It's Not Me (22/?) Scott/Logan

[scottxlogan]

Title: It's Not Me
Fandom: X-Men
Pairing: Scott/Logan
Rating: M.
Word Count: 8086
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21

The stale odor of must, mold and hay surrounded Scott as he looked around the darkened barn feeling it's emptiness surround him. He could see traces of sunlight filtering in through the roof, drawing attention to the intricate spider web that hung a few feet from where he stood. It shined in the light, showing it's complicated weave, showcasing the spider that had worked endlessly to perfect it's trap. It was exquisite, beautiful in it's own right as Scott couldn't help, but take the time to admire and appreciate the dedication that went into the web. It was incredibly complex, yet so very simple when the spider used it to bait it's prey, much like Scott had done when the moment struck. Now tipping his head down, he looked to the unconscious man on the ground, seeing the man's blood on his hands.

"This simply won't do," Scott decided feeling a moment of empowerment in his rage. He bent down, pulling the heavier man up off of the ground and throwing him into an abandoned wheel barrel that had been accumulating moss and a collection of insects.

"No matter," Scott mouthed to himself, hearing the groan the other man let out in crashing over the top of the wheel barrel. Scott watched his head fall back, turning to the side with a pained grunt when Scott noticed the faded pink scar across the side of the man's face. It had been the lengthy scar that had sealed his fate, had done him in when Scott thought back to being inside of the men's room dealing with his inner demons. He could remember his talk with Jean, his silent descent into madness when the man with the familiar voice had walked into the men's room, still laughing and amused with himself.

"Hey," the man had greeted Scott with a small nod before disappearing into one of the stalls, clearly oblivious to who Scott was, yet in all the time that had created a distance from the horrors, Scott hadn't forgotten. He was no longer able to lose the memory of that voice and the pain it had created. It caused his heart to plummet wildly in his chest, his palms to sweat and the longer Scott stood in the men's room staring at his reflection, the more profound his awakening had been. There were knots in the pit of his stomach, taking him past the point of no return when darkness consumed him again. He'd tried to stay in control, tried to keep his rage under wraps, but when he closed his eyes something changed, taking him back to madness.

Opening his eyes Scott found himself back at the facility, strapped down to the torture chair. Only unlike his trip to the men's room in the present, he was back in the past unable to see. He was blindfolded, trembling and exhausted after Victor had taken great liberty in torturing him once again. He wasn't sure why Victor had stopped, but he suspected that Victor would return soon. Being alone hadn't given him relief because his fears mounted, the dread of the unknown carrying over him. Alone in the room the pain still lingered, the terror still surrounding him when the sound of footsteps approached. In the beginning when he had first been abducted Scott had hoped that footsteps would signal help was on the way, would somehow bring hope to him, but now he feared them. With each movement coming in closer, he was terrified of what new horror could come upon him knowing that no good could come out of others in the room.

"He thinks he can keep you to himself, doesn't he?" the voice from the bar questioned, accompanied by the tobacco and alcohol that had lingered in his earlier exchange with Scott. "The funny thing is though he doesn't do you like he should. You're too pretty not to savor in every way imaginable. Cutting and bleeding you out seems so trivial when there are so many other delicious options to explore."

"Who are you?" Scott had questioned weakly, attempting to draw out answers about his time in captivity. Although he was surrounded by darkness, he could feel the weight of eyes upon him, could sense the threat lurking in the world he'd been immersed in against his will, "What do you want?"

"You're a smart boy. I think you know what I want," the man had taunted, stepping in beside the chair Scott was stretched out upon. Scott could feel the brush of calloused fingers against his cheek, the slide of harsh nails scraping along the wound Victor had left near the edge of his scalp. Scott winced, gritting his teeth together as he struggled against his restraints. There was a tug at the jumpsuit they had put him in to take away his identity and dehumanize him, a push of sliding buttons opening to reveal the sting of slashes over his skin, "Creed might think he's calling all the shots, but we all deserve a little fun every now and then."

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you have to help me get out of here," Scott had pleaded despite the realization that it was a futile attempt when the man's palm pressed in over his chest, applying pressure to his broken body, "You have to let me go. I need to…"

"Right now you need to be quiet," the man clasped his hand over Scott's mouth to silence him. Scott could taste salt and oil against his split, chapped lips. He could feel something else bitter upon his skin when the man's other hand greedily touched his thigh before working his fingers over the buttons on his jumpsuit in another haphazard attempt to open it. "We don't want Creed to come in here just yet…not when I haven't been able to see what you can do, you pretty little freak."

Scott felt a moment of panic, his body tensing up tighter than before when the man's fingers curled in underneath his jumpsuit over his inner thigh. He'd thought that Victor had been the worst of it, that if he could only endure Victor, then anything else would be tolerable. However, when the man's lips hovered over the side of Scott's neck, his words reaching deep into his ear, Scott knew he was sadly mistaken.

"I'm going to see just how good you are at taking orders boy," the man taunted further, his fingers pinching at Scott's face in a violent grip, forcing his lips apart mercilessly. "You're going to show me a good time and when I'm finished with you, well if you behave I won't let my friends in here to do the same."

"Get off of me," Scott snarled jerking underneath the man's touch. Fingers sank further into his thigh, bruising his flesh as Scott whimpered. Knowing what the man's intentions were, Scott felt sickened. Bile built up in the back of his throat when he heard the sound of the man shuffling beside him indicating that he was preparing for something horrible. Panic carried over Scott, fearing for what could happen to him if he didn't put up a fight. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to take the inevitable violation, Scott opened his eyes, willing himself to try to control his powers, to find a means of being stronger-of escape.

"Try not to scream too much," the man had laughed, mocking Scott's fears. Scott continued to twist in the restraints, attempting to break free when the man seized his hair roughly clearly enjoying Scott's inability to fight him off. The man hovered over Scott, leaning in closer to Scott's face, wrenching his head to the side in an attempt to force his mouth upward, positioning Scott for the unwelcome horrors that would follow, but before his attacker had the opportunity to violate him in the ways he'd wanted, Scott felt a rush of power overtake him. His optic blast shot through the sweat soaked blindfold, slicing through flesh on the side of the man's face mercilessly. The man howled and chortled in agony, falling away from Scott's side to the floor. Although Scott couldn't see him, wasn't even certain of how much he'd injured him, he knew that he'd wounded the man by his agonized groans.

"If you come near me again, then so help me that will be the least of your worries," Scott snarled behind gritted teeth. He pushed up against his restraints attempting to wrench himself out of them without any success. Still unable to show his fears, Scott spoke up in warning, "I'll kill you!"

There was a sound of screaming, of the door opening and others flooding inside. Scott didn't know what was happening, but as he struggled to tear himself loose, he felt his body overtaken with a new rush of adrenaline. With each movement he made the hard, metal cuffs tore into his wrists, bit into his flesh, but he couldn't stand idle and let them break him. He fought harder than he could remember, felt one of the cuffs loosening when there was a wire around his neck, squeezing, tightening, suffocating him. He cried out, writhing against it and opening his eyes again. Blasts flew around the room, uncontrolled and reckless tearing into the ceiling as he hoped to keep the others from hurting him. He screamed, shouted, panicked when the wire bit into his skin, causing blood to spill from his young flesh. He wouldn't back down, wouldn't submit to their torture. He wouldn't allow any of them to touch him like that. He would fight with his dying breath if need be…

"You're killing him," he heard a voice in the room explain when the pull of the wire cut off his intake of oxygen. It caused him to fall back into the table, exhausted and gasping for breath when it finally eased up on him.

"Freaks like him don't die," Scott could hear the man from the bar announce viciously. His voice was growing nearer, closer to Scott in his moment of fight.

"We should get out of here," another voice suggested nervously, "If Stryker or even Creed knows what was happening, then…"

"To hell with Creed," the voice from the bar ordered, angry and humiliated by Scott's attempt to ward him off. Scott felt something pushed over his head, covering his eyes and preventing him from using his blasts again as he fought for air, "it's time this boy learned a lesson."

Now standing in the barn, Scott thought back to the severe beating that had followed. Although Scott had been successful in warding off the man's predatory advances, the man and his crew had spent what felt like hours beating on Scott, taking their turns at attacking him with their fists. He'd attempted to fight back, to tear himself away, but with every attempt, they'd cut off his oxygen supply, knocking him out of consciousness at times with their fury. At one point in time Scott had heard the man from the bar bragging about his resourcefulness in having brought a hammer with him to serve as one of the first torture tools. Scott could remember the feel of it smashing into his knee before he'd passed out the second time. He'd awakened a few times, soaked in his own blood, body feeling as if it had been smashed into pieces with every hit made upon him. They took great liberties to torture him, the would be attacker making sure Scott stayed awake when he'd broken every one of Scott's fingers on one hand systematically with his hammer, drawn out in long, torturous taunts. The sexual predator was gone, but the sadistic monster had taken his place, set on torturing Scott mercilessly.

"Remember me," the man from the bar had taunted over and over again, his fury overtaking the night Scott was certain his subconscious would never allow him to escape, "Remember this and know that it's going to get much worse the longer you are here. This is just the beginning for you boy."

"Worse," Scott repeated returning to the moment in the bar, knowing that the man had nearly beaten him to death that night he'd been held captive in Stryker's compound. The man and his friends had cracked his ribs, fractured his leg, demolished his hand, and done a number on his body while leaving his face in tact in their warped perception of keeping their attack on Scott from capturing anyone's attention. They'd been relentless, taking him close to death's door before another one of Stryker's men had overheard and intervened. It had been a blur, but Scott could remember the faint whispers of the nurses in the medical wing of the facility. He could recall their horror and the pity he'd experienced in there for the first time since he'd been taken. He'd hoped for reprieve, taken relief in knowing that they hadn't violated his innocence in the worst possible way, but what he'd lost in the time of the beating, he knew he'd never get back. His trust in the world around him was gone, his hope for survival had diminished leaving him only to anticipate death.

"I remember you," Scott announced focusing on the scarring on the right side of the man's face. It had been the scar that had caused Scott to react on impulse when the man walked out of the stall clearly oblivious of who Scott was. Scott had watched silently, seeing the man washing his hands when the fury took over in knowing what the man had stolen from him. Before he knew it, he'd knocked the man out, dragging him away from the pub in the name of justice.

"Wh…where am I?" the groggy man questioned slowly regaining consciousness. He struggled to move, but couldn't as Scott glared down at him, using his mind to hold the man captive. The man raised his chin up, seeing Scott standing before him, face twisted with rage, "Hey…you're the guy from the bar. What are you…?"

"I'm more than that," Scott stepped forward revealing his face through the shadows in the barn, "You know who I am…"

"No, I don't. Look man I don't know what I did to piss you off, but I'm sure we can work this out. I've got a couple of hundred dollars in my wallet…" the man attempted to get up again, only to feel the force of Scott's mind sending him down into the wheel barrel again. The base of the man's head struck against the metal on the side, his lips parting with agony.

"I don't want your money," Scott stepped forward, twisting his fingers through the air, tightening his mental grip on the man before him. He watched the man attempt to grip at his own neck, trying to ward off the invisible fingers that surrounded his throat, stealing the oxygen from his lungs much like the man and the rest of his crew had done to Scott all those years ago.

"I…I don't understand…" the man gasped desperately, his face turning a pale crimson color when Scott noticed the graying edges of the man's sloppy hair. The pink scar on his face was embedded in deep wrinkles, proving that time had aged the monster before Scott, yet in turning his attention to the man's hands and seeing the same dirty fingers he's felt upon him years ago, Scott cringed with recall knowing just what damage those hands had inflicted upon him.

"I didn't either when you did what you did to me," Scott mouthed icily, feeling outside of himself when his rage took over, "but soon you will. Soon you'll gain full comprehension of why I chose you today."

"Chose me," the man repeated with a gulp of air when Scott released his hold on the man's throat, "Look I don't know who the hell you are man, but…"

"Liar," Scott spat out, his skin growing hot with fury. He clenched his fingers at his sides, balling them into fists as he glared down at the man before him, "you know who I am just like I know what you are. Before I didn't have the luxury of looking into your eyes, in seeing your face and knowing what true evil lurked there, but now I'm no longer blinded from the truth."

"You're insane," the man attempted to pull up again only to have Scott send him violently crashing down to the ground without lifting a finger. Fury bubbled over Scott's senses, eyes darkening with rage as the man's face finally twisted with fear and realization. "No! It can't be."

"So you do remember me," Scott eased up his grip on the man, watching him crawl across the ground in a haphazard attempt to pull away once the wheel barrel tipped over. He was able to scoot a few feet away before Scott extended his arm out, pulling the man off of the ground without so much as a touch. He twisted his fingers around in the air, sending the man flying into the far wall of the barn again with invisible fingers seizing his neck, "and here I thought we'd have to exchange pleasantries with one another before you understood what was happening. Though you seem like a smart enough man-not educated by any means because if you had been, well, then you would've seen that stepping in to screw with someone like me wasn't a smart move at all."

"Get away from me you freak!" the man sneered defiantly, his face bloodied from the fall. "Stay away!"

"I bet you wish you would've killed me now, don't you?" Scott's laughter vibrated through the emptiness in the barn, causing the room to shake around them. "You had no idea what you were doing that night you decided I would make the perfect victim."

"It was just a joke," the man offered up nervously, "all in good fun."

"Good fun?" Scott repeated seeing the man attempt to reach for a pitchfork that was laying on the ground beside him. With a subtle brush of his fingers in the air surrounding him, Scott sent it flying across the barn out of his attacker's reach. "Damn near killing a child is good fun to you?"

"We didn't kill you," the man corrected with a slow, ragged breath, "You're still alive…"

"What about the others?" Scott challenged knowing only too well of the suffering that others hadn't been able to escape in their time being held captive. "What about those you tormented before me? Those who couldn't fight back?"

"Hey, it was a long time ago. Stryker was paying us to keep you all in line and…" the man stammered, attempting to seek out a reprieve from his fate.

"Keep us in line," Scott repeated in a shrill, wild voice, his eyes darkening with rage, "You walk around pretending that we're the monsters, but our kind isn't nearly as capable of the sadistic pleasures you sought out in trying to destroy us. We would never do to you what you've done to us…well, we wouldn't have before…"

"What do you mean wouldn't have?" the man gulped down harder, his throat tightening when Scott moved through the barn fluidly possessed by his anger.

"Why today's your lucky day," Scott smiled down at him sadistically, "as it seems that you've been caught up in being at the right place at the wrong time for you."

"You can't do anything to me," the man spat back at him, "You're weak. You wouldn't dream of it because if you even think of hurting me freak…"

"Hurting you would be too easy," Scott laughed wildly, his fingers coiling into a tight fist, "I intend on killing you. Make no mistake about it."

"Killing me," the man gulped down harder, "No, you can't. You wouldn't. You don't have it in you to…"

"Don't I?" Scott challenged raising an amused brow, his actions overtaking logic when he pulled the man up off of the ground again with the sheer force of his mind. He sent the man down into the floor of the barn hard enough to shake him up. The man groaned before Scott raised him up in the air again, up towards the ceiling of the barn with an ease in his movements. "You taught me well about torment and pain. Because of you I'm well versed on what it's like to work towards destroying a man."

"You son of a bitch," the man finally sneered at him, defiance and anger guiding him when he spat down at Scott. Scott moved his other hand up in the air, preventing the man's spit from reaching his face. He used his right hand to fling it upward back into the man's eyes before stepping forward and dropping the man.

"What's wrong?" Scott questioned waving his hands in the air and sending a pillar down around the man, caging him within the barn, "Is it too much for you when I'm not strapped down to a chair for you to torment? Not up for a fair fight this time around?"

"You're a freak," the man spat out him with a bloodied laugh.

"You're right," Scott laughed wildly, distance in his voice when he moved in closer to the man before him, "and I'm about to show you just how much of a freak I truly am."

Clenching his fingers into a fist, Scott sent his arm forward through the air, using his mind to slam a force into the man before him. The man toppled backward into the wall, impacting harder than the first time. Still it wasn't enough when Scott pulled him up off of the ground again, sending the man across the barn to the other side. In a flash the man impacted the wall, falling face first into the splintered wall before him.

"I'll bet you didn't think at the time you'd ever live to see the day when I returned to pay you back for what you'd done, did you?" Scott's hollow voice questioned, his body taking over when rage and anger erased all traces of logic in burying the man he'd prided himself on being in living by Xavier's code. He was beyond consoling with a thirst for revenge and retribution when he saw his attacker shuffle on the ground, coughing and backing away, but Scott refused to let up, instead pulling the man into the air again. "I'm not so helpless now, am I?"

"I don't know what you are, but you don't frighten me. You're still a scared little bitch," the man snarled with a coldness in his voice. "I should've had my way with you that first night instead of waiting. Then maybe you would've known your place…"

"Oh I know my place," Scott slammed the man into the wall again, "and now I think it's time you realize yours."

Bringing the man to his knees, Scott twisted his own hand, watching the man's arm raise with a jerking force that wasn't his own. His palm flattened out, fingers spreading in the air before him without hesitation. With a vicious laugh, Scott wiggled his own fingers watching the hand before him do the same. He was in control, calling all the shots as the man who'd tried to kill him was held captive, awaiting Scott's next movement.

"Finish him," a voice in the back of Scott's mind urged him on, "show him he can't hurt you again. You aren't weak anymore Scott. Show them."

"What are you doing…?" the man questioned in a panic, attempting to wrench his hand free of the invisible grip on him.

"You have one last chance to save yourself. Tell me that you were wrong," Scott ordered blinking in a moment of conscience. It was tugging at his insides, silently screaming from within to stop, to remember what he'd stood for all those years at the school with Charles.

"His moral superiority didn't stop them from attacking you back then. Xavier could've saved you sooner long before Logan arrived, but he left you to suffer. He didn't help you free yourself from the torment until it was too late. For years you believed he was your savoir, but we both know that living in his peace didn't stop them from hurting the others Scott," the voice continued to taunt inside the back of his mind. "You're their leader. It was up to you to protect them. You might not have been able to do it then, but you can make it up to them now. Show them that their pain and suffering hasn't gone without retribution. You can stop him from hurting anyone else ever again."

"Say that you were wrong. That you know you were out of line," Scott's voice was firm and commanding in the moment where he fought the internal struggle in his mind, standing on the edge of holding onto his control, "Tell me you regret your actions."

"Go to hell you freak," the man spat out at him defiantly, "the only regret I have is not finishing the job in killing you that night."

"Wrong answer," Scott snapped his fingers together, watching as the man's pinky finger flew back in an unnatural fashion against the back of his hand, effectively breaking it in the moment. "Try again."

"Son of a bitch.." the man bellowed in agony, pain twisting his features, "you just broke my finger."

"It's nothing like the shattering feel of a hammer I can assure you. Don't worry though I'll do a hell of a lot more than that, if you don't repent," Scott ordered, his words coming out in a sharp hiss, "Beg me for forgiveness in what you did to all of us."

"Like hell," the man mouthed sourly, his words full of distain when Scott repeated the movement causing another finger on his palm to dislocate, snapping in the blink of an eye.

"Scott," Logan's voice sounded outside of the barn pulling Scott from his mission of madness. He blinked, fighting to ignore it, but Logan's voice continued to appeal to him, "Scott, are you in there?"

"Logan, go away," Scott shouted feeling the voice inside his head intensifying, urging him to continue-to bring about retribution for all those who had suffered. It was deep in his core, bringing a surge of power down upon him when the man before him attempted to break free of Scott's hold. Feeling an ache in his temple, Scott struggled to keep the man in position, to prevent the man from moving of his own free will, but with Logan's interference Scott's control was weakening.

"Don't let him in here," the voice inside his head warned Scott, "He wouldn't understand what you were doing. He wouldn't let you finish this. He'll force you to abandon them when they need you Scott. He's the enemy."

"Scott, what's happening?" Logan questioned worriedly, his voice growing nearer to the side of the barn Scott was standing in. "Are you alone?"

"No, he's not," the man Scott had taken shouted desperately, "Help me. He's a freak. He's crazy and…"

"Scott, who is that?" Logan asked after a moment of hesitation, his voice muted behind the wall of the barn. "Who's in there?"

"No one Logan," Scott refocused on the man before him, twisting his hand in the air again and causing another finger to snap backwards on the man's palm. The man howled in agony, his painful bellow rising through the abandoned barn. "This doesn't concern you."

"Of course it concerns me Scott. I'm worried about you. If something's happening…," Logan attempted to pull at the door to the barn, but knowing he'd set the beam down in front of the entrance, Scott knew it would prove to be a challenge.

"Help me!" the man on the ground shouted, whimpering when three of his fingers were dislocated, causing him a great deal of pain, "He's trying to kill me and…"

"Scott!" Logan shouted once again. "Let me in!"

"Go away Logan," Scott snarled, his blackening eyes returning to his prisoner, "You're going to tell me what you know about Victor Creed. You're going to point me in the direction of finding him and once you do, I'll release you."

"I haven't been involved in that for years. After what happened with you they forced me to leave," the man whimpered painfully, his lower lip trembling with fear. Tears streamed down his cheeks, revealing the depths of the pain he was feeling in the moment. He trembled before Scott, still on his knees held down by the force of Scott's mind, "They let all of us go and ordered us away. We weren't allowed to have any fun any longer or be inside after you did what you did."

"What I did?" Scott roared with laughter, "You nearly beat the life out of me. You tortured and killed others because they were helpless. You perceived them to be weak when you and your friends went after them…"

"It was a mistake," the man finally conceded with a small whimper. Blood was running down his forehead from the last time he'd been flung into a wall. It was clear his lip was split as well when he forced the words out, "We were wrong."

"Yes, yes you were," Scott nodded in agreement, feeling the weight of a force upon his shoulders, entering into his mind to replay the torture he'd endured again and again. He could remember the feel of the man's hands upon him, the way that the group had taunted and tormented him, promising even greater horrors to follow after his recovery.

"I'm sorry," the man finally sobbed when Scott released him, allowing him to crumble to pieces on the ground, "so very sorry for what we did."

Scott blinked a couple of times, caught up in the momentary divide between the past and the present with Logan banging on the door, attempting to work his way inside to access what was going on. Still in knowing what horror the man before him was capable of, Scott took in a breath allowing the voice in his head to call the shots at long last.

"I'm afraid it's too little, too late," Scott snarled, his features tense and distanced when he pulled the man up off of the ground into the air again, "now it's time to pay."

Xxxxx

"Open the damned door Scott!" Logan screamed hearing the sounds of screams from within the barn. While Logan wasn't quite sure what was happening or who was with Scott, he knew that something was horribly wrong. Thinking back to what Logan had witnessed the other day in Scott's moment of confusion, Logan feared for what would be happening within the walls of the barn. In an instant there was a boom of the barn's rooftop sinking in and a blast that shot out from the roof into the afternoon sky. Ducking down Logan realized that Scott was beyond listening to him, caught up in a moment of release that Logan feared would take him under. There was another scream, then the scent of blood in the air surrounding Logan when his heart raced in his chest.

Standing upright Logan took in a breath, unable to quell the racing of his pulse. He was met by a surge of adrenaline, his claws extending when he slashed open the wall to the barn before him. It put up a resistance, but with a second slash the foundation splintered before him revealing the first glimpse of madness from within. It was dark inside, but there was no mistaking Scott's sweat soaked body moving across the barn, with hands in the air, pointing towards something up near the ceiling. Logan watched another blast erupt from Scott's eyes, followed by another blood-curdling scream. It was then that Logan realized the man with Scott was up in the air, arms out at his sides, blood spilling down from the left side of his face where Scott had just sent a blast with exact precision against his cheek to graze his skin.

"Scott!" Logan shouted to his lover again, hoping to reach him, but it was no use. Whatever had possessed Scott in the moment wasn't allowing him to listen to Logan or any other kind of reason. Frantically Logan tore at the wall before him, shattering it to pieces with slash after desperate slash. Within a matter of seconds Logan had pushed his way into the barn, rushing towards Scott in the hopes of saving him from himself.

"Scott, listen to me. You have to stop this," Logan pleaded watching the man in the air jolt upward again, headed towards a hook that was dropped from the ceiling, clearly used to hold cattle back in the day. The man whimpered and sobbed, begging for mercy, but it was lost on Scott in the moment.

"Scott please…" Logan charged forward only to see Scott hold his hand out, sending a wave of force into Logan and knocking him down to the ground.

"I don't have a choice," Scott's words were empty and hollow, his face centered in on the man above him, "He has to pay for his sins. He has to know…"

"He knows Scott," Logan shuffled around on the dirt, attempting to pull himself up off of the ground.

"No, he doesn't have the first clue," Scott hissed turning his head to face Logan momentarily. It was then that Logan was met by the thick, soulless, blackness that engulfed Scott's eyes, stealing away any sign of humanity that might've lingered inside of them. "He has to see that there are consequences to every action."

"That's right," Logan spoke up tentatively, feeling shivers running up and down his spine when Scott looked right through him caught up in a place beyond the reality that surrounded them. As Scott turned away using his new powers to thrust the man upward closer to the hook, Logan called out to him, "and that is going to apply to you as well Scott. You're no murderer. You can't kill him."

"He's a monster," Scott argued, his voice cracked with the first hint of emotion since Logan had arrived. "He needs to know what he's done is unacceptable."

"I'm sure he knows Scott," Logan tipped his head up to see the bleeding, broken man before him, "I'm sure he's well aware that he…"

"He tried to kill me Logan," Scott spat out bitterly, his words sharp and biting in the moment, "He was on Stryker's payroll doing unspeakable things to the children that Stryker abducted. He killed some of them Logan. He stole their innocence and hurt them…"

Logan remained silent watching Scott start to shake with his words.

"He tried to steal mine-to take what little hope I had left from me," Scott announced in an inconsolable shriek of rage, "When I wouldn't give in, they attacked me Logan. They tore me to pieces leaving me to die just like they'd done to the others. They tried to destroy me…"

"Scott," Logan watched seeing the man overhead whimpering with fear, "don't do this."

"He needs to learn," Scott argued, shaking his head furiously, "He needs to know…"

"He knows," Logan moved forward in a tentative stride, his footsteps slow and cautious as Scott focused on the man before him.

"No he doesn't," Scott insisted with a venomous roar, "I have to show him."

"You have Scott," Logan spoke up smoothly, his voice cool and controlled in spite of what was taking place before him. "Scott, he'll have to live with what he's done. He'll have to face himself each and every day in the mirror knowing how wrong he was."

"It's not enough. It can never be enough," Scott argued, the certainty from his voice tapering off when Logan drew in nearer.

"No," Logan agreed quietly, "It won't be, but doing this won't change what happened. It won't make the pain go away. It will only give you one more thing to feel guilty over because we both know this isn't you Scott. This isn't who you are."

"He tried to kill me Logan," Scott bellowed in a small whimper, his voice starting to return to normal. Logan watched the man above him sink down a few inches lowering away from the hook with Scott's resolve slipping away.

"He was wrong. He shouldn't have done that," Logan mouthed easing his claws back into his body when he reached out for Scott. "He never should've had that opportunity."

"No, he shouldn't have," Scott agreed somberly, tears burning down his cheeks, "They never should've touched us-never should've been allowed to…"

"He's going to have to face that," Logan promised watching the way Scott's focus was teetering off allowing the man up above to continue to descend towards them.

"The things they did to me…to everyone…." Scott finally broke into sobs, his arms dropping down to his sides and releasing the man he'd been holding captive. His face drained of all color, his tears consuming him when Logan moved forward collecting Scott in his arms with relief, "They tried to break us…they…they…"

"I know," Logan embraced Scott tightly, not bothering to look for the man who'd dropped to the ground. Logan could smell him in the distance gasping for air, but in the moment all that mattered was Scott.

"I tried to stop them. I tried to help the others, but I couldn't. I wanted to fight for them…to be strong," Scott continued lost in a sea of regret, "but I failed them just like I did with Jean. I let them down. I couldn't prevent their pain…I couldn't stop the madness…"

"It wasn't your fault," Logan pressed his hand into Scott's back attempting to soothe him in his anguish.

"The things they did to me…to the others…" Scott broke down in tiny sobs, "I have no choice Logan. I need to keep him from hurting anyone else ever again."

"We'll stop him," Logan swore, reaching out to touch the side of Scott's face. He curled his finger underneath Scott's chin raising it up to see the tormented, blue eyes before him, "We'll do this the right way and…"

"No," Scott shook his head in refusal, his eyes shifting with something that was foreign to the man Logan loved. The blue depths of Scott's soulful eyes were lost again, replaced by a thick blackness that mirrored Jean's. With a shove, Scott pushed Logan away with a snarl and a hiss, "we'll do this my way."

"Scott no!" Logan shouted watching Scott raise the man up in the air again, sending him towards the hook, to the inevitable death that would surround him in Scott's madness. Horror flashed through Logan in knowing that would be something Scott couldn't take back, something he would never recover from no matter how justified his actions might've been. Scott Summers wasn't a cold blooded killer. He hadn't been bred for that. Regardless of what Stryker had done, Scott was someone who fought for those around him, who only turned to violence when there was no other alternative. Killing a monster might've felt justifiable, but the demons would still forever haunt Scott if Logan didn't put an end to it.

"Damn it," Logan cursed under his breath, hating the road that was to follow. He charged forward crashing into Scott and catching him off guard when his energies were being channeled on the man before him. Scott skidded across the floor of the barn, surprise registering behind his ghostly white features as Logan hovered over him.

"I'm sorry," Logan apologized knowing it was a futile response, but with Scott out of control and lost in something that went beyond the pain of the past, Logan reacted on impulse. Logan instinctively thrust his head forward into Scott's knowing the force of adamantium against his skull was going to hurt like hell later, but he was certain it would subdue and save Scott in the long run. Scott groaned upon impact, falling to the ground in a state of unconsciousness when Logan shifted upward, cracking his own neck with a sigh. He heard the sound of the man Scott held captive falling to the ground, dropping again like nothing when Logan touched the side of Scott's face.

"I'm so sorry," Logan whispered fighting to keep his emotions in check when Scott lay before him. Smoothing his fingers over Scott's tear stained cheek, Logan feared for the worst, uncertain of what the future would hold for them now that Scott's demons were surfacing, dragging him deeper into the hell he'd kept locked away for years before Jean's attack on him.

"Weapon X," the man Scott had been attacking earlier mused with a relieved grin. Logan could hear the man struggling to pull himself up off of the ground, spitting out blood and laughter in his relieved moment of reprieve, "Stryker always said that you'd prove to be an asset to the rest of us. Little did I know how true that statement would be in your being such a perfect soldier."

"You'd be best suited to get out of here," Logan replied stiffly, his focus still on Scott unconscious on the ground, making sure that hadn't caused any unnecessary injuries in knocking Scott out.

"Oh believe me I will and when I do that little freak is going to wish that he'd finished the job before you arrived," the man reached for an empty crate, using it to prop himself up fully in a seated position. He spit out another round of blood before using his good hand to wipe at his lip, "I'm going to get the old team together and hunt him down to finish what we started all those years ago. Freaks like that need to be controlled or put down and…"

"Like hell," Logan released Scott, turning around to face the man fully. "Maybe you weren't listening to me when I said leave."

"I don't take orders from freaks," the man's eyes swept up and down over Logan's features, "no matter how much work we put into manufacturing them. We own you. You work for us, not them. Stryker put you out there for the rest of us-to eliminate them…"

"If you were part of manufacturing this, then you know what I'm capable of," Logan snarled bringing his hand up in the air. He allowed his claws to release, to dip in dangerously close to the man's bloodied face before him, "of how relentless I can be."

"I'm not afraid of you," the man chortled with an air of distain now that he was convinced Scott was no longer a threat to him, "Just like the other one, you don't have it in you. You can't hurt me because it's not a part of your programming. Stryker made sure of that."

"I haven't been under Stryker's thumb for a very long time," Logan warned sharply, a snarl revealing itself behind his gritted teeth when his eyes started narrowing with rage and disgust. "I don't take orders from anyone."

"All you freaks are alike. You might think you can lash out at me, but you weren't made for that," the man laughed before spitting out blood at Logan, "You're all talk and no action especially when you're on your leash, although that boy over there was certainly worth taking action with when he was strapped down to the chair begging for mercy. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to get it. Despite what he was saying before, he couldn't get enough of us. He craved our hands upon him-kept teasing us and begging for it."

"I seriously doubt that one," Logan felt his inner beast emerging, seeing the predatory way that the man before him licked his bloodied lips.

"Sweet young thing like he was would've done anything to find freedom back then. We could all sense it about him. It made him all the more interesting," the man continued in a lecherous tone intimidated by Logan's warnings, "Of course as much as we wanted a taste, it seemed that Creed wanted him all to himself. Regardless of what the boy will say about the rest of us, he sure as hell seemed to enjoy being Creed's little bitch. Maybe if Creed hadn't claimed him right away, the boy would've been more open, more pliable to us, but being Creed's favorite made him untouchable…"

"Shut up," Logan warned menacingly while finding himself unnerved at the mention of Victor's presence in Scott's life.

"Surely you can see how I was tempted," the man breathed, his eyes shifting to Scott laid out on the ground. "The thing is I've never believed something was out of my reach. Being untouchable only made him more interesting. Freak or not being that pretty…"

"You're just looking to die today, aren't you?" Logan couldn't help but ask with a snarl.

"I'm just being honest. A boy like that made them seem less vile. Hell, I would've had a go at it with him if he wouldn't have been so stubborn," the man taunted further, his lips upturning in a crooked smirk, "Maybe I'll still have a go with him when we hunt him down like a dog and pay him back for today…"

"On second thought you're an idiot," Logan's eyes narrowed with disgust when he leaned in closer to the man before him, "perhaps Scott's right. Some simply don't deserve a reprieve when it's clear they are beyond redemption."

"Some would say the same about you Weapon X. After the things you've done, you're not better than me," the man clarified, surrounded by a sense of confidence and cocky bravado with Logan beside him. "You've wronged others in ways I couldn't begin to touch. Beyond that you can't hurt me. Hell, if I wanted to I could make you destroy him for me. With a few orders in your brain, you could do all the work in destroying the freaks just like Stryker wanted you to do. He'd always thought you were special, that you could be the key to their undoing even with being one of them. Of course we all had our doubts, but after today, I can see maybe he was on to something. The way you took out this one so readily, jumping to my assistance…"

"I wasn't helping you. I was helping him. He's not a killer. He's not one to surround himself in bloodshed and chaos. He's what men like us could never truly be," Logan puffed his chest out thinking about the man Scott was. "He's what the world should've had more of where as people like you are truly something that needs to be on the verge of extinction just like Stryker and his misguided notions."

"Listen you…" the man snapped at Logan, finally having had enough of their conversation. He stood up taller, staggering over towards where Scott was unconscious when Logan reached for him seizing him by the collar.

"No you listen," Logan roared, his primal rage surfacing, "I think it's time to see that you just ran out of options. Your window of opportunity just left you."

"You can't…" the man's eyes widened upon seeing the adamantium claws before him.

"I'm not about to let you torment him any longer," Logan looked briefly to where Scott lay on the ground, unconscious in the aftermath of what had taken place with his one time tormenter. Imagining the horrors that Scott went through, the madness that undoubtedly consumed him to allow himself to be pushed past the point of no return in dealing with the soulless monster before him, Logan knew a reprieve wouldn't be satisfactory. The man Logan had involuntarily saved in helping Scott had proven every bit as vile as Scott had sneered about, every bit as ignorant as each and every one of Stryker's soldiers who thought the mutant world was one to be eliminated. Now holding the man by the collar, Logan's claws moved in dangerously close to his face in making a decision about how to resolve the situation. Running his tongue over his tooth in a predatory movement, Logan issued the man a sadistic, determined smirk, "Scott might not have been capable, but as you said yourself, I'm Weapon X. I was bred to be a killing machine…"

Xxxxx