Don’t look down, don’t look down, don’t look down.
Rogue repeated this mantra in her head over and over, but she just couldn’t take her own advice. Soaring hundreds of feet above the earth with only Warren’s strong arms to hold her aloft, she couldn’t help but look down. The whole thing was far too reminiscent of the time she had gotten sucked out of the Blackbird, only this time, instead of free-falling wildly through the air, she was being propelled forward with a clear destination in mind.
Warren adjusted his grip beneath her legs, and despite herself, Rogue squealed loudly and wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck.
Gawd, ah hate bein’ the simperin’ female! she scolded herself and forced her arms to relax slightly before she could choke Warren into unconsciousness. His face was almost within kissing distance of hers, and Rogue felt uncomfortable at the proximity. Studying him from the corner of her eye, she saw that he truly was an exceptionally handsome man.
Not her type though. She had already tried the wholesome, clean-cut look with Bobby and that had worked out oh-so-well. No, her type revolved around a lot of facial hair, muscles till Tuesday, and a belt buckle the size of Texas. Smothering a smile, Rogue decided to break the tension by speaking. “So, uh. Am ah too heavy for ya?”
“You kidding?” Warren grinned at her. “I always wanted to fly into the sunset with a beautiful woman in my arms.”
Rogue uttered an un-ladylike snort, feeling a blush heat her cheeks, while at the same time a wild elation filled her. Had she really actually wanted to get the cure? It must have been temporary insanity, because what was a normal life when compared with this? How many ‘normal’ people can experience flying through the clouds in the arms of an angel while dressed in tight black leather, going head-long into battle on a deserted prison island? When put in that context, probably not a whole lot. Judging from the strange looks they had gotten from people below them as they flew to Alcatraz, they certainly had found it a bit out of the ordinary. Rogue had never felt so wild and free, adrenaline pumping through her veins, while her skin tingled pleasantly from the last remnants of the sinking sun warming her uniform, and she almost wanted to laugh from the sheer exhilaration she felt.
“How much longer do ya figure it’ll be till we get there?” she asked instead, anxious to reach the fight before it was too late.
“Not long. Few minutes, tops,” Warren replied, subtly increasing the speed in his magnificent wings. Rogue stared at them in awe, still not used to their beauty. When he’d first unfurled them after removing his frumpy coat, Rogue had felt a moment of deep reverence. She had lost her faith the night she’d run away from home, but upon seeing those angelic wings, some small measure of it had returned, and for that she was grateful.
“There it is!” Warren jerked his head downwards, indicating the small island ahead.
Barely sparing it a glance, Rogue’s attention was caught by what appeared to be the Golden Gate Bridge; what was left of it at any rate.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” she whispered, recognizing Magneto's calling card. “What is with this man an' destroyin' national monuments an' landmarks? That’s gonna piss some people off…”
She trailed off as Warren banked sharply to the left, bringing them directly above the island, before allowing them to plummet several dozen feet. Restraining the urge to squeal again, Rogue craned her neck to look at the area below.
There were the X-Men, their backs to the facility they were protecting as they stood in a skirmish line, waiting for Magneto’s merry band to reach them. Running at them from the opposite side and closing in fast, were hundreds of mutants. Most looked harmless, but far too many appeared to have some dangerous powers. Staring down at the scene below, Rogue saw that her team was horribly out-numbered. But out-gunned?
Not a chance.
“Drop me!” she yelled to Warren once they were directly over the heads of the X-Men.
“What?!?” he yelped, staring at her in shock. “Here?!?”
“Yes! Get a bit lower first, ah don’t wanna break a leg.”
Still wearing an expression of disbelief, Warren descended several more feet while Rogue removed her death grip from around his neck. Jerking her gloves off, she let them fall to the ground between the two opposing sides, and prepared for the fall. Talk about throwin’ down the gauntlet, she thought wryly as she watched her gloves flutter to the ground.
“NOW!” Launching herself from Warren’s arms, Rogue plummeted to the ground, angling herself to land a few feet in front of the X-Men.
She hit the ground in a crouch, her right fist smashing into the cement an instant after her feet made contact with solid ground. Still remaining in her crouched position, Rogue accessed Avalanche’s power, and from where her fist touched the earth, an ominous crack began to form. Raising her head, Rogue watched as the crack beneath her fist began to spread, growing longer as it snaked from beneath her still form, directly into the path of the oncoming horde of mutants, who paid it no heed.
The crack vanished within the crowd, and Rogue waited until she knew it was perfectly in the center of the mob before unleashing her surprise.
Don’t go overboard now, she cautioned herself, we are on an island, an' ah don’t wanna bring us all down with this stunt… if it works.
Relaxing her clenched fist, she sent another seismic wave down the crack, where it reached the hypocenter and ruptured, sending shockwaves through the ground beneath Magneto’s army. The approaching mutants were knocked to the floor from the force of this onslaught, which Rogue guessed was about an 8 on the Richter scale. It had taken intense concentration on her part not to rip the entire island to pieces, merely to just disrupt the earth a couple of feet beneath the surface. Not even Avalanche had such control over his power, and Rogue's heart skipped a beat, wonder if this was the beginning of something greater. If she had this much control over others' powers, what did this mean for her own?
Brushing the thought away for the moment, Rogue gracefully rose to her feet, admiring her handiwork. Magneto's bad-ass army was rolling on the ground like bowling pins, unable to gain steady footing until after the aftershock subsided, thus buying the X-Men a few more minutes of respite.
Turning to face her friends, she pretended not to notice their dumbfounded expressions, acting as though she often fell out of the sky on a regular basis.
She stood in a languid stance, cocking a hip to one side while one bare hand toyed with a tendril of white hair. "Hi guys," she said nonchalantly. "Hope y'all don't mind me uh... droppin' in."
From his position next to Kitty, Bobby groaned loudly and covered his eyes with one hand. "After an entrance like that, that's the best opening line you could come up with? Why not, 'wow, that was an earth-shattering experiance' or something like that?"
"Gimme a break," Rogue pouted defensively. "It's the best ah could do under the circumstances. Ah am havin' a really weird day."
Logan was staring at her in amazement, and as always whenever she saw him, Rogue's heart fluttered painfully beneath her breast. Steadying her breathing, she watched as his eyes roved up and down her body as though searching for something different.
"You didn't get the cure," he said, finally meeting her eyes with his intense hazel stare. Looking at him levelly, Rogue mutely shook her head as his eyes continued to bore into her, a puzzled expression furrowing his brow.
Hank moved between the two, a regretful look on his distinctive blue face. "Forgive me my dear Rogue, for interrupting, but it would seem that our fellow brethren across the way have regained their equilibrium and are back on course."
Rogue spun around, only to be greeted with the sight of Magneto's followers running at them full bore yet again. "Aw shoot," she scowled, "Ah guess the beer an' pretzels will hafta wait."
Giving Logan one last meaningful look, she deliberately turned away from him and instead hurried to take up position beside Storm on the other end. By accepting her power, she now also accepted the fact that Logan would never love her the way she wanted, and with that came the realization that she had released him from his promise: he no longer had to take care of her. More importantly, she no longer needed him to. The days events had taught her that she could stand on her own, and though it ripped at her heart to know he didn't want her in that way, she knew she was strong enough to withstand the pain. After all, she mused sadly, unrequited love was better than no love at all.
Sending a saucy wink to Colossus as she sauntered past him, Rogue took up a fighters' stance next to Storm, her heart warming from the pride that she saw glowing in the eyes of the goddess.
"Hey," Kitty called to Rogue. "Need your gloves back?"
The gloves in question lay where they had fallen in the dust in front of the team's feet, and Rogue flexed her bare hands before cracking her knuckles loudly. "Not tonight," she replied, a sinister smile appearing on her china doll features as the mutant army finally reached them.
"Oh, this is gonna be fun..."
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: i own nothing of the x-men. but i do have a really cool wolverine poster!
hello all, i'm back with another instalment. hope you all like this chapter and if you do (or even if you don't) let me know. reviews make me happy and brighten my day. so this chapter has a bit of action in it, which i totally suck at writing. and i know nothing of earthquakes and how they work so some stuff may be way out there. i have to say i'm having a lot of fun writing this and i think i've got a handle on where it's going now. essentially, it's the way X3 should have been. In my warped mind ;) oh yeah, it was the Golden Gate bridge that Magneto ripped up to get to Alcatraz right? like i said, i only saw the movie once, so i could be wrong.
hello all, i'm back with another instalment. hope you all like this chapter and if you do (or even if you don't) let me know. reviews make me happy and brighten my day. so this chapter has a bit of action in it, which i totally suck at writing. and i know nothing of earthquakes and how they work so some stuff may be way out there. i have to say i'm having a lot of fun writing this and i think i've got a handle on where it's going now. essentially, it's the way X3 should have been. In my warped mind ;) oh yeah, it was the Golden Gate bridge that Magneto ripped up to get to Alcatraz right? like i said, i only saw the movie once, so i could be wrong.
Chapter End Notes:
never fear, more to come. some of the Brotherhood learn why it's best not to mess with Rogue...