Logan, who since taking a prominent role at Xavier’s school often found he would compare himself to the deceased Scott Summers. Somehow the Boy Scout was still a pain in his ass. The thing was he’d never considered he was a control freak. He was a guy who went with the flow but if things weren’t going his way he always had a plan b, a plan b that usually involved a lot of violence but nonetheless he liked to consider himself as the type of guy who was fine with blending in with the shadows, watching the world in front of him.
Being in the sudden presence of Rogue after an almost two year absence and he found that maybe he and the deceased Fearless Leader were one in the same about a few things. Rogue made him want control because she took everything out from under him and turned it upside down and shook it up just for the hell of it.
And she fucking enjoyed it and it was driving him mad.
In the past he’d had a problem reconciling the fact that she had been so embedded in his life and now as she moved around with Mystique with an ever present smirk he had a major problem reconciling the fact that he no longer knew all there was to know about this Rogue.
Which made him feel unsure, which made him feel nervous and when he wondered why it made him nervous, it made him feel vulnerable because at one time she had been his constant, the one thing that made the world stand still and now she was the axis that was spinning round and round and he was merely along for the ride.
She was never meant to change.
As ridiculous as it sounded even to him, he’d always held her apart from the ever moving motions of the world. She was Rogue but to him she’d always been Marie, a part that had been just for him. A part he had held onto selfishly, because as long as he was around to check up on the kid and the kid was there, then all was right.
He was a selfish man. He’d always known it but Marie; she’d never imagined him that way.
She’d been the mirror that had reflected back to him the man he wanted to believe he could be.
Jean had never seen him as the good guy. She’d seen him as something wild and untamed, someone that could awaken her dark fantasies. He wasn’t one to pass up such a challenge but if he really examined his relationship with Jean. It had been nothing special. Not to speak ill of the dead and not to discourage the warmth he felt at calling her a friend and a teammate but she’d been just like every woman he ever recalled running into.
And Rogue even when she had been but a young girl on the precipice of adulthood had often looked at him as though she saw beyond the wild untamed forest that was his mind and his body and saw something in him he wasn’t even aware of.
It had scared him.
It scared him that someone could have such a hold on him and now, now like a greedy man, he missed that acknowledgment that he’d only ever felt from one person in the world, who made him feel like he had more to offer.
That gift he had at being seen was gone now.
That young girl even further away.
Everything so suddenly out of his grasp.
He’d lost that chance and now he could only swallow the bitter pill of reality whole.
He’d run out on her too many times in the past and now she was only running forward with no care for looking back.
And it wasn’t like she hadn’t tried before she’d finally let go.
It was a stupid decision to stay. He didn’t know why he was still here in this place of life and death. Sitting on the edge of his bed he watched as his claws slowly slid out and back in and hissed at the pain with a grim smile. The metal of his claws were clean and gleamed in the dim light but he knew they were far from spotless.
Reaching down at the foot of the bed he picked up the bottle of scotch and downed most of it as he tried to forget. The blackness of the room weighed heavily around him even as he spotted the outline of the sunlight around his drawn curtains, but the darkness inside of him almost suffocated him.
There was a small knock at his door and he sighed with his head down already knowing who it was. He wasn’t sure what day it was and how long it had been since he’d last spoken to her.
He remembered she’d appeared suddenly one night as he had stood over the three graves solemnly, a bottle in his hands for company. He couldn’t sleep and his room faced the graves anyways and he’d thought he might as well go and face the music head on.
She’d approached softly and he’d wanted to snarl and tell her to leave him alone like he’d done to everyone else but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. She didn’t deserve it. She was the one he’d told himself he was to protect.
She stood beside him quietly at first and although he could tell she was tense she wasn’t a fluttering case of nerves that would’ve had his senses on edge. He almost appreciated it.
He found he couldn’t talk. His voice silent since he’d done what he’d had to do to save the world. He’s actions had been clear.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered softly.
And unlike everyone else who had said sorry to him, sorry for having to put an end to it all, he could tell that her sorry carried more weight than trying to ease his conscience for what he’d had to do to the woman they’d all known as Jean. She spoke to him as though she knew how much the loss of Jean caused him, that more than just a friend and a teammate.
Somehow, that one word, that one repeated word that had been running around the mansion since Alcatraz finally meant something to him.
Her hand suddenly grasped his and he was shocked at feeling her bare skin without the usual pain her mutation would normally cause him. He almost wished her skin had sucked him in, took away some of the pain and the numbness but it wasn’t a fair thought to begin with, she didn’t need any more of his darkness inside of her.
“Logan,” Rogue spoke lightly. “If you need anything let me know. I’ll be here.”
She squeezed his hand and before he could turn and face her she was already walking away.
And he didn’t call after her, because she hadn’t approached him to talk, the wounds were still to raw, she’d simply let him know, she knew he needed his space but that someone was there for him. He stared down at his hand in awe, feeling the traces of her touch and he felt it almost burn him and jolt him back to some kind of consciousness if even for a moment.
But now sitting in the abyss he had created for himself he knew it had been over a month since that day and she was worried.
“Logan?” she called softly through the door and he sighed deeply but forced himself not to move.
She didn’t understand. This wasn’t her burden to bear. He wasn’t the hero she thought he was.
He’d ripped his claws through the woman he’d professed his love for. He was a monster. If he’d done that then how would it end with Marie?
She didn’t need any more of his sins to hold.
She’d opened the door and was standing in the door way, almost hovering and he could feel his anger boiling over at everything and at himself. Why the hell was he still here? Why was he letting her bear witness to his shame?
Standing up abruptly he stalked over towards her and his gait was swift as he towered over her with a glare.
He saw her eyes widen but she didn’t back up. She looked so small suddenly, so delicate.
“Logan, are you alright...” she began but her grabbed her by the shoulders suddenly and pushed her back out in the hall.
“Stay the fuck away, kid!” he growled out and then slammed the door on her stunned face.
He waited a moment to see if she’d try again but her light footsteps faded away after a moment and he smirked to himself as he lifted the bottle back up to his lips.
He’d jaded himself even more with each day he’d spent in solitude but he’d never imagined how much in return he would jade the young woman he had known as Marie.
Because even though everyone hadn’t judge him for his temperament after Alcatraz, the one person whose opinion mattered to him wasn’t even around once he’d started to make an effort again.
He was going to be the good guy.
He was going to stay around and pick up the pieces of the damage he’d been a part of.
But the most important piece of the puzzle had been missing, because Rogue had left and he hadn’t even known.
Looking for her, he’d never stopped and with every loose trail and cold end he’d begun to think that his search was more out of guilt then anything. But living at the mansion he’d found every day waiting for her to come around every corner with a beaming smile that always seemed to be wider just for him.
It never happened because she was just the ghost that haunted him. It was as though he’d laid her to rest beside those three graves in the garden. He’d constructed her own grave in his mind, his own punishment for his ignorance.
So he’d stayed on at the mansion for more than one reason because if he’d come back, then maybe someday she would, because it was the only place that had ever been a constant for both of them.
He had the time to spare.
And each day that he found himself suffering the constraining walls of a school full of children he always knew he had a bigger purpose in staying in just being the good guy.
That purpose though, presently was becoming more and more of an enigma each moment he spent with this new and much older Rogue.
Her dark eyes still had the power to pierce him with her gaze but they were guarded. Her luscious red lips while they might smile were somehow always condescending and there was no warmth in either a small smile or a smirk. No familiarity. Her sharp cheek bones, while evidence of her growth as a woman, hardened everything about her and only added to highlight the twist of a smirk or the sharpness of a gaze.
If there was anything recognizable for him to see, she kept it hidden well behind her easy mask of indifference and playfulness.
A playfulness that evoked the tempting of a sinister siren that beckoned him into a maze of confusion and doubt.
The locks of her auburn hair mixed with the shock of white were the only thing that gave him momentary pause to the past. She hadn’t changed the white. She hadn’t tried to forget.
But the curves and the confident stance of her body of a beautiful full grown woman made him even wearier of the vixen before him because he could tell she knew how to use everything from her voice, to her smile, to her gaze and to the rest of body as a weapon.
Her skin wasn’t the only thing that could render a man speechless.
And he hated to know that a man like Remy LeBeau had touched her body in ways he hadn’t, in ways he found himself imagining despite the confusion.
Because unexpectedly he was reconciling the most disturbing thing of all, he wanted her. He wanted her mind, body and soul. He desired more than just familiar friendship; he wanted to accept her siren’s call. The darker parts of him called forth in his mind as he realized such thoughts made him bitter and jealous because he was a selfish man and despite his past ignorance he felt that in some way, she was just his. That subconsciously he’d already decided long ago that they were meant to be one another’s. Finally, acknowledging what her hold over him years ago actually meant.
But it seemed he was too late because the woman before him, wasn’t as accepting and she’d moved on but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling the way he did, despite the uncertainty and anger but most of all he had no idea how to approach her, how to find a way back into her world.
His actions were not out of guilt but out of need.
And he wanted to take her away from Mystique and from the rest of the world where she felt she needed to play the part of Rogue. He wanted to be the one to remove her mask and all he needed was a sign that the essence of who Marie was, was still in there, and he’d be the only one to recognize it.
But with each passing second she was making it harder and harder.
“Would you stop growling under your breath,” she snapped at him across the table, without lifting her eyes up from the paper.
Glaring at her, he shifted his eyes around the small patio of the cafe and was glad to see no one else had noticed he’d been growling as he’d been lost in his thoughts.
He picked up his coffee and grimaced at how cold it was.
His eyes scanned across the park that was in front of them and towards the street over where a tall gray building was beside many other tall gray buildings. Graydon Creed’s headquarters weren’t all that impressive but he wasn’t the one with the best view.
“Any news on their progress?” she spoke suddenly, her tone the common neutrality he was getting accustomed to with her.
“No,” he grunted and looked back at her.
She was smiling at him and he frowned in annoyance.
“Don’t sound so put out,” she began. “You could have been with the team doing the reconnaissance work.”
He glared at her and was annoyed by her suddenly relaxed demeanor as she settled back in her seat.
“Somebody had to watch you.”
Her eyebrow rose up and she bit the bottom of her lip in amusement. “Watch me?” she questioned with false innocence.
“If Graydon knows about you, we don’t want you getting spotted.”
“Fair enough,” she muttered with a sly nod. “That doesn’t explain why Mystique got to go along.”
“Storm can handle the blue bitch and she can shape shift,” he explained despite the fact he knew she was only toying with him, trying to drag out information.
She leaned across the table and straightened up. “Doesn’t explain why you’re here and not there?” she finished by nodding her head across the street.
“Because I know you like to play games, Rogue,” he growled low. “And ever since that Cajun showed up and disappeared I’m less inclined to believe your little story. So I want you as far away from where everything is happening as possible until you feel the need to finally share the truth.”
Her mischievous gaze bore into him but after a moment she relaxed again.
“Whatever, you say, Logan,” she muttered with a dramatic sigh.
He watched her and after a beat he spoke again deciding the particular topic wasn’t finished, “You know why you’re being treated this way Rogue. You know us, you know us even better then Mystique and you’re not telling us anything. You’re the one walking the line and deciding which way you’ll turn...”
“What are you so worried about?” she spoke up abruptly and a steel like focus bled into her orbs. “Do you think history is going to repeat itself?”
“What?” he responded in confusion.
The smile that slipped on her face was a restrained one.
“All of you keep talking to me like I’m still one of you. I wasn’t even really one of you,” she muttered but her eyes stayed focused on him. “I wasn’t even at the great battle. I was the traitor remember, the one who ran away to get the cure.”
“Marie...” he began but she cut him off sharply and her eyes turned hard.
“The last time a so-called X-Men went off on their own they joined Magneto and almost destroyed the world.”
His entire body went still as she approached the subject.
“And we know I was never known for being exactly stable but,” she began with an odd airy sigh that was really acid like in its delivery as she continued, “But if you and the rest of the X-Men keep looking at me like I’m going to suddenly go off the deep end and take you with me, I might just show you something that might justify those fears.”
He could feel the threat in her cold words and he kept his face neutral because there was one tiny thing he picked up on despite the annoyance in her tone, she appeared to be concerned about what they all thought.
As though she picked up on his train of thought she spoke again, “Jean was my friend and all but no one likes to be compared to a raging lunatic consumed with unlimited power.”
He stared at her in mild shock at her bluntness.
“Give me something to believe you’re not setting us up,” he replied harshly, annoyed that she was getting him so worked up.
“You’re more careful these days aren’t you?” she replied mockingly.
Reaching for her paper again, her eyes drifted away and she murmured, “You’ll get your proof when the X-Men get back.”
“So they will be getting back then?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Of course, Logan. The world needs the X-Men and who I’m I to stand in the way of such righteousness.”
He scowled at her and found himself almost hating her. She made it so easy and once he realized it, he finally sat back in his seat and relaxed because if she wanted him to detest her, if she wanted to maintain a divide between them, he’d do his best to make sure she was unsuccessful.
So he waited and he watched her.
And he knew the exact moment it became too much for her as she looked up and acknowledged his unrelenting stare.
“What?”
He shrugged and a little confusion slipped into her eyes before the emotion was shut down efficiently but he didn’t refrain from his watchful gaze.
He was making her annoyed and now he was the one amused.
She opened her mouth slowly and he waited for the harsh retort but she surprised him as a weariness fluttered through her and he wasn’t sure she was aware of the change, no matter how subtle it was. His silence and relaxed stare were putting her on edge. He was learning how to change tactics.
Surprising him, she closed her mouth and silently glared at him. Silence over took her and within seconds her body movements became fluid as she floated back into her seat, her temperament outwardly appearing neutral again, but he eyed the crease in her lips where she was faintly biting the inside of her cheek.
He continued to stare at her.
Her fingers twitched along the newspaper edges and he knew now she was only pretending to read as the minutes ticked by.
“What is it Logan?” she muttered under her breath harshly. “I never knew you to play such childish games.”
“I’m interested that’s all,” he replied.
Without moving her head her eyes moved up to meet his.
“In what?” she sighed again and glanced back at the paper. “You have seen the female body before haven’t you?”
The corner of his eyes twitched and he felt the glare gliding over his facial features but he held it back.
“What are you doing?” he asked plainly.
“Reading the paper.”
He leant forward and rested his arms across the table.
“I mean what are you doing with your life?”
She looked up at him finally with wide eyes and she laughed at him.
“Are you serious?” she gasped in disbelief.
He nodded.
“I didn’t know you to be so fucking philosophical,” she replied, the tone albeit came across annoyed but the fracture in her voice conveyed an animosity. A hostility he found in the past two days came across often enough he wondered if she knew how much it seemed to surround her.
“I mean really Rogue,” he began, extremely serious. “Is this, whatever this is,” he motioned his hands in front of him. “Is this where you thought you would be in your life, is this what you want?”
Watching him for a moment, she appeared content to find he was genuine and she finally folded the paper up and leant across the table as well.
“I had a plan once Logan,” she began almost softly. “If you really want to know, I had hopes and dreams like any other girl.” She paused and smoothed one of her gloves down with her other hand. “Such a long time ago,” she muttered and her eyes appeared to glaze over, somehow looking through him. “But being the mutant that I am,” she spoke more focused as her eyes cleared. “There are no such things as hopes and dreams and wonderment. There is only the present and the will to carry on and if you’re looking for more meaning in the things I do, you won’t find it because I’ve learned the consequences of believing I could change things, make things better. Is that what you want to hear, Logan? You want to know what big event led me to sitting here with you, on opposite sides? It isn’t that simple, because it isn’t the big events that always shape our choices, it’s the small things, the things that add up in the end and Logan,” she paused and looked him dead in the eye. “The moment my mutation manifested I knew, I had no choice in the matter about where my life took me. It doesn’t matter what I want.”
She smelled like cigarettes and bitterness to him, a bitterness that appeared to taint the air around her, that he could almost taste it on his tongue and he could only stare at her in awe.
“What made you hate the world, Rogue?” he whispered, as he felt some kind of pain and shame build up in him in disgust at whatever had twisted the young woman he had always prided himself on into some warped soldier of the world.
“What makes you think it wasn’t a who?” she replied as she lifted one eyebrow in question, something familiar he knew she’d acquired from absorbing him so much.
He sat back a little and felt himself shake his head at her.
“You saying I made you this way?”
And he didn’t care that his voice wavered.
She glanced away and watched the people wandering through the park.
“Marie...” he implored her with a light whisper.
“No,” she replied softly and turned back to face him with a tight smile. “It’s never just the big things remember,” she muttered and picked up her coffee.
His abandonment of her and in not being there for her when she needed him or even in accepting her friendship had caused her great pain, he knew that, he knew she could hide it but she didn’t but while his betrayal had no doubt hurt her most of all, it had been all the little things that had caused her to leave Xavier’s.
It had been the accusations from her peers about making a personal decision to take the cure. It had been the self-doubt that her peer’s stares caused her to question her worth in not being there for her teammates. It had been the death of her friends and mentor. The secrets behind her back from her supposed friends that made her look the part of the fool. It had been the unease at finding she was caught between two worlds, no longer a mutant but not exactly human. And when the last thing that she had always depended on, him, had turned her away, she’d rightly concluded it was time to move on.
It was the little things that made the biggest decisions easier in the end.
And in looking at the woman who sat across from him now, he could feel his usual anger and mistrust fade away as his heart broke to know that such a light had been burned out.
“Going through life blaming everyone else for your own misfortunes isn’t a way to live either Logan,” she spoke calmly, even though her hard eyes glistened in the sunlight. “I am what I am.”
Something must have changed in his expression as her lips thinned and her chin jutted out.
“Stop looking at me like that, stop looking at me like I’m her, I’m not little innocent Marie anymore Logan stop trying to bring her back,” she snapped.
“I never thought you were innocent Rogue,” he replied softly. “Good and something to be protected, but I more than anyone knew there was an edge to you, I recognized it because it’s in me.”
She scoffed at him and sat back.
“You drew me to you, even in that dingy bar in the middle of nowhere, because you where both the dark and the light and eventually I knew that it gave you the ability to accept me, to have a greater understanding of the world. The problem now is, you’ve let that edge spill over into a world where you no longer let yourself see brightness and clarity not only in yourself but in those around you.”
“I can’t believe you can just sit there and say that to me. I don’t even know who you are, you’ve gone and blinded yourself to Xavier’s dream and along the way you’ve just lost yourself. You can’t even remember why the world brings you pain. Just flashes here and there of a procedure you may have signed up for voluntary or not,” she whispered harshly. “I remember every detail of what has lead me on this path and I learned pretty fucking clear that being naive to Xavier’s dream costs people their lives.”
His hands clenched into two fists as he felt the anger rise in him at her dig at his unknown past. He’d never thought her to be so callous.
“So you are Brotherhood,” he whispered with a low growl.
“No,” she replied and shook her head at him as though he didn’t possess the ability to understand what she was trying to say. “No,no,” she muttered as she cast her eyes down. “You can’t understand.”
“You don’t believe in trying to make the world a better place by trying to work with the humans?”
“Humans who used you up and would use you up again if they got the chance, Wolverine,” she hissed low and her eyes openly glistened with unshed tears.
“I’m not a monster,” she continued forcefully. “I want such a world just as you do Logan, just as Storm and Jubilee wish it to be but I cannot sit here and believe in one man anymore, I cannot believe in Xavier’s dream and I have my reasons.”
“You look at me and you see changes and you think they’re bad changes because they don’t conform to your past ideals. Ideals narrow your views, Logan and sitting here, I see the changes in you, I see the almost rosy, numb way you view the world now and I don’t fault you for it, I can see in some ways it has made you a better man, in your eyes,” she paused and sighed. “To me you were always a good man.”
He knew it took a lot for her to openly tell him that and he felt his chest tighten as there was no mocking in her words.
“In some ways Logan, I am proud of where I am right now and you might not be able to understand that, but I’ve learned to do what I have to do and I’ve tried not to lose those parts of me that I always felt were just Marie but the world can be a hard place, Logan and just because I grew hard with it does not mean I’m a failure.”
He sat back and found himself digesting her words and he found that while he still didn’t understand her, he knew that he had no place to judge her and that even though she enjoyed antagonizing him, it wasn’t the way for him to go with her. He’d failed before to understand her need when it came to him and now all he wanted was some common ground.
“I’m sorry, Rogue. If I implied that somehow no longer being an X-Men makes you less – that’s not what I meant- that’s not...”
“I know,” she interrupted him and even though she accepted his words he could tell a sense of relief came with them, as maybe part of the problem had been the line that was between them as an X-Men and a non-X-men. It gave him hope that maybe the divide between them as friends was much less. That it was fixable.
“Don’t feel ashamed for something that makes you proud, Logan,” she spoke up after a moment but her eyes were back again on the distant park. “You found a place that you belong.”
He was the good guy and yet he felt empty. Being an X-men had somehow turned into the symbol for everything he defined himself as and he never thought such a day would come. But Rogue honestly; spoke to him as though, even though she herself was surprised by the change in him, just as much as he himself was becoming aware of, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. But she was wrong about finding a place to belong. When he’d met her and when he’d gone after her without the X-Men and promised her on the train that day, he’d been the good guy without a symbol to hide behind, he’d found someone else that gave him that feeling of belonging.
Being an X-Men wasn’t shameful but somehow, blending into the team, he’d lost himself and to him that was the most shocking thing of all. He’d forgotten along the way how to function according to his rules.
He’d lost a part of himself and become soft and Rogue had gained something and become harder and neither was willing to judge the other anymore.
It was a common ground he was willing to start with.
And as he watched her sit still with an open gaze on the people all around them, he spotted the small familiarity in her. He saw no hate in her eyes at the world around her, just a bitter understanding of how things worked. A look he’d seen time and time again when she’d watched the other children at Xavier’s freely use their powers without a worry.
She may be far more protective of allowing anyone into her world but there was still a spark of hope in her eyes as she watched the world pass by that told him she still was the young woman he’d known, she’d just learned how to survive.
The vibrating in his front jacket pocket caught him off guard. Shifting his eyes away from Rogue he reached in and pulled out the cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Logan,” Storm replied on the other end, her voice sounded calm.
“How did things go?”
“They weren’t lying about Gradyon,” she supplied and he could tell there was a sense of relief in her voice.
“What did you find?”
He was aware that Rogue was watching him and listening as best she could.
“The security for one is way too advanced and high-maintenance for a possible senator. Security is in place for another reason.”
“Did you find what he’s protecting?”
“Shadowcat and Iceman were able to create a visual outline of the building, inside and out. Shadowcat was able to hack into their security system and a remarkable source of power is being directed towards the lower level. Further intelligence shows that certain rooms are blocked from the heat sensors, which means there is a lot of illegal machinery and activity occurring, why else would a politician be needing such power and security over kill.”
“But you have no proof that it is the sentinel program?”
“No we don’t. It’s too dangerous to enter the building without a plan but obviously Graydon Creed is up to something. It’s worth checking into.”
“I don’t disagree.”
“But you’re concerned,” she responded carefully.
He eyed Rogue.
“Yes,” he replied slowly.
“Has Rogue said anything further?”
“No,” he replied and kept his voice neutral as his eyes flickered around the cafe. “Were you expecting her to?”
“Hopeful thinking, I suppose,” she replied and paused.
“She has no reason to distrust us.”
He stood up and walked towards the path of the park, he nodded at Rogue as he went and she rolled her eyes but stayed in her seat.
“It’s not that easy, Storm. She trusts us to do what’s best in this scenario but she does not trust us the way you want her to. You aren’t her friend.”
“And what are you to her then?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” he muttered darkly and glanced at Rogue in the distance.
“I would have thought she would have trusted you out of all of us,” she spoke quietly.
“’Ro,” he started with a sigh. “I’d like to tell you she in some way doesn’t hold us accountable for certain issues before she left but you know that be pointless.”
“I...”
“We all made some poor choices,” he continued. “But I don’t think that’s what this is all about, there’s something more personal going on here then just her reluctance to help us.”
“And do you think that’s what is keeping her from being so open with us?”
“In part.”
“Do you think Mystique has some kind of hold over her?”
“Yes,” he replied darkly. “But I’m not exactly sure how.”
Storm sighed slowly. “We’ll move forward with this Graydon Creed thing but I will not allow Mystique any more lee way.”
“You gunna come down harder on the blue bitch ain’t ya ‘Ro,” he responded with a smile clear in his voice.
“It’s no secret she infuriates me.”
He laughed. “She infuriates everyone; I think its part of her mutation.”
“And Rogue?” he asked solemnly after a pause.
“Maybe even though we cannot say we fully trust her and she isn’t willing to trust us, we should be more considerate.”
“Considerate to a liar,” he snorted.
“Logan,” she stressed. “Your annoyance doesn’t hide how you really feel.”
He frowned.
“I thought how I feel is what got us into trouble last time.”
“Logan,” she spoke again with more directness. “Rogue is a capable woman, a woman who is in clear ability of making her own choices. Maybe if we show her we understand that, she’ll...”
“Decide to drop Mystique and move back to the mansion and become an X-Men,” he interrupted with bitter sarcasm.
“That would be the most desired outcome,” she deadpanned.
He shook his head.
“All I’m going to tell you as of now Logan is to stop watching her like she’s going to hand us over to Magneto himself any second.”
“If that’s how you want it,” he responded.
“That may be a command, Logan, but take it from a woman herself, no woman likes to be watched to the point she feels like you’re suffocating her. I know how intense you can be and certainly where Rogue has been concerned...”
“Is there a point to this?” he snapped.
“Rogue always trusted you, Logan. She trusted you with her life and I don’t think she even came close to trusting the rest of us that way. If you give her room to breathe, then maybe she’ll come to you with whatever is troubling her.”
“You’re too much of an optimist, any one ever tell you that?”
“You tell me that all the time, Logan.”
“Yeah, well you haven’t changed your tune and it’s damn annoying.”
She laughed lightly.
“Meet us back on the jet, Logan.”
He grunted in reply and hung up.
Running his hand through his hair he paused to release a haggard sigh. Life had never been this complicated when he’d been on the road, earning money on the fighting circuit but then again that hadn’t been much of a life at all but at least he always got by on instinct.
Instinct though was too complicated by reality and practical thought. Not having a good enough read on Rogue made even his instincts become obsolete. She’d always had the power to be the one to get under his skin, to throw off his perceptions but he knew she was bound to him in a mutual understanding that they were one in the same.
His promise to her on the train years ago had been simple instinct, no added thought to make him question why he felt tied to her but the promise hadn’t been empty, it held a truth for the future; that he would be there for her.
And even though, presently he had no idea which way she’d run if he pushed her in the wrong direction, he figured Strom was right in a sense, he’d give Rogue some extra breathing room and maybe her defences would come down. His promise had been a two way street, he’d seen it in her unrelenting stare even when she’d appeared so young, that she trusted him with her life and he the same. So even though he failed to keep her trust where her heart was concerned he wasn’t about to break a promise, one of the only promises he’d ever made.
Turning back to the patio he found his blood run cold as all the tables were empty. Two forgotten half-finished coffees rested beside a folded newspaper.
His eyes quickly scanned the park and he found his heartbeat rise as he saw no familiar streak of white within auburn locks.
“Shit,” he swore under his breath.
He wanted to be angry, observing she’d already failed him in giving her a little amount of space but with each passing second he became anxious and concerned. She had no reason to take off when Storm had confirmed Mystique was telling the truth.
Running forward towards the table he sniffed the air and tried to focus on her familiar scent. The extreme aroma from inside the cafe mixed with the passing fumes of several cars caused a slight hindrance for a moment before he found her sweet scent.
She hadn’t gone far.
Relaxing a little bit he followed her scent and made his way discreetly through a side alley way that made its way onto the main road.
Rogue stood leaning against the brick wall as her eyes focused on something in front of Creed’s building.
“Rogue,” he growled low as he approached her but she didn’t turn around to face him.
“You were on the phone; it would have been rude of me to interrupt.”
He snorted at her southern hospitality.
“Come on let’s go,” he muttered, frowning at her back and suddenly feeling anxious.
“In a minute,” she threw over her shoulder.
“Storm confirmed your information, so let’s go; we can’t chance Graydon seeing us.”
“I know that,” she replied. “Which is why I’m hiding across from this dirty dumpster and not sitting on that nice clean bench across the street. A girl’s got to have some sense about these things.”
“Rogue,” he stressed again and found himself instinctively reaching forward and circling his hand around her arm.
She turned and looked up at him in surprise but didn’t pull away. Looking into her eyes he could tell she was concerned about something.
“What’s wrong?” he asked after a beat as he realized she was unusually serious.
“Friend’s of Humanity,” she muttered.
Her eyes widened as she spotted something in the distance and she pulled him closer into the shadows.
“Graydon,” she whispered in his ear as a black limo drove past the alleyway and pulled up in front of Creed Industries.
He watched from their hiding spot with avid concentration despite the fact he was finding it hard to ignore that he was pressed so warmly against her body and he could feel her warm breath on his neck each time she exhaled.
A tall man with surprisingly broad shoulders exited the limo and buttoned his expensive suit jacket as he whispered to the driver. His short ginger hair was sleeked back and emphasized his square jaw. His dark eyebrows hovered over his eyes in an ominous manner despite the efforts to groom himself efficiently. Logan recalled seeing his image briefly on television before but in person he could tell there was something sinister in the politician just from the way he walked. The expensive suit didn’t hide the fact that for a politician Graydon was in unusual good shape, the outline of his body almost familiar to him but he didn’t know why.
“We should go,” he whispered.
“Not yet,” she replied and he involuntarily shivered as her lips hovered closer above his skin.
“Rogue,” he hissed low, feeling uncomfortable at being so close to Graydon before their true mission and the fact that she was so close to him, it was playing on his senses.
“Believe me he’s not paying attention to anyone but himself right now,” she muttered darkly.
She was right. Graydon walked purposely through the doors of his building and ignored several people around him. The man certainly had an ego.
Graydon disappeared from his view and the limo pulled away and his focus was suddenly mundane as a few people walked along the street, their minds elsewhere. With nothing to concentrate on he found himself becoming more aware of the proximity he was in to Rogue, who was unnaturally quiet.
Slowly, dropping his hand from her, his eyes cast downward as he stepped back. Coughing slightly his eyes drifted back up at her but she was once again focused on something past them.
“Let’s go Rogue,” he spoke up, but his voice was calm as he picked up on her agitation.
She glanced at him briefly and he thought for a moment she silently relented as there was a raw openness to her eyes but then she smirked and stepped out onto the street and walked briskly towards Creed Industries.
His eyes widened in surprise and for what he considered an embarrassing moment, he was startled into silence.
Clenching his teeth, he glared after her retreating form and substituted the profanity he felt rising in him for a growl as he quickly glanced around the street and followed her.
Not wanting to appear as though he was running after her, he quickened his pace and watched her intently, while making his senses open for the reappearance of Graydon.
She surprised him again though, when she by passed the doors to Creed Industries and continued on until she slipped into another alleyway. Catching up, he darted into the alley and ran after her.
“Rogue,” he snarled low as she stood waiting against another non-unique dumpster, her eyes on what appeared to be a lone black door near the end of the exit.
“Shhh,” she snapped, as though somehow he was the one that was acting out of line.
“Care to explain?” he whispered harshly.
A black van suddenly drove in from the other end of the alley and came to a stop in front of the door and in response Rogue pushed him down behind the dumpster out of view.
“I told you, Friends of Humanity,” she whispered intently.
He glanced around the dumpster and noticed that no one had exited the van yet.
“When you were talking to Storm,” she began in a low voice. “I started to notice that black van was circling Creed’s building. There was a transport truck parked in the front entrance of the alley and I noticed when the van kept coming back they appeared to be waiting to enter. “
“I know van’s have a habit of being under suspicion, Rogue, but what...”
“Mystique has done her research alright,” she emphasized as she finally fully looked him in the eye. “She has watched how the FOH operates under surveillance. Since Creed wants to keep a low profile until he gets a senate seat he still prides himself on his organization, which means he still likes to be involved. The FOH has a habit of picking up mutants, either to beat them up for information, to use or even to frame to advance their hateful agenda or just for the fun of kicking around.”
“And Logan,” she spoke with sudden focus. “People in the FOH don’t discriminate when it comes to age.”
“You’re saying he picks up mutant kids?”
She nodded and glanced back around the dumpster as they both heard the doors slide open.
“Runaways have no one to miss them,” she whispered. “They’re the easiest to frame in showing the public how dangerous and threatening mutants are.”
He nodded and felt anger rise up in him even more when it came to Gradyon Creed.
Three rough voices echoed around the alley as three men dressed in civilian clothing exited the van. One of the men who was slightly overweight and had a splotchy beard was laughing about something and slapped the taller of the men on the back that had a stern look about him. Watching them, even from a distance Logan could tell each man had a gun on him, despite their regular appearance.
“I still don’t find your jokes funny, Rich,” the taller man spoke with a glare.
Rich, the overweight man stopped laughing immediately and frowned.
“How ‘bout this,” Rich replied. “The only good mutie is a dead mutie.”
Rich laughed again not even waiting for either of the two men to join in.
The tall man glanced at the driver who had been silent since the exchange.
“Can’t argue with that Steve,” the man who had been the driver replied with a slight grin.
Slowly, a nasty smile made its way on Steve’s face. “No I suppose we can’t Dave,” he finished as he gave Rich a small nod. “You’re still no comedian.”
“And you’re still up tight,” Rich replied with a glare. “All you ex-marines are the same.”
Steve glared down at Rich. “Let’s see what you have then,” he directed. “Go and get the cargo out of the back and no problems this time.”
“Yeah, we don’t want to have to clean up another one of your messes,” Dave added but there was no humour in his voice.
Rich muttered under his breath and disappeared around the back of the van.
Watching, Logan could feel a growl building in his chest as the three men talked with obvious disdain for the rest of humanity. It sickened him and he could tell Rogue was in agreement with his sentiment as she became tense with rage.
Rich appeared again after a moment with a young man who must have been at the oldest eighteen. His hands were tied up and a gag was around his mouth. His short brown hair was a mess and he had an obvious bruise on his right cheek. He looked shaken up and his wide eyes spoke of fear.
Steve hardly acknowledged the young boy but his voice was hard as he spoke next. “Now, don’t try running again this time, freak. Rich here doesn’t like the exercise and he’s libel to use his gun next time and don’t go thinking anyone’s gunna miss you.”
Dave raised his hand up to the young boy and motioned a gun signal as he muttered, “Bang, bang.”
The boy mumbled something through the cloth in his mouth and Steve turned sharply.
“What’s that?”
Rich laughed. “I think he’s trying to communicate with you.”
Steve glared at both of them and stepped forward as he yanked the gag out of the young man’s mouth.
“Got something to say, freak?”
The mutant swallowed deeply but he glared back at the taller man. “I already told you, I won’t tell you where any mutant hide outs are.”
Steve laughed suddenly and yanked him closer. “You’ll talk son or otherwise you’ll just be another dead mutie on the street.”
The mutant glared back at him silently.
Steve pushed him away in sudden disgust towards Rich.
“Let’s get him inside.”
Logan leaned over towards Rogue as he prepared a course of action but she stood up suddenly and walked out from behind the dumpster.
The silent profanity that ran rapid throughout his mind immediately was filled with swear words even he thought he had forgotten.
Rogue walked forward down the alley and it wasn’t until she was halfway towards the van did they notice her.
Rich let out a low whistle as his gaze landed appreciating on Rogue and Logan curled his fists in response.
Her walk was slow and measured as she sauntered towards them and even though Logan knew it was for show, he couldn’t help but notice how her hips swayed as well but he could feel the anger she was emoting and he wondered just how things were going to play out.
Both Steve and Dave turned around to see what had got Rich’s attention.
“Hello, boys,” Rogue drawled.
Dave smiled in response and his beady eyes openly wandered her body.
Steve though, frowned. “You lost?” he grunted.
Rogue smiled and quirked her lips. “No, no,” she hummed to herself. “I appear to be in the exact place I should be.”
“Like in my dreams,” Rich replied eagerly.
Rogue ignored him and glanced around them as she eyed the young boy. “What you got there?”
“None of your business,” Steve replied sharply. “So run along.”
Rogue paused and appeared to think over his advice but then she shook her head playfully. “And I’m not supposed to tell anyone right?”
“You’ll keep your mouth closed,” Steve commanded as he reached behind his back and pulled out a hand gun.
“I don’t think that’s an option,” Rogue replied, her voice suddenly harsh and cold.
“Who the hell are you?” Dave asked.
“I think with you people it would be more along the lines of, ‘what the hell am I?’”
Both Rich and Dave frowned but Steve’s face quickly turned into a disgusted glare. “A fucking mutant,” he spat.
She smiled and nodded.
“You got to be fucking kidding me,” Rich yelled as he pushed past Steve and stepped closer towards her. “Such a shame to ruin such a fine sweet ass.”
Abruptly, the large dumpster sailed forth along the wall and smacked Rich right in the face. Logan stood with an odd mixture of a smile and a glare on his face as he joined Rogue. His satisfaction was well apparent in ramming Rich with the dumpster as he stepped over the unconscious man’s body.
“Good execution, sugah,” Rogue replied as he stood beside her.
“He was getting on my nerves,” he added gruffly but kept his eyes on the two stunned men before them, Rich down for the count.
When both Dave and Steve had finally comprehended what had just happened it took at the most five seconds for them to open fire. Logan attempted to push Rogue away but instead he was the one who found himself sailing towards the ground as Rogue pushed him down and walked forward unmindful of the rain of fire power. Glancing up in shock, he watched in fear as each bullet hit her but he could see no damage.
Steve’s face finally broke into emotion as fear creeped across his eyes as Rogue only continued to advance on him. Finally, he stepped back as his gun clicked on empty and Rogue stood in front of him.
“This was a nice shirt,” she muttered before she punched him directly in the face and then reached behind his neck and shoved his face down onto her knee. He slumped to the ground immediately.
Dave’s jaw dropped and he reached for his second gun that was stashed around his ankle. Logan snarled and jumped up as he charged at the other man and grabbed his arm back and was satisfied when he heard the bone break and Dave screamed as his hand dropped the gun and he cradled his arm.
“You sick freaks!” Dave screamed, but there were tears of pain in his eyes.
Dave attempted to attack him with his other hand but Logan growled in his face and shoved him against the wall.
“You’re the poor excuse for human life,” he whispered callously into the scared FOH’s face and before he gave him a chance to reply he head butted him and Dave slumped against the wall, joining his fellow comrades in unconsciousness.
Turning around quickly he spotted Rogue as she searched Steve. Running up to her he pushed her up and had her up against the other wall as his hands rove over her stomach franticly. His eyes darted back and forth for any sign of the bullet wounds behind her hole ridden shirt.
“Logan,” she whispered but he continued as he lifted her ruined shirt up and was amazed to see only her perfect pale skin unharmed. The muscles on her stomach contracted at his touch as his finger grazed a spot where he could see a small fading mark of red and she gasped in response; he pulled back to quick for her skin to react but he spotted the few goose bumps that appeared on her skin.
“Logan?” she questioned breathlessly and he finally looked up at her in awe and relief.
His hands circled around her hips as he leaned in towards her and scented her for any blood, but there was nothing. His awe turned into anger.
She was watching him quietly and she appeared surprised by his actions but she didn’t pull away and even though he could feel both of their hearts beating with an adrenaline rush and there was a spike in both of their scents that made him want to bury his nose in her hair, he refused to get lost in the moment.
Leaning in with their lips only a centimetre apart he whispered harshly, “Don’t ever do something stupid like that again.”
Her brow crinkled in shock for a moment and she almost smiled but she must have picked up on how serious he was and she nodded slowly. Reaching down, her gloved hands came to rest on his.
“Logan,” she whispered tentatively. “Bullets can’t pierce my skin.”
He clenched his jaw. “I don’t care.”
“Why?” she whispered and her dark brown eyes bore into his. “You may heal Logan, but they still would have cut you down. You would still have felt the pain of a bullet ripping through your skin and your organs.”
He refused to budge and he tired to ignore it as her skin flushed a little on her neck as his breath ran over her neck and her cheek.
“Do you feel pain?” he asked with force even though he felt his voice was still a whisper.
She looked away. “Only a little,” she muttered.
He frowned at her. “Don’t do it again.”
“Logan, you’re being....”
“Ah, excuse me,” a voice interrupted them.
They both glanced at the young man who walked out from the back of the van where he’d obviously taken cover.
“What?” Logan growled annoyed at the interruption.
“Uh, thanks,” he muttered. “For kicking those guys’ asses.”
“They were asking for it,” Rogue replied and she glanced back at Logan and waited.
Slowly, he pulled his hands away and stepped back.
“You think you could untie me?”
“Sure,” she replied kindly, her eyes shyly glancing away from Logan’s.
Rogue started to release his bonds and Logan focused on picking up the unconscious men as he dragged them back into the van. He glanced around the alley and paused to focus his senses to see if their little fight had drawn any attention but only the sound of the cars driving by in the distance came to his notice.
“The name’s Reggie, you guy’s mutants too?”
Rogue nodded. “Nice to meet you Reggie, I’m Rogue and that’s Logan.”
“Cool,” he replied.
“You have a place to stay?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Good but I’d stay away from wherever these guys got the drop on you before.”
“Of course,” Reggie nodded eagerly.
Placing Dave in the back of the van Logan went and got Steve.
“You’ve got some cool powers,” Reggie continued to Rogue.
Rogue was quiet as she finished untangling his bonds around his wrists.
“I mean if I could have bullet proof skin that would be the coolest....”
“What’s your power, Reggie?” she interrupted him tightly but he didn’t seem to pick up on her underlying tone but he answered her anyways.
“Oh, well I can breathe under water.”
Logan glanced around the van doors as Reggie indicated the gills on his neck below his collar.
“Well, that’s pretty cool,” Rogue replied off-hand.
“Yeah I guess,” he responded. “Didn’t help me with these guys though.”
Rogue turned and picked up Rich and threw him over her back like he weighed nothing. Reggie’s eyes widened and he gasped in shock. Rogue deposited Rich in the back and shut the door as though there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Listen, kid,” Logan spoke up. “Try and stay away from here okay. Take care of yourself.”
“You got it,” Reggie replied eagerly. “Thanks again really, if there’s anything I can do...”
“Don’t get captured,” Rogue replied with a tight smile as she slipped into the driver’s seat.
Reggie nodded and started to walk away and Logan could tell he was a little shocked by what had just happened but would be alright.
Opening the passenger door, Logan slipped in as Rogue started the engine.
“Where we going to stash these guys?” he asked, as he kept his eyes ahead trying to forget the feel of her warm skin just moments again and the heat that had passed between them.
“I might know of a few places.”
He glanced at her.
She smirked at him. “Being with Mystique you kind of know about these kinds of things more than anybody. She’s prepared that way.”
He snorted.
“Don’t tell me she goes around buying real estate?”
“Yeah, and when she does she makes sure to ask if the basement is sound proof.”
He shook his head and laughed a little to himself but he was unnerved by the sourness below her words. There was an almost weariness to her when she talked about Mystique and she talked as though they were one in the same and he began to wonder if maybe she had been serious when she had said Mystique was her mother. Before he’d simply refused to accept it and played along but now, now he realized she’d been telling the truth.
And as she drove in silence he realized Mystique didn’t physically have a hold over Rogue; Rogue saw herself differently because of who her mother was.
Following Storm’s advice Logan decided that breathing room meant less accusations as well and he concluded in that moment that he was going to treat her no different and he knew that was the best tactic because he realized from their past conversation that Rogue did fear something, she feared that he saw the changes in her as bad ones and the biggest change of all to her was who her mother was.
But the biggest change that hit him the most was the distance he felt between them and he hoped she’d figure it out sooner rather than later that that was what hurt him most of all.
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