Fighting was in Logan’s blood just as much as his mutation was. He couldn’t get away from it even if he wanted to. And as much as the X-Men tried to make him play nice there were times when they knew to let him go and do what he did best. He got his hands dirty on more than one occasion, and for the first time he found other do-gooders that weren’t afraid to do the same. Sometimes things had to get messy before any sort of solution could come about, and sometimes blood had to be spilled. Lives lost. Logan wasn’t afraid to be the one to do the taking.
Logan didn’t really need to train to keep his claws sharp, but dammit all if it didn’t feel good. He craned his neck from side-to-side, and grinned when he saw someone had decided to join him for a friendly spar.
“Was starting to think people had chickened out,” he said with a grin.
Valkyrie’s blood also had fighting in it (along with a lot of alcohol), although these days she wanted to beat and get beaten so as to drown out her mind more than anything else. Obviously there was no invitation of the like that went declined. She sauntered up to the new one, Logan, with precious little armor because who cared. His colloquialism made one eyebrow raise in Valkyrie’s face.
“I don’t know what that means, but I’d rather keep from turning into a chicken for any reason.” She pushed her long braids back over her shoulder and pounded her fists together as if to signal preparedness. “Ready? You said not to hold back but I must warn you, you’d better have some enhancements if you’re of Midgard otherwise it’s going to hurt.”
As usual, Valkyrie did not wait for a reply before throwing the first punch.
Her reply made him chuckle. He knew that this place had people from all over the multiverse, and this woman was one of those. Maybe he’d explain it to her, but before he could offer she was already throwing a punch. Logan had felt the air pressure from the movement before he saw it, and had dodged in time, her fist sliding by his cheek. He leapt backward a good distance, much more than a normal human could, and grinned at her.
“Yeah, guess you could call ‘em enhancements.” He didn’t elaborate on what kind at the moment, and instead followed up with a quick lunge forward and a punch aimed for her gut.
Oh, there was nothing more frustrating yet somehow also motivating than a punch that failed to connect. Valkyrie’s smirk changed into one of approval at the mention of enhancements, though she did wonder just to what extent he was enhanced. Of course she did. He was grinning at her like some kind of feral beast what else could she do?
“You look a bit like a giant wolf I almost killed once.” It had been a group effort in the end but she’d given it an advance. Valkyrie edged sideways to avoid the punch and elbowed Logan’s arm down and away from her. She then tried to punch him again with her other arm. “It was large enough to ride too.”
There it was, likening him to an animal. It was typical, and Logan was used to it. He couldn’t deny that he looked like a beast (no more than Beast, however), and that his feral instincts took over from time-to-time. It was helpful in battle, and given time it might come out in this friendly spar.
Her second punch landed squarely in his chest, and it forced him back but not much. Her remark gave him pause. Not discernable to anyone but himself, but he definitely caught the hint and he smirked at her as he rubbed his chest. “You make a habit of riding wild animals?” He arched a brow in her direction, and tilted his head just a little. “It can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
But Logan had a feeling Valkyrie knew exactly what she was doing, and the idea was thrilling. He ran forward to charge her head on, but before he reached her he strafed to the right and moved behind her. He reached for an arm, and was going to pin it behind her back for no other reason than to have an excuse to get just a little bit closer to her.
“But I do.” Valkyrie retorted, still smirking. After all her punch had connected, finally. And he was riding to her banter, which obviously meant she knew what she was doing in more ways than one.
It was easy to see what Logan's play was going to be, and it was up to her to decide whether she'd let him pin her or not. She tried for not, rotating at the same time as he did to see if she could maintain her arm in front of her body rather than behind it. It was a little bit like dancing, she noticed. And he had a stronger grip then she would credit a human with. “So what's your flavor of enhancement then? Voluntary experiment, involuntary study, genetic exception, accident…?”
He half expected her to turn around, and when she did he changed his momentum forward and began to push her toward the wall behind her. He had to admit that she was an impressive fighter, and he hadn’t been up against anyone that could keep up with him in a spar (without using their powers, that is).
Logan was mostly over what had been done to him by the Weapon X program, but there were times when the memory of it brought forth even more anger. He growled lowly under his breath, and smirked at her. “What? Surprised that I can keep up with ya?” With another burst of speed he pushed her fully against the wall, his hand tight around her arm as he pinned it against her body. “I’m a mutant,” he said to her. “Got a healing factor, and these.” He released his claws from one hand slowly then, the wounds created from their exit were healing as quickly as they were made. Blood seeped down his hand and forearm.
“Not the metal though,” he said as he jumped back from her. “That came after.”
Impressed as she was annoyed by his anticipation of her movements, Valkyrie huffed at his question, but was pushed against the wall with a grunt (followed by a chuckle) before she could answer. “Why would I be surprised? A lot of people can do so here.”
She still had one free hand and was about to attempt to use it in order to break his grasp of her, but Logan’s summarization of his powers gave her pause. Especially the claws that cut through the flesh of his hands like razors. Valkyrie’s brow furrowed into a little knot as she watched the blood run down his arm. “So the healing is so the claws don’t do you in. If the metal came after, that is your bones. Your claws.”
As he jumped back Valkyrie pushed off the wall with momentum and hurled into him, intent on knocking him onto his back. Her next sentence was punctuated by grunts of force. “How’d the metal come into it?”
“The healing is all over, not just for the claws. Means I can go on for hours in a fight.” Or whatever else he might need to expend hours of energy on. He imagined Val had ideas if the way she was looking at him was any indication. Logan slid the claws back into his forearms, and moved his wrist around a bit. “The claws were bone originally. But some government types got their hands on me. Injected liquid adamantium into my body. Made me more of a weapon than I already was, and I killed them for it.”
It was funny how the events in his original timeline that gave him the adamantium didn’t change when he went back in time. Not by a whole lot according to the Professor. He guessed some things were just meant to be, if he believed in that destiny bullshit.
“What’s your story, if you ain’t a mutant.”
“Only in a fight?” Valkyrie questioned, eyebrow raised. She wasn’t above going for low hanging fruit, and these little jokes were much of her collective amusement these days. Being ‘awake’ was a drag. She tilted her head as Logan explained about the government fucks who had changed him. She did not ask, but assumed adamantium was some sort of metal. A strong kind of metal, stronger than most in Midgard. “Good riddance.”
Her story, he asked. Valkyrie looked suddenly very tired, but only for a second before her regular expression returned. “What, the name didn’t clue you in?” She sighed. Apart from the subject, conversations between blows were quite enjoyable, she had decided. “Long and sad. I used to be from Asgard. You Midgardians seemed to think we were gods or something.”
“Not just in a fight, darling. I could show ya, if you’re interested.” And dammit all if Logan himself wasn’t interested. It had been a long while since he was with a woman, and he was never above being physical with someone just for the hell of it. Love made it better, and he was a bit of a romantic in that vein, but it wasn’t necessary.
“Heh, and here I thought maybe your parents were hippies that wanted to name their kid something unique. I’ve read about the Valkyrie in Norse mythology, though. Never thought it was real.”
But she was real, and her blows were heavy. And Logan decided they had spent enough time yapping their gums before he smirked at her, and raised a hand, palm up in order to use his fingers to call her over. “Come on then,” he said. “We ain’t done yet.”
“If you get out of here alive.” Valkyrie teased, smirking again. She needed something like this to set her to rights, having been too tangled into her own shortcomings and demons and nightmares lately. Whatever this turned out to be - just sparring or a whole multidmensional thing that lasted for hours - was going to be good for her. “Dunno what’s a hippie, but whatever you heard is only about thirty percent real, but it’s real.”
She grinned at his call and lunged forward with a roundhouse kick.
Logan dodged her kick, and countered by dropping low to try to sweep her leg out from under her. He rolled away, and steadied himself on all fours before he stood up. Logan took the offensive route this time, and aiming punches at her face strategically, missing each one on purpose before he aimed a strong uppercut into her gut.
“Survival is kind of my thing,” he said to her when he jumped backward. “Haven’t been killed in nearly two-hundred years, don’t plan on dying here just as a war is supposed to be starting.”
Because Logan never ran away from a fight. Ever.
Valkyrie did not avoid the leg sweeping but she did recover with a strategic fall-and-bounce. The gut punch also connected - but Valkyrie had nothing if not a strong gut, so while she definitely made a sound it didn’t stagger her as much as it might do a normal human, or even an Asgardian whose gut had been put through much less than hers. She ran at him when Logan jumped backwards, slowing as she got close enough to hook her legs around his neck and bend him down to fall to the side. Valkyrie rolled away with the fall and came up with one knee on Logan’s chest, the other on his arm.
“Aww, you’re so young.” She quipped, slapping his cheek with teasing fondness.
He grinned up at her even as she patted his cheek. “I get the feeling you like being on top,” he said. The sexual tension was thick in the air, but both warriors had an urge to fight that was being satiated with this friendly spar.
“It ain’t often I’m the youngest person in a room,” he said to her. “But I gotta say, you look damn good for whatever age you are.”
His muscles loosened underneath her, and he had (for the moment) given up trying to fight or even get away from her. She was stronger and more experienced than he was, gifted by whatever powered mythical gods of legend, but it didn’t bother him. He enjoyed it, and the truth was that it made him push himself harder.
“So… you wanna let me take you out for a drink or something?”
Valkyrie only laughed at Logan’s very correct assessment that on top was her favorite place to be at all times. “Lost count.” She replied regarding her age, scrunching up her nose. “You don’t look as decrepit as you might’ve, either.”
It was surprising to feel him give in beneath her; he didn’t seem the type to do that for all the gold in existence. But Valkyrie took it as a win for the moment, and that made her feel better about everything currently clouding her mind. Not that her mind wasn’t usually clouded, just in lot more fun ways. His question made her snicker.
“Do I want to let you? Odd way of puttin’ it don’t you think? I’ll be drinking either way, you want to be nearby and foot the bill, I’m not going to chase you off.” That said, Valkyrie moved off of Logan to allow him to get up or roll away or maybe try for a surprise strike. Whatever he fancied really.
“Not really,” he answered as he jumped to him feet. Despite his size and muscle mass he was surprisingly limber and agile. “Some people ain’t interested in company, and I can respect that.” Still, he did want to get to know her better. Learn more about where she was from and the like. Casual conversation wasn’t something Logan was very good at himself, but he could listen to other people talk.
“Guess we’re drinking together, then,” he said with a smirk. “Don’t mind footing the bill at all.” He moved over to grab his flannel, and slipped it on easily. He left it open in the front, and pulled a cigar from the pocket. “Ready whenever you are.”
“‘S what I like to hear.” Valkyrie replied with a smirk, bounding off to the nearest watering hole with only a little bit of consideration for whether Logan was keeping up or not.