Hello everyone! So sorry for another delay, but there's a perfectly good explanation for this. See, the person I wanted to kidnap just kidnapped me a while back and i've been rather busy :D I'm not suffering from writer's block, oh noes. In fact, I have started another story and another oneshot while trying to get this moving. But I won't publish anything until I am done with this, which shouldn't take that much longer, in terms of chapters.
And now to all the beautiful people who commented on the last two chapters:
OceanFae who felt sorry for the table :P, Dragongirl of the Stars and cherish15 who are members of the drunk Rogue fan club^^, Comic-cake who keeps making me happy by quoting her favorite lines (and this site does screw up on the alerts sometimes), hobbitsdoitbetter we share that funnybone but maybe that's because of my heritage too-and I might just go through with the hair thing LOL, writer23 and I hope you enjoyed the absence of drunkness in the past two chapters^^, 3togetready I hope the danger room sparring lives up to your expectations (at least a little ;) ), Glykera I have to admit that I liked Chuck in this though I'd say Logan must be projecting pretty loud with his feralness and all, 1sweetmoment I hope the other chapters can live up to the last then^^, ShaShocking thank you for the compliments you made me blush, serena001 I feel proud for keeping you from your homework and I hope your not so upset now that I've updated, and JohnPaulGeorgeandRingo-good to see you haven't been arrested yet, we should definitely wotk on that as soon as you get back to full health. Until then I'll be wearing the crown watching videos. Cheers!
I still don't own Marvel, disney does. So Disney does own the X-Men too. Can't you just imagine how they would be Disneyfied? Isn't that a terrible thought? Jean walking arpund surrounded by singing birds, Logan having to swap his bike for a white horse, Rogue being reduced to a sad side character with a sad little song and dance number? Yes, I shuddered too.
Anyway, on with the story.
I did my best to proofread but there might be typos. Blame that on me not wanting to sift through betas. I'm lazy that way. And not promising anything, but if you're nice readers I might get something done until Sunday. Got the weekend off, so who knows.
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Popsicle stares at me, mouth gaping and I want to put a propeller hat on him. And a bib, maybe. Could be because I just walked in with Marie-still wearing my shirt, still grinning from ear to ear. Once more I am reminded of the fact that this is a high school, even though none of the mutants present is actually attending it, a few are basically still wearing their graduation robes. Off to the... locker rooms. I can hear the girls muffled voices, that Kitty guffaws and there are a few tentative questions. All nudges and winks and giggles. I turn around to face the men and boys in this room and dare them to make a comment.
They are smarter than they look, they all look away and keep themselves busy trying to get into their combat suits. Nothing looks more ridiculous than a guy trying to put those on. I feel my mood lighten.
In walks the furball, whistling happily and I remember the little dust of blue fur all over Storm. So they still haven't given up on their oh so secret relationship. Funny enough I seem to be the only one seeing the obvious. Well that and I had to hear them a few times. I wince at the memory and try to divert my attention.
"Good morning Logan. Had a pleasant night?"
With a growl I turn around and walk towards the danger room door. Screw those damn suits, I operate much better in my jeans, thank you very much. It gets distracting during a fight if you wear that tight suit that's too tight in all the wrong places.
The others start to spill out of the dressing rooms and I have to take back what I said about the suits earlier. They are definitely the right outfit for women to wear at any time of day. Or night.
Marie walks out last and unlike the last time I've seen her in one of those things she doesn't look self-conscious at all. Might have something to do with the way her body has changed since then. Okay, those suits should be illegal.
I bet they are in some states. Maybe I should check that. Move back to Canada, I doubt they'd alloow such shenanigans there.
She walks up to me, hands on her hips and smiles.
"I see you refused to wear your suit. Isn't that sweet that they kept ours just in case? What a pity, you're quite the sight in black leather. So, you're still thinking you can beat me old man, huh?"
I'm reduced to growling right now. Suit's too tight. Way too tight.
Storm claps her hands and tries to get everyone's attention, which works for most. I find myself ogling Marie's lower back, admiring the way that leather clings to every curve. Damn it.
"Everyone find yourself a sparring partner to get warmed up."
It's too warm already. And since when do we warm up around here, not when I'm in charge. Marie steps closer to me, giving her friend Kitty a look,obviously that girl had picked her as partner. Well, apparently I'm not in charge right now. The room flickers and we find ourselves in a nice fight scenario, it's dark and we're surrounded by destroyed and half destroyed buildings. The air smells like smoke and ash and adds more realism to it, at least to those who don't realize it smells synthetic.
"Smoke from the can? Nice touch." Marie mumbles and turns around to face me, getting into her fighting stance as she does so. I grin and get into mine, half assed because I want to provoke her and see what she's up to first. She has definitely the upper hand because I don't know how many powers she absorbed and can use, so she will probably fight dirty. I like that.
She starts to dance around me, circling me, jumping from one foot to the other. I block out everything else, concentrating on the sounds her feet and arms make, the way her body moves. Because I refuse to move with her, I stand perfectly still, waiting for her to move in. She starts to get pissed already, I'm a little disappointed. I note a difference in the rhythm she kept and dodge her fist aiming for my neck before I can even feel the air moving. She growls and I grin to myself.
Another swift move and she tries to kick me. Not nice. Especially not in that place.
She's snarling now and I think I am to blame for that. She looks like a little wildcat ready to tear my face off. I don't find that attractive. No.
Well, a little.
All it took was a few seconds of lying to myself, to drop my guard. She sees her chance and takes it, good girl. I find myself tackled and stumbling backwards, not because she is heavy enough to normally do that, but she took me by surprise.
Again, it's the suit's fault.
A well placed pile of rubble does the rest and I fall over backwards, her on top of me. I bang my head on the floor a little but that's definitely not spoiling the fun I'm having right now with Marie half straddling me, half lying on top of me.
"Gotcha!"
She smirks.
I reach up and grab her before turning the situation around. I just wanted to give her a moment of triumph, she seemed to have enjoyed it so much.
"You think so?"
She growls and starts to wriggle underneath me. Maybe not such a great idea. My mind picks that moment to alert me to the presence of others and I hear Storm saying something about moving on to the next phase. So I get up, somewhat reluctantly, and hold out my hand. Marie huffs and gets up without my help, rubbing her back. I can't hold back a grin that seems to infuriate her even more. I had hoped she would use her powers on me, but she didn't.
We gather around Storm who gives us a brief explanation about the next scenario. I realize we just programmed that one yesterday. And she told me we would be using that today. Damn.
We quickly divide in two teams and make our ways through the woods. The goal is to find several hostages and get them out unharmed. I'm still marveling about how quick this happens, no bickering about who goes where, we just split. Both teams have good fighters, trackers and at least one with skills that can defend the whole group. Of course our team has huge advantages, with me being the package deal. Just saying.
"Shh, someone's coming our way."
No kidding. It's Marie's friend again. The one that seemed to be afraid of me the other night and now isn't. Let's call her captain obvious for now. Whoever is plowing their way through the underbrush does not bother to be sneaky about it. I let myself fall back to see how they handle that fella as he breaks through the bushes-well, trees, and stops right in front of us.
"Oh not the dickhead."
I think I like Captain Obvious.
Juggernaut speeds up and before he can ram Tin Man, Captain Obvious grabs a hold of him so the guy runs through both of them. Nice teamwork right there. Instead of focusing on the two of them Juggernaut keeps running around, trying to run over anyone he can. He approaches Marie and I am itching to warn her, but she just... Floats up. Okay, that was unexpected. With a smug grin she moves herself to a comfortable height of ten feet, observing the scene and waiting. Very different from her silly hopping around during sparring, but basically the same. She doesn't waste much time on bullshitting around now.
Juggernaut suddenly flies through the air, spinning and whirling around, colliding with several trees before flying on to a few rocks. He crashes down, the cracking of his spine audible for everyone. Then he blurrs and is gone.
"Well, you got that taken care of."
I nod in appreciation as she descends, content smile on her face. She just killed someone. Yes, he was attacking us and he was just a simulation, but still.
"How about we find some hostages now? Or do you want the others to do all the work? Let's split."
Again without banter, everyone takes off in twos, Marie sticking with me. While we run through the woods, she is keeping up with me without much effort I notice, I am exposed to her scent again. It's still mixed with mine, or again, after our little fight earlier. Now it's mixing with leather and sweat and that is very distracting. Very.
I let my instincts take over enough so they take care of finding intruders and protecting hostages without much thinking, because at some point yesterday my thoughts started to annoy me. But I won't let them control me enough to do what is most present in my mind right now. Use my claws to peel that damn suit off her and see where it goes from there.
Half an hour later everyone is soaked in sweat and ready to crawl out as the room turns back o normal. Everyone but Storm, she never really breaks a sweat. Unless she is rolling around with big blue. Oh there's the nausea again.
After the shower, groups showers are definitely not my thing, especially with hairy blue guys, guys with wings, guys with tin skin or guys that freeze my water. Any guys. Anyway. I head out of the shower and attempt to look for Marie, who is waiting for me in my room. I didn't even have to look foer her because her friend, in between walking through two walls, told me.
She is watching TV, or maybe not watching. It's a music channel and they play some metal song. Long haired gruff looking guys, the singer screams. It's insulting my ears but she seems to like it, kind of.
"The guy I was with when my powers came back was a telecinetic. Apparently strong emotions triggered my mutation back into gear. Unfortunately for him we were just having sex. He recovered from it. Mostly."
She's still staring at the screen, eyes on the music video, and she sounds very distant. I would have expected her to be more emotional, like when she talked about the first time that happened to her.
"I mean, it's not like I killed him. He still can't talk and needs to be fed and washed and clothed, but it could be worse."
I feel my eyes trying to pop out of the sockets.
"After all he was a bastard. He got me out of the strip club and into things that were much worse. After I almost killed him there were several people sending me freaking gift baskets."
"Don't feel bad about it then."
She grins.
"Who said I did."
Whoa. I think I will need some time to figure out what to think about that.
"Can you drive me home now? I have an appointment to keep in an hour and I need clothes that don't smell like greasy diner or you."
Ouch, that hurt. But as before I couldn't find one fiber in my body that could refuse to drive her home. So we board a nice little Camaro, courtesy of Popsicle Boy. He has taste in cars and women I have to say. Not that I bothered to ask if I could drive it, why would I. Besides, riding on my bike with her is something I won't do for a while. Maybe a year or two, with the way she behaved last night.
We arrive at her place, iold lady pulls back the curtains and I get a glimpse at violet hair and a little fuzzy dog. Weird old woman. Marie hugs me and walks back into the building, her mind already somewhere else. I can't help but be a little curious, the bar doesn't open until some time in the afternoon. Maybe she's got a doctor's appointment or something.
While I'm still busy thinking things through, a woman walks by with a little boy on her hand.
"But why can't I live with her again?"
"I told you before Jamie, because she can't take care of you the way she needs to."
"But I don't want to live at the orphanage anymore!"
My heart went out to the little boy, it must be hard for him. Then I stop dead in my tracks and filter the scents of people on the street until I find the boy. He has traces of an all too familiar scent on him. I turn around-just to see him and the woman, who looks like what comes to your head when ou think about social service employee, standing in front of the apartment building Marie lives in. The boy reaches up and pushes the button I know is next to her name.
"I hope I can play a little longer with Mammy today!"
Mammy? As in Mommy? He smells like Marie, he rang her bell and he called her mommy. There isn't much room for interpretation on that.
The kid... has a kid.