Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own any of them except for the new mutant Tremor (he's all mine, you hear me, mine, mine!). Sorry, was late at night when my 'muse' hit me with this chapter. But I would really like to own one of the originals! (you know which one) !
Distribution: Anywhere someone would want it, as long as you ask.
Author's note: Character death and torture described.
Rated: R – language, violence and attempted rape.
CHAPTER 3 – THE AMBUSH
With the help of Storm, Professor Xavier settled back in the bed and eyed Logan. He knew that Logan would not be happy with some of the things he would be hearing, but he had no other choice. He owed it to him. Because he had let him down, he let them all down.
"As I was saying, I was in Cerebro trying to track someone but with no success. I had just come out of the chamber, when I ran into Rogue. She had just returned with the team from a routine mission and …..
Logan stopped his pacing abruptly when he heard Rogue's name in the same sentence with team and mission.
"What do you fucking mean she was on a mission!" "Rogue's an X-man?" "She's just a kid – how could you let her join?"
"Logan" Xavier said, "Rogue is a young woman now. She's of age. She graduated and grew up while you were gone (emphasizing while you were gone) and it was her choice to stay and become a member of the team." She felt if she belonged. Her powers were more powerful than you could have imagined. Scott was training her well in the art of hand to hand combat fighting. (at this Logan left out a short snort) But it was not good enough so it seems."
More to himself, than anyone else Xavier said, "We lost this fight and in the process lost Rogue." No one seemed to have heard him.
"Yea, Professor, that's all well and good, but what the hell happened?" Logan all but yelled.
"I'm sorry, I'll continue." Xavier said. He glanced over to where Jean was still tending the injured and unconscious Scott. It looked as if she had taken the time to care for her head and was now bent on making Scott more comfortable. She "sensed" him looking at her, she turned around, and then with sad eyes she looked away again and went back to her task.
"As I had said, I had just come from the session with Cerebro. The person I was trying to locate was an old friend."
Logan thought for a moment and then said aloud – "Is this "old" friend who I think it is?" he growled.
"Yes, it's Magneto." Xavier sighed. " I had found out a few days earlier that he had escaped from his prison with the help of others." "I know I should have said something to all of you, especially after what he had done a year ago." (Xavier shuddered at the thought, so did the others, all remembering)
"But I….."
"Damn right you should have!" growled Logan. "What fucking right did you have for keeping it from them!" "I wasn't here, but THEY were!" "You should have told them!" yelled Logan, making Storm jump.
Logan started his pacing again, rubbing his fists where the claws were. Professor Xavier saw that Logan was getting agitated again. It was no small wonder that he was holding together this long. Not wanting a repeat of Logan's destructive anger, Professor Xavier looked up at Storm. She was still by his side, but she had a shocked look on her face from she had heard. Jean also stopped what she was doing to listen too. She had "sensed" something was bothering the professor the last couple of days but had dismissed it.
Professor Xavier took a deep breath and continued the story – "As I have said, I know that I should have said something, but I was hoping that I could located him with Cerebro. Try and talk to him and maybe settle this "incident" peacefully."
"I thought that because I could not sense him, that maybe he just had gone underground and just disappeared. I know that he did not have his helmet. I verified that it was still at the prison." "There is no way, that I know of, that he could block me naturally."
"I was wrong. God, I was so very wrong." Xavier looked down at his hands, tears starting to come. For him this was very unusual, he was always calm and in control.
He gained his composure and continued –
"Rogue and the team had just returned from the routine mission and were relaxing. Rogue was continuing her training with Scott." "Believe me when I say this Logan, she truly liked what she was doing.""
Logan let out a small laugh when he heard this.
Xavier continued. "It helped her deal with the chaotic thoughts in her head and 'your' nightmares."
Logan stopped dead in his tracks – "What nightmares?"
Xavier just continued, never stopping to answer him. "It also helped her deal with the feelings of loneliness and abandonment, among 'other' feelings."
Xavier knew he had hit a raw nerve when a pained expression passed over Logan's face. Logan found a chair and sat down. His shoulders slumping. He felt defeat for the first time in his 'life'.
My god, what have I done? thought Logan.
As if she sensed what he was thinking, Jean carefully came over from where she was, next to the side of Scott's sleeping form. She placed a tender hand on Logan's shoulder, to try and give him what strength she had, to support him for what he was going to hear. Jean then looked at the professor, who nodded sadly.
Jean continued the story from there – "We had just come back from a routine rescue mission. There were no problems. We had all just settled in for some down time when we received a distress call from a location in Canada. We thought that you had sent it. It was regarding a young mutant child that was in danger of being hurt or even killed. We assembled the team Rogue and Bobby included. Bobby had decided on the code name "Iceman". We all felt that he was ready. Rogue wanted to come, I tried to talk her out of it, but she wanted to help, thinking that because she was young, that the child would trust her. Because of the type of mission it was, we didn't think it would be overly dangerous and that this would further help her feeling of belonging. We also thought that she was ready for this mission, as she had been on many like this. This was Iceman's first mission with the team as a member. He was so proud of the uniform and his accomplishment."
It was also his last mission, poor kid. thought Logan, looking over at the body that by now had been covered back up.
Logan sat up. "Yea, then what happened, stop the stalling." "This is not helping Rogue, we're wasting time!" "You don't have to tell me that I screwed up and ruined her fucking life!" he yelled impatiently.
"My screw up also ruined my life. I wasted a whole year." He said softly as if to himself.
Jean continued, "When we got to the area, we didn't find anything, so we decided to split up to cover more ground." that was stupid and also your first major mistake thought Logan.
"As we were checking things out we heard a horrible scream, it was Rogue's scream. We all ran to the area where the scream came from. We arrived at the same time. What we saw appalled us and it will live with me for a very long time". Jean shivered at the memory. "Rogue was impaled through the shoulder into a trunk of a tree with a piece of metal, like a spear."
Jean stopped and looked at Logan, "I know this is horrible, do you really want to hear all the details?"
Logan looked straight into Jean's eyes and growled, "I will tell you when I've had enough, damn you!" "I need to know what the hell happened to 'my' Rogue!" They all looked at him when he mentioned "my", but they left it alone, they all finally realized Logan's true feelings for Rogue and how deep they were.
Jean reluctantly continued, "She was in so much pain! I felt it from her in my head". "She was also very brave, she yelled at us to get away, that it was a trap, but we couldn't just leave her. Not like that without trying to help her or die trying." "You think you are the only one that cared for her! I care for all the kids here, especially her! Bobby is dead because of a decision we made, so you are not the only one with the guilty feelings here. So don't be so damned righteous!" "You're not the only one who has lost something or suffered!"
Jean looked away from Logan's intense gaze with tears in her eyes. She would be damned if he saw her cry again. That time was over, now is the time to try to put things as right as they could be and to be a team again. She went over to check on Scott, who by now was slowly stirring. She could not continue. It just hurt too much.
Storm saw her friend's face, she took a deep breath and she picked up the story, all the while the professor continued to squeeze her hand.
"Rogue was moaning and was bleeding heavily, but all she could think of was us." "She tried to pull herself off, still trying to tell us something about a trap, but we didn't understand at the time." "All we could think of was her." "Jean tried to run to her, but then we finally saw what Rogue was trying to tell us. But we realized too late. We finally saw the people who caused this, who had done this to Rogue." --
Logan was enraged, "Who, god damn it!" He was struggling to keep control. He had to. He had to hear everything, for Rogue's sake.
Storm tried to calm Logan, but gave up, she continued the story -- "We could not believe our eyes, Mystique, Toad, Sabertooth and Magneto was there!" "We still thought that he was in prison and the rest were dead." "But we know now, we were wrong." As she looked at the professor, he could have sworn he saw anger flash in her eyes. "There was also another mutant there, a big ugly furry "thing"." "Scott tried blasting the new mutant, but he absorbed the energy blast and laughed at us, at the same time he started to beat Rogue, to make her scream again. It was plain that they were going to try to use her against us, to make us careless. They attacked us from all sides. We all fought hard, but we didn't stand a chance. We were outnumbered and emotional. We were ambushed both physically and mentally. They played it against us. Everything we did they countered." "Bobby tried to freeze them but that they even countered his powers, I don't know how." Storm was crying freely now, the stress was finally getting to her.
Jean came over and put her arms around Storm and then went to Logan. She looked at Logan and continued "Scott was already severely injured, Storm was out cold. I lost track of Bobby and I was helpless." She looked hard at Logan, dreading what was to come.
"I heard Rogue scream again, like a wounded animal. At Magneto's urging this other mutant pulled Rogue off the tree. Not even taking the stake out of her shoulder! He had her on the ground and was smiling as he twisted the metal stake in and out of her shoulder, just so that I could hear her scream, Rogue tried to slap him" She was afraid to tell him what happened next, but decided he deserved to hear. "This 'animal' started yelling at Rogue, saying he was going to teach her a thing or two about respecting her elders, he tore at her uniform and started to fondle her, to attack her. Oh god Logan, he was enjoying her pain and our torment." "All the while the others held us at bay and were smiling. They were going to let him rape her right in front of us." "But you know what Logan? All the while he was doing this to her, she pleaded with them to spare us - US who could not even protect her. What a laugh!" Jean said bitterly.
Bobby couldn't stand it any longer, he was not in control. I tried to stop him but it was too late, he ran forward, yelling and freezing anything that got in his way. This new ungodly, inhuman, mutant stepped forward dropping Rogue like a rag doll and before we knew it he grabbed Bobby by the throat. As Bobby was dangling there off the ground, he played with Bobby like a dog does a toy and he just beat him to death, there was blood everywhere. He didn't even stop after Bobby was dead! All we could do was watch! Bobby didn't even struggle after awhile, all I heard him say in my 'mind' before he died - was I'm sorry." "After he was dead, this 'animal' just threw him down like garbage, Rogue tried to move towards him, I guess to see if she could absorb any of him that was still there, but they stopped her." "This other mutant, who I finally heard them call 'Tremor' was going to finish what he had started with Rogue, but then Magneto stopped him. He said he had other plans that needed to be attended to and that he could have what was left of Rogue, when he was done."
Jean could feel Logan's shoulders tense under her hand and saw his jaw twitch.
Very slow and menacing he growled - "If it's the last fucking thing I do, I will track this son of a bitch down, gut him slowly and watch him take his last breath, for what he has done."
They were all shocked by the inhuman, primitive sound in his voice.
"You haven't told me everything, I don't have to be psychic to know that you are holding something back." "You have to tell me the rest, PLEASE!" Logan's emotions were out of control again, unknowingly he unsheathed his claws.
Professor Xavier was looking very tired but Logan could sense him at the edge of his mind.
Logan, let me help you. I can suppress some of the anger and hurt for you. For the time being.
"Go to hell!" Logan yelled, turning on the professor. "The anger and hurt are ALL I have for now!" "Get the hell out of my head and leave me alone!"
With that, Xavier's head snapped back as if he was slapped. "I'm sorry, I thought I could help, give you some peace for now - please forgive me."
"If you want to help, you can tell me what happened to Mar…, I mean Rogue. Please. You have to tell me" - he struggled for the words - "is .. she .. (the word was like a knife in his heart) - "dead?"
Jean looked at Storm, then they both looked at Logan --
Jean spoke first - "We were all rendered unconscious by some kind of flash from Magneto. But before I blacked out, the last sight I saw was Magneto picking Rogue up like a doll, putting his hands on her bare face and yelling 'I finally won Charles and you have lost everything!'. The last sound I heard was Rogue screaming and screaming."
Jean was crying freely now, not so much for her or Scott, or even Logan, but for young Bobby he was just a kid, trying to 'play' superhero she thought, and for Rogue. Praying to god that she was still alive or if she was dead that she had not suffered anymore.
"When we came to, Bobby was dead. Scott was barely alive. Storm and I did the best that we could do at the time. We barely got back to the jet and back to the mansion." "When we got back to the mansion, we found the professor passed out in Cerebro, still attached to it. He apparently was 'with' us during the mission."
"Yes, I was with them, I felt something that was not right. When I sensed Magneto and his cloudy intent it was too late. I tried to control him with Cerebro but something kept 'jamming' me. I finally became overwhelmed by the death and destruction that I read in their minds"
"We are as you see us now."
Scott moaned trying to sit up. Jean went to him, she whispered something to him and then injected him with a drug to make him sleep again. He would need it for what was to come, they all would.
Logan stood up, he dreaded to ask again, but in his heart he needed to know ===
"Did you find her?" "Is she dead?" "I need to know." Logan pleaded.
Storm looked into his eyes with her soft brown ones, the tears flowing unchecked.
"We don't know. 'They' were nowhere to be found and neither was Rogue. And the professor can't sense Rogue anywhere. All we found was the black scarf that she had with her uniform, it was wet…..with blood."
The meaning of her words hung in the air like a dark fog. The unsaid words ate at his mind and tore at his heart --
-- Rogue was missing………and they didn't know where to start………….
TBC
Author's note: SO WHAT DO YA SAY - WANT MORE????
