stream. There may still be some residual traces.”
“If they’re residual they’ll be gone soon. Now get outta my way.”
With that, Logan continued on his way. He held his body completely rigid, showing no external sign of weakness in case he came across anyone. He was the Wolverine and couldn’t let anyone know that something was wrong. That would make him weak and Logan refused to be weak. The only person that Logan allowed to see him weak was thousands of miles away and in danger.
Logan had very brief, muddled images in his mind of Marie in that room after he had been injected with the poison. It was more sensations than anything else.
Marie pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Holding him in her arms.
Screaming his name.
Crouching over him, whispering soothing words in his ear.
The images and sensations were all very brief, but they filled Logan with a peace that he wouldn’t have known in that situation otherwise. They had kept him calm and given him hope that everything would be all right even when his body had been screaming in agony from the blows with the metal pipes. Adamantium skeleton or not, his skin was still very fragile.
Somehow, between the last time he had passed out, safe and in Marie’s arms, and when he had woken up in the med lab, Marie had been taken from him. The same men who had tricked him into believing that Alkali Lake was the source of his answers had taken away his Marie.
As he stepped out of the elevator onto the main floor of the mansion, Logan was hit by a sudden sense of dejà vu. Standing there, getting ready to go down was Scott.
“Did you find the kid?” Logan demanded, his whole demeanor bristling at the sight of the other man. Logan’s anger increased when he realized that Scott should have been coming from below rather than above.
“I’m sorry, Logan, but there--”
Scott never got to finish the sentence because Logan grabbed hold of his black button down shirt and flung him against the back wall of the elevator. His claws were itching to come out, but Logan managed to keep a tenuous hold on his self control and keep them in. That didn’t keep the growl from rumbling deep in his chest.
“I know that I heard that wrong, Scooter,” Logan rumbled, “because you wouldn’t be here if Marie wasn’t.”
“Logan--”
“Shut the fuck up, Scooter, and tell me where Marie is!”
Scott grasped onto Logan’s wrists, struggling to pull the massive fists free from his chest. Logan’s superior strength made that task impossible. “Storm and I searched everywhere, Logan. Rogue was nowhere near Alkali.”
“Then why the fuck are you here?!” Logan roared, slamming Scott against the back of the elevator again. “If Marie’s not here you shouldn’t be here, either! Got it, Scooter?”
“We did the best that we could, Logan,” Scott tried to tell him. “Storm and I were out there for three days and couldn’t find a trance of her. Nothing.”
Slamming Scott against the wall one more time, Logan spun around on his heel and stormed out into the hallway, growling at any kids who got in his path. The angry, pissed off Wolverine was out in full force now that he knew for a fact that his Marie was in danger. Marie was the one thing in the world Logan actually cared about and he’d be damned if he let anything happen to her.
By the time that Logan reached his room his vision was beginning to get a little blurry. He continued on as though nothing was happening, of course. The Wolverine never let anyone see him weak. It just wasn’t in him. With the exception of Marie, it always ended up hurting him when he let people see him weak.
Locking the door behind him, Logan staggered over to the bed and flopped down on his stomach. He felt like shit. It was as simple as that. Every nerve ending in his body was aching, his head felt like it was full of lead, his limbs moved as though they were being weighed down by chains. The bed was definitely more comfortable than the table he’d woken up on in the med lab, but he couldn’t take the time to rest. Going by what Scott had told him, he had been unconscious for three days. Three days that Marie had been lost to them. Lost to him. Logan would be damned if he stayed and did nothing to help Marie because he felt a little fuzzy headed. He’d felt worse drunk once and had still fought for five hours and won every battle.
“I’m coming, kid,” Logan mumbled as he allowed his eyes to slide shut.
When Logan shut his eyes, the digital alarm clock next to his head read 3:28pm.
It was 11:46 when he opened his eyes.
The sun was up.
“Shit!” Logan screamed, his claws automatically springing free into the mattress. There was a slight explosion of feathers as he caught part of a pillow.
Letting out a string of angry curses, Logan stormed about the room, gathering up clothes and throwing them on. Tossing a spare pair of jeans, some socks, t-shirts and boxers into his backpack, Logan turned and stalked from the room. As he charged down the hallway, Logan used one hand to secure his backpack over his left shoulder while his other hand fixed the collar of his leather jacket.
“I really don’t think that you should leave yet,” Jean said, appearing out of Chucks office the same time that Logan reached the bottom of the stairs.
“I spent more time here than I should have,” Logan snapped, making a bee line for the back where the garage was located.
“I believe the fact that you just spend almost twenty-four hours asleep should inform you that you are not well,” Storm spoke up as she followed Logan down the hallway. “You are still ill, Logan, and need to recuperate if you are going to be of any help finding Rogue.”
Logan’s only response to that was to extend the claws on his left hand and decapitate a bouquet of flowers he was passing. Not the nicest thing he could have done, but certainly more subtle than carving gouges in the wall.
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit, Logan?” Jean demanded, her voice tinged with annoyance.
Coming to a complete stop, Logan whirled on his heel and glared at the group that was following him. His anger outmatched theirs not only in intensity, but in the sheer depth and conviction of his anger. Both of his claws were extended and he was barely able to restrain himself from using them.
“Far as I’m concerned, you geeks aren’t reacting enough,” Logan cried, his dark eyes blazing with an almost uncontrollable rage. “We have no clue where Marie is or if she’s even all right and you’re acting all calm and collected about it. She could be seriously injured and you assholes don’t even seem to give a fuck! This is Marie we’re talking about. Marie! Not some nameless face that you can rescue when you feel like it. I won’t let you treat her like that.”
Everyone was blown away by Logan’s outburst. Logan most of all. In all his life he had never got so emotional about something let alone someone. But Marie did that to him. She actually made him feel human. That alone sent Logan for a loop. Logan wasn’t used to feeling human. He was the Wolverine. He wasn’t supposed to feel all soft and fluffy inside because of some tiny slip of a girl.
“Logan, I understand that you feel strongly about Rogue, but you can’t let your emotions cloud your judgment,” Chuck told him rationally, wheeling his chair closer to Logan. “We have to think with level heads if we are going to get Rogue back.”
“Fuck level heads, Chuck, I’m going back there to look for her!” Logan declared, turning and starting for the garage once again. “Marie is counting on me to protect her. I gave her my word and I never go back on my word.”
Not having anything else to say and not caring what they had to say, Logan continued the rest of the way towards the garage without paying any attention to their attempts to convince him to stay. Logan’s mind was made up. He was heading back north to Alkali to look for Marie and nothing short of the Apocalypse was going o stop him. Even if the trumpets of Armageddon sounded, Logan would still find Marie before he allowed them to take him down below.
First thing he had to do was find Marie and the bastards who had taken her.