#obstinate

The boy sat lonesomely at the edge of the fire. It was almost enough to make Quaritch feel sorry for him. The rest of the Colonel’s squad were dispersed around the campsite - some setting up comfortable sleeping areas or tapping away on their holopads, but most were congregated around the flames, enjoying a card game or sharing stories. The reflection of the fire in their dark pupils highlighted something deep and dark that Quaritch couldn’t quite put his finger on. Since returning to this life as recombinants, something inside each and everyone of them had changed. Fundamentally they were all different people. 

Even Spider. He was no longer the baby that Quaritch remembered with such mixed emotions, but he was still capable of eliciting the same confusing feelings as he had when he was small enough to fit into the palm of Quaritch’s hand. Currently, the teenager looked deep in thought, his chin resting atop his folded up knees, the firelight dancing in the reflection of his mask. He’d been sitting like that for an hour or more, refusing to interact with anyone in the squad. 

They’d left him alone, mostly, preferring to let Quaritch himself deal with the kid. Quaritch didn’t know why they seemed wary of interacting with him. It was almost like they were afraid of stepping on Quaritch’s toes. He took a deep sigh, deciding that enough was enough. 

Spider didn’t shift as Quaritch approached. He didn’t even look at him. The recom took a seat on the soft ground next to the boy, bracing himself for whatever kind of pissy attitude he was about to mop up. 

“You a selective mute or somethin'?”

Spider continued staring forward, although he made half an attempt at a flat eyeroll.

“Ah, you got a lot on your mind,” Quaritch waved a hand in sympathy, speaking as if Spider had just given a full verbal response. He glanced sideways at the boy in time to see Spider chewing the inside of his mouth. The expression was so reminiscent of Paz that for a second Quaritch just stared. Eventually he looked away and let the silence stretch on, trying to think of something else to say. “You gonna sit here feeling sorry for yourself all night, kid?”

Spider closed his eyes in a way that could only be described as condescending. 

“You ain’t gonna accomplish anything like this, you know.”

Irritation flickered across Spider’s face. Success. 

“You may as well join the circle,” Quaritch pressed in an overly optimistic voice. “Get to know some folks.”

“Why would I want to do that?” 

Quarich’s heart sang. He shrugged. “I guess you wouldn’t. But it beats sitting here like a depressed loner.”

“I’ll take depressed loner over a traitor to my people any day, thanks.”

Quaritch let out a low whistle. “Damn, kid. You got some heart. But it ain’t all that. You’re just less likely to be eaten by a wolf if you’re closer to us.”

Finally, Spider turned to him, anger folded into every crease of his face. “You know nothing.”

That stumped Quaritch. He flexed his jaw. “They not in these parts then?”

Spider let out a dry laugh, but didn’t elaborate. 

Quaritch was starting to get frustrated. Spider was just a little shit after all. He forced himself to remember that Spider was under a lot of stress, and that he didn’t fully trust the recoms yet. For all the kid knew, they’d abandon him to the wildlife or throw him back in a cell without a second thought. 

“You’re feeling it right now, I get it. But come into the circle where I can at least keep an eye on you.”

“Why do you care what happens to me?”

Quaritch frowned. He thought Spider at least remembered the part where he’d pulled him from the neuroscanner. The kid had been out of it, but he must have remembered that it was Quaritch’s arms that carried him back to the cell? He sniffed. “It looks bad on my report, kid. Can’t have people thinking I can’t look after one moody teenager in the field, no matter how obstinate.”

“Your job is not to look after me.”

The confidence with which Spider said the words triggered something… sad inside Quaritch. It was clear the boy didn’t believe Quaritch had a shred of concern for him. “My job is to keep you safe so you can help us. That means protecting you.”

Spider muttered something under his breath - but Quaritch suspected it was Na’vi. 

“What was that?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Spider had turned back to face Quaritch, but the furious expression on his face was water off a duck’s back to the Colonel. “Explain then. You don’t need protection?”

“Faysawtute! Protection from what? From my home? My people?”

Your people? “Pandora’s no place for a kid, Spider.”

Spider made an incredulous gesture, looking around at the forest which had come alive at night. “You have eyes, but you don’t see,” was all he said. 

…Right. Quaritch had had enough of playing nice. “Get your ass closer to camp or I’ll drag you myself.”

Spider was clearly fuming, because he balled his fists and then carefully unclenched them, his jaw set and his eyes deep with mutinous thoughts. Quaritch watched the bioluminescence of the moss fade where Spider had been sitting, and immediately missed the boy’s presence, despite Spider doing what he was told. He watched the kid move closer to the campsite, although it still wasn’t quite close enough for Quaritch to be truly satisfied. 

It would have to do. 

He’d had to seriously consider what he’d do if Spider made a run for it in the night. He suspected the boy could be plotting something, but the type of resentment Spider was currently displaying put Quaritch strangely at ease. It was as if the boy had accepted his fate. Spider was smart after all - he knew that running would achieve nothing. 

After a moment, Quaritch pushed himself off the ground and followed Spider back over to the camp. He took a seat next to Wainfleet on a fallen log, making sure the sulking teenager was in his line of sight. 

For the rest of the evening, Spider remained distant and solitary, facing away from him and curling up under some kind of giant, glowing mushroom. The sight was so ridiculous it reminded Quaritch of a scene from a fairytale. Only after the final embers had died and ninety percent of the squad had clocked off for the night did Quaritch approach Spider again. Half of him wanted to check if Spider was asleep, the other half was secretly hoping for another chance at conversation. 

Quaritch stretched widely and approached Spider’s spot cautiously. If Spider was asleep, he didn’t want to wake him. However quietly he thought he was being, it wasn’t enough. Spider’s head snapped around his body tensed, searching for the source of danger. 

“Easy tiger, it’s only me,” Quaritch reassured. 

“What do you want now?” Spider half sat up, the soft hissing of his exopack the only sounds in the vicinity. Above them, the faint light from Polyphemus shone delicately through the canopy. This moon didn’t seem to know true darkness. It was amazing that the boy was able to sleep properly. Then again, Spider had never experienced a truly black night, so he had nothing to compare it to. 

“Just checking up on you,” Quaritch mumbled.

“I still have two arms and two legs if that’s what you’re worried about. Haven’t been dragged off by nantang yet.”

Spider was almost endearing when he was trying to sound tough. Quaritch chuckled. “You be sure to let me know if they grab you in the night.”

“Have you ever considered that they’d more likely go for you? They’re smart.”

Quaritch wrinkled his nose playfully. “Nah, I’m too old and bitter.” And I’m fully armed with over 30 years of combat training and field experience. 

Spider turned over fully now, so he was facing Quaritch properly. Confusion flickered across his features. “How old are you?” he asked. 

Quaritch had to stop and think for a moment. “You’re gonna need to clarify the question, kid. I’m no philosopher.”

“Your body,” Spider emphasised. “When did they start growing you?” 

Quaritch couldn’t help the involuntary flinch that overtook his shoulders. He desperately hoped Spider hadn’t noticed. This was still a weird topic. “Twenty years young.”

“You’re literally only a few years older than me.”

“Bullshit. I’m fifty one.”

Spider frowned. “So old, yet still so dumb.”

Quaritch took a risk. He extended his hand and shoved Spider in what he hoped was a playful way. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re a little shit?”

Spider didn’t even flinch. “All the time. Do better.”

Okay, Quaritch could play this game. “You’re a rude, bratty, hormonal teenager.”

“I am not fucking hormonal!”

“Who knows how this planet’s affected you.”

Spider was looking at him like Quaritch had just announced he was going to start classical ballet. “I’m bigger and healthier than other Sky People kids.”

Quaritch pulled a sarcastic expression. He could practically see Spider’s hackles rise. “Eh. You still got some growing to do.”

Spider’s face grew serious, as if he remembered where he was, and who he was talking to. “Leave me alone and I can get on with it then.”

He’d blown it. Spider turned away from him and returned to his fetal position on the floor, back to Quaritch. Still, they’d managed to have a half decent conversation and that was progress. Something kept Quaritch crouched on the ground, but he knew it was his cue to go. He reached out a hand and did something he’d never done before. He ruffled the kid’s hair. 

Spider squirmed away from him, but didn’t say anything. 

Quaritch took it as a win. 

“You said that you left the X-Men, still, you are wearing one of their belt buckles. You’re not out,” he points at the belt buckle, sneering as you ignore his comment. “I hate liars.”

“Scott likes to keep an eye on me while I’m on a mission. The belt buckle shows my position. It also has an emergency button. So, yes, I’m wearing a fucking belt buckle as it makes sure Scott, and the others stay out of my hair.”

“Scottie doesn’t trust you, huh?” you make a face as Logan rummages in his bag to find a clean shirt. “I wonder why.”

“None of your business. If you don’t shut up, I’ll kick you out of my room, king of the cage,” he laughs at your comment, knowing that you won’t kick him out. Not after you put so much effort into finding him. “Can you stop pacing the room now?”

He kicks his shoes off to fall onto your bed, groaning. “Damn, this is a good bed,” he stretches his legs and arms out, smirking as you give him a bitch face. “I think the floor is big enough for you.”

“Charles didn’t mention that you are a gentleman,” turning your attention back toward the phone you ignore that Wolverine snarls in your direction. You met enough arrogant and misogynist alphas in your life. “Don’t worry. I will stay up all night. This snowstorm is not a normal one.”

“What do you mean?” he sits back up to watch you get up from your chair to press the palm of your hands against the window. You close your eyes and focus on the world outside, not the grumpy alpha getting up from the bed to stand behind you. “Y/N, tell me what’s going on.”

“Can you shut up for a moment?” Wolverine huffs behind you but decides to stick to watching you. He crosses his arms over his chest while you scan the surroundings.

“You’re a telepath too, huh?” you groan as he steps closer again after not two minutes. “Jean or Charles level?”

“Something like that. Now shush and let me focus,” he places his hand next to yours. “What are you doing? You’re not a telepath so let me do this.”

“Do you think someone like Storm is out there and tries to make sure we stay inside the motel?”

“It’s a hotel, and I got no clue. If you would just shut up for a moment I will answer all of your questions. Sit over there on the bed and stop getting on my nerves.”

“Hey, it’s your show,” he shrugs. “I’ll be over there with my claws and wait for the big bad guy to show their ugly face. I’m burning to sink my claws into flesh since I met you.”

“You won’t sink anything into me. Now keep your mouth shut,” you cock your head to glare at Logan. “If you won’t shut up, I’ll make you shut up.”

“Uh—I’m scared,” flashing you a smirk Logan wants to poke your shoulder, but you won’t have it.

“Sit on the bed,” he freezes at your command. You slowly turn around to show him your eyes turned violet. “Don’t move or speak until I tell you so. I need silence.”

Wolverine silently follows your order while anything in him fights your influence.

“Much better. See,” you pat his cheek, eyes turning back to normal, “I’m no one to mess with. Stop acting as if you are not the scared little boy you are. All those muscles and attitude won’t hide you’re a lonely man looking for meaning in your shitty life.”

“Why?” he croaks as you loosen your hold on his mind. “How? I’ll kill you if you do this again!”

“I told you to shut up. Just do it or I’ll make you fall asleep and paint your nails pink,” turning back around you focus on the enemy outside your hotel room. “Come a little closer.”

“What?” he watches you with curiosity. You whisper soft words to lure the enemy in. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t be shy. I know you are out there,” you softly speak. “I won’t hurt you, sweetie. Show me your face.”

Logan swallows thickly as you walk toward the door as if you are in trance. You turn the doorknob, still whispering to yourself as a soft violet light surrounds your body. “There you are.”

“Who? Where? Do I need to kill someone?” Logan can’t leave the bed. You still control his body as you concentrate on the mutant controlling the snowstorm. “Y/N.”

“Come to me. I won’t hurt you. He can’t control you—” you scream in agony, falling to your knees. You clutch your head, whimpering in distress. “Nooo!”

“Y/N,” Wolverine jumps off the bed to check on you. “What happened? OMEGA, talk to me? What happened?” you let him pick you up to place you on the bed, not fighting the alpha. “Talk to me.”

“He…he just…” a dull pain numbs your mind as you try to explain what just happened. “I tried to make the kid stop. Someone controlled them and I was so close to freeing the mutant when…”

“What happened? You need to talk to me! I can sense enemies getting closer,” looking up at Logan you search his face. For the first time, you see the fierce warrior in him, not the mutant fighting in a cage for money. “Y/N, I need to know what’s going on.”

“He shot the kid in the head while we were connected. I felt it all. The pain and how life left their body. I-I can’t,” hide your face in Logan’s neck to inhale his scent deeply. “The snowstorm stopped, but they are coming for us. We are easy targets for them now. I can’t use my powers right.”

“Why? I’ll need your help,” he huffs as you sniff at his neck. “Y/N, focus.”

“I’m like a blank nerve right now. If I use my powers, I won’t be able to distinguish friend from foe. My powers will overwhelm me,” you cry into his neck. “It happened before.”

“Fuck,” he hisses as you cling to his body. Logan won’t tell you it feels good to have you in his arms or that he’d like to just pounce on you and mate you right there and then. Luckily he learned to control his alpha years ago. “Alright. Grab your shit. We will go for my pickup truck.”

“We won’t make it far, Logan,” you grab his arm as he tries to pick his bag up. “There are more than ten soldiers out there. Stryker is with them, and I can tell he’s burning to get you in his clutches. All he can think about is Weapon X. Does this ring a bell?”

“No. I don’t remember someone called Stryker. Let’s go,” he helps you get off the bed. Your legs are still a little wobbly as you try to pick up your jacket and bag. “I can take down ten soldiers. No problem.”

“They’ve got guns, and tranquilizer darts, Logan. We can’t go out there, unprepared and with only one functional power. I can try to use telekinesis, but no telepathy right now,” you stumble toward your belongings. “Do you want to risk getting caught by them?”

“Better than waiting for them to corner us, right? If we wait in this room for too long, we will end up in handcuffs sooner than later. I know people like them.”

“I don’t think they’ll capture us, especially me, alive. The kid was a trap,” Logan grabs your luggage. He huffs, before slinging one arm around your waistline to steady your trembling body. “I can’t focus on anything but their screams. Stryker knows about my past. I don’t know how he found out but…”

“Get your shit together. Fuck that bastard. I don’t care what he knows about you or me,” the alpha growls as he drags you out of the room. “We will get in my truck and leave this place. No one is going to capture you and me. Got it?”

“Got it,” you let Logan take the lead. He opens the door to the passenger seat for you and throws the bags into the back. “What if they capture us?”

“I told you,” he grunts while getting behind the steering wheel, “they won’t get us. I ran more than once from far more dangerous people. You must trust me in this.”

“Trust is not my strong suit,” you watch Logan start the engine. “I left the X-Men to not be a part of a team. I’m not good at teamwork.”

“Same,” Logan ignores his pickup truck must fight its way through the snow masses. And he gives a shit on the soldiers chasing after you. “Oh, look at them. Obedient little puppets chasing us.”

“Okay. I’ve got this,” you press the emergency button on your belt buckle. “They will come for us. But until then…”

“We are on our own,” he concludes. “Stop being a whiny omega and just roll over. Give them hell for what they did to the kid. You don’t give up that easily. Fight back and use your powers. You are damn strong, omega.”

“I can try to—” closing your eyes you take deep breaths. You need to be calm to control more than one person at the same time. “There they are…”

“Go for Stryker. If he’s the commander, we need to bring him down first,” the alpha grunts as. He glances in the rearview mirror, gritting his teeth as three SUVs are following you and the alpha. “What are you waiting for?”

“I can’t get into his mind,” shaking your head you try to focus on the other soldiers following you. “I don’t know how he does it. It’s like he’s hiding behind a wall I can take down.”

“Stop talking and get to work,” Logan takes the next left to get on the highway. “If you don’t get them off my back, I’ll get out of the car and things will get ugly.”

“I’d like to see the Wolverine in action but—” your eyes flash violet again. “I’ll have to wait for a better time.”

“Fucking do something,” Wolverine ducks as someone fires at his pickup truck. ”You damage my truck; you’ll die slow and painful.”

“STOP!” you command, even though, you are still a little shaken by the events earlier. Feeling the kid die opened old wounds. “Stop your cars. Get out. Disassemble your weapons.”

“Tell them to go after Stryker.”

“They are following orders. I won’t tell them to kill their commanding officer, Logan. We will get him. Just not like this…”

“Shit,” he slams his hands onto the steering wheel.

“Go back in your cars. Drive home and forget about me and Logan. You don’t remember Wolverine or me from now on.”

“Fuck, they just stopped their cars,” he looks in the rearview mirror, swallowing thickly. “Can you reach Stryker? You told me he thinks about Weapon X. Why can’t you read his mind now?”

“No,” your eyes turn back to normal. “He’s not alone. That’s all I can tell you. There is more than one mutant with him. They are shielding his mind. I’ll need help to get inside. Before, he let me inside.”

“Well, then. We should ask Xavier and Jean for help. Maybe you can break down the walls together…”

Part 3

Divider by @writeyourmindaway