"Go away!"
"Logan, it's about the sentinels."
~*~
"Someone broke into S.H.I.E.L.D. two days ago. They took schematics for the newest version of sentinels."
"I thought you were finished with the sentinel program!"
"My superiors felt their success against Apocalypse was reason enough to continue the project."
"What's special about these new sentinels?"
"They are equipped with targeting and weapons system upgrades almost unstoppable to any mutant, even Apocalypse."
"More coffee sir?" asked the waitress.
"No thanks," Logan grumbled. He turned to Fury. "What kind of...upgrades?"
"Pin-point targeting that is repositioned every hundredth of a second. Those things will follow you so smoothly, you'll think it's predicting your movement. It can also detect mutant signatures from 100 yards away. The stomach and back open up revealing sonic pulse cannons covering every degree. They are protected by-"
"Ok ok, I get the point. We've got to deal with the idea of super-sentinels in the hands of a crazed maniac. What's the big deal? You know who did it right? You can stop these sentinels? You guys designed them anyway."
"The thing is these sentinels were designed to withstand any EMP. Their electronics system are buried deep in an adamantium shell making it impervious to any type of energy wave. The best we could do is take out the firing triggers from the outside. They would be off-line for about 30 seconds. Unless someone mass produces the new sentinels it shouldn't take more than a few minutes for all of you to finish them off."
"They won't be joining me. I'll handle this on my own."
"I don't think you get it Logan."
"No I don't think you do Fury! Those kids don't need to deal with this right now. She's got a lot on her mind."
"Who does?"
"I mean they do. Their school exams are coming up soon and... and so is the prom. They are probably having trouble finding dates now that everyone knows they're mutants."
"Still worried about Rogue, eh Logan?" Logan let out a sigh.
"It's just so much harder for her. None of the guys at school will go near her since they found out. She'd be lucky if she got a pity date from a normal boy. Only the other kids at the Institute will talk to her, and I can't stand that Ronny guy."
"You mean Remy?"
"Whatever! The point is he's trouble."
"Rogue can take care of herself. Besides, you don't know she's your daughter."
"Yea I know, but I swear she smells just like Rose. And she is the same age as Christine would be."
"Logan, Christine's been missing for a long time, and it's been even longer since Rose died. You can't dwell on the past. Even if Rogue is your daughter, she has a different life now and so do you."
"I guess I'm going to have to accept that." There is a long pause before Logan continued. "So why can't I take care of this myself?"
"All of the X-mens' powers together will barely be enough to stop the super-sentinels. With the addition of Gambit and-"
"You really think I'm going to let him help us? No way."
"Well you can always see how willing Eric Lensherr and Wanda Maximoff are to helping you. They'd be great assets for this battle. Besides, I highly doubt whoever took the schematics plans to keep the sentinels the same. They will probably use some new types of weapons to enhance their firepower. It was a professional job. The maintenance crew were fixing some loose cables around the corner from the room where the blueprints were stored. Luckily, one of the workers hit the alarm before he was knocked out. It's the only reason we knew about the intrusion. They left nothing behind. We couldn't even find an odor trace."
"Lookin' for odor traces now? Since when does S.H.I.E.L.D. have equipment to handle that kind of ID?"
"We don't. We were hoping you would help us."
"So they start up the sentinel program again and expect me to help them find out who stole their new toy?!"
"Relax Logan. You think I'd let them release invincible sentinels on you? There's an emergency shut-off at S.H.I.E.L.D., and I have a hand-held shut-off on me at all times."
"What good will that do if the sentinels aren't manufactured at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"The shut-off is integrated into the sentinel's main operating systems. Unless they can find a way to rewire the power cables, it's impossible to bypass the emergency fail-safe."
"I'm glad I have friends in high places." Logan pulled out a cell phone and dialed the Institute. "Hank, is there any way to trace whoever stole the plans of the sentinels?"
"If Nick has an energy signature from the vehicle they took to S.H.I.E.L.D., we might be able to locate its current position." Logan sat puzzled for a second and then handed Nick Fury the phone.
"Here, you talk to him." He listened as the two exchanged information over the phone.
"Ok, thanks Hank. I think we can trace this thing now." Fury hung up and handed Logan the phone. "I should probably get this information back to S.H.I.E.L.D." He got up and left the coffee shop.
~*~
"Hey Stripes, I'm gettin' a new bike soon." Logan tossed Rogue the keys to his motorcycle. "Think of it as an early birthday present." He can't be serious. There's no way he'd give me his bike.
"Now get outta here kid, before I change my mind." Rogue walked to her room and stared at the newly-possessed keys the whole way.
Author's Note:
I know many of you are a bit confused at this point, so I'll start explaining. Rose was Logan's wife in the comic books. She passed away at some point. I'm not quite sure when they were together and I've never heard of them ever having a child, but I decided to might be fun to explain why Logan acts so fatherly towards Rogue in the cartoon. Lots of people like to make them a couple in their fics. I don't think that fits very well unless you are writing an alternate universe fan fic, and if you're going to do that, you might as well make it a regular X-men fan fic. Now I'm ranting so I'll move onto the next point I should probably clarify. Unlike Rose, Christine never existed (to my knowledge anyway). I'm trying to imply that Mystique stole Logan's daughter from him when she was very young and before he knew what her power was. This also helps to give Rogue a family and acknowledge a natural bond between her and Logan.