Rogue and Wolverine, Danger Room

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Marie and Logan train in the Danger Room. Does Marie do anything else lately? She needs to get a life...seriously, someone needs to force the girl to do something fun.

Logan adjusted his leathers slightly as he waited for the program to start. Partner-program, set up by either Storm or Cyclops, and he didn't even know who his partner was going to be. Hopefully they wouldn't stick him with a cupcake that he'd have to wind up carrying through the run. He wanted to get a workout, not play babysitter.

Marie let out a laugh when she entered the room and found Logan suited up. Now the evil twinkle in Scott’s eye made sense. She had been instructed to meet someone in the Danger Room, but he had been very elusive about who it would be. Now she understood – he could have an odd sense of humor at times.

Logan grinned at Marie. "Well, kid. Lookin' sharp." he told her with a wink. "Think you can keep an old man company on a little walk through the park?" he teased.

She curtsied, which was actually harder than it looked in leathers. “Of course. Ah’m just a good little Girl Scout, out to help the elderly cross the roads an’ all,” she kidded back. She took the few steps necessary to reach him, then assumed a defensive stance as the program started up.

Logan dropped almost visibly from Logan to Wolverine in an instant. The claws stayed in, but he sniffed the air looking for any sign of what their objective was. The computer soon informed them that they were to make their way to the other side without being disabled or injured. "Get airborne, tell me what you see." he told her brusquely.

Rolling her eyes at him, she obliged, quickly lifting off and hovering ten feet above him. How interesting. Settling back down, she reported her findings. “Oh no problem at all, Ah don’t see anything in our way. Of course, that could be because there’s a ton of fog covering the road.” Gesturing in front of her, she continued, “You should take point, see what you sense. Ah’ll follow close, keep my eyes and ears open too.”

Wolverine nodded at Rogue's report and unsheathed his claws, advancing slowly into the fog. Whatever they were using to simulate the fog _stank_ and did an excellent job of washing out any scents that might be in the air. As he advanced he made absolutely no noise. He stayed off the road as much as he could, paralleling it in the bombed-out buildings and ruined alleyways as much as possible

Rogue knew her ability to walk quietly was not as good as his…so instead she kept her feet off the ground, floating after him. The fog seemed to get thicker as they moved farther along and she found herself moving closer to Wolverine to keep him within her visual field.

Hearing something behind her, she paused. Counting on Wolverine’s hearing to alert him, she spun around and ducked as a fist passed through the space where her head had been a moment before.

Logan heard the attacker just before it unloaded at Rogue. Without any noise, he slashed a quick two cuts through the attacker, spilling mechanical guts and the bot's right arm to the ground. Nodding, he continued on his way to the other side of the room without making any noise.

Floating after him, Rogue tensed. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were still being watched. She kept her eyes peeled on what little of their surroundings she could make out, keeping track of anything she would be able to use as a weapon.

Logan advanced for another half-dozen steps, then held up a hand to signal a halt. He put two fingers under his eyes, then pointed into the fog cloud. He then grinned ferally and crept into the fog, disappearing into the haze after just a few steps. A few moments later an electronic squeal could be found, then Logan reappeared and motioned for Marie to follow him.

Rogue sighed and continued following him. She was not enjoying this little game of follow-the-leader and it was too easy. As if the Danger Room sensed her thought, a group of ten bots surrounded them. Still unfair odds, but it’s a start. Turning her back to Logan, she launched herself at one of the bots. Grabbing it, she swung it around in a circle, knocking three other drones down.

Logan had no worries whatsoever that Marie could take care of herself. So he set to give her some room to work - pull the ones off her that were trying to flank her, get them caught in an enfilade. He wasn't even sure what an enfilade _was_, just that getting caught in one was a sure ticket to the Suck. He cut one's arm off, then turned to stab another that was trying to get the drop on him from above.

Ripping the head off the bot in her hands, Marie dropped the body to the ground. Turning, she noticed that the remaining bots were all arranged in a line. Looking at the round head in her hand, she smiled gleefully. Spinning to add momentum, she threw the head at the drone, intending to cause a domino effect.

Unfortunately Logan, not realizing what she had in mind, slashed his way into the line just as the domino effect started. She got half the drones before Logan got buried in a pile of parts, a little dazed from the strength of the hit despite himself.

Quickly flying over, Rogue grabbed Logan by the back of the neck and hauled him out of the mess of parts. “Sorry, sugah. Sometimes Ah don’t know my own strength.”

Logan just shot her a _look_ and then shook his head to clear the cobwebs. "Not bad." he said, looking at the carnage. "Come on, let's _move_." He had a crawling feeling between his shoulderblades, and that usually meant ambush.

The room felt eerily quiet after their brief skirmish and Rogue continued keep a close watch on Logan as she followed behind him. If he got too far ahead of her she’d lose sight of him and there was no telling how long it would take to find him again in the fog.

Logan set a brisk pace, sticking to the denser sections of fog and avoiding the lighter patches entirely. They were about halfway to their goal when the next set of obstacles sprung up - 'bots with what looked like flamethrowers on their backs. Whatever it was, Logan had no intention of letting them spray him with whatever it was they were packing.

“Care for a lift?” Rogue asked before grabbing Logan’s hands and pulling him above the liquid coming out of the nozzles aimed at them. She dropped him behind the bots, counting on him to take care of himself and a few of the drones. Flying back to the other side, she was busy dodging the liquid continuously being shot at her – it did not look like something she wanted to let anywhere near her skin.

Logan took care of business via a very expediently simple approach - he didn't cut the drones, he cut the hoses between the tanks of whatever and the emmitter nozzles. Whatever the fluid was, it did an excellent job of shutting down the drones. Checking himself for splash damage, he grinned at Rogue. "Up and over - let's see what we've got left." he told her.

Shrugging, she wrapped an arm around his waist and lifted up. “You guide me, Ah still can’t see worth a darn.”

"Don't look. _Listen_." he told her, and then shut up so he could do precisely that. To his ears, he heard some creaking noises from further up ahead, and then some scuffling on the other side of the road for that. "Time to make this crap work for us. Get on top of it if you can, and we go that way." he said, pointing to the exit.

Remaining silent, Marie flew up another ten feet before flying towards the exit. Shifting her body so that it was parallel to the ground, she adjusted her grip on Logan so he would be able to move his arms should the need arise.

Logan smiled thinly as they passed up and over the next series of bots. Then he saw a swirl in the fog ahead of them. "Down!" he hissed at Marie.

Without hesitation, Rogue dropped down to the ground. She knew better than to ignore that tone coming from Wolverine. Separating from Logan, she crouched down with her fists at the ready.

Just in time, too. Four bots came diving out of the sky heading right for Marie. One had a nasty-looking claw, another a hook, the third a spike, and the last crackled with electricity. Logan did his best to get out of the way - this was her show and she had to handle it. If she dropped a playmate his way, he'd gladly jump in it, but as things were he was more liability than asset.

Assessing the situation, Rogue looked for the quickest way to disable all the drones. Grabbing onto the hook of the closest drone, she yanked forward, hoping for a repeat of her earlier success. Unfortunately, the hook was not attached to the drone and the momentum from its release caused Marie to tumble backwards. Landing on her side, she held still, hoping to appear stunned. Wait for it…

As the bots surrounded her, an almost feral smile spread across her space as she launched upwards and out of the way. The spiked and clawed drones were unable to halt before colliding, immobilizing each other. The result of the run-in between the electric and now hookless bots only resulted in incapacitating the mostly harmless drone. Landing, she crouched down and eyed the electric drone warily, debating how to proceed.

Logan darted over to the crash-pile, using his claws to make sure the bots were well and truly out. He called up to Marie and said "Ground!". She'd know what to do. Even when she was with Twoyoungmen and he was with Langkowski they still made infrequent attempts to train together.

Rogue flew into motion, doing exactly what Logan expected, while counting on him to do his part…otherwise, this could get messy.

And as she forced the bot groundwards, as soon as it was within claw-range Logan took a chunk out of it. Some electrical charge did pass down through the claws and into his skeleton, but any damage so done was handled by his ability to heal before it became a serious problem. He cocked his head slightly, listening to the dense wall of fog. "Speed run!" he said, leaping up at her to be caught. "Forget subtle. Just get us there! Now!" he shouted as he leaped.

“Hold on,” she said as she caught Logan and slung him onto her back. Flying as quickly as she could towards the exit, she evaded the few remaining drones standing between them and the door.

Logan had no idea how ridiculous he looked - riding on Marie's back like something out of Doctor Strangelove. Still, it got the job done and they were maybe thirty seconds out from reaching their goal. "More aerobots! Throw me!" he told her, spotting the final wave of reinforcements that were approaching at a disturbing rate of speed.

Angling for better leverage, she swung him beneath her. Hurling him at the group of approaching bots, she hung back, ready to swoop in and assist if needed.

Logan, as soon as he was airborne, imparted onto himself as much angular spin as he could. With his arms held out from his body he was doing an excellent impersonation of a buzzsaw and when he made contact with the rather dumb bots bits and pieces flew from them like they were hit by a bomb. But the tactic had its downside - it played merry hell with Logan's balance, and he hit the ground very roughly, tumbling down into a dizzy untidy heap.

Wincing as she saw him hit the ground, Marie started flying down to help him up. She stiffened as she heard a woosh of wind behind her that she was _not_ causing. Spinning around, she saw a flying drone approaching that was apparently late to join his already destroyed friends. She halted in midair and waited for it to get closer. As soon as it was within arms reach she grabbed onto it while simultaneously kicking both her feet into its midsection. Rogue was rather surprised when the drone actually separated in two from the force of her kick. She tossed the rubble away and then landed next to Logan, who had already righted himself.

Logan’s left knee hadn't quite got with the program yet - apparently he'd blown it rather spectacularly and it really didn't want to move until his ability to heal had reknitted the tendons and muscle that was currently acting like a fish out of water. He ignored it and got back on his feet, dashing for the exit that was only a few steps away.

Rogue rushed after him, reaching the exit at almost the same instant. She reached out to support him, knowing that he would be feeling pain despite his healing factor. “Well sir, can Ah help you cross the road?” she teased with an impish look in her eye.

Logan grinned at her and then leaned on her just a bit to walk through the far doorway with her. "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." he said on the far side of the door while the Room shut down the simulation and turned on the gigantic fans to clear the air of all the crap.

She beamed at him. Coming from Logan, not bad was the equivalent of most other people saying excellent. “Not too shabby yourself,” she said with a wink

Logan snorted at that. "Done better." he said with some real disgust, taking his weight off of her and flexing his now-repaired knee. "Showers." he said, wrinkling his nose. "Spot you a beer at Harry's while Slim or 'Ro looks over the run?" he asked impishly. "Ask me real nice and maybe there'll be waffles in it for ya."

Grinning, Marie just shook her head at Logan. “Ah think Ah’ll settle for just the beer,” she said before heading for the locker room.

Logan laughed and headed for the men's lockers to wash some of the stink off.