Rogue was standing very still. Today she was going to be brave. She made herself let go of the seam of her scrubs. Today she was going to do whatever she had to do to escape. If that meant sapping people, she'd sap people. If that meant killing to save herself, she'd do it. She was listening hard for footsteps.

She didn't know how long it had been since she and Bobby had been taken. She didn't know if Bobby was in this place somewhere, wherever it was, or even if he was still alive. But there were things she did know. No one had ever called Marie D'Ancanto stupid. She'd noticed things about the guards. None of them stayed here long, and it was always the same ones who actually interacted with her, who came in with guns and a dog pole to hold her still while someone else wearing hazmat gear injected her with something that stung like a horsefly bite, then made her pass out. Over and over again. She had no idea what they were doing to her. It was something the other girls had whispered about in dorms after lights out, she'd glimpsed stuff like this through Logan; what people did to Mutants.

The rest of the guards never came in. They looked through the front of her cell. That was all they did. And if they didn't stay long, maybe they didn't know.

Footsteps.

Rogue dropped to the floor, limp, knocking her empty meal tray noisily on to the floor. She had her back to the door, but she could just about see it reflected in the base of her metal washstand. She started to twitch and jerk. She'd seen enough fits to do this realistically. She'd caused a couple. She saw the guard stop outside her cell. She heard him bark in a language she didn't understand as she jerked her head back and forth, thumping it against the floor. She heard the door open. Now or never. She gritted her teeth. The guard pushed her on to her back with a bare hand.

She grabbed him, skin to deadly skin, and held on for dear life. He was too startled to pull back at first. She'd discovered with Bobby that she could hold back her power by a couple of seconds if she tried hard enough. This time she threw herself against the guard, willing herself to hurt him, to kill him if she had to. He gasped. She felt his panic. She felt him flailing for an explanation for it. She felt what he thought of her. An animal. A thing with no real sense of what she was being put through. She held on. He grabbed at her hands with his other hand. Of course, that hand was bare too. If he'd been a mutant, she would have had his power by now. But no. He was human.

He was too weak even to shout now. His legs went from under him and he fell, half on top of her. She held on to his hand.

When he stopped trying to get up, she let go. He was still twitching. She dragged herself out from under him. There was a bunch of keys hanging from his belt. She took them and ran.

Now what? She'd only half-expected that to work. She was in a blind-ended corridor with three other empty cells on it. She guessed now she just had to get out, wherever she was. On her own. No, she'd do better if she could free any other prisoners she found and take them with her. Being in a gang of mutants working together would be better than trying to do this alone. She turned around and broke in to a run. What wouldn't she give to be a telepath right now? To be able to see people without seeing them and know if they were mutants…

There was no natural light, was she underground? She turned right, guessing wildly, ears straining for any signs of life, then…

That was a voice. She froze, listening hard. Was that a man or a woman? A man? And was he singing? Too far away to be sure. Rogue crept onwards. It was a man, he was singing. He sounded almost like… Could he be? Could it be Bobby?

She crept forwards, still straining her ears. She wanted to call out to him, but didn't dare. It might not be him.

The doors on this corridor were different. It looked more like a storage, a cold store. But the voice was nearer here. She kept going towards the voice. No, she was past it now. She turned around. So whoever was singing was in a cold store. Of course. Where else would you lock up a cryoform?

"She's ported and relieved
And she's stroked and bored."

She'd found him. That was Bobby. She started sifting through her keys, looking for one that might fit the padlock on the door's mechanism. That looked about right.

"She'll do a hundred and forty
With the top end floored."

The padlock came free. Rogue shoved the door and it swung. Bobby wasn't there. There was a second door in her way, shining metal, but there was a control panel next to it, with an electric looking fob port. Rogue looked back at her keys. That there ought to fit.

The door gave a long, loud beep.

"Shut up." Rogue hissed at it, before she'd had time to realize that was a dumb thing to do. Bobby's singing stopped.

"Who's there?"

The door swung open. He was there, crouching behind the door, staring at her. He hadn't shaved, even from this distance, he smelled. She ran in to his arms.

"Rogue."

"Bobby."

"How did…"

"I'm so glad you're okay."

"So am I. How did you find me."

"You-" She felt Bobby's power rear up inside her. She pulled away from him sharply. She'd hurt him if she held on. "You were singing."

"Only voice I've heard in days is my own."

"Me too."

"We need to get out of here."

"Yeah." That had been what she was trying to do before.

"Any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue. I didn't plan this far."

"The Professor'll find us." Bobby said. "He'll use Cerebro, he found you before."

"He didn't find Doctor Grey."

They ran, almost hand in hand, Rogue pulling away whenever she felt cold start to rise up inside her. She didn't want to risk hurting him. They hadn't seen another person so far, how had they been this lucky? If they'd triggered any alarms, they were silent. Bobby was stumbling. What had they done to him? Did he even have any idea?

That was a window there. Rogue turned to look out of it, maybe she could figure out where the hell they were. So did Bobby.

"Ground floor." Bobby said. He pressed both palms to the glass. "So we can jump." It misted with his power. Rogue heard it start to crack. Bobby drew one fist back, cased it in ice, and punched through the glass. The whole pane just shattered.

"That's cool."

Bobby shrugged. "Everything gets fragile if you make it cold. Come on." He climbed on to the window ledge and jumped down.

An alarm tore through the air. Rogue ducked instinctively.

"Come on!" Bobby shouted. "We gotta run!" They couldn't go back. The worst that could happen was being caught again. Heart hammering, Rogue followed Bobby out of the window. They were going to get caught. This was all going to be for nothing.

Bobby grabbed at her hand and pulled her forwards in to the dark. She was barefoot, so was he. She pulled her hand out of his. If she hurt him, they'd be caught. The alarm was still screaming behind them. Lights were coming on behind them. It was – was it dawn or dusk? It didn't matter, right now, they just had to run.

Where? Just away from the light. Bobby grabbed her hand again.

The ground disappeared from under their feet. They were falling. Rogue heard screams. Her mouth was open. She hit the water before she saw it, then hit the bottom. Something scraped at her legs. She staggered upright, coughing and gasping. Bobby was doing the same beside her. He looked back over his shoulder. Rogue looked too. They'd only fallen a few feet.

"You okay?" He coughed. Rogue nodded. She was coughing too hard to reply.

The water came to above her waist. It was freezing cold. Oh God, exposure would kill them now, even if the soldiers didn't. They could be anywhere. What had they done? They should have just waited for The X-Men.

There were voices shouting above them, Rogue shrank back in to the bank. If someone standing above them looked straight down, they'd be sitting ducks. How could they hide? Kitty could have just leaned back in to the bank and vanished. Doctor Grey could have made them not see her.

There. There was a fallen tree stump lying half in the river. That'd give them cover. The noise of the river would cover them moving. She tapped Bobby on the arm and started towards it. Every movement sent water splashing up her body, making new bits of her cold. They weren't going to make it. If the men didn't get them, exposure would. They could be anywhere. There was a lot of wilderness in the world they could die in.

What would Professor Xavier say to her parents? Sooner or later they'd need to tell them something. Would he just make them forget her? Maybe that would be best.

The voices started to move away. Rogue and Bobby looked at each other.

"We gotta move." Bobby mouthed. Rogue could feel herself starting to shiver. She was so cold. It seemed to be getting even darker. There was a shade of light to the right, stars were starting to appear. She followed Bobby across the stream and started up the opposite bank. She kept catching her feet on things. They'd bleed if she kept on for long. If she managed to keep walking for long.

They had tree cover at least, they shouldn't be visible from too far away. The light and noise began to fade out behind them.

"You're freezing." Bobby whispered to her. He reached for her. She pulled away.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Rogue, I don't get cold. I can help you." He held out a hand to her again. Tentatively, she took it. They counted together.

"One, two, three, four, five, six." They both let go. The cold didn't go away, but it didn't hurt any more. It didn't feel dangerous. She nodded once at Bobby.

"So I guess we just have to keep doing that." He said.