Logan slammed into the kitchen just as the phone rang. He tried to ignore it and pulled out a beer. It was Friday night, and he should be going out, he told himself. The night was young. He didn't have anything better to do. Instead of going out, however, he was going to sit around, drink beer, and watch hockey like he did almost every night these days. When he thought about it, he came pretty damn close to depression. So, being the Wolverine and a badass, he didn't think about it. Didn't think about the reason he stayed in, didn't think about what had happened the last time he went out at night for anything except a mission. Just didn't think.
The damn phone was still ringing. Logan finally get fed up as he popped open his beer with a claw. Grabbing the handset off the receiver on the kitchen counter, he pressed the little button with the green circle. Just as he was about to bark “hello” into the stupid thing, he heard Professor Xavier say it instead. Satisfied that the caller had reached someone who would probably rather talk to them than he would, Logan was about to hit the button with the red X on it when he heard it.
“Professor? It's me.” That voice...the drawl was deeper, the voice was huskier from some emotion he couldn't readily identify, but it was definitely her!
Rogue. Marie. Dammit!
“Rogue! It is good to hear from you again, my dear. How are you doing?”
Logan told himself he didn't care. She had left with barely a note to him, and a confusing one at that, making it very clear that she didn't want to be followed. But he didn't hit that red button, although he continued holding the phone in front of him. It wasn't as if he couldn't hear the conversation clearly, and having her voice so close to his ear after so long might have sent his temper flying over the edge.
“Ah'm...Professor, there's a problem down here.” The way she said it spoke volumes. She meant a mission kind of problem.
The Professor's concerned tones indicated that he realized that as well. “Has something happened to you, Rogue?”
A little choked laugh that held no humor. “No, not me. Look, there's a town north of here...a friend of mine, his cousin disappeared up there a couple of weeks ago while she was out shopping. We...we went looking for her, did some recon. Professor...Charles, they have a fucking breeding facility down here!” Now Logan could hear the rage in her voice, one that answered the fury he felt as the implications of what she said sank in.
“You...Rogue, you mean a mutant breeding facility, don't you?”
“Yeah. They're taking men as well as women and...Ah don't know how they do it, either forcing 'em to have sex or invitro or something...we saw at least ten kids in there, Charles. Toddlers! They had a fucking playground set up! Ah guess if they don't turn out to be mutants, they want them to be well-rounded or something.” Bitterness oozed across the line.
“We did some hacking into their computers once we knew where they were, Professor,” Rogue said after several deep breaths. “They're pretty well fortified, but we've got at least twenty mutants here willing to fight to get those people out. Ah just wondered if the X-Men could, you know, help out.”
Logan closed his eyes as he waited for the Professor's reply. It wasn't long in coming. “Of course, Rogue. We will help you out in any way you need.”
A sigh—of relief? “Thanks, Professor. It means a lot to me. Ah'll get you the information on the place. How long do you think it will take to get down here?”
“Hmmm...I think we can manage to get the team ready by tomorrow afternoon, if you can be ready to go on your end,” Xavier told her.
“Yeah. We're ready here. They're not...Ah don't think they're in life or death danger there, Professor, but those assholes are doing some horrible things. Ah want to get them out as soon as possible, especially Angelique. She's...she's only sixteen, Professor!” Rogue's voice broke, and the anguish cut through Logan like a knife. He could tell that she cared about the girl.
The Professor sighed heavily. “We will do everything in our power to help. I will be sending the full team. Will that be...an issue?”
Logan tensed to hear her reaction. “Umm...” A sigh. “No. We need the help. Just...have them meet me at the White Dove at three pm. Jubilee knows how to get there from pretty much everywhere in the city, I think. That should give me time to clear it with my boss. Ah'll show 'em a place where they can stay for a few hours until it gets dark, then my boss will let me go out. He...he knows about all this. He's one of Angie's relatives, too. They're all real worried.”
The Professor's voice was soothing. “That sounds fine, Rogue. On a more personal note,” he added, verbally brushing aside Rogue's thanks, “How are you doing since that incident you mentioned?”
Rogue sighed deeply. “Ah'm working things out. It's difficult, and sometimes Ah'm really tempted to come back just to see if you can help me get rid of this bitch, but Ah have a feeling she's a more...permanent resident than some of the others. Remind me next time a psycho bitch tries to take out my friends to stick to hand-to-hand, okay, Professor? Ah'm more effective with that now, anyway.”
She was?
“I will always be here for you, Rogue, if you need me. You could still come back, you know. The teacher we hired to take your place knows that it's a substitute position only.”
“Ah know. Ah'm working on that, too, Ah promise. Maybe someday soon. It's been nice getting visits. My new friends aren't quite the family Ah had with y'all. You should have seen the ruckus Jubes made when she came down last, though! Ah don't think the Big Easy is ever gonna be the same!”
The Big Easy? Rogue was in fucking New Orleans? Logan thought she hated the south, hadn't wanted to go back...then again, that was one out of his book. Go where they least expect if you're trying to stay hidden. The thing that struck him, though, was that she wasn't trying to hide from too many people at the mansion if she was talking about visits, though. Was he the only one who hadn't had a clue what was going on?
Professor Xavier was still chuckling when Rogue spoke up again. “Oh, and Professor? Could you have the team bring my uniform with them? Ah want something a little easier to fight in than skirts, especially now. Don't want anyone getting a look at what they shouldn't!”
Now why would that occur when fighting?
“I will make sure that they bring it, Rogue. Do you need it altered in any way now?”
“No, but tell 'em not to bother with the gloves.” Her voice had turned hard. “Ah won't be needing 'em.” Logan actually felt a chill when he heard those words. Rogue was definitely pissed. Another part of him approved of the ruthless note in her voice.
“As you wish. Good night, Rogue.”
“Good night, Professor.”
Logan hit the stupid red X once he heard the dial tone. His mind reeled at everything he had just discovered. He was tempted to tear out of the mansion right then and there, head down to New Orleans and find her. The only thing that stopped him was that the Blackbird would get him there faster.
Early the next morning, Logan listened with a stony expression as the Professor explained everything that he had overheard the night before. The rest of the X-Men, currently consisting of Scott, Ororo, Jubilee, Bobby and Piotr, grew more agitated as they heard the details Rogue had sent the Professor. Scott had obviously been working on a plan all night. What he laid out was too excruciatingly detailed otherwise. Logan sat with crossed arms and grunted whenever Scott required a comment from him.
Finally that part was over. They had been warned to pack bags, including their uniforms, before the briefing. They grabbed their gear and boarded the plane. Jubilee carried a second bag along with her own, one that smelled of leather and a faint trace of Rogue, probably preserved in the case where her uniform had been stored. While no one was exactly chattering happily, Logan did hear several low-voiced conversations during the flight that revealed even more how much everyone else had known about Rogue's whereabouts.
“So I went to the White Dove the first night I was there 'cause I wanted to see Rogue at work. Damn, is that place awesome! The manager is one fine specimen of a man, too, even for an older guy. I told Rogue she should go for it. I wonder if she did,” Jubilee was telling Bobby, who snorted.
“Jubes, you know you think more with your dick than any guy I know, right?” Okay, so maybe the Popsicle could be funny sometimes.
“Seriously, dude, he is hot! I won't mind getting another view of that eye candy, let me tell you!”
Logan growled as quietly as he possibly could. Meanwhile, up front Scott and Ororo were also talking.
“I wonder how Rogue is doing with her new abilities,” Ororo mused.
“I just hope she can bring them to a fight by now. They would be pretty useful.” Well, that was great. More cryptic remarks on what sounded like an absorption Rogue had made—a permanent one? He knew it was pretty damaging to her psyche whenever she touched someone.
“I look forward to the experience. She was quite graceful last month when we were practicing, although her technique is obviously different than mine,” Ororo said as she examined her nails.
Graceful? Technique? Logan refused to ask. He had managed to avoid mentioning Rogue for the past year through sheer will. He saw no reason to break the habit now, even if they were going on a mission she instigated.
The rest of the flight was relatively quite, punctured by references to Rogue's life and their knowledge of it that he didn't understand. The burning knot in his stomach, however, suggested he was only too willing to find out what was going on once he got his hands on the girl, and maybe not in the nicest ways.
They landed in a field to the west of New Orleans. In the inexplicable way that Xavier sometimes had, two cars had been left near the landing site. Logan took the wheel of one, Scott the other. To his annoyance, Jubilee and Bobby picked the SUV Logan was driving to ride in while Ororo and Piotr went with Scott. Since Jubilee knew where they were going, she played navigator as Logan drove, carefully noting the directions so that they could get back. The group pulled into a public parking lot half an hour later. Once they were parked and had piled out of the cars, Jubilee led them two blocks to the west. The building she stopped in front of was an old row-style house obviously renovated into a business sometime in past half-century. They clustered around her for a moment on the door that held a sign reading “Closed” in a specific pattern.
A tall man answered the door. He was blond, about Scott's age, and lightly tanned. His blue eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled.
“You must be Rogue's guests. Please, come in! We'll get y'all something to eat if you're hungry, although the kitchen doesn't officially open for another hour. Rogue, honey, you've got guests!” the man shouted as he ushered them inside. “Ah'm Michel LeBeau, by the way. Ah was glad to hear that you were coming to help us out with our little problem.” His eyes went from merry to dark and brooding in a blink.
“Ah'm coming, Mike! Ah was just putting together some sandwiches in case they were hungry!” Rogue shouted from the back.
Michel led them into the main room of the bar. Red walls gave the room a darker, more brooding atmosphere. The wood of the old, worn furnishings gleamed in the light coming in from the bar's one large window. Michel waved toward the very well-kept bar and said, “Please, sit at the bar. It's easier to talk here.”
Just then, Rogue came out from the back carrying a tray piled with sandwiches. Logan gaped in shock.
She was wearing a dark green t-shirt that barely managed to cover her midriff, a short black skirt and black flats. Was he just imagining that there was more white in the dark hair piled into a high ponytail on the back of her head? The neckline of her shirt left hardly anything to the imagination, and she wasn't wearing gloves of any sort. Which meant that she could control her mutation! In fact, she moved easily by mike, not cringing away as he patted her shoulder, something that made Logan's blood boil.
“Rogue!” The shout from Jubilee broke his reverie. He scowled as he noticed that Rogue was somehow looking at everyone except him when she smiled a welcome.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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Story Notes:
Yeah, I heard your pleas. I think this might turn into a series. This one is longer than the first one, which I really, really did intend to make a one-shot. I swear. But I am weak in the face of reviews.
Disclaimer: Not mine but Marvel and Fox's. That sucks. I'm gonna go pout.
Disclaimer: Not mine but Marvel and Fox's. That sucks. I'm gonna go pout.
Chapter End Notes:
Oh, fun! Can't wait to see what happens, can you?