AN: I'm sorry I haven't gotten this chapter up sooner, but I have been preparing to go on vacation. I'm on vacation now, and have quite a bit of time on my hands, so here is chapter 8 for you.

Disclaimer: I only own Terry, so far. Everything else belongs to Marvel and their respective owners. Thank You.

Take Away My Skin

Chapter 8 Immunity

A million thoughts ran through Rogue's hectic mind. Some travelled almost too fast for her to even process them. Her voice sounded so foreign to her, even though she knew that is was in fact her own. She leaned her head back against the solid door with a gentle thud. She gazed up at the white ceiling, tears welling up in her emerald green eyes. She was overwhelmed with emotion. Had she finally gained control of her powers? She remained in this position for a few moments when her eyes suddenly widened in realization of the gravity of this situation. Her breath caught in her throat, and she bolted up onto her feet. She quickly threw open her bedroom door unknowingly awaking her slumbering room mate in the process. She ran down the carpeted hallway following a well known path to the Professor's study hoping to find that the lights were still on, and that he was still awake. Thankfully, it was evident that he was. She stopped outside the door and took a deep breath. This helped calm herself before knocking on the heavy double doors. They opened for her, something she had long gotten used to, and she slowly walked into the quiet study. The fireplace on the east wall was the only sound to be heard. The fire inside roared and crackled lighting up the whole room. The Professor sat at his large desk scribbling on a piece of paper. Once she stepped onto the hardwood floor, he placed his pen down and crossed his hands under his chin in his signature fashion.

"I'm surprised that you're awake Rogue. It's nearly twelve-thirty," He stated his eyes locked on her as she stepped forward. His eyebrows furrowed in concern for the young girl. "Is everything alright?" He questioned. He may be a telepath, but he did not interfere with the private lives of his students.

Rogue cleared the throat before opening her mouth to speak. However, she could not form the words to express what had just occurred between her and Soda. She blindly attempted to speak, but only gibberish spilled from her lips. She quickly covered her mouth with one hand, a look of extreme embarrassment painted onto her face.

The Professor smiled softly at her. "It's alright Rogue," He told her raising his hand up so that she would not attempt to speak again. "If it is alright with you, it would be easier for me to read your mind in order to find out what has you so distressed," He stated resting his hands down onto the desk top.

She nodded taking her gloved hand away from her malfunctioning mouth. She walked over to the Professor's desk and sat down on the small red padded chair. The Professor wheel his chair over and stopped just in front of her. He raised is hands up until they were almost touching her temples. He closed his eyes, which also caused Rogue to close her eyes as well. The Professor's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he watched the events of the last hour or so flashed in front of his eyes until it reached that fateful moment.

The Professor pulled away and rested his hands in his lap. "Well Rogue, I don't know what to tell you," He shaking his head slightly.

She bit her bottom lip nervously, "Ah had hoped that ya would tell meh that ah had gained control over mah powers," She croaked out, her voice hoarse. She coughed and cleared her throar after hearing the strange sound of her voice.

"The truth is Rogue, I cannot tell you that based on your memories alone. In order to determine what happened tests will need to be preformed, procedures have to be taken. What I recommend is that you get some rest and I'll talk to Hank and begin testing first thing in the morning," He explained honestly.

Rogue nodded understandingly, but still somewhat disappointed, "Thank ya Professa."

He smiled softly, "You're very welcome Rogue. Just don't get your hopes up alright. The answers you receive may not be what you had expected,"He explained his smiled fading into seriousness.

She nodded in response, "Of course,"She said solemnly. He was right of course, but deep down she knew her first thoughts were wrong. It hurt, but she sincerely doubted that in just one night her powers had resolved themselves.

She slowly rose from the padded chair without a word. She left the professor's study, a morose expression painted across her pale face. She slowly and quietly walked down the long hall to her and Kitty's shared bedroom. She quietly shut the bedroom door behind her, so that she would not make her room mate. Unbeknownst to her, Kitty was already very much awake. Rogue sighed and changed out of her heavier everyday clothes, and into her light pyjama shorts and a tank top. It was not until she laid own that Kitty spoke.

"What's going on Rogue?" She asked in a sleepy voice.

"Nothin' Kitty," She sighed out in response, not really wanting to explain to her half-sleeping room mate.

Kitty rolled onto her side, so that she was facing the other girl's bed. "Bullshit Rogue."

She sighed again slightly frustrated by her friend's persistence. "Ah'll tell ya in tha mornin'," She said before rolling over turning her back on the brunette, and facing the window.

Kitty sighed and rolled back over herself.


Morning came way too fast at the Xavier Institute for the southern mutant named Rogue. She rolled over and glanced at the alarm clock next to her bed. It read eight fifteen. Since it was indeed Saturday, she had no reason to rise so early, however, she found that she could not fall back into the peaceful slumber to which she had awoken from. All the fear and dread from last night had carried over full force. The realization of all the tests she was going to have to take made her dread the day even more than usual. The whole situation gave her a big headache.

Rogue groaned as she sat up, stretching her cramped muscles. Kitty was already awake, typing away on her laptop. Her headphones were popped in her ears, her ipod resting on her lap. Her head bounced to the music as she typed away. How the brunette did it was completely beyond her.

Rogue sighed and threw the covers off of her body and rose from the comfort of her bed. She stretched quickly and then begin to search her closet for her clothes. All the movement around the bedroom did not seem to disturb the former valley girl at all. She did not even acknowledge that the southern belle was even awake. She was sill transfixed by whatever was on her laptop screen. Rogue rolled her eyes and shook her head disapprovingly. She turned her eyes to the closet door's full length mirror. She ran her fingers down the side of her face and sighed. Today was going to be one of the worst days of her life.


It was eight thirty and Soda had just finished his punishment Danger Room session. He had no idea how long he had been in there, but his muscles hurt in places he never even knew he had. Soda had held in in his cries of pain and agony in Logan's presence. He did not want to give him the satisfaction. Soda dragged his sore body up the large staircase and down the hall to his bedroom. The journey felt longer than it ever had before. When he finally made it to the safety of his bedroom, he let out a long sigh of relief. It was all over, albeit temporarily, but it was still over. With a groan, the exhausted teen dragged his aching body over to his newly made bed and laid down on top of the soft colours. He let out a long hiss of pain as he did this. He closed his eyes, but dared not to fall asleep. He was in way too much pain to sleep anyway.

'Soda,' the Professor's voice echoed inside his head. Soda cried out in surprise and bolted up onto his feet losing his balance and falling onto the floor with a loud thud. 'Please come down to my study, there is something I wish to speak with you.'

Soda calmed himself down once he realized that it was only he Professor's voice calling him down. He had done it to him before, however it still surprised him every time it happened. He was not used to tangible people talking to him inside his head. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, but did not respond to the Professor. Instead he ran his hand through his sweat matted locks and groaned in pain. His fall from his bed to the floor was definitely not the best idea for his sore body. He manoeuvred himself so that his hands rested on his mattress, and with a loud groan, he pulled himself up onto his feet. He sucked in his breath and slowly left his bedroom.

He vaguely remembered the way to the Professor's study, but he was positive that he could get there on his own. He wandered down the long hallways until he saw the oak doors that enclosed the Professor's study. He sucked in another breath raising his hand up to knock. However, the door creaked open before his hand even touched the door. He took this as his invitation to enter the large room. When he entered, he saw the Professor seated at his desk looking over some notes. The Professor looked up at him and smiled. Soda rarely saw the bald telepath. This was obviously due to the fact that he spent a lot of time either in his study, or with cerebro.

"How are you today Soda?" He questioned secretly knowing about the pain and exhaustion setting in on the young man's body.

"I'm fine Professor," He lied attempting no to show his pain and discomfort. He believed that he had succeeded, however, he was very mistaken.

Professor Xavier smiled again, "Of course," He gestured to the seat in front of him, choosing not to acknowledge the boy's pain. "Please sit."

The boy nodded and slowly moved over to the chair, sitting down on the soft red padded chair. It was indeed very comfortable. He suppressed a groan as he leaned his back against it, which made his aching back muscles scream in protest. His back always hurt the most after a Danger Room session with Logan. He swallowed the pain, and forced a smile at the Professor.

The Professor smiled sympathetically and crossed his hands under his chin. "Do not worry Soda, I will not punish you further for your actions yesterday. I'm sure Logan has done an extremely good job of that. Maybe a little too much," He explained,. He was quite disappointed by Logan's behaviour towards the teen, and especially disappointed in his over excessive levels of discipline. "I just have some questions that I thought would be very important to ask you."

Soda nodded. His request was reasonable enough. "Sure Professor, ask away," He croaked out not realizing how raw his voice actually sounded.

He smiled, "Do you understand, or remember, what happened between you and Rogue last night?"

He blinked a few times in shock, but shook his head solemnly, "I remember, but unfortunately I don't know what you mean by understand," He replied honestly.

He nodded grimly, "I see," He wheeled his chair out from behind the desk. "Rogue is unable to touch someone without absorbing some of that person's memories, thoughts, life force, or in the case of mutants, their powers. But somehow, she was able to touch you." He explained seriously, the smile disappearing from his face.

A metaphorical light bulb went off in his head. No wonder Rogue ran ff like a bat out of hell. "Oh,"He said quietly, suddenly feeling really bad about the situation he had caused.

The Professor nodded, "I hope you don't mind, but I have arranged for some tests that you and Rogue will have to endure. It's imperative in order to find out exactly why were able to touch Rogue." He explained resting his hands in his lap. "We want to figure out the cause of this."

Soda's mind reeled with all the information being processed inside of his brain. After a few moments of taking in the whole situation and what was asked of him, he nodded. "Sure, I'll do it," He agreed with a firm nod.

The Professor smiled once again, "I'm glad you agree," He said wheeling his chair towards the large oak doors. "Follow me. I will take you down to the med lab to meet Hank. The tests will be conducted there."

Soda slowly pulled him self up from the extremely comfortable chair, and wandered off after the Professor. He felt pain surge up his legs telling him that walking was not such a good idea, and to rest the sore aching muscles. However, the teen brushed it off and ignored his legs persistent protests. A few minutes later, the pair had reached the sterile halls of the med lab. Soda was in complete awe. It was like a high tech, extremely fancy and expensive hospital. He couldn't help but let his eyes roam the rooms and inspecting the weird medical contraptions. The Professor smiled at the boy's curiosity. After looking around for a few minutes, he felt nervousness settle into the pit of his stomach. He had no idea as to what he was in store for.

The Professor smiled noticing the uneasy look on the teen's face. "This is where Hank spends most of his time," He explained, continuing down the white halls.

"Hank?" Soda asked curiously. He had never met Hank before.

"Hank, or Beast, is one of the staff members here at the Institute. He's a medical and scientific doctor so he runs the med lab. He also fixes, and a lot of the time improves all technological issues here at the mansion," Xavier explained turning a corner, "Despite his appearance, he has a big heart and a big brain. He's an extremely intelligent man."

"Why thank you Charles," Hank stated walking out of the room that he occasionally used as a bedroom. "I was just going over my notes when I heard you voice."

Xavier smiled and then turned to Soda, who was currently gaping at the blue furred man. "Soda, this is Dr. Henry McCoy, or Hank as he prefers." He then turned to Hank, "Hank, this is Sodapop Curtis, our newest resident here at the Institute.

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance Mr. Curtis," He greeted with a smile, holding his furry hand for the teen to shake.

Soda nodded breaking himself out of his daze. "Oh...Yeah," He exclaimed nervously, and then shook the blue man's hand. Hank just smiled warmly at the boy.

"Rogue is busy sulking in the infirmary," Hank stated as the three began to walk further into the med bay. "Her first test did not yield the results that she had wanted," He explained with a small sigh. "Now let's get the rest of these tests done,"Now let's get the rest of these tests done," Hank suggested.

"I agree," The Professor said with a firm nod.

Soda felt out of place with the two older men. Being around Hank made him feel somewhat inadequate. Hank was smart, where as Soda, was just not. The Professor made him fell the same way most of the time. But then again, he had felt like that with his family a lot of the time too. Especially with Starr. It just seemed as though everyone was so much more intelligent than he was.

"How did you determine whether or not Rogue had gained control of her powers or not, may I ask?" The Professor asked hang with a knowing glance. It always seemed like he always knew what was going on. It was extremely unnerving to Soda.

Hank chuckled, "It's quite simple really. I just had her touch Logan," He answered with an impish grin.

Soda snickered at the mental image that popped into his brain. "I bet he didn't like that very much," He remarked with a small smile.

Hank chuckled again, "No he did not, but he's the wisest choice. He recovers the fastest. You see, regular people Rogue touches can be out for a couple days, weeks, months, or maybe even years. It all depends on how long Rogue holds onto them for. Logan's healing factor prevents it from causing that degree of damage to his system. In turn, he's only out for a couple of hours," He explained. "I have him resting in the infirmary."

Soda nodded, "Makes sense....sort of."

The Professor smiled, "So how long ago did you conduct this test?" He enquired.

"Oh, I would say about five minutes ago. Logan will be out of commission for a while yet," Hank responded as the neared the end of the long corridor.

"Good," Soda remarked with a sigh of relief.

Hank smirked knowingly, "I can see that you do not like Logan very much," He remarked holding back a laugh.

Soda shook his head vigorously, "No I don't. He's like a machine."

Hank couldn't hold it anymore and began to laugh. The Professor just smiled. Hank placed his large furry hand on Soda's shoulder, "I like you," He stated patting the boy's shoulder gently.

This put Soda at ease almost instantly, "Sweet, another person who doesn't hate me," He exclaimed out loud, but meaning to just say it to himself.

Hank let out another low laugh, "Logan makes everyone feel like that a first. He has to warm up to you is all. The only student he treated like his own from the beginning was Rogue," He explained pressing a button next to a closed door. This caused the door to open like a rocket.

"Well, she's definitely luck, cause it is hell."

Hank chuckled again and walked into the infirmary. A shiver went down Soda's spine when he entered the sterilized white room. It was the first time that the teen had been to this part of the mansion's sub-levels. It was also the first time that Soda had been to a hospital in over a year. It felt so sanitized, and was so incredibly high tech. Soda could never dream of such a place. It was about ten times better than most hospitals, especially the one in Tulsa. He shook his head in order to clear it of his wandering thoughts and looked around the room again taking in his nearly overwhelming surroundings.

Rogue sat on the exam table with her back pressed against the off white wall behind her. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and she was currently glaring at Logan's unconscious form lying on the hospital bed across the room. He laid a top the light clue bed coverings suggesting that he had been placed there after he had been rendered unconscious. He looked somewhat peaceful. Well, as peaceful as Logan could get anyway.

"How are you today Rogue?" The Professor asked as he wheeled himself into the infirmary.

She scowled at him."Terrible," She retorted with a small flare of her nostrils. Her glare remained etched on her features, her eyes remaining on Logan.

The Professor frowned and shook his head, "I know that I was being a tad pessimistic when I talked with you last night, but I was also being realistic. This is the reason why I did not want you to get your hopes up. You become extremely uncooperative when you are like this." He explained disappointment evident in his eyes.

Rogue snorted in response and turned her head so that she was staring at the wall.

The Professor shook his head and turned to Hank. "What will your next test be Hank? I'm sure that you've planned this all out extensively," He remarked with a small encouraging smile.

He scratched his chin, "I figured we would have Soda touch Rogue once more. This would be to ensure that this was not just some sort of fluke," He explained.

The Professor nodded accordingly, "I agree."

Soda swallowed the lump that had formed in this throat. He was extremely nervous about these test. What if there was something wrong with either one of them? What if it was just a fluke? Soda did not want to think about the seemingly endless possibilities.

The Professor turned to Soda sensing his apprehension. "Soda, we are going to need you to touch Rogue again," Hank explained as the Professor shot him a comforting smile.

He nodded and swallowed again, "Right."

Rogue was glaring at them, 'Ass holes. Talking about meh like ah can't hear 'em. Why can't they tell meh what tess they want ta do, run them by meh first. Ass holes,' Rogue mentally raged. She had not, for one second, thought that she had indeed gained control, but there is a fine line between reality and mere thought. That is what made her angry. 'Nothing ever goes right for Rogue. Never.' She raged on.

Xavier could sense the large degree of insult and anger washing off of Rogue like a harsh wind. It assaulted his senses. It made a shiver go down his spine. "I'm sorry Rogue, I've been ignoring your presence," He apologized sincerely.

"Ya think," She snapped sarcastically, glaring at the three men standing in the middle of the room.

"This process would go by a lot easier, and smooth is you were less hostile Rogue," Hank explained attempting to disarm her anger.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine," She sighed in defeat unlocking her arms from their position around her legs. She swung them over the edge of the exam table and held out her one bare hand.

Soda looked between her, the Professor, and Hank. He received an encouraging nod from the furry man. Soda glanced at Rogue's pale hand and took a deep breath to steady himself. He quickly grabbed a hold of Rogue's hand before he gave himself a second chance to think. Rogue closed her eyes awaiting the familiar pull of her powers, and Soda held his breath awaiting the same sensation. However, nothing happened. Rogue opened her emerald eyes and stared dumbly at their conjoined hands. She pulled away in astonishment. The incident last night, had indeed happened. Part of her subconscious had convinced her that it had all been a dream. Especially since she had dropped Logan so quickly.

"Amazing," Hank stated scribbling something down onto the clipboard that he held in his massive hands. "It appears as though Soda is somehow immune to your powers Rogue," He explained scribbling some more information down on the paper.

"Huh?" Rogue said breaking out of her shock filled daze shaking her head repeatedly. \

"Soda appears to be immune to the effects of your powers," Xavier repeated Hank's previous statement.

"Ya mean ah can touch?" She asked in awe.

The Professor smiled, "Yes Rogue, but so far you can only touch Soda."

Rogue beamed, "Ah don't care who it is, but ah can touch," She cried excitedly jumping off of the exam table with a happy smile spread out on her face.

Hank placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Now Soda, why don't you come with me and we'll run some more tests to figure this all out?" Hank suggested wrapping am arm around the teen's shoulder.

Soda nodded, "Sure," He agreed with a smile. He was in just as much shock of the situation as Rogue had been mere moments before.

However, he was happy to see that Rogue was so animated. He had never seen her this way before. She usually just portrayed this unhappy cloud of gloom. It was a refreshing change. She looked back at him with a smile in her green orbs. Surprisingly, she smiled at him with her lips, as Hank led him out of the infirmary. He noticed that for the first time since he had met Rogue, that this was an actual genuine smile. Something he had never seen before. And for causing this, this made him truly happy. The first time he had been happy since arriving in Bayville. Indeed this was a great day for both of them. The start of a new beginning.


An: Again I apologize that this took a while to get updated. Just a warning, the next chapter may take a bit since I have to re-write it onto paper before I can type it out. I will have it up as soon as I can. There is a lot more to come, so stay tuned peoples.

Next: To Blondes, a Brunette, and a Rogue.

Response to Reviews:

FoxyRogue: I got it, I got it, and while you were out too. H aha! I am the champion!

Merygoroundbrokedown: Ha ha, I always thought of him when I heard it too! That is just way freaky.

I'm glad you enjoyed it and hope you enjoy this chapter. The good stuff is coming, so don't worry. Enjoy!