"Where is the girl?" asked a cold voice in a snakelike hiss.
"She's gone, as far away from here as we could get her. Did you honestly think Sirius would let you have her? She is his…" the panicked young woman's voice was swiftly cut off.
"What?!" demanded the cold voice, now rising in its intensity with rage, the voice let out another frustrated hiss, "well then, if you insist upon keeping her from me, I will just have to dispose of the problem now. I had hoped I could grant you at least 17 years with your child, but you leave me no choice!"
"No! Please, leave him out of this, please. No! Tom! PLEASE!"
"NEVER CALL ME THAT!!! And don't you understand, Lily, he is THIS!"
And with that, there was a flash a blinding green light and a sharp scream of pain and agony. When the light faded, the cold snakelike voice started again.
"Strange to think the something so small and insignificant could possible grow to be the one to defeat me. Well I shall put a stop to this here and now."
Once again, there was a flash of green light but this time there was no scream of pain but one of shock and confusion, as one of the darkest and most powerful wizards of all time vanished.
A young southern belle around the age of 15 by the name of Marie D' Accanto, or Rogue as she preferred to be called, awoke with a start, gasping for air and coated in a thick layer of cold sweat. Rogue had long black hair that went down past her shoulders with two unusual platinum streaks that would have normally framed her face except they were now wet with the same cold sweat that coated the rest of her body. Rogue was fairly normal, or at least, as normal as a gothic teenage mutant, or vampire as she liked to think of it, could be.
Rogue's power was that she absorbs people thought, memories, abilities, and if they are a mutant, their powers, all with one little touch of her bare skin. Not only does Rogue have no control over her powers but a piece of everyone that she absorbs remains in her head as a psyche, but she cannot use their powers at will. Some of the memories would often spring up every now and then during her dreams, some pleasant and some absolutely horrible. She does have one psyche that remained with her, the psyche of Carol Danvers, otherwise known as Ms. Marvel, because she had maintained contact with her for too long, leaving Ms. Danvers in a coma and granting Rogue her powers, which were invincibility, super human strength, and the ability to fly.
On the other side of the room, a light flickered on and the worried voice of Rogue's roommate floated to her ears.
"Rogue, are you, like, ok? Did one of the psyches memories come up again?
Katharine or Kitty Pryde had been Rogues roommate ever since she arrived at the Institute for Gifted Youngsters. She was a happy-go-lucky-vally girl, who Rogue thought she would despise from the moment she met her. But after all the things they had been through together, they were the best of friends and knew each other better than any one else. Kitty was also a mutant, but her powers were no where near as devastating as Rogue's, most would even consider her power fun. Kitty has fun, loving, brown eyes and bouncy brown hair, which she usually has pulled back into a pony tail with her bangs, which just missed being long enough to make it into her hair tie.
Both Rogue and Kitty lived in Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. To any one who passed by it looked like a normal boarding school, nothing special or different about. But, in fact, the Institute was a safe haven for mutants who sought after a means of controlling their powers and also for any mutants who had no other place to go after being abandoned by their families and friends. In most cases, the goal of gaining control over their powers was achieved, but some of the students, such as Rogue, had not obtained such reprieve. Also, while the students attended the school the were also given the choice on whether or not they wanted to become X-Men, Xavier's group that helped to protect mutants from humans, but also protect humans from mutants who believed that mutants are the superior race and should tower over the mere humans.
"Ah don't know, Keht. Thahs one felt lahke Ah was… I dunno, involved. Ah remembeh almost evereh memory Ah eveh received, and that one, well, it wasn't one of 'em"
"Do you think we should, like, tell the professor?" Kitty asked in a slightly panicked tone.
"Nah, Kit, Ah'm sure it'll pass in eh few days" was Rogues reply. By her voice you would think she was completely confident in her answer, but Kitty knew her to well to fall for it, but she chose not to press the matter any further, she was going back to bed.
After they has said their goodnights, Kitty fell asleep immediately, but Rogue lay awake in her bed, thinking about her dream. She had never had a memory stolen that was that vivid. What could it possibly mean? But the more Rogue thought on it the less she could remember, so eventually, Rogue decided she wouldn't think about it any more and that the dream would go away like the others, and quickly fell asleep.
But the dream did not cease after about a week, in fact, it was becoming more vivid and more horrifying each time it occurred. Finally, after waking once again in a cold sweat, Rogue decided to go to Professor Xavier.
So she put on a black mini skirt with green and silver lining with fishnets, a pair of knee high leather boots, a black and green corset, and her beloved black leather trench coat. Rogue knew she had a nice body, and because she couldn't touch she was going to make as many men, and women in some cases, suffer as much as she could for her loss.
After she finished dressing, she began to apply her daily war paint, which consisted of black lipstick, black eye liner, and green eye shadow. The affect was amazing with her brilliant emerald green eyes.
Once she was sure everything was in order, she headed off to the Professors office. As soon as Rogue shut the door to her room, a voice popped into her head, "Will the X-Men please meet me in my office for briefing, dress in civilian attire."
"Argh, Ah hahte it when he does thaht!" yelled Rogue in frustration. "Well", she thought sarcastically to herself, "at least Ah don't have tah change."
Professor Xavier was known was one of the most powerful telepaths in the world and a paraplegic as well, so naturally, it would make sense that he used telepathy to contact them.
Minutes later, the X-Men were gathered in the Professors office waiting for the briefing to start. Rogue took this opportunity to look around the room and see who was there.
Scott Summers, codenamed Cyclops, whose power was to shoot laser beams from his eyes, was self-proclaimed leader of the X-Men, although most of the X-Men believed he had a stick shoved up his ass the size of Texas. He had red hair that perfectly matched his red visors that were made especially to keep his eyes under control.
Jean Grey, self-proclaimed Miss Goody-Too-Shoos, Miss Perfect as Rogue liked to call her, was second in command and happened to have a strict rivalry with Rogue because she always had the impression that Rogue had a crush on Cyclops, who was her boyfriend, even though Rogue had no idea where this idea came from. Rogue despised Jean; she was everything Rogue hated embodied in a single person. She, like Scott, had flaming red hair, although, if you asked any one in the Institute they would tell you its fake. She was a prep girl all the way. But those things Rogue could stand, what she hated most about Jean was that everyone thought she was such a great person and could do no wrong. Kitty and she were the only one who really knew how Jean was.
Then there was Ororo Monroe, codename Storm, was somewhat of a weather goddess, she has the ability to control the weather, and you could often tell what kind of mood she was in by the weather. She also had a strange obsession with her garden, in which her power came in very handy, being able to control exactly how much sun and rain plants got. Storm was also a very kind and loving person, a kind of second mother, and to some such as Rogue the closest thing they had ever had to a mother. Ororo has dark skin, kind brown eyes, but the most shocking feature is her gorgeous platinum hair.
Then there was Logan, codenamed Wolverine, who couldn't remember what his last name was. His natural powers were heightened senses and agility and alarmingly fast healing rates. But some scientists used his power to help experiment on him and inject his bones with animantium, a kind of unbendable, unbreakable, and all around indestructible metal, and gave him claws that he could shoot out of his fists at will. Logan is a short man, with very feral appearance, with black, unruly hair and side burns, he was the very essence of tough guys.
Then there were Kitty, codenamed Shadowcat, and Rogue, who was just Rogue.
When Rogue had finally finished assessing the team, Xavier had already rolled into the rooms.
"Now, I am sure you are all wondering why I have brought you here. I have a mission for all of you in London. There is a young mutant who has just discovered her powers and run away from home. So, it is our job to find her. Now from the looks of things, the young girl is probably frightened to death right now, so I thought it would be better for us to dress in civilian attire, as to not frighten her more. The girl has bright purple hair, so she should be fairly easy to recognize. Does any one have any questions?"
Of course, the first person to ask a question was Cyclops, "Will the Alcolytes or the Brotherhood be after the girl as well?"
The Alcolytes and the Brotherhood were both groups of mutants that believe mutants are superior to humans and should rule, one was lead by Prodessor Xavier's old friend Eric Lenshier.
To be honest, Rogue almost wished that they would bump into the either the Alcolytes or the Brotherhood, so that she might have a chance to work out some of her frustrations. Also, even though Rogue would never say it out loud, but she did have a soft spot for the Brotherhood, considering before she had arrived at Xaviers, she lived with them.
There was also one of the Alcolytes that drew Rogues attention, the one named Gambit, or as she had found out by previous experiences with him, Remy LeBeau. He was swamp rat, as she liked to refer to him, from New Orleans. She had been fortunate enough to meet his "family" when he kidnapped her in order to rescue his father. Needless to say, Rogue wasn't too fond of being used yet again, but she did get close to him on that trip and had started to feel a real connection with him.
Rogue thought this was a good enough reason to want to see him, not that she would ever tell him or any one else that for fear of it inflating his ego further. He was a very attractive man, with long shaggy auburn hair and the most amazing eyes Rogue had ever seen, red on black. His eyes had also given him the nickname of "Le Blanc Diablo," the white devil.
"I am not sure that they discovered her presence yet or not, Scott, but whether they are or not, you should be prepared for them no matter what. Any further questions?"
Through out all this, Rogue had been silently fuming at herself about how she had had all week to tell the Professor, and now she didn't have a chance to. "Oh well, Ah'll just ask him latah," she thought as she and the other X-Men boarded the X-Jet.
As usual Storm and Wolverine were at the controls, Xavier strapped down between them, Jean and Scott and the first row seats, and Kitty and Rogue in the back row. Although Kitty would have usually preferred to sit up with Wolverine and Storm, she, like Rogue, did not want to deal with Jean and Cyclops constant admiration of each other. Those two were down right disgusting.
Normally, a trip from New York to England would have taken at least ten hours, but on the X-Jet it took only three. Rogue would be nothing short of overjoyed when she stepped off the jet. She swore Jean tried to speak as loud as she could about how much she loved Scott, and how much she liked it when he held her hands. It was more then Rogue could stand, if she hadn't been used to it, she probably would have nailed Jean in the face with a sharp right hook.
After about 30 more minutes, they finally landed on a grubby patch of land that was opposite an equally grubby town. The town had mostly two story tenement type buildings, most of which had boards or bars over the windows, and the windows that were boarded or barred were completely dark inside. The buildings were in such disrepair that that paint was beginning to chip off. A grim mist hung over the town, which gave Rogue a feeling of dread that something was going to happen. Little did Rogue know, something was indeed going to happen tonight, something that would change Rogues life forever.
As overjoyed as Rogue was, she couldn't help when a feeling of sudden nostalgia hit her the second she stepped out of the jet. This unnerved her greatly, considering the fact that she had never been to England before in her life, much less any memories of it. She searched all of her psyches, but none of them had any memories or feelings towards London, or even England itself.
Rogues thoughts were turned away from this at the moment because groups were being assigned, and usually she would have been with Logan, but for some reason, today Xavier decided to pair Rogue with Jean, much to Rogues, Jeans, and Scotts disappointment. Rogue would bet her life that all they did on missions was make out in a back ally somewhere.
"But Professor, I am sure both Rogue and I would work much better in our usually group." Stated Jean, in the most angelic voice she could conjure up.
"I am sure you would Jean, but I believe it will benefit if you are able to work well in other groups in case of emergency."
With this, Jean made a small noise that sounded like a rat had just had its favorite piece of cheese taken away and giving one last, longing glace at Scott, she turned and walked reluctantly towards Rogue.
Once the groups were settled, Rogue and Jean, Ororo and Kitty, and Scott and Logan, they groups went their separate ways. Rogue and Jean had probably chosen the worst street. The street was full of pubs and stores with lots of dark looking items in them that even Rogue could not identify. The street were all done in stone as where the shops and houses.
After about half an hour of looking, Jean decided it was time for a break, so they stopped in the nearest pub they saw. The second they walked in, Rogue immediately knew that they didn't belong there. All eyes were on them and the previously noisy pub had gone silent. Everyone in the pub seemed to be dressed in very strange clothing, which mostly consisted of long robes with hoods. They did not seem as shocked by Rogue as they did by Jean, who was in a bright pink top, that showed off a bit more then was decent and a short mini skirt that was in the same category as the top.
Jean immediately found the most attractive guy in the pub, which wasn't saying much, and started to shamelessly flirt with him. The man was not that bad looking, he had pale skin, a rather pointed face, and long bleach blonde hair. Even Rogue might have been slightly attracted to him if it wasn't for his beady black eyes that shown with fierce lust for something that frightened her. Rogue, who was all to use to Jean activities in Scott's absence, just mumbled a quick, "slut," under her breath and walked over to the bar.
While Rogue walked over to the bar, she felt two pair of eyes glaring into the back of her head. The first pair she found quickly enough belonged to the blonde haired man, whose face Jean was now shoving her cleavage in. The other pair was not so easy to find, but after being trained by Logan, Rogue knew how to find someone without the person knowing you were looking for them and began to discreetly search the pub.
So Rogue sat down at the bar and continued to scan the pub for the other pair of eyes. After about five minutes of looking, she was about to just drop it until she finally spotted two figures with hoods to cover their faces in a dark corner near the back of the pub, one looking directly at her and the other ignoring her completely and staring at Jean and the blonde man. But before Rogue had time to examine them more, the blonde man popped up in front of her, obviously bored of Jean, and put on his best charming smile.
"'Evening" he greeted cheerfully in a way that made Rogue want to vomit all over him. Struggling to be nice, Rogue put on her best fake smile and managed to choke out an, "'Evening."
"Do you mind if I join you, maybe buy you a drink?" asked the man. Already pulling up a stool and pulling out his wallet. Rogue was sure he was doing this purposely, because she immediately saw a large assortment of golden and silver coins.
Rogue didn't know why, but she glanced back at the figures that she had seen before, and now both of them were staring intently at her. Then, she turned back to the man, who had not notice her glance back at the hooded figured, and was now buying a drink for her and himself.
"Sure" was her only reply as the bartender set down her drink. Once again her training with Logan came in handy, and she sniffed the liquid before consuming it. The liquor was pretty strong. This only made her more wary of the blonde man.
"Oh, where are my manners? I have not even introduced myself," the man stated in mock horror, which Rogue assumed was supposed to be funny, but didn't laugh, "My name is Lucious Malfoy. And what name could possibly describe the radiant angle sitting in front of me?"
Rogue didn't waste time with being dramatic about it, she simply stated, "Rogue."
Lucious seemed a bit taken aback by her blunt reply, but he did not falter in his advances.
"Ah, Rogue, a wonderful name that demands notice and respect, a very fitting name for a woman such as yourself, who absolutely radiates of power and dignity."
During this time, Jean had been fuming over the loss of Lucious to Rogue, but did not dwell on it, as she was now surrounded by several other men, trying to get her attention. The hooded figures in the corner remained with their eyes fixed upon Rogue and Lucious, and Rogue was completely aware of this through out her one sided conversation with Lucious, which mainly consisted of him talking about how much money he had and how powerful he was.
After about twenty minutes of this, Rogue began to wonder if he would shut up, but also if they should head back to the X-Jet. Eventually Rogue just got so annoyed with him that she got up to leave and started saying her goodbyes. She glanced back at the hooded figures again and they were still staring at them.
"Oh don't leave, luv," whined Lucious, draping his arm around her shoulders, "we are going to have some good fun later, you and me."
"Ah thank your drunk, so, Ah'll be leavin' now" replied Rogue and she pushed his arm of her should, all the while keeping a wary eye on the figures.
"I said, 'don't leave.'" Lucious stated firmly replacing his arm around Rogues shoulders, again, this time with a tighter grip on her, pulling her close to his body, while his other hand traveled south towards her ass.
This pushed Rogue over the edge. She yanked his arm off from around her shoulders, put her hands at the base of his head, and slammed his face with all her might, well not all of it, that would have killed him, against the bar. There was a sickening crack as his nose broke from the impact. At this, the hooded figures seemed to stiffen, but immediately loosened once they realized that Lucious was indeed, unconscious, and would be so for a long while.
With that, Rogue rushed to Jeans side, grabbed her arm and dragged her away from her newest group of admirers, out of the bar, and back to the X-Jet.
"Where have you two been, Red?" growled Logan as soon as they were close enough to hear him. He started sniffing the air, as a scent he was all too familiar with reached his sensitive nostrils.
"You two have been around beer." He stated bluntly.
"Oh, Mr. Logan, I'm so sorry. I told Rogue we should have kept looking for the girl, but she insisted that we stop into this disgusting bar. Oh, M. Logan, it was awful! There were all these scary men leering at me, but Rogue didn't care, she was to busy shoving her chest into this poor mans face, who obviously wasn't interested! I begged for her to let us leave, but she refused to move!" cried Jean, as she sobbed into Logan's denim jacket.
"What?!" shouted Rogue. She couldn't believe her ears. She was about to protest when Logan interrupted her.
"Why didn't you just come back and ask one of us to come get her?
"I would have, Mr. Logan, but you told us to stay in pairs, and I would rather die then go against your orders!"
"That's not true! She was the one that--"
"Rogue," began Professor, "you know that drinking is prohibited, especially when we are on missions! I am ashamed that you would abandon your duties to drink! And still more, you dragged poor Jean along with you!"
Rogue couldn't believe this. They wouldn't even listen to her or hear her side of the story. But she should have known they would automatically believe Jean, who could ever doubt perfect little Jean?
The Professor continued, "Obviously Rogue, we can not trust you to do your duties on this mission, so I shall have to ground you to remain in the jet while the rest of us continue to look. In the mean time, I think it best if we all go out to dinner so that we will be refreshed and ready to continue our search in the morning."
This was not happening. Rogue couldn't believe it; she was being punished for something she didn't even do! Her feeling must have shown on her face because the Professor immediately said, "Don't worry Rogue, we will bring you back something."
And with that, the Professor and the other X-Men left and Rogue was left alone, sitting on the steps of the X-Jet. For a while, Rogue just sat and thought how naïve and brain washed the Professor must be to believe Jean's story. "I mean, come on, he is supposed to be the most powerful telepath in the world, and he bought that load of crap?" Rogue pondered silently.
"Well," Rogue thought aloud to herself, "if I am already in trouble for leaving my post, what harm could a little walk do?"
So Rogue decided to take the street just to the right of the one she took with Jean. This time, Rogue paid more attention to her surroundings, considering the fact she wasn't looking for anything any more, much less a person.
The street was dimly lit and was no exception from the grim mist that surrounded the rest of the town. This street did not vary too much from the last street; it had pubs, shops, and grungy apartments. These shops, however, made Rogue even more uneasy then the last. The windows were dark, with things like shrunken heads and shriveled hands, and a couple of times, Rogue could have sworn she saw some of the items move.
After walked down the street, which she came to realize was called Yoram Street, for about five minutes, Rogue began to realize she was being followed. She knew from training, not to speed up and try to look casual after you realize someone is following you. So she kept walking until she came to an ally, which she quickly ducked into. Once in the ally, she hid behind a dumpster that was near the entrance and that was emitting the nauseating smell of old socks and rotten eggs, where she waited.
She was not disappointed, not more then a minute later, non other then Lucious Malfoy stepped into the ally, closely flanked by four men she had seen in the pub sitting with Lucious. They immediately began to search the ally.
As they began to move further into the ally, Rogue jumped out of her hiding place, cornering the five men.
"Hey there boys, y'all wouldn't happen teh be looken' for little ol' me?"
Immediately they all sprung around and pulled out skinny pieces of wood that were about half a foot to a foot long, pure shock and rage clearly written on their faces. Now, what they were planning on doing with those sticks was beyond Rogue.
Finally after what seemed like a couple minutes, Lucious stepped into one of the dim lights and spoke, "That wasn't a very smart thing you did back there, Rogue."
Now that Rogue had time to look at him, she was very shocked to find that his nose wasn't broken at all, it looked, in fact, better then before. But that couldn't be possible, Rogue had heard it snap. She did not have time to dwell on this because one of the other men spoke in a low, dumb sounding voice.
"You obviously didn't know who you were dealing with."
Lucious continued, with a sickening smirk plastered on his face, "So, I shall give you another chance and I invite you to join me and my friends for dinner in my apartment, and perhaps a little rendezvous in my bedroom afterwards."
With this, Rogue gave out a laugh, "And y'all obviously don't know who yer dealen' with. Jesus, whah cahn't men just tahke no fer and anseh?"
With this, the smirk on Lucious' face vanished and an angry snarl appeared on both his and his men's faces. In an instant, all of the men had pulled out their stick and aimed them at Rogue.
Rogue began preparing herself for anything, or so she thought, for all at once, sparks shot out of the end of the sticks and headed strait towards Rogue. Rogue threw up her arms, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly there was a group of dull thunking sounds and the sounds of bodies crashing into trash cans.
Rogue lowered her arms to see the two hooded figures from the pub standing in front of her. She was about to express her thanks when they spun around to face her. Even now, she could not see their faces, but she didn't have time to think about it because they both grabbed her by the collar of her trench coat, and began dragging her towards the nearest apartments.
But instead of going up the stair they went right in between the two. All of the sudden, there was a loud popping noise and Rogue looked over her shoulder to see another house that hadn't been there before.
Once again, Rogue did not have time to study any thing, because the two figures began dragging her into the house right after it appeared.
Finally, one of them seemed to notice that she was looking around and immediately pointed another stick like thing at her. That was the last thing Rogue remembered before she blacked out.