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Title:
Pick Your Poison
Author:
Terri
E-mail:
xgrrl26@yahoo.com
Rating:
PG-13 (this chapter only)
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of them, except Jack and
Mary.
They're groovy, so I'll be keeping them :)
Archive:
WRFA, Mutual Admiration, Peep Hut, everyone
else, please
ask and I'll say sure ;)
Feedback:
Please! With a cherry on top? Good, bad,
and ugly
welcome, but be forewarned that flames will
be publicly
mocked ;)
Summary:
Marie and Logan set up their own version of
the X-mansion.
Comments:
You'll notice something you've never seen
before in
one of my fics a '?' standing in for the
terminal
chapter number. Now, don't get me wrong, I
like works
in progress. But I've never liked to write
them myself
I just don't have enough confidence that
I won't write
myself into a corner or that I won't get
halfway through
and think ah, this is crap, back to
square one.
But Keli, deeply evil woman that she is,
challenged
me to do a WIP with a twist let the
readers decide
where the story goes. So, at the end
of each chapter,
you'll see a few choices about what
will happen
next. The direction of the story will be
decided by
popular vote. I'll try to get a chapter
out every
few days or so. It's kind of an experiment,
so bear with
me :) Please send your votes for the
next chapter
to me privately (and feel free to write
in a choice
if you don't like the ones listed in the
case of a
tie vote, random plot bunnies may be written
instead!)
and let me know if you think this is a good
idea or not....I'm
completely willing to drop it if it
starts to
suck :)
---------------------------------------------------
They'd come
to the middle-of-nowhere bar at Jack's
request.
Ever since Logan had stopped through with
the girl
about two years ago, on their way out of
Westchester,
Jack had been on the lookout for muties,
usually kids,
that might be in trouble. Logan had
made it clear
he'd take in anyone who was in a bad
spot, and
gave further instructions that anyone who
came around
from New York was to be shown the door if
they tried
to snatch up the kid in question. Logan
said that
he'd bought a place out west and built a big
house on
it, a house with plenty of room for 'guests.'
Jack didn't
know all the details, but he suspected
that Logan
was hosting more than a few guests at the
moment.
In the past year, he'd called Logan to come
and pick
up two kids. He didn't know how many others
Logan ran
across as he traveled the circuit or how
many that
doctor he'd hooked up with, Hank, brought
in, but he
would wager there were now half a dozen or
more kids
staying at the Wolverine's house.
Nobody would've
thought that a guy like that would
turn into
some kind of surrogate daddy to mutie kids,
Jack thought
as he watched Logan and the girl enter.
Then again,
Jack reflected as Logan kissed the girl's
head and
gave her a gentle shove in the direction of
the bar,
love can change any man, even one like the
Wolverine.
At first,
Jack wasn't sure what the deal was between
Logan and
the girl. The first time they came in,
Logan fought,
and the girl parked herself beside the
bar.
Jack tried to make conversation, but she only
answered
in smiles and nods. It didn't take long to
figure out
that something was wrong - that she either
wouldn't
or couldn't talk. Jack thought then that
maybe she
was Logan's sister or a relative of some
sort, that
he was looking out for her. It didn't take
long, though,
to notice Logan touching her like a
lover - nothing
inappropriate, but gentle touches, his
hand always
on the small of her back, the way she
relaxed at
his touch - they all gave the game away.
Jack, being
from the 'live and let live' school,
figured it
was none of his business if the girl was
more than
a little messed up and way too young to be
hooked up
with Logan. When they kept coming back to
the bar together
over the following months, Jack found
himself taking
a liking to the couple, befriending
Logan (his
practical side said that it never hurt to
be on good
terms with the most dangerous man in the
province)
and trying to communicate a little with the
girl.
She still never spoke, but her eyes were
animated,
and she would sometimes pantomime what she
was trying
to get across. Jack never asked her name
and Logan
never offered any explanations, so he
contented
himself to just enjoy her company. She had
a way of
bringing a little brightness to the place,
and Jack
thought that was a rare and good thing.
They both
strolled up to the bar, next to the girl
Jack had
called about. All he'd been able to get out
of her was
that her name was Mary. Probably an alias,
and not a
very creative one at that, Jack thought.
Logan tried
smiling - that was something that still
didn't quite
look natural on him - and introduced
himself to
the kid. She looked scared, but Jack
could tell
she was listening to Logan's pitch. He'd
heard it
a few times - look, kid, I'm a mutie too, so
is my friend
here. You don't hafta live on the road,
we got a
place. No strings, just come and try it out.
We're on
the up and up. You can trust us. You can
leave anytime
you want - we won't make ya stay. Most
kids had
been on the run long enough to be skeptical.
That's when
the girl usually jumped in to help Logan
out.
She don't talk. But she'll tell ya - it's on
the up and
up. The girl nodded enthusiastically and
took the
kid's hand in hers. Like I said, she's a
mutie too.
You can trust us. Then the girl gave the
kid a sincere
look. That's where most of the kids buy
in, Jack
reflected, they trust the girl's big brown
eyes.
This kid
looked like she was a yes. Jack could
already see
her nodding a little and smiling at the
girl.
It probably would've been just another easy
pick-up if
the New Yorkers hadn't shown up. Jack knew
them right
away - they were wearing leather outfits
and one had
the sunglasses Logan had described. He
knew that
Logan had picked up on them too - he was
angling his
body to face them squarely, even as he
tried to
keep an even expression on his face and his
eyes on the
kid. Jack reached for the shotgun beneath
the bar and
casually set it on the counter top.
Silence fell
over the whole room - Jack's gesture was
not lost
on any of the patrons. They began to slowly
clear out.
Logan leaned
over a little toward the girl. "Don't
panic, darlin',
but they're here." Logan shifted the
now-very-alarmed
girl behind him and reached his other
hand out
for Mary's arm. "Just sit tight. We got a
little situation
here."
The man with
the sunglasses stopped a few feet from
them and
spoke. "It's good to see you again. We've
been wondering
how you both were." His tone was kind,
but is body
language was tense.
"Why dontcha
both just clear on outta here, huh? You
don't belong
here." Logan's voice was low-key as
well, but
the girl was clutching herself tightly to
Logan's back,
and was now shaking. Jack tightened his
grip on the
shotgun and lazily pointed it in the
direction
of the two New Yorkers.
"It is good
to see you again, Rogue." The
white-haired
woman was speaking to Logan's girl, but
she didn't
respond with any of her usual gestures.
She looked
at the floor, and that made Jack's
apprehension
jump a notch. He could almost see the
girl shutting
down, and his gut was telling him that
these two
were somehow involved in whatever happened
that had
taken away her speech. "We have all been
very concerned
about you." The woman sounded sincere,
but Jack
trusted Logan and Rogue's reactions more than
he did the
pleasant words of strangers.
"What's going
on?" Mary stammered.
"We, ah,
came here to talk to you," the male New
Yorker offered.
"We help kids like yourself,
mutants."
Rogue reacted to that, and for a moment,
Jack thought
he could see her shoulders shake.
"They already
offered to help me." Mary took an
unconscious
step closer to Logan.
"That's right.
So why dontcha go on your way, huh?
Nothin' to
see here."
"You're going
to help her?" The man seemed skeptical.
"What do
you mean by that?"
"None of
your business. Now, you ain't welcome here,
so move along."
Rogue peeked out from behind Logan's
shoulder,
still not quite looking at the New Yorkers.
"Rogue -
it has been so long since we have seen you.
Perhaps -
perhaps you would like to talk." Logan
growled at
that, a low, warning growl that made Mary
jump a little.
Rogue came out of her seeming trance
at that and
put a hand on Mary's shoulder. Mary found
Rogue's eyes
and returned the reassuring smile that
had appeared
on her face.
"Get on outta
my bar." Jack, deciding that it *was*
his property
after all, put in his own two cents.
"But - but
- "
"Get," Jack
cut off the man's stammering and raised
the shotgun
so that the barrel pointed to the center
of his chest.
That seemed to convince him, at least a
little -
he took a step backwards. "Go on," Jack
urged.
"Where can
we reach you?" The white-haired woman took
a step backward
as well, but her eyes stayed with
Rogue.
"You stay
the hell away from us," Logan answered for
her.
Jack waved the business end of the shotgun at
them one
more time, and they finally left. He could
see that
Rogue had visibly relaxed at their departure.
"You OK?"
Logan had caught Rogue's eye and she
nodded.
"How 'bout you?" Mary nodded as well even
before Logan
had finished turning to face her.
"They gonna
try somethin' on your way back home?"
"Dunno, Jack."
Logan put an arm around Rogue and drew
her to his
side. "Can I use your phone? Better call
Hank and
warn him just in case." Rogue tugged at
Logan's shirt
a little and pointed to the phone, then
pointed to
them. "Yeah, I'll see if he'll meet us
halfway.
Good idea." Rogue nodded, once. Jack
handed over
the house phone. As Logan punched the
buttons,
Jack caught Rogue's eye.
"Nice to
meet ya, Rogue." He winked at her in a
friendly
way to punctuate the statement, and she
returned
a dazzling, but brief, smile.
Logan spoke
softly into the phone for a few moments
and then
hung up. "He'll meet us at the province
line, there's
a little town. Let's get goin'." Both
Rogue and
Mary nodded, and Rogue shot a parting
thankful
glance toward Jack.
They were
quiet as they began the four-hour trip to
the province
line. Logan sat in front, trying to
concentrate
on driving and doing a poor job of hiding
his anger
at the X-men's intrusion. Marie sat in the
passenger
seat, alternately looking out the window and
looking at
Logan. Mary sat in the back seat,
fidgeting
and wondering just what she'd gotten herself
into.
At about an hour into the drive, she gathered
her nerve
and decided to just ask. "Who were those
people?"
Logan and Marie exchanged a look. "I I
appreciate
your help and all, but could you tell me
what's going
on? Are we in some kind of danger?"
Marie tilted
her head and frowned, casting a
meaningful
look at Logan. He sighed and then nodded.
"I dunno
if we're in trouble yet or not. Those people
they run
a school for mutie kids out east, in New
York.
Marie Marie usedta go there."
"Did something
happen to her there?" Logan let out an
audible growl
at that. "Uh, I mean " Marie
interrupted
Mary by turning and smiling at her, then
giving an
apologetic shrug.
"Sorry 'bout
that. But it kinda makes me mad to think
back on it."
Marie put her hand on Logan's leg and
gave him
an encouraging smile too. "Yeah, somethin'
did happen.
I hadta leave Marie with 'em for a while
and they
didn't do a good job of watchin' her. She
got attacked
by this other mutant a real asshole, a
real psycho
named Sabretooth. They didn't protect
her, and
Marie, she got hurt pretty bad by him."
Logan looked
over at her with regret clearly shining
out of his
eyes. "Still sorry for that, darlin'.
Never shoulda
left ya." Marie leaned over to kiss his
cheek, over
his sideburns. "Anyhow, Marie's power
finally killed
that fuckin' bastard. Her skin, it
absorbs the
life outta whoever she touches and she
gets their
powers. Sabretooth's power was healin', so
she was OK.
Well, kinda. Physically, she was fine,
she healed,
but her power Marie gets a lotta the
person and
their memories up in her head when she
touches 'em.
And like I said, this guy was a full-on
psycho, so
it kinda freaked Marie out for a while."
Mary noticed
Marie's eyes travel to the floor as Logan
continued.
"The people she was stayin' with those
two were
some of 'em didn't really wanna take the
time to figure
out how to help Marie, you know, in her
head.
They had fancy telepaths and doctors and shit,
but all they
did was drug her up. The drugs, they
just made
it worse givin' her hallucinations and
nightmares
and shit. But they just kept on druggin'
her, never
tried anythin' else, and they kept her
locked up
in this little cage." Marie was frowning
quite a bit
now, and an angry, bitter tone had
surfaced
in Logan's voice. "By the time I got back,
she'd been
like that for three months all wild, not
talkin',
hurtin' real bad." Logan paused to look over
at Marie,
then reached out a gloved hand to tilt her
head up to
face him, so that she could see the
reassuring
smile he gave. She smiled a little in
return as
he gave her cheek a gentle caress. "Well,
as soon as
I got back and found out what happened, I
wanted to
take her up outta there. They said no.
Marie, she
was still a kid then, not quite eighteen,
and the head
guy, this guy named Chuck, he had legal
authority
over her or whatever. So I said fine, OK,
I'd just
stay at the mansion with her then, no
problem.
Two days later, I busted her out, wrecked
the lab they
had there and some other shit, and took
her to Canada
with me. She's been gettin' a lot
better.
We looked all over for a doctor to help her
out and finally
found a good one that's Hank, the
guy we're
meetin' up with. He really helped Marie out
no drugs,
just talkin' and meditation and shit, me
touchin'
her sometimes to help her out up in her head.
She
Marie's pretty good now. We're still workin'
on the talkin'
thing, but she's doin' real good."
Marie beamed
at that, and Logan patted her leg in
return.
"The point
is, those people, they like to think that
they're a
buncha do-gooders, ya know? They go 'round,
pickin' up
mutie kids, tellin' 'em that they're gonna
take care
of 'em feed 'em, house 'em, send 'em to
school
but what they don't tell ya is that when push
comes to
shove, they don't really give a shit about
ya.
All they care about is their little school and
shit.
They don't really care 'bout the kids 'cept in
as much as
they can help out around the place. They
sure as shit
didn't care give a damn 'bout Marie."
"Is that
why you you helped me out? Because you
didn't want
me to go there?" Marie nodded their
answer, and
Logan elaborated.
"We got a
place not a school like those guys got,
but you can
go to the local school if you wanna. The
younger kids
fifteen and younger 'cause that's when
the law says
you can decide to drop out if you wanna
they kinda
gotta go. The older kids can decide if
they wanna
do that or take the equivalency exam. Made
a coupla
good friends, a coupla connections, and
there's some
trades you can take up after passin' the
equivalency
exam if you wanna learn. You gotta
respect the
house rules no drugs, no stealin', no
fightin'
and you gotta pitch in and help out around
the place,
but that's it. Otherwise, you take some
time to get
on your feet, decide what you wanna do,
and if we
can help ya out with that, we will."
"It sounds
nice," Mary offered.
"Well, it
ain't no fancy mansion, but it's a nice
piece of
land, out in the country. Next to a little
town that's
fairly mutie-friendly. Oh, shit that
reminds me
uh, I should mention a few things 'bout
Hank, the
doctor we'll be meetin'." Logan exchanged
an uncertain
glance with Marie. She pursed her lips
and nodded.
"He's a real good guy, a mutie like us,
but he's
a little different-lookin'. He's covered in
blue fur
and he'd got fangs and claws and shit. Just
don't be
too surprised when you see him. He looks
kinda scary,
but he's smart as hell and he's one of
the nicest
guys you'd ever wanna meet."
"Blue fur?
I don't think I've ever heard of that
mutation."
"Long story.
Maybe Hank'll tell it to ya. Hey do
you need
are you OK? Do you need any medical help?"
Mary's cast
her eyes down, looking almost ashamed.
"It's OK
if ya do. Hank he knows how to take care
of pretty
much everythin'. He's a good doctor."
Marie tugged
at Logan's sleeve a little and
purposefully
widened her eyes while tilting her head
in Mary's
direction. "Uh, if ya got, you know, female
things, Hank
does OK with those. He's a gentleman,
you know.
But Marie or one of the other girls can
stay with
ya if you need a doctor to take a look at
that kinda
stuff."
"OK," Mary
answered in a trembly voice. Marie reached
back to pat
her leg. This wasn't the first young girl
who had need
of that kind of medical attention they'd
picked up.
"Whew."
Logan relaxed a little, having just completed
his least
favorite part of these conversations.
"Well, good
then. We should be comin' up on the
province
line in a little while." Marie sunk back
into her
seat too, as they all sped toward their
rendezvous
with Hank.
Soooo....what
happens next:
1) Hank meets
up with Logan, Marie and Mary, but so do
the X-men..
2) We get
to hear Hank's story without interruption by
the X-men
(at least not yet).
3) Mary's
mutation manifests itself on the ride and we
learn more
about her.
And the Winner
was #3.....NEXT
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