The Odd Couple
Okay everyone who is waiting for updates can blame Wanda W for this one….and dulcesweet. You two put the plot bunny there – now we'll have to see where it chases our favorite villain.
That said, of course I don't own them…I wish I did, but I don't so I just make them jump through hoops.
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She was running down a long dark corridor, deep growls and panting breath behind her, and rugged snarls in front. Her heart was pounding in fear and she felt the floor slip away beneath her feet. She didn't even glance, just assumed what for her was the best posture for flight and continued forward hoping that whatever caused the floor to drop away would stop the monster pursuing her.
She came around a bend in the corridor and stopped dead. What was in front of her was what she should have been running from. She turned quickly and saw a rugged, feral Woverine behind her…
Her eyes snapped open. She'd been running from Logan toward Sabretooth. Her therapist would have a field day with that dream and its meanings. She tossed the tangled and torn bedcovers off the bed. Another expense Ro was going to have to replace. She wished her linens and uniforms were as invulnerable as her skin. She had to get control and soon, this constant destruction of property was getting expensive.
She glanced at the clock and grinned – at least she had something to look forward to this morning – watching Sabretooth fail at Self Defense class.
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He could smell her from down the hall, the fear drove him insane. After the fight last night he knew he couldn't hurt her, but something was and it was bringing out something he hadn't felt in a long time – not since he was responsible for the Runt as a kid – he felt protective. He snarled at himself and grabbed the grey sweats they'd provided him for the Self Defense class. The waist was huge but at least the length was right. He pulled the drawstring tight and growled. He could smell the Russian on the fabric and knew who they'd borrowed them from.
He walked down the stairs and out on the front lawn. He hadn't expected his 'class' to be waiting on him but they were, stretching and a few of them just finishing up a cool down walk after a long run. He was surprised at the discipline most of them showed – for cubs.
"I'm teachin' tha class now. You can forget what tha Runt taught ya, I'm gonna teach ya real defense." He growled. One young male cub in particular blanched and trembled. He growled at the kid and watched him fold up and try to pass out…but he just stood back up. "You must be Tommy – the kid that don't sleep."
"Yesssssir" Tommy stuttered.
"Well – faintin's one way ta make something back off and think you're dead…but it ain't gonna work in most things you'll face with this rag tag bunch." He growled.
"nnooosssir"
"So why don't we start from tha beginning." He watched as they all paired up and only Tommy was left without a partner. "Guess you're stuck with me, kid" he rumbled, hoping the cub would stay on his feet this time.
Tommy just nodded; face white and stinking of fear.
"Okay, all you show me you're basic moves so I can see where ya are. Kid…no…not like that, this foot HERE…and this foot HERE. Put your weight on the back foot so ya don't get off balance." Her scent almost caught him off balance; it was filled with amusement and a strange anger. He just glanced back at the terrace and grinned at her. She swung around in a huff, burgundy and silver here flailing behind her in her self created breeze.
XXXXX
"Can you believe it!" She shouted at Ro as she entered the office.
"Actually – no, but it is refreshing and a relief that neither one of us have to try to deal with them right now." Ro said as she flipped through a huge stack of papers on her desk. "I know that the Professor is alive, and will be home but I'm not sure we can afford to be operating when he gets here. I had no idea it cost so much to run this place."
"Come on Ro, don't make me feel more guilty about trashing my bedspread last night." Marie sat down in the chair in front of Ro's desk.
"sigh – another expense to add." Ro said softly as she made a note.
"You're serious?" Marie looked at the furrow over Ro's eyebrows. She'd never really seen that worry line before.
"We are going to have to cut back – or find another source of income."
"What about the trust the professor left for running things?"
"It is almost empty."
"How?"
"Between fuel for the Blackbird and the other vehicles, medical supplies that we've used rescuing kids in serious trouble and feeding the almost 100 mouths three meals per day…its just been eaten up, no pun intended"
"What can we do?"
"I don't know yet. I am hoping Hank can help get us some government funding – as much as that idea makes my skin crawl."
Marie shuddered. Government money meant government control, and none of them wanted to be pawns of the government, not after what they'd found out about Logan.
"I'm considering something drastic." Ro said, looking Marie in the eye.
"How drastic?"
"Well – we have Sabretooth for the time being, I'm thinking about letting him do what he does best, for a cut of what he makes, and sending you to keep an eye on him, and keep him from doing anything too horrible."
Marie stared at Ro for a moment and then shook her head. "Ro, Ah think that is a last resort option…please."
Ro just nodded. "For now it is, but if we get to a point that we have less than a week of operating capital I'm going to have to consider it. We have the trust but not the full Xavier estate, and without the professor here we cannot access his full resources to run the facility. I've talked to him, tried to convince him to release it, but he needs access to it for his rehabilitation in Scotland. He's changed, I don't understand it…it is complicated. The safeguards he put in place in case he had to use this method of revival are…well beyond my ability to completely comprehend – and it has locked us out."
"Ya mean we're broke." Marie sat back in her chair.
"I mean, the school is fine, but the lower areas – our budget is stretched thin. People are demanding more and more of the X-Men to provide protection from mutants like Magneto – and expect us to do it for free."
"Do ya honestly think that - - thing out there is gonna help us?"
"The Professor does…and I trust his judgment."
"Ah think the Professor lost his mind in that transfer thing." She muttered as she stood up.
"I trust him." Ro said again looking up from the stack of papers.
"Xavier - or Sabretooth?" Marie snapped as she walked out the door, slamming it behind her.
Xxxxx
He heard the wood crack from his spot outside the back entrance. She needed to get that new strength under control. Xavier had warned him that things were tense at the school, but not this tense…he didn't think Xavier completely understood the changed in Rogue.
She stormed past him and he watched as she launched herself into the air. No Xavier had no idea what he had in that tight little bundle…he wondered if she realized that she was still wearing her skirt…or that he could see that she was wearing some kind of little pink lacy thong that matched her skirt as she flew away. He filed that information away for future reference.
"She's not something to play with." The ice kid said as he walked up, handing a brown glass bottle to Victor.
"No, you don't play with something that can kill you…you respect it." He muttered as he opened the bottle…ice cold. "Thanks."
"She thinks Logan's coming back."
"Is he?"
"He took his tags this time. Bobby."
"I know. Victor."
"Is he coming back?"
"Not this time, not for a long time."
"How do you know?"
"He remembered he's my brother…he's running from his life. Again."
"Your brother, did you tell her that?"
"Nope."
"We're watching you?"
"I know."
"Xavier knows things, more than you think."
"How do you know?"
"I just do. I didn't want to tell her but I'm leaving again too."
"Why?"
"I've got my reasons – and they don't have anything to do with her, but I feel better with you here."
"I could kill you in your sleep."
"You won't."
"I could kill them in your sleep."
"You won't."
"Why not."
"Rogue."
The ice boy walked away. And damned if the kid wasn't right, he wouldn't hurt them, not now, because of her. He was right, you don't play with what can kill you, you respect it…and of all the mutants in the world, she was the only one he knew could kill him, but it wasn't respect he felt…and he'd be damned if he'd ever let her touch him to find out.