maverick // X-Men

• f o u r •

GRACE, STILL UNCONSCIOUS, SAT ON A CHAIR THAT LOOKED FAR TOO SIMILAR TO AN ELECTRIC CHAIR. HER ARMS AND LEGS WERE BOUND WITH TITANIUM MANCLES THAT PREVENTED ANY MOVEMENT.

The room looked like an execution chamber, completed with a viewing window. Grace opened her eyes and blinked in the bright light. Stryker and two soldiers stood in front of her. Her eyes landed on Stryker.

Dr. Cornelius and an assistant stood near a machine that was wired to the electric chair, fiddling with the controls.

"Ah, my young daughter is finally awake." Stryker smirked at her.

"Where's Logan?" Grace called out, struggling in the mancles.

"Don't worry about him." Stryker reassured her. "He's being dealt with." Stryker sighed as one of the soldiers held onto what seemed to be a mask. "Now, you..Grace Stryker, the truth is, you're a real pain in the ass. I've invested far too much time and money on you for it to all go down the drain. So, there's nothing more to do with you." He turned to the soldier with the mask. "Major Payne, if you will."

The soldier started to walk over to Grace. "What is he doing?" She asked, starting to struggle in the chair.

"I know how your powers work, so we are just taking precautions." Stryker told her as the second soldier went and held her head still, so she couldn't move. The first soldier took the mask, lifting it up towards Grace's face. "We didn't want-" Before Stryker could finish his sentence, Grace winked at him.

The one thing he didn't want happening, happened. She got inside his mind.

Stryker opened his eyes and he was standing on the side of a cliff. Below him, he saw the waves crashing into the cliffside.

"William?" A woman's voice called out to him. He turned around and saw her. His wife, the love of his life, alive.

"Marcy." Stryker's voice was soft. His eyes glistened as he stepped closer to his wife. The closer he got to her, the more he noticed her skin was turning to ash, and her smile was fading. "What, what is happening?"

"I'm dying, William." Marcy told him. "They've done it again. Jason and Grace have killed me all over again. And it's all your fault."

Before Stryke could say anything, Marcy turned to ash and disappeared. "NO!" He screamed.

Back in reality, Stryker looked like he was sleeping standing up, with his eyes opened. The two soldiers looked at one another as Grace turned all the mancles into liquid, freeing her hands and feet. She manipulated two daggers into her hands, throwing them across, and piercing the two soldiers in their chests. They both dropped to the ground in agony.

With the two soldiers wounded, and Stryker still out of it, Grace escaped from the room, into the long hallway. She could hear gunshots going off from the outside. Footsteps were getting closer to Grace, so she knew she had to leave. It took her a couple of hallways to find a door to the outside.

For a moment, the sun blinded her. She manipulated a dagger into her right hand, ready for action should someone appear. She slowly walked around the compound, looking for Logan. She came across a blood trail and followed. Part of her knew it couldn't be Logan, but a small part of her thought it was.

She found the person who the blood belonged to. Kayla. She stood over the woman, who was barely breathing. "Please..." Kayla struggled to say.

"Where is he?" Grace asked, kneeling down beside her.

"Kill me." Kayla told her, blood pouring out of her mouth.

"I will." Grace placed her free hand on Kayla's gunshot wound on her stomach. "But you tell me where Logan is."

"The-the wo-oods." Kayla was drowning in her own blood. "Tell him- tell him, I'm-"

Before Kayla could finish her sentence, Grace stabbed Kayla in the stomach with the dagger she had in her right hand. She watched as the light in Kayla's eyes went out.

Grace stood up, heading towards the woods. She didn't get far into the woods when she saw Logan lying on the ground.

"Logan!" She screamed as she dropped to her knees beside him. He was alive, she could feel him breathing. She sighed in relief. "Logan, wake up." She started to pat his cheek. "Please, Logan. I need you. You can't leave me."

A tear fell from Grace's eye, falling onto Logan's forehead. His eyes fluttered and opened. For a moment, he squinted into the blue sky as Grace sat back. Logan sat up, completely disoriented, a stranger in the world.

"Logan." Grace smiled at him, throwing the blood stained dagger into the grass.

"Who are you?" Logan asked, looking around. "What am I doing here?"

"I'm Grace." The panic in her voice was evident. "You don't remember me?" Logan shook his head. "You need to trust me for a moment." Grace slowly moved towards Logan, who raised his eyebrow at her. "Please." She put out her hand, placing it on his cheek.

Logan closed his eyes as Grace used her manipulation powers on him. For once, it wasn't to show their worst fear, but it was actually to show Logan to happy memories that the duo had shared in the short time since they met.

Grace gently dropped her hand and Logan opened his eyes. He looked at Grace and a smile splashed across his face. He remembers who she is. "Grace."

"That's me." She smiled over at him. "And you're Logan."

Logan stood up, followed by Grace. He took a deep breath of the cold air. They both started to walk towards the falling sun. Grace put her small hand into his.

They didn't didn't know where they were going, but the wind blew through their hair, the last of the sunlight felt good on Grace's skin.

They were both finally free and really were walking into the sunset.