Chapter 3 Version 1.3

"Dr. Kinney," a man's voiced called out as she heard a knock on her door. "We have the report on the girl's escape."

"What took you so long?" she called to him. The man, in his early thirty's, slowly entered and approached her.

"We're sorry but the subject was hard to track."

"Fine, I'll read the report," Dr. Kinney angrily replied, not wanting to hear excuses.

"Yes ma'am."

She turned the first page and began to read. Moments later, she slammed the report down.

"My lord, we had someone like this in our grasp?" Her first thought was she wish she'd known sooner. "She really vanished from sight?"

"Yes ma'am. The recording clearly showed this. I've disciplined the person that failed to notice this." As she listened she picked the report back up and began to read it again.

"I want an explanation for this part soldier."

"Which part ma'am?"

"The one that says she broke down the main door with her bare hands."

"I'm confused. What aren't you clear about?"

"That door... Isn't it roughly three feet of pure steel?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And you expect me to believe she brought it down all by herself with no weapons or explosives. Just her bare hands."

"Yes ma'am. I've included all the video data we collected on the DVD that is in the folder."

"I'll be sure to watch this. If this is some sort of sick joke that Dr. Rice is trying to play on me, you can tell him I will be writing up a formal protest."

"I assure you ma'am, this is no joke."

"I'll know that soon enough won't I?"

"Yes ma'am." She glared at the solder for a second, wishing the young man would knock it off with the yes ma'am line. It was getting old fast. Of course, being military, he was just doing as he was trained.

"You're dismissed." She then pulled out the DVD and placed it into her computer, intent on uncovering the truth.

- - - - -

Jean lead Ranma to the cafeteria and as they got closer, Ranma began to notice several kids appear. Most of them looked normal enough, but some of them were off a little. Two or three even reminded her of the time she had her run in with the Musk tribe as the appeared to be part animal.

"Is this your first time being around mutants?"

"Yeah, I suppose you could say that. Unless the Musk Tribe is actually a group of mutants..."

"I've never heard of any group called that. I'll be sure to ask the Professor."

"Don't bother. That groups problems are a lot weirder the mutations."

"Oh..."

The two rounded the last corner to the cafeteria. The aroma hit Ranma's nose and her mouth began to salivate. Jean could only giggle at this response.

"Sorry, haven't eaten in almost a day."

"Well, in that case, I'm sure the lunch lady could fix you a meal to go with the ice cream."

"Really? Thank you!" They quickly got their trays and began to pick out a selection of foods. Moments later, the took the variety of foods to a table.

"You sure got a lot there. You really gonna eat it all?" Jean asked, eyeing several burgers, hotdogs, and salads adorning Ranma's tray.

"Sure," she happily replied. 'Food and no Panda to fight off.'

"Just don't eat too fast or...," she stopped as she realized it was too late. Ranma's tray was now filled with only empty plates. "Ranma!"

"What?" Ranma jumped an inch as Jean shouted her name.

"Don't eat so fast. You might choke!"

"Nah, I eat like that all the time. Speed training me and pop used to do."

"Speed training?"

"Yeah, it was real simple. Eat or starve."

"This father of yours sounds almost abusive..."

"What? Pop? Nah, he ain't abusive... I mean he hits me from time to time, but then I hit back. That's sort of how sparing goes after all. And even when we did the speed training, I always seemed to get just enough so I wouldn't have trouble sleeping."

"Sounds like you respect him."

"Respect? I wouldn't go that far, but he did make me the fighter I am today." Ranma's vision suddenly went to her her hands. At first she felt a small tingling sensation. That sensation soon became a strong itch.

"What's wrong?"

"Eh, it's nothing... just an itch... strange huh?"

"Yeah... just try not to scratch at it. You might just make it worse."

"Sure thing...," she resigned and stopped her scratching. Moments later, she was able to block out the itchy feeling.

"I'll get you an anti-itching cream later ok?"

"Don't worry 'bout it. I can't even feel it any more."

"You sure?"

"Yup..." Ranma suddenly lifted her nose. She couldn't be sure, the the smell of the food in front of her was suddenly a lot stronger. It was as if the quantify had suddenly tripled. It wasn't just her own food that suddenly smelled stronger. It was as if the lunch lady, if you could call that a lady, had gone around to each table and lumped on several extra helpings. She pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempted to gain control of her sense.

"Got a headache coming on?" This question struck Ranma as odd, considering how often she was sure she actually did have one. For a change, she didn't have one and someone was finally kind enough to ask.

"Nah, it's nothing. I think this pregnancy is starting to effect my brain. Those babies do that right? Suck out the mother's brain?"

"No, I don't think so Ranma. Were you able to go through sex education while you were in High School?"

"Not really."

"Well, the mansion, as you might have figured out, serves as a fully functioning high school as well as a place for mutants to live. If you'd like, I can arrange to have you take some classes."

"I don't know..."

"Come on Ranma," Jean smiled brightly. "You'll enjoy meeting kids your own age."

"I'll... think about it."

"Alright, but you're really going to need to take the sex education class along with a basic parenting class."

"I'll do that sex education class, but I'm not gonna need the other. I ain't keepin it. Only think stopping me from aborting it is that it's a life and I won't kill anyone, not even an unborn child."

"Fine," Jean commented slightly down about Ranma's statement. "It's been fun, but I need to get back to work. I trust you can find your way around by now?"

"Yeah, mostly...," Ranma commented half heartedly. "I'll be ok."

Ranma watched as Jean walked away and she wondered for just a moment about what she thought of her.

- - - - -

As Ranma walked down the corridors, she let her mind wander where it may. It kept coming back to the reason she wouldn't allow herself to show her nervousness, no matter how small it was.

'Why?' her mind asked. The only answer that came back was 'A confident man never needs to be nervous.'

She wasn't exactly sure why then her mind kept asking the same thing over and over. Through confidence in her skills and her strength, she'd made it this far. How far could it take her before her shell cracked?

As she turned the corner, she accidently walked directly into another person. Or perhaps a person shaped wall, she wondered as she fell straight onto her rump. Looking up, she spotted a woman who's hair was almost entirely a dark brown, with the exception of a white streak near the front.

"Ya'll should watch where ya headed sugar," the woman commented as she offered one of her gloved hands to Ranma. She pointedly ignored the offer and sprung to her feet.

"Sorry about that,"Ranma stated.

"No problem. Ma name's Rogue. What's yours?"

"Saotome Ranma."

"Saotome eh? That's a nice name. Sounds Chinese."

"Actually it's Japanese."

"Oh. Don't ya'll use your family names first?" To this question, Ranma mearly nodded her head. "Must mean then your name is actually Ranma."

Suddenly, a large man collided with Rogue, tossing her into Ranma and knocking the both of them down. Ranma felt two sensations. First was the feel of Rogue's soft cheek making contact with her own. The second was the strong sensation that she was being drained of her life force.

It was an odd sensation. In Ranma's mind, she saw the shape of the energy drain source. It was a rounded edge. It didn't take her long to see it was a cheek. Before she could understand the nature of the energy drain, it stopped completely as Rogue managed to roll off of her.

Before Ranma could ask Rogue what happened, she got to her feet and took off. From her angle though, it appeared as if Rogue was crying. She wanted to run after the southern girl, but her body felt drained. It was as if she'd gone a few rounds with Kuno and Mousse. Concentrating, she was able to gather her life force and restore her body back to normal

- - - - -
As Rogue sat shaking in the garden, she repeated quietly to herself that it wasn't her memory. Still, just thinking there was someone with a memory like that was enough to send her flying. She could still remember the sensation of being tossed into a pit of cats. To her it didn't make any sense. Just a world of pain.

She resolved that she would speak to Ranma about it, but she wasn't sure how to explain why she suddenly darted off. Before she could, she heard a person stop behind her. Turning cautiously around, she saw it was the girl that Ranma.

"Eh sugar..." She weakly stated.

"You ok?" Ranma asked carefully, not wanting to sound too kind. She'd seen how girls react to kindness and wasn't ready for another fiancée yet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rogue lied. "I'm more worried 'bout you. Ya'll alright?"

"Never better," she replied, flexing her muscles.

"Ya'll act like a man. Must get that from the man I saw in your mind..."

"Huh? You a telepath?"

"Nah. My mutant power is to drain energy with skin to skin contact. Whenever it happens, I take a person's life force as well as any mutant powers and memories. I really didn't mean to."

"Oh," was all Ranma could manage.

"Who did that to you?" Rogue suddenly asked.

"Did what?"

"Threw you into that pit with those cats?" Ranma could see this was causing Rogue some distress.

"It was my old man."

"Your father did that to you?"

"Yeah, the old man never bothers to read the entire directions for anything and thought it'd be a good thing to teach me."

"What a horrible man..."

"Pop? He's not the brightest but he raised me well enough. About all he really messed up on was that Neko-ken. That and trying to marry me to that Kawaiikune"

"Hmm? What was that about uncute girl?"

"Eh? I said kawaiikune, but yeah, that's sort of means that," she stated before pausing to think. "Wait, you speak Japanese?"

"Now aren't ya'll just changing the subject?" Rogue tried to joke. "I told ya'll, I tend to absorb some memories... guess that was one of them. That word I should say. What sort of man would you bother callin that sugar?"

"Akane ain't no man. She's just a clumsy tomboy. Grace of an alligator in a leotard."

"She really that bad?" she started to ask before realizing what she was saying. "Hold on, why would your father engage you to a woman? Wait a minute... You're that man!"

"Keep it down," Ranma tried to quietly yell, with no real success on either part. She only ended up sounding hoarse.

"So ya'll like to dress in drag?"

"Dress in what? I normally wear a Chinese silk outfit... why you ask?"

"No silly. I mean you prefer to dress as a woman?" It was this time a sudden cloud seemed to appear almost directly over head of Rogue and Ranma. Without warning, warm rain was showered on the two. Rogue was left blinking as Ranma transformed before her eyes.

- - - - -

"Thank you Storm," Jean said with a smile.

"Don't mention it. The grass in that area needed a good rain any ways."

- - - - -

Rogue could only stare at Ranma, her mouth hung open in a very unlady-like fashion. Not that Ranma would know what was lady like. After recovering from her shock, the two had a long talk about bamboo poles and drowned women they'd never met.

"Rogue, can I touch your cheek for a moment?"

"Ya'll gotta death wish?"

"I won't if that would offend you."

"Nah, it's just I already told you I drain people's powers on skin contact right?" Ranma only nodded yes to this question. "And I can't control it. You touch me and I drain. It's as simple as that."

Before she could stop Ranma, his hand reached out and made contact. He felt the similar drain happening. It was an odd sensation, but like the last time, he could feel the pull. He wasn't sure how to stop it yet, but an idea was forming. He quickly remembered how Rogue's chi felt and removed his hand. For a moment, he felt weak again, but he managed to stay up.

"Sorry, I had to know something... Excuse me. I should get back to my room." Before Rogue could stop him, Ranma took off.

- - - - -

The rest of Ranma's day passed without incident, which was nice she figured. After all, even she got tired of the constant fights. A day off was exactly what she needed. Not that her morning had been peaceful with her being attacked by the men in black. She hoped it would be some time before she would have to deal with them. Not that she planned to avoid them forever. She simply wanted the child out of her before she went jumping into a potentially dangerous situation.

Though her oath to protect the innocent was typically unspoken, she felt compelled.

"Look you," she started, staring at her stomach. "I vow to keep you safe till you're born, but don't start callin me mama you got me? I'm just an unlucky vessel. And I vow to bring down the bastards that did this to me once you're safely in someone else's arms."

- - - - -

(A/N First of all, I want to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Despite the actual number of things that happen being bigger, I couldn't seem to write enough detail about each even to make it as long as the last two chapters. Perhaps during the rewrite, I'll manage to get it up to 20k.

As for which X-men Universe this takes place it, all I can say to that is it is not the X-Men Evolution world. This X-Men Universe is based off how the X-Men Universe used to be roughly in 1996. This means that Rogue still has Ms Marvel's powers and not that other person's. There isn't an actual time though from the comics that all of this takes place.

Also, there will be elements from the movie added from time to time as well. Nothing major of course. Mainly elements that I couldn't remember or thought were to confusing in the comic for such a FanFiction.

Thanks for reviewing. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to tell me. Have a great day.)