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:
I know, it's been two weeks. There's no excuse, I know. So onward with the story!
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Chapter 17*
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Many have made the mistake of underestimating them because of their age. They were only teenagers, not even old enough to vote. And yet, some of them have experienced things that even veterans only dream of knowing.
Looking at them, nobody would even suspect the power that they have within.
They look like ordinary teenagers whose greatest concerns should have been
having dates on weekends and dodging acne. Instead, they were having terrorist
missions on the weekends and dodging bullets.
Some of them look normal. But even those that who look different, do not look like those monsters on TV that was hell-bent on ruling the world. They look mischievous, not evil. They sound like a regular angsty, rebellious teen, not like a madman who is holding the world at hostage.
They were trained from the moment they stepped into the Boarding House. Many painstaking hours spent honing their skills and their gifts. Each training session was unique, designed by their adult leaders so that their real potential would be brought about. Though they were taught to fight as a team, it was equally important for them to learn to survive if left alone. Their leader had learned the hard way that in life, the only one you could rely on was yourself.
They were teenagers, and they were feared, not jut by their peers, but by the whole world. They were feared because of what they are and what they could do.
They were young, but they were experienced. They were students, but they were terrorists. They come across as normal, but they were different.
They were the Brotherhood.
"I'm bored." St. John Allerdyce proclaimed as he squirmed uncomfortably on the couch after hours of not watching the television.
The whole world might fear them, but they were teenagers still.
"Me too." Todd agreed immediately.
Rogue, who was pissed off beyond belief at being left behind, stoically stared straight ahead. Unmoving. Unblinking. Unbending.
Years of terrorist training cannot really mask the typical teenage response when things don't go their way.
Yes, the young mutant terrorist prodigy known only as Rogue was moping.
"I wanna go out." St. John continued.
"Me too!" Todd hopped up in excitement. "Where are we going?" He asked as an afterthought.
St. John's face fell. Due to his potential, according to Magneto, he was immediately put to training. There were no guided tours for him. The moment he stepped into the Boarding House, he was immediately dragged kicking and screaming to their training room. But he wasn't about to let a simple thing as lack of destination to get in the way of his plan to go out and party! Party! Party!
He thought long and hard. "Oh! I know! I know!" He grinned excitedly. "To the mall!"
"Wait!" Rogue called out. Even if Kurt was declared Lance's new second-in-command until she gets the voices in her head straightened out, she was leader of the slacker group that was left behind.
St. John's and Todd's face fell.
"Oh, please, Roguey!" St. John pleased childishly, clasping his two hands together and dropping to his knees. "Please, please, please?"
"Yeah, Rogue," Toad fell into a similar stance. "Please?"
Rogue sighed. This was pathetic. "Whatever. What do I care?" She concurred.
St. John and Todd hopped up and in delight.
Rogue realized how quiet things are going to be when the two of them leaves. She's going to be left alone. And try as she might to deny it, her powers where going whacko on her. She didn't want to be left alone. I'm sooo gonna regret this. She sighed. "Wait up!" She called after the two who were now doing their little dance on the front porch. "I'm coming with you," quickly making a decision, she went back to the kitchen. When she got back, she dangled a silver key enticingly. "And we're taking Pietro's car."
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"So we're supposed to scare the hell out of everyone in the building?" Pietro mused as he zipped all over the Brotherhood chopper.
"We're supposed to go in and destroy their equipments and computers and make sure that nothing could be salvaged to be used against mutants." Lance explained for the hundredth time.
"Right." Pietro said.
"And please stay in your seat!" Lance snapped.
"Rocky, baby, put yourself in my shoes." Pietro argued. "Every second is like an hour for me. Do you really expect me to be able to sit still for hours?"
Lance opened his mouth to argue when Kurt suddenly cut him off.
"Avalanche! Look out!"
Lance jerked the controls of the chopper violently to the right. He cursed. A red laser beam had almost his the cockpit of their vehicle!
"It's the X-Geeks!" Blob announced unnecessarily.
"What the hell are they doing there?" Lance demanded angrily as their screen flashed the X-Men guarding the building owned by Friends of Humanity.
"Oh, crap." Pietro groaned when he saw a woman float into the air, her white hair swirling all around her, while black clouds started to form from behind. Lightning streaked the horizon.
Fight or flight?
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Jean winced as the flying vehicle which contained the Brotherhood drew near.
"Jean?" Scott immediately called out in worry when he noticed that the redhead was clutching her head.
"I'm fine, Scott," she murmured to appease the team leader.
We can take those X-Geeks on our worst day!
Magneto's orders doesn't concern them, do we fight or draw back until further notice.
There's my Jeannie!
I hope this works, ja?
The scrambled thoughts grew louder and louder as the vehicle drew near.
There's something wrong with Jean.
Like, I hope Lance's in there.
Pietro's mine!
This is my first mission. I hope not to let my friends and the professor down.
Goddess!
Jean was having difficulty tuning out her teammates, too. The only ones not giving her any difficulty were Gambit and Wolverine. "Stop it!" Jean cried out, the voices in her head finally overwhelming her. "I said STOP!" With a wave of her fingers, a strong telekinetic force lashed out at the vehicle that contained the Brotherhood members. It was as if the vehicle slammed into an unmovable wall as it was thrown back by the pressure of it all.
"Jean!" Scott called out.
Jean promptly fainted.
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"Hold on!" Kurt cried out as his three friends held on to his fur.
"Beam us up, Scottie!"
And with a puff of smoke, the four ported to safety.
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"It's all my fault." The normally stoic and in-control Scott Summers slumped against the wall. On the other side of the wall was Jean, whose powers were beginning to overtake her. "I should've noticed that something's wrong with her. I mean, her power's been acting up all day."
And now, it was worse. No one could approach the telekinetic for she had built a wall around herself using various objects available in the medbay. The professor had tried to call out to the redhead, but to no avail. He had instead asked all the students to vacate the area for their own safety after a flying surgical knife nicked Evan on the shoulder and Kitty was almost hit by a bed.
The professor wheeled out of the room, exhausted.
"Professor!" From beside Scott, Kitty bounced up, ready for some news, preferably good ones.
The professor shook his head. "I cannot calm her down. She's withdrawn in herself. Her power is evolving faster than her skill can keep up."
"What can we do, professor?" Piotr asked.
"I don't know. For now, I've been able to calm her mind down, but I know that it won't last for long." The professor said.
"What now?" Evan asked.
The professor was silent.
"I have an idea." Kitty suddenly offered. "But I don't think it's a good one."
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"You want Remy to do what again?" Remy asked as he lazily shuffled his cards.
"It's Jean's only chance." Scott pleaded.
Remy gazed out thoughtfully as he puffed on his cigarette. "Alright," he said after a moment. "I'll do it."
Scott looked at him gratefully. "Th—"
"Don't think for one minute Remy's doing for you, homme," the Cajun said as he dropped his cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his boot. "Miss Grey's Remy's friend too,"
"I know." Scott nodded. "Do you think she'll do it?"
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"My car!" Pietro cried out dramatically. "My beautiful silver car!"
"I don't know what you're yappin' about, Maximoff." Rogue huffed. "It's not like you need a car or something,"
"It's the principle of the thing, Roguey," Pietro moaned as he examined a long, angry gash at his baby's passenger door. "Noooo!"
"It was an accident," Rogue tried to placate Pietro.
"Todd is soo dead!" Pietro zipped into the house.
Rogue shook her head. She held out her hand and commanded the metal to pop back up. Now all Pietro had to do was repaint the car and it would be good as new.
"Nice party trick, chere,"
"I was wondering how long it would take before you reveal yourself," Rogue replied easily as she stepped back to survey her work.
"Remy was enjoying the view," he said as he stepped forward from the shadows.
Rogue raised her head to meet her eyes. "So what brings you to this side of the jungle?"
Remy shrugged. Might as well jump in. "The X-Men need your help, chere."
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "The mighty X-Men stooping down to ask help from the Brotherhood?"
"Not the Brotherhood," Remy replied. "Just you."
"Why?" The question was not vicious or malicious, merely curious.
"Jeannie's powers had been acting up. And lately, it got
to a point where even the professor can't control it."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Absorb a little of her powers, take enough so it'll come down to more manageable levels."
Rogue frowned as she thought about it.
"If you're wondering what's in it for Roguey," Remy continued. "Just think of it as an opportunity to absorb her powers."
Rogue shrugged in disinterest. "Already have both her powers." She turned to go back into the house.
"Chere," Remy said as he caught her arm and turned her back to him. "Please?"
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"We have a traitor in our midst!" Lance angrily slammed his fist down the table.
"What?" Pietro asked as he looked mildly amused as he watch Lance pretend that his knuckles didn't hurt.
"That's the third time those X-Geeks turned up in our secret missions." Lance continued his tirade as he began his pacing.
"Maybe it's Xavier doing his mind thingy," Pietro suggested, uninterested.
"Maybe." Lance allowed. "But if it isn't, heaven help whoever is helping out those guys."
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"Remind me why on earth I'm here again,"
Remy gracefully descended his bike and offered a hand to Rogue before answering. "Because Remy asked so nicely?"
"Nu-uh. Try again." Rogue ignored her companion's hand and made it off the bike on her own.
"Because you can't stand to say no to Remy." Came the second suggestion as he walked her towards the Institute's front doors.
Rogue snorted. "Cajun, you better come up with better reasons than that to keep me from porting outta here,"
Remy paused and turned Rogue around so that she would face him. He observed her face carefully. "Walking up these steps feel like you're comin' home, ain't it, chere?" But before Rogue can open her mouth to argue, Remy continued walking.
Rogue froze. He was right. As she walked with Remy towards the entrance of the grand mansion, she can't help but feel like everything's finally going right, like for the first time in her life, she found where she belonged. She shook her head. Must be the psyches again. "Hey, LeBeau. Wait up!" She ran after him.
"How about this, cher," Remy said, referring to her question. "You're doing this because for once in your life you wanna do the right thing, not just the things your mother tells you to do,"
"I think that the statement would carry more weight if it wasn't spoken by a thief." Rogue rolled her eyes.
Remy chuckled. "Touché."
Before Remy could raise his hand to dramatically open the door for his chere, the door majestically opened to reveal a frantic Scott Summers.
"Thank God you're here," he cried out. "She's worse than ever!"
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~tbc
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P.S.
I've got a blog! Check it out at triple w dot xanga dot com slash khayee. Don't forget to leave me a message. Thanks and kisses! =)
To the reviewers! Thanks ya'll!
sassygirl_58701 (sassygirl_58701@yahoo.com), sweetie, I tried emailing you but your mailbox is already full. Anyway, to post stories, you would have to register in ff.net. It's in the upper right hand corner of ff.net's frontpage. You won't miss it. Click on the word Register (it's right beside the word, Log-in) then follow the instructions and fill in the appropriate information at the prompt. After registration, log-in then, you're ready to post! Email me if you have further problems but make sure that you still have space in your mailbox so I can reply immediately.
Paprika, Thanks. It took me two weeks before I can update because I got bogged down with another fic. Darn those rabid plotbunnies!
Goofn1, thanks. Er, written above is a brooding/whining Rogue. Heh. I was half-afraid that the way I wrote Lance was a bit over the top so thanks for the affirmation. I'll try to write in some Lance angst, but the Rogue/Remy shipper in me demands that I put in more Romy moments. Argh. But since I also support Lancitty, they'd probably end up together. =)
Caliente, I still can't review! Argh! Looking forward to more of your updates. And if I won't be able to review soon, expect another stalker-ish email for me.
Lady Starlight so kiss my ass, Postponing the Remy leaving, that is for at least three chaps. Then I'll see where it goes.
Miss Poisonous, so I take it that I'm finally forgiven? More Wanda next chap. And just say the word and I'll dedicate next chap to you. =)
Steph Silverstar, first of all, lemme tell you that I just looove your name. =) thanks for the review and don't you just hate it when some dire circumstance just forces you to skip your daily doze of fanfiction? I know I do.
keebler-elmo, Remy's leaving is temporarily held off because of Miss Grey's power surge. Maybe we should thank her a bit for that. *shudders*Hmmm…I will explore the depths of Remy's powers soon and it's tied up with Destiny's prophecy.
GambitsRogue, Well, soon, Rogue would be all Remy's! Mwahahaha. You have to tune in to future chapters to find out what I mean.
ishandahalf, I don't know about the bonding thing, but I'm sure I can write in something that would keep Remy in Bayville for further Rogue-Remy interaction. What fun! Thanks for the Brotherhood compliments!
Blink182dbzluver, Thanks. Sorry, it took half a month before I can update. Hope it was worth the wait.
SickmindedSucker, Ah, another one of those people who violently opposes Remy's leaving. Don't worry, I'll make sure that my plotbunnies would brew something really wicked to keep the Cajun in the Institute.
bad-girl4, if ever you start a club with insane people, I'll be first on the list. =) anyway, more Wanda stuff next chapter.
Katrina5, I can't blame you for the laziness in reviewing, I'm guilty in that one as well. And now that my stupid computer won't open links, I cannot review as well. Thanks for the correction. I'll be going over that chap one of these days, but again with the lazy thing. =)
Rogue4787, my chap made you break into song? My mission is now complete! Yey! =) Thanks for making my day.
Star-of-Chaos, well, before the self-possessed episode came the power surge ep with Jean. Rest assured that I have something big planned for the Southern Belle. ;)
Heven, ah, my dear, your questions would be answered soon…as in a few chapters soon.