The mansion was dark as Logan parked the truck in front of the doors. A glance at the dashboard clock revealed it was close to two in the morning, plenty of time to get in.
“I’ll get Jean, you get her down to the medlab.” Logan grunted as he opened the door soundlessly and ushered Piotr in with is precious burden.
“See if Hank’ll help.” Piotr grunted as he headed for the elevator. “I’m not sure about Jean, she seemed to have a problem with the girls at the fundraiser.”
“Gotcha.” Logan watched Piotr shift Angel in his arms a moment before the elevator doors swung open. With a sad shake of his head, Logan started up the staircase. There were more important things to be concerned about than Piotr being strong enough to carry Angel’s weight.
Stalking the hallways he paused in front of Jean’s bedroom door a moment then knocked quickly. If Scooter was in there all the better, fewer questions.
“What do you want Logan?” Jean hissed as she jerked open the door to stare at the feral mutant before her.
“You’re needed down in the medlab.” Logan grunted. “Got a casualty from tonight.”
Jean’s expression tightened as she grabbed for her dressing gown. “What’s the injury, or can I guess?”
“Bullet wound.” Logan snarled, “And if you want to keep your face I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself, Piotr ain’t exactly in a forgiving mood.” Logan stalked down the hall toward Hank’s room. He knew that Jean’s attitude had more to do with the fact that Scott was banging one of the ‘sewer rats’ than anything but it still bothered him.
After waking Hank, Logan explained the situation in as few a words as possible before heading downstairs to where Piotr hovered over Angel. “How’s she doing kid?” Logan asked walking up to the tall Russian.
“Thank god her mutations still active,” Piotr whispered. “She’s been absorbing energy from the metal around her, its keeping her alive for now.”
“Could she absorb enough to regenerate?” Logan asked as he caught sight of Jean prepping for surgery. He watched her put on two gowns, and triple glove, a look of disgust upon her face.
“No. Doesn’t work that way. She absorbs the energy and turns it into physical strength or armor. Sorta a cross between my mutation and Rogue’s. Only difference is she absorbs from metals, not people.”
Logan nodded as Jean approached the table. “Come on, lets let her work.”
Piotr nodded as the doors glided open and Hank stepped in to the room. He caught the other man’s eyes and raised his chin, he was proud of the woman laying slowly bleeding to death and he didn’t care about their opinions.
“We’ll do all we can.” Hank promised as he ushered the two men out of the room before turning to look at Jean. “What’s the situation?”
“She’s lost a lot of blood.” Jean snapped angrily as she cut away clothing to reveal the nasty bullet hole. Looks like we’ve got an entrance wound, I haven’t found the exit wound. Don’t know why we’re doing this, disease infested trash…”
“Jean!” Hank gaped at her. “We do not judge those upon our table, you know that.”
“Oh come on Hank, she’s one of them. One of those precious kids that were at the shelter, a whore. God only knows what diseases she’s infected with. I for one have no desire to get AIDS or…”
“I suggest you put aside your own feelings,” Hank drawled. “Unless you wish to confront both of those men out there and tell them that you didn’t do all you could because you were disgusted by the patient’s history.”
Jean glared at Hank for a moment before shrugging. She didn’t care either way. Her plans were more important and they didn’t involve mutant whores.
Logan watched Piotr pacing, his face twisted with fear and grief. The sudden beeping from the small black box on his belt had both men jumping even as Piotr reached for the cell.
“Hello.”
“Hey bossman. Where you at?” Deke’s voice rumbled over the line. “Kids are safe and sound, Rogue’s pissed, wondering where Logan is.”
“We’re at Xavier’s.” Piotr replied his voice shaky, “Angel got hurt bad.”
“How bad?” Deke demanded flatly.
“Elise shot her, chest wound. She’s alive and the doctors here are trying to fix her. Damn it I shouldn’t have let her…”
“Whoa, hold it big guy,” Deke swallowed harshly. “You had no way of knowing what was happening. You did your job, Angel knew the risks. Where’s the bitch now?”
“I left her broken in the alley.” Piotr whispered painfully, “I should have gone in to do the pick up. I shouldn’t have let her go, we knew that thing was a sneaky rat, we should have done something else. I should have gone in, gotten the kids and gotten out.”
“What about Elise’s boss? Did you get him?”
“Too busy trying to keep Angel alive long enough to get her to help.”
There was a long, painful pause over the line before Deke’s voice came back, harder, colder, than ever. “Don’t worry about him. Me and the boys’ll take care of him. You just focus on getting her back home, healthy. Call as soon as you know anything.”
Piotr grunted a reply and hung up the phone. The rage within him was pushing to come out and he longed to break something, to destroy something the way his plans, his future was being destroyed.
“What’d he say?” Logan reached for a cigar.
“Said he’d take care of things.” Piotr shook his head, his eyes sliding to Logan’s. “I should have done the pick up. I should never have let Angel go into this one.”
“This pick up was no different than the thousand and one pick up’s before it. You knew Angel would take a bullet for a kid, you knew she’d die to protect the innocent lives. It’s why you love her.”
“And why they hate her.” Piotr shook his head. “I want things to be different, Logan. I want her to be safe, to be indestructible, to be there for me forever. How can I protect her when she does this?”
“You can’t. All you can do is love her. Piotr, you have to accept what she does, accept the risks, and support her or you have to let her go. Angel won’t stop helping out because it’s what she is. It’s who she is.” Logan stated calmly.
“Damn it all to hell. What are they doing? Why is this taking so long?” Piotr returned to his furious pacing, intent upon wearing a path in the floor.
Logan glanced up at the sound of doors opening and stared at Hank who stared back, a closed expression on his blue face. “How’d it go?”
“She’s stable.” Hank declared. “But there was a lot of blood loss. She’s got a fair chance.”
Jean stepped past Hank and rolled her eyes on the way to the elevator. “If you see Scott, tell him…”
“Scott ain’t my concern.” Piotr ground out. “I wanna see her. I’m gonna sit with her.”
I figured you would want to,” Hank smiled slightly. “I’ve put a chair by the bed, please remember not to jostle her. She needs to rest. It’ll help heal her.”
Piotr nodded and slipped into the room, he didn’t care about what was out side of the doors, all he wanted needed was to see Angel, to know she was safe, that he still had her at least for a while.
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