Chapter 7: Dress Me When I Bleed


The five members of Carnifex that had not been invited to parlay with Magneto sat around the dining room table in virtual silence. Avalanche and Caliban had explained to the junior members that the only time Magneto would demean himself enough to hire mercenaries was when he had a mission both dangerous and secretive enough to be beyond the realm of his own minions, his 'Acolytes.' Rogue saw a dread in both of their faces unlike anything she had seen in either of them before. She wanted to ask if any members of Carnifex, past or present, had been seriously injured in either of the past two assignments from Magneto, but she didn't bother. She knew that they would not have been this worried if a member had not been seriously injured, or even killed, by one of his missions.

About an hour into their individual introspections, they were jolted to attention by the sound of the basement door opening. They jumped up and watched as Magneto climbed the stairs behind Colossus. The silver haired mutant gave them a nod which they all returned and he exited through the now-broken security door. Colossus motioned that they should go downstairs, and they filled down as silently as a funeral procession. They crowded into the office in the basement, which was soundproof, bullet-proof, and made the security of most bank vaults look like piggy banks. "I'll cut to the chase," said Domino, more frazzled than Rogue had ever heard her, "Magneto has hired us to break some mutants out of a high security holding facility."

"Fuck."

"Hell no!"

"Merde."

"Well, it seems we're all agreed on that," continued Domino, seeming rather relieved that she was not the only one rattled by Magneto's orders. "But the pay is incredible, and I'm not suicidal enough to say no to him. Are any of you?" The mercenaries all shook their heads.

"Ah don't understand why he ain't doing it himself. Ain't Magneto's thing helpin' mutants?"

"Apparently he doesn't want his fingerprints on this one."

"Do we know why?"

"I can only guess," but Domino didn't seem interested in sharing her hypothesis. She looked around at her teammates and finally said with wavering certainty, "He doesn't want us dead, you know. He wouldn't have given us this job if he didn't think we could do it."

"Da. But I am worried, Domino. He knew far too much about us."

"I know."

"What the hell are ya talking about?" Demanded Avalanche.

Domino and Colossus traded glances. Piotr took a breath, and with his usual calm demeanor said, "We have been without a telepath for over a year, but he knew we could gain information from a person's mind." Rogue gasped, causing Gambit, Caliban, Avalanche, and Cargill stare at her, not understanding the problem.

"He knew about me, is that what you're saying?" She looked at Colossus then Domino. A look of understanding finally took hold of the other member's faces. Without waiting for their response, she hit the wall hard with her fist and shouted "Shit!"

"So we have a security breach, that's what you're saying?" asked Cargill.

"Could it have been Mystique?" Asked Rogue.

Domino scoffed, "No, she and Magneto loath one another."

"Den its inside," Remy muttered impassively.

"We can't focus on that now, we have only three days to accomplish our mission."

"How are we going to ignore having a traitor in our ranks?" Asked Caliban angrily. Rogue was taken aback, she'd never seen Caliban get angry. Even the time he got shot he was just frustrated, blaming his own incompetence and not lashing out at others.

"We must complete the mission first," Colossus re-affirmed, "then we will deal with any other threat."

Everyone begrudgingly nodded. Domino turned to Rogue, "As I said, you're key to this mission. I hate to force you here, but we have no choice. We need to test your powers."

"What? On who?" Rogue was starting to panic. Domino looked around, waiting for volunteers. No one stepped forward. Finally, Piotr said "I will do it." Rogue looked up at her hulking Russian friend and gave a thankful smile.

"Okay, no time like the present," said Domino, "let's get out to the training area." They marched out of the reinforced room and into the training room, which was covered in matting. "Here's the deal Rogue, you're going to very lightly and very briefly touch Piotr and try and get some information from him." Domino then came up and whispered in her ear, "Get his social security number. I know what it is, if you can get it, this plan will work." She then stood back, "Understand?" Rogue nodded.

Piotr stepped forward, stopping about a foot from Rogue, and held out his palm. She contemplated it, 'Okay, super fast, try and draw out the information, try to remember what it feels like so you can tell Mystique later.' She gazed back up at the gentle giant, and whispered, "I'm sorry," before running her index finger lightly over the palm of his hand. She stopped the instant she felt a pull and her gaze snapped back up at his face. He looked a little unsteady, but he was still conscious.

"Pete, are ya okay, sugah?"

"Da. Just a bit light-headed."

"Did you get the information?" Yelled Domino. A couple of numbers swirled in her head, but they were jumbled, she knew she didn't get it. "Sorry, Ah didn't get quite enough off a' him."

"Try it again."

This time, Rogue placed three fingertips on his hand and waited until the correct numbers appeared in her mind, then quickly lifted her hand away from his. It was a second too late and Piotr slowly but surely sank to the floor. Caliban ran over and checked on his condition, confirming, "He's fine."

Domino rushed over and Rogue whispered Piotr's social security number into her ear. Domino stepped back with a wide grin on her face. "It'll work," she said, hardly containing her relief and enthusiasm.

Colossus' mind now swirled in hers and almost voluntarily silenced itself. 'Even when you're an echo of yourself, you're still the sweetest, most polite man Ah ever met,' she chided him. But something was different, something she could not explain. She felt itchy, like there was something under her skin, trying to get out. "Guys, something's wrong," she said in a shaky voice.

Remy moved towards her, "Chere? What is it?"

She held her arm out to shoo him away, but the arm in front of her was not her own, at least not entirely her own. It was armor platted, just like Colossus's when he transformed. She could feel it take a hold of her, her skin transformed into metal, which weighed heavily upon her. She looked down at her fingers, moving them, shocked at her transformation. Looking at her teammates she realized that she was not the only one amazed by this new facet of her powers.

"Well that's handy," Dominic said laconically.

"Ah can take mutations too? Shit." Rogue was still coming to grips with the situation, and while she heard the other mercenaries as they started to trade theories and make pithy comments, she couldn't focus on any of them. Her stomach was in knots as she looked down at her unconscious friend, still being monitored by Caliban. She feared that she had taken too much, that he wouldn't wake up, or that she had permanently stolen his mutation from him.

"Did you hear me, Rogue?" Domino yelled at her.

"Sorry, what?"

"Try and deactivate your, er, Piotr's mutation."

Rogue closed her eyes and tried to ease the metal back into her body. Colossus's voice was telling her how to do it, and when she reopened her eyes, she was flesh and blood again. Just to test herself, she armored and de-armored again, smiling in delight. 'Well at least that's one mutation Ah can control.' Domino suggested that she armor up to see how long it would last. She then took a seat on the floor next to Piotr and watched him intently. About thirty minutes after she absorbed him, the metal slowly retreated from her skin, and try as she could, she couldn't call it back. A couple minutes after that, Colossus regained consciousness, and when asked, he could become armor plated. She apologized profusely for hurting him, tears welling in her eyes, promising to never go into his memories.

"It is okay, Rogue. You are my friend, there is nothing there that I would want to keep from you."

She very carefully hugged him, thankful that he didn't pull away.


They had trained for two days straight, planned out every contingency, but the members of Carnifex were all so anxious that they barely spoke during the three hour charter airplane flight that took them to their mission. The subsequent drive and walk to their target was so tense that Rogue was sure that she would be sick. The paramilitary base that was holding several mutants captive was not strictly a government facility, but it had all the hallmarks of one: watchtowers, armed guards, tall fences, and search lights. There was no possibility of entering the facility covertly.

Cargill radioing Magneto that they were at the base was the first noise to come out of any of their mouths in over an hour. "Ready?" Asked Domino, and they all nodded. They split up, Avalanche with Colossus, Cargill with Caliban, Rogue joining Domino and Gambit. Rogue's group inched stealthily to the Southern corner of the base and waited. From the Eastern side of the base a tremor shook and the guards started to mobilize, many of them rushing to the source of the earthquake. Gambit pulled out his cards and Domino pulled out her gun, which she had promised Rogue to be non-lethal "in most situations." After a silent countdown, they fired their weapons of choice at the remaining guards, who were taken out in seconds. Gambit sprang forward with tremendous speed, Rogue close behind, Domino trailing and keeping an eye out for any advancing troops. Gambit charged the chain-link fence, blowing a large hole it, which the team ran through.

With Gambit in front and Domino bringing up the rear, they raced into the building and through the maze of hallways. Gambit blew open a locked door and rushed in to find two terrified looking middle-aged men in lab coats. Rogue took of her glove and grabbed the face of one, then the other, letting them both fall to the floor. She grabbed her radio and shouted a twelve digit code to her cohorts. She glanced at Domino, who gave her a knowing nod, then said, "They're where he said they'd be, but Ah know a shortcut that ain't on the blueprints."

"Lead de way, petit."

Gambit at her side, they ran down a few more corridors, and nodded at Remy when they got to their destination. He changed a few cards and flung them at the door, weakening it enough for him to kick it down. Through the door was a dimly lit hallway with several thick doors without handles on either side. A keypad was attached to each door. Rogue ran to the first one and started typing in digits, as her teammates did the same. Rogue glanced at her friends and yelled "Gambit, the second code on that one is Michael7; Domino, yours is Think Tank." After going through all the protocols that deactivated the extensive security system that was meant to disable as well as incarcerate the captive mutants, the doors opened. Rogue didn't wait around to see who popped out, there were still five more cells to open. Once she had opened the last cell ("Arctic65") she surveyed the mutants who were now gathering in the hallway.

"Let's go!" Cried Caliban as he burst in, only to be in the cross-hairs of Domino's weapon. She quickly raised her weapon and yelled at the mutants to follow Caliban. Rogue realized that the last mutant was not out of his cell yet, so she grabbed him by the hand and yanked him out. She started running, still holding him by his arm.

"You can let go, you know," the mutant said in a far too flippant tone for the situation. She glanced back at him and saw that it was a blond-haired boy only a year or two older than herself. For whatever reason, he seemed composed and almost excited. Rogue's attention was drawn to the corridor ahead of her, as some soldiers were barreling down on her comrades at the juncture of two hallways. Gambit was taking a few of them out, but they kept coming. One of the freed mutants had brought up some sort of shield to protect them from the bullets that barraged them, but it was failing quickly. The calm mutant boy beside her suddenly stopped and raised his hand, from which came a spray of ice that clung to the guards' guns, rendering them useless. Caliban, Domino, and Gambit used the opportunity to beat the guards senseless while Rogue led the other mutants out of the building to where the other members of Carnifex had commandeered three large SUVs.

The mutants piled in, but Rogue waited until the other members of the team came into view until she climbed into the front seat of Cargill's vehicle. As soon as Rogue closed the door Cargill sped off, and yelled, "Rogue, call it in." She nodded and grabbed the radio, and reported "Mission accomplished, all mutants found and recovered. Do you copy?" The radio crackled back an affirmative and Rogue sighed in relief, suddenly realizing how fast her heart was beating.

They still had an hour's drive to the drop off point, so Rogue turned around to address the three escaped mutants that were in their SUV. She quickly noticed that the blond-haired boy was one of them. He smiled at her as she started to speak. "Are ya'll okay? Do any of you need medical treatment?" The bronze-skinned woman and the vaguely pinkish man with large boils on him both quietly replied in the negative, but the blond boy said nothing. She glared right at him, "What about you?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. How's your day been?" His demeanor and voice were both so nonchalant that it infuriated Rogue. 'Didn't this guy realize that he'd been in mortal peril? Didn't he understand that we just risked our hides saving his sorry neck?'

"Ah'm Jim-Dandy, sugah. Nothing better ta cap off a day than ta break into a high security holding facility an' be shot at, Ah always say."

He grinned at her, "All in a day's work, right?"

Her eyes narrowed, "An' what kind of work is that?"

"Being a hero."

Rogue looked stunned and turned to look at Cargill, who had a slightly disgusted look on her face. She certainly took the word 'hero' as an insult. She turned back to the boy, who looked at her with knowing eyes. "Ah ain't a hero," she said softly.

The smug, taunting look faded from his face. "Saving people you don't know at the risk of your own life. Sounds like a hero to me." They gazed at each other for a few minutes, he with a confident yet grateful look on his face, her with a sad and contemplative gaze. It had never occurred to her that what she did could be considered heroic. She had done it out of fear of Magneto's retribution, out of loyalty to her roommates, and to a much smaller degree, for some financial security. It was the last rational that really hurt her, the idea that she would hurt people for money. Piotr's voice intruded for the first time since she absorbed him, 'Your reasons for helping them may not have been pure, but you have helped them nonetheless. Be proud, my friend.'

She turned away from the boy and focused on the landscape that was rushing past her, hoping that Cargill wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. The rest of the ride to the pick-up point was silent, and she was glad when she saw Avalanche's vehicle parked in a clearing ahead of her. She got out and opened the door for the other mutants as Colossus drove up. The three mutants got out, the blond boy lastly. He stretched and yawned as he got out, and Rogue had the overwhelming urge to punch him. He looked at her and smiled. "My name's Bobby," he said as he held out his hand.

Rogue looked at his hand suspiciously and grudgingly gave his hand a quick shake, "Rogue." She turned back to the congregation of mutants that was flanked by the three stolen vehicles, expecting Bobby to join them. Instead, he kept looking at her. She grew impatient and growled, "What?"

"Just wondering what you were doing with these people."

"What do ya mean by 'these people'?"

He suddenly looked sheepish, and muttered, "never mind," and started walking away. When he was about halfway to the group of rescued mutants, he turned around and walked back a couple of steps towards her. "Hey, if you ever want something different for yourself, you can always call me. We're in the book: The Xavier Institute in Westchester County, New York." He smiled and walked to where the others were. She stood there stunned, not understanding what he was saying or what he was offering.

"Let's move out!" yelled Domino and the other members of Carnifex moved towards the SUV that Rogue was standing next to. They all got in, and Rogue followed, sitting next to Remy.

"Ain't we going ta give them a lift back ta civilization?"

"Already taken care of," said Cargill, starting the engine. She idled the vehicle and appeared to be waiting for something.

"They're coming," said Caliban, and Cargill started to drive. Soon Rogue heard the sound of a low flying jet overhead, and realized that it was heading to the clearing.

"A jet? Magneto has a jet?"

"That ain't Magneto's."

"Then whose is it?"

Domino shrugged and muttered, "Ours is not to reason why, ours is to do and die." They continued in silence back to their home on West 122nd Street.


Another day, another mission. That's the life of a mercenary, huh? Tune in next time for some down-time with our favorite mutant mercenaries. Again, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed and subscribed, it really encourages me to write more. A special big thanks to my number one cheer-leader, tenchi13.