Title: Unconditional 9/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: NC-17
Category: Movieverse./AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing, and no one. Sad, isn’t it!
Feedback: Please, bad or good. If no one tells me it’s bad, I won’t know!
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Logan swam across to the far jetty, and, taking a massive breath, he ducked under it and came out the other side of Palmer’s boat. He came up for air and shook his head off like a wet dog, water rippling off his muscles. He couldn’t see Scott from where he was, and he couldn’t see the BMW with Marie either. He smirked to himself; she was probably still grumping over the cuff on her wrist. Then he frowned, wondering if it was the right thing to do. It probably didn’t make her think that he trusted her. He shook his head again, groaning at his own thoughts. He couldn’t be thinking about this now. If he was honest, this was all about her, keeping her safe, saving her, because ultimately she would save him. She would make his life better, worth living. He would have to do some serious making up, and he knew it.
There was a buoy hung over the side of the boat. Logan reached up and pulled himself up with it. He was then able to listen at a small window in the side of the boat. He could hear Markham and Palmer talking, but not Creed. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but at least he knew they were both there. He gently lowered himself back into the water.
He moved around to the front of the boat and tried to look down the jetty to get a look at Scott’s location. He spotted him behind a small rowboat and signalled to him to try and get closer. Thankfully for Scott, the marina was well-packed, and he had plenty of cover. Scott moved out from behind the small boat and silently helped Logan get up onto the jetty.
“Palmer and Markham are inside on a lower deck. I don’t know where Creed is.” Logan kept his voice very low, almost a whisper. Scott did the same when he spoke back.
“I haven’t seen him, but the bastard can’t be far away. Let’s get up on that boat before he comes back, and we have a three-to-two situation.” They checked the jetties behind them and slowly climbed up the boat’s ladder onto the deck at the rear.
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Meanwhile, Marie tried to struggle to the other side of the car to get away from Creed, but he leaned his body in and blocked her against the seat. He took a key out of his pocket and undid the cuff on her wrist. She briefly wondered how he would have the key for it when they were Logan’s cuffs, but didn’t have much time to think as he grabbed her wrists and dragged her roughly out of the car, making her fall to her knees before he hauled her up and after him. She figured that Markham must have some kind of master key, or did cops all carry the same cuffs so they only needed one key? And why was she thinking about this now?
She shook herself as Creed walked towards the wooden platform that led to the boat jetties, dragging her along. She tried to struggle free, but she realised that he was as strong as Logan if not stronger and that worried her more than a little. As he dragged her past some small boats that she had seen Scott use as cover, she wondered if – no, when - it came to it, would Logan or Scott be able to take him?
Panic began to creep into her mind as he spoke on his walkie-talkie: what if Logan and Scott couldn’t pull this off and it all went wrong? What if one of them got hurt? Scott was married, he had a child, this could go horribly wrong. What if Creed or Palmer or even Markham decided to kill her right there and then? She wouldn’t stand a chance. She knew basic self-defence, but it was nothing really – quick boot to the family jewels and run, not a lot more.
She yanked on her wrist. Creed turned and pushed her up against a mooring pole. Her head hit the pole, and it made a metallic ring. She winced at the pain. “We can do this the easy way, which is you come with me and let me blow your brains out, then I dump your body over the side of that boat. Or we can do it the hard way.” He got close to her face. “Which is I beat you around first.” He ran a large finger down the side of her cheek. “Ethan says you like that. Sure I can find other things you like just as well. Make you scream my name, or even better,” he got right in her face, “beg me to stop.”
She closed her eyes and cringed at the plain innuendo of his words. Then, quicker than he could register, she brought her knee up and hit him as hard as she physically could in the groin. He doubled over in pain, and she managed to scramble away from him and run along the jetty. Seeing the boat not that far ahead of her, she kept going, hoping that she could make it before Creed caught up with her. But she looked behind her to see his position and slipped on the wet jetty. She got to her feet, and she screamed as Creed grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face into the wood jetty.
Logan and Scott crept round the deck of the boat to the main door to the inside living room. They could hear low voices and then the crackle of a walkie-talkie. Logan held up his hand and three fingers, a gesture that they should bust through the door on three. He got down to one when he heard a woman shout in pain.
Gun raised, he spun round just in time to see Creed smash Marie’s face into the floor of the jetty. “NO!”
It was all the distraction and warning that Palmer and Markham needed. Scott shouted to Logan. “GO!” Logan jumped over the side of the boat onto the jetty, landed square on his feet, and started off in a dead run towards Creed.
Palmer burst through the door on the boat and knocked Scott backwards. He managed to get one shot off before Markham kicked the gun out of his hand and hit him over the head with a chair. Scott shook it off and got to his feet, blocked Markham’s next punch, and hit him in the stomach. Markham’s overweight frame buckled under the punch, and he stumbled backwards inside the boat.
Scott looked over at Palmer. He was doubled over, holding his stomach and whining in pain. Blood covered his hands. Scott gave a snort and followed Markham into the boat. He was bent over a cabinet, desperately trying to shove bullets into his gun. “A little tip. Join this century, and get an automatic!” He grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him round, punching him hard in the face when he was level with him.
With his added weight and low fitness, Markham was out of breath and no match for Scott. Two more hard swift punches to his face, and Markham was facedown and unconscious, blood pouring from his nose and eyebrow. Scott took out his cuffs, pulled the man’s chubby arms behind his back, and secured the cuffs tightly. If it were anyone else, he would have admitted that he’d done it a little tighter than was probably necessary. “You have the right to remain unconscious!” He didn’t notice that Palmer had moved, not until he felt the heavy chain snap around his neck and pull tight in Palmer’s grip. Scott choked and reached for the chain that was beginning to cut into his skin.
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Logan fired his gun and hit Creed in the shoulder. Creed fell heavily on the jetty and rolled away from Marie in pain. Logan ran to her and turned her over. He was so focussed on her that he didn’t think twice about turning his back on Creed. “Marie! Baby, please look at me!” She weakly opened her eyes; there was blood coming from her nose and her lip.
A sharp kick in Logan’s back brought him back to the realisation that Creed was still there. Logan stumbled forward, and as he landed on his front, his gun slid out of his hand and completely out of his reach. He turned over on his back as Creed gripped Marie’s hair and pulled her flush against him. Logan sat up and was about to get up when Creed held a knife to her throat. “Stay down, runt!”
“Let her go. We don’t need her to settle this.” He slowly got up and put his hands up as a gesture for Creed to calm down. Marie was scared stiff.
“You know what? You’re right.” With that, Creed relaxed his grip on Marie and pushed her into the water. She made a small splash, and the cold water seemed to wake her up a bit because she gasped and managed to cling to the side of a small boat.
Creed launched himself at Logan, the knife in his hand cutting Logan’s right bicep and running blood down his wet arm. They fell back, Creed on top trying to get the knife across his throat. Logan struggled, with his arms keeping the large blade just away from his skin.
Logan got a hand free and hit Creed in the stomach, giving him a chance to get to his feet. When Creed stood, Logan kicked him in the chest and then in the face. Creed went down and fumbled at his ankle, getting out a small gun, but before he could raise it at Logan, Logan grabbed it and turned it back on Creed. As they fell to the ground again, the gun went off.
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Palmer pulled the chain tighter and tighter as Scott got weaker. He pushed Scott forward until he was virtually lying on the floor of the cabin. Scott’s face was dark red, his mouth constantly open, gasping for air. He had one hand on the chain trying to loosen it, and the other was scrabbling around on the floor trying to find the gun that Markham had been trying to use a moment ago. He couldn’t find it, and finally his world turned black.
Once Scott felt limp, Palmer let go of the chain and dropped it to the floor, just as he heard a gun go off. Clutching his injured stomach, he staggered outside the boat cabin. He looked down the jetty and saw Marie trying to get up out of the water. He watched Logan stand up and moving away from Creed. He could see the growing dark patch of red on the jetty. Palmer looked around him frantically. If he was to survive and have any kind of life he needed Marie dead, she knew way too much and he knew that Logan would probably kill him if he saw him. He quickly found Scott’s gun behind him and got off the boat.
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Logan stood up and turned around; his adrenaline was pumping wildly. Marie was half up on the jetty out of the water. He smiled; she was ok. A little shaken and hurt, but she was ok. He was four or five strides from her when she made it up and stood up, shaking slightly from the cold. He looked at her face and smiled. He was about to say something when he looked past her slightly and saw Palmer on the jetty pointing a gun at her. “GET DOWN!” He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him onto the jetty as three shots broke the silence.
The first hit Logan in the left thigh. He shouted and fell to his knees. The second hit him in his chest, and the third in his right shoulder. He fell back coughing and bringing up blood. Marie screamed his name and crawled to him, trying to get him to focus on her.
“Logan… please...” she began to sob. His blood was all over her hands, and it was soaking into her jeans. “No, please no!” She didn’t hear Palmer approach until he got a handful of her hair and dragged her away from Logan and up the jetty a few yards. Logan painfully rolled onto his side, moving his head so he could see her. He couldn’t move. He could feel his blood slowly filling one of his lungs, and he coughed and spat blood onto the wood.
Marie sobbed harder as Palmer pushed her to her knees and rested the gun at the back of her head as he spoke to Logan. “You get to watch her die. Then I get to watch you die. So it’s win-win, asshole!”
Marie screwed her eyes shut as tight as she could. She jumped as the gun fired, but it wasn’t Palmer’s gun. It was the one Scott was holding. The hand holding her hair suddenly relaxed, and Ethan fell to the ground with a loud thump.
Scott had shot him from the deck of the boat. He got off the boat and ran to Palmer. He had hit him between the eyes; Palmer hadn’t had time to blink. He laid there, his lifeless eyes open to the sky. Scott ran to Logan and called to Marie who sat on her knees in shock. “You ok?”
She nodded, coming to her senses and crawling back to Logan. He was coughing and moaning in pain. Scott got up and ran back to the boat as fast as he could. Thirty seconds later, he ran back with what looked like a large tablecloth. He ripped it in half and then half again. He gave a smaller piece to Marie. “Here…” He took her hands, put the cloth in them, and held them against the wound in Logan’s shoulder. “Press it as hard as you can.” She nodded frantically, pushing it into Logan’s wound and sobbing again as he winced and coughed at the excruciating pain.
He wrapped the other small piece around Logan’s thigh and tied it in a tight knot just above the wound. Logan jumped as he pulled it tight. “Sorry, buddy.” The last piece of cloth Scott bunched up and put it over the gun shot wound on Logan’s chest, and he pressed hard with one hand. His other hand he used to fish around in his pocket and pull out his cell phone. He dialled 911 and spoke quickly. “This is Officer Scott Summers of Unit Xavier-fifteen-thirty. I’m at Deep Creek Marina on Barren Island. I have an officer down, repeat officer down. Three GSW’s to the chest, shoulder and leg. He is in need of immediate medical attention. Inform Office Elizabeth Braddock of our location, and that we have apprehended Simon Markham. Yeah… ETA?...Thanks.”
He snapped his phone shut and dropped it on the deck, not caring where it went. “They’re on their way, Logan, just hold on for me, ok?”
Marie was still crying. She bent her head, gently kissing the side of Logan’s paling face. He was blinking slowly and having trouble swallowing. His vision swan, making the world around him blurry, but he knew she was there. He could feel the softness of her lips against his skin; he could feel her with him.
Scott tried to think of anything he could do that would help, but there wasn’t. He wasn’t medically trained, and he had no idea what to do other than apply pressure to the wounds and hope the paramedics got there in time.
He was cursing them to hurry after five minutes when he heard the wail of police and ambulance sirens. He took one of Marie’s hands that was on Logan’s shoulder and put it on the cloth on his chest. He noticed briefly with a sinking feeling in his stomach that the blood had soaked through to his hand; he knew that wasn’t good. “Keep the pressure on. I’ll tell them where we are.”
“Ok... pressure, ok.” She watched him run off and then looked back to Logan’s face. He had closed his eyes. “Hey, you have to stay awake, Logan please.” He weakly opened his eyes. “That’s it, stay with me. We have so much that …we need to do.” She spoke to him softly, sobbing with her words. “We haven’t even been on a date yet, and I want Warren to get …to know you, so… you have to stay awake.” Her light sobs became heaving great sobs as she carried on talking. “I’ve only just found… you, Logan, …d …don’t leave me, please, now!”
“Shhh… don’t cry.” He reached up and touched her lips with his thumb, just like he had done so many times over the last couple of days. She noticed how much his hand shook, and she took it in hers, closing her eyes to kiss it. His hand relaxed and slipped out of hers. She opened her eyes to find his closed. Panic took her as she look at him – his face, his chest, she watched it, waiting for it to rise, but it didn’t.
“SCOTT!”
Scott took off up the jetty, running as fast as he could, his jacket flapping around his elbows as he did. All he could think was that Logan had to be ok. Logan annoyed him a thousand different ways a thousand times a day. He was a major pain in the ass, and he could be a complete prick at times, but apart from Jean, he was the only person in the world he trusted - his best friend, family.
Two paramedics and a handful of police officers, some in uniform, some plain clothes, were coming across the car park towards him. He stopped and waved his arms. “OVER HERE!” As the paramedics were level with him and he was just about to tell them about Logan’s condition, he heard Marie scream his name. He turned to her and watched frozen to the spot as she lowered her head to Logan’s chest and cried his name. The paramedics and a female police officer ran to her and moved her out of the way so that the paramedics could look after him. One did chest compressions while the other put a mask and breathing bag over his mouth to make him breath. Marie collapsed onto the officer but refused to be taken away from him. His blood was all over her. Scott just stood and watched from afar, afraid that if he went back he would hear something he didn’t want to.
He knew he should move, should go back and comfort Marie, the same way that he would be comforting Jean and Ellie later on, but he couldn't. Couldn’t face it. Someone touched his arm. He turned and saw Betsy. She rubbed his arms as she spoke gently to him. “Where’s Markham?”
Scott gestured towards the boat. “In there. He’s cuffed.” She nodded, signalling to the officers waiting behind her. They ran past them, past Logan and Marie straight to the boat. Noticing his neck, Betsy tried to look at it, but he moved her hand away. “It doesn’t matter now.” He rubbed his hand over his face and finally turned away from the devastating scene in front of him.
**************END OF PART NINE
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks again to Gamma.
Summary: “Let her go. We don’t need her to settle this.”
Summary: “Let her go. We don’t need her to settle this.”