Rogue was a little excited, and a lot nervous, as the jet lifted into the air. It was her first 'official' X-Men mission. It was just a pick up but at the same time, not an ordinary pick up, hence why so many were being sent. There were eight X-Men going on this pick up, instead of the normal two. Their target was an adult mutant, known as Wolverine, this guy was a healer, and a feral, an unusual combination. Their only previous experience with one such mutant was the Brotherhoods highly unstable Sabretooth, hence why they were taking such a big team.

The plan was to draw Wolverine in with an appeal to his feral side, the two main attractions to a feral being fighting, or fucking. They were trying to corral the guy from a backwoods bar that held illegal cage fights, so the plan was for one of the women to lure him away with an offer of sex, and then fill him in on the military intel they had uncovered. There was a lab after this guy, and not for the first time in his life. The Professor was certain he wouldn't want to relive the experience of being 'improved' - as the military had considered it - and that could work in their favour to get him on side.

Rogue knew the reason the Professor wanted him on the team was to combat Sabretooth on missions, which she wouldn't complain about; that took care of the fighting draw for the feral inside him. The fucking though... much to the annoyance of some of the senior team members - read Scott - Wolverine was essentially going to be allowed free reign to have his pick of any willing and eligible female on the grounds. Rogue honestly wasn't sure that would work, sure there were several redheads, which their intel said he was partial to but the intel also said he never did the same woman twice. Surely once he'd fucked his way through the mansions female population he would just leave again?

Not that it really mattered to her, he wouldn't be trying to get in her pants, no one wanted to try that. Even the adrenaline junkies at the mutant school wouldn't do more than flirt with her, not since Remy tried to steal a kiss, ended up in a coma for two days, and she'd blown up a cafeteria table in the process... Which was why, though she had been included in the briefing, and instructed to flirt with the guy if he approached her, to try and draw him in, she was really only there as a look out. Jean was likely to get the fuck, a prospect she seemed rather pleased about, Scott was a completely different story however. He was seriously pissed, and Jean's constant placating, with the line 'it's for the good of the mission', wasn't helping.

When they finally touched down on the outskirts of town, they slowly made their way, one by one or in small groups, into the bar. The fights had already started so the newcomers didn't draw too much attention, except Storm, she always got a lot of 'attention' wherever she went.

As Rogue made her way inside, she couldn't help remembering the few months she had spent on the road, she had tried to avoid places like this, specifically for their terrible clientele. The sickeningly leery looks she was getting now, just served to remind her why. Making her way to a deserted corner, as discretely as possible, she hoped the noise coming from the chain link cage, and the crowd, would be enough to distract the patrons from her presence. A beer was delivered to her table not long after, the one upside of her being included on this mission, Scott had said she could have one beer, for appearances of course, who went to a bar and didn't drink.

After surveying the crowd from her place in the shadows, she turned her attention to the cage, hoping to catch a glimpse of their target, and boy howdy did she ever! The guy was a fucking god. Muscles on top of muscles, and an air about him of predatory superiority. She couldn't help the thought that ran through her mind that if these idiots had been sober, not one of them would have had the balls to step into the cage with him. He moved with a fluid grace, every move guarded and calculated. She took note of his fighting style, he would be a formidable opponent on the field. In this setting though, he was clearly playing the crowd for bets, opening himself up to hits, until any ordinary man would have gone down, only to surge back with a flurry of short, sharp jabs meant to incapacitate his victi- opponent, and render them down - except for that guy; personal note, don't kick the Wolverine in the balls...

She sniggered into her drink as she watched Wolverine's latest opponent get dragged, unconscious, out of the ring. A moment later she froze when the predatory gaze turned on her... She knew he had heightened senses, which meant good eyesight, but surely he couldn't see her, dressed in black and sitting in the shadows as she was. He sure seemed to be looking at her though, a hardness to his gaze. Just as she was beginning to feel uncomfortable the moment was broken when none other than Jean, slipped up to the cage and handed him a drink. Wolverine took the drink, tossed it back, and handed the glass back, before turning to his new opponent without so much as a sideways glance at the woman who had handed it to him. Ha-ha, take that Jean, she chuckled, watching the woman’s crestfallen reaction when he turned away from her.

The fights were over a couple of hours later, and while Wolverine was in a backroom, or maybe the men's room, cleaning up after the fight, Rogue watched in disgusted awe as literally every woman, her aside, began their self-obsessed primping and preening, hoping to catch the eye of someone to warm their bed tonight. Most were clearly holding out for a crack at the Wolverine, others realised they didn't stand a chance with the abundant competition and set their sights on lesser targets. Rogue just shook her head and continued to observe at large, despite the fact the fights were now over, and the crowd had thinned a little, she was still unnoticed, just the way she wanted it to be.

When Wolverine reappeared, he headed straight for the bar, ordered a beer, but before the crowd of groupies - Jean included - could corral him, he had taken his drink and stalked away from the crowded bar. He even growled at one woman who reached out to try and catch hold of his arm. Poor Jean, two rejections in one night, Rogue couldn't help yet another chuckle bursting forth, at least this night wasn't lacking in entertainment.

It wasn't until he was only a few tables from her that Rogue suddenly realised Wolverine was walking directly, and intentionally, toward her. She warily watched him approach, she had chosen this corner specifically because it was deserted, and with most of the patrons being absolutely shitfaced, not to mention distracted by the cage, she had been assured of not running the risk of being disturbed. She doubted anyone else in the room even knew she was there, aside from her teammates, and apparently the Wolverine, who was watching her intently, his keen predator eyes locked onto hers even from halfway across the room.

Without a word he sat down opposite her, deposited his beer on the table, and continued to stare at her. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling herself flush under his gaze. His looked changed from predatory grace to amusement, and he chuckled at her discomfort.

"Something you wanted?" Rogue snapped, annoyed at being thrown so completely off balance by this sudden change in events. She could see her teammates, at various points around the room, also regarding the situation in confusion.

"A lot of things I want sweetheart but what do you want, why are you here?" Wolverine asked curiously, taking a healthy swig of his beer.

"Can't a girl just be curious?" Rogue shrugged, trying to avoid committing herself to any hard and fast story she might have to remember details for. The intel had said Wolverine was incredibly intelligent, with a keen eye for details.

"Curiosity doesn't usually lead to the girl hiding in a corner looking like she'd rather be anywhere but where she is," Wolverine replied, a softness touching his eyes as he continued to regard her. "You don't approve of the barbarism of cage fights, or the whoring yourself out on an old man's orders?" he asked gently, as if he already knew the answer.

She opened her mouth to deny his insinuation but promptly snapped it shut. The jig was up, how had he known, he wasn't as clueless and ill prepared as the Professor thought, obviously. Well, she'd have to try and salvage this somehow, and bullshitting wouldn't work, thankfully he was giving her the vibe of being a man who preferred brutal honesty.

"I can see the appeal of the fighting, though I definitely prefer to be a spectator in that regard," she replied. She wanted to deny that her orders were akin to prostitution but really... he was right, though it wasn't meant to be her. He wasn't even meant to see her; he was supposed to get distracted by the older women and not even notice her... Jean was going to be pissed!

"You weren't expecting to be doing the whoring, were you?" he asked. Had their intel missed some powers? Was this guy actually telepathic or something?

"The intel suggested you were partial to redheads," Rogue replied, taking a sip of her drink in an attempt to hide her grin, and yet another blush.

Wolverine chuckled, a warm rich sound, that reverberated right down to her toes. "What man isn't," he replied with a shrug, "Though I prefer my redheads natural, and not up the duff." He chuckled again when Rogue choked on her drink.

"What!?" she spluttered, trying to catch her breath as she coughed liquid out of her lungs, "Jean's pregnant?! Wait... how do you know that?" she asked suspiciously.

"Scent can tell you a lot about a person, pregnancy hormones change the scent, as do multiple sexual partners, then you've got masking scents like hair dye, perfume... it's refreshing when you find someone with a clean scent let me tell you, no other scents on them, nothing to cover up that sweetness," Wolverine replied, quirking an eyebrow in a surprisingly attractive gesture.

It took a moment for what he'd said to fully sink in but when she realized he was indirectly calling her out as a virgin, she blushed again. This man was incorrigible, and he seemed intent on seeing just how red he could get her to turn - surely there were more entertaining ways to do that than embarrassment, at this point in time she'd even consider being boiled alive!

He was grinning mischievously when she finally opened her eyes again, after it became apparent the ground wasn't going to open up and swallow her, thus saving her from further embarrassment.

"I'm curious to know, would you have actually done it? If I'd come over here and chatted you up, and taken you back to my motel room, would you have given up your virginity for your mission?" Wolverine queried, clearly genuinely interested to know. He looked surprised when Rogue didn't immediately blush again, instead she looked sad, and resigned.

Catching his odd look, she explained, "Even if I wanted to I couldn't, I-I'm a mutant, my mutation it... I wouldn't want to hurt you, it's too dangerous."

"Bullshit!" Wolverine replied with a gruff chuckle, "There's plenty of ways around life sucking skin, hell, I've already come up with a few and they aren't even particularly imaginative." He winked at her suggestively, as she blushed prettily again; he was definitely enjoying making her uncomfortable. "So, would you have done it?" he prompted again.

Clearly, he wasn't going to give up on getting an answer to his question so, for the first time since her mutation manifested, she actually considered the possibility of being intimate with someone, specifically, the someone sitting across the table from her. "For a mission... no," she eventually admitted.

"Won't your boss be pretty pissed with you?" he asked, not the least bit surprised by her answer.

"Probably," she admitted, attempting to distract the line of questioning by taking another sip of her drink. Unfortunately, she was out of drink, which Wolverine noticed. “How did you know what my mutation is?” she suddenly commented, realising she hadn’t mentioned anything to do with her skin when she told him her power was dangerous.

“You’re not the only one with intel,” he replied cryptically. "So, what was the plan after your whore decoy fucked me docile, hmm?" he queried, showing genuine interest despite his crass phrasing.

"They were supposed to get you somewhere private, and then explain that you're in danger, we found intel connecting you to a lab, as an experiment, the lab appears to have taken a renewed interest in you, and they're actively tracking you, whoever it was, was supposed to convince you to come back to our school, for your safety until we can track the lab back to a chain of command and shut it down from the top," Rogue explained, watching Wolverine's face as she did. He remained carefully neutral when she mentioned the experiments, and showed not even the slightest hint of surprise when she revealed the lab was closing in on him.

"The guy calling the program's shots is one General William Stryker, he hates mutants but only the ones he can't control, politics can't shut this operation down, we're working a slightly different tack to you guys, all we need is the main lab location, what better way to get that than giving Stryker back his number one favourite project. Once I'm back on the inside, my real time location will be fed to base, then our team goes in, cleans house. We don't play the dirty game, we play the end game, and if your boss knows what's best, he'll stay out of our way," Wolverine stated, firmly but gently. Rogue couldn't help the feeling that if Wolverine had been talking to the Professor, this conversation would be delivered in a much more aggressive manner.

"So," Wolverine continued, "I'm going to proposition you instead, see I don't like it when an old man uses young women's body’s to further his agenda... dump the geeks, quit the dirty politics, you strike me as the kind of girl who prefers direct action to mind games, come back with me, you won't ever be asked to do something you aren't one hundred percent comfortable with, you won't be expected to tow a line that might not be your opinion, and you won't be guilted into playing superhero by being told you 'owe' the people who helped you out. We aren't heroes, we aren't out for glory, we're out to shut these fucks down the fastest and most permanent way possible, to save lives...

“Magneto wasn't the only one after you when you ended up on the road kid, him, Xavier, and two labs were all out to get you, while Mags and X were fighting over who got you, one of those labs got another runaway girl, we managed to rescue her when we shut it down but not until after she'd been brutally gang raped and tortured to test her mutation... And before you try and justify his leaving her to that fate; X knew about her, knew she was also a target, but he already had a mutant on his roster with a very similar power, he didn't need her, so he turned a blind eye, chose you over her, chose political one up man ship to saving lives," Wolverine was looking angry now, as he withdrew a slip of paper from inside his jacket and laid it on the table top in front of her.

Gingerly Rogue picked up the paper, her mind instantly recognizing the handwriting as the Professor's, with a later note from Scott. She felt her stomach flip flop as she read, in the Professor's own hand writing an admission of what Wolverine had just told her. The X-Men had ignored the lab, and for no apparent reason, by the time this note was written she had already been rescued, why hadn't they gone after the lab too?

She stared in shock at Wolverine after she had read the note through twice. "Is the girl... alive? Is she... okay?" Rogue asked softly, guilt, that maybe it was partly her fault that the girl had been captured, beginning to eat at her.

Wolverine smiled sadly at her. "She's doing good, recovered well... don't blame yourself Rogue, you weren't the one calling the shots, you still aren't, but you can be. What do you say, want to give us a shot? If you don't like our operation you can always go back to the X-Men, hell, you could go to the Brotherhood if you wanted, we won't stop you, or you can bow out completely and just be a regular young woman if you want," Wolverine prompted.

"... I ... I need some time to think," Rogue murmured softly, after a brief pause, glancing up at him uncertainly. Could she really abandoned the people who had rescued her, taken her in, given her a home...

"Of course, we've got a couple of rooms reserved at the motel across the street, you're welcome to one, you'll have it to yourself, you can take as long as you want to think over my proposal," Wolverine said, before leaning closer to her. He was wearing a leery smirk, as his body language screamed 'flirting' to anyone who was watching - which was all of her teammates - but his eyes were honest and sincere as he offered to walk her over to the room. Obviously he was going to continue to play to the Professor's tune, on the surface at least. Wolverine might hate the games but he could clearly play well when he had to.

With a smile and a blush Rogue nodded, and let herself be tugged gently out of her seat, before a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and Wolverine led her out of the building and away from prying eyes. At the motel he let them both into a room, Rogue momentarily worried he might have been lying, until he pulled out a second key, and led her, via the motel's internal hallway, to a second room. He grinned, and cheekily kissed her goodnight, bare lips to bare lips, too quick for her mutation to react, before she hurriedly slipped into her own room.

She listened as boot treads faded away, a few minutes later doors opened and closed, before all fell silent again. Stripping out of the most restrictive of her clothing, Rogue crawled into the clean but rather uncomfortable bed, and settled down to think, as she idly scrolled through her social media on her phone. It wasn't long before noises began to filter through the wall next door, looked like Wolverine wouldn't be lacking for company tonight after all, she thought with a giggle.

It wasn't until she scrolled past several posts by friends, from the mansion, who had since left the school, that a thought occurred to her. From the beginning of her tenure at the school, it had been repeatedly mentioned to her that she would be an X-Man when she graduated, and a few of her other peers but not the rest. The rest had left the school, gotten basic self-defence training and then been turned loose into the big wide world. She however had continually been bombarded with the message she couldn't leave, it was too dangerous, she had to stay, she would be an X-Man... She had been conditioned, from day one of her time at the mansion, to 'accept' a position on the team...

The more she thought about that, the more it annoyed her. She wanted to help people, not just be a display piece in the Professor's own personal freak show!

Eventually, tired and frustrated, she rolled over to sleep, resolving to talk to Wolverine in the morning and ask him some questions about just who exactly he was working for. Glaring at the noisy wall adjoining their rooms, she decided she was going to enjoy waking him up the next morning. Very early the next morning!

Being an early riser had its perks, Rogue had always thought, especially at the mansion, the peace and quiet in the early morning hours at the school, before everyone else was up, was an amazing time. Being an early riser also had its downsides though, especially after a night of being kept awake by noisy sex from the room next door! It didn't tend to see one start the day in a terribly good mood, and she was ready to share that lack of good mood with her neighbour. Until...

'Wolverine's moved to unit 3' read the slip of paper, sticky taped to the door of unit 4. With a frown, Rogue continued down the hallway to the next door. Before she could raise her hand to knock, she heard voices coming from inside, she couldn't hear what they were saying, and wasn't sure if she should interrupt. The door opened in front of her before she could make a decision on what to do.

"Morning," Wolverine said, before she could speak, holding the door open and gesturing for her to come in. Another man was standing on the far side of the room, he offered her a smile as she hesitated in the doorway.

"I don't want to interrupt, I can come back later," she replied.

"No, it's alright, we were talking about you anyway," Wolverine teased, grinning when, yet again, she blushed. "This is Refraction, he's a mutant too, he's our ghost, he can go invisible and walk through stuff," Wolverine introduced her to the other man, once the door was shut firmly behind her.

Rogue returned the other man's smile, and shook his hand in greeting, before she turned back to Wolverine. "I had some questions, if you have time?" she asked nervously.

"Sure, shoot, anything you want to ask, go for it," Wolverine said, taking a seat on the bed, leaving the couch for Rogue.

"First off, who the hell was in that room last night?" Rogue asked, equally as confused now as she was annoyed. Both men chuckled in response.

"Sorry about the noise, that would be my brother and his wife, they're really good at decoy work," Wolverine answered, "Your 'friends' were checking up on you last night, they shouldn't be expecting to see you until sometime this afternoon."

"Great..." Rogue replied, with an amused flush. Fantastic, all her teammates thought she had... oh, who cares what they thought! "So, who exactly do you work for? And why do you want me on your team?" she asked, the two questions she had been mulling over all night between snatches of sleep.

"Technically, I work for myself, the intel portion of our group is completely separate to the muscle, my mother runs the intel group, tricks she picked up while she was looking for me the first time the lab got me, she amassed quite a tight knit group of collectors during that time, some mutant, some human, they work with her when and where they can around their own personal lives. The muscle gets called in when the intel has a solid lead, we're all... independent contractors, if you will, if we're available we come in, if we're not, we don't, there is no set team, we don't 'want you on our team', we don't not want you working with us either, we just don't want you forced into something that's not for you. As I said last night, if you don't want in with us that's fine, you can go back to the X-Men, you can go to the Brotherhood, or if you want out completely, have a normal life, we can help you out with that too. You don't owe anyone any part of your life, you don't owe Xavier because he picked you up and trained you, any more than I owe Stryker for making me indestructible, your life, is your choice," Wolverine stated.

"Why- why now, was this planned, why did you make this offer to me and not anyone else?" Rogue asked warily, had she been set up by someone?

"It wasn't planned, pure spur of the moment on my part, I could tell you didn't want to be there, our intel has suggest a level of... coercion, low level telepathic manipulation to keep 'students' with desirable mutations on the roster, Xavier's made no secret that he views your mutation as very desirable and will go to great lengths to keep you, however, according to the records he keeps on you your mutation makes you unsuited to telepathic manipulation, meaning he's probably resorted to good old fashion psy ops to keep you on side, I didn't bother approaching anyone else because they all, at least on the surface, appeared to be more than happy to be there, except for the redheads toy boy but I figured that was more because his wife was acting like a willing slut trying to score with another man," Wolverine admitted.

Rogue chuckled at his comment about Jean, the image of her crestfallen face, as Wolverine had turned away from her multiple times during the night, was still clear in her mind. She chewed nervously on her lip as she considered what he had told her, she was terrified of making the wrong decision but really, it wouldn't be the first time she'd set out for places unknown with nothing to her name. At least she was a little older, a little wiser, and a little more capable of taking care of herself this time.

"If I don't like it, I can walk away, any time?" she clarified, noting Wolverine's solemn nod, and Refraction's broad grin. "Alright, I'll give it a shot, but what are you doing about this lab, are you really going to let them catch you?" she asked, concerned.

"That's the plan, we've probably got..." Wolverine's response was interrupted by yet another pleasure filled feminine moan from the other side of the wall. "Oh for fucks sake," he groaned, before thumping hard on the wall and calling through it, "Will you two hurry it up I want to go get breakfast." All he got back was a thump, which turned onto a string of repetitive thumps as the bed repeatedly met the wall.

Rogue couldn't help herself and finally started laughing. Dear lord, what the hell her teammates must be thinking right now after what they'd no doubt overheard last night.

"As I was saying," Wolverine continued, once she was done laughing, ignoring the sounds from the other side of the wall. "We've probably got a few days before they make their move to nab me, though the arrival of your friends may well spook them into pushing that timeframe forward, if it's okay with you, after breakfast we can tell your friends your decision to split and Refraction can get you back to base, I'll catch up with you and get you settled once the mission's over if you like, or Catherine will probably set you up somewhere... assuming that's alright with you of course?" Wolverine asked.

"Who's Catherine?" was Rogue's only response.

"My mother, don't let her looks fool you, she is definitely older than me, she remembers the time before electric lightbulbs," he joked, before turning an ear to the wall. "Hmph, what do you know, he actually hurried it up for a change," Wolverine added, grinning at Rogue's wide eyed, open mouthed shock.

"Wait, you can, hear, what's happening in there?" she asked surprised.

"Yep, you thought last night was bad for you, I'd have still been able to hear them from the other end of the block," Wolverine replied with a smirk, as Rogue cringed at the thought.

A few minutes later a tall dark-haired man, who bore a striking resemblance to Wolverine, and a shorter, woman, with dark blonde hair and pale blue eyes, entered the room.

"Geez, just because you didn't get laid last night's no reason to bite my head off," the man smirked at Wolverine.

"It's not often we get away from the kids, I wish that curse upon you some day," the woman glared at Wolverine, though her smile told them all she was joking, at least a little bit.

"Oh, is that how you were done so quick, I thought this guy was just losing his touch in his old age," Wolverine parried back.

"Oof, brother, that is one thing you never joke about," the man replied, while the woman mouthed behind his back, 'Oh he's still got it'.

"You must be Rogue," the new arrivals turned to the girl in question then. "I'm Lynx, this is my wife Willow, you'll have to forgive us, we called your honour into question last night," he said jokingly, as he shook her hand.

"Yeah, I heard," Rogue deadpanned.

"Half the fucking continent heard," Refraction added, from the back of the crowd.

"Hey we were just following orders," Lynx shrugged, with a grin. "Now if you don't mind, we're going to bed, wake us when the shit hits the fan," he added, as he led his wife back out into the hallway.

"Come on kid, let's go get breakfast," Wolverine said, leading the way back to, and through, the first room. If anyone had been watching the pair from outside, all they would have seen and heard, was Wolverine and Rogue going in, lots of sex noises, and Wolverine and Rogue coming out.

"I thought you guys didn't like playing games?" Rogue asked slyly.

"Didn't say we don't like playing, we just play to win," Wolverine replied with a flirty wink, as he wrapped his arm around her waist again, as he had done the night before when he walked her to the motel.

They were halfway across the road, heading for a friendly looking diner, when suddenly Wolverine froze, intently watching the eastern horizon.

**Wolverine, they're moving in, intercept imminent,** echoed through his mind. Tech wasn't telepathic but the specially modified and implanted comm chip behind his ear, functioned the same way as telepathic communication.

**Thanks Tech, you’re about five fucking minutes too late, Rogue's in the firing line,** he responded.

**Get her to back up if you can, I'm sorry, the call just came through from their covert ops, they've been on radio silence, I didn't realise they were so close, I'm not actually telepathic you know,** Tech replied, though Wolverine could tell he was more worried than upset.

"Wolverine? What is it?" Rogue asked, staring up at him in confusion; the middle of street wasn't the brightest place to stop.

"Go back to the motel, Unit 9, Lynx and Refraction will get you to safety," Wolverine instructed, as he pushed her back toward the motel. He pulled them both to a stop when he saw the line of black clad commandos, in full tactical gear, weapons drawn, silently advancing from the treeline. "Shit!" Wolverine muttered.

**Tech, tell all teams to stand down, lay low until they're gone, we've got at least four vehicles inbound from the east, and twenty units on foot, less than fifty feet away. I'm going in... Rogue's coming too unless I can hide her,** he radioed back to base, as he promptly turned Rogue back toward the diner. Maybe he could slip her out the back before the main force got to them.

"Oh shit, alright," Rogue muttered from beside him, voice perfectly calm even as her scent belied her nervousness. "What do we do?" she asked, immediately looking to him for instructions.

"If we can get to the diner I want you to hide, hopefully they'll leave you alone, it's me they're after, stay out of sight until Lynx finds you, don't worry about leaving a trail, he can track you by scent," Wolverine instructed. It was all for naught though, as they got to the diner Wolverine pulled Rogue to a stop again, there were already three commandos inside.

"They've got us," Rogue murmured, only the barest tremor in her tone as she took a deep steadying breath.

Wolverine took stock of their surroundings, every direction that wasn't blocked by advancing soldiers was a wide-open expanse, nice and exposed for getting shot. "I can't risk you running yet, they'll shoot you just for fun, you're more likely to survive if you stick close to me, do exactly as I say, understand?" Wolverine demanded gruffly, as he prepared for a fight.

"Understood," Rogue murmured in response, as Wolverine roughly pushed her behind him so his body was shielding her from the soldiers as best he could.

The soldiers were getting closer and closer, Wolverine slowly backing them toward the corner of the diner. As the soldiers made a sudden rush toward them Wolverine pushed her toward the corner with the command to 'run'. She did but she didn't get far; two more soldiers leapt around the corner and grabbed her as she tried to flee. She fought as best she could but she really didn't stand a chance against two grown men twice her size, she couldn't even use her mutation on them because they were covered head to toe in tactical gear. The sudden muted click of a gun being cocked had her freezing, the barrel nudging at the back of her head menacingly.

When she was roughly turned around, securely held by one of the soldiers, she saw the carnage Wolverine was wreaking. Four soldiers were already dead, at least three of them in multiple pieces. His claws - those metal claws the briefing had talked about - were on display, a terrifyingly gory display. He had been shot multiple times already, including with a tranquilizer that had apparently done nothing but piss him off. Several soldiers were attempting to lasso him with a chain, while simultaneously trying to avoid a fate similar to their teammates.

"Now now Wolverine, would be a waste to splatter the pretty little lady's brains," the soldier to her left cooed tauntingly.

The effect was immediate, Wolverine froze, teeth bared, growling deeply as he turned his attention away from those surrounding him and onto those holding Rogue. A seeming lapse in his judgment to the casual observer, just the chance the soldiers needed to wrap that chain around him. Thankfully they were too stupid to realise he had done it on purpose, that he was allowing them to catch him. In minutes they had him cuffed, with heavy metal cuffs that locked his hands together in such a way he couldn't release his claws again. He had a thick metal collar around his neck, chains on either side held by guards, a similar band around his waist, with the same chain set up, the ankles had the same, though each was attached to one chain. He was effectively held by six guards simultaneously, with his hands and claws completely out of action.

"Thank God we didn't have to blow her pretty little brains out," the soldier who was holding Rogue commented, his relief at having the target secured making him sloppy in his arrogance. "I much prefer to fuck them out," he added with a dark chuckle.

Rogue felt his grip ease, and promptly elbowed him hard in the gut, before twisting herself down and out of his arms. Her sudden movement provided enough of a distraction for Wolverine to launch himself toward her, in a smooth movement he brought his arms down over her head, effectively caging her inside his arms.

"Keep hold of me," he murmured in her ear.

Immediately Rogue wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs coming up to wrap around his waist as he was yanked around by the soldiers who were supposed to be incapacitating him. She tucked her face into the crook of his neck, protected from his skin by her hair, and the collar around his neck.

The soldiers briefly attempted to separate them until one pointed out, Wolverine would no doubt behave as long as she was so close, he clearly wasn't going to risk her getting shot. With that decided the pair were promptly loaded onto one of the trucks that had pulled in around them during the struggle, Wolverine was secured inside the truck for the journey and they pulled out minutes later. All that was left of the struggle was some disturbed earth, and a few puddles of bloody dirt.

They drove for hours. By the time they were unloaded into what appeared to be a warehouse of some kind, Rogue's legs had gone to sleep from the cramped position she had been sitting in for so long. Wolverine kept hold of her though, carrying her as she stretched her legs, to get the blood flowing back into them. They were shoved into an elevator, twelve soldiers packed in around them. They seemed to think there was safety in numbers, Wolverine was content to let them keep thinking that for now.

**We're in Tech, do you have the location?** Wolverine tentatively radioed, the earpiece had been conspicuously quiet since they were taken, he hoped it was still working.

**Location confirmed, full contingent ETA, two hours,** Tech replied immediately, before falling silent again.

Wolverine refrained from sighing in relief, he was thankful he only had to keep Rogue out of harm's way for a couple of hours, it was going to be the longest two hours of his life.

When the elevator reached its lowest level, sub level two, he was herded out, and straight into a lab. The chains were immediately connected to a wall, leaving him immobile and vulnerable, with Rogue still in his arms. She had her legs again wrapped around his waist, and was acting as if she was frightened and hiding, he could however feel her calm breathing and her slow movements as she gathered information on their surroundings.

"What the fuck is this?" one of the doctors now in attendance asked exasperatedly, gesturing toward Rogue.

"He had her with him when we got there, when she didn't manage to escape we used her as leverage to secure him, he grabbed onto her and wouldn't let go, he's protecting her I guess, we let him keep her because it shut him up and made him docile but he's your problem now, do what you want with her," the lead soldier replied.

The doctor quickly gave instructions for Rogue to be removed, it took fourteen men, and one hell of a fight, but they eventually managed to drag her out of his arms. She was pinned down to one of the gurneys in the room, and hurriedly strapped down, fighting the whole time. Wolverine could detect her fear growing again, until they had stepped out of the elevator, she had managed to keep her concern to the level of general nerves. When they stepped off that elevator the fear had begun to creep in, now though she was bordering on sheer terror – she obviously knew what went on in places like this.

"It's alright sweetheart," he growled, trying to calm her down, even as he continued to strain to get out of his bindings and to her.

A surprised voice a few minutes later drew the attention of everyone involved, and all turned to regard the newcomer. Wolverine growling menacingly as he immediately recognized Stryker.

"Well I'll be, what do we have here, well if it isn't the Rogue herself, what a pleasant surprise, and you're already friendly with the Wolverine... Well doctor, take good care of this one, she's perfect for your little project," Stryker said with a chuckle. "Get a collar on her first thing, her mutation is incredibly potent," the General added.

"Her m-mutation sir?" the doctor queried, clearly it hadn't occurred to him the girl might be a mutant.

Without a word Stryker grabbed the arm of a nearby guard, his arm was bare to his elbow where his sleeves were rolled up to, and Stryker pressed the bare flesh to Rogue's face. She screamed even before the contact began, squirming as far as she could to get away from the exposed flesh but it did no good. As soon as the soldier was unconscious, Stryker dropped him. "Get a collar on her doctor, unless you want more guards like that, and believe me, with a female around you're going to need as many guards, and as much leverage as you can get, to keep the Wolverine in line." Without a word Stryker turned and walked out of the room.

"Rogue?!" Wolverine called to the girl, who was sagged against her restraints, trembling. This wasn't good.

"I'll be okay," she whispered, though she didn't move, bar the trembling that continued unabated.

**Tech, we have a problem, they've figured out who Rogue is, Stryker's here, anything you can do to push this quicker would be great,** he radioed, hoping the signal would still get through the expanse of concrete above their heads.

**We're inbound Wolverine, updated ETA twenty five minutes,** Lynx responded directly.

--

In short order a thin metal collar was snapped around Rogue's neck, the guards drew straws to see who would test to see if it was working, it took the loser a few more minutes to sike himself up to touch her. Rogue was beyond trying to move away by then, though she did turn her head away with a whimper. Wolverine knew, from their intel, that Rogue's mutation involved an aspect of psyche integration, he was dreading the thought of what she had gotten from the last guard to touch her – it took a seriously sick individual to work in a place like this, not the kind of person she needed in her head.

Ten minutes later, Rogue was tagged, blood had been drawn from both of them for testing, and they were moved into a cell. Wolverine was surprised by the setup, there was a larger cell, in the centre, with four smaller cells lined up down each side. Each small cell opened into the bigger cell, and also had a door that opened from the hallway that ran around the whole cell block in a u shape. It was almost like a communal living set up, except, they were the only two mutants there.

Rogue was led ahead of him, meaning Wolverine was unable to get close enough to her to slip his arms back around her. When she was roughly shoved into the large cell Wolverine watched, worried, as she staggered, before collapsing to the ground and curling into a fetal position. He was pulled up short just inside the door, and quickly stripped of the bands and chains, the cuffs were left, though the mechanism that locked them together was released, he now had some movement from his hands and arms.

Immediately he shoved the guards out of his way and moved over to Rogue, kneeling down beside her he gently scooped her up, and carried her toward the large bed at the end of the large cell; all the rest of the cells were locked off for now. Setting Rogue down on the bed, he moved to cover her with a blanket but she clutched at his arm.

"Don't let go," she begged, her eyes opening for the first time since the incident in the lab, her own chocolate brown eyes swirling with shards of ice blue.

"I don't know what to do sweetheart, how do I help you?" Wolverine asked softly, nuzzling her hair covered cheek. Even though her skin was 'safe' now he wouldn't touch her skin unless she allowed him to.

Rogue smiled tiredly. "Just hold me?" she requested softly. Without another word, Wolverine climbed into the bed and spooned himself around her.

"I've got you Rogue, I'm not letting go," he murmured reassuringly in her ear.

"Marie," she breathed in return, "My name is Marie."

"Mine's Logan," he returned, holding her tight as she settled deeper into his arms and appeared to fall asleep. He could only hope that was a good sign, he had no idea what exactly happened when she used her mutation.

Fifteen minutes later, the still silence of the lab was shattered as alarms began to sound - their rescue party was here. Wolverine was disturbed by the fact that the sudden noise didn't rouse Rogue, in fact even him picking her up, and carrying her to the helicopter, once their cell door was blown open, still didn't rouse her.

"What's wrong with her?" Lynx asked, eyeing her as Wolverine brushed past him.

"I don't know, Stryker forced her mutation, before they slapped the collar on her, she's been pretty out of it since that all happened," Wolverine explained, as he walked, almost jogged, down the corridor.

Ordinarily he would have returned to base for the debrief with the ground crew, he hated flying, but Rogue needed to get seen by someone, fast, and he wasn't handing her over to anyone else to get her there.

"Back to base?" Tech confirmed, eyeing Rogue's still form.

"Yep," was Wolverine's gruff response.

"No!" came a sudden gasp from the girl in his arms, her soft croaky voice barely audible over the sound of the rotors beginning to power up. "There's another lab, four female mutant prisoners, if you don't hit it straight away they'll move them..." Rogue's comments faded off, before with another sudden burst of energy she rattled off a string of coordinates.

"Can we get there?" Wolverine asked Tech.

"Yeah, that’s about ten minutes by air but we wouldn't have a ground crew," Tech pointed out.

"Rogue, what's the guard load like?" Wolverine asked the girl in his arms, who was now in a semi lucid state.

"Minimal, dozen guards tops, everyone else was transferred to deal with them bringing you in," she murmured in response, before she began to run through a detailed list of guard changes, access codes, and the layout of the base.

Ten minutes later, Wolverine wrapped Rogue up in a blanket, and lay her on the floor, sliding her under the jump seats in the cargo area. She protested, wanting to come too, insisting she could help them find the prisoners. "Marie, you can't even hold yourself up, you'll be a liability out there, you can guide us by comm," Wolverine murmured softly to her, as he soothed her and smoothed her hair. When she reluctantly agreed, he turned to Tech. "Set her up with a comm in case we need directions from her... and keep an eye on her, something's going on inside her head, she's possibly not fully in control of herself," Wolverine filled him in on the last part quietly, Tech was going to be alone with her, best to watch his back just in case she wasn't entirely herself.

The rest of the team, seven highly trained and experienced mutant mercenaries, made their way to the perimeter of the base. They split into two groups to take the front and back exits simultaneously. As it turned out Rogue was right, the lab was largely deserted, two doctors, ten guards in total, four prisoners... but it was the contents of the bank of freezers in one of the lab rooms that caught everyone's attention.

"They're fetuses, there must be over a hundred here," one of the men commented, as he scanned the shelves of jars that looked like a scene from a horror film.

"Hey boss, there's another... prisoner?" Onyx called from an adjoining lab, the man had stood down from his fighting stance, and switched off his mutation, the slick black natural armour that usually covered his skin on missions was gone.

Wolverine walked through into the adjoining lab, pausing at the sight before him. Laid out under a heat lamp, tubes and wires running all over it, was a tiny baby, so newly born it still had crusting goop on its body. It was cold, despite the provided heat, the weak thready heartbeat was sputtering irregularly, the smell of death was already beginning to take hold. Under the scent of death was another, vaguely familiar, hint of scent.

"Oh god no," Wolverine muttered, as he moved over to the baby. Small dark eyes cracked open to regard him when he ran a hand over the tiny child's head - the heart monitor skipped again.

"Wolverine these are..." Lynx began, rushing into the room with a file he had been reading in hand.

"I know," Wolverine replied, in a devastated murmur, without looking up as he gently began disconnecting the baby from all the machines. His son was going to die, at this point it was inevitable, but he wasn't going to die here. "Destroy *everything*," Wolverine tasked to Lynx and the rest of their team, "Ground support will be here in fifteen minutes to help with the clean-up, me and Tech will get the prisoners to base," he advised, as he wrapped the baby in a soft blanket one of the team had found. "Get it all," he cautioned Lynx, he knew now what the unusual cell set up had been designed for. Obviously, the labs attempt’s at in vitro fertilization with his DNA had failed, they were going to try 'breeding' the old fashion way.

He heard the chatter over the comms as Lynx again assumed command of the unit, and filled in Tech and the ground crew on what was happening. The helicopter was fired up and ready to go when he reached it, all the rescued prisoners were strapped into seats. Rogue was up and about, gingerly helping secure the last few harnesses. As Wolverine stepped onto the helicopter all eyes turned to him, a quick scan of the faces told him which of the four women was the mother of the child in his arms.

Gently he set the child in her arms. "He's not going to make it, is he?" she asked softly, turning tear filled eyes to him.

"He's not going to make it," Wolverine admitted truthfully, he could have lied but he didn't think it would help. "Make him comfortable, feed him, love him... don't let him go alone," was his only request, before he turned away and busied himself buckling Rogue into her seat and securing himself, before giving Tech the go ahead to get them in the air.

They were ten minutes from home base when Rogue noted Wolverine, who was seated beside her, and was clutching her hand tightly, freeze. A glance at his face caught the brief flash of agony that crossed his features, before a single tear slipped down his cheek, a moment later a devastated sob came from the mother clutching the child.

The baby had died.

The crowd from the helicopter was unusually sombre, the greeting team noted, all the rescued prisoners were gathered around the one clutching a baby. A tall dark-haired woman glanced to Wolverine, brow cocked in a familiar gesture, he shook his head sadly in response. With that the group of women were led away to be seen to medically, leaving only Tech, Wolverine, Rogue, and the dark-haired woman.

"Rogue, this is Catherine," Wolverine finally spoke, "Mom, Rogue."

"How are you dear, you don't look well, we should get you seen by the meds as soon as possible, Logan take her to the private room, I'll send Sam to see to her once she can get away from the rest... and you look like shit too, Joe told me what you found, it wasn't your fault Logan," she said softly, giving the man a hug before sending them on their way.

--

Marie glanced around her in awe, it wasn't as fancy as the mansion but this groups medical unit was a lot more homely than the mansions 'steel on steel with bright white lights' medical unit. The beds were a lot more comfortable too, she found when Logan gently lifted her onto one.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly, once Logan had dropped himself wearily into a seat beside her bed. With a sigh, his head dropped forward to rest on her blanket covered thigh, she was momentarily distracted when she moved her hand comfortingly to his head. Gently running her bare fingers through his thick hair, enjoying the sensation of something other than suffocating fabric against her skin, she waited for him to speak.

"That baby... it's my son... they were trying to- to breed from me, ground crew will bring back the notes but something was obviously going wrong, it looked like every attempt had failed, they were all dead... dozens upon dozens... I couldn't save them," he admitted, a huff of sorrow and anger escaping him.

Rogue tried to find the words to express appropriate commiseration but she couldn't, instead she stayed silent, hoping her presence alone would be enough to comfort him; like his had to her.

Sometime later a short, plump, blonde woman bustled silently into the room. She smiled brightly at Rogue, though the look she gave Logan was softer, almost apologetic. "Hello Rogue, my name is Sam, I'm going to be your doctor this fine evening, any physical ailments I need to know about?" the woman began, in a friendly but professional tone.

"No, physically I'm fine," Rogue replied, "It's just my head that's a bit out of order, I, uh, they made me--"

"I understand your mutation was activated by force, and you absorbed a rather unsavoury character?" Sam helped her out with her explanation. Rogue nodded gratefully to confirm. "I can't claim any in depth understanding of your particular mutation but I am also a telepath, so I can take a look upstairs and see if I can help you get a handle on settling that guy down, if you would like?" Sam offered.

"Thank you," Rogue replied with a smile, keeping a hold of Logan's hand as Sam approached her from the other side of the bed. She didn't particularly trust telepaths but maybe that was just her being a bit disingenuous; this woman didn't seem anything like Jean.

"Why thank you, I can assure you I'm nothing like Jean, now, this would be easier if you weren't actively blocking me," Sam said a moment later, as she gently probed Rogue's mind.

"I'm blocking you?" Rogue asked, she didn't even know how to do that.

"Yes, you are, it's a trust thing, you don't trust me which I understand, it seems your mind naturally locks down when you’re not comfortable, so, just relax, you're safe here, you're safe with me, you're safe with Logan, he won't let anyone hurt you... that's it," Sam added encouragingly, as Rogue visibly relaxed which allowed her mental shields to slide open. "Let's see what we have here... did you build any of these other walls?" Sam asked on inspection, eyes closed in concentration as she 'looked around' in Rogue's head.

"No, the Professor built them, he, he never actually taught me how to do it, just did it for me, I think that's why I had such a hard time getting a lid on this last guy," Rogue replied, her voice soft and relaxed, despite the slight frown creasing her brow; it still felt weird having a non-absorbed person moving around in her mind.

"In that case, you haven't done too badly, but here, I'll show how to strengthen his walls, at some point it may be a good idea for you to come back and tear down these walls you didn't build, and construct your own, you should never have been allowed to get to this point without knowing how to do this yourself, controlling the psychological effects is a critical step in learning to control any psy-based mutation," Sam advised her. They spent an hour, with Sam teaching Rogue how to build, rebuild, and tear down some of the walls in her own mind. Sam also taught her how to crush the rooms smaller on their occupants, some of those contained in Rogue's mind had faded so much she managed to reduce their rooms to mere shoe boxes.

"That's more than enough for today I think," Sam said eventually, with a smile, watching as Rogue's face split into its own grin before she opened her eyes, tired but happy.

"My head feels so much clearer, before it felt like... when you haven't got a cold exactly but your sinuses are all blocked, now I've- I've got room to breathe," Rogue told her happily, the crushing weight of the voices in her head, that often left her unable to sleep or with a splitting headache, was greatly reduced just from the few personalities they had dealt with.

"I'm glad it's helping, get something to eat, and plenty of rest, and in a few days we can work on it some more if you'd like?" Sam suggested.

"A few days!?" Rogue pouted, "Can't we do more tomorrow?"

"I would love nothing more than to power through and help you deal with all of it but this is taking a lot out of me, and I'm used to this kind of mental stimulation, trust me, you're not going to feel so chipper in the morning, as the tortoise discovered, slow and steady wins the race," Sam assured her. "Now, last thing before I let you go, the collar needs to go--"

"No!" Rogue replied, "No I want to keep it, I can touch and..." she broke off, a desperate look on her face and Logan's bare hand still clutched tightly in hers.

"If you let me finish, Tech has been working on building off the technology of the lab collars, the lab collars can be dangerous if left on too long, Tech's compromise can allow you to turn your mutation off and on with the flick of a switch, it's less taxing on your body, and less intrusive to your mutation than the lab collars. He has a working prototype that you could borrow for a short time in the interim, until we can finalize your control," Sam explained, watching the girls despair turn to excitement, and then to shock.

"You can help me control it?" Rogue asked, "Really truly control it, without collars, and without gloves?"

"Yes, I believe so, once we've got your mind in order, I don't think it will be too hard at all to learn to control it, control is the natural state of any mutation, yours should not be any different," Sam assured her. "Now, Tech's option is also much more fashionable," she said with a wink, returning to Rogue's bedside with two thin silver bracelets, which she set aside while she pulled on gloves. Sam handed a pair of gloves to Logan as well. "Just for a few moments while we remove the collar and fit the bracelets," she assured Rogue at her worried glance.

Once both parties had gloved up, Sam went to work unlocking the collar, explaining as she did so that Rogue may feel a moments nausea, and a feeling similar to vertigo as the collar was removed and her mutation forced its way back on. Her warning came not a moment too soon as, with a high-pitched beep, the collar snapped open and Rogue suddenly felt a searing wash of heat flood her body as the room began to spin.

"It's okay, I've got you, you're alright," Logan was murmuring to her soothingly, as he held her tight against his chest, grounding her until the spinning feeling began to dissipate.

"I'm gonna be sick," Rogue said suddenly, mildly surprised when a bucket promptly appeared in front of her. After a few minutes however she handed the bucket back. "It's okay, it's gone now," she said, with a blush and a shy grin.

"Don't worry, you wouldn't be the first person to upchuck on losing a collar, eh Logan?" Sam asked the man cheekily.

"I would just like to point out I didn't actually throw up, I mean, sure, I would have, if there had actually been anything in my stomach, of course I'd been wearing that collar for three weeks and had severe heavy metal poisoning but by all means keep making fun of me for it," Logan replied good naturedly, "Though Tech holds the record for being the first person to throw up when someone else had a collar removed," he reminded her.

Sam chuckled at the memory, poor Tech, twenty minutes of Logan dry heaving, to the point he was coughing up blood, had been too much for him to witness. In hindsight it was pretty funny, of course their whole team tended to utilise dark humour as a coping mechanism, possibly not entirely healthy but it kept them sane, so Sam and Catherine allowed it.

"Alright, now for the bracelets, you might feel a wash of pins and needles type feeling, once that's subsided we'll need to test that it's working for your mutation," Sam explained, as she gently fit the bracelets to Rogue's wrists. The girl drew in a sharp breath as the aforementioned sensation washed over her, after a few minutes her eyes opened again and she looked down at her bare hands, a frown marred her brow a moment later.

"How do I test it... I don't want to hurt anyone," Rogue said softly.

Without a word Logan peeled off his glove and held out his hand. Before Rogue could raise objection he stated, "I trust Tech's tech, I trust you to pull away, and my healing means I'm not likely to get hurt, go for it." After a moments uncertainty Rogue tentatively reached for his hand, stopping a hairs breadth from his skin as her nerves took over, slowly he moved his hand up, to meet hers. Nothing happened, and for several minutes they sat in silence, just watching for any sign of Rogue's mutation.

"Hey what do you know, Tech managed to get all the bugs out,” Logan nonchalantly said. "I'm teasing," he added, when Rogue turned surprised eyes to him, "Tech knows what he's doing. Now, aren't there some rules for using these things?" Logan addressed to Sam.

"Yes, there are, in order to work, without developing the side effects of the lab collars, the bracelets need to be turned off for at least two hours every day; don't worry, the bracelet shut off side effects aren't as bad as the collar’s, you shouldn't get the vertigo or the nausea, just that pins and needles feeling," Sam informed her, before showing Rogue how to switch the bracelets on and off. Once that was all sorted Sam let them go.

Rogue noticed Logan pause at the door to the next exam room as they headed out, before continuing on down the hallway, when she too paused to look, she saw the baby, laid out on the exam bed. It made him look even smaller and more fragile than before. Softly she called out to Logan, he needed to say his goodbyes.

"You were there for me, let me be here for you," she said, once Logan had wandered back to her side. He looked for a moment like he was going to decline before he gave in, and entered the room.

He sat beside the bed for a moment, before he decided he couldn't bear looking at the child, laid out like a corpse, gently he dressed the baby in a soft blue all in one that was laid out nearby, before wrapping him in the blanket Rogue handed him. He cradled the boy to his chest as he ran a finger over his features; his face, his hands.

"What went wrong?" he asked softly, when he heard Sam enter the room behind them.

"I won't know for sure until I've been able to review the lab notes, and do an autopsy, it may simply be genetic incompatibility, if the baby was created by IVF they may have attempted gene editing and created a lethal gene combination, though at the same time, your family has had odd happenings with offspring, none of you have ever had an accidental child, not until you've settled down with one partner have you made babies, I've often wondered if there's been more to that phenomenon than just careful observance of safe sex practices," Sam suggested. "Just so you are aware, two of the other women are pregnant too, the other already miscarried, the women are at seven and three months, the one at three months has asked for an abortion, this is apparently the fourth child she's been impregnated with, none have survived and she doesn't want to live that heart break again, for now I've told her I can't do that until I've reviewed the lab notes, she seemed okay with that, the other wants to give her baby a chance but again, none of her previous pregnancies have survived... I'll do everything I can for them Logan but they may not be save-able," Sam warned him.

Logan nodded solemnly as he held the baby he did have, today had been a long day, and not one he wanted to repeat, ever. With a final kiss to the baby's soft downy head, he placed him back on the bed. "Thank you," he said to Sam, accepting her hug, and Rogue's, before he and Rogue continued out of the room and upstairs to get some food and sleep.

--

"This is your room," Logan said, showing Rogue to a large room. It was a studio apartment, one huge space with an area for a bedroom, another for a living room, a small kitchenette, and its own bathroom, it even had a small private deck, which told her she was on the third floor of the huge old house.

"Thanks, I appreciate everything you've done for me," Marie suddenly felt the need to say.

"Hmph, got you grabbed by a lab, hardly something to be thankful for," Logan replied, a shadow in his eyes as he said it.

"You've given me 'me' back, I got back a bit of that hope I'd lost, I can do this now, I can learn control, and I don't owe anyone for it," Marie reminded him of his words to her, even though they'd only been said that morning it seemed like so long ago.

"Damn straight sweetheart," Logan replied with a grin. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep, and don't worry, if Lynx and Willow get back tonight, this place is really well soundproofed," he added with a wink.

"Thank god," she giggled in mock relief. "Goodnight Logan."

"Goodnight Marie," he replied, turning away and walking a few rooms down the hall to his own room. He waved a final farewell to her as he slipped into his room, both shutting their doors simultaneously.

Over the next few weeks everything slowly began to settle into some semblance of normal. Sam's review of the notes from the lab determined that there was indeed a problem with the genetic sequencing of the babies the lab had been creating. The mothers of the babies were introduced to Logan, who apologized for everything they had been put through, though they refused to accept his apology, claiming he hadn't done anything to them and he was clearly hurting just as much from the situation as they were.

The younger of the unborn babies was terminated after a physical abnormality was detected to the foetus. Sam's attempt at gene therapy for the older foetus was yielding promising results but it was still going to be hit or miss to see if the baby was genetically capable of survival.

Marie settled in quickly, and was introduced to everyone properly on her third day at the compound. She had spoken at length with Sam about her trust issues earlier that morning, and how they may be impacting on her control of her mutation, and had decided she was done hiding. This was her life and she was in control, not her skin. She had introduced herself as Marie, a name she hadn't used for almost two years.

Everyone was so kind, and friendly, for a group of people who spent their spare time slaughtering evildoers and rescuing prisoners, they were a surprisingly down to earth bunch of people. Full time residents, aside from Logan, and his mother Catherine, included Lynx, whose name was Joseph, Willow's name was actually Willow, and they had three children, three-year-old Thomas, six-year-old Jade, and nine-year-old Madison. Then there was Tech, whose name was Eli, he was Sam's partner. Refraction's name was Edgar, but he insisted she call him Ed, and Onyx, a mutant would could armour himself up like Colossus, except with a hard, black, non-metallic material, also went by the name Dante. There were several more whose names it took her longer to learn and remember. She had also been introduced, via video chat, to Logan's sister, Rachel, who lived in Iceland with her husband, and two very noisy boys by the names of Bjorn, and Krister.

The whole group was like one huge happy family, open and loving and supportive, there was none of the absurd hierarchy like at the mansion, where people competed to be top dog, and crushed those underneath them. Here, there was still a chain of command but it was unspoken, your position was earned by respect, not arbitrary station.

Control of her mutation was surprisingly quick in coming. Once all the walls in her mind had been torn down and rebuilt to Marie's specifications - under the watchful eye of Sam - she had been able to organize her head. The boxes were moveable, and every morning, now unassisted, she worked to crush each one further, she'd managed to get rid of two psyches completely and had a couple that were now the size of match boxes. The largest psyches in her mind belonged to her most recent acquisition, the guard from the lab, Magneto, and Sabretooth; his was likely to be the hardest psyche to get rid of due to how violently he rebelled whenever Marie tried to crush him down further but he was contained, so she could live with that.

With all the clear space in her mind, finding the switch to her skin had been easy, flipping it was harder, due largely to her underlying trust issues. Getting it to stay in the off position permanently, and by default, was another hurdle. So far, she could get it to stay off when she was awake, so long as she didn't get spooked by anything. Logan was a constant source of support, he had taken her under his wing, was always somewhere nearby keeping an eye on her, volunteered as her guinea pig for testing her mutation, and took it upon himself to upgrade her training.

It was a combination of training, and practicing her control boundaries the pair were working on when Joe entered the gym.

He didn't interrupt, everyone knew Logan in particular got very annoyed about being interrupted when training, and Marie wasn't much better. So Joe sat on a bench at the back of the room and waited for them to finish, casting a critical eye over Marie's performance - she had come a long way in terms of technique and ability since Logan had begun training her. Today they were training almost naked, Logan was wearing a pair of short gym shorts, Marie in a sports bra and boy shorts.

"No powers," Logan reminded her patiently, as he yanked his hand away from her bare shoulder before transitioning into another hold. Eventually Marie managed to break the hold, without using her skin, and turned on him. Raining down a series of short sharp jabs until she managed to catch one of his legs, and clamped herself around Logan in a hold. In his struggle to break her hold he fell, taking Marie to the floor with him. Joe watched in amusement as Marie quickly increased her pressure on the hold, until Logan was forced to tap out. "That was good," Logan said, as they both lay on the floor catching their breath, high praise from Logan, Joe knew from first-hand experience.

Eventually they picked themselves up off the floor and made their way over to Joe, who chucked a towel at each of them.

"Is everything alright?" Marie asked, as she tugged her jeans on. She knew the point of Logan's training demand was to test her control but the lack of pants always made her a little self-conscious.

"The X-Men have found you, they're up in mom's office, they want to talk to you," Joe informed her. He and Logan were always so blunt and to the point Marie thought to herself, absently noting that the revelation didn't bring with it the flood of fear and unease that had normally resulted in being called to the Professors office, or the War Room for a briefing, or meeting with the X-Men.

"I guess I don't have time for a shower," she shrugged, towelling off as much accumulated sweat as she could before tugging on her t-shirt.

"They can wait," Logan grunted irritably. He'd made no secret to her of his opinion of the X-Men, and she had to say, after viewing some of the intel Catherine had gathered on them, she didn't disagree.

"Nah, maybe if I go up there stinking like a boys gym bag they'll leave faster," Marie said with a grin.

"You are the sweetest smelling boy’s gym bag I've ever come across," Logan replied with a chuckle, as he tugged her close, and sniffed at her.

"Eww, you are so gross sometimes," Marie laughed, though she made no effort to move away from him.

Joe just rolled his eyes at the pair, he had had a suspicion when Logan first informed the go team he was pulling Rogue over from the X-Men, that there was more to his interest in her than just her own wellbeing. Though he was still playing his cards close to his chest, Joe definitely had the feeling his brother was falling for the girl, or perhaps had already fallen for her and was now trying to win her over. From the look of it, he was having great success with that endeavour.

As they approached Catherine's office both men could clearly hear the irritated voice of Cyclops. Though neither of them had met the man in person, neither of them had a very high opinion of him. Right now, he was loudly questioning the length of time it was taking for 'you people' to produce Rogue.

"Mr Summer's, with all due respect, the people who live here have lives, including Marie, at this time of the day Marie is usually found in the gym, training with one of our highest ranking instructors, neither of them like to be interrupted, she will no doubt be here when she is finished her session," Catherine replied coolly, clearly this had been going on for some time and the normally unshakable woman was beginning to lose patience with her guests.

Before any more could be said, the small group entered the office. Joe first, followed by Marie, and lastly, Logan. Several gasps went up when Wolverine was spotted, clearly, they hadn't been expecting him.

"I see," Jean commented coolly, glaring at both Rogue and Wolverine. "Just because you slept with him doesn't mean you have to move in with him," she muttered under her breath.

"Rogue! Thank god you're alright," Bobby said, all uber concern and worry as he moved toward her, though he eyed her expanse of bare skin warily and refused to touch her. "It's alright, your safe now, we've come to take you home," he added, a smug look in his eyes before he glared over her shoulder at Wolverine.

"You're right, I'm safe now, and I am home, so I have no intention of going anywhere, not with you, or with anyone else, this is where I have settled for now," Marie replied, a tolerant smile for the boy who still, to this day apparently, seemed to think he owned her even though *he* had dumped *her* eighteen months beforehand.

Bobby spluttered in shock before Marie took a step further into the room, and he hurriedly fell back to stand back beside Scott. As she prepared to address the room, she suddenly considered just how threatening her stance must be. Head held high, exuding a newfound confidence, two, tall dark and highly aggressive feral mutants at her back. The grin Catherine was trying to hide told her the sight must be fairly breath-taking.

"Professor, I'm glad to have a chance to speak with you, I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me, thank you for providing a way for me to finish school, and thank you Scott for your training, my time at your school was enlightening, but it's time for me to forge my own path now, you have prepared me well for the next stage of my life, thank you." She spoke with all the strength and authority she could muster, tamping her mental shields down as hard as she could, how Sam had taught her. She didn't want them picking up any stray thoughts from her, especially not Jean, who must surely be trying to read her if the growing frustration coming from her was anything to go by.

"Rogue, may I ask why you do not wish to return to your home, to your friends? Did we do something to upset you?" Charles asked, his brow furrowed in concern, with just a hint of anger beginning to show.

"To be honest, the mansion has never been my home in any sense other than it was the place I lived when I had nowhere else, my friends have mostly all left to pursue their own lives, I keep in touch with those who are the closest and I don't see that changing. I wouldn't say anyone did anything to upset me, simply that the environment was not to my liking and I had grown all I could in the confines of your rules, I need freedom to grow further and I didn't have that at the mansion," Marie replied, it seemed fighting wasn't the only thing Logan had been teaching her, she had somewhere along the way learned to speak her mind with the same brutal honesty he did.

"I see, and what 'growth' is it you needed to undertake that you felt you couldn't at home?" Charles pressed.

"Control of my mind, control of my mutation, the freedom to discover and be myself, to reach my potential, not just to be what everyone else wanted me to be," she answered.

"Rogue," Jean started exasperatedly, "We've been over this time and again, there is simply no way to control your mutation, some mutations, rogue mutations, are uncontrollable," she sighed.

"Is that so?" Marie asked, a wicked smirk turning up her lips. In a split second she tugged Logan forward and pulled him down toward her, kissing him full on the lips.

He looked surprised for a split second, before Joe heard him mumble something that sounded distinctly like 'fuck it', and he began to kiss her back.

"So, I'll never be able to do that?" Marie asked, in mock innocence, a few long seconds later when they finally broke apart breathlessly. When Jean gasped in fury Marie simply grinned back, leaning back against Logan's chest as his arms came up to wrap around her waist, basking in Jean's fury. She had finally found the perfect way to get the woman back for her insufferable arrogance.

"So, Wolverine has some way of withstanding your mutation, that is very interesting," Charles commented, a cold, calculating look spreading across his face.

"No Professor, I can control my mutation, not one hundred percent yet but good enough and getting better, it was surprisingly simple once Sam helped me remove all the blocks you'd put in my head," she stated coolly, the two women had realised quite quickly why Marie's control had been so hard for her initially, and she hadn't been pleased about it. The Professor looked surprised but refrained from saying anything further as he reassessed the woman in front of him, this was clearly an outcome he had not expected.

"I suppose he's been more than happy to help you get better at 'control', slut," Bobby snapped, face red with anger even as icy tendrils of frost snaked across the floor around him.

"World's first virgin slut, rogue mutation controller, wow, I'm like one fantastical contradiction of realities, a real-life oxymoron," Marie commented idly with a laugh. "Oh and Bobby, you had your chance and you cast me aside like yesterday's trash, don't get butt hurt now because someone else can see my worth, green really isn't your colour," she added, watching his fury grow - damn she was enjoying pissing off the people who had made her life miserable for so long.

"Very well then, if you are certain you will not return home, we will leave that be, you are welcome back whenever you should wish to return," Charles stated suddenly, a dark, worried look crossing his features. "On to the second reason for our visit we understand you are also holding a former student of ours, Theresa, you may have obtained her from an illegal laboratory; her father has asked us to see to her return," Charles continued, turning his attention back to Catherine.

"Theresa is here, and yes, she was rescued from an underground lab. Theresa's current condition is fragile, her doctor does not recommend travel, she has already been asked if she will speak to you and has declined, I believe she has written to her family, for now she wishes to remain here, if that changes she is allowed to go wherever she chooses, when she chooses, We will even arrange suitable transport for her," Catherine advised calmly.

"I would at the very least wish to sight her to be certain she is safe," Charles demanded.

"Certainly," Catherine answered with a smile, noting Xavier's smug look, though he was getting what he asked for it wasn't what he wanted. She hit a few buttons on the remote on her desk, all eyes turning to the monitor that flashed to life and displayed a security feed from the upstairs guest lounge. The four recent lab rescues were there, along with Sam, Willow, and her own grandchildren. All were happy, laughing, and interacting normally. "As you can see, she is safe, happy, and being well cared for," Catherine stated to Charles, as she flicked the screen off again before anyone could see the girl’s belly, her current state of pregnancy she had specifically requested not be revealed. "Will there be anything further Mr Xavier?" Catherine requested politely.

"No, that will be all for now," Charles replied tightly, it was clear to all he was not happy though, Catherine didn't think this would be the last they saw of him.

"Very well, Joseph, will you please escort Mr Xavier's party back to their vehicle," Catherine dismissed them, watching the group leave with a smirk. Once the door was closed, she turned her attention back to the last two occupants of the room, Marie still comfortably cocooned in Logan's arms. That boy had it bad for the sweet southern belle, it was about damn time he finally settled down.

"Marie, I'm so proud of you," Catherine told the girl, hugging her tightly, "You are a fantastic little woman, it's good to see you believing in and standing up for yourself."

"It felt good to do," Marie admitted with a smile, "I couldn't have done it without you though Logan, in more ways than one," she said to him, suddenly smiling shyly up at him.

"Eh, I just gave you a kick up the ass, you did the rest yourself," Logan replied with a grin. "Hey, um, we need to talk," he added, a little uncomfortably, adding an 'alone' as he glared at his mother.

"Oh, I can take a hint and know when I'm not wanted, don't break anything, including each other’s hearts," she threw over her shoulder as she left the pair alone, why she was leaving her own office to give them privacy she wasn't entirely certain but she would humour them.

"So, that wasn't quite how I envisioned our first kiss," Logan eventually began, with a smirk.

"You've been thinking about our first kiss?" Marie asked coyly.

"Far more than is probably healthy," Logan admitted. "Tell me you didn't just do that to piss Jean off?" Logan asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

"No, I didn't, pissing Jean off was just an added bonus," Marie replied, a soft smile on her face. "I've wanted to do that for a while, just didn't have the guts, and... opportunity presented itself, so I took it," she stated matter of factly. "Because this is my life, and I'm living it my way from now on, and when I want something, I'm going to take it, I'm no wilting flower, I'm southern fire and grit and you can just damn well deal," she said, in the sweetest drawl he'd ever heard.

"Damn right darling, you go right on ahead and take whatever you damn well please, so long as it's me," Logan replied with a grin, tugging her back into his arms and kissing her softly.

"Hmm, that sounds like a fair deal," Marie said a moment later, "Now kiss me like you mean it."

And so, he did...