Disclaimer:  All X-Men belong to Marvel and Kai belongs to 
Kaylee (used with permission).  The story however is mine.  
Yin, Yang, Grey Eyes, Grey Coat, and Chere are also mine, 
ask before borrowing them, they have really SHARP teeth and 
know how to use them (ie they know who created them, so 
your taking a HUGE risk, BUB).  Enjoy.  Please send 
comments to Wolvester@aol.com, they are really welcomed 
and needed (particularly if you would like me to finish this 
story anytime soon Hee Hee).  This is my first fan fiction 
piece so be gentle.  Flames will be ignored.

"Trap 2/?"
Written by Wolvester

Gambit lay down by the fire.  He was asleep within a half-
hour.  I put my back against the wall facing the entrance of the 
cave.  I fed the fire and my mind started to wander.  My eyes 
finally settled on where Logan lay by the fire.  He was still 
bandaged in Gambit's coat.  He was still very pale and his 
breathing was worrying me a lot.  I could still smell the 
chemicals on him, but what bothered me was the fact that 
some of his wounds were not healing.  He was losing a lot of 
blood.  I could feel his body temperature was rising just by 
touch, but he wasn't sweating at all.   I was a little shocked to 
realize how afraid I was for him and, in a far corner of my 
mind, I was afraid that I might be losing him.

I remembered how he kept me warm in Canada.  I 
remembered the look in his eye after we went hunting together 
for the first time.  I remembered how he gave me time to heal 
after Vic.  I remembered how simple he made things for me 
after I told him I couldn't have children.  I remembered how 
scared I was when he didn't come from under the water and 
'The Moment' was burned forever in my mind.  I remembered 
the pain in his eyes when he said it was only a matter of time 
before he lost me too.  I also understood for the first time, 
really understood, why he was angry over what had been done 
to me by Vic.  I wanted blood for what Matsuo had done to 
Logan.   True, Matsuo had not laid a hand on me personally, 
but it was my fight because he hurt my partner.  

 I was still reflecting when he groaned a little.  I moved over to 
him and put my hand on his face.  He was definitely getting 
hotter.  We were going to have to find a way to get his body 
temperature down.  The only way I knew was from a mixture 
of roots and bark like Sensei had taught me.  As his fever got 
worse, I had to bind his hands and wrists to a piece of wood.  
With his hands tied this way, he couldn't flex his wrists to pop 
his claws in his delirium. I started wiping a damp piece of 
cloth cut from my tank top over Logan's forehead in an effort 
to keep him cool.

During the night, Logan started talking.  I continued to wipe 
his forehead with cold water.  When I knew the language he 
was speaking I answered him in it.  His fever had a tight grip 
on him and I don't think he knew I was there.  I had to lower 
his fever.  My internal clock told me it was about 1:00 am 
when Logan was going on in Spanish.  He thought he was 
back in Cuba, on a mission.  He kept asking me where Creed 
was and had it been done.  Since I didn't know what was 
supposed to be done, I told Logan Creed was handling it.  
Around 2:00 am the language was Japanese, and he was in the 
middle of the Weapon X project.

He wasn't speaking in full sentences, but I did know that he 
really wanted to kill someone named "the Professor."  He 
started growling and snarling loudly about how he was gonna 
shred off this Professor guy's other hand for turning him in to 
a fuckin' killing machine.  Gambit was up now and both of us 
together were having a tough time keeping Logan down.  By 
3:00 am, Gambit and I were the enemy, since we had to tie 
him down with a lot of vines.  I was bracing his head and 
shoulders and Remy was holding his feet and legs.  He was 
cursing us in a combination of Chinese, Japanese, and German 
for good measure.  Since neither Gambit nor I knew German 
very well, we couldn't follow everything he was going to do 
to us when he got loose.  

By 3:30 am he had gone completely limp in his restraints after 
having some wracking convulsions.  We had had to gag him, 
so he wouldn't tell every living thing in the forest where we 
were located.  I was sure people were looking for us.  I turned 
to Gambit with worried eyes.  "I going out to find some 
medicine roots and bark to lower Logan's fever, while he's 
calm."

"Chere, you shouldn't go into the woods in the dark.  We find 
these roots and bark in the mornin'. "

"Damn it, Gambit.  He doesn't have 'til the morning.  His 
burning up from fever, it's at least 108? from the heat his body 
is registering with me. His body isn't cooling itself naturally.  
He's *NOT* sweating.   If we don't get his fever down fast, 
it's gonna kill him.  Matsuo must have put something in his 
blood stream that is replicating with his healing factor," I 
hissed at him.

"If I can find some of the healing roots, it will lower his 
temperature 'til we can find Hank." I turned toward Gambit, 
pointing.  "And I know what the roots look like, I can get them 
faster than you, and I can see better in the dark!"

"OK, chere, just be careful?"

"Will do," I said as I slipped into the woods.

I found what I was looking for quicker than I thought.  Of 
course, the last set of convulsions that Logan had helped in my 
desire to find this stuff fast.  I knew an animal was following 
me, but kept tabs on it by scent.  If the animal didn't come 
after me, I would lose it before returning to the cave.  We had 
plenty of food at the moment from the bear and killing without 
need had never gone over well with me.  There was a supply 
of the root growing wild right under a great tree.  I started 
digging up the roots when I scented the wolverine.  He was 
just watching me dig up the roots.  I put them in my hide skin 
and moved to get the next root I needed to break Logan's 
fever.  The wolverine followed me at a distance.  I found the 
mushroom-like growth under a cliff by the water.  I was so 
busy keeping tabs on the wolverine that I didn't smell the 
Hand soldiers until they were right on top of me.  

The wolverine saw them first and took a big bite out of the 
pointman.  That's when I realized that I didn't have just one 
watcher: there were *five* wolverines.  The wolverines were 
*fighting* the Hand.  I pulled out my knife to finish what the 
animals had started.  With five puffs of smoke, the Hand were 
gone.  I looked at the wolverines, but they made no move 
toward me.  One picked up my hide skin in its mouth and 
tossed it to me as if to say, "Here you go lady, now will you 
hurry up and get back to Logan?"  While I was looking for the 
tree bark I would need, we came across a deer family.  I 
watched two of the male wolverines take down two bucks in 
less than a minute.  I decided I wanted to stay on their good 
side, so I stayed away from their kill.  I left them to their meal 
once I had the bark.

By the time I had returned to the cave, Logan was beginning 
to thrash again.  I started mixing up the roots and bark like 
Sensei had taught me and added the needed water.  My head 
jerked up when I scented the Hand by the cave entrance.  I 
grabbed my knife and dove at them.  One was raising his gun 
toward Logan. He screamed and vanished into a puff of smoke 
when Gambit's charged stick hit him.  The remainder of the 
four-man party found themselves under four angry wolverines.  
It was over in less than a minute, with four puffs of smoke.

Gambit had taken a defensive posture between Logan and the 
animals.  He held several sticks that were glowing.  I held up 
my hands. "No, Remy.  They're on our side."  The animals 
just looked at Gambit with glowing eyes.

"You CRAZY woman.  Them critters just ripped up four 
men," Gambit snapped in my direction, while he was focused 
on the animals.

"Nine actually," I replied dryly as I put my knife away.

The last wolverine came in the cave dragging a leg of the deer 
they had killed.  The leg had all the meat and skin on it.  It lay 
the leg down in front of me and sat down.  The other animals 
had sat down in front of Gambit as well, who looked like he 
was about to start screaming.  

"Un-charge those sticks, Remy, before you make our guests 
think you're gonna hurt Logan," I said with a sigh.  I took the 
offered leg and started cooking it over the fire.  Gambit stayed 
close to me, but he put the sticks down and kept an eye on our 
"guests."  I finished mixing up the roots and bark into a paste.   
I cut up the deer meat into tiny pieces and mixed it up in the 
paste.  Then I got some water and made a soup.  I knew from 
the smell Logan wasn't going to like it, but it was better than 
some of the other things I had made that he had eaten.  Well 
this time at least I didn't have to convince him it tasted better 
than it smelled.  I guess I should be happy for small favors.  If 
he's not awake, he can't complain.

<Admit it.  You would prefer him awake and complaining 
than unconscious and silent any day of the week.>

I really do hate it when my subconscious is right.  The 
wolverines watched as I started spoon-feeding Logan.  I only 
had gotten a spoonful down when he came to, coughing.  We 
still had him tied down, so he wasn't a real happy camper.  
Since he still had a fever, he was really out of it.  He opened 
his eyes and spat out the food.  When he looked at me, his 
eyes were wild and without recognition.  

I had to show him that I didn't mean him any harm, so I 
brought some of the food to my lips and ate it.  He watched 
me.  I then washed out of taste with a good gulp of water.  I 
raised his head and upper body so he was leaning against me 
facing the fire and brought the spoon to his lips.  He saw the 
wolverines, looked back at me, and opened his mouth to eat 
the food.  He finished about half of the soup, before he fell 
unconscious again.  I lowered him back down to the bearskin.

"We have to move.  That's the second group of Hand soldiers 
that found us," I said as I stretched my legs and back.  By this 
time it was around 5:00 am.

"Oui. Gambit agrees.  I'll get us some fresh water for travelin' 
while you pack up the camp?  We build a stretcher to put 
Logan on."  Gambit grabbed the water skin and headed for the 
stream.

I packed up our food and was waiting when Gambit returned 
with wood and several vines.  We quickly make a stretcher 
and we put Logan on it.  Two of the wolverines got up and 
came over.  They sat down by each end of the stretcher on the 
handles we had made. When I tried to pick up my end, I was 
met with a snarl and laid back ears.  Gambit had turned 
quickly at the sound.  I held up my hand, to stop him from 
doing anything to the animals.  The last thing I wanted was a 
fight with these guys.  They were protective of Logan and they 
had helped us with the Hand.

After about a five minute standoff, I got an idea.  I made a 
harness out of vines and held it out.  The wolverine stood up 
and willingly walked into it.  I tied it to the handles.  Gambit 
was watching with wide eyes.  I have to admit this was crazy, 
but it was the only way to get these animals to move off of the 
handles without losing a hand.  I quickly made a second 
harness and the other wolverine walked right into it as well.

Once the second animal was in the harness and attached the 
first stood up and they moved together so the stretcher didn't 
shake Logan any more than necessary.   The other three 
wolverines that had watched also got up.  One moved to my 
left and the other to my right.  The last one stayed in the back 
just behind Gambit.  "Look like we got our own personal 
guard, eh."  Gambit was realizing that these animals weren't 
going to hurt us as long as we didn't hurt Logan.  

"Never look a gift wolverine in the mouth," I said as we 
moved down the river.  

After walking for two hours, we stopped by another cove.  I 
saw something blue that had caught my eyes.  It was a piece of 
Scott's jacket stained with blood.  The same jacket that 
covered Betsy's wounds.  I removed the harness from the two 
wolverines carrying Logan so they could get some water with 
the other three animals.  The scent on the jacket wasn't that 
old.  We could catch them by tomorrow if we moved fast and 
the wolverines helped us by the lingering scent.

Logan's fever had gone down a little but it was still higher that 
it should be given the roots he had in his system.  When we 
stopped at the cove he had stirred for a minute and Remy was 
trying to talk to his new shadow.  

"Logan?" I said quietly. His eyes focused on my face and they 
weren't as wild this time.  I couldn't say if he knew me, but he 
didn't turn away from me either.   I brought some water to his 
lips. "Here...drink some of this."

I helped him raise his head so he could drink some of the 
water.  He got in a few good drinks before he started coughing 
this time.  I waited until the fit passed and offered him some 
more water. When he was finished, I lowered him back down 
onto the stretcher. I stood up.  Gambit was sitting on a rock 
with a female wolverine at his side.  That struck me as a little 
funny, seeing as how only a few hours ago he was less than 
comfortable around the animals.

Two new wolverines appeared on either side of the stretcher.  
I hooked them up and we moved out.  We traveled hard that 
day.  Very few animals in the forest wanted to cross paths with 
a pack of wolverines, so except for one miserably unfortunate 
squad of Hand goons that stumbled upon us, it was smooth 
sailing.  A couple of hours later we came across what Hank, 
Rogue, Scott and Betsy had used as a campsite the night 
before.  We broke for a quick food break and nature calls.  The 
wolverines all left the campsite, but never all at the same time.  
I checked Logan's bandages.   Three wolverines returned to 
camp with another deer and a rabbit.  They lay the dead 
animals in front of us.  I started cleaning the rabbit when I 
noticed one of the wolverines licking its lips.  They hadn't 
eaten this time!  They had brought all of the kill to us?  They 
were welcoming us as part of their pack?

I cut the hide off of the deer and tossed some of the meat over 
to the pack.  They dug in and when they were finished only 
bones remained.  Gambit's only comment was "Merdi. Glad 
they're on our side."

By nightfall, I could smell Hank and the others.  They were 
another hour ahead of us at most.  We didn't break camp at 
nightfall.  We continued.  The roots and bark I had made were 
not working as well as they had the night before and Logan's 
fever was rising again.  

We found Hank and the others just as a Hand squad was 
finding them.  The team was all here.  We reversed the Hand's 
ambush on them. The look on the others' faces when they saw 
the wolverines were fighting with us was classic. It was a very 
short fight.  In typical Hand fashion, the fallen patrol vanished 
in puffs of smoke before Scott could tell me "X-Men don't 
kill."  Sometimes, in the danger room he really did sound like 
a broken record with that phrase.

"Fascinating! How did you two get these animals to follow 
you?" Hank inquired

"Where is Logan?" Rogue asked.  As if they had heard her, 
the two wolverines that were carrying the stretcher walked 
into the clearing, led by the third one.  Scott, Hank and Rogue 
just stared as the animals marched into the clearing.  Then 
they turned to Gambit and me.

"Don't look at Gambit.  Kai the one that brought these critters 
home," Gambit quickly stated.

"How..." Scott started until I cut him off with an annoyed 
growl.  We didn't have time for his stupid questions!

"Could we talk about this after we find a place to camp for the 
night and after Hank looks at Logan? His fever is getting bad 
again and I'm out of tricks!" I exclaimed.  The wolverines 
added their growls to mine as well.

I took point and started moving out.  The wolverines followed 
me and so did the others.  We found another cave and set up 
camp.

To be continued...