Hello,

hope you enjoyed the first few chapters. Here is the next

Chapter 3

After riding at a reasonable speed for a hormonal teenager, it only took forty minutes Rogue for Rogue to reach her destination. Once there Rogue parked her green and black racing bike outside of a store that was called "The Word". It was an independent book store that had quickly become her favourite store in Bayville for various reasons. The first reason was that it stocked many books that weren't available in the mainstream stores and didn't fall for the any of the fad book trends, Twilight being a prime example. They also stocked many books that weren't published by the big publishing houses, so it supported many smaller publishing houses and helped a lot of good, new authors get published. The second reason was that they had very comfy chairs and the staff would just leave you alone to read in the quiet space. And occasionally would bring coffee, if they knew you well enough. The third reason was the staff itself.

Rogue took of her black leather biker jacket and hung it up on the coat rack that was next to the door as she walked into the store, she also placed her helmet on the table near the door. The inside was very comfy looking and gave a warm cosy feel. It was a weird mix between a library, a coffee shop, a bookstore and an eccentric relative's living room. This gave it a unique and interesting feel and a great place to calm down after a fight. Once she entered the store she scouted around to look for any familiar faces that happened to be either shopping or working at the store that day. She was such a frequent visitor that she knew almost everyone who would ever be in that store. Unfortunately, she couldn't see or hear anyone.

"Hey Rogue," Came a very cheery male voice from somewhere behind one of the bookshelves all of a sudden.

"Hey Devon, you know it freaks me out when you do that. It feels just like when the Professor does it and I still don't know how you do it," Rogue said cheerfully as the owner of that voice came out from behind the nearest bookshelf.

"Hey, you've come in here so often that I know it's you by how you open the door, all forceful and determined. Besides, those new boots are heavy and you now sound very distinctive. Feminine, yet powerful, dainty, yet hard. Help me with these will you?" Devon asked as he handed Rogue a pile of used books.

Devon had become a good friend of Rogue's since she had moved to Bayville. He was a pre-law student who was now in his final year at NYU and it was his uncle who owned the book store. They had become closer after Rogue's self-possession at the concert in her junior year and after the Risty debacle. It had taken a while for Rogue to trust Devon but he eventually found his way into her heart. And he also had a very interesting sense of personal style. So much so that when Rogue was out in public with him no one would pay attention to her. Even though she had been outed as a mutant, she still got less attention than Devon did.

"You dyed your hair again, I like it," Rogue said as she helped Devon move stacks of second hand books over to the cash register.

"Thanks, I was thinking that since it was summer I should go for a bright colour. Hence the yellow and orange," Devon replied nonchalantly as he set down his stack of books and removed his left arm before sorting through the pile that had accumulated on the desk.

Devon was born with only one hand. His left arm stopped about half way down his forearm and that was how the two independent souls had bonded two years previously.

Rogue had been at the bookstore about two years ago, escaping a hyperactive Kitty at the time, when four armed robbers came in and tried to take all the money out of the stores safe while holding Devon at gunpoint. This of course caused Rogue to fight against the intruders and to knock them out quietly and quickly using her absorption powers. This had worked splendidly as it meant all four men were rendered unconscious with the absolute minimum of bloodshed and Devon had been unharmed. Unfortunately this also meant that Rogue had exposed herself as a mutant in her one safe haven in Bayville. The one place where she could escape both the hatred of the normal students in school and the craziness of the Mansion.

What happened next had completely taken Rogue by surprise. Not only did Devon thank her profusely and exclaim how cool it was that she was a mutant, but he also exposed his own brand of mutation causing Rogue to show one of her rare and beautiful genuine smiles for someone who had made her truly happy.

Devon wasn't a mutant who possessed the advanced X-gene, but he was a young man with a more common mutation where one of his limb just simple did not form in-utero. Devon had told her that he was so ashamed of being different, that he did everything in his power to stop people noticing his obviously difference, such as dying his hair very noticeable colours, wearing very unusual styles of clothing and having a few piercings. He also wore a prosthetic arm, even though he hated it just so people wouldn't look at him and feel sorry for him for being disabled. But with Rogue he was able to be himself and with Devon, Rogue was able to be herself. He knew all about the mutants at Xavier's school long before it was on the news and he was one of the few people who stuck by his mutant friend afterwards. He had also been completely opposed to Mayor Kelly's anti-mutant agenda. This included outfitting each store with a silent alarm in case a mutant happened to walk in. His uncle agreed with him on that point, and although they did put in a silent alarm after the armed break-in it was not for mutants. Devon and his uncle had even started an anti-anti-mutant petition, stating that what Mayor Kelly was doing was against mutant's human and constitutional rights. So far though, they only had about ten others businesses who had signed the petition.

In fact, Devon and Rogue became such good friends that he was even able to persuade her to go to her senior prom. Her only stipulation was that he accompanies her though, since he had missed his own prom. When he turned up at the Mansion to pick her up for the prom in his black tuxedo with his hair dyed red to match the corsage that he had purchased for her everyone had burst out laughing. Logan was worried about this boy until he realised that they were both going as friends and that because of his prosthesis' it looked like Rogue could hold his bare hand. This made both Rogue and Logan smile. Well, until Logan realised that Devon was smuggling a small bottle of whiskey in his false arm. He was about to say something until Hank and Ororo had both pulled him back and made him realise how happy Rogue was, so he let her go and he was glad. When the pictures came back after the prom the whole mansion was in hysterics because of what the two unique individuals had gotten up to that night, which included hanging several banners that read "Mutants Forever and Proud".

"Here, I was gonna bring it round tonight but since you've decided to visit me instead," Devon said handing Rogue a small package wrapped in what looked like Russian newspaper. Rogue accepted the gift with a small and opened it to find a plain journal that was covered in what looked like black silk.

"It's for you to write about your adventures," Devon said with a smile.

"And I bet you expect to be able to read this when you get back?" Rogue asked with a sly smile.

"Well, I expect someone would want to. I mean I was talking to guy who owned a small publishing house and he said how much he would love to read about the world from a young mutant's point of view," Devon said, quite nonchalantly again as he fingered his long, brightly coloured hair. He was desperate to see the look on Rogue's face though as he knew how much she wanted to be a writer.

"Thanks Devon," Rogue said as she came around the counter to hug her friend, tears once again filling her eyes. She couldn't believe how much she had cried over the last few days.

"You're welcome," Devon said with a smile. After a few moments Devon broke the embrace to go into the back room as Rogue looked through the books that were on the counter. She was hoping something was piquing her interest as she still didn't have anything to read on the flight. When Devon came back through he was carrying a cup of what Rogue could smell was a vanilla and coffee. Her favourite, a vanilla latter was put before her.

"Now, not that I don't love having you here, but what's brought you round today? I would have thought that that library of yours would have enough books to keep you busy on your flight tomorrow?" Devon asked as he handed Rogue her coffee.

"Jean," Rogue replied coldly before bringing the coffee up to her lips.

"What did Little-Miss-I'm-So-Perfect do this time?" Devon asked. It was quite a common occurrence for Rogue to flee the Mansion to get away from the dominate redhead. Devon had a feeling that the two girls would actually get a long quite well, if they could get over their mutual dislike. It sounded like the problem was that both girls had quite a lot in common and unfortunately it was all the bad parts of their personality, so it would automatically cause conflict between the two. Devon also didn't understand why no-one at that Mansion hadn't figured this out and made the two girls sit down and talk it out like sane adults. Surely the fact that they were both on a team of mutants who defended the world would make them want to get a long for the sake of humanity?

"Well, she questioned my loyalty, whether I deserve this trip or anything else, and then she made fun of the fact that I don't have any parents," Rogue said simply while she walked through the bookshelves.

"That's shit," Devon said.

"Yeah, yeah it is. I mean what the hell did I do to her to make her hate me so much?" Rogue said as she thumbed a couple of book spines.

"She doesn't hate you Rogue, I have a feeling that she's just jealous of you," Devon said following Rogue through the bookshelves as he put the small stack back on the shelves.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Why on Earth would she be jealous? I mean she's got the perfect life, and the perfect guy, and she'll probably go off and have the perfect family while I'll be stuck by myself forever. I mean, she gets to hug and kiss and do other stuff, while I have to keep back so much just so I don't kill everyone else. Why on Earth would anyone be jealous of that!" Rogue exclaimed going misty eyed again but for a different reason, looking at Devon like he had just sprouted an extra head. Which to Rogue seemed more logical than the perfect Jean Grey becoming jealous of her.

"Well, in my experience, if someone is unreasonably hostile towards you, and goes to great lengths to point out things that make you feel small, its because they're jealous of something you have," Devon continued as he restocked the shelves, enjoying the incredulous look on Rogue's face.

"I think you've been around these dusty books too long," Rogue said, shaking her head and discreetly wiping her eyes.

"Maybe, anyway, why do you care, you're leaving tomorrow to see the entire world. Don't let Miss Prissy get you down. It sounds like maybe she's not getting so many hugs, kisses and other things from one eye anyway," Devon said as he rubbed his friends shoulder through her purple top.

"Thanks Dev. I think I'm just gonna look around some more," Rogue said with a half smile.

"Ok, I'm gonna get back to work. Let me know if you need anything," Devon said as he picked up the empty coffee mug and walked back over to the counter, leaving Rogue in her own thoughts about her trip and Jean Grey.

After a few hours, and quite a few coffees, Rogue was still between two bookshelves but she had calmed down considerable. She had dragged her favourite comfy blue chair over so she could read the start of a few books to narrow down her decision. She was also contemplating returning to the mansion after she had received the twentieth text from her friends and instructors asking her to come back.

Every year, since the Institute had opened its doors to young mutants in need, before the students all went home for the summer in a mass exodus there would be a formal sit down dinner for all the students and staff of the Mansion. It was a nice way to end the school year and to say goodbye to everyone, before everyone who could went home for two months. It was enjoyed by everyone as it gave everyone a chance to get dressed up and have a fantastic three course meal that the Professor had professionally catered. There would also be fireworks, music and it was the one day that the students were allowed to stay up passed curfew. This meant that everyone would be far too tired in the morning for their flights or pick-ups and curse the instructors for letting them stay up that late. It also meant that every student would see the sadistic look on Logan's face as they left, knowing that they would have a long training session as soon as they got back to make up for the months without early morning Danger Room sessions. It was a joke amongst the students that that was all Logan did when they were gone, think up new ways to torture them. Some of the students were beginning to believe this as there was too much evidence now to disprove them.

This year was actually going to be the first year that Rogue would be leaving for the summer. Her plane would be leaving from JFK at ten o'clock in the morning. This was around the same time that Kitty would be getting her flight back home to Chicago. So both Rogue and Kitty would be taken to the airport by Logan at about seven o'clock to make sure they got there for the two hour check in. Rogue also had a feeling that Kurt would be accompanying them, even though he wasn't going to be leaving for another two weeks. He was going to stay on and help at the institute, a job that usually belonged to Rogue as she was one of the few who never left.

Rogue sighed, knowing that she would have to go back to the Mansion sooner or later to face Jean. And Rogue felt it should be sooner, as she didn't want to put dampener on the night that Ororo, Hank and the Professor had planned. Besides, it was almost six and the store would be closing soon.

As Rogue was contemplating these thoughts she heard the musical jingle of the door of the store and several pairs of feet walk into the store. Rogue checked her watch seeing that the store would be closing very soon and getting a very bad feeling about the sudden appearance of several people. So, Rogue got up, picked up her selection of books, and started to make her way through the bookshelves to see who had entered the store fearing that it might be another armed robbery.

"I'm sorry, we're closing," Devon's voice came out suddenly, sounding very nervous. Rogue knew that Devon would have one finger going towards the silent alarm if he felt even the slightest bit nervous about the appearance of several men before closing time.

"We'll be quick," A voice said that sounded cold and strangely familiar to Rogue as she made her way towards the front of the store to see what was going on. That was when she heard the struggle and the strangled cry that could've only come from Devon.

"Make sure this mutant sympathiser is taken care of," Said the cold, familiar voice again.

Rogue slowly peered around the bookshelf to see that two men had grabbed hold of Devon and were currently tying his hands together behind his back. Devon always put his false arm back on when he heard the store bell jingle. The men were forcing Devon back onto a chair while they were about to gag him. The men obviously knew about the silent alarm in the store as they had moved Devon back quite a considerable distance from the counter, so he couldn't raise the alarm if he tried.

"Spread out men. She's here. Remember, don't touch her skin barehanded and we want her alive. So tranquilise her," The man with the familiar voice said. He was tall, about six feet tall and had a prominent chin and a moustache. He had dark hair and cold eyes. He also looked like he was regarding the entire store with a disdain, as if he was afraid something here would corrupt him.

Rogue could see that there were ten men there, including the one with the familiar voice who was obviously in charge. One of the men was currently guarding Devon, while another six men were spreading out through the store. Each man was wearing black fatigues with a headset on that was attached to a box on their belts. They were all carrying an array of weapons, but most were rifles that had obviously been adapted to fire tranquilisers rather than bullets, with a pistol also attached to their belts. Each man was obviously military trained, but she couldn't see any emblem that identified them to any military organisation that Rogue knew.

The book store wasn't a huge store but it was fairly large, but there were still only two exits. The front entrance was being guarded by one of the men who didn't move out and the back exit, which was through the back room, was currently being guarded by the tenth and final man. But the windows were big and glass, and with one decisive hit they would shatter giving her an escape route. All she had to do was get to them, but she couldn't leave Devon alone with these men. He had stood beside her through a lot and she couldn't live with herself if anything happened to him because of her.

Quietly she slipped through the bookshelves and managed to take out two of the men quickly and quietly by using her absorption powers. Rogue was crawling quietly towards the back of the store to where Devon was being held when she felt a sharp pain through the back of her head as someone grabbed the back of her head by her hair and pulled.

Rogue couldn't stop the strangled cry that ripped from her throat as she was slammed against a bookshelf. Luckily for her the man was over eager and put too much force into it. This caused the bookshelf to fall forward against each of the other bookshelves like dominoes until the last one hit the window and caused the glass to shatter. While the man who had grabbed her jumped back in shock and knocked into the other bookshelf causing it to teeter before toppling on top of him, knocking him unconscious.

It took a lot of strength for Rogue to crawl out from under the now unconscious military man and the bookshelf. Unfortunately, as soon as her head poked out from under the bookshelf she was met with several metallic clicks as several pistols were drawn, readied and pointed in her direction.

"Rogue, right," the Moustached man said. It was a statement, not a question. It was quite obviously that this man knew exactly who and what she was. The man gave a look towards two of his colleagues and the two men grabbed an arm each and yanked her to her feet.

"Now, if you behave this will be an entirely painless process. If not, well you can guess the rest," The Moustached man said again coldly, causing all the other men to laugh.

This was opening that was needed for an escape plan to start. Surprisingly though it wasn't Rogue who started it. In that split second when the military men's defences were down Devon spun out from his guards, leaving his prosthesis in the man's hands. He quickly kicked the man in the groin, causing him to fall to the floor and then dived towards the counter to raise the alarm.

It was the cry from the guard that made every other man's attention move away from the mutant in their captivity towards the counter. That was all she needed, after all she wasn't Wolverine's best student for nothing. Quick as a flash she had swung out her leg to sweep one of her capture's off his feet while throwing out an elbow to crack the other across the face.

With as much force as she could muster she threw herself forward to tackle the man who was in front of her to ground, but she was suddenly pulled upwards by her hair once again by another one of the guards. This was when Devon flew out from behind the counter to tackle the other guard giving Rogue an opportunity to escape the hold. Rogue threw her body back and then forward, causing the man to fall right over her head and land on the other man currently unconscious on the floor.

"Run Rogue!" Devon screamed as he ran forward to try and take out the other guard by the door by throwing a very large and heavy book at his head, and astonishingly it did the trick. Rogue didn't need to be told twice. She flipped the distress signal on her communicator that was hidden in her jeans pocket and ran out through the front door. That was when the smoke grenades were launched into the store obscuring Rogue and Devon's vision with dense billowing white clouds.

Rogue reached out to grab Devon's one arm to drag him out of the store through the back exit before they both chocked to death on the smoke. That was when she heard the shot ring out and felt Devon's body go limp. The smoke was so thick that Rogue couldn't even see Devon as he hit the floor beside the fallen bookshelves. Rogue crouched down low and felt around the ground to try and feel for Devon's body. When she finally got a hold of him she grabbed his unconscious but living body as she would not leave her friend to these thugs. That was when another shot rang out and Rogue felt a sudden sharp pain across her neck.

Her head began to swim and her legs felt like jelly so Rogue couldn't support her own weight anymore. She didn't realise that she had hit the ground but she still knew that she had to get away before the black clad men came for her. Unfortunately her body wouldn't obey her commands to start crawling towards the back exit.

The last thing Rogue saw was several black clothed men with dark goggles and gas masks approach her. She knew that they were saying something but the sound didn't seem to compute in her brain. The men reached down to pull her away from the form of her still friend, who was lying on the ground forgotten. Then her world went black.

"Good work men," The Moustached man said to the three goggled men who had entered the store to retrieve the unconscious mutant.

"Thank you Colonel Trask," One of the goggled men said.

"Put the collar on her and put her in the van, and make sure you restrain her. The collar may suppress her powers but she can still fight and I don't want to lose her," Col Trask said coldly while regarding the damage to the store and to his agents.

"What about him sir?" Asked one of the other goggled men, pointing towards the unconscious young man who was lying beside their mutant target.

"Leave the mutant sympathiser here. Why should we bother about scum like him? Hurry up; we have to go before the others show up. I only want to deal with one piece of mutant scum today," Colonel Bolivar Trask said, knowing that the rest of the X-men would be there soon enough. He bent down to remove the communicator from the jeans pocket, studying the piece of equipment before dropping it on the ground.

Two of the goggled men picked up Rogue and placed her into the back of a normal looking SUV, that wasn't normal at all. Everything had been taken out of the back so it had become a make-shift van complete with reinforced walls made of a bulletproof material. It also had restraints and more tranquilisers so their captive wouldn't give them any trouble.

After they had packed up Rogue into the back of the SUV and had recovered each of their fallen men, and put them into other SUV's, Colonel Trask and three other men dropped several grenades into the area before driving off. The grenades released clouds of thick, yellow smoke which quickly obscured the street. These grenades had been specially designed with the X-men in mind so that Trask's men could escape without being followed. The grenades had a very distinctive scent and would mask and actually eradicate every other smell in the area making it impossible for Wolverine to know who was here or where they were headed. This would give Colonel Trask and his men enough time to get to the small airport on the outskirts of Bayville and board their jet which would take Rogue to their base.

With all the noise that usually accompanied the end of the school year, plus the number of bodies that were running between rooms collecting lost belonging, Logan was finding solace in surveillance duty. As he did every year on the last day that the institute was occupied by hormone driven adolescents. Even though it really wasn't needed for someone to man the surveillance room considering every student was in the Mansion trying to pack. Except for one.

The fight between Jean and Rogue had been quite brutal, as many fights between two dominant women were and it also didn't help with such close quarters nothing was ever kept a secret for long and everyone knew about it within five minutes of it ending. Logan also knew that the two girls were actually far too similar to actually be friends, but he thought they would at least be civil to one another. He looked at Rogue like a daughter, and he had always respected Jean as teammate and sometimes as a team leader. He really didn't expect to see so much hate burning in both young women's eyes.

Everybody in the institute knew that both young women weren't best friends, but thought that they could at least be able to get on enough to be teammates. Logan had voiced several times that they needed to get them to work out their dislike for each other, mainly through Danger Room sessions, while Hank and Ororo voiced that sitting them together to talk would be a better option. However the Professor always said that the two would work their problems out for themselves and any move to intervene would result in anger from both of them, probably prompting the situation to become even worse. So, every one backed off.

Logan knew that Jean was currently in her room with Scott, trying to work out why she had had the fight with Rogue in the first place. Scott and Jean had been together for about two years and had been working as instructors in the institute for about a year. He was quite happy for them as they seemed to be a very good couple, and he knew that Scott would help Jean come to terms with whatever emotions she was feeling. Logan wouldn't admit it, but he was slightly attracted to Jean as he did like feisty redheads. Fortunately he had seen her grow up and mature, so in his mind she was completely off limits. Besides, she might be feisty but she was far too much of a good girl for his tastes. He also didn't like the way she treated his kin, namely Rogue and if the Professor hadn't intervened on occasion would have certainly had more than a "talking to" with her.

Logan also knew that Rogue would have gone to her home away from home. That book shop that she always went to, with that weird haired kid. He could hear that some of the others were trying to get Rogue to come back to the institute, but he knew his girl better. He knew that when she had calmed down she would come back on her own, just like he would. He also knew that she would never miss the final dinner of the year.

It was during this quiet contemplation that the worse sound known to Logan sounded. It wasn't the sound itself that Logan hated, but the implication. This was the distress call and the only person that was out of the Mansions grounds was Rogue.

"We have trouble," Logan said through the communicators to the senior team members.

"What trouble?" Scott's voice said out from the communicator.

"Rouge's distress call, everyone down at the van now!" Logan growled before running from the room. When he got down to the garage he found Kurt, Kitty, Jean and Scott waiting in full battle gear and without words they all climbed into the van and raced off in the direction of the bookstore. Each person in the van hoping that Rogue had just pressed her distress call by accident. Even though everyone knew that that was impossible, you had to flip open the case before pressing the call button. Everyone in the van was tense about the situation, but none more than Jean. She would never forgive herself if she was the cause of something bad happening to Rogue.

When they arrived at the bookstore it was complete chaos. The windows had been smashed and a bookshelf was half hanging out of the empty frame. Logan could see the empty shells of smoke grenades that littered the streets and could smell the gas they released.

"What the hell happened?" Logan growled out, trying to find a scent but finding nothing at all.

"Logan!" Kitty screamed sending Logan running in the direction of her scream. Kitty had run into the store as soon as the van stopped to try and locate Rogue with Kurt while the other three looked around. Logan was thinking the worst, as was everyone else as they came running from around the street as well.

Kitty was kneeling down beside a prone body on the ground. Logan's heart stopped for a second before he picked up the only scent that seemed to be in the store. It wasn't Rogue, it was the boy who had taken her to the prom and he was hurt.

"Kid, kid," Logan said shaking the boy, who was beginning to gain consciousness.

"Logan? Kitty?" Devon eventually coughed out as Kitty helped him to sit up.

"What happened here kid?" Logan asked quickly, tying to keep calm but the whole situation was starting to get him nervous. And Logan didn't like being nervous.

"They took her," Devon said looking up into Logan's eyes.

"Who took her?" Scott asked, coming to kneel down beside Logan.

"I, I don't know. They looked like soldiers, but they were all dressed in black. I think there were about five or six of them. And they knew everything about her too, they knew not to touch her bare skin" Devon continued as tears began to leak from his eyes.

"Logan," Kurt's German voice suddenly called out. Everyone assembled turned to look at the blue mutant, who was holding up Rogue's communicator that was still sending out a distress signal. The communicator that also acted as a tracking device and since Logan couldn't find her scent that was their only hope.

Please rate and review and let me know what you think.

TFG