They made the border just as night fell, Mason their driver took time to get them into the storage compartment before making for the truckers lane.
It was the longest sixteen minutes Logan had ever endured, Marie was locked around him, her nerves making her tremble. As soon as they were over, Mason whistled and spoke to the seemingly empty cab, "We're over, about two miles out so you should be okay." Clambering back into the large back area Logan settled Marie in the bed part while he took the front passenger seat.
Mason was still checking his rearview, his scent telling Logan that something was off, something had gone wrong somewhere. "What happened?" Mason kept one eye behind them as he powered away from the border, his voice even when he finally answered Logan.
"Somehow I think I won't be doing this trip again anytime soon," his eyes flicking to the final bend before the view was finally gone.
Logan took the mans tension as a warning of something just avoided, Mason freed a hand from the wheel gesturing to the radio above his head. "Switch that on for me will ya Patch? Turn it to channel twelve, that's the local frequency."
Logan did as Mason asked him, the radio was suddenly throwing information out at them as fast as they could take it in. The US border had been closed, armed men were stopping each and every truck leaving the US, voices that were usually mellow sounded thick with fear. Anger soon rose and there was a staccato sound, one that Logan and Marie recognised, gunfire.
"HOLY FUCKIN' SHIT!" The silence that came from the radio was soon broken by a voice that seemed to have all warmth drained from it.
"This is the United States Army, you will unload every cargo you have, we *will* search every vehicle, strip *every* compartment you have and drain *every* fuel tank. We are searching for mutant terrorists, if you resist a lawful search you will be shot. Do I make myself clear, please bring your vehicles over to the truck lane and disembark, your truck and it's contents will be guarded until your cleared to cross the border. Anyone with suspect cargo or papers will be detained for further questioning."
The voice snapped off and Mason's face was pale but his lips were drawn thin. Snapping the radio to a different channel he snatched the mike and began spreading the news north. His voice wa strained and Logan could scent the ange and rage he felt at being treated like an animal by the military, hell he'd had enough experience himself.
Mason finally finished sending news and began to recieve the answers he'd been after, there'd been riots in New York. Mutants had gone on a rampage through the city, killing, torching building's smashing everything they could get their hands on. The violence was spreading across the states, Chicago had had some sporadic violence but they expected more. Mason did his best to keep calm, keeping them all under the speed limit, out of the eyes of the police. "Fucking American's!" He looked over to Logan who was watching the man struggle to keep his mind on the road. "No offence meant Patch but they're as crazy as a bed bug."
"None taken, I'm a Canuck, she's a yank." He pointed into the back where Marie was fast asleep, Mason gave a little look on the mirror over his head. Seeing her tired form curled up into a ball he quirked a smile to Logan.
"She really yours?" Logan cracked his knuckles and shifted so he was half turned toward her and half to Mason.
"Yeah, she is. Not sure if I wanted her in the first place but she's mine now." The stressed words weren't lost on Mason.
"You've got nothin' to worry about from me Patch; I've had my fill of women, two divorces and three kids have left me kinda wishing for a quieter life." Logan reached out and stroked Marie's face, moving some hair out of the way of her mouth. "May an' September huh?" Logan looked back at Mason, his face was open, his comment not meant to injure or disturb.
"Yeah you could say that, she kind of fell into my lap you could say and I fell into hers." Mason nodded and smiled as they drove into the night, his lights shining against the tarmac, the only sound for miles was the roar of the road under the wheels.
Signposted ahead was a truck stop, Mason gave the clock a glance, he'd made good time on this leg. Nearly an hour early, he shook the man called Patch into wakefulness, he'd been napping, eyes half open but he still knew the signs of sleep when he saw them. The girl hadn't even woken once, whatever sleep she needed she was gonna get no matter what.
"Hey Patch, you up for a rest? I'm scheduled to stop for an hour, there's a decent restraurant here, good steak." At the mention of food Logan woke up, his stomach growling at the very mention of it. He was about to shake Marie awake when Mason just stopped him by touching his arm. "We can get take out for her, won't take long if I know Hannah." As the truck turned into the truck stop Logan noticed the signs of a good solid customer base, nearly full at this time of night he could see the customers watching a television inside. This close to the border they'd still get american tv as well as CBC, following Mason inside he suddenly heard the commotion and his stomach nearly fell through the floor.
On the screen was a man that rang bells in his head, the way he spoke, the way he held himself, he *knew* this man. Underneath his hawklike head was a thin body that twisted and turned as it tried to answer the questions being fired at him. The title under the man emblazoned across the screen read 'Military Rule in New York'.
Everyone around the television seemed to have an opinion and even Mason was sucked in for a while until Hannah came past him taking out an order. Grabbing her his voice suddenly hurried and sharp, "Three red cow's with everything to go Hannah, rush order." Hannah nodded to the regular face and went on by, Logan suddenly looked deeper than the surface of the man that was taking them into Canada. His face was pinched and grey, eyes locked onto the rest of the truckers who were now arguing amongst themselves about how best to get through the now difficult border.
Before anyone saw him Mason pulled Logan to the side of the busy diner, when he was seated in a small booth Mason went direct to the phone on the wall opposite. Pushing in coins Logan tried to listen but all he caught was something about 'going to Abe's'. When Mason returned some colour had returned to his face too, flicking a look to the kitchen he could see Hannah getting their order ready. Pulling out the three hundred Logan had given him he counted out the right amount and slapped it on the counter. Grabbing the steaming bags from Hannah he motioned to Logan to follow him, when they were back in the truck Mason kept his silence until they were at least a mile away.
When he did speak he took a quick look at Marie laid out on the small bed first, "Ah recognised you first 'Patch', you see having a kid who tends to stand out kind of makes you look for others." Mason motioned to the sunvisor above his head, Logan flipped it down, there stood between two girls was a young boy, his skin was zebra striped, even his hair was a multitude of hues. Seeing Logan's nonchalance at his son's appearance he smiled a broad grin, "See I *knew* you were one of them, see I was up doin' the Saint John's run. My truck got stuck behind a huge queue of traffic, so I went to see what the hell was goin' on when this huge plane just appeared on the tarmac an three people dressed in black came runnin' out carryin someone else in their arms."
Logan remembered that mission, it had been bad intelligence over a bad idea, he'd ended up being shot to shit. The place they were supposed to be breaking into had nothing of use for them, all it had been was storage. Thing was the guard dogs of the damn place still defended it like it was some hot shit, shooting him full of holes. Storm had soon sorted them out but he'd been out for the rest of the mission, much to his annoyance. Mason got back to his story, "I saw you bleedin all over the place and I offered to help but a man with the oddest shades in the world told me to back off."
Logan grunted as he thought about Scott's anal habits, that'd be just like him. Trust no one that doesn't speak Ivy League English. Mason kept on, "I did it but I remembered you just in case, the week after I saw you again, this time on a bike coming down the same road the plane had been on. You looked like nothing had even happened to ya' that's when I kinda figured you were like my son, Gary." He nodded to the picture again as his eyes became flinty and hard.
"Been hard on the little guy but he's doin okay now he's bein' home schooled, there's even a kid a couple of streets away that he plays with. Kids can be cruel to what's different."
Logan cleared his throat and added, "Just like adults can." Mason's eyes quickly went to Logan's and saw the threat hanging in them.
"Hey, I'm not doin' shit to you or your woman, I figure if the American's want to shoot the shit out their mutants then fine. But when it comes to my family, they'll be doin' it over my corpse." Logan seemed to calm down then, just as he was about to speak again, Marie woke to the smell of meat.
"Food?"
Logan turned to her, a smile on his face as he dropped the full bag at her feet.
"Sure is," letting her wake up before he touched her fully. Tearing into the bag she doled out the food onto the plastic plates that were stored over her head. Mason pulled the truck over and they ate in the silence of the world just before midnight. Logan snapped the picture of Mason's family down and showed it Marie, her eyes widening as she saw the beautiful zebra patterning on his son.
"He's beautiful, what's his name?" Mason looked surprised at the young woman who just seemed to accept the strange and different that appeared to her. More than his own blood kin had and he felt a shame deepen in his heart.
"Gary, he'll be eleven now, he started getting the stripes when he was eight, thing is he can move them when he thinks about it. He hid from us for nearly a day, doing that, his mom went absolutely crazy tryin' to find him. He wanted to show off to me," the sadness that filled his voice made Marie reach out to him and she held his clothed arm.
"It's okay, not everyone is comfortable with what God gave em'", her eyes went direct to Logan, she hadn't been pleased about her own mutation at first but now....she wouldn't change it for the world.
They spent a good hour talking and eating Marie and Mason with Logan listening to every word, they'd struck lucky with Mason, he only hoped their luck would hold.
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Hank hid under the pines waiting for Howard to return, he'd given him a list with Jubilee and they really couldn't go any further without the supplies he needed. He'd been general with his requests, he still had the bottles from the school but they'd run out eventually. Hank watched nervously as they both came running out of the small doctors office, Jubilee had her hands filled with two bags chock-full of something. When she got under cover she handed the bags to Hank. There were the fluids he'd requested, Howard was carrying something a lot smaller but a lot more use. A doctors valise, he gave the entire thing over to Hank and they all made for the truck. Getting in Hank checked the i.v and changed it quickly as Jubilee pointed to the road they needed to get out of the small hamlet they were in.
Behind them Hank loaded a syringe from the bottles he'd brought with him and pushed the entire lot into the saline bag attached to Xavier. Checking his pupils after insertion Hank relaxed a little, their trip had been uneventful so far. Howard was as good as Emma had said he was, always one step ahead of whoever was on the road he asked Hank to duck several times. Jubilee asked him how he knew and they'd both found out that Howard was a Pre-Cog, when he concentrated enough he could get a full hour ahead of when he needed to act. Thing was time never stopped when you were concetrating so he had some difficulty in pinning it down exactly but some warning was worth it's weight in gold sometimes.
They drove hard into the evening light, the gradual darkening of the world coming upon them as they wove toward their goal. Overhead planes went supersonic, causing the air to rip apart and Howard flicked on the radio. The same message was being repeated over and over, New York State was under military control, everyone was to stay in their homes until the situation had been resolved. Mutant terrorists had caused major damage in New York and several outlying areas had already undergone attack. Any suspicious behaviour was to be reported to the police and National Guard patrols. Howard swore and turned the car around, Jubilee was suddenly thrown forward her hands smacking on dashboard.
"What the...."
"No time! Three minutes in *that* direction we get stopped by a patrol and they *aren't* in the best of moods!" He gunned the engine, taking the first turn off he came to, throwing the map to Jubilee he asked her to read as best she could with the fading light. She did her best as they bounced down loggers tracks and soon they were well and truely lost.
Well until they wanted to be found again.
Hank got out and stretched his legs, pacing around the small area they'd chosen as a stop over for the night. He was about to go and check on Xavier when he saw the plant, it's flowers shining out in the near dark. Tall, green spiky leaves, round spiky fruit, Hank's eyes almost came out of his skull he was that pleased. Datura Stramonium, better known as Thorn Apple, the plant had several alkaloids he might be able to use to keep Xavier under. Although he had to be careful not to overdose him, it would be easy with an unregulated plant.....
He stopped himself right there as the thought unwound in his head, there was the answer, right there a plant that could keep the world safe or keep him for trial later. If there ever *was* a trial, at this rate they'd be caught and shot even before they had the chance to say anything to anyone. Hank pulled several seed pods off the plant, he kept his options open but if the worst came to the worst he'd put Xavier into a coma not even he could come out of.
He went back to his companions listening to the news as it spewed out of the radio, every piece worse than the last. When the announcement came about the border closing Howard's face fell, he turned to them both his features set and pale. "Well folks, from now on we're on our own, trapped in a country that's hunting mutants down and doing god knows what to them when they find them. There's no way on this earth Emma will risk the rest of the kids for us. We have to get across the border ourselves somehow and that is going to be nearly impossible with our 'luggage'." He looked at Hank and the air seemed to crystalize as Jubilee realised what was being discussed.
"You want Hank to just...." she couldn't say it but she knew that it was being thrown around, even after all that they'd been through she still couldn't beleive they were considering it.
"No-one is saying we're going to do it Jubilee, just that it's an option, it's going to be hard enough as it is. But if it does come to it, he won't feel a thing beleive me." Jubilee opened and closed her mouth in horror, the decision had *already* been made, all they were arguing about was the timing. Suddenly it hit her, that she was all alone in woods with two mutants she hardly knew, the only person she did know they were planning on killing some time in the future. Hugging herself Jubilee tucked herself into a ball and hoped tomorrow would be a better one than today had been.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
We get to see the real cost of the battle at Xaviers, the price of loyalty and Hank makes his choice about the man in his care.