Disclaimer: This fan-fiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is intended. Still unbetaed, mistakes are all mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

“Non, non, NON!” Gambit was bellowing. “You no understand what you’re asking, Marie. If we try to take de kids outta here, Father will crush us-”

Rogue’s voice was completely calm. “He’s just a man, Remy,” she was saying. “A man who has t’be stopped. Ah know you think o’ him as some sorta God, but he’s flesh and blood like anybody else.” Gambit opened his mouth to contradict her but she spoke over him. “He called you his right hand, cher, he told the kids t’follow you if he was ever incapacitated. Now we got a beast, a weather witch and the most dangerous psychic left on the planet making their way inta this compound as we speak. Not to mention the possibility of a field trip for the senior class, should this situation turn South.” She looked at him from under raised eyebrows. “That being the case, Ah can’t see incapacitating Father being a problem.” And as if the swamp rat had given his okay she turned to Kitty, pulling up a schematic of the base from the wall panel beside her. Making Logan wonder what else she’d gotten from Remy when she touched his cheek-

Because his girl was on a roll.

“Kitty, you go in here,” she tapped a section of the map one level down, “You can Kurt can bamf down there and start opening the chambers. This one,” and she singled out a particular room, marked Spare Parts on the computer, “Should be your top priority-” She glanced at Remy, “No matter what anyone says.”

This time Gambit made to grab her shoulder to stop her talking. Logan growled, getting ready to make with the snikt but after a second Marie’s eyes flashed black and red, charging the Cajun with his own mutation. He hissed in pain, skittering back, and Logan snickered. As did Kurt and Kitty. “Don’t even try to tell me to leave it alone, Rem,” she muttered. “There’s at least two of them haven’t been scheduled for organ harvest yet-”

“Organ harvest?” Kurt interrupted. “Vat do you mean, organ harvest?”

LeBeau winced and she sighed. “It means that Spare Parts is how Essex refers to the kids who don’t make the grade. They misbehave, or they try to leave, or else he just plain don’t like how they turn out and he sends ‘em there.” She tapped another one of the schematics, bringing up a list of numbers, what looked like barcodes with a series of descriptions beside them. Lists of mutations, lists of organs taken. Lists of childish faces, flesh and blood made inta scrap metal. A scoring system, their usefulness outta ten.

Every single kid in the room was ranked under three.

Kitty shook her head then. Reached back, smacked Gambit before returning to Marie’s side. At least LeBeau had the grace not to ask why she’d hit him; it was fucking obvious. “If you two can go through the lower chambers, pick up any stragglers, Remy can lead the others to the surface,” Rogue continued. She looked up at Kitty. “We got an ETA for Storm?”

“She’s topside now, waiting for us to set off her charges.”

She nodded curtly. “Good. We’ll wait until the kids get evacuated and then let ‘er rip. Can you open a line to her, ask the Loaner to start running interference with Daddy Essex? Just enough to short-out his hold on the kids-”

“On it.” Kitty nodded, pulling out her com. There was a beat of static, some muttered talking and then Pryde grinned at her. “It’s done, Marie,” she announced. “Hank’s staying back to guard Braddock, make sure she’s secure to take on Essex. Storm and the senior class are moving in.” As if from far away Logan heard the sound of a wind rising, smelt electricity on the air and then an almighty THUMP as if something real big and heavy had been thrown by a gale. Had to hand it to her, Storm’s sense o’ timing was impeccable. And like any real lady she always knew what to bring to a party: In this case a shit-load of powered up teenagers and the best technology money could buy. Oh, and a hurricane. Let’s not forget the hurricane. Logan grinned at the Kurt. “Your wife does good work,” he muttered.

Wagner’s grin was dry. “I know.”

As if on cue the lights began flickering, red alert sirens popping up all over the place. More bangs from the surface signalling that Storm was going to work. The word Evacuation began appearing on screens all over the lab, the place flickering to life, and suddenly LeBeau looked real fucking skittish. Like he wanted outta that room something fierce. It took Logan a moment to realise that the locks on the tanks were counting down, probably to opening- And if that had the swamp rat nervous, he didn’t wanna stick around and find out which o’ Essex’ pet projects were starting to wake up. According to the clock they had five minutes. “Marie-” he began warningly.

“Way ahead o’ ya, shuggs,” she muttered. “Just gotta get our shit sorted out first and then you and me got a job t’do.” Logan opened his mouth to ask what the fuck she was talking about, but she turned her even, deadly gaze onto Gambit again- Though she still kept her hand in his so he figured he could bide his time. “How long will it take you to get your family t’the surface, Rem?” she asked.

“Ah no know, maybe ten minutes. But Ah told you, dey no follow me, even if Ah tell dem to, dey no leave Father-”

“They will.” Her tone brooked no disagreement. He gnashed his teeth, swearing in French again and she laid a quieting hand on his cheek. Logan couldn’t help the growl which escaped his lips: He didn’t like that bastard touching her, didn’t matter how sorry he said he was. “The night we were married, you told me you wanted to start again,” she was whispering. “You told me you wanted to be a better man. This is your chance to be that better man, Remy. Not a hustler or a liar or a thief. Not the right hand of the devil, just so’s you can stay outta his path.” Suddenly she looked up, her gaze going to Logan. The love in it almost enough to floor him, almost enough to burn away those aching war-wounds in his chest. Almost. “Now lead these kids home,” she muttered. And she reached out fer Remy, took his hand. Squeezed it. And then gently, calmly, pressed it back against his heart.

Fer the first time, his expression told Logan that LeBeau knew he’d truly lost her. Something dark and bitten-tense and snarling inside Wolverine eased at the thought.

“Okay,” the Cajun whispered. Reached out and kissed her fingers once like he used to do when they were first wed. But his gaze held no charm now, no hope. Just sadness. “For you, chere, Ah try.” And he left the room as quietly as a breeze, a glowing, powered-up crow bar in his hand since he didn’t have his cane, his way lit by a glowing Queen of Hearts.

He didn’t look back. But then Logan wouldn’t have either.

The others took that as their cue to leave then. Kitty smiled at Marie, pulling her close and whispering something in her ear not even Logan could hear- And then kissing her gently on her forehead, dosing her with her mutation. “Just in case,” she muttered, letting her friend go and holding out her hand to Nightcrawler. Giving it an extra squeeze as if to take the edge off what he’d heard. He looked ashen-faced: Him’n ‘Ro had been trying fer a baby a coupla months now, and finding out what had bin done to these kids would’ve made anyone sick. Wagner nodded, squeezing her hand back and muttering “Ich weiss, katzen.” Then with a single nod to Logan the elf teleported them back into the bowels of the building. Leaving a whiff o’ brimstone in their wake-

Rogue turned to face him then.

“We’re going after Essex,” he rumbled. It wasn’t a question: They had to finish this if she was ever to be safe.

She nodded. “This is the only way he’ll leave you- us- alone, shuggs. Ah’m gonna introduce him to mah New Reliable.” And when he tried to object she spoke over him. “We both know it’s the only way,” she said quietly. “He’ll throw you around like a rag doll with his telekinesis. He’ll- He’ll,” fer a moment her fear spiked and she seemed close to breaking down but she pulled herself together. Cracked a wry smile. “He’ll hurt you and Ah can’t have that. Face it, darlin’” she drawled, trying to lighten the mood. “Ah’m kinda attached t’ya-”

“It’s my boyish good looks, ain’t it?”

“Nah, it’s your way with people’s what it is.” And this time he gave a snort. Pulling her close, his hand resting on her shoulders. Taking in her scent, telling himself not to think that it might be fer the last time. She looked so damn small, there in front of him. Small and perfect and easy to break-

He tried to push that thought away too but it just wouldn’t go.

“You say you got a job fer us,” he muttered then, forcing his voice steady. Ignoring the Wolverine inside him, who was demanding he just pick her up and leave, no questions asked, before anyone could hurt his lover. His mate. But she was right, even with as formidable a team as the X-Men and even with The Loaner’s help the New Reliable was their best chance fer beating Essex… Every other team member had a physically based mutation and he knew damn well what Essex did to mutants who had those. So he ignored the voice in his head screaming in protest at her plan.

He cleared his throat. “So what’s so special that we gotta take care of it ourselves?”

She stepped away from him, suddenly all business, and pulled up another file. Tapped in some codes- Clearly a lot more than nostalgia had passed between her and Remy when they touched- and began pulling up photos. Stats, a list of mutations and hospital records from the base. An image appeared of a little girl, about twelve years old, with thick brown hair and hazel eyes. She looked thin as a waif. “This is Essex’ Special Project MRX-23,” she explained. “She’s being kept in a special wing of the base not even Remy’s allowed into, about one floor above us.”

“What’s so special ‘bout her?”

She shook her head. “Ah don’t know: there’s no indication of her mutation, of who she’s based on, anything. She doesn’t even get to interact with the other kids. All Ah know is that Essex calls her his masterpiece.” And she brought up another series of schematics, a list of security codes and firewalls which were guarding the kid’s containment unit. Began tapping away at them as she spoke, her fingers moving quickly across the panels, disabling locks as she went. “The bastard will walk away from every child in this base and just start again,” she was muttering. “We both know it. Essex won’t come looking for either of us, he’ll just slither back inta the bushes like the snake he is. If we want to find him, then this little girl’s our best shot: He won’t leave without her.” And she nodded to the photo. Let he eyes turn red on black and stepped in front of a retinal scanner, letting the machine read her. Just fer a second she was the image of the Jean Grey clone and once again a chill slid up Logan’s spine. A beat passed and then the screen flashed with an Authorisation Accepted code. She threw him a triumphant grin. “Ah just opened her unit and asked told her to head to the surface,” she explained, “We can catch up to her and wait for Essex-”

A new voice spoke over her. “But where would be the fun in that, Marie?”

And with that the door of the lab slammed shut.

It took the space of a heartbeat for Logan to recognise that cold molasses voice and instantly he forced Rogue behind him. Popped his claws and growled. The door into the lab was hanging on its hinges, swaying as if being moved by a great hand- which was the case if Essex was using his telekinesis to prop it closed. But thinking about the finer points of the doctor’s mental abilities wasn’t important right now. Because Logan could see the little girl- the MRX-23- standing in front of Essex. Teeth drawn back and snarling. Hazel eyes dark, slowly turning black on red. There wasn’t a trace of human feeling in her face, her eyes, her scent- Her scent, which was tugging at Logan’s memory, trying to force something to the surface that he didn’t want to face. Essex was grinning, his hand on the child’s shoulder, his lips to her ear. Whispering. Coaxing. Turning another little girl into a killer fer him-

“Kill the female,” he was muttering. “Kill her and be sure to make it slow.”

Logan didn’t even give himself a moment to consider. He just went straight fer Essex, claws out, weight falling forward. Every instinct in his body screaming at him to protect Marie. He knew he could move faster than the bastard, he’d make himself- he wouldn’t even be near the little girl, wouldn’t touch her, not this time- This time there would be no dead children on his watch, there would be no repeat of Madripoor- He was so intent on the target he took his eyes off the child fer a minute-

And that was when she let loose four long, metallic claws from her wrists.

That was when she drove them deeply into Marie.