Her hands felt warm,flushed with blood,but when she glanced at them they weren't red like she thought;they were still pale.The heat was from the electricity gathering in her hands.

The drugs were wearing off,slowly but surely,and while she could feel the faint tingle of electricity in her hands,it was nowhere near a good charge-yet-and she still seemed unable to draw the strength to shoot it at anyone.But maybe if she got in grabbing distance...

Maddy stood up,shutting down her computer,and Naomi thought to stand,but a dizzy spell made her think better of it."Where are you going?"She asked anxiously,fully aware of where she was going.

"I have to see what's going on."

"I'll come with you."

Maddy's smirk was patronizing."No,I don't think so.I hope you don't think I'm actually going to believe you just because you told me what I wanted to hear.Trust is earned,not given,and you'll have a chance to earn it later,but not now.You can just sit tight and wait for me."

"I came all this way to find you,to rescue you,"she pointed out plaintively."I almost got myself and Logan killed for you.And you still don't trust me?"

She affected a wounded look,and Maddy looked marginally guilty as she left the room,the door sealing and locking behind her with a muted,electronic clank.

Good;she hoped the little bitch choked on that.

She concentrated for a moment,and then,when she felt she had enough strength,stood up.She almost fell right over,but managed to keep on her feet long enough to stagger to the computer bank against the left side wall.

As soon as she touched the cool metal and plastic,she laid her hands flat against it and closed her eyes,focusing all her thoughts on pinpointing the electricity humming through the vast machines.

It was like a secret river,a faint hum that seemed to reverberate through her bone marrow and echo down her nerves,and while it took more exertion on her part than it should have,she thought she could finally feel tendrils of it reaching out towards her,through metal and plastic,glass and insulation.

If she couldn't generate enough energy inside herself,maybe she could borrow it from somewhere else.

Now that was a creepy analogy.

Anyways,Sanders was so terrified of him he was being slavishly obedient,but Angel knew he was going to try something;he had to.And maybe bringing him here was part of his 'master plan',but it wasn't going to work.He couldn't let it.

"It's a regeneration thing,right?"Sanders asked,curiosity overwhelming his fear as Angel opened the junction's access panel.There certainly was a lot of circuitry."You're like Wolverin',only more so,right?"

Did he actually say "Wolverin''?Somebody was certainly from Texas here."Nobody is like Wolverine,"Angel replied,making a point of pronouncing it correctly,hoping he'd get the message."Let's just say neither of us stay hurt for very long."Well,there was the wood and sun thing,but he wasn't about to mention that.And how could he almost forget beheading?

Angel made Sanders stand with his back to the wall by the access panel,so he could keep an eye on him.As it was,he was so scared of him he seemed to be in no mood to be smart;whenever Angel thought he might be,he let his vamp face show,and that seemed to kick the smarts right out of him.

These tangles of multicolored wires and circuitry boards made no sense to Angel at all,so he looked at Sanders,vampire face back on,and snapped,"Disable the internal security system."

Sanders did the same double take he always did when he saw his face like that,and made a last ditch appeal."Even with internal security down,you can't possibly get out of here alive."

Angel frowned at him,nearly cutting open his lower lip on his own fang."Considering I came back from the dead,do you think that matters to me?"

Sanders actually nodded,as if he had made a very salient rejoinder in a spirited but friendly debated."That is a very good point."Finally,he turned to the open access point and began pulling out wires,Angel watching him the whole time.

No audible alarms went off,but Angel still couldn't believe Sanders hadn't done something to send out an alarm-he was too scared not to."Done,"Sanders said,turning away from the access.

"You'd better not be shitting me."

"I wouldn't dare."

"Then is Logan still in lab seven?"

"As far as I know.But-"

Angel didn't wait for him to finish whatever he was going to say,he simply grabbed his head and smashed it into the wall.

Sanders was out cold before he hit the ground.It hadn't been personal-well,not really-it was just he was working on a time limit here.

Angel grabbed Sanders by the back of his tweed sports coat-a very strange and unsettling Giles sort of touch-and dragged him over to what looked like a utility room of some sort.A look inside proved he was wrong;it was just a plain old closet.Still,good enough-he dragged Sanders inside and left him sprawled on the floor as he left to find lab seven.

According to the base diagram he made Sanders show him,it was two corridors down,fourth door on the left.He moved quickly and purposefully down the echoing metal halls,trying his best to appear to be nothing more than an eager commando,or whatever the hell these guys exactly were.He really didn't want to bring the cavalry down until he found Logan and Naomi,if that was at all possible.

He had a paralyzer,which seemed to come with the uniform,and he had it out and ready as he hit the door release mechanism for lab seven,storming in the instant the door opened...

...and found that Logan had beaten him to the punch.

The smell of blood in the room was cloying,and the claw marks in the wall-and in the shoulder of an older man passed out on the near right side of the small room-seemed to indicate that maybe somebody let their guard down around Logan for a millisecond.Angel knew from painful experience that sometimes Logan could move almost vampire fast;he was not normal,and anyone who thought he was usually got a rude awakening.

The three men-two commandos and a doctor,he guessed-were broken,bleeding,and down for the count,but not dead.That gave him hope that it was still Logan,and not his quasi alter ego (it was too much like him to be a genuine alter ego) Wolverine.

But that still begged the question:Where in the hell was Logan?

A noise outside the door made her stagger away from the computers and back towards her cot, wondering if she'd had enough energy accumulated to bring that little bitch down.She honestly wasn't sure;the drugs had thrown off all her internal gauges,ones she had never consciously realized she had until now.

There was a louder noise-it sounded like tearing metal,and she could feel as well as hear the sparks flying,making a gauge to the right of the door flicker-and the door was forced open on its recessed track,screaming in protest.Half way open,someone slid inside.

It was Logan,for some reason wearing an intact commando sweater along with his strangely torn and bloodstained jeans,adamantium claws out as he looked for someone to fight.

But his angry,almost desperate eyes met hers and locked,and for a millisecond they stared at each other like they thought they might be delusional apparitions.But then there was some sort of invisible snap,a mutual acceptance of reality,and Logan,claws retracting into his hands with a muted metallic noises-not unlike someone hastily sheathing swords in metal scabbards- actually came to her,taking her almost fiercely in his arms.She clung to him just as desperately, burying her face in his warm neck.

"I was afraid you were dead,"he said into her hair.

"I was afraid..."she began,then stopped.Now was probably not the time to mention torture or brainwashing-especially since she could smell blood on him.She wanted to believe it was someone else's,but as her stomach roiled,anger pumping in far too much acid,she couldn't.It was Logan's,and someone else's,but probably mostly his.Didn't those strange holes in his jeans look a lot like bullet holes?Bastards;fucking bastards.And her sister worked willingly with them."I was just afraid."She concluded,blinking back tears that were a mix of anger,sorrow,and self-pity.

She wasn't sure if he did it or she did it,and in the end it didn't matter;they kissed passionately, and she was so glad to see him again-her Logan,not theirs,not 'Wolverine'-that she could almost ignore the fact that she thought she tasted blood in his mouth.

Bastards;her thoughts were a litany of it-bastardsbatstardsbastards.She couldn't remember the last time she had been this angry.

He pulled away from the kiss and gave her a very serious,concerned look."I wasn't shocked."

Did that happen every time?She really didn't feel it,so she wasn't sure."They gave me drugs that block my powers somehow.I think it's starting to wear off,but not fast enough."

He muttered under his breath-did he just say "Bastards" ?-and asked,"Are you all right?Did-are you hurt?"She noticed his eyes had briefly locked onto the cast on her left forearm.

She shook her head,touched by his concern."No,I'm fine;that was a souvenir of the explosion.We just got here,really."

"We?You mean you and Angel?"

She nodded again,deciding not to ask how he knew.Maybe some of that blood on him was the answer,and she didn't really want to know."He found me in the hospital after the gas station went up.He said Cordy had one of her vision things about you being in trouble,so he came to help."

"It would have been more helpful if Cordy could have warned us in advance."

That thought had crossed her mind,but all she could do was shrug."Psychics."

He nodded and grabbed her good hand;she managed to keep the electricity at bay,so he didn't get a jolt."Come on,we'll get your sister and Angel,and get the fuck out of here."

"Wait,Logan,"she said,pulling him to a stop before he could drag her all the way towards the door.He turned to look at her,more impatient than annoyed."About my sister...she's not a prisoner."

"She's not here?"

"No,she is.She works for them."It was painful to admit;and the next sentence-"I think she robbed you of all your memories."-was so agonizing she could not even say it.

"Are you sure?They could have been bullshitting you."

"This is her office,Logan.She told me herself."

He grimaced,briefly casting his eyes down at the floor."Ah fuck,"he cursed angrily,but when he looked up,she saw nothing but sympathy in his eyes."I'm so sorry,Naomi."

Maybe he was thinking he was sorry because he might have to kill her to get them out of here, but that didn't bother her in the least.She wanted to tell him that,but the words got stuck in her throat.All she could say,honestly,feeling tears sting her eyes,was,"No,I'm sorry,Logan."

And she was;she was so sorry she was almost sick with it.Because a member of her family had taken something from him that could not be replaced,and she wondered,if on some level,he knew that.

She had nothing but time to think in here,and she remembered that strange girl he had told her about in the truck,Rogue,and how by touching people she could drain them;he had thought of her when she had mentioned Maddy.It couldn't have been coincidence.Somewhere,deep in his unconscious existed some fragment of memory,maybe just a suspicion,that once a young woman had touched him with her bare hands and stolen everything he ever was.Maybe he wasn't consciously aware of it now,but some day he would be.And he would realize the thief was her sister.

He looked at her,clearly confused,and said,"It wasn't your fault,Naomi.You didn't know."

She wondered if he was commenting on her thoughts,or on the fact that her sister was one of the enemy.

He seemed to notice the blue pulsing light on the wall out of the corner of his eye,and his head snapped towards it violently,indicating he knew exactly what it was,and what it meant."Oh shit."

"I know.Let's find Angel and go."

Since the door was only partially open,he had to slide through first,and she followed him,or at least tried;Logan suddenly shoved her back,with a harsh,sharp,"Stay inside."

Although her first urge was to tell him to fuck off,she peered out instead,and just beyond one of his broad shoulders,she could see armed guards-some in armor,some not-bottlenecking the left side corridor,weapons raised and aimed at Logan.Craning her neck towards the other side,she could see them like a black fog in the right hand branch of the opposite corridor.

What a time for her to have almost no powers at all.

He kept looking between the ones on the left and the ones on the right,waiting for them to make a move,any move,but in this tense,frozen moment in time,they seemed to be waiting for him to commit himself first.

Before he could,a siren screeched through the metal corridors,making them all start slightly,and the lights dimmed to blood red as a full bore emergency alert kicked into motion.The klaxon was sort of familiar-he'd heard it at Dry Lake,hadn't he?And maybe somewhere else...Alkali Lake?

He saw several of the soldiers look around in confusion as their radios crackled to life."Total lockdown in effect.Prisoners have escaped from ward one,ward two-"

"Ah fuck,they're stormin' the front!"A frantic young man shouted from another radio,as the man on the other continued blandly naming wards."I need back up ASAP!Ah sh-"

His voice disappeared in a snap of static.

A metal wall-part of the total lockdown protocol-suddenly appeared to grow out of the floor on the left,and before they had any time to react,it sealed Logan off from them,and trapped them in a back corridor.

Logan smiled at the uneasy group of commandos on the right;there were maybe a dozen of them,evenly split between the armored and the unarmored.Now this was a bit more even fight.

Some of them started backing up,while others held their ground,and others looked between them for guidance.Obviously they had no idea what had happened,but Logan thought he knew-Angel had let them all out.Nothing like a little chaos to shake things up.

Suddenly there was movement at the back of the group,and a noise of metal on metal like someone smacking a hammer against the side of a car,and he saw one of the armor clad soldiers stagger and collapse to the floor.

A helmeted soldier in black waved what looked like a silver pipe as several others turned to look at him."It turns out there's a weakness in the back of the armor.Well,if you hit 'em hard enough,"Angel's muffled voice said,and then he tossed the pipe over the heads of the soldiers and straight towards him.

Logan caught it easily as several commandos jumped Angel,and when one of the armored soldiers charged him with his paralyzer out,he swung the pipe so hard he was rather surprised it didn't rip his head clean off his shoulders.

Actually,in spite of the impressive noise of impact there wasn't even a dent in the helmet,but the man staggered and went down as two others attempted to tackle him;one of them unarmored.

He caught the unarmored man with a kick to the face that sent him flying backward,and then rammed the adamantium pipe like a knife into the armored guard's throat.Either there was a weakness there too,or it was just the force of impact,because he staggered backwards,away from Logan.

Other soldiers joined the fight,but it was hard to tell,as things were just a dark blur of bodies; flying bodies for the most part-having cracked the armor code,Angel seemed to be having little trouble taking care of anyone who came his way.He had to hand it to the guy-he was not a bad fighter,whatever he was.

But Logan still knew he could kick his ass.

He scared off one soldier simply by baring his claws,and out of the corner of his eye he saw Naomi rip the helmet off one man from behind and jam a paralyzer in his throat.Who couldn't be crazy about a woman like that?

Logan was so busy with two armored soldiers that when he heard a heavy metallic thud,he assumed Angel had nailed another one,but then Naomi shouted,distressed,"Logan!"

He smashed the rod so hard into the second guard's helmet it slipped from his grip and spun away as he pivoted to face what appeared to be an unarmored,unarmed woman with long black hair,an angry look on her face,and clear blue eyes remarkably reminiscent of Naomi's.Maddy?

He had no idea why she had just thrown off her gloves,but he assumed it wasn't good.

He had just nailed one armored guard quite literally into the wall,throwing him face first into it and following up with a fist to the back of the neck,hard enough that it would have broken a vertebrae had he not had some protection from the armor.But just as he turned away something caught him in the back of the neck.

A solid,vicious blow,his ears rang with the noise of impact inside the helmet and stars exploded before his eyes,causing him to crash down onto the floor on one knee,his consciousness briefly threatening to ebb away from him.

He clawed to hold onto it as he saw,through the pale grey filter of the helmet,a woman stalk past him,throwing the iron bar she had just hit him with aside as she ripped off her suede gloves,walking with an angry purpose towards Logan.

Naomi,still on theside of the corridor,shouted,"Logan!" and he could hear the fear in her voice. Angel was willing to bet the woman was a mutant Naomi was familiar with-and not one on their side.Why else would she be weaponless (well,in the overt sense) and not at all cowed by Logan in full berserker mode?

Logan spun to face the woman,popping his claws and snarling at her,not at all concerned,but Angel suddenly wondered if he should be.He struggled to get to his feet,intending to take the woman out before she could reach her target,but she was too close for him to reach her first.

"Don't let her touch you!"Naomi shouted,as she leaped and tackled the woman from the side,smashing her into the far wall.

What happened next occurred so quickly that Angel only knew what happened exactly in retrospect.Naomi grabbed the woman hard by the upper arms,and the woman grabbed her by the side of the head,and both screamed-Naomi in rage,the other woman in pain-as they both unleashed their powers on each other.

He didn't know what the other woman was doing,but even through the helmet,Angel could smell the burning flesh:Naomi was electrocuting her.

Logan tried to grab Naomi and pull her away,but as soon as he touched Naomi he got a huge electric shock that Angel saw as a brief flash of blue that made him reel away,trying to shake the numbness out of his hand and pretend that his knees did not almost give way due to the intensity of the current.

It didn't last long,but it was seconds that seemed like an eternity before the two women collapsed to metal floor of the hallway.

Logan was by Naomi's side instantly,picking up her distressingly limp body in his arms as Angel got to his feet with the help of the wall and went over to the other woman,taking off his helmet for a better look.

Well,the smoking hair was a clue she was dead,if her open eyes baked into a strange hardboiled egg consistency and her scorched meat odor wasn't enough of a hint.But he recognized her-it took him a moment,but he realized it was the woman the handler had claimed was Naomi's sister.
Was she?Did Naomi know?

Angel got the sinking feeling she did;she had known that Logan was not supposed to touch her.

"Naomi?"Logan asked,cradling her gently in his arms,berserker rage all but forgotten.He didn't seem to give a good god damn about the dead woman either."Naomi,can you hear me?"

Her eyes fluttered open,and it seemed to be a struggle to keep them that way,but she managed, and when she looked up at Logan,she gave him the most curiously blank look Angel had ever seen.

Logan didn't notice,or he didn't care.He gave her a small smile,and said,"Hey,thanks.You really kick ass,you know that?"

She continued giving him that strange look,and finally he noticed,because his fragile smile faltered before she asked,"Who are you?"

It wasn't a joke;she didn't recognize him.And Angel was willing to bet she wouldn't recognize him either.

He had heard what he assumed to be two handlers discussing "Lethe",and he thought they meant a drug.He had a sick feeling now they may have been discussing a person.Wolverine, Electra... Lethe.

Logan must have heard something similar,because the stony look on his face suggested he had come to a concurrent thought as he helped Naomi up to her feet."Where am I?"She asked,looking around.She then looked at Angel."Who are you?"Her eyes then scudded past him,towards the dead body of the woman still faintly smoking on the floor.

"Prison break,"Logan said,and his voice had a curious hard flatness to it that Angel didn't like one bit."You'd better get out of here.They're killing mutants.He can get you out."He gestured towards Angel,and gave her a very gentle push in his direction.

Naomi came towards him,but gave Logan a curious glance."Prisoner?I'm a prisoner?"

"Not anymore,"Angel reassured her,shooting Logan a question with his eyes.A question that clearly meant "What the hell do you think you're doing,Logan".When Naomi turned to him,he gave her his best reassuring smile,and said,"I'm Angel,and that's Logan.We're all friends here."

"Get her out,"Logan ordered,heading down the hall."This place is bound to self-destruct soon enough."Logan's back was ramrod rigid,but his shoulders were thrown back and his head down, making him look somewhat feline as he stalked down the corridor,everything in his posture screaming that a whole bunch of people-anybody who came within his line of sight- was going to pay for this,dearly and violently.

"Logan,wait,"he said.Logan setting off for revenge in the heat of the moment was going to get him killed-maybe get them all killed.

Logan paused and threw him a glance over his shoulder,his eyes as hard as emeralds."There's no time,Angel,and she can't get out by herself."

That was true,all of it.But he didn't like it."Come with us then."

"I have a doctor to pay back."A muscle in Logan's jaw seemed to jump beneath his flesh,spasming so violently he thought it might be trying to break out of his skin."Then I'll join you."

Angel had a cold feeling they'd be waiting for Logan forever."Wait for me.I'll get her out,and then I'll help you.You can't do this alone."He wanted to stop him,of course,but he was hoping Logan was too angry to guess that.

Logan said nothing,he simply continued down the hall,and Angel shouted after him,insistently, "Wait for me!"

Before he disappeared around the bend of the hall,Logan looked back at him and at the still deeply confused Naomi standing beside him,hard lines of resolve and hate etching into his weary face."I'll do my best,"he said flatly,then left them standing there,with nothing but the dead and unconscious to keep them company.

NOW

"We weren't arrested,we were kidnapped,"he said,and started slogging through the thick, displaced snow and assorted detritus to the edge of the crater.Logan couldn't be dead-how could he be dead?But this explosion had probably killed many,and could kill almost any mutant alive.And almost any demon,come to think of it."They were experimenting on mutants."

"Why?"

"I can't answer that one."He reached the edge,causing snow melting under hot debris to tumble into the crater in a mini-avalanche,and when he looked down,he saw nothing but charred debris,and some twisted adamantium pipes and warped metal wall panels that had survived the explosion relatively intact and come back to rest at the detonation (?) point.But no Logan; and very few chunks of humans,as the explosion had been violent enough to have vaporized most of them immediately.

He heard Naomi come up beside him,and look down,holding onto his arm so she didn't tumble in.Whatever electricity she had been able to generate through the drugs was gone,spent all on Maddy;he felt no shock when she touched him,even though he had braced for it."What are we looking for?"She wondered.

He thought he felt a lump in his throat.He had failed Logan,and perhaps he had unintentionally failed Naomi as well."I don't know."