Thanks to:
Enfant-terrible – I just had to use the "flick my bic" quote, I love it!
Oceanbang – I hope the image flow works as well in this chapter, it was kinda difficult.
Furygrrl – I'm having fun with the mini-romance with Jean and Pyro! And Jean might have made a mistake…
DemonRogue13 – Yup, this is the 'Self-Possessed' chapter.
Kurttyscogue – Lance does owe his X-Man status to Jean and know he knows it, it might come back to haunt him…
UniversalAnimeGirl – Yeah, Jean got sick of using the accent, it wasn't an author cock-up at all!! ::Grins hopefully:: Thanks for letting me know about the spelling and grammar problems, I've redone the chapter with all the changes made. I knew my punctuation was bad but I can't believe I mis-spelled 'Principal' four times! I'm mortified. Jean's still around, causing trouble! And I'm glad you like the twisted romances.
Rogue14 – I could never forget 'Self Possessed', it was my favourite episode in series 3 (up until Toonami decided to play the 'Dark Horizons' episodes and call it the start of series 4, couldn't tell you why they did that!)
X00001 – The answer to that is, uh, not long!
LadyEvils – Lance will be feeling the fallout from Jean's revelations for a while. And I'm hoping to work in more Pyro/Evil Jean romance, I'm having fun writing them!
XX-Goth-Gal – Rogue's going up against the Bucket Man right here! (Bucket Man, I love that) And as to where Jean's gone, all explained in this chapter!
Lyranfan – Glad you liked the snippets, and Jean's whereabouts are revealed right here!
Author Note: I worked really hard on this chapter and my computer crashed and lost huge chunks of it! I hope it lives up to expectations. I've kinda skimmed over certain parts of 'Dark Horizons 2' because you all already know what happens in those parts! And this is another one of those really long chapters. Grab yourself a coffee before you start.
Disclaimer: Seven out of ten voices in my head tell me that I don't own X-Men: Evolution.
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"Rogue! Fight it!"
Scott didn't want to believe what he'd been told. It couldn't be Jean he'd fallen for, it couldn't be…
Magneto used his powers to lift more steel chairs, hurling them at his doppelganger. Rogue teleported, appearing behind Magneto in Wanda form
{…lifted the girl off her feet and touched her face…}
and knocking him off his feet with a well-aimed hex-bolt to the back of the helmet. Blob ran at her with a roar and Wanda's slender form began to widen and grow.
{…party's over and lights out…}
Too late to stop, Blob crashed headlong into Juggernaut and was thrown aside.
"Calm down Rogue!" Scott began to approach her slowly. "We want to help you."
{…lying in his bed, a slight groan as she stole his powers as he slept…}
"Hey big shot, better help yourself!" Scott found himself looking into his own face and wished he hadn't attracted her attention as she blasted him with an optic beam, knocking him across the field.
"Don't attack her!" yelled the Professor. "I can help her if I can get into her mind, but we need to reason with her, we don't want to hurt her!"
"Speak for yourself." Sabretooth leapt at her with a roar, only to be deflected with another optic blast.
{… asleep, one arm around Kitty, must have snuck in after lights out…}
Rogue changed from Cyclops to Avalanche, triggering an earthquake that knocked the other mutants, Brotherhood, Acolyte and X-Man alike, to the ground. Trying to get back to their feet proved an impossible task on the shaking ground. Suddenly, Avalanche morphed back into Rogue and the earth stopped moving as the girl fell to her knees.
"Help me…"
"We will Rogue," said Scott. "Just try to stay calm."
"We're your friends," added Kitty.
The words had an immediate effect on Rogue, who looked like she'd just been slapped.
"Ah have no friends."
{…grabbing her wrist in the cemetery…}
As the other mutants began to get to their feet, Rogue morphed into Storm and rose into the air, the sky turning black and lightning hitting the football pitch. Everyone looked up nervously, then as they were pelted with driving hail they began to run.
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On the astral plane…Jean smiled as she travelled through Rogue's psyche, confident that she would be able to once again usurp the girl. Indeed, as she saw Rogue stood on a rock, tears running down her face, she was able to summon the walls once again, the concrete flowing around the girl like liquid. Rogue screamed in rage at having been taken by surprise a second time, but was too late to stop herself being imprisoned again.
Jean smirked. Time now to take over the body, find Mesmero and Mystique, travel to where Apocalypse was buried…
Something was wrong.
Frowning, Jean tried again to exit the psychic plane and was unable. With Rogue imprisoned, there should be no one to stop her taking control. So why couldn't she?
"I'm taking over!"
Startled, Jean saw Gambit stood on a floating rock. Of course. She'd not only released all the knowledge she'd been keeping concealed, but all the personalities she and Rogue had absorbed.
"Over my dead body," she snarled at him.
"That can be arranged chere."
Realising too late she'd made a mistake in freeing Rogue, taken her gloating too far, Jean prepared herself for a real fight for control.
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Storm was trying desperately to counter the way Rogue was using her powers, realising she'd never been in such a situation before. She hoped she never would be again. She could think of only one way in which she could take Rogue down and she just hoped that the girl had enough of Logan's healing factor to recover.
A well-aimed lightning bolt hit Rogue/Storm and she arched her back, falling from the sky. She landed on her knees on a football field that had become a mud puddle under the torrents of rain and sleet.
{…snoring softly, sheets knotted around his hips, one arm thrown above his head…}
Even as she began to stand again she was changing form. With an inarticulate cry of rage, Wolverine went for Storm.
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Dodging Gambit's initial attack, Jean jumped to another rock, only to be blasted off by an optic beam. She regained control in mid-air, flying back up and glaring at the team leader.
Most of the personalities were standing around, unsure what to do. Jean knew she wouldn't have to worry about most of them, that she could defeat them by using the landscape of Rogue's mind against them.
She noticed that at intervals one of the assembled would seemingly vanish, only to reappear stunned shortly afterwards, then another one of them would vanish in their place. She had no idea what was happening to them, but she guessed that the disappearing mutant was taking control of the body. That had to be driving the X-Men crazy, one X-Man in particular…
"Sorry lover," she said to Scott, not really sorry at all as she once again summoned concrete walls to flow from the rock on which Cyclops stood and imprison him. As metaphors went, it wasn't bad. It worked for her anyway.
"You won't get the rest of us that easily!" Lance concentrated his powers on the rock she was stood on and Jean flew into the air, summoning the concrete to surround him. If they all used only their mutant powers her job would be easier, she could just turn their surroundings against them.
Her only advantage was that she knew how to turn the psychic plane to her advantage and they did not. The exception to that was the Professor and she couldn't see him anywhere. He had to be somewhere though. She'd absorbed him herself. If he got control, he would no doubt drive out all the other personalities. Apocalypse would never be free.
Neither would she.
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Storm was completely unprepared for the attack and was knocked to the ground under Rogue/Logan's weight. She debated a lightning bolt, but knew she'd probably injure herself.
"I don't know who you are, bub, but you're going down!"
The real Logan barrelled into his imitator, having been summoned to the scene by the Professors telepathy. He pinned the double to the ground and popped his claws, preparing to strike…
"Logan, NO!" yelled Scott. "It's Rogue?"
"Rogue?" That would explain why he couldn't catch her scent, realised Logan. Claws still out and arm raised to strike, he hesitated. Rogue/Logan lashed out at him, throwing him off and leaping backwards, changing form in mid-jump…
{…phased through the floor and kissed him…}
"Merde!" Gambit gaped as Rogue took on his form, putting a hand in her pocket and pulling out a stack of playing cards. With an idle flick of her wrist, she threw the cards at the mutants and they were forced to once again back off as they exploded. A stray card hit the wooden podium and Principal Kelly fled as it burst into flame. The pseudo-Gambit smiled when he noticed…
{…come back to flick my bic…}
Rogue began to change form again, the sly smile turning into a wide grin as she took on Pyro's appearance. The flames shot at the three teams, the real Pyro forcing the flames away from the Acolytes and Brotherhood, the X-Men forced to get out of the way. Storm summoned a burst of rain to douse the flames and Rogue/Pyro had time to pout before being knocked to the muddy ground once again, this time by a kinetically charged playing card.
{…getting to his feet and grabbing her uncovered arm…}
On her hands and knees, Rogue's body began to widen and grow, a snarl emanating from deep in her chest. It was Sabretooth who stood up and charged.
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Jean had found it quite easy to imprison several of the personalities in Rogues head, the younger, less tenacious ones for the most part. It was the older ones, the Acolytes, Magneto, Storm and Professor Xavier that were causing the difficulties.
Xavier wielded a scythe and shield, trying to defeat her. Jean bore a shield of her own and for the most part managed to deflect his attacks. She knew Xavier would free Rogue if he won, maybe imprison all the other personalities and leave Rogue no longer plagued by the minds that were not her own. That would be a disaster for Jean's plans. She'd screwed up royally, but no one would ever have to know if she could just defeat the other personalities…
As Xavier flew at her with another attack, Jean changed tactics. Instead of concrete walls, she envisioned vines bursting forth from a nearby rock and a moment later, it happened. The vines wrapped themselves around Xavier's legs, curling further up his body and pinning his arms to his sides. The Professor was a mass of leaves in a few seconds, only his eyes and nose visible through the foliage.
Pyro was next, not putting up much of a fight. He had no idea how to work on the psychic plane. Gambit used the same technique there as he did in the corporeal world, but Jean knew how to control the very landscape and soon turned the knowledge against him, soon securing him in a concrete room.
Storm flew at her, eyes pure white. Quickly, Jean levitated a rock directly in her flight path and the woman crashed headlong into it, falling in a daze to a lower rock. Jean found it easy to manipulate a cell around her, taking perverse pleasure in the woman's screams as she realised she was to be trapped in so small a space.
A series of metal cables sprang forth seemingly from nowhere, snatching at Jean. She envisioned herself a scythe similar to the one the Professor had used and began hacking at them. Magneto, had to be. He was nothing if not predictable with his themes. Always metal.
She could see the man floating in mid-air, his eyes glowing behind the helmet, more intimidating here than he was in the flesh. Fortunately for her, Jean knew all the tricks and refused to be cowed. Hacking at the cables he controlled, she decided to fight the trick with the same one that had captured the infinitely more capable Professor. Vines sprung out from the cell that kept Roberto trapped, the one that Magneto was closest to, pulling the man backwards and pinning him to the side of the prison.
Jean knew that she couldn't hope to keep all of them trapped for an infinite amount of time, but that was OK. As long as she could contain them for a few more hours, she wouldn't need to worry about it after that.
Now there was only Sabretooth to watch out for. Although there was one person she hadn't seen yet…
"Hello there, murderer."
Jean turned and smirked. "Hello. Fancy seeing you here. Are you gonna let me take over the body so I can get on with the plan, or do you have something else you wanna say?"
With a cry of rage, Mystique flew at Jean, knocking the girl off balance. Jean fell backwards and Mystique landed on her, going for her throat.
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Kurt watched the scene on the football pitch in awe. "Sabretooth versus Sabretooth – it's like a video game!"
No one could tell which was which anymore. Rogue as Sabretooth had leapt at the Acolytes and the real Sabretooth had slammed into her, knocking her sideways and the pair had rolled in the mud, biting and clawing at each other.
The Professor frowned, his fingers resting on his temples. "It's no good. She still has the enhancements…I can't get into her mind to erase the other personalities."
Scott watched in amazement as one of the Sabretooth's knocked the other almost ten feet across the pitch. "It's like every person she's ever absorbed is fighting to take over."
"We just have to hope that Rogue can take over rather than Jean reasserting control," replied the Professor. "But I doubt we'll be that lucky."
"We just have to get through to her," said Scott, running towards the fray. "I know I can get through to her!"
If there's still a Rogue to get through to thought the Professor grimly.
"Rogue!" Scott tried to work out which Sabretooth was his girlfriend. "Rogue, please, you have to fight back! You can't let those others push you around!"
He was rewarded for his efforts with snarls from both fighters. The fallen Sabretooth began to get to his feet, his body starting to change, becoming more feminine. By the time she got to her feet, she had taken on yet another form.
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There was no attempt by either woman at using their powers to win. This was a catfight, pure and simple.
Jean snatched at Mystiques hair, trying to force the woman up and off her. Mystique retaliated by grabbing Jeans head and slamming it into the rock beneath them. Jean managed to push her foe upwards enough to roll over and straddle the woman, grabbing her by the throat and squeezing. Mystique was the stronger though, forcing Jeans hands away and pushing her backwards. Both of them forgot that they were on the astral plane. All they were thinking of was each other and revenge.
Jean got to her feet before Mystique could continue her attack and flew at the woman, trying to force her over the edge of the rock. Mystique caught her, slamming the girl onto her back and using a few well-placed kicks to reduce Jean to a writhing heap.
"I told you you'd pay for what you did to Irene." Mystique knelt beside the girl. "You're not needed to keep Rogue under control any more. I can take it from here."
She bounced Jeans head off the rock one more time for good luck and proceeded to take over.
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"Guess who's back."
The assembled mutants looked on in shock as Mystique stood before them. They knew it was really Rogue, but as Mystique looked around scornfully, it seemed as though she was making herself comfortable in the girls skin.
"Mystique!" The Professor tried to appeal to her good side. "You must set Rogue free. You'll only hurt her by remaining!"
"You know so little." Mystique looked contemptuously at him. "I'm doing less harm than Jean would. And now I'm leaving."
"You'll have to go through us first." Scott spoke for all the X-Men, who had surrounded her and were preparing to fight.
Mystique grinned. "That suits me just…uh!"
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Jean lifted her head from the rock, fury coursing through her veins. Mystique wanted to take over, did she? Well it wasn't going to happen. She'd be dead before she'd let Mystique beat her.
She had one advantage over the shape-shifter – she knew how to work the psychic plane to her own advantage. The only reason she'd been defeated was because she'd allowed herself to forget that.
Noticing a stunned Sabretooth lying on another rock, she manipulated concrete walls to flow around him, the same way she'd trapped most of the others. Then she gathered herself and used her mind to drag Mystique back into Rogue's psyche.
"You thought you could beat me?" Jean imagined the liquid concrete in the same way she had for all the others and it flowed over Mystique's body, not so much a prison as a body bag. The woman was still disoriented from her sudden ejection from the corporeal world and she had no idea how to use the landscape to her advantage as Jean did. She struggled as the liquid solidified around her, trapping her, binding her tightly and leaving only her nose free. Jean knew this wasn't the time to test if she would lose Mystiques powers if she suffocated the woman's personality in this place.
"No one can beat me, you silly bitch." Jean smirked, preparing to leave the astral plane the victor. "I'm back where I should be. In control. And I'm gonna stay in control, so the rest of you need to get used to it."
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Mystiques form morphed once again, the skin turning pale and the hair darkening, until Rogue was once more stood on the field.
"Rogue!" Scott hurried toward her. "I knew you could do it!"
"Ah…ah…"
As Scott had almost reached her, 'Rogue' laughed and changed into Jean. Scott halted in his tracks.
"I just couldn't resist seeing the look on your face again Summers. You're pathetic."
Jean flew into the air, sparing one last glance at the three groups of people that she had called her friends at one time or another, the people she had used and discarded, and then left the scene. She had another appointment to attend.
Xavier realised that she had to be stopped. "Logan, track Rogue."
"Got it."
Magneto eyed Gambit and Sabretooth. "You two, go with him."
"No!" Sabretooth clenched his fists at the thought of co-operating with his arch-nemesis.
"I don't need their help," snarled Logan.
"Logan, you two must put it aside," said the Professor sharply. "There's too much at stake!"
Gambit smirked as Wolverine and Sabretooth growled at each other. He had the feeling he'd have to split up at least one fight before they found the girl.
X x x x x x x x x x x x x X
The journey to Tibet took hours and was uncomfortable to say the least. Mystique was silent for the most part and Jean glared at the back of her head, still smarting from the beating she had taken. The only good part was that Mystique would have no idea what had happened in Rogue's psyche. Mesmero smirked evilly, his expression making Jean nervous. Forge sat beside Mystique, obviously as unnerved by the bald man as Jean was.
They rode the limousine to the airport, abandoning it and stealing an aeroplane for the rest of the journey. Mystique acted as pilot, she and Forge locking themselves away in the cockpit and leaving Jean alone with Mesmero in first class.
"You'd better not be messing with me," Jean told him in a low voice. "You look far to pleased with yourself."
"Do not trouble yourself." Mesmero glanced towards the cockpit and smirked. "It's not you who's going to get the surprise."
Jean could sense the truth in his words and yet wasn't comforted. She was beginning to feel as if she wasn't in control of the situation, as though she was missing something very obvious.
Apocalypse had better not forget it was me who helped him, because if he does I'll pull his brains out of his nose and see how well he does at establishing a new world then.
It was snowing and windy when they landed in Tibet and Jean groaned, grabbing a jacket that Forge silently offered her. Neither Mystique nor Mesmero bothered and Jean wondered how Mystique never caught a cold. And they still had a mountain to climb. Wonderful.
They were about three-quarters of the way to the top when Jean realised they were being followed. Three people. She probed with her mind and found Wolverine, Sabretooth and Gambit on their tail.
"We've got company," she told the others.
Mesmero paused and used his powers on their pursuers. "They have strong mental blocks in place," he told them. "But they have been slowed down. They cannot reach us in time."
"They'd better not," snarled Mystique. "Let's get this over with."
The four hurried as best as they could to the summit of the mountain, where they entered a cave. A door slid shut behind them, causing Jean to glance behind her nervously. The others seemed unfazed and she followed them further into the cave.
Mesmero stopped in front of a door and removed his hood. "The day has finally come, great Apocalypse. I now deliver the final key, the shape-shifting mutant Mystique."
Jean smirked as she saw the anger and shock on Mystique's face. "What do you mean I'm the key? You told me Rogue was!"
Mesmero regarded her calmly. "You are both needed in order for Apocalypse to cross this threshold."
Mystique grabbed him by the front of his robe. "Listen circus freak, I agreed to bring Rogue here because you assured me our futures would be secure. Were you lying then too?"
Jean debated mentioning that it wasn't Mystique that had brought Rogue and chose not to. The show was just getting entertaining.
"Apocalypse will not forget those who are faithful." Mesmero seemed unafraid of Mystique and Jean was impressed.
"Why didn't you just enslave my mind?"
"I was unable. Your powers of control are formidable."
"I'd advise you to remember that." Mystique let go of the man and glared. "Now, what is needed of me?"
Mesmero gestured to a small hole in the door with his staff. "Upon entering through there, you will find the engraved sign of Apocalypse. Place your hand upon it and the door will open."
For a moment, Jean thought the woman would refuse. Instead, Mystique transformed into a cobra and slithered through the gap. Once inside the chamber, she regained her own form and glanced around, slightly awed at the opulence of the room, before looking down at the spider symbol. It glowed blue and she hesitated, wondering why it had to be her to touch the symbol. But it only took a second for her to gather her courage and place her hand on the engraving.
The walls began to spin around her and Mystique tried to take her hand away from the stone, realising with horror that she was unable. She grabbed her arm with her free hand and yanked with all her strength, but it made no difference at all. She was trapped. And then she began to scream as she felt her body begin to change…
The door opened.
Mesmero indicated to Jean and she walked into the chamber, glancing at Mystique as she did so. The woman had been turned to stone, the terror in her face still obvious. Jean wanted to tell the statue that she'd won, she was still in Rogue's body while Mystique was entombed forever in – but there was no time. She could sense their pursuers outside the cave, about to break in and try to stop her.
"Fire in the hole!" She heard Gambit's voice and then a loud explosion, indicating that the trio were in the cave. She left Mystique behind and headed further into the chamber.
"Destiny has dealt its hand." Sounded like Mesmero. "Do not interfere."
Nice try baldie she thought. The sounds of a fight drifted through to her as she saw the Eye of Ages in front of her. Remembering Mystique, she was nervous about laying her hand on the symbol – but surely Apocalypse wouldn't want her to absorb all those powers just to turn her to stone before he could take advantage of that?
Even with that reasoning, it took all of her courage to lay her hand on the engraving. The Eye of Ages opened with a flash of white light and Jean caught her breath as she looked down onto the withered figure that was Apocalypse.
And Apocalypse opened his eyes and looked back at her.
Dimly, Jean could hear footsteps heading into the chamber and knew she was almost out of time. Still, she couldn't take her gaze away from the ageless eyes in the wizened face.
She never saw his arm move. The first she knew of it was when she felt the strong fingers wrap around her wrist and the draining process begin.
It was a million times worse than when Rogue had drained her. That had almost killed her; she just wished this would. She could feel the psychic prisons she had constructed dissolve and every personality she had drained leaving her. She cried out, the pain and shock of it too much. And then she felt her own essence being yanked out of the body it had called its own for so long…
Logan ran into the chamber just in time to see Jean stagger and fall, her body morphing back into Rogue's form and collapsing beside the Eye of Ages. He raced over to her and cradled her head for a moment, checking for a pulse and relieved to find that she was still alive.
Apocalypse rose from within the Eye of Ages, his shrivelled form restored to its former strength, his whole body glowing with blue energy. Logan let Rogue rest on the floor and as the man floated past, he popped his claws and leapt.
Three things happened at the same time.
Logan was flung backwards by an incredibly strong energy pulse, slamming into the floor beside Rogue without even laying a claw on Apocalypse.
The vessel that the other mutants had used to escape the tomb in Giza arrived in the chamber.
And hundreds of miles away in the Xavier Institute, a formerly comatose figure opened her eyes.