“Jaime, get in the damn van,” Pietro snapped as he slid the door open. “We’re moving.”
“Rogue you’re in front with me,” Wanda instructed as she moved around towards the driver’s side.
“Where’s Logan?” Jaime asked, but no one answered him. Sighing, he moved forward a few feet and glanced around the side of the building.
“Oh….” he trailed off.
A very pissed off Wolverine walked by him, hitting him in the shoulder and continued moving forward with a grunt. He then proceeded to open the back of the van and crawled inside.
A little dazed, Jaime turned back around to face what had caused his surprise. Just at the edge of the forest line, one trunk of a tree lay in splinters after being hacked to bits.
“R.I.P tree,” he muttered and turned back to the van with a shrug. “Sheesh, I need a vacation.”
Getting in the van beside Pietro, everyone was very aware not to speak to the suddenly very quite and more then usual tense Wolverine in the back of the van.
It was after a half and hour of silence and several different turns and twists along the roads taking them away from where they had just been that someone spoke.
“Talk Rogue,” Wanda voiced bluntly.
“What do you want to know?” Rogue answered quietly, her eyes focused outside the window.
Wanda snorted.
“How about the fact that you just woke up from the dead, have since then ignored us and spent your time fucking him!” Pietro yelled suddenly from the back seat.
Jaime was quickly aware of the fact that behind him the air appeared to go still if it was even possible, but Logan remained quite.
“Pietro!” Wanda hissed in annoyance. Pietro glared at his sister but sat back in his seat nonetheless.
“He’s right though, Rogue,” Wanda began. “What is going on? Who was that woman back there?”
“I don’t know who she is,” Rogue answered. “I just met her but her powers were overwhelming and very strong.”
“You could say that again,” Jaime added.
“What was she trying to do while…” Wanda cleared her throat. “While she was keeping you occupied?”
Rogue was quiet for a moment.
“Rogue…”
“I’m thinking, okay, it’s a bit fuzzy.”
“She wanted to take me back to her boss and I think she was going to put some kind of device in me so I’d have no room for argument.”
“Next question would be,” Pietro began steadily, his voice cool. “Why does her boss want you? The next one being, what did you do?”
Rogue sighed. “I found some information a few months ago about a faction in the government that was funding experiments on…certain…weapons to be used against mutants and I stole and destroyed one of them. I ruined years of their destructive work.”
Jaime whistled low from the back.
“You risked your life to destroy some new kind of warfare, like some kind of secret agent?” he added in shock.
“There are things far worse than you can imagine up their sleeves,” Rogue whispered with her eyes ahead on the road.
“Are you out of your fucking mind!?” Wanda snapped.
“I think you mean, ‘was’ I out of my fucking mind,” Rogue retorted.
Wanda stepped on the breaks suddenly and pulled the van over on the side of the road. Everyone jerked forward in their seats.
Wanda’s expression was seething as she turned to regard Rogue.
“Why the hell didn’t you think to include any of us in this?!”
“It was imperative that certain things remained unknown,” Rogue answered calmly.
“From who?” Wanda snapped. “From your own friends, mutant friends!” she stressed.
“Look,” Rogue began as her voice carried a sudden edge. “I appreciate your concern and everything you’ve done but this really doesn’t have to nor does it involve any of you. I need to handle this on my own, and if you don’t like that then fine, but there’s no need for you to all be in danger because of something I did.”
As she finished, she opened the van door and got out and started to walk away.
“That selfish bitch!” Wanda screamed and proceeded to open her own door and then slammed it shut.
“Cat fight,” Jaime observed from inside of the van.
“Jaime,” Pietro began.
“Yes.”
“Shut up,” Logan finished for the other man.
Jaime shrugged and got outside of the van on his side, aware of both Logan and Pietro doing the same.
“Rogue,” Wanda yelled after her retreating form.
“Wanda,” Rogue spun around suddenly. “You can’t be a part of this.”
Wanda’s eyes widened in surprised anger. “Can’t be a part of this,” she mocked. “Can’t be a part of what exactly? Can’t be a part of noticing the fact that you disappear? Can’t be a part of the fact that I find your dead body? Can’t be a part of the fact that I have to save your dead ass from my father’s own purposes? Can’t be a part of the fact that I had to go and get involved in whatever self-pitying romance you have with the one man on earth who would be willing to do what we needed despite everything? Can’t be a part of the fact that we’ve been shot at and chased cause of you? And now suddenly you’re alive again and you somehow think we’re not a part of this?” she gasped in disbelief. “Being your god damn friend in the first place is what got me here and right now as your friend, I’m telling you, you are an idiot!”
Rogue stood in silence as she watched Wanda’s tirade with wide eyes. It took a moment, as Wanda’s chest heaved slightly as she caught her breath but Rogue’s face suddenly split into a grin that she couldn’t hide. Her eyes even sparkled a bit.
“What?” Wanda questioned, a bit concerned by the reaction.
Rogue shook her head slightly. “I’ve just missed you, that’s all.”
Wanda opened her mouth once and then shut it again, a small smile building on her face. “So you agree then on the idiot part?”
“Here and there,” Rogue threw back.
“You going to stop being an idiot and let us all work through this together?”
Rogue’s gaze fell. “Only if that’s what you wish to do, remember I’m not asking…”
“Oh, shut up,” Wanda filled in.
Rogue smirked in response.
“Back in the van then ladies,” Jaime spoke up from behind them.
“No,” Logan’s dark voice carried between them.
“No?” Jaime turned around in confusion.
Logan’s dark gaze fell on Rogue and she fidgeted.
“Tell them about your powers? About how you came back,” he commanded in a low voice.
Rogue eyed him for a moment as they held each other’s gazes in a sign of silent communication before Rogue looked away.
“I can heal,” she muttered.
“I’m just going to use the obligatory, ‘what the fuck?’ here,” Jaime spoke as he raised his hand.
Rogue sighed and glanced at the ground before facing them again.
“My mutation for some reason or another has grown and is able to hold on to powers, kind of like a reserved battery source and my body has adapted to Logan’s own ability to heal but at a much slower rate.”
Reaching up she jerked back the collar of her shirt, showing a bite mark. Logan growled low and walked back towards the van.
“This will probably heal and be gone in maybe three to four hours. It works at a much slower rate then Logan’s.”
Pietro frowned and walked back towards the van as well.
“What about the other powers?” Wanda asked.
“They aren’t as prominent but I don’t have great control yet so don’t ask me to demonstrate.”
Wanda nodded slowly.
“I guess that explains why you seemed so off in the last months.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Rogue murmured.
“Hmm, I like this word ‘sorry’ when you use it.”
Rogue smiled back at Wanda and shook her head.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” she remarked as they headed back for the van.
“Yeah, well don’t forget it is part of your vocabulary.”
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