Logan stared down Erik as he waiting for the man to release him. He was seriously beginning to hate the guy. He wasn’t that fond of that Xavier guy either, but at least Xavier didn’t freeze him in place. It was a tough decision as to which man he trusted less. At that moment, Logan was leaning towards distrusting Erik more. After all, it was his henchman that had hurt Hunter. Whether he remembered the child or not, the fact remained that he was his.
“I suggest that you relax yourself, my dear boy, else you’re liable to go flying into Victor,” Erik warned Logan as he prepared to release him from his hold.
The warning fell on deaf ears, however, because as soon as Erik released him, Logan continued rushing towards Victor. Logan’s claws were less than an inch from the larger man’s chest when he felt his entire body still. That was seriously beginning to piss Logan off. He didn’t like losing control of his body and hated Erik for doing that to him.
“Now, Logan, I do wish that you would refrain from attacking Victor,” Erik chided. With a wave of his hand, he moved Logan across the room, far away from Victor. “I can assure you that he did not mean to harm the boy. It was merely an accident.”
“Fuck that! He hurt my son!” Logan roared.
Silence hung over the room then as Logan’s rage grew. With a quick nod of his head, Erik dismissed Victor leaving the two of them alone in the cavernous room. Now that his target was out of sight, Logan began to relax the spring-like tension in his body. He was still pissed off, but not quite so much as when he had been faced with the man who had hurt his son.
“If I release you, do I have you word that you’ll behave yourself?” Erik asked, walking across the room to where Logan hung a few feet off the ground.
After a few moments of internal growling and grumbling, Logan nodded his head. “Keep Blondie away from me and I’ll do my best to remain calm.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Logan found himself on the ground once again and in full control of all his bodily functions. Even though he wasn’t too fond of the idea, Logan retracted his claws as a sign of good faith. He then crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for Erik to explain what was going on.
“After what Mystique told me, I wasn’t entirely sure what condition to expect you in,” Erik said suddenly. “She wasn’t even entirely certain you were alive. We are all very grateful that you are. Your brother was merely caught off guard by your sudden appearance and inadvertently struck your son. My spies have informed me that Hunter is all right. The wound is merely superficial.”
“Victor is my brother?” Logan asked, arching an eyebrow in confusion. He would have thought that he’d be able to sense his own brother the way that he could sense his sons.
“We are all brothers,” Erik declared, throwing his arms wide.
Logan growled, annoyed with Erik’s blatant avoidance of the question. “Look, that’s all well and good, but I’d like to get back to wherever the hell I was and see my sons. I want to see for myself that Hunter is all right.”
“I’m afraid that is not an option right now. It is broad daylight. We must wait until after nightfall before we do anything,” Erik informed him.
That did not impress Logan in the least, but he could understand the rationale behind it. It was much easier to hid under the cover of night than it was in the middle of the day.
“We are going back, though, right? I want to get my sons back,” Logan informed the other man.
“Eventually,” Erik confirmed. “I need to examine first how much damage you received at the hands of the X-Men.”
“X-Men....” Logan murmured, the word striking a memory within him. “Who are they?”
Erik frowned, a dark look coming over his eyes. “The X-Men are a group of mutants hell bent on dominating the world. Rather than live harmoniously with the rest of humanity, they want to bring about the end of the human race.”
“They sure as hell didn’t look like the world dominating type,” Logan told the other man. “The place was too bright and too happy.”
Erik’s frown didn’t fade as he shook his head sadly. “Follow me, Logan. I have something to show you that may change your opinion.”
“What are you gonna show me?” Logan asked warily, still not completely trusting the older man.
“Why merely the files and videos that Mystique was able to steal from the X-Men’s database just prior to our attack,” Erik said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
That caught Logan’s attention right away. He followed after Erik willingly, eager to find out exactly what had been done to him. All thoughts of his sons and his supposed marriage to the Rogue woman were completely gone from his mind. The only thing that mattered to Logan was finding out what had been taken from him.
The walk through the vast corridors that led to Erik’s office seemed to take forever. For the first time, Logan was going to have proof of what had been done to him. No longer would he need to rely on the pain-addled images that filled his mind. Now Logan would have concrete information about how he had received his claws and whatever else had been done to him with the burning hot metal that Logan could vividly recall as it scorched and burned his skin.
As they entered the room, Erik handed Logan directed Logan towards a small table with a pair of sweat pants, a sweat shirt and some runners. For the first time, Logan realized that he was still wearing nothing but the pair of short he had woken up in. With everything that had been going on, it hadn’t even crossed his mind. Nodding his thanks, Logan pulled on the warm clothes, driving away the chill that he hadn’t really noticed until the fact that he was wearing only a pair of shorts had been pointed out.
“Here we are. I believe that this is what you’re looking for, Logan,” Erik said as he picked a folder off his desk.
Logan all but snatched the folder from the older man, clutching it to himself. Looking at the front of the folder something immediately caught his attention.
Subject: WOLVERINE
That name reminded Logan of a memory that he couldn’t quite reach. People shouting his name.... A piece of metal with that name and a whole bunch of numbers.
Pulling open the folder, Logan scanned over the top sheet.
Name. Logan Chase Hunters
Chase and Hunter.... Those were his sons. His sons had been named after him.
Date of birth. March 27, 1950
Status. Wife. Erinne.
“Erinne,” Logan whispered, tracing the name with his index finger. In his mind he could picture her flowing red hair and bright green eyes. She had been from Ireland so her accent was still noticeable. He could listen to her speaking for hours, loving the sound of her voice.
“I looked into locating your wife, but I could find nothing,” Erik informed him. “There is no telling what the X-Men did to you when they captured you. I haven’t given up hope yet so there is still hope that she will be found.”
Logan squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself not to feel anything. If he was lucky he’d be able to convince himself that she wasn’t dead. That he could go home and she would still be there. He could only pray that she hadn’t given up on him and left their home.
Mutation. Advanced healing and senses.
“Tell me how I got these,” Logan demanded, holding up his right hand to reveal the nine inch mental claws that extended from his knuckles.
“Easily done, my boy,” Erik said as he picked up a remote control from his desk. Aiming it at the wall behind Logan’s head. “We were able to copy a few video files that gave us a pretty good indication of what was done to you.”
The first thing that Logan saw on the screen was himself. He was unconscious and strapped to an operating table.
“Subject Wolverine was obtained yesterday from the Canadian Rockies,” Professor Xavier’s voice said from somewhere off screen. “He possesses an incredibly advanced healing system that makes him a perfect candidate for the procedure. We will be grafting an indestructible metal called adamantium to his skeleton as well as inserting a device in his forearms that will extend and retract nine inch adamantium claws with the movement of only a few muscles.”
As Logan watched, his body was cut open and torn apart by the two doctors he had seen earlier that day. Xavier was doing a constant voice over and it was all that Logan could do not to punch his claws into the screen of the television.
“There was only about ten minutes of salvageable footage,” Erik said, as the last image was cut off abruptly. “Most of it they tried to destroy, but we got away with that.”
“I want my sons away from that place,” Logan hissed. “I don’t trust any of those bastards there and I want them safe. If they have my mutation I don’t want to risk the same thing happening to them.”
“And it won’t. We will retrieve the two boys tonight,” Erik assured him. “I wouldn’t want to leave them in Charles’ care, either.”
Logan nodded his head. “Good. Good. I want my boys safe.”
“Completely understandable, Logan. If I were--”
Erik was interrupted by a knock at the door of his office. He sighed and mumbled something about the lack of good help. “Come in!”
The door opened and Logan was greeted by a sight that made his heart soar. “Erinne!”