Logan continued Rogue's intensive training for several more weeks. She was getting good...really good. Stryker surveilled some of her training and decided it was time for her to officially join the team by participating in her first mission.
When he informed Logan, he shook his head, "She's not ready."
Stryker leaned back in his chair, "I watched her during your last session. She seems completely capable of handling herself."
"She's too young to be out there."
"Why the hell do you think she's here, Logan? You think I don't know how old she is? I have her on this team for a reason and it isn't any of your concern of yours why. You just follow orders. I said train her, she's trained. That is the extent of your involvement with her. Now I want you to be ready to ship out by 0600 hours. Are we clear?"
Logan narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists before turning and stomping out of the office.
When they were on the plane the next day, Logan kept staring at Rogue. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and she wore black leggings, black combat boots, a long black button down shirt and a cargo vest.
Victor broke him out of his stare by leaning over and whispering, "Hey Jimmy, all that time you trained with her...did you...ya know..."
Logan furrowed his eyebrows and turned to look at his brother, "What?"
"Oh come on. I see how you stare at her...I don't blame you. That soft, young body...I'd love to be the one to pop that cherry...if it's still in tact."
"Just back off. Leave her off your radar."
Victor raised his eyebrows, "Oooh..touchy touchy little brother. Has she gotten to you?"
Logan started to answer, but the plane descending distracted him. When they landed, he glanced at Rogue, who seemed calm and collected.
Stryker ran over their mission plans once more, "We're looking for a man who knows the location of an object that is very important to me. He's the priority. No one else matters."
They arrived at a luxury villa located on a remote Caribbean island. A security gate complete with guard towers and barbed wire surrounded the otherwise unassuming mansion.
Zero, equipped with a silencer quickly and quietly took out the tower guards while Wade cut his way into the gate. As soon as the team slipped inside, the perimeter alarms sounded, causing dozens of soldiers to swarm the front yard. As the team fought off thee aggressors, Logan stole a look at Rogue.
She had just knocked a machine gun out of her attackers hands and taken him down with a roundhouse kick. She used the machine gun to take down a few more guards in the front yard.
Logan raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. They had done minimal weapons training...she must have gotten the rest from his own memory bank from his long years in the army.
When all the guards were disposed of and the team began advancing on the mansion, Stryker favored Logan with a eyebrow raise and a nod toward Rogue, silently congratulating him on how well Rogue had handled herself in field.
With only a few, minimally armed bodyguards to contend with once they reached the inside of the house, they quickly rounded up the sleeping residents, which only included scantily clad babes who looked like failed models and video girls. The only male resident of the house was brought out of his room wearing a leopard print robe.
"Who are you! What do you want?" Stryker stepped forward, making the man's eyes widen in recognition, "William Stryker...what are you doing here? What is the meaning of this?"
Stryker pulled a metal stone out of his pocket, "I need ten more pounds. I'm tired of you holding out on me. Time it is of the essence. Now are you going to tell me what I need to know, or do we have to make the same mess in here as we did outside?"
The man trembled and looked at the team, "There's a cave...about 20 miles Northeast of Johannesburg. That's where my mine is located."
"And how do we know there won't be an ambush waiting for us when we get there?"
The man stuttered, "You have my word!"
Stryker sighed, "Unfortunately, in my line of work, that's not good enough."
With one nod to Wade, his throat was slashed. Rogue looked away and happened to notice that Logan did as well. As they left, Zero stayed behind to take care of the loose ends. Logan made sure to walk behind Rogue so that she wouldn't look back to witness the carnage of innocent women being murdered.
The screams they heard when they were leaving was enough.
He sat next to her on the plane, whispering words of encouragement and comfort.
This gesture didn't go unnoticed by Zero or Stryker.
"They're getting close. This isn't good."
Stryker sighed, "I knew I should have just let Victor train her..."
"Heh...Victor? She woulda been dead or raped within a week."
"Perhaps we could use this little romance to our advantage. I'll approach Logan concerning the Weapon X program tomorrow...if he refuses...we'll just get a little creative."
The next afternoon, Logan found himself in Stryker's office, listening to the story of adamantium and his desire to bond it to Logan's bones.
"You're the only one who could survive such a painful procedure...not even Victor's strength rivals yours. You would become the perfect soldier."
Logan shook his head, "I'm as indestructible as I wanna be...I've already been alive for longer than my liking. I'm not interested in making it even more difficult for me to die."
"You're sure?"
"Very."
Stryker shrugged, "Well...can't blame a man for trying. How is your training with Rogue coming along?"
"Good. Is this all?"
He shrugged a little and sat on the edge of his desk, "I ran some tests on her as well...looks like she still has your DNA lingering in her system..."
Logan's nostrils flared as he took a step forward, but Stryker continued anyways, "I'm certain her chances of surviving the procedure are promising...but it would be quite painful. She's got nowhere else to go...she knows that..."
"What makes you think I'd put my ass on the line for her?"
Stryker smirked before standing and picking up a remote. He pressed a button and suddenly, a monitor in the corner of the room flickered to life. It was security camera footage of random nights, when Logan had paced outside of Rogue's door, listening to her scream through his nightmares.
Finally, he fast forwarded to the night they hugged. Logan briefly watched as he and Rogue embraced, then quickly averted his eyes.
Stryker turned off the television and dropped the remote, "So...what'll it be, old friend?"
A week later, Rogue burst into his room while he was getting ready to report for the Weapon X experiment.
"Logan...don't do this. Whatever reason just isn't good enough."
"It's my choice, Rogue."
She shook her head, "It's too dangerous..."
Logan removed his tank top and shook his head, "Leave it alone, kid. It's my business."
"You said you wanted out of this lifestyle...why are you pushing yourself deeper into it?"
He looked into her eyes and briefly contemplated confessing his feelings. He cared about her...even though they had shared one brief hug...he actually cared about her more than any of the women he'd fucked in the past countless years. Instead of a confession, he just shook his head and started to walk away.
Before he got to the door, she grabbed him and turned him around. He looked down at her with uncertain eyes before she suddenly leaned up and took his face in her hands before capturing his lips in a loving kiss.
When the kiss ended, he looked down into her eyes, "I gotta ask you to trust me...OK?"
Rogue nodded, but continued to stare at him in confusion as he unwound her hands from around his face and rushed away.
Within an hour, Rogue and Agent Zero filed into the med bay to watch the Weapon X experiment. Victor and the rest of the team were on their way back from a mission, but Stryker was unwilling to wait for them.
She nervously bit her lip and watched as the doctor finished drawing the surgical lines on Logan. After they finished prepping him, Stryker approached, "You'll need new tags for this...what would you like them to say?"
"Just Wolverine this time."
After he was given his new dog tags, he was given a breathing apparatus and lowered into the water.
The drilling needles sounded awful as they lowered into the water and prepared to penetrate his skin. She watched as he closed his eyes in anticipation of the pain, which obviously came as they drove deep into his skin and began pouring molten metal inside of him.
Rogue clasped her hands together and brought them to her mouth as she watched him helplessly thrash against his restraints under the water. A glance at the monitoring screen told her that the adamantium reserve was 40% depleted.
It seemed like there was no end in sight for his pain. She shook her head and started to rush forward, but Agent Zero grabbed her around her waist, stopping her. She screamed out, "Stop it! You're killing him!"
Sure enough, his blood pressure, body temperature and heart rate were sky rocketing. He was now officially in cardiac arrest.
Logan continued to thrash about as Rogue struggled against Agent Zero. Tears had begun to form in her eyes as she attempted to squirm out of her captor's arms, "Stop it! Somebody help him!"
Stryker did little more than continue to watch the monitors.
Soon, the room fell silent save for the monotonous beep of Logan's heart monitor. He was officially dead.
Agent Zero finally let go of Rogue, who staggered forward toward the water tank that held Logan's body. Stryker sighed as he exchanged defeated looks with the doctors.
Rogue stepped forward and attempted to reach into the water to touch him, but the nearly boiling temperature of the water caused by the melted adamantium and his body made it impossible.
She shook her head, "This isn't it for you, Logan...come on. Stop fuckin' around and wake up."
Suddenly, his heart monitor let out a beep, breaking the drone that had been piercing her ears. Then another beep...and another...and another.
They slowly raised Logan out of the water tank. He opened his eyes just in time to see Rogue close her eyes and breathe a sigh of relief.
Later that night, Stryker and Agent Zero sat in his office.
"So...he took it and survived. Now what?"
"Now...we know that if she fully absorbs him...she'll be able to handle the adamantium as well. It'll be our first step in creating a super soldier."
Zero sighed, "How do you think you'll get her to go along with it after you force her to kill Logan?"
"I'll wipe her memory. She'll be nothing more than a drone."
Logan, who had been listening on the other side of the wall rushed to Rogue's room. She was asleep, so he crept in and quickly covered her mouth before she had the chance to scream. She looked up at him confusedly as he whispered, "Get dressed...trust me...we have to get you out of here."
Rogue quickly got up and threw on some clothes before Logan peeked out into the hallway, then grabbed her and rushed out.
When they reached the back exit, Logan had a hard time figuring out the code. He turned his back to her to fully concentrate on the keypad, but the sudden sound of her yelping caught him off guard.
When he whipped around, he saw Victor standing there with Rogue in his vice grip and a hand over her mouth. A look into Rogue's eyes told him that she was preparing to activate her mutation, but Logan quickly shook his head, "No kid!"
He knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if she ended up with Victor's psychopathic traits kicking around in her head.
"Let her go, Vic...there's a lot of shit goin' down that you don't know about."
Victor smirked, "Even if there is...why would I wanna let this sweet thing go and let you hog her all for yourself? I need a little bit o' love too, ya know?"
Logan growled and unsheathed his brand new, adamantium claws, prompting Victor to raise a brow, "Oooh. Shiney."
"Let. Her. Go."
Before they could interact any further, Logan was stabbed with a metal prod that sent violent electrical shocks into his system. Using electrocution, they were able to subdue Logan just long enough to restrain his arms inside of thick chains. He blacked out for a unknown amount of time and woke up to find himself hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. He had been stripped down to his underwear.
Logan quickly looked around and glared, "Where's Rogue?"
Stryker smirked as he stepped out of the shadows. He glanced at one of the guards in the room and nodded, "Bring her in."
Suddenly, the heavy metal door opened and Rogue was dragged in by Zero. She was wearing only her underwear and, to be honest, if they hadn't been in a life or death situation, he would have had a hard on. Wade followed closely behind carrying, what looked like, a whip.
Logan struggled against his restraints and growled, "Let her go."
Zero and another guard yanked Rogue's arms above her head and fastened her wrists to the other pair of handcuffs that hung from the ceiling directly next to Logan. They faced each other as the guards tied their half naked bodies together.
Again, Logan was briefly thankful that he was in a life or death situation.
Rogue glared, "What the fuck are you doing, Stryker? Fulfilling some sick bondage fantasy?"
Instead of answering her, Stryker just nodded to Wade, who suddenly shook out the whip before striking Rogue in the back with it. She cried out in pain, making Logan violently jerk against his restraints.
Stryker slowly circled the room, "Did you know that when Rogue is hurt, she has a much more difficult time keeping her mutation at bay? All that poisonous skin pressed up against you is quite dangerous."
Logan looked down into her eyes, "It's OK..."
She looked up at him and shook her head wordlessly.
Stryker quickly nodded to Wade, who whipped Rogue again. She shuddered and shut her eyes tight, clearly attempting to concentrate on keeping her skin under control. By the end of the hour, Rogue's back was torn and bloodied and Logan had tears in his eyes. Each crack of the whip made him roar in rage.
She hung her head against his shoulder as he panted through the pain and exhaustion. He'd been pleading with her to just let go and put an end to her misery, but she had refused and held on to keep him safe.
"I'm not worth it Rogue...what the hell are you thinking?"
Rogue raised her head a little and smiled, "You're not a miserable asshole...you're worth more than you know."
Suddenly, another loud *crack* resounded as the whip, once again, connected with Rogue's back. She screamed out as Logan suddenly began to feel the pull of her mutation. He closed his eyes and welcomed it, relieved to know that, for the moment, she would at least be out of pain.
Logan fell unconscious just after Rogue was able to deactivate his powers. Her back was healed and she felt a renewal of his enhanced senses in her system.
Believing Logan to be dead, they released him from his bond and let his heavy, metal laced frame drop to the floor at Rogue's still hanging feet. Stryker left, taking the guards with him. Wade rolled up his whip and approached Rogue with a smirk, "Just because the game is over doesn't mean we can't keep playing..."
She shuddered and closed her eyes as he ran a hand down her body.
Rogue looked away as he dropped the whip and began unbuttoning his pants and stepped forward to greedily grope her. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking at him. She just kept her eyes closed as he yanked down her panties and grabbed her leg to raise it around his waist.
Just as he was about to push forward, a *snikt* sound made Rogue's eyes pop open to see three adamantium claws protruding through Wade's throat.
Logan retracted his claws and let Wade's lifeless body crumple to the floor before quickly pulling Rogue's panties back up and releasing her from her restraints. She hugged him quickly, but realized there would be more time for that later. After taking a gun off of Wade, they were able to silently bypass the few guards that loitered about between their holding cell and the nearest exit. Obviously, Stryker wasn't expecting either of them to be able to escape.
When they breeched the facility, alarms sounded. They ran through the woods with soldiers on their trail for a few moments before coming upon a tall waterfall. Rogue, using her freshly enhanced eye sight, raised the gun and shot one of the soldiers coming after them, immediately taking him down. She fired round after round, but didn't have enough bullets to take all of their enemies down.
She cursed and tossed the gun away before turning to Logan, "What now?"
He grabbed her hand, "Hope you can swim..."
Rogue screamed as they jumped off of the ledge and into the water below.
Was Victor just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or did he have something to do with the "grand plan" to make Marie a super soldier? Review please!