Roman had gone to feed Remus. As much as he hated to admit, they needed the rat to lure Patton out of hiding. He whipped up some "food" and had gone deliver it to Remus.
He opened the door to his room (where the cage was located) and found a side in an orange jacket standing there. The side turned to him, shot Roman a quick grin, and promptly sunk out.
Roman furrowed his brow, but continued his business nonetheless. "Remus? I've got you--"
He cut himself off, tray falling out of his hands.
Roman screamed.
Remus was slumped against the bars of his cage, a large, bleeding wound in the center of his forehead. As Roman scrambled over to the cage, it looked more and more like a bullet wound.
What the fuck?!
WHAT THE FUCK?!
"Roman?!" Virgil exclaimed, rushing into the room. Logan was there too, but Roman couldn't fully process that at the moment because what the fuck--
"R-REMUS!" Virgil yelled, quickly rushing ahead of Roman and unlocking the cage. He shakily brought a hand to Remus' cheek, already breathing heavily.
"What happened?" Logan asked, turning to Roman. Roman took a moment to compose himself.
"There was a fellow that came here. I guess he's responsible for this." Roman frowned, gesturing to Remus. Logan rose a brow at how unaffected Roman appeared to be.
"What was this 'fellow' wearing?" Logan asked.
"I dunno, an orange jacket?" Roman shrugged. "It's good to see you awake, Logan. You gave us quite the scare."
"It is not the time, nor the place for that." Logan snapped. Roman didn't miss how Logan's hand shook as he crossed his arms.
"Now we have two killers on the loose, that's so fun." Roman grumbled.
"Patton isn't a killer." Logan replied, doing his best not to look at the cage because there was so much blood. "He never killed anyone."
"Why are you defending him?" Roman asked, narrowing his eyes at Logan.
"I-I'm not. I'm simply stating the facts." Logan pursed his lips, avoiding eye contact.
"Why are you two just standing there?!" Virgil screamed. "Remus is dead and you--you just--!"
"There's nothing we can do except say our goodbyes, Hot Topic." Roman shrugged. Logan looked at the ground.
The only reason Logan wasn't doing anything was because he was hoping to distract Roman from with idle chatter. It seemed Roman was the one distracting Logan.
Oh god, Remus was dead and Logan had just stood there like some buffoon and talked about Patton, of all things. Remus, who Logan was finally seeing in a different light.
"Logan!" Virgil yelled, snapping Logan out of his thoughts. "Can't you do something?! H-He can't just--"
"I'm sorry, Virgil." Logan released a shaky breath. He steeled himself, he couldn't let the other two see how scared he was. He needed to be brave, like Roman. "There's nothing I can do."
"No! You're lying!" Virgil grabbed Remus and held him close to his chest. "You have to be able to do something!"
"He was shot in the fucking head, Virgil! Logan can't bring back the dead!" Roman snapped, annoyed. Virgil glared at Roman.
"What is wrong with you?!" Virgil yelled. "Do you not even care?!"
"Of course I do! The one person Patton could be targeting is dead! And with him goes our lead!" Roman exclaimed. Logan narrowed his eyes at him.
"Roman, what did you and Remus argue about?" Logan asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Roman spat. Logan scowled.
"Answer the question."
"Ugh, fine! We argued about--" Roman paused, face contorting into annoyance with a hint of confusion. "Um, hold on, it'll come back to me--"
"Why did Remus impersonate you?" Logan pressed, gears turning as he looked at Roman.
"Uh, that's--"
"Why did you stop talking to us when we separated you?"
"Look, I don't--"
"I knew it." Logan scowled. "They've done something to him."
"They? Who's they?" Roman asked, crossing his arms defensively.
A sudden groan frightened them all. They all watched in bewilderment as Remus stirred in Virgil's arms. He blearily blinked his eyes open. "Wha...?"
Virgil immediately let go of Remus and backed away, terrified. Logan, on the other hand, surged foward. "Remus? How much do you remember?"
"Nerdy Wolverine?" Remus groaned. His eyes suddenly snapped open and he looked around. "Cassius! Where is he?!"
"Who's that?" Logan asked, noticing how Virgil paled.
"H-How..." Roman spoke up, white as a sheet. "How are you alive?!"
"You didn't really think it was that easy to get rid of me, did you? If it was, I would've been dead a loooong time ago." Remus shrugged. Logan reached up and examined the wound on Remus' forehead.
Except there wasn't a wound. Just a whole lot of blood.
"I'm afraid we'll need further explanation." Logan said, forcing himself to calm down.
"So, I did some thinking, y'know? Injuries that I cause aren't permanent. And it explained quite a few things." Remus hummed. "So I thought to myself, if I just let it happen...I'm the one causing the injury, right? Like, if I'm capable of stopping it, and I don't, that makes it my own fault."
"I...suppose." Logan furrowed his brow.
"So, I took an incredibly risky gamble." Remus laughed as the reality that he could have very well died set it. "Let Cassius think he's killed me, and he leaves."
"Don't you ever," Virgil sneered, glaring fiercely at Remus. "do anything like that again."
"No promises." Remus shrugged, looking at them all with a wide grin.
"...Is Cassius...?" Logan furrowed his brow when Remus nodded once. "But how is that possible?"
"Okay, WHO IS CASSIUS?!" Roman screamed. Logan was then reminded of the problem they currently faced.
"Roman, I'm sorry about this." Logan said, placing a hand on Roman's shoulder.
The next moment, Roman dropped to the ground.
A/N:
Love how it suddenly switched from Roman's perspective to Logan's 🤩
