Author's Note- This one-shot is from Sabertooth: Death Hunt #1 in Birdy's point of view to explain why she suddenly decides to betray him, sell him out to Tribune to capture him and she tries to leave finally.

In the comic these events happen after Psi-borg, Aldo Ferro, messes with his mind and brings him back to his house. So this one-shot can be seen as a tie in/AU to Lost Brothers if Victor had Birdy to come home to instead. For those interested, throughout my Lost Brothers story I feature all the memories referred to by Birdy later in this one-shot. I thought about including them in this story, but they're all from Victor's perspective and I thought it might take the reader out of the moment. I can perhaps include them in some way if anyone would like that (or you could read through Lost Brothers for it.)

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

A yelp left her, heart hammering into her throat as she felt clawed fingers wrap securely around her ankle. Birdy kicked her leg out, trying to shake the hand off. It did nothing against the unbreakable grip of Victor Creed.

"Let go!" She protested. The opposite happened. She felt air rush past her and her balance go off momentarily as her body was suddenly yanked downward. Birdy found herself tugged to the floor. "Ack!" She landed with a hard thud onto her bum.

"Serves ya right, tryna get away from me," Victor announced, leaning in over top of her.

Birdy looked up, blue eyes peering up into Victor's dark ones. With another hard thud against her ribs, she burst into giggles. "Would I do that?" She feigned innocence as the giggles subsided. Victor snorted loudly and leaned down to press his lips against hers once again. Her eyes fluttered closed as she sank into the momentary heat but it was short lived this morning. Birdy gave him a bit of a pout as his hand dragged away from behind her neck, yes... far too short for her liking.

"Yer a smartass, girl," He pretended to grumble. Birdy grinned. Even Victor couldn't wipe the warmth from his voice. Birdy smiled softly at him as he stood up. Towering over her at his seven foot, she had to crane her neck back against the bed to still see Victor's face. He smirked down at her before he turned towards the dresser he'd been at moments ago. Of course when she'd declared she was going back to bed instead of dealing with work he chose to get playful and tug her out of her warm bundle of blankets.

It wasn't so bad. The view was worth the nippy Canadian morning. She was rather pleased with her idea of wearing his shirt to bed now, since it meant she got a nice view of his muscled shoulders. The bulking feral was busying himself near the dresser, growling with no real heart in it at the pager he was trying to make work.

"Damn contraptions," He snapped finally, and Birdy watched unsurprised as the small pager went sailing across the room and make a good dent into the far wall. "Who in hell even uses these things anymore?"

"I think it was your idea boss," Birdy pointed out. In fact she knew it was his stupid idea, because it'd been her who had to go track down a good pair and buy them. The idea of Victor getting lost in a Best Buy, while amusing, would also end poorly when he lost his temper on some poor store employee just doing their job.

"Shuddup," He said half heartedly and she snickered. "Nuthin's made right anymore," He blamed.

She just grinned at him. She thought it was funny when he showed his age like that, it amused her endlessly and it was one of the few things he hadn't caught onto. He'd just give her a bemused look and write it off after a few minutes of her protesting.

"I mean," She offered, voice dropping lower. "We could always not work today."

"Yer not working today," He looked back at her, chortling slightly before he flexed his clawed fingers, lengthening the talons out to emphasize his point. She shrugged and dropped back onto the bed, gathering the blanket up into her arms and rolling onto her stomach.

"Yeah, but it'd be a lot more fun if you played hooky with me," She added brightly. A simple; and rare, smile curled up his face, no malice to be detected. Birdy stared, enraptured by the strange expression on his face. It made him look handsome. But he broke the trance between them, and snorted loudly in some silent protest. Oh he probably dismissed the moment as one of her 'quirks'. He couldn't go and look soft, now could he? Birdy chuckled internally as Victor turned away from her to busy himself at the dresser.

Birdy smiled wistfully and sighed the memory away. She rolled back onto her stomach to pick her forgotten magazine back up. She wished he'd taken her to this job, at least then she'd know why he was gone so long- what had kept him. Usually he did check in at some point if things got off track, but there was nothing…

She'd started to worry. She knew he couldn't die, he'd drilled that in her head enough times, afraid she'd try and finish him off and dart. To be fair, that had always been the plan. But it changed somewhere down the road, getting to know him, she'd gotten close to him. Too close, now… to the point she worried that he wouldn't come back instead of hoping he wouldn't!

Not that she'd say as much, neither would he. It would break whatever… spell was going on in the handful of months. So Birdy would keep on complaining that she'd ditch on him the second she didn't believe he'd kill her and Victor would keep telling her he was only interested in her powers still.

Birdy's silly affections couldn't have picked a more challenging candidate…

deet deet deet deet

Birdy shoved up off the chaise lounge, tossing her legs over it and darting out of the living room without haste. That wasn't dinner pinging, it sounded more like the alarm system. Birdy was glad Victor had gotten her accustomed to the settings and how to turn it on and off (another unspoken assurance he knew she didn't want to leave anymore) as she poured over the back sensor going off.

"Shit," She muttered, turning over another screen to get a view of the backyard. She couldn't see anything… turning Birdy made her way to the back door and stretched out with her senses, letting her eyes close for just a moment as she reached out for the intruders. She couldn't really touch any thoughts but she could sense many, many presences.

"Dammit all," She scowled, running back to the front of the house and opening the closet she stored some of her bigger artillery. There were a lot of people out there and the house's watchdog hadn't been home in weeks. She snatched her uniform out of the closet, figuring she'd need the protection if anyone was seriously equipped enough to find Victor's mini fortress.

Ninja's, of course it was ninja's, she twisted as she laid another spray of fire across the front line of the red robed attackers. How did this end up being her luck? Silent when Victor was here, but the one man army leaves and suddenly she has to deal with a band of ninja's likely seeking some revenge on the owner.

As she paused to reload the automatic a crackle near the wrist of her uniform.

"What the blazes am I payin' ya for Birdy?"

Birdy squeaked of shock, momentarily losing focus on her fight covering the back entrance. There was no mistaking that annoyed, snarking voice!

"You're supposed to keep the trash off the sidewalk!"

"Is that you, boss?" It was a stupid question, but she couldn't believe he showed up right as they house is under fire after being MIA for the better part of a month! He was the most reliable unreliable man she'd ever met!

"Well it sure ain't the avon lady!" She could hear the mix of metal clashing and shouts before the speaker cracked off. Birdy chuckled and quickly finished off the group lingering in the backyard. She surveyed the yard and figured the rest she had sensed must have joined whoever was up front attacking Victor.

So Birdy double timed it through the building, reloading as she slipped through the front door.

"As strong as you are, there are still too many of us—" She heard one of the red hooded hand shout to Victor. "-and we are ready to die!"

Ugh, the dramatics. Birdy cocked her gun, settling the chain of rounds underneath the gun.

"I've been ready to die since before you was born!" Victor rebutted. Yup, there was Victor, alright, equally on par. But there was a strange tint to his voice that had her frowning before her gun set up and she joined the fray as Victor seemed to be slightly overwhelmed despite him slicing through the hoard.

"Sorry, boss-" She called, setting a hand on her hip as her heavy equipment did the work for her. Smarter not harder, she would have to get Victor to understand that one day. Unlikely. "I was monitoring the batch that's camped out at the back door!"

He slipped out of the fray as they scattered from her assault. Stubborn bunch were still trying to get around her towards Victor! But they couldn't be bright if they'd decided revenge on Sabertooth would work any better than it had for anyone else (or even her for that matter). Everyone took a shot eventually, Victor inevitably out stood them. Perks of a healing factor. Must be nice.

"I'll have this lot cleared away in a second."

"See that ya do Birdy!"

"Where have you been boss?" She called over her shoulder as she gripped the gun with both hands to maneuver and catch the last bunch.

"Would y'believe inside a plant pod?"

Plant pod? Oh never mind, she didn't even want to know anymore. Victor got into the strangest things. Who knew what it was, she was just irritated he'd been gone for so long with that as his only explanation. Not that he had to excuse himself to her, but… a call would have been nice so she didn't have to worry so much!

"All sorts of urgent jobs offers have been coming in on the fax line! These are important clients." She pestered him, hiding any hints of her worry or agitated voice behind work. Although it wasn't too far off the mark, she had two giant piles of job offers (in some cases job bribes) waiting in his office.

"You afraid the work's gonna dry up, Birdy?"

Sure, that was totally it. Technically it was her only spoken reason for sticking around so willingly. She lowered the gun, feeling the burn in her arm now that she'd cleared out the rest of the invaders. Birdy had barely turned when she heard a splintering shatter. Victor had kicked the door in, with enough strength it sent the wood splintering inside the entrance.

Oh, perfect, he was in a swell mood alright. What the hell got up his ass anyways? Who exactly was going to have to replace that door? She was, that was who! It was always an afterthought to him, the consequences to anything he did. Sometimes with this man she just wanted to… ugh.

"Long as there's greed an' envy, fear and loathin' in the world… gonna be work A- plenty for assassins!"

He spieled on, honestly she'd already sort of forgotten what they were talking about. Victor stopped suddenly near a portrait of his many kills. Egotist had a wall of kills! Each slashed, his personal touch to the 'artwork' Pfft, more like his resume and trophy wall all-in-one. She glanced at it and recognized the woman in the portrait, the one the hand had just attacked them over. It was before her time, but surely it was some boss of the hand or their associates she was sure.

"Have that one changed… she should be wearing the uniform of a hydra-over lord!" Victor gloated. Well that answered one of the mysteries of the night. Yeeaaaah, she'd get right on that. Just google what a hydra overlord should look like.

Have that one changed… bah! She took back missing him so much!

He stalked ahead of her and Birdy sort of hoped he ate and took a nap so maybe he wouldn't be such a crank later. She had to make a call to one of the clean up crews Victor regularly employed so the house could be cleared before sunrise and before anyone started getting suspicious of one of Victor's favorite city hideouts.

Birdy didn't want anything happening to the usually quiet mansion in Vancouver. This was her favorite of Victor's places, sure it was beautiful but maybe it was just because Victor tended to retreat here when he wanted to get away for awhile, and subsequently he wasn't such a brat!

She had been so busy getting the clean up crew set up and setting up security after them she hadn't even had time to change out of her uniform. Victor had called for her before she got the chance to change and she found herself not wanting to make him wait. She had waited weeks to see him, after all.

She settled down on the edge of his expansive built in tub where he was propped up against the edge of it. Birdy set down the champagne she knew he liked next to him in a chiller. She'd always thought he was funny that way, big burly outdoors guy, insisted he was an animal at heart, but he had mighty fancy taste in liquor. He glanced at it, but said nothing at first.

"Clean up?" He finally asked.

"All taken care of," She assured him, smiling briefly. He nodded, but didn't say much more. She glanced around, and made a face to herself. This hadn't exactly been how she'd imagined their reunion, a horde of ninja's bent on revenge and angry silence.

She glanced back at him and reached up to run her hadn't over his shoulder lightly. He tensed instinctively but relaxed a moment later anyways. Unsure of what to say she ended up dancing her hands over his shoulders and eventually tried to undo some of the tension in his shoulders to see if that was what was getting to him. She could practically feel the anger rolling off him in waves. Maybe she could, psychically that was, his mind was so open to her after being in it so often.

Eventually his head dropped down some and he grunted a few times, although Birdy couldn't imagine she was doing much good. As much pressure as she put on his massive shoulders, they still felt like bricks barely rolling under her palms.

"…I really needed this hot soak, Birdy—" He finally spoke up and she nodded, still focused on at loosening the gigantic knot in his right shoulder. "Man-o-man it's like jack hammers and ice picks inside my skull!"

"Your muscles are all tight and knotted…" She started, frowning in concentration. Whatever was going on in his head and whatever healing factor he had, he really had to start regulating all this stress. "You have to cool out and—"

"You don't tell me what to do—"

He barked. Ugh, not this again. She'd gotten used to not having to choose her wording to not sound challenging before he left. Did he have to be so defensive tonight? What exactly happened that had him so wound up tight anyways?

He must have sensed her reaction because without warning he reached around and grabbed her hand. What now, she was just….

"—You jus' get in here and do yer job!" He hollered and she barely had time to register what was happening when he twisted at the waist and wrapped his arm around her shoulders and threw her head first into the bathwater.

It was a massive tub, but she took in a big gulp of water and twisted up to her feet, coughing as she came up for air. She spluttered her temper flaring as she smacked the water once.

"Y-you shouldn't oughta do that to someone you let traipse through the inside of your brain!" She shouted, even more pissed as she saw the smug look plastered across his face. Oh did he think this was funny? She was soaked! This uniform was going to be ruined and these were her favorite boots. She didn't it funny! "All it'd take is an aneurysm—" She mouthed and moved to the side of the tub, glaring daggers at the man.

"You ain't got the sand to kill me, Birdy..!" Victor snorted, that smug grin growing deeper. He reached for the champagne she'd been so nice to bring, oh now he noticed it while he was teasing her.

"… 'cause you know there ain't nowhere far enough for you to run if ya tries and fails."

Well didn't he have it all just figured out! Oh he was infuriating! She shot him a nasty glower again, pulling herself up out of the water and frowning at the way her thigh high boots bloated up with trapped air and her uniform got sticky in other places. She took back all the missing him and soft stuff from this morning! He was the most irritating being on this planet! Ooh! She just wanted to smack that bottle right out of his big dumb mouth.

"Come on, Birdy— do your thing!" He called and tilted his head back to guzzle the champagne. He did realize that was ridiculous didn't he? Oh it'd serve him right if she did! "You're gonna love it!"

Yeah, somehow she doubted it. The main thing Birdy didn't love about working with Victor was the fact that she had to dive into the twisted and bleak corridors that was Victor's mind and chase away his phantoms. But that had always been the deal and honestly, he was more human when she did. More of who she'd come to care about.

"That ol' geek psi-borg unscrambled some o' my memories for me!" He went on, dropping the bottle now. "Unblocked some choice stuff!"

Victor reached up, a practiced fang filled grin pulling at his face as he tapped at his forehead. Always the dramatics with him, she was surprised his claws didn't drip with sarcasm instead of blood. "Some real horrors come loose from up there… enough to freeze yer craw!"

Yeah she doubted that, Birdy had had a strong stomach since she was a little girl. Even stronger since meeting Victor and sharing in some of the crazy stuff stored away in his broken mind. Oh he was just goading her, but despite knowing that... it was still working.

"You want it, mister Creed?" She challenged, wheeling up onto her feet and clicking against the tile as she stepped forward. "You got it!" Birdy shouted, throwing her arms forward and summoning every ounce of mental strength she possessed.

Maybe just this once she'd make him regret goading her into this! Make him realize he was full of shit all the time!

Victor's head was tossed back in a silent scream as she threw her mental reach at him, his 'glow', like she always did. But this time, Birdy really felt the pain in his mind as she psychically made contact. She was breezing past his normally shuttered mind, it had been strangely left open… whatever this Psi-borg had done it hadn't been done in as friendly a way as Victor was trying to make it out to be.

She grimaced at the effort it took out of her to dive into his mind and at the sudden attack of so many things. Birdy's astral self started to buckle under the weight of a hundred new faces. It was like the first time she'd met him all over again, she was overwhelmed by a blur of horrific blurrs and images that were apparently the reason behind his attitude tonight.

Birdy gritted herself and threw her mind out again, pushing back against the onslaught as she'd grown accustomed to doing. But it just seemed to morph and linger, it was all so… personal. Usually Victor's memories were distant, he was too detached to most memories that she didn't even see them from his perspective like most people's. But that was Victor, his mind was bent and twisted into a strange agony of shards. Shards of a life too long, and too many losses. Always so many but she never got to the bottom of anything. She just shoved it away so he didn't have to deal with it. Victor never opened up or associated with any of it long enough for it to be healthy.

Cellar doors opened with loud creaks, there wasn't much light coming from the opening, it must be night, but it seemed like it was more light than he was used to already. He could smell the fresh fall air, drastic from the damp basement he'd been shoved in for what felt like an eternity this time.

Birdy threw the mental images and smells back and they were replaced with more.

"Can I come out now?" A plea sounded from somewhere, an echo.

"In the name of all the saints!"

There was a gurgle, the taste of copper in Victor's mind and pain laced across the blurred faces and objects. Birdy panted and shoved it all away, tucking it back. But it was all out of place, disjointed and sudden, the work of this Psi-borg. Maybe he had accessed some part of Victor's mind but he'd left it in ruins in the process! No wonder Victor was acting how he was.

"Out!" There was a shout. There was a sickening feeling in a sudden memory overwhelming Birdy. Of teeth crunching inside his head of the tooth cracking off.

"Out!"

Rage poured over the images and Birdy was sort of thankful, his rage she knew how to get rid of. Enough of it began to sort but she was growing weaker. Birdy's physical body staggered. She couldn't stop yet, she found herself making some headway.

Victor had found his voice as she cleared away most of the horrors.

"Gettin' right down to it Birdy?!" She could vaguely register what he was saying, still struggling with the last of the images. "You know what it's like for me?"

No, all she knew was how much work it was for her. She didn't know how he could think of anything with this much information rattling loose around his forethoughts.

"It's like dyin' and being' born. Like a white hot hurtin' and pure joy. Like takin' what ya want and gettin' what ya fear," Birdy mostly tuned him out as he babbled on and she struggled with the last two overshadowing images. Just one left now… a blurry man with some tool in his hand. If she could just get this… but the memory felt so strong. They all were so overwhelming.

"Like killin' and makin' b-b-" Victor's voice died out at the same time Birdy found herself suddenly yanked out of his mind. She gasped as she fell back to her body and her head darted to where Victor had seemed to pass out in the tub. What happened?

Oh God… had she…

Birdy ran towards him, heels clacking unevenly against the tiled floor as she tossed herself on her knees next to the man, heart hammering in her throat.

"Victor," She begged, what if she'd gone too far? Too recklessly when someone else had tampered with his head, what if she hurt him?! She reached out, cradling Victor's head in her hand and running her other worriedly through his hair. Dammit, she'd hurt him this time. His head fell slack, yet his eyes were still open although glossed over. Not in his feral way, either, just… empty.

Oh god she'd melted his brain or something! She'd told him a thousand times she wasn't sure what she was doing! That she wasn't sure it was good for him! He never listened, just shouted and raged about needing his glow. Birdy started to whimper when she realized his hand was jerking just slightly, making ripples in the water around him. Was that a good sign?

Gently, she poked mentally at his mind, trying to see what damage she'd done. With a staggering burst of energy, she felt herself psychically come into contact with something. Touch… was that Victor's consciousness? Everything was so repressed normally, she'd never managed to actually get close enough to….

Suddenly there was someone, hovering just by the edge of the tub across from them. Birdy gasped, mouth falling open as she gently let her hand lead Victor's head back again from where she'd been holding it up.

It was a little boy! He couldn't be more than six or seven, scruffy blonde hair and a very strange blue outfit. It wasn't like anything she'd seen before, it looked like something out of a Laura Ingles flick. A scared look hovered in his eyes, hidden by thick messy eyebrows.

Stranger yet was some sort of mask over his mouth and shackles around his hands.

"Who- who are you?" She called, leaning away from Victor slightly.

The child tried to act menacing, baring his teeth, but as he spoke a very familiar glint grew in his eyes. Victor. "They calls me Creed. Will you be my friend?"

She smiled, realizing this was all a projection, she'd projected this, or Victor did somehow. Birdy really didn't know, but she must have done something when she touched his consciousness. Unless, was this it? Victor's astral projection, the thing at the base of his soul in his mind… was stuck in the form of this little boy. Of Victor, trapped like this.

"Sure, I'll be your friend. Who did all that to you?" She asked, taking a moment to glance as Victor's physical body straightened some, or at least his head tilted up. He was in some sort of trance, because of this projection… she had to be really delicate here or she end up leaving him catatonic.

The little boy' fierce look shifted away, into panic, into fear. "They did," He called nervously. "We can't tell them 'bout us bein' friends, ya know… they'll punish me."

Who? Who was they? Who was the phantom behind all the images she'd been seeing in Victor's mind for the last year? What was it here, at the base of all his rage, and lack of control?

"They's always punishin' me," The little Victor went on. "They say if I be's bad one more time, they's gonna lock me in the root cellar for good!

Something in her chest really broke, staring at this terrified, nearly twitching child. The object terror in his green-yellow eyes, in the man she loved eyes. The… what could only be some sort of dog muzzle, although oddly shaped, and the chains over his wrists… a cellar? Had he really? All the strange images before, dark and misshapen, it could make sense. Who would lock a little kid up like that?

Who else, she thought, but pressed on with his consciousness.

"What did you do that was so bad?!" She insisted.

"Come closer, an' … I'll tell ya…"

The child, no, Victor's raw fear was starting to get to her. The power of the memory so… emotional. So strange for Victor, who was so detached from his memories was digging into her as she got deeper into the mental projection. But she couldn't pull away now, not now… when she was finally seeing the hesitation behind Victor's defensiveness, the hurt behind the rage… it was all there, all he denied.

Without explanation, the bonds flew off the child and Victor's younger self grabbed ahold of her neck. Still affected by the fear she clenched her eyes shut and frowned trying to fend off her young Victor growled, his ever familiar snarl aimed at her as she opened her eyes.

But then the boy stopped. "Y-ya doesn't hates me?" He spoke, eyes widening and face falling slack in complete shock. Looking at him, with his overpowering feelings crushing her down Birdy couldn't help but take it personally. No… she didn't hate him. She didn't want to run away from him, she wanted to find a way to save him from all the pain she could see behind Sabretooth's rage. She wanted to coax out the humor Victor hid from the world and hide in his protective hold for as long as the world let her.

"Ya doesn't wanna… hurt me?"

Birdy stared into Victor's younger, child like eyes, the trust in those eyes. It was something she'd never seen before, Victor just didn't trust. But there was a levelness there, a relief she'd never been privy to. The want… he wanted all this, all he laughed and sneered at. He just wanted someone but he didn't want the hurt of rejection.

Victor Creed was ironically afraid of what they all were.

The boy suddenly lunged into her arms and she tightly wound hers around his a smile breaking across her face.

"No, Honey…" She muttered, looking down at him and breaking into a smile. "I think maybe you been hurt too much…"

He'd been hurt far too much. The images seemed suddenly to make sense because of all this. The pliers, his father ripping his teeth from his mouth and the claws from his fingers to rid of him of the 'devil', of his mother dying getting in the way of his Father's final blow against him. The dark figure with the tools… it was Victor's father, after all this time of it haunting his mind.

Finally she made a breakthrough. Birdy had finally found Victor's deepest hurt, she could finally help…

"Awww, ain't that sweet…"

Huh? The projection vanish and she was roughly disconnected from Victor's mind making her jump. Birdy knew the familiar feeling of him suddenly shunting her from his thoughts, mentally giving her a kick.

"Almost enough to melt the heart o'the king o'mean."

What? The same eyes as she'd just peered into were back to normal. He hovered over her, a cigarette burning between his lips and the towel he had around his waist, spoke of how long he'd been conscious of her mental journey. But his eyes were cold, shut off. They looked tortured and he looked tired. She'd never seen him look tired before.

But didn't he understand? This was it, this was what could change everything, release the phantoms that drove him into those uncontrollable feral rages! She stared for a second, her own eyes pleading for his understanding. She wanted to see some relief in his eyes, some of the eureka she felt! But it wasn't there to be found.

No. She realized with a growing frown that Victor's look now told her everything. Yeah he understood, Victor got it.

She'd sorted him out all right… but he… Victor didn't believe her. He didn't believe- wouldn't believe- that she didn't want to hurt him with what she'd just seen, he didn't want to chance it. Yeah, Birdy had his number finally. She could almost see some of the images she'd driven out before in the back of her mind, Logan walking away from him on the battlefield, a girl who had contracted a disease and he had to kill her, a spy he'd hidden away with until a mission claimed her life.

The coward, he was as human as everyone else was. He just didn't want to deal with anything.

"But you know what they say… almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!" He snarled suddenly, and Birdy wasn't expecting the sudden attack. Victor, for the first time since the initial brawl between them as she tried to assassinate him, hit her and she went flying down to the ground. In all this time, in all the time she'd tried to squirm her way out, all the time she stopped trying, and all the bickering, in any of his rages he'd never actually physically hurt her.

"So don't be wastin' that good stuff on no phantoms out o'the past." He called out bitterly.

Birdy didn't pick herself up off the floor where she'd fallen from the strength of his hit. Her eyes were blurring with unwanted tears and she wasn't going to let him see them. "I need that glow, Birdy. I need ya take away the pain…"

She heard his steps and slowly pulled herself up on her elbow, gritting her teeth. The bastard. Wasting it on phantoms! He was a coward, he didn't want to face anything! He wanted her to just shove it all out of his head, not sort it out until the magical answer came from his mind. It had always sounded silly to her, but there it was this magical answer. The explanation of how he turned into the cruel person he could be.

It broke her heart, the idea of a kid being tortured like that, it broke her heart more than the times she'd seen him lose people in his head. It did… but it didn't change that he walked up the stairs away from it. Victor Creed didn't want anything fixed. He wanted it shoved under the carpet.

Birdy sniffed and sent a scouring look up the stairs. Even if he did want to… he'd just made it pretty clear that he didn't trust her with it. Anything with her… it was never going to be worth risking getting hurt to Victor Creed. One of the bravest people she'd thought she'd ever met turned out to be the most afraid.

…Security system…

…main toggle… off

Perimeter infrared sensor… off

Grounds motion detector… off

Window lasers… off

Doorway claymores… off

Anti-personnel mines… off

Main gate lock… disengaged.

Click.

A manicured finger slid away from the computer system and Birdy turned cold eyes to the men creeping inside.

"It's okay he's sound asleep."

"Just get out of the way we'll take over from here."

She watched, with a fleeting regret for what she'd just done. Out of anger, hurt, or a realistic survival instinct, Birdy knew she couldn't do it anymore. She was out… but with Victor, who jonsed for his 'Glow' like a junkie did his drug, she'd never get far enough, quick enough.

These guys, they'd get him out of her way long enough. Not very long, he'd break free, it was Victor after all. That was the one thing he was good at, right, running? Well she'd give him a chase so she could disappear. She went to turn but heard them talking about a door. No… she'd left the door open!

Birdy shouted up, tried to warn them the door was left open that something was wrong. But no, they had it under control. Up until the moment Victor swung out in full fur trimmed regalia.

"Arrogant macho idiots- now we're all in for it!" She snapped, darting down the familiar hallways.

"Where are ya Birdy? Sold me out didja?" He howled over the gunfire. She heard him. Well, if he was going to treat her like she wasn't more than that because he was afraid of facing himself, then yes. Yes she did. She'd do what she had to, like she'd done her whole life.

"Not too bright Birdy!"

He had gotten the security system back on and she grumbled to herself as she avoided the security measured she'd grown accustomed to. "Luckily I know where all the party favors are."

She got out of the way, but hid back in the shadows as Victor fought them off. She knew he'd never go down easy… but he was indestructible. Birdy wasn't. So she needed the chance to get out of there before he killed her trying to leave or before she softened and ended up staying. This… her mental help wasn't help at all, it was a fix for him, to not deal with any of the things causing him pain and he'd never be the guy she could see deep down when he was stuck in this… addition addled state.

So she'd hit him, like he'd hit her. That was just how it had to be, this wasn't good for either of them anymore. Maybe it never had been.

Birdy watched in pain as they took him down, gas tasers, nets, and he was only off balance. He really was the most impressive man she'd ever met. The tranquilizer got him finally… but not enough he couldn't slur out his rage.

"…I'm comin' back Birdy! You're gonna get yours! I'm gonna fix you! You hear that, I'm gonna fix you!"

Birdy reached up and covered her face, swallowing as she heard the words she'd seen in his head earlier last night.

'You hear that boy! I'm gonna fix you!' Victor's father yelled from the top of the cellar stairs, leaving the boy shivering in the dark, cold cellar. Alone, abused, and scared.

Birdy pushed away Victor's memories, which had begun to haunt her as much as they did him. She'd thought for so long she'd been making progress with him but she was only fueling this strange addiction. She didn't want this to be the last she saw of him, she didn't want to prove him right like she just had. Birdy didn't want this to be how it ended… but for both their sanity, and her safety… this had to be Good-Bye.