8. Thin Air

At the mansion, people questioned Marina's disappearance, but Scott and the Professor explained that Marina liked to go off on her own; she would show up again soon.

This answer satisfied everyone but Bobby, who had a very un-comfortable feeling about it all. He kept glancing out the window and listening for cars on the drive, but she didn't return.

" Bobby, please pay attention," Called Storm from the front of the class.

Bobby turned back to his work, but the uncomfortable feeling was still there. Last night he had a dream, and in it Marina had screamed for Xavier not to come looking for her. Bobby wasn't sure what she had meant by it, but he knew one thing for sure, that her scream was one of pain and that it was for real.

Rogue tried to distract herself all day. It was very hard not to think about John and his note. She was staring blankly at the TV when Bobby came and sat down beside her. He had been acting strange and looking very nervous all day.

"That's because he is nervous," said the Bobby in her head. "Ask him why."

"What's wrong Bobby?" asked Rogue.

"I'm just worried about Marina. I think something really bad has happened to her." Said Bobby.

Rogue studied Bobby; she figured that he just had a really big crush on this new woman.

"You heard what the professor said. She always does stuff like this."

"I know, but I have a feeling that it is different this time. I'm going to look in her room, you coming?" Bobby stood up and headed out of the room. Rogue glanced at Bobby's retreating figure, and then to the TV set. She quickly flicked off, and scurried to catch up with him.

Marina's room looked like every other room in the mansion, accept there were clothes strewn across the bed, no one had obviously slept there. As Bobby searched around the room, Rogue looked at the clothing. There was a lot of cool clothing and quiet a few bathing suits and to her surprise, not all of it was blue.

"Hey Rogue, come here." Rogue quickly went to where Bobby was standing.

He held two pieces of paper in his hand. The first said:

I have a job proposal for you.

25 Grande St.

2:00 am / tomorrow night

I saw her leave that n-" Both teens stared down at the other paper shocked.

Bobby,

I knew you would be the first to grow worried and come into my room. We understand each other that way.

If I have been gone long enough for you to come in here, then things have not gone as planned. I have probably been taken by force. I would ask you personally not to come and get me, but please inform the x-men of my situation.

Marina Ocean

"I guess I better tell them than." Said Bobby quietly

"Yeah," agreed Rogue.

They both ran out of the room and headed for the professors office.

"Come in you two." The professor called as they knocked on his door.

Bobby and Rogue showed the professor their discovery, and he quickly sent for his x-men.

"Where do you think they've taken her?" asked Logan.

"I don't know, but I will go look for her in cerebrum. All of you may go, I'll call you if I find anything."

The x-men filed slowly out of the room. Rogue was last to leave, and when no one was looking, she picked up the first piece of paper and tucked it into her pocket.

I quietly opened my bedroom door and slipped out. It was five minutes until I would meet John at the forest edge. Logan's voice told me that I should stay in my room, but I locked him and all the voices away. I would keep them locked there until I was back in the house.

I managed to stumble in the dark to where I had found the note only this morning.

"John?" I called quietly.

As an answer John lit a ball of fire a few meters away, showing his face, and then put it out again. I walked quietly over to where he was and he led me a bit farther into the woods.

"Hey," I said, stepping face to face with him.

" Hey. Look Rogue I'm real sorry."

"For w-"

Johns hand shot out and I felt a sting as a needle stuck into the side of my neck. My vision began to get fuzzy as I stared into the darkness, and then I fell to the floor, all was black.

-------

I don't know how long I had been out, but some time later I felt the hard floor beneath me, and heard muffled voices close by. As I lay there, my hearing began to clear up.

"Are sure that stuff was safe? I mean she's been out for an hour," said John...or was he Pyro?

"Its fine, she'll wake up any moment," came a woman's voice.

I slowly opened my eyes and let them focus.

"There you see," said the woman triumphantly. John's face then hovered above me.

"Hey Rogue, how you feeling?"

"I would have said 'fine' if you hadn't stuck a freaking needle in my neck!" I glared at John as I sat up rubbing my neck. I looked around the room I was in.

Sitting in a chair near by was Mystique, she had been the woman I had heard speaking. We were in a bedroom, minus the bed. There were also no windows anywhere.

"You could have just asked me to come, it would have been less painful," I said.

"But would you have come?" asked Mystique.

"No."

Mystique smiled and began to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" I called. The blue woman turned back to me, her eyebrows raised in questioning. " Marina is missing, someone has taken her." Mystiques features softened slightly and she walked back to where I was laying.

"Where is she?"

"The professor couldn't find her. But this is where she went." I reached into my pocket and held it out.

"Okay." Mystique snatched the paper from my hands and walked out of the room. I wondered if she would do anything.

I was beginning to have major headache from keeping the voices back, so I let them roam loose again.

"Ah I see we have got you again. I wonder what use we want you for this time." Said Eric.

"Shut up." I snapped, massaging my temples.

"What?" asked John startled. He was unaware that I had any voices. He probably thought I was talking to him. Normally I would find this funny, but I was really stressed right now.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"So you just decided to yell 'shut up' to thin air?" asked John

"Yep. I talk to myself a lot these days, but you wouldn't know that since you didn't stick around long enough."

"I hated that place," said John flatly.

He walked out of the room and locked the door behind him. Although he had brushed my comment off, I knew it had bugged him, and his had bugged me right back.

Well the next day was just like the first. The doctors all came in and studied me. They would then give me a break and go prod and poke Toad for awhile, and when they were done, they would come right back and do the same thing to me.

Toad did a lot of resisting to the men, but I would just stay still and let them do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't hurt too much. I didn't want to be electrocuted again.

We both got a half hour breather when the doctors went on lunch break at noon. Toad moped around in his cage, rubbing his sore body as he swore at the doctors.

"If you didn't struggle with them so much they wouldn't hurt you as badly," I commented through my cage.

Toad glared at me with his gold eyes. I wasn't sure if I found those eyes of his intimidating or capturing. "I like to put up a fight. It shows I'm still livin, not some dumb test rat. That's opposite of you of course."

" I don't enjoy being electrocuted for fun thank you very much. And you wouldn't like it either if it ever happened to you," I snapped.

"Who says it 'asn't? The bloody weather witch's lightning is the reason I was picked up by these creeps."

I swam backwards a smiling slightly. I had always known Toad had been with the brotherhood, but I had never been told how he had been dispersed of. Storm wouldn't be too happy to learn he was still living, nor would she like the name he called her.

The doctors began to come back in again. They all pulled on rubber gloves and began to circle Toads cage. The leader of the bunch unlocked the lid, and another stuck in a medal pole (like the ones the pound use to capture stray dogs) and began to try and hook Toad into it. It took some time, but finally he had the wire secure around the struggling Toad's neck.

They then dragged him out, and were going to put a dog muzzle on his face, but it was too late. Toad's tongue came flying out of his mouth, lashing at anything he could get at.

Doctors and their equipment went flying around the room. I watched as the doctor, Pete, reached out and pushed the security alarm. Swiftly, 4 guards ran into the room and pointed their guns at the escapee.

Toad froze, and a doctor behind him got to his feet and swung a pan at his head. Toad fell limply to the ground, knocked on conscious.

The guards left the room again, and the doctors scooped up their specimen and carried him up the ramp to the door of my cage. They dropped him through the opening, and he splashed into the water, sinking to the bottom, four meters below.

I quickly dove under and grabbed Toad, dragging him above the water again. I morphed back into my jean-garbed legs and wrapped them around his waist, draping his arms over each of my legs. I then grabbed onto the side of the cage with both of my hands.

Toads head was barley above the water, but it was high enough for him too be able to breath. Judging by his webbed hands, he could swim just fine, but I would have to wait until he gained consciousness again.

....Thats my super long chapter for now. A lot of people are asking when Bobby will discover Marina is his mother. Now i origionaly planned that he never find out(to make things more interesting) but when i told my sister and best friend that idea...well lets say they wern't to happy about it. So I really am getting to Bobby's discovery, but that will all come in my own time.

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