I am beyond embarrassed that this took so long to post – and I'm really grateful to all of the people who reviewed asking for more. Also, a huge, huge thanks to the people who emailed me directly to talk about the story – it was the incentive I needed to finish this up.
I'm not thrilled with this chapter, which is a shame considering how long it took me to write, but I'm posting it anyway because I'm tired of it. Anyway, here it is, brought to you by gently prodding reviewers, Tori Amos' "A Sorta Fairytale", and T.S. Eliot.
And a quick reminder of what happened last time: Rogue and Kurt had bonding time. Remy talked to his family back in New Orleans, and reiterated that he's not coming home. Logan attempted to give Rogue a sex ed lesson, but mostly just made a fool of himself.
The three girls trudged down the long, echoing hallway to the locker room, each lugging a bag of sports equipment. Kitty pouted as they walked. "I can't believe we had to stay after to clean up everything. It was so not our fault the pucks went everywhere when the bag split."
Rogue cut her off wearily. "Doesn't matter, Kit. Coach Snyder was gonna find a way to blame us for it. He always does."
"He should be reported to the school board," Amanda said firmly. "He's obviously discriminating against you guys."
"Ah don't think you're gonna find a real sympathetic audience," Rogue said, hauling open the back door to the locker room. "But thanks for helpin' us clean up."
Amanda shrugged. "I'm not in any rush for lunch," she pointed out. "Tater tot casserole. Again."
Kitty grimaced. "Let's talk about something fun," she pleaded, dumping her bag to the floor with a clatter.
"Let's talk about your date with Remy," suggested Amanda mischievously. Rogue flushed, but stayed silent.
"He really said that you should wear a fancy dress?" Kitty sighed, phasing an arm through her locker and pulling out her regular clothes. "That is so romantic."
"We need to go shopping," Amanda pointed out as she tugged her sweater over her head.
"I have a dress," Rogue grumbled.
Amanda shook her head. "You need the dress. Something with actual color, not just black. Something amazing." She stood and walked over to the line of sinks, checking her hair in the mirror.
Rogue gritted her teeth. "Ah like black, and Ah can't afford amazing. Besides, there's no way Logan's letting me outta the mansion to go shopping. Ah'm lucky he lets me come to school." She finished tying her boots and kicked the locker shut with more force than was strictly necessary.
"Oh, we can totally get around that," said Kitty dismissively. "We'll just—"
"Guys?" Amanda said, her voice suddenly distant, "Let's go, okay?"
"Coming," replied Kitty. Then, noticing the other girl's expression, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know…I just…I don't feel so good. Something feels off…" She paled, swaying slightly. She grabbed the ledge of the sink to steady herself. "Something's wrong."
A flash caught Rogue's eye a moment too late. "Amanda. Out the back. Now," she ordered, just as Dane appeared in the doorway of the locker room, eyes glittering like the switchblade he brandished.
"You have caused me a hell of a lot of trouble, little girl."
Kitty strode forward, shoulder to shoulder with Rogue, as Amanda stumbled towards the door they had just entered through.
Rogue sneered and reached for the equipment bag she had brought in, pulling out a hockey stick. "You must like it, the way you keep comin' after me." She dropped into a crouch, brandishing the stick.
"Ain't gonna work like that," he said, gesturing at her makeshift weapon. The fluorescent lights reflected harshly off of his dark, oily hair and Rogue was seized with a fury that had her throwing aside all thoughts of caution and strategy.
"Works for me," Rogue replied, and swung at Dane's knife hand. He moved nimbly out of the way as Kitty joined the fight, throwing a series of punches and then phasing out when he sliced in her direction.
His attention deflected, Rogue hacked viciously at him, first the knees and then the chest, a black satisfaction coursing through her when he staggered backwards. Dane ducked and attacked, his kick catching her under the ribs. She stumbled for a moment, and Kitty stepped in with a roundhouse to the kidneys. As he sagged against the concrete wall, Rogue recovered enough to hit him with the handle of the hockey stick and then slam her elbow into his jaw.
He thrust at her with the knife and she arched away. "Give it up!" she spat.
"I told you, it doesn't work like that. Not today," he said, warding off another blow with an upraised arm.
"What's the matter, Dane? No fun bein' outnumbered? Doesn't seem fair?" She nearly laughed as she slapped at his knife hand, watched the blade spin across the concrete floor to her.
He took a step toward the door, and Kitty moved to block him, marveling at Rogue's icy skill. "Not too worried."
"You should be," Rogue said coldly, and before Dane could move, she slammed the hockey stick between his legs, smiling unpleasantly when he sank to the floor with a moan.
"Bitch!" he grunted.
"Pretty much," she said as she crouched to pick up the knife he had dropped. Without taking her eyes off Dane, she tossed the hockey stick to Kitty.
"If he moves," she ordered, pulling off her glove, "hit him in the throat. It's time for some answers."
"Rogue, wait," Kitty said nervously. She didn't know if it was Logan's training, or just Rogue's hatred for Dane, but something had changed. Rogue almost seemed to enjoy the violence, to revel in it, and the difference left Kitty feeling vaguely unsettled. "We should call the professor."
Dane smirked at Kitty's words, and Rogue's anger bubbled up again. Ignoring her friend, she addressed Dane. "You really thought you could take us? Two X-Men?"
"Me?" he asked, mouth twisting in a bitter approximation of a smile. "Nope."
She stepped in closer, one hand firmly gripping the knife, the other bare with fingers spread wide.
"But he's a different story," Dane added, gesturing behind the two girls.
They whirled in tandem as Amanda screamed and was abruptly cut off. To their horror, Sabretooth stood in the opposite doorway, one hand twisting Amanda's arm behind her back, the other clamped over her neck, silencing her.
"We can keep fighting," Dane said, slowly getting to his feet. "I wouldn't mind the chance to kick your ass again. But my…partner…might get bored."
Sabretooth pressed a claw lightly to Amanda's neck, and a drop of blood sprung up along the smooth, dark line of her throat. Amanda struggled briefly, and then stopped as the claw pressed harder, the drop turning to a steady ruby trickle.
Kitty shifted behind Rogue and casually slid a hand into her pocket, praying neither man would notice.
"What the hell is goin' on?" Rogue demanded. She had seen Kitty go for her cell phone, knew their only chance was to stall until backup arrived. "Don't hurt her," she said to Sabretooth, holding out her gloved hand in a placating gesture even as she drew back her knife hand, ready to throw.
"Aw," he snarled. "Worried about your friend? That's real sweet, mouse."
Kitty pressed the speed-dial button for the Institute, waited a few beats for someone to answer. "Why are you here, Sabretooth?" she said loudly. "We're just trying to finish up in the locker room after gym class and go to lunch, the three of us. Why do you and Dane want Rogue so badly? Why do you need to take Amanda hostage?" She prayed that someone at the Institute – Dr. McCoy, Ms. Munroe, anyone – was listening to her improvised distress call.
"We're not here to talk motives, runt." Sabretooth cupped Amanda's face with one giant hand, the claws perilously close to her eyes.
"Well," drawled Rogue, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt, "Ah'm always up for a fight. We've taken you before, hairball. We can do it again."
He snarled. "You had help before."
"There's no fight, Rogue," Dane said from the side of the room. He took a step toward her and adjusted his gloves. "Shadowcat backs off. You come with us. Or we kill your friend."
Kitty gasped, and above Sabretooth's hand, Amanda's dark eyes went wide as she resumed her struggling.
"Don't hurt her," Rogue said again, unable to keep the desperation from her voice. If she could just hold things for a little longer, she thought wildly – if she could give Remy and Logan time…
…and then it hit her, a short punch to the gut. Remy and Logan weren't coming to her rescue. No one was. She had insisted to everyone that she could handle herself, and now she would have to.
"Quit stalling," Sabretooth growled. "She's wasting time." In an instant, he had wrenched Amanda's arm up behind her, and the sickening crack of bone splintering echoed off the concrete walls. Amanda went grey and shrieked in pain.
"Shut up," he rumbled, cuffing her head. The shrieks turned to muffled sobs. He continued coldly, "Come now, or I'll snap her neck on three."
"No!" Kitty cried. "Wait!"
"Your choice," Dane added, watching the scene dispassionately. It wasn't how he had wanted to play it, but his employer had made it clear that Creed was now in charge. At this point, all he wanted was to deliver the girl and get the hell out of town.
"One," said Sabretooth. Rogue's eyes went steely as he placed a hand on either side of Amanda's head, and the girl squeezed her eyes shut, tears trickling down.
"Rogue, don't," Kitty hissed. "He's bluffing."
She looked at Amanda, her arm hanging strangely at her side, blood seeping down into her sweater. "No, he ain't."
"Two." In her mind's eye, she could see Kurt in the library, his face wistful. She shook her head slowly, as if to dispel the image, then met Sabretooth's black stare.
"Three." Sabretooth grinned as Rogue dropped the knife, and spread her arms wide, watching the blade spin end over end and clatter to the floor.
"Let her go," she said quietly.
Amanda's eyes snapped open, relief and horror mingled on her face.
"Rogue!" Kitty wailed.
Dane moved quickly to the knife, scooping it up and pointing it at Kitty. "Don't move," he snapped as he approached Rogue cautiously.
"Put your hands behind you," he said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs and slapping them on her wrists. He fastened them so tightly they bit into her skin, but Rogue ignored him, focusing on Sabretooth. She knew instinctively that Creed's reason for taking her was far more personal than business, a twisted move in a game she didn't quite understand yet. What, she wondered, was the best way to get under his skin, to gain herself an advantage?
"Remy's gonna find you. Logan, too. They'll come after you."
He bared his teeth in a feral grin. "I'm counting on it," he said as Dane snapped a heavy silver band around her neck. Suddenly, the air around her seemed to tingle uncomfortably, and she felt hollow. Her powers, she realized, were gone.
"It's active," Dane confirmed, and Sabretooth shoved Amanda towards Kitty, knocking both girls back into a bank of lockers.
Snagging Rogue by the chain of the handcuffs, he spun her to face her friends and pulled her flush against him. With a menacing slowness, he dragged a claw along her arm, smiling as the sleeve tore open and blood welled up. Almost as an afterthought, he lowered his head and licked the drops, and Rogue jerked away, slamming her shoulder into his jaw. He merely chuckled and brushed a thumb over the cut, smearing the blood on a nearby wall.
"Freak," she muttered, struggling to pull away from him.
"Play nice," he warned, rancid breath hot on her neck. "I'm the only thing that's gonna keep you alive."
"Should we take the others?" Dane asked.
In the corner, Kitty was crouched protectively over Amanda. She had to keep it together, she reminded herself, had to slow them down until the rest of the team arrived, but she couldn't see how she could get Amanda to safety and still help Rogue. The collar, she realized, had somehow nullified Rogue's mutation, and she couldn't be sure it wouldn't do the same to her if she attempted a rescue. She grabbed Amanda's hand, ready to phase them both out.
Sabretooth leered at her for a second, then shook his head. "Nah. She's gonna deliver a message."
Kitty's face contorted with rage, and she turned to Rogue, struggling to stay calm. The older girl's eyes blazed in a deathly pale face. "We'll find you," Kitty said urgently, feeling the situation slip away from her with every thudding heartbeat. "We will find you, I swear."
Rogue nodded. "Tell Kurt—" she began, and was cut off when Sabretooth tossed her over his shoulder.
"Tell LeBeau Paris was a fucking tea party compared to this."
And with that, he kicked open the door leading to the back corridor of the gymnasiums and took off. Dane followed at a run, and Kitty and Amanda were left in sudden silence.
"Amanda," she said, scrambling to her feet, "Are you okay? I've got to—"
"Go," Amanda interrupted weakly, cradling her broken arm. "Go."
Kitty nodded once, then sprinted through the doors as she pulled the phone out of her pocket. "Who's there?" she cried.
"Kitty, it's me." The professor, voice tight and grim. "We're on our way."
"They got her. They just took her. Did you hear?"
"Yes. We heard. Where are you now?"
"The back hallway – the one that runs past all the gyms and the fieldhouse. You have to hurry!" She pounded down the empty corridor – it went on forever, it seemed, and she couldn't tell which way they had gone.
"We'll be there in a just a few minutes. I'm going to contact Kurt and the rest of the students the moment we're within range."
She ducked into the weight room, phasing through the equipment and bursting out onto the deserted playing fields north of the school. "They put something on her, Professor. Some sort of collar. She doesn't have her powers." Her eyes swept the grounds, roving over baseball diamonds and tennis courts, seeing nothing. "They're gone," she wailed. "I lost them."
But there was something. Something black near the metal bleachers of the baseball diamond. She raced toward it, pouring on speed she had never thought she possessed.
"Oh, God," she whispered.
"What is it, Kitty?"
"It's the guy. It's Dane. But he's…" Shredded would be the word, she thought, in some remote corner of her mind. Three huge gashes, a horrible sucking sound coming from the glistening red mass where his chest used to be.
She dropped to her knees next to him, the Professor forgotten. "Where's Rogue?"
"Don't know," he managed. With trembling hands, Kitty shucked off her sweater and pressed it against the gaping wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Dane's eyes locked with hers.
"Where's Rogue?"
He shook his head once, the movement clearly painful for him. "She's the key," he gasped weakly.
"What?" She looked up, frantically searching for any sign of Rogue and Sabretooth or the rest of the team. Seeing none, she turned back to Dane. "The key to what?"
But Dane was dead, she realized. She stayed frozen in place until the crimson-soaked grass around her begin to ripple violently with the Blackbird's approach. Her hair whipped around her face, blocking her view of the jet, and she pushed it away, unaware her hands were sticky with blood.
The sleek black jet touched down, turbines roaring, and she saw Remy and Logan leap out, racing toward her. Remy's eyes met hers, and he stopped short, all color draining from his face.
Kitty just shook her head and began to weep.
Upside-down over Sabretooth's shoulder, Rogue thrashed about and began to scream. Kitty would follow, she was certain, and Rogue had every intention of leaving a trail. to follow. Almost instantly, Sabretooth righted her long enough to jam something in her mouth, then threw her back over his shoulder, yanking her hair painfully as he carted her down the hallway.
"Mouthy little brat," he growled as she tried to push the gag out with her tongue. He burst through a fire exit, disabling the arm with a quick swipe as Rogue struggled against him. Dane followed wordlessly, his face pinched and angry.
In seconds, he had crossed the parking lot, dumping her in the back of a white van Dane jumped in and secured Rogue's handcuffs to a ring set into the wall.
"What the fuck was that?" he shouted as Sabretooth started the van. "We're supposed to bring her in without a scratch!"
"Shut up," Sabretooth replied absently.
"The hell I will! I work clean, Creed. I get paid for clean. What the fuck is going on?" Dane made his way up to the front of the van and stood hunched behind Sabretooth's seat, shoving the mutant.
Rogue watched the two warily, trying to ignore the burning cut in her arm. Suddenly, Sabretooth braked and turned toward Dane.
"Change of plans," he snarled, and before Dane could react, he had reached for the man with both hands, claws ripping through Dane's chest with a sickening sound.
Dane screamed and staggered backwards, collapsing as blood pooled around him. Rogue's cry was muffled by the musty cotton in her mouth, and she struggled to tamp down the nausea that swirled through her as Sabretooth dragged Dane's body past her to the back of the van. Opening the doors and jumping out, he hurled Dane across the playing fields, then climbed back in.
She pressed herself tightly against the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest. Sabretooth crouched next to her, grabbing her chin and forcing her eyes to his. "Don't know why you're so fucking special, mouse," he said, voice low and menacing, "but I bet you'll scream like everybody else."
She writhed, trying to scoot away from him, and he gave her a scornful look as he raised one meaty hand and backhanded her, her head slamming into the metal floor. Blackness swallowed her as he settled back into the driver's seat and sped away from the school, humming tunelessly.
Three hours later:
Kitty sat slumped in the library, the rest of the team scattered around. Storm had placed a blanket around the girl's shoulders, pressed a steaming cup of tea into her hands, but it sat, ignored, on a nearby table.
Logan paced the room. "How long does it take to fire up Cerebro, dammit? They've been in there for an hour!"
Scott dragged a weary hand over his face. "It takes time," he said. "Cerebro traces the signature of a mutant's powers. If Sabretooth's not using his, and Rogue can't, it may not work. Kitty, tell me about the collar again."
"I told you. Dane put it on her, and Sabretooth was able to touch her."
Logan rubbed at his knuckles. The bloodstain on the wall had been a parting shot meant specifically for him. Sabretooth would have known that Logan would identify it as Rogue's instantly, and that the implications would send Logan into a berserker rage.
Scott spoke again. "Did it seem to hurt her?"
"I don't think so. It was kind of hard to tell." She pulled the blanket tighter around herself. "She wasn't surprised when he touched her. Grossed out, but not surprised."
Remy's jaw tightened at the image of Creed with his hands on Rogue. He had seen what happened to women Creed had possession of, and the dread coiled in his stomach.He stared out the window, leaned his head against the cool glass. If he let his gaze go unfocused, he could almost see himself standing in the garden with Rogue the day before. "We should be out there," he muttered. "Why we jus' standin' round? We're losin' time."
"Wasn't anything to track, Gumbo. I couldn't smell 'em, and I can scent Creed five blocks away. Jeannie and the Professor couldn't find 'em, Cyke couldn't get a visual from the jet. They just fuckin' vanished." Logan had tracked – for two hours, he had worked the area around the school, but there was nothing.
"We should still be lookin'," Remy said.
"We would be wasting time, Gambit," Storm soothed. "Time that could be better spent trying to make sense of this."
"He took her! Ain't any sense to it!" Remy exploded, panic breaking through the stony mask he had worn since they had arrived to find Rogue missing and Kitty covered in a dead man's blood. He turned to Logan. "You jus' gonna sit on y'ass? Thought you wanted t'protect her."
Before Logan could snarl a reply, Kitty spoke. "What happened in Paris?"
Remy stilled, eyes flaring. "What?"
"What happened in Paris?" She turned toward him, face hard. "That's what Sabretooth said to tell you. That Paris was a tea party compared to this."
With a roar, Logan grabbed Remy and threw him to the ground. They rolled, slamming into an oak table, andLogan tightened his grip. "If this has somethin' to do with you…" he threatened.
"It don'. Fuckin' wit' me jus' a bonus for Creed." Remy met Logan's glare, a charged deck glowing in one hand. "Figure he feels de same way 'bout you. Don' make it y'fault."
For a long moment, the room was silent, everyone immobile as Logan studied Remy. Finally, he let the younger man up, then nodded and crossed his arms. "We ain't done talkin' about this," he growled.
Remy dipped his head in acknowledgement, straightening his coat and bringing down the charge on the cards.
The door opened and Kurt entered, face haggard. "She's okay," he said to Kitty, answering the question before she asked. "Her parents came and got her."
He dropped onto the sofa, too drained to bamf. "They said I can't see her again, ever. They're sending her out of the country."
"Kurt—"
He waved off Kitty's words. "It doesn't matter. Is there anything? Any news?"
Kitty shook her head silently. Telling Kurt that Rogue had been taken had nearly broken her heart. She had walked back into the locker room, still coated in Dane's blood, to find Kurt huddled over Amanda, stroking her hair and murmuring to her. He had looked up at her, the naked hope on his face almost painful. I'm sorry, she had whispered, knowing how little the words meant, and began to cry again as that hope crumbled away.
"I don't understand," Kurt said softly. "She just gave up. Why?"
Remy spoke from the window. "She wasn't gonna risk Amanda. Prob'ly figured she'd take Creed out once dey were clear."
"She didn't know about the collar," added Logan. "She thought she'd still be able to use her skin." Everything he had taught her that fall was based on the idea that she'd be able to fight, even without her powers. With Amanda as leverage, Dane and Creed had blunted that ability. It was the one possibility he hadn't figured on, and he didn't know if he could forgive himself for that.
"And now she's got nothing," Kurt replied.
"No," Kitty said, standing and walking to her friend. She knelt in front of him. "Amanda's alive. That's not nothing. And you should have seen her fight, Kurt. She's amazing - it's like she was born for it. She never panicked. Not once." Not until the end, anyway, and she wasn't about to tell Kurt that.
"She knows Creed," Remy put in, attempting to ease Kurt's mind. "She got him in her head – she can use dat."
She could, Logan realized. Whatever nightmares she'd endured trying to integrate Sabretooth had also taught her his weaknesses. But whatever flicker of hope that lit in him was quickly snuffed when he realized something else: like Dane, Sabretooth was only hired muscle. She would lose that advantage when he turned her over to the person that wanted her so badly.
Remy, he saw, realized that too.
The darkness receded slowly. Rogue didn't know how long she had been out, but she was no longer manacled to the van – the cuffs were off, leaving stinging red marks on her wrists. The heavy silver collar, though, was still on. She brushed her fingers over it lightly, then examined her arm. The cut extended from shoulder to elbow, long and thin, moderately deep. It seemed to have stopped bleeding, and the sheer material of her blouse stuck to the dried blood. She grimaced at the sight, hissing a little at the pain.
The worst, though, was the din in her head. The personalities were in an uproar, battering against the walls she had worked so hard to build. With an effort, she began the meditation exercises the professor had given her.
After an interminably long time, the pandemonium subsided enough that she could get her bearings. She was sitting, she saw now, on a metal bed topped with a thin mattress, shoved into the far corner of a white, concrete-walled room. A toilet and sink were fitted into the opposite wall. The front wall of the cell – and it was certainly a cell, she knew that much - was made of some kind of clear material, and the scant light in the room came from the hallway. She stood up carefully, her body stiff and aching, and walked to the wall, running her fingers over the seam of the door.
"It's an unbreakable polymer," came a low, amused voice. "Four inches thick, highly conductive. Quite remarkable stuff, really."
She jerked back from the door as if it had burned her. Some remote analytical corner of her mind noted that the voices had suddenly gone silent, and wondered why. "Where am I? Who the hell are you?"
A man – almost as tall as Sabretooth, but leaner – stepped in front of her cell, pressing a sequence on a keypad that caused her door to slide open. She made a quick, involuntary movement towards the door, but stopped herself when she caught the indulgent gleam, too bright for comfort, in his eyes. The collar around her neck was still draining her powers – even her bones felt peculiar, just the slightest bit off – and she knew that even if she could move quickly enough to get a hand on the man, she wouldn't get any answers.
He ignored her questions. "Your arm is bleeding again. I've brought you some bandages, and a change of clothing. I do apologize for Victor's…enthusiasm," the man continued smoothly, stepping into the room and setting a bundle on the corner of the bed. "In his defense, I will say that you are even lovelier in person than I had anticipated. And Victor has never been known for his restraint."
She narrowed her gaze at him. "Who the hell are you?"
He smiled and extended a hand, seemingly unperturbed when she ignored it. "Nathaniel Essex. I've been so looking forward to meeting you, Rogue. Welcome."
Two last author's notes:
1. Yes, Amanda's little dizzy spell was a precursor of her mutant power developing. Handy, no?
2. Of course it was Sinister! You never really thought it could be anyone else, did you? I just couldn't resist.