stories.htm
Playing Hero
"Chapter Five:
Why We Fight"
Title:
Playing Hero:
Why We Fight
(Chapter Five)
Rating: T (what
does this mean?)
Date Written: August 2009
Word Count: 3195
Summary: Part Five of
"Playing Hero". As Logan mounts a desperate
rescue mission, Fury prepares himself for Logan's
wrath. Fury, Logan and Laura must understand the
reason as to why they fight.
Disclaimer: Marvel/X-Men
characters, established concepts and previous
storylines full credit goes to Marvel, Stan Lee, Craig
Kyle, Chris Yost, and Co. Original storylines credit
goes to me.
Author's Notes:
Please read the first arc to the series titled "Ties
that Bind" before reading this. |
Chapter
Five: Why We Fight
Logan balanced on top of the moving van as
the vehicle sped along the darkened road. He knew if
he had any chance of getting Laura out if this, he had
get her out before they reached S.H.I.E.L.D's base,
once inside, an escape would be almost imposable.
Logan knew S.H.I.E.L.D had a number of bases scattered
across the country, he'd been to many of them in the
past. He knew this route, they were perhaps roughly
twenty minutes from the New York base. He had to stop
the van, now.
Logan new the fastest way to stop the van was to
firstly deal with it's driver and his colleague up
front. He carefully moved towards the front of the
vehicle's roof and positioned himself so he was
directly above the front passengers seat. He steadied
himself with his right hand, and popped his left hand
claws, driving them down hard and fast though the vans
roof. Seconds later a scream of a man in extreme pain
could be heard from below. Logan smiled to himself -
he'd hit his target.
The van suddenly began to move erratically from one
side of the road to the other. Logan pulled his blood
soaked claws free from the roof and held on. Those
travelling in the back of the van tried to brace
themselves whilst the vehicle sped along the road. After a
few moments, the van began to slow down. From the back
of the van, Fury shouted orders at his driver,
"Gibson! Keep moving. Do Not stop! You hear
me?! Do not stop!". However seconds later,
Gibson's screams could heard throughout the van, and
the vehicle itself came to a complete stop. Once again
Logan pulled his claws - covered with Gibson's blood -
from the roof, stood up and then dropped to the
ground.
From inside the van, Fury barked ordered to his two
men, "Those doors will be open in seconds! When they
do, fire at will". His men immediately moved into
position, kneeling with their guns trained on the vans
back doors. "Your bullets will not hold Logan for
long" stated Laura. The Colonel ignored her, and
reached for his radio. He spoke into it, "This is
Fury. We Need back up. Now!"
Logan sniffed the air, trying to determine how many
men were inside the van. He caught the scent of two
other men. He was surprised at Fury's lack of security
surrounding Laura. Perhaps good old Nick had put
more faith in his soldiers than he should have done,
thought Logan. Moving towards the van, he popped
his claws and readied himself to face the soldiers
behind the doors.
The sound of gunfire rang though the deserted road, as
Fury's two men fired shot after shot. Logan roared in
anger as the bullets hit him. The two soldiers stepped
out from the van, trying to get a better shot. They
stalked towards Logan, one moving to the left of him,
and the other to the right, firing at will. Logan
slashed his claws towards them, within moments the
gunfire had stopped and the soldiers lay dead. For a
moment, the silence was deafening. Logan turned and
made his way back to the van. But just as he got
there, a motor engine sounded in the distance. Logan
turned towards the sound, seconds later, headlights
sped into view. Another S.H.I.E.L.D van screeched to a
stop a few metres in front of him. Logan sighed. He
popped his claws, ready for yet another fight.
Logan charged at the group of S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers
coming towards him. He dodged as many bullets as he
could, as they fired at will. He was growing more and
more angry by the second. He'd had enough of this now.
As he reached the first solider, he slashed his claws
across the young man's chest and he fell to the
ground. Logan then moved on to the next. Between the
three vans which had, moments ago, screeched to a stop
at the scene, there were perhaps two dozen soldiers.
The minutes ticked
on by as Logan moved though Fury's men , one after the
other. Fury himself, watched from the open doors of
his van. He swore to himself, his men were no match
for Logan, but really, if he was honest with himself,
armed with simple weaponry, did he really expect them
to be? He watched Logan finish off his last remaining
man. He knew what was coming next. Logan, splattered
with blood, turned on his heal, and stalked back
towards the van. Fury was no coward, he stepped out
from inside the van, and stood in front of it,
blocking Logan from its contents.
Logan wore an pissed off expression as he made his
away back towards the van and Fury. Claws stilled
popped, he stopped when he was roughly three
meters away. "Step aside, Fury" he growled. "That's
not
going to happen, my friend" answered the Colonel.
"Come on, Nick" said Logan, "Yer don't step aside, yer
know there's only one way this'll go down". Fury stood
his ground, "I can't let you take her, Logan. She
belongs to S.H.I.E.L.D now". That sentence angered
Logan even more. Laura had been classed as something
to be 'owned', somebody's 'property', since birth,
Logan hated the thought of that, and he was damned if
he was going to let Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D or anyone else
'own' her once more. Raising his bloodstained claws,
and with a snarl, he charged at Fury.
However, the Colonel was ready. He pulled a small
teaser from his belt, pointed it Logan and fired. The
teaser beam hit Logan squarely in the chest, knocking
him ten feet backwards. He landed flat on his back
with a thud, retracting his claws on impact. Logan lay
shaking from the teaser's fierce
electrical current, which continued to surge through
his body. The pain was horrific. He'd been shot with a
lot of teasers in his time, but nothing like this.
Fury edged closer, never moving teaser from Logan's
direction. The Colonel could see the pain on Logan's
face, he came to a stop as close to man as dared,
"Hurts, yes? It's not your normal teaser. It was
designed especially for super-freaks like you" Fury
told him. Logan continued to fight the pain. In that
moment, every inch of him wanted to snap Fury's neck like
kindling. He was beyond pissed. If only he was
able to move.
Moments ticked by, the pain finally seemed to be
subsiding - slightly. Logan struggled to his feet.
Surprisingly, Fury let him. Perhaps he's waitin'
for his moment, thought Logan. Logan and Fury made
eye contact. "What yer waiting for, Nick? Come on!
Where's round two?!". Fury fired, but this time, Logan
was ready, he dodged the teaser beam. Fury tried
again. Logan dodged it once more. He then charged at
Fury, knocking the teaser from his grasp. They both
flew backwards, only coming to a stop when Fury hit a
large oak tree, with a thud. Logan let go of the
Colonel and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Giving
him one last look, Logan then walked back to the van.
Logan made fast work of cutting through Laura's chains
with his claws, "Come on, kid. We gotta go", he told
her as he exited the van. Without a word, Laura
followed. As they stepped out from the van, Fury was
coming-to. He stood up, dazed, but recovering quickly,
"Logan, don't do this". Laura watched as Logan walked
over to him. Angrily, he grabbed him
by the front of his shirt, and pinned him up against
the oak tree. He didn't speak, he just stared at the
Colonel, making sure he held eye contact. For he first
time in a long time, Fury was afraid. He couldn't read
Logan's expression, and didn't know what he planned to
do next. He knew Logan could smell his fear.
After a few moments, Fury spoke, "We've been almost
friends for a long time now, Logan". "That we have"
answered Logan, not releasing his grip. "We've fought
together, fought against each other..." Fury carried
on. "Yep" agreed Logan, almost causally, "But this
time, Fury, it's a little more personal" he told
him.
"Yes, I'd agree with that" said the Colonel, "You slaughtered
my men". "Yer sent 'em after me! What'd yer expect?!
We'd go for tea?!" snarled Logan. "You could have left
them alive" argued Fury. "I could have" said Logan,
"But I was makin' a point". "Which was?"
asked Fury. Logan finally let go of the Colonel, who
breathed a silent breath of relief. "Leave her alone,
Nick"
Logan answered. He locked eye contact with Fury, "I ain't gonna ask a second time" he
warned, "Come after her again, and the same thing’s
gonna go down, and maybe next time, yer’ll be
amongst the bodies". And with that he turned his back
on Fury and walked back towards Laura.
Logan had just made it back to the teen, when Fury
spoke, "I don't appreciated being threatened". Wearing
a pissed off expression, Logan turned back to face
him, "It ain't a threat. It's a promise" he told him
coldly. He turned back to Laura, "Come on, Kid, lets
go". He ushered her in the direction from which they'd
came. Fury stood watching them walk away, there was
nothing he could do but let them go. They had won, he
knew that, however, he tried one last time. He called
out to Logan as he and Laura walked away, "If you walk
away now, the girl will be hunted for the rest of her
life! S.H.I.E.L.D won't stop!". Logan stopped, and
once again, turned back to face the Colonel. "And you
and I? We'll be enemies from here on out!" Fury
continued. Logan snorted. Was he for real? Was that
supposed to change his mind and give Laura up? It was
laughable. Laura had been hunted by Facility the since
the day she'd escaped, what did S.H.I.E.L.D matter? He
and Fury had been enemies before, it didn't bother
Logan if they were again. "Then so be it!" shouted
Logan angrily. He once again turned on his heal and
walked away. Laura took one last look at Fury and
followed.
As they walked away, they heard Fury calling out once
more, "This isn't over, Logan! You hear me?! It's not
over!". Laura glanced at Logan as he walked. He didn't
look at her, or back at Fury. He wore an unreadable expression,
but his scent told Laura that he was
livid. She also detected a slight hint of worry.
Which, she knew Logan was doing his best to hide.
Taking all this on board, Laura decided that it may be best to stay silent as they walked together
back into the bright lights of city.
It was almost dawn by the time Laura and Logan had
made it back into the city and back to Logan's
apartment. Neither of them felt like sleeping, so they
sat on the balcony's swing. For a long time they sat
mostly in silence. Laura broke it. She didn't look at
Logan, but out towards the city as she spoke, "Fury
will never stop hunting me". Logan wasn't sure if
that was a statement or a question. he awers as best
he could. "If he tries again, he knows I'll come
for him". "We killed a lot of his
men last night. Will he want revenge?" asked Laura.
Logan turned to Laura, "He sent them after
us, Laura. Not the other way around. He knows what
they were up against. He knows me, knows what I'm
capable of. What happened to his men was on him".
"But we still killed. I still killed. You told
me that is wrong" said Laura. Logan sighed. He didn't
know how to explain things to her without sounding
like killing was okay. It wasn't. That wasn't want he
wanted to teach her. Logan hated himself for killing. But
sometimes, it order to survive in this world... it had
to be done.
"Kid... Us, Mutants, have gotta fight for a place in
this world. We don't, then we're dead. There's people
out there who wanna exterminate us just for being
us. They can't except what we are. We fight if we
have to. Sometimes it's a choice, sometimes its not. There ain't a lot of Mutants who will do what
we do. Which's why, we--I, get the dirty work. I did
what I had to do last night". He caught Laura's eye, "And
I'd do it again. Yer understand?". Laura nodded
slightly. Yes, she understood. Last night, Logan had fought to keep
her safe and free. And She was thankful for that.
The pair of them sat in silence once more. After a
while, Laura broke it, "When Fury first spoke to me...
for a second, I thought it was Rice. I thought he had
come back". Logan turned to face her. As she said
Rice's name, he detected a hint of fear. "He's dead,
kid" Logan reassured her. "I know. I killed him..."
said Laura quietly. "So he ain't comin' back. Yer
ain't gotta worry about him Laura" Logan told her. He
gave her a slight smile. However, he knew his words
had not held any comfort.
Zander Rice looked up from his computer screen as a
knock sounded at the door. "Enter" he called. Agent
Kirkman opened the door and walked though the
threshold, carrying a paper folder. "Sir, news just
in, a S.H.I.E.L.D agent known as Colonel Fury led a
capture assault on X-23, in New York City last night".
"What?!" said Rice, shocked, "Are sure? It was
definitely X-23?". "Yes sir. Facility agents have
confirmed it" answered Kirkman. "And, was the capture
a success? Do they have her?". "No, sir. S.H.I.E.L.D
failed in their attempt. She had help". "Who?!" Rice
demanded. "You're not going to believe this, sir" said
Kirkman, "She's found him". He opened the paper
folder, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to
his Boss. Rice took it. "She's found Weapon X"
said Kirkman.
Rice stared at the printed photograph. He hand shook
slightly. Anger rose inside of him. He hated this man
to the very core. His whole life, since he was ten
years old, had been based in that hatred. And, if it
was the last thing he ever did, he would see him
suffer for what he had done to his father. Rice forced
himself to speak in a calm tone, "Do we know where she
is now?". "No sir. She escaped. But we have agents
looking into it. We will know seen enough". "Good.
Update me as soon as you have new information. I want
X-23 found, and back where she belongs" said Rice in a
almost bitter-like tone. "Yes, sir" said Kirkman. And
with that, he left the room. Rice once again stared
down at the photo of Logan. Suddenly, with one hand, he
scrunched up the sheet of paper into a ball.
"Animals!" he shouted in anger, throwing it, as hard
as he could across the room.
Nathan Falco pointed his nine millimetre hand gun at
the teenage girl stalking towards him. "Get back, I'll
shoot, I swear!" he shouted at her. The girl seemed to
ignore him. Fear began to rise inside. He swallowed. He
took a few seconds to look at his surroundings. He was
in a built up factory area of the city. If
he was smart, he could find plenty of places to hide -
that's if he could out run her. He decided to take a
chance. He sprinted from the scene, with the girl
giving chase.
Laura chased the man from block to block. He was fast,
faster than the average human being, but she wasn't
worried, he would soon tire, and she'd catch up
easily. He sprinted around yet another corner. Laura
smiled to herself. She heard him swear to himself, he'd
hit a dead end. Laura entered the alley. Nathan
saw her, and began to back up. "Come any closer, and
I'll shoot!" he warned. Laura continued to move
towards him. Suddenly the sound of gunfire rang though
the alley. Laura felt a white hot pain in the
shoulder. She looked down to see blood beginning to
soak her jacket. She looked back at Nathan and then
continued to move towards him.
Bang! Another shot rang out.
Laura winced as the bullet hit her. Just as the pain
subsided a little, another hit. Nathan saw her
expression change to anger. Suddenly he was even more
terrified of this girl. "Stay back! Stay back!" he
shouted, shaking his gun at her. Laura ignored him.
She was close now. Too close. She reached out with her
right hand, and grabbed him by the neck, pinning him
to the brick wall. With her left hand, she ripped the
gun from his hand and pocketed it. Then reached inside
his bugling jacket pocket and removed a handful of
jewellery. "These do not belong to you" she told him,
pocketing them. She then popped her claws on left
hand, and held them up so he could see them. "Oh my
god!" gasped Nathan, "Please! Please don't kill
me! Please!" he begged. Laura
raised her metal claws, ready to bring them
down on Nathan's chest, for the fatal blow.
Suddenly Logan's words flooded into her mind, "kid, it ain't your job to punish 'em". Laura stopped
dead. What would Logan do? Laura thought to
herself. He would not kill this man, she knew that
now. Changing her mind, she swiftly jabbed her claws
into his shoulder. Nathan cried out in pain. Laura
retracted her claws and let him go. He dropped to the
ground, holding his bleeding shoulder. "Oh my god! Oh
my god!" cried the young man. He looked up at Laura,
"You son of a--" he winced in pain, "I'm bleeding! I'm
bleeding to death!" he cried though gritted teeth.
Laura looked down at him, "No, you are not. I did not
puncture any arteries. You will not bleed to death".
He looked up at her, stunned. "The same can not be
said for the Jewellery clerk you shot at Mason's
jewellers" she told him. Nathan took that in. He would
be up on murder charges as well as armed robbery. "The
authorities will come for you soon" said Laura. And
with that she walked away and exited the alley.
As Laura walked down the street, she could still hear
Nathan's desperate calls. Apparently he didn't want to be left
alone, he wanted her help. He wasn't going to get it.
The people who came to his aid would be the NYC PD. Logan would have been proud of her, Laura was sure of
it. He would have been pleased with the choice she'd
made. He didn't want her to kill. And she hadn't. She'd wanted too
though,
it's what she knew, it felt natural. But she hadn't. It
felt new to her, a strange kind of new. Perhaps, she
thought, this was what being a "Hero" felt
like. She liked it. It felt good. |
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