Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 30: Retrieval Part 1

Laura's eyes snapped open. *Sniff* And her nose twitched. Springing to her feet she turned in a certain direction and continued to sniff the air. A confused look appeared in her eyes as she smelt something familiar, almost like herself, but different.

The smell was getting closer and closer to her position, but it wasn't alone. *Sniff* There were a few other people with it. Narrowing her eyes, her body began to fade into the shadows the warehouse provided.

In the darkness that suddenly sprouted the only thing that could still be seen where her glimmering eyes that had turned slightly red as the stared towards the door. Her heat beat gradually grew slower and slower. She was waiting to see what happened.

Whatever that smell was, that was coming closer, her instincts were telling her that it was dangerous. They flared as they felt an alpha predator closing in. It wasn't something she had felt before, not like this anyways.

Outside the warehouse, a block or two away a small group of people were slowly making their way around. They all wore specialized gear that hid their identities with an interesting color pallet. In the lead was a man in a yellow, black and blue gear, The Wolverine.

Behind him trailed Scott, or Cyclops, Jean or Marvel Girl, a name in progress, and finally Anna Marie or Rouge. "You sure your fine Jean?" Scot asked in worry as he looked at Jean next to him. She had been quiet since she talked to the old woman. Jean didn't reply as she was inside her own thoughts.

"Of course she's not fine, Idiot, she just found out an old friend is missing and could be in trouble." Rogue who had found out what happened in small snippets of conversation rolled her eyes at Scott for the stupid question. Scott choked on what he was about to say and instead stayed quiet. He didn't know what he could say to Jean right now.

While they were talking Logan spoke from the front. "Hey red head…" Jean looked up at Logan. "…I know you're worried about your friend. We can look for him after this mission is done. I'm sure the professor can help you with cerebro. I need you head in the game for this mission." Jean felt slightly annoyed about his words, but in the end she agreed, the professor could find anyone on earth, if anyone could find him, it would be the professor.

'But what if they couldn't find him?' That small thought passed through her mind and she grimaced. 'NO!' She shook her head, she couldn't think like that. To take her mind off Peter, she decided to throw herself into getting this mission done.

Looking on from the front, Logan gave a small nod as he saw the determination come back to her face. "So you sense anything? The professor said they would be around here." Jean sent her mind out to probe the people around; she couldn't find anything so they keep walking around looking.

As they passed by another block, suddenly Logan stopped. *Sniff* His nose twitched as he turned towards a certain warehouse. "You don't have to look anymore, red head. I think I found them." Jean gave him a quizzical look, so did Scott and Rogue.

But after seeing him in action so many times, they didn't question him and followed as he led them towards a warehouse. Stepping up to the door Logan gripped the handle and slowly opened the door. The rest tensed as they prepared for a fight just in case.

Opening the door the dark warehouse unveiled in front of them. There was no one inside, and nothing to show that a person had been living there. The food scraps that were in the warehouse were usually taken by Peter when he left, and Laura didn't use anything when sleeping. So it didn't look like anyone lived there.

*Sniff* Logan sniffed the air again as he moved into the dark room. The rest cautiously came behind him; they could tell something wasn't right in the room. It felt like something was watching them. Logan walked into the corner on the other side of the room, before crouching down and picking up a small strand of hair that was on the ground.

While Logan was doing this, Scott looked around his hand resting on the visor sitting over his eyes. Rogue pulled off the gloves on her hand and also scanned the room. Jean raised a hand to her temple and started to concentrate hard, trying to find anything in the warehouse.

Just as she felt like she brushed up against another mind. *Sniff* Logan's nose twitched once again. *Snkit* *Snikt* Claws exploded from his hand as he turned around quickly. But he wasn't quick enough, it wasn't just his claws that were popped, another set from above gleaned in the moonlight.

"Raghr!" A shout from above announced the presence of the person dropping from above. Nobody had time to react as the body fell atop Logan who was trying to turn around and 2 sets of claws dug into his back. "ARGH!" Logan screamed out in pain as blood was spilled.

*Rip* The claws were pulled out just as fast as they went in, and went to plunge back in. Before that happened though, her body stopped mid motion. Jean was reaching her hand out towards the attacker. *Clank* The dial on the side of Scott's visor was turned as he trained his eyes on the frozen person.

*Boom* A red blast of energy rocketed out and slammed into their body flinging them off towards the opposite wall. *Crash* Crumble* The wall crumbled as the person's body hit it. The red beam died down as Logan quickly got up and looked at his assailant.

Even after such an attack they weren't down for the count. "Grrr." Actually they were just more pissed off. Growling at the ensemble of people that gathered around her in a semi-circle, Laura's blades gleamed in the light and looked deadly.

Everyone but Logan gasped as they spotted the claws. "Aren't those your gimmick old man?" Rouge commented from the side as she got in a defensive stance. "Grrr." Logan just growled a response, his eyes not leaving her figure.

"Not anymore it looks like." Scott replied instead, his hand still resting on his visor. Laura also didn't take her eyes off Logan. For her, everyone else was sending signals of a slight threat, while Logan was a major problem.

Though when she looked at the Red haired Girl, she also felt a certain threat, but it was obscured, suppressed. Her eyes drifted to Jean for a second before moving back to Logan. While they were having a staring competition, Jean spoke up as a voice of reason.

"We mean you no harm; we just want to talk to you." Laura registered her words but she didn't believe them. Looking at their fighting prowess, they might be people sent by 'them' for retrieval. At least they didn't send 'her'. She couldn't kill her with that unbreakable skin.

Seeing her like a cornered animal Logan made an assessment. She wouldn't come without a fight. If they took her down and got her back to the mansion before talking to her, maybe they would get somewhere. She wouldn't come without a fight.

Deciding that, the smile on his face grew. He was itching for a fight. Even if there was a chance this was his daughter, he wanted to see what she was made off. *Snikt* As if sensing what he was thinking, ever so slowly a pair of claws popped from Laura's feet. Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Well that's new."

Chapter end