Hey guys, I got my first negative rant today! And, can you believe it, it was from someone I know and love who's been away virtually all summer. Talk about mean! An extremely long shout-out to him appears at the end of this chappie. All other shout-outs are after his.
Also, I'd like to apologise for the shortness of this chapter. I was too angry at The Pickle-Jar to write properly, but I wanted to put something up for you guys to read.
Kurt: The characters you recognize do not belong to Taineyah!
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"Kathy, they funded it. That's all there is ta it. They don't trust mutants. They still hate us. Look at the screen, for God's sake. Ah tend ta believe what Ah'm seein'. It wouldn't be the first time the government has pulled somethin' like this." Rogue scrolled down the computer screen, demonstrating the pages and pages of meticulously kept financial records.
"Agent Manning, I refuse to believe this until I see substantial evidence that it's true. Anyone can put the words 'US Government' on a computer screen."
Rogue walked over to a filing cabinet and pulled open a drawer, digging through the files quickly.
"What are you doing, Agent?" Kathy approached Rogue, reaching out to pull her back from the cabinet.
"Ah'm tryin' ta find your 'substantial evidence,'" Rogue replied. "If ya touch me, Ah'll zap ya. The government killed mah family, they aren't gonna get away with torturin' mah brother."
Agent Angel stepped away as Rogue peeled off her left glove and held out her hand menacingly, still pawing through the drawers with her right hand. Rogue skimmed the titles on the file folders and finally pulled one out. She flipped it open, holding it with one hand and nodded to herself.
She extended it towards Agent Angel and smirked bitterly. "Is that enough evidence for ya?"
As Rogue pulled her glove back on, Kathy read the first page of the file. Then the next. She glanced at the rest, her facial expression crumbling through shock, disbelief and pain before settling on anger.
The file was filled with orders to destroy 'experiments,' most of which were signed by senators and other politicians. A couple were even signed by the vice-president and the secretary of state.
Kathy pointed at one, one of the few that had the 'experiment's' name on it. "Steven Angel... he's my second cousin. He went missing just before the end of the Dark Ages."
Rogue blinked in shock at hearing the phrase "Dark Ages" come from Kathy's lips. Normally, it was a phrase used by mutants to describe the time before they'd been given their rights. Kathy always disdained the use of "mutie-slang," the special phrases that mutants used to describe their troubles.
Rogue looked at the destroy-order's date. "He's only been gone about a month."
Kathy nodded silently, then she spoke, voice choked. "He was here for almost four years." A single tear dripped down her face.
"Now ya have some idea how Ah felt when Ah saw Kurt." Rogue heard the words flow from her mouth and immediately felt guilty. "Ah'm sorry 'bout your cousin."
Kathy nodded. "What are we going to do about this?"
"Ah think we should treat this like a normal case."
Kathy paused for a minute, clearly thinking. "That's probaly our best route. Be careful to document everything in full." Her short, businesslike tone had returned.
Rogue nodded her acknowledgement then turned back to the computer as Kathy left the room to return to her portion of the investigation.
***
"Do you know who did it yet?" Kurt asked.
"Not a clue," she lied, not wanting to even think about the investigation.
"Vhen you find out, tell me," he commanded bitterly. "I vant to face them and tell them vhat it is like to lose ten years of your life."
She was half tempted to tell him, but she wasn't allowed to reveal details yet, and she didn't want him to get anymore upset. His cheeriness of the afternoon had evaporated, and he merely seemed angry. He wouldn't tell her what he'd gone through, but he was revealing more through the sentences that he cut short than he could have if he'd sat and explained it all.
She now knew that he'd had an inhibitor collar on virtually all the time. She couldn't understand how he'd survived the pain. She felt so sorry for him.
"You'll probably be testifyin' at the trial, when we have enough evidence. Ya can tell them then."
"You'd better find them, Rogue." An unspoken threat hung in the air, although Rogue wasn't sure if it was a threat against her or against the monsters who had tortured him for so long.
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Shout outs:
The Pickle-Jar: Look, you dumbass, I had reasons other than Kurt being my favourite to pick him to survive. I thought about using each of the others in turn. Wanna know my reasons for not picking them, aside from the fact that I didn't want to risk the other survivor becoming Rogue's love interest? Here goes:
Wolverine: He's too dangerous when he's semi-insane. He'd probably kill Rogue, besides which, there's no way they would have been able to keep him in that place for ten years. And, in addition to that, I don't want to screw around with his sanity again. I feel too sorry for him to do that.
Cyclops: I don't like him and therefore my representation of his character would be skewed and incorrect. Due to the fact that some people like him, I didn't want to screw him up too badly.
Jean Grey: Come on, Jean, in a situation like this? Besides which, Evo-Rogue and Evo-Jean don't get along very well. I wanted the survivor to be someone Rogue liked.
Beast: I don't know his character well enough to write him.
Spyke: Not enough is known about his past to write a fully three-dimensional character sketch of him and have realistic reactions to various situations.
Shadowcat: She's a valley girl. She wouldn't have survived the filthy conditions of that place. It's going to take me awhile to develop her into a non-ditzy character in my other fics. I needed someone who wasn't a ditz. (No offense to Shadowcat fans. I like her. She's in my top five favourite X-men of all time, right behind Kurt, Logan, Rogue and Remy. She just isn't suited to this kind of story. Sorry.)
Jubilee: I don't like the fact that she's present in Evolution. Original Jubes was a lot younger than the others.
Iceman: I just couldn't picture him in this kind of situation. I mean, he's Bobby Drake.
Multiple: He's too young, about twelve. I'm not into child abuse. Or having him basically grow up in a testing facility. I needed someone over 16.
Magma: I don't know enough about her.
Sunspot: I don't know enough about him.
Cannonball: I didn't want two southern accents having conversations, as it's too hard to distinguish who's speaking.
Storm: She's claustrophobic. I was not going to torture her and put her in a tiny cage. Cruel and Unusual Punishment much?
The Brotherhood: What would they be doing at the mansion so that some of them got killed off? Besides, I might decide I need all of them alive at a later date.
The Acolytes: See the Brotherhood.
So, you jerk, your rant was completely unfounded. And you completely ignored the fact that I've done two fics in which Kurt was never even mentioned!! And I'm working on a third one without Kurt as the main character. So you can take your stupid little rant and shove it! Next time you feel like writing something like that, wait until you can say it to my face, got it? Don't post it up as a review.
And another thing! As for Wolverine not being able to get seriously hurt by anything except napalm, to your knowledge: Napalm burns or heats up or has something to do with burning, chemical or otherwise, last time I heard anything about it. That night, the Institute was hit with at least three missiles and it burned, basically to the ground. Between the injuries incurred in the initial explosion, the burns received in the fire and the lack of oxygen due to smoke inhalation and the fire using up the most of the oxygen anyway, I don't think that even Wolverine's amazing healing factor could handle the destruction of the Institute. So there!
Okay, sorry that got so long. Here are the rest of the shout-outs:
Sigma1: Sorry to hear that you had to change your name. That sucks! *hands Sigma1 a prettiful flower that sings a happy song* I'm glad you think so!! Mwah!
The Pickle-Jar: I'm still mad!!! No prezzies for you!!!
Thunder_Fox (aka Eclipse): They might.... I'm not telling. *hands Eclipse a Remy plushie* Dat's all da hints you're gettin', Chere.
Lady Trunks: Don't worry. I couldn't not have his adoptive parents alive. I just haven't gotten there yet!! And Thanks! *hands Lady Trunks a picture of Kurt that Tainz drew* Okay, so I'm not the best Artist. It's the thought that counts!
Jazzy: Remy is definitely alive, along with all of the other Acolytes and Brotherhood. The only "bad guy" from those two teams who is dead is Magneto. I'm continuing now, just for you, even though I'm not happy with this chappy! *hands Jazzy Magneto's helmet*
shadow-fire3: Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I'm going to keep writing!! Cross my heart!!! *hands shadow-fire3 a Rogue plushie*
roguehobbit: I hate the government. I'm a consiracy theorist, I'm sad to say. And, yes, if I didn't have it planned carefully, the whole thing could get bad for Rogue. *hands you a tinfoil hat* Now the aliens that the government is secretly harbouring can't read your mind. The CIA killed John Lennon!!! *runs around insanely*
Green Eraser/Gecko: Be patient, my child. This is nowhere near being over!!! And it had to stop there because my boyfriend, the Pickle-Jar, who I'm extremely mad at right now, said it was more effective than the original ending I had planned for that chappy. *gives Green Eraser/Gecko a picture of Rogue and Remy sitting on a bench together*
x-silver-safire-x: Glad you liked it!! *hands x-silver-safire-x a Canadian flag*
Yumiko: Whether or not Rogue is going to be paired up with anyone is a carefully guarded secret, one that I haven't even revealed to my best friend, Amieva, or my boyfriend, The Pickle-Jar, who I'm still mad at. I won't deny or confirm anything. * hands Yumiko an encoded secret message, which reads: 9 12 20 6 22 15 18 22 25 7 16 26 9 7 22 17 6 13 20 22 (4=w 23=d)* If you can figure that out, you will have your answer.
jacombo: Yeah, Kitty's dead. Sorry to disappoint. It's just too far fetched if any of the others mystically appear. And I'm glad you liked the way Rogue told Kurt. I agonised over that. *hands jacombo a box of yummy cookies* Thanks for the lovely long review!!!
Lucky439: I know. I feel bad for Kurt too. *hands Lucky439 another clue to Yumiko's secret message, so that Lucky might figure it out. Clue reads: backwards alphabet. answer in German.*
ishandahalf: Mush.....hmmmm....check out Yumiko's secret message and Lucky439's clue and see if you can't figure out the answer to the mush question. I'm glad you're liking this!!! *hands ishandahalf a whole mess of mushy cereal and, when ishandahalf looks disgusted, whips out a Kurt plushie*
Anyroad, sorry about the short chappy. The next one will be a lot longer, promise!!!! And, if you want more spoilers, check out my shout outs to Yumiko and Lucky439. The spoilers are encoded.
Tainz
Don't forget to R+R!!!