Near the end of third movie in their marathon, there was a knock at Marie's door. Waving her friends down to continue watching the movie, she decides to answer the door herself. The door is already opening when she realizes that she should check who it is first. Logan’s large hands appear, pulling her out into the hallway, by the time her mind catches up, she is backed up against the wall practically encased by him. To have this happen twice in one day is quite the novelty, this time though her rapidly beating heart and churning stomach have nothing to do with fear.
“Tell them you’ll be a minute.”
His voice is low and sends a shiver down her spine. She manages to steady her voice just barely, when she calls out to her friends, “Hey, I’ll be a minute, just keep going without me.”
Following the familiar pattern, his hand slowly fiddles with a strand of her hair as he speaks, “What did Erik want?”
So engrossed with that gesture that it took her a few seconds to register the question. “I’m not sure, he was babbling about my reaction or something.”
She really didn’t want to think about Magneto right now, especially not while Logan is so close. Absentmindedly, her hand reaches out to his belt buckle, a slender finger slowly tracing the etched metal patterns on it. Shockingly she watches as that finger curls around a belt loop and tugs him closer, she lets out a small gasp when his hips bump into her stomach. She knows she is flushing scarlet when she looks up at him again, but her finger remains defiantly in place.
Showing no reaction to what just happened save for an almost inaudible growl, he continues in the same low voice. “I don’t like him that close to you.”
She didn’t like him that close to her either, she’s had nightmares about him killing her for years when she was a child. Then just when she thought she was over him, she saw him on TV, completely and totally real, she almost had a panic attack right then and there. It was several more years before she brought her nightmares back under control again. She dry swallows as he leans in closer, “He is dangerous, stay away from him.”
Normally Marie would never accept this, there is a proper and polite way of making a request, and this was neither. But the intense look in his eyes, and the tension in his body, make her feel elated. When she finally realizes that he is waiting for her answer, she lowers her eyes, clutching even tighter onto that belt loop and nods.
“I’m leaving for a while.” Her eyes snap back to his when she hears those words, and she wants to complain at the unfairness of it all. He is her bodyguard, not the Professor’s handyman, since she has been here he's spent more time away from her than guarding her. But she knows what he does is important and can’t begrudge him for it.
“Still got the phone?” She nods again, feeling so very childish like this.
“If anything happens, you know what to do.” She knows he means Magneto, there is not much that can threaten the school from the outside. Magneto however has full access to the school and trust of the entire faculty. And by the grimness in his voice, she knows he will find her no matter what. She leans her forehead onto his chest and closes her eyes, trying to savor this moment.
She is not sure how long they remain like that, pressed against each other, until his hand reaches down and squeezes hers. She finally lets go of the belt loop, and he backs away from her. And once again she is watching his back as he walks away.
He raises his hand in a wave without turning around or looking back, “Tell Ava I’m gonna test her when I get back.”
Returning to her room, which has become their de facto hangout area, thanks to the privacy it affords them. Marie grins at the sight of her friends sprawled about focusing on the movie that was playing on her flat screen TV. This movie is one that Kitty had picked out, Say Anything, she said it was an iconic teen romance movie. But honestly Marie didn’t quite understand the appeal, sure she feels for the protagonist, can even see a bit of herself in her, but she can’t quite connect with the main plot of the movie. If fact up till now she wasn't quite sure why this is an iconic film at all. That is till the boom box under the window scene, she has seen this before in various other films. Then it make sense to her, sometimes one scene can make a film.
When they all finally turn towards her as the ending credits start rolling, she smiles at them, at Ava’s confused expression, at Kitty’s misty eyes, Jubes sardonic grin and ponders a current predicament. Her relationship with Logan, everyone knows they hang out occasionally. Most attribute it to hero worship, that she is like one of many girls the Wolverine has rescued over the years. Several girls, including Kitty, tried to talk her through it, telling her that Logan despite his looks is much much older, older even than the professor. How he must have had many women in his life. How she should just let it go and check out the boys her own age.
However after today she is more certain than ever that there is something more between them, more that just an idle fantasy more than just some steamy dreams. But she is at a loss on how to explain her feelings for him. How does she explain to her friends that she has been dreaming of him since as long as she can remember, without sounding completely sappy. Ava idolization of him helps somewhat on that front, since she more or less appointed herself as Ava’s guardian, it is an excellent excuse to spend more time with him.
In the end she decides to simply leave it as it is, none of them seriously objects to her spending time with Logan and she feels that it is a matter best left alone for the moment, since she herself is not exactly sure what it is she feels for him. Sitting down next to Ava, Marie puts an arm around the young girl’s shoulders readying herself to deliver some bad news. “Logan was just here.”
Ava perks up and immediately looking towards the door, Marie tugs on her to stop when she tries to get up and leave. She shakes her head sadly, “He is not here anymore, he had to leave on a mission.”
It is gut wrenching to see her entire body sags in disappointment, and even worse she can totally relate, she was the same way everything Logan left. Ava is obviously just as affected by Logan’s departure as she is , if not more. “He say’s for you to keep practicing, and that he will test you when he gets back.”
Ava finally brightens a bit, Logan’s tests are long and drawn out affairs. Marie knows Ava enjoys any attention Logan spares her, and during such an event is the rare time that she gets his undivided attention.
“Okay! Logan left again and Ava is sad again, but can we get to MY movie now?” Jubes huffs aloud. Marie smiles at her attempt to lighten the mood.
“Can’t we take a break or something?” Kitty stands up and stretches lazily. “We've been at this for hours.”
“No no no! We had to sit through Marie’s black and white movie, Ava’s princess cartoon, and your sappy romance, now it's my turn!” Jubes waves her arms wildly as she speaks.
“Hey, you lost the rock, paper, and scissor match, it’s not our fault you had to go last.” Kitty walks over to the cooler and finds it empty. “See and we are even out of drinks now.”
“No! I want us to watch my movie!” Jubes folds her arms across her chest with a scowl.
“Alright, alright.” Marie soothes, “How about we take a short break to stock up on more drinks and order dinner, then we can start another marathon when the food arrives.”
“Fine, but we get to watch two of my movies in a role starting with this one” Jubes holds up her treasured copy of Clueless with a wide smile.
Before anyone can respond Ava tugs on Marie’s hand and declares, “Want hot dogs.”
Both Kitty and Jubes back away slowly, knowing full well that if they are not careful a lecture on healthy eating is but a pin drop away.
Victor heaves and wretches into porcelain bowl, blood, chunks of flesh, and what little food he managed to shoved down spirals away as he presses the flush lever. He saw the signs for a while now, but it has never been this bad before. Even when they were still children, playing together in the wild, they never could quite get on the same wavelength. But he always had the upper-hand even before they knew of their powers. He was wilder, more vicious, he understood the animal that inhabited them both. His total acceptance of the beast have him the edge, and he always give more than he received.
But that last fight, something is different, it had been almost three decades since he last saw Jimmy, it is disturbing how much he has changed. Despite the rage and frustration he is feeling right now, he had to admit that Jimmy had came out on top for the first time ever. Oh Jimmy might have claimed victory before, disrupting his plans, keeping him from his objectives, but never in their personal struggle has Jimmy ever dished out more than he received. Jimmy’s animal is still chained, he could feel it. It is held back by what ever illusion of humanity Jimmy thinks he possesses. It irks him to no end that he could not figure out how this had happened.
He hears the door to his dinky motel room open, as he battle another wave of nausea, and he finally picks up Jimmy's scent over the blood and bile. “You just gonna stand there and watch me puke all over myself?”
Jimmy just leans back against the wall, lights a cigar, drawing deep the bitter smoke, he levels his most amused look at him. Victor would have growled if more of his stomach acid wasn’t trying to force its way out right now. Jimmy is obviously gloating, he knows he won that fight as well. Victor feels the fury welling up inside him, before the nausea overwhelms him and he heaves again into the toilet.
The sight of the massive shaggy, blond man retching over a toilet bowl, the smell of blood, circuits, and flesh bring a vicious smile to Logan's face. Long ago he thought his hold on humanity was the anchor that inevitably dragged him down. In the decades since he left the mansion for the final time, he experienced some of the worst humanity had to offer and offered his worst to humanity. Somehow during those blood soaked years he came to an understanding. His most recent victory is the testament to all that he has accomplished, all that he has endured.
He relishes this new turn of event, he is gaining the upperhand, they both know it. There will still be many gruesome battles for superiority ahead, between the two of them. But there is a tectonic shift in the balance of power, he is the one to be challenged now. Another step towards the fulfillment of an ambition that he harbored for nearly his entire life, ever since those six claws first rip through his hands. To be better, better than Victor, better than the beast that inhabits the both of them, to be the absolute best.
Victor had been a daunting obstacle to surmount, there was perhaps no better opponent for him physically, and Victor is far more vicious. At last though Logan is passing him by, the sense of accomplishment is tempered by the long road he has yet to travel, many far more powerful mutants exists, but he looks forward to proving that he is the best of them all.
“Fuck you! Just what the hell did you do to me?” Victor snarls out before expelling ever more contents of his stomach into the toilet. When he turns back to Logan blood runs down his nose and out his mouth.
“Knocked some sense back into you.” Logan chuckles at the sight, while continuing to enjoy his cigar.
Fighting back another urge to puke, Victor drags a long wire with several shattered microchips attached, out of his mouth. “Uuugh! What the fuck?”
“Yeah, they put it in your skull then covered your bones in adamantium.” Logan grimaces at the sight of it, it churns up his own memories of the Lab. Over half a century past, still the mere thought of being experimented on sends a surge of fury through his body and straight to his claws. He wouldn’t wish that for anyone, even Victor. He clenches his fists, and wills his claws to stay.
“If my skull is unbreakable how the hell you knock me out?” Victor sense his discomfort and tries fishing for some information, trying to glean anything to use to his advantage.
“Your bones might be unbreakable but the rest of you ain’t,” Logan replies smirking, giving him none of the clues he is fishing for.
Victor stands up and feels his legs wobble underneath him. Reaching out with one hand he steadies himself against the wall and cursing himself for this display of weakness. But decides it was better than let Jimmy see him fall. He levels the best glare he can muster at the moment and aims it squarely at his younger, half brother “Why the fuck are you here?”
That isn’t the question he is asking, they can read each other well enough to know the truth behind the terse hostile exchange they always have. Jimmy throws his cigar stub on the carpet and grinds it down with his heel.
“I figure you’d might want some payback.” Victor could see the predatory gleam in Jimmy’s eye and know that it is reflected in his own. They hate each other, an intense possessive hate that can only be shared between brothers. And that was the crux of it, no matter how much they hate each other, how much they try to kill each other, they are of the same blood, they’re a pack, however twisted, and no one messes with a packmate.
“When?” Victor is practically trembling with anticipation, his claws reflexively digs deep into the wall, leaving trails of torn, mangled gashes behind.
Jimmy reaches into his pocket, then tosses a small metal box at him, snarling more than smiling. “Anytime you're ready.”
Catching the box he examines it briefly and scowls, there is at least a dozen different scents on it. This is communication gear, used frequently and by different people. “Shit, team mission?”
Jimmy smirks again, and holds the door open. “After you Vicky.”
He resist the urge to rip open Jimmy’s throat, there will be plenty of time and opportunity to settle this score and show his little brother who truly runs things around here. They both have lived for a long time and will keep on living for a long time to come, he and Jimmy will have their reckoning, for now his is after a different sort of payback.
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Chapter End Notes:
Up next, Victor, Logan, road trip.