Crime and Punishment
Ok into unexplored territory here – A RYRO. With a little Victor mixed in because I JUST can't write a story without him.
I don't own them – any of them this time – but it's been fun playing with the dollies.
Chapter 1
She didn't feel the blow that knocked her out. She didn't know how long she'd been out, all she knew was that she was locked in the dark with only the companions in her head for company.
Get up kid; you need to move so you don't get hypothermic. That was Logan.
Someone find a spark – anything I can make a fire from. That was John
Shut up firebug. That was Bobby
Be patient, all will be revealed in time. You are not hurt, nor hurting. Confinement isn't the same as pain. That was Magneto
I wanna go home. That was David whining in the back of her mind.
SHUT UP WIMP! That was all of the others combined.
She was never alone for very long. Someone was always popping up to talk to her. It was actually comforting. If it wasn't for her mutation they'd call her insane, as it was, it made a great coping mechanism, and she had the benefit of all of their advice – well except David who just kept whining about wanting to go home.
She heard noises around her, but she just couldn't place what they were. She'd been on her way to work, and her boss wasn't going to be pleased she wasn't there. After the cure she'd left the mansion, she didn't belong there, not as a normal person, and she'd wanted to prove she could make it on her own. She was holding down a steady job, had her own apartment, and was adapting to normal life, and now this.
She slowly worked her way to her feet, feeling around her for any clue as to where she was. She walked slowly forward one hand in front, the other to the side, searching for a wall, a piece of furniture, even a crack in the floor to help her understand where she was. She felt her toe slip over an edge, but there was nothing for her grasping hands to touch. She did hear a slight lapping sound like very still water and knelt down to see if she could touch it.
"I wouldn't do that." Said a familiar, sinister voice.
"Sabretooth?" She said, fear lacing her voice.
"Who else? That ain't water." His voice was coming from all around her. "I wonder if the Runt will get here before the acid eats through the platform you are on?"
I'll rip his fucking head off and puke down his throat. The Logan in her head growled.
You and what army, idiot? Her John snapped back at him. She didn't know when she'd started thinking of him as her John, not the John in her head.
She willed all the people in her head to shut up. She found the edge of the ledge and followed it around the platform. It was round, and about eight feet across. She pulled the scarf she normally wore out of habit from around her neck and dipped it into the liquid around the platform. She heard a definite hiss, and when she pulled the scarf up it was about two inches shorter.
"I told ya." He said, laughing.
"Don't blame me if I don't trust ya." She snapped back.
"I sure hope the Runt gets here soon. I can't wait; I want him to see me fuck the hell out of you before I kill ya." He laughed again.
"Of course, that's the only way you can get laid." She said with bravado. She hoped Logan would be a long time getting here, death by acid or death by Sabretooth; she'd rather take her chances with the acid.
He's not acting alone or you would already be dead. The platform seems to be made from metal, so I am assuming my real world counterpart is involved in this. That means you are safe, for now. He won't want you hurt, just stay out of the acid. The Erik in her head said cheerfully. Sometimes she'd like to dump him back in a concentration camp, especially when he was so gleeful about their current situation. She slammed the door to the box she kept him in, hoping he'd stay inside this time.
She worked her way to what she considered the middle of the platform, and curled her knees against her chest. She wasn't brave anymore, she wasn't a mutant. She was just a normal girl who was very very scared.
XXXXXXX
She must have dozed off because the next thing she knew there was light in the room.
Cavern was more like it, a metal basin filled with clear liquid and eight pedestals, but only hers was occupied.
"Hey Rogue." She started at the familiar voice, not sure if she should be angry or relieved that he was still alive.
"Johnny." She whispered.
"It's PYRO!" He snapped. She looked around the room, trying to spot him.
"Don't bother; I'm in the control room. Creed got sent on an errand, so I get the dubious pleasure of watching you rot out there. Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?"
"The Cure?"
"You know why – we've discussed it a thousand times." She said without thinking.
"No – you've discussed it a thousand times, in your head. I'm the real thing, not some echo. But then again, that's all I ever was, an echo."
"That's not true." She hated not being able to see him, having this discussion without being able to look him in the eye.
"Nighty Night Rogue. I should be on breakfast watch. Maybe I'll feed you then." The room was plunged into total blackness again.
"JOHN! JOHNNY! PYRO!" She shouted but he either ignored her or wasn't there anymore. She curled up again, and didn't hide the tears flowing down her cheek. Her John was strangely quiet, without any words of comfort for her.
XXXXXXX
He watched her curl up, and almost – almost felt guilty. She was the blood traitor, the one who betrayed everything they were, just to be able to touch. Didn't she know there were people who didn't give a damned if she could touch or not, they cared anyway. He cut that thought off, just like he had cut it off for the last several years, every time he thought about her, every time he watched her and the Ice Prick making out, every time she glanced his way, every time he caressed the flames, wishing it was her skin he was caressing.
She was as addictive as the fire, and just as hypnotic. Her breath moving in and out of her body showed up on the infrared cameras like small plumes of flame, the cool tracks of her tears were like blue stains on a perfectly beautiful sculpture of flame.
He'd built that sculpture many times over the last few months, allowed the flames to lick at his skin, caress him like a lover, only to be left frustrated and alone, because it was just flame – just fire, not Rogue.
He knew what was planned for the blood traitors, Magneto wanted to execute them as an example, if they showed no remorse, no repentance for what they'd done. If they repented, if they had any regret for giving up their divine spark, their unique beauty, then they might be allowed to live. He just hoped she had that repentance - that regret. If not, well Creed would have his fun – and her blood would slowly cool.
Pyro looked at the image on the screen, she was fire – there was no way in Hell she'd ever cool. He just had to convince her she regretted what she'd done.
XXXXXXXX
You let the KID watch her – you KNOW he's involved." Victor snarled at the old man sitting in the metal chair.
"And you're not. You only want her because Logan protects her." Erik said to the larger man, Victor snarled. "She must be made to see the error of her ways – to understand that she only gave things up temporarily, and that she must be punished for that."
"Punished – I like the sound of that." Victor said with a strange snarling grin.
"You cannot have her if she repents, she will be given tasks for her atonement to mutant kind, but not harmed in any way."
"What about the others?"
"We shall see, won't we?"
"I tink you way too obsessed wid dis atonement crap. Jes' kill dem and be done wid it." Said the red eyed newcomer in the corner, Victor snarled at him.
"Some of them, perhaps, Gambit, but the Rogue is special." Erik said.
"She's a Chere, of course she's special – but dat don' mean she can't die if need be." He flipped the card in his hand. "Jes cuz she's a queen – don' mean an ace cain't trump."
"Leave the Rogue to us, you will have your chance to punish the others." Magneto said sharply.
"What about the rest of us?" A quiet olive skinned man said from the corner.
"In time, Avalanche, in time. The traitors will see the error of their ways – or will be punished." He turned the chair dismissing the three men behind him. Victor snarled, and stormed from the room. He wanted her alright, screaming and bleeding, fighting him as he ripped his claws into her ivory skin. Just the thought of it had him reaching down to adjust himself in his pants.
He walked into the control room. Pyro was sitting there, the cavern dark in front of him, only the cameras showing anything on the platforms. The second heat signature was starting to read – he snarled at that one. She didn't belong out there – she'd not taken it by choice, but to save Erik, but he insisted she had to be tried as well.
"Get some sleep kid – it's my watch." He snarled.
"Fine. I'll be back in the morning." Pyro said shortly and walked out. He didn't know what was wrong with the kid…she was alive, and where he had his chance to have a piece of her, if she was going to be punished that is.
XXXXXXX
She didn't know how long she lay there when she heard the moan. The voice was familiar – the same way Sabretooth's voice was familiar, it made her think of the Statue of Liberty.
"Who's there?"
"None of you business." Came the brusque reply.
"Mystique?"
"Yes now SHUT UP!" She heard a hiss.
"Don't touch the water its…"
"Acid I figured it out. I know where we are."
"You do?"
"Yes I helped Magneto build this place, a few years ago. I even helped him design this prison."
"Is there a way out?"
"No. What I don't understand is how we got IN."
"What do you mean?"
"The only way IN is a bridge that Magneto has to build and can only be built with his powers. Last I heard he was Cured just like you and me."
"My God. Is it only temporary?"
"Well, I'm not blue and scaly – yet."
Both women subsided into silence, implications of their imprisonment – and how they got there drawing them both inside themselves.
I thought this place was familiar. She shoved the old man back into his box. Logan was just a growling animal at this point, ready to kill, and the Bobby in her head was quiet – he had been since he'd broken up with her for Kitty, only really speaking up when it was a group discussion, almost as if he wished he could break up with her in her mind too.
It will be okay. I'm here, and I won't let anything happen to you, Baby. Her John said. Somehow she didn't think the two were exactly synced.