Title: A Stranger's Touch: Allied Strangers
Rating: PG
Summary: A bond between two people can take many years to develop. Or a
few weeks. [First part in what will hopefully be a series]
Type of fic: Story
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and places are not mine. They
belong to Marvel and/or Marvel Studios, WB, Film Roman (I think), and whoever
else claims rights to them.
Distribution: FF.net and Random Thoughts. All else, please just ask.
Author's notes: Sorry there's quite a bit, and with more to probably
follow!
#01 - / denotes psychic thoughts /
#02 - This is pretty much - and very much - an AU story, however a lot of the
stuff that's happened in Seasons One and Two WILL be included. Not all, but
some.
#03 - My accent-writing ability extends only to "Ah" and "mah". I suck
at it majorly.
#04 - This story is under the assumption that the Brotherhood members do NOT
know that Mystique and Ms Darkholme are the same person, and that it was
Mystique who recruited all the members. Remember - AU.
#05 - Thanks to wolviesgal's
Home Page for the use of transcripts.
***
Allied Strangers
Chapter Seven
'Try again,' Scott ordered. 'He's got to be somewhere.'
'I am. I'm not getting anything,' Jean replied. 'He's just completely gone.'
He tried not to show his frustration – and guilt – at his helplessness. How could Kurt just disappear like that? Surely Scott hadn't upset him too much for the younger student to actually leave the school grounds? Where would he go?
As he scanned the grounds, a familiar group of students caught his attention. One familiar senior in particular, and he frowned. 'Or somebody did something to him.'
Lance turned, and met his gaze. The two of them hadn't spoken since their confrontation last week when Lance had demanded that he stay away from Rogue. Since then both teams had acquired a new member, and each side continued to size the other from afar.
'What are you looking at, Summers?' Lance asked, narrowing his eyes.
Scott didn't bother wasting any time. 'Where's Kurt?'
A confused look came over Fred's face, but then he scowled. 'Huh? Yeah, like we'd tell you!'
Despite the words originating from Fred, Scott's anger was still concentrated on Lance, and he rushed the other senior and slammed him against the lockers. 'Where is he?' he demanded.
'Get off of me!' Lance shouted, struggling against his grip.
'What have you done with Kurt?'
Before Lance could answer, Scott felt himself being lifted off the ground. Surprised, he let go of Lance's shirt as he realised that Fred had picked him up. He heard Jean speak, then Lance, but before he himself could react or say anything else he found them surrounded by other students chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Scott knew that Principal Darkholme wouldn't be far behind, nor would she fail to blame the entire incident on members of the X-Men. She seemed to have an intense dislike for anyone who lived in Professor Xavier's mansion.
*
Rogue watched Jean and Scott follow Principal Darkholme into her office, telling herself that she wasn't at all worried about what would happen to them. Or that she didn't feel the least bit guilty about what had happened to Kurt earlier. It hadn't been her fault. She hadn't made him disappear. Not really.
Besides, she hadn't been the one who had gone down into the lab in the first place, nor had she been the one to blow it up.
Rogue was surprised when the two X-Men walked straight back out into the hallway less than a minute later. She turned away, hoping that they didn't notice her. But they were already preoccupied with something, the two of them running towards the opposite direction to where she stood.
She hesitated. Then unsure of why she was doing so, ran after them.
*
They followed her down the stairs, and into the laboratory. The place was beyond a mess, and Scott's concern grew. If this was what the room looked like, he didn't even want to think about what had happened to Kurt.
'This is where it happened,' Rogue said, stopping and facing them. She had shown up only seconds after they had started questioning Toad, demanding that they let him go and claiming that the freshman had nothing to do with it.
They had no choice but to believe her.
But Scott knew that it didn't mean they had to trust her. He looked at her. 'If you've hurt him, I'm gonna-'
'You start threatenin' me and you're never gonna find your friend,' Rogue interrupted, her eyes flashing.
'Take it easy, Cyclops,' Jean warned, taking a step towards him. / We don't want to scare her. /
/ I can't help it, Jean. I'm worried about Kurt. /
/ We all are, but it doesn't mean we start attacking our only lead to finding him. /
'Yo, guys!' Kitty called out, intruding on their psychic conversation. 'We've been running a diagnostic on this thing.'
Scott turned away from Rogue, ignoring her for the moment.
'Cane you believe it?' Evan asked, sounding both amused and amazed. 'It uses CP/M. I mean, talk about retro, man!'
'It's putting out some kinda, like, steady low-power pulse wave that just seems to disappear into thin air,' Kitty said.
'And that means what exactly?' Scott asked, trying not to frown.
'Well, we figure that the pulse has trapped the Crawler in some other dimension.'
'Okay.' Scott nodded, knowing what to do. 'So let's trash this thing.'
*
Rogue surprised herself by not wanting to leave, and not slipping away the first chance she had. She actually wanted to stay. Instead, she had kept to the background as much as possible, watching them.
She found it hard to believe that these were the same people who had wanted to kill her back in Mississippi. They didn't seem to be the type of people who would kill. They were kids! Just like her, and they were all obviously worried about their team mate. Their friend.
As annoying as Kurt seemed to be, they still wanted him back. They were almost like…like a family.
She repeated to herself that the kid's disappearance wasn't her fault, but she still wanted to make sure that he returned okay. The team, after help from Kurt himself, had finally figured out a way to get blue boy out. And she stayed, watching them. Watching him.
Scott. The leader. He kept cool and calm, though Rogue saw hints of frustration in him.
'What are they doing?' Evan, a new kid and the new X-Men, asked as Kurt and the boy with him ran away from the portal.
'I don't know, but I hope they hustle!' Scott answered, allowing Rogue another glimpse of his not-quite-in-control self.
'Come on, blue boy,' Rogue found herself thinking. 'Hurry up.'
'There they are.' Todd's unmistakable voice coming from behind them. 'And they still got that vape-ray I was telling you about.'
Rogue whirled around, noticing that the Brotherhood were all in uniform, including Quicksilver, their newest member. Her mind flashed to her own uniform, still lying in a drawer, still unused.
Her eyes caught Lance, but his face was impassive. She felt her stomach do a slow somersault, but said nothing.
'Rogue.' The way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine. 'Mystique sent us to find you. So you with us?' His lips tightened almost imperceptibly. 'Or them?'
Her answer caught in her throat, but before she could say anything she heard Scott's voice.
'Mystique?' the X-Men asked sharply. 'You working for her?'
The accusation in his tone angered her. Who was he to say who she could work for? After the way he tried to kill her back in Mississippi, how dare he demand such things from her!
Rogue glared at him. 'Hey, Summers, you got your friends, I got mine,' she shot back, almost spitting out his name as she said it. 'But this ain't my fight. I'm out of here.'
She felt Lance's eyes on her as she walked past, but she ignored him. It wasn't until she was outside that she realised her heart was racing.
end part seven.
First of all, many thanks to those who continue to review this little story of mine. I'm glad you guys are liking it so far. Second, major apologies for the lateness of this chapter. I've been working every night - and I do mean EVERY night - for the past month, and I just haven't had much time to do any writing at all. However, if you don't mind the waiting, I am trying hard to work on it as much as I can. I know how frustrating it can be to find a story that's not only incomplete, but hasn't been updated in months with seemingly no chance for updates in the future either. I don't want this to be one of those. So for those who are still reading, thank you for your patience.
