X-Men

New Powers, New Responsibility

" Be careful, Rogue!"

Ice-Man managed to call out a warning before activating his ability and stopping a spider-bot from wrapping its power-ebbing rope around him.

Rogue swerved out the way as the head honcho made herself known: Ms. Marvel. In her mind, Marie wished this was yet another training simulation...it wasn't.

Really, Ms. Marvel wasn't the real deal behind this. The real villain would reveal himself, or herself, soon. But, at the moment, she was all they had.

" Watch where you're going, Skunk-hair." Hissed Ms. Marvel.

" Skunk-hair? Where d'ya get a name like that?" Rogue pulled her white streak. " This happens to be the result of an experiment gone wrong."

" Oh, yeah, he told me about you. You have the ability to absorb abilities, skills and memories of humans and mutants. There is no way you're getting near my powers. I spent too much time honing my skills for a southern bell like you to spoil my hard work." She noticed that Rogue was looking at the black jet behind her. " Ooh, lovely set of wheels. Yours?"

Before Rogue could react, Ms. Marvel made her way towards the Blackbird.

Knocking another spider-bot aside, Bobby – AKA Iceman – pulled Rogue's glove off and placed it into his bare flesh.

Rogue broke contact before it caused Bobby serious pain. Still, he was slightly worn out.

" Give 'er hell for me, babe."

Ms. Marvel sat herself inside the pilot seat of the roomy aircraft. She could see Rogue raising her arm up, as if directing her attention.

Ms. Marvel raised an eyebrow and let out an amused 'huh'. She started to flip switches, press buttons and, most importantly, close the main hatch.

" Try getting through that, Roguey-Roo." Smirked Ms. Marvel.

Her smile disappeared as the air around her dropped and the hatch-way started to crytalize. Using her steel arm – courtesy of Colossus - Rogue entered the aircraft.

However, before she could do anything – besides reverting her arm back to its original state – Ms. Marvel had managed to get the Blackbird airborne.

With a steely determination, Rogue headed towards the busy figure in the pilot seat, removing one glove as she did so.

Ms. Marvel first noticed something was wrong when she looked into the windscreen of the jet. The second note of danger was as if all her life, memories and abilities were being sucked out of her being...which they were.

Rogue had also noticed something was going wrong. OK, so whenever she touched someone, she absorbed their powers or skills (if they were human). But, this time, she found herself unable to let go, just like that time she had piloted the Blackbird at Alkali Lake. Storm and Cyclops had had to praise her and pat her on the back and help her take her hands off the steering device.

Suddenly, a brief flash of light shone through her thoughts, making her break contact. Both she and Ms. Marvel dropped to the ground.

Each time Rogue absorbs someone, she can access their memories and abilities/ skills. As she woke up, she did what she always did: check for any obvious injuries. There were none, except for a banging headache.

First, she noticed Ms. Marvel. In the scuffle, her black eye-mask had come off. Rogue recognized the face: it was Carol Danvers.

Secondly, she noticed the broken ramp and thought 'Storm's going to kill me'. It almost looked damaged beyond repair. But she knew a few people back at the mansion that could fix this baby up in no time.

Finally, as she backed away from the comatose body – which was another thing Rogue had the ability to do : check the state of the victim – she failed to remember about the hole, despite thinking about it a few seconds ago. A fresh memory – one from the life of Carol Danvers – came into her mind without a warning. Then again, most of the people Rogue absorbed, purpose or accidental, had their memories going through her mind before she lost their abilities. Anway, she fell but levitated a few feet above the ground.

She could hear three figures running towards her. One of them was Bobby. He touched her hair, which she noted had made her white streak gain a few more strands of hair.

" Bobby, she's still up there." She looked ahead, finally grasping a horrible truth. " She's gone into a coma."

Rogue awoke with a deep breath and looked down at her gloved hands. They were shaking. Taking a few more deep breaths, Rogue moved her hair – which was now slightly wet with sweat – out of her line of vision.

She looked down at the clock.

6:55AM.

Getting dressed into her usual green and white, Rouge wrapped herself up warm n her favourite hooded green coat and walked out of the mansion.

" Going somewhere, Kid?"

Rose turned to see Logan smoking on a cigar. She would've told him that it would kill him one day but, with Logan's regenerative ability, that wasn't possible.

" I was just going to visit an old friend." She looked at him and smiled. " And I would be glad of your company, Logan."

Logan smiled and flicked the cigar away. He nodded towards the garage, which had been renamed 'Scott's Corner'.

After half an hour in the car – with silence dotted here and there with occasional chat – Logan and Rogue made their way to the seventh floor of the hospital.

Rogue sighed as she looked up at the name on the door: 'Jane Doe', a usual name when no-one knows your identity.

She turned to Logan, who nodded towards the gift-shop/ waiting area.

" I'm just down there if you need anything, OK?"

Rogue smiled and nodded, thanked Logan before entering the room and sat in the comfy chair next to Carol.

" If it made you feel any better, Carol, I'd give you your life back. But I held on for too long and A) I'm so sorry and B) I've now got your powers...permanently. Just to think, you could-- well, I haven't got to that stage of testing my strength, yet. But, from what I saw when you punch Colossus – and he went through three walls – I was amazed. Hopefully, you'll find away back onto this plane, even if that means me losing these abilities. Take care, Carol Danvers."

Rogue sat with Carol for ten more minutes before deciding it was time and, before leaving, placed a kiss on Carol's head.

As she was turning away, Rogue swore she heard the heart monitor rise a little in pitch. She turned but noticed nothing out of the ordinary so she left, not seeing a pair of red eyes looking at her from a dark area of the room.

Logan noticed Rogue come out of the room. He walked up to her and comforted her.

" You all right?" Before Rogue could answer, Logan sniffed the air and taking Rogue's arm, took her down the corridor towards the stairs. " Let's get outta here. I can feel something sinister coming our way."

The End