Of Monsters and Men

Summary: The cat's away and the mouse will play, but will it get caught by a mean little dog instead? Magdelena meets one of Victor's old friends while he is out of town on business. (once again, reviews are more than welcome! Hope you enjoy)



Chapter 4: Friends and Enemies



Victor was gone, out of town for 2 more days and I was bored stupid. Winter was moving in and a night alone in this big empty house wasn't exactly what I needed. I had already curled up with one of his big fur-trimmed coats on the
couch to watch the news when my eyes fell on the pool table. A bar,..I needed to find a bar, a beer,a smoke,a game, maybe a little money on the table. OH hell yeah! I ran upstairs, dressed and threw his coat on over it all. I called
a cab and waited for it to arrive by the front door, smelling his smell from the collar of the coat. God I missed the big crazy fucker.



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Magdelena wasn't the only one looking for something to do out there in the creeping Winter cold. Rumors flew that the Friends of Humanity, (FOH) a mutant hating terrorist group were gathering strength again and the X-Men were on edge,
pacing the floor over it. Which only served to grate on Logan, aka Wolverine's nerves. He borrowed Scott's motorcycle and headed into the city to get away from it.



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The Pool Hall was warm and smoky. It smelled like broken dreams, spilled beer, old cigars. It reminded Magdelena of New Orleans in a way, she breathed it in as she hung the coat up by the door and got a beer before heading back to a vacant pool table. Heads turned at the buxom blonde in the revealing shirt and tight jeans. Scars showed on her arms and were revealed on the small of her back when she reached up to take a cue stick from the rack behind the table.



The door opened and more snow blew in. No one looked up at the short powerfully built man with the spiky black hair. Maggie racked up the balls and leaned down over the table to break them with a loud crack.



Logan's nose wrinkled when he walked past the coat by the door. He turned his head to look at it, it was old and beaten stained with mud and blood. His lip curled and he scanned the bar..of all the places..but there was no sign of the

old blond bastard. Logan follows his nose instead to a beautiful blonde woman alone at a pool table in the corner. He watched her for a few minutes, the sight of the scars on her skin made his blood boil. Had she escaped from him? Who was she? Logan had to know. He approaches the woman.



Maggie looks up a little at the shadow that falls over her cue ball, she holds a lit cigarette between her teeth.



"Take a picture" she makes a shot "It'll last longer"



"I can't buy a picture a drink tho." Logan says, she doesn't know him from Adam's cat and he can tell.



She looks up at him and stands, lifting a brow when she sees how short he is. at 5' 7" she almost towers over him at 5' 3". "can't buy me a drink either, I got a man who wouldn't like it much."



"A man that likes to cut you up?" Logan frowns, nodding to the scars on her arms.



"I'm a big girl, short stuff. I can take care of myself jus' fine." Maggie frowned, how dare me judge her like that, he didnt know shit.



Logan reaches for her arm, "I can help you. I know how he is, if you're scared I know a place you ca-"



Maggie's attention was taken the moment he touched her, she put the stick down as he spoke, densing up, she turns to face him. "Listen here, I said I can take care of myself. I don't need your help, now get..lost."



"Creed's got you so messed up, you don't even know how bad it is.." Logan snarled and kept his hand on her arm.



Maggie jerked her arm back and back-handed him. The slap was heard all over the bar, blood flew from Logan's split lip.

Imagine being smacked with a brick..yeah. He staggered back and glared at her. SNIKT! his claws slid out.



"How dare you! Mister Creed is the.." she growled back as she slapped him but the claws came out and her eyes go wide. Victor had warned her about this man,..the Runt. She had an insane moment where she mused that he was even shorter than

she'd pictured. "Runt." she breathed.



Now Logan smelled fear on her as she took a step back from him, "You done fucked up Scarlet.." Scarlet O'Hara..the accent. his sense of humor..get it? Maggie summoned the stick to her hand and glared at him.



"Get away from me." she snarled



"Fat chance sister.." Logan came forward slashing at her. She swung the pool cue at his head and phased her body out to avoid his claws. CRACK! the stick broke over his head and people were taking notice.



"MUTANTS!" came a rousing cry as chairs scraped the floor, tables tipped and the Mob of human patrons began to advance.



Maggie and Logan both froze for a moment, looked at each other and muttered at the same time.



"Oh..shit."

"Oh,.shit."



They stepped closer to each other and squared off to fight their way out of the bar. Neither of them liked the idea of

having to work with the other, but there wasn't much else to do.



-----------Meanwhile--------------



Somewhere in Alberta, Victor found himself missing Maggie. He tries the house first, no answer. Her cell phone, no answer.

He growls and sulks, better be a damn good reason she ain't answering...



--------Back at the Bar----------



"Watch yer back Runt!" Maggie shouted, throwing a hand up to block a chair aimed at Logans' head. He grunted and smashed the chair with one strike, knocking the guy holding it backwards with a shot to the gut at the same time.



"Thanks" he almost smiled. They were back to back in the midst of the brawl, turning this way and that fighting stubborn human foes that just wouldn't give up. She feels her phone vibrate in her pocket and lets out a surprised yelp. Narrowly avoiding a pool cue aimed at her side. She snatches at it and snarls, snapping it in half and using the pieces to jab at two others in front of her. Feet, Fists and Furniture fly as they work their way towards the door.



"Don't mention it Short stuff." Maggie smirked, sending a punch flying over his head when she turns, seeing they are closer to the door. This puts her breasts right in front of his nose and Logan catches a full whiff of her scent, very female, dangerous and then there's the taint of Creed's stink lingering on her.



"Don't tempt me Scarlet." Logan grumbles and ducks under her arm, putting his back to hers, now facing the door. Maggie let out a bubbly laugh and put her hands up, shoving the men back with a shield of telekinesis.



"Clear the way 'fore they decide to lynch us!" she grinned from ear to ear. Keeping her back pressed against his as Logan fought to the door. At the last second, she called Victor's coat to her hands, dropped the shield and ducked out the door into the freezing cold night. Logan watched as she gestured with a grunt, 4 motorcycles slide and fly over to stack up outside the door. Her shirt is thin and it's clear that she's freezing. Logan shakes his head, pulls the coat from her arm and shakes it out, putting it around her shoulders.



"That won't hold 'em long." He said with a grimace, his hands felt unclean touching that coat.



"It'll have to do..you got a car?" Maggie asked, any port in a storm since she couldn't wait to call a cab at the moment. She smiles softly and works her arms into the sleeves of the coat, smelling Victor's smell on the collar, she makes a little humming sound.



"No,..I got that." Logan points to the motorcyle he'd borrowed from Scott.



"Grreaaaat." Maggie frowned. The patrons were trying to get past the stack of metal by the door.



"C'mon" Logan tugged at her arm, throwing his leg over the bike and revving it up. Maggie looked at him and then back at the bar. She let out a frustrated sigh and jumped on the back of the bike, putting her arms around Logan's middle.



"Just don't get any ideas.." Logan smirked, knowing full well that his old enemy would be pissed about this, "Where to?"



Maggie gave him directions to a grocery store not far from the house. He drove in silence until he got there, he killed the engine when she got off the back.



"You're a hell of a fighter, you sure you wanna go back to him? He ain't gonna be happy." Logan said, watching her carefully.



She shook her head and smiled, "Thanks for the ride,.but no thanks. I'll be just fine." she turned to walk away.



Logan got off the bike and walked over to catch up. "You're a fool if you think you can handle him tho."



she spun around and poked a finger in his chest, getting right in his face, "You don't know me, Runt."



"I know him Scarlet." he growled back and grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her down, he kissed her on the mouth. It surprised her enough that she didn't fight it for about 2 seconds, not kissing back but just not resisting. then she shoves him back with both hands and a cry of anger.



"You're gonna get me killed dammit!" Oh yeah, she knew Victor had a temper and this would never go over well if he found out.



"You can handle him remember?" Logan smirked up at her, goading her, pushing her buttons. She rejected him for..for..Creed? it made his skin crawl now to think he'd kissed her.



She drew her hand back and slapped him across the face again. "Stay the hell away from me! From both of us!" She said and stormed off into the snowy night. Logan touched the side of his face, it was bruised again. He growled and got back on the motorcycle, speeding away. Let her freeze then.



She calls Victor on the walk home.



"What took you so long?" he asks suspicious.



"I couldn't answer when you called cause I was too busy tryin' not to get my ass kicked." Maggie replied.



"What? by who?" Creed asked, suddenly concerned.



"I was ass deep in a bar brawl with an old friend of yours, short, thick, black hair, metal claws. big attitude." Maggie said.



"What?" Creed growled.



"He didn't exactly take a shine to me, but we managed to get out okay. He gave me a ride to the S&P on his motorcycle. Don't worry, I knew better than to let him bring me all the way home.." Maggie explained calmly.



"We? You fought with him?"



"victor,."



"Not against him?"



"victor.."



"LaCroix, I swear ta god you do not want to make friends with him, I will.." Creed was fuming.



"VICTOR!" Maggie finally shouted, "I will tell you all about it when you get home, you big jealous beast. Fer chrissakes, Victor,."
she pauses, flinching at his anger even over the phone. "I Love you." she said declaring this before she'd even thought.



Creed heard it, but couldn't believe it. He was stunned into silence. Maggie felt the silence like a weight around her heart. She felt tears start to sting at her eyes, wondering if The Runt had actually had a point.



"I'll be here. Waiting for you,..Mister Creed." she said softly and hung up.



Victor heard the click and blinked, he set his phone down and stared down at the bed in the hotel room. She'd fought beside Logan, he'd driven her most of the way home, he didn't take a shine to her...a ghost of a smile curls his lips.

She'll be waiting. She said she loves me.



She said she loves..

She said she..



Victor,..I Love You.



He wants be mad at her, for talkin' to him, for fightin' with him, for accepting his help,..but Creed finds he can't.

He just can't. He gets into bed later that night still smiling to himself. Now he was certain of it.



She's MINE!