Disclaimer: id o not own X-men or any related characters. For future reference, I must say that the majority (not all, but most) of the characters in this story will be from the comics/movies/ect. I have done a lot of research for this fic beforehand (or… at least after the last few chapters), and feel that if the X-men movie universe was able to change some characters around a little bit, then so can I (just not any major ones… yet). So read, review, and enjoy! I've officially decided that there will be at least two major arcs for this story, just to let you all know, by the way.

Chapter 6

Rogue stared pensively at the television. It showed that a few extremely powerful mutants had escaped from their confinement, although how was not mentioned. Now she knew what Kitty was warning about. Before it had just seemed like something that would never really happen, now it seemed so very, very real.

Johnny was watching the television, too. She saw how is face slightly twisted as though trying to truly comprehend what was going on. He couldn't seem to grasp the fact that mutants had actually escaped from where they were kept. This would be bad and he knew it. Rogue only wondered whether or not she should get out of the city immediately.

Finally, Johnny said, "They'll be caught soon."

Rogue wasn't so sure. "So Mr. Hero over here isn't going to go and round them up for the law to handle?"

His eyes were still on the screen, looking over the enormous muscles of one of the escapees.

"I think," he told her, "I'll pass."

She didn't say a word, but instead wondered what the X-men were doing. No doubt they would be on this case like flies on honey. They wouldn't let any of the more corrupt mutants run around with the normal ones. Especially not after seeing him attack the police and civilians so savagely.

Johnny sighed, "Or maybe I'll help when they reach the city."

"Maybe ya're just afraid."

"Aren't you?"

Groaning, Johnny said, "Maybe tomorrow I'll help save the world. Tonight I just need a break. Tomorrow I'll kick his ass."

Rogue couldn't hide her smile. She really could see Johnny kicking this guy's ass. He seemed to have some major abilities in that department.

"Are you ready for my sister's award ceremony or whatever?"

"Ah'm getting there."

Johnny smirked, "She'll have your head if you're not ready by the time that she gets home."

Rogue got the hint and grabbed a bag of things. After she had discovered that she was without proper attire, Sue effectively went through her closet and found a few of the more elegant items that would fit her. Carefully she slipped into them.

-

To: whitestripes

From: KitKat

Subject: Witty Wonkers Win Wobblies

Rogue, be careful. I'm sure that you totally saw the news and all, but I need to warn you that if you don't be careful, no one will be able to help you. Evil mutants are lurking everywhere and you never know when they'll just pop out at you.

Logan has been missing for a couple of days. We think that he went out to check out the enemy camps or something, but he hasn't been back yet. Hopefully he will be in a few days. And Jean is totally crazy. Not that I haven't told you this before, but she really is. After all, apparently she's leading the evil dudes. And that just isn't something that a perfectly sane person would do.

-

To: KitKat

From: whitestripes

Subject: Are You Telling Me I Need Bigger Boobs?

I'll be careful. There are millions of people living in New York. What are the chances that I'll be one of the few singled out for an attack? Oh, and like we all didn't know that Jean was crazy. And think about how crazy Scott was for her. She just played with his heart for as long as I could remember. It's very sad now to think that he's dead. Really, despite the fact that he's more depressing than I can be, he really was a relatively cool guy.

Tonight I'm going to Sue's award ceremony thing for something. I really just don't know all the details. I'm wearing a dress that I can't really breath in and my hair's all done and stuff. Johnny hasn't made one granny comment to me yet tonight. In fact, he hasn't been doing much talking at all around me. Somehow I get the feeling that he's avoiding me. Which is strange, since earlier we were kind of getting along, in a strange way.

-

To: whitestripes

From: KitKat

Subject: Erm… No. I Could Use Some, Though.

I totally know! It's way too bad about Scottie boy. He was a total hottie. In fact, if I didn't already kind of like someone, I would totally go for him. He's just that good looking.

You're going to a dress up thing? And Johnny's not calling you granny? How very, very strange indeed. He probably thinks that you look way too beautiful to insult. Either that or you've got something completely nasty stuck in between your teeth and he just doesn't want to say anything so that you'll embarrass yourself and all the crap. But I highly doubt it's that. Tell me, is he staring at you in a way that gives you the heebe jeebes?

Oh, the new arrival… arrived. You could have told me that the guy was Warren Worthington III! That way I could have saved myself the embarrassment of walking into a room, seeing him, and saying, "I need a map because I could just get lost in your eyes."

Don't even give me that look that I know you're giving me through the computer screen. It was the first thing that came to mind. Really, though, you should have seen the look that he gave me when I said this. He was just like, "WTF?!"

Dr. McCoy started chuckling lightly and Ororo just gave me this look like, 'what are you thinking?' Well, I'll tell you what I'm thinking my dear Rogue. I am thinking that I really just want to get into that man's pants. So how hard do you think it'll be? Erm… please don't take that in an extremely perverted way. I mean how hard will it be to get into his pants, not… anyway. I've got to go. We've got a special training meeting, so I'll catch you later.

-

Rouge smiled as she allowed Ben to help her into the car. He was going to walk to the ceremony, but had graciously told everyone to drive ahead of him. Sue was looking very nervous over the entire thing and Reed was just trying to console her. Johnny, strangely enough, hadn't said a single word through the entire car drive. His mind seemed to be otherwise occupied.

The building they arrived at was large and prominent looking with escalators leading up to the building's entrance. It was the first time that Rogue had ever seen outdoor escalators. She hadn't even known that there were any in existence.

"Shocked," Johnny nodded towards the strange outdoor elevators, "They have them all over in Paris."

"Well Ah don't go to Paris that often."

He smirked and shook his head, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Why else wouldn't he take the time to strike up some sort of argument with her? He had been this way since he saw the news earlier… maybe even since Lisa had come to… visit. She could never be sure. But before she could even think about asking him what was wrong, he had disappeared into the throngs of people gathered in the building. Instead of seeing as if he were out to party, it seemed he was on the search for something.

Sue smiled nervously, "I think that we had better get to our table. The ceremony starts soon."

For a little bit, Rogue wondered why Sue was so nervous about this. She looked questioningly at Reed, but he just shrugged to signal that he didn't know either. Rogue bumped into a man as she made her way through the crowd. Things seemed to go in slow motion as she glanced at him. He was an older man, at least forty-five in her opinion, and bald. His eyes were cold and he seemed to be staring her down as he looked at her. The moment passed as quickly as it had come and he disappeared through the people, leaving Rogue standing in confusion.

What had just happened? The last time she had gotten a sort of bad vibe like that was when she was a captive of Magneto's…. and that vibe was much more obvious. Especially after he had started to strap her into the machine.

"Something wrong," Reed asked from behind her.

Rogue shook her head and made her way to the table where Sue was already sitting.

Sue grinned, "See a cute guy?" Reed rolled his eyes at his future wife, as if saying 'Why me?'

Rogue smiled and shook her head, "Ah guess Ah just kind of got lost."

She couldn't get that man's cold eyes out of her system. But Sue and Reed didn't seem to realize that anything was wrong as they nodded and Reed said, "I can imagine how hard it would be to stay with someone you know in there. This place is packed tonight."

He smiled at Sue and held her hand. Rogue smiled at how romantic it was.

"They are serving some great drinks here," Johnny said as he sat down at the table, sipping on one alcoholic beverage or another.

Sue glared at her brother, "If you get drunk, we are leaving you here for someone else to deal with."

"Relax, sis. The last time I got drunk was…" He trailed off as if wishing not to answer that question. He fixed his gaze on Rogue, "So how old are you anyway? Old enough to take full advantage of the bar?"

Embarrassed, she shook her head, "Ah'm only twenty."

One of Johnny's eyebrows lifted, "And here I thought that you were much older, granny."

She glared at him, "Ah'm surprised ya're even old enough to drink. Ya act as if ya are two."

"I'd rather be two than fifty."

"Ah thought we just went over that Ah was twenty. Besides, how old are ya?"

Johnny smirked self-confidently, "I am twenty-five."

"Geezer," Rogue said with a smirk.

"What did you just call me?" Johnny actually looked surprised for once in his life.

"Old man."

"Hey, I'm not the one with white in-"

"Old foggie."

Reed couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Sue was not quite as amused, "Can you two be civil with each other for once? You two are both grown adults and should conduct yourself as such."

"She started it," Johnny whined. He was clearly enjoying himself by the grin on his face.

"And she ended it," Sue said with a look.

Both brother and sister had a stare down before Johnny looked away. He couldn't seem to be able to compete with his sister's deadly glare. Rogue wouldn't have wanted to try to, either, for that matter.

People were starting to sit at their tables and the chatter was starting to dissipate. A man was standing on the stage in front of them, smiling in a way that said he was someone who was to be followed. If he told a joke, others would laugh.

Reed leaned over the table, "That's President Lear of the Medical Board. He's not someone that you would regularly want to mess with."

"So he's giving the award?"

"No. Worthington is."

Lear's voice cut off any more conversation, "I hope that everyone here is having a lovely evening."

There were mumbles of agreement ranging through the crowd. Sue looked less than enthused.

"We all know why we are gathered here today. And that is to honor scientists whom have made advancement in the general industry possible. Please allow me to welcome Warren Worthington II as our honored guest and the man whom is giving these awards. He has come across one of the most controversial discoveries in the history of medicine. This discovery is the one of the Cure, as most of you know. Now mutants have the choice to get rid of their powers if they grow out of control. And, possibly much more importantly, to neutralize the ones who cause trouble."

Rogue couldn't help but think of Magneto. He had an entire army lined up to show the world exactly what mutants could do. With them around, even Rogue was a bit happy for the Cure. She couldn't help but wince as she thought of her last encounter with Magneto. Although he may not have necessarily been evil, he definitely wasn't the idol of all things good in the world.

"Please give a round of applause for Warren Worthington."

A wave of applause filled the air. Hesitantly Rogue joined in. The rest of her table seemed just as reluctant to do so.

A man stood up and walked over to the podium, looking as though he were a king about to make a proclamation to his subjects. He looked almost nothing like his son and instead had this air of bitter harshness surrounding him. The clapping dwindled until there was complete silence in the room.

"Good evening. As you all may have guessed, I am Warren Worthington, President of Worthington Industries. Tonight we have gathered the greatest minds in the scientific world together to honor the few who have made a difference in the difficult world we live in.

"It is my great honor to introduce to you a woman who has done much for her field. She has helped with the creation of stealth mode for the military planes. Although many kinks are being worked out of this, it is still considered one of the greatest inventions of our time."

Rogue thought back to the Blackbird, the X-men's jet. It had a stealth mode. Did Sue create that?

"She has also developed six different low-cost hydraulic vehicles in the last year. Perhaps most importantly, she played a large part in discovering the very formula that the Cure was based on. Please give a large round of applause to Sue Storm."

There was no air of pride in Sue at all. She looked more as though she were headed to her deathbed. While everyone else looked exited to hear of her discoveries, she looked ashamed. But, Rogue noticed, she was able to slip in and out of masks as quickly as Mystique and she managed to look pleased when she turned to accept her award. Rogue's mind couldn't help but go back to the fact that she created the formula that the Cure was based upon. Hadn't Reed said only earlier that very day that he wanted to create a completely different solution to mutant powers?

"It is an honor to be offered this award, but I'm afraid that I must decline it," at the gasp that ran through the crowd, she smiled, "Although I have helped with the building and formation of all that was before mentioned, I was not the only one working on these inventions. Instead I turn this award over to Worthington Industry's President, Warren Worthington II, who put my formula to good use."

Only Rogue seemed to detect the sarcasm that filled her voice. Well, Johnny seemed to, too, if the smile on his face were any indication.

At the unsure clapping, Sue stepped down from the stage and made her way back to the table. When she sat down, someone shouted, "Mutants are headed towards the city! We're going to be under attack!"

There was silence. Then screams filled the air.