Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue.
Summary: See previous chapters.
NOTE: Some of the scenes were taken from the novelization, and may not have been seen or may differ from the movie.

Wolverine: Choose For Yourself

I was in the office with Chuck, Storm and a blue, furry guy when we firs heard about the new medical 'Cure'.

Thanks, but I've had enough of government labs and medical experimentation to last me a possibly immortal lifetime.

I voice this opinion, and a jab at the Government, and the blue guy glares at me. "Watch your mouth, boy. I've been fighting for mutants since before you had claws."

I glare back, then look at Storm. "Did he just call me 'boy'?"

Storm ignores us both and turns to the Professor, looking morally furious. "But who would want to do such a thing?"

Blue-boy gives her a sad smile and makes a comment about blending in and shedding on the furniture.

I am about to make a sarcastic remark about how long it would be before 'blending in' stopped being optional when there is a knock at the door and Rogue bursts in.

Truthfully, I am not surprised.

Most people consider Rogue to be shy and withdrawn. Some of them even think that her mutation labels her a freak among freaks, unwanted. If Rogue hadn't made me promise not to, I would have skewered that popsicle-boy, Bobby, for telling her that, never mind that it was actually Mystique posing as him at the time.

Some people even call Rogue weak, afraid of her powers. But I know differently.

Rogue is strong. Strong enough to endure what she must, in order to keep others safe, no matter the cost to herself.

The shyness and apparent fear is an act, a wall. A defense to keep others safely at arm's length, and away from her sometimes deadly mutation.

That takes strength that even I admire. Strength that makes me proud to know her. Girl's like a daughter to me, one that I would have been proud to claim, had I ever wanted kids.

I look around at the other adults. The professor is wearing the unreadable look that I find so annoying. Blue-boy seems to be thinking something through, and Storm still looks outraged, though now on Rogue's behalf as she informs her that there is nothing to cure, the storms out of the office.

For someone who was worshiped as a goddess, she can be just as human as the rest of us when it concerns those she cares about. One of the things that I like about her.

I don't know how I look, but I feel the sense of understanding that only Rogue seems to bring out.

I do understand, because aside from my advanced healing, my mutation was forced upon me. Rogue and I both know what it is like to have our mutation feel like a curse. We are very alike sometimes, more than most people would like to admit.

I mentioned it to the Professor once, almost as a joke, and had the distinct satisfaction of seeing him pale slightly.

Can't say I blame him. As multiple people have frequently pointed out, one of me is more than enough for the world.

A mental blast of something had sent Storm and I to the Professor's office at a run. Four words had filled me with a mix of joy and trepidation; "Get to Alkali Lake."

We had gone, witnessed some very strange phenomena, and returned with Jean.

Storm has been giving me annoyed looks. Apparently I should be more detailed in a mission report.

We are currently standing in the Med Lab, watching the Professor try to mentally stabilize an unconscious Jean.

Eventually, I ask the obvious (and tactless, if the resulting expressions are anything to go by) question of what is going on with her, and am promptly horrified at what the Professor tells me. When she was younger, her powers were unstable, causing him to lock away part of her mind. Perhaps I over-reacted, but that struck a little too close to home for me.

I expect a hailstorm at any moment. Furious just doesn't seem to cover Storm's mood right now.

Fine, I admit that it was stupid, but look at things from my angle. Someone I deeply care about is in a lab, hooked up to machines and wires in a way that is disturbingly similar to the nightmares I have of my barely remembered past.

I freed Jean, nearly got some action, and then ruined my chances by bringing up first One-Eye, then the Professor.

Jean said that he had 'tamed' me, and went psycho, trashing the Med Lab and throwing me into a wall.

I wake up to find Jean gone and a very annoyed Professor, who gives me a very detailed mental telling-off as we go to find Jean again.

Ow.

Just ow.

We tracked Jean to her childhood home, only to be met by Magneto, some tattooed chick who is starting to seriously piss off Storm, assorted minions, and a huge guy with a funny helmet who had just thrown me however many meters and straight through a wall.

Storm is fighting the tattooed chick (and what I wouldn't give for a camera!), while the Professor is engaging in a three-way battle between himself, Magneto and Jean.

Things are not looking good, as Jean has gone psychotic again, and while I enjoy seeing Magneto get tossed around like a rag doll, I am worried for Chuck.

Everything is levitating around me, most of it smashing or being pinned against the ceiling. I make my way toward Jean and the Professor by digging my claws into the roof and dragging myself along, but I fail to get there in time.

Magneto and his minions have made themselves scarce, and I kneel in shock before the empty wheelchair as Storm wraps her arms around me and sobs.

Back at the mansion, a memorial service is being held for the Professor. Rogue has cried herself out on my shoulder, one of my more terrifying experiences, and now sits, stone-faced, next to her boyfriend, holding his hand as Storm reads the eulogy. She stands and lays a rose at the base of the marker as I watch from a nearby balcony.
Later that night, I catch Rogue sneaking out with a determined stride and a duffle bag. I have a fairly good idea of where she is going. "Need a lift, kid?"

She jumps and spins around, trying to defend her reason for going, though I don't know if it is to herself or to me. "You don't know what it's like, Logan."

Um, claws, no memory, adamantium skeleton. "Yeah, I do."

She gets the point. "I want to be able to touch people, Logan. A hug. A handshake. A kiss."

I frown. If the Popsicle has anything to do with this… "I hope you're not doing this for some boy."

She blinks, obviously not expecting any sort of support, let alone encouragment. "Shouldn't you be telling me to go back upstairs and unpack?"

I give Rogue a small half-smile. "I'm not your father, kid. I'm your friend." Not entirely true, I will always think of Rogue as my daughter, but right now she needs a friend's support more than a father's protectiveness. "If you wanna go, then go. Just make sure it's what you want."

Rogue smiles, and starts to leave, but quickly turns at the door. "Marie. My name's Marie."

Storm catches me in my room, shoving clothing into a bag, and calls me on my plan to find Jean. There is a trace of what almost sounds like jealousy in her voice when she pins my motivation as 'Because you love her.'

She is falling into Team-Leader mode as she does not protest, but informs me that if I was going to be with them, then be with them.

Are all goddesses this bossy? Storm leaves before I can reply.

You would think that I would have learned my lesson by now. Always have a very large distraction in place before going up against Magneto.

Seriously, I sneak through the forest, get stabbed and wind up killing several minions, and finally locate Jean, only to be lifted up by my adamantium bones and thrown half way through the forest.

If I believed in God, I would be thanking him very thoroughly for my healing factor. I don't even want to think about how many trees I literally smashed through.

At least I managed to discover what the maniac has planned to do next.

An attack on Alcatraz Island, and the mutant cure held there.

I return to the mansion as fast as possible; the X-Men need to know about this if we want to do anything to stop Magneto.
I am in my X-Man uniform, trying not to comment on Beast's, which obviously hasn't been worn for a long time, judging by the fit. Storm is preparing the Blackbird.

I stop at the sight ahead of me. Oh, no. "You're not coming."

Kitty, Bobby and Piotr are standing nearby, also dressed for combat. Kitty flashes me a bright smile, which I ignore. I know she had something to do with Rogue leaving, and return the smile with a no-way-in-hell glare that she somehow manages to miss. "Remember you said our uniforms were on order? Look what just arrived in the mail!"

Oh, shut up, kid. You weren't even at Alkali Lake, and this is not the time for smart remarks!

Ororo is enjoying this far too much as I try to impress the importance of this on the brats. It won't be like classes. It will be blood and tears and death. They still insist on coming and we have no time for argument.

Everyone else is on the Blackbird when I pick up a familiar scent. Rogue is back, and she is still wearing gloves.

I have never been good with expressing feelings, so I don't bother. "You almost missed the flight, darlin'. Go get suited up."

She smiles at me, and I see how far she has come from the scared child that I picked up so many years ago, who had asked me with complete innocence and sincerity if it hurt when my claws came out, to the woman before me now.

Bobby calls to me from the jet, and Rogue holds up a gloved hand. "I can't control it, but I can't run away either. The cure isn't the answer, but I'm working on it."

I smile at her. "Get suited up. I'll tell Storm."

Rogue shakes her head. "I'm not coming, Logan. Someone needs to stay and look after the kids, and it wouldn't be the first time Magneto has faked us out."

Disregarding the fact that I don't remember much beyond about 20 years ago, I don't think I've ever been so proud of anyone in my life. "That's my girl."

I read somewhere that the Queens of ancient Sparta had a ritual saying when their Kings rode to war. Come back with your shield, victorious, or on it.

Rogue stands as tall and proud as one of those Queens, ready to defend her home while we are off fighting Magneto. "Go kick the bad guy's butt, shugah."

I toss her a quick nod and join the others on the Blackbird.

The battle has started without us by the time we reach Alcatraz, prompting Beast to say what sounds like "Oh my stars and garters."
I stifle a snicker. Where did that come from?

Storm's lightning lights up the sky, making a crater in the ground to herald her arrival.

Beast leaps from roof to wall to roof to wall to wall until he reaches the ground.

Colossus only jumps, landing as a solid rock of steel, forming a nice little crater of his own.

Shadowcat holds on to Iceman, phasing them straight through the ground when they land, then bobbing up like a cork. Iceman looks ready to hurl. "Don't ever do that again."

I tell the Humans to fall back, and hold the line as Magneto yells out for his troops to finish us. A wave of forty against a line of six.

There are a few things that I like about my mutation, aside from the healing factor. My almost feral instincts make me stronger and faster than most, human and mutant alike, allowing me to anticipate my opponents' moves and making me very hard to hit.

For my opponents, it is sometimes even worse when they manage to make contact. With my adamantium skeleton, hitting me is like hitting a steel wall. Punching me in the jaw tends to result in a broken hand, and when I hit back, one blow is usually enough for an instant lights-out. Most of the time, the claws are only a last resort.

Beast moves even faster than I do, and with an almost equal ferocity. "I thought you were a diplomat!"

He shrugs, and starts to quote someone I have never heard of, then throws one of Magneto's minions half-way back to their boss and cuts of the quote with "Oh, you get the point!"

Storm rises into the air like an avenging goddess, lightning flashing around her as she drives the Brotherhood back with gale-force winds and rain that easily top Category Five on the Hurricane Scale. Callisto sneaks up on her and leaps from a rooftop, knocking them both out of the sky. A quick fight ensures, ending with Callisto being pinned to a metal fence as Storm hits it with lightning.

The other three are working well together, Bobby and Kitty icing their opponents or phasing through them, distracting them until Piotr knocks them out with a steel fist.

The Juggernaut runs to the main building, smashing through to find the mutant within. Kitty follows running to get there first.

I am up against a mutant whose arms keep growing back as soon as I chop them off. He laughs at me to bring it on. OK. I land a kick as hard as possible between his legs. He drops like a stone. "Grow those back!"

Magneto begins throwing cars, having Pyro light them on fire. Wonderful time for them to stop being divas.

We dive for cover, trying to form a plan to stop them. My eyes land on several cure darts, lying forgotten on the ground. I glance at Storm, seeing the turmoil in her eyes. She meets my gaze with her own. "Best defense is a good offence."

Is now a bad time to think that she looks good enough to kiss? "We work as a team." I grab Iceman's attention, "Yo, popsicle!"

He throws me an annoyed look, "Don't call me that!"

I smirk. "Make me – think you can take out your old friend?"

He nods, and I turn to Ororo, brushing away an invisible piece of dirt, resolving to never let Rogue find out about this. The kid will have the guts to tease me about it. "I know it'll be hard, but we need some cover."

There is almost no moisture to be found, with all the blazing cars around, but her eyes turn artic-white as she reaches out, drawing a thin layer of fog from somewhere.

Iceman and Pyro are fighting it out, Pyro's fire slowly pressing forward as Iceman lets his barriers slowly give way as he turns himself into living ice. Arrogant as always, Pyro fails to notice this. "You're out of your league, Bobby. Maybe you should have stayed in school."

Iceman surges up from his kneeling position, head-butting his old friend with all the anger he has been suppressing since Pyro's betrayal. "You never should have left."

Pyro drops, out like a light. The Ice-cube is starting to earn my respect. Maybe I'll stop telling Rogue that he isn't good enough for her.

Colossus lifts me up and throws me at Magneto, a deliberate distraction that we know he will see coming. Magneto lifts a hand, slamming me to the ground and lifting me up again. "You never learn, do you?"

Hey, easy on the skeleton, bub! Ow. In spite of the pain he is causing, I give him a pleasant smirk. "Actually, I do."

Beast springs up from where he has been sneaking up behind him, driving the cure darts into Magneto's flesh.

His expression is one of pain, terror and unspeakable loss as realization dawns on him. "I'm…" One of them.

I confirm the remainder of that thought and turn to Jean, who is standing aloof and unaffected by the destruction around her. "It's over, Jean."

Of course, the Military just has to choose this moment to show up and start shooting anything that moves. Jean goes berzerk.

Everyone who can still move makes a run for it, Magneto included. Not all of them make it, and the closest term I can think of is 'atomized', as Jean literally blows them into the individual particles that made up their bodies.

Now I have a duty to perform. I'm the only one who can stop Jean, even if it kills me in the attempt. I fight for each painstaking step closer to her, close enough for the only shot I will ever get. Some faint trace of the Jean I once knew shines through the primal force of nature that she is now. "Save me."

My heart cries out in protest as my adamantium claws shred through her heart and she collapses into my arms, dead.

Things are finally settling down again. Bobby and Rogue are stronger than ever, Ororo has been doing a good job of running the school, even is she did slap me with danger-room training. She's lucky she's so cute. Hank is also teaching here, which is a very good thing, considering.

There is still a very uphill struggle before mutants will be fully accepted by Humans, but for now, things look good.

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A/N: After way too long, this is finally updated. Unfortunately, I start TAFE tomorrow, so updates will not be as frequent. Meanwhile, review and tell me what you think.

Nat.