A/N: Thank you again to everyone who's been reviewing! I really appreciate it -- you guys are wonderful. (:

Desperate Measures

Professor Xavier and Kurt were already waiting for them as they arrived.

"You all look awful!" Kurt exclaimed, looking over the ragged team as they assembled. Logan carried Storm, who had fainted on the way back, and Scott carried Jean. Hank, Evan, and Amara could walk in by themselves, but they sported burns and scratches. Only Logan was unscathed, though he was filthy like the rest of them.

"Let's get you all to the medical ward," Professor Xavier commented, his brow furrowed. "Then we can hear about the mission."

"Professor – the authorities –" Logan started. The Professor held up a hand.

"I've taken care of it," he replied. "The police arrived on site to find a gas leak not unlike the one at Bayville High a few months ago." He glanced at Scott shrewdly, who might have blushed under the layer of mixed soot and blood on his face.

"But there is something you need to know," the Professor continued in a different tone: edgier, more worried. "Come up to the medical ward immediately."

---

"What do you mean, 'there were people inside'?!" Logan roared, eyes flashing dangerously as his claws slid out. Scott turned and slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, his expression twisted. Rogue sank heavily onto an unoccupied bed, burying her face in her hands.

"How many?" she managed, her voice rough.

"Five," the Professor answered in a flat tone. "Two security guards and three maintenance workers."

"Is it on the news?" Kurt asked after a pause. When the Professor nodded reluctantly, he continued. "What did they say?"

"Not the right time, Kurt," Logan snarled, biting off his words.

They sat without talking for a while, each alone with his or her haunting thoughts. Rogue couldn't help but think of how they could have gotten them out in time, had they known.

"The bank was closed," she moaned softly, breaking the silence. "It's been closed all week."

"I know, kid," Logan muttered. "I know."

"What're we going to do?" Scott asked hoarsely. "We can't let them get away with this."

The scene flashed before Rogue's eyes: a blinding flash of blue light, the bank going up in a raging inferno. "It was Wanda's powers," she heard Hank say. He had followed them up the medical ward with Spyke and Amara, who had fallen asleep against each other the second they slid to the floor. It was shock; Professor X had been surprised that more of their team wasn't unconscious.

"Rogue?" Her name filtered into her awareness, and she glanced up. Kurt was standing across from her, his bright eyes wide and worried as his tail lashed back and forth in agitation. She shot him a tiny, trembling smile to reassure him that she was okay. He didn't look convinced.

"You do believe it was Wanda Maximoff, then," Professor Xavier was saying to the conscious members of the team. He had interlaced his fingers – his "thinking pose," Kitty called it. Kitty…Rogue looked at the small, dirt-stained figure of their Shadowcat on the bed closest to her. Storm and Jean occupied the next two.

"No doubt about it." She didn't know whose voice it was, and she couldn't focus in on it enough to figure it out. Her eyes dropped to the floor; she absently ran her gaze over the tiled floor of the room without seeing it.

"It was her powers, Prof." That was Logan, she knew that much. "Blue light and all that."

She looked up as Professor Xavier sighed, massaging his temples. "I see there is no way around this. The next time the Brotherhood stages one of their schemes, we will have to take them captive. Taking innocent lives is going quite far enough."

"I don't think they'll be tryin' anything any time soon," Logan growled. "They ran this time. I think they were pretty well scared."

"I should hope so," the Professor replied. He turned his wheelchair to overlook his bedraggled X-Men. "Let's see to your wounds, then you should rest. All of you have taken quite a beating."

"C'mon, kid," Logan's gruff voice sounded from close by, and an arm hauled Rogue to her feet. She blinked, focusing on him as well as she could. "Let's get these burns cared for."

---

It was close to three in the morning, and Rogue had been awake for about an hour. The silence in her room unsettled her; she never thought she could miss Kitty's sleep-talking so much.

Kitty's image triggered others in her head, the most powerful of which taking place during yesterday's race through the back alleys of Bayville. Rogue couldn't remember ever seeing Kitty so terrified. She had seen her cry a few times, but those had been few and far between and nothing like her nervous breakdown in the X-Van.

It wasn't the idea of rushing into a battle, Rogue thought. We've seen plenty of those in our time. Maybe it was something to do with Scott's Demolition Derby-worthy driving.

She mused on these images for a few minutes, then quickly shut them off as they led to visions of the battle, and ultimately, the death of the civilians. How could we not have known? She asked herself again. X-Men don't go around killing people!

Maybe she wasn't an X-Man, then. She hadn't had much to do with the battle anyways; she could have checked to made sure the bank was empty. She should have checked to make sure the bank was empty. It was her fault those five people were dead. Her powers caused nothing but hurt, anyway. They couldn't be used to benefit anyone, only on a battlefield. She was a hazard to their cause. And besides, her carelessness had nearly gotten others killed before. When she had placed her trust in an outsider, in Risty. The thought of her…mother using her like that…

Rogue shoved the blankets back and slid out of her bed, refusing to dwell on those thoughts anymore. They were the ones that haunted her in her darkest hours, the ones that concealed themselves in the shadowy corners of her heart. And she couldn't let them win.

Maybe some of the others were awake, she thought, forcing herself into a different line of thought. It was worth a look, anyway.

Soft footsteps coming down the hallway answered her thoughts and she darted to the door, determined to catch whoever it was. As she poked her head out into the dark corridor, she spotted Logan continuing towards the lower levels.

"Logan!" she whispered sharply. He started, whirling around and unearthing his claws in a single, fluid motion. Seeing her in the doorframe, he sighed.

"Hey, kid," he replied, sheathing his metallic appendages. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"

Rogue shook her head. "It's too quiet in here, without Kitty. Her bothersome snoring's enough to keep anyone awake," she added defensively, then paused. "Are she and the others okay? She and Storm and Jean, Ah meant."

"Yeah, seems like it," Logan responded, rolling his large shoulders in a motion meant to release built-up tension. Rogue could see that every bit of him was on alert. "If you want, the Prof's in the kitchen. You can come ask him, seeing as you prob'ly won't be doing much sleeping."

"Might as well," Rogue shrugged, though she was secretly pleased that she wouldn't be alone at this hour of the morning. Logan resumed his pacing down the hallway without waiting for her to join him.

---

"Professor?" Rogue hesitated at the doorway of the large kitchen, gazing in. Scott was sitting on the polished table with the Professor next to him. They both stared up at the mounted television set flickering overhead. Watching the news, Rogue realized as a still shot of the wreckage of the bank took the screen. The Professor glanced over at her.

"Hello, Rogue," he greeted her with a kind smile. "Would you like to join us?"

"Ah didn't know the news was on this early in the mornin'," Rogue commented, crossing into the kitchen and looking up at the screen. The volume was low, though the phrase "catastrophic gas leak" still reached her ears.

"It's not. We taped this from earlier today," Scott replied. Rogue could guess from his untidy hair and clothes that he had slept little if at all. Probably staying up with Jean, she thought bitterly.

"How are the others?" Rogue asked after a moment of silence.

"They'll be fine," Professor Xavier replied. "It's Kitty I'm most worried about; she suffered a concussion and will be out of commission for a week or so. Ororo was simply exhausted, and Jean was adversely affected by Wanda's spell."

"So they're okay?" Rogue struggled to keep the joy spilling from her heart from leaking into her words. The Professor smiled warmly.

"Yes, they are. You fought quite a battle yesterday, Rogue," he stated, holding her captive with his gaze. She felt a blush staining her cheeks and pulled away as his eyes released her. She knew he thought of her as something like a hero, but he didn't know anything. She wasn't fit to be an X-Man.

A/N: Whoo hoo! :D Hope you guys liked it!