DISCLAIMER: They still aren't mine.

The walls seemed to shiver, and then they were suddenly in a different place.

"The Mall, Remy?"

She should have known that he would play around. Rogue and Kitty were standing in the well-lit upper walkway of a large shopping centre.

"Um..."

They looked around, Kitty walking to bend over the railing and look at the lower levels and Rogue turning to figure out where exactly they were.

"That sonofabitch..."

Kitty snapped back up and turned to ask what Rogue meant, before noticing the store they were in front of. The familiar pink awning of Victoria's Secret was innocent enough, but the mannequins in the front windows forced Kitty to start to laugh, until she was glared at angrily. The mannequins, wearing next to nothing and arranged provocatively, were all mirror images of Rogue, perfectly detailed. As the real Rogue headed into the store and proceeded to smash the mannequins to splinters, Kitty tried to figure out exactly why they were in a mall. Looking once again at the lower levels, she caught a brief glimpse of someone she recognized somehow, but couldn't place exactly. The shattering of the window behind her marked Rogue's completion of her task, and her exit from the store. As she waited for her teammate to join her at the railing, she saw another figure that she immediately recognized as Fred Dukes, a.k.a. the Blob. She turned to tell Rogue that they were to fight the Brotherhood, but had barely swung around before she was beaten to the punch.

"Brotherhood's here."

"Wha? How did you know?"

"The clerk at the store ah just totaled. It was Mystique."

"You could tell that? From a hologram?"

"The holograms are all based on actual forms that she has taken. Ah lived with the woman for most of mah life. Ah've seen most of her 'random' forms. Ah actually helped her decide on this one."

"Oh. Well, the Blob is down on the second level. And I think I saw Toad before."

"Ok. That's three. How many of these mooks are still around these days?"

"It depends. Usually they just send Toad, Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, aaand Sabretooth out, Mystique is generally their field leader. But then they've Also got Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, not to mention their dad."

"That it?"

"Well, Destiny, too, but Mystique never lets her go out on missions."

"Right, Irene wouldn't be here. Ah took care of Mystique, so lets see if we can't find the rest of them."

"I saw Toad and Blob two levels down."

"Lets go."

Rogue leapt over the railing and flew down, where Kitty joined her, phasing through the floors and landing lightly next to her.

"Nice little trick there, Shadowcat."

"Thanks, you too. And call me Kitty."

"How about I call you 'Crushy'?" The voice came seconds before the Blob launched himself (which was not an easy thing to do) towards Kitty, landing squarely on top of her small form.

Leaping into action, Rogue threw off one of her gloves and absorbed him. After a certain point, the large man wavered and finally faded into the air.

"It's so much easier when they ain't real..."

Before she could turn around, she felt something grab her throat and next thing she knew, she was flying (quite against her will) across the walkway, and smashing into a storefront. Kitty screaming to end the simulation was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.

She had been climbing back up onto the level, over the railing, when she saw toad extend his tongue and yank Rogue across the floor. Once she had arrived at the scene, she was surprised to see Rogue nearly passed out. From what she had heard, Rogue was invulnerable. She yelled for the simulation to be ended, and as the room went back to normal, she looked into the control booth just in time to see Gambit jump up and run towards the elevator. Next thing she knew, he was sprinting into the room, sliding to the ground and bending over Rogue.

"Chere? Chere, wake up."

"I'm gong to go find Hank."

Fifteen minutes later, they were all in the med lab, and Hank was running tests. Gambit was pacing back and forth, and Kitty was sitting on the edge of the exam table across from Rogue's. Hank turned around to face the two who were anxiously awaiting any kind of explanation.

"Well, you said it'd been about two years since she'd last used her powers?"

Gambit stopped his pacing. "Oui."

"As far as I can tell, what happened was this. She was exerting her powers all of a sudden and in a very concentrated way. If I recall, the danger room has special programming to accommodate her absorption powers, correct?"

"Oui."

"Well, the setting on that must have been the same as it was when last she used the room. Since her powers haven't been exercised in so long, the setting was more than she could bear and her body was still trying to regenerate from that when she was taken down by the other programming. That is why her invulnerability was compromised."

"So she's gonna be ok?"

"Yes, Remy. She should wake up any second. And, as long as she eases herself back into training, instead of just jumping back in, she should be alright. You might want to reprogram the settings in the danger room as well."

"Ok. T'anks Henri."

Dr. McCoy left the room and Kitty turned to Gambit.

"So... You seem pretty mobile for a guy who needed to be carried down to the danger room..."

"Chat, one t'ing Remy learned is dat whenever a belle femme offers t' help you on wit' your pants, you don' complain. 'Specially wit' Roguey. You get what you can."

"Ah. Well, I'm going to hit the showers. I'll be back later to see how she's doing."

"Ok."

Once the familiar whooshing sound of Kitty phasing through the door of the lab had passed, Gambit turned back to the bed, surprised to see Rogue sitting up and glaring at him.

"You're up!"

"Ah noticed the same about you."

"Ah...oui. Remy can walk."

"So ah heard."

His face turned a little bit red. "You been up dis whole time?"

"Ah was up well before you brought me to the med lab."

"Why di'n you tell Remy? He was worried sick!"

"Rem, one thing ah've learned is that when a beau homme offers ya a free ride somewhere, you accept. 'Specially with you. Ah get what ah can."

"Remy's words, huh?"

"Just about. Do me a favor, hon?"

"Oui. Anyt'ing."

"Go up to mah room and get me some clean clothes? This uniform is ridin' up mah—"

"Merde, chere! Stop that!"

"Think ah'm kidding?"

"Non, Remy has a uniform all of his own, too. How about we bot' go up there?"

"Fine. It'll give me a chance t' ask ya something."

She jumped off of the table, yanking the sensors off of her arms and chest and (much to Remy's dismay) zipping up the front of her uniform. As she headed out of the lab, Remy caught up with her.

"What did you want t' ask, chere?"

"Who the hell got the bright idea ta teach you how ta program the danger room?"

He grinned. "Scooter. He tol' me dat since Remy wasn't doin' much good down in de room, he might as well do some good up in de control booth." He held the elevator door open for her before continuing with a wink. "Remy was getting pretty good at de details too, non?"

"Yeah, Rem... about that." She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pinned him to the side of the small elevator car. "If ah ever see mahself practically naked in another one of your simulations, ah swear ah'll kill you."

He knew that she was making idle threats, so he just smiled at her as the door opened on the next level and a group of students walked on, shocked to find one of their favorite teachers being basically attacked. When she realized that they were no longer alone, she released him and pushed the button again, trying to act as if nothing had happened. When the door slid closed, a couple of the students flinched, unsure of what she would do to them.

"Oh, don't ya'll worry none, ah only beat up on the Cajun."

A few students laughed nervously, but most of them stayed quiet. Remy, thoroughly amused by the situation, decided to step in.

"Mes Amis, dis is Rogue. She's not usually dis angry. An' she's never outright killed me, eit'er. Not'ing to worry about."

The door opened on the dorm level and Rogue stepped out of the elevator, Remy following. Just before the doors slid shut again, they could hear her drawl, "Ah'll give ya nothing t' worry about, swamp rat."

Next thing he knew, Remy was up against the wall again.

"Merde! Chere, you know Remy has a good memory!"

"Yeah, but there are some things that ah'd rather remained in your memory and not in the memories of anyone who happened to run that simulation without your knowing."

"Point taken," he choked. "Now would you put Remy down, s'il vous plait?"

She rolled her eyes and dropped him, knowing full well that he would not listen to her and was, in all reality, probably working on a better, more realistic version of the programming.

A/N: Yeah, i forgot to mention, this is a slight AU... i changed things as i saw fit. example, toad's name. who names their kid Mortimer Toynbee anyways? I kind of liked his name (dont kill me for this) in the Evolution cartoon series, so I'll be using that. Todd Tolansky. Sounds a lot better.

keep the reviews coming! the more you review, the more likely i am to post soon! maybe... just review :)