MEDLAB 11:36 p.m.
"This won't work." Rogue's words were an echo of the others' thoughts.
It wouldn't work. They couldn't go off chasing down cloned mutants; they had an alliance of kids to train for a world that wouldn't accept them. The set-up was made worse with the fact that two of their own were clones. One of which was quite devestated to learn his second chance was not real and that he was in reality...dead. No one had taken the news well but least off all Rogue. She hadn't cried. They were still waiting for it. It would come.
"I agree. We can't just run off after this...we've got these kids to think about and then there's this new watcher, Nanaki. She's a bit of a complication,"Logan said, voicing another thought of the others. He propped his feet on top one of the counters and chewed on the end of a cigar. "If we send the kids out, does she go with?"
"Remy don' t'ink it's wise. Dey don' know her like dey do each other....she could jeopardize someone's life or cause an unneccessary problem."
"What's it matter what Remy thinks? Remy isn't real..." Rogue stood, slamming her chair back so hard that it tipped over, slid across the floor, and smacked into a wall. She ignored it to glare at them. "Or does no one else realize that we're leaving in a house with two clones that think they're the real deal?"
"Roguey..."
"Don't 'Roguey' me! You're not Remy and you ain't never gonna be Remy...figure it out on your own, guys. I'm out."
Logan stood, too. "What about when we get a decision, darlin?"
"Whatever you decide..." She hesitated before continuing. "I'll go along with." Before anyone could make further comment, Rogue was gone with the wake of her echoing footsteps and her empty chair.
Remy's hands came up to cover his face. He didn't move or offer further comment.
"Hank, what would be the better options? Go ourselves and leave the kids alone, send them to find these clones, or leave someone with the kids and the others go? If the last one, then who?" Logan laid the options out after removing his cigar; it went back almost instantly.
Hank looked around a moment then consulted his list. "I wouldn't recommend the first one since they're obviously not ready for that. I'd rather not do the second one since that would require an explanation...the third might work but we need everyone. Rogue's too emotionally involved to be much of a pillar for anyone, Remy and myself are part of the problem, and you're the most valuable asset, Logan....there's a lot of ways this can end. Most aren't good."
Logan shook his head. "It's not a split second decision. We need to sleep and the Cajun clone over there should talk to Rogue...it might not do good but she might listen. In the morning, we'll decide what to do, agreed?"
"Agreed."
Remy gave no response except to nod his hand then stand. He walked out of the room like Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders. He looked horrible but Logan had a feeling it wouldn't get any better.
Hank shook his head at his exit. "I fear the decision is already made, Logan. This is just postponing it..."
"You figured me out, Hank."
JANUARY 23, 2005 7:35 a.m.
"My back hurts." Corey fell into a chair in the kitchen, holding one hand against the lower part of his back. He massaged the muscles there with a moan.
"You? I think Kanteon broke my wrist..."Angel scowled, grimacing while her wrist was bandaged by Hank. She drew in a rough, shaky breathe but didn't jerk away from his hands.
Julius smiled and tipped her chin up so their eyes met. His expression wasn't a pleasant one. "Remember our deal, Demon?"he asked, caressing the side of her face until she shoved it away and 'floated' a bowl of cereal to him.
"Hungry, Kanteon?"she asked sweetly. In the blink of an eye, the bowl turned upside down and poured over his head, leaving a trail of soggy cereal and milk.
There were several gasps but Corey laughed. Served him right; they weren't suppoused to get that serious. He'd broken the rules...but what was this about a deal?
Nanaki chose that moment to enter. Her eyes went straight to Angel and Hank, noting the bandage and her gaze locked with Julius. "Is something going on here?"she asked, quietly but there was an under lying threat. Her entire persona said-if you hurt her, I hurt you.
"Nah, just trainin' and breakfast, Nanaki. Kanteon seems to have missed his mouth...right?"
Corey waited for an answer but there came none except a mighty cracking sound from the next room. As they watched, several large cracks split the wall, starting at the top and spiraling down; several light fixtures shook.
"Yes, I did, Angel. Thank you for the concern." Julius stalked from the room, leaving several more cracks in the walls and a longer one down the length of one side of the room's floor.
That can not be a good sign. What exactly happened between those two? First there was Juilus' broken nose then she visited him in the medlab. Offered to take him lunch, wasn't forced. Now Angel had a broken wrist and had dumped a bowl of cereal over his head. He was pissed.
"Baby mama drama is not warranted among mutants,"Russ said around a mouthful of pop tarts. He seemed unfazed by anything except maybe his vanishing breakfast and the little car he was painting.
Angel gave no answer. Another odd thing.
"Would you all just shut up?"Logan demanded upon his entrance. He walked to the coffee pot and fixed a cup, taking a drink straight after pouring it. He glared at them a moment then motioned with his head toward the door. "Go into the living room. There's something Hank needs to discuss with you...take your food if you're not through. NOW."
Rogue still stood at the window when they entered the room. Her back faced them but anyone that looked could see tear tracks on her face; Corey recognized them from his own mother when his father used to vanish for days on end. God, he missed them.
"Please sit down, children. I'm afraid my news isn't good..." Hank motioned to the chairs then touched Rogue's shoulder. She jerked with a visible shudder. "Rogue, would you sit with the others?"
"No,"she said in that quiet voice that held no hope for arguement.
Angel went over to her side and stood beside her, placing one hand against the window, palm out. "What's wrong, Rogue?"she questioned quietly as she studied the scene before her. The window overlooked the graves; in the mist of them, Remy knelt with his head buried in his hands, almost in the dirt.
"It's nuthin', Angel. Go listen to Hank." The words took a visible effort.
"Alright..."
Corey stared at her for a moment, trying to understand her..but it failed. She was untouchable much like her name and power suggested. Rogue. Untouchable. Scarred by herself and others.
Hank waited until they were seated on two couches and Julius had returned with his black scowl and clean/dry clothes. He surveyed them a moment then held up a stack of paper. Even from their disadvantage point highlights were visible in pale gray.
"I've been doing some research about what happened to us, the X-men. It seems that things are exactly as they appear; you have a right to know the truth,"he said, glancing once at Rogue. He turned back without her meeting his gaze. She'd never looked away from the window. "While Rogue and Logan are real beyond their inability to age beyond their current ages-both should be well into their eighties or more-but Remy and myself are not."
"What?!" The question was taken up as a group effort followed by complaints, individual conversations, and arguements.
"QUIET!" Logan halted the conversations in an instant. "He's not finished yet."
"Thank you, Logan. From my searching, I've found that we are experiments in mutant cloning..."
"Meaning?"Russ asked, knowing the answer from the look in his eyes and the rigid set of his jaw.
"Remy and myself are clones of the original Beast and Gambit. Our memories are real but we are not, for lack of a better way to put it, the true X-men. We are clones along with many other mutants,"he finished, seperating the sheets into several stacks. He left them on the table for the moment to finish. "The reason I'm telling you this is that we need your help to find them. There's, on an estimate and educated guess, thirteen known cloned mutants, including myself and Remy."
"Does that mean we're to find thirteen mutants, without guidance?"Kellie asked, startling them all with the seriousness of her tone. She stood. Obviously she was taking this well.
Hank shook his head then gave Logan several stacks of paper. He offered another to Rogue; she took it then handed them off, slowly, almost robot-like.
"These sheets contain information about mutants that we need to find...their names and codenames, powers, background, and any other details, including family; I'd suspect most of the listed relatives except decendants are dead."
"Do we choose our own teams or did you assign those as well?"Julius demanded, staring down at the paper he held. His gaze searched the paper then landed on something. "Pyro? What kind of a name is that..?"
"If you read further before running your mouth, kid, you'd know,"Logan growled before placing a cigar into his mouth to chew on the end. He walked to Rogue and said something quiet, almost in her ears. She shook her head without looking away.
"No." Hank shook his head again. "You've been paired up according to your skills. Julius and Angel are together since your powers compliment but are a little dependant..."
"Dependant? Her but not me."
Angel took the papers from him. "Shut up, Misery."
Hank continued around them. "Russ and Tara are together since both are they work well and what he lacks in skills, she makes up for. It works in it's own way. Corey and Kellie will work together since their powers can work together; he can create illusions to get her close enough to at least hurt if not kill their charges...Rogue and Gambit will stay here. Logan and I will try to find some of the 'harder to catch' mutants,"he said as though it explained everything. It didn't. They all had questions, lots of questions but none would voice them now.
"He ain't Remy,"Rogue said from her place at the window once more. She turned away from the glass with a look of defiance. "He was never Remy nor will he ever be Remy."
Logan sighed. "We know, darlin'...will you two be okay until we're back?"
"Fine,"she mumbled but it sounded like she was struggling to convince herself. "Just go, all of ya. Bring 'em back. The sooner they're back, the sooner this can end."
Corey tuned out of their coversation as he studied the paper with Kellie. Their list wasn't really all that long. It held four mutants. Jubilee, Iceman, Banshee, and Blockbuster. Their vital stats were listed below; it wasn't much but at least two of their people were once X-men while the other two had been part of several 'worse for wear' groups.
"Ready to do this, Image?"Kellie asked, standing and leafing through the papers. She stopped on Jubilee. "It's a kid. How much trouble could this one be...?"
DOWNTOWN AREA 11:30 a.m.
"Pyro. What kind of a mutant name is Pyro?" Julius climbed off his motorcycle and scanned the surrounding area with a look of pure contempt. He barely acknowledged Angel's prescence.
"Before you go into one of your rages, Misery-Pyro's real name is St. John Allerdyce and according to this...he can psionically manipulate the flame to do whatever he desires. Pyro's fiery creations have greater solidity than normal flame; hence a giant "bird" he created from fire could grasp and carry a solid object with its claws. The degree of Pyro's concentration necessary to manipulate a flame being is directly proportional to the being's size, power, and flame,"she read from the paper with a look of interest. She held it up a moment. "Australian born and writes torrid Gothic romances. I love Aussies."
"Give it a rest, Demon. Who else do we have?" He took the list from her hand without bothering to wait for an answer; he scanned it. Her excitement over the Australian cloned mutant irritated him. "Jean Grey-telekenetic? Riptide and Arclight? Where do these people get their names...?"
"I don't know, Misery. We can start with either Pyro and Jean Grey. Which would you prefer?"
"Let's find the Australian flame addict who writes torrid Gothic romances,"he said with a cheerfulness that he didn't feel. He was stuck with the plague with a broken wrist, searching for mutants that seemed like they'd rather, or were better off, not to be found. "We'll work on the others later. You really like Australians?"
"Hell yeah! Their accents are the best."
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS 11:33 a.m.
"Wanna remind me again what we're doing here? This place has been abandoned for almost twenty-eight-years,"Russ pointed out, gesturing toward the run-down building before them. It's roof was sagging, paint was peeling, the lawn was over grown with weeds and other things but littered with garbage and and the remains of furniture. "Who in their right minds would stay here?"
Tara looked down at the papers she held then shuffled them, pointing to something written on each page. "Every one of these mutants is former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from some point or another. If you were back in a strange time and didn't know anything...where would you retreat to?"she asked as she studied the names. Toad, Mystique, and Quicksilver.
Toad A.K.A. Mortimer Toynbee. Where she'd gotten her last name from once she'd legally had it changed. It had been a random name but it had also given her the codename she kept. Tadpole. Toad had been an inspiration to her and she'd much wanted something to remember him by. This meeting was not what she had in mind.
"I'd go home."
"Exactly. If they turn up like Gambit and Beast then my guess is they're unaware of the time change and to them, it's the same year of their deaths. None of them know they're clones or anything else...get it, Sabbath?"
Russ nodded and squinted at the house. "I got it, Tadpole. Which one would that be?"he asked, nodding toward a strikingly handsome man around six foot with silver eyes and shocking white hair.
"QuickSilver...Pietro Maximoff."
SIGHT OF MUTANT HANGINGS 11:36 a.m.
"Iceman and Jubilee were picked up somewhere around here by authorities according to this report. When an unknown, even to them, stranger stepped forward and paid bail, the two simply vanished...it's like they don't exist." Kellie scanned the report in a desperate attempt to find some clue on what to do.
"Pick up? As in police-wise?"Corey asked, shielding his eyes with one hand to look around. He didn't see any sign of anyone fitting the descriptions or the pictures attached to these files. There was no one. An odd twist.
"I'm guessing. Then there's Riptide and Blockbuster...they just seem to be your general, should-be-in-the-bin, running-free psychos." She shrugged.
"Running-free psychos? How fun,"he said with a good bit of sarcasm, beginning to make his way over toward the stage. Barely 24 hours earlier they'd watched a mutant hung and were now looking for others. He stepped onto the stage then looked down, feeling something stick to his shoe. He lifted one foot then sighed at the sight of bright pink bubble gum. "Did it say something about excessive gum-chewing?"
"Yeah. Jubilee had a thing for gum; why?"
"I found some of it. Pink gum. They're around here. Somewhere."
X-MANSION 11:39 a.m.
She cleared her throat.
Remy's head shot up before he turned back to gazing at what had caught his fancy for the last few hours. His own grave. Or the original him.
"Yes, chere?"he asked without looking away again. His hands were clenched into tight fists around the blades of grass and dirt heaps beneathe them. He wasn't crying but there was anger and anguish in his red on black eyes.
Rogue knelt beside him but deliberately kept from touching him. She rested one hand against her knees and the other in the fresh dirt. "I loved him." She said it like it was the simplest thing ever.
"I--Remy loved y'. It's in his memories,"he answered, slowly, bringing one hand up to his head and tapping there. His hand dropped almost instantly. "Y'suffered a lot together."
"I almost killed him more than once and he would have let himself die for me..." Her voice trailed off into quiet sobbing. Tears ran, freely, down her cheeks in streams. "I was stupid. I always doubted that he could love me. Only me. I was wrong and stupid."
"Remy did love y'. He never regretted loving de untouchable Rogue or that he couldn' touch her." His hand touched hers; it was cold and waxy. She jerked away from his touch.
"Don't touch me, Please don't play him right now...it's hard enough,"she whispered, stroking one hand across the dirt. Her gloves scraped against the dirt, roughly but he could tell it wasn't important to her.
"I'm sorry, Rogue. It's what he and I have...I can' just not live his memories and emotions. In every way that counts, I am Gambit."
She rose in a flash, rubbing at the tears in her eyes. "No! You're not! No one will EVER be Gambit except him...and he's dead. I killed him,"she said before tears began again. They flowed in waves.
"What..?" His expression showed confusion.
"I kill him. When the riot started, we were prepared, we could have fought them off...I left the lines. Remy asked where I was going but I never answer..." Her voice took on a hollow, broken tone.
"Where did y'go, chere?"
"There was a little girl. She was a beautiful child. Black-haired, blue-eyed dressed in her Sunday Best with those little black shoes girls wore. No one seemed to notice her; she was terrified and crying." Rogue stopped for a moment and ran her hand through the dirt again. "I went to help her. She couldn't be harmful at her age but once I returned her to safety, the entrance to the giant library, it was over. The last thing I saw was Remy's eyes, pleading with me to save him. I didn't; I couldn't."
"Remy never blamed y'."
"How do you know? You only have his memories not the truth...you don't know nuthin."
Remy's hand pressed against the side of her face while he rubbed the hard line of her jaw with his thumb, pressing lightly until it softened. "He loved you for carin' enough to save the petite...it was the memory he kept. Forever."
"This won't work." Rogue's words were an echo of the others' thoughts.
It wouldn't work. They couldn't go off chasing down cloned mutants; they had an alliance of kids to train for a world that wouldn't accept them. The set-up was made worse with the fact that two of their own were clones. One of which was quite devestated to learn his second chance was not real and that he was in reality...dead. No one had taken the news well but least off all Rogue. She hadn't cried. They were still waiting for it. It would come.
"I agree. We can't just run off after this...we've got these kids to think about and then there's this new watcher, Nanaki. She's a bit of a complication,"Logan said, voicing another thought of the others. He propped his feet on top one of the counters and chewed on the end of a cigar. "If we send the kids out, does she go with?"
"Remy don' t'ink it's wise. Dey don' know her like dey do each other....she could jeopardize someone's life or cause an unneccessary problem."
"What's it matter what Remy thinks? Remy isn't real..." Rogue stood, slamming her chair back so hard that it tipped over, slid across the floor, and smacked into a wall. She ignored it to glare at them. "Or does no one else realize that we're leaving in a house with two clones that think they're the real deal?"
"Roguey..."
"Don't 'Roguey' me! You're not Remy and you ain't never gonna be Remy...figure it out on your own, guys. I'm out."
Logan stood, too. "What about when we get a decision, darlin?"
"Whatever you decide..." She hesitated before continuing. "I'll go along with." Before anyone could make further comment, Rogue was gone with the wake of her echoing footsteps and her empty chair.
Remy's hands came up to cover his face. He didn't move or offer further comment.
"Hank, what would be the better options? Go ourselves and leave the kids alone, send them to find these clones, or leave someone with the kids and the others go? If the last one, then who?" Logan laid the options out after removing his cigar; it went back almost instantly.
Hank looked around a moment then consulted his list. "I wouldn't recommend the first one since they're obviously not ready for that. I'd rather not do the second one since that would require an explanation...the third might work but we need everyone. Rogue's too emotionally involved to be much of a pillar for anyone, Remy and myself are part of the problem, and you're the most valuable asset, Logan....there's a lot of ways this can end. Most aren't good."
Logan shook his head. "It's not a split second decision. We need to sleep and the Cajun clone over there should talk to Rogue...it might not do good but she might listen. In the morning, we'll decide what to do, agreed?"
"Agreed."
Remy gave no response except to nod his hand then stand. He walked out of the room like Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders. He looked horrible but Logan had a feeling it wouldn't get any better.
Hank shook his head at his exit. "I fear the decision is already made, Logan. This is just postponing it..."
"You figured me out, Hank."
JANUARY 23, 2005 7:35 a.m.
"My back hurts." Corey fell into a chair in the kitchen, holding one hand against the lower part of his back. He massaged the muscles there with a moan.
"You? I think Kanteon broke my wrist..."Angel scowled, grimacing while her wrist was bandaged by Hank. She drew in a rough, shaky breathe but didn't jerk away from his hands.
Julius smiled and tipped her chin up so their eyes met. His expression wasn't a pleasant one. "Remember our deal, Demon?"he asked, caressing the side of her face until she shoved it away and 'floated' a bowl of cereal to him.
"Hungry, Kanteon?"she asked sweetly. In the blink of an eye, the bowl turned upside down and poured over his head, leaving a trail of soggy cereal and milk.
There were several gasps but Corey laughed. Served him right; they weren't suppoused to get that serious. He'd broken the rules...but what was this about a deal?
Nanaki chose that moment to enter. Her eyes went straight to Angel and Hank, noting the bandage and her gaze locked with Julius. "Is something going on here?"she asked, quietly but there was an under lying threat. Her entire persona said-if you hurt her, I hurt you.
"Nah, just trainin' and breakfast, Nanaki. Kanteon seems to have missed his mouth...right?"
Corey waited for an answer but there came none except a mighty cracking sound from the next room. As they watched, several large cracks split the wall, starting at the top and spiraling down; several light fixtures shook.
"Yes, I did, Angel. Thank you for the concern." Julius stalked from the room, leaving several more cracks in the walls and a longer one down the length of one side of the room's floor.
That can not be a good sign. What exactly happened between those two? First there was Juilus' broken nose then she visited him in the medlab. Offered to take him lunch, wasn't forced. Now Angel had a broken wrist and had dumped a bowl of cereal over his head. He was pissed.
"Baby mama drama is not warranted among mutants,"Russ said around a mouthful of pop tarts. He seemed unfazed by anything except maybe his vanishing breakfast and the little car he was painting.
Angel gave no answer. Another odd thing.
"Would you all just shut up?"Logan demanded upon his entrance. He walked to the coffee pot and fixed a cup, taking a drink straight after pouring it. He glared at them a moment then motioned with his head toward the door. "Go into the living room. There's something Hank needs to discuss with you...take your food if you're not through. NOW."
Rogue still stood at the window when they entered the room. Her back faced them but anyone that looked could see tear tracks on her face; Corey recognized them from his own mother when his father used to vanish for days on end. God, he missed them.
"Please sit down, children. I'm afraid my news isn't good..." Hank motioned to the chairs then touched Rogue's shoulder. She jerked with a visible shudder. "Rogue, would you sit with the others?"
"No,"she said in that quiet voice that held no hope for arguement.
Angel went over to her side and stood beside her, placing one hand against the window, palm out. "What's wrong, Rogue?"she questioned quietly as she studied the scene before her. The window overlooked the graves; in the mist of them, Remy knelt with his head buried in his hands, almost in the dirt.
"It's nuthin', Angel. Go listen to Hank." The words took a visible effort.
"Alright..."
Corey stared at her for a moment, trying to understand her..but it failed. She was untouchable much like her name and power suggested. Rogue. Untouchable. Scarred by herself and others.
Hank waited until they were seated on two couches and Julius had returned with his black scowl and clean/dry clothes. He surveyed them a moment then held up a stack of paper. Even from their disadvantage point highlights were visible in pale gray.
"I've been doing some research about what happened to us, the X-men. It seems that things are exactly as they appear; you have a right to know the truth,"he said, glancing once at Rogue. He turned back without her meeting his gaze. She'd never looked away from the window. "While Rogue and Logan are real beyond their inability to age beyond their current ages-both should be well into their eighties or more-but Remy and myself are not."
"What?!" The question was taken up as a group effort followed by complaints, individual conversations, and arguements.
"QUIET!" Logan halted the conversations in an instant. "He's not finished yet."
"Thank you, Logan. From my searching, I've found that we are experiments in mutant cloning..."
"Meaning?"Russ asked, knowing the answer from the look in his eyes and the rigid set of his jaw.
"Remy and myself are clones of the original Beast and Gambit. Our memories are real but we are not, for lack of a better way to put it, the true X-men. We are clones along with many other mutants,"he finished, seperating the sheets into several stacks. He left them on the table for the moment to finish. "The reason I'm telling you this is that we need your help to find them. There's, on an estimate and educated guess, thirteen known cloned mutants, including myself and Remy."
"Does that mean we're to find thirteen mutants, without guidance?"Kellie asked, startling them all with the seriousness of her tone. She stood. Obviously she was taking this well.
Hank shook his head then gave Logan several stacks of paper. He offered another to Rogue; she took it then handed them off, slowly, almost robot-like.
"These sheets contain information about mutants that we need to find...their names and codenames, powers, background, and any other details, including family; I'd suspect most of the listed relatives except decendants are dead."
"Do we choose our own teams or did you assign those as well?"Julius demanded, staring down at the paper he held. His gaze searched the paper then landed on something. "Pyro? What kind of a name is that..?"
"If you read further before running your mouth, kid, you'd know,"Logan growled before placing a cigar into his mouth to chew on the end. He walked to Rogue and said something quiet, almost in her ears. She shook her head without looking away.
"No." Hank shook his head again. "You've been paired up according to your skills. Julius and Angel are together since your powers compliment but are a little dependant..."
"Dependant? Her but not me."
Angel took the papers from him. "Shut up, Misery."
Hank continued around them. "Russ and Tara are together since both are they work well and what he lacks in skills, she makes up for. It works in it's own way. Corey and Kellie will work together since their powers can work together; he can create illusions to get her close enough to at least hurt if not kill their charges...Rogue and Gambit will stay here. Logan and I will try to find some of the 'harder to catch' mutants,"he said as though it explained everything. It didn't. They all had questions, lots of questions but none would voice them now.
"He ain't Remy,"Rogue said from her place at the window once more. She turned away from the glass with a look of defiance. "He was never Remy nor will he ever be Remy."
Logan sighed. "We know, darlin'...will you two be okay until we're back?"
"Fine,"she mumbled but it sounded like she was struggling to convince herself. "Just go, all of ya. Bring 'em back. The sooner they're back, the sooner this can end."
Corey tuned out of their coversation as he studied the paper with Kellie. Their list wasn't really all that long. It held four mutants. Jubilee, Iceman, Banshee, and Blockbuster. Their vital stats were listed below; it wasn't much but at least two of their people were once X-men while the other two had been part of several 'worse for wear' groups.
"Ready to do this, Image?"Kellie asked, standing and leafing through the papers. She stopped on Jubilee. "It's a kid. How much trouble could this one be...?"
DOWNTOWN AREA 11:30 a.m.
"Pyro. What kind of a mutant name is Pyro?" Julius climbed off his motorcycle and scanned the surrounding area with a look of pure contempt. He barely acknowledged Angel's prescence.
"Before you go into one of your rages, Misery-Pyro's real name is St. John Allerdyce and according to this...he can psionically manipulate the flame to do whatever he desires. Pyro's fiery creations have greater solidity than normal flame; hence a giant "bird" he created from fire could grasp and carry a solid object with its claws. The degree of Pyro's concentration necessary to manipulate a flame being is directly proportional to the being's size, power, and flame,"she read from the paper with a look of interest. She held it up a moment. "Australian born and writes torrid Gothic romances. I love Aussies."
"Give it a rest, Demon. Who else do we have?" He took the list from her hand without bothering to wait for an answer; he scanned it. Her excitement over the Australian cloned mutant irritated him. "Jean Grey-telekenetic? Riptide and Arclight? Where do these people get their names...?"
"I don't know, Misery. We can start with either Pyro and Jean Grey. Which would you prefer?"
"Let's find the Australian flame addict who writes torrid Gothic romances,"he said with a cheerfulness that he didn't feel. He was stuck with the plague with a broken wrist, searching for mutants that seemed like they'd rather, or were better off, not to be found. "We'll work on the others later. You really like Australians?"
"Hell yeah! Their accents are the best."
EX-BROTHERHOOD HEADQUARTERS 11:33 a.m.
"Wanna remind me again what we're doing here? This place has been abandoned for almost twenty-eight-years,"Russ pointed out, gesturing toward the run-down building before them. It's roof was sagging, paint was peeling, the lawn was over grown with weeds and other things but littered with garbage and and the remains of furniture. "Who in their right minds would stay here?"
Tara looked down at the papers she held then shuffled them, pointing to something written on each page. "Every one of these mutants is former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from some point or another. If you were back in a strange time and didn't know anything...where would you retreat to?"she asked as she studied the names. Toad, Mystique, and Quicksilver.
Toad A.K.A. Mortimer Toynbee. Where she'd gotten her last name from once she'd legally had it changed. It had been a random name but it had also given her the codename she kept. Tadpole. Toad had been an inspiration to her and she'd much wanted something to remember him by. This meeting was not what she had in mind.
"I'd go home."
"Exactly. If they turn up like Gambit and Beast then my guess is they're unaware of the time change and to them, it's the same year of their deaths. None of them know they're clones or anything else...get it, Sabbath?"
Russ nodded and squinted at the house. "I got it, Tadpole. Which one would that be?"he asked, nodding toward a strikingly handsome man around six foot with silver eyes and shocking white hair.
"QuickSilver...Pietro Maximoff."
SIGHT OF MUTANT HANGINGS 11:36 a.m.
"Iceman and Jubilee were picked up somewhere around here by authorities according to this report. When an unknown, even to them, stranger stepped forward and paid bail, the two simply vanished...it's like they don't exist." Kellie scanned the report in a desperate attempt to find some clue on what to do.
"Pick up? As in police-wise?"Corey asked, shielding his eyes with one hand to look around. He didn't see any sign of anyone fitting the descriptions or the pictures attached to these files. There was no one. An odd twist.
"I'm guessing. Then there's Riptide and Blockbuster...they just seem to be your general, should-be-in-the-bin, running-free psychos." She shrugged.
"Running-free psychos? How fun,"he said with a good bit of sarcasm, beginning to make his way over toward the stage. Barely 24 hours earlier they'd watched a mutant hung and were now looking for others. He stepped onto the stage then looked down, feeling something stick to his shoe. He lifted one foot then sighed at the sight of bright pink bubble gum. "Did it say something about excessive gum-chewing?"
"Yeah. Jubilee had a thing for gum; why?"
"I found some of it. Pink gum. They're around here. Somewhere."
X-MANSION 11:39 a.m.
She cleared her throat.
Remy's head shot up before he turned back to gazing at what had caught his fancy for the last few hours. His own grave. Or the original him.
"Yes, chere?"he asked without looking away again. His hands were clenched into tight fists around the blades of grass and dirt heaps beneathe them. He wasn't crying but there was anger and anguish in his red on black eyes.
Rogue knelt beside him but deliberately kept from touching him. She rested one hand against her knees and the other in the fresh dirt. "I loved him." She said it like it was the simplest thing ever.
"I--Remy loved y'. It's in his memories,"he answered, slowly, bringing one hand up to his head and tapping there. His hand dropped almost instantly. "Y'suffered a lot together."
"I almost killed him more than once and he would have let himself die for me..." Her voice trailed off into quiet sobbing. Tears ran, freely, down her cheeks in streams. "I was stupid. I always doubted that he could love me. Only me. I was wrong and stupid."
"Remy did love y'. He never regretted loving de untouchable Rogue or that he couldn' touch her." His hand touched hers; it was cold and waxy. She jerked away from his touch.
"Don't touch me, Please don't play him right now...it's hard enough,"she whispered, stroking one hand across the dirt. Her gloves scraped against the dirt, roughly but he could tell it wasn't important to her.
"I'm sorry, Rogue. It's what he and I have...I can' just not live his memories and emotions. In every way that counts, I am Gambit."
She rose in a flash, rubbing at the tears in her eyes. "No! You're not! No one will EVER be Gambit except him...and he's dead. I killed him,"she said before tears began again. They flowed in waves.
"What..?" His expression showed confusion.
"I kill him. When the riot started, we were prepared, we could have fought them off...I left the lines. Remy asked where I was going but I never answer..." Her voice took on a hollow, broken tone.
"Where did y'go, chere?"
"There was a little girl. She was a beautiful child. Black-haired, blue-eyed dressed in her Sunday Best with those little black shoes girls wore. No one seemed to notice her; she was terrified and crying." Rogue stopped for a moment and ran her hand through the dirt again. "I went to help her. She couldn't be harmful at her age but once I returned her to safety, the entrance to the giant library, it was over. The last thing I saw was Remy's eyes, pleading with me to save him. I didn't; I couldn't."
"Remy never blamed y'."
"How do you know? You only have his memories not the truth...you don't know nuthin."
Remy's hand pressed against the side of her face while he rubbed the hard line of her jaw with his thumb, pressing lightly until it softened. "He loved you for carin' enough to save the petite...it was the memory he kept. Forever."