Chapter 14
Disclaimer: Still don't own : (
Bayville, New York
September 2000
This is so uncomfortable, and cramped, and how many times was I told to never get into some strangers metal orb… well ok to just leave with a stranger, especially if that stranger is a friend of my mothers.. wait scratch that.. ex boyfriend or something… gross… holly fuck balls I'm stupid… WORST NIGHT EVER!
These were Anna's thoughts as she uncomfortably twiddled her thumbs in Magneto's cramped flying orb from hell. They had been in the air for almost an hour, him asking polite questions and her trying to politely avoid answering them.
"We should be there soon" Erik said.
"Cool" Anna replied dully giving a slight nod of the head.
"I'm sorry about the possible state of the house; I've left my son and the other boys to their own devices for a few days now".
"Your son works for you"?
"Yes, Pietro, he's a year older than you I believe".
"That's cool, my mommas group was all older than me, like waaay old".
Erik gave a polite smile, he hated how the younger generations spoke, no elegance as far as he was concerned.
"Sooo what does he do"?
Erik twitched a little at her use of the word "so", but answered none the less, he was still trying to get more information out of the girl, and if she was willing to talk he would put up with idiosyncrasies.
"He has super human speed, he's almost capable of running at the speed of sound, the Brotherhood boys call him Quicksilver".
"Impressive, what about the others, what can they do"?
"Introductions will be made shortly my dear, were about to land".
Magneto stood from his spot in the orb, he lifted his hands up in an almost comical superhero move and Anna felt the orb jerk still. With nothing to hold onto she just closed her eyes as she felt the orb drop to the ground, and felt the gravity pull in the pit of her stomach.
For the incredible speed they picked up dropping out of the sky, the landing was very gentle. Anna stood up, legs a bit wobbly from the ride, and from her nerves having gone into full over drive from the nights events.
The orb opened up, it was still dark out and all Anna could make out was the outline of an old fashioned house, a few of the windows lit up from the inside lights.
"Where are we", she asked shakily jumping out of the orb.
"Bayville, New York. Welcome to your new home young Rogue".
"Wow, New York really"? Anna looked a little shocked; she couldn't remember ever being so far from home before.
"Well come on girl, lets get you settled, we need to talk over your purpose here, what your job is, your schooling and such other details".
"You're gonna let me go back to school"!
"Yes, is that a problem" Erik answered back starting to get irritated.
"No, it's just Ah haven't been to school in years", Anna said looking a little ashamed.
"I'm sure Mystique had her reasons" Erik said, feeling uncomfortable with the Rogue's emotional reaction to the news.
He started walking towards the house and bid Anna to follow. Walking up the front porch Anna noticed the considerable creaking of the floor boards, and the tattered looking state of the railings and door.
Home sweet home, she thought, Magneto opened the door and Anna crossed the threshold.
"Gentlemen, we have a guest, make your selves present" Erik called into the house, for the moment void of any signs of life.
They came from every direction of the house, some more quickly and some more slowly then others, all different sizes and all different attitudes.
Magneto came to stand beside Rogue and gave an elaborate hand gesture in her direction.
"Boys, this is your new teammate, Rogue".
Anna waved at them awkwardly, "Hi", she said with a uncomfortable smile.
All four boys looked her over with appreciation, the guy with stereotypical bad boy 80's look extended his hand to her, "Hey I'm Lance, everyone calls me Avalanche", he said with politeness that didn't match his appearance.
Anna backed away from his extended hand, still shook in up from her experience earlier with Cody she opted out of the friendly handshake.
"Why do they call you Avalanche" She asked trying to stop the tension she felt, and trying not to come off as unfriendly.
Lance looked a little taken a back from her resistance to his welcoming gesture, but he had met his share of weird folk since running away to join The Brotherhood.
"I can cause earthquakes, you could say I can rock your world", he said in a flirtatious tone that only teenage boys could muster up after being slightly rejected by a pretty girl.
Anna rolled her eyes but gave him a slight smile back, "Cool" she responded, trying to give off the impression that his flirtation hadn't affected her.
"Thank you Mr. Alvers", Magneto said with sigh, "I'll take over the introductions from here".
The boys looked slightly disappointed that they couldn't impress the hot chick with sexual overtones describing their powers, so each opted to just stand their trying to look as manly and impressive as they could.
"This is Todd Tolansky, he is called Toad in mutant circles, the name should tell you all you need to know about his.. abilities", Erik said giving Todd a disgusted once over.
Anna looked at the dirty teenage boy in front of her and could only imagine the unpleasant possibilities the name conjured, Todd himself looked dejected from the treatment of his boss, and she almost felt sorry for him.
"This is Fred Dukes, the Blob", Erik said gesturing to human tank in front of them. "He's the power house here, virtually unstoppable", he said with some pride in his voice.
"And this my dear is, Pietro, my son", Erik said pointing to the white haired youth in front of them.
Pietro rushed in front of her with a startling speed that made Anna jump back when he appeared in front of her like a blur.
He positioned himself in front of her in what she supposed was meant to be a cool guy pose, but only came off as purely lame male arrogance.
"Hey" Pietro said, giving her a wink, "What about you beautiful, name, powers, all that jazz".
Anna gave him an exaggeratedly creeped out look, but quickly remembered he was the bosses son and gave him her most charming smile.
"Name's Rogue" she said, giving them her best saucy southern belle act.
"Just Rogue"? Pietro asked quirking an eyebrow.
"Yea just Rogue"
"Mysterious, I like that in a girl" Pietro replied back, giving her another wink.
Anna quickly fought the urge to smack him.
Lance rolled his eyes and pushed Pietro out of the way, "So what are your powers Rogue"?
"Ah don't really know yet, just got em today actually" Anna said with a tone of sadness in her voice.
"Wow really, recruited on your first day as a mutie, you must be badass yo" said the Toad.
"Ah guess".
Magneto seeing that the boys were beginning to suffocate the poor girl, diffused the situation by making the boys bring her bag up to her room and making presentable for a young lady. They all rushed off in a herd of testosterone filled competition.
"Well Rogue, if you will please come with me, we have much to discuss".
Anna followed Magneto through the dingy house, arriving in a somewhat hospitable office in the back of the house.
She took a seat in front of the impressive desk that was centered in the small room. Erik taking his seat behind the desk. Employer and employee about to discuss business.
"Well Rogue what do you think"?
"This place is a rat trap" Anna decided honesty was best with this man, he wasn't looking for a sweet southern belle, he wanted the Rogue, who was trained all her life by the hardass known ass Mystique.
Magneto gave a small smile, "Luxuries have to be earned, this group is new and they have yet to prove their worth to me".
"So Ah guess this is were Ah come in, you want me to train these boys for ya, but what exactly am Ah training them for"?
"War my dear Rogue, more mutants are coming out, more being wrongfully imprisoned, or disappeared completely by the governments hand, but surely you already knew that".
"Ah'v heard about this war all my life, never seen or heard anything that made me believe it though".
"Well you are still just a child, when was the last time you left your little Eden next to the river, surly one with your skills had to have gone out on your mothers mercenary missions"?
Anna looked a little taken back by that remark, he was of course right, she had never actually gone out on a mission, she had never seen for herself the plight of the mutant, only heard stories, but over the years they turned into far off fairy tales in her mind.
"So whats your deal than, what exactly do you want me to do"? she said covering up her ignorance with attitude.
"Like I said, I need you to train these boys, teach them everything you know, we need soldiers Rogue. The world will quickly turn against us once we have become more mainstream, there is no doubt in my mind that the humans will react with fear to our superior race".
Magneto stood then, getting more passionate in his mission statement, he began passing the small space.
"We must be ready Rogue, we must rise together, and stand up for our rights. We our being treated like animals by our own government, and I cannot allow such atrocities to happen. My objective is to free those who are enslaved, and use what ever force possible to stop the same horrors from happening to our kind, do you understand"?
"Of course, Ah'v heard the same speech from Mystique all my life".
"Good", Magneto sat back in his chair, "I will be honest with you Rogue, I'm willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means violence, are you prepared for that"?
"Been prepared for along time" Anna said, trying to act cool and collected, when she was most certainly screaming on the inside, getting her powers, putting her best friend in a coma, running away from home, and now sitting in a room with a flesh and blood revolutionary fighter was beginning to take its toll on her nerves again.
"I will be honest with you young Rogue, I need you to be my second here, your well trained to take on the position, you will need to lead these boys in my absence, which will be quite frequent".
"Why is that" she asked softly, her head was swimming, everything was turning hazy and she was having a hard time taking in the enormity of the situation she had gotten herself into, but somewhere deep down she felt a tingle of pride in herself that this reckoning force of a man was putting so much faith in her abilities.
"I'm putting together a secondary team, traveling the world, looking for the best of the best if you will, a team that I would like you to join if you prove your merits here".
"Is that so" she said, again distantly, this was a lot, this was major, this was big time, this was the big league, and she was being thrown right into the middle of it. At the moment she couldn't have wished harder for Irene to be at her side, giving her vague comforting statements that fate was falling into place and she was right where she was suppose to be. That wasn't the case though; it was now up to her to decide if this was where her fate led, if this is the man she is suppose to follow. It was all just too much.
"Of course my young Rogue, your powers are extraordinary from what I've gathered through your mother, a girl with your gifts could most certainly be a major player in events that our about to unfold".
There it was, the warning Black Tom gave her not but a few hours ago flashed through her mind, her powers, whatever they may be were already proving to be a pawn piece for the leaders of this mutant revolution that was still taking place behind the scenes of major world events. She could either run away now into an uncertain future or stick around with this man who obviously had high standards of her person. At the moment the choice wasn't hard.
"When do Ah start".
"Immediately, I will enroll you into the local high school tomorrow, no reason to skip getting a proper education, it is after all the best way for one to get a head in this world".
"And my powers, everyone seems to have a much better understanding of them then Ah do"?
"From what your mother described it seems that through touch you have the ability to absorb the thoughts and abilities of others, quite a gift if given the proper training to harness such power, you could have the ability to use any power at will of your fellow mutants, imagine Rogue, all the power you could wield just from a simple touch" Magneto said almost wistfully.
"But Cody, he was left almost dead, from just a few moments of touching me, it doesn't sound like much of a gift", Anna replied back with an edge of sadness in her voice.
"An unfortunate side effect yes, and one you will have to experiment with more, keep the future in mind always young Rogue, the possibility of having full control of those powers should be your goal".
Anna nodded her head in acknowledgment.
Magneto stood up, walked to the door and opened it, gesturing for her to go first.
Anna got up and walked out the door.
"Let me show you to your room, it's been a long night for you, and you have much to accomplish here starting first thing tomorrow".
Again Anna just nodded her head in agreement, the overwhelming tiredness creeping up on her at the mention of a bed.
They walked silently up the stairs and down the dark hallway, hers was the last door, the room itself was dark and gloomy and a bit drafty.
Before being left on her own, Anna turned to Magneto.
"Who was that man"? She asked, the memory of the strange feral best coming at her through the fog popping into her head.
"That was the Wolverine, he's a killer of the highest degree, more animal than man". Erik replied some bitterness in his voice.
"Why was he after me"?
"He works for an old associate of mine, he runs a team called the X-men and the wolverine leads the group, be weary of them Rogue, they desire to you use you for your gifts".
"Like you"? The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them.
"Yes Rogue, like me" Erik replied back honestly.
And with that he quietly shut the door behind him.
Anna looked around at her gloomy surroundings, the bed, however grungy looking was still inviting to her weary spirits.
She fell into her bed, turned of her lamp and lay in the quiet darkness, tears now flowing freely down her face. She was in a calm state of shock, she was sure of it. So she cried, for her old life, for Irene who had always been kind if not always honest, and even for her mother, the only mother she had ever known. Mostly she cried for Cody, her dearest friend, who at this moment was fighting for his life all because of her "gift". In that desperate heart breaking moment she vowed to never get close to anyone again. She would never ever feel this pain over another person, not if she could hurt them this badly from something as beautiful as a kiss.
She woke up early in the morning, the sun beating down on her in all it's bright annoying glory. There was also a voice yelling at her from behind the door as well. She had half a mind to tell them off but remembered where she was and didn't want to start trouble on her first day as new member of this secondary Brotherhood.
"Hey Rogue, get up, we gotta go to school"! She heard Lance yell in between poundings on the door.
"Ah'm up"! She yelled back while throwing a pillow at the door, completely missing the dramatic affect she was looking for.
"Well hurry up miss attitude you still gotta register, I'm not gonna wait all day for you got it"!
"Ah get it! Now leave me alone for five damn minutes so Ah can get ready"!
"Five minutes, that's it, then I leave without you"!
"Holy shit, just leave me alone, Ah'll be there when Ah get there"!
"Fine jeez"!
Anna through her remaining pillow at the irritating voice behind the door.
Ten minutes later Anna defiantly sauntered down the stairs, dressed to impress in nothing more then hole ridden skin tight jeans, an old band t-shirt and plain black gloves. The boys all stared at their new gorgeous leader.
Lance however, quickly changed his attitude and gave an exasperated sigh of impatience, "Took you long enough".
Anna simply flipped her hair behind her shoulder and walked past him with all the angst she could muster. The boy's quickly following suit.
The rag tag group of teenagers piled into Lance's run down jeep, Anna taking the front passenger seat.
"Ah though Magneto was suppose to sign me up or something"?
"He did it early this morning before heading off to where ever the hell he goes", Lance replied back.
"Well aren't you moody in the mornings", she replied back.
"Says you, I've never heard a girl swear like that", he replied back with a smile.
"Well if ya'll are gonna continue to wake me up in the morning you better get used to it".
"Yes ma'am", Lance replied back good naturally.
They continued to speed through the quite streets of Bayville, Anna began to take notice of her surroundings. The town seemed quant, like many southern towns she had been in. Everything was very still in the early morning and she wondered if it was always like that.
After a few minutes of taking in the scenery, Anna then noticed that they were flying down the road at highly illegal speed, leaning over and checking the speedometer, she noticed the needle hitting the 80 mark.
"Ya in a rush or something"? She asked Lance raising a questioning eyebrow.
"He doesn't want to miss seeing his pretty kitty before class", Pietro said leaning a little to close into her ear for comfort.
Lance quickly reached behind him to shove Pietro back into his seat, "Shut the hell up man"!
Anna raised another questioning brow at him, "whose pretty kitty"?
"His girlfriend"! Pietro annoyingly yelled from the back seat.
"I said shut the hell up"!
"Ah take it she's not your girlfriend yet"?
"Were just friends" Lance shot back irritated.
The group pulled into the school, getting a parking space all the way in the back of the lot. They piled out of the car and headed towards the building. Anna noticed the crowed of teenagers part in their wake, all trying to get away from the group she was with as fast as possible.
"What's with everyone"? She asked a little confused by the reactions of the other students; it had been a long time since she was thrown into the mix of the public school hierarchy.
"Were sort of like the bad asses here" Pietro said in that ever annoying I'm trying to impress you voice.
"Yea total bad asses yo, these guys don't even know", Todd said trying to back up his buddy's statement.
Anna noticed Lance roll his eyes at their companions' behavior, he was obviously going to be the voice reason, and quickly decided to remain on his good side, she would probably need his help keeping these idiots in line during training.
They continued walking through the school, loosing a member of their group one by one with each class room they passed, until it was just Anna and Lance left.
"The Principles office is just up here", he said pointing to the hard wood door down the hall.
At some point during the mad dash through the crowded hall to get to the office she lost Lance, she turned back to see him facing away and staring down the hall at something, so she rushed over to see what was going on.
"Hey what's wrong with you"? She asked, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
He snapped out of his trance and pulled Anna to his side and whispered conspiratorially in hear ear, "There's Kitty".
Anna looked to the young girl he was pointing, cute and perky, her ponytail bobbing up and down while she talked in exaggerated gestures.
"Just friends huh"? She said giving him a smile.
Lance shot back an irritated look, "Yea just friends".
"Sooo why don't you just ask her out"?
"I can't", he said back, with a hint of longing.
"Why not"?
"Because she's an X-man that's why"! He shot back at her.
Anna gave a shocked look, "She's an X-man? Don't we not like them? Why would you crush on the enemy"?
"I knew her before we came here, she's a mutant too, we just went to different teams".
"How very Shakespeare".
"Whatever, let's go" he said dragging her back in the direction of the principals office.
It had been a long day, a very long day that she wished she could erase from her memory. Anna loved learning and reading, she was quite good at it and always excelled in her private lessons with her tutors back home. She forgot however, just how excruciatingly boring public school lessons were, and how awful the new kid always got treated.
The only break in here boredom was during her English class. She felt eyes on the back of her neck during the whole class, and every time she turned around she could swear that the kid in the obnoxiously red sun glasses was staring at her, she just couldn't tell for sure. Knowing that X-men were roaming around the school put her on edge and she had half a mind to confront him after class but he disappeared before she got the chance.
Finally getting home, she put the boy's through a rigorous work out regiment, face palming ever few minutes and the lack of physical endurance these boys had.
This is not my day
Bayville, New York
Xavier's Mansion
Later that day
When Scott Summers made it back to the mansion he walked directly to Charles Xavier's office.
Come in Scott, he heard before opening the door.
"Hey Professor, wheres Logan, I think I have news on the kidnapped girl".
"Really, already"? Xavier asked with a glint of hope in his voice.
"Yes, I swear I saw her at school today".
"How strange", Xavier pressed the intercom button on his desk, "Logan, my office please".
"On my way" the gruff voice of the Wolverine answered back.
They waited in silence for the few minutes it took Logan to get to the Professors office.
"What's up Chuck"? The Wolverine asked upon entering.
"Scott thinks he has news on the kidnapped girl".
Logan gave a surprised look, "What d'ya got kid"?
"I swear I saw her at school today, in my English class".
"Are you sure, what did she look like"?
"Tall, skinny, green eyes, brown hair, white streak in hair, southern accent when she introduced herself".
"That's a dead ringer for our girl Chuck" Logan said to Xavier.
"It indeed is, how strange, and just the day after her kidnapping.. what is Magneto playing at".
"How did she act, scared, edgy, anything indicating that she was in trouble"? Logan asked turning back to Scott.
"No, I mean no more scared than any new kid".
"Are we sure she was kidnapped then"? Xavier asked pensively.
"No kid would just willingly run off with that mad man, it doesn't make any sense" Logan replied.
"No, but Erik can be quite charming when he's trying to get his way".
"So what do we do Professor"? Scott asked, his in leader coming out to take charge of the new development.
"Get to know her Scott, befriend her and find out her situation".
"I'm on it, first thing tomorrow I'll find her".
"Be careful kid, we don't know where her allegiance is, if Magneto is letting her roam the town she could be working for him". Logan demanded more than asked.
"I will" Scott said before strutting out the room, a man on a mission.
Once the door shut behind him Logan turned back to the Professor.
"What d'ya think"?
"I'm not sure, teenage girls are impressionable, Erik may have already recruited her into his Brotherhood, the only question is, does she know the true implications of what she has gotten herself into".