"Watch me," Rogue said as she sprung out of her chair, running out of the restaurant.
Once she had passed the bar's door, dust and fumes assaulted her senses. She felt her eyes prick and water unmercifully. She held her hand in front of her mouth and nose, feeling the fowl stuff enter her lungs, and willing her to cough.
She forced her green eyes open, and advanced, retaining her breath a little. There were more explosions, louder, more powerful with more surges of dust. The ground under her feet shuddered with its force. It did nothing to discourage her.
"Dis not be normal. Somethin' has gon' wrong. Ya should keep out of dis."
Rogue didn't listen. There were a couple of cars, abandoned on the road, doors wide open, deserted by their owners who'd run away in fright. She passed them, glancing inside to make sure they were empty, and then made her way towards the entrance of the bank, or what was left of the entrance. At it's place was a gaping hole, it's corners charred black.
"Dis be Remy, sure enough. But, dis isn't normal. Be careful chere."
"Aren't you frightened that mein sister catches you?"
"Nah, none can catch Remy. He be the best."
"Stripes is going to scorch your ego, gumbo," Logan chuckled. "Now, just keep to the corners and shadows. Remember my training."
Rogue tried to glance inside, but the view was half hidden by the dust hanging in the air. She took a tempting step inside, before sprinting across the hall to the side of the next door. She took another breath, then held it. She peeked threw the doorway. It seemed empty.
"Wait..."
There was yet another explosion accompanied by another wave of dust. The lamps rattled against the walls, bits of plaster fell from the ceiling.
"Leave, chere. Remy not sure what is happening..."
"Don't listen to him!"
"What are 'ya' doing here anyway?" Rogue asked.
"Business. But wasn't meant to be dis way. Remy must be in deep trouble..."
"Ah should help ya."
"Leave me to mes problems, chere. Y' got enough."
"Right with gumbo, for once. He's a thief, Kid. Good if he's in trouble!"
"No..." Rogue mumbled.
"Chere, it's no good."
"No, I'm an X-man! I must help!" Rogue cried out. She winced imagining Scott puffing up his torso in pride. However, for once, he wasn't keeping to his 'usual' prep talk.
"Rogue, I order you to leave. It's too dangerous. Go back to institute and tell the professor and 'I'..." Rogue could feel the awkwardness as he spoke of himself. "...what's happening."
The walls trembled once again. Rogue knew it was a bit stupid. She should have left to get back-up but she wanted to prove to the others, and to herself, that she wasn't weak, that she was capable to go back on mission.
Therefore, she advanced, hidden behind the empty counters, her heart beating loudly. Most of her psyches protested, but she tried to ignore them as best she could.
"Ya don't know what ya're getting in, chere..."
"Get back now!"
"Rogue, I don't want to get in any trouble..."
"What you're talking about, it'll be fun!"
Rogue arrived at the foot of a stairway, refined in marble with a plated gold banister: several steps were missing. She looked up, the ceiling was blackened, but there were no more tremors than ran along it. Each of her steps was echoing too loudly to Rogue's ears. She took another breath.
"Smells trap."
Rogue dashed up the stairway, but at that precise moment, the ground decided to shake. Rogue was destabilised but managed to keep her ground and not fall down. She sighed in relief and started to continue her way up when an almighty crack was heard.
She looked just in time to see the whole ceiling crumbling, the chandelier hooked up there coming down first.
"Shit!"
Rogue lifted her arms and closed her eyes in pure reflex, waiting for the pain that was sure to follow. Instead, a weird sensation travelled threw her body, like if she'd plunged in water and then regained the surface with a gulp of air. She could hear the first bits crashing against the stairs and lower down.
Her arms were placed over her head, and she waited...
And waited. The noise was slowly deafened and Rogue opened an eye from inside the confines of her arms.
The entire rumble was now around her, but she was "whole"...
"It worked," breathed Kitty.
Rogue let her arms drop to her sides, a little confused. "Ah'm intact," she said, trying to convince herself of her lucky fate. "Ah'm alive."
"Yep Yep Yep! Thanks who? So? Thanks who?" Kitty cheered happily. Rogue could imagine the freshman performing a little victory dance.
"Ah phased..." Rogue could hardly believe.
"I phased you, you mean! I did it! Geez, like, where's all the gratitude coming from?" Kitty rambled on.
"Haven't got time!"
Rogue rushed up the last steps, jumping over the debris, trying to understand exactly what had happened. Could she control a psyche's power? She knew a couple that could be very useful.
But something even more weird than usual daily mutation happened, interrupting Rogue's thoughts. She shivered uncontrollably, like if she'd fallen into freezing water. For just a second, Rogue thought she'd phased again, but is was something much more unpleasant. Even Kitty had quietened down.
"Turn back! Dis ain't no good news! Run!" Remy spoke first.
"What is it?" A dreadful fascination made Rogue continue onwards, as if a black string was pulling at her heat, like a fish on the hook. However, instead of trashing about, she stayed calm and approached carefully.
"What you're doing!"
"I'm scared," Jamie's voice trembled.
"Rogue, get back straight away! It's an order!"
"I don't see anything good coming."
"Mh... I've already felt this somewhere, very long ago... It couldn't be."
"Charles, I hope you're not talking about..."
"I'm not sure, Eric."
"Just shut up! Will ya?" Rogue scolded them.
"This is outrageous!" Amara complained. "I've never been spoken to like this..."
"Shut! Keep the volume down, dey'll hear us," Remy unexpectedly came to Rogue's defence.
"Hear? Rogue's not talking... There's a telepath about?"
The psyches became silent, something that Rogue hadn't experienced for a while. The faint headache that had started to form disappeared instantly. Now, if only she could find Gambit and find out what the hell was happening...
She didn't need to, for the answer came to her, literally.
Rogue stood still in the shadow of the corner. However, cold tremors ran across her back. Something was approaching, something deadly, and Rogue found that she couldn't move. Her legs were of stone, even if she'd wanted to she wouldn't have been able to run. For she anticipated with a dangerous thrill what was coming towards her.
"Ya should have kept out of this, chere."
A loud clunk-clunk could be heard approaching.
"Who can trust a thief?"
A dark figured turned the corner, cloaked in black with a large white staff in hand, the end falling to the ground with each step. It stopped in its tracks, a final clunk echoing across the room.
Rogue squirmed: all her senses were screaming to move...
It turned it's head, taking Rogue's breath away. From inside the folds of the hood, Death's face looked out. The pale skin clinging to it's skull, rotting gashes were where the eyes should have been... It advanced, no apparent need of it's staff which it'd been using earlier as a walking stick.
Cold seemed to grip at Rogue's throat, trying to strangle her, make her take her last breath. It was working. She became weak in the knees, her eyesight blurring, her skin crawling... Meanwhile her psyches became frantic, yelling, but Rogue was deaf to them.
Before any psyche could do more, Death started to back away, his grip loosening on Rogue's senses. Her eyesight became neat, her arms less heavy...
"Here comes the chopper,' it hissed, hitting the ground with it's staff as if it was the hammer of doom.
"To chop off your head..." it finished before disappearing into shadow.
Rogue fell to her knees, gasping for air, shaking uncontrollably. It was too cold... Warmth and sense slowly came back to her body.
"Are you all right?" little Jimmy squeaked nervously.
"Yes. Yes, much better," Rogue answered breathlessly.
"Where's gumbo meant to be?"
Rogue dragged herself up into a standing position and walked deeper into the bank, her hand pressed against the wall in case she'd falter. Rogue quickly moved away when she entered the next room.
Rumble littered the floor, chairs were thrown across the room, the once strong wood tables were blasted apart, and in the middle laid an old man, trapped under a large bit of the fallen ceiling. She rushed to his side, trying to lift the stuff off him. It shifted slowly to fall in a mighty bang next to the fallen body.
Rogue crouched down, putting a finger to his jugular, trying to find his pulse.
"Can't feel anything with these damn gloves," she complained in rage.
She looked down on the old face covered with wrinkles, showing his old smiles at the corners of his mouth, or his frowns upon his forehead.
"Please, don't be dead..."
To her delight he shifted, his hand twitching as if he'd just lost something, a scowl appearing. He groaned as he tried to shift his body weight.
"Don't move," Rogue told him softly. "Ya might have broken or strained somethin', Ah'll go and get some help..."
"No... Just leave..."
"Shh... It's all right..."
"No!" he yelled, his hand grabbing her wrist as she tried to move away.
To her horror, the old man's skin started to 'crawl', softening up. His cheekbones became more pronounced, the sag around his eyes disappearing. His hair started to darken, his grip becoming stronger.
Red on black eyes peered up at her.
Cliff-hanger, aren't I mean! Hehehe
Well, what you think? Rogue a bit to fascinated by Death? Wait and see... Any idea why Rogue got the voices in her head in the first place, and not simply just the powers? Oh... I got my skin crawling with thick plot. Ah, no... No other Acolytes about, it's not your simple Magneto raid.
I hope you all got the end, or I am a pathetic writer! An old man turning into Remy? What ya think about the new mutant, death? He's going to a complicated one, and not very pleasant. Never feared to grow old in a split second? Well, I just couldn't keep Remy old, he's just got a too good body... ok, I'm going over board.
Luv the reviews, winks at Snitter and the others (luv the bunny on crack!) Yep, I know, Unknown Source, Kitty is a classic, but just couldn't resist... Oh, and Sarah Crysala, I was just looking you up when I realised I'd actually that I'd read one of your fanfictions, the fifth Acolyte? Great! Keep it up Girl! (I suppose you're a girl)
What? I said you'd see Remy in flesh? Well, I know it was only couple of seconds, but more soon, promise. I could have added the after 'bank', but that would have about another two to three days! (I've got work, I finish school at 6 o'clock about four times a week. Plus 2 half days, plus my work afternoon (I've got four tests next week, how mean can teachers get?), and my violin lessons another afternoon... pants and looks for water ) Yep, that is how bad a pathetic occidental girl's life can get. And I complain when kids are dying of hunger, and loads of people are getting bombarded and...
Well, just review, I'll be happy enough.