6

Magneto came to her room the next day to see her. He didn't knock like Colossus had.

"Have you calmed yourself since yesterday?" He asked.

Rogue snorted, as she sat up in the bed. She felt kind of embarrassed to be seen in front of her boss in her PJs.

"I will take that as a yes." Magneto said, entering her room and closing the door behind him.

"Now, would your calmly explain the events from yesterday?" he asked.

Rogue shrugged, "Like I said, I told Gambit not to touch meh and he kept touchin' meh. I gave him fair warnin' then, when he didn't listen, I went ta break his arm. No one gets ta touch me without my permission."

Magneto nodded. There was a pause between the two. Rogue looked away from the man, feeling small and childlike. It was almost as if Mystique was in front of her. Only, Magneto was yelling at her nor threatening her. Well, at least not now.

"I heard Gambit got a free pass yesterday." Rogue muttered.

"Do you know why I allowed him to roam free?" Magneto asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"You trust him?" Rogue took a guess.

"My trust is not easily earnt. Gambit has learned that I will not stand for that kind of attitude you displayed yesterday against me. Your fight, although, understandable, was not necessary." He said.

Rogue went to say something, but he held his hand up. Rogue closed her mouth, deciding that she best behave if she wanted to see the light of day again.

"I understand that Gambit was as much to blame as yourself. However, the next time you have an issue with a member of my team you come to discuss it with me and I will deal with the issue. I cannot afford to have my team fighting each other. And I especially cannot stand for your continuous disrespect towards me in front of my men. If you would have calmed yourself and explained the situation to me as you just did then I would not have had to punish you, do you understand that?" Magneto asked.

Rogue decided to keep quiet, but nodded her head, yes.

"If you keep arguing with me, challenging me and disrespecting me as you have done then your punishment will be a lot worse than it was last night, do I make myself clear?" Magneto asked.

Rogue looked him in the eye now. She couldn't hold back the anger she knew was in them.

"Yes sir." She replied.

Magneto nodded. "Good. You have a training session this morning with the whole team, including Gambit. I do not wish to see the pair of you at each other's necks, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." Rogue said.

Magneto nodded his head, contempt with Rogue's response.

"Make peace with Gambit however you can. If you do not, it will affect the whole team and I do not want to have to step in to deal with something so belittling." He said.

Rogue grimaced. She was not going to apologise to that Cajun. No means no.

Magento told Rogue to get changed and to meet them in the gym before leaving.

Rogue did what he said, changing into her uniform then leaving her room. The issue was she had no idea where the gym was.

Luckily, maybe, Sabretooth was passing by and she followed him. The gym was just a very large, spacious metal room. The other men were already in there, including Magneto. All looked at Sabretooth then Rogue as they entered. Rogue refused to make eye contact with Gambit as she lined up with them in front of Magneto.

Gambit had glanced at Rogue. She still looked mad. He thought that maybe he had gone a little too far yesterday, but he wasn't going to back off. He knew he was right. The girl wanted touch and he'd win her over with that.

"The aim of today's lesson is to become more familiar as a team. We will split into two teams. The first will be made up of Sabretooth, Gambit and Rogue."

Rogue could feel herself glaring at Magneto. She knew he was trying to force her hand. She didn't like it.

Gambit had been rather glad, smirking a little.

Sabretooth had rolled his eyes, not liking that he had to participate in something like this. He was used to flying solo.

Pyro found it funny and was trying to hold back his laugh. He was crazy, not suicidal and Magneto would kill him is he laughed.

Colossus did not seem too happy with the arrangements either, but he knew to keep quiet too.

"The next will be made up of Pyro, Colossus and myself. We will have the flag to begin with. The aim of the session is for the three of you," he said, referring to Sabretooth, Gambit and Rogue, "is to get the flag and return it to your side. Ours is to keep it away from them by whatever means necessary." Magneto finished.

"Ain't that a little unfair?" Rogue asked, eyeing Magneto more.

"If you are referring to the fact that I control the layout, then yes. It is unfair, but you may face unfair situations in the future. This exercise will prepare you to deal with those situations." Magneto explained.

Rogue grimaced, still not liking this.

"Don't worry Cherie," Gambit said, almost whispering into her ear as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "you're with good hands."

Rogue turned to look Gambit in the eye for the first time, well, more glared dangerously.

"Touch meh again and we'll play one person down. Do I make maself clear, swamp rat?" Rogue asked.

Gambit released his hand and held it up to show he meant no harm.

"We be on de same team, non, Cherie?" Gambit said, a small smirk in the corner of his lips.

"The two of you best place your differences aside. I will not hold back." Magneto said, moving towards the other end of the room.

Pyro and Colossus followed him.

The room began to shake a little as Magneto morphed the room. Rogue saw parts of the ground morph into small hills, starting to hide the others and, what looked like boulders were being created too. Gambit and Sabretooth began to walk towards the exit of the gym. Rogue followed them. She saw on the ground that there was actually a line of chalk or something showing where they began.

"So, I assume I be de one goin' for de flag, non?" Gambit said.

Sabretooth seemed to grunt in agreement. Rogue realised they were starting to make a plan and pitched in her concerns.

"What's gonna stop Magneto from just trappin' us from the get go?" she asked.

"Magneto usually doesn't attack first. He'll stay near the flag, send the others out. There'd be no point if he didn't let us battle it out." Gambit filled in for us.

"Closer we get to the flag, harder it gets." Sabretooth growled out.

"You mean, he'll start using his powers more?" Rogue asked.

"Exactly." Gambit said.

"How you gonna get the flag? He'll just disable ya." Rogue said.

Gambit smirked, "Worried 'bout moi, Cherie?"

"Nope, just 'bout winnin' this thing." Rogue said.

She heard Sabretooth snort. "Just stay outta the way mouse. Watch how a pro handles it."

Rogue glared at Sabretooth now.

Some sort of horn sounded and Rogue watched Gambit move off to the left while Sabretooth ran forwards. He began climbing up one of those hills like a lion on all fours. Rogue wasn't too sure what to do. Did she follow Gambit and try to go around? But then wouldn't that give him away? If there was more than him, it'd be easier to spot them. Plus, she did want to avoid Gambit. If she went centre, like Sabretooth, it would be more dangerous, but there would be more focus on the centre and less attention on Gambit.

Rogue began to walk forwards, staying a little bit behind Sabretooth. When she looked to see Gambit, he was gone. So Rogue focused on what was in front of her and where Sabretooth was. She'd gone on many missions before, but none quite like this. She felt kind of scared, but thrilled at the same time.

Then, she heard Sabretooth growl and jump off the hill he'd climbed up. Rogue had stayed on flat ground and watched as Sabretooth tackled Colossus and tried dragging him to the ground. The two began to fist fight and wrestle. Rogue just watched, seeing how Sabretooth was holding his own. She didn't much like the idea of fighting against Colossus either, so she just kept wary.

And before either Colossus or Sabretooth had realised, Pyro appeared with his fists aimed out at the two.

"Hope you fellas can stand the heat!" He shouted out as fire began to flow from his hands at the two.

Rogue had seen Pyro before either of the wrestling men had. She thought Pyro was mad attacking both of them like that. Sure, Colossus was metal, but he could have seriously hurt Sabretooth if his attack hit. With that in mind, Rogue ran out from her hiding place, summoning a power to the front of her mind.

Both Colossus and Sabretooth turned to see Pyro's flames coming at them, a little too late to react. But they also saw Rogue run and step in front of them. The flames enveloped Rogue.

"No!" Colossus yelled out.

Sabretooth used this hesitation against the metal man and used his weight to gain the upper hand in shoving the man to the ground. Colossus was still focused on Rogue however. He thought the flames would shoot straight passed her and hit them. Sabretooth did too. But something strange happened.

From underneath Sabretooth, Colossus watched as the flames seemed to surround where Rogue's body had been. Dancing around her in a circle almost. Sabretooth glanced at Rogue, curious what had Colossus so distracted. He too saw the flames surrounding Rogue.

"Pyro, stop!" Colossus called out.

The flames began to decrease around Rogue, but not for the reason everyone was thinking.

Pyro seemed surprised that his flames seemed to be vanishing from under his control. They still surrounded Rogue's emblazed body, but he wasn't the one making the flames circle around her and burn her to a crisp.

As the flames continued to decrease, they seemed to become absorbed into Rogue's body. She stood as she had done as the flames hit her; one hand outstretched, reaching for the flames. Her suit was burned off in places, but she didn't focus on that. Inside, she focused on the intense energy that now coursed through her body and which she felt desperate to get rid of. She kept hold of that energy though. Kept absorbing it until all the flames surrounding her were gone. Then she moved.

Rogue brought her arms in to hug her body. She imagined grabbing that energy from her chest. Then her arms shot out, one aiming at Pyro. Pyro yelled out in fright as a large amount of energy went flying at him. He was so surprised, he didn't think to react and the beam of energy hit him square in the chest, sending him flying to the other side of the room and slamming into a wall.

"Sabretooth, move!" Rogue screamed out as she began to twist her body.

She'd tried pausing and recalling some of the energy she was using as she twisted to face the two men behind her.

Having seen what she had done to Pyro, Sabretooth jumped high in the air, leaving Colossus on the ground. Rogue eyed Colossus before she left go of the energy.

"I'm sorry!" she said, then let the rest of the burning energy free and hit Colossus. He was thrown back, but not as hard as Pyro had. Rogue had used most of the energy against Pyro. Colossus did seem down though. At least, for the time.

Rogue dropped her arms and bent over, breathing deeply. It had been a while since she had used Sebastian Shaw's kinetic energy absorption powers. It tired her out quite a bit to hold so much energy as well.

"What the hell was that?" Sabretooth had yelled at Rogue from on top of the hill where he landed.

Rogue glanced up at him then said, "Your welcome."

Gambit chuckled at that. He'd been quite far away, but had still seen the scene unfold. He had to admit, he had frozen when he saw Rogue enter those flames and look like she'd been burnt to a crisp. Then, satisfied at the surprise he felt seeing her take two members out with only two moves. It was definitely impressive. Gambit was sure though that Rogue's powers was to touch other's skin though and copy their powers, not absorb rare hits of energy like that. He decided to put a pin in that though and continued on with his task. He guessed now he understood why Magneto was so set on keeping the fille.

Magneto had been hovering nearby too. He had learned that Rogue could recall passed mutant abilities. He had an idea of what abilities she may have had access to, but not all. He was impressed at how she had decided to use her abilities. Then he watched her walk towards Pyro, take her glove off and touch his check. He knew that he had lost Pyro's assistance now. But he admired how she took the initiative to make sure Pyro stayed down and also advantage herself in obtaining his abilities. He was simply glad he had not told Pyro more of his plans for exposing mutants.

Magneto then watched Rogue almost stumble to her feet as she held her head. It looked like she was in pain, but he quickly saw anger replace that as she turned back to walk towards Sabretooth who had jumped down off his hill.

Sabretooth was making his way towards Colossus. He kept a hold of the metal man's head and raised his arm, bringing his fingers together to form one sharp, knife like hand.

"Stop!" he heard a southern voice say as she grabbed his wrist.

He turned to growl at her, pulling his arm away. Rogue just glared back, then bent down towards Colossus who was starting to pick himself up. Sabretooth moved to put of foot on his back and pin the man in place.

Colossus meet Rogue's eyes. She looked… sad, almost.

"I'm gonna give ya a tape now and put ya out for a little bit. If ya don't want meh ta know anything like ya current thoughts or memories, try ta focus just on ya powers alone." Rogue said.

Colossus actually surprised Rogue by nodding. She tried not to let Sabretooth see that surprise though. She didn't think she'd actually ever met someone willing to endure hr touch before.

Rogue moved her hand forwards and tapped Colossus' head. She pulled back as quickly as she could, not getting any of Colossus' memories. Colossus' body slacked as he became unconscious.

"What are you playin' at mouse?" Sabretooth snapped as she stood.

"I'm tryna win the game, rat! Ma way of doin' things, knocks em out without puttin' them in a hospital bed and I also gain their powers, strengthen our team. I'd say ma way is definitely the better way." Rogue snapped.

Sabretooth stepped closer towards Rogue, getting in her face. "You dare put those freak hands near me and I'll eat you for lunch."

Rogue tsked, "Like I'd want you inside ma head!" Rogue snapped.

Just then, the ground underneath Rogue and Sabretooth shuck. Rogue tripped back, but before she could fall, metal slipped up her body and lifted her into the air. Rogue cried out as the grip tightened. She'd feared this. She didn't have anything to fight against this type of attack.

Sabretooth dodged metal boulders that were being thrown at him. Rogue struggled as the snake continued up her body. Then, the end of the metal came to be at Rogue's throat, sharpening until it was a knife at her throat.

"Surrender now, and I let the girl live." Magneto called out from above them.

Sabretooth had stopped moving with Magneto's assault on him stopping. He was growling and glaring. Rogue felt herself become a little scared. Even if Sabretooth had a way to save her, she had doubts he would actually do so. Then, although she doubted Magneto would kill her, there was still a chance. Rogue suddenly felt extremely at risk in the Acolytes grasp.

That was until she noticed some pink or redish lights coming fast her way. She barely had a chance to eye what they were before they hit the metal snake and weakened it. Rogue almost went crashing to the ground by the impact of the objects hitting the metal snake, but it appeared Magneto still had a grip on her.

She heard a roar before she saw Sabretooth before her. He had jumped forwards, grasping onto the metal snake that held her. He raised one hand, positioned in a knife like form as before as he sliced down the already weakened part of the metal.

The grip around Rogue loosened and then she was dragged down to the earth by Sabretooth. Rogue, alert, glanced around her for Magneto. She saw that his attention was now on Gambit. Rogue gasped as she noticed how close Gambit was to actually capturing the flag. But he had stopped. He held his bo staff in one hand and something else in the other that glowed the same pinkish red colour as the stuff that hit the snake. Had Gambit been the one to free her?

But now, Gambit was in danger. Magneto had pulled his bo staff away and Gambit was aiming blow after blow of charges at Magneto. Magneto lifted a metal shield as he continued to float closer towards Gambit. His movements were slowed, but he was still advancing.

Rogue's lip shuck as she thought. Then she thought of something crazy and was pretty sure it had something to do with having Pyro in her head.

"Sabretooth, throw me at Mags!" Rogue snapped at him.

Sabretooth eyed her, snarling. He didn't like to be told what to do by a stupid runt, but the idea of tossing her did amuse him. He reached out, gripping Rogue's wrist. Rogue winced in pain, knowing Sabretooth was being intentionally harsh with her. Rogue was barely able to keep footing with Sabretooth as he ran and clawed his way up a hill. His grip on her wrist was the only thing keeping Rogue up right.

At the top of the hill, Sabretooth stopped, placed another hand on Rogue's wrist, spun around once to gain momentum, then threw her.

Rogue gasped as she went high in the air. She managed to twist her body to face towards Magneto. He couldn't see her approaching with his helmet blocking his view. That was good.

"Gambit, at me!" Rogue yelled out. She had managed to grasp from Pyro's memories what Gambit's abilities were. He had the power to kinetically charge objects he touched and caused them to explode. That would work perfectly.

Gambit had saw Rogue's body taking flight. He had been confused at first, focusing mainly on his on slaughter towards Magneto. Then he heard her voice. It took his less than a second to know what she wanted. Gambit, trusting Rogue, shot five cards at her.

Magneto glanced at the cards that shot passed his shield. He saw them hit Rogue who he didn't realise was airborne until she had yelled out to Gambit. Magneto went to raise a metal shield before him, but it was too late. Rogue had absorbed the energy from Gambit's cards and had redirected that energy at him. Magneto was hit hard in the chest, flying backwards from the force and slamming into a hill of his creation.

Rogue had not thought out her landing. She tucked and rolled harshly down one of Magneto's hills. Actually, it was one closely opposite the one Magneto had hit. Rogue scampered to her feet and ran at Magneto. She didn't think she was going to make it in time. That blow she had knocked him down with didn't feel powerful enough to knock him unconscious. But she did reach him and managed to touch his bare cheek with her bare hand.

Rogue smirked, feeling at an extreme advantage now. She with this touch, she could learn all of Magneto's secrets and gain his powers. He could no longer trap her if she could use his ability as well.

The touch, however, was brief.

Rogue's eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped. She was still touching Magneto, but she could no longer feel his energy flowing through her. How was her bare hand able to touch him without hurting him?

Magneto's eyes had shot open to see Rogue's shock. He was angry. He hadn't thought she would be able to get this close to him. To be able to touch him and learn of his secrets. He'd managed to raise a magnetic forcefield as soon as he'd felt her hand, but he was uncertain how much she had absorbed. He was beyond angry now.

He gripped Rogue's wrist in his hand and kicked her in the stomach. Rogue grunted from the impact and was sent flying back.

Magneto rose to his feet then into the air, metal coming with him. He carved them into more snake like creatures with knife sharp heads and began aiming them at Rogue.

Rogue had managed to recover fast enough to see the snakes coming her way. Inches before they hit, Rogue raised her hands and froze them in place. She gritted her teeth, struggling to use Magneto's ability to keep them at bay. She managed to come to her feet, but it was still a struggle.

Magneto, on the other hand, let his anger at the girl power him. He used his free hand to feel the metal underneath Rogue. He brought it up and it hit. Rogue screamed as the ground was thrown up. She flew back in the air, spinning wildly before slamming into a metal hill. Rogue cried out at the pain that shot through her body. Especially her leg. She had landed on it in a way that snapped it. She was hurting and felt exhausted from the extensive use of her own powers, recalling powers and using new powers. She could barely move as she tried to crawl up onto her feet. It was then, mainly, when she realised the bone in her leg was sticking out.

Gambit had been paying some attention as to what was happened between Rogue and Magneto. He had made the jump to the raised island that held the flag, grabbed it and was leaping his way back along the way he came. He'd saw Rogue go flying in the air when he was barely halfway back to their side. He'd seen metal raise with Magneto and became fearful for what was about to unfold.

"Rogue!" He yelled out at the girl who seemed almost to be passing out.

Magneto didn't care for her exhaustion though. He was pissed and wanted to make the girl fear him. Fear him like she should have done right from the beginning. He raised boulders and began throwing them at her.

Rogue turned her head, then noticing the boulders coming down at her. She rolled onto her side, raising her arms and formed a magnetic shield around her. The boulders kept coming though. She kept the shield up, but it was hurting her. Rogue cried out at the pain seizing her body. She'd never held onto a mutation as long as this. It felt like her mind and body were being ripped a part. But if she dropped that shield, she was a goner. She needed help, but she didn't know if it was coming. She was actually fearful that she was going to lose control over the shield and drop it. She thought she could turn to metal, like Colossus, but then Magneto would have full control over her body and she had no idea if she could handle using another mutation right then.

Gambit had watched in horror at Magneto's on slaughter at Rogue. He jumped and leaped as fast as he could towards their side, hoping he could make it in time. He dived towards the ground, rolling and then reaching for the horn that was on their side, sounding it.

"Stop! We won!" he yelled out.

Magneto heard the horn, but not so much Gambit. He hesitated in realising his attack, but, he did.

Rogue heard the horn, but noticed Magneto didn't let up straight away. She kept hold of the shield, until she saw the remaining boulders in the air drop to the ground. Rogue dropped the shield, crying out as her hand fell with it. She hadn't realised that she'd also began bleeding from her nose at the strain. Rogue breathed heavily as she reviled in the pain coursing her body. She was still conscious, but she didn't know how long for.

Magneto began to take down the hills he'd formed. Sabretooth jumped off the one that he had been perched on. He had been close enough to do something to help Rogue, but he hadn't. Gambit glared at the man as he made his way towards Rogue. He understood why someone might not risk it, but he knew the man didn't interfere, not because he was scared of Magneto, but because he didn't like Rogue.

Rogue's body began to come into sight. Gambit was hast in his movements, but didn't run towards her. He noticed a pool of blood was forming around her legs, then got close enough to see that one of her legs had been broken and was sticking out of her leg. He felt bad for the girl who was withering on the floor. And angry. He'd never seen Magneto as relentless as that. He knew he'd been out to punish the girl and he thought it was completely uncalled for. Of course, he didn't want to start a war with Magneto himself, so he held his tongue and focused on the Rogue withering in pain on the floor.

Rogue had seen Magneto land and Sabretooth walk towards him as the surrounding went back to how they were before. She realised Sabretooth had been close and not done anything to help her. She felt hate towards the two men in front of her. One had tried to kill her. The other had let the other try to kill her. What kind of team had she joined if this was the treatment she got from her teammates?

Then, Rogue felt arms wrap around her. She felt fear course her. There was nothing she could do to fight off another attack. Her body was turned around as she was lifted into Gambit's arms. She saw his eyes. Saw how… unhappy they looked. Was that… care for her?

"It be alright now Cherie. I got you." He said.

Rogue… felt safe. She had a quick flash of a memory of Gambit blowing his cover just to help her before. He must have known what would have happened if he blew his cover. He didn't have to save her then. But he did. And now, he was making sure she was alright. At least, she hoped he was. Either way, she was in pain and couldn't do anything. She was beginning to black out and she knew she felt safer in Gambit's arms right then than she had anywhere else.

Gambit watched Rogue pass out in his arms, then glared at Magneto and Sabretooth.

"Her leg's broken. She's gonna need medical attention." He said.

"She will receive it. Sabretooth, go with them." Magneto said.

He realised that he might had gone too far when it came to ensuring Rogue feared him. He had wanted to scare her, not harm her. She would be useless to them with a broken leg.

Sabretooth almost growled in anger at Magneto. Magneto eyed the federal dangerously.

"She is useless to me like this. Take Colossus and Pyro back to their rooms first, then let Rogue absorb your healing abilities. That is an order." Magneto said before floating towards the door and leaving.

Gambit carried Rogue to her room, making sure to stay with her until Sabretooth did eventually show up and heal her. Even then, he stuck around for a while before leaving to prepare dinner.