"No... ah nevah met you in mah life," replied Rogue, still confused. Had she met this girl before? Nothing about her seemed familiar, but stranger things had happened to her. Finding out Mystique had been her mother was definitely at the top of her list.
"Come on Rogue, we've been friends since you and Mystique joined the Empire. You couldn't have been more than twelve or so," replied the blonde, whom Rogue now knew by the name of Ms. Marvel.
"Empire?" she asked.
"Of course... Magneto's Empire. Don't you remember?" asked Marvel, tapping the great 'M' symbol worn on her uniform. The same one Amara, Tabby and Lance wore. That Cybelle had been wearing. Magneto? Since when did she work for Magneto?
"Wait, wait... maybe ah do have amnesia," said Rogue, stalling for time. Not an accomplished actress, she did have mediocre skills. Drama class back at Bayville High being of course one of the few classes she'd shared with Scott Summers, so she'd paid more attention than most. So it was now she rubbed her head, gave a faint groan of pain (not entirely faked) and chose a different approach.
"Marvel... what year is it? Ah think ah've lost track of the dates."
"Year four after the beginning of the war. Two thousand and four," she replied.
Date's matched. So wherever Rogue was, it wasn't time-travel. That'd been one of the foremost thoughts in her mind. That maybe she'd accidentally done something similar to Apocalypse and Rama-Tut and flung herself into the past... or the future. But it was the same year... only everything was horribly wrong. She wasn't a terribly huge fan of Sci-fi (more of the Romance sort, though she'd kill anyone who found out) but her little brother was, and she'd seen enough to figure out her predicament.
This was an alternate universe.
But its different from watching a movie. The characters in a sci-fi movie can accept time-travel, other dimensions, temporal paradoxes, without breaking a sweat or just a simple 'oh.' But Rogue was not some sci-fi character, or some Saturday morning cartoon character. Her mind could barely wrap around some calculus problem, let alone the very thought that she'd been, for lack of a better word, transported, into some alternate dimension.
Thus it was that her breathing quickened, her eyes rolled back into her head, and the infamous Rogue fainted. Fortunately Ms. Marvel managed to catch her before she fell into ankle deep sludge. And once more oblivion claimed Rogue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue achieved consciousness later, the wind rustling her auburn locks. Dimly she realized she was being carried. The blonde had her slung over her shoulder, floating down the tunnels of the sewer with the others. Ms. Marvel. They were descending deeper into the unused subway system. It was long abandoned.
But another sign showed itself to Rogue that she was indeed not in her own world. But she was home.
"Bayville."
"Rogue? You alright?" asked Carol, shifting and laying her on her back. Rogue sat up, rubbing her aching head.
"No," she replied darkly. Oh god, her mind was still having trouble wrapping around the fact. Okay, it did explain a few things though. If this was an alternate universe, something had happened to the world... differently? She tried to think back to those late-night sci-fi sessions with Kurt.
If she recalled the theory correctly, there were an infinite number of parallel universes, each in the same point of time and space but unaware of each other's existence. In each one they were identical up until a certain point where something different happened. Like Hitler had won WWII. Or, pulling from personal experience, if she'd absorbed Kitty instead of Kurt when the X-Men had first found her. Or even if Lance had joined the X-Men when they'd first met him in Northbrook. Some things were the same, others were different... and it was making her head ache trying to figure them all out.
And judging from what she'd seen, Rogue was going to hazard a guess it hadn't been good for this world. Sighing, she slipped to her feet, following Ms. Marvel. The others had already dropped down onto the tracks and were heading down one of the abandoned tunnels.
"Where're we going?" asked Rogue.
"The fortress," replied Marvel, as they finally came to a stop. Reaching down, she pried up a chunk of masonry out of the way, revealing a short drop and a metal covering at the very bottom. It looked very formidable, and it didn't seem to have any openings of any sort.
Then Rogue glanced up, watching as her four companions had simultaneously tilted their heads back and closed their eyes. They were concentrating. Calling out. There must've been a psychic on the other side. Her suspicions were confirmed when the steel panel slid open in a great circle. Rogue shivered, she'd seen this sort of technology before. And she knew exactly how it worked. Magneto had a similar design on his floating metal spheres.
The others with her dropped (or in Carol's case, floated) down gracefully onto the second level below, and Rogue reluctantly followed them. She almost regretted it when the ceiling above slid shut and again assumed a solid shape. She was trapped inside now, among strangers with familiar faces.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm out of here... you take her to the commander, Marvel," grumbled Lance, stretching out his limbs and walking off without so much as a backward glance.
"Bastard," grumbled Marvel, but nodded anyway. She turned back to Amara and Tabby. "You two go unwind, I'll handle Rogue here. As well as the archives."
"Thanks girl," replied Tabby, giving the blonde a hug then all but grabbing Amara's arm and pulling her off. The two girls headed off, giggling, leaving Rogue along with the total stranger who seemed to know her. Or... wait... know -her-.
Of course. Now she'd figured it out. This universe must've had another Rogue in it. They already said there'd been another Magneto, another Mystique, and apparently another Boom-Boom (or Meltdown, as she called herself here.) Rogue must've...
"Rogue? Rogue... holy... wow it is you," came a voice, interrupting her train of thought. A young boy came jogging up to join Marvel and her, panting for breath as he finally reached them. Boy was perhaps an understatement. He was probably close to Rogue's age, tall and muscular, but touched by an innocence upon his handsome features that made him seem younger. There was something about him though. His features bespoke of a familiarity, yet like Ms. Marvel, she'd never met him before in her life.
"Wow," he said again. "How did you survive?"
"Ah... it's... it's ah long story," started Rogue slowly. She wasn't sure she understood it herself, and they wanted her to explain it all to them. Time for some stall tactics. "Mah memory is a little fuzzy," she added, tapping her cranium.
"Amnesia," replied Marvel, nodding her head. "I was just about to take her to the commander. That'll probably help jog her memory. But since you're here already, we should stop by Cerebro first..." she said, her voice lowering as she added softly "We lost another today."
The blonde boy nodded, his face grim as he beckoned Rogue and Ms. Marvel to follow him. They took off one of the corridors. And Rogue got her first good look at the mutants base. Past the solid steel walls of the outermost layer, which Rogue realized must've been measured in feet for thickness, the place was far more primitive. Solid, smooth stone walls, ceiling and floors. Easily organized and divided into sections, with iron doors clearly in place. They were kept open, but clearly designed to be closed in case of invasion to slow down and direct enemy troops to where they wanted. Power cables and pipes ran along the ceilings and floor, but it was clear enough to walk without too much discomfort. There were adjacent rooms, but the doors were all closed, and they were labeled in an unfamiliar script. Like some sort of code. The infamous 'M' symbol kept repeating itself throughout the entire fortress.
Then some of the rooms some of the rooms she saw were open, and Rogue glimpsed inside, seeing the people who lived here in this underground fortress. She caught sight of Colossus, lifting some heavy crates in a nearby storage room. He looked much the same as the one she'd known, all business, no pleasure. Sighing, she moved on.
She caught sight of Ray. He was working on some sort of circuit breaker, and Ms. Marvel and Mindbender slipped clear past him without so much as a downward glance. Rogue paused there, regarding him. How had he changed from the Ray she knew? He looked much the same... except for his hair. Where his trademark blonde and red spikes had once existed, now it was all natural blonde, shooting up in every direction like those exaggerated anime martial artists in that show Jamie loved so much. He barely spared her a glance in return, too busy with his work.
A low snarl snapped Rogue's attention back to the path in front of her, and she saw to her surprise Sam and Rahne. She was half-transformed, snapping her teeth at Sam in a playful manner as she chased him inside down the corridor and right past Rogue. She glanced over her shoulder as Rahne caught Sam and slammed him none-too-gently against the wall. But he didn't have much room for complaint as the wolf-girl shifted back into her natural form and kissed him. Rogue gaped, Rahne had never been that aggressive back home. Reluctantly though, she turned her head and ignored the two. Partially because she wanted to respect their... well... sort of privacy, partially because she didn't want to get lost. She continued after Marvel and the young man.
"Ah, we're here," stated the blonde boy, reaching a door a the end of a T-intersection. Unlike the rest of the fortress, this was clearly high-tech. The door was steel again, the walls reinforced concrete. Gently he placed his hand upon a palm scanner.
"Mindbender," he spoke, his voice echoed oddly. Voice and palm scan confirmed, the door slid open, and the boy now identified as Mindbender stepped inside. It was Cerebro. Rogue and Marvel joined him. Here, at least, she felt mildly comfortable. It was familiar, if cold, surroundings. Mindbender sat down in a seat where Rogue was accustomed to seeing Professor X sitting. Again, the entire thing struck her as strangely familiar. He didn't bother to put on the distinctive looking headset though. He just punched up a computer screen.
"Who'd we lose?" he asked.
"Cybelle," replied Ms. Marvel. "We didn't really know her by anything else."
"Better than no name at all," replied Mindbender, typing in the name. Curious, Rogue peered in closer for a better look. And her eyes opened in shock as she saw some of the names written on the computer screen:
[Cybelle] at the top, of course. Then slightly further down...
[Kitty Pryde - Shadowcat]
[Logan - Wolverine] was a bit further down.
And there, at the very beginning...
[Charles Francis Xavier - Professor X]
Author's Notes:
The concept of being transported to another reality, or the future, or the past, is totally mind-boggling. This is so entirely downplayed in practically every Sci-fi movie I've ever seen. Human beings simply cannot comprehend such things easily. The remark about Ray's hair is referring of course to the super Saiyans of Dragonball Z. Still, it's better than a mohawk, like his comic version had. Anyone recognize Mindbender? Care to take a guess who that is? I'll give you a hint, it's someone from the Evo show. And now you are given a rough idea of some of the cast that have already died prior to Rogue's entering the Alternate Universe. Trust me, a lot more died than those three. But those are of course the ones Rogue would notice right away.
DoubleL27: Well thank you for the boost of confidence. Don't worry though, not everyone in my universe is violent just because there's a war going on. But you'll see everyone's changed quite a bit. Something happened to Kitty? Why do you think Lance is so pissed off?
Risty: *points above* That is the awful thing that has happened. And of course Lance has had the potential to be angry. The AU characters still have remnants of their past personalities. They're just similar enough for Rogue (and the audience) to remember and relate to. And yes, it's tantalizing. I like being that way, glad you're enjoying it.
Sashi: What gave away it was lovable Carol? Her flight? Her demeanor? The way she smashed through metal like it wasn't there? And glad you don't have a headache, but yes I'll be very satisfied once a lot of loose ends are tied up and explained. Unfortunately that might not be for a while.
The Rogue Witch: Yes I got Roman God not Greek God this time. Recall if you will everything was the same in this AU up until a point. So Amara's still from Nova Roma and still worships the Roman Pantheon. I have a picture of AU Tabby and Amara, drawn by an incredible fan of mine, if you'd like to take a look. They're amazingly cute.
Comet-hime: Boy you're awful excited. Good. Plenty more to come, including explanations for just about everything you asked about. And yes I'll explain about the M's and Cybelle's tattoo. And plenty more descriptions of AU mutants for you to draw your pretty piccies. Oh, and Willow coming up soon too.
X00001: Well normally of course I would, but in this AU neither of them was ever created. Wolverine kinda bit the big one and was never cloned. Next story, promise both of them in all their adamantium-wielding, kick ass glory. With a fight that'll rival the duel between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike in X2.
Todd fan: Of course it gets interesting with Marvel around. And while I have done something terrible to both Forge and Toad, that doesn't necessarily mean they're both six feet under. Just one of them. You'll find out whom and why soon enough, as well as what else I've done to the non-dead one.
Elrohirthewriter: I don't quite see the comparison to "Days of our Future's Past" but the similarity to other TAS episodes involving Bishop, particularly "One Man's Worth." That is where I'm drawing a great deal of ideas for this particular story, since its based on an alternate universe that's essentially the same. I'm just kinda Evolizing it.
Lyranfan: I personally hated those pink and purple giants from the comics and TAS. I prefer the Evo version of the sentinels. But those -weren't- sentinels. Those were sentinel-soldiers. They appear in 'Nullification.' Think along the lines of battle droids from Star Wars: Episode One.
Nessie6: Yup, 'fraid so. I know, poor Lance losing his precious pretty kitty. And no, something -has- happened to Todd and Forge already in the AU. Something -will- happen to Carol later on. You'll find out more details concerning all of them as this story unfolds.
Sebastian1: I'm afraid I can't do that. I already have an explanation that brought about the war between humans and mutants, to be explained later. And, frankly, there will be no dealing with Apocalypse or Mesmero and the keys that freed him in Evo. He will continue his long sleep up in the Himalayas.
Ray1: Anything up to date I've written or anyone's written? Haha jk. But yeah, I'm really proud of this recent work. Now we're cookin' with napalm. And that's a gooooood way to cook.