Author's notes: Thank you all for the reviews. It may take me a little longer to update my story, but I will try to update it as soon as possible.
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The Puppet's Dark Side
Xavier watched the door to the old woman's house. The two teens had been in there for quiet a while and he was getting worried. His concern had vanished when he saw Rogue and Andre walk quickly out of the house.
Andre followed Rogue strait to the helicopter and said, "we're leaving."
He sounded very shaken up, like something had scared him in there. The Puppets exited the house and ran for the helicopter.
Charles noticed a small bit of blood on Tunneler's drill. He turned to Andre and asked, "what happened."
"The woman's dead," he said.
Rogue nodded and said, "the Totem's attacked us while we were in there. They killed the old woman, tried to kill us, and left. The puppets managed to catch one and kill it," she then turned to Andre. "Why didn't the Totems try harder to kill us? It was like they weren't even trying."
"They weren't trying to kill us Rogue," said Andre, "they're just building up their strength. Didn't you see how the newer Totem lifted that mist from the old woman after she was dead?" Rogue nodded and Andre continued. "Well the reason it did that was to get stronger. Suetek and his watchers can strengthen the Totems by stealing a person's life energy. The more energy they take the stronger they get."
Rogue gave out a worried sigh and said, "great, as if this we didn't have enough problems."
Andre turned to Ororo who was busy trying to start the helicopter. "Why haven't we left yet," he asked in a hurry to leave.
Ororo struggled with the controls and said, "it won't start. Check underneath and see what's wrong."
Andre hopped out of the helicopter. Blade had jumped out with him ready to protect his master. Andre surveyed his surroundings making sure that none of the Totems were near by. He looked down at Blade and said, "watch my back." Blade nodded as Andre looked under the X-copter.
Rogue sat waiting for them to leave. Her whole body was shaking. She had never seen a person die before, now she was seeing it left and right. Seeing the Cult member killing himself at the institute was hard enough, now seeing the old woman killed made this ordeal even harder.
She heard Hank's voice ask, "are you ok Rogue?"
She looked and saw Hank Ororo and Charles looking at her. They looked concerned. Was her shivering that obvious?
"Ah just can't stand all this killing," she said.
Charles wheeled himself closer to her and said, "none of us can Rogue. In all my years of trying to help mutants I had hoped they would never have to see someone die."
Before any one could speak again they heard Andre yell, "HOLY SHIT!"
They looked out the window and saw the boy sliding away from the helicopter with shock in his eyes.
Rogue looked out the other side and saw one of the Totems run out from under the helicopter and into the woods.
The Goth hoped out of the X-copter and helped Andre to his feet, putting his cane back in his hands. "What happened," she asked as Andre gained his balance with his cane.
"That little bastard put a hole in the fuel take," he said angrily.
"Why the hell would it do that," Rogue asked.
Andre said very angrily, "I don't know," and he kicked the helicopter with his good foot.
"It's all right," said Hank, "we've got an extra can of fuel here. The only problem is we don't have anything to plug up the hole."
"How far away from town are we," asked Ororo.
Xavier looked down the path that led from the main road to the old woman's house. "Probably not to far away," he said.
"Alright," said Andre, "I'll go to the mobile station and find something to plug up the hole. I'll be back as soon as possible. The rest of you stay here, and that includes you," he said pointing to the puppets.
Rogue stepped forward and said, "Andre you can't go out alone. Those Totems are still out there looking for you. You have to at least take a few of the puppets."
"Rogue, I can't take them with me," said Andre. "I'm going into a populated area, I can't take the chance of someone seeing the puppets."
"Fine, then Ah'm coming with you," said Rogue.
Andre looked into her eyes and said, "Rogue, as you have said, the Totems are still out there. I don't want to risk you getting hurt because you are the only one who knows where the Hanzain cult is now. If the Totems kill you we'll be back to square one."
"Then why don't we let Hank and Ororo go," said Rogue, "The Totems aren't after them."
"Yes they are," said Andre. "They don't care if any of the X-Men are not involved with the puppets. If they are close to you then they will kill them."
He turned and began to walk away. Rogue began to follow him and said, "Andre Ah'm going with you."
The boy turned around with a very frustrated look in his eyes. He had already explained why she couldn't go and now he was getting aggravated. He didn't want to put his sister in danger.
Before he could speak Rogue said, "look Andre, Ah know you don't think Ah under stand what you're saying, but Ah do. Ah know you're just trying to keep me safe, but Ah don't want to wait here and find out later on that your dead."
Andre stood in place. He couldn't think of anything else to say but "alright come on."
Rogue gave a sigh of relief and followed Andre. They walked side by side down the road. Andre was actually more comfortable now that Rogue was coming with him, but he was still concerned for her safety.
Xavier watched them walk out of sight. Hank stood next to him and said, "Rogue has grown quite close to Andre in a very short time hasn't she."
Charles smiled and said, "he's the only family she has left now. I'm not surprised that she has become found of him."
They stood silently until Ororo said, "where are the puppets?"
Charles and Hank looked down at where the puppets were. All they saw were little footprints heading off into the woods.
Hank said, "I thought Andre instructed them to stay here/"
Charles shook his head and said, "those puppets don't seem to want to be separated from their master. I hope they don't get seen by anyone. The result would disastrous. "
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Rogue and Andre moved quickly. They wanted to get back into the air quickly. Andre felt worry towards the X-Men that were imprisoned by the Hanzain Cult. He hoped that Vonce would not torture them for pleasure.
When they finally got to the town Andre said, "follow me Rogue, I've been here a few times and I know my way around."
They cut through allies and streets dodging people left and right. Andre stopped in front of a dark ally and said, "this is the quickest way to the mobile station. Come on."
They moved slower now. It was getting dark out and the ally made it to dark to see the ground they were walking upon.
Rogue almost lost sight of Andre. His black close matched the darkness around him. She bumped into him when he suddenly stopped at the sound of voices.
"What's wrong," she asked as Andre looked through the blackness.
Rogue looked in the direction he was looking. Only a few yards away from them stood a small group of five punks. They stood around a fire they had made in a trashcan. Each one looked very muscular.
Andre didn't think they should just cut through them. "Let's take the long way," he said.
Before they could move one of the punks looked at them. "Well, what do we have here," he said as he walked over to them.
The rest of the men followed him and stood around the two mutants. Another man said, "I don't know man. It looks to me like a couple of trespassers."
The first man looked at Rogue. He stepped closer to her and said, "hey baby. What are you doing here."
Andre held his cane in front of his sister blocking the man from getting to close to her. "Leave her alone," he said.
The man pulled his cane out of his hands. "Keep your crap out of my face," the man said and he through the cane aside.
He then grabbed Rogue by the shoulders and said, "come on baby give daddy some sugar." He began to try to kiss Rogue.
The Goth pushed the man back trying to stop him from touching her skin. She didn't want this creep's thoughts in her head. She kneed him right in between the legs and the man let go.
The man gave a groan of pain and then punched Rogue right in the face. He had on leather gloves so her powers didn't do anything.
"Nobody does that to me bitch," he said.
Andre became infuriated. He punched the man harder then he did Rogue. Then he swung around and kicked another one of the punks down. In doing so he lost his balance on his good leg and fell.
Rogue stood back up holding the side of her head where she was hit. She saw two of the punks lift her brother up by the arms and pin him to a wall.
The man that tried to kiss her looked at her and said, "you both made a big mistake. Nobody hits me."
Rogue said angrily, "well Ah guys there's a first time for everything."
The man laughed and said to one his comrades, "hold her."
One of the other punks grabbed hold of Rogue before she could move. She struggled to free herself as the first man picked up a large metal bar. "I'm gonna enjoy this. No man will ever want to look at you again."
Andre knew what he meant. He was going to beat Rogue until her face was completely mutilated. He tried to free himself from the other punks' grip on him, but he could not.
The man raised up his weapon, ready to hit Rogue. Andre then did the only thing he could think of. "What are you gonna do pal, beat her like that girl you killed three years ago?"
The man stopped in his tracks and turned to the boy. "What did you say?"
"That girl," said Andre. "The one that you mangled and left to die."
The man walked closer to him. "How the hell did you know about that?"
"I know a lot about your fears," said Andre, "I know for a fact that after you beat the girl the police came and chased you away from her. She died later in the hospital that night. You didn't want to kill her, you just wanted her to pay for hitting you."
"Shut up," the man said angrily.
Andre ignored his command. "You later found out that the girl was the daughter of a minister. The guilt really got to you didn't it? The fact that you killed the daughter of a man of God."
The man said louder, "Shut up!"
"Your afraid that the little girl is waiting your you," he continued. "Down in hell, you think she's waiting for you there. Well maybe your thoughts are true."
The man screamed, "SHUT THE HELL UP!!!"
Andre kept on speaking, "maybe she's waiting down there. Patiently waiting to get her revenge. When you get there she's gonna tare you apart, over, and over, and over again."
"If you don't shut up, I'll shut you up I swear," the man screamed.
During this time all the punks were listening to Andre. Rogue had an opportunity to get away, but she couldn't help but listen to her brother's words.
"Her father left the church because of you," said Andre. "He couldn't think of why God let his little girl die. He became an alcoholic. About a year after that he died in a car accident."
The man began to grab his ears, trying to block out Andre's voice, but he couldn't. Andre just kept on speaking. "That would be an interesting story to tell your child if you ever have kids. I can picture you now with your little boy or girl sitting on your lap. You're bouncing your child on your knee and then you say, "honey daddy wants to tell you about how he ruined the nasty minister's by killing his daughter."
The man couldn't handle it any more. He swung the metal bar at Andre. The boy moved his head slightly so the bar hit one of the punks that held his arms.
Rogue saw her opportunity now. She jammed her elbow into the man that was holding her and then flipped him over her shoulder.
Andre hobbled to Rogue's side picking up his cane on the way. They each stood in their fighting stance, ready to hit the first punk that moved.
The first man said, "take them out."
One of his colleagues picked up the lid of a trash can and ran at the two mutants. Rogue took off one of her gloves and held her hand out.
The man suddenly stopped running and looked down at her feet. Rogue gave him a curious look and then felt something rubbing passed her legs.
She looked down to the ground and saw the puppet Torch walking in front of her. "Torch, what are you doing here," she said completely shocked.
Andre looked down and saw the puppet standing with his flame-thrower aimed at the punk holding the garbage can lid.
"I told you to stay at the helicopter with the others," Andre said in a scolding voice.
Torch didn't listen he just grunted at the man in front of him. The man looked at the puppet and said, "what the hell is this thing?"
Torch grunted once more and his eyes lit up a bright red. He let the flames fly out from his flame-thrower hand.
The man with the garbage can lid could only scream before the fire covered him. The man ran around the alley trying to put the fire out with his hands.
Pinhead and Tunneler came out from hiding. They had been watching the whole incident and they were not going to let these punks hurt their master.
Tunneler ran at one of the other punk's legs with his drill in motion. He jammed it into the man's ankle and he fell to the ground. Pinhead ran over and clamped his hands on the man's neck, squeezing his airway shut.
Andre's eyes turned wide. He yelled at his puppets, "guys hold it! STOP!"
Rogue watched in horror. The puppets were killing these people. She couldn't believe her eyes. Sure these punks were trying to hurt her brother and herself, but she didn't want them dead.
Another man one of the punks tried to help his friend, but Six-shooter stood in his path with all six of his guns aimed at him. He shot the man down instantly with six small bullets.
The fourth punk tried to run away. Jester came out from hiding and stood in the man's path. He tripped over the small puppet and landed flat on his face.
When he looked up he came face to face with Tunneler's drill. In only two seconds Tunneler made a hole in the man's head the size of an apple.
Andre kept on trying to command his puppets to stop, but they didn't listen. Rogue backed up against the wall, not being able to take her eyes off the horrible sight.
The man that was on fire fell to the ground. The flames finally killed him even though her wasn't burnt completely.
Pinhead took his hands off the other man's neck. The man lay still with his eyes looking lifelessly as the sky.
The first punk, the one that Andre had spoke to, looked at each one of his dead comrades. He began to run out of the ally.
As he ran Blade came out of the shadows slashing his knife at the man's ankle. He fell to the ground and held his wounded leg.
Blade walked over to the man's face and looked him dead in the eye. The man began to beg, "please, please man don't kill me."
Blade paused for a few seconds and then slit the man's throat with his knife. The man gave out a few gasps and then died. Decapitron came out from hiding and stood next to Blade. They looked at the dead man as the blood dripped from his neck.
"Oh mah God," Rogue said. She felt petrified. She never wanted to see anybody die. Even if she didn't like the person she never wanted them dead. "Why did you kill them," Rogue screamed at the puppets.
Andre stepped forward and said, "damn it when are you guys going to learn! You can't just go around killing people any more!"
Rogue looked at Andre. "What?! You mean they've done this before?!"
Andre turned to Rogue. "Well yes, but"
"They're killers," Rogue screamed. "Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I didn't think you'd understand," said Andre.
"What that you taught your puppets to kill innocent people," Rogue said angrily. "AH mean Ah now that these punks weren't innocent, but that doesn't mean they deserved to die."
"Rogue" Andre tried to explain why they did this, but Rogue didn't let him.
She yelled, "just keep away from me," and ran out of the ally.
Andre yelled after his sister, "Rogue I didn't teach them this. It was the Puppet Master's before me," but she didn't hear him.
Andre looked down at the puppets. They looked shamefully to the ground. They didn't want to hurt Rogue, they thought they were helping.
Andre said, "it's ok guys. I know your consciences were destroyed over the years."
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Rogue ran all the way back to the X-copter. Tears were running down her cheeks and her purple eye shadow had run into dark lines down her face.
When she arrived she told Charles and the others everything. She told about the punks in the ally and how Andre talked to the one that killed the girl.
She talked about how each one was killed by the puppets and that Andre said they had killed before.
"I can't believe this," said Ororo, "I never thought those puppets were capable of killing innocent people."
"What do you think we should do about this Charles," asked Hank.
Charles thought for a while and said, "I don't know. Andre doesn't seem like the kind of person who would permit this type of action from his puppets."
Rogue wiped the tears away from her eyes and said, "Ah say we just leave now and try to save the others."
Ororo said, "we can't leave Rogue. Remember there's still a hole in the fuel tank."
Andre's voice came from out of the darkness saying, "I got some stuff to fix it up."
He stepped out of the blackness followed by the puppets. He had a small can of stuff that would fix the hole in the fuel tank and he set the can down beside him. The four X-Men just starred at him as he entered the clearing.
He looked down at his puppets and back to the X-Men. "I guess I've got some more explaining to do," he said.
"There's no point in trying to explain anything," Rogue said angrily.
Andre began to walk over to her saying, "Rogue if you will just listen to me" before he could finish Rogue backed away from him.
Andre said sternly, "didn't you hear me back in the ally? I tried to tell you that I didn't teach the puppets this. It was the people who were the Puppet Masters before me."
"So you're saying it was our grand father who taught the puppets to kill," Rogue asked still mad at her brother.
"NO," said Andre, "Andre the first would have never had his puppets kill innocent people unless he went mad. The only time that he had his puppets kill, that I know of, was when his wife Elsa was killed. And he did that because he was so stricken with grief and he had to protect the magic. It was the Puppet Master's after him that taught the puppets to kill innocence."
"I thought that only members of the Toulon family became Puppet Master's" Ororo asked.
"That's not true," said Andre. "remember when I told you that if the magic of the puppets fell into the wrong hands it could be abused. Well, many people have done that to the magic. These puppets have been discovered by many masters over the decades and not all of them were good people. In fact most of them weren't."
"So who were these other Puppet Masters," Rogue asked still angry.
Andre gave a sigh of sadness and said, "I know a lot of them, but there's one on know the most His name was Neal Galiger. He was a member of a small group of psychics who had been looking for the secret of our grandfather. When he discovered the puppets' location at the Bodega Bay Inn he married the owner of it so he would be able to search the building without worry of being charged for trespassing or having to sign any contracts with her."
"When he discovered the magic it to give himself immortality. He invited his psychic group to the inn and fact his death so he could hide easily within the hotel without suspicion. He wanted to test the formula on freshly dead corpses, so he manipulated the puppet's minds. He blocked got into their heads and pushed out all the good that they knew, like many of the Puppet masters before me did. Galiger had the puppets do his dirty work. They killed all the psychics except for one man named Alex Widecer. He went insane shortly after the incident, but that's not important right now."
"Any way after all were dead Alex discovered what Galiger was up to. He revealed everything he was doing, but unfortunately for him the puppets overheard him. He said that he was not going to use the formula on the puppets anymore. Since Galiger destroyed the good in them, they desired only to help themselves at that point. So they killed Neal. But that doesn't mean the puppets are evil. They've just been extremely misguided. They need the right person to lead them on the right path."
Rogue's anger backed away a little, "so are they still like that," she asked.
"Well after many years the spirit of our grandfather found them again. When he did he saw what all the other Puppet Masters had done to them. He saw that there was nothing left. Their consciences were destroyed and they had no understanding of good or evil, right or wrong. But when they saw Andre the first they began to act somewhat like their old selves, but they still needed help to be lead back to the good path."
"The spirit of our grandfather worked with them, trying to rebuild their conscience. It was difficult work. Now after many years they have come a long way. Their moral sense is almost fully made again, but I admit that is now excuse for what they did in the ally."
"The reason they did that was because they saw those punks attacking us. They only now cause harm to people if they think a person is attacking me. But even though they have come a log way there is still some work to be done. Do you understand what I'm saying Rogue?"
Rogue looked at him for a while. "Ah understand, but Ah'm gonna have to think about this."
Andre nodded. Rogue walked by him and stood in front of the puppets. It wasn't their fault that their minds had been corrupted. What Andre told her reminded her of when Mystique had tricked her into joining the Brother Hood. She had made Rogue believe that the X-Men were her enemies and that all their beliefs of a world where humans and mutants lived in peace were wrong. Her experiences were in a small way similar to what had happened to the puppets.
She turned back to Andre and said, "you're gonna need help working with them."
Andre asked, "you mean you don't' blame the puppets for what they did."
Rogue smiled and said, "Ah can't stay made at them. After all you and the puppets are the only real family Ah have left."
Andre smiled lightly. Rogue walked over to him and hugged him. "Ah'm sorry Ah blamed you," she said.
Andre said, "it's ok. You just didn't know what the puppets went through. You still have a lot to learn about them. I'll teach you what I can."
Charles and Ororo watched the two embraced. Ororo leaned closer to Charles and whispered, "Rogue has never forgiven anybody this quickly before."
Charles smiled and said, "these two have developed a bound in a short amount of time. Forgiveness is natural for family members."
The two stopped hugging and Andre said, "well enough of this heartwarming moment. We need to save your friends."
Rogue nodded and they all prepared to leave.
As Hank repaired the hole in the fuel tank Rogue opened the helicopter door for the puppets. They all hoped in one at a time. Blade was the last one to get in. He stopped after he leapt into the door and looked up at Rogue apologetically.
Rogue said, "it's ok Blade, Ah understand now."
Blade nodded walked over to the other puppets. As soon as the hole was repaired everyone entered the helicopter.
Andre turned to Rogue and said, "ok Rogue, you're gonna have to give us directions the Hanzain Cult's lair. You're the only one who knows where it is."
"all right," said Rogue as they lifted into the air and flew off into the dark of night.