Chapter Fifty-Three:


There was a reason that Cain Marko had earned the name of the Unstoppable Juggernaut.

Once he got moving, there wasn't a force on Earth that could stop him. If she wanted to knock him off his feet, Rogue knew she was going to have to get him while he was standing still. Even with her super strength, ramming into him while he was moving wouldn't do much good. Over the years she'd gotten to know the limits of her new powers pretty well, though she'd yet to come up against an opponent like the Juggernaut. She'd taken down Sentinels before, though, so she knew she could go toe-to-toe with Cain, but she was going to need some help if she wanted to take him down.

She'd faced off against Cain Marko once before, back during her days with the X-men, while she and her teammates were on a survival training weekend alongside the Brotherhood. It hadn't been a very fun experience for anyone, the two rival teams had bickered endlessly, but it'd been especially hard on Rogue. Her defection from the Brotherhood to the X-men had only taken place a few weeks prior, and the nasty looks her former teammates kept throwing her way cut deeper than she had let on.

Not that she could really blame them. She'd been the one to leave, after all, and even though she'd tried to explain, her switch of allegiance had been a harsh blow, and she knew it. In time the boys seemed to get over it, at least Lance did. But then again, she'd always had a unique relationship with Lance Alvers. Both loners by nature, they'd connected the very first night Rogue arrived at the Boarding House, and even after she joined the X-men Rogue had always gotten the sense that if she was in trouble, Lance would do what he could to help her out.

It didn't hurt that she'd been one of the few people to support his relationship with Kitty.

Xavier had sent them on the survival training weekend in the hopes that they would get a chance to hone their skills. They had, of course, but not the skills he'd intended. Mystique freed the Professor's half-brother from his imprisonment, hoping to form an alliance with him, but Cain had other ideas, and the next thing Rogue and the X-men knew they were teaming up with the Brotherhood to save their leaders and take down the Juggernaut.

It hadn't been easy, even with all ten of them working together. The Juggernaut could pretty much withstand anything they could throw at him. His only real weakness was that he was vulnerable to psychic attacks, which he rectified with the helmet he wore to keep telepaths, like his brother, from poking around inside his head.

As long as that helmet was on, Rogue knew they were going to have their hands full.

"Tess," she said without tearing her gaze from the Juggernaut's rampage. "Do me a favor an' tell Mercy an' Bella t' get out o' here, will ya? Ask 'em t' get Remy an' Lucas."

The more firepower we have t' throw at him, the better, she thought to herself, and if Tessa picked up on it she didn't comment.

After a moment of silence, she felt Tessa's hand on her shoulder. "Mercy is headed for the estate now. Bella remains, wishing to help."

Rogue snorted in exasperation. "Tell her not a chance in hell," she replied sternly. "This is a mutant thing. Assassin or not, she'd be a liability against the Juggernaut. An' in her condition she ain't fit t' be fightin' wit' anyone! If she really wants to help, she can start gettin' all these people outta the way so no one gets hurt."

There was another pause, and then Tessa announced, "She is complying with your request, and calling her brother to inquire about aide from the Assassins Guild in forming a perimeter around the area to keep civilians from accidentally wandering into the midst of the engagement."

"Good idea," Rogue agreed with a nod. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Bella had been trained all her life to be a strategist, but when the situation called for it she knew how to manipulate a situation to its limit.

"You identified the target as the Juggernaut?" Tessa asked distractedly, in that clipped, serious tone that Rogue had come to associate with meaning the telepath was using her internal computer to analyze data. "Cain Marko, half-brother to Charles Xavier, whose latent mutant powers were activated by mysticism during his study abroad his senior year of college?"

Rogue blinked, startled. "Ya never cease t' surprise me, Tess," she drawled. "Yeah, that's our boy alright. A real mean sucker, too. Shame he didn't inherit the Prof's temperament."

"Agreed," Tessa responded. "According to my assessment, I would suggest our course of action be that we immobilize him as quickly as possible, then you can redirect his aggression from the city onto yourself until Remy and Lucas arrive to support your attack. When an opening arrives, one of us must get his helmet off, and then I can subdue him easily enough with a psionic bolt."

"Sounds like a plan t' me," Rogue said, rolling up her sleeves. "Ready fo' some action?"

"Do you have any idea how to get him to come to a halt?" Tessa inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah'll think o' somethin'," Rogue assured her, starting towards the Juggernaut, who was fast approaching. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tessa move to the sidewalk, waiting in the wings until it was her time to join the fight.

Taking a deep breath, Rogue took up position in the middle of the street, so that she was directly in the Juggernaut's path. His back was to the sun, casting a gigantic shadow in front of him, one that swallowed up Rogue well before Cain's eyes focused on her.

When they did, though, she had the pleasure of seeing his face scrunch up in confusion, as if he was trying to remember where he knew her from, but couldn't quite do it. She wasn't all that surprised, it had been a long time, and she'd done a lot of growing in the past four years.

"What?" she drawled, placing her hands on her hips. "Don' Ah even get a hello, Juggy?"

His seven-foot frame towered over her, and his eyes widened in surprise and recognition. "You," he hissed, his eyes flashing, no doubt remembering the last time they met. "I thought I was rid of all you Xavier brats."

Scowling, Rogue lifted off the air and tucked her head, plowing into his stomach at full force. The element of surprise worked well for her, and she was able to drive Cain to the pavement with enough force that it rattled her teeth, leaving a wide crater in the middle of the road. "Ah'm mah own brat, thank ya very much!"

Juggernaut climbed to his feet, glowering at her with seething rage. "Where did that come from? I don't remember you being able to do that, kid."

"Let's jus' say that Ah grew up, sugah," Rogue retorted, drawing back her arm and swinging at his head. He was ready for her this time, though, and caught her fist in his, taking a swing of his own that she barely blocked six inches from her face.

Cain drew back his fist and struck Rogue with a blow that snapped her head back and shot her a good hundred yards down the block.

Pulling her knees up to her chest, she did a backflip to right herself in the air, then took off towards the Juggernaut yet again, ready to continue the fight.

What Ah wouldn't give t' have Kurt o' Kitty here, she sighed to herself. They could get that helmet right off an' this fight would be over real quick.

But as it was she was on her own, and she'd have to make the best of it.

"Didn' yo' mother ever teach ya any manners?" Rogue drawled, scowling at Cain as she hovered in front of him, just beyond his reach. "It ain't nice t' hit a lady."

Cain snorted, obviously not impressed.

"Good thing fo' me, then," Rogue smirked, suddenly diving towards him, two fists connecting with his stomach so hard he gasped for air as she slammed him into the pavement. "That Ah ain't much o' a lady."

One thing that Rogue had never really understood about Cain Marko was why he held so much hatred for his half-brother Charles Xavier. Thankfully she'd never had to absorb him, from what the Professor had told her Cain's mind wasn't a place she wanted to visit, but she had to wonder what had happened in their past to make Cain hate Xavier with such a passion, and by association the X-men.

Probably somethin' stupid, she muttered to herself. Like Daddy playin' favoritism t' the Prof instead o' his own kid.

Juggernaut moved to hit her, but she knocked his arm away, driving a punch to his helmet hard enough to snap his head to the side. She didn't even try to go for the snaps holding his helmet in place, sensing that he was already drawing back his own fist to strike.

A moment later she was somersaulting backwards through the air, the breath knocked out of her courtesy of being clotheslined by Cain. She regained her aerial balance and lifted her head, only to find Juggernaut's fist about to crash into her face.

Ducking under his swing, Rogue darted around behind him, whirling on her toes to slam her shoulder into his back, pitching him forward precariously. "Ya know, this is kind o' fun," she told him as he swung at her, blocking his fist with her arm. "It's been a long time since Ah've had a fight that Ah could really get in t', ya know?"

And it was. Living with the Thieves Guild was far from boring, and there was always the occasional scuffle or fight to take part in, but it had been a really long time since she'd faced an opponent who posed any real challenge.

The last time had been against the Sentinels on Magneto's island.

Guess Ah shouldn't be complainin', anyhow, she mused, blocking another of Cain's punches and throwing one of her own that he intercepted. Anythin' big enough t' pose a challenge would probably affect the peaceful lives we've got goin' on here.

Of course, most people would consider the world of the Thieves Guild anything but peaceful.

Cain lunged at her, intending to grab her with both arms, but she ducked, then flew into his chest hard with her shoulder, driving upwards so that he stumbled back, clutching his stomach and gasping for air, his chest heaving.

A flash of black caught Rogue's eye and she glanced over her shoulder to see a masked assassin on the rooftop of the bank, hand resting on the sword at his hip, attention riveted to the fight below. She couldn't be sure, but she had a feeling it was probably Julien, keeping an eye on what was going on while the rest of his people locked down the perimeter to keep civilians out.

Marie! Tessa's warning filled her mind sharply. Look out!

Rogue realized her mistake a moment too late, and when she turned her attention back to the Juggernaut, Cain's fist, two or three times the size of a normal man's, slammed into her chest and she felt the world slide out from under her. She crashed through a hair salon window, glass exploding around her, and landed on the service counter, crushing it beneath her.

Aww, Jean-Luc's gonna kill me by the end o' this fight, she muttered to herself, imagining how costly the destruction was bound to be.

Groaning, she pushed to her feet, brushing shards of broken glass off her jeans. "Girl, ya gotta start payin' attention," she muttered to herself, lifting into the air again and heading back outside through the busted window.

Tessa had stepped in during her absence, and was moving around the Juggernaut's feet, keeping Cain busy as he tried to stomp her, but her lithe agility allowed her to duck and roll out of the way, frustrating the towering mutant to no end.

Comin' up fast, Rogue called to Tessa, tucking her head and ramming Cain from behind, sending the enormous mutant toppling over to land hard on his stomach, the pavement moaning and then shattered into a crumbling mess beneath his weight.

Though the Juggernaut dwarfed her in size, their strength was pretty evenly matched, and Rogue had been trained by Wolverine to use her opponent's weaknesses against him. In a fight against Sabertooth, that would have been to distract him from every angle and catch him by surprise. In Cain's case, however, Rogue's best bet of doing any serious damage was to keep him off balance as much as possible.

Swooping down low, Rogue reached out, intending to grab Cain under the arms and hoist him up into the air, but the Juggernaut's chiseled arm came up to hook her in the stomach, leaving her winded. Before she could try to retreat, Cain had her locked in a tight hold, his sadistic grin showing through his helmet.

"You're an annoying little pest, you know that?" Cain growled.

"So Ah've been told," Rogue grunted, struggling in his grasp, but with her arms pinned at her sides it was hard to get any real leverage.

Cain's fist connected with her jaw, snapping her head back, and he pummeled her with one hand while the other kept her trapped at his side. Distantly Rogue heard Julien cursing in French, but the assassin clearly understood he couldn't do any good against the Juggernaut and wisely refrained from intervening.

Marie, Tessa ordered shortly. Duck your head.

Without hesitation, Rogue did just that, and a moment later she heard something hard and solid connect with the back of Cain's head. The Juggernaut staggered a step or two, not loosing his hold on Rogue, but his distraction was enough to give Rogue a chance to work one arm free.

Cocking her elbow, she slammed it into his vulnerable underarm, catching him off-guard. A low groan escaped Cain's lips, and his arm fell away from her, letting her put some distance between them before he came at her again.

He swung at her hard, but this time Rogue feinted left, then simply ducked. The momentum of his punch pulled his balance forward, and Rogue put every ounce of her formidable strength into the uppercut she threw at his helmet-covered jaw.

She felt a surge of pride as he flew back, crashing into the side of the salon he'd thrown her into earlier, and leaving a massive dent in the brick wall.

Good thing the people in this city are used t' strange things happenin', she thought. Hope they've got some good insurance.

Only seconds after she hit him, Juggernaut was back on his feet and rushing towards her, the ground shaking violently with each step he took. "You're gonna pay for that, missy," he snarled angrily. "Nobody messes with-"

"Yeah, yeah," Rogue cut in. "Nobody messes wit' the Juggernaut. Ah know." She rolled her eyes in contempt. "It's been four years, Cain, ain't ya got anythin' new t' say?"

In his outrage, the Juggernaut swing at her wildly, allowing her to duck aside as he skidded past. As he was turning back to face her, she decided to take a chance and reached for the latches on his helmet.

Cain caught her tiny fist in his and bent her hand back, eliciting a soft yelp, but Rogue wasn't about to be beaten yet, and lashed out with a powerful snap-kick to his helmet just as he hit her in the stomach so hard that her eyes fluttered and she thought she might pass out as she was sent tumbling through the air, end over end.

About ten blocks later she finally managed to get control and turn back.