Tso, I wanted to write this when I first saw the X-Men movie, but didn't.
I've been letting Final Attempt soak in its own over-the-top tech level, but recently bought all three X-Men movies in a box, and just watched the first one again . . .

Final Attempt

Aside

Rogue

By Suika Roberts

X-Men, in any of its incarnations, isn't mine. Sailor Moon and Buffy:tVS aren't mine. Texas A&M University isn't mine, but has a good SF club.

This universe, this story, and the now twenty-seven year old Honda motorcycle are all mine.

Rogue, as she'd been introducing herself for weeks now, smiles down at the man in the worn leather jacket, `A couple days. Ah've been staying with a friend of a friend, but she's going the wrong way home for break, so Ah'm gonna have to hitch again.'

`Where're you headed?'

`Alaska by California.'

He smiles, looks down, shakes his head, `If you don't mind being stuck with me on a motorcycle for fourteen hours, I could get you as far as Albuquerque.'

`Ah don't know.'

`I'll be here for coffee before I leave in the morning, probably five or so, if you make up your mind,' he finishes his coffee, and picks up his bag, scrapping his books together, and throws them in it, then drops a five on the table.

`Thanks,' Rogue smiles, `They're always nicer with a good tip.'

`Yep.'

FAA:R

She's not there when he arrives the next morning, and he shakes his head at hoping she'd be there, `Goof.'

He orders pastry, and sucks down his first cup of coffee. He's refilling it when Rogue walks in, and spots her when he turns around, `Still need a ride out of here?'

She hefts her duffle, `Got room for about a hundred and fifty pounds of stuff?'

`I think we can get that tied down somehow,' he turns towards the counter, `Pastry?'

FAA:R

`Grab something to eat, we'll be back on the road soon,' he says, stopping at the gas pump for the third time this trip, letting her dismount first before he does the same, then rocks the twenty year old Honda motorcyle up on its centerstand. He pulls off his helmet, sets it on the curb next to Rogue's borrowed one, then fills the tank, adding just under four gallons, before heading inside to pay.

FAA:R

`This is Rogue, she's on her way to Alaska,' he introduces her to an even shorter woman, `Can she crash here for a bit?'

Rogue fiddles with the helmet in her hands, and his mother smiles, `Sure.'

`Frontier?' He asks his little sister, also back from Texas A&M.

`Sure. Muriel's been acting up again, so we'd have to take the bug,' she turns to their mother.

`If you don't mind?' she asks Rogue.

`Sounds fine tah me,' Rogue smiles.

FAA:R

He looks up from his laptop, `The next bus to L.A. is at eleven something.'

`Ah couldn't . . . '

`It's not much, so,' he smiles, `Please?' he suddenly looks down, `Unless you mean you'd prefer to avoid the bus?'

`That's fine, but you've already . . . ' she trails off.

`Hmm?'

`Thanks you.'

FAA:R

Rogue hands back the helmet, and he bungies it down, then holds the door as she walks into the long hexagonal building, stretching from corner to corner of its square lot. Inside the decor is late industrial modern, tending to decay, like the building's ugly brown exterior.

After a moment's hassling over the passenger's name, he hands Rogue the ticket, `Here you go.'

`Thank you,' she looks at the ticket, `Rogue Jones?'

`It'd be presumptuous to make you family without asking,' he shrugs.

`It'd be nice to have a family like yours.'

`Thanks.'

`Why'd you do all this?' she smiles, `If you were a little different Ah'd say Ah'm not selling what you're buying.'

`So you're saying that I didn't get a pretty girl to hold me for hours, keep me company on a boring trip, and,' he pauses, smiling up at her, continues when she smiles back, `smile at me? For less than the cost of dragging my family out for dinner a few times?'

Rogue laughs, `OK, you got me.'

`Good,' he looks down, shakes his head, then sets a hand on her shoulder, goes up on tiptoes, and plants a quick peck on her forehead.

He staggers back, `Woah, headrush.'

After an awkward pause, he continues, `Be safe, OK?'

`I'll do my best,' Rogue nods, catching up her duffle to get on the bus.

FAA:R

Pulling out of the bus station in Phoenix Rogue finds herslef, again, trying to walk her knees up the back of the seat in front of her, curling up in the seat in a way that really isn't comfortable for someone as tall as she is. That, however, isn't as annoying as the way she catches herself looking, rather surreptitiously, at all the women she comes across. It makes her wonder if he, the boy who's name she still can't bear to think, might have been gay, because he's still knocking around in her head, `I'm even thinking like him, and talking to myself. Bah humbug,' and, she finishes the thought, didn't influence her this badly.

Could be just that she's queer, too, of course.

FAA:R

`Look, the next bus out is tomorrow, so,' she pauses, then `I could put you on the bus to Sunnydale, and if you're lucky you'll make the bus out of there to L.A. at midnight. It's really tight, but you might make it. If not, you'll be able to catch the next one out, at ten fifteen the next day.'

`And how long would that take?'

`If you catch the next bus out of here, you'll get to L.A. at five-thirty tomorrow evening. If you catch the next one out of Sunnydale, you'll get there at eight twenty in the morning. If you miss it, you'll get there around seven fifteen in the evening tomorrow.'

`Send me to Sunnydale, then.'

`Door five.'

FAA:R

It is 12:30 when the bus pulls into Sunnydale, and nearly one by the time Rogue walks out off the bus station onto the vacant streets.

She doesn't think much of it until a tall redhead steps out of an alleyway, walks up, smiles, and leans into her personal space, placing her lips to Rogue's neck before flashing, an endothermic, no, exothermic reaction, into a scattering of ash and heat.

-Hello,- a strange voice says, -and who are you, pretty girl?-

`Rogue,' she answers, staring at the scattering ashes. Even the bones burned up.

-I'm Marie,-

`That was my name, too,' Rogue answers, turning to look for who's talking.

-Shall we adjourn to my place?-

`You have a place? And where are you?'

-That's odd.- Marie's voice is puzzled, -Where'd you go?-

Rogue kicks through the metal bits left in Marie's ashes, -You've been talking, so it can't have been you who went *Poof*-

`Ah think that was you,' Rogue answers.

Rogue drops to her knees, and gathers up the metal bits, -I hope I didn't lose- Marie stops speaking as she picks up a ring, both it and the green stone covered in soot, and brushes it off with gentle gloved fingers, -Good.- She goes to slip it onto Rogue's ring finger, then remembers the gloves and slips it into Rogue's coat pocket along with the rest of the jewelry and coins.

`What,' Rogue pauses, `Who's was that?'

-Sophie's.-

They brush off Rogue's gloves and stand, `What was with the whole *Poof* thing?' Rogue spreads her fingers for the "poof."

-Vampires go *poof* when they die.-

`You were a vampire?'

-I am a vampire.-

`But you're *poof*'d.'

-But I'm still here.-

Two young men with bumpy faces slip around the corner, `Hey, fresh meat, what're you doing out at night in this town?'

`Ah just got off the bus,' Rogue says. Marie smiles, `So I'm gonna take care of you ickle babies.'

`Full of yourself, ain't ya?' the one on the left says, starting forward. His buddy is a little slower, but attacks as well.

Marie grabs the first one to reach her, grabs him by elbow and hair, and bites him on the neck. He turns to dust almost before she can break skin, and she turns in time to take the other's fist to the face. Her head rocks back and he turns to ash.

Rogue sways, `No, I'm not sharing with fucking ickle baby vamps!' Marie almost yells, then Rogue says more softly, `What was that about?'

-Almost had them in here, too, but I booted 'em.-

`How'd you do that?'

-Like this, just,- and Marie demonstrates.

`Huh,' Rogue looks up at the sound of quiet footsteps, `More vamps?'

`No,' the blonde says quietly, `Not vamps.'

-Slayers,- Marie says, -One girl in all the world, destined to kill the vampires and demons and blah, blah, blah.-

`Why're there two of them, then?'

-A new one pops up whenever one dies. Buffy was too blonde to stay dead.-

`Oh.'

`What's a vamp doing with a heartbeat, pretty girl?' the dark haired one asks.

-She's Faith. We sorta know each other,- Marie considers, `Upgraded the digs. Gotta cool roomate, a heartbeat, and vamps turn to dust when they touch the bod.'

`Oh? Why're you in there, Em?'

`Tried to steal a kiss, work my way up to a bit of nookie and blood, but it didn't work out,' she shrugs.

`Who's the girl, then?'

`Rogue,' Rogue answers for herself, `It's nice to meet you.'

`Could you come with us for a bit? I think Giles and the girls would like to get a look at you,' Buffy wraps her hand gently about Rogue's upper arm, and frowns at the tingle, `Faith, come here.'

Rogue shivers, shifts a step away, and rubs her bare elbow.

`What is it, B?'

Buffy twines Faith's fingers in her own, and brings both hands up to Rogue's distracted cheek.

Faith shivers, too, `That's real strange.'

Rogue steps back again, `Don't. I kissed my boyfriend . . . he was in a coma for three weeks. I can feel him in my head.'

`Oh. I'm sorry,' Buffy looks suddenly contrite.

`The Buffy in my head doesn't expect you to look that cute, but the Faith is like, all "damn B's so cute, I want to just hold her and kiss her 'til she smiles" and Marie's saying she's sorry but she can't quite keep that from happening yet,' Rogue looks up from where she's taken to studying her shoes, `Sure, I'll go with you. Maybe the magic girls will be able to do something.'

FAA:R

`Who's this?' Giles answers the door.

`Are Willow and Tara here yet?'

`They arrived a few minutes ago,' he steps back, `I thought you said this had to do with Marie?'

`It does, kinda,' Faith steps in, then turns to their guest, `Rogue-Marie?'

Rogue follows her through the door, `Yes?'

-I've never been invited into this house,- and she goes out the door, then steps back in, `That's odd.'

`It is. You must be mostly human,' Buffy says, `still.'

`Mostly human?' Giles asks, confused, `What are you talking about?'

`I'm a mutant, I absorb people's memories, power, life-force. I absorbed Marie's demon, and she's in my head, but she talks back, unlike the other people in my head, who are just kinda me, only weird me.'

`So you're a vampire?'

Rogue concentrates, feels her fangs grow as she shifts, then smiles, `See?'

`Damn, you make a pretty vamp, Rogue-Marie.'

`Rogue-Marie?' Willow's voice precedes her into the hallway, `Did you bring us a new girl, Faith?'

`Since when have I ever brought girls home?' Faith smiles, `Buffy brought me home, you brought Tara home, and then you just sorta moved in with us.'

`But she's a pretty, fangy, vampy girl, of course you brought her home!' Tara strokes her fingers over the girl's cheek, and shudders.

Willow does the same with Rogue's other cheek while she's distracted, `Wow, that's.'

`Gives you the wiggins, doesn't it?' Rogue says, `That's why I don't like people touching me anymore. I know way too much about too many people already without having a little copy of them to carry around in my head.'

`Oh, sorry.'

-Let me see something,- Marie reaches out, and touches Willow's cheek, -Is that better?- she asks, already knowing it is.

`Yes, it's just energy.'

`You say that you left your boyfriend in a coma? How long did you kiss him?'

`Just a few seconds.'

`How long have you had your fingers on Willow's face?'

`Longer,' Rogue drops her fingers quickly, `She's just got so much energy.'

`Lets get out of the hall,' Tara grabs Willow and Rogue with either hand and pulls them towards the couch.

FAA:R

-I'm hungry. Not as hungry as I should be after not eating for a couple days, but hungry.-

`What do you eat?'

Buffy looks up at the sudden comment, turning from where everyone is doing a quick check of a few prophecies.

-Blood.-

`I don't know where I'll find that.'

-I don't need much, a pint or so, less if it's human.-

`Eww, that sounds . . . ' Rogue pauses, `Really good,' she shivers.

`So you need it? We've got some goat's blood in the fridge.'

`Goat?' Rogue follows Buffy from the room.

`Spike likes it, at least,' Buffy pours some into a mug, then slips it in the microwave, `and Willow'll touch it, unlike the pig's blood, even though it's more expensive.'

`Oh,' Rogue looks at her hands.

`I don't bite people for admiring my girls,' Buffy says, and hands over the cup.

`Not even vampires?' Rogue takes a sip, then makes a face.

`Here,' Buffy's hand twitches, and, with a little *snick* there's an open knife in it, `Hold out the mug,' she waits, then holds her other wrist over it and slashes it to the bone, bright red arterial blood gushing from the wound for a few seconds before it heals up.

Buffy licks her wrist clean while Rogue stares, mug of blood almost forgotten, `Drink up.'

`Oh, right,' Rogue takes another sip, thick, sweet, spicy, slayery. She smiles, `You taste soo good.'

`Then you'd better keep me around if you want more.'

`I always keep the ones that taste good around,' Marie answers, her colonial twang suddenly pronounced.

FAA:R

`How old are you?' Rogue asks, since Marie's memories aren't just hers like the rest.

-Two hundred and forty or so.-

`That's how long you've been a vamp?'

-I was born on July Fourth 1756. I was turned at my twentieth birthday party.-

`So you've been a vamp as long as we've been a country.'

-Yes.-

`That's just cool.'

-I'm glad you think so.-

FAA:R

`I'll go with you,' Buffy announces.

`What? I can manage on my own, I'm not as weak as I was,' Rogue, in fact, is much stronger than an untrained person as any right to be, vampiric strength layered in borrowed slayerness.

Buffy leans in and kisses Rogue on the lips, holding the kiss for several seconds, pulls back, shaking and spent, `How would a normal human have coped with that?'

`I think they'd have died,' Marie answers, because Rogue is still busy enjoying the kiss that just broke.

`So I shouldn't leave you somewhere you could get hurt, and accidentally hurt someone in turn.'

`Right, right,' Rogue agrees, still dazed.

`Now, before you know, we're willing to let that one pass, but if you get to kiss Buffy we get to kiss you. If you get up to anything more with Buffy, it's OK, so long as there's reciprocity.'

Buffy just looks confused, and Rogue has trouble deciphering that comment, `What?'

`You can't just share nookie with Buffy, you have to share with all of us, too.'

`Oh, right!' Buffy says, turning to Rogue, `I belong to them, and if you want me, you need to belong to them, too.'

`Oh. Wow,' Rogue looks to Faith and Tara, who each nod.

`Wow,' she says again, softly.

FAA:R

`Mabel? I'm bailing on the summer term. See if you can get me a refund?' Buffy nods at the phone, `Uh huh, her . . . yeah, it'll be OK . . . I'll call when I get somewhere . . . You too,' she smiles, `Love you too, Bye dear.' she presses the button to end the call, and slips her phone into her pocket.

`Let's go,' she hefts her external-frame pack and turns towards the road, `You said we're hitching, so,' she gestures Rogue to proceed.

FAA:R

`So this is Loughlin City?' Buffy asks the trucker.

He nods, `Yep. End of the line, pretty much.'

`Suck. Any way north without walking?'

`Yeah, there's a logging company, they run trucks back and forth twice a month, should get you a couple hundred miles further.'

`Thanks, man. I appreciate it.'

`Any Darkie's a friend of mine,' he says, and touches his leg, `One of your medics patched me up real good in Afganistan, so.'

`There was a Canadian force sent into Pakistan, wasn't it?'

`Yep. We were supposed to watch this diplomat, and I was just a baby private, and we got blowed up real good. The Darkies were on-scene within five minutes, and they put my leg back on, good as new. Fought like demons, they did.'

`Thanks for the lift anyway.'

`You're welcome.'

Rogue catches Buffy's pack, steps aside, and hands it back, `Thanks, mister, Ah appreciate it, too.'

`Glad to make a pretty girl smile.'

`It is a nice feeling, ain't it?'

He ruffles Rogue's hair, and she ducks and scowls, pleased that she didn't suck any of his energy when he accidentally touched her skin.

Buffy leads the way, not shivering in her brown short-sleeved t-shirt, black BDU bottoms, and boots.

Rogue follows, shivering slightly at the sight, despite the warm coat and poly-pros she's wearing.

The bar is warm inside, despite the steel construction, and full of lumberjack types, clustered on bleachers around a chain-link fighting ring. A flannel clad body is hauled out, and someone's offering up another chance to fight `The Wolverine.'

`Want to give it a go?' Buffy asks Rogue.

`Nope, not right now.'

`Aww, it might be fun.'

`You give it a go, and I'll see how he fights.'

`You just like to see me beat people up.'

`You're so good at it.'

`That's beside the point.'

Their argument is interrupted by a big bald man throwing down his shirt and stepping into the ring.

`Don't hit him in the balls,' the announcer whispers to him.

`I thought this was a no-rules match,' he growls back.

`It is. It'll piss him off, however.'

`Good.'

Buffy and Rogue look at each other.

`So the old man's the favorite, hmm?' Marie says, softly, `Not surprised.'

`You know him?' Buffy asks.

`Met him a while back, after the war.'

`Which war?' Rogue asks.

`Civil war. He was kinda old then, for a human, was in the Mexican war as a Sergeant, was a Union officer, then left service when the Army shifted to hassling Indians rather than hassling southerners.'

`What's he doing here?'

`That's what I'm wondering. That and why he smells like steel.'

The bald man gets up again, and leads with a couple body blows, then, when his opponent drops, kicks him in the balls.

Marie winces, `He shouldna done that.'

`Oh?'

`Unless he's mellowed a lot, he's gonna get really hurt.'

Baldy drops after a few blows, gets up, and then goes back down and stays that way.

There are boos as he's tossed out of the cage.

Buffy smiles, and walks up the steps into the cage. She pulls out a card, and shows it to both the announcer and The Wolverine.

`We've got ourselves a Darkie! Her card says "Skilled," and she asks if we'll let her fight!'

`Bring it,' The Wolverine growls.

`Fight!' someone yells. The rest of the crowd takes up the chant, `Fight, Fight, Fight!'

`Ready?' the announcer asks.

Both fighters nod.

`Begin!'

A flurry of blows, and the two separate, smiling, `You're good, kid.'

`Not bad, old man.'

The Wolverine smirks, charges, grabs a wrist, and throws for the fence.

Buffy's got him before he finishes the move, and continues the throw, adding a quick kick to the man's jaw.

He hits the fence with a *crash* of steel, and drops to the mat, rolling to his feet easily, shaking his head and smiling, `Good hit.'

`Come get another,' Buffy grins, then backflips twice, hitting the chainlink feet first, shoving off in an elegant display of strength, and slaps him hard in the back of the head on her way past.

He drops to his face, then gets up after a few seconds, `Haven't had that happen in a while,' he says, and returns her grin and come hither gesture.

FAA:R

`You owe me my money,' Baldy tells The Wolverine, as the bar clears out.

`Oh?' The Wolverine drinks his beer, ignoring the other man.

`Nothing human should be able to take hits like that and have nothing to show for it.'

`So you're saying I'm not human?' Buffy gets in his face, five foot nothing of soft curves and bad attitude, `How about I rip your balls off and feed them to you to make sure you don't pollute that human gene pool you seem worried about?'

`You're trained,' he tries to backpedal, `This freak-'

`Fought me to a standstill for nearly thirty minutes. I think you owe him an apology.'

`Oh,' he grabs his coat, and his buddy, and leaves.

Buffy growls, deep in her throat, and starts after him.

`Let him go, kid.'

`But.'

`Let him go. Name's Logan.'

`Buffy. I got another name, but it's embarrassing.'

`Heh. More embarrassing than "Buffy?"'

`She thinks so,' Marie smiles at Buffy, nearly the same height, since she's sitting and Buffy's standing, `We're Rogue-Marie. Haven't seen you in a long time old man, what've you been up to since I last saw you?'

`Where'd I meet you?'

`New Mexico. I was taller, red hair, green eyes, couldn't go out during the day.'

`I've never been to New Mexico,' he takes a swig of his beer, `Or at least I sure don't remember it.'

`Oh? What happened, and when?'

`I don't know what, but it was about fifteen years ago.'

`Then give us a ride north and I'll tell you about how I dragged you home to the folks I was shacked up with after you tried to fight the U.S. Army.'

`When was that?'

`1872.'

`A lie like that's worth a ride, if you're going north.'

`We're trying for Anchorage.'

`Why?'

`To say Ah did it,' Rogue answers.

FAA:R

It is a few hours after dawn, and Buffy's driving, slowly, her white-knuckled grip having relaxed after an hour with no accidents, but Logan's still got his seatbelt on, after the excitement of Buffy figuring out the three on the tree shift pattern by error and trial, with frantic apologies to the truck each time she ground its gears.

`Sorry, truck,' she's muttering, `I mostly drive an auto, but Willow lets me drive her Ghia occasionally, and she shifts easier. She won't pull that much stuff around, though, and can't fit three people in the front unless someone's in the passenger's lap, so,' she gives it a little more gas to get up a slight hill.

About halfway up she yells, `Fuck!' so the other two look at her the split second before she hits the falling tree at a firm fifteen miles an hour.

Buffy's out of her belt almost instantly, as is Rogue, but Logan's belt isn't cooperating.

`Lemme go, bastard,' he gripes, mashing the button and wiggling the belt.

All three of them notice the faint hissing at the same time, and turn to look in the back of the truck. `You leave your propane bottle on?' Buffy asks in disbelief.

`Shaddup,' Logan continues to fight with his belt.

`Buffy's rules of the road, number two,' *snick*, `Always carry a knife,' she reaches out for the belt at his shoulder.

`Got that one down,' Logan says, and a blade slips out of the back of his hand, and he cuts the belt between his legs, and rolls out the passenger door.

`Mutther,' he mutters, staring at the tree, and the tears in the bark over the break, scanning for trouble.

`There's something burning in the truck,' Rogue says.

`Fuck,' Logan says, and starts walking up the road away from his truck, `You guy's coming?'

`Trailer!' Buffy yells, even as Rogue runs to the back.

Vampiric strength breaks the latch on the ball hitch, and the two girls walk the trailer quickly away from the truck, right into, `Whell, aren't you tall, blonde, and ugly?' Buffy asks.

The comment doesn't make the man any happier than he started out, and he tosses the trailer over in a crash of motorcycle and luggage.

`Strong, too,' Buffy smiles at him, `Now why are you out here in the middle of nowhere causing trouble?'

He charges, and Buffy grabs him by his coat and belt, flinging him into the back of Logan's truck, collapsing in the back wall of his camper shell and letting out a gust of flame.

`Damn, now I'm gonna have to rescue him if I'm gonna get any answers out of him.'

*Crash* a body hits the front of the truck, and Rogue backflips to get a better view, coat swirling.

`He's got a really long tongue,' Logan gestures at the man on the hood, `Let me get him offa there.'

Rogue runs towards her duffle, unzips it, and extracts two zip-cuffs, the plastic stiff with the cold as she tries to bend them into shape. One of them snaps as she runs up to Buffy who's dragged blondie to the side of the road. Two dark-clad figures appear on the road, they appear to be in uniform, unlike the two just downed, so Rogue hands the unbroken restraint to Buffy, who zips it tight on her captive's wrists, behind his massive back.

Logan's captive kicks backwards, impossibly flexible, and nails him in the balls, loosening his grip slightly, and runs, impossibly grabbing Buffy's captive with his tongue and slinging him into the trees.

`Damn, B, think he's a gigolo?' Rogue asks, channeling Faith in her shock.

Buffy breaks, laughing so hard she falls down as the two figures in black leather approach, only to be knocked down as Logan's propane tank puts paid to his truck.

FAA:R

`What, you guys think that a cool name will keep your enemies from finding your ratty asses, when you've been operating out of the _same_ _fucking_ _place_ for nearly twenty years? When your greatest enemy used to work with you?' Marie asks incredulously, `I'd move every ten years or so, back in the day, even when it was just me and Sophie.'

`Sophie?' Charles Xavier, "Professor X" as he styled himself, asks.

`Keep out of my head, young man,' Marie says, `She was my . . . everything, while she was alive. Everything revolved around her for nearly sixty years, and then around her memory until I failed to kill myself and decided she'd like me to be happy.'

`Oh?'

`Yes.'

`You're gonna have to tell me about her,' Rogue says.

-I will,- Marie smiles, -You need to learn how to talk to me without speaking aloud.-

-Or broadcasting,- the Professor's voice says.

`Damned telepaths,' Marie grouses.

The Professor smiles.

FAA:R

`So, how'd you manage this?' Buffy asks, glancing around the room they'd been assigned, a few doors down from the one Logan's occupying.

`That's for me to know, and you to wonder about,' Marie says, smiling, even though she did nothing to influence the room selection.

`So, how thick do you think the walls are?' Rogue asks.

`Why, do you think Doctor Grey is a screamer?' Buffy smirks, a faint pink tinging her cheeks as she teases.

`That looks to be more Scott's gig,' Marie muses, `But I wouldn't mind finding out first hand.'

`So you hope the walls are thick enough, too,' Buffy laughs.

`Well, Rogue _is_ underage, and they seem to be a little odd around here.'

FAA:R

`That's kinda cool,' Rogue looks up from the ice rose on her desk, smiles over at Bobby, and pulls off one glove, `Share?'

`I'm not gonna end up in a coma, right?'

`We should be able to just grab your powers and your knowledge of how to control them. Reach up and use your fingertips,' Rogue says, speaking for both herself and Marie, `We'll never know for sure unless we try it.'

Bobby smiles, and brings his fingertips up to touch Rogues.

FAA:R

-So, how did your experiment with Bobby work?- the Professor's voice whispers at the edge of Rogue-Marie's mind.

-Got a snootfull of his surface thoughts, too, but not much more,- Marie answers, -Shoulda known he was thinking of sharing nookie more than anything else.-

-Nookie?- the Professor's voice is amused.

-Emily loved that term. She said it was more than having sex, but less than making love.-

-Oh,- there's a blush in the Professor's mental voice.

FAA:R

`They make a machine to do that, you know,' Buffy tells Rogue as Marie sews the first of four long, thin pockets into the back of Rogue's coat with careful little stitches.

`She doesn't want them to show on the outside,' Marie says, tying off the seam.

`It's called a blind-stich machine, and the costumer should have one.'

`They've a costumer?'

`What superhero team doesn't?'

FAA:R

The Fox News camera crew is very careful not to film the other half of the demonstration, who, the ones in black coats with yellow stars, or pink triangles, who's signs read things like, "Registration, Confiscation, Genocide", "Germany, China, Cambodia all registered the people they feared", and "First they came for the Jews"

`Senator Kelly!' One of them, a pretty young eurasian woman in a black coat, her yellow star superimposed with a pink triangle, and a capitol M drawn over her right eye with black magic marker, `How dare you ask what we're afraid of! How dare you! Have you ever been afraid to walk down the street with your wife? Was your great grandmother gassed? Was your grandfather put in an internment camp in Nevada? How dare you!'

One of the guards slugs her, hard, in the face, and shoves her back into the mass of Kelly's supporters.

They back off a little at the sight of glowing green hands, and a red haired woman leads the charge to save her, flanked by a blonde man and a Japanese girl who cracks one over enthused sign-wielder with a folded fan.

The redhead helps her up, and the blonde slides under her other arm, long black coats prominently displaying a pink triangle and a yellow star, respectively, the the Japanese woman guarding their retreat.

Senator Kelly winces, then boards the waiting helicopter.

Fox News doesn't show that, but it airs on McNeil-Leher, and the four friend's retreat is on half the newspaper covers in the morning.

FAA:R

`So,' Marie starts to exposit, to her rapt audience of Buffy and Rogue, leaning back comfortably against a tree in the yard, `I was born on the fourth of July, 1756. I was turned outside my twentieth birthday party, on the Fourth of July 1776,' she smiles, `So you can say that I was born, twice, on the Fourth of July.

`I'm a weird vamp, I don't know why, but I've always had more self-control, more appreciation of waiting for something, rather than being instant gratification vamp. So I put off killing my family, even though I was pissed at them for not letting me go with Sophie to Europe, for being themselves, for a host of other minor and major complaints, and wandered around for a few months killing British soldiers and officers. When I got back, I found that they'd all been arrested, my baby nephew had died in prison, my brother, father, mother and grandfather had been executed for treason against the crown, and my brother's wife had been killed "attempting to escape." That pissed me off, so I killed all the soldiers and jailers without eating any of them.

`I only killed about five thousand British troops and Hessian mercenaries during the war, never more than five a night and there were periods of up to a month where I didn't whack any of them.

`Their generals all had anti-vampire charms, and most of their higher officers as well, but I caught a couple of them anyway.

`After the war I ate British sailors and merchants, and discovered that most whores of the time, being quite willing to break the laws of god and man for money, were unopposed to consorting with demons for money, which I had a lot of. Most of them, in fact, were perfectly willing to trade a little affection for nothing more than a bath and a bed to sleep in for the day.

`For dinner and a little money I'd get a little nip, too, most times.'

`So you didn't kill girls?' Buffy asks.

`Don't kill boys, either, unless they're asking for it.'

-Asking?- Rogue asks.

`Confederate soldiers, British soldiers, back in the day, punks who attacked me first, otherwise I'd not eat 'em if they weren't fully grown.

`Over a year after the war ended, at the end of 1884, Sophie found me.'

Both Rogue and Buffy blink.

`She'd come back from Europe as soon as the war ended, and was looking for me, since she knew my family was dead, but hadn't been able to find anything about what happened to me. I was back in Boston, had a nice house with a view of the river, and about a dozen girls I kinda looked after.'

`Kinda?' Buffy asks.

`They kept the house up, took care of shopping, and carried notes to my solicitor, telling him when I wanted to see him. In exchange I got nookie, and to sleep in a big bed full of warm soft girls, and the occasional nip, and they had a nice house, and spending money, and someone really scary to take care of any problems they had. I wasn't very careful, so Sophie found me easily.

`I was very mad at her, and I vamped out on her, yelling and screaming and crying at her for abandoning me, and she just walked up and kissed me, whimpering about how she was sorry.'

-Aww,- Rogue whimpers, -That's so sweet.-

Buffy squiggles happily in place, `That's just soo sweet.'

Marie laughs, `I sure thought so. We stayed together until she died.'

`Why didn't you turn her?'

`I'd turned a couple girls, and they changed, inside. They'd loved me before they turned, and they loved me, kinda, afterwards, but they'd get so jealous, either of me or one of the other girls, and it never worked out well, particularly since I wouldn't let them eat any of the other girls, no matter how much they pissed them off. Edna's still alive, and her Bertha, I think, or they were when I last heard from them, a few years ago. So I wouldn't turn her, and she never asked me to.

`We got chased out of Boston in the early 1790s, and fled to Virginia, letting the girls go with a chunk of cash to tide them over or buy them new lives. We were in DC when the British burned it, and I killed another few thousand British soldiers while our girls kept Sophie safe.

`We were in New York when she died, at eighty five, during her afternoon nap, May thirty-first, 1843. I'd bought her a pretty Chinese prostitute the night before, four feet tall, slender face, tiny waist and firm little ass, and confused as heck why I was sharing with a woman who looked old enough to be my great-grandmother. But she was sweet, and eager, with an acid wit to match her sharp tongued words, and Sophie liked her.

`We let her go after a bath, breakfast, more nookie, and another bath. Once she left Sophie told me to do something nice for her, cuddled me for a while, and never woke up from her afternoon nap,' Marie goes silent, `So I bought her from her pimp, and gave her the house and a couple of the accounts, and told her she had to arrange Sophie's funeral, and left.'

`Lady Sophie's Grave?' Jubilee asks, almost of herself, then shakes her head. Marie and Rogue finally notice the audience they've gathered.

`I kicked around for a few years, killed a bunch of Texans, a few Mexican soldiers, went north, and came back again when I heard about the attack on Ft. Sumter. I enjoyed that war.

`Enjoyed?' Logan asks, softly.

`Sophie was an abolitionist. I felt that if you were stupid or unlucky enough to get enslaved, you should deal with it. You shouldn't have to deal with it if it was your mother or your grandmother who was stupid or unlucky, but I wasn't willing to work too hard to stop it. The war changed that, gathered 'em up in great big clumps, all lined up by their belief that one man should be able to own another just because one of 'em was a little different than the other, so I could kill them by job lots.

`I killed more Confederates than dysentery did. There wasn't a night from when I learned the war started until I learned it ended that I didn't kill at least a handful of Confederate soldiers. Their officers were often protected by anti-vampire charms, and the entire city of Richmond was barred to me, or I would have killed every white male over the age of twelve, but I left Savanah before I finished, and when I couldn't get into Richmond I went back to chasing Stuart. I never did catch his command, but I killed tens of thousands of Confederates.

`After the war I thought of helping the Freedman's Bureau, but they seemed to have things in hand, and I didn't care anymore,' Marie shrugs, `If I'd taken up firearms I could have changed things, but I didn't.'

`What do you mean?'

`If I'd whacked just a few hundred of the more virulent segregationists at the start, we might have a country without anti-black racism right now. Fuck, if I'd whacked Wilson, we might not have had a second World War,' Marie shakes her head, `Instead, I spent the thirties and forties in Europe killing Fascists,' she shoves off from the tree, `Marie history lesson over for the day.'

FAA:R

`That's,' Marie blinks up at the Fox News coverage of the upcoming United Nations conference.

`Real dumb?' Rogue asks.

`Exactly. This'll bring the nutjobs out of the woodwork. There's no way the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps put together will be able to stop them all.

`That's why the Ctholon Militia will have giant robots on standby alert, and the Dark Kingdom will have troops and mecha just off site,' Buffy says, `Standard Operating Procedure. I would not be surprised if both of them don't have capitol ships in firing range, too.'

`The U.S. will freak.'

`Only if we have to do anything,' Buffy shrugs, `After our little coup raid, they leave us alone, unless they're forced to stop pretending we don't exist.'

FAA:R

-He doesn't smell right,- Marie notes as Bobby sits next to her.

-No, he doesn't,-

`The Professor's pissed, you should leave before something happens,' Bobby continues.

-Trap,- Rogue and Marie chorus to each other.

FAA:R

`Hey, Buff, should we go walking into a known trap set by a man who can manipulate magnetism?'

`Oh, what's he up to?'

`Someone who looked like, but didn't smell like, Bobby said I should leave.'

`Hmm. Rule two,' Buffy holds out a folding knife.

`But he can-' she smiles as Buffy points out the ceramic bolts.

`Polymer spring on the lockback mechanism, too.'

`Nice,' Rogue clips it in the waistband of her corduroy pants.

FAA:R

`Hey, kid, why'd you leave?'

`Why didn't they tell you?'

`What do you mean?'

`I'm the bait.'

`What for?'

The train jerks to a stop, and the end of the car peels open, a man floating into the car.

`Him.'

`Oh shit,' Logan's claws slide out, and he poses, `You're not gonna get her, bub.'

`Adamantium,' Magneto muses, `They say that it's unbreakable. Want to find out?

Logan groans as he's lifted in the air, then flung to the back of the car.

`Did I ever tell you rule one, Rogueling?' Buffy asks.

`No, what is it?' Rogue plays along, slightly curious.

`Always carry a gun,' Buffy pulls a shotgun out of nowhere by its pistol grip, smirking at Magneto's slightly surprised expression, `Hidden weapons,' she tells him, and pulls the trigger twice, the gun hardly shifting between rounds.

She puts it back, `Ceramic barrel, polymer receiver, aluminum alloy bolts, and nonlethal rounds,' she continues to expose as she drops a knee onto his chest and pulls his helmet off, `And I think this is your fancy tinfoil hat, isn't it?' she plops it on her head.

Magneto rips a bench seat from the floor, and smacks her from the side with it, knocking her out the side of the train, through the wall.

`Buffy!' Rogue yells, and starts towards her.

Magneto winces, but forces himself upright, and uses his powers to stick her with a syringe full of red fluid. She drops, and he wraps a plate torn from the floor around her to carry her as he limps away.

The building crumbles as they walk out, Toad with Scott's visor, Sabertooth holding Rogue over one shoulder.

`No, Charles, the helmet is just to make sure you can't find me. The weave in my head is enough to keep you from making me do what you want,' and the closest two police cars are yanked off the ground, flattened, and wrapped into a ball around the four mutants, `Ta ta for now,' he taunts as bullets flatten against the shielding metal and they arch out of sight.

FAA:R

`Kelly's not doing good,' Buffy says, wincing as she turns, `I'll be fine in an hour or two. King Serenity will be here in a few minutes, she needed to gather-'

Pink and blue light swirls through the medbay, `Saturn, take a look at Kelly, see if you can stabilize him, Moon, Mars, you'll stay here with Saturn to coordinate things, set up comms, Jupiter, Mercury, do what you can, but we've got to leave here soon for that damned conference,' King Serenity orders, glaring at the comatose man on the bed, blue eyes flashing, her hair buzzed to an even three millimeters, her grey mandarin-collared suit with black piping imaculate, black jungle boots mirror shined.

Her sailors are dressed as she is, almost unadorned Dark Kingdom Militia full dress uniform, piping and bootlaces in the primary highlight color of their old skirted uniforms, planetary symbol in brass on the left side of their collar, horned moon on the right.

`No joy,' Saturn shakes her head, `He's falling apart. Whatever changed him destroyed his DNA, and he's going to mutate until it kills him.'

`Mabel, can you cruft up a DNA pattern that will fit him and his new powers?'

`Yes, give us a few minutes,' the AI responds.

`Can Saturn impose it?'

`Her power level's high enough, but she doesn't have the kind of control you do.'

`Fuck. How much longer? I need to be there in ten minutes or they'll get all paranoid.'

`Another minute.'

`So,' she turns to Jean, `He has a machine that about knocked him out, and turned the good senator into a mutant. What's the range, who'd he hit with it, and why?'

`The conference?'

`Pin-pon. I somehow doubt he'll be worried that it kills people, either. He wants Rogue so he can sacrifice her to the machine, probably.'

`So we're talking five to ten million dead, and Rogue,' Buffy starts pacing, `I want my girls, we've got to save her.'

`There are Julias in the harbor, and Mandlebrots orbiting offshore. I'll see if I can talk to the Admiral for some giant robots,' she turns, `Mabel, where's that gate, and the data?'

`Here,' Mabel answers. Something pink and glowing drops into Serenity's hand, and Buffy's girls barrel through a shimmer spread across the doorway from the hall.

`You're the _best_ Mabel. Sorry for snapping, dear.'

`Sorry it took us so long, love.'

Willow starts, `What's up, who's got Rogue, where are we going, and what are we doing when we get there?'

`Breathe, Will, breathe. Up to ten million dead, Magneto, New York City, rescuing Rogue,' Buffy answers her.

`Good. Well, not the up to ten million dead, but we can stop that, so.'

`Rescue your girl. We'll take care of the rest, just rescue the girl, got it?' Serenity places a hand on Willow's shoulder.

`Right, right, right,' Willow whirls, presses her face to Faith's shoulder, and tries to breathe slowly.

A dripping noise distracts everyone, and Serenity rushes over to Kelly, slaps the pink thing in her hand down on his chest, and yells, `Don't you fucking die on me, you mother-lorn bastard!'

A white glow surrounds them, and Kelly screams.

`Come on, just a little more . . . Bastard! I said don't die!' The glow increases in intensity, and Kelly stops screaming.

The glow gutters and dies, and Serenity takes a step back, watches for a few moments to make sure he's still breathing.

`Mercury, Jupiter, let's get to this stupid thing.'

FAA:R

`He's fried,' Saturn says, touching the Professor's forehead, a pink glow surrounding her fingers, `But he'll be up in an hour or so,' she says, and the glow dies back.

`We need,' Jean shuts up and dashes from the room.

`I think I've spotted them,' Willow says, looking up from her DECTablet, `Misa, track them please?'

`Wilco, dearheart.'

Willow blushes.

`You got a blush out of her that time, sweetie,' Faith tells the AI.

FAA:R

`I'd prefer a Corvette,' Faith mutters, looking up at the Blackbird.

`There's something reassuring about thirty kilotons of light warship at one's back, true,' Scott says, `But she'll suffice.'

`She'd better,' Faith says.

FAA:R

`So, what am Ah here for? The conference, right?'

`I've created a machine that will turn them into mutants, so that they can lead the way into a new era-'

`Right. Elephants fly by flapping their ears, too. Let me guess, the machine is powered off mutant blood.'

`My powers.'

`Which you'll give me, so I'll die in the machine in your place. How noble, mister Lenscher.'

`Normal people don't care what happens to us-'

`Because they're young and stupid. Even if they're mutants, they'll be young and stupid.'

`You can see what's going to happen, once they pass that Act.'

`Yes. And if they pass it, I'll start killing them. I'm not going to kill someone for just being stupid.'

`What, only for being homicidally stupid?'

`Exactly.'

FAA:R

`How many people does he have?' Willow asks.

`It looks like he has Mystique, Sabertooth, and Toad.'

`That's it?'

`That's it. He's lifting something towards the Statue's torch.'

`Feed it to me,' Willow pulls her DECTablet back out, and plops it in her lap, between Buffy and Tara, Faith looking over her back, Storm and Logan over the other two.

The bottom of the torch falls, and something slides up inside it, clamping onto the bottom.

`Digging through the archive footage, we're pretty sure that's the device, and Rogue's already inside it.'

`Fuck,' Faith glares at the screen, `Can you gate me and Buffy into place?'

`Not easily. I can open a gate by the torch, but you'd have to make sure you get onto the torch the first time, because we'll only have a limited ability to catch you if you miss.

`Can't you put the gate right on the fence?'

`Normally, but the whole statue is shifting around due to Magneto's powers, so that option's fucked.'

`Combat suits?'

`To much prep time's needed. You need to be there fifteen minutes ago, not in two hours.'

`Fuck.'

`I can drop your whole team on the top of the pedestal, or at the base of the stairs inside?'

`We need to be outside,' Willow looks at Tara, `We've a spell that will unclamp the machine, if not take it entirely apart, and should undo Rogue's bonds.'

`Good. Be safe, I'd miss you.'

`We'll do our best,' Buffy reassures her, `Thank you, Misa.'

FAA:R

-Shall we bite him and suck out all his blood along with his power?-

-Ah don't want to kill him, maybe Buffy's King can fix him somewhat? He might be useful sometime.-

-So we'll just bite him, suck him dry of power, and leave him passed out on the floor before we rip our way out of here?-

-Sounds good ta me-

FAA:R

`They're below us.'

`Good. Cyke, Storm, Jean, go upstairs to play with Magneto. We'll go down after the other three,' Buffy says, gesturing to Faith and Logan.

`Right,' Cyclops nods, and heads towards the elevator.

Buffy and Faith look over the rail, choose targets, and jump.

Buffy hits Sabertooth in the head, her combat-booted feet side by side, and knocks him on his face. He groans, and she zip-cuffs on of his hands to his other ankle before he can recover enough to kick at her. She kicks him in the head again, then zip-cuffs his free hand, then, since he's moving again, kicks him in the balls and zip-cuffs his free foot to his other foot, leaving him hog-tied.

He yells and screams and cusses, both pissed at being kicked in a tender place and for failing.

`A little help here, Buff,' Faith yells, dodging Toad's tongue.

*Blam* Toad takes most of the balls in the chest, his tongue slapping him in the face as he stops in mid-air. He hits the ground and groans, drawing his stinging tongue back into his mouth.

Faith lands on his back with both feet, and has him cuffed before he can fight his way free.

`What do I do about his tongue?' she asks, holding his face to the floor.

`Sandbag,' Buffy says, and hands her one.

Logan is holding his own against Mystique, but barely.

Buffy approaches at a silent run, and catches Mystique in the ribs with two hundred and fifty kilos of swung Duranium rod. Mystique drops, whimpering, and Buffy has her cuffed before she can recover.

`So glad we're not fighting normals,' Buffy says, `Or we'da probably killed a couple of 'em.'

FAA:R

`Where's that useless Creed?' Magneto rants, then turns to Rogue-Marie, `Let's get started and hope he makes it up here soon.'

Rogue rises at his gesture, reaching for him, but he forces her hands down towards the handles with his powers. She grabs them, and looks up at him, `So?'

He leans in, and presses his hands to her face.

Marie smiles, and goes to game-face, stretching forward to sink her fangs in his neck.

He shudders, the air around him distorting as she sucks his powers and experience with them from him, flashes of memory coming with the deepest bits, but not too many. She slurps again, and once more, then pulls out her fangs and licks the wound, sealing it. He drops, and she reaches to throw him out the door with her new powers.

The machine spins up, smashing into his unresponsive body three times before bashing it onto the platform with her, a white light glowing, ameoba-like, spreading from the machine.

-Well, this sucks!- Rogue complains.

-Tell me about it.-

-Can we pull back our power? His power, whatever?-

-Um, it doesn't seem like it?-

-Fuck!-

-I don't want you to die!-

-Why not? You'll still have Buffy, and you'll be a vampire again.-

-I like being warm, and Buffy's girls really like you better. Heck, I like you better.-

-So figure something out, the glow is spreading.-

FAA:R

`Hurry!' Buffy whimpers, glancing at the spreading glow.

FAA:R

`Admiral! We really need a giant robot on Liberty island right now, I've got a pair of witches who can take the machine apart, but they need someone to catch the falling parts, because there's a girl tied to it, powering the machine, and it'll stop when she dies.'

`You should have said that earlier,' Chancellor Prima Grey says, reaching her left hand over her shorter Japanese partner's shoulder.

`We're always up for saving girls,' Admiral Kano Nagisa agrees, reaching up to twine the fingers of her right hand through her partner's fingers, palm to palm.

They vanish in a swirl of static.

FAA:R

A swirl of static slams down out of the sky, and a giant robot steps out, reaches sharp-tipped fingers towards the Statue's torch, cupping them underneath it.

`Alohamora!' Willow screams, clutching Tara's fingers with almost bruising force.

The machine literally blows apart, the spinning pieces flung away, and all the other parts drop free into Iczer Robo's hand, which gathers them close before stepping back into subspace.

`That's the spell you've been working on?'

`Well, you try to make a generic opening spell after reading Harry Potter,' Willow defends, `It worked, didn't it?'

`True,' Tara kisses her beloved, and cuddles her close.

FAA:R

`One-eye, get the fucking plane in the fucking air!' Logan growls, annoyed, like the X-men, not to have done much of anything useful in the fight.

FAA:R

Epilog:

`After the war, I went back to New York,' Marie's audience, this time, is Buffy, Faith, Tara, Willow, Logan, and Jubilee, `And I looked the girl I left the house to up. She was happily married with this tiny Irish woman, who was a couple inches taller than she was, and had bought her brother and his boyfriend passage from China. They had a houseful of half-Irish brats who spoke mostly Chinese and the grandkids were along the same mold, but they had a nice grave for Sophie and took the grandkids there for picnics, so I really didn't care how they arranged things.

`All of the kids were half-Irish?'

`Bah, what was her name, Shairong or something like that, her eldest boy had green eyes, and her girl's kids all looked like her, so I'm guessing the brothers were involved somehow, but,' Marie shrugged, `I do know her brother and his boyfriend shared a room on the other side of the house from the one they shared.'

`And they try to tell me being queer doesn't run in the family,' Jubilee smirks.

FAA:R

Omake:

`Hands on your ears!' Tara yells.

Willow claps her hands over her ears, and her earplugs.

Tara sets the B.A.R.'s muzzle-mounted bipod on Willow's shoulder and outstretched upper arm, and peers through the PVS-13 thermal sight, hoping it's zero'd, and leads the rising dot of Magneto's form a little bit, then squeezes off the entire magazine, twenty rounds gone before the first casing hit the ground.

Magneto drops, then recovers, one calf shattered and a cut on his shoulder.

(I plotted out that scene like four times, so I had to write it, even though it didn't fit anymore)

FAA:R

Omake 2:

`Did you know your machine would have killed something like ten million people?'

`No, but would it have mattered?'

`Can you limit it to males over the age of twelve?'

-Marie!-

`That should bring it down to about twenty percent innocent victims.'

`And the other victims?'

`Oh, they're guilty victims.'

-They're not that bad.-

`They'd have time to try and rescue them.'

`It took King Serenity's intervention to save Kelly. There's no way they could save a city full of victims.'

-Or we could try and fix the thing so that it isn't fatal.-

-But I want to actually make males valuable. They're kinda worthless right now, too much supply for the demand.-

Rogue breaks out laughing.

log:

Long ago: Saw _X-men_ in the theater, and thought something like "Rogue would be soo cute with the Buffy crowd" and started writing her into the FA universe.

2006/Nov: bought the movies

2007/Jan/2: Watched the first movie again. Plotted the whole way through, and after.

2007/Jan/3: started writing

2007/Jan/4: Finished first draft and two omake. Yay!

2007/Jan/5: Added a couple scenes, a few discriptions of uniforms, and a certain young protestor's friends. Yes, they are.

2007/Jan/6: Added the disclaimer. No, _Kim Possible_ isn't mine, either, but I'm not sure if a cameo by fanon characters counts . . .

2017/July/9: Edited for posting to ff.n