Double checking the small sparker and tubing connected to the wristband, Rogue tucked it back into the cuff of her jacket. Curling her pinkie into her palm, she touched the sensor there and within seconds had a tiny flame dancing in her hand. It didn’t look like much, but all she needed was the flame. After that, she could make it grow or shrink in a variety of ways. The fuel bladder further up her sleeve wouldn’t sustain enough flames for an all out battle, but hopefully, this confrontation wouldn’t last long.
“Ready?” Logan asked, coming round to her side of the vehicle.
Not trusting her voice, she nodded. At least the milkshake wasn’t threatening to come back up, but that was small comfort. He put the manacles on her forearms and tested the breakaway modification they’d made.
Logan didn’t like this, even if it was his plan, even if his inquiries over his 'current' life confirmed his picking up this job and Magneto wouldn't suspect anything. Time traveling had been for a better future, and here he was smack dab in the middle of a plot to make it worse. He supposed he should find it funny that the current problem was because of one of the very people that had worked to change the future. Then again, he didn’t really expect Magneto to be a completely changed man.
Putting a finger under Marie’s chin, he brought her face up to look at him. “If things go sideways, get out.”
She snorted at him. “Things always go sideways for me.”
“I mean it, Marie.” He brushed his lips across hers. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Nodding again, she met his eyes fully. “I..” her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “I think I might be falling in love with you.”
That sly smile crossed his lips, and he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. “I love you, too,” he said with a conviction that silenced the whispering voices in her head.
He checked his jacket to make sure his needed items were secure before he took her arm and guided her down the last bit of road into the deserted shipyard. After they passed the partially open gate, he tightened his grip on her arm. She could see the shadowy figures moving ahead and knew they had to make it look real for any chance of success.
They progressed past a rusted hull of a ship on one side and a pile of scrap metal on the other. The metal in Logan’s body had a distinct ‘flavor’ but she didn’t have enough experience with the power to pick it out easily here.
“Too much metal, I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” she mumbled. She saw his slight nod of acknowledgment, but knew he would stick as close to the plan as possible until there were no other alternatives left.
Magneto floated out ahead of them, cape flowing behind him. That man enjoyed a dramatic entrance. Fifty more feet and Logan drew to a stop, Marie firmly at his side. Magneto and his men were still a good dozen paces away, trying to look nonchalant, but Logan knew only Magneto was calm.
Listening to the sounds around them, he counted at least four in hiding nearby and tapped the number out on Marie’s arm. She could see for herself the man beside Magneto and his twin coming up behind them. He remembered Maddox and his senses told him that the others out there weren’t from Multiple Man.
“Cash?” Logan inquired once he’d sized up the situation.
Magneto gave a signal to someone out of sight. A few moments later, Logan’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Taking a look at the notification of transfer, he returned it to his pocket.
“Not going to secure it?” Magneto asked as if he were trying to prolong the interaction.
“I’ll find ya,” Logan answered with a growl. He shoved Marie forward and ignored her as she fell to her knees.
“I’m sure you would, however, I’m afraid there will be no loose ends this time,” Magneto sneered. With a wave of the old man's hand, Logan felt himself being pushed backward. He tried to turn to confront the two duplicates now behind him.
Rogue looked around at Logan and gave him an added boost to his turn as his claws slid out, sweeping through the men. Busting the restraints, she flicked the flame to life and sent it in the opposite direction. There was a scream from the man beside Magneto and he dropped to the ground to put out the flames licking at his clothes.
Her first burst had been too heavy-handed and unpracticed, shocking her. It obviously took the two men in front of her by surprise, as well. Though the one man went down, Magneto had instinctively thrown up his cape at the first flicker of fire. Leave it to him to never trust his allies and have a defense against them. Or maybe this was something new after Pyro’s demise, just in case.
She heard Logan’s gruff, “GO!” as he threw the metallic concussion grenade at the two men. Immediately, she scrambled off to one of the ship hulls to the side of the scrap pile. It wasn’t ideal with Magneto about, but he’d have to make a choice between her and Logan.
Reaching the relative safety of the hull, she heard the explosion of the grenade. There was cursing and an ominous laugh from Magneto. "It will take more than that Wolverine."
Looking back, the man she’d burnt had put out his flames and was advancing on the two men Logan had sliced. The man split into several more men then they absorbed the men who had been cut down. They seemed to heal at the same time until all were reabsorbed by the original man.
There was movement near her and she sank further back into the shadows. Quickly she surveyed the area. Logan was nowhere in sight, but Magneto was hovering over the ship on the other side of the road. It didn’t take a genius to understand he’d gone after Logan, even if the grenade disoriented him enough that he couldn't directly confront Logan in his usual fashion. She'd been left to his henchmen. That made five to one if she didn’t count the one man’s other selves.
A dark, short figure appeared and talked to the multiplying man on the road. The multiplying man pointed out a nearby shed, and the two headed off in that direction. She would be safe from them for the time being, but if Logan’s original count was right, there were still a couple unknowns out there.
Closing her eyes, she centered herself and sent out her senses like Master Izo taught her, bolstered by the draw from Logan earlier. It wasn’t as effective as a full dose of Logan’s natural senses, but it gave her an awareness of others and her surroundings her regular senses couldn’t. Swiftly she moved to a more open space in the ship. The spot would give her more maneuverability.
A choking cry filled the air from across the way. Maybe not all the henchmen had been after her. And from the sound of it, there was one less person to deal with.
Several projectiles whipped past her face, embedding in the wall, and she instinctively ducked into a doorway. A sharp pain in her arm let her know that not all the projectiles had missed her. She carefully pulled two quill-like objects from her arm. Besides a stinging pain and a little blood, there were no other side effects.
Lighting up her fire, she stepped back out, shooting flames in the direction of a shuffling noise. There was a yelp and some cursing. Angling away from her attacker, she lit up a pile of rubbish to make the person think twice about following.
There were a handful of spots ahead where an attack might come from. Rogue was aware that it was possibly a ruse to force her in the current direction, but it couldn’t be helped. She would have to do what she could to avoid an outright trap.
One of the thresholds she passed was a rather large compartment, and she stepped into it. It was almost empty except for a collection of random junk and a pile of trash. There was no good place to confront the enemy, but it was better than getting trapped in a confined area that limited her ability to respond to a threat. With nowhere else to take cover, she simply waited.
It didn’t take long. A woman about her own build glanced in. Rogue waved in greeting and brought up the flames on the pile of trash that she’d lit earlier. There was no need to stumble around in the dark, plus she wouldn’t have to start a fresh flame if she needed it.
“I hear you’re the badass that killed Pyro?” the woman said, walking into the room.
Rogue didn’t answer, as it wasn’t a useful conversation and was for posturing. Sizing the woman up was a better use of her time. Besides being into tattoos and really fit, there were no obvious signs of a power until the woman was suddenly in front of her in a blur of motion.
Great. She knew beating the woman without having speed herself would be tough. Fire would only be of so much help if she couldn’t hit a fast target. There was a better chance of lighting up the entire compartment and herself without Pyro’s control to go with the fire.
“You look as wimpy as he was.” Even though Rogue was in a fighting stance, the hit to her stomach staggered her back. She was glad Logan had insisted on her taking some healing earlier in the day.
Shaking off the pain, she turned on her skin and took the punch to the face. The woman had her arms exposed and Rogue grabbed for her forearms. A taste of the power was all she needed, or several small tastes to be exact. The touch made her a split second faster.
Rogue returned the punch, making sure it was skin on skin contact. In short order, the other woman realized she was losing the upper hand. Rogue had quickly borrowed enough to keep up and avoid any real beating. Though it also wasn’t enough to outright beat her opponent. There had been no scrap metal in the room that she could use Magneto’s powers on. Or at least nothing that she would chance with her lack of Magneto’s control.
She had to admit if the other woman had received training with her speed, Rogue might not have made it this far. Yet the woman seemed to be more of a brawler than anything else. The real problem was a nagging sensation from this power that she couldn’t put her finger on or suppress. It was bothersome, but she fought through it even as it got stronger.
Wiping the blood from her lip, she concentrated on keeping her guard up. She stopped a wicked kick to her ribs, caught the woman’s leg, and jabbed her fingertips at the pressure point in the woman’s groin. She paid for the move with a wicked blow to her shoulder.
They stood toe to toe for a few seconds, trading punches before they both stepped back. Rogue took a breath and saw a flash of red fill the area outside the compartment and realized that the sensation she’d been trying to ignore was a secondary mutation she couldn’t turn off like the other woman. And that red flash and the heavier awareness meant one thing, the cavalry had arrived.
A shadow appeared in the doorway, and Rogue immediately dropped to the floor. “Finally,” the woman said right before a red burst of light threw her into the wall.
“Thanks, Mr. Summers,” Rogue said, getting up off the floor. Glancing at the unconscious woman then back at Mr. Summers and the quill still stuck to his uniform, she asked, “Take care of the quill guy?”
“Yes, Beast and Jubilee went after the two in the warehouse, and Xavier and Jean tracked down Wolverine and Magneto.” She didn’t miss the subtle disdain in his voice at the last two names. Not that she could blame him. Wolverine had probably wreaked havoc on the lower levels when he woke up after the Statue of Liberty. She wanted to ask, but knew now wasn’t the time.
Mr. Summers gave a resigned sigh, he’d been in on the plan and knew there was still work to be done. Or maybe it was that far away look he got for a second, like he was having a conversation in his head. “I’ll finish up here, you go see if you can help out elsewhere.”
Turning to leave, she stopped. “Uhm, can I borrow some power?” At his dubious look, she continued, “It won’t hurt and just enough for a blast or two.”
He acquiesced with a nod and seeing his uniform completely covered his skin; she placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks… again,” she said, feeling those words were inadequate for the gratitude she wanted to express.
Following the niggling sensation and the sound of the second grenade, Rogue was quickly on Logan’s trail. Or to be correct on her way to what had to be a gathering of a number of high-level mutants. It took more concentration than she thought, but that might have been the pressure building up in her head from Mr. Summers’ mutation.
Soon all she had to do was pick her way through the scrap metal to the sound of Magneto’s voice. He was easy to spot, levitating a foot or more above the ground. A movement to her right drew her attention to where Ms. Grey was using her powers to pull a disoriented Xavier from his broken hoverchair. Rogue didn’t immediately see Logan as she scrambled over to Ms. Grey.
“Nice of you to join us, my dear.” She barely glanced at Magneto, intent on reaching her destination. A large slab of metal slammed into the ground in front of her, halting her progress and leaving her crouching behind it, cut off from the others. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
“We’re okay,” stated a soothing female voice in her head. It was the voice of Ms. Grey, the same voice she remembered from when she’d arrived at the mansion as a scared teenager.
r32;Rogue was about to ask where Logan was when the sound of his claws through metal made her look upward. She felt worn down and out of practice. She should have spotted him right off, or at least been aware of his presence. Magneto tsked as Logan broke one of the bands keeping him pinned to the haul of a ship. “None of that,” he said.
Half of the plan had worked with the capture of some of Magneto’s men. The rest of the plan, or an approximation of it, would be up to her to get started. “Ms. Grey, are you able to help?”
“Yes,” was the reply. “What do you have in mind?”
Rogue shrugged mentally. She had no coherent plan to give. “I’ll get the ball rolling and you jump in when you see an opening.”
Standing up, Rogue stepped from behind the barrier he’d placed in her path. When she flamed up, she heard Logan roar and knew he was cutting his way out again, probably the most painful but quickest way possible. She didn’t think they could wait for the rest of the X-Men to reach them and help draw this to a close. With one last glance in Logan’s direction, she took a deep breath and committed to an all out effort.
That wasn’t too bad, was Logan’s last thought before hitting the ground. Not as bad as the time at the Statue of Liberty and a few other things during the war with the sentinels. At least this time he didn’t pass out. Marie’s look told him he needed to be ready. This wasn’t exactly the plan everyone had been prepared for, but he was confident she wouldn’t stray too far from it, that they’d be lost.
“Jeannie,” he growled under his breath, trying to convey a mental image of what he wanted to do.
“Ready when you are.”
The flames rose higher, Marie was exhausting her fuel to form a smokescreen until the fire hit waste oil from leaking barrels. It was going to take all three of them to subdue Magneto enough for Xavier to do his thing, if he was recovered enough. Jeannie confirmed that thought. The rest of the team was busy, even he’d pick up the sounds of the other battle off to the other side of the shipyard.
Rogue let the smoke thicken, absently playing with the flames. It forced Magneto to rise higher, to stay out of their path.
“We’ve already played this game,” he stated.
“So we did,” she said, “but I’m done playing.”
He scoffed at her, about to say something when the thick smoke covering the others stirred. Gracefully Jean Grey floated out into the clearing above them both. Magneto laughed. “Is this supposed to frighten me?”
Jean smiled politely and Rogue took the opportunity to use a borrowed power and bum rush him. A pile of scrap gave her a launch platform, and Magneto turned toward her. At that moment Logan came through the smoke, throwing himself at Magneto with Jean’s aid.
Magneto went higher still to avoid Rogue and take on the deadlier threat of adamantium claws. Rogue hadn’t expected to actually reach him, Mr. Summers’ sense of trajectory told her that was near impossible, but it would be enough to catch him off guard. She felt the large pieces of metal around them vibrate and hoped Ms. Grey was up to the next task.
Rogue changed her speed and dropped to the ground, rolling onto her back as she hit. Blocking out Wolverine’s roar of frustration and pain as he stopped mid-air, she instead watched Magneto’s helmet. It wasn’t much, but it lifted and the man glared at Ms. Grey, dropping Wolverine.
Her first blast of red light was too quick and sent it spinning awkwardly away. Taking a steadying breath, she exhaled and hit it a second time before Magneto could react. With satisfaction, she saw it fly off into the distance.
“You think you can take me out?” he questioned Ms. Grey with amusement.
“She doesn’t need to, Erik,” was the reply from behind the thinning smoke screen.
Metal began to move, trying to form into shapes or walls. The first moves were effortless, then less so as a battle none of them could see was being waged. Magneto sank halfway to the ground and the moving metal became erratic. Rogue darted over to the others, coming to a halt next to Logan as Jean returned to Xavier’s side. She tried to use Magneto’s power to protect them as best she could.
As Magneto finally dropped to the ground, so did the large pieces of scrap. Rogue helped Logan in closer to Jean and Xavier as small projectiles started to move like the eye of the hurricane, centered on Magneto. Jean threw up a shield that deflected most of it, leaving Rogue’s smaller shield as a backup.
Resting against a pile of debris, Logan checked his side. The adamantium on his ribs could no longer be seen and the flow of blood had slowed. A few more minutes and he’d be ready for another fight if need be. The sound and flashes of light from further away had ceased. Looking at the others, he could see the strain on both Xavier's and Jeannie’s faces.
Marie was trying to ignore him by checking the level of fluid in the bladders hidden in her sleeves. He placed a hand on her knee and her eyes immediately went to his side. There wasn’t much he was going to be able to do to reassure her, but he flashed her a smile when her eyes met his. She returned a weak smile that didn’t quite hide her weariness. Pulling her close, he said, “You’re not alone this time.”
Her shoulders relaxed some, and she leaned in for a brief kiss. “I know,” she said, looking over to where Magneto slumped to his knees.
The flying debris was almost gone, and Logan took it as a sign that Xavier was winning the silent fight with his old friend. A quick glance at Jeannie’s gaunt face told him it was a good thing. Her shield hadn’t failed like Marie’s but he was sure she was reaching her limit.
Almost as suddenly as the metallic storm had started, it ended. Magneto lay in a heap some distance away. Xavier had sweat rolling down his haggard features. Jeannie’s tired voice entered his thoughts, a question going out to everyone. “Any injuries?”
A few familiar voices from the rest of the team answered to the negative. Marie looked over at him. “Nothing I can’t walk off,” he told her.
“You’re positive you won’t come with us?” Beast asked them at Logan’s truck. The prisoners had been transferred to SHIELD, with the exception of Multiple Man who had slipped away. The other X-Men were boarding the X-Jet after Xavier had been settled on board.
“Probably best to give the other’s some time to get used to the idea that I’m on their side,” Logan confessed.
Neither man missed Rogue’s amused “heh”.
Beast turned to her, “I know we weren’t as welcoming to you at one point in the past.”
“Maybe, someday… but right now I want to try living without looking over my shoulder.” she left it at that, though her real hope was that she and Logan might give a relationship beyond good sex a try.
"You know how to reach us if you should need anything," he commented looking at them both.
"We do," Logan said, then added, "If you need anything, Hank, don't hesitate to call." He knew Marie wanted a break and he wouldn't ask her to fight again, but he'd done a lot up to this point to make a better future and he couldn't leave that work unfinished.
A few more pleasantries and Beast boarded the jet, leaving the two of them standing alone. She tentatively reached out and took his hand. In return, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. It was a good sign and he wasn't going to pass up the chance to let her know he wanted to be with her. "Where are we going from here?"
"Back to Mississippi," she said, with a shrug. "After that, I have no clue."
"Did you ever make it to Alaska?" he asked. A nice slow road trip after what they'd been through tonight and individually over the last few years, didn't sound too bad.
"I bet you could talk me into it," she answered. It would be a good way to really get to know each other and determine whether they could build up a lasting relationship. Nothing like the stress of a road trip to put your compatibility to the test.
"I'll do my best," he said, swatting her butt as she moved past him to the passenger side of the truck.
Rogue couldn't help the stupid smile plastered on her face. They had survived together and would tackle things as they came along, together. So far so good, she thought as he started the engine.
~*~
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