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:
First off, I want to thank Carla-p for reviewing all chaps of this story and two others besides. I was having a particularly bad day when I checked my email. But when I saw there were thirteen reviews from ff.net, twelve of them coming from you, it really cheered me up considerably. Thanks. And don't worry, Rogue would continue to be bad. Very bad. =) The only question is, how bad can you take her?
Thank you too, to Winter Fire. Your commending my action sequences really made me fall off my chair. Coming from one who writes in the Action/Adventure genre beautifully, your praise meant the world to me.
Oh, and Danfred for the correction/impromptu French lesson. =) I appreciate you in saving me from myself. Merci.
And to the other reviewers, my eternal gratitude is also due to you guys. I would like to answer each and everyone of them, but I have classes six days a week from ten to five and spend most of my break time studying and then, I have this part time job. If I answer individual reviews, well, individually, it would take me forever to update. So sorry! I promise, once I clear up my sched, I'll answer reviews. Plus, rest assured that I read each and everyone of them, treasure them, read suggestions, and answer important questions. Reviews sustain me when I feel threatened by the dreaded writer's block. Thanks.
I decided that since no one's complained of last chapter, I decided to retain it as is. Thanks for the feedback!
This is a short chapter because I wanted to end this plot and move on to the next one. =) Originally, I wasn't even going to write this chapter. I planned on referring to it in flashbacks, but I figured that'll be taxing and would take me longer to update, so I just decided to write it, so here it is. This is only the beginning, or rather, the end of the beginning. Work with me here.
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Chapter 10*
Meet at the northeast exit as soon as possible.
Mystique stood statuesquely outside the modern building that was a very sharp contrast from the very untamed and wild jungle behind her.
The mission was a success.
A rare smile crossed her lips.
Trask was gone, ergo, the threat to mutants were pushed back another couple of years or so.
They have saved their captured comrades.
Her charges proved to her that they were more that capable of taking care of troubles when the adults were absent.
A breeze ruffled her reddish hair.
"I-got-the-telepathic-message," a harassed looking Pietro zipped by and grinded to a halt beside the shape shifter. After hours of searching without his powers, he finally found the facility by zipping through every inch of the island once his powers were back. "Was-that-Rogue?"
Well, most of her charges anyway, Mystique glanced wryly at their leader's son.
But most of all, Rogue gained absorbed two mutants and gained a variety of new powers.
In no time at all, her daughter would be close to invincible.
A small price to pay for the torture that the adult mutants had to go through.
One by one, she watched as X-Men and Brotherhood members alike stagger out of the building, some supporting the others. Soldiers, too, poured out of the building.
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"This place would self-destruct in two minutes. All personnel are requested to calmly exit the building. This is not a test." The robotic voice announced.
With a gasp, Charles Xavier woke up from his Trask-induced coma. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes were Mystique's charge, the one only known as Rogue.
The child was holding her head, as if in pain.
And in a flash, he understood what had happened.
Rogue had taken his powers in an attempt to get him out of his coma. And she succeeded. Unfortunately, now that her mind wasn't focused on a single goal, all the thoughts of the people in their vicinity were threatening to overwhelm her, just like what happened to Jean when the redhead first manifested her powers.
"Are you all right?" Xavier asked her gently.
Rogue squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on silencing the voices, a job not different from the one she did everyday. Only this time, the voices were coming from outside. "Just give me a sec," she rasped out. After a moment or two, she opened her eyes. "I'm fine now."
Xavier raised an eyebrow in surprise and admiration. It had taken Jean weeks just to control her powers to manageable levels even with his help. He himself took days. And yet it only took this child minutes, seconds in fact, to get things under control.
No wonder Mystique was fighting nail and tooth for Rogue.
Evolution gifted her with powers to absorb the life-force out of a person with a single touch. It seemed that evolution also gave her a body and that would adapt quickly to those powers she absorbed.
The professor made a mental note to keep an eye on Mystique's foster daughter. No doubt that given time, her body would quickly catch up with her powers, enabling her to absorb powers, memory, and skills at will, making her a formidable opponent.
"This place would self-destruct in one minute. All personnel are requested to calmly exit the building. This is not a test."
Rogue smiled at the middle-aged man. "Need a lift?" She asked as she lifted the paralytic in her arms. Then, she accessed Pietro's powers and ran out of the cell.
Xavier's mouth fell open in shock. It seemed that the Southern Belle can also retain the powers she absorbed, a development from his initial files from Cerebro. His estimation of the Rogue rose up a notch.
Meet at the northeast exit as soon as possible. Rogue grinned as she ended her telepathic conversation with Mystique with the telepathic command she sent to every mutant in the building. Finally. It's almost over.
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Five explosions rocked the building complex, one after the other in rapid succession.
Mutants and humans alike stood in awe as the large building was reduced to rubble.
Bolivar Trask was nowhere to be found.
Rogue looked around, glad that it was over. All they had to do was to go home in one piece.
"Look!" Bobby cried excitedly as he pointed to the heavens above. "Rescue choppers!"
Everyone looked up to see two helicopters hovering in the air.
"I do not think they are here to rescue us." Hank said as his super keen eyesight observed the helicopters. "I believe they are mediamen."
"They probably felt the explosion." Scott agreed.
"Like, we can't let them find us!" Kitty cried out.
"We have to rid their minds of mutants," Xavier, who was being propped up by Scott Summers, told Magneto. Gesturing to the soldiers on ground. "I am afraid that I cannot take care of the helicopters myself."
"I do not wish to hide what I am from the world." Erik said with dignity. "But I want my revelation to be on my terms and not theirs. Therefore, I will help you." He held out his hands, intent on making the helicopter malfunction.
"Wait!" Jean cried out, tears leaking out of her eyes. "We are X-Men. X-Men don't kill!"
Mystique glared at the redhead. She had heard that argument earlier, just before she pumped two bullets in Trask's head. She had obviously upset and traumatized the redhead.
"That is right, Erik." Xavier agreed. "Why don't you let us handle this things our way, for old time's sake?"
"Very well."
"If only Storm was conscious or something, she could, like, do some freaky thing with the weather," Kitty sighed.
Rogue grinned. "I'm on it," she offered, which earned a sinister smile from her mother. "So when you say freaky thing, does it involve lightings and metals?"
"Rogue!" Kitty protested.
"Kidding," Rogue touched Storm's forehead and immediately, she could feel the Weather Witch's powers run through her. As she released Storm, Rogue slowly rose through the sky and commanded the mist to keep the island from view.
Meanwhile, Xavier was erasing the memories of the surviving soldiers from all traces of mutants. He suggested to them that a freak accident had caused an explosion in the research facility.
All the while, red on black eyes quietly observed the redhead who is now in control of the weather.
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With the soldiers gone, the helicopters missing the island, the two groups of exhausted mutants were looking forward to going home.
Unfortunately, they only have one boat.
"I don't think we made plans on what to do after we save the grown-ups." Kurt quipped.
"Er, dibs on the boat?" Bobby called back.
"You make take the boat, Charles," Erik said as pieces of metal junk flew through the air and land themselves at his feet. "I still have energy left in me to bring my team home."
"Wait!" Rogue's eyes roved through the crowd before her. Something's not quite right. She was missing something, something important. "No!" Rogue gasped as she froze in her tracks. "Irene's not yet here!" She started to go back to the fortress. "We have to find her!"
"Non!" Remy called out as he reached for her.
But the Brotherhood was faster. Already, Lance and Pietro were trying to hold back Rogue. Normally, they wouldn't be able to do so, but with Rogue exhausted with her exertions, the two easily contained her.
"Irene!" She cried out.
Mystique watched her daughter. Her heart was breaking, but she had more time to prepare for this. She knew that Irene would not walk out of the facility alive. The precog refused to. Mystique, as the guard, even offered to let her escape, but the blind woman refused.
If she lived, Rogue would never fulfill her destiny. The young girl would instead choose to live quietly at her guardians' sides, never wanting to explore the depths of her powers.
For Rogue to full realize her potential, she must suffer pain and heartbreak. Someone close to her must die.
And Irene would rather sacrifice herself than let Mystique breathe her last.
Remy reached Rogue's side and took her from Lance and Pietro. "Remy's sorry, chere," he whispered softly in her ear. "Don't worry, Remy's here now." He stroked her hair soothingly.
Rogue, in a rare showing of weakness, wrapped herself up in the Cajun, tears streaming down her eyes. "Irene,"
Charles watched in interest as Remy comforted Rogue. It was obvious that during their attempts to rescue their leaders, a bond had formed between the two.
On the other hand, Mystique's lips had thinned into a single line. She throttled the maternal instinct to drag her daughter away from the Cajun. Rogue was hurting, and the Cajun seems to make that pain go away a little, that was foremost in her mind.
A few meters away from her, Nightcrawler gave a growl, but came to the same conclusion as that of her mother. He would let the dirty Cajun live, for now.
Meanwhile, Jaime's admiration of his Cajun superhero rise. Not only did he have ultra-mega cool superpowers, he even got his super-duper beautiful girlfriend. Like Superman. No that wasn't right. Lois Lane is sort of a girly girl. Rogue is more of a superhero type herself. Hmm…OK, Batman. Remy's Batman. And Rogue's more like Catwoman.
Jaime frowned. But why was Rogue sad? Isn't she supposed to be happy that Super-Remy had saved her (well, sort of) from the bad men? And who was Irene?
But such questions were pushed out of his mind when a cold thought crossed his mind. Where was he going to go home? He was taken away from the orphanage by the bad men. He doesn't want to go back there. They might give him back.
And he didn't want to be separated from Remy. Jaime now knew what he's going to be when he grows up. He's going to be just like Remy. And to do that, he has to be with him, right?
And Remy did say something about him being a pup and following him home. But he couldn't ask Remy that question because he was busy comforting Rogue.
"Your name is Jaime, correct?"
Jaime jumped as the bald-headed guy who was being supported by a man wearing weird-looking glasses talked to him. Jaime didn't like old guys. They reminded him of people who poked at him and gave him yucky medicines.
"Y-yes."
"Would you like us to take you to your home?"
Jaime shook his head.
"Would you like to stay at our home, with Remy?"
Jaime's eyes looked hopefully at the bald guy. Then, he nodded his head slowly.
"Good." Bald guy smiled at him warmly. "Welcome to the X-Men, Jaime."
X-Men? What on earth did he get himself into now? But he decided that maybe bald guy wasn't as bad as he originally thought.
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~tbc