When Logan got home Marie was deep in thought, her hand resting on the files that were scattered around the room. Hearing Logan's breath her eyes turned to pierce him with a strong glare. "So?"
Logan dropped bonelessly into the sofa, his body reminding her of a big cat just relaxing after a hunt,his head dropped back toward the ceiling opening his throat.
"They're all frightened, looks like Jean took off takin' ol Boy Scout with her. She said a few choice pieces though by the looks of it, but that's your job to find out what she said tomorrow."
"We stayin' then?" Logan's face dropped back down from where he'd been studying the ceiling above him, his features suddenly lupine.
"Darlin' I wouldn't miss this for all the information in the *world*." His smile was cold but the look in his gaze was easily read, he needed her and she shifted over toward him. Standing in front of him, her hands uncovered she let her touch graze over his bare skin. His head following her every move over his skin, seeing how much he needed her touch, her presence, her love. Stilling her hands on his face she caught his eyes and the fire inside them.
"Can we do this?" A doubt crept into his eye and she nodded as it fell over his face, she nodded in reply. "Ah know, that's why ah contacted Emma." Logan froze up; his grip on her increased as his eyes widened mouth about to open when she shushed him. "We both know what she is, an if these," she motioned to the files that were scattered around the room. "Came from someone who's been on the inside here, then we use them too. We have an option here Logan, we're not alone and maybe we'll have somewhere to run after all this is over."
His mind was whirling, she'd contacted an enemy *again*, when Emma had been in that flyspeck town she'd been seething with hatred for them both. He'd sensed her rage, her barely controlled hatred of them both, but if Marie could convince Emma that they weren't a threat to her....The idea had merit, he had to give her that much but how much could they trust someone who thought they were the enemy as much as Xavier?
"This secretary, she back tomorrow?" Marie nodded as she rubbed his forearms, easing the tension he was carrying in his arms making his fingers relax on her skin. "Okay, tomorrow mornin' you go and get that secretary. If I know Chuck he'll be havin' kittens about Jean, I doubt he'll be showin his face for a couple of days. He'll be tryin' to get her back here."
Marie nodded to herself, she knew that Xavier would never give up on someone as powerful as Jean. He'd never let her go, not without a fight and exactly how two telepaths fought she had no idea. But while he was distracted they had free reign, now that Scott wasn't there along with Jean that would mean that things would be stretched tight. Giving them the perfect opportunity to 'help out', after all they were part of the 'team' weren't they? She gave Logan a cheshire cat smile an slid her hands back up his forearms, shifting her hips as she did it. Smiling when he caught her mood and followed it with his own building excitement.
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Three hours later Marie was asleep and Logan was outside resting on the porch, his cigar burning brightly in the deep darkness. Lifting his head to the wind he caught the scent of warm metal, smiling as he turned into the darkness to see a form solidifying out of the darkness.
Peiter's face shone in the starlight, a man made of metal, a statue come to life and for a moment Logan could almost believe in fairy tales. When he got to the porch Logan dropped off it and motioned to the lake, they'd talk there. He didn't want Marie disturbed by their plans, if she knew she'd probably want in on them as well. This needed a kind of secrecy that men like Logan and Peiter knew how to hide, Marie couldn't hide anything very well where as Peiter could.
When they reached the waters edge Peiter's red eyed gaze seemed to calm a little, his breath was even but the man's stance was filled with tension. He began quite slowly, "We discussed what you suggested, she won't do it. I have to agree with her, what was done *is* done all we can influence is how we manage the after effects. A child is a child Logan, no matter how it came into being." Logan nodded, he'd known what the answer would be, even before Peiter had left the last time. Kitty looked fragile but she wasn't, not when her mind was made up. Peiter started again, his voice a deep rumble in the starlit darkness.
"Jean said some things, she said she'd been tricked, used." He turned to the smaller man who was stood looking out over the water like him, searching for answers to the statements that had been given by Jean.
"She had, Xavier used her to kill, used her talents to destroy people he wanted out of the way." Peiter's stillness was something he'd expected, as if he'd expected what he'd been told to be true. Logan turned his eyes to the bigger man and met his red gaze, "Just like he used me."
There was no show of emotion, no outward sign of movement but he knew Peiter had taken a step back from him somehow. Moving his gaze out toward the water Logan continued, "Xavier used me, my gifts, my *talents*. Ever since I've been here I've been doin his dirty work, things no one else is ever supposed to know about, never mind mention." He took a drag from his cigar, the nicotine making him buzz slightly from its potency. He almost smiled when he looked at the big man who was now thinking. "Think he'd had any plans that way for you?" Peiter just snapped his gaze to Logan, too fast for him not to have hit the nail on the head. "Thought so." Peiter shifted his gaze away and looked out on the dark water, hoping it could expunge the stains on his heart and soul.
"See Pete, the bastard doesn't care about the kids here, he's trainin' you all to kill for him. Go here, rescue that kid but not that one, go to this lab but not that one. Ever wonder why? Ever wonder what happened to the kids that never stayed here, those who's powers were so much less than he thought they would be?" Logan made sure to catch the man's eyes, bringing his hand up into view and the light that glinted off the small amount of claw that poked through his skin. "They didn't suffer, hell I'm not Creed, quick, clean an quiet. See once you've been offered things an you say 'no', thats where I came in. Just be thankful you've been useful to him, both of you, otherwise I'd have been visiting you a few hours afterward." He moved closer to the larger man, his hand reaching out to his clothed skin, feeling the metal under his hand flex as he touched him. "I know it's hard to hear this but Pete, you've got a family now. You gotta put them *first*. So tell me, what else did Jean say?"
Peiter struggled at first but at last the large man relaxed enough to change his skin back to normal. "She told us she'd killed people, that Xavier had been messing in her mind, that he'd edited her memories. She said Scott had known, that he'd been helping Xaiver to use her."
"What happened to them? I saw someone leavin'." Peiter nodded to him as the first pieces of light crept into the world turning everything to dusky grey.
"Yes, she came into the Rec room, Scott was following her, trying to talk to her but she wasn't listening to him. We watched as she argued with him, shouted at him that he'd never loved her, he'd been using her, keeping her like a pet for his *master*. The way she spoke Logan.....it was horrible, as if she'd never cared for him. Thats when everything went wrong."
Logan waited in the growing dawn for the big man to continue, the light picking out the tired lines on his young features. "The vase was first, it just cracked then crumbled as they argued, every piece just hanging there in space. A chair went next, crushed as if someone huge had sat in it, it just kept compacting till there was nothing but a flat depression in the floor. I think that's when Scott noticed what was happening to her, he grabbed her, tried to get her to concentrate on him. He looked scared Logan, Scott was *afraid* of her, then she just looked at him. We were all in the opposite end of the room, we'd backed off given them enough room to argue but enough to listen as well.
He'd stopped moving when she'd looked at him, the fear on his face was still there but he hadn't moved a muscle when he turned with Jean to face us all. She'd moved him, thats when she'd told us to get out of here, to leave before he turned us all into zombies. To leave and take to the streets, it was safer there than it was here. She'd left then, taken Scott with her, using her power to keep his feet just off the ground. She walked him backward out of the room and that was the last we saw of them. It scared everyone, no one wanted to move but it was Kitty who went over to where they'd been arguing. She found the hole in the floor and the destruction that followed Jean's wake. All the way to the garage, the floor was almost bleached white, every board, every place she'd passed. She'd left a trail as wide as her body, you can still see it, we don't know what to do about it. The kids when they get up tomorrow will see it, their teachers aren't here, Xavier is locked in Cerebro and Storm is up in her rooms. I don't know what to do Logan." The big man sat down on the dew moistened grass at the waters edge, his experience had aged him in years over the last few hours. Logan sat next to him, the dampness making his bones ache a little as it soaked through to his skin.
"Not much you can do Pete, all you can do is make sure you've got a bag packed an ready." Peiter looked over at Logan in the growing light, his face confused. Logan helped to clarify what he was thinking to the larger man, "Because if the people Xaiver was fuckin with find out he's weak right now, what do you think will happen?" Logan watched the cold thought run across the larger mans face, his body tensed as he made to get up; Logan's hand stopped him dead. "No. Not now, don't go runnin in there like the worlds about to end. Just go to every team member, tell em what you think may happen. Get every kid packed and ready to go at a seconds notice, be prepared Pete because when this place goes south you want to be ready." Peiter nodded and shifted his bulky form up from the ground, turning to leave he stopped short and looked at Logan.
"Why Logan, why did you do it?"
"Why did I do what he asked?" Peiter nodded, Logan found his gaze drifting toward the cabin before coming back to meet Peiter's gaze. Understanding was there in his large face when Logan met his gaze again.
"I understand." Logan's look solidified and he tensed up as the first rays of the sun came over the horizon.
"No you don't Pete, sometimes neither do I. It was just a better option ya know, to have something I'd never had before, someone who gave a damn about me. Not what I could do for em, just for me. An that was what I was doin it for, not for a sick mind in a wheelchair, for that an only that."
Peiter knew there was more to it than that but he wasn't going to push it now, he'd seen them together before all this. He knew how much Rogue had smiled when he'd been home, how much she'd worried about him when he went out alone. Now she was back and she was different, but inside she was still Rogue and she loved Logan and nothing would stop her. Not even Xavier. Taking his leave of Logan Peiter made his way up the paths back to his own woman, her body making their child, it might not have been the best start but it'd get the best from now on. Raising his head to the sunrise Peiter left everything in better hands than his. He'd help but Logan had a plan of that he was sure, he just had to make sure Kitty and the baby survived it.
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The mansion was quiet when Marie went looking for the secretary, no classes were being done, every room looked empty. She went to the biology lab and there the message was clearly written on the board, Field Trip - New York Natural History Museum. Smiling she went direct to the office, she'd hopefully find the secretary there. Wakling down to the office she noticed the pale stripe that marked the floor and walls. As if someone had bleached out all the colour from the world at head height. She heard the tapping of keys from the office, putting on her best smile she shifted the folders in her hand and walked straight in.
There at her desk was the sour faced secretary, her quick eyes following Marie's every move as she approached the desk. Keeping her fingers moving on the keyboard as she waited for Marie to speak to her. "Ah've brought back the files, thanks for letting me take em home last night. Ah've managed to catch up on everything ah needed to...." Here was where she took the risk, "Ah found somethin else too, a file ah think you didn't want anyone else to find. Ah'd put it somewhere safe if ah were you, ya never know who might come lookin'." Her eyes dragged to the interconnecting door between the office and Xavier's private room. When they got back the secretaty just got up from her desk and opened the door to the room, Marie's heart was in her mouth as the woman waved her over. Slowly she apporached the door, had she got it wrong, was this woman really working for Emma? She hadn't confirmed that she was, but she'd hinted that she had someone keeping tabs on Xavier.
As she got there Marie saw the empty room, its state of disarray, the papers that were all over the floor, the whirlwind that had been through the place. Smashed items, blackened glass and cracked wood, her eyes widening as she took in all the damage. "Now that's some temper tantrum, just because his little favourite left." The sour faced woman smiled and shut the door again, her smile resting on her skin easily as she went back behind her desk. Her voice clipped and professional as she spoke to Marie.
"She never was one for clearing up after herself that one."
Marie's face almost split in two her smile was that wide, "You mean that was...."
"Jean, yes."
"Damn, I never thought she had it in her."
"Oh she has lots more than that my dear and if you don't mind I have work to do. Just because the entire place is falling apart doesn't mean I don't have reports to type up." Her right eye winked at Marie and suddenly she knew phoning Emma had been the right thing to do, they weren't on their own anymore.
Logan had told her that Xavier was down in Cerebro and he was going to be down there for a while. She'd play her part in this little masquerade, play the dutiful team member right up until the end. Smiling to herself she traced the pale line down the halls taking in the damage Jean had wrought. Oh this was going to be fun, and her smile darkened the world around her as she went.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here we get underneath the schools skin, exactly *what* Xavier has been doing is finally coming out into the light of day.
Logan gets some payback and Marie gets a couple of allies on the outside.
Logan gets some payback and Marie gets a couple of allies on the outside.