I humbly present an idea that has been tumbling around in my mind for a while.
This idea came to me one night as I watched an old monster movie. I pondered what about a monster story with an X-Men: Evolution twist? Sounded like an intriguing development so I decided to pursue it. In the end I settled on one of my favorite stories, from novel and play, The Phantom of the Opera.
Thus I now present The Phantom of the Institute.
Thanks go out to the lovely Spiffythefaery for volunteering her time to beta reading this and many other stories that I have in my warped mind.
I don't own X-Men: Evolution or the Phantom of the Opera. I know Stan Lee owns the former and the latter was created by Mr. Gaston Leroux.
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"If you appear to-night, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at the moment when you open your mouth…
A misfortune worse than death."
O.G.A week had quickly passed at the Xavier Institute. Time had flown by so fast that Rogue was surprised to discover the weekend sprung upon her.
It had been quite a week for the southern girl. She had slowly grown accustomed to the way the Institute worked and had become acquainted with the rest of the residents of the mansion. As she had gained knowledge of the workings of her new life, Rogue had reached several conclusions about her new home and friends.
First and foremost was that Kurt Wagner and Bobby Drake were never to be trusted. The two lived to wreak havoc upon unsuspecting members of the manor. Their pranks knew no limits as Rogue discovered when a bowl of Jell-O landed on her head after opening her door. Needless to say the two pranksters spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding Rogue's clutches. When Rogue pressed the two for a reason behind the madness, Kurt had simply replied that without laughter they were better off dead. Bobby had thought that Rogue should know that their life long goal was to make Victor Creed's life as miserable as possible.
That lead to the second item on Rogue's list. Never, never make Victor Creed or Logan mad. It wasn't conducive to one's health. When angered the two feral mutants would resort to punishments unimaginable. Victor had a habit of threatening students with beheadings, disembowelment, and –in the case of Kurt and Bobby only- castration. Logan merely put students into the Danger Room for hours. Which meant the students were more inclined to anger Victor than Logan.
Rogue had discovered, through a rather unpleasant experience, that letting John near fire was a bad idea. A very bad idea. Added to that fact was that John wasn't quite sane (although Bobby had been quick to point out, "who is?"). Fortunately Ororo had been present to put out the flames before the Persian rug was completely destroyed. Still, it had been fairly singed. As a general principle, it was better that John was kept away from the fireplace and kitchen.
The next finding on Rogue's list was that Kitty and Lance were head over heels about each other. A point proven by the fact that Lance was the only person willing to sit in a car that Kitty was driving. Rogue, however, had figured this out on her first day at the Institute, having resorted to threats of violence if her roommate didn't shut up about her boyfriend.
The last item Rogue had learned was that Scott Summers and Jean Grey, the two red heads of the Institute (John preferred to not be called a red head), had sticks rammed up a certain part of their anatomy. And Jean's temperament certainly didn't help her position with everyone. She was far too eager to give advice to the rest of the students and far too quick to use herself as an example. Miss Perfect, as she was referred to behind her back, was overbearing and annoying. Scott had similar personalities but he came off as a person who cared while Jean came off as a person who wanted everyone to acknowledge her greatness.
When everything was said and done, Rogue was quite pleased with her new life. The instructors were friendly for the most part (Mr. Creed being the notable exception) and generally went out of their way to make the student's lives better. Her friends were fun to be around and were always willing to spend time with her. Coming from a life were she had no friends Rogue greatly appreciated the change. Even school was tolerable. Mutants weren't accepted by everyone at the school, but no one ever did anything. The teachers were never quick to blame the mutant students for anything without proof of wrongdoing. Although this was because, as Rogue found out on her first day, one of the instructors at the Institute was the principal and Raven Darkholme was not one to let prejudices get out of hand.
The only down note since her arrival at the mansion was that Rogue had yet to see Remy LeBeau. He was quite polite when they had met and Rogue wanted to thank him for pitching the Institute. Professor Xavier was insistent that he would return in a week or two so Rogue could do nothing but wait for his arrival.
Navigating her way through the crowded halls of Bayville High, Rogue tried to get into the cafeteria without getting crushed in the tide of people. Throwing open the double doors, she scanned the massive room for her friends. She found them towards the back, lounging along one of the tables. Grinning, she made her way over to the group.
"Hey," Rogue called out to her friends. This was met with a few grunts and one perky response.
"Hi Rogue! It's Friday! This is so awesome," Kitty shrieked merrily from her position on top of the reclining Lance. He merely rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall.
"Just like any other weekend Ah guess," Rogue replied, turning her gaze to the mischievous grins that had appeared on Kurt and Bobby's faces. Those looks meant trouble. Rogue frowned at the two recreants.
"What are you up to?" Bobby and Kurt's grins vanished, replaced with looks of innocence.
"Us?" Kurt began.
"Up to?" Bobby continued.
"We're hurt by such an unfounded allegation," they concluded together. Rogue stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes.
"If anything happens to me, then you two will are gonna be hurt."
"Come on. Ve get vorse threats from Creed at least six times a day," Kurt scoffed.
"But she'll follow through," Lance injected as Kitty shifted her position to snuggle up against him.
"Good point. Kurt a word." Bobby and Kurt put their head together, whispering at each other.
"So Rogue. Got any plans for the weekend?" Kitty asked, pulling Rogue's attention away from the scheming duo.
"Nope. Ah've got nothing on mah schedule. Although Ms. Darkholme told me to keep Saturday afternoon open. Didn't say why though."
"It's no bid deal. She did the same thing with all of us when we first joined up. Something about 'how to deal with life as a mutant'," Lance said, brushing his hair out of his face.
"Yeah. It's really dull too." Kitty nodded vigorously in agreement.
Rogue shrugged, she had no opinion on the subject.
"So if you're not doing anything today, why don't we go to the mall? Lance said he'd go."
"Ah'd be imposing."
"No you wouldn't. We'll go buy some stuff, enjoy life. It'll be fun," Kitty replied, desperately wanting Rogue to agree to go. It had been almost a full week since she had arrived and she hadn't left the mansion once except for school.
"Ah don't have any money. Sorry," Rogue replied.
'Neither do we. The Professor gives us money to spend. He's, like, so generous."
"He gives us money to spend?" Rogue asked, bewildered at the prospect of spending the Professor's money. Kitty nodded exuberantly.
"Yeah. He has so much that he said he doesn't mind letting us spend some." Lance yawned as he began to lower his position along the wall, Kitty sliding along with him.
"Well. Ah guess Ah'll go," Rogue answered as Kitty's face lit up at the reply.
"Really? That's so cool!" Kitty exclaimed as Kurt and Bobby finished their conference. They turned to face the others, the grins back on their faces. Before Rogue realized what was happening, balloons shot across the tabletop. The balloons crashed into Kitty, Lance, and the wall behind the two. As the rubber smashed into its targets it split, emptying its contents upon the unprepared lovers. Water splashed down their clothes and faces, drenching their hair and ruining Kitty's makeup.
Kitty shrieked when the balloon hit her and the shrieking intensified as she felt the water and makeup run down her face. Lance grumbled and shifted his position to reach across the table to grab the two laughing pranksters. Normally the brown haired boy took the pranks reasonably well. Truth be told he probably would have joined in laughing if he was the sole target of the surprise attack. But nobody messed with his girl and got away with it. Nobody.
As Lance reached across the table, Bobby and Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke. It was typical of the duo, attack and vanish. Muttering to himself, Lance glared irritably at the empty bench. Rogue looked on as Lance tried to comfort Kitty who was sobbing into his arms. Shifting her attention to her lunch, Rogue began to eat as a high pitched voice called out to her and her friends from the now occupied bench across the table.
"Ah hoy mates," John greeted them cheerily as he sat down. "And how are we doing on this lovely day?"
"Lovely? What got into you?" Rogue barked, as Kitty continued to sob next to her.
"Didn't Scott tell ya the news?" Rogue shook her head. John beamed.
"Logan's springing a surprise Danger Room session on us. Mandatory attendance! Wonderful news!" Unlike the rest of the members of the Institute, John (and perhaps Scott and Jean) looked forward to each session in the Danger Room, for a rather simple reason. The battle simulations were the only time John was allowed to be near fire. Therefore, he was always ecstatic when Logan forced them to spend more time in the Danger Room. Upon hearing the news Kitty looked up, her makeup still running down her face. Tears had mixed in with the water from the balloons and she looked horrible.
"Today? After school?" John nodded still grinning insanely.
"But we were gonna go shopping! This is so unfair. I hate Logan. Loathe Kurt. Hate and loathe Bobby!" Kitty fumed as John took a good look at her.
"By the way, If it's any consolation, I'm sorry," John said in a tone of voice Rogue had never heard him use before. Her eyebrow quirked, John must have been serious about this if he was apologizing with such sincerity.
"Sorry for what?" Kitty asked.
"Bobby told me. About your disease. Your flesh falling off. Dreadful thing, that is. So sorry. Although I must say that even though your skin's falling off, you look remarkably well." Hearing John statement Kitty shrieked, her voice hitting new decibels.
"I am going to kill him!" Kitty screamed as she stalked off, intending to kill Bobby. Lance slowly rose to his feet as he shook his head.
"Well, see you after school," he said as he took off after Kitty, trying to catch her before she tried to tear Bobby limb from limb. John watched the two depart, dumb founded. Turning to see Rogue glaring at him, John looked back at her with confusion running across his features.
"What?"
***
Rogue jumped slightly as she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Scott Summers standing behind her, a tight grin on his face.
"Don't worry about it. You'll do just fine," Scott said attempting to calm Rogue down. She nodded in understanding but that did nothing to quell the butterflies in her stomach. This was to be her first time participating in an activity involving the Danger Room. Up to this point she had remained in the control room with Professor Xavier to observe the battle simulation. Despite the reassurances that she had been given by everyone she was still afraid of the room. Taking a deep breath Rogue tried to calm down and listen to Logan's rough voice.
"Today we'll be working on a rescue mission. That means we want to save the person, Elf, not scare her half to death," Logan growled at Kurt, who was no longer wearing his image inducer revealing his blue fuzzy self. His appearance had shocked Rogue but it took her little time to look past the fur and tail. Kurt nodded, his face solemn. Even he took Danger Room sessions seriously.
"Good. Any questions?" Logan said, his eyes roaming over his students.
"What are we up against?" Scott asked, having reverted to his so-called 'leader mode.'
"That's a surprise. Charles is running the scenario from the control room. So anything's a possibility."
"Who are we rescuing?" Scott asked again, the only one who seemed to want more information. Kitty and Lance stood off to a side watching Kurt and Bobby with narrowed eyes. The pranksters were snickering behind Scott's back. John was playing with a small flame, having it dance up and down his hand. The rest of the students stood near Rogue, watching Scott and Logan discuss the mission.
"Jean," Logan replied. Hearing whom their victim was Kurt and Bobby immediately shot looks at each other. Looks which meant trouble. Kurt raised his hand.
"What is it Elf?"
"Do ve have to rescue her? Couldn't ve let John burn her instead?" Kurt asked in a sweet tone.
"Yes and no. Anything happens to her and I'm holding you and Ice-Cube personally responsible. Clear?" Logan leered at the two boys, who gulped audibly.
"Ja."
Logan nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Good. Then let's go." The metal door behind Logan slid open allowing the group access to the room hidden behind them. They all rushed forward into the massive death trap known as the Danger Room.
***
The X-Men rushed into a dark warehouse. The eerie surroundings made Rogue uncomfortable. Sliding over to stand next to Logan, Rogue looked about the darkened building for any surprises that might jump out of the shadows. Scratch might. Would jump out of the shadows.
"Pyro," Logan said. His order was silent but John understood. A blaze of fire appeared at the end of his flame-throwers and shot out into a massive flaming ball. Manipulating the fire to his whim, John split the sphere into several orbs that spread out, bringing light to throughout the building.
Lying on the floor, revealed by the flickering light produced by the orbs, was Jean Grey. She was motionless, apparently unconscious. Her red hair was pooled around her head, reminiscent of blood. Rogue took a few steps towards the motionless red head, the sooner they were out of there the better.
As Rogue went forward, several drones dropped from the ceiling. They hovered in the air, surrounding Jean. The drones were small metal orbs with three rotating rings of guns. The machines automatically let loose a barrage of bullets when they spotted their targets.
The X-Men scattered as the bullets, orange paintballs, began to splatter across the warehouse. Due to the revolving ring that the guns were mounted on, the drones could continuously shoot at the X-Men without pausing to reload its weapons. Rogue leapt aside as she felt the paintballs brush over her head. Rolling behind a stack of boxes for cover, she found herself joined by Kurt, Bobby, and Scott. The latter were occasionally shooting at the drones. But the drones avoided the attacks while continuing to blast away at the boxes. Across the building Ray, Amara, Jubilee and Tabitha were attempting to blast the drones to kingdom come. They too were hitting nothing but air.
Rogue's observation of the other group was cut short when more drones dropped from the ceiling behind the stack of boxes providing them cover.
"Watch out!" Rogue cried out, alerting the rest to the appearance of the additional drones. But Rogue needn't have worried. A stream of fire encircled the drones before shrinking size. The drones caught in the flames resisted the intense heat for a moment but as the stream of fire increased in size, the metal orbs began to melt.
"Burn baby burn!" John laughed maniacally as the flames melted the drones to liquid metal.
"Kurt! Get Jean!" Scott ordered as he shot another optic blast at the orbs guarding the unconscious girl. Kurt vanished into thin air, the only sign that he was ever there was a puff of smoke floating up towards the rafters.
Kurt reappeared next to Jean, another cloud of smoke following his arrival. He encircled Jean with both arms and the two vanished again, reappearing next to Rogue. The orbs incessant assault died down after Kurt had moved Jean. The warehouse became blurred for a moment before vanishing completely. The X-Men were now standing in the middle of the Danger Room, a vast circular room made completely out of metal. The walls hid weapons of all sorts that could be deployed at a moment's notice. Hanging above the group was the control center, a small cylinder suspended from the ceiling.
"Good job X-Men," Professor Xavier's voice boomed out over the speakers placed throughout the room. Jean groaned as she woke up from the physic-induced sleep. The X-Men began to relax and slowly made their way out of the Danger Room as Jean groggily got to her feet. Righting herself, she slowly made her way towards the exit to join the others.
The rest of the X-Men had completely exited the Danger Room and a few hung around the exit. Some, like Scott, were waiting for Jean. Others, like Rogue, were waiting to hold a discussion with the preoccupied Logan, who was currently lecturing Ray and Amara about the fight. John, was waiting around simply because he wasn't ready to relinquish his flame-throwers yet.
As Jean slowly made her way out of the Danger Room, one of the panels along the circular wall slid away and a dangerous looking weapon emerged. It took a few moments to target the unaware girl. Locking on to Jean, the weapon shot a large buzz saw at the red head before vanishing back into the wall. The saw sliced through the air, buzzing along the way. Jean, not paying attention to the sound, was unprepared for the attack. Fortunately for her, Scott was paying attention.
The scarlet beam tore through the air, sizzling along the way to its target. The beam shot right over Jean's shoulder, who screamed with fright. Jean whirled around as the beam shot past her and slammed into the buzz saw. The impact of the blast knocked the saw off course. It passed within a few inches of Jean, who could feel the rush of air it created in it's wake. The saw slammed into the wall of the Danger Room, imbedding itself halfway through the metal.
Jean, and those who had witnessed the incident, looked at the wall in shock. Jean ran from the room, rushing past Rogue. The younger girl saw tears streaming down the red head's face as she hurried past, Scott close behind her. Xavier's voice boomed out again.
"Is she alright?" the Professor asked concern apparent in his voice. Rogue ignored the response that Logan gave; her eyes still on the saw. She managed to hear Logan calling out to Professor X.
"Charles, what happened?"
"I have no idea Logan. I shut down the Danger Room exercise. The machines should not have been able to activate. Yet somehow it did," the Professor mused as he looked down at the controls. They were in perfect condition.
"There must have been a technical glitch in the system. Fortunately Scott was paying such close attention."
"Yeah," Logan stated the tone of his voice indicating that he didn't believe that. Rogue didn't either. She had spent a week in that control room with Professor Xavier and had seen all the safety features in the system. She seriously doubted that any glitch would be able to get past all the security blocks. It was possible but unlikely and if that was the case, then Rogue had one question on her mind, what could have caused the accident?
Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, Rogue mentally reprimanded herself. Professor Xavier built the system; she had only seen it for a week. He obviously knew more about it then she did. Rogue was going to have to believe him about this. Marching off towards the showers, Rogue tried to accept Professor Xavier's comment. Yet she still couldn't shake the feeling that he was wrong.
Ignoring her thoughts about the last moments in the Danger Room, Rogue stepped into the shower. She was going to clean up and then she was going shopping with Kitty and Lance. Thinking about the incident would only ruin her time with her friends. And Rogue was determined to enjoy her time out.