Who: Yondu and Logan (and an unconscious Neena) When: Whenever Neena got shot Where: The Hospital What: Yondu gets the news about Neena, goes to see her Rating/Warnings: Language Status:
Yondu pulled into the parking lot of the hospital like it was a scene out of the Fast and the Furious. He made a sudden right turn and snagged a spot, pulling in without so much as a scratch. If he'd had time to reflect he'd have wondered why the cops hadn't chased his pickup truck doing a clear 80 down regular roads.
But he was too distracted to care about that. He was preoccupied with the news that one of the girls Neena had taken in had shot her. And it hadn't been some accident but with the intent to kill. Yondu thanked the stars that Neena had that luck thing from her dreams and she was, so far, hanging in there.
He got out of the pickup truck, slamming the door so hard the vehicle visibly rocked. He was furious. At the girl who shot her. At Russia for programming her and activating her. At Neena for breaking up with him. Maybe he would have been there when it happened. He could have done something. Protected her, jumped in the way, used his Yaka arrow.
He frowned at that last part as he strode across the parking lot. No, the idea of instinctively killing the girl they'd both started to get attached to was not a thought he wanted to have.
He paused, catching a glimpse of himself in the reflection of a parked car.
“Shit.” He breathed, seeing his blue alien self scowling back at him. Yondu was so caught up in his emotions, he hadn't even bothered to turn on his image inducer. He quickly pressed the button on the bracelet and continued on.
Once inside the hospital he got the information he needed from the front desk and made his way to the floor Neena was on.
Neena was scheduled for a second surgery soon, but Logan had been let in to see her while they waited. He’d been in and out, tracking Deryn as far as he could before the trail had gone cold. For the time being he needed to let Natasha do her thing.
And he really wanted a cigar right now.
He was standing at the window when someone came in, turning on instinct as claws slid out of his fists. They slid back in when he realized who it was.
Yondu didn’t know what to expect when he went into Neena’s room but he stopped short at the sight of her in the hospital bed, completely ignoring the figure at the window for a moment.
He felt as if the air in his lungs had been suddenly sucked out, and his stomach clenched in grief. Neena was already abnormally pale thanks to the dreams, but now somehow she looked even worse. His hands balled into fists. This should never have happened.
His eyes flickered up just in time to see what he could have sworn were silver claws disappear back into the fists of the man at the window. He wondered if he was the person who had texted him.
“You the fella who texted me?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Logan replied. He came over to the bed and looked down at Neena. “Figured that was the easiest way to get the word out.”
“And who are you, exactly? You got a name?” Yondu's brow furrowed as he gave the man the once over. Sure he and Neena weren't together anymore but that didn't keep him from being wary of this guy who seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. Had she moved on from him already? Hadn't she said she was better off alone?
And what was up with those claws?
“Logan.” And that was all Yondu would get. He didn’t often use his last name, not any more. He gruffly added, “I’m a friend. Like family. Or a teammate. Same dreams as her.”
He wasintimately</i> familiar with Neena in both places, but he’d also decided he’d rather be alone. Or at least, without any attachments or strings. People Logan loved ended up dead, or worse.
At the name, a look of recognition crossed Yondu's features in the most subtle of ways. A barely arched eyebrow, a slight squint of the eyes.
“Huh. She mentioned you. Thought you'd be taller.” The other man was shorter than Yondu by a considerable amount, but it was obvious that he was also more compact muscular wise. Probably a helluva brawler if it came to a fight.
He tilted his chin at Logan. “Dreams give you the fancy claws I take it?”
“Among other things.” Logan flashed a grin, but he didn’t really feel it. “Claws came with my powers, metal was added later. Roughly equivalent to gettin’ shot in the chest, only more painful.”
He nodded his head at Neena, “She’s been through worse too. Hopin’ that don’t coincide with this. Don’t matter how lucky you are, doublin’ up on injuries ain’t never end well.”
'Shot in the chest’ probably wasn't the best turn of phrase to use for the moment, but Yondu didn't bother nitpicking. Wasn't his style.
“Powers? Like what?” Neena had luck powers from the dreams and Yondu, well, he was just a big blue badass. “You best be careful not to let them nurses see those Freddy Kruger fists or it'll be chaos.”
Yondu's brow furrowed and he looked over at his former love interest. “How the hell do you get worse than a bullet nearly missin’ your heart?” Did he even want to know?
“I’m what they call a feral mutant. Accelerated healing factor, heightened senses and strength. Got a nuke dropped on me once, there was enough left for me to heal from.”
This was easier than talking about the woman laying in that bed, “Government decided I’d make a good weapon. Like an idiot, I volunteered. They bonded molten metal to my bones. There ain’t words for that kinda pain.”
“How the fu…” Yondu stared at him. He didn't even know where to begin with any of that. Especially the nuclear bomb part. “Well damn. I don't think I could bitch about my dreams after hearing that.” And he glanced over his shoulder a moment before turning off the image inducer. His human visage vanished: his skin turned a bright alien blue, curly dirty blonde hair was replaced with a bald blue head topped with a short, flat red fin. His blue eyes were now red and his teeth were a gnarly mess. He spread his hands and went, “Centaurian. Alien, former Kree battle slave. Became a Ravager, which is just a fancy name for a smuggler.” This show and tell was way easier than focusing on Neena's injuries. He knew if he did he'd start wanting to throw things and kill the people responsible - except for Deryn. He could never hurt the girls.
Logan didn’t look at all surprised. Blue alien, Kree battle slave? He’d fought Kree. And Shi’ar. And any other number of aliens. Teamed up with others. Slept with …. A lot. “Nice tech. Best friend used one like it for awhile. He liked to make himself look like Errol Flynn.”
God did he miss Kurt.
Yondu had to admit to himself that he was surprised this Logan guy wasn’t, well, surprised. Not so much as a raised eyebrow or a reappearance of those shiny claws. Oh well.
He shrugged. “Yeah, some kid on the network built ‘em. Said he was different thanks to the dreams too. Pretty nifty thing.” He switched it back to his human image. Didn’t need nurses freaking out on him now. “Who the hell is Errol Flynn?”
“Old school actor. Famous for swashbuckling type movies.” Logan grinned at the memory. “Pirates and cutlasses and that kinda thing. Dashin’ sort.”
Yondu wrinkled his nose. Swashbuckling? Dashing? Not his thing. Pirates maybe. After all, in the dreams he technically was the modern version. “Uh huh.” He looked over at Neena and frowned, the reason for his visit becoming real again. He moved from the foot of the bed to her side, hesitating a moment before placing his hand on hers. He sighed heavily. “Where is she?” he said, not looking away from Neena's face. “The kid.”
Logan shook his head, “Don’t know. Nat is tracking her down.” He was also pretty sure one of the other girls had made off with Ilia, but until he was sure he wasn’t going to say anything. “She believes she was triggered by a phone call. Other girls have been isolated so we can deprogram ‘em.”
“Nat?” Yondu didn’t know all of Neena’s friends. Name sounded familiar though, he was pretty sure she’d mentioned her in connection with the girls they’d brought back from Russia. The ones that were responsible for...this. “How’d they even find the girls to call ‘em?” Did it even matter now? All that mattered at the moment was that Neena survive.
“Romanoff. Head of the Agency. Group that keeps all this shit under wraps. She used to be a Russian spy. Was KGB in the dreams.” Like this was all just matter of course for him. “That I don’t know, and that’s somethin’ we gotta figure out.”
Yondu wrinkled his nose a bit. “Agency huh? Figured there had to be somebody behind the rest of the world not descending on this place everytime some crazy shit went down.” It was interesting that this Romanoff woman was a former Russian spy...who happened to have rescued these girls with Neena from Russia. And she was the head of the Big Brother unit that made cover stories for their little monthly events? It was a conspiracy theory in the making.
Yondu patted Neena’s hand and pulled back from the bed. “You need any help, I’m more than happy.”