PLAYER INFORMATION
NAME: Steven
CONTACT: OtherSteve (AIM)
HOW YOU FOUND US: An ad
OTHER CHARACTERS ON THE SITE None
RULES CODE: Xavier
CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE: Marvel WebsiteMatt's bio to get the history straightXMR historyMy brainCHARACTER INFORMATION
Hugh Jackman and comic art
Canon
AFFILIATION: X-men
FULL NAME: James “Logan” Howlett
CODENAME: Wolverine
NICKNAMES: Logan, Patch
CURRENT AGE: Unknown, over 100
DATE OF BIRTH: Unknown
MARITAL STATUS: Single
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Straight
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
TIME AT INSTITUTE: 8 years, since 2003
REGISTERED WITH SHIELD? Yes
HOMETOWN: Alberta, Canada
KNOWN RELATIVES: John Howlett Sr (father, deceased)
Elizabeth Howlett (mother, deceased)
John Howlett Jr. (brother, deceased)
Laura Kinney (clone)
Itsu (wife, deceased)
Daken (son)
PHYSICAL APPEARANCEHEIGHT: 5'4”
BUILD: Thick, athletic, feral
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
DISTINGUISHING MARKS: He has feral qualities such as pointed features and sharper than average canines. Logan also has a piercing gaze that would be enough to intimidate most anyone, despite his short stature. He possesses no scars thanks to his healing factor and he has no tattoos or piercings.
CLOTHING STYLE: Logan is casual as much as possible. When not dressed for action as Wolverine, Logan prefers blue jeans and a comfortable shirt. At times, he will pick out a cowboy hat and boots to go along with it. He cares about fashion as much as he cares about sitting in a post-mission briefing with Scott Summers. That is to say... not at all.
UNIFORM: Wolverine has several different styles of uniform at his disposal. He can be seen wearing a black leather uniform that is similar to the other X-men, a yellow and blue with his signature mask, and also a set of brown and tan with a mask. For a mission where he would work with the team, he will match their uniform with either the black or the blue and yellows. For a mission where he is either solo or required to do stealth/infiltration, he will wear the brown and tans.
POWERSGENERAL DESCRIPTION: Regeneration:Wolverine possesses a naturally occurring “healing factor” that is responsible for many fantastic things that occur within his body. This is also known as accelerated cellular regeneration or repair, which is what every person's body begins to do once injured. Logan is special because this regeneration within him accelerated, heightening and strengthening several different aspects of his body.
For one, Logan is capable of healing wounds at a faster rate than a normal human being. The extent of the injury is in direct correlation with how quickly he can recover. A simple knick or scrape will be taken care of within a few moments, while something more serious such as a gunshot wound may take several hours or days, depending on if it struck vital organs.
The healing factor also effects his strength and stamina, allowing him to go longer and lift heavier than normal humans and even some mutants. When a normal person is subjected to exercise, muscles begin to burn and fatigue until they reach a point called “muscle failure” in which it is impossible to continue. Muscles are actually damaged during this process and then they are repaired. In time, the constant damaging and repairing cause them to grow in size. For Wolverine, his body repairs that which is damaged very rapidly, making him appear to never fatigue or weaken in the first place. As long as a fight may last, Wolverine would be one of the last few standing when others fall out due to exhaustion.
Finally, because his healing factor repairs bodily harm quickly, he is immune to poisons, drugs, and other substances that would be harmful to his body. For example, it would be impossible for him to become intoxicated by alcohol or to get lung cancer from smoking cigars.
Adamantium Skeleton:Because Wolverine has a healing factor, he was the prime candidate for an experimental program that laced his entire skeleton with an unbreakable metal alloy known as adamantium. This metal has enhanced several things about him, making a killing machine an even greater threat. The main drawback of the process is his increased weight, but he never has to worry about breaking a bone. Also, his skeletal structure is obviously stronger, making him capable of lifting weights up to around 800 pounds.
Within each of Wolverine's forearms are three deadly bone claws. While these claws were harder than average bone to begin with, the Weapon X program made the wise decision of coating these claws in adamantium. Forever sharp, unbreakable, one foot long and pretruding from between his knuckles, these claws are a death sentence for whomever Logan chooses to use them on.
Feral Qualities and Senses:Logan is a feral mutant and this gives him some animalistic features. His canines are longer and sharper than average, his features are angled, and his hair grows in a unique pattern. Like a large cat he is stocky and muscular, yet he possesses a level of agility that is above normal human levels.
His senses are also effected by his mutation. Logan sees quite well in the dark and can he can hear sounds and frequencies that would be inaudible to a normal human being. His sense of smell is particularly acute and he can use this ability to track or hunt with a high degree of success. This allows him to sense people before they approach, know the difference between a real person and a doppelganger, or tell what you had for lunch yesterday.
WEAKNESS:Telepathy: While a telepath may have a hard time digging through Wolverine's mind, he is still susceptible to a mental attack. He possesses no mutant or natural defenses against a telepath.
Mortality: Logan has a healing factor and an adamantium skeleton that makes him a worthy adversary. However, should someone manage to lop off his head or strike him in a vital enough organ, he will die.
Emotions: He likes to think that he is in full control of his emotions, but at times he can lose his grip. Should a close friend fall in combat or be hurt, or some other significant emotional trauma take place,Logan is fully capable of reverting back to his feral nature. This is not a benefit to the X-men, for Wolverine could be thrown into a rage that is not easily subdued.
Himself:Logan is in a constant inner battle with himself. His faded memory makes him unsure of what he truly is or was, and his instincts often go against the peaceful way of life that Xavier taught. Since it is so easy for him to kill and instinct tells him to kill, he must constantly remind himself of who is he now and what he is fighting for.
On top of this, Logan is a loner. He prefers to take long bike rides by himself instead of getting to know the many new faces around the mansion. He tends to not be as friendly and welcoming as other staff members and can come off to some as an asshole at times. While he tries to minimize this, it is just a part of who he is.
PERSONALITYOne thing to remember when referring to Logan's personality is that despite his rough exterior, he is still a person that has feelings and displays them in his own way. During an emotional moment, he will usually act appropriately with anger or joy, though his version of joy may be a raised brow coupled with a smirk while his version of anger can be down right terrifying to some. It is not impossible to make the man laugh or truly smile, but let's just say the muscles required to do so would have atrophied if not for his healing factor.
Usually considered a grump and a loner, Logan is not very approachable. While he would welcome the opportunity to train and mentor a student, he would not react kindly to Sally Sue (at least in her eyes) walking up to him randomly without going through the school's proper chain of command in order to request it. Add that to that the fact that he is considered “the best at what he does” by those around him, his intimidating and feral nature tend to make people think twice about asking any favors.
Logan is a passionate person, believe it or not. For those that he has grown close to, he will guard them with his life with little care for his own well being. For those that are his enemy, he will attack with a ferocity that is unmatched. If he were to love, then he would love with all of his being. The same goes for hate.
His personality can be seen well in the way he interacts with certain members of the X-men, such as Scott Summers. Logan knows that the Boy Scout can lead as well as any general, and he silently stands back and takes orders as they are received during school procedures or team based assignments, only giving input if asked or required. However, when they are forced to be in each other's presence for a more personal occasion, Logan's toleration for Scott's know-it-all personality can be very limited. Bantering back and forth is common, despite the fact that they would turn right around at a moment's notice and take an enemy head on as a formidable team.
All in all, Wolverine is a man that will stand up for his friends and for what he feels is right. If things are not going the way they should in a fight, he would not be afraid to correct the situation. He is not proud of some of the things that he has discovered about his past, but he accepts them. He is strong, intelligent, brave, hard headed, occasionally smart mouthed, and at times he can simply come off as being an asshole.
HISTORY: PRE-APOCALYPSE Because of memory implants, Wolverine remembers very little of his true past. There are vague thoughts and dreams associated with the past, but they are mixed in with many different memories that he does not know for sure whether they are true or false. While he does know his full past himself, the truth is out there waiting to be found.
James was born in the late 19th century to John and Elizabeth Howlett. John was a wealthy landowner and because James was always sick and very frail, the couple preferred the his old brother named John Jr. After John Jr.'s untimely death, Elizabeth was institutionalized and neglected James. His father did the same, attending to the estate's business. Since he was more or less alone, James grew up with two friends named Rose and a boy known as “Dog.”
Dog was the landkeeper's son, a man known as Thomas Logan who was a drunkard and very abusive towards his boy. As the three friends grew, Dog began to inherit some of his father's unsavory qualities and began to make unwanted advances on Rose. James told his father and the end result was Thomas and Dog being thrown out of the estate.
Not long afterwards, Thomas Logan returned to the estate in a drunken stupor in the attempt to take his lover, Elizabeth Howlett away. James' father attempted to stop him, but Thomas killed John with a single bullet. Witnessing the entire scene, James' mutation manifested for the first time and he attacked Thomas with a never before seen ferocity. Three bone claws sprouted from each of his hands and he killed his father's murderer and scarred Dog's face. As both her lover and her husband were killed before her, the already mentally disturbed Elizabeth took her own life with Thomas' weapon.
Rose and James fled the scene and Dog reported to the authorities and to James' grandfather that Rose had killed both of the grown men. Shunned, Rose and James fled to a small mining community in British Columbia. He worked among the miners there for several years, growing in both stature and respect among his peers.
As James' father lay on his deathbed, he asked Dog to track down James and Rose so that he could make peace with them before death. Dog agreed and tracked them down rather easily. After finding James, Dog reminded him of what occurred at the estate many years past, and sought to avenge his father. The two battled in the street and when the fight was almost over, James exposed his bone claws once more in order to finish dog off. However, Rose intervened and was accidentally stabbed. She bled out quickly, dying in James' arms. Ashamed, James took on the name of “Logan” and fled into the wilderness, living there for years in exile.
His past for the next several years is sketchy at best. While he has memories of being in the CIA, a samurai in Japan and a few others, these memories are not verified. What is known for sure is that he was enlisted into the Weapon X program where they took advantage of his mutation in order to bond an unbreakable metal alloy known as adamantium to his skeleton. This surgery made him even more dangerous then before, giving him the ability to take beatings that others could not withstand. His bone claws were also laced with the metal and he was now able to cut through any substance known to man.
After spending several years as an operative, Nick Fury gave assigned him with the task of infiltrating Charles Xavier's school and finding out the truth it. Logan's memory was nearly cleared and he was sent to Xavier's doorstep appearing to be a soldier with amnesia. The plan did not go was it was supposed to and Logan grew fond of the school and it's inhabitants, along with Xavier who was attempting to rebuild his fractured mind. After spilling the beans about what he was really there for, Xavier kept him at the school and continued to work with Logan on his memory.
In the years since joining the X-men, Logan has become a trainer and mentor for not only the students at the school, but for some of his fellow X-men as well. He has stood beside them like a rock through some tough times and has frowned with his arms crossed during some good times. Always a loner, Logan would occasionally take off on his own to work on a lead that Xavier had discovered in order to rebuild his memory.
After Chuck's disappearance, Logan was as much upset about it as the rest, even though he did not show it openly. He stuck around the school more than usual and attempted to help Scott and the others keep the place running as normal. He has fought alongside the X-men during many battles since then. Some of these battles included Shadow X, where
he fought against the Sentinels, and he also assisted Scott and Jean with keeping order at the school during the events that took place, sticking close to the couple in order to defend the students if need be. He also
fought the Brotherhood at Wolf's Head, and completed other missions such as
saving Jet and Warren from Scrambler.DURING APOCALYPSE (April 2009) During the initial attacks by the Horsemen, Logan accompanied a makeshift team to London, England by traveling through a portal created by the Shroud. Their mission was to take down Death (Warren Worthington) one way or the other. He plowed the way through those that were converted to zombies by Death until the Horseman made his stand against the team near Big Ben. Logan was able to arrive on scene via a BMW motorcycle just in time to be the physical spear that knocked Death out of the sky. While Phoenix and Psylocke attacked Death's mind, Deadpool and Wolverine attacked him in unison. Wolverine's claws struck home, driving his friend to the ground. Death was then transported back to Xavier's mansion, where he was taken prisoner until the X-men could figure out what to do with him.
Logan was an asset to the X-men because he was willing to do things that others were not. Instead of actively being on the attack team to take Apocalypse straight on, he assisted in preparations and then stayed behind in order to protect the students and assure that the captured Horsemen did not escape the school. When the converted attacked the school, Logan defended it until War (Alex Summers) joined the battle. While welcoming the assistance, Logan battled with the knowledge that Alex might not be himself. Just as he was about to do what he felt was right and that he was the only one who could handle the deed, Lorna Dane stepped in and stopped him, and Alex helped to assure a victory over the attacking converted.
As seen here.POST-APOCALYPSE After the events of Apocalypse, Logan assisted in returning order to the school and the surrounding area. He resumed teaching and for a brief time, he had dreams of being an agent named Patch (WWX). These dreams soon passed and he never faced the alternate reality as some of the other X-men were forced to do.
When Elixir was kidnapped by the Inhumans, Logan was on the team that was sent to recover him. During the confrontation, Logan took on the Inhuman named Gorgon after both sides were forced to fight by Maximus. The fight was over soon after it began and Black Bolt returned Josh to the X-men and others, demanding that the X-men leave.
He met his clone and pseudo-daughter, Laura Kinney when he picked up her scent and followed the trail to a small apartment. A fight began as X-23 assumed that he had come for her head, but it ended when Weapon X refused to fight back. Logan attempted to bring her back to the school but when Laura refused, he ended up taking her under his wing in his own way.
Since then, Logan has continued to serve the X-men and the school as he has been for years. He occasionally goes off and does his own thing, but for the most part he can be found at the institute.
SAMPLE RP POST:Time: Saturday, 7 PM
Place: Cape May, New Jersey
Rusty's Seafood and Bar
Logan put the last of his crab legs into the bucket in the center of the table as he finished it, discarding the hollowed out husk. It had been a long drive along the coast up to this point and a good meal was exactly what he needed. It was a Saturday like many others before it and school was out for the weekend. They seemed few and far between, but he finally had a free weekend that he could enjoy. On weekends like this, he usually spent his time riding his motorcycle to different places, wandering in a random direction until it grew dark or he grew hungry... whichever came first.
“Would you like another?” a waitress asked, motioning to his empty glass.
He grunted and gave a single nod, the corner of his lip raising slightly to show that he appreciated the attractive young lady's offer. Logan then sat back in his chair and raised a hand up to the pocket of the flannel shirt he was wearing, taking out a cigar that he had picked up before leaving the school. He gave it a sniff and then held it between his thumb and forefinger as the waitress brought back another glass of beer.
“Thanks,” said Logan, reaching for it with his free hand and washing away the lingering taste of crab. He took another long sip with the intention of finishing it off quickly so that he could go find a hotel room, when his ear twitched slightly as he caught the sound of a woman quietly weeping. It was a muffled cry. The sound of an exasperated and tired person who resisted the urge as long as they could before the emotion finally began to seep out. He turned his head to look off to the right towards the source of the sound, spotting a middle aged woman and a man sitting with two men in nice shirts with ties.
“It has been two days,” a man with a tie said solemnly. “The state and local are doing all..”
“It isn't enough!” the woman interrupted, looking at what Logan presumed to be her husband. The husband touched her back and looked as if he didn't know what to say. “Lindsey would not have run away... she wouldn't..”
Logan looked back to the table in front of him and took another drink of his beer. The conversation across the restaurant was meant only for those that were sitting at the table, yet his sensitive ears picked up the conversation. The name Lindsey struck a chord in his mind and he remembered sitting in the staff kitchen on Thursday after dinner while the evening news was on in the background. Lindsey Gruber, was it? A six year old girl had gone missing in Cape May, New Jersey. It was far enough away from Manchester to not really worry about it, but still close enough to hear about it. He didn't realize that he had driven to the place.
“We have all been out looking the entire day and yesterday, Mary... You have to lay down for a few hours at least,” the husband said.
“Here, we'll take care of you meal... We will have someone on it all night, I assure you Mrs Gruber. Please get some rest and we will call you if we find anything. We are going back to your home now to review what we know... please try to get some rest at the hotel,” one of the detectives said, putting some cash down on the table before standing. He then touched the woman on the shoulder and nodded to her with solemn eyes before the pair walked out of the restaurant.
Logan licked his lips and sighed, wishing that sometimes he just didn't hear quite so much. He threw another glance towards the couple as they were exiting and then finished off his beer. Standing, he pulled out his wallet and threw down enough for the bill and the tip and then he walked towards the door, pausing only to take his hat off the rack that was just inside the door. Moving outside, Logan paused outside the door in order to light his cigar before continuing into the parking lot. The couple had already gotten into their vehicle and looked to be arguing as he saddled up on his motorcycle.
He leaned back on the bike, his cheeks drawing in slightly as he puffed on the cigar and then expanding again as he released the smoke through his nose. Turning the key and starting the Harley, it roared to life. He pushed the bike upright and brought up the kickstand and slowly puttered out of the parking space just in time to see a Ford Crown Victoria with blacked out windows pulling out of the parking lot. It was the detectives.
Pulling up to the exit of the parking lot and waiting for a break in the cars so that he could merge into traffic, Logan glanced into his bike's mirror and saw the couple behind him. The mother looked like the wreck and the father looked the same. “Not yer problem,” Logan reminded himself, pulling into the street and heading in the opposite direction of the detectives. He went about a thousand feet before he made a right turn into a Holiday Inn, taking a parking space in front of the check in office. Putting out the cigar, he stuck it into his pocket again as he entered.
As he waited at the front desk for someone in the back room to notice his arrival, the bells on the door behind him twinkled as Mr. Gruber walked in. Logan threw him a glance over his shoulder and then looked back straight ahead, exhaling a sigh through his nose. Why did this shit always happen to him? It wasn't enough that he dealt with the problems the X-men were faced with, but life always seemed to throw more issues into his face.
“Been waiting long?” Mr Gruber asked.
Logan turned his head towards him slightly and replied, “Just got here.”
Just mind your business, bub. No reason to get involved, Logan thought to himself, looking back towards the counter in front of him. His memory of the news report came back to him and he saw the picture of the girl, Lindsey Gruber. Chewing on the inside of his lip as he attempted to push the thought away, he finally tapped his fingers on the counter top and looked towards Mr. Gruber.
“You the guy who's daughter was just kidnapped, ain'tcha?” asked Logan.
The man's eyes teared up at the mention of it and he nodded once, looking away from the feral.
“I might be able to...” Logan started, pausing only to look away from the man's tears. He did not want to make any false promises. Hell, why can't this happen to Jean? She could just locate the girl in a few minutes and end it. He continued, “..well... I might be able to help ya out.”
“How?” the man asked immediately, much to Logan's surprise.
Logan felt for the man. Surely the desperation of losing a child would make a man accept any help he could get. “What if I said I'm a mutant? One that has a particular set of skills that could help find the kid?” he asked, throwing it out there.
The man's surprise was evident, but it quickly faded. He reached out and touched Logan on the shoulder, tears still in his eyes as a small smile came to his face. “Then you were sent here by God to help us,” Mr Gruber stated. “Bless you. Any help to find my girl is welcomed.”
Taking a step back, Logan glanced down to the man's hand in a way that made Mr. Gruber withdraw it. “I don't know 'bout that, bub,” he said. “But I'm here. Tell me what happened.”
Logan stood with Mr. Gruber in the hotel lobby for quite a while as the father explained how his daughter was taken. He included where he lived, a few people that the police suspected, and other details that the news had left out. When they were finished, Logan left the hotel and began his hunt.
Later...Logan followed Mr. Gruber's directions and went to the man's house, finding it easily. He continued down the street to a drugstore that looked like it was near closing and parked his bike, leaving it there for safe keeping. He then walked back down the street along the sidewalk towards the Gruger's home where the detectives from earlier were standing near the Crown Victoria that they had been driving, which was parked along the curb. Sticking to the shadows as he approached, Logan heard the two detectives talking quietly about the hopelessness of the case.
“They say that after 24 hours they are usually gone for good,” one said.
“Yea. I just don't want to give up on these people.”
“What more can we do? There isn't anything here we can't review at the office.”
“We can just do that for tonight.”
“You can. I'm going home. My wife is ready to strangle me for not even stopping by this afternoon.”
“Alright, see you tomorrow. I'll call you if anything comes up.”
They nodded and parted ways, one cop getting in the Crown Victoria that they had driven to the house in and going the opposite direction of Logan. The other detective stood in the front yard for several minutes just looking at the dark home as if something was going to come to him magically. He put his hands on his hips and finally shook his head, looking away and walking towards a Chevrolet Impala that was parked along the curb. He was taking out his keys as Logan came out of the shadows and into the moonlight.
“Shit!” the detective exclaimed, dropping his keys. He bent over and quickly picked them back up. “Holy shit man, you scared the hell out of me,” said the detective, who seemed to assume that Logan was just a guy walking down the street.
“Hm,” grunted Logan, stopping in front of the house and putting his hands in his pockets. “Shame 'bout the kid.”
“Yea it is. You know them?” the detective asked, not recognizing Logan as anyone he had interviewed from the neighborhood.
“I know the father. He sent me in this direction to see what I can find out.”
The cop gave him a suspicious look. “You think you're going to go in the house? It's a crime scene?”
“No. Just thought I'd come ask you what you know.”
“Ah, I see. Well, i'll tell you what we told the news... the kid was sleeping Wednesday night and the parents woke up and she was missing. The back door was unlocked and the person seemed to know it. Walked right in and took her... walked right out. No signs of struggle,” the detective said.
“So ya think the kid may have known the suspect?” Logan inquired, raising a brow and glancing towards the home.
“If you know that, then you know I can't tell you much more than I already have,” the detective said, looking at Logan again in a suspicious manner. “You a private detective or something?”
“Something.”
“Just don't go near the house,” the detective said, motioning towards and unmarked car across the street. “Or they'll have a problem with you. Have a good one.”
Logan nodded in understanding and then turned and walked back up the street along the sidewalk. The detective drove away in the opposite direction, leaving the street dark again, save a few lights here and there coming from other homes that lined the street. Once Logan was in the clear, he turned and walked into the backyard of the house several houses down. Jumping a few fences along the way, he made his way back to the Gruber's home and walked through their back yard, ducking under the yellow scene tape.
One adamantium claw later, he was in the dark house and moving towards where he supposed the bedrooms were. Several places along the ground were little placards with numbers on it. He squatted down at several of them. At one point, he found a dirt smudge that appeared to rub off of a shoe and onto the hardwood floor. He ran his finger across it and brought the dirt to his nose, rubbing his two fingers together as he sniffed the small sample of soil.
Finally, he made it to Lindsey Gruber's room. Pausing just inside the doorway, Logan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose. A thousand different smells flooded his senses and overwhelmed his mind as he searched through the scents. Crayons. Paints. Plastic dolls. The acrylic paint on the bed. The father and mother's odor that he smelled throughout the rest of the house. Cherries. A piece of candy under the bedside table from last Halloween. Spongebob bubble bath that Lindsay was fond of. There it is. Hidden underneath it all. So far down that a CSI team could not detect.
The scent of a person who did not belong.
Logan opened his eyes and walked towards the bed, taking a knee beside it. It was still unkempt, as if the little girl had just been sleeping in it a few moments before. Sniffing again, Logan reached to the carpet that was within the child's room and ran his finger across it. Again, he smelled his fingers and found the same dirt that belonged to the smudge in the other room.
“Hm,” Logan grunted as he got up off his knee. He was no detective, but he was quite skilled in tracking. And really... wasn't that better at times?
His last stop was at the little girl's dresser, where he found a comb that she used for her hair. Logan reached within the teeth of it and pulled out a small amount of loose hair that belonged to Lindsey. As he did with the other clues, he raised it to his nose and smelled of it. It smelled strongly of her bathing supplies, as if she always brushed her hair right after bath time. But yes... Lindsey's scent was strong as well.
On his way out of the home, Logan stopped in the hallway and looked at the photo of the young girl that he had chosen to get involved with. She had dark eyes and brown hair. She was cute as a button. Turning his head away from the photo, his lip curled upwards slightly in repulsion of the person that would put a kid through this. Only one thing was clear to him at that point... he had to find her.
2 AMIt had been hours since Logan had been to the Gruber's home. He had been driving randomly through the small town, hoping to pick up one of the scents that he had picked up in the Gruber's house. After giving up on the random driving, he decided to go to one of the local bars that was still open, hoping to catch a break.
As he entered the bar he immediately began to sift through the different scents. It was not a large place. They had a standard bar, several booths for people to sit in and get some food, a large porch, a small dance floor and a small stage where local bands often played. Tonight it was empty and popular music played over the speakers. Logan took a seat along the bar and bought a beer, sitting so that he faced the mirror. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply through his nose and weaved through the many people that were there. Hunting.
There.
Logan opened his eyes and turned his head to the left, spotting a young man sitting with a male friend. They were both laughing together about something or another, but he was wearing work boots that held a scent that he was familiar with. The soil. Wolverine examined the man for a long moment from where he sat, not sensing anything off with him. The guy appeared to be a standard college aged kid. But he had been surprised before.
Waiting for another hour, Logan drank two more beers and then paid his tab as the young man he had been watching got up to leave. He followed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked out the door. Starting up his motorcycle once again, Logan pulled out of the parking lot behind the target and began following him, keeping enough distance to not be suspicious.
3:45 AMAfter following the young man away from the residential area and into a heavily wooded area, Logan was sure that he was on the right track. The target pulled into a driveway along the way and Logan continued forward. The scent of the soil that he recalled was all around him, particular to the area that they were now in. Parking his bike off the road, Logan doubled back on foot and found the driveway. He continued down it until the woods thinned into a small clearing where the house was built.
For quite a while, Logan squatted there in the underbrush sniffing the air until he was satisfied that the child had not been on this property. He frowned, disappointed that it was not quite that easy. There could be quite a few homes scattered through these woods, as large as they seemed to be.
After standing still for several moments, Logan turned in a northwestern direction and began walking forward, moving through the light underbrush. He passed by several houses, never drawing near enough to them to be seen but close enough to smell those who were within it. Knowing that he was on the right track, he pushed himself forward until he stumbled upon a house in the middle of the woods. There was no visible driveway and the house appeared to be in shambles from what he could tell. It looked to have been built in the early 20's and may have been grand at one time before the forest swallowed it. It was completely dark, except for one light on the backside of the structure.
Logan inhaled deeply through his nose and he could almost see a picture in his mind of the contents that were within the old home. Dust. Rust. Many different insects. Rodent droppings and the rodents themselves. And then, there it was. Dried blood. Spongebob bubble bath. The little girl. Another breath was taken in and he searched further, finding not only the girl but also the strange man that he had smelled in her room.
He stood there for a moment as he decided what to do next and then he finally moved around to the lit window that was on the back of the structure. One thing was for sure, he did not want to barge in on the suspect since he did not know exactly where the girl was. The dried blood bothered him, but he was not yet sure if was Lindsey's or not. Logan slowly approached the window and then peered inside.
A man sat at a table with his back to the window, busy sawing away on an object that was in front of him. The man finally stopped and then set the hacksaw to one side and then held up two pieces of a Barbie doll laughing as he made the two halves dance in his hands. “See there? She is happier now. That is all that I am going to do to you, sweety,” the man stated. There was no reply from anyone in the room. “What?! Why would you do that?!” the man asked himself. “Because. Because you will be happier that way. I will show you how you fly!”
The man stood up and threw the two halves across the room and then turned towards the window. He appeared to be a man in his mid-30s. He was skinny, with a balding head and glasses that made his eyes look larger than they really were. Logan made a face in the darkness, outside the light of the window as he continued to look in the room for the girl.
“Do you think they are watching me?” the man asked, walking right up to the window and peering outside. He put his hands against the window in order to shade his eyes, looking outside. “No! They can't be! They have no idea where you are. They don't? No! Don't you...”
Suddenly, Logan's fist went through the glass pane and into the man's face, making a sickening crunch as his nose was broken. The man stumbled backwards until he hit the table and then bounced off of it before slumping to the floor. Logan broke out the rest of the glass and then climbed through the window, walking over to the slumped over man. He glared down at him for a long moment and then turned towards the stairs, which led to a dark void up above. Lindsey was up there.
Climbing the stairs with a few bounds, Logan went to the second door down the hallway and opened the door. The girl was laying on the floor with her hands bound behind her back and she immediately scuttled away from him and into a corner. She was silent, but her fear filled whimper was audible to Logan's ears.
He went down to one knee and held out his hand towards the girl. “Hey there darlin'. I ain't the guy that took you away. I'm the one that's gonna take you back,” Logan said, his voice as gentle as possible. “Now come... hmph...”
A sharp pain suddenly came into Logan's right shoulder as the man from downstairs stabbed him in the back. Logan didn't react as a usual man would, however, and he stood up quickly and pushed the man backwards against the wall of the hallway. Logan pinned the man there with one hand and held out a fist to the man. “Like ta play with knives, do we?” he asked as three adamantium claws slowly made their way from between his knuckles towards the man's throat. More than anything right now, Logan wanted this man dead.
“Don't!” the little girl said from behind Logan, snapping him out of his tunnel vision.
The claws retracted back into his forearms and he threw the man down the hallway so hard that he rolled once before falling down the stairs. Logan then turned towards the little girl and held out his hand and she approached gingerly before grabbing one of his fingers. He flashed her a toothy grin and she smiled in return, the hallway lit only from the downstairs light adding to his feral appearance.
5 AM“Go on kid,” Logan said, pointing towards room number ten at the Holiday Inn.
He watched as she walked to the door of the hotel room and knocked on the door. After a few moments the light flickered on and the door opened a crack. It then shut again as the safety latch was undone and it was flung open as Mr and Mrs Gruber both fell to their knees in front of Lindsey, embracing her. Logan nodded to himself, pleased with the end result.
Leaving his bike in idle the entire time, Logan hit the throttle enough to turn it around in the small space provided. He was about to pull out of the parking lot when he heard Mr. Gruber yelling to him.
“Wait! Wait!” he shouted, running several steps into the parking lot until he stood next to Logan's bike. He shook his head in disbelief. “How... where.. who...” he began, unable to form a sentence.
Logan reached back and unzipped a long black bag that was thrown over the back of the Harley, exposing the bloodied face of the kidnapper. The man was hog-tied and put into a body bag, which he had several of in the abandoned house. Apparently, the guy was planning on using them. Thankfully, Logan put them to use first. Logan grabbed the man by the hair and raised his head up so the father could see it, causing the kidnapper to moan.
“He'll get his,” Logan said plainly. He threw one more glance towards Lindsey and nodded to her once, before disappearing into the early morning darkness. The police would receive an interesting package on their doorstep with directions to the abandoned home.
After Wolverine had driven away, Mr and Mrs Gruber turned back to Lindsey with astonishment still written across their features. “Who was that?” Mrs Gruber asked her husband.
Lindsey replied for her father, taking her mother by the hand with a smile. “It was the Wolfman, mommy.”
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