When Marie had left to go to meet the secretary he'd slipped out the back of the place and lost himself in the grounds. He'd spent plenty of time in them, exploring, hunting, camping out in them when the mansion had been too much to cope with. There had been one weekend he remembered very well....
Every woman in the place had cycled together, they were all in sync and he'd walked into the entire bunch of suffocating hormones. They were all at that point just before they started bleedin', snappy, irritable, cranky and horny all at the same time. He'd just taken his ass out to the woods an let every other male deal with em. Marie had found him a couple of days later, perfectly comfortable outside while she'd had a hard time sitting down that day.
Now he'd have welcomed the sight of all that female power in residence but there wasn't any cohesive leadership here. Not with the old bastard locked up below stairs and Ro' tryin to cope alone. No their greatest chance lay in the Beta team and the contacts outside the mansion. It still riled him that Marie had done something like that without talking to him first. But she had him in her head didn't she? He shook himself from that train of thought as he continued his appraisal of the grounds, he was looking for the best place for an insurgence group to come in over ground. Something with geographical superiority over the rest of the terrain, somewhere you could hide a decent amount of men without being seen or setting off alarms.
He *knew* they were coming, whoever *they* were, Xavier didn't play in little league, he played on the world stage and he could expect a world response when things went south. There were too many kids here who's powers were useful to governments around the world for people to ignore them. Even Ro' she'd been a goddess once, a bringer of rain to the desert, a bringer of hope to the hopeless. But now she was a soldier who killed on command for a man who'd chained her spirit making her fearful. He'd kept his wild safe within him and it was that very thing that was going to keep Marie and the kids here safe.
Lunchtime came and went an he was still walking the grounds, he felt his hunger but there were more important things to do. He'd found a spot, good distance from the main house, a shelved hill the back edge levelled off to a plateau that looked over the forested grounds. Having no wall to run around the property had been a mistake but in one way it left them room to run if it came to it.
Peiter had been a welcome ally, the big man knew about the world, how it worked and how you had to be on guard all the time. He'd seen Peiter's eyes when he'd told him to get Kitty to agree to an abortion, he'd looked at him with hatred for just a moment before the sense of it had worked through. He knew it was the safest option for both of them but he'd hated it being pointed out to him, just as he would've done if it had been Marie. Thing is they no longer had a true medic now, they had nurses yeah but no doctor. That needed remedying as soon as possible, there would be injuries, things that a hospital visit would be needed for. An if they were runnin from the forces he thought were comin' then they'd have no chance of stopping any time soon to help the injured.
He climbed over the layered hill and from here he had a perfect view into New Salem and Westchester beyond that. The glow further south was New York and part of him knew that he could just melt away in a huge place like that but the kids? They'd be picked off and that wasn't an option. He'd made a vow to himself, when he'd come back with Marie, he'd made a vow to pull this down, to destroy it all. But to keep as many innocents out of the crossfire as he could, he'd killed too many on the orders of the madman who was still trying to reclaim Jean.
Turning back to the view of the Mansion it seemed to glow in the afternoon sunlight, the kids were back he could hear their voices from here. Dropping from the top he made his way back home, he had some news to share with Ro' and what was left of the Beta team. Time for some truth, he only hoped they weren't stupid enough to think that Xavier would save them.
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When he reached the kitchen just as Marie was leaving it, her face was calm but her eye's betrayed her thoughts and her emotions. She'd been talking and planning, he could see Ro' inside she was helping kids with their things and dealing with children on sugar. The Beta team were there too and he just kissed Marie telling her he'd speak to her soon. Marie looked at him, seeing the calmness he'd always shown her but there was something to his edge of calm. A readiness to act, as if he were winding up and she stopped her movement, he'd need her. She wound her arm through his and walked back into the crowd of kids and young adults.
Ro' was doing her best but the day had been one of freedom for the kids and they weren't ready to let go of it yet. Seeing it falling into a jumbled mess Logan just bellowed, "ENOUGH!" The silence that followed it was complete, he gave them all a long stare, several kids hid behind their friends but all eyes were on him.
"GO to your rooms, play, draw, watch tv or whatever else you brats do but we need to talk down here so keep it quiet." The assmbled children looked to Ororo first then to Kurt, then to Peiter, finally back at Logan who's patience was wearing thin.
Marie came to the rescue; "Everyone, outside, go burn off some sugar, Ah'm sure you never got to run round the museum." Several faces brightened and the flood just started, the room haemorrhaging kids into the afternoon sunshine. Balls and frisbee's appeared as if created by thought alone, which knowng this lot, were a possibility.
Now all they had left were the members of the Beta team and few older students. Logan foolded his arms and leaned against the doorframe blocking the exit. His gaze met Ro's and she visbly twitched as she met it, she didn't feel safe with him that was obvious but then hardly anyone did.
"Right, what the hell are we going to do now? Wheels has locked himself away from everyone an we all know what happened to Jean wasn't a breakdown. She'd just had enough of bein' used." He didn't add, 'Just like I have' but it hung there in the air between people.
Kurt broke the silence first, "So you're saying that what she said was true?" Ororo's face came to life as she turned on them both, her voice sharp.
"No it isn't Charles would never..." She didn't get to finish her statement, the sound of Logan's claws firing in the kitchen stilled her voice.
"I'm gonna say this *ONCE* so listen good; I *know* she was tellin the truth about doin' stuff for Xavier cos' I've been there after her an cleaned up what she couldn't."
Kitty was the next to speak, "So it's true? All of it?" Her gaze never left Logan's own, the steel he'd always seen in her now coming forward.
"Yeah, it is." She nodded as if considering the entirity of the information being shared.
Jubilee was next, her voice bright and full of life as she looked around the people gathered in the kitchen.
"But what about the other kids? The ones on the West Coast? I mean surely they'll be okay, we don't know that Jean's going to go in that direction do we?"
It was Ro' who spoke to her next, "What kids on the West Coast?" Jubilee looked over at Peiter who was trying not to squirm under her gaze, Ro' caught the look and folowed through. "Peiter? What kids on the West Coast?" Peiter saw Logan nod ever so slightly and the big man cleared his throat while he kept his arms wrapped around Kitty.
"Scott told me about the children that left here, the ones who didn't want to stay here at the mansion to learn under Xavier. They went to the West Coast according to him, thing was when I went looking for their names on the computer there was nothing there. So I did some digging, there were no places out west, but talking to Logan about it I did find something out." He looked at Logan who gave him a barely perceptable nod, he could carry on, he could tell them what they'd talked about.
Peiter straightened up, pulling Kitty with him and his gaze went around everyone here, the older teens and the rest of the Beta team. "What I'm going to say doesn't leave here, *they* can't know or we'll never get them to safety."
"Peiter I don't understand what your saying..." Ro' interrupted the large man who was trying to break the information easily to them all. Marie stepped in again.
"Ro' you remember why I left?"
"Yes, Logan took advantage of you, a student." Marie shook her head and she saw the older woman struggle with the admission.
"No Ro' he didn't. Xavier set us up to leave, he wanted Logan to train me away from everyone here, make me into a killer like he did Logan. Ah mean did you ever *see* Logan act inappropriate with me before that day?" Marie watched the woman struggle to find the evidence in her own memories.
Kitty butted in, adding her own truth to the pile of evidence. "He manipulated me Ororo, I went to Rogues room, not because I wanted to, but because he needed a witness to back up the story." Ororo's face was becoming frozen and the skies outside were darkening a little.
"But how..."
"He forgot about my mutation, my brain reorders itself every time I 'phase' through something. It took a month but I remembered seeing Logan approaching Rogues door from the opposite end, he *hadn't* been in the room with her. Xavier set them up, using me to vouch for his presence sneaking out that early in the morning. Then he implanted the memories of Rogue and Logan being over-friendly the night before. He got what he wanted, Rogue forced to choose and Logan sent out again into the world with only Xavier as the one person who knew the truth. Lucky for them both I remembered what had happened, thing was he manipulated me as well." She looked at Peiter for support and when he smiled she had it and she turned back to face her once proud tutor and friend. "I'm pregnant, thing is I don't remember having sex with Pete here. We remember being in the Rec room after the last pick-up but after that nothing. We woke up together in the same bed and there was no doubt, we'd had sex but neither of us remembered it. The last thing we *do* remember was seeing Xavier wheel by the Rec room doorway, after that; nothing."
The implication was there, it was seen on every face in the room, Marie was moving toward Ororo, trying to support her. Outside the wind picked up a little, making the trees on the other side of the open grass swing. She levelled her gaze at the people who were trying to tell her that the man who'd been like a father to her had manipulated peoples minds and emotions.
"So what you're telling me is that Jean and what looks like nearly everyone here has been used and or tricked by Charles?" Marie nodded and Ro's brittle shell cracked. "I don't believe you! I won't, he's been helping everyone since they got here, how can you say that? Where's your proof?"
Logans voice cut through the air like a knife it was so cold, "Because I'm the one he sent out to kill the kids he didn't want." The silence that followed the statement seemed to crack the world, even the breeze that had been building dropped away leaving the kids outside to play in the now returning sun. Logan pushed himself away from the doorframe and walked over to Ro'. He put himself in front of her, letting her feel his presence, his physical force. Meeting her gaze he let his own rest in hers, not threatening her, not trying to dominate her, just showing her the truth.
"I killed the ones he didn't want, including the little kid you gave your silver chain to Ro'. The one we pulled out of the lab that had the breeding programme, you remember her? The kid that looked so much like you when you were her age?" Ro's eyes filled with tears that hovered on the edges of her eyelid. "I killed her Ro', quiet an quick in her sleep, somewhere outside Denver I think. She's been buried under a pine tree, the necklace is in the branches on the south side, where the sun will hit it everyday." The sorrow that filled the room had everyone choked up but it was the silent tears that fell from Ro's eyes that had everyone still and silent.
Logan reached out and held onto Ro' his hands gripping into her skin, his eyes searching her face as he read her emotions through her scent. "Xavier made a deal with me Ro', he told me I could have Rogue if I did his dirty work for him. After all it was what I'd been built for," Logan's gaze grew dark at those words, becoming flinty as he continued. "An he should know, he had a hand in it." Ro' shook as the words entered her head, people were talking amongst themselves now, sharing things, fears they'd only thought had been paranoia until now. Soon everyone had a tale, an incident or a 'deal'. Ororo heard the words but she still couldn't let herself believe it.
It was when Marie told her about the earthquake that she understood finally, Charles had let it go away, he'd wiped memories of her being there, of her mistake. He'd asked her for nothing in return but she'd felt the power he'd held over her with the information. That she'd caused an earthquake that had killed several hundred people just because she'd lost her calm. She'd let herself destroy because she'd felt like it, and Charles had helped her hadn't he? If he'd sent help there that would have been a better help instead of wiping memories and altering geological reports. He'd covered it up, hidden it, kept her off missions until she was calm again. He'd been using her fear to keep her under his control, she'd acquiesed to his demands on her since then. Just in case.
"Ro' he's been using Jean, me and god knows who else out there. Thing is we've got the kids to think about, the ones he kept, the one's he could find ways to *use*." She looked confused at him and Logan felt his resolve shift a little, she'd been used too but they had bigger things to sort out now.
"RO!" Her gaze cleared and he saw her staring back at him with barely disguised hatred. "Ro' the bastards not in control *here* anymore, Jean the most powerful of the mutants here is gone. We have no idea about who he's been dealing with, what he's promised to people and we all know what happens when deliveries start getting stopped. People come lookin' for the reasons *why*."
"But the children...."
"He doesn't give a damn about them Ro', why else would he cherry pick the ones he wanted and send me out to kill what he didn't want? If he can't have them then their not going to go to Erik, at least with Erik they'd have had a choice. An the West coast? It was a training ground for what looked like assault teams, when one went rogue he sent me to sort it out. To kill everyone there, destroy everything and leave nothing behind, no trace of life or links to *him*."
Logan's grip on her arms was strong, his fingers would be leaving bruises on her but he had to make her see, *had* to make her understand. "You want to know *WHY* I did it, why I did all those terrible things? Killed children who'd had nothing wrong with them apart from not being what he wanted? Rogue, thats all, Rogue."
His own gaze was blurring now as the truth flowed out of him, he was too lost in the personal to worry about who was hearing him. He'd carried it too long, taken the brunt of the hate and pain for everyone else, he needed to let it out. Marie rested her hand on his back as he stood and shook with each breath.
"He *promised* her to me, didn't give her a choice, told me she was *mine* to do with what I wanted when she was old enough to choose for herself. She chose *me* eventually but he still wanted her, still wanted her to be an assassin like me." He breathed in, tasting the pain from Ro' and the shock in the room, Marie's hand on his back keeping him together. "She was the *only* thing I came back for, if I could've I'd have killed that old fuck and burned this place to the ground well before now. But he had her under his roof, in his *grip* Ro', he could've killed her any time he wanted to, sent her on a mission and gotten her killed. But if he'd done that I'd have come back an' destroyed everyone in my path to him and he *knows* that. Your defending a man who sold a fourteen year old girl to an animal your all afraid of. All it was was time, he was waiting his time, now he has two assassins not one, thing is I'm not doin' his dirty work anymore and you have to ask yourself the same questions I did."
He let go of her arms as the tears began to fall from her dark brown gaze, his own tears blinked back he moved out of the kitchen. He needed space, he'd given them the truth, now it was upto them to do something with it.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan does some *serious* planning, as he does it we get to see beneath the skin of Logan to the things he'd been unwilling to admit until now.