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.
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