Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters; they are all Marvel's property.

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Prisoners of the Heart

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A/N: Much thanks to all those who reviewed so far; keep it up please! This chapter is a little shorter but I will try to post the next one sooner than this one took.

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Mind Games

Bits of snow crunched under Raven Darkholme's booted feet, albeit a whisper of noise, even in the soundless solitude of the mountains. The metal dome was in her line of sight, positioned behind a rather voluptuous slope and tucked in between two banks amidst barren trees. It was an area traveled only by those seeking the dome or by anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon it by accident. Its obscure but well thought out location proved elusive, despite its closeness to Bayville's popular ski lodge and resort. The closest ski trails were at least two miles away, and the lands surrounding the dome were hardly touched, even by the mountain's inhabitants. How Magneto discovered such a milieu, Raven could only guess. The concealment, the location, the desertedness; all the factors chalked up for one well-selected base of operations for the mutant leader and his Acolytes. Had Mesmero not been able to pry the information out of some unlucky mutants' heads, they never would've come upon the dome.

They were here now, and that was the major issue. Raven knew her daughter was inside, and that Magneto was probably subjecting her to some kind of treatment determined to find out the shape-shifter's location. Mesmero had contacted Raven not long after their initial meeting to warn her that Magneto had acquired insubstantial but still usable pieces of information from his mind. Why he had chosen Rogue to divulge more information, she did not understand. Magneto had his reasons behind every action, but more often than not, the motives behind them were usually quite shadowed.

The objective was clear and to the point: break Rogue out of the Acolyte's domain, get her to absorb their powers, and then leave. As much as it disturbed her----though only slightly----Raven felt a slight reluctance towards manipulating her foster daughter once more. She wasn't the one in control and her intentions behind the plan were pure, to guarantee Rogue's and her own safety in the coming days of Apocalypse; but the simple fact she was using Rogue to gain something dug deep into her heart. However, a heart hardened over many years ago could not easily be influenced by even the deepest-dug holes.

Rogue would not understand her adoptive mother's reasons, but as long as Rogue was safe----whether she was appreciative or not wouldn't matter----then Raven would be satisfied.

"Are you ready, shape-shifter?" Mesmero whispered, his back to Raven.

The faintest of shifts in the air brought his haunting voice to her ears, and she replied, "Do what you have to."

Closing his eyes, the tattooed mutant summoned his talents of mental control; no sooner than two minutes did Sabretooth step out of a door in the dome, looking around with a dazed look playing across his face.

Raven took her cue, shape-shifting into an identical form of the mutant known as Wolverine, and leapt off the bank and onto the ground in front of her former ally. She distracted him long enough for Mesmero to slip through the open door and activate his power from inside the dome, rendering Sabretooth unconscious with little effort. As the feral hulk collapsed into the snow, Raven became his doppelganger and hurried after her accomplice.

As suspected, the inside of Magneto's temporary fortress was aligned with metal everywhere, from the ceiling to the floor, to the doors, walls, and random objects lying in the corridors. Mesmero disappeared from view as Pyro stepped into the corridor, dressed in his costume and tinkering with the fire-wielding devices on his arms.

"Find anything, mate," he asked, glancing up at his faux comrade. "Or were ya just searchin' for the litter box again?"

A smile cracked Pyro's face, but his joke did not raise anything from Raven. The real Sabretooth would've growled and probably started a fight, so she pretended that the other mutant's jab had annoyed her.

"Whoa, whoa, Sabes. I was only kiddin'."

The flame mutant was oblivious to everything, and Raven's patience was waning fast. With a quick swipe of claws and a roar, she tore through one of Pyro's fire blasters and ripped the sleeve of his uniform. Horrified, the other mutant backed away, staring at his unscathed arm and ruined invention, as well as ruined costume. Before he could respond with a burst of fire from his other blaster, Raven grabbed his forearm in Sabretooth's massive grip, crumpling the device with a small squeeze. Still unsure of what was going on, Pyro gave a weak struggle against his supposed teammate's grip, but Raven yanked him upwards and planted her palm to his stomach. With a growl, she hurled the Aussie mutant through the air and into a darkened room overflowing with crates. The crash was inaudible in the corridor, but Pyro would be down for at least a few minutes.

Heavy footsteps came from behind, and she turned around to find the steel-skinned Colossus coming towards her.

"Comrade, what is going----"

Mesmero stepped out from behind the silvery behemoth, his powers tapping into the Russian's mind and forcing him into a zombie-like placidness. With silent directing, Mesmero led Colossus down the corridor and through a door that led deeper into the dome.

"What's next?" Raven asked, already shifting her form into the second of the fallen Acolytes. Sabretooth's dirty blonde hair shortened and shifted into bright orange, his massive frame shrank to fit that of a smaller man.

"Prepare yourself, Mystique." Then he was gone, hiding further down the corridor while still in synch with Colossus. Raven dropped to the floor before the door opened, feigning unconsciousness when she heard Colossus enter with Magneto, telling his master that an intruder had breeched the supposedly secure perimeter.

"Mystique," the self-proclaimed Master of Magnetism echoed, and then looked down at Pyro hesitantly. "Get up, Pyro."

His instincts were correct, Raven accepted, but with his attention focused on her in disguise, he would be blindsided by Colossus when Mesmero gave the command for him to take down his master.

When Raven heard the sound of Colossus's fists connecting with Magneto's armor, she jumped up and morphed into a figure akin to that of the Acolyte master, who was currently residing on the floor, trying to pick himself up before Colossus bore down on him again. Raven planted her foot on Magneto's chest while Colossus slid the protective helmet off his head.

"Where's Rogue?" she demanded, once more in her true form.

"Mystique…I knew you'd be coming."

"Where is she?"

Her former boss raised his hand to conjure a magnetic pulse, but Mesmero was already in his mind, inflicting him by siphoning his consciousness. Magneto cried out and withered beneath Raven's foot, but she pinned him still and sneered at him, until he finally sagged and his eyes fell shut.

With Colossus's use at an end, Mesmero disposed of him without a blink, and the giant teetered to the floor, unconscious like his master.

"She's inside, Mystique. The illusionist has created an escape scenario that is playing through her mind, tricking her into believing that she is escaping from this place and heading towards home. Gambit is on guard, as the other mutant is unable to remain alert to his surroundings while influencing another with his powers. Sever the illusionist's connection and I will take care of the rest."

Raven stepped up to the open threshold and found Gambit with his back to her, facing Rogue and the illusionist mutant, the trio positioned in the center of the room. With a mere thought, Raven felt her bone structure conforming, her body compacting, and her senses heightening, as she took on the guise of a silent hyena with her prey in view.

His keen sense of perception saved him. Only a second away from her pouncing on him, Gambit wheeled around and sidestepped Raven's attack. In mid air, her lean body thrashed at the evading mutant, and she managed to paw at his stomach, tearing his uniform with her claws but unable to make contact with skin. Gambit stepped backwards, surprised at her reach, five fresh slashes in the front of his uniform but hardly fazed. He flipped backwards to a safer distance, but Raven charged again, teeth bared. A Bo staff appeared from a pocket in his trench coat, arcing down towards her skull. Raven ducked in low and took the blow to her flank, undeterred by the brazen flash of pain. Teeth sank into Gambit's thigh, but just as she broke skin, his fist connected with her head and he forced her muzzle open and shoved her backwards.

"We been lookin' for y', Mystique. Nice of y' ta drop by." The staff slammed against the metal floor with a reverberating twang, as Raven dodged the assault. At close quarters once more, she was able to pounce into Gambit, needling him in the chest and using her momentum to carry him off his feet and onto his back. She could've gone for his throat, but their objective had not been to fatally wound any of the Acolytes; only to subdue and stun them in order to reclaim Rogue and use her to absorb their powers.

Instead, she bit down on his shoulder, piercing his trench coat, uniform underneath, and his flesh. He brought the back of his fist across her snout, and she tried to cling to him by digging her paws into his chest, but Gambit was able to pry her off and throw her to the floor behind his head. He whipped around and brought his staff around in a circle, sweeping her legs out from underneath and sending her sprawling backwards.

"Enough games, Mystique. What're yo' an' Mesmero plannin'? What's Rogue got ta do wit' it?"

Raven reclaimed her blue-skinned form and narrowed her eyes at the other mutant. Her attacks had not weakened him to the extent that she'd hope for. His thigh had taken the most damage, with trickles of blood flowing freely down his leg. Nothing serious, but enough to hinder his quick movements and evasion. His shoulder was punctured but hardly bleeding, and it did not prevent him from handling his weapon.

Dipping into another pocket, he drew a hand of playing cards and surged them with kinetic energy before casting the explosive projectiles in Raven's direction. She rushed them, bending her knees and lunging over the missiles, over Gambit, and landing with a roll that brought her next to Rogue and the illusionist.

Her fist cracked against the inattentive mutant's cheek, and he went down in a heap, his mind games with Rogue ended.

Blinking, Rogue groaned and shook her head, attempting to clear the fog in her mind. Her lifeless eyes settled on Raven, and they lit up with vigor.

"Rogue----" Raven cried out, as Rogue's battle instincts kicked in to compensate for her mangled senses and perception, her bare hand shooting out and clutching Raven's forearm.

Her muscles screamed and her head pounded and suddenly it hurt too much to stand. She caught a brief glance of Mesmero stepping into the room before the edges of her vision dimmed as a tide of darkness swam over her. Numbed, she could barely register collapsing onto the hard metal floor, her sight filling with blackness and then cold relief.

As Rogue's powers took their toll on Raven, Mesmero intervened before Rogue could maximize on the shape-shifter's talents. He entered her mind and sedated the flow of Mystique's life force into the girl's head; with little mental effort, he grasped her consciousness and obtained control over her mind. Working her like a puppet, Mesmero coerced Rogue with intentions of getting her to absorb all of the Acolytes.

From behind him, Magneto straggled on the floor and reached out, focusing his powers on the unoccupied metal chair in the center of the room. He snapped it off the floor and hurled it towards Mesmero.

Somehow, Rogue reached Mesmero and tackled the puppeteer mutant out of the chair's path, as it flew over their heads and collided with the wall. Mesmero faced Magneto and rendered him unconscious once more with a small psychic blast, before turning his attention back to the missing Gambit. With the coattail of his trench coat disappearing into the corridor, Mesmero sent Rogue after him, where she absorbed Magneto and Colossus inside the corridor before initiating a chase with the mutant thief.

Giving a side glance in Mystique's direction, he saw her slowly beginning to rise, and knowing that she would follow easily enough, he hurried after Rogue.

With little effort, Rogue absorbed Pyro as he stepped into the corridor, rubbing his head. She covered his face with her palm and cast him back into the storage room. Gambit ducked to the right, and Rogue pursued; Mesmero right behind her.

Sabretooth stumbled into the room and out from the cold, giving low growls as he placed a hand to his head. Sighting Gambit, he stopped and asked, "What're ya doin'?"

"Savin' m' hide, Furball," he snapped, dashing past Sabretooth and through the open doorway to exit the dome. Sabretooth watched him with mild curiosity, and then turned around as a small hand cupped around his throat and forced him into the wall, draining him of all his energy.

Gambit slid down a bank and ducked behind the skeletons of winter trees, his senses trained for Rogue coming behind him. When she did not pursue him any further, he stopped behind a tree trunk and peered out over the fading winter landscape. She was nowhere to be seen; only the desolate silence accompanied the Cajun.

Moments later, an invisible slit cut through the tip of the dome, arcing through its top and splitting open with the two halves sliding apart to reveal an opening large enough for a single metal orb to shoot out into the sky and disappear in the heavy clouds above the dome. The halves sealed shut once more, and Gambit was left as the only conscious Acolyte. Rogue had the majority of their powers, and with Mystique and Mesmero carting her around like a marionette, there was no telling what they had planned next.

If Mesmero's intention had been to take possession of Rogue and use her against the Acolytes, no doubt he would prolong her usefulness and stick her amongst the X-men and Brotherhood to collect on their powers, too.

For Rogue's sake, Gambit knew he would have to track down the X-men. Whether they would hear him out or not would be their decision, but as long as Mesmero had Rogue under his influence, none of them would be safe from the girl's leeching powers, or her controller's dark intent.

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A/N: Few more chapters to go. Please review!

-fathoms-