Deception

Title: Deception

Rated: NC-17

Summary: Alternate X-Men Universe: Ororo Munroe, assassin, is hired

to kill Logan, (a.k.a. Wolverine) a former assassin and current

member of the mutant team X-Men.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Marvel does. :(

Though, I do like to have my fun with them. But it's just fun, so

don't sue...please.

Feedback: Yes, that would be lovely.











Xavier sits quietly, eyes watching the red headed doctor Jean and the

Scott. His own fingers peaked together on his desk and a deep frown

set on his face. Scott's head moves slightly as if glancing toward

Jean and he clears his throat, the sound seeming loud and obtrusive

in the otherwise silence. Jean sits perfectly still, calmly waiting

for him to comment on their theory.



"I cannot say that your thoughts could be entirely wrong, Scott," he

finally says, letting his hands fall flat on the desk and leaning

forward in his wheelchair. "As much as I dislike it, there is a

possibility that Logan could have been deceiving us all."



The Professor detects worry come over Scott as the man nods and rests

his chin on his hand in thought. Jean nods also, her calm pose just a

shell hiding the turmoil inside her mind. Even though she is usually

very skilled at keeping command of her thoughts, it's the thought

that someone could have tricked them for so long and none of them had

even questioned that is making her lose that command. He doesn't like

the thought either. Deep in his heart he believes that Logan is an X-

Man, but always the possibility is there. What if? Logan's shields to

his telepathic abilities are one of the greatest he's encountered in

a non-telepathic person. He's developed them over long years of being

alone and the only companion he had was himself. So, that made it

especially difficult to sense anything but what Logan chose for him

to sense. Unless he had completely violated Logan's trust, which he

had not.



"So, you realize how dangerous this could be? Going after Logan?"

Scott says, taking his chin off of his fist and leaning forward.



"Yes, but we don't know for sure. We can't abandon him!" Jean quickly

puts in before Xavier can answer. She looks at Scott, both frowning

at what they and the other had said. Then Scott turns back to Xavier.



"But what if it's a trap? What if Logan has been fooling us? Like she

said, we don't know for sure...we don't know he wasn't against us the

whole time either, do we? He was with Storm for christ sakes!"



"That doesn't mean that he was necessarily against us. Just that he

had a thing for Storm, that's all it tells us," Jean adds.



"But he always spoke about how he had a bad feeling about her. That

she couldn't be trusted. Then he turns around and is interacting with

her all in secret," Scott points out. Xavier sighs heavily and

watches as Jean retorts once again.



"In secret? I don't think it was done in secret. Jubilee and Bobby

saw them," she says.



"Sneaking around. I don't like this at all," Scott says heatedly. "We

need to look at this from all angles before we can decide what is

best to do."



"We don't have enough time," Jean says. "Magneto--"



"Won't kill him! Magneto wants him for something, not to kill him."



Xavier chooses this moment to speak up, "You're right. Magneto does

not want to kill him. But still, that does not mean he won't harm

Logan for something he wants."



Scott nods but says, "He won't harm Logan if Logan is working for him

already. Professor, this entire thing seems too well planned. And

Logan and Storm seem too close."



"Well, I do know that Storm and Logan had never met before the night

she threatened his life," Xavier says. Scott frowns and sits back in

his chair. Jean only nods knowingly.



"Then what are we going to do? We know where they are now. It could

be a horrible mistake to try and save him," Scott says.



"And it could be a horrible mistake not to save him," Xavier counters

with a frown. "I don't see any other choice but to trust Logan's

loyalties."



"But--" Scott begins to say but Xavier continues over him.



"No, Scott. I know, but I can't abandon Logan on a hunch. You'll just

have to be extremely careful," he says. "We're going to get Logan

back."



"When?" Both Jean and Scott ask at the same time.



"As soon as we decide on a plan," Xavier answers.





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





"Are you sure this will work, Storm?" the purple haired woman asks as

she grabs a small knife and twirls it in complicated patterns

effortlessly.



Storm watches the display for a moment before shrugging, "I have no

clue if it will work or not, but we must try." She sighs and says, "I

hope it will work. I don`t know if they`ll trust me anymore."



Psylocke frowns and twists the knife around in a odd manner and then

stabs it into the wood of the desk beside her. "If it doesn't work,

we'll both be in very deep. Magneto will not allow us to get away

with deceiving him."



"Yes, I know," Storm says as she makes a shhing motion with her hands

as she hears someone's footsteps outside the room. Then she continues

as the sounds fade. "But it's something I believe in strongly."



Psylocke smiles and she pulls a chair in front of her and sits. "You

must believe in it strongly to risk your life this way."



Storm nods slowly then says, "Yes. Well, why are you risking your

life?"



"Wolverine saved my life once," Psylocke says, a smile spreading on

her face again. The lightning shaped mark on her face making her look

strangely angry.



Storm stares at her then shakes her head, "Did he?"



Brushing a strand of purple tinted hair out of her eyes, Psylcocke

shrugs. "It was a few years ago now. On some mission, a man had

turned a corner and I hadn't noticed him. He had a gun and when he

shot, Logan moved in front of me, taking the bullet instead of me."

She frowns and hits her fist against her thigh. "I should have been

paying more attention. I never said anything to him about it

afterward, because he is so unconcerned with his own safety and

health. Just a "thanks" and he only shrugged and walked off like he

had done nothing. But I remember."



"So, why did you come back here just to help us capture him?" Storm

asks.



Pyslocke sighs, "Remy came, told me they were doing something

concerning Wolverine. Thinking I could actually help him, I came back

with Remy. Then I heard it was about you trying to kill him! Then it

had gone wrong and I tried to think of some way to keep Magneto from

getting Logan back. But I couldn't go against him, not openly. But

now, I can finally repay my debt to him."



"That is hard for me to believe," Storm says.



"What is?" Psylocke asks, eyes questioning.



"That Logan would do something like that. What I've seen of him, he's

a complete asshole," she answers.



Pyslocke smiles and shakes her head, "He follows some long lost code

of honor sometimes. He's very strange."



Storm looks up at the clock and sighs loudly, her face falling. "I

believe Magneto is going down to try and convert Logan once again,"

Storm says with a frown. "We better be there."



Pyslocke nods, hair falling in front of her face as she stands. She

grabs her knife and gives it a quick twist before it disappears

underneath some piece of clothing on her body.





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





"Wolverine, Do you still choose to be hard to deal with?" Magneto

asks him, eyes hard, calmly watching him. Knowing that he can't do

anything to defend himself.



"You know this won't work," Logan whispers roughly, raising his head

and glaring up at Sabertooth. The black eyes stare angrily back down

at him, accompanied by a sharp smile. The overgrown beast enjoys this

way too much.



Magneto sighs and gives Sabertooth a glance, the blonde haired man

nods and sends his fist into Logan's stomach, claws first. Logan's

body wants to bend with the force, but can't with Magneto's hold on

him. His eyes close in pain and he grunts as blood leaks into his

mouth.



"Is this what you felt like with your Weapon X friends, Wolverine?"

Magneto asks, stepping closer. Logan's eyes roll upward and he

blinks, clearing them and focusing on Magneto. There are other people

in the room, but all he notices at the moment are Magneto and

Sabertooth. But Storm and Pyslocke are standing together, behind

Magneto, both frowning. Remy is standing near the doorway, smoking

and looking bored. "I saved you from this torture once, I can do it

again. This is not what you want, or what I want. Charles Xavier

never saved you. He only used you."



Logan spits out the blood in his mouth on the floor at Magneto's

feet. The man frowns even deeper and steps forward, grabbing Logan by

the chin.



"You do realize that if you continue to resist in this way, I will

have to do something with you. And I cannot allow you to go back to

Xavier. The alternative is something I do not believe you will

enjoy," Magneto says tightly. "But I do realize that you can

withstand great physical pain, but what about mental pain, Wolverine?"



Logan narrows his eyes at Magneto, his teeth gritting at the still

strange feeling of his skin healing. It feels like a tightening, like

he doesn't have enough skin and it's pulling almost painfully. And

the skin around the wound feels as if it's being wound together in a

complex fashion, but still not less eerily painful. Sabertooth snarls

at him and eyes the healing hole in his stomach as if he wanted to

finish the job.



"Those you feel most strongly for, maybe they can help me persuade

you," Magneto says. Logan growls and catches Storm's eyes and frowns,

then he blinks and glares back up at Magneto, thinking of Jean, or

Jubilee, or Rogue. The corner of Magneto's mouth quirks upward and he

glances back at Storm who stares back blankly. Sabertooth notices

something too and makes a rumbling sound in his throat. Magneto turns

and frowns at him, shaking his head.



"The world is a horrible place, Logan, you of all people know that.

Do you really think you can make a difference with Xavier and his X-

Men? Do you really think, with the X-Men, you can stop the people who

did this to you?" Magneto says, and a sudden jolt runs down Logan's

arms and his claws rip out through the spaces between his knuckles.

Logan growls and tries to move again, but still can't move a

muscle. "Do you really think Xavier cares enough about you to

actually help you find your past? My boy, look at yourself, who could

care for someone like you?" He steps beside Logan and puts a hand on

his shoulder and says, "I care what happens to you, Wolverine. Why

else would I have saved your humanity so many years ago?"



"This comin' from the man who just had the gorilla tear my stomach

out?" Logan says, laughing shortly, a laugh that holds no humor

whatsoever. "Yea, sure I believe ya. Why don't ya just do what ya

said you were goin' to do and kill me already?"



"As an example, Wolverine," Magneto quickly says. "The Brotherhood is

the only true place for you. You're an outcast just like the rest

here. You were mutilated, tortured, tossed aside like garbage. But

you are not garbage, Wolverine. You are only something they fear.

Mankind has always feared what it does not understand."



Logan's body is turned in midair by an unseen force to face Magneto

as he steps around the room. "But how long do you think it will take

for people to accept our kind, Wolverine? They can't even accept each

other yet." Magneto turns to him then, eyes blazing fiercely. Logan

can smell anger coming off of him in heavy waves. "There is still

racism and discrimination in all types of forms. Normal human beings

still find reasons to hate their fellow man! How long will it take by

Xavier's way for mutants to be treated with respect? You out of all

of us may see that day finally come, but what about your other fellow

X-Men? They will be long dead before their farfetched dream is

realized."



"Maybe, maybe that's true. But makin' people fear you more now will

not make them accept you!" Logan growls. "They'll only hate ya more!"



Magneto frowns and shakes his head, putting his hand on Logan's

shoulder once again. "I am not working to make people hate us. I am

working to take care of people who put the ideas in people's heads

that mutants are evil. I have gone through one holocaust, Wolverine,

I will not sit back and watch as another approaches. Xavier`s way

will only lead to it."



"Don't take your childhood problems out on everyone else, bub," Logan

says. A fist collides with his jaw and Logan grunts before glaring up

at Magneto, anger boiling, his knuckles itching and teeth bared. The

invisible hold on him the only thing holding him back from slicing a

hole into the man.



Magneto frowns and his fist unclenches. "I'm growing tired of this

Wolverine. You're smarter then this. I know it, but I am growing very

impatient. I don't need you. We have Storm back, having you join with

us again would only be a great bonus. You are running out of time."



He turns around and stalks out of the room, Sabertooth on his tail,

giving Logan a glare over his shoulder. Logan smiles and watches as

Remy, Psylocke, and Storm all walk quietly out of the room also,

Storm giving Logan a soft glance before closing the door.



Logan stares at where she had been and wonders what that look had

been for. Her eyes had been almost sweet. But he couldn't associate

that with the bitch. Then a quiet clink sound catches his attention

and he looks at the door. The next instant, the hold on his body is

released and Logan falls to the floor with a crash. Grumbling to

himself, he picks himself off the ground.



"Logan," someone whispers from the other side of the door. Logan

moves closer until blue eyes are revealed in the open slit.



"What the hell do you want?!" he asks roughly.



"I don't have a lot of time to talk, Logan, so shut up," Storm

snaps. "Magneto isn't going to take much more of this. You have to

get out of here soon."



Logan glares at her, "And like you said, you're going to help me?" He

rolls his eyes at the motion of a nod her eyes make. "You let me out

of here, Stormy, and it ain't gonna be pretty. You're the last

fuckin' person I'll believe."



Storm sighs, "I am only trying to help."



"Yeah, sure, like you have so many times now," Logan growls.



"Psylocke is with me, do you trust her?" she asks quickly.



"Logan, Storm is trying to make right what she's done wrong,"

Psylocke says, he can hear her voice but can't see her.



Logan falls silent for a moment, looking into the blue eyes staring

into his own. "What's the plan?" he finally asks.



The blue eyes begin twinkling dangerously, "You let us take care of

that."





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





Xavier smiles to himself, nodding. With all this information, it will

be easy to enter Magneto's hideout.



"What is it, professor?" Scott asks, leaning forward in his chair.



"It just came to me, how Magneto's hideout is set up." he answers.



"How do you know this information?" Beast asks, his attention on

Xavier.



"From the most unlikely of sources," he says vaguely and smiles

again. "Now, we must go to the briefing room, gather the rest of the

X-Men."



As he begins to wheel himself around his desk, Beast and Scott both

nod and exit the room quickly. Soon, Logan, Soon, Xavier says in his

mind, hoping somehow Logan would be able to hear him. But knowing

from the knowledge he had just received that he would be unable to.

The room Logan is being kept in had something Magneto had discovered

can disrupt telepathic communication. But soon.





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





Sabertooth steps slowly up to the door and raises his fist. He knocks

but doesn't wait for an answer before he steps inside. Ororo turns to

look at him over her shoulder, her eyes hard.



"You don't need to bother knocking if you just barge into people's

rooms anyway," she says, her usual snappiness making him smile. But

then the reason he's here makes the smile disappear.



"What do you got going on with Wolverine," he asks, his voice rough.



"Will you drop it already?! There's nothing going on! It was a job!"

Ororo yells at him.



Shaking his head, Victor says, "I heard you talking to him awhile

ago." Her face goes a bit pale. "What's going on?"



She watches him for a long moment then stands, "You heard nothing!"



she says. Victor growls at her, growing impatient with this.



"'Ro, you shouldn't be gettin' involved with him or the X-Men you

know that. The only reason I'm not doing anything is `cause it's you."



"What would you do?" she asks, voice hard. "You wouldn't hurt me."



"You're right," Victor says with a tight smile. "Not yet," he adds

under his breath.



"What?" she asks.



"Nothing. Look, why don't you just forget about this mess, we could

get lost for a couple weeks?" he says.



Ororo shakes her head, "I can't do that."



Frowning, Victor asks, "Why?"



"For one," Ororo says, "We're not together anymore, Victor. Second, I

have work to do here."



Moving forward, Victor glares directly down into her eyes, "So, I am

right."



"Right about what?" Ororo asks, moving away from him to gain some

space and to not allow him to try and intimidate her.



"You and Wolverine," he growls.



"Victor, you are completely--"



"I'm not stupid!!" he screams angrily at her. "You think I'm that

stupid!? I know you better then anyone does," he says, moving toward

her and pressing a finger to her chest, the sharp nail digging

against her skin. "I can smell it on ya! Don't lie to me, `Ro! Don't

you ever lie to me!"



Storm pushes back against a wall, trying to sneak away from him, but

only ends up allowing him to box her against it. She watches his dark

eyes silently. He leans in close, waiting for her to

confess...something, but she doesn't speak. Unable or unwilling to

tell him a thing. Her blue eyes looks frightened but she doesn't

smell it.



"What happened?" he asks suddenly, his temper stamped back down

roughly so he can talk with her. "What happened to us, `Ro?" he

purrs, leaning his face in close to the skin of her neck.



"Don't call me that," she says and he leans back and glares into her

eyes. He frowns, not wanting to deal with her skipping around

answering his questions. She gets the idea and sighs, looking away

from him. "You hit me, Victor. That's what happened, if you

remember!"



He growls loudly and rams a fist into the wall next to her

face, "That was an accident and you damn well know it!"



"Do I?!" she yells into his face, only inches from him. He can feel

the heat of her breath and taste her perfume the scent is so

strong. "Victor...you...you can't control yourself sometimes!"



"What the fuck does that mean?!" he roars, angry at her continual

rejection.



"I never know when it's you, Victor, or Sabertooth. You're too messed

up," she says, pushing him back. He grabs her arm, his fingers

gripping her roughly.



"I don't know, sweetheart, it always seemed to me that you liked

things that way," he says quietly. Not a soft quiet, but a menacing

quiet. Like the quiet in the forest as the predator stalks. "As I

remember it, you liked getting fucked like an animal. Maybe you got

it the wrong way around."



He can feel her anger radiating in the air and the hair on the back

of his neck stand on end. Victor glances upward then back down at

Storm and smiles. She is trying to control the outer appearance of

anger, but it doesn't matter, he knows he got her there.



"Ya know, nothing gets me going like a good electrocution, c'mon," he

says. "I love it when you get all pissed," he adds. Stepping forward,

he moves his body against hers.



"Get away from me," she says calmly, but an edge to it.



Victor smiles a wicked smile and says, "Fine...fine." He leans down

and presses a kiss to her lips then takes step back. He opens the

door and turns back to say something, "Oh, remember to stay away from

Wolverine, or there'll be hell to pay...Storm." He sneers angrily

then slams the door shut behind himself.



Growling angrily under his breath he stalks away from Ororo's room,

fuming to himself. So, she plans on helping the pipsqueak escape. To

bad it's gonna be hard to do that if the dooschbag is dead!



"Hey, Sabertooth--ack!" Toad hits the wall with the force to knock

the breath out of him. He falls to the ground gasping for air.



Sabertooth stalks on, not worrying about it. He's got better things

to worry about.