Chapter 4: Skirmish
Rogue felt herself beginning to grow dizzy, the tighter Miss Marvel grasped onto her collar the more she began to lose her breath, her head was swimming and she found it hard to concentrate on what was going on around them.
Kurt let go of Rogue's ankle, and before he even had time to drop, teleported himself, landing on Miss Marvel's back. He straddled her waist with his legs, and wrapped his tail around her neck, put his hand over her eyes, "Let her go!"
They twisted in the air, spinning, and soared upside down, with one hand still firmly on Rogue's collar, Miss Marvel tried to reach behind her to pull Kurt off.
Without her eyesight, Miss Marvel could not sense which direction to head in, and was heading straight for the ground – it'd kill Kurt and Rogue to fall from such a great height, Kurt dug his fingers in her eyes, "LET HER GO!" he yelled at her.
And she did.
Kurt watched, in horror as Rogue began to plummet, screaming hysterically towards the ground, her hair whipping around violently, twisting in the air, as if she was trying to grab onto invisible objects to stop herself from falling.
Kurt teleported himself off of Miss Marvel's back, to where Rogue was falling, his reflexes quick enough to grab her hand, he teleported again, to a few feet above the grass. They landed, with a hard thud on the cold grass, Rogue coughed, and leaned up.
"Are you alright?" Kurt asked, he stood, and helped her up, already beginning to feel the dull aches of the fall, and the persistent throbbing in the back of his head where he'd been hit earlier by Gambit.
Miss Marvel, still temporarily blinded by Kurt's pushing hard on her eyes, dropped to the ground, hard, Kurt and Rogue could have sworn they'd felt the earth shake when she did, she lay there, unmoving for moments, finally pulling herself up, staggering from side to side.
Rogue looked to the ground, seeing a playing card, growing brightly perched up in the grass, "Kurt, look out!" she screamed, she grabbed onto Kurt's arm and yanked him out of the way, just as the card exploded, causing earth to cascade over the immediate area, they felt small stones and hard pieces of earth pelt off of their backs as they landed on the ground to cover their heads.
"Split up," Kurt looked at her.
"Alright," Rogue got up, she looked around, trying to locate Gambit, she felt a kick in the back, and she rolled forward, twisting, she saw him. He was poised, with his bo-staff, ready to force it's end into her, she rolled out of the way, kicking under his feet, disabling him momentarily, she saw him grab a lump of earth from the previous explosion from his kinetic powers, she saw the glow, and ducked out of the way as he threw the stone at her, the sound – so close – deafened her momentarily, and her ears rung.
Miss Marvel, seeing Kurt as being closest, tried to disable him with a punch, he teleported the split second before her hand would have hit his cheek, and behind her he appeared, he kicked her in the back, and teleported to the air above her, kicking her in the face.
She seemed hardly to feel it.
"You'd make this so much easier on yourself if you just stopped fighting, chere," Gambit spun his bo-staff over his head, almost as if to show off, and then took a swing at her with it. She ducked it, and punched him in the stomach, his armour was enough to stop him from feeling her best swing.
"I'm not going to lose a fight to the likes of you," Rogue screamed, she saw him swing again with the staff, this time, she fell onto her back just in time to avoid it, at the same time she kicked his hand, making him drop the staff, she caught it, and swung it at him.
Kurt, meanwhile, was trying to avoid Miss Marvel, teleporting from place to place as she tried go grab him, her strength and speed was incredible, and with the power of flight, she wasn't easy to escape.
His eyes turned towards Gambit for a split second, seeing a charged Playing card heading towards Rogue's direction, Kurt teleported himself in there, grabbing Rogue's shoulder, and out of there just as the explosion occurred, the boom shook the grounds, Kurt let go of Rogue, "distract Gambit," he whispered to her, with a smirk.
"How?"
"Use your imagination," Kurt placed one of his bare three-fingered hands upon Rogue's face, "use my power…" he winced, feeling that all too familiar draining sensation that always occurred when Rogue touched anyone. He yanked his hand away quickly, "Will that last?"
"It'll just have to," she replied, and ran off.
Rogue rushed towards Gambit, leaping on him, pinning him to the ground by his shoulders, she frowned down at him, he looked amused.
"Chere, I think you got a little old crush on me, now," Gambit smirked, he flipped her off of him, and pinned her down in the same way she'd had him pinned, he looked at her in the eyes, "How 'bout a kiss?"
"You WISH," Rogue punched him in the face, he didn't seem surprised.
"I like a feisty woman," Gambit grinned.
"Not nearly feisty enough…" Rogue teleported out of his way. Gambit, looking quite confused for a moment, stood up, looking around.
Kurt, who had been teleporting around trying to avoid being pummelled by Miss Marvel, seeing his opportunity, he teleported near Gambit, and waited for Miss Marvel to head for him, she flew, her fists outstretched, picking up speed, and then, just as she was almost near enough to hit Kurt, he teleported, and instead flew head on into Gambit.
"Rogue, use your power on her!" Kurt said, when Miss Marvel was down fleetingly.
Rogue didn't want to have to use her powers, but the only way she'd disable the woman who was stronger than them both, was to absorb some of her power, so at least she could fight against Miss Marvel and Gambit. Yanking off both her gloves, she climbed onto Miss Marvel's back, and she grabbed onto the parts of her face that were untouched by the mask.
Rogue felt her body seize up, the energy, it felt so raw and electric, it felt like being electrocuted. And she could not let go. Miss Marvel screamed, and struggled, jumping up into the air, and soaring high, higher, Rogue holding on for dear life, as if her hands were magnetised and Miss Marvel was metal. She cried tears of pain, and confusion, memories rushed through her head, not of her own, she felt the knowledge of how to use powers that were not her own.
"Make it stop!" Rogue screamed, she pulled on her hands, but they would not let go, it was almost as if they were glued there. She felt hot tears pouring down her face, she'd never felt so helpless in all her life. More memories flashed before her eyes, in her head she saw Birthday parties, school dances, boyfriends, she saw Magneto, and Gambit in her mind, as if she'd known them all her life.
"Let go, Rogue!" Kurt yelled at her, seeing them up in the air.
"I can't!" Rogue cried, she struggled along with Miss Marvel, memories and thoughts flashing through her head, unfamiliar things, the memories of Miss Marvel – of Carol Danvers.
Miss Marvel suddenly stopped fighting, and began to plummet, along with Rogue, Rogue could see the ground speeding towards them both, and she screamed, closing her eyes tightly, her head growing lighter, her body growing weaker. She did not feel herself hit the ground, she wasn't conscious when she did.