“No,” he stated bluntly with no room for argument.
“It is a direct order, Logan,” Storm replied not backing down.
Folding his arms and eyeing Colossus who was seating in the pilot’s seat he motioned for him to leave with a jerk of his head. Silently, Pete stood up and walked towards the back of the jet where he passed Bobby who merely followed him knowingly and joined the rest of the group who were waiting outside.
“You know I respect ya ‘Ro, but this is just plain stupid.”
Storm’s eyes flared to life and Logan thought he heard thunder rumble in the distance but the night sky still looked clear through the back of the jet.
“Have you forgotten the present situation, Logan?” she began tightly, her voice strong and never wavering. “This is not a few years ago where it would be normal for you to be Rogue’s partner on a mission.”
“I know that,” he rumbled. “This is more than about protection.”
Delicately, Storm raised one eyebrow but didn’t back down.
“Is it really?” she questioned with sudden high authority. “Where Rogue is considered your priorities have always been about protecting her at any cost and despite the changes to our circumstances I have seen no difference in your actions.”
He frowned at her. “I’ve never attempted to hide it. You know that and she knows that.”
“Then what is the problem, Logan? Rogue is highly capable of taking care of herself.”
He snorted. “That’s the problem.”
“I need you on the offense with Kitty, Logan. Kitty is the one who needs to get to where the data is stored and I know you will do everything in your means to make sure that happens and that she has the time to do it.”
He scowled at her.
“You and Kitty will be taking the most direct route in. Mystique and I will be taking the south side and Rogue and Jubilee will enter from the roof, so that all security points can be disabled.”
“I can handle Mystique, Logan,” she added tersely.
“But who will be watching Rogue?”
She blinked suddenly and he knew she was surprised by his tone. “I mean it Storm; it’s more than about protecting her. You know that other agenda I was talking about, I think it’s about to happen here right now and you have only Jubilee to make sure she doesn’t change the plan.”
She glanced down at the ramp and turned back to face him.
“Do you not think that did not cross my mind, Logan?”
“I ain’t implying your stupid ‘Ro.”
“No, but you are questioning my decisions.”
He growled and glanced away, knowing she was right but feeling he couldn’t back down.
“She will be teamed with Jubilee, Logan, don’t you realize what that means.”
“Yeah,” he grunted. “It means Sparky will be too busy gossiping.”
Storm frowned. “I do hope Jubilee never hears you speak of her in such a way about her role as an X-Men.”
He scowled, even though he felt a little remorse at his comment.
“Rogue will not allow Jubilee to come to harm. She respects Jubilee and she may even see her as a friend. If Rogue is about to double cross us she won’t do it at the cost of injuring Jubilee.”
“But if she was teamed with anyone else, she’d throw us to the dogs is that what you’re saying?”
Storm only shook her head at him. “You know that is not what I mean, Logan. There is no tension between Jubilee and Rogue and we need this to go smoothly and for that to happen I need you to stop brooding like a five year old over the fact that I’ve assigned you a different partner,” she finished with commanding authority.
Dropping his arms to his sides he scowled at her for a moment before nodding and walking away. “You’re one tough lady, ‘Ro.”
“It gets the job done,” she muttered.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “You always get the job done, Storm, I never question that.”
She nodded at him but didn’t smile and he continued on knowing the burden Storm had taken on after Scott’s death. She was a more then a capable leader but he knew when it came down to it the job weighed on her heavily; she didn’t like being the bad guy. It had always been so easy antagonizing Scott and sometimes he even felt the guy had deserved it but with Storm he hated having to get in her face, he hated the fact that it was who he was to question everything and right now he wasn’t so secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be with Rogue for most of the mission. It was natural in him to be worried about her, he found the instinctual protectiveness he felt for her had never disappeared but he was concerned about the things she had left out.
The tip off was that for the first time since he’d encountered her in the last few days she was nervous.
It kind of scared him to death to know that the strong and confident woman he’d come to re-encounter over the past few days was nervous and edgy.
Stepping off of the ramp he nodded at Pete and Bobby.
“Make sure you keep an eye out for any incoming company and stay in contact for back up.”
They both nodded and headed back inside of the jet.
Kitty, Jubilee, Mystique and Rogue stood around in a semi-circle on top of Creed Industries.
“About time,” Mystique drawled.
He scowled at her, his upper lip twitching but she continued to smirk at him.
“Everybody ready?” Storm inquired from behind him.
Everyone nodded.
“Remember to keep the comm links open,” she instructed and pressed hers into her ear.
Logan clenched his fist and felt the leather of his uniform strain and he popped his claws, feeling his usual eagerness at a mission bleed into him. He glanced at Rogue who had been silent since they’d regrouped and she was gazing off in the distance. She must have felt his eyes on her as she tilted her face towards him and smiled lightly.
He nodded, but it still didn’t hide the fact that she was anxious.
“Let’s move,” Storm instructed and she and Mystique moved to the south side of the roof.
Logan watched as Mystique morphed into a security guard, her blue scales blending together as her skin took on the appearance of the familiar clothing they’d seen Creed’s guards wear before. Her body growing bigger as the broad shoulders of a middle aged man took shape. She looked like a completely different person and yet Logan could only stare at her in loathing, knowing the person that really lay below the surface.
Storm took Mystique’s new male hand and lifted them into the sky as they descended over the edge with Storm’s ability to call on the winds.
“Are you ready?” Rogue spoke up behind him.
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
“I’ll be right back,” she directed to Jubilee who nodded patiently.
Walking towards the other side of the roof, Kitty peered over the edge nervously.
“If you don’t let go you’ll be fine,” Rogue spoke as she stepped beside Kitty and glanced below. “You might even enjoy it.”
Kitty smiled nervously at her. “I guess I’d always wanted to know what it was like to fly,” she mumbled. “Just don’t let go,” she added sternly and looked Rogue dead on.
“I promise,” Rogue replied with a genuine smile Logan recognized.
Kitty nodded and her shoulders relaxed a little even though she still glanced down to the street below again.
“You sure you can carry me?” he asked her.
She turned and faced him and a light wind caught in her hair as the brown locks drifted around her face delicately and he was fixated for a moment on it.
“I thought you’d realize you weigh next to nothing for me, after the couch incident.”
He smirked a little. “Can’t be too careful about these things, darlin’.”
The word had slipped out but she didn’t make a fuss as the small smile remained on her face. Almost jokingly she looked over the edge and back to him. “You’d survive,” she whispered wryly as she leant closer.
One of her white locks of hair caressed the side of his face and her scent was so strong he was dazed for a moment.
“That be a mess,” he muttered hoarsely, looking over the edge.
She laughed lightly and though for a moment she appeared at ease with him, he could still sense a twitching life below her skin that continued to make him believe he had reasons to be uneasy about the set up of the mission.
“Come on then,” she commanded lightly and reached for both of their hands.
Kitty squeaked abruptly as Rogue lifted them both up in the air and they descended over the edge of the building and floated down to the ground of the deserted alley.
Glancing at the small delicate gloved hand that was holding his, he was amazed that it was the only thing holding him up in the air. It was a little unreal. Having a 200 pound metal skeleton made him very aware of the effect of gravity but as Rogue appeared in full control he revelled in the feel of the night wind on his face as he experienced something he thought wasn’t possible.
“Open your eyes, Logan,” Rogue’s voice called to him. “We’re about to land.”
Surprised that he’d closed his eyes, he opened them slowly as the ground rose up at them but at a gentle speed as Rogue set them all down lightly.
“Whoa,” Kitty whispered.
Logan glanced at her and noticed she was a little green but her eyes were wide with a rush of excitement.
“That’s kind of cool,” Kitty added with a shy smile at Rogue.
Rogue took Kitty’s attitude in stride and smiled back.
“Yeah, I suppose it is.”
“Good luck,” she whispered to him as she turned back around.
“Wait,” he stopped her with a low whisper, his hand grazing her arm.
She looked at him in concern.
He knew now was not the time to question her actions and he found the words caught in his throat. Squeezing her arm gently, he whispered the only thing that came to him without a fight, “Be careful.”
“You too,” she replied and took up off into the night again as she headed back for the roof.
“You ready Half-pint?”
Kitty nodded at him and grabbed his hand as she fazed them through the building. Inside the building he found they were in what appeared to be a supply closet. Slinking towards the door he slowly opened it and glanced around. Scanning the dimmed open lobby of Creed Industries and the one guard who sat at the security desk with his back towards them he glanced half over his shoulder and smirked at Kitty. “Not bad,” he whispered.
Shutting the door again so they would make less noise, Kitty fazed them through the door and the shadows that crossed the lobby hid them as they crouched forward.
“You got this one,” he muttered over his shoulder.
Kitty nodded and disappeared through the floor. Flattening himself against the wall, Logan waited and watched. A feral smirk appeared on his face as the guard started to whistle to himself, completely oblivious.
He spotted Kitty again under the desk and the guard abruptly flew out of his seat and before a gasp could escape him they both disappeared under the floor. He waited a moment and Kitty popped back up under the desk and gave him a thumbs up. Slowly, she moved out from the desk and made sure to keep her head down as she stuck a device into the security system panel. After a few seconds she stood up and he walked forward to join her.
“Cameras are now on a loop.”
“Good.”
Kitty reached up and taped her comm link. “Cameras are now frozen,” she spoke clearly.
Tip-toeing forward across the lobby, he watched as Kitty counted her steps and suddenly spun on one particular spot. Walking towards her he grabbed her hand again.
“You better be right about this, Pryde. I don’t want to end up in the ladies washroom again.”
“That only happened once,” she shot back with mild embarrassment.
“Once is enough.”
She shook her head at him.
“I memorized the floor plans, this is the spot.”
“Then let’s go,” he instructed and narrowed his eyes.
Without another word she fazed them both through the floor and down.
Landing in a crouch on the floor he glanced around the room and gave Kitty a satisfied nod. The large white room was humming with the pulse of technological power as the walls were lined with large metallic boxes that murmured and blinked with alternate colours.
Standing up, he whistled low. “This must have been expensive.”
Kitty wandered over closer to examine them further. “This is what he was hiding on the initial scan of the building. He doesn’t want anyone to know how much power he is reserving.”
He wandered over towards the door and listened for anyone approaching but movement outside of the room was still and the air was stale. No one appeared to be around in the lower level.
He sniffed. “It smells like hardly anyone has been down here.”
“Maybe, in this area,” Kitty replied. “He probably only has a few people working on the project until he goes public. They re-circulate new air down here, to keep the machines cool and sterile.”
Kitty ran her hand over one of the large black boxes.
“It’s not the mainframe though; this is just a power source. We need to find where he’s keeping the data.”
He walked forward and released one set of claws. “Let’s destroy it.”
“No,” she hissed urgently and stepped in front of him. “Not yet,” she began, her long brown ponytail shaking furiously behind her as she shook her head. “Not yet, it could tip off the security and there might be a backup system if there’s any noticeable foul play.”
He relaxed his hand and his claws slid back in. “I knew there was a reason we kept you around Half-pint.”
She frowned at him but he turned back and motioned her to follow him through the door. Once they were out in the hallway he signalled her to stay behind him and against the wall. Even though his senses couldn’t pick up on anyone, he still felt the need to be cautious. Moving forward quickly, they passed a few vacant rooms that looked like small labs or storage rooms. One in particular looked like a meeting room and he wondered who else knew about the sentinel project.
“Over there,” Kitty whispered behind him.
He focused on the frosted glassed doors and nodded. Kitty glanced up and he followed her gaze as they spotted the power cables that all connected in front of the doors.
“This is it,” he muttered and paused to press his ear against the door, but he heard nothing but the pulsing hum of the power center.
Opening the door, he walked through and found the light switch on the wall. White light flickered to life revealing a large room, filled with multiple stations of work areas and right in the middle was another large black box were the power pulsed even louder.
Kitty rushed forward and sat at the large computer screen beside the power source. Pressing a few buttons the computer burst to life.
“All this power for one computer,” he mumbled.
“If Mystique and Rogue are absolutely right, then Graydon hasn’t acquired all that he needs to get the prototype off the ground, his first insurance would be to set up a work area, such as this and to make sure he had enough power to do what he says he can. To already have that off the ground, I’m sure it’s helped back him more support in funding.”
“Yeah,” he muttered, feeling disgusted at the use of such money.
He spotted the elevator doors wearily across the room and was un-nerved when he noticed the lights were flickering above it.
“Wolverine,” Storm’s voice hummed in his ear.
“Yeah,” he responded touching the link.
“Mystique and I are coming down in the elevator. Everything is clear so far. We dispatched four guards already.”
“Good.”
He watched as the doors dinged and Mystique back to her natural form walked out sleekly by a stern looking Storm.
“How are we doing?”
“It should take me one more minute to hack in,” Kitty replied without turning away from the computer.
“Whoa,” Kitty gasped suddenly and all three of them hovered over her as file after file popped up on the screen.
“Graydon’s been a busy boy,” Mystique spoke up. Logan glared at her back, knowing the truth of her relation to Graydon only made his dislike for her stronger.
“I guess he takes after his mother, doesn’t he?” he whispered low in her ear.
Her blue back straightened and he knew he’d surprised her, but she stood up and recovered quickly as she smiled at him, knowingly. “Ah, so she told you,” she whispered back and stepped away as Kitty and Storm looked over the files. “What else did she tell you?”
He remained silent and he saw a flicker of curiosity flash through her yellow eyes.
“Does it really matter?” he replied low.
Her neon yellow eyes narrowed. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”
Her lips grew wide and as she walked past him she leaned in and whispered slowly, “But don’t worry Rogue has many more surprises up her sleeves to keep you entertained for a while.”
“Seems to me like they’re all your secrets you blue bitch,” he spat back with an agitated growl.
“Logan,” Storm asked suddenly. “Is everything alright?”
She was watching the two of them with concern.
“Fine,” Mystique replied. “Isn’t that right, Wolverine?”
“Yeah, fine,” he grunted back and stepped away from her.
“Have you found the sentinel data yet?” he asked.
“Yes,” Kitty replied as her fingers danced across the keyboard furiously, the glow of the large screen cascading over her face. “But there’s more here than just stuff about the sentinel program,” she added gravely.
“Download everything,” Storm instructed.
Kitty inserted a device into the computer. “I’m downloading every single thing on his hard drive.”
Turning away from the computer Logan glanced around and his eyes focused on the elevator doors again. He wondered where Rogue and Jubilee were. He knew their first objective was to deal with any on-coming security and that communication over the comm links was to remain minimal in case of any interference. Knowing nothing appeared out of the ordinary he was still feeling hesitant.
“Done,” Kitty spoke up as she pulled the device out. “Want to do the honours Wolverine?”
“Gladly,” he smirked as he released his claws and smashed them through the computer, not caring about the few sparks.
“Let’s go,” Storm commanded.
Mystique suddenly wandered out from around the power source.
“What were you doing?” Storm demanded.
Unmindful of Storm’s tone, Mystique leaned over and placed a small circular object on what was left of the computer Logan had destroyed.
“Making sure it’s harder to re-build,” she replied. “These are his labs, Storm - the place he uses to harm our kind. I want to make it as hard as possible to get over this don’t you?”
Storm frowned but didn’t reply as she turned and headed for the elevator ignoring Mystique’s smug smirk.
He spotted the lights flashing above the elevator and he motioned for everyone to hide. Quickly, they moved, as Storm and Kitty hid behind a desk and both he and Mystique pushed themselves against the wall.
The elevator doors dinged open and a frazzled Jubilee stumbled out.
The young woman jumped slightly when she spotted Logan as he stepped into her view. She grabbed her chest and gasped. “Jesus,” she muttered.
He didn’t care that she seemed flustered there was only one thing on his mind. “Where’s Rogue?” he growled.
Jubilee swallowed and gaped at him. “Rogue she...she...,” she licked her lips. “Rogue she pushed me into the elevator and jumped out before I had a chance, she told me to meet you guys and she did something to the doors, and I couldn’t get them to open and she just took off...she,” she started to babble but she took a deep breath and continued. “She told me she was sorry.”
Logan snarled and whipped his harsh gaze around and focused it on Mystique, who remained calm.
“What did you get her to do?!” he yelled in her face but Mystique was unfazed.
“I came here to do this job, Wolverine I don’t know what you are talking about.”
He growled and got in her face. “Yeah, exactly, this was the job you came to do, but what was the job Rogue came here to do?”
Bobby’s frantic voice suddenly buzzed through their com links. “Guys, we’ve got company on the way. Three SUV’s are making their way to us and it’s not the police, but they’re in a hurry.”
“Friend’s of Humanity,” Logan snarled.
“You guys need to get out of there now,” Bobby added.
“Keep us updated Bobby,” Storm replied. “We’re moving.”
“But Rogue?” Jubilee gasped.
Storm glanced unsure at Logan and he felt her worry and hesitation at the situation.
“I will handle it.”
“Of course you will,” Mystique laughed at him. “You’ve always done such a good job of handling Rogue in the past haven’t you?”
“Listen, you bitch,” he snarled as he had his claws suddenly pressing into her neck in a flash. “I want nothing more than to be rid of you and you will pay for this...” he trailed off and whipped around to face Storm.
“Get everyone out and make sure she,” he emphasized by glaring at the blue mutant. “Goes nowhere and I don’t care what you have to do.”
“That seems reasonable,” Storm replied tightly and glared at her as well.
Mystique shrugged her shoulders. “That’s fine with me. We should be getting out of here anyways; these charges are set to go off in less than ten minutes.”
“You’re just a joy, you know that,” Jubilee snapped at Mystique.
In reply Mystique only raised both her eyebrows smugly.
Scowling, Logan entered the elevator and glanced back at his teammates. “Get moving. Pryde get everybody out.”
“Logan?” Storm called.
“I can handle it,” he replied again and the doors slammed shut.
The scowl didn’t fade from his face as he stood in the same spot, just waiting, waiting as he passed each floor. His body tense with anger. He shouldn’t have been surprised but it still ate at him to know Rogue had gone and proved him right. He had a feeling he knew what she was after, he just hoped she knew the price of her actions.
The elevator clanged suddenly as he got to the top floor and he noticed immediately that the doors were jammed, she’d used her strength to manipulate the metal. Releasing both claws, his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and slammed his claws through the doors and with each slash, he felt the Wolverine in him come to life.
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