#ngl did NOT expect wade and other logan to get that far

[twilightkitkat]

Part 4 of thinking about the reaction another universe's Logan would have to meeting Wade. To Wade and Logan's relationship.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

@ramblingautisticman @desperatelyneedcoffee @di-abolical @bladenbrush @animaniac1017 @amethyst-loves-bucky @lookimjusthereforthevibes @insantfishsoup @mischievous-thunder

---

They arrived back at the mansion in a haze.

By the time the other X-men arrived, the man who'd kidnapped Logan was long gone. He'd disappeared without a trace, and taken The Wolverine with him.

Apparently the fucker had planned this, considering the other X-men all encountered problems right when Wade, Logan, and Other-Logan had faced off with him. He was smart, using technology and some of his stronger underlings to hold them off long enough to make a clean escape.

The worst feeling was realizing it had been premeditated. He clearly set up a situation where he'd be capable of taking Logan—distracting the other X-men and making sure an ability restraint collar was nearby.

Moreover, he'd known that Wade's Logan was different from this world's Logan. He'd had plenty of openings for all of them, so it was clear that his choice to target his Logan was intentional.

(Did Wade lead Logan to his doom? Was he responsible for Logan's kidnapping if he indirectly brought him here, right into the open mouth of a hidden predator?)

The other X-men had tried to track him to no avail. When they returned, Charles tried to locate him using Cerebro, but he couldn't get a signal. The villain had even planned for that, probably using some rip-off Magneto helmet.

It made Wade want to scream. Or cry. Or both.

Other-Logan hadn't left his side since they'd returned. He'd kept a steady hand on his back or arm wrapped around his shoulders, grounding him. Wade wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was the only thing really tethering him to reality at the moment. The only thing stopping him from devolving into a full-blown panic attack like he had the second Logan left his sight.

(The X-men had found them there, curled up together on the ground. Logan was stroking Wade's hair and murmuring quietly, an arm protectively wrapped around his back. Wade was rocking back and forth slightly, a hysterical look in his eyes.

Logan had glanced back at them and jerked his head, signaling for them to leave. When a few hesitated, he damn near snarled as his arm tightened further, nearly crushing Wade in his grip.

They'd left them alone after that.)

Wade, for once, was silent. He couldn't keep up his typical stream of banter and crude humor when he knew Logan was in real danger. He stared off into the distance, barely registering anything around him.

In his peripheral vision, he saw people frantically running around. Relaying information. Shouting orders.

It all felt hazy. Like he was in a dream, witnessing everything unfold but unable to control it. His focus was simultaneously everywhere and nowhere all at once. He heard little tidbits of information—urgent whispering and confused reactions as the X-men tried to plan their next course of action—but he couldn't really hear anything.

It was like sand. He could feel it between his feet, vaguely, but if he tried to grasp out and focus on one area of information, he felt it slip through his fingers. Everything was blurring together—people formed into little blobs of color, and actions registered in his brain like a lagging computer.

He felt lost, for lack of a better word. Like he was drifting, waiting for the moment where he'd wake up and this would all be a dream. Waiting for the moment he could curl up next to Logan and reach out to cradle his face and finally fucking kiss him like he should've done ages ago.

Nothing was real. Everything was too real. Reality shattered into tiny little shards that buried themselves into his skin and made him bleed out until he was just a bloodless, lifeless, husk of a person.

(Wade just wanted to go home.)

---

Logan groaned, eyes flickering shut again as the bright light assaulted his eyes. Fucking hell, he thought, what did I drink to get this fucked up?

As he drifted into consciousness—slowly, as if his body was against the very idea of waking up—he became a bit more aware of his surroundings.

The place was unfamiliar to him. It looked clinical, almost like a laboratory or hospital of some type. Full of pristine white walls and beeping monitors and technology he was far too old to know the purpose of.

...Did I end up in a hospital, somehow? He figured his healing factor would kick in if he ever managed to drink enough to do serious liver damage, but maybe he'd overloaded it.

He tried to remember how he got here, what in God's name would possess him to drink like a sheltered Christian girl gone wild at her first college party, but his memory was hazy. Out of reach. He would try to grasp onto the tendrils of a vague image in his mind, only for them to jerk out of his grasp at the last moment.

He tried to sit up, to ask where the fuck he was and how he got there, but he slammed back on the table with a huff. He glanced down and saw he was strapped to it, tight leather straps binding his chest and arms and legs.

This probably wasn't a hospital, then. Good to know.

He tried struggling against the straps to no avail. It only caused them to chafe uncomfortably against his muscles.

The old-fashioned way, then. He unsheathed his claws and—

—What? Why weren't his claws coming out?

He tried clenching his hands into fists again and focusing on them. Trying to activate the signal that caused them to slide out of his knuckles so he could slice away his bindings.

Nothing.

He was starting to get anxious. He'd been calmer, before, knowing that he was practically unkillable and nobody would be stupid enough to try to kidnap him. He always had an easy out, whether it was regeneration or slicing his surroundings up.

He struggled harder against the leather, uncaring of how it left red marks imprinted on his skin. Wade would probably have a fucking field day if he saw Logan right now. He could already his voice in his head, cooing at him, "Awww, did peanut have a mishap with some bondage? How kinky. If you wanted to try it out all you had to do was ask."

Wait. Wade.

Where the fuck was Wade? What happened to him?

If Logan was here, did that mean Wade was trapped somewhere nearby? Or was he still at home in their apartment, blissfully unaware that Logan had been taken. If he realized Logan was gone, would he come to save him?

More than that, if these guys had a way of stopping Logan from using his claws, what could they do to Wade? When Wade inevitably came looking for him (he would, Logan knew he would) would he be prepared to deal with whatever they were using? Or was he under the influence of it right now?

Logan renewed his struggle with ferocity. He needed to warn Wade. Figure out if these fuckers had him or were targeting him and kill them. It was starting to burn now, to dig into his skin and twist until the layers peeled apart and he began bleeding.

He glared at the wounds. He wouldn't let a little blood stop him. He'd broken out from worse restraints before, weakened state aside. He didn't know who the hell took him, but they were idiots for only using a material as flimsy as leather to trap him. Even metal wasn't enough to hold The Wolverine. All he had to do was wait for the bruises and raw skin to heal and he'd keep going, working with persistence until his bindings were worn down.

Except he wasn't healing. He stared at the reddened skin, waiting for it to go back to normal. Nothing happened.

He felt the rawness of it in full. Felt the way it burned against the leather, aching for release. Felt the way it protested against the friction.

It wasn't going away.

Shit.

Something told Logan this was going to be harder than he thought.

---

"I brought you a glass of water," Logan cleared his throat awkwardly as he entered Wade's room, setting the cup down on his nightstand.

"...Thanks," Wade mumbled. Now that he thought about it, he guessed he was thirsty. His throat felt dry and scratchy, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke.

He picked up the glass of water and held it in his lap. He stared down at it, willing himself to drink but unable to move. All he could focus on was his own reflection in the water, a mangled mass of tumorous flesh that was barely held together by his skin fibers.

He kind of looked like a wrinkly avocado had an orgy with a pack of raisins and a vat of acid and spat him out. Or a sea sponge decided to have human offspring that got burnt in a forest fire. Either way, he looked freakish. Like a monster.

(He was a monster, wasn't he? Just sitting here while Logan was out there, unable to do anything. Useless as always. The only thing Wade was good for was comedic relief, and he wasn't even managing to do that right.)

"Are you gonna drink that, bub?"

Logan's voice startled Wade, tearing him away from his spiraling thoughts. He nearly dropped the glass of water, but managed to grab it in time. He gripped it so tightly that his knuckles turned white. If he applied any more pressure, he was pretty sure it would break. Shattered into glass fragments that would dig into his palms and the soles of his feet until he was as torn up on the outside as he felt on the inside. It was a tempting thought.

"Hey, Wade, can you hear me?" Logan waved his hand in front of Wade's eyes, a concerned expression plastered on his face.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. I was just checking in to see if you're gonna drink the water or keep staring at it like a mirror."

Wade grimaced slightly, but finally managed to lift the cup to his lips and take a sip.

And fuck, he was thirsty. As soon as the first bit of water hit his throat it was like he couldn't stop, like he finally registered how dry it felt. He gulped down the water hungrily in one go until none of it was left. He sighed in relief once it was gone, setting it back down sheepishly.

Logan looked at him, and Wade could practically see the gears turning in his head from how his stare burned into Wade's skull. He was considering something, going to open his mouth a few times before closing it, until he finally seemed to settle on something to say.

"You miss him, huh?" That didn't come out nearly as nice as Logan thought it would in his head, if his frustrated look was anything to go by.

"What gave you that impression?" Wade remarked drily.

"No, I mean—" Logan cut himself off and took a deep breath (he seemed to do that around Wade a lot) before speaking again, "You care about him. A lot."

Wade looked up uncertainly. Where was this going? "...I do," he reluctantly replied.

"...What would you do? If something happened to him, I mean?"

"I'd hunt down the fucker who dared to lay a hand on him and disembowel them. Tear them limb from limb. Burn them alive. Torture them in a slow and agonizing way until they were begging to die, and then keep going until there was nothing left of them," Wade's eyes sharpened for the first time since Logan had disappeared. His glare was fierce—a promise of unimaginable pain if anyone dared to lay hands on what was his.

"You'd do that? For him?" Other-Logan looked vaguely shocked, but at the same time hungry. Desperate to know more.

"I'd do that and more. I'd tear this fucking world apart if that's what it took to find him." A declaration. A promise.

"Why?" A breathless whisper.

"Because he saved me. Even if I was the one to haul his ass up and out of that goddamn bar, he saved me. He's the one who still chose to save my world even if he didn't know if he could save his own. He's the one who chose to sacrifice his life so I could go back to them. He's the one who held my hand to fucking Madonna as we beat the odds and both lived because we had each other."

"He..." Logan began.

"He's the one who accepted my shitty olive branch and came to my apartment. He's the one who made my stupid depressing bachelor's pad feel like a home. He's the one who goes with me on all of the grueling, hard missions and watches my back so we can take turns sleeping. He's the one who helps me walk Mary Puppins and goes grocery shopping with me and cooks me dinner that doesn't make me want to throw up. He's the one who—" Wade's voice cracked.

"Wade..."

"No, let me finish. I need to get this out. He's the one who wakes up next to me every morning. Who makes the days where I want to tear off my own fucking skin tolerable because at least I get to be beside him. He's the only one who looked at my disgusted, fucked-up shriveled ballsack of a face and didn't flinch. When even Vanessa did. He's the only one who saw me and still accepted it. Who stayed when I asked."

Tears began to fill his eyes, "And now he's gone because of me. He got taken away before I got to fucking tell him that. Before I could thank him properly for everything and tell him that I want him to stay forever. Now he could die thinking I left him behind on purpose, when all I've wanted to do since I met him was keep him close. I just... I wish I had the courage to man up. To tell him how I feel."

"How you feel?" Logan's eyes were dilated, and he darted out his tongue to lick his lips.

"Yeah, tell him that aside from the buddy-buddy partnership we've had going on, I wanted more. I wanted him. Entirely."

"In what way?"

"I wanted to fucking kiss him and never let go. And now... now I may never get the chance. I spent so fucking long agonizing over it, thinking that if I made a move I could ruin everything. And now it's all ruined anyway. And I don't even know if he feels the same."

"...What do you mean, you don't know if he feels the same?" Logan's stared at him, blankly.

"...I don't know if he returns my feelings? I know you're a little slow, Wolvie, but do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"You're being serious right now." Logan deadpanned. "You actually can't tell?"

"Can't tell what?"

"Look," Logan sighed. "When we get him back, just tell him how you feel. I doubt he—I—would react as badly as you're fearing."

"...How would you know?"

"Because I'm him. And there is no way in hell I wouldn't love you too." Logan's voice was firm, a fierce determination in his eyes.

"What?" Wade stared at him, dumbfounded.

"If I lived with you—hell, even if I didn't—in any universe, as long as you were the same person. I'd love you. I know it."

Wade laughed wetly. "You're just saying that. Because you feel bad for me. Because you don't even know if we're going to get him back and you're trying to reassure me."

"No, I'm not. I mean it."

"Yes, you are. Logan, you're—you're a hero. You're the X-man. You're fucking righteous and angry and strong and the image of peak masculinity. If testosterone had a human embodiment, you'd be it. You're meant to be in love with Jean Gray or some other woman who's kind and smart and pretty. Who completes the picture for you. Not me, a morally ambiguous mercenary who looks like they got dipped in the deep fryer at a McDonald's."

Other-Logan grabbed his face, suddenly. Leaned in until their foreheads were touching, until their lips were just inches apart.

"That's not true," he whisper-growled, "Why do you get to decide what would complete my picture, huh? Maybe instead of a boring pretty girl, I'd prefer a mouthy fucking mercenary who can't seem to wrap his head around the concept of self-worth. What if that were true instead?"

"Then I'd call you fucking delusional and a horrible liar," Wade retorted.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Is this delusional, then?"

Logan's lips crashed against his. Wade just barely had time to open his mouth in shock and then Logan's tongue was pushing its way in, scraping past his teeth and tangling with his.

Logan's arms slid around his back, grabbing onto his waist, and Wade leaned into the touch against his will. Logan pulled back for a moment, barely long enough to breathe, and then dove back at a deeper angle. Wade groaned, deeply in the back of his throat, and wrapped his arms around Logan's neck, digging his fingers into the hair at the base of his nape to yank him closer.

Wade began kissing back with fervor, pressing forward to swallow Logan's lips too. He pushed him over and Logan tumbled onto the bed with him, landing on his back as Wade pinned him from above. It felt good. Good in a way he'd long forgotten kisses could feel, since his mutation.

Wade felt like he was floating, like he was having an out-of-body experience. There was no way this could be real: him, making out with another version of Logan while his was kidnapped. It sounded like the plot of some shitty Wattpad fanfiction. (Or Tumblr, if he was being generous.)

Logan's arms slithered further down his back as Wade moved to grip his shoulders, leaning in impossibly closer. He felt a heat begin to coil in his gut. (Really? Now, of all times? With him, of all people?)

Finally, after one last searing kiss, he pulled away. He had to. If he kept going, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back from crossing a line that he didn't think he could return from. (Wade may be insane, but even he had limits. And fucking the spitting image of the love of your life while they're getting tortured is one of them.)

"That was..."

"Intense?" Logan supplied.

"Yeah. Intense."

Wade sighed and flopped down next to Logan, running a hand over his face. If he focused, he could still taste the faint hint of whiskey. Figures, he thought, I don't know what else Logan would taste like.

"Do you believe me now?" Logan's eyes met his again. They were prodding him to look closer. To see the honesty and vulnerability and affection he felt. For Wade of all people. (If this was how Other-Logan felt, how did his own Logan compare?)

"Would be kinda hard not to," Wade let out a breathy chuckle.

"Thought so," Logan smirked.

"My Logan... he..."

"Probably feels the same. Wait, no. Scratch that. He definitely feels the same."

Wade snorted. "Fitting that I'd only realize it when he's in peril. The character development of an action comic book character can only be spurred by action, huh?"

"The hell are you on about? Comic books?"

"Don't worry about it," Wade dismissed him with a flick of his hand. "Stupid reference. You wouldn't get it. The point is that I believe you. If—when I find my Logan, I'm going to tell him how I feel."

"Gonna man up for once?"

Wade punched his shoulder, holding back a laugh. "Shut up. You don't get to say shit about manning up with half of your personality is just acting like a gigantic kitty cat."

"I do not act like a kitty cat."

"I bet you fucking stare in the mirror each morning and style your ear tufts to try to look like one. You capitalize on it, don't you? 'Oh look, I'm The Wolverine! I run around acting all mainly all while practically wearing cat ears like a middle school girl would to a Halloween Dance—'"

This time it was Logan who punched him. In the gut. Hard. (Ouch.) At least he didn't pull out the claws.

Wade's laughter trailed off, a more serious expression overtaking his face again. Logan noticed the shift in demeanor, judging by how his posture tensed slightly.

"Hey, Logan, you—"

"It's fine."

"But I didn't—"

"I know what you're gonna say, bub. And it's fine. I can deal with my own feelings, despite what you think I'm a bit more mature than a middle school girl running around in cat ears," Logan gave him a half-hearted smirk.

"But you said that you..."

"I did. And I do. But I know that while you may like me, who you really love is him. You're just chasing after the image of him, the closest thing you could get while he was away. The second best option," Logan's smile fell into more of a grimace.

Wade glared at him and then grabbed his face. Logan startled slightly, but met his gaze. "Stop that. You're not just a 'replacement' for my Logan. You're your own person. He's not you, and you're not him. You're right, I do love my Logan, and in some ways, you do remind me of him, but you're not him. I know that and I knew that when I first met you. So stop being self-deprecating and thinking that you aren't good enough just because I have my heart set on someone else."

Logan blinked at him, owlishly, eyes widening slightly. Then they visibly softened. "Christ, Wade. You really are one of a kind. This is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Love triangles are a bitch," Wade supplied. "They're a lazy writing device by authors who have no better plot points than introducing unneeded romantic tension."

"Yeah, well, I have plenty of experience dealing with them. It won't kill me, or I'd have died by Jean and Scott's hands a long time ago."

"Old."

"Shut it."

Wade's eyes lowered slightly. "My Logan... he's gonna be okay, right? I mean, obviously, he's strong as hell—you should know considering he's a version of you—but do you think he's holding on? What if he's scared? Or hurt? Or—"

"He'll be okay." Other-Logan's hand grasped his firmly. "We'll find him for you. I promise."

And just for a moment, Wade shut his eyes and let himself believe it.

---

Logan groaned in exhaustion as his head fell back against the table. He'd been struggling for what felt like hours without any progress. His skin felt tender in a way he'd never experienced before, raw and bloody and torn to the innermost layer.

It was then, just as he'd tired himself out, that the doorknob rattled.

Logan tensed up immediately, eyeing the door warily. His senses felt dulled under whatever type of drugs they had him on, and he was unable to pick up any useful information through his other senses like he normally could.

(It was vaguely unnerving, not being able to smell or hear people from the other room. Even if was overwhelming at times, it was his normal. It was like being able to see colors his whole life, even if sometimes they were blindingly bright, and then having the ability stolen from him. Suddenly becoming colorblind. It felt like a weakness. A disability that he'd never learned to live with.)

A man stepped in. He was a patchwork of human and futuristic robotic parts. He looked vaguely familiar, in a way Logan couldn't quite place.

"Ah, I see you've awakened," the man looked at him coolly. "That's good, it means my dosage was correct. How are you feeling?"

That voice was familiar, too. It sounded almost like—like—

("We can do this the easy way or the hard way.")

Suddenly, everything snapped into place. Like a part of his memory that was temporarily offline finally connected to the Internet. Like a piece of his brain slotted back where it was supposed to be.

"You're the asshole who broke Wade's communicator and kidnapped me," Logan growled accusingly.

That's right. He wasn't in his own world right now. He'd followed Wade here after not hearing from him for nearly a month, only to get separated again by this fucker. He must be in this guy's villainous lair, then.

"So you remember. I take that to mean that you're feeling better," the man said as he smiled at him politely.

His eyes were devoid of any light or real emotion. It sent a shiver up Logan's spine. The asshole probably got off on the power trip of acting all calm and collected while his victims panicked.

"What do you want with Wade? With me?" Logan snapped.

The man hummed to himself, sifting through a selection of tools sitting on a tray beside the table. "With the Deadpool variant? Nothing. With you, on the other hand..." the man trailed off, seemingly searching for something. His eyes lit up in recognition as he grabbed a vial off the table. "Here we go," he murmured under his breath, sounding pleased.

"Now, back to what I was saying." The deceptively pleasant tone had returned. It felt formal. Corporate. "You see, an interesting phenomenon happened not too long ago. One I think you'd happen to know quite a bit about."

"Stop stalling."

"Now, now. Patience. You see, normally, when timelines begin to unravel, they die out. It isn't a pleasant process. Things begin going wrong: people disappear, things swap places, rules of the world begin bending. It's almost as if the very fabric of the universe itself is collapsing."

"Your point?"

"And yet... that didn't happen to your universe, did it? Or, the Deadpool variant's universe, to be accurate. Oh, no, even after an anchor being in your universe died and it was destabilized intentionally, your universe recovered." The man spun an object that resembled a syringe between his fingers.

The man continued, "Such a curious thing... a universe being able to recover from the brink of collapse. When I heard of it, I thought it was just a fable. A tall tale. And yet, when I looked into it, can you imagine my surprise when I found out it was true? That it was possible to replace an anchor being?"

For some reason, those words stuck out to Logan. Something big was going on. Something very decidedly not good.

"It's a revolutionary idea. One that had never even been attempted before. ...But here you are. Physical proof that an anchor being can be replaced. The only successful anchor being transplanted between universes throughout all of history."

"What does that have to do with you kidnapping me?" Logan wished this guy could just get to the fucking point. The worst part of these types of monologues was the anticipation, the not knowing what to do next until he had enough information to try to roughly throw a plan together.

At least Wade was safe, if this guy wasn't lying. It made Logan feel slightly better to know that they didn't want anything from him. (Directly, at least. Logan knew that Wade would get involved in this one way or another, whether this villain thought he was relevant to his plan or not.)

"You see," the man stopped twirling the syringe. It rested between his index finger and thumb. "My universe isn't doing too well. Our anchor being died a few centuries ago, and the effects are beginning to catch up to us."

Logan's breath hitched.

"I think you'd be interested to know that our old anchor being was a Wolverine. Just like you," the man smiled tightly at him. "Everyone was lost on what to do until I had a brilliant idea. We can just... replicate Deadpool's little experiment. Using the one and only person who's proven himself capable of molding to be an anchor being for another universe."

His blood ran cold. This was significantly worse than he'd thought. This monologue insinuated that he not only had the capability of dimensional travel, but also the advantages of technology from several hundred years in the future.

"So we lured you here. Stirred up just enough trouble for the TVA to take notice and send out their favorite little mercenaries," the man spoke flippantly. Arrogantly. "Unfortunately, you didn't show up at first. What a pity. We could've met sooner. Luckily, I figured that you'd pull up to the party if your little partner got stuck."

"I refuse."

"What?"

"I refuse," Logan repeated. "I don't care what you say. I'm not going to go to your world and act as an anchor being there."

(Logan wouldn't. No matter what. Not after he'd finally found a home worth fighting for. One that could very well become unstable and collapse without him there to protect it.)

"You seem to misunderstand," the man spoke conversationally, "I wasn't asking you."

"And you seem to misunderstand," Logan snarked back. "I wasn't asking either."

The asshole merely chuckled. "You say that, and yet you'll change your mind."

"How? Are you gonna beat me up? You think I haven't seen my way around the torture block before?" Logan mocked.

"No, no. I have something better than torture." The man's smile turned razor-sharp, contorting his face in a way that would've been comical if it wasn't so horrific. "Do you remember how... disoriented you were when you woke up? How it took a second to regain your memory?"

Now that he mentioned it, that was odd. Logan figured he'd sustained some type of concussion because his healing factor wasn't working properly or that it was a side effect of whatever anesthetic he'd been on.

"You see, in the future, abilities are much more advanced. And so are the tools you can create with them."

"...And?"

"And one of those handy tools allows me the privilege of altering your memories. Permanently."

What the fuck.

"What you saw before was just a glimpse of its abilities. I can erase memories, yes, but I can also rebuild them. I won't have to force you to come with me to my world, I'll make it so that you'll come willingly."

"You insane piece of shit," Logan muttered.

"I think I'm quite psychologically sound, actually. If I forced you to come with me, you'd never stop trying to escape. I've seen the wills of Wolverines from other universes, and it's not to be trifled with. Additionally, your friends and the TVA would never stop looking for you."

"Damn right, I'll never stop trying to escape."

"—But, if I can make you come willingly, then that fixes all of the issues. Not only would your emotional ability to forge the bond as an anchor being be heightened, but you'd cease your escape attempts. You'd be able to convince the TVA that you want this, that you choose to stay willingly. And, well, you know consent laws."

"Pretty sure brainwashing isn't protected by consent laws, bub," Logan retorted.

The man kept talking, "The TVA has a lot on their plate. If I managed to make it impossible to undo, they'd let it go. That version of you would be long gone, anyway. Nothing left to save. They'd let me have the scraps so that they can keep their little documentation of you going."

Logan wanted to argue, but that did sound like something the TVA would do. They might be allies right now, but at its core, the TVA was a capitalistic, ruthless organization hellbent on efficiency and stability of all timelines. They'd cut their losses where they had to.

"Now," the man seemed to be content now that he'd finished his monologue, "let's get started, shall we?" The man walked closer to him, holding that same damn syringe he'd been fiddling with before.

Logan fought the urge to thrash again, his muscles coiled tightly as he instinctively plastered himself as far back against the table as he could. As if that would help.

He began putting on gloves, "I do have to come clean before we start. I know I implied I wouldn't torture you, but that was a bit of a lie. Do forgive me. While the formula I have is effective, we're running a bit short on time. And the results can be sped up when accompanied by some... psychological reprogramming.

That didn't sound good.

"Nothing too bad. I suppose you'll live up to your name as an animal, though, considering we'll have to train you like one. To not disobey orders. Or ever think of leaving," the man fastened a mask to his face. At least followed medical hygiene regulations.

"And you know how animals are," the man walked over to him, preparing an area on his arm by wiping it with alcohol first. Logan tried to thrash, but he merely tutted and pushed him down with his inhuman strength.

"They learn best through pain."

The ice-cold liquid flooded Logan's veins. It felt like he was freezing and on fire simultaneously. It caused him to let out an aborted yell before his throat closed up as his vision went black.

As black spots invaded his vision, he just barely made out the silhouette of the man as he retrieved a sharp, metal object.

And then he was gone.