Summary: What if, instead of heading off to get 'the cure', Rogue went to join the brotherhood? What if Magneto held off on starting the battle to let Jean recover and stabilize herself a bit? What about if Pyro found himself falling in love with his ex-best friend's ex-girlfriend...? A lot of changes would occur – that's something you can be sure of!
Pairings: Pyro/Rogue, Logan/Storm, Bobby/Kitty, (Jean/Scott)
Disclaimer: Count it disclaimed...
Recap:
"... Rogue?"
Rogue grinned. "Hey there, Pyro."
"What are you doing here and why did you just-"
"I'll just to get the point, okay? I want to join the Brotherhood."
'... Well that was unexpected.'
End Recap
From X-Men to Brotherhood: The Battle Against The Cure
Chapter 2 – Introduction to The Brotherhood
Pyro walked up to the entrance of the Brotherhood's base, Rogue in tow.
He was still surprised that she came, but after hearing her explanation (however brief it was; about how she disagreed with everything the 'cure' stood for and how – if this was the group fighting against it – she belonged here.), he somehow believed her and let her come with him.
The two came up to Magneto's large, self-made metal base inside the ground and Pyro (never John when he was around these people) gestured to the slightly mussed up section of turf on the hillside. She went over to it and lifted it up, revealing it to be a trap door leading to a set of stairs.
Quickly heading down the steps, as Pyro had a feeling Magneto was expecting him anytime now, they were suddenly stopped just before they reached the bottom by Arclight and Callisto.
"What's she doing here? She's one of them." Callisto stated, sneering at Rogue.
Rogue scowled at her, but Pyro just ignored the comment and pushed past the two in front of them, Rogue following close behind.
"Hey!"
"She's joining us."
And with that, the two former X-Men (AN: Since I couldn't say 'ex-X-Men'... XD) walked into Magneto's make-shift 'office'.
They found him finishing up on a video to send to the press and government, obviously and rather unsurprisingly having already heard about Pyro's stunt being completed.
The moment he finished talking and the tape was off, Magneto turned around and studied Rogue carefully, already fully aware Pyro would not just bring anyone here. Yet he remembered her somehow... He glanced at her hair, then smirked as the memories of her came back.
"Ah, Rogue. How kind of you to drop in..."
Pyro took this as a prompting for an explanation, having been with him long enough. "She wants to join us."
"Does she now?"
Rogue nodded curtly. "If you're against this so-called 'cure', then you can count me in."
Magneto's smirk grew. "I always knew you were a smart girl, Rogue."
--
Ororo sighed with disappointment as she watched Logan ride out of the mansion gates on Scott's old motorcycle. It was handed down to him, as he was the only adult that could and would actually ride it.
But that wasn't the only source of her exasperation. Just before he left, he stopped at her office (she was still getting used to it being hers) and told her that Rogue had left for the cure.
She sighed again. She'd really hoped that none of the students at the school would get it, but with the loss of Scott and Professor Xavier, some people must have just been driven to do so in an attempt to forget, move on, and fit in.
Ororo shook her head as she fished out Rogue's personal file. She smiled slightly at the information on how she was brought there. Storm herself had been the one to save her in Logan's car with the help of Cyclops so long ago after an attack by Magneto.
Sheesh. She was going to start crying if she kept this up!
Determinedly keeping her eyes dry, Ororo put a little note at the bottom, but didn't destroy the file in case Rogue didn't go through with it. Hey, you never know.
'Oh, do come back... Logan. Rogue.' She glanced out the window, unaware that she was making the skies darken and cloud over with her grief. 'We need you now more than ever.'
No one came to tell her that the 'forecast was for sunny skies' – and no one ever would.
--
Rogue stood in the crowd with the Brotherhood, watching Magneto get everyone hyped up about fighting. Pyro stood by his side and a little behind, as was his usual custom around here, and she was getting quickly used to that.
Just then, she spotted a familiar figure standing just ahead of her. Something about him or her (seemed like a man, with their sturdy build, but they were wearing a cloak.) called out to her in warning.
However, the moment they turned around and started pushing their way through the crowd, her stomach plummeted to the soles of her feet.
'Logan...'
Yeah, that was Logan or Wolverine ahead of her – most likely looking to get Jean back.
Speaking of which... Wasn't that Jean leaving right now?
Rogue couldn't help but be slightly stunned. This was, after all, one of her teachers from when she first came, and to think that she had died (right in front of her eyes, nonetheless!) and then was suddenly right there... To say she was tongue-tied would be a severe understatement!
The speech was just ending, so Rogue, too, pushed her way out of the crowd to see what Logan and Jean were doing here.
It looked like Logan wasn't supposed to be here, judging by the way he was dressed, but everyone was fully aware of Jean, as she had been standing right at the front.
"Jean."
Rogue watched curiously as she turned around and faced Logan.
Just then, Logan was picked up and was levitated a couple feet off the ground, almost telepathically. But Rogue knew better.
She turned around, only to come almost face-to-face with Magneto.
He said something about being able to sense him, thanks to the adamantium in his structure, but Rogue wasn't really paying attention to that. She was more focussed on keeping herself unnoticed from Wolverine's attention.
"I'm not leaving without her."
"Yes; you are." And just when he was about to cast him away and through the forest, Magneto seemed to think for a moment and add, "Oh and Rogue..."
She froze, wishing she could just shrink into the ground. 'Wait a minute... Marie- No, Rogue does not cower! She's here because she wants to be here, just like Jean.'
Rogue looked up at Magneto with a steeled face.
"Thank you for keeping an eye out for intruders."
Logan's face blanked out for a moment, then completely unadulterated betrayal, hurt, and fury crossed over his face. He broke.
Rogue watched with inward terror as Logan was hurled through the forest, just like Magneto had planned to do earlier. But she said nothing. Having seen his face make that kind of expression hurt her more than any fall could have, and she had no doubt it was the same for him.
She suddenly felt slightly numb. In a way, she was glad for it, as she didn't want to feel that pain, but she promised right then and there: she would make it up to him when all this was through. After all, she was only here to stop the cure.
Rogue glanced at Pyro quickly, then followed after Magneto, setting her pace to be the same as the fire-user.
At least, that's what she kept telling herself...
--
"They're doing the 'trap' tonight, right?"
Rogue snapped her head up from her book as she sat it in the corner of the stone base. They had returned 'home' (well, to the main stone base, anyway) just hours earlier, with their re-enforcements and were going over battle plans. For some reason, Magneto seemed to be hesitating at heading out to start the battle just yet.
Magneto nodded shortly at Callisto's question. "Yes, that's right." He said thoughtfully.
Rogue frowned and turned to face Pyro, sending him a look of confusion. 'What's going on?' She mouthed.
Pyro gave a shrug, but went over and stood beside her. "It's been confirmed that the government is going to try to 'exterminate' us."
"Pfft. Fat chance!" Rogue snickered and Pyro sent her a smirk.
"Yeah, exactly. We figured out what was going to happen only an hour after they had officially confirmed it!" He seemed proud of his group's abilities and Rogue definitely could not blame him. "Of course, we also have a plan to make it backfire on them." When he noticed her questioning stare, he added, "Just listen and you'll figure it out."
She scrunched up her eyebrows a moment in thought, but turned back to the rest of the group to listen to the night's plans.
"That's only an hour after nightfall... Correct?" Kid Omega asked, his dark eyes showing no hint of any of his emotions, as per usual.
Callisto nodded in response – she already knew that. However, there was something that was bugging her... "How did they figure it out, though?"
Magneto gave a sigh. "That, I'm afraid, I only have a guess for."
The rest of the brotherhood stared at him in confusion, their eyes expecting.
"Mystique."
Pyro sighed. "Of course." He mumbled quietly.
Rogue glanced around the room, then stood up beside Pyro. "Hey, that's right... Where is Mystique? I haven't seen her since I came."
Pyro sneered at nothing in particular. "Tch. That's 'cause she was given the cure – right out of a gun."
... That just absolutely disgustedher. But for even Pyro to be this upset outwardly (well, she knew that he would be positively livid on the inside, anyway, but)...? Did he- Oh wow, did Pyro like Mystique?!
Just then, he glanced up, confused by her silence, but the moment he saw her look of realization and shock (and not in the same way that she had felt when he told her that the cure had done it), he realized what she was thinking. The idea nearly made him want to laugh, but he suppressed it. "Oh, no, no! I know what you're thinking - I didn't feel anything like that for her. She was more like ... a mother."
Rogue blinked. 'A ... mother?' She could notimagine Mystique as a mother! "Wha- How...?"
Pyro shrugged. "She was nice."
After a moment, Rogue found out that that was all she was going to get from him and let it go. "But still... Why would she tell the government – of all people! – about Magneto's base and operations. Surely she was tricked into it...?"
The blonde shook his head. "Nah. I doubt it. Magneto and Mystique didn't part on the .. friendliest of terms."
Rogue stared at him, her eyes widening then narrowing in disgust. "He abandoned her, didn't he?"
He nodded. "Yep."
She thought about this for a moment, before turning back to the conversation before them. She didn't need to hate the leader of this whole thing a moment before a war started. That would prove to be troublesome. Though, she couldn't help but feel pity for Mystique – or Raven, as she was going by now – previous enemy or not.
"Alright, prepare yourself." Magneto was saying, facing several men. Wait a minute... They all looked identical...
One of the men, the one that Magneto had most of his attention on, nodded and all of a sudden, the five or so other identical copies started melting into his body.
'Ah... He can multiply his body. But still, how would that work? Is he the only one going to-'
Callisto cut Rogue off from her thoughts. "They are setting up a satellite feed of the co-ordinates of where we were yesterday."
The younger girl nodded, remembering the forest where she had seen Wolverine quite clearly... But it wasn't time to dwell on that.
Suddenly, the plan clicked in and she couldn't help but give an inward grin at how ingenious it was. "Ahh... I see; Magneto's planning on sending that body-multiplier into the place we're expected to be at and set up a decoy."
The other girl nodded, a slightly satisfied smirk at her intelligence was clear on her face. Then a look of surprise and minor suspicion came over her. "... Listen, I don't normally ask this, but... What's your power?"
Rogue looked slightly surprised for a moment and stared at her. "Um, wha-?"
"I sense other mutants and their powers. I can figure out their class and ability with just a glance. However, I can't figure out anything from you. Why? What is it?"
"Uh... Oh, if someone touches my skin, they get hurt. For humans, I take away their life source; for mutants, it's their ability. But it only lasts for a while... I'm probably a class two."
Callisto would've believed her, except their was still one thing wrong... "Then why can't I sense it? You have another ability, don't you?" She asked, her eyes narrowed.
Rogue winced, glancing around quickly, worry evident on her face. "Shh!" She hissed, her voice desperate, almost. Then she realized exactly what she just did, and she didn't even need to look at Callisto's face to know that it wasn't missed.
The girl grinned. "Oh?" She asked, drawing out the syllable in a lazy drawl. "Then what's with that reaction, hmm? I mean, if you have nothing to hide, why-"
"Agh! Okay, okay..." Rogue snapped, lowering her voice. "Yes, I have another power, but it's ... different."
Callisto frowned. "What, and the rest of us aren't?"
The two laughed a bit at that.
"Alright, I'll tell you what it is – if you want," Here, she received a very 'duh' look from Callisto, so Rogue continued. "But you can't tell anyone, okay?"
Callisto sighed. Obviously there was no real choice in the matter and there was absolutely no chance that she was going to pass this up – for once her own power didn't work and she wasgoing to figure out why. "Fine. But I didn't know if Magneto finds out and gets angry at you for not telling him."
Rogue's eyes widened. "He'd do that?"
Callisto shrugged. "I wouldn't doubt it, that's for sure."
"True."
"So...?" Callisto prompted.
--
Pyro watched from where he stood beside Magneto, as Callisto (a woman he wasn't too fond of. He just didn't like her, but he really didn't like anyone here... Maybe she was actually really nice like Mystique? Who knows...) and Rogue talk like old friends.
He couldn't help but smile inwardly as Rogue let out a laugh at something Callisto had said, and he was surprised when the other joined her. He hadn't seen Rogue smile since he saw her at the cure centre where he had first found her to bring her here only a couple days ago (and even that was only a sarcastic grin. On top of that, she was normally always smiling, back from what he could remember. Then again, that's when she had Bobby... Gah.). It had been worrying him, but he just brushed it off as her being home-sick or sad about Logan or Bobby.
Now, however, it seemed like all she needed the whole time was a friend. Someone she could talk to. She didn't seem like she had really any friends back at the mansion. Maybe he had seen her talk to Pete, obviously Bobby and the teachers and the professor and... Uh, was that it?
Well, in any case, if these two became friends, she would start smiling once more.
That calmed Pyro, for reasons he wasn't even sure of.
"Alright. We're all set, then."
The extra-body guy gave a grin. "And maybe I'll even get to meet you in the battle at the end of all this, too. Catch ya 'round!"
With that, the guy did a little 'salute' thing with two of his fingers and the body seemed to fly out of the room – he was already on his way to the location.
"Pretty handy, that." Pyro commented.
"Indeed." Magneto agreed. "Now... Onto plans for the next step: War."
Pyro smirked. Yes, it was about time.
"Jean!" Magneto called out. "Once you feel you're ready, we shall go. I have a few things that I'd like you to do – along with everyone else, of course. Just to prepare, you know?"
'Yes! ... Wait, what...?'
Well, it seemed Magneto had plans to improve her control of her own power, too.
'Guess that whole threat with the cure gun really did scare him after all, huh?'
Still, this meant that he'd have even more time to get to know Rogue. Something that he really had been wanting to do...
AN: This one took a bit longer than I expected – sorry about that! However, I guarantee the next will be even longer... I'm sorry! But stick with me, okay? :) Well, thanks for reading and review if you wish. Ja ne!
- Cady
Ps. Just in case you can't remember:
Callisto: Fast girl; can track/count/check on mutants. Skinny and emo/goth-ish; long hair.
Kid Omega: Spiky dude. :D (I think it's his mutant name, but I have no idea, really... XD)
Arclight: Shock wave girl. Tall and skinny, also slightly emo/goth-ish; short, black-dark blue hair.
