The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
*Meant to get more then one chapter written today, but it was Free Comic Book Day and so you can guess where I was. :D I'll try to do better tomorrow.
Logan didn’t know if she had planned it or not, but when Rogue tossed him and Creed out of the warehouse, she flung them straight through the wall that lined up with a large, grassy field, the muddy ground cushioning what could have otherwise been a very nasty fall.
He stood up on shaky knees just in time to see the entire building fall down in a giant inferno with Marie still inside and felt his heart drop in his chest. Before the fire and smoke had time to clear he was already running into the wreckage. Pushing through piles of broken crates and wallboard still aflame, his adrenaline pumping so high he could no longer feel the pain radiating through the metal on his skeleton caused by the magnetic machine Wild Child had used to immobilize him enough to get the collar on. He was going to kill the bastard, soon as he found Rogue and made sure she was okay.
He sniffed the wind trying to pick up a scent, but all he could get was the overwhelming smell of explosive and burning debris. “ROGUE!!!” Making his way towards what he estimated to be where they had been chained to the floor he started tossing away pieces of wood still on fire, hot pieces of steel framework burning his hands as he lifted, trying to get underneath. The explosion had been so massive it had almost burned itself out instantly, but small patches here and there still remained, enough that the heat was still able to singe the hair on his arms and face.
“Logan, over here!” He had been so intent on getting beneath the wreckage that he barely noticed Creed had joined him in the search and was now standing a few feet away, holding a large piece of the roof up on his shoulders. She was lying underneath.
God she’s not moving. He ran and dove to her side. He could hear the jagged breath and grinding teeth of Sabertooth struggling to keep the heavy piece of metal from dropping back down on them. Logan was amazed he had the strength to lift it at all after what Wild Child had done to him. Picking Rogue up gently, he quickly climbed out from underneath, wincing at the loud boom that followed as Creed let it fall back to the ground, and carried her out of the wreckage.
He half collapsed to the ground as soon as they were safely out of the rubble and looked down. Her body was covered head to foot with burns and scrapes, the left arm broken in two places, white bone shining out amongst muscle and tendon, the right shoulder too high up, dislocated and her left leg was nothing but a large, black burn wound. A sudden spasm of muscles nearly had her falling out of his grip, but he held on and watched as her eyes fluttered open, a moan of pain hissing from her lips and he felt a giant weight lift off his chest. She was alive.
She coughed, groaning as the motion pulled at her wounds and then a small grin pulling at her lips as she looked up at him. “Hi,” her voice weak and raspy.
He stared at her shocked. She gets blown up in a warehouse, is lying there barely hanging onto life, and she says “Hi”? Unbelievable! “What the fuck were you thinking Marie?” he said gruffly, barely able to keep his voice in check, cradling her broken body in his arms. He wanted to yell at her, shake her, scold her; hold her as tightly to himself as he possibly could till her heartbeat drowned out his own, just to know that she was still there with him, that she hadn’t left him alone.
He could smell the pain on her, the burned flesh, the blood pooling into her bodies cavities. Bad internal bleeding. But he could also see her body slowly starting to repair herself. Her healing factor was working and it was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.
“Wasn’t doing much thinking at the time sugar. Just seemed like the only thing to do,” she coughed again, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“Touch me, take my power.” She stopped his demands with a gentle touch of a bare finger to his lips.
“Won’t work, collar keeps me from being able to absorb it from you. Didn’t even know, been in a collar over half my life so I guess it wasn’t like I had a chance to do my own tests on it though, but Wild Child did. He was a lot smarter then we realized, the bastard,” she laughed softly, grimacing, “Had it all planned out, every single possible end, including this one.”
“When I get my hands on him.” He was cut off by her pained laugh.
“Already taken care of,” she said, breathing in deeply, “Feels like I can’t catch my breath.” Her eyes closed as she frowned, forehead wrinkled, “Cyber’s healing ability and now Wild Child’s and my healing powers still fucking suck!”
Now it was his turn to frown. As much as he was glad Gibney was dead, he didn’t like that Marie had to take him all the way into herself in order to do it. “How’s your head?” he asked, knowing she’d know what he meant.
She opened her eyes slowly, taking another deep breath and looked up at him, the half-smile forming on her lips again, “Just fine. He didn’t put up a fight. Was too weak. Whatever he had, wasn’t just killing his body, his mind was half gone. Wasn’t much left to pull over really.”
Logan felt a cold wave flow through the pit of his stomach. Though he had yet to see it himself, he had no doubt Wild Child had been infected with the Legacy Virus. He once again looked over Rogue’s body, but didn’t see any sign of the dark rash. Once they got back to Xavier’s he’d have Hank test her for the virus, test them all in fact, just to be safe. She grimaced as a wave of pain washed over her. It was time to go.
He picked her up gingerly, glaring at Creed who had been standing nearby watching them, daring him to try and stop him as he started to make his way to the Blackbird. As he went to pass by him though, Rogue’s hand shot out, clasping loosely onto Sabertooth’s arm, her eyes locking on his.
“Wild Child’s dead. So is Pyro. Toads still got a pulse if you hurry, but you can probably hear that. Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, they knew,” she paused closing her eyes and squinting as if trying to read something in her mind, “Magneto didn’t know, but he had..ideas. There’s something bigger, bigger then Wild Child and this.” She frowned, “His mind was so messed up. Hard to see much of anything, but there’s corners filled with questions he didn’t have answers to.” She let her hand fall from Creed, her body going limp in his arms, “All I got for you sugar, sorry it ain’t more.”
Sabertooth just looked at her for a moment, then nodded, and they watched him walk off thru the rubble to find where Wild Child had dragged Toad and Pyro before the explosion.
“Didn’t have to do that kid,” he growled, continuing their journey towards the Blackbird. She smiled softly at him and he wasn’t sure what to make of the look on her face.
“I know, but I figure, I’m going to be out of commission for awhile and since I don’t think you plan on leaving my side, one of us should be out there trying to figure out what’s going on in all this. There’s something BIG going on. I don’t like it,” she shuttered as another wave of pain passed, then looked up at him and he saw that stubborn fire he so loved burning thru her eyes, “And if you DID plan on leaving my side, well, we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet and I can still kick your ass.”
Logan snorted and couldn’t stop a low laugh from coming out. Just like Rogue to be cracking jokes on her deathbed. He knew she could smell the blood just as well as he could and while the wounds on the outside were closing up, the bleeding inside hadn’t slowed yet. Her healing factor was taking too long. He could fix it though, if he could just get back to Hank and get this damn collar off. She’d be able to touch him then and everything would be okay.
“Bozhe Moy!”
He looked up to see Colossus standing before him staring at Rogue’s battered body in his arms, worry clear on his face.
“She’s healing, but slowly,” Logan said gruffly, handing her over carefully into the large metal arms, “Get her strapped down in the med unit in the back of the plane.” He had smelled Sabertooth’s return and turned to face the man now standing behind him, growling low, “This’ll just take a second.”
Colossus nodded, casting a glare at Sabertooth over Wolverine’s shoulder, before making his way quickly onto the Blackbird.
“Runt.”
Logan didn’t give him a chance to say anything else, taking one step to close the distance and swinging a fist, knocking Creed across the face so hard it dropped him to the ground. The claws slowly slid out.
“I guess I deserved that.” Sabertooth stood up, rubbing his jaw, smirking, but didn’t make a move to hit him back and Logan sighed, the claws going back in. He wanted to gut the bastard, but watching Wild Child torture him with the collar had taken some of the edge off, and he had found Marie in the wreckage, he owed him for that. This could wait.
Though he didn’t want to admit it, Rogue was right, he wasn’t going to leave her side, and he didn’t like all the questions either, which meant they needed Sabertooth’s help and for once, their goals were in the same alignment. Wild Child and his accomplices had tried to kill him and he knew Creed well enough to know he wouldn’t rest until he had his answers and his revenge, though maybe not in that order.
“You get any answers?” he asked, looking at the fresh blood now coating Sabertooth’s clothes. Apparently he had found Toad before he died after all.
“Not many,” he growled, eyes black with fury, “Enough to go get the key to this fucking collar and then, there’s some people I got to see.”
Logan nodded. “The rash on Wild Child, I’m pretty sure it’s a virus, they call it Legacy Virus, guess it was released while we were in the lab. Kills mutants.” And that was about all the help he was willing to give this temporary truce.
Creed grunted, “Could have told you that from its smell,” then turned, looking towards the Blackbird. “Keep an eye on her. She’s more stubborn then you and I put together.”
Logan's eyes narrowed and now it was his turn to grunt, “Why the fuck do you care?”
Sabertooth’s eyebrow shot up in amusement. “No damn fucking idea, but you figure it out, you tell me.” And with that he stalked off, heading towards the road.
Logan resisted the urge to chase after him and finish what they started all those days ago back at the camp. Marie was HIS and he didn’t fucking share. But the thought of her reminded him that they had to get out of there like ten minutes ago and so with a growl he turned and ran inside the Blackbird and made his way back to the med unit. One of the lads was with her.
“How’s she doing?” he asked, still smelling way to much blood on her for comfort.
“Stable, but barely,” Bolt said, the concern on his voice telling Logan more than the actual words.
“We need to get her to Hank, NOW!” he shouted towards the front of the plane.
“Already on it,” Cypher shouted back, and Wolverine stumbled as the plane lurched into the air.
What in reality was only a few minutes seemed to take hours. He had called ahead to let them know of Rogue’s condition and of the risk of exposure to the Legacy Virus, which meant they were greeted by hazmat suits and bleach baths, followed by quarantine, tests, and while Logan understood the necessity, it had been hard to let Hank take Rogue away without following him, in fact, it had taken Colossus holding him down for half an hour while he caged the Wolverine back in. Sometimes he wondered how the heck the mansion ever survived in one piece without the large Russian around to reel him in when he lost it. Granted he couldn’t recall losing it this much before, not before Marie.
As soon as Jean had cleared him as negative for Legacy, he’d gotten the collar removed and made his way straight towards the quarantine unit Rogue was still being held in. He was stopped at the door by Hank and he didn’t like the look on his face.
“Hank, whatever’s wrong we’re wasting time. Let me in, I can touch her, she’ll be good as new in no time.”
A furry blue hand stopped him again, “My friend, I’m afraid, it is not that simple.” Logan glared at the Doctor, feeling the claws start to slide out. Seeing them, Hank took a step back but didn’t move out of the way between himself and the door. He sighed and the smell of worry and sadness hanging off him was about to drive the Wolverine berserk.
“Her blood tests came back positive. She’s been infected.”
Logan felt as if someone had just struck him through the chest. It couldn’t be. It had to be a mistake. “None of the rest of us were infected though. No one from the lab has been.”
“Except Wild Child. Yes, you and I and the others from the lab, we all seem to display some sort of immunity to the virus and under normal conditions I doubt Rogue would have contracted it either, but I believe when she absorbed Wild Child, during the energy transfer, Rogue took some of the Legacy Virus into herself.”
He frowned and felt the Wolverine raging under the surface, wishing he could bring the mutant back from the dead, just so he could kill him again, slowly.
“Well, then let me in. I was around the fucking bastard, had his hands all over me when he was collaring me and I didn’t catch it. Maybe I’m immune, maybe my healing will cure her of it,” he went to shove Hank out of the way, but the Doctor was quick and grabbed his arm, throwing him against the wall.
“I’ve already told you it’s not that simple! During the transfer something happened. The virus in her body is mutating and not only that, but it has caused her skin to become hyperactive, she cannot control it. I’m not sure what it all means, but we don’t know what you touching her would do to the virus, would do to her, or to you. A simple touch could kill you instantly or infect you. It is an unacceptable risk! We have gotten her stable and her healing abilities don’t seem to be affected by the virus, her body is still repairing, though slowly. Until we know more about what is happening and its effects, you cannot touch her Logan.”
He heard the loud steps of Colossus heading down the hallway. Hank must have called out to Chuck for backup.
“Look Hank, just let me see her. I just need to see her. Let me talk to her,” he ground out, forcing himself not to release the claws.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Hank, please!” And the Doctor’s eyebrows shot up. Yes, the big bad Wolverine was begging here. He watched as the big furry eyebrows came together in thought and then finally relaxed in defeat.
“Okay, but only for a moment and you must stay outside of the airlock! If you are not back out here in five minutes I will send in Colossus after you,” he looked sternly at him.
Logan grinned and ran a finger over his chest, “Cross my heart Doc.”
Beast sighed and finally stepped out of the way. Logan was thru the door in a heartbeat, noting the sound of it sealing shut behind him. He was inside a small hallway and quickly walked through the second door, stepping in to find a large medical lab and at the far end, a clear wall with a large airlock door on it. The quarantine unit. The beep, beep, beep of a heart monitor pounded in his head and for a moment he thought he might turn and run out of the room as memories of the Weapon X testing washed over him. But then he saw her and he ran straight up to the clear barrier.
Marie was asleep, laid on her side on a medical bed, IV’s running into her arms and electrodes all over monitoring her vitals. She looked pale, but her skin was almost completely healed and there was no sign of the black rash. Maybe everything would be okay, maybe her healing power would be enough to fight the virus, Hank had said it was mutating, but a deep breath in told him all he needed to know. She smelled liked death.
A small spike on her heart monitor blipped, and he watched as her nose twitched. Then her eyes slowly opened, the dark eyes quickly focusing on him and her chest rose as she inhaled deeply.
“You smell good,” she mumbled, a small smile forming on her face.
He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh, cry, or kill something.
“You’ve smelled better kid,” he grumbled. She laughed softly, turning so she was laying on her back, taking another deep breath in.
“Well, I guess serves me right for touching stinky mutants,” she closed her eyes, “Don’t know where they’ve been.”
He watched as she lay there, taking in large deep breaths in and recalled what she had said before about it being hard to breath.
“Chest still bothering you?” he asked, one foot taking a step back in case he needed to run and get Hank for help.
She shook her head slowly, “No,” then turned to look at him again, “You’re right, I do stink. You smell better, just enjoying it while I can.”
He growled. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like the look in her eyes like maybe she was preparing herself for the end. Didn’t like the soft goodbye smiles or the careful banter. She was a fighter. This, her laying there, pale and cold and so lifeless, this wasn’t her.
“So, how are the groupies?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow in question. “The boys from the lab who follow you around and cling to your every word.”
He frowned at her, but the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile, “Lads are fine. Worried about you and annoying the heck out of me. Won’t stay out of my damn room! You need to hurry up and get better so you can keep me from gutting them.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach all the way to her eyes. She winced slightly and her heart monitor blipped out of pattern for a moment before resuming its steady beat. He felt like every nerve was on edge.
“Okay kid?”
“Comes and goes,” she said, sighing, “Not dead yet.”
And that was about all he could take of this.
“Hank says I can’t touch you.” He knew he sounded like a five year old throwing a tantrum. He didn't care.
Her eyebrows narrowed. “He’s right. It’s too dangerous Logan.” He could see the flare light up in her eyes, the first real sign of life she had shown since he had entered the room. It was beautiful.
“Marie, I’m going to touch you.”
Her watched as her eyes got big. That’s right darling, I used my nonnegotiable voice.
“Logan, you can’t,” she started, but he made the mistake of arguing against her stubbornness once before. He wasn’t about to make that mistake twice.
“Just try and stop me,” he growled, and with that, the claws shot out and he cut through the airlock on the door, walked in and, grabbing Rogues face with his hands, brought his lips crushing down against hers.
He felt the pull of her power instantly and for once in his life, found himself praying, praying this worked, that his healing power would be enough, and if his life was the price for her being healthy and alive, well then it was one he was damn willing to pay.
Chapter End Notes:
*Translation: “Bozhe Moy!” – My God!