'New Life New Beginnings' By Samman.
Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men or the characters…
Author's Note: Hmmm…Finally this fic's gonna move! I had a bad flue so didn't get much time to write it.
Reviews: An important thing I wanted to say was that, I love all the comments that you write for this story. I'm not being arrogant but please write something else other than it's good continue soon. You don't know how much your reviews mean to me but could you just write a little more than you guys usually do? Hopefully this will work.
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Chapter 8: That's it
"In fact, she was telling the truth. And good thing that she has made her choice." Professor smiled to the x-men who were gathered in the control room for a training schedules and programs for the following week.
Cyclops stood with both of his hands flat on the huge table as he inclined on it. "You're saying that she was telling the truth which is good to know. To check if she was stating the fact or not, you had to go into her mind, didn't you?" For the first time, Cyclops gave a small smile.
Professor nodded. "Yes. And it certainly was not good."
"I asked if Professor wanted any help, I could have provided some extra assistance. Getting into her head must not have been an easy thing." Jean said looking at her husband and Storm standing in the middle of the table.
Professor Xavier looked in the direction where Jean sat. "I appreciate your concern Jean, it's very easy to say something than actually doing it. Rogue is a very unique mutant. I looked into her mind and it was very disturbed…figures roaming around in her heads as if it is not a big deal."
He looked down, shook his head and continued. "Although one thing that surprises me is how she has been coping with the different people roaming around her head all the time that tend to risk her mental state."
"Figure as in real humans that she absorbed?" Cyclops continued to ask questions.
"Yes."
"Real humans as in… Carol you mean?" Wolverine interrupted rudely. "That's how she got her super strength..didn' she?"
"But--"
"She can fly jus' cuz she killed Carol by absorbing her, didn' she?" He tilted his head and just as he said the words…slowly his hands came on the table and curled into fists, his intentions full to release the adamantium claws.
"You don't understand the situation well." Professor said calmly as if totally unaware of the temper rising rapidly in Wolverine's body.
On the opposite side, a nervous Jubilee looked at the team mate beside her, Bobby who looked at her too. Both of them displaying a sign of: 'Oh-o, This does not look to good to me.'
With a loud noise, Wolverine stood up angrily. "Situation? You call this situa--"
"Logan. Calm down." Beside him Ororo stood up and kept a hand on his broad shoulder trying to push him down and succeeded in doing so. After a few snuffs and gruffs, Logan maintained himself but the frown still pasted on his forehead.
"Back to the topic." Cyclops shoved his anger away and turned to Professor who nodded.
"As we were saying, If the results from her absorption powers are positive, this means that we can have a power check, Don't you think? I mean, keeping aside her mental problems, her physical state is fine and that allows us to have her power check in the danger room tomorrow morning."
"I was about to say that." Hank interjected as he turned with a clipboard in his blue hands.
Professor nodded. "That sounds preferable to me to. I would like do a check on Rogue's powers in the danger room beginner's session today. I want all the x-men to be there so this way she would able to meet all of you."
"Thank God, At least somebody had a good idea!" Jubilee cheerfully said who had been sitting there quietly in the corner with Bobby…none of them uttering a word as the senior x-men spoke. Even Gambit had chosen to be quiet during the meeting.
"It's good to see that you are excited to meet our new mutant." Professor smiled at his youngest fifteen-year-old x-man, Jubilee.
Keeping both of her knees on the chair and propping up her elbows on the table, Jubilee leaned over it…her intentions obviously unintentional causing several x-men to smile. "Yeah, poor girl. She's been locked up there for about a week."
"Good to see that someone cares." Bobby purposely rolled his eyes trying to seem jealous as Jubilee got the attention from every single one in the mansion.
"Yeah well no one's askin' you Ice cube so shut up." She popped her gum loudly, causing Cyclops to look up from the files he had been looking through as he stood there.
"One question." Everyone's head moved towards Gambit as his charming voice raised in the room.
"Go ahead Gambit." Professor Xavier nodded.
"How do we know if she's stayin' 'ere or not?" He wiggled his eyebrows at Cyclops.
There he goes again. Cyclops stifled a tiring sigh and took a chair beside Professor whose wheel chair lingered over the shiny floor.
"I cannot say anything else except ask you people to convince Rogue to stay here. Things will go out of our hands if the Friends of Humanity get her in prison again." The creases on Professor's forehead determined that he was not yet prepared to face more difficulties relating to Rogue's escape from the Foh's Headquarters.
"I do not want that to happen, no matter how much it takes." The professor added sternly.
"Indeed." Storm managed to say a word after being upset because of Cyclops's unnerved arguments with Wolverine and her.
The mad man Wolverine, who seated beside her, snorted and looked away.
Goddess! What is his problem these days? Storm sighed in her mind, something puzzling her about Logan that why he reacted this way to her only whenever she tried to find out ways to help the new mutant.
"X-men released for now."
"Shooh!" Jubilee jumped up and on the floor as the several x-men got out of the sliding doors.
****
"You are free with options Rogue. I will not talk to you about Miss Marvel, we've already discussed this." Professor threaded his fingers against the other hand and rested them on his big office table.
The nineteen year old girl sat in front of him with a firm face, no expressions making her look as if she had already taken a decision.
Her long hair that now swung lightly below the waist fell heavily over a generous, slim waist.
She wore a small black shirt whose sleeves covered her limb arms fully but the shirt still hung loose over her thin body. The blue jeans were also loose on the young girl…most probably because she hadn't been healthy at all even when the Foh's had given her more than enough food to fill her stomach.
Taking a deep breath that was audible in the large quiet room, Rogue forced herself to speak. "Options?"
"Yes, we are giving you a chance to leave on your own free will." Professor's serious remark made Rogue confused, and he thought it should not have as Rogue only had two options. To stay or to leave.
Rogue's green eyes shot up from straight into his eyes. "It's lakh Ah don' have a choice. Professuh…Ah'm a straight forward person and Ah have to tell you that Ah guess there are not many places where we learn to control mutant powers." She smiled sadly.
Pondering over what she said, he replied after "Let me tell you one thing Rogue, you always have choices. You just have to pick the right one."
Takning a deep breath Rogue blurted it out after closing her eyes tightly. "Yes. Ah wanna stay here."
"Well then…Welcome to the X-men." Smiling Professor moved from his place to where Rogue had been sitting and they shook hands.
"Thanks…for everything." Wiping away the tears with her gloved hand, Rogue walked with him outside.
****
"Hi I'm Jubilee---" Jubilee introduced herself only to get interrupted by her best friend who stood beside her. They were once again gathered in the danger room but with only one difference, an addition to the new team Rogue.
"Jubilation Lee." Bobby smirked at her as he reclined against the large table.
Turning around, Jubilee stared at him and flicked her fingers together against his bare arm, creating small sparks that stung Bobby. He suddenly flinched away and started laughing.
Jubilee rolled her eyes. "Doesn't matter to me. Go ahead make fun of my name…I don't care."
"Yeah right, I can see that."
Rogue watched them with amusement, her smile not very bright but still a smile that caught attention from the people who stood around her in their uniforms.
"This is Bobby." Jubilee motioned her arm in a professional business woman style, her eyes glittering together with her sassy voice.
Bobby yanked her arm away and came forward extending his hand to Rogue. "I appreciate that you introduced me but uh no thanks Jubes. Hi…I'm Bobby." Rogue stepped back, trying not to be too close to them as her powers were not too friendly with the people around her.
"Also known as Ice-cube."
"Iceman." Bobby corrected Jubilee who once again had interrupted him.
"Hi. Nice ta meet you."
When Wolverine entered the room, Rogue lowered her eyes and looked away. Cyclops, Professor and Jean stood working at a control panel in the opposite direction preparing the danger room beginner's session for Rogue. Storm stood beside Rogue laughing and watching as Bobby and Jubilee constantly teased each other.
Gambit stretched out against the table beside Bobby with his arms crossed, and his red eyes curiously observing the new mutant Rogue who was smiling at the two youngest mutants in the x-men.
Bobby stepped back and looked at Rogue who didn't say a word except hi or hello. He wiggled his eyebrows at Jubilee signaling her to somehow make the new girl talk.
Jubilee shrugged and tried to get the new mutant into talking. "So umm…what's your power?"
Not a good question petite. Gambit watched as Rogue tugged a white strand behind her ear, she looked more composed and better than he had last seen her, the simple jeans and a black shirt over her extraordinary slim body made her look like a normal girl, except for the white strands that were tied loosely among the auburn curls at the back. Otherwise, she was not even an ordinary mutant.
"Ah can absorb people's memories and mutations if they have 'em, by skin contact-which means ya'll can't touch me so make sure y' guys keep yoah distance when Ah'm around." Rogue forced herself to smile.
Even though Jubilee knew what her power was, she continued. "Wow that's so cool—I mean that's an amazing power-not to mention that you can't touch anybody."
Yeah right sugah…yoah too young t' think like that. Rogue nodded and unintentionally, her eyes met with Remy's. "But that's not all. Ah've got super-strength which also means Ah'm invulnerable an' Ah can fly too."
"That's awesome." Bobby's eyes widened.
"Thanks sugah."
Jubilee's gleeful eyes widened. "Awee---her accent is so sweeet…isn't it 'Ro?"
"Yes Jubilee. I liked it too, now we have two southerners in the mansion." Ororo gently put an gloved arm over Rogue's shoulder looked at Gambit who smiled. Seeing as Rogue was too young to face all these problems, Storm had comforted her from the very beginning.
"So—you probably met Gambit didn't you?" Jubilee wiggled her eyebrows at Gambit, knowing that he was a charming ladies man and he certainly did like Rogue. Jubilee had noticed him staring at Rogue from the moment Rogue had stepped into the danger room with the Professor. Oh well, he stares at every single girl he meets, now how can he keep his eyes off a girl like Rogue? Jubilee giggled in her mind.
Ah wonduh why he's so unusually quiet today. "Yeah…The first x-man Ah came across." Rogue smiled at Gambit who was shuffling his cards.
"I still cannot believe that you can be so careless sometimes…if you hadn't created that mess on that night, she would have been in a better shape." Jubilee mockingly scolded Gambit.
Gambit looked at Rogue who understood that they usually played around the mansion like that. Her heart ached to see that she never even got a chance to have a family…and here they were all mutants living in a mansion like brothers and sisters. "'m sorry petite, I didn' have Jubes wit' me to help you…m' best friend."
Rogue smiled as Gambit winked at her.
"So what happened after you stole Gambit's trench coat. You never finished your story." Rogue had been telling Jubilee what happened before she came to the mansion and the younger mutant wouldn't leave her alone until she finished the story.
"Yeah well..Ah ran an' um…yoah best friend punched me in the face." Rogue curled her lips smiling and looked at the man who had played the most part in saving her life. She took a moment to study the tall, handsome figure across her who stood against the table in a combat uniform…his well build muscles of arms and chest were clearly prominent as the armor stuck over his black and red shirt.
Storm whispered something in Rogue's ear and left the three four people alone as Rogue nodded.
Jubilee clasped a hand over her mouth and spoke with her young pretty eyes wide. "Don't tell me. Y' mean Gambit as in Remy punched you in the face…?"
Shaking her head, Rogue said. "Yeah. Him right theah beside you, your so called best friend." After being there for almost two hourse, Rogue was feeling a lot better than before. She did feel out of place but it would take her a while to gain their trust and be friends with them.
"C'mon chere, I didn' know dat if you were a girl or a guy, it was too dark in de alley for me t' see you…besides your body was a lil' too small for my duster!" Gambit argued as Rogue accused him of hurting a girl. He recalled the night a few days ago, when he had laid her limp form on the bed in Beast's lab, he had been very ashamed of himself.
"Whatevuh..But you did punch me in the face. Admit it, It's alright. Ah won' punch you back." After a long time, Rogue felt so normal…so free…without any restrains as she talked casually with these people. "Or may be Ah will." She murmured under her breath narrowing her eyes.
"C'mon Gumbo-what happened now? Too scared too say that you actually did hurt her?" Jubilee forced Remy, trying to be sympathetic towards Rogue but she couldn't hide the smile creeping in the corner of her lips.
Jubilee grinned at Bobby who took her side. "I still cannot believe you hurt a girl, a woman Gambit..a woman"
Gambit threw up his hands in the air as he sarcastically remarked. "Oh yeah?! What 'bout de kick dat y' gave me in…in de…umm--" He trailed off trying to sensor what he was going to say next.
Jubilee and Bobby turned their heads at the same time to look at each other. Rogue threw up a delicate gloved hand to her mouth trying to suppress her giggle but her huge green eyes were laughing out loud at Gambit who had just given them another chance to make fun of him.
"What?" Bobby looked at Rogue confusingly.
"Umm Ah kinda kicked him there.." As Rogue blushingly blurted out the words with her heavy accent, she quickly added. "Well it was not mah fault 'cuz he was the one who was holdin' me so tightly an' Ah had ta do somethin' to get me off o' him."
Jubilee popped her gum and muttered loudly. "Strange cuz women can't really help themselves getting off of him."
Gambit threw a charged card at Jubilee's back that was covered with a long yellow duster, but he made sure the blow wasn't hard enough to hurt his little friend. "Ouch Remy watch it!"
"Remy's been watchin' it the whole time chere. Don' worry."
"haa ha…bhwaaahaa ha…I still can't believe you hit him there…must have been a great sight huh?" Bobby said between fits of laughter.
"Yeah well Ah wasn' lookin'." Rogue's own sentences made her blush even more although it was Remy who should have been embarrassed at the time.
"C'mon people let's go and get ready." As Cyclops said it out loud and the group began to walk out of the hallway.
Once Bobby and Jubilee moved forward, Gambit took the opportunity to grasp Rogue's hand and pulled her towards him as she headed after them. Taking a hold of her chin with his gloved hand, he caressed her cheek and brought her closer. "I'll take m' revenge cherie…don' worry."
"How much more you wanna get embarrassed Cajun hunh? If y' wan' me to..Ah still have a lot o' things to tell them. An' get your face away from mine before Ah kick you again—an' at the same place, don' forget Ah have super strength too." Rogue purred into Gambit's face.
"Whoa…so petite is threatnin' me? Let's see what y' can do…" Not letting go of her chin, Gambit brought his lips dangerously closer to her soft pink ones and his world turned upside down as her breath tickled his lips.
The green eyes shadowed by long, dark eye lashes stared bluntly into his red on black eyes. Suddenly jerking him away by one single small hand on his broad chest, Rogue hissed. "Don' evuh do that again."
"Awe, give up so soon cherie?" Gambit pushed her more, keeping the warnings in his mind clearly that she was young and sensitive all these touching matters.
"Ah nevuh give up but right now Ah gotta go. An' don' call me chere, cherie or petite. Mah name's Rogue." Rogue tried to show him that she was mad, but the wicked grin on his handsome face kept her from hiding her smile.
Flipping her long hair that rested just above her hips, Rogue stepped out of the door and followed the others who were at the very end of the hallway.
"Got it chere, won' call y' chere no more." Gambit said out loud as she quickly walked gracefully straight into the hallway to catch up with the others.
Remy watched her movements and ran a hand through his hair, the short hair in steps falling into the right places. 'Damn she's hot.' Other than the fact that she was extremely beautiful and attractive, Remy liked her innocence…even when she talked like a spunk…she still seemed innocent and sensitive among the other x-men. Poor girl, why did she have to face so many problems?
****
The x-men stood before the door waiting for it to open so that they could actually go inside and practiceto slide open. Cyclops stood just beside the doors looking at a screen as he punched in some keys.
"You okay child?" Storm said smiling to Rogue was fidgeting and stretching her sleeves and the tight material from her thighs.
"Umm…yeah…Ah mean no..this ugh..spandex or whatevuh you call it is a lil' too tight and sticky." Rogue continued to fiddle with her uniform.
Jubilee and Bobby started laughing. "That's the way it's supposed to be, I felt the same way first time." Jubilee said.
The doors slid open and Gambit came in running from the other doors. "Sorry I'm late mon'ami." He yanked his arm inside the sleeve of his duster wearing it properly.
"Why're you wearin' it! Ah thought Ah was gonna wash it for you…it's kinda dirty." Rogue said making a face of disgust.
Remy looked up surprised at the sound of the voice. He walked in between Storm and Bobby and stood beside Rogue who stepped away cautious that he would try something else.
"Y' were goin' to wash it for me?" Gambit raised his eyebrows, impressed by her minor show of concern.
Shrugging Rogue curled her lips inside. "Ah don' know. Ah jus' thought it was bettuh if you washed it."
"No take it back, y' said dat you'd wash it for me." Gambit showed her that grin again, he knew she'd get ticked off.
"What?" Blowing away a white strand from her face, Rogue cursed him in her mind.
"Okay..it's no big deal. Ah was sayin' that Ah was the one who stole it an' got it dirty so may be Ah could wash it for y' but Ah didn' know ya were so dirty but that's okay now…y' can wear it as it is." She took a deep breath proving her point and grinned at him.
Shaking his head, Gambit let it go, instead looked at her upside down purposely so that she'd see him. He was having so much fun annoying her, especially when she blushed.
The tight and firm green yellow and green spandex made her look stunning and Gambit corrected himself he thought earlier that she certainly did not even look anywhere near innocent. What if she was touchable? Gambit began thinking of his little fantasies of what he would do with her.
"Remy, why dont you get your mind out of the gutter and get ready for the danger room session?" Jean broke in his thoughts and said out loud in front of everyone.
Gambit's head shot up and looked at Jean, he smiled. "Huh? What are y' talkin' 'bout Jeanie?"
"You know what I'm talking about." Jean raised her eyebrows.
"What? Didn' Professor tell y' not to probe anybody's mind wit'out dere permission." Gambit looked at Rogue and waved his hands towards where Jean, Storm and Jubilee stood. "Dese femmes got no manners…psh, don' worry just 'cuzyou don' know anyt'ing 'bout dem, I'll teach you how t' deal wit' dem."
Rogue looked at Jean and Storm who were laughing hysterically. "What are y' guys talkin' 'bout? Ah don' understand."
"Nothin' chere. Once y' live here, you'll get a hold of everyt'ing." He patted her shoulder reassuringly.
"Of course Remy of course." Storm said as she had laid her back against the wall and her arms folded in front of her. She swiped away the white silky hair that spilled across one of her shoulders.
Grinning at her, Gambit switched the topic again. "By de way…isn't Rogue goin' t' do de testing or de beginner's session?"
Storm nodded. "Yes Remy, the professor will test her super strength and flying first."
Meanwhile they stood there chatting, Rogue tied her long hair in a tight braid causing the white bangs to fall lightly on the front. She brushed away the remaining white strands. Jubilee and Bobby as usual talked nonstop until Jubilee said to Rogue.
"Y' okay now in your uniform?"
"Ah'm bettuh now, Ah'll get used to it in a while though." Rogue pulled the material away from her midriff and let it go as it slapped back and stuck to her flat stomach.
"The colors are pretty cool. Green and yellow, I like 'em." Jubilee sucked on her lolly pop and put back in her mouth as Bobby commented that it was disgusting.
"Thanks." Rogue's mind swam back for a second thinking about how she always used to argue with her momma to buy her green and yellow shirts instead of getting pinks and blues every single time she went shopping with her.
"Let's go Rogue." Cyclops slid in a card at the huge door of the danger room and the doors opened loudly.
"Do you need your jacket Rogue?" Storm said as she stood there with the brown jacket that had an 'X' printed on the top of the sleeves.
"Ah'll get it later, Thanks Storm." Rogue nodded as she followed Cyclops in the huge metallic simulation area.
"You can call me Ororo or 'Ro as you may like." Storm said and Rogue turned her head nodding at her.
"I t'ink it's better wit'out de jacket." Gambit didn't raise his voice enough for Rogue to listen it who shook her head.
Rogue thought it was better that she did not argue with him at this time as Cyclops stood beside her waiting for them to stop their non-sense conversation and to proceed with his task. The doors shut close and the machines around them began making loud mechanical sounds, ready to operate. Cyclops explained Rogue that the simulation was a test that she would take so that Professor would check her physical and mental abilities to cope with her mutations.
After twenty minutes of explaining her the important things, the leader of the x-men asked, his mood and tone serious as usual. "I think you know what to do right? Don't worry if you think that something is difficult. We're outside operating the control panel, we get a display of everything. If anything goes wrong, we'll stop the simulation at once. This should be easy for you."
With a firm nod, Rogue confidently said. "Yes, Ah think so too. Thank ya."
"Okay then. Here we go. It's just a simulation so do the least you can do. Don't worry." Cyclops exited the simulation area as the automatic doors shut and the machines began to operate.
Rogue let out a breath as she stood with her arms straight at her sides, she waited for the simulation to start. Her mind still anxious that Cyclops was not as harsh as she thought he would be. Wooh. That was easy.
As soon as Rogue remembered that she had done training sessions similar to like this before which were not as advanced as this one, four holographic robotic machines that were hardly three inches taller than her, came towards her from every direction.
She moved forward in a second and grabbing its heavy foot that seemed like a toy to her, she threw it around to the other two crashing them all down in the corner. The three of them disappeared and two more formed coming from her behind. Rogue went straight away and punched it with such force that it went flying down to the other wall. It was after it crashed Rogue realized that the robot's head and body were somewhere else.
Not knowing that two more were already behind her, Rogue stepped back looking for more and turned just in time to see that they were heading towards her. She took off in flight several feet above the ground and jumped back behind the robots. Gripping them easily with their necks, she threw them back wards both striking each other and ended up bursting in mid air.
That was a piece of cake. Suddenly machines moved and adjusting their specified places, they started firing numerous bullets. Keeping both hands backwards on the ground in a swift motion, Rogue did several flips flops dodging from the bullets and landing on her feet.
She didn't have time to take a breath and two robotic birds flew towards her. In a fluid motion, she took into air again so fast that she could be hardly seen but the birds came on her either side.
Outside, the x-men stood watching her simulation in awe. Bobby and Jubilee looked at each other after her every move, their jaws and eyes wide open. "Whoa…that was amazing." Bobby commented.
"Interesting." Storm said with her eyes fixed on the screen. "Cyclops, did the computer calculate her flying speed?"
Cyclops asked Jean to hand him the clip board and he handed it to Storm. "Yep. Here you go."
Storm shook her head and looked at her leader. "Cyclops, she exceeded my normal flying speed. Can you believe it?"
"Yeah- Of course she took Carol's powers so why shouldn't she be on the top of the list?" Everyone's heads turned around to see Wolverine in his battle uniform, his broad arms folded across his chest.
Beast adjusted his thick glasses and did not look up at him as he typed some data on the other screen. "Yes but it takes a mutant to control and use the powers accordingly. Don't you see how she is manipulating with her powers? I still can't believe after such a long time, how a 19 year old mutant would use his or her powers so confidently."
"What? Even Jubilee coulda done even better with that super strength an' flyin'. Manipulate? Huh..she's jus' bashin' an' knockin' things around. It's a piece of sh--" Wolverine got cut off suddenly.
"Logan, you have two options. Either get out of here or shut up so that we can carry our work here peacefully." Storm moved in front of him gracefully with her jaw tightening as she took every step closer to him.
Everyone distracted by Strom's word spun their heads around to see Strom standing in front of the most dangerous mutant among the x-men. When the stunt Wolverine did not bring himself to actually say a word, Storm tossed her silvery hair very close to his face and walked away.
Gambit put his arm around Ororo and massaged her arm as he smirked at Wolverine who was making plans in his mind of beating Remy up at the back porch of the mansion after session.
Meanwhile in the simulation area, Rogue fought with various robots and holographic images of other mutants. Then came the sentinels. Flying at the fastest speed she could with her arms in fist heading straight into the sentinel's enormous head. She burst through it and with a thunderous sound, the sentinel gave away onto the ground creating another explosion.
Rogue never saw it coming and a huge metal piece hit her at the back bringing down Rogue with it. Her limp form went to the ground in less than a second.
"Dieu…" Gambit whispered with a look of worry on his face as he saw Rogue going down in a flash of light. Zap.
"Is she alright? Cyclops, terminate the Program." Storm moved away from Remy's embrace and went to the control system.
"Do not worry Storm, she's alright." Professor smiled even though he had not seen Rogue's body among the dirty rubble.
As Storm turned her head up from the keys, she saw Rogue getting up and taking off in air once again, not a scratch on her face.
"Shooh! She scared me there." Jubilee sighed casually.
"Here's the difficult part." Cyclops pressed a red button on the complex keyboard and looked up at the large screen smiling.
"Ugh. This is a lot of work." Rogue flew upwards and held up both of her arms tight in the air as the huge automatic concrete ceiling came down on her. She held it with her but the extremely intense and heavy ceiling pushed her down, but she did not let go as she was pushed further down.
Rogue pushed downwards after every other minute and then came the point where her feet touch the floor and she stood on it firmly holding the ceiling with her arms. Sweat slipped from her wet forehead. Muscles of her long arms contracted and stretched as she h She took gasps of air as the wall came down and she fell down on her knees, the ceiling still over her arms making mechanical sounds trying to crush itself on top of Rogue who wouldn't let go.
"Ughhh..Damn it." She hissed as the heaviness pained her shoulders.
Okay here we go… With one strong intake of breath, she forced her hands over the ceiling and succeeded in standing up with the enormous concrete over her hands. As soon as she stood up, the pressure off her hands was taken back and the ceiling was drawing back upwards. The environment around her changed suddenly and then Rogue was standing on a shiny floor with machines all around her.
Cyclops punched in the numbers and then moved forward. "Excellent work Rogue." His firm voice not betraying his words.
Nodding, she wiped off the sweat with the sleeve of her arm. After untying her hair, she formed it in mussed bun and brushed away the sweaty strands off her face.
"That's it for today." Cyclops looked down at her as they exited the simulation area.
"Ah guessed so." Aftuh loadin' me down with some highly advanced simulations on mah very first day..he's sayin' that's it?! Rogue walked into the air conditioned room and sat down on the chair.
"You did a pretty awesome job in there. I never expected you to be that good." The first person to remark was Jubilee.
"Thanks." Rogue cracked her hands and stretched her arms.
Bobby stood beside her and smirked. "Awwwe…tired already Super girl?"
Rogue looked up at him. "Yeah raght…like yoah leader said…That's it for today." She clenched her teeth and Bobby broke out laughing.
"Y' better get used t' it chere…like de rest o' us here. Dis was not'ing compared t' what we do everyday, don' you t'ink Jubilee?" Gambit kept one of his arm over Rogue's chair with his legs crossed in a casual manner and his other arm around Jubilee.
Jubilee took his arm and pushed him. "You're so mean Gumbo." She gestured towards Rogue. "He's just messin' with you. Don't worry. He's always like that."
"Ah know." Rogue narrowed her eyes and showed Remy a fist who widened his eyes mocking her as if he was scared of her. As everyone laughed and joked around, Rogue turned her head to see Wolverine who stood far away watching them. Looking down in her lap, Rogue rubbed her face with her gloved hands.
"Let's go and show you your room so that you can relax and take a shower." Storm smiled warmly at her and they left together.
****
Author's Note: Okay…This was long so I hope it wasn't boring. Next chapter coming out after I finish Chapter 9 for 'What happened to me'. Reviewwwwwwwwwws!!! I love you guys when you do that so don't forget. :(
