"My eyes foolin' me yo? Its Daniels!"
Wanda glanced up at what her blithering idiot of a companion pointed out to her, noticing the black kid and the little girl next to her immediately. She recognized the former. Spyke the X-Man, whom last she'd heard had been living in the sewers.
Well he certainly looked like a mess.
His clothes were torn, his jeans were wet and even from this distance she could detect the faint whiff of sewage. Thankfully, living around Toad had endowed all members of the Brotherhood to instinctively ignore such odors.
"Who the hell are... Wanda? Who's this?" asked Evan, pointing to Todd.
"Believe it or not, it is Toad," she explained as the two groups met face to face. Or rather, she and Evan did. Todd slunk around behind her, trying to look intimidating. And the little girl clung to Evan's torn jean leg, watching them fearfully. She couldn't have been more than a dozen or so years old, and she looked downright wasted, Wanda could see she was in sore need of proper food.
"Toad? What on earth happened to you?"
"Me? What on earth happened to you, yo? Last I heard you was shootin' spikes left and right. Said you'd gone down into the sewers."
"That's... partially true," Evan admitted, lowering his head a little, but not looking away. He didn't want to show weakness, especially not before two Brotherhood members. "My spikes couldn't be controlled, but that wasn't the only reason I left."
"Then what was?" asked Wanda.
"None of your business," he snapped her. She growled, clenching her fists, but forced herself to remain calm. Focus the anger, she thought. Use it instead of it using you.
"So what brings you up here? An' who's the kid?" asked Todd, crouching down in an all too familiar pose to regard the little girl, who cowered behind Evan's legs.
"Stop that Toad you're scaring her... this is Stall..." said Evan, gently patting her shoulder, encouraging her to come back again into the open.
"Stall? What kinda name is that?"
"We don't know her true name, she couldn't tell us... she's mute," stated Evan angrily.
Wanda and Todd, both outcasts in their own way, felt immediate sympathy.
"Oh... sorry," offered Todd. He couldn't think of anything else to say, really.
Suddenly something in Evan's mind clicked. He definitely wasn't the brightest of kids, nor the most attentive, but he was streetwise. And his instincts helped him figure this one out. Todd and Wanda, away from the rest of the Brotherhood, on the same street we are, which leads right to the Institute.
"So... you guys don't have your powers either, do you? That's what happened to you, isn't it Toad?" he asked.
"Yeah... so it happened to you too?" he asked. Wanda just huffed angrily, refusing to give an answer, but that was answer enough for Evan.
"All the Morlocks are affected... we thought maybe the X-Men were too, so we wanted to warn them before someone got hurt."
"Morlocks? What're they?" asked Wanda. The term tugged at some half-buried memory of hers, partially forgotten.
"Underground mutants," replied Evan, as the unlikely foursome all started heading in the same direction down the street.
"Morlocks... Morlocks... why is that name so familiar?" she muttered to herself.
"H.G. Wells," supplied Evan. Wanda and Todd turned to look at him curiously.
"What?"
"H.G. Wells. Some author guy... apparently our leader liked one of his stories so much she named us after the Morlocks in the story..."
All the blood drained out of Wanda's face as she just stood their, frozen...
It was nice to finally be able to read something, even if it was rather difficult with so many hard, long words in it... it was so lonely in the cold cell, so boring. Professor Xavier was being very considerate by giving her his old book. Then the guards came, dragging her away, the book fell from her lifeless fingers as she was tranquilized...
"Sweetums?" asked Todd, waving a hand in front of her face. "Something wrong? Spyke 'n Stall went on ahead..."
"I'm fine," she answer angrily as she snapped back into reality, starting to push past him. Then, glancing back, seeing how concerned he looked for her, she softened a little. "Really, just... a bad dream... nothing more..."
Nothing more...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue sat in her room, staring out the window, watching the other students down below playing no-power soccer in uneven teams. If they were even teams, it looked more like the typical free-for-alls that most of the new recruits seemed to enjoy so much, every man for himself, whoever scored got five seconds of glory before a new ball was retrieved and they could proceed.
Some things never changed.
And some do, she realized, feeling a fresh waves of tears start to come.
It was a shame, really. Why couldn't she enjoy herself? She'd wanted for as long as she could remember to be able to touch, to hold a persons hand, to share a hug, to kiss some cute guy. But she'd spent the past few years building up barriers, physical and mental, to keep people out, to keep them safe from her lethal touch. Now she could not imagine breaking them down, she did not relish the idea of being vulnerable.
There came a knock at the door. A very tentative, quiet one, as if the person didn't want to bother her.
"Its unlocked," stated Rogue, taking a moment to wipe her face and remove the tear stains on her cheeks.
To her surprise, the door opened and there stood her former roommate, Kitty.
"Hi Rogue... how're you doing?"
"Ahm fahne," replied Rogue, turning her back to the obnoxious valley-girl. Didn't she know when to leave a girl in peace?
"Listen Rogue, I was gonna go get a movie... and since, we uh... need to go with someone... why not come with me? You could get that Dracula film you wanted so bad," she added with just a dainty little shudder. Rogue's choice of movies tended to creep her out.
"Dracula 2000," stated Rogue. She'd missed the premier, and hadn't had a chance to see it since. To be honest, she -was- curious. But still... "Ya'll can go with Jean, I think I'll stay home."
"Rogue..."
"Ah said I'll stay here!" replied Rogue angrily, turning back to face the window, presenting her back to Kitty.
"Rogue get over him!" she shouted back. Rogue's head snapped back around.
"What the hell are ya talkin' about?" Rogue asked angrily.
"Scott," she replied with a huff, crossing her arms and standing next to the bed. Rogue growled, refusing to answer that.
"What, Ms. Perfects little pet? I don't care about him."
"Rogue stop lying. I know... Risty told me," said Kitty, her voice dropping, become more quiet. She knew this was delicate territory, but she hated to see Rogue, one of her best friends, so depressed.
"You mean Mystique told ya," she replied darkly. Thoughts of her adopted mother never failed to put her in a bad mood.
"It doesn't matter who did, Rogue... I know its true. But get over him. Scott's nothing special.... heck even I had a crush on him when I first arrived at the Institute."
"Good for you," replied Rogue, still not turning around.
"Rogue..."
"Kitty just shut up, I am not in the mood for this."
"Oh, you'd rather just sit up here and sulk all day, is that the plan?" asked Kitty.
"Not that is any of ya business, but yeah, that is! Now get lost!" she screamed back at Kitty. Kitty stood their shocked, and Rogue instantly regretted her harsh words. Kitty had been one of her nicest friends, when they'd still been roommates.
"Fine... I... I guess I'll just go then," started Kitty, who whirled around, her ponytail bouncing as she turned to leave.
"Kitty wait!" started Rogue, as the door slammed in her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kitty huffed as she went outside to find a more suitable, and better manner companion to accompany her to the movie place.
Rogue could rot in hell for all she cared.
"Kitty wait!"
"Like, what do you want now?" said Kitty, crossing her arms as Rogue caught up to her in the living room. Rogue grimaced, seeing the angry expression, and instantly regretted her own negative behavior.
"Listen Kitty ah... ah'm sorry. Ah... I guess I'm still getting used to this..."
Kitty's expression softened and she smiled. "Its okay Rogue, I understand how hard it must be for you. But like Scott said, we should be enjoying this while its here."
"Ahlright... thanks Kitty," replied Rogue, smiling earnestly now.
"For what?" asked Kitty, puzzled.
"For caring," replied Rogue, giving the little girl a warm, heartfelt hug, which was eagerly returned by the bubbly teen.
A wolf whistle suddenly caught their attention, to see none other than the Boston boy Bobby leaning against the wall of the nearby hallway.
"Get a room you two!" Bobby said, giving them a knowing smirk. They disentangled one another from each others arms.
"Bobby!" shouted Kitty, starting to give chase. He laughed and ran off.
"Kitty, ah'll meet you outside in a bit. I just gotta go change..."
"If I'm late its because I'm beating Bobby to a bloody pulp! Get back here you! Ooooh!" shouted Kitty as she took off after the Iceman, who ran for all he was worth.
Rogue just smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You have acquired most of the non-organized mutants?"
"Three sir. One just vanished off the scopes before we got to her, and the one guy was crushed."
"And the latent?"
"Sealed up with a cadre of mutants sir."
"Very well. Order all troops to withdraw for now. Tomorrow we shall begin Phase III. Those pathetic mutants will not know what's hit them.""
Authors Notes:
As my English teacher used to say, a rushed job is rarely a well-done job. I don't think Mastermind did a very good job either on Wanda. And from Impact, we see that she still remembers Agatha teaching her, so does she remember Mystique introducing them? Or how she was being taught to control her anger (focused on Magneto as it was)? As for Rogue, this incarnation of her at least, she seems like the type who sees everything in a negative light. But I won't torment her too much.
Impulsive Thoughts: I never read the comics, I don't know. But I do recall quite clearly in the old animated series the two episodes concerning the Savage Land. Sinister set up an anti-mutant field in the area, leaving all mutants by his own (wearing special belts) powerless, thus easily captured (except for Wolverine, who for some reason could still use his claws. I think the creators of the old animated series forgot he had bone claws underneath, assumed it was all artificial).
Epona: That enough Rogue for ya? No? Well me neither. More to come. As for Romy, don't be surprised if I'm horrible at it, I don't think I'm going to do a very good job.
Optic Red: Oh there will be many, many more chapters. Enough to satisfy your hearts desire.
Soul Eater: Oh, but what sort of story would that be? I have learned in my life as an author, the most captivating stories involve pain, suffering and tragedy. Expect to see all three shortly. For now, the calm before the storm.
Laerupeth: A fascinating idea, but unfortunately I might not be able to put it into motion. School is already out. As Gambit would say, its time for a real test. As for whether or not Kelly is responsible or involved, well, you'll just have to see.
Elisabeth Braddock-Grey: Well thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you. Glad you're enjoying yourself. Interesting guess, you're the first to come up with it.
Rogue14: Oh, I shall