Episode Three
Rogue Recruit
On the ship, Caldecot, very far away from the X-Men, there was a party going on. This was not a regular pirate ship like the X-Men, it was actually a dance party ship where pirates would go to have a good time. It was a humungous cruise ship that the passengers would be staying on for a week or so.
Rogue was a lass looking over the water's edge out on the open deck. She didn't care much for dancing, and you could tell just by the clothes she wore.
Two maties, Cody and another, came out on the deck.
"My good buddy Cody is now a swabbie." Said Cody's mate. "Gone in an evening from bad to sad, flame to lame. Nurse, he's coded! Personality paddles, stat!"
"Blimey, I'm just picking my move…taking it slow." Cody answered.
"I've seen squiffies move faster than this, Cody!" said Cody's bucko. "There she is. The lass you've been staring at all night! Please tell me you at least know her name!" Cody shrugged absentmindedly and his mate slapped his forehead. "You scallywag! This ends now!"
He grabbed Cody and pulled him over to where Rogue was standing.
"Aye, can I help you?" Rogue said, turning around.
"Dance…I mean…would you like to?" Cody said nervously. "With me, that is. Together."
"I'm really just hanging out here…" Rogue started but once she saw the hurt look on Cody's face, she decided to dance with him. Cody slapped his mate five on the way to the dance floor.
Back at Rogue's cabin, her adoptive mother, Irene, sat idly by. Irene was blind but she had been a mutant pirate in her younger days so she had the special ability to see the future. All she saw was Rogue suffering. "Oh my dear lass!" she gasped.
Back at the dance, Rogue was having a good time and Cody was having a good time. But he accidentally knocked Rogue down and, while helping her stand up, grabbed her by the arm. Then, something strange happened! The two felt a strange sensation come over them for a moment or two before Rogue wrenched her arm away from Cody. He immediately collapsed to the floor.
Rogue's head was filled with images of when Cody was a lad and all the things he had done. "My head!" she whined. "All these images! What's happening to me? What am I? Who am I?"
Irene was calling someone up. "That's not what I said…" she argued. "I see pathways…probabilities! I predicted what form her mutant powers would take, not when they would manifest! Of course, I know you're coming. And the others? The ones aboard the X-Men? They are coming too."
The X-Men wasn't quite on its way as Irene had said. A masked man had somehow made his way into the ship and now it was Wench Storm's job to get him out. He had hid in the cargo area. "Testing me…hm?" Storm said. "Very well. It's time you remember why they call me STORM!"
Storm flew into the air and created a fierce well…storm I guess. The ship flooded with water and the masked man was carried out of the cargo area into plain sight.
"You look a little flushed," said Storm. "And the forecast isn't good."
"Avast!" came Captain Xavier's voice. "Captain Logan, that is enough."
The masked man took his mask off to reveal that he was, in fact, Captain Logan. "Aye, when I give a demo, I give a demo." Captain Logan stated.
"What was the point?" First Mate Scott asked. The rest of the crew was hanging around in the captain's quarters as Captain Logan and Wench Storm entered.
"Sink me, I give it two thumbs up!" Hand Kurt said from his position hanging upside down.
Lass Kitty shivered. "Is it just me or is anyone else seriously freaked by all this?" she asked. Everyone stared at her blankly. "Aye, it's just me? Blimey."
"Relax, Lass, you'll be fine!" said Kurt as he teleported next to Kitty. "We're right beside you!"
"Blimey!" she shouted.
"Yarr…sorry." Said Kurt sheepishly.
"Whatever…" said Kitty. "Ahoy, maties, it's late. I'm gonna go have a clap of thunder." With that, she phased through the floor and was gone.
Kurt looked disappointed. "Sink me, she's fully not into the Fuzzy Mate." He said sadly. "Not that I really blame her."
"She just needs time, Kurt." Said Lass Jean, putting her hand on Kurt's shoulder. "She'll come around."
"Crew, we have an emergency." Said Captain Xavier. "First mate, assemble the whole crew. We weigh the anchor immediately."
"Aye, Captain." Said Scott. "What's the mission?"
"Cerebro has detected a new mutant pirate aboard the party boat, Caldecot. My mental impression from the scene indicated a very disturbed lass. Our mutant pirate is a danger to herself and possibly those around her. X-Men, we have a Rogue."
The entire crew boarded the X-Jet as to get to Caldecot faster. "Anchor away, wind is steady." Kurt reported from the captain's helm.
"Shiver me timbers, Kurt, you'll make a navigator yet!" said Scott.
"Thanks!" said Kurt as he leaned on the steering wheel.
"Or…maybe not…" Scott said.
"Scott seems so…together!" said Lass Kitty to Lass Jean from the back of the X-Jet. "So cool and…he's kinda cute."
"Cute?" Jean said. "A scurvy dog, maybe. Belay there…you know…at a certain angle…"
"Kids." Said Captain Logan with a groan.
Captain Mystique had already transferred ships onto Caldecot and was meeting up with Irene.
"You made good time, Captain." Said Irene.
"Our ship's mysterious Captain has certain resources, Irene." Said Captain Mystique. "What happened? I left the lass in what I thought was your safe keeping!"
"She accidentally made physical contact with a local lad." Irene responded.
"We cannot lose her, especially to Captain Xavier!" Captain Mystique said. "You can see the future, Irene. Where will she go?"
"Home." Irene answered. "Or…what she thinks is home."
Rogue was wandering down the hallways, attempting to find her room. She came across what she thought was hers, when it was actually Cody's. She discovered an extra key in where she remembered it to be hidden and opened the door.
"Is this really necessary?" Captain Logan said to Captain Xavier as they all waited outside the infirmary area of the cruise ship.
"Yes." Said Captain Xavier. "This lad, Cody, is the key to finding our Rogue. But he's unconscious and his mind is elusive. To isolate his memory patterns, I need someone on the inside."
Lass Jean was that one on the inside and, dressed as a serving wench, she was able to get close to Cody so Captain Xavier could read his mind.
Irene and Captain Mystique approached Cody's quarters. "Now what?" Irene asked. "You won't hurt her, will you? After all, Captain, she's your--"
"I know." Captain Mystique interrupted her. "She will come to us willingly, given the right incentive." She then morphed herself to look like Captain Logan.
Rogue sat inside Cody's living quarters, looking at all the booty he had stored in there. "All this is…mine?" she wondered. She looked in the mirror. "But which me am I?" The door flung open and Captain Logan was standing there. "Ahoy! Who are you and what do you want?!"
"You, lass, I want YOU!" Captain Logan shouted, charging at Rogue. Captain Logan whipped out a handgun and shot it at Rogue but luckily Captain Logan's aim wasn't exactly top notch so he missed. "Stand still and make it quick! You're dealing with the X-Men now! You ain't got a chance!"
"X-Men? I don't understand!" Rogue said. "I just want you to leave me alone!" Rogue hurried past Captain Logan and out the door of Cody's room, rushing down the hallway.
But, AVAST! She didn't even notice when Captain Logan transformed to Captain Mystique and then to Wench Storm.
"One more clap of the thunder and you'll be on the account." Said Captain Mystique/Wench Storm as she followed after Rogue.
"So does this chase or what?" Lass Kitty groaned and she, Hand Kurt and the REAL Captain Logan made their way down the many hallways of the Pirate Party Boat.
"The Cap. says the lass's mind is confused and difficult to pinpoint." Said Captain Logan as he opened a door to one of the rooms only to find it empty. "So keep looking." Then he smelled something as he shut the door.
"What?" asked Hand Kurt. "Overhaul a scent?"
"Aye," said Captain Logan. "I smell fear."
"One well placed lightning bolt…" said Captain Mystique in the guise of Wench Storm as she threw a fire cracker at Lass Rogue. "One ex-mutant pirate."
Rogue screamed and ran around the corner where she ran into Irene.
"Rogue!" said Irene. "It's me, Irene! Try and remember!"
"Who?" said Rogue. "Irene…Irene…aye! But… I'm so confused! Strange thoughts in my head! People overhauling me!"
"Easy, easy, matey." Said Irene. "The X-Men will not risk a confrontation."
"The X-Men?" said Rogue.
"Yes." Said Irene. "The crew aboard the X-Men are mutant pirate hunters! Avast, heave to! I have a matey who can help you!"
"All this is happening so fast…" Rogue began but then she turned around to see Captain Logan, Lass Kitty and Hand Kurt on their way up the hall. "It's him! The one who blackspotted me! Run, Irene! Run!" And in her haste, Rogue ran off but accidentally left her glove behind.
"That's gotta be her!" panted Captain Logan as the three ran by Irene and after Rogue.
"Please, leave me be!" said Lass Rogue as she ran into a room and slammed the door behind her.
Hand Kurt teleported in front of Captain Logan. "Captain, avast!" he said. "The lass seems to be terrified by you! Let me try."
"Okay, sprog, just don't mess up, harr?" said Captain Logan reluctantly.
"Aye Captain!" said Kurt, saluting him.
"I'll go find the Cap." Said Captain Logan. "Oh and sprog?" Kurt spun around. "Put on your best face. No sense freaking the poor lass anymore out than she already is." Kurt put on his bandana so he now looked like a regular person as opposed to his usual mutant pirate self as Lass Kitty ran after him. "And keep an eye on the wench, here." Captain Logan added.
"Blimey!" said Kitty angrily.
Kurt teleported into the room where Rogue was. "Ahoy, bucko!" he called.
"Shiver me timbers!" gasped Rogue.
"Belay there, don't be frightened." Said Kurt.
"What do you want?" asked Rogue.
"Wench?" mumbled Kitty as she phased through the wall and spotted Rogue. "I'll show him. She doesn't look so tough…" With that, Lass Kitty leapt onto Rogue, knocking her right off her feet. While Kurt attempted to help her up, she accidentally knocked off his bandana, thus revealing his mutant pirate form. This, of course, started Rogue to an overwhelming extent so she freaked out and touched his face inevitably gaining his power to teleport! Which she did. Leaving Hand Kurt there to collapse and Lass Kitty there to deal with it all.
"Kurt?!" Kitty said as she tried to shake him awake. "Kurt!"
Rogue teleported to the deck of the ship. "What happened?" she asked. "Where am I? Und ich kann Deutsches sprechen? I can speak German?" Lass Rogue began to think that she was catching on so she started having fun with teleporting until it landed her right on her rump. Literally.
"Say something, Kurt! Please!" pleaded Kitty. "I have to get in touch with the Captain! Captain! Captain!!"
"Lass Kitty? Not so loud. Slowly, please. Order your thoughts."
"It's Kurt. She hurt him. She did SOMETHING to him."
"Stay there, Lass, help is on its way."
Captain Mystique walked about the deck. No one was there because the rest of the ship was party-hartying the night away inside. She spotted Rogue. Just when she was about to make her move, she ALSO spotted Lass Jean approaching Rogue.
"Ahoy." Said Jean to Rogue.
"Do I know you?" asked Rogue. "The memories…I'm so confused…"
"I know, I can accord to what you're going through." Jean said.
"Lass Jean…you're Jean!" said Rogue, standing up. "You're like the rest!"
"Avast!" said Jean. "If you know who I am then you know I won't chase you. Blimey, it's tough to go it solo. We can talk anytime."
Rogue saw just as Wench Storm and First Mate Scott came around the corner. Since Captain Mystique had attacked her wearing the form of Wench Storm, Rogue believed that she was now looking at her attacker! "Not you!" Rogue yelled as she ran away.
"AVAST!!" yelled Scott as he tried to stop her but was unsuccessful.
Rogue ran towards the aft of the ship, trying to get as far away from the crew of The X-Men as she could. But, First Mate Scott was quick on her tail.
"Thought you could escape, could you?" he said. "The X-Men don't leave loose rigging! Dead men tell no tales!!"
Rogue ran away but, oddly enough, crashed into ANOTHER First Mate Scott. In her confusion and fear, she pushed First Mate Scott down and his deadlights shot one of the masts of the ship, knocking it over. She ran back to where she had come from only to be faced with Lass Jean.
"I tried, I REALLY did but some squiffies just won't be helped!" Jean yelled. Rogue screamed and teleported away so she was back at the fore end of the ship where she was greeted by Jean.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
Rogue backed away right into Wench Storm, accidentally touching her skin which made her take her powers thus sending Storm careening into the wonderful land of unconsciousness where she would join hands with Kurt and Cody and frolic till they could frolic no more singing, "Yo-ho-yo-ho!" and splicing the mainbrace!
But, Rogue had gotten the powers but could not control them! Rogue became the new, yet unstable, Weather Wench!
"What's going on?" asked Scott. "Shiver me timbers!"
"Too much…power…can't…control it!" Rogue gasped but then she teleported away and all the storms that we forgot the mention before faded away.
As First Mate Scott and Lass Jean attempted to revive Wench Storm, Captain Logan (carrying Hand Kurt), Captain Xavier, and Lass Kitty came onto the deck.
"Where's the Rogue?" asked Scott to Captain Xavier.
"I'm not sure." Said Captain Xavier. "Her mind is a cat o' nine tails. I can't trace it. But I strongly suspect the hand of another at work here."
"Hm…" said Captain Logan, sniffing the air. "Captain Mystique. She can change her body but not her scent."
"Then we have to go aft her!" said Kitty.
"There's been enough damage done today." Said Captain Xavier. "And the lass must come of her own free will or not at all. And we must first tend to our own."
At that exact moment, both Storm and Hand Kurt were awakened.
"Looks like I missed quite a party…" Kurt said, looking around at all the damage that was done.
"Kurt, you're all right!" cheered Kitty. Kitty nuzzled Kurt happily and all he could spit out was an absent minded, "Sink me?"
"Welcome to Bayville." Said Captain Mystique, though appearing like Madame Darkholme. "I'm sure you'll be very happy here. Happy and safe."
"Aye, thank you." Said Rogue, standing up and leaving the room.
Madame Darkholme changed her appearance back to Captain Mystique just as the familiar eerie voice rung through the air.
"The lass has great power," said the voice. "She is a good addition to our crew."
"Aye, we were lucky to get to her first." Said Captain Mystique.
"Aye…" said the creepy voice.