Logan struggled towards consciousness, his throat dry and his head throbbing. He felt cold concrete under his back. As his awareness increased, the thread of Magneto’s cold voice emerged from the confusing jumble of sounds.
“The girl must stay unconscious, but I would like to talk to the Wolverine...”
Marie. He could smell her close by. With enormous effort, he managed to open his eyes, squinting against the harsh lights overhead.
Magneto was gazing down at him, his keen eyes appraising.
“The Wolverine. Charles’s metal man. We meet at last.”
Logan growled, snapping the claws out, struggling to rise.
“Where’s Marie, you bastard?” he ground out, trying to brace himself up.
Magneto raised an arm, palm out, and Logan was suddenly paralyzed. He strained every muscle against the force, but it was useless -- Magneto’s power controlled every metal-laced bone in his body. He tried to tamp down the rush of panic as his breath was squeezed out of him by the involuntary contraction of his ribcage.
Magneto smiled, loosening the pressure on Logan’s chest now that he had demonstrated his complete control. He twitched his finger, and Logan’s head swiveled like a puppet’s. He could see Marie now, lying on the concrete floor a few yards away. Magneto swiveled Logan’s head back, chuckling malevolently.
“It has cost me a fortune in tranquilizers to keep you two under control for even this long. That was anticipated for you, but tell me Wolverine...why does she have a healing factor?” Magneto crouched down, his face inches from Logan’s as he looked keenly into Logan’s eyes. “Naughty boy...have you been touching her?”
Logan felt the roar of rage and frustration trapped in his chest. He strained to bring the claws up, itching to pierce Magneto’s chest, but it was futile. Seeing the attempt Magneto spread his fingers in retaliation, and Logan’s claws spread apart painfully, tearing at the intricate musculature of his hands, sending bolts of pain shooting up his forearms.
“That is not polite, Wolverine. I would like to speak with you, as friends. I am astounded by my good fortune, and I must share my joy.” Magneto straightened up, looking superciliously down at Logan. “You -- Charles’s most loyal attack dog -- have been a thorn in the side of the Brotherhood for years. And yet, what could we do? How could we kill someone who cannot die?”
Magneto’s gaze shifted to Marie, and Logan felt his heart clench with fear.
“And dear Rogue. Who would ever have thought that one lonely, sniveling teenager could cause me so much trouble? For five years I have sought her, the last piece of the puzzle, the key to all my plans. Oh, I have searched for another, but it is no use -- she is unique.”
A triumphant smile spread slowly across Magneto’s face. “You cannot deny that this is destiny, Wolverine. When Rogue escaped me five years ago, I missed my chance at the summit of world leaders. I will never have such an opportunity again, and that has been the one flaw in my plan. The best I can do now is to choose one city. Only one city, its entire population converted to mutantcy by my brilliant machine. How to choose -- New York? Paris? Beijing? But now...now thanks to you, I may no longer have to choose.”
Magneto’s voice was shrill now, and he was exerting unconscious force on Logan in his excitement, making every molecule of metal in his body vibrate. “Do you see the beautiful symmetry of it all? The Wolverine, in my hands, together with the only weapon that can truly kill him.” He looked at Marie again, and Logan’s guts twisted as he put it together. Magneto was going to force Marie to kill him, just as he had forced her to kill Bobby.
“And then...with a healing factor in full force...who knows? Perhaps she might survive, to be used again and again.” His cold eyes looked into Logan’s. “Or perhaps not.” He shrugged carelessly. “No matter. I will start with the most important city first, and we shall see.”
Logan struggled to speak, but could not. Magneto chuckled and released the pressure on his jaw and ribcage, keeping the rest of his skeleton pinned. “Something to say, my friend?”
“You sick sonuvabitch -- you’re going to torture an innocent girl -- again -- for what? For nothing!”
Magneto narrowed his eyes, and with a twitch of his hand pulled Logan fully into the air until he was dangling like a puppet. Another quick gesture and he went rocketing backward, crashing against the brick wall behind him.
“It is my curse that I have the brilliance to see what others cannot, Wolverine. And I see the inevitability of what is to come. Genocide, on a worldwide scale, for all our kind,” he hissed. He shoved up the sleeve of his jacket, exposing the faded blue numbers on his forearm. “I have lived it once, and I will do anything -- anything -- to stop it this time.”
Magneto stepped back, regaining his composure, smoothing down his sleeve. “It is no matter to me if you believe or not, Wolverine. One girl -- she is nothing. And I will even let you say goodbye.”
Magneto moved toward the door, and Logan realized for the first time that the front of the cell was walled off in plastic. Magneto touched the door contemplatively. “Plastic. I despise the stuff, but dear Rogue still has my power over metal, does she not? I prepared this cell especially for her, but mere plastic cannot contain the Wolverine, can it? I’ll have to find some other way.”
Logan’s body was suddenly racked with excruciating, blinding pain. His muscles screamed and his tendons snapped as Magneto twisted the metal of his skeleton, fusing together his joints and spine, bones cracking under the torsion. He collapsed against the back wall as Magneto abruptly dropped the magnetic field that had been holding him.
Logan heard Magneto’s voice through the haze of pain. “Watch them,” he said to someone Logan could not see. He closed the cell door, his voice now muffled but still discernible through the plastic. “I’ll be back when the machine is ready for transport.”
Logan took in shallow gasping breaths, trying to control the raw jagged blaze of pain. Slowly his muscles and tendons knit together around the new warped metal of his skeleton. His arms were locked straight, his spine fused in a twisted posture. He strained, trying to bend his knees or elbows, but the adamantium was as unyielding as ever.
He grunted, throwing his weight forward, managing to topple over.
“Hey -- stop it.” A nervous voice. A familiar voice.
Logan lifted his head. “John -- what the fuck?”
Pyro stood beyond the plastic barrier, nervously fiddling with his lighter. He looked away, unable to meet Logan’s eyes.
Logan managed to use his locked arms to drag his dead weight along the concrete floor, inching closer to where Marie lay unconscious.
“Professor Logan, just stop it. I don’t want to have to get Mr. Lehnsherr.” A quaver in Pyro’s voice now. Logan spared him another glance. The kid looked a little green.
“You do what you gotta do kid,” Logan ground out, painstakingly crawling forward another few inches.
Pyro started pacing nervously, the lighter flicking open and closed in double time. “You weren’t supposed to be there -- it was just supposed to be her.” His voice gained strength and venom on the last word.
Logan didn’t waste his breath, using all his strength to propel himself onwards. Another lurch forward, and another, and he was almost to Marie.
“You can’t do anything for her. Just stop it, okay?” Pyro sounded like he was on the verge of tears now.
Logan dragged himself up even with Marie’s face. She was collapsed on her back as well, her breathing abnormally shallow, her pulse alarmingly slow. She had said the healing factor she had gotten from him had been slowing down...how much tranquilizer had they given her?
He thought furiously, nuzzling his face against her skin, breathing in her scent. There was no way he was getting out of here, but Marie...she could find a way. He didn’t know how, but he had to try. That sick bastard was not going to torture her again. A sudden memory came to him. I can’t control it when I’m in pain...
“Sorry, darlin’,” he muttered. He took her earlobe between his teeth, making sure that his lips were in contact with her skin, and then bit down firmly.
He felt the jerk go through her as her body processed the shock of pain, snapping her mutation on. He held on grimly against the pain that flooded his own body as he felt his strength and healing being slowly sucked away.
Marie’s eyes snapped open, and she shoved him away. Her eyes searched his, and then he saw the flicker as she accessed his memories. “Logan -- oh my God, no!”
Logan slumped back, barely holding onto consciousness. He had done what he could. He could hear Pyro babbling now. “Professor Logan -- what did you do? Christ, what did you do!?”
Marie stood up in a swift movement. She exhaled, and Logan saw the frost in the air. As Logan watched, her eyes swirled with color for a moment, and then turned a clear icy blue.
Pyro was scrambling for the door.
“Johnny, don’t do it. It’s me -- it’s Bobby.”
Pyro stilled, his hand on the door handle. His face flushed red with fury. “Stop saying that -- you’re not him! You killed him!” He stalked toward the cell door, lighter at the ready.
Marie shook her head slowly. Her vowels broadened with Bobby’s distinctive New England accent. “You’ve got it all wrong, Johnny. Marie tried to save me. Magneto killed me. And now you’re helping him. He used us both, and now he’s using you.”
Pyro slammed his hand against the plastic wall. “Shut up! You’re lying! It’s a trick!”
Marie’s lips quirked up in a mischievous smile. “What can I say to convince you that you don’t mind Professor Logan hearing? Remember when we were up late after everyone had gone to bed, watching Star Trek, and I told you I had a thing for Wesley Crusher?” Pyro made an inarticulate noise of shock.
“Or the first time we kissed,” Marie continued, “when we took that vodka Kitty stole from the liquor cabinet to the boathouse, and you told me about how your mom cheated on your dad and you had never told anyone about it before...”
Pyro’s face was pallid now, eyes stretched wide. “Bobby?” he breathed. He reached out his hand now, pressing his fingertips up against the plastic wall. Marie matched her fingers to his on her side of the wall, and a sob escaped Pyro.
“I’m not going to stay long, Johnny. It’s not fair of me to use Marie like this. But you have to know -- Magneto is the one who killed me. Marie tried to stop it, but he was using us both. Don’t let him do it to you too.”
Pyro pressed his palm flat against the plastic, shocked speechless.
Marie smiled gently. “I have to tell you though, before I go...I’m sorry I left, Johnny. I freaked out about us, and I ran. The Brotherhood was just an excuse. I knew it was a mistake, but by then it was too late. I should have stayed with you, and worked it out, but I was a coward.” She gulped in a deep breath, pressing her forehead against the plastic. “I love you, man,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry I never told you.”
Pyro clenched his jaw, blinking back tears. “Bobby -- just...stay. Please.”
Marie shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes also. She ducked her head and swiped her face with a gesture Logan recognized as not being her own. “That’s all I had to say, Johnny. I know you’ll do what’s right.” She stepped back from the plastic, but reached out her palm to where Pyro’s hand was still flattened against the wall. “Goodbye, Johnny.” Marie stumbled back, her eyes shifting to brown, leaving a frozen handprint behind on the plastic wall.
Pyro pressed his hands up against the plastic frantically. “Bobby! Bobby -- come back!”
Marie closed her eyes tight, and then opened them again. She shook her head helplessly. “I’m sorry.”
Pyro took a step back, and then another. He wrapped his arms over his head. “Fuck!” he screamed.
Marie came back to Logan, dragging him until she could hold his head on her lap. “Logan,” she said, helplessly.
“It’s okay, baby.” He turned his eyes to Pyro. “Isn’t it, John?”
Pyro looked down at the ground. “Goddammit.” He seemed to make up his mind. “I don’t know the code,” he mumbled. “How do I get you guys out of there?”
Logan growled. “Think. You must have seen him enter it. You’ve got to get Marie out of here.” He looked at Marie. “You’ve got to go with him. Come back for me.”
Her eyes snapped to his, stunned. “I’m not leaving you!”
“Of course not.” Magneto’s voice made them all jump. “I’m sorry,” he mocked, stepping into the room. “Did I interrupt a moment?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Getting to the end here -- I think maybe one or two more chapters to go! :-D
Chapter End Notes:
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