The Way The Water Flows

I'd Rather Be Free From Here

Logan wasn't sure how to feel. Maya left him, however, it was for a good reason. It still worried him and he didn't like that the feeling settled in his gut and he couldn't soothe his worries clawing up a few trees—maybe more, but no one needed to know that besides him and Charles.

"We have to go find her." He told Storm since she was the first person he saw in the lower levels of the mansion. "Does the professor already have a lock on her?" He was eager to put on the suit.

Scott walked in with Jean, shaking his head. "He already knows where she's going. No need to see where she is."

"The hell?" Logan's eyebrows furrowed as he went over to the lockers. "Then what the fuck are you doing just standing here. We gotta go get her."

Scott stopped him with a hand on his shoulder which Logan promptly shoved off. "She can handle herself. Even without her mutation. She's smart." He argued lightly, genuine confusion as to why he cared about her well-being.

If Maya could fend off Logan, that was an achievement. Even if it was just training, not many people, Scott included, could accomplish that.

"I don't care about that. She's alone." Logan's jaw clenched, he was resisting the urge to punch those glasses off Scott's face but that wouldn't be productive in what he wanted. Which was to make sure Maya was okay. "Isn't the whole fucking purpose of this place to be all 'you're not alone, there's so many people like you and we'll always be there for you?'" He mocked.

Scott was about to respond before Charles wheeled into the room. "Logan is right," Cue the shit-eating grin. The professor looked at Logan with a knowing look in his eyes. What it was for, he didn't know. "You and Storm will go find her. Bring her home."

Home.

Logan liked the sound of that. The idea of bringing Maya back to his room, wrapping his arms around her, and kissing her face until she got irritated from it and pushed him away. He was in too deep but he didn't see it yet.

He grabbed his suit and nodded at Charles.

Maya was able to cover a lot of ground in just a few hours. But she blamed that on the fact that she stole one of Scott's motorcycles. She had made it just a mile or so away from the testing facility and dropped off the bike near a large pine tree, deciding to go on foot from there.

She pulled her braids to rest on her back as she made it to the back of the facility, cutting the power with a slash or two of water. The backup power generator was going to turn on as she expected but it gave her enough time to slip in the building. Which meant there was no stopping her now.

See, the whole problem with making a weapon like Maya was that they wanted her to be powerful. So powerful that no one could defeat her, at least, not in any way their enemies could think of. They thought they could find a way to control her and maybe they almost did. But Maya couldn't forget her old life so easily. So imagine their surprise when the weapon they created had turned on them.

And not every officer kept adamantium bullets or knives on hand.

So she left a trail of bodies, unconscious and lightly beaten as she passed through familiar hallways. She just needed to get this one thing done and she'd leave. She didn't need to destroy the whole place as much as she may have wanted. There was no one else to save. This place was her prison and hers alone.

She made her way to the archive room, alarm blaring. She sat down at the main desk, logging in to the computer with ease. She picked up a lot of things with her time here. It was funny, how dumb and naive they thought she was. She noticed a lot, had to if she wanted to survive.

"Hello again, X-15." A gun was pressed against the back of her head. "Had a feeling you would come back here." She could hear the shit-eating grin in his voice.

Maya stopped her hand. She was one click away from deleting everything about her. One click away from freedom. Her finger itched to press the button anyway. She'd die free.

"Don't even try it, this gun here has enough adamantium bullets to kill you." He threatened lowly.

She slowly turned in her chair, facing the man who kept her here all these years. Paxton didn't seem to change in the last few years since she saw him. Still blond, still greying, and still a piece of shit that preyed on the innocent.

He smirked down at her, an unsettled feeling in her stomach. "Still such a wonderful, obedient little pet." Maya's hand twitched again, for a different reason.

Logan and Storm appeared in the doorway, taking in the scene. Maya's eyes shifted to them, eyes widening. They weren't supposed to see this. She screwed her eyes shut. She couldn't have them think of her differently, couldn't have Logan think of her as a monster—what Paxton wanted them to think.

"Oh, have they come to save you?" He asked tauntingly, glancing over at the pair who were clad in their suits. "I heard from a little bird someone took your innocence away," He shrugged for a moment, "Well, you never really had it to begin with."

Logan unsheathed his claws, a low noise escaping his throat but Storm held him back with a hand over his chest. She looked at him sharply as if silently having a conversation with him.

"Please, just let her go and no one else will have to get hurt," Storm said. Although she was prepared for a fight as well, Paxton had a gun trained on Maya. "You know Wolverine's aren't cuddly when they're angry." Logan huffed, narrowing his eyes at the blond.

Paxton let out a dry laugh. "We can't just let it go. X-15 is our best asset."

"Why? Because she can read minds and control water?" Logan let out a breath through her nose.

Sure, Maya was incredibly capable of killing nearly anyone but those abilities in themselves weren't the most... desirable wasn't the best word to describe it but it was true. Water abilities were fairly generic.

"You have no idea what she's really capable of, do you?" Paxton tilted his head before he looked at Maya, gripping her chin. "You were afraid of showing them, hm? Afraid of how they'd think about you?" He let out another dry laugh. "Your emotions are so... funny. You don't understand they're holding you back—"

Logan's eyebrows furrowed at how suddenly Paxton cut off his words and how his body began to shake, his hand moving to point the gun under his chin.

"You're right," Maya glanced at Logan, an apologetic look in her eyes before her gaze hardened when she stared at Paxton. Logan noticed her fingers moving at her side. "My emotions have been holding me back. From killing you." She huffed out, rotating her hand.

A gunshot rang out.

Blood splattered over Maya's chin and chest as Paxton's lifeless body fell. And she pressed that delete button, erasing herself from every Canadian document ever.

Her shoulders slumped before the anger began to rise again in her chest. She raised her hands, pulling the closest liquid to slash at the computer. Paxton's blood seeped into the broken circuitry and more drops bounced back onto her face with the force of each sharp laceration. She let out a loud scream once she was done, blood splattering to the floor as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Maya flinched when she felt warm arms envelop her. And the now-familiar scent of whiskey and smoke that filled her lungs. She finally did cry, pushing her hands against her face, the blood smearing across her cheeks as she collapsed onto her knees. Logan fell with her.

"It's okay, you're okay," He whispered, breath fanning against her neck. "I gotcha, baby. I gotcha." Logan didn't seem to mind the blood which only made Maya cry more. "Everything's going to be okay. It's over." His gloved hand wiped the tears from her face, as well as a few drops of blood.

She had a feeling it was just beginning.