- CHAPTER ELEVEN -

Priorities

Pain. That was all he could feel. He didn't want to move, he couldn't.

Logan lay on his front in a cell, hearing the footsteps of soldiers walk away from the cage he had just found himself being locked within. His head dazedly lifted from the floor, eyes trying to study his surroundings. But his gaze was sudden obscured by a curtain of black hair and a distraught sob filled his ears. Disorientated, Logan tried to push back the limbs that fought to hold him, seeming to not realise that the touches were soft and warm.

"Logan!" came the gentle voice that drifted distantly into his attention.

Using all the strength he could summon, Logan turned his head slowly, picking it up from the floor. He tried to seek out the scent, but the enhanced world of smells around him was suddenly non-existent. He could only smell very faint aromas that would normally be so in tune with his thoughts. Hands took his face, one warm, one cold; and the oddity caused Logan to look up at the person besides him. Blinking his dazed sight slowly, he saw Aurora sat before him, pale eyes regarding him with concern.

"Your wounds haven't completely healed," she explained softly, "Your powers were stopped when you entered here, so they'll be really tender."

"I wondered why I felt so.. ugh.. drained," Logan pushed himself into a sitting position slowly, feeling the gunshot wounds in his back burn painfully. His healing factor had been working frantically since he had been shot, but the moment be entered the cage his mutation shut down, leaving his wounds partially healed. His vest top was stained by circles of blood, and felt uncomfortable against his injuries. Holding back a wince, he whipped the top off his head, discarding it onto the hard floor. "Where are we?"

"Block I," informed Aurora morosely, "Cage 2."

Logan looked around the area slowly, seeing rows of pens on either side of the large cold room. Just like in Storm's Block 'H', there were three mutants in each pen. The other occupant in theirs was on one of the beds, sleeping. In fact, many of the mutants were, for that was all they could do to escape the reality. "Storm and I were brought in," sighed Logan softly. "That's all of us now. We tried to help but – "

"Logan.. it was inevitable."

"I know.."

Aurora rested her hand on his bare arm, regarding him with saddened eyes; "We'll get out of here eventually. We've got to.."

"Do we ever get out of these pens in the day?"

"Yes, in the morning they let us walk around our blocks for twenty minutes before locking us back up. Sometimes they come and take someone for testing.." she pointed over to where a woman lay on her bed in the opposite pen. "She went this morning.. she hasn't spoken to any of us since she got back.." Aurora fell quiet, glancing at Logan before she averted her eyes. "It's a lot like Alkali Lake now, only there's more of us, and more to control us."

Frowning, Logan placed his hand over hers, squeezing it gently. He knew that any recollection of Alkali Lake upset her, and that this place must be doing it constantly.

"I'm just glad you're here," she whispered softly, "even after everything you said to me.."

"Look.." began Logan quietly, "let's just forget about all that now. It ain't the time or place, is it?"

"But what if we never get out of here? What if we die in here, then we haven't even got time or places."

Logan sighed quietly as he looked down at his lap.

"Last week I asked you if you still loved me and – "

"In a storage cupboard," added Logan, smirking slightly as he glanced at her. That felt so long ago..

"Yes, well," muttered Aurora quietly, blushing a little, "Spur of the moment, thing."

Logan turned slowly, crossing his legs beneath him on the hard flooring. "I said no," he informed, helping her along with the story.

Aurora stared at him for a moment, "Why are you being so calm about it?"

"Darlin', it got put into perspective the minute I was doin' over a hundred mile an' hour through New York, tryin' to escape a Sentinel."

A smile twitched at Aurora's currently grim expression, "Put into perspective in a good way?"

Logan sighed quietly, leaning forward and grabbing her by the hand, "C'mere," he murmured, tugging her over. As she obediently followed, he gently wrapped an arm round her back, pulling her smaller form against his side.

"Great it looks like we got ourselves some entertainment. A bit lovey dovey, but y'know, it's an improvement to watchin' the walls."

Aurora and Logan quickly looked round to see a man in one of the opposite cages, laying on his bed and watching them. He had a smirk on his face and looked quite amused by the situation.

"Excuse me?" asked Aurora indignantly, even though she had heard him clearly.

The man lazily gestured with a hand, "I mean, it's like a lil' soap opera we got here. S'all good, keep it goin'." The man smiled mischievously, pushing his blond hair back from his face gently.

"Who're you?"

"Solar. Or 1279, whichever takes your fancy," he shrugged idly, reclining back on the wall slowly, "Don't mind me, hun. I'm just a very bored person. Man, what I'd give to be back home now. I'm sure there's a football game on tonight I wanted to watch.." he drifted off, looking thoughtful.

Aurora slowly looked back to Logan, the paw sharing a bemused expression.

There was a sudden rattle further down the corridor; prompting Aurora to crawl forward to the barred front of the pen, peering down the walkway, "What was that?"

"Cage 13," informed Solar, "Got a feisty lil' bitch in it."

As Aurora craned her head she could see a green figure nosily ramming against the bars of its cage. Furious hissing followed, a large tail viciously whamming heavy weight against the metal divider. Logan came upon besides Aurora, frowning, "Is that Serpentine?"

And sure enough, the female mutant of the Brotherhood was energetically bashing against her cage doorway, vigorously spinning and using heavy hits of her tail.

"I swear she's crazy," muttered Solar quietly as he ran a hand through his hair, "Banging against that god damn door every time the soldiers come in and then carries on hours after. If she ain't careful they'll take her for terminal experiments."

Logan felt Aurora pull back besides him as the mention of experiments and he turned to her slowly. "They won't do that to us," he whispered softly, "And they'd let us heal if they were looking at our mutation."

"You don't know that," replied Aurora softly, looking down at the floor.

"Earlier you said we get let out for a walk in the day.. when we get out, we'll scour the area, try and get a mental map of this place. Keep an eye out for entry points and the weaker areas. We might even see some more of the X-Men in the next block."

"You really think we've got a chance of escaping?"

"Aurora, our main priority is to get the hell outta of here, not to sit and do nothing. Someone out there is goin' to help us. I know they are.. they're just waitin' for the right moment.."

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