THANKS for reviewing!
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Chapter 28: Absorbed Gifts
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Rogue's body was trembling, though she wasn't cold. Her heart was pounding, and her lips were, for a moment, caressed by Remy's. The world was spinning, yet rationally she knew she was firmly seated on the balcony rail.
She pushed Remy's lips from hers. It had only been a moment, but she was shocked in finding that he'd actually kissed her. And she knew his kiss had to have been extraordinary, for it to had been so short, yet so intense.
Rogue sat there, staring blankly at Remy and waited. She was waiting for him to fall over into a coma, or his memories to meld with hers. Though there was nothing, she didn't have his memories, only her own. He wasn't unconscious on the floor, but gazing at her.
Rogue felt confusion and shock flood her. She quickly got off of the rail and ran from Remy's room, retreating to her own. Nothing was making any sense lately. How was Remy still conscious after the kiss? How was she even still alive? Had Irene been wrong about her destiny to die?
~~~~~~~
"Well, you're wounds will be fine. Still, it's a miracle you're alive with claw tears that deep in your abdomen," Dr. Vender said, as he observed the wound beneath her shirt. "How did you say you got these again, Meg?"
"How interesting that someone who has betrayed me still calls me by my real name," Flare said with bitter sarcasm.
It was the next morning. The rusty blond woman had been forced to remain handcuffed in the interrogation room, as she sat in the chair. Trask had his superiors coming to Embros that afternoon in hopes of persuading them to finalize their decision on ending the Oblivion Project by allowing him to exterminate both Oblivion and Flare; he knew the near enormous destruction Magneto had almost been able to cause with Oblivion would be helpful in winning support for terminating all mutants, instead of compromising.
"I suggested that Trask bring you back to make sure you and Julia were all right," Alex said. "I didn't betray you-"
"No, you just refuse to help me!"
"I told Trask to find you and Julia so you could get help! I didn't know what had happened to you, I was worried and I thought that maybe you weren't going to be able to stop Julia this time," he said.
"No!" Flare protested. "You were afraid! You were afraid of going against what your brother wanted! You have done whatever Trask has wanted for so long that you've forgotten how to stand up to him and have your own mind! Why don't you stop talking about helping me and just do it, damnit!"
Her last few statements had struck Alex deeply. She was right; he had lost the will to challenge his older brother years ago. Dr. Vender pulled a key out of the pocket of his white lab coat and began unlocking the cuffs on her wrists and ankles.
Once she was free of her restraints she hugged Alex. "Thank you, this is the right thing, Alex. No one should be forced to live a caged life here, just like you've always said," she told him.
He nodded and adjusted his glasses so she won't see a tear escape his eye. "I'm going to miss you and Julia around this place," he said.
"No, you won't miss us in this place," she said, "because I'm going to burn it down."
~~~~~~~
That same morning at the Institute, Rogue was headed for the infirmary, as Xavier had requested at breakfast. Xavier still wanted Dr. McCoy to do more tests on her with hopes of finding any clue as to how she was alive after what had happened between she and Oblivion.
As she strode down a corridor, Rogue felt the same tingling in her limbs as she had since the moment she'd awakened that morning. She could feel energy rising in her body, but her instincts kept her from allowing it any leeway of being released. Though the longer she tried to ignore and restrain the energy, the more stinging its presence became in her system. She knew what the energy was-power, shockwave power to be precise. Rogue knew that this was the pain Oblivion constantly endured to keep from releasing shockwaves and freeing the throbbing energy inside. She grimaced; she knew soon powers she'd absorbed would be gone, but she felt Oblivion was unfortunate, for she had to live with the side effects of being able to create shockwaves for her entire life.
Suddenly, Rogue saw Kitty, Lance, Kurt and Remy coming from the opposite direction, straight toward her. Rogue wanted to turn and race back to her room; she couldn't see Remy now, she wasn't ready. After the kiss last night, she had been feeling anxious around the Cajun and wanted to avoid him until she could understand her feelings, understand what was happening to her and why she felt so frightened by the kiss he'd given her the night before.
"Hey, Rogue," Kurt greeted, as did the rest of them with the exception of Remy, who simply stared at her.
"Hi, y'all," Rogue said, almost muttering, her eyes desperately trying to focus on Kitty and not wonder off onto Remy's face.
"We're going to the mall, want to, like, come with us?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, I'm gonna get Kitty-cat to buy some skimpy underwear," Lance joked and his girlfriend nudged him.
"Anyway, you vant to go?" Kurt asked.
"Is Remy goin'?" Rogue asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, we're dragging the Cajun along," Lance said. "In case I need any help with getting Kitty to buy me stuff he can just steal it!"
"Lance!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Kidding," he told her.
Rogue glanced at Remy. She grimaced, "No, that's all right. Ah gotta go see Mr. McCoy for some tests 'bout me almost dyin' an'-"
"Ve understand," Kurt said thoughtfully. "Come on, let's go."
"Y' sure y' don' want t' come, chèrie?" Remy asked quietly with hopeful eyes.
"No, Ah gotta go," Rogue said quickly. She left them and continued to the infirmary.
"What was that about?" Kitty wondered.
"Who knows," Lance said, shrugging his shoulders.
"She's acting weird, like Pietro," Kitty said.
"Pietro? Vhat's vrong vith him?" Kurt asked.
"He won't come out of his room," answered Lance. "Last time I talked to him was after Oblivion and Flare were taken away. He's got this thing with Julia and when she left he was pretty torn up about it."
"Mais, it's hard not bein' able t' be wit' someone y' care 'bout," Remy muttered. He paused and started to walk away.
"Hey, Remy, where are you, like, going? I thought you were going to let me help you find a new trench coat," Kitty said.
"Told y' before, petite, de one I got is jus' fine. 'Sides, I got somet'ing else I gotta do," And with that, Remy left them as well.
~~~~~~~
"That's the last of them, right?" Flare asked, as Dr. Vender's fingers pressed the release codes onto the keys of a door's access bar.
"Yes," Alex confirmed, as mutants poured out of their now opened cells, "that's the last of the test subjects to be set free."
"Good," Flare said and ushered the mutants in the same direction to an escape, as she had done several previous times that day with other captive mutants in Embros. It was early afternoon now and Flare knew she had to hurry.
"Now, Julia's being kept just down the hall in a room with a dark blue, metal door. But you must go quickly, Trask will be headed there with his superiors for their meeting in moments," he informed.
Flare nodded to indicate she understood. "Get out of here, Dr. Vender."
"What!" he exclaimed.
"I told you, this place is going up in flames, don't want you getting caught in the crossfire," she told him. Alex Vender stared at her a moment, and then ran to one of the building's hidden exits as the test subject mutants had done.
Flare strode down the hallway and found the navy colored, metal door Alex had told her about. She formed a fireball in her right palm and drove it directly at the door, which fell from the force with a loud thud.
The scientists in the room all turned from their paperwork and computers at the sound. Oblivion was inside another aquatic stasis camber, similar to the one she had been contained before, but only this particular camber was better designed.
"You can't be in here!" yelled the outraged masculine voice of a scientist.
Flare glared at the scientist, but ignored him. "I suggest you all leave this building unless you want to burn to death," she warned, a fireball blazing in her hand.
The scientists' looked to each other, and then quickly abandoned the room.
Flare went to the aquatic camber and pressed her hand against the glass where Julia's face could be seen. "I'm so sorry," she said, as if her daughter could hear. "You never should've grown up like this."
She went over to the computer that controlled the camber Oblivion was trapped inside and typed in the release codes Dr. Vender had given her earlier. The metal top of the camber broke into two halves and slid apart. Flare climbed up the stairs that led to the opening of it. She pulled Oblivion out of the water by her underarms and onto the small metal balcony that was attached around the camber. The shackles that had been used to control Oblivion were thankfully gone; certainly Embros had the adequate equipment to remove Magneto's manacles from her wrists. Flare shook her daughter.
"Wake up," she said. "Come on, wake up, Julia."
The girl's eyes slowly opened. "Mom?" Julia said confused. "What happened?"
"Don't worry about it, but right now we've got to get out of here," Flare said urgently.
Oblivion sat up straight. "No!" she said grudgingly. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"
~~~~~~~
"I just cannot comprehend it!" Hank exclaimed frustrated. His eyes once again scanned the paper of tests' results. "I do not understand why nothing I've tried has worked, there has to be a reason why Rogue is still breathing. After that fall with Oblivion both of them should have suffered severe brain trauma, not to mention most, if not all, of their bones broken! It should have killed them!"
"Well, perhaps it was simply a miracle, have you thought of that possibility?" Irene asked, as she leaned on a counter across from Hank while he sat in front of his computer.
"Look, we're gettin' nowhere, so can Ah go now? All these tests are makin' me nuts!" Rogue complained, as she sat on the metal table; the painful tingle of Oblivion's power was still trying to claw out of her body and lessening her patience for answers Hank seemed to not have.
Hank sighed, "I suppose you can."
Rogue slid off of the table, but she wasn't paying attention and her hand slipped onto the top of a nearby cart covered with lab tools.
"Ouch!" she yelped and instinctively pulled her hand away from the scalpel it had accidentally scraped against, which had laid atop the cart.
She stared at her hand and it was slowly seething with blood. "Oh great," Rogue muttered sarcastically.
Hank sighed as he put away some files inside his desk, "Well, Rogue, you should be more careful in here. You know there is normally dangerous equipment around this room-"
Rogue looked more closely at her hand, "Um, Dr. McCoy-"
"I'm serious, Rogue. When you are in the lab, there are certain safety rules-"
"Dr. McCoy-"
Though he continued, as if her voice was not in his audible range, "And procedures to be followed with caution and care because-"
"Henry!" Irene exclaimed. "Let the girl speak."
"What?" Hank said, as if just regaining his hearing.
"Mah hand," Rogue said, staring at the palm of the one she had cut moments ago and held it up for Hank to see.
"Oh my stars and garters!" Hank exclaimed in surprise, watching as her wound was quickly healing until there was no trace of a cut at all.
~~~~~~~
"I hate you!" Julia yelled at her mother.
"What?" Flare said confused.
"I hate you! My whole life you allowed those scientists to prick and poke at me like some sort of guinea pig! I didn't even have much time as a normal child since they accelerated my growth! I had no childhood!" Oblivion said angrily. "And then, remember South America? That was the one time I'd ever been able to escape, which was before they built the aquatic camber to hold me, and you took me back to them! You betrayed me!"
Flare shook her head, "No, I didn't betray you. I thought it was better if you stayed in the mutation-suppressing prison. You had absolutely no control over your shockwaves back then and I thought you would hurt yourself, or someone else, if you weren't in a controlled environment."
"You made sure my whole life was 'controlled'! Well, now I want some control over my own life-my own destiny! You don't need to always protect me like I'm a little girl anymore!"
Flare sighed and looked at her daughter, observing the young woman Julia was growing to become. She saw her daughter wasn't a child like the one she had to protect from scientists and soldiers years ago.
There was a pause.
She embraced Julia, "Forgive me."
"Does this mean you'll stop overprotecting me now?" Oblivion asked with a smile.
Flare pulled away and stared at her, "I'm not making promises, but I'll try."
"Flare!" Trask yelled in surprise, as he entered the room with soldiers in tow; his superiors, the three aged owners of Embros, not far behind. "Well, now I know who let all our test mutants escape."
"Julia, get out of here. I'll handle them," Flare said.
"No," Oblivion protested. "You said you were going to 'try' to stop treating me like a child, remember? I'm staying here and I'm going to help you fight."
~~~~~~~
"But how was Rogue able to heal?" Irene asked Hank.
Dr. McCoy shook his head and let out a discouraged sigh. "I don't know," he said incredulously.
"Yeah, how did this happen? Ah couldn't heal before, not even with Carol's powers-this is more Logan's style," Rogue said.
"Wait," Hank said, arriving at a revelation, "before you absorbed Oblivion you didn't have this ability, correct?"
"Yeah," Rogue confirmed.
"And Logan has chartless regeneration capabilities-"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, Oblivion IS Logan's daughter, after all," Hank said.
"Are you saying Julia has the same healing factor as her father?" Irene asked.
"Yes, but I doubt it's as high as Logan's level. Still, it is possible that she has a good measure of regenerative aptitude. Rogue absorbed Oblivion. As with all the people Rogue touches she gained Oblivion's memories and her mutations for a short while," Hank said. "Therefore, when both of them fell from such a great distance in the sky they were able to survive since both of them withheld healing abilities at the time."
"That's quite a theory," Irene remarked.
"It's more than a theory, I'm nearly positive that's what has occurred. You see it was only yesterday that Rogue had absorbed Oblivion. And just now when Rogue had cut her hand it healed instantly, which would be sensible because her time having Oblivion's powers hasn't run out yet," he explained. "Within another day, maybe even by tonight the powers Rogue had temporarily taken will be gone."
"But wait a minute, why don' Ah have the power t' make shockwaves like Oblivion did?" Rogue questioned.
"Have you tried to create one?" he asked.
"No," Rogue replied and placed her palm out in front of her, aimed at the cart that she'd cut herself on. She felt a hot, intense energy surge threw her and blue light burst from her palm; the explosion of bright energy from her hand blasted the cart apart and scattered the utensils that had been setting atop it all over the room. Rogue immediately felt exhaustion overtake her body after freeing the contained energy; she wondered if it was the way Oblivion had felt when releasing shockwaves.
"Well, apparently you can create a shockwave. Though you probably shouldn't. I'm sure if you attempted to summon another shockwave you couldn't control it like Oblivion has been trained years to do," he said.
Rogue paused, "Is it possible that Oblivion somehow gave me the ability t' control mah own powers?"
Hank stared at her strangely. Rogue slipped off one of her gloves. She reached out and touched his furry, blue arm with her bare hand. He blinked in surprise. Nothing. There was no pain, no absorbing, only the normal feeling of skin contact. She quickly pulled her hand away.
"How do ya explain that, Dr. McCoy?" she asked.
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A/N: This story's almost through, and y'all PLEASE REVIEW!!!
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Chapter 28: Absorbed Gifts
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Rogue's body was trembling, though she wasn't cold. Her heart was pounding, and her lips were, for a moment, caressed by Remy's. The world was spinning, yet rationally she knew she was firmly seated on the balcony rail.
She pushed Remy's lips from hers. It had only been a moment, but she was shocked in finding that he'd actually kissed her. And she knew his kiss had to have been extraordinary, for it to had been so short, yet so intense.
Rogue sat there, staring blankly at Remy and waited. She was waiting for him to fall over into a coma, or his memories to meld with hers. Though there was nothing, she didn't have his memories, only her own. He wasn't unconscious on the floor, but gazing at her.
Rogue felt confusion and shock flood her. She quickly got off of the rail and ran from Remy's room, retreating to her own. Nothing was making any sense lately. How was Remy still conscious after the kiss? How was she even still alive? Had Irene been wrong about her destiny to die?
~~~~~~~
"Well, you're wounds will be fine. Still, it's a miracle you're alive with claw tears that deep in your abdomen," Dr. Vender said, as he observed the wound beneath her shirt. "How did you say you got these again, Meg?"
"How interesting that someone who has betrayed me still calls me by my real name," Flare said with bitter sarcasm.
It was the next morning. The rusty blond woman had been forced to remain handcuffed in the interrogation room, as she sat in the chair. Trask had his superiors coming to Embros that afternoon in hopes of persuading them to finalize their decision on ending the Oblivion Project by allowing him to exterminate both Oblivion and Flare; he knew the near enormous destruction Magneto had almost been able to cause with Oblivion would be helpful in winning support for terminating all mutants, instead of compromising.
"I suggested that Trask bring you back to make sure you and Julia were all right," Alex said. "I didn't betray you-"
"No, you just refuse to help me!"
"I told Trask to find you and Julia so you could get help! I didn't know what had happened to you, I was worried and I thought that maybe you weren't going to be able to stop Julia this time," he said.
"No!" Flare protested. "You were afraid! You were afraid of going against what your brother wanted! You have done whatever Trask has wanted for so long that you've forgotten how to stand up to him and have your own mind! Why don't you stop talking about helping me and just do it, damnit!"
Her last few statements had struck Alex deeply. She was right; he had lost the will to challenge his older brother years ago. Dr. Vender pulled a key out of the pocket of his white lab coat and began unlocking the cuffs on her wrists and ankles.
Once she was free of her restraints she hugged Alex. "Thank you, this is the right thing, Alex. No one should be forced to live a caged life here, just like you've always said," she told him.
He nodded and adjusted his glasses so she won't see a tear escape his eye. "I'm going to miss you and Julia around this place," he said.
"No, you won't miss us in this place," she said, "because I'm going to burn it down."
~~~~~~~
That same morning at the Institute, Rogue was headed for the infirmary, as Xavier had requested at breakfast. Xavier still wanted Dr. McCoy to do more tests on her with hopes of finding any clue as to how she was alive after what had happened between she and Oblivion.
As she strode down a corridor, Rogue felt the same tingling in her limbs as she had since the moment she'd awakened that morning. She could feel energy rising in her body, but her instincts kept her from allowing it any leeway of being released. Though the longer she tried to ignore and restrain the energy, the more stinging its presence became in her system. She knew what the energy was-power, shockwave power to be precise. Rogue knew that this was the pain Oblivion constantly endured to keep from releasing shockwaves and freeing the throbbing energy inside. She grimaced; she knew soon powers she'd absorbed would be gone, but she felt Oblivion was unfortunate, for she had to live with the side effects of being able to create shockwaves for her entire life.
Suddenly, Rogue saw Kitty, Lance, Kurt and Remy coming from the opposite direction, straight toward her. Rogue wanted to turn and race back to her room; she couldn't see Remy now, she wasn't ready. After the kiss last night, she had been feeling anxious around the Cajun and wanted to avoid him until she could understand her feelings, understand what was happening to her and why she felt so frightened by the kiss he'd given her the night before.
"Hey, Rogue," Kurt greeted, as did the rest of them with the exception of Remy, who simply stared at her.
"Hi, y'all," Rogue said, almost muttering, her eyes desperately trying to focus on Kitty and not wonder off onto Remy's face.
"We're going to the mall, want to, like, come with us?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, I'm gonna get Kitty-cat to buy some skimpy underwear," Lance joked and his girlfriend nudged him.
"Anyway, you vant to go?" Kurt asked.
"Is Remy goin'?" Rogue asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, we're dragging the Cajun along," Lance said. "In case I need any help with getting Kitty to buy me stuff he can just steal it!"
"Lance!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Kidding," he told her.
Rogue glanced at Remy. She grimaced, "No, that's all right. Ah gotta go see Mr. McCoy for some tests 'bout me almost dyin' an'-"
"Ve understand," Kurt said thoughtfully. "Come on, let's go."
"Y' sure y' don' want t' come, chèrie?" Remy asked quietly with hopeful eyes.
"No, Ah gotta go," Rogue said quickly. She left them and continued to the infirmary.
"What was that about?" Kitty wondered.
"Who knows," Lance said, shrugging his shoulders.
"She's acting weird, like Pietro," Kitty said.
"Pietro? Vhat's vrong vith him?" Kurt asked.
"He won't come out of his room," answered Lance. "Last time I talked to him was after Oblivion and Flare were taken away. He's got this thing with Julia and when she left he was pretty torn up about it."
"Mais, it's hard not bein' able t' be wit' someone y' care 'bout," Remy muttered. He paused and started to walk away.
"Hey, Remy, where are you, like, going? I thought you were going to let me help you find a new trench coat," Kitty said.
"Told y' before, petite, de one I got is jus' fine. 'Sides, I got somet'ing else I gotta do," And with that, Remy left them as well.
~~~~~~~
"That's the last of them, right?" Flare asked, as Dr. Vender's fingers pressed the release codes onto the keys of a door's access bar.
"Yes," Alex confirmed, as mutants poured out of their now opened cells, "that's the last of the test subjects to be set free."
"Good," Flare said and ushered the mutants in the same direction to an escape, as she had done several previous times that day with other captive mutants in Embros. It was early afternoon now and Flare knew she had to hurry.
"Now, Julia's being kept just down the hall in a room with a dark blue, metal door. But you must go quickly, Trask will be headed there with his superiors for their meeting in moments," he informed.
Flare nodded to indicate she understood. "Get out of here, Dr. Vender."
"What!" he exclaimed.
"I told you, this place is going up in flames, don't want you getting caught in the crossfire," she told him. Alex Vender stared at her a moment, and then ran to one of the building's hidden exits as the test subject mutants had done.
Flare strode down the hallway and found the navy colored, metal door Alex had told her about. She formed a fireball in her right palm and drove it directly at the door, which fell from the force with a loud thud.
The scientists in the room all turned from their paperwork and computers at the sound. Oblivion was inside another aquatic stasis camber, similar to the one she had been contained before, but only this particular camber was better designed.
"You can't be in here!" yelled the outraged masculine voice of a scientist.
Flare glared at the scientist, but ignored him. "I suggest you all leave this building unless you want to burn to death," she warned, a fireball blazing in her hand.
The scientists' looked to each other, and then quickly abandoned the room.
Flare went to the aquatic camber and pressed her hand against the glass where Julia's face could be seen. "I'm so sorry," she said, as if her daughter could hear. "You never should've grown up like this."
She went over to the computer that controlled the camber Oblivion was trapped inside and typed in the release codes Dr. Vender had given her earlier. The metal top of the camber broke into two halves and slid apart. Flare climbed up the stairs that led to the opening of it. She pulled Oblivion out of the water by her underarms and onto the small metal balcony that was attached around the camber. The shackles that had been used to control Oblivion were thankfully gone; certainly Embros had the adequate equipment to remove Magneto's manacles from her wrists. Flare shook her daughter.
"Wake up," she said. "Come on, wake up, Julia."
The girl's eyes slowly opened. "Mom?" Julia said confused. "What happened?"
"Don't worry about it, but right now we've got to get out of here," Flare said urgently.
Oblivion sat up straight. "No!" she said grudgingly. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"
~~~~~~~
"I just cannot comprehend it!" Hank exclaimed frustrated. His eyes once again scanned the paper of tests' results. "I do not understand why nothing I've tried has worked, there has to be a reason why Rogue is still breathing. After that fall with Oblivion both of them should have suffered severe brain trauma, not to mention most, if not all, of their bones broken! It should have killed them!"
"Well, perhaps it was simply a miracle, have you thought of that possibility?" Irene asked, as she leaned on a counter across from Hank while he sat in front of his computer.
"Look, we're gettin' nowhere, so can Ah go now? All these tests are makin' me nuts!" Rogue complained, as she sat on the metal table; the painful tingle of Oblivion's power was still trying to claw out of her body and lessening her patience for answers Hank seemed to not have.
Hank sighed, "I suppose you can."
Rogue slid off of the table, but she wasn't paying attention and her hand slipped onto the top of a nearby cart covered with lab tools.
"Ouch!" she yelped and instinctively pulled her hand away from the scalpel it had accidentally scraped against, which had laid atop the cart.
She stared at her hand and it was slowly seething with blood. "Oh great," Rogue muttered sarcastically.
Hank sighed as he put away some files inside his desk, "Well, Rogue, you should be more careful in here. You know there is normally dangerous equipment around this room-"
Rogue looked more closely at her hand, "Um, Dr. McCoy-"
"I'm serious, Rogue. When you are in the lab, there are certain safety rules-"
"Dr. McCoy-"
Though he continued, as if her voice was not in his audible range, "And procedures to be followed with caution and care because-"
"Henry!" Irene exclaimed. "Let the girl speak."
"What?" Hank said, as if just regaining his hearing.
"Mah hand," Rogue said, staring at the palm of the one she had cut moments ago and held it up for Hank to see.
"Oh my stars and garters!" Hank exclaimed in surprise, watching as her wound was quickly healing until there was no trace of a cut at all.
~~~~~~~
"I hate you!" Julia yelled at her mother.
"What?" Flare said confused.
"I hate you! My whole life you allowed those scientists to prick and poke at me like some sort of guinea pig! I didn't even have much time as a normal child since they accelerated my growth! I had no childhood!" Oblivion said angrily. "And then, remember South America? That was the one time I'd ever been able to escape, which was before they built the aquatic camber to hold me, and you took me back to them! You betrayed me!"
Flare shook her head, "No, I didn't betray you. I thought it was better if you stayed in the mutation-suppressing prison. You had absolutely no control over your shockwaves back then and I thought you would hurt yourself, or someone else, if you weren't in a controlled environment."
"You made sure my whole life was 'controlled'! Well, now I want some control over my own life-my own destiny! You don't need to always protect me like I'm a little girl anymore!"
Flare sighed and looked at her daughter, observing the young woman Julia was growing to become. She saw her daughter wasn't a child like the one she had to protect from scientists and soldiers years ago.
There was a pause.
She embraced Julia, "Forgive me."
"Does this mean you'll stop overprotecting me now?" Oblivion asked with a smile.
Flare pulled away and stared at her, "I'm not making promises, but I'll try."
"Flare!" Trask yelled in surprise, as he entered the room with soldiers in tow; his superiors, the three aged owners of Embros, not far behind. "Well, now I know who let all our test mutants escape."
"Julia, get out of here. I'll handle them," Flare said.
"No," Oblivion protested. "You said you were going to 'try' to stop treating me like a child, remember? I'm staying here and I'm going to help you fight."
~~~~~~~
"But how was Rogue able to heal?" Irene asked Hank.
Dr. McCoy shook his head and let out a discouraged sigh. "I don't know," he said incredulously.
"Yeah, how did this happen? Ah couldn't heal before, not even with Carol's powers-this is more Logan's style," Rogue said.
"Wait," Hank said, arriving at a revelation, "before you absorbed Oblivion you didn't have this ability, correct?"
"Yeah," Rogue confirmed.
"And Logan has chartless regeneration capabilities-"
"Yeah, so?"
"So, Oblivion IS Logan's daughter, after all," Hank said.
"Are you saying Julia has the same healing factor as her father?" Irene asked.
"Yes, but I doubt it's as high as Logan's level. Still, it is possible that she has a good measure of regenerative aptitude. Rogue absorbed Oblivion. As with all the people Rogue touches she gained Oblivion's memories and her mutations for a short while," Hank said. "Therefore, when both of them fell from such a great distance in the sky they were able to survive since both of them withheld healing abilities at the time."
"That's quite a theory," Irene remarked.
"It's more than a theory, I'm nearly positive that's what has occurred. You see it was only yesterday that Rogue had absorbed Oblivion. And just now when Rogue had cut her hand it healed instantly, which would be sensible because her time having Oblivion's powers hasn't run out yet," he explained. "Within another day, maybe even by tonight the powers Rogue had temporarily taken will be gone."
"But wait a minute, why don' Ah have the power t' make shockwaves like Oblivion did?" Rogue questioned.
"Have you tried to create one?" he asked.
"No," Rogue replied and placed her palm out in front of her, aimed at the cart that she'd cut herself on. She felt a hot, intense energy surge threw her and blue light burst from her palm; the explosion of bright energy from her hand blasted the cart apart and scattered the utensils that had been setting atop it all over the room. Rogue immediately felt exhaustion overtake her body after freeing the contained energy; she wondered if it was the way Oblivion had felt when releasing shockwaves.
"Well, apparently you can create a shockwave. Though you probably shouldn't. I'm sure if you attempted to summon another shockwave you couldn't control it like Oblivion has been trained years to do," he said.
Rogue paused, "Is it possible that Oblivion somehow gave me the ability t' control mah own powers?"
Hank stared at her strangely. Rogue slipped off one of her gloves. She reached out and touched his furry, blue arm with her bare hand. He blinked in surprise. Nothing. There was no pain, no absorbing, only the normal feeling of skin contact. She quickly pulled her hand away.
"How do ya explain that, Dr. McCoy?" she asked.
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A/N: This story's almost through, and y'all PLEASE REVIEW!!!
