...
The blackboard was filled with small chalked notes and numbers, all looped perfectly in a cursive handwriting. Marie stood behind her new desk, staring at clock on the wall that seemed to go impossibly and unbearably slow. "Five minutes Marie, you can do this…" She tried pep talking herself. She took a deep breath and looked over the notes sitting neatly on her desk. She'd made them last night while she and Steve had been enjoying some music from his own days.
She smiled as she thought back on their evening together. "Not the time nor the place Marie." she thought as she shook her head.
She managed to calm herself even though she wanted nothing more than run out the door she'd come in through. "I could use the window, that way I won't have to face anyone...They're just kids Marie… What's the worst that could happen? They might not like me, but a lot kids don't like their teachers… especially their math teachers." The sudden change in her thoughts was interrupted as the school bell finally rang. Marie suddenly felt awkward. She didn't know whether to sit down behind the desk or to just keep standing in front of the blackboard. She didn't get the time to choose when the door to her classroom opened and a large string of 7th graders walked in and took their seats. She felt the eyes of every twelve and thirteen year old in the room on her.
The room quieted as she began to speak. "I'd like introduce my self to ya'll, I'm Rogue and I'm gonna be your teacher from now on." She said and she heard someone murmur "Obviously." in the back of the room and the class began to giggle. She ignored it. "Now can someone please tell me what you worked with last?" She asked even though she already knew they were working with exponents and square roots.
A young and shy looking girl held up her hand. Her eyes were completely pink, matching her very long hair to a tee. Her long hair, that was holding a pencil, and doodling on the piece of paper on the desk in front of her. Marie blinked twice at that, but said nothing even though using powers indoors was prohibited. "Yes…" She said while also asking for the girl's name. "Lorelai Travis. And we worked on exponents." The young girl explained shyly. Marie smiled at her. "Thank you Lorelai. Now I want you all to turn to page forty-five and look at some of the questions there, is there anything there you don't understand, or are uncertain about then raise your hands..." as the class proceeded on and she stood explaining basic math to the young children, Marie felt calmer and more at peace than she did at the beginning of the class. The day continued on like this, with three more classes before the final bell of the day rang out. The relief the students in her class exclaimed made her chuckle.
Marie cleaned the blackboard, and picked up her notes from the day, before heading to the professor's office. When she entered, she saw the entire staff there. The normally large and open office felt smaller than ever thanks to the over crowded room. She decided that standing next to Logan, who leaned against a bookcase with his arms crossed looking sour as ever, was her best option at the moment.
The professor welcomed her. "Now that we're all here, I'd like to welcome you all to the weekly staff meeting. Ororo, would you be so kind to inform us of the current status on the green house project that the children are working on?" he asked Ororo. Marie tried listening and paying attention but soon lost interest. One look at Logan said he was ignoring whatever, Scott who held the rest of the staff's attention, was informing them about. Marie tried watching Logan from the corner of her eye, but failed when he immediately noticed it and gave her unimpressed look. "Must have lost interest too." She thought as she looked away not noticing his frown.
"Rogue?" the professor turned to her. "Yes?" she replied immediately, not wanting to be caught unaware. "Would you like to share your first day experience with the rest of us?" Marie nodded. "Sure. Everything was great, the children aren't too far behind - they'll be able to pick what was missed by the end of the next week." She told him honestly. The professor nodded happy at the good news. Ororo turned to her. "I hope the children weren't too unruly or loud today, they can take some getting used to." She told Marie who looked at her surprised. "Not at all, they all behaved like angels." she said and several snorts resounded in the room. "Right, and I'm the queen of England." Logan muttered next to her sarcastically. "No it's true, they were quiet and focused. Even when we were discussing the different topic in the open, they were all quite respectful of each other, never raising their voices." She said to the fellow teachers who were all stunned by surprise. She got the feeling that no one believed her, even the professor looked a bit disbelievingly at her.
"Must not happen very often." she thought surprised.
"Well I'm glad it's working out for you." Hank told her happily. The meeting continued another twenty minutes before it was disbanded when Logan started growling about practice with the juniors.
Marie walked out the door but followed Summers. "Mr Summers." she said getting his attention. He turned to her surprised. "Rogue. Please, call me Scott. I'm sorry, I know I haven't left you with the best impression of myself these last couple of days." He told her apologetically and Marie couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. "It's alright. The professor told me to go to you. I need to borrow a car so I can get to work." Scott nodded. "Yeah, follow me to the garage," he said while looking at her curiously behind the ruby red sunglasses. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how have you gotten here the last week, if you don't have a car?" Marie smiled at him. "My boyfriend has a motorcycle, and while it's fun to drive it's not ideal for me when I have to grocery shop after work." She told him honestly. This piqued his interest she could tell, and he looked a bit more alive than he had when she'd first laid eyes on him. "Really? What kind of bike?" He questioned her. "Must be a passion of his…" Marie thought happily.
"A Harley-Davidson Street 750." She said and Scott whistled impressed. "Not bad at all. I have Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Or well I used to, until Logan borrowed it. And by "borrowing it" I mean took it without asking." He said annoyed but there was no real heat in his words. "You and Logan don't get along well, do you?" Marie concluded. Scott sighed as they entered the massive garage. "No we don't, but we respect each other. We have each other's backs when it's needed. Logan is a loyal and good man. Even when it seems like he isn't. We're both going through a rough time at the moment, and we just end up taking it out on one another." He admitted with a frown.
Scott gestured to a large line-up of cars, both expensive and cheaper models. "Hell… The cheaper ones still look like they cost half a mil." She thought awed. While the more expensive ones tempted Marie, she did live in Brooklyn now. She took a look around in wonder at the many cars. Scott smiled slightly at her surprise. "We keep a lot of cars, mostly because of the teenagers, so they can transport themselves out of here in case anything happens." He explained and his smile was quickly gone again, replaced by a heart-breaking look. Marie looked further back and saw it. The perfect car… A dark grey Chevrolet Camaro was parked. It was sleek and dangerous. Marie loved it.
She turned to Scott and pointed it out to him. He looked at her surprised before finding the key on the wall and tossing it to her. "I didn't really peg you as a muscle car kind of girl." "Sugar, I live in Brooklyn and it's near the more run down part. People will think the car belongs to a drug lord and leave it be. The perfect security system." She grinned. Scott shook his head lightly. "They're all GPS tagged. Have fun." He told her before leaving her to get acquainted with the car. Marie felt excited. She disabled the GPS by removing it from the vehicle and then she jumped inside the car happily, enjoying the clean and rough leather. "This is going to be so much fun!" she said out loud and excited. Marie gunned the car out of the school laughing like a maniac all the way home.
When Marie came home she saw a blonde woman furiously knocking on her door. "Open up Steve! I know you're there! I'm not going away!" she yelled out angrily. Marie sighed not wanting to deal with this after a long day at work. "Can I help you? Are you looking for someone?" She asked the woman. Marie had a feeling she knew who the woman was, but prayed to God that she wasn't right at all.
The blonde haired woman turned to her surprised. "No. None of your business." She told Marie angrily before knocking on the door harder and more annoyed. Marie gave her the stinky eye. "It is my business when you're trying to knock down the door to my apartment." Marie said angrily. The woman turned to her surprised. "Your apartment?" she said disbelievingly. "I'm looking for Steve. And this is his apartment." The woman responded angrily to Marie.
"Great, so this is Carol." She thought pissed off. "Just when I thought I could have an un-eventful day in my life." Marie felt her the hum inside her growing stronger. A small tremor passed through the metal construction and pipelines of the building, unnoticeable to the humans in the building. Marie tried to calm down, but found it very hard.
"Play it cool Marie, play it cool…" she thought and took a deep breath. "Maybe you're looking for the old tenant. I moved in here a couple of days ago." She lied not wanting get into a confrontation with the woman. Carol looked surprised. "He's gone?" she said distraught. "Look I'm sorry that whoever it is, walked out on you. But I live here now, and I'd like it if my door was still intact. Can't really live without it, not the best neighbourhood you know." Marie lied as she pulled out her key. She unlocked the door and shielded Carol's view from the inside of the apartment. "Again I'm sorry, have a nice day." She said and closed the door in the face of a hurt and almost crying Carol. Marie sighed as she leaned against the door breathing deeply and evenly. Eventually the tremors that only she could feel faded away. She looked out the peephole and saw the woman walking away, shoulders shaking though she couldn't tell whether it was from sadness or fury.
Marie walked inside the living room and saw Steve looking guiltily, though also relieved at her. She placed her hands on her hips angrily feeling exhausted. "Seriously Steve. You're hiding in here?" Steve winced. "I didn't know what else to do. I was hoping she would leave by the time you came back but…" He finished weakly. "But she didn't." Marie said and Steve nodded. Marie relaxed a bit and then she couldn't help but laugh. "How long have you been in here?" She said gesturing to the living room she had left him in when she went to work this morning. Steve blushed. "Since you left… She came by a hour or so after that, and I haven't moved off the couch since."
Then Marie started full out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. "You've been," she said between her laughs "hiding… here… for …. six …. hours!" She gasped out between the laughs. Steve folded his arms embarrassed and slightly hurt. "Stop laughing, it's not funny. I'm lucky S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't call for me." He said seriously. "I didn't know what else to do, and I didn't want to talk to her. I've already made it clear to her how I feel. She shouldn't have come around." He explained. "Oh Steve!" Marie still laughed.
Her stomach was hurting and she was on the floor rolling like a mad woman. "Oh!" she laughed "Steve!" She crawled to her knees and slowly rose from the floor unable to stop laughing at his misfortune. She walked over to Steve and proceeded to kiss him in between her laughs. Steve sighed and smiled before chuckling too at the situation. "Okay, I guess it is kind of funny." He admitted. "You honestly don't know how to handle women at all." Marie said giggling and embracing him. Steve looked at her mischievously. "I'm pretty sure I know how to handle you, and that's more than enough." He told and Marie grinned. "I don't believe you, I think I'm gonna need some convincing." She teasingly. Steve leaned into her and whispered. "Then let's get a move on ma'am. Into the bedroom." He ordered her and slapped her ass. Marie replied cheekily with a "Sir, yes, Sir!" and a mock salute.
Marie woke up in the bed feeling happy and satisfied when Steve gently shook her shoulder. He carried a pizza box in his hand and Marie instantly got up, her hunger making itself known to the two occupants of the room, when a large growl emitted from her stomach. Steve joined her under the covers and opened the box before grabbing the first slice. Marie quickly followed his lead. "So I never got to ask you how your first day was." Steve said then bit into the pizza. Marie chewed lazily into her own slice before responding. "Actually it went really well. The kids were nice, surprisingly quiet but nice." She told him. "I also borrowed a car from Xavier, so no more bike-pooling to work." She joked. Steve pouted. "You'll miss it too much. You'll find an excuse soon enough to ride with me." He joked back. "I can find a lot of excuses to ride you." Marie said shamelessly and Steve nearly choked on the pizza. "Minx. New rule: no naughty talking when we're eating in bed." Steve said finishing his slice and Marie grinned.
"Your own fault, it was an obvious choice for me." "So," Steve said grabbing his second slice. "You're in a school filled with mutants, and nothing exciting happened?" He questioned her. Marie swallowed before answering. "Well, I did have this kid in my third period who accidentally turned into a puddle of water because one of the girls surprised him by kissing his cheek. A thanks for letting her borrow his pen. It was very adorable." She smiled happily and Steve shook his head. "I'm still having a hard time believing in all this powers thing, I mean I know it's real. You're the living proof of it, but it's still odd to think about. Back then," He explained and Marie listened closely. "All I had to think about was getting out alive, keeping my men safe. I tried ignoring the horrors of the war, tried ignoring that the war was capable of changing so quickly, turning to so much hatred at once. Now I have to accept the fact that that there are people out there who can control metal objects, or turn into puddles of water… Like the war, it makes me question whether or not God is even real." Marie nodded understandingly and put down her pizza slice. She grabbed Steve's face.
"Steve," She began but she didn't quite know how to help the man keep his religion in these times where religion was frowned upon by the majority of the world, and turned extreme by the remaining. "Very few know how to keep it in between these days…" She thought.
"Just because there is one side to it doesn't necessarily means it excludes the other sugar." She tried awkwardly. "I grew up in a religious home, and after everything that happened to me, after all the pain and anger, after all my education and success, I still like to believe that there's someone up there, keeping an eye on us." She admitted to him. "As time changes, so does the world honey. You need to understand this. The world has grown wiser when it comes to our origins. Science has made incredible advances that you can't logically argue against. You need to understand that religion these days is viewed as a private matter, a personal belief. As long as you believe in it, it doesn't matter how the world changes or adapts. It doesn't matter if animal's start talking, or the world is ending, or if we're put through the greatest horrors of war. It doesn't matter because you have your belief and it keeps you happy and strong." She said and she knew she wasn't very convincing. "I'm very bad at this, sorry." She apologized and Steve smiled happily at her "Don't apologize doll."
"Don't lose your faith or hope Steve, it's what makes you, you. It's what helps you be the great, kind and loving man you are today. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that you can believe in both. It's just up to yourself to find a way to combine them." Steve kissed her.
"While you're horrible at pep talks, I get your point." He told her happily and Marie felt relieved. "Oh thank God." She said and Steve laughed. "Don't quit your daytime job though." He joked and Marie hit his arm jokingly. "You can count on it."
Two months passed quicker for Marie than she'd noticed. The days were filled with teaching, socializing, working out and Steve. "Sometimes working out with Steve." She thought happily. She was surprised how much at home she felt whenever she was with him, like anything else would be wrong for her. It was wonderful but it scared her at the same time. She couldn't help but keep thinking that something big was going to take her happiness from her and ruin it.
Marie stood in front of the fridge in the school kitchen, having agreed to sleep over in the mansion because Ororo and the professor were leaving to recruit another new mutant. She'd been standing in front of it for the last minute without really finding anything to her liking. Marie sighed and then grabbed a beer that was hidden in the vegetable box. "Because the children would never think to look inside the vegetable box." She sarcastically muttered to herself as she unscrewed the bottle and took a sip. "They would, but they know I'll cut their damn hands off if they take any." Logan growled from behind her. Startled Marie choked lightly on the beer, before turning to glare at the man. In the last two months she hadn't been able to get any closer to the man then when she had first arrived and it bothered her. She knew Logan was a good guy with a sense of humour, but he hid it extremely well. She grabbed another beer and threw it to the man who caught it effortlessly. "I'll buy you a new pack." She said as she sat down on the bar stool next to the kitchen counter.
Logan sniffed the air. "Why do you keep sniffing the air all the time, do you have cold or something?" she sassed at him even though she knew why. Logan was surprised but actually managed an amused smile. "Nah, enhanced sense of smelling and hearing. You smell like someone I used to know, I think." Marie raised an eyebrow at him. "You think?" Logan nodded. "Lost my memories a while back, I've been looking for leads all over the world since then." Marie winced. "Sorry." She said and Logan nodded. "It's alright. I have a home here now and people to take care off. It keeps the pain to a minimum." He admitted to her and surprised himself. Marie bit her lip. She wanted to help the man, and one way to gain his trust was to tell him about Steve. But telling him about Steve would bring down S.H.I.E.L.D. on her head. She sighed, cursing herself, before deciding to do the right thing. "Logan," She began and the man stared at her. "That person I smell like…. He remembers you too I think. He's alive." She said honestly and Logan nearly dropped his bottle. "What?" the man asked her shocked. She put a calming hand on his, and he didn't remove it. "That's not possible." Logan said still shocked. He leaned over and started sniffing her vigorously and Marie was happy that the children were asleep, because this was the kind of thing that could and would start rumours if the right "Wrong." person walked in on them.
"It is Logan." She told him reassuringly. "I can't tell you how, because it isn't my story to tell sugar." Logan almost whined and Marie found it adorable and sad at the same time. "Though I'm never gonna tell him that." "If you want, I can take you to visit him tomorrow." She offered and Logan nodded. "I thought you smelled like him because you were a grandchild or something. I never expected…" He didn't finish the sentence and Marie clenched his hand in comfort.
"It's alright sugar. I'm gonna call him and give him a heads up." She told him. She pulled out her phone and started dialling. Logan watched her every move, like an animal deciding whether or not the being in front it was a threat. It rang twice before Steve finally picked up. "Hey doll, is the school still standing?" Steve joked over the phone. Logan took a deep breath and his hand that cradled the beer bottle shook lightly.
"Steve, sugar, yeah it is. I was wondering if you'd mind a dinner guest tomorrow?" She asked him. "Not at all, who is it." He questioned Marie. Marie bit her lip before answering. "Logan, one of the teachers I told you about." She told him simply. She'd never explained who Logan really was when she talked about the school with Steve, otherwise she would need to tell him how she knew he had worked with him during the war - and that would lead to her meeting with Fury. Not something she was going to discuss with him, just like he didn't go into detail when he was shipped out on missions.
"Of course doll, I'll make sure everything is ready for tomorrow." "Great. Love you, bye." she said and hung up. Marie froze and stared at the phone in horror when she realized what she'd said. Logan seeing her expression smirked amused. "Let me guess, you haven't told him the big I Love You yet." "Shut up." She said quietly while panicking. "Relax kid." Logan tried to calm her. He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm sure he feels the same way or he wouldn't be with you." Marie gently smacked her forehead on the kitchen counter while groaning. "Why is my life a mess? Why couldn't I have been born normal?" She muttered and Logan snorted. "A pretty girl like yourself? Because then life would have been too easy on ya darlin'." He said and Marie sighed before finishing off her beer. "So the whole thing with you working for the government." He stated, and Marie had to hand it to the man. He was clearly more perceptive than one would presume at first. Marie sighed. "S.H.I.E.L.D." She admitted and Logan tensed. "But I swear I left them behind, I stopped working as their scientist. They found out I was a mutant, so did Steve… I left them because I was scared. Then Steve searched for me and he found me again and when he did, I made it clear to him that working for S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't what I wanted, and here we are." She explained to him then finished her beer.
"I don't like it." Logan commented. "You don't have to… And I don't expect you to trust me, a stranger, right away. People who do are naive." She said and she knew her way of thinking would be similar to that of his own and that it would appeal to him. "But I will earn your trust at some point Logan." She finished and Logan nodded. "I'm keepin my eyes on you." He warned her but there was no real heat in his words. "I'm counting on it." She replied. Marie got up and decided to check on the kids. She walked out of the kitchen and could feel Logan's eyes on her back the entire way.
Marie woke up from a fitful sleep by someone knocking on her door continuously. The discomfort of having slept in a strange new place without Steve made it impossible for her to rest properly. She looked at the alarm next to her on the nightstand that read five-thirty. She groaned and got up, stretching her body, but finding no release. There was another heavy knock on her door. She opened and found Logan waiting for her. "Get ready and meet me down stairs in the danger room." He said throwing some workout clothes at her. Marie grabbed them and groaned. "Do I have to? I'm not an x-man." She tried to weasel her way out of the workout session with Logan. "Chuck asked me to help with your powers. We need to make sure you can handle yourself in case anything happens to the children." he grunted and left her hanging in the doorway. Marie shook her head tiredly but changed into the clothes nonetheless.
Ten minutes later she was standing in the large oval room, while Logan was giving her the detailed explanation behind the programming of it. "Now we'll start with basic hand to hand combat." Marie raised her hand in the air like the children in her own classes. Logan sighed. "What?" He asked her annoyed. "I'm fully trained in different martial arts." She told him. Logan rolled his eyes at her. "'Course you are…" He raised an eyebrow at her before circling her. "Then show me what you got." He said and attacked her with a right hook that Marie blocked easily. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over herself and hard into the ground, a foot pressing down on his chest. She never broke a sweat. Logan looked impressed. "Not bad kid." He admitted before he attacked her again, this time not holding back.
The fight was long; they each managed to block the other's punches and kicks. Both were experienced, and Marie was surprised by the grace Logan held while fighting. She'd been expecting the more animalistic approach because of his feral side, but his actions were completely controlled. He was clearly well versed in different martial arts too. She'd noticed this by his combination of Jujitsu and Wing Chun that made up his fighting style. She didn't think the older man even realized he was using them, but that he did them rather instinctively. Her analysis of his fighting distracted her, and led to Logan managing round-housing her in the side. The heavy pain in her ribs was instantaneous and Marie fell to the floor out of breath, but the very second she did, she jumped up again landing on her feet. She responded by attacking him with several hard punches, and Logan fought to block the quick array punches, but couldn't keep up with her speed. A sickening crunch sounded in the room as Logan's nose broke. They both froze.
Logan looked annoyed while Marie was upset. "Logan I'm so sorry!" she started apologizing. The man only held up his hand. "It's fine kid." He said and the nose crunched some more, as it healed itself. "Ew." Marie said looking and feeling disgusted and guilty while Logan rolled his eyes at her. He entered an offensive stance again, and Marie followed his lead. This time Marie attacked first. She took a few steps back before running at him. Logan expected her to go for a kick in the gut; exactly what she wanted him to believe. Instead she jumped over him, and landed on her feet behind him, before springing herself up and wrapping her legs around his throat. Marie choked him as hard as she could with her thighs and thought in a moment of distraction that Natasha would have been proud of her. Logan fought hard against her grip, and they ended up tumbling to the floor, Marie still choking him, never once letting go. Eventually Logan pounded his fist on the floor three times and Marie released him.
Marie grinned and offered him a hand. "Not bad huh?" She said excited while her heart still pumped frantically, and the adrenalin still filled her body. Logan accepted the offer, and Marie pulled him to a stand easily with the extra strength she possessed thanks to Steve. Logan grunted and rubbed his neck, even though his healing factor had healed him from any lasting damage. "You're a lot stronger than you look kid." He said eyeing her suspiciously. "I was sure you would've broken my neck if I hadn't called it." Marie shrugged awkwardly. "I work out a lot." She offered as an explanation. Logan shook his head. "Anyways, let's get started on the real fun." He grinned and Marie had a bad feeling.
Logan yelled out an order to the computer in the room, and around them the bare room faded away. In its stead was war like scenario. The sky was a dark orange, buildings surrounded them though they were all either destroyed or blasted to the ground. She could hear explosions and gunfire in the distance. Marie turned to look at Logan. "So... What's the plan?" She asked him suddenly nervous. Logan grinned at her while releasing his claws. "Don't get killed." he said before remembering "Oh, and only use your powers - no hand-to-hand… I like to think the best way to learn how to control and use your power is in the heat of a battle." With that he ran off and Marie debated whether she should follow him or not. The choice was taken from her when an explosion near her knocked her off her feet. Marie sighed annoyed as she got up again.
She unleashed the small hold she had over Magneto's powers. The ever-present hum from the metal around her turned into a tingle throughout her body. "OVER HERE!" She heard someone yelling and then she saw several men coming at her. "MUTANT BITCH!" "DIE!" "MUTIE!" They yelled and the man who led the troop (who also carried a machine gun) opened fire at her. Marie reacted instinctively. She held up her hand and stopped the rain of bullets mid air. The men ran towards her and Marie focused harshly on the task at hand. Several beads of sweat rolled down her face, as she tried turning the bullets around so they faced the men instead. She was about to fire them back at them when a second explosion sounded and Marie lost focus. The bullets fell to the ground and Marie took it a sign to high tail out of there.
She ran away and ended climbing and jumping over several large pieces of building debris. There were a multitude of iron wires sticking out of the concrete pieces that clawed and tore at her skin, but she ignored them and refused to take notice. Marie forced herself to continue on. She kept running until she hit a dead end, in the form of three buildings collapsed in on each other that blocked the road ahead. Marie panicked and her powers started to work up a frenzy. She heard the yells of more mutant haters that were closing in on her location and every metal object around her started floating around her in a protective vortex. Marie stared at the concrete obstacle in front of her again. She tried separating the buildings by pulling the steel wires and constructions from each other, but they were too heavy and too much for her. The vortex of magnetism that surrounded her quieted down as she exhausted herself. About a hundred feet away she noticed a man. "Oh fuck!" she cursed when she noticed the large bazooka on his shoulder. "A bazooka! Seriously!" She yelled out. No sooner the man fired the weapon. Marie stopped the rocket at once, making it land at the man's feet. The large explosion sent the man flying in several pieces to the ground.
Having dealt with the most immediate threat, Marie looked around when she finally got an idea. She walked up to a floating car roof and examined the metal. She focused solely on it, and it lowered to the ground, as did the rest floating metal objects. She nervously stepped up on the car roof. "Gently Marie…" She muttered to herself as she focused on levitating the piece of metal with herself on board over the blockade of destroyed buildings. "Gently…" She told herself again as she began rising so very slowly from the ground. She was about a foot over ground, feet shaking nervously on the piece of metal when she let go of the breath she didn't know she'd held. The relief was temporary. Marie couldn't hold back the scream when she suddenly flew several feet through the air. She was violently thrown off the floating metal and over the wall of buildings. Right before she crashed, the illusion of the battlefield faded away. Logan ran towards her and caught her during her free fall. They both grunted and groaned as they collided with the floor.
Logan pushed Marie off him and she rolled onto the floor unharmed, having been protected by his body. "Kid…" Logan nodded at her as they both lay panting. "From now on you have danger room session with me, twice a week." he grinned happily as he was getting up again. "I'd rather not." Marie grunted out exhausted and not moving. "Come on, it wasn't that bad." He smirked as he offered his hand to her and Marie sent him a disbelieving look, though she accepted it just as he had earlier with her. "Besides," he told her "It's a good way to let go of your powers once in awhile and make sure Times Square is left standing." He said with a joking tone… or as joking as the Wolverine got. "Chuck filled me in." He explained. Marie sighed but had to admit the man was right. The usual hum of the powers was completely gone. "Fine…. but once a week" She exasperated but she smiled at him. Logan shook his head no. "Twice, and that's me being considerate to your personal life. Now go shower, we have kids to teach." He ordered her. Marie sighed but headed upstairs with him anyways, never noticing the people who had kept watch inside the observation room.
Inside the observation room the professor sat with Hank and Ororo by his side. Ororo sighed. "Are you sure about this Hank? I mean it is possible for two people to have the same powers. We have several children that can control the same elements, such as fire. Why would Rogue and Magneto be different? She's clearly not as powerful nor experienced with the control of metal as he is." She asked the blue man-ape concerned. Hank took off his glasses and cleaned them in his lab coat. "That may be Ororo, but the statistics of having the exact same powers without being blood related is almost non-existent. Even the children here, who control the same element, fire for example as you say have developed their powers in a completely unique way and use them in completely unique way. Not one mutant child we've ever come across has ever had the exact same power as another. The rarity of it is only found in twins, and even rarer, blood relatives."
The professor frowned. "But still," He told Hank "isn't suggesting that Rogue is Eric's daughter a bit far fetched?" The professor questioned his friend concerned. Hank sighed. "I'm not saying she is, and we'll never know completely without a DNA test, but I'm not ruling it out either." He exclaimed worriedly.
"Charles, we both know of the rumours about Magneto's children. The fact that he tried to recruit her as Rogue claims, could point to the fact that she is his child, though she may not know it." He finished.
"I for one suggest we leave it be for now," Ororo said "it will not change anything. Rogue is our friend and colleague and we should not snoop into her private life without her consent, but let her come to us in her own time when she is ready." The weather witch finished firmly.
The professor nodded. "Ororo is right. If she truly is Eric's daughter, then he will show himself soon enough again. I know him too well, he would never let one of his children stay here even if they chose to." He said shaking his head at his old friend. Hank nodded and that was the end of that discussion. "She has great potential of control, and from what I've gathered she not only control magnetism but possesses enhanced strength, stamina, speed and healing. It's uncommon for a mutant to have secondary mutations." Hank noted while rubbing his furred jaw.
"Truly?" Ororo questioned him shocked and he nodded. "You weren't here at the beginning of the sim my dear, but our Rogue slashed her legs deeply against several steel cables and wires, causing much blood-loss. Now at the end of the sim there only remains a slight pink line, indicating she was ever hurt." The professor agreed. "She possesses an agility on par with Kurt, and fighting skills unparalleled. I believe there is more to Rogue than she is willing to tell us at the moment." He finished and Ororo didn't know how to feel. She rose from her seat. "As I said before. When she is ready, she will confide in us." And with that she left the two men alone in the observation room, while she concernedly thought, "I hope."
...