Logan wasn’t really sure what to be expecting let alone what he should be thinking. Rogue sure knew how to pull off a homecoming, but he supposed that wasn’t true since she hadn’t stuck around for the after party. The clean up mess.
He was a very good tracker but when she had just taken off into the sky there wasn’t much he could do. No scent to follow. It made him feel useless which in return made him feel irritated and edgy. Not that he should have been that surprised. Rogue had a habit of disappearing on him. Coming home one day to find she’d packed and moved out without a good-bye at the least was something he had no control over. Storm assuring him that Rogue was attending school in the city hadn’t been enough and it certainly hadn’t been enough when it turned out Rogue had lied about that too; the apartment Storm had set her up in empty and already up for renting. She’d just disappeared and the trail was cold, which meant she’d planned it with him in mind, which meant her leaving was supposed to mean something purposeful to him.
And it had. It was a funny thing reconciling your everyday world with reality, because the one thing Logan had always depended on to be there wasn’t. Perhaps, he’d taken her for granted but most of all he hated the way she’d turned the tables. And she’d changed the rules of the game because he’d always left her the tags when he went off but all she had left for him was an empty room and a coldness that had made him numb.
And that numbness was rapidly receding as the events of the day panned out. Rogue wasn’t hiding anymore. A phone call from Mystique was enough to put the frazzled X-Men on paranoid alert. They weren’t sure who Rogue was playing for. A true Rogue.
Cracking his knuckles as he sat in the X-Jet he was becoming less and less patient as Pete and Storm landed the jet in the darkening clearing. A perfect site for an ambush. But what was he to do, Mystique had dangled the appropriate bargaining chip in front of him, so he was forced to play the game.
He was ready to participate though, ready to have the pieces all fall down. He’d have to take his cue from Rogue though and he was un-easy about that because the woman he’d met earlier in the day had been cool and cold towards him, she’d been worse, she’d been indifferent. That meant he was on unknown ground.
The jet landed smoothly and he was up and out of his seat before any of the others as he stalked towards the descending ramp.
“Logan!” Storm called after him in warning. “Wait!”
He wasn’t waiting. He didn’t care if it was a trap. He’d been waiting almost two years to see her.
He wasn’t waiting and Storm could deal with it.
The night was almost a pure dark but the light that came from inside of the jet trailed out and brought artificial warmth to what appeared to be a deserted field. Walking towards the bottom, he gazed side from side, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air. Only two scents. Two familiar scents.
It couldn’t be that big of an ambush.
Mystique stepped forward into the light and smiled at Logan as though they were old friends. He hated it.
Frowning he glared at her. “Where’s Rogue?” he demanded sternly.
He spotted an orange tip behind Mystique in the darkness, and he heard the inhaling of smoke before the orange ashes dropped to the ground and burnt out.
“Right here,” Mystique almost beamed at him as Rogue shifted up into the light, her arms crossed, and her posture apathetic but nowhere near as impassive or as cold as the expression on her face.
“Well,” he began hotly as he stepped off the ramp and onto the ground. “You seem to be fine, doesn’t look like the blue bitch has been torturing you.”
“Her talking is enough,” Rogue threw at him with a saucy smirk, her eyes sparking for a moment.
He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to smile. Mystique however, did pause to glare at Rogue who remained rudely oblivious. It seemed Rogue had acquired a habit of getting under everyone’s skin.
He heard the others approaching behind him, their walks steady as they tried to appear confident in the situation but he knew they weren’t the ones in control.
“You going to tell me what this is all about?” he directed at Rogue, his voice detached, trying to match her. “Starting from the moment you landed in the shed.”
Rogue tilted her head towards Mystique. “She’s the one with the words.”
“Rogue’s more about the action,” Mystique added with a knowing smile.
Logan snorted. “What are you two, a team?”
“Well,” Rogue drawled. “We don’t go around wearing the same outfit but I suppose we work together from time to time. But since there are just two of us, that would make us more of a duo or a partnership, wouldn’t it Raven?”
Mystique didn’t blink as she watched Logan. “I think you’d be correct, Rogue.”
It was an effort to restrain the growl he felt building in his chest in annoyance. He was being played.
“You’re working with a woman who got you almost killed,” he directed at Rogue with more emotion than he would have liked, he sounded betrayed. “From the Brotherhood!”
“I’m not Brotherhood anymore, Wolverine,” Mystique replied tightly.
“I don’t care,” he snapped as he moved his eyes back on her. “You’re still a treacherous bitch.”
“That is true,” Rogue slipped in as she nodded at Logan.
Logan could only look on at her in disbelief.
“Have you had any problems with Magneto recently, Wolverine?”
“What?” he responded as he glanced at the blue mutant.
“I believe I paid a recent visit to the man and believe me he won’t be causing any problems for a long time. You should be thanking me.”
“Fuck you.”
Mystique’s lips twitched. “Let’s just say Rogue and I found we had a lot in common after the cure had worn off.”
“You could have come back,” he directed at Rogue, his expression still furious but his eyes didn’t hide his confusion, he could feel it bleeding out of him.
Rogue finally gave him her full focus as her head quirked at him as though she’d picked up something else in his tone and he thought for a moment she was going to actually give him an honest reply but she spotted the others as they descended and her face shut down again.
“Logan,” Storm voiced beside him, her tone questioning.
“They’re working together,” he snapped.
“What?” Jubilee gasped in surprise.
“Well go on Rogue,” he spat at her. “Tell them you’re in a partnership with the enemy.”
“I think you just told them for me.”
He clenched his fist and felt the trickle of a growl slip past his twisted lips.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
She actually blinked at that. “We don’t have enough time for that right now.”
“Storm,” Mystique interrupted. “We simply wanted your attention, the chance to talk.”
Storm eyed the other woman for a moment before speaking, “There are more appropriate ways to go about that.”
“Yes, I’m sure...” the other woman began only to be interrupted by Kitty.
“How did you land in our shed, Rogue?”
Tilting her head Rogue smirked slowly at her and Logan frowned as Kitty took a step back.
“I fell out of a plane.”
“What? How...?” Kitty stuttered, her pink glossy lips pouting.
“I pushed her,” Mystique supplied with a gleam.
Logan could only look on at Rogue in further surprise; every minute that passed confirmed he had no idea who the young woman was before him.
“I had said I’d wanted to get your attention.”
“How could you survive that?” Pete voiced in both concern and awe.
“I’m adaptive,” Rogue replied tightly.
“Why did you take one of the Professor’s books?” Storm asked and Logan recognized the effort she was making to remain neutral and calm about the strange situation.
“It was of no importance, just something to tie you to us, make you curious so you would accept my invitation.”
“Invitation?” Bobby blurted out in disbelief. “You blackmailed us into coming saying you were threatening Rogue.”
He opened his mouth again but Mystique interrupted with an annoyed glare. “We aren’t getting down to the business that needs to be attended to.” She paused a moment. “Rogue fell out of a plane, she got your attention and now I need you to listen.”
“Lady, you are crazy,” Jubilee inserted.
Mystique continued on. “Rogue has a few new powers, that’s enough for now. If she wanted to tell you more about herself she would have shown up at your door a long time ago.”
“But since that’s not the case...” she trailed off, taking delight in their silence.
“Mystique,” Storm spoke up. “Nothing you say is going to make anything better. We do not trust you and...” she paused as she glanced at Rogue in weary concern, her tone lighter. “And I’m sorry to say but we can’t afford to trust you either, Rogue.”
“That’s okay,” Rogue replied off-hand as she sat down on a large rock.
“I have no small army to amass in these woods to attack you. I have no resources for such a thing. I have no will but my own, I am not Brotherhood. I am mutant kind. Allow me at least a few minutes to explain to you what Rogue and I have both learned that could be very consequential to our kind. There’s a reason we’re in the middle of nowhere. There are things going behind the scenes in the government that you have no idea about.”
Storm frowned and Logan could tell she was seriously considering her words. He kept silent, he didn’t care if she was telling the truth or not, his concern was on the young woman who remained half in shadows, distant and quiet.
“And when did you become a concerned citizen?” he asked Mystique in disbelief.
“Look,” Mystique stressed. “Rogue and I could have handled it ourselves but even I can admit we need more assistance on this one. Is that what you want to hear, Wolverine, me begging you to do the right thing...”
He interrupted her with a snort. “You wouldn’t know the right thing if it walked up and smacked you in the face with a sledgehammer.”
Her lips clenched together. “Maybe he wants to hear you beg, Rogue,” she directed over her shoulder in amusement.
If Rogue had a reaction he couldn’t see it in the darkness she was blending so well in.
“Ask him to play your hero...”
He was about to yell at her again when Rogue’s tired voice spoke up.
“Leave it alone, Raven, if they don’t care then they don’t care.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right, Rogue, if they’re not interested, we’ll try and handle it ourselves.”
Even Mystique’s frown was a sly one as she turned to leave.
“Wait,” Storm called out.
He saw the hesitation in their leader’s eyes but he knew the answer already, they were the X-Men, this wasn’t the kind of thing they turned down just because of personal differences. Mystique paused and glanced back at Storm, but Rogue, Rogue he could tell hadn’t moved. He knew they’d just been set up.
It was to be expected. Mystique knew how they worked as a team, after years of being at war and Rogue, she had been one of them, had lived with them, she knew what played on their conscience as the supposed ‘good guys’.
“Yes?” the knowing blue bitch smiled.
Storm hesitated again and she looked at him, her eyes relaying the message that she knew they were caught. He nodded back. “Let us hear you out first, about this problem and then...” she paused as she glanced at her fellow silent teammates waiting for her command. “Then will decide where to go from there.”
“Fair enough.”
Rogue stepped into the light again, her face blank but her eyes were alert as she scanned the standing X-Men, the tiny curl of her lips showed dissatisfaction. He wondered when she’d become such a bitch. It was an art to be a bitch and have to utter only a few words. Rogue he could tell had the skill down pat.
“Have you heard of the sentinel project?” Mystique asked seriously.
“Just rumours,” Storm replied. “The President didn’t allow the funding to go through since he refused to pass the Mutant Registration Act.”
“That’s correct but,” she paused her eyes landing on Logan. “It should be familiar grounds for some of you to know that things in the government aren’t always what they seem.”
“Meaning?” he growled out with impatience.
“The project has found funding elsewhere,” Rogue spoke up. “What did you expect after Alcatraz? People are afraid.”
“Graydon Creed is behind it,” Mystique added.
“The man running for a senate seat?” Storm asked in surprise.
“I think he’d be best known for creating the Friends of Humanity,” Rogue added darkly.
“Friends of Humanity are just a bunch of renegades,” Bobby spoke up. “No one’s taken credit for it, they’re just a bunch of mutant haters.”
“Graydon is waiting to attain his senate seat before going public with his involvement. After that he hopes to sway more people into reducing mutant’s rights with the more power he gains.”
“How do you know this?” Logan barked.
“When I was impersonating Senator Kelly I learned a lot of useful information of what was occurring behind the scenes and those on the rise. While, Graydon owns his own small corporation he does not have enough funds himself to kick start the sentinel project. He acquires them through his Friends of Humanity supporters and at the same time he gains more support in his hate cause.”
Storm nodded once affirming her understanding. “And what do you want us to do, go after Graydon?”
A sharp sound shattered around them as Rogue laughed suddenly and Mystique sent her an abrupt stare. Rogue rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip as she stopped laughing. Her prickly sound disappeared but the bitter after taste of mockery hung in the air.
Storm frowned at her reaction but continued on, “As the X-Men we can’t do that, especially so publicly.”
“Obviously,” Mystique agreed. “Which is why I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting we destroy the sentinel project before it grows and then you can expose Graydon and the Friends of Humanity and their hate agenda. Perhaps, gain us some more support. Some much needed support after Alcatraz.”
“That almost makes sense,” Jubilee spoke up, but she was still scowling at the blue mutant.
“Yes,” Storm added. “I don’t know if I should be concerned at such a well thought out plan from someone who was a part of the Brotherhood.”
Rogue’s lips twitched into a surprised smirk at the subtle dig Storm had directed at Mystique and it did not go unnoticed by Logan.
“What’s the catch?” Logan spoke up.
“No catch.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Does it really matter?” Rogue spoke up with sudden authority. “We’re not lying about this, so you’re either in or you’re out.”
“Take a moment to think about it,” Mystique added.
“We can take you to Graydon’s headquaters tomorrow and you can check out everything before we make a move. I want you to feel secure in your decision.”
Jubilee snorted. “Yeah thanks for your concern.”
Mystique ignored her. “If you decide yes, then we must stay here as a group for the night. Graydon has people looking for us and we don’t need the added trouble if the job is to be done right.”
“Gives us a minute,” Storm replied as she turned and the others followed her up the ramp.
“Whatever you need,” Mystique replied and Logan could already pick up on the satisfaction in her voice.
Logan kept his eye on Rogue as both her and Mystique stepped off to the side and began whispering.
“Logan,” Storm called after him.
With a snarl he followed up the ramp.
“Why do I get the feeling everything isn’t as it seems?” Bobby spoke up.
“Because it isn’t,” Storm replied. “But what they did provide us with doesn’t seem all that far off. Hank himself, already expressed concerns about whispers in the government about private funding.”
Logan was quiet as he listened. He was in agreement that what they’d just heard was plausible. Hank was back at the school watching over the children so there was no one else to voice any further concerns. It was what was being left out that was bugging him.
“So are we staying then?” Kitty asked.
“For now,” Storm replied and Logan knew she hated the position she’d been put in. “Jubilee, Bobby and Kitty start setting up camp.”
The three of them nodded and started moving around the jet for supplies.
“Pete you okay with doing a perimeter check?”
He nodded.
“Not too far,” she added.
The four X-Men descended the Jet and Logan glanced out at the dark night. Storm approached him slowly.
“What do you think?” she asked with a sigh.
“I honestly don’t know.”
She nodded and paused for a moment. “What about Rogue?” she asked hesitantly. “She...”
“Has another agenda,” he replied gruffly. “I never thought she’d be working with Mystique of all people.”
“She must have good reasons, Logan,” she responded quietly. “Rogue always did things with purpose.”
He nodded.
“Do you think she would purposely put us in danger?”
Logan turned and looked at her and Storm appeared ashamed that she’d asked but he knew she was as confused as the rest of them.
“If you’re asking if I think she’s one of the bad guys then...” he paused. “No. “
Storm let out a sigh. “I couldn’t see her being Brotherhood...”
“I could,” he interrupted and ignored her surprise. “If Magneto had gotten to her first while she was a runaway, if maybe he hadn’t had his machine but simply wanted her as a follower, she may have agreed. She didn’t have it easy, ‘Ro.”
“Hell,” he barked. “Maybe I would have joined if things had been different.”
“Logan,” she began after a moment or two. “Maybe that’s true, maybe all of us may have gone that way if things had been different but eventually the both of you would have realized Magneto was wrong. His price was too much.”
“And Xavier’s,” he began thinking of Jean and Scott. “What about the cost of his dream?”
She was at a loss for words.
“The only reason I even became an X-Men,” he spoke quietly. “Was because of her.”
Storm watched Rogue in the distance with a small sad smile.
“And now?”
He turned and looked at her, pretended not to notice the unshed tears in her eyes and gave her a gruff smirk.
“We’re the good guys.”
She smiled at him.
Walking down the ramp he turned back up to face her, his face hard. “She’s a liar though, ‘Ro,” he spoke seriously, his eyes nodding at Rogue in the distance. “That’s what I would be concerned about, but more than that she’s smarter than just a liar, she’s a manipulator, every move, every word and expression, it’s just a game, ‘Ro. She ain’t showing you the real thing.”
Storm’s expression was taken back but she nodded with understanding.
“She’s called Rogue for a reason,” he called over his shoulder as he moved through the few tents that were already up.
Walking by the fire Kitty and Jubilee had made Logan ignored them but he could hear their conversation perfectly.
Kitty was glaring in the direction of Rogue and Mystique where they stood off to the side still talking.
“I don’t trust her,” Kitty snapped.
Jubilee looked up at her in surprise. “I’d be worried if you did trust Mystique.”
Kitty shook her head. “I mean Rogue.”
Jubilee’s eyes opened wide in surprise before narrowing, her tone harder than usual as she spoke, “Yeah well she learned a long time ago not to trust you, so what does it matter, seems like its common ground if you ask me.”
Kitty’s jaw dropped in surprise. Logan watched out of the corner of his eye as she stuttered for words.
“I’m with Pete now,” she gasped out.
Jubilee rolled her eyes. “Nice, Kitty that just erases what you and Bobby did. I’m sure it does in Rogue’s mind.”
“We never did anything,” she responded indignantly.
Jubilee laughed lightly. “Maybe you didn’t physically cheat but you both knew what you were doing.”
Kitty huffed and stood up, her mouth catching flies. “How dare...” she spotted and fumed. “That doesn’t matter Jubes, she’s working with the enemy, isn’t that enough to not trust her.”
Jubilee poked at the fire with a stick. “I trust Rogue feels that whatever she’s doing is what she considers is the best way.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Kitty yelled.
“It means,” Logan interrupted and Kitty jumped in surprise. “You should go and fix those two tents over there that you did such a shitty job putting up because you were gossiping.”
Kitty scowled at him but silently turned on her heel and walked away quickly, her pony tail bouncing haughtily behind her.
Jubilee watched him quietly. He gave her a wolf like smile and she smiled back at him.
They weren’t all whiny brats he concluded.
Walking over towards his tent he paused as Mystique glided towards him with swaying hips out of the woods.
“I see you’ve agreed then.”
He nodded. “Talk to Storm if you need anything,” he ground out.
She smirked at him.
“Stay in your own damn tent this time,” he warned with an added dark glare.
Tilting her head to the side she observed him in sly amusement. “Of course,” she responded morphing into Rogue right in front of him. “You sure that’s what you really want though?”
He was stunned into silence at her tactic.
She laughed at him, a sweet sugary laugh bubbling out of familiar lips he had dreams about. The laugh was a little too cold and harsh though, it only added to the fact he knew it wasn’t the real thing.
“You’ve gotten even worse at hiding the way you look at her when you think no one is paying attention.”
He growled at her in warning.
“Stop messing around you blue bitch!”
She laughed again and morphed back into her true self.
“A word of advice Wolverine, Rogues don’t love, so stop watching her like you see a future because you don’t know her. The most you’d get is a few mind blowing tumbles in the sack, but I could help you in that area...sugah,” she finished with a drawl in Rogue’s familiar accent. “I could give you skin on skin.”
Abruptly, he reached for her, his hand locking around her throat as he held his claws up to her face. “You’ve already given us the required information, no need to keep you around and believe me nobody would miss you,” he snarled in her face but his voice was a deadly whisper.
“And I could always give you matching scars,” he finished by dragging the cool metal across her cheek.
She smiled at him but didn’t struggle. “Maybe I’m just looking out for you Wolverine.”
He pushed her away with disdain. “Just look out for yourself,” he snapped back as he walked away.
Walking a little deeper into the woods he leaned against a tree with a heavy sigh, if he didn’t know any better he’d think he was getting a headache. Turning around he glanced back at the camp and watched as a still fuming Kitty was being comforted by a confused Pete. Bobby and Jubilee sat far across from one another around the fire. She never had forgiven him easily for his and Kitty’s flirtation. Jubilee had honour that way and he supposed in Rogue’s eyes it didn’t help that he’d stood up there in his X-Men suit beside both Kitty and Bobby as though he had chosen them over her because he remembered a long time ago Rogue telling him that despite what he felt were short comings he was an honourable man.
The truth was after he found out Rogue was gone; after he’d gotten his head out of his ass it was too late. He was too late in finding out about Kitty and Bobby. Too late in finding out Rogue had dumped Bobby. It was almost funny thinking back on it but both Bobby and Kitty had walked around him on eggshells, waiting for him to explode on them but the truth was he was indifferent because he blamed himself. He was the one who should have been there for her and he hadn’t been. And he just knew without being told that she blamed him too. He was the only one she’d ever depended on.
Movement on the other side of the woods caught his attention as he saw Rogue wandering through the forest. He was the reason there was such a distance between them now.
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