He only had to walk another forty feet before freedom was laid out in front of him. Someone was offering him a very sick choice. Here he was out, trees gently blowing in front of him, and no one chasing him. He just had to keep walking. And why shouldn’t he? He went through more than any man ever should in a life time. And he had to endure multiple life times of it. Besides, it’s what she wanted anyway. She made her choice, and certainly without any influence from him. In fact he should leave her to Them. Maybe she’d learn her lesson. And so what if Stryker turned her into a mindless killing machine? He was right, she was a natural. With her mutation she was born for it.
God damnit! Standing around thinking doesn’t do either of them any good. He couldn’t even rely on the Wolverine, he was just as conflicted. While he wanted his freedom he also was furious at the thought of letting some slip of a girl fight his battle for him.
“God damnit!”
Now he still had to find a way back in there. Of all the things he never thought he would do in his life breaking into a locked down military base had to be on the top. Right above trying to play hero. This whole damn ordeal proved he didn’t know how to be a hero.
“This is such a bad idea,” he groaned and turned around, making his way back.
************
She must have been causing some kind of havoc in there. He had to skirt halfway around the place before he found an opening. An opening in which men were running out. Whether or not They were running for Their lives or looking for him he couldn’t tell. But at least it was a way in.
He waited, crouched down low in the mud for the flow of men to lessen. Their yelling still didn’t give him any clue as to how it was in there. It was all code or jibberish or Greek or something. But either way he was relieved slightly. They didn’t catch her. Not yet any way. They wouldn’t be looking for him if They had her.
“Private Samuels, I want—“three claws embedded into his chest stopped the uniformed man’s communication. Sick, wet gurgling noises came from inside his throat and the walkie-talkie fell out of his limp hand to the mud.
Logan came around the corner and peered into the black opening. No one else was coming. With a quick jerk of the muscles in his forearm the claws returned to their holding and the body fell hard to the ground.
The path was clear right in front of him and his feet immediately started moving back into the darkness. They willingly moved him into hell for the girl, despite the protesting of his brain.
The further in he moved the more he realized that he was in a completely different part of the base. The walls weren’t covered in sludge but instead dull grey cinderblocks. The floor was muddy, but not shin deep water. And there were even sconces on the wall making a very dim, but lit, path.
Still, there were no doors, just miles of corridors that would suddenly split and bend different directions, like some god damn rat trap. He could hear noise, but it was just that, nothing he could pick up on. No sounds of the girl screaming. While it was true that would probably be a bad sign, at least he could find her. At this rate he could wander around until he eventually starved to death.
On and on he walked. Finding nothing except for occasionally having to hide behind a wall as a black suited demon ran by. He was actually very grateful for the brief trip outside. He was no longer eager to detach his legs from the rest of his body. They worked well for him, blood once again flowing properly, muscles strong. Hell, the bullet hole in his arm practically zipped right up. If he could only get something to eat.
A hero sandwich popped into his head and he almost laughed at the sudden ridiculousness. That had to be the girl’s doing, she was telepathic and she didn’t know it. Either that or she was beginning to rub off on him and he was going crazy too.
Heavy footsteps squishing through the mud dragged him out of his own head. They were strong and straight, completely orderly. Definitely not the girl.
Quickly he ducked behind the closest bend in the corridor, flattening his back against the wall. His ears perked up when the footsteps stopped at the same time. Shit. Had he been too loud? Fuck, there was no way one of those bastard could have heard him.
“Wolverine.”
He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. Of course it was fucking him. Maybe he’d keep walking. Maybe he just thought he heard something. Logan fought to keep his breathing still when his lungs were pounding against his chest nearly as hard as his heart was.
“You might as well come out, my pet. I know you’re there.”
Fucking hell! Fine, he wanted to see him. Fine. He released the claws, letting them slice off a corner of the cement wall.
“Very attractive,” Stryker’s cold voice floated over to him, more fucking entertained then scared. “I see you sent your little bitch to destroy my base while you scurried off. Very poorly played, pet.”
“I didn’t tell her to do shit,” Logan yelled around the corner.
“You know,” Stryker continued, completely ignoring him. “I don’t know what your problem is. I made you indestructible. I gave you a purpose. You should be thanking me!”
He snorted, his top lip curling up. “You took my life away, you bastard!”
“I didn’t kill your little girlfriend, Wolverine. You did.”
“Shut up!”
“I cleaned you up! Gave you a mission when you were a lost, whimpering mess! You came to *me* you ungrateful mongrel! Don’t you remember, Wolverine? You came to me! Blood already in your eyes, wanting to kill. All I did was give you the tools and pointed the direction!”
He roared, digging his finger tips into his head, trying to push back the memories. He spent years sorting through them, coping with them and all that he’d done in his life. And in a matter of minutes Stryker’s voice made them fresh again. Fresh wounds his healing mutation didn’t cover.
“It’s true, Wolverine. And you know it.”
“Fuck you, Stryker” He yelled, trying to push the beast back down before he did something stupid. “The only thing I want dead is you!”
The general’s chilling laughter all but echoed in his head. Then it was followed by the ring of a bullets being loaded in a gun. The click of the barreling being locked.
“You gonna shot me, Stryker?” He snorted. Swallow his courage and the last bit of his intelligence he stepped around the corner, claws out and ready at his side. “Go ahead, asshole. See what good it does you.”
Stryker looked up from his gun, a yellow tooth grin on his face. “Oh, I know it won’t kill you. But it will be enough to get my favorite pet back in his cage.”
He barely got one step forward before the girl came flying out of one of the hallways, a thick syrup screaming coming from her throat.
She hit Stryker hard, slamming his body into the wall with her own. Both her hands were bare, one gripped tight around his neck the other pushed deeply into the side of his face.
Logan stood in shock and actually stumbled backwards, away from both of them. The old general began screaming too. The tones of her deep roar and his strangled cry bounced off all the walls around them, amplifying the noise to an earth-shattering proportion.
He could only watch dumbfounded as Stryker tried to struggle with what strength he had, trying to push her away. But they stayed joined. Her eyes steady on his face, his head thrown back.
Logan took another step just as a single shot rang out, stopping his foot and everything else in sheer panic. Her whole body jerked but her hands remained tightly pressed into the older man’s flesh, even grabbed a little harder. After a few more seconds they stumbled together, taking one step back, closer to Logan, and then colliding back into the wall in the other direction.
Only did they finally separate when Stryker crashed to the ground at her feet. A hard thud radiated through out the empty corridors.
She followed half a second later, falling first to her knees before toppling over to her side. The only noise was a soft squish when her body fell into the mud.
The gears in his head spun wildly but he couldn’t seem to get enough of a whole thought together to make his body move. It felt like it had been hours he had been standing there. Just looking at their bodies both lying in the shallow mud in front of him.
It was like he was waiting. Waiting for Stryker to get up a tell him nice try or Rogue to jump to her feet and ask him if he tried chasing geese for fun or something completely random like that. But neither move. She didn’t move.
The thought finally slammed into his brain and he was going towards her before his feet even started moving.
“Rogue.” He whispered because his voice couldn’t manage anything else as he kneeled down beside her. Carefully he took her shoulders in his hands and eased her off her side and onto her back so that she was in his lap.
“Rogue.” He said again, but it turned into more of a whimper when he was met with gently closed eyelids.
“Come on, kid.” His eyes floated from her face down her body. He cried out when they fell onto the burgundy red stain on her side from her blood mixing with the brown mud.
“No...” he stuttered, choking on tears. “No, darlin’, no.”
Frantic blue eyes searched for their murky green counterpart, but they remained hidden on the all too peaceful baby face. He watched in horror as the pale ivory streaks in her hair got bolder, swallowing up more of the brown as death took a firmer grip on her.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
You know, it would be a lot easier to save somebody if they weren’t always trying to save you at the same time. Logan and Rogue haven’t quite learned that lesson.
Sorry this took longer than it should have.
Sorry this took longer than it should have.