Chapter Eight: Escape and Betrayal
Magneto was very pleased. Gambit had just finished telling him the details of Rogue's day so far at the base. He told him about breakfast, the danger room session, and then about lunch, where Rogue had joined them just like at breakfast. She still kept her distance from them, but her guard had been let down a little and she seemed more relaxed. This was exactly what he needed. The only way Rogue was going to join the acolytes was get close to them, and then come to believe that they cared about her more than the X-Men did.
"So she is close to coming around then?" Magneto asked Gambit, who stood before his metal desk.
"Maybe," Gambit said uncertainly. "De chere may be more relaxed around us now, but she's still loyal to de x-men."
"Then we must destroy that loyalty." Magneto stood up from his chair and moved to the door. Gambit followed him. "I know someone who may help, but it may take a few hours for me to find him and bring him here. I am positive that once he has done his job, Rogue will be one of us."
Gambit stopped and looked at Magneto questionably. "How do y' plan to do this?"
Magneto smiled a wicked smile and replied, "The same way I convinced my daughter to stop hating me."
"Y' gonna mess wit her mind?" Gambit asked angrily. After spending some time with Rogue he didn't feel right messing with her head, even if it was to join the acolytes.
"So what if I am?" Magneto asked, as if daring Gambit to answer. "Rogue WILL be an acolyte. If she came to fully control her powers which I am certain she will someday, she could be a dangerous adversary. I am not willing to take that chance. Do you have a problem with that Gambit?"
Right now Gambit wanted nothing more in the world than to punch Magneto. Rogue was just a tool to him, but there was nothing he could do about it. So instead of following the strong urge to cause Magneto pain he merely shook his head. "No Magneto."
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Rogue stared longingly at the door to her cell. She had been put back in her cell not long after her lunch with the acolytes. Part of her was grateful when Colossus locked her back up. She was finding the acolytes a little to easy to get along with. Their company was almost enjoyable. Being locked back up in her cell reminded her that she was still their prisoner and they only had her there because they wanted her to be an acolyte, but now she was incredibly bored.
She knew it had been at least an hour or two since lunch. She guessed that school would probably get out soon, maybe in an hour or an hour and a half. Then she began to wonder what the x-men were doing. Were they at school living their lives as normal? Or had the professor let them skip today so they could spend more time trying to figure out where she was? No, she shook her head at the thought. They wouldn't skip school for her. The more she thought about them the more the doubts Pyro and Pietro had put in her head kept coming up.
Angry at herself for starting to doubt the x-men and angry and the boredom she was having Rogue got up and walked over to her cell door. She had every intention to bang on it, just to cause some commotion and get rid of her boredom, but just as she raised her fist she heard loud voices on the other side. The door was pretty thick, making them hard to make out, but she pressed her ear against the crack of the door, and could just barely make out the words.
"Can y' believe Magneto doin' something like dat!" She recognized the angry voice as Gambit's. "If he would jus' give it time de chere would come around on her own!"
A quieter voice replied, making Rogue have to press her head against the door even harder to hear. "I agree with you Gambit, but we cannot stop Magneto. We are all under his contract." She soon realized that this was Colossus talking
Gambit's voice came back even louder making Rogue have to jump back a little. "But t' have mastermind brainwash her!"
Rogue gasped and backed away from the door, not wanting to hear more. Anger and fear rose up in her chest. There was no way she was going to let Magneto do that to her! There was no way she was going to have her mind altered! It scared her to think what she might do to the x-men if she believed she hated them. She already had to much problems with her head as it was. She was not going to run around with false memories of the x-men, her family.
Rogue walked back over to the door and began to pound on it. "Hey! Anyone out there?" Soon she heard the lock click, and before the door opened she put her hands behind her back and began undoing the clasp of her bracelet.
Colossus opened the door and looked at her worriedly. "Is there something wrong?" He asked stepping inside the cell.
"Ya," she said, pulling her hand out from behind her back, revealing it to be bare and having no bracelet. "Ah don't like people messing with mah mind!" She touched Colossus on the cheek. Before he had to activate his powers and protect his skin from her's, the absorption had already begun, and she felt his memories and powers transfer to her. Colossus collapsed to the floor, and his powers became active in her, all her skin became covered with metal.
Gambit stood before her, putting his hands up and backing up slowly. "C'mon chere, lets talk about this."
Rogue smirked and her fist came flying out at Gambit. At the speed her fist was flying combined with the metal surrounding it, it instantly knocked Gambit out, making him go down to the ground.
Rogue retracted the metal armor and went to find the exit, hoping she would run into Pyro, so she could pay him back for punching her the day she was kidnapped.
Luckily for Gambit he recovered fast. The punch Rogue had given him had hurt, a lot. His only hope was that he didn't get a bruise. Gambit climbed to his feet and stared down where Rogue had run off. Something in him told him to let her go. She would be safer with the x-men, but then he thought about what Magneto would do if Rogue got away. None of the acolytes could risk his wrath. Gambit had to find Rogue.
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Kitty walked solemnly on the way back to the mansion, Kurt walked quietly beside her. Today they had to walk home from school, since Scott was busy following Pietro. It had been on her mind all day. She couldn't wait till Scott came back with some information.
"So . . ." Kurt said trying to break the silence. "How did you do on that English test?"
"Terrible," Kitty answered tonelessly.
"Vell not as bad as me," he said trying to carry the conversation. "I swear that lehrer hates me!" (a/n: lehrer means teacher in german. I may have spelled it wrong.)
For the first time that day, Kitty managed a smile. "Kurt, you always manage to write everything in German."
"Nein! I write English . . . some of the time. Man am I glad there's a sub tomorrow. I cannot stand even looking at her!"
Kitty laughed, knowing what Kurt meant. Their English teacher was one of the weirdest looking people she had ever seen. She wore make-up like a clown and looked like she was dressing for an ice age. Plus she was always so moody. Kitty didn't' believe any teacher could be so mean, even when Rogue warned her about her.
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Rogue ran as fast as she could. It didn't take her long to find the way out of Magneto's base, and Pyro wasn't anywhere in sight, so she had no trouble getting out. It turned out that Magneto's base was in Bayville. She had always thought he would have a base located a couple miles away, or even another city. Rogue took every single short cut she could think of. She wanted to get close to the route she took to school. She saw a clock as she ran out of the base, and knew that school was just getting out. Most of the X-Men would just be leaving and most likely going back to the institute by the same route she took. Once she found them she would be okay.
As she reached an alley opening she heard someone call her. "Chere wait!" She turned to see none other than the red eyed Cajun Gambit. "Stay away from meh!" She screamed as she turned into the alley. She recognized this alley. She used to use it as a short cut all the time. If she could just only get to the other end of it.
Rogue was halfway down the alley when Gambit suddenly caught up with her and threw his arms around her, pinning her's to her sides. "Let go of meh!" She yelled, trying to get free. "Quiet!" He commanded, covering her mouth with his hand. He was completely covered from head to toe, making her unable to absorb him with her powers. Despite the bad odds Rogue kept struggling trying to get away from Gambit, as he pulled her back the way she came.
"I cannot stand looking at her!" Gambit and Rogue both froze as Kurt's familiar voice broke in through the air. Relief and hope instantly flooded her. She tried to call his name but it was completely muffled by Gambit's hand over her mouth. He dragged her over behind a dumpster, hiding them from Kurt as he and Kitty as they passed they alley opening.
"Can you like believe her make-up?" Kitty's voice came, striking a hard blow at Rogue. "It's like you can't even see her skin."
"Vell who would want to?" Kurt asked. "She's probably got scales beneath that make-up." Rogue couldn't believe what she was hearing. Were they talking about her? Gambit couldn't believe it either. He knew Rogue was somewhat different from all the x-men, and not always included, but he never expected they would talk about her like that.
"A lot of the students would be so much happier if she like just stayed gone." Kitty said. Kurt replied, agreeing with her. Their voices grew quieter as the walked away, and soon faded from hearing range.
Rogue had completely given up on struggling and now just stayed in Gambit's arms, unresisting, and unmoving. "Ah can't believe they said that," she whispered. Gambit could hear the pain in her words. He felt her feelings of betrayal as if they were her own Slowly, he released her from his grip and she got up and walked a few steps towards the alley opening where Kitty and Kurt had briefly been. She just stared down the alley, her expression sad and betrayed.
"Y' don't have to go back dere chere," Gambit said walking over to her. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Please don' go back dere."
"Do Ah have a choice?" She asked, her voice cracking.
"If y' still wann' go back dere after dat, den Remy's not goin t' stop y' chere," he said. "Remy drive y' if it's what y' want, but he can't imagine anyone, anyone wantin to go back t' dat."
His words stung, but Rogue knew he had a point. Kitty and Kurt were the closest friends she had, and they just burned her like she was nothing. Did they even care that she was gone? "Ah have no place to go." The hurtful realization sunk in.
"Non." Remy said forcefully and a bit angrily. "Y can come back wit Remy. Back to de acolytes."
"Why? So Ya'll can brainwash meh?"
Remy shook his head and turned Rogue around and made her look at him. "Dis be yo' choice now chere. Come wit me."
Rogue looked back to the alley opening. She could go home now if she wanted. Nothing was stopping her. But she didn't want to anymore. Not back to the x-men. Not back to Kitty, or Kurt. Not back to Scott with his perfect little Jean. She had no one. No one . . .no one except for the acolytes. They wanted her. She turned back to Remy and nodded. "Okay."
Remy smiled, and led her to the back of the alley where he had left his bike. She climbed on behind him and held on tight, not caring about anything right now. All that mattered was her new life that was waiting for her back at the acolyte base.
A/N: Okay to all you Rietro fans who didn't get to see any rietro in this chapter, don't worry. I'm getting to it. I just thought this should be a Rogue Gambit moment. There will be Rietro. And Romy fans don't worry I haven't abandoned Romy either. In the end Rogue will have gotten with either Pietro or Remy, but until then I'm going to juggle both of them. So anyway I hope you liked chapter eight.