Chapter Text
The underground complex was a confusing maze of sights and smells unlike any you'd ever seen or smelt before. Despite the constant activity you'd seen and the numerous guards you'd encountered while stalking through the halls, the facility looked and smelled like it hadn't been used in decades. Clearly, before the anti-mutant organization had occupied the space, it had been left untouched, an exact replica, frozen in time.
Finding the children had not been as easy of a task as you thought it would be. Of course, it is best to be prepared for any number of guards and security, but the firepower was not the part that had made your task so difficult. The place felt impossible to navigate. As hard as you had tried to keep track of your surroundings, the darkness, the damp smells, the confusing build of every hallway... even logan had a hard time knowing where he was. It was as if the facility had been designed to block off the instincts of any mutant that had come inside, as if the smell and sounds were meant to confuse him. It had set him on edge since the very moment you'd stepped inside.
In more time than you'd wished it would have taken, you find where the children were being contained in a solid iron vault within the underground depths of the facility. The children had been put through hell, evident from their bloodied forms and their terrified eyes. They crowded around the team, desperate for comfort and relief from the tortures they'd endured while in the facility. The reactions of the children to their rescue brought looks of frustration to every team member, especially Logan. It was infuriating that even after years of fighting for mutant rights, operations like this were still happening, snatching innocent mutant children from their homes and torturing them in abandoned government facilities. Logan had some very personal connections to places like this, and he stuck close to the children as if his life depended on it as much as theirs did.
Thanks to multiple highly intelligent mutants with varying skill levels, it was a breeze to get the vault open and free the children from their metal prison. Once free, it was vital to brief them on the situation and understand from their point of view exactly what you'd be dealing with. They told you of the horrors they'd experienced, the torture they'd experienced, and how many of them had left the vault and never come back. It brought a sting to the back of the throats of every adult there to rescue them, including yours and especially logan's, whose brows furrowed as he shifted his weight uncomfortably. The children brought your attention to any difficulties you'd encounter upon leaving, the alarm systems to avoid tripping, any path they'd charted to get back out. Many of them were just as confused by the facility as you had been, which didn't bode well for your escape. Now, as you look down each hallway and beckon the children to follow you out, it's vital you keep a level head... It's vital that logan keeps his cool more than usual.
A dozen pairs of feet thud quickly against the yellowed checkered tiles of the facility. The thick stone tunnels showed a clear warp of age, every wall groaning under the weight of the buildings above. The footsteps echoed off the walls, surely alarming every guard in the area to your presence. It wouldn't be long before the children's absence would be noticed, and the hell of the entire facility would reign down upon you. But for now, quiet and quick escape was your only option.
Logan was leading the group, trying his best to use his advanced hearing and smell to his advantage, but every step he took, he'd groan and run his hands through his hair, struggling. You should be able to remember where you'd come from, but every hallway looks the same, and logan is growing increasingly frustrated as he swore under his breath and retraced his steps with the rest of the group trailing behind him.
You try your best to assist him, but per his new norm, he ignores you and grumbles under his breath, looking increasingly panicked. He looked scared, a look that you and everyone else weren't used to. This facility... it was getting to him, confusing him, which was not boding well for the young lives in his hands.
You seem to make progress, remembering some of the halls you'd passed through earlier, considering the guards' bodies littering the floor. You'd encountered firepower, but nothing significant, which made everyone tense and unsure of what was waiting for them. "There should be more guards" is the primary thought plaguing the back of your mind, knowing that any operation involving this many mutant kids had to be well protected.
Well, you weren't entirely wrong...
...the guards were there, waiting for you in a room that had gone seemingly unnoticed upon your first walk through the facility.
Logan was the first to notice, and he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes staring, lifeless, to his left into the giant room. It had been locked away the first time you'd traveled down the hallway, but for good reason. Whoever was inside had opened the giant metal doors after noticing the children were gone...
...the children were immediately terrified upon seeing it. They all remembered the room. They remembered what the guards had done to them in there. The younger children hid behind the adults, crying and tugging at the leather x-men suits hugging your bodies. Logan's eyes almost matched their's, because his eyes were trained to the mysterious tub in the center of the room. He flexed his hands, cracking his knuckles as his hands shook with anxiety.
He recognized this place, or at least another place similar to it. He knew who these people were, what they were doing to the children, or attempting to do.
"You have to get out of here..." Logan's voice is barely present, and he makes no attempt to look at you, only staring at the guards pointing their guns at him. His choice of words were concerning, his thoughts betraying themselves as he made a slow movement towards the room as if attempting to enter.
"Logan... what the hell are you doing?" You whisper, your nerves getting the best of you as you move towards him, staying out of sight of the guards within. "Don't do anything stupid."
He still doesn't look at you. He refuses to even acknowledge your presence. It's like he's spellbound by the room, like his body can't resist entering... like it was calling to him. This room held secrets, memories he wanted desperately to unlock and understand...
But by God, was now not the time to do it. You were determined to get him out of here along with the children cowering behind you. You turn, gesturing for the other adults to guide the children out. The exit was nearby, and the other x-men nod, now having some idea of where they needed to go. Time was running out to when you needed to rendezvous with your escape vehicle, but the main priority was the children... even if it meant you were getting left behind.
The others leave you and Logan behind, and you watch the group flee towards the exit before training your eyes to Logan.
He wasn't himself. Not even slightly. The guards had made no attempt to leave the room and capture the children. It was as if they didn't care now that Logan was there, like him alone was worth more than the mutant children they'd captured and tortured. His eyes were glazed over, unaware, distant, as if recalling memories he'd lost and forgotten.
It was terrifying. You knew you had to do something, make some effort to get him out of his trance, knock some sense into him, but he already hadn't been making any effort to listen to you. Why would he do it now? Why would you listen to you when he was feet away from remembering his long, forgotten past?
Instead, you have no choice but to watch from the sidelines, out of sight of the guards within. All you can see is him as he walks inside, his hands twitching as if itching to unsheath his claws and rip everyone in the room to shreds.
"Hello, Logan. It's been a long time," a voice speaks within, but you can't see the body it's connected to. The man sounds older but not elderly. Logan's ears perk up at the sound of his voice, recognizing him immediately.
"You..." Logan growls, his voice heavy and angry as he glares down the man speaking within. The man clearly had something to do with his past, and despite Logan's foggy memories, the man sticks out in his mind. This man was one of many responsible for his suffering, his uncertainty, his complete lack of self. This man had helped make him a machine of war, and he had been intending to do the same to the children escaping the facility...
...and Logan was prepared to get answers at any cost. You can hear the familiar snikt of his claws emerging from their hiding place, and he cracks his neck while still staring down the man with murderous intent.
"Ah ah ah. I don't think so," the man speaks, scoffing at Logan's immediate desire to kill. "You're in my house. Where are your manners?" You can just barely see Logan now, but after the man speaks, you can see Logan tense up in an unfamiliar way, as if forced.
He groans in agony, buckling at the knees as he presses his hands to the sides of his head. The man was doing something to keep him in check and distract him from his murderous tendencies. Logan thrashes around, now pressing his palms completely against his ears and sheathing his claws, clearly distressed.
"Too bad you've got enhanced hearing. It didn't take much to design something that'd make you obey," the man speaks as Logan falls to his knees, barely able to function. "It's like the world's most advanced dog whistle... you can't help but obey."
Logan's body goes still, limp even, slumped over and folding into himself. His autonomy, his control over his own actions, was all but gone, surrendering to the desires of the man. Logan's shoulders flex as he curves, placing his knuckles against the ground as he lifts his legs, his posture animalistic. He growls, a low sound reverberating throughout the room. You can't see his eyes, but you could sense the uncontrolled look in them, an expression of pure instinctual rage. The air thickened with fear, and everyone in the general vicinity realized how much of a mistake trying to control Logan would be. What the man had done was not find a way to make Logan obey, but take away his self-control, the only part keeping him from giving in to the animal.
His spine rolls, his body positioning itself into an attack position, a predator stalking its prey.
"Now, Logan. Don't get too excited. You belong to us, remember?" The man speaks, his voice dripping with uncertainty, watching Logan stalk him as his body language changed. "Remember who helped create you. I will continue Stryker's work. Let me help you become the weapon you were meant to be."
Mentioning this "Stryker" guy was a dire mistake on his part. You watch as Logan's back rises like an agitated cat, a vicious roar threatening to rip out of his body.
The name "Stryker" sounded familiar to you, but it had been years since his name had tortured the halls of Xavier's School. William Stryker had been an infamous anti-mutant figurehead, leading experimentation and heading the Weapon X Program... the one that had tried and partially succeeded in making Logan an indestructible weapon, a force of nature intended for government use. It had been considered long gone, taken down during the revolutionary improvements in mutant rights.
Clearly, you'd all been wrong because despite Stryker being gone, his work was being continued. The program had never stopped trying to create their Weapon X, their ultimate weapon. They'd thought that all they needed to do was find a way to make Logan obey, submit to their every whim and need, desire, and command. They thought they'd accomplished it, finally luring him into their facility to take control of him.
They'd failed miserably.
