Notes: So I have the worst timing in the world. Starting November 1st I will be doing NaNoWriMo and thus, won't be writing on this fic much. I'm trying to do a lot of writing now so I have a couple of chapters ready to post, but updates might slow down for a couple of weeks. Apologies for that.

Chapter One

The Roses looked up at the impressive Xavier Institute, now renamed the MCDA HQ. Envee kept joking that it sounded like she was reading an eye chart when she said that, but no one was laughing now. For three months, they'd been adjusting to their new lives and new situation, but now it was all suddenly real. They had a base of operations, they had state-of-the-art technology at their fingertips, they had everything they would ever need to do their jobs.

The door opened and Rogue emerged, walking quickly down the steps with a no-nonsense look on her face. "Let's get moving, guys," she said brusquely, "We've got a lot of stuff to unpack and I want it done as quickly as possible."

No one questioned her harsh attitude, they all knew what this place meant to Rogue and that she was dealing with it the only way she knew how-by brushing it off and ignoring it-but Michelle frowned thoughtfully and made a little mental note to have a talk with Rogue tonight. She'd been worried that this move would be a little too much, but she was never sure which way Rogue would go-sometimes, she'd be willing and open about new things, but other times, things would make her withdraw back into herself. She was a complicated person and Michelle sometimes felt like she was walking on eggshells-if she didn't have her empathic abilities, she was sure that she would've screwed up long ago, and even her powers could only help her so much. The rest of it was instinct and knowledge.

"Michelle, I said move it!" Rogue snapped, and Michelle blinked, realising that she'd been lost in thought for several minutes whilst everyone else had been carrying boxes inside. Smiling wryly, Michelle grabbed a rather lightweight box from the van behind her and carried it up the steps. It looked as if everyone was just dumping things in the lobby until they could sort out which box went in which room, so she let her box fall to the floor next to one marked 'Rogue's Weapons'.

"This is gonna take all bloody day," Kar grumbled, setting a box down and stretching his arms out in front of him, shaking his wrists and rubbing his shoulders.

"Yeah, but…but…"

Kar frowned, turning to look at Michelle. The blonde girl was staring blankly ahead of her, a small frown creasing her brow, and for a moment, she stood as still as if she'd been frozen in time. Then she blinked, opened her mouth, and let out a long, anguished scream of pure pain.

Collapsing to the ground, Michelle began to convulse violently, her body jerking as if someone were electrocuting her, banging her head against the floor and writhing around. Kar stared at her dumbfounded for a second, before his mind snapped into action.

"What the fuck? Guys! Help!"

Falling to his knees, Kar grabbed hold of Michelle's head and tried to hold it steady, fearful that she might do herself an injury. The others came running and immediately assessed the situation-all falling down to hold Michelle still. They didn't bother asking questions, just tried to keep a firm grip on their friend as she writhed and twisted and screamed, always screaming, filling the mansion with the sound of pain.

Jerking wildly, Michelle managed to free her right arm for a moment before Rogue grabbed it again, pinning it to the floor and gritting her teeth. Michelle wasn't usually this strong, but she was finding it difficult to keep the girl's arm on the ground. A glimmer of red caught her attention and she looked down to realise that Michelle was clenching her fists so tight she had cut into the palms of her hands with her fingernails. Rogue didn't bother trying to stop her, focusing on just keeping the arm pinned, stopping her from doing any serious damage. Her friend's ear-splitting screams rebounded off the walls and raced back to her, like waves clashing against the rocks, and she shut her eyes in a stupid attempt to some how block out the terrible sound.

It lasted for little more than two minutes, but it felt like an hour to the Roses, and neither of them was sure what to do when Michelle suddenly went limp beneath their hands, her chest heaving as she dragged in air. They looked down at her uncertainly, not quite willing to take their hands off her until they were sure whatever it was had passed. Questions circled soundlessly overhead, waiting to be voiced. Was it over? What had happened? What was going on?

"Jamie, is she hurt?" Rogue asked, carefully taking her hands of Michelle's arm and moving back, giving Jamie room to examine the empath.

"She'll have a couple of bruises in the morning," Jamie said quietly, running her hands over Michelle's body and pulling back her clothing to look at the skin beneath. "And she's cut into her palms pretty bad, I'll bandage them up in a minute. But there's no serious damage-nothing worth me healing. She's fine."

"What the bloody hell was that?" Kar demanded breathlessly, staring down at Michelle with wide eyes.

"Maybe some sort of psychic attack?" Envee guessed uncertainly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Whatever it was, she was hurting really bad," Alistor said. "Can we do anything to help her?"

Rogue shook her head. "Not until she wakes up and tells us what happened. Come on, let's get her to the infirmary."

Michelle groaned, her head rolling to the side as she struggled against the tide of unconsciousness, clawing her way back to the land of the waking. She felt pressure on her hand and she tentatively flexed her fingers, feeling soft cloth move against her skin. Bandages, she realised, having been patched up enough times to recognise the sensation. Her wrists and ankles hurt like hell, they were throbbing and aching, and she knew she was bruised. She managed to figure this all out before waking so she wasn't entirely surprised to open her eyes and find herself lying in a bed in their new infirmary.

Groaning again, she attempted to sit up but fell back with a loud 'oof' sound. Jamie was instantly by her side, checking her vitals and asking her a series of routine questions-did she know her name, her birthday, who the President was. Michelle answered robotically until it was over and Jamie nodded in satisfaction. Then Rogue appeared and Michelle sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"What happened, Michelle?"

Michelle closed her eyes, trying to push the images out of her mind-blood flying through the air, claws ripping into warm flesh, painful screaming, so much hatred, and fear, and pain…

Licking her lips, Michelle opened her eyes and looked up at Rogue seriously. "There's been a murder," she said quietly. "Messy, brutal… mutants."

Rogue blinked, digesting that information for a second. "Were they the attacker or the attacked?"

"I don't know. But… hate was involved, it was everywhere, like smoke… so much hate…" A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away, taking a deep, steadying breath. She had a job to do, she couldn't mourn over this yet, tonight maybe, but not now. "We need to monitor the radios, it'll be called in soon and when it does, we need to get there fast. The cops can't handle this, it's up to us."

Rogue sighed. "Great. I was hoping we'd have a little more time before we had to deal with something big. Jamie, find the police scanner, get it set up, and give me a shout when you hear something."

"Yes, ma'am."

Michelle watched Jamie leave before looking back at Rogue, attempting to sit up again and actually managing it this time. "I was hoping to have a talk with you tonight," she said, pushing the blanket off her legs, "But it doesn't look like we'll get the chance. So, how are you feeling right now?"

Rogue smiled mirthlessly. "Like I'm never gonna get a chance to rest," she said in a faintly bitter tone before walking out.