Yea! Italics work now. Huzzah. Survived the first bit of weirdness? Good. It just gets weirder, I promise you. Oh, and...
X-men ain't mine! 'Tis Marvels. If it were mine I'd stop using Bachalo, and get more artist like Andy Kubert and the Dodsons. Ahem...
Grrr...does anyone know how to make the aterisks stay? I don't like violating my "bleeped out cursing" policy.

"Cyclops? Cyclops?" Rogue waited, a hand to the headphone in her ear, hoping for a reply. Static. She'd gone too far in. "Well, for all the incredible technology we're supposed to have, Ah'd rather just have a mobile phone. Probably would get better reception." Grumbling to mask her growing worry, she peered into the darkness looming before her.

She hadn't meant to get seperated from her Cyclops and Shadowcat, not here in the empty depths of a long abandoned labratory. Not here, in an unfamiliar place, crawling with less friendly mutants. Mutants they were supposed to capture who might not take too kindly to the idea. Mutants she had known.

Cyclops hadn't been too keen on letting Rogue come. She'd done several other missions, but always minor ones. When the news came that several of the captured members of the Brotherhood were free, she'd spent days feeling imagined accusing stares from her teammates. She had been one once, a terrorist. She had helped kill hundreds of people. But she was walking the straight path, now. Mostly...

A soft scuffling from behind startled her. She whirled around, only to see more impenatrable darkness. Trying to control her breathing, she tapped her communicator again.

"C-Cyclops...?" She winced at the quaver in her voice. She was too old to be afraid of the dark. She just needed to keep following this corridor...maybe she could find her way--there it was again! "Kitty? Izzat you?" She fumbled for her mostly-dead flashlight and thumped it hard, hoping to jolt the batteries back to life. Frantically, she swung the muddy-yellow light around, trying to find the source of the noise. "Who's there?"

"Well, well, well," a familiar-sounding voice drawled from somewhere above her. She swung the beam of light upward, just in time to see flash of someone moving out of the way. The flashlight chose that moment to give up the ghost.

"Who a' you?"

"This hardly seems like the place for a gel like you ta be hangin' aroun' in. Leastways, no' anymore." The thickly-accented voice sounded amused. Rogue gasped.

"Toad?" A soft, malicious chuckle came from above her. Rogue found herself getting angry. Here she had been terrified, and it was just Toad, that pathetic, green-skinned Brit. "What th' hell a' you doin'?"

"Th' better question is..." She saw a slim figure flip from the ceiling to land right in front of her. In the shadow that slouched before her she could see twin golden specks, peering at her. A mouth opened in the shadow and she saw a flash of yellow teeth. "What a'you doin' 'ere, li'l gel?"

"Ah don' have time for this, Toad." She tried to push him out of her way --not that she knew where she was going, but since Toad was standing in front of her, she assumed he was in her way. Swift as a striking snake, he caught her wrist. She shuddered at the feel of his hand through her jacket. He cocked his head, studying her, his liquid, black eyes glittering in the dark. She tried to pull her hand back, only to find his grip surprisingly strong. "Leggo, Toad." When he didn't, she stopped struggling, and stood firm, glaring angrily at him. "Ah'm not afraid a'you, Toad." His grin was hard, brittle.

"Oh, I'll bet no'. 'Specially no' now, wiv yo' new teammates an' all." He shifted his grip before she could react and pulled her closer, her hand twisted in his at an awkward angle. "Howsit feel ta be an X-man, huh? Nice an' superior? You always thought you were so much better than the rest of us." His face was inches from hers. It was all Rogue could do to hold her ground and not cringe away. "Y'make me sick," he hissed softly.

"Leggo a' me, Toad!"

"Shu'up!" He grip on her hand tightened. "You little bitch! You think you're so much better, just because you look human? Just because the you were good enough for the Brotherhood and the X-men? Well, I got news f'you, luv. You ain't worth st." He grabbed her, both hands tight around her shoulders. "D'you even know what th' Brotherhood means? What we are? Did you ever even understand? The Brother-hood. We're no' just a team--we're brothers. We're loyal. If one a' us falls, th' rest pick 'im up. If one a' us gets out, y'help your effing brothers!" She gapsed a little as his fingers dug into her arms. "It's not just so long as it's convinient! You don't just join up with the enemy an' leave us t' rot! We. Were. A. Team." His inhuman, all-too human eyes bored into hers with a look of fury...and hurt. "We're all we got." His grip loosened slightly, but the intensity never left his eyes. "I thought you could understand that."

"Why do you care?" Rogue gritted through clenched teeth, unwilling to admit to herself that his words were echoing all her recent self-doubt. "I got out. Xavier got me out, mom an' dad took me back. I didn't want... I'm not a part of the Brotherhood anymore. I quit." She forced herself to meet his gaze. The anger in his eyes gave way to something else...a sadness, a longing, something she couldn't, didn't want to name. He took a deep, shaking breath and opened his mouth, as if to say something, closed it again, then suddenly leaned down and kissed her.

At first, she was too shocked to even register revulsion. His lips pressed desperately against hers, an act of passion, and, she sensed somehow, hopelessness, as if he realized he'd lost and might as well take what he wanted before it was too late. Before she could struggle, he tore himself away and pushed her from him. Numb, she fell to the ground and stared up at him, dazed, as an urgent realization begged for her notice.

Neither spoke. The silence was filled only by their ragged breathing. Somehow, their gazes wouldn't part. Toad stared at her for what seemed an eternity, anger and resignation shining in his golden-black eyes. And then...

"Down that 'all, third door t'yer left, up th' stairs." Toad jerked his head to indicate the direction. His voice was flat and business-like. "Get th' 'ell outta 'ere. If I ever see y' again, 'll pro'lly kill ya." And then he was gone, vanished into the shadows.

For the longest while, Rogue didn't move from where she lay sprawled on the ground. Her gloved hand found its way to her mouth and gently prodded the place where his lip-ring had cut her. It wasn't until long after he'd disappeared that the thought that had been struggling for attention finally surfaced.

"He kissed me."

My, she's a bright one, ain't she. One more chapter to go. ...Cor, I'm having too much fun with the dialouge.