Despite his size, Logan moved like a bullet. His cws were already out, a silver blur carving straight for Selene's head.

  She was down a hand, a charred stump still smoking, and she was smiling.

  A wave of green force rippled outward. Logan took it square in the chest and went skidding past me, cws screeching through dirt as he tore a trench through the woods.

  Right. Immortal sorcerer, on top of being a mutant.

  Fucking perfect.

  I tore the gold ticket.

  [Dexterous]

  |Rare Trait|

  You are unusually dexterous, granting you impeccable hand-to-eye coordination, motor skills, and control over your body.

  My body twitched.

  Then everything snapped into pce.

  Thunder Breathing had given me coordination with the techniques, sure, but this made every move I'd made before feel sloppy. Like I'd been wearing weights I didn't know were there. Fingers, feet, bance—everything corrected itself until it felt perfect.

  I breathed once and moved.

  Space folded.

  I appeared behind Selene, lightsaber already arcing for her neck.

  Green ectopsm fred as her shield caught the bde, magic screaming as it met psma.

  "Do you think that would work twice?" she sneered, fire already forming in her remaining hand.

  I leaned back and vanished.

  The fmes tore through empty air as I reappeared at her side, lightsaber carving down, heat chewing at the shimmering barrier.

  "Useless little pest. Do you think that would—"

  Another bst.

  I was gone again.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Thrice.

  Each jump flowed into the next. My feet barely touched the ground before I was moving again, body weaving as easily as breathing, lightsaber strikes flowing to and fro. Selene's expression slid from contempt to irritation as she sent a crushing ripple of force outward, the air itself trying to fold me in half.

  I vanished mid-colpse and came out running.

  My feet felt like air. Was this what it meant to be in the zone?

  Logan was hauling himself upright when I grabbed him by the colr.

  "Do you trust me?" I said, eyes locked on Selene. "I've got a pn."

  "No," Logan growled, baring his teeth. "But let's kill the bitch."

  Good enough.

  Selene started chanting. I could hear it grind against the air as bck energy began to coalesce around her.

  I was already moving.

  I flickered around her in a blur, feet carving tight arcs, momentum stacking higher and higher. I hauled Logan along, kept moving, waited for the moment.

  She waved her hand, and a wall of fme erupted around her.

  Blocking her own vision.

  Perfect.

  Fastball special, bitch.

  I pushed and timed it with perfect control, throwing a textbook Wolverine missile. Logan caught on instantly, flying straight through the fmes.

  She was forced to block, shield fring as the Wolverine-shaped missile smmed into her.

  An inarticute shout tore out of her as Logan was thrown back again.

  I was behind her, lightsaber hammering down in a flurry of strikes, ducking under counterbsts, sliding past burning gouts of fme in a heartbeat. I teleported again, grabbed Logan out of midair, and threw him back in, turning the fight into a violent game of pinball.

  The air screamed as Selene hurled fire and force. But like a roach, I stuck to her. With an almost impossible rhythm, I juggled Logan and space itself, teleporting in ways that would've had my head spinning minutes ago.

  Again and again. Logan became one massive projectile. Ssh her neck. Her back. Snatch Logan out before he was buried under her counterattack.

  Her shield flickered, ectopsmic green fading under the relentless barrage. Irritation twisted, sharpened—and finally cracked into panic.

  Then came the sound of gss shattering.

  Logan punched through, cws nearly sinking into the glowing barrier, flesh warping beneath it. I reappeared and drove the lightsaber down, Thunder Breathing surging as I pierced straight through her leg.

  "Enough!"

  Something smmed into my head. A spike of psychic pressure tore through my thoughts, and for a heartbeat, my speed faltered. I stumbled, vision swimming.

  Will to form the mind. Spirit to clear the heart.

  I clenched down, reciting the mantras, dragging the Tibetan techniques up by rote, and shook the pain off.

  Logan hadn't broken a sweat. Shrugging off the psychic attack, he was already charging the staggered Selene, throwing himself forward like a beast and smashing his head into hers.

  He hit her hard and fast, the blow knocking her limp. He pinned her to the ground, cws sheathing deep into her gut.

  She screamed, and another spike tore through my brain.

  Logan didn't stop.

  His other fist came down like a hammer.

  Again and again. I could feel each impact through the ground.

  Almost rabid, he beat her into the dirt. Teeth scattered across the ground.

  Eventually, the pain in my head faded. Logan straightened, breathing deep, shoulders rising and falling.

  "Is she dead yet?" I asked, walking over.

  Logan grunted. "Don't matter. She's immortal."

  "I know." I looked down at Selene's ruined body. Logan shot me a look, but I didn't care about subtlety right now. My head was still pounding.

  "You're weirdly informed, kid," he said, cracking his neck. "Most people wouldn't believe me. You wouldn't happen to know any voodoo shit to keep her down, would you? Last time I saw her die, she popped back up a few months ter."

  I shook my head, frowning. With what I had, I doubted I could do anything about the Externals' kind of immortality. "Bring her to the sorcerers?"

  "She won't stay down that long," he said. "Welp."

  His cws slid out again, angling for her throat.

  A shriek split the air.

  For half a second, I thought it came from Selene.

  It didn't.

  The air vibrated.

  The staccato of hundreds of feet pounding the ground rolled over the hills. I turned and ran, cresting the ridge and looking down into the valley.

  "Oh shit."

  Hundreds of those monstrosities were charging upward, screaming.

  And then reality bent.

  The world seemed to bow as the human-shaped deer monster surged at their head, screaming its way into existence, growing rger and rger, antlers scraping the sky as it grew fully to size.

  "What–"

  The air crackled as I sprinted past Logan, grabbed him, and spammed teleport, dragging us both into a full retreat.

  Behind us came a primal scream, something vast and wrong, tearing at the fabric of the world as we ran like hell.

  —

  They'd holed up in a shallow alcove tucked into the woods, half-hidden by roots and shadow. A massive tree loomed over them, its trunk so thick it felt more like a wall than a pnt. One of those hundred-year monsters. Maybe older. The kind you stopped to stare at if you had the time.

  Ororo would've loved it here. Shame this was some nightmare fairy dimension.

  Logan tried to stand and nearly ate dirt for the third time before his head finally stopped spinning. He stayed upright through sheer stubbornness, teeth clenched, waiting for the vertigo to pass instead of forcing it.

  Bumpiest goddamn ride he'd ever had, and that was saying something.

  God, he needed a drink.

  Kids went missing. He followed the trail. Now he was in a magical fairy nightmare, fighting Selene of all people, and as if that wasn't enough, thunder rolled in the distance, announcing his third problem.

  "It seems they didn't chase us this far," the weird kid said, dropping into the alcove like gravity was optional.

  Logan grunted. He didn't really know what the hell to say. He'd been alive over a century, seen more weird shit than most people could imagine, and this still ranked high on his personal list of what the fuck situations.

  And somehow it was on him to save a bunch of kids from a demon deer thing.

  Why did he ever listen to Charles…

  "Just to be clear," Logan said, eyes still sweeping the treeline, "you ain't got some magic juju tucked away that deals with eldritch demon deer, do ya?"

  The kid frowned. Went quiet. There was a pause, like he already hated the answer.

  "I… might be able to do something," he said slowly. "But it might fuck us over more than it helps."

  Logan snorted. "Story of my life, kid. But hold that thought."

  He moved carefully, keeping his steps measured so the dizziness didn't come roaring back, and stopped over Selene's body.

  She was still breathing. Barely.

  Her face was swollen and split from his fists, and blood crusted along her cheek. Her torso was worse—cw marks torn through flesh that still tried to knit itself back together.

  The kid had gone further once they nded. Hands gone. Feet gone. Clean cuts.

  Logan should've been worried about that kind of brutality coming from someone so young. Teacher instincts and all that.

  But he gave the kid a pass.

  If anyone earned it, it was her.

  "Why'd you even bring Selene with us?" Jack asked.

  "Two reasons," Logan said. "First, Selene's old. Older than me. Old as dirt, kid. Which means she knows things."

  He shifted his stance, looking down at the unconscious mutant.

  "And second is so I could do this."

  His boot smmed into her gut, hard enough to fold her in on herself. Selene gasped awake, the impact echoing through the quiet woods.

  "My, my…" she coughed, blood bubbling at her lips. "How rude, Logan."

  "Can it," he growled. "You're gonna answer some questions."

  She smiled anyway. "Or what? You're going to torture little old me?"

  He sshed her immediately. Not enough to kill her. Just enough to make it hurt. A cw sank into her side, slow and deliberate, a reminder that he could make this st a long, long time.

  Unfortunately…

  Selene merely looked down, disappointed.

  "Three points for effort," she said lightly. "But you'll have to do better than that if you want me talking, Logan."

  "We'll let you live if you do," the kid said, voice ft.

  "I'm immortal, child," Selene replied, almost regal despite looking like a corpse.

  The kid tilted his head. "Hmm. I wonder if your fellows would say the same. I imagine Gideon or Saul might enjoy hearing about you taking a nap. Hell, maybe I should send En Sabah Nur a letter. I'm sure they'd all love to hear about you being so… indisposed."

  Logan frowned. Who the hell was that?

  He kept quiet instead of asking. Logan saw Selene go still at the names mentioned.

  Selene's regal composure cracked. Just a little.

  "You… who are you?" she asked.

  "Sukon," the kid said.

  "An Arabic name then, Sukon—"

  "Suck on deez nuts."

  "…"

  Selene stared at him, genuinely baffled.

  There was a long, pregnant silence.

  Then Logan lost it.

  "Hahahaha—"

  He stumbled back against the tree, ughing until his ribs hurt, breath hitching as it tore out of him in helpless bursts. The tension bled away with every bark of ughter while Selene gred up at them, fuming, humiliated, and very much pissed.

  ***

  Go eat shit Selene kek. Anyways, as a bonus for I'll be running a 50% discount for my till March 1st for anybody interested.

  Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.

  I have advanced chapters on my if you wanna read ahead.