Chapter Five: Just In Time

Rogue and Shadowcat watched as the water streaked by. It was obvious that Sage and Bishop were distancing themselves from Rogue and Shadowcat, and had been since they'd left the shore behind five hours ago. While those two stood at the front of the boat, directing it, Shadowcat and Rogue stood at the back, watching their asses. Didn't want any mutates sneaking up on them.

"Can we trust them?" Shadowcat asked, sneaking a look at the duo in front. They were standing stiff, deep in conversation.

Rogue smiled. "No. We won't have to for much longer now."

"What are you planning?"

"Do ya trust me?"

Shadowcat nodded. "Always."

"Then don't worry about it. Ah know what has to be done."

Rogue always knew what had to be done, and often she was the one who had to do them. Tough jobs, easy jobs, she did them. Without complaint. Without whine. Without weakness. Weakness was a luxury she'd long ago given up.

"Sage?" Rogue called up, as Shadowcat moved away to rest on one of the speedboats couches. "It's time."

They were almost to the boundary of Genosha's perimeter. There was a small slice of free space, barely a mile wide that they would be traveling through before the telepaths on a nearby island would shield again. It was their only chance at doing what they'd come out here to do. They now had ten minutes.

Sage quickly came to Rogue's side. "I'm ready."

Rogue smiled, softly so to put Sage at ease. "Then let's do it, sugah."

Being a telepath in space was at times, wonderful. The ease of being able to let down the constant guards that kept the world out, the silence of having no one around for thousands of miles. It was heaven. Sometimes, it was hell too.

There he was, in his study, enjoying a glass of scotch and a book of poems by Yeats, when a message slammed into his head with all the force of a rhino on charge and the subtlety of threading a needle...if the needle was twenty feet wide and the thread just as big.

Professor Xavier. We are contacting you from the coordinates of 102 degrees south, 37 degrees west. You must come immediately. We have information on the locations of the X-Men. Come immediately. We cannot stay in this place for very long.

Suddenly, the link stopped. As Xavier shook his bald head, it took several seconds for what had been said to penetrate. Without even thinking he hit the button on his chair, the one used only for emergencies.

Almost immediately, Magneto, Gambit, and Wolverine were bursting through the door. "What's wrong, mon ami?" Gambit asked after ascertaining that no one was in the room.

"We have to go. Get the jet ready."

The trio looked at each other, then at Xavier. "Why, Charles?"

"I've just been contacted by someone saying that they knew where the X-Men were. We have to leave immediately. They won't be at the coordinates long."

Magneto and Wolverine shared a look, a look born of similar circumstances to this. Professor Charles Xavier had been losing touch with reality since the X-Men disappeared. Still, they catered to his illusions, because even slightly crazy, he was the most powerful telepath in the world. Within ten minutes, the Javelin was pointed towards Earth and moving fast.

Rogue and Kitty stood alone under the boat's yawning. They watched as a large plane of some sort hovered above them. It'd been there for only a minute when a ramp in the undercarriage lowered. Apparently, the fancy plane could land in water. Shadowcat watched as Rogue smiled, not quite understanding why the situation was funny. She didn't understand much these days.

Even as shadowy figures became clear on the ramp, they still didn't move. It was a rule of combat; never make the first move when the enemy will come to you. Such rules had been programmed into the mutate mind, and after hearing them tons of times, even Rogue had them memorized.

Storm and Magneto, the only two capable of flight, both levitated off the small platform and onto the open deck at the back of the boat. At first, they could see nothing because of the sudden transition from dark to light, from shadowed aircraft, to sunny ocean. Storm turned around looking intently into the shadowed hull of the boat, and suddenly shrieked. Two pairs of eyes looked back at her, and she recognized them both.

"Great Goddess...Kitty? Rogue?" Storm couldn't move, the shock on her face evident. Magneto was cooler than that.

"Can we assume you're the ones who sent the message?"

"Always so cold, Erik...I'd hoped a couple years would have softened you up..." Rogue sighed. Suddenly, her head jerked to the left. In the distance the sound and sight of militant motorboats could be seen and heard. "We have to go."

Magneto noticed them as well. "Running from them?"

"Yes, Ah am. Now..." Rogue gestured. Magneto tapped Storm on the shoulder, who regained enough of her senses to offer to carry the two girls up to the craft. "No. We can do it ourselves." Rogue explained, before taking Shadowcat's hand and taking to the air. Within seconds she was on the craft, amidst people she'd never thought she'd see again. She released Shadowcat, who didn't release her. The entire situation was unnerving for her. She didn't want to admit it but she felt uncomfortable, bordering on afraid. They were placing themselves at these people's mercy. It wasn't a mutate sort of situation.

Wolverine stepped closer to the door, a familiar scent wafting on the slight breeze to him. Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Stripes?"

Gambit looked up from the controls at that, rising from his seat to join Wolverine near the door. Rogue smiled and stepped away from the blinding sunlight that obscured her features to the men. "Yes?"

Wolverine and Gambit could only look in shock. Much like Storm had. Magneto remained sensible however. He landed on the platform and immediately ordered that they take off. X-Force did so, but only in the most mechanical way. Their minds were still trying to wrap around the presence of two old friends, the hope of which recovering had long ago been thrown to the wind.