I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, so I'll repeat myself, if necessary...
I now have a forum, dedicated to my fanfiction, and me in general. If you've any questions, or would just like to discuss, then feel free to visit it (it's accessible via my profile i.e. the handy dandy "My Forums" button on it). I welcome anyone who wishes to visit and comment. Feel free to start a new topic. All that's there right now is the "Welcome" post I put up!
And, I'm not sure if anyone remembers this, but when I started this, I had a bit of a challenge. Every chapter title is a song sung by one singer, the same singer everytime. A few of you guessed who it was (I was mightily pleased), and I just thought I'd see if anyone else have an idea of who it is?
Now...back to the story...and a chapter...that will be very action-driven, me thinks...but also a might short. Only four pages.
Chapter 14: Alone Again (Naturally)
Whilst everyone who was meant to be up and about was safely ensconced in the Medical Lab, having a beautiful moment of silence for the girl they once knew and the woman they knew would, Rogue was going about her business. In an increasingly disturbingly stealthy way.
After leaving the communications/surveillance terminal, Rogue had retrieved the few things she'd brought with her to the satellite. Those few things included a small dagger, a lock-pick, and a mini-notebook seemingly scribbled with non-sense. It wasn't nonsense, but was rather an elaborate code meant to obscure the meaning of the lists of instructions and methods within. First lesson of that book was how to work a Javelin. Specifically, X-Force Javelin, information that had been drawn from the mind of its creater, Forge, rather painfully, not that Rogue cared.
After safely packing those things away in a small backpack, Rogue changed into her working clothes, a matte black catsuit, meant for durability and flexibility. Nothing like those pesky and tacky leather outfits she'd worn as an X-Man.
Rogue didn't allow herself to linger in the quarters she'd so briefly shared with Shadowcat. Best not to think of how she'd sent her childhood friend to her death, knowingly, but not allowed to tell Shadowcat of her fate. It all started with a lie. The lie being that severing the mental link between Mutate Mates being non-fatal. It was fatal, incredibly so. Also painfully so. Rogue was going through with her and Shaw's plan, though. It was best to wipe those abominations out before they could wipe out others. Some kernel of good inside her knew that to do a good thing by being bad didn't make sense, but she herself had never quite trusted conventional logic. She trusted her own logic, the kind that had kept her alive these three years.
Rogue cast out the net of her mental telepathy, feeling the conglomeration of souls three decks above her, surrounding one fast fading one. Two decks above, Xavier slept, his soul gently wafting about in some unseen breeze...or was it dancing? Rogue had never been good at describing the activity of someone's soul, not being affluent in telepathy in the first place. Two decks below, the hangar stood unguarded.
Rogue slipped into the hallway, silently making her way to the elevator. She palmed the control, calling the elevator, but froze as she did so. There were cameras everywhere, and she didn't doubt that they'd go off as soon as she stepped into the elevator. She was surprised they hadn't sounded yet, given how far she'd traveled through the satellite that night. She could use her abilities, her own or borrowed, to disable the cameras, but even that took too much effort at the moment. Constraining her own abilities for so long was taking it's toll, making her easily tired.
She stepped away from the now open doors of the elevator and considered it. Did a few minutes really matter? She was leaving anyways, and there wasn't any way that X-Force could catch her. However...a fight might be good. Help them ease into a battle stance, a bit? Show them that trust is nothing, and all that rot.
Rogue shook her head. She still had things to do and would need those minutes. With a sigh, she started down the corridor, wishing that this could all get over with. Alas, she still had Shaw's little plan B to deal with. Yes, surprised? She'd lied to him. She knew exactly where what he was looking for was. Another little thing that she'd gleaned from Gambit. Man was just a little fountain of information, thanks to his immoral curiosity and fascination with shiny objects.
Rogue removed the cover of a ventilation shaft, and slipped her lithe body inside, moving about easily in the sparse space. Kinda helped that she could literally stretch her molecules to elongate her body, thanks to another old Mutate friend. She used her momentum to slide down one level, stopping at a vent that looked into Cerebra (hey, Xavier needed air too).
Kicking it out, she crept onto the wall, a la Nightcrawler. The problem with a spherical room is that the center is equidistant from the walls at any given point, meaning that eventually she'd have to get closer to the platform, which was touch activated and alarm-covered. Rogue smiled as her quick and able mind grasped a solution.
She levitated from the wall, hovering above the station and it's helmet. All the technology and shiny screens were nice, but truth was, the helmet is what is important. One of a kind, taken from Cerebro and brought here. The technology that powered the machine Xavier used to boost his abilities was available in several locations, Cerebro, the cockpit of the Javelin, and a small office in the White House. All of those locations were useless with that little helmet plugged in. Rogue carefully placed one finger on the head of the console.
Slowly, small black lines, almost veins, began to spread from it. It crept into the machine and started to age it, quickly. The machine creaked ominously, and satisfied that her work was done, Rogue removed her finger. That power was all her own. A small evolution had ensured that Rogue, without control, would never be able to touch anything without damaging/imprinting it. At the same time that she drew all energy and "Life" from the machine, she drew it's information into her. It was a good thing she had a special enlarged memory capacitor. She'd need some of that information later.
The helmet stood shiny and perfect amidst the now blackened and burned out apparatus. Rogue lifted it from it's cradle and watched, fascinated, as the technology beneath it gave out under it's own weight and crushed itself into dust. The alarms loaded on it were far too old to be of any use, and didn't sound an alarm.
Rogue held the helmet under her arm, and levitated back into the ventilation system, heading down one last level to the hangar. Inside, not one, but two Javelins stood gleaming. Rogue stepped into the room, a wave of fatigue causing her to weaken for just a moment. The lack of control lashed out, drawing awareness of all things to her mind for one second. She had to hurry; X-Force was now actively looking for her.
Raising her hand, she gestured to one of the Javelins, using telekinesis to remove and shred key wires in the electrical system. It would take X-Force a day or so to fix it. Finally, she turned to the remaining plane. The door/stairs lowered invitingly.
After entering and securing it, via all new codes and over-rides, Rogue sat herself in the captain's chair, so to speak. She watched through the windows as X-Force stepped into the Hangar Control Room, Wolverine immediately stepping to the microphone.
"Get out of the plane, now."
Rogue smiled, but only continued her flight-prep.
Gambit's turn at bat. "Rogue, what are you doing?"
A moment of confusion, a wave of some emotion she wasn't prepared for halted her movements. Just as quickly as it came, it passed, and she waved a nonchalant wave to him as the plane slowly turned and he was gone from sight.
Finally, Storm. "If you take that plane into the atmosphere, I shall use the winds to destroy you."
Like to see ya try, bitch.
Rogue spared one last though to her old friends, and knew instinctively that they wouldn't understand her motives. None of them. They hadn't gone through what she had, they didn't know what she knew, and she had no wish to tell them any of it. Storytime was over. It's time to be a grown-up and deal with what comes.
Rogue opened the Hangar doors and left the satellite.
Meanwhile, X-Force watched as she did so. Storm placed her hands to her head, concentrating on the solar winds, but Xavier, now awake and back in his chair, grasped her arm. "Do not, Ororo. That will not solve this."
Gambit grit his teeth together and fought the confusion that clouded his mind. "Why is she doing dis? Is it because of Shadowcat? Her dying? Does she t'ink it's our fault?"
Xavier immediately shook his head. "No, I'm certain of that. This is something else. From what little I can gleam postcognitive, she knew that was coming. Indeed, she planned on this. She was waiting for it, for something. Jubilee?" He called out suddenly, waiting until she'd stepped forward before speaking. "Are you aware that your memory has been tampered with?"
Jubilee just stared, obviously ignorant. Xavier continued.
"She did that. She did many things. Erik?" Magneto stepped forward too, his face grim. "I think it very important that we not be stranded here. Find out what she did to the Javelin and try to repair it as quick as possible. Beast, you assist." Despite the fact that Xavier wasn't anyone's boss anymore, they listened and left for the Hanger below. Xavier turned to Storm, Gambit, and Wolverine. "She took something. I don't know what, but something important. Start looking. I need to know what she took and why." The trio left for opposite directions.
Finally, only Cannonball and Jubilee remained. Xavier sighed and looked to them. "I think I shall leave you two to begin preparations for Miss Pryde. We'll have a ceremony before we leave."
Jubilee popped her gum obnoxiously. "For old times' sake?"
Xavier glared. "While Rogue's motives remain suspect, Shadowcat was unknowing. She is an innocent in this. One who paid for it with her life. She deserves your respect."
Jubilee nodded, ashamed of how her tongue so often got away from her. Cannonball wrapped his arm around her waist and nodded to Xavier. "We'll take care of it."
Xavier sat in the hangar alone. He'd only just wakened from the induce coma of Lucas leaving his mind, and found that his control was not what it used to be. Outside, Rogue sped away, her mind in chaos of the same level, if not more than, his. Brief flashes were left in her wake.
Xavier looked at each flash, seeking a clue, but only found a jumble. There was a flash of a face, a man with dark hair, sipping a drink and laughing in her face. Another one of a long row of large man-sized canisters, and a freakishly pale man dressed in red laughing as he held a small baby in his arms. A small blue-furred baby with a tail. Another flash of an Asian man, surrounded by fire, indeed, covered by it, but not in an alarming way. More in a god-like way. Last was a flash, an old memory, of a place he knew. Instinctively, Xavier knew that this is where Rogue would be heading. She was going home, and not with good intentions.
Rogue was returning to Bayville.