Finding Marie Chapter 11, a x-men: the movie fanfic

Author's Notes: Thoughts are signified by 'these'. Emphasis and the voices in Rogue's head are in italics. Telepathic conversation is underlined. I apologize in advance for how OOC the character I introduce in this chapter may or may not be, I don't actually know that much about him. Since this story is already AU to a degree, let's just say he's an alternate universe version of the actual character.

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"So Mystique will be home in a week?" Piotr asked as he and Rogue strolled through the Native American art exhibit at the museum.

"Yes," Rogue answered, a smile on her face and in her voice. "She's off for a whole month, so we're going to work more on recovering our memories. We may even take a trip down to Caldecott County to where we lived with Mama Irene to see if our things are still in the house there."

"I'm glad you're happy," Piotr said softly.

He squeezed her ungloved fingers, which were laced between his as they walked. She still had a glove on the other hand, and would slip the other one on once he let go of her hand, but for now they both enjoyed the small connection. She squeezed back.

"Are you happy?" she asked him.

Piotr smiled down at her. "I have my best friend in the world with me, how could I not be happy? But I know what you're asking. I am happy at Xavier's. He hasn't pushed for too much information, and he is giving me the opportunity to work with the children and still work on my art. And I am beginning to make friends there as well."

"Good."

"Piotr? Rogue?" Scott's voice sounded surprised but pleased as he and Jean approached them.

"Hello, Scott, Jean," Rogue said softly, trying to calm her pounding heart.

She had known it was inevitable that she would run into students or faculty from Xavier's living as close as she did, but the past months had passed without incident and she had let the worry fade from her mind. Too soon apparently. Before she had a chance to realize every detail of what her being there with Piotr entailed, Scott noticed her hand in Piotr's. Her ungloved hand in his bare one.

"You can touch?"

Scott took a step toward her and Rogue backpedaled several steps, causing Piotr to let go of her hand. She hastily crammed her fingers back into the glove that protected others from her deadly skin. The movement had been too fast and two digits ended up together in one glove finger. Nervous, Rogue simply balled her fist and shoved it into her pocket. Rogue's frantic motions got through to Scott and he stilled.

"Piotr's immune," Rogue said stiffly.

She hadn't intended to share that information, but if she hadn't they might have thought she had control. And as much as she wished that was the case, it wasn't. She thought Scott looked disappointed for a moment, but she didn't have time to dwell on it when she felt Jean trying to probe her mind.

"Stop it," she growled at the redhead. "Why would I lie about something like that? And if its something else you want to know, ask me like a civilized person."

Jean blinked and Scott's mouth fell open slightly before he tried to hide a laugh by coughing.

"I'm sorry," Jean said, though she didn't sound at all remorseful.

"Mr. Summers? Miss Grey? We're ready for you," a woman in a business suit called.

"Every year we take a school field trip to a different museum," Scott explained quickly. "The group rate always takes time to hash out."

"Well, we'll let you go then," Rogue said, relieved.

Scott opened his mouth, but Jean had already begun to walk toward the museum employee.

"Come on, Scott."

"It was nice to see you, Rogue. We'll see you back at home, Piotr."

Rogue smiled slightly at Scott as he waved, feeling slightly guilty about being so abrupt with him. Bu she couldn't help the way she felt around Jean. Piotr pulled her hand out of her pocket and tugged the misaligned glove off her fingers, tucking it into his own pocket for safekeeping.

"Let's go somewhere else to eat," he said, leading her away from the scene of the awkward confrontation.

Rogue gratefully let him.

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Rogue was curled up with a book in her window seat when she heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter. Though she hadn't been expecting Mystique until the next day, Rogue excitedly jumped up from her perch and shoved her feet into a pair of shoes. She made it to the roof and the helipad there just as Mystique was stepping down from the passenger side seat. Mystique smiled and moved forward to embrace Rogue.

"I missed you, Mama," Rogue said as she carefully hugged her mother.

Not having pulled on a pair of gloves, Rogue was cautious about only putting her hands where cloth covered the other woman's blue skin.

"I missed you, too, Marie," Mystique responded in a whisper. Turning from Rogue after their hug ended, Mystique told the helicopter pilot, "Be ready to depart in half an hour."

Rogue frowned. "I thought you were going to spend your time off with me. You're leaving already?"

"No, no, of course not," Mystique quickly answered. "I just have a recon mission to go on and a limited time frame to do it in. I stopped here to see if you wanted to come with me, otherwise I would have been home tomorrow like we discussed."

"Alright, do you want me to go get the others?"

"No, just you and me this time. It's a two man mission at the most."

"I'll get changed and meet you back here then," Rogue responded, the smile back in place on her face.

Rogue hurried to the women's changing room down the hall from the DR to put on her uniform. Her boots had just come in a few days ago, and she pulled the thigh high black boots on last. Glancing in the mirror, Rogue considered pulling her hair up in a ponytail as she did during practice session but decided against it. She was still trying to figure out what to do with her gloves if she ever had to take them off in a fight. With any luck, she wouldn't have to find out today. She strapped her sheath of throwing knives around her thigh just in case. If she could be attacked by an outside force while hitching a ride with Logan in the wilderness of Canada, she could certainly run across trouble on an information-gathering mission.

"Ready?" Mystique asked when Rogue made her way back to the roof.

"For anything," Rogue responded, lightly running gloved fingers over the handles of her chosen weapons.

Mystique and Rogue shared a smile.

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The group they were going to get information on was one that Mystique had discovered in her position as Senator Kelly. The group had donated a lot to Kelly's last campaign, and from what Mystique had been able to uncover, it was a front for a darker organization. One with active anti-mutant activities that wasn't happy with Kelly's change of stance on the mutant issue. Mystique, in her guise as the Senator, had been able to find a person on the inside willing to pass 'him' information for a price.

The location and info about this building had been one of those things. There was a computer system in the building that according to the contact contained information about the real organization and its members and holdings. Mystique had been presented the opportunity and means to retrieve the information to use at a later time if the need arose, including keycards she would need to get into the building without setting off the alarms.

The facility was in a heavily wooded area, and the helicopter would land in a clearing a few miles behind the building, with Mystique and Rogue hiking in together. It being the Friday preceding Memorial Day, the building was closed for the weekend and was running on a skeleton staff of two security guards. Easy pickings for Mystique alone, and with Rogue at her side? Not even a blip on their collective radar.

Strapping a gun at her waist just in case, Mystique offered Rogue a firearm as well, but the younger woman had never trained with guns. That fact got them into a discussion of all the things Mystique could teach her and how they could make training a part of their day-to-day activities while Mystique was home.

As they drew closer to their destination, Mystique gave Rogue the building's schematics in case they got separated for some reason. Rogue studied them in silence, both Erik and the Wolverine helping her understand the blueprints and decipher them for possible emergency exits. Noting a larger room toward the middle of the compound with small portions sectioned off, Rogue asked Mystique what the room was. Mystique didn't know.

By the time the helicopter descended into a small clearing, Rogue was both nervous and excited. She was going on her first mission. She ruthlessly squashed her inner Logan when he pointed out with a sneer who she was going on the mission with. No matter what had happened since, the Logan in Rogue's head refused to forgive Mystique for her part in the events that had led up to the Statue of Liberty incident.

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The only sign that their intel was off was the fact that there were four guards instead of two. Still, they presented no problem for Rogue and Mystique. After they were knocked out, the three men and one woman were bound and gagged in case they woke before Rogue and Mystique had left. Mystique moved quickly through the facility to where the computer station she was going to access was located, Rogue following cautiously behind.

Still curious about the larger room that had caught her attention on the blueprints as she stood behind her seated, hard-at-work mother, Rogue began to wander the room they had ended up in.

"You can explore if you want to," Mystique commented as her slender fingers flew over the keyboard. "This may take a little while. Take one of the keycards and check out that large room."

"Alright," Rogue responded. "Holler if you need me."

They both knew she didn't mean aloud.

Rogue wandered down one hallway and around a corner, the mystery room her intended destination. She found it without mush trouble, frowning when she walked in to discover what looked like a lab. The smaller sections she had noted were cells. Knowing what kind of people supposedly owned the place, she couldn't help comparing this place to the shadowy images from Logan's nightmares. The lighting in here was much better, but it didn't stop thoughts of sinister acts.

She moved across the room to peer cautiously into the first cell, finding it empty, the overhead fluorescent lights still on and humming slightly. There was a bench and a toilet inside, but otherwise the empty space was bare. It wasn't a very large cell, barely four feet across and around seven feet deep. She hoped whoever had been kept in there hadn't been claustrophobic.

Rogue read the placard to the right of the empty space, finding a subject number, a 'receive' date and an execution date. Her stomach rolled when she saw that the execution date was just a week before. The next holding cell had the same receive date but an execution date from two months previous. This cell wasn't open-fronted as the first had been, a thick plexiglass wall covering the entire front section. Rogue moved on to the third cell, which also had a plexiglass closing wall. She gasped; this cell was not empty.

A man, normal-looking except for the fact that his long, straight hair was snow white even though he was obviously still in his prime, was unconscious and restrained against the back wall. His feet and chest were bare; a pair of scrub-like pants his only clothing. His legs and arms, pulled slightly away from his muscular body, were held to a wall by thick leather restraints, locking cuffs located at his wrists and ankles. His head hung down, his chin resting on his chest, his hair falling loosely to hide his face. Above his head was a sign that read, 'Subject must be sedated when not wearing control collar.'

Assured that he was still alive by the slow but steady movements of his chest, Rogue glanced to the placard outside his cell and swallowed hard when she saw a 'scheduled for termination' notice with a date only a few days off. She couldn't leave an innocent mutant to die, but should she go and get Mystique first? Deciding she didn't want to know how Mystique would react to unexpectedly helping a stranger, Rogue took the initiative and pulled the lever to open the sliding plexiglass wall.

She slipped through while it was still opening, moving closer to the bound man. When she was in front of him, she was finally able to look at his downcast face, feeling revulsion sweep through her at the sight of a ball gag in his mouth. Rogue quickly did a visual check of the man, noting no other signs of abuse besides the restraints and gag. But it was always possible that whatever they had done to him was now long gone, especially if he had a healing factor as both Wolverine and Sabretooth had, and which Mystique could employ to an extent when she changed forms.

The captive was an attractive man with a nice build and a classic profile. But now was not the time to think about things like that.

He looks familiar... the Erik in her head trailed off.

'Unless he's some mass murdering mutant I've never heard of,' Rogue thought to Erik, 'right now it doesn't matter who he is. I have other things to worry about.'

Yes, Erik drawled. How does the self-appointed one-woman rescue mission plan to get her rescuee out of here when he isn't awake?

Rogue snorted lightly, 'Way to point out the obvious, Lensherr.'

If he were still sedated when she undid his restraints, the captive mutant would fall to the floor and possibly injure himself. And if healing weren't part of his mutation, Rogue would have gone through the trouble for nothing. There was no way she could carry him out on her own. He was a good six inches taller than her, and had to outweigh her by at least sixty pounds of pure muscle.

Sighing, Rogue decided the only way she could do this without taking so long that Mystique would worry would be to use another of her borrowed powers. She moved closer still and placed her gloved hands on either side of his head, hoping the gentle touch would calm him if he was even slightly aware.

Can you hear me? She asked, trying to keep her mind's voice gentle and reassuring.

It was several long moments… that felt like minutes to Rogue in her anxious state… before she got an answer.

Another telepath? You shouldn't use your abilities; they monitor our brain waves. They executed Charlie because they couldn't fully control her. The captive's astral voice had a slight British accent and was deep and warm.

I'm not a prisoner, Rogue answered, I'm here to... well, I thought I'd get you out since I am here. But I need you to be awake when I unbind you. There's a sign that says you are to be kept sedated unless you have a collar on. How do they wake you up?

There's a small cabinet to the left of the cell they keep me in; there are always extra syringes of both the sedative and the stimulant inside.

Though he had given her the information she needed, Rogue could feel that he doubted she was really going to help him. No wanting to waste valuable time convincing him psychically when she was about do to so physically, Rogue moved to the cabinet he had described and studied the syringes. Luckily they were well labeled and easy to tell apart.

Rogue was as gentle as she could be as she injected him with the stimulant, hoping it wouldn't take too long for it to take effect. Without fully realizing she had even started, Rogue counted to ninety-three before the man she was trying to rescue showed any signs of waking. He moaned quietly and his eyelashes fluttered, Rogue half-noticing that they were long and, unlike the hair on his head, black. Thirty seconds later, he lifted his head and opened his eyes, focusing immediately on her. There was a sharpness in his light blue eyes as he studied her.

Evidently, he didn't find her a threat, because he relaxed slightly and sighed around the gag with what Rogue was pretty sure was relief. Somehow not trusting herself to speak yet and not wanting to make him feel awkward when he couldn't answer back aloud, Rogue again communicated directly with his mind.

Will you be all right if I undo your restraints now?

I think so, he answered. They only give me a couple minutes to wake up before they force me to move.

Rogue began undoing the straps on his arms first, disabling the locks with Erik's talent. His right leg was next to be freed, and she allowed him to lean heavily on her for a moment as his balance was thrown off waiting to be able to stand on his left leg as well.

'Need to sit for a minute...' Rogue picked up the snippet of thought as the white-haired man sank down, his back against the wall.

She kneeled beside him and gently moved his hair, much softer than it looked, to the side so she could unbuckle the ball gag. As soon as the offending contraption was undone, she tossed it away.

Better now?

Instead of answering her telepathically, the man's eyes opened and focused again on her. He smiled weakly.

"I thought angels wore gowns," he said hoarsely, his voice slightly deeper in reality than it had been in her head.

Rogue smiled, "I'm no angel, sugar."

The corners of his generous mouth curved upward slightly again. "You're my angel if you can really get me out of here. And my name is Joseph Magnus."

"It's nice to meet you, Joseph. I'm Rogue. Now what do you say we blow this pop stand?"

His eyebrows, white like his hair, rose at the phrase, but he nodded and stood with her help. Joseph seemed to be growing steadily stronger and moved into the main part of the lab without assistance. He slowly glanced around the room, his face grim. He flinched when his eyes settled for a moment on an examining table.

"Whatever they did to you, I'm sorry," Rogue murmured, knowing it was inadequate.

Joseph simply nodded slowly in response. His eyes fell last on an impressive looking computer system. His visage darkened considerably and he moved toward it. Rogue followed.

"I know you want justice or revenge, either way I don't blame you, but Mama's gonna be worried if I don't check back in with her very soon."

"Mama? So you're a mother-daughter crime fighting team?" When Rogue opened her mouth to answer, Joseph raised a hand to show he didn't really need to know at the moment. "This will only take a few seconds."

Rogue watched as Joseph opened a hidden drawer and took out a case that held data CDs. He picked up a lab coat with deep pockets from a nearby chair and slipped it on, dropping the data disks into one of the pockets. Joseph looked odd with his bare feet and chest showing beneath the pants and the open coat, but Rogue didn't have anything to give him to wear. She noticed him glaring at the computer system.

"Stand back," she said softly.

Joseph frowned but moved to stand behind her. Rogue concentrated once more on Magneto's abilities, the Erik in her head more than happy to help her destroy information that had to do with the torture of mutants. All of the computer components crumpled in on themselves, a few giving off brief showers of electrical sparks.

"A telepath and a magnetically gifted individual?" Joseph commented. "Are you sure you weren't a captive here?"

"I'm sure," Rogue answered as she began to lead the way out of the room and toward Mystique. She waved the fingers of one gloved hand. "I absorb the memories, life force and abilities of others through skin to skin contact. I've touched a very powerful telepath and the master of magnetism, among others… usually not by choice."

"You can't control it?" he asked, his voice gentled.

Rogue shook her head. "Why would you think I was a captive just because I used more than one power?"

Joseph sighed heavily, a frown marring his features. "The people running this place are conducting genetic experiments, trying to make a super-mutant they can control by doing gene therapy on us using the DNA of each of the other two captives. There was a fourth mutant in the beginning who they only used to collect us; his ability was dimensional travel."

"You're from another dimension?" Rogue asked in surprise.

Joseph nodded. "I know it's hard to believe, for a long time I wouldn't accept it, and it actually happened to me."

"I've seen a lot in the past couple years that I never would have believed was possible if I hadn't been there," Rogue replied simply.

"The other two mutants were from my dimension as well, although I hadn't known them there. I already mentioned Charlie, the telepath. She was exceptionally gifted and no matter what they did they couldn't completely control her, so they killed her two months ago. The other one's name was Adam, and he had healing and agility gifts. He went crazy after the telepathy gene treatment made him hear everyone's thoughts all the time. He couldn't control it. They killed him a few days ago."

"Did the treatments work on you?"

"Only to a certain degree," Joseph answered. "I'm more open to telepathy than I used to be and I can communicate easily with other telepaths, but I'm not a telepath on my own. I haven't been allowed to test the agility, but the healing does work, slower in me than it was in Adam. But my natural mutation made them nervous enough to want to start over with someone else as the subject."

"What is your primary mutation?"

They had reached the door to the room Rogue had left Mystique in, and Rogue stepped into the room before Joseph could answer. All concerns but the one now playing out in front of her vanished. A blonde woman was holding her adoptive mother a few feet off the floor, slowly choking the life out of Mystique. The blue shapeshifter was changing forms rapidly, trying to escape her attacker's hold, but it wasn't working.

"Let go of my Mama!" shrieked Rogue as she launched herself at the stranger.

Rogue was surprised when the woman swatted her away as if she weighed nothing, but because of her training Rogue was able to control her fall and minimize her own injuries. She got up again quickly, realizing that the other woman was also a mutant, evidently one with super strength.

'Two can play at that game,' Rogue thought as she peeled her gloves off.

Be careful, my dear, Erik cautioned her as she approached the blonde a second time.

Luckily, Joseph trying to help Mystique distracted the woman long enough for Rogue to be able to come up behind her. Mentally bracing herself for the assault of yet another mind inside her own, Rogue clamped her hands to the blonde's exposed neck.

Both women screamed at once, the blonde… Carol Danvers, her memories soon told Rogue… letting go of Mystique. Rogue tried desperately to pull her hands away from Carol's skin, the normal pulling sensation amplified somehow, but Carol grasped Rogue's hands in her own. Rogue couldn't let go. Power and the tingle Rogue knew was the other woman's life force coursed into her with alarming speed.

Rogue tried to scream again, but everything outside of her own head had gone quiet. She tried to call on Erik to help her, but he didn't answer. In a panic, Rogue tried to call forth any of the other personalities she had ever absorbed, but none of them responded. Even her own thoughts were growing dim. Carol's fear and anger were quickly drowning out everything else. If something didn't happen soon to separate their skin to skin contact, Carol would be the only thing left. There would be no more Rogue.

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Joseph stared in horror at the two women who appeared to be locked together through a simple touch. The full implications of what Rogue had told him about her power struck him like a blow to the gut. No one should have to live with that kind of handicap. And from the minutes that he had known her, Joseph was sure that Rogue was the type of person who would place all the necessary restrictions on herself instead of forcing other people to do so.

The blue-skinned shape shifter that Joseph knew only as Rogue's 'Mama' tried to pull Rogue away from the blonde woman, but she couldn't budge either of the other two women. Joseph moved closer to try to help.

"Don't touch her skin!"

The warning had an edge to it that proved she was very close to becoming hysterical.

"She told me," he said softly.

Joseph was trying to keep himself calm so at least one person in the situation was. It was a losing battle. He had felt a rush of warmth and life when Rogue had first contacted him telepathically, and at first he had thought it was simply because he suddenly had hope again. But when he had opened his eyes and seen her beauty and the compassion in her dark green eyes, he had acknowledged that it was much more than that. Joseph refused to lose her before he could see what the connection between them could lead to.

He briefly thought about giving the blonde an aneurysm, but he had no idea what it would do to Rogue while the two women were connected. Instead, he pulled a metal folding chair to him from across the room, and lifting it, brought it down hard across the back of the blonde's head. The blue-skinned redhead looked shocked at the suddenness of the move, but Joseph wasn't concerned with what she thought at the moment.

The blonde fell away from Rogue, and both women slumped to the ground. Rogue's mother fell to her knees beside the platinum and auburn haired woman and carefully pulled her daughter into a sitting position. Rogue made a hurt noise and pulled away, staring at her hands.

Joseph frowned. Something was still wrong. He could no longer feel the same warmth emanating from Rogue. When she lifted her head and glared at him, he understood. The blue eyes staring holes into him didn't belong to Rogue.

"What have you done to me?" a voice totally devoid of a Southern accent demanded.

Rogue's mother made a strangled noise and the stranger in Rogue's body struck out at her, sending the shape shifter flying into the opposite wall. Joseph waited until the new personality made Rogue's body stand and move toward him before he erected a magnetic force field appear around her. The woman shrieked in frustration when she realized she was trapped.

"I'm sorry, my angel," Joseph murmured, not even sure Rogue could hear him.

The woman frowned deeper at him before her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she slumped to the floor, unconscious.