The drive took infinitely longer as Mystique kept feeding her all sorts of incorrect information. She would think that she was going the right way only to have Mystique’s laughter in her head informing her that she was going the wrong way.
Her agitation combined with her incredible fear for Logan had Marie on edge and ready to snap.
“Listen t’ me ya blue-skinned bitch, get me t’ Logan now or Ah’ll wreak so much havoc on yer psyche that ya’ll wish ya’d never come within a hundred feet o’ me,” Marie snarled as she sped down the country back road.
When Logan’s panicked screams echoed in her mind, Marie couldn’t contain the whimper that escaped her throat.
“Ah’m comin’, Logan. Ah swear,” Marie murmured, hoping that Logan could hear her.
Keeping all of her senses on full alert, Marie followed the path set out for her by Mystique. She wanted to be sure that she found the place she was supposed to go to. The place where Logan had been taken by the big hair man she had seen before in Logan’s memories. Victor Creed. Though she hated to even consider it, Marie knew that Logan being taken by Creed made his situation even more dire than it would have been without him involved.
Marie had been driving for quite a while when she realized that she had no idea how she was going to rescue Logan. It wasn’t like she was sneaking him out of the back of a truck. This was an entire building under the command of a mutant who controlled metals. And since Marie knew first hand that Logan’s entire skeleton was laced with some pretty powerful metal, she knew just how vulnerable it made him.
Erik could twist your lover into a human pretzel!
Marie growled at the other woman’s words. She longed to silence her, but needed the information that Mystique possessed. Mystique was her only way of getting to Logan.
He could break every bone in your lover’s body and leave him writing in agony for hours as his bent and crushed bones refuse to heal.
“Shut the fuck up, ya bitch! Nothin’ bad happened t’ Logan! He’s all right!”
AAAAHHHHHH!!
Mystique’s laughter echoed in Marie’s mind as Logan’s pained screams died down. I’m really going to believe that when he’s screaming so much.
“Logan’s all right. He’s okay. He’s all right,” Marie insisted, trying to convince not only Mystique, but herself as well. “Ah’m gonna get there in time t’ save him. We’ll be far away from here by this time tomorrow.”
Panicking even more, Marie pressed down on the excellerator, speeding down the back roads. True she had never actually driven before, but that didn’t really matter. It wasn’t that hard to drive. Press on the gas and steer the car. Oh, and the breaks were very helpful things when it came to stopping.
“That’s the turn!” Marie cried as she came upon an almost invisible side road.
Spinning the wheel rapidly, Marie took the turn sharply, nearly flipping the car in the process.
“Ah’m comin’, Logan.”
If you can get there without crashing, Mystique sneered.
Steeling herself, Marie continued flying down the road towards the place Creed had taken Logan. Only half of her mind was concentrated on driving, though. The rest of the time she was vainly trying to communicate with Logan. There was nothing on his end, though. Only silence. To Marie, that was a bad side. Especially since even the remnants of his presence in her mind was fading as well.
Looks like your loverboy has fallen silent. That can’t be good.
Following her instincts and ignoring Mystique’s voice, Marie continued down the almost invisible road towards what she hoped would be the place where Logan was.
“Just hang on, sugah. Ah’m almost there,” Marie said softly, desperately trying to gain some sort of response from Logan. She longed to hear something from Logan. Have some sign that he was still with her.
As she drove past a building that was half hidden in the side of a mountain, Marie got another flash. She was almost completely positive that Logan was in there. Driving further down the road and around a bend, Marie brought the car to a stop and climbed out. She crept back around the bed, staring at the place for several long minutes.
Now Marie had no choice but to figure out how she was going to get in.
Marie was hit by a sudden inspiration.
She just prayed that it would work.
~*~*~*~*~
Logan sat in the far corner of the cell, his eyes trained on the door. He was cradling his right arm against his chest, willing the intense pain to go away. Magneto had just attempted to remove Logan’s claws through his knuckles.
Needless to say, it hadn’t worked.
All that it had accomplished was creating a nauseating pain that laced through Logan’s entire body. He had nearly gotten sick at one point, but had willed the sensations away. He hadn’t even allowed himself the freedom of screaming. He wouldn’t let them see him weak in such a way.
The only reason that Magneto had done it was because Logan had refused his offer. There was no conceivable way that he would join him. He refused to have anything to do with Creed. If that bastard was involved in it, Logan knew that it wasn’t any good and that he should have nothing to do with it.
Clenching his fist, Logan allowed a pained whimper to escape his lips. He was alone and there was no one he needed to keep a strong front up for.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Logan let his head fall back against the wall. He ached all over and just wanted it to end. And, pretty soon, it would. Magneto was giving him one more chance to join his little Brotherhood. If Logan refused another time, he was dead. Normally it wouldn’t be such a threat, but Magneto had Creed.
Logan was willing to admit that Creed was the only person on the planet who actually stood a chance of killing him. Even if Marie got there in time, Logan wasn’t too sure that she would be of much help.
That didn’t stop Logan from hoping and praying that she would.
~*~*~*~*~
“Ah, Mystique, I trust that everything went well?” Erik inquired as the blue-skinned fiend entered the room.
“Of course it did. Wolverine barely even put up a fight. In fact, I must say that it was quite boring. I had thought that he would fight more.”
A restrained smile appeared on Erik’s weathered face. “I’m sure that things will get more interesting very soon. I was waiting for you before giving the Wolverine his final chance to join us. He refuses, you can have your turn to play with him before I allow Sabertooth to kill him.”
Ha! You hear that? They’re gonna kill your lover! Mystique taunted.
Even though she felt like whimpering, Marie kept her face straight and her emotions steady. If she was going to pull this off, she had to act lie Mystique to perfection. Erik could suspect nothing.
“I look forward to it,” Marie drawled, struggling to keep all aspects of her accent from her voice. Smiling slyly, Marie sidled up to the older man. “Is there any chance I can go play with him now? Give him a taste of what he has in store for him?”
Erik arched an eyebrow, clearly contemplating the idea. “That’s a very enticing offer. One that I’m sure the Wolverine would appreciate.”
“I’ll make sure that he does,” Marie murmured, sliding her hand up Erik’s arm to his shoulder.
Holding out his arm, Erik waited for “Mystique” to slip her arm through his. “Then let me take you to him.”
“You’re not going to stay and watch, are you?” Marie inquired as she allowed Erik to lead her to Logan. “It really wouldn’t be polite to interrupt a girl while she’s playing.”
“Playing? So is that what young people call it now-a-days?”
Marie grinned ferally, keeping her eyes trained on the path in front of her, keeping track of where Erik was taking her. “That is one name among many. Either way, the fact remains that it’s not something that I like to be watched doing. So you’ll just have to amuse yourself with something else.”
“Here we are,” Erik said, coming to a stop in front of a heavy metal door. “Fear not, I have things that need taking care of. Just try not to damage the Wolverine too badly. I would like to have him in full control of himself when I meet with him again.”
“I think that I can manage that,” Marie assured him as she reached out to grab hold of the door knob. “Now run along while I play with the Wolverine.”
Erik reached out and placed a hand on Marie’s cheek in dismissal. Marie had discovered that when she morphed herself to look like Mystique, she regained the ability to touch. Under normal circumstances, Marie would have been thrilled by that, but at that moment all she cared about was getting to Logan.
As soon as Erik was gone, Marie opened the door and slipped inside.