Thanks to:
Steph14Wales – as always, thanks!
Firefly25 – Forge is gonna be turning up a lot more in my fic than he does in Evo, although he'll be absent for a few chapters yet. And I have many evil plans for Rogue…Thanks for reviewing!
Risty – Forge in the Brotherhood? Wait and see (hahahaha!). Jean was so jealous of Taryn in the series that I thought I might carry that over. Thanks for reviewing!
Furygrrl – Thanks for the great review! I don't know that I'll give Jean a romantic pairing yet, if so it won't be serious and it WON'T be Scott! Promise!
XX-Goth-gal – I might have Risty show up later (I know I can do the accent better than whoever voiced her in Evo). I liked her too. Thanks for the review!
LadyEvils – Jean is totally scary when she's power mad! Glad you liked the Lancitty, look for more in this chapter! Thanks for the review!
CarolJ – If I had Jeans powers, that's what I'd do! Thanks for the review!
DemonRogue13 – It's great fun to write about evil Jean. Thanks for the review!
Lyranfan – I think the X-Men always have strength in numbers over the Brotherhood and wondered what would happen if the roles were reversed…Thanks for the review!
Deb1 – Thanks for the review! I'm glad the action was detailed enough.
Candace – Glad you're liking it and thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. Jean Grey does. Jean owns us all!! Wait – has some one been screwing with my mind?
"Rogue's losing her faith in us," Jean told Mystique that evening. "She's stopped being afraid of the X-Men and tonight she was helping them get that blue-furred freak back from another dimension. Why not just leave him there?"
Mystique looked out of the window thoughtfully. "Maybe it's time we reminded her where her loyalties lie. Can you alter her thoughts?"
"I don't know. At the moment I might be able to, but if she absorbs anyone else it could upset things. I think I can deal with four personalities, but not ten or twenty. If I change her thoughts and she absorbs some one else, the change might not last."
There was a brief pause, then Mystique sighed. "We have to try. We cannot lose her, especially not to Xavier!"
"Why not? Let her go. The atmosphere around here might get a little better without her around."
"Destiny has foreseen that Rogue is essential to our future. The whole Brotherhood, but you and I in particular."
"How?"
"She can't tell. Too much is still in doubt. But if Rogue joins the X-Men, it casts a dark shadow over us all."
"Whatever." Privately, Jean was getting tired of taking orders based on the vague prophecies of a woman she'd never met – but Irene had yet to be wrong, had known exactly where to find the other Brotherhood members. "OK, I'll do it. But I won't be able to change her mind again if she absorbs too many other people."
"If we do it right the first time, we shouldn't have to." Mystique turned away from the window, "When she gets back, do it then, tonight."
"OK. What are you gonna do about the other guy I told you about, this Forge?"
"I'll go through the schools archive records, find the records of the accident that closed down the lab. There may be an address for his parents and hopefully they'll still live there."
"Do you need me to go when you speak to them?"
"I'll decide that when we locate them. For the moment, we just have to concentrate on Rogue."
"Yeah." Jean decided to go to Duncan's party for a while. She'd had enough of the Brotherhood and their problems for one day and with any luck, Rogue would be asleep when she got back, making her job easier.
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"You're quiet tonight." Kitty looked up at her boyfriend. He was leaning against a tree, looking out across the deserted park; she was resting her head against his shoulder. Ever since that scene with the X-Men, he'd been distracted.
Lance sighed and looked up at the night sky. "Kitty, I – well, I've got something to confess."
"What?" Kitty sat up and searched his face for a clue. "What is it?"
"I…" Lance met her eyes and then looked away. "At our old school, the first day we met, I lied to you. I wanted to help you, but that wasn't all. Me and some of the guys I hung out with had a scam going on, we sold test results to people, strictly small time, y'know? But they'd suspected something and installed a new alarm system in the office and we couldn't get in without some one finding out. Then I saw you fall right through the locker and I knew you could get the answers for me. That's why I got you to go into the office that day."
Kitty stared at him in shock. "Everything we've been through together, all that was based on a lie? I thought you cared about me!" Her eyes filled with tears and she started to get up, but Lance stopped her by grabbing her hand.
"It's not like that Kitty! At first – I mean, I liked you and all, but I knew that once you got used to having your powers you wouldn't need me anymore, probably wouldn't even look at me. And I had a problem you could fix. I knew you wouldn't go along with it, so I tricked you. But then when your parents showed up, I really did want to keep them from hurting you. And if Mystique hadn't shown up when she had, I was gonna leave town and take you with me."
"And now?" Kitty's voice was shaking, so quiet that Lance could barely hear her. "Is this a trick?"
"No. No trick." Lance ran his hand through his hair, looking miserable. "It's just – I care about you and I know you trust me. I didn't wanna keep the truth from you anymore, even if you never trust me again."
"You were the only person I did trust."
"I know. That's why I had to tell you."
Kitty pulled her hand from his and turned away from him, looking out over the park. Silence reigned for several minutes as Lance tried to think of a way to make things right, but couldn't find the words.
Eventually, Kitty turned to face him again. "I am so mad at you."
"I know, and I'm sorry."
"I don't know why I should forgive you. How do I know this is the real you? Or is the real you just a hood who lied to me and tried to use me?"
"This is!" Lance grabbed her hand again and looked into her eyes. "I needed to tell you because I didn't want to lie to you anymore."
Kitty sighed. "I should hate you for this."
"Do you? Hate me?"
"No."
"Uh…why not?"
"I guess…" Kitty frowned unhappily. "I guess because you've proved since then that I can trust you. I mean, we've been through so much, leaving home together and coming to Bayville to learn about our powers, meeting other people like us…but you've always been there for me, didn't ignore me even though I don't really fit in with them…"
"Yes you – "
"No. I don't. But it's OK, because you always look out for me. If it wasn't for you and Jean, I'd be lost. The other boys make fun of the way I talk and it isn't exactly easy to get close to Rogue. Or healthy either."
Lance laughed.
"You lied to me. Once. And told me about it when you didn't need to because I'd never know otherwise. That makes me trust you more."
Lance put his arm around her and pulled her into an embrace; hardly able to believe she'd forgiven him. "I promise you Kitty, I'll never lie to you again."
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By the time Jean got back from Duncan's party, Rogue had returned and was asleep. She went up to her room quietly and lay on the bed, carefully entering Rogues mind. First, she suppressed the other personalities in Rogues head as best as she could – Cody, Nightcrawler, Storm and Quicksilver. Curious about when Pietro had touched her, Jean searched the other girl's memories and found that Pietro had bet Rogue that he was too fast for her powers. One kiss later, Rogue had gained $10 and another personality.
Irritated, Jean found Rogues memories of the X-Men. It wasn't looking good. Rogue had realised that Mystique had probably been disguised as the X-Men the night her powers had manifested, although she was trying to deny it to herself. Worse still, she had a crush on Scott Summers. She was beginning to think he could never hurt her and that undermined her fear of the X-Men. Removing the attraction would solve nothing – they saw Cyclops every day at school and it was unlikely that he'd stop trying to befriend Rogue. The crush would just return.
Briefly, Jean toyed with the idea of changing Rogues object of affection to Blob or Toad – watching the Goth moon over the less attractive members of the Brotherhood would be amusing if nothing else – but in the end, she rejected the idea as too risky. Instead, she decided to replace Scott with herself. It wasn't as if the girl could do anything about it, she'd be easier to control if she was crushing on Jean and even if she saw Scott every day, she'd be unlikely to feel the same way about him now.
Grinning, Jean added the telepathic suggestion that Rogue was still afraid of the X-Men and that neither Jean nor Mystique would ever deceive her before withdrawing her presence from the other girls mind. This was going to be interesting.
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"Pardon et moi? I do not understand what is – like me?"
"An angel is like you Kate. And you are like an angel."
"Urghh."
Scott frowned at Rogue over the top of his book. "Is everything alright with you?"
"Everything'll be fine as soon as ah finish this stupid play and ah don't have to talk to you again!"
"But I thought, y'know, we were getting on OK."
"Well you thought wrong!"
"But…"
"What is it you want from me?"
"I don't want anything. Except maybe your friendship."
"Yeah? Well sorry, not interested." Rogue stood up and grabbed her book. "Ah'm outta here. If we screw up, too bad."
"Rogue, wait!" Scott stood up too, trying to work out what had changed since the day before, when they'd been almost friendly. "Listen, we've never tried to hurt you, you've been lied to."
"Bullshit! Who would do that?"
"I think he's trying to say that I would," said Jean, Scott and Rogue too caught up in their argument to notice her approaching.
"Jean!" Rogue spun around to face the other girl, dropping her book onto the grass. "Ah didn't see you!"
"Well, when you said you'd be here after school I thought we might go for a coffee or something when you've finished." Jean smirked at Scott. "Unless you'd rather stay here."
"Sure! Ah mean, ah'd like to go for coffee, ah'm done here."
Scott watched the scene in confusion. The previous day Rogue hadn't seemed to like Jean very much at all and now – was she blushing? He tried to work out what might have changed her attitude so drastically and didn't like the conclusion he arrived at.
"You've been messing with her mind, haven't you?"
"Right, like I am so sure Scott Summers," replied Jean, rolling her eyes.
"Jean wouldn't do that to anyone," added Rogue.
"She did it to me," Scott told her.
"You liar!" Rogue looked upset. "The only people who tried to hurt me were the X-Men!"
"Forget him Rogue." Jean put a hand on the other girls shoulder. "Let's get out of here, before he tells any more lies."
"You know I'm telling the truth Jean," said Scott, glaring at the redhead. "Rogue's gonna find out sooner or later and I wouldn't wanna be you when she does."
"Just when ah thought you could not get any more pathetic." Rogue walked off and Jean followed her, turning her head and winking at Scott as she did so, grinning at the furious look on his face.
Scott watched them leave, then retrieved Rogues forgotten book from the grass. Deciding he had better inform the Professor of this latest development, he drove back to the mansion and found the other X-Men, quickly telling them what he had discovered.
The Professor seemed unsurprised by his news. "I've suspected for some time that Mystique would encourage Jean to use her powers to control the minds of the Brotherhood in this way."
"Most of the Brotherhood don't need their minds controlling," Logan observed.
"Can't you get into their heads and take out whatever Jean put in?" asked Scott.
Professor Xavier shook his head. "Without their co-operation and without knowing exactly what she did, it would be almost impossible."
"So zhey're stuck zhat way?" Kurt looked at the Professor in disbelief. "Zhere has to be somezhing we can do!"
"We might not have to do anything." The Professor looked grim. "Jean's had no real training for her powers – that she's managed to do this well on her own is amazing. She'll overextend herself. If her powers keep growing, she may even find it hard to block out the thoughts of others and that could cause schizophrenia. I predict that she'll be forced to come to us for help."
"And we're supposed to just help her if she needs it?" Evan scowled at the idea. "Hey, if she comes here we should just – "
"Evan!" Storm glared at her nephew. " If Jean does come to us, we may be able to get her to see things from our point of view, realise that Mystique is wrong."
"She won't come to us for help if there's another way to control her powers," said Logan.
"And she might be able to control them anyway!" Scott clenched his fists. "We can't just wait and see. There has to be something we can do!"
"I'm sorry Scott," replied the Professor. "There isn't."