The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Author's Chapter Notes:
*Wrote this chapter one way, didn't like it, scrapped it, tried again, still didn't like it, slept on it, and tried again. Third time is apparently the charm. Coming up next, Creed meets a thieving Cajun and Rogue finally gets introduced to the X-men.
“No, it’s too risky.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Marie, trying to look as intimidating as possible, but she only stared up at him in amusement. There was nothing funny about this. His eyes slid down from her face and his frown deepened. There was especially nothing funny about the black rash that had appeared on her neck overnight.
Hank was sitting across from her in a white hazmat suit preparing a syringe with an extremely long and thick needle. He winced as the sight of it brought back memories better left forgotten. The Doctor had stumbled in at about 3am waking them both up declaring he had made a significant discovery.
Apparently he had spent all night running Logan’s blood through various tests, attempting to figure out what exactly the new enzyme showing up in his system was. Half asleep and barely functioning, but unwilling to give up his search for answers, Hank had accidently mixed one of Rogue’s blood samples with Logan’s, not realizing until he looked under the microscope to find a startling surprise.
The enzymes from Logan’s blood were attaching to and destroying the virus. Granted, in the process they were also destroying any healthy cells remotely close to the infected cells as well, but now that Hank knew the purpose of the strange anomaly that had appeared in Logan’s system, he could set to finding a way to make it work, a way for it to destroy the virus without the healthy cells as well, a way to find a cure.
And so it was that he eventually found a way to cross engineer the enzyme, the result being in the tiny blue vial sitting on the table. There were risks, a lot of them, he didn’t have enough blood samples to run many tests and even then running results through a machine or viewing results in a microscope were hardly accurate depictions of what would happen once it was let loose inside Rogue’s body. Given her own mutation, how it had already mutated the virus once, and the healing ability she possessed, there were many variables, too many variables in Logan’s opinion.
“I’ve been a test subject nearly all my life sugar. No point in risking anyone else’s life to try this possible cure of Hanks,” she said, laying her arm down on the table, “Especially when there’s an infected healer all ready and willing to be the guinea pig.”
“Goddammit Rogue!” His fist slammed down on the table as the anger took over, “Why do you always got to be the fucking hero?”
Her eye’s narrowed at him and he could see her own anger flare up across her face. “You think I want this? That I ever wanted any of this? Ever since my mutation hit my life has been one struggle to the next and I just deal with each one as it comes as best I can. You think I would have chosen any of this for myself? I don’t want to be the fucking hero! I just want to be normal, I want to live a life that doesn’t involve getting poked and prodded and treated like I’m nothing more than a damn experiment.” She sighed, drawing in a deep breath, trying to calm herself, then locked her eyes with his, her face determined yet serious, “Logan, I’m dying. There are thousands of other mutants out there dying. Maybe this will work and maybe it won’t, but the way I see it, I don’t really have any other choice.”
Logan growled, “You’re not going to fucking die. I won’t let that happen.” He wanted to protest more, but the black rash screaming out in stark contrast against Marie’s pale skin kept him silent. He couldn’t admit how badly it had shaken him to wake up and find it there. She was right, if a cure wasn’t found. He didn’t want to think about that. There were no other options.
He sighed, and pulled up a chair to sit down next to her, clasping her free hand in his own, skin against skin, and pressed a kiss lightly to her knuckles. “If anything goes wrong, anything at all, if you start feeling weird or hurting,” he squeezed her hand tightly and looked at her intently making sure she understood there was no room for argument, “You take my power, you take my healing. We both know yours is shit and I got plenty to go around.”
She laughed lightly and though he could see the argument rising up behind her eyes, she didn’t say anything, just nodded her head softly, which told him just how scared she was behind the bravado she was displaying.
“Well, what do you say we get this show on the road boys,” she said, looking over at Hank.
After swabbing the skin with alcohol, Logan watched as Beast pressed the wicked tip of the needle against the soft skin at Rogue’s elbow and then paused, “Rogue, we, there is still time to perhaps run most tests.” Logan felt her grip on his hand tighten. If he had been anyone else he was sure the bones would have snapped like twigs.
“No Hank, there’s not,” she said, a half smile forming on her face, “Maybe you can’t smell it thru all that gear, but trust me, time’s not a luxury we got much of.” She was right, the death smell was slowly creeping its way back in and suddenly Logan wanted to grab the needle and slam it into her arm, willing to risk anything to destroy the virus that was trying to take her away from him.
The Doctor nodded and Rogue gasped as the large needle was thrust deeply into the vein and then hissed slightly in pain as he slowly injected the blue liquid. Once the vial was empty, Hank quickly removed the needle and covered the tiny puncture wound with a bandaid. It was over and now all there was left to do was wait and see what happened.
“I’ll take a blood sample in about fifteen minutes and then every thirty minutes after that.”
The three of them sat in silence. Logan kept his eyes on Marie’s face and his nose on her scent, looking for any sign of distress. Ten minutes passed and he could feel her grip on his hand start to relax.
“Am I supposed to be feeling anything?” she asked, looking curiously at Hank. Then suddenly her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body started convulsing for a moment before collapsing. Logan grabbed her before she could hit the floor, cradling her gently to him as a wave of fear washed over him. He couldn’t hear her heartbeat. Apparently the Doctor had noticed this as well.
“Put her on the bed, quick!” Hank instructed, already pulling out the crash cart they had brought into the quarantine unit just in case.
Logan carried her over and barely had her laid down before he was pushed out of the way. The Doctor quickly tore open Rogue’s shirt, placing gel on the two paddles before pressing them against her bare chest. A large jolt made her body jump slightly. Logan felt frozen, every part of him focused intently on the sound (or lack of) emitting from Marie’s chest. He saw Hank frown, adjust some knobs, and press the paddles down again. A larger jolt and then a blip, blip turning into a thump, thump and Logan felt the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding shoot out of his chest. Now it was his turn to push Hank out of the way as he leaned over and gently placed his hands on either side of Marie’s face.
“Come on kid, open up those beautiful eyes,” he whispered.
She came too with a startled gasp, eyes suddenly wide open as she took in a deep breath. Slowly he watched as her gaze came to focus on him.
“Logan,” she said, her voice sounding distant, then clearer, “Did it work?”
He let out a deep sigh as the sudden adrenaline rush left his body and then smiled down at her, one hand gliding down to touch lightly at her neck. Her perfectly pale porcelain neck. The rash was gone and so was the smell.
“Yeah Marie, I think it did.” The smile that broke across her face was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.
A blood test confirmed what Logan’s nose had already detected. The virus was gone, completely eradicated. The cure worked.