Title: Missing 10/?
Author: sharonmjl47
Rating: R
Category: Movieverse.
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 sat on the floor of the chamber room with his back resting against the cold surface of the chamber. He hated feeling so useless - he couldn’t help Marie, he couldn’t help Louise and he couldn’t keep a monster like Victor away from the ones he loved. The only one he seemed to have any positive effect on was Liam - and Logan wasn’t convinced that was down to him. The boy simply had a good head on his shoulders.
Shaking his head and rubbing his hand over his face he thought about Louise again. She had called him dad, just once and his heart had jumped at it, but now he realised that she had only done it to get his attention. He wanted her to be able to call him that and he wished that he didn’t understand why she couldn’t, but he did understand and he scolded himself that he shouldn’t be complaining.
Glancing at the chamber behind him, he sighed. There was nothing he could do for Marie, there had been nothing he could do for the last eleven years. He just hoped that when Hank brought her out of the chamber she would still feel the same way about him.
He felt so frustrated, so empty. He knew he should still be ecstatic about having his children around him all the time and the fact that Hank was so close to getting Marie back, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was going on that he didn’t know about. Before long he grew tired with thinking about his situation and fell asleep with his head resting on his chest.
~ Running through the mansion again, chasing something or being chased; he wasn’t sure. Glancing around, searching with eyes and senses, finding nothing.
Running to the elevator and pushing the button for the lowest part of the mansion. Panic strikes as the door closes, hands raised to stop it, but he can’t. When the door slides open he runs straight into the med lab, but once inside he freezes on the spot.
The chamber is dull, no bubbles, no lights. “Too late Logan, you are just too late.” Jean stands next to the medical computers holding a sledgehammer, smashing all of them into small pieces, laughing as smoke rises.
And in the chamber, Marie grasping at the inside; her small hands scratch at its surface trying to claw her way out. His hands on the glass in front of her.
"MARIE!"
Her eyes so full of panic as she tries to hold her breath in the icy water. Banging at the glass, trying to slice it with his claws, roaring, he grabs the sledgehammer from Jean but it makes no difference, the glass stays intact. Jean’s wild laughter echoes through the darkened room.
He dropped the hammer and sunk to the floor in front of the chamber. Marie sinks with him, the light in her eyes dulling. “MARIE… MARIE!” She presses her hand to the glass and he matches it, then her eyes close and her lifeless body floats away from him. ~
“NO!” He sat up right with a jolt, breathing heavily.
Only a dream.
He calmed himself a little, stood and looked at the chamber: Marie was still quietly suspended in the water as she was when he fell asleep. He rested his head against it with a sigh of relief.
The door opened behind him and Hank walked in. “Logan, I’m sorry I didn’t realise anyone was down here.”
“Yeah, I fell asleep. What time is it?”
“It’s a little after 5.”
“5, as in a.m.?”
Hank looked puzzled for a moment. “Yes, I’ve just come down myself. Don’t tell me you’ve been here all night?” Logan smirked and raised an eyebrow, making Hank chuckle. “Well, I have something to show you anyway.”
He went back to the main lab and after a smile at Marie, Logan followed him. “So, what’s up?”
Hank gestured to the brown rabbit who was eating a carrot in his cage by the door. “I was thinking of giving him to Jubilee.”
“But I thought you were…” Hank smiled at Logan as he watched the realisation of what Hank meant play on his face. “He’s alive… God damn it the fucking thing’s alive!”
“Yes. I gave him the virus, then waited for its effects to become apparent and then proceeded to give him the vaccine. This morning he is in perfect health, not a single trace of Clemency remains in his system.”
“Does that mean…”
“Yes, I’m gong to give it to Rogue. I will have to remove her from the stasis chamber and give it to her straight away. I was planning on doing it this morning. The professor is already up and I have discussed it with him briefly. My aid Justin will help, but I think it wise to keep yourself and the children out of the way. There could still be complications, but I will of course do everything in my power to ensure Rogue is brought out of this safely.”
“Um, yeah. Ok. Fuck. Is this really happening?”
Hank placed a large hand on Logan’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him. “Yes my friend, it is.”
*********
Liam woke up fully clothed and sprawled across his bed, his arm hanging limply over the side.. He was a little confused as he rolled over and sat up, he looked around the room and then at himself. He couldn’t remember coming to bed and couldn’t seem to shake the heavy sleepy feeling in the back of his head.
He raised his arm and sniffed himself, grimacing at the sweaty smell of his clothes - he immediately stripped them off and got in his shower. The water made him feel better, but he still couldn’t shake off the heavy sleepy feeling. He thought that he had obviously slept too well, hence the reason he couldn’t even remember going to bed.
Once dressed he sat on the edge of his bed and looked around the room. He could feel himself drifting off again when the door opened and Logan strode in with a grin on his face. “Hey, you missed breakfast and I need to talk to you and Louise… Liam? You ok?”
He stood up and looked at Logan a little dazed. “Um, yeah, can’t seem to wake up.” He finished it off with a rather impressive yawn.
“Whoa! Just sit there a second, will ya.” Logan caught him just and he sat down again and wobbled on the edge of his bed.
Logan went next door and knocked - a tousled Louise opened and smiled at him gently. “Morning.”
“Hey, can you gimmie a hand?”
“Sure.” She followed him back to Liam’s room, tugging her hoody sweater on over her head as she went.
When they got into Liam’s room he was flat on his back, snoring loudly. Logan shook his head and grabbed Liam’s arm to pull him back up into a sitting position. “Hey, come on sleeping beauty, get the hell up.”
“Wha…” He sat up and blinked at Logan and then Louise. “Sorry, dozed off.”
Crossing her arms over herself, Louise frowned. “Did you get plastered last night or something?” Logan gave a sharp frown and a quick shake of his head.
“No. I don’t think so. I can’t remember anything.”
Logan and Louise exchanged glances and Logan knelt on the floor in front of his son, resting his hands on his knees. “What’s the last thing that you remember, exactly?”
“Um, I was sitting on the stairs, heard you shouting at Creed in the Professor’s office…” Logan heard Louise huff at that, but decided to ignore it for the moment. “Then I went for something to eat and I… I don’t remember anything after that.”
Logan stood up as he noticed Scott walk past the door. “Scooter, in here.”
Rolling his eyes at the old nick-name and walking in, giving Louise a smile. “Everything ok?”
“Not sure - Liam’s gone all sleeping beauty on us.”
“What?” Scott laughed lightly.
Louise rolled her eyes. “He’s slept like a log, can’t wake up and can’t remember anything about last night either.”
“Drink?”
Logan shook his head. “No. He said he didn’t and he’s telling the truth.”
“Orange juice.”
All three replied together. “What?”
“She gave me orange juice.”
They glanced at each other and then Logan knelt in front of Liam again. “Ok son, who gave you orange juice?”
“Um, in the kitchen, she asked if I wanted some.” His eyes were glazed and he looked like he was struggling to stay awake again.
Logan held his face so that he couldn’t look away or fall asleep. “Who, Liam?”
“Ellen no, Ella… no…” Liam frowned as he tried to think sleepily.
“Elaine?”
Liam smiled lazily. “Yeah that’s it. She was pretty.”
Logan stood hands on hips and turned to a very serious Scott. “Who the fuck’s Elaine?”
“Elaine is Jean’s mother.”
“What the hell has Jean’s mother got to do with this? I thought her parents were dead?”
“When we had to use an alias on a mission she would always use her mother’s name. It’s the only person I can think of, there isn’t a student here called Elaine.”
“Shit.”
“Logan you go check her room, I’ll help Louise get Liam to the Professor. My guess is his sleeping is psychic induced.”
Logan took off out of the room at top speed while Scott and Louise tried to jostle a heavy Liam down to the professor’s office. “Scott, do you mean Jean as in your ex-wife Jean?”
“Yes.”
“Why is she even here?”
“Look, lets get him down the stairs and I’ll explain everything.” She nodded and dragged on the sleeping weight that was her brother..
Logan burst into the room Jean had been given and found it empty and neat as if she had never been there. Her scent lingered in the room, on the bed, faintly in the bathroom. He latched on to the scent and followed it. When he stumbled on a stronger version of it as he came past the end of a third floor corridor he sighed, knowing full well where she had gone.
He stalked to the wooden panel and hit it, it slid in and up, he continued to follow her scent to the garage and through to the main service road. Then after kicking the dirt around, letting his claws out and then back in and growling loudly he jogged back the way he had come and down the main stairs to Xavier’s office.
Xavier didn’t even look up from Liam when Logan walked into his office. Louise and Scott’s heads rose and he shook his in response to their silent question. Louise almost laughed when she heard a muffled ‘Fuck!’ come from Scott.
“Liam, you will be absolutely fine in a couple of hours.” Xavier looked at Logan. “I can’t sense her anywhere near the mansion. I trust you found nothing in her room?”
“Cleared out like she was never there. Followed her scent through the escape tunnels and out to the old service road. She must have been picked up by car.”
Everyone jumped when Xavier slammed his hand against his desk, then he smiled at them and raised his hand. “My apologies. I feel I must have grown into an old fool to miss all of this. She was doing it right under my nose and I never once thought to probe her mind a second time.”
“So everything she told us was bullshit?” Again Louise was surprised to hear Scott swear like that.
“Not all of it. I scanned her mind briefly while she told me about the facility and she was telling the truth, or at least partially, but I didn’t scan her again as her shields held no power, or so I thought. I should have realised - this is Jean, after all.”
Logan rested his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “You ok?”
“Yeah, I feel tired and, just… confused.”
“You’ll feel like that for a while I’m afraid.” Xavier turned to Logan and Scott. “She questioned him about what we knew, whether we believed the FoH story, then planted the suggestion of deep sleep in his mind. Jean also dug around for Rogue’s condition and Liam unwittingly let her know, but why that information would be of any use to her I don’t know.”
Louise looked at Logan, Scott and Xavier. “So why would she swing us a line like that?”
“I don’t know. I’ve had a contact of mine trying to find out who actually owns the facility. The chemical company sold it around 10 years ago to…” he looked at a brown file on his desk. “Belzec Magnes, a property developer, but he never did anything with the land. It’s obviously a dummy company, but my contact is having enormous trouble getting to the bottom of it.”
“What would be the point of getting us to investigate a place that’s faked? I mean we’ve been back to that facility twice and found nothing, not one single document, not one single thing.” Louise shrugged. “Well, except Victor…” Everyone turned to stare at her. “What?”
Xavier brought his wheelchair round his desk next to Scott. “He’s in the rear garden, bring him here please.”
“Yes sir.”
Scott left and Xavier smiled at Louise and Liam, who still looked more than a little dazed. “Why don’t the two of you check in with Hank’s progress, while myself and Logan talk to Victor.”
“Hank’s progress with what?” Liam said with a yawn.
“Shit! With all this I never got round to telling you.” He put his arm around Louise and jerked his head to Liam to join them. “That dumb rabbit made it through the night and Hank is taking your mother out of stasis. He’s going to give her the vaccine.”
“OH MY GOD!” Louise hugged Logan for all he was worth and Liam did the same.
“What do ya want Prof?” Victor waltzed in and stared at Logan hugging his children. “Aw, how touching.”
They broke apart, Louise wiped a tear off of her face and Liam looked like he was ready to cry but holding it in. “Go on, I’ll catch up with you later.” They nodded at him and went to leave.
Liam was first out the door, but as Louise walked past Victor she felt like time went in slow motion. His eyes caught hers as he turned his head to watch her leave, a small smirk laying on his lips. Their eyes stayed locked as she passed him, only breaking off when neither of them could turn their heads any longer and then she was gone out the door and shutting it quietly behind her.
Victor turned back to Scott, Logan and Xavier with his smirk slightly wider. Logan crossed his arms over his chest and growled a low warning at him. “Don’t you dare look at her like that, don’t even breathe in her direction or I *will* kill you.”
Victor’s smile grew as he growled back and Xavier sighed. “Gentlemen please. We have better things to do than measure the size of our egos.”
“Yeah I can think of several.” Victor shot a glance at the door behind him.
Logan lurched forward, but Scott held him as Xavier wheeled in front of them both. “Victor, what can you remember about your incarceration?”
He shrugged. “First few years were just me in a cell, got beaten twice a day, fed once a day, showered with a hose once a week and strapped to a table given drugs and poked about once a month. Then I remember getting moved and after, not much. I guess they had a lot of fun with me, lets put it that way.” He sat on a plush chair near Xavier, still shooting glares at Scott and Logan.
“Can you remember any one in particular?”
“No.” He chuckled. “Why don’t you just ask, Prof? I know you’re dying to.”
Xavier smiled knowingly turning to Scott and Logan. “Would the two of you excuse us please?”
“Chuck I ain’t leaving you with…”
“Logan if you wouldn’t mind, time is pressing.” Logan huffed and stomped out of the room with Scott.
Both men paced outside Xavier’s office for around forty minutes waiting to be called back in or for Victor to leave, but neither happened. A few students straggled around in between their classes and Scott chased them off to their next classes with threats of detention for being late. In the end they left the hallway and went their separate ways, Scott towards the kitchen in search of coffee and Logan towards the lower levels and Hank’s lab.
************END OF PART TEN
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