Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 20

Chapter 1: Shocker

Remy looked at Rogue completely stunned to see her sitting up, looking slightly dazed, her eyes blinking, adjusting to the bright light of the hospital wing. She seemed almost as if she were in confusion for a moment. She looked at her hands as if to make sure they were both there, and patted her arms, her chest, her lap, and then her face, slightly alarmed looking at first, but she seemed to calm down quite a bit. A strange smile played upon her soft lips, a smile Remy wasn't very familiar with at all.

"Chere…you're alright," he said, full of relief, glad to see she was fine, she'd said his name, that was enough to convince him she remembered him, enough to convince him that she had never been braindead. "We thought—" Remy reached out to hug her, so completely relieved that she was out of the coma. What he didn't expect was for Rogue to punch him in the face so hard that he thought he might have lost a few teeth, he sailed backwards, hitting the wall and sliding down it. "Ow…ow…ow…OW," he muttered, he tasted blood, "what the fuck—?" he asked as he rubbed his jaw, he ran his tongue along his teeth to make sure they were all there, and luckily, they were.

"I've waited a LONG, LONG time…to do that," she said coldly scowling at him.

Remy raised his eyes to Rogue, who was now getting out of the bed, she was still clad in the pyjamas she'd been wearing when she'd took her seizure. It was then he realised that Rogue's voice didn't seem to be her own. In fact, for several moments, he had to wrack his brain for the answer of who's voice that was, it was one he hadn't heard in nine years.

"Carol…" he whispered.

"That's right," Carol Danvers – in control of Rogue's body utterly – flew towards him, her fist went through the wall as he dodged it just in time.

"What is this, attack Remy LeBeau day?!" he demanded insolently, he'd only just managed to pull himself together after Psylocke's attack, and now Carol Danvers was making an attempt on his life now.

"You cost me my life you miserable—" Carol was heading towards him again, fists outstretched. One thing he nodded about the way she moved was that although she had the control of Rogue's body, she was clumsier, and nowhere near as fast as Rogue could be. He was rather concerned though as one powerful punch from Carol Danvers could probably kill him under the right conditions, and he wasn't in the mood to find out.

"You know as well as well as anyone it WASN'T my fault, I was just doin' what I was ordered to do!" he cried as he rolled out of the way, for the second time in twenty four hours, he hit the alarm button on the wall, and the sirens sounded indicating that there was trouble.

"You'll be dead by the time they get down here," Carol uttered.

"You don't WANT to kill me, Carol, you want to kill Magneto, he's the one who caused this all!" Remy jumped out of the way of one of Carol's attacks. It seemed like a corny line, it was the second time that day he'd been blamed for something he felt he wasn't fully responsible for and yet, he knew he held some responsibility in everything he'd done in his life, including what he'd done to Carol Danvers. The wall came down as she went through it trying to hit him, he'd flipped himself out of the way, but watched horror struck as she ended up in the medical storage room next door to the hospital wing.

"Rogue!" came the voice of Piotr as he entered the room looking dazed at the damage already done. Ororo Munro, Jean Grey and Kurt Wagner followed in, just as confused as he was.

"It's not Rogue," Remy said, wiping some blood from his mouth, "it's Carol Danvers…she's in control somehow," taking the time to explain that cost him yet another punch, and he felt his head rattle with the impact, he went crashing into the bed and rolled over it completely, landing to the floor with a thud milliseconds afterwards. Strangely enough the only thought that crossed his mind was how bruised he was going to be by tomorrow after all these fights he'd encountered today. He pulled himself up, the world swimming around him, hazy to his eyes, the X-Men seemed to be swaying from side to side.

Carol Danvers had barely broken a sweat in Rogue's body, she landed by the X-Men, "My apologies for the damage I've caused," she said, in a strangely kind tone, "once I've destroyed Remy LeBeau, I'll be leaving…I'll somehow compensate for the damage."

Ororo shook her head, "You are not going anywhere, you must return Rogue TO us," she said in a demanding fashion, her voice calm, her eyes wicked with anger.

"Well, that's not going to happen," Carol frowned, "I've spent nine years behind the walls of her mind," she frowned, the scowl was so unlike Rogue, but Remy saw Carol in it, and it made him freeze. "Now it's my turn to have the body and live the way I want to," she stated, "starting with making HIM pay."

"I can't get through to Rogue," Jean said, trying to telepathically break through into Carol's mind but finding nothing there except Carol's own persona.

"That's right, and you won't unless I decide to let her out – which you can lose all hope of ever happening. I've spent years inside her mind learning how to get through, learning how to box her away in her own little space so that she can't do anyone any harm…" Carol smiled. "All I needed was to catch her off guard, and Remy's kiss provided just the shock I needed to force my way past the walls she'd put me behind. When she lost all control over her minds defences at that moment, that was when I made MY move," Carol uttered coldly, "She's had her chance to live her life, now it's my turn."

"But…" Remy tried.

"And you!" Carol moved over and kicked him, "are going to suffer for your part in all this…I should kill you but maybe that'd be the kind of thing that would put you out of your misery, you worm," she snarled. "Perhaps I'll just stay like this for the rest of Rogue's life…that should be apt punishment enough, seeing how she's been the only thing you've ever cared about!"

Piotr shifted into his metallic grabbed a hold of Carol's arms and pulled her away from Remy forcefully, his strength was equally as impressive as Carol's right at that moment.

"Let GO," Carol growled, "this body is MINES now, there's nothing you or your powers can do about it! I'm KEEPING this body."

"You can't do that!" Jean said, "her body doesn't belong to you!"

"My MIND doesn't belong to her body either, yet she took it with my powers and my life!" Carol managed to writhe her way out of Piotr's grip.

Remy coughed, blood splattering onto the tiles, "she didn't have any choice! Magneto had her hands magnetically glued to you, it wasn't her fault. It's not fair to make her suffer."

"She isn't suffering. She's sleeping somewhere in her own mind, she doesn't have any idea what's going on. Pity, would have been nice to have felt her reaction when she found out she can't return."

"The Professor can make you let her go," Jean said calmly, she seemed so frustrated with the situation already, not being able to help with her powers was beginning to make her question her powers.

"If he – or any one else who has telepathic abilities – even tries to break into my mind, I can easily kill her mind completely, there are ways…" Carol smirked, "for now, you may as well welcome me to the X-Men, for I won't be returning Rogue to you, and I've found it quite comfortable here in Rogue's body."

Jean glanced to Ororo as if to query what to do, she herself was lost. She turned back to Carol, "Carol…we're sorry what happened to you, but you can't remain in control of that body."

"Sorry?!" Carol demanded, she moved over, practically spitting in Jean's face as she screamed, "Sorry doesn't give me back my LIFE, does it?!" she had tears in her eyes, "Sorry isn't going to send me back in time to live the years I've missed!" she sobbed, "I've spent a huge portion of my life trapped in a mind, I couldn't feel anything but hatred, I couldn't touch, couldn't taste, smell, or anything. All I could do was see the world through her eyes and fight to try and stay sane while Rogue had everything…and the only thing that made my life worthwhile inside of Rogue was watching her go through the torment she went through every time HE—" she pointed at Remy with a particular smirk on her face , "broke her heart."

Remy pulled himself up slowly, "we'll find a way to get her back, Carol."

Jean moved over to Remy, "are you alright?"
"Leave me, focus on Rogue, and get that woman's mind OUT of my woman's body."

"It's impossible…" Jean said, faltering ever so slightly.

"Then make it possible," Remy frowned, "If a mutant without telepathic abilities can do this to Rogue, then YOU or the Professor, or SOMEONE with telepathy MUST be able to undo it. What's the point of using these powers just to stand aside and not do anything."

"Please stop griping," Jean retorted, a little more coldly than was her usual response.

Remy frowned, and was about to respond quite drastically towards her himself, until he heard her voice in his head.

{You heard what she said, she can kill Rogue if any of us so much as try to telepathically pull Rogue back…} Jean's voice was softer within his head.

Remy forced his thoughts back and Jean, and hoped she'd hear them, {I can't just stand back and let her possess her like this…}

{For now, step back and let me and the Professor handle this,} Jean replied telepathically, then she turned to Carol, "Carol…I think you should discuss this with the Professor," she suggested and gestured towards the door.

"Gladly," Carol said, she followed Jean out of the door, giving one glance over her shoulder at Remy, smirking ever still.