Wicked Game

disclaimer: don't own the x-men, just having fun *s*

note: no beta this time either...


********************


With Logan gone, Ororo tried to regain composure and clear her mind of all sorts of horrible images and thoughts concerning Rogue’s whereabouts. She feared for the girl, and more so because her emotional state hadn’t been what it should’ve been. Rogue was too close to the edge, and without her usual strength of mind … Ororo smoothed a hand across her face. She was the one that always stayed calm and collected no matter what – sending poor Sabretooth a thought that she still hadn’t favored him with that scream he probably still longed for. With a warped personality like that anything was possible. If he was still alive. Whatever the brotherhood was up to – she certainly didn’t care much about that unless it came down to hurting other people and especially her friends and colleagues. And they had taken Rogue, again, for whatever purposes this time besides hurting her or worse …

“We have to get Xavier to try and locate Rogue with Cerebro”, Ororo finally said, meeting Scott’s, Jean’s and Kurt’s eyes. They all seemed to wait for her to take the lead. On some level she thought that if she hadn’t let Rogue see Logan … No, mustn’t think like that, she told herself firmly. No. Now get a grip on yourself, Munroe. For Rogue’s sake.

“What about Logan?” Jean said.

Ororo sighed. “Logan? Yes, well I think it’s safe to say that he won’t be happy if we try and stop him.”

“But we have to do something!”

“Jeannie, we will … but we have to find Rogue first, we have to concentrate on her, Logan can take care of himself”, Scott said, gently touching Jean’s shoulder. “Besides, there’s still a possibility that he’s looking in the wrong place, that it’s some kind of evil scheme by Stryker to lure Logan off to somewhere and finish him …” Scott let the words trail off, as the seriousness of what he’d just said dawned on them.

“Well, we cannot know for sure until the professor has located Rogue … then we will know if she’s on her way to Alkali Lake or not”, Ororo said. She didn’t want to think about the Polaroid of Rogue that had been found nailed to the main entrance of the mansion.

“Alkali Lake?” Kurt said and frowned.

”Yes, that’s where we think she’s being taken to,” Ororo explained and handed him the polaroid, “here, look at this and tell me what you make of it all.”

Kurt clasped a hand over his mouth and softly whispered something in German . “No, no … vhat have zey done to her …”

“I know it’s horrifying, but we have to assume she’s still alive … we cannot give up. If she’s in fact at Alkali Lake, then we take the Black Bird and give Logan some backup, but if she’s not then we go after her just as soon as Xavier’s done searching with Cerebro.” Ororo caught Jean’s gaze, then shifted it to Scott’s. He seemed worried, and hadn’t removed his hand from Jean’s shoulder.

“So you still think Magneto’s in on this?” he said slowly.

“Maybe, I mean, I cannot really come up with a reason why Stryker would want to kidnap Rogue”, Ororo said, while waging an internal battle with her conscience on whether to tell the others, or at least Scott, what she knew about Logan and Rogue.

“So they’re working together to get what they want …”, Jean said slowly and shifted her gaze between the other three.

Ororo nodded. “Yes, and that way there doesn’t have to be a reason why Stryker would want Rogue.”

“And maybe he doesn’t even have her at all, maybe the signature on the polaroid is just a fake one …”, Scott added.

“Oh my god … she’s not at Alkali lake at all, is she?” Jean exclaimed and fought to keep her voice down.

“No, I think that’s what Stryker and Magneto would want us to believe, but all Stryker’s really cared about is Wolverine, and now”, Ororo sighed, “now that that son of a bitch seems to be alive, then all the more reason for him to get his revenge on Logan.”

“Wait …”, Scott said while smoothing his chin, “wait … how do we even know that the signature on the Polaroid isn’t’ just that?” He looked intently at Ororo, Kurt and Jean.

“What do you mean?” Ororo said and eyed Scott.

“What if there is no Stryker at all? What if … what if he really is dead? I mean, how do we really know he’s alive? Whose word on that do we have? Jean”, he said and looked at her, “you know more of what happened to Alkali Lake than any of us in this room ...” He left the unsaid question hanging in the air.

Ororo could literary see Jean shiver at the very thought of reminiscing the events at Alkali. She’d come back though ... from the ashes.

Scott grabbed Jean’s shoulders. “There’s no way that he could’ve survived what happened, is there?”

“No … no that would be something short of a miracle … I … no … he couldn’t have survived unless …”

Kurt touched Jean’s arm. “Unless he’s a mutant too”, he said, sounding sort of baffled at the thought.

“But he’s not … we’d now if he was that”, Ororo said. Yes they would definitely know if Stryker was some kind of sick mutant. A sick fuck – that he was, or had been, and the world were better off without him.

“So let’s presume Stryker really did die … that leaves Magneto, and knowing him, he definitely holds a grudge towards Logan, if not only for saving Rogue, but because he hates defeat. He could very well be at Alkali Lake waiting for Logan to fall into his trap”, Ororo finished. This was getting complicated, the matter was delicate in many ways and their time was running out, she knew that.

“Then where does that leave ze girl?” Kurt asked worriedly.

“Well I’d say she’s not one of his favorites either, and probably not Magneto’s main target. Logan said he was fairly sure one of the two female captors that drugged Rogue was Mystique.”

Scott nodded. “Of course … and she’s more than capable of leading her own brotherhood, so she could very well be in charge of what’s gonna happen to Rogue. Magneto seems to trust her enough to let her do something like that”, he said. They all knew Mystique was one of the most dangerous mutants there was, due to her morphing ability.

“So –“, Ororo began when her cell phone rang.

“Yes?”

“She’s not far from here, Storm”, Charles Xavier’s leveled voice said over the phone.

“Where?”

“Up at the cabins.”

“Okay, got it, professor.”

“Storm, I think you have to hurry.”

She hung up and sighed.

“What?” Scott said.

“She’s not at Alkali Lake.” Ororo placed her hands on her hips and chewed her lower lip. Rogue nearby, that was something, but it also made her uneasy, because then she might be very badly hurt, like the professor had implied. It wasn’t their time that was running out, it was Rogue’s.

“So it’s either a setup or … “, Scott reasoned thoughtfully.

“I think it’s safe to say that both Logan and Rogue are in great danger, setup or no setup. Someone’s about to get seriously hurt unless we try and stop them”, Ororo said as she was leading the way to the garage.
“I think we should split up – you,” Scott nodded at Ororo, “and Jean go after Rogue, in case she’s been badly hurt it’s best if Jeannie’s with you. Besides Logan can take care of himself, and it’ll be fun to save his ass once more”, he finished, not able to suppress a grin, as he patted Kurt’s shoulder. “Believe me, it will be fun, man.”

Kurt arched and eyebrow at Scott and flashed his pointy teeth in a most devilish way. “Vell, you’re right, that does sounds like fun”, he said sounding amused.

“Good, then we’re set”; Ororo said. She ignored the comments about Logan, she knew Scott and Kurt would do what needed to be done. “You guys can take the jet.”

“Let me go and get my first aid kit”, Jean said and hurried out of the room.

Ororo found herself staring at nothing, she was stuck in the middle and really hated it. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to drop the bomb on Jean about Logan, but on the other hand … she knew Jean and Scott had spent a lot of time together the past two weeks or so, and ever since that weekend Jean and Logan had spent up at the cabins Ororo had felt something change in their relationship. But if it was Jean or Logan, or the both of them … she felt like cursing. A lot. This day had seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, but now she had to wonder …

“Are you okay, Storm?” Scott touched her arm gently. He seemed worried, but then his features changed and he looked tired instead, his handsome face suddenly appeared to be several years older.

“Yeah, I will be, when all this is over, Scott”, she replied, and gave him a hug.

“You take care of Jeannie now …” He hesitated as if he was about to say something else.

“She’ll be fine, Scott, you know she’s a big girl now …”

“She is … but if something happens to her … or if she won’t break up with Logan …”

Ororo chewed her lip and touched his shoulder. “You won’t okay? But are you sure this is what you want, I mean, maybe you should find someone else … new beginning you know …”

Scott frowned at her, he looked decidedly unhappy with what she’d just said.

“I just cannot see what it is about that … that man, that makes her go running after him whenever his name’s being mentioned … “

“But they are dating, you know that Scott”, Ororo said.

“Yes, don’t you think I know that? I’m just saying I think she should leave him, that he’s not good for her. But how am I supposed to compete with a man that behaves like a ranting animal? That’s just not me, Ro”, he retorted.

“No, you should be who you are, that’s what brought the two of you together in the first place. You and Logan, well you mustn’t compete with each other.”

Scott gave a laugh. “I sure would love to whop his furry ass, he needs to be taught a lesson by someone at some point, and rather sooner than later.”

Ororo looked at Kurt for a moment, motioning him to give her and Scott some privacy.

“Listen, Scott, you won’t have to wait for Jean to break up with him”, she said in a confiding tone.

“What do you mean?” he asked and sounded perplexed.

“Things aren’t what they seem, and hurting or killing Rogue is not only about her alone, it’s also a means to hurt Logan.”

“Nothing new, he’s always acted like an older and overly protective brother to her.”

“But, look, this is different.”

“Different how? Ro, what are you implying?”, he said cautiously.

“I believe he cares more about her than he’s letting on, and since I know Rogue like she’s my own sister … Scott … you know what I mean?” Ororo prompted.

If he hadn’t been wearing shades all the time she would’ve guessed that his eyes had widened at what she’d just hinted at.

“Are you sure? I mean, you’re positively sure, not just saying what I think you’re saying, right?”

“You didn’t notice the silver chain around Logan’s neck, did you?” she said, not trying too hard to state the obvious, just in case Jean decided to re-enter the garage again. She couldn’t tell him the explicit details of what she’d witnessed earlier in Logan’s room, just a little slip of the tongue … and being that Scott and Logan had never gotten along, she knew he’d already gotten the picture clear. Crystal clear, she was sure about that.

“No, not really no …”, he said slowly.

“Well trust me when I say this Scott that if something happens to Rogue and he’s not there to save her, we’ll have one insane and suicidal Wolverine on our hands.”

Scott looked past his shoulder as if checking if someone was eavesdropping on them. “Okay, okay , I get it … but are you absolutely sure? I can’t believe what you’re implying, it’s … it’s … Have you talked to Bobby about you suspicions? And Logan … isn’t he a little too old for Rogue?” Scott said disbelievingly.

“Bobby has always been suspicious of Logan, you know that, and Logan … well, he’s really too old for anyone so I don’t think that actually qualifies as a problem here, no, but that’s not why I think there’s something going on between them”, Ororo said, and tried keeping her voice down to a minimum, somewhat terrified of what could happen if Jean showed up, but more so because she was selling Logan and Rogue out.

“Then what? What? Are you telling me they’ve … slept together? Is that it? That would be … Christ, Ro, you realize what this means?”

“Maybe, I don’t know, but there’s definitely something beyond just friendship between those two. You know she’s had a crush on Logan for a long time, I just didn’t think she was still pining for him that way, especially not since she’s been dating Bobby on and off for some years now.” That was true, she knew about Rogue’s feelings towards Logan, that she’d been infatuated by him in the beginning of their friendship, but as time had gone by Ororo thought that had all changed. Logan had never really showed the girl any interest of that kind so it had been fairly easy to assume that Rogue would forget about him eventually.

“Of course … they are a perfect match, don’t you see? He’s the only one she can touch and not immediately kill, and he can in return save her in case something happens. That way he can also probably slow down her aging, too”, Scott said softly. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Rogue, to face a future without human touch of any kind. It was a horrifying thought to say the least.

“Yes, it does make perfect sense, I agree”, she said, pursed her lips in a thoughtful manner.

“But why now? She’s been living here for several years …”

“Well, that’s more of a mystery to me too … I think he’s always sort of felt something for her, there’s just been too many obstacles in the way, too many things keeping them apart rather than together.”

Scott frowned at her. “Anything in particular, or should I say anyone, you’re thinking of?”

“Scott …”, Ororo said warningly.

“Okay, I won’t go there … it’s just that… he’s no good for her, either”, Scott said reluctantly.

“So, now that I’ve told you what I know, use it Scott. Anyway you like, use it, but be careful and don’t mess Jean or Rogue up, or you’ll be begging for Logan to come and whoop your ass”, she said warningly.

“I’ll try not to screw up, Storm. You go and get Rogue back, okay?” he said and smiled briefly as if he was trying to insure her he had everything under control. Ororo had no idea if she’d done the right thing telling Scott, in any case he and Logan was always a bad combination. Even though they had proved they actually could work together in case of emergencies, this time the rules had somewhat been altered and that made her uneasy. Oh, well, there was nothing to be done about that now.