The Wolf and The Wolverine Book 2: Death of a Hunter (completed ✔️)

Chapter 18: Barely Breathing

"OH GOD PLEASE NO!!" My scream rattled the woods around. Deer scattered, and snow fell from the trees above. Logan's complexion had gone white, his lips not even a soft pink. "Logan stay with me. STAY WITH ME!!" His breathing slowed, I could hardly tell if he were alive at all. I shook him, hoping he'd at least open his eyes. Clint came dashing down the path, abruptly skidding to a stop once he found me. My eyes were brimming with unshed tears. "Help me. I don't know how long he has!" Clint grabbed Logan's arm and slung it over his shoulder. I took the opposite arm and did the same. "We're only a few hundred feet from the security check. If we can get there he has a chance." Clint's voice was hindered by Logan's full weight being slung on both of us. "Guy needs to lay off the beer." Clint joked, the sarcasm being a front for his worry. "I see a door!" The building looked small. A square concrete structure with a rather large door with an equally large handle, meaning most of it must be hidden underground, considering how many people are staying. Clint's shoulder was slumping under Logan when we had come to the door. He rapped on the door, yelling some sort of a password to enter. The door popped open. The scent of dust and fermented leaves came from within. Quickly we dragged Logan down the stairs. At the bottom, there was a medical team waiting for us with a stretcher and tools to get to work immediately. I handed off Logans limp body with feelings of regret and guilt. The team of doctors and nurses dashed off while getting Logan into critical care. I folded my arms watching as he disappeared behind double doors. Feeling useless, and full of dread.

It had been hours since Logan had been wheeled off by this point. Clint did his best to distract me while I waited anxiously. I met up with Tony and Bruce not long after we had arrived. I remember the look on Banners face when I told him the results of the test that he had preformed on Logan. Apparently he hadn't seen the results himself. He couldn't believe what was there. "What did you say was in his head?" I asked, my brows cocked while simultaneously trying to hide the evident worry on my face. Bruce sat at the edge of a counter in his temporary Lab, with Tony on the other side of him, sporting a black eye and damaged armor laying all over the tiny space. "Theres a micro chip in his brain. Looks surprisingly old, considering when micro chips were in wide spread use." Bruce mumbled while pushing up his glasses. Still looking over the picture I had managed to snag from the computer. "How old are we talking?" I moved over to him, looking over his shoulder to peer at the scan as well. "Early seventies I think? Maybe even earlier." His hand sat on his chin, studying the image further. Tony lifted his welding mask, wiping his hands clean from dried oil and soot. "Thats, A little odd." His normally cocky attitude coming through his comment. I glanced over, noticing the look on Tonys face. It was one of knowing, but it seemed he was zoning out.

"Yeah tell me about it. Who even had access to this type of advanced tech back then?" I asked while moving over to his space in the lab. Tony's stare became blank. His body language showing he knew something about the chip. "Well? What does it mean Stark?" I said, crossing my arms while narrowing my eyes. He scratched at his neck, avoiding eye contact with me. "My dad, did a lot of under the table deals back in the day." I shrugged. "What does that have to do with the chip?" Tony picked up a bottle full of water, chugging it down. "He was so to speak 'in bed' with a lot of governments and experiments during the seventies. I remember him discussing something like a micro chip when I was about six. It was a private meeting." He tried to dismiss the possible relation to the chip. I decided to press it further. "How likely was it that he sold it to a company or government that experimented on mutants?" Tony swallowed the last of his water wrong, making him cough at the question. After collecting himself, Tony's eyes fell back on his heavily damaged suit. "Can't be sure. Didn't follow that part of his life that closely." Tony picked up a wrench, taking it to one of the many nuts that needed tightening. I rolled my eyes at his surface answers. I turned to Bruce for something more pressing at present. "Can we remove it? Y'know, it is under an adimantium covered skull." I pointed at the scan. Bruce thought for a moment. "I'll run this by Doctor McCoy. I think with his expertise on Logans mutation and experience we can come up with a way to get this out of his brain." After that Bruce left.

After a few hours of waiting for Logans status, a nurse found and informed me he was stable. She said she would tell me when he was conscious. The wait was painful. In that time I had met up with my sister, making sure she was fine. From talking with my sister, I had come to find out Steve Rogers himself had informed Scott and the others of the threat that was against the school just in time to get everyone out. Steve as a result had suffered the most carrying out a kid who had gotten sick while staying underground too long waiting in the danger room. Since that kid was the last out, Steve risked getting caught in the coming blast. Unfortunately Steve was hurt in the blast and as a result in critical condition. It was such a selfless act. He saved one of the student's of a mutant school. He could've just left us to die. But he didn't. I felt I owed a debt to Steve.

There, in a nearly bare medical room. About the size of a small restroom, laid Captain America. A man I had met a few months before. A man I looked up to as a hero and guardian of many kids at the mansion. His face was bruised, dry blood was crusted over his right eye. His arm in a sling and a wrap was around his head. I sat down on the only chair that occupied the space. I felt awkward just sitting there, staring at a man I had only met once or twice. With hands in my lap I looked at his face. I felt deep conviction for what he did. I could never pay him back for what he had done for my family, my home. "I'm sure you can't hear me. But, I just wanted to thank you for what you did for the student's and teachers of Xaviers. The loss of our professor will be mourned, thats for sure. I don't know how I could thank you for all you've done for us." Tears appeared in my eyes, I wiped my face clean before I stood to walk out the room.

"Y-Your welcome."