Hey Everybody!
Sorry I haven't updated in like a month, but school's started and I've had a ton of homework
Anyways! Chapter 11 doesn't have as much dramatic emotion as 10, but I think you're going to like it!
R&R! and Enjoy!
Explosions of Every Kind Chapter 11: How Many Arrivals Is Too Many?
"Hell yeah!" Rogue shouted, exhilaration flowing through her voice. "Professor, Ah did it!"
Xavier smiled gaily in the control booth of the danger room. This was Rogue's fifth session of learning to possess someone else's powers, and she had just, using Magneto's powers, torn out a buzz saw from within the danger room walls and twisted it into the size of a baseball.
"Congratulations Rogue!" Xavier cheered into the microphone. "I think you are ready to apply your new skills while battling with other students."
"Y'think?" Rogue yelled up to the Professor.
"I'm positive," he responded.
"Ah'm not so sure, Prof," Rogue hollered, "Ah mean Ah can have power over one of my psyches now, but Ah gotta be one-hundred percent focused."
"Well let's start with just one person then." He buzzed open the doors and called into the microphone, "Gambit, you may come in."
Gambit marched in with perhaps to much of a confident glow about him. "So chere, still don' wanna talk?"
Rogue looked irritated and glanced up at the control room shouting, "This ain't a good idea!"
"I disagree," Xavier stated simply.
"Okay," Rogue whispered to herself as she cracked her neck in preparation of a fight. She closed her eyes and within seconds her body was solid ice. Gambit was impressed and his face must've shown it because Rogue made a sinful smirk. "What's wrong Gambit? Worried y'won't win?" she taunted.
"Non, jus' takin' in d'view," he returned her smirk with one just as wicked, "Y'are breathtaking after all Chere."
Her eyes narrowed; she had heard enough talk. Rogue lunged at him, although she had Bobby's powers she was still keen on hand-to-hand combat. Her first punch missed as Gambit pounced behind her, grabbing both of her arms except he was forced to quickly let go from ice burn. As he started to stumble back, Rogue sent her head flying backwards and head butted him, causing him to lose his balance.
Both X-men took a momentary pause to regain their composure then leaped at each other once again. Rogue threw the first punch for a second time, and hit Gambit directly in his abs. He staggered back coughing and received a roundhouse kick from his beloved Rogue next. He recovered, and then countered by running past her and elbowing her in the back. She lurched forward then spun around and froze his feet to the floor. Gambit tugged and jerked at his feet to free them, but couldn't get loose. As Rogue approached him she had no intent of hitting him again, instead she declared, "Y'r holdin' back." Then asked, "Why?"
Gambit took in a deep breath then replied, "I was told y'might be a little off y'r game."
This was one of the most insulting things he'd ever said to her and she was appalled. "Off mah game? The whole point of trainin' wit' someone else is so that Ah can see if Ah'll be on mah best game in a real battle! An' how can Ah do that if y'r holdin' back?"
"I jus' didn' want t-" Gambit started.
"T'what? Hurt me?" Rogue interrupted. "How gentlemen of you! Now are y'gonna fight me or what?"
This time, Gambit's eyes narrowed and at that moment he sent three playing cards soaring from his hand: one at each of his feet to break the ice and one at Rogue. She plummeted back in a variety of somersaults until she hit the cold, metal wall. When she recuperated, her icy eyes were glazed over with fight lust, while Gambit's were full of hot determination.
Gambit ran at her, and right before he would have hit her, he slid down to the ground with one leg crouched and the other straight out. Entrapping Rogue between his legs he sharply twisted his body and forced her to crash to the floor face down. She wriggled and twisted to face him then shot ice beams from each hand, freezing his chest, neck and shoulders to the ground. Next, Rogue lunged herself on top and straddled his waist. She placed a hand on each side of his head and leaned down, saying with a grin, "Ah win."
Gambit smiled as well and confessed, "I guess y'do."
From the control room, Xavier leaned into the microphone and said, "Nice job you too. Rogue, there is a danger room session at 7 in which every student will be at, I would like you to attend as well and further perfect your new talent. Dismis-"
But the Professor was cut off by the boisterous sound of a chopper landing in the flight bay. "Logan," Rogue breathed, and then promptly took off.
Rogue about burst through the hanger doors with anticipation of seeing Wolverine. It had been almost a month since he'd left without saying good-bye. Logan descended the steps and sure enough Rogue was the first face he saw. It pleased him to see her again, and especially out of the infirmary. But boy, had he missed a lot! And Rogue was sure he wouldn't be happy to know that a discontented Sabertooth was being held in the basement and a smug Gambit was now a part of the team.
"Logan," Rogue celebrated, "Y'r back," she said as she gave him a hug. Rogue was in a much better mood than usual, he thought to himself.
"Hey Stripes, glad to see you out of the infirmary."
"Logan, a lot has happened since y'left."
The tone in her voice worried him, and the scent on her skin concerned him even more: she smelled akin to spices and smoke.
He dropped his bag, "Tell me."
Rogue started from the beginning. She told him of her blood clotting and how they were running out of time, and since he was gone they turned to Sabertooth. Rogue explained of Gambit battled his own team members for her and how she was forced to absorb Sabertooth twice, she informed him of the mental battle Xavier and Gambit fought inside her mind to rid her of Sabertooth and of Gambit's first day of training. Rogue notified Logan about her almost killing Gambit and of her new control… she told him almost everything, save for the private moments involving her and Gambit. Then she waited for a response.
It wasn't everyday Wolverine was at a loss for words, but after that all he could do was blink stupidly.
"Logan? Are y'still there?" He didn't respond, so she thought she should show him, "Watch." Rogue raised her hand and it turned to ice, next she shot a puddle of frozen water onto the flooring. Wolverine still made no sound or motion in reply.
Then without warning, the doors swung open and in ran Gambit. "Rogue-" Before he could finish his thought, Wolverine started shuddering with rage and his claws slowly slid down from between his knuckles, which had turned white from balling his hands into fists. Rogue looked worried and her glance shifted frantically from Gambit to Wolverine, apparently to Logan everything Gambit had done for her was not enough to permit him a spot on the X-men's team.
"Remy run!" she screamed as Logan lunged forward, claws first.
Gambit, on the other hand, had no intention of running. He would fight and prove his worthiness to Wolverine. But Rogue wouldn't bare the thought of either of them hurting the other so she tapped into Quicksilver and ran in-between them. "No!" she shouted, shooting her arms up to stop both men. The second they saw her they were both brought to a skidding standstill. "Y'two ain't gonna kill each other. He's an X-man now! And so are you, so get along! Or as close t'along as y'two can get." Both men huffed and puffed, but restrained from murdering the other for now.
Subsequently, Wolverine grabbed his bag off the floor and grunted, "I gotta talk to Chuck," as he walked past Rogue he said, "It's good to see you again Stripes." And as he walked past Gambit he purposefully bumped his shoulder with his own and tried to knock him down.
Rogue let out a huge sigh of relief and walked over to Gambit, "Why didn't y'run? He woulda killed ya."
Gambit snorted, "Let him try."
"Y'r funeral," Rogue commented.
"I didn't know y'cared so much," Gambit chuckled.
"Oh Ah'm sorry. Did Ah give ya'll the impression that Ah cared?"
Gambit paid no attention to this last comment and swept his arm around Rogue's shoulders saying, "Is time t'eat, no? Let Gambit cook y'somet'ing nice."
"What are y'doin'?" she asked indicating his arm around her. "We ain't together."
"Not yet, Chere."
"Not ever, Swamp Rat." Then she pushed his arm off of her, but made no attempt to shove him completely away from her. "But Ah do love southern food."
They made it to the kitchen with about an hour to go before the nighttime danger room session. Gambit went straight to the refrigerator and pulled out a batch of crawfish he had recently bought, as Rogue took a seat on one of the high-tops that surrounded the granite covered island. "Crawfish? Damn, that's original," Rogue teased.
"Original ou pas, vous allez les aimer1," he crooned.
"Gambit, y'know Ah don't know that much French," she reminded him.
"Then I'll just have t'teach you," he flirted. But she had a feeling he wasn't talking about the language anymore.
He had finished boiling the crawfish and served them to her raging hot in spice and temperature, which in his opinion was the best way to eat them… and Rogue had to agree, they were delectable.
After the two southerners had finished their meal Gambit said, "I told you you would love them."
"Oh, is that what y'said?" she played.
"Oui," he whispered in her ear.
Their conversation was cut short by the Professor's mental message to remind everyone to report to the danger room, leaving Gambit very disappointed. They set their plates in the sink and took off towards the danger room. 'Great timing, Xavier,' Gambit thought as they walked down the halls, 'couldn't have given me just a few more minutes?'
The word no resonated through his mind in the Professor's voice. "Do y'hear that?" he asked Rogue.
"Hear what?"
"Never mind."
Rogue and Gambit arrived at the danger room and meet up with Kitty, Kurt, Scott, Jean, Amara, Bobby, Sam, and Ray. Inside the doors they all found a maze waiting for them. But this wasn't like a normal maze; the walls were continually changing, some ascending up from the floor and others descending down into it. Then Xavier's voice came over the speakers, "Find the box within the maze, and beware of obstacles. Powers allowed, and the team cannot split up."
"Okay," Scott said, "Let's go!" (Even Gambit was in too good of a mood to comment on how Scott was overcompensating for something.)
All ten ran headfirst into the maze, and as they made their first turn the walls changed and split the group in two. "Kitty faze everyone through," Jean shouted from the other side. She did so and the team continued on.
Another wall shot up in front of the group and was electrified. "No problem," Ray beamed as he attracted all the charge into himself, and then blew the wall to bits. They ran on and hit one of the actual danger room walls that couldn't pop up and down and a giant turret gun flipped out and started firing at the group.
"Mine!" Rogue shouted as she tapped into Magneto's powers once again and forced the barrels of the gun to twist and fire upon itself. Everyone, except Gambit, was dumbfounded.
"Like what just happened!" Kitty yelled. But while everyone was staring at Rogue large metal tentacles shot out from the floor and captured Bobby, Amara, and Kurt. Snapping back into reality, Amara melted her tentacle and toppled to the floor, where she melted the bases of the other two as well. Everyone pressed on, still searching for the mysterious box.
When abruptly the entire wall rumbled and shook violently. They all prepared for another turret gun or more tentacles. Then all of a sudden the wall was ripped apart from the rest of the building, light poured in from the outside and in hovered Magneto.
"Charles, I'm here for my acolytes," he announced, not seeming to care about the students below, just staring into the control room. But at that moment he peered down and saw Gambit covering Rogue from any debris with his body. "Come Gambit, your time as an X-man is over." He stopped for a second then lied, "I have all the information I need."
"I knew it!" Scott shouted. "He's been here as a spy all along!"
"No! I haven't, I swear!" Gambit tried to defend himself, but it was too late. Cyclops had already fired a full-force optic blast at him, and Gambit went tumbling into a retractable wall. Not wanting to hurt Scott and prove him right, he didn't fire back. Scott went to fire again, and as he did Rogue jumped in the way.
"NO!" She tapped into Jean's powers and put a shield around her and Gambit. However, it couldn't hold very long against Scott's blast. "Y'will not hurt him!"
"He's with our enemy," Scott told Rogue, "He has been all along."
Rogue turned her head to look at Gambit. As he stood up he shook his head and mouthed the words 'I love you'. She was confused, yet overcome by emotions all at once and couldn't concentrate on the shield anymore. It dropped, and to prevent her from being hit by the optic blast Gambit took her into his arms and turned his back to Scott, taking his blast in full.
"Come now Gambit," Magneto said, "You've gone soft." He lifted the floor beneath Gambit's unconscious body and carried him away. Just before he had gone from eyesight Magneto turned around and informed his old friend, "Oh, and Charles I'll be wanting Sabertooth back as well."
Did you like it? PLease tell me what you think
Chapter 12 will come whenever I have time to write it and I'm thinking it'll have betrayal in it!
Much love, til next time
Oh and if you caught that little bit of the conversation from the comics, CONGRATS TO YOU
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN XMEN/XMEN EVOLUTION
Original or not, you will love them1