Seeing her again had thrown him off, momentarily. Pyro had just thrown a fireball, blazing and long, and at the sight of Rogue, it flattered, sparks flying forward while it petered out. He'd seen her on the field before, of course, but she was always in self defense mode. This time, she was striding right toward him.
She looked taller than usual. He saw a sass in her eyes that used to come out sometimes when he'd do something to impress her. He felt his lips form into a smirk out of habit. He heard Magneto call his name to attention, barely, lulled behind the crackle and snaps of the flames, the whooshing as oxygen caught, the bang of debris falling, and of course, her. Just the sight of her gave him tunnel vision.
He ignited a fireball into his palm, bit his lip.
She stopped just a few feet in front of him, eyed him, then the building, then the fire in his hand. "John."
Was she trying to reason with him, stop him? He drew his arm back, the flame growing bigger, and he enjoyed watching her pupils dilate. Did she think it would be easy?
She dodged the steady line of fire easily enough, taking cover behind unexploded cars, garbage cans, anything. Soon he'd set just about everything around himself into a flame trying to catch her. He'd created a ring of thick black smoke, and she was hiding in it. He could hear her cough.
He thought he heard Magneto call his name again. He was turning slow, trying to find her. He saw movement in the corner of his eyes, but it was too late. She caught him on the back of the neck with a bare hand. He lost his control of the flame, felt his body getting weak. He tried to push her off, but she grabbed a hold of his forearm. He stumbled from resisting, fell. She wasn't letting go.
He thought he saw the flames grow bigger as his vision went black.
"Well done." Magneto had a way of looking less sinister than he actually was. If Rogue could forget what he'd done to her, tying her up, killing her, she would probably think he was a nice old man. He looked like a nice told man. "We will do great things together." She wondered if he believed that as he said it.
Rogue wanted to snap at him, but she needed them more than they needed her. "I'm really happy to be here." Her eyes were hard, but she put on her best sweet Southern smile. Magneto made an approving sound, nodding and smiling at her, before dismissing himself to do other more devious things. Work, he called it, pressing issues that need dealing with.
It was Mystique that took her around. She showed her where to sleep, where to eat, where to show. She showed her their training rooms and their medical bay. The rooms themselves were less impressive than at the mansion, but Mystique mentioned ad nauseum that Magneto had assisted the Professor in building the mansion, that their headquarters was just as advanced. Rogue wasn't sure she believed her. Time would tell how their tech stacked up.
Rogue knew she was dangerous, evil, but there was something about her that she really liked. She did the whole tour blue, naked and scaled. Rogue had heard a rumor that she'd gotten the cure too, that she was beautiful, and yet she chose to be like this. But, that was just a rumor anyway.
Mystique caught her eyeing the scars on her abdomen, and on the other side, on her back.
"And how is the Wolverine?" Mystique asked her. Logan had done that?
"Grumpy and bored," Rogue answered with a roll of her eyes. "Like always."
"Only boring people are bored." Rogue couldn't agree with the idea that Logan was boring, but she let it slide. Mystique led her back to her room. It was very bare, a bed, a nightstand, a lamp. The walls were white, and the bed had white sheets.
"It looks like a hospital." She didn't hear the irony until after she'd said it. Rogue winced, but Mystique laughed. "Where's John?"
"Pyro is still recovering from his ordeal today. Well done."
Rogue dropped her duffel bag near the door, and closed it shut as Mystique walked away.
Rogue couldn't sleep that first night. That's why she heard the commotion coming. Pyro was tearing through the hall, pulling open door after door trying to find her, waking up every new recruit in the hall. She heard the yelling, and was getting up to quiet him down when he tore her own bedroom door open.
He paused for a second, freezing at the sight of her in barely nothing. Maybe he'd forgotten she slept in nightgown. Maybe that night they were attacked had been too chaotic for him to notice it. Either way, he was noticing now. He made her feel naked, and she thought of Mystique. She noticed that he was still in the doorway, and she thought about how he'd felt the drain of her power now twice already.
She was glad to think he was a little afraid of her, with his eyes scanning her body like a touch, flickering from a wrist to a thigh to wherever, over and over.
She crossed her arms, and he seemed to notice the moment, finally. He caught her eye and sneered at her. "Nice." he said. "Sexy even."
"Don't be an ass." she replied. She sounded like Bobby. He smirked. "Here for a rematch?" Now she really sounded like Bobby.
"I was thinking about it, but now I'm thinking about other things." He was flirting with her. Her stomach sunk like a weight, but she felt a little warm too. It was almost like old times, but with higher stakes.
She scoffed. "Come here." she teased. "Give me a kiss." He wouldn't dare.
Except now he was walking toward her, and she remembered now how he liked a challenge.
He left barely an inch between their bodies, but she refused to back down. "Didn't get enough of my powers already?"
His eyes darkened a little. "I'm not afraid of you."
"Oh, I thought maybe you'd have learned from earlier. My mistake."
"Maybe you should be afraid of me."
She hesitated. She was a little afraid of him. He was looking at her right now almost like all those years ago, when they'd all lived together. But, there was something else in his eyes that she'd seen before too, that had always been reserved for other people, people he didn't like. She saw it years ago when he attacked those cops, and she saw it again earlier that day when he burned a building down that might have still been full of people: sick people, patients, families too, doctors.
She'd taken too long with her comeback. He let out a sardonic laugh she'd heard a million times before, back in another life.
"What do you think I'm going to do to you?" he teased her. "Not that I'm short on ideas."
She decided on honesty. "I don't like you like this. There were people in that building."
"Oh, I was briefed." he retorted. "Heard you finished the job."
He was right, but she wasn't proud of it. She couldn't help but remember the smell of hair and skin burning. There had been people inside. Her eyes had wandered off into a corner while she collected the memories, let them eat at her.
"Hey." he said, sounding almost a little concerned. "They were trying to neuter us."
Didn't he know she had taken the cure? "Everyone in those trials were willing." she stated, almost in a whisper. "They didn't deserve to die."
And it was like old times again. They slipped into their old roles easily. He'd always leaned toward brutality, and she had always leaned toward mercy. He lacked context. She had said it a million times before, and she was saying it again.
"They're not going to wait to put them in guns this time. They're going to take whatever they make, and open fire in the ghettos. Don't be naive." He waited for a retort, but she just stared at him, disapproving. "You're not the only one here who got the cure, you know." He sounded disgusted as he said it. So he did know. "You're just the only one who took it willingly." She opened her mouth to speak, to explain, but he beat her to it. "I won't say anything. You shouldn't either."
"Thanks." she replied, quiet and after a pause. It was a small thing, an insult, but it was a kindness too, right?
"I told Magneto it proved that you're weak, but he disagreed." He stepped away from her. Was he being kind? She was having trouble telling. "Welcome to the Brotherhood."
He turned away and left with a scoff and a wave of his hand. She found herself put off that he left before she could tell him to get out.