Chapter 79: Wolverine, Who Changes Sides Faster Than He Changes His Mind
Shortly after.
Nikki came through the office door in a small dress, one hand in Ada's.
She saw two strangers in the room alongside Matthew and immediately retreated behind Ada.
"Ada..."
Ada felt the tug and heard the near-inaudible voice from somewhere behind her. She put a hand on top of Nikki's head. "It's fine, Nikki."
"Matthew and I are right here. Nobody is going to hurt you."
Nikki relaxed a little at that.
"Nikki." Matthew waved her over from the wheelchair.
She came without a moment's hesitation, trotting across the room to stop in front of him. "Matthew."
She had no idea why she'd been called here. But seeing Matthew was enough to make her feel like everything was going to be fine.
"Nikki. This gentleman would like to adopt you. Would you like to go with him?"
Matthew rested one hand on her shoulder and pointed the other toward Logan.
Nikki looked at Logan.
Then at the severed whiskey bottle on the table beside him, and the glass still in his hand.
Without any meaningful pause, she shook her head. Hard. Repeatedly.
"I don't want to leave Matthew and Ada."
Matthew's mouth curved slightly. He reached up and gave her cheek a brief pinch.
"Don't worry. As long as you don't want to go, nobody is taking you anywhere." He said it quietly.
Then he looked at Logan. "My apologies. It seems Nikki doesn't want to go with you."
"Per our agreement, that means she stays."
Logan's brow pulled together. He had agreed to the terms. But that didn't mean he was done.
"Nikki. You don't fully understand how dangerous your ability is."
"Without someone to guide you properly, you won't be able to control it. And I'm sure you don't want to accidentally hurt the people you care about."
He said it without pressure. Just the facts, laid out plainly.
Nikki caught the part that mattered to her: she might hurt the people she cared about without meaning to.
That landed. Something shifted in her expression.
She didn't want to hurt Matthew. She didn't want to hurt Ada. She didn't want to hurt anyone who had been good to her.
She was halfway into the idea of making a sacrifice for everyone's sake when Matthew cut it off.
"By any measure of actually solving this problem, Umbrella Corporation is fully capable of handling it."
"So you don't need to worry about hurting anyone, Nikki."
"As long as I'm here, you won't hurt a single person. And I won't let anyone hurt you either."
It settled her completely. Whatever had been wavering went still.
She looked back at Matthew once. Then she turned to Logan and nodded politely. "Thank you. You seem like a kind person. But I trust Matthew more."
Logan looked at her for a moment. Then he let out a long breath and pressed his mouth to one side.
Nothing left to try.
The kid herself didn't want to go. What was he supposed to do about that. Drag her?
He tipped the last of the bottle into his mouth and drained it. "In that case. I'll leave you to it."
He looked at Matthew in the wheelchair. "I hope you'll look after her properly. Keep her out of danger."
"You have my word." Matthew smiled.
"One more thing."
"Since we've concluded our business, would you mind settling the bill for that bottle of whiskey?"
Matthew gestured at the empty bottle Logan had worked through.
Logan blinked.
He genuinely had not seen that coming.
Still. He'd drunk it. A bottle of whiskey wasn't going to break him.
"How much?" He pulled out his wallet and produced five hundred dollars.
"What you had was a 1926 Macallan. Forty bottles exist in the world. This one is valued at two point nine five million dollars. Whenever you're ready."
Logan said nothing.
He put the five hundred dollars back in his wallet.
Two point nine five million dollars.
Absolute extortion dressed up in an expensive suit.
The man had just watched him drink it without saying a word.
That said, and he would not be admitting this out loud, it had been exceptional whiskey. Considerably better than anything in the hundred-dollar range. Which was probably why he had kept going back for more without noticing.
He looked at Matthew, who was waiting for payment with perfect composure, and considered his options.
"Could you... put it on my tab? As a friend?"
"If we're friends, absolutely." Matthew hadn't quite finished the sentence before Logan cut in.
"Logan. My name is Logan. As of today, we're friends."
"Well then." Matthew gave a small shrug. "Consider the bottle my treat."
"Actually, if you enjoy it, I have another one in reserve. You can have that too." He glanced back at Ada. "Ada, would you bring our friend here one of the bottles from the cellar?"
[System: +1,000 points. Logan thinks you're good people.]
Logan looked at the bottle case Ada placed in his hands. Then at Matthew in the wheelchair.
He found himself reconsidering his general position on wealthy people.
Some of them, it turned out, were not bad. Matthew, specifically, was decent.
"...Thank you."
"No need. We're friends, aren't we?" Matthew smiled. "Logan. If you or your people ever run into a problem that needs solving, tell me."
"I might be able to help."
Logan hefted the case and gave a single nod. "If something comes up, I'll find you."
He headed for the elevator.
Downstairs.
Storm was in the passenger seat, watching Logan walk out of the building in his suit, carrying a case.
"Logan. Where's Nikki?"
Logan got into the driver's seat without a word. Buckled up. Started the car.
"Logan." Storm could smell the whiskey from where she was sitting. She looked at the case in his hands. "Please tell me you didn't go up there just to drink."
Logan was silent for a moment.
"I've been thinking about it," he said, with complete seriousness, "and leaving Nikki there is actually a reasonable outcome. A company that size has no problem protecting one small child."
Storm stared at him.
"Did he bribe you?"
Logan said nothing.
"I am simply stating facts."
"Then what is that case?"
"A gift. From a friend."
"Since when do you have a friend in that building?"
"Made one just now."
"And you're saying that's not a bribe."
"I said it was from a friend."
Back and forth, neither of them giving ground, the car filling with the kind of argument that has no destination.
Storm, having run out of patience, rolled her window down and called out to a police officer on the sidewalk.
"Officer! I'd like to report a drunk driver!"
Logan stared at her.