Chico, it took so long because it was such a long chapter! Did you see how long it was? I promise the rest of the chapters won't take so long. Look, now you made me pout. (Blows a raspberry)
On the other hand, I doubt any subsequent chapters will be as long as the last.
As always, thanks to Chico for his dedicated fanniness. PS Who said Sean wasn't the father? And I'm not telling you anything. It's a surprise. (Damn smart people).
"He is a fool." Mystique said from where she stood behind Rogue. Together with John they were walking up to the mansion. Conveniently, all the inhabitants were ensconced with Sean in the library.
"He's mah husband and yeah, he is a fool."
John remained silent. He didn't like to speak of Rogue's husband. When they were together in Japan she had told him of Sean, and the fact that she still loved her husband was fairly obvious.
"What do ya say to dropping in for a visit?"
Oblivious to the trio breaking into the mansion, the library was completely silent. Once again, except for St. John.
"Haha! I knew that you loved me sheila. You should have admitted it instead of making me jealous and using Gambit like this!"
Rogue, slightly disgruntled at everyone seeing every intimate moment of her life, scowled at everyone. She looked up at Remy, who during that little adventure had moved Rogue onto his lap. Feeling the need to lash out she turned her attention to Sean.
"What was the point of telling us all that?"
"You need to know the enemy."
Magneto spoke up from where he stood behind the Brotherhood of Mutants. "They are not our enemies, but yours."
"That's part of why we're hear." Sage spoke before Sean could. "We would like to ask for your help. Despite the fact that all three of us…"Sage did not include the cloaked figure in this assessment. "…are powerful mutants, it would be quite impossible to take on and stop the transgressors. Rogue alone has the ability to kill in seconds, and that's ignoring her abilities to call up other mutant powers."
"Listen, the fact is if we don't stop them, they will continue to kill. They've already killed Archangel, Psylocke, and if I'm not mistaken they're on their way here to take out Apocalypse's other two lieutenants." Bishop stated in a gruff tone, walking to the window to crack it and light a cigar.
"And just who are these other two lieutenants?" Professor X asked.
"Bobby Drake, code name: Iceman, and Amara Aquilla, code name: Magma. It's also of high probability that while here they will take the opportunity to kill Jean Grey, no code name as of present but future code name: Phoenix, and later Dark Phoenix." Once again Sage had slipped into her computer like mind. Bishop turned from where he had been looking out the window and made a small gesture to Sean. Seeing it Sean turned to the cloaked figure.
"Let me explain who our little friend is here. Just after we received the message from the timeline, there was a disturbance in the nexus. That indicates a traveler so I sent Bishop and his sister Shard to investigate. They brought back an old friend who had traveled back with Rogue but was unable to maintain a foothold in this world. Because Rogue and the others had already started to change the timeline she was temporarily stuck without a timeline. If we had not removed her she would have continued to transplant her mirror in this dimension and eventually would have supplanted her.
"We brought her with us hoping that eventually she would give us information on what the plan is but alas, she refuses to speak." Sean looked at the people around him and could see they were horribly curious.
"Well? Damnit, will you, like, tell us who it is?" Sean gestured to Bishop, who removed the cape around the figure. Inside stood an older version of Kitty. She was glaring at everyone with an obstinate sneer on her face.
"Well, Katherine, now that we're here, surrounded by the people you once loved, will you tell us what Rogue is planning?" Sean asked mildly.
Katherine turned to Sean and looked him right in the eye. Then hawking up a loogie she spit in his eye. She began to laugh evilly, while the rest of the room looked at Sean in shock and disgust.
Wiping at his face with a handkerchief, Sean chuckled. "I take that to be a no, love?"
No answer.
"Bishop, kindly take Katherine to another room. I fear I might lose my temper." Bishop began to drag Katherine, who was bound hand and feet with nullifiers to insure she did not escape, towards the door but it opened before he got there.
"Hello mah freaky little darlings!" A voice boomed out seconds before the cause of all this trouble walked in…Rogue. "Miss meh?"
Bishop dropped Katherine from where he had been dragging her and pulled out his gun. Sage did the same. Together they dropped to the floor and began to fire. Effortlessly Rogue put up a shield to block them.
"Is that any way to treat a guest?" Rogue tut-tuted them. "Ya should be treated to a lesson." Rogue picked up the small desk in the corner with telepathy and sent it flying into, first, Bishop and then Sage. They both slumped down unconscious. Then she turned to Sean. "Hello, hubby."
Beside Sean, Magneto began to generate a magnetic field on which to fight Rogue. Apparently he'd decided already to join Sean's team. However, Sean used the butt of his gun to knock Magneto out before he could do any damage. The rest of the room was now staring in shock at Sean again. What was wrong with this man?
"Are ya really here to kill meh? Can ya do that hubby?"
Sean looked at her consideringly. "No." Then together he and Rogue rushed to each other. Jumping into his arms, Rogue wrapped her legs around his legs and fastened her mouth to his. Although they almost fell they kept their balance and once again freaked everyone out.
Ignoring the couple, Kitty said what was on everyone's mind. "I thought, like, we were supposed to you know, kill her."
"Apparently, Sean can't do it." Bishop said as he rose from under the desk. Thanks to his mutant abilities, the ability to absorb kinetic energy directed at him and to turn it into powerful blasts from his hands (not unlike Sebastian Shaw except he turns the kinetic energy into a way to enhance his strength, stamina, and speed). Using the force he gained from Rogue throwing the desk at him, Bishop began to power up to shoot her off of Sean. Sean saw this and wrenching his mouth away from Rogue's, let out a mighty sonic blast that sent Bishop against the wall where he once again fell unconscious.
"My man." Rogue said proudly at the actions of Sean. "Now, little mutants. Scurry along, while Ah talk to the grown ups." At the sight of no one moving, Rogue did it with the force of her mind. She picked up everyone in the room, excluding Magneto (who was waking up), Xavier, Storm, Wolverine, and John and Mystique who snuck into the room after Rogue had garnered all the attention. Bishop and Sage just sat slumped against the wall.
"Put meh down." Sean immediately did as she told him. "Now, did y'all like your little peep show?" No one answered. "Don't matter if ya did or not. That's not the matter here. The matter is ya only have one side of the story. Ah want ya to have both.
"According to Sean's little pet telepath what we did was selfish. Because of the war with Apocalypse, thousands have died. Not only that, because of inflation, money is worth almost nothing in the future. No one can survive in my world. No one, mutant or human."
"Why do you say it like that, chile? We are not separate." Storm said.
"Yes, we are. And the sooner ya accept that the sooner we can begin to survive. Ah had to watch many people die, people Ah loved. When ya go through that ya tell me we're not separate. Until then, trust me." Rogue turned to Professor Xavier. "Ah know the way Sage made it look, made us look like the bad guys but we're not. Yes, in Sean's universe, time travel is forbidden. It is in our's too. But this had to be done. The atrocities Ah lived through cannot happen. Do ya want to see most of the world wiped out by a plague meant for only mutants? Do ya want to see a war be started to wipe out any mutants left? What's breakin' a few rules when it will save everyone's life? What if what Ah'm doin' saves your son's life? Like Ah'm savin' mine? Am Ah so bad for wantin' to do that?"
The Professor sat that silently for a minute. "All we have are your views of this. How do we know that mutants don't start the war or design Legacy? How do we know you all aren't in on it together to rule the world? We don't. This decision to help will have to be decided individually by my X Men. I cannot do it for them."
Rogue nodded, knowing that he would say that. Professor Xavier would never give someone no choice for life threatening missions. That wasn't how he worked. Just as Xavier began to reach for his students to invite them all back in, a great tremor shook the building. Fear had Rogue freezing, reliving the tremors of her future that had always ended badly. The party, Phoenix, Cassidy Keep. Tremors were always bad.
Running out the doors, Rogue joined the melee that ensued outside. In the center was a large robot like being. Covered in all shiny metal with only a small window for seeing out of was Holocaust. Supposed son of Apocalypse, all around pain in Rogue's butt. She'd faced him before and she hadn't won. It was almost impossible to win against him. Holocaust absorbed people much in the way of Rogue, except he didn't need to be touching (not really possible since he himself is made of a gaseous like thing). He then used the life forces to increase his strength and produce blasts. He was also extremely good at needling people.
"Here, Kitty, Kitty." He taunted as he blasted at Kitty, who was running around the room, trying not to get killed. Holocaust laughed as he finally clipped her and sent her flying through a wall (literally, she was still phasing). Then he turned to the rest of the mutants in the room. They, as one, began to attack. An optic blast from Scott was compounded by magma from Amara, which was quickly frozen by Bobby. At the same time, Gambit and Colossus were focusing on Holocaust left leg, while Boom Boom and Quicksilver were focusing on the right.
Knowing they were getting nowhere, Rogue called out for them to stop. Surprisingly they obeyed. She guessed in the heat of battle you listen to who seems to be in charge. Gesturing Rogue sent Sean in, telling him to at least crack the faceplate. That was all they needed.
Then she turned to Katherine, who was leaning against the wall watching the spectacle. Rogue summoned up Magneto's powers and released the bonds on her. Within seconds Kitty was once again intangible. She floated onto the field. Because of the fact that she was out of phase with the physical world Holocaust would not be able to draw energy from her, he couldn't focus on her as he would need to.
Sean was continuously blasting Holocaust with his sonic waves when he heard a loud crack. The faceplate was partially open. Quickly he got out of the way as Katherine began to let herself go. She surrounded Holocaust with herself and felt herself silently laugh as she watched him slowly begin to leak out.
Around the spectacle, all the others could see of Katherine was a slight haze around Holocaust. Only those who had seen it before recognized that it was her. Katherine began to force herself through the crack and into Holocaust. Though it burned horribly she also began to surround him inside the large suit that was his body. Slowly, so that it seemed to take hours though it was only seconds, she compressed him until he was only a small atom. Then she ate it and Holocaust was gone. Reforming her body Katherine looked out the small faceplate and smiled at the people outside, thoroughly horrifying them and causing small Rahne to faint.
Rogue focused on Kitty as soon as she had reformed outside the suit. Sliding a nullifier around the small wrist held corporeal by only her will, Katherine came back into the physical realm. Once there she immediately hugged Rogue.
Hugging the smaller mutant to her frame, Rogue petted her hair until she relaxed again. "Awww, babe. Were they mean to you?" Kitty nodded.
Rogue turned to glare at Sean where he stood with Bishop and Sage. Sean shrugged while Bishop looked barely restrained. Sage, as always looked uninterested.
"What?" Sean finally said as he was still receiving the bad look ten minutes later. Rogue, Kitty, John, and Mystique sat on one side of the room, while the other trio from the room sat on the other. The rest of the populace was in the library.
As one the seven rose when the library door opened. "I have discussed it with the others. And we feel we must help you. But no more killing. If we're going to do this it must be as people friendly as possible. Is that alright with you all?" At their nods he went on. "I feel we're going to need as much help as possible, so I'm calling in some old favors. If you'd like I'll assign you rooms to rest in." He was already wheeling away as he made that statement, his mind clearly elsewhere.
"Well, I'm hungry. Let's eat." John grabbed Rogue's hand and pulled her with him towards the kitchen. Sean made to follow but Bishop pulled him back down, then looked to give him a scolding.
Katherine observed all this from where she still sat. Mystique got up and walked outside. After years of surviving from being paranoid, she wasn't comfortable inside a busy place. Inside the library it appeared the students and former enemies were arguing.
"I don't trust them." Scott said vehemently. His girl, Jean, tried to calm him with a hand on his sleeve but he shook her off.
"Ya mean ya don't trust me Scott?" Rogue said with a hand on her chest, amused to no end.
"No, that's not…damnit you know what I mean!"
"Oh, yeah. First ya have a problem with my choice of men…"(still amused)
"Not your choice of men. But don't you think a little discretion would have been appropriate?"
"No need. Ah don't have a girlfriend, like you did when you and Wanda…"(even more amused)
"Rogue! I don't know what you're talking about!" Scott yelled, impossibly flustered. Beside him Jean began to get upset. Everyone was edging around the truth of something and she was tired of it.
"What is she talking about Scott?"
"No-nothing. Nothing." He said firmer.
Jean probed his mind and discovered what he was hiding. "You had an affair with Wanda! Oh, you dog!"
"Technically we weren't together!"
"But you knew how I felt and I'd just broken up with Duncan!" Scott was slowly backing away from Jean who had begun to inadvertently levitate heavy objects in the room.
"Yeah, but you'd done that before! I figured you were just toying with me again!"
"Toying with you! I'll show you toying with you!" Jean began to pelt Scott with the objects in the air until he ran out of the room. Fuming she took chase.
"Dat was mean, précieux."
"Ah know but he deserved it. Where ya goin' Wanda?"
Wanda, who had been sneaking out the side doors, turned back. "I'm hiding before she gets back. I thought I was angry, but damn, she's scary."
The rest of the people began to wander off until only Remy and Rogue, along with a stoic Piotr and a freaked out Kitty were left.
"Do you, like, believe that?"
"What?" Piotr asked in his deep baritone voice. There was only the slightest hint of an accent.
"I totally kicked ass! Did you see?"
"Oh, totally, Kit. Ya, as a future tortured uncontrollable mutant, kicked ass." Rogue said laughingly from where she was perched on the arm of Remy's chair.
"Oui, chere, tres scary." Remy laughed along with his girl. Piotr, for the most part, was trying to comfort Kitty.
"Supposedly, they are here to prevent ourselves from becoming them. You will not become that person Katya."
Kitty turned to Piotr and blushed. "What's that mean?"
"It is your name in my language, Russian. I thought you might like it…"
Kitty sensed his nervousness and tried to put him at ease. "Oh, I love it. It's like totally exotic. Makes me sound like less of the klutz that I am."
"You're not a klutz Katya…" Together, already deeply infatuated with one another, the two walked off without even bothering to say goodbye to the other two people in the room.
"She's had a crush on him for months. Gawd, after she pulled him into tha' building during the firs' battle we had with y'all she was impossible to live wit'. It was all "hot Russian-this", and "In the next battle with the Acolytes do you think the professor will let me wear pink-that". Then there were those giggling fits. Ah could have killed her."
Remy pulled Rogue off the arm and into his lap. "D'you ever giggle 'bout me chere?"
"Oh, yeah, Gambit. All the fricking time. It was all "Ah don't care if he's a smarmy bastard-this" or "Ah could kill his big-nosed ass-that." Truly impossible to get around mah giggling."
Remy, showing a face of mock-anger, began to tickle Rogue. She screamed and tried to get away but he was too quick. Together they rolled around on the floor, both laughing as Rogue turned the tables and began to tickle him too. Neither noticed the slight tremble that came from above. Not big and bad as most were, but soft and unassuming as only an opening time portal can be.