Chapter Fifteen
"You found her?" Pyro asked Magneto when he got back. Magneto didn't answer. Pyro saw he looked frustrated and angry. "I guess you did."
"Not now Pyro!"
Pyro quietened, but never left his office. He witnessed Magneto slam his fist and power down so hard that he crushed his desk into the ground, then threw it into the wall on the other side of the room. He was really pumped.
"I take it things with Rogue didn't go well?" Pyro commented quietly.
Magneto tried to control his breathing then straightened his back.
"She is going after Sinister, as are we. Pyro, get a team together, track her down and stop her... No matter what the cost."
Pyro raised his eyebrow at this. "Wait, what about my lost memory? What about the Professor-"
"I gave you orders Pyro." Magneto yelled, turning around to glare at him. "Do as you're told and don't fail me!"
Pyro couldn't say anymore as he was thrown back and out of the room by the metal he was wearing and the doors slabbed shut in his face.
XXXXX
Wolverine woke up moaning. He felt horrible. The morning sunlight hit his eyes through the thin curtains and he was awoken. He got up wondering what had happened. Then he happened to catch her scent and he remembered. Rogue. He growled then got up to his feet. As he stormed out of the building, he came to find a suprize outside. The X-Jet was landing in front of the cheap hotel. Wolverine watched it, replaying everything that he was told the other night in his head and trying to come to a decition what to do.
The ramp came down and out came Cyclopse, the Professor, Storm and Jean.
"Logan, why did you run off?" Storm asked.
Wolverine looked between Storm, Jean and then to the Professor whoms eyes he locked one to.
"You found her didn't you Logan? You went after Rogue. What happened? Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm peachy. Better than I was before actually. And your just the person I wanted to see."
"What is it Logan? Have you found out some information about Rogue? What she is up to?"
"Yeah, but that's not what I meant. Last night Rogue told me some pritty interesting stuff."
"Becareful Logan. You cannot trust that girl."
"That's the thing chuck. I've been around for quite some time now and I've got pritty good at knowing when a person is lieing to me. The thing is though, I didn't see any tell or any reason why she'd lie to me about what she's been through."
"Wolverine-"
"So, it begs the question chuck, if she's telling the truth and someone has wiped all our minds of her then who and why have they done it?" Wolverine glared down at the Professor.
The Professor looked outraged. "Are you insisting that it was me who's abused my powers and made everyone, including myself forget about that girl?"
"I didn't say that chuck, but someone's been messing with our minds. Maybe even hers. I don't know what's going on here, but all I know is I gotta find and stop that kid before she does anymore damage."
"What do you mean Logan? What is she to do?" Asked Storm, grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving so soon.
Wolverine looked from Storm to the Professor. "She's gonna kill the new president or something. I don't know who or which one, but she refered to him a lot as Sinister... She said she was doing it for the greater good of mutants everywhere."
"She's been brainwashed by Magneto then."
"That's what I was thinking, but, truth is I don't think that's the case. Why would she be out here in a cheap crappy hotel instead of hiding out with the Brotherhood if she was really on Magneto's side? I think she has her own reason for going after this guy Sinister... " Wolverine looked down to the floor. "Said that Magneto and I were the only two who'd understand." There was silence for a moment as Wolverine again tried to recall and link together what it was she was hinting at. He looked up to the Professor with determination and leadership in his eyes. "Professor, I think we need a background check on all these wannabe presidents and some information on who this Sinister guy is. You all go back and try to figure that stuff out. I've got a scent on Rogue. She couldn't have gotten far. I'll track her down, try and talk some sense into the kid."
"Because that worked last time." Cyclopse commented. Wolverine turned and glared at Cyclpose then took a step towards him, grabbing his roughtly by his coat.
"Logan." Jean gasped.
"Listen Bob, that girl's been through a lot and is scared of her own goddamn shadow. Someone's messing with her head and messing with all of ours and when I find out who and why I'm gonna stab them through the guts. You got that Cyk?"
"Your not normally the one best with teenagers Wolverine." Cyclopse's said, pushing Wolverine off him. "Jean and I should go. You'll just scare her."
"No. The kid and me have a bond. I'm going."
"Oh yeah and what's that? You've both killed people?" Wolverine's claws came out.
"Enough both of you!" Cried the Professor. "Logan what do you mean you have a bond with the girl?"
"Like I said chuck, I took time to listen-"
"Huh, that's rich." Interupted Cyclopse.
"And" Continued Wolverine, ignoring Cyclopse. "I found out she's just a kid running scared because of all the things that's happened to her. And that one of the memories that were lost was that I'd sacrifed my own life for hers. Now, I wouldn't just sacrific myself for anyone. There's something about her too. Something that just screams that I should know her and know who she is. We've been tracking to track her down and her past for a year Charles and this is the closest thing we've got since she first came up on the sense. I'm going after her, whether you like it or not and I'm gonna talk some sense into the kid and try to get her to come back with us. But you've all got to be understanding."
"Ha." Said Cyclopse, irnoically.
"Very well. Jean, Scott, you'll come back to the mansion with us and then you'll take a smaller jet to locate Wolverine. Jean and Scott will acompany you finding her. The rest of us will look into findign out who is actually running for president and what they want. Come now. The longer we banter the less time we have." And the Professor turned around to leave with the other X-Men following him.
Logan growled then turned around to go to his bike, but it was gone. He growled again. "Rogue."
XXXXX
Rogue was close now, so very close. She was one day away from Washington and in another two days, she'll be stood over Sinister's dead body, finally feeling free from her nightmares.
Rogue had crashed in another hotel after pulling another dirty geezer and woke up with a start. She could smell smoke and hear the crackling of fire. When she looked around her dark room it was to see that her whole room was on fire. Rogue swore under her breath and did the only thing she thought she could do. Wrapping the blanket around her tightly, Rogue ran and jumped out of her window, smashing into the glass and feel from the first floor to the ground. She landed hard, rolling a little as she did, but the blanket had helped cution the blow, though not very much.
Slowly Rogue got up and on to her feet. She looked back at the hotel, seeing the whole building was largely up in flames. Rogue's head snapped from left to right. To her left she saw fire engines and police and to her left, she saw the menise who was burning the building. Pyro. He'd stopped when he's looked to his left and saw Rogue looking at him.
"Sorry about this Rogue, but orders are orders."
Rogue jumped and rolled out of the way of Pyro's fire bomb and began running into the forest. She knew it was defently not good cover, but it helped camoflarge her. Before Rogue could run straight forwards much further, something dropped down in front of her from the trees, landing on all fours. Toad.
Rogue ducked the toad's long tongue, which ended up getting trapped in a tree. Rogue kept running, only then to come across Domino who jumped out at her from behind a tree; blocking her path.
"Domino."
Domino aimed her guns at Rogue and Rogue knew there was no point trying to get around this. Domino had luck on her side.
"I'm sorry Rogue." Domino said, before shoting Rogue in the knee cap. Rogue screamed in pain, going down holding her knee. The next thing Rogue knew there was a bag over her head and she felt something hard knock against the side of her head. She was out cold.
XXXXX
When Rogue woke up, she woke up to the darkness. And to find her hands and legs were bound. Her leg still hurt, but she could feel it had been wrapped up in a bandage and treated. It took some struggle, but Rogue finally got the bag off her head. She blinked a few times, though found that the lighting wasn't much better where she was. It looked like she was in a shed of some sort. Rogue was confused. She thought the Brotherhood members were trying to kill her. Why let her live?
Rogue tried to move, but found that one, her leg was busted really badly and two she was chained to the wall. Rogue wasn't getting out of this one.
She wasn't sure how long she had been unconsious for or how long she just sat there day dreaming. All she knew was she heard a car pull up outside the shed and readied herself for some plan of escape. Who broke down the door she wasn't expecting.
"Logan?"
"Hey kid. Thought I smelt a rat, or toad or some kind of smelly animal drag you in here. You alright?"
Rogue generally smiled at Logan though it was an awkward one as she hadn't smiled in a long time. "Yeah. Well... No. Not really. My leg's screwed."
Logan eyed up her leg and the blood around it."I can see that kid. Huh, guess the Brotherhood really did a number on you didn't they?"
Rogue nodded her head. "Yeah. Don't know why they kept me alive."
"Me neither. Not normally their style."
"Speaking of styles, you gonna help me out or you gonna walk away?"
There was silence as the two locked eyes and rogue waited for a reply. She got one, Logan stepped forwards and released his claws. "You try anything, I'll stab another few holes in ya."
Rogue nodded her head. Logan untied her. Rogue sat up straighter and relaxed. "What time is it?"
Logan grimace. "Kid, you've been missing for several days."
Rogue glared at Logan. "What?"
He knew what she was really asking. "Yeah. You've missed you're shot at killing Sinister."
Rogue's eyes doubled in size and her breathing got deeper. "What? But? Did? Did Magneto? Did Magneto...?"
"No. He didn't get a chance. Turns out that Sinister guy you were reffering to had...a lot of back up and a lot of plans. Did you know about the sential robots Kid?"
Rogue looked at him questionably. "What?"
"Sentials. Giant robots. Designed to take out mutants."
Rogue looked down, thinking. "...He...He was working towards something." She looked into his eyes. "He liked my powers for their ability to..." Rogue stopped, not knowing if she should tell Wolverine of her developed powers or not. She decided to stay quiet.
"It's horrable aint it? Having to go back their." Wolverine said.
"You don't have to give me a 'oh everything will get better in time' or an 'i've been there' story. I already know all about it. Ya don't need ta talk down to me. Just tell me, what the hell's happenin' out there now."
Wolverine grimaced. "Not good, like always. Good thing is this Sinister guy isn't offically the president."
"What's the bad news?"
Pause. "He's already taking over, so it doesn't matter if he's called the president or not."
Rogue didn't look shocked or suprized. Just dissapointed. "He used the attack of the Brotherhood to get himself more financal supporters, didn't he?"
"That seems it."
"He used them... Let his men, The Nasty Boys find the Brotherhood and leak them information to who or what he was... He maniopulated me... " Rogue began standing up. "This is why I work alone." She was shakey on her one good leg, but used the wall to support her.
Wolverine stood up with her. "You know kid, it ain't your fault. Sinister woulda found a way to manipulate them without you there too."
"I know, but I still made it easier and less work for him. He's probably wondering why I didn't show up actually, at the speech. He captured a lot of mutants there didn't he?" Wolverine nodded his head."He wanted to capture me too. He was expecting me... I knew it from the start, but I thought if I was going down, then I could take him down with me." There was a tear in Rogue's eye. "And you now what." Anger now drove her. "I'm still gonna send em ta hell!"
"I get how your feeling kid, but you gotta listen to me." Wolverine touched her arm gently. "Killing him won't make the pain go away. It won't make it worse either, but it won't make it better. It doesn't matter if you kill him or not, they're still be people out there like him ready to take up his place. What you gonna do? Kill them too? Then what? You'll see yourself become a monster! You'll become just like Magneto! A cold empty shell with no right emotion or feeling left. Killing people. Being paranoid all the time. You'll be what you hate."
Rogue nodded her head. "Then what do I do Logan? Go back with you to the X-Men and forget all about Sinister, and what you X Men have put me through? Live day in and day out watching my ex boyfriend with another girl. Live walking down corridors, having people look at me strange and talk about me behind my back. Live with people knowing I can't trust them. That one day I might just wake up and get kicked out again, or worse. Someone else might get kicked out and my memory might be wiped off them. I might even just be forced to forget you Logan... I can't live like that. Knowing that any moment you might just be taken away from me again... And I can't live knowing now that mutants are being hunted down by sentials and experimented on. I'm gonna find a way to stop Sinister and everything he stands for. And Logan." Rogue had a deep and soft look in her eyes now, her lips parting as she grew closer. Wolverine's mind went blank for a moment as he got caught up in the heat of the moment. "I'm gonna do it on my own." And Rogue kissed Wolverine on the lips.