Canadian Whiskey

Jubilee scrambled back as much and quickly as she could with her hands cuffed. She mashed herself into the corner of the bed against the wall and imagined herself to be invisible. She knew her attempt was in vain and tried her damnedest to get control of her fear. Sabretooth was really no more than a wild animal and fear only spurned him on. She raised her gaze and her eyes met his.

His face was pure evil bliss. He was smiling broadly, saliva dripping from his upper teeth and fangs. His eyes were wild; all sign of what sanity he did have, gone, just the beast remained. Reaching up and grabbing his uniforms shirt by the collar, he pulled and ripped the material from his torso. A masculine body was revealed covered in a dusting of golden blond hair. Her eyes trailed over his exposed skin of their own volition. He laughed when he smelled her body's reaction to his. "Runt ain't only man got a body worth lookin' at, frail," he teased.

She grunted and averted her eyes. "Fuck you," she spat out.

"Not yet," he replied to her. She glared at him with all the hatred she felt. He only laughed again. He turned and walked back to the table and sat down, lighting another cigarette and watched her.


********** ********** **********


The elevator door opened and Logan, Dr. Henry McCoy and Robert Drake walked the short distance down the hallway towards the Danger Room; Hank and Bobby a little behind Logan. The mood that Logan was in was an omen for things to come. Or at least that's what Hank thought. Logan was flexing his hands in and out of fists all the while releasing and retracting his claws. His mood had only gotten progressively worse since that morning. Something is going to happen, Hank thought to himself. He and Bobby exchanged glances.

They came to the door of the Danger Room just as it opened, framing Storm. "You're back," she said with slight surprise.

"So it would seem. Is the Professor here," asked Hank.

"Yes, he is at the podium," she replied. Her gaze moved to Logan before moving to let them pass. Rogue joined her and both women left the room.

The three men made their way to the front of the assembly hall, Hank and Bobby moving off to join their fellow team mates. Logan continued up the steps to confront the man he trusted more than any he ever had in his life; Charles Xavier.

"Where is she, Chuck," he growled.

Charles turned his hover chair to face Logan and said, "Please, Logan, have a seat." He indicated a chair at the back of the raised platform.

"Just answer the fucking question. Where is she?"

Charles just smiled in his ever patient way. He didn't answer and Logan knew the man wouldn't until he sat, but they both knew Logan was the more stubborn of the two and could hold out longer. Charles sighed and began to speak, "We don't know,"

"What do you mean 'you don't know'? She came back didn't she?" Logan interrupted him, the emotional fear evident in his voice. Those closest to them to hear the conversation turned to look. He growled at them and they moved away. Charles pulled a note out of his jacket pocket and handed it to him. Logan read the small piece of paper, turning it over to read the other side. The color drained from his face. "She knows better; knows me better." He crumpled the paper in his hand. "I told her to stay away from that place, it's dangerous," his voice trailed off.

Scott and Jean walked up and Jean placed a hand on Logan's arm. He jumped at the contact, startled out of his thoughts. He looked into her worry filled eyes and said, "Sorry, Jeanie, I," but his voice trailed off before he could finish what he knew they were all thinking.

"Logan, we are here if you need us," she said gently. Scott, nodding in agreement with his wife, said, “You and I have had our differences," he paused to glance at his wife and then looked back at Logan. "But we have always worked through them one way or another. You have but to ask, friend," Scott said.

Logan smiled at the other man and took the hand offered to him. "Friend," he replied. He looked back at Charles and asked, "Do we know the last whereabouts of Sabretooth?"

"What makes you think that he had anything to do with this?"

"He is the only one who could be involved." He rubbed his chin in thought and added, "O'course this would take planning and patience along with a certain amount of intelligence. Patience he doesn't have, not for something like this, but," his voice trailed off. He started towards the back of the assembly hall, towards the door.

"What is it, Logan?" Charles asked. Scott and Jean moved to follow him.

"Someone's at the door." He took off at a run.


********** ********** **********

Jubilee awoke with a start, her body jerking hard. For a moment she didn't recognize her surroundings, but memory flooded back as quickly as water over a dam. Her eyes immediately sought out her captor, but he was no where to be seen. Relief flooded her body, making her weak for a moment. She took the opportunity to check out her prison cell.

She was in a cabin that much was obvious. The furniture was sparse; the room contained only a small table with two chairs, a full size bed and a fireplace on the opposite wall as the bed. There was a doorway that was open to another room and she could see a stove making her assume that was the kitchen. She listened to see if she could hear anything from there, but all was quiet. 'He must be somewhere outside,' she thought. Her eyes sought out another door and found it next to the only window in the room. It was solid wood, but looked like it had been hanging there for a hundred years or more. She looked around again and could see that everything was aged as if time had forgotten about this place.

Her eyes fell to the floor and she could see a small circular stain darkening the wood just below where she had been hanging. It still looked fresh and she shuddered and didn't want to think what it could be. Closer to the table, there was another, darker stain that covered a larger area. It looked very faded, but she could make out that it had been red at one time. She shuddered again and moved to get up.

Her arms and shoulders protested causing her to wince from the pain. She was able to sit up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was beginning to get cold with no clothing, but a t-shirt and panties on. The mattress on the bed was bare, so there would be no relief there. She rolled her shoulders trying to work the kinks out and rubbed her arms. She needed to do something; the cold would only stiffen her up if the pain and soreness wasn't worked out. She moved to stand again and found she was able to with a little less resistance from her body. She walked to the kitchen doorway and peeked through.

The kitchen was as sparse as the other room, containing only a few cabinets, a small stove and refrigerator. All of them looked like they had stepped out of a 1950's magazine ad. She spotted a back door and walked over to it, trying to open it. It didn't budge. She moved the dusty, molded curtains back and found a dead bolt secured firmly on the door. It was one of those that required a key to be unlocked from the inside. She threw the curtain back in place with a curse and turned back to the room. She spotted a smaller door hidden beside the fridge and moved to it.

It opened easily, but her hopes of escape flew completely away. It was a closet. Her stomach chose this time to rumble loudly and she rubbed a hand across her mid-section. She scanned the contents of the closet, but the contents were like the rest of the cabin; very little. There was nothing that she would be willing to eat, but she did locate a blanket and pillow on the lower shelf. Taking it out, she shook the blanket to get the dust and any possible insects off it. Picking the pillow up and doing the same thing, she made her way back to the other room.

As she made her way past the door next to the bed, she reached out to try the knob, but it was opened before she could touch it. Her eyes climbed to the face of the man holding her against her will.

"Awake," he asked. Her stomach lurched and bile rose in her throat.