Chapter five
A full two weeks had passed since the massacre in the desert, and no other attacks or killings of that kind had found their way into the headlines. But Apocalypse was far from inactive, he was preparing. After making the journey across the vastness of the Atlantic, he had immediately set out to bring mutants over to his side. After becoming aware of the presence of this powerful being that had the potential of posing a threat to him, he had decided it was definitely best that he did not set out on the quest of wiping out the human race alone. Using his incredible senses, he sought out mutants that when put together would have all the necessary power and skills to cause mass destruction. Over the past days, he had been moving through the vast expanses of American soil, keeping clear of the cities, and silencing any lesser beings who happened to cross his path, or who were unwilling to join him. He need not alert the humans to his presence just yet. Those who knew of his existence had either offered him their loyalty and service, or they had been crushed. Literally.
So it was that Apocalypse had assembled a group of mutants formidable enough to bring down a city on their own. They were of all ages, and of all talents. The one thing they shared was the vision that their master had painted for him. That humanity was scum, and that, when the judgement day arrived, as Apocalypse prophesised it would, they, the mutants, would stand alone, and would rule alone. He preyed upon the minds of those who had suffered at the hands of humans, and promised them revenge, a place upon which they could project their anger. And in return, they gave him their loyalty, and as time went by, their very souls.
They had set up base in the remote caves that lay in the middle of a dense forest. Where that forest was, or how far it was from civilization, nobody really knew. It didn't really matter, as travel was not a problem for Apocalypse and his mutants. He had commanded the building of weaponry, of arms from his group, and he himself built up seeds of hatred in their minds so strong that they were turned into people who would willingly kill. To enforce the fact, he took a small band of mutants away from the forest on the tenth day in isolation. He led them through the thickets of trees, knowing the way by instinct, and he brought them to a small lodge on the forest edge. He then watched from the trees as the men burned the house to the ground, with the family inside it. As the dying pleas of women and children reached his ears, even over the roar of the flames, the closest thing to a smile he could manage crossed over his face, spreading his gruesome lips thinly, and baring his excuse for teeth. The charred remains of the family were dragged out of the crumbling ruin, and the mutants cheered. They had completed their transition from prey to predator, and Apocalypse was convinced they were ready. It was time to show themselves to the world. He retreated back to the cave with his recruits, to make more plans.
In comparison, life at Bedford High had been relatively quiet since the boys' escapade a fortnight ago. The girls had yet to do anything in retaliation, and even Pietro had abandoned his suspicions that they had all been forgiven a little to suddenly. Kitty, much to Rogue's disappointment, had continued to be friends with Lorna, perhaps even more enthusiastically than before, if that were possible. Every time the subject was brought up between the two of them, Kitty had refused to comment, and then turned away with a small smile on her lips that Rogue had been unable to see.
She wasn't the only one who had been making friends outside the mutant circle though. Scott's friendship with Lydia had gone from strength to strength over the last two weeks, from sitting together in class and walking down hallways together, to being glued to one another's side all through the school day. The next step of course, was for one of the two to ask the other out on a date, and this was where Scott was hesitant. He'd had bad luck with girls his whole life, particularly with girls he actually liked. He'd faced years of Jean flaunting Duncan Matthews in front of him, and a heartbreaking rejection from Rogue. So, understandably, he was a little reluctant to lay his heart out on the guillotine one more time.
He'd voiced these concerns in the most masculine way possible, to Todd and Fred. They both listened attentively to what he had to say, then gave each other identical looks that made Scott feel like the worlds biggest pansy.
'So, you're worried about getting your heart broken again?' Todd asked, in answer to which Scott nodded his head reluctantly.
'But you've never even been on a date with her before?' Fred said, causing another nod from Cyclops's direction.
'And you're scared of rejection if you ask her out, even though you've practically been living with each other these past two weeks?' Todd asked, raising his eyebrows in bewilderment. Scott again answered in the positive.
Fred and Todd looked at each other again, looking like a little and large double act. 'You big old woman.' They both declared at the same time, confirming what Scott had suspected, that they knew each other way too well.
'Of course she likes you, you daft prat, she's probably getting really fed up of you working up the nerve to actually ask her out.' Fred said, nodding knowingly.
'Go ask her.' Todd said. 'Ask if she wants to go to the movies, see a show, have dinner, have your children, whatever just ask her, and stop pussy footing around!' Before Scott had the chance to protest, Fred levered him up from the bench where they were sitting, and gave him a rather forceful shove in the direction of Lydia, busy reading under a tree nearby. Scott looked back to the bench several times on the way over to her, fidgeting with his now rather sticky palms, and feeling embarrassed for getting so nervous about just asking a girl out.
'Hey, Lydia' he said, standing above her. He put a hand lightly to his cheek for a moment, and then pulled it away, realising he was blushing. Bloody hell, he thought to himself, as he pulled himself into a seating position in the space Lydia had made for him.
If she noticed his discomfort, she didn't show it. 'Hey yourself' she replied easily, spreading her French textbook out in front of him. 'I was just finishing the French assignment. Whoever thought up the principals of French verbs needs a good kick up the..'
'Do you want to go out sometime?' Scott gulped out, like he had the hiccoughs or something uncontrollable. Lydia stopped in mid sentence and looked at him in surprise, a smile gracing her pretty face.
'Sure.' She said, causing Scott to both sag in relief, yet grow with happiness.
'Great' he said, trying not to make it sound like the sigh of satisfaction it was. 'Um, movies, um tomorrow, um, four?' he said, hoping to stick in something like dinner afterwards, but finding he didn't quite have enough words in his vocabulary.
'Um, sure.' Lydia responded, chuckling slightly as she grabbed her books to her and rose to go. 'We could get some dinner afterwards too. I was beginning to wonder if you liked me at all you know, I thought you were never going to ask me out.' She flashed another smile at him, and walked away still grinning. Scott let out the breath he'd been holding in for the past few moments, and found a silly grin upon his own face. Turning round, he could see Fred and Todd in the distance, both thumbs held up high in the air.
Kitty was at that moment, like Scott, making her own plans. Leaning back on the well trimmed lawn, she shaded her eyes from the sunlight, and listened as well as she could to whatever crap was coming out of Lorna's mouth at that moment in time. Now that she knew what the girl was up to, she had come to the conclusion that Lorna was shallow, a bitch, and had the conversational skills of a stuttering hyena, with the laugh to match. As if on cue, the other girl threw back her head and let loose a cackle that she probably believed to be a tinkle of laughter.
'Pah' thought Kitty to herself, 'fat bloody chance'. It had been a chore having to cope with Lorna and her entourage these past few days, pretending to be completely devoted to them, and unaware of what they actually thought of her. She had been putting so much effort into it, that she suspected she appeared even more enthusiastic about her new friends than before she'd found out they were using her, and therefore weren't her friends at all. More than once, she'd caught Rogue and Lance exchanging worried glances when they listened to her talk, before saying cautiously how great it was that she'd found such good friends. Lance had been behaving like he was walking on eggshells since he had led the expedition of the guys that night, and Rogue too had been wary when the subject of Lorna had been approached.
In truth, Kitty was quite happy with deceiving the two of them like this. She felt a bit more than a twinge of humiliation when she remembered that both Lance and Rogue had warned her against Lorna's intentions. She wanted to get her back all on her own, as though this in some way could make up for the mistake she had made earlier.
Sighing slightly, Kitty dragged herself back to the conversation that was taking place around her. She had to admit, she enjoyed this part of her friendship with Lorna. The girls were strewn about across a patch of lawn, which left them visible to most the people eating their lunch, giving them a great view of what was going on around them. Almost every eye around them had at some point turned in her direction, allowing her to bask in the feeling of finally being noticed. Then there was also the appearance of some majorly cute jocks that streamed by their spot every few minutes, sitting down to flirt and make small talk with the girls.
When this happened, Kitty saw with a smirk that Lance was lurking in the shadows of the building, watching the offending males with an evil sort of look on his face. At one point, she hadn't been able to resist throwing him a little wave and a grin, and she'd received death glares all that evening, which only a few timely kisses on her part could dispel. This part of being popular, she could get used to. However, if it meant being around Lorna for more than five seconds, she didn't think she wanted to get used to it.
'So I was saying' Lorna said, flipping her hair back for the fiftieth time, 'I think next Friday would be the best day for it. I'm going away with my parents this weekend,' she rolled her eyes at this, 'still, maybe if I put in the time, they'll get me that boat I spotted the other day.' At this the girls surrounding her tried their best to find an expression between sympathy and encouragement, and most failed miserably. Kitty hoped that one of them would mention what the 'it' actually was, because she wouldn't actually have to admit to Lorna that she hadn't been hanging on her every word.
She was saved from saying anything by a particularly enthusiastic follower erupting in excitement. She clapped her hands together and squealed with delight, 'I love slumber parties! Especially the ones you throw Lorna!' the obvious attempt at flattery made Kitty want to retch, but Lorna just smiled graciously.
'Well, it'll be fun I'm sure.' Then she surprised everyone by turning to face Kitty, and speaking to her directly. It was rare that Lorna actually picked someone out to talk to. 'What about you Pryde, you coming?' she made it sound like something Kitty would be out of her mind to turn down. She fought the urge to sneer, and nodded enthusiastically to Lorna.
'Sure, it sounds like, a complete blast!' she said with as much spirit as she could muster, and Lorna nodded slightly, seeming satisfied that Kitty was still one of her minions. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and the girls rose leisurely to go. Kitty was fortunate enough not to have any classes with her new 'friends', and headed away in the opposite direction, after getting the time and place of the slumber party from Lorna. Honestly, she thought to herself, she would have expected Lorna and her gang to be throwing a wild type of all nighter where everyone present got absolutely drowned in alcohol.
She fell in line behind a couple of girls who had been throwing glares in the general direction of her and her group all lunch time, and hid herself so she wouldn't be spotted by them. She supposed with a shrug of her shoulders that a slumber party would give her a pile of opportunities to extract her revenge on Lorna.
In front of her, one of the girls leant in to speak to her friend, having finally caught on to Kitty's presence. 'One of Lorna Baker's minions, follower of that dyed hair tart.' She said, as the other giggled. They looked back at Kitty again and increased their pace.
Behind them, Kitty looked far from affronted. Far from it, she actually looked pleased, and fought back an urge to laugh. Yes, this slumber party definitely presented her with opportunities for revenge.
The teenagers gathered around the table that night, launching into their meal with eagerly. Mystique watched them with a satisfied feeling. They were really beginning to settle in to life in their new environment. She watched as Todd got a stray pea from the table, and used his fork to flick it in the direction of Scott. Still, they remained children through and through. She ignored the inevitable food fight that was brewing on that half of the table; sure that Kurt would soon be in the thick of it. She instead looked up the table to where Rogue was sat, talking quietly and contentedly with Pietro. The tension she had noticed between the two of them had dissipated over the fortnight, and things were pretty much back to normal.
She was pleased to see Rogue looking happy and content, but there was still something about her that suggested unease, almost like she was waiting for something. She saw no actual sign that the unease was there; it was more a sense she got. At least she could say now that she knew her daughter fairly well. She was interrupted by the flying potatoes that were crossing her line of vision. As suspected, Kurt and Tabby had involved themselves whole-heartedly in the fight. She was doomed to always have a younger daughter who acted older than her age, and an older son who acted a whole lot younger than her was. Still, she was glad to say that she had the son and daughter. Finally.
It didn't stop her reaching across and whipping the bottle of tomato sauce out of Kurt's hand. He looked up at the stern face above him, and lowered the bottle reluctantly. 'Dammit mom, you're no fun.' He said, pretending to sulk. As Mystique turned away, he took the opportunity to squirt some of the sauce onto Todd's seat, before the other boy sat back down, grinning to himself in a way that attracted no suspicion, since Kurt was usually grinning to himself.
The food fight would have been brought to a halt anyway, by the discussion that had come about between Lance and Kitty. 'You're going, where?' Lance asked, looking slightly bewildered. Next to him, Kitty nodded emphatically.
'Yes, at Lorna's place next Friday, is that like, a problem for you.' She arched her eyebrow, and Lance missed entirely the amusement that was hidden in her face.
'No' he spluttered, 'it's just that, well,' he fought for a way to explain what he was thinking, without making Kitty too mad.
'You were hoping to get an invite too?' Pietro suggested innocently, sitting across from him. Lance kicked him under the table. It had long been known that, since Lance had suggested to Lorna that perhaps she had undergone some surgery on some certain parts, he was out of favour with Miss Baker and her court. That hadn't gone down too well with Kitty either, and she was now forbidden by Lorna to hang around with Lance at school. Much to his chargrin, she had agreed, seeing him only when Lorna wasn't watching.
'You'll be doing, girl stuff.' He finished lamely, and the rest of the table burst into sniggers.
'No,' Pietro said, throwing both hands to his face in horror, 'Girls? Doing girl stuff? At a slumber party? Imagine that!' rogue hit him lightly on the arm, but her eyes were dancing with humour.
'That's not what I meant!' Lance protested, eyeing his best friend furiously. 'I meant that you'll be doing things like truth or dare, you'll be talking and giggling about those jocks that follow that group around. Maybe even meeting with them, and, and doing things with them!' he shuddered at the thought, and the table burst into laughter. Even Kitty couldn't hold back the giggles.
She took his chin in her hands, and rubbed her nose against his. 'You are so adorable sometimes!' she cooed. Lance gave a half smile, unsure of whether this was a good thing, or something very damaging to his reputation.
'So does that mean you won't go?' he asked hopefully.
In answer, Kitty kissed him once more, then got up and walked out the room, pausing on her way out to reply with 'You aren't that adorable!'
Lance cleared his plate out the way, and banged his head repeatedly on the table, looking around at the others for sympathy. 'I just can't win!' he exclaimed, 'she drives me crazy.' He never said that it wasn't a good thing.
Scott stretched his arms wide, before rising too from the table. 'I'm off too, gotta go make a phone call.' He was barely out of his chair before Todd was catcalling.
'Ooh, phoning Lydia are we? Making plans for the big date are we?' he said, and he and Fred both broke into more laughter. Scott glared at them both, his face now colouring to match his shades.
Next to Kurt, Tabby leaned forward. 'Oooh, is this that Lydia he keeps hanging round with at school?' she asked keenly. Fred nodded in the affirmative, and prepared to spill the details.
Scott put his hands over his ears. 'I'm not listening to this.' He walked quickly through the door, and Todd rose to call after him.
'Don't go proposing just yet Scotty Poo!' He crowed, knowing by the frustrated sound that followed that he'd been heard. He then realised that he had an unfamiliar feeling on his behind, something almost damp, and reached his hand behind him just as Tabby burst into fits of hysterics, and a bampf sound announced that Kurt had left the room.
No matter where he'd gone, he would probably still have heard the cries of 'Damn you, you big blue elf.' That now rang through the house.
The three girls went to bed fairly early that evening, especially for a Friday night. They'd said their good nights in a fairly short space of time, all following each other up the stairs with exchanged glances and supressed giggles. Once they had shut themselves in the room, and made completely sure that there were no eavesdroppers outside the door, they settled themselves in the middle of the floor, with no intention of going to sleep for a good while yet.
Rogue and Kitty both looked to Tabby expectantly. The blonde had indicated that they go upstairs a few moments ago, and both girls now knew she was ready to reveal her plans for payback. In response to their movements, Tabby leant forward, relishing the attention, and outlined in detail her complicated plan for revenge.
By the time she had finished, both Rogue and Kitty were sitting there with their jaws hanging wide open. 'You're kidding!' Kitty exclaimed, throwing her hands to her face.
Rogue was a little more vocal in her protests, looking at Tabby with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. 'As er, thorough as that may sound Tabby, I just don't think that hanging them from the school flagpole stark naked is really all that practical, plus it sounds like an awful lot of work.'
'Yeah' Kitty agreed, her ponytail bobbing as she nodded her head in agreement. Whilst both girls were looking for revenge, they weren't really thinking to that degree.
'We don't want to completely humiliate them,' Rogue mused, whilst trying to calm a rather disappointed looking Tabby, 'we just want to have a bit of fun at their expense.'
Tabby was still looking a little put out, like a small child who had been taken into a candy store, only to be told that they were now on a sugar free diet. 'Can't we have a little humiliation?' she asked, her lower lip sticking out.
'Well,' Rogue said reluctantly, 'I suppose I could say, use my powers to like, do stuff to them in public.'
'Like make them suddenly be butt naked in the middle of the street?' Tabby questioned, her eyes gleaming hopefully.'
'Must there always be nakedness in these plans?' Kitty said, eyebrow raised.
'Yes' Tabby responded solemnly, 'in true humiliation, there must always be nakedness.'
'Well then there will be no humiliation.' Rogue said firmly, 'Nobody but me sees Pietro naked.' She stopped for a moment, then considered what it was that she just said, and immediately coloured, 'Not that I have, or that I'd want to, or that I wouldn't, I mean, but that isn't the point!' she finished, her face now beet red.
Tabby and Kitty giggled 'well I guess that proves me wrong, sometimes nakedness isn't required,' Tabby choked out between laughter, as Rogue smiled somewhat reluctantly at the situation, before swatting half heartedly at her brothers girlfriend.
'Ok' Tabby relented, 'we can do something else. What you said, about having fun, it kind of gives me a new idea.' She seemed to be working out the finer points in her head, and Rogue and Kitty waited eagerly for her new, slightly less drastic plan.
'Rogue, those powers you have, do you have the power of like, icing things, like Bobby?' Tabby asked, her grin widening as Rogue answered in the affirmative. 'And, can you use those powers to a large extent?' again, Rogue nodded her head, and Tabby's grin now stretched from ear to ear.
'In that case' she said, smiling wickedly, 'I think I have a new plan. It's time we had some fun, and the boys learnt a little lesson in the true meaning of confinement!'
It was some hours later when things were put into motion. The door to the girls' room cracked open silently, and three figures made their way carefully along the hallway. First they paused at Todd and Fred's room, and pushed their way in with the minimum amount of noise. Kitty, hell bent on not succumbing to giggles, went quickly to their desk, and placed a small piece of paper on it, before again slipping out the door. Tabby followed a few moments later, and Rogue was waiting outside the door. When she saw the two girls moving off down the hall to Lance and Pietro's room, she touched her hand lightly to the pendant round her neck, and felt the power flowing through her. When her work was down, she joined the other two outside the second bedroom, and repeated the process.
The last room they came to was that of Kurt and Scott. They had saved this till last, because of the fact that the two boys posed the greatest threat to their plans. Kitty and Tabby again split up upon entering the room, each moving to the bedside of the boys. Kitty paused next to Scott, trying again not to laugh at the sight of him drooling a little bit whilst he was sleeping. She reached down, and in the gentlest way possible, removed his glasses from his dreaming face. After a quick search of Scott's closet, she found his battle visor, and pocketed that along with the glasses. Looking across the room, she saw that Tabby had slipped Kurt's watch from his wrist, and was now adding that to the bag she had insisted on taking with her on their little expedition. What she had in their, Kitty shuddered to think, but it was now pretty much full to the brim. Tabby saw her looking, and touched a finger to her nose lightly. Kitty rolled her eyes, and the two left the room to meet Rogue.
After finishing her work on the room, Rogue gave the others a satisfied nod, and motioned for them to leave the house, and move outside to work on the bedroom windows. It was a good half an hour later when they returned to their own room, and finally began to settle down. The sun was already beginning to find its way into the sky, and light was slowly returning to the world.
Kitty rubbed her eyes blearily. 'What now?' she asked, watching her two friends half asleep, too tired to be triumphant at the moment.
This was not true for Tabby, who leant back on her bedclothes and gave a satisfied smirk. 'Now, we wait.'
'We wait for what?'
Mark Mitchall had been living in the woodland base for a week now. Apocalypse had rescued him from a group of farmers, who had treated him like an animal, or a machine. Mark was one of the more physically affected mutants in the group. Where arms should have been, he found that he had large steel blades grafted to the stumps that were the reminders of his humanity. Sharp and jagged, they could slice through the thickest of tree trunks as easily as ripping a piece of tissue paper. This was why, the men said, he had been spared and not killed for being the monster that he was. As one of them put it, between harsh chuckles, he saved on equipment costs, being able cut down the trees so easily. He had been hidden away from the world when he was not working, told that others would flinch to look upon his face.
When he had been with the farmers, he had believed that his mutation had been a curse, something that made him a lesser being. But Apocalypse had shown that, far from a curse, he had a gift. He was not a lesser being anymore, he was not a subhuman. He was above men.
The farmers had been killed of course. They had deserved it, for so many years of torturing him, for making him believe in these lies.
And now he waited, with the rest of the mutants, for their master to speak. Mark was slightly curious to see what the reason for this meeting was, as Apocalypse had never called one so late at night, nor so urgent sounding before. They never actually addressed him as Apocalypse out loud, instead referring to him as 'master', 'lord', or even 'divine one'. Mark believed solely in his leaders power to deliver to them all what they deserved, and to pass judgement and justice on those who had done wrong. He would do what his master said, no matter what.
Next to him, Jason shook his head distractedly, and shrugged his shoulders a little. He didn't know Jason's last name, he didn't know anyone's last name here actually, nor did they know his. The base and group wasn't about forming old fashioned, men like friendships with your fellow mutants. It was about uniting for one purpose, the purpose of destruction. Still, he admitted silently that he had formed a better bond with Jason than some of the others. Jason was blessed with the power to melt most solid metals with the touch of his hand. Previously a professional bank robber, he had joined Apocalypse on the run from some of his fellow thieves who had found out just how he found his way into bank vaults. He was, if possible, even more resentful than Mark was towards the men who had done him wrong, and when he was not learning the art of detached hatred from the lord, he was brooding on his own personal revenge, against those he had once counted as friends.
Apocalypse had given them no hint as to what the meeting was about, telling them they must learn the art of patience and waiting. He did not leave them hanging for two long though, as soon their leader entered the main chamber of their base, and surveyed his small army with grim satisfaction. He took a deep breath, and launched into speech.
'My followers' (he would never address them as his fellows or equals, though they never noticed), 'the day has finally come upon us! The day when we shall finally reveal ourselves to the putrid world of men, and they shall know what it feels to fall to their knees and tremble with terror. We leave now, and embark on the first steps of our noble quest to a better world. Tonight, we head to the first destination on our conquest. In a town not many miles away from here, there lies a place where mutants like us live and work in the world of men, they believe' he said, pausing to inject further scorn and disgust into his words, 'they believe that man and mutant can work together, can live in harmony!'
The mutants around him laughed menacingly, and some shook their heads disbelievingly. Apocalypse continued, knowing that they were eating out the palm of their hand. He nodded to show he understood their sentiments, and spoke again. 'They run their operations from a special school, a boarding place for the younger mutants. Well, I say it is time we went to educate them!' this time heads were nodding enthusiastically, and the masses laughed even louder. 'We shall pay these mutants a visit, and you shall do whatever you feel necessary to persuade them to join our cause. If they must refuse, you will kill them, in whichever way you choose.' This time the shouted agreement was slightly less riotous. So far, nobody had considered the possibility of killing other mutants. People like them.
'You must understand, that those who sympathise with the men, are no better than the men. They would rather see you suffer and be preyed upon, rather than harm one hair on a 'normal' human beings head. For this, they must pay the ultimate penalty.' Even though he was explaining himself, he knew that he would meet no opposition. The faces around him were now not only willing to do the deed, but they believed it to be right.
'The school, and the surrounding town, is yours to do with it what you will. Plunder it, kill those who live in it, do whatever you feel will announce to the world that we will no longer let ourselves be treated as if we are less than the common man!' again, cheers washed over the walls like waves on the shore. Apocalypse held up his hand for silence.
'I ask only one thing of you. There is a mutant in the school. Though he is incapacitated, do not be fooled, for he resides over the running of this institute. Despite frail appearances the old man has great power. Let me deal with him, and me alone.' After seeing understanding dawn on the faces of his followers, he decided to wrap up the speech, and begin the journey to destruction.
'And so, onward we go. We will see them run, we will smell their blood and their fear, and we will hear them beg for mercy. Will we deliver it?' he asked, baiting them.
'NO!' they responded, cheering and clapping louder than ever, and now stamping their feet in approval. With that said, the man gathered up their torches and weapons, and began to thread their way through the trees, working to find their destination that lay a full days journey from now, where the massacre would finally begin, and the judgement day would dawn.
Bedford Falls was now drenched in early sunlight. It seeped through the windowpanes, and struck Lance in the face as he lay sleeping on his bed. He stirred slightly, and unconsciously moved his arm to his face to protect him from the rays. A few seconds later, he was rubbing his eyes, and fully engrossed in the process of waking up.
He dragged his body into a sitting position, glancing across the room to where Pietro was doing exactly the same thing. Lance mumbled something that vaguely resembled 'morning', and got fully out of bed to find his way to the bathroom. It was then he noticed something very odd about the shards of light that were covering his blanket. It was as though someone had taken a hammer to a light beam, and smashed it into a million pieces. Now fully alert, he followed the broken beam to the window, where he saw it was completely frosted over.
He looked back to Pietro in bewilderment, 'erm, was it really cold last night or something?' he asked, watching his friends sleepy face become just as confused looking as he felt. Pietro sprung lightly from the bed and joined Lance at the window. Together, they tried to force it open to see what the scene was now like outside, but try as they might, the window would not budge.
Pietro looked at Lance, panting slightly with exertion at trying to force the glass open. 'This is weird, I'll go see what things are like in the other's rooms.' Lance stayed watching the spidery threads of frost and ice on the windows, and it was a few seconds later when he heard Pietro cry out slightly in surprise. He turned round, and saw that the door had been opened, but it did them no good whatsoever, because right outside was a wall of ice not even Lance could knock down with as Avalanche.
He swore loudly, and the two boys conducted a search of the room in alarm, knowing now that this was no freak of nature. A few minutes later, and they turned up something. On the desk, there was a small folded up piece of paper, which was addressed to both of them in what looked to be Rogue's handwriting. Pietro snatched up the paper, and Lance looked over his shoulder to read what was written there.
Morning boys! We know you haven't forgotten about your little adventure, and neither have we. That's why we thought today we'd have a little outing of our own. And just to make sure you stay and home and behave, we've made sure that this is the only place you can go! We hope you will take this opportunity to think very hard about what you all did, and we'll share with you what happened when we get back this evening, if the ice has melted by then!
See ya! R, K & T
PS: the bathroom remains accessible, even we aren't that cruel!
At that point in time, the girls were in fact getting ready to leave the house. As Kitty reached for her bag, she heard a sudden eruption of curse words from the rooms above her, with the occasional outburst of 'Took my watch!' she looked at her friends, and they burst into laughter, doubling up with giggle fits.
'Come on' Rogue said, linking arms and smiling at the other two girls, 'let's go before they figure out we're still in the house.' They were in the process of opening the door, when they heard footsteps on the stairs.
'Going somewhere?' a cold voice said. Turning slowly, the girls saw Mystique standing on the stairs, looking pointedly at the three of them.
'I hope you realise' she said slowly, continuing to walk downwards, 'the damage all that ice might cause the building, which you of course will have to repair.' The girls nodded, looking at her hopefully.
'In that case' she carried on, the corners of her mouth turning up, 'let's get going.' She held up a bag she'd been holding behind her back, and in the blink of the eye transformed into a woman about to head on a day out with her daughter and her friends.
The daughter in question and her friends blinked at her stupidly, and she shrugged her shoulders at them. 'What? You expect me to wait about the house all day and listen to the six of them beg for mercy? Let's go!'
It was as they were locking the door that the boys first began to complain that their clothes were missing. The females outside the house looked accusingly at Tabby, who held her hands up in surrender.
'Well you said there could be a little humiliation!' she protested. They broke into laughter again, and were still chortling as they drove away from the house, leaving the men locked inside.
'They've been gone for hours now,' Kurt said miserably, his blue tail drooping to the floor. Scott looked up from where he'd been sitting dismally on the other bed. As the hours had passed, the boys had found themselves going from being shocked, to panicking wildly, to being fairly angry and stumping their toes kicking the bed, to trying and failing to escape, to grudgingly accepting that they were doomed to stay here till the girls returned. Scott had his eyes closed, as he had done for the whole day, and Kurt's fuzzy blue hair was standing on end from the slight chill that radiated from the frozen door. Their heating had been turned up full blast, which went someway to cancelling the effect of the ice, but it didn't get rid of it fully.
Kurt had of course ported out the room, and had been to see the other boys, who were all in the same predicament. He'd checked on the overall situation as well, and reported to the others that Rogue's icing over of the doors had certainly been well done. And whilst he may be able to escape the house, he was a fuzzy blue elf who hadn't a hope in hell of getting them out. He could have ported into town to find them, but imagining the look and reaction of the public if a little blue man suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, he pretty much ruled that option out. He had suggested to Scott that he just blast everyone out, but without his visor, Cyclops could make no promises that the building would still be in tact by the time he had done.
'Wow' Todd admitted reluctantly, 'they certainly thought this out.'
'Yeah' Kurt agreed, 'if it had been Tabby alone, she probably would have just stripped us naked and hung up our underwear in front of the school.'
'And there's no chance of the ice melting any time soon?' Lance had asked hopefully, when Kurt had bampfed in to see them, catching the two boys in the middle of a discussion over the dreadful things their girlfriends could possibly be up to.
Kurt shook his head, and stopped Lance from doing something violent by pressing a can of beer into his hand that he'd taken from the kitchen. Lance drunk it in what was possibly a record time, and went back to imagining what Kitty could be doing at that point in time.
It had been a while since Kurt had left the room now. He'd delivered the stereo to Fred and Todd after they'd made him promise to do so (when Fred was desperate, you didn't dare refuse to get him anything), and was now lounging on the bed, making sure Scott was OK, being that he was effectively blind for the day.
'Shit!' his friend exclaimed, sitting up in bed suddenly and tensing his shoulders, which were still clad in pyjamas. He looked morose, as if something absolutely terrible had just happened.
'What?' Kurt said, jumping up and crossing the room, afraid that he'd opened his eyes back accident or something. Scott looked to be fine however, and there were no scorch marks on the walls or ceiling, so he assumed that it was something else.
'Lydia' Scott responded simply, running a hand blindly through his hair. He seemed to notice even with his eyes closed that Kurt required further explanation. 'I had a date with Lydia for four today, and if we've been in here for hours, then it must be..'
'About half four' Kurt confirmed grimly, looking at the small clock on Scott's bedside, only after glancing at his bare wrist, as if he expected the watch to still be there.
Scott swore again, and collapsed back onto the bed with a mournful sound, turning over to bury his miserable, blinded face in his hands. Kurt went back to his own bed, knowing that the girls had gotten them back fully this time.
The girls of course, had no idea of the trouble they had just caused Scott. With Mystique in tow, they were heading down the little high street of Bedford, laden with shopping bags full of absolutely useless purchases. They passed the cinema, and saw Lydia waiting outside of it, her arms folded and her face caught in the depths of displeasure. She looked pretty pissed off.
Rogue waved to her in greeting. Although Lydia was only a friend of a friend, she had always seemed nice and friendly, and definitely wasn't a bitch like Lorna and her friend's were. Rogue enjoyed watching how happy Scott was to find a true friend, and maybe something more, and felt good to see how he had settled in to his new environment.
Lydia saw them and waved distractedly, and the girls made their way over to her. 'Hey' Rogue called out, 'what are you doing here on your own?'
She seemed to have hit a nerve, because Lydia's frown deepened, and her folded arms tightened even more. 'Oh, well I was waiting for someone, I'm not anymore.' She looked up at the clock, which now read half past five. She thought for a moment, and then struggled to make her face more impassive. 'Have you seen Scott at all today?' she asked lightly, chin raised in the air a little.
Tabby responded, smirking. 'Oh, he's been rather um, indisposed today!' she said, before giggling a little. Lydia looked at them questioningly, before waving a goodbye, and disappearing down the street.
Rogue pondered her departure for only a moment, before following the others, who were making a beeline for a pizza place up the street, Mystique in the lead. Rogue shook her head wonderlingly as she watched her mother worm her way through the people. Mystique had acted about ten or twenty years younger than she actually was today, flirting with men on the beach they had been to this morning, and spending a huge some of money on clothes and other useless items for them all. Rogue wondered if she'd been waiting for years to let her hair down like this, and was sort of glad to see her mother acting so human.
This had been in a café in the afternoon, and when Mystique had seen Rogue smiling at her, she had returned the gesture, making the two of them feel closer than they had before.
But seeing her mother flirting with the guy who hired out beach equipment brought another question to Rogue's head. Just who was her father? Did she and Kurt even have the same father? Of course, today wasn't the time to ask about it, and bring up whatever memories the idea of her dad stirred in Mystique. She instead decided to bring up the subject of her father with Kurt when she got home that night. If he was still actually speaking to her.
Now, as they headed towards the restaurant entrance, she abandoned thoughts of bigger things, and carried on enjoying the day being young and stupid with her friends and family.
Mystique had a quick word with the guy on the entrance, a man in his very early twenties, probably a student in the nearby college getting weekend work. He was actually pretty handsome, his dark hair and typical Italian type good looks were in all likelihood what had recommended him for the job.
He finished his conversation with Mystique, and then he pushed past Rogue and Kitty, and stopped at Tabby, producing a flower he'd taken from the display at the entrance.
'Happy birthday, lovely lady!' he enthused in a hokey Italian accent. Tabby took the flower in confusion.
'It's my..' she trailed of with a question in her voice, and then looking at Mystique, she caught on. 'Oh yes, it's my birthday!' she said, causing the poor waiter to look a little surprised.
He recovered quickly, and led them to a round table in the centre of the room, where other members of the staff were hastily tying balloons to chairs, and placing decorations on the table. The waiter made a great show of pulling out chairs for them all, which they sat down in, surpressing laughter.
They were handed menus, and the man leant low in a small bow, 'My name is Mario' he said, his accent becoming more pronounced with each word, 'and anything I can do for you lovely ladies will be my pleasure.'
He was about to leave and let them deliberate on their choice, when Mystique held him back. 'Can we have two bottles of your finest champagne please, especially as we are celebrating a drinking age birthday!' she said, daring him to argue. Looking a teensy bit doubtful at whether this was actually the case, Mario backed down at Mystique's stare, and went to the bar to carry out the order.
Rogue looked worriedly at Mystique, because of the price of champagne, but Mystique gave her a reassuring glance, and shook her head. 'It's all right' she said warmly, 'my treat. Besides, it wouldn't be complete revenge if we didn't drink just a little bit.'
'Give me a minute.' Tabby said, before launching herself from the table and over to where Mario stood, now lining up glasses on the counter. She seemed to have thrown herself into the role of birthday girl, and she leant across the counter to whisper into the poor waiters ear something that no one else could hear. Mario's eyes bulged, and he put the glass in his hand on the counter with unsteady hands. Nodding at the girl, he looked across at them and shouted 'free champagne for the birthday girl!'
Tabby sashayed back to the table, smiling sunnily at them, and sat herself back down merrily. Rogue rolled her eyes in amusement, and Kitty looked scandalised.
'You can't do things like that!' she squealed, 'you like, have a boyfriend!'
'Not so loud!' Tabby said, leaning in to speak to Kitty quietly, and hoping the waiting staff didn't hear. 'Loads of girls flirt with waiters in restaurants, and you know, we are supposed to be having fun today, so just forget about the boys. I'm not going to actually do anything with him you know, and look, we got free champagne!'
Kitty looked upwards to see Mario standing there with the champagne in his arms, looking at Tabby like a dog who'd just played fetched with it's master, and was now waiting to be told what a good boy it was.
'Is everything all right miss?' he asked, letting his eyes stray from Tabby to Kitty. The latter looked at her friends egging her on, and then sighed slightly, before fluttering her eyelashes, and looking at the guy before her with a dreamy expression. 'Everything's just perfect thank you.' She said, and then she couldn't help herself laughing as the unfortunate victim stumbled away in a semi daze.
An hour later, the girls were in the midst of devouring an amazingly large amount of ice cream. Licking her spoon clean, Rogue watched dizzily as Mario came back to their table for the fiftieth time that night. Leaning between Tabby and Kitty, he smiled at them, and said something which was either very funny, or which, in their present state, was not funny but enough to crack the two of them up anyway. He looked up at Rogue with disinterest, as she hadn't really paid much attention to him that night. 'Miss' he said, 'there is a caller for you'.
'Really?' Rogue asked in surprise, 'how do you know?' she was pretty sure, even after the large amount of champagne they had drunk, that she had never given the guy her name.
Mario shrugged his shoulders. 'They ask for the one with the stripes in her hair, it is pretty obvious no?' he said, and then turned back to the other two girls, as Rogue rose from the table and went to find the phone, gathering herself. Who knew she was actually at the restaurant?
She was even more surprised to see that the phone Mario had spoken of was in fact a pay phone. Clearly they hadn't been the only ones drinking, if the waiter had failed to spot this fact. Already quite sure of who was on the other end, Rogue picked up the receiver, and spoke nervously.
'Hello?' she said, feeling weird for speaking like this into a payphone.
Surprise surprise, the voice than replied was the one who had spoken to her the night the massacre in the desert had occurred. 'He is coming, and the day of battle will approach soon enough. Choices must be made, and everything hangs in the balance.'
This was no clearer to Rogue than it had been the first time, and she tried again to get some sort of reason from the voice. 'Who is coming? Why am I so important in all this? Please tell me what is going on?'
'Now is not the time.' it replied, somewhat reluctantly. 'Before you know of what you are and what takes place around you, you must face him indirectly. He is coming, and you must do what you can to save those who cross his path.'
Rogue felt like she was going nowhere. 'Please' she said, begging slightly, 'please tell me who it is I must face indirectly.'
'He is Apocalypse, and on the day of the final battle, it is you who holds the key to the judgement day. We shall speak again.' The phone went blank.
Rogue waited a few moments before going back to the table, and sat in a state of semi shock all the way through the remainder of the meal, laughing only briefly when an eager Mario gave his number to Kitty and Tabby. She was still not really any better informed as to what the caller was talking about, but by the things they said, she knew it would be long before she found out what was going on. It just had to happen to her, didn't it?
It was about eight o clock when the girls pulled into the driveway that evening. Rogue melted the already dripping ice, and the boys stepped out of the rooms they'd been imprisoned in all day. They didn't know whether to be mad at the girls for inflicting the day of confinement on them or thankful for finally releasing them, and instead they moved off down to the kitchen to get some food, determined not to congratulate the girls on the success of their operation, and instead resolving to avoid the subject entirely until they decided to take their revenge or not. They couldn't really deny that they'd had it coming, and the thought it best to try and maintain at least a shred of dignity.
Tabby handed back the glasses, visor and watch, and reluctantly gave back the clothes she'd taken. Some of the guys noticed a pair or two of their boxer shorts were missing, and didn't even want to ask where they'd gone.
So, at about nine, after everyone had been fed and watered, the group positioned themselves in the sitting room, where the girls recounted in a still slightly tipsy manner all the things they'd gotten up to that day. The guys listened with frowns on their faces, and Scott shut himself in the room he'd already spent all day in, taking the phone with him. Rogue watched him go questioningly, but was too worried about the call at that moment to put two and two together.
She didn't join in too much with the story, and leant back on Pietro's legs instead, who, slightly sulkily, allowed her to do so. When they got to the restaurant part of the day however, Pietro could feel his girlfriend tensing up, and leant forward with concern, all traces of anger forgotten. Something was very wrong.
'Anyway' Tabby said, not noticing her friend's obvious discomfort, 'the whole place ended up singing happy birthday to me, which was great, only Rogue wasn't there because somebody rang her at the restaurant, which was way weird, but anyway, they made me this cake..'
Rogue didn't stay to hear the end. She excused herself with a panicked look on her face, and fled up the stairs, not even hearing Kurt responding to Tabby's producing of the number she'd gotten from Mario. Pietro was right behind her, and by her side in an instant, as Rogue propped herself up against the wall, breathing heavily.
Pietro put a hand on her shoulders, and took her in his arms. He was shocked to feel that she was trembling. He knew that it was happening again, that the same person had called her up, and this time he was determined to get the truth from her. It was time to bring the situation to a head.
'It was the same person as it was the last time, wasn't it?' he murmured gently into her hair. He didn't want to use her vulnerable state against her, but he had to know the truth.
She pulled away from him, a fearful look in her eyes. 'I told you before, that call was nothing. I'm just tired is all' She said lightly and desperately, knowing it wouldn't fool him. The whole room had noticed the way in which she had left, and he wasn't the only one who believed now that something was up with her.
'It certainly wasn't nothing, and it wasn't some girl from school being mean to you. Come on Rogue; tell me who or what's bothering you, please? I just want to be there for you.' He said, pleading with her slightly.
Rogue shook her head, and whispered something to herself. Pietro stepped forward with his hands out, fully aware that he was losing her, but determined not to let her escape without telling the truth. He couldn't cope with the fact that she would be lying to him, that she didn't trust him.
Rogue was retreating, trying to speak. 'I just, I mean, it's nothing, I can handle it on my own,' she said, fumbling for an explanation.
'Rogue please, just tell me why you're lying to me.' Pietro begged, hands clasped in front of him as if in prayer. Rogue was backed into the door now, looking absolutely terrified and torn between desire to shout back at him what was wrong, and the run for the hills. Words tried and failed to find their way to the surface, and then she jerked backwards, pushing the door open behind her.
'I can't!' she cried, throwing herself into the darkness of the room, and shutting the door in Pietro's face. 'I can't tell the others, and I can't tell you. Just go, please' she said, as she locked the door from the inside, and felt him trying to force it open, shouting her name again and again. She sank to the floor against the door, pulling her knees up to her chest, her breaths becoming shuddered with tears. She felt suddenly very alone, having turned away one of the only people in the world she believed she could trust with anything. Why didn't she trust anyone with this? Why was everything going wrong again so soon? She had felt so content by coming here, by escaping everything and starting over, and being with Pietro. What was it that kept her from letting her get help, and that made her so worried over what the caller was saying?
She felt cruel beyond belief by doing this to Pietro, as if keeping the truth from him and dealing with this on her on was in some way tearing her from him. Useless tears fell down her face, and she hit her head back against the door in despair.
On the other side of the door, Pietro was pounding his fist on the wood, trying to break down the door with his shouting. 'Rogue please, don't shut me out! Don't lie to me!' he carried on and on, collapsing on his knees on the other side of the door, and feeling the wood in front of him separating the two of them like a terrible chasm opening up before him. They'd never fought before, never like this, and they'd never kept secrets from each other. But she was lying to him, they both knew it, and she was hiding things from him, things she didn't feel able to tell him. Why?
It was a few moments later when Lance and a slightly more sober Kitty appeared in the hallway. The dark haired boy moved to help Pietro stand, he looked almost mad kneeling at the door, and he pulled him down the hall to their own room, with a worried glance in Kitty's direction. Kitty knocked on the door softly, and told Rogue it was her. A crack opened, and she slipped through into the room where Pietro had been denied access.
In his own bedroom, Lance was trying to make some sense of his friend. 'She won't tell me, what could be so terrible that she won't tell me? I need to know, I want to help her, she could be in trouble, and she wouldn't let me in!' he gibbered, and Lance felt terrible for him. Pietro loved her, he would give her his body, his life and soul in a heartbeat. But Rogue was keeping something back from him, and it was coming between them. Lance put a hand on his shoulder lightly as the other boy calmed slightly, and stared into space with both pity for Pietro, and worry for what was bothering Rogue so much she couldn't tell the person she loved most in the world.
It was much later that night. After Pietro had been taken away, Kitty had made some attempt to find out what was troubling Rogue. But her friend had been unresponsive, saying that she hated fighting, and wanted to go to bed. Kitty had relented, and Rogue had been asleep within five minutes. Kitty had watched her sleep for a moment at a loss as to what was going on, before informing the others that she was asleep. Now she too lay in slumber, without a clue as to what was going on in her friend's head.
Rogue was lost in a world of dreams and visions. Before her, she saw burning houses and streets. She saw children running down the road, dancing in flame and crying out in pain. 'Mommy, mommy!' she heard, echoing around her, 'it's too hot, mommy!' there was so much screaming. And there was laughter too. Dark shapes moved through the fire as though they revelled in its heat. It's them, Rogue realised, watching from afar, it's them who are making the people scream. She swept through the streets and the carnage in a flurry of movement, and her eyes came to rest upon a building that was all too familiar. Students poured out of the Xavier institute, running for their lives, being chased by foul laughter. She watched as someone stumbled and fell to the ground, she couldn't make out their face. And as they tried to crawl away, their came a dark figure, getting closer and closer behind him. The figure raised his arm, and Rogue saw that attached to stumps from shoulders, there were long sharp blades, slicing through the air on their way to the person lying prone on the ground. She reached forward in her mind, to try and stop what was happening.
Miraculously, the blade paused a couple of feet from its target, and the person to whom the arm belonged was thrown backwards into the rubble that was now the mansion in which Rogue had stayed. It was just what she'd been trying to do.
In her amazement, Rogue opened her eyes, coming back to the world suddenly and abruptly. She felt tears on her cheeks that had fallen in her dream, and a slight warmth on her throat. She looked down, and gasped in surprise. Her pendant, still hanging around her neck, was glowing bright light, shining in the darkness and lighting up her face. It was then Rogue knew that this had been no dream. It was something that had happened, something that was happening, or something that was going to happen. Her heart ached, as she remembered the people she'd left behind in that place, and she threw herself out of bed, turning on the light switch without even touching it.
Tabby and Kitty woke up a few moments later, dragged into consciousness by the glaring light. They watched in tired, near hangover confusion as Rogue began throwing things into a bag.
'Where are you going?' Tabby asked blearily, amazed by the fact that anybody could be thinking of doing anything at a time like this.
Rogue looked at them, a wild sort of fire in her eyes. 'The institute is in trouble,' she said, by way of explanation, 'I'm going back to Bayville.'
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB
AUTHORS NOTE: Wow, sorry everyone, this is a really long chapter! If you want, I can separate them up a bit, let me know if you'd like to read smaller amounts at a time. As ever, thanks for reviewing, and keep doing so please!!!
A full two weeks had passed since the massacre in the desert, and no other attacks or killings of that kind had found their way into the headlines. But Apocalypse was far from inactive, he was preparing. After making the journey across the vastness of the Atlantic, he had immediately set out to bring mutants over to his side. After becoming aware of the presence of this powerful being that had the potential of posing a threat to him, he had decided it was definitely best that he did not set out on the quest of wiping out the human race alone. Using his incredible senses, he sought out mutants that when put together would have all the necessary power and skills to cause mass destruction. Over the past days, he had been moving through the vast expanses of American soil, keeping clear of the cities, and silencing any lesser beings who happened to cross his path, or who were unwilling to join him. He need not alert the humans to his presence just yet. Those who knew of his existence had either offered him their loyalty and service, or they had been crushed. Literally.
So it was that Apocalypse had assembled a group of mutants formidable enough to bring down a city on their own. They were of all ages, and of all talents. The one thing they shared was the vision that their master had painted for him. That humanity was scum, and that, when the judgement day arrived, as Apocalypse prophesised it would, they, the mutants, would stand alone, and would rule alone. He preyed upon the minds of those who had suffered at the hands of humans, and promised them revenge, a place upon which they could project their anger. And in return, they gave him their loyalty, and as time went by, their very souls.
They had set up base in the remote caves that lay in the middle of a dense forest. Where that forest was, or how far it was from civilization, nobody really knew. It didn't really matter, as travel was not a problem for Apocalypse and his mutants. He had commanded the building of weaponry, of arms from his group, and he himself built up seeds of hatred in their minds so strong that they were turned into people who would willingly kill. To enforce the fact, he took a small band of mutants away from the forest on the tenth day in isolation. He led them through the thickets of trees, knowing the way by instinct, and he brought them to a small lodge on the forest edge. He then watched from the trees as the men burned the house to the ground, with the family inside it. As the dying pleas of women and children reached his ears, even over the roar of the flames, the closest thing to a smile he could manage crossed over his face, spreading his gruesome lips thinly, and baring his excuse for teeth. The charred remains of the family were dragged out of the crumbling ruin, and the mutants cheered. They had completed their transition from prey to predator, and Apocalypse was convinced they were ready. It was time to show themselves to the world. He retreated back to the cave with his recruits, to make more plans.
In comparison, life at Bedford High had been relatively quiet since the boys' escapade a fortnight ago. The girls had yet to do anything in retaliation, and even Pietro had abandoned his suspicions that they had all been forgiven a little to suddenly. Kitty, much to Rogue's disappointment, had continued to be friends with Lorna, perhaps even more enthusiastically than before, if that were possible. Every time the subject was brought up between the two of them, Kitty had refused to comment, and then turned away with a small smile on her lips that Rogue had been unable to see.
She wasn't the only one who had been making friends outside the mutant circle though. Scott's friendship with Lydia had gone from strength to strength over the last two weeks, from sitting together in class and walking down hallways together, to being glued to one another's side all through the school day. The next step of course, was for one of the two to ask the other out on a date, and this was where Scott was hesitant. He'd had bad luck with girls his whole life, particularly with girls he actually liked. He'd faced years of Jean flaunting Duncan Matthews in front of him, and a heartbreaking rejection from Rogue. So, understandably, he was a little reluctant to lay his heart out on the guillotine one more time.
He'd voiced these concerns in the most masculine way possible, to Todd and Fred. They both listened attentively to what he had to say, then gave each other identical looks that made Scott feel like the worlds biggest pansy.
'So, you're worried about getting your heart broken again?' Todd asked, in answer to which Scott nodded his head reluctantly.
'But you've never even been on a date with her before?' Fred said, causing another nod from Cyclops's direction.
'And you're scared of rejection if you ask her out, even though you've practically been living with each other these past two weeks?' Todd asked, raising his eyebrows in bewilderment. Scott again answered in the positive.
Fred and Todd looked at each other again, looking like a little and large double act. 'You big old woman.' They both declared at the same time, confirming what Scott had suspected, that they knew each other way too well.
'Of course she likes you, you daft prat, she's probably getting really fed up of you working up the nerve to actually ask her out.' Fred said, nodding knowingly.
'Go ask her.' Todd said. 'Ask if she wants to go to the movies, see a show, have dinner, have your children, whatever just ask her, and stop pussy footing around!' Before Scott had the chance to protest, Fred levered him up from the bench where they were sitting, and gave him a rather forceful shove in the direction of Lydia, busy reading under a tree nearby. Scott looked back to the bench several times on the way over to her, fidgeting with his now rather sticky palms, and feeling embarrassed for getting so nervous about just asking a girl out.
'Hey, Lydia' he said, standing above her. He put a hand lightly to his cheek for a moment, and then pulled it away, realising he was blushing. Bloody hell, he thought to himself, as he pulled himself into a seating position in the space Lydia had made for him.
If she noticed his discomfort, she didn't show it. 'Hey yourself' she replied easily, spreading her French textbook out in front of him. 'I was just finishing the French assignment. Whoever thought up the principals of French verbs needs a good kick up the..'
'Do you want to go out sometime?' Scott gulped out, like he had the hiccoughs or something uncontrollable. Lydia stopped in mid sentence and looked at him in surprise, a smile gracing her pretty face.
'Sure.' She said, causing Scott to both sag in relief, yet grow with happiness.
'Great' he said, trying not to make it sound like the sigh of satisfaction it was. 'Um, movies, um tomorrow, um, four?' he said, hoping to stick in something like dinner afterwards, but finding he didn't quite have enough words in his vocabulary.
'Um, sure.' Lydia responded, chuckling slightly as she grabbed her books to her and rose to go. 'We could get some dinner afterwards too. I was beginning to wonder if you liked me at all you know, I thought you were never going to ask me out.' She flashed another smile at him, and walked away still grinning. Scott let out the breath he'd been holding in for the past few moments, and found a silly grin upon his own face. Turning round, he could see Fred and Todd in the distance, both thumbs held up high in the air.
Kitty was at that moment, like Scott, making her own plans. Leaning back on the well trimmed lawn, she shaded her eyes from the sunlight, and listened as well as she could to whatever crap was coming out of Lorna's mouth at that moment in time. Now that she knew what the girl was up to, she had come to the conclusion that Lorna was shallow, a bitch, and had the conversational skills of a stuttering hyena, with the laugh to match. As if on cue, the other girl threw back her head and let loose a cackle that she probably believed to be a tinkle of laughter.
'Pah' thought Kitty to herself, 'fat bloody chance'. It had been a chore having to cope with Lorna and her entourage these past few days, pretending to be completely devoted to them, and unaware of what they actually thought of her. She had been putting so much effort into it, that she suspected she appeared even more enthusiastic about her new friends than before she'd found out they were using her, and therefore weren't her friends at all. More than once, she'd caught Rogue and Lance exchanging worried glances when they listened to her talk, before saying cautiously how great it was that she'd found such good friends. Lance had been behaving like he was walking on eggshells since he had led the expedition of the guys that night, and Rogue too had been wary when the subject of Lorna had been approached.
In truth, Kitty was quite happy with deceiving the two of them like this. She felt a bit more than a twinge of humiliation when she remembered that both Lance and Rogue had warned her against Lorna's intentions. She wanted to get her back all on her own, as though this in some way could make up for the mistake she had made earlier.
Sighing slightly, Kitty dragged herself back to the conversation that was taking place around her. She had to admit, she enjoyed this part of her friendship with Lorna. The girls were strewn about across a patch of lawn, which left them visible to most the people eating their lunch, giving them a great view of what was going on around them. Almost every eye around them had at some point turned in her direction, allowing her to bask in the feeling of finally being noticed. Then there was also the appearance of some majorly cute jocks that streamed by their spot every few minutes, sitting down to flirt and make small talk with the girls.
When this happened, Kitty saw with a smirk that Lance was lurking in the shadows of the building, watching the offending males with an evil sort of look on his face. At one point, she hadn't been able to resist throwing him a little wave and a grin, and she'd received death glares all that evening, which only a few timely kisses on her part could dispel. This part of being popular, she could get used to. However, if it meant being around Lorna for more than five seconds, she didn't think she wanted to get used to it.
'So I was saying' Lorna said, flipping her hair back for the fiftieth time, 'I think next Friday would be the best day for it. I'm going away with my parents this weekend,' she rolled her eyes at this, 'still, maybe if I put in the time, they'll get me that boat I spotted the other day.' At this the girls surrounding her tried their best to find an expression between sympathy and encouragement, and most failed miserably. Kitty hoped that one of them would mention what the 'it' actually was, because she wouldn't actually have to admit to Lorna that she hadn't been hanging on her every word.
She was saved from saying anything by a particularly enthusiastic follower erupting in excitement. She clapped her hands together and squealed with delight, 'I love slumber parties! Especially the ones you throw Lorna!' the obvious attempt at flattery made Kitty want to retch, but Lorna just smiled graciously.
'Well, it'll be fun I'm sure.' Then she surprised everyone by turning to face Kitty, and speaking to her directly. It was rare that Lorna actually picked someone out to talk to. 'What about you Pryde, you coming?' she made it sound like something Kitty would be out of her mind to turn down. She fought the urge to sneer, and nodded enthusiastically to Lorna.
'Sure, it sounds like, a complete blast!' she said with as much spirit as she could muster, and Lorna nodded slightly, seeming satisfied that Kitty was still one of her minions. The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, and the girls rose leisurely to go. Kitty was fortunate enough not to have any classes with her new 'friends', and headed away in the opposite direction, after getting the time and place of the slumber party from Lorna. Honestly, she thought to herself, she would have expected Lorna and her gang to be throwing a wild type of all nighter where everyone present got absolutely drowned in alcohol.
She fell in line behind a couple of girls who had been throwing glares in the general direction of her and her group all lunch time, and hid herself so she wouldn't be spotted by them. She supposed with a shrug of her shoulders that a slumber party would give her a pile of opportunities to extract her revenge on Lorna.
In front of her, one of the girls leant in to speak to her friend, having finally caught on to Kitty's presence. 'One of Lorna Baker's minions, follower of that dyed hair tart.' She said, as the other giggled. They looked back at Kitty again and increased their pace.
Behind them, Kitty looked far from affronted. Far from it, she actually looked pleased, and fought back an urge to laugh. Yes, this slumber party definitely presented her with opportunities for revenge.
The teenagers gathered around the table that night, launching into their meal with eagerly. Mystique watched them with a satisfied feeling. They were really beginning to settle in to life in their new environment. She watched as Todd got a stray pea from the table, and used his fork to flick it in the direction of Scott. Still, they remained children through and through. She ignored the inevitable food fight that was brewing on that half of the table; sure that Kurt would soon be in the thick of it. She instead looked up the table to where Rogue was sat, talking quietly and contentedly with Pietro. The tension she had noticed between the two of them had dissipated over the fortnight, and things were pretty much back to normal.
She was pleased to see Rogue looking happy and content, but there was still something about her that suggested unease, almost like she was waiting for something. She saw no actual sign that the unease was there; it was more a sense she got. At least she could say now that she knew her daughter fairly well. She was interrupted by the flying potatoes that were crossing her line of vision. As suspected, Kurt and Tabby had involved themselves whole-heartedly in the fight. She was doomed to always have a younger daughter who acted older than her age, and an older son who acted a whole lot younger than her was. Still, she was glad to say that she had the son and daughter. Finally.
It didn't stop her reaching across and whipping the bottle of tomato sauce out of Kurt's hand. He looked up at the stern face above him, and lowered the bottle reluctantly. 'Dammit mom, you're no fun.' He said, pretending to sulk. As Mystique turned away, he took the opportunity to squirt some of the sauce onto Todd's seat, before the other boy sat back down, grinning to himself in a way that attracted no suspicion, since Kurt was usually grinning to himself.
The food fight would have been brought to a halt anyway, by the discussion that had come about between Lance and Kitty. 'You're going, where?' Lance asked, looking slightly bewildered. Next to him, Kitty nodded emphatically.
'Yes, at Lorna's place next Friday, is that like, a problem for you.' She arched her eyebrow, and Lance missed entirely the amusement that was hidden in her face.
'No' he spluttered, 'it's just that, well,' he fought for a way to explain what he was thinking, without making Kitty too mad.
'You were hoping to get an invite too?' Pietro suggested innocently, sitting across from him. Lance kicked him under the table. It had long been known that, since Lance had suggested to Lorna that perhaps she had undergone some surgery on some certain parts, he was out of favour with Miss Baker and her court. That hadn't gone down too well with Kitty either, and she was now forbidden by Lorna to hang around with Lance at school. Much to his chargrin, she had agreed, seeing him only when Lorna wasn't watching.
'You'll be doing, girl stuff.' He finished lamely, and the rest of the table burst into sniggers.
'No,' Pietro said, throwing both hands to his face in horror, 'Girls? Doing girl stuff? At a slumber party? Imagine that!' rogue hit him lightly on the arm, but her eyes were dancing with humour.
'That's not what I meant!' Lance protested, eyeing his best friend furiously. 'I meant that you'll be doing things like truth or dare, you'll be talking and giggling about those jocks that follow that group around. Maybe even meeting with them, and, and doing things with them!' he shuddered at the thought, and the table burst into laughter. Even Kitty couldn't hold back the giggles.
She took his chin in her hands, and rubbed her nose against his. 'You are so adorable sometimes!' she cooed. Lance gave a half smile, unsure of whether this was a good thing, or something very damaging to his reputation.
'So does that mean you won't go?' he asked hopefully.
In answer, Kitty kissed him once more, then got up and walked out the room, pausing on her way out to reply with 'You aren't that adorable!'
Lance cleared his plate out the way, and banged his head repeatedly on the table, looking around at the others for sympathy. 'I just can't win!' he exclaimed, 'she drives me crazy.' He never said that it wasn't a good thing.
Scott stretched his arms wide, before rising too from the table. 'I'm off too, gotta go make a phone call.' He was barely out of his chair before Todd was catcalling.
'Ooh, phoning Lydia are we? Making plans for the big date are we?' he said, and he and Fred both broke into more laughter. Scott glared at them both, his face now colouring to match his shades.
Next to Kurt, Tabby leaned forward. 'Oooh, is this that Lydia he keeps hanging round with at school?' she asked keenly. Fred nodded in the affirmative, and prepared to spill the details.
Scott put his hands over his ears. 'I'm not listening to this.' He walked quickly through the door, and Todd rose to call after him.
'Don't go proposing just yet Scotty Poo!' He crowed, knowing by the frustrated sound that followed that he'd been heard. He then realised that he had an unfamiliar feeling on his behind, something almost damp, and reached his hand behind him just as Tabby burst into fits of hysterics, and a bampf sound announced that Kurt had left the room.
No matter where he'd gone, he would probably still have heard the cries of 'Damn you, you big blue elf.' That now rang through the house.
The three girls went to bed fairly early that evening, especially for a Friday night. They'd said their good nights in a fairly short space of time, all following each other up the stairs with exchanged glances and supressed giggles. Once they had shut themselves in the room, and made completely sure that there were no eavesdroppers outside the door, they settled themselves in the middle of the floor, with no intention of going to sleep for a good while yet.
Rogue and Kitty both looked to Tabby expectantly. The blonde had indicated that they go upstairs a few moments ago, and both girls now knew she was ready to reveal her plans for payback. In response to their movements, Tabby leant forward, relishing the attention, and outlined in detail her complicated plan for revenge.
By the time she had finished, both Rogue and Kitty were sitting there with their jaws hanging wide open. 'You're kidding!' Kitty exclaimed, throwing her hands to her face.
Rogue was a little more vocal in her protests, looking at Tabby with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. 'As er, thorough as that may sound Tabby, I just don't think that hanging them from the school flagpole stark naked is really all that practical, plus it sounds like an awful lot of work.'
'Yeah' Kitty agreed, her ponytail bobbing as she nodded her head in agreement. Whilst both girls were looking for revenge, they weren't really thinking to that degree.
'We don't want to completely humiliate them,' Rogue mused, whilst trying to calm a rather disappointed looking Tabby, 'we just want to have a bit of fun at their expense.'
Tabby was still looking a little put out, like a small child who had been taken into a candy store, only to be told that they were now on a sugar free diet. 'Can't we have a little humiliation?' she asked, her lower lip sticking out.
'Well,' Rogue said reluctantly, 'I suppose I could say, use my powers to like, do stuff to them in public.'
'Like make them suddenly be butt naked in the middle of the street?' Tabby questioned, her eyes gleaming hopefully.'
'Must there always be nakedness in these plans?' Kitty said, eyebrow raised.
'Yes' Tabby responded solemnly, 'in true humiliation, there must always be nakedness.'
'Well then there will be no humiliation.' Rogue said firmly, 'Nobody but me sees Pietro naked.' She stopped for a moment, then considered what it was that she just said, and immediately coloured, 'Not that I have, or that I'd want to, or that I wouldn't, I mean, but that isn't the point!' she finished, her face now beet red.
Tabby and Kitty giggled 'well I guess that proves me wrong, sometimes nakedness isn't required,' Tabby choked out between laughter, as Rogue smiled somewhat reluctantly at the situation, before swatting half heartedly at her brothers girlfriend.
'Ok' Tabby relented, 'we can do something else. What you said, about having fun, it kind of gives me a new idea.' She seemed to be working out the finer points in her head, and Rogue and Kitty waited eagerly for her new, slightly less drastic plan.
'Rogue, those powers you have, do you have the power of like, icing things, like Bobby?' Tabby asked, her grin widening as Rogue answered in the affirmative. 'And, can you use those powers to a large extent?' again, Rogue nodded her head, and Tabby's grin now stretched from ear to ear.
'In that case' she said, smiling wickedly, 'I think I have a new plan. It's time we had some fun, and the boys learnt a little lesson in the true meaning of confinement!'
It was some hours later when things were put into motion. The door to the girls' room cracked open silently, and three figures made their way carefully along the hallway. First they paused at Todd and Fred's room, and pushed their way in with the minimum amount of noise. Kitty, hell bent on not succumbing to giggles, went quickly to their desk, and placed a small piece of paper on it, before again slipping out the door. Tabby followed a few moments later, and Rogue was waiting outside the door. When she saw the two girls moving off down the hall to Lance and Pietro's room, she touched her hand lightly to the pendant round her neck, and felt the power flowing through her. When her work was down, she joined the other two outside the second bedroom, and repeated the process.
The last room they came to was that of Kurt and Scott. They had saved this till last, because of the fact that the two boys posed the greatest threat to their plans. Kitty and Tabby again split up upon entering the room, each moving to the bedside of the boys. Kitty paused next to Scott, trying again not to laugh at the sight of him drooling a little bit whilst he was sleeping. She reached down, and in the gentlest way possible, removed his glasses from his dreaming face. After a quick search of Scott's closet, she found his battle visor, and pocketed that along with the glasses. Looking across the room, she saw that Tabby had slipped Kurt's watch from his wrist, and was now adding that to the bag she had insisted on taking with her on their little expedition. What she had in their, Kitty shuddered to think, but it was now pretty much full to the brim. Tabby saw her looking, and touched a finger to her nose lightly. Kitty rolled her eyes, and the two left the room to meet Rogue.
After finishing her work on the room, Rogue gave the others a satisfied nod, and motioned for them to leave the house, and move outside to work on the bedroom windows. It was a good half an hour later when they returned to their own room, and finally began to settle down. The sun was already beginning to find its way into the sky, and light was slowly returning to the world.
Kitty rubbed her eyes blearily. 'What now?' she asked, watching her two friends half asleep, too tired to be triumphant at the moment.
This was not true for Tabby, who leant back on her bedclothes and gave a satisfied smirk. 'Now, we wait.'
'We wait for what?'
Mark Mitchall had been living in the woodland base for a week now. Apocalypse had rescued him from a group of farmers, who had treated him like an animal, or a machine. Mark was one of the more physically affected mutants in the group. Where arms should have been, he found that he had large steel blades grafted to the stumps that were the reminders of his humanity. Sharp and jagged, they could slice through the thickest of tree trunks as easily as ripping a piece of tissue paper. This was why, the men said, he had been spared and not killed for being the monster that he was. As one of them put it, between harsh chuckles, he saved on equipment costs, being able cut down the trees so easily. He had been hidden away from the world when he was not working, told that others would flinch to look upon his face.
When he had been with the farmers, he had believed that his mutation had been a curse, something that made him a lesser being. But Apocalypse had shown that, far from a curse, he had a gift. He was not a lesser being anymore, he was not a subhuman. He was above men.
The farmers had been killed of course. They had deserved it, for so many years of torturing him, for making him believe in these lies.
And now he waited, with the rest of the mutants, for their master to speak. Mark was slightly curious to see what the reason for this meeting was, as Apocalypse had never called one so late at night, nor so urgent sounding before. They never actually addressed him as Apocalypse out loud, instead referring to him as 'master', 'lord', or even 'divine one'. Mark believed solely in his leaders power to deliver to them all what they deserved, and to pass judgement and justice on those who had done wrong. He would do what his master said, no matter what.
Next to him, Jason shook his head distractedly, and shrugged his shoulders a little. He didn't know Jason's last name, he didn't know anyone's last name here actually, nor did they know his. The base and group wasn't about forming old fashioned, men like friendships with your fellow mutants. It was about uniting for one purpose, the purpose of destruction. Still, he admitted silently that he had formed a better bond with Jason than some of the others. Jason was blessed with the power to melt most solid metals with the touch of his hand. Previously a professional bank robber, he had joined Apocalypse on the run from some of his fellow thieves who had found out just how he found his way into bank vaults. He was, if possible, even more resentful than Mark was towards the men who had done him wrong, and when he was not learning the art of detached hatred from the lord, he was brooding on his own personal revenge, against those he had once counted as friends.
Apocalypse had given them no hint as to what the meeting was about, telling them they must learn the art of patience and waiting. He did not leave them hanging for two long though, as soon their leader entered the main chamber of their base, and surveyed his small army with grim satisfaction. He took a deep breath, and launched into speech.
'My followers' (he would never address them as his fellows or equals, though they never noticed), 'the day has finally come upon us! The day when we shall finally reveal ourselves to the putrid world of men, and they shall know what it feels to fall to their knees and tremble with terror. We leave now, and embark on the first steps of our noble quest to a better world. Tonight, we head to the first destination on our conquest. In a town not many miles away from here, there lies a place where mutants like us live and work in the world of men, they believe' he said, pausing to inject further scorn and disgust into his words, 'they believe that man and mutant can work together, can live in harmony!'
The mutants around him laughed menacingly, and some shook their heads disbelievingly. Apocalypse continued, knowing that they were eating out the palm of their hand. He nodded to show he understood their sentiments, and spoke again. 'They run their operations from a special school, a boarding place for the younger mutants. Well, I say it is time we went to educate them!' this time heads were nodding enthusiastically, and the masses laughed even louder. 'We shall pay these mutants a visit, and you shall do whatever you feel necessary to persuade them to join our cause. If they must refuse, you will kill them, in whichever way you choose.' This time the shouted agreement was slightly less riotous. So far, nobody had considered the possibility of killing other mutants. People like them.
'You must understand, that those who sympathise with the men, are no better than the men. They would rather see you suffer and be preyed upon, rather than harm one hair on a 'normal' human beings head. For this, they must pay the ultimate penalty.' Even though he was explaining himself, he knew that he would meet no opposition. The faces around him were now not only willing to do the deed, but they believed it to be right.
'The school, and the surrounding town, is yours to do with it what you will. Plunder it, kill those who live in it, do whatever you feel will announce to the world that we will no longer let ourselves be treated as if we are less than the common man!' again, cheers washed over the walls like waves on the shore. Apocalypse held up his hand for silence.
'I ask only one thing of you. There is a mutant in the school. Though he is incapacitated, do not be fooled, for he resides over the running of this institute. Despite frail appearances the old man has great power. Let me deal with him, and me alone.' After seeing understanding dawn on the faces of his followers, he decided to wrap up the speech, and begin the journey to destruction.
'And so, onward we go. We will see them run, we will smell their blood and their fear, and we will hear them beg for mercy. Will we deliver it?' he asked, baiting them.
'NO!' they responded, cheering and clapping louder than ever, and now stamping their feet in approval. With that said, the man gathered up their torches and weapons, and began to thread their way through the trees, working to find their destination that lay a full days journey from now, where the massacre would finally begin, and the judgement day would dawn.
Bedford Falls was now drenched in early sunlight. It seeped through the windowpanes, and struck Lance in the face as he lay sleeping on his bed. He stirred slightly, and unconsciously moved his arm to his face to protect him from the rays. A few seconds later, he was rubbing his eyes, and fully engrossed in the process of waking up.
He dragged his body into a sitting position, glancing across the room to where Pietro was doing exactly the same thing. Lance mumbled something that vaguely resembled 'morning', and got fully out of bed to find his way to the bathroom. It was then he noticed something very odd about the shards of light that were covering his blanket. It was as though someone had taken a hammer to a light beam, and smashed it into a million pieces. Now fully alert, he followed the broken beam to the window, where he saw it was completely frosted over.
He looked back to Pietro in bewilderment, 'erm, was it really cold last night or something?' he asked, watching his friends sleepy face become just as confused looking as he felt. Pietro sprung lightly from the bed and joined Lance at the window. Together, they tried to force it open to see what the scene was now like outside, but try as they might, the window would not budge.
Pietro looked at Lance, panting slightly with exertion at trying to force the glass open. 'This is weird, I'll go see what things are like in the other's rooms.' Lance stayed watching the spidery threads of frost and ice on the windows, and it was a few seconds later when he heard Pietro cry out slightly in surprise. He turned round, and saw that the door had been opened, but it did them no good whatsoever, because right outside was a wall of ice not even Lance could knock down with as Avalanche.
He swore loudly, and the two boys conducted a search of the room in alarm, knowing now that this was no freak of nature. A few minutes later, and they turned up something. On the desk, there was a small folded up piece of paper, which was addressed to both of them in what looked to be Rogue's handwriting. Pietro snatched up the paper, and Lance looked over his shoulder to read what was written there.
Morning boys! We know you haven't forgotten about your little adventure, and neither have we. That's why we thought today we'd have a little outing of our own. And just to make sure you stay and home and behave, we've made sure that this is the only place you can go! We hope you will take this opportunity to think very hard about what you all did, and we'll share with you what happened when we get back this evening, if the ice has melted by then!
See ya! R, K & T
PS: the bathroom remains accessible, even we aren't that cruel!
At that point in time, the girls were in fact getting ready to leave the house. As Kitty reached for her bag, she heard a sudden eruption of curse words from the rooms above her, with the occasional outburst of 'Took my watch!' she looked at her friends, and they burst into laughter, doubling up with giggle fits.
'Come on' Rogue said, linking arms and smiling at the other two girls, 'let's go before they figure out we're still in the house.' They were in the process of opening the door, when they heard footsteps on the stairs.
'Going somewhere?' a cold voice said. Turning slowly, the girls saw Mystique standing on the stairs, looking pointedly at the three of them.
'I hope you realise' she said slowly, continuing to walk downwards, 'the damage all that ice might cause the building, which you of course will have to repair.' The girls nodded, looking at her hopefully.
'In that case' she carried on, the corners of her mouth turning up, 'let's get going.' She held up a bag she'd been holding behind her back, and in the blink of the eye transformed into a woman about to head on a day out with her daughter and her friends.
The daughter in question and her friends blinked at her stupidly, and she shrugged her shoulders at them. 'What? You expect me to wait about the house all day and listen to the six of them beg for mercy? Let's go!'
It was as they were locking the door that the boys first began to complain that their clothes were missing. The females outside the house looked accusingly at Tabby, who held her hands up in surrender.
'Well you said there could be a little humiliation!' she protested. They broke into laughter again, and were still chortling as they drove away from the house, leaving the men locked inside.
'They've been gone for hours now,' Kurt said miserably, his blue tail drooping to the floor. Scott looked up from where he'd been sitting dismally on the other bed. As the hours had passed, the boys had found themselves going from being shocked, to panicking wildly, to being fairly angry and stumping their toes kicking the bed, to trying and failing to escape, to grudgingly accepting that they were doomed to stay here till the girls returned. Scott had his eyes closed, as he had done for the whole day, and Kurt's fuzzy blue hair was standing on end from the slight chill that radiated from the frozen door. Their heating had been turned up full blast, which went someway to cancelling the effect of the ice, but it didn't get rid of it fully.
Kurt had of course ported out the room, and had been to see the other boys, who were all in the same predicament. He'd checked on the overall situation as well, and reported to the others that Rogue's icing over of the doors had certainly been well done. And whilst he may be able to escape the house, he was a fuzzy blue elf who hadn't a hope in hell of getting them out. He could have ported into town to find them, but imagining the look and reaction of the public if a little blue man suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, he pretty much ruled that option out. He had suggested to Scott that he just blast everyone out, but without his visor, Cyclops could make no promises that the building would still be in tact by the time he had done.
'Wow' Todd admitted reluctantly, 'they certainly thought this out.'
'Yeah' Kurt agreed, 'if it had been Tabby alone, she probably would have just stripped us naked and hung up our underwear in front of the school.'
'And there's no chance of the ice melting any time soon?' Lance had asked hopefully, when Kurt had bampfed in to see them, catching the two boys in the middle of a discussion over the dreadful things their girlfriends could possibly be up to.
Kurt shook his head, and stopped Lance from doing something violent by pressing a can of beer into his hand that he'd taken from the kitchen. Lance drunk it in what was possibly a record time, and went back to imagining what Kitty could be doing at that point in time.
It had been a while since Kurt had left the room now. He'd delivered the stereo to Fred and Todd after they'd made him promise to do so (when Fred was desperate, you didn't dare refuse to get him anything), and was now lounging on the bed, making sure Scott was OK, being that he was effectively blind for the day.
'Shit!' his friend exclaimed, sitting up in bed suddenly and tensing his shoulders, which were still clad in pyjamas. He looked morose, as if something absolutely terrible had just happened.
'What?' Kurt said, jumping up and crossing the room, afraid that he'd opened his eyes back accident or something. Scott looked to be fine however, and there were no scorch marks on the walls or ceiling, so he assumed that it was something else.
'Lydia' Scott responded simply, running a hand blindly through his hair. He seemed to notice even with his eyes closed that Kurt required further explanation. 'I had a date with Lydia for four today, and if we've been in here for hours, then it must be..'
'About half four' Kurt confirmed grimly, looking at the small clock on Scott's bedside, only after glancing at his bare wrist, as if he expected the watch to still be there.
Scott swore again, and collapsed back onto the bed with a mournful sound, turning over to bury his miserable, blinded face in his hands. Kurt went back to his own bed, knowing that the girls had gotten them back fully this time.
The girls of course, had no idea of the trouble they had just caused Scott. With Mystique in tow, they were heading down the little high street of Bedford, laden with shopping bags full of absolutely useless purchases. They passed the cinema, and saw Lydia waiting outside of it, her arms folded and her face caught in the depths of displeasure. She looked pretty pissed off.
Rogue waved to her in greeting. Although Lydia was only a friend of a friend, she had always seemed nice and friendly, and definitely wasn't a bitch like Lorna and her friend's were. Rogue enjoyed watching how happy Scott was to find a true friend, and maybe something more, and felt good to see how he had settled in to his new environment.
Lydia saw them and waved distractedly, and the girls made their way over to her. 'Hey' Rogue called out, 'what are you doing here on your own?'
She seemed to have hit a nerve, because Lydia's frown deepened, and her folded arms tightened even more. 'Oh, well I was waiting for someone, I'm not anymore.' She looked up at the clock, which now read half past five. She thought for a moment, and then struggled to make her face more impassive. 'Have you seen Scott at all today?' she asked lightly, chin raised in the air a little.
Tabby responded, smirking. 'Oh, he's been rather um, indisposed today!' she said, before giggling a little. Lydia looked at them questioningly, before waving a goodbye, and disappearing down the street.
Rogue pondered her departure for only a moment, before following the others, who were making a beeline for a pizza place up the street, Mystique in the lead. Rogue shook her head wonderlingly as she watched her mother worm her way through the people. Mystique had acted about ten or twenty years younger than she actually was today, flirting with men on the beach they had been to this morning, and spending a huge some of money on clothes and other useless items for them all. Rogue wondered if she'd been waiting for years to let her hair down like this, and was sort of glad to see her mother acting so human.
This had been in a café in the afternoon, and when Mystique had seen Rogue smiling at her, she had returned the gesture, making the two of them feel closer than they had before.
But seeing her mother flirting with the guy who hired out beach equipment brought another question to Rogue's head. Just who was her father? Did she and Kurt even have the same father? Of course, today wasn't the time to ask about it, and bring up whatever memories the idea of her dad stirred in Mystique. She instead decided to bring up the subject of her father with Kurt when she got home that night. If he was still actually speaking to her.
Now, as they headed towards the restaurant entrance, she abandoned thoughts of bigger things, and carried on enjoying the day being young and stupid with her friends and family.
Mystique had a quick word with the guy on the entrance, a man in his very early twenties, probably a student in the nearby college getting weekend work. He was actually pretty handsome, his dark hair and typical Italian type good looks were in all likelihood what had recommended him for the job.
He finished his conversation with Mystique, and then he pushed past Rogue and Kitty, and stopped at Tabby, producing a flower he'd taken from the display at the entrance.
'Happy birthday, lovely lady!' he enthused in a hokey Italian accent. Tabby took the flower in confusion.
'It's my..' she trailed of with a question in her voice, and then looking at Mystique, she caught on. 'Oh yes, it's my birthday!' she said, causing the poor waiter to look a little surprised.
He recovered quickly, and led them to a round table in the centre of the room, where other members of the staff were hastily tying balloons to chairs, and placing decorations on the table. The waiter made a great show of pulling out chairs for them all, which they sat down in, surpressing laughter.
They were handed menus, and the man leant low in a small bow, 'My name is Mario' he said, his accent becoming more pronounced with each word, 'and anything I can do for you lovely ladies will be my pleasure.'
He was about to leave and let them deliberate on their choice, when Mystique held him back. 'Can we have two bottles of your finest champagne please, especially as we are celebrating a drinking age birthday!' she said, daring him to argue. Looking a teensy bit doubtful at whether this was actually the case, Mario backed down at Mystique's stare, and went to the bar to carry out the order.
Rogue looked worriedly at Mystique, because of the price of champagne, but Mystique gave her a reassuring glance, and shook her head. 'It's all right' she said warmly, 'my treat. Besides, it wouldn't be complete revenge if we didn't drink just a little bit.'
'Give me a minute.' Tabby said, before launching herself from the table and over to where Mario stood, now lining up glasses on the counter. She seemed to have thrown herself into the role of birthday girl, and she leant across the counter to whisper into the poor waiters ear something that no one else could hear. Mario's eyes bulged, and he put the glass in his hand on the counter with unsteady hands. Nodding at the girl, he looked across at them and shouted 'free champagne for the birthday girl!'
Tabby sashayed back to the table, smiling sunnily at them, and sat herself back down merrily. Rogue rolled her eyes in amusement, and Kitty looked scandalised.
'You can't do things like that!' she squealed, 'you like, have a boyfriend!'
'Not so loud!' Tabby said, leaning in to speak to Kitty quietly, and hoping the waiting staff didn't hear. 'Loads of girls flirt with waiters in restaurants, and you know, we are supposed to be having fun today, so just forget about the boys. I'm not going to actually do anything with him you know, and look, we got free champagne!'
Kitty looked upwards to see Mario standing there with the champagne in his arms, looking at Tabby like a dog who'd just played fetched with it's master, and was now waiting to be told what a good boy it was.
'Is everything all right miss?' he asked, letting his eyes stray from Tabby to Kitty. The latter looked at her friends egging her on, and then sighed slightly, before fluttering her eyelashes, and looking at the guy before her with a dreamy expression. 'Everything's just perfect thank you.' She said, and then she couldn't help herself laughing as the unfortunate victim stumbled away in a semi daze.
An hour later, the girls were in the midst of devouring an amazingly large amount of ice cream. Licking her spoon clean, Rogue watched dizzily as Mario came back to their table for the fiftieth time that night. Leaning between Tabby and Kitty, he smiled at them, and said something which was either very funny, or which, in their present state, was not funny but enough to crack the two of them up anyway. He looked up at Rogue with disinterest, as she hadn't really paid much attention to him that night. 'Miss' he said, 'there is a caller for you'.
'Really?' Rogue asked in surprise, 'how do you know?' she was pretty sure, even after the large amount of champagne they had drunk, that she had never given the guy her name.
Mario shrugged his shoulders. 'They ask for the one with the stripes in her hair, it is pretty obvious no?' he said, and then turned back to the other two girls, as Rogue rose from the table and went to find the phone, gathering herself. Who knew she was actually at the restaurant?
She was even more surprised to see that the phone Mario had spoken of was in fact a pay phone. Clearly they hadn't been the only ones drinking, if the waiter had failed to spot this fact. Already quite sure of who was on the other end, Rogue picked up the receiver, and spoke nervously.
'Hello?' she said, feeling weird for speaking like this into a payphone.
Surprise surprise, the voice than replied was the one who had spoken to her the night the massacre in the desert had occurred. 'He is coming, and the day of battle will approach soon enough. Choices must be made, and everything hangs in the balance.'
This was no clearer to Rogue than it had been the first time, and she tried again to get some sort of reason from the voice. 'Who is coming? Why am I so important in all this? Please tell me what is going on?'
'Now is not the time.' it replied, somewhat reluctantly. 'Before you know of what you are and what takes place around you, you must face him indirectly. He is coming, and you must do what you can to save those who cross his path.'
Rogue felt like she was going nowhere. 'Please' she said, begging slightly, 'please tell me who it is I must face indirectly.'
'He is Apocalypse, and on the day of the final battle, it is you who holds the key to the judgement day. We shall speak again.' The phone went blank.
Rogue waited a few moments before going back to the table, and sat in a state of semi shock all the way through the remainder of the meal, laughing only briefly when an eager Mario gave his number to Kitty and Tabby. She was still not really any better informed as to what the caller was talking about, but by the things they said, she knew it would be long before she found out what was going on. It just had to happen to her, didn't it?
It was about eight o clock when the girls pulled into the driveway that evening. Rogue melted the already dripping ice, and the boys stepped out of the rooms they'd been imprisoned in all day. They didn't know whether to be mad at the girls for inflicting the day of confinement on them or thankful for finally releasing them, and instead they moved off down to the kitchen to get some food, determined not to congratulate the girls on the success of their operation, and instead resolving to avoid the subject entirely until they decided to take their revenge or not. They couldn't really deny that they'd had it coming, and the thought it best to try and maintain at least a shred of dignity.
Tabby handed back the glasses, visor and watch, and reluctantly gave back the clothes she'd taken. Some of the guys noticed a pair or two of their boxer shorts were missing, and didn't even want to ask where they'd gone.
So, at about nine, after everyone had been fed and watered, the group positioned themselves in the sitting room, where the girls recounted in a still slightly tipsy manner all the things they'd gotten up to that day. The guys listened with frowns on their faces, and Scott shut himself in the room he'd already spent all day in, taking the phone with him. Rogue watched him go questioningly, but was too worried about the call at that moment to put two and two together.
She didn't join in too much with the story, and leant back on Pietro's legs instead, who, slightly sulkily, allowed her to do so. When they got to the restaurant part of the day however, Pietro could feel his girlfriend tensing up, and leant forward with concern, all traces of anger forgotten. Something was very wrong.
'Anyway' Tabby said, not noticing her friend's obvious discomfort, 'the whole place ended up singing happy birthday to me, which was great, only Rogue wasn't there because somebody rang her at the restaurant, which was way weird, but anyway, they made me this cake..'
Rogue didn't stay to hear the end. She excused herself with a panicked look on her face, and fled up the stairs, not even hearing Kurt responding to Tabby's producing of the number she'd gotten from Mario. Pietro was right behind her, and by her side in an instant, as Rogue propped herself up against the wall, breathing heavily.
Pietro put a hand on her shoulders, and took her in his arms. He was shocked to feel that she was trembling. He knew that it was happening again, that the same person had called her up, and this time he was determined to get the truth from her. It was time to bring the situation to a head.
'It was the same person as it was the last time, wasn't it?' he murmured gently into her hair. He didn't want to use her vulnerable state against her, but he had to know the truth.
She pulled away from him, a fearful look in her eyes. 'I told you before, that call was nothing. I'm just tired is all' She said lightly and desperately, knowing it wouldn't fool him. The whole room had noticed the way in which she had left, and he wasn't the only one who believed now that something was up with her.
'It certainly wasn't nothing, and it wasn't some girl from school being mean to you. Come on Rogue; tell me who or what's bothering you, please? I just want to be there for you.' He said, pleading with her slightly.
Rogue shook her head, and whispered something to herself. Pietro stepped forward with his hands out, fully aware that he was losing her, but determined not to let her escape without telling the truth. He couldn't cope with the fact that she would be lying to him, that she didn't trust him.
Rogue was retreating, trying to speak. 'I just, I mean, it's nothing, I can handle it on my own,' she said, fumbling for an explanation.
'Rogue please, just tell me why you're lying to me.' Pietro begged, hands clasped in front of him as if in prayer. Rogue was backed into the door now, looking absolutely terrified and torn between desire to shout back at him what was wrong, and the run for the hills. Words tried and failed to find their way to the surface, and then she jerked backwards, pushing the door open behind her.
'I can't!' she cried, throwing herself into the darkness of the room, and shutting the door in Pietro's face. 'I can't tell the others, and I can't tell you. Just go, please' she said, as she locked the door from the inside, and felt him trying to force it open, shouting her name again and again. She sank to the floor against the door, pulling her knees up to her chest, her breaths becoming shuddered with tears. She felt suddenly very alone, having turned away one of the only people in the world she believed she could trust with anything. Why didn't she trust anyone with this? Why was everything going wrong again so soon? She had felt so content by coming here, by escaping everything and starting over, and being with Pietro. What was it that kept her from letting her get help, and that made her so worried over what the caller was saying?
She felt cruel beyond belief by doing this to Pietro, as if keeping the truth from him and dealing with this on her on was in some way tearing her from him. Useless tears fell down her face, and she hit her head back against the door in despair.
On the other side of the door, Pietro was pounding his fist on the wood, trying to break down the door with his shouting. 'Rogue please, don't shut me out! Don't lie to me!' he carried on and on, collapsing on his knees on the other side of the door, and feeling the wood in front of him separating the two of them like a terrible chasm opening up before him. They'd never fought before, never like this, and they'd never kept secrets from each other. But she was lying to him, they both knew it, and she was hiding things from him, things she didn't feel able to tell him. Why?
It was a few moments later when Lance and a slightly more sober Kitty appeared in the hallway. The dark haired boy moved to help Pietro stand, he looked almost mad kneeling at the door, and he pulled him down the hall to their own room, with a worried glance in Kitty's direction. Kitty knocked on the door softly, and told Rogue it was her. A crack opened, and she slipped through into the room where Pietro had been denied access.
In his own bedroom, Lance was trying to make some sense of his friend. 'She won't tell me, what could be so terrible that she won't tell me? I need to know, I want to help her, she could be in trouble, and she wouldn't let me in!' he gibbered, and Lance felt terrible for him. Pietro loved her, he would give her his body, his life and soul in a heartbeat. But Rogue was keeping something back from him, and it was coming between them. Lance put a hand on his shoulder lightly as the other boy calmed slightly, and stared into space with both pity for Pietro, and worry for what was bothering Rogue so much she couldn't tell the person she loved most in the world.
It was much later that night. After Pietro had been taken away, Kitty had made some attempt to find out what was troubling Rogue. But her friend had been unresponsive, saying that she hated fighting, and wanted to go to bed. Kitty had relented, and Rogue had been asleep within five minutes. Kitty had watched her sleep for a moment at a loss as to what was going on, before informing the others that she was asleep. Now she too lay in slumber, without a clue as to what was going on in her friend's head.
Rogue was lost in a world of dreams and visions. Before her, she saw burning houses and streets. She saw children running down the road, dancing in flame and crying out in pain. 'Mommy, mommy!' she heard, echoing around her, 'it's too hot, mommy!' there was so much screaming. And there was laughter too. Dark shapes moved through the fire as though they revelled in its heat. It's them, Rogue realised, watching from afar, it's them who are making the people scream. She swept through the streets and the carnage in a flurry of movement, and her eyes came to rest upon a building that was all too familiar. Students poured out of the Xavier institute, running for their lives, being chased by foul laughter. She watched as someone stumbled and fell to the ground, she couldn't make out their face. And as they tried to crawl away, their came a dark figure, getting closer and closer behind him. The figure raised his arm, and Rogue saw that attached to stumps from shoulders, there were long sharp blades, slicing through the air on their way to the person lying prone on the ground. She reached forward in her mind, to try and stop what was happening.
Miraculously, the blade paused a couple of feet from its target, and the person to whom the arm belonged was thrown backwards into the rubble that was now the mansion in which Rogue had stayed. It was just what she'd been trying to do.
In her amazement, Rogue opened her eyes, coming back to the world suddenly and abruptly. She felt tears on her cheeks that had fallen in her dream, and a slight warmth on her throat. She looked down, and gasped in surprise. Her pendant, still hanging around her neck, was glowing bright light, shining in the darkness and lighting up her face. It was then Rogue knew that this had been no dream. It was something that had happened, something that was happening, or something that was going to happen. Her heart ached, as she remembered the people she'd left behind in that place, and she threw herself out of bed, turning on the light switch without even touching it.
Tabby and Kitty woke up a few moments later, dragged into consciousness by the glaring light. They watched in tired, near hangover confusion as Rogue began throwing things into a bag.
'Where are you going?' Tabby asked blearily, amazed by the fact that anybody could be thinking of doing anything at a time like this.
Rogue looked at them, a wild sort of fire in her eyes. 'The institute is in trouble,' she said, by way of explanation, 'I'm going back to Bayville.'
DISCLAIMER: Characters and situation are property of Marvel and WB
AUTHORS NOTE: Wow, sorry everyone, this is a really long chapter! If you want, I can separate them up a bit, let me know if you'd like to read smaller amounts at a time. As ever, thanks for reviewing, and keep doing so please!!!
