"Geez Victor, when I got your call I thought we'd crack open a beer like the good old days! What's on your mind friend?" Wade Wilson said as he looked around the lab, dozens of dead scientists lay strewn about.
"Yeah? Shit doesn't even do anything to us, what's the point?" Victor asked, wiping some blood off his face as he pointed at the computer. "Need some new prey, find some of the rogue mutants these guys hunted…"
Deadpool laughed, smiling under his mask as he danced over to the computer. "Sure thing best bud! If I do this am I getting a Christmas present this year? I keep waiting for a cute Sabretooth plushy but it never shows up under the tree!" Wade went into the computer and searched for defected agents. The Weapon X program was still running, but just barely. These scientists were probably the last few Stryker had working with him. Not to mention the other various mutant-based companies that were mixed in. "There we go! Put together a list. Why are you trying to hunt these guys anyway? Last I checked you find your own prey to hunt…"
Victor snatched the freshly printed paper from Deadpool's hands, walking away without answering his question. He wanted to get away for a while, no jobs, just him in the wild, as a hunter should be. He pulled out the piece of paper he'd found in his jacket. When Selene had slipped it in he wasn't sure. Regardless, he wouldn't bother checking out the address. Not until he was ready to face his actions. For now he stuck with the old reliable, killing until he couldn't feel anything anymore.
"Rest in peace Birdy, you did a good job…" He said as he hopped onto his motorcycle, leaving Wade to stare at him as he drove off. He didn't know when he'd come back, or if he'd even come back. Centuries could pass for him if he felt like it. All he knew right now was the name of his first target. "Illya huh? Guess I'm hunting a runaway Russian…"
•
There was a tense silence between them for a few moments, the only sound the soft rustle of the leaves and the distant song of a bird. Then Birdy took a deep breath and looked back up at Selene, her expression softer.
"So, what are you going to do now?" she asked gently. "You have the estate, the Grail… you could take control, reshape things however you want. What's the plan?"
Selene stared out at the gardens, her gaze distant. For a long moment, she didn't speak, as if weighing something deep within herself. Then, she let out a slow, almost weary breath.
"For once, Birdy, I don't have to *do* anything," she said softly. "I don't have to serve anyone, or fight anyone else's battles. I can just… exist. Live for myself, however I see fit. I don't know what that means yet, or what I want to make of all this. But for the first time in my life, I'm my own master."
Birdy watched her, a small, understanding smile curving her lips. "That's… good. You deserve that."
Selene glanced at her, a rare hint of warmth in her gaze. "So do you, Birdy. We both do."
They fell into a companionable silence then, sipping their wine glasses of blood as the sky turned from gold to deep purple. The estate seemed to breathe around them, alive and thriving, a testament to survival and resilience. Whatever came next, whatever path Selene chose, she would face it on her own terms. And that, more than anything, was victory enough.
•
A year had passed since Victor Creed set off on his bloody hunt, leaving behind a trail of death in his wake. The world moved on, but in the shadows, a name whispered fear into the hearts of the hunted: Sabretooth.
Now, instead of roaming free, Victor found himself chained in the belly of the beast—Weapon X. The facility was buried deep in a snowy wasteland, a frozen tomb for the most dangerous mutant they had ever captured. The walls were cold, sterile, and most of all, bloody.
Inside a heavily reinforced chamber, Victor was bound like an animal. Adamantium chains were wrapped tightly around his limbs, digging deep into his skin. Poles, also made of adamantium, pierced his body in multiple places, keeping him pinned against the wall like a grotesque trophy. The poles stabbed through his chest, his arms, his legs—deliberately placed to sever muscles and prevent any real healing. His mutant healing factor constantly tried to repair the damage, but the unrelenting adamantium made it nearly impossible. The pain was constant, a dull throbbing that never stopped.
Victor's breathing was labored, a feral growl rumbling in his chest as he strained against his restraints, but even he knew it was futile. He wasn't healing. The steady stream of drugs and technology Weapon X used kept his rage at bay, turning him from a wild predator into something closer to a slave.
"How the mighty have fallen," one of the guards muttered, watching through the glass from the observation room. "This is Sabretooth? The big bad mutant killer? Now he's just a dog in a cage."
Another guard laughed as he tapped the control panel. "Yeah, it's weird seeing him like this. They keep him so doped up he barely twitches anymore."
Inside his cell, Victor's yellow, predatory eyes flicked open at the sound of their voices. His body might have been weakened, but his senses were still sharp. He could hear every word. The rage he felt was white-hot, but the drugs and adamantium kept him from acting on it. Still, his lips curled into a snarl. He may have been caged, but he wasn't broken.
Weapon X didn't just capture Victor out of vengeance for his past crimes. They wanted something from him—his raw strength, his savagery, his will. They were breaking him down, day by day, turning him into a weapon they could control. He hadn't even seen the sunlight in months, only the sterile glow of artificial light and the constant hum of machinery.
And Gambit. That damn Cajun bastard had been the one to bring him in after he'd torn Illya and Colossus apart. Victor could still see the look on Gambit's face when they finally subdued him. It wasn't satisfaction. It wasn't victory. It was pity. And Victor hated him for it. If he ever got out, Gambit would be the first name on his list.
As Victor struggled against his bonds, the door to his chamber hissed open. A pair of Weapon X scientists walked in, flanked by armed guards. They approached him cautiously, even in his weakened state, knowing full well what he was capable of. One of the scientists adjusted the drip feeding drugs into Victor's system, tightening the screws.
"Time for your daily dose," the scientist sneered, flicking the needle in her hand. "Can't have you getting any ideas about escaping."
Victor's lips peeled back, revealing his fangs. "You can't keep me here forever," he growled, voice low and dangerous despite the drugs coursing through his veins. "I'll tear every last one of you apart."
The scientist only chuckled, stepping back as the guards raised their weapons.
"Maybe," she said with a smirk. "But not today." As they turned to leave, Victor's mind raced, every fiber of his being focused on one goal: escape. He would get out. He would hunt again. And when that day came, the blood would flow freely. But for now, all he could do was wait... wait and endure. When he came to, the next time he was bound, muzzled like a dog, and strapped to a lab table. Scientists were around him, every part of his body was cut open and stapled to the side, keeping his wounds fresh as he weakly struggled against the treatment.
"Stryker..." He said slowly, seeing the mastermind himself walk up to the table, five claw marks running down his face from Victor's first day here. He hated this, he hated not being able to kill anything, most of all he hated not being able to hide away anymore, all he could do was think, and he had nothing good to think about. He growled lowly, thinking of Selene, of his father, of Mystique, of his now dead son, his future kid dead as well. If he was in any place too, he might have laughed at the irony, he'd trapped and kept people like pets, now here he was, enslaved just the same.
"You'll be my greatest project Victor, you and The X-23... I'll make you perfect," Stryker said, injecting two needles in both of Victor's eyes, a dark blue serum flowing into them... When he got free, and he would be free again. They'd die. Maybe he'd get revenge for Birdy and kill Selene as well. The thought kept him from thrashing as his entire body burned, his organs being harvested as he stayed awake, watching them all and waiting for the perfect Opportunity.
•
One night, Birdy couldn't take it anymore. She reached out to one of Grail's operatives, a human who owed her a favor. Against Selene's explicit orders, she had him dig up Victor's last known location. She made him swear not to tell Selene, though deep down, she knew the secrecy wouldn't last long. Still, she needed to know. It felt like a betrayal, but she had to make sure he was okay. Or, at the very least, she had to know what had happened to him.
A week later, she was summoned to Selene's office. Birdy knew immediately that she'd been found out. Selene was seated behind her desk, eyes dark with barely suppressed fury. The elder vampire didn't waste time with pleasantries.
"So, my dear Birdy, you couldn't let it go. You had to go digging into the past, into him," Selene said, her voice a cold, cutting whip. "After everything he did to you. After everything I've given you."
"I just needed to know," Birdy replied, though her voice was small. "I needed to know if he was okay."
Selene's expression twisted with disdain. "You are weak, Birdy. Pathetic, even. Can't you see that he was nothing but poison for you? A rabid dog, dragging you down. He never loved you, never cared for you. You were just a tool to him, a convenience."
Birdy flinched but held her ground. "Maybe so. But at one point, he was all I had, Selene. And I know why you're so bitter, why you hate that I can't move on. Because at one point, he was all you wanted, too."
There was a silence then, heavy and fraught. Selene's eyes narrowed, but she didn't speak for several long moments. Then, with a sigh, she slid a file across the desk toward Birdy.
"Here," Selene said, her tone flat. "If you're so desperate to know, then know. He's being held at Weapon X. A prisoner, just like the beast he is."
Birdy's heart sank as she opened the file. The details were sparse but clear enough. Victor was a captive, subjected to the same torturous experiments and conditioning that he had once been a part of. "This is—why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I'm the one who put him there," Selene said, her voice cold and unyielding. "I told Stryker how to find him, where to ambush him. The Grail controls Weapon X now, in case you were wondering. And that means I control him."
Birdy's vision blurred with rage. "You're no better than he was," she spat, throwing the file back onto the desk. "You're everything you hated about him—controlling, manipulative, cruel."
Selene's eyes blazed, and in an instant, she was on her feet, her hand flashing out to strike Birdy across the face. The blow was hard enough to send Birdy stumbling back, her cheek flaring with pain.
"You forget your place!" Selene snarled, her fangs bared. "I made you. I can unmake you just as easily. You belong to me, Birdy, not to some rabid animal who would have killed you in a heartbeat if it suited him."
Birdy's cheek throbbed, but she lifted her chin defiantly. "Maybe I'm not yours, either," she whispered. "Maybe I'm just mine."
Selene's eyes flashed with something—anger, hurt, betrayal. But she said nothing more, simply turned away, her back rigid with tension.
"Get out," she said finally, her voice cold and brittle. "Before I decide you're more trouble than you're worth."
Birdy left, her heart heavy and her mind racing. The words they'd thrown at each other echoed in her head, but she couldn't shake the image of Victor, trapped and tortured, the victim of Selene's wrath and the Grail's machinations. As she lay in bed that day, she knew what she had to do.
Quietly, she crafted an order, using Selene's forged signature and seals. It was risky—if she was caught, there would be no mercy. But she couldn't leave him like that. The order was simple: Victor Creed was to be released from custody. A slip of paper was to be given to him upon his release, containing only an address. Their address.
Birdy sealed the document and sent it off, her heart pounding with a mixture of fear and defiance. If Victor ever made it out, if he ever found them, she knew it would be dangerous, maybe even deadly. But she also knew that she couldn't live with herself if she did nothing. Whatever else he was, he had been hers once, and she couldn't abandon him to rot in a cage.
Even if it meant betraying Selene. Even if it meant risking everything.
•
"What do you mean release him!" Stryker hissed as Victor groggily woke up. His arms and legs had been torn off, constant searing heat keeping them stumps, the drugs blocking his natural healing ability. He smelled the girl behind him, subjected to the same treatment, though she was also still getting pumped full of adamantium. "Boss, it's from the top. We can't disobey their orders, you know who-" The scientist arguing was shot dead, her body dropping to the floor as Stryker looked over to Victor's pathetic body.
"Someone wants me free, guess your superiors fear me… As they should." Victor said in a low, heavy tone, as if every word took his full focus to say.
"Listen beast!" Stryker hissed, grabbing a metal prong and stabbing it into Victor neck, the barbs ripping out his throat. "I don't care about the higher ups! I own you! You're my pet and there's nothing-"
Victor cut him off with a laugh after his throat had healed. "I love strong prey, I even love stubborn ones… But delusional prey? That's a new one Stryker." Victor bit into his lip, his fangs sharper now, tipped with the Proto-Adamantium they'd been pumping into his body. Normal adamantium had its downsides, but proto-adamantium would kill anyone, it'd even kill Logan if it was injected into him. But not Victor, not the top predator. "Thanks for that, ripping up my veins and getting that sick serum out of me. Just how much did you think I would take before killing you stryker?" Victor growled, forcing his body to bulk up, ripping the straps that held him down and falling face first on the ground. His wounds quickly healed, his arms and legs growing back stronger than ever. All Stryker had done was make him stronger. Super soldier serum, Proto-Adamantium, and a new thirst for blood.
"I should really thank you…" Victor said, his eyes glowing a deep red, his claws metal and razor shape, the mix of vibranium and adamantium making them glint under the light. "Better run Stryker, run while you still have legs." To Stryker's credit, he ran immediately, rushing out of the lab as Victor went to the other side of where he'd been strapped, slicing off the girl's binding. He'd heard them call her X-23, no other name. As far as he was concerned though? She was his new partner. X-23 lunged at him, biting into his arm and stabbing him with her claws as he just smirked. "Calm down kid, we have prey to catch," He growled, grabbing X-23's hair and tossing her after Stryker, slamming her through the door as he snarled loudly.
Scientists flooded the halls as alarms blared, and for the first time in a year, Victor slipped into rage… It only took 25 minutes for the two monsters to rip apart every living person in the facility. Laura, as Victor had learned the girl's name was from a scientist screaming it, was a natural born predator. If she was more of an asshole he'd have thought she was Logan's daughter or something. Stryker's head was stabbed into the front of the building, his body scattered around the front of the base as Victor and Laura walked out, dressed in brand new clothes. "So kid, you ready to learn the hunt?" Victor asked, eyes glinting before looking at a scientist's arm he had torn off.
It had a single file in it, one paper in the folder. It read an address, and a single name he'd thought he'd never see again. -Birdy. He tightened his jaw, folding the paper and sliding it into his pocket. Either someone was messing with him or she was alive… But he'd saw her die, he'd saw how Selene had let her die. Shaking his head he breathed in the crisp Alaskan air, stretching his arms and looking down the mountain they were at.
"Hope you like heights," He said as he lifted Laura, her cute snarls making his smile as he tossed her off, jumping after her. It'd be weird taking care of a little kid, but he'd had harder challenges, and he'd make sure no one in his pack got hurt, not ever again…
•
Selene's eyes narrowed, gleaming with a deadly intent. "What did you do?" Her voice was like ice, barely restrained, and tinged with something far darker.
Birdy blinked, her face a mask of innocence as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, feigning ignorance. "I don't know what you're talking about—"
"You think I'm a fool?" Selene cut her off, her voice rising with each word. "Don't play dumb with me, Birdy. I know you had something to do with this!"
Birdy shifted uncomfortably but tried to maintain her composure. "I haven't done anything. Whatever happened with Weapon X, it wasn't me."
But Selene wasn't listening. Her powers were growing, evolving. She could feel the pulse of Birdy's mind like a drumbeat, the thoughts swirling just beneath the surface. Makers could read their progeny's minds effortlessly, a connection forged in the blood. Birdy, despite her bravado, could never hide from her.
Selene's lips curled into a sneer as she stepped closer, her gaze locking onto Birdy's. "I know when you're lying."
Birdy's breath hitched as she felt Selene intrude into her thoughts, effortlessly peeling back the layers of her mind. The truth was laid bare—flashes of Birdy's involvement in helping orchestrate the escape, her motivations tangled in defiance and fear.
"You treacherous little worm," Selene hissed, her voice dripping with venom. "I made you, and this is how you repay me? Undermining everything I've built?"
Birdy's eyes widened in panic, her façade of indifference shattering. "Selene, wait! I didn't mean for things to go this far. I was just trying to—"
"Save it!" Selene snarled, her temper flaring beyond control. She lunged at Birdy, her vampiric strength far outmatching the other's. Grabbing Birdy by the throat, she shoved her back against the wall with enough force to make the frame creak.
"You're pathetic," Selene spat, her voice low and full of malice. "You're nothing without me. Without my power, my mercy."
Birdy struggled to break free, her hands clawing weakly at Selene's iron grip. "Selene, please…"
But the plea fell on deaf ears. In her rage, Selene dragged Birdy towards the open window, where the pale light of dawn was just beginning to filter in. The sunlight danced on the edge of the sill, a deadly promise.
"You want mercy?" Selene mocked, her voice twisted with sadistic pleasure. "Maybe I should let the sun burn the weakness out of you. Or burn you alive."
Birdy's eyes filled with terror as she realized what Selene was about to do. "No, please! I'm sorry! I'll fix it, I'll do anything—just don't…"
But Selene was too far gone. The power coursing through her veins was intoxicating, a heady rush of dominance and fury. She yanked Birdy closer to the light, savoring the way the other woman trembled in her grasp.
Just as Selene was about to shove Birdy into the sunlight, a strong hand clamped down on her arm and pulled her back with a force that sent her crashing into the far wall. The impact stunned her for a moment, the rage blinding her as she struggled to regain focus. When she finally looked up, there he stood—Logan, the Wolverine.
You can deal with her later," Logan growled, his eyes dark with intensity. "Right now, we've got a bigger problem."
Selene pushed herself up, fury still blazing in her eyes. "You dare—"
"I don't give a damn what you think," Logan interrupted, his voice like gravel. "Laura's missing. You promised me you'd train her, keep her safe. And now she's gone. You need to fix this."
Selene's frustration boiled over. "I don't have time for this! Get out of my way, Logan."
But Logan wasn't about to back down. In a swift motion, he grabbed Selene by the hair, yanking her toward the bedroom, his grip unyielding. She snarled, thrashing against him, but his strength was unshakable.
The two of them crashed into the room, the sounds of their struggle filling the space as Selene lashed out in a fury.
Birdy fell asleep listening to chaos.