Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men, or the MLB or anything to do with anything that can get me sued. Also, I have no concept of time, because it took me way longer than what I gave myself to write a new chapter. Sorry, guys.
Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters
"I'm bored," complained Bobby as he disturbed the relative peace and quiet of the living room. Kitty stopped typing and glared up at him from behind her laptop.
"Whose fault is that?" she asked pointedly. "I'm sure there's something for you to do. Look at Piotr- he's not bored. And I'm certainly keeping myself busy."
From across the room, Piotr looked up from his sketchbook, embarrased at the sudden attention. Little did Kitty know that she was what was keeping him entertained. His sketchbook had a near perfect representation of the Chicago teen, her face a mask of concentration working away on the couch.
"Yeah, well. I'm not a super-genious," started Bobby, intent on having his voice heard.
"Obviously not," mouthed Kitty to Piotr from across the room.
"...and I don't have any artistic talent. I'm tired of waiting around for Rogue to get back, because it seems like the whole world stopped since she's been gone. Baseball season didn't start yet," he continued to rant.
"Oy," muttered Kitty under her breath while Bobby rambled on.
"And the 'Sox didn't even get Santana."
Luckily, Kitty and Piotr were saved from Bobby's general obnoxiousness by the mighty rumbling of the x-jet.
VVRRRROOOOOOOOOOMM (a/n: I couldn't find a better onomotopeia, lol)
"Thank God," Kitty thought exasperatedly.
Almost exactly after the jet arrived, shouts could be heard around the mansion.
"Do you hear that?"
"It's the X-jet!"
"Rogue's back!"
They looked up from their respective spots in the living room and simultaneously scrambled to the hanger. Kitty grabbed Piotr's hand and phased through the door. Bobby, following too closely behind, crashed loudly into it.
"Ow! Kitty!" he whined, but stopped short when he entered the room. Kitty, Piotr, Scott, Jean, Logan and Ororo were all gathered in the hanger, staring intently at the large aircraft in front of them.
"Shh, Bobby!" admonished Jean.
"Here they come."
From their place on the ground, they could make out the professor turning off the X-jet's computers, and shutting down the vehicle. Somewhat anti-climactically, the door opened and the ramp slid to the ground.
The professor exited the plane first. He gazed out into the little crowd that had formed to welcome back their lost teammate, and his chest swelled with pride.
Behind him came the two Southerners, hand in hand. Remy, for his part, looked ecstatic to be reunited with Rogue, and was cooing something in her ear, to which she smirked. Rogue on the other hand had a visible difference to her. Her hair had straightened some, and had a glossier sheen to it.
Kitty squinted.
'Is her hair blonde?', she asked Jean telepathically.
"I think so," she verbally murmured back.
The Mississippian came out into the view, and gazed out at everyone with piercing blue eyes.
" Hey, guys. Waiting for me?"
Bobby's ears perked up from where he was standing.
Something was different about Rogue, and he could hear it from a mile away.
"Is that a Boston accent?" He asked excitedly, "Sweet!"
"...So that's when Ah realized that Ah could fly," Rogue explained to her wide-eyed teammates over dinner that night. To her surprise, they had reacted rather well to her new look, although she was often informed that her eyes changed frequently from blue to green. And, to her delight, Carol's harsh accent was gradually fading.
"So you also have super strength, da?" asked Piotr, to which Rogue nodded.
"Ah'm gonna need you to help me with that, Petey. Ah feel like Ah'm gonna break something any minute," she replied as she glanced down at her slightly bent fork.
"Wait, I don't understand," began Scott. "Miss Marvel just gave you her powers? Just like that?"
"Yep. Pretty much," she replied. "Well, that's when we all thought that it was a life and death situation. Ah mean, there's nothing better than invulnerability to help counteract an Assassin's bullet."
"I'm assuming, of course," she added.
"And ever since Remy worked it out between the Guilds, Ah guess Ah don't have to worry about it anymore. So when Carol wakes up, Ah guess everything will go back to to normal."
"Have you tested them out?" asked Logan.
"Not really, Ah've only floated some."
Logan smirked.
"Good, then you can test out a new simulation that I've been working on for the danger room."
Rogue gulped worriedly.
"Don't worry, kid," Logan said as he began to clear his plate and walk away. "That invulnerability will keep you safe enough."
The Danger Room
"You're crazy, Logan," shrieked Rogue from 1500 ft in the air, knowing that he would hear her above the chaos below her. She flew another lap around the general area, searching for her target: a tiny mutant toddler with minor teleporting abilities. Her objective was to fly above the battleground below her, undetected of course, into the fortress, and locate the girl. Simple, right?
Well, just to bring it up a few notches, he added top of the line security measures, infared laser detectors, a not-so secret "surprise visit" from Sabretooth, and an endless array of missiles aimed at her.
"Let them hit you!" roared Logan from the control booth.
"NO!" she answered back as she succesfully dodged another missile.
She really didn't want to test out the extent of her invulnerability, and she was pretty sure missiles would hurt pretty badly.
"They're not gonna kill you!"
"Are you the one testing these powers out? No. Ah may be temporarily invincible, but it's not like Ah have a healing factor as a back-up."
Momentarily distracted, she felt a thud in her shoulder.
"What the-"
"See, you already got hit," shouted Logan. "Congratulations."
"Well, that wasn't so bad..."
With that, Rogue streaked down onto the roof of the fortress, unfortunately attracting a lot of attention.
"Must be the new uniform," she muttered. Green and yellow were not the most conspicuous colors.
"Stop! Mutant!"
She was broken out of her musings by the sound of at least eight guns cocking. Slowly, she raised her hands.
"Easy does it, fellas."
In the control booth, Logan pounded his fist on the table. "What are you doing, kid!"
Behind him, Remy just leaned back in his chair.
"Don' worry, homme. She knows what she's doin'."
They watched as she was led into the fortress by the guards. The scene immediately accomodated them and changed to the inside of the fortress, where Rogue began to take off her jacket.
"Hey!" shouted a guard, jabbing the front of his sniper rifle into her abdomen. "Keep still."
"Relax," she said as she folded it over her arm.
The guards relaxed and formed a loose circle around her. She slowly circled around and counted her opponents.
Eight..
Nine..
Ten.
She mock-bowed before them, and threw out several sharp-edged playing cards that she had stolen from Remy. The combination of her newly acquired super-strength and the extra weight from the metal in the cards gave them a bit more accuracy, and they startled the guards, some of whom dropped their weapons.
And with that...she flew.
She flew deep into the fortress, unseen by anyone. She flew down hallways and past cells, until she could hear a faint cry in the distance.
She paused in mid-air, just as a teeny tiny sense of foreboding crept upon her.
And was tackled in full force by 450lbs of feline fury, also known as Sabretooth.
Unfortunately, her invulnerability did not stop her from feeling the impact as they broke through the opposite wall. Granted, it prevented shattered bones and most likely internal bleeding, but it still hurt pretty badly.
Remy winced from his seat in the booth.
Logan, meanwhile, just chuckled.
Once the dust settled. Rogue got back on her feet and backhanded Sabretooth across the jaw. Which forced him to crash through another two walls, and gave Rogue some much needed time to go off in search of the girl.
She flew back in the direction from which she had came, and turned the corner to the girl's cell. Peering through the bars, she waved at the girl.
"Hey, sugah. My name's Rogue and Ah'm here to get you out. Stand back."
She knocked against the stones surrounding the bars and watched as they started to crack. In one swift motion, she kicked out the wall, grabbed the girl, and flew out of the place.
Exhausted, she rested the girl outside of the danger area as the simulation ended and the setting and the girl faded away.
The door opened and she stalked past Logan angrily.
"Ah'm never doing that again."
A/N: I thought a little danger room action would be nice, eh? Oh, if you youtube "terry tate office linebacker," you'll get the inspiration for the tackle that Rogue received from Sabretooth. Welcome back to all of my readers, and hello to any new ones. Drop me a line to say hi, or if you have any feedback or things you'd like to see. I enjoy your reviews. Yeah, I don't own the Mets or Yohan Santana, but there was a rumor that he was going to the Red Sox at one point...so i figured Bobby wouldn't be happy that didn't work out. And has anyone kept up with Ultimate X-men lately? Is there anything good happening? I'm so far behind it's insane.
