Logan felt like he had been run over, set on fire, run over again, and then for good measure thrown onto a bed of glass and nails and run over a third time. His whole body was pulsing with pain. It’d been awhile since anyone or anything had been able to make him feel like that. He was vaguely aware of the fact he was laying on his back in the middle of the cell, but wasn’t yet ready to test out opening his eyes yet. He had a feeling the light would make the migraine he had going a million times worse.

“Dead yet runt?”

“In your dreams Creed,” he growled, the vibration of it making the fire in his chest flare up, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. Damn that hurt. He heard the soft chuckle of the feral mutant from across the room, but had detected the small hint of concern in the question. Granted he knew it wasn’t for himself, but seeing him knocked on his ass so soundly must have rattled Sabertooth’s own self-preservation instincts. He must look even worse than he felt. As he leaned forward in an attempt to try and sit up, he was immediately met with a hand pushing him back down.

“Logan, you have been severely weakened and the small bit of healing regeneration you received before the collar was turned back on was not sufficient enough to rectify all your injuries. You must rest.” The smell of concern coming off Hank in waves said more than the words did. He went to sit up again, having to pause half way to allow for the pain and dizziness to dissipate before he was able to put himself fully upright.

He took a few deep breaths, willing himself to ignore the pain. “I’ll be fine.” He opened one eye slowly and then the other to see the blue mutants face right in front of his own, startling him, “Jesus Hank, give a man a bit of space.” Instead, the doctor reached up, lifting up each eyelid to look into his eyes.

“I do believe you have a concussion.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Logan said, growling and rubbing his forehead. Blinking slowly a few times to allow his eyes to adjust he took a look around the room, “What happened to the girl?”

“Carried her off right after she took you out,” Sabertooth snorted, looking out the small grate window on the cell door, a frown forming across his face, “Something’s not right.”

Logan raised his eyebrow at that. While him and Sabertooth had chosen opposite sides long ago, there was one thing he could always trust about the man, and that was his instincts, which were just as good, if not better, than his own. Looking at the man now, his posture, straight and still, sniffing the air caused the red flags in Logan’s head to go up. “Care to elaborate?”

“Not sure, just a feeling,” he turned away from door and walked back over to his makeshift bed on the floor and sat down, leaning his head back against the wall, closing his eyes, “It’s too quiet.”

Now that he was managing the pain and his head was starting to clear, he had to admit, it was too quiet. Normally his sensitive hearing would pick up all sorts of soft mutterings from conversations far down inside the facility, doors opening and closing, cries of mutants being tortured, after the first few weeks it had all combined into this distant hum that he was able to push to the back and ignore. All that was gone, there was nothing but silence. Looking at Hank and Wild Child tilting their heads he could tell they were starting to notice it as well. Something was definitely not right.

Well, if something was going to happen he was going to meet it on his own two feet. After three attempts to pull himself up though he realized he wasn’t going to be able to budge that 300 pound skeleton without a bit of help. Great. The Wolverine growled. He hated having to ask for help.

“Hank, give us a hand. I’d prefer to meet whatever’s coming face to face,” he grumbled, staring anywhere but at his cellmates. He could smell Sabertooth and Wild Child’s amusement as Beast got a shoulder underneath his arm and proceeded to help him up. Wincing as bunched muscles stretched and moved as if they hadn’t been used in ages, together they finally got him standing on his own two legs without support. He stretched his arms out over his head, ignoring the burning pain that it caused throughout his body.

“Damn. How long have I been out?”

“Nearly a week.”

Logan looked at the Doctor in surprise. That girl really could pack a punch. He still wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. It seemed like one minute he was holding the girl in his arms and the next he was doing the three claw tango with Cyber wearing her body like a suit. And what an interesting fight that had been on the Wolverine’s senses; seeing the girl and smelling Cyber, making him want to protect and kill at the same time.

Cyber had said something, before they started fighting, about the girl’s power being toxic skin that sucked in a person’s essence. Is that what she had done to him? No wonder the lab had kept her around so long, if she was strong enough to take him down like she had, to apparently have taken Cyber down as well. That explained the sudden moving her into the feral room. Cyber was half crazy on the best day and wasn’t prone to playing nice. With someone like that banging around in her head, it’s a wonder she didn’t crack sooner.

Ironically, for all the hazy spots in the whole event, he could picture the moment her collar had turned off with perfect clarity, laying on top of her, one set of claws thru her chest, the other hand grabbing her neck, staring down at her and watching as a look of absolute horror and delight had flown across her face. She hadn’t wanted to drain him, Cyber had forced her, and that’s the only explanation he could think of as to why he was still alive. She was definitely stronger then she looked. The thought made the Wolverine smile for a moment, before settling in a scowl.

“She should have been back by now.”

“Indeed. It appeared there was much turmoil in the young girl before they dragged her away. She was speaking quite forcefully. The guards seemed most unpleased by it.” Logan caught the faint grin that carried across Hanks face as he remembered the moment.

“Mouth like a fucking sailor,” Sabertooth chuckled from his corner, a slight smile pulling at the corners of his mouth “Put you to shame runt. How’s it feel getting beat by a girl?” Now his face had a full on grin. That had the Wild Child howling with laughter from his corner and Logan glared at the both of them.

“Yeah and how many times have I beat you down,” he growled, claws slipping out, “So why don’t you shut your trap unless you’d like me to carve you a new one!”

Sabertooth stood up, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his neck, “Much as I’d like to runt, my nose tells me we’re about to have some company and you still look like you got one foot half in the grave so why don’t you step back and let the big boys handle this.”

Logan didn’t have time to get a reply out before the sound of a bomb blast shook the whole building. He sniffed at the air, trying to catch a scent to find out what was happening and who might be the cause of it all, frowning when he smelled traces of the girl and blood.

“Looks like the cavalry’s finally arrived,” Wild Child said, coming up to stand next to them, his eyes dark with excitement.

Logan glared at the door, all the pain in his body forgotten as the adrenaline rushed thru his system. The Wolverine was ready for some mayhem and revenge and then he’d find the girl and get the hell out of dodge.

A second bomb blast closer by almost knocked the group of mutants to their feet and they watched as the door to the cell slowly rattled and then fell over in a puff of smoke.

“About damn time.”

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