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Taunting Repartee
Chapter Thirty-Four
At a little past noon the next day Rogue and Kitty stood in front of the Professor and Scott. They had just spent the last hour explaining everything that had happened the day before.
"Just blame me," Rogue said. "I dragged Kitty into it," she said.
"No, I went along. It just happened so fast and we found ourselves involved and," Kitty said sadly.
"And then everything just sort of blew up in our faces," Rogue finished.
"Well, your judgment was pretty lame," Scott said with a smile.
"However, your motives were not," Professor Xavier said. "I do applaud you girls for taking the initiative but please understand that it is simply impossible for us to deal with every problem that pops up. We have lives to lead, school to attend," he said.
"And detention this Saturday," Scott said with a smirk.
"What?" both her and Kitty exclaimed.
"I'm afraid, principal Kelly isn't cutting you any sack for skipping out on sixth period," he said with a smile.
"I knew it, I knew it," Kitty said with anger before she stormed out of the room. One detention was going to be the only consequence to their actions yesterday? And in exchange her family gets to keep living in their home. Rogue couldn't help but smile.
"We're back," Logan said as he and Storm entered the room.
"And?" the Professor asked.
"We got two trucks. They ain't much but if something like this happens again" Logan started to say.
"We will have more than one means of transportation," Charles finished relieved.
"I got a pretty good deal on a new bike too," Logan added with a smile.
"What happened to your old one?" Rogue asked.
"One of Magneto's guys trashed it a few days ago," he said bitterly. "Some invitation," he said annoyed. Rogue and Scott looked at each other confused.
"What invitation?" Scott asked.
"Magneto sent one of his new guys, the metal one, to give the x-men an invitation to join him," Logan answered.
"Huh? And then he comes to Rogue with the same offer," Scott said.
"Well, no, he didn't actually ask this time," Rogue said. Professor raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it was implied.But that's always implied while we're talking. There's kind've this standing offer to join him," she said.. "But, yeah, this time he didn't ask. He just said that we were gonna have a conversation in the future where he was gonna ask me again," she finished.
"Would you please tell me Magneto's exact words to you on the subject?" the Professor asked.
"Fine," she sighed. "As always it has been a pleasure speaking with you. However, I would like to point out that the conversation, the one that was on the tip of both of our tongues, that we failed to have tonight is not finished. I have no intention of lettingthat topic die. But I'm afraid that we must postpone it for another time. Till then, my dear girl," she recited quickly.
"The endearment alone is enough to cause me to worry," Charles said quietly. "Where there any others?" he asked.
"No, just my name," she answered. The Professor nodded as he eyes grew distance; he was clearly deep in thought.
"I don't get it," Logan says. "Magneto sends one of his henchmen to invite all of the X-Men to join him," Logan started to say. "But he shows up personally to tell Rogue that he's going to show up personally againto invite her. Kid, why's he signaling you out?" he asked.
'Cause he wants to have sex with me,' she thought before she made eye contact with the Professor; she did not want to explain that to Logan. "Prof?" she said calling for his attention. It took a moment but he did look up at her. "You get why he's going to all this trouble, right?" she asked.
"Yes, I understand Magneto's motives, Rogue," he answered. "Do you?" he asked.
"Probably better than you do," Rogue replied. Charles nodded at her.
"Would someone mind explaining them to the rest of us?" Logan asked annoyed.
"Of course," Charles said as he turned to look up at Logan. "After the incident in the Sahara desert Magneto realized that it was only because of Rogue's abilities that we were able to locate him. As a result he started to look into Rogue and her past; along the way he developed the desire to have her by his side. He has been attempting to recruit her ever since," Charles explained.
"Since when?" Logan asked. "Magneto's asked you before this?" he asked looking up at Rogue; concern all over his face.
"Yeah, hm... He asked twice now. It's -ah," she had to think about it for a moment. 'We met at the cafe middle of February, so,' she thought "It's been a little over five weeks," Rogue said. 'It's only been five weeks? God, feels like it's been a year,' she thought to herself.
"Five weeks," Logan exclaimed. "Chuck, when were you planning to tell us?" Logan asked annoyed.
"Honestly, Logan, I did not realize this was still an issue until yesterday. I believed that Magneto had accepted Rogue last refusal and had moved on from his desire to have her. Clearly, that is not the case. Now, we must take the proper precautions," he said. Rogue felt a surge of anger overtake her.
"What precautions?" Rogue asked irate. "We live in an underground metal fortress. There ain't much that can be done when we're literally surrounded by his weapon of choice," Rogue pointed out. She watched all three of their eyes widen in fear. She instantly regretted her words; she had worked so hard to avoid this. To keep them safe and unaware of the real danger they were in. She was the only one who was supposed to realize the risk of having any amount of metal at hand; not them. Why did she have to let her emotions get the better of her?
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare anyone," she said softly.
"No, it's alright, Rogue. These things need to be said," Charles said.
'They do?' she asked herself. 'Well, if he wants to talk then...' she thought "Hm... well, then speaking of things that need to be said," she started to say.
"Yes," Charles asked curiously.
"When we rebuild the mansion you're not gonna include Defcon 4 again, right? I mean, if Magneto decided to attack the institute head on, to me, it just seems, that having retractable metal plating over every window and exit on the building is like asking Magneto to come over and utilize them," she said. She watched the Professor took a deep breath.
"...I agree," he said
"And I was also thinking that when you get around to making more communicators that we could model them off the technology in the XM-Velocity. So, that Magneto wouldn't be able to destroy it with a signal thought. I mean, that day at the cafe if I had just had a couple of more seconds to talk to you before Magneto ripped the thing out of my hand I probably would've been able to tell you where I was," she explained.
"Again, I agree. I will talk to Hank about what we can do when he is finished with his current work," he said.
"You have clearly put some thought into these suggestions, Rogue," Storm said.
"Yeah, just a little. I been meaning to talk to ya all about this stuff. I don't know, it just never seemed like a good time," she explained.
"I understand," Charles said with a nod. "Rogue, do you have any other suggestions?" he asked. She smiled.
"Yeah, if you had blueprints of the institute and it's security system then maybe you and me could look over them and maybe I could point out some things that we could change to make the institute a little safer," she said.
"I believe that is an excellentidea," he said with a smile. "Ororo, do you know where the plans for the institute are?" he asked as he looked up at her.
"Yes, Charles, they are in the the foreman's trailer," she answered.
"Would you please go get them and meet us in sub-level seven?" he asked. Storm nodded with a smile.
Ten minutes later, Rogue, Storm, Logan, and the Professor where in sub-level seven. All of them were standing around the table. Storm had just laid out the blueprints and now Rogue was studying them.
"You got any experience reading these things?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, Mystique decided the Brotherhood should be able to understand blueprints so she spent a week going over this stuff in her office. It was apart of our after school education," Rogue explained.
"So, the brotherhood boys are able to rea-" Storm started to say. Rogue laughter cut her off.
"I said that it was apart of our education. Not that Toad or Freddy actually learned anything. They were too busy turning their hand outs into paper airplanes," she said with a smirk. "Lance might've gotten a little out of it. But it was pretty much just and me and Pietro who were paying attention," she explained.
"I see," Charles said.
"So, what kinda changes we talking about here?" Logan asked.
"I don't know yet. I need more than a few seconds," Rogue answered. They all looked up as Mr. McCoy entered the room with a stack of papers in his hand.
"It's an orphanage," Hank said as he walked up to the table.
"What's an orphanage?" Rogue asked as she glanced up at the Professor.
"Nothing for you to worry about, Rogue," Charles said. "Hank, we'll talk about it later," he said. Mr. McCoy nodded as he placed the paper on the table. Rogue glanced at the papers. Her eyes instantly scanned over the words 'Amelia Voght's Home for Wayward Children'.
'I know that name. Where do I know that name from?' Rogue asked herself. Rogue gasped as she felt her mind pull her in.
She saw a flash of a woman with brown hair and eyes smiling down at something. The woman was spinning around in a circle. She was going so fast; Rogue could barely make out the scenery behind her; it was all a green and blue bur. It seemed as through she was holding something in her arms. It was only when she heard a baby laughing that she realized the woman was holding her.
"Ameila," a familiar female voice called out from the distance. "Dinner time," she announced as the woman stopped spinning.
"Do you hear that, Anna Maire? It's time to eat," Ameila said as she tickled her. Rogue felt herself laugh as she was carried towards a large brown and red house. "Are you hungry?" she asked with a smile.
"Rogue," Logan called out. Her eyes shot open as she realized that she was in Logan's arms; he had one arm around her waist holding her up. The other was around her shoulder; he was shaking her.
"I'm- I'm back," Rogue said; Logan stopped shaking.
"Rogue, are you alright?" the Professor asked concerned.
"Yeah, I... I think so," she muttered as Logan led her to one of the chairs. She sat down and closed her eyes for a moment as she took deep breaths. The memory hadn't been a traumatic one; it only took her a moment to recover. "Can I please get a glass of water?" she asked as she opened her eyes.
"I'll only be a minute," Mr. McCoy said as he quickly turned and left the room. Rogue re-looked at the memory.
'Yeah, yeah that was Irene's voice,' she thought to herself in disbelief.
"What the hell was that?" Logan asked.
"It was a flash back," Rogue answered. "I've had these before," she said.
"Often?" Charles asked.
"Not lately. I kind've thought I had control over it," she muttered. She glanced over what she had thought before her mind pulled her in. "I guess I do. I was asking myself where I'd had heard that name before," she explained.
"What name?" Storm asked.
"Amelia Voght," Rogue answered as she pointed to the papers Mr. McCoy had left behind. "A woman named Amelia took care of me when I was young," she said. "...Can I see those?" Rogue asked; referring to the papers.
"I have not even looked at them myself yet," Charles explained as he went to pick up the papers; as he lifted them off the table a brochure fell out of the pile. Rogue instantly recognized the house on the cover.
"That's where I was," Rogue exclaimed as she pointed at the picture. "I used to live in that house," Rogue said. Charles picked up the brochure and glanced at it for a moment before he handed it to Rogue.
"Are you certain?" Charles asked. Rogue took a long hard look at the paper.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she said as she nodded. "Must've been before I was adopted," she guessed as Mr. McCoy reentered the room. "Thank you," Rogue said as he handed her a bottle of water. She opened the top and took a sip.
"Rogue, are you alright?" Mr. McCoy asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay, now," she answered before she took another sip. "Prof, why are you looking into this place?" Rogue asked. He glanced up at her from the papers.
"Rogue, at this moment I would prefer to keep that information to myself. Please trust that I will tell you when the time is right," he said. Rogue raised an eyebrow at his response.
"You realize after this I gonna go back to my room and learn everything I can about the place, right?" she asked.
"How?" Mr. McCoy asked. "You don't have a computer in there," he said confused.
"I don't need one. I lived there for at least a year, I think... maybe more. Most of the answer are probably already in my head," she explained. The Professor stared at her for a moment. "What?" she asked annoyed. "It's my past," she said.
"Very well," Charles sighed defeated. "Ororo?" he asked.
"Last night before I returned home I looked at Magneto's g.p.s' stored memory. This location was the only saved destination," Storm informed her.
"Right, we were supposed to find this," Rogue said quietly.
"That has yet to be determined," Charles said strongly. "You said yourself that borrowing the car was your idea, not Magneto's." he pointed out.
"Okay, that's true, but Eric ain't that careless. Maybe if there were a few other places too, but one location is just too damn suspicious," Rogue said. 'Or maybe that where he sent Cargril,' she thought. 'That would explain why there was only one that location in the memory. Max always knows where he's going,' she thought.
"Rogue?" Charles called out.
"Sorry, got lost in a thought," she said quickly.
"I do agree with you that it is suspicious, but I am not willing to automatically jump to that conclusion. We need to gather more facts," he said.
"Should I go get started on that?" Rogue asked.
"I believe that there was something else you were doing," Charles said.
"Oh, right," she said as she turned her attention back to the blueprints on the table. She studied them for a few minutes; her instructors stood by in silence as she did so. "...Is there any way we can have the weapons in front each have a separate power source; instead of having them all linked together?" Rogue asked.
"What would that achieve?" Mr. McCoy asked.
"Let's say Magneto wanted to get on the grounds without anyone knowing he was here, with the way it's set up now, all he'd have to do is send out a electric pulse to short out the generator powering them," Rogue explained.
"Assuming he knows where the generator is," Mr. McCoy offered.
"Generators give out a lot electrify. If he was looking for it it'd stick out like a sore thumb," she said. "But if they were individually powered and made out of non-metal materials then it would be more difficult for him to locate them," she said. "And if he can't find them," she started to say.
"Then our defenses have a better chance of defeating him," Charles finished with a nod.
'Or letting some one else know that he's here,' she thought.
"Hank?" Charles asked.
"I'll see what I can do," Hank said.
"Perhaps we should take the same precaution with our alarm system as well," Storm said.
"I agree," Charles said as she took another sip of the water.
"...Well, that's all I got," Rogue said as she put the top back on the water bottle.
"Rogue, that was more than enough," Charles said. "Thank you," he smiled. She smiled back as she stood up.
"Well, I'll see ya all later. I've got some stuff to look at," Rogue said.
"Rogue, please be careful," Charles said.
"All I'm doing is looking for answers," she said.
"But you may not like what you find... Rogue if you like company during this search of yours I would be happy to accompany you," he offered.
"Thanks Prof, but I gotta feeling it gonna get pretty personal. Especially, with what Victor implied," she said.
"Sabertooth said something to you?" he asked his eye widened in fear. "You didn't mention this earlier. Should I be concerned?" he asked.
"I don't know yet... I mean, I don't think so. If it's what I think it is then I probably just have another reason to hate Mystique... maybe Irene too," she added sadly.
"Please keep me informed?" Charles asked. She nodded.
"I'll check in with you tomorrow morning, okay?" she asked.
"I would appreciate that, thank you," he said before she walked out of the room.
She paused outside the hall as she heard Logan ask, "Why's she calling Sabertooth by his first name?" Logan asked.
"It is not the same reason she calls Magneto's by his, is it?" Storm asked.
"No, no," Charles said quickly. "Not the same reason, at all," he said.
"What reason?" Logan asked irate. Professor Xavier sighed.
"Both of them are very complicated situation. Separate, yet equally complicated," he said.
"Chuck, I'm worried about that girl," Logan said.
"As am I," Storm said.
"I believe we all are," Mr. McCoy added.
'Good, they should be worried,' she thought.
"And I ain't liking all these secrets," Logan said annoyed. "There's stuff you ain't telling us. Stuff Rogue ain't telling us," Logan said.
"I know, Logan. I will know more when she and I talk tomorrow. I am asking you to trust me and dispite her silence on certain matters I do trust, Rogue," Charles said strongly.
"Charles, no on is saying you should not," Storm said.
"Does that need to be stated?" Hank asked.
"No," Charles said strongly. "I saw first hand her reaction to Magneto's offer to join him. He offered her companionship, answers about herself and her powers. But she said no to him because of a deep love and loyalty she has for all of us. The people she come to considers her family. I have complete faith in Rogue. I trust her with my life," he said. Rogue couldn't help but smile. "So, you can get in the elevator now," he said loudly. She blushed with embarrassment. He was a telepath; of course he knew she was still there.
"Sorry," she said as she popped her head back into the room. "I didn't mean to easedrop. I'll go now," Rogue said as she turned away.
"Rogue," Charles called out. She turned back to face him; their eyes making contact. "I meant ever word I just said. I know you have your reasons for not sharing the things you keep to yourself. That does not stop me from trusting you," he said. She smiled.
"Prof, half the time, I mean, when it comes to Raven and Victor, I don't like talking about them because it's too painful," she said. She let out a sigh. "Logan, reason I call Victor by his first name is cause I refuse to call him dad," she told him. She watched his eyes widen. 'Please don't hate me, please don't hate me,' she thought.
"He's your father?" Hank asked in disbelief.
"Adopted," she said. "There's no blood there. Just a lot of broken promises," she said before she glanced up at Logan. 'Please say something,' she thought. "Logan," she asked.
"Kid, why didn't you tell us before now?" Logan asked.
"I-" she started to say.
"Logan, Rogue told me about her connection to both Sabertooth and Mystique the very night she moved into the institute. She was not hiding anything," he said. "As she said, talking about her parents is a painful subject. That was clear from the very first time conversation we had. Thus, I have have refrained from asking Rogue to speak about them unless it was necessary. Aside from all of that, I believe we should take Rogue's suggestions to heart," he said changing the subject.
"See ya all at diner," Rogue said using this as her chance to leave.
Hank, how do you think we could-" Charles started to before the elevator door closed. She could talk to Logan later. She should give Logan a little time to absorb the information she had told him. After all she hated it when Magneto expected her to talk right after he had told her something shocking.
She let out a sigh of relief. After those changes were made to the security system the institute might actually be safe from Magneto.
'At least, he might not be able to sneak into my room without being seen,' she smiled.
It took a second before it dawned on her. 'Oh, god, he's gonna be pissed. What the fuck did I just do?' she asked her panicked as she took a few deep breaths. She quickly opened the bottle of water she was still carrying and took a large sip. 'Why did I think that was a good idea?' she asked herself. 'No, I- no I don't think it's enough to make him take me from here. I, no, I didn't destroy the fascade. If anything I reaffirmed Prof's belief that the institute is safe... Max, should. He should be thanking me really,'
'Yeah, like that's gonna happen,' she thought as she rolled her eyes. 'Besides, it's done,' she thought as she took a deep breath. 'I can't change it. Neither will he, not after all the materials are brought. Not after they change the blueprints. I just gotta hope he doesn't realize those changes were my idea... Well, I just won't tell him,' she thought as the doors to the elevator opened up. She quickly walked into her room and let herself collapse onto her bed. Thankfully, she was alone. She loved Kitty but she didn't feel like talking right now.
'I should just concentrate on what I can control,' she thought before she drew herself into her memory.
Voting time!
Are you enjoying these plot points about Rogue's past; yes or no? (If you really want to help me out please explain why you choosing the answer you do)
If most people vote yes, then I will continue the next chapter as I have planned.
If most people vote no, then I will sum up what Rogue finds out during her search and get back to Magneto within a thousand words or so.
Before I spent time writing out all the flashbacks I wanted to know if people want to read them Thank you in advance for the feedback. :)