The helicopter swooped back around,and Bob waved at it dismissively."Go home."

The helicopter veered off suddenly,and started flying away towards the South.It took her a moment to realize:"Did you just order the pilot to fly home?"

Bob nodded,looking at her with that broad grin that made him look like an excited schoolboy."Yep.I wonder what the wife will think when he lands on the front lawn in an unmarked black helicopter straight out of the X Files."

She shook her head,trying not to let her own amusement show."You're playing havoc with people's lives,you know."

He simply shrugged."Hey,they started the fight.I'm just finishin' it."

"Do you have any idea how many soldiers there are around here?"

"At minimum two full units,so at least forty."

"Forty?"She exclaimed.Honestly,she expected maybe ten,tops.

"Logan's hard to handle."

She had to concede the point."Tell me about it."

That was when the building next to them exploded.

"Protect us,Jean,"Bob said,as the debris seemed to come flying at them at sonic speed.She wanted to tell him she wasn't sure she could (she was lucky to do it once),but suddenly she found herself doing just that:hands raised above her head,she repelled the debris as the entire building fell down on top of them (well,around them,since her telekinetic field held).She was sure he had pushed her,but right now she wasn't going to chew him a new one over it (maybe later).

"The demon was an idea,"Bob sang,even as the dust cloud of pulverized debris rose around them like smoke."The demon is awake."She wondered if he ever lost his terminal cool.

It also occurred to her,after the fact,that she had seen a burst of red when the building collapsed,and now,through the hazy dust clouds,she could see a man standing only a few feet away from where the building used to be,a lean figure dressed in black.A familiar figure.

Scott.

Even though she couldn't quite see him clearly,she knew he had a hand raised to his visor,and he was about to shoot them. "Scott," she shouted,raising her hands towards him.Would she be willing to hurt him?She didn't know.She didn't want to have to find out either.

"Oh,now,you're aiming the wrong way,"Bob said,his voice all sweetness and light.Scott seemed to freeze,and she realized,with a quiet sigh of relief,Bob had him."We're not your enemy.They are."

And with those words,Scott turned and fired a coherent beam of red energy at a truck she had not noticed before.It crumpled like a tin can,and went tumbling along the street like a bowling ball,only coming to a rest as soon as it toppled a street light.

"Now there's a plot twist I bet they never saw coming,"Bob said happily,rubbing his hands together.

She stared at him in disbelief."You can't be enjoying this."

He simply grinned at her,showing off perfect teeth,and a smile that could melt a thousand hearts.Yes,he was.

No wonder he was a friend of Logan's.What a weird,weird man.

"I'll take the North,you take the South,"he said,turning in the appropriate direction.She instantly saw what he meant as armored trucks suddenly cordoned off both sides of the small street,and more helicopters came in,diving in like birds of prey,all providing cover for armed soldiers in what appeared to be elaborate body armor.

"Down on the ground,Wolverine,now!"Someone shouted gruffly,accompanied by the sound of several safeties being snapped off of far too many automatic weapons.

Scott had turned his attention to snow camouflaged soldiers trying to come down from the hills;they weren't getting very far.

She raised her hands protectively towards the dozens of soldiers who had her in their sights.She didn't want to have to hurt them,but she didn't want to get shot either.

"Night now,"Bob said cheerfully,and half of the soldiers facing him suddenly collapsed,falling to the ground right where they stood. The other soldiers looked around,confused and frightened,and then the rest opened fire."You're only going to miss," Bob said,and while the bullets seemed to fill the air all around them,no one came close to even hitting them."You're out,"he said to the soldiers facing her,with a dismissive wave of his hand.Half of them fell over too,not dead,but seemingly seized with sudden onset narcolepsy.She wondered if she could do something similar with a telepathic suggestion.

Bob then started walking towards the rest of his firing squad.The man either had to have supreme confidence in his abilities to control large groups of people,or he had balls the size of the Elgin Marbles.

Jean looked at the soldiers facing her (well,the ones still conscious and upright) with great trepidation,aware they were creeping closer in spite of the wild crossfire from their comrades.She didn't want to hurt them,but there was no choice here, was there?

Maybe there was.

Taking a page out of Magneto's book,she telekinetically ripped the weapons out of their hands and tossed them into the rubble of the building that Scott had just destroyed.They could go get them,but they would have to get past her,and now they all looked startled and dubious,feeling emasculated by their lack of weapons and stunned by her power.They looked between themselves,falling back a couple of steps.One of them got on the radio and called for help.

Scott sheered the tail off one of the choppers with an optic blast,forcing it to crash land on the neighboring street,and she suddenly wondered why the town was so quiet.It was like they were given advanced warning-or were so used to paramilitary activity they knew to instantly duck and cover.

Bob was singing again,as the soldiers he approached began frantically shouting for "Wolverine" (obviously they still saw him as Logan) to freeze,the terror and confusion clear in their voices.They had lost control of this situation quickly,and they didn't know how,nor how to react to it.

"Sucking on your life just like the hole you're living in,"Bob sang,his tone moving from gleeful to quietly menacing."You're complaining all the time,but now the sucking really begins.With me."

"Stop right there,Wolverine!"One of the soldiers screamed,sounding near hysteria."This is your last warning!"

"No,"Bob replied."You stop.All of you."The remaining soldiers stopped shooting,and they seemed to freeze in their tracks like they were pretending to be mannequins."Now,what good would threatening Logan get you anyways? He's not the type that takes well to threats,and frankly bullets would more than likely just tick him off.Sure,enough high velocity bullets bouncing off his metal skull might knock him out for a bit,but it still seems you were relying a lot on chance.Not at all a smart thing to do with him,and you had to know your superior numbers mean little to a man who's a walking Ginsu and has a whole bunch of anti-authoritarian issues to work out.So what was the frequency,Kenneth?What was the big plan here?"   

Bob suddenly spun on his heels,and looked at the soldiers she was warily facing off with."Don't you fucking dare!Mission's a disaster-beat cheeks!"

Suddenly the line of soldiers broke and run,some heading for vehicles still intact,others simply disappearing down side alleys. She wondered what they had been planning to do.

Bob had turned back to his frozen soldiers though,waiting for an answer.Finally one,whom she guessed to be the commander of the group,said."The implant was supposed to activate."

"Implant?"

"Wolverine's cranial implant."

Jean walked over to Bob's side of the street,picking her way carefully through the rubble."What is he talking about?"She wondered,alarmed.The instruments in her lab couldn't read anything through his adamantium plated skull,which was why she had no idea if his prolonged contact with Rogue had left him brain damaged.That had been a fear,in spite of his healing abilities (and Scott's snarky comment "What brain?").

Bob shook his head."Since when has Logan had a cranial implant?"

"Grand Cache."

"Ah,I see.Some kind of mind altering,mood controlling thingymabob?"Bob guessed.

"Yes."The soldier replied flatly.It was like he was hypnotized,except there was obvious fear in his eyes:he didn't want to say any of this,but he was unable to help himself.He was a puppet and Bob was the puppet master,which was a deeply unsettling thought.

"What was the fall back plan if it failed to activate?The telepath?"

"Yes."

"Hmm.Well,you batted a thousand today,didn't you?"Bob then looked around,and said,"Bring your leader here.Hurt 'im if you have to,but I want him alive and conscious."

Wordlessly they obeyed as a group,all eight of the men heading off towards the hills,where Scott still had several soldiers pinned down hopelessly.He'd left several ruts in the snow,exposing bare ground,and had toppled several trees,some of which were smoldering.She wondered if he was using lethal force.Normally he never would,but Bob hadn't brought him back to normal,simply rearranged the targets.

"Why didn't you change Scott back to normal like you said you would?"She asked,eyeing him skeptically.

"Because a war zone is no place for angst,guilt,questions,and disorientation.We'll deal with that on the way."

"On the way where?"

"Their super secret hideout.I want to shut these guys down at the source if possible."

"I didn't think that was possible."

"Well,as much as they move around,there has to be a home b.o.o.-base of operations.The grunts won't know it for security reasons,but the nacho grandes must."Bob then looked off towards the hills,and shouted,"Scott,let 'em pass-they're okay."

She gave him a hard look,and said,"You didn't change him back because you wanted him to use lethal force."

Bob gave her a strangely sympathetic smile."I know he's your rock,Jean,but he does have a temper.If I changed him back now,he might use lethal force anyways.Wouldn't you?"

She stared at him a moment,and was about to tell him off,but something stopped her.Scott wouldn't do that,she was sure of it-but he had destroyed the Seventh Circle,hadn't he?He was ashamed of it later,but at the time it hadn't stopped him.

Of course that was a building,not a person,so it was completely different.Right?Of course it was.

So why couldn't she shake the feeling that Bob may have been right?

**

London,England-1987

He probably knew she was following him,but he had yet to turn back and give her the finger or acknowledge her in any way. He was probably pouting.

Logan cut between an alley and slashed his way through a chain link fence (he could have climbed it easily,but obviously he was in no mood to fuck around),headed for a trendily sleazy club called Hell.What,had the Eggman stopped in to try and pull a bird?Or was Logan just trying to throw her off?

She hung back warily,in case he tried a doorway ambush,but as soon as she got close enough to peer inside,she saw him standing inside the club,his back to her,the loud music pounding and the lights flashing in and out of rhythm.He was just standing there,not doing anything,and she wondered why,until she crept closer and saw for herself.At first,she thought someone,as a joke,had thrown heaps of clothes and rags on the floor,and splashed the lot with red paint.But it wasn't clothing,and it wasn't paint.

It was bodies.Dozens and dozens of bodies.

The closer she got,the more she could smell blood,so she stopped before the nausea overwhelmed her.She had never wanted to toss her cookies so much in one night (except that time as a teenager,when she drank an entire bottle of peach schnapps after eating a pint of rum raisin ice cream).

"Motherfucker,"Logan snarled."Goddamn motherfucker."

How had the Chimera killed everyone in the club in-what?Five minutes?It couldn't have been as much as ten.How had he done that?

Logan shook his head,as if trying to banish the noise or the scent of new blood,and then turned and left the club.She made sure to be far from him when he came out,and she got nervous when he paused on the sidewalk to take a deep breath.For a moment,she was sure he'd start taking his frustrated rage out on her,but his head snapped around to the far end of the street.
There was a woman standing there,her long black hair partially obscuring her pale face,dressed in black clothes so shapeless they could have been nothing more than a bedsheet wrapped around her.She smiled,but it seemed to split the lower half of her face,and her lips receded into her growing maw as her hair seemed to retract into her scalp.The black clothes began to fade as well,turning an almost luminescent shade of white.

The Eggman.

"If you had any brains at all,you stupid attack dog,you'd join me,"Chimera sneered,then disappeared quickly around the corner.

Logan ran after him,and damn if he wasn't fast,especially considering he'd had his throat ripped out several minutes ago.She was glad he paused (and sprung his claws-my if that wasn't always bloody impressive and as threatening as hell) before rounding the corner,probably out of fear of ambush,but obviously the Eggman just got the fuck out of there.Either he really wasn't in the mood for a rematch...or he was leading Logan into a trap.An even bigger one than before.Did he know that? She had to assume,since he was the secret agent guy (or assassin-whatever.Same difference),that that scenario must have occurred to him.But what if it hadn't?

In that case,he was damn lucky he had her tagging along to cover his ass.

Srina knew she was in good shape:she may have had the 'gift' of invisibility,but that didn't mean she could always simply walk in the front door.No,some of the places she was occasionally hired to hit for her fence were private homes and,on one memorable occasion,a yacht that wouldn't even dock for security concerns (she had to swim out to it that time).Sometimes she had to scale and climb like a good,old fashioned cat burglar,but that was rare.Now she was thinking she didn't do those kinds of things nearly enough,because after a couple of blocks of winding alley trips,running full tilt in a desperate attempt to follow Logan(keeping up was out of the question),she was starting to get a painful stitch in her left side.She could live with it for now,but in a few minutes it would get unbearable,and she'd have to stop.

This was so fucking unfair!It was Logan who was squashed by a one ton dumpster!Why the hell wasn't he lagging?

In fact,as far as she could tell (and she was so far behind him she was lucky to catch a glimpse of him turning a corner far ahead of her-sometimes it was only a slashed open fence that let her know she was on the right track),he was gaining on the Eggman,who may have had his healing abilities but lacked Logan's stamina.

Or that was all part of the trap.

Fuck it,she didn't care-they were finally slowing down,and she could finally breathe again.

She paused by the edge of a building she recognized as one of the warehouses that lined the docks,leaning against its corner as she sucked in several deep breaths,trying hard not to hyperventilate.The cool night air seemed to scour her throat raw as she took it in,and she almost choked on the scent of fish guts.God,did old ugly have to bring them to the docks?Was the park too bloody much to ask for?

Logan was fighting someone several meters down the way.Several someones,in fact,as it looked like he had been attacked by a small group of men.But not for long:with crow bars and bottle for weapons (along with them being plain old normals), they didn't last a minute.Logan didn't even need to use his claws on them;he shrugged them off like insects,more annoying than dangerous.She didn't know why they had attacked him,but she was sure the Eggman was somehow responsible for it.
But why?He had to know even a big group of humans wasn't much of a challenge for Logan.What was it,a distraction?Not a very good one.But maybe he had to work with what he had.

"Stop fucking about!"Logan shouted angrily."Come out and face me!What,don't you wanna gut me too?!"

If she were him,she wouldn't be tempting fate like that-he'd already gutted him once.But then again,if she was him,she'd have called out the Army and gone home.The best thing about being invisible is you never had to fight:she could be as passive aggressive as she wanted to be.She hadn't had a physical confrontation with anyone since she was fourteen.

Well,until now.Did this count?

She should really just leave Logan to this and go home.She was just a thief;he was the killer.

Okay,no,she didn't mean that-but the point was,he was the professional here.If he needed to steal the Hope Diamond,she could show him how;but she wasn't even apprentice level at fighting psycho killers.

It was so fucking quiet it was eerie.Was it always this quiet?Even Logan's steps on the dock seemed muffled somehow.It sent a chill down her spine,because it felt like something was going to happen,something really nasty,and the suspense was killing her.This was always the part of the horror movie when the bad guy jumped out of the shadows with a machete.

Logan stalked closer to a stack of crates,and she cringed,sure big ugly was going to spring out and slice off a bit of Logan's face.But he stopped,and turned his gaze towards the water.

It was really dark here;the only lights were ones farther up the docks and reflected off the water,which looked as black and still as a vast pool of oil.It didn't smell so great either,but hell,did the Thames ever smell good?

Logan stalked out on the pier,looking for Eggy,but where the hell could he go?There were no boats around...

And that's when the boards beneath Logan's feet seemed to rupture,and he felt straight through,disappearing into the water.

She crept closer,wondering for a moment if he had been too heavy and simply stepped on a cracked board.But the violent sloshing sounds from the water convinced her otherwise.

Eggy had been under the pier,and had simply broken through and dragged Logan down into the water.Why?

Only one possible answer came to mind:Chimera intended to drown him.And if he did have metal in his body,that might be really easy.

She moved closer to the pier,trying to look through the new hole in the dock,but it was so dark she could hardly see anything at all.Maybe she could see the water swirling,roiling like a washing machine load set on agitate,but not much else.

How long had they been under there?Did the Chimera need to breathe,or could it breathe under water?What about Logan? Did his healing factor allow him to live without air for longer periods of time?

Even though she was still invisible,she took a step back as something burst explosively to the surface,and she heard at least one loud gasp for air before whoever it was disappeared beneath the dark water once more.She hoped that was Logan,but it was too dark (and happened too fast) for her to say for sure.

She felt stupid and helpless just standing here,but what else could she do?A pipe wasn't a good weapon under water,and she would hardly be invisible there,because she could fool people's eyes,but not the law of physics:she would have been visible simply by her movement,and by the water she displaced.She only got away with the yacht thing because they had no security in the water,looking for swimmers beneath the surface.

Suddenly the agitation of the water sounded more violent,small waves slapping against the dock,and she thought she saw something in the water,pale white against the dark background,and a hand reached up and grabbed the side of the pier.A milk white hand.

Which was weird,because there was also one floating in the water.

Eggy was making a weird noise-something between a keening hiss and a growl-as he pulled himself onto the dock one handed,cradling his other arm against his chest.And it was just the arm:it stopped just beneath his left elbow.

Water and creamy blood poured off of him as he got to his feet and started running off.She could have hit him,but he was surprisingly fast,and she was distracted by the appearance of another hand reaching up to grab the side of the pier close to her.Logan grabbed the edge before his claws retracted into his hand,and she thought she heard him cough before he pulled himself up.He still had both his hands,and save for a few quickly healing gashes on his face and neck,he looked no worse for wear.

Well,yes he did-he looked like a drowned rat.But not a drowned gory rat,as the blood had actually been washed off him. Always an improvement.

"Which way did he go,Spud?"He asked,climbing to his feet and shaking his head like a wet dog might shake his body after being out in the rain.

She remained invisible,but still frowned at him."Are you gonna tell me you knew all along?"

He nodded,coughing once more as he scanned the dock.The gashes on his neck and face-now gone-convinced her Chimera had tried to drown him.But metal in his body or not,Logan didn't meet anyone's definition of a passive victim.Logan's eyes went wide (and it was creepy,but she would swear they looked almost all black now,like the lack of light had caused his pupils to expand until the iris was a mere tracing,just like a cat's),and he suddenly spat,"Oh shit!"

"What?"She asked,but not before he had run off,in the exact direction that Chimera had.

So much for her needing to tell him.

She herself cursed yet more running,but still went after him,now feeling like more of a witness than an actual participant. Well,so far that was true.Hopefully,it would stay that way.She just couldn't imagine leaving until she got to see Logan finish this ugly fucker off.

Whistler's Point,Alberta,Canada

That was his bad.He forgot to tell the soldier boys not to kill anyone who might offer resistance to them taking the head cheese,whether he wanted to come along or not.Someone had obviously figured out they had inexplicably switched sides like Scott,and tried to stop it,apparently not counting the number of soldiers and weighing the odds.Maybe he thought they'd come back to their senses and switch back to their proper side.

The first shot was met by a second and third shot in rapid succession,and then it was over.Jean looked stricken."Forgot about armed resistance,"he admitted,but it was amazing how little he cared.He didn't condone a senseless loss of life,but these men were pretty pitiful excuses for humanity,seeing their fellow humans as something beneath contempt and perfectly disposable,just because they were different.

He knew he should be above tit for tat revenge;it was petty,pointless,and basically threw you down to their level.But even he got fed up with the vicious bullshit every now and then.Maybe he'd been in Logan's mindset for too long.

Jean suspected that.Her hazel eyes narrowed suspiciously,but her attention was drawn to the returning soldiers,who were dragging along a fruitlessly struggling man dressed in regulation olive drab."You,"Bob said,smiling in recognition as the craggy faced middle aged man was brought to him.

The somewhat homely Colonel looked up,startled,and Bob saw no recognition in his sunken eyes,which was just as it should be."Who the fuck are you?You ain't Wolverine!"

"Oh,right,see me as I am,"he said,and while the Colonel was surprised enough to stop struggling,he still had no recollection of him.

"Who the fuck are you?"He repeated belligerently."What the fuck are you?"

"The name's Bob,and we met before,in Death Valley.I wiped your mind,and the mind of your surviving men so you wouldn't remember."

"What?"

Clueless;perfectly clueless.And on so many levels."You've mentioned Death Valley before,"Jean said,looking at him and not at Harris,who gave her a look that suggested as soon as he got loose,he'd rape her before he killed her.Very nice.Good thing she didn't read his mind,or she would blow up his head,ala "Scanners"."What happened there?"

"I'll explain later,"he offered,then turned a harsh gaze on Harris."I gave you a chance once.You blew it,Gene."

"You're dead,mutie,"he spat,attempting fearlessness,even though he was perhaps a minute away from losing complete bladder control.The hatred was honest and raw.He hated mutants;he was so terrified of being considered inferior or redundant, because he feared he was.

"I'm not a mutant,but thanks for the compliment.Now,where is the base you were going to take Logan to once you captured him?"

He didn't want to say,but of course he had no choice."Up in Camp Lejune."

Bob was relatively sure he knew where that was.Well,no,Logan did.It was at a higher elevation,about a hundred miles from here,and was the site of all old camp set up for mountain climbers,until a surprise blizzard killed about eight of them.It had been abandoned ever since,and would probably be a perfect place for a remote base,as the only visitors you'd get would be mountain climbers who could easily be made to disappear,or reappear as corpsicles later on.

"Is there road access,or is it by 'copter alone?"

"There's an old logging road,but access is limited."

"Password protected?"

Harris nodded."And mined."

"Mined?"Jean repeated in disbelief,but of course he couldn't hear her right now."As in land mines?"

Bob shrugged."That'd be how I'd take it,yeah."He then focused solely on Harris and his flat,dead eyes.With a mind as bitter and ugly as his,it was no surprise it was starting to leak through to the surface."Now where is the main base of the Organization?Home base?"

His answer was slightly surprising,but not a big shock."I don't know."

"What?"Jean exclaimed,sounding even more disappointed than he was.

But Bob went on,because he knew as soon as Lejune heard the whole thing had been bolloxed,they'd be decamping tout suite."There is a chain of command.Who is the highest on the chain that you know of?Who verifies the orders?"

"Control."

There was a name he had heard before,also back in Death Valley.Elusive son of a bitch."So where is Control?"

"Control is everywhere and nowhere."

Jean scoffed faintly."Sounds like God."

"Believe me,it doesn't,"Bob assured her."It actually sounds like brainwashing."

"Which?His answer or God?"

"Yes,"he agreed,and was not surprised at the look she was giving him out of the corner of his eye.Well,truth was a bitch sometimes."How do you contact Control,Gene?"

"Through Captain Thorson."

"Is Captain Thorson at Camp Lejune now?"

"Yes."

"Hallelujah amen,we have a winner."He was afraid this little leap frogging guessing game of 'who's the superior' would go on forever.The Organization must have been made up of complete fucking paranoids who reveled in their tiny military dictatorship."Now,Gene,what are we going to do with you?"

He sensed Jean's discomfort long before she suggested,"We can leave him here-"

"No,I did that at Death Valley.He had his second chance,and he blew it."

She was afraid of what he might do.She wasn't completely sure what he was capable of,proving she was indeed very bright."I won't let you kill him."

Bob found that mildly amusing,from several perspectives.As if she could if he had wanted to;as if she wouldn't if she knew what role he played in Logan's surgical mutilation and Scott's telepathic brainwashing;as if she had any other ideas;as if she wouldn't if she knew what Harris wanted to do to her.But he put Jean out of her misery,although he could see that senseless stubborn streak that Logan must have found very attractive,possessing a rather formidable one himself.But unlike Logan, Jean didn't show it much."No,death is too good for this pitiless man.I need something a lot harder than that."

Out of the corner of his eye,he saw her stiffen,as if he had just jabbed her with a cattle prod."And what does that mean?"Her voice had dropped,becoming ice cold and sharp as a razor.She knew she didn't really have a chance against him,but she was willing to give it a try if she had to.

Now Logan's attraction to her was starting to make more sense; there was a fighter and a bit of a 'wild child' in her,but she was so straight laced and uptight that side rarely saw the light of day.Logan either intuited it or saw enough of a glimpse of it to be convinced it was there.Although Logan liked women in general-he was not too picky when it came to being sexually intrigued by a woman(ah,but what male was?)-he had a special attraction and fondness for strong women.Not necessarily physically strong,but definitely stubborn and not passive;he liked women who could at least try and keep up with him,and,if necessary,take care of themselves.That last bit may have become a necessity,since knowing Logan usually shortened your life span rather abruptly.