winds of change ~ wolverine

nine

BAILEY'S POV

I couldn't believe she was actually here. I didn't realize how resigned I'd been to the likelihood  I'd never see her again until she was right in front of me and I just didn't know how to act. I kissed her cheeks customarily as she pulled me into a hug, taking a second to ground myself as her hand patted the back of my neck affectionately. 

When she pulled away, I was surprised that her gaze didn't immediately begin to wander around the apartment. It was the first thing she always did when entering a room, scrutinizing the space for a thing out of place. It used to drive me crazy and if I saw her more often, it probably still would, but right now I just missed it as much as I missed her. 

I didn't comment on it though and closed the door, not bothering to lock at it as we would be leaving soon. I sat as she began to pull the drapes down, and came to settle on the couch right beside me. I sat straight facing her with a soft smile. "I've missed you very much, Mama, thank you for coming all this way to visit me." I began, instinctively switching to Arabic to speak with her.

She scoffed lightly and waved her hand dismissively. "Of course, you're still my baby, even if you've grown all the way up." She smiled, watching me expectantly, but I wasn't sure what for.

I perked up as I remembered my manners, my limbs suddenly feeling inexplicably sluggish but frantically pushing the feeling aside. I hadn't had an Arab guest, or any guest really in a long time. "Would you like some tea or coffee? I can make you anything you want."

She shook her head mutely. "No, that won't be necessary, we won't be here very long."

Smiling, I settled back on the couch, feeling my body relax much more than I'd intended it to. "Right, dinner. There's a few options close by, Japanese, Greek, Mexican, Indian...?" I trailed off waiting for her to stop me and decide on one.

"Japanese is fine." She said offhandedly, watching me even closer now.

My brows raised at the answer, still not understanding her strange look. "Japanese? Really? You hate sushi," I laughed lightly. "I don't even know why I said it, to be honest."

Clearing my throat, I tried to sit up on the couch but it felt like my muscles were liquefying under my skin. "I..." My eyes widened a bit and even though I just wanted to enjoy the night, I couldn't deny that something was seriously wrong. "I don't know what's happening."

Instead of questioning me over my strange behavior, my mother just watched me, humming quietly as whatever was happening to my body took effect. Within seconds, I couldn't move at all no matter how hard I tried. My limbs were completely paralyzed. "Mama, I can't move." I said in English, really starting to panic.

"That's the whole point, dear." She said in accented English back. Horrifyingly, I saw her eyes flash into yellow slits.

I narrowed my eyes, hit so suddenly through the panic with the thought that my mother might not have ever reached out to me at all. Our relationship was still in ruins, the way it had been yesterday and they way it would probably stay for a long time. "Who are you?"

"What," She mocked with a vicious smile. "the Wolverine never told you about me?"

I frowned, one of the few muscles I had left that still worked. "Who the hell is that?" I muttered.

My not-mother laughed lowly. "Oh god, you really are clueless." She stepped toward me, and I couldn't stop her when she reached a hand out to brush gently over my face. "What does it matter," she murmured, her skin rippling suddenly into startling blue scales. "We don't need you for your wits after all." She reached behind my neck, brushing a finger over the skin there and coming away with a miniscule, foggy piece of plastic on her fingertip as she straightened to her full height. I surmised that little thing was responsible for my vegetable state.

I scoffed with offence. "No need to be a bitch, is there." I said rolling my eyes. "What a coward you are. You can't be bothered to try talking to me normally so you disguise yourself as my estranged mother, and you can't beat me in a fight so you fucking paralyze me?"

"Don't be dramatic, it's not permanent." She drawled. "And fighting you would be messy, I don't like to make a mess." She smiled felinely. "But that's not to say I wouldn't win."

I smiled lowly back. "Well I guess we'll never know." She regarded me curiously for a moment before turning her back and rooting around the kitchen drawers for a moment until she found the roll of tape Hanna bought two years ago and never used.

I could only glare as she fastened a strip of it over my mouth and easily hauled me army-style over her back, holding onto my left arm and leg to keep me in place.

As my mother's imposter opened the window to the back fire escape, I heard the unmistakable sound of violence outside the front door. I muttered a low 'what the hell' under the tape but the muffled sound came out more like, "Hhuhu hmh?"

The blue woman turned around to look at the door and under me I felt her body tense, like she was getting ready for a fight. Without saying a word, she started moving faster, sliding the window up and lithely stepping out onto the fire escape without hitting my head over the wall. 

When she turned the corner and began swiftly descending the stairs, I heard the door to my apartment fly open behind us. Taking a chance and hoping whoever it was wasn't on this woman's side, I started yelling as loudly as I could through the tape. Even to my ears it sounded too quiet, far too muffled to make any real noise, and the mutant carrying me was practically flying down the stairs she was going so fast. 

Trying to slow her down even just a little, I started blowing air through my mouth and into the tape, moving my lips wildly to loosen it. When I the tape was a little looser, I manipulated the air I was blowing to add more force to it. The glue quickly lessened its hold and the strip flew off my face. I coughed, trying to catch my breath and started yelling as we were one flight up from the bottom. "Down here!"

Before another word could leave me, the mutant languidly tore off the sleeve of my shirt and jammed it into my mouth, tying the end of it around my head so I couldn't maneuver my way out of it again. All without breaking step.

We reached the ground in the same instant that a thunderous slam rocked the floor in front of the mutant. She froze in place, body taut as a coiled snake without looking remotely so from the outside.

My body was still completely paralyzed, including my neck which was currently facing me away from whatever was happening. A second later, the mutant loosened her hold on me and I felt myself falling backwards, grunting as the back of my head smacked against the concrete. My vision blurred and my head pound heavily, but I could see what had halted her in her tracks out of the corner of my eye.

My eyes couldn't focus through the drumming pain through my skull, but I recognized the shine of those distinct silver claws a moment before he spoke. "You sure you wanna do this again?" He rumbled. "Didn't end so well for you last time."

"Always ruining my fun, Logan." She purred. And it might have been a budding concussion, but right before my eyes, her blue skin rippled and she jumped. The very next second, a raven flew where she'd once stood, croaking loudly once before soaring up the alleyway and out of sight.

Immediately, he rushed to my side, ripping the torn sleeve off my face and examining me with a tight expression. "Is this the part where you say I told you so?" I tried to joke quietly.

"Believe me, it's coming." He muttered, putting his arm under my back and sitting me up slowly, my head lolling against his shoulder like dead weight. Everything tilted a little as the blood rushed down from my head and I scrunched my eyes to ward off the black spots. "Can you move?"

I clenched my jaw to speak through the pain. "No. She gave me a fucking paralytic." I groaned, blinking to clear my vision. "Couldn't have dropped me any gentler either." I muttered sarcastically.

Logan was silent for a minute until he sighed quietly and lifted me up with a hand hooked under my knees. It was then that I noticed the red sprayed on the hand holding up my legs. "Who's blood is that?" I murmured.

He looked down at me and when he spoke his voice rumbled out of his chest and right through me. "She didn't come alone." Was all he said.