Driven by some strange obsession, Fenris soon found the pickup camper that had been perfectly fine just a short while ago, but was now smashed to pieces.
A thick tree trunk lay across the road. It was obvious Logan's vehicle had slammed straight into it.
Logan himself had been hurled a long way through the windshield. He was now lying face-down in the snow, motionless.
"So your driving isn't all that impressive either."
Fenris hopped out of his SUV, gave the scene a look, and could not help sneering.
"Help!"
"Help me! I'm stuck!"
A weak cry came from the pickup's passenger side. Fenris's ears twitched, and he immediately strode over.
Rogue, whom he had met once before, was frantically tugging at her seat belt while staring in panic at the cabin.
A bottle of liquor had been ignited in the crash, and it would not be long before the fire spread into the driver's compartment.
"It's you? Please, help me!"
The instant Rogue saw Fenris, she froze, her eyes filling with surprise and relief.
"Didn't he just say he deliberately watched me drive the wrong way all night?"
Fenris stepped forward. With a little force, he tore the seat belt loose, then grabbed Rogue by the back of her clothes and hauled her out.
Once they reached a safe distance, Fenris saw Logan shake his head and slowly get back to his feet. Lowering his voice, he asked Rogue quietly,
"So... did he really say he was intentionally watching me go the wrong way all night?"
"Uh..."
Rogue froze and stared at Fenris in shock.
He could hear that even when she had said it that softly?
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
Logan rolled his neck, the wound on his forehead - deep enough to expose bone - healing at a visible speed as he spoke to Fenris.
"If I hadn't come, your friend would've burned to death in the truck."
Fenris folded his arms and mocked him without mercy.
By then, half the camper had already been swallowed by flames.
"Well..."
Logan shook the snow off his leather jacket. Just as he was about to say something, a sudden sense of danger surged up out of nowhere and cut him off.
"Find somewhere to hide."
Fenris had sensed it too. He patted Rogue on the shoulder and warned her.
"Kid, can you fight?"
With a sharp snikt, Logan's claws shot out. His upper body lowered slightly as he took up a combat stance, but even then he did not forget to ask.
"If you can't, then get out of here..."
"Roar!"
Before Logan could finish, a massive figure suddenly burst out of the nearby brush.
The newcomer moved with terrifying speed. An overwhelming force slammed into Logan, and before he could even see clearly what had hit him, he was sent flying. Only after smashing through a small tree and tumbling more than ten meters did he finally come to a stop.
"Hiss..."
Pain shot through his entire body. Before Logan could struggle up from the ground, his vision darkened. The attacker raised a thick log and swung it straight at his head.
Bang!
At the final instant, a hand shot out from the side and caught the log firmly in place.
Logan looked up and saw Fenris baring his teeth at him.
The meaning was obvious.
"Roar!"
Sabretooth put strength into both arms, only to realize he could not budge Fenris in the slightest.
In the next instant, he immediately let go of the log and slashed at Fenris's face with both claws.
Fenris had never fought a Class Three mutant like Wolverine or Sabretooth before. On top of that, Sabretooth himself had lived for centuries, taken part in wars large and small, and possessed enormous experience in killing. So Fenris did not dare underestimate him in the slightest. He went all out from the very start.
Right in front of Logan's stunned eyes, Fenris grinned, and his body rapidly expanded.
Terrifying claws. Legs far too thick to be normal. And a tail covered in spikes, stretching nearly two and a half meters long. Sabretooth, already over two meters tall himself, was forcibly reduced to looking small in front of Fenris.
Watching a handsome young man transform into a hideous monster right before his eyes, even Sabretooth, with centuries of combat experience behind him, could not help freezing for a second.
"What the..."
Wolverine and the more distant Rogue were even more dumbfounded. Neither of them could connect this monster with the Fenris from just moments ago.
Fenris did not care what they were thinking. Faced with a real opponent like this for the first time, he shifted fully into combat mode the moment his transformation was complete.
He swung the thick log in his hands and smashed it hard at Sabretooth.
Bang!
Caught completely off guard, Sabretooth was blasted away by the overwhelming force on the spot.
"That's it?"
Fenris weighed the log in his hand, not expecting it to be this easy.
But Sabretooth's agility was much higher than Logan's. His huge body twisted through the air with surprising nimbleness, quickly regaining balance before landing steadily on the ground.
"That's some ridiculous strength."
Sabretooth bared his teeth and rubbed at his aching arm.
From that single clash alone, he understood clearly that he was no match for Fenris. The moment he saw Fenris charging at him again, he turned and bolted into the woods behind him without the slightest hesitation.
"Trying to run?"
Fenris bared his teeth.
He had not even finished warming up yet.
All the enemies he had run into before had been elite soldiers with little real power to fight back. Now that he had finally found a worthy opponent, how could he possibly let him get away so easily?
Every muscle in Fenris's body tightened in an instant. Snow exploded beneath his feet, and in the next moment, he vanished from Logan's sight.
"This kid..."
Logan felt his head spinning. With a snikt, he retracted his claws, but the image of Fenris baring his teeth in that grin still refused to leave his mind.
"He's a mutant too?"
After a moment of silence, Rogue finally gathered her courage and ran over. Looking at the wrecked ground around them, she covered her mouth in shock.
"Logan, do you know who that guy who ambushed you was?"
She asked, "How come you couldn't even last two moves against him, but after taking just one hit from that younger guy, he turned around and ran right away?"
"..."
Logan gave Rogue a speechless look.
Not long ago, he had been asking Fenris whether he could fight at all.
"I don't know the guy who jumped me."
Logan found a place to sit down. In the end, he still answered with a trace of helplessness, "He just felt... kind of familiar somehow."
"Maybe he's one of your old enemies."
Rogue sat down beside him, quietly looking toward the place where Fenris had disappeared. "The guy who came to help us... he's really strong."
"I never would've guessed that someone who looks that calm and quiet would have a power so... wild."
"..."
Logan curled his lip and said nothing.
Whoosh!
Just as the two fell silent, a violent storm suddenly rose around them without warning.
Snow from all over the ground was whipped into the air by fierce winds. The sunlight was blocked out, and visibility dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Another mutant. Strong."
Logan shot to his feet and pulled Rogue behind him.
Amid the storm, his ears twitched. In the next second, his claws shot out, pointing toward a certain direction.
"Huh? There's no enemy?"
"Ororo, stop the wind."
A surprised male voice called out from not far away.
The wind quickly died down. As the snow settled, two figures in leather suits appeared before Logan.
"Didn't the Professor say some of our people were attacked here?"
Looking at the wary Logan and Rogue, Ororo stepped forward quickly and openly extended a hand.
"Hello. I'm one of the X-Men. We came specifically to bring you back to the school."
"The Professor? The school?"
Logan frowned instinctively and pulled Rogue half a step back. Years of wandering had made it second nature for him not to trust strangers easily.
"We've never heard of any of that. And we're definitely not going anywhere with you."
"Well..."
Logan's hardline attitude left Ororo at a loss for a moment.
Seeing that, Scott stepped forward. Just as he was about to speak, a voice of surprise suddenly came from nearby.
"Scott? Ororo?"
"What are you two doing here?"