It was Sunday afternoon before Rogue gave even a thought to getting
back to the main camp. She had stayed where she had been dropped all of
Saturday.
'I guess I'll have to hurry.' She smirked to herself. Gathering up her gear, she then tried various ways of getting back. Jean's teleportation really wasn't good for long term transportation of anything heavy. So, she switched to 'porting. When that got too tiring she took a break and just walked for a while, enjoying the sights and sounds.
Looking at her watch, she noticed that it was nearly four. She was going to be late. Logan and Storm would be so angry. To herself, she wondered if she dare risk it.
There was one aspect of Mystique's power of transformation that Rogue had never been comfortable enough to try. Mystique often used her ability to turn into animals as a means to escape. With it she could quickly carry high above whatever troubles she left on the ground. Rogue had only ever used that power to change into people. 'Well. Desperate times.' Shrugging out of her pack, Rogue turned herself into a small sparrow.
Whoosh! A wind of exploding air heralded the arrival of Kurt. Startled, Sparrow Rogue flew up to a low branch. 'What the hell was Kurt doing here?' she mentally yelled.
Walking over to her pack, Kurt picked it up and looked around as if expecting to see her. "Rogue, are you here? Everybody's vaiting!"
With a bird-like chirp of frustration, Sparrow Rogue hopped around to the far side of the tree she was on; well away from Kurt's line of sight. Down on the ground, Rogue fought down the urge to pop out as something that would frighten Kurt away and quickly turned back into herself. Eyeballing her outfit and running a hand over her face to double check that she was in fact herself, Rogue stepped out from behind the tree.
"Kurt, what are you doing here?"
"You're late, Rogue. I volunteered to find you. Vait till you see Scott and Jean." Kurt was laughing. "Bobby and Kitty wore them out. Do you vanna 'port back?"
"Sure. Are Storm and Logan mad?"
"Nah. They're too busy making sure everyone else gets ready to go home. But vhat happened to you Rogue? You usually beat at least Evan back."
"I was taking my time. I have fun out here." Hoisting her pack back on, Rogue let Kurt wrap his arms around her before he 'ported back to camp.
Pfft!
"There you are!" the gruff voice could only be Logan. "Well get aboard, we've been waiting all day." Bobby and Kitty, finding a new audience, started chattering excitedly as Rogue and Kurt strapped in. Yeah, Rogue definitely liked the quiet in the woods.
****
"Kurt didn't seem to notice anything unusual. Though they did get back late."
"And Rogue didn't notice you were watching her?" The Professor asked Logan after listening to Storm.
"She didn't let on if she did. I'll have to talk to her about that. She should have been more alert." Said Logan, ever the survivalist.
"Logan, she was probably just wrapped up in what she was doing."
"Storm, I was ten feet away. If I was something out to get her, she wouldn't be here now. All the other kids noticed; they were on guard. She's done these trips often enough to expect me if nothing else."
"How do you want to talk to Rogue about this?"
"I still think that we should let her come out with it on her own. I will talk to her about paying attention though." That was Logan.
"If we let her know that we know, perhaps she'll feel more comfortable practicing with our help. She has many of our powers. Except yours, Charles. We have years of experience on her. We can help." Rogue had absorbed some of Storm's power the first time they had met. At the time her lack of control had almost killed Storm and Scott.
"She wasn't havin' problems with control. She's got many of those powers mastered."
"Perhaps it'll come as less of a surprise if I ask her about it." The Professor said.
****
Rogue was lying on her bed, reading, when she felt the contact with the Professor.
Rogue, would it be alright if I talked to you for a moment?
"Sure Professor. I'll be right there?"
Please come to my office.
Downstairs, in Professor Xavier's office, Rogue sat in an overstuffed armchair while he rolled around to a spot across from it.
"Rogue, I know that you have been practicing with your powers and that you've been getting very good." The Professor gave her a minute to absorb the information.
She took it fairly well. "Did you tell anybody?"
"Storm, Logan, Hank and I had noticed a change in your behavior. On the trip, Logan tracked you down as he usually does and saw you practicing your powers. Then, he told Storm and I and I told Hank. Other than that, I doubt anyone knows."
She didn't say anything.
"Logan said that you had mastered many of the powers he saw you using. This is wonderful for you! I'm glad that some good." While he had been speaking, Xavier had unconsciously reached out a hand, as if to grip her on the shoulder.
Rogue flinched away. "Don't touch me!" The Professor immediately drew back. "I still can't be touched. What good is any of it if I can't be touched?" Rogue moved over to the window, almost crying.
"Rogue, I didn't mean to upset you. And this is a very good thing. It means you can control what you retain and file it away for when you need it. You won't be overwhelmed by an alien personality again. It is a huge step." When the X-men had first met Rogue, when she absorbed any of them, she became confused, thinking she was the person she had absorbed.
Rogue still didn't look convinced. Turning back to look at him, she spoke "Even if that were true, these powers are belong to Scott, Kurt and the others. If I use them, they'll hate me."
Ah. So this was why she had not told any of them. "You have parts of their personalities inside you. What do they tell you?"
"But that was when they knew I couldn't help it. When I only suffered with my mutation. Now-."
"You still cannot help how you receive your powers. I doubt any will begrudge you a positive side to this. If they do, and act on it, that's their problem. It has little to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me! Besides, I still feel overwhelmed."
"When do you feel overwhelmed?"
"Whenever I take on the shape as well as the powers of someone I absorbed."
"I see. Not at any other time?"
They both stopped speaking, lost in thought. "Sometimes, when I wake up out of a nightmare of someone else's memories like Mystique's or Logan's or Magneto's sometimes, it can be hard to remember I'm me and that those things didn't happen to me."
"I'm not sure how to help you with the memories. I could try to purge them as I did before but I."
"No!" the word flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Sorry, I just meant that I could not find nearly this much control before you tried that and I'm a little afraid that if you do that, I'll lose the powers as well. If I don't have that inner mind telling me how to use it, it really would be if I stole them because the power would be the only thing of them I took. It would feel empty. I'd miss some of them."
"Yes, I felt so as well. I don't know why what I tried didn't work, Rogue. You were very resistant when I did it and fragile afterwards. It's better we save that as a final resort. Anyway, if you can control the personalities, there should be no need to.
"Would it be alright if I could see how far you have come? Logan said you were doing fine, but I was curious if you had any of their drawbacks when practicing other's powers."
"Okay, but I still don't want anyone else to know."
"Would you mind if Storm, Logan and Hank saw? They know already and are as happy for you as I."
Reluctantly, Rogue agreed. "Would the Danger Room be alright?"
Despite herself, Rogue smiled. She had been wanting to pitch her new tricks against the formidable training programs that the Danger Room provided.
******
Rogue followed the Professor into the main floor of the Danger Room. Storm, Logan and Hank were already waiting. Strom and Hank were smiling at her; Logan looked about as pleased as he ever did.
"We're so happy for you!" Storm came over and put an arm around Rogue's covered shoulders. Rogue and Storm had always had a good relationship, not-quite mother/daughter but definitely older/younger sister. Storm's display had a surprising effect. Rogue felt the doubts she had been having about her friends hating her because she could control their powers start to melt.
"Can I show what I can do?" For the first time, Rogue felt that maybe it would be ok if the Professor, Storm and other adults knew she could use their powers. Maybe they could be happy for her.
"I cannot wait."
So, somewhat self-consciously, Rogue started playing with Amara's fire. The remotes weren't activated, so no one was attacking her. It left the demonstration unstructured and with Rogue being painfully aware of an audience, she wasn't doing as well as she could have.
Fortunately Logan, who could compare the differences in performance, recognized this. "Here kid, fight me."
Rogue was visibly taken aback. She would have objected, but Logan had gone into Wolverine mode and his blitz-style attacks shocked her into responding.
Hummm! A magnetic field washed through the room, stopping Wolverine three feet in the air. He couldn't move.
She let him slowly fall back to the floor and released her hold on the adamantium bones of his body.
He attacked again. Rogue used a slower way of putting him down. Letting him get close, she phased through a slash from his claws, then using the immense strength she had taken from Blob the day he had kidnapped Jean, picked Wolverine up and threw him across the room.
Logan landed on his feet and smiled at the challenge. "Try something else kid!"
Grinning, she sped towards him with Quicksilver's speed and struck him with one of Scott's low-powered optic blasts.
Rogue, you're doing well. Try practicing in someone else's shape. The Professor sent her.
Rogue shifted into Sabertooth's guise.
"Don't give her ideas Charles!" A panting Logan called.
SaberRogue smiled happily. No one had ever seen Sabertooth smile like that and everyone was a bit startled but pleased.
But then the essence of Sabertooth in Rogue scented Logan. All of a sudden, Rogue couldn't control him as he tried his hardest to push her control back into the corner where she usually kept him locked. For one moment, he succeeded.
In that second, SaberRogue roared and launched across the room in a murderous rage and fell directly at Logan.
A tremor of fear shot through Hank, Storm and the Professor. Logan, aware of the minute change, was ready. Rogue, quickly regaining control, used the last second before she collided to phase through Logan, the wall and the floor and out of sight.
Alarmed at the display, except for Logan, the adults were just about to go downstairs when Rogue, using Jean's telekinesis and Kitty's phasing floated back up through the floor wearing her own body again. Storm, Hank and the Professor quickly crossed the room.
"Logan, I'm so sorry! He's still there and he got away from me when he saw you." Rogue's face was a picture of grief and dejection.
"Kid, it's ok. I was ready for you; besides, Sabertooth and I can't do much damage to each other with the healing abilities we both have. Do they work for you too?" Rogue didn't have a mark on her.
"Yeah, but I have to think about it. If I'm in control, none of these powers happen unless I choose to do it. My skin just does it on its own, that's not how the phasing and stuff works for me. I'm sorry, it's harder when I try to look like Sabertooth or Juggernaut or Magneto and practice their power while I look like them. They think they're back in their own bodies."
"It is a good thing to know." Hank spoke up. "Have you formed any hypothesizes on why those three are hardest for you to control? Does anyone else give you trouble?"
"Well the X-men are my friends and they know I can't help what happened, so they don't fight me. The Brotherhood was once my friends so they fight a little, but not nearly as much as Sabertooth and the rest."
"What about Mystique?" Storm asked worriedly.
"She wants me to be able to do this, so she kind of yells at the ones who give me trouble and they shut up. Or she'll give me tips on how to manipulate Erik or Creed or Pietro. She never tries to take over."
The adults were all silent.
"Well, I think you're doing remarkably well Rogue. You've certainly proved the incredible degree of control you can have." The Professor did seem pleased.
"Would you like us to keep this a secret from the other students?" Storm asked.
"Yeah I would. Can I try out the Danger room now?"
Laughing, Hank returned to the lab, Storm to her gardens and the Professor to the observation deck.
"I'll just work through this level with you kid." Logan grinned. "Let's see how good you really are."
For the next hour Rogue and Logan worked through several levels of programming. By the end of it Logan was very impressed. "You're doin' good kid."
Panting, Rogue could only stare up at him from where she had collapsed on the floor. "I've never done all that at once that quickly."
"You wanna do it again?"
"No!"
"Go get cleaned up, I'm sure you got homework to do."
"Ah, man." Rogue limped off to her room.
Logan joined the Professor in the observation deck. "That was fun." He said, collapsing into a chair.
"Do you really think she can do all that at this stage?"
"She did it didn't she? She doesn't know it, but she's usin' the fighting styles of those she's absorbed too."
"Really?"
"That was definitely Mystique's high kick and Magneto's magnetic withdrawal. Scott uses his blasts erratically like that and I -."
"Tend to charge targets?"
"Yeah. She needs to work on originality."
"I don't know, I thought when she got hit and split into five copies and then promptly started fighting with those copies was pretty original. For a second there you had most of the X-men fighting with you. But I can see how exploring alternate uses of those powers can be helpful. To the other students as well."
"There's only one person I know she's absorbed that I haven't seen her borrowin' from."
"You noticed Storm's absence too?"
"Yeah. Maybe she doesn't want to muck around with the weather too much. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable playing with lightning. Could Storm help her with that?"
"I think she'll have to. If Rogue starts having nightmares again and loses control in her sleep, lightning would be a scary thing to contend with. I'll talk to Storm about it."
*******
"Where have you been all weekend? We couldn't find you." Kitty demanded when Rogue walked in.
"I've been around." Rogue fell onto the bed.
"You never told me what you do when you go out with the first class. Last weekend was so cool! That was way cooler than having Wolverine make us tie knots and climb trees and all that stuff."
Rogue smiled. "I'm guessing you didn't run into wildlife while you were out there."
"What kinds of wildlife?"
"You know the usual. Bears, mountain lions, that kind of stuff. It's a lot different when you're out there all by yourself than when you have Jean or Storm to go with you. You have to be on your guard to not leave a trail and quiet so stuff doesn't, you know, find you."
"You sound like Logan. 'Everyone's out to get you. No one is safe."
"That's how he's lived his life. He's still alive."
"Yeah, but I like people. I can't imagine being on the run and scared all the time without having someone to count on."
"Don't worry, you blend in pretty good."
"But, remember a couple of years ago when Mystique kidnapped the Prof and blew up the Institute? What if we have to scatter someday and hide like the Morlocks down in the sewers?"
"Kitty, I don't think that will happen. And even if it does, Logan and the Professor are making sure that we can survive out in the middle of nowhere for a while if we have to. Think about it Kitty, it means options. If someone knocks on your door in the middle of the night, you can phase out the back, walk into the woods and be gone."
"Now you sound like Logan. You'd still be alone."
"I don't know, maybe we could pick a meeting place for if that happens. Don't worry about it, it probably won't happen."
Bamft! "Hi guys!" A German accent barged in. "Vhat's happenin?"
"Rogue was telling me about what last weekend was like. What happened to you?"
Kurt was about to respond, but the Professor's voice echoed through their heads.
You all have school in the morning. Time to sleep. Kurt, go back to your room.
"Don't vorry Kitty, I'll tell you tomorrow."
*****
School was nasty. There was no help for it. Ever since the normal kids had discovered the fact of their being mutants, there was no lasting peace for them.
Rogue had built up a sphere of space around her from the get go so people usually let her alone, but the others weren't so lucky.
Scott was always getting hassled about his shades, Kurt got by on his jokes and good humor, and Evan walked down the hall to shouts of "Toothpick!" and related comments.
Kitty and Jean did all right, their friends kept quiet as long as they didn't remind them that they were mutants.
The rest of the X kids, having been enrolled after the Mutant thing blew, hung around together for support.
The Brotherhood kids had a bad attitude, which didn't help any. Lance and Pietro were always in fights, which the arrival of Fred, aka the Blob, always stopped.
But things still happened.
It was the end of the day. Rogue was getting books from her locker and looking forward to the weekend, when another camping trip would lead to the first of her sessions with Storm. Kitty and Kurt and his girlfriend were joking around a few feet away. Jean and Scott were coming down the hall to collect everyone to go home.
Wanda, Pietro and Lance were passing from the other direction. That's when someone got cute. A conveniently placed foot sent Wanda sprawling. Pietro moved to stop her fall, but he was too late. Wanda had knocked into the lockers, her wildly searching hand found Rogue's face and the Scarlet Witch was out cold.
The sheer rage was so great; Rogue almost lost control of it. Blue light sparked from her hands. She could feel the new Wanda personality seeking out the Magneto one, in an concerted attempt to do harm.
But no one seemed to notice this. Lance was already threatening the jock who had done it. Pietro was quickly picking Wanda up. Scott and Jean were offering to take Wanda to the Institute to make sure she was okay.
It was a sign of how bad the situation at school had gotten that the Brotherhood kids accepted. "Kurt, Kitty, tell Fred and Toad where we're going. Offer them a lift." And Scott and Jean were out the door, leading the three Brotherhood kids to their car. Kitty and Kurt went off in search of the rest of them.
All of a sudden, the hallway was empty of mutants. No one noticed Rogue's distress or the war that was currently raging inside of her.
Realizing she needed a private place to go, and quickly, she wasted no time porting to the only place she could think of, before she lost her tenuous control.
****
The adults were used to dealing with accidents that arose from mutant powers. They were less used to dealing with Wanda, but that was all right. Wanda quickly woke up in time for Mystique, Toad and Fred charge into the mansion with Kitty and Kurt right behind them.
"Where is she?" Despite the high feelings most of the X-men had about Mystique, the Professor realized that Mystique did care for Wanda in her own warped way. He quickly took her to the hospice room where Wanda was sitting with Pietro and Lance. "Are you all right?"
"I'm going to get that jerk! They have no right to hassle us like this!" the frustration in Wanda's voice was a clear indication that she was fine.
All of the kids explained what had happened and that such things were commonplace at Bayville High. The adults expressed surprise that things had gotten so bad.
"You should have told me."
"We'll discuss this with the principal."
"What good would it do? He hates mutants just as much as the kids!"
Before the Professor and Mystique could get too much into a fight, Storm arrived from school with the rest of the kids.
Oddly, it was Mystique who noticed Rogue's absence. "Where's Rogue?"
"After you guys got here Scott, did you happen to noticed where she headed?"
"Uh, actually Professor, I don't think she came with us."
"What!" Mystique said what they all felt. "You just left her there?"
"Well," Jean cut in. "There's no hurry now. Wanda's awake, so her powers have probably left Rogue by now."
Logan, Hank, Storm and the Professor all exchanged a look. What with her new powers and the fact that she hadn't come back yet, they knew something was wrong.
"All right. I will go and see if I can find her using Cerebro. Logan, would you mind looking in the woods? Hank, I need you to search the mansion. Storm, can you looking for her around town?" They quickly left and Xavier started to roll off.
"Xavier! What's wrong with Rogue?" Mystique still thought of her as a daughter and regretted the distrust Rogue had for her. She had even gone so far as to impersonate a student to be friends with her. Mystique followed the Professor out the door, leaving kids from both the Brotherhood and the X-men alone and confused and gathered around Wanda's bed.
'I guess I'll have to hurry.' She smirked to herself. Gathering up her gear, she then tried various ways of getting back. Jean's teleportation really wasn't good for long term transportation of anything heavy. So, she switched to 'porting. When that got too tiring she took a break and just walked for a while, enjoying the sights and sounds.
Looking at her watch, she noticed that it was nearly four. She was going to be late. Logan and Storm would be so angry. To herself, she wondered if she dare risk it.
There was one aspect of Mystique's power of transformation that Rogue had never been comfortable enough to try. Mystique often used her ability to turn into animals as a means to escape. With it she could quickly carry high above whatever troubles she left on the ground. Rogue had only ever used that power to change into people. 'Well. Desperate times.' Shrugging out of her pack, Rogue turned herself into a small sparrow.
Whoosh! A wind of exploding air heralded the arrival of Kurt. Startled, Sparrow Rogue flew up to a low branch. 'What the hell was Kurt doing here?' she mentally yelled.
Walking over to her pack, Kurt picked it up and looked around as if expecting to see her. "Rogue, are you here? Everybody's vaiting!"
With a bird-like chirp of frustration, Sparrow Rogue hopped around to the far side of the tree she was on; well away from Kurt's line of sight. Down on the ground, Rogue fought down the urge to pop out as something that would frighten Kurt away and quickly turned back into herself. Eyeballing her outfit and running a hand over her face to double check that she was in fact herself, Rogue stepped out from behind the tree.
"Kurt, what are you doing here?"
"You're late, Rogue. I volunteered to find you. Vait till you see Scott and Jean." Kurt was laughing. "Bobby and Kitty wore them out. Do you vanna 'port back?"
"Sure. Are Storm and Logan mad?"
"Nah. They're too busy making sure everyone else gets ready to go home. But vhat happened to you Rogue? You usually beat at least Evan back."
"I was taking my time. I have fun out here." Hoisting her pack back on, Rogue let Kurt wrap his arms around her before he 'ported back to camp.
Pfft!
"There you are!" the gruff voice could only be Logan. "Well get aboard, we've been waiting all day." Bobby and Kitty, finding a new audience, started chattering excitedly as Rogue and Kurt strapped in. Yeah, Rogue definitely liked the quiet in the woods.
****
"Kurt didn't seem to notice anything unusual. Though they did get back late."
"And Rogue didn't notice you were watching her?" The Professor asked Logan after listening to Storm.
"She didn't let on if she did. I'll have to talk to her about that. She should have been more alert." Said Logan, ever the survivalist.
"Logan, she was probably just wrapped up in what she was doing."
"Storm, I was ten feet away. If I was something out to get her, she wouldn't be here now. All the other kids noticed; they were on guard. She's done these trips often enough to expect me if nothing else."
"How do you want to talk to Rogue about this?"
"I still think that we should let her come out with it on her own. I will talk to her about paying attention though." That was Logan.
"If we let her know that we know, perhaps she'll feel more comfortable practicing with our help. She has many of our powers. Except yours, Charles. We have years of experience on her. We can help." Rogue had absorbed some of Storm's power the first time they had met. At the time her lack of control had almost killed Storm and Scott.
"She wasn't havin' problems with control. She's got many of those powers mastered."
"Perhaps it'll come as less of a surprise if I ask her about it." The Professor said.
****
Rogue was lying on her bed, reading, when she felt the contact with the Professor.
Rogue, would it be alright if I talked to you for a moment?
"Sure Professor. I'll be right there?"
Please come to my office.
Downstairs, in Professor Xavier's office, Rogue sat in an overstuffed armchair while he rolled around to a spot across from it.
"Rogue, I know that you have been practicing with your powers and that you've been getting very good." The Professor gave her a minute to absorb the information.
She took it fairly well. "Did you tell anybody?"
"Storm, Logan, Hank and I had noticed a change in your behavior. On the trip, Logan tracked you down as he usually does and saw you practicing your powers. Then, he told Storm and I and I told Hank. Other than that, I doubt anyone knows."
She didn't say anything.
"Logan said that you had mastered many of the powers he saw you using. This is wonderful for you! I'm glad that some good." While he had been speaking, Xavier had unconsciously reached out a hand, as if to grip her on the shoulder.
Rogue flinched away. "Don't touch me!" The Professor immediately drew back. "I still can't be touched. What good is any of it if I can't be touched?" Rogue moved over to the window, almost crying.
"Rogue, I didn't mean to upset you. And this is a very good thing. It means you can control what you retain and file it away for when you need it. You won't be overwhelmed by an alien personality again. It is a huge step." When the X-men had first met Rogue, when she absorbed any of them, she became confused, thinking she was the person she had absorbed.
Rogue still didn't look convinced. Turning back to look at him, she spoke "Even if that were true, these powers are belong to Scott, Kurt and the others. If I use them, they'll hate me."
Ah. So this was why she had not told any of them. "You have parts of their personalities inside you. What do they tell you?"
"But that was when they knew I couldn't help it. When I only suffered with my mutation. Now-."
"You still cannot help how you receive your powers. I doubt any will begrudge you a positive side to this. If they do, and act on it, that's their problem. It has little to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me! Besides, I still feel overwhelmed."
"When do you feel overwhelmed?"
"Whenever I take on the shape as well as the powers of someone I absorbed."
"I see. Not at any other time?"
They both stopped speaking, lost in thought. "Sometimes, when I wake up out of a nightmare of someone else's memories like Mystique's or Logan's or Magneto's sometimes, it can be hard to remember I'm me and that those things didn't happen to me."
"I'm not sure how to help you with the memories. I could try to purge them as I did before but I."
"No!" the word flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Sorry, I just meant that I could not find nearly this much control before you tried that and I'm a little afraid that if you do that, I'll lose the powers as well. If I don't have that inner mind telling me how to use it, it really would be if I stole them because the power would be the only thing of them I took. It would feel empty. I'd miss some of them."
"Yes, I felt so as well. I don't know why what I tried didn't work, Rogue. You were very resistant when I did it and fragile afterwards. It's better we save that as a final resort. Anyway, if you can control the personalities, there should be no need to.
"Would it be alright if I could see how far you have come? Logan said you were doing fine, but I was curious if you had any of their drawbacks when practicing other's powers."
"Okay, but I still don't want anyone else to know."
"Would you mind if Storm, Logan and Hank saw? They know already and are as happy for you as I."
Reluctantly, Rogue agreed. "Would the Danger Room be alright?"
Despite herself, Rogue smiled. She had been wanting to pitch her new tricks against the formidable training programs that the Danger Room provided.
******
Rogue followed the Professor into the main floor of the Danger Room. Storm, Logan and Hank were already waiting. Strom and Hank were smiling at her; Logan looked about as pleased as he ever did.
"We're so happy for you!" Storm came over and put an arm around Rogue's covered shoulders. Rogue and Storm had always had a good relationship, not-quite mother/daughter but definitely older/younger sister. Storm's display had a surprising effect. Rogue felt the doubts she had been having about her friends hating her because she could control their powers start to melt.
"Can I show what I can do?" For the first time, Rogue felt that maybe it would be ok if the Professor, Storm and other adults knew she could use their powers. Maybe they could be happy for her.
"I cannot wait."
So, somewhat self-consciously, Rogue started playing with Amara's fire. The remotes weren't activated, so no one was attacking her. It left the demonstration unstructured and with Rogue being painfully aware of an audience, she wasn't doing as well as she could have.
Fortunately Logan, who could compare the differences in performance, recognized this. "Here kid, fight me."
Rogue was visibly taken aback. She would have objected, but Logan had gone into Wolverine mode and his blitz-style attacks shocked her into responding.
Hummm! A magnetic field washed through the room, stopping Wolverine three feet in the air. He couldn't move.
She let him slowly fall back to the floor and released her hold on the adamantium bones of his body.
He attacked again. Rogue used a slower way of putting him down. Letting him get close, she phased through a slash from his claws, then using the immense strength she had taken from Blob the day he had kidnapped Jean, picked Wolverine up and threw him across the room.
Logan landed on his feet and smiled at the challenge. "Try something else kid!"
Grinning, she sped towards him with Quicksilver's speed and struck him with one of Scott's low-powered optic blasts.
Rogue, you're doing well. Try practicing in someone else's shape. The Professor sent her.
Rogue shifted into Sabertooth's guise.
"Don't give her ideas Charles!" A panting Logan called.
SaberRogue smiled happily. No one had ever seen Sabertooth smile like that and everyone was a bit startled but pleased.
But then the essence of Sabertooth in Rogue scented Logan. All of a sudden, Rogue couldn't control him as he tried his hardest to push her control back into the corner where she usually kept him locked. For one moment, he succeeded.
In that second, SaberRogue roared and launched across the room in a murderous rage and fell directly at Logan.
A tremor of fear shot through Hank, Storm and the Professor. Logan, aware of the minute change, was ready. Rogue, quickly regaining control, used the last second before she collided to phase through Logan, the wall and the floor and out of sight.
Alarmed at the display, except for Logan, the adults were just about to go downstairs when Rogue, using Jean's telekinesis and Kitty's phasing floated back up through the floor wearing her own body again. Storm, Hank and the Professor quickly crossed the room.
"Logan, I'm so sorry! He's still there and he got away from me when he saw you." Rogue's face was a picture of grief and dejection.
"Kid, it's ok. I was ready for you; besides, Sabertooth and I can't do much damage to each other with the healing abilities we both have. Do they work for you too?" Rogue didn't have a mark on her.
"Yeah, but I have to think about it. If I'm in control, none of these powers happen unless I choose to do it. My skin just does it on its own, that's not how the phasing and stuff works for me. I'm sorry, it's harder when I try to look like Sabertooth or Juggernaut or Magneto and practice their power while I look like them. They think they're back in their own bodies."
"It is a good thing to know." Hank spoke up. "Have you formed any hypothesizes on why those three are hardest for you to control? Does anyone else give you trouble?"
"Well the X-men are my friends and they know I can't help what happened, so they don't fight me. The Brotherhood was once my friends so they fight a little, but not nearly as much as Sabertooth and the rest."
"What about Mystique?" Storm asked worriedly.
"She wants me to be able to do this, so she kind of yells at the ones who give me trouble and they shut up. Or she'll give me tips on how to manipulate Erik or Creed or Pietro. She never tries to take over."
The adults were all silent.
"Well, I think you're doing remarkably well Rogue. You've certainly proved the incredible degree of control you can have." The Professor did seem pleased.
"Would you like us to keep this a secret from the other students?" Storm asked.
"Yeah I would. Can I try out the Danger room now?"
Laughing, Hank returned to the lab, Storm to her gardens and the Professor to the observation deck.
"I'll just work through this level with you kid." Logan grinned. "Let's see how good you really are."
For the next hour Rogue and Logan worked through several levels of programming. By the end of it Logan was very impressed. "You're doin' good kid."
Panting, Rogue could only stare up at him from where she had collapsed on the floor. "I've never done all that at once that quickly."
"You wanna do it again?"
"No!"
"Go get cleaned up, I'm sure you got homework to do."
"Ah, man." Rogue limped off to her room.
Logan joined the Professor in the observation deck. "That was fun." He said, collapsing into a chair.
"Do you really think she can do all that at this stage?"
"She did it didn't she? She doesn't know it, but she's usin' the fighting styles of those she's absorbed too."
"Really?"
"That was definitely Mystique's high kick and Magneto's magnetic withdrawal. Scott uses his blasts erratically like that and I -."
"Tend to charge targets?"
"Yeah. She needs to work on originality."
"I don't know, I thought when she got hit and split into five copies and then promptly started fighting with those copies was pretty original. For a second there you had most of the X-men fighting with you. But I can see how exploring alternate uses of those powers can be helpful. To the other students as well."
"There's only one person I know she's absorbed that I haven't seen her borrowin' from."
"You noticed Storm's absence too?"
"Yeah. Maybe she doesn't want to muck around with the weather too much. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable playing with lightning. Could Storm help her with that?"
"I think she'll have to. If Rogue starts having nightmares again and loses control in her sleep, lightning would be a scary thing to contend with. I'll talk to Storm about it."
*******
"Where have you been all weekend? We couldn't find you." Kitty demanded when Rogue walked in.
"I've been around." Rogue fell onto the bed.
"You never told me what you do when you go out with the first class. Last weekend was so cool! That was way cooler than having Wolverine make us tie knots and climb trees and all that stuff."
Rogue smiled. "I'm guessing you didn't run into wildlife while you were out there."
"What kinds of wildlife?"
"You know the usual. Bears, mountain lions, that kind of stuff. It's a lot different when you're out there all by yourself than when you have Jean or Storm to go with you. You have to be on your guard to not leave a trail and quiet so stuff doesn't, you know, find you."
"You sound like Logan. 'Everyone's out to get you. No one is safe."
"That's how he's lived his life. He's still alive."
"Yeah, but I like people. I can't imagine being on the run and scared all the time without having someone to count on."
"Don't worry, you blend in pretty good."
"But, remember a couple of years ago when Mystique kidnapped the Prof and blew up the Institute? What if we have to scatter someday and hide like the Morlocks down in the sewers?"
"Kitty, I don't think that will happen. And even if it does, Logan and the Professor are making sure that we can survive out in the middle of nowhere for a while if we have to. Think about it Kitty, it means options. If someone knocks on your door in the middle of the night, you can phase out the back, walk into the woods and be gone."
"Now you sound like Logan. You'd still be alone."
"I don't know, maybe we could pick a meeting place for if that happens. Don't worry about it, it probably won't happen."
Bamft! "Hi guys!" A German accent barged in. "Vhat's happenin?"
"Rogue was telling me about what last weekend was like. What happened to you?"
Kurt was about to respond, but the Professor's voice echoed through their heads.
You all have school in the morning. Time to sleep. Kurt, go back to your room.
"Don't vorry Kitty, I'll tell you tomorrow."
*****
School was nasty. There was no help for it. Ever since the normal kids had discovered the fact of their being mutants, there was no lasting peace for them.
Rogue had built up a sphere of space around her from the get go so people usually let her alone, but the others weren't so lucky.
Scott was always getting hassled about his shades, Kurt got by on his jokes and good humor, and Evan walked down the hall to shouts of "Toothpick!" and related comments.
Kitty and Jean did all right, their friends kept quiet as long as they didn't remind them that they were mutants.
The rest of the X kids, having been enrolled after the Mutant thing blew, hung around together for support.
The Brotherhood kids had a bad attitude, which didn't help any. Lance and Pietro were always in fights, which the arrival of Fred, aka the Blob, always stopped.
But things still happened.
It was the end of the day. Rogue was getting books from her locker and looking forward to the weekend, when another camping trip would lead to the first of her sessions with Storm. Kitty and Kurt and his girlfriend were joking around a few feet away. Jean and Scott were coming down the hall to collect everyone to go home.
Wanda, Pietro and Lance were passing from the other direction. That's when someone got cute. A conveniently placed foot sent Wanda sprawling. Pietro moved to stop her fall, but he was too late. Wanda had knocked into the lockers, her wildly searching hand found Rogue's face and the Scarlet Witch was out cold.
The sheer rage was so great; Rogue almost lost control of it. Blue light sparked from her hands. She could feel the new Wanda personality seeking out the Magneto one, in an concerted attempt to do harm.
But no one seemed to notice this. Lance was already threatening the jock who had done it. Pietro was quickly picking Wanda up. Scott and Jean were offering to take Wanda to the Institute to make sure she was okay.
It was a sign of how bad the situation at school had gotten that the Brotherhood kids accepted. "Kurt, Kitty, tell Fred and Toad where we're going. Offer them a lift." And Scott and Jean were out the door, leading the three Brotherhood kids to their car. Kitty and Kurt went off in search of the rest of them.
All of a sudden, the hallway was empty of mutants. No one noticed Rogue's distress or the war that was currently raging inside of her.
Realizing she needed a private place to go, and quickly, she wasted no time porting to the only place she could think of, before she lost her tenuous control.
****
The adults were used to dealing with accidents that arose from mutant powers. They were less used to dealing with Wanda, but that was all right. Wanda quickly woke up in time for Mystique, Toad and Fred charge into the mansion with Kitty and Kurt right behind them.
"Where is she?" Despite the high feelings most of the X-men had about Mystique, the Professor realized that Mystique did care for Wanda in her own warped way. He quickly took her to the hospice room where Wanda was sitting with Pietro and Lance. "Are you all right?"
"I'm going to get that jerk! They have no right to hassle us like this!" the frustration in Wanda's voice was a clear indication that she was fine.
All of the kids explained what had happened and that such things were commonplace at Bayville High. The adults expressed surprise that things had gotten so bad.
"You should have told me."
"We'll discuss this with the principal."
"What good would it do? He hates mutants just as much as the kids!"
Before the Professor and Mystique could get too much into a fight, Storm arrived from school with the rest of the kids.
Oddly, it was Mystique who noticed Rogue's absence. "Where's Rogue?"
"After you guys got here Scott, did you happen to noticed where she headed?"
"Uh, actually Professor, I don't think she came with us."
"What!" Mystique said what they all felt. "You just left her there?"
"Well," Jean cut in. "There's no hurry now. Wanda's awake, so her powers have probably left Rogue by now."
Logan, Hank, Storm and the Professor all exchanged a look. What with her new powers and the fact that she hadn't come back yet, they knew something was wrong.
"All right. I will go and see if I can find her using Cerebro. Logan, would you mind looking in the woods? Hank, I need you to search the mansion. Storm, can you looking for her around town?" They quickly left and Xavier started to roll off.
"Xavier! What's wrong with Rogue?" Mystique still thought of her as a daughter and regretted the distrust Rogue had for her. She had even gone so far as to impersonate a student to be friends with her. Mystique followed the Professor out the door, leaving kids from both the Brotherhood and the X-men alone and confused and gathered around Wanda's bed.