Title: Ghost
Author: Lornadane (Email)
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Ghost 2
By Lornadane
Logan spent most of that night in the Danger Room. He was one of the few X-men allowed by Xavier to use the facility alone. His healing factor almost guaranteed his safety. And Xavier had extracted a promise from him never to up the level of programming to lethal. His sense of honor held him to that promise. For a long while in the midst of ripping apart killer robots, he forgot the vision of the day.
But when he retired late that night to his room the vivid scene came rushing back and he could swear he smelled the scent of jasmine and lilacs and hear the barking of the border collie. Logan lay down on his bed and contemplated the vision, finally deciding he wouldn't share it with anyone unless it reoccurred. He'd seen stranger things in his life, he mused. One ghostly vision wasn't much of an experience compared to the aliens, demons and
cyborgs he'd run across. And at least it had been a pleasant vision. He'd just put it out of his mind for now. But as he drifted off to sleep the faint sound of the woman's laughter echoed in his mind, bringing a dream of her.
In his dream he stood watching himself lying in the spot close to the shore of the lake where she had stood playing with her dog. His head rested in her lap and his eyes were closed. He wore a blissful expression on his face as
she ran her delicate fingers through his hair, over and over, combing out the dark tresses. Her own head was bowed over his and her locks flowed down around her face hiding it from view. The strands barely touched his cheeks
and lips caressing him gently as lite breeze blew over them. Her border collie lay next to them, panting his contentment with a canine smile.
Then he was back inside himself feeling her hair against his face and her fingers stroking his temples, cool and silken in the noonday heat. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. She gave him a sad mournful smile and sat up
straighter. He cocked his head back, his eyes full of questions as she tried to speak. Her lips moved but made no sound. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she realized he couldn't understand her. Then she turned and pointed
towards the woods.
As with dreams the woman was suddenly standing at the edge of the forest gesturing for Logan to follow. Her dog stood next to her facing the trees, no longer smiling. It's lips were pulled back from it's teeth and a low menacing
growl rose from it's belly. Logan moved cautiously toward her when without warning he was standing in the woods in the middle of four wooden stakes. Blood began to rise up under his feet congealing on his boots until he began
to sink deeper and deeper into the bloody earth. He clutched desperately for purchase and his hand made contact with the multicolored ball belonging to the woman, now bathed in blood. In the distance he heard an unearthly howl from the dog and a piercing shriek from the woman.
Logan woke with a cry on his lips, tears on his cheeks and sweat dripping off his brow. The morning sun was breaking through his window as he climbed out of his bed to look out on to the grounds. He was determined to remember the dream. With absolute certainty, he felt the woman was trying to tell him something. Dressing quickly into his blue and gold uniform, he made his way down stairs and out the back of the mansion thankful no one was up at the time.
Logan was around the lake in record time. The woman's scent still lingered in the place he had seen her yesterday. He turned slowly to look at where she had pointed in his dream. It was exactly as he had envisioned. He could
almost see her standing there beckoning him to follow. Plunging into the woods, not exactly sure where he was headed, he remembered the stakes and knew they were what he was looking for. Part way into the forest he had to
pop his claws to tear through the dense vegetation. About thirty difficult minutes of hacking and rending branches and bushes he stumbled into a small clearing and froze.
The four stakes rose inches above the damp covering of leaves. He saw the thick decaying ropes running from each stake and on his right, not covered enough were skeletal fingers poking out from under the leaves. His gaze ran a
body length down to where two skeletal feet were stretched about shoulder length apart and tied securely to the other two stakes.
A rage so deep, even Logan couldn't quite believe it, brought a roar from his lips as he viciously dug down into the layer of leaves uncovering the remnants of what had surely been the woman from his vision. Little was left
of the body except the bones. The meat had been picked nearly clean from the skeleton by the woodland creatures that lived here. Only a few scraps of flesh clung to her ribs and thighs. Even her scalp had been stripped, leaving
her hair spread violently around her skull.
The ropes had mostly deteriorated over the time she'd been there, but he could tell how deeply they had cut into her skin by the scrapes across the bones of her wrists and ankles. They had cut down into the bone as she struggled to free herself.
How long had she been there? Logan stood up scowling and angry. Someone had done something hideous to her, and it hardly mattered to Logan that it had been done on the mansion's grounds. All he knew was that he was fiercely determined to find out what and who. Her ghost, the vision he'd seen, the dream he'd had, cried out for justice. And he would be the one to offer it to her.
He looked around the small clearing and saw the remains of the dog, it's bones also cleaned of flesh. Only a meal now in death. Next to the dog lay the multicolored ball that was so familiar. Logan picked up the toy and
examined it finding traces of dried blood covering it's surface. He looked at the animal and then back at the girl and suddenly he was howling at the sky full of fury and hate not caring if anyone heard up at the mansion.
After he had calmed a little he bent down over the girl and began to sift through the leaves looking for clues. He found what was left of her yellow sun dress, torn to shreds. A knife, he wondered. Claws? Immediately he thought of Sabertooth. He could have easily gotten onto the grounds without triggering the alarms. And he'd be psychotic enough to torture the woman. But he was dead, wasn't he? Logan had been certain that Apocalypse would have
killed him. The extraction of the adamantium alone should have been enough to end his miserable life. Logan had won the part of Death. So why keep Sabertooth alive. After all, Apocalypse believed in survival of the fittest,
and Logan had defeated Sabertooth proving the psychopath was not fit to survive.
So who else would have done this? And why? He put the cloth to his nose hoping to catch the killer's scent, but all he could smell was the earth and dead leaves. And a faint trace of jasmine and lilacs. Placing the dress down next to him he bent again to examine the earth. There were minute traces of blood, so small few people would have noticed them. But Logan's enhanced senses picked up the sight and scent easily. Of course most of the blood
would have been washed away by the rain and wind long ago. But he saw where most of it might have congealed under the body, marking where the wounds would have been. Under the head and neck, causing him to surmise her throat had been cut, and under the abdomen, indicating a belly wound.
Logan stood up deep in thought. He turned slowly around scanning the small area. Suddenly the wind shifted parting the branches of a tree bringing sunlight into the clearing. Logan caught a glint off metal and saw the well
concealed surveillance camera tucked away just above his head pointing down, it's angle of sight directly in line with the scene in the clearing. Of course. Hidden cameras were all over the estate quietly sending images via
satellite back to the main computer of the mansion to be recorded for further evaluation. All video images were recorded and kept on record for 10 years. Normally if someone triggered an alarm the X-men would automatically be notified of where on the estate that person was and what camera was recording the intruder. That way, the team could identify trespassers even when they were off on a mission. It was an elaborate system made up of good
old-fashioned earth technology, mingled with Shi'ar and Forges' ideas.
But it wasn't foolproof. Especially this far out from the mansion proper. If no alarms were triggered the cameras simply continued to record, oblivious to the brutal death of one lone woman. But there would be records. Logan smiled without amusement. At least now he'd know who the killer was. He looked back at the slaughter. Most of the physical clues were gone.
Logan stood for a while contemplating the sight. He thought about burying the body. It was unlikely the police would be able to handle the killer, or even care much. The only evidence might be the video recording and Logan was loath to share information about the Estates security with the law enforcement of Salem Center. It would cause too many unwanted questions. And the fact that the murder had taken place on the grounds would not bode well for the X-men. There'd be government officials crawling all over the estate. No telling what they'd stumble onto.
But the woman must have had family. And they'd probably been out of their mind looking for her. No telling how long she'd been missing. Added to that Logan's belief that she deserved a proper burial. Not decaying out here in
the wild like an animal, unremembered and unmourned. Finally he came to a decision. First things first: identify the woman, find the killer, and then notify the family after justice had been served. His justice.