Sorry it took me so long to post again, I've had a really bad week (got rejected from NYU… they can all just suck on my…) anyhoo… Woohoo! Here we go. I really like this chapter. I think it's really good. Oh, and you can all rest assured… ROGUE IS BACK!! You can throw out your boxes of tissues!! The wait is over!! Yay!! And I know I said there would be a bit of Romy, but it isn't as much as I originally thought. Only a touch. Just stick around, there will be more. So READ and REVIEW (and Happy Chanukah!)
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– SHPINX –
"Yeah? So?" Wolverine grunted after Vertigo gave her speech. "I'm gonna live forever too."
"Oh no… Your years will catch up to you. How do you think you appear this old past puberty?" She explained. "No, no. I will live like this forever."
"Like a sixteen year old?" Mystique gasped. "Who wants to be sixteen forever? Sixteen sucks."
"Well, if you're their mother…" Vertigo mumbled under her breath.
"What did you say?" Mystique demanded.
"FOREVER!" Vertigo reiterated, changing the subject back to the matter at hand. "Long after you have died under the heel of the high lord Apocalypse, and history has long since forgotten your miserable, pathetic, little insurgence, I will be leading the most sophisticated army in the universe."
"What about when you become obsolete?" Wolverine said.
"What? What do you mean 'obsolete'?" Vertigo asked.
"What about when something bigger and better comes along? If you're gonna be like this forever, you sure won't be advancing a lot." Wolverine pointed out. Vertigo stopped to ponder for a second. She tired to think of a comeback to what he had said, but his logic was irrefutable.
"You know what?... you just… you just… you just SHUT UP!" She screamed, frustrated and doubtful.
"No, Vertigo, you shut up." Ruckus said, shoving her out of the way. He opened his mouth, and Wolverine was the first to drop to his knees, his super hearing aided Ruckus's assault. There was nothing anyone could do as the sounds Ruckus emitted made each of their heads feel like they were going to explode.
"You stupid, pink haired fruit, I'm in charge!" Vertigo yelled as she elbowed Ruckus in the stomach. Wolverine quickly recovered and pounced on Ruckus, taking his attack personally. Mystique kicked Vertigo's feet out from under her and pinned her down. Vertigo attempted to activate her powers, but they didn't seem to be working.
"You think that little mental balancing act is gonna work on me? I'm far too in control for that. I guess you're just gonna have to see me fight." Mystique challenged her. Vertigo was determined to defeat Mystique hand to hand.
Harpoon was charging his spears and throwing them at Nightcrawler who was dancing and teleporting in and out of the way. His elusive moves didn't last for long, as Nightcrawler was pinned to the ground when a charged spear pierced the fabric of the shoulder of his X-Men uniform. Harpoon walked closer to Nightcrawler holding another charged spear over him, about to stab him through the chest with it. Berzerker snuck up behind him and grabbed the spear, charging it with his own electricity, and sending a shockwave down Harpoon's body, dropping him to the ground.
"Oh, man… thanks a lot." Nightcrawler gasped as Berzerker helped him pulled the harpoon out of the desert.
"No prob." Berzerker smiled back. Pyro was busy scaring Slab and Riptide to death as he sent 30 ft. fire horses chasing after them. Eventually, one of Riptide's shurikens flew out from his body, ripping right though the tube that provided Pyro with the fuel from the pack on his back to the flame thrower on his wrist. He was distracted, trying to keep from losing precious kerosene while Scrambler poised from behind to attack him. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash in Scrambler's eyes.
"AAHH!!! I'm blind!!" Scrambler shouted as his disrupting powers blasted off into space.
"That's what you get!" Jubilee shouted as Scrambler wriggled out of her grasp. He ran off, stumbling and rubbing his eyes.
"Oh god… I think I'm making myself sick…" Vertigo mumbled after one of Scrambler's wild shots hit her. Mystique halted her physical attack as Vertigo dropped to her knees. "This has never happened before…" She grumbled as her face turned green.
"How do you like it?" Mystique spat at Vertigo. Vertigo threw up violently, then Mystique mercilessly kicked her in the head, knocking her unconscious.
As Pyro fought to tie up the loose end of his tube to keep from spilling his fuel, George snuck up on him, plugging and gumming up kerosene pack.
"Hey, cut it out, you bloody wanker!" Pyro yelled at him, not being able to defend himself. Suddenly, Berzerker appeared, with the aid of Nightcrawler, and sunk his hand into George.
"Don't move." Berzerker warned Pyro. Pyro just nodded meekly, not sure what he might do. Then, an electric pulse buzzed through George's body, sucking the electrons from the atoms in his body. The lack of polarity caused a rush of electrolytes into his cells, causing every single one to burst. Pyro watched in awe as George melted into a sticky puddle of goo on the dusty ground.
"Bonzer…" Pyro uttered instead of 'thank you'. Berzerker just smiled at him.
"Pretty, huh?" Jubilee said to Slab as she showed him her fireworks.
"Yeah…" Slab responded in a trance as he watched the lights dance on the palm of her hand.
"Slab? What are you doing?" Riptide yelled at him.
"Look." He answered, showing Riptide the fireworks display.
"What? You moron." Riptide sighed with frustration as he smacked Jubilee's hand.
"Ow, hey!" She squealed.
"Hey!" Slab said indignantly as he shoved Riptide to the ground. Riptide looked up to see Wolverine standing over him, blood dripping from his claws.
"C'mon, bub." Wolverine said as he grabbed the color of Riptide's shirt and dragged him behind the helijet. Nobody saw what happened next, but Riptide's muffled screams told the story. Jubilee was ready to fire up for Slab again when a firey bear growled up beside them. Jubilee just stared at it blankly, knowing it wasn't going to hurt her, but Slab screamed and ran off into the desert.
"You didn't have to do that." Jubilee grumbled at Pyro, disappointed that she had lost her audience.
"Naw, I didn' have to. But for you, sheila, I wanted to." He winked at her sleazily, and Jubilee flashed him a sarcastic smile.
"Alright, so what do we do now?" Berzerker asked as he and Nightcrawler joined Pyro and Jubilee.
"Why don't we ask our leader?" Mystique said coldly as she too appeared.
"Charles said he hasn't heard from anyone yet since this whole 'Infinite' business began. His team is nearly done." Wolverine informed them as he walked out of the jet, retracting his claws back into his hands.
"Oh my god." Mystique said as she caught a glimpse off in the distance between the two other pyramids to where the other group of X-Men were fighting at the third. As everyone else watched, they could all see the geyser flowing into the sky.
"Do you hear that?" Wolverine asked.
"Nuh-uh." Jubilee responded for the group.
"Earthquake." Wolverine explained. "It must be pretty intense and very centralized."
"Lance!" Pyro shouted, worried for his friend. He began to run off in that direction when he was stopped.
"Where do you think you're going?" A voice called out calmly from the mouth of the Sphinx behind them. "Your battle is here… with me."
"Rogue?" Mystique fearfully identified the floating figure that had called out to them.
"Rogue… filled with self-pity and doubt, so mercifully purged of the useless burden of emotion…" She replied. The X-Men stared at her in awe as she lowered herself to the ground. Her eyes glowed green with possession. Her face and voice were vacant and soulless. She wore her usual blank top and short black skirt she normally wore with her black tights and green mesh shirt, but her arms and legs were exposed, revealing just how white her skin really was. She calmly walked across the desert sand from the base of the Sphinx to the team, still staring in awe.
"Sorry, Rogue, time to go bye-bye." Berzerker said, sparks flying from his fingers as he raised his harm to attack her when Mystique grabbed him.
"You hurt one hair on her head, spark plug, and I swear to god I'll murder you." She warned him.
"I knew you wouldn't hurt this body." Rogue smiled wickedly. "You are all pathetic weaklings for your feelings, and as such, you will fail. You are not fit to survive in the new world that dawns upon us. I am but a soldier. I am a horseman of the Apocalypse. I suck the life out of all that I touch, for I am the famine."
– EGYPTIAN PYRAMID –
"Rogue!" Gambit shouted as he saw her fly out of the Sphinx in the distance. He couldn't exactly make her out, but his heart told him it was her. He grabbed his coat off the ground where Shadowcat had left it, and he threw it over his shoulders to run toward the Sphinx.
"No." Cyclops grabbed his arm. "Let them handle her. Your fight is here."
"'Handle her'?" Gambit repeated in disbelief and anger. "You better take yo' hand offa me Cyke-o, or I swear to God I'll--"
"Temper, temper Mr. LeBeau." Gambit and Cyclops both looked at each other as the bottom dropped out of their stomachs. Then they both turned to the source of the bone chilling voice.
"Sinister… I knew you had somethin' t'do with this…" Gambit growled.
"Somebody get Captain Obvious a cookie…" Sinister mocked him.
"Whatsa matter? Your X-Man Project fail?" Gambit taunted him back while Cyclops, Colossus, Avalanche, Shadowcat and the professor watched the exchange in confusion.
"Well, as I always say: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Sinister replied.
"That ain't what you always say. You always say: If you can't beat 'em, turn their DNA into genetic alphabet soup 'til they submit." Gambit said.
"What's the X-Man Project?" Cyclops finally asked.
"It's why Sinister kidnapped you an' Jean oh so long ago." Gambit answered before Sinister could open his mouth. "He thought your child would serve as a weapon against Apocalypse."
"Ch- ch- child?" Cyclops stuttered nervously.
"Apparently, it didn' work." Gambit added to reassure him.
"Yes… you can thank Psylocke for that…" Sinister grumbled bitterly. "But since I've agreed to work for Apocalypse, the X-Man Project is no longer an issue."
"What kind of agreement?" Gambit barked as he and Sinister went back and forth. The team continued to watch , flabbergasted about the things they spoke about. No one had any idea just what Sinister was capable of.
"Ah, yes, you do have some sort of preoccupation with the subject, don't you, Mr. LeBeau?"
"I asked you a question." Gambit demanded. "What's the deal?" Sinister smiled at how easy it was to read Gambit's mind, even without using his super pumped telepathy.
"After the revolution, in the new world, I will have any test subject I like; I will perform any experiment I want. My knowledge will become limitless." Sinister explained with a frightening twinkle in his burning red eyes as if he were a child receiving a gift at Christmas. The way he spoke about human life and torture with such reckless disregard made Gambit shudder.
"And?" Gambit said, trying to get his mind off the terrible images and memories running through his head.
"And I serve him as the horseman Pestilence." Sinister stated simply.
"Pestilence?" Gambit asked, curious about the meaning of the name.
"I'm glad you asked." Sinister's cherry red lips parted in another fiendish grin, showing off his yellow, fanged teeth. "You are all familiar with a little bug I released into the air not so long ago. I believe you call it… the Legacy Virus…"
"You are responsible for the death of my sister!" Colossus shouted, letting blind rage take over his calm demeanor.
"Yes, quite the experiment that was…" Sinister continued unsympathetically. Colossus pushed his way through his team toward Sinister, and no one dared to impede his path. He grabbed Sinister by the collar of his black suit and snarled down in his face.
"You killed an innocent child. You killed Illyana, And you will be punished." Sinister chuckled maniacally but said nothing. Instead, he began to dissolve into a cellular mist. The smoke wrapped itself around Colossus who was dumbfounded there was no longer anything in his metal grasp. The fog floated past the rest of the team and seemed to condense before their eyes. Cyclops put his hand on the button on his visor, ready to shoot when Sinister reformed.
"Go ahead, Mr. Summers… As you can see, I've been enhanced. I now have complete molecular control over my body."
"What about your mind?" The professor jumped in to protect his students.
"Don't try anything, Xavier. My mind is protected by Apocalypse himself." Sinister answered quickly.
"Even against this?" Suddenly, a hand shot through the back of Sinister's head. No one noticed when Shadowcat slipped from the group behind Sinister. "Don't move." She warned him. Her voice was unusually harsh and cold, almost scaring her team mates. "You move, I solidify. I solidify, you die."
"Kitty--" Avalanche started, trying to protect her from she was thinking about doing.
"No!" She yelled back, stopping Avalanche in his tracks. "You hurt my friends. You hurt Rogue, you hurt Remy and Betsy and Evan and Peter. You hurt anyone of us, you hurt us all. If anyone deserves to die, it's you." Shadowcat whispered in Sinister's ear. He just smiled an evil, vampire-like smile once again as he chuckled. Shadowcat prepared to unphase her hand when his head burst open, forming a ring around her hand. He took two steps forward then restored his molecular structure. He turned to see the expression of shock, horror and fear on her face. His amusement was cut short when Colossus jumped on him from behind. Shadowcat quickly rolled out of the way, and began to fall back to reality. She sat, starry eyed, confused about what she had almost done. Sinister once again performed his misting, transportation trick and Colossus hit the ground with a thud. Avalanche grew angry with the way he made Shadowcat feel. He rolled his eyes back in his head and clenched his fists, then stomped his foot on the ground, sending out a shockwave of earth. Sinister put his hands out and fired two yellow plasma bolts, quickly demolishing the wave. He then hit Avalanche in the chest with them, sending him falling back on the ground in pain. The professor tended to the quickly-out-of-commission and emotionally scarred X-Men while Gambit just watched, slowly letting his blood boil.
Cyclops fired an optic blast at Sinister, which seemed to be of some harm, then the two watched as the wounds healed before their eyes. Cyclops fired again, only Sinister opened two holes in his body, allowing the beams to fly right through him. Sinister knocked Cyclops back with more super amped plasma bolts. Cyclops fell to the ground and curled up in the fetal position, trying to reduce the damage he couldn't prevent.
"Stop it." Gambit muttered to himself, no longer able to simply watch. "Stop it." He said again, a little louder. He clutched the black vial he'd pulled out of his coat pocket in his hand. "Stop it." He said again with an audibly raised voice. Sinister ignored him and continued his assault on Cyclops. Gambit squeezed the vial so tightly the metal casing began to buckle. Suddenly, it sparked and glowed pink in his hand. "STOP IT, SINISTER!" Gambit finally shouted. ":It ain't worth it!" He screamed and threw the vial at Sinister. It exploded at his feet and finally drew his attention.
"It isn't worth it?" Sinister repeated with an eerily calm voice. "Why, control is worth everything. Even she thought so." He gestured upward to the sky where Rogue was attacking her friends in the distance. Gambit clenched his teeth at the way Sinister disrespected her. Any feeling of anger, and hate, and frustration he had rose to his head. He slipped his hand in his pocket, pulled out a few playing cards, and charged them up. Sinister just smiled again. "You won't hurt me, Gambit. I'm the only father you've ever known that gave you the reverence you deserved."
"You treated me like an animal." Gambit muttered. "I don' need no reverence…" He glanced up behind Sinister's shoulder in Xavier's direction to see Shadowcat, Avalanche, Cyclops and Colossus at his sides. "He's given me everything I ever needed… even if I didn' know I needed it."
"Him?" Sinister gasped in disbelief. "A father is there when you need them most. Who was there, Gambit? You'd just murdered Julien. Your families were threatening to kill you if you didn't leave. The man who adopted you decided his own life was more important than his son. Everything you had a negative thought about would explode. Xavier was too busy tending to everyone else. He was busy with the good children, the children who didn't murder people. Where was he when you needed him most?" Gambit took a moment to think. He looked for a way refute Sinister's logic. There had to be a way.
"People make mistakes." Gambit said. His teeth were clenched so hard he was giving himself a headache. He was surprised by the fact that what he said felt so right and liberating. He never realized how much he needed to believe it. He said it to absolve himself more than anything. A burden had been lifted from his shoulders and every self deprecating feeling he'd ever turned inward on himself found its rightful place on Sinister.
"Oh, a mistake?" Sinister mocked him. "How many mistakes does it take before it becomes reckless? Not only did he neglect you, he did so to Avalanche, and Pyro, to Toad, Blob, Quicksilver, Psylocke and Colossus… and Illyana."
"Xavier never did a self serving deed in his life, and you know that. But you… you took cut my head open… you made me beg. You took away my dignity." His anger and hate flared up in him like a fire working its way to his head where it was exaggerated by his headache which continued even though he'd loosened his jaw. "You made me bring you other people so you could do it to them. You exploited me. All I ever wanted to do was make you happy so you'd let me go. I murdered forty people just to end it! You nearly turned Kate int'a killer too. You hurt Betsy, You hurt Peter… and you hurt Rogue. You promised me you wouldn' come near anyone I love. Ever. YOU PROMISED ME!!" Gambit yelled. His head burned with vengeful pressure. Sinister gave up on him and smiled.
"I lied." He stated simply. Gambit grew an expression on his face that looked like he was about to howl with utter rage. Instead, Sinister shuddered as something within him sparked. Suddenly, a pink glow spread about his body from the inside out, charging him with explosive kinetic energy. Sinister quickly tried to become a fog again, but each cell that managed to break off of his body would become a bright pink star in the desert dawn. Everybody else watched in fascination, not completely sure what was going on. Gambit finally snapped back to reality when a frightening hissing noise came from Sinister. Sinister knew what was happening, but could do nothing to stop it. Gambit ducked down, covering his head. The hissing stopped when the world was silent for a split second until it happened. Sinister, in all his translucent white, evil glory exploded into a burning mess of blood, guts, and bloody body parts. The very stench assaulted Gambit's senses while Avalanche, Shadowcat, Colossus, and Cyclops all looked at him with fear and disgust. Gambit looked up to his team to see their reaction.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Shadowcat said. Gambit felt sick himself as he filled with guilt and remorse.
"What did you do?" Cyclops asked. His tone was merely confused and curious, but to Gambit, it took him back to memories of accusation and fear.
"Not again…" He mumbled as he curled up on the ground and put his hands on his head. "He fixed me…"
"Remy?" The professor said as he wheeled beside him. "Remy?" The professor tried to calm him as he began rocking back and forth.
"No! Get away!" Gambit warned him as the wheelchair the professor sat in began glowing pink. Xavier was surprised at first but quickly regained his composure.
"Remy, listen to me. I need you to concentrate. Your powers are simply evolving."
"No! No! I don' wanna hurt you!"
"You can do this. I know you can. Think hard because I'm not going anywhere, Remy, and I know you don't want to me." Xavier said. Gambit looked up at him with puppy dog eyes, truly scared and sorry. He sat up and furrowed his brow as he continued to rock back and forth, grabbing at his hair with his hands, trying to concentrate hard. Finally, the wheelchair returned to normal as Gambit managed to uncharge it. The professor heaved a sigh of relief as he no longer felt his life was in danger. "It'll be okay, Remy. We'll figure this out."
"Just get away before I hurt someone again."
"You okay, Kitty?" Cyclops asked. Avalanche was holding her hair back while she threw up on the ground.
"Yeah… I'll be okay, just… body parts…" She grumbled. Avalanche shrugged his shoulders then began rubbing her back. Suddenly, Cyclops perked up as if he heard something.
"What?" Avalanche asked him, afraid of what could happen next. Cyclops didn't answer, he only smiled. "What is it?"
"She's coming." He answered. Avalanche just looked at him as if he was crazy. Cyclops didn't even have to look at him to know what he was thinking. "She's coming." He said again. Finally, far off in the distance, a horrifying shriek could be heard.
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Rogue151 – Yay!! I'm so glad things are going well for you. Ahh… to inspire another writer… that makes me happy. Okay, Rogue is back, what do you think??
Ishandahalf – I love those nerds who are just so nerdy it impacts every aspect of their lives!! Just so long as they can laugh at it too!! Okay, sorry about the lack of Romyness, don't worry; you will not be disappointed in the end. So, Rogue is back!! Let me know you think!! Keep those reviews a comin' supafast!!
X-Fan – you made my day!! I hate writing fight scenes, I'm amazed you can follow them. If I made movies, they would be awesome, but in my writing, I think it sucks. I'm glad you like it though. Your compliment made me so happy!! So, yeah, Rogue is back. I'm sorry three isn't as much Romy as I thought, but there's a little in there. Much, much more to come. Just stayed tuned and keep reviewin'!
