They had moved down to the factory floor. The 'workers' had been dismissed for the evening, that left Falco, Blue, and Magenta alone with Rogue. The entire day had been wasted waiting for something to happen.
Rogue shifted her feet, it was becoming hard not to show how cold she was and her bare feet on the cement floor weren't helping. She examined the room for the millionth time. If only she could get out of the handcuffs attaching her to the pole and away from the tank of Drops, she might have a chance of escape. Then again they had forced workers in here every day and the workers hadn't been able to escape.
"Are you cold, my dear? The cold is a necessary step in the manufacturing process and I can't give you your clothes back." Falco waved a hand at Blue and Magenta. "I don't need either of my associates permanently damaged."
Magenta sneered at her unpleasantly as he limped passed. That was fair as he took the worst damage of the two. There had been a point upstairs when a small voice told her it was time to make a break for it. She thought it might be a residue of Logan, what little she had picked up from him, helping her make some tactical plans.
Catching them off guard she'd slashed at the nearest one of the two with her pocketknife. Magenta had fallen over in surprise as her knife sliced through the muscle on the back of his thigh. When Blue came toward her that voice told her to go for the tendons on his forearm. Unsure of her aim she made a swipe at Blue; she doubted she got anything more than his sleeve. It was enough to make him back up and give her a clear path to the window on the far side.
Grabbing the wooden office chair as she passed the desk, she used it as a battering ram on the old single pane window. The chair and window hung for a moment before falling, taking the entire window frame with it. She let them fall and tried to ignore the angry voices behind her as she assessed the situation below. The drop to the factory roof wasn't bad, but the glass shards and broken chair gave her pause. Searching she sighted the fire escape ladder hanging over the edge, she could do it.
Taking a deep breath, she'd leaped, clearing the windowsill. She was mentally preparing herself for the landing when a sudden jerking motion halted her forward momentum. Blue was cussing a blue streak as he pulled her back into the building. Damn her need to always double knot the apron strings to keep them secure.
Blue looked none to happy as he hauled her back and made her strip down to her bra and panties at gunpoint. Magenta bandaged his own leg as Mr. Falco tsk-tsked them all like a group of naughty grandchildren. After the scolding, Blue was sent downstairs to clear the factory floor of workers and set up defenses.
Now they were waiting for Wolverine to arrive. Rogue hated to tell them that they probably wouldn't like what would happen when he did arrive. They thought they would kill him then her and dispose of both bodies. But she'd seen Logan healing even with Drops in his system. She knew Blue, Magenta, and all of Mr. Falco's armed men wouldn't make it out of this alive. Her, well she figured her chances were pretty good, at least better than those men. If she didn't freeze to death first.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the thump of something large on the roof. Blue and Magenta had more experience at this and by the way they looked at each other she guessed it was a body. They almost smiled, until they heard the gunfire further back on the roof and their smiles faltered. There were other sporadic sounds that broke the silence and Mr. Falco was starting to lose his grandfatherly look.
One of the loading dock doors had been left up to try and funnel Logan into their line of fire. Rogue was pretty sure that if seven bullets didn't kill him before, this setup would only serve to make him angry. After a full two minutes of quiet, a dragging step could be heard approaching the opening. A figure staggered into view holding its abdomen with both hands, Rogue knew immediately this man wasn't Logan.
She tried to suppress the snicker that was working its way to the surface. When the man fell and didn't move and Wolverine didn't appear for them to shoot, the laugh spilled over. She'd heard hypothermia did weird things to your mind; maybe she was suffering from it.
Mr. Falco turned on her, eyes narrowed. "Is there something you would like to share?"
Rogue shook her head, or at least she tried, it was hard to tell with the way her entire body shook from the cold. "Not unless you know Greek myths."
He was becoming frustrated and moved toward her. "The gods?"
"Hades."
Falco's eyes went wide, "The unseen one." Rogue tried nodding again as he reached for the handcuff key in his sweater pocket. Blue and Magenta stared at them, confused when Falco asked, "Are you his Persephone?"
Rogue didn't have time to answer when Logan suddenly appeared closer than any of them expected. She tried to get a good look at him to let him know she was okay and to reassure herself that he was fine too. Both Blue and Magenta had their guns trained on him waiting for orders. "Kill him," Falco commanded climbing the staircase to stand on the platform beside Rogue.
Falco worked at her handcuffs obstructing her view, but she heard a snikt sound and a roar right before gunfire erupted. Magenta almost lost his balance as he limped backward yelling obscenities and firing repeatedly. Rogue knew some of his shots hit the intended target because not many whined off into the distance. Holding on to hope was all she could do, she knew the punishment his body could take yet ... would this time be too much? She had to hand it to Magenta, he didn't scream as Logan's claws gutted him.
Blue was reloading when Falco pulled her further back on the platform. She only saw Logan swing for Blue's throat with his claws extended, since she heard no more gunshots, only the thud of a body and what sounded like Logan's footsteps, she guessed only of them was still alive. Her suspicions were confirmed when Falco stopped, turning to face an angry Logan stomping up the steps.
Logan took a second to calm his mind. Marie was still alive. Pale and shivering, but still alive. She'd had more than just a rough day, though she looked him square in the eye and he could see the hope and trust in him there. At that moment he swore to himself that the only one not making it out of this was Falco.
In dismay, Falco stared around briefly at his dead bodyguards. Rogue spared Logan a shaky smile, her mind seemed stuck in low gear and she couldn't think clearly. She tried to find bare skin on Falco, but with the way he was holding her, the handcuffs and his gloves; she couldn't reach him well enough. She didn't even know how long Drops lasted; it had to have been at least twelve hours since they'd been forced on her.
There was nowhere to go, Falco was backed into a corner with the vat being the only way out. He produced a handgun from his other pocket and pointed it at Rogue. "I believe we can still make a deal. Your Persephone for my life."
Rogue blinked slowly at Logan and shook her head. It was a bad trade, Falco needed to be eliminated. Alive he would continue to crush people who got in his way and exploit those not strong enough to resist. She was trusting Logan to end this and get them out of if he could.
Marie made the choice he didn't want her to, but the right one nonetheless. She knew as well as he did that Falco couldn't go free. It would be tricky and they would all end up going for a swim more than likely. But the Drops would be the least of their problems.
Logan sprang forward, single claw extended, cutting off the hand holding her arm. Falco cried out and Marie stumbled back, clearing the way for further action. Falco panicked, trying to shoot at them both, bullets ricocheting off into the distance. Logan could see that Marie was struggling to get out of the way but was hampered by her current physical condition.
She slipped on the platform's surface made slick by Falco's blood. Logan reached for her as she wobbled, her eyes wide with fright. While he was attempting to grab Marie several of Falco's bullets finally hit Logan causing him to flinch so that coupled with her slow reaction they failed to connect. She toppled off the platform, hitting her head and falling into the tank below.
This was the worst case scenario. Logan knew he had to act fast, the way her head thunked on the edge of the platform, the small splash of blood blooming on her forehead. His heart plummeted with her.
Logan stepped just far enough to eviscerate Falco with a slash of his hand. As the elderly man gaped in horror, Logan spotted Marie's sinking form and jumped into the vat after her. He had one chance at this and he better make it good, he wasn't about to lose her again.
He caught hold of the chain linking the cuffs and held tight as he swam to the edge. She was a dead weight at the end of the chain. Fuck, he was running on pure instinct now, unable to make a plan. Knowing their time was short; he released his claws, slicing the tank. They, along with the entire batch of Drops, gushed out of the rip in the vat.
When they finally came to rest some distance away, he quickly pulled Marie to him, she felt like a damn rag doll. He was appraising her condition as he did so, hanging on to what little hope he had. She was so cold; he thought her pale earlier but she was now deathly white. There was a gash on her head, she wasn't breathing and he was having problems detecting her heartbeat, his heart seizing up in response. He remembered back to the other timeline, then he'd simply held her after Magneto tried to kill her. However that Marie didn't have control of her mutation and he might be wasting precious seconds of her life.
Hedging his bets he went with the old fashion method of dealing with a drowning victim. After he made sure there was no liquid left in her mouth, he began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and almost panicked that it didn't seem to be working. He was certain now that she had no heartbeat and switched to CPR. In her current state of undress, he was positive that there was enough skin to skin contact for her mutation to take hold of his if the connection opened.
The Drops only took minutes for full effect and he was afraid they were already outside that timeframe. If her mutation was shut off the CPR was the only thing in her favor. He didn't know if her mutation would flip back on automatically with all that had happened. He refused to take the chance that it would.
Coughing and sputtering, Rogue pushed at the weight pounding on her chest. She felt herself being scooped up and held, enveloped in warmth. It took a second to realize that part of that tingling heat was her mutation sucking Logan's energy. In that same second her mutation fizzled out and shut down.
She feared she was already too late as he feebly let her go. He slumped back on the ground, a smile on his face. Scurrying around she hovered over him. "Logan?" She tried not to scream at him.
His eyes opened a crack and he tried to raise a hand. "Hey, Darlin'," he mumbled.
Letting out a sigh of relief, she checked him over. He was bleeding heavily from a shot to the chest and another in the gut. The wounds inflicted by Blue and Magenta hadn't completely healed and neither had the slashes at his knuckles where his claws had last been out. His breathing sounded labored and she knew this was worse than the first time she'd seen him like this. In a shaky voice, she asked, "Can I call those people now?"
Logan coughed and rattling echoing in his voice, "Don't know...phone survived..." He waved a hand toward a pocket on his thigh.
Fumbling with the buttons on the pants pocket, she didn't hold out much hope as she could see a bullet had pierced the pocket and possibly his thigh. Retrieving the phone, she glanced at him briefly. His wounds were no better and his breathing was very shallow now, she felt oddly calm, numbed to what was happening before her eyes.
Turning on the phone, she thanked whoever was watching over them as it came to life. The bullet had nicked the side of the phone and despite the heavy-duty case, had badly shattered the front glass. Yet it was still functional, only requiring more patience to operate it, something she didn't have a lot of at the moment.
"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," bubbled forth from the speaker.
Blinking, Rogue looked at the destruction around her, Logan slowly fading in front of her. Somehow the cheery voice made her want to laugh.
"Yo! Anyone there?" A pause and some clicking in the background. "Wolvie?"
"Uhm....is Hank... or uhmm... J something..." Rogue almost started sobbing, she couldn't believe she didn't remember and at such an important time.
"Jean?" The voice had become serious, but still had a note of lightness to it. "Can I talk to Logan?"
"No, he's....down." Rogue could feel the cold creeping back in, settling in her. What if, after finally finding a bit of happiness in her life, she lost him? Her voice held a tremor of panic. "He's..."
"Is he still breathing?" The voice was calm as if this were an everyday occurrence. There was also an uptick of background noise on the other end of the line.
"Yes, barely." Rogue could now hear others talking around the woman on the phone and she concentrated on the noises to keep from falling apart.
"Well then, this isn't a complete emergency. You wouldn't be worried if you saw some of his uniforms after a mission." The woman's voice was breezy but somehow comforting. "Anyway, I'm Jubilee, you can call me Jubes, and I'll be on the phone with you until help arrives. Okay..." There was another pause. "Psst, Chica, this is the part where you tell me your name."
"Oh, uhm Rogue." She wanted to push the hair from Logan's face to better judge his condition but the cuffs where still in place and she couldn't take the phone away from her ear, it was his only chance.
"Hey, Rogue. Now I need some really important details."
"Okay, I'll try." Rogue began to look at their surroundings again to try and find anything that might help identify where they were. She didn't think half-naked girl hovering over a half-dead man would help.
"Great. First, how long have you been seeing Wolvie?"
Rogue snorted, snot and tears running down her face that she wiped away as best she could with the back of her hand. She could hear someone on the other end shout at Jubilee. Rogue hoped they didn't get after Jubes too hard, a bit of levity couldn't hurt right about now.
Carefully she laid her head down on his chest to comfort herself. There was a faint but steady beat of his heart and a slight rise and fall from his breathing that gave her hope. Hades, being King of the Underworld, surely couldn't die.
~*~
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000