Mnemosyne

She stood clad in a leather bodysuit that was only half zipped to lure any unsuspecting victim into her womanly web while listening to General Stryker give out commands to fellow soldiers. She stood just behind the twisted leader with a blank look, but what else was she supposed to show when she didn't remember how she had ended up with him. She knew she had skills but she didn't know how she had acquired them. She didn't even know her name for god sakes.

"Rogue?" She looked at the General and stepped forward from his shadow and nodded.

"Yes sir."

"You ready?"

"Yes sir."

He felt pride; the old Rogue never called him sir without a hint of venom. This Rogue was very obedient. He watched as she walked past him and she was very much the predator on the prowl for weakness.

'Oh, those X-Men won't know what hit them!' The evil part of William Stryker's mind cheered. 'Take that, you mutie freaks!'

It caused him to grin. He had the perfect weapon in his command and she had no other loyalties than him. He had seen to that the hard way; brainwashing was a magnificent tool. He erased her mind and then fed her the story of finding her in the forest without identification. She'd readily accepted because he was the one who took care of her. His plan was working perfectly. She was his assassin and he had used her enough times to know that without a doubt she didn't feel anything for the people she killed.

They stopped in front of a door, "Ready, my dear? This is the most important mission of our cause… Do you understand? You cannot fail, period." He watched her blank face and her empty eyes, "Sir, yes sir." He smiled, "Good Luck."

The Mansion

It had been five months since they'd destroyed the lab in Canada. No trace of Rogue there at the Cummings Road lab. At least that one hadn't been underground. They all had hoped to find something in the computers but Kitty couldn't find anything. They had no way of knowing that General Stryker had built a private lab not on any computer system. The only way they would find out was spies because there were no escapees from the lab under Williams Lake. It was the sister lab to Alkali Lake, but totally independent when it came to information. They never shared any information between the two labs.

It had also been five months since they had word from Rogue. The X-Men had given up on finding her. They had but he hadn't… When the Wolverine was on the job, he never gave up. He liked the challenge of the hunt. If he got a lead or tip he went to look for her. Month after month, nothing. Nothing credible anyway.

Charles was drawn and rarely smiled. He spent those five months trying to locate her with Cerebro; carefully trying to concentrate harder but without trying to kill everyone on the planet. Late nights turned into early mornings with nothing to show for it. Guilt began to eat away at his conscience. He had a bad case of what ifs going on in his advanced intelligent mind. What if I'd done more to keep her here? What if I talked to her on more occasions to get a feel for how she was doing here? What if an enemy has her against her will? What if that enemy comes to the school? What if a war starts?

'I should have done more, dear Rogue,' he thought. 'We will find you…'

Contacts of Xavier's carefully did leg work and favors at their own risk to help find this missing teammate of theirs. Charles spared no expense to pay for whatever he could get. Some helped and some information was bogus, which made his frustration grow.

Scott hid behind a fake smile and tight lips. And at night he'd sit in up in his room and pray for her every night; and pray they would find her soon. Logan was getting more and more short tempered with everyone residing at the school the longer Rogue was missing. Once he'd offered to take him out on the town, two lone wolves out for a night of drinkin', but that didn't work… Scott still went out without him.

The first month went by and Logan thought, 'Okay, she's teachin' me a lesson.' 'Okay, I can't keep my hands to myself. And I would rather have them all over that body of hers… *Groan.* Hey, can you blame me, I'm a guy. That's what we do.' Then the next month went by and Logan thought, 'Well, maybe she does need time alone.' However, there was that nagging feeling something was wrong kept popping up. But he went against his instincts and suppressed that feeling, wrapping himself in teaching and other usual activities. Sure, he still took off on weekends to look for her when a lead came in but when they didn't pan out… He decided to give her the time she wanted. With the distractions it made the next two months fly by. The fifth month came on and Logan thought, 'Okay, something's wrong. He'd talked to Charles and they agreed it really wasn't like her not to make contact in five months.

The Attack

Logan was teaching a class when the special alarm bell went off signaling that the X-Men needed to assemble. Someone was attacking downtown New York City. The media was already clamoring for identification of the destructive entity. Just so they could fuel the flames of a human-mutant war. If they found out it was a mutant, Charles was sure the media would be out for blood. Churning out anti-mutant ads and biased reporting.

"You're dismissed," he yelled at the students as he ran from the classroom.

He ran to the locker room and changed as quickly as his lithe fingers could work the zippers. Logan made his way to the Blackbird to be greeted by the entire team.

They loaded onto the plane and headed to downtown New York City. Some claimed it was terrorists coming to finish us of because we killed Osama Bin Laden. Others said it was those Occupy Wall Street protestors attacking the rich. And a very small group thought it was aliens… Out the window you could see fires burning, people running, and nothing clearly causing it. Scott landed the Blackbird in Central Park under an invisibility disguise and everyone exited. They looked around not seeing or hearing anything other than people running and screaming. Logan caught a scent and he stiffened.

"Run, I can't move," he ordered.

He looked up to see a woman floating above them. Her hair wiped around her head, she had fireballs clutched in her hands, and an evil grin on her face. The team recognized her immediately. Suddenly, none of them could move, they were frozen. All they could do was watch as she slowly floated down.

She landed in front of Logan who was stunned and chose not to react. Rogue knew he was sizing up his opponent. She smiled at him but it didn't reach her eyes, "General Stryker says hello." She heard the gasp come from Scott and turned toward him. She cocked her head at him and walked toward him. "You are?"

Logan could see the look of hurt on Scott's face but he didn't show it in his voice, "I'm team leader. My name is Cyclops." She smiled at him, "Oh yeah, Scott Summers. So that makes you guys the X-men right? Wow, I'm honored."

"Marie, why are you doing this?" Logan asked. He had stared at her and hadn't heard anything said. She looked at him, "Marie?" He watched as she frowned. Rogue suddenly shook her head as if she was trying to clear confusion from her head and took a step back. They could feel her hold on them weaken. Logan watched as her hands flew to her head and she gasped. Abruptly, it was like it hadn't happened at all because the cold person was back.

She held out her hand and made a fist. Kitty dropped to the ground gasping, Scott screamed, "KITTY! Let her go. You want us, Rogue. Not them… Let them go." She smiled, "You know Scott, you're right, I don't but this is so much fun." Jean spoke then, "How do you know his name is Scott?" At this Rogue blinked, she didn't know how but she did. "Well let's see, I have many powers, how do you know this isn't one?"

"Because I would have felt it." Rogue glared at the red head and Scott knew his wife was in danger at that moment. The girl stalked toward Jean pulling a knife form her belt. "You talk too much." She pulled it back about to plunge it into Jean. "Rogue stop," her hand halted at the gruff voice. She didn't understand why her body was betraying her. "Put it down," her hand dropped the blade. She growled and turned to face Logan, "I'll make this quick and painful." She pulled off her gloves.

He stared at her as she made her way to him, once his eyes caught hers he knew how to reach her, "Marie, he lied to you. You're not this person. You don't kill innocent people." She was about to touch him, "Well clearly, I've changed Wolverine." "Go ahead touch me and see the truth." Her hand was inches from his bare face; he watched her eyes which were searching his face like it had answers. She placed one finger on his cheek. His memories rushed her and she saw her face in them. In one, she was on her back looking up at him, she was smiling at him.

She jerked her hand back like she'd been burned by his flesh. He felt pressure like extreme gravity push down on him and then it released. He stumbled backward as he watched her face change from shock to fear to anger and then it went blank as her eyes rolled back into her head.