23
"Get down!" Gambit demanded, shoving Logan behind a bush.
Logan was becoming a bit run down due to the mutant neglecter hanging around. Gambit was starting to feel it too. His hands felt like they constantly had pins and needles, but he pushed through it. He could feel some sort of headache coming on, but he brushed it off. It was reminding him of Rogue and the time when she had that bracelet on. The time when she'd clung to him because she was in some much pain from this mutant neglecter and needed help. He felt angry with himself, just like he had when she opened up about what really happened that night. She had been hurting and he could have done more. He regretted that he didn't. Regretted leaving her. Regretting that he'd let Joseph weasel himself in once again and was currently hurting Rogue again. He wasn't going to fail her this time though. He was going to make sure, one way or another, he got her out from this island.
Logan and Gambit watched as the castle gate began to slowly open. They could see some of the Nasty Boys loading up and getting ready to leave. Gambit had spotted them first and made them duck so they wouldn't be seen. Gambit already knew they were leaving to go and find him. He saw them discussing it. Discussing where he might be and what might be the best way to trap him.
Gambit glanced around and figured out another way in.
"Come on," he said to Logan as he began to move towards the edge of the cliff. The castle was built upon a piece of land that seemed to curve largely outwards then back in. That meant that the castle was surrounded by a lot of sea.
Logan began to follow Gambit as they made their way to being half way along the castle side.
When Gambit thought he was in a good enough position, he slipped his hand into his pock and picked out his bo staff. He lifted it up and aimed it at a part of the castle that had a good ledge to it. A line shot out of his bo staff and secured itself on that ledge. Gambit pulled on the bo staff to check to see how stable it was. When he was sure it was stable enough, he turned to face Logan who already got the drift. He reached out his hand and grabbed hold of the bo staff with Gambit as they began to shot upwards.
As they ascended higher and higher though, they came closer to being spotted by the Nasty Boys. Gambit hoped they weren't spotted so that there would be less to face when they broke in there to get the X-Men out.
Gambit had aimed the line at where he knew Sinister's lab and the prisons would be. His line was just a bit too short to make the full length though so the two X-Men ended up scaling the wall, hoping desperately that they didn't fall or else the drop might kill them.
Gambit found it odd as, once they got close to the window that was in Sinister's lab, he noticed that it was broken. The two men pulled themselves up, but didn't go through the window. Instead, they hovered around the window ledge and watched what was happening.
Gambit glanced around, seeing that Sinister had his back to the X-Men as his body faced his computer which controlled everything on the island. He was facing towards Joseph, however. Joseph had his head down in shame. Good, Gambit thought. He put Rogue in harm's way and was working for a mad man. He should feel shame. Gambit's eyes next fell on Magneto. He was shocked to see the state the man was in. So that's why he struggled to get a hold of him. He felt like kicking himself. Why hadn't he figured it out? Gambit's eyes glanced quickly over the X-Men. They were all stood around, looking shocked and scared. His eyes landed, finally, on her.
Gambit gave Rogue the once over. Physically, she looked fine. That was a relief. He wasn't too late. When he glanced at her face though, he could see how hurt and scared she looked. He figured seeing Joseph, seeing that he'd betrayed them once again, had definitely done a number on her. He wondered why she'd even agreed to go on this mission. Sure, maybe the Professor ordered her to, but still. Gambit couldn't help the little green monster that crept onto his shoulder. But he quickly brushed it off.
They made it just in time to hear the part about Joseph being a clone. Logan and Gambit were briefly stunned, but recovered quickly since neither had trusted Joseph from the beginning.
Gambit turned to Logan and whispered.
"We gonna destroy de computer. It's keepin' de shield up." He said.
Logan nodded.
"Up there!" came a voice that sounded very far away.
Both Logan and Gambit glanced now, realising they had been spotted by the Nasty Boys. They were now on a very small time limit, they realised.
Logan went to jump in through the window, but Gambit grabbed him before he could move.
"Non! You go runnin' straight in, Joseph will have you pinned faster dan we can blink." Gambit said.
Logan muttered his growl.
"What's your suggestion then?" he tried not to bark out.
Gambit pointed up Sinister also had a sky window. It wasn't a safe idea, but it might gain them an inch of a second for a surprise attack. Gambit was hoping that maybe Logan could distract Sinister and Joseph while he took care of the computer.
Logan nodded and both began to climb up.
Inside, Joseph had noticed the look in Rogue's eye changed. She no longer looked betrayed or hurt. Now, she looked… determined. Angry even. It was the old Rogue he'd come to know. There was something going on behind those eyes of hers, Joseph knew. He wondered if that anger in her eye was because he came made from Magneto. He'd always wondered how she'd react if she ever found out. That look on anger on her face said it all.
Joseph felt his own irritation raise. She had betrayed him too. Lead him on when really she'd been wanting Gambit rather than himself. He should have guessed all those talks from her, about him being different, were lies. All just a façade.
"Sinister you monster!" Scott screamed out.
Sinister became distracted briefly by Scott banging against the bars to his cage.
Joseph never dropped his gaze from Rogue's. They were both sharing an angry, fiery glare. But he heard Scott. He was never massively close with the Summer's boy, but hearing that. That his creation was monstrous, it only fuelled his rage.
"Is it true, Joseph?" Rogue asked. Her voice was even, but strong.
Joseph felt stung by her words. They made him feel ashamed. Ashamed that he was related to a mad man. Ashamed that he was just a test tube subject of Sinister's. Hurt to hear those strong words come from the mouth of the woman he was falling in love with. It hurt to feel like she was disguised by the revelation. He got frustrated at that. He wasn't in love with her anymore. It shouldn't affect him this much how she reacted to him. But it did and it confused and frustrated him.
Rogue saw Joseph's eyes dip slightly. She took that as confirmation.
"You really let Sinister control you all this time?" She demanded to know.
Joseph began to eye her strongly again. He found her question rather ridiculous. He watched as her anger seemed to melt away from her.
"You don't have ta let him control ya. You told meh yourself, you don't wanna be the monster. Well, workin' with Sinister, it's makin' ya the monster you don't wanna be!" she stressed.
Joseph's eyes dropped slightly again. He just felt so angry and listening to what Rogue said, it wasn't helping calm that anger. All he could think about when he heard her talk was that moment in the gardens where she'd rejected him. That and then the shame of it finally being revealed that he was nothing but Sinister's little pet was infuriating him.
"Really Rogue? Giving you the ability to touch is monstrous?" Sinister asked as he watched what was happening between Rogue and Joseph. He could see Joseph going deep into thought. His knucks were turning white. He was afraid this would happen. He feared losing control over Joseph to the X-Men. To her.
"You don't have ta be the monster, Joseph!" Rogue shouted, grabbing hold of her prison bars. She had spoken over Sinister as soon as he started to speak, but Joseph had heard what Sinister had said.
His mind had gone straight to when he came back to Sinister to ask for a way to help Rogue touch. Sinister had looked sceptical, asked a few interrogating questions as to whether Joseph was planning on running away with Rogue (which he did actually have planned to do), but agreed to make the bracelet even though he wasn't convinced.
Then he heard Rogue, and his mind went straight back to when she had recruited him. She had called out to him like that. Told him something like that. Believed this whole time that he wasn't a monster. But that look of hers. The anger he'd saw in her eyes before. The betrayal. She betrayed him. Used him to be find a way to touch, didn't she? Isn't that what Sinister said when he came back. When he didn't understand why she had chosen Gambit over him. He'd done everything she wanted. Been the nice, supporting friend and something more and she'd still rejected him.
"Not if you don't do what Sinister says! We're your friends Joseph," Rogue said, feeling herself become small and shy. She could see Joseph wincing. He looked like he was being tormented. It was hurting her somehow to know he was in pain over this. That he was being ripped in half. But she had to pull him over to their side. The fact that he was reacting to what she said was a good thing, wasn't it? Rogue felt herself shake as she thought of what she needed to say next.
"We care about you," she said.
That was all Joseph needed to hear to snap.
"Care? Care?" he said, his voice getting louder as he snapped up and glared at her in anger. He began to storm over to be in front of Rogue's cell. "You X-Men only used me! Used me for what I can do!-"
"That's not true!" Rogue snapped back at Joseph as he got closer to her cage. She wanted to back away. Those eyes of his were terrifying when they were filled with anger aimed towards her, but she couldn't back down. Not now. She wouldn't. Rogue sucked it up, standing tall and meeting him head on. "Sinister's the one who's using you!"
"He might be using me, but at least he admits it!" Joseph snapped. "Unlike you!"
Rogue felt taken back for a second. The end part, it seemed like it had a double meaning. Rogue swallowed something nasty, thinking that this was about them. Him thinking, somehow, that she'd been dishonest with him when she rejected him. But she hadn't. She just… wasn't ready. Wasn't sure if she wanted that.
"We've never lied to you Joseph. I've never lied to you. Joseph, we…" Rogue paused there a second, searching Joseph's face. He had turned away, shaking in rage. She was going to say the X-Men cared about him. Generalise it even though it wasn't a lie. But then… seeing him like this. Seeing him on the edge of breaking. On the edge ever since she rejected him. It was hard for her and she didn't understand why. Probably because she didn't understand her own feelings, but she had to do it. "I care about you Joseph," Rogue near whispered.
Joseph gasped at that. He still couldn't look at her. The woman who broke him. What he heard… it almost didn't sound real. It was something he'd wanted to hear for a long time, but he didn't believe it. He didn't believe it and he wanted something more. He wanted to hear her tell him she loved him. Loved him as much as he loved her. But then, even if she said that, wouldn't it just be a lie? She'd rejected him already. Was she just saying this in hopes to get set free? Just like she'd said she'd be with him if he could find a way to touch her. She'd used him then.
"Your lying," Joseph muttered back.
But Rogue heard it. She loosened her grip on the bars, feeling saddened by Joseph's response. Somehow, saying that she cared about him out loud, it felt… good. True. Honest. She did honestly care about him. Even after he betrayed her twice, she still cared about him. It was scary for her and she hated to admit it, but it was somehow invigorating as well. She cared about Joseph. She wasn't too sure in what way, but she did and he needed to see that.
"Don't be stupid!" Rogue said, "I've always cared-"
Before Rogue could finish her sentence though, Joseph snapped once again, screaming "Shut up!" as he threw his hand up at her as if to strike. What happened instead of Joseph hitting Rogue with the back of his hand, however, was the metal poles of Rogue's cage twisted and loosened from their form. They were sent flying into Rogue and pinning her to the other side of the prison against the wall. Rogue screamed out as some of those metal poles embedding in her arms and legs. Every other person in the room was taken back as they saw Joseph nail Rogue to the wall using the metal poles. Hardly a breath was taken, until blood began to roll from where the poles went into Rogue's arms and legs and drip down onto the floor.
Kitty cried out a scream she tried to muffle. Storm called out Rogue's name. Jean had to turn away.
"Joseph, you monster! Don't hurt her!" Scott screamed out as he hit against his own prison cage.
Joseph was stunned himself. His breathing was uneasy and his eyes were wide in horror as he saw what he had done to the woman he loved. Her face was all crumpled up in pain with tears beginning to fall down her face. He'd hurt her. He'd really hurt her. He watched the blood roll off her body and hit the ground. As it did, it felt as if someone had stabbed him through the heart. All his anger seemed to fade away at once. He'd hurt Rogue. He'd hurt her.