Author's Note: This takes place a bit less than a year after 12, and since I don't know what happens a year later, this fic is AU. Please don't bite me.
"Smoke and Shadow"
Ch. 1
"You want to what?!"
Rogue sighed. "Look, this ain't exactly easy for me to admit. Me 'n Juggernaut need yer help."
Scott Summers leaned back in his chair. Professor X and Rogue had arranged this meeting on neutral grounds, in a quiet restaurant in New York City. He felt like giving an obnoxious "So * now* you want our help," but he knew that by doing so he would probably wreck the meeting and, if there was truth in what Rogue said, be costing mutants their lives. "Why do you need us?"
Rogue was plainly trying to keep her temper under control and avoid making a scene. "It's a small research lab in Arizona, about an hour southwest from the ol' Weapon X place. From what we've heard, there's between five and ten mutants being used to test some kinda drug that neutralizes our powers. Me 'n Cain would normally do this kinda thing on our own, but security's a bit more powerful than we're used to. And we don't know what kinda shape these mutants'll be in if we do get them out. Y'all have medical facilities and while me 'n Cain don't exactly hold to yer philosophies, you X-men ain't that bad to have around in a fight. Happy now?"
Scott slowly nodded. "I'll have to discuss it with the rest of the team, but I'm pretty sure we'll help you. Professor Xavier will contact you with our answer."
Rogue got up. "All right." She turned and exited the restaurant, leaving Scott with the bill.
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Professor Charles Xavier stroked his ginger tabby cat as he mulled the situation over. "Jean, you didn't sense any deception?"
Jean Gray nodded from her seat on the Professor's left. She had been outside, inconspicuously providing backup for Scott. "She seemed serious. And angry at having to ask for help."
The Professor looked up at the rest of the team. "If you do not want to assist in this operation, I will understand." Given Bobby's none-too-pleasant first encounter with Rogue, Professor Xavier wasn't sure that Bobby would be very comfortable working with her.
No one spoke up. He could feel their more or less grudging acceptence of the plan. And, quite naturally, he felt Logan's anger at other mutants being used as lab rats.
Professor Xavier nodded. "In that case, I'll get back to Rogue with our answer."
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"So that's the facility. Any last minute questions?" asked Juggernaut.
The X-men silently checked the last of their equipment in a tacit "no."
Juggernaut nodded. "Good. Storm, Cyclops, Beast, you're with me. Wolverine, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Colossus, you're with Rogue. Let's go."
The facility appeared to be a one-story building surrounded by electric barbed wire. Rogue and Juggernaut had discovered, though, that the place ran three more stories underground, with the mutant test subjects at the lowest level.
The two teams' combined efforts made short work of the security. The lab technicians and doctors were "neutralized" (locked into a room, where Jean knocked them safely unconscious) while Logan made a call to his old acquaintance Nick Fury to notify him of the illegal goings-on.
Jean and Rogue nearly crashed into Scott as they quickly exited a lab. "You don't want to go in there," Jean quietly told Scott as they walked. "They were in the process of dissecting some poor guy." Rouge and Jean both looked sick.
They joined Wolverine, Colossus, and Beast, who were breaking open the cells of the captive mutants. There were six, one of which was empty. Beast was in the process of opening a cell containing a very short, very young looking girl. Her hair was brown, slightly longer than Jean's, but with long bangs.
"You found Jason, didn't you?" were the first words out of her mouth. Her face suggested that she knew the answer.
Jean and Rogue shared an uneasy look. "Green hair?"
The girl's face fell. "That's him. He's dead, isn't he?"
Rogue nodded.
The girl's composure nearly collapsed. She went to the empty cell, looking wistfully inside. "One more day, Jace. You almost made it."
"Hey! I need some help here!"
Everyone looked over at Peter's shout. He had wrenched open one cell at the corner of the room, and was looking horrified. Logan was the first to make his way over. He began to growl. "Jean? You got the most medical experience outta all of us."
Inside the cell was a short, gaunt young woman. Her long black hair was matted, and her skin was mottled by bruises, lacerations, and a couple of old scars. She was unconscious and looked like she had been hit by some sort of moving vehicle. The girl looked inside. "So that's what she looks like."
"You've never seen her?" asked Hank.
"She's been here longer than me. They made her crazy. Jace and her got brought in at about the same time, and he told me about her." The girl got a pained look.
"Can we move her?" asked Rogue.
Jean quickly assessed the situation. "Both her legs are broken. So is her left arm and a couple of ribs. She's also in shock. We have to be really careful."
The girl and three other mutants, two female and a male, were hurried out of the facility and into the Blackbird. Jean had levitated the unconscious woman on a makeshift stretcher, and carefully floated it onto the jet. Scott took off and headed back to the X-mansion in New York.
Ororo tried to engage the brown-haired girl in conversation. "What's your name?"
"Jocelyn Vallarta." The girl gave a halfhearted smile. "Jace used to call me
'Smoke.'"
"Were you good friends with him?"
Jocelyn nodded, sniffing. "He was the only one who was nice to me." She jerked her head at the three other rescued mutants. "They didn't really seem to care about anything anymore. Jace was in there longer than them and he was always nice." She looked away. "I hope it wasn't painful. But knowing those excuses for scientists, it probably was."
"What's her name?" asked Ororo, nodding to where Jean and Hank were trying to tend to the unconscious mutant.
"Bianca Cruz. Jace called her 'Shadow.' Don't know why."
"Why was she so…"
"Beat up?" Ororo nodded. "I know that they were testing how well that shit that they gave us worked. They had her on this one that was kinda like a tranquilizer. They were testing her reactions to pain. But you wanna know what the scary thing is?" Jocelyn looked towards where Bianca was lying. "I think she did most of that stuff to herself."