Here's a short chapter to get me back into the story! And we finally meet the Junior team! Sorry about the long wait guys. Hope you enjoy!
As always, I don't own anything. And I didn't even reread this one. My bad...
Marie was nervous. It was stupid, the sharp ache in her stomach and the need to vomit simply from anxiety. Her skin felt tight, tingled, and she had the urge to grab anyone around her, to make them weak while she grew stronger. The urge disgusted and terrified her. She reminded herself of the last time she'd held Logan too long, almost losing herself to instincts she didn't understand. The rush of strength, of ferocity had been welcome to her almost timid nature. But the confusing mix of scents, of hearing the quietest noise as if they were exploding in her ears, the taste of fear, excitement, arousal. She wondered how Logan withstood the onslaught. The feeling to slip her gloves off lasted only minutes, minutes of keeping her hands clenched tight, and she was grateful when it abated.
Logan came to her room bright and early, well before six. She had already been awake for more than an hour, so she was out of bed in an instant, throwing herself into Logan's arms. He grunted at her exuberant hug, his hand raising to stroke her hair as she burrowed closer. He was warm, solid and familiar. She didn't need her skin's protection when he was near. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he would protect her, no matter what. Hadn't the incident with the Brotherhood proved that already?
"Morning, M'rie."
"Good Morning, Logan." She tilted her face up for a kiss. The kiss was anything but chaste, Marie only pulling away when she felt the weakness affecting Logan. "Sorry." she murmured, but with less guilt than she thought she'd feel.
Logan smiled, pressing his lips against her temple despite his weakness. "S'alright. Nothing I can't handle."
They tried breakfast in the dining hall again. The silence that descended on the room at their arrival was disconcerting but Marie held her head high, attempting a confident stride to their table. This time no one approached when Logan left her to get them food. She almost expected him to demand she stay by his side.
She surveyed the room beneath lowered lashes. She spotted Bobby Drake, his eyes on her like some besotted puppy. At his table were an assortment of the people Marie had been meant to meet earlier. The girl in yellow, a boy with a sneer on his face. Another girl who seemed more intent on glaring at her than anything else. The Junior team, as they were called. And a group that she was certain Xavier wanted her to befriend. They didn't seem like a bad sort, but they'd obviously set themselves apart. The other kids, most a few years younger watched them with a sort of awe. Surreptitious glances thrown their way as they ate. It was clear they were adored, but why? Because they wore special suits? Because they had code names? She needed to know more.
Logan ate as he always did, wolfing his food down as if this meal was his last. Marie grinned as he stared at her with a full mouth and an eyebrow raised in query.
"Rwad?" He swallowed and tried again. "What?"
Crude he might be, but he was hers. "You must be hungry."
He nodded before stuffing his face again. She wondered if his appetite had anything to do with his healing factor.
He finished three platefuls to her one, and just as they finished, they were once again called to the professor's office. Logan rolled his eyes but got up from the table and grabbed their plates. Marie followed him out of the room, not before noticing that the Junior team were watching her with open curiosity.
"Ah, Logan, Rogue. We've been putting this off far too long already. Rogue, are you ready to meet the Junior team? Most, if not all, will be in any classes you choose to take."
Rogue grimaced but nodded. Logan was staring at Xavier with narrowed eyes.
"Please, if you would Logan, lead the way to the danger room."
The walk to the lower levels was quiet, but Logan wrapped his arm around Marie's waist, Xavier trailing behind in his wheelchair.
Once again she felt her stomach tighten into a knot. She'd already met Bobby, and to an extent, Jubilee. There weren't many on the junior team, not as many as the senior team. She liked the senior team, despite their short meeting. The junior team would be no different, she assured herself.
When they entered the danger room, Marie finally realized how big it was. As secret training facilities went, it was pretty impressive. The junior team faced them, wearing their leather gear with the red 'x' emblazoned on the right side of their chest. There was Bobby and Jubilee as well as two others she hadn't met yet. Bobby smiled briefly, his gaze falling somewhere to the ground at Logan's low growl. Gum popped from Jubilee's mouth as she nodded her head in greeting. The other girl watched Rogue with almost open animosity that confused her. The last boy watched her with a lazy smirk, his stance arrogant. He looked like he could care less about a new member.
The professor's chair wheeled around Logan and Marie, and the small group straightened to attention, except for perhaps the arrogant boy.
"It's good to see you." Xavier smiled widely at the teens and they gave a collective greeting in return. "As you're all aware, we have a new resident of the mansion. Junior team, this is Rogue. Rogue the members of the junior team." He pointed them out as he listed their names. "Robert Drake, Jubilation Lee, Katherine Pryde, and Saint-John Allerdyce. Piotr Rasputin, who've you already met, was recently promoted to the Senior team so they are missing a member."
"Hi." Rogue waved weakly.
They stared at her as if she were an alien, reactions to her presence mixed.
"Logan, I think it would be best if we left Rogue alone to get acquainted with her classmates."
Logan scowled. "Why?" He wanted to refuse to leave Rogue with a bunch of teenagers, but he knew that with him standing beside her they would never accept her. Maybe it's better that way, he mused. Mine, agreed Wolverine with a possessive snarl. Ultimately, he understood that he couldn't be selfish, not if it meant helping Marie. She needed friends, even if he didn't like the thought.
"Frankly, Logan. You're intimidating them." The professor smiled at the unvoiced protestations he could hear from the team.
"Yeah, Wolvie. I mean, Bobby almost pissed his pants when you had him pinned to that table." Jubilee snapped another bubble from her mouth, ignoring Bobby's elbow that dug into her side.
"I'll be fine." Marie assured him with a nervous smile. "You can go, Logan." The hand she pressed to his face soothed the perceived rejection. I'll call you if I need you, said her eyes. And he agreed with a jerky nod. If any of these kids hurt her in anyway, he'd gut them. Even if he felt a mild affection for the yellow one.
Xavier followed Logan out and the door closed behind them with a click.
Marie shifted uncomfortably under the studied gazes of the people in front of her. Jubilee seemed to be the only outright friendly face. Bobby still avoided her gaze, perhaps reminded of his earlier humiliation.
"Do you have nicknames?" Marie inquired softly. "I mean, I know your name is Jubilee, and yours is Bobby," she gestured to the two of them. "But do you two go by something else?"
"Kitty." was the terse reply by the brunette.
Saint-John stepped forward, holding his hand out to her. "Everyone just calls me John."
Marie took his hand carefully, letting go after the handshake lasted a second too long. She didn't like the leer that was on the boy's face. "You can call me Rogue."
"So where did Wolvie find you?" Jubilee seemed eager to hear her story. She sat down on the ground, resting her face on her palms. "I'm sure it's one helluva story."
The others seemed to follow Jubilee's lead, sitting on the ground in a half circle. Marie got the ridiculous thought that this was story time in kindergarten, as she stared at four expectant faces. Still, she acquiesced and sat down in front of them with her legs crossed.
"I was in Canada," she began only to be interrupted instantly.
"But you sound like you're from the south." Bobby stated obviously. Jubilee elbowed him angrily and motioned for her to continue.
"I am," Rogue amended. "But I was going to Anchorage. Thought I could find a place to stay there. My parents made me leave when they found out I was a mutant."
They nodded as if they understood. Rogue wondered if they'd ever been kicked out of their homes or disowned. Perhaps they truly did understand, at least a little.
"So I headed north, figured Canada was as good a place as any to get lost in. It was harder than I imagined, traveling from one end of the continent to the next. It wasn't always easy...or safe to be alone. But then I found Logan. And he brought me here." After their run-in with Mystique and the Brotherhood. After she'd hurt him. It was a highly edited version of events, but she would not share her life story with strangers, no matter how friendly they were. And she wasn't sure yet if Kitty even wanted to get to know her. Or if she trusted John enough to be in a room alone with him.
They knew she had left things out. She could tell by Jubilee's pout. They'd been there in the background when she'd been brought in. She wasn't sure how much of her meltdown they'd seen but they were sure to hear that they'd had a run-in with the Brotherhood.
"Sooo..." Kitty began casually, the glint in her eye bellying her apparent disinterest. "Did Logan kill Mystique before or after you two started screwing each other?"
Marie didn't know what came over her. She was snarling and in a second she had the girl pinned to the floor, her hands around her throat. She barely held back from squeezing, taking a deep breath to calm herself before she got to her feet.
She glared at the shaken girl, wiping dust from her sweats. "That's none of your business. Next time, I won't be so lenient." She had the same urge to yank her gloves off, to grab the girl's face with bare hands and drain her until she was staring at the world with lifeless eyes. Where had this darkness come from? Or had it always been there? The dark feelings lasted only a moment, but she needed to appear strong. She refused to appear weak in front of these people.
"You think I'm scared of you?" Kitty sneered. "What are you going to do, call Wolverine to save you?"
Marie smirked. "I guess, you didn't hear what my mutation is." She wiggled her fingers, then slipped one glove off with slow precise movements. It wasn't t the first time she'd had to use her mutation as a threat. But she didn't want the girl's thoughts in her head. So for now, it would remain a simple threat. "I can kill you with a touch."
John smirked, unimpressed with her display. "So can I." He pulled a lighter out of his pocket, a ball of fire erupting in his hand with a flick of the lighter.
Marie laughed, her bravado a mere facade. She didn't want to touch them, any of them. The thought filled her with fearful revulsion. "Sugar, you better put that away. Unless you want me to take it from you." The other glove came off, and even Jubilee was looking at her hands apprehensively after her words. "I don't just kill with a touch, I can take the mutation you seem to hold so dear away from you...permanently."
All four of them stepped back with horror-filled eyes. "I don't believe you." John muttered, but the flame disappeared as quick as it had emerged.
"Believe it." Logan appeared by her side with a smirk. "Rogue almost died 'cause of the Brotherhood. It only took a touch to heal her. Damn good thing." Logan nuzzled Marie's ear, nipping her affectionately. "Hey darlin'. You playing nice with the other kids?"
Marie shrugged, relief filling her now that Logan was with her again. "They're okay."
A person cleared their throat behind them and they both turned towards the professor, who was wearing a concerned expression.
"She tried to kill me!" Kitty ran forward, tears appearing out of nowhere as she knelt by the professor. " She said she could kill us with a touch!"
The professor raised an eyebrow at Rogue, his lips down-turned in a frown. "Is that true, Rogue?"
She started it seemed too childish. And she didn't need to defend her actions. It was one thing she'd learned from Logan. So she simply nodded "She insulted me. I was just showing her she couldn't get away with it. I didn't actually want to touch her." Her face twisted in distaste.
"Hmm..." The professor seemed concerned with her answer, probably rethinking introducing her to the junior team. Not all of them seemed that bad though.
"Kitty was provoking her." Jubilee admitted reluctantly. Kitty shot the girl a betrayed expression. "But that didn't mean Roguey had to get all scary. Girl's got a backbone, I'll give her that."
"Thanks?" Rogue wasn't sure if Jubilee was on her side or Kitty's. Whatever the case, she seemed honest enough.
The professor didn't seem satisfied with the answer but he nodded curtly. "Logan, Rogue, I'd like to see you in my office if I could? Katherine, I'd like to see you sometime before dinner as well."
With that, the man wheeled around and left the room, leaving behind a disgruntled Logan.
"Who does Chuck think he is, ordering us around like that? I'm not a fucking dog."
"Logan!" Marie began with an exasperated sigh. The four teens were staring at him with wide eyes, looking as if they weren't sure if they needed to protect their beloved professor. "Let's just go see what he wants, okay? Then we can spend a quiet night in, watching some preseason hockey. Without murdering him." She clarified for the naive junior team. They still didn't look reassured. So she rolled her eyes.
The suggestion caused a grin to cross Logan's face. And to be honest, Marie had no idea where the idea had come from. She'd never been interested in sports in her life, and especially not hockey. With mild winters, hockey wasn't exactly big in the south.
"Sounds good." Logan led the way out of the danger room, without a backward glance.
Well, that wasn't exactly the friendly meet-and-greet I had planned...Whoo. Not really sure where Darker Marie came from...and Kitty's kind of a bitch, but I swear that's going to change. I actually adore Kitty Pryde in the comics and Ellen Page (the actress that plays her in the movies), but I don't like Kitty Pryde in the movies. Maybe you can't tell, but Jubilee and Rogue will be friends. It's inevitable. I added her to my version of events simply because the Junior team is tiny. I could have made Piotr (Colossus) a part of the team but I wanted to follow the comic background just a little. (ie, the romance between Kitty and Piotr) and unless I wanted Kitty to be too young to fight, Piotr had too become older. 20, to be precise. Kitty is the youngest, at 16, whereas Jubilee, Saint-John and Bobby are all 17. Okay?
Thanks for reading!
P.S. I got rid of Marie's accent. I mean, it's still there, just imagine it. I had complaints that it was annoying so the reader's wish is my command... :)