"Wake up. Hey, wake up, will ya?"
Rogue groaned and rolled over. She really did not want to do this now. Being unconscious was so much better than being in her subconscious, but the gruff voice was insistent. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and glared half-heartedly at the man in front of her. He ignored her look though and made sure she was okay.
"You were in there pretty deep this time. You have to be careful whose psyche you tap for power. Not all of them are as nice as me."
"I know. Stop with the fussin' already. I'm fine."
The two figures stood out against the black expanse. There were stars high above them that cast much more light than they should, easily illuminating them.
"Well, you're as irritable as ever so you must be fine," he told her cheekily.
Up above, one of the stars fell and just missed them on the landing. The stars were actually the psyches of people Rogue had absorbed. She was never able to separate them completely from her but had managed a way to keep them from directly influencing her for the most part. However, they could still whisper and talk to her. After all, one can't stop voices from the sky.
"Uh oh," They were supposed to stay up there unless Rogue called them. Randomly falling from the sky of her mindscape was a definite no-no.
Fortunately, this psyche was one of the weaker personalities she had. A stunning red head, Mary Jane Watson-Parker was one of the great stage actresses of the time. Rogue had dragged Logan and Wade to see her show. Wade had conceded that she was `hot but she's not Bea Arthur'. Logan sat quietly through the whole thing, not commenting one way or the other. Wade had told her later that he secretly loved. Logan had a thing for red heads. Although she wasn't a major threat, she wasn't supposed to be falling all willy nilly.
"M.J," Rogue reached her bare hand out to help her up.
"Rogue, hey, sorry about that. I don't know what happened. One minute, I'm there, the next I'm here."
"Don't worry. It's not your fault. I'm gonna put you back so don't fight me, all right?"
"No problem."
Rogue held both of M.J.'s hands in hers. There was a bright light and M.J. disappeared in it. In her place was a glowing orb, a 'star', that Rogue held in her hands. She flicked her wrists and sent the orb back with the rest. She turned to Cole.
"You're turn."
"Oh, joy."
She held her hands out.
"It's not that bad."
He hesitated.
"It's not bad, but it's not great either," he slipped her smaller hands into his.
She smirked at him.
"Men are such babies." (1)
She was over and done with him before she had finished blinking. It was so much easier to deal with the psyches she had used repeatedly. She gazed up at the 'stars' a moment more before she turned and went through the door that led to her consciousness, effectively waking herself up.
"Pull over," was the first thing out of Rogue's mouth upon waking. Logan knew from experience to do just that. He cut off a guy in a Prius who, in his opinion, had no business on the road, period, and stopped on the shoulder of the interstate. Rogue stumbled out of the truck down the incline a ways, her way illuminated by the dome lights from the truck, and knelt down. A moment later, she violently deposited her lunch. After a few more dry heaves, Rogue was left trembling and shaking. A water bottle was pressed into her hand by Logan who had been carefully holding her hair back. She took a mouthful of it, swished it around, then spit it back out.
"How you feelin'?"
She opened her mouth to respond.
"And do not tell me 'fine'".
And shut it.
He raised a brow.
"Well?"
She floundered for a reply, since Logan just denied her default response.
"I'm great."
He considered a moment, concern evident on his face.
He sighed and helped her stand.
"We need to work on expanding your vocabulary," he told her.
"Ha. 'Cuz you're one to talk, bub," she mocked him.
"Ya know," he commented as he assisted her back up the incline," there are people who hate my guts who show me more respect than you do."
"True," she climbed back in her seat," but would ya rather be respected or loved?"
So saying, she slammed the door and laid back down, waking Wade in the process.
He snapped awake, guns cocked in both hands, looking around frantically.
"Relax," he turned in his seat and pointed them at her,
"It's just me," she assured him calmly.
"Yeah, sure. That's what you want me to think. And then when I think it's you, and turn around, I'm gonna find out that it's not you when I get shot it the back of the head nine times with electrified bullets!" he ranted.
Logan came around and opened his door, climbing back in the driver's seat. Needless to say, he was not pleased to have a gun barrel in his face.
"Wade, what are ya doin'?"
"He's goin schitzo, that's what he's doin'."
Logan looked at him.
"Wade,"
"Jimmy. If that is your real name."
"who do you think I am?"
"I think you might be Jimmy. But I could be wrong. You could be Copy Cat."
"Vanessa's dead, Wade."
He blinked, slowly coming back to himself.
"Nessie's dead…Right. I knew that. I was there. That was a long time ago wasn't it?"
"Yeah. It was."
Logan pulled back out onto the interstate and they travelled in silence for a few miles until he spotted a road sign for hotels up ahead and decided to pull in to one for the night. Truth be told, he was exhausted, Rogue wasn't driving because in the condition she was in, she was liable to fall asleep at the wheel, and there was no way he was letting Wade behind the wheel.
After checking in, Logan handed the key to Wade to unlock the door to their room as he went to the truck to grab the bags. Walking in, he saw Wade sprawled face first on the bed closest to the door, snoring.
"He's adorable when he's like that, isn't he?" Rogue said from her perch on the other bed.
"If `adorable' means tolerable and `that' means unconscious, then sure."
He shut and locked the door and piled the bags onto the small table.
"What're we gonna do?" she whispered, but Logan still heard her clearly.
"Right now, you're gonna go shower. You smell terrible."
"I stank? I'm not the one covered in blood."
He smiled at her.
"Would ya believe most of it's not mine?"
She smirked at him.
"I doubt that, seein' as how when we found ya, ya were gettin' very intimate with a pine tree."
"Ha ha. Just go, Stripes."
She sighed, stood up, and began removing her weapons. After five minutes of struggling and cursing under her breath, Rogue walked over to Logan and pushed her arms in his face.
"Do this for me," she told him with this look on her face that just reminded him of when she was a kid, and he couldn't help himself.
"What's the magic word?"
That got him a small, tired smile.
"Three."
He complied, working quickly on the straps and buckles. Seeing as this was going to take a few minutes, Rogue decided to go ahead and question him now.
"Where are we goin'?"
"Westchester, New York."
She raised a brow, surprised at his ready answer.
"What's so special 'bout Westchester?" she slipped the left brace off and laid it on the table.
"There's a professor there with a school for mutants. He teaches kids how to use their powers."
"Well, that's awful bold of him."
"But no one knows kids are mutants."
"Ah. So we're just gonna hide out with this guy or what? And how do we know this guy's legit?"
"If this is the guy I think it is, we'll be fine."
He finished with the last strap and placed it next to its twin.
"Ya know him?" she asked through a yawn.
"I think so. It's been a while though."
"Do ya trust this guy?"
"He is one of the very few people, yeah."
"Good enough for me."
She reached across him to the table, plucked up her purple bag, and walked into bathroom, tossing her leather jacket and gloves onto the bed as she went by.
Logan leaned back in the couch and considered his plan. Once they made it to Xavier's, they should be safe. Rogue had asked if he trusted him. He had answered truthfully. Charles had helped years ago, after he had gotten away from Weapon X, helped him get his mind right. He owed the man his life, in a way. And then he'd taken off. He'd figured he still owed Charles for that and could rectify that debt when he met up with him again.
However, he wasn't even sure if Charles would let them stay. Sure, he was a good guy with this dream of mutants being equal with and accepted by humans, and it was very noble what he was doing with those kids, but come on. Who in there right mind would take in an ex-government soldier with a violent temper and six claws coming out of his hands, his daughter with an even worse temper with extensive knowledge in weaponry and a somewhat unstable mutation, and Wade. He would have to be completely out his ever-lovin' mind. Then again, there was that whole 'help mutants' thing he was so set on. And Logan didn't see how he would be able to turn Rogue away, she was really just a kid, after all.
Logan scratched the back of his neck in irritation. The way he saw it, there was a thirty-seventy percent chance against them. In the likely event that this didn't work out, he had already come up with a Plan B. It was very simple.
Step 1: Drop Rogue off with Tony for safe keeping.
Step 2: Take Wade and track down Weapon X facilities. All of them.
Step 3: Leave no one alive.
Step 4: Destroy facilities.
There were several cons to this seemingly simple plan.
1: Leaving Rogue anywhere on her own was a terrible idea. She will not appreciate the attempt to keep her safe and argue that she is trained enough to handle it with them. There will be a fight. She might cry… and then stab him. Ultimately, they'll have to keep her drugged the whole time, chain her to the walls, keep her under constant watch or all three. And when or if they came back, she probably still would have managed to get away.
2: It might very well take years to find all of the Weapon X bases. With Wade. 'Nuff said.
3: While he was very skilled at it, he did not enjoy killing people. Unless it was Victor or someone else who really deserved it.
4: There was the possibility that they could fail. They would either get captured or be killed. Granted, they would make it very hard for them and take out as many as they could. They were not the only mutants who worked for Weapon X. There were several that could be lethal to them even with their healing factors. If either of these possibilities became a reality, Weapon X would go after Rogue, taking out anyone in its way.
Or they could keep running. Yeah, that'll happen.
No, the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of staying at Xavier's better. He didn't think of it as hiding. More like strategic seclusion. Yeah.
"Wade! Would you wake up already? Get up!" Rogue yelled at his prone, unresponsive figure curled up on the bed. Deciding yelling and hitting weren't enough, she tried to yank the covers off of him, but he had this freakishly strong grip on them. She stopped pulling when she heard the fabric rip.
"Honestly, the things I have to put up with," she muttered to herself as she looked around the room for something to wake him up with. They were trying to lay low so shooting him was out. She could cut him, but it probably wouldn't even register. Then she spotted the ice bucket. That would do. She picked it up, walked over to the sink, and filled just shy of the brim. She walked back to the bed with a devious grin and dumped it on his head. He jumped out of the bed, sputtering, and giving Rogue an eyeful. Apparently sometime last night, he had gotten up to bathe then crawled back into the covers because he was wearing a pair of Daffy Duck boxers.
"Why would you do that?" he demanded.
She smirked at him.
"Logan's ready to go," she told him and pointed at some clothes she'd laid out for him on the table.
"Get dressed. We'll be waitin' in the truck," she turned around, walked to the door and paused.
"Oh, ya might wanna hurry before the chimichangas get cold," then closed the door firmly behind her and headed to the truck. She walked to the truck and opened the front door and climbed in.
"Where are my chimichangas, girl?" Wade asked her from the backseat as he buttoned his shirt.
Rogue laughed as Logan pulled out of the parking lot. She reached down to the floorboard, grabbed a greasy bag from the Mexican restaurant down the road and handed it back to Wade who accepted them gleefully.
"How long is it gonna take to get to New York?" Rogue asked over Wade's moaning. The boy was excited about his food, okay?
"We made good time last night, so 'bout three hours."
"You sure we gonna be safe there?"
He looked at her.
"Rogue. No matter where we are, no matter what, I promise to make sure you are safe. You understand?"
She leaned over, put her gloved hand on his cheek, and kissed it.
"Yes, Daddy."
"Aaaww!" Wade cooed around a mouthful of food.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Rogue admonished him.
Wade swallowed, but he did it wrong and started gagging and coughing. He calmly Heimlich maneuvered himself with the air of one who had done this before and spit the food up back into his mouth. He thoroughly chewed this time before swallowing.
"That is – was so sweet! Look at Jimmy being all protective daddy. Roguey, I pity any future boyfriends you're going to have."
"Like I'm gonna ever get a boyfriend."
"Why wouldn't you?" Wade asked in between bites.
"Let's look at the facts, shall we? One, my skin is deadly. Ain't no boy in his right mind gonna go for a girl he can't touch."
"Easy enough. You get a crazy guy!" he laughed at that, and even Logan smirked.
"Second, You two."
"You mean Logan," Wade told her. She turned in her seat to look at him.
"No. I mean Logan and Wade."
"Me?" he pointed to himself, actually pulling off innocent as he took another bit of his fifth rolled tortilla.
"Yeah, you. And don't act all innocent. Or don't you remember Disney Land?"
He started giggling. The giggling worked its way up to full blown, maniacal laughter. When he stopped, he had to wipe tears from his eyes as he caught his breath. He cleared his throat and looked her in her eyes, dead serious.
"I don't know what you could possibly be referring to."
"Sure, you don't," she turned back around.
"What did happen?" Logan asked.
Wade leaned forward and poked his head between the seats with a crazed grin on his face.
"You really want to know?" he asked, creepily.
"Ya know what, I actually don't."
A/N: Read Adventures in Disney. Review Adventures in Disney. Do it NOW! I have to do another version of that 'cuz there is an aspect of it that is inspired by Ed of Cowboy Bebop that I forgot 'til just now. I don't know when I'm gonna do it though. Probably the next time I procrastinate on finishin' a chapter. IDK. I can't believe I told you people (What do you mean 'you people'? LOL) not to review first chapter. I totally take it back. If you didn't review that chapter, go back and do it…please. If you did, thank you very much.
(1)Anastacia quote from the movie and it is so true!
Who can guess who Tony is?
Thank you cards suck. Fortunately, I have a small social circle.
This story is really just a bunch of general vague ideas with a few very, amazing incredible scenes here and there that I'm trying to string together to make sense and entertain. Y'all's input really helps me get where I wanna be with it, faster.
To borderjumperdontdeportmehaha: First off, long aspen name. Second thank you so much for the review. I'm glad you like it. I completely didn't even notice that Rogue and Logan hadn't spoken to each other. That was unintentional and careless on my part. I don't think it's necessary to emphasize that Logan and Wade have killed before and will so do it again if need be. I'm not sure, but it might be possible to make a character too awesome. However, this fic seems to want to focus on three characters so extreme awesomeness and maximum levels of kick buttness on their part is totally acceptable. As for the Romy, I had actually intended for it to be such, but it's not gonna be like overwhelming, I don't think. And I like your idea of him as good/bad. That is gettin' jacked. May or may not be for this story though. Also, throw a period in there next time, huh? About the Thieves Guild, uh no.
Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Is Wade too crazy (as if), not crazy enough, or just the right amount of crazy?
Has anyone noticed that in the old X Men cartoon from the 90's, the guys had like, eight packs? And everyone in the 'T'ieves' Guild had these ugly green trenchcoats. I'm not even gonna go there with the Assassins, but who told them that was a good idea? And there were a lot of random moments in the Phoenix Saga that make it funny 'cuz it's suppose to be so serious?
