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And now, back to Rogue and Jake...
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name."
[xxxxx]
Chapter 19: Our Father
Rogue wasn't ever a trouble-maker. Sure, she had lied to her aunt a few times about where she was headed to on a Saturday night, or who she was going to see, but that was just normal rebellious teenager stuff. She had never joined in on major operations or anything that would put herself or anyone else in immediate danger — that was, until tonight.
She and Jake Barrington stood in the alley between the Superiors' Warehouse and another decrepit, abandoned building, attempting to find a way inside. Rogue shivered, this time not only from the cold, but also from fear.
"How the hell did they get through here?" Jake cursed for the hundredth time, studying the dirty brick walls of the exterior warehouse. "There's no door — nothing!"
"Can we just go home now? Ah'm freezin'!" Rogue said, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. "Y'know, maybe they just walked through the walls or somethin' — like Kitty."
"I doubt it." said Jake, disappointedly turning away from the wall and toward Rogue. "I've never heard of anybody else with powers like Kitty."
"Yeah, me neither... can we just go home now? Some of the other kids probably realized already that we're gone, and they're bound to be just waiting to tattle. You know how gossip travels around the school."
"Sure." He sighed. "The car's just around the corner, as long as somebody didn't steal it yet."
Jake stopped as he felt the presence of someone that stood behind him, and less than a moment later, the sound of a gun clicked behind his head and a smooth voice whispered, "Not so fast."
Jake had always been a trouble-maker. He could always be found avoiding some other responsibility in order to plan his next big prank with Evan or Tabitha or Amy, and those schemes were always life-threatening in one way or another, whether it be awakening the lethal fury of Wolverine or taking a dive off the of the mansion's roof and into the pool, or hotwiring the Danger Room to play the deluxe version of Cowboys & Indians, and no matter how life-threatening they were, no one ever seemed to get hurt. However, someone always seemed to get detention, and that someone was more than often Jake Barrington. And right now, Jake would have preferred detention to this.
"Hands behind your head." The smooth voice commanded, and both Jake and Rogue obeyed. "Turn around."
They turned to face two women, both of whose faces Jake was somewhat familiar with. The first — the one whose gun was aimed at his forehead — he knew to be one of the Superiors. She was dark-skinned and tall, and wore her black hair in a ponytail tighter than her purple and black catsuit.
The second woman, who held her gun at Rogue, was unmistakable. She was Mystique, the shape-shifter — Magneto's right hand man. Jake remembered hearing something about her being captured just a few months ago, only to be freed by Magneto. "Hello, Rogue." She said with a smirk on her face.
Rogue was nonchalant. "Long time, no see, Mystique."
[xxxxx]
The car was silent, and Amy didn't like silence. It was awkward and she always felt she needed to fill it, but never had anything to say. "Why isn't there anybody on the streets?" She thought, testing the sound of it in her head, but it was too stupid and irrelevant a question, and would most likely be met by a snide comment from Tabitha or Evan or an angry Wolverine, neither of which she wanted to hear.
"Make a right." Evan said to Wolverine, and he swiftly ignored a stop sign to turn on to the next street.
Amy thought about making a comment on his careless driving habits, but decided against it. Wolverine wouldn't be her first choice of someone to annoy.
"That's it up there." Amy blurted, leaning forward to point to a huge abandoned warehouse, the largest on the street, with all of it's windows painted black. "The one with the graffiti giraffe on the front."
"That's a snake." Tabitha muttered and rolled her eyes.
Wolverine chose to park the van in a cramped spot behind an old deserted gas station, about a block and a half away from the Warehouse. It was dark, secluded and quiet, and full of weeds that stuck up from cracks in the asphalt.
"Pete'll be coming with me as back-up." Wolverine said sternly as all five of them filed out of the van. "Amy, Evan, Tabitha — you'll stay here and just here. I don't wanna hear about how one of ya had to take a piss and got lost or some other bullshit story."
He led them to the trunk of the van, from which he retrieved a small device and handed it to Evan. "Use that to call Storm. Tell her to get the rest of the team and head over here ASAP." He took out a small case and pulled from it a handgun before quickly assembling it and turning back to the three teenagers. He paused for a moment, then handed the gun to Tabitha.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Tabitha asked, a tinge of annoyance in her voice.
He waited a moment, thinking that she might have been asking this just to be annoying before realizing that her question was serious. "You shoot people with it. If somebody comes after you — bang." He said curtly, slamming closed the back doors of the van.
Tabitha held the gun awkwardly, gripping it with both hands and staring down at it, slightly afraid that she might have to use it. "We don't need this." She spat out of fear, looking back up at Wolverine. "We have our powers."
"You're right," He said sarcastically. "Why don't you cook up a some time bombs, Evan can pop out a few bones, and we'll get Amy to go get some advice from that tree over there — hell, why don't you guys just go take on Control yourself?"
Trying to cover her embarrassment, Tabitha scoffed. "No need to get touchy."
Without words other than a few muttered curses, Wolverine pushed the three younger teenagers back into the van and locked it. He and Colossus had already changed into uniform, and only mental preparation was left.
"If Magneto's anywhere near here, he'll sense me from a mile away, but we can't help that. Control'll definitely be waiting for someone to come and fall into her little mousetrap, so try and keep your thoughts scattered — they'll be less detectable to her." Wolverine explained as they made their way down the street.
The night was no different from the last — the moon was crescent-shaped, and the chilling wind licked against his face like an icy whip — and it was not long before they appeared in front of the Warehouse. Wolverine looked up at the tall, shadowed building with its dark windows and crumbling brick walls. The bright moon hung above, partially hidden by the rise of the warehouse. He breathed, taking in mixed scents — Rogue's dry floral aroma and Jake's earthy were the most apparent, with underlying tones of the Superiors and the Brotherhood, whose scents he had picked up after their invasion of the mansion.
"They were here." He said quietly after taking in a few more breaths. "Along with Mystique... and another woman."
"Control?" Piotr suggested.
He shook his head. "No. I can smell her around here, but this scent is fresher."
Wolverine felt frustrated with himself. This was the fight he had been waiting months for, not even sure if it would ever come, and yet here he was, doing nothing but hesitating. If he could, he would have his claws at Control's throat and be pulling pleads of mercy from her pale lips. She would pay for every bit of worry and pain she had caused Lenore and everyone else she had ever made her victim.
But he knew he wouldn't be as lucky to do anything along the lines of that, especially now that Storm was on her way. He looked skyward, half-expecting to see the signature black X-jet hovering above, but he only saw the same dark winter sky with the same white winter moon.
"Logan... I mean, Professor..." Piotr stuttered, unsure of what to address him as now that they were on their first mission since Alcatraz.
"It's Wolverine, kid." He said, partly amused.
Gently, Piotr nodded. "Wolverine," He said a bit slowly, trying to adjust to calling his professor by what could be considered an offensive name. "What is exactly your plan? Storm said that you were in charge..."
"I know what she said." He growled. "C'mon. Follow me."
[xxxxx]
The rag was wet and cold, and Jake didn't know why they had tied it across his eyes. His hands were bound behind the back of a hard wooden chair with itchy twine. He scratched at it so much that he could feel his wrists start to bleed, only hurting himself more. "You'll never get away with this!" He yelled to the darkness of his blindfold angrily. "You've gotta have a death wish!"
"Jake!" Rogue scolded in a hushed tone from the chair beside him. "Stop it, ya'll only make things worse."
"I don't care." He spat, turning his head in the direction of her voice before snapping the other way, unaware that he was looking right into a wall. "Did you hear that? I don't care! Come out here and get me! I'll serve your asses on a silver plate!"
Less than ten feet way, through the barrier of a glass wall, their captors observed silently. Control stood with her eyes closed, weaving through the minds of her two hostages, who didn't seem to know anything aside from how to cram successfully the night before a big test and that the X-Men were searching all over the city for the Superiors. Magneto stood next to her, watching the two teenagers with mild interest and wondering how anyone could let their child become so misbehaved.
"Interesting, isn't it?" He commented halfheartedly, still deep in thought.
"Hmm?" Control murmured absentmindedly before carefully pulling herself from the girl's mind. "What do you find so interesting?"
"How insolent children have become nowadays. They don't seem to have any manners anymore."
She smirked. "Oh, I wouldn't blame the children. It's the parents. What with all these accusations of child abuse going around, the last thing a parent wants is to be caught spanking their child with a wooden spoon. Abuse, discipline — call it what you may, it keeps children in their place. It's obvious that this boy—" She gestured to Jake, who continued to shout insults and threats. " —had hardly an ounce of discipline as a child."
Silence filled the room for a moment, interrupted only by the boy's unheeded insult to Magneto's mother.
"Tell me," He said solemnly. "Did your mother... reprimand you as a child?"
Control stood there for a moment, pondering on Magneto's question before turning her black eyes to him and smiling. "No, she didn't. Not physically, at least." Her eyes fell, as did her voice. "But... there was some potency in the way she would look at me — like I would never be the same to her. Eventually, she would return to being herself, but that look could scar you for the rest of your life." She drew in a soft, unsteady breath and turned back to look at her two subjects. "Well, I better be going. I wouldn't want to keep them waiting."
[xxxxx]
For the first time in her life, Rogue prayed. Of course, her Aunt Carrie was a God-fearing woman and had always dragged her niece along to Sunday mass, but before now, never once had Rogue really trusted in prayer. She whispered the Hail Mary to herself at least a dozen times, and though she had forgotten most of the Lord's Prayer, she still prayed it.
"Are you... are you praying?" Jake interrupted, not bothering to try and read her face through the thick blindfold, but raising an eyebrow hesitantly.
Rogue sighed, slightly embarrassed, but didn't let that show. "You gotta problem with that?"
Jake shrugged. "Hey, everybody's got their thing." He sighed. "Besides, it's not like my opinion matters since it's obvious we're gonna die."
"Jake, don't say that. Ah'm sure—" Rouge bit her lip when she heard the door behind her open and close.
Footsteps echoed off the walls and drew neared before a woman stepped in front of her. She was thin and bony, with white-blond hair and pale skin. Her face was long and slender, holding some resemblance to that of a horse. She wore an unflattering white suit that was obviously too big for her.
"Calm your thoughts, Jacob." The woman said with a soft smile. "To answer your question, we only have the blindfold on you to prohibit any offensive use of your telekinetic abilities."
"You must be Control." Jake spat.
She smiled at the mention of her name. "Yes, I am, but there is no need for formalities here. You may call me Adrian." She turned to Rogue. "Marie, is it?"
Her lip twitched. "It's Rogue."
"Alright then, Rogue." She looked toward Jake. "And how about you? Do you prefer Jake or Jacob?"
"My name is Neuro." He said bitterly.
Control nodded, with the same smiled plastered onto her face. "Self-proclaimed names are always the best, don't you think?"
"What do you want with us?" Rogue demanded, leaning forward as far as her restraints would let her. "You already have Ms. Davis."
"My sister? Yes, Lenore's just upstairs, eating her supper." Control said, the emotion falling from her face. "I understand that either of you positively refuse to see things in any other way but from your biased view, so I'll try to explain this as impartially and monosyllabically as possible, without revealing any verboten details, of course." She took a breath, and stepped forward a bit. "We need Lenore for a very important mission that Magneto and I are conducting. And though we have everything that we need, the X-Men are still bound to present complications in the future, and it's far too late to factor them into the equation now. So, why not take them out while the opportunity presents itself? They're looking to try and get Lenore back while we're waiting for a chance to take them out. This way, we both get what we want — everyone's happy. At least, I know I am."
"But why the hell do you need us?" Jake asked, unimpressed by her monologue.
Control smiled softly — a haunting, malicious smile that showed off her pearly teeth. "The more the merrier, as it's said. Why should it be any different with abductees?" She moved swiftly to the door, purposefully out of both of their ranges of sight. "Oh, and one of my girls should be bringing down meals for the both of you, in case you're hungry. I trust that both of you like seafood — Elizabeth makes some mean ginger scallops."
[xxxxx]
"I just have a teensy question." Quicksilver said, taking a deep breath.
"And what would that be?" Albino asked, uninterested.
"Is Control insane?"
They stood in the elevator that would bring them down to the ground level of the Warehouse, where they were supposed to greet Wolverine. Control had told Quicksilver and Albino to "introduce yourselves" and "become acquainted". Quicksilver had never heard of a more absurd thing in the art of battle, and he was sure that he was walking straight to his grave. Neither he or Albino were in uniform — a disadvantage on his part. His uniform was specially designed to reduce wind resistance, which was a crucial factor when it came to his abilities.
"No, she's not insane per se... just unconventional." Albino said, pulling on a pair of red gloves. "She likes her fights to be formal — civilized, as she puts it. Make introductions, exchange fighting style preferences — its like sex to her. She wants the optimum experience for both participants."
He frowned. "Okay, I'll just have to think of this as one giant violent orgy."
Albino patted him on the back and smirked. "That's the way to think of it, sport!"
The elevator came to a clattering stop at the ground level, but neither of them moved. Outside of the cage elevator, everything was still and quiet.
Albino quickly scanned the surrounding rooms with night and thermal vision, but she didn't find anything aside from a nest of rats. "There's no one here." She said, keeping her night vision steady just in case.
"Let me double-check." Quicksilver insisted, and before she could say anything he was gone in a rush of wind, but returned in the same instance. "Yeah, there's no one there."
"But Control said they were right outside." She said, stepping out of the elevator to join her teammate. "They couldn't've taken this much time."
He shrugged. "Maybe they're just not as smart as we expected them to be."
Albino smirked. "Well, in that case, why don't we join them?"
Thanks to martshi3 for beta'd pretty much this whole story so far. She is unable to beta anymore for personal reasons, and I will be having another person who would like me to not disclose their name edit for me. R&R!
The quote comes from the first two lines of the Lord's Prayer.