The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
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She didn’t understand him. Not at all. He was an enigma or something. A walking contradiction of everything she knew. Rogue wasn’t naive, nor easily won over. In fact, despite the ease she seemed to have with people, deep down inside it was extremely hard for her to trust anyone. She made the mistake of trusting the wrong sort of people once and spent the past sixteen years of her life locked up in a lab playing guinea pig to the Weapon X project as a result. You didn’t forget something like that overnight.
So she trusted Sabertooth about as much as she could throw him, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had made a promise that she wouldn’t get hurt. At first, she had just waited for the punch line, the witty add-on that would turn the statement into a twisted cruel joke. But when he had just kept staring at her, she realized he was dead serious and if that hadn’t just blown every single preconceived notion she had of Creed straight out of the water.
And she didn’t know what to do with that. It made no sense unless she just looked so extremely pathetic and weak laying there unable to move that he just felt bad for her and that just made her angry. Yes, she was in a bad way, but she sure as hell didn’t want or need his pity. Eventually the drugs would wear off. She could already tell they weren’t working as well, eventually her body would build up an immunity and when that happened, she’d show them how weak and pathetic she was.
She knew it wouldn’t take long for Wild Child to make his way over towards her once Sabertooth left. You never would have guessed, but being forced to do nothing but lay there and watch actually made you pretty observant and she had been observing a LOT the past few days and she had seen the looks on the long eared mutants face, he was plotting something, something Sabertooth didn’t know about.
So when he made his way over to her stinking of explosive and gunpowder, she wasn’t surprised. And when he knelt down with that arrogant grin on his face she knew whatever was happening, was going to start soon. She wished she could growl or yell or do anything except just lay and stare at him leering down at her. Wanted to rip that mangy smile from his face.
“Fun’s about to start precious.” He ran a sharp nail along the side of her face, pressing just hard enough for a thin line of blood to show up. “Hope you didn’t get too attached to your little bodyguard, he isn’t going to be around to protect you for much longer. And Magneto’s promised me that once he’s threw with you, I get leftovers.”
She wanted to laugh in his face. If he couldn’t smell the death on himself, whatever nasty, disgusting thing that was eating away at him, he was dumber then she thought. All he had to do was look in a mirror and see that revolting rash that was covering almost half his body now. He would be lucky to last the night.
A loud laugh sounded behind her and for once she was actually glad it was Sabertooth. The smell of Wild Child so close made her want to vomit. He’d fix that shortly, she had no doubt.
“Wouldn’t count on it mutt,” he sniffed the air dramatically, “I give you a few hours tops and what’s this? Someone’s been a bad little hyena, didn’t your parents ever tell you it’s not nice to play with explosives or with girls who don’t fucking belong to you?” Even though she couldn’t see his face, Rogue could hear it in his voice and smell it on his scent. Sabertooth was extremely, severely pissed off and that meant someone was going to die. Someone being Wild Child and she couldn’t wait!
“That so Mr. Tall Big and Hairy.”
Rogue didn’t like the air of confidence in his voice, like he knew something they didn’t. She had a bad feeling in her stomach and then she smelled them. The sound of a struggle followed by the metallic click of a collar, she watched as Wild Child lifted his hand and pressed a small circular button, the buzz of electricity and the sound of burning fleshing and Sabertooth gritting against the pain so close behind her she could feel the heat of it on her back.
“Not talking so tough now are you RUNT.”
“Just…wait…till…Magneto…gets here,” Sabertooth growled and she could hear the electricity intensify.
Wild Child laughed, that grating, irritating laugh that made her want to rip his head off or her own. He spread his arms wide, like the grin on his face, “That’s the beauty of it all! Only way I could lie to you without setting off that nose detector was to lace it all nice and pretty in the truth. He won’t be here till tomorrow and by then, well, you’ll be gone and I’ll be the one who delivers the girl. I’ll be Magneto’s right hand man! And when he’s done using her, I’ll get the girl and make her scream and scream and scream until she begs me for death. I’ll do what you would have done, if you hadn’t lost your nerve. Why do you think Magneto sent me in the first place? To keep an eye on you. He never trusted you, not once. And this mission was too important to him to put all his eggs in one basket. Granted, I think even he’d be surprised at how tame you’ve become all because this stupid slip of a girl.”
She felt his foot connect hard with her stomach, knocking her back far enough that she crashed into Sabertooth, the electric current passing from him and flowing into her, like tiny knives cutting inside her and stars danced in front of her eyes and she could feel every painful bit of it, but was unable to do anything, not even scream.
The current suddenly turned off and then she was being flung hard against a stack of crates, falling in a heap on the ground and from her new position she watched Wild Child grinning manically as he turned the current back on, Sabertooth’s body twisting in on itself from the pain. Toad and Pyro, the two who had surprised and collared him, watching on in amusement.
“Come on Sabertooth, SCREAM for me.”
The current went even higher and she could swear she heard a loud whistling noise, as it ran through Creed’s body and suddenly there was a trail of blood running down his face where he had bit his tongue or his lip, she couldn’t tell, to keep himself from crying out. And the current still was going higher, she could hear the whistling turn into a hum, and god wouldn’t he stop already! She could literally see the smoke coming off of Creed’s skin, smell the stench of his body cooking from the inside out and part of her wanted to yell at him to scream already and end this, while another told her if the roles were reversed, she would die first before she uttered a sound.
Finally the current stopped and Sabertooth slumped to the floor, unmoving. She was going to kill the little bastard, for what he’d done to her, for what he just did to Sabertooth, for everything. He wasn’t going to have time to die from whatever fucking disease was eating away at him because she was going to kill him, hang, draw, and quarter him and burn it all to ash.
She saw how people looked at Sabertooth, had even done it herself, like he was a monster, but he wasn’t the monster. He was just an animal, like a mountain lion or a bear. He acted on pure emotion and instinct. He enjoyed the blood lust yes, and he liked pain, even enjoyed the kill, but deep down, he wasn’t evil. He was just running at a baser level then everyone else and he had been in the labs, just like her, just like Wolverine. Each of them had a darkness running through them, a part twisted, corrupted from the torture, from the tests. So Sabertooth’s darkness ran a bit blacker then her’s or Logans, at least she could understand it, especially after having absorbed him and seeing first hand how intense his hyper senses were. She was amazed he could even function normally when such sensory overload had nearly driven her mad.
Wild Child, HE was evil, pure and simple. He was a monster; a pathetic, coward of a monster and she would be the end of him, she would see to it. That was her promise.
“Chain him up.”
She watched as Pyro and Toad dragged the hefty body towards the center of the warehouse were large shackles where chained into the floor. They had been planning this, from the looks of things, for awhile. It looked like there were a second set of shackles set into the floor. Apparently they were expecting another guest and she had a good idea who that was.
So when she picked up the scent on the wind, she wasn’t surprised and even though she had hoped he wouldn’t come, wanted to yell out at him to turn around, that it was all a trap, she couldn’t stop the sudden pounding in her heart, or the warmth rising through her at the sight of him as he busted through one of the warehouse windows. Coming to land in a crouch nearly right in front of her. The sound of his claws popping one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. He had actually come. He had been looking for her. He cared and that meant more to her then she ever realized.
He must have been surveying the area and seen what had happened, because she watched as his eyes instantly fell on Creed’s still unmoving body chained to the floor and a deep growl rumbled out of his chest. She knew he didn’t like Sabertooth, that they had history and were constantly trying to kill each other, but deep down, she had a feeling at the end of the day, they both had a deep respect for each other, maybe even care, in their own twisted way and she knew he would be just as disgusted by Wild Cat’s torture as she was.
Turning around slightly he looked down at her and their eyes locked instantly and it was like there was nothing else in the world. She could see the worry and the relief run across his face as he turned his gaze to Wild Child, taking a step back, obviously startled by the extreme change in the mutants appearance and she knew he could smell death on him as well as she could. He gave another nervous glance down at her, looking her over head to foot and then, seemingly satisfied, took a step forward, crouching down.
“Well Gibney, what crawled on your face and died? Must say, it’s quite an improvement,” he growled.
Wild Child eyes narrowed, “Wolverine, I’m afraid you’re a bit late to join the party.”
She watched as Toad and Pyro started making their way towards them, but where stopped when a large silver flash came busting through the side door, knocking them both hard enough to send them crashing through a pile of crates. It was Piotr, one of the kids from the lab.
Logan smirked, “Looks to me like the parties just getting started.”
A burst of fire suddenly surrounded them and Logan dropped to his knees, covering her body with his own. His arms wrapped tight around her and she wanted to drown herself in the delicious scent of him, but all she could do was watch. Just as she started to smell the burning of his flesh, the flame suddenly stopped as Colossus moved in-between them and Pyro’s blast, shielding them, unaffected in his metal form, the flames bouncing off his large back as he looked down at the two of them, a grin on his face. He was having fun! Logan gave her a quick once over and then picked her up, practically throwing her into the Russians arms.
“Get her to the Blackbird NOW! If I’m not out in five minutes, leave without me.” And she watched as he moved out from behind Piotr’s large form, and ran straight towards the source of the fire, claws slashing and the scent of blood and screams filled the air.
Then she was moving, the feel of wind crashing across her face as Colossus ran them outside and towards the jet. They had almost reached the large open bay doors, when she heard Wild Child’s giggling voice carrying along the air loudly, followed by the sound of a machine starting up and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. What new trickery did he have up his sleeve now? She needed the drug to wear off, she needed to be in there helping him, she needed to not be a pathetic waste of super powered mutant flesh right now.
She couldn’t even motion or make a noise or move, to try and warn Colossus of what she had heard as he carried her into the Blackbird, gently setting her down on a seat and suddenly she found herself surrounded by a group of teenage boys. She couldn’t believe it. Logan had brought his groupies with him! She would have laughed if she had been able or if the situation wasn’t so serious.
“Rogue! Are you okay?” It was her appointed guardian Bolt and she could smell the wave of relief at seeing her alive and the guilt. She’d have to talk to him later, let him know none of this was his fault. When she was able to talk again.
“She’s still paralyzed, where is Logan’s med kit?”
A blur flew by her and then back again. Northstar. “Here you go Petey.”
The Russian opened the box and started looking through the vials until finding the one he was looking for, pressed it into an injector with a scary looking needle and then looked at her apologetically, “This may hurt.” With that, he jabbed it into her throat, the burn so intense she almost passed out. It didn’t take long before she could feel a tingling sensation flowing over her, pins and needles like when your foot fell asleep, only it was through her whole body. She tried moving her hand and felt her lips rise up in a smile as a few fingers moved barely. The boys shouted up a cheer. Within a few minutes, she was up and pacing the floor and Wolverine wasn’t back yet. His five minutes were well passed up.
“Rogue, Logan said..”
“I know damn well what Logan said,” she yelled, relishing in the feeling of being able to talk and move and scream. She looked out the front window of the jet at the warehouse sitting there in front of them. The sounds of murder and mayhem that she had barely been able to hear before were now gone. The silence deafening.
The silence inside the jet was just as bad. She growled.
“We’re not leaving him!” She stomped over to the control panel looking at all the buttons, cycling through Wolverine’s memories in her mind, but it had been so long since she touched him, they were faded. “Cypher there should be a way you can get a scan of the building using this thing, find out what’s going on in there. Think you can figure it out?” Now that the paralytic drug was finally out of her system, she could feel the healing power working on the rest of her, a rush of energy coursing through her. She was ready for some revenge.
“Quicker than you can blink. She watched as he said something in a funny language and the entire panel came to life, a projection appearing above it in an exact replica of the warehouse. She could see two green dots flickering in the center of the warehouse, two yellow dots outside and a green dot moving along the perimeter. Another screen suddenly popped up, showing video from inside the building. There must have been old security cameras in the place, the plane’s computer system was able to tap into. She saw Sabertooth and Logan both kneeling chained to the floor. And while she was relieved to see Sabertooth was no longer collapsed on the ground, the glint of silver around Logan’s neck stood out like a beacon. They had somehow collared him too. She heard Cypher gasp next to her as suddenly red dots appeared all over the warehouse, blinking ominously.
“What’s all the red dots?” Bolt asked from behind her shoulder. She didn’t need the kid to tell her. She remembered the scent all over Wild Child.
“Bombs,” she said, glaring at them on the screen. Enough to level the entire place with Logan and Creed vulnerable chained inside. They’d never survive.
“Any idea when they might blow?” she asked, her voice flat as she stared into the red pulsating lights. They were pounding, like the feeling of her heart pounding in her chest, her thoughts pounding in her head.
Cypher talking in the weird language again, almost as if he was actually talking to the plane. He shook his head. “Could be seconds, could be minutes.”
She was running out of time for ideas and fast. Running. That was it!
She turned to Jean-Paul. “Northstar, sorry about this sugar, but I need a borrow.” He nodded his understanding as she ran a finger along his cheek, stopping when he grew unsteady, “You all stay inside this plane ya hear me!” She glared at them like she had seen Logan do before at the camp, hoping they would get the point that this was an order and nonnegotiable. She could see the stubbornness flare in all their eyes, but they nodded mutely. God, they were even acting like Wolverine. She could only hope they’d listen, she had to be gone. And with that she ran out of the holding bay and taking a sniff of the wind, made her way around to the back of the warehouse in blink of an eye.
Wild Child didn’t even notice her until it was too late from the vantage point he had chosen to apparently watch his plan unfold. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her speed or whatever was causing the rash, the death coursing through his system, making his senses dulled, but it didn’t matter. She needed to know where the key for the collars was and they were out of time. Plus, she had a promise to keep. Reaching a bare hand down, she gently touched the rash ridden face, and drew in every last ounce of him, leaving just a husk on the ground. She felt a grin pull across her face. Who was smiling now?
Focusing her attention back inwards, her eyes grew wide, as the extent of Wild Child’s plan coursed through her mind. When she had gotten it all, she battled him easily into the box with the others, his weakened state in life had carried over to his psyche in her head. There wasn’t enough time.
The key to the collars was miles always, bombs were about to detonate in seconds, the entire place would be demolished, and worst of all, Weapon X would be here any second. A contingency plan in case somehow the two healers happened to survive it all.
Her speed could get her in, but there wasn’t enough maneuvering room for flying inside the warehouse, not while lugging two hefty mutants. Was there time to run in and out twice? Could she carry both of them at once? The only saving grace was that while the chains he had used to bind the two mutants to the floor was made of adamantium, the floor they were attached to was concrete. It’d be like pulling rope outta water.
A million choices and only a second to make them all in. There was only one way. She ran inside the building, quickly grabbing Logan in one arm and Creed in the other, ripping their chains from the floor in the process. “Wish I could stay and chit chat boys, but ya’ll got a one way Fastball Special outta here." Gathering all her strength, she flung the two as hard as she could, right as the bombs started exploding around them, as the warehouse collapsed down on top of her.
Chapter End Notes:
*For those wondering what a Fastball Special is, in the word’s of Wolverine: “First rule about the "Fastball Special"...you don't talk about the "Fastball Special."” :D