We enter Las Vegas, Logan on the motorcycle and me flying.
"You sure it was Victor?" John asks.
"Yeah."
"Damn!" John says, his eyes wide. "I'm sorry, man."
"He got worse. Felt like you and Queen Elizabeth over there abandoned him. Hell, we all did. But Victor...he had to prove that he was better than you. Hunting and killing's everything he is."
Logan turns to me. "Queen Elizabeth?" He repeats.
"Apparently Elsa is a nickname for Elizabeth or something." I say.
Logan turns back to John.
"Quite a few months later myself, I quit. Couldn't take running 'em up."
"Running who up?" I ask.
"Leave it alone."
"Running who up, John?" Logan says.
John remains silent.
"Hey! God damn it, John!" Logan says.
"We hunted down our own kind." John looks back and forth at us. "There's a special place in hell for the things we did."
"Mutants..." I say.
"Why?" Logan asks.
"Stryker says we would be making a difference. Protecting people from the bad ones." He pauses. "How are you gonna take Victor down, Logan?" He looks at Logan.
"Remember that stuff in Africa?"
"Yeah, I remember Africa, what about it?"
Logan shows him his claws.
"Damn!" John says, his eyes wide. "What did they do to you?"
"Don't ask."
He looks at me. "What about you? You helpin' him?" He points to Logan.
"Yup. I'm pretty good at finding people. I'd make the perfect stalker."
John chuckles for a few seconds. "But seriously, Elsa, how are you gonna-?"
I make my leather jacket disappear, my hair flick up into a dark brown ponytail, and my wings whip out to their full length. A small golden ball of electricity hovers an inch above my palm and in my other hand is a loaded gun.
"I've been told I'm good at killing." I say.
"Damn!" John says.
"You like to say that a lot, don't you?"
He shrugs his shoulders, I guess.
The gun disappears, the electricity goes away, and my wings fold back in. My short-sleeved white shirt changes to a dark blue, skin-tight, long-sleeve.
"Listen," Logan says. "Zero said something about an island. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Nope." John answers. "But Dukes knows. Him and Zero were tight."
"Fred Dukes?" I ask.
John nods.
"Where is he?" Logan asks.
"Here."
"Well let's go talk to him."
"Hold on." John says, stopping Logan from walking out the door. "He don't get off until 'round four. But I gotta warn, you...he developed a bit of an eating disorder."
We head to a boxing ring, where some very, very, obese man is fighting a regular-sized man.
"I'm tryin' to woop Fred back into shape." John says.
"Come on Fred," John calls. "If you want to get in shape, you gotta move, man!" He lowers his voice. "I told him he gotta move."
"Wait...that's-?" I stop short when the man flies out of the ring after a punch from the obese man.
"If you want his help, don't mention his weight."
We look at Fred as he turns to face us. Fred's drinking out of a gigantic soda cup.
"Fred Dukes?" Logan says. "That looks like the creature that ate Fred Dukes."
"Hey, be nice man." John says.
Logan walks forward.
"Hey fat-Fred. I seem to remember that girl when she was about 85 pounds, huh?"
Fred glances at the tattoo on his arm and looks back at Logan. "Oh that's funny. You're still so funny, Logan." He says with no enthusiasm.
"You know where Victor is?"
"No idea."
"Where's the island, slim?"
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Logan, Elsa." Fred turns away from us.
Logan gets into the ring. "Listen, I ain't leaving here until you tell me where Victor is. So come on bub, for old times' sake, huh?"
Fred turns to Logan. "Did you just call me...Blob?"
"No, but-"
Before Logan can finish his sentence Fred punches him out of the ring. Logan goes flying back and crashes into some equipment.
John appears next to Logan as he picks himself up.
"I told you not to mention his weight." John says.
"I didn't say blob, I said bub, god damn it!"
John glances at me, then looks at Logan.
"I got an idea."
