"Sunspot, watch your balance, you're tipping again" Remy barked. Sunspot pushed away from the wall Remy and Sam were currently scaling. It had been close this time, he'd very nearly knocked Remy off before straightening himself out. After the humiliating events with Logan's friend Nick Fury, Gambit was determined to get his team in shape. Only Colossus had been spared his grueling training session.
Today, the main team were being put through the ringer. Colossus occasionally had trouble with guilt over ethics. Something that did not bother the three of them nearly so much. Moral ambiguity came with the turf. After so many years with the Thieves, what Logan and the rest of the x-men termed as morally ambiguous was almost laughable to Remy. Still, he trained hard along with his teammates, trying to overcome the obstacle course Logan had devised for them in an enormous abandoned warehouse away from the mansion.
This was no police academy jungle gym course.
Fireballs, lasers and rough blades appeared at random intervals. Not to mention random projectiles, greased hand holds and water traps. They'd been at it for over three hours and each of them was bleeding. At least his hearing was almost back to normal. The past week had been hell, with people coming up on his right side and scaring the bejeezus out of him.
Groaning with exertion, Remy dug his toes in harder and gripped the narrow ledge above him. He ignored the agony in his arms and flipped himself up, his gloves coated in dust the knees of his pants torn. Sunspot had opted to skip the climb and test the limits of his hovering ability. He was getting better at controlling the level of his concussive blasts though he would need sunlight to recharge soon. He was a little shaky but he'd made it to the ledge. Now they just needed Sam.
Cannonball hung onto the ledge trying to get the strength to pull himself up further. After the strain they had put themselves through all morning, what should have been a simple task was proving much more difficult. His shoulders burned with the effort of holding himself up. His fingers were scratched and bleeding where he'd torn his gloves and he sported a new gash on his left side where one of the blades had caught him. He was good at quick getaways and computers. Grunting he pushed himself higher. This obstacle course shit was for the birds.
Remy slid onto his stomach reaching down to help haul Sam up onto the ledge, while Sunspot deflected honest to God arrows with small well aimed concussive blasts. He reminded himself to have a word with Logan. Seriously, when would arrows ever come into play in the real world.
With Sam finally on the ledge they paused only a moment to catch their breath before they made their way into the final stretches of the course. Eyeing the razor wire, angry projectiles and steep climb down separating them from their goal Remy squared his shoulders, the men on either side of him doing the same. Smiling a slow cool smile he cracked his neck and murmured "Bring it on"
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Logan was sitting in the war room going over reports with the Professor when Forge's voice came from the newest COM device the tech-y mutant had forced on him. This one came with a tiny screen that now sported a tense looking image of Forge.
"We've got intelligence"
"Yeah, what's going on" Logan growled.
"FOH members are throwing a little party in a nearby mutant neighborhood." he looked bleak "They decided to bring guns as party favors"
"God dammit" why wouldn't those assholes leave mutants alone. Most of the mutants in those neighborhoods had latent abilities, some with only slight abnormalities in appearance. They often grouped together because they were frightened and intimidated by the baseline humans. They weren't a threat to anyone.
"How many" he asked already thinking of who to assemble. He regretted sending Gambit and the rest of his team out for training. This was one of those moments when he could have really used their skills, trained or not.
"It looks like there's a lot of them. I think you should be prepared for quite the fight" The screen blipped out.
Charles placed a warning hand on Logan's arm "Be careful out there. With what we've learned so far, I have a bad feeling about this Logan."
"Fantastic" Logan muttered getting up from his chair.
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"Alright Stripes, suit up" Logan said gruffly.
Rogue's eyes widened almost comically, her face splitting into the biggest grin he had ever seen. "You mean it, really?" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah yeah, don't get all worked up. I need you changed and ready to go at the jet in five"
She scrambled up from her seat racing towards her room. Logan wearily rubbed his eyes. He knew he was overly protective of Rogue. From the moment they'd met he'd felt an innate responsibility for her. Watching her grow from a introverted child to a lovely young woman had filled him with no less pride than if he had actually been her biological father. His gut twisted at sending her out on live missions, particularly ones against those bastards from FOH. But she'd earned it. She'd put in the effort and passed the simulations with flying colours. Refusing to let her go now would be holding her back from her potential. He told himself she would do fine, but Charles' dire warning felt like a lead weight rolling in his gut.
God he hoped he wasn't making a mistake.
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Nervous and excited, Rogue was changed and ready and at the jet bouncing on the balls of her feet, waiting to go before Logan even got there. Her first mission! And it wasn't some wimpy little outing. They were actually going against FOH members. She tried to feel guilty about being so excited over others misfortunes, but who was she kidding. After all the training and hard work, she was actually doing something worthwhile!
The rest of the team arrived shortly after. Jean and Scott, Kitty's Pete and Logan all piled into the jet with her. The ride was quick and in no time they were landing and filing out getting their first good look at the damage.
It was not what she had been expecting. Everything was chaos. The drills she did in the Danger Room seemed so ordered and structured compared to the mayhem breaking out all around her. She dodged as bullets whizzed into a nearby building and pieces of brick went flying.
People were running and screaming everywhere. It was so loud she couldn't hear herself think. They seemed just as terrified by her and the other X-men as they did by the psychotic FOH members toting guns around like they were toys. Her team tried to make up a proper formation for attack but they couldn't hold it the way she had practiced in the Danger Room. A member of FOH would swing a gun wildly and whoever was closest would have to switch from offensive to defense of the civilians running about in terror.
Jean was working double time, shielding the team as well as any civilians in danger while Scott was shooting the weapons right out of the FOH members hands.
It wasn't what she had expected but Rogue was holding her own. She'd knocked out three of the FOH without using her mutation. She did not want whatever it was that ran through their minds in her head.
She'd just tackled an angry looking man with an honest to God Uzi, to the ground, when she spotted the cage. It looked like one of those trucks you see on the highway they use to ship livestock in. With one major difference. Instead of farm animals, there were people inside. A second look confirmed that at least some of them were mutants. Her temper piqued and the fist she slammed into the guy underneath her hit much harder than was strictly necessary to incapacitate him.
That's what this was about. Not some random show of intolerance which would have been bad enough. No, they were here taking prisoners. She'd heard of what a mutant was worth on the black market. They were sold to places like Genosha, where they were suppressed with collars and forced into hard labor. One of the ugly truths in this world. One she had hoped never to have to see firsthand.
"Scott" she yelled "We've got hostages"
He whirled in her direction and saw the shipping crate filled with people.
"God dammit" she heard him mutter as he ran towards the cage. " Everybody get to one side!" he ordered. The frightened captives scrambled over one another in their haste to do his bidding. They had been watching through their bars and most knew what it was Scott could do with his eyes. A quick optic blast and the door of the crate was a smoking ruin.
She wasn't sure what she had expected to happen next, but the rushing hoard of mutants shoving their way out of the now open crate was not it. Groaning she realized they had just made things much more complicated for themselves. The FOH members still standing began to shout as they realized their captives had been set loose. The poor frightened mutants darted this way and that trying to escape the explosions and fighting. One FOH member started firing in their direction and only Colossus stepping into block the spray of bullets saved them.
"Note to self, hostages get freed after the fighting" Rogue muttered to herself as she threw a punch stopping a man from cold cocking a small boy in the side of the head. "How do you sleep at night" she demanded of the unconscious form as the boy scampered away.
The FOH's numbers were seriously dwindling now, but that didn't seem to matter to the remaining fanatics. They had a death before surrender attitude that was beyond terrifying. The section in front of her finally clear, Rogue turned to help her teammates.
Jean was holding off an enraged member as best she could. For a baseline human he was proving to be ferocious. He had the wild hunted look of an animal backed into a corner and he gnashed his teeth at Jean like a beast.
"And we're the monsters" she muttered taking off at a sprint. She dodged reining projectiles pulling at her gloves, intent on taking the man out completely when a tiny woman stumbled out into her path.
Her hair was pure white, though she couldn't have been much older than Rogue's twenty one, and fell in soft spikes to her shoulders. High on her left cheekbone Rogue could see a smattering trail of crimson hearts that varied in size as they trailed up into her hairline. The woman looked up and Rogue was struck by the most startling blue eyes she had ever seen. So blue that they didn't seem real. What was even more startling than the colour though was the imminent fear.
The girl was terrified. This was no FOH member. She must be one of the captive mutants.
Rogue opened her mouth to reassure the terrified woman, but before she could get a word out the fey like creature sprung into action slamming a conjured pink arrow into Rogue's chest. Shocked by the aggressive move, Rogue gasped, more in surprise than pain. She hadn't had time to stabilize herself, and the hit square to her chest caused her to lose her balance. She stumbled back, tripping over scattered debris, her head hitting sharply against the half wall behind her. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the sound of Logan roaring her name and the startling feeling of the arrow dissolving into her chest.
Then there was only darkness.
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Author's Notes:
Things aren't looking so good for our leading lady. Hang in there Rogue!
