16

The Professor had everyone go to school the next day. He knew the risk of Joseph, but he also knew they had to keep appearances. So Rogue and the others had ended up in school after their morning danger room session.

Rogue actually felt thrilled, almost, to be able to punch something. She had no idea how much built up frustration she held. But hitting something and actually being useful to her team just felt so much better than crying herself to sleep all night.

She did still feel guilty about everything that happened with Joseph. But she was also still mad at his betrayal. Then, she was still upset at Gambit for backing her into a corner (sort of) last night to try and make her confess her feels. She was angry too, and she just focused solely on that anger.

Then Gambit showed up, late. He didn't tease her like he had the last time. Wasn't trying to one up her. She had felt awkward when he walked in, and, she guessed, he did too. He just… kept away from her and focused solely on the danger room session too. There were quite a few large explosions and, when the rest of them were leaving for school, he stayed behind. At some point, Rogue thought she smelled alcohol on Gambit. Logan stayed behind to have a word with him and, most likely, yell at him for coming to his session hung over.

Oh the way to school, Kitty had to ask "So, did, like, something happen between you and Remy?"

Rogue sighed, "We had a bit of a, erm, disagreement. But it's nothin'." Rogue said, knowing Kitty wouldn't rest.

"So, is he jealous of Joseph!?" Jubilee asked. "Where is he anyway? I swear he was gone all last week too."

Rogue closed her eyes at the wheel. None of the older X-Men had informed the younger X-Men about the MRD having access to something that could turn off their abilities and possibly be a threat to all mutant kind. They also hadn't told anyone that Joseph had ran away.

Rogue heard Kitty try and hush Jubilee.

"What? Is this still because of the no touching thing? Gosh, girl! You've got two gorgeous men after ya and you're sat there moppin'. What is wrong with you? Snap wanna of em up already! Just leave for of em for the rest of us girls." Jubilee said.

Rogue stayed quiet for the rest of the car ride. Kurt and Kitty too. Jubilee and the other girl in the car had picked up on the mood of the older X-Men and tried asking about it. But no one told them anything.

Rogue, Kurt and Kitty struggled to concentrate all day, knowing everything that had happened and was about to come.

Xxxxx

Gambit had ended up in the living room throwing lightly charged cards into a rubbish bin. He was bored. Normally, he'd be up and about and doing something proactive. Stealing off people on the streets, plaining a heist, already on a job in action, gambling in a large casino in Vegas, maybe being with some woman in a country that was having its night time now. Instead, he was stuck in this stupid mansion, listening to kids that hadn't been sighed up to the school yet, run around causing chaos. He used to cause chaos when he was back with the thieves. He did miss him home in New Orleans. It was never dull there.

"Gambit?" Came Storms questioning voice.

Gambit barely moved to acknowledge the woman.

"You do know that a bin is not used in that way?" She asked.

"Oui," Gambit asked.

Storm leaned against the door way to the living room, looking at Gambit. He looked so down and depressed. It upset her. She was wondering why he was so upset. She knew the mutant neglecter collars was not a good thing, but she did not expect that to bother him. If it was Joseph's betrayal, then she guessed he was not too upset by that seeing as he barely knew the man. That lead her to believe that his issue maybe to do with Rogue. She smirked a little, having heard and saw for herself in not todays, but the last danger room session he and Rogue were in together that there was something between the two. She had noticed, like everyone else, how he'd kept his distant from Rogue today. The whole mansion knew that Rogue was upset that Joseph was gone. She was surprised, however, to find that Gambit wasn't trying to comfort her. The two just seemed so close.

"Are you counting down the hours till Rogue returns?" Storm asked.

Now Gambit eyed her.

"Now why would I be doin' a thing like that?" He asked, hiding his surprise about Storm's assumptions.

Storm just stood in the door way with a knowing smile on her face.

"The two of you are close, are you not? Otherwise, you would not have bought her that dress." Storm said.

Gambit stood up. "Dun't mean I be sittin' 'round waitin' on her. There be better things I got to do then wait for some femme." Gambit stated, being to walk passed Storm.

"Such as?" Storm asked.

"You'll know when I be doin' it." Gambit said.

"Playing more card games? Or gambling?" Storm asked, folding her arms. "I can think of much more productive tasks for you than those."

Gambit turned to eye Storm over his shoulder, "What you have in mind, Cherie?" he asked.

xxxxx

When Scott and Jean showed up later at the school to pick up some of the students, Kitty, Kurt and Rogue had gone to Scott to find out if anything new had happened. He shuck his head and the others figured out he still hadn't managed to have a word with Jean. That became clear by the way she was looking at them questioningly. When they got back to the mansion, Scott took Jean off to one side to explain the situation like Logan wanted. Kitty and Kurt headed off to their rooms, wanting to get their homework done so they could rest for the evening.

Rogue ended up alone in the mansion. She wasn't really complaining about that. It was what she had been wanting for a long while after all, wasn't it? No Joseph, throwing twenty questions at her for why she wouldn't date him. No Gambit seeking her out to ask her to help with missions and flirt. No issues with running around, hoping the two men wouldn't pressure her or put her in an awkward position or anything. No missions to rush her off and take her away from her school work so she could graduate.

Then why did she feel so miserable?

Rogue decided to take a quick walk around the mansion and nosy around just before she went back to her school work. Graduation was getting closer and closer and she was looking forward to just getting away from that school.

She noticed that quite a few of the new students were missing. But she found them in the danger room with Gambit as their instructor. Storm was overseeing it, smiling somewhat largely, making sure that Gambit could handle it and it looked like he could. Rogue watched Gambit jump and dodge the younger mutants. He was extremely athletic and flexible, she noticed. He loved using that bo staff of his just as much as his cards.

For Gambit, Storm had presented him with a challenge. It turned out the Weather Witch had been placed on babysitting duty with Beast. Beast had managed to sit some mutants down and teach them the school work they were currently missing. But he had lost some of the students a little while back. Storm was trying to track them all down and gather them together. She had given Gambit the task to help her, almost, herd the wondering mutants together.

Gambit had found it was much like when he needed to straighten the Brotherhood out, but with a more hands on approach since some of the kids were setting up pranks. He'd managed to avoid all of them, knowing all the tricks since he pulled them himself and more when he was younger. Storm was assisting him, of course, and found that the weather witch did have a sense of humour after she trapped some of the wondering mutants in a large pile of snow. They had deserved it since they were placing pranks all around the mansion and Storm had walked straight into a room that had goo above the door. Gambit had tried to warn her about it but it had been too late.

After getting them all back to the classroom while Storm went for a shower, he'd managed to track down a couple more students from sneaking out into town with a stolen vehicle. He'd had to taught them and flirted with some of the wondering female mutants when Beast needed a break. That is how he'd ended up in the danger room, having challenged the mutants to try and hit him. Overall, he'd found the challenge to be a tricky one and almost tiring. But, he had to admit, it was entertaining and keeping his mind busy. He was enjoying himself.

When it came to nearing the end, he'd found a few of the males alright, even taking one in a head lock and ruffling his hair. That kid had been the master mind behind all the pranks and a complete rascal. He couldn't help but like the youngen.

Then, the girls surrounded him in a circle almost. Giggling and complimenting him. Of course, he flirted back. It was just natural for him. Besides, it entertained them and made them blush, giggle and hide behind their hands.

Other course, not all his thoughts went away. He'd bought about how he'd never made Rogue giggle like that and hide behind her hand. He wondered if he could. Then, the reasons why he was avoiding her came to mind. She was into Joseph and heartbroken over him. He didn't want to be some replacement. He was leaving after this mission was done. He'd just have to flirt with these jeune filles till he left. Storm had asked him to keep doing this for a while, anyhow. Seems the X-Men could use all the help they could get.

Rogue watched from the control room as Gambit flirted with the female X-Men.

It… kind of hurt. She'd tried to confess to him last night how she felt, not that she understood how she felt herself, but…. She couldn't get the words out and now… here he was, the next day, flirting with the other X-Girls like nothing happened.

Rogue snorted and left the room, denying to join when Storm asked.

Storm was left bevelled by Rogue's reaction. She was sure now that something had happened between the two southerns. An argument, perhaps. She was just unsure what and how to help.

Rogue ended up in her room that night just studying away. Gambit hadn't even noticed the time or that she'd been there. He'd made plans though to train up some of the kids tomorrow after they almost begged him to, but only if they sat through all of Mr McCoy's classes and did their work. And he would know if they didn't. They'd all agreed and Gambit had headed for a shower. His mind beginning to wonder back to his annoying emotions.

He was frustrated about the mission. Frustrated about his whole situation. He knew, he wanted to free the trapped mutants so they could maybe even join the X-Men and laugh and joke like he had just done with the kids… but then, he knew they'd not be completely like that after what they'd undergone. He was thinking, maybe he could track down the Morlocks and try to help them recover, but… there were always more going to be trapped and he hadn't found the base that he wanted to hit and destroy either yet. He wanted to leave the X-Men and find that base. He wanted it burnt to the ground by his bare hands if he had to with those disguising men in it if he could be so lucky.

But, the more he stuck around the X-Men, the more he found himself torn. He wanted to stay and teach those kids. He wanted to watch how they progressed. He knew though, that he could still probably leave them and do the missions… it was just her who was making it even harder.

But then she'd chose Joseph. She wanted him and only saw him as a replacement. That was what he told himself. What he needed to tell himself… Unknown to Gambit himself, however, he also knew he didn't believe that. He knew there had been moments between them even while Joseph was around. There was a possibility he wasn't a rebound, but he was just trying to hold onto that anger of being made a rebound to make it easier to leave… But, it wasn't any easier. It still stung. Maybe even more than if he just wanted to leave, knowing he and Rogue had a thing. He just couldn't stay.

And that upset him as he washed the shampoo out of his hair.

When he got out of the showers, it was to find Kurt, jumping out of thin air to tell him about the meeting they were going to have later that night over his mission. Gambit was game for that and prepared to get changed for the briefing to come.

But, before he could reach his room, a few of the younger mutants who had been at school today found him and challenged him to the same match he'd had with the newer recruit. It turns out that word was getting around about how good he was when it came to training. Until earlier that day, he'd only been training with the older X-Men, not teaching. So, as soon as he'd taught one class, that was it. He was becoming popular in his own way. Even having the younger kids asking if he was coming down to dinner tonight to eat with the rest of them or not. They seemed to be welcoming him. Accepting him now he'd actually made an effort to socialise with them. Well, more like keep them in line. And, he guessed due to his ego being challenged more than out else, he's agreed to the match after school, but, as he walked away, he found himself cursing. He was just getting way too comfortable around the mutants in the mansion.

Xxxxx

Rogue had been told by Kitty who had been told by Logan to pass the message on about the meeting.

"So, erm, did you, like, see Remy training some of the new kids?" Kitty asked.

Rogue was a bit annoyed that Kitty had decided to stick around for this talk. She could have just left.

"I saw." Rogue said.

"He's becoming, like, popular quite fast around here. I heard Ray challenged him to a match as well. He's all anyone can talk about." Kitty said.

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Well good for him." Rogue said.

Kitty came to sit on Rogue's bed, frowning. She knew Rogue wasn't in a good way. Not after Joseph betrayed her. She'd given her space like she normally wanted, now, she thought it might be a good time to try and approach her.

"Rogue, are you ok?" Kitty asked.

Rogue sighed, turning around in her chair to face Kitty.

"No, I'm not. We've got our stupid finals comin' up and ya know the rest of what's happenin'." Rogue said.

"Yeah, like, about that. How you holdin' up?" Kitty asked, playing with her thumbs.

Rogue turned back to her desk.

"I'm fine, Kitty. No need for ya ta worry." Rogue said.

Kitty sighed, standing up off the bed. She stopped at the door.

"You coming down to eat? Like, I can already smell the food." Kitty asked.

Rogue sighed, then stood up. She guessed she could eat. She began to follow after Kitty.

When they were entering the kitchen though, Rogue wished she'd rejected Kitty's offer as she heard Jubilee shriek at the table.

"I can't take this much longer! Do you, like, have a thing for Rogue or what?" She said.

Rogue looked up from the doorway where she entered. She blinked as she saw Jubilee standing up from the dining table, her hands almost slamming down on the table as she did. Gambit was stood up, leaning against a counter as he held his food in one hand and ate it with the other. All eyes were on him now. Including her own.

She felt awkward because she felt like everyone was watching her now, even though it was only Kitty who knew she was there. Gambit hadn't even noticed she was there the kids were so loud. It almost went quiet as Jubilee asked the question.

Gambit just chuckled in his throat and had a wicked smirk on his lips and in his eyes.

"You seem jealous petite. Ain't been getting' enough attention off de hommes?" Gambit replied.

Jubilee brushed red as the others laughed.

"Hey, don't avoid the question!" Jubilee snapped, "You so have a thing for her! Isn't that, like, why you started the fight with Joseph?"

"Oh come on Jubs, you've been busted!" Iceman said aloud.

Jubilee glared dangers at Iceman.

"You really need to work on your charm der ice pop if you want de femmes to notice ya." Gambit said, now eyeing Iceman and seeing him as a way out of the conversation. His eyes shifted between Jubilee and Iceman. "Don't worry though, give ya plenty of pointers next time I whoop dat arse of yours."

The male mutants around the table began to laugh and Jubilee's question soon got lost as the attention was shifted.

Then, Gambit's eyes moved to see Rogue in the door way with Kitty.

Rogue had come to her senses and just let her normal, miserable deminer take over. It wasn't very hard not to put it on. Kitty was the one who gave Rogue away. She had an awkward face on her as she glanced between Rogue and Gambit. Her eyes shot down as Kitty noticed Gambit looking their way.

Rogue just walked around the kitchen, picked up her plate and left the room.

Jubilee stood up though from the seat she had taken once more after joining in the taught from the boys around the table.

"Hey Rogue, have you, like, chosen who your gonna date yet? Joseph and Remy both want an answer!" Jubilee said.

Rogue glared at Jubilee. A lot of people had gone silent at Jubilee's question. All of them shut up after Rogue took one step forwards into Jubilee's personal space, her glare never leaving Jubilee's face. Jubilee backed away a little, gulping. She'd heard about Rogue's rage, but had never experienced it for herself. She was kind of… terrifying.

"Shouldn't ya be more interested in ya own life rather than mine? Ain't like Bobby's even noticed ya. Maybe ya should work on that." Rogue spat, shoving her way passed Jubilee who's jaw had dropped.

Rogue knew what she did was mean, throwing Jubilee under the bus by making it clear now that she had a thing for Iceman, but at that point, she didn't care. She didn't even eye Gambit as she stormed out of the room. She didn't even want to see the damage she'd caused. At that moment, she didn't regret it, she was just moving on anger and slammed her bedroom door shut.

Gambit though, had eyed the room, noticing how Rogue had managed to silence everyone. He had to admit, the girl was fierce… He'd never seen her like that. Well, maybe when she kicked him out of the train that one time and crushed his hands against the train cart. But that look in her eye had been murderous.

He wondered if it was because she'd been betrayed by Joseph and she was taking her anger from that betrayal out on Jubilee? At the thought of Rogue having any sort of feelings for Joseph, he felt like he'd lost his appetite. He put his plate to one side and left the other mutants to try and figure out how to handle the awkward situation.

Xxxxx

Later that night, Kitty phased into Rogue's room with Jean in toe. No one had approached Rogue since she'd humiliated Jubilee. Kurt was poofed into Rogue's room and took them to Logan's room which had been sound proofed. Gambit, Scott and Logan were already there waiting.

"Alright elf, I need you to go get Psylocke too." Logan said.

"Psylocke?" Scott question.

Logan grunted.

"She knows?" Scott questioned.

"She's in on the mission, alright. Now go get her." Logan ordered.

Rogue was as taken back by this as everyone else in the room. Rogue looked over to see Gambit leaning against the wall, not looking happy much either. His plan was being changed quite a bit since they had involved the others. Rogue hadn't planned for Jean or Psylocke to be involved, but here they were. She let it go though. She'd said to Gambit on the roof that the X-Men would get the job done. Not like it mattered much as she guessed he still planned to leave afterwards no matter what the X-Men accomplished. If having Jean and Psylocke on the team though meant they got to free those trapped mutants, then so be it.

Kurt appeared with Psylocke moments later who didn't look too happy. She hadn't been, not really, ever since she'd been picked up by Rogue and Joseph.

"Alright, now that we're all here, we can go over this." Logan said, taking charge. He eyed Scott and Scott stepped forwards to go over the plan.

"As you're all aware, Gambit managed to bring these blue prints to us," he said, holding them up for everyone to see, "they're locations for where mutants are being held against their will and experimented on by the MRD."

Psylocke almost spat as she tsked at the word MRD. There was a lot of dislike there for the MRD.

"As we agreed, we cannot share this information with the Professor. The MRD and him have just recently had an agreement that will protect this house and the mutants under it. We can't risk the safety of the mansion and we can't risk the Professor trying to lie to the MRD. So, we're going rogue with this mission, errr, no pun intended." Scott said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at Rogue.

Rogue just shrugged her shoulders. It's what she was, a Rogue. She actually found it amusing herself. These types of missions, they should be perfect for her after all, they did fit her name.

"Right, so. This is what we planned. We'll leave tomorrow night when the rest of the mansion is asleep. Jean will stay here and in Cerebro. She'll cover for us while we're gone and make sure no one knows we've left." Scott said.

"What's Psylocke's roll in this?" Jean asked, coming across almost a little jealous.

"She coming so we can keep in contact easier. She'll establish a psychic link between all of us and you." Logan filled Jean in. "If something goes wrong, she'll be a way for us to get back in contact with you."

"But I'll have contact with you just fine with Cerebro." Jean said.

"This is just safety measures, red. She doesn't know how to work Cerebro. You do. She comes and keeps us in contact encase our communicators go down or something. Your roll is also to keep an eye on the mansion while we're all gone. If anything happens while we're away, you let us know ASAP and we'll come back," Logan eyed Gambit who glanced back as he said this, "with or without the mission complete. We've got jets, but only so many will fit in them. If the MRD attack the mansion, we'll need the black bird. The safety of this mansion comes first. If we don't have a safe foot to stand on, we're damned if we try helping others. We'll all just end up in the same boat."

Gambit turned away from Logan, but seemed to take it well. Logan eyed Scott, expecting him to continue.

"So, we'll land the jet here." Scott said, pointing at the blue prints. "Gambit and Shadowcat will go a head of us and take out the camera."

"I'll tag along too. There might be guards that need taking out." Logan said.

"Never took you for de quiet type." Gambit said.

"Listen bub, I've done more recon missions than you have and I know what I'm doing. We get in, get out as quickly and quietly as we can." Logan eyed the room and everyone nodded.

"Alright, so, once we've disabled the security systems and the guards that are stopping us from getting to the captured mutants, Kitty and Kurt will start to phase or teleport them out to this wall here." Scott said, pointing to the closest wall that was outside of the prison. Logan will keep guard around these areas," Scott said, referring to the areas surrounding where Kitty and Kurt had to travel through, "and take out any guards that might sound the alarms. I'll also be around, but closer to where the jet is, ready to take anyone out who might stop us out. Rogue, you'll meet the mutants outside the wall and lead them to where the jet is. Gambit will join you shortly after and help you make sure you get all the mutants safety to the jet. Once we have them all loaded up, we'll return to Bayville where Evan has agreed to meet us and take in the captured MRD mutants." Scott finished. "Any questions."

"So, am I just stood on watch?" Psylocke said, sounding annoyed.

"We're going to need you to oversee everything. I'll be there to help you in the beginning to help, but without your abilities, the others will struggle. If you see that a guard on the prison walls is coming to, we need to know about it. You need to communicate with us and let us know if we can or can't go and things like that." Scott said.

"Why don't we just destroy it?!" Psylocke said.

"Simmer down, plum. I need the prison standing in order to shut the others down. I managed to get in contact with someone who owes me a few favours. I'm gonna need strong evidence that these mutants are there against their will and were experimented on to make weapons that S.H.E.I.L.D. don't know about. Might have to even hand some of the really worse off ones over to S.H.E.I.L.D." Logan said.

Psylocke rolled her eyes.

"I can get you that evidence. Might need some more time after we free de mutants to get to it." Gambit said.

Logan grunted, "I'll watch your back."

"There might also be some that are bein' experimented on at de time we arrive. Be good evidence." Gambit said.

Logan nodded, then turned to Psylocke.

"And if your gonna keep on poutin' like dat, then you won't get your chance to strike a blow at the MRD, you got that." Logan said.

Psylocke rolled her eyes, "Fine. Just not the blood and gore I was after." She said.

"You'll still be getting you revenge on the MRD. Probably more so when S.H.E.I.L.D. bust all their camps down." Logan said.

Psylocke smirked at that. She wanted her revenge on the MRD for hunting her down for so long and taking some of her freedom.

"OK, any more questions?" Scott asked.

"So of those mutants," Rogue began to say, "They might not have control over their mutations."

Scott and Logan grimaced. Gambit just watched her, curious.

"We know that. We're just going to have to try and deal with them as best as we can. As far as I'm aware, Gambit, you don't have any records on who does or doesn't have control over their mutation. Is that right?"

Gambit nodded.

"I get that, but, what if their mutation gets so outta hand, it blows our cover?" Rogue asked.

"What you suggesting, stripes?" Logan asked.

"I think ya should take meh in there with you. Just encase one or two of the mutants are losing control. I can knock them out for a while until they're outta there." Rogue said, looking at her hand.

"But we don't know the risk that'll have to you. You might not be able to control it." Scott said.

"Don't take this as an offence, Scott, but you can't control yours either. When I've absorbed you in the past though, I've been able to control it." Rogue said, thinking how ironic it was that she could possibly control every other mutation except her own.

"You sure you can handle what's goin' on inside their heads? Ain't gonna be pretty stripes." Logan said.

"I've got plenty of unpleasant memories in ma head, Logan." Rogue said, glancing at him. "What matters is the mission and that we get them out. Meh, well, we'll deal with that later."

"I can help you lock the psyches away, Rogue." Jean said, kindly.

Rogue nodded, sending a small smile her way. The Professor wouldn't be able to help her since they couldn't risk him finding this out, but Jean could. She guessed Logan was right to include Jean after all.

"What if you, like, do lose control though?" Kitty asked.

"Yeah, I don't really want to be battlin' my sister again." Kurt said.

Rogue let out a nasty huff. Of course they were going to bring that up. "That was different." Rogue said. She then eyed Psylocke and sighed. "Do you think you could knock meh out if I did start to lose control?" Rogue asked.

"With pleasure." Psylocke stated.

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Great! On the same team, but still get blamed for Mystique's actions."

"I don't trust Mystique's swine." Psylocke said.

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Kurt asked.

Psylocke rolled her eyes.

"Alright, we can't afford to argue on this mission. Psylocke, if you do have any issues with doing this mission, then we need to know now." Scott said.

"Why you singling me out?" Psylocke asked.

"Because you're the loose cannon. You hold a grudge against the MRD and Mystique. And for some reason, her kids who have nothing to do with that mad woman. So, are you really capable of putting that all aside and just getting the job done or do we have to bench you?" Logan asked.

Psylocke eyed Rogue out of the corner of her eye. "I've worked with you before." Psylocke said.

"Briefly." Rogue added.

"Look, I could have ended up in one of those cages alongside those mutants, so I want to do this and cripple the MRD. Even if that means working with you lot to do it, I'm in." Psylocke said.

Rogue shrugged when Logan and Scott looked at her.

"We're doing this for the trapped mutants, right?" Rogue said.

"Alright then, well, I guess we have our plan." Scott said, leaning against Logan's bed. "Any more questions?"

No one asked anything, so Scott dismissed the meeting. Kurt gave all the girl's a lift back to their rooms, then disappeared for the night.

Rogue looked around her room. She was expected to go to bed early and get as much sleep as she could. The issue was, Rogue just didn't feel tired. Just upset and angry at everything. She guested it was just going to be another miserable nights sleep.

Xxxxx

Gambit was very much in the same boat. He'd gotten through last night by just blacking out drunk with no nightmares. He doubted drinking a night before a job was a good idea however and he still didn't want to leave the mansion grounds encase of an attack. He could probably go and bother some of the younger mutants since they seemed so keen on him now, but he didn't want them to come to expect him to stick around when he wasn't planning on it.

There was Rogue who he normally turned to to keep his mind off the nightmares, but… they were distant right now. Just like he wanted. No ties, no reason to stick around. But, as he lay there on his bed, he was finally beginning to feel the regret sweeping in.