Steely gray eyes were watching, their hands shaking in unhealthy interest at the scene playing on the screen before them. Two human forms were there dancing along each other in the dark, performing a ritual older than the foundations of the world and speaking of a life soon to come. The eyes smiled thinking that neither of the two prisoners had taken notice of the black rounded device in one of the corners of the cell they were held in, which gave the eyes all the imagery they needed to sleep peacefully tonight. Everything was going according to plan, they thought. At this rate, they could probably even start phase 3 sooner than previously scheduled; the two deluded souls down there were going at it with so much frenzy and abandon… Yes, they would have their precious offspring, it was now a given.
Finally sated for now, the two forms settled to a well deserved sleep, and so did the gray eyes.
*********************
He felt warm. For the first time since longer than he cared to remember, Logan felt warm; the dormant beauty nestled against his chest brought a feeling of safety and belonging he didn’t want to see the end of. Opening his eyes to drink one more time the sight before him, he idly caressed his mate’s naked arm, trying hard to keep the tears gradually fogging his vision at bay. His mind had never felt that clear in the whole time he could remember, even before that fateful night so long ago; the night he woke up bloody and shackled to a sled in one of the complex’s too numerous morgues.
It was after a good night’s fight. Logan had been feeling like a little distraction from the woman-girl that haunted his thoughts, hunting for a warm and willing body to ease some of the pent up desire burning inside him. Guess I followed the wrong woman, he thought bitterly. He hadn’t seen it coming, really… In the haze of what he thought was the best lay he’d had so far, he failed to react soon enough to disable the blond woman sticking a three-inch long needle in his neck. He was out before he had the time to say “Fuck!”
He had done everything he could really, to hightail it far away enough from her; Marie. He was doing it for her, saving her from certain destruction. Yes… Being with her the way they both wanted would only end up with her tainted, destroyed; so he had fled, promising to come back some day when he would have worked out healthier feelings for the girl he had promised to protect. In afterthought, he had just wanted to honor his promise to her. But there she was, in the same Hell as he was, sleeping in his arms, her body already weaving what would become his child in her most secret place. How on earth had they taken a hold of her in the first place? He would have to ask her…when he gathered the courage.
Logan remembered more clearly as hours ticked by, all these women brought to him for one purpose only. He remembered the endless sessions of sperm sampling, humiliating him in the worst ways possible, robbing him of his masculinity. They had taken him back to possess his future as well as his past, and there was nothing he could do. But strangely enough, despite all the dedication they had put into their breeding program, it had never taken in all the time he’d been held captive. Maybe it was because of the way he had treated each and every single of the Mutant women he was supposed to get pregnant. They had drugged him countless times, making him as randy as a bull in rut, darkening his mind so much that at some point he had completely let his animal side take over in order to cope with the things they did to him; the things they made him do. The beatings, the experiments, the lack of food and clothing helped a great deal in that vein too. He was nothing more than a lab rat… Less than an animal sometimes, he thought. What would happen now? Logan was sure that the final drugs they had pumped him with the day before had the ultimate purpose of rendering him completely feral, casting him away from mankind once and for all; making him the angular stone for their dream of perfect weapons and world dominion. But Marie, his Marie had changed it all…But at what price? Looking at her one more time then, he was unable to contain the sorrow filled sobs smothering his abused lungs any longer. What would become of his Marie and their baby…What they did last night… He wish he could undo what he did with her, but he’d be lying through his teeth if he didn’t admit that even without the drugs, he may have not been able to hold back. For one moment, one tiny little moment, he wished he had never met her, but the thought as attractive as it was remained unbearable. He thought about a thousand ways to end it all, but came up empty.
The one and only way was to escape from this place, get his mate and cub-if cub there was-as far away from here as humanly possible. Logan had made up his mind; he would get them out or die trying.
****************************
Somewhere in another wing of the complex…
“How is it going Dr. Mann?”
The middle aged woman looked up from the screen before her to acknowledge the man who was talking to her. Hard blue eyes stared at the tall and muscular gray haired soldier-her superior-unblinkingly, reflecting her annoyance at his intrusion.
“Good.” She said stiffly.
“Is it taking?”
Eyes retargeting on her screen, Dr. Mann addressed her interlocutor in a distant voice, trying to sound professional and not simply pissed at his persistence.
“It’s been hard, but it’s taking this time. I don’t know why…” There was a kind of wonder in her voice despite herself. “The other female samples rejected the donor …they died. It was impossible to get any result whatsoever, but this new one is different, though. There was no rejection; the two mutations seem 100% compatible. I have already five fertilized ovum, and my guess is that at least two of them will be viable.”
“It’s very good indeed, Doctor. When do you think we will be able to transfer?” The man asked with unveiled excitement.
“Whenever you want. We’ll still have to examine her again, make sure that her body is ready to welcome the embryo, though.” The platinum blond woman retorted, her icy blue eyes scanning the amass of cells on the screen.
“What for? I’m sure she’s already more than ready for that, courtesy of the Wolverine.”
“What did you do, Colonel? What were you thinking? You could jeopardize the whole operation!” She shot back, her full attention on the steely gray eyes burning into hers.
“Dr. Mann…What do you say you take care of your job, which is to make sure that the embryo you transfer back into that girl will become the most powerful mutant ever heard of, and I take care of mine?” The man purred as he lazily rested his hand on the lab coat covered shoulder of the woman sitting before him.
“Whatever you say.” Was the half murmured, half breathed answer.
“That’s more like it.” Montgomery said, his hand effortlessly heading lower until it reached soft rounded flesh.
“I’m working…” Dr. Mann managed, her breathing labored.
“And so am I…Make sure to join me later in my office *Doctor*.”
And with that said, he stormed out the room, leaving a very much frustrated woman fuming in front of the glaring screen of her computer. Yes, she definitely had some work to do, heedless of what her crazy hormones dictated. She had a Super-Mutant to create, and that came before sex, or anything else for that matter. The woman took a devious pleasure in her work, playing with their main test subject’s cells, shaping them in whatever she wanted. She had seen him at his arrival and recognized in him a raw sexuality that could have made her come on the spot if she hadn’t caught herself. She laughed bitterly at the thought; a woman her age should definitely forget about specimens like the Wolverine. She was on the decline, and he was…well he was the very image of power, and drool causing virility. But she still kept dreaming that if things were different… Thinking back on what Montgomery had said a few moments ago, suggesting that this slip of a girl was getting some of the very thing she lusted after, all consuming rage tinted her world a dangerous shade of red. She hated her… Dr. Mann had examined her on more than one occasion; Hell she had even performed her last examination, making sure the girl was ready to have the night of her life with the Animal. It should have been her, getting her rocks off with Mr. Strong and Potent! She was tempted then and there to throw all the slides on which semen met ovum to the floor in impotent rage and unjustified outrage. But no…It would be worse if she did so, they would have to start all over again. The sooner the little slut was pregnant, the sooner she would be out of the way, and then...
Montgomery wanted Super-Mutant babies? “Consider it done.” The hysteric blond woman muttered to the high powered microscope on her right, readying herself for a long and exhausting day of work.
***********************
Hank McCoy had driven all the way from JFK airport to Westchester without stopping. The message he had received from his long time friend, Charles Xavier had unsettled him more than anything else could have. The voice on the other end of the line sounded agitated; a characteristic that he usually didn’t associate with the powerful telepath. So instead of calling him back, Dr. McCoy, or Beast as he was also known had thought it better to head to the place he once regarded as his home; the mansion. So many years had passed since then.
Finally seeing the imposing gates of Charles Xavier’s School for the Gifted Youngsters, a mixture of anticipation and fear dueled in him. Entering his code on the gates’ digital panel, he willed his racing heart to settle back down to a healthier rhythm; it was no use risking a heart attack over things he still knew nothing about. He had heard of something, though while he was in Washington a few days ago. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but he had caught a conversation between the President and the Secretary of Domestic Affairs on his way to the President’s private office. There was noise of a big scale operation lead by the Canadian government. That such news had transpired over to the Oval Office made the blue furred Mutant’s blood turn to ice in his veins.
Now parking his car in front of the main entrance, Hank hoped to God that what Charles Xavier wanted to tell him wouldn’t include the words “labs” and “Canada” in the same sentence. His greatest fear was that this Program so long ago aborted rose again from dust and come back to haunt them again. Without dwelling too much on those thoughts, Dr. McCoy made his way to his friend’s study. No need for anyone to announce him, the telepath must know by now that a worry laden, but also more than familiar mind was approaching; Heavens, he’d be more likely waiting for him at this point!
As if on a cue, the wooden panel to Xavier’s office opened, letting children of all age filter through it.
“Good morning Charles.” Hank started, smiling at his old friend in an attempt to rein on his troubled feelings .
The man sitting in a wheelchair at the other end of the large room, on the other hand had left the pretence for a long time now. The traditionally serene features of Charles Xavier were tired, lack of sleep and food evident on his grim face. He looked older than his years should tell, and that in itself set off all kinds of alarms in The Beast.
“Charles… What happened to you, my friend?”
Taking a mysterious file from one of the drawers sitting by his side, Xavier extended it to the blue furred man sitting in one of the chairs that adorned the space in front his desk. Reaching with trembling hands, Hank opened it wearily. He barely contained a gasp as his eyes scanned chemical formulas and schemes, page after page. Leafing back and fro, he stopped in mid-breath, briefly lifting his eyes to the silent man across from him.
“Is it viable?” He asked, his voice filled with dread.
“I don’t know, really… That is why I wanted to talk to you. But it’s not my main concern at the moment, though.” The older man admitted in defeat. “Two of my X-men have gone missing…and one of them ended up in a lab if the picture in this file is to be trusted.”
At the mention of the picture, blue taloned fingers leafed further through the thin pages, stopping on a black and white photograph. The scene there was shocking to say the least. A man was shackled to the floor, heavy chains wound around his neck and hands. But what caught the doctor’s attention was the claws protruding from the man’s hands and the expression of pure and unadulterated agony on his face.
“My stars…this is…”
“Weapon X. Alias Wolverine, or Logan, as I have come to know him.” Xavier added, as the blue doctor was unable to finish his sentence. “The picture is recent, that much I can tell.”
“This man is one of your X-men?”
“Yes indeed, at least until two years ago, which was the last time I saw him.”
“Who sent you this anyway, and why?”
“It might be a set up…but it could also be someone over there trying to send an SOS, someone who would be trying and save Logan. But it’s not everything, my friend. When Wolverine arrived here two years ago, he was with a young girl going by the name of Rogue. After painful events, they bonded in a way no one thought possible for people like them, and he ultimately sacrificed all he had for a girl he had barely known, saving her from Magneto on Liberty Island; I believe you can situate what I am referring to.” Sparing a quick glance at his audience to make sure they still were with him, Charles Xavier went on. “Rogue’s mutation is exceptional. She can absorb life energy with a touch, and in the case of mutants, she can take their mutation, thoughts, knowledge and retain them temporarily; which was why Magneto took a hold of her in the first place. When Wolverine saved her that day, he literally gave his life for hers. Ever since that night, the bond they shared deepened so much that I saw fit to send Logan away for some time. With her being so young, and him being so jaded, I convinced him that she needed time to herself, to grow up. It hadn’t taken long…”
“Charles, you’re not telling me everything, do you? What exactly happened between them?”
“Well, the thoughts the darkest side of Logan-the Wolverine-entertained about Rogue alarmed me greatly. Logan was literally fighting to keep control of his emotions in presence of the girl. She took a habit to go to him on nights she couldn’t sleep because of the nightmares she had; Absorbing Logan’s mutation also gave the nightmares he was plagued with. One night, his feral side took over while the girl was in his room. Sensing the beast and his intent towards Rogue, I urged Rogue to go back to her own bed, via Scott. So when I proposed Logan the following day to leave for a few months, he took the opportunity for what it was: a way to preserve the one person who truly mattered to him. And I’m afraid Logan still is to come back…”
“Charles…?”
“I put him on a lead to his lost past, hoping that it would keep his mind off a certain teenager; he had eagerly agreed to that. But it seems that the information I had received at that time was fake, leading him strait to where the Canadian government could tackle him.”
“Charles, my friend where did you send him?”
“To the abandoned facility of Alkali Lake…”
“…Where the Weapon X program started almost twenty years ago. But I thought the place was compromised, that there was nothing left there but rumble and ice.”
“That’s what I thought too. I thought that sending him back there would open his memory again. My sources seemed so safe, the lead so promising, that I never thought it could be a set up! Hank, they knew everything! They knew about me, about the X-men, and they used everything they could to have him back…”
“But what about the girl, Rogue?”
“After almost a year of hearing nothing about him, she set off looking for him across the country. I lost track of her too long ago. There’s no way to contact them, even with Cerebro; their unique mind frame making my powers useless.”
“You said that she left only a year after Wolverine’s departure, but it was two years ago…”
“The Last time Rogue was here, things didn’t go well. She was so upset at the team’s behavior regarding Logan’s whereabouts, especially Scott and Jean, that she decided to leave, swearing to never come back again. She had made it clear that she didn’t want to have anything to do with either of us. She was upset, but I didn’t have the heart to contradict her…I should have tried harder to make her stay, Hank. Everything is my fault.” The weary telepath said, his voice far away, as if by just thinking about all the what if’s that crowded his mind at the moment, he could all make it different.
“Charles, you couldn’t know!”
“For me Logan’s prolonged absence was a sign that he simply wasn’t ready to come back…And now I’m afraid that Rogue eventually figured out where Logan was headed, and ended up captured or worse. If the site is still active, then there is a risk…”
“I’m so sorry Charles…” The blue Mutant said in all sympathy for his older friend, his mentor.
“I know my friend, but what I need now is your help.”
“You have it! Tell me how.”
“First, I need to know the true nature of these schemes and formulas. Then, I need you to try and see if someone in Washington has heard of any recent underground activity in northern Canada, and…”
Without letting Xavier finish his sentence, Hank’s heart literally skipping a beat, he spoke the words he had wished he wouldn’t, all the while making his way to the X-mansion.
“I think I can already answer this question, I’m afraid. I involuntarily overheard a conversation over there that confirms this hypothesis. Still, I know that you will need more proof, but we could still send the team on site to give us a faster and more assertive idea.”
“Hank, I have missed your agility of mind so much, my friend!” The older man said, a hint of sadness in his voice. “But we need time. I couldn’t bear the loss of another one of them, Hank; I know you understand.”
“Very well, Charles. I’ll make a few phone calls, and will let you know of my progress. In the meanwhile, I will start with the file. Now, if you’ll excuse me. ”
“Of course. I believe then that you will honor us with your presence for a little while?”
“I didn’t see it differently!”
Hank McCoy stepped then out of the office, his mind set on one thing: end the Weapon X program once and for all.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here we go, here we go!
Thank you you all wonderful reviewers, readers, you really give me wings!!!
Chapter 6 is out. Not a lot of Rogan loving here (please don't stone me!), but the steps to freedom are merging nicely, I hope.
Enjoy!!!!
Thank you you all wonderful reviewers, readers, you really give me wings!!!
Chapter 6 is out. Not a lot of Rogan loving here (please don't stone me!), but the steps to freedom are merging nicely, I hope.
Enjoy!!!!