Disclaimer: I do not own X-men, Fantastic Four, or any related characters. I must say that I am quite surprised by the amount of positive feedback this story is getting. So, as always, read, review, and, most importantly, enjoy. In honor of Chapter 10, I'm going to give a quick thanks to my reviewers:
deadsnowwhite, 13Skylar3, Pagan-Angel13, park1818, Lee, lovestoread, PyroWhore, flamingrose, miarath, 5HourOpera, kristie, Mike N, SouthernLoner, Piano Monkey, lildevil0644, rollingrocks, GemGirl, Travelling Army Brat, RedJewel2662, angel0wonder, faxness-rulz, coup fatal, shamrockbaby411, Mnesomne's Tears, peteylove, IcedBlaze, lea, lets go for life wont wait, Petite Diable, rmrivera, Crazy4Cocopuffs, TroypayisLOVE, Moonwolf27, Mell Yeah, and RogueOnFire
Also, I must say that my musical inspiration for the last couple of chapters of writing happen to be from the amazing runner up of 2007's American Idol, Blake Lewis. Buy his CD, it's amazing (and makes a person want to dance). Now, on with the story.
Chapter 10
Nearly instantly, the woman's illusion dropped from Rogue's eyes. In her place was a tall, imposing woman with long, straight blonde hair. "Now, Rogue, what should we do with you?"
As the woman came closer, Rogue started to tug her gloves off. It seemed as though they were stuck to her skin.
"I can't very well have you running around, telling people my secret. That wouldn't be particularly pleasant for me, would it?"
One glove was off, just one more to go.
"Perhaps I should just kill you. The loss wouldn't go too noticed. Very few people care about your well-being, of course."
"Why do you say that," Rogue asked.
The woman laughed quickly and harshly, but quickly quieted down. "You've only been e-mailing one person, haven't you? And this 'friend' of yours doesn't exactly know all the details to your life."
Rogue's eyes narrowed, "What do you think you know about my life?"
The second glove was off and she was prepared to fight. Regan stopped just short of touching distance, "I know all about you. See, before going on missions, I do my homework. You were born in the south. Before the name Rogue ever came about, you were called Marie D'Ancanto. Recently, you've suffered a horrible stumble in your relationship with your boyfriend, although knowing what you southern girls are like, you'll pull it together. For the past few weeks, you've been staying with the Fantastic Four, keeping things from them. These things are important, aren't them? They have to do with your powers. Or, the lack of people knowing about your powers. Your distrust of men after your boyfriend's cheating led you to not telling Johnny or Reed. Sue was the only one you deemed trustworthy enough to hold this information. And Ben, but then, you can never really think of him as human, can you?"
Rogue growled, "Of course he's human. He was once just as human as the rest of us."
"Ah, he was once as human…"
"In a physical appearance," she explained, suddenly feeling quite desperate.
Regan was undeterred and only smiled more, "But what of those who never had a human physical appearance? What about them?"
"They are just as human as the rest of us!"
"That's not what you said before."
Now Rogue was just growing angry, "It's what I meant."
"Maybe you should say what you mean."
Regan was advancing and Rogue was backing up. Suddenly, she felt very, very alone in a house full of mutants. She had to distract the girl more.
"Why are you even here? What are you hoping to achieve?"
"From being here, I'll achieve many things, Rogue. Things that you can't even begin to comprehend." She said, "I'm what's considered a double-sided player. I'm working where it best advantages me, even if it is playing on more than one field. My original mission was to spy on you. I think that you recognize the name Magneto?"
Rogue nodded as her eyes narrowed.
"After you had been spotted by a few mutants who recognized you, they told Magneto. He thought that perhaps you were giving Xavier inside information on The Cure and even on the movements and plans of the renegades. I don't think that he ever imagined that what you were actually doing was trying to sum up enough courage to take the Cure. He wouldn't even be able to imagine it with all that power you have.
"Now, though, I've been employed by a more… secret organization, one that I think you've met before." No light bulbs flickered in Rogue's mind. What could she be talking about? "Do you recognize the name Frightful Four? They are considered to be Fantastic Four's alter egos."
Her fist clenched into a fist and she dearly wanted to send it pummeling into this woman's face. "Where are they?"
The smile on Regan's face was one of pure malice, "I'm under obligation not to tell you that… at least not until it suits me."
Ben walked into the room just as Rogue tackled the other girl. They rolled on the floor, all hands and feet and fists. Rogue was tearing out her hair and trying to get a good enough grip to bring her hands to the girl's face. She was busy clawing at the girl's arms and legs. They were a mess.
"Hey," he finally yelled, trying to break them up, "what are you guys doing?" That made them pause in surprise, as though they had forgotten anyone else was there. Rogue saw Ben's eyes widen as he looked at the Regan, "Who the hell are you?"
By now the other members of the Fantastic Four were gathering in the living room, each looking just as confused as Ben.
"Where'd Lisa go," Rogue distantly heard Johnny ask. But she wasn't going to waste anytime trying to explain the situation. It was clear that Regan was trying hard to get her illusions back up, but Rogue was already set with her powers. Quickly, she grabbed the girls face and felt the power enter her. There were so many things… so many memories that this woman had.
She let out a scream before letting go. Regan fainted.
Silence resounded through the room. Johnny was the first one to speak, "Who is that?"
"Lets tie her up before I get to any explanations."
Everyone just blinked at her, as if not sure they should listen to her.
"Just listen to me, alright!"
Grumbling, they did as she told. When Rogue felt she was sufficiently tied down, she turned to them, "This is not Lisa."
"Clearly," Johnny said, sarcasm oozing off of his voice.
"This is who you thought was Lisa."
"No, I thought Lisa was Lisa. I don't know who this is."
Rogue groaned and shook her head, "Lisa isn't alive anymore. This person… mutant… killed her."
Johnny's eyes narrowed. They were trained solely on her and made her feel as though he were trying to see into her very mind and figure out what she was saying. She felt as though she were saying it plainly enough, and Johnny's look was making her feel a little bit weird.
"This is Regan. She was a coworker of Lisa's. A while ago, she went on a weird sort of rampage with mutant relations and she killed some people. It was a very hush, hush situation and word of it barely even got out at all. Regan has taken Lisa's form as a way to… infiltrate this place."
Johnny sat down, "How would she even know that I was friends with Lisa?"
"She does her research," Rogue winced. "Trust me."
Reid didn't really seem to know what to say, and neither did Sue or Ben… or even Johnny for that matter.
"At first she was trying to get inside information about me. I turned out to be useless to her, and she then turned her spying onto you."
Ben was eyeing the woman tied to the chair, "What was the purpose of spying on us?"
"She was working for the Frightful Four."
Someone could hear a pin drop in the room it had gone so silent. And finally, everyone seemed to explode.
"Wait, what?"
"How'd you find that out?"
Everyone seemed to want to know something different. Rogue was having a tough time keeping up. Then, they all went silent as Regan started to awaken. When she fully regained consciousness, her entire body went rigid. She stared around the room, fear apparent in her eyes. But that was quickly shielded over with a hard, unforgiving look.
"So," she said, "what are you going to do with me?"
Ben was the first to say anything. To Rogue, he seemed surprisingly calm considering she had been spying for the ones that had put him in the hospital. "Where are they?"
"I'm sorry I can't reveal my employer's information." She didn't sound sorry at all. Her tone was quiet gleeful, to be frank.
"Why did they attack me?"
She shrugged, "How should I know? I'm their spy, not a member of their little gang. I don't know anything about them."
Reid stepped forward, breathing deeply, "Tell us where they are."
"I'm sorry."
Rogue stood near the back, thinking and sifting through memories. She didn't seem to have absorbed enough to get recent memories from the woman. Johnny stood along with her, silent.
She must have been deeply in thought because Johnny put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Don't try so hard. You'll give yourself worry lines."
When she looked at him, his eyes were focused on her in a strange way. "I'm not trying too hard." She looked back at Regan, "It seems as though I'm not trying enough."
She bent down and grabbed her gloves. Slowly, she slipped one on before stepping forward. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Regan's eyes had focused on her ungloved hand. Rogue didn't mistake the look. She was afraid. That's what happened to anyone who experienced her power. They became afraid of her. She didn't mind this woman being afraid, though. "What can you do?" The woman spit out, "Your power is to suck memories, life, and powers. My power is over illusions. I can instill whatever thoughts I want to into your mind, and you'll believe they're true."
"That's not how this works, Regan. My power overcomes other powers. No one can use their powers against me while I'm absorbing them."
Distantly, she remembered Logan clawing her through the stomach. But that wasn't his power that was… something else.
She growled and slumped over, "The Frightful Four's hold is somewhere in Queen's, I think. I never actually got to see where they were based. We met in a different spot every time."
She looked none to happy about the current arrangement and almost… vulnerable. A glint, though, quickly came back into her eyes. "But that's not going to be even the beginning of your worries."
"What do you mean," Sue asked.
"Right now you're worrying about the Frightful Four. Have you all forgotten about the mutant population? The one that sent me to spy on Rogue?"
Rogue advanced on Regan, "What do you mean?"
"What I mean, silly girl, is that you should turn on the news."
For a second, Rogue didn't want to believe her. But there was a certain amount of fear in her eyes that told her that she wouldn't lie. Hesitantly, she grabbed the remote and flipped on channel 11.
A reporter was reporting from a helicopter, "It appears as though a mutant group is on their way to New York and it does not look like such a good thing. These mutants are violent and hostile. Please stay in your homes. I repeat, stay in your homes."
The cameraman focused on a few of the mutants below. Although they were blurry, Rogue would have been able to pick them out from anywhere. Magneto and Jean were leading the pack. But isn't she dead? Maybe it was Mystique taking Jean's form, but Rogue doubted it.
"Right now, they are an hour away from New York," Regan said. "So now you have a choice, either you defend against your own kind, or you track the people who attacked your friends? But, wait. Didn't both groups attack your friends?"
Rogue stood silently, watching the television.