The Best You Can Be
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the background ideas. I just write stories for my own entertainment (and hopefully yours).
Summary: Iceman gets a new room and a fun new roommate. Too bad he's still a captive in the Weapon X program and the roomie is Rogue.
Continuity: Let's see…Ultimate X-Men set waaayyy back during the weapon X ish's. Starts before Logan comes to the rescue and goes it's own way from there.
"Don't tell me" she said sitting up slightly as Bobby stumbled in. The force field sprang up behind him. "You're Luke Skywalker and you're here to rescue me."
Bobby blinked. The guards headed back down the hall. "Uh, sorry, no. I was actually looking for the sixth circle of Hell. You know, the one below where government goons kidnap you and force you to do their dirty work."
Rogue raised an eyebrow.
Bobby flushed slightly. "Where you're forcibly removed from your friends and stuck in a cell with the enemy." It had sounded funnier in his head. "Um. So, I'm your new roomie I guess."
"Looks like. You can have top bunk." She lay back down and commenced ignoring him.
He shuffled his feet for a moment, then picked up the blanket they'd given him and his single change of clothes: jeans and a tee shirt, a reward for an excellent completion of assignment. He unhooked the cot chained to the wall and tossed his stuff on it. Rogue acted like he didn't exist. He pulled himself up, careful not to use her bunk for leverage. He tried to settle on the flat surface. It would be lights out soon. Or at least he thought it would be. The walk down here had been a dizzying array of streamlined hallways and two brief elevator rides. He had no idea where he was. It could be a whole different building than the one the other X-Men were in. The thought made his brain hurt.
The cell was the same, except across from it was a featureless wall, no other cell with despondent captive mutants. In fact, he hadn't seen any other cells at all. Not on either side, not since the first elevator trip. He couldn't tell if he'd moved up or down. He closed his eyes and tried to recall exactly what he'd seen before they'd shoved him in the cell. Walls, tiled, like where he'd been before, except this was the only one. There had been no slight glow from force fields as far as he could see down the corridor, and he hadn't passed any either. Why would they build a hall with only one cell? Was it still under construction? No, there'd been other doors, regular doors of featureless metal. He squinched up his eyes trying to picture it. Two. Maybe three. Heck, probably more. He sighed and opened his eyes.
The lights were still on. The only noise was the slight hum of the electric wall. He missed his friends and their sounds. He kicked out his legs, trying to make the blanket crinkle or sigh or something to prove he wasn't suddenly deaf. He leaned over the edge of the bunk, trying to think of a question that wouldn't betray the small ball of fear in his stomach. Rogue was pale. She always looked pale, but now she really looked sick. He could see beads of sweat on her forehead.
"Hey, uh, you okay?"
Her eyes snapped open, darting about before settling on him. "What?"
Bobby leaned back a bit. "You look…"
"I'm fine." She pulled her blanket up until it almost covered her face.
She looked young. She was young, Bobby reminded himself. She was his age as near as the Professor's files on the Brotherhood were concerned. He'd read them 'cause Scott told him to, but he actually remembered a bit of hers. He was the youngest X-Man and it was surprising to find someone his age level, even if she was a bad guy. They were both pretty powerful, he figured. He'd almost taken out Wraith and his squad single handed. They'd had to get a girl his own age to take him out. He grimaced slightly remembering.
"Well get your mug back up on your own bed and quit gawkin' if you've got nothing better to do than make faces."
"I was just thinking about back at the mansion, what you did."
She shrugged slightly, as best she could curled on her side.
"It was mean, you know."
She gave him a withering look. "Look at where you are, Bobby Drake. If you haven't figured out why I did it, you've not got the good sense God gave a pig."
"I'm here thanks to you."
"You're here because they wanted you."
"And because of you."
"Whatever." She closed her eyes but the angry look stayed on her face.
He rolled onto his back. She was mad at him? He was the one wronged. He thought about motives. He saw a helicopter bursting into flames as it hit the ground, it's propeller frozen solid. He covered his face with his hands. He could be pretty mean too. "Hey." He dangled over the side again.
One green eye opened.
"Sorry." He wondered what exactly he was apologizing for. "Like, it was nothing personal, right?"
She just looked at him.
His eyes widened. His head was getting heavy from hanging there. "Well, uh, you're not going to… You won't…"
She pulled the blanket down from around her neck. Bobby tensed to pull back fast.
"Don't mess yourself." She ran her fingers along a thin metal collar he hadn't noticed before. "They got me neutralized so I don't wig out again. I couldn't do anything even if I wanted to."
"Oh. That's good."
"Yeah, it's peachy."
"No, I mean that…Well, that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, but it must have been way freaky." He adjusted himself so he could look over the edge without blood pounding in his ears. "Seriously, did you see the look on the soldiers faces when you just took off like a rocket? Right through the ceiling!"
"Straight on up through the roof." She had a little smile. "Was my downfall, if only I'd turned or something'."
"Yeah. Then they detonated your implant." His expression grew sober. "I didn't watch you come down. I didn't want to see if your head had been exploded like a melon or something. But then Peter said you were okay. You just smacked back down, didn't even have a scratch."
"Except for being unconscious…'
"You know it took them three days to get the hole completely patched up? All week everyone was on eggshells."
"Week? Is that how long it's been?" She sat up, suddenly interested. Bobby leaned back reflexively.
"Uh, yeah. Nearly eight days now."
"Oh. You kinda lose track of time down here."
Bobby smoothed out the edge of his blanket and didn't look at her. "What is here? I mean, what happens here?" The little ball of fear was starting to roll back and forth.
"You find out you let me know, okay?" Rogue lay on her back. She caught sight of his expression. "No, honest. I've been really in and out of it. I can't hardly keep track of who I am, let alone what day it is or what's going on."
"But…" Bobby curled his hands into the blanket, the word stuck in his throat. "Essex?"
Fear flashed through Rogue's eyes. "Yes." She whispered back.
