X-Men: Evolution or X-Men. They all belong to their respected owners. I will not make any money from this story.

A/N - I hope this story is still doing well. I don't want to draw it out too much but I don't want to make it too short. It's a fine line. heh heh.

Chapter four

Rogue sat in the corner of what had been her room. Hers and Kitty's. It belonged to someone else now. Sighing heavily Rogue stood up and silently left the room. It wouldn't do any good for the room's occupant to come back and find her in there.

She rubbed her temple trying to ease one of the many headaches that she had been getting as of late. Her hair had grown quite a bit since she had been travelling and she wore it in a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Hey sis. How are you doing?"

"Kurt, you scared me" Rogue growled.

"Sorry. Thinking about Kitty?"

"Yeah and other things" Rogue replied.

She hadn't told Kurt what had happened to her. Only Professor Xavier knew what had truly happened to her.

She saw Kurt frown and she wanted to explain everything but the memories were still too vivid and the nightmares were still haunting her. She would wake in the middle of the night, a scream waiting on her lips and distorted horrors still playing in her mind.

"Don't worry about me Kurt. I'm fine" she lied easily.

Kurt didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Do you want to run a danger room simulation?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure. I'll just go and suit up. Meet you in five" she answered with a smile.

She watched as Kurt bamfed away leaving a lingering smell of brimstone.

Rogue jogged to the room the professor had provided her with and pulled out her now familiar suit. She looked at it with a slight smile remembering all the times that she had to wear it.

"God Kitty, Ah hope you are safe" she said as she pulled on her uniform and ran down to the danger room.

~*~

Aidan Kale watched as they got Katherine to walk on air and smiled grimly. They had received reports of mutant reports from various places but he was no longer interested in any of them. He wanted the ones who had defeated his men.

After interrogating Katherine they had learned some more about the ones who were after her. They hadn't realised that the private boarding house that she had lived at was actually a school for mutants. Once they had learned that surveillance had been set up immediately around the Institute for Gifted Youngsters.

Aidan had seen some of the children there and had become very angry.

He couldn't believe that these mutants, these abominations were living there happily and being trained in their powers. As far as he was concerned they had no rights what so ever.

Leaving the experiment room he walked calmly down the hall to his office. He sat down in his chair and began to go over the reports that he had amassed. He came across a picture of a young woman who looked very familiar to him. She had dark brown hair with two very noticeable white streaks. He hadn't put two and two together when Dr. Morgan had told him about the mutant who rendered the decoy unconscious.

"You again" he mused.

She was a very beautiful young lady, he remembered that much from the last time they had met. He still didn't know how she had escaped but he was beginning to have a good idea. The experiments they could perform on this one and any number of the mutants that lived there were limitless.

Now all he had to do was find a way to get them. He already had one of them and that was a start. He was determined to be the hero in all of this. Aidan Kale, the man who freed the human world of the mutant menace.

~*~

"Did Rogue get any memories from the men she took down?" Logan asked.

Professor Xavier turned his wheelchair around so he was facing Logan.

"I believe she did but she he trying to repress them."

He watched as Logan frowned. He didn't need to be a mind reader to realise that Logan was angry and worried. He was like a surrogate father to many of the children at the Institute whether he liked it or not.

Xavier was worried as well. He could not find Kitty anywhere. Even when he used cerebro, so either she wasn't using her powers or, well he didn't want to think of the alternatives. He was also worried about the Brotherhood. He hadn't heard from them in a while and he knew that Lance had strong feelings for Kitty.

"I will talk to her when she and Kurt are finished in the Danger room" he told Logan.

Logan just grunted and stared out the window.

"How is Red?" he asked after a minute of silence.

"She didn't like not having her powers but they are coming back just as strong as ever" Xavier informed him.

"At least that is some form of good news."

"Yes," Xavier answered, " Isn't it time for the new recruit's lessons?"

Logan grinned slightly and left Xavier to his thoughts.

~*~

Rogue and Kurt came out of the Danger Room looking totally exhausted.

"Good session" Rogue drawled while trying to catch her breath.

"Ja" Kurt agreed sounding just as tired.

They both walked towards the elevator when the doors sprung open and a worried looking Ray appeared.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Rogue asked a lump forming in her throat.

"Something big is happening. Toad happened to show up and some of the Brotherhood members are missing. Namely Lance and Fred" Ray explained.

"What?" both Rogue and Kurt exclaimed.

"The Professor wants to see us all right away."

They wasted no time getting to the study.

Rogue sat on a chair out of the way of everyone. Even after all this time she did not like to get close to anyone. Her gift was her curse.

"I was worried about the Brotherhood but I assumed Magneto would be looking out for them but even he was unaware of how serious this situation is. With the media televising anti-mutant protests and the like he was more concerned about an open battle not this form of subtlety" the Professor told them.

Rogue looked around at everyone and saw they all wore similar looks of worry. It also felt unusual to see some of her old team members sitting in the same room. Toad and Pietro were standing off to the side, no doubt feeling very out of place. Wanda was standing next to them but what she was thinking was a mystery to Rogue.

"So we assume that there is a secret company or something attacking mutants? And they are the ones who have Kitty and now Lance and Fred?" Jamie asked looking rather confused.

He was the youngest in the room but he was one of the bravest.

"Yes. I understand that it sounds very extraordinary but it plausible."

"So why are they after us? I understand the whole anti-mutant thing but why now?" Scott asked.

Rogue watched him from the corner of her eye as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked as expressionless as ever due to the glasses that he had to wear.

"I assume that they have a new agenda" the Professor said and he looked at Rogue.

Rogue blanched slightly as she knew what was going to happen next.

"I am sorry Rogue but I think it is time for you to explain what happened to you."

Rogue looked around the room with wild eyes as she tried to calm herself down. Everyone was looking at her now.

~It's okay Rogue. We're all friends~ she heard Jean's voice echo in her head.

She didn't know whether she wanted to sneer at Jean or smile.

Taking a deep breath she stared at her hands.

"Y'all know that ah was travelling around America looking for mutants and various other things," she began, " Well ah was in California when ah ran into someone. Well he ran into me. He introduced himself as Aidan Kale and we went out for dinner. He paid for it as an apology, anyway we were talking and the next thing ah knew he was berating mutants and everything."

She looked around the room before setting her mouth in a grim smile.

"He seemed so...ah don't know. He then pulled out a small dart gun and fired it at me. Ah woke some time later without a clue to where ah was. My mind was messed up and everything seemed back the front. He was standing over me and he was grinning like the Cheshire cat spouting all sorts of anti-mutant garbage."

"Ah tried to clear my mind and the next thing ah know he is touching me. Touching my bare skin and nothing was happening. Ah didn't know if ah should scream or what. Ah did the next best thing. Ah kicked him in the groin" she grinned at that memory.

"He tried to assault you?" she heard Kurt exclaim angrily.

"Please, Kurt calm down" the Professor said softly.

"He hit me for that. He did some other things. Nothing sexual, mind you. He then tried to perform some experiments on me. He really messed with my mind. But he was only one person, Professor. Ah never saw any other people."

"When you absorbed the memories of those people did you see whom they were working for?"

Rogue cocked her head to one side, deep in thought.

"Yes. Ah have a vague memory but it's all out of proportion. As if the guy was terrified of him. Ah can't tell who it is" she growled angrily.

She hated being a victim and she refused to be one.

~*~

Lance looked around his small room, his mind beginning to clear.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed.

The last thing he remembered he was out looking for Kitty. He still really liked her even though they had been through a lot. When he learned that she had disappeared he didn't know what to think.

He was sitting on a bed wearing what looked like hospital scrubs. He looked at them with distaste and he sat up slowly. His head ached as well as his neck. He rubbed his neck and pulled his hand away when he felt a tender area. He looked at his fingers and saw a small bit of dried blood.

"No way. This ain't happening" he said before swearing loudly.

He stood up on shaky legs and moved to the door.

"Let me out of here you bastards" he yelled and banged on the doors.
He held his hands out and focused on making the ground shake. He felt his eyes roll back into his head but nothing happened.

"Nice try, Mr. Alvers but I am sorry but I have to tell you that they won't be working for a while. Not until I let you use them" a cold voice laughed.

Lance spun around looking for the source of the voice.

"Show yourself you freak" he yelled angrily.

"That's quite all right. I am rather happy where I am. I would like to say how surprised I was to find that another group of you mutants where looking for our Katherine" the oily voice said.

"Where is she?" Lance demanded, his voice breaking slightly.

He was worried more for Kitty than himself.

"She is fine. You might see her later but until then I hope you sleep well" the voice said before falling quiet.

"What?" Lance asked puzzled, he wasn't tired.

Just then small holes appeared in the room and a strange gas began hissing into the room. Lance looked around trying to find something to stop the gas but before long he was inhaling the foul air. He fell to the ground before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell asleep.

To Be Continued...