Disclaimer: Bobby was harmed slightly during the production of this chapter. He was quickly put on ice however and healed quickly.
Chapter 12 Defense tactics
"You're late." Logan said as Sarah and Marie walked into the gymnasium.
"Sorry" they both said in unison.
Marie looked at the people in the room. She noticed Bobby sitting on Logan's far left. She frowned a little, moaning internally about having to act all "love-y" with him, and then moved over to sit near him.
"Well now that we are all here, I guess we can begin." Logan gave a small scowl to Marie as he said this. "Last week we finished the learning about basic fighting skills. I think we are all ready to begin actually performing what we have learned. Remember this ain't no real life combat situation, for those, most of you would probably piss yourselves with fear, but working with another person instead of reading the book or kicking the stuffing out of a bag has advantages. So now we move on to defense tactics. Now what I want you to do is get into groups of three or four."
Rogue and Bobby stood up, as did the rest of the class, and began to search out partners. Of course Bobby took Rogue's hand before she could think, so she had no choice but to be his partner. Not that she was complaining. Her job was to "be Marie" and he was part of that play. Actually, she thought he was an attractive guy. Immature, but attractive. She thought he would be a good boyfriend if he would just shut up…permanently. She looked at him and smiled before moving over to Shape.
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Three days ago
Well there it is. Home. All the places I've lived since then… amazed I can still call it that. Funny, bein' here seein' it again after all these years…+
"Miss…Miss…MISS!"
Rogue snapped out of her daze and turned back toward the taxi cab driver
"That's $26.75." Rogue pulled out a small wallet and counted out the money.
"Hey thanks" The driver said counting the extra money she gave him before he drove off.
She looked up at the house, sighed to no one in particular, and said "well no use puttin' it off any longer"+ She picked up her bag and began to walk to the front steps; her eyes not wavering from the doorknob on the door.
They haven't seen me or heard from me in over two years. What are they going to say? What will they think? Her mind was going crazy. Will they care that I'm a mutant?
She took another deep breath and reached for the doorbell.
"Ah'll get it, Ah'll get it. Don't you worry Owen." She heard her aunt say from behind the door.
The door opened to reveal a short woman, in her early fifties. She was wearing a blue sun dress, and a matching lace apron. She was drying a plate with a hand towel.
"Aunt Carrie." Rogue said tentatively. Her aunt stood there speechless, not even the crashing of the plate on the floor awoke her from her shock.
"Anna-Marie?... Anna Marie is that really you?" Carrie finally asked, regaining her voice. Before Rogue could reply, her aunt grabbed her into a large embrace. "Come in, come in child."
"Who's here Carrie?" A man's voice rang from the kitchen.
"why don't you come see for yourself Owen?" A few seconds later a tall man with Brown hair and a mustache came into the hallway.
"Hi Poppa." Rogue said, a little more confident after the welcome she received from her aunt.
"MARIE!" her dad ran over to her, sliding on the broken plate. He picked her up into a huge bear hug and spun her around. When he set her down he went to give her a kiss on the check, but she pulled away. Before he could give any look of puzzlement a buzzer went off in the kitchen.
"Come in, Sit down." Owen said as he moved her into the kitchen and toward the table. He moved toward the oven, shut off the buzzer and took out a small roast.
"Can I get you a drink?" Her dad asked with an enormous grin on his face. He was fumbling in an attempt to set the table for one more person.
"Ah'm fine." Marie smiled. Her father seemed to be rushing around. He was obviously nervous and high-strung, not the relaxed, go-with-the-flow, hippie she remembered.
"I need ta talk to ya." Rogue began.
"We can ahll talk after dinner. Ya must be hungry." Carrie said coming from cleaning up the broken plate in the hallway.
"We can talk now—"
"Owen! Ah slaved half the day on this meal. The least ya'll can do it sit down and pretend ta enjoy it peacefully."
"Yes mam."
"Don't you 'yes mam' me.Ah'm not ya mom."
Marie saw her dad smirk as he sat down at the table. Carrie sat down too, shaking her head at him, but with an obvious grin on herself. Some things never change, Marie thought. She smiled and sat down in the empty seat.
After dinner they went to the living room to talk.
"How have you been? Where have you been? I was so worried, where did you go? What happened? Why did you leave? Why—"
"Poppa, please." Rogue could tell he had been holding these questions in for over two years.
"Sorry. Ah just missed you so much Anna Marie. Ah can't believe y'are back. Everyone told me ta give up, but Ah know my little girl, I knew ya weren't…"
"Well let me tell ya why I left." Rogue paused not really sure where to begin. "Remember that boy Ah was seein', Cody Banks? That day he went inta a coma. Ah told you he musta been doin' drugs or somethin', but that wasn't the truth." Again she paused, "The truth is Ah did that ta him. Ah put him in a coma."
"What?"
"Ah don't understand"
"The truth is…Ah'm a mutant." She looked at both of their faces when she said this, expecting to see looks of disgust, instead she saw them looking back at her, still puzzled, but not disgusted; curious. "Ah didn't know ah was until that day Cody kissed me and mah power, mah mutation kicked in and Ah hurt him. But Ah didn' mean ta" She added quickly.
"But why did ya leave Anna?" Carrie asked.
"Ah guess Ah was afraid. Ah didn't know what ta do."
"Where did ya go?" This time it was her father asking question.
"Well first Ah went ta momma Raven's house. Ah told her Ah had a fight with ya'll and wanted ta stay with her for a little while. Then Ah kinda roamed around for a while until Ah found mahself in New York. Ah met a guy there who is head of a school for mutants. He let me join the school. Ah've been there since."
Marie knew this wasn't entirely the truth. She did go to her foster mother's house for a few months, but she wasn't going to tell her dad why she really left, and she especially wasn't going to tell him what happened in Canada or on Liberty Island. There was no reason for him to worry more than he has.
"Ah'm so glad your back now." Her aunt Carrie said, "We missed ya so much."
"Ah'm glad ta be back too. Ah'm so glad ya'll are okay with mah bein' a mutant. Ah was so worried."
They all sat there and talked for hours; about school, about home, about life, about the past few years, about everything, and about nothing. It was one thirty in the morning before any of them realized they had talked the night away.
They all headed upstairs to bed. Marie gave her aunt a big hug at her bedroom door.
"Ah missed ya Anna-Marie."
"Ah missed ya too Aunt Carrie."
"Marie? Her dad asked before she opened the door to her room.
"YeahPoppa?"
"Ah know ya said ya wanted to go back ta your school, but do ya think ya could stay for a while, at least a week or two?"
"Ah course Ah can Poppa." Rogue said smiling. "Ah'll write them a letter tomorrow to get the work Ah'm missin' and what not. By the way, nice ta see ya haven't gotten any a those pesky modern inventions like a phone or a TV. at the house still." She giggled a bit.
"Hey now, just because Ah gave up the commune doesn't mean we have ta completely stop livin' off the lan' does it?" He smiled and opened the door to his work room across the hall from hers.
She said goodnight to him once more and opened the door to her own room. When she turned on the light she was startled to see that everything was exactly how she left it; her posters on the walls, her clothes in the closet, it looked like nothing had been touched. It was however clean, there was no dirt or dust anywhere.
It's so nice to be home. Rogue thought. I feel so comfy here, so happy. And with that thought resounding in her head she got into bed and fell asleep.
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"Hey wanna partner with us?" Bobby had a look of surprise when Marie asked Shape, but Rogue's surprised look was even greater when she heard Sarah's answer.
"Are you kidding me? Look just because I'm helping you with your history now doesn't mean we are all buddy-buddies. Find someone else." And with that she walked over to a couple of girls standing a bit farther away giggling at the scene that just played before them.
"Well wonder what's up her ass?" Rogue said turning to Bobby who was still puzzled over the whole Marie willingly talking to Sarah thing. He was going to ask her about it, but Piotr interrupted Bobby's thoughts.
"I vill be your pard-ner." Piotr said as he walked over to them. "Iz dat okay?"
"Sure."
"Course you can."
"Well now that we have all that settled," Logan began once more noticing everyone had found a group, "I want you all to practice the moves we learned last week. Be careful there isn't a punching bag this time it's a person, your teammate, don't kill them. I don't really want to have ta explain that to the professor at lunchtime. I'll be walking around the room to watch."
Chelsea was a bit worried. She hadn't been there last week, so she had no idea what they had done. She stood toward the back of the room, hiding behind Bobby and Piotr as best she could. Watching everyone else, she followed their moves, their kicks, their punches, and their blocks. She did pretty well too; she was just a little slower than everyone else.
Before Logan made it to Chelsea he gave them another task. "That is good. Now what I want you to do is, with your groups work on blocking one another's kicks and punches… Good, keep going." He continued walking around the room watching them all.
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"Well now that we are all here, I guess we can begin." Mystique heard Logan say as she went to sit down near the wall. She rolled her eyes. She hated all of the X-men, but hated Logan most of all. If it weren't for the job she was doing there, and the role she had to play, she'd jump up and kill him right there in front of everyone. The thought made her smile.
"…So now we move on to defense tactics. Now what I want you to do is get into groups of three or four."
Mystique stood up and saw Chelsea coming towards her. That stupid girl, She thought.
"Hey wanna partner with us?" Chelsea asked Mystique who looked over at Bobby during the question. He looked surprised. Just great. This is exactly what I don't want. He could get suspicious if he sees us together too much. Then again, he is an immature dunce… This thought made her chuckle a bit inside. Now the save.
"Are you kidding me? Look just because I'm helping you with your history now doesn't mean we are all buddy-buddies. Find someone else."
After she left Chelsea standing there, flabbergasted at her answer, she walked over toward two girls.
"Hey, Partners?" Shape said.
"Sure," a girl, also named Sarah replied. She was skinny, had short redish-brown hair, and was very pretty, or would have been if she didn't have bones popping out of her forehead, shoulder, elbows, and knees. The other girl, Stacy, was equally attractive, with but with snakeskin covering her entire body.
"Well now that we have all that settled," Logan began once more noticing everyone had found a group, "I want you all to practice the moves we learned last week. Be careful there isn't a punching bag this time it's a person, your teammate, don't kill them. I don't really want to have ta explain that to the professor at lunchtime. I'll be walking around the room to watch."
Mystique, Marrow; as Sarah was called, and Stacy X began to block punches and deflect kicks, when suddenly Mystique felt something. She was in the middle of kicking Marrow; Marrow blocking all the kicks, when Mystique's entire body stopped moving. For a fraction of a second Mystique couldn't move. It was like her whole body froze in place from the inside out. It took less than a second, and no one noticed, but she felt it. And she knew what it was. It was a call, his call, Magneto was calling her. Magneto was there.
"Oh, I've gotta run to the bathroom guys." Shape said to both Marrow and Stacy.
"Are you okay?" Stacy asked.
"Yeah, my stomach hurts all of a sudden, but I'll be fine." Mystique faked a pained look on her face.
"Okay," Stacy said tentatively, "hope you feel better."
Mystique left the gymnasium and ran right passed the bathroom and out on to the Xavier grounds. Quickly she made her way to the forest, making sure no one would see her go.
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"Bobby you aren't allowed to use your powers." Piotr said as he blocked a very cold punch from Bobby. "Vhy do you zink I'm not metal vight now?"
"Okay okay I'll fight fair." Bobby said with a grin. He knew perfectly well he wasn't supposed to use his powers, at least not in today's class.
"Ugh."
"What's wrong Rogue?"
"Nothing… Well, this is boring, it's too easy."
"Easy you say?" Logan said from behind her making her jump. "Well perhaps we need to speed up the class for you." He turned facing the rest of the class. "Alright kids go sit down by the wall. Marie here thinks this is too easy, so we are going to see what she thinks she can do. Bobby, Piotr, you mind staying up here with her?" Logan asked, though to both Bobby and Piotr it seemed like more of a command than a question.
"Sure."
"No problem." Bobby gave Rogue a look, seeming to say what have you gotten us into now?
Marie quickly glanced around the room. No sign of Mystique, wonder where she went. Seeing Mystique absent, Chelsea got a bit more confident. I'll still stay in character, but I don't see why I can't fight my style. I mean four years on the street teaches ya somethin' and I'm sure Rogue would know more than this old oaf is teachin'. And with that idea active in her head she stood to face Logan ready to fight.
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"Nice to see you again Mystique." The voice came from deeper in the woods. She walked toward it and changed from the little girl Shape to the seductively beautiful blue Mystique.
"Something wrong?" She asked when she got to the small clearing and saw both Magneto and Sledge standing there.
"No," Magneto quickly replied, "Actually I wanted to let you know that Marie has gotten home, was well received by her father, and has written a letter to Xavier stating she will be gone for up to two weeks. I have of course intercepted the letter and I need you to—"
"Reply." Magneto smiled and handed her the letter. She unfolded it and read it through quickly.
Dear Professor Xavier,
My father and my Aunti Carrie have invited me to stay with them for a while. I'll only be gone for a week or two, I was hoping you would allow this. I will work extra-hard at all my classes when I get back, taking on extra toutoring time after class if I need. Please send me back a letter as soon as possible letting me know if I can stay. Also, if it's not too much trouble could you send any homework I am missing from classes with that letter?
Thank you so much for encouraging me to do this!
Sincerely,
Anna-Marie
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"Okay guys, I want you to attack Marie, using the moves we have learned in class. Hold nothing back. Pretend she is one of the brotherhood. Rogue you do the same thing. Don't use any of your powers, just what we have learned.
"Child's play," Murmured Bobby.
"You are goink down Rogue." Piotr said winking at her.
Rogue said nothing. She didn't have to. She knew she was going to beat them. She could fight them and win with her eyes closed, her hands tied behind her back, in her sleep, and any other proverbial verse she could think of. She had confidence, plus she had the moves, and the power to back it up. Her glare told them that much. Oh she was going to take so much pleasure in beating them.
"Good luck, all of you. Ready…Go!" Logan backed up and leaned against the wall ready to watch the fight. He didn't know what had gotten into Marie lately. Normally she loved this class, she fought well, but she was always hungry to learn more. He couldn't understand the sudden boredom. There was a lot of change in Rogue over the past few days. He smelled anger, resentment, and hate on her, yet he could also smell a sense of self-confidence and power. He knew a lot of that probably came from the encounter in Mississippi with her parents; still something told him there was a bit more to it. Rogue was different, she had changed, he could tell that much. He wasn't sure if her changes had been for the better or the worse. He didn't have much time to ponder however; when the fight began his attention was there.
Piotr charged at Marie and punched her, well he tried to anyway; she blocked the punch by jumping into the air and spinning her body around. She was sideways during the spin, almost parallel to the ground; she stretched out both her legs and kicked his arms away with both legs. She continued to spin after contact, but when she landed on the floor she stood facing Piotr. She smiled a pleased and mysterious grin when she saw the puzzled look on Piotr's face. Clearly he didn't see that one coming.
"Wow, Matrix-y" Jubilee, who had been in the class as well stood up by Logan and began talking. "Look at her go. She's moving like Mys-…wow…I've only seen Mystique do that…hey wait a minute, could she be Mysti-"
"No." Logan interrupted her. "She isn't Mystique. I would be able to tell if it was Mystique. It's not" But would I be able to tell? For a while now my senses have been all messed up. It's like I'm coming down with a cold or something… only I can't come down with a cold or something…What's wrong with me?
Bobby, who was standing farther back, now began to attack as well. At first he didn't want to attack her, He didn't think two against one was fair, especially since the one was his girlfriend. His tune changed slightly when he saw how Marie could handle herself against Piotr.
Marie turned to face Bobby. He was about ten yards away, but he was running at her. She ran for him, and Piotr followed closely behind her. Bobby prepared to punch her, he was still going to go easy but he did want to do something. At what seemed like the last second however Marie began to flip forward. She was so fast Bobby didn't realize she was somersaulting over his head until she was halfway there. Piotr, who had been right behind Marie, quickly stopped when he saw her. Unfortunately he stopped a bit too late. As she flipped over Bobby she extended her legs towards Piotr and with both feet she kicked him right in the jaw.
Marie didn't stop there however. During the flip she managed to grab Bobby near his shoulders. She used him as a vault to get over his head, but she didn't let go of him after she was over his head. She had quite a grip on him, and the momentum from her jump helped her to launch Bobby over her head and throw him to the ground. He landed a short distance from her on his side.
"Stop!" Logan said just before Marie could charge at one of them again. The boys looked grateful, Bobby held his left shoulder as he got up off the ground and Piotr felt his lip and began to spit blood. They all came and stood next to each other, in front of Logan, waiting for him to speak. "That was impressive Marie." He said looking at her then looking at both hurting boys on either side of her. "Not much of what we have been practicing in class, but it was good."
"You kicked Bobby and Piotr's butt, girl!" Jubilee squealed, "And it only took, what, two minutes."
"Still," Logan continued, "I wonder how you would do against Iceman and Colossus. Once more, only this time you can use your powers."
Iceman quickly jumped away from Rogue. He knew the only way for him to win was for him to have a plan. Unfortunately he didn't have a moment to create one.
Piotr began to change, his whole body becoming one metal wall as he turned into Colossus. With his armored suit he would have been virtually unstoppable for Rogue, at least he thought. She didn't let him get that far though.
Piotr was still standing near Rogue when he began to change. Though his body takes but a second to change, Rogue immediately fell to the ground. As she did so she moved her leg towards Piotr's. Before he knew what hit him, Piotr found himself on the ground. He hit his head on the floor pretty hard when she tripped him and before he could think Rogue was on top of him with her hand outstretched towards his face. Immediately he could feel his strength, his energy pour out of him. He never even saw Rogue take off her gloves, but he knew he was about to black out. He looked up at Rogue and saw Bobby close behind her. Bobby's hands were and ice blue color, as was his face. He was about to attack her once more, this time as iceman. Piotr looked back at Rogue and he saw instantly that Bobby had no chance. Rogue's hand was still on Piotr's face and as he looked up at her he began to pass out. The last thing he saw was Rogue's now metal face smiling at him in a devious smile.
Iceman went to punch Rogue from behind, her attention was still on Colossus, so he thought he had a good chance of catching her off guard. Just as he was about to hit her however she grabbed his hand and bent it backward.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Iceman let out a loud yelp.
Rogue stood and turned toward him. It was only then that he realized Rogue had taken Colossus' power. She stood there, her body fully transformed to a metal shield. Quickly Bobby's form began to change too. He had been holding back, but not anymore, he couldn't anymore.
His entire body began to turn to ice. It grew so cold that he became almost transparent, yet he wasn't. The room itself began to get cold as well, all of the students watching began to shiver, and they watched their breath begin to puff out of them in little clouds of smoke. The cold didn't stop Rogue however. She ran at Iceman, jumped and with both feet, kicked him right in the chest. Iceman flew toward the wall behind him and hit it so hard he dented it and was stuck there, half inside the wall.
"Enough" Logan said. He walked over to Bobby and helped him up and out of the wall. "Good thing you were ice, Bub; that kick coulda really hurt."
"Coulda?" Bobby said, now fully thawed, grabbing his chest, "It kinda did!"
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Mystique looked back at Magneto. He was smiling at her. "I'll send her a letter by morning." She told him in Xavier's voice
"Good… Well I guess there is nothing further—"
"Actually Erik, I have been wondering… Why did you get Chelsea and bring her here? I know you told her it was to gain information, but I think the two of us here already are giving you good reports. Why do you need a third?"
"Truthfully, I'm not using her to gain information. You and the boy have given me enough of that. No. This is a test for her, to see if she can work with us in the future."
"Work with us? Erik, I've been with her for days now and I have to tell you, she's a loose cannon! She—"
"Is exactly what we need. Think, she has the same power your Marie has…"
"Almost the same."
"If she helps us, think of what she could do."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then we will find out the limits of her power."
Mystique smiled. "Okay," she said turning back into the young girl. "I have to get back to school now. Don't want them to miss me."
Authors note:
When rogue goes home I have two quotes, (shown with + ) from Rogue: Going Rogue #2
Well that's another chapter. And I made this one long too. Hope you enjoyed it, and if ya did, please make a comment. I tend to write chapters quicker when I know someone is readin it.
