Most days started the same. Jean would wake. Brush her teeth. Comb her hair. Go to Cerebro and see if they could find any trace of Rogue. She'd been missing for over two weeks, and she was fearing the professor's exhaustion. Logan was riding to the border and back, tracing her scent until he lost it every time. Then he returned home and paced. Paced relentlessly, using his healing factor to stay awake.
But this day was different. The powerful machine smoked instantly. Jean powered it off, but the damage was done. It sizzled, smoke filling the room. 'What just set it off-'
'Jean? Jean, is that you?' It was Rogue's voice.
'Oh my god. Professor, Logan.'
'Red?'
'Yes, Jean?'
'Rogue just contacted me... Telepathically.'
'I''ll assemble the team.'
Remy woke with a start as he heard alarms blaring. Every now and then, this happened. A mutant would lose it, have enough, and risk death for freedom. He wasn't sure what happened to the ones that tried. He could only assume nothing good. It'd been two days since they'd taken Rogue from his cell. He prayed every morning and every night that she was just put somewhere else, not being endlessly tested on.
He shivered, thinking about how bad off she was when they first brought her. Remy was still recovering himself from whatever they did. All he could remember was the scientists overloading his powers. His hands were raw, clearly burned under the bandages. And he had no memory of his stomach wound, what it could be from. Nothing. 'Girl can' take much more of a beatin'.' He thought, thinking about her in concern. He was half dead, but she was all he could think about, how much worse this would be if she didn't survive.
He sighed, trying to keep his mind from a dark place. Even as the alarm blared. But soon, he heard the sound of metal crunching. Groaning. Being ripped apart. Crashes, slams. Yelling. Remy stood, craning his neck to try to see what the commotion was about. He heard the soldiers screaming, the sound of concrete shattering. 'What de hell...' He imagined the X-Men.
Remy knew nobody was looking for him, not in bumfuck, Canada. But they had to have been raising hell over Rogue. They wasted no time retrieving her from her vacation in New Orleans. They finally got it right. His face sobered as he thought of the stripe haired girl. 'Remy hope it wasn' too late.' He heard a spray of bullets but it didn't seem to hamper the anarchy happening outside his cell.
But he almost let out a scream himself when she appeared, hovering in the air. Her eyes wild. Her hair was a wavy mess, trailing past her shoulders without maintenance. And her eyes were greener than he'd ever seen. All of the cells behind her were ripped open. He didn't see soldiers or researchers trying to stop her anymore. With wonder, he accepts her hand and lets her pull him to a stand. He didn't do any of the work. She had lifted the dead weight of man with no effort.
'What dey do to ya?!'
"C'mon, we gotta go. Ah think the X-Men are here!" She exclaimed, her feet still raised off the ground. Without another word, Remy was hoisted into the air like a sack of potatoes. As if it took no effort at all, Rogue carried them both through the sky. She held an arm over Remy's face. "Hang on!" For some reason, she just knew she could do this. They busted through the fortified walls like paper.
His mouth hung open as he stared up at Rogue. He didn't have the heart to ask, and he was sure it was terrible, but she was amazing. She had single-handedly liberated the entire fortress. Single-handedly rescued him. She was right about the X-Men hunch, they had just touched down on the Island of Muir after her frantic communication.
It was as they had thought. When the scientists got to the 'absorbing' phase, they would be able to track her. But her mutant signature had fried the machine completely. The psychic's face frowned as she thought. 'Just what were they doing to her, how was she able to telepathically teach me? Rogue...' There were no good answers. She tried to smile at Scott as they filed off the X-Jet, Logan first.
"Rogue-" They couldn't believe what the were seeing. She was floating, hovering in the sky. Remy in her arms like a bag of laundry. The experimenting had been more extensive than they realized. It didn't seem like those powers would be fading away soon. The team watched in silence as Remy stared up at Rogue. Mutants clambered screaming and crying behind them, pouring out of the holes she busted through the walls.
The earth shook, researchers stumbling as they tried wrangling the escaping subjects. Even Logan was speechless as he stared at them. They had expected to do the breaking.
As soon as she saw them, she crashed from the sky in heap on Remy. She didn't move.
"Rogue," Remy croaked, trying to crawl from under her to see. He heard yelling, and then felt himself ripped away from her.
"Somebody, do something!" He heard a squeaky voice yell.
"Stripes, Stripes we're here, now. We gotcha. "
"Stay calm, everyone. This is why we train first aid." A level, but worried voice floated above.
"Ich schwöre, ich werde sie finden." A German rang out sharply.
"We gotta get her back to Hank, then everything will be okay." Came a voice, forcing authority but convincing himself. "But what about him?"
A sigh. "Not now, Scott. He's about to pass out. Let's get them in the jet." He tried to keep his eyes open, to see Rogue. But it was just too hard. Everything went black.
