Long Road Home (the_wolverine) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-07-07 21:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, anna marie (rogue), clarice ferguson (blink), jubilation lee (jubilee), kitty pryde (shadowcat), laura kinney (wolverine), logan howlett (wolverine), neena thurman (domino) |
Think of... Beer. You like Beer. Why didn't we bring any beer with us?
Who: Kitty, Clarice, Domino, Rogue, Logan, Jubilee and Laura
What: Getting our Wolvie back
When: Late evening 7/7/2014
Where: Somewhere in Utah
Status: complete
Ratings/Warnings: Blood, violence, claws
Clarice dropped them alongside a forested road in Utah, fifty miles from the nearest town. Kitty looked around, rolling her shoulders. She glanced at her right wrist, then popped the claw there, opening a hole in her glove. She didn’t even grunt that time. Laura had been right, the pain could be dealt with. Retracting it and testing the triple-clawed gauntlet on her left arm, she turned to the others.
“Okay. A certain someone snuck into Cerebra and located him in this area.” She sounded just a little strained at the subject. “There’s supposed to be a convoy coming up in about ten minutes. That’s probably easier than trying to sniff him out.”
"Though I could sniff him out, if we lose track of him here. Likely, he will either attack us directly when he smells us, or he will run," Laura was wearing pretty casual clothing for this operation. She didn't really have a uniform, and had chosen a pair of black slacks and a black tank top. She poked her claws out of her boots to make sure there was a hole for them, then retracted them, and nodded. She was ready. Logan was her father, but today he was also a threat.
Meanwhile, Dom was checking all three of her guns to make sure they were loaded. She holstered them with a grunt - several ribs were still healing - and then grinned at Kitty, "Hey, cheer up. Mini-Phoenix didn't eat the world so she's probably fine, right? We'll snag Logan and go home so that he can sit in the corner and think about what he's done, then you can scream at her."
Rogue was still figuring out why she got invited along, not that she was complaining. She had been itching to be helpful. The OC had given her a pretty green uniform to wear, and it was more comfortable than her thieving clothes. She rolled her neck lightly. “Either way.” she shrugged. “Worse comes to worse ah just get a hand on him.” she’d rather not, of course but last resort, she was willing.
Kitty shrugged. Rachel had seemed okay but she’d all but ordered Moira to strap the red-head to the bed while they were gone. Heavily suggested, maybe. She nodded at Laura. “Hope it won’t come to that. I’d rather he attack us than run, we can port him into lockup after Rogue knocks his ass out.”
“You mean I can,” Clarice said, rolling her eyes. “Did I ever tell you the time the timekeepers decided to send hundreds of wolverines on missions? That didn’t end well.”
"We mean we, because there is no I in team," Laura corrected, with a smirk, "And I hope that you created a lockup that he cannot cut through."
As for sending a bunch of Logans together on a mission, Laura only shook her head. But Domino laughed. She laughed so hard that she winced while she did it, "Oh man... A bunch of Wolverines on a mission together?! Who the hell thought that was a good idea? They probably all argued about who was going to be the boss of them, or the right way to proceed, then popped claws on each other and got into a gigantic fight."
Rogue snickered a bit at the thought. “Ah man, ah think ah’d pay to see that fight” she grinned a bit, multiple wolverines in one area. That was just a next morning story waiting to be heard. She ran her hand through her hair. “Ah’m sure there musta been one wondering where the beer was.” laughter made everything easier, right?
"He's supposed to be the best at what he does, but what he doesn't do is work well together," Kitty joked, grinning. Somewhere in the distance motors started to approach. "Okay guys. Showtime."
Clarice flashed them into the forest down wind of the convoy - and hopefully downwind of Logan.
It was a little ironic, the fact that Logan didn't work well together. Considering how many teams he was on. And how many of them he'd lead, too. Laura wondered how X-force would have gone with someone else at the helm, sometimes. But she couldn't imagine anyone else really leading that team.
She crouched down closer to the ground when they landed, and sniffed the air, "Another weapons convoy. Explosives. And there are at least twenty contacts."
Mostly likely though, Logan and his claws would take care of the contact that were on the convoy. Domino took cover behind a tree and then leaned against it, "Are we protecting those people or just waiting for all hell to break loose? I'm personally ambivalent."
Rogue liked a more bird’s eye view, plus it gave her a bit more flexibility with her movements, so she clambered up into the tree, balancing neatly on her toes. “Ah’m inclined to agree and ask the same question. Ain’t wanna touch none of em unless ah need ta” She tucked one glove neatly away, she needed one hand free to work on Logan, so she didn’t want to grab no one else.
Maybe it was just that Logan couldn’t get along with himself. Clarice thought that spoke a lot about the man and his psyche. “That meshes with the news reports doesn’t it? Why is the military moving so much hardware lately?”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Kitty said. But they’d worry about it. She secured her hair and then her mask and crouched near a tree. The lights of the first truck were visible. They were all green, painted with army stars. There were several smaller ones, and then a very large truck with what looked like part of a giant missile.
Kitty gestured at it. That had to be the target.
"I think our bigger question should be 'What in the hell was Cerberus planning on doing with it?'. They were never this loud when I was working for them. It was all about quiet and subtle back then." Domino wasn't too proud of her past experience with the organization, but back then she'd had no idea how bad they were. Or that they were going to be anti-mutant. Hell, she didn't even know ABOUT mutants back then.
Laura popped her claws, but otherwise remained silent. Her mind was still sorting through all the scents she'd picked up, so that she'd know what was what when they attacked.
“Survey says nothin’ good.” she shrugged as she spoke softly, it didn’t matter much to Rogue, stopping the bad from happening was part of life. Oddly contrasting with her way of life outside of this new side, that is. She was ready to move as soon as she was told to. This wasn’t her call, but she was anxious to get started.
They didn’t need to wait long. Something loud and whistling hit the first truck of the convoy and it exploded into a harsh fireball. Men screamed farther down the line, and machine guns lit up the night.
“Miss You Need A Better CodeName, find him. Non-lethal on the soldiers, these are our guys!” Kitty snapped, before bolting over the ridge and running towards a group of men. Clarice threw a portal and Kitty disappeared into it, only to emerge behind the soldiers. She’d deliberately omitted any specific kill or no kill orders about Cerberus.
Rogue would stick closer to Laura, so if she found Logan, she could move fast. Of course that also meant covering Laura’s back, which she would do, and while she didn’t want to touch anyone, she’d do so if they’d get too close. Rogue had no qualms knocking people out. Or you know, maiming them.
With a quiet nod, Laura took off into the chaos. Her mind was reeling with smells and sounds, and she quickly sorted through it all to focus on the one scent that mattered. Adamantium, and that familiar scent that was uniquely Logan.
If Cerberus or American soldiers came near them in the process of her tracking them, she was prepared to push them out of her way. At the mention of non-lethal, though, she retracted her claws. That way she couldn't do more damage than she needed to. It was good that Rogue had her back, because she wasn't paying attention to anyone who might be behind it otherwise.
Meanwhile, Dom pulled a pair of night vision goggles over her eyes and pulled out a bola. It whistled as she spun it in the air, and she tossed it at the nearest guy not wearing camouflage. He fell to the ground as the thing wrapped around him, and she sprung over to grab his weapons, "Hi there! Mind if I take your guns? Of course you don't."
The man opened his mouth to sound the alarm for his comrades!
Meanwhile, Kitty was weaving through soldiers, knocking them dizzy. She spotted someone trying to break into one of the trucks and kicked him in the back of the knee, before slamming his head through the window. She touched her ear. “No sign of him yet, but I just found Cerberus.”
Light flashed behind Rogue, and then again behind Neena as Clarice intercepted attackers on the both of them. She spun through the air like an acrobatic monkey on crack and landed on another one. “Sorry! I really appreciate what you do for our country and we’re not here for you guys.” Then she thwacked him in the face.
Her wounds ached, but she ignored them.
Something big and heavy slammed into her and she blinked away.
Logan snarled, and bore down on Neena.
Rogue moved fast, she had to or she’d get squished. She didn’t have anyone’s powers to back her up, just hers and well she had limited fight training here. She could totally beat on people left right and center all day, but sometimes that wasn’t enough. She was pulling a lot from her dreams and praying her body listened.
Which is how she missed the one behind her, she looked over her shoulder. “Thanks!” she yelled out to Clarice before looking back to Laura. “Smell him out yet?” she asked as she almost lazily punched a guy in the nose and watched him crumple. So their late night bar brawls paid off.
"Ohshit," Neena mumbled to herself. Logan was big and heavy and if he came at her that was going to hurt. She pulled her gun and shot him in the chest, hoping that would slow him down while she ran away. Running away wasn't something she liked to do, but against a guy with six razor sharp claws it was pretty much a necessity, "Hey big guy. Having a nice night?"
The sound of Domino's shot was what pulled Laura's sniffer in that direction, and then she nodded, "He must have been dropped in further up, he's attacking Domino."
She turned in that direction and started running, figuring Rogue was right behind her.
Rogue was indeed right behind her and she put on the speed to keep up. She knew her role was simple - take down, knock out. And she had no desire to be skewered but she wasn’t going to let anyone else get that either. And she had no problem racing after Laura so she could find the perfect time and place to make her move. She didn’t think she’d get so lucky as a one and done, so she was mentally preparing for the pain that was likely to come with. Bonus was she’d tag him and heal, so pain was only fleeting. Right? She caught the tail end of Domino’s banter and couldn’t help but snicker.
Something got between Logan and his prey. He collided with Laura and hit the ground, the girl beneath him. Enraged and blinded by conditioning, he sank his claws into Laura's chest, and ripped them outward.
There was a loud cracking noise as Logan collided with Laura. Bones snapped underneath his weight and Laura had only a few seconds to let out a bit of gasp of pain before her lungs were ripped apart. But she wrapped her arms around his back and then popped her claws into him to keep ahold of him.
Hopefully her healing would be fast enough to keep him steady.
"Logan!" Domino shouted, like that was going to make him snap out of it, "Think of... Beer. You like Beer. Why didn't we bring any beer with us? Because I have a taser, but I think that's just going to make this worse and... Rogue, zap him. Zap him quick."
It was the closest to sounding panicked Domino had ever sounded.
Rogue moved around the pair and launched herself at Logan, her other glove being discarded as she suddenly decided two bare hands were better than none. She tried to leap on his back, fingers scrabbling for any hold they could find, she’d cling if she got a grip like a crazed monkey, fingers hoping to find skin as fast as possible and not letting go.
Logan bucked like a bronco, but he couldn’t dislodge her. Laura’s deathgrip had him locked and at their mercy - her claws kept him in place. He twitched, and his mind flooded Rogue’s with a fragmented mess of orders, control and threats (all in a voice familiar to any who’d heard Sinister). He managed to jerk his elbow back towards Rogue’s nose, but the gesture was weak.
As quickly as Logan had cut Laura up, she was healing. She let out a bit of a gurgling noise, followed by a low growl, and brought her head up to smack against Logan's chest, hoping that it might distract him.
He could cut her up as much as he wanted, as long as they got him back. Rogue was the key to that, and Laura dug in her claws more deeply to buy her new friend more time.
They still weren't alone in the woods. Cerberus operatives had flooded into the forest to recover their lost asset, and Domino wasn't even about to let that happen. She fired off a few gunshots and then tazed the guy that got closest to them, "Shadowcat, Blink? We could use a pair of hands or six over here. Rogue's trying to save the day and these assholes want their toy back."
Rogue was doing her best to hang on despite the flood of memories and powers. Hands twitched as she fought to hold on until he dropped while trying not to let out any other attributes she may grab from him. He was going to be in her head a long time. "Drop already!" She snarled, more loganish than rogue as she tightened her grip.
Logan’s claws retracted as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. It seemed like Rogue had drained him dry, and his wounds from Laura’s claws weren’t closing.
Blink dropped Kitty literally on top of one of the Cerberus fighters. The brunette pirouetted off of his face and launched herself at another one, claws out.
Clarice flung a javelin, hitting Logan, Laura and Rogue and flashing them away to a specially prepared holding cell beneath the Jean Grey Center. Domino joined them a second later.
“Wait!” Kitty ripped a patch off of a man’s shoulder. “Okay!” Clarice ported them away.
Inside the cell, Jubilee was waiting. She was fully prepared to use her strength to hold Logan down, but she wasn’t expecting what she saw, nor the amount of blood. Her eyes flashed red, and she shook her head to clear it. “What the actual fuck?!”
"Woah there, vampy girl. Let's all just calm down, alright?" Dom stepped between Jubilee and the others, holding a hand out. The other hand got busy putting weapons away in holsters. Now that they had Logan in a cell, the last thing she wanted to deal with was an angry vampire losing her shit all over everyone, "Rogue needs a beer, Logan needs a medic, and Laura will heal. It's all rainbows and sunshine, yeah? Big win for the good guys, go team? Yay, ra ra?"
Underneath Logan, Laura grunted a bit and retracted her claws. Her arms fell off to either side and she was pretty content to just leave them there.
Rogue was rubbing her head as she landed, she was feeling mighty confused at the moment. Was she rogue or Logan? She shook her head a few more times. "Oh gawd, a few asprins too. And somewhere isolated until ah can stuff him down in my head" there was a lot of bickering going on in her head right now. Last thing she wanted was anyone else freaking out. "Took him forever to go down, ahll be buying beer for months to apologize" she flexed her fingers, there were urges not entirely hers there. "Ugh"
Kitty sagged against the wall to catch her breath. “Okay, I’ll call Moira down here. Rogue you can take a nap in the staff lounge up in the main building, there’s beer in the fridge there. If you’re really freaked out there are bedrooms on the second floor.” She pointed at Jubilee. “You, get him off of Laura.” She pointed at Laura. “You...rest, I’m so sorry.”
Lastly, she pointed at Neena and Clarice. “Good job.”
Jubilee yanked Logan off of Laura, then backed up. “Thank gawd I fed already.”
"I am alright," Laura muttered. Her shirt was a lost cause, however, and underneath that blood she was mostly naked. She got to her feet and glanced down at Logan, then nudged him with her toe. Satisfied that he wasn't going anywhere, she nodded, "I have a change of clothes here, I'll come back and stand watch."
She nodded her thanks at Rogue, then started making her way out of the cell. There was a brief pause as she passed Jubilee, and Laura gave her shoulder an awkward pat before exiting.
Neena watched the girl leave, and shook her head, "Did I ever tell you about the time she walked off getting the legacy virus and then falling in a tank of molten lava like it was nothing? That kid is creepy but she's tough as nails."
Then she turned to Clarice and waggled her eyebrows, "Hey baby, want to take some celebratory pain killers and then pass out?" Logan was in good enough hands at the moment, she figured. But she'd probably come back to babysit his cell later on.
Rogue made her way up somewhere to sit, down a few beers and spend what she was sure was going to at least be hours if not longer shoving him down in her head. He was the first she'd touched here, at least to that extent.
“Painkillers, shower, then passing out,” Clarice said, taking Neena’s hand before porting them away.
Kitty put down her phone and stared wistfully at where they’d been standing. Once Rachel was healthy she wasn’t going to wait any longer with her. Four months was long enough and after that battle she needed to work things out. For herself. Mostly. But that’s neither here nor there. “He’s yours until Laura gets back, then we’ll all take shifts. We need to find out how bad the programming was.”
Jubilee nodded, finally tearing her eyes away from the direction Laura had gone in.. “Yeah. Great. Babysitting duty. I totes don’t sleep!”
Kitty nodded, then limped her way towards the elevator. Heat pad. Her kingdom for a heating pad.