“Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.”

- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
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Time is a fickle mistress. She tempts you with the ever hopeful future, luring you with sweet talk of tomorrows and better days, allowing you to lie in perfect, blissful discontent; comforted by halfhearted excuses for putting something off another day. We all suffer this delusion that, because there is that next little box on the calendar, we are somehow guaranteed to be around to see it. Call it a short term immortality sickness and we use it to avoid doing or saying things that might make us uncomfortable, as a shield for our fears and a sister to our lazy inclinations. We are all the walking dead and yet we pretend like this world will never end.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have told him as soon as I came around, as soon as he brought me back, that I loved him, with every single part of my being, every miniscule bit of my soul, that from the moment I first saw him in that cold, sterile cell with my sanity hanging on by a thread, he was the one light in a world drenched in black and to my dying breath, all that I was, was his. Now there’s no more tomorrows, no more “right moment” to wait for. Now there is only the icy tendrils of darkness clutching and clawing as I watch the red river spread and flow beneath me. Nothing left but thoughts of regret and the gnawing truth of dying alone.
_____________________________________________________

Five months, ten days, twelve hours, fifteen minutes, and four, now five seconds. More than twenty lifetimes worth in a place like this where the average life expectancy was less than that of a housefly. He’d smelled each and every body they rolled down the long corridor that ran adjacent to his cell and could remember when most of them had first arrived. One week seemed average, maybe two or three if you proved to be something interesting to play with. Then all that was left was the corridor, the last mile for those who had finally outlasted their use. Sometimes, in his darker moments, he wished it’d finally be his turn to make that long trek, nothing left of himself but the smell of decay, death and sweet oblivion. Unfortunately for him that was never going to happen, or, if by some miracle it did, it wouldn’t happen nearly soon enough. Not for him or the mutants he shared his cell with. The Grim Reaper had given up on taking their souls long ago.

“Cross the fucking line again little girl and I won’t be responsible for what happens to you!”

There was a whimper and then the room flooded with the scent of an all consuming, sweet terror that both sickened and enticed him. He sighed, rubbing the spot between his eyes. They had brought her in a week ago. A young slip of a girl with large, brown eyes too big for her face, a body with curves that even half starvation couldn’t completely erode away, and an array of scents that were driving his hyperactive senses crazy. What they were thinking throwing her in with a bunch of half crazed ferals was beyond him.

She hadn’t spoken a single word, he had the feeling maybe she didn’t remember how, so he had no idea what her mutation was, though he could make a few guesses. The scars covering her body and the dead look in her eyes told him she had been at the lab for a good long while. Invulnerability or a healing factor were mandatory in this wing of the fun house, as well as a healthy dose of pure animal instinct.

“Put her down Victor.”

“Who’s going to make me? You McCoy?”

“If I must.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Logan looked over from the cot he had been laying down on at the two mutants now growling at each other. Sabertooth had the girl grabbed tightly by the arms and was dangling her in the air. Beast crouched in front of them, obviously calculating exactly how best to relieve Sabertooth of his new toy. This was going no place good fast and it looked like Logan was going to have to step in to play peacemaker, again. How the hell he ever got stuck with THAT role he’d never know. That was typically Hank’s forte, but the time they’d spent here at the lab since their capture had changed him and more and more he found himself dealing with the Beast and not the man.

Logan understood it completely, even welcomed it. The Beast could survive things Hank never would have been able to. Plus, it made life easier knowing he wasn’t having to watch his teammate’s back all the time. Beast had always been stronger and more capable when he let the feral side take over, but then the girl came and shredded apart the tiny bit of stability they had managed to create in this crazy place. Hank, the X-men, had come back out to play and decided to take it upon himself to be her personal protector and it was causing all sorts of issues that he’d rather not have to deal with right now.

It had been fine at first, when it was just him and Hank, but then came Sabertooth, a week later Wild Child, and it had taken weeks of practically tearing each other limb from limb just to deal with the territorial issues of having to share the same small space together. How nice the guards had been to deactivate their collars for a moment to let the wounds heal, after collecting the winnings from their bets of course.

The blood splatters still marred the concrete floor like a dark red rug and now there was something new and pretty to fight over. As it was, it had taken him three days just to reel in the Wolverine from trying to take the girl for himself. He still sometimes felt like he was hanging by a thread, especially times like now when she was throwing off those smells that made him want to either kill or fuck. Shit.

“What do you think little girl? Think the blue furball could take me down? Think he could really stop me if I decided I wanted to make you MINE?”

Logan felt his breath catch in his chest at the word and the entire atmosphere of the room shifted. Mine. It sent a shudder through him as he felt the Wolverine suddenly very interested in the entire situation. The Wolverine, who only seemed to have two trains of thought on the subject, what was his, and what wasn’t but would be VERY shortly. Almost hysterical laughter floated to his ears and he threw a glare at Wild Child who was watching the interaction with extreme amusement, pacing his own personal space in the back corner of the cell, obviously just as effected as he was by the use of the word.

It had clearly effected the girl as well. Her whole body had gone rigged and the brown eyes dilated to pure black, a feminine growl of warning, that brought the Wolverine to full attention, coming from deep within her chest; drawing all eyes of the room straight to her. The sudden silence after was suffocating.

That was it. He stomped over to the edge of his own part of the cell, muscles bunched and claws slowly sliding out, blood dripping onto the floor. He’d taken down Sabertooth a few times already to get a point across about this or that and he was damn well ready to do it again, in fact he hoped he’d get the chance. The moment had passed and the girl had gone back to that sweet terror smell and it wasn’t helping his state of mind any.

“He might not, but I sure as hell can. Put her the fuck down before someone gets hurt,” he crouched slightly, waiting, wishing for the slightest indication Sabertooth wasn’t going to listen to him.

Sabertooth’s eyes were still focused on the girl and it took a moment before he even realized the Wolverine’s presence. Then he saw the nostrils flare and the big black eyes turned to glare at him. He could see Creed weighing the pros and cons of the situation over in his mind and after what seemed like forever, the hands slowly loosened their grip.

“Aw, Ma. We were only playing,” he said, dropping the girl harshly onto the concrete floor. Logan watched as she scampered back over into the corner she shared with Hank, rubbing at the dark bruises that had already started to appear on her arms. The blue doctor gave a short snort to Sabertooth before walking over to kneel before her, trying to the check out her injuries. His actions were met with a swift kick to the groin and the girl running over to the far edge of the invisible line that separated Logan’s own corner of the cell from Hanks and bringing with it the strong scent of her anger and humiliation.

He was getting too old for this shit. He growled and stomped back to his small cot, giving one last glare to Wild Child who had thankfully stopped his incessant laughter and had resumed sitting and staring around the room. Tossing himself back down on the flimsy bed, he closed his eyes and tried to cage in the animal that was now rattling around pretty good, begging to be let out.

He had found there was a stillness that could be obtained by focusing on small noises, like the soft thump of a heartbeat or the gentle hum of electricity. If he focused long enough, he could feel the clenched muscles slowly relax, the need to destroy ebb away, and for a single moment he could make himself remember. Remember what it was like to not be Wolverine, the monster, remember how it was to simply be, Logan, the man. It was the smallest comfort, but one he grasped to as tightly as he could, the one thing that allowed him a feeling of control.

This place had stripped him of everything once before and he’d be damned if he let them do it again.

Do it, you know you want to.

Rogue grabbed her head in her hands and squeezed, tighter and tighter, hoping the pressure would drive out the voices. She imagined squeezing so hard that they would drip out of her ears and down her shoulders and drop in dark red splotches onto the ground and suffocate there, without her brain to provide them with the air to thrive and torment her in. If it hadn’t been for the silver band around her neck she was sure she would have succeeded. The people here had done things to her.

Such a pretty thing, pretty pretty thing. Shall we eat you up Rogue, eat you up till there’s nothing but flesh and bone and pain.

She felt a tear start to fall down her face and stood up suddenly in anger. Rogue did not cry! Not since that first time. Not since she had been out on the road. Not since the “nice” people had sold her to the lab when she was 12 years old. Not since the cutting and slicing and the tests. Rogue did not cry and she’d be damned if she was going to do it with a bunch of stinky, filthy beasts standing there watching her.

She paced the small corner of the room she knew was safe and growled when the blue one tried to speak to her again, ignoring the look on his face and the sudden smell of pity. Who was he to pity her! She didn’t need his help. She didn’t need anyone’s help. She was Rogue. She was the ultimate weapon! They should be glad she had this collar on or she’d destroy them all and then we’d see who’d be doing the pitying!

How cute, I think you hurt your new friend’s feelings.

She growled and slumped down against the wall, purposefully hitting her head hard against it to try and stop the voices. The last one had been the worst and she could feel his claws scratching at her mind, ripping and shredding. He had taken so long to die, so long, so much touching. Who was she again?

You’re pathetic, weak, stupid, stupid enough to believe someone might actually care. Stupid enough to get caught in this dump.

And she wasn’t sure if that was her own thoughts or the voices. They knew the truth hurt her worst of all.

If it wasn’t for us you wouldn’t survive and you’d still be weak, pathetic. You took everything from us and got everything in return. Pathetic, stupid, ugly, monster, monster, monster.

She felt another tear and damn this body. Damn this body to hell and back again. She looked at her arms, so pale from years of hiding covered. Pale enough to see the veins staring up at her, mocking her.

Do it, you know you want to.

And this time she didn’t question whose voice it was as she reached over and clawed every single soft line beneath that toxic thin skin. Ripping out large chunks of flesh, before clawing at her face and her stomach. If only she could tear her heart out, if only, but before she could reach a hand all the way in, the beautiful darkness took over and the voices were quiet.

There was nothing like waking up to the gagging, suffocating feeling that came with being locked in a tank full of water. If there was a worse way to wake up, Logan didn’t want to know about it. The burning, constriction of his chest growing tighter and tighter as he tried to stop his body from reflexively inhaling breath after breath of water; the painful agony as the body screamed for a single bit of air, and the knowledge that you were about to die, that it wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. Then, the gathering darkness, as the body slowly gave in to its inevitable end.

He awoke later, back in the cell, stumbling to his knees to immediately start vomiting wave after wave of water out of his body. When finally there was nothing left to expel, he collapsed back to the ground, letting the darkness take him away again.

The third time he awoke to find Hank staring down at him with concern. He sat up, every fiber of his body aching. He didn’t want to know what they had done to his body AFTER the drowning to make him feel like this. He looked himself over quickly making sure everything was still were it should be. Not a single scratch, not that he expected to find one.

“Don’t worry Hank. I’m fine,” he said gruffly, standing up and pushing the doctor back a step. It only took him a moment to realize the cell was missing one of its occupants, “What happened to the girl?” And then the smell hit him. The growl escaped him before he could contain it.

“There was an incident.”

Logan stomped over to the large puddle of blood and shredded flesh that smelled just like the girl and the Wolverine in him was raging, foaming at the mouth, the claws sliding out without a thought. A snort from the other side of the room caused his head to turn and he saw Sabertooth leaning against the wall, black hollow eyes looking out in their usual anger, but with something else.

“Incident,” he shook his head and walked over to stand next to Wolverine, staring at the pile of gore, “Damn girl freaked, started tearing herself apart, looking to rip the heart straight out of her own chest before I could even blink. Never seen anything like it.” His nostrils flared and Logan saw the blood lust slowly seeping into his eyes, a grin showing the large fangs, “Smells tasty though don’t she.”

If you were to ask him what happened next, Logan would have been hard pressed to tell you, but when he regained some sense of focus, Sabertooth was laying in the corner grabbing at his throat trying to hold the severed bits of flesh together. A wet, gurgling noise as he tried to breathe in through the gaping wound. Logan closed his eyes and tried to calm himself, but the smell of the girl’s blood was driving him literally insane.

“Can we get a fucking cleanup crew in here!” he bellowed, praying to some higher power that for once the damn lab clowns would realize their test monkey was one step away from the edge. He stalked around the small cell, Beast and Wild Child giving him a wide berth. They’d seen the Wolverine get angry before, but even they knew this was some new territory that he was entering into. He heard the familiar click of a collar being deactivated and turned just in time to see Sabertooth flying at him, throat stitching itself back together. He smiled.

He took the full brunt of Sabertooths leap and they tumbled to the ground. Both somehow ending up in crouching positions across from one another.

“Fucking touch me again runt, I dare you.”

“Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much Creed.”

Then there was nothing, but the sound of fists and claws and suddenly large arms pulling him backwards, wrapped tight around the waist, which was about the worst thing Hank could have done at that point because the Wolverine was fully out now and wanting a good blood bath. A quick slash of the claws across the furry forearms and he was once again loose and running over to where Wild Child was trying to subdue an increasingly violent Sabertooth with about the same success rate.

He had just gotten within mutilating distance when the electric shock from the collar dropped them all to their knees. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils and lightening danced behind his eyes, barely registering the slide of the cell door opening and closing as the metal that coursed through his body began humming with the high voltage current. A moment later the pain stopped and he felt the buzz of the healing factor kicking in.

Logan stood up, shaking his head to clear the last shards that still danced across his vision and the ringing in his ears. When he was finally grounded again he looked up. She was back. His gaze glided across her body looking for any sign of damage and finding nothing but miles and miles of the soft, porcelain white skin marred only by the healed scars of ancient battle wounds. She took a few shaky steps into the room before falling down and instantly his arms were around her, cradling to support the fragile weight. Large fully dilated eyes looked up at him vacantly in an obvious drugged haze. The girl’s body might be here, but her mind was definitely not at home.

Feeling the presence of the other three men surrounding them, he let out a loud growl and picked her up, bringing her over to his side of the room and laying her down gently on the cot before turning with his arms crossed over his chest, daring any of them to try something.

“Logan, if you would please permit me, perhaps I should look at the child, to make sure she is all right.”

He focused his glare on Hank, who was standing nervously at the edge of his part of the cell, obviously wanting to come over, but not wanting to risk making the Wolverine upset by entering his domain.

“Think you’ve done enough Hank. I’ll take care of the kid from now on.”

He could tell the Beast wasn’t happy with it, but not willing to push the issue when the Wolverine was still so close to the surface.

He heard Sabertooth laugh softly, walking over to throw himself down on the blankets he used as a makeshift bed, “Good luck with that runt and don’t think I’m done with you yet.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

With that, the moment was over, and calm was once again restored to the cell. Waiting until Hank and Wild Child were both settled back in their respective spots, he finally let himself relax and turned to kneel next to the cot. The girl was asleep, laying on her side, legs curled up, her hands together underneath the side of her face, the position making her look extremely young and he wondered how old she was. She obviously had a healing factor of some sort which meant anything was possible, she could be older then him even.

Her thick brown hair fell softly over her shoulders, with a striking white streak through the front of it. He found himself absently pushing a stray piece that had fallen over her face back behind her ear and leaned in, drinking in the soft scent of her like this. No terror, no pain, just something soft and clean and oh so addicting. When he realized he was practically nuzzling her neck he pulled back sharply. What the fuck was he doing?

He glared down at the sleeping form in his cot, HIS soft cot, that he had bled and fought for and now here she was in it and he was going to have to sleep on the cold hard floor and for some reason he couldn’t even feel the slightest bit angry at her over it. He’d been working with the X-men too long. He’d gone soft. He considered for a moment tossing her out of the cot and back over to Hank to let him deal with it, but she did look so peaceful there and her scent was for some reason comforting. Maybe he could let her stay just a bit, just to make sure she was okay, and then he’d let Hank have her back. He didn’t need the trouble. He had to look out for himself, for Hank, keep an eye out for a moment to escape. He didn’t need the extra baggage. He didn’t need her, he didn’t. And with that, he lay down and let the exhaustion of the day finally take him away into unusual soft slumbers, the nightmares that plagued him constantly, for the first time that he could remember, held at bay.

Time to wake up sweetheart.

Rogue jolted awake, tossing and turning, until she felt herself falling and land on something warm and soft. She was immediately thrown halfway across the room, hitting the wall hard before sinking down into a crouching position. What the hell?

“What the hell?” a gruff voice mimicked back to the thought in her head.

She had landed on the one with the claws, who was now glaring at her after being so rudely woken up. What was she doing on his side of the cell? No one was supposed to be on this side, she’d seen what he had done to the laughing one when he had mistakenly crossed the line one time. She was screwed. The dripping of blood reached her ears and she watched in fascination as the claws slowly withdrew back into the man’s arms, leaving tiny wounds. Did it hurt? If so, his face didn’t show it.

Monster, ugly, stupid, pathetic, weak.

She shook her head and looked down at her arms, all healed up. She was even a failure at killing herself, but at least the voices had been silent for a while. It was almost worth it, perhaps if she tried it again, she ran a finger lightly along her wrist when suddenly she found herself pressed against the wall, both arms pinned to the side of her head and dark intense eyes glaring at her.

“Don’t even think about it kid,” he growled out. She returned the glare. Just who did he think he was to tell her what she could and couldn’t do? He didn’t have the voices running around inside his head, eating away at his brain like little mice, he wasn’t a monster like her, and she could suck him up, leave him as nothing but dust, if it wasn’t for the collar. She struggled to free herself, kicking and biting, but it was no use, without her super strength active there was no way she could get him off. She settled for growling loudly to voice her disapproval at the situation, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing the panic that was starting to rise at the sudden feeling of helplessness, but he seemed to sense it all the same and a smile grew on his face. He was enjoying this, damn him, and she resumed her struggling. If she could only find a way to get the collar off she'd show him.

Finally, his amusement passed and he threw her back on the small cot. She climbed up into a crouching position and looked around for an escape route. The hairy one in the corner with the empty eyes was staring at her with interest and she felt a shudder run through her. He was even worse than the clawed one and she learned her lesson about going near him. The laughing one with the strange ears in the corner smiled as her gaze came to rest on him. He might be okay, but he smelled too much like the hairy one for comfort. Which left the blue one, who was sitting in the corner watching, only his attention wasn’t on her, he was frowning at the clawed one. He was safe, if she could just get back to him. She could deal with the pity smells if it meant she was free to do as she pleased.

I had a wife, two kids, and you took me away from them you sick freak. Mutant. Monster. Ugly. Pathetic. Weak.

She needed the voices to shut up. The clawed one again seemed to know exactly what she was thinking and blocked her path. “Don’t think so kid. You’re gonna stick with me for awhile,” he said roughly, the tone expressing no room for argument. He obviously was used to people doing whatever he said, well she wasn’t going to be that easy to control. She growled at him in warning when he took a step closer to her, leaning down so his face was right in front of her own.

“Don’t. Even. Think. About. It.”

Seeing a small chance, she went to leap over his shoulder, but his reflexes were quicker than her own and he caught her about the waist and this time threw her to the floor, his full weight nearly crushing her as he straddled her hips and grabbed her wrists, pinning her down beneath him.

“I’m stronger and faster than you kid,” he said, leaning in close, “So you better get used to listening to me.”

He glared down at her and she returned the glare, completely intending not to back down in the least until suddenly her attention was diverted by a seductive, woodsy smell that fluttered across her nose. She closed her eyes and took deep breath after deep breath of the luscious scent and was so caught up in it that she didn’t realize she had tilted her head forward and was now sniffing and nuzzling the chest of the clawed man on top of her.

He made a strangled noise that broke her out of her sudden daze. Jerking her head back hard against the floor she looked up to see two black eyes burning into her. The sound of her heart pounded loudly in her chest and the tension in the air was so thick she felt like she could drown in it as he leaned over and sniffed softly at her neck. She closed her eyes again and felt a strange sound welling up in her chest that caused the body on top of her to stiffen.

A loud bang made by the small slot in the cell door opening and closing caused them both to jump as the days food rations were pushed through. He made a noise that sounded like a frustrated growl, before releasing her arms and standing up.

When she started to get up, he quickly pushed her back down.

“Stay!” he said, pointing to the floor. She glared at him but didn’t make a second attempt to stand and instead just watched as he walked over to where the others were already arguing over the small bars that made up their daily meals.

Kill him!

She tilted her head at the suddenly distinct voice shouting out over the normal rabble.

Kill him! Kill the Wolverine!

Wolverine? She looked again at the clawed man. Was he the Wolverine, the one who had smelled so good? She sniffed at her tattered lab gown and almost giggled in delight to find the smell had rubbed off on her. It was intoxicating and made a warmth flow straight thru her.

No! Kill him! Stupid, pathetic, weak. You must kill him!

She shook her head, angry with the voice. He smelled nice. She pounded her fists against her head to try and get it to shut up.

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

Her head was pounding with the word and she felt like her eyeballs were being pushed out of their sockets. Over and over, crashing and breaking like a wave inside her brain and the ripping and clawing was back, fiercer than ever, wanting her to let it out, wanting to take over.

Weak. Pathetic, Stupid, Ugly. Kill him! Kill! Kill!

She could feel herself slipping away, away into some dark corner, the shadows calling to her, trying to drag her in and for a moment she found herself tempted, tempted to just let it all go, to finally be rid of everything once and for all and let the voices have their revenge. But then, she caught the smell again, that beautiful, perfect, addicting smell and the Rogue decided, she wanted that more.

She had actually purred at him.

He shook his head, trying to focus his mind which was going a million miles a minute. What was his problem? He could think of a few immediately; he was a freaking animal, it’d been over six months since he last got laid, and she smelled good. Understatement of the year, she smelled fucking fantastic and it had taken all his restraint not to have her then and there on the floor, other cell occupants be damned. Who knew purring could be so sexy?

By the time he got over to the food tray, Sabertooth had already swiped a large portion and was happily munching away in his corner while Hank and Wild Child were arguing over the few remaining ones. Normally Logan didn’t even bother with it unless he had gone through a particular bad day of testing and really needed the extra energy. It just wasn’t worth the hassle and the daily dose he’d get off his healing factor after they had finished their routine prodding, slicing, burning, tearing, was usually enough to recover whatever he needed.

The girl was a different story. Whatever her healing factor was, it obviously had some limitations, the old scars covering her body and the ribs he had felt protruding while he held her on the ground were testament to that. She needed food and, if he was honest with himself, the Wolverine had this crazy thought in his head that he wanted to show the girl he could provide for her and well, who was he to argue with that. Maybe if he got her food she’d stop trying to either run away from him or kill herself. He growled slightly remembering how she had looked down at her healed arms with such loathing, yet at the same time curiosity and desire. He could see the thought plain as day on her face.

He didn’t want to imagine what things she’d gone through that had been so horrible that tearing herself apart till she was half dead seemed the preferable state to be in, but that was going to have to change, and quickly, because as it was, he could still smell the first pile of gore and it was making it hard to keep the claws in check. Thankfully Hank had gathered up and flushed most of it down the toilet, the only other modern convince in the cell, besides the sink next to it, and the cot Logan had commandeered. A second episode of that mess though and he wouldn’t be responsible for what happened.

“You had better let go Doctor, if you want to keep that hand attached to your wrist.”

“While we had agreed to proportionate rations,” McCoy paused to glare at Sabertooth who only responded with a large, food filled, grin, “With the child now, who clearly is in desperate need, I believe we should all make a sacrifice to allow her to have the extra food she needs until she reaches a more reasonable weight. Surely you can see that.”

“All I see is you trying to give the skinny brat food that belongs to ME. I don’t share what’s mine with ANYONE. If you want to give her YOUR rations, go right ahead.” Wild Child again tried to grab at the bars Hank had clutched in his fist.

“Back off Gibney,” Logan growled, stomping up to the two of them, “Everyone knows you’re the lab pet. It’s been days since you’ve been taken back for tests, you can damn well deal.” He quickly snatched the bars in Hanks hands, ignoring the surprised look on his face, “And you McCoy, they only want you for your brains and while I admit it’s a damn impressive noggin you got there, it don’t need that much to operate.” The blue Beast frowned at him, but didn’t say anything. Wild Child on the other hand wasn’t about to give up without a fight and made a lucky dash, grabbing the food from Logan’s hand.

The Wolverine was not amused.

“You got a death wish bub,” he growled, claws coming out.

“No, just seems to me I’m the only one that girl doesn’t have wrapped around her tiny little finger. Even Creed is spending half his time drooling over her, looking like a little lost kitty cat that’s just found a bowl of cream,” he said, taking a few steps back and crouching down, readying for an attack, “Maybe that’s what they want. You ever think of that? Why else would they throw her in here with us? Maybe she’s here to tame us, make us take our guard down, doing anything and everything for the little brat. She’s making you all weak and I’ll be damned if I let her do the same to me!”

A deep growl came from the corner where Sabertooth was now standing, dark eyes glaring, “Who you calling weak?” He took a step forward, scraping his claws along the side of the cell, making a piercing, screeching noise. Wild Child looked back and forth between the two feral mutants now stalking him with death in their eyes. Logan could smell the slight scent of fear tinge the air and the Wolverine grinned.

“Nnn..nn..NO!”

It was the girl. Her shout echoed across the now silent cell causing them all to look at her in surprise. She had her hands tangled in her hair, pressing down on her head as if she was trying to keep it from exploding, her eyes shut tight in a grimace of pain. Taking advantage of the moment, Logan took the two steps separating him and a still stunned Wild Child and quickly grabbed the food back, snorting as he stomped over to where she was kneeling.

“Hey kid, you okay?” He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her harder then he intended, but her cry had set off all the warning bells in his head, making him on edge. He felt her body stiffen for a moment, then soften, collapsing against him. Just as he reached down to grab her face and make her look at him though he suddenly found himself flying through the air, hitting the opposite wall hard and then falling to the ground.

“Kid’s not here anymore Wolverine.” He watched as the girl stood up, cracking her neck before crouching down staring at him with blank eyes. “Had to send her on a little vacation, but don’t worry. I’d love to play with you while she’s not around.” Logan stood up, watching the girl start to circle him warily. He felt Hank move in near his right. Sabertooth and Wild Child were watching the scene with interest from the left.

“Who are you?” he growled, noticing that the girls scent had been replaced with something dark and somewhat familiar, the hairs on the back of his neck starting to rise.

“I’m hurt! Don’t you remember me? Granted, I look a bit different at the moment, trapped in this girl’s body. She’s got toxic skin you know, sucks in a person’s whole essence, powers, memories, the whole lot, in case you had thoughts of getting...close.” Logan watched as she stood up straight, a maniacal smile forming on the face that didn’t belong there, “Maybe this will help you remember.” Reaching up, they watched, as the small hand dug in, the sound of tearing flesh filling the cell until at last her left eye gave way, ripped out. Holding the organ, dripping with blood and tissue, in the palm of her hand, she smiled again, “Remember me now Wolverine. Last time we met you took this from me, only fitting I should give it back again.”

He felt the growl growing deep in his chest, the smell of the girl’s blood driving the Wolverine mad, while at the same time the memories crashed across his mind. The violence, pain, fighting, and...fear. His eyes narrowed.

“Cyber.”

She felt like she was swimming in a river of voices, each one sliding over her, pulling her farther and farther into the depths of her mind. If she tried to focus she could almost make out figures in the shadows. Faces she vaguely remembered. A girl, one of the first forced absorptions.

She had been a telekinetic, lower level, expendable. A test run to see what exactly Rogue’s powers could do. It hadn’t even taken five minutes to drain her dry. She was only 7 years old and wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. She was just starting to take horseback riding lessons. A fall off a horse that caused a knock to the head had kick started her mutation early. The owner of the stables wasn’t mutant friendly. The lab kidnapped her that night. They had given her candy during the blood tests and a new dress. She liked the lab people and blamed Rogue for taking it all away.

You ruin everything!

The ones who didn’t survive always shouted the loudest. As if she had any choice about killing them, as if she could control her skin. She’d tried, lord knows she tried. Hours and hours of sitting there through tests, trying to figure out what muscle to twitch, what thought, what feeling would be the magic switch that stopped it all and gave her back control. But after the first dozen or so absorptions her mind was such a mess she couldn’t tell which thought was hers or someone else’s anymore.

Should have tried harder you filthy fucking mutant.

One of the guards who had fallen asleep at his post after a long night of drinking and lose women. Nearly let a whole block of mutants go when he accidently turned over onto the open cell button. Took the death of forty soldiers and half the mutants to get it all back in order again. His punishment was being the first human test subject. Death had been quick, barely a minute, but not very painless. The only thing he hated worse then the fact that he was dead, was that he was having to share that death with a mind full of the mutant scum he so dearly detested.

Pathetic. Weak. Stupid. Monster.

The moment she had decided to fight against them, the voices had swarmed and she didn’t stand a chance. She was too weak here. There were too many of them. Though only a handful had actually died by her touch, there were hundreds more who had touched long enough to get a healthy dose of their mind and memories now stuck inside her head, and not at all happy about it. They weren’t as powerful, but this new one. This last one. HE was powerful and somehow leading the rest of them, telling them to pull her down, down, down into the cold dark.

And how peaceful it is here. How quietly peaceful.

The sound of her own voice alone in her head bought her to full attention. So that’s what she sounded like.

Years and years of a headful of crazy and now the crazies finally taken over and there you find your peace. What a mess we are sugar.

The blackness was soothing, like water. It reminded her of the time when she was younger and some kids were chasing her, cornered on a bridge running over the lake near her house. She hadn’t even questioned, just turned and jumped and suddenly she was falling. The pain that came when she hit the water knocked her out for a moment before she came to and found herself just floating. Just like she was doing now, floating along with no thoughts, no feeling, no sound. Just floating in blissful quiet alone.

Rogue let the darkness take her where it willed. She hadn’t felt this normal since her mutation had first kicked in when she snuck a kiss from Cody. Put the boy in a coma for months. His memories were still knocking about with the rest of them, but he tended to stay quiet. She didn’t know what to make of that. Out of everyone in her head he had the most reason to be angry with her. She had been the one to kiss him after all. It was her fault.

All your fault. Everything’s your fault! Pathetic. Stupid.

Couldn’t they leave her be just for five minutes!

Monster. Stupid, All your fault. Kid’s not here anymore Wolverine.

Wolverine? The word brought back the face of the man with the claws and the scent. She could smell him now. He was nearby. She used the smell to guide her, back up the river of voices. Fighting and kicking.

No. You’re ours now Rogue. Ours. We own you. We’ll eat you up, crush your bones. You can’t fight us. Weak. Pathetic.

I’m not anybody’s but my own!

She let the rage that rushed thru her carry her farther up the stream of voices, slowly gaining ground.

Maybe this will help you remember.

The sudden pain dragged her straight out of the voices and back into the main cavern of her mind. She felt herself grabbing at her face, screaming soundlessly into the vast landscape as her left eye disappeared, leaving only a gaping black hole.

Cyber.

That’s what his name had been. The last absorption, to see how long her skin would take to destroy a feral mutant, a healer. For her, it seemed to take a lifetime before he finally took that last breath. Only he wasn’t dead, he was very much alive here, the last plane of his existence, her mind and all the clawing and ripping finally had given him what he wanted most of all. Control.

Rogue felt the land beneath her feet start shaking, a feeling of dizziness came over her. Her face burned. What the hell was going on out there?

I see you’ve gotten away from the others.

The voice came from behind and she turned around fast but found no one.

Over here Rogue.

She turned again towards the sound of the voice.

No over here. Over here!

This was ridiculous.

Stop fooling around and face me like a man!

Suddenly he was right there, his face two inches from her own. The left bionic eye twitching sporadically.

Can’t do that now little girl. A bit busy at the moment, but I’ll deal with you later.

She gave a gasp as she felt something stab in her chest. Three things to be exact. It was the Wolverine’s claws.

Oh, well you really only have yourself to blame for that, distracting me as you are. Don’t worry. Once you start stumbling they’ll turn the collar off and then I’ll have him and I won’t let go. I’ll suck him dry, every last drop, just like you did to ME. He’ll be in here with us and when he is, I’ll destroy him, rip him limb from limb, and then, pretty girl, I’ll lock you away, so deep, where you’ll never get out. I rather like this body of yours. So many wonderful things I could do with it.

This couldn’t be happening. Rogue grabbed for him, but her hands caught on nothing but air. He was gone again, using her body to attack the Wolverine and his plan would work too. She could already feel the loss of blood weakening her body, she felt slow, lethargic. It wouldn’t be long before the people who watched the cameras in the cell noticed and turned the collar off. If the clawed guy was touching her when that happened, Cyber would win. Unless she could stop him first.

She started running, looking around the corners of her mind for something, anything that could lead her to where Cyber was, or to let her grasp back control of her own body. Like she had done so many times laying there strapped to that cold steel table, while the essence of some poor soul poured into her and just like then she felt everything was there, but just out of her grasp. Her breath was coming in small gasps now and she felt weak, so weak. There just wasn’t enough time. She couldn’t stop Cyber. She couldn’t save Wolverine.

When the collar went off it was like a wave of energy exploded through her entire being. The darkened edges cleared out into sharp focus and continued getting clearer with every second. She felt like her whole body was glowing from the inside out. What was happening?

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. What the fuck is this?

It was him. The Wolverine. Was this his healing mutation she was absorbing? This burning light? It was nothing like she had ever felt before, nothing at all like her own healing factor that she had acquired from Cyber’s absorption. This was something so much more powerful and it was tearing away all the black spots in her mind. She felt alive, more alive than she had ever been in her entire life, she felt her lost eye knitting itself together again and then, the memories started pouring in and the pain.

My god how had he lived through all that? She felt tears streaming down her face at the agony of it all and she couldn’t move. It was swallowing her whole. She had to stop it or she’d be lost, lost in all that destruction and torture. She reached, grasped, like she had done so many times before, a dying reflex, and she waited for the disappointment and the end, but this time, something caught and she could feel it and pull it and everything slowed down.

It had never been there before. The place she was grabbing now had been nothing but blackness and broken before…before Wolverine’s healing power had fixed it. They had done something, something to her to stop her from being able to, to take away her control, something her new healing power couldn’t fix, but Wolverine’s had! Focusing harder, her body felt like it was tearing apart, but she felt it, she was slowing it down. The memories were coming in less and less, the bright light dimming. She could stop it!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

She felt the body crash into her side, knocking the breath out of her and pressing her hard into the ground. Cyber glared down at her, left eye twisting madly around. The other voices in her head gathered around him, dark shadows pressing in, trying to drown her and she felt her grip slip and she was falling again under all the memories and the voices. Then a noise, Shinkt!

All right, you freaks! If you really want to tangle with someone, why not try your luck against the Wolverine!

And then there he was. Lord help her, he smelled just the same in her mind as he did in real life. Then a bolt of fear shot thru her, had she killed him?

Wolverine, how nice of you to join us.

She felt Cyber release his grip on her and stand up, the others following him, like a black wave.

Cyber, didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to kick your ass again, but can’t say I’m disappointed. I owed you another one anyways.

Shall we dance then?

Rogue watched as the two mutants charged each other, the force creating a sonic boom throughout her mind, shaking everything. It was like watching two wild dogs attack each other, clawing and biting and growling and blood soon covered the floor making it slick. She found herself becoming entranced by the display, watching the muscles ripple as Wolverine attacked and twisted and moved around her mind. His scent getting stronger and stronger. So deliciously addicting, like it had been when he had her pinned to the ground. That’s when it clicked. He was still on top of her and she was still draining his life away.

Immediately she grasped for the place she had found before, pulling with all the force she could muster, her teeth rattling, bones aching, pain tearing through her. She had to stop it NOW and then, just like that, it did. She felt the light fade and the smell slowly start to drift away.

NOOOOOO!

She felt before she saw Cyber’s fist crash across her face, knocking her across the floor. She quickly got to her feet, crouching down, a growl coming from her chest, but then Wolverine was in front of her.

Touch her again bub and you’ll answer to me.

Always with the threats Wolverine. I own Rogue’s mind and I can do anything I want!

Rogue reached down deep within herself, into the dark places that now were open to her, into the power that lurked there and found the one she was looking for.

Not anymore!

The telekinetic blast crashed into Cyber’s chest, tearing a gaping hole and knocking him to the floor in a bloody heap. The use of the power though exhausted her and she felt herself fall to her knees. Wolverine was quickly at her side, but she could feel the other voices sense the sudden weakness.

Pathetic. Weak. Monster. You’re ours!

The Wolverine growled at the shadows closing in.

She’s MINE.

She shook her head, forcing herself to her feet.

I’m no one’s!

He turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow and for a moment she thought he was going to argue with her. Instead, he took a few steps back so he was standing behind her.

Then prove it! Fight!

She closed her eyes and concentrated, searching and pulling together every shattered little piece she could feel inside her mind, pieces the lab had torn apart, that Cyber had taken over, bringing them all together, drawing them inside her body, using their energy to strengthen herself.

That’s it, you can do it Rogue. Now build a wall. Cage them all in.

She focused on the image of large blocks, building one by one, strong stone, no adamantium. Adamantium blocks, building taller and taller and circling around Cyber’s still regenerating body, surrounding the swirling shadows.

You can try to lock me up, but I’ll still be here always, scratching and clawing and when you fail, when you’re weak and broken again I will be back. You can’t hide me here forever.

And she knew that was true, but for now, she was strong enough. She could lock him away until she found a cure, until she found a way to burn the memory of him and all the others to ash within her mental cage. She could do this. And with the last block, Cyber’s control was finally broken and her mind was again her own.

Never doubted you for a second kid.

The proud tone in the voice made her smile. It had really been him that had done all the work. He had given her something to fight for, had healed her mind from whatever the lab had done that was blocking her ability to control her powers. She wanted to thank him, but realized she didn’t even know his real name.

Name’s Logan.

How strange to be having a conversation with a voice in her head that wasn’t trying to destroy her. If only they had all been like him, life would have been so much different.

I’m Marie.

It’s time to wake up now Marie.

Logan felt like he had been run over, set on fire, run over again, and then for good measure thrown onto a bed of glass and nails and run over a third time. His whole body was pulsing with pain. It’d been awhile since anyone or anything had been able to make him feel like that. He was vaguely aware of the fact he was laying on his back in the middle of the cell, but wasn’t yet ready to test out opening his eyes yet. He had a feeling the light would make the migraine he had going a million times worse.

“Dead yet runt?”

“In your dreams Creed,” he growled, the vibration of it making the fire in his chest flare up, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. Damn that hurt. He heard the soft chuckle of the feral mutant from across the room, but had detected the small hint of concern in the question. Granted he knew it wasn’t for himself, but seeing him knocked on his ass so soundly must have rattled Sabertooth’s own self-preservation instincts. He must look even worse than he felt. As he leaned forward in an attempt to try and sit up, he was immediately met with a hand pushing him back down.

“Logan, you have been severely weakened and the small bit of healing regeneration you received before the collar was turned back on was not sufficient enough to rectify all your injuries. You must rest.” The smell of concern coming off Hank in waves said more than the words did. He went to sit up again, having to pause half way to allow for the pain and dizziness to dissipate before he was able to put himself fully upright.

He took a few deep breaths, willing himself to ignore the pain. “I’ll be fine.” He opened one eye slowly and then the other to see the blue mutants face right in front of his own, startling him, “Jesus Hank, give a man a bit of space.” Instead, the doctor reached up, lifting up each eyelid to look into his eyes.

“I do believe you have a concussion.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Logan said, growling and rubbing his forehead. Blinking slowly a few times to allow his eyes to adjust he took a look around the room, “What happened to the girl?”

“Carried her off right after she took you out,” Sabertooth snorted, looking out the small grate window on the cell door, a frown forming across his face, “Something’s not right.”

Logan raised his eyebrow at that. While him and Sabertooth had chosen opposite sides long ago, there was one thing he could always trust about the man, and that was his instincts, which were just as good, if not better, than his own. Looking at the man now, his posture, straight and still, sniffing the air caused the red flags in Logan’s head to go up. “Care to elaborate?”

“Not sure, just a feeling,” he turned away from door and walked back over to his makeshift bed on the floor and sat down, leaning his head back against the wall, closing his eyes, “It’s too quiet.”

Now that he was managing the pain and his head was starting to clear, he had to admit, it was too quiet. Normally his sensitive hearing would pick up all sorts of soft mutterings from conversations far down inside the facility, doors opening and closing, cries of mutants being tortured, after the first few weeks it had all combined into this distant hum that he was able to push to the back and ignore. All that was gone, there was nothing but silence. Looking at Hank and Wild Child tilting their heads he could tell they were starting to notice it as well. Something was definitely not right.

Well, if something was going to happen he was going to meet it on his own two feet. After three attempts to pull himself up though he realized he wasn’t going to be able to budge that 300 pound skeleton without a bit of help. Great. The Wolverine growled. He hated having to ask for help.

“Hank, give us a hand. I’d prefer to meet whatever’s coming face to face,” he grumbled, staring anywhere but at his cellmates. He could smell Sabertooth and Wild Child’s amusement as Beast got a shoulder underneath his arm and proceeded to help him up. Wincing as bunched muscles stretched and moved as if they hadn’t been used in ages, together they finally got him standing on his own two legs without support. He stretched his arms out over his head, ignoring the burning pain that it caused throughout his body.

“Damn. How long have I been out?”

“Nearly a week.”

Logan looked at the Doctor in surprise. That girl really could pack a punch. He still wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. It seemed like one minute he was holding the girl in his arms and the next he was doing the three claw tango with Cyber wearing her body like a suit. And what an interesting fight that had been on the Wolverine’s senses; seeing the girl and smelling Cyber, making him want to protect and kill at the same time.

Cyber had said something, before they started fighting, about the girl’s power being toxic skin that sucked in a person’s essence. Is that what she had done to him? No wonder the lab had kept her around so long, if she was strong enough to take him down like she had, to apparently have taken Cyber down as well. That explained the sudden moving her into the feral room. Cyber was half crazy on the best day and wasn’t prone to playing nice. With someone like that banging around in her head, it’s a wonder she didn’t crack sooner.

Ironically, for all the hazy spots in the whole event, he could picture the moment her collar had turned off with perfect clarity, laying on top of her, one set of claws thru her chest, the other hand grabbing her neck, staring down at her and watching as a look of absolute horror and delight had flown across her face. She hadn’t wanted to drain him, Cyber had forced her, and that’s the only explanation he could think of as to why he was still alive. She was definitely stronger then she looked. The thought made the Wolverine smile for a moment, before settling in a scowl.

“She should have been back by now.”

“Indeed. It appeared there was much turmoil in the young girl before they dragged her away. She was speaking quite forcefully. The guards seemed most unpleased by it.” Logan caught the faint grin that carried across Hanks face as he remembered the moment.

“Mouth like a fucking sailor,” Sabertooth chuckled from his corner, a slight smile pulling at the corners of his mouth “Put you to shame runt. How’s it feel getting beat by a girl?” Now his face had a full on grin. That had the Wild Child howling with laughter from his corner and Logan glared at the both of them.

“Yeah and how many times have I beat you down,” he growled, claws slipping out, “So why don’t you shut your trap unless you’d like me to carve you a new one!”

Sabertooth stood up, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his neck, “Much as I’d like to runt, my nose tells me we’re about to have some company and you still look like you got one foot half in the grave so why don’t you step back and let the big boys handle this.”

Logan didn’t have time to get a reply out before the sound of a bomb blast shook the whole building. He sniffed at the air, trying to catch a scent to find out what was happening and who might be the cause of it all, frowning when he smelled traces of the girl and blood.

“Looks like the cavalry’s finally arrived,” Wild Child said, coming up to stand next to them, his eyes dark with excitement.

Logan glared at the door, all the pain in his body forgotten as the adrenaline rushed thru his system. The Wolverine was ready for some mayhem and revenge and then he’d find the girl and get the hell out of dodge.

A second bomb blast closer by almost knocked the group of mutants to their feet and they watched as the door to the cell slowly rattled and then fell over in a puff of smoke.

“About damn time.”

Returning to reality was a bit like falling down a long black tunnel and suddenly her vision was full of bright florescent light and she found she couldn’t breathe. Panicked, she looked down and saw the cause of her lack of respiration. He was laying knocked out on her chest, three claws still embedded deep within her right lung. With a big heave she knocked his body off of her like it was as light as a feather. Her collar must still be turned off.

Free of the obstruction she watched in vague fascination as the wounds in her chest quickly closed and allowed her to take in a deep gasp of air. She must still be running off of the Wolverine’s healing powers because her own never would have healed that so rapidly. With oxygen once again flowing properly to her brain, the fog in her head cleared and she remembered what had happened. Cyber had taken over. Wolverine had healed her brain. She’d locked all the voices up. Logan!

She dashed over to where his body lay sprawled out in the middle of the cell, pressing a hand to his chest and putting an ear over his mouth. Nothing. Don’t you dare die on me dammit!

She growled loudly, putting her hands on his chest and pressing down, over and over before moving up to close his nose and blow a breathe into his mouth; mimicking what she’d seen the doctors do when one of the mutants she was absorbing decided to die too quickly for their liking. She felt a hand pull at her shoulder and turned around to attack whoever was trying to interrupt her. It was the blue one.

“Keep your furry mitts to yourself blue boy.” Her voice came out scratchy and coarse from lack of use and she startled a bit at the sound of it, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

He stared at her, eyes wide, looking just as surprised as she was. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d spoken in sentences out loud. Her captivity in the lab had reduced her vocabulary to one word statements, usually cried out in pain or more recently nothing but growls and whimpers.

“Well, seems the girl can talk after all,” she heard a rough voice say from over her shoulder. She turned and saw the hairy one staring at her with interest, too much interest. She narrowed her eyes and growled at him, but before she could say anything she felt the blue one starting to push her away from the body again. She grabbed his wrist and tossed him halfway across the cell.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled, feeling a panic set in as she noticed the hairy one and his friend moving in closer, their bodies tense. If it came to a fight she wasn’t sure she would be able to take on all three at once, at least not in enough time to help Wolverine, not in enough time before the lab people turned her collar back on. They didn’t like her to absorb things that they didn’t force upon her. They wouldn’t be happy she had absorbed the clawed man. She winced when she thought of what they had done to her the last time she displeased them.

“I have to help him!” She hated how pleading her voice sounded, but she didn’t know what else to do. Finally sane enough to talk again and she was begging. She didn’t need the voices in her head to call her pathetic this time.

The blue one had gotten up and was limping slightly back over to them, “If you will permit me, I can aid him.” He kneeled down next to her, “My name is Doctor Henry Phillip McCoy, but my friends call me Hank or Beast.” He gave her a fanged smile and she felt herself relax slightly. “Wolverine is a friend and a teammate. I will not let any harm come to him.”

He was the one who had helped her before, when she first got tossed into the cell with them. He had tried to protect her, she couldn’t smell a lie on him, and Wolverine still wasn’t breathing, he was running out of time. She nodded and stood up, moving out of the way so the Doctor could get to work, “I’m Rogue. Help him.”

She felt a sniffing near her shoulder and jumped, turning around in a crouched position ready to attack, glaring at the one with the strange ears. His eyes danced with amusement as he leaned in closer.

“I’m Kyle, but they call me Wild Child here in the fun house,” he nodded towards the hairy one, “The smelly one over there is Sabertooth, but you don’t have to worry about him. He’s all bite and no bark.” Sabertooth’s response was to let out a loud growl that sent the man scuttering back into his corner of the cell.

“Idiot,” he snorted, then turned to look at her, “Names Creed. Ignore the mentally challenged hyena. They forgot to give him his meds again.” He cast a glare back towards the corner, before turning to Hank, “Runt gonna make it doc? I’d hate to go on living without the satisfaction of killing him myself.” Rogue growled which only made Sabertooth smile. “Besides, think his new pet here would miss him. I swear if she starts crying I’m going to start breaking things.”

“If anyone’s going to be crying it’s going to be you,” she snarled, diving towards him, which is exactly what he must have been going for, because he was ready and instead of knocking him over like she hoped, she found herself caught in his arms. He turned her, twisting her arms behind her back hard and holding them there with one hand, using his other arm to wrap around her waist and pull her close against his body. She jumped as she felt the wet trail of a tongue along her neck and the hot breath along her ear.

“I won’t be as easy to take down little girl,” he whispered, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up, “But if you want to try, I’ll play with you anytime.” She felt the arm around her waist loosen as the hand moved up to paw at her breast. Rogue saw red. She contemplated turning her head to make their faces touch, but decided that was one mind she definitely did NOT want running around in her head by choice.

“Let’s play then,” she growled, the hands behind her back twisting to grab onto the arm holding them there and then using all her strength lifting and throwing Sabertooth over her shoulder, into the concrete wall, watching in satisfaction as he hit with a loud crack and then fell to the ground. After a few moments, he pushed himself up, shaking his head, then looked up to scowl at her with feral eyes.

Rogue smiled. “Here kitty, kitty,” she taunted, causing Wild Child to laugh in amusement. She cast a smile to him in the corner before turning back to her new playmate. Creed’s eyes narrowed and then a grin formed on his face as he slowly stalked towards her again, “Be careful what you wish for girly.”

They were inches away from each other when she felt the collar turn back on and then electricity shooting through her body, knocking her to the ground. She grabbed and clawed at the silver band. She looked around the room and saw the others in much the same state, except Wolverine, he was deathly still in a room full of burning, howling mutants. The sight caused a cold fear to run through her and then with a renewed sense of determination she forced herself to stand up, feeling the electricity intensify, she dropped back down to one knee. She had to get to him, had to make sure he was okay.

Fighting against the pain, she got back onto two feet and slowly made her way towards Logan’s body, screaming when they increased the current even harder to try and get her to the ground. Her body felt like liquid fire, every single molecule burning up alive, but the one thought that she had to get to him, she just had to, driving her forward, beyond any sense of self preservation. If it hadn’t been for Sabertooth’s snarl, she wouldn’t have even noticed when the guards came in. Just a little bit more and she would be there.

The sudden stop of current from the collar caused her to stumble forward, falling on top of Wolverine. She looked down at his chest, staring intently, not feeling the guards grabbing at her arms, or hearing the gunfire, as Sabertooth lashed out, beyond the pain of the collar, at one who got too close. Just staring, waiting, hoping, and when she saw the small movement of the chest rising, pulling in a breath, she felt a wave of relief wash through her. He was breathing. He’d be okay.

Then she was suddenly flying backwards as the two guards pulled her up. “Come on girly, time to get you fixed,” one said as they dragged her to the door. She stuck her feet in, causing them to jerk to a stop. The guards looked down at her, “Now be a good filthy mutant and do as you’re told. Don’t make us hurt you.”

Before Rogue would have just let them take her and thought nothing of it, but her mind was clear now. The black spots weren’t clouding her thoughts, her own fear wasn’t overpowering her senses and the voices weren’t dragging her down anymore, in fact, there was only one left in there now, beside her own, and that was the Wolverine and he was begging for a fight.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” she growled, using all her weight to knock into the guard to the right, toppling him over, and then kicking out the knee of the guard to her left. She didn’t have her powers, but she had the Wolverine guiding her actions, telling her where to strike, she could at least make an impact before her stamina gave out on her. For now, the adrenaline was pumping and she lunged for the guard closest to her, grabbing onto his gun and slamming it up into his face.

They hadn’t expected this and she was able to knock down another guard with a kick underneath the legs causing him to tumble straight onto Sabertooth. He started screaming as the electricity from the collar took hold and Rogue watched as Sabertooth turned a head to stare at the guy frying to death on his back, a painful chuckle rumbling through his chest at the sight of the man’s torment, the sound vibrating off the walls of the cell. The smell of fear suddenly flooded the room causing Rogue to smile. They should be afraid.

The sounds of footsteps running down the hall barely caught her ear before the room was swarming full of guards. She moved so she was standing in front of Logan’s body.

“What, all of you just for little ol’ me?” she taunted, the electricity in her collar suddenly coming back on and knocking her to a knee. “Now that ain’t fighting fair,” she gritted through the pain. The guards parted and a man in a lab coat walked in with a large syringe.

“Now then Rogue, what do we have here,” he said, walking to stand in front of her, staring down at her with intrigue and anger in his eyes. Rogue recognized him immediately as the man who was in charge of her "testing" and a fury took hold of her. She tried to make a lunge, but the electricity surged keeping her down on her knees. He used a boot to nudge Wolverine’s body on the floor, a frown on his face. “You know you nearly ruined five months of hard work we've put in on the Wolverine. We’ve been working on breaking him down, trying to bring the animal back, so we could control him once again. It’s been harder this time. He’s been fighting it.” He glared down at the body before turning back to her.

“Such a small, annoying problem you’ve become to us now. But maybe it’s not all lost.” The current turned off long enough for him to quickly plunge the syringe into her neck, the drug burning as it flowed into her body. She could feel the world start to slowly tilt on its axis. The drug was quick.

“This time, we’ll make sure to destroy you so much, that not even Wolverine’s healing can bring you back. And then, when the time’s right, we’ll let him watch as you die. It worked once to break him, judging by what we’ve seen of your interactions with each other, it will work again.”

“You fucking bastard,” she whispered, past the haziness of the drugs, letting out a long stream of expletives, then louder, “You pitiful excuse of a man, hiding behind your hired guns and your drugs because you're afraid! All of you, scared of what you don't understand, what you'll never understand and jealous because you wish you had that sort of power! You'll never break the Wolverine!" She felt herself stumbling over her words, "Everyone, every mutant in this room is ten times the man you’ll ever be, including me!”

His eyes blazed at her in anger and she forced a smile across her face. She wasn't sure if it was her or the Wolverine talking. “I will see the end of you, little man, and the last sight you will ever fucking see will be me bathing in your blood, laughing over your broken, weak, pathetic corpse.” She drew up the last of her energy to slowly stand to her feet, leaning haphazardly towards him, “And if you fucking mess with anyone in this room, so help me I will gut you where you stand and leave your body for the crows.” She leaned in so her lips were right next to his ear, hearing the guards jumping to his defense, and whispered, “You don’t scare me anymore sugar.”

The hard butt of a gun came crashing down on her face, knocking her to the ground and then everything was black.

“Dammit Hank, you gotta help me here.”

Logan wouldn’t admit it, but he was struggling. The weight of the heavy blue mutant leaning on him normally wouldn’t have bothered anymore then a fly would have, but he was the weakest he’d ever felt in his life and dragging around the heavy doctor was taking a lot out of him and he didn’t have much left to give.

“Logan, you must leave me here,” came the reply in small gasps.

“Not happening, now get your butt in gear Beast and MOVE.”

He could feel the large bulk underneath him lift slightly and they gained a few more precious feet before once again the weight became too much to bear. Wait till he got his hands on Sabertooth, he was going to kill him, rip him apart first, and then wait for him to regenerate so he could do it again, and if that didn’t satisfy him, he’d do it as many times as it took before finally giving him the most slow and painful death he could think of.

He felt the sweat rolling off him and, for a moment, a dizzy spell. He needed to find a key to the collars and fast, otherwise neither of them would be making it out of there. Smoke filled the long corridor making it hard to see. He could hear gunfire far off in the opposite direction, at least that was going in their favor. There were doors lining either side of the hallway and making a decision, he turned and opened one to find a thankfully empty office.

Dragging Hank inside, he kicked the door closed with his foot and helped lower the doctor to a spot behind the desk. They were both breathing hard from the effort. It was hard to tell the extent of the injuries due to all the fur, but the right leg was definitely out of commission, the calf and ankle shredded from gunfire, he could see the bone through all the mess. Tearing a strip of cloth from one of the pant legs of the lab issued sweat pants he wore, he made a wrap around the wound to help stop the bleeding.

“Okay Hank, how bad is it, apart from the leg.” He watched the doctors face as he closed his eyes as if taking mental notes in his head about his own condition.

“Two bullets to the upper right bicep, one a flesh wound, the other straight thru, another one in the thigh that will have to be removed, and another to my right side that could be.. problematic.”

“What do you mean problematic.”

“I do believe it’s perhaps nicked the bottom of my lung causing it to partially collapse.”

Logan looked at the door as he heard the gunfire starting to move closer. A hand on his arm caused him to look back down.

“Logan, you must leave me here and get out while you still can.” His face was stern as he said it and he knew Hank meant it as a direct order, but the truth of the matter was the Wolverine didn’t care much for orders or for leaving men behind. He thought about his options.

“No one’s leaving anyone anywhere Doc. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m gonna leave you here for a moment, just a moment, while I go try and find a damn key for these collars so I can get myself top notch. Then I’m gonna go find that girl and we’re going to come back here and all of us are going to get out. Got it?” He put a hand on the furry blue shoulder and squeezed gently looking straight into Hank’s eyes to emphasis his point, “No one is getting left behind.” He gave two soft pats to the shoulder then stood up. “You just sit in here, nice and quiet, and don’t go dying on me.”

He watched as the Doctor considered arguing with him, but probably realizing it was an unproductive endeavor to argue with the Wolverine instead relaxed, leaning back against the desk. “I will indeed try not to my friend. Do be careful.”

“Always Hank, always.” He gave the doctor a grin before slipping out of the office.

Looking back from where they came he saw a large trail of blood leading straight up to the door. Shit. As if that wasn’t a big homing beacon saying “Come find me.” Ripping off part of the other pant leg, he used a foot to wipe up the blood as he made his way back from where they came. It wasn’t the best clean up job, but at least there wasn’t an obvious line pointing straight to Hank’s hiding place anymore.

When he finally got back to their original cell he tossed the now soaked rag into the room and sniffed the air, frowning when he got Sabertooth’s scent, anger flowing over him as he remembered what had happened just moments earlier.

“About damn time.”

“Well, there’s been some issues on the outside. Took us a bit longer than we expected,” Pyro said walking in. Toad followed in close behind him, a grin of amusement on his face as he saw the silver piece of metal around Sabertooth’s neck,“Looks like kitty’s got a new collar!”

Creed growled, grabbing the small man and heaving him up into the ear, “Kitty’s gonna have frog legs for dinner if someone doesn’t shut their fat fly infested mouth.” He dropped the man hard on the ground.

“Was only joking Creed. Damn what’s got your panties in a twirl.” Pyro knocked him hard across the head.

“Just shut up Mortimer.” He tossed a small metal object to Sabertooth, “Here, that should pop the lock.” Logan watched as he pressed the small item against the collar, causing it to click open and fall off, clattering onto the floor.

“Hey, what about me?”

Victor turned, his black eyes glaring, “I don’t think so Gibney. You think I don’t know who led the lab rats straight to my door?” He stalked over and grabbed Wild Child around the neck lifting him up into the air.

“I didn’t tell them anything! Honest!” He started clawing at the large hands squeezing around his neck. Creed brought his face close up to Gibney’s and took a large sniff.

“You smell like a liar.” The sound of gunfire starting close by caused him to pause in his strangulation.

“No time, toss him and let’s get out of here,”Pryo said, pacing nervously then stopping when he finally noticed Beast and Wolverine, “Well, it’s a right party in here isn’t it?”

“Yeah loads of fun, but crap dance partners,” Sabertooth growled, tossing Wild Child hard to the ground. “Let’s get out of this shit hole.” Wolverine wasn’t expecting the Brotherhood to help him and Hank, but he wasn’t about to let them walk out of there with the key to the collars either.

“Hey Creed,” he said, claws sliding out slowly, “I’ll be taking that key now.”

Sabertooth eyed him with amusement. “Strong words coming from someone who can barely keep their feet underneath them. If I had more time runt, I’d love to kick your half dead ass a round or two. I owe you a few good ones from our time in here. As it so happens, I have somewhere else I need to be at the moment, so you’ll have to take a rain check. And as for the key,” Logan watched as he tossed it to the ground and stepped on it, crushing it with the heel of his boot, “Guess you should go find your own.” He looked down the hallway as the sound of yelling and footsteps got closer, “Might want to do it fast too, looks like the parties just getting started.”

That’s when all hell had broken loose. A group of guards rushed them and in the melee, Sabertooth and the others had slipped away, leaving Hank and Logan to handle the mess. He had ended up unscathed, but the doctor took a bad hit when a fallen guard had gotten off a lucky round from his assault rifle before he could finish him.

Finding the dead guard, he walked over and patted him down, looking for a key to the collar. When he turned up empty, he went to another one. One of them had to have it. The gunfire had stopped and the silence was making Logan more nervous than the fighting. As he went from body to body searching he scavenged off bits and pieces. A large hunting knife from one, a small semi-automatic from another, and the black fatigues and boots off one who was about his size. Finally when he was about to give up and move on, he saw a glint of silver underneath one of the bodies. Pushing it over, he reached down and picked up the small metal device. Bingo.

Pressing it against the collar at his throat, he groaned in relief as it released and fell to the ground, the force of his healing factor kicking back in almost knocking him to his knees. God he had been in a bad way. The feeling of his body fixing itself a delicious painful pleasure and a grin formed on his face when he heard the gunfire start back up again. The Wolverine was back and ready for some action. Reeling in the thoughts of revenge and tearing the lab apart piece by piece, he focused on the next important task on the to-do list.

Logan sniffed at the air. He was able to lock in on her scent immediately, after the incident with the gore in the cell, it was the one scent he’d never be able to get out of his brain, the girl’s blood. But that wasn’t all. He felt the claws pop out and slammed a fist into the wall, making a huge hole, destruction and rage flowing over him. If the girl was alone, she wouldn’t be for long. Sabertooth was heading her way.

Apparently the years of not speaking meant that Rogue had decided, now that she had regained the ability, she was going to keep on talking and screw the consequences.

“That all you got pretty boy?” she taunted, her right eye was swollen shut, lip busted and bleeding down her chin. A few teeth felt a bit wobbly and stars were still dancing in front of her eyes and that was just what was wrong with her head.

“Don’t you know when to shut up!”

They had her in a small cell on her knees, hands handcuffed behind her back. A swift kick to the side doubled her over. God that hurt and she must be a glutton for punishment. At least it kept her thoughts away from Logan.

The last she had seen, he had been breathing, but that didn't mean a lot in a place like this, and the thought was gnawing at her insides. After she had regained consciousness from the drug, they hadn't taken her back to the cell with the others, instead, bringing her to this one on the other side of the compound. She didn't like it.

“You kick like a girl,” she spat, a thick glob of blood landing on the guard's shoes. He looked at it with disgust and brought a fist down across the side of her face, knocking her to the ground.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down there and shut the fuck up.”

She knew she shouldn’t continue on, her body had taken a beating the past few days and they had only turned the collar back on once to let her heal, and that had been the first day after the incident with the lab doctor. At first she thought they weren’t going to do it, that she had finally pushed them to finish it, but in the end they still found her too useful a commodity to throw away.

Instead, as punishment, they had used and abused in her in more ways than she could count. Her body felt like one giant bruise and here she was, still talking the big talk, and she just couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

She slid her legs back underneath and used a shoulder and elbow to push herself up to a kneeling position again. She had to be certifiably insane.

“But sugar, we’re having so much fun.” She smiled at him and it tore all the barely scabbed wounds right back open again. The other guards were obviously starting to get slightly disturbed by the sight, she could see them fidgeting, not knowing whether to intervene or not. The sound of gunfire and bomb blasts coming from far off in the compound not helping the situation either. The fist came again, crashing down harder, and a loud crack as her head hit the concrete. Ouch.

A strangled cry in the corner turned the guard’s attention. Rogue quickly caught the girl’s eyes and shook her head slightly to let her know not to worry about her; that she needed to stay quiet. Otherwise, what the hell was she taking this beating for, if not to keep the attention focused on her and not on the three young girls huddled in the corner.

They had brought them in a few hours ago and the guards in charge of watching her weren’t too happy at having the extra charges thrust upon them with no explanation. Apparently something was going on, though no one was saying anything, and it was making them all on edge. The fact that they had been thrown in with her meant they were special for some reason, a reason important to the lab, but in each of their innocent faces all Marie saw was herself, all those years ago, before they had beaten and broken her, before the forced absorptions, before the tests and the pain and she’d be damned if she let anyone touch them while she was with them.

She had seen the guard she was playing with now eyeing them with that look in his eyes that she knew all too well. He’d been having a particularly fun time with her the past week and he liked a lot of pain with his pleasure. She still had the cuts and bite marks to prove it and he was eyeing the girls, barely covered in the thin lab gowns, like they were a new play toy he was ready to break in. So she’d done the only thing she could think of, handcuffed as she was. She walked over and head-butted his face, enjoying the crunch of his nose as she did and they had been at it ever since.

“You girlies want a bit of this?” he said, stalking towards them. Now that wouldn’t do. Using what strength she had she got back up, all the way to her feet.

“A bit is right, I’ve seen dogs with larger...” She didn’t get to finish the sentence as he whirled on her and pushed her up against the wall, his large arm pressing against her throat, choking her. She knew she was pushing him past his limit and she was no use to the girls dead, but she couldn’t think of anything else, and the sound of gunfire getting closer was giving her hope. All she had to do was hold out a bit longer, not get killed in the process, and keep talking which was a bit hard to do when your windpipe was being crushed.

“You just try to talk now you filthy mutant bitch,” he spat, his face right up in front of her own, just close enough to... “FUCK!”

Then she was falling, landing hard on the ground, spitting out a piece of the man’s nose. He looked down at her with death in his eyes and she gasped when the full weight of him fell on her, as he straddled her hips and started pounding her face in. She could vaguely hear the sound of some of the other guards trying to pull him off her, but he was berserk and the pounding continued.

Everything seemed to suddenly slip into slow motion. She couldn’t feel anything anymore, just heard the thunk, thunk of fists hitting skin, the muted yelling of the guards, the sounds of the girls in the corner crying, then the screaming, gunfire, and then the weight was suddenly off her chest and she looked up through swollen eyes to see Sabertooth standing over her, his eyes black and feral.

He had the guard that had been beating her in his grasp. He looked down at her and for a moment she thought she saw a flicker of concern pass over his face before he turned back to the guard. She must be hurt worse then she thought if she was hallucinating that the hairy one was actually worried for her. She watched as the man struggled in Creeds grasp, heard the soft pop of his neck breaking as the large fist squeezed tightly and then, a feeling of being lifted up, light as a feather, and just as everything was starting to go black she heard it.

"Put her the fuck down Creed."

Logan.

And she smiled as she fell into oblivion.

Sabertooth eyed him warily. He couldn’t recall the last time he had been this far gone, the Wolverine was raging and screaming in his head, demanding vengeance. It didn’t help all the scents he was picking up in the area. He had thought the girl’s blood was bad, but the scent of the man that was all over her was going to be the end of him.

“I said PUT. HER. DOWN.” The claws were literally vibrating with the suppressed rage that had every single muscle in his entire body clenched tightly. God her poor face. Her beautiful face. He couldn’t even look at it, battered so badly that you couldn’t even tell what had been where, just a massive swollen, bleeding pile of flesh was all that was left. Creed must have noticed in the sound of his voice, or his scent or just by the look of him that this wasn’t a time for jokes or questions. He gently placed her down on the ground in front of him.

It took seconds and he was kneeling by her side. He let a hand gently hover over what used to be her cheek and chin. It took him a few moments to calm down enough to get the claws back in so he could touch her without slicing her. He reached into his pocket, absently noticing how badly his hand was shaking as he had to make a grab twice for the small metal object that was inside. Lifting it up, he placed it along the collar and as soon as he heard the click of the lock disengaging, yanked it from her neck and tossed it down the hallway.

Her body gave a slight spasm as her powers restored to their full strength and he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her injuries starting to slowly heal themselves. She would be okay and he was sure anything her power couldn’t heal, his could, all he had to do was touch her, but now was not the time. He needed to be at full power if he was going to get her and Hank out of there.

He stood up and walked the small distance to the cell that she had obviously been occupying the past week and almost threw up. The smell of her blood was everywhere along with the men who had abused her. He looked around and saw the bodies of the guards in pieces and his only regret was that he couldn’t resurrect them and kill them again. His eyes scanned the room and then stopped on the pile of three small bodies in the corner. He felt the growl deep in his chest.

Sabertooth walked over and stood next to him, eyeing the room with disgust. “Soon as they realized they couldn’t take me out they killed the girls. Must have had orders to take them out if it looked like they’d be rescued,” he said, his voice tight and controlled. The smells in the room must have been effecting him just as badly.

He turned then and slammed into Creed with his full weight, pinning him to the wall with a set of claws through his shoulder blade. Sabertooth snarled at the pain and the Wolverine glared at him, “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t gut you right here and leave your healing corpse for the lab rats to play with?”

Sabertooth growled, trying to push him off, but not able to get enough leverage to get the claws out of his shoulder. “Get off me runt before someone gets hurt.”

“Seems to me you’re in no position to be making demands,” he said, pressing the claws in harder and twisting slightly, watching as the pain played across Creed’s face, “What happened to the matchstick and fly catcher? You all left before Hank and I had a chance to say goodbye.”

“Sent them on ahead. I had business else ware,” he snarled. A large explosion close by shook the entire building and made Logan unbalanced enough to give Sabertooth the room he needed to push him off, knocking him into the opposite wall. He rubbed at his shoulder as the wounds quickly knitted back together. “Soon as they’re airborne they got orders to light this place up and I suggest we aren’t in it when they do.”

Wolverine was torn on the issue, all he wanted to do was spend the next hour releasing all his pent up anger using Sabertooth as a pin cushion, but a small moan from the hallway stopped him. He reached down and snagged an army jacket from one of the dead guards. Walking over he quickly put it on the girl, protecting her skin from touching his own as he lifted her up, cradling her to his chest. Her face was still swollen and a wide arrange of colors due to bruising, but he could now make out distinctly two eyes, a nose, and a mouth and he could look at her again without the overpowering urge to run something thru.

He looked over at Sabertooth who was leaning against the wall staring at them. He should have been long gone by now but Logan was getting the distinct impression he wasn’t planning on leaving the girl’s side and while he didn’t like the idea, it was going to be hard making it back to Hank with the girl in his arms and get the three of them out of there all by himself. If Creed was going to hang around he could at least be useful.

“I’m not leaving without Hank,” he said gruffly, “Non-negotiable.”

Sabertooth just glared at him for a moment, shook his head, “Fucking X-men. All that soft do-gooder shit is going to get you killed one of these days runt.” Then he gave a small bow, with a wave of his arm and a feral grin on his face, “Ladies first.”

Logan ignored the taunt and started heading down the corridor back towards Hank’s hiding place. That last blast had seemed to silence most of the gunfire and if they were lucky, they’d make it to the other side of compound without any incident. If they were lucky. He didn’t get his hopes up.

Rogue woke up to the feeling of hot liquid splattering along her cheek.

Absently raising a hand to wipe at it, she opened her eyes to see Logan’s face right above her own, a large gunshot wound to his cheek, the cause of the liquid, knitting itself closed before her eyes. She startled suddenly and then grabbed him tightly when she realized he was carrying her while running along a long hallway. She saw him wince slightly from her grip and then stop, looking down at her. “Thank God,” he muttered, setting her down on her feet, still a bit wobbly, “You okay for a moment kid?” he asked, looking her over. She nodded slowly and leaned against the wall for a bit of support.

He was off in a heartbeat and it was when her head finally cleared enough to recognize the sound of gunfire close by that she realized what was going on. They were somewhere inside the compound and a small squad of guards were attacking. She watched as Wolverine ran in, claws out and slashed through a guard that was about to start using Sabertooth’s back for target practice. They were outnumbered four to one, but together, the two ferals were rapidly diminishing those odds.

She closed her eyes and reached a hand up to rub her aching neck. When it touched pure skin she stopped, eyes flung wide open. Her other hand came up and she rubbed all along the soft, unobstructed skin along her neck. The collar, that had been the bane of her existence, which she had worn with shame and hatred since they first clamped it on her so many years ago, was finally gone. She felt a small laugh slip from her lips. It was really gone!

She stretched her arms and her legs, testing, enjoying the feel of the energy running through her skin. Looking for the place in her mind, that switch she had found before while battling Cyber, she grabbed ahold and felt the energy slowly fade away. She could still control it. Turning, she punched a hole straight through the wall and grinned. She had her strength back. Her body ached though, telling her the healing factor had been working overtime. Her face hurt worst of all and she reached up, running fingers lightly along the still swollen and sensitive flesh. That didn’t matter though, she was finally free!

And now it’s time for some payback.

As she turned to go and help Wolverine and Sabertooth, her attention was suddenly diverted when she caught wind a few steps away of the blue one, Hank. He was bleeding and he wasn’t alone. Wild Child was with him. Following the direction of the smell to a closed office, she bust through the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she growled, seeing Wild Child leaning over something behind the desk. He looked up at her, his eyes immediately going to her neck, and a hand coming to finger the collar still around his own. Standing, he took a few steps back.

“Just keeping the good doctor company,” he said, his eyes shifty and cautious.

She didn’t trust him and quickly made her way over to kneel next to where Beast was laying against the desk. He didn’t look good. His face, which was normally a vibrant blue was now a paler version and the smell coming off his leg wasn’t easing her worries any. They needed to get him out of here. She noticed the collar still around his neck.

Standing up she whirled on Wild Child, “You touch him, I’ll kill you, understand?” He nodded but his eyes glared at her in anger. He didn’t like being told what to do, especially by a girl.

She ran quickly back out into the hallway and almost didn’t notice when a bullet pierced her shoulder, a soft pinprick. She touched at the small wound and then looked up to see a stray guard who had managed to get his way past Sabertooth and Wolverine heading towards her.

She crouched down, ready to attack, when his progress was stopped by the appearance of three claws jutting through his chest. She stood back up, slightly disappointed. “I could have taken him,” she grumbled, glaring at Logan as he stalked towards her, looking her over as he did.

“Your still not 100% kid, you need to save you strength,” he replied, grabbing her shoulder gently, the wound was closing itself, but very slowly.

“I’m fine,” she replied, glaring at him, but not pressing the issue, “But Hank’s not. I need the key for the collar.”

He nodded and reached in his pocket, pulling out the small metal device and putting it in her hand. The feel of his skin barely touching hers, for just a moment, caused everything to stop.

She couldn’t breathe, all she could do was stare at her hand and the small object in it, and it was if she could see every single part of it his hand had touched, like glowing little embers. A knuckle grazed there, his thumb there. She looked up to find Wolverine had frozen just as she had, his eyes dark and intense staring at her, nostrils flaring and the thought of what he might be smelling made her embarrassed enough to snap out of the sudden daze and turn, half running back into the room with Hank.

She closed the door and leaned against it, trying to calm her heartbeat, control her body. When finally she got ahold of herself, she looked back down at the small key in her hand.

Well, that was interesting.

Logan watched as the door slammed shut, still unable to move. Damn, what had happened there? Just a slight touch and suddenly the smell of her arousal had hit him hard enough to freeze him in his tracks.

“Hey runt, you want to stop standing there like a fucking love sick puppy and give me a hand?” Sabertooth growled, breaking the moment. Logan turned to see that while most of the guards had been handled, the few remaining had managed to push Creed back halfway down the hallway.

Snarling he dove in and was able to decapitate one while getting a claw in the thigh of another, dropping him to the floor. He grinned, blood covering his fists as he looked at Sabertooth, who had one guard dangling from each hand. “Was that you just asking me for help?”

Creed snorted and knocked the two men together before tossing them at the wall. They collapsed in a heap on the ground. “That little interlude with Rogue must have knocked a few screws loose, or have you forgotten this place is set to be blown to bits any second now.”

Rogue, so that was the girl’s name. What kind of a name was Rogue? His eyes narrowed and since when was Sabertooth on a first name basis with her. Logan watched as the large man stalked over to the last guard, grabbing his gun and slamming the butt down on his head. Tossing it on the body, he walked back to where he was standing, stepping right up to his face. “Don’t need your help, just don’t feel like being bomb fodder,” he growled, pushing him aside and walking over to the door, kicked it open, “Parties over kiddies, time to get the fuck out of here.”

Wolverine made his way inside the room to find Wild Child slowly getting up from where he’d obviously been smashed into the corner, holding his jaw which seemed to be getting more swollen by the minute and the girl helping Hank to stand, murder on her face. He smiled and leaned against the doorframe. Obviously Wild Child’s mouth had gotten him into trouble again.

“Everything okay in here?” he asked, unable to mask the amusement in his voice. Rogue glared at him as she helped Hank maneuver across the room and to the doorway.

“Just keep him the fuck away from me,” she snarled, slamming the small metal key back into his hand before resuming her hold around the doctor’s waist, a large furry arm dwarfing her shoulder as she helped him into the hallway. He looked down at it and then looked back to see Wild Child still had his collar on. He put the key in his pocket and turned, walking over to put his shoulder underneath Hank’s other arm.

“I got him,” he said, nodding down the hallway, “You’ve been here longer than any of us, kid. Think you can help find a way out?”

She gave a concerned glance to Hank before letting him go and then sniffed at the air. Finding what she was looking for she turned to look at him, “This way, follow me.” And with that they quickly made their way through a maze of hallways, thankfully uninterrupted, the only obstacle being a pesky ten inch steel security door leading to the outside, which turned out to be no match for adamantium claws.

Once outside they all paused and the collective intake of fresh air and following groans would have made an amusing sight if anyone had passed by just then. As it was, Logan relished in the smell of clean, natural air flowing through his lungs like the most beautiful drug, making him feel somewhat dizzy in the head for a minute.

The moment didn’t last for long as the sound of fighting and explosives quickly reached their ears. After having Rogue do a quick sweep of the area to make sure they were alone, Logan helped settle Hank on the ground up near the tree line, a good distance away from the building, for a quick rest.

They had come out on the far back end of the facility and it looked like that area had already been evacuated and abandoned. On the other end of the compound, closer to where their cell had been, it was a completely different story. It was as if war had descended. Looking up in the air he saw the Brotherhood’s small jet reigning down gunfire onto a group of guards in the main courtyard of the facility. It’s left turbine smoking heavily from having taken a hit and the other one not looking much better.

“Doesn’t look like your friends will be giving you a ride home anytime soon Creed.”

Sabertooth snorted, watching the flailing machine, “Long as they can get that bomb off and turn this place to dust, I’ll be happy to walk home.”

“Bomb?!” Rogue stomped over to stand between the two of them, “What bomb?”

“Brotherhood has a missile on that jet, strong enough to tear the whole place to the ground. Just sit pretty and get ready to watch some fireworks,” Creed said, his eyes dancing with delight at the thought of all that destruction.

“But what about all the mutants still trapped inside?” her voice was starting to border on hysteria as she looked at the jet and at the facility, then her eyes got wide, “Oh my God. There were three girls in the cell with me. I have to go back and get them!” She turned and ran straight into Sabertooth’s hulking form blocking her way. She glared up at him, “Get out ah my way!”

“Girls are dead,” he said gruffly. She stared at him hard for a few moments, as if trying to gauge if he was telling the truth or not and then stood there stone still. Though he hadn’t known her long, Logan could tell it wasn’t a good sign.

“Rogue,” he went to put a hand on her shoulder to turn her around to look at him, but before he could she pounced and had Sabertooth pinned beneath her, one foot pressing hard into his side, ribs cracking, the knee of the other leg on the ground near his hip and both hands wrapped tightly around his wrists, holding them to the ground near his face. Sabertooth immediately started struggling, trying to throw Rogue off, but her strength obviously surpassed Creeds and he couldn’t budge the small girl. Logan had never seen anything so damn amusing in his entire life and for a moment wished he had a camera to capture it forever.

He would have laughed out loud if it wasn’t for the dead serious look on Rogue’s face. She wasn’t playing games, not at all. “Did you do it?” he heard her growl out. Sabertooth’s eyes narrowed at her. “What if I did? What you gonna do about it darling?” he snarled. She eyed him with disgust and then finally let go, climbing off his body and walking back towards the building.

“You got a death wish little girl be my fucking guest!” Sabertooth shouted at her retreating back and then stormed off into the trees. Wild Child looked at Rogue’s retreating form, eyes narrowed, and then ran into the trees after Creed, leaving Hank and Logan alone.

He looked down at Hank who was watching the whole scene with the eyes of one who analyzes every little piece of data presented to them. “And to think I used to consider you the epitome of the word stubborn Logan,” the doctor said, a frown of worry crossing his face, “I do believe she fully intends to search that facility top to bottom, regardless of the situation.”

“Yeah,” he watched as she drew closer to the facility, “You gonna be okay here Hank?”

Beast looked up at him, “My healing facilities may not be as advanced, but they are working, in what small capacity they have. I will be stable for the time being.” He jumped in surprise at the small handgun Logan tossed into his lap.

“Just in case yeah?” Hank picked up the weapon and checked the barrel, nodding slightly. Logan sighed, “Guess I better go make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.”

“Indeed.” The doctor eyed him with a knowing look that Logan knew was going to lead to a man to man talk about feelings somewhere down the line. He wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Do be careful, and Logan," he paused to make sure Logan was looking at him, his voice completely serious, “Do try not to piss her off.” Instantly the image of her small frame pinning the much larger, struggling Sabertooth to the ground came to his mind. This time he didn’t stop the laugh that came out.

“Wouldn’t dream of it Hank.” He grinned and ran off to catch up with the girl.

“Rogue.”

She heard Logan’s voice calling her, but didn’t stop her determined walk towards the building. He caught up with her easily, falling in step next to her. She felt like her whole body was on fire, the anger thrumming thru her like an electric current and all she could see was the three girls, huddling in the corner, grasping to each other, wide eyes and full of fear and then screams, bullets flying, hitting flesh. Her hands balled into fists. They couldn’t have been much older than ten years old, their whole lives ahead of them. The tears were flowing freely down her face now, but she didn’t even notice them, any sadness had given way to the rage long ago. Rage at what had happened to the girls, at what had happened to her, to all of them.

She felt a hand starting to draw near her. She stopped suddenly and turned away, snarling at Logan, “Don’t touch me!”, then taking a deep breath, resumed walking, adding, “It’s..not safe,” hoping he understood her meaning. He looked at her skin and then nodded.

“So, what are we doing here kid?” he asked, pausing as they came up to the door leading into the building. At least he knew better than to try and stop her. What was she doing? She was running on pure adrenaline, pure fury, wherever it took her. She was out of control. When she didn’t answer he just nodded as if that was answer enough. “Right, we’ll start in the lower levels, work our way up,” a large blast to the far side of the building causing him to pause, “Once the Brotherhood rewire the jet to get that broken turbine working, they’ll have the power to get the altitude they need, they’ll drop that bomb without hesitation. Toad ain’t the smartest mutant in the world, that’ll give us a bit of extra time, but not much.”

“Well then, let’s not waste time here chatting,” she said, pushing the door open, a thought coming to her, she turned and looked at the Wolverine. “You trust me?” she asked.

His eyebrow went up as if he was debating his answer, “Yes.” That was all she needed to hear, reaching down into the depths of her mind she found the ability she was looking for. Looked like her time in the lab was going to be useful after all. She grabbed Logan by the arms, “Then hold on tight sugar.” She winked at him before lifting them off the ground. Navigating the tight corridors and stairwells she had them downstairs in no time, only bumping them into things a few times. Overall a successful first flight, she thought to herself. She set Logan down and watched as he proceeded to throw up.

Once the heaving stopped he glared at her, pointing a finger in her face, “NEVER fucking do that again!” he growled.

“Less yelling, more moving,” she said, hiding a smile at the thought that the big, bad Wolverine suffered from motion sickness. Making her way down the hallway, they checked every door they passed. By the time they had finished searching the floor five minutes had passed, ten guards were now on the deceased list, and they both felt sick to their stomachs. Two mutants, out of what had to been at least one hundred. That’s how many survived.

Apparently the three girls were just the beginning of an order to exterminate all mutants in the facility. Defcon 1 orders. Rogue had taken the memories of one of the guards. Logan hadn’t been happy about it, but when she let him know that the Wolverine in her head was being very helpful in keeping the guy in his place, he seemed to calm a bit. In truth, at first she hadn’t meant to, but after going through so many cells and finding nothing but death, she had been so berserk she had grabbed the first guard that stumbled upon their path and drained him dry without even thinking.

After the incident, Logan had grabbed the military grade gloves off the corpse and given them to her. She had to admit, she was touched by the gesture. It seemed unusually thoughtful for the man when she compared it to the memories of him she had in her head. Granted, he had seen firsthand how bad the voices could affect her and the last thing they needed was her going off the deep end right now. There was no way she was going to be able to control her skin with her emotions in so much turmoil right now. Perhaps he was just being practical.

By the time they finished covering all the lower levels, they had gathered a group of about twenty mutants and were covered head to toe in blood and gore. It was worse than either of them could have imagined and they had been through some pretty unimaginable things. Many of the corpses they passed had been so far into starvation, that the bullet to the head must have been blessed relief. There was a whole level dedicated to children. That had been the hardest and she didn’t want to think about what they had done to the few guards they found there. She still had bits of their flesh stuck in her hair. It was less then what they deserved. Afterwards, both she and Logan were left hanging on by a thread. The desire to kill, to destroy, to tear every single speck of the lab to the ground, making her muscles clench painfully tight.

So, at first, when she heard the loud sound of a jet turbine coming to life, she felt an ecstatic glee course through her body. Finally, the lab would be nothing but dust! Then, she caught the look on Logan’s face. They were in the middle of the compound, the closest door to the outside miles away. If she flew them, MAYBE she could get the two of them out before the blast hit, but then the rest. She looked around at the ragged group of mutants they had collected. All huddled together, the women instantly gathering the few children to them, mothering instincts unable to be destroyed by the worst the lab could do. A few of the younger men had taken to surrounding the group, eyes alert for danger. She couldn’t just leave them!

She looked deep within herself for something, anything and then found a glimmer of hope, but it was making the Logan in her head nervous. He was growling in disapproval.

You’ve never done anything like this before, you’re still learning to use your powers, you can’t just grab them out of the bag and mess around with them. You don’t know what that might do to you.

What other choice do I have?

He didn’t respond, but it didn’t matter. They were out of time and she was already summoning the power to her, her hands started glowing.

“Logan, get everyone together, as close as you can, to me, NOW!” she yelled, building up the power, pulling it out from the deep recesses of her mind in long tendrils.

“Rogue?” The word filled with concern as he watched the glow around her hands intensify, but seeing the determined look on her face, just shook his head. “You heard her!!” he bellowed, his voice echoing across the now silent corridors, “Everyone gather in, as close as you can!”

Using all her concentration she started to push the glow out, making a telekinetic shield surround the group. It was the power of the young girl who liked to ride horses. If the lab had only known what was really inside of her, waiting to come out. All it had taken was a small push in her mind to mature the power within herself. At first she hadn’t been sure she could do it.

She heard the group gasp as the shield stretched out farther, becoming visible to the naked eye as it intensified. Pouring all of her own energy into the shield to strengthen it, she tried to focus, ignoring the sudden silence that seemed to stretch throughout the whole facility, the soft buzz of an object flying thru the air at amazing speed, the feel of Logan's arms wrapped tight around her, covering her body with his own while she knelt on the ground and just held on. Hoping, praying it would be enough as the buzzing got closer.

"Logan," she gritted through clenched teeth, hoping he could hear her, wanting to say so much, in case this didn't work, in case this was the last time, but there was no time left so she had to settle for the most important, "My name's Marie," and then the whole world exploded in smoke, fire and ash.

My name’s Marie.

Marie. He kept playing the name over in his mind, only stopping when he realized he was acting much like a teenage boy with a first time crush and he was too damn old for that, but looking at the girl, honestly, who could blame him. Besides the obvious fact that she was drop dead gorgeous. Right now, she was kneeling in front of a few of the kids they had saved, a huge smile on her face as they described the most recent events to her, using big hand motions and loud noises.

Her lab gown was shredded and soaked in blood, the jacket he had put on her, what seemed like years ago, providing only the littlest sense of modesty, hair all matted with blood and gore; she looked like she had gone to hell and back again and yet there she was with that giant smile on her face, laughing with these kids as if she didn’t have a care in the world, as if they all hadn’t been two seconds away from being blown to pieces, as if she wasn’t the biggest damn hero in the place.

The sound of the missle flying in had been too familiar and brought back too many suppressed memories that he wasn’t sure he wanted to remember. It was like a loud buzz that slowly grew into a high pitched scream and he had done the one thing he could think of before it hit, wrapped himself as tightly around Rogue as he could, hoping by some miracle that if her shield gave out, his body could take the damage and she would survive. It was in those last seconds she had whispered her name to him, her real name, Marie. A last gift in case this was the end.

When the explosion had hit, it was like the entire world had exploded in a loud thump, the floor vibrating so badly that everyone fell to the ground. He could feel the shield absorbing the impact, could actually watch as it concaved in slightly from the blow, the flames trying to tear at it and the loud suction of air as the sonic boom shattered across the area, but it had held. And when the fire had burned itself out and the smoke had started to clear, they were able to stand up and look around at the large crater all around them that was now where the facility had been. All that was left standing, was what had been in Marie’s magic bubble.

Everyone had started hooting and hollering after that, in joy for their own survival, in joy at the destruction of the place that had caused them all so much pain and suffering and Logan had looked down into those gorgeous eyes staring up at him as she smiled and said simply, “I did it.” And if he had ever doubted her before then, he would never do so again.

The survivors had all crowded around them then, wanting to give congratulations. Logan had kept them from touching her until she gave him the okay that she was once again back in control of her skin and then she had bombarded with hugs and kisses. He had to growl at a few overzealous ones, but he had never seen the girl that happy before and let her enjoy it for a moment.

And a moment was all they had. Though the lab was now destroyed it wouldn’t be long before the government got word of what had happened and he wasn’t naive enough to think this was the ONLY lab in existence. There would be a clean-up crew to come to make sure nothing was left behind that could fall into the wrong hands and to round up any escapees. He wanted to be as far away from the place as they could get by nightfall.

“Are you okay Miss Rogue?” a small voice floated to his ear and he looked over to see Marie swaying on her feet. He got there just in time to catch her as she started to fall.

“You alright kid?” he asked, watching as her eyes fluttered open to look up at him.

“Yeah, just had a bit of a dizzy spell. I’m sure it’s nothing.” She made to stand up again, but the look on her face told him she was at the limits of her strength, healing factor or no. He put an arm underneath her knees and picked her up, holding her to his chest.

“Think it’s time we got out of here. Hank’s probably worried sick by now,” he said. She nodded her head in agreement.

He got a few of the young men in the group to start rounding everyone up. It was slow going with such a large group, many of who were in pretty bad shape and Logan felt himself getting impatient at the progress they were making, but kept his grumbling to a minimum. It wasn’t all bad. He was rather enjoying having Marie in his arms, cuddled against his chest.

A small moan from her caused Logan to look down with concern. There was a small trickle of blood running out of her nose and her face was deathly pale. “Wore yourself out kid?” he asked, climbing over a pile of rubble as he carried her in the direction they had left Hank, their misfit group of survivors following behind him. She nodded slowly. “Ever done anything like that before?” She shook her head. That seemed to be the last of her energy as she pressed her face into his shoulder and he felt the muscles of her body loosen as she slipped into unconsciousness.

He frowned slightly looking down at her, deciding as soon as they got to a safe place he’d let her take on some of his healing energy. Her face still had some open wounds and bruising from the guard and he wasn’t sure if her weaker healing ability would be able to overcome whatever using all that power just now had done to her.

She was such a contradiction, he thought, staring down at her. She looked so innocent and fragile right now, cradled in his arms, so different from the fiery personality that had refused to leave without saving as many people as they could, who tore down the guards without even flinching an eye, who had gathered up more energy than he would have believed possible for a single person to contain to create a shield that had saved them all. And seeing her get the better of Sabertooth was going to be a memory he’d enjoy for the rest of his life. He was never going to let the big cat live that one down. He shook his head, wondering what the hell he was getting himself into with her.

When they finally got up the hill to where Hank sat, he could see the look of relief plain on the doctor’s face. To see Sabertooth and Wild Child had returned and were with him though set the Wolverine on edge. He growled at them before laying Marie gently down next to Hank.

“Can you give her a look over doc? She took quite a hit. Then, if you’re feeling up to it, might be a few others who could use your help.”

Hank was already checking Marie’s vitals. “Of course, send any in need up here and I’ll do what I can.”

“You know, I never would have thought that little thing had it in her. Could see the whole damn thing from here when it hit,’ Sabertooth said, eyeing her with approval. Logan moved so he was standing in front of Rogue, blocking the view, his eyes narrowing.

“Why are you still here Creed?”

“Well it sure as hell ain’t for the company. Thought I was gonna go crazy stuck here with the witless wonder and the mutant encyclopedia,” He leaned over so he could look at Rogue over Logan’s shoulder, “Granted, I’d say the company just improved quite a bit.” Wolverine growled and was just about to lunge for Sabertooth, when he heard it.

“Logan?”

“You and me Creed, we’re gonna have this out, soon” he ground out, forcing the claws to go back in, before turning to kneel next to Marie.

“Can’t wait,” Sabertooth replied, frowning as Logan took Rogue’s hand in his own. “But don’t keep me waiting too long lover boy,” he growled, stalking off back towards the woods with Wild Child following close behind. Logan watched as Creed leaned against a tree and looked over everything, as if he was waiting for something. He didn’t like it.

For the moment though, he turned his attention to more important things, “Hey kid, how you feeling?” he asked, pushing a stray lock of hair from her face.

“Like I got hit by a truck and run over by a train. Remind me to never do anything like that ever again Logan.” She let go of his hand so she could sit up, putting her arms behind her and leaning her head back to stretch her neck, groaning as the stiff muscles pulled and relaxed. The movement and noises caused the Wolverine to become very interested in the situation and Logan found himself standing up and taking a step back to regain a bit of control.

She didn’t seem to notice his reaction or if she did, she didn’t make any indication of it. “Don’t supposed anyone would have any water? I’m dying of thirst.”

He was going to have to have a talk to her about phrases you could not say when around a very feral, very interested Wolverine. Especially not when you were giving off scents like the ones she was throwing off, that he hadn’t even noticed until now.

Going and beating Sabertooth to a bloody pulp was starting to look like a pretty damn good idea, especially when the other option was to just jump her right then and there, in front of Hank and a dozen plus complete strangers. The doctor had obviously noticed his strange behavior and gave him a funny look, raising an eyebrow in question or disbelief, he wasn’t sure.

Apparently none of Hank’s books had told him that the adrenaline leftover from fighting was a huge aphrodisiac, especially to someone like him and well, when that explosion hit, his adrenaline was higher than it had ever been when he was in a cage. He was struggling and he was man enough to admit it.

The strong scent of Marie’s blood suddenly hit him and he looked down to see her nose bleeding profusely. Hank reacted quicker than him and quickly had her nostrils pinched and her head leaning forward, telling her to spit any blood out of her mouth.

He was back kneeling at her side, holding her hand. “Hey kid, I think you should touch me, take a bit of my healing powers.”

She shook her head sharply, looking up at him over Hanks furry hand which was still pinching her nose shut with what he was learning to recognize as her “no way in hell” stubborn look. His eyes narrowed and felt a growl in his chest.

“Dammit Rogue, we don’t know what using that much power might have done to you. You’re bleeding like a stuck pig, for all we know you got some kind of hemorrhage in your head, your face is still bruised and swollen in places from that beating you took from the guard. You look like fucking hell kid, so stop being so damn stubborn and just let me fucking help you!” He hadn’t meant to be so forceful, but the scent of her blood always had a habit of sending him straight on edge.

She pushed Hanks hand away from her face, causing the blood to once again flow freely down her face, which wasn’t helping Logan keep control at all. Her eyes were blazing now, “I could fucking kill you Logan and how do you think that would make me feel? Having you stuck in my head forever, knowing I was the one that ended your life! Knowing you would always be in there, but not where I needed you most, which is here, alive and breathing, in the real world. Not the ghost of you stuck in my brain tearing me apart. I got damn close to killing you once already, I’d rather not repeat the experience!” She made a move to stand up, but Logan put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.

“Now you listen good,” he said, his eyes narrowing, “You’re not going to kill me. It’ll just be a few seconds, then I’ll get Hank to pull me away and everything will be fine, because if YOU die, I won’t have you in my head to keep me company. I’ll just have a gravestone to beat myself up over knowing that I could have saved you! I'll just have a God knows how long life to mourn you, knowing I'll never get to hear your voice again or see you glaring at me like you are right now and I'll spend the rest of my life wishing I could kill myself and knowing I can't, because you can't fucking kill me! So let me touch you. Take my power. You're not gonna hurt me.”

“God, you two bicker like an old married couple. It’s driving me fucking insane,” Sabertooth growled, knocking Logan out of the way, sending him flying across the ground, and then grabbing Rogue, hitting her hard across the face, “I don’t imagine you’d have any worries about killing me darling, so you need a bit of healing, here, fucking take it.” He hit her face again and Logan saw the rage start boiling in her eyes. Creed must have seen it to because he grabbed her face in his hands, and leaned down, kissing her hard.

The Wolverine went beserk and flew into Sabertooth, knocking him off of Rogue, stabbing one set of claws into Creeds chest as he did. They tumbled, clawing and thrashing each other, until they separated, crouched down across from each other, breathing hard, blood dripping everywhere.

“Rogue?” The concern in Hanks voice caused him to turn and look at her. Her face was completely healed; the nose had stopped bleeding, the bruising and swelling entirely gone, nothing but beautiful perfection, but her eyes had gone completely black, like Sabertooth’s and a low growl was coming from her chest.

Creed looked at her and nodded, as if satisfied his job was done, then turned to glare at Logan.

“There, all fucking healed. Problem solved. Can we get the hell out of here now?” With that, he turned and stomped back off towards the woods, thru the crowd that had gathered, growling at anyone who looked his way.

She had to get out of there.

She slammed through another tree like it was paper, sending her in a spin midflight, but not stopping her. Her supercharged healing powers quickly repaired the physical damage, but her mind was far from okay.

The smell of a sun ray, sound of a bee’s wing, every single tiny molecule buzzing in her brain, all being recorded, calculated. How could Creed stand it? She couldn’t tell where the human part of her ended and the animal began. Was this what a wolf felt like, running through the woods, driven by pure instinct, taking in every single impression the senses offered to be classified as friend or foe? Fight or flight? Kill or fuck?

She felt the burning red of embarrassment flush across her face again. God, how could she ever go back? Finally deciding that she had put enough distance between herself and him, she stopped and found herself at the edge of a great ravine, raging river flowing in the bottom. She perched on a large rock nearby, struggling to find a way to stop the influx of information that was being thrown into her mind. She tried closing her eyes, only to start tasting the wind. She put her hand over her ears and her nose was assaulted ten times worse. Where Cyber and Logan’s senses had leaned towards the human side of things, making them forceful but eventually tolerable, Sabertooth’s obviously leaned towards the animal side and trying to handle the sudden intensity of the world around her was overwhelming.

Granted, it had perhaps saved their lives. Maybe that was worth the embarrassment of it all.

Sabertooth had been right. She didn’t care about hurting him and because of it, when he hit her the second time and the anger exploded, she had no underlying emotion to grab on to for control. She lost it and that brief touch had been enough. Apparently her power reacted faster when the victim was willing.

“Rogue?”

The soft whisper came like a scream in her ear. She winced at the sound, unable to stop the growling in her chest. It had hurt. Rogue, was that who she was? No, Victor, she was Victor now, wasn’t she?

A growling in her head. You’re not Victor. You’re Rogue. You’re Marie.

The voice in her head sounded distant, distracted. He was busy, fighting some darkness in her head, darkness with piercing yellow eyes. She winced. It hurt, the fighting.

Give it up runt. She’s MINE.

More growling. Lots of growling. Too much growling. Shut up! Just shut up! And suddenly there was a wall and the voices were gone, for now. They had been too loud, everything was too loud. In her head, outside her head. The pounding, thumping, drumming, banging so, so loud, thru her chest. What was that?! She started ripping at her chest, trying to get to the source of the noise that was driving her insane. Two hands grabbed her wrists tightly.

“Rogue! Stop it! Calm down!” She looked up to find two dark eyes narrowed in concern. A face, she recognized it. The voice. Logan.

“Lll..oggan?”

“That’s right kid. It’s me,” he sighed, obviously comforted by her using his name, “What’s wrong Rogue? Why are you tearing at your chest?”

“There’s something wrong in there, it’s loud, so loud! Something beating.” He looked down towards her chest, cocking his head, listening, then gave her a funny look.

“You mean your heart?”

She frowned at him and growled. Did he think she was that stupid? “I know what my heart sounds like and that’s not fucking it!” she roared, the sound of her own voice causing her to wince in pain again, "It must have been the lab, maybe they put something inside of me." He raised an eyebrow at her, then turned to press an ear to her chest.

“Nope, just your heart, sounds normal to me,” he said, looking at her funny again. She didn’t like it and tore away from him, running straight into the middle of a crowd of people who had gathered and the thumping was suddenly a full set of drums, all beating in different rhythms pounding on her brain. Was it really heart’s beating? God, they were so LOUD. She had hyper senses thanks to Cyber, and had taken on Logan’s for a time, but this was something altogether different! How could a person think with all that pounding? She could hear every single pump of the muscle, the swish of blood moving thru veins, then the thump of the muscle clenching again. She could hear the pitter patter of faulty valves, could hear the louder drum with a mechanical hum, a pacemaker?

She took a deep breath to try and calm herself. It wasn’t the brightest idea because the pounding in her head was nothing to the scents that assaulted her nose. She coughed, gagged, choking on it. It was like her nose had been turned into a microscope, smelling every individual molecule, taking it in to be analyzed, categorized. She leaned down, sniffing at the grass, only it didn’t smell like just grass. It was a hundred scents rolled into one small blade and she could smell each and every single one of them.

“Rogue?”

She winced again at the sound. It was the blue one again. He was crawling towards her slowly. She took a small sniff and wrinkled her nose as what she used to know as “Hank” smell broke down and became a million different scents. She could smell the bacteria, decay of dead flesh from his leg wound, she could smell the blood flowing thru his veins, could smell the cells of his skin, and something, a soft smell, something familiar.

She sniffed at herself and was able to find it. The strange smell, she tried focusing on it, to figure out what it was, letting it branch out and realizing she could smell it on others as well. All slightly different, but underling the same and it calmed her. Was this her pack? Her family? She sniffed around the group, crawling over to a small girl nearby. The girl eyed her with panic and fear on her face, but then when she had started sniffing at her shirt, the whimpers of terror erupted into a fit of loud giggles. It hurt her ears, so she growled and moved on, crawling away from the crowd, holding her head in her hands.

It was too much. Too much input and the wall she had built before was starting to crumble and she could feel the Wolverine and Sabertooth fighting each other in her head again, feel the black wave of memories start to seep in thru the cracks. She didn’t want them, didn’t want to know what it was like in the deep recess of Creed’s mind, in that darkness that was slowly creeping closer.

Small, whispered conversations were like loud narrations in her head. The group was scared of her, didn’t know what was going on. She was scared too. There was so much input! How did Sabertooth do it? How did animals do it for that matter? She remembered after she had absorbed Cyber, how it was like a blind person stepping into the brightest light, her new hyper senses giving so much extra information, it had been painful. For some reason the collar had no effect on that new ability and it had taken her weeks to learn to push the unnecessary to the back of her brain. There was no way she could do that now, there was just too much!! She felt like her head was going to explode trying to analyze it all.

“Well how was I supposed to know!”

“Logan, now really isn’t the time.”

“I want you gone Creed, NOW, and take the laughing hyena with you!”

They were arguing and it was like nails on a chalkboard. She needed to do something, sitting still was driving her mad. She needed to take her mind of everything assaulting her senses. She needed to kill something, badly. And as soon as the thought crossed her brain, her senses were out searching, reaching for prey. She could taste the fear dripping off people like the sweetest wine, intoxicating! She growled, smiling and she looked around. Who would it be?

She took in a deep breath and that’s when she noticed it, something that didn’t belong, her eyes narrowed, something HUMAN and she snapped, lunging into the group of mutants, tossing and clawing at anything getting in her way, and then she had him! His weak pathetic smell rising up into her nose drenched in hate and panic.

She crashed into him, knocking him to the ground, straddling his chest as she grabbed his head in her hands. She leaned forward and took in a deep breath. He wasn’t one of the pack. He wasn’t one of them. He was human. He was prey. He was the enemy. She pressed her forehead against his, staring into his eyes that were looking at her with both fury and fear. “Gotcha,” she whispered, then leaned back and twisted, reveling in the satisfying crunch of his neck snapping.

Then she felt two bodies slam into her and she was flat on her back on the ground, Wolverine and Sabertooth both pinning her to the ground, being careful not to touch her skin, their combined strength and weight outmatching her own. She twisted and kicked, trying to get free, but unable to budge the two mutants.

“Hank?” Logan gritted, through clenched teeth, having to use all his concentration on keeping her subdued. She saw the blue doctor limping towards the body. That was HER kill! They couldn’t’ have it!! She fought harder and was momentarily dazed as an elbow crashed against her temple. Logan growled and Sabertooth just shrugged.

“Let me go!” she snarled, once her head cleared again, “He’s my kill! He’s just a stinking human! Let me go!!” The surprise at her statement caused the weight pinning her to loosen and she took the advantage to push free, crouching to lunge for the human, but Logan moved to stand between her and the man’s body. “Out of my way runt!” she growled. His eyes narrowed at her.

“She’s right...RUNT,” Sabertooth said, his voice twinged with amusement at Rogue’s use of the word, “He’s a human. Looks like he’s got some kind of tracking device on him.” He held out a small contraption that he had taken from the man’s pocket, crushing it in his large fist.

“How do you know this person is indeed a human?” Hank asked unable to hide his curiosity.

“His smell. He don’t smell right,” Sabertooth grunted.

“You mean to say you can tell if someone is a human or mutant, simply from their smell?”

Sabertooth glared at the corpse and nodded, “Yeah, human stench, kinda hard to miss,” and he spat on the body, “Never got close enough to the group to notice this one before.”

“Fascinating,” Hank looked back down at the body, “His deception, we never would have known. He has a collar on like everyone else.”

“Must have heard us coming, stripped down and put a collar on when Rogue and I were rounding up the survivors,” Logan said, still eyeing her warily. He obviously wasn’t going to let her claim her kill and it was making her very pissed off. When she saw they were going to move the body, she reached her limit.

“He’s mine!” She lunged for Logan, knocking him to the ground, her knees on either side of him, reaching up to claw at his face. His hands clamped around her wrists, pressing them back and behind her back, causing her to fall forward flat against his chest. She took a deep breath, getting ready to tear her arms away from his grasp when she stopped as the scent of him flowed thru her. My GOD, had he always smelled this good? The body a few feet away was all but forgotten for the one now laying underneath her.

She took another deep breath in, a rumbling purr forming in the back of her throat and she saw Logan’s eyes darken, the hands on her wrists suddenly letting go as if he had been holding a hot coal. She used the new found freedom to run her hands over his chest and shoulders, enjoying the feel of him strong and solid beneath her. He would make a good mate. Letting instinct drive her, she lay her body back down along the length of him, feeling as if they were too far apart, even though her body was pressed tightly against his own. Without thinking, her hips rolled against his, creating a delightful friction that sent a white heat coursing thru her body. She felt like she was drowning in the sensation and smell of him.

Her hands moved up to tangle in his hair, grabbing tightly as she continued rocking her hips against him. It wasn’t enough, she needed to be closer. She rubbed her cheek against his. He hadn't shaved in days and the roughness against her sensitive skin was like pure ecstasy. She shivered at the feeling of his hot breath on her throat, a soft moan escaping her lips. His body suddenly tensed underneath hers and she felt his hands clamp onto her waist, pulling her down hard against him. She moaned again and his lips brushed softly against her neck, the sensation pulling a purr from her chest.

“God Marie, you’re killing me.”

The whispered words caused her to stop. Marie. Killing. She was Marie, she was, what was she doing? What the fuck was she doing? She looked up and saw a wide variety of eyes staring at them in various degrees of amusement, embarrassment, and interest. Her eyes locked with Hanks and she was positive she could see a blush creeping up the mutants blue skin, then she looked over to see Sabertooth glaring at them with death in his eyes, arms crossed against his chest, and the sound of Wild Child’s laughter reached her still sensitive ears, causing a cold wave of embarrassment to rush thru her body quickly quenching the heat. Looking back down at Logan with wide eyes, she could feel the blush creeping across her face. She had to get of there, NOW!

And so she had taken off, flying thru the woods as fast as she could, putting as much distance between her and that intoxicating smell. Just the memory of it caused her to want to fly right back to him and continue what they had started and she had to reel herself back in. This was never going to work, she needed some control and so she sat on the rock, fighting with herself, with the smells and the sounds and focused on helping the Wolverine in her head lock Sabertooth in with the others.

It was exhausting work and by the time she got him inside the mental cage, hours had passed. The sun was starting to drop into the horizon and she could finally feel Sabertooth’s powers fading.

She smelled him long before he actually arrived, stopping a good distance away, leaning against a tree and watching her. She didn’t look at him, but instead closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of her senses fading back into their normal hyper awareness, for a moment feeling extremely vulnerable by the loss of input, but then thankful when she took a deep breath in and smelled only the simple smells of trees and dirt and Logan, strong, but not overpowering and not enough to drive her into a lust filled craze.

“It’s gone,” she finally said, looking over at him, “The powers have faded. I promise not to jump you.”

He raised an eyebrow at that and walked over, sitting down next to her on the rock. He lifted a hand up gently, then paused, his eyes asking if it was safe to touch her. She nodded slightly and his hand continued its path to grab her chin lightly, turning her face from side to side before stopping to look in her eyes and then finally satisfied by what he saw, letting her go.

“You’re eyes are back to normal,” he said gruffly. Had they been different? She must have taken on more of Sabertooth’s traits then she realized.

“I’m sorry for earlier,” she said, pushing down the rising embarrassment.

“It’s okay kid, I know it wasn’t you,” he said. He was wrong though, it had been. Well, it had and it hadn’t. She wanted him, she knew that much now to admit it, at least to herself and the smell of him had always been intoxicating to her, but with Sabertooth’s enhanced senses and animalistic nature she hadn’t been able to stop herself from acting out the fantasy’s that played in her head. It most definitely had been her, Sabertooth’s absorption had only lowered her restraint. She felt like she owed him some explanation.

“You smell good.” It was the only thing she could think to say.

He looked down at himself, the borrowed army fatigues covered in blood, gore, and dirt from the days events and then looked back at her in disbelief, “You’re kidding right?” She shrugged in reply, she didn’t know what else to say.

He raised an eyebrow at her the shook his head. “Well next time we pass a pig sty, I’ll jump in and have a good wallow, if it’ll help.”

She smiled. She didn’t tell him that she thought even that wouldn’t be able to cover the delicious woodsy scent that was all his own, but the image of him rolling around in mud was amusing enough to break the embarrassed tension that had hung over their heads.

“Come here,” he reached an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in to his chest. At first she stiffened, but when she took in the scent of him, it wasn’t overpowering and she was able to lean in and just enjoy the feeling of being held. After a few minutes he let her go and stood, stretching. “Ready to head back kid? We’ve made camp not too far away. Found an abandoned campground near a lake, some place called Wistigo.” He reached a hand out to help her off the rock.

“Where the heck is Wistigo?” she asked, grabbing his hand and jumping down.

“No idea, but we better get a move on if we want to make it before dark,” he said, eyeing the glowing horizon.

“I could fly us,” she said, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice at the look on his face at the thought, “It would be quicker.”

“Yeah, except I value my life, and judging by the path of destruction I followed to you, I think I’d rather walk,” he said, nodding towards the woods.

Rogue looked in the direction he motioned to find a large swatch of forest knocked over in a long line, as if a bulldozer had plowed through the area. She looked at Logan and shrugged sheepishly.

“Ooops?”

Please… Logan! Oh god! Yes!

He woke up suddenly, drenched in sweat, his heart pounding in his chest so hard it felt like it might burst, woke up in the same state like when the nightmares had struck, but it wasn’t a nightmare that had him on edge this time. It was dreams of brown on white and skin as pale as moonlight. He leaned forward, putting his head in his hands and took deep breaths to calm himself.

By the time they had made it back to the camp, night had settled in and most of the other members of the group were asleep around the burning embers of campfires kept low to avoid notice. He gave a thanks for small blessings. He and Rogue had finally moved beyond the awkward embarrassment of earlier events and having people snicker and stare would only bring it all right back to the forefront.

He looked over the glowing ashes at the small figure laid out in deep slumber on the other side. God, she was his torment and damned if he wasn’t enjoying every second of it. It was fitting in a way that they had met in the lab.

The X-men had tried to understand, from what little information they had. They knew some of what had been done to him; they had seen the x-rays of his skeleton, heard his screams when the nightmares came, and saw the bits and pieces he dragged back from all over the world in the quest to find out what exactly had been done to him and by whom. But the idea of a thing and second or third person exposure to it was nothing like actually living through it. It didn’t even come close.

Rogue had lived through it, perhaps even longer then he had, and because of it he felt an ease with her that he had never felt with any of the X-men, not even Hank (though he did feel closer to the Doctor since their time in captivity), not even Jean. Perhaps it was because he knew she would understand the deepest, darkest places of himself, because he was sure she had the same places within her own soul. Places only formed by countless hours of torture and abuse that twisted parts of you into cruel shadows.

And she was a fighter, like him. He grinned slightly thinking of that blazing glare she’d get when the rage took over or the hard, settled look when her stubbornness took hold. Here was a kindred spirit, someone who didn’t hold back the punches, someone so much like himself. God he couldn’t wait to introduce her to Cyclops! He had to stifle a laugh at the thought of the fearless leader trying to order Rogue around.

And yet, beneath all the rough and tough, she had a soft streak a mile wide, especially when it came to children, he’d noticed. He had no doubt she would fit in great at Xavier’s, the kids would love her, that’s for sure, and he had a feeling, maybe he'd like it better there with her around as well. If nothing else, he’d have a kick ass drinking buddy and someone he knew he could trust. He’d have to have a talk with her and soon about what her plans were for after all this was over. Maybe he could get Hank to talk to her about the school a bit, he was good with the whole “X-men Good Guys” speech; after all, he’d gotten Logan to stay hadn’t he?

Though, when all was said and done, he knew his place at Xavier’s. He had no misconceptions. He was the one they could count on to do the hard shit that no one else was willing to bend their morals or remove the stick up their ass to do. Team member goes off the deep end and needs to be knocked down or taken out? He’s the one asked to get his hands dirty with a friend’s blood. He was the one to send in on the front line, he was the one who couldn’t be killed, but he was also expendable, in the grand scheme of the “Great Dream”. If he went down in a fight, no one would come looking, no one would think twice leaving him behind, no one would find him worth the risk, not like they would if it was Jeanie or Bobby or even that Cajun rat. He had a feeling maybe Rogue would find him worth the risk, that she wouldn’t let him be left behind, and he never realized how much that mattered until now.

The sound of growling and whimpering drifted to his ears and he looked a few fires over to see Sabertooth’s bulk twisting and turning in an obvious nightmare and hoped it was a particularly painful one. He could still see in his head, like slow motion, the big cat bending down and grabbing Rogue’s face in his hands and leaning over. He growled lowly, the claws sliding out at the memory and reigned in the urge to go and see if Creed’s regeneration abilities could overcome being disemboweled and minced into tiny pieces.

The thought that he was now a part of Marie’s psyche, swimming about in her head, didn’t help the situation either, though she had told him the Wolverine in her mind was able to help her lock Sabertooth away with the rest of the voices. He felt a sense of satisfaction that she had never locked him away in her mind, that she seemed to enjoy him being there, and even appeared to rely on him somewhat.

Sabertooth wasn’t just hanging around for the fun of it though. He wanted Rogue and it wasn’t one of his usual casual obsessions either. Creed never did anything for anyone else, ever, and yet in a small time Logan had witnessed him rescuing her from the guards and forcing her to take his healing power to save her life. He wasn’t doing those things out of the goodness of his heart and he would expect repayment for them, one way or the other, of that Logan was sure.

The only reason the man was even still standing now is because, at the end of the day, they were one day out of a destroyed lab, with a large group of half starved, scared mutants, and if the shit hit the fan before he could contact the X-men and get them out there, Sabertooth would be useful, especially with Hank being injured. If there was one thing you could trust the man for, it was the fact that he hated humans even more than he hated Wolverine and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he knew he could depend on him to do right by Marie, at least when her life was on the line, but he trusted him about as far as he could throw him. He’d have to be careful, because he had the feeling when the cavalry came to get them out of there, Creed wasn’t going to let Rogue go without a fight. The Wolverine inside couldn’t wait for that moment to finally put the hairy cat in his place, preferably six feet under for good.

A soft sigh brought Logan’s focus back on Marie. She had turned in her sleep and was now laying on her side, the lab gown she still wore so drenched in blood you could almost imagine it was a red dress, hugging her curves, the soft flicker of the fire embers casting shadows dancing along the length of her. He needed to go for a walk, a very long walk.

Standing up, he dusted the dirt off his pants and walked out into the woods, finding the young man who was standing sentry at the moment. His name was Piotr, but like most mutants, went by a different name, Colossus, and his ability to turn his skin into impenetrable metal made him number one on the list for guard duty.

“How’s it looking out there?” he asked, not liking the fact he had to look up into the lad’s face. The boy was a giant.

“Quiet as a mouse.”

“Go get some sleep then, I’ll take over watch.”

Colossus gave him a look and then nodded, walking back over to the campfires. The boy didn’t question orders, Logan liked that about him. There was no way he was going to get any more rest that night anyways and there was no point in the both of them staying up, the lad might need the extra energy sleep would provide tomorrow. He leaned back against a nearby tree and closed his eyes, letting his other senses take over to listen out for any unwanted visitors.

It had been interesting seeing the variety of mutations that arose when they had removed the lab collars from everyone, unfortunately only a handful would be useful in a fight and of those maybe only four or five were in good enough health condition to stand watch. They had set up shifts and he himself had walked out the perimeter to make sure everything was secure before heading off to find Rogue.

He had needed that time to calm himself down enough to be able to talk to her reasonably, that is, without stripping her clothes off and finding out just how far down he could make that blush of hers go. It had been making steady progress across her face and down her neck before she had flown off and those were the exact kind of thoughts he was trying to avoid now.

He reached down to adjust his pants, but that only seemed to make the situation worse. It had been too damn long and that was two times now he had Marie purring at him, drenched in the sweet, addicting smell of her arousal, a smell he could still smell on her just vaguely in her sleep, floating to him all the way from over by the campfire.

He went to adjust his pants again and this time his hand lingered, rubbing slowly thru the canvas army fatigues, enjoying the sensation. He had to do something, otherwise there was no way he was going to be able to keep control around her. The dream that had woken him came floating to his mind again. The need was painful. Fuck it, and he unzipped his pants, pulling himself out, groaning in pleasure at not being restrained anymore. He lazily let his hand slide over the length as he thought of Marie.

In his dream, they had been back on that rock out by the ravine where he had found her and he had put his arm around her to pull her close, only this time, he didn’t stand up and let her go.

This time, she looked up at him with those big doe eyes and he had leaned down and kissed her gently at first, questioning kisses, then deepening, lips pressing hard, as he crushed her body against his, a hand reaching up and tangling in that silky mass of hair, holding her face to his as he demanded more, his tongue sliding against hers, enjoying the delicious taste of her.

Her small hands had started roaming then, across his shoulders and chest like that had when she had him pinned to the ground, running down and lifting at the hem of his shirt. He released her long enough to stand up, allowing her to tear the shirt off over his head, before grabbing her face with both hands and crushing his mouth to hers, one hand leaving to trail down the back of the lab gown, finding where the two sides of it overlapped and slipping a hand between to feel the gorgeous soft flesh there. Dropping it lower till it rested right along the curve of her lower back, pulling her hard against him, knowing she could feel his arousal pressing firmly into her hip, eliciting a moan out of her and he wanted to hear more of that. Wanted to make her moan and purr and scream his name.

Her hands stopped their exploration as they reached up to tangle in his hair, pulling slightly as he trailed his way down till he was kissing and sucking softly on her neck and there was that purr he was looking for. He felt her go limp in his arms as he continued his assault on her neck, the scent of her arousal spiking, making him dizzy in his need for her. He couldn’t help himself, he needed to mark her and gently bit down on the pale flesh, the tender spot near where her neck met her shoulders and his knees almost buckled at the resulting moan that escaped her lips. He pulled back enough to quickly remove her jacket and impatiently cut off the impending lab gown, making a note at the spike in the smell of her arousal when he had brought the claws out for future pondering. He needed her naked and underneath him NOW.

She grasped at the button of his pants and he helped her to quickly remove the impending garments before lowering her gently to the ground, her legs spreading, as he lay down on top of her, the tip of his cock pressing gently at her dripping wet entrance and he made another note that he needed some face time with the gorgeous smell of her down there sometime in the near future. He wanted to lap and lick and taste every last drop of her, but right now, he just wanted her tight and surrounding and his, all his, and he could feel her fingers digging impatiently into his back, trying to pull him closer to slide inside of her, but he wanted to watch.

He wanted to see her eyes as he slowly entered her, wanted her to know who she belonged to, so he leaned down and kissed her bottom lip softly to get her attention. And when those gorgeous eyes were locked with his, he pressed in, inch by beautiful inch into the depth of her; watching every single movement, every single spasm of pleasure play out on her face as he entered her, stretching her, and then slid back out and then faster entered her again, leaning down to kiss and bite on her neck as he started to build up speed, pounding into her harder and faster, driven by the moans and the feel of her nails drawing blood down his back. He could smell when her climax was about to hit and leaned back to watch as it crashed over her, her face caught up in a look of pure ecstasy.

“Please… Logan! Oh god! Yes!”

And his hips jerked as his hand gripped tightly, spilling his desire out onto the dark forest floor, his breath caught in his chest as the pleasure crashed through him over and over. It had been way too damn long. He felt his heart beat slowly start to return to normal, the warmth that had shot thru his body giving way to the cold chill of the night. Zipping his pants up, he let his weight collapse against the tree behind him, eyes closed with the vision of Marie screaming his name still dancing across his head and he was thankful that there were no telepaths in the group because he was damn sure he had projecting very loudly through all that.

When the blood finally came back to his head, he stood up from his position against the tree and looked around it, back towards the campfire, where Rogue still lay sound asleep.

Damn.

He shook his head as he could feel his arousal returning again and dragged his gaze back towards the very safe and non-sexy forest. Sometimes that healing factor was a pain in the ass. Perhaps a good scout of the perimeter was in order, just to make sure everything was still secure and if that didn’t work, well, there was still always the disemboweling of Sabertooth to think about.

It was going to be a long few hours till morning.

Creed wasn’t a complicated man.

He did whatever he wanted, when he wanted and that was about all there was to it. Yeah, he followed around with Magneto and the Brotherhood, but that was only because he chose to and it was a mutually beneficial relationship. He got free room and board, a decent paycheck and he got to kill and maim on a regular basis. Didn’t get much better than that.

So when Magneto told him to infiltrate a Weapon X military facility in order to break out a mutant of extraordinary power, he didn’t question it, just thought, “Hey, finally a chance to get a little payback at the people who had fucked him over all those years ago.” Seemed an easy enough gig; get in, get the target, and kill as many of the lab bastards on the way out the door as possible. Simple. He liked simple. Only, there had been, complications.

He hadn’t expected to find himself cellmates with the runt and his x-geek doctor buddy, hadn’t expected Magneto to send in the witless wonder for backup, and spending over five fucking months in the place sure as hell hadn’t been on the damn agenda either. He liked to be the one dishing out the pain, not the other way around. Not that it bothered him much either way, he could take it, just as well as he could dish it out. All those five months had done was add fuel to an already roaring fire and as soon as he was out of that cell he’d gone and found every single nurse, doctor, guard who had a part in his “testing” and skinned them from head to foot.

Then, he’d gone to find the target and figured he’d might as well share his rage with her guards too. Why not? Best fun he’d had in years. Had nothing to do with seeing her being beaten half to death in front of him, or of the stench of the guy dripping all over her, driving him berserk. If he could go back and do it again he would have made it last, would have taken his time. The sound of the guard’s neck cracking and the feel of his body going limp had been satisfying in the heat of the moment, but really was quicker than the bastard deserved.

And wouldn’t you know it the damn clawed pipsqueak had to turn up, like always, and mess with his plans. An entire facility crawling with mutants needing saving and he had to fucking choose her and he could smell how bad the Wolverine wanted her, he just reeked of it, so he had to alter his tactics slightly. It was okay though, just all part of the game, and he loved himself a good fucking game.

Only problem was, he hadn’t counted on the girl becoming a player instead of a pawn. Had he known that she was going to give him this much trouble, he would have told Magneto to fuck off and get some other chump for the job. He didn’t need this sort of aggravation, he didn’t need the smell of her driving him insane to the point that he found himself doing weird things like saving her life and shit, didn’t need all these strange thoughts he'd been having, and he sure as hell didn’t need to watch her throw herself all over the fucking runt. In general, he wasn’t a complicated man, but damn if she didn’t make him complicated and he didn’t like it, not one stinking bit.

He growled low as a smell hit him; he wasn’t in the mood for company right now.

“Magneto’s getting anxious. He’s starting to wonder what’s taking you so long,” Wild Child whispered, eyes surveying the area, “I got that thing you wanted. So, what’s the play?”

He glared at the pointy eared mutant. “Play is you keep your trap shut. You talk to damn much and too damn loud.” Sabertooth looked over to see if the runt or the girl had caught wind of the conversation. Granted, he knew Wolverine was already suspicious about why he was hanging around, but lucky for them he’d been adequately distracted by Rogue, which kept him from prying too much into things he shouldn’t.

“Paranoid much Creed or is the jealousy finally starting to get to you?”

God his voice was grating. Like nails on a freaking chalkboard and always with that little lick on the end like he was going to bust out laughing any minute. One of these days he was going to shred that grin off his damn face.

“Just be fucking ready when I say so,” he growled, then stomped off to another part of the woods. To get away from the sniveling hyena, he told himself. The fact that the new position gave him a better view of the girl had nothing to do with it.

Right now she was helping re-bandage a wound on one of the rugrats, making silly faces as she did so, causing the tyke to squeal in delight, the sound like razors on his ear drums. He winced. Did she have to do that? They made enough damn racket without any extra motivation and she looked ridiculous, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her eyes.

He snorted. What the heck was wrong with him; standing on the outskirts, watching her like a sad pathetic waste of a man. Any other time he’d just waltz right in and take what he wanted. And yeah, he wanted her, who fucking wouldn’t? So why didn’t he? He frowned. Complications.

He needed to kill something.

Rogue had finally finished with the bandage and sent the kid off, but was now standing there with a weird smile on her face. He followed her line of sight to find she was staring at the Wolverine. He felt his frown deepen and watched as Logan lifted his head up and looked at her, a knowing grin on his face when he caught the girl staring at him. And Sabertooth had all the goo-goo eye’s he could handle. A deep growl rumbled through his chest as he stalked towards his prey.

He and the runt kept talking about having it out, well now was as good a fucking time as any.

“Are they always like this?”

Rogue was sitting on a log watching the two feral mutants attempting to claw each other to death a few feet away. Hank was sitting next to her, his hurt leg elevated slightly and wrapped in a splint, courtesy of two branches and a strip of cloth from the bottom of her lab gown. She had to be careful, any more bandaging and she wouldn’t have anything left to wear, she thought, absently playing with the tattered hem.

The Doctor snorted, “Usually they’re worse. I am surprised it has taken them this long to finally come to such a state.” He returned to messing with the wiring and electronics he had held in his lap. He had taken apart a few of the collars and was now improvising some sort of device, but she had no idea what it was for. He didn’t seem concerned and so she decided not to be either. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d seen the two of them come to blows. They’d have it out until they got bored or something finally distracted them enough to give up the battle. As for the rest of the group, they had backed up as quickly as possible, giving Wolverine and Sabertooth a wide berth. While the children and women looked terrified, she could see a few of the men were taking bets and wondered what the pot was up to and who the favorite was.

A small buzzing noise and then a puff of smoke had Hank muttering a long stream of profanity, in at least four different languages if she wasn’t mistaken.

Curiosity finally got the better of her. “What are you doing?” she asked, watching as he fanned away the smoke from the now blackened mess on his lap.

“I am attempting to create a simple communicator,” he growled at the contraption, “But I’m afraid I was not expecting the exceptionally advanced technology that I encountered inside the collars. The energy levels are proving to be too much and continue to sabotage my attempts at establishing a working circuit. Unless I can find some way to severely diminish the energy output from the collar’s core, I see no way in achieving my goal.”

“I might be able to help you with that.”

Rogue and Hank looked up to see one of the mutants from the lab standing in front of them. She recognized him as one of the “Wolverine groupies” as she had taken to calling them. A group of young men they had saved who had taken to following Logan around like lost puppies, hanging on his every word and who he had entrusted with various jobs around the camp. This one had apparently been charged with “Rogue duty” as she had noticed him following her around all morning. She cast a glare and growl at Logan who had just taken a wicked slash to the chest from Creed’s claws. Good, she hoped it hurt. She didn’t need a babysitter, especially not one she could toss halfway across the camp without breaking a sweat.

“The name’s Chris Bradley,” he said smiling, ignoring the frown on her face, then held his hand out palm up, “But my friends call me Bolt.” She watched as tiny currents of electricity jumped from his fingertips to form a ball in the center, he closed his fist suddenly and the glowing blue orb disappeared. “You need some energy controlled, I’m your guy.”

Seeing the opportunity to get rid of her unwanted escort she stood up and motioned for him to take her seat next to Hank, “Looks like you two got some thing’s to discuss. I’ll just leave you to it then. I could do with stretching my legs a bit.” She smiled as she saw a small hint of worry cross his face at the idea of her leaving the area. She was right, Wolverine HAD told him to keep an eye on her. The decision was already out of the kid’s hands though as Hank quickly pulled him down and started drilling him about the exact nature of his powers and what he could do.

Finally free of her tagalong, Marie walked over to get a better view of the fight because as soon as they were done with this little round about, she was gonna have a bit of her own with Logan and show him just how capable she was of taking care of herself. She found a secluded area a few feet downwind from the fight. Didn’t want her scent giving her away before she had a chance to pounce.

She hoped they would finish soon. The rage coursing through her at the indignation of being treated like a defenseless little girl was making her impatient. What was Wolverine thinking? She wasn’t weak, or frail, or helpless, far from it and with Cyber’s enhanced senses it wasn’t likely that someone would come upon her unawares. She stifled the growl rising in her throat. While her scent wouldn’t travel to them from her current spot, sound would.

If she hadn’t been so caught up in her fury she might admit that the two men fighting before her were quite a sight to behold. All muscles rippling, sweat dripping, as they danced around each other, then crashing together to exchange blows before breaking apart again. And the scent of them was enough to make any women weak in the knees. Pure masculine rage flowing down, tinged with blood and she felt the feral part inside of her start to wake up.

She leaned forward slightly, sniffing the air. She could almost taste the testosterone on it, imagine it dripping down her throat as she breathed in the heavy scent of it. The fighting drew closer to where she was standing and the scent became almost overpowering and then she heard it. It was like a mantra or a prayer, almost a hum and so soft she almost missed it. When they clashed together, when they came close grappling, claws entangled, growling and snarling. Just a single, simple word. MINE.

It was then she realized, this wasn’t just two men who hated each other’s guts having it out, it wasn’t X-men versus Brotherhood, good versus evil, and it wasn’t even Logan versus Creed. This was Wolverine versus Sabertooth, this was simply two alphas, at war, a testosterone ridden fight fest, over a female, and then it hit her, this was because of her, and damn if that thought wasn’t as freaking ridiculous as it was seductive. She became entranced watching the battle, the feral part of her suddenly very much awake. It was like nothing else existed except the pounding of flesh, the growling and screaming, the blood and the pain, the sweet scent of sweat, musk, of men. Mine.

She was so caught up in it that she didn’t even smell him coming until it was too late, until after she felt the tiny pinch of a needle piercing the skin of her neck, until she felt the burn of liquid being pushed into her system and the sound of Wild Child’s voice whispering softly in her ear, “Tag, your it sweetheart.”

The drug spread fast, leaving with it a tingling sensation all along her body and then a cold creeping and suddenly she was falling, landing on her side, staring out at the two mutants still fighting, unable to call out, unable to move, only able to stare and watch; the rest of her completely paralyzed.

She was going to kill him. He was dead. As soon as the drug wore off, which it would, she was going to throttle that fucking grin straight off his face. She wanted to scream, wanted to growl, wanted to rip, destroy, maim, but she was stuck laying there, completely helpless with that baboon leaning over her, looking so freaking damn proud of himself. She was going to castrate him. That’s what she was going to do. Castrate, then maim, then kill. In that order, as soon as the drugs wore off, which hopefully would be soon.

She wanted to close her eyes, remove him from her sight, but apparently she couldn’t even do that. They were frozen open and so she was stuck watching as he poked and prodded her with a stick to make sure the drug had worked and then, feeling brave knowing she was out of commission, coming so close she could feel his disgusting breath caressing her cheek, bits of drool dropping down from his fangs onto her face. Then his rough tongue licking a long trail from her chin to her forehead. She wanted to vomit.

Then the wind must have shifted, sending Wild Child’s growing arousal along with her own scent down to the two men, because the sound of snarling and fighting stopped and the following silence was deafening. Rogue watched as the two men turned their heads in almost perfect sync and looked straight at them. Finding her laying on the ground with Wild Child bent over sniffing at her neck. Logan’s eyes locked with hers and she tried to get the message through that she couldn’t move, that something was wrong, and dammit when was he going to get his ass in gear and come decapitate this freaking monkey off of her already.

Then Sabertooth turned suddenly, his hand flying to clench claws deep into Logan’s neck.

“Sorry runt, looks like it’s time to go,” he growled, and with a swift yank, the sound of tissue and tendon ripping. Rogue watched as Creed held the large piece of bloody flesh in his fist a moment before tossing it to the ground, saw Wolverine gasping and reaching for the throat that no longer existed because it was now laying on the dirt before his feet. And before he had even fallen to the ground, she was already being lifted up and over, onto Sabertooth’s large shoulder, the sight of Logan’s body lying in a pile of blood fading into the distance as the woods engulfed them.

Logan awoke slowly to the feel of cold metal under his body and the scent of antiseptic on the air. His hands immediately flew to his neck to check for a collar, but finding none, breathed a sigh of relief. Not back in the lab then, but where? Last he could remember he had been fighting Sabertooth and then. Wild Child, Sabertooth… Rogue! He jumped up, claws out and a dizzy spell washed over him, causing him to lean back, grasping to the cold medical table for support. The sound of a door sliding open followed by a familiar scent and he knew exactly where he was and he couldn’t say he was happy about it.

“Logan! You should still be resting! Even super healers need to recharge and judging from the state you were in when they brought you back, you could do with another few days.”

“I’ll be fine Jeanie,” he growled, tearing out an IV from his arm. He was in Westchester, back at Xavier’s, and who knew how many thousands of miles away from where he had last seen Rogue. By the time he got back to ground zero the scent would be cold, hard to follow. Dammit. He stretched his neck and his muscles felt stiff from nonuse. He got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“How long have I been out?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“You’ve been in the med lab for five days. After we got the SOS signal from Beast, we sent a rescue team out immediately to pick you up. You had sustained a bad neck wound and were unconscious when they arrived. You woke up on the flight back and went berserk. Nearly killed Jubilee trying to get her to turn the plane around. We had to sedate you.” He must have been projecting pretty loudly because she winced and then gave him a look like you give a toddler about to throw a tantrum, “It was for your own good.”

Logan felt the heat of rage start to build up in him. Five fucking days. They had kept him under five days. Five days with Sabertooth’s connections and they could be so far underground even he wouldn’t be able to sniff them out. Five days and the hope of ever finding Marie again had gone from slim to next to none. He slowly drew his claws in and out, in and out, letting the pain take a bit of the edge off, if only to keep himself from gutting Jean right then and there.

He would be calm. He would be cool. “You want to tell me WHY in the hell you found it necessary to keep me out for FIVE FUCKING DAYS?” He saw Jean’s own anger flare across her face as she scowled at him.

“BECAUSE Logan, every time we let the drugs fade from your system it was WOLVERINE who would come out! Do you know how many times I’ve had to clean up this med bay because of your damn alter ego! You’ve cost Xavier millions of dollars in equipment in those few days alone!” She crossed her arms and glared at him, then sighing brought up a hand to rub her temples, “Look, I don’t want to argue with you. Xavier has been monitoring your brain activity for the past two days. When he noticed a change this morning, we thought it might signal that your dominate presence had once again taken over, so we stopped the sedation. OBVIOUSLY you are once again back to your normal self.” She gave him a look and he could read what she wasn’t saying clear on her face. It’s your own damn fault we had to keep you under for five days. Learn some self-control.

He scowled at her and then stormed out of the med lab, slamming the door behind him. He wouldn’t gut her, how was that for self-control?

A sudden laugh made him realize he must have spoken out loud. He looked over to see the large metal turning Russian they’d saved from the lab getting up from the bench in the hallway. “What you doing here kid?” he asked, not stopping as he stormed down the hallway. He had things to do, people to see, and number one of the list was finding Chuck and asking him to do a scan for Rogue using Cerebro.

“They ask me to come when they take you out of sedation. Claws don’t hurt the metal,” he said, changing into his silver form and then back again, “But it looks like this time, you’re okay.”

Okay. He scoffed. That was debatable. He’d be okay soon as he could get out of this place and start hunting down Sabertooth. He’d be okay if his damn brain would stop playing over and over in its head the million and one things that could have happened to Marie spending the past five days with Sabertooth and Wild Child. He felt the claws itching their way out again. Okay? He wasn’t even in the same universe as okay.

He quickly made his way to the elevators, Piotr following right on his heels. They stood in silence on the ride up to the main floor. Logan was in no mood to talk and the boy must have picked up on it, thankfully remaining quiet the entire time. He knew he should ask him how he was, how he liked Xavier’s, the sort of stuff an X-men would ask, but it seemed every breath was another moment of time spent, another bit of hope gone at finding Rogue, and the very small grip he had on the Wolverine was slipping away with each second. Maybe that was why he didn’t snap at Colossus when he continued to follow him all the way to the Professor’s office. If he did go berserk, he was probably one of the few mutants in the building who could help control him and apparently had done so a few times already.

He didn’t bother knocking, just walked through the door and was surprised to find Cyclops sitting where the Professor should be. He crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. He didn’t have time for hide and go seek. “Where’s Chuck?”

“Already in Cerebro looking for your friend Rogue,” he said, “Apparently you were yelling in his head quite loudly.” Finally, something working in his favor.

“Good, let me know when he’s done. I need to pack,” he went to leave but was stopped by Cyclops hand on his arm.

“Pack? What for? You can’t honestly be thinking about leaving right now!” The shocked voice didn’t fit the situation and Logan wondered what it was he was missing, because now that he was calming a bit he could smell the tension all over the air. Something was going on.

“Look One Eye, if something’s going on just spit it out cos I don’t got the time to be playing twenty questions with you and in case you’ve forgotten I’ve spent the past six months playing lab rat. I’m a little out of the loop,” he said, shrugging Cyclops hand off his arm and continuing out the door and heading towards the teachers wing. The fearless leader could walk while he talked.

Cyclops quickly caught up next to him. “You honestly have no idea what’s going on?” he asked. Wolverine didn’t respond. He heard Scott sigh, “About three months ago, do you remember anything strange happening?”

“What do you mean strange?”

“Like, everyone at the lab geared up or people wearing hazmat suits, odd tests, anything like that? A large amount of mutants dying.”

Logan looked at him like he had grown a second head, “Sounds like a normal day at the Lab Summers. Three months ago I was doing the same thing I was doing four and five months ago. Sitting in a cell, in the middle of nowhere, waiting to see what new test they’d have for me that day. Nothing weird, least not weirder then usual. Not that I know of anyway. Granted, I was half dead most of the time I was in the place.” He stopped walking and turned to face Cyclops full on, “Why?”

“Because three months ago someone, we’re still not sure who, maybe FOH, maybe Weapon X, maybe an organization we haven’t heard of yet, released a virus. They call it the Legacy Virus, designed with one purpose, to kill mutants. And it ran fast and hard. Three months ago, the entire population of mutants went from the multi-millions, to only 198 at last count. Most of them have come here to the institute seeking refuge. The mutant race is on the brink of extinction and the government has just created the Office of National Emergency to keep tabs on those of us remaining. There’s rumors they’re creating a Sentinel task force. Logan, we’re at war and we need you here, not off on some wild goose chase for a girl.”

Logan was stunned. He cast a glance at Piotr who only nodded, his face suddenly looking way older than his years. They had both gone into the lab one of many, in a world on the brink of peace and come out to find they were now part of a dying breed, on the cusp of total annihilation. 198. Sentinel task force. Legacy Virus. He felt like he had walked into a time warp, into some strange alternate reality. This couldn’t be real could it? 198. And Rogue was one of them. Suddenly finding her seemed even more important than ever.

“That GIRL is one of those 198 mutants. If what you say is true, sounds to me like we can’t afford to lose even one. She’s with Sabertooth and Wild Child. All of them were in the lab, they won’t know what’s happened, won’t realize the danger. I’m going to get her Summers,” he said, his tone leaving no room for question. Cyclops stared at him a moment and then shook his head in defeat.

“Just make sure you bring yourself back, alive,” he said finally, then turned to leave, “I hope she’s worth the risk Logan.”

Scott must not have gotten filled in on the extent of Rogue’s powers, because if he had, he would probably be pushing Logan out the door. Was she worth the risk? Hell yeah, especially now. And even if the world hadn’t gotten flipped on its head, even if mutants still made up the majority of the population, she still would have been worth the risk. She would always be worth the risk, to him.

He slammed open the door to his room and pulled a black duffel bag out from underneath the bed. Opening it up, he checked on his emergency stash of weapons and artillery. Two hand guns, a sniper rifle, some grenades, few flash bombs, some rope, and a bunch of other odds and ends one might need for attack or defense, could never be too prepared.

“Are you really going to go after Rogue?”

He gave Colossus a look as he walked passed him to open the top drawer of his dresser, shuffling through a large array of knives and guns before moving on to the lower drawers to grab some black army fatigues and a small med kit that contained his special array of injections. Antitoxins and vaccines Hank had developed over the years as they had encountered more and more biological warfare. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced Wild Child had used some sort of paralyzing drug on Rogue. He had come across something similar to it before when fighting the Brotherhood and if was right, then he had the antidote with him, if he was wrong, well, it never hurt to be prepared, especially not with mutant killing virus’s on the loose. He absently wondered if his healing powers would make him immune.

“Yeah, I’m going after her. If the Professor can’t find her with Cerebro, then I’ll just start at ground zero and work my way out.”

198. He couldn’t get the number out of his head or the thought of Rogue. He had to get her back and get her safe. Her healing powers weren’t nearly as strong as his own, she’d be vulnerable, but if he was with her, he could always give her a boost up. He could keep her alive. He felt the claws slip in and out, in and out. Reflex to try and bring himself under control.

“Moy Droog, I will you help you find her.” He felt Colossus put a hand briefly on his shoulder. He closed the drawers to the dresser and walked back to where his bag sat on the bed.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the thought Piotr, but where I’m going, hunting down Sabertooth, it’s likely to lead to a lot of not so nice places that would make the lab look like a petting zoo,” Logan said, stuffing the clothes, the med kit, his hunting knife and a second handgun into the bag, “Ain’t no place for grown men, much less young lads, even ones with their own built in armor. Especially not in days like these when every life is so important.”

He could see Colossus getting ready to protest but they were interrupted when the door to his room slammed open and in stumbled Bolt and another kid carrying someone between them, another one of the young lads he and Rogue had saved from the lab, Northstar, and he looked like he’d been through hell. Dragging him in, they laid him down on the Logan’s bed.

He looked at the four young mutants in his room. What the fuck was going on? Crazy viruses and now this? He’d been with the X-men for years and everyone had always given him a wide berth and he didn’t mind, he enjoyed his solitude, in fact he purposefully went out of his way to make sure people knew not to bother him, especially new students or recruits. Obviously someone hadn’t given these kids the memo and now his room had turned into teen boy central and he was going to have to do something about that, later.

Right now he needed to get going. He slung the duffel over his shoulder. “I don’t know what the fuck you kids think you’re doing in my room, but when I get back we’re gonna have a nice long talk about personal space, in the Danger Room, with the claws for visual aids,” he growled as the two boys stepped in front of him, blocking his path to the door. His eyes narrowed. “I’d advise you two to get out of my way.”

“You can’t leave yet Wolverine, you got to hear us out first. Jean-Paul’s brought news!” Bolt, the one he’d put in charge of watching Rogue. He could smell the waves of guilt coming off of him still.

Colossus had given him the quick and ugly version of what had happened. Rogue had ditched the kid with Hank and come over to watch the fight, apparently in a very pissed off mood. She probably realized he’d set the boy to looking after her. He felt a pull at the side of his mouth thinking of Rogue standing there in a fury, waiting for her chance to have a go at him. Then Wild Child had come and injected her and he still didn’t understand how she couldn’t have smelt him coming a mile away, but it just proved his point that she did need someone keeping an eye out for her.

He couldn’t be angry at the boy though. If it wasn’t for his powers, Hank never would have gotten that communicator working and the X-men would never have come, just in the nick of time too. The military helicopters had apparently started coming in just as they were leaving. Never could have guessed what kind of world they were coming back to though.

He put the duffle bag down and crossed his arms over his chest. “You got five minutes, make with the talking.”

“Well you see, after Sabertooth took Rogue and we saw you were out of commission and the X-men had just arrived and were loading everyone up on that kick ass jet, me and the guys, we all owe you and Rogue our lives and we sure as hell weren’t about to leave her all alone out there with him and Wild Child. So Cypher here, he got this idea.”

Cypher looked slightly embarrassed at having the attention turned on him, but continued on with the story, “Well, it wasn’t really an amazing idea or anything. Just, me and Northstar shared Sentry duty together and he had been showing off a bit so that’s why it came to me. I mean, we needed someone to keep an eye on Rogue and where they were taking her and there weren’t any teleporters around so super speed’s pretty much the next best thing. I mean he’s almost invisible when he runs.”

They were taking twenty years to get the story out and the clock was clicking, for Rogue, for all of them really, and Logan’s patience had just run out. “Get to the damn punch line already!” he growled.

“I… When I… Really fast.. and then...” Nothing but gibberish coming out in halted words from the bed and Logan walked over and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Just calm down and spit it out already.”

Heading his advice, he watched as Northstar took deep breath after deep breath, before looking at him, eyes wide, “I know where Rogue is.”

Logan felt his heart clench in his chest. His eyes narrowed, “Could you show me on a map?” The boy nodded. He felt the darkness that had hung over him ever since he had woken up in the med bay suddenly lift and a feral grin formed across his face. This boy knew were Rogue was and could lead him to her.

“Kid, I could fucking kiss you right now!”

The others laughed and the boy made a face. “I’d really prefer if you didn’t.”

Logan smirked, the wheels in his head turning as a plan started to develop. Now that he had an exact location on Rogue it would make things a lot easier. Assuming she was still there. She WOULD still be there. She had to be. He’d need the boys help, he realized. He didn’t like the thought of putting them in danger, especially now, but they had proved themselves to be resourceful and they obviously cared for Rogue. He motioned for them to follow him.

He didn’t have much time. Cyclops wouldn’t like him borrowing his baby, but the man would get over it. Making their way to the lower sublevels, he stopped at a large door, entering in a passcode. If Bolt had been that impressed with the small X-Jet that had come to pick them up, he couldn’t wait for him to get an eye of this. There was a collective gasp behind him as the doors opened to reveal a large hanger. And there she was, sitting pristine in all her glory in the center of the room. Glistening black along long luscious curves. Recently updated with Shi’ar technology, she was sex on wheels with wings.

He walked up and gently caressed his hand along her side. “Gentleman, meet the Blackbird.”

He turned and looked at the gawking boys still standing in the doorway, “Well, who’s up for a joy ride?”

“You sure that’s what he said?”

“Yes, New York City, there’s a warehouse,” Wild Child said, a coughing fit overtaking him.

Sabertooth looked the mutant over, he looked terrible and he didn’t trust him, but couldn’t smell a lie on him either. Granted, it was hard to smell anything over the foul odor that had started about two days ago, one that screamed of sickness, of disease, of death. Smelled like an awful way to die and Creed smiled at the thought. Wasn’t any less then the grinning fool deserved after that stunt he pulled. A growled erupted from his chest at the memory.

Wild Child looked over at him knowingly. “You still can’t honestly be mad at me?”

“It was my call, my game, you were to wait for my signal. It was too damn risky!” And you don’t fucking touch my girl! He didn’t say the thought out loud, but it was there, screaming out in his mind.

“Well you were taking too fucking long to get the job done. Magneto wanted it handled. I just forced your hand,” he sniveled, “Besides, it all worked out in the end” He watched as Wild Child’s gaze drifted over to the small form lying on the far hotel bed. She’d finally fallen asleep about an hour ago, exhaustion winning out over her desire to remain awake for whatever might befall her. Four days with next to no sleep was a lot for anyone, even with healing abilities, and hers were being taxed pretty badly by having to continuously fight the paralytic drug they had to inject her with on a regular basis.

He snorted and moved to lay down on the bed next to the girl, leaning against the headboard, arms across his chest. The scent of interest on the grinning hyena hadn’t left since he had first smelled it while fighting the Wolverine when all the shit had gone down and he’d taken to making sure he never kept her out of his sight, preferably within arm’s reach.

They spent the first two days running, back tracking, running some more. Never stopping, sometimes there were some definite perks to being feral and a healer. He knew they had about two hours tops for Wolverine’s throat to rebuild itself and then he had no doubt in his mind the runt would hunt them down with everything he had, because if the roles had been reversed, that’s exactly what he’d do.

On the third day he finally allowed them to come up for air and Wild Child was able to learn through the grape vine that the X-men had arrived soon after their departure and taken the mutants, Wolverine included, away to Xavier’s. They had stayed in an abandoned barn that night, and tonight he finally gave in to the hyena’s persistent whining and allowed them to check into a motel room. He had to admit, having a shower for the first time in months that didn’t involve a guard, collar shock therapy, and a large fire hose was worth any risk they might have at getting found, but tomorrow they would meet up with Magneto and then it would be too late. Not much better protection from an enraged super healing adamantium enhanced mutant then someone who could manipulate metal like it was child’s play. Soon they’d be home free.

He looked over at Wild Child who was still ogling the girl. He growled, “Why don’t you turn your eyes before I claw them out of your fucking head!”

Startled out of whatever twisted daydream he’d been having, the grinning mutant simply snorted, “Wouldn’t get too attached if I were you,” and then collapsed onto the second bed in the room.

Creed frowned at that and looked down at the girl lying next to him. Maybe the mutt had a point, he didn’t know why Magneto wanted her, but he knew enough that it wasn’t just to give the whole “Join the cause” speech. The whole endeavor had been too risky, too much on the line, helmet head wanted something from this girl and he had no doubt he’d take it from her, willing or no. And what would he do if it came to that?

Sabertooth didn’t have loyalties beyond the paycheck. If he decided it was what he wanted, he’d have no problem screwing Magneto over and getting the hell out of dodge. He didn’t have a speck of metal in his entire body and he knew the Brotherhood organization threw and threw. They didn’t scare him, but he knew he sure as hell scared them. He was an uncontrollable loose cannon, it had its perks. No, double crossing the boss wasn’t what gave him pause about the whole situation, in fact he imagined doing so might be some great sport.

What bothered him was why the fuck he would want to save the girl to begin with?

Sabertooth didn’t fucking care about anything but himself. If it was just about the damn way she smelled, about the lusting and that he wanted to fuck her ragged, and he did, badly, he’d have done it by now and been done and over it. The fact that he had thoughts running about in his head about her tied in with words like MINE and MATE just didn’t fucking compute and the fact that they were coming from the darkest, most animal parts of him just added to the confusion.

He spent the rest of the night watching her sleep, trying to figure out what the hell was going on inside himself and when he smelled her start to wake up, he rolled her over onto her back and looked down into those eyes as if they might contain all the answers to the questions he was asking himself. They didn’t. They just looked at him, big and brown and staring, nothing behind them except maybe his own questions staring back at him. What was he doing? Why hadn’t he gutted her or raped her yet? What was his game plan? Where the fuck was Wolverine?

“Good luck answering those questions darling, cos I’m asking myself the same damn things,” he growled, leaning in closer, drinking in the smell of her. A slight twitch in her cheek caught his attention. Dammit. The drugs seemed to be wearing off quicker, as if her body was building up sort of built in immunity to them with each dose. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a needle, pausing for a moment, before plunging it into her neck.

Then standing up, he walked over and picked up the mattress Wild Child was snoring and drooling all over, grabbing it firmly and flipping it over hard onto the floor, satisfied by the loud string of curse words now coming out from underneath it.

“What the fuck you do that for?” Creed made a note that the rash had now gone from just his neck, all across the mutts chest and over onto his arm. Wouldn’t be long.

“Time to get moving, go get a car.” Wild Child eyed him angrily, but obeyed, slamming the door as he left.

A two hour drive found them pulling down a long road into a large empty parking lot.

“This is it?” He lifted an eyebrow. The building was a huge warehouse near the docks. He looked out across the dark blue water to find the Statue of Liberty staring down at them, “Seems a bit exposed.”

“I don’t question, I just do as I’m told. Get the girl, unless you want me to bring her in. Been awhile since I got to touch her after all, but the tastes still fresh on my tongue.” Wild Child waggled his eyebrows.

“Best get your ass inside unless you got a death wish,” he growled, two steps away from shredding into him piece by fucking piece.

Creed watched as Wild Child just shrugged and made his way into the abandoned building. He frowned, something didn’t smell right about this, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe it was just the girl. She was making him fucking soft and paranoid. He looked at her laying on the car seat, eyes just staring and watching, like they had been the past four days.

He hated this. It was weak, pathetic keeping her drugged up. She was as fierce a fighter as he’d ever come across and the whole situation felt like he was cheating somehow and the animal in him didn’t like it. He could just imagine what she’d do to Wild Child once the drugs wore of and he was almost tempted to not give her the next injection. And if he was honest, he missed the sound of her voice, even the yelling, especially the yelling. Ever since she came back to her senses in the lab and could talk again she hadn't shut up. Four days of nothing but silence was driving him a bit mad.

Damn fucking complications again. He shook his head and picked her up, carrying her inside the warehouse and finding a spot to lay her down on, using his jacket as a pillow for her head.

“Just going to do a quick look around, make sure everything’s secure,” he shouted out, hearing Wild Child’s grunt of acknowledgement from the other side of the building. He looked down and could see the widening of Rogue’s eyes, the fear clear as day on her face. The smell of it reaching his nose and making his head hurt.

He kneeled down, looking into those big eyes. What did she fucking want from him?! He frowned. Maybe he could help a little, maybe let her know the odds weren’t stacked against her. That it was still a fair fight and she didn’t have anything to fear, least of all from the long eared mutt. Anything to get her to quit with the big eyes and the smells that made him want to kill something. He grabbed her face in his hands making sure she was paying attention to what he was about to say, it was important, he’d never done anything like this before, NEVER, and he wasn’t likely to ever do it again.

“Look,” he growled, “I promise you won’t get hurt. Stop smelling so damn worried.” He saw a spark of doubt, and then confusion, and then anger in her eyes. He could read it so clear across her expression, it was like she was screaming it at him. I don’t need your damn pity or help! God she was stubborn! Serve her fucking right if he did let Wild Child have his freaking way with her. He knew he’d never let that happen though, for completely personal reasons all his own. Sabertooth didn’t share.

He stood up and glared down at her. Paralyzed and completely helpless and she still didn’t want to admit she needed help, needed looking after, especially from the likes of him. He had to admit, he admired it about here, even if it was stupid and going to get her killed one of these days. He admired the rage in her, the animal in her, and the dark parts in her that drew him like a moth to the flame. She was as good an advisory as the Wolverine had ever been, and deserved better than this, a prisoner, caged in her own body. Sabertooth knew all about cages and he hated them. He scowled.

He turned and made his way outside, not liking some of the thoughts and questions going on in his head. He needed to get away from her, he’d been around her too damn long and it was making issues. He was getting as bad as the Wolverine, a fucking promise. He shook his head. What was he thinking? She was nothing but a target, that’s all. Making a track around the building, he found nothing but the scent of animals. Apparently it had been abandoned for quite some time.

Enjoying the fresh air, air not reeking of death or the girl, he found a large crate and sat on top of it. Thinking. Something he needed to stop making a habit of and quick. Thinking of Wild Child and the strange smells coming off him, of all the too many convenient accidents that’d been happening because of him, showing up in the lab, the break out, injecting the girl and forcing his hand, even the damn X-men showing up and taking off with Wolverine stunk of some sort of higher plot, some larger end game, and it just reeked of Magneto. The fact he hadn’t been included in it gave him more worry then the fact of its actual existence. He’d need to be careful tonight.

A sudden wind flew past him and he frowned. He thought he had smelled something on it, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Damn, maybe he was getting paranoid, but all the signs said he had a good fucking reason for it. One more perimeter check and then he’d feel more secure. He wasn’t sure why Magneto wanted Rogue, but he’d promised her she wouldn’t come to any harm and he might be nothing but an animal, but he was an animal who kept his damn promises.

She didn’t understand him. Not at all. He was an enigma or something. A walking contradiction of everything she knew. Rogue wasn’t naive, nor easily won over. In fact, despite the ease she seemed to have with people, deep down inside it was extremely hard for her to trust anyone. She made the mistake of trusting the wrong sort of people once and spent the past sixteen years of her life locked up in a lab playing guinea pig to the Weapon X project as a result. You didn’t forget something like that overnight.

So she trusted Sabertooth about as much as she could throw him, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had made a promise that she wouldn’t get hurt. At first, she had just waited for the punch line, the witty add-on that would turn the statement into a twisted cruel joke. But when he had just kept staring at her, she realized he was dead serious and if that hadn’t just blown every single preconceived notion she had of Creed straight out of the water.

And she didn’t know what to do with that. It made no sense unless she just looked so extremely pathetic and weak laying there unable to move that he just felt bad for her and that just made her angry. Yes, she was in a bad way, but she sure as hell didn’t want or need his pity. Eventually the drugs would wear off. She could already tell they weren’t working as well, eventually her body would build up an immunity and when that happened, she’d show them how weak and pathetic she was.

She knew it wouldn’t take long for Wild Child to make his way over towards her once Sabertooth left. You never would have guessed, but being forced to do nothing but lay there and watch actually made you pretty observant and she had been observing a LOT the past few days and she had seen the looks on the long eared mutants face, he was plotting something, something Sabertooth didn’t know about.

So when he made his way over to her stinking of explosive and gunpowder, she wasn’t surprised. And when he knelt down with that arrogant grin on his face she knew whatever was happening, was going to start soon. She wished she could growl or yell or do anything except just lay and stare at him leering down at her. Wanted to rip that mangy smile from his face.

“Fun’s about to start precious.” He ran a sharp nail along the side of her face, pressing just hard enough for a thin line of blood to show up. “Hope you didn’t get too attached to your little bodyguard, he isn’t going to be around to protect you for much longer. And Magneto’s promised me that once he’s threw with you, I get leftovers.”

She wanted to laugh in his face. If he couldn’t smell the death on himself, whatever nasty, disgusting thing that was eating away at him, he was dumber then she thought. All he had to do was look in a mirror and see that revolting rash that was covering almost half his body now. He would be lucky to last the night.

A loud laugh sounded behind her and for once she was actually glad it was Sabertooth. The smell of Wild Child so close made her want to vomit. He’d fix that shortly, she had no doubt.

“Wouldn’t count on it mutt,” he sniffed the air dramatically, “I give you a few hours tops and what’s this? Someone’s been a bad little hyena, didn’t your parents ever tell you it’s not nice to play with explosives or with girls who don’t fucking belong to you?” Even though she couldn’t see his face, Rogue could hear it in his voice and smell it on his scent. Sabertooth was extremely, severely pissed off and that meant someone was going to die. Someone being Wild Child and she couldn’t wait!

“That so Mr. Tall Big and Hairy.”

Rogue didn’t like the air of confidence in his voice, like he knew something they didn’t. She had a bad feeling in her stomach and then she smelled them. The sound of a struggle followed by the metallic click of a collar, she watched as Wild Child lifted his hand and pressed a small circular button, the buzz of electricity and the sound of burning fleshing and Sabertooth gritting against the pain so close behind her she could feel the heat of it on her back.

“Not talking so tough now are you RUNT.”

“Just…wait…till…Magneto…gets here,” Sabertooth growled and she could hear the electricity intensify.

Wild Child laughed, that grating, irritating laugh that made her want to rip his head off or her own. He spread his arms wide, like the grin on his face, “That’s the beauty of it all! Only way I could lie to you without setting off that nose detector was to lace it all nice and pretty in the truth. He won’t be here till tomorrow and by then, well, you’ll be gone and I’ll be the one who delivers the girl. I’ll be Magneto’s right hand man! And when he’s done using her, I’ll get the girl and make her scream and scream and scream until she begs me for death. I’ll do what you would have done, if you hadn’t lost your nerve. Why do you think Magneto sent me in the first place? To keep an eye on you. He never trusted you, not once. And this mission was too important to him to put all his eggs in one basket. Granted, I think even he’d be surprised at how tame you’ve become all because this stupid slip of a girl.”

She felt his foot connect hard with her stomach, knocking her back far enough that she crashed into Sabertooth, the electric current passing from him and flowing into her, like tiny knives cutting inside her and stars danced in front of her eyes and she could feel every painful bit of it, but was unable to do anything, not even scream.

The current suddenly turned off and then she was being flung hard against a stack of crates, falling in a heap on the ground and from her new position she watched Wild Child grinning manically as he turned the current back on, Sabertooth’s body twisting in on itself from the pain. Toad and Pyro, the two who had surprised and collared him, watching on in amusement.

“Come on Sabertooth, SCREAM for me.”

The current went even higher and she could swear she heard a loud whistling noise, as it ran through Creed’s body and suddenly there was a trail of blood running down his face where he had bit his tongue or his lip, she couldn’t tell, to keep himself from crying out. And the current still was going higher, she could hear the whistling turn into a hum, and god wouldn’t he stop already! She could literally see the smoke coming off of Creed’s skin, smell the stench of his body cooking from the inside out and part of her wanted to yell at him to scream already and end this, while another told her if the roles were reversed, she would die first before she uttered a sound.

Finally the current stopped and Sabertooth slumped to the floor, unmoving. She was going to kill the little bastard, for what he’d done to her, for what he just did to Sabertooth, for everything. He wasn’t going to have time to die from whatever fucking disease was eating away at him because she was going to kill him, hang, draw, and quarter him and burn it all to ash.

She saw how people looked at Sabertooth, had even done it herself, like he was a monster, but he wasn’t the monster. He was just an animal, like a mountain lion or a bear. He acted on pure emotion and instinct. He enjoyed the blood lust yes, and he liked pain, even enjoyed the kill, but deep down, he wasn’t evil. He was just running at a baser level then everyone else and he had been in the labs, just like her, just like Wolverine. Each of them had a darkness running through them, a part twisted, corrupted from the torture, from the tests. So Sabertooth’s darkness ran a bit blacker then her’s or Logans, at least she could understand it, especially after having absorbed him and seeing first hand how intense his hyper senses were. She was amazed he could even function normally when such sensory overload had nearly driven her mad.

Wild Child, HE was evil, pure and simple. He was a monster; a pathetic, coward of a monster and she would be the end of him, she would see to it. That was her promise.

“Chain him up.”

She watched as Pyro and Toad dragged the hefty body towards the center of the warehouse were large shackles where chained into the floor. They had been planning this, from the looks of things, for awhile. It looked like there were a second set of shackles set into the floor. Apparently they were expecting another guest and she had a good idea who that was.

So when she picked up the scent on the wind, she wasn’t surprised and even though she had hoped he wouldn’t come, wanted to yell out at him to turn around, that it was all a trap, she couldn’t stop the sudden pounding in her heart, or the warmth rising through her at the sight of him as he busted through one of the warehouse windows. Coming to land in a crouch nearly right in front of her. The sound of his claws popping one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. He had actually come. He had been looking for her. He cared and that meant more to her then she ever realized.

He must have been surveying the area and seen what had happened, because she watched as his eyes instantly fell on Creed’s still unmoving body chained to the floor and a deep growl rumbled out of his chest. She knew he didn’t like Sabertooth, that they had history and were constantly trying to kill each other, but deep down, she had a feeling at the end of the day, they both had a deep respect for each other, maybe even care, in their own twisted way and she knew he would be just as disgusted by Wild Cat’s torture as she was.

Turning around slightly he looked down at her and their eyes locked instantly and it was like there was nothing else in the world. She could see the worry and the relief run across his face as he turned his gaze to Wild Child, taking a step back, obviously startled by the extreme change in the mutants appearance and she knew he could smell death on him as well as she could. He gave another nervous glance down at her, looking her over head to foot and then, seemingly satisfied, took a step forward, crouching down.

“Well Gibney, what crawled on your face and died? Must say, it’s quite an improvement,” he growled.

Wild Child eyes narrowed, “Wolverine, I’m afraid you’re a bit late to join the party.”

She watched as Toad and Pyro started making their way towards them, but where stopped when a large silver flash came busting through the side door, knocking them both hard enough to send them crashing through a pile of crates. It was Piotr, one of the kids from the lab.

Logan smirked, “Looks to me like the parties just getting started.”

A burst of fire suddenly surrounded them and Logan dropped to his knees, covering her body with his own. His arms wrapped tight around her and she wanted to drown herself in the delicious scent of him, but all she could do was watch. Just as she started to smell the burning of his flesh, the flame suddenly stopped as Colossus moved in-between them and Pyro’s blast, shielding them, unaffected in his metal form, the flames bouncing off his large back as he looked down at the two of them, a grin on his face. He was having fun! Logan gave her a quick once over and then picked her up, practically throwing her into the Russians arms.

“Get her to the Blackbird NOW! If I’m not out in five minutes, leave without me.” And she watched as he moved out from behind Piotr’s large form, and ran straight towards the source of the fire, claws slashing and the scent of blood and screams filled the air.

Then she was moving, the feel of wind crashing across her face as Colossus ran them outside and towards the jet. They had almost reached the large open bay doors, when she heard Wild Child’s giggling voice carrying along the air loudly, followed by the sound of a machine starting up and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. What new trickery did he have up his sleeve now? She needed the drug to wear off, she needed to be in there helping him, she needed to not be a pathetic waste of super powered mutant flesh right now.

She couldn’t even motion or make a noise or move, to try and warn Colossus of what she had heard as he carried her into the Blackbird, gently setting her down on a seat and suddenly she found herself surrounded by a group of teenage boys. She couldn’t believe it. Logan had brought his groupies with him! She would have laughed if she had been able or if the situation wasn’t so serious.

“Rogue! Are you okay?” It was her appointed guardian Bolt and she could smell the wave of relief at seeing her alive and the guilt. She’d have to talk to him later, let him know none of this was his fault. When she was able to talk again.

“She’s still paralyzed, where is Logan’s med kit?”

A blur flew by her and then back again. Northstar. “Here you go Petey.”

The Russian opened the box and started looking through the vials until finding the one he was looking for, pressed it into an injector with a scary looking needle and then looked at her apologetically, “This may hurt.” With that, he jabbed it into her throat, the burn so intense she almost passed out. It didn’t take long before she could feel a tingling sensation flowing over her, pins and needles like when your foot fell asleep, only it was through her whole body. She tried moving her hand and felt her lips rise up in a smile as a few fingers moved barely. The boys shouted up a cheer. Within a few minutes, she was up and pacing the floor and Wolverine wasn’t back yet. His five minutes were well passed up.

“Rogue, Logan said..”

“I know damn well what Logan said,” she yelled, relishing in the feeling of being able to talk and move and scream. She looked out the front window of the jet at the warehouse sitting there in front of them. The sounds of murder and mayhem that she had barely been able to hear before were now gone. The silence deafening.

The silence inside the jet was just as bad. She growled.

“We’re not leaving him!” She stomped over to the control panel looking at all the buttons, cycling through Wolverine’s memories in her mind, but it had been so long since she touched him, they were faded. “Cypher there should be a way you can get a scan of the building using this thing, find out what’s going on in there. Think you can figure it out?” Now that the paralytic drug was finally out of her system, she could feel the healing power working on the rest of her, a rush of energy coursing through her. She was ready for some revenge.

“Quicker than you can blink. She watched as he said something in a funny language and the entire panel came to life, a projection appearing above it in an exact replica of the warehouse. She could see two green dots flickering in the center of the warehouse, two yellow dots outside and a green dot moving along the perimeter. Another screen suddenly popped up, showing video from inside the building. There must have been old security cameras in the place, the plane’s computer system was able to tap into. She saw Sabertooth and Logan both kneeling chained to the floor. And while she was relieved to see Sabertooth was no longer collapsed on the ground, the glint of silver around Logan’s neck stood out like a beacon. They had somehow collared him too. She heard Cypher gasp next to her as suddenly red dots appeared all over the warehouse, blinking ominously.

“What’s all the red dots?” Bolt asked from behind her shoulder. She didn’t need the kid to tell her. She remembered the scent all over Wild Child.

“Bombs,” she said, glaring at them on the screen. Enough to level the entire place with Logan and Creed vulnerable chained inside. They’d never survive.

“Any idea when they might blow?” she asked, her voice flat as she stared into the red pulsating lights. They were pounding, like the feeling of her heart pounding in her chest, her thoughts pounding in her head.

Cypher talking in the weird language again, almost as if he was actually talking to the plane. He shook his head. “Could be seconds, could be minutes.”

She was running out of time for ideas and fast. Running. That was it!

She turned to Jean-Paul. “Northstar, sorry about this sugar, but I need a borrow.” He nodded his understanding as she ran a finger along his cheek, stopping when he grew unsteady, “You all stay inside this plane ya hear me!” She glared at them like she had seen Logan do before at the camp, hoping they would get the point that this was an order and nonnegotiable. She could see the stubbornness flare in all their eyes, but they nodded mutely. God, they were even acting like Wolverine. She could only hope they’d listen, she had to be gone. And with that she ran out of the holding bay and taking a sniff of the wind, made her way around to the back of the warehouse in blink of an eye.

Wild Child didn’t even notice her until it was too late from the vantage point he had chosen to apparently watch his plan unfold. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her speed or whatever was causing the rash, the death coursing through his system, making his senses dulled, but it didn’t matter. She needed to know where the key for the collars was and they were out of time. Plus, she had a promise to keep. Reaching a bare hand down, she gently touched the rash ridden face, and drew in every last ounce of him, leaving just a husk on the ground. She felt a grin pull across her face. Who was smiling now?

Focusing her attention back inwards, her eyes grew wide, as the extent of Wild Child’s plan coursed through her mind. When she had gotten it all, she battled him easily into the box with the others, his weakened state in life had carried over to his psyche in her head. There wasn’t enough time.

The key to the collars was miles always, bombs were about to detonate in seconds, the entire place would be demolished, and worst of all, Weapon X would be here any second. A contingency plan in case somehow the two healers happened to survive it all.

Her speed could get her in, but there wasn’t enough maneuvering room for flying inside the warehouse, not while lugging two hefty mutants. Was there time to run in and out twice? Could she carry both of them at once? The only saving grace was that while the chains he had used to bind the two mutants to the floor was made of adamantium, the floor they were attached to was concrete. It’d be like pulling rope outta water.

A million choices and only a second to make them all in. There was only one way. She ran inside the building, quickly grabbing Logan in one arm and Creed in the other, ripping their chains from the floor in the process. “Wish I could stay and chit chat boys, but ya’ll got a one way Fastball Special outta here." Gathering all her strength, she flung the two as hard as she could, right as the bombs started exploding around them, as the warehouse collapsed down on top of her.

Logan didn’t know if she had planned it or not, but when Rogue tossed him and Creed out of the warehouse, she flung them straight through the wall that lined up with a large, grassy field, the muddy ground cushioning what could have otherwise been a very nasty fall.

He stood up on shaky knees just in time to see the entire building fall down in a giant inferno with Marie still inside and felt his heart drop in his chest. Before the fire and smoke had time to clear he was already running into the wreckage. Pushing through piles of broken crates and wallboard still aflame, his adrenaline pumping so high he could no longer feel the pain radiating through the metal on his skeleton caused by the magnetic machine Wild Child had used to immobilize him enough to get the collar on. He was going to kill the bastard, soon as he found Rogue and made sure she was okay.

He sniffed the wind trying to pick up a scent, but all he could get was the overwhelming smell of explosive and burning debris. “ROGUE!!!” Making his way towards what he estimated to be where they had been chained to the floor he started tossing away pieces of wood still on fire, hot pieces of steel framework burning his hands as he lifted, trying to get underneath. The explosion had been so massive it had almost burned itself out instantly, but small patches here and there still remained, enough that the heat was still able to singe the hair on his arms and face.

“Logan, over here!” He had been so intent on getting beneath the wreckage that he barely noticed Creed had joined him in the search and was now standing a few feet away, holding a large piece of the roof up on his shoulders. She was lying underneath.

God she’s not moving. He ran and dove to her side. He could hear the jagged breath and grinding teeth of Sabertooth struggling to keep the heavy piece of metal from dropping back down on them. Logan was amazed he had the strength to lift it at all after what Wild Child had done to him. Picking Rogue up gently, he quickly climbed out from underneath, wincing at the loud boom that followed as Creed let it fall back to the ground, and carried her out of the wreckage.

He half collapsed to the ground as soon as they were safely out of the rubble and looked down. Her body was covered head to foot with burns and scrapes, the left arm broken in two places, white bone shining out amongst muscle and tendon, the right shoulder too high up, dislocated and her left leg was nothing but a large, black burn wound. A sudden spasm of muscles nearly had her falling out of his grip, but he held on and watched as her eyes fluttered open, a moan of pain hissing from her lips and he felt a giant weight lift off his chest. She was alive.

She coughed, groaning as the motion pulled at her wounds and then a small grin pulling at her lips as she looked up at him. “Hi,” her voice weak and raspy.

He stared at her shocked. She gets blown up in a warehouse, is lying there barely hanging onto life, and she says “Hi”? Unbelievable! “What the fuck were you thinking Marie?” he said gruffly, barely able to keep his voice in check, cradling her broken body in his arms. He wanted to yell at her, shake her, scold her; hold her as tightly to himself as he possibly could till her heartbeat drowned out his own, just to know that she was still there with him, that she hadn’t left him alone.

He could smell the pain on her, the burned flesh, the blood pooling into her bodies cavities. Bad internal bleeding. But he could also see her body slowly starting to repair herself. Her healing factor was working and it was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

“Wasn’t doing much thinking at the time sugar. Just seemed like the only thing to do,” she coughed again, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Touch me, take my power.” She stopped his demands with a gentle touch of a bare finger to his lips.

“Won’t work, collar keeps me from being able to absorb it from you. Didn’t even know, been in a collar over half my life so I guess it wasn’t like I had a chance to do my own tests on it though, but Wild Child did. He was a lot smarter then we realized, the bastard,” she laughed softly, grimacing, “Had it all planned out, every single possible end, including this one.”

“When I get my hands on him.” He was cut off by her pained laugh.

“Already taken care of,” she said, breathing in deeply, “Feels like I can’t catch my breath.” Her eyes closed as she frowned, forehead wrinkled, “Cyber’s healing ability and now Wild Child’s and my healing powers still fucking suck!”

Now it was his turn to frown. As much as he was glad Gibney was dead, he didn’t like that Marie had to take him all the way into herself in order to do it. “How’s your head?” he asked, knowing she’d know what he meant.

She opened her eyes slowly, taking another deep breath and looked up at him, the half-smile forming on her lips again, “Just fine. He didn’t put up a fight. Was too weak. Whatever he had, wasn’t just killing his body, his mind was half gone. Wasn’t much left to pull over really.”

Logan felt a cold wave flow through the pit of his stomach. Though he had yet to see it himself, he had no doubt Wild Child had been infected with the Legacy Virus. He once again looked over Rogue’s body, but didn’t see any sign of the dark rash. Once they got back to Xavier’s he’d have Hank test her for the virus, test them all in fact, just to be safe. She grimaced as a wave of pain washed over her. It was time to go.

He picked her up gingerly, glaring at Creed who had been standing nearby watching them, daring him to try and stop him as he started to make his way to the Blackbird. As he went to pass by him though, Rogue’s hand shot out, clasping loosely onto Sabertooth’s arm, her eyes locking on his.

“Wild Child’s dead. So is Pyro. Toads still got a pulse if you hurry, but you can probably hear that. Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, they knew,” she paused closing her eyes and squinting as if trying to read something in her mind, “Magneto didn’t know, but he had..ideas. There’s something bigger, bigger then Wild Child and this.” She frowned, “His mind was so messed up. Hard to see much of anything, but there’s corners filled with questions he didn’t have answers to.” She let her hand fall from Creed, her body going limp in his arms, “All I got for you sugar, sorry it ain’t more.”

Sabertooth just looked at her for a moment, then nodded, and they watched him walk off thru the rubble to find where Wild Child had dragged Toad and Pyro before the explosion.

“Didn’t have to do that kid,” he growled, continuing their journey towards the Blackbird. She smiled softly at him and he wasn’t sure what to make of the look on her face.

“I know, but I figure, I’m going to be out of commission for awhile and since I don’t think you plan on leaving my side, one of us should be out there trying to figure out what’s going on in all this. There’s something BIG going on. I don’t like it,” she shuttered as another wave of pain passed, then looked up at him and he saw that stubborn fire he so loved burning thru her eyes, “And if you DID plan on leaving my side, well, we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet and I can still kick your ass.”

Logan snorted and couldn’t stop a low laugh from coming out. Just like Rogue to be cracking jokes on her deathbed. He knew she could smell the blood just as well as he could and while the wounds on the outside were closing up, the bleeding inside hadn’t slowed yet. Her healing factor was taking too long. He could fix it though, if he could just get back to Hank and get this damn collar off. She’d be able to touch him then and everything would be okay.

“Bozhe Moy!”

He looked up to see Colossus standing before him staring at Rogue’s battered body in his arms, worry clear on his face.

“She’s healing, but slowly,” Logan said gruffly, handing her over carefully into the large metal arms, “Get her strapped down in the med unit in the back of the plane.” He had smelled Sabertooth’s return and turned to face the man now standing behind him, growling low, “This’ll just take a second.”

Colossus nodded, casting a glare at Sabertooth over Wolverine’s shoulder, before making his way quickly onto the Blackbird.

“Runt.”

Logan didn’t give him a chance to say anything else, taking one step to close the distance and swinging a fist, knocking Creed across the face so hard it dropped him to the ground. The claws slowly slid out.

“I guess I deserved that.” Sabertooth stood up, rubbing his jaw, smirking, but didn’t make a move to hit him back and Logan sighed, the claws going back in. He wanted to gut the bastard, but watching Wild Child torture him with the collar had taken some of the edge off, and he had found Marie in the wreckage, he owed him for that. This could wait.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, Rogue was right, he wasn’t going to leave her side, and he didn’t like all the questions either, which meant they needed Sabertooth’s help and for once, their goals were in the same alignment. Wild Child and his accomplices had tried to kill him and he knew Creed well enough to know he wouldn’t rest until he had his answers and his revenge, though maybe not in that order.

“You get any answers?” he asked, looking at the fresh blood now coating Sabertooth’s clothes. Apparently he had found Toad before he died after all.

“Not many,” he growled, eyes black with fury, “Enough to go get the key to this fucking collar and then, there’s some people I got to see.”

Logan nodded. “The rash on Wild Child, I’m pretty sure it’s a virus, they call it Legacy Virus, guess it was released while we were in the lab. Kills mutants.” And that was about all the help he was willing to give this temporary truce.

Creed grunted, “Could have told you that from its smell,” then turned, looking towards the Blackbird. “Keep an eye on her. She’s more stubborn then you and I put together.”

Logan's eyes narrowed and now it was his turn to grunt, “Why the fuck do you care?”

Sabertooth’s eyebrow shot up in amusement. “No damn fucking idea, but you figure it out, you tell me.” And with that he stalked off, heading towards the road.

Logan resisted the urge to chase after him and finish what they started all those days ago back at the camp. Marie was HIS and he didn’t fucking share. But the thought of her reminded him that they had to get out of there like ten minutes ago and so with a growl he turned and ran inside the Blackbird and made his way back to the med unit. One of the lads was with her.

“How’s she doing?” he asked, still smelling way to much blood on her for comfort.

“Stable, but barely,” Bolt said, the concern on his voice telling Logan more than the actual words.

“We need to get her to Hank, NOW!” he shouted towards the front of the plane.

“Already on it,” Cypher shouted back, and Wolverine stumbled as the plane lurched into the air.

What in reality was only a few minutes seemed to take hours. He had called ahead to let them know of Rogue’s condition and of the risk of exposure to the Legacy Virus, which meant they were greeted by hazmat suits and bleach baths, followed by quarantine, tests, and while Logan understood the necessity, it had been hard to let Hank take Rogue away without following him, in fact, it had taken Colossus holding him down for half an hour while he caged the Wolverine back in. Sometimes he wondered how the heck the mansion ever survived in one piece without the large Russian around to reel him in when he lost it. Granted he couldn’t recall losing it this much before, not before Marie.

As soon as Jean had cleared him as negative for Legacy, he’d gotten the collar removed and made his way straight towards the quarantine unit Rogue was still being held in. He was stopped at the door by Hank and he didn’t like the look on his face.

“Hank, whatever’s wrong we’re wasting time. Let me in, I can touch her, she’ll be good as new in no time.”

A furry blue hand stopped him again, “My friend, I’m afraid, it is not that simple.” Logan glared at the Doctor, feeling the claws start to slide out. Seeing them, Hank took a step back but didn’t move out of the way between himself and the door. He sighed and the smell of worry and sadness hanging off him was about to drive the Wolverine berserk.

“Her blood tests came back positive. She’s been infected.”

Logan felt as if someone had just struck him through the chest. It couldn’t be. It had to be a mistake. “None of the rest of us were infected though. No one from the lab has been.”

“Except Wild Child. Yes, you and I and the others from the lab, we all seem to display some sort of immunity to the virus and under normal conditions I doubt Rogue would have contracted it either, but I believe when she absorbed Wild Child, during the energy transfer, Rogue took some of the Legacy Virus into herself.”

He frowned and felt the Wolverine raging under the surface, wishing he could bring the mutant back from the dead, just so he could kill him again, slowly.

“Well, then let me in. I was around the fucking bastard, had his hands all over me when he was collaring me and I didn’t catch it. Maybe I’m immune, maybe my healing will cure her of it,” he went to shove Hank out of the way, but the Doctor was quick and grabbed his arm, throwing him against the wall.

“I’ve already told you it’s not that simple! During the transfer something happened. The virus in her body is mutating and not only that, but it has caused her skin to become hyperactive, she cannot control it. I’m not sure what it all means, but we don’t know what you touching her would do to the virus, would do to her, or to you. A simple touch could kill you instantly or infect you. It is an unacceptable risk! We have gotten her stable and her healing abilities don’t seem to be affected by the virus, her body is still repairing, though slowly. Until we know more about what is happening and its effects, you cannot touch her Logan.”

He heard the loud steps of Colossus heading down the hallway. Hank must have called out to Chuck for backup.

“Look Hank, just let me see her. I just need to see her. Let me talk to her,” he ground out, forcing himself not to release the claws.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Hank, please!” And the Doctor’s eyebrows shot up. Yes, the big bad Wolverine was begging here. He watched as the big furry eyebrows came together in thought and then finally relaxed in defeat.

“Okay, but only for a moment and you must stay outside of the airlock! If you are not back out here in five minutes I will send in Colossus after you,” he looked sternly at him.

Logan grinned and ran a finger over his chest, “Cross my heart Doc.”

Beast sighed and finally stepped out of the way. Logan was thru the door in a heartbeat, noting the sound of it sealing shut behind him. He was inside a small hallway and quickly walked through the second door, stepping in to find a large medical lab and at the far end, a clear wall with a large airlock door on it. The quarantine unit. The beep, beep, beep of a heart monitor pounded in his head and for a moment he thought he might turn and run out of the room as memories of the Weapon X testing washed over him. But then he saw her and he ran straight up to the clear barrier.

Marie was asleep, laid on her side on a medical bed, IV’s running into her arms and electrodes all over monitoring her vitals. She looked pale, but her skin was almost completely healed and there was no sign of the black rash. Maybe everything would be okay, maybe her healing power would be enough to fight the virus, Hank had said it was mutating, but a deep breath in told him all he needed to know. She smelled liked death.

A small spike on her heart monitor blipped, and he watched as her nose twitched. Then her eyes slowly opened, the dark eyes quickly focusing on him and her chest rose as she inhaled deeply.

“You smell good,” she mumbled, a small smile forming on her face.

He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh, cry, or kill something.

“You’ve smelled better kid,” he grumbled. She laughed softly, turning so she was laying on her back, taking another deep breath in.

“Well, I guess serves me right for touching stinky mutants,” she closed her eyes, “Don’t know where they’ve been.”

He watched as she lay there, taking in large deep breaths in and recalled what she had said before about it being hard to breath.

“Chest still bothering you?” he asked, one foot taking a step back in case he needed to run and get Hank for help.

She shook her head slowly, “No,” then turned to look at him again, “You’re right, I do stink. You smell better, just enjoying it while I can.”

He growled. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like the look in her eyes like maybe she was preparing herself for the end. Didn’t like the soft goodbye smiles or the careful banter. She was a fighter. This, her laying there, pale and cold and so lifeless, this wasn’t her.

“So, how are the groupies?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow in question. “The boys from the lab who follow you around and cling to your every word.”

He frowned at her, but the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile, “Lads are fine. Worried about you and annoying the heck out of me. Won’t stay out of my damn room! You need to hurry up and get better so you can keep me from gutting them.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach all the way to her eyes. She winced slightly and her heart monitor blipped out of pattern for a moment before resuming its steady beat. He felt like every nerve was on edge.

“Okay kid?”

“Comes and goes,” she said, sighing, “Not dead yet.”

And that was about all he could take of this.

“Hank says I can’t touch you.” He knew he sounded like a five year old throwing a tantrum. He didn't care.

Her eyebrows narrowed. “He’s right. It’s too dangerous Logan.” He could see the flare light up in her eyes, the first real sign of life she had shown since he had entered the room. It was beautiful.

“Marie, I’m going to touch you.”

Her watched as her eyes got big. That’s right darling, I used my nonnegotiable voice.

“Logan, you can’t,” she started, but he made the mistake of arguing against her stubbornness once before. He wasn’t about to make that mistake twice.

“Just try and stop me,” he growled, and with that, the claws shot out and he cut through the airlock on the door, walked in and, grabbing Rogues face with his hands, brought his lips crushing down against hers.

He felt the pull of her power instantly and for once in his life, found himself praying, praying this worked, that his healing power would be enough, and if his life was the price for her being healthy and alive, well then it was one he was damn willing to pay.

The metallic clink of the collar disengaging was music to Creed’s ears.

He groaned as he felt his healing powers immediately kick back in, rushing his body with an almost painful intensity and sending a fresh and greatly appreciated wave of energy thru him. He felt the feral grin pull over his face. Sabertooth was back in business.

It had taken him all night to reach the hidden safe house where Wild Child had stashed the collar key, along with a large supply of weaponry, cash, and a beat up truck. He took it all, payment on account, he figured the mutt owed him. Besides, wasn’t like a dead man was going to be needing any of it.

The slow rolling of the dark pavement spread out before him on the empty road was soothing. It had been too long since he’d been able to feel completely in control of everything and the fact that the truck was entirely absent of the girls scent was a much needed and welcome relief, though it didn’t stop thoughts of her from entering his mind and tormenting him.

She had saved his life.

And it was driving him mad. He didn’t understand it and definitely didn’t like the feeling that now he owed her for it. She could have easily just saved the runt and left him there, he wouldn’t have even blamed her for it, maybe would have even preferred it. It wasn’t like he was a good guy, he probably deserved death ten times over for some of the shit he’d done and he’d seen the way she looked at the Wolverine when she thought no one was looking, like he was God’s gift. He growled at the memory. And he sure as hell didn’t like the feeling he was indebted to her.

So why HAD she saved him?

Did she feel like she owed him because he had made that promise to her? Another of many lapses in sanity he’d apparently been having since she crossed his path. Not that’d he’d kept that promise. The smell of her blood and burned fleshed still hung in his nose. He frowned and then there had been the sharing of information; half dead, in extreme pain, and with many reasons to not give a rat’s ass and still she had stopped him, told him everything she had pulled from Wild Child’s memory, handed him the beginnings of revenge on a silver platter. Why? Wolverine and his mini-truce was just the icing on the cake of a fucking surreal day.

His head was starting to hurt trying to make sense of it all so he decided to give up and concentrate on the job at hand. He’d been able to make Toad squeal and gotten the location of the safe house and where the Brotherhood had set up base for the recent escapade, small town of Chatsworth, not too far away. He’d be there in under an hour. The blood lust started seeping in and the anger at what they had done, at the betrayal, took over any lingering thoughts on the girl.

It wasn’t that he blamed them for the double crossing. Oh no, he wasn’t above such manners himself and probably would have done the same if he was in their shoes. In fact, he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t have killed Wild Child and taken the girl for himself before all hell had broken loose inside the warehouse. The thoughts had definitely been there. Course, just because he didn’t blame them didn’t mean they weren’t going to find out just what the consequences were of trying to pull one over on him. His hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel as he thought of all the delicious ways he was going to make them regret trying to take him out. They obviously did not know who they were fucking with.

He grinned as the dirt road turn off to his destination appeared. Stashing the car in the woods, he grabbed a duffel full of necessities and hiked the rest of the way in, a small cabin in the middle of nowhere and not a damn sentry in sight. Typical. They were fools to try and take him out, if it wasn’t for him, nothing would get done, ever. Idiots, the lot of them, except for Magneto, but he’d deal with him soon enough.

Making his way closer, he sniffed the wind. Avalanche and Blob. The girl had been right, but also, Mystique. His eyes narrowed, now what in the hell was she doing so far away home? The sound of a TV and arguing carried out to his ears. Baseball. They were arguing about fucking baseball. Apparently there was little doubt that Wild Child would succeed in his endeavor to kill Creed. The insult of that did not escape him and Sabertooth felt his claws clench into his fists, the blood dripping down onto the ground as the beast deep within took over and damn it felt good.

He took to setting up a few small charges around the outside of the cabin. It was always nice to make a good entrance. Standing in the front yard, he held the trigger in his hand. It was play time! He squeezed, causing chaos to descend and watched as the three mutants stumbled out of the wreckage of the house to find him standing there. Black eyes raging in anger, muscles tense, claws already gleaming with his own blood. Their eyes grew large at the realization that Wild Child’s plan had failed. Mystique was the first to come to her senses.

“What is the meaning of this Creed!” Her yellow eyes glared at him, but he saw the flicker of uncertainty in them. She wasn’t sure how to play the cards. Didn’t matter anyhow. Her just being there had already signed her death certificate.

“I don’t know darling, you tell me?” he growled. Avalanche was quicker on the uptake and his fist quickly descended on the ground, sending seismic waves crashing towards him. Large chunks of rock shot up as the land broke apart and crumbled under the force. Creed leapt from one to another, his agility easily carrying him over the path of destruction till he landed in front of the mutants once again.

“Now is that any way to welcome back a TEAMMATE,” he smirked, “I only came here to talk after all.”

“Talk to this!” A large fist crashed against him, sending him flying through the air. He landed on his feet, claws digging in the ground to stop his movement backwards. The Blob standing before him. He caught a flash of blue flying past the corner of his eye. Mystique was running away, she always had a decent survival instinct. He’d get her later, he did love a good chase. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry.

“You know Dukes, never thought you could get any fatter, but I swear you’ve gained a hundred pounds in the time I’ve been away. Good to know the Brotherhood’s keeping you well fed,” he taunted, enjoying the red flush of anger risking into the Blob’s cheeks.

“I’m gonna flatten you Creed and then we’ll see what you got to say then!”

Sabertooth dogged another fist, dancing around the large mutant. The Blob was faster than most people gave him credit for, too bad he had peanuts for brains. He needed to get closer. Running in quick Creed gave a few slashes to the large stomach, before sliding just out of arm’s reaching, in perfect position.

“Your claws won’t work Creed. Wild Child was right. They must have knocked a few screws loose in that lab if you’re forgetting my skins invulnerable!” the Blob laughed, causing his large mass to jiggle and roll in waves. Sabertooth just grinned, then with a quick leap, landed on top of the giant man’s shoulders, crouching down and grabbing the massive head in his hands. Leaning forward he whispered gently, “Maybe big boy, but what about your bones?” And using his strength, twisted in a sharp jerk, relishing in the loud crack of each vertebrate breaking as the neck snapped. Jumping off as the large body fell forward and slammed into the floor causing the ground to vibrate. Sabertooth turned to look at Avalanche, enjoying the sudden stench of fear that engulfed him. He stalked towards his prey.

“Now then, about that talk.”

The next morning he was back on the road, covered head to foot in blood, the taste of it on his tongue and ears still ringing with the glorious sound of screaming. The new information he’d gained from the “interrogation” was rolling around in his mind. He was heading for New Orleans.

He had an appointment with a Cajun.

She wanted to wipe the smug grin from off his face.

Glaring at him she growled, arms across her chest from where she stood, leaning against the wall of the quarantine unit.

He was unphased and the smirk on his face just got bigger, “You can’t still be angry with me. It worked.”

She heard a snort from the other side of the clear barrier and turned her glare over to the big blue mutant leaning over a microscope. “How could you let him come in here to see me Hank? You knew he’d do this!”

Hank leaned back sighing. He was probably tired of hearing her and Logan bickering back and forth, but she was in a fury and didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

“Logan had promised me he wouldn’t touch you. ‘Cross my heart, Doc.’ I believe were his exact words,” he narrowed his eyes at Wolverine a moment before returning them to her, “I assure you I originally had no intentions of letting him enter, but he surprised me by begging very openly. I admit I was shocked and perhaps a bit too soft hearted.”

“The big, bad Wolverine actually begged?” she asked, turning back to look at Logan, both unbelieving and taunting.

The smile on his face drooped for just a moment before returning, “Got me in didn’t it?”

She frowned at him. “Logan, you could have died! I could have killed you!”

“I didn’t. You didn’t. So why are we still arguing about this kid?” he said gruffly. He was laying on the medical bed, hands behind his head, legs crossed over one another. A man without a care in the world. Quite a feat for someone who could very well have a mutant killing virus making its way through his system right now. She sighed.

Why was she still arguing this with him? It was like beating her head against the wall trying to get him to understand anything. How hard was it to get thru that thick adamantium plated skull of his that she couldn’t live with herself if she killed him and it was about as simple as that.

Maybe direct and to the point would work. She stomped to the middle of the room pointing a finger at him. “Don’t EVER fucking touch me again,” she growled. His eyebrow shot up. That’s right sugar, I used MY nonnegotiable voice.

She watched as he stood up slowly and walked to stand right in front of her, so close she could feel the heat of him radiating on her skin, arms crossed over his chest, the smirk now replaced with a frown, muscles tense. The Wolverine was barely contained. He hated being told what to do almost as much as she did. “Let’s get one thing clear Rogue. I do whatever I want when I fucking want and if I want to fucking touch you, I’m going to touch you.” His voice dropped at the end and a fury was burning in his eyes.

Her breath caught in her chest. She couldn’t help herself, the growl in his voice was like liquid fire flowing thru her and without meaning to she found herself leaning into him. His chest rumbled suddenly in amusement. “Sure you don’t want me to touch you?” And if that statement wasn’t just dripping with all sorts of promises. Looking up she saw the smirk had returned on his face. Damn him. And now the Wolverine in her head was all “Mine, Mine, Mine” and that wasn’t helping her mood any.

She growled and pushed him hard enough to send him crashing into the wall. He stood up, looking at her a moment before cracking his neck and walked over to resume his position on the medical bed. “If your hurt and I can fix you, I’m going to do it. Just the way it is kid.” And it was as simple as that to him.

A loud “Hmmmm” diverted her attention back to Hank who was looking thoughtfully at a petri dish. She watched as he scratched his head a moment and then grabbed for the hot cup of coffee sat on the desk next to him, sipping it gingerly as he contemplated whatever was on his mind.

“So what’s the verdict?” Logan’s voice loud from behind her shoulder, causing her to jump. She shot a glare at him, but he just smiled. It was unnerving that he was able to sneak up on her like that. She must be more distracted by events then she realized.

“I am afraid, while she is obviously notably improved, the Legacy Virus is still within Rogue, though it has appeared the addition of your healing ability has somehow stopped and even reversed the virus’s mutation. It is presenting only as its normal, original strain. It is very…peculiar.”

Rogue didn’t know much of anything about science or medicine, but she knew enough about people to tell from the tone of Hank’s voice that this wasn’t something that should be happening or should even be possible.

“What about Logan?” she asked. The only important question in her mind.

Hank glared at Logan a moment, obviously still put out by the stunt he pulled. “It seems that his foolish gallantry has provided perhaps some benefit, as indicated by your much improved condition and he has luckily escaped from being infected himself. Though there are traces of something, I am unable to define what at this time, forming in his cells. It could be that the virus is just taking longer to assimilate in his body due to his extensive healing capabilities. For the time being, he’ll need to remain quarantined and I would like to perform some more tests.”

She heard Logan grumble behind her. Tests. Something neither of them enjoyed.

Hank spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening running them both through all sorts of machines and taking enough blood between the two of them to fully stock a small blood bank. He was lucky to survive the entire process with only a few claw marks and a black eye. Sometimes it was hard to stop reflexes that had become so deeply engrained from time spent in a lab.

When he finished, Hank had an extra cot brought in, after Logan adamantly declared that he didn’t need his own room, and enough food to feed a small army, though neither of them touched it. The tension of the entire situation had her stomach so tied up in knots just the sight of the meal had made her nauseous. The good doctor had also made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that no one, except himself, was to visit the patients. He probably feared one of Wolverine’s groupies might try to break him out. Hank definitely wasn’t one to be fooled twice, though to look at Logan sprawled out happily on his cot, you’d have guessed he was enjoying this confinement.

The soft sound of his breathing a few feet away normally would have been a comfort, but tonight it just seemed to set every nerve on edge. She growled and turned so she was facing the wall. Since Hanks announcement they hadn’t said a word to each other. The silence was grating, but she wasn’t about to break it. She was still too angry at him for risking his life, especially when she had just tried so damn hard to save it.

She had known nothing in her life but pain, hate, and deceit, had never had anything remotely close to what one would call a friend and she knew what she and Logan shared ran much deeper than that. He was the one person who had proven time and time again that she could trust him, depend on him. If she was fiercely protective of that, of him, could anyone blame her?

She owed him so much really. It had been his touch that had healed her body from the damage the lab had caused, allowing her to regain control not only of her skin, but also of her mind. For that alone she could sacrifice herself a thousand times and never feel like she’d properly paid him back.

Then, he had come after her, not just once, but twice; when the breakout had happened at the lab and when Sabertooth and Wild Child had kidnapped her and the comfort of knowing he was there, that he cared enough to risk his freedom and his life for her, there were no words for what that meant to her. Add that to the emotions he brought up inside of her, feelings she had never felt before, could hardly begin to properly define; desire, want, need, love? And one emotion she could define; fear.

She sighed, rolling over to stare up at the dark ceiling annoyed. It was easier to stay angry, to stay mad. She could rely on that to protect her. These other emotions, she was unused to them, but it was the fear that caused her the most distress. She was afraid for herself, for him, of losing him, of what losing him might do to her. She had somehow become so insanely dependent on him, without even meaning to. It was like suddenly her small world that she had held so tightly and fiercely protective to her chest for as long as she could remember had somehow expanded, just slightly, to allow him into it. For once in her life, she was no longer alone.

“Logan.” The whisper seemed to echo loudly off the walls of the quite room. She didn’t want to say it, to be the first to break the silence, to let go of that anger, but she knew she had to, it was the least he deserved, for everything. She drew in a breath, a breath that was allowed, that came to her without any pain or hardship, thanks to the mutant laying a few feet away from her and the next words seemed hardly adequate, but they were all she had. “Thank you.”

A moment of quiet. “Anytime kid.”

And just like that the tension released out of her body and finally sleep was able to descend, pulling her under into dreams.

“No, it’s too risky.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Marie, trying to look as intimidating as possible, but she only stared up at him in amusement. There was nothing funny about this. His eyes slid down from her face and his frown deepened. There was especially nothing funny about the black rash that had appeared on her neck overnight.

Hank was sitting across from her in a white hazmat suit preparing a syringe with an extremely long and thick needle. He winced as the sight of it brought back memories better left forgotten. The Doctor had stumbled in at about 3am waking them both up declaring he had made a significant discovery.

Apparently he had spent all night running Logan’s blood through various tests, attempting to figure out what exactly the new enzyme showing up in his system was. Half asleep and barely functioning, but unwilling to give up his search for answers, Hank had accidently mixed one of Rogue’s blood samples with Logan’s, not realizing until he looked under the microscope to find a startling surprise.

The enzymes from Logan’s blood were attaching to and destroying the virus. Granted, in the process they were also destroying any healthy cells remotely close to the infected cells as well, but now that Hank knew the purpose of the strange anomaly that had appeared in Logan’s system, he could set to finding a way to make it work, a way for it to destroy the virus without the healthy cells as well, a way to find a cure.

And so it was that he eventually found a way to cross engineer the enzyme, the result being in the tiny blue vial sitting on the table. There were risks, a lot of them, he didn’t have enough blood samples to run many tests and even then running results through a machine or viewing results in a microscope were hardly accurate depictions of what would happen once it was let loose inside Rogue’s body. Given her own mutation, how it had already mutated the virus once, and the healing ability she possessed, there were many variables, too many variables in Logan’s opinion.

“I’ve been a test subject nearly all my life sugar. No point in risking anyone else’s life to try this possible cure of Hanks,” she said, laying her arm down on the table, “Especially when there’s an infected healer all ready and willing to be the guinea pig.”

“Goddammit Rogue!” His fist slammed down on the table as the anger took over, “Why do you always got to be the fucking hero?”

Her eye’s narrowed at him and he could see her own anger flare up across her face. “You think I want this? That I ever wanted any of this? Ever since my mutation hit my life has been one struggle to the next and I just deal with each one as it comes as best I can. You think I would have chosen any of this for myself? I don’t want to be the fucking hero! I just want to be normal, I want to live a life that doesn’t involve getting poked and prodded and treated like I’m nothing more than a damn experiment.” She sighed, drawing in a deep breath, trying to calm herself, then locked her eyes with his, her face determined yet serious, “Logan, I’m dying. There are thousands of other mutants out there dying. Maybe this will work and maybe it won’t, but the way I see it, I don’t really have any other choice.”

Logan growled, “You’re not going to fucking die. I won’t let that happen.” He wanted to protest more, but the black rash screaming out in stark contrast against Marie’s pale skin kept him silent. He couldn’t admit how badly it had shaken him to wake up and find it there. She was right, if a cure wasn’t found. He didn’t want to think about that. There were no other options.

He sighed, and pulled up a chair to sit down next to her, clasping her free hand in his own, skin against skin, and pressed a kiss lightly to her knuckles. “If anything goes wrong, anything at all, if you start feeling weird or hurting,” he squeezed her hand tightly and looked at her intently making sure she understood there was no room for argument, “You take my power, you take my healing. We both know yours is shit and I got plenty to go around.”

She laughed lightly and though he could see the argument rising up behind her eyes, she didn’t say anything, just nodded her head softly, which told him just how scared she was behind the bravado she was displaying.

“Well, what do you say we get this show on the road boys,” she said, looking over at Hank.

After swabbing the skin with alcohol, Logan watched as Beast pressed the wicked tip of the needle against the soft skin at Rogue’s elbow and then paused, “Rogue, we, there is still time to perhaps run most tests.” Logan felt her grip on his hand tighten. If he had been anyone else he was sure the bones would have snapped like twigs.

“No Hank, there’s not,” she said, a half smile forming on her face, “Maybe you can’t smell it thru all that gear, but trust me, time’s not a luxury we got much of.” She was right, the death smell was slowly creeping its way back in and suddenly Logan wanted to grab the needle and slam it into her arm, willing to risk anything to destroy the virus that was trying to take her away from him.

The Doctor nodded and Rogue gasped as the large needle was thrust deeply into the vein and then hissed slightly in pain as he slowly injected the blue liquid. Once the vial was empty, Hank quickly removed the needle and covered the tiny puncture wound with a bandaid. It was over and now all there was left to do was wait and see what happened.

“I’ll take a blood sample in about fifteen minutes and then every thirty minutes after that.”

The three of them sat in silence. Logan kept his eyes on Marie’s face and his nose on her scent, looking for any sign of distress. Ten minutes passed and he could feel her grip on his hand start to relax.

“Am I supposed to be feeling anything?” she asked, looking curiously at Hank. Then suddenly her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body started convulsing for a moment before collapsing. Logan grabbed her before she could hit the floor, cradling her gently to him as a wave of fear washed over him. He couldn’t hear her heartbeat. Apparently the Doctor had noticed this as well.

“Put her on the bed, quick!” Hank instructed, already pulling out the crash cart they had brought into the quarantine unit just in case.

Logan carried her over and barely had her laid down before he was pushed out of the way. The Doctor quickly tore open Rogue’s shirt, placing gel on the two paddles before pressing them against her bare chest. A large jolt made her body jump slightly. Logan felt frozen, every part of him focused intently on the sound (or lack of) emitting from Marie’s chest. He saw Hank frown, adjust some knobs, and press the paddles down again. A larger jolt and then a blip, blip turning into a thump, thump and Logan felt the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding shoot out of his chest. Now it was his turn to push Hank out of the way as he leaned over and gently placed his hands on either side of Marie’s face.

“Come on kid, open up those beautiful eyes,” he whispered.

She came too with a startled gasp, eyes suddenly wide open as she took in a deep breath. Slowly he watched as her gaze came to focus on him.

“Logan,” she said, her voice sounding distant, then clearer, “Did it work?”

He let out a deep sigh as the sudden adrenaline rush left his body and then smiled down at her, one hand gliding down to touch lightly at her neck. Her perfectly pale porcelain neck. The rash was gone and so was the smell.

“Yeah Marie, I think it did.” The smile that broke across her face was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

A blood test confirmed what Logan’s nose had already detected. The virus was gone, completely eradicated. The cure worked.

“There’s nothing like the smell of death first thing in the morning.”

Creed took in a deep breath of the New Orlean’s air, then looked down at the body laying before his feet. He wasn’t sure who the boy was, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was he had the stench of the Thieves Guild all over him and the quickest way to get the rats out of the wood work, was to agitate them enough to attack.

“Nothing personal,” he said, smiling down at the vacant eyes staring up at him. A mutilated thief left in the middle of Bourbon Street was essentially declaring war on the Guild and the quickest way Sabertooth was going to reach his goal. Tossing an Ace of Spades on top of the body, he turned and left to go find a place to relax while the message was passed down the grape vine. They’d know who it was meant for and he had no doubt the man would find him before the night was out.

He was sitting in a small back alley bar drinking whiskey when the stench of expensive cologne made its way over and sat down next to him.

“Took you long enough. Was beginning to think maybe I was losing my touch,” he growled, downing the last of the glass.

“Sabertooth, should have known it was you,” the red eyes glared at him, “No one else coo-yôn enough to rile de Guild up like that.” The sound of a trench coat swishing as he sat down and the glow of a cigarette being lit, “So how we playing this homme?”

“I got questions, I hear you got answers. You answer them, maybe I only take a chunk out of your stinkin’ cajun hide, you don’t answer them,” Creed drew his claws along the top of the bar, carving large strips into the wood, a feral grin spreading across his face, “Well, then I get to have some fun.”

There was amusement in the thief’s eyes, “Well, it’s a nice speech, but I wasn’t really talking to you.”

The presence Sabertooth had already picked out earlier made a step closer and he swung around in his bar stool, reaching out a large fist to slam straight into his would be assailant, knocking him through the far wall, the body slumped onto a pile of rubble. Enjoying the sound of chaos and screams as the people in the bar started to flee, he turned back around, a smug smile on his face, “Thing about you and your thieves guild buddies. You all stink to high heaven. Now where were we?”

A charged card flew and exploded, sending him flying in the air and crashing down thru a table in the center of the room. He growled, standing up and cracking his neck before crouching low, smiling. “Oh yeah, the fun part!” With that he lunged barely missing the thief as he jumped out of the way. He forgot how quick Gambit could be when he wanted to. He dodged another flying charged card, tumbling to the side and landing on his feet as the explosion shot debris everywhere.

“Got me once with that damn card trick, won’t happen again,” he growled, following Gambit’s movements as he moved around the room, “Hope you got some other tricks up your sleeves otherwise this is about to get real boring.”

“Don’t worry none. I got plenty you haven’t seen yet.” Creed heard the electric spark he now recognized as an item being charged and easily dodged the blow of the glowing staff, turned and felt his fist connect, sending the cajun crashing through tables and chairs.

“Had enough yet or I need to pound on you some more,” he smirked, watching as Gambit stood up on shaky legs.

“Enough? Why we just getting started!” A spray of cards flung out, a few hitting their target knocking Creed back, the smell of his own burned flesh filling his nostrils. This Remy LeBeau was turning into an annoyance he wasn’t in the mood to play with anymore.

Picking up a table from the room, he launched it at the thief. When Gambit dodged out of the way, he was already in the spot waiting, and, grabbing the cajun around the throat, slammed him to the ground, wrenching the staff from his fingers and tossing it to the side.

“Alright I ain’t got time for this shit street rat, so here’s the deal. You tell me what game you’re running for Magneto, what he wants with the girl, and who else is involved and maybe, I won’t tear out your heart and feed it you.” He let his claws sink in slightly to the soft flesh on the neck, enjoying the smell of pain on the mutant. No fear yet, but that could be easily corrected.

A smile fell over Gambit’s face, “Ah, so you be angry the Brotherhood tried to take you out. Well, I tell you I had none to do with that. Backstabbing’s a messy business and an expensive business. Perhaps, the money high enough, I might know some things you be interested in hearing.”

Creed had to give it to him, the boy had balls. Unfortunately, he was singing his song to the wrong mutant. He squeezed tighter, the scent of blood filling the air. “Little bit more and that artery in your neck will start spewing all over the floor making a lovely mess as your life fades out before your eyes. Best not try to move at all really, might accidently slip. What’s your life worth to you?” And there it was, that delicious rank scent of fear slowly coming to the surface.

The red eyes glared up at him. “Maybe you let me up and we can talk.”

Sabertooth released his grip and walked back over to the now half demolished bar, reaching over to grab an unbroken bottle of bourbon from the other side and pouring out two glasses.

“Ain’t got all day cajun. Fucking sit and get to talking, unless you want to tumble again and this time, I won’t be so nice,” he growled, eyeing Remy as he bent to pick up his staff.

The thief walked over, one hand gingerly going to his neck to feel the deep puncture wounds there, and sat down, tossing back the bourbon before looking at Creed, “So, what you want to know?”

“Everything,” Creed said, then adding, “The short version.”

Gambit nodded, wincing as the motion caused the wounds in his neck to ache. “Well, short version is, Magneto, he’s got a plan in the works for a machine, machine to turn normal humans into mutants and he needs the girl for it. From what I know, don’t think she likely to live being stuck in it either. He knew she was in the labs, but they’re a million out there, like finding a needle in a haystack of needles. He needed a bit of help narrowing it down. That’s where my particular services came into play. The Brotherhood may have connections, but even they only go so deep. Mine, they go all the way down the rabbit hole” he said, smiling as he lit up a cigarette.

Creed stared at Gambit, reading between the lines at what the thief wasn’t saying, which was just as important as what he was. He had ties that let him gain access to Weapon X locations. He stored this little bit of information away for now. One revenge plot at a time. Apparently the Thieves Guild was a lot more connected now than it used to be if it was getting into places even Magneto’s consorts couldn’t reach.

“So I found her, wasn’t hard, but there were complications, I imagine you met them, Beast and Wolverine.”

Sabertooth felt the growl rumbling in his chest, so Magneto had known the runt was locked up in there before he sent him in. Given recent events he’d had his suspicions. That bit of information that would have been helpful going in.

Gambit looked at him curiously then realization dawned on his face, “He didn’t tell you that before he sent you in? Tis very strange, no? That’s why he sent you in the first place of course. Not many who can deal with the Wolverine.” The thief paused a moment as if thinking over things in his head, then continued, “Then Magneto started getting paranoid, I think maybe he was hearing whispers of Legacy before any of us somehow and so he sent in Wild Child after you and he sent me to Xavier’s to keep tabs on the X-men and keep them from finding the lab before he was able to get you out. When Legacy did hit everything went crazy and when it finally died down enough to finally stage a break out, well, Magneto had already heard rumors that you might have been compromised. So when Wild Child started sending out word and getting his plot together, no one seemed to be too surprised. But like I say, I stay out of that messy business.”

Remy hesitated, as if he was thinking again, and then blew out a smoke ring, watching as it hovered in the air, “I stayed with the X-men, made friends, pretended to help them find the lab, when really I was helping them find every lab except the one they were looking for and filtering out info to Magneto keeping him five steps ahead. Was easy really, too easy. Legacy helped a bit, couldn’t have asked for a better diversion, but even so, a place housing two of the world’s most powerful telepaths you’d think it’d have been more challenging. I have some suspicions, but nothing I can say for certain yet. He hid those tracks well.”

“And what are your suspicions?” Creed asked, getting a bad feeling in his gut.

“Well, maybe dey X-men in on it all too. Just one, a few, maybe all of them; enough to turn a blind eye and let me lead them around in circles. They saved a lot of mutants in the process, could have been a consolation of sorts. Maybe they figure Wolverine and Beast were strong enough to survive the lab, or were expendable, if it meant letting Magneto get the girl. Lots of mutants died cos of Legacy, lots of them still out there dying. Way I see it, maybe the X-men can see some sense in getting a few of those numbers back and maybe Magneto’s machine isn’t looking so bad right now.”

They were the same suspicions Sabertooth was having and his instincts never lied. Rogue was with the X-men now, which meant it was only a matter of time before the shit hit the fan.

“You think you could get back into Xaviers?” Sabertooth was slowly starting to piece together the puzzles and if what he was seeing was correct it wasn’t turning out to be a pretty picture. He’d need someone on the inside to feed him information and keep an eye out while he went digging, he just had one more stop to make. Then he’d get back to New York and get the girl the hell of there.

He saw understanding cross Gambit’s face and then a smile, “I don’t know, I hear Magneto’s put a heavy reward out for your hide after Mystique told him about what you did to Avalanche and the Blob. I’m wondering, I do this for you, what’s in it for me?”

He should have known that’s how the cajun was going to play this. Well, luckily Creed’s finances had significantly improved after his little raid on Wild Child’s bunker. “Whatever he’s offering, I’ll double it.”

Gambit smiled, putting a hand out. “Den I think we can reach an accord.”

Sabertooth snorted glaring down at the hand and instead grabbing Gambit’s coat roughly, lifting him in the air, eyes narrowed, “The girl’s name is Rogue and you even think about touching her, its game over. She ain’t yours! Your job is to watch, not touch. Got it?”

“Oh ya, mon amie, I understand plenty.” Creed didn’t like the calculating look going on behind the red eyes, but he’d deal with that later.

Right now, it was time to pay the boss man a visit and see just how far down this rabbit hole went.

Rogue was not afraid. She wasn’t. The sweaty palms and feeling like she was going to throw up any minute, the intense urge to turn around and run for the hills; they were just side effects from Hank’s cure, they were in no way signs that she was afraid. Nope, none whatsoever.

She timidly looked around the corner and back into the large cafeteria filled with mutants, a lot of mutants. Her nose crinkled as she tried to filter thru the massive array of scents assaulting her. Someone needed to warn the students here to lay off the perfume and cologne for those with heightened senses. How could Logan and Hank stand it?

Speaking of Hank, she saw him at the far end of the room sitting at a circular table with Jean and Cyclops, whom she had met briefly after her release from the Quarantine unit earlier today. To say they had been excited about Hank’s discovery of a cure for Legacy was an understatement and both the doctor and Jean had immediately run off to work on perfecting the serum and produce it in mass quantities for immediate dispersal. It took them two hours. There had been fifteen infected already housed in the unit at the mansion. They had been the first to receive the improved vaccine and all but one, for whom the cure had arrived too late, had survived.

The news had obviously spread, as there was an air of excitement and relief throughout the school, especially in the cafeteria and she made a mental note to see if Logan had some earplugs she could borrow. Never in her life had Marie ever been around so many people, especially not at one time. To say the entire experience was starting to overwhelm her was an understatement.

Her gaze moved from the crowded room down to her outfit. Hank had given her a set of school issued t-shirt and sweatpants until she had a chance to go out and get some clothes of her own. Logan, probably noticing the look on her face, had told her not to worry about money; that he would help her out until she had a chance to get her feet under her, but she had politely declined. It had been hard enough to swallow her pride and accept the clothes, but she had left the lab with nothing but a tattered lab gown to her name and that had been sent off to the incinerator when she was placed in quarantine. Unless she planned to wander around the school nude, she needed something to wear. Sighing, she tugged on the short sleeves. Though she had regained full control of her skin once the virus was out of her system, she still felt a little nervous walking around so many people with so much showing. Too many chances for something to go wrong.

Looking back up into the cafeteria she frowned. She had survived years in the lab, had gone toe to toe with Sabertooth, had been blown up, almost killed by the Legacy virus, and never once did she flinch from the danger. Was she really going to turn and run away because of a little awkward social interaction? Suddenly, something that looked like fireworks started going off, followed by sprays of ice and a large portion of the room erupted into laughter, almost drowning out the curse words of whoever the victim of the apparent display had been. She could do this, just slip in now when no one would notice. She took a step forward. She wasn’t afraid. Another step. She wasn’t. A smaller step. Okay, maybe she just wasn’t really that hungry. It was, after all, nearly impossible to eat when your stomach was tied up in knots.

Turning to make her getaway she slammed straight into what felt like a brick wall, but was in reality Logan’s chest. She growled, looking up at him while gingerly rubbing her nose which had taken the brunt of the impact. He looked down at her in amusement.

“Where you going kid?” he asked, a smirk on his face.

She stood up straight, trying to regain what little dignity she still had, “Going outside for some quiet and fresh air.”

He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest, blocking her way and looked over her shoulder into the crowded room, nodding his head, “Yeah, you get used to it after a while, learn to ignore it mostly, but you know,” he looked back at her, the smile on his face growing bigger, “It sure looked to me like maybe the big, bad Rogue was running scared.”

She glared at him, but could feel the red blush of embarrassment already forming on her cheeks and then the rush of stubbornness hit her. “I was not!” And then to prove the point, she turned on her heel and walked forward into the cafeteria, trying not to notice the way the noise level seemed to suddenly die down. She forced herself to keep walking, one foot after the other, breathing slowly thru her mouth to avoid the smell overload while trying not to listen to the whispers that were starting around the room.

Is that the Rogue?
I hear her skins poisonous, that she can suck you dry, like a vampire!

What is up with Wolverine? Is that a smile on his face?
You better hope not, he only smiles right before he’s about to kill something.

She really beat Sabertooth? That’s hard to believe.
Yeah, she doesn’t look nearly as scary as I thought she would.

Damn, and I thought Ororo was hot, check out the ass on her!
Better watch it Bobby, I think Wolverine heard you. He’s giving you the evil eye.

That last one caught her attention and she looked back to see Logan two steps behind her glaring at the young boy she recognized as the one who had been shooting off ice sprays a few moments ago. When his gaze returned to look forward again she locked eyes with his and raised an eyebrow in question, which just caused him to frown at her and grunt, putting a hand softly on her lower back to keep her moving quickly towards the food line.

There was an array of various foods to choose from and Marie again started to feel overwhelmed. Half the foods she didn’t even recognize and some, she did and wished she didn’t. She pointed to bowls full of what looked to be worms and insects and looked at Logan beside her, “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Sometimes mutations also mean weird food cravings. It’s not as bad as you’d think.” She looked at him in disbelief and then wrinkled her nose which earned her a grin. “Unless you’re feeling adventurous, better stick to the things you recognize,” he said as a cook came up and passed four large steaks still half bleeding over the counter to him. Eyeing the pile of meat longingly, but eventually deciding to play it safe, she grabbed a large salad and bottled water. She turned to go find a place to sit when Logan’s hand on her arm stopped her.

He was frowning. “You need more than that kid. You’re healing powers have been pushed to the limit. You’ll need the food to help recover.”

She looked down at her tray and then over at his to which he had added a large variety of items to the pile of steaks. She wanted to gag just looking at all the food.

“Logan, even if I could eat more, which I highly doubt after spending half my life on nothing but protein bars,” she cast a glance around the room which had now returned back to its normal level of talking. “Everything is just,” she struggled to find the words, “Overwhelming. Honestly sugar, I’ll be lucky to keep this down.”

He looked around the room and then giving it a thought, grabbed her tray, putting a roast beef sandwich and bowl of soup on it and motioned for her to follow him, carrying both trays to a side door that opened to the outside. Ignoring the stares of people sitting in the courtyard, she followed Logan out to the outskirts of the school grounds, across a large grass field to a big oak tree.

Following his lead and sitting down beneath it, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, smiling as the beautiful scent of dirt, grass, and trees filled her lungs, along with the smell of their food and lots of Logan’s intoxicating woodsy scent. Current Logan and past traces of him, faded with time. The pounding she hadn’t even noticed in her head suddenly eased and all the nervousness she had felt before was gone, replaced by blissful peace and quiet.

“So, this is how you handle it all,” she said, opening her eyes to take her tray from him, suddenly thankful he had gotten the extra food for her. She felt like she could eat a whole cow.

He nodded, looking out over the empty field and forest line, “When I first came here, I was more animal then man still. Needed a place to get away when I started to feel “overwhelmed”, before someone got hurt.”

She sniffed the air again, looking for something and frowning, “Have you never brought anyone else here before? I only smell you.”

He looked at her, the expression on his face unreadable. “No, didn’t really cross my mind to. Usually I come out here because I want to get away from people, not have them hanging around.”

She nodded, understanding after what she had experienced in the cafeteria and from the own desire in herself that called out to nature and the solitude. Suddenly she realized what a big deal it was, him showing her this place and she felt slightly guilty. “You didn’t have to bring me out here. We could have stayed in the cafeteria. I could have handled it.”

He snorted and raised his eyebrow at her.

“I could have!” This time he just smirked and hearing the lack of conviction in her own voice, she growled and started unwrapping her sandwich, which made him laugh.

“I figure you need this place more than I do right now,” he said, amusement still shining in his voice, before looking pensively down at his steaks. “Besides, it ain’t too bad. Sort of nice to share it with someone who understands,” he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back and they ate their meal together in comfortable silence. They finished eating too soon and Rogue found she wasn’t yet ready to leave the quiet solitude. Apparently Logan wasn’t either as he stretched out, leaning against the tree while he lit up a cigar. She found herself enjoying the smell of it; it was a smoky sweetness that seemed to fit well with the rest of his scents. Never in her life could she ever remember being this relaxed, this comfortable, this safe, and before she even realized she had dozed off, she was awoken by Logan shaking her shoulder slightly.

“Marie, Chuck’s been buzzing me on the head phone. We’re going to have to go back in now.”

She looked up at him from where she was, snuggled against his chest. When had she gotten there? “Chuck’s been doing what?” she asked, still not fully awake.

“Professor Xavier’s been asking me to bring you up to his office.” From the tone of his voice, Rogue could tell he wasn’t pleased about something and she felt an unease come over her, bringing her wide awake.

She leaned back and stretched her arms over her head, enjoying the pull of the muscles, watching as Logan stood up and turned offering her a hand and helping her to her feet with a quick pull. Catching her balance, she looked up to find him staring down intently at her, her hand still grasped in his own and for a moment she thought he might kiss her, found herself leaning forward to kiss him, when he turned away suddenly.

“Fuck, we’re coming! You didn’t have to send out the damn cavalry!” He shouted to the sky and then started stomping off back towards the school building. She was going to ask what the heck he was going on about when she caught the slight scent on the wind. Cyclops was heading their way. Quickly grabbing up the trays and garbage, she ran to catch up to Logan. By the time she reached him, the two men were in the middle of a heated argument in the back lawn of the school and a small crowd had started to form, eavesdropping from a safe distance around the corner of the building.

“What she needs is a fucking chance to rest and recuperate,” Logan growled and she could tell the Wolverine was very close to coming out to play.

“Yeah and I’m sure that’s what you had planned dragging her off into the woods,” Cyclops eyebrows narrowing over the red tinted sunglasses he wore. The sound of Wolverine’s claws sliding out cut through the air. This guy was either an idiot or he had a death wish. Either way she figured he deserved whatever he got for that last remark.

“You better watch that mouth of yours One-Eye, before it gets you in trouble.”

Cyclops paused, as if considering whether a fight was worth it. Apparently it wasn’t. “Just bring her to the Professor Logan, that’s an order,” then he turned and walked away, the crowd quickly scattering as he passed by.

Tossing the trays into a nearby trash can she walked over to where Logan stood, looking at the ground, body tense and claws still out as he tried to reel back in the Wolverine.

“So, is it always so exciting around here or is it just on my account?” she asked, standing next to him.

“Oh yeah, it’s always sunshine and rainbows where me and One-Eye are concerned,” he grunted and then turned to look at her, once again in full control.

“So you going to tell me what that was all about then?” she asked, arms across her chest.

“Just a difference of opinion,” he said, and she could tell by the tone of his voice that was all she was going to get from him. She followed him into the building, walking in silence, until they stood outside the door to Xavier’s office, a bad feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

“You don’t have to do this. You don’t owe them a fucking thing.”

Marie looked at him and he could see the fire in her eyes. He wasn’t going to get anywhere talking to her. Damn the woman and her stubbornness!

“Logan, we’re talking about putting an end to Weapon X, taking down the entire operation. I owe it to myself and I’d think you out of anyone would understand!”

He did understand, he understood probably more then she realized because he’d been with the X-men long enough to know how they worked. Super healers always got sent on the suicide runs and he wasn’t so naive to think taking down a few labs would even put a dent in their operations. He knew Rogue wasn’t that naive either, but they were talking the sweet talk and playing straight into the dreams of revenge and justice that he knew burned deep within her like they did in him. Chuck always knew how to hit you were it hurt.

He glared at the Professor, wondering what had happened in the time he was gone to change the man so much that he was now spouting out warmongering propaganda instead of his usual dreams of peace. He’d noticed the same change in the other X-men as well. It couldn’t just be the Legacy Virus and the near extinction of the mutant race, there was something going on here that they weren’t telling him and that worried him more than anything.

“This is ridiculous, the kid’s not even fully healed yet and you want to toss her on a jet and send her off hunting down labs!”

“Chere don’t look much like a kid to me homme. Think she can make decisions for herself.”

Logan growled and felt the claws starting to edge out, “Don’t even start with me Cajun! You’ve been gone for months then suddenly show your face around now, claiming to know where Weapon X headquarters is, where the Legacy production facilities are, all too a bit convenient don’t you think?”

He could see Rogue’s face frown at that. Out of everyone she had met so far, he knew the only person she truly trusted was himself and though he would never abuse that trust, he wasn’t against reminding her a little of the fact if it meant keeping her safe.

“Logan, I can assure you, Gambit allowed me to see inside of his mind. What he speaks is the truth. If we had the time to wait, I would of course insist on allowing Rogue as much time as she needed to recuperate from her recent ordeals, but unfortunately, we do not have that luxury. According to the information we have, the General will only be at this particular lab for two days, giving us a small window of opportunity. I must admit, I did not expect you to be so vocally against this.”

A look crossed the Professors face that Logan recognized at once and he growled, “How many times I gotta tell you to keep outta my head Chuck.” Not for the first time, he found himself grateful for the psionic shields he’d spent years developing that kept his thoughts secret, even from the world’s most powerful telepath.

“You make accusations against Gambit regarding his trustworthiness, but you yourself have been away from the mansion just as long as he and yet have been much less forthcoming about your recent activities and what exactly happened in the lab. How do we know that it is not you who has been compromised Logan? Then there’s this matter of the mutants you brought back with you, they will need to be questioned as well.”

He felt a fury wash over him and opened his mouth to respond, but Rogue beat him to it, standing up, fists clenched, “Yeah, well, I was in that lab too and a hell of a lot longer than Logan, yet you’re willing to trust me and you don’t even know me! Logan’s a part of your team. You don’t know what it’s like! If Logan or anyone else we saved wants to keep their thoughts about the time in the lab private that’s their business and if you’re any bit of the man Logan’s been telling me you are, you should be respectful of that, but if it’ll stop this nonsense and keep you out of their heads, I got no problem showing you MY memories of the lab.”

Rogue glared at the Professor and Logan saw him flinch slightly, putting a hand up as if to stop the onslaught of memories she was apparently pushing into his mind. “That it is quite enough Rogue, you have made your point.” He took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “My apologies Logan, perhaps we are all acting slightly out of character recently. These have been trying times.”

Logan snorted at the understatement, but kept his eyes on Marie. She had sat back down and was now staring out the office window, a blank look across her face that made him slightly concerned and he wondered just what memories she had chosen to show Xavier. Apart from what he’d seen for himself, he knew very little of what life had been like for her at the lab, though he could make some pretty vivid guesses.

“I must admit Rogue, you have been quite a surprise. For one whose natural mutation is not telepathy, you wield the power you have absorbed quite well.”

She shrugged her shoulders and Logan could tell she was still fuming underneath the calm exterior. He didn’t blame her, he’d had trouble not jumping over the desk and strangling Xavier’s neck when he mentioned questioning the lab survivors. They’d been through enough, they didn’t need to undergo telepathic interrogation.

“We got time yet Professor, no? How about you give Rogue a bit to think it over.” Gambit said, “Maybe give her a go in the danger room to see how she feels. We could always get someone else, Scott said Jubilee and Kitty have been doing well.”

Logan couldn’t believe his ears. “You’ve got Jubilee and Kitty training to be X-men?! They’re just kids!”

“They have already proven themselves valuable assets to the junior team Logan. A lot of things have changed since you’ve been gone,” Xavier said, then looking to Rogue, “I think perhaps Gambit is right. There is no need for an answer immediately. Why don’t you spend the rest of today touring the facility? Logan can introduce you to the danger room and you can inform us of your decision first thing in the morning.”

She looked at the Professor for a moment, nodded her head, and then hurried quickly out of the room. Logan was right on her heels, leaving behind Xavier and Gambit in the office, and grabbed her arm, dragging her down an abandoned hallway.

“We need to talk,” he said. She pulled her arm from out of his grip and glared up at him.

“What sort of place is this?! The way you and Hank talked about it, about the X-men and Professor Xavier, I thought this place would be safe, would be different,” she said, frustration and anger seeping into her voice, “If he or any of the X-men so much as look wrong at the mutants we brought back from the lab I swear Logan, I’ll rip their heads off.” She was growling and he could see her eyes darken, a sign of her feral mutations coming to the forefront.

He needed to calm her down before it got out of control. This time he put a hand softly on her shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to them,” he said, locking eyes with her, trying to make her understand. He felt a responsibility to them, to all of them, but especially to the young lads and even more so to her. He’d never let any harm come to them and if he had known what Xavier’s was turning into, he might have never brought them here in the first place. “Things around here are a lot different than when I left and I don’t like it. I need you to be careful Marie, don’t trust anything they tell you, and I need you to listen to me, until I can figure out what the hell is going on. You can’t go on this mission they want to send you on. You may have a bit of healing, but you sure as hell aren’t invincible and right now, keeping you safe is a heck of a lot more important than getting revenge.”

“I can still hear them Logan.” Her eyes had gotten that same distant look to them that she had in Xavier’s office. “You know that was the worst part of it. I’d been there so long, I could hardly remember a time I wasn’t in the lab, everything, even the tests became, routine. My mind was all muddled and I was barely even human, but when I heard the screams of the other mutants; men, women.” She paused, took in a deep breath, “Children. There were times I’d beg them to take me instead, let me take whatever they had to dish out in their place, just to stop the screaming. But there was nothing I could do. Sometimes I think they did it on purpose, left doors open so the sound could carry, as another sign of how helpless I was. Helpless to save myself, helpless to save anyone else. They were turning me into a super mutant of their own design and yet I was powerless against them.”

She looked up at him and he could see the tears she refused to let fall barely glistening in the corners of her eyes. Her arms were wrapped across her chest and she looked suddenly extremely young and fragile except for the fire burning behind her eyes. “There are labs out there, hundreds maybe thousands, with mutants still suffering, just like we were and now I have the power Logan. Thanks to your healing, I’ve got my control back, my mind back, and I have a chance to use it, to save them all. Everyone was protected from Legacy inside the lab, who knows how many mutants may still be alive, hidden and are being tortured, being killed.”

“Or it could all be a big fucking lie to lure you back into their hands. Gambit’s new to the team and he’s a member of the Theives Guild. He’s got a history of playing all sides, so long as there’s profit in it. You can’t trust anything he says.”

She looked up at him with those big eyes and he could feel his resolve wavering. “We have to try though, don’t we? What if it’s not a trap and we had a chance to take down the Weapon X program forever and passed it by because we weren’t willing to take the risk. I just don’t know if I could live with the wondering Logan.”

If it meant keeping her safe and alive he could live perfectly fine with the wondering, but he knew Rogue would question it and it would eat at her. She was just that type of person and he could see she had already made her mind up. She would go, with or without his help. Which left him with two options; steal her away and tie her up until he could make her see reason, which was extremely tempting, or make sure the girl didn’t get herself killed or worse, recaptured. He sighed.

“If we do this, we do it MY way,” he growled, wondering when he’d become such a damn softy, “I trust Sabretooth more then I trust that street rat and I’m not about to risk you getting caught in the labs again.”

He wasn’t prepared when she launched herself at him, hugging him tightly, nor for the feeling of her body pressed hard against his which was quickly making all the blood in his head rush south. Letting his arms fall to rest lightly around her, he drank in the sweet smell of her mixing with his own scent, causing a rumble in his chest.

Her whole body tensed suddenly and she slowly stepped away from him, a blush creeping across her face. “So tell me about this Danger Room,” she said, breaking the tension.

He took a breath to regain his composure and motioned her to follow him. A few minutes later they stood in the middle of a large metal room. Rogue looked around, “So it can make anything appear? Any scenario you want?”

Logan nodded, “Anything you can think up in the programming, it can do and more. You sure you feel up to this right now?”

“Oh yeah, it’ll be good to get some frustrations out,” she said looking anywhere, but at him. The blush still hadn’t completely faded from her cheeks. He thought it suited her and the Wolverine inside him was very pleased with himself at having unsettled her so much. He also had some very interesting ideas about what he thought their next course of action should be, but Logan pushed them aside and pointed up to the tinted one way glass towards the top far wall.

“That’s the control room up there. I’ll be able to see everything that’s going on and monitor your vitals. I’ll also be able to increase the intensity and change the programing to test different skills. We’ll start out with the basics to get some baselines and work our way up.”

He showed her to the locker room and gave her a training uniform to change into before heading up to the control room to get everything situated. First thing would be to test her strength and telepathy levels, then motor function, then straight into upper level simulations. He always figured the best way to gage a mutants ability was to stick them straight in over their heads and see how they reacted. Cyclops always had a tendency to baby the new recruits a bit and ease them in, but real life wasn’t like that.

The sound of the door sliding open and closed below brought his attention back to the Danger Room floor and he was glad Rogue couldn’t see the look on his face behind the one way glass. The simple black training suit left little to the imagination, hugging every single curve as tight as a second skin.

Made of specially designed material, it would keep her safe from possible burns and bullet wounds while at the same time allowing her to feel the impact of everything. It was also fitted with electronic sensors so he could monitor everything from her heart rate to hormone levels to the amount of sweat she released and set up with a tracking device allowing him to lock specific attacks onto her, which was useful when they did group training sessions.

As she started to stretch, he had to suppress a groan and closed his eyes to try and get a handle over himself. He was well past the age to be acting like a lusting teenage boy, unable to control himself around a beautiful woman.

“Let the good times roll,” she said looking up at the control room window, a feral grin spreading across her face as she crouched down.

A few hours later and the Control Room was now full of people.

“Did you see that? She ripped that Sentinel’s head right off!”
“Now how come I never thought to use the ceiling as a maneuvering platform before?”
“Did she just growl? I thought that was Wolverine’s thing.”

“Kick it up another level.” Cyclops had come in as word of the session began to spread around the school and had immediately started asking questions and requesting Logan to run thru various simulations. He felt it a bit unnecessary, he’d seen enough to tell him Rogue would be a huge asset to the team and definitely not someone you’d want as your enemy. Even he had been surprised when she had maxed out her strength at 75 tons while they were doing the baselines.

Logan raised an eyebrow, but went ahead and turned the dial. He was pretty sure she could take at least another five increases easily. She had already surpassed the minimum level requirements for the Alpha Team ages ago. Anything beyond that was merely showing off. He should know, they still had yet to find his own maximum level.

“You really think this is necessary Summers?” he asked, watching as the scene inside the Danger Room changed to accommodate the new scenario. Cyclops didn’t answer, just stood there with his hands over his chest.

Logan winced as Rogue took a nasty hit to the stomach while trying to take on three androids at once. She may be good, but she was cocky at times and too willing to take a blow instead of dodge it. Just because she could take a hit, didn’t mean she should. Her use of the surrounding area was good though. It took a lot of flyers years to realize that up and down were wherever they wanted them to be and she’d utilized the ceiling multiple times for some rather clever movements.

Another hit from a Sentinel knocked her halfway across the room, stunning her for a moment and he almost turned the simulation off, but she was quickly back on her feet, and flew fist first straight through its chest. Her attacks were breathtaking, but defense, the girl definitely needed to work on her defense.

She worked her way easily through the scenario like he knew she would and Cyclops motioned with his hand to turn it off then left without a word. Ending the simulation, he watched as Rogue looked around confused as everything around her disappeared until she was just standing in an empty room again. Turning, she looked up at the control room window, hands on her hips.

“That all you got sugar? I’ve barely worked up a sweat!”

But Logan was already out of the control room and walking through the doors. “Cyclops got tired of seeing you beat his scores,” he said, grinning as she jumped and spun around. He looked her over, other than a few cuts and bruises she seemed to be okay. They’d heal up within a few minutes. He gently grabbed her face and watched as the black eye that had been forming quickly softened back to pale white skin.

“If you wanted to prove you could take a punch I could have saved us all time and just got Colossus to come in here and wail on you a bit,” he said, glaring at her, “Would it kill you to actually dodge a blow every now and again?”

She frowned a bit and then got the look on her face that he recognized as her sorting through memories of those she had absorbed. When she finished, she shrugged. “Lots of scrapping up there, not a whole lot of dodging. Would it kill you to dodge a blow every now and again? Then maybe I’d know how.”

He looked at her stunned for a moment. He’d never thought about it before, but now that he took the time, he did have a tendency to just take the hits and let the anger build up and work its way out of him. Maybe it was a super healer thing. Still, her ability wasn't nearly as strong as his own. He could afford to take the punches, she couldn't.

“Just because I don’t doesn’t mean I don’t know how. I’ll show you a few things kid. You’re healing isn’t as strong as mine,” he looked at her and smiled, “But you did good, real good. How do you feel?”

Rogue’s face broken into a wide grin, “I feel great!”

As they walked out of the Danger Room, Rogue was bombarded by students in the hallway asking questions and wanting to congratulate her. By the look on her face he could tell she was being overwhelmed by it. A few growls and shouts later and they were once again alone, heading towards the room Xavier had given her. Kitty and Jubilee were waiting by the door when they got there.

“What are you two up to?” he asked, not liking the scheming looks on their faces.

The two girls frowned. “Why do you always think the worst of us Wolvie?” Jubilee asked.

He growled, “I told you not to call me that. Now what do you two want, out with it.” He put his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall.

“Well you see the Professors throwing a big party for some pharmaceutical company executives tomorrow. The lab here only has so much capability, we can’t produce the cure fast enough or in enough quantity so he’s looking to win over some outside help. You know how hard it’s been with mutant human relations. A few he’s spoken to have mentioned an interest in meeting Rogue,” Kitty said, turning to speak to her, “So he sent us to see if you wouldn’t mind attending. It would only be for a little while, just to show them that it does work, maybe answer a few questions. It would mean a lot to the Professor, to all of us really.”

Rogue looked at him as if for help, but he just shrugged. This was her call. “Like I said, you don’t owe the Professor anything. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it, don’t do it.”

He watched as she tossed the idea about in her head and then looked down at the training uniform she was still wearing, “I don’t have anything to wear really,” she said and Logan could hear a bit of longing in her voice. Maybe doing something like this, something normal and non-life threatening, would be good for her.

“Oh don’t worry about it. We can help you there girl!” Jubilee said, smiling brightly, walking over to wrap an arm with Rogue’s. She never did have any sense of personal space.

Logan could see a mixture of horror and confusion appear on Marie’s face as she looked down at Jubilee, as if she didn’t know whether she was a friend or foe. Kitty must have caught the look because she moved and took her other arm, smiling up at her the same as Jubilee.

He put a hand over his mouth to hide the smile. He knew what it was like to be tag teamed by the terrible duo. They’d done it to him numerous times to get him to sneak them alcohol or take them out somewhere.

“You know what this calls for Kitty?” The two girls looked at each other, Rogue sandwiched between them still looking like she wasn’t sure whether to fight or flee, the smiles turning to huge grins as they squealed in unison, “Mall time!”

Logan had to contain a laugh at the look on Marie’s face as the two girls dragged her off. Eyes wide and terrified, like a deer caught in the headlights. He grinned in amusement, shaking his head in disbelief. The girl had no trouble taking on him or Sabretooth, survived for years being tested on and tortured, and yet she had just been cowered by two young woman with shopping addictions.

“Well, she seems to be doing very well.”

He turned to see Hank walking towards him.

“Yeah Hank, can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for her,” he said, following the blue Doctor as he continued his walk down the long corridor.

“Indeed, I could do no less, especially after all you and Rogue have done for me and many of the other mutants here in escaping the laboratory, though Logan, there is something I must tell you that I did not wish to worry Rogue over.” Logan wasn’t sure he liked the look on Beast’s face. He looked around and took a sniff to make sure there was no one nearby and then nodded to urge the blue mutant to continue.

“I have been going over the partially mutated Legacy samples that we pulled from Rogue before your healing had taken effect and the data I am getting back is somewhat unsettling. Though incomplete, it shows signs that if it had been allowed to continue its mutation, the resulting virus would have been completely benign to mutants, making it no longer a risk to those displaying the x-gene.”

He could tell by the pause that wasn’t all. “Well, that doesn’t sound like bad news to me Doc, so where does the ‘but’ come in?”

“BUT, while the resulting virus would be completely harmless to mutants, it has mutated such that it would instead attack human DNA. In fact, the resulting virus would perhaps be even more deadly than the original, so much so that if the projections my computer models are predicting are correct, it would wipe out nearly half on the human population on the planet within a month, 89% within six months, 97% within a year. It would be the end of times for the human race as we know it.”

Logan stopped walking and looked at Hank. If what he said was true, then Marie had the potential to be a walking bomb for humanity. Obviously the Doctor’s thoughts had gone down the same paths as his own.

“Logan, if someone where to get their hands on her, force her to absorb an infected mutant and then allow the virus to fully mutate within her body, they would have the ultimate weapon against the human race.” The tone of Hank’s voice left no doubt in his mind about how serious this could be.

“But, she’s taken the cure now. She couldn’t get infected again.”

Hank shook his head, “She couldn’t get infected with Legacy before as far as we know, at least not through normal means, but when she contracted it thru absorption, her mutation had immediately started converting the virus into a different form, as if the actual process of absorption had changed it. You’re healing power allowed her body to stop that process and revert the virus back to its normal state, which in turn allowed us to cure her, but if she were to go thru the whole thing again, even though the vaccine is now in her system, my tests have shown that it would not have any effect on the mutated form of the virus. She would need your healing once again to convert it before the vaccine would take effect.”

Logan frowned, “Who else knows about this?”

“No one.”

“Good, keep it that way. Don’t need word like this getting out,” he said, turning over everything in his head, “We need to destroy all the information you have on it. All the samples of the mutated virus, everything. We can’t risk someone getting their hands on it.” Even though he could tell the Doctor was loathe to destroy any type of research, he nodded his head in agreement, understanding what would happen if the wrong people got their hands on this information. He paused a moment then added, “And do me a favor, don’t tell the X-men either.”

Hank gave him a strange look.

“Something’s going on doc, things are different now. I know you can feel it as much as I can. I don’t trust them.”

Hank’s eyebrows narrowed and his hand came up to rest on his chin in a thinking pose, “Yes, they have seem quite changed by recent events. Even Jean has not seemed herself lately, which was, I admit, part of the reason I wanted to speak of this to you first. I will keep this just between us.”

“Thanks, I just got something to do real quick then I’ll meet you down at the lab,” he said, and turned to go back the way they came. He needed to find Northstar and Colossus. Suddenly allowing Rogue to go off with Kitty and Jubilee unprotected didn’t seem like such a good plan after all.