Six

Dimly it registered in Cypher's mind that there would be a fight; but thanks to the boost Surge had given her it was hard to concentrate on anything but the fizzy, buzz that surrounded her lifting her a foot off the floor.  She had almost forgotten how good this feeling was-the whole world fell away in a binary haze leaving only a pleasant numbness.  Finding Shade and the others, the evil glares Cyclops and Shadowcat were sending her, the hurt but hopeful expression on Pitor's face; none of it mattered right now.  Cypher wondered if the confusion she felt when dealing with emotion stemmed from her mutation or simply her training, cold logic just came easier to her. 

Cypher was in mid-thought when the overhead lights flared; the X-Men were forced forward into the line of Acolytes and escapees by a squad of gun wielding soldiers.  Cocking her head Cypher watched a grizzled veteran shoulder his way ahead of the others, he pulled a cigar from his mouth and eyed the groups of mutants warily, "Alright kids, put your hands up I don't want any funny business out of you."

The sound of several rifles cocking echoed off the walls; some of the X-Men began to comply with the order when a scream ripped through the room.  "Rogue!" Quicksilver disappeared into the waiting cell, his voice called out seconds later, "Someone help! That Carol chick has a hold of Rogue's skin and won't let go."

Gambit moved to assist but stopped when a young soldier placed the muzzle of his gun against the Cajun's chest.  No one else dared to even breathe but Cypher began to float just a bit higher.  "I don't care what the hell is going on here.  Henderson, Macleod find out what the fuck is happening in that cell," the older soldier pointed towards Cypher, "And you young lady get your feet on the god dammed ground and your hands were I can see 'em."

"No." Her reply was cold and clipped otherwise Cypher ignored the guns her tone stopped the two fresh faced guards ordered forward in their tracks, "Gambit go get Rogue. Everyone get ready to run, we'll leave the injured to hamper the X-Men.  Bender?" the plain boy stepped forward at Cypher's command, "Take care of the humans."

The boy nodded and began to stare at the armed intruders, the one guarding Gambit lowered his weapon and the thief slipped away to help Rogue without a backward glance.  Slowly, all of the other soldiers followed suit; lowering their guns then turning to leave as if the room was completely empty instead of teaming with mutant paramilitaries. When the last man had exited the door slid closed behind them.

"What the hell did you do?" Cyclops grabbed a hold of the young man and spun him around-the X-Man leader was nearly foaming at the mouth with rage.

The boy rolled his eyes and pulled himself away, "I made them leave." He had a French accent so heavy it made Gambit sound intelligible.

The visor-clad mutant turned to the telepath behind him and lifted an eyebrow in question.  Jean nodded in confirmation but he didn't take his hand away from Bender.  "Cyclops take your team and leave now or there will be a fight." Cypher floated towards him her eyes still full of dark fire.

"I don't take orders from scum from like you." Cyclops stopped as Gambit emerged from the cell cradling Rogue in his arms it took one of Colossus' large hands to restrain Nightcrawler from rushing to his sister's side, "And if she's hurt I won't be responsible for my actions…"

Cypher moved forward until she was almost nose to nose with the X-Man, "Go ahead and hit me then...If you think it will solve anything."

Cyclops lifted his hand to comply when it was pulled back by Colossus; the large Russian shook his head sadly, "It is not worth it, let us take the injured mutants and leave them…" he threw a venomous glare at Cypher who was watching it all blank faced, "To their own devices."

With a curt nod the X-Men's leader spun and began marshalling his troops, Jean was already helping another older mutant towards the doors.  Scarlet Witch opened a hole in the wall to allow the Acolytes to escape; Gambit carried Rogue through first while the others followed.  Shade nodded and his team trailed behind leaving him alone with Cypher watching the X-Men leave. "Pitor?" Cypher called out to Colossus at the last minute.

He didn't reply but faced her and struggled to keep his face impassive as she floated to him-hovering just high enough to meet his eyes. Cypher's face was still expressionless and glowing but somewhere deep in those fathomless black eyes Pitor thought he saw sadness; slowly she lowered herself to the ground, her eyes returning to their normal smoky grey, "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

"We can't all have what we wish for." He didn't attempt to mask the bitterness in his voice or give Cypher a chance to answer-Colossus turned his enormous back and quietly walked away.

Cypher watched until there was no sign of the X-Men before moving to pursue her team; Shade was leaning against the wall waiting for her shooting her the empty smile he used when feigning disinterest, "Seems like you've kept busy in the five years since I've seen you."

"Remind me to fill you in later." The two old friends moved through the makeshift door in silence blending in with the night.

****************

"What did you do to me?" Rogue backed away as an angry Carol Danvers stalked towards her fists clenched and ready to swing.

"I don't know…" the Goth answered honestly the last thing she could remember was going into the cell to help the injured girl out then... "You touched me!"

The curvy blonde snorted, "So what? Are you special…No one allowed to touch you Princess?"

Rogue shook her head trying to clear away the cobwebs…Danvers had touched her…She had absorbed the other girl and passed out.  "It's my mutation; when some one touches my skin I suck in their memories and thoughts…with mutants I get their powers too. I was trying to rescue you and you strangled me! You touched my skin and I absorbed you."

Carol's face began to redden but Rogue ignored her and scanned the terrain-it looked just like the woods surrounding the Mansion where she had liked to hide away from the others.  It was also the visualization she used when working with the Professor when trying to control the psyches lodged in her mind. There was only one way that they could have arrived here from the lab-this was a representation in Rogue's subconscious-they were both in Rogue's brain.

"You killed me?" Rogue started when she realized that she had thought aloud; Carol was looking more murderous by the second.

"I don't know." Rogue frowned not liking the situation any more than the other girl, "It's not like I meant to…You were trying to kill me."

Carol ignored Rogue and moved forward sneering, "I hope you don't think you can get away with it, freak. Your skin won't help you here…and I'm not going without a fight."

Rogue couldn't remember being afraid of a psyche before-even Sabertooth could be easily controlled and pushed into the back of her mind-but as Carol Danvers advanced the Goth found it prudent to step back.  There was nothing about this situation that made Rogue comfortable, Psyche Carol seemed more real than any other floating around in her mind and Rogue had no idea why.  Nor did she had a clue how she could fight Carol off-she was too strong even without her super strength. The only thing Rogue knew for certain is that it would be over her dead body that she would let Carol Danvers control her. 

"Uhuh, this is my body, my brain-I control it-there's no room for negotiation." Rogue planted her feet wide and put her hands on her hips in an attempt to stare down the older girl-it didn't appear to work.

Carol kept moving even though Rogue was standing her ground; the southerner was beginning to worry who would come out on top if she really had to fight for control of her body.  She had gotten a front row seat for Carol's 'This is Your Life'-and the idea of allowing a boy crazy, Preppy, Jock girl to command her body had to be the fifth cycle of hell for Rogue.

A flash of movement caught both girls' eyes distracting them form the upcoming battle, Rogue stifled a groan as the Psyche version of Gambit swung down from a nearby tree, "She buggin' you Chère?"

"He another of your victims?" Carol jerked a thumb in Remy's direction a look of loathing painted her face, "Tell me how many people have you killed?"

Remy furrowed his brow for a second and was about to snap something nasty back at Carol when Asli swung out of the tree to land next to Rogue.  The visualization of the Hacker rolled her eyes the way her corporal counterpart did whenever she was forced to spend more than five seconds alone with Sabertooth, "Aren't you pleasant."

Carol's face began to turn an angry brick colour, "Fuck! Another one…and they locked me up? Why not you freak?"

"Remy don like that tone of voice," the Cajun landed next to Asli and crossed his arms over his chest, "It ain't her fault you got a tête dure and don listen when folk tell ya not to touch them.  De Chère was tryin to help you…"

"Talk about gratitude." Asli began pacing around Carol like a panther-Rogue had never seen her do that in life.

Carol turned around to keep an eye on Asli, "I was locked up in that place! They did experiments on me! They…"

She stopped, images of her ordeal where flashing past on the sky as if it was a giant television.  Remy, Asli and Rogue watched briefly but Carol immediately dropped her eyes to the ground-she'd already seen it all. Asli moved forward and jerked the blonde's head up to see the sky; snatches of the hacker's own life were now playing for all to see, "You think you're the first? Trust me you're not and you won't be the last.  Do you really think that breaking Rogue down is gonna change any of that?"

"Petite's always de voice of reason," Remy sidled closer to Rogue and smiled warmly, "Remy wanted to thank you for bringing her in here…de others didn't like him too much before."

Laughter bubbled out of Rogue's mouth-she couldn't help it-there was something funny about the Psychic residue of Remy Labeau thanking her for giving him someone to talk to while stuck in her mind.  It was so like the real him it was funny.  Of course Rogue needed a little something to break the tension she felt and she probably would have found anything funny and the idea of the other psyches ganging up on the Cajun wasn't a bad reason to laugh.

"Are you Rogue?"

Spinning Rogue came eye to eye with a plain looking young man; his blonde hair falling onto his face-he had an atrociously thick French accent.  The goth frowned trying to place his even face from her own memories, "I don't wanna sound rude but I don't know ya do I?"

"I do." Asli backed away from Carol and towards the newcomer-her memories of Program X began to scroll across the sky; these ones heavily featured the boy and the others Rogue had seen freed from the lab, "It's been a while Bender."

"I think this is even more disturbing than the real you Cypher," the boy eyed the scenery, "It's almost like old times."

Carol cleared her throat, "As much as I hate to interrupt…But does this mean that she," the blond pointed to Rogue, "Got touchie-feelie with someone else?"

"I didn't get 'touchie-feelie' with him!" Rogue snorted wishing that you could kill psychic impressions, "No offence."

Asli looked down her nose in Carol's general direction and managed to radiate distain, "You always this big a bitch?"

The girls began circling each other once more; a piece of Rogue's heart cheered at Asli's over protectiveness to be honest she was surprised that the shades of her fellow Acolytes had come forth to protect her.   She doubted that she would have needed their assistance but it was nice to have them around…comforting.  Rogue started at the feel of a hand on her shoulder, "Chère, de man's been tryin' to talk to ya-it be a good thing to listen hein."

She blushed furious with herself for loosing herself in her thoughts, "Sorry."

"De rien, I get lost in thought too."  Bender gave her a small smile.

"You gonna tell her what you told me homme?" Remy broke in making sure to keep just one eye on Asli and Carol just in case.

Bender sighed, "You know I'm a friend of Cypher's."

"Yep," Rogue tapped her head, "I've absorbed her twice. You're a telepath right?"

He nodded and seemed pleased that she knew what his powers were, "Well you've been unconscious since the unfortunate incident with Ms. Danvers…"

"How long?" Rogue lifted an eyebrow; it was one thing to know you were unconscious and another thing all together to be told this by a semi stranger in your own subconscious.

"Almost two days."

"Wow." Rogue let out a breath, "And I take it that you're here to help get a jump start on me waking up."

Another brilliant smile fell from Bender's lips, "Exactement."

Used to dealing with telepaths Rogue fixed Bender with a level gaze, "Alright. How?"

"Oh no you don't!" Carol broke away from Asli and glared at Rogue, "I'm not letting you…"

"Shut up." Rogue groaned sick of Carol's over dramatic bullshit.

They all could see the blond gearing up for another wave but when she opened her mouth no sound came out.  It was Rogue's turn to smirk, "Cat got your tongue Sugah?"

Veins throbbed in Carol's forehead as she tried in vain to make some noise.   "Not to sound ungrateful, but how'd she do that?" Asli's face was wreathed in a Cheshire cat grin.

"She took control of her mind," Bender shrugged, "It's pretty easy to run things once you do. Now all you have to do is picture yourself leaving here to wake up."

"I could have told her that homme," Remy frowned.

Rogue rolled her eyes-even in incorporeal form the Cajun could be annoying as hell.  Out of nowhere Asli began to laugh, "Rem, you've got it bad…leave the girl alone."

The thief pinkened and spun on his friend, "Ferme ta bouche!"

Deciding that it was better to ignore them Rogue returned her attention to Bender, "So I visualize a door and walk through it or something like that?"

He nodded and disappeared-his work here was done.  Screwing up her face Rogue concentrated; when she opened her eyes a heavy oak door had appeared.  "Bye guys."

She waved and pulled the door open and walked through.

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A note from Krac.

Yahoo! Finally its done!  Yay!  Sorry I had to change the rating but all those naughty words just snuck out.

Thanks as always to Ish.

Keep the reviews coming!