Long before she had seen him, Marie had been able to smell him. The scent wasn’t familiar to her, but the Logan in her head had started growling and snarling the instant it had appeared. From him, Marie had been able to determine the source of the foul, unwashed scent that reeked of death.
Sabertooth.
Without the scent, Marie would not have been able to recognized him. Gone were the rough furs and long expanse of pale hair. Sabertooth was wearing a tailored Armani suit, the dark fabric of which made his already pale eyes seem that much paler. An even bigger shock was the fact that his blonde mane had been cropped close to his skull. Shorter than Logan’s even. The only out of place feature were his eyebrows which still seemed a little too fluffy. In order to hide his claws, Sabertooth was wearing a pair of black leather gloves which perfectly matched the suit.
“Logan is gonna rip ya a part when he finds me,” Marie threatened, trying to keep a strong front.
“You like to believe that, wouldn’t you?” Sabertooth taunted. “Your loverboy can’t do anything to me. He can’t do anything to anyone. Your boy Logan is dead.”
Marie felt her heart come to a momentary stop.
Logan was dead.
“That poison we found made his healing factor pointless,” Sabertooth continued, taunting her further. “Would have hurt like a bitch too. It killed him slowly, inside to outside. His body would have shut down on him. His heart going last, of course. It wouldn’t be fun otherwise. Only problem was that we had to leave before he died.... Damn bossy bitch. Making me dress up like a goddamned prick. I’ll show her!”
Marie bit hard into the side of her cheek. She refused to cry in front of Sabertooth. There was no way she was going to give him the privilege of knowing that he had hurt her. That was most likely what he had been aiming for with his callous tone. Curling into an even tighter ball on the small cot which she sat, Marie started up at him with wide, blank eyes.
“Logan’s a lot stronger than ya think,’ Marie told him, her voice deceptively calm despite the agony welling deep in her soul.
“Strong or not, the clawed runt is still dead. And soon you will be too.”
That said, Sabertooth left her alone in her cell.
As soon as she heard the thick iron door shut, Marie let the tears come. She just didn’t care anymore. Logan was dead. Logan. He wasn’t supposed to die. He was the Wolverine. He was invincible. Nothing was supposed to be able to kill him. Logan had survived her touch twice. And now he was dead because of some bastard like Sabertooth killed him. Not even that. Marie was not going to give Sabertooth credit for killing the man she loved when it was a poison that had done the job. Something that, by all rights, not have even effected Logan in the least.
“Logan....” Marie moaned, collapsing onto her side and pulling her knees up to her chest. “Why’d ya hafta die? Ah still need ya, sugah. Ah’m not ready fer ya ta be dead.”
Marie sobbed long past the time when a headache formed and breathing became difficult. Her breath came out in hitching sobs that shook her whole body. Her face and the pillow under her head was soaked with her tears.
With a sudden, angry growl, Marie flung herself into a seated position. Scrubbing the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hands, Marie all but jumped from the bed and began stalking around the stark cell. Her gestures and mannerisms were all Logan’s. Even the way her eyes scanned the interior of the room in search of a weakness was something she had absorbed from Logan.
“Ah won’t feel sorry fer Logan in here,” Marie told herself as she raked her fingers through her tangled hair. “Ah’ll get mahself outta here then Ah’ll grieve fer Logan.... Then Ah’ll make them bastards pay fer killin’ him.”
Taking several deep, calming breaths, Marie began to search for structural weaknesses in the room. She needed to find a way out and do it very soon. There was no telling what they wanted her for. If it was important enough that they would kill Logan for it, the reason had to be a very big one. And Marie was quite sure that whatever Sabertooth and Company had planned had nothing to do with Magneto because he was against harming other mutants unless it was absolutely necessary. They certainly didn’t need to kill Logan to get to her which made Marie instantly suspicious.
Her strong front faded as Marie had a quick flash of the second time they had taken her away from Logan. By that point, Marie had been certain that something was wrong with Logan. He’d been sweating profusely by that point, pained moans echoing from his lips. Not knowing what was wrong with him, Marie had been unable to do anything but smooth his hair away from his face. When his temperature had begun to rise, Marie had wanted to go outside and get some snow to cool him off with. She hadn’t wanted to leave him, though.
In the end, it hadn’t mattered.
The people who had first attacked them had come back and taken her away from Logan anyway. Marie had struggled as long and hard as she could, but they took her away from him. They left Logan there to die. More tears formed in Marie’s eyes when Marie realized that Logan had died alone and in pain.
“Ah’m not gonna think ‘bout that right now,” Marie whimpered, covering her face with her hands. “Ah’ve gotta get outta here.”
PROFESSOR!! Marie screamed in her mind, trying to reach the only people she could think of to help her now that Logan was gone. Professor, please! Ah need yer help!
Marie was met with nothing but silence.
Professor! Please!
The silence continued and Marie let out an enraged scream. She flung her head back and let out a loud roar that even Logan would have been proud of.
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a bit?” a cultured voice said from behind her.
Spinning around on her heel, Marie came face to face with a dead man.
“Senator Kelly,” Marie whispered, inching away from the older man. “Yer dead. Storm told me ya were dead.”
Senator Kelly stepped further into the room, her eyes never leaving Marie’s retreating form. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m very much alive. And, what’s better, I’m going to make a martyr out of you. Mutants will learn that it is better not to cross the American government.”
“What are ya talkin’ about?” Marie whispered, coming to an abrupt halt as her back hit against the cold wall of the cell.
“I’m talking about your attempt to mutate all the world leaders roughly two weeks ago,” Senator Kelly informed her, a smug smile on his face. “I even have proof that you were the mutant behind the attack.... Mr. Creed?”
At that point, the refined looking Sabertooth stepped into the doorway. Marie’s eyes darted from one person to the next, unsure as to who was the greater threat. While Sabertooth could literally tear her limb from limb, Senator Kelly could have the entire nation crying out for her death if he put his mind to it.
“I don’t see why I have to wear this goddamned monkey suit, you blonde bitch,” Sabertooth grumbled, fidgeting with his tie.
Marie’s eyes got even wider at that. It wasn’t Senator Kelly standing in front of her. It was Mystique in the form of Senator Kelly.
“You hairy lummox!” Mystique cried using the Senator’s voice. “You just had to go and give away my identity didn’t you? I knew I should have made you stay upstairs!”
“Would you shut up, you blue-bellied whore!” Sabertooth roared, completely destroying his refined image.
Had the situation not been so dire, Marie might have actually found it funny.
“What are ya gonna do ta me?” Marie asked, standing up straight, her shoulders squared. She wasn’t going to let them know that she was afraid of them. That would give them more leverage over her than Marie was willing to let them have.
“Well, my dear, that’s really quite simple,” Senator Kelly said, his eyes sparkling darkly. “I am going to expose you for the evil conspirator you really are and rally the entire nation against you. By the time I’m through with you, humans everywhere will be begging for your death. A human mutant war will break out of which our race will be the victors. The humans will wipe themselves out.”
Marie glared at the mutant posing as the influential Senator. “If ya see Magneto, tell him he’s fuckin’ crazy if he thinks this plan o’ his is gonna work.”
In the blink of an eye, Sabertooth was across the room and had Marie by the throat. He lifted her up off the ground, cutting off the flow of air to her lungs. Gasping and wheezing, Marie struggled to free herself from his grip, but all that it accomplished was making Sabertooth clutch at her throat tighter. As more and more air was forced from her lungs, Marie’s vision began to darken and her struggles became more sluggish.
Just before Marie passed out, she felt something in her throat crunch. The pain in her neck was excruciating, but Marie was still able to draw in hitching breaths as Sabertooth finally released her. She went crashing to the ground, landing in a tangled heap of limbs.
“Come along, Victor, we have a press conference to set up,” Senator Kelly announced.
Straightening his now mussed up hair, Sabertooth turned to follow the other mutant from the room. Not before casting a sadistic smirk down at Marie.
“I’ll be back later, kid. We’ll have some more fun then,” the behemoth promised as he headed towards the door.
The door closed with a booming finality. Whatever confidence Marie had earlier about being able to gain her freedom herself had been wiped away completely.
With a pained whimper, Marie curled herself into a ball on the concrete floor of her cell.
Please come, Professor....