“Make a right,” Logan instructed sharply.
“Why?” Wanda asked as she kept her hands steady on the wheel.
“Just do it,” Logan grunted with agitation and nodded to the rural road that was coming up on the right.
Wanda swerved suddenly as she sharply turned right and continued down the country road.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
Logan didn’t answer her as he turned to stare out the back window. Jaime noticed the scowl that started to shadow over the other man’s face.
“When we reach the next intersection turn left and head through the more residential area.”
“If you wanted to drive you could have just said so,” Wanda supplied as she turned left anyways at the next intersection.
“Do what he says, Wanda,” Pietro spoke up.
“Yes, Pietro,” she seethed through her clenched teeth.
“What is it?” Jaime asked with concern.
“You see that black SUV a few cars back,” Logan nodded towards the back.
“Yeah.”
“It’s been behind us for the past half and hour and we haven’t been taking a generic route, we’ve taken too much of an abstract route for us to still have the same car behind us for this long.”
“He’s right,” Pietro added. “They’ve kept the same length behind us the past ten minutes.”
“Do you think it’s Dead Girl?” Jaime asked.
“I don’t know,” Logan answered his keen eyesight observing the vehicle. “Whoever it is, they’re not alone. The pressure on the tires is noticeable, there’s definitely a good size amount of weight in the vehicle.”
“Maybe she isn’t working alone,” Wanda wondered out loud for the rest of them.
Everyone was quiet for the next few moments as three guys kept their eyes trained on the SUV and Wanda manoeuvred them through the side rides.
“We’re coming up on a small suburb,” she informed them.
“Good,” Logan spoke.
Wanda turned right down the small street that was lined with houses and they all watched with held breath as the SUV carried on straight through the intersection and was no longer in their eye sight.
Jaime sighed. “Guess we can breathe easy now.”
No one answered him.
“Move us quickly through here and get us back on the side roads,” Pietro instructed his sister. “I don’t like us being in such a populated area right now.”
“Pietro never was much of a people person,” Jaime remarked dryly to Logan whose expression was still tight. “Come on man, relax a little. I mean a black SUV is a little cliché.”
Logan eyed him silently but Jaime wasn’t unnerved.
“Tough crowd,” Jaime muttered and leant back in his seat.
In eight minutes they were back on the side roads.
“Guys,” Wanda spoke up suddenly. “I think we have company again.” Her eyes darted in the rear view mirror and Logan caught on.
A warning of a growl vibrated through the van as Logan spotted the familiar black SUV turning onto the road behind them. They were the only two vehicles on the road.
Logan didn’t care for appearances. “Speed the fuck up right now,” he demanded and Wanda stepped on the gas pedal sharply.
When the SUV sped up as well, it confirmed their suspicions.
They were coming up to a bridge and Wanda pressured the gas pedal as much more as she could.
“Look out!” Jaime yelled as another black SUV suddenly darted out in front of them blocking their route off the bridge and Wanda swerved to avoid them.
The back of the van hit the guardrail and all four of them lurched forward.
The two SUV’s pulled to a full stop on either side as five men from each dressed in black fatigues came spilling out with guns trained on them.
“What’s the plan now,” Jaime whispered.
“Not get killed,” Logan responded as he counted the men and evaluated the odds.
There was an unexpected loud screeching noise behind them and both Jaime and Logan turned around surprised to find themselves meeting a ten storey drop into a river below. One of the back doors had been damaged so badly in the crash that the force had blown it open and it was hanging on by one hinge. The coffin Logan noticed with concern was hanging half in the van and half over the dented guardrail leading to the drop.
“This isn’t looking good on a lot of fronts,” Jaime felt the need to add nervously.
“No shit,” Wanda conceded but her usual fury was on the trained men around them.
One of the men held up a megaphone to his stern looking face and spoke. “Come out of the vehicle with your hands up.”
“Maybe they’ve got the wrong van,” Jaime whispered as he crouched a little in his seat.
“We know you’re in there. So come out quietly and there will be little trouble.”
“He’s lying,” Pietro whispered.
“Really,” Logan ground out through his teeth.
“Do you think Magneto sent them?”
“No,” Wanda answered Jaime with resolve. “They’re not mutants.”
“How do you know for sure?” Jaime asked again.
“Because,” she remarked through a smirk. “They’re carrying guns and only humans carry guns. Their pathetic scapegoat that makes them think they have power.”
“Are you about to go on a power trip, Wanda?” Jaime eyed her.
“If it gets us out of here, I say go for it,” Logan added as he kept his eyes on the men surrounding the van and his hearing trained on the coffin for any indication it was about to fall.
“She’s definitely a mutant though,” Pietro noted as a female moved out from behind one of the SUV’s, her hips swaying as she walked through the men and came to stand in front of them.
Jaime let out a low whistle. “Now that’s definitely not Dead Girl.”
The woman was tall and slender and it was obvious with each deliberate step she took that she was extremely agile, her body springing up as she walked. There was something very reptilian about her and the fact that even from a distance away Logan could make out a shimmer to her skin that was showing only confirmed his guess. She had snakelike skin but still the body of a very exotic woman. Her short slicked back hair was the colour of the night sky at its darkest.
“Don’t be shy,” she yelled towards the van, suddenly taking over for the trained men.
She walked back and forth with her hips swaying completely calm. She didn’t appear to even been anxious and Logan knew that was going to be a problem. Where he could sense the men’s fear at the unknown threat of a few trapped mutants, the woman had no concern at all, but perhaps her calmness displayed something he could work to their advantage, she had patience.
“I’ve got an idea,” Logan spoke up.
“Being?” Pietro asked.
“I go out there and find out what they want.”
“It’s pretty obvious what they want,” Wanda stated.
“But why?” Pietro questioned.
“Seems Rogue was more of a popular girl then we originally thought,” Jaime added.
Wanda gripped the steering wheel. “I knew she was in too deep.”
She took a deep breath before facing Logan. “So what’s your plan, Wolverine? Get yourself shot?”
“Maybe,” Logan answered. “I go out there and if that happens I’m the only one who would survive, you all wouldn’t.”
“Aw, sis,” Pietro mocked. “He’s showing his concern for us.”
Logan scowled at him. “The way I see it between the four of us we have a chance but if we just jump out of the van their reaction will be to shoot first. If I can buy us some time, distract a few of them I’m sure you can handle the rest.”
“He’s right,” Pietro consented. “He goes out first and their focus will be split. Jaime and I can handle the ones on this side of the bridge quickly enough that they won’t know what hit them and Wanda will...”
“Be the Big Finish,” she finished for him.
Everyone nodded.
“Well go on,” Wanda directed at Logan. “It’s time for you to be the hero.”
Slowly, Logan opened the side door halfway, still concealing Jaime and showed both of his hands up and out in front of him as he gradually emerged from the van.
He kept his hands up as he took a few steps closer towards the woman.
“Just you?” she remarked with a little bit of amusement but her green eyes were all business like.
Logan shrugged and shot her one of his trademark smirks.
“So,” she began as she eyed the tinted windows of the van. “You were driving that van all by yourself...from the back seat.”
“What can I say,” Logan began. “I’ve got really long legs.”
The amusement dropped from her expression immediately. Snapping her fingers in the air the men pulled back the safety on their guns.
“Really, if you’d just co-operated it would be a whole lot simpler.”
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled. “You don’t need to know that and frankly I don’t care who you are.”
“If you don’t care, why did you nearly crash my van and now have several guns aimed at me.”
“Because you chose to associate yourself with a certain package that my boss wants in his possession.”
“Package?” Logan question. “Look, Lady I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The coffin,” she spat suddenly. “Rogue’s body.”
Logan’s eyes hardened. “Ain’t yours for the taking.”
“Such sudden possessiveness,” she remarked. “Why? Are you really willing to trade your life and your friends for an already dead one?”
“Isn’t this a bit redundant,” he started. “You telling me the ridiculous of the situation when you’ve got ten men with guns trained on me over a dead body. What interest do you have in a dead body?”
“In my line of business secrets have a way of creeping back up and I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.” She nodded towards the back of the trunk as one of the men pulled out what looked like a tank of gas. “Ashes to ashes,” she quoted before smirking. “Means I know for sure dead is dead and my boss’ secrets stay secret.”
“Who’s your boss?”
“Did you really think I was going to answer that?”
Logan shrugged. “Hey, I tried.”
“Yes, now try getting out of the way. Get down on your knees.”
In response Logan smirked. “I usually only get down on my knees for a few women but I mean if you insist, especially with an audience.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits that were reminiscent of a snake’s.
She opened her mouth to say something but a sudden yell from the other side of the van followed by the sound of a crash drew her attention.
She tilted her head towards the man with the mega phone.
“Do you have a clear line of sight to the other side?”
“No.”
As though sensing her next instructions he lifted the megaphone up to his face. “Rogers, what is your position over there?”
The woman frowned at the lack of response.
“Rogers?” the man tried again. “Answer me.”
“What type of game are you playing?” she directed at Logan. “Tell your friends to get out of the van now.”
“They’re not my friends.”
The woman scowled at him and abruptly turned on her heel as she proceeded to head back towards the SUV. “Shoot them,” she commanded.
Logan yelled and unleashed his claws as he caught the closest man in the mid section and attacked the next one without missing a beat. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar green and black blur and noticed several of the men flew back a few spaces and landed on their backs as though a strong gust of wind had hit them. The green blur came to a standstill and Pietro remained standing tall in its wake.
He nodded at Logan.
“The men on the other side?” he questioned.
“Jaime is finishing taking care of them. I thought it was fair I mean ten of Jaime versus five of them.”
“We need to get the van into position for an escape.”
“I’m sure you two can handle that,” Wanda spoke suddenly
as she came up behind them. Her eyes were focused on the scattered men that were reaching for their guns. “I can handle this.”
Logan started to object when Pietro interrupted him.
“Believe me she can handle it,” he spoke confidently as he was a green blur once again as he raced towards the front of the van.
“Really, your concern is touching but go,” Wanda directed towards Logan as she stepped towards the men and held her hands out in front of her. There was a flash of white light and suddenly the men’s guns started to melt right in their hands.
“I see you’ve got it under control,” Logan smirked as he ran towards the van.
As he made his way closer he was alarmed by the fact that Pietro hadn’t got the engine started.
“What’s the problem?” Logan yelled as he made his way towards the door.
Pietro ignored him as he turned the key again and again until finally the van’s engine sputtered to life.
“I think it’s a little banged up,” the silver haired mutant remarked dryly.
“Yeah, but if it gets us away from here, it will do.”
Pietro stepped on the gas and the tires spun.
Jaime appeared suddenly in the passenger’s side window.
“One of the back tires is wedged between the guardrail and the ditch.”
“Then do something about it,” Pietro snapped.
“Wanda...” Jaime started.
“Is busy,” he spat.
Logan turned to watch Wanda and he was amazed to find that somehow she’d been able to destroy part of the bridge without even the shock of an explosion. The SUV and the scattered men, along with the unknown woman were backing up as the bridge on their side literally started to disappear and without the use of their guns they were going to be no threat.
“I don’t care if it takes twenty of you Jaime, but lift the wheel out NOW!” Pietro bellowed.
Jaime nodded and disappeared.
There was a loud screeching noise at the back as something dragged along the metal of the guardrail and Logan realized with horror that it was the coffin.
Sprinting towards the back of the van Logan just caught the end of the coffin going over the rail as he gripped the golden rails on the coffin itself as he tried to pull it back up. The muscles in his arms were straining as he tried to keep the coffin from pitching forward. Trying in vain he struggled to gain some leverage but the van suddenly burst forward and he noticed Jaime was nowhere to be seen. Jaime had already gotten the wheel free and Pietro had step on the gas without realizing what was occurring.
Movement on his left surprised him as he spotted a lone man that Jaime and Pietro hadn’t knocked out crawling out from one of the bushes his gun trained on the van.
“Get down!” Logan yelled back towards the van.
But his warning was useless because the man trained the gun on him and start shooting. The first bullet ripped through Logan’s shoulder and he hissed in reaction but kept his grip on the coffin. The second hit him in the thigh and caused his grip to slip slightly.
“Fuck,” he snarled as he kept his focus on dragging the coffin back up.
There was a yell from the bushes and he briefly looked back towards his left as the man was suddenly lifted into the air by an invisible hand and slammed into a nearby tree. A determined Wanda appeared on his right and several little orbs of yellow light formed in her hand as she proceeded to stretch out her palm and the orbs of light danced towards the coffin as they circled around it. He felt the coffin become lighter in his grip.
“It’s alright now,” Wanda whispered surprisingly soft. “I’ve got it.”
He looked at her in uncertainty but he felt the coffin completely level out in his grip. He didn’t relax and let go until the orbs of light Wanda was controlling pulled the coffin completely back over the railing. Letting go he watched in amazement as the coffin slid back into the van. Wanda raised her hand once more and the orbs of light disappeared and miraculously the door was repaired as well.
Wanda watched him silently for a moment, her dark eyes for once not condescending but open as she seemed to gaze at him in a new light. She turned and headed towards the front of the van.
Shuffling his feet he moved around the van and noticed that the SUV the unknown woman had been in was gone.
Logan let out a deep breath and rubbed his hand across his face, astounded to find he was shaking a little bit. Taking a few more deep breaths he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced back over the railing once more. It was hell of a drop.
Even in death nothing had changed. He was prepared to follow Rogue no matter the consequences it seemed. Always leaping before thinking. It was damn instinct.
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