CHAPTER 15: CHANGE IS COMING
Rogue was feeling a bit more refreshed now after that long hot shower. The water felt very good against her skin and her muscles. The small bathroom only had a standing shower, a toilet and a small sink with a mirror. It was mainly used for those that were in the medical room and not really for public use. She dried herself off and then had the towel wrapped over herself as she wiped the fog off the glass. She looked a bit better now then she had although totally out of her make-up.
Although she did feel a bit strange lately, she hadn't noticed it at first but her mind felt…clearer. It was strange because ever since she started to absorb people she always had their thoughts running around in her head. Xavier had been teaching her how to shut them out but it was hard. Even with the nullifier on it was hard. But they were strangely silent, well not totally she could still 'feel' them in the back of her mind but it left her confused.
She was going to have to walk to Hank about this when he ran the tests on her. She suddenly winced at the moment feeling like a spike had been driven into her mind, "OW! Damn it!" She muttered as a hand went to her head. Then the voices came back only now it was hard to hear anything but them, she felt she was drowning in them then it all went silent.
She found herself sitting down and breathing hard, 'God what was that?' She thought as she tried to think. Never had she ever experienced anything like that. It also left her a bit scared, did that suit mess her up in some way? That thought sent a shiver down her spine, she only now had some measure of control thanks to Peter but if something worse happened…
She got up and looked in the mirror her eyes filled with fear and pain at the possibilities. 'Damn it, it's not fair!' She yelled out in her mind, 'Why? Why do ah got ta have the messed up powers? Why am ah cursed? Why can't ah just have a nice and normal life? Why can't ah beh happy?' She felt close to tears at the thought of something horrible happening to her.
Suddenly a knock on the door got her attention and she jumped from it. "Hey Rogue you finished? I got you some spare clothing." Peter's voice called out to her. As usual his voice made her heart filled with happiness. She was also worried if she should tell him, she knew that they had to be more open but she was scared of worrying him.
She decided to tell Hank during her physical exam so that if she should be worried then she would tell him. Rogue placed on the bracelet and turned it on as she opened the door only a crack. She noticed him plus a bit seeing she was only in a towel although mainly jut her leg and bare shoulder.
She also had to blush a bit, she had never been pretty much this exposed to a guy before even if they were her boyfriend. Peter snapped out of his thoughts seeing her and wondering what she looked like under that. 'Not now Peter…No mater how tempting that image is,' He chided himself. "Here you might like these better," He offered her a pair of her black pants with her purple top with the exposed shoulders and a shirt to wear under it.
"Thanks," She smiled as she happily took it and then looked through it, "Hey how come there's no…oh never mind." She said realizing that Peter didn't put in any new underwear because then he'd have to go through her bras and panties and that was kind of personal stuff.
Peter blushed a little redder and scratched the back of his head knowing what he missed. But he didn't want to snoop through his girls undergarments. They hadn't reached that level of intimacy yet, plus if anyone saw him trying to explain that would be hard. It was hard enough explaining to Wanda when she was on a break from Hank's lessons about why he had her clothing.
Rogue guessed she could just wear the ones on the floor until she got back to her room. After a change she felt much better throwing her old clothing out on a bed and saw Peter with what looked like homework. She groaned forgetting about that, "Oh god…Ah got that paper due by tha end of tha week." She signed as she dropped onto her bed.
"Yeah I got to finish this and what the others will be bringing back for us that we missed." Peter said to her and saw her groan and threw a pillow over her face. That made him smile seeing her like that, "Come one how about I help out?"
Rogue guessed she could use the help, and Peter was smart. Hell he was really smart, almost as smart as Forge and she guessed smarter then Kitty. Plus being alone with him even with just homework might help her relax and take her mind off things. Like with what happened in the bathroom.
A bit later Scott's car pulled up to the mansion with Jean and their two guests. Both Paul and Taryn had listened in on Jean and Scott's stories. The two of them told them how their powers manifested well Jean had left out the more personal parts. For Jean she had witness the death of her best friend at childhood and felt her die, Jean had gone into a coma from the event. So she just told them that she had a traumatic incident as a child when her powers manifest and it caused her to go into a coma for a few years.
Taryn was totally shocked by this, Jean had never once said anything about that. She pressed Jean on what had happened but seeing how painful it was she stopped. She have never seen this side of her before. It was like seeing this secret part of her friend and in a weird way it helped her to accept what was going on. Because seeing the emotion in her eyes helped to reaffirm just how human Jean was, no matter what she could do.
Scott explained about how when his parents had died it had caused some brain damage that when his powers manifested he couldn't control it. He had blown out part of a hospital when that happened and he told them how Xavier found him and those shades of his were specially built to control his powers.
"Damn I knew there had to be some reason you kept on wearing those things," Paul said to him after hearing that. "But how come you don't now?"
Scott looked back at him in the review mirror and held up his wrist with the watch on, "This was specially build by a friend. He and this other guy Forge came up with a device that basically nullifies mutant powers."
"So…without that then," Paul said putting two and two together.
"Yeah I can't control it. I keep my shades close by just in case it gets damaged, runs out of power or something." Scott told them looking back onto the road. "Although I'm thankful for it…You have no idea what it's like to be forced to live a life where all you see is red all the time."
Paul never thought about that, he knew the shades were red tinted but just figured that he took them off when he wasn't around. To be forced to wear them like a handicap was kind of unthinkable. 'And I never knew, I never knew what he had to deal with.' He mulled it over.
"So basically you shot things out of your eyes and you can move things with your mind?" Taryn asked them, it was still odd but she was slowly getting accustomed to it. Sure it freaked her out but the shock was kind of slowly edging away.
'Among one other thing,' Jean's voice filled their minds. 'I'm also a telepath.'
"Okay can you please not do that again Jean!" Taryn said to her shocked by that. "That's a little much for me at this time."
"Sorry," The red head said looking away.
Her friend sighed, "Look…I'm sorry for snapping but that's a little…invasive to me."
Jean nodded, "You're right, it is without warning a person first. But trust me I don't like to pry into the minds of others, I have a hard enough time shutting out all the thoughts."
"Shutting them out?" Paul asked her curious as to what she was talking about.
Jean nodded to him as she was about to tell him the dark side to being a telepath, "Imagine you're in a room with multiple TVs and radios all one and at high volume. Now imagine some of them featuring things about you that are the inner thoughts of people. Most are just pieces that people are just thinking about at the time. Now imagine that you're stuck in that room all the time and all of those devices are on all the time."
Both humans were stunned silent by that, Jean explained how she had to keep up mental barriers in her mind or that her mind would be overwhelmed by it all. It would be too much for her to take, and sometimes it caused her to have some bad headaches and migraines. But she had to keep her shields up because all the voice that would assault her mind would most likely drive her totally insane. Taryn looked at Jean with fear but not for herself but for Jean.
'My god…To live like that all the time…She never gave any signs about it…' She thought in her head feeling a lump in her throat from all that her best friend had to suffer through. Suddenly having these powers looked more like a curse to her. She noticed how Scott was holding Jean's hand and even though neither one spoke to each other she could see something between them.
It was like he was giving her hi strength and Taryn just wondered just how deep they were into this relationship. It certainly looked deeper then any simple high school romance that was for sure. But by then they had pulled up to the mansion, she had seen this a few times when she picked up Jean but never once was she really inside of it. Now she knew that she and Paul would never look at it the same way again.
This wasn't just some temporary home for kids as they went to school. It was a sanctuary, a place they could fit in and feel comfortable about themselves and didn't have to keep their secrets. "Okay just to know that a few of the people here don't…well…some mutations are physical ones." Scott told them as they got out.
"What do you mean?" Paul asked first.
"Remember Mr. McCoy?" He asked and both humans nodded, "Well he's living here, he had to drop out of sight because his body changed to much that most people would be afraid of how he looks."
"H-how does he look?" Taryn asked, she had always liked Mr. McCoy in fact he had been her favorite teacher. When he disappeared there were a lot of rumors going around but this was something that she bet no one had thought of.
"Well…" Jean wasn't sure how to describe him.
"Kind of like a blue gorilla I guess. Ow! What Jean? You got to admit he kind of does," Scott said rubbing his ribs.
"I get the feeling this day is going to get stranger," Paul said out loud as he heard that.
-Medical Room-
Rogue was on her back as she was getting a cat scan at the moment. She had spent the last few hours getting poked and prodded all that time. She had told Hank about what happened and that got her a whole round of tests. She had her whole body x-rayed and she hated those, her DNA was messed up as it was and getting hit with a punch of radiation didn't put her at ease.
Now she had been laying still while they scanned her fully body. She hated this thing, you couldn't move at all while in it and it took way too long. She closed her eyes thinking maybe she could sleep through it or something. Well after a very long time they finally let her out of it.
Hank was looking over the data that he had been getting from Rogue all day. It was very curious as the went through it as Rogue went back to where Peter was resting up. "Hmmmm…this is highly interesting," He said to himself as he took a closer look at her scans.
Rogue was just glad to have finally been done the testing, she walked in to see May fussing over Peter and him not liking it. That gave her an amused smile, at how Peter would lift a care, battle criminals, and face danger with jokes but an elderly woman could put him in his spot.
"Aunt May I'm fine," Peter said as she was fussing over him.
"Peter Benjamin Parker," May scolded him and he winced at the use of his full name. Rogue who was sitting by the door just raised an eyebrow since she never knew Peter's middle name until then. "Look at you? You look like a mess and even though what happened couldn't be avoided you still need to be more careful."
"I tried I mean it's not like I go out looking for trouble," Then Peter caught her questioning look, "Well okay I do, but I try not to get hurt."
May sighed and crossed he arms, "Maybe I should have Mr. Logan run you through more of those Danger Room things so you'll try a bit more harder."
Peter paled a bit at the thought of all that extra training and the fact that she wanted him to do that wasn't appealing either. He thought of anything to get off that subject and noticed his girlfriend by the door, and he was so glad to see her for a few different reasons. "Rogue! How did it go?"
She just shrugged walking into the room, she figured she might as well come to his 'rescue' at this time. She knew he would make it up to her later. "Tha usual, boring and at times a bit painful when he used those damn needles."
She still felt where he had to draw blood from her. Peter gave her a sympathetic look as she sat down next to him. May saw how the two were and she guest this could wait for a bit, after all they went through they deserve some time to themselves. She remembered what it was like to be young as well, "Well I guess I'll leave you two alone, and I'm glad you are feeling better Rogue."
"Thanks May," The goth nodded to her as she watched the woman walk off.
"So what's the diagnosis?" Peter asked her taking it easy in the bed. Rogue just shrugged she had no idea since Beast was still working on it. Although Peter did notice her pulling on her bangs a bit one of her nervous habits that he picked up over time. "Hey what is it?"
"What?"
"Rogue." Peter said to her seriously and she sighed as she told him about her experience in the bathroom. Peter looked thoughtfully as he took it in, "Maybe it was just a fluke or maybe something from being so stressed. We still don't know just how fully your powers work after all."
She was silent a moment as she thought about it, he could be right and even she didn't know how her powers fully worked. "Maybe."
Peter moved over to her and held her closer to him as his arm wrapped up around her waist. "Hey trust me you were there for me and I'll be there for you. No matter what let's promise that we'll always be there for each other, okay?"
She gave him a small smile and she leaned into him feeling his arms around her made her feel bit better about this. "Ah promise." She felt him kiss her head as he just held her, Rogue closed her eyes enjoying this. Years of isolating herself made her appreciate all these types of moments.
-Upstairs-
So far Paul was kind of enjoying the tour, he like Taryn had never really seen the inside of this place and it looked larger inside then it did out. It was going well until a little grey girl ran by with a brown haired boy both laughing. The brown haired boy tripped and suddenly there were six of them. They pulled themselves up and ran with the girl.
At that moment a Chinese girl in a yellow coat and a girl with long brown hair and tanned skinned ran in looking angry and covered in what looked like flour. "Get back here you little delinquents! In my land you would get thrown in prison for assaulting royalty like this!" Amara said angrily her arm still in a sling and a fire ball in the other.
"Yeah get back here and die!" Jubilee yelled out after them a few crackles of light and pops from her finger tips. Both Paul and Taryn just stared at the scene not sure if they had seen what they thought they had seen.
"Guys what is going on!" Scott yelled at them and the two girls looked at him, not seemingly to notice the humans in the room.
"What does it look like?" Jubilee said covered in flour, "We were just minding our own business in the kitchen with a few others and then we get all of this stuff dumped on us."
"Guys we got some guests." Jean nodded to the two speechless humans. Both girls eyes widened as Jubilee hid her hands behind her back and Amara quickly put out her fire like if they did it fast enough they wouldn't have noticed.
After looking at their faces they knew it was already too late, 'Oh man…The Professor is going to be pissed.' Jubilee had thought they had just blown their mutant secret to a bunch of humans.
"Okay…I'm now officially a believer," Paul said seeing all of that happen.
"Guys just…get cleaned up okay?" Scott sighed seeing the confused looks of the two girls. "We're letting them in on the whole mutant thing."
"Oh thank god," Jubilee sighed as Amara relaxed, "For a minute there I thought we royally screwed up."
"No kidding," Amara said as she and Jubilee decided to clean up, then kill those two kids. "Nice meeting you anyway." She said over her shoulder as they left.
"Hey you okay?" Jean asked Taryn who looked like she was still processing things.
"I'll…tell you when the shock wears off." She said to Jean although she had been told a few things seeing them in action was a whole other story.
'Jean, perhaps a little talk in my office will do them well,' Xavier's voice said in her mind.
"Maybe we should take you to see Xavier I think he can tell you everything you need to do." The red head said to them as they were led through the mansion. They came to a room that was very well furnished with a bald man in a wheel chair as well as an elderly lady and a dark skinned woman with long white hair.
"Please take a seat," Xavier said to them, he could sense their nervousness which was why he had May and Ororo here. They were the more calming influences then Logan and Hank. He hoped for Jean and Scott that they were right in this, he didn't want to erase their memories of today's events.
"Here you go," May said giving them some tea, "Try this it will help with settling you're nerves, trust me when I found out I took a lot."
"When you found out?" Paul asked the lady thanking her for the tea. It wasn't bad stuff even though he never drank it before.
"Yes I'm human like you, I'm here because my nephew lives here as well." She told them. Both teens felt a little more at ease with that, knowing there was at least one person here that was 'normal'.
"So you're not like him then?" Taryn asked her, the tea was very nice kind of like the type her grandmother liked to serve.
"That's right," Ororo answered instead as she sat down near them with her usual calm self. "Not everyone in a family has the genes that make mutants. My sister isn't a mutant but she did pass on the gene to her son Evan and it was active in him."
"So you can have this gene and not know it?" Paul thought about that, for all he knew he could be carrying someone like that and his kids could one day have powers as well. It was a strange thought and he wasn't sure how something like that would effect his family life that day. He hoped that he would do what was right.
"This has been on weird day," Taryn sighed to herself taking another sip as Xavier told them all about his school and his dream of humans and mutants living together. She could see why he would want to keep this quiet she could easily see people who got the wrong impression from mutants turn violent. She remembered stories of how her grandfather was treated when the Second World War broke out while he was living in the US.
"So why did you trust us with this?" She turned to Jean and Scott. "I mean I'm thankful you trusted us but why now?"
"Well things seem to be changing," Xavier said to her, "You see you're not the first to find out about us."
"That's right," May added finishing her own tea. "There is Dr. Connors and his family, in fact their son plays with two of our children all the time and is friends with them. Then there is that lovely Amanda girl that Kurt is dating."
Taryn looked to Jean, "So they knew?"
"It's…a long story," Jean wasn't sure where to being, especially with how Dr. Connors turned into a giant lizard creature. "But Amanda found out by accident but she never told anyone, even Kurt that she knew until they started to date."
Then something in Paul's mind snapped as he got a realization, "Hey wait a minute…are you guys linked to that Spider-Man guy?"
"Oh and how about those Sirens?" Taryn asked remember those stories as well, "I heard rumors those girls had some powers too."
Jean blushed at the memory although they would keep Peter's secret for now Xavier as he felt their minds got the impression they may be ready for this. They seemed to be more accepting and as Jean went into her story into Peter's line of work he saw the interests in both human teens. He smiled to himself, 'Maybe this is the first step. My first step to making a world that will accept mutants, by reaching out to them a few at a time.'
For a moment he felt that maybe Peter's work making people think of a person with powers protecting them actually did have some benefits. Maybe this was the dawning of a new world and that the world would soon be changing. He just hoped that it was changing for the better, but as he saw the human teens get more into the story he felt that there was hope.
-Infirmary-
Later that night the adults were with Rogue and Peter as he was explaining all that he had found. Although only Peter and Xavier were the only ones to truly keep up with him. "Whoa can someone please speak in English?" Logan asked everyone, since usually when Beast got into one of these long winded talks he just kind of zoned out and pretended to listen in half the time.
"Yeah this is my body we're talkin' about and ah would like ta know what is goin' on with it," Rogue said crossing her arms. She was nervous about this but didn't want to show it, although Peter was gently holding her hand gently. She was thankful for his support in this and for him not doing it blatantly out in the open as well.
"Yes well sorry about that," He chuckled as he brought up several of the data on a laptop computer. "I compared all the medical data I had since you joined us and by the looks of it something is happening to you now."
"What?" Rogue asked him trying to hide any trace of fear or nervousness in her voice.
Beast went on into his explanation, "Well the DNA of the symbiote is much different then anything you've either absorbed before or even built for. You're powers I theorize are mainly for just human/mutant life but this was an artificial life form unlike anything ever seen on this world."
"It bonds with it's host as we've seen, on a cellular level at least or even more so. When you absorbed so much of it both you're powers and its were blended for a short time."
"So what? Ah'm goin' ta turn all black and stuff?" Rogue asked as her heart rate went up a bit.
"Well I don't think so," Hank said looking at his notes, "I believe what you experienced was you're body trying to cope with the changes."
"Changes? But I thought she only gains powers for a short time?" May asked him as she was following along with the rest of them.
"Normally but this was hardly normal," Hank sighed and brought up a few images, "You're nervous system and brain have shown sighs of a permanent alterations. The suit worked with the nervous system and brain so as you gained so much of it, you're body was altering it to take on certain properties. But unlike other abilities you've gained this had stayed with you."
Peter looked at the scans that showed a before and after images, there were a few changes that was certain, "So what does this mean exactly?"
"I…have no clue," Hank gave her an apologetic look, "This is new territory even for us and what the end result is anyone's guess at this time. My best guess was what you experienced might have been a fluke as your body was starting to get used to the slight changes."
"So…In other words somethin' is happenin' ta meh and you ya'll got no idea what?" She asked them but seeing the looks around the room told her everything she needed to know. After that she just kind of zoned out as everyone started talking about this while she just looked at her free hand. What was happening to her? She didn't know and it really scared her, like when her powers first showed up.
She had no idea what was happening to her all over again. By the time she snapped out of it she saw that everyone was leaving for the night. Rogue was just kind of numb with it all not sure what to think of any of this. Peter and her had some clothing brought down since Hank wanted them both to spend one more night there just in case.
They had been visited a few times although Rogue was mainly silent through it all. Peter had noticed this of course and after he used the small bathroom to change for the night and she took her turn he had to wonder what was going on in her head. This had to be scary as hell for her to be sure, he had noticed how deep in thought she was and left her to it for a bit.
After they had changed for the night and were in their beds he noticed that Rogue kept on moving, "Hey you okay?" She was silent as she shifted again, so he got up out of his bed towards her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, "Rogue?"
"Peter…" Her voice was weaker then he normally heard it, there wasn't the strength in it that he usually found she sounded frightened and he didn't blame her.
"Hey don't worry, whatever this thing is you'll beat it…You're too much of a tough chick to let something like this beat you."
She gave a small laugh at the 'tough chick' part, "Why does it seem life just wants ta mess with people like us?"
Peter sighed, he honestly didn't know. It seemed that life kept on kicking them all the time, "Wish I knew I really did. But I know with everyone here we don't have to go through it alone all the time anymore."
He felt her hand on his and he smiled, "Peter…ah…ah don't want ta beh alone."
"I'm right next to you."
"No…Ah…just hold meh…please…"
Now he got what she was saying, although Logan would kill him for this if he saw them but screw it. She needed him and he wasn't going to let her go through the night scared. 'Plus I hope my spider-sense wakes me before someone shows up too.'
He climbed in next to her and wrapped his arms around her, he felt the bracelet there and he nuzzled the beck of her neck. He could smell her hair and Rogue seemed to get a little less tense in his arms. Rogue just wanted to be held, she was scared of what was happening. Peter holding her like this seemed to make it lessen. She felt his warm breath on her neck and his arms around her and she felt warm and safe for the first time in a long time.
NEXT UP CHATPER 16: MONSTER MEN