The Professional

The scent of the visitor hit him before the soft knock came. He grunted and she crept into his room. Reaching over, he grabbed the extra blanket he kept on the bedside table and moved over in the bed. Marie stuffed one of the pillows against the headboard and climbed on top of the coverlet. He gently tucked the blanket around her and lay back down, his head resting on his forearm.

It did not happen often, but when Marie could not sleep or was having nightmares, she sought out Logan. Logan never refused her need for nighttime company. He always offered her the hug she needed and did so now, cuddling her in the blanket.

She sniffled and he almost asked her what the nightmare had been about, but there was always the stab of guilt that he had been the cause of it. She had told him that Chuck had exorcised all but two of his memories from her. The problem was one of these memories had been the terrifying experience of being cut open by scalpels again and again as liquid metal was fused to his bones. He held her a little tighter, wishing he could protect her from everything, but knowing that was impossible.

She felt his strong embrace and welcomed it. The terrible images of snow and blood she had seen were jumbling up and fading away, now that she was awake and with Logan. She sighed. It had been a dream, nothing more. He was holding her now and nothing else mattered at that moment. She began to relax and drift off to sleep.

Once Logan felt she was in a deep enough sleep, he leaned over and traced a finger across her cheek, careful how long he kept contact with her skin. On the Statue of Liberty, when she was unconscious, it had taken a few seconds for her mutation to kick in and pull his life force from him when he tried to save her. Later, he had recognized the possibilities of this delay. Through cautious testing, he had found that if she was in a very deep sleep, her skin took a few seconds to react to being touched. Those few seconds at a time were all he needed to give her what he knew she craved during waking moments: someone to touch her and hold her.

Her skin was so soft and her lips so sweet. He sighed. It gave him no pleasure to always remind himself of the time limit and make sure she was deep in slumber. He only hoped that these little touches somehow filtered through and gave her pleasant dreams to counteract the ones he was sure he was responsible for. He knew if she ever found out it was possible for him to touch her, she would be determined to find a cure. His concern, though, was that the cure would be far worse than her mutation was now.

Gently Logan picked Marie up and carried her back to her room. Letting her sleep with him was not a good idea. He had too many nightmares and no way to disarm himself in order to keep from hurting her.

He pushed the door open all the way with his foot and was surprised to smell the scents of Kitty and Jubilee. Sure enough, they were in sleeping bags against the far wall. He paused to make sure they were asleep. Jubilee was definitely out, but Kitty was more difficult to discern. He shrugged and took a chance, putting Marie back in her bed, removing his blanket, and tucking her in with her own. Ever so carefully, he brushed back the tendrils of hair that had moved across her face. It was so hard to leave her alone when that was the last thing he wanted to do. He forced his emotions down with savage control and gave one more feathery kiss to her brow. Then he turned and walked away, softly closing the door behind him.
---

Scott was on his way to see Logan about a mission when he saw Rogue enter the hall and knock softly on Logan’s door. Uncomfortable with breaking in upon the two, he decided to wait and see what would happen. Just when he thought it would be better to go on the mission alone, Logan emerged from his room with the young woman in his arms. So intent was Logan on his task he did not notice anyone else in the corridor. This gave Scott the opportunity to see yet another side of him, the side that was deeply in love with Rogue. Intrigued, he stayed motionless and watched as Logan carried her back to her room. A few moments later he came backing out, closing the door softly. Scott noticed that he took the time to fold the blanket, surreptitiously smelling it as he did so. He decided this was a good time to talk to Logan after all and started to approach just as Logan turned around to go back to his room.
---

Kitty’s bright eyes filled with tears. Rogue had asked them to sleep in her room tonight as a break from the usual routine. They had laughed and told jokes, each one worse than the previous one. Then gossip had ensued, most of it on the budding romance between Ms. Munroe and Dr. McCoy. They had yawned and thrown popcorn at each other in an attempt to fight off sleep. Jubilee had taken the plunge first, snoring softly as she drifted off. Rogue had then confessed to Kitty that she had been having nightmares lately and was hoping the cheerful company would keep them away. The last to fall asleep, Kitty had wondered what it would be like to wake up from a bad dream and not be able to have anyone hold you and comfort you.

She had been startled later when Rogue had made a noise and got out of bed. Expecting her friend to need a kind word, she had started to speak when she realized that Rogue was headed out the door. Confused, she waited but had started to doze when the door opened and Logan had appeared with Rogue in his arms. Knowing how sensitive Logan’s senses were, she slightly phased herself, hoping he would be fooled into thinking she was asleep. She wasn’t disappointed when he continued into the room and tucked Rogue back in bed. But then came the shocking part. Framed by moonlight, she watched his sad face as he brushed her hair back and lightly touched her cheek. Nothing happened. Then he kissed her on the forehead. Again, nothing happened to him and Kitty was at a loss for words by the time he left.

Could Logan now touch Rogue? No, because she had accidentally elbowed him in self-defense this week and her glove had slipped during the exercise, causing her to hit him skin on skin. He had jumped and seemed a little shaken. Why could he touch her now? Her curiosity on edge, Kitty left the sleeping bag to sit next to Rogue on the bed. He had only touched her for a few seconds at most, normally time for the pull to occur. She lightly brushed Rogue’s cheek with her fingertip, careful to only let it last a moment. Nothing happened. Her joy at being able to touch her friend suddenly crashed into reality. She was deeply asleep and couldn’t feel it. Now she knew why Logan was so sad and her tears flowed as her heart went out to her friend.
---

Logan growled.

Scott held up his hands in a non-threatening gesture. "I am keeping my nose out of it, although the offer to give you dating lessons still stands. I do want to know, though, why you are wearing silk pajama bottoms."

Logan relaxed a little and glanced down at the pants. "My students gave them to me along with some underwear and a pair of swim trunks. I guess they don’t like little towels."

"Underwear?" Logan glared and Scott changed the subject. "Actually, I was wondering if you had a minute. I wanted to update you on that stuff we ran into in Maine and ask you to go on a mission with me tonight."

Logan shrugged and led the way back to his room. Scott took the chair while Logan stretched out on the bed, putting the blanket back on the table as he did so.

"Charles’ sources confirmed tonight that the stuff was stolen from the military. The question is, why would the military develop a drug that was stronger than heroin almost eighteen years ago?"

"Come again?"

Scott repeated himself and added, "The stuff from that little drug deal we busted up came from a shipment that was delivered to an old military warehouse almost eighteen years ago. This warehouse stores obsolete items or old records that no longer serve any function, but need to remain out of the hands of the public."

"Do they even know it’s missing?"

"According to the source, no. They don’t even know it’s drugs. The shipment is marked as ‘training supplies’ and has a Canadian address. The problem is someone found out what was in the crate and tried to score a little money with our Maine friends."

Scott watched as Logan was still for a few moments, his face becoming thoughtful. "Alkali Lake, right?"

"Isn’t that where you went after you came here?"

"It’s a possibility I was held there at one time. We need to go get that stuff."

Scott nodded and stood up, heading for the door. "Whoever it is will only wait so long until they try to find another buyer. You up for it?"

Logan rolled off the bed and came padding down the hall after him. "Gee, another road trip. I wonder if we should just take Jean and Rogue along now or have them pick us up again."

"Let ‘em sleep, We can handle it," came the reply.
---

They found the hole in the fence the jet had indicated. Perimeter guards were nowhere to be seen. Scott turned to Logan and cocked an eyebrow.

Logan nodded. "It’s Sabretooth. The scent is about twenty minutes old." He paused and sniffed again. "I just caught a whiff of Mystique. She’s not here, but I bet she brought him and is probably waiting for him in the getaway vehicle."

Scott noticed the sky was getting lighter. The sun would be up soon. "We’d better hurry."

They followed the trail of death Sabretooth left in his wake. It was probably safe to say there weren’t any guards left. They came to an empty crate on the lowest level of the seven-story building.

Logan verified the address on the lid. "He’s got the stuff."

"Which way?"

Logan sniffed and his eyes narrowed. "He went toward those stairs."

They both paused and heard the faint ringing of heavy footsteps on metal treads. Scott could not pinpoint the sound due to the echoes, but Logan zeroed in on the source.

"He’s three floors above us."

"Follow him. I’m going to take the ladder outside that leads directly to the roof. Ten to one Mystique’s flying in a chopper to pick him up."

They ran in separate directions.

Logan caught up with Sabretooth on the seventh floor. The big man whirled around and started to whip the sack he was carrying at Logan’s head with deadly force. Logan saw his intentions and went into a slide that would have made a baseball player proud. He hooked the toe of one foot around Creed’s left ankle and slammed the boot heel on his other foot into the big man’s left kneecap. Sabretooth went down with a grunt. Logan quickly rolled over him, slashing with his claws as his did so, and came to his feet a couple of yards away.

Sabretooth glared as he got up, his wounds healing slowly in front of Logan’s eyes. "You can’t kill me."

He lunged at Logan, who sidestepped at the last minute and made a slashing sweep that should have taken off an arm, only his blades hit metal instead of bone. The big man lashed out with a kick that sent Logan flying.

"They gave me your healing. I have metal bones, too. You can’t kill me," he taunted as he picked up the large sack and headed for the roof stairs. Pain stabbed through his leg and he found he could not move his foot.

"I can always try." Logan aimed for the other Achilles tendon and cut it, too. Creed threw the sack at Logan, who dodged and stabbed in with all blades, making a big mess of Sabretooth’s insides. The big man gasped for breath and fell to the floor. He looked at Logan and a maniacal grin spread across his face.

"I will live." His eyes gleamed with hate. "I hate you. I have always hated you. They made me to replace you. I was easy. I love to kill but I was not as smart. You were hard and you were smart." He paused to enjoy the shocked look on Logan’s face. "They made you teach me. We were partners. Then they found a way to make you easy. They would have killed me. But I was smarter. I beat them. I will beat you, too." He rolled and kicked out with his legs, catching the stunned Logan dead center. As Logan crashed into the wall behind him, he heard the big man laugh. A huge hand gripped his throat and held him up. He opened his eyes and was face to face with the feral eyes of Creed.

"I waited until they had you in The Room. They were going to make you easy and I knew they would not need me anymore. I waited and took the woman. I made her scream." He licked his lips in delight. "I knew you would hear the scream. I could not kill them all. You could. You did. And you never knew I made her scream. I got away. They didn’t."

His bone-crunching grip tightened on Logan’s throat. "I am smart." Pain seared through his groin and he screamed in agony, dropping Logan, who staggered away, claws dripping.

"You’re not smart enough to cover your balls in a fight, bub."

Sabretooth roared and tackled Logan, who rolled and flipped him over his head. Creed came up, a length of pipe in his hands, and hit Logan in the shoulder as he stood. It knocked Logan off balance long enough for Creed to get in a solid kick, sending Logan head first down the stairwell.

"I will live," he called over his shoulder and he grabbed the big sack and ran for the roof.
---

Scott came over the edge of the roofline as Sabretooth smashed open the access door from inside. He nailed him with a beam and ran to pick up the sack Creed had dropped. It was too heavy to lift. Scott turned and saw the helicopter approaching and wondered where the hell Logan was. The hair on the back of his neck prickled and he turned and ducked his head, raising his arm in a defensive maneuver. The blow that would have broken his neck ended up smashing into his shoulder and he went flying. Sabretooth picked up the sack and headed toward the helicopter Mystique was now landing on the roof helipad.

He climbed in and she shouted above the noise of the blades. "Did you get all of it?" He gave her a thumb’s up and she smiled. Then she grabbed her gun and seemed to aim right at him. He ducked and threw her aim off. "You stupid shit! I wasn’t aiming at you! Move out of the way!" She kicked him away and drew down on Scott again, who had taken a slice out of one of the rear stabilizing blades. The tail began to vibrate ominously, throwing off her shot.

Scott heard the whine of a bullet pass over his head and missed his next target. He rolled across the roof to try and find some cover. Logan tore through the door with blood in his eyes. Spotting Sabretooth, he took off at a run for the helicopter. Scott saw the look and decided not to interfere.

"I’ll get the jet. You bring ‘em down."

"Not a problem," Logan responded as he never slowed in his pursuit of the retreating Brotherhood members. He hit the edge of the roof and jumped, just catching hold of one of the landing runners of the craft as it flew clear of the building.

Scott sent one last burst of energy into the cargo section as Sabretooth poked his head out to see what hit the helicopter. Then he descended the ladder as fast as his shoulder would let him.

Logan spun around and got a firm grip. Tensing his stomach, he shot his legs upward in a devastating kick which smashed into Sabretooth’s face as he looked over the edge of the cargo hold opening. Logan then hooked his ankles around Creed’s neck and straightened his body, jerking the big man out of the craft. He promptly let Sabretooth fall but was disappointed to see him splash down in a river below them. Logan hooked one of his legs around the bar, and released one claw, which he used to slice open a panel on the belly of the machine. Carefully cutting three wires, he felt the helicopter shake even more and start to lose altitude. A bullet ripped through the floor of the craft and into his leg. He winced, but cut the final wire needed and the descent became much more rapid.

At forty feet up, Logan let go and landed in a tree. The helicopter came down in a parking lot with such force that it actually cracked the concrete. Jarred out of the cockpit, Mystique took off before Logan had a chance to disengage himself from the tree limbs and drop to the ground. He looked up and saw the jet descend adjacent to the downed chopper. Scott came running out just as Logan reached into the cargo hold to open the sack.

"Don’t move!"

"Nice to see you, too, One-eye."

"No, I mean it! You know what’s in that sack. One of those kilos could have broken open on impact. You shouldn’t go near it. That stuff makes you go nuts."

Logan hesitated, pulling his hand back. Then he saw the way Scott held his shoulder. "What happened to you?"

"Sabretooth got a hold of me."

"You’re lucky that’s all he did to you. You sure as hell aren’t going to carry this sack with that shoulder. Besides, the drug might kill you on contact. All right, I’ll see if I can lift it unopened. You stay there and keep me in your sights. If things go wrong, you have to shoot." He saw Scott’s hesitation. "Do you have any better ideas?"

"No. Damn it, I can’t think of a better plan and we’re running out of time." The sun was about to make its way over the horizon. He trained his optics on Logan. "See if you can lift it."

Logan staggered under the weight, but managed to make it to the jet, where he dumped the sack in a container and sealed it shut. They both breathed a sigh of relief. As Scott flew the jet back, he took a good, long look at Logan, who was strangely silent and sitting back with his eyes closed.

"What happened to you?"

Logan didn’t even open his eyes. "Nothing."

"Why did it take you so long to get to the roof?"

"He got in a lucky punch and I fell down a flight of stairs. Ok?"

Scott thought about the last time Logan and Sabretooth tangled on a mission three months ago. There were no lucky punches thrown, according to the story Ororo told. Sabretooth had cornered her and Logan came flying in, no holds barred. It had been an all-out bout of shocking savagery that ended with Sabretooth escaping by sheer luck. What could have given Sabretooth time or opportunity to throw a lucky punch?

Logan sat there with Sabretooth’s words ringing in his head, and began to see a danger that made his skin crawl. Did the big man know what he had been carrying? Had someone in the military put two and two together? He only hoped they had the last of this damned drug or there would be hell to pay and he would probably end up paying it.
---

"There are about ten kilos missing."

Chuck certainly knew how to start off a meeting with a bang, Logan thought.

Xavier held up some faxed papers, most of the text on them blacked out. "According to the small amount of information my informant at the Pentagon was able to confirm, there should have been 140 kilograms in that crate. You two only brought in 110 of them. Assuming your description of the boxes was correct, Scott, they probably had only 20 kilograms in that Maine warehouse. We can only assume that the rest of it was sold in another little deal not unlike the one in Maine. Questions? Comments?"

A thought occurred to Logan. "When did you receive that fax?"

"Last night, around eleven o’clock."

"Have you received any other faxes recently?"

"About two weeks ago I was given information on "Project Muzzle", which is connected to this shipment in some way. The only remaining documentation on it refers to it as a by-product of a program called "Weapon X". I have yet to find anything else out about Weapon X, though. It could be a cover for some chemical warfare plan."

"Has your informant given you anything else?"

"Yes. He provided the information on Alkali Lake to me two years ago."

"This last fax, did you contact him or he contact you?"

Charles thought for a moment. " I suppose he did."

"Does he fax you directly?"

"No. He does not know who I am. He faxes a friend of mine who forwards the information to me." He paused, but Logan did not seem to have any more questions so he resumed the former subject. "I have reason to believe that the Brotherhood has an insider working in the military also. They have ‘acquired’ weapon shipments in the past year with uncanny accuracy. Without Magneto’s help, it seems the Brotherhood is a little short of cash to fund terrorist activities. We can safely conclude they were after the drugs to sell them on the street."

Scott shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His shoulder had been neatly bandaged by Jean, but still hurt. "Mystique would get a kick out of selling a deadly drug to humans and using the money to kill even more of them."

Charles nodded. "Henry, would you run a few tests on it to determine what it actually does to humans? At least we have circumvented this little plot. Good work Scott. You, too, Logan."

Ororo noticed the muscle in Logan’s jaw twitch, but he said nothing.
---

Later she cornered him in the staff break room.

"I have a favor to ask you."

Logan choked on his glass of milk. "The last favor I did for you earned me two weeks of hard labor teaching your boyfriend how to dance."

She smiled dreamily. "He certainly can dance now, thank you very much." She narrowed her eyes and slapped him on the shoulder. "You’re changing the subject. I need a recipe from you. I’m going to cook a special meal for us tonight and the kids swear by your pizza."

"What makes you think Hank’s interested in pizza? Why don’t you just order take out?"

"No. It has to be your pizza. Samuel told Hank about it. It seems they are both connoisseurs of the ‘perfect circular meal’. Come on, I have to go. Are you going to help me or not?"

Logan chuckled. "I’ll make the pizzas for you. You aren’t getting the recipe. You tell Hank, Hank will tell Jubilee, and then I won’t have my class’s attention in self defense anymore." They left the breakroom as she headed off to her waiting class.

She laughed. "From what I’ve heard, you have their attention even without the incentive of pizza rewards. Meet me in the kitchen tonight around five. If you cook the pizzas, I can concentrate on the salad. I know I can handle that."

"No dessert? I hear he prefers Twinkees."

"Honey, no Twinkee can compete with me."

She sashayed down the corridor to prove her point and he grinned. Then his thoughts turned inward and he made his way to Xavier’s office.
---

Logan was not himself for the rest of the day. He had received the name of Chuck’s informant in the Pentagon, but he could tell Chuck was not convinced there was anything to worry about. Logan did get him to promise to stay in touch with his friend all through the day just to be sure. Logan had not shared the comments Sabretooth had thrown at him during the fight. He knew Sabretooth had been telling him the truth, at least as far as his little brain could comprehend it. He kept wondering why Chuck was ignoring the possibilities that seemed so clear, at least to him. He let the smoke from his cigar drift lazily over his head once more and then put it out. On such a mild winter day he had chosen to be outdoors to do his best thinking. He was turning the situation around in his head and the more he saw of it, the less he liked. Until he had more information to go on, though, all he could do was wait and see. He rested his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. It was not until they had circled around him that he realized his students had joined him under the old oak near the back edge of the grounds.

"No class today, Logan?" Bobby was speaking, but the whole group was concerned and sat around their teacher, wondering what was up.

Logan opened his eyes. "No class today," he growled. "I thought I’d give you guys a break while I worked out something in my head. I kind of need a little space right now. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know sooner."

Logan didn’t use the word ‘sorry’ often but when he said it, he meant it. This told the students that something was devastatingly wrong and, of course, their first impulse was to try and help.

"Something we can do?" Kitty needed to know if it was about Rogue. She had not told anyone what she had seen and was convinced that this was his problem.

He smiled at her. "No, I don’t believe you can." His eyes became hard and serious. "I know you mean well, but keep your noses to yourselves on this one." He looked directly at Jubilee. "No pumping information from other teachers," he glanced over at Rogue, "and no heroics. Stay at the mansion no matter what happens. I want you all to stay out of it. Are we clear on that?"

They all nodded.

He grunted. "Good. I’m going to hold you to that. If you don’t mind, I have a little more thinking to do."

His class slowly rose to their feet. If they had any doubts, there weren’t any now. He had shared so much with them, the biggest question now was why couldn’t he share this? How big could a problem be that you couldn’t let your friends help you? By pre-arrangement, they headed for the media room to mull over the situation.
---

Logan was already at work when Ororo showed up.

"Anything I can do?"

"Just work on your salad. I’ve got this covered."

"I swear, men and their secret recipes." She rolled her eyes.

Logan grunted but could not quite hide the grin on his face.

They worked in a companionable silence, each bent upon their own tasks. As the smell of the sauce filled the room, Ororo’s stomach took notice, rumbling loudly. Logan chuckled as he chopped the last of the oregano. She watched the impressive way he wielded the knife in his right hand.

"May I have a taste?" she asked.

He shrugged as he stirred and then noticed her hands were busy shredding lettuce. He dipped a clean spoon in the sauce and brought it to her, blowing softly to cool it. She sampled it and nodded appreciatively. Then she noticed he was holding the spoon in his left hand.

"Logan, are you right-handed or left-handed?"

He thought for a moment. "I don’t really know. I guess I write mostly with my left hand but I can do a lot with both."

She watched him walk back to the stove and caught herself staring at his butt. Grinning sheepishly, she went back to shredding lettuce as if her life depended on it. Later, when her mind was a bit clearer, she looked up and saw him twirling dough.

"Wait a minute. I didn’t see you mixing up any dough. Where did that come from?"

"I always keep some in the ‘fridge in case I get stuck feeding a student. It keeps for a couple of days or so and seems to taste better."

"You’re giving away secrets," she teased.

"Just one." He paused before throwing the next ball of dough. "Why are you going to all this trouble?"

"Why do you treat your students to pizza?"

"It’s a reward they like."

"Exactly. I’m rewarding Hank with something I know he likes. It’s a way to show I care."

"You could order out. Most guys wouldn’t notice."

"He would." She eyed him. "I bet you would, too."

"Maybe."

She grinned. "You need a girlfriend. How long has it been since you went out on a date?"

There was a long pause. ‘I don’t know."

Ororo watched him grate the cheese. His back was to her and she could see the tense way he held himself as a sign of his discomfort. Mentally she kicked herself. She finished the final touches to the salad and washed her hands. Still drying them with a towel, she went over to the counter he was working on and perched on the stool beside it, stealing some cheese as she sat.

"Will you forgive me?"

He looked puzzled, surprised by the question. He put the pizzas in the oven and returned to the counter, leaning on it and folding his arms.

"For what?"

"I didn’t realize what it must have been like. You hold yourself with such assurance and attitude, it’s hard to remember that you’ve lost so much." She looked him straight in the eyes. "You don’t remember how to date, do you?"

"Does it matter?" he growled.

"Yes. That’s how you let love grow, honey."

"And just what is love?" His voice was casual but his eyes were curious.

Ororo put a hand on his arm and noticed how warm he was to the touch.

"At first you go through infatuation. That’s where your whole world revolves around that person. If you’re lucky, in about a year or two, you realize you can be yourself and they will still be with you. You find you want to share things with them, touch them, be with them, and even argue with them, just to find out more about them. It’s scary. You might lose them at any point, but if you truly love each other, there isn’t anything that can stand in your way. You just keep growing and changing together. You learn to let go and they don’t run away, not even when you are at your worst. And you feel the same about them."

He grunted. "Sounds like you’ve had some experience with this."

"He died in a…an accident a few years after we met. As much as it hurt to lose him, it would have been worse not to have ever taken the chance to get to know him. I have mostly happy memories." She sighed and then smiled. "You deserve someone, too, you know. You’re a good man." She patted his arm.

The phone rang. She jumped up and answered it with, "Logan’s Pizza Palace." She grinned. "Googly bear! When are you coming over? The pizza should be done in…" she looked over as Logan flashed both hands twice, "about twenty minutes." She frowned. "What? No. No, I don’t. I don’t see why…I see. Okay. ‘Bye." She hung up the phone and Logan could swear steam was beginning to come out of her ears.

"Fetch."

His eyebrows shot up. "What did you say?"

"You heard me. Fetch. Fetch him back here. He’s not going to get out of this dinner. I don’t care what he’s found out, he needs to eat. And eat with me."

Logan chuckled. "What about all that ‘loving someone even when they are…"

"Don’t give me that! I worked hard on that salad and he’s just sitting there studying those damned test tubes. Go get him. He’s not getting out of this." She looked at his face and realized how she must sound. She sighed and tried to calm down. "Please? I’ll take the pizzas out of the oven. Just bring him back here."

"I guess I’m just a sucker for true love," he said as he sauntered out the door.

"Smart ass," she muttered.

Logan popped his head back in the kitchen. "Better than being a dumb one." He ducked and the balled-up dishtowel missed him.
---

Logan walked into ‘Hank’s Lair’, as the chemical lab was affectionately called. Whereas Jean concentrated on genetic experiments down the hall, Hank preferred chemicals almost exclusively and Charles had made the wise decision to separate the two. Beast loved his chemicals so much that he had put a bed in the area for him to sleep on when he didn’t want to walk all the way back to his living quarters. Logan expected to find him at the tables and was surprised to see him in the quarantined area of the lab, sealed behind two doors of plexiglass and decked out in a safety suit with an oxygen tank.

Logan flipped the intercom switch. "What the hell are you doing? Do you know you’re keeping Ororo waiting?"

Startled, Hank looked up from the microscope. Seeing Logan, he frantically motioned for him to stay there. Beast left the inner confines of the area and shucked the suit, stepping into a shower and rinsing off before reentering the main part of the lab.

"Why all the get-up?"

Hank dried off and stared at Logan with a curiosity that made his skin crawl. "I’ve been analyzing that drug you brought back."

"It’s not that deadly."

"Yes, it is. The directions are taped inside each kilogram package."

"It comes with instructions?"

"What is the number on your dog tag?"

Logan felt a small chill go up his spine. "Why?"

"If it’s 45825243, then this drug is specifically meant for you. Have a seat, let’s talk."

Logan perched on the edge of one of the tables while Hank took a nearby stool.

"This substance is something like methaqualone only much more powerful. It would have a great kick for a drug addict, the few seconds before it killed him. No amount of it is safe to take and I wondered what in the world it was for. Then I happened to read the small slip of paper tucked inside the wrapper. I followed the instructions, which change it from a powdered form to a liquid form. Either way it’s still lethal. So the question remained, who would need a deadly neurotoxin, capable of cleaning out any and all synaptic functions in the brain? I couldn’t figure out why someone would concoct such a mixture. There are easier and faster ways of killing someone than severing the connections between brain and body. Then I read the subject number on the paper. It’s your number, isn’t it?"

Logan nodded, unable to speak. His theories were coming true before his eyes.

"I surmised as much. I broke into Jean’s medical records she made the day you came here. Your body can heal from almost anything, can’t it?" Another confirming nod spurred him on. "Then it hit me. No one but you could survive this drug. Your brain could grow back the basic synaptic connections it needed to maintain your body’s functions. However, because of certain side effects, the higher communications between conscious thought and action would remain inactive. Do you follow?"

Logan cleared his throat. "Yes. I get it. The drug clears out everything and then my body puts back the basics. How would I get back the other connections?"

"It would take some sort of direct charge to your central nervous system to reconfigure all of your connections."

"I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t my body do that anyway?"

"This drug was designed to slow your body’s ability to heal itself for that very reason. They wanted to keep the connections severed."

Logan growled, "A weapon without a conscience."

"Exactly." He always enjoyed talking with Logan. The man had the ability to grasp ideas quickly even if he kept explanations on a more basic level. "Something has to trigger an adrenal gland reaction to re-stimulate the central nervous system and the higher functions of your brain. The problem is, what would do that? Are you scared of anything?"

Logan was silent for a long time. "Maybe. Why?"

"Let’s put it this way, say the chemical solution I’ve just mixed up were injected into you. You would become a primitive, aggressive animal that could be made to do things you, as Logan, normally wouldn’t. Your conscious mind would not be able to assert itself again unless it saw, heard, or smelled something through you, the animal, that scared you, Logan, and it would have to be something pretty scary at that."

"You said that the drug kept my body from healing itself, right? Why risk getting their precious weapon killed in order to control it?"

"You would still heal faster than a normal human, but you are correct, you would not heal at your normal pace. They may not have been aware of how much danger they put you in."

"They were that desperate to control me."

"I suppose so."

Logan thought for a moment. "How would I get my body to shake off the drug?"

"Ah. Good question. A direct, fatal attack would trigger an aggressive healing response but it would take a lot out of you. You would become weak and possibly comatose for a short while."

"Been there, done that."

"Yes, I know. I’m just wondering, do you remember what frightened you in Maine?"

"I woke up underwater with Scott lying dead underneath me. I wouldn’t have been frightened of a dead body, so I’m not sure what did it."

Hank was not as good as Logan when it came to smelling a lie, but he could tell when someone was not telling him everything. He cleared his throat and cocked his head. "If you do come up with something more plausible to tell me, let me know."

Logan closed his eyes for a moment, thinking fast. He opened them, looked at the clock, and eyed Hank’s computer.

"Actually, fuzzbutt, I do have something to tell you. You are in trouble." Hanks’ face looked puzzled. "I came down here to drag your sorry ass back to the kitchen."

"I think this is something a bit more important than a pizza dinner, Logan."

"I’m not going to get fried by lightning because you couldn’t take a few minutes out to eat with a pretty lady. I’ll be back and we can talk more about it."

"But there’s some ten kilos of this substance missing!"

"Yes, I know. It’ll keep for thirty minutes while you wolf down some food. Get going. You’re going to be two minutes late as it is."

Logan finally managed to kick Hank out the door and down toward the kitchen, but only after Hank locked the door to the lab, not wanting Logan to be exposed to the deadly serum. As soon as Hank was out of sight, Logan broke back into the lab and sat down at the computer.

"Let’s see what your background says, you little bastard. How much do you know about chemicals?"
---

Armed with printouts, Logan now knew the worst. His time was running short and he would have to leave tonight. The little bastard had set the whole thing up and Chuck needed to know about it. He was passing by the locker room area when Scott’s scent hit him. That damned aftershave he used left a trail that could be smelled for hours. Then he stopped. The conversation he had with Hank came to him. Damn. He had to tell Scott about Sabretooth and let him know what scared him in Maine. Scott had been there and knew how he felt about Marie.

The door to the locker room slammed open and Scott, startled, dropped the bottle of aftershave in his equipment duffel bag, where it broke and saturated his new electronic toys.

"Damn it, Logan!" He quickly pulled out the new watches he had ordered for the X-Men. They were drenched. So was the new set of tracers. Thank God the array upgrade materials were still in their box. "What the hell was that for?"

"We need to talk. There’s something I have to tell you."

Fifteen minutes later, Scott was still stunned.

"He wasn’t lying, if that’s what you’re thinking."

Scott stammered, "No, I…Why are you telling me this?"

"I have to. You need to know. There’s something else you should know, too. About what happened in Maine..." Logan paused and glared at the door. "Damn it. Not now."

The door opened and Ororo walked in. "Hi guys. I just had a great dinner with a lovely gentleman. Thank you, Logan. I owe you one. Getting ready for your evening out, Scott?"

Logan looked over. Sure enough, Scott was all decked out. No wonder he had been using the locker room. He always did when he had a night out planned with Jean because she took so long to get ready and they only had one bathroom in their quarters.

Logan looked at his watch. He was running out of time anyway. He had to go tell Chuck a few things so he stood and headed for his office. He had to trust that Scott could figure it out for himself. Of course, there was only a slim chance that he would survive this thing anyway, but any chance was worth taking. He stopped and turned back to look at Scott, who was watching him with a puzzled expression.

"Don’t forget what I told you. Keep an eye on Rogue tomorrow, will you?" The door closed behind him.

Ororo glanced over at Scott, "What’s he up to now?"

"I don’t know," Scott answered slowly.

She sniffed the air. "Honey, you need to tone down the aftershave a bit."
---

Charles was sitting behind his desk when Logan came through the door. If Logan was considering chewing Chuck out, one look at Xavier’s face changed his mind.

"You haven’t heard from him."

Charles shook his head. "No. He has called me as you requested, every hour on the hour but missed this last appointed time." He looked up at Logan. "I just can’t believe it."

"That’s because you see the good in people and I don’t. I’m sorry. He’s probably dead. Now for the bad news, Chuck. Look at this." He threw a paper on Charles’ desk.

Charles looked it over. Stunned, he let the paper drop. Logan picked it back up.

"I just need you to answer one question. Did he know anything about that part for the jet." He watched as Chuck simply nodded. "Then he set the whole thing up." Logan sat down in the chair.

"I have never even met him."

"Thank God for that. He’s been looking hard for me for seventeen years and I didn’t even know it. Two years ago I bet he thought he had struck gold when you asked about Alkali Lake. He must have been frustrated as hell when you didn’t use him again for almost a year. I bet he’s been the informant for the Brotherhood, too, trying to find out which side I was on. He set up that deal in Maine to coincide with our picking up that part. When you got back in touch with him, interested in the drug, he knew he had me. He fed you a line of bull about Weapon X. He knows all about it. His father was involved. It had to do with altering mutants for military service, training them to kill human targets as assassins. He probably set up that confrontation with the Brotherhood last night to get to see me in action."

"How do you know?"

"Let’s just say I pieced together what you were given, what I found out from military records, and what a little long-toothed kitty told me. Call your friend on the speaker phone and don’t say a word. Just let me know if it is your friend who answers."

Stunned by the whole situation, Charles punched in the number and flipped the switch. They listened to the rings and then the pick up. Nothing was said. The line was silent.

"What do you want?" Logan growled.

A voice on the other end chuckled. "You, of course. I don’t want the rest of your cohorts. I’m not interested in them. Turn yourself in and I promise I won’t do a thing."

Logan looked at Xavier who shook his head sadly. This was not his friend.

"As simple as that."

"As simple as that. Tell you what, I’ll even make it a public place. Do you remember the last bar you fought in, over two years ago? I’ll meet you there tomorrow night at eleven o’clock. You know what will happen if you don’t come alone, of course."

"Of course."

The line went dead.

Logan turned to go.

"You can’t face him alone, Logan. Let us help."

"That’s exactly what he wants. If he’s the only one in on this, I can handle it. If he’s not alone, I don’t want you to be involved. There are a lot of potential trainees here. That’s how they would think. Me? I see ‘em as damned good kids and I will kill anyone to protect them, even myself. You can’t help me without risking them. Goodbye, Chuck. It’s been fun."
---

The alarm went off at four a.m. Marie quickly squelched it and rolled out of bed. All her clothes were there and she was dressed in record time. It was her turn on duty. Yesterday all of her friends agreed to take four hour shifts watching Logan. There was every possibility he was in trouble and they wanted to help out any way they could. What they really hoped was that he would let them in on whatever it was that was going on. That hadn’t happened.

As she went flying out the door to find Jubilee, she saw the envelope on her dresser. Oh, no, she thought. The handwriting was Logan’s and that could mean only one thing. Marie opened the envelope and two things fell out. One was a note saying:

Take care of yourself and stay put.

Yours always, Logan

The other was Logan’s dog tag. She gripped them both as tightly as she could and blinked back tears. He was gone.

They met in Logan’s room. Jubilee was extremely upset with herself. Bobby had followed Logan from the kitchen to Hank’s Lair and then watched him break back in when Hank left for the kitchen. St. John had relieved Bobby outside Xavier’s office and Jubilee had relieved him outside Logan’s room. She had waited patiently, but he never came out and she had fallen asleep. When she woke up, she had found a note in her hand that read "Nice try. Keep out of it." Then she had met Rogue coming out of her room with the dog tag.

"It’s all my fault!" She cried.

"Stop drowning and start thinking," said Bobby as they tore apart Logan’s room. "If you were Logan, where would you put something you didn’t want someone else to find? Specifically, you."

Jubilee sniffled some more but put her devious brain to work. "The kitchen garbage, of course. It is so gross to go through rotten or half-eaten food just for pieces of paper."

They stared at her. Bobby grabbed St. John and they took off for the kitchen. Rogue sat down on the bed and picked up the blanket from the bedside table, hugging it to her. She stared at Logan’s meager belongings the others were piling up on the bed. A thought struck her.

"Who took inventory?"

"I did," said Kitty.

"Compare the clothes count to what’s here now."

Kitty compared the hasty list she made yesterday to the clothes Logan left behind. "Nothing’s missing. He only took what was on his back."

"If he was in that big of a rush, do you thing he could have forgotten other things as well, chere?" Remy was walking in from the bathroom, where he had found nothing.

Rogue got up and went to Logan’s phone. Xavier had separate phone lines installed in the teacher’s rooms but Logan never used his and usually left it unplugged, especially after he had speared it one night when it woke him up with a wrong number. It was plugged in now. She picked it up and stared at the others.

"How big of a hurry was he in? Do you thing he would have called someone and forgotten to unplug it again?" She looked at the redial button and hit it. The other end rang and someone picked up.

"Amber."

Marie gripped the receiver hard. "Is Logan there?"

"Who? You have the wrong number."

"No! Wait! A friend of mine is missing and I need to know if he’s all right." Her voice broke slightly. "Please, help me."

There was a long silence. "I once cared about somebody that much. I’ll try to help you if I can, but I’m leaving in less than an hour. Can you make it? Got a pencil?"

Marie wrote down the address and hung up. She turned to the rest of the gang and looked them dead in the eye.

"I know he said not to leave, but I’m going. I’ll check out this address and be right back." She left the room.

Remy saw the tears in Kitty’s eyes. She was such a sensitive soul but had never fallen for his charms. None of the girls had. Frustrated, he had kept his distance in the romance department, forced to find solace in the girls he met at the mall. It was the women in his little student group that he admired, though, but they only thought of him as a friend. An inspirational plan flashed in his mind: find Logan and Kitty would be so grateful she might even think differently about him. She was such a sweet person and fun to be with, someone he really felt he could have a relationship with. A sincere desire to impress her spurred him on as he jumped up and headed after Rogue.

"I’ll be her escort. Logan always said to travel in pairs," he said before he left.

Samuel, Jubilee, and Kitty put all of Logan’s things back where they belonged having found nothing in their search. Bobby came back in the room, breathing hard and holding up some messy pieces of paper.

"I think we hit the jackpot. Let’s get to the media room and sort this out. Pyro will meet us there."
---

They pieced together most of the information Logan had found on Xavier’s informant and some from another sheet that seemed to be from a zoo catalogue. St John came in the room soon afterwards.

"I was right," he panted. Those pages came from the printer in the chemical lab. Those chemical stains on the paper match. Logan hacked into the Defense Department using McCoy’s computer. Man, I’m impressed. That set up is so sweet I could break into almost anywhere and no one could trace it back here."

Jubilee glanced up from the mess she was making with the glue. "This guy must have something on Logan. I say we get it."

"Where would he keep it?" asked Bobby. "His desk at the Pentagon?"

Jubilee’s face sprouted a wicked grin.

Just then the door flew open and there stood a hastily dressed Ororo. Her eyes were red and she was clutching what looked like a recipe card in her hand.

"Whatever you’re up to, count me in."
---

Remy and Rogue made it to the hanger. He had convinced her to let him come along. All they needed now was transportation.

"What are you two doing?"

They spun around. There stood Mr. Summers watching them with an enigmatic expression.

"I was going to take Rogue for a drive."

"I was unaware that Rogue was unable to drive, Mr. Lebeau. Care to explain?"

"We’re going to meet someone who may have a clue where Logan went," said Marie simply. "I have to know if he’s alright."

Scott sighed. First his ‘date’ with Jean had been cut short when the professor ‘called’ to tell them Logan had left and to ask Jean to drive him to an old friend’s house. Now this. She should stay here, but he could see that the determined young woman in front of him would not be dissuaded by a few choice words. He decided to try another tactic.

"Wait here." Scott disappeared inside the jet and came back out with what appeared to be two watches. "Put these on. If you find him or if you get into trouble, push the little red button. The jet will pick up the signal and I can track you down."

They shrugged and put them on.

Rogue sniffed hers. "At least they smell nice." She and Remy headed for the nearby jeep.
---

They followed the directions Marie had received and ended up in a little town not 30 miles away. Remy pulled the jeep up to the front of the small house that had seen better days in a neighborhood that wasn’t doing much better. Marie proceeded to the front door after telling a fuming Remy to stay and watch the jeep.

Amber heard the knock. She was already in a tearing hurry since she was supposed to leave in less than fifteen minutes. Just like a man not to give her enough time to pack, she thought. She yanked the door open and stopped. She thought the voice over the phone would be some young bride or woman who had just had a baby, looking for her man in all the usual places. She did not expect the somber young woman bundled up in front of her. This one was a knock out. No man would leave her without a powerful reason.

"Come on in," she said when she remembered the manners her momma had taught her.

Marie entered, surprised at the warmth of the place. It was getting colder outside and she thought this little house might not hold the heat too well.

"Take your coat off and have a seat. Don’t mind me, I’ve gotta pack. I’m supposed to be somewhere tonight and I need to leave soon to make it. Can I get ya something?"

Marie shook her head and took off her coat and outer gloves. The tiny woman bustling around had long red hair and seemed to be in her early forties with the energy of a twenty-year-old. Her petite frame was stacked in all the right places and Marie jealously wondered if Logan had sought her out for some physical company.

"Ah’m looking for a friend of mine," she said to Amber’s back.

"Well, girl. This is a place you’d normally expect to find a man, but I’m not on duty, so to speak, at the moment." She shucked the wig she was wearing and threw it into a closet that, from what Marie could see, was filled with all sorts of strange clothes and costumes. "Most men find their way home all by themselves." She shook out her close-cropped hair. "If he’s your boyfriend, he’ll come back soon with his tail between his legs, you can be sure of that." She turned around and stopped.

Marie glanced down to see what Amber was staring at. It was the dog tag, opera gloves, long-sleeved shirt, and scarf. Looking back at the older woman with a puzzled expression, she was amazed to see Amber go pale.

"Shit," was all she said for a moment. Then she scrutinized the covered-up beauty in front of her. "You’re HIS girlfriend, aren’t you? I’ll be damned." She sat down slowly on the chair across from Marie.

"Where is he? Is he ok?"

Amber cocked her head. "Do you know what I am?"

Marie looked around. "Ah gather you’re a hooker. Now, can you tell me where he is?"

Amber smiled. "I prefer the terms ‘marriage counselor’ or ‘sex therapist.’ At the moment I have no idea where he is and if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I promised. I can tell you that he is safe for now. How old are you?"

"Ah’m almost twenty. Why did he come to you? What kind of danger is he in?"

"He came to me to do a job for him. I don’t know everything, just what he needed me to know." She watched Marie carefully.

Marie swallowed hard. She could not give Logan everything a normal woman could. This was something she had feared would cause him to look somewhere else. But he was in trouble now and she couldn’t worry about whether or not he was using a hooker to relieve some male tension. She tried to stop tearing up, but couldn’t quite hide her frustration at coming to a dead end in her search.

"There are things he must need that Ah can’t give him. Ah accept that. Ah do wish you would tell me something, but if you gave your word…" she stood up and started to fumble with her coat and gloves.

"Sit. I need to tell you something. You can’t go thinking he doesn’t care." She winked at the young woman across from her. "A few weeks ago, a fierce-looking man came to my door. I thought he wanted some rough playtime, if ya know what I mean? Instead he comes up with this story that he’s had amnesia and doesn’t remember half his life. He said he learned about sex from women who wanted to get in his pants, my words, not his, and how he had met someone who was different, very special. This man had the gall to ask me to tell him the best way to make love to a woman for her first time." She paused and sighed. "Damned smart man, if you ask me. Most don’t know there’s a difference between sex and love. Then he says his sweetheart, my words, not his, has a skin condition where she can’t be touched without causing her pain." She eyed the gloves and scarf and noticed Marie flinch. "We went through some methods he could try to please her with. Then, when all that’s said and done, he up and asks ‘how do you date a woman?’ Shit. I have no problem seeing that man, I call him Handsome, taking off any one’s head that gets in his way and here he is like a brand new teenager, asking about love and dating." She looked hard at Marie. "If I didn’t know he was a one-woman-man, I’d try to steal him from you. He is one in a million, handsome inside and out."

Marie smiled through her tears. "That’s my guy."

"He’s like some bona fide knight in armor and you must be his princess, ‘cause his soul belongs to you." She looked down and wiped her face quickly with the back of her hand. "Ok, I’ve gotta get going. You need to go now, too." They stood up and she helped Marie with her coat.

Marie turned and held out her hand. "Thank you."

Amber smiled and accepted the handshake. She didn’t have too many offers for that kind of socializing. "Don’t you worry. Once he’s through taking a trip down memory lane, he’ll be back. Nothing could keep him from you. You have to believe that."

"I do."

It wasn’t until she was back in the jeep that Amber’s word’s hit her. He was on a trip down memory lane? Her heart raced. Logan must have gone back to Canada and she knew just the place to start looking.
---

Just remembering what he saw gave him a thrill. He had watched the whole thing from the roof of a building near the warehouse. The subject had leaped off the roof to get to the helicopter without even slowing down. Then the subject had taken out the enemy and brought the chopper down. It was incredible. He remembered the stories his father told him in secret, proud of the work his country was doing to keep the world safe. A surge of pride raced through him. He would make his father proud. He would put the weapon back on line.

He sat there in the bar with the note in his pocket. The subject would be here soon, having been trained to arrive early to scope out all possibilities in a situation. He had to take the hostage now and leave the note. His father said a female worked best, preferably one the subject knew. He didn’t have time for niceties. He just had to find a woman to grab. The handkerchief and chloroform were in his other pocket, waiting for the choice. He had just decided to take the blond waitress when the door to the bar opened and in walked the perfect target.

Marie entered the bar with Remy at her heels. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let her go in there alone. Besides, he was here to get Logan back and win Kitty’s admiration and he couldn’t do that sitting in the jeep. He followed her to the bar and saw her motion to the bartender.

"Ah’m looking for a cage fighter by the name of Wolverine. Ever heard of him?"

The bartender spat on the floor. "Shoot, yeah. This was the last place he fought two years ago. I bought this place from an idiot who claimed the Wolverine had claws hidden in his hands. He’s like a legend now. No one knows where the hell he went." He wiped the counter. "Why, you know something?"

"He might be coming back."

"No shit? Hey, how do I know you aren’t yanking my chain?"

Marie pulled the dog tag out from under her shirt and dangled it in front of him. "He hasn’t been here yet?"

"Not yet, little lady. But I sure do hope he comes soon."

"Me, too."

He watched the young woman talk to the bartender but could not quite hear what was said. He did see the dog tag and his heart gave a flip. Damn, this was his lucky day. He whispered something to the large man who sat beside him and slid a fifty-dollar bill into the waiting palm. He calmly left the bar, confident that he was now going to be in the driver’s seat.
---

The fight broke out without warning when a big burley man tried to slam Remy down with a sucker punch. On edge anyway, Remy had ducked at the last second and let the fist slam into the bar instead.

The big man cursed in French and two other large gentlemen started to come to his aid.

"Chere, you had better scram, no?" Remy said as he slid a stool between the men and Rogue.

"We don’t split up, Remy. Remember Logan’s rules."

"I know," he said as he dodged two more swings and flipped the man straight back into his buddies, knocking all three of them down. "But I don’t think this will take too long. You head for the door and I’ll steer this toward that breaker box on the left wall. As soon as I take it out with a card, I’ll meet you in the jeep."

Marie hesitated. "Ah don’t know…" She slid a stool out herself, tangling the legs of the lead man and buying Remy another few seconds.

"Scoot. This I can handle."

He edged closer to the breaker and she sensed the fight was nearly over anyway. She ran for the door just as Remy pulled out a couple of playing cards.

"Now we have fun, oui?"

Someone hit him from behind.
---

He grabbed her as she cleared the doorway and stuffed the cloth over her mouth, anticipating she would slump in his arms quickly. What he found he had grabbed was a female tornado. She dropped and spun, lashing out with a booted foot that caught him squarely on the shin, making him gasp with pain. She rolled and got up, racing for the jeep. As he closed in on her, she pulled open the door, slamming it against him with a jarring force. He staggered back and she lunged inside. He hauled her out and she came up swinging, hitting him on the side of the head with a flashlight. He punched and caught her in the stomach. Grabbing her hair, he twisted her head up and shoved the cloth in her face while holding her mercilessly against the jeep. He watched her eyes rollback in her head and felt her slump forward. Throwing her over his shoulder, he tossed the note in the jeep and ran for the back, where his jeep was parked.
---

The big, black motorcycle purred into the back parking lot. Logan parked and made his way toward the front of the building, moving mostly in the shadows. Then the scent hit him. Marie? He sniffed around but came up with nothing in the back lot. When he moved toward the front the scent led him to a jeep he recognized. He saw the flashlight with the spot of blood on it and the scuffle marks in the snow. The jeep’s door was open and he picked up the note. Grimly reading what was inside it, he took out his cell phone and dialed.

"Me. Did you see the snatch? Yes, I can tell." His eyes narrowed. "How did you know? We’ll discuss it later. Move on to phase two." He looked up as a small explosion went off inside the bar. The lights went out in the building. "Got it. Meet you in two hours."

A figure emerged from the dark form of the bar, heading toward him. Slinking back in the shadows, he watched Remy approach the vehicle.

"Rogue?"

Logan lunged out of the shadows and pinned Remy against the jeep, a deep growl coming from his throat.

"Lebeau! Why did you come here? Why did you bring Rogue?" The harsh whisper only emphasized his rage.

"I was…We were looking for you." He had never seen Logan so angry. "Where is Rogue?"
---

Remy followed Logan to a lonely spot in the wilderness next to Alkali Lake. He was still shaking. Never had he seen Logan act like that. He had felt like a toy in a dog’s mouth. His teacher had not hurt him, no. The fight in the bar had hurt worse. It was what Logan had said before they left the bar that had him shaking so badly.

"If anything happens to her, I do not want to see you in front of my face again, ever."

He knew what Logan had meant. Do not come back. What had he done? He had caused all this mess because he wanted to impress a girl. He wanted to become a hero. He had put a team member in danger for personal gain. Shame crept into his cheeks and made them burn.

Logan let the cold wind whip through his hair and cool his temper. He did not mean to take out his frustration on the kid, but felt that he needed to learn this lesson and learn it well. Damn. Graves had Marie. Shit. Graves wouldn’t harm her because he needed her intact. But now she was in danger not from Graves, but from Logan himself. He knew Graves would grab a hostage. That’s how the man would think. Of all things to go wrong, though, letting Graves get his hands on Marie had not even been on his list.

He pulled into a thicket and stopped the bike. Remy pulled in behind him and cut his engine, too. They stood under the trees and talked softly in the silence.

"The man’s name is William Graves. He and Rogue are in the compound one hundred and fifty yards to the Southeast of us. I knew he would take a hostage to keep me in line, but I was not counting on it being Rogue. This complicates a few things and puts her in a risky situation." He glared at Remy. "Now you both will see some things I had hoped you wouldn’t." Logan sniffed the air and picked up the aftershave smell. "What did Scott give you?"

Remy took off the watch and handed it to Logan. "He said to push the red button and he could pick up the location on the jet."

Logan took the watch and pocketed it carefully. "Do you have a cell phone?" Remy nodded. "Good. I want you to call Scott. Here’s what I need you to tell him…"
---

The sky was lighter, indicating morning. Logan watched as Graves and Marie drove up. Graves kept the gun trained on her the whole time he carefully surveyed the terrain. They exited the jeep together, Graves dragging Marie out with the gun pressed firmly to her head. A low growl escaped Logan’s throat and his hands clenched and unclenched in anger. He waited until they were halfway down to the meadow before he approached the vehicle. Quickly he popped the hood, removed the rotor from the distributor, threw it in the woods, and quietly closed the hood again. There would not be any chance of escape. He took out Remy’s watch and hit the button. At least she would be safe now. Logan placed it on the driver’s seat and left the area as silently as he had entered it.
---

She could not believe this was happening. Marie woke up early this morning with a splitting headache and her hands tied behind her back. The man from the bar had not said a word to her and her attempts to reason with him were met with silence. The only way he communicated to her was with the gun. It motioned the way she was to move and stayed on her at all times.

Now, after a cold drive in his jeep, they were hiking down into a snowy meadow. The scenery may have been breathtaking, she couldn’t be sure. She was too busy concentrating on the gun jammed against her temple. At last they made it down to the bottom and he led her up to a tree. Roughly he tied her already bound hands to the tree and circled a rope around her waist for good measure. At that point, he seemed to relax, although the gun never lost its target.

"Are you happy now?"

He smiled at her. "Yes, I am. Everything is going my way. How can I lose? Soon he will be here and under my control. I can let you go after that, although I may have him kill you just as a test. It’s nothing personal, I assure you. You are lovely to look at and it will be a shame to waste such southern beauty."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. Since you have nothing to lose, do you mind telling me what this is all about?"

"What is he to you? You’re too old to be fathered by him."

"He’s my friend."

"Well, your ‘friend’ is a mutant who belongs to the Canadian and United States military. I’m simply putting him back in his place." He saw the disbelief in her eyes and misinterpreted it. "You didn’t know, did you? He never told you. I assure you, he is a mutant. He has extraordinary healing powers and a set of very wicked claws he uses to kill people. Did he forget to tell you that, too? And you considered him a good friend. What a pity you wasted your time. He won’t even know you after I get through with him." He chuckled at his own wit.

Marie paled at the thought. Logan not remember her? She began to struggle against the ropes.

"Stop that." His voice was hard and the gun was shoved against her head. "I still need you intact. My father said he could be controlled with a hostage and or drugs. I intend to use both."

She stopped. "Your father?"

"My father was one of the developers of a new drug to control him. Somehow the subject escaped before the drug could take full effect. I don’t intend to make that mistake."

Marie grew irritated with his tone. "He has a name."

"No. He has no name. He is simply a weapon for the military to use to fight our enemies. A lot of money was spent to secure and modify him. He is not a person." Graves looked around the snow-covered meadow yet again. "You just don’t understand."

"You don’t understand. He’s a human..."

"He’s a weapon." He spat the words at her. "My father told me what he was capable of. He and Stryker were trying to control him better. The subject was still resisting. This drug will stop that. They programmed him to kill our enemies and he had an error ratio of zero. Anyone they sent him after ended up dead. But he was hard to control. I need to get him back on line. I need to bring my father’s name the honor it deserves. My father’s been forgotten. No one even knows all the good he did for our country. Years ago everyone said I was crazy. No one believed me, so I stopped talking about it. Now I’m going to show them all." He put a gloved hand on her cheek. "I have told you too much. I’m afraid I’ll have to…"

She turned her head in a flash of movement, catching his thumb in her mouth and biting down as hard as she could. Graves yelled and jerked his thumb out, almost pulling her teeth with it. Her hatred showed in her eyes and she fervently wished she had her hands free.

She had drawn blood. He glared at her and raised his hand for the strike. "You bitch!"

"I wouldn’t."

The voice was a cold as ice. A chill went down Graves’ back, as if someone had just stepped on his tomb.

"I have a gun on her." Graves lowered his hand. He did not dare turn around. All he could do was focus on hurting her if something happened to him.

"I know," the voice said. "That’s why you aren’t dead."

Slowly Graves turned his head and adjusted his body position. The gun did not move from her heart. The man appeared in his line of vision, not five feet from him. He had not heard him approach. That was dangerous. His father had described the man as dark-haired, dark-eyed, and looking like a normal human being. This man fit the bill.

"Back away and turn around."

"No."

Graves cocked the gun. Logan did not move. Graves started to sweat. Logan was calling his bluff. He knew he could kill her, but as soon as he did, he was a dead man. He calmed down and said, "I can always notch her ears for fun."

Logan’s eyes narrowed and he took one step back but did not turn around.
---

Scott had flown the jet in as soon as the jeep left the area. Remy met him at the pipe and they went in. Once the grate at the other end had been neatly taken off by a beam from Scott’s optics, they emerged in the chamber Logan had described. Bare concrete walls and floors greeted them. At one end, though, someone had set up house. There was a cot, table, chair, and boot locker near another table that was littered with enough test tubes, gloves, goggles, needles, notes, and other scientific lab equipment to make any mad scientist proud. Remy walked up to a box on the far end and opened it.

"There are kilos of drugs in here."

Scott quickly looked over his shoulder. Nine kilos were there. That meant that Graves had synthesized one of them to use on Logan. Hank had said one would be more than enough to bring their friend down.

"Grab everything except the lab equipment. Hurry!"

Quickly they loaded everything in the jet. Scott went back and took aim at the lab table. He held his breath and destroyed everything with one big blast, running back down the tunnel to avoid the smoke. As he emerged, his watch alarm went off. Puzzled, he looked at Remy.

"Logan has my watch."

They jumped in the jet and headed for the signal.
---

Graves, it seemed had a few things he wanted to get off his chest. He had told Logan about his father and how noble the cause had been. How he was going to put things right and make the world safer for democracy as his father had. Then he had started in on the last day of his father’s life.

"How did you kill 57 men?"

Logan shrugged. He had not spoken to Graves since he stopped him from hitting Marie.

"You killed everyone at that compound. How did you do it? I want to see the claws."

Logan did not move.

"Damn it! You will answer me! I want to know how you did it!" His finger tightened on the trigger.

Logan finally responded. "I don’t remember it."

"You killed a good man and you don’t even remember it." His contempt was evident. "What a waste. Maybe Stryker can get it out of you."

"You said your father worked with him. How come he wasn’t there the day the drug was tested?"

"He was…" Graves stopped. Evidently he had not considered this. His gun hand dipped slightly.

"Maybe he knew that drug wouldn’t work and he wanted to be somewhere safe. Maybe you should ask him."

"Stop it," Graves hissed, his gun finding its target again. "The drug will work. Maybe I should have you track him down and kill him."

"You don’t know where he is?" A gleam appeared in Logan’s eyes and he began to take his gloves off.

"I’m not alone in this! I just can’t find Stryker." Graves worked to calm his voice. "Others are in this with me. If anything happens to me, they’ll look into it. I promise you they’ll avenge me. They’ll kill her. Do you understand that?"

"Your fear tells me you’re lying. I can promise you one thing, bub," Logan said calmly as he took his remaining glove off, "no matter what happens now, I’m going to kill you for touching her. Are you clear on that?"

Quick as a flash Graves shoved his other hand under his coat and withdrew a dart pistol. He shot Logan in the neck as he lunged forward.

"No!" Marie was livid. She lashed out with her feet but Graves was out of her range. "You bastard!"

Logan jerked the dart out and fell to his knees. He was struggling mightily but could feel the effects snaking their way into his system. His senses became more sensitive and the world started to spin. Colors flashed before his eyes so he closed them. He fought for control.

Graves said something in a language Marie did not understand. He frowned when Logan did not respond. Calmly he loaded another dart and shot it into Logan.

"Stop it!" Marie twisted and turned until the ropes and bark tore into her gloves and wrists and drew blood. "What are you doing to him?"

"I’m killing the man to get to the machine." One more time he repeated the phrase and received no response. One more time he fired into Logan. That was all he had synthesized. It should be more than enough. Again he said the phrase. A low growl now answered him.
---

Scott landed the jet in a clearing and they hiked about a hundred yards to the jeep through the trees. They found the watch but no Logan, Rogue, or Graves. About the time Scott was deciding to take to the air again, they faintly heard Rogue’s enraged "No!"

Alternately sprinting and sliding, Scott and Remy raced for the bottom of the meadow. Once he could see what was going on, Scott stopped just short of the end of the tree line and jerked Remy back as well. They saw the third shot go into Logan and Scott’s heart sank.

"What is happening? Why don’t we save him?" Remy hissed.

"It’s too late. The drug is taking effect. All we can do is try to protect Rogue by not getting him upset. I don’t care what you think, the man down there is no longer Logan and no longer a man. He would kill you as soon as look at you."

Remy sputtered but could think of nothing to say. The information was just too much of a shock.
---

Again Graves repeated the command. Slowly Logan opened his eyes and Marie was shocked. They were almost entirely black, like a shark’s eyes.

"Logan!"

"He has no name, I told you that." Graves sauntered up to her and slapped her hard across the mouth. He turned and looked down at Logan.

"Get up, you worthless mutant. I am your master now."

He did not like the thing in front of him. It had hit the little female and was using a voice that grated on his hearing. He showed his displeasure and stood.

"Good boy!" Graves said in a mocking tone as Logan growled softly and slowly rose to his feet. "I have a little bitch I want you to kill." He repeated the command that would tell the mutant he wanted him to kill someone.

He cocked his head. The sounds were familiar. They meant the thing wanted him to kill. Fine. He wanted to kill the thing in front of him anyway. He slowly released his claws, anticipating the bloodletting to come.

Graves saw the claws inch out of Logan’s hands and realized what kind of deadly force he had just released. He took a step sideways and indicated a hand toward Rogue.

"Not me! Kill her!"

The thing pointed to the female. No, he did not want to kill that. He wanted the thing. The first odor of fear came drifting to him. Good. It now knew it was the target. He advanced. The thing raised something in his hand. Ah. Those brought pain and he knew it. He lashed out.

Graves screamed. The gun and his hand were now in pieces. He backed up against Rogue, holding what was left of his hand and screaming at Logan to stop. Marie did not know what made her do it, but she kicked out, sending Graves straight back into those claws, and closed her eyes. It was over in seconds. She felt something lightly touch her face and she opened her eyes again.

Spattered with blood, Logan was standing there, those strange black pupils taking in the sight of her. She whispered his name, but he did not respond. Slowly he reached out and moved her scarf aside, placing his hand directly over her heart. There was no pull. All she felt was his warm hand on her skin and she began to cry. He withdrew his hand and placed it on her cheek. She leaned in to his touch. Again there was no pull. She wasn’t having any effect on him. He brushed away her tear with his thumb and looked into her eyes again. Then he sniffed and backed away.

The little female was injured. He could smell her blood. She was not looking at him and for some reason, this was not what he wanted. He touched her face and she let him see her eyes. This was not the same female he had, but maybe she was in need of a mate. He looked into her eyes. She would be a good mate. He could see that. He wanted to feel her heart to see if she would respond to him. Her heart felt strong but did not race with need. He saw water on her cheek and touched it, wanting her to know he would chose her if she wanted him. Again, she did not respond with any signal he recognized. He sniffed to see if she was aroused at all. He caught the strange scent of another male, not the thing on the ground. As he tested the air, he realized the same male was not far away and was watching him. He backed away from her. She was protected already. He faced the direction of the watcher.

Scott came out of the woods with his hand on his optics. He had told Remy to stay where he was, not willing to risk exposing Logan to anyone else at this point. If Logan had remembered what a gun was, he might remember him, too. He watched Logan back away from Rogue and face him. He was relaxed and the claws were withdrawn. Amazingly, he had touched Rogue and nothing had happened.

Slowly Scott walked down to meet him, his hand still on the trigger. He was within ten yards when he heard the warning growl. He stopped going forward, not wanting to provoke an attack. He edged closer to Rogue and tried not to look down at the carnage at her feet. Remy had thrown up when he saw what Logan had done to Graves. Scott was not a bloodthirsty person, but he couldn’t help feeling a little relieved that Logan had killed the man. If he hadn’t, what would they have done with him?

This was the one without eyes. He remembered him. For some reason he thought he had killed him. Maybe he was strong, too. That meant he could protect the little one. He took one last look at her. The one with no eyes was claiming her, he could see that. She must be a good mate. She did not want him and there was someone to look out for her so he could go now. He turned around and headed for the woods.

"No! Don’t leave!" Marie was desperate. "Cut me loose!" she screamed at Scott. "We can’t let him go!"

Scott made it to her side, grateful Logan had not chosen to fight over Rogue. He could not bring himself to kill Logan. He had just burned through the last of the ropes when a shot rang out in the woods.

They both looked up in time to see Logan snarl and unleash his blades. Then he paused. The blades retracted and he grabbed for his throat, taking a few steps sideways. Eyes rolling back into his head, Logan fell into a powdery drift, sinking out of sight.

At that same moment, a figure burst up from a concealed ground tent not fifty yards away dressed all in white and carrying a rifle.

"Shit!"

The figure slid down the embankment. Scott reached a hand up to stun the person when a pistol came up in her hand. "Don’t! I’ll shoot you!" She continued to run towards Logan.

"Amber? Wait, Cyclops! Don’t shoot!" Marie squinted at the small curvaceous female running up to the snow bank. "Amber! What are you doing?" She ran toward Logan only to face Amber’s pistol as well.

"Back off!" Amber loaded the rifle with another dart and pumped the action. Quickly she fired straight into his neck again. She grabbed the stopwatch around her neck and breathed a sigh of relief. "Shit, that was close! Another few seconds and he would have been a goner." She looked over at the two stunned mutants. "I wasn’t counting on the snow bank. I forgot how heavy he is."

"What did you shoot him with?" Scott was not convinced she was a friend.

Amber dropped the rifle. She took her hood off and fluffed her short-cropped hair. "Damn. I’m so glad I can move now. I earned every bit of that money the hard way. Shit." She stretched out her back. "I shot him with snake venom."

"What!"

Remy ran up, unable to stay put as he was told to do. He joined Rogue at Logan’s side.

"I said I shot him with venom. The second shot was the anti-venom. Here." She fumbled with a pocket. "These are my instructions. You’ll find the second rifle under the tent. That’s the one I was supposed to shoot the asshole with if he had touched Princess here one more time."

"Why didn’t you shoot him to begin with?" sputtered Marie. She took her scarf off and tried to stem the flow of blood from Logan’s neck. She and Remy tried to lift Logan out of the snow but couldn’t.

"Handsome here didn’t give me that signal. He only signaled me to shoot him with the anti-venom a few minutes ago. Seems he wanted the chance to get some information from the asshole before the asshole met his Maker. I swear, if Handsome hadn’t shown me the claws and told me what might happen, I would have chucked it all and run. Good thing I used to work in a slaughter house." Amber shrugged her shoulders. "All I’ve ever heard about mutants turns out to be a load of hogwash." She looked down at Logan’s still form. "Good luck, Handsome. I hope you make it." She bent down and kissed him on the cheek. When she straightened up, Marie could swear there was a tear in her eye.

"I did what he wanted me to do. Here’s his note releasing me from blame." She held it up but did not give it to Scott. "I’ll keep it in case he doesn’t live. He said there would be no one to file a charge against me."

"How could you kill someone?" Scott let his anger show. "How could you murder him?"

She drew herself up to her full height. "I’m a professional, just like him. Whatever I feel for him could not get in the way. Handsome here told me what would happen if that drug got inside him. He told me he would become as chancy as a rabid dog. He said he needed a professional and hired me to kill him. He said if there was any chance he could be cured he would take his gloves off and I’m damn glad he did. I have never killed anyone, but he told me what he was up against and I felt I owed it to him. He’s done a lot for me. I only hope I returned the favor." She looked down once more and said softly, "I did what I had to do to get the job done."

The words rang a bell. "You do what you have to do for as long as it takes to get the job done. Failure is not an option." Scott’s mind revisited what Logan had said to him that cold night in Maine.

"Exactly," Amber agreed. "That’s what professionals do. Whatever it takes." She turned to go, then paused. "He loves you, you know." She wouldn’t look at them. "My momma always said anyone who would die to protect someone else knows what love is all about." She walked away without looking back.
---

Since it had taken some time for Scott to race up the meadow wall and bring back the jet, Logan ended up lying in the snow for a good while. The small convulsions began on the way back, when his body started to warm up. Back at the mansion, they were forced to let him lie on the floor of the hanger for a few hours as he retched and twisted in agony. It was hard to hold him and the threat of his claws killing someone kept them away. After each successive vomit, he grew weaker, though, and when the last one had come and gone and all that came up was blood, he was whisked into the lab where Jean and Hank racked their brains trying to come up with something that would help his body heal faster. He was shivering too hard to take x-rays or blood samples and blankets didn’t seem to help.

Marie was in a daze. Jean would not let her see Logan. Marie and Remy sat outside the lab, waiting, visited with regularity by the other members of the self-defense class. Hours later, when Logan was finally still, Jean let Marie in. Logan looked so calm and peaceful compared to the scene earlier in the hanger. Marie finally smiled.

"He seems to be following the same pattern as last time, Rogue. If so, we can expect him to completely heal in about four days."

"Can you put him in his room, so he doesn’t have to wake up in the lab?"

Rogue’s face was pleading with her, but Jean held firm. "No. Not this time."

Since Logan had not been conscious before lapsing into the coma, she and Hank were worried about brain damage. Hank was now conducting experiments on the drug he had meant to do before Logan left to meet Graves. Xavier would call for a meeting if Hank found anything significant.
---

Late at night, the meeting was finally called in the library. All of the teachers, Marie, Remy, St. John, Bobby, and Kitty were there. Samuel and Jubilee had volunteered to walk the halls and check on the younger students while they slept.

" I will not waste time using formal names. Beast, take the floor." Xavier was as serious as they had ever seen him. He had been blindsided by Graves’ actions and Logan’s accurate portrayal of what he would do.

Hank stood up. "The drug was designed specifically to use on Logan. It would kill any other human. Whoever engineered it was either a genius or a madman. The base is methaqualone, but so much else has been added, it is impossible to determine every side effect it will have on Logan. Suffice to say, it attacked his neurological system, breaking down synaptic connections and inducing an animalistic state. This is what the scientists had in mind all along: reducing him to a weapon without a conscience. Logan’s mind and body have a very unique relationship and they seem to have failed to take this into account. While the drug does bring out the killer in Logan, it also slows the entire healing process, making him vulnerable to attack. His body would not heal anything less than a direct fatal incident. Once it heals, though, an interesting side effect occurs. The brain will not restore all synaptic connections until or unless an adrenal shock to the central nervous system occurs. It is a miracle Logan survived this drug twice. He may not be so lucky this time." Murmurs and horrified looks greeted his statement. "Please, let me explain.

"We don’t know what happened the first time the drug was administered, but we do have the second incident to go on. The cold water Logan fell into slowed down the effects of the drug. Logan must have drowned as Cyclops did, because his body would not have responded to anything less than a lethal attack. Now comes the tricky part. Logan’s body healed from the drowning damage, but something, either seen, heard, or smelled through the senses of the animal would have had to trigger some kind of adrenal response that shot through his central nervous system, restoring connections that had been severed by the drug. It seems this time around, this trigger has not occurred and until it does, Logan will remain in a coma" Hank looked at Scott.

"Are you saying that Logan is aware of everything going on around him but can’t get his body to move?"

"He may not be entirely aware of what is going on, Cyclops. It’s a bit more complicated than that. It would be equivalent to hearing things underwater. But in answer to your question, yes, Logan is in there but is unable to respond. Jean?"

"Based on your theory, I have run through all the evidence I can to try and see what would cause an adrenal reaction in Logan. Nightmares of the scientific experiments only seem to trigger an aggressive response. He does not seem to have a normal ‘fight or flight’ reaction to situations. The best evidence I have to support that he can even be scared is this biotape from the computer in the danger room. It was connected to the virtual simulation training area and recorded Logan’s reactions as he went through simulation after simulation during the trainer’s initial testing. At no time during a fight was Logan displaying evidence that he was afraid. The only spike in the readouts that comes close to an adrenal response was at the end when he wasn’t fighting. According to the visual record, it came right before he jerked the helmet off his head and left the trainer."

Xavier brought his head up sharply. "I was not aware of this incident."

"I only have it on tape. He would not talk about it."

"Were any other incidences like this recorded?"

Jean looked sheepish. "Logan found a way to circumvent the overrides on the computer. Now it doesn’t record when he is logged in to use the trainer."

"I did not know he had that kind of computer skills." St. John gave a little cough and Xavier focused on him. "Do you have something, Pyro?"

"He’s definitely a hacker, sir, I mean he’s really good with electronics. He reconfigured the computer in Beast’s lab so he could access the Military without being traced back here. We found out about it when we searched his room and the kitchen garbage and found the shredded remains of Graves’ military profile and personnel records."

Hank stared. "When did he have a chance to use my computer?"

"When you were with me." Ororo volunteered. "Now I know another reason why he wanted you to keep your date with me. At least the information came in handy when we invaded the Pentagon."

More jaws dropped. "Explain," said Xavier.

"Shadowcat, Iceman, Cannonball, Pyro, Jubilee, and myself entered the Pentagon as a school tour group. When we were in position, Pyro triggered the sprinkler system and Shadowcat phased through the floor and into Graves’ office, where she wiped his harddrive clean, cleared out his desk, and brought the information back to the group before they cleared us out of the building. There’s not much to it." She shoved the papers toward Xavier. "He never figured out who you were. Once he had Logan in his sights, he did not investigate anything else. Nor was he able to contact Stryker, his father’s partner in the Weapon X program."

"I can see that I have not been keeping up with what is going on in this mansion. Any other surprises?" Marie cleared her throat. "Yes, Rogue?"

"Graves told us all about his father in the meadow. How his father was one of the scientists charged with controlling Logan. When Logan found out that he had not been able to contact Stryker, his father’s partner, that’s when Logan took off his gloves and was going to kill him."

"I’m sorry you had to witness that."

"Ah’m glad he’s dead," she whispered. "Ah would have done it to him myself after what he did to Logan."

Remy twisted in his seat. "Logan would not have been exposed to the drug if I had not taken you to Canada."

Xavier acknowledged the hard lesson the young man had learned with a sympathetic nod. "Did Logan say anything at that time? Did he tell you anything?"

"He showed me where the tunnel was and I called Cyclops on the cell phone and repeated what he told me to." He hesitated. "He also said that if Rogue was hurt he would not be able to look at me anymore."

Kitty began to cry and the rest of the room stared at her. She did not say anything, so they put it down to nerves. Scott passed her his handkerchief.

"Where did the venom come from?" Scott asked. "Does anyone know that?"

"There was a record of inventory for the New York City Zoo emergency supplies," said Bobby. "We found that in the trash, too."

"Brilliant, simply brilliant," exclaimed Hank. "He knew he’d have to kill himself so he used something that would attack the drugged neurological areas directly. Then, knowing his system would be weak, he turned right around and tried to give himself a fighting chance with the anti-venom."

"He didn’t just turn right around. He didn’t want the anti-venom administered if Stryker was in the picture. He didn’t want to expose us so he was willing to kill himself and leave the ending in plain sight so no more digging would be done into his background. That’s what I gathered from the instructions he gave to Amber."

"Yes, who is this Amber, does anyone know?" Xavier looked around the room and saw Rogue blush. "Yes, Rogue?"

"She’s a hooker."

Now that the bomb was dropped, she had everyone’s undivided attention. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to tell everyone what Logan had gone to a hooker for in the first place. She raised her head high and looked directly at everyone in the room.

"Don’t get any ideas. He hired her to do a job for him in the past and he went to her for this job. It’s not what you think."

"It seems Logan has been very busy." Charles looked thoughtful and again cast his mental abilities toward Logan. He received no response. It was as if Logan had been turned off. Charles shivered and hoped it was not a permanent condition.

Scott turned over the papers he and Remy had confiscated from Alkali Lake. "Most of these papers are so heavily blacked out it’s impossible to even know what was going on in Weapon X. There is one paper in here, though, that refers to Logan as a human being and not a test subject. It’s a letter from one general to another recommending Logan as a recruit for a new training program. It doesn’t list Logan’s name formally. However, the general refers to a captain with ‘extremely good fighting skills, extremely good knowledge of military tactics, the ability to independently overcome obstacles to ensure the outcome of a mission, a passion for doing the best job possible, the loyalty of a pit bull, and an attitude that’s a pain in the ass to deal with’." He looked up. "Sound like anyone we know?"

The meeting broke up soon afterwards with everyone vowing to rack his or her brains for a way to bring Logan back.
---

Five agonizing days went by. Jean tried to start IV drips, but Logan’s skin and veins kept healing, pushing the needles out. Figuring he was the best man for the job, Scott went in and antagonized Logan, starting any argument and hurling any insults he could think of. There wasn’t any response. They tried sudden sounds and light flashes but that didn’t work.

Scott kept thinking that there was something he was missing. He finally received his first clue when Kitty appeared before him that evening with a clean handkerchief.

"Thanks, Mr. Summers." She took in his puzzled expression and laughed. "You lent it to me when I started crying in the meeting the other night."

"Oh, yes. I know we are all sad about Logan. Don’t be ashamed of crying."

She blinked back tears again. "I was crying because of what Remy said. I know why Logan wouldn’t have been able to look at Remy without wanting to hurt him. Come with me for a second."

She led the way down to the lab. Outside, on a bench, Marie was fast asleep. Kitty sat down next to her friend’s head. To Scott’s amazement, Kitty stroked Rogue lightly on the cheek and patted her bare shoulder. She looked back up at him.

"Logan brought Rogue back to her room one night after she had a nightmare. He didn’t know I was watching. He kissed her and stroked her hair. I think he was trying to protect her from the bad dreams. It seems he figured out you can touch Rogue for a few seconds at a time if she is in a deep sleep." She sighed. "He’s very protective of her and cares for her very much. I’m glad she didn’t get hurt. Logan would never have been able to forgive Remy."

Scott frowned. "Did this happen the night before Logan started acting strangely?" Kitty nodded. He remembered watching Logan put Rogue back to bed that night. Looking down at Rogue’s face he noticed she had become a bit more relaxed in her sleep.

"Thanks for letting me know." He gently shook Rogue. "Rogue? You need to find a softer place to sleep, ok?"

Kitty led the groggy Rogue away. It had been a while since any of them had really had a decent night’s sleep and he hated to wake her like that, but a bench wasn’t a bed and she needed some better rest.

Scott walked into the lab and looked down at the man on the bed. All those wires were monitoring what was essentially a healthy human body. Damn. Logan would have known what his greatest fear was. He must have figured out what was needed after he talked with Hank. What had he done? He thought about their conversation in the locker room. Their talk had been interrupted by Ororo. Had Logan run out of time? He must have left soon after. Why didn’t he come back and say something if it was that important? Damn that idiot! All that noble crap of dying to protect someone else. All it meant was the ones left behind had to deal with the pain. A picture of Rogue sleeping on the bench came to mind. He started pacing to help his anger melt away. Logan could be a royal pain in the ass, but he was a damn heroic son of a bitch. The problem was Logan always adapted and found a way around things and if Logan had known he needed the venom and the antidote for his body’s recovery, he would have made arrangements to get his consciousness back, too. Scott began a running dialogue with himself, to try to search for the answer.

"Ok, they kept talking about an adrenal reaction that’s missing this time. We don’t know what happened the first time and you wouldn’t talk about what happened the second time. You had to have seen or heard something that scared you. What was it?" The monitor’s steady beep was the only reply.

"Damn it! You jerk, you could have given me a clue!" Scott paced savagely and then stopped. "You did give me a clue, didn’t you? What was it?" He forced his mind to review past events. He saw Logan in the locker room, telling him what Sabretooth had said. "You said that you had to tell me. Why did you have to tell me?" He thought about when Logan had come into the lab to confront him after the incident in Maine. "You were trying so hard to see if we would still want you around. Why?" He stuck his hands in his pockets and racked his brains. One of his hands clenched something soft and he pulled it out. Oh yeah, the handkerchief. The image of Logan carrying Rogue back to her room to tuck her in popped into his head and suddenly things came into focus with startling clarity.

"Jean said that some kind of adrenal reaction would help you regain consciousness but she couldn’t figure out how to stimulate it in you because you don’t have a normal flight or fight response. But there is something you fear more than anything. You were afraid we would want you to leave after finding out you killed me. Even though you brought me back you thought we wouldn’t trust you anymore and you would have to leave. That meant that you would have to leave Rogue, didn’t it? You love Rogue. Sabretooth said he made the woman scream. You didn’t kill those bastards at Alkali Lake because you were angry, you killed all those men to get to your woman because you were afraid for her and you were afraid to lose her. That’s the thing you fear the most, isn’t it, losing love. And that fear triggered your adrenal response, which went straight to your brain and central nervous system and got you going again. That’s what’s missing! So now I have to convince you that you’re going to lose something you love very much."

He thought about getting Rogue to tell Logan she was leaving but shook his head. "She’d be lying and you’d know it." Ah, he thought to himself, you could twist the words around and he might believe you. Scott turned and walked back to the bed. He took a breath and mustered every acting talent he had, put as much venom in his voice as he could, and leaned over to talk in Logan’s ear.

"Rogue can’t take it any more, you know. Watching you lie here day after day is eating her up." That was true. "She thinks you would rather be dead that be here with us." The instructions he had given to Amber had said he didn’t want to live if he could be traced back to them and Rogue knew all about it. "You never told her how you felt about her, did you? Now she doesn’t know and it’s too late. She’ll never know. You never took the time to tell her you loved her. She’ll never know now, will she?" Teach you to not take dating lessons from me. "She’s going to leave because she can’t take looking at your sorry ass, knowing you don’t love her like she loves you." Ok, that part was a lie, but he was willing to risk it.

The monitor’s beeps had steadily gained speed during the little speech and, after Scott’s last jab, suddenly increased so rapidly the alarm went off. Scott began backing away from the bed. He was no fool and didn’t want to be too close when Logan came out of the coma.

Jean burst into the room and ran toward the bed. "What did you do?" Scott grabbed her coat from behind and jerked with all his might. Jean came crashing back on top of him and they fell to the floor, just as a hurricane of wires and claws erupted from the bed and landed in front of them in a crouch, a low growl emanating from its throat. For a moment there was an impasse, both men ready to take the other’s head off, literally.

Logan blinked and stood up, retracting his blades. Looking down and around, he realized he was naked and in the lab. "Did you say something? Is Rogue all right? What happened to Graves? Where the hell are my clothes?" He looked down at Scott, who was starting to laugh, and Jean, who was looking at him with a curious expression on her face.

Scott grinned and hugged the shocked woman on his lap. "I think your patient has fully recovered, doctor."

Logan sighed and rolled his eyes. He started peeling the remaining sensors off his skin. "Are you two just going to sit there or are you going to tell me what happened?" He pulled the couple off of the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed, wrapping the sheet around his waist when he noticed the direction of Jean’s stare. Jean understood the unspoken message and smiled.

She patted his arm. "Nice to have you back, Logan. We were a bit worried about you. Especially one young lady in particular who, I think, would appreciate a visit from you."

"How much do you need filled in?" Scott was serious now.

Logan thought for a minute. "I remember taking the rotor from the engine on Graves’ jeep. I’m not really sure what happened after that."
---

Kitty walked down to the lab to once again check on Logan. As she approached, she heard voices, male voices, arguing. She paused. One belonged to Mr. Summers and one belonged to…

"Logan!"

She sprinted back down the hall to tell the others.
---

"You told Hank to get rid of it? All of it? Why the fuck did you do that?"

" I told him to do that because the stuff is toxic and you know it. You mean you’d put yourself through that kind of hell again just to touch her?"

"Hell yes! Do you realize how long it has been since anyone has been able to touch her? Do you know what it must be like for her? Damn it, Summers! Do you know what that drug could mean for her?"

"Ok, let’s turn you back into an animal just to let you touch her. Just how much of a miracle do you think it was that you didn’t slice her head off?" Scott started pacing to try and calm down. "Don’t you think she deserves the choice of who she wants to have a relationship with? Don’t you think she’d choose not touching you over a chance of being hurt by someone who doesn’t even know her?"

"I didn’t recognize her at all?"

"No, Logan. You walked away from her. That hurt her worse than anything. You could have died and everything you wanted to say to her would have been lost. Now you’re back. You’ve got a second chance. You don’t need a drug for that."

Logan growled but there was nothing he could do. His heart had raced when Scott told him about his touching Marie and not being affected. He was forced to admit that the younger man was right about the drug. It made him more dangerous than he was already. How could he think of putting her through that? Scott was right, he should go tell her how he felt.

"Damn. Let me have those." Still growling and clutching the sheet around him, he grabbed the bundle of clean clothes Jean had in her hand. They had washed the clothes and cleaned him up after he had been sick in the hanger but his nose told him he needed another shower to get rid of the last trace of the smell. He smashed through the lab doors and headed for the closest shower in the locker room.

Jean looked at Scott. "I wish you’d go talk to him."

"Why? He’s fine, or he will be fine later. All he needs is a hot shower and some time to think. Speaking of which, there’s a shower free in our room. You want to get out of those lab clothes you’ve been in for quite a few hours now? How about putting on something more sexy, like, say, nothing?"

He cocked an eyebrow and she grinned in response.
---

He didn’t want to think. He didn’t want to feel. He just let the water wash over him as he enjoyed the sensation of being alive. Logan shut off the water and reached for the towel. He took a whiff and grinned. He dried himself quickly and wrapped the cloth around his waist. Rounding the corner, he found them sitting on the benches.

"Haven’t you seen enough of me in little towels, yet? Should we make this a monthly ritual?"

They grinned back at him.

"It’s nice to see you again, Logan," said Bobby. "We wanted to welcome you back home."

"Please don’t leave us again," said Kitty.

Samuel grinned. "Who would make pizzas for us?"

"Or keep us on our toes?" giggled Jubilee. She really did like those towels.

"You couldn’t wait until I was dressed to tell me this?" He sat down on a bench, too. "I hear every single one of you broke your word to me." He glared at all of them. "You guys are lethal, you know that? Now that you’ve invaded the Pentagon, I don’t know what you can do for an encore."

They realized he was kidding and everyone laughed. Even Remy. Logan shook his hand. "Don’t forget what you’ve learned. It’s a hard lesson, I know. Thanks for being there for her in the end. Where is she?"

"In your room. She is asleep and we didn’t want to wake her. That is for you to do, oui?"

"Oui. That’s my job. Now scram. All of you get to bed."
---

He entered his room softly and stood watching her for a long time. She was curled on her side, cuddling the blanket. He lay down on the opposite side of the bed, facing her. His stomach protested the fact that he had not eaten in days and the strange noise woke her up.

"Logan!" She threw her arm around him, but had to jerk back when she felt the pull occur. Confused, she stammered, "Ah’m sorry. Ah forgot."

"No you didn’t. Scott told me what happened. I wish I could touch you again, Marie, but it isn’t going to happen any time soon. This isn’t a fairy tale and miracles aren’t going to sprout up overnight. I need to tell you a few things and I want you to listen to me.

"I want you to know that I love you. I didn’t know at first, because I didn’t know what love was anymore. I know it now and I want to apologize for putting you through what I did. I thought it would be better for everyone if I solved the problem by myself. I’m so used to handling things on my own, without help, that sometimes I take the world on my shoulders and don’t think to ask how it makes someone else feel. I’m sorry for that. I need you to know something, though. What you saw in Canada, in the meadow, that was me. I am a man and I am an animal. I enjoy fighting and I can kill without it bothering me, but only on my terms. I need you to know that this isn’t some sort of Jekyl and Hyde type thing. The reason I need you to know is because I would like to ask you to go on a date with me but I only want you to say yes if you really know what you’re getting into. I can’t promise you we can make this work; we have a hell of a lot of obstacles against us. All I can do is ask you to give it a try."

"Ah know. Ah am acquainted with the obstacles. Ah know what Ah’m getting into. You’re the big, bad Wolverine. You’re as old as the professor, maybe even older. But to me you are a gentleman, someone who really cares about those you know. And this age thing is going to bother you a lot more than it bothers me. Ah think of you as eighteen or so, because that’s all the life you’ve ever known. If you think about it that way, Ah’m older than you." She grinned at the comic expression on his face. "Ah’ve thought about this a lot, every time you pull one of these stunts and end up in bed for a few days. You’ve got to cut that out. Ah’m not that great at nursing someone back to health. Ah fall to pieces every time you do this." She sighed. "Ah was hoping that Ah could touch you now, after what happened. Ah guess that was not meant to be. Ah hear, though, that you’ve already done your homework on how we can eventually have a relationship." Her eyes twinkled and he blushed. "Logan, Ah don’t want to wait until everything’s perfect. Ah figure we can work on this thing between us as we go."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes it is."

His eyes closed in relief.

"Logan?"

"Yes?"

"Would you let me sleep here tonight?"

"That might be dangerous."

"Not being with you seems to be more dangerous."

He chuckled. "Then I guess you can."

He tucked her in the bed and lay on top of the covers at her side, fully clothed. He draped an arm around her and she snuggled in as close as she dared.

"Good night, Logan. Ah love you."

"’Night, Marie. I love you, too."

"Pleasant dreams, sugar."

"Those are the best kind, darlin’. I hope you have them, too."
---

End