The X-Project

After visiting Judd, Logan and Lil talk by Madison's bedside.


"Excuse me, sir? This hospital is a no-smoking area. You'll have to take that thing well-outside." said the orderly, his nose scrunched up in vast distaste. Logan barely heard the man. Instead, he paused with his cigar in his mouth, match lit, and then lit the thing anyway and took a puff.

Much better.

After seeing Judd in the ward like that, tubes and all kinds of crap going everywhere, breathing with assistance, he was wracked with what was so far a fairly foreign and disturbing emotion.

He'd left Alpha behind. He wasn't the guy to field-command that. Everyone knew it.

So why did he feel like he was the one who pulled the trigger and put several of the only friends he'd ever known in the ground?

"Sir, I really must insist you refrain from smoking indoors. There are highly sensitive machines as well as patients on oxygen on this floor. I cannot allow you to - "

"Can't allow?" Logan growled at the man. He was in no mood for this sort of petty bullshit. "Take your rules and piss on 'em. Run along, boy." he growled.

The orderly cowered slightly and took a step back. "They aren't my rules, Sir. It's to ensure the health and safety of those we are treating. One spark could be disastrous. Please take your cigar outside or I will be forced to call security."

Logan just grinned. "Good thing you got plenty of beds in this place." he said. "Keep hasslin' me and you'll need 'em for you and your buddies." he said. He just didn't care anymore, really. He itched for some action, something he could _do_ rather than sit there and watch.

Trembling visibly, the young man made his way over to the closest nurse's station; his eyes never leaving Logan's position as he picked up the phone and began to dial for help.

Logan just watched him with the eye of a predator, enjoying his smoke and the possibility of getting a little action in. He wanted to _hurt_ somebody. Blood on the walls, teeth on the floor. Wouldn't help Judd any, but it'd sure make him feel better.

Still shaking, the orderly hung up then turned back to the smoking man. "Y-You'd better leave, sir. A security force is on their way down to escort you from the p-premises." It was clear in his pale face that he hoped they would arrive before any harm was done to him.

Logan grinned toothily around his cigar. "Better hope they get here quick." he said promisingly, cracking his knuckles with little metallic crackling pops. "Real quick."

The orderly ducked behind the desk and pressed himself flat against the nearest wall, his face skewed with fear.

Fortunately for the young man, a team of two guards arrived promptly. "Sir, if you would follow us, please, this whole matter could be resolved peacefully."

Logan just grinned toothily around his stogie and waited. The first cop came in cautious, reaching for Logan to guide him where he needed to go. He met the wall face-first as Logan spun and assisted him along his way with maybe a little extra topspin added. The second one, more cautious than the first, was already reaching for his taser.

"What the fuck is going on out here?"

Two doors away, Lil stood just beyond the room Madison was being held in, hands planted on her hips and a fury in her eyes. "There are people trying to fucking recover and you jackasses are -" Her tirade died on her tongue when she spied her teammate "Logan?" the giantess said softly, her shoulders sagging some as the anger went out of her. "When did you get here?"

"Been here for a bit." he said, still eyeing the smarter of the two guards and his taser. "Been with Judd." he said, as if that explained it all. "Now these assholes are givin' me a hard time."

The blonde woman nodded her understanding. Of course he would have been with his friend. Long fingers twisted the wedding band she'd started to wear again and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, anxious to return to Madison's side. "They're giving you a hard time?" Lil asked with a hint of failing humor in her voice. "I think it's the other way around, Old Man." She took a deep breath then jerked her head toward the door she'd come from. "Come see Maddy? You gotta put the stogie out first 'cause I'd rip your skeleton out and use it for a wind chime if you blew him up."

Logan took one last drag off his stogie then ground it out against his palm, wincing as he felt the burn, then again as the burn repaired itself. "So how bad is it?" he asked his tall companion. "Judd's a fucking wreck." he growled.

"And all I really want to do is put some hurt on whoever did this." he growled.

"I'm going to put someone in the ground," Lil replied, leading him into her husband's room. The technomorph lay on his bed, staring blankly at the chair she'd vacated when the ruckus in the hall had started and gave no response to his wife's return. "Maddy, look who's here," the giantess said softly, closing the door before moving to her seat and taking up the injured man's hand again. "It's Logan, sweetheart."

It was hard to say which of the couple looked worse: Madison who was awake but in shock or Lil who'd clearly not slept either and was still dressed in her clothes from the day before. There were a few cups of untouched coffee on the table, a candy bar with a single bite missing but no signs of meals or any nutrition.

Lil sighed and after pressing a kiss to his forehead, looked back up at Logan. "Juddsie's real bad? I kept meaning to go see him but..." It was plenty obvious why she hadn't made the trip down the hall.

"It ain't pretty." he said. "Tell ya what, Lil. You're pretty ripe even to a regular nose. What say you go back to wherever you're staying, get a shower, some grub, and some rack time. I'll keep Mads here company until you get back." he offered.

She shook her head and ran her fingers over Madison's cheek, frowning at the non-response. "Thanks but no. I don't wanna leave him." Just in case he'd come out of it. Just in case he woke out of his daze, she wanted to be there.

"I'm not asking you, Lil." he said as gently as he could manage. "Get out of here, get a shower, get some food, get some rack time."

Again the Amazon dismissed his order with a shake of her head. "I can't, Logan. I can't leave him again." Her voice was soft and full of pain tinted with fear. She'd left him... and now he was hurt. "I'm fine. I'll ask Heather later to bring my bag but I can't leave."

"Diamond Lil." he said, more insistently this time. "You're half of what's left of Alpha. Go get some rack time." he said.

"Please don't call me that right now," she whispered, closing her eyes for a long moment before allowing them to flutter back open, full of tears she refused to let fall again. Crying in front of Logan was something the blonde woman could never let herself do. "I can't leave him, Logan. I can't. I'll sleep when he does and I'm not hungry right now."

Logan looked over at the comatose man. "Looks like he's catching some Zs right now." he offered. "Come on, Lil, don't fight me on this one."

"Don't fight me, Logan. I've spent eight months away from him; I can't leave when he needs me. And he's not asleep," Lil corrected, her thumb stroking Madison's cheek again as she tried to catch his vacant gaze, willing him to give some sign of recognition. "He's awake. He can hear me. He just..." Her body sagged again and she put her head on his pillow so their foreheads touched. "Please, Madison. Come on, hon. Come back to me."

Logan took one more hard look at the man wired up to all the medical crap in the bed. "He's a fighter." Logan said. "He'll pull out." he said, faking a confidence he really didn't feel. Madison was ... soft, in Logan's estimation. Too prone to obsessions and spending all his time with his head up some machine' ass. Now he was wired up to a bunch of them. But now wasn't the time. "Take care of yourself, Lil. Gonna go finish my smoke, then sit with Judd a spell."

She nodded her understanding after straightening back in her seat and brushed the single tear that managed to escape down her cheek away, hoping Logan didn't notice it. "You know where to find me if you need something," Lil replied, wishing he'd stay a bit longer but knew he had another bedside to keep vigil at. "Try not to start anymore fights, eh?"

"I meant what I said." he told her. "Go stretch your legs, get some chow. You'll feel better." he said. "And stop by to say hello to Judd, will ya? Flash some tits at him, that'll bring him right around." he joked before stepping out of Madison's room.