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Seether
Chapter Five -- Trespass
By Randirogue
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"…The spire is hot and my cells can't feed. And you still got that Belle dragging your foots. I'm hiding it well, Sister Ernestine. But, I still got that Belle dragging my foots. Right on time you get closer… and closer. Called my name, but there's no way in. Use that fame: Rent your wife and kids today. Maybe she will. Maybe she will. Caught a lite sneeze, dreamed a little dream, made my own pretty hate machine. Boys on my left side, boys on my right side, boys in the middle, and you're not here. Boys in their dresses and you're not here. I need a big loan from the girl zone" (Caught a Lite Sneeze –by Tori Amos)
They were all in. The outskirts, the outer limits, at least. The Five Stepford Girls held a tenuous, important place. They wavered on the outskirts and in the med lab at once. It was precarious and unnerving how they worked as one, and used that oneness to elicit a duality of their telepathy. It allowed them more adaptability and less all at once. They were a formidable power, but their uniqueness, their link between themselves, kept them from being of an equivalent power to any of the others present, Emma, Jean, and definitely not Xavier. But, still they could do as the others couldn't despite their weakness compared to them. They could exist in both places without being prone on either side. It was why they said they could hold the Shadow King and not lose the whole of their powers. If they held him, they would lose that dual nature, that ability to exist in both places consciously at once. But they would not lose the whole of their powers. This unnerved Xavier and Jean, but not Emma. They were Emma's find. They were her precious find to train all herself.
The five stayed further back from the others, wary of stretching their link to the outside too thin. They were confident, maybe even arrogant, but not stupid. They knew they were different, more variable, but they knew they were less powerful. They watched the others, though, as they approached the outermost shielding inside Rogue's mind.
"It's changed," Jean said, questioning everything. None of the telepaths had probed Rogue since she'd absorbed Z'Cann and had her powers altered.
"Looks neglected to me," Emma said. In front of them was a fence made of webs stretched between tall black posts. The fencing reached for miles to either side of them and above them, reaching out of their sight.
Jean ignored Emma and spoke to Xavier. "Is this a result of Z'Cann, or is this part of her current problems?"
"I'm not sure, Jean," Xavier said as he stretched his legs. He very much enjoyed the use of his legs on the astral plane.
"Would you like to fill me in, you two," Emma stated. "I've never been here before."
"Before, Rogue's outer shields were like an obelisk containing her entire psyche," Xavier explained. "Made of obsidian, though more fluid, like a solid form of the darkest ink. It both absorbed light and reflected it. It was impenetrable by every known telepath."
"Except for the Shadow King," Jean interjected, "Remember, back on Muir, he had gained control of Rogue for a time."
"Yes, he did," Xavier admitted.
"Are her shields really that powerful?" Emma asked. Jean and Xavier nodded, so Emma asked another question before Xavier could continue with his explanations of the changes to Rogue's outer shields. "How can she be that powerful and not be an actual telepath?"
"Good question, Emma," Jean admitted, "You want to field this one, Professor?"
Xavier sighed before continuing. Rogue's powers and shielding had always been a headache to him, Jean, and Beast. "On some levels her power works as a telapth's does. Some aspect of her power grants her the ability to deal with foreign psyche's when she absorbs a person. It is a defensive ability only as far as we've been able to detect. She has no telepathic ability outside of that unless she was borrowing one that she had just absorbed. Well, at least she didn't use to," Xavier corrected. "With the complete absorption of Z'Cann, who was a mutant Skrull telepath, and who initiated and pushed herself into Rogue, the nature of Rogue's mutation, for lack of a better word, mutated."
"How was it different from when she absorbed Carol?" Emma asked. Even as intellectually aware she was of telepathic contingencies, Rogue's abilities was dizzying to her.
"We do not know the specifics, actually," Jean admitted again. "We think that it has to do with the added telepathy of Z'Cann's to Rogue's very limited defensive abilities."
"You see, Emma," Xavier said, "What we do know, and what is probably the most direct purpose of Rogue's mutation, is that it is primarily a mutation of her genetic structure to metabolize the genetic coding of other sentient beings. The memory transfer is a side effect, we believe. The transfer is bio-electrical in nature, similar to the synapses within a mind. The memories are dragged into Rogue along with the genetic coding. The appearance is that Rogue's ability is a sort of mimicry, but it is not. We know from her total absorption of Carol, that Rogue actually takes in the genetic structure of those she absorbs and adds it to her own, thereby, mutating her own DNA to include the added attributes of the person she absorbed. Namely, this is most obvious with her gaining their powers, mutant or otherwise. But she also gains physical attributes."
"We believe that this occurs even when the transfer is temporary," Jean added, "that her DNA mutates to accommodate the added attributes, then mutates again, reverting to its previous state, when the absorption fades. But this is all superficial speculation. Except for the change in Rogue's DNA when she absorbed Carol, we have no real proof, nor have we figured out a way to test it. We were able to compare her genetic structure after Carol to that from before she'd absorbed Carol by way of medical records that Destiny had given us without Mystique's knowledge. That comparison showed the addition of Kree genes and the X-factor genes of Carol's power."
"But now the temporary attributes are no longer temporary," Emma said, gleaning an understanding to what Z'Cann had changed. "Thanks to whatever Z'Cann's added attributes did, Rogue now permanently possesses the attributes of those she absorbs without having to kill them to do so."
"Correct," Xavier said.
"Yet the effect is retroactive? How?" Emma asked, showing them the mistake in the original logic of Rogue's power. Xavier and Jean both looked at Emma with surprise. Neither had contemplated that fact before. The change in Rogue's access to absorbed powers should not logically be retroactive.
"They must never have only been temporary." Jean said. "Otherwise, she'd only have permanent access to those she absorbed after the change that Z'Cann induced."
"Exactly, Jean," Emma said smugly. "So, where did those other powers go when we all thought they had faded away? The must have still been inside her somewhere. Did she just forget about them? Misplace them, maybe?"
"I really don't know, Emma," Xavier said, admitting defeat. "Rogue is really becoming more of an enigma the more we discover about her."
"What worries me," Jean said, looking from Emma to Xavier to the five and then to the altered outermost shields of Rogue's mindscape, "is Sinister. Does this have anything to do with his seemingly sudden interest in Rogue? We are only examining Rogue's ability now because of her medical problems. From Sinister's cryptic conversation with Nightcrawler, he's already developed theories about Rogue's powers on a much deeper level than we, or even Rogue, seems to have ever considered before now."
Xavier addressed Jean, "I sympathize with your concerns, Jean, but we must focus on the priority of pulling Rogue out of her current episode before we can do anything about understanding Rogue's powers any further."
"What if it is these unknown qualities of Rogue's powers that are causing her episodes?" Asked the five, startling Jean, Xavier and Emma. They had been so silent, the trio had nearly forgotten that they were even there.
"It is most likely," Emma stated flatly.
Xavier responded with variability in his usual steady, sure, voice. "But what would be the cause? It's not likely from changes induced by Z'Cann, those would have surfaced long ago, when the changes first occurred."
"Unless those changes have never stopped occurring," Jean theorized. "First, she randomly possessed powers individually. Second, she got them in groups. Later, she was able to control the use of the still randomly available powers, as she had been able to with previous absorption. It was only recently that she was able to control what powers were present."
"You have a point, Jean," Xavier said. "Perhaps, what is happening to Rogue is not an illness or injury at all. It could be the onset of the next level of change."
"So are we going to be doing this, then?" Emma asked, pointing toward the outermost shields. "Should we be doing this? We will effectively be breaking into her mind. Is that safe for any of us or for her? Isn't it possible that this is exactly what is supposed to happen for the next change to occur."
"Like a cocoon or chrysalis for a caterpillar to become a butterfly?" Xavier contemplated. "It is possible. Forcing our way into that cocoon could be dangerous, even fatal to Rogue. I don't like this at all. All of our theorizing is eliminating all of our options. By our deductions, we should neither try to help her by entering her mind, nor do nothing at all because whatever is happening to her is causing her harm."
"So what do we do?" Emma asked, annoyed.
Jean and Xavier both stared at Emma dumbfounded. None of the trio had an answer. After a long moment, the five spoke up.
"Adults," the five chastised, then smirked in superiority when the trio turned back to them. "You have only one choice. You must enter. You must retrieve her. Catatonia is always a sign of distress."
"You are correct," Xavier admitted to them and bowed his head in weariness.
"Of course we are. It is simple. You must revive her to solve the immediate problem. Then you must stop these changes in Rogue since they are hurting her. And if you cannot, you must at least discover what these changes are so that you can at least ease the transition so that it does not kill her."
"Professor?" Jean asked, drawing Xavier's attention to her. "That was our original intention when we entered here. We may not have had it so detailed, but essentially that was it. But, ever since we entered we've been stalling ourselves."
Xavier responded with a raised brow.
"Are we being influenced then?" Emma asked, disbelief evident in her features. "Without our knowledge of it? By who? Why?"
"We've been reacting with our fears, I think," Jean said.
"I think you are correct," Xavier admitted, again, "But the Shadow King should be as powerless as Rogue with the collar on her."
"We do not believe it is him, necessarily," the five said and pointed behind Xavier.
Several ropes of webbing sprung out and looped Xavier. It wrapped him in a cocoon and folded him against the large, complicated web that stretched between two tall, thin obsidian spires. It happened in the space of the others' gasp.
"I hope the spider isn't hungry," Emma said sardonically. Jean gave Emma a wry glare before they positioned themselves to free Xavier. "Well, since the shield is Rogue's, I would venture to guess that she really doesn't like Xavier's presence."
They both pulled on the webbing, but their actions merely caused more webbing to bind Xavier. It also incited smaller strands to swap and coil threateningly, though loosely around Jean and Emma.
"I'm starting to think Rogue does have something against Xavier," Jean said.
"What made you think that," smirked Emma, "the fact that the shields aren't trapping us as well. Though," she added with a slight laugh as she stroked the webbing that bound Xavier's mouth and eyes, "the fact that she has caught him so easily and expertly does make me view her with a new respect."
"You can tell her yourself, later," Jean grunted as she tried to pry Xavier free from the web with her telekinesis. "After we get Xavier out of this." She grunted again as she used a different tactic with her TK, to no avail. "You'd think Rogue was bitten by a radioactive spider or something. How did she ever come up with this?"
"Can't fault her for it," Emma said, having given up and decided just to watch Jean's feeble attempts at freeing Xavier, "It is very effective, deceptively so. We're not going to get through it with brute force. We need to come up with something else."
"Um, guys," the five said. Jean and Emma look to where they pointed beyond the web-fence.
The Shadow King approached them, smiling wide and hungrily. Coils of the webbing wrapped around his wrists, ankles and neck. They trailed off, out of sight, into the interior of Rogue's psyche. He flicked his attention to Xavier and the webbing that wrapped Xavier's mouth and eyes slid away.
"That's better. Now we can have a decent conversation," the Shadow King said.
"How are you, Professor? Are you in any pain?" Jean asked.
"No pain, Jean. I'm merely immobile."
Jean turned a simmering glare to the Shadow King, "Release him, now!"
With a flippant gesture Xavier was released. Jean checked his condition as the Shadow King approached the web fence from the inside. He raised a hand, caressing the webbing from a few inches away. The webbing shifted, condensing where his hand was nearest. When his hand was not removed, the webbing quivered and a few coils writhed toward him. He retreated.
"It is a formidable mind, isn't it?" Shadow King asked.
"So you can't pass through anymore than we can?" Xavier asked in return.
"It appears that way, doesn't it," responded the Shadow King. "Although, I doubt I could get very far with these," he raised his wrists to emphasize his web shackles, "unless you were to help me."
"I don't think so," Emma said flatly.
"She's actually containing you within her own mind?" Jean asked with one raised brow in disbelief.
"Yes… and no," Shadow King said, "It appears she is trapped as well."
He swept his hand back behind him. As Jean and the others followed his motion, they saw a dense cloud. Through it came Rogue, as though pulled by a lasso wrapped around her waist. She adorned a grotesque version of the webbing cocoon. It appeared to be melted together, resembling severe burn scars. It encased her like a body suit, allowing her limbs to move, though not entirely of their own volition. The webbing streamed from her all up and down the back side of her body. It was like hundreds of strands of stretched melted mozzarella. The strands twisted into an enormous rope that led out of sight behind her.
"Rogue!" exclaimed Jean.
"Hey there, Sugah," Rogue said as she looked over all her visitors. She smiled grimly, "Friendly meeting ya'll here. Excuse the mess, would ya? Seems Ah'm being invaded."
"Is he doing this to you?" Jean asked. "The other day, and tonight?"
Rogue grimaced and crossed her arms.
"I'm going to have such fun with you once they take that collar off," the Shadow King laughed.
"Try it, and maybe Ah might just forget that the X-Men don't kill," threatened Rogue.
The Shadow King only laughed harder. He waved his arm in an exaggerated gesture indicating Rogue's entire mindscape. "With all of this going on? Please. You can't even escape yourself."
"Rogue," Xavier said, trying to draw her attention away from the Shadow King. "Let us in. We want to help you."
Rogue eyed the group warily. "Not the creepy girls though." Silently, Rogue added, They remind me too much of me in too many ways.
"Fine," Emma said eagerly. She wanted to release Rogue and get out as soon as possible. "Can you keep him out of the way while we're in here?"
"No problem, Sugar," Rogue said. She stomped up to the Shadow King and punched him. It wasn't as violent as it could have been had she access to her super strength, but it was enough to land him within reach of the writhing coils of the web fence. It promptly ensnared him as it had Xavier.
"Can't he access the fence?" Emma asked.
"Probably. He is an Omega class telepath. The only one, as Ah recall," Rogue reminded them. "But that should hold him for awhile, at least."
Rogue pointed to the thinned section of web fence in front of Jean, Xavier and Emma. It had opened when it shifted to ensnare the Shadow King. "Ya'll coming? It's gonna strengthen in a moment." It was slowly thickening as she spoke, actually.
Jean slipped through the gap, followed by Emma and Xavier. As soon as Xavier put one foot on the other side, the web slithered over him and ensnared him as well, trapping him on the outside of the fence.
"Rogue!" Jean gasped, "Let him go!"
Rogue frowned, "Ah can't."
"You don't control it?" Emma asked. "It is your mind, you know."
"And Ah'm trapped in it, if ya hadn't noticed," Rogue snapped as she flipped the coil that streamed from her back toward them. "It's why ya'll are here, isn't it?"
"Yes, Rogue, it is," Jean placated as she signaled for Emma to cut the wise cracks and follow Rogue. "Will he be okay there while we do this?"
"Yeah. It's just defensive. It only reacts; it doesn't attack. It might even let him go after a while. If he doesn't put up too much of a fuss. I wouldn't try to get back in if it does, though, Professor. Ya'll understand?" Rogue waited for him to answer. Out of politeness, maybe. She didn't think he could actually answer, bound as tightly as he was. Quietly, she added, "Ah don't know if it would remember ya."
"Remember him?" Emma asked and was promptly shushed by Jean.
They all walked a long way. Everywhere they went, ropes of the web stretched across the landscape in seemingly random, yet complicated patterns. They constantly had to duck, bend, twist, step, and occasionally climb over the ropes to keep moving. The coil attached to Rogue seemed to retract easily among the weave-work on its own. It always had the same slack, no matter how far they walked.
And far they did walk. They passed landscape after landscape. Countryside turned to cityscape to countryside to cityscape and so on. Each one was individual, resembling some real location. Some were pristine, other than the webbing, of course, while others were ruins, post-apocalyptic visions of every imaginable form.
"Where exactly are we going?" Emma asked.
"My childhood. Ain't that always the problem in us unstable types?"
"Rogue, nobody thinks you're unstable," Jean sighed.
"Really, Jean," Emma said curtly, "I believe unstable is a good word for all this."
Jean opened her mouth to chastise Emma again, but Rogue spoke first. "It's all right, Jean. Ah'm used to it." Still, the tension increased in Rogue, knotting the muscles between her shoulder blades.
They were at a clearing by a large river and Rogue paused. Ahead of them there was a large gnarled tree with huge limbs that dangled over the river. It was the mighty Mississippi, and it flowed on a steady, quiet course. It seemed in defiance of the chaos that otherwise enveloped Rogue's mindscape. A tire swing hung from one of the strongest branches overreaching the river. On it, swung a child version of Rogue. She was only ten or eleven years old. She laughed gleefully, unbidden, the way happy children laugh before they learn to hide their emotions. On the shore, a young boy cheered. He had short blond hair, bright blue eyes, freckles peppered his cheeks, and he had the gangly form that was common to boys who were just hitting a growth spurt. He looked to be a year or two older than the child Rogue. He could have been the same age though, since the child Rogue was small and skinny, as if she had gone through a period of time where she had been undernourished.
But she's so young to have survived something like that. And that has to be Cody, thought Jean. But… Her thoughts were cut off by Emma.
"Why aren't there so many webs here?" Emma asked. "Is this the spot we're looking for?"
Jean looked around them. Surprisingly, very few web ropes entered the vicinity.
"No," Jean answered before Rogue could. "This is a happy memory. A highly cherished one."
"Yeah," Rogue sighed nostalgically. "Ah won't let anything mess up this place. Anything."
"If you don't mind me asking, Rogue," Jean said hesitantly, "Is this memory from before or after Mystique took you in?"
Rogue looked to Jean, surprised, but answered, "After. Why?"
"Well, you look like you'd been undernourished, yet you're with Cody. And he's obviously healthy. Is the memory accurate?"
"Yeah," Rogue said with confidence. "Like Ah said, Ah don't let anything mess with this one."
"But how?" Jean asked, obviously confused. "I thought Mystique took you in after your parents kicked you out for being a mutant, for absorbing Cody."
Rogue raised a cynical brow, "What gave ya'll that idea?"
"You said…?"
"Ah never said anything of the sort," Rogue asked defensively. "Ah said that Mystique took me in when no one else would have me. Ah said Ah probably would've starved to death if it wasn't for her. Ah never said it had anything to do with Cody. Ah didn't even know Cody until after Ah lived with Mystique."
"I guess we just assumed it was because…" Jean trailed off.
"Because my folks were mutant hating trash?"
"Well, yeah... We all did."
"As much as I'd like to see you with your foot in your mouth, Jean," said Emma. She started walking in the direction they were headed before Rogue had paused at the pleasant memory. "Perhaps, we should stick to our mission."
Rogue and Jean joined with Emma in the return of their travels. Rogue took the lead again, and after what seemed like another couple of hours had passed, they finally came to where the webbing was the densest and they could go no further.
"Um, Rogue," Emma asked, "Two questions for you, dear. What exactly is this place? And where are all your ghosts—the traces of those people you've absorbed that we've all heard so much about?"
"Ah don't rightly know, Emma, on either account." Rogue said wearily. "The ghosts are usually more active when my powers are gone, 'specially the ones that ain't too happy with me. And this place, well, it's always been here, far as Ah remember. It's where all my shielding comes from."
"You didn't build this, then?" Jean asked.
Rogue shook her head, "Nope," then raised a confused expression to Jean, "But Ah guess Ah must've. It's been here since before Ah ever knew Cody."
"Is it always like this, though?" Emma asked.
"No. It's kinda become volatile the last few days."
"What exactly is different about it?" Jean asked.
"It's sorta takin' over the place if ya'll hadn't noticed," Rogue said, not even trying to disguise her sarcasm.
"We understand that, Rogue," Emma pursed, "But we need to know the specifics so that we can address the problem."
"My best guess, at least what Ah always just assumed, is that this," Rogue said indicating the Core. It looked like a huge ball of twine looming over them. Thousands of webbed strands spiked out from it on all sides, trespassing into all the far corners of Rogue's mind and beyond. "Was my childhood. The earliest part. Ya know, the stuff that ya don't consciously remember because ya haven't really learned to remember yet."
"The formative years, you mean," Emma said. "Up to about age five?"
"A little later for me, Ah'm afraid," Rogue said. "Up till about seven or eight, Ah would venture to guess."
"That old?" Jean asked, shocked.
"Well, Ah have a few memories after six, but not much, and they're pretty sparse." Rogue looked away, ashamed.
"That's not normal, Rogue," Jean said. Her voice was filled with concern. "You should've gotten treatment for this long ago. I can't believe even Mystique would've let this knowingly go on." Jean paused then and was about to continue when Emma spoke up.
"You didn't tell her?" Emma screeched. "Wait… She had to know about it. If my timing's right, your memories only start just before Mystique took you in then. She had to know… Unless you hid it from her."
"But she was so young," Jean interjected. "She couldn't pull off something that complicated without some training. Unless Mystique just didn't care about it. And I wouldn't put that past her," Jean paused, then burst out in a huff, "That… that bitch!"
"Hey, don't go blaming Mystique for my problems," Rogue said defensively, "She may not be the best role model for a little girl, but she cared for me when nobody else would."
"Like she cared for you when she put an adamantium knife in your gut back at Muir Island a couple of months ago," Jean snapped. She just couldn't understand why Rogue continued to defend that awful woman.
"Ah don't remember Xavier showing up and offering a hand up like he did for some folks Ah know," Rogue said pointedly to Jean.
"That's not fair, Rogue," Jean said, though, she was placating herself as much as Rogue. "He couldn't have known. You hadn't even developed your powers, yet. And it wasn't like your situation was all over the news. There was no way for him to have known about you."
"Mystique did," Rogue said, the accusation still in her voice. "Mystique didn't just stumble upon me, as much as ya'll would like to believe. She sought me out, Jeannie. It took her a week before Ah would come outta my hiding place and talk to her."
"Maybe, but from what we've been hearing about Storm's little secret mission, Mystique had inside Information. Destiny and her diaries probably knew all about you. I bet she wasn't too surprised by your mutant powers, was she?" Jean pressed.
Rogue looked away. "She didn't know what they would be—exactly. But she had an idea, yeah."
"Thought so," Jean said with an I-told-you-so tone of voice. Then realization spread across her face and she broke into accusations again, "She had to know about this, then. She had to. And she did nothing about it!"
"Gawd, Jean," Rogue said. "Stop getting your panties in a bunch. It ain't all that terrible. Ah was just a late bloomer is all. And if'n ya'll don't recall, Irenie's foresight didn't see everything about everybody."
Rogue paused for a long while as she thought back to the letter Irene had written her and Vargas had sent her. Did ya really know, Irene? Or did ya just see what's happenin' now, Rogue wondered to herself.
Just when Jean thought Rogue wasn't going to talk about it any more, Rogue did indeed continue, "They didn't even find me the first place they looked, ya know."
"No, I didn't know," Jean conceded.
There was very little they knew about Rogue, really. So much of what they'd accepted as fact about Rogue's background was merely their own blanket assumption. Even when it came to her involvement with Mystique and Irene, they'd assumed most of what they'd all considered absolute truth.
How much of that was our fault, Jean wondered. We'd assumed the worst of her right from the get go. I wasn't around when she'd joined, but the others weren't too friendly from what I've heard. She didn't hide her past from us. Not really. And it seems that what we thought was much more insulting to her than what was the truth. She didn't even try to convince us otherwise. Not that I think anyone wanted to believe her back then. We took it for granted that she had severed herself from who she was in order to become who she is with the X-Men. It appears she did a more thorough job of that than any of us estimated, from the looks of this ball thing. How much did Mystique and Irene know about this? Why did they seek Rogue out? And did it have anything to do with Destiny's mysterious--
"Yoo-hoo!" Emma called from around the Core a ways. She stepped into their view so that they could accompany her. "While you two were bickering and having a girl bonding moment, I have been investigating Rogue's little problem here."
"What did you find," Jean asked and she and Rogue made their way to the back side of the Core with Emma.
"Just a little bit that may be of some interest," Emma said nonchalantly.
The others looked over what was happening in front of them. Several ghosts of those people Rogue had absorbed in the past were attacking the Core itself as well as the web coils that came off of it. Mostly the attackers were enemies that Rogue had absorbed in battle. Juggernaut and Warlock's father and Magneto, to name a few. But there were some that had been Rogue's friends mixed in with the attacking bunch. Collossus, Nightcrawler, Bobby, Storm, Xavier, Scott, and Jean herself were among them, surprisingly enough. Even more surprising, though, was the combination of defenders. Gambit, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Sabretooth were the only defenders. They were repelling both the attackers and webbing, which had taken to attacking the defenders while only reacting to the attackers assault on the web coils. Each of the ghosts had a direct line of web that was attached to some part of their body. Upon closer inspection, Jean noticed that those coils did not seem to link with the Core itself. Jean looked to Rogue. The enormous coil that was attached to her was directly linked to the core.
Well, that's something new, Jean thought. She went back to the coils leading away from the ghosts. Jean followed them.
"Where are you going, Jean," Emma asked with annoyance. Distracted again, I suppose. How does she ever accomplish anything this way?
"Hopefully, I'm helping to solve this dilemma," Jean said as she followed the trail of the ghosts' links further and further away. "Deal with them, I've got an idea."
"Well, hurry back, will ya," Rogue said as she punched one of the villains. Doing so caused the webbing on her to constrict a little in warning. "My captor don't seem to want me scrappin' with these folk, if ya know what Ah mean."
Jean followed the trail out of sight, oblivious to the fight that Emma and Rogue had joined. As she moved, she noticed the significant amount of webbing that streamed along beside her. It originated at the Core and headed straight for the same destination as Jean was headed. Eventually, she reached it.
Jean stared at the intricate web that stretched flat from one wall to the other. It blocked one entire corner of Rogue's mind, though it didn't conceal it. Upon closer examination, she found that the web here was crystalline. It was hard, solid, like glass or ice. It didn't wriggle or writhe or pulse like the other webbing did. It didn't seem alive. But it didn't seem dead either. It was more like it was frozen in some sort of suspended animation.
Jean tentatively touched a piece of the gigantic web. The blockade itself didn't respond, but several of the coils that she had followed, as well as the coils that stretched from the Core, quivered.
Interesting, Jean thought.
Jean then took the chance of a more dangerous exploration. She wanted to see what this shield protected, but there weren't any gaps within the intricate pattern large enough for her to climb through. She settled for reaching her hand in.
It felt cold. Unused. Hollow. She wiggled her fingertips and could sense a substance, sense a palpable waiting, anticipation, a potential.
Meanwhile, Emma and Rogue were having quite a bit of success against her Core's attackers. The ghosts didn't have use of their powers, which Rogue and Emma surmised was because of the suppression collar. Emma thought it made sense. It was through them that Rogue got access to their powers. If she didn't have her powers, then neither would they. It was definitely to Emma and Rogue's advantage too. The ghosts were much weaker than their real versions were. Unfortunately, though, Rogue was being more tightly bound in the cocoon with every strike against their opponents. All that was free now were her legs and her eyes. She looked like a half-finished Mummy.
With a final kick to Magneto's head, Rogue took Magneto down. He wasn't as adept in hand to hand fighting as he had so relied on his powers for fighting. She fell down just after he did. She was indeed wrapped tight as a mummy now.
"Jean!" Emma called in the direction that Jean had disappeared to, hoping she would be heard. "We could use your help right about now!"
"I'm right here," Jean said as she walked calmly up behind Emma. "You don't have to yell."
Emma delivered a blow to Nightcrawler, which surprisingly, knocked him down. Only Collossus and Juggernaut remained. With one swipe of her telekinesis, Jean knocked them out. Gambit, Psylocke and Wolverine took up defensive postures towards Jean and Emma, but made no direct attack against them.
"Why didn't you do that in the first place," Emma asked accusingly.
"I had to give you something to do while I came up with a way to release Rogue, didn't I?" Jean asked with mock superiority.
"By all means, Jean. Show us how it is to be done," Emma said as she swept down in a mocking bow.
"It's simple really. If you'll notice, the coil that has Rogue trapped is linked directly to this thing here. But the ghosts are linked to something else, which acts as a buffer between them and this thing, so they are not bound by it as Rogue is. That buffer is Rogue's mutant powers, at least her absorption powers. I won't go into my theories on that right now. Nevertheless, the ghosts have more freedom because although the collar cuts off their powers so Rogue can't access them, it also quiets the hold that his thing has on them. The buffer between them and it is Rogue's absorption powers, and that is shut down at the moment. Rogue is held directly by this, though, without a buffer. Whatever it is has found a way to break through and gain some control. It may even have access to Rogue's powers on its own, though it is cut off from them by the collar as well."
"So all we have to do is heal the shields on this thing and Rogue will be free?" Emma asked skeptically.
"Even simpler," Jean kneeled beside Rogue. She was completely wrapped by the webbing save for one ear and both her eyes. Whatever it was that was trapping Rogue, wanted her to witness it, needed her to witness it. "We don't do anything at all," Jean looked to the ghostly beings of Gambit, Wolverine, and Psylocke. "None of us do." Jean looked back down to Rogue. "Rogue simply releases herself."
"Well, if she could, don't you think she would?" Emma asked.
"No," Jean said, looking to Emma. "I haven't figured out the specifics yet, but I think that Rogue is forcing the hold herself by not wanting to face whatever that shield contains. I think this all started when the shield weakened and Rogue was confronted by it." Jean rested her hand on Rogue's web wrapped shoulder and met her friend's fearful gaze. "You are responsible for all of this Rogue."
"That's what Ah've been trying ta tell her," said a quiet shimmering voice that seemed to come from all around them. The child's intonation of the voice was obvious.
Jean stood up and she and Emma looked around them. The very atmosphere surrounding them coalesced into a cloudy wisp that filtered out from several weak points of the Core.
"Can she release herself," Emma asked the cloud.
"Ah couldn't hold her completely if she didn't let meh," the shimmering voice said. "She is afraid of meh 'n drawn ta meh foh different reasons. Right now, Ah thinks it's a tie."
"Then let her go," Jean stated flatly.
"If Ah do, ya'll will help her lock meh away again."
"Well, killing her isn't going to free you either," Emma said, getting annoyed.
"And I don't think we could do it entirely now anyway," Jean said with a mixture of sadness and elation to her voice. "You're too strong for that now."
"An' stronger too, both of us, if she'd accept meh," the shimmering voice accepted. "Will ya help her?"
"Yes," Jean said. "But you must be patient. Rushing her and forcing her will only hurt her."
"Okay," the shimmering said just as it dispersed. "It's up ta her now."
Jean looked to Rogue. "Rogue, honey, do you want out?" Jean asked her.
Rogue nodded her head emphatically. It was just a slight tremble, though, on account of the tight web bindings.
"Then do it," Jean instructed.
Jean and Emma watched Rogue close her unbound eyes in determined concentration. Slowly, the bindings loosened and fell away from her. Jean held out her hand and helped her up. Rogue opened her eyes and the tension eased in her a little, but the stubborn determination remained apparent.
"Now we clean this place up," Jean said and nodded to Emma, who moved to Rogue's other side and grasped her hand.
Under the combined will of the trio, the webbing obeyed. The strands thinned and recoiled back onto the Core. Thousands of strands, miles and miles long, moved past them and rejoined the Core. After a while the reversion stopped. Rogue and Jean and Emma looked around. Jean and Emma seemed satisfied. The Core's shielding was dense and intricate, with only a few tiny wholes where the overlapping webbing didn't completely seal itself off. Jean thought that it was good that it didn't. Rogue's childhood, if that was indeed what that was, shouldn't be completely sealed off. Even the earliest memories of her formative years weren't supposed to be cut off. Nobody's were supposed to be. For some reason that Jean couldn't pinpoint, she believed that it was good that it was shielded so well for the time being. She really didn't think that the Core was solely made up of Rogue's early childhood. Whatever else was there, whatever other aspects Rogue had concealed from herself there, knowingly or otherwise, was beyond Jean's recognition at the moment. She didn't concern herself by it too much. Instead, she let herself be content with the victory they had achieved that day.
"Well, it ain't like it was, but it'll do," Rogue said.
"It seems sturdy enough," Emma said. "Rather sophisticated for a non-telepath. Especially if this was first developed before your mutation manifested."
"Ah just don't like the looks of that," Rogue said indicating the thirty or so strands of web that linked the Core with the Closet, the cubby that contained Rogue's absorption powers. "Those either," Rogue added and pointed to the dozen of strands that stretched the entirety of Rogue's mindscape and beyond. "They reach beyond my mind, ya know. Ah can feel 'em in my chest."
Jean touched one of the strands that stretched the mindscape while Emma examined those that linked the Core to the Closet.
"They are safe," Emma said. Jean nodded her assent and Rogue relented.
"But they won't be if ya'll don't keep yoah word," the shimmering voice said. This time it didn't bother coalescing. "Ah'll be waiting for ya after that intruder is taken care of."
And with that, they left. Rogue accompanied them to the place where they had entered. The five could be seen in the distance on the other side. The Shadow King and Xavier, though, were nowhere in sight.
"The Professor was expelled," the five said when they saw the concern on Jean's face. "He is fine. He is waiting for you outside."
"And the Shadow King," Emma asked.
"In there somewhere," the five said.
Rogue cocked her head to the side. She looked as though she was listening to something far away, something only she could hear. After a moment, she addressed the others. "Ah told ya'll it wouldn't hold him long… but Ah still have him under wraps. He's not going anywhere, especially while Ah have this collar on.
Jean nodded reluctantly. She was about to speak when Rogue spoke first.
"Ah'll see ya'll topside, okay." With that Rogue waved her hand before the web fence and it opened just enough to let Emma and Jean pass. It sealed up immediately as soon as they were on the other side.
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