Chapter 9: Freedom
"Welcome back to another episode of Cure Watch," Rogue said.
Rogue, Monte, Zeek, and Butterfly went through their usual introduction before moving onto the meat of the episode.
"Okay, so, unfortunately, after being at 60% for the last couple of months, we're now at 64% for the trial release of the Cure," Rogue said.
Monte grinned at Rogue's 'unfortunately', and then added: "And 12% of the trial have had their mutations fully restored."
"Does anyone else feel like we're ripping off a band aid really slowly?" asked Zeek with a wry grin. "This seriously feels like it's going to take forever."
"Not for me, it's not," Butterfly said happily. "It's official, guys, I'm one of the 14% of the public release that is starting to get their mutations back." She turned around and gestured to a couple of lumps that were straining against the back of her shirt. "Tada!"
"Congratulations," said Monte as Butterfly turned back around.
"See, you say that now," Zeek said teasingly, "but it's going to take months for your wings to grow back completely, and we don't even know for sure how many months either."
Butterfly poked her tongue out at him. "Details, schmetails."
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Ro-ogue! Happy Birthday to you!"
Rogue blew out all 21 candles on the cake Carrie had made for her. Everyone cheered.
Their little party had gathered together in their preferred rec room. Most of the resident staff were here, and the ones who weren't dropped by in between rounds or whatever their night duty was. Gambit had made plenty of party food, and there was a small pile of presents off to one side.
Rogue picked up the knife and cut the cake, then Carrie took over cutting the cake up into slices for everyone.
"Okay, let's do presents now!" Bobby said eagerly, and grabbed one off the pile. He thrust it at Rogue with a big grin. "This is from me and Kitty and Pete, and Spyke, and Jubilee."
Rogue accepted with a light laugh, uncertain of what to make of Bobby's obvious enthusiasm. "Oh, well, thank you. All of you."
She set the present on the table, propped it against her side, and ripped open the wrapping paper. As she pulled it away, a box was revealed, one holding a gaming mouse. For a moment, she wasn't sure what to make of it, as she wasn't really the gamer Bobby and Kitty were. Then she noticed two things: the mouse was left-handed (not ambidextrous), and it had twelve additional buttons within reach of the thumb.
"Oh!" She exclaimed as she lifted it up to inspect it further. "Hey, this looks really cool, and super useful. Thank you guys."
Kitty gave her a hug. "No problem. Glad you like it."
"So am I. This could've gotten really ugly if you didn't," Bobby said with a grin.
Rogue shook her head at him. "Dork."
He just chuckled.
Rogue opened up a couple more presents, and then the cake, a rich chocolate mud cake, was ready to eat. Rogue was certain to put a generous amount of whipped cream on her slice before sitting down with it.
Games Day arrived a few days later, and Rogue took herself and her new mouse to the computer lab. The new game for this quarter was actually Universe Sandbox 2, which was more of a tool than a game. Rogue played around with it for a little, and had some fun throwing comets at planets, but ultimately switched over to The Sims 3.
Her new mouse could be programed to have the buttons do different things depending on what program she was running. Rogue set up her mouse so she could pause, change the game speed, and centre on the active sim by using the thumb buttons.
"Hey, how's the new mouse going?" Kitty asked partway through the morning.
Rogue grinned up at her. "This is great. I've barely needed to use the keyboard. Though I am going to need to use it in a minute 'cause Hayley's going to be having a baby soon and I'm going to have to name it."
Kitty chuckled. "Cool."
"Hey, speaking of which, how's the suburbia program coming? I know Remy's still tinkering a bit." Rogue considered for a moment. "Although he did say something about getting started on revamping the pirate sim."
"Yeah, I got a heap done over the break. I was hoping to finish but," Kitty crossed her fingers, "hopefully soon?"
"Cool. I'm looking forward to it."
"I think everyone is. Hey, this reminds me. We've got another Danger Room maintenance visit from Forge coming up soon, don't we?"
"Yeah, next week," Rogue said.
Kitty stared at her. "That soon? I knew it was… Oh, I guess it would be next week wouldn't it? Time goes by fast, huh?"
"Yep."
New students arrived and Kitty moved over to greet them and show them Universe Sandbox 2.
Rogue finally stopped playing at about lunch time. After taking her mouse back to her room, she headed to the dining hall for food. Meals tended to be a lot more casual on Games Day, so people entered in dribs and drabs, helped themselves to the mostly cold food on the buffet, and then went back to enjoying the day.
Rogue decided to go check out the rec rooms, since she hadn't been in any of them and had no idea what else was on display.
Bobby was running the social/mobile game room. The game he was demonstrating was a fighting game, which he showed Rogue with glee.
"You know what would be really fun?" he said and barrelled on before she could reply: "A mutants vs Reavers game."
Rogue stifled a sigh at hearing this again.
"Something just like this would be awesome," Bobby said. "I wonder if I can mod it?"
"You just want yourself to appear in a video game," Rogue said.
"Hell yes."
Kurt was demonstrating Hacky Sacks in the 'Fad' room. Rogue joined in on kicking the bag around for awhile.
Rogue almost skipped the Dungeons & Dragons room Morph always ran, because it was always the same thing, but decided to drop in anyway. Sitting at the table with Morph were three students and the last two people Rogue expected to see there: Gambit and Carrie.
She stared, rubbed her eyes, and stared some more.
"Hey Rogue." Morph waved at her. "Come to join us?"
"Uh, no, just here to watch."
"Feel free. Let me know if you change your mind."
"Sure."
She wandered over in a daze, not convinced that this was real. Gambit grinned at her as she approached him.
"Hey Roguey," he said gleefully. "This game is great. I get to turn invisible and steal stuff."
Rogue snorted out a laugh. All of a sudden, Gambit's involvement made perfect sense.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," she replied.
She sat and watched as the players went through a mage's tower, looking for treasure, setting off traps (the ones they didn't find and disarm), and fight off the various monsters that Morph threw at them. It was fun seeing Morph change into cartoon versions of the various monsters.
The story was frequently stalled, particularly during fights, for Morph to explain things or answer questions for the new players. During these times, Rogue's gaze tended to wander over to her aunt. She couldn't believe Carrie was actually playing D&D. She thought for sure Carrie would've bought into the Satanic Panic.
Eventually, the players made it to the final room of the tower and defeated the evil wizard there. Morph wrapped up the session and everyone thanked him and chatted gleefully about how much fun they'd had.
"Think you want to join us next time?" Morph asked Rogue.
"I really don't think that pretending to be someone else is ever going to be something I do for fun."
"Fair enough."
"I think I'd like to play with you again sometime," Carrie said to Morph.
Rogue stared while Morph eagerly invited her to join one of the games he was running. While they were talking, Gambit took Rogue's hand.
"So, you wanna see if they're playing poker in the card room?" he asked her.
"I'm honestly surprised you didn't go straight there when you woke up," Rogue replied.
Gambit grinned at her as they walked out. "You and everyone else."
The following week, Forge and Ronnie arrived at Xavier's. Ronnie stayed to socialise with the X-Men, while Rogue and Kitty headed to the subbasement with Forge to do the annual maintenance on the Danger Room.
This was the third year that Rogue and Kitty had assisted and they felt that they were starting to really understand what needed to be done finally. Forge also brought some new hardware for them to upgrade it with.
"Oooh," Kitty said, practically salivating over the new equipment. "The Suburbia program is going to work great on this. We might even be able to use the hi-res version."
"Suburbia program?" Forge asked.
"Oh, we have this program that's really just supposed to be a backdrop for training programs," Kitty explained. "Remy's been programming the scenery and it looks amazing. We have to show you!"
"For testing purposes, of course," Rogue said with a wink. "I mean, what better way to test the new upgrade than with the hi-res version of the Suburbia program."
"Exactly!"
Forge just looked amused until the two opened up the play-test version of the program and got to see it for himself. At first, Rogue didn't think he seemed all that impressed, it just looked like a more detailed version of their usual backdrops. Then they started going into buildings, and he saw that they weren't just empty spaces, but fully furnished and decorated.
"You can even cook in the kitchens," Kitty told Forge. "I had to install a safety function to make sure none of us accidentally burn ourselves."
"Well, it certainly is impressive," Forge said when the tour was over. "I'll have to get a copy of it when it's done for my Danger Room at home."
"You have your own Danger Room?" Rogue asked.
"Of course." Forge grinned at her. "Now, I think we should get back to work."
The maintenance and upgrades took a little longer, no thanks to the Suburbia tour, but they got it done in the end. When they were finished and packing up, Forge asked Rogue about how she was doing. Kitty quietly left as they started what felt like a very personal discussion.
"…and I find myself actually reconsidering getting a prosthesis, even though all my original reasons still stand," Rogue said with a sigh. "Just another skill I would have to learn, wouldn't have the same range of movement, and if the Cure wears off…" Rogue trailed off, not wanting to voice that fear yet again.
"Not to mention the better they are, the more expensive they are," Forge said.
"Right. Though about getting a cosmetic one, just so I can look in the mirror and see a whole person again but," Rogue sighed, "I'd just be lying to myself."
"No you wouldn't."
"You know what I mean," Rogue said irritably. "Don't start getting all motivational speaker on me 'you are a whole person on the inside'."
Forge smirked at her. "Actually, what I meant was your prosthesis, should you decide to get one, will be a part of you. Okay, sure, the maintenance requirements might be different, and you may not have the same range of movement, but there's plenty of people who have body parts that don't work as well as other body parts. So when you look in the mirror while wearing a prosthesis, even a purely cosmetic one, you will still be looking at a whole person and it won't be a lie." He winked at her. "You'll also see a whole person when you look in the mirror without a prosthesis too."
Rogue pulled a face at him.
"I know," Forge said gently. "Being told it and actually feeling it are two completely different things."
"Yeah." Rogue pushed away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "Actually, I have been feeling a little more comfortable seeing my reflection lately. Because of, of some advice Ronnie gave me."
"Oh?" Forge asked as he began walking with her down the hallway.
"Remember the photo shoot we did? She said that the 'girl next door' look didn't work for me, that I was a 'femme fatale' and I should always look like I can crush a man's skull between my thighs." Rogue said and grinned at Forge. "I ended up updating my wardrobe and yeah… I never really considered myself a vain person, but I definitely feel a lot better looking at myself now. I still don't like seeing my arm missing but I can look past it a little better now."
They stopped at the elevator and Rogue hit the button.
"Well, that's good. And it sounds completely like Ronnie," Forge said. "She has this entire spiel about how appearances are deceiving and everyone judges by appearances including people who insist that they don't. She says that once you understand that, you can control the narrative."
"Huh. Interesting."
"And speaking of Ronnie, she was hoping that you and your boyfriend might like to join us for dinner tonight."
Rogue looked at Forge in surprise. "Oh really? Well, I'd have to check with Remy, but I'm sure he's free. I'd love to."
"Great."
Rogue and Gambit met up with Forge and Ronnie at the front entrance. As they approached, Ronnie looked Rogue over.
"You look fantastic, darling," Ronnie said warmly.
Rogue smiled brightly, feeling like a little girl who'd just won her big sister's approval. Which was ridiculous because she barely knew Ronnie. Maybe it was the whole 'supermodel' thing.
"Thanks," Rogue replied. "You look gorgeous, but you always do."
Ronnie smiled back. "I know, but it's still nice to hear. Shall we?"
They got into the car and headed downtown to the restaurant Ronnie had made last-minute reservations at. It was a nice little restaurant, not family friendly, but nothing too fancy either. They were soon shown to their table, one by a window, and ordered.
"Alright, I think you two have talked quite enough about work today," Ronnie said, looking first at Forge and then at Rogue. "No more of that. So, Rogue, have you seen any good movies lately?"
Rogue grinned and they chatted about movies until dinner arrived.
Halfway through the meal, there was a flash outside. Rogue looked up and out the window to see a photographer on the other side.
"Oh, paparazzi," Ronnie said, sounding almost amused. "Don't mind them."
"Don't mind them?" Rogue stared at Ronnie, and then gestured with her fork. "They're taking photos without consent, practically stalking you, invading your privacy…"
"They are a tool, and to think of them any other way is to give them power over you," Ronnie replied.
"Doesn't it ever become too much though?"
"Of course. All things can become too much, especially with tools that don't know when it's time to be put away," Ronnie said with a scathing tone. "I have my ways of ensuring I get a break when I need one. I'd share, but this really isn't the time or the place."
They finished eating, chatted awhile longer, then ordered light desserts and coffee. The paparazzi came and went and came back, but the party largely ignored them as per Ronnie's advice.
As they left the restaurant sometime later, there was a crowd of paparazzi waiting for them outside. Gambit made sure his sunglasses were firmly afixed to his face before stepping out his with left arm around Rogue's waist. Ronnie lapped up the attention as they walked out.
"Hey Rogue!" Rogue looked over, startled to hear her name called. "What happened to your arm?"
With tears streaming down his face, Gambit released his left hand, "I'm sorry," and then his right.
Rogue's arm exploded.
Rogue scowled and made a beeline for the car, moving so fast that Gambit's hand slipped back off her waist. She got in, scooted across the backseat and turned her back to the window. Gambit quietly slipped in next to her and shut the door. Forge soon took the driver's seat, and after a moment, Ronnie finally came in as well.
"Well, that was fun," Ronnie said as they drove off. "Say, Rogue, you and I should go shopping sometime. It'll be fun."
"Not if those assholes are going to be following me around asking intrusive questions," Rogue snarled in reply.
Ronnie turned in her seat to look at Rogue. Rogue sighed.
"Sorry," Rogue mumbled. "Didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's fine," Ronnie replied. "But since that's a question that's likely to plague you the rest of your life," Rogue groaned and seemed to shrink in on herself, "I'd come up with a bunch of sassy comebacks to use. Otherwise people will figure out that the question upsets you, and then they'll just use it as ammunition against you. They certainly won't ever be considerate of your feelings."
Rogue shuddered, and said quietly: "Yeah, you're probably right."
Gambit offered Rogue his hand and she took it and smiled faintly at him.
"We don't need to go shopping this trip," Ronnie went on. "Actually, can't do it this trip. We're leaving soon. But perhaps next time I'm in New York."
"Sure," Rogue said. "Maybe it would be fun."
Rogue felt her heart race in her chest as Carrie pulled up outside of Tom's Auto Repairs. She couldn't believe she was so nervous about this. Her freshly modified motorcycle was sitting in Carrie's bike trailer.
They got out of the car and headed for the office. Tom looked up from where he was seated behind his desk as they came in.
"Hi Mar, ah, Rogue," Tom greeted her as he stood.
"Hi Tom," Rogue replied, and gestured to Carrie. "This is my aunt, Carrie Ward."
"Pleasure to meet you," Tom said, and held out his hand to her.
"The pleasure is all mine," Carrie said as she shook his hand.
Tom gave her a grin and looked back at Rogue. "So, you've brought your motorcycle, I take it?"
"Yeah, modified and tested as much as I'm able, but of course it needs to be officially inspected before I can legally drive it," Rogue said.
"Sure thing." Tom gestured to the door and they headed back out again. "Juan tells me you did it all yourself?"
"Juan is very generous, considering I told him I had some help, and he even helped me with some bits," Rogue replied wryly. "I did come up with several work-arounds that let me do things on my own, though."
Tom nodded. "Well, let's see what we have."
They did a cursory inspection of the motorcycle while it was on the trailer, before bringing it down to the ground, Rogue and Tom talking shop all the while.
"Ah, Ms Ward," Tom said, abruptly cutting off his discussion with Rogue. "My apologies. You can have a seat inside the office if you want. Help yourself to the coffee machine too, if you'd like. We're probably going to be at this awhile."
"Thank you for the kind offer, but I'm fine," Carrie replied with a slight smile. "Besides, I'm actually partially here in a professional capacity."
"Oh?" Tom asked, and Rogue tensed up.
"I'm an occupational therapist."
Tom grinned. "Ah, you're here to help Rogue get back to work, huh?" He looked at Rogue. "Good. We've missed having you around. Don't know how the one-armed thing is going to work but," he gestured between the two women, "you're clearly on top of that already. But we'll discuss that after we finish sorting out your bike."
Rogue smiled, relief soothing away the tension, and resumed their discussion on the modifications made and how she made them.
The gates to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters opened, and Rogue drove out on her motorcycle. In easy reach of her fingers were a couple of levers and several buttons.
The inspections and paperwork had been completed only the day before.
She drove through the streets on the same route she was so familiar with, to the studio. It was the first time she'd done the trip on her own. They hadn't gotten the studio until after she'd lost her arm, so she'd always been driven by others.
Rogue hadn't realised just how much she missed driving.
It was actually something of a disappointment when she got to the studio. Even as she parked, she was already looking forward to going home again, just because she would get to drive again.
"Hi Rogue," Butterfly said cheerfully as she walked over. "Hey I love your bike."
"Thanks," Rogue replied happily. "It's so nice to drive myself again."
"I'll bet." Butterfly looked over at the new handle, the modification that stood out the most. "That looks really cool. And a little complicated."
"Yeah, takes some practice," Rogue said with a shrug. "But so worth it. Ooh, and I have more good news!"
"Oh yeah?"
"I'm going back to work." Rogue's eyes lit up brightly. "It's only part-time to begin with, but it's going to be sooo good getting back in there again."
"Oh hey, that's great," Butterfly said, then frowned. "Is that going to change our filming schedule?"
"Hmm, maybe when it goes back to being full time. But that won't be for awhile, most likely," Rogue replied. "There's a lot of stuff we need to figure out; what I can and can't do safely, and if there's alternate ways for me to do things, stuff like that."
They continued to chat as they made their way into the studio. Zeek and Monte arrived shortly thereafter, and they went through their usual pre-filming preparations, including rereading the brief from Worthington Pharmaceuticals. Nothing in the brief would've alarmed Rogue on a regular day, but even if there had been bad news, it couldn't have ruined Rogue's mood today.
The episode was short, and filming didn't take very long. Then Rogue was back on her motorcycle.
She was halfway home when she realised she didn't actually have to go straight home. There was nothing pressing at the school she had to do when she got back. She wasn't rostered onto anything that afternoon. She could take her time.
She turned off at the next intersection and went looking for the most scenic route home.