Disclaimer: None of the mutants belong to me. Anything familiar you read below is most probably not mine either.
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A/N: Thanks to those who graciously reviewed the previous chapter (Katrina5, rogue4eva, ishandahalf, DBZpunkchik, I'm an Angry Gumball, Mercury Dream, GWFreak315, and AthenaAlpha). I really appreciate it, guys. ^^
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Chapter 4*
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Moonlight bathed the Institute while all its young inhabitants were slumbering peacefully, unaware of the danger that is to come.
Much later, a long black limousine arrives at gate. For a full minute, nothing happened. It was as if its riders were merely observing the beauty around them.
Then, the car door slowly opened, and a woman whose beauty rivals darkness itself stepped down. She looked at her surroundings disdainfully. Then, she walked to the backseat and opened the door. Carefully, carefully, she aided her companion as she, too, descended from the vehicle.
"Let's go my child," the older woman rasped out, as her walking stick hit the ground, so she wouldn't rely too much on her young companion.
The younger woman nodded, her white stripes illuminated by the moonlight, giving it an ethereal glow. With her dark clothes and the rest of her auburn hair, she looked like a vision, the nymph of the night itself. Standing before the gates, she held out one of her hand. And as if even inanimate objects couldn't help but fall under this beauty's commands, the gates swung open, welcoming the two newcomers with open arms.
But in truth, they were not welcomed.
As if to testify to this fact, the house was bathed in flashing red lights, waking up its inhabitants, warning them of the danger that the beauty who was enshrouded in darkness brought.
The house tried to protect itself by brining out guns and weapons. However, such were no match against the young woman. She merely extended both hands, and as if shamed, the weapons bowed down at her feet. Those that were too far away to obey her command had fired, but the attempts were futile as she surrounded herself and her companion with a magnetic energy that deflected the harmful rays away.
Suddenly, there was an inhuman snarl as a figure in black and yellow hurled itself at them.
"We've been expecting you," the older woman said serenely.
The younger girl simply used her hands to make a brushing motion, and as if by magic, the man who had thrown itself against them in an attack was suspended in midair, then suddenly, he felt himself being dragged backwards, as if by an invisible force, until his back was against the Institute wall. He grunted. "Irene," he growled.
Irene smiled at him, though she cannot see him.
"What's going on?" A young teenager with red-tinted glasses stood at the front door, alert and on the defensive. Behind him was another male around his age, holding on to three eerily-glowing cards.
"Chere?" The card-holder's eyes widened in surprise. Then, almost immediately, the look was gone, replaced instead with an arrogant smirk. "Petite," he drawled lazily. "If you wanted to visit Gambit, you should've simply asked him. None of this is necessary."
"I'll keep that in mind next time, Swamp Rat," the young woman replied, answering his smirk with one of her own smiles.
"Rogue?" The man with the glasses choked out. "What's the meaning of this?"
Rogue smiled as she moved her hands. As she did so, the older man, Wolverine, flew sideward, until he was on the feet of his companions.
"As much as I love to stay and chat, Scottie," Rogue said. "I'm not the kind of girl who mixes business with pleasure. So maybe next time, sugah,"
"We need to see your professor," Irene had said.
Wolverine gave another growl as he unsheathed his claws. "Not in this lifetime, bub,"
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "And ya'll gonna stop me?" She asked incredulously.
Irene placed a hand on her charge's daughter. "We came here not for a fight, Rogue,"
Rogue nodded as she relinquished her hold on the ademantium skeleton of the older man. "Sorry, suh," she told him. "Got carried away. My momma's not too fond of you,"
Wolverine snorted. "The feeling's mutual, darlin'." He replied. He was positive that Mystique had trained her daughter with Magneto's powers just to spite him. "Still, that doesn't mean you're gonna waltz in and see Chuck,"
It's alright, Logan, I have been expecting them.
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"When was the last time you've seen the Weather Witch?" Irene asked calmly before taking a sip of her tea.
Gambit had started at that, but before he could react, someone had beaten him to it.
Wolverine growled. "If you have done anything to hurt her," he snarled as he advanced threateningly towards the precog.
Rogue immediately placed herself between Irene and the angry man. "If you would think—" she began.
"Rogue," Irene said quietly.
"Perhaps it would be best if Ms. Adler and I discuss this matter privately," the professor mused, giving Scott a look that clearly meant that he was to lead everyone out.
But everyone knew that no one leads Logan to anywhere unless he's willing to.
"If you think that I'm going to leave you alone with her for one minute, Chuck," Wolverine started.
"Logan," the professor's voice was as quiet as before, but it held a tone of authority that no one, not even the Wolverine, dare contradict. "I'll be fine,"
Rogue looked at her guardian. "Irene?"
The blind woman nodded.
"Uh," Scott cleared his throat. "Let's go to the kitchen, Rogue. I'll fix you coffee or something,"
But Remy was quicker than the X-Leader. Already, he had offered Rogue his arm and was escorting her out of the room.
Logan was the last one out. "I'll be within hearing distance," he muttered before slamming the door shut.
"What were you saying about Miss Munroe?" Charles began as he wheeled himself from the back of his desk towards the precog.
"I saw her and Magneto, in a vision." Irene replied serenely. "They were captured by humans and placed in a facility."
"When would this happen?" Charles frowned.
"Soon." Irene could practically see the wheels turning in Charles's head.
He was about to reach an intercom to command Wolverine to head a mission to find Storm, but Irene stopped him.
"Wait." Irene said. "There's nothing we could do. In all possible futures where we attempted to rescue them, our teams failed and were captured themselves. Some even ended up dead."
Charles's eyes widened. "So what do you suggest we do?"
"Wait. There's more." Irene's mouth was set in a grim, straight line. "But I didn't come here to warn you. I'm afraid whatever has to happen must happen. For the children's sakes."
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"Rogue, you look horrible," Pietro Maximoff laughed when he saw his teammate trudging down the halls the following morning.
Rogue made a face. She and Irene had gone home well after midnight. Then she had to wake up at four for her training. She had a grand total of three hours sleep, and it showed. "If you think I look horrible, you should see Lance."
Pietro winced. He knew about Rogue's absorption trainings. Those session were meant to increase Rogue's recovery time after she absorbs a person. And with the improvement of her powers, it was also to help her control the powers she absorbs. Pietro knew about those trainings first hand, after all, he was one of Rogue's first victims—er—test subjects.
"So, where is our great leader?" Pietro asked.
Rogue shrugged. "I think Freddy had to carry him on his back or something."
"Well, that I gotta see." Pietro laughed. "Later, Roguey!" he zipped off.
"'Allo, cherie,"
"Cajun," Rogue nodded as she walked past the self-proclaimed prince of thieves.
"Wait," a hand grabbed a sleeved arm. "Remy wants to ask you something,"
Rogue frowned as she turned around. There was something wrong here and she couldn't quite put her finger into it…
"Madame Adler was talkin' 'bout 'Roro last night," he continued.
And suddenly, Rogue realized what was wrong. For once, Gambit was not flirting with her. He was actually serious!
"Sorry, sugah," she told him, just as solemn. "Irene didn't tell me anything, I only know as much as you do."
"Could you ask her?" He almost pleaded.
Rogue saw her reflection from Gambit's glasses. She knew that this wasn't the kind of man who asks for favors often. And when he does, he always pays his dues. "You care about her, don't you?" She asked softly.
"Oui." He nodded. "She's one of Remy's few friends,"
Rogue nodded. "I'll see what I can do, Swamp Rat,"
And almost immediately, the serious man in front of her once again transformed into the cocky thief. "Merci. And maybe Remy can make it up to you by sitting with you for lunch?"
Rogue rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, Cajun,"
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"Whoa." Pietro gasped. "What the hell happened here?"
"Out of my way!" Wanda snapped as she elbowed her twin brother out of the door.
Lance and Rogue immediately ran inside, curious as to what made the Maximoff siblings stop and stare.
"We've been robbed, yo!" Todd commented.
The house was in chaos. Their furniture were ruined and in disarray, the smaller vases and decorations were broken on the floor, the windows shattered, the walls cracked.
"Irene!" Rogue gasped as she started to run up the stairs.
"Rogue! Wait!" Lance called out as he took off after her. "There might be still someone else in here."
"Way ahead of you," Pietro said as he zipped in front of Rogue. "Let's go search the place for Irene."
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"Did anyone find the professor?" Cyclops asked as the X-Men reconvened in the living room fifteen minutes earlier.
There was a collective shake of heads.
They had arrived home a few minutes earlier, only to find the Institute trashed and in disarray.
"Can't find the Wolverine either," Gambit added.
Cyclops groaned. "That doesn't mean anything. He might have taken off before all these happened."
"Not without his motorcycle, he ain't." Gambit shot back.
"Guy!" Kitty ran into the room. "I found something on Cerebro."
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"What do you mean she didn't come in for school? She's the principal, for crying out loud!" Wanda all but screamed to the phone.
Lance collapsed on the slashed couch. There was no Irene, and they couldn't find Mystique either.
"Do you think maybe we could call the police or something?" Fred suggested.
"You think being a precog, she would've seen this coming," Pietro snorted.
"Pietro," Wanda threatened.
Pietro winced then paled.
"That's it." Rogue stood up.
Lance frowned. "What's it?"
"It's possible Irene foresaw this and left us some instructions or something." Rogue suggested.
Wanda nodded. "So where do we start looking?"
"Her room," Lance nodded as he stood up too. Searching for something was better than sitting around and doing nothing. "Let's go."
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"He wants us to do what?" Jean asked incredulously as the recorded message of Professor X ended.
"He wants us to meet with the Brotherhood." Scott said flatly. "But why?"
"Like, he said so himself, Scott." Kitty snorted. "The only way we could save him, Storm, and Mr. Logan is to, like, form an alliance with them."
"No way, man!" Evan protested, obviously thinking about the horrors of working with Quicksilver.
"We have no choice." Scott's hands balled into a fist. "He said that Destiny saw it as the only possible way for us to save everyone, one with the fewest casualties."
"I don't like it." Jean muttered.
Bobby frowned. "Why? What's so bad about the Brotherhood? Aren't they mutants like us?"
Four sets of eyes stared at him.
"What? What did I say?"
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"Are you sure about this, Roguey?" Pietro asked as he sat down on the park bench beside Rogue.
"No." Rogue admitted. "But according to Irene, this was the only way we could save them."
Lance put down the attaché case he was holding.
Kurt ported in with Wanda.
"They're coming." He announced.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Cyke and his team of four arrived. An unspoken border line that neither teams crossed was between them.
"Where's Todd and Fred?" Jean demanded.
"At home." Lance glared at her.
"Where's Gambit?" Rogue demanded.
"Right here, chere," he smirked. "Don't want you to miss Remy too much, henh?"
Pietro smirked as Evan glared at him.
"Let's get right down to business." Cyclops interrupted.
Lance nodded. "You've got the key?"
Jean nodded as a key rose from Scott's hand to the air.
"Rogue," Lance nodded.
Rogue nodded as she called upon the TK powers she absorbed from the past. The briefcase Lance had put down rose to the air to hover beside the key.
Jean maneuvered the key so that it would fit into the keyhole.
As the briefcase unlocked, Rogue opened it, revealing a stack of papers inside.
"What are those?" Bobby asked as he stepped forward.
"Destiny's Journals." Rogue replied. "May I?"
Scott nodded. "Jean,"
Rogue and Jean stepped forward and started going through the papers that Destiny wrote.
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~tbc
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P.S.
And I would really appreciate the feedback, people! Thanks for reading.