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!
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