All the big people talk too much and it makes Momma mad. Gampa and Unca Scooter know where Daidee is but they won’t let Momma go get him. They just kept talking and talking and Momma kept getting madder and madder. Momma was gonna start yelling at them soon. Braeden knew that it was bad to spy on the grown-ups when they were having meetings, but he wanted to see Momma yell at them for not going to get Daidee.
“We know where Logan is so we should be on the jet goin’ to get him!” Momma shouted, getting very close to yelling. “He’s out there by himself an’ we don’t know what state he’s in let alone whether he’s all right or not!”
“That’s really our point, Rogue. We don’t know what state Logan’s in. For all we know he could kill you just like he killed Jean!” Unca Scooter shouted back at Momma.
“Logan won’t hurt me,” Momma said real quiet. Braeden didn’t like it when Momma got real quiet. She was always madder when she talked in her hissy whisper.
“Then would you care to explain whey he nearly strangled you to death?” Unca Scooter demanded.
That got Momma really angry. She slapped Unca Scooter on the cheek and glared up at him. “You know that was not Logan’s fault! He had no control over what he did an’ ya know it!”
Braeden didn’t like that one bit. He wanted to scream at Unca Scooter for saying those mean things about Daidee, but then the big people would know that he was spying on them when he shouldn’t have been.
“I think that it is time for us all to take a deep breath and regain control of ourselves,” Auntie ‘Ro said, looking at Momma then at Unca Scooter. “No matter what we feel about the situation, Logan is one of us and needs our help.”
“But he--”
“Enough, Scott,” Gampa cut him off. “Ororo is correct. We can not abandon Logan to Magneto. However, we must also discover Magneto’s intentions where Logan is concerned. Hank, have you determined the purpose of the two chips Kitty was able to remove from Logan’s skull?”
Braeden peeked his head around the corner of the big people meeting room to see if Dr. Hank was gonna put up one of his see through pictures on the wall. The see through pictures were really neat cause you could see inside of people. This time there was a see through picture of Daidee’s head.
“It appears as though these two chips were designed to control Logan’s movements. They give out electrical charges in the brain which set off muscle contractions allowing whoever is in control of the chips to manipulate Logan’s movements,” Dr. Hank said in his smart doctor voice.
“What about the other chip? The one Kit-Kat couldn’t get out?” Momma asked him, chewing on her bottom lip. When Momma chewed on her bottom lip it meant that she was worried about something.
Dr. Hank frowned and that was very bad. Dr. Hank only frowned when something was wrong. “I am afraid that that particular chip is likely responsible for altering Logan’s perception.”
“Perception?”
“His vision,” Dr. Hank told Momma. “The placement of the final chip lies in the same area where the brain controls vision. which is likely the reason for Logan’s earlier hallucinations. That could prove problematic if we come up against him.”
“You make it sound like Logan’s the bad guy in all this,” Momma whispered, her eyes getting real sad.
“Maybe he is,” Unca Scooter mumbled, crossing his arms over his tummy.
“Scott,” Gampa barked, glaring at Unca Scooter.
Unca Scooter huffed loudly and ran his hands through his hair. “Look, I realize that Logan is one of us, but the fact remains that he’s a danger to us all right now. There’s no telling what Magneto can make him do. That makes Logan a liability in this and not an asset. Now undoubtedly he’s on his way to Magneto as we speak, so I say we suit up and get our butts there before he goes and gets himself killed.”
Braeden wanted to yell at Unca Scooter for being so mean to Daidee. It wasn’t Daidee’s fault that the bad men had done mean things to him. So instead of shouting at Unca Scooter, Braeden did the same thing Daidee woulda done.
He stowed away in the big black plane.
~*~*~*~*~
For the past hour Alayna had been watching his slow advance. Keeping herself hidden downwind from him behind some of the large boulders that surrounded the compound, Alayna was able to watch him without being noticed. Alayna felt her heart clench when she saw him stumble on the uneven ground. She hated what she was doing to her father, but in the end it would all turn out for the best.
“So the Wolverine is nearly upon us.”
Alayna whirled around, her eyes wide. “Erik, what are you doing out here?”
Mentally, Alayna was cursing herself for not having noticed his approach sooner. Her senses were keen enough to have heard him. Unfortunately, being downwind from her father also meant that she had been downwind from Erik which kept his scent and the sounds of his approach hidden from her.
“Toad detected Wolverine’s presence over on the security system and I came in inform you.... However, it seems as though you were already aware of his arrival,” Erik said, turning his attention towards the moving figure in the distance.
“I came out here to get some fresh air and happened to catch sight of him,” Alayna told him, keeping her eyes trained on her father. “”He’ll be here very soon.”
Erik came to stand right next to her. “I can see that you have mixed emotions about the coming confrontation.”
Alayna heaved a great sigh. “I’m not sure. A part of me is glad that I get to see him face to face for the first time in all these years, but at the same time....”
“There is still a part of you that is that innocent little girl who worshipped her father,” Erik finished for her, looking directly at Alayna. “The question is, how will you react?”
Alayna lifted her chin, glaring defiantly at the aging mutant. “I will do what I need to in order to ensure this turns out properly. Have no fear. Now, if you will excuse me, I must prepare.”
Not waiting for Erik’s response, Alayna disappeared back into the compound. Alayna had been planning this meeting for several weeks now. Every aspect that Alayna was sure she’d have under control had been meticulously plotted out. Without the aid of the machine she had designed to activate the chips in her father’s head, Alayna would have to rely on memories that were buried deep in his mind.
“Very soon, Daddy,” Alayna murmured, pulling the dogtag from her pocket and clutching it tightly in her hand. “Very soon we’ll be a family again.”
~*~*~*~*~
Almost there.
A few hundred more yards.
Straight up.
Had to get there.
Destroy Magneto and his minions.
Destroy the damn thing that was messing with his head.
Just had to get there.
Soon.
Before it became impossible to tell what was real....
.... And what was not.
~*~*~*~*~
It often shocked Marie that something so small could be so important. That a tiny band of metal could join two people for all eternity. For eight years she had worn the silver ring that Logan had placed on her finger one sunny afternoon. She had worn it so much that it had almost become a part of her and would remain so until her last dying breath and beyond.
“Earth to Roguey. Roguey, do you read me?”
At the sound of Jubilee’s voice, Marie jerked her head up from her contemplation of her wedding ring. “Sorry, Jubes. What were you sayin’?”
“I was just letting you know that we’re coming up on Mag’s castle,” Jubilee said, plopping herself down in Logan’s chair.
Marie perked up instantly. “Has Scott seen Logan anywhere on the scanners?”
Jubilee nodded her head, reaching over to pat Marie’s arm. “The Hairy-One has been spotted. He’s alive and kicking and just snuck into some cave at the bottom of the hill Mag’s castle is built on.”
“Logan’s all right?” Marie pressed, desperate to know anything about her husband.
‘According to ‘Ro all his vitals are good. His brain’s a little wacky, but with everything going on in his head that’s normal.”
“I want everythin’ to be really normal. I want my life back the way it was before Erik started messing with Logan’s mind,” Marie all but shouted, her emotions getting the better of her now that she was so close to Logan after so very long.
“Chica, you need to breathe. You can’t go save the Hairy-One if you’re hyperventilating,” Jubilee said, placing her hands on Marie’s shoulders.
Marie nodded her head, breathing deeply and evenly. “I can do that. I will do that. I’m gonna beat the crap outta anything that tries to stop me from gettin’ to Logan.”
Jubilee reached over and pulled Marie into a quick hug. “Now that’s the Roguey I know. So what say you cock up that lethal skin of yours and we’ll go kick some ass.”
~*~*~*~*~
Alayna was still tucking her white t-shirt into her jeans as she rushed through the corridors of the compound. The alarm had gone off a few moments ago meaning her father was somewhere in the structure.
Her father was there.
Now that the moment was at hand, Alayna was scared out of her mind. Despite all of her planning, there was no telling how it would all turn out. A million different things could go wrong before it all played out.
“You smell wike famiwy.”
At the sound of the little voice, Alayna stopped dead in her tracks. She turned her head, startled to see the small boy standing at the end of an adjoining corridor. He was right about one thing.
He did smell like family.
“What are you doing here, kiddo?” Alayna asked, kneeling down in front of the child. “This isn’t a safe place for you.”
He was hesitant at first, but soon relayed his predicament to her. “Momma came here t’ find Daidee. Have you see my Daidee?”
There was a loud growl off to the right, startling both Alayna and the little boy.
“Braeden!”
“Daidee!”
At the sound of the voice she knew so well, Alayna turned her head towards the man the little boy had run to. She had tears in her eyes when she saw him, looking every bit the same as he had when she was a little girl.
“Hello, Daddy,” Alayna said as she slowly rose to her feet. “Long time no see.”