ShadowCat was patrolling the south perimeter when she caught sight of a large, shadowy figure moving towards the entrance where Cyclops and the others had entered. "Storm, I think we have company I’m moving in, south entrance."

ShadowCat neared the entrance and didn’t see anything. Moving in closer, she pushed open the door, making the classic mistake. She never even saw the huge hand that back-handed her from behind, knocking her unconscious.

"Go complete the mission, I’ll handle this, and the others. I’ll meet you back at the base." The large predator flashed his canines as he made his way inside.

Avalanche hid in the shadows as he waited for the X-men, and just like reading a book, first on scene was the Goddess Storm. Yah, this was going to be fun.

Storm just touched the ground and called out for ShadowCat. Getting no reply, she knew something was wrong. She reached out to Psylocke and let her know what was going on. Looking around for any sign of a struggle, she noticed a foot peeking out from around the corner. Knowing full well that marching right in was most certainly a trap, Storm tried to outsmart her would-be assailant and called on some lightning.

Just as her eyes rolled back and started turning white, a nice left hook caught her by surprise, causing her lightning bolt to hit the generators, smack on. The whole place lit up like the fourth of July.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It could have been five minutes, it could have been an hour since Cyclops had taken off with Colossus. Wolverine was ready to take someone’s head off. There was something in the air. She was here -- he could feel it in his adamantium-covered soul.

Jubilee could hear the growling over the hum of the electrical units. It was rattling her already frazzled nerves.

"Wait, Beast. Go back".

Beast quickly brought up the last picture; it was a live feed to a medical room. There were several nurses standing around a metal bed, and a few men in lab coats. Just as one of them prepared a thick syringe he moved to the right and they could clearly see a patient strapped down to the metallic bed.

Jubilee gasped at the image, the white streak was all the confirmation she needed. "It’s her, it’s Rogue."
Wolverine wanted to tear the damned monitor off. "Beast, where is that?"

"I’m trying, the co-ordinates are not making sense."

"What the hell do you mean? Where is that, damn it?" Wolverine was helpless to watch, as they injected her with whatever crap it was. As she started convulsing, his eyes caught the sight of blood oozing out of her. His chest felt like someone had sucker punched him. He could feel his knuckles itch.

Tears sprang to Jubilee’s eyes, whispering, "What are they doing to you, chica?" She couldn’t bring herself to keep looking and was slowing backing away from the monitors. Bumping into the wall, she braced herself on the cold cement, and accidentally flicked a switch.

Just then the large mirror in front of them came on, and all three mutants gasped at the sight. Looking down below was none other than the very room they had been looking for. Rogue was crashing (did you mean thrashing?) on the table below.

Just as Wolverine was ready to charge the window, the whole structure starting shaking, the monitors flickered on and off, and some of the electrical outlets started smoking. Wolverine and Jubilee fell to their knees as the room shook. Wolverine looked up and dove for Jubilee as the fluorescent lighting and several pieces of ceiling above came crashing down over them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Colossus, you go search the rest of this hallway, andsee if there’s anyone inside."

Scott reached the padded room. Taking a shaky breath, he used his optic beams and blasted the lock. The sight that met his red-tinted world broke his heart. His childhood friend, first crush, first kiss, was sitting huddled in the corner muttering gibberish. She had a metal collar around her throat, and her right arm was shining like a diamond.

"Emma."

"Please, no more, please."

It took a lot to break the stoic face of Scott Summers, but seeing his cherished friend, the only good remnant of a better forgotten childhood lost and broken, brought tears to his eyes.

"Emma, it’s Scott. Scott Summers." Coming next to her, he gently lifted her chin and hoped she’d recognize him.

For an endless moment light blue eyes met glass ruby-covered ones. She gently brought up her left arm and caressed his clean-cut cheek.

"Scott."

Leaning into the caress, "Yeah, it’s me."

Before either could say another word, Colossus walked in. "There isn’t anyone." Before he could finish his thought, the walls started violently shaking and crumbling around them.

[Psylocke, Storm, what the hell is going on?]

[I don’t know where Storm or ShadowCat are, but this place just lit up. You’d better get out of there, Scott, before you're buried alive. I’ll give word to the team that everyone needs to get out now.]

Picking up a shivering Emma, Scott and Colossus ran out hoping to catch up with Wolverine, Beast and Jubilee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not being able to read Dr. Essex gave Jean an uneasy feeling. She was used to picking up on surface thoughts, and twisting them to her will. It made getting her way much easier.

"Tell me, Dr. Essex, what course of treatment do you plan for patient Doe?" Jean thought she’d pump him for information.

"Oh, we have various methods. Some are quite cutting edge. We’ve managed to create a serum, that helps isolate the mutant gene. It’s only temporary but its quite promising. Take Mr. Doe for example, if we can shut off his mutant gene, he can be reintroduced into society, and become a productive member. In fact, after going over your notes, he’s a perfect candidate for the testing cycle. There are a few other treatment options, but none as promising."

Jean was shocked to say the least and it showed. Before she could stutter a response, Dr. Essex was already going on about state of the art procedure involving shock therapy. It was all lost on her, Jean’s mind kept going over the fact they could practically neuter mutants. What the hell was going on behind these walls?

They reached the end of the corridor when the doctor pulled out a key guard and opened a door that lead to another hallway. There were locked doors on each side of the hall. A few were filled with obvious mutants. Reaching the end, Dr. Essex pressed opened the room, and motioned for them to make their way inside. Before Jean had a chance to step inside the door slammed shut, and a pair of hands were pressing a clorophorm cloth to her face. She promptly passed out.

Reaching into his lab coat, he pulled out a needle and took a vial of her blood. Just as he finished, the hallway violently shook. Having what he needed, Dr. Essex left much the same way he appeared, through a metal doorway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wolverine came to with a furry blue butt in eye sight. The coppery scent of his own blood clung to his nostrils.

"It’s good to have you back my friend."



"What happened?"

Beast put the hefty Wolverine down. "The lighting from above came crashing down. It punctured your left lung. You saved young Jubilee’s life".

"Not that. Where's Rogue?"

"The room was compromised. The ceiling was coming down on us. We had to get out of there. The only way to that room is by going to the level below."

"No, get Jubilee out. Which way?" Beast sighed, knowing that nothing he could say would change Wolverine's mind.

"Take this stairwell and then a sharp left. Keep following that corridor and you can’t miss it. And good luck my friend, I truly hope you find her."

Wolverine took off, not looking back. He had to find her. He had to, he’d never been this close.

Just as he opened the door to the end of the stairwell, smoke hit his face. The thick black smoke didn’t keep him from pushing forward, as he went head first into the metal chest of Colossus.

“Wolverine, where are you going?”

“Can it, One-Eye. Rogue is down here."

“You can’t get through. The walls are coming down."

“I’m going. You can’t stop me." Looking over to Scott's precious cargo, Logan sneered. "Looks like you found what you came for. Did you even bother to look for her, for anyone?"

The contempt in Wolverine’s voice was like a bucket of cold water over the fearless leader. The fact that he hadn’t looked for anyone brought memories to him that he’d long since buried.

Trying to defuse the situation, Colossus volunteered himself on this kamikaze mission. After all, Rogue had been a good friend to him, too. “I’ll go with him, the smoke and flames won’t affect me with my mutation."

“Beast and Jubilee are on their way out," Wolverine tossed over his shoulder as he moved past Colossus, making his way through the crumbling passage way.

The further in they got, the more bodies that littered the floor. All were wearing white lab smocks or green scrubs. Several men and women also passed them, trying to make their way out. Taking a deep breath, Wolverine unsheathed his claws, and had a woman pressed against the wall.
“The girl, where is she?"

“What? Who? Let me go." The nurse squirmed under the massive frame of the Wolverine, who was raising his claws to her temple.

“I’ll ask you one more time: where is the she, the one who was strapped down while you were watching?"

“That way. That way, end of the hall.”

Wolverine tossed her aside and kept going. Just as he made it to the last stretch, he caught a fresh scent. Turning left, he followed his nose. Wolverine could feel the blood pumping through his veins as he desperately tried to keep hold of the fresh scent in the air. He could feel her just in his grasp, and it was so damned frustrating. The walls around them shook as the debris was falling around them. The smoke grew thicker; even he was having a hard time breathing. After a series of hallways and several twists and turns, they pushed through a door leading them outside. At first both mutants were confused, until they heard coughing to the far right of them.

Wolverine unceremoniously grabbed the man by the lapel of his not so white lab coat, coming into his neck, snarling “Where is she? You’re covered in her blood."

Dr. Harrison was face to face with an extremely violent mutant and he knew it. He just didn’t care anymore. The past two years had been a nightmare. Instead of saving lives with his research, he’d been forced to kill dozens of innocent mutants, as well as destroying the young women in question. He was pretty sure his number was up anyway. He was sure they knew he’d let her go. His employer would act swiftly. They somehow knew what he was going to do before he did it.

He answered the amber eyed feral, “I don’t know who your talking about."

Wolverines used the full weight of his adamantium fist and decked his remaining eye. Falling to his knees Dr. Harrison howled in pain. He was sure the maniac had maimed his eye. Trying to steel himself, and put on the false courage that he most certainly did not feel, he looked up to where he guessed his attacker was, and waited for the next blow.

“I’ve been tortured, far worse than this."

“Just tell me where she is, and you’ll walk away from here."

“She’s dead."

“You’re lying. I can make this quick and easy. Tell me where she is. Otherwise, we’ll do this the hard way. Piece by piece. It’s your choice, bub."

“I left her inside."

Placing his metal claws to the doctor’s throat, Wolverine roared, “You son of a bitch! You left her there. You left her there!” The desperation in his voice made Harrison wince. Raising his fist to take the killing blow, Colossus once again tried to appease the wounded Wolverine.

“Wolverine, let's go back. I’ll help you. We won’t stop until we find her."

Dropping Harrison like a hot brick, he made to move back toward the entrance. Just then a series of several explosions shook the three men, bringing down the already crumbing structure.

Wolverine looked over the flames, and had anyone been looking at his eyes they would have seen how the light in them went out. There was a hole in the pit of his stomach that ached, no amount of healing factor was going to take that away. Instead of mourning he used that pain and filled it with white hot rage as he heard the coughing and wheezing of the man next to him. In less than a second he shoved his clawed fist right into the gut of the man that stank of Marie’s blood. He ever so gently pushed up till he felt the bones in his ribcage. Turning his head slightly to the right, wishing he hadn’t taken his eye just so he could see as the light died out of it. Not wanting to finish him off so quickly, he pulled out his claws knowing he’d bleed out slowly, and turned to the still blazing inferno.

The heat from the rubble forced the men to move further away. With all the commotion, no one noticed the slender figure hastily running into the woods, nor the larger feral figure that followed stealthily behind her.

The last shred of hope that he carried with him for the past two years was going up in flames, as he stood by helpless. Whatever that was left inside that made up Logan, burned off in the flames. All that was left was a wounded, soulless creature, that was more dangerous than ever. Someone else had been calling the shots, that he knew for sure. He’d find them and they’d pay. He take his revenge inch by inch, he'd make sure that they suffered just as much as Marie had.