With the bar being a typically small joint with little money spent upgrading, there was only one set of toilets and they were hardly the cleanest facilities. But still, when one had a full bladder one wasn’t too picky. Rogue pulled back the door to the cubicle as she exited, the stiff lock panicking her for a moment when it wedged horribly on some old chewing gum someone had just there. She walked towards where a row of white sinks sat against the grimy tiled wall and washed her hands with the soap provided. She was actually quite surprised to even see a bar of soap there. The door to the bathroom was burst open quite abruptly as Rogue was in the process of drying her hands on rough toilet paper. Since these were the only toilets onsite, it was a unisex, and a small troop of men ambled in bringing loud sounds through the briefly opened door.
“Hey,” said one as he spotted Rogue, looking at her through slightly glazed, drunken eyes, “Ain’t you a bit young to be in ‘ere?”
“In a toilet? No, I didn’t think bathrooms had ages restrictions.”
The three men stood dumbstruck for a moment. Rogue took this opportunity to quickly whisk herself out of there. As she entered the bar, the pungent sickly air of the bathroom was replaced once more than the rather suffocating cloud of smoke. Behind her, she heard the bathroom door whip open and the three men stumble out looking harassed. Their six beady eyes snapped around the crowds before finding Rogue.
“I’m gonna teach you some manners!” the one in the middle roared, brandishing thick ugly fists upwards.
“Uh oh.” Rogue span around with a swish of her coat. She dived in through the large crowds, keeping her coat tightly closed around her bare flesh. Above the mutual jeers from the crowd she could hear the sounds of a fight in the cage further on. With the bar so full, she had lost all navigation sense. Behind her she could hear surprised shouts as people were rammed aside by the three bloodthirsty brutes Rogue had encountered. At this rate the entire bar was going to riot.
She quietly squeezed through people, the crowd of which were jumping up and down and moving so much they hardly noticed someone slipping by below. Rogue looked up cautiously. Through the smog of the lights and the floating smoke around the cage, Rogue could make out Logan fighting. His form was silhouetted against the murky backlighting and it threw his powerful form in a mysterious shadow, which moved with expert precision as it fought. Rogue quietly seated herself at the front, squeezing on some steps beside some watchers who didn’t even notice her arrival.
But then, suddenly she felt a rough tap of fingers on her shoulders. She quickly whipped her head round, staring into the large ugly face of the middle man who had been searching for her. He spread a toothy grin down at her, “I ain’t done with you yet.” His large hand darted forth and grabbed her by the clothed arm. With a strong tug, she was wrenched backwards off the steps, causing her to emit a loud cry. She was dragged along through the crowd, who hadn’t noticed.
But in the cage, as Logan promptly knocked away a punch, he heard her shout. He saw the whip of a green coat disappear through the crowd. He was instantly distracted, earning him a hard punch that smashed across the side of his head. But the only smashing involved the opponent’s knuckle. The owner of which had let out a pained yell. Logan quickly looked round and growled, head butting his opponent who slumped in an unconscious silence. Logan snatched his shirt off a chair as he leapt from the cage door and sprinted through the crowd, which had parted with shocked faces at the man’s sudden departure.
“Marie! Marie!” Logan quickly followed her scent outside, his body ramming through the double doors and out into the car park.
In the snow, several footprints led away from the door and round a secluded corner. He could hear her angry cries in the bitter wind, and before he knew what he was doing he had run forth with an angry growl, rounding the corner to see her being dragged along the alley by three men. But she wasn’t going without a fight, which was clear. She was hitting and kicking with all her might and the men were looking quite harassed. “Get the heck offa me!” she shrieked angrily, firmly digging her boots in the snow as she tried to pull herself free.
“Get away from her,” growled Logan as he stood unnoticed at the corner. The three men instantly looked up to see the lonely figure watching them. Logan had blood smears across his cheek and crimson trickles down his muscular chest. The men thought they were wounds of his own, not blood of his recent victim. One hand still held his shirt firmly in a fist. As far as the men were concerned, he would be easy to knock out.
“And who the hell are you?” said one as he roughly threw Rogue down on her front. Rogue collapsed with a gasp of surprise, slipping in the snow.
That seemed to make Logan all the more enraged for his tightly gripping hands had thrown down the shirt as he took several swift strides towards the large man, “Doesn’t matter who I am, bub. What matters is this!” he had thrown a fist at the man, who had promptly ducked it. It was grabbed and the man retaliated, then with dual bloodthirsty yells the two tumbled to the ground, sickening sounds rising up from the blackness that was the shadows of the building.
Rogue jerked back with a cry as the pair toppled down, she couldn’t move for the other two men were holding her down. Swearing came from the man who was currently pinned down beneath Logan’s striking fists. He yelled for his friends to help him and they instantly released Rogue who shuffled back from the fighting as the two men leapt upon Logan’s back with angry cries. Even though it was so dark, it was impossible to miss the way Logan threw those two men off like they were mere annoyances. With the throwing force of a bear the men had gone flying and had hit the snow further away with pained moans. Logan rose up slowly like some hulking figure, one hand clamped against the next of the man as he held him up off the earth before slamming him against the wall.
“Get the hell outta here,” snarled Logan under his breath before he threw the man down. The man scrambled to his feet and ran past his friends who cried out for him to wait and the three disappeared across the car park.
Slowly Logan turned to where Rogue still lay splayed in the snow. “You alright, kid?” he asked as he extended a large hand for her to take. As she took it, he pulled her easily to her feet. “I thought I told you to sit at the front so I could keep an eye on you?”
Rogue was surprised that he appeared unhurt, and she pondered over his durability. But she was distracted almost instantly for Rogue was at least expecting some sort of comfort and she was surprised to find herself being reprimanded by the man who had just given three people a severe beating. “What?” she cried as she glared at him, “I went to the toilet, y’know that!”
“So how come I look over and see you gettin’ dragged away by those three?”
“I didn’t ask them to do that!”
“I told you to be careful!” replied Logan in a louder tone, now pointing at her with his index finger.
But Rogue shook her head, “It wasn’t my fault, they followed me out of the bathroom!” She clenched her fists as she stared up at him, “I could’ve got hurt really badly by them. God knows what sick plans they had, and all you can do is shout at me like I’m some misbehaved kid!”
“Hey! I’ve just saved your neck for the second time, girl, don’t I get any thanks?”
“Not when you’re treatin’ me like some burden, no!” cried Rogue, who then made a soft gasp as she looked away, for tears were beginning to fall from her eyes.
Logan had lowered his pointing hand, frowning gently as she started crying. “I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to shout at you.” But she wasn’t looking at him, as though she was trying to disguise the fact that tears were gently dripping from her cheekbones. “Did they hurt you?” Rogue numbly shook her head as she made a quiet sniff. “I’m sorry,” said Logan again as he gently rested a hand on her shoulder before he pulled her in against his chest in a comforting embrace. For the briefest of moments her cheek brushed against his naked chest and she quickly pulled back with a gasp. Logan was staring at her worriedly with his hands still partly around her.
“You’re cold,” Rogue quickly said as she looked up at him. That was true, even though she had touched him for only a small moment his flesh was freezing. And it was no wonder; he was stood half naked in a snow-covered alleyway. A strong gale was in the air and it howled down the narrow walkway and sent flying snow after its trail.
Logan shrugged his large shoulders gently, “I’m fine.”
“But you’re makin’ me cold,” Rogue teased before she gave him a small smile. She clenched her lips slowly as she swallowed and sniffed before she spoke softly, “Thanks, Logan.”
Logan slowly turned to walk with her, grabbing his thrown shirt from the floor, “No problem, kid. Come on, let’s get back to the camper before I freeze my nipples off.”
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