Love That Burns

seven

You couldn't tell how long you'd been tortured and experimented on. Everything had blurred together. All you knew was that they hadn't allowed you to heal and you were barely allowed to get any rest, being woken up every time you passed out.

Stryker smiled at you when he entered the room. Oh, how you longed to burn his face off.

"Need you for one more project," Stryker told you, standing over you. "One more mission." He looked at you like he was inspecting you. "You know? Logan—or James, as you so fondly call him, he's a changed man. Revenge will do that to you."

It made you sick to think of James out there fighting again, and simply out of revenge.

Stryker looked at his people in the room. "Take Weapon 12 to a cell," he ordered.

You were freed from the table and dragged away into a cell. Weapon 12? What were they going to do to you that required them to strip you of your name? You were tossed into a cell with the door slammed shut quickly afterward. Curling into a ball, you were finally able to let the emotions come to the surface. The sobs wracked your body as you allowed yourself to drown in the emotions of what you had been through.

Victor had found you and attacked you.

Victor injected you with something that killed you.

You woke up on the ground outside of your home with Stryker and Zero there.

James... James...

Your sobs got worse, threatening to choke you, as your thoughts focused on James.

Was he okay?

Would you ever see him again?

What did Stryker mean by James being a changed man?

James had a long, hard life. He deserved rest. Not this.

~~~

Stryker came in a few hours later, with dog tags in his hand.

"I've got a gift for you," he said before throwing the tags in front of you. You shakily reached forward. "One of them is your original team tag while the other one is new. Weapon 12."

"What—" You paused to swallow, throat rough. "What do you want with me?"

"Your mutation, of course. It's what I've always wanted. And, soon, you will have more mutations given to you. To help the cause."

"What cause?"

"To end the war with mutants before it starts."

"I won't help you."

"You won't have a choice." Stryker turned to leave. "I wouldn't let yourself dwell on Logan too much, you won't remember him soon anyway."

The door shut, leaving you feeling utterly alone once again. With a shaky hand, you took the dog tags and placed them around your neck. You held your old tag and thought about what life would have been like if you hadn't left with James when you did. You were sure that it would be a similar hell to what you were currently experiencing. Perhaps you would have been dead already.

You would never change what happened—you choosing to walk away with James. It brought you the happiest years of your life. You wish that you could have had more, but you were grateful for what you had.

~~~

With some help from Remy LeBeau, James got to the island. He snuck through the gates and warehouses, seeing the mutants—mostly children—for himself. It made him sick to think of all those kids being used for Stryker's game. Just like you were. James found his way up the stairs and into the large laboratory where monitors and people were working on a body. Stryker stood near them, monitoring them.