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Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
 
 
 

A Friend in Need - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Paws
Last updated: 01/05/2008 11:51:22 AM

Chapter 4

He let his arms drop, slowly turning around. Putting on one of his wide cocky grins he leaned back against the wall in a show of casualness. “Hey Wolvie.” Logan’s reply to that was pretty standard, claws extending. “So...don’t suppose you’d just let me go, neh? I’ll be out of your hair in a jiffy.”

“And let you go back to attacking us, or helping sinister get that kid? Don’t think so Cajun. I should have finished you back in Antarctica. I don’t intend to make the same mistake this time.”

Sighing dramatically, he hoped that he could maintain the strength to keep the ruse up. Always wear the mask, never let them know what you are really thinking or feeling – a lesson he’d learned early on that had served him well. Dieu, but he wanted to sit down. Lay down preferably. “Dunno what it is about me an’ Antarctica. Y’ people keep tryin’ to kill me there.” He caught the brief pause in the low rumbling growl. He knew that Logan had not approved of the whole ‘trial’ and hoped that it would make him a little less reluctant to attack.

Wolverine would do anything to keep the rest of his ‘pack’ safe. As much as he may argue with Scott or the rest of them at times, Logan was damn loyal when it came down to it. Things were quite simple really. Eat, sleep - look after your own. He supposed in Logan’s case, beer deserved its own category in there too. The problem was Logan didn’t consider him part of them anymore and that meant all bets were off.

He stepped to one side, edging away from the wall, not wanting to get pinned against it. Logan moved to cut him off again so he paused, quickly scanning the area and locking it in his memory. “I don’t want t’ hurt nobody. Jus’ let me go.”

“Hurt me? Don’t think you have to worry about that, bub.” He cursed inwardly as Logan’s nostrils flared, knowing that he could tell that he was bleeding. Hell, he could probably scent the small amount of stress sweat that was breaking out between his shoulder blades. “We can do this hard, or easy. I’d rather not kill you by carving off chunks at a time. You couldn’t beat me back at Sinister’s base and you sure as hell aren’t gonna now.”

He stalled for a minute longer, taking one final step to the left. “One thing you ain’t countin’ on Wolvie.” The words were sassy and drawled out, designed to disguise his misgivings at this. “I was holdin’ back there. Now I know that I can’t afford that. Y’ heal, mon ami. I don’t.” He tossed himself to roll up along the leaf litter on the ground, coming up in a crouch with a long sturdy stick to one hand and a handful of rocks in the other, holding back a curse as the move jarred his wounds harshly, but at least he was armed and that much further away from Logan. “Now I’m gonna back up, an’ just head on outta here. I don’t wanna do this anymore tha...”

He didn’t get a chance to finish, Logan taking the simple expedient conclusion to the conversation by launching himself in his direction. Charging the pebbles he had in his hand, he tossed them at the ground right in front of Logan, using the momentary confusion to launch himself in a leap over the smaller man. As he came out of the neat forward roll on the way down he swung the stick in a backhand with all the strength that he had. It cracked loudly across the back of Logan’s head, opening up a large gash that started to bleed profusely. Unfortunately the stick also split into two uneven pieces leaving him with only about a foot of it in his hand. He rapidly back pedalled, getting more into open ground as Logan turned back, the snarl on his lips totally unnecessary to let him know that he had mainly just succeeded in pissing him off.

“Jus’ great.” He muttered under his breath. This would have to go quick or there was no way he could win this. Which really did mean no holds barred; something that didn’t sit right with him still, but there wasn’t a choice. He managed to avoid the next rush with a twist, but caught a bit of the back swipe on his shoulder, the thin cotton of the gown offering absolutely no shielding. He rolled it as they circled to test his remaining mobility. Thankfully it didn’t feel that bad, despite the wetness running down his back.

He didn’t wait for Logan this time, moving in a whirl, using the small stub of his stick to skilfully deflect the claws – meet them full on and all he’d have in his hand would be kindling. If he had a hand left at that point. He kicked up high, aiming for a vulnerable spot in the head but he’d forgotten about the adamantium coating Logan’s skull as well as his claws. He grunted, unable to completely stop from voicing his pained surprise. Breathing heavily, he circled to the left trying to walk the limp out.

Logan left him very little recovery time, lunging when he faltered slightly. Given little choice at this close of range and with no other weapon to hand he charged the reminder of the stick. Tossing it at Logan he ducked out of the way as best as he could before both of them tossed backwards by the explosion.

Logan was tough, he’d give him that. He’d not met many, if any, that could function as wounded as he was. No noise came out of him but that steady unsettling growl as they both clambered to their feet, despite the ruin of the left side of his face. It had rattled him though – he was being more careful and taking his time. Merde. Which left him where he was – wondering how in the hell he was supposed to keep upright. Great plan LeBeau.

Logan certainly seemed to expect him to falter soon – he was inspecting him like a cougar would a wounded deer. This was it – it was do or die. The next time that Logan lunged, he twisted again but grunted hard like Logan had caught his flesh as well as the wad of gown. It was a risk, Logan would know that he wasn’t really injured within seconds, but he was counting on his feral rage to carry him through for just a moment. Logan went to follow through with the other hand, certain that he had him. Grasping Logan’s wrist for leverage he used his forward momentum against him; spinning off of the burly shoulder, glad for the height difference that made it relatively easy. On his way over he clapped a hand to Logan’s jeans, the charge spreading quickly. It was hitting below the belt in a spectacular way and something that he was relatively certain would have him up at the top of Logan’s shit list, but he didn’t have a choice.

He found out that there actually was a way to get Logan to howl.

Not wasting the preciously small opening he had, he picked up a good sized rock and brought it down hard a few times over Logan’s temple as he lay, his lower half in smouldering ruin. Metal or no, you could still rattle his melon if you tried hard enough. Backing away from the badly wounded man, he was just thankful to have only a handful of cuts and a few embedded splinters from the stick’s explosion to show for the fight. Anything more injurious and he wouldn’t have been able to get five feet. Stumbling slightly he headed for the wall as fast as he could, clumsily vaulting over it. He hoped that he could get far enough fast enough before either Logan recovered or someone noticed that things were amiss.

He’d gotten nearly a quarter mile before a car’s headlights showed up in the distance and he paused, knowing that his silhouette would have been spotted by now and that ducking into the brush would just attract attention. He would have been tempted to hitch a ride, but he was pretty sure that a half bloodied man in hospital wear wouldn’t have a chance. The best he could do is step a little further off the road and keep his head down and appearance casual, hoping that the driver wouldn’t be very vigilant and would overlook him.

It appeared his luck had run out though when the car braked sharply. He turned and bent, scooping up a handful of gravel, before he stood again to look warily at the car, his eyes dazzled by the beams. When the man exited the car and moved around so that he could see his face, he tensed, watching Xavier warily.

Charles’ brow was creased as he stared at him, probably trying to make sense of the figure he posed. In warning he raised a hand, letting the charge trickle into a pebble that he held between his thumb and finger, the remainder cradled in his other hand, held at the ready.

Charles held out a steady hand in a consolatory matter. “Time and tide wait for no man.”

The air went out of him in a rush as he squatted and then fell back to sit heavily on the side of the roadway, letting the rocks trickle out of the palm of his hand. He chuckled quietly, the movement of it hurting him but unable to stop. “Y’ couldn’t tell me dat about half an hour ago, hein?” He nodded back in the direction of the school. “D’ Wolverine is gonna want to take my hide off an’ make new pants outta it.” His drawl was heavy, showing his extreme fatigue.

Xavier knelt down beside him. “I will deal with Logan. Perhaps you could start by explaining what has occurred in my absence?”

“Sure. I’ll get right on dat.” He gave a rich snort which just ended up accentuating the noise of his pulse as it hammered in his ears. He opened his mouth to start to explain, but before he could get even a syllable out the world flipped upside-down and into black.

 

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