Healing

Chapter 11

Scott had spent a long time discussing things with the Wizard. He had come out with a smile upon his face though. He was fairly confident about whatever plan he had come up with; Logan was glad about that, but he wished Scott would share. He wanted to know what they were going to be doing.

The kid was currently out in the car, on his phone to the Professor. Logan was sat with the Wizard, his mind racing through the different possibilities of what could happen, of what had happened. Occasionally, the old man would send a wistful smile in his direction, but didn't say a word. He sat with his hands curled around his mug of coffee.

"I'll make up some food for you, I think."

"Huh?"

"For our journey."

Scott was coming back in, and the old man was spreading butter on some bread. Apparently the kid had come to a decision, and hopefully someone would feel a need to share. Logan was getting fairly irritated at being left in the dark.

"We're going back for now." Scott said gently. "We both have classes we are meant to be teaching, and I'm going to have a massive stack of homework to mark too. 'Ro is going to take over for now; she'll be taking Kurt with her, in case they need to get away quickly. Thanks."

He sat next to Logan, and accepted the mug offered to him by the old man.

"Back to monotony then?"

"Unfortunately." The kid was laughing, and Logan found himself wishing again that he could see his eyes. He could imagine them sparkling though.

"What colour are your eyes?"

"Red."

"What colour were they?"

"No idea. I can't remember any more."

Logan frowned. That seemed a little depressing, to be unable to remember such a normal fact.

"Not at all?"

"Nope. I can't really remember colours anyway. I know the sky is blue, and the grass is green, and I can tell the difference to a certain extent. Jean said that I just have very washed out colours, which are really just shades of red."

"Do you miss it?"

"It's hard to miss something you don't remember having, but some days... I wish I could see things normally. You read in books, and in poetry about the striking colours of the country, or beauty of someone's eyes and I wish I could understand."

Logan lit his cigar, unsure of what to say. The kid was perfectly capable of ranting without any input from him.

"I've had it since I was eleven though. I was attacked. Went home, and the people who were fostering thought I'd been causing bother again. I didn't bother to tell them, but I work up to a red tinted world and a nasty headache. They sent me back to orphanage I was in, cause they thought I must be doing drugs or something. Apparently my eyes were dead red..."

Logan raised his eyebrows, but still didn't say anything. He always found these stories fascinating. How people reacted to their new powers often said a lot about the person.

"But, I didn't go there. When I'd been there before, a kid came into his powers, and the matron totally over-reacted. She threw him out after taking him into her office for hour. We heard her scream at him for hours. After he'd left she'd still been ranting about how she should have taken him to the doctors."

"Doctors?"

"Yeah... it was a fairly small town, and the doctor often used orphans to test stuff on. He was a creep. So, I wasn't going to let her have a chance to take me there. I ran away. It wasn't until someone else tried to mug me that my eyes went from red to something more deadly. I think I killed him. I'm not sure though. I shut my eyes pretty quick. I opened them a few other times, but I quickly learned that it was not going away, you know?"

Scott took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. He raised his head to look at Logan again. The Canadian could feel the kid's hidden eyes on him.

"I can understand where Magneto is coming from. I know that some humans are determined to make this some kind of war. I really do get that mutants want to fight back. But, I still have common sense. War is not a direction I think we can take. Showing people how dangerous we can be, instead of our own peace, and tolerance... and now he has Jean with him... he's going to kill people."

"We won't let him."

Logan fixed the kid with a confident stare. Magneto was a really idiot. His focus on violence meant people would never view mutants as anything other than a threat. Humans were idiots, too. Logan knew that. Their paranoia could easily get the better of them.

"So long as there are people to fight him..." Logan wasn't sure how to phrase this, "As long as we fight, there is hope. That's what Wheels says, yeah? Can't lose hope. Always gotta have hope. As long as we can prove mutants aren't totally bastards then we'll be fine."

He grinned at Scott, who couldn't help a snort of laughter. Amusement shone in the young man's face, before he gulped down the rest of his coffee.

"Let's get back to those kids then."

It was on their way back that it happened. A shot rang out loud in Logan's ears. And then another. The car had swerved for a moment, as Scott quickly corrected his steering and carefully slowed them down. He stopped, and Logan got out. Two of their tires had been shot. A chill ran through him, and he glanced around. It could have come from anywhere; and Logan wasn't comfortable with sitting like ducks, waiting for a tow truck.

Scott knelt beside him and looked at his tires, letting out a soft groan.

"We can't sit here. Someone's making us stop, and I don't wanna sit and find out who."

"I know... Let's ring a tow truck, there's a pub not too far from here. We'll need to go back to that last junction and follow it, then there'll be a left into a quiet road with a pub 'bout half a mile down."

Scott was in Leader Mode. Logan could practically hear the clogs turning in the kid's head as he deduced the best plan.

"How'd you know that? I don't remember seein' any signs..."

"I studied the map, and the areas we'd travel through carefully before we left. Just in case we needed to know these things."

"Oh... You always do that?"

"Yeah. Never know when something's gonna happen."

"That's some paranoia you've got there."

A snort. "Thanks."

They gathered their stuff, and set off. Just what they needed - Tires shot out and the possibility of someone causing trouble for them.

It was in the pub that it happened. Logan had gone to the bar, and Scott had gone to find a phone. No reason they couldn't have a drink while they waited.

Scott had phoned a tow truck, and sat down. Logan ordered two beers and looked around. There was a strange looking man in the left corner. Just beside the bar was a young woman, nervously glancing around and fiddling with her phone. Her occasional rush of hormones made Logan decide she was waiting for her date or something.

He kept his eyes on the others. He wasn't entirely comfortable with sitting still, even now. The barmaid handed him his beers, and he turned.

Scott was gone. He walked over to the table the kid had been sat at, and looked around. He put their beers down and went to the toilets. He wasn't in there. He wasn't outside. His scent was more recent out here though. He followed the trail, stopping in the centre of a parking lot. He watched the helicopter rising into the sky. A growl moved through his throat.

He immediately decided. They were in the clouds, he couldn't see. But he knew who could. He ran to the phone. Scott had the keys, so he quickly broke in and grabbed the phone. He spoke to 'Ro, and her panic meant the professor would be aware. She promised to call him back as soon as they found something out. Logan tucked the phone into his pocket and took off again, back to the pub. He spoke to everyone sat around. The young woman, who was now with her date, had seen a man bob down beside Scott. She had noticed Scott from his glasses, who wore sun glasses on such an overcast day? The man had been in his late 40's, probably. With greying brown hair and a very square jaw. She hadn't been sure beyond that, other than he was a very muscled man.

Logan took that away with him. He knew who to blame, at least. The man waited impatiently for 'Ro to ring him, finishing both the beers he'd bought earlier, and getting another. The ringing had him jumping out his seat.

It was the professor. 'Ro was coming to meet him. They would go south. She had co-ordinates. He left quickly, off to meet 'Ro. He had turned his back for two seconds and the kid managed to go missing. Wonderful. The only thing that kept him from storming off was the conversation he'd just had with Xavier. The man hadn't sounded too alarmed that his field leader was missing. It was a slight reassurance.

XXX

Once in the air, he huffed out his breath. He was tense, and uncomfortable. He knew Scott could look after himself, but the suddenness of his disappearance left him unhappy.

"Why is it every time we send you on a mission something goes wrong?"

"Hey. Not every time."

'Ro just laughed, and Logan could practically feel the change in atmosphere. He felt easier, and his mind became more focused, mentally preparing himself for a fight.

In the co-pilot's seat, Kurt smiled; he turned slightly and looked at Logan.

Logan could feel the mutant's eyes boring into him, and he kept his head turned. He had discovered a habit of spilling his guts when he met that particular gaze of Kurt's. Logan just wanted to get Scott back. He wanted to hold the young man in his arms and protect him.

His stomach lurched as 'Ro began to take them down.

It was cold, and dark. Logan kept his eyes open and he watched out for any kind of foe. He attacked those he saw without hesitation.

They came across a room filled with dead bodies, 5 of them. It was clearly a holding room, and it was filled with Scott's scent. Logan spun out and hurried off, filling his nostrils with the scent. 'Ro and Kurt followed behind him carefully.

They slowly made their way through the building, the blood dripped on the ground filling Logan with dread. His mind flashed him many different visions of Scott, lying dead or dying just around the next corner. His stomach knotted as the stench got stronger. The only thing that kept him moving was the fact it wasn't only Scott's blood he could smell.

Finally, Scott was around the next corner, but he wasn't alone. 'Ro yelped when she saw Scott. He had blood flowing from his side, a sharp looking piece of metal sticking from it. He was in a vicious fight with a tall man, muscled with grey brown hair. He'd clearly made it from a holding cell to here, not far from the exit. But, it wasn't without injury.

He went to move to help, but 'Ro's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Let him move alone."

"What?"

"He always likes to do these things alone. I've interfered before, and it really annoys him."

"Why?" he could barely hold still.

"The completion." Kurt smiled. The two turned to look at him. "He told me." He stated in response to their looks.

Always one of the X-Men then. Physically injured, and he wasn't willing to add damage to his ego into the equation.

They had gotten back to the mansion and had spent a lot of time in the medical lab. Logan has shadowed him the whole way. The sense of relief that filled Logan was strange. He had known the whole time Scott could look after himself. He'd been fighting for Xavier for years and years. Scott was not a woman, not that Logan had anything against women; the kid had been engaged to a woman who could take care of herself, but he had such a confidence that showed how strong he was. Even Jean still managed to seem delicate at times. (As did 'Ro, but he'd never admit it to her.)

But as their made their way back to their rooms, Logan smiled. He leaned over and pulled Scott close, kissing him firmly on the lips. Scott wrapped his arms around the older man.

"So glad you're ok." He whispered, running his hands through the man's hair. He pressed his face into the soft, albeit fairly mucky hair.

Scott smiled. "I need to shower, I think. Carefully." Logan smiled, and ran his fingers softly over his side, which was tightly bandaged.

"I'll go then."

"No... Stay with me? Well, you can fuck off while I shower. But come back. Ok?"

Logan smirked and nodded. He eventually managed to let the kid go, and wander back to his own room.