Chapter 24
Rating: PG- 13
Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers. To those who read and did not review, may you all burn in hell…nah I'm kidding. Purgatory would do.
Good morning and welcome to the latest instalment of 'Let's Torture Nearly Everyone in the X-men Universe.' Today we'll find out what's happening to Pyro after the loss of the love of his life. We'll see how Rogue and Bobby cope with a devastating discovery and Professor Xavier will remain as unflappable as ever. Please enjoy.
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"You simply can not, Rogue. If you were to remove your disc you would kill your daughter."
Rogue stood in Professor Xavier's office with angry tears streaming down her face. She was pacing round; she had been doing for almost half an hour trying to find a way round the Professor's inescapable logic. It infuriated her. This was not fair. They were asking her to choose between protecting her baby and protecting the people in her life who she loved. How was that fair? "There has to be something. Some way around it. If I don't help, more people might die. You said it yourself before. I have a strong power and I'm useful and now you want me to wait behind while they go off and face God knows what and God knows how many?"
The Professor took a deep breath. Didn't she realise how much he wanted her to go with them? He was perfectly aware of how much power she had and how much she was capable of, now more than ever. He could feel her feelings pressing on the edges of his mind. She knew. She just…couldn't bear it. His heart ached for her. He knew how he'd feel if he was suddenly told that he wasn't able to help, "Rogue, I'm not…I can't tell you what to do. I would never presume to try. All I'm telling you is the facts. Your choice is still, and always will be, yours."
She met his eyes, "But it's not a choice is it? It's just…fact. Like you said. I can't kill my baby." She paused and gripped the back of the chair she'd been occupying. "Thanks Professor." She picked up her bag, "I guess I have to go and talk to Bobby."
The Professor nodded and smiled, "He'll understand."
She gave a wry smile in return, "Are you kidding? He'll be thrilled."
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Pyro's eyes scanned over the surveillance screens. He could see the man leaving the building and running off into the night. There was nothing distinctive about him. Medium height, build, complexion, even his clothes were simple. Jeans and a black jacket. He sat back. He had been looking for something, anything.
His fingers rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn't know what to do. He felt so…lost. He wished she was here with him. He would give anything to have her come up behind him and just tell him that she loved him one more time.
He grit his teeth, he would never have that again. He shook his head as though to clear it. He couldn't seem to force his brain to comprehend it, to make sense of it. How could she…just not be here anymore? How was it…possible?
Pyro slumped forward in his chair with his head in his hands. His grief was still too raw for tears he was just…dead. Mystique had told him tat it had taken them twenty minutes to make him let go of her body, though he didn't remember it. He glanced at the screen again, Mystique had been making her rounds at that time apparently.
He stood up. She might have seen the man. Maybe she hadn't brought it up because she didn't want to upset him anymore, but if she knew something, she'd tell him. He'd make her.
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"Mystique!"
She turned around when she heard Pyro calling her. His condition was beginning to worry her. He hadn't eaten in days and had lost at least a stone in weight since the girl's death. He looked terrible, "Pyro, everything okay?"
Nothing was okay, "Did you see anything?"
Mystique thought quickly. She didn't have to ask what he was talking about. He was obsessed, "I didn't. I'm sorry."
"But you were there!" he insisted.
"What!" He eyes widened. He didn't know, he couldn't.
Pyro frowned, "I saw you on the security videos. You were coming back into the building about five minutes after the guy ran. You must have seen something."
Mystique felt her heart rate returning to normal, "I know but I didn't see him. He must have just run. I'm sorry." She turned and walked away leaving him standing there.
His frown deepened. She knew something he knew that she did. Was she trying to protect him from something she thought he wasn't ready to hear? No, it was more than that. She seemed genuinely worried when he's insisted that she'd been there. She was hiding something.
Pyro turned and headed back to the security room. He was going to find out what it was.
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Magneto sat at his desk. Their first wave of attack was going to be soon. Sooner than anyone thought. Within a week if everything ran to schedule, which it was continuing to do. He perused some plans of a government office building that was right in the centre of the city. That seemed like a good place to start. He raised is head when there was a knock at the door. "Come in."
Mystique slipped through the door, "Am I disturbing you?"
Magneto smiled at her, "You're never disturbing me my dear."
She smiled back at him in response and sat down, "I'm concerned about Pyro. He's obsessed with what happened with the girl. He is still trying to find out who the man was and he has been looking at the camera footage."
"There was nothing to tie you to it surely. You are so careful."
She shifted in her chair, "There is nothing. However, it does show me re-entering the compound afterwards. He has just assumed that I was out doing something else."
"He has assumed? You mean he has asked you about it?"
She nodded heavily, "He just asked me if I saw the man leaving on my way back in and as far as I know he has no suspicions about our involvement."
Magneto nodded, "I debated whether or not to try and stop him looking at the camera footage. But in the end I decided that not allowing him to do so could appear suspicious, even under a guise of concern for his well-being."
"And it would have been." She knew that Magneto was right of course. If they had refused him access, he would have been more attentive and tried other means. At least on the CCTV footage there was nothing he could find.
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He rewound the tape, watched it and rewound it. He didn't know what he was looking for. But something. Anything. Why had no one seen the man previously? Why had no one wondered what he was doing there? How had Mystique not seen anything? She must have been coming down the main access road at around the same time.
Wait…maybe she saw him going in. He hit rewind again and kept going. He had not been able to find evidence of the man entering, but if Mystique went out at a similar time, she may have seen something. He kept rewinding. She went out on foot; he knew that because she returned that way. He kept rewinding. Even if she hadn't seen, there might be someone who remembered something odd at that specific time. He kept rewinding. Someone must have seen, the stairs up to the balcony were in a crowded area. Someone must have seen that man go up to wait for Athe…to wait. He kept rewinding.
There she was, she was…coming back into the complex, in a car. He could see her transforming as the gates opened for her. Returning to her real appearance. He rewound the tape a little more and found that she had left twenty minutes earlier…and then returned.
He must have missed her later departure. He fast-forwarded the tape, watching more closely, he didn't see her leave again. In fact…he didn't see anyone leave or depart until she returned on foot.
There was only one entrance for safety reasons. She could only have left through the gates. The only person to leave was the man. And the only person to come back was her. And the only person to leave was the man. And the only person to come back was her…
He could feel every centimetre of his skin heating. Mystique and therefore…Magneto.
His eyes slid out of focus as the tears began to course down his cheeks
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Bobby was sitting on his bed staring at a sample book of wallpaper and fabric. He and Rogue were moving into one of the teacher's apartments. It made more sense now that they had a baby on the way but unfortunately, the rooms had not been decorated in over three years and as Rogue put it, 'looked like they had been attacked by a clown with a squirty flower full of different coloured, and bad, wallpaper.'
Still, he couldn't seem to care. Stupid book, he really didn't care. As long as she was happy with it didn't matter to him, which they had.
He heard the door handle turning and looked up to see Rogue entering looking upset, "Hey, something wrong?"
She met his eyes, "Well, I think you got your wish. There is no way that I can help in the fight against Magneto. Taking off my disc would kill our daughter."
Bobby reeled for a moment as he tried to take in what she was saying. Rogue walked over to the desk, put her bag down and leant against the chair. Her head sank down and Bobby watched as the wood beneath her hands frosted over and then spread.
It snapped him back to reality and he moved over to her. She turned into his arms, "I could tell you that I'm sorry Rogue, but you know it wouldn't be true."
She turned angry eyes on him, "So you're pleased that my decision has been taken away from me. That is so cruel."
"Rogue that is not the case at all. I'm just glad that you're not going to be placed in a situation that's dangerous for you and our daughter."
She pulled away from his grasp, "It was my decision to take and now you're happy I can't."
His eyes blazed as he lost his temper too, "Yes I'm happy that you can't decide to kill our daughter, though I guess you still could decide to anyway."
She flinched as though he had hit her. She opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out. As Bobby tried to reach out for her and tell her that he was sorry, that he knew she'd never do that, she darted past him and slammed the door.
He turned, pulled it open and tried to follow her, but she was already getting in the lift at the end of the hall. He went after her but he heard the door shutting, "Rogue, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm…"
She was gone.
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Okay, I know this chapter was mainly dealing with Magneto and Pyro and stuff, but it's important so it had to be done. Imogen is pronounced Im-o-jen. I'm open to other suggestions though, so feel free.