A/N:
Chapter 2, up already!
Like I said in chapter 1 (and sorry if I didn't), this story is much shorter than the previous. It's only 9 chapters. I was watching the movie as I watched this and realized, 'Wow, nothing happens in this movie! He finds her, they're found, she gets kidnapped, Kelly dies, and they save the day! That's it!'
So yes, it is going to be a very short lived story. Be not afraid, my readers, for I have already started writing the next! Again, sorry if I didn't mention it, but I'm planning to do a 4-part series covering Origins through X-3: Last Stand.
Regardless of all that, I don't own X-Men.
I slowed the bike to a stop, sniffing the air for any clues. I knew where Logan was last, but that was no reason to believe that he'd stay in one place for very long. If my urge to run was so strong after only fifteen years, his must be insatiable.
I breathed in the scents around me: pine, beer, gasoline, and basic human scents. Then, under that, was the scent of cold beer and cigars that went hand in hand with my old teammate. I narrowed in on that scent, trailing it slowly.
Where the scent was at it's strongest, I looked up to see a city limits sign, proudly stating that I was now in Laughlin City. I glanced around the sign to see a fairly large town, nowhere near the size of the cities that I had been used to.
I followed my nose yet again to the loudest, most crowded bar in the town. I set my bike down, not bothering to lock it up. If it was stolen, I could easily trace it.
I went in, easily ignoring the looks I was getting from more than one individual. I stopped at the bar for a beer before setting out towards the cages. I smirked as the bell rung out and a man was dragged out, bruised and battered.
Still standing proud at the other end of the cage was the man I was looking for. He still had a cigar in one hand and a shot glass in the other.
"Gentlemen," the MC announced to the crowd. "In all my years, I've never seen anything like that. Are you gonna let this man walk away with your money?"
"I'll fight him!" a man's voice rang out from the crowd. The testosterone fueled crowd roared approvingly and the idiot waded out of the sea of people.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our savior!" the MC called into the microphone. Their 'savior' was about six two, white, and obviously proud of his muscles. In a side comment, the MC added, "Whatever you do, don't hit him in the balls."
"You said anything goes," the man protested quietly.
"Anything goes," the MC agreed readily, "but he'll take it personal."
The man didn't seem fazed. The bell rang and he began to jump around before moving forward, aiming a kick at the Wolverine's back. Logan fell back, clearly drunk, and allowed the man to land a punch to his face. The man kicked him below the belt and I winced for him, the pity only growing as he repeated the action.
Thinking he had Logan beat, the man took two steps away, readying himself for the counterstrike. Getting up easily from his spot on the floor, Logan turned and punched the man, meeting the man's fist in midair. The other man's hand didn't stand a chance against the adamantium enforced bones, breaking with a audible crack. Not giving the man time to recover, Logan took a step forward and punched the man solidly across the face, pushing him into the wall of the cage. With a final blow, Logan forced the man to the ground, where he stayed down.
"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's winner and still king of the cage, the Wolverine!"
I bit down my request for a chance in the cage, knowing that everyone in the bar would be opposed to a having a girl in a cage fight.
I settled for talking to Logan after the bar slowed down.
I saw a young girl, younger than I looked, sitting alone at the bar. Hearing the faint growl of her stomach, I slid into the seat beside her. Her eyes looked sunken in slightly and my attention was brought to her questionably slim figure.
"Hey, do you have any food left in this place?" I asked the bartender. He nodded slowly. "Great. Can I get two burgers and a beer?" Sensing a familiar presence close-by, I nodded. "Actually, make that two beers."
"Sure thing, Miss," the bartender said to me in a monotone. He looked sideways at the girl beside me, who was staring at the tip jar. "You want something new, honey? Or are you sticking with water?" he asked pointedly, sliding the tip jar a foot away from her.
Soon enough, my food came.
"Hey," I said quietly to the girl, nudging her elbow. She jumped slightly and I felt myself frown. "I just realized, I'm not really that hungry. Wanna split some of this? I'd really appreciate not having this all go to waste," I said, waving my hand over the food as I slid one of the plates closer to the girl. Her eyes widened slightly before she glanced down.
"No thanks," she said in a quiet voice. I frowned.
"I'm not kidding. It's really too much for me," I protested. I pushed the plate even closer to her until she accepted it.
"Okay, okay," she said, chuckling just a little. Two moments passed before she started eating the food ravenously. I was about to ask her when she had eaten last when my nose was suddenly impacted with the scent of cigars as Logan sat next to me. He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, sliding my unopened beer to him.
"I owed you a drink, remember?" I chuckled.
"I don't actually," he almost growled.
"Oh, just drink the beer, O Mighty Wolverine," I retorted, rolling my eyes at him. "So, what have you been up to?"
"I don't think you can really ask me that," he said, lighting a match as he fiddled with a new cigar. I sighed.
"One of these days, you'll trust me," I sighed, looking towards the television as the man began to report on the upcoming UN Summit on Ellis Island.
"One of these days, you'll give me a reason to," he said nonchalantly. He sat, smoking his cigar and studying the screen, for just a few moments. I felt a new presence behind me and nearly growled.
"You owe me some money," the man from before, the crowd's 'savior', snapped.
"Come on, Stu. Let's not do this," his buddy pleaded.
"No man takes a beating like that without a mark to show for it," he continued. Logan only took another gulp of beer, even as the man came close behind him. "I know what you are," he hissed in Wolverine's ear.
"You lost your money; keep this up and you'll lose something else," Logan threatened calmly. The man turned away for a moment and I heard the metallic sliding of a knife as it was unsheathed.
"Look out!" the girl screamed to Logan. I was a step ahead of her. I grabbed the man's hand, twisting the blade out of his grip as I slammed him into a nearby column with my other hand.
Logan pushed me roughly to the side, his claws extending as he gripped the man. I narrowed my eyes at a new sound- a gun cocking.
"Get out of my bar, freak!" the bartender spat. I growled, my own claws extending. I lashed out, slicing the barrel of the gun into pieces. When the gun was successfully ruined, I snatched my twenty out of the tip jar. No tips for you.
"Leave him," I ordered Wolverine. I glanced back at the girl, smiling apologetically. "Remember, 'Wolverine'? We don't hurt people just because they're assholes."
Logan growled, his central claw extending towards the mans throat. I placed a hand on his forearm, lowering it away from the idiot.
"They aren't worth it," I pressed. Reluctantly, his claws receded. I moved my hand to his shoulder, pushing him out of the bar. Before leaving, I glared at the bartender. "I wouldn't claw you for being human, and you aim a gun at us for being mutants? Thank you for proving us right."
"Don't follow me."
"Too late."
"Go away."
"No likely."
"Shut the hell up."
"Pull the hell over," I countered, getting tired of shouting to Logan through his window. I was riding alongside his RV, bored out of my mind. I didn't feel like heading back to the mansion just yet but I couldn't think of anything to do.
After a moment of silence, we both heard a distinct thud. Glancing towards Logan, I held my hands up momentarily.
"I didn't do it," I defended. Exhaling, he pulled over to investigate.
He walked around to the back of his RV, to the platform his motorcycle was resting on. Glancing into the flatbed, he poked a mass of blankets before pulling them away, revealing the girl from the bar.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked impatiently.
"I'm sorry. I needed a ride. Thought you might help me," she said, her Southern accent sounding in my ears.
"Get out," Logan deadpanned.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"I don't know," Logan said, staring straight ahead.
"Don't know, or don't care?" the girl asked boldly.
"Pick one," he said, irritated.
"I saved your life," she called as he walked around to the front of the RV.
"No you didn't," he responded, getting in and slamming the door behind him. She glanced at me helplessly.
"Just wait a moment. He'll drive off for a bit, then wait. I know him; he's actually a nice guy under all the crap," I smiled. "Oh, I'm Raven, by the way."
"I'm-"
She didn't finished her sentence. Just as I predicted, the RV stopped just before the next bend in the road.
"Well, come on, out of the cold, eh?" I smiled before wincing. Damn Canadians… It's rubbing off on me…
"You don't have anything to eat, do you?" the girl asked, now sitting in the front seat of the RV. I was right behind Logan's seat, leaning against the wall of the RV with my legs extended into the aisle.
Logan reached over, opening the glove box, and pulled out a package of beef jerky. The girl pulled her gloves off her hands before opening the package unsteadily. Without hesitation, she began to stuff the jerky into her mouth as quickly as possible. Logan looked over at her, bemused.
"I'm Rogue," she said after she was no longer ravenous. "Where you in the army?" Rogue asked, studying Logan. I glanced over, guessing that Logan still wore his dog tags. "Doesn't that mean you were in the army?"
"Not all the time," I said, hearing the clink as Logan hid his tags underneath his shirt. When Rogue looked at me, I pulled out my own tags. "I worked with a part of the government, yes, but I wasn't in the army."
Distracted, Rogue looked around the RV. In all honesty, it was a mess.
"Wow," she murmured.
"What?"
"Suddenly my life doesn't look that bad," she said, almost to herself.
"Hey, if you prefer the road-" Logan began heatedly.
"No! No- it looks great… Looks cozy," she said, again quietly, before placing more jerky in her mouth, probably trying to guarantee that she wouldn't say something stupid and get kicked out.
Glancing at her as she rubbed her hands together, Logan flipped a switch on the dashboard.
"Put your hands on the heater," he said, reaching over to her. To my surprise, and evidently Logan's, she jumped back from his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you, kid."
Aha, the old 'kid' again. I've missed that…
"It's nothing personal… It's just that when people touch my skin, something happens."
"What?" Logan asked bluntly.
"I don't know," she said, shaking as she put her gloves back on. "They just get hurt."
"Fair enough," Logan said, letting it go. I stretched, standing up and leaning over Rogue's chair. I kept away for her benefit more than mine, knowing that she'd prefer her distance.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, staring at my hand on the back of her seat. "When they come out, I mean."
"Not anymore. This wasn't the mutation I was born with. When I was twenty five, I was taken in for experimentation. A man, a colonel in the army, took another mutant's DNA and grafted it onto my own. That's how I got my tags."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. I shrugged, smiling.
"It's alright. I knew what I was getting into. I had to help a friend- well, more like a brother- get out of the major's grip. It worked out okay but I've had the claws to show for it ever since."
"What-" She bit her lip but I smiled encouragingly.
"What is it? Don't worry about offending me. I'm not ashamed of my past, even if I'm not always proud of it."
"What was your mutation?"
"Ah, that." I sighed. "My mutation was more gradual than others', but also more complex. I developed feral senses and strength when I was fourteen. Telepathy grew in when I was sixteen, and I noticed telekinesis when I was seventeen. I've had a healing factor all my life, but it got a boost when I got my claws."
"So what kind of a name is Rogue?" Logan asked after a long pause.
"I don't know. What kind of a name is Wolverine? Or Raven?" she shot back at him.
"My name's Logan," he said after a pause.
"Korena Re Grayson, at your services," I smiled. "Most people call me Re, though. Only James called me Kori."
"James?" Rogue asked, confused.
"He was my older brother," I answered. "What about you?"
"Marie," she said after a pause. She glanced towards Logan. "You know, you should wear your seat belt."
"Listen kid, I don't need advice on auto safety from a-"
"This is gonna hurt like hell," I groaned, watching the tree fall in slow motion. I braced myself for the inevitable impact that would send me flying through the windshield.
Crash!
Like predicted, both myself and Logan went flying forwards. Logan went all the way out of the vehicle; I was stopped by his chair.
"Damn, that hurt!" I winced, setting my broken arm. Marie looked at me, panicked and in a daze, but I only smiled. "Relax, we're both okay. It takes a hell of a lot to kill either of us."
Marie nodded, still dazed, and turned forward, staring at Logan as he climbed to his feet unsteadily. After a pause, her adrenaline diminished and she began to struggle, realizing that her legs were pinned.
"Are you alright?" Logan asked. I glanced up. He was healing a pretty nasty head wound, so bad you could see a glint of adamantium where all of his flesh had been peeled away. "Kid, are you alright?" he repeated.
"I'm stuck!" she shouted finally. I tested my legs before walking towards her. I extended just a single claw, just as a new scent hit my nose. I cursed.
"Logan! It's Victor!" I warned, drawing closer to Marie. Worst comes to worst, I could shield her with myself. Logan's claws extended as he frozen, his eyes darting between the trees.
Just as Marie relaxed slightly, a roar came out from the greenery and the elder Howlett came crashing through. He looked, in all honesty, terrible. He was nothing like the calm, calculating, and disturbing man I had known for so much of my life. He had given himself to his feral, losing himself in the process.
"Let's get you out of here," I murmured, slicing the safety belt open and peeling the dashboard off of Marie's legs.
"But what about-"
"He's been trained for this, even if he doesn't remember it. You, on the other hand, aren't facing very good odds," I said simply, lifting her into my arms. I turned, only to be met by a spreading fire. "Great."
I kicked the side of the RV, praying the metal would break easily, but to no avail. Hissing, I shifted Marie's weight to my left arm, slicing the metal open with my right claws. I was about to move when my mind brushed against Victor's against my will. I saw images of the same person, over and over again. But it wasn't Logan's face I saw.
Damn, I have to get her out of here!
I kicked the door I had made and jumped into the forest. I was about to make a break for it when I felt two very familiar presences.
Scott! Ororo!
Without hesitation, Scott fired his laser at the man who used to be Victor Creed. The feral jumped away from the shot and into the trees, now running away from the odds. I walked towards Ororo, still holding Marie, as Scott pulled Logan off of the hood of the RV before it exploded, the propane catching.
"Wow, that was close," I grinned at Scott and Ororo. Ororo shook her head, studying Marie. I glanced down to see the girl's face, only now noticing that she was definitely passed out.
"Where's the jet?"
A/N:
Soo... how'd you like it?
Leave me a review- they make me happy ^-^ And happy authors update twice as often as unhappy ones. Actually, it's prob a lot higher than that, but let's go with twice as many.
^.^ Susie ^.^