Chapter Four

    Jean and Scott Summers sat underneath a willow tree on the outskirts of the mansion grounds discussing Rogue and Remy. Scott entwined his hand with Jean's and gazed through his ruby quartz glasses at his beautiful wife.

"I wonder where Rogue is? I haven't seen her for a while." Cyclops voice was strong. 

Jean shrugged.

"What do you have against her? She isn't dangerous on purpose you know." Scott accused.

"I know but I'm worried in case she hurts someone Scott." Jean whispered shyly.

"Yeah… look, there's Remy, I wonder why he's in such a hurry?" Scott sat up.

**~~**

    Remy stumbled over his feet and called out to the Professor, knowing he would be listening.

Prof! Rogue's been kidnapped by Mystique!

Remy cried out with all his might, his fear getting the better of him. Professor Xavier called out to all of the other mutants immediately.

X-Men! Report to the Control Room at once!  His voice was laced with panic.

Xavier wanted to help Rogue and he did not want to lose her, least of all to Mystique.

**~~**

    Five minutes later, all of the X-Men besides Bobby, who was still recovering from Rogue's incident, were gathered in the Control Room. Every face was grim and worried. Wolverine picked out scraps of food from his teeth with a single, unscratched claw and stared at Xavier.

"Well Chuck? What are the orders?" He growled.

Professor Xavier leaned forward in his wheelchair and eyed them all individually.

"Ororo, Logan, Jean and Scott, I want you all to start searching in all of Mystique's known hideouts. Kurt, Kitty and Remy, I need you to stand by for orders from Jean if they find anything, so take the blackbird if they do. Hank and Jubilee, I want you to stay here with me and tend to Bobby. All clear?"

"Non Prof, I wanna go wit' 'Ro and Wolvy, it was partly my fault dat Rogue get kidnapped, so, I'm goin'." Remy said firmly.

"Fine, Scott, stay here and Ororo," Storm sat up excitedly, knowing what he was going to say, "you're leader."

"Yes!" Ororo leaped in the air, flying out to the cars in the basement.

"Prof? Why's this search party so big? Usually you only send out a few of us if one of us goes missing." Jubilee popped her bubblegum.

"Because Jubilation, Rogue's mind can be twisted into believing anything, even thinking that we want to kill her." Xavier closed his eyes in desperation.

**~~**

    Cold, dark, not alone. It was not an unusual situation for Rogue to be in. Hell, nearly every day of her life had been like that. Her taunting voices took advantage of the absences of the psychics who had quieted them and screamed at the lost teenager. Suddenly aware of another presence, Rogue leapt onto her feet, trying to ignore the pounding headache and yelling voices. Fear gripped and tore at her veins. Her emerald eyes useless, the terrified yet prepared teenager crouched to the pitch-black ground and felt her stolen strength course through her muscles. She was ready for an attack.

    Mystique laughed lowly and switched on a light, revealing the crouching Rogue with her fists clenched.

"Who… who are you?" Rogue cried out, not able to remember anything from the past week. Mystique clenched her teeth and put on a fake smile.

"Oh you poor dear!" Mystique's voice was oddly high, " Are you okay? Some horrible people were trying to kill you and I helped you escape." She walked over to Rogue and made to place her hand on her bare shoulder but thought better of it. Rogue shivered at her hesitation but shook it off, her mind was unbearably fuzzy and she found it too frustrating to try and remember anything so she gave that up soon enough.

"What's your name dear?" Mystique said forcefully.

"Rogue."

Mystique took Rogue's gloved hand timidly and gently pulled her into a room just down the tattered hallway.

    "Where are you taking me…?" Rogue trailed away.

"I'm M… Raven." Mystique feared Rogue remembering any of last night's events. "I gather lost mutants that are rejected and take them into my home. Do you wish to meet the others?" she finished hopefully, her yellow eyes glinting.

"Yes please, Raven." Rogue answered shyly.

    Mystique brought her into a tatty old room at the end of the hallway and opened the door. Several mutants either sat lounging on the couch or flexing their powers. A speedy young man a few years older than her caught Rogue's astonished eyes. A rush of silver hair and silver flashes came speeding up to Mystique and Rogue.

"Rogue, this is Quicksilver but you can call him Pietro Maximoff."

    Pietro smiled charmingly and a flash of devil red eyes ran through Rogue's unclear mind. She clutched her head and shook it violently. Who was that? She thought. Pietro took Rogue's gloved hand and dragged her over to meet the other mutants.

"Hi, this here, is Blob." Rogue grimaced slightly at the food dribbling down Blob's face. Nonetheless, she smiled and waved shyly. Next, Pietro introduced her to people called, Pyro, Avalanche, Toad and Scarlet Witch. Rogue was pessimistic about the males, as they eyed her like a piece of meat but Scarlet Witch, or Wanda, smiled at her friendly and even offered to give Rogue a tour of the home later.

    Mystique sat back on a one of the couches and smiled to herself. Now all she needed was to wait for Xavier and his pathetic X-Men to show up.

**~~**

    Remy ran through the dripping alleyways with a sharp ear and quick eye. One tiny piece of evidence, that was all he needed. Just one tiny piece to give him a nudge in Rogue's direction. Remy flicked out a playing card and charged it for light. A tiny glint in the shadows made Gambit instantly stalk over and pick up a delicate chain. It was Rogue's. He had noticed it when she first appeared; the heart shaped emerald on the necklace had tempted him dearly. Well, he was a thief.

    Ororo, Logan and Jean all cursed simultaneously.

"Damn that Cajun! He just had to sneak off and look for his damsel in distress didn't he?" Logan kicked a nearby garbage can in frustration.

Ororo continued to walk forward while a tiny rain cloud hovered over her hair as a reflection of her frustration. Jean meanwhile just shook her head in a silent; I knew that Cajun would be trouble.

    Gambit in the meantime was peeking through windows and searching for the beautiful face of Rogue. His heart wrenched to think of her in the merciless arms of Mystique. Hope was scarce in his mind but a familiar tinkle of laughter ran through his thoughts. Remy gasped and ran into the building where the light laugh of Rogue was evident. He darted through the halls, pressing his ear to certain doors where he thought Rogue might be. Finally, Gambit slammed open a door and six mutants stared at him perplexedly. The seventh mutant however, stood up and flicked her long red hair with an air of expectance.

"Hello dear Gambit, come for something in particular?" Mystique whispered while standing aside. Rogue tilted her head to the side and Gambit ran to her side, taking her gloved hands in his, looking at her adoringly.

    "Who are you?" she shrieked while snatching her hands away.

Gambit opened his mouth in shock and the last thing he remembered was Quicksilver slamming his head into the ground, knocking him unconscious.