"Come on babe, rise and shine, we gotta get moving," Logan was saying, as he jostled her gently out of sleep.
"What's the time?" Marie asked, stretching and yawning. Despite the fact they had spent most of the day alternating between sleeping and eating, she still didn't feel like dragging herself out of her nice warm bed.
Niamh was placed into her arms as Logan replied, "Bang on midnight, feed her as quick as you can, then we can load her into the carrier to go back to sleep." As Marie fed baby he moved around the room, collecting and repacking things that had been removed from their packs. Once baby was fed, he changed her diaper, dressed her, added her snowsuit, and buckled her into the carrier. When Marie was finished in the bathroom, he helped her put on the baby carrier, adding her jacket on top again, so she could zip baby up inside if it got too cold, and helped her with her pack.
He carried his own pack out but left it with Marie, hidden in the shadows, while he went to return the key to the office. The office was closed, as it was well past small-town check in time, but he slid the key and some extra cash under the door. Heading back to Marie he collected his pack, chuckling at her when she asked what the heck he had in there; apparently her estimation of how much a ton weighed was way off.
Logan led the way north, he was familiar, though how he didn't know, with this type of woodland. Once they got out of town and away from the smaller roads, he knew he would have to use the claws to hack through impenetrable undergrowth at some point.
As they closed in on three am he decided they were making okay time. Despite her special cargo Marie was going well, they'd been slowed down having to cross several large creeks. Thankfully none had been deeper than Logan's waist but they were difficult to get Marie across; with Niamh in the front pack, he hadn't been able to piggy back or fireman’s lift her across, and she couldn't wade across herself because he didn't want her, or more importantly Niamh, getting wet. After much contorting, huffing, and giggling, Marie managed to get across all the creeks with nothing worse than a wet butt and a damp sock, which squished annoyingly inside her boot as they walked.
He estimated they were probably about half a mile from the border when he heard a sound that struck fear into him. Without a sound he whirled around, clamped a hand over Marie's mouth, and guided her back into a thicker patch of brush, turning once he was sure she got the hint not to make and sound. He positioned himself between Marie and the sound he had heard, she would be completely hidden behind his back.
The sound of booted feet, clinking metal, and the stink of high-quality gunpowder and oil grew steadily closer. He could pick out at least eight individuals by sound, possibly two more by scent, he could probably take them, if he had to. He could tell by the way they were walking, trying to disguise their footfalls that they were trained, probably military. There wasn’t a military base or training area anywhere around here as far as he had been able to tell, which led him to the chilling conclusion that they were here looking for them.
Had he missed something and Xavier had managed to track them, though, the guy was a telepath so he'd probably been able to track them loosely anyway. What else would put the very people they were trying to get away from right in their path?
The footsteps were so close now that if it wasn't for the trees around them Logan knew he would be able to see them. Then the footsteps ceased, before they slowly began to circle around them as the squad spread out to their left and right; he knew they were caught. He briefly considered telling Marie to run but if she ran, they would likely shoot at her, and that was not a risk he was willing to take.
"Wolverine," a crisp, curt voice spoke out of the darkness. "We know you're there, come out, slowly and quietly, and we won't be forced to shoot the girl." Logan looked back at Marie, he could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew they were caught, she still gestured to him that she was willing to run. "Attempt to flee and we will gun you down like the dog you are, you will heal my boy but she won't, will she?" The voice asked mockingly. He knew that voice, he didn't know from where or when but he remembered it clearly, and he knew this guy wasn't bluffing, he wouldn't think twice about killing Marie.
Gesturing for Marie to stay he dropped his pack and stepped out of the brush, he could count six men in a semi-circle around him, that meant possibly four more already out of sight, probably sneaking around behind them. "Who are you? And what do you want?" he asked the voice. The voice turned out to belong to a pudgy General, probably in his early sixties. What he was doing in the field, especially if this was a simple recovery mission, was a mystery to Logan.
"You don't remember me? That's a shame, we had so many good times together, but not to fear, it's time to put you back where you belong, and that is what I am here to ensure," the General said, a sadistic smile on his face.
Two of the soldiers flanking the general stepped forward with an odd-looking metal contraption, they attempted to grab hold of Logan's arms but he threw them off easily, shooting six wickedly sharp blades out to fend them off from advancing again. A muffled feminine squeak from behind him alerted him to the position of three more soldiers. They stepped out of the brush, two armed soldiers flanking a third, who had released his grasp on his weapon in favour of a firm grip on Marie's arms.
A deep, rumbling growl reverberated through the wood as Logan turned his attention on the man... threatening his mate? This man was familiar too, though not in a bad way like the general, he had known this man, at some point in the great unknown 'before', known him well. His mind was confused, his subconscious telling him he could trust this man while his brain pointed out he was holding his mate hostage.
A split second too late he picked up movement from one of the other soldiers to his right as a bullet, that released an arc of blue light as an electrical pulse surged through the muscles of his right leg, hit him, knocking his leg out from under him. His knee hit the ground as his growl was interrupted by a grunt of pain. Marie started toward him but was firmly held in place by the soldier who had distracted him.
He was about to jump to his feet and start toward Marie when the General spoke again. "What a pretty girl, it would be a shame if we had to shoot her to get you to behave. The left foot sounds like a good place to start, then six inches higher every time you resist." Logan's growl grew in volume as the animal inside of him rebelled at the stalemate he found himself trapped in. "Kill any of my men however... well, she doesn't need to be pretty for what we need her for," the general added, as one of the soldiers pulled out a switchblade.
He looked up at Marie, knowing he had no choice, they had him because they had her, and he couldn't let them hurt her. Marie knew the minute their eyes met what he had decided, and she shook her head. "No, no Logan, get out of here," she whispered desperately, if he was free, he could come back for her, 'what was left of her', her brain helpfully added.
The two soldiers stepped forward again, the odd metal contraption was a complicated cuffing mechanism that secured Logan's arms, and stopped him releasing his claws. He let them fit the cuffs as he watched the two soldiers flanking Marie stand, with guns at the ready to shoot her if he so much as blinked the wrong way, he just hoped to god they didn't decide to shoot her anyway once he was secured. His subconscious continued to reassure him, she would be okay with the man currently holding her.
Once he was cuffed, and gagged, he was dragged back to his feet, the General approached then, not toward Logan, instead he approached Marie. He gave her a critical once over before pulling open her zipped-up jacket to reveal the baby carrier, folding back the head rest to reveal the soft fuzzy head of hair within. He chuckled darkly. "It seems we are ahead of schedule but you always were an overachiever Wolverine. The girl will not be any use for a few months at least in the circumstances, she is yours to do with as you please in the meantime Victor," he addressed the man holding Marie.
The General turned and walked back through the brush in the direction he and his men had come, ignoring Wolverine's furious snarl as he attempted to wrench his arms out of the grip of the soldiers now flanking him. The click of guns being cocked on Marie immediately ceased his struggle, though the ominous snarl continued unabated. With amused chuckles the soldiers moved their captives in the same direction, a fourth soldier appearing out of the brush with Logan's pack - they weren't leaving any trace of the pair behind.
A large, military troop-carrying helicopter was in a clearing not too far away. Leading Logan to believe that these men had not just been given their location but their planned route, definitely Xavier. They had to have been waiting here for hours, otherwise he would have heard the helicopter. He was loaded into the chopper, literally tied to a wall, though he was relieved to note Marie was treated a lot better. The guy the general had named Victor - even the guy’s name was familiar - was surprisingly gentle as he removed Marie's pack, he zipped her jacket mostly up around the baby, before guiding her to a seat and adjusting the flight harness to fit Marie without hurting baby.
Niamh was grizzling now, likely upset by her mother’s racing heartbeat. Marie tried her best to shush her without drawing attention to herself but as the helicopter began to roar to life, Niamh began to scream along with the engine. Marie looked worried, and about ready to cry herself, it was the first time the little girl had really let rip, she had obviously been saving her lung capacity just for now. Victor came to the rescue again, handing Marie a set of soft earmuffs, Logan could just make out his voice telling her to cover baby's ears and feed her.
It took some awkward shifting but Marie eventually had Niamh's ears, in fact, most of her head, covered with the earmuffs, and a nipple freed. She had to wriggle Niamh around to get her into the right position to be able to suckle.
"Goddamn! Can someone explain to me why the hairy one's the only one that gets to play with tits over here," one of the soldiers asked, his eyes glued to Marie's exposed breast, what little of it he could see at least. Both Wolverine, and the soldier in question, growled audibly at him, while the rest of the soldiers laughed.
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