SORRY! For taking so long but first I had exams, (which I aced by the way and am now off to Exeter!)
Then I had a family holiday, but am now back and writing for your pleasure!!
Xx
E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
The beating was brutal, punches and kicks came from all directions. Eventually the man behind her let go and she sank to the floor coiling into a ball to try and ride it out. She drifted in and out of consciousness thinking she could hear the sounds of the x-team coming to her rescue. Someone grabbed her shoulder but she jerked the hand off. The hand grabbed her and turned her over, not unkindly. All she could see was a faint reddish glow, "Scott" she mumbled before the moving black at the corners of her vision rushed in to claim her.
Rogue woke up to a pounding headache. Her first thought was that she had gotten drunk again, a couple of nights ago she had managed to buy a bottle of tequila and had drained the contents before spending the next day hiding in shadows waiting for her head to stop spinning. She kept her eyes closed and tried to replay the last day in her head, she could remember wandering around the park and then... nothing. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and winced as pain spread across her chest. She brought her hand up to guard against the pain and tentatively pressed her fingers against her ribs, instantly white hot pain blossomed across her chest radiating from her fingers.
She opened her eyes cautiously and her worst suspicions were confirmed when a bland white ceiling met her gaze. She turned her head, wincing slightly at the shooting pain that sent up her neck and noticed she was in a white room with hospital equipment lining one wall. Then it hit her she was lying in the medical bay of the mansion. She mentally cursed herself for not recognising it sooner; she had spent enough time there.
She cautiously reached down and felt that she had been changed into a hospital gown, which meant she must have been injured somehow; no-one could risk exposure like that normally. Her reverie was interrupted by Hank coming into the room in his white lab coat. His face lit up when he noticed that she was awake.
"Good morning my dear, and how are we feeling today?"
Rogue just looked at him, her brain hadn't quite caught up with recent events.
"You have suffered several bruised and broken ribs so don't try to breathe too heavily; also you dislocated your shoulder, but that should heal quite easily. Finally you received several blows to the head and managed to split your head, don't worry" he hastily added "I have glued that back together and it should be fine, all in all you were very lucky"
Rogue almost laughed, Lucky? She had been beaten to quite literally a pulp!
"Do you remember what happened?"
Rogue just looked she didn't have the energy to speak let alone shake her head.
"Very well, I shall endeavour to enlighten you. We found you in the alley behind Wall-mart, it seems as if a group called 'Friends of Humanity' have been watching the mansion for some time and decided to step up their terrorist activities"
He paused as if to wait for Rogue to respond, after a few seconds of her staring back at him he continued.
"By the time we arrived you had been quite badly beaten up, but somehow managed to take out a few of their members. Do you remember?"
Nothing
He sighed, "Rogue you have to talk to someone, just nod or something to let me know you are ok?"
Nothing
"Do you want to see Kitty or Kurt?"
Nothing
"Fine I'll send them in"
AS he left Rogue turned her head to the other wall. She didn't know why but she couldn't get her voice to work, she just didn't want to speak. She opened her mouth and tried to say something, nothing. Her voice had deserted her.
She heard the pneumatic hiss as Kitty and Kurt made their way into the room.
"Er Rogue?" that was Kitty, she sounded upset.
"We're like sorry" Sorry? What were they sorry for?
"We followed you yesterday, but like we totally left until you didn't come back for dinner so we went out to find you, and we followed you from the bar to the alley"
The bar? Oh yeah she had gone for a drink and then... wait hadn't hank mentioned something about an alley? She could remember the men ambushing her. Then she realised Kitty was still talking.
"I sent Kurt back to the mansion for help and was about to help you when something knocked me out! I'm so sorry"
Now she really was crying, Rogue felt bad but still studied the wall, they had been following her, no one trusted her enough to just leave her alone. Scott had probably asked them to keep an eye on her to prevent her doing any damage to herself or anyone else. He couldn't risk the image of his precious team.
She was jolted out of her reverie by Kurt placing a three fingered hand on her shoulder, "Rogue? Are you alright?"
She managed to will her muscles into life to nod her head, just once and barely perceptibly but Kurt seemed to notice as she felt his hand relax.
"Good, do you remember what happened? Kitty says that there were about 6 guys, by the time we got back there were only three and they were knocked out. We left them at the hospital, so they are alright" Typical Kurt they had beaten her up yet he was concerned that her attackers were going to make a full recovery.
Had she beaten them up? She couldn't remember being given a chance to land more than a few punches, which left either she had managed to land more than she thought or she had been rescued by someone. She didn't like the idea of needing to be rescued it meant she was weak. She couldn't take on other mutants easily because of her powers and now she was having trouble taking on mere humans!
She thought she heard them say more but her pounding head was making her dizzy and soon she was falling into a deep sleep. The only thought she was able to hold onto was that she had been beaten, the Rogue was not as unstoppable as everyone thought, well that was going to change.
E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
"Kitty I am vorried, Rogue has gotten even more depressed, should ve talk to a teacher about it?" Kurt began as soon as they had left the room, seeing his sister lying there with bruises and bits of blood on her face had scared him. Especially seeing as she hadn't even managed to say a word to either of them.
"We should totally talk to Dr McCoy he is really down to earth and will know what to do" Kitty said wiping a stray tear from her eye. Although her and Rogue made an unlikely pair, she still thought of them as really close friends. It worried her to see her in such pain.
They eventually found the doctor in his lab looking at some medical charts.
"And how can I entertain such lively young minds today?" He asked beaming like they were the highlight of his day
"We like wanted to talk to you about Rogue" Kitty began and looked at Kurt for support
"Ve are vorried that she may be depressed, she vouldn't talk to either vone of us"
To their surprise the doctor nodded sadly, "I was afraid something like this would happen. Rogue has very severe depression and the fight only made it worse, however with the Professor acting as 'loco parentis' we cannot do anything until he returns; so long as she remains in a state where she won't hurt herself all that I can suggest is that we try to keep her spirits up and keep a close eye on her in order to see any changes to her behaviour. Although she cannot know we are treating her any different, Rogue has a lot of pride and will not like to think of herself as weak or any different than the rest of us.
Kitty smiled and left while Kurt stayed behind, Hank noticed that he seemed nervous, "anything else troubling you?" He asked kindly
Kurt grimaced, "I vas vondering, could Apocalypse have made any lasting impressions of mien sisters mind? She was under the control of Mesmero for a while."
Hank smiled and shook his head, "the Professor checked, her mind is, although jumbled, very much intact you do not have anything to worry about. Incidentally, I have uncovered a tablet from the tomb of apocalypse that I hope will shed some light on this mysterious mutant and how he came to life for so long. He also seemed to have a similar power to Rogues that was in a stronger form as it overrode hers as if it did not exist. Remarkable"
Kurt smiled and edged out of the room knowing a lecture was imminent.
E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N...E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.
Sorry it took so long, hope you liked :D
Pls R+R!
Xxx
Daegana