More Than the X Can See

Chapter 5

Angel clung to Logan’s waist as he drove his Harley north on Mamaroneck Avenue, occasionally she looked up to see Warren flying above them. A few minutes later, they arrived at what had obviously been a large building complex but was now a burned out ruin with yellow tape advising caution attached to the orange mesh fencing which surrounded it. Out front, Angel had seen a sign proclaiming the building to be Lobo Technologies, a division of Worthington Enterprises. Construction machinery sat in the parking lot with the setting sun making them throw sinister shapes across the charred walls. Logan brought his motorcycle to a stop next to the fencing and put down the kickstand. Warren landed next to them, his wings settling before folding closed.

Angel peeled herself off Logan’s warm back, threw a leg over the end of the bike and walked towards the orange mesh. She looked past the barrier at the ruins and asked, “Where did you want me to look?”

“Anywhere. Everywhere,” Warren advised. “There were a couple of explosions so things may have been strewn around.”

Logan got off the bike as she stood examining the ruined building. “I believe the interior’s safe to walk around in,” she commented as she placed a hand on the fencing. “How do we get in?”

Logan walked over to her and extended a metal encased claw. He bent down and stuck the sharp metal through a bottom hole and as he stood up, the claw cut through the orange mesh fencing like soft butter.

“Is what we’re doing legal?” she asked with last second thoughts.

“I own this whole block,” Warren assured her. “The insurance agents finished their investigation two days ago and the construction company is waiting on my approval before they demolish the remains of the building. We can do whatever we want.”

“Good enough for me,” she said and stepped through the mesh. Warren and Logan followed her through the rubble. Logan pulled out a cigar from an interior jacket pocket and a lighter from his jeans and lit it.

“What exactly am I looking for?” she asked when they arrived at the entrance to the building.

“Whatever you WOULDN’T normally find in a burned building,” Logan suggested.

“Oh, you’re a great help,” she told him sarcastically. She looked at Warren, “What exactly did happen here?”

Warren realized he’d have to be honest with her if she was going to be able to help them. He didn’t know how well she’d take it, but he had to tell her to find out. Either she’d continue to help them or she’d ask to be taken back to the Institute.

“Warren, I need the truth,” she said seriously. “This place looks like it was designed to be just an office building, but I’m already detecting a lot of inconsistencies.” She paused for a moment looking around the site of destruction. “This ‘accident’ was caused by explosives!” She looked sharply at Warren and then Logan. “What happened!” she demanded.

Warren looked at Logan who took the cigar out of his mouth and blew out a cloud of smoke. Logan slowly turned to look at him and said in what could almost be an order, “Truth. Do it.”

Warren took a deep breath and let it out. He didn’t look at her as he began, “Long story short. Some mutant werewolves attacked and killed some kids. They were working out of here, Lobo Tech,” he gestured at the ruins that still stood in front of them. “I own the building and the company so it was my responsibility to find out who they were. Several of us from the Institute came here to find them and we fought them since they wouldn’t come quietly.”

Logan snorted and chuckled.

Warren glared at him and asked, “You want to tell her?” When Logan shook his head and stuck the cigar back into his mouth, Warren continued, “The building was supposed to just be a set of offices with a small shipping department. I didn’t know it, but they’ve been selling and shipping high-tech weaponry and equipment from Stark Industries out of Lobo Tech. During the fight, the werewolf leader set the place on fire destroying all the records about where the materials were coming from and who it was going to. Because of the ammunition and the other materials they had in the building, there were some explosions, but mostly fire demolished the place.”

“Did anyone die in the fire?” she asked solemnly.

Warren shook his head, “I couldn’t say. I know there were some werewolves who had been killed during the fighting.” He looked at Logan who nodded.

“Just … curiosity. Did the werewolves ever turn back into humans when you killed them? Like they do in the movies,” Angel asked looking at Logan. She knew he must have killed them with those metal encased claws of his.

Logan frowned and took out the cigar. As he blew smoke out he turned to Warren, “I didn’t see it.”

Warren was lost in thought for a few moments as he recollected his memories of the fight. “No,” he said hesitantly and then more confidently he shook his head, “No, they never changed back into humans.” He looked at her, “When we first met them they looked like men in business suits—office workers, but then they changed into werewolves when we confronted them.”

“Do you think the people who worked here were the werewolves?” she asked trying to get a better picture of what information Warren needed.

Warren looked at Logan, “You came here first and they kicked your ass.”

Logan practically growled around his cigar, “Shove it, Warren.” He walked over to the opening in the wall and they could hear his voice faintly echo off the emptiness inside, “The place was full o’ suits when I got here ‘cept for their leader, Maximus, and a few of his goons. Once my claws came out, they all started changin’.” He punched the charred concrete causing the area beneath his hand to crumble slightly, “Every damned last one of ‘em.” He turned to look at her and took the cigar out of his mouth, motioning with it at the building behind him, “I don’t think anything human been working here for a while.” He stuck the cigar back into his mouth and walked into the dark interior.

Angel looked at Warren, “I take it losing is a sore point with him.”

Warren smirked, “Wolverine doesn’t lose very often.”

She frowned in confusion, “Wolverine?”

“It’s what we call him,” Warren explained.

“Ah,” understanding dawned on her face, “just like you’re called Archangel.”

His wings stirred and he gave her a genuine smile, “Yes.”

“Hey!” they both looked into the dark entryway and saw Logan’s cigar light up as he drew on it, the enlarged pupils of his eyes glowing ferally as they reflected the glow. “You comin’ in here?”

Startled by the situation, pointing at Logan she said, “His eyes—that’s scary!” She gave a nervous little laugh.

“You didn’t know?” Warren asked, “I thought you scanned us earlier.”

“I did,” she replied. “I knew about it, but after all this talk about werewolves…” She smiled sheepishly at him, “It’s like being at summer camp with the scary stories around the fire before you go to bed and then one of the counselors jumps out of the bushes as you’re on your way back to your cabins.”

Warren nodded with a smile of remembrance, “Everyone screams and runs even though they know there wasn’t anything dangerous.”

“Yup,” she continued to smile.

“I’m no counselor,” came a menacing growl from the building.

Warren’s smile widened, “No, Logan,” he shot a glance at Angel, “you’d scare the kids too much.”

She laughed and then made her way into the dark interior of the ruined building with Warren following right behind her. When she reached the center of the building she said, “I’m going to start searching the immediate area so please don’t move or you’ll distract me and I may miss something.” Logan and Warren moved over to a wall nearby and they both leaned a shoulder against it and watched her. She just stood there with eyes closed.

After ten minutes, Warren asked, “Anything?”

“Bone fragments,” she said, her eyes still closed. “Lots of twisted and melted metal. Some bullets that didn’t explode or melt in the heat so they may still be useful for identification purposes. I can make out the ends of guns here and there, but they’re twisted and melted also. I don’t know if you’ll get any information off of them.” Logan watched her frown, but Warren couldn’t see well enough to notice. “There’s a couple of rooms below this floor,” she pointed towards the street, “with an underground corridor that leads off in that direction.”

Logan’s shoulder came off the wall and he tossed down the stub of his cigar, “Where’s the entrance to these rooms?”

“Aren’t you going to put that out?” she asked looking at the stub it’s end glowing in the darkness.

“The place already burnt down. Where’s the door?”

Angel pointed towards a corner of the building, “Over there. It’s under a pile of furniture.”

“Like someone was trying to hide it?” Warren asked as he approached her.

“Yeah, it sort of feels pushed together, jumbled together,” she replied.

“Someone survived,” Logan said as he headed over to the corner and started tossing the furniture to the side. Warren went and helped him.

Angel more delicately made her way over to the corner and pointed out the entrance to them, “The handle’s broken, but it used to be some sort of trap door. I’ve seen similar doors in buildings that have a lot of computers. They use the room below to fix the wiring and store extra parts. Sometimes they use it for … other activities.”

“But this room is connected to other rooms?” Warren asked.

“Yes. There’s another door over to the side there,” she pointed towards the direction of the street again. “It opens into a corridor and a few more rooms. I think the corridor leads to the sewers. I’d have to walk in that direction to be sure.”

Logan extended the claws in his right hand and punched into the trap door, pulling it up as he raised his fist. “You goin’ in?” he asked Warren.

Warren turned to Angel, “Doctor, can you tell if there is anyone down there?”

“Call me Angel. There’s no one right now. All the way to about half the corridor I can tell there isn’t anyone there.”

“I’m going down,” Warren told Logan.

Logan jumped down and moved out of the way as Warren moved into position to jump down also.

“Warren?” Angel asked.

“You stay here,” he ordered.

“There’s a group of people running towards the building,” she said looking over her shoulder towards the rest of the building.

Logan looked up through the trap door from the room below. “How many?” he asked.

“More than ten … oh my God, they’re changing into werewolves!” she exclaimed.

“Do we have time to get to my bike?”

“I don’t know,” she exclaimed in panic, “they’re running faster! I think they heard me!”

Warren grabbed her around the shoulders, picked her up and dropped her through the trap door into Logan’s waiting arms.

He moved out of the way and put her down as Warren landed, “Tell us if you sense anyone ahead of us. We’re going to use the corridor.”

Logan went over to the door Angel had pointed out earlier and tried the knob. It was locked. He used his claws to cut off the handle then kicked the door open. A hallway led into several rooms. “Take point,” he told Warren, “We need some light.”

Warren pulled Angel after him into the dark hallway. “Angel, are there any lights?”

Angel reached out and flipped a switch. Light flooded the hallway from emergency lights roughly strung along the ceiling leading down the corridor. There were six other rooms leading downwards.

“They must’ve tapped into the street lights,” Logan muttered from the doorway as he looked at the lights. “Where are they now?”

“They’re almost to the building.” She looked around her, “These are living quarters. There’s even a refrigerator in that room,” she pointed to one halfway down the hallway, “The wires lead towards it.”

“Great, they’ve set up shop. Let’s go!” Logan snapped.

Angel ran down the corridor and stopped at a metal door. She stood for a moment holding the handle then pulled it, “It’s clear.” She stepped down into sewage and would have fallen in the slippery muck if it hadn’t been for Warren being right behind her and grabbing her arm to steady her.

There were more emergency lights spaced every twenty feet along the walls. Their dim light made the filthy stream of sewage that filled the center of the corridor glisten.

Logan closed the door behind them and retracted his claws, “Now where?” He looked at the lights along the walls and grunted, “Usin’ the sewers regular.”

“We need to get above ground, my cell phone won’t work down here,” Warren advised.

They both looked at Angel. “The nearest exit is the sewer lid about a hundred feet in that direction,” she pointed towards the right.

“No,” said Logan, “Too close if some stay topside. We’ll go in the other direction.” He grabbed Angel’s arm and pulled her as he started walking through the sewage to the left. He wrinkled his nose, “At least the smell will stop them from sniffing us out. Darlin’, tell us when they get near the door. We’ll have to stop moving so they can’t hear which way we went.”

Warren got her other arm and they hurried her down the tunnel.

After a few minutes she hissed, “Stop!” They froze and could hear a faint metallic screech. Soon they heard the faint echo of growling voices. Logan and Warren watched Angel’s face for her reactions.

“Six of them are at the doorway,” she whispered. After a minute, she continued, “Three are coming our way, three are going the other direction.”

“Where are the rest of them?” Logan asked, also whispering.

“Two of them are doing something to the bike, I don’t know what. Two of them are walking on the ground level and the other six are doing something in the rooms off the hallway.”

“Better not wreck my Harley,” Logan hissed. He mentally counted, “Sixteen of them?”

At her nod, he held a finger up to his lips in a silencing motion and then waved for them to continue on. Carefully, they continued to move through the sludge trying to make as little noise as possible.

After a hundred feet they could hear splashing and Angel looked over her shoulder as three bipedal wolf-like creatures rounded the bend in the sewer. They bayed as they caught sight of them and the noise echoed from the walls reverberating up and down the corridor. They started running as fast as they could through the thick muck. The baying of their pursuers dogged their steps.

Logan turned around as the first of the werewolves to reach them came within striking distance. He flung out his arms and his claws extended, with a roar he swiped at the werewolf with both arms. The claws bit into the belly of the beast even as it’s arms reached out to grapple with him. It’s weight combined with the slippery tunnel floor pushed Logan off his feet and he and the werewolf landed in the sludge, sliding into the wall. The werewolf being on top clawed at his throat and face. Logan repeatedly brought his metal claws up and punched into the creature’s torso. His heels scrabbled in the slime trying to get under him so he could push the monster off.

Warren turned at Logan’s roar and extended his wings to give him balance in the slick sewage and obscure Angel’s fleeing figure. He stood with fists raised defensively as the other werewolves slowed and separated out coming at him from two directions. He ran and jumped kicked at the werewolf on his left, propelling it into the tunnel wall. There was a loud crack as its head slammed into the concrete. As the werewolf on his right ran towards him he landed on his hands and knees and used his wings to batter the creature as it bent to reach him. He leaped up, putting all his weight behind his fist and struck the creature under the chin, knocking it back the beast fell, overbalanced in the slippery ooze.

Logan pushed the slumping body of the werewolf off his chest and ran to help Warren. Warren had turned to face the werewolf he had kicked into the wall and delivered a blow to its face. Logan tackled the other beast as it attempted to stand up, his metal claws going into its throat and spinal column driving it back into the sewage. Wrenching his claws from the body, he turned and roared as he ran at the last remaining creature and stabbed it in the lungs as it rebounded from the wall once again from Warren’s blow.

Warren stepped back and let Logan dispatch the Werewolf as he turned to look for Angel. She was nowhere to be seen. “Angel!” Warren yelled.

The baying continued to echo in the tunnel, bouncing off the cavernous walls as the werewolves who had originally gone the other direction came around the corner.

“There’s three more coming!” Logan growled as he slit the throat of the third werewolf.

“We don’t want to lose her in these tunnels!” Warren exclaimed.

They sprinted after her until the new set of werewolves got closer. This time Logan and Warren set themselves for the creatures’ charge.

Having seen the stab wounds in the bodies of their pack mates, two of the monsters went after Logan, knowing that with his claws he was the more dangerous target. As they closed, Logan swiped at their throats with his claws barely nicking either of them. When they jumped back, he used his knowledge of the slippery surface from his previous fight and leaped forward getting down on one knee for balance and gutted both of them at the stomach. Even as they bent forward, he twisted around and brought his claws up with all his might into the soft flesh beneath their chins reaching into their brains.

The howling that echoed had not ended and Logan saw the cause as four more werewolves swarmed towards him. He brought his claws forward and roaring in rage ran at the nearest werewolf and with one swipe cut its head from its shoulders. He continued his momentum and skewered the next werewolf in the groin and turning his hand cut its innards to shreds. The other two werewolves separated out and away from his deadly metal claws before he could reach them. Turning to his right he leaped at his opponent smacking him into the wall and embedding his blades through the beast’s heart and several inches into the concrete.

Warren blocked the swipes from his attacker and using his strength shattered its muzzle with his fist. As it dazedly tried to claw at him, he grabbed its ears and brought its head down into his armored knee. Then he sidestepped and reaching around to either side of its head twisted sharply, snapping its neck. As it fell, he turned to see Logan fly at a werewolf and pin its chest to the wall with his foot long blades.

The impaled werewolf snapped weakly at Logan’s neck. He put a foot against the wall and pushed himself off, pulling the blades out of their flesh and cement sheath. The creature left a large bloody trail as it slid down the wall to sit in the mire. The remaining werewolf, seeing the decimation the two opponents had delivered to his pack mates, turned tail and ran back in the direction it had come.

Logan charged after it, roaring as rage still pumped adrenaline through his system.

Warren knew that when Logan caught up with the monster it would soon be dead so he concentrated his attention on retrieving Angel. He ran further up the tunnel, the last direction he had seen her. He hoped she hadn’t gone down a side passage making it more difficult to find her.

“Angel!” Warren yelled as he splashed through the fetid center stream. “It’s all right! They can’t harm you now, you’re safe!”

“I’m here,” he heard her faint reply from overhead.

Looking up he found her clinging to the top rung of a ladder leading to a manhole cover in the sewer ceiling. Warren and Angel looked back the way they’d come as a hoarse scream was silenced abruptly, a few seconds later a triumphant howl reverberated up the tunnel.

“Wait here,” Warren said to Angel as he went to investigate. “Logan?!” he called. There was no answer. He continued down the tunnel, “Logan is that you?!”

Logan’s voice dripped with malevolence as he hissed, “Yessss.”

“Get a hold of yourself,” Warren ordered. “You’re scaring Doctor Green.”

He went back to the ladder and held it as he looked up, “Doctor Green? Angel? Come down, it’s safe now.”

She looked down at him with wide eyes and frantically shook her head.

“It’s okay. They’re dead. The werewolves aren’t going to harm you,” he assured her.

She just looked at him with big frightened eyes.

He looked back in Logan’s direction as he heard footsteps coming towards him and then back up at Angel, “Please, Angel. You’re safe now. Come down.”

She shook her head again, “No.”

“What’s the matter?” he frowned and then looked up and down the tunnel. “Are you sensing something? What did we miss?”

“You killed them,” she whispered.

He sighed realizing what the problem was. She’d witnessed some of the fight and saw them killing the werewolves. “We had to. I told you earlier that we’ve fought them before. They would have killed us. It was self-defense,” he explained. “Please, come down. We need to go back to Lobo Tech. We need to find out why they were here. Why they attacked us.”

“There’s more,” she said. “You didn’t kill them all.”

“Logan? She says there’re more werewolves.”

“Yeah,” Logan’s gruff voice was closer and didn’t echo as much. “She said there were sixteen and I’ve only counted ten.”

“The other six must still be at Lobo Tech,” Warren considered the fighting that would result and threw a worried glance up at Angel.

“We won’t know until we go back,” Logan replied, his voice closer and Angel knew he was almost upon them.

Looking back up at her, Warren told her, “We need to go back, Angel. We need you to help us and tell us where they are.”

“I don’t want to,” she said quietly.

“I know you don’t want to, but we must. We have to find out why they’re here. Why there are rooms beneath my building.”

“No,” she shook her head, “I’m not going back.”

“I think she’s gone into shock,” Warren said over his shoulder as Logan came into view and he cocked his head to look up at her. “With her ability, she probably felt us fighting.”

“Shit,” Logan muttered and then shrugged, “There wasn’t anything we could do.” He was a mess with his clothes covered in crud and slime. He had blood spattered across his face, chest and legs. “Come down,” he ordered.

Her eyes widened at his appearance. “Oh my God,” she breathed and looked up at the manhole cover. She reached up to push it open.

Logan leaped onto the ladder and shot up it, grabbing her leg as she tried to escape. She strove to get him to let go. Instead he climbed the ladder further, wrapped an arm about her waist and, even as she struggled, he used his superior strength to pull her down and off the ladder. She desperately reached for his neck as he dangled and then dropped her into Warren’s waiting arms.

She kicked and screamed, “No!” Warren tightened his grip on her and grimaced as her cry echoed loudly up and down the corridor.

Logan jumped down and put his filthy hand over her mouth, silencing her. “Do you want them to come after us again?” he growled into her ear.

She stilled, her eyes going wide and then losing focus as she felt for the werewolves’ presence.

“Do you?” He snarled, watching her eyes as they came back into focus.

She shook her head ‘no’ under his hand.

“Then will you shut up?” At her nod, he lifted his hand from her mouth.

She looked up at Warren. “Let me go,” she whispered.

Warren searched her face, “She’s going into shock. Her eyes are dilated and she’s shaking like a leaf.” He lifted her up, pressing her against his chest to give her some of his warmth, “She felt us killing them. We need to take her back to the Institute.”

Logan roughly took her chin in his hands and turned her so he could examine her eyes, “Not yet. We need her. We need the information she can provide. And she needs us to protect her.” He let go of her chin and she buried her head in Warren’s neck as he pulled her back in close. Her free arm snaked up to circle his shoulder and neck which made it easier for him to hold her.

“We can come back—“ Warren began.

“And they’ll clear everything out. We won’t find a trace of them until they kill more humans. Do you want that? Do you want more innocent lives sacrificed in the name of Homo Superior?”

“No.”

“Do you want the media to find out who’s responsible?”

“No,” Warren repeated with more conviction.

“Good. You carry her while I take point,” he started back towards the Lobo Tech building.

Warren followed him with Angel in his arms. He turned his head to whisper near her ear, “Angel, we need you to tell us what you feel. We need to know what’s up ahead. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” she said, her lips grazing his neck as she spoke.

Warren became aware of the intimate hold he had on her. Her breasts were ample enough that, despite his polymer armor, he could feel them pressed into his chest, her lips rested against the pulse point in his neck and her thumb massaged the base of his skull with his every step. He began to get aroused and if he hadn’t been so concerned for her welfare, he’d have put her down to distance himself. He chalked his response up to the Darwinian need to reproduce after a life and death situation. He ignored his growing erection and got his mind back on their current predicament by concentrating on Logan who stalked in front of him searching for signs of danger.

They started to walk past the dead bodies and Angel whispered, “Oh, God!” against his neck. Warren realized she must be getting the ‘intimate’ details now that they were so close and sped up his pace, almost walking onto Logan’s heels. At Logan’s questioning glance, he turned his head and pressed against Angel’s cheek, “We’re too close to the bodies.”

Logan nodded and moved so he was close to Warren’s shoulder and distracted Angel by telling her, “If we get into another fight, he’ll need to put you down. Don’t run away to far. There’s more werewolves and we need you near us so we can keep you safe.”

Angel nodded in response, but she could still sense the blood from the various cooling bodies as it mixed with the muck on the floor. Sense the entry and exit wounds from Logan’s claws and the damage they did to living flesh. She shuddered and Warren shifted her in his arms, tightening his hold on her again and trying to give her reassurance with his warm presence.

Logan trotted ahead of them. Near the bend in the corner, he stopped and waited for them to catch up to him. “Where are they?” he whispered into Angel’s ear.

“I can’t sense any,” she whispered back.

Logan frowned and asked, “How far can you sense?”

“Into Lobo Tech,” she replied still whispering.

Logan looked at Warren and his voice rose to normal pitch, “Something stinks.”

Warren didn’t take the obvious pot shot as he looked at Logan’s disheveled appearance. “Angel, can you tell if there is someone else in the area?” he asked her.

“There isn’t anyone living,” she said a little louder.

Logan grunted and headed out, moving quickly around the corner and down the tunnel. Warren caught up to him at the open metal door leading into the hallway under the Lobo Tech building.

“Lights are out,” Logan said as they arrived. “Angel, what’s goin’ on, Darlin’?”

She closed her eyes and relaxed in Warren’s arms, her arm leaving his neck and folding down in her lap. After a moment she said, “I don’t sense anyone. They’ve cut the wires, that’s why there aren’t any lights.”

Logan asked, “Where are they?”

“I can’t sense them from here, they’re to far away. They’re not in the building or anywhere nearby.”

“What else can you tell us?” Warren asked her.

“Some of the furniture has been moved around. The laptop is missing.”

Logan’s head snapped sharply to glare at her, “What laptop? You said these were living quarters.”

“Well,” she said showing more animation, “I didn’t know you wanted a tour.”

Warren smirked, “She’s right, Logan. We were a little busy at the time.”

“You could have told us about the fuckin’ laptop!” Logan exclaimed aggravated.

“How was I supposed to know?!” Angel asked.

“You know we came here to find out information! You could have told us there was a fuckin’ laptop in one of the rooms!” Logan yelled at her.

“I was scared! What do you want me to say? I’m sorry!” Angel shouted back.

“Damn it! Too little, too late! You were supposed to recon the perimeter and you didn’t fulfill your mission!” Logan continued.

“Mission? What mission? I thought I was doing you two a favor!”

“We probably just lost what we came here for! Our objective was to locate intelligence on the connection between Worthington Enterprises and the Werewolves!”

“Hold on a minute, G. I. Joe! I didn’t realize I was drafted! This Barbie don’t play those games!” She struggled in Warren’s arms. “Put me down!”

Warren held on to her, “Whoa! Calm down! Both of you! We’re not getting anywhere fast. Logan, we still don’t know if there is any other information we could get from these rooms. Angel, please tell us what else is left.”

Angel stopped struggling and glared at Logan. She opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it and turned to look at Warren, “Put me down.”

Warren sighed and glanced at Logan as he put her down. He held onto her waist to make sure she was steady on her feet.

She brushed off his hands and flipped her braid behind her hitting him in the shoulder with it. Her arm came up and wiped at the gore and sewage Logan had put on her face with his hands, but she only smeared it around. She looked at the doorway and said, “There is a kitchen area with the refrigerator and a hot plate, and I don’t sense anything out of the ordinary there. Four of the rooms have a lot of bunk beds, like a barracks I guess, nothing special there. One of the rooms has only two beds, that is where the laptop was and the place feels ransacked. There’s stuff all over, papers, CD’s, disks. You may want to go there, but we’ll need light to see anything.”

Logan started into the hallway, “Which room is that?”

“Second room on your right,” she told him crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Logan pulled the lighter out of his pocket and ignited it, illuminating a small area around him. He arrived at the appointed room and looked around. He saw a bed on either side of the room, a chest of drawers, a small table, and a kerosene lantern. He walked over and lifted the lantern and determined there was some fuel in it. He lit the wick and the room lighted up even more.

“The last room is like a storage room. Food, candles, emergency supplies like that. A table and chairs, tools, some boxes full of plastic, fuel cans, some boxes with containers of liquid in them, electronic parts. I could keep going, there’s a mix of stuff in it,” she continued telling Warren as he led her into the hallway as the light from the kerosene lamp flickered into view. “It feels like they went through it, too.”

They arrived at the second door to find Logan picking up disks and papers off the floor. Warren immediately began opening the drawers in the chest. Angel watched the men for a moment then walked out of the room.

“How did you know making her angry would bring her out of shock?” Warren asked quietly knowing Logan would hear his question.

Logan walked up to Warren and handed him a couple of disks. “Nothing like riling up a woman to make her forget she’s supposed to be afraid,” he said. “Chuck said she’s a teacher from Berkley. Those folks HATE the military so I used some jargon.”

Angel walked over to what she had identified as a storage or workroom. Something didn’t feel right about some of the candles. The tubes were in a pile in one corner of the room and they weren’t candles, she realized, they had small granules inside of them. There was also something electronic attached to them.

She ran into the other room and grabbed the lantern. “Guys!” she yelled frantically as she returned to the storage room. Her fears were confirmed as the light illuminated a large pile of tubes attached to a clock as it counted down to zero. It was at twelve seconds when she saw it.

She dropped the lantern and ran towards the men who had entered the room, yelling, "It's gonna blow!"

They raced out the doorway into the sewers and started running back up the tunnel. Angel could feel the beginnings of the first flash of detonation. Instinctively, she turned and raised her hands, focusing all her senses. A rippling wave of kinetic energy expanded from her hands in response forming a barrier to the explosion.

Her shield blocked the wall of fire as it expanded into their side of the sewer system, but it was not enough to stop the concussive force of the detonation. They were picked up by the wave of energy and catapulted down the tunnel and slammed into the wall as it curved to the side. Angel lost consciousness when they struck the concrete wall mere yards away. Her shield dissipated and they were pummeled by wreckage as the debris from the explosion landed around them.

Manhole covers within a mile radius popped off, flipping into the air, with one landing on a car as it drove past. The Lobo Tech building was again engulfed in flames as a billowing fireball rose into the air. The burned out husk of a building began to tilt as the floor below it collapsed. The groan of metal girders and cracking concrete escalated until the walls of the building collapsed into the hole below it causing a domino effect as the rest of the multi-story building fell sideways into the street, breaking through into the damaged sewer below.

Lights flashing and sirens screaming, emergency vehicles arrived on the scene within minutes stopping several yards from the open holes in the street. The firemen ran to douse the fires encompassing the broken building and surrounding area.

One of the firemen noticed the Harley lying on its side not to distant from the wreckage. “Hey, get an officer over here! There may have been casualties, there’s a motorcycle in the lot!” he called into the radio in his helmet as he ran the water hose to the nearest fire.

After the fire chief communicated this to a police officer, the search began. Running the license plate in their system, they identified it as belonging to The Xavier Institute. When word got out of the origin of the motorcycle, several of the officers came to the same conclusion from their many official interactions with Logan/Wolverine over the years that it must be his Harley. An officer called the Institute and spoke to Professor Xavier and determined that Wolverine had also left with Archangel and a blonde woman named Doctor Green. The search began in earnest for the three missing people.

Not finding anyone topside, the officer in charge and the fire chief both decided that a search of the sewer systems would be necessary.

Two officers went down the nearest manhole and radioed that they couldn’t get past the broken building on one side of the tunnel. Two more officers were dispatched to find a manhole on the other side.

The first set of officers soon radioed that they’d gone the extent of the debris field but could find no sign of anyone. The second set of officers had just arrived at the bottom of the ladder from their manhole when their flashlights picked out the outline of footprints in the muck.

Up above on the surface, one of the Institute’s Blackbirds landed in the cleared area on the other side of the scene of destruction and several X-team members came running out.

After Scott landed the plane, Nightcrawler teleported into the midst of a group of official looking people. “Have you found them?” he asked.

One of the radios squawked, “Captain? We found some footprints down here! The wreckage doesn’t go much further past where we are so we’re going to start heading towards the building.”

The Captain picked up his radio looking at Nightcrawler, “Ten four, Walkowski. The people from the Institute just arrived. You’ll be having some help real soon.”

Walkowski responded, “Uh, Captain? We’ve found bodies! Werewolves! Lots of them! We’re going to need the Coroner. It looks like Wolverine really cut loose!” There was a shout in the background. “Captain, we’ve found Archangel! I repeat we’ve found Archangel!”