Marie entered the kitchen in her robe and slippers and disheveled hair. She yawned and pressed the button on the coffee maker, then, suddenly spun around. The only thing that saved John Wraith from her fist meeting his nose was his teleportation powers.
He smirked as he reappeared next to her, "Whoa...didn't mean to frighten ya there, Rogue. You're a little on edge, huh?"
She glared a little and turned her attention back to searching for a mug, "No, I'm just not used to strange people in my living space."
"Well, I'm truly sorry about that. Where's the big man? Still sleep?"
Marie walked over to the refrigerator to pull out the makings for breakfast, "No. Showering."
John nodded before walking back into the living room, "Who did these paintings?"
"Why?" Marie asked as she set the milk and eggs on the counter.
"They're pretty damn good."
She smiled a little as Logan entered the kitchen, pulling on his shirt. He favored Marie with a quick kiss on the cheek and pat on the ass before turning to John, "Sleep well?"
"Yeah man. That couch worked some magic on my spine."
"Great. So you'll be ready to hit the road."
Marie's head snapped up, "We're leaving today?"
Logan turned back to her, "Not WE...me and John."
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm going with you."
He glanced back at John, "Would you give us a minute?"
The teleporter nodded and stepped out of the front door. As soon as they were alone, Logan gave Marie a stern look, "This isn't your fight."
"No, it's yours...and like it or not, if it involves you, it involves me."
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, "I don't want you anywhere near Stryker. I'm afraid of what he'll do to you."
She stepped forward and took his face in her hands, "I want to be there for you, Logan. You know I can fight. You know I'm strong...and now that I've permanently retained your powers, I'm not nearly as vulnerable as I look."
Logan slowly slid her hands off of his face, "I know you're not vulnerable...but I can't concentrate knowing you might be in danger."
Marie sighed, "You have to admit...you're better off with me, than without me being there. You're walking into the belly of the beast with only one person as back up...and you can't even trust him fully!"
"Fine..."
When Logan retrieved John from outside, they began discussing their plan to penetrate Stryker's new facilities, which was located somewhere in Pennsylvania.
"So...we can drive."
John shook his head, "My contact says you gotta get there by plane."
Marie furrowed her eyebrows, "Your contact? Who the hell is this contact?"
"A mutant who Stryker kept prisoner for a few months at this location. He's a cocky little bastard, but he'll be useful. He's apparently got us access to a plane to get there."
Marie looked down at the piece of paper John had started to draw the facility on, "How heavily guarded is this place?"
"Bout the same as what you would expect from Stryker." John turned his attention to his drawing, "Now, we enter here...the lower floor is where he keeps his prisoners, but the upstairs area is where he performs his experiments, so Victor is probably in there. We'll probably have a few guards to take out, but it's unlikely that we'll encounter a bunch of them outside of the facility."
Marie set breakfast on the table, "Fine. Eat up gentlemen. I'm gonna go get dressed."
By dusk the next day, they were pulling up to an air strip outside of New Jersey to meet their contact.
When they pulled up, John led them to a young, handsome man who couldn't have been older than 20. He leaned against a small, slightly beat up private plane, smirking at Marie as she walked toward him with Logan, who immediately noticed the lascivious way the guy was eyeing her.
The young man pushed himself off the plane, "Hey there Johnny...these ya friends you were tellin' me bout?"
He nodded, "Remy LeBeau...this here is Rogue...and this is the Wolverine, but you can call 'em Marie and Logan."
"Nice to meet ya both...especially the petite belle ya got here."
Logan growled and stepped between Marie and Remy, "Keep your eyeballs in their sockets, swamp rat."
Remy backed up, "No offense intended, friend."
John sighed, "Shall we?"
Despite the fact that Logan practically pissed a circle around Marie, Remy couldn't help but stare at her. From the few, low words she'd murmured, he could tell she had a deliciously thick southern accent. He surmised she was probably from the Mississippi Delta.
He wished he could have the chance to talk to her without that hairy ape hangin' all around her.
They boarded the plane and set off for their destination. Logan, being nervous in the rickety, old plane, held onto Marie's hand so tight, she ended up having to punch him in the arm to make him let go. They landed on a small strip of land on the north end of 3 Mile Island.
As they armed themselves, Remy watched as Logan ran a hand down Marie's cheek and whispered something while looking into her eyes. She nodded, then favored him with a sweet, lingering kiss. After that, he watched them mouth the words, "I love you" to each other.
"Alright LeBeau. We're gonna make this quick. Keep the engine runnin'."
He nodded and watched as they walked away.
Within minutes, Marie, John and Logan had silently disposed of the handful of guards who were guarding the back entrance they used to breech the facility. They crept upstairs, where Logan used his claws to discretely kill a couple more guards.
They entered a room that looked like an infirmary, but it was lined with odd looking contraptions that looked like refrigerators with clear doors.
Upon closer inspection, they could see various mutants seemingly frozen in time inside of the odd devices. Marie quickly called Logan over when she spotted Victor, frozen and suspended inside of the case.
Logan and John rushed over, "Oh shit...Vic...what has he done to you?"
Marie examined the refrigerator, "There's a release switch, but I think if I hit it, it'll turn off his life support systems and he could die before we can get him out."
"Shouldn't his healing factor take care of that?" asked the teleporter.
She shook her head, "Keeping him frozen probably temporarily deactivates his mutation...just like it stalls all of his other bodily functions."
They all continued to examine the release mechanisms until a voice suddenly broke them out of their concentration, "I was wondering when I would see you two back here again."
John, Marie and Logan spun around to see Stryker enter with Agent Zero at his side, holding a shiney gun.
"You two seem to have turned into quite the little couple. I'd like to think I had a hand in that."
Logan growled as his claws slowly exited his knuckles in preparation for a fight, "Let him out."
"Are you sure you want me to that, old friend? I'm afraid you'll find Victor to be far less...tame than he once was..."
"What did you do to him!"
Stryker suddenly yelled, "I got rid of the facade and made him what he really was! What you all are! Animals!"
Wraith suddenly teleported, distracting Stryker and Zero just long enough for Marie to pull her gun and start shooting as she and Logan sought cover. John managed to knock Agent Zero's gun out of his hand and engage him in a fist fight as Marie continued to exchange gunfire with Stryker, who took cover behind a metal table he overturned.
Unfortunately for John, Agent Zero's hand-to-hand combat skills far outmatched his...even with his teleportation abilities. The sharp shooter gained the upper hand and knocked Wraith out, before grabbing his gun and taking cover with Stryker.
Stryker whispered, "The facility has been compromised. I want you to go get the chopper ready...tell the guards to implement the evacuation plan...we'll have ten minutes before the authorities arrive."
"What are you gonna do?"
Stryker took Zero's shiny gun, "No matter what...I'm gonna make sure she dies and he remembers nothing. One adamantium bullet to Logan's skull should be enough to put him down."
Zero nodded before practically crawling from the room to make his escape.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Logan sighed, "We can't stay hidden behind this table all fucking night..."
As he started to stand up, Marie grabbed his arm and yanked him back down, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"I'm gonna end this...draw him out of his hole..."
She shook her head, "I don't think that's such a good idea."
He kissed her softly, "Trust me baby...be right back."
Marie shook her head, "I have a bad feeling...there's gotta be another way."
"Don't worry about me, darlin'."
Logan jumped up and began charging Stryker, but was met with a barage of gun fire. The hits to the chest, arm and torso didn't slow him down in the least bit, but just before he reached Stryker, a bullet struck him directly between the eyes, making his head snap backwards from the force of the firearm. He quickly fell in a heavy heap on the ground.
Marie shook her head as she watched from her place behind the table, "No...no no...Logan..."
Without thinking, she began running toward him. Stryker fired a single shot that met her in the chest. It hurt more than anything she'd ever felt before, so she dropped to her knees, clutching her bullet wound. She watched Stryker smirk and rush from the room before he had the opportunity to watch her wound heal itself.
She couldn't understand why Logan wasn't waking up...
Leaning down, she brushed a hand over his cheek, "Baby? Can you hear me? Wake up. Please?"
When she got no answer, she feared the worst. Anger welled within her as she stood and ran from the room in hot pursuit of Stryker, who was just reaching his helicopter. There, he found Zero dead with several playing cards lodged in his chest.
Just as he was about to snatch Zero's body out of the pilot's seat and take off, he heard Marie's angry voice scream his name behind him.
He quickly turned around, "Why aren't you dead?"
"Not your business."
Stryker smiled almost maniacally, "You absorbed him again...didn't you? You permanently retained his healing factor? You could probably take on adamantium if you wanted...you'd be the perfect soldier."
Before he could say another word, she fired her last two bullets into his stomach and chest. Shocked, Stryker stumbled backwards slightly before mustering up just enough strength to lift his arm again and take aim. He fired one shot, sending the bullet directly into her forehead.
She fell backwards heavily as the sound of sirens grew closer.
Remy, who had headed toward the building in an effort to locate her after disposing of Agent Zero, returned to find her unconscious mere feet away from Stryker's dead body. He bit his bottom lip and stared at her for a second before picking her up and gently placing her inside of the helicopter.
He climbed into the pilot's seat and took off.
Meanwhile, inside of the building, Logan blinked his eyes open to see a strange man with a nasty bump on his head leaning over him.
"Hey...you OK?"
Logan rubbed his forehead and sat up, "What's my name?"
John gave him a funny look, "Say what?"
"What. Is. My. Name?"
"Your friends call ya Logan...everyone else calls you Wolverine."
Logan furrowed his eyebrows and got to his feet, "Where am I?"
Before John could answer, they both heard sirens, "Look man...we gotta go. Come on."
Logan looked him up and down, "You go ahead...I'll find my own way."
As Logan made his way out of the facility, he couldn't help but feel as though he was missing something...or someone...
Ok...so I know this went by pretty fast, but I thought about it and decided that this just ins't one of those chapters I wanted to expand on. I do hope you liked it and there is PLENTY more to come! This is the end of Part 1. The next chapter will deal with a summary of what happens to them individually over the next few years.
Review please!