Chapter 7: The Morlocks vs The X-Men

                A few weeks to a month later it was spring vacation, and the students started their free week off at the outdoor mall. It was an open air market with shops lining a street where cars weren't allowed, with plenty of vendors on the sidewalks. There was some type of market festival going on, and was a popular place for activists to get the attention of the public.

                The X kids had decided to spend the day - Jean and Kitty for the shopping, Kurt for the food, and Scott to stand there and dumbly approve all of Jean's new outfits. Why bother asking?? Rogue tagged along too, but only because they insisted she'd come. She had been holed up in her room for most of the time - just after Remy disappeared, everyone noted. Rumors varied as to what caused him to leave.. a lover's spat, or that Rogue simply killed him and hid the body. Anything was possible..

                While Jean and Kitty raided the clothing racks, Rogue stood with Kurt outside at the fountain, who was busy stuffing his face. Rogue made a queasy expression.

                "How can ya eat all that? It's disgustin'."

                Kurt shrugged and shoved another hot dog in his mouth.

                "I need to eat to keep mein furry coat itz nice blue color."

                At the other end of the plaza a small group pushed through the crowd with signs. They stopped in the center at the base of a statue, where the apparent leader climbed up to address the people. He announced them as the Friends of Humanity.

                Rogue looked briefly up at Kurt.

                "Why don't they all go put on some white hoods and burn a DNA strand on someone's lawn?"

                The FoH leader was up on his soap box for several minutes, ranting and raving, when suddenly a bolt of electricity streaks from the crowd and takes him square in the chest. The man falls back against the statue and collapses, his clothing burned away where the electricity hit, skin charred. People panic and scream, clearing back, looking for the culprit. Suddenly a hole tears open in the air next to the statue, and the dead mutant hater, and out stepped a tall, statuesque woman.

                She was nearly six feet tall with jet black hair and a powerful build, and a beautiful blue eye. Yes, singular. The other could not be seen because of the patch that covered it. Out of the opening stepped several others, one with electricity running along her body periodically, the killer. Other noticeable figures were two kids, same height and build, one with green skin, the other's pink, a hulking beast with an insect-like exoskeleton, and a... thing that didn't seem to have skin at all, but was gelatenous, in a human form. Lastly out stepped a familiar face, Remy LeBeau.

                Several of the mutants started taking care of the other Friends of Humanity while the tall woman began to speak. "Attention, humans and mutants alike! We are the Morlocks! Recently, several anti-mutant groups have begun searching out and attacking our havens!" Images of people with guns bursting through ramshackle doors, shooting wildly, mutants running, dieing, and horrible torture flood the minds of all the people in the market.

                "We will not stand for this! If we are not left alone then we will only be forced to take further act

ion, and no one wants that! This is the only warning you shall receive, let it spread!"

                A man from the crowd rushed forward and thrust his hand out, as if expecting something to happen. There was a flash of flame, then nothing. He blinked, perplexed, wondering what had happened to his power when the exoskeleton-ed Morlock slammed him with a vicious backhand, sending the man flying back into the crowd.

                "That is all." Those were her last words, and another portal opened and the Morlocks calmly started filing through, Remy, the head woman, and a few others covering their exit, though no one seemed to be challenging them.

                Rogue and Kurt could only look on in shock as the other X Men filed out of the store to join them. They watched the interaction between the man and the green skinned child, and it was easy to see what had happened... Then the Morlocks began to retreat. Scott's eyes glowed behind his glasses.

                "We can't let them get away."

                Kitty looked up at Jean. "The kid, can you cover him?"

                Jean pressed her hands to her temples, prepared. "I'll try."

                Kurt looked uncertainly at Rogue, who had a death gaze trained on LeBeau. Her only answer to his silent query:

                "He's mine."

                And the battle began. The three youngest X Men darted forward through the crowd towards the air rip. Scott looked up and took aim at the statue, blasting chips of concrete away to hopefully frighten the civilians away. Jean centered her thoughts on the green skinned child, and delivered a psychic blow.

                Leech screams and falls to his knees, clutching his head. Callisto turned to a purple-skinned guy about to walk through the portal and whispered to him as  Litterbug - the 6'5"  brute with the green exoskeleton and Army tattoo - rushed forward to take care of the approaching three X-Men. The man Callisto talked to concentrated for a moment before pointing straight at Jean. Callisto sneered and ran to

meet their attackers while Artie, Leech's pink-skinned companion, concentrated and flooded Jean's mind with horrible images of death and destruction. Remy frowned as he saw the X-Men but stayed where he was, pulling a card out and charging it, just in case.

                Kurt decided to start things off... *Bampf!* He teleported in the air infront of Litterbug to deliver a flying kick, and teleporting out as soon as possible... *Bampf!* He was then infront of Callisto in the middle of a tail whip before the woman grabbed it painfully, jamming her elbow into his back and sending him to the ground. Kitty, meanwhile, could do little else but taunt an enemy into attacking her, phasing at the last moment. Scott took careful aim at Callisto and fired, right before Jean started to moan.

                "Jean! What's wrong!"

                The telepath struggled to push her mind through the flurry of images to send out a weak distress call. Within moments, a third party psychic blast was aimed at Artie. Meanwhile...

                Rogue dodged around the action with Kurt and Kitty to come face to face with Remy. There were a lot of places she would expect to see him, doing a variety of illegal things.. But never this. She looked to the side at the man who lay dead at the base of the statue, and behind her at the unconscious anonymous mutant. Rogue turned her eyes to Remy, a mixture of anger, hurt, and shock.

                "Is this what ya decided ta leave us for?"

                She didn't give him much time to answer before a Wolverine-like rage took over. With the same prowess that fueled her exceptional duel with Logan, Rogue darted right at him, a heel strike aimed for the arm which held the playing card.

                Leech used the temporary break from the psychic assault to cancel out the superhuman abilities - mystic or mutant - of the people in the area. Kitty was shocked and knocked flat when she found she couldn't phase, but Jean was let up from the image assault from Artie, though the pink-skinned boy was still reeling from the blast that had caught him. That couldn't be stopped, without the mutant in the area. Callisto was thrown back and fell with a heavy 'umph' but was up quickly enough and back in the fray.

                Remy flicked his card at the ground and jumped back... but nothing happened. In his shock he got a nasty blow to the jaw from Rogue which left him stunned, blinking. He started to dodge as best he could while trying to talk to her.

                "Wait, Cheri! Stop dis! Yo' need ta get outta heah!"

                Rogue only increased her rate of attack. "Why should Ah! Ah'm exactly where Ah need ta be, fightin' the badguys as it were!" She aimed a vicious palm strike at his face to accentuate the point. Otherwise, she was oblivious to the fact that all their powers had been negated. "How dare ya try n' tell me off for accusin' ya of bein' a bad guy, when Ah find ya here with these people?!"

                She attempted to grab the back of his head by the hair, which she would have forced to look at the man lying on the ground. "He's dead, Remy, and she killed him! She murdered him. And this is what ya left us to do??"

                He sneered as he looked at the body and grabbed her wrist, spinning to look at her, his other hand coming up to touch her cheek. He figured that the skin-to-skin touch would catch her off guard now that Leech had taken care of the power situation.

                "Dey ain' bad, Cheri! Dey jus' wanna be alone! An' dese people keep tryin' ta kill dem, because dey mutants! Dis is de first dey killed, aftah losin' deir friends and family!"

                Suddenly Remy's eyes went wide and flew over to Leech.. who was unconscious, a cloud of blue smoke in front of him. Kurt had managed to break through and take care of him, teleporting to safety once he could. Remy just stood there, he couldn't do anything else, the color draining from his face as the Morlocks slowly retreated, most gone through the portal. Litterbug jumps through, carrying Artie and Leech. Callisto fell back too, looking over at Remy, she frowned.

                "You'll have to find your own way home, kid! You know where the rendezvous is!" She stepped through and the portal closed, a red blast nailing the statue after passing through the now repaired air.

                The red haze which seemed to cloud Rogue's vision lifted when Remy touched his hand to her cheek. Instinctively she braced herself for the unnatural sensation that would follow.. but it didn't. She could feel the skin of his hand. It was smooth, but rough.. She could feel the calluses on his palm and fingertips, and the warmth that spread through her face. She barely heard what he said, too shocked...

                Had her power somehow left her, had she finally gained control? Then something in the air wavered, and Rogue was suddenly torn away from her dream, fantasy with an anguished cry as her skin burned and froze at the same time, the feeling of Remy's touch gone. Images, memories, emotions forced its way into her mind which did not have the strength to resist, though it tried. Carol – the only whole entity in her mind - flared up in her own rage to attack Remy's copied essence, and Rogue's mind became a battle ground.

                Rogue stumbled backward from Remy's touch, completely subdued by Carol. She fell to her knees, and the gloves on her hands began to burn away from a glowing red energy, which began to leak its way into the cobble stoned plaza, spreading, slowly encompassing all.

                Remy blinked as he watched the energy spread. He knew what it was. Many were all ready screaming and fleeing in panic, but not enough. He turned and started shouting, pulling out a card as he did.

                "All yo'! Run! Get ou'! Run fo' yo' lives!" He threw the charged card at a piece of ground yet untouched, the explosion scaring more people, increasing the stampede from the plaza. Remy grunted and fell as he caught an optic blast from Scott as the other X-Men came forward.

                "What the hell are you doing here!? Did you defect or something? You're coming with us, now, see if the Professor ca-" He looked at the red energy slowly consuming the area and furrowed his brow.        "What is that?"

                Remy grinned and chuckled. "I's de stuff dat makes Remy's cahds so special, mon ami!"

                Scott frowned and turned to Jean. "You need to help Rogue out. Kurt!" The German teen, now in his blue-furred glory, stepped forward. "Get Kitty out of here!" Just as she started to protest, poof, they were gone. Finally Scott turned back to Remy. "Is there any way to stop it?" The Cajun just shook his head.

                Scott looked at Jean, the gravity in his expression saying all that needed to be said. Jean nodded and concentrated... then Rogue's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed as if dead. She stopped before hitting the ground though, and she hovered off the charged ground, Scott and Jean following. Jean opened her eyes to look evenly at Remy.

                "Are you coming back with us?"

                Remy frowned and shook his head. "De Morlocks need Remy's help mo' dan de school... Dey need ta be protected.... Dough, Remy would sho' nuff be grateful if yo' helped him out o' dis sticky situation." He motioned the the red stones that he stood on.

                Jean frowned and concentrated. All four levitated for a moment before Jean moved them away from the plaza towards the parking lot. Thankfully most of the people had dispersed, though sirens could be heard in the distance. In the parking lot, safely out of the way of the charged zone, Jean set them down. Scott stepped forward and lifted Rogue into his arms, careful not to touch her skin. The look he gave Remy was vicious even behind the ruby quartz sunglasses. Jean was cautious, but seemed more forgiving..

                "Are you sure, Remy?"

                He nodded, brushing off his trench coat a bit. "Remy sho'. Yo' mus'a seen da t'ings yo' was bein shown... De Morlocks, dey good people, dey jus' wan' ta be alone... Dese people stop killin' dem, den dey won' have ta do nuttin' like dis again... Ain' no lie..." He frowned and looked down, then shrugged, nothing else to say.

                Scott was all too eager to get away from the defected thief, and immediately went to his car.               "Come on Jean, we need to get Rogue to the Professor."

                As Scott got them into the car, Jean surveyed Remy carefully with an almost mournful look, before she too got into the car. They left in the opposite direction of the sirens.

                Remy watched them go for a few moments before he turned and ran. He grabbed the nearest sewer cover and pulled it out of the way. He climbed down the ladder then pulled the cover back into place. The only thing he left behind was a note: "Do Not Step On Red, It Be Gone In An Hour"