A/N:
I don't own X-Men, no matter how much I want to :(
"Where is she?" Logan demanded of Charles, the lower level door sliding open. I walked in, two paces behind him.
"Who?" Scott asked, confused but tense.
"Rogue," Charles answered, skimming Logan's mind. He did a quick search of the school but soon reached the same conclusion I had. "She's gone."
"The eye scanner doesn't want to let me in," I explained as Charles' eyes turned to me. "Otherwise I would have checked and left by now."
"Doesn't she know the danger she's in?" Scott asked, bewildered. I shook my head.
"No. I didn't think she'd actually try leaving the school!" I growled, annoyed at myself. "Can we get a move on?"
"Of course," Charles said, immediately guiding his wheelchair to the hallway.
The scanner whirred quietly as it scanned Charles' iris.
"Welcome, Professor," a mechanical voice greeted as the doors opened. The bald mutant entered the room, Logan and myself not far behind him.
"Welcome to Cerebro."
"This certainly is a big, round room," Logan said quietly, craning his neck to see under the platform. I cracked a smile.
"The brainwaves of mutants differ slightly from normal humans, and Cerebro allows us to locate and differentiate different mutants by amplifying our telepathy," I explained. "It's like hearing a lot of voices. We can hear each one, but we can also locate a single voice. This is how I found you in Laughlin City."
"Why don't you just use it to find Magneto?" Logan grumbled.
"We've been trying, but he seems to have found some way to shield himself from it," Charles said, lifting the helmet. Logan crossed his arms.
"How would he know how to do that?" Charles turned his head towards the feral.
"Because he helped me build it," he said. He lifted the helmet up and onto his head and I motioned for Logan to follow me out. He obeyed as Charles closed his eyes and the lights dimmed.
The door slid shut behind us and I was surprised to see that Jean had joined us. Logan cleared his throat, looking at Jean.
"Have you ever-"
"Used Cerebro?" she guessed. She shook her head. "No. It takes a degree of control and for someone like me… It's…"
"Dangerous," Scott finished.
"He's found her," I murmured, concentrating on Charles' thoughts.
"Where is she?" Logan demanded.
"The train station," Charles announced, the doors sliding open. "Ororo, Scott, Re."
"On it," I nodded. Ororo and Scott glanced at each other before nodding as well. Logan made to join us but Charles shook his head.
"Logan, you shouldn't leave the mansion."
"Listen, I'm the reason she took off," Logan said in a determined voice. Ororo glanced at him.
"She's alright; she's just upset," she said to Logan.
Get to the garage, I whispered in Logan's mind. Take anything but my Yamaha or the red Banshee.
"Hey… Where's my motorcycle?" Scott asked as I mounted my own motorcycle. I hid my smile as I kicked the bike to lift. I shrugged when his eyes turned towards me, releasing the brakes instead of shouting over the engine.
"Hey, kid," Logan greeted, standing just behind Marie. She looked up and I smiled guiltily. "I'm sorry about last night."
I nearly fell over from the understatement. Yes, I'm sorry about nearly killing you. It's a good thing you almost killed me back! Yeah, that cleared everything up!
"Me too," she said after a short pause. I noted that her eyes met his very quickly before darting away.
"You running again?"
"I heard the professor was mad at me." Again, I nearly fell over.
"Well who told you that?"
"A boy at school," was her noncommittal response. "You think I should go back."
"Yes," I cut in, just as Logan disagreed. "I'm not going to lie to you, Marie. Magneto is after you. And I can't protect you from him. He can control my entire body, as well as Logan's, with a flick of his wrist. The only people who can help are the other X-Men: Storm, Cyclops, Beast, and the rest of us."
Marie fell silent, looking out the window.
"The first boy I ever kissed ended up in a coma for three weeks. I can still feel him, inside my head. And it's the same with you," she said, nodding towards Logan.
She began to cry and Logan, looking slightly overwhelmed, wrapped his arm around her in a strange hug, not allowing physical contact. She accepted the contact, strengthening it.
"There's not many people that'll understand what you're going through, but I think this guy Xavier's one of them. He seems… to genuinely want to help you, and that's a rare thing… for people like us."
She looked up from his chest and backed away slightly, obviously considering his words, just as I was.
"So, what do you say?" he asked as the train began to start up again. "Give these geeks one more shot?"
Seeing Marie's smile, I couldn't help but pout.
"I resent that, you know," I chuckled.
"Come on, I'll take care of you," Logan coaxed. Marie paused.
"You promise?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I promise."
I was moving to stand when the train lurched forward before rocking back. The metal- briefcases, grates, anything- began to move sporadically and I cursed.
"Marie. Get down. Now," I ordered, not leaving any room for discussion. I raised my voice to the rest of the train. "Oi! This train is under attack! Stay calm and silent and the mutant behind this won't hurt you!" Hopefully, I added to Logan.
Right on cue, the train began to split itself in two, peeling apart at the split. The other passengers were very, and depressingly, quick to disregard my orders and began screaming their heads off.
"Honestly, humans these days," I muttered to Logan. He scoffed.
And then, through the steam and fog, Magneto came hovering through the air slowly, his cape flying out behind him. Logan drew his claws, the Wolverine coming alive.
"Ah," Magneto said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "You must be the Wolverine." Logan took a single step forward before he was suddenly stopped. Magneto held his hand aloft, testing the magnetic fields around Logan. "That remarkable metal doesn't run through your entire body, does it?" He released his clenched fist and Logan's arms flew upwards, his spine straightening against his will.
Magneto separated his fingers slowly and Logan's claws began to pull away from each other painfully. Magneto raised his hand slowly, lifting Logan into the air, and I concentrated on a briefcase behind Magneto.
Come on… The briefcase shuddered as it rose up, rising until it was level with the back of Magneto's neck. I only had one chance to do this, just one chance to knock his helmet off.
Three… Two… One… Now!
I thrust the briefcase forward, hooking it under Magneto's helmet and yanking it up. Like I'd planned, the helmet flew up and off with a gentle twang.
Launching my mind forward, I attacked the older mutant with all I had, desperate to protect Marie, Logan, and all the people on the train.
Foolish child, Magneto- no, Erik, spat. You shall lose this game.
No… I… Won't! I growled. I searched for a handhold, something that I could sink my fangs into and use against him, but his mind was confusing. He was much more organized than I'd previously thought or led myself to believe.
Memories, older and harder to control, rose into my mind. A world of gray… It's raining… Guns, dogs, and that ugly language.
German? I thought to myself. Whatever it was, it ran deep. I latched onto it, forcing myself deeper and deeper into the older mutant's mind.
Higher functions… Higher functions… Aha! Mutation. Now, just to- No!
"Foolish girl," Magneto spat again, now aloud. "You are nothing to me." He raised his other hand and I found my arms pinned to my sides. "You are just… a pawn."
And I flew straight back, hitting the opposite wall of the train with a resounding thud. The metal inside of me reverberated throughout my body and left me shaking.
"Stop! Stop it!" Marie cried out. Another moment passed and Logan soon joined me, crashing into the wall beside me. I watched, still trying to get my thoughts together, as Marie ran towards us, her eyes shining.
Magneto took something from his belt and launched it at her. The object, which I now identified as a needle, stabbed the younger mutant in the shoulder, knocking her down instantly.
"Young people," Magneto muttered, almost as if it was an obscenity.
"You know… Charles told me… about you when you were younger." I forced my jaws to work. "He always… smiles… It's only lately… that he's been… disappointed… in you."
Magneto lifted his hand again, a scowl on his face, and my body was pinned once again to the wall.
"Haven't I told you? We both want the same thing," he insisted calmly. "The only difference is that I am old enough to know how to get it."
"I wouldn't want this… I would never want this," I growled, forcing my head to turn towards the front of the train, where a mother was cradling her son in her arms, trying to get him to stop crying.
"You are blinded by your emotions, child. Stop fighting." The grip on my bones tightened for a moment and my vision began to blur. I tried to fight it but the dark consumed my sight.
A/N:
Aww, cliffhanger...