A/N: Hello, again! Welcome to the third chapter of In Her Glory. Please, enjoy yourselves!
Chapter 3
"Um, Bane, this is Bobby and John." Rogue introduced her friends somewhat eagerly, having led her new roommate down into the kitchen. Bane looked around her.
"John?" she asked. He raised his hand in greeting.
"Hey," he said with a grin.
"You guys have met?" Rogue asked.
"Sorta," Bane and John said at the same time. He grinned wider, and then pointed between Bane and Rogue.
"You two know each other?" he asked. Bane and Rogue looked at each other and laughed.
"Sorta," Rogue smiled. She pulled out a stool across the counter from John and the blonde-haired Bobby. "Come on, Bane. Sit," she said.
"Alright," she said shyly, sliding into the stool.
Over the next few days, classes and all, Bane fell into a cliché. Bane, Rogue, Bobby, and John sort of became the outsiders at school, but it didn't really matter. Each of them had connections to the other kids, to the 'inside'. Each of them would say hello to them in the hall, but the four of them stuck together. They all had secrets, Bane supposed, that bonded them to each other, and although maybe none of them knew each other well enough to share them yet, it was a common link that held the four of them together.
A few days later, Bane and Rogue were both in bed, and neither one of them were asleep. Neither of them could sleep. Jubilee was conked out in the corner, even snoring a bit, but Bane and Rogue were tossing and turning. They could both hear Logan upstairs, moaning and grunting in his sleep.
Around midnight, Rogue finally sat up. "Bane," she hissed. "Bane! Are you awake?"
She propped herself up on her elbows. "Yeah," she answered. Rogue paused, and then climbed out of bed.
"What are you doing?" Bane asked.
"I'm gonna go check on Logan," she replied, walking towards the door.
"Wait, wait!" Bane whispered. "I'm coming!" She pushed the covers back on her bed, and followed Rogue out the door.
They crept up the stairs to the next floor, and Rogue went and opened Logan's door. The pale light from the hallway fell in a rectangle across the floor and the foot of the bed.
Rogue entered first, Bane cautiously following second. Bane rolled Trisha's ring between her thumb and pointer finger. "Logan," Rogue whispered, bending down into his face. "Logan!"
She turned to Bane. "I can't touch him. Can you…?" Bane stepped into the room, and peered around Rogue. Logan's chest was bare. No wonder. She went around to the other side of the bed, and touched Logan's shoulder. He was drenched in sweat. She shook him.
"Logan. Logan. LOGAN!" she hissed loudly, shaking him ever fiercer. His head moved from side to side, leaving wet marks on his pillow.
"Logan!" Bane and Rogue hissed at the same time. His eyes snapped open, and the two girls started. With a roar, he sat up, and faced Rogue's direction.
"LOGAN!" Bane screamed. But it was too late. His silver claws shot out of his knuckles, and he thrust his fist towards Rogue. "ROGUE!" His claws sank into the front of her chest. Bane could just slightly see the tips out her back.
Bane screamed, and stumbled back against the wall. Logan looked dumbstruck, and retracted his claws. Rogue started to make choking sounds.
"Help me!" Logan yelled. "SOMEBODY HELP!" Bane was screaming and crying at the same time, slumped forward somewhat. She couldn't tear her eyes away.
Rogue very slowly lifted her hand towards Logan. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. The tips of her fingers touched his right cheek, and Logan sucked in air. Bane watched slowly as the three vertical burgundy and purple marks in the front of her chest began to fade.
There were pounding footsteps out in the hall, and suddenly there was a crowd of students in the hallway. Bane could see Bobby and John behind all of them because they were taller than the rest. Someone turned on the light. Rogue, fully healed, it appeared, pulled her hand away, and Logan collapsed on the floor. Rogue started crying, and Bane got up and walked slowly towards her. Scott and Jean pushed past all of the students in the hall to get into the room.
"Scott, get a pillow," Jean said, kneeling down next to the spasming Logan. Bane knew everyone was looking at the two of them, especially Rogue. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her arm, and grabbed the part of Rogue's arm covered by her nightgown.
"Come on," Bane whispered thickly, pulling her away. With Rogue following her diligently, Bane pushed in between the group of students, right through Bobby and John without looking at either one of them, and practically flew toward the stairs.
Rogue cried herself to sleep once they got back to their room, but Bane stayed up all night, silent, knees drawn to her chest. However, when the early, grey dawn began to shine through the window, she could no longer hold her eyes open, and she slumped down beneath her covers and fell into an exhausted sleep.
"Bane…" someone whispered above her. She was shaken slightly. "Bane… please wake up!" Her eyes opened. It was Saturday, wasn't it? She was uncomfortably warm. She looked at the underside of her comforter. It was navy-colored on top, and beige on the underside. Bane raised her arm slightly, grabbed the blanket, and pulled it down from her face. She blinked in the bright sunshine.
"R-Rogue?" she asked, squinting up at her. Rogue tucked her hair behind her ears, and smiled down at her.
"It's really late, you should probably get up," she said. Bane glanced over at the window, and saw the light streaming through the window.
"What time is it?" she asked, raising her arm to shield her eyes.
"It's about 1 o'clock," she answered.
"That late?" Bane muttered to herself. She sat up, and rested her feet on the floor. "You seem a lot more… chipper than last night," she said groggily. She still felt as tired as when she had when she had accidentally fallen asleep.
Rogue sat next to her, and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I've been thinking, Bane," she said. "I wasn't wrong. If I hadn't have borrowed Logan's power, I would've died." It made sense.
"You seem really sure about this," Bane replied. Rogue stood up, and stretched. Bane noticed she was showered, and actually dressed very nice.
"I am," she replied. "Why don't you get dressed and then we can do our homework together?" she suggested.
"Um, alright," Bane said, laughing a little bit at Rogue's complete reversal of behavior. "I'm gonna take a shower, first," she added, standing as well as Rogue walked to the door.
Rogue nodded. "Alright." The door closed, and Bane shook her head, smiling. Perhaps this wasn't as much of a disaster as she had thought it was going to turn out to be.
Opening the closet door, she dug through the mess until she found a slightly wrinkled, large, white, fluffy towel. There was also a white robe in there; Bane claimed it as her own.
She pulled open her bedroom door and walked down the empty hall to a small bathroom. She took a long, hot shower, rubbing several knots out of her shoulders, feet, back, and calves. She turned off the water, and squeezed out her hair. Then she wrapped her chocolate-colored hair in the towel after drying herself off, and tied the robe closed around her waist. She walked back down the hallway, which was still empty, and went back into her room, closing the door so she could change. She rifled through her single drawer, pulled out an outfit, and tossed it onto her unmade bed.
She was just sliding her right arm out of her robe when there was a knock at the door. Bane froze, staring at the door as it started to swing inward. "Bane? Are you-"
"JOHN!" she yelled as he started to put his head through the door. She barreled toward the door, throwing her weight up against it to push it closed.
"OW!!" she heard him yelp from the other side. Bane reacted quickly. Pulling her robe up over her shoulder and tightening it quickly, she pulled open the door, and saw John holding his left hand in his right. "Aw, shit, Bane…"
Her hands flew to her mouth. "Oh my God, John, I'm so sorry," she gasped, stepping out into the hall for a second to usher him into her room. She guided him to her bed and made him sit down. "Oh, John, it was an accident, I just…"
He tried to laugh it off. "It's alright, I swear," he said, somewhat shakily.
"Let me see," Bane said worriedly, gently pulling his injured hand toward her. She studied it. It looked bruised and broken. She had really hit that door hard.
Bane bit her lip. She had always been able to heal herself, but she might not be able to heal someone else. She remembered the professor saying if she could picture it, she could do it. She imagined John's hand as it was before she had completely smashed it in the door.
"Maybe…" she muttered to herself.
"Maybe wha-"
"Ssh…" Bane said. She carefully sandwiched his hand between hers, and closed her eyes. She felt a slightly cool sensation against the palms of both of her hands. Opening her eyes, she looked at John's hand. It didn't look great, but it looked better. Perhaps it was only a fracture now.
"That's the best I can do. You might want to have Dr. Grey look at it," she suggested. She looked up at him. "John, I'm really, really sorry," she started.
"I came up here to see if you were awake yet. I wanted to talk to you," he said. He seemed really serious, which was unlike him. Out of the four, Bane was pretty sure John was the biggest screw-up of them all.
"About what?" she asked.
"Last night," he replied. "Are you alright?"
Bane blinked. "Well, yeah. Why?" John looked down at his injured hand.
"If you were alright, why didn't you stop her?" he asked.
"Wh-who? Rogue?"
John looked up at her. "Why did you let her hurt someone else? Another mutant, too!" His voice was steadily growing louder.
"John, she-she would've died!" Bane said. "Y-you weren't there! You can't just come in here and preach to me about what I should or shouldn't have done!"
John stood up, looking down at her. "The kids are talking, Bane. A lot of them. They don't blame Rogue. They blame you, for not stopping her."
She stood up. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked him.
"Because, Bane. I don't want you to hear it from them," he replied. He started walking towards the door. Opening it, he paused. "Maybe you should just get out of here before you have to deal with the professor." He stepped into the hall, and closed the door behind him.
Mystique let her arm morph back to normal, and looked at her left hand. It wouldn't matter how many times she changed shape; the injury would still be there.
She rolled her eyes in vexation, and then transformed her whole body into the shape of a boy named Bobby Drake, turned for the stairs, and went to find Rogue.
Bane slowly got dressed, and then sat on the floor with her back resting against her bed and her eyes closed. She must have stayed in that position for close to half an hour before making her decision.
Standing, she made her bed, and then set her backpack down on top of the comforter. She painstakingly pulled every book and paper she had received in her classes out and stacked them largest to smallest from the bottom up on her nightstand next to her lamp. She criss-crossed the room, picking up all the tiny knick knacks she had accumulated or had already had, and sorted them out as she put them away. She went to the dresser, and emptied out her drawer and put her folded clothes inside the largest zipper on the rucksack.
As she was doing this, the door opened again, and Bane looked up. Rogue, red-faced, stood there, sniffling and staring at her. "What, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Rogue, what's wrong?" Bane asked, taking a step forward. Rogue started going around the room, taking everything she had in her arms and dropping it on her own bed.
"Bobby said the professor was mad at me for what happened last night." As she talked, she opened the closet, and pulled a green duffel bag with tan handles out from the bottom. "I need to leave. He's right; I shouldn't stay here," she said, probably more to herself than Bane. She stopped suddenly, her hands full of clothes half in her bag. "What were you doing up here?"
Bane looked down at her bare toes. "Packing. I'm leaving too. I talked to John, and he said it would be bad if I stayed because of what the kids were saying and what the professor might do." She didn't look at Rogue's face as she started to pull on a pair of socks and her black Converse.
"Can I come with you?" Rogue asked suddenly. Bane looked up at her, and nodded.
"Yeah. Sure. I wouldn't mind the company."
Bane and Rogue stood in front of the glass covered 'Destinations' sign that had every train departing and entering the station that day listed on it.
"Here." Bane pointed to a train towards the top of the list. "We'll take this one," she decided. "We can take a bus from there." Rogue nodded slightly, following her to the ticket counter.
Bane placed several bills on the counter; some were hers, the others were ones Rogue had pooled. "Two for the six-thirty Jersey, please," Bane said. The man behind the counter nodded, and rang up the charges on the cash register. He took the money, and handed Bane her change and tickets.
"Thank you," Rogue said. The man nodded and smiled slightly. Bane hefted her backpack, and Rogue followed her across the lobby, holding her own bag by the handles in front of her. The two girls climbed onto the train, and stored their bags in the rack above the empty bench seats they had chosen. Rogue sat next to the window, and Bane sat across from her, legs stretched over the expanse of the bench seat.
Rogue stared out the window at the people in the station. Bane leaned back against the window, hood drawn down over her eyes, ignoring the other people on the train or outside of it. The two girls didn't speak; Bane was exhausted to the point she couldn't sleep, and she felt a twisted knot of sick pain in the pit of her stomach that made it extremely uncomfortable to do anything but sit and stew.
"You kids runnin' again?"
Bane turned her head upward. "Logan?" she asked, slightly shocked he was able to follow them here. She had taken immense measures to try and keep herself and Rogue from being tracked.
"The professor located the two of you through Cerebro," Logan said, sitting next to Rogue. "It's some high-tech machine he built with Magneto." Bane's eyes widened slightly. "He uses telepathy to power it, and it connects him to every person's mind on the planet. That's how he found you," he said, tapping his temple. Bane looked back down at her fingers, and tightened them against her jeans.
"I'm sorry about last night," Logan said, turning to Rogue.
"Me too," she replied. It was silent for a few minutes.
"Why did you guys leave?" Logan finally asked.
"I heard the professor was mad at me," Rogue promptly answered.
Logan looked at Bane. "I heard the kids at school hated me," she finally answered quietly.
"Well, who told you that?" Logan asked.
"A boy at school," Bane and Rogue answered at the same time. Bane turned her head and caught her gaze.
"Bobby?" she asked. Rogue nodded.
"John?" Bane nodded as well. There was never a time more than this Bane appreciated having Rogue as her best friend.
There was another, longer silence, during which Bane came to a realization. "Y-you think we should go back!" she said incredulously, sitting up and setting her feet on the floor, gripping the edges of her seat.
"No," Logan said forcefully, looking at her. "I think you should follow your instincts." He glanced at Rogue. "Both of you." Rogue swallowed.
"The first boy I ever kissed ended up in a coma for three weeks. He's still in my head… just like it is with you," she said to Logan.
"The first boy I ever had a crush on got sent to prison for attempted sexual battery," Bane said, looking at her knees. She could sense Rogue was crying. Logan put his arm around her, and pulled her into a comforting hug. He looked at Bane as he spoke.
"There's not many people that'll understand what you're going through," he started. "But I think this guy Xavier's one of them. He seems to genuinely want to help the two of you, and that's a rare thing for people like us."
Something in her knew he was right. However, she couldn't bring herself to actually want to go anywhere near people right now. This accident with Rogue and Logan last night had reminded her how easily she could hurt people. Her eyes watered, and spilled over a little.
Rogue reached her gloved hand out and took hold of Bane's arm, and pulled her towards her and Logan, drawing her into the hug as well. She didn't try to fight as Rogue and Logan put their arms around her. She didn't mind kneeling on the hard, dirty train floor.
As the train started moving, though, she forced herself to stop crying, and stepped back into her seat.
"So." Logan arched an eyebrow. "What do you say? Give these geeks one more shot?" Bane laughed a little, wiping her eyes. "Come on," he cajoled. "I'll take care of you. Both of you." She took strange comfort in those words. She supposed that it was at that moment Logan became a familial figure to her.
"You promise?" Rogue asked.
"Yeah," Logan replied. "Yeah, I promise."
Rogue looked at Bane. "What about you, Bane?"
She nodded at her, and reached out for her hands. "It'll be you and me, Rogue. We'll stick it out, I guess," she said.
"You guess?" Logan asked, arching his eyebrow again. Rogue grinned, and Bane opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, the train that had been moving smoothly seconds ago began to rumble and shake violently.
Bane grunted, getting thrown to the ground. Rogue landed on top of her. The train came to a dead halt, and the lights flickered on the ceiling. Logan stood up and stepped into the aisle. Bane pulled herself out from under Rogue, and helped her to her feet.
The entire train began to shudder back and forth. There was a giant groan in the back. Bane's head whipped around, and she stepped up behind Logan as everyone began to scream. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched the end of the train begin to seemingly peel itself apart in a shower of sparks. The entire back of the train was ripped away, and through the smoke that rose from the broken electrical wires a man appeared, seemingly levitating until he landed on the very edge of the aisle at the back of the train. Rogue screamed. Logan turned and pushed both girls down low in the seat. Bane and Rogue clutched each other's arms, and Bane peered over the top of the seat.
The man, now visible, was older, and clearly very powerful. He wore a cape and a large, metal helmet over his head. He started walking slowly forward. Logan threw his arms out, and his claws extended. Several more people screamed.
"You must be Wolverine," the man said. Logan took a step forward, but the man put his hand out, and Logan suddenly stopped moving. Rogue gulped.
"That remarkable metal doesn't run through your entire body, does it?" the man asked. Logan glared up at him.
"He can't move!" Bane suddenly realized. "He controls metal!"
The man spread his fingers, and Logan's body became very straight and stiff. The farther and farther the old man spread his fingers apart, Logan started to drift higher and higher into the air, his limbs pulled further back, and his claws pulled farther and farther apart.
"Stop!" Rogue suddenly shrieked. "Stop it!" She was shaking, but whether from fear or anger, Bane couldn't tell.
"You're hurting him!" Bane yelled, standing. Rogue's fingers clutched at her sleeve.
"What the hell… do you want… with me?" Logan grunted.
"You?" The man chuckled. "My dear boy, whoever said I wanted you?"
Rogue stumbled back into the opposite seat as Logan fought against the man controlling him to look at the two girls.
"BANE!" Rogue yelled.
She was already on it. Bane put her arms out in front of her, set her jaw in a hard line, and focused on the metal in Logan's body. She started trying to pull Logan back together in a more comfortable position.
"I see Mystique outdid herself. I only expected one of you," the man said. Bane did her best to ignore him. She closed her fingers, and put Logan's claws back into a normal position, and tried to push Logan's arms closer to his body. The man in the helmet frowned. He put his other arm forward, and pointed all his fingers upward, overpowering Bane's untrained ability and shoving Logan towards the front of the car. He hit the wall, and collapsed on the ground. Bane was forced onto the ground between the seats from the backlash of her power being thrashed by the man's, and she could see Rogue starting to panic in her seat.
She suddenly jumped up. Dazed from hitting her head against the side of the train, Bane barely realized what Rogue was doing. Bane managed to get to her feet.
"ROGUE!!" she yelled, trying to get the other girl's attention. She was too late to react to the needle that zoomed through the air in front of her and found its mark in Rogue's neck. Bane screamed as she fell.
"Young people," the man sighed, shaking his head slightly. He turned to look at Bane. "Luckily, I come prepared," he said. Another needle came up from his waistband, this time directed at Bane. It shot through the air, but Bane raised her hand and stopped it. Closing her eyes, she recalled watching Jean levitate things to her hand in class, and this man now controlling metal. Perhaps she could splice her power in two and overpower the needle that way. Bane slowly raised her other arm, and opened her eyes. Her idea seemed to work; the needle moved in reverse for several feet before the man stopped it.
"I had heard about your talents, but it seems the words I've heard to describe them just don't do them justice," the man said, hand steady. Both of Bane's were shaking from the immense flows of power she was using. "What is your name, child?" She felt compelled to answer.
"Bane," she said through gritted teeth. "And yours?"
The man smiled, and flicked his hand upward. Surprised by the sudden change of his power flow, she faltered, which allowed the needle to pierce her neck. Her hand clamped down on it, and she fell to her knees. The man walked forward, and stood over her.
"They call me Magneto," he said as Bane slumped forward, unconscious.
Toad dropped from the ceiling, a long black bag in his hands. "There's an extra," he said, looking at the two girls Magneto was levitating.
"Mystique performed brilliantly," Magneto answered. He let Rogue drop, and Toad caught her. "This one we're keeping." He glanced at Bane's unconscious form. "This one… I'm not so sure about." He let Bane fall as well, and Sabertooth caught her and slung her body over his shoulder. Together, they strode toward the doors of the station. Magneto was not surprised to see the dozens of squad cars parked outside. There had to be close to fifty police officers kneeling across the front lawn of the station, guns drawn.
"Alright, hold it right there," a chief officer spoke into a megaphone. "Stay where you are. Put your hands over your head now," he ordered.
Wordlessly, Magneto lifted his arms, raising two of the squad cars. He turned them midair, and sent them crashing down on two more. Every gun in the field became cocked. Magneto pulled them away with a turn of his hands, and pointed them back at the heads of all the officers.
"You homosapiens and your guns," he said, as if he were tired of the whole thing.
Suddenly, Sabertooth's free hand became wrapped around Magneto's throat. "That's enough, Eric," he growled.
Toad turned. "Let them go."
Magneto's eyes swept across the lawn. "Why not come out where I can see you, Charles?" he said in a loud, strong voice.
"What do you want them for?" Sabertooth – or rather, the professor – asked.
"Can't you read my mind?" Magneto asked mockingly. "What now? Save your precious students? You'll have to kill me, Charles. And what will that accomplish? Let them pass that law, and they'll have you in chains with a number burned into your forehead!" he said.
"It won't be that way," the professor replied, speaking through his medians.
"Then kill me," Magneto offered, "and find out."
Nothing happened.
"Hmm? Then release me," Magneto finished.
Toad turned, and started taking slow steps towards the police cruisers.
"Fine," Magneto said angrily. The police chief's gun cocked, and the trigger pulled. The crowd all ducked and screamed.
The bullet stopped, spinning just short of entering the man's head, right between his eyes. "Care to press your luck, Charles?" Magneto asked. The rest of the police officers' guns cocked. "I don't think I can stop them all," he added.
After a few more tense seconds, Sabertooth's hand came away, and Toad, shaking his head clear, came back to the group. "Still unwilling to make sacrifices," Magneto said, as if he were scolding a young child. "That's what makes you weak."
The sound of a helicopter flying low overhead suddenly filled everyone's ears. Magneto raised Bane's limp body off of Sabertooth's shoulders, and threw her down the station steps carelessly.
"As a sign of my good will, Charles, I'll let you have this one back. Too much free spirit," he said. He, Sabertooth, and Toad all stepped over her to get to the helicopter, Rogue still in the black bag over Toad's shoulder.
"Goodbye, Charles."
Thank you for reading, please review!