Oh great, zombies.

“Aw, you didn’t have to get up for my sake,” Chaoyi cooed as the old man struggled to right himself. It was endearing really, especially considering the struggle in recognition apparent on Logan’s face, and his demand a second later. Chaoyi flashed him his brightest saccharine smile and slid into the seat by the bed. “What do I want? Hmm…a bed ridden old Logan sick with the nastiest of plagues, what could I possibly want?”

His fingers and wrists already started twirling and precise, graceful, stroke at this point, mist gathering around them with sparks of golden light. He was hardly going to ask permission. “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt.” The reassurance was delivered with a chastising look in his eyes before the dragon directed the flow of energy to one of the festering wounds on the old mutant’s body. Slowly, well relatively for him, the dead tissue started fizzling out and the underlying skin started moving in as the wound closed itself. The virus was still fighting back, warring in on any flesh it could take a hold of, but this little thing, this he could do.

“So, you been up to much over the last seventy years?” A distraction from the morbid display was probably welcome, even if it was Logan. Besides, he was rather curious what had happened to the old coot. “Looks like you’ve got a few offspring running around here.”

Logan went to growl out a snarky comment, but it quickly turned into a cough.  He covered his mouth, inching as far away as he could as the man’s hands moved closer to him.

“What.” Another cough rattled in his chest.  “What the fuck are you doing?”  He couldn’t move very far away on the cot he was currently laid up on, so his attempt at escape was rather futile.  

“Leaning works for me.”  She could probably lift him if she put her mind to it, but she also had the strong awareness that she probably wasn’t just sick.  She might need to watch out for how much she lifts going forward.

She had him upright, and she wrapped a towel around him.  “There’s a bedroom just through here, we have everything ready for you.”  She wheeled the pole his IV was hanging on beside them as they slowly made their way to the bedroom.  She helped him to sit, dried his legs, and guided him to lie down.  “I have questions that I hope will help me figure out what’s causing this.  We got your bloods back and there was a variation in the infection that I haven’t seen before.  The more I know, hopefully the faster we can bring you back from this.” She didn’t talk like there was an option of him not recovering.

“‘Course I got bit by the super fucked one,” story of his life.  He laid back a moment, resting his eyes as he thought.  Everything had happened so quickly after he’d heard the call for help . . .

She smiled gently, turning over the cloth on his head so that the cooler side was in contact with his brow.  “You should call if you’re going to be late, dear,” she teased.  She stroked his hair back away from his face, her hand gentle.  After a moment, she picked up his injured hand, and seeing that the heel of his palm was bare, she pressed her lips to the fleshy spot beside his thumb.

She let his hand rest against the bed, though she kept it in her hands.  “What happened?”  She asked, the depths of her concern etched across her face.

“You know me, I never was that great with technology.”  Up until the outbreak Logan still had a little flip phone.  The gentle physical touch was a reprieve from the constant pain he’d been feeling for the past . . . fuck knows how long.

it was a shock to see him this way.  She had been bracing herself, but the reality was something beyond belief.  She tried to keep it off her face as she approached.

She saw that his cup of water was nearly empty, and she picked up the pitcher beside it to pour him some more.  “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she finally thought to say, setting down the two water vessels. “I went out looking for you, and then I got the call that you were back, and they made me clean up before I came here.”  She sat down on the seat that had been set beside the bed, and took her father’s bandaged hand gently in both of hers.  His skin was hot and clammy, a fact that struck fear deep into her core, “Why is this happening?”  Her voice was small and quaking, like a child.

“You shouldn’t be goin’ out by yourself,” Laura was more than capable of taking care of herself; but now that there was this thing running around, he had no idea if there were more.  How fast they moved.  Where it was.  And if it did this to him, what would it do to his daughter?

Realising that maybe that wasn’t the best thing to first say to his scared kid, he took her hand, squeezing it gently and offering a small smile.  He hoped it showed that he was starting to be okay.  It probably just betrayed more pain.

“I’ll be okay, Short Stack,” he let her take his hand, resorting to an old nickname in an attempt to calm her nerves.  “We aren’t sure just yet, kiddo.  Bobbi’ll figure it out.  Lots of smart people here.  They’ll figure it out.”  He gave her hand a soft squeeze.  He hated making her miserable like this.

“Leaning works for me.”  She could probably lift him if she put her mind to it, but she also had the strong awareness that she probably wasn’t just sick.  She might need to watch out for how much she lifts going forward.

She had him upright, and she wrapped a towel around him.  “There’s a bedroom just through here, we have everything ready for you.”  She wheeled the pole his IV was hanging on beside them as they slowly made their way to the bedroom.  She helped him to sit, dried his legs, and guided him to lie down.  “I have questions that I hope will help me figure out what’s causing this.  We got your bloods back and there was a variation in the infection that I haven’t seen before.  The more I know, hopefully the faster we can bring you back from this.” She didn’t talk like there was an option of him not recovering.

     Every step was agony and he was just about to ask her to leave him on the floor just so he didn’t have to move anymore.  Thankfully he was sat on the bed soon enough.  Lying back was also a pain, but once he was settled the pain ebbed to a constant ache, which was an improvement.

@beerisanemotion

He shrugged it off as mishearing the first time around, he may be a dragon of fortuity, but even that seemed to coincidental. The second time though, he grabbed the scurrying medic and, causung him to jerk backwards at the snag in momentum. “What the hell man?” The human yelled at him, only to be ignored as Chaoyi cut in.

“Did you say that the Wolverine was back? A Logan?” The antsy healer proceeded to try and jerk his arm away from him. “Yes and he’s sick, now let go!” Chaoyi released just in time to send him on another stumble before pointedly marching up behind him. “Then you’re taking to him. The gods know your feeble little hospital can’t keep up with whatever’s gotten him down.”

Medic guy looked about ready to argue but frowned, clamped him jaw shut and irritably directed Chaoyi to the old soldier’s quarantine space instead. Good.

And there the man was. Not a day aged since Choayi last saw him, but quite quite…not pretty. Well, pretty was never really Logan’s word but he looked messed up even for him. So gracefully shoving aside the encumbering gaggle of people there, Chaoyi marched up to the door, and with a flick of his finger, unlocked it and helped himself inside admist shouted protests.

     He was about to make his demand to be left alone known when the door swung open. Again. God he wished he could use his claws right now. He half considered it but he figured Bobbi would kill him if she had to stitch shut his knuckles one more time. He honestly didn’t want anything to do with anyone who wasn’t his daughter.

     Squinting at the man who just entered, there was a ping of recognition, but he was still pretty fuzzy on memories. Especially as the fever wracked through him. He couldn’t quite place the face. Or where he could have possibly known this person from. He was getting pretty tired of people from his past popping in, knowing full well who he was while he was left in the dark. He could have simply asked who the man was. Explained his memory wasn’t quite what it used to be. Instead he settled for a huff as he lifted himself into as much as a sitting position as he could.

@beerisanemotion

She had initially followed her nose to the safehouse, but was denied entry until she was showered and decontaminated.  It was torture.  No one told her anything directly, but she heard the whispers.  Logan got bit, they were saying; but so what?  They had both been bitten before.  He’s really sick!  Impossible.  She refused to believe it until she saw it with her own eyes.  

But why would he be isolated if he wasn’t badly ill?  That was the real question to ask as she scrubbed herself raw, making sure there wasn’t a trace of infected material on her.  Someone had gotten her her own clothes though, and that was something at least to help her stay calm.  Her worn out mission boots needing a proper clean, she instead had asked for the Docs she had picked up on her adventure to the mall with Jubilee.

@beerisanemotion

Every fibre of her being had been praying for this moment, to hear that Logan and Tony had returned safe.  Now that it had happened, she had learned that ‘safe’ was relative.  It seemed absurd, that it was Logan who was in danger, but that was the present state of things.

She waited outside the safehouse, Bobbi needed to confirm infection, and where he was in the development of it.  She paced, the air crackling with electricity, thick grey clouds were gathering above, an enormous thunderhead threatening to open a very isolated thunderstorm.  Finally Bobbi emerged, looking pale.  “He’s stable, we need to keep him cool.  He’s still him, if we keep his fever down long enough his body has to snap back.  I could see under the microscope, his body is fighting the infection – it’s just a particularly aggressive strain, something I’ve never seen.” “Can I see him?”  Ororo asked, she was pale herself. Bobbi nodded, “I’ll be here, we’re going to need to monitor him closely.  Just in case.”

Just in case.  Just in case he couldn’t recover, that was the implication.  Three words meant so much, it was frightening.  Bobbi stepped back inside with Ororo, and showed her to the bedroom, where there were a number of reusable ice packs on hand, ready to be employed to cool the man on the bed.  Ororo moved to sit on the edge of the bed, checking for herself that the cloth on Logan’s head was still cool.  “Logan?”

     Bobbi had left him to rest, still keeping an eye on him.  He knew he’d be under some pretty constant surveillance until he was out of the woods.  He didn’t mind very much, as long as there were as few people as possible in and out of this safehouse.  He didn’t even want Laura to see him this way.  Even though he was lying perfectly still, his arm throbbed, that was probably the worst pain out of them all.  His entire left arm just never seemed to stop.  This was going to be hell.

     Logan could smell the thunderstorm in the air.  Either they were going through some freak weather patterns, or Ororo was nearby.  The sound of conversation outside lead him to believe it was the latter.  He groaned, as much as he didn’t want Laura to see him like this, he didn’t want Ro to see him either.  But he also knew she wouldn’t be turned away, so he laid there, ready to accept his fate.

She was surprised when he spoke, she saw that he was trying to move, but not doing so well.  “Let me check your temperature first,” she took a doctor’s thermometer and checked his temperature in his ear.  She didn’t want to let him out of the bath while he was still too warm.

“It should be safe for me to get you out now.  We’ve got a lot of ice packs on hand though,” she got properly to her feet and took his arm, his hand was no good to her right now.  “Let me know when you’re ready for me to help you up.”

     Logan knew the voice at least.  Rather glad a total stranger wasn’t taking care of him, he accepted the help.  There really wasn’t any other way he’d be getting out of this tub.  Getting out was one thing, standing was an entire other operation when your whole body felt like it was on fire and shallow breaths seemed to make your toes ache, supporting three hundred pounds of metal was agony.  He was glad for the support, but all he wanted was to lay down on a bed.

@beerisanemotion

In the end, she had hauled the mutant into the bathtub.  “Can someone send the other Bobby?  Bobby Drake,” had been her call over the radio.

She had been in her bathroom when she got the word, Tony and Logan had returned, and Logan had been bitten.  Usually that wouldn’t seem like a major issue, but it was told to her as if it was the most urgent matter she would deal with all year.  She flushed away the contents of her stomach, hauled herself off the floor, and washed her face and mouth.  In under thirty seconds she was rushing out of the door, zipping up her jeans as she went.  

     He opened his mouth to call out to see if anyone was there, but all that left him was a howl of pain as he was plunged into icy water. Only one asshole he knew could make water this cold.      And then darkness again.

Looking back on it all, really reviewing the entire situation and playing it back in his mind, Tony was beginning to realise maybe this entire thing was his fault.  Their main reason for returning to Avengers Tower was to get JARVIS, something he should have never forgotten in the first place, and if not for that, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

akahowlett:

Laura knew what Logan looked like when he was angry.  She also had a strong suspicion of what caused his rage.  The fact that even after all this time, they still weren’t free of Weapon X, and others were suffering because of it.  Another daughter, three other daughters, none of them saved.  He was most angry with himself at this point and she knew it.

But he turned and while his expression was guarded, he had curbed the anger in his face.  “I have as many claws as he does, I just hide the other two in my feet.”  She wasn’t sure why she was taking all of this so well, perhaps she was in shock, perhaps she was just trying to treat Gabby like she was a normal kid, like others tried to do for her once upon a time.

@gabbyx23​

Gabby grinned at Logan’s joke. It was a welcome change from the seriousness of their situation. The youngest of the three looked to Laura as she spoke up, unsurprised at her comment. Zelda had had claws in her feet too. “I only have 2″ she told them, sharing some information in exchange, at least in exchange for Laura’s information. She withdrew the one in her left hand, “it looks different to yours too” 

@beerisanemotion​

Logan remained tense, giving Laura a gentle look to remind her they still needed to finish what they started. He understood her wanting to get to know this girl, poor thing had nearly the exact upbringing as she did, but he also wanted this to happen in a much safer environment.

Logan examined the claw Gabby held out to Laura, no denying the three of them shared DNA. 'listen, sweetheart, we're glad we found you. We're glad you're safe. But this isn't the best place to be holdin' a meet n greet." he heard shuffling in the stairwell. He really didn't want to kill anything in front of this kid. She'd been through enough

She looked up as Logan began to wax sentimental.  She knew that things were serious when he started to do that.  Unable to help the wash of teenagerish embarrassment coming over her, she said, “I was just joking, dad.  I know we would have made friends with bears together.”

She tooled at the earth, thinking about the nature of herself.  Was there a system of balance she could look to?  Does x number of good acts cancel out y number of bad acts?  Kurt believed in the concept of the soul, she wasn’t sure if she did, but if she had one, had she damaged hers in some way?  She was brought back when she heard Logan speaking again, she looked up at her dad, the world coming back into focus.  As he continued to talk, she felt a tightness in her chest, not an unpleasant one, it felt as if her heart was rising up.  They weren’t a particularly loquacious family, and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.  So instead she stood, walked over, and wrapped her arms around him.  “I love you, dad.”

“I know you were, but I also wanted you to know well, that,” Logan wasn't the best with words, so when he could articulate what he was feeling verbally, especially with Laura, he was sure to do it the best he could.

“I worried about you too.  You and the girls.  I was so glad when I heard you were here safe,” she murmured, shifting a little so she could kick off her shoes and let them fall off the edge of the bed before she snuggled in closer.

“Good,” she said with a satisfied smile, she allowed her eyes to slide shut again, feeling the warm rush of her exhaustion wash over her, “because we’re both going to sleep now.”  She was ready to fight him if he argued.

“We’re all fine. I’d never let a thing happen to any of them,” Logan would sooner die than let anything more happen to Laura. He tried too hard to give her the best life he could, and that seemed to blow up in his face towards the middle of her life. So he’d be damned if anything happened to her now.

akahowlett:

“Well, they got the job done better than I did,” she said grimly, “so I guess that’s a point for them.”  She got up as Gabby did, and stood with a hand outstretched, not to take the girl’s, but to invite her to walk in step with her.  She didn’t presume to offer physical contact just yet.  “Family is the most important thing,” she agreed.

She led Gabby back down the hall where Logan stood, only three inches taller than she was, but as imposing as ever.  “Dad, this is Gabby.”  She knew that he had probably heard the whole thing, that a number of girls had been cloned using the same genome Laura came from, that Gabby was the last surviving.  She wondered if it was confusing to have had multiple children with a woman that he never met.

“They have less morals” Gabby shrugged with a small smile. She pulled her bag carefully back onto her back and took Laura’s hand, whether it was offered to her for that reason or not. 

She gave Logan a small wave when they joined him at the end of the hallway. “Hi. How come you have so many claws?” she asked the man instantly, seemingly unintimidated by him

@beerisanemotion

Logan absorbed the entire conversation, carefully placing his anger into the back of his mind. He figured turning around and looking furious wouldn’t bode well for his relationship with this girl. He took a few deep breaths as they approached him, still on guard as he turned to glance the girl over. Spitting image of Laura. He wasn’t sure if he’d get used to that.

She let her fingers slide out of his hand only because it wasn’t the most comfortable position to lie in, and smiled when he said she had been missed.  She couldn’t wait to see everyone, but she decided it would be best to postpone it until after a nap.

She listened to him take her teasing comment and respond with a sincerity that made her heart ache.  There were feelings here that right now, feelings she felt that they both had, that she wasn’t quite ready to deal with now.  She didn’t want to begin anything when she was so emotionally raw from the journey.  “I’m sorry you had to worry about me,” she murmured, glancing back up at him.  “Are you comfortable like this?”  They were both tired, so she decided now was a perfectly good time for them both to sleep, and to not be alone.

“I worry about everyone I care about,” He admitted. The circle was small, but those in it were stuck with him. He dug his claws in and wouldn’t let go. When Logan loved, he loved with everything he had.