Dr. Erik Lensher's Story

Once the defiant Assassin and the three stooges left her office in a parade, Victoria let the pen fall out of her hand and rubbed her eyes. She was thankful to have a moment's quiet, although it wasn't peaceful. While she had kept herself for the most part composed in front of the four while in her office, she was furious about losing eight field agents. Baffled too. How was that possible? Her agents were the best. If there were two, four, even six werewolves it shouldn't have been a problem for eight of her men. They would have to be well-trained, or at least prepared for attack, and so far she had not witnessed very much organization in combat by werewolves. Werewolves were physically superior aside from their kryptonite, silver. But their greatest weakness was their lack of strategy. They, the Wolfsbane Warriors, were the smart ones, that's why they were winning. If the werewolves were trying to shake them up with some brutish massacre, they had another thing coming.

That's why she had sent Victor, as much as she hated to admit it, because he was one of their best and most ruthless Assassins. And the little one.. She was smart, although she had in spirit given the Wolfsbane Warriors the middle finger after her father's death. The two Assassins she had thrown together had nothing in common except they both seemed to have a penchant for unruly behavior and were good at their jobs. They had completely different styles and strong suits when it came to wolf hunting and would either make for a dynamic or disastrous duo. Largely she believed the success of their goal depended on attitude and that concerned her very much at this point.


It wasn't long after her last guests departed that she got a message from downstairs stating that Dr. Lensher was coming up to see her. Great, this was what she needed right now: an old coot flying off his rocker. Her patience was hanging on a thin thread already. If it was another live human specimen he needed she would gladly give him the ugly mug watching the front desk right now. She wasn't giving him anymore of her good soldiers though. She didn't need any more of them getting ornery or challenging her; not that Victor had exactly been a peach before having wolf saliva pumped into his veins.

"Please come in,” She said in rote when she heard the knock at her door. She put on her reading glasses and gazed down at her papers, behaving disinterested as Dr. Lensher came in. “How are you, Dr. Lensher? Explain to me in excruciating detail your next experiment. You know how much that thrills me.”

"Do you remember the Weapon X program Victoria? My masterwork?"

"Of course, why?" They had all suffered a great loss that day, for Dr. Lensher, his masterwork, for Victoria an invaluable soldier. It had also made an incredible blow on their scientific department's credibility which was ultimately pinned on Dr. Lensher.

Victoria was patient as the elderly scientist lowered his feeble body delicately into the chair across from her. She cringed at the visible pain that the simplest of movements brought in old age. The years were treating her a great deal better, as could be told by her stilettos. Perhaps it was time to retire him. The old man had met his stride, but Victoria had kept him around almost as a sentimental gesture. And honestly she didn't want to hold the title of being the oldest in the Wolfsbane Warriors... It was sad, really. All of the greats in their industry had either died or were going senile.

"I've been tracking him ever since he escaped. The brother of your attack dog is my finest work but has been impossible to locate with the meager resources I am permitted. Yet now this whole organization is going to suffer for not listening to me sooner." He said and tossed a file in front of her.

He opened up the file before her and spread the grizzly photographs inside with his knotted, arthritic-ridden fingers to show her better.

"Does this look at all familiar? Your men, from the park. Met a brutal end. Odd eight of your best cut down without a single wolf body to show for it?"

Victoria tilted her head back in an affronted manner, "I've seen these already. What are you getting at, Dr. Lensher?" She said testily.

"Here, look. You see this?" He moved aside the photographs of her cut down men to reveal more gruesome photos of some dead civilians, "It's the same, the exact same kind of attack yet here there were survivors. This was a fight in a bar, I had my men bring in the owner. When I interviewed her she told me the men were killed by a man with metal claws that came out of his hands..." He added.

"You don't mean to say--"

"It's him Victoria... James Howlett is in Los Angeles and I need everything you have to go after him." He cut off Victoria in mid-sentence. Only the doctor could get away with that and use her first name because he was the only one who trumped her in seniority.

Victoria's mouth puckered in annoyance, not at the doctor himself, but at the whole situation. Her two index fingers pointed together in a steeple against her lips, ice blue eyes narrowed in deep concentration.

"I have already sent out two assassins to go find the culprit behind the massacre in the park.. Now that we know who that is, this should be easier.." She muttered, "but it is Shay and Victor who are going after him.."

Her last words hung heavy. This was a very volatile situation they were dealing with, especially since she had unknowingly sent Victor after his own brother. After a few moments of tense silence she spoke again, "I'll permit you the funds and resources you need to capture James. But I will not call off my assassins, it's too late for that. I suggest you get to him faster than them for I can't say what Victor will do to either his brother or to any of us once he is entirely aware of the situation."

The old man's intensity was starting to get under her skin. Victoria scrunched her nose up in disgust at the prosthetic left hand he placed on her desk.

"I implore you, call Victor back."

Having two pissed off scientifically mutated brothers attacking their agency wasn't ideal, she would give Dr. Lensher that. Looking at Erik's hand reminded her of that, even made her squirm in her seat a little.

"Even if I call him off do you think that he would be so stupid as to not suspect something amiss? I don't call my people off of a mission so quickly." the first command stated, finally taking her eyes off the prosthetic hand and smoothing out her skirt as a distraction from the uncomfortable feeling of fear that crept into her mind.

"James is going to come to the realization who did this to him whether or not he sees his brother. He is out there with a werewolf right now and if he comes in contact with more.. Our enemies will spell it out for him. Only we would be foolishly experimenting with werewolf DNA to fight back against them. It's better we get to him before them. God knows what might happen with that sort of weapon in their primitive hands.."

Her eyes returned to their steady gaze looking back at Dr. Lensher, resolve restored. The wheels could be seen turning in her head. The first command was not one to let anxiety override her thinking process. Nothing shook her. She had been fighting werewolves since she was a college student for god sakes. It was said that she lacked the flight part of her survival instincts. She only knew how to fight.. And how to win.

"We could make Victor aware of what's happened.. Maybe twist the truth to make ourselves a little more favorable. And get him to bring James back to us." She suggested, "...your science experiment was with a little werewolf at the park. That's who my agents were after when they were all killed. If James is willing to put himself in harms way and slaughter eight men to protect that lousy mutt, I'd say we found ourselves a weakness. Not a physical one, but it is something. We can exploit that weakness with his brother.. Besides you, Victor wants James back more than anyone. He is all alone without him."

Lensher's brilliant, deviant and wicked mind began to turn. The cogwheels that had so long ago supposedly rusted over with time allowing age and dementia to set in began to turn. The rust fell away and the dust was no more. He was considering Victoria's suggestion. To twist the truth, make Victor believe what they wanted him to believe. It was not so different form what he'd done so many times before with his own agents when he had more power in the organization. He just needed to find the right buttons to push, the right formula for Victor. Once he did Victor would be theirs.

"I suppose the truth is relative, after all..."

Erik said, relaxing for the first time since entering Victoria's office. His hand went to his chin as his mind worked out the puzzle of Victor's allegiance.

"The girl is his weakness. Send Victor and his partner after her. Draw Logan out. If Victor can subdue him I may be able to correct my mistake. A simple cognitive re-construction should rid Logan of any ideas of individuality and free will making him completely loyal. We need him here first for that to happen."

The Doctor paused as he considered the plot more.

"Victor is the key stone for this construction of ours. You know him better than any I'd assume. What would we need to tell him to convince him to capture his own brother for us?"

"For now we will only say that we know he is back. That he is traveling with a girl and to not look for him because we are taking care of the matter.. obviously he will disobey that order and go looking for his brother."

Victor's rebelliousness would now finally come to some good use if he reacted the way she expected him to.. which was likely he would. Victoria rarely read people wrong and knew how to manipulate them into getting what she wanted.

"It is not important to tell him the details of what we know and his brother's changes.. We will cross that bridge when we get there. In any case, he will do what it takes to get his brother back, anything.."

Victoria rubbed the temples of her head wearily, hours of stress and work finally starting to take its toll.

"Then you'll have your experiment back and maybe you can even redeem yourself from this terrible mess.... Is that all Dr. Lensher?"

Obviously the last question was not sincere and she just wanted him out of her office so she could finally get the rest of her paperwork done and go home. It was one of the downsides to being a leader of any organization: Paperwork. And with eight agents dead there would be more coming her way and she would have to write condolence letters on top of that to the fallen warriors' family members.