Disclaimer: Nothing here is mine.
Chapter 27-Return of the Juggernaut
Sunday morning came like every other day—loud and obnoxious. The entire household was awoken by Kurt's cries as he realized he had twenty minutes to meet Amanda and her parents at church. He managed to dress and turn on his image inducer before teleporting a block away from the church, but by then the rest of the mansion was coming to life.
Rogue was the last one downstairs and into the dining room for breakfast. But it didn't really matter. She wasn't hungry. She took her customary seat in between Bobby and St. John, both of whom were already scarfing down their food.
"Mornin', Shelia," greeted St. John as he helped himself to another pancake.
"Mornin'," replied Rogue sitting back in her seat.
"Aren't you gonna eat, Rogue?" asked Bobby pausing between bites of food to glance at the girl beside him.
"Ah'm not that hungry."
"Breakfast is like the most important meal of the day," said Kitty brightly.
"Still not hungry," murmured Rogue crossing her arms defiantly.
"Leave her alone, if she isn't hungry she isn't hungry," remarked Tabitha. "How else does a girl keep her figure?"
"Kitty is just saying that it is not healthy to skip a meal," pointed out Amara coming to her friend's defense.
"Apparently she hasn't eaten over at Lance's place," muttered Rogue. "There you're lucky if ya even get ta smell food."
St. John chuckled. "Well if ya ain't gonna eat, Shelia, can I have your plate?"
"Knock yourself out." Rogue handed the Australian teen her empty plate and watched as he loaded it with food. In the distance the phone could be heard ringing. Logan pushed out his chair and headed off to answer it. He returned within minutes, the phone in his hands. He didn't say a word as he handed it to Rogue.
"Hello?" she mumbled with a small yawn.
"Roguey? We need to talk." Lance's voice crackled over the line. Rogue frowned as she struggled to hear him over the background noise around her.
"What for?" she demanded.
"Someone came around asking for you—someone you might remember pretty well. Look, you either come now or I tell big ugly where you are."
Rogue made a face as she turned in her seat to avoid the glances she was receiving from her housemates. "Name the place, sugah. Ah'll be there."
"The park—now." Lance hung up leaving Rogue with the dial tone. She glared at the phone before turning it off. Without a word she put down the phone and excused herself from the table. She was halfway to the door when Tabitha caught up with her.
"Where ya headed?" asked the blonde.
"Apparently Lance needs ta talk with meh," replied Rogue crisply.
"Doesn't sound good."
"It probably won't be pretty. You wanna go—that way no one gets suspicious why Ah'm joltin' so early this mornin'?" Rogue breathed in relief as Tabitha shrugged in agreement. There was no way Rogue could face Lance alone. Especially after such a cryptic phone call. She didn't like the sounds of it.
The Park:
Rogue and Tabitha arrived at the park out of breath. Lance, Toad, and Fred were already there waiting.
"Took you long enough," muttered Lance.
"Ya coulda offered meh a ride," returned Rogue darkly. Tabitha rolled her eyes and took a seat on the swing beside Toad. "So what's the big deal? Who came by askin' 'bout meh?"
"Juggernaut."
Rogue's eyes widened in fear as she thought back to her last encounter with the large mutant. "What for?" she gasped.
"I don't know—but he's gonna make our lives hell. Pietro's been taking him on a wild goose chase this morning. I'm surprised your X-Freaks haven't gone after him yet," said Lance with a weary sigh. "He came by last night asking about you…and then Pietro came home. Man, Juggernaut went ballistic. Says he only wants to talk to you. Something about his boss wanting to meet you."
"His boss? What boss? The guy hasn't been out for even four months yet. Who the hell did he find ta work for?"
"Does it matter?" interjected Toad chewing on his nails. "The big ape almost knocked our place down last night!"
Lance nodded in agreement. "The man's pissed, Roguey. What did you do to him?"
"Meh? Ah was the one who let him go! He should be thankin' meh, not comin' after meh—or Speedy?" Understanding dawned on Rogue as she glanced over at her former teammates. "Where is Speedy?"
"Still runnin', I s'pose," rumbled Fred slowly.
"Look, if this guy wants trouble, we're here for you," murmured Lance. "We always will be."
"Thanks," said Rogue with a small smile. "That means a lot ta meh."
Just then a sharp breeze passed by Rogue and Lance, kicking up a cloud of dirt. When the dust cleared Pietro was standing there with his hands on his knees, panting from over exertion. "We got a big problem headed our way, Roguey. Juggernaut's back—and from the sounds of it, his boss wants your powers."
"If Ah could give it to him then he'd be more than welcome. But it don't work that way," growled Rogue.
"Come on, we gotta split." Pietro reached over to grab Rogue's gloved hand just as the ground began to shake. Juggernaut was running towards them.
"It's a little late now," announced Tabitha jumping out of her swing. She, Toad, and Fred came to stand beside Lance, trying to hide Rogue and Pietro from view.
"We cahn't just leave 'em," whispered Rogue tugging on Pietro's hand before he could whisk the two of them away.
Pietro took a deep breath and nodded. "Then let's show this sucker what it means to mess with the Brotherhood."
By now Juggernaut had stopped to stare at the teens before him. "Looky what I found. A bunch of kiddies to play with. All I want is The Rogue, and no one gets hurt."
"Yeah, if you want her that bad, come and get her," challenged Lance curling his hands into fists.
"Have it your way." Juggernaut began a slow run towards the teens as Lance let loose a strong tremor, unbalancing the larger mutant so that he had to come to a complete halt to steady his self.
Tabitha produced a couple of fire balls and tossed them Juggernaut's way while Toad hopped on top of him and hocked a wad of acidic spit onto his eye slits. Toad jumped away just as the fire balls exploded with a loud boom. Fred cracked his muscles and positioned his self directly in front of the Juggernaut as he wiped away the spit—he had barely flinched from the explosion.
"Yo, anyone know the guy's weakness?" called out Toad hopefully. The others shook their heads, each wondering how on earth they were going to get out of this alive.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the park Kurt and Amanda were walking hand in hand towards her house. Her parents were warming up to him…but he had yet to confess to Amanda exactly who he was.
"Amanda, can I tell you something?" questioned Kurt working up the nerve to confess the truth.
"Of course," answered Amanda with a sweet smile. "What's on your mind?"
Kurt opened his mouth to speak when the two lovebirds heard an explosion coming from the other end of the park. Instinctively Kurt knew it was mutant trouble. "Amanda, get home. Go home and stay there until I call you." With those words Kurt dashed off down the sidewalk toward the commotion, leaving a momentarily confused Amanda behind.
Within seconds Kurt could see the raging battle going on with Juggernaut. He pulled his COM link out of his pocket, and turned it on. "I need help! Juggernaut is attacking at the park! Rogue and Tabitha are with the Brotherhood—they can't hold him off for long!" he yelled desperately. Without waiting for a reply Kurt turned off his image inducer and teleported into the middle of the fray.
"Kurt?" asked Rogue incredulously as he popped to her side.
"What is going on here?" shrieked the blue mutant.
"What does it look like?" retorted Tabitha good naturedly. She threw five more fire balls at the Juggernaut—only to watch them bounce right off of him as he and Fred were trying to knock one another down.
"This is crazy! Why didn't you call for back up?"
Lance grinned. "Not so tough on your own, are ya?"
Rogue shook her head, her face serious. "Cut it out, guys. We've got a real problem here. This guy isn't fallin' down like everyone else does."
"It's his helmet," explained Pietro stopping for a breather after attempting to make Juggernaut dizzy by circling him a couple of hundred times. "If we can just get that piece of metal off of him we'd be able to stop him."
"Oh sure," muttered Kurt. "That's easy enough."
"Alright, then here's how we do it," started Rogue. "Kurt, you're gonna unlatch the helmet while the others distract him. Then Ah'll drain him—trust meh, one touch ahn the guy'll be out like a babe."
"I hope you're right. Here goes nothing." Pietro took off at breakneck speed as Lance exerted his energy to cause a rift in the ground, right below Juggernaut's feet. Tabitha and Toad alternated between fireballs and acid while Fred tried to knock the other man down. Kurt and Rogue watched carefully as they circled around to the back. With a quick prayer under his breath Kurt teleported onto Juggernaut's back and unlatched one of the hooks right before he was thrown off into a tree unconscious.
"Kurt!" Amanda's scream jolted everyone's attention to the dark haired girl as she scrambled over to the blue mutant with tears streaming down her face. Rogue took advantage of the brief distraction to run up behind Juggernaut and pull the other latch unlocked. Juggernaut pushed Fred to the ground and turned to catch Rogue. The southern mutant easily maneuvered into a back flip to avoid being caught. It was with that movement that Pietro sped by and unlocked the third latch on the helmet.
"Stop that!" roared Juggernaut as the helmet flopped open.
"You want meh? Then ya cahn have meh." Rogue allowed Juggernaut to grab a hold of her waist and pull her towards him with a triumphant grin. He didn't notice her bare hand until it was too late. Rogue latched onto his neck, and gasped as her powers instantly kicked in. The thoughts that rushed into her mind were fast and dark. She let go and stumbled to the ground as Juggernaut came tumbling after her. Rogue backed away into Pietro's outstretched arms, preventing her from falling down. Juggernaut crashed to the ground, shaking everyone off balance.
"You alright?" whispered Pietro with concern in his voice. Rogue nodded wearily.
"Man, he hits hard," she murmured as Pietro lowered her to the ground.
"Hey, Rogue!" called out Tabitha. "Kurt's pretty out of it!"
"Is he alright?" sobbed Amanda clutching Kurt in her arms. Tabitha shrugged helplessly. Nearby Lance and Toad were trying to help Fred off the ground just as the X-Men arrived.
"What the hell happened here?" demanded Wolverine. Storm shot him a look as she and Cyclops went to inspect Juggernaut.
"He's out," claimed Cyclops, relief evident in his voice.
"No kidding," agreed Spyke. Beside him Iceman was too busy glancing over at Rogue who was still sitting with Pietro.
"The authorities are on their way," announced Xavier as he wheeled himself into view. "The scientists are very relieved to find Juggernaut has been apprehended. Though it remains to be seen why he returned in the first place."
All eyes ventured over to Rogue who was clutching Pietro's arm. She tried to ignore their looks as her mind turned over what it had retrieved from Juggernaut. The part that stood out clearly was a sinister looking face of grey and black. Whoever it was had wanted her for something diabolical. Another plan was Rogue's guess. But she wasn't willing to volunteer her newfound knowledge.
"What?" she shot back with a glare. "Why doncha just wait till he wakes up ahn ask him? Ah just knocked him out—end of story."
"Leave her alone," added Pietro as he got to his feet. He reached down a hand and pulled Rogue up after him, saying for her ears alone. "Caliban was looking for you earlier."
Rogue nodded. "Let's go," she mumbled trying to take a step. Rogue gritted her teeth in frustration as she realized she was still too weak to walk unaided. Upon seeing this Pietro wrapped an arm around her waist and the two began to retreat from the scene.
Wolverine let out a growl. "Where d'ya think you're headed?"
"Speedy owes meh a victory dinner—Ah just saved his life. Don't wait up," replied Rogue without giving the older mutant a backwards glance.
"Don't you like think that you should come back to the mansion and recover?" asked Shadow Cat curiously.
"Ah'll take a rain check. 'Sides, Ah think Blue needs your help. Amanda cahn't take care of him ohn her own." Rogue's words startled the X-Men. They glanced over to where Kurt was lying with Amanda and Tabitha on either side of him.
"Oh boy," sighed Jean. "We've got a lot of explaining to do."
Abandoned House:
Pietro stumbled through the doorway, still holding onto Rogue. He kicked the door shut behind him and led Rogue over to the dusty couch sitting in front of the shuttered window. Sabertooth watched on with little interest as the two teens sank down into the couch gratefully.
"Rough day?" he snarled.
Rogue peered out at him though half-open eyes. "Fuck off."
Caliban entered the front room and eyed Rogue anxiously. "The Juggernaut is a worthy foe," he said softly. "You could have been seriously injured."
"Ah'm fine." Rogue rested her head on Pietro's shoulder, struggling to keep conscious. Truth be told her latest draining had taken a lot out of her. More than she had anticipated. Sabertooth narrowed his eyes at the mention of Juggernaut, but kept his mouth shut.
"So what do you have for us, Pale-Face?"
Caliban chose his words carefully. "Three mutants. That is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"Yeah, you found them already?" Pietro was surprised.
"One is already in Bayville. Another is on his way. The third—the third you shall have to coerce to your side."
"Who are they?" asked Rogue.
"The one known as Pyro. The second will be the foreign exchange student you have yet to encounter. He is not yet here, but his parents have already come to check out Bayville High. Their son is an artist and New York is full of potential. And the third, he is the Prince of Thieves. He will only come for money…and he will only come if the price is right. But these three will be loyal until the bitter end."
Rogue groaned. "Great. Ya couldn't have made it easy for us, huh?"
"You asked for loyalty, not ease." Caliban gave Rogue a grim smile, letting her know he was only teasing.
"Well, Pyro Ah cahn handle since he lives with meh now. Speedy cahn make friends with the artist whenever he arrives. Hey, Sabby, that leaves you with the other guy." Rogue seemed pleased with herself at the thought. She had the easiest one out of the whole bunch.
"Where is he?" Sabertooth looked over at Caliban who was frowning.
"New Orleans."
"Sounds like a road trip to me, Sabby. Guess that means we're gonna be without your sorry excuse of a face for a while," chuckled Pietro. Sabertooth growled.
"Don't push your luck, boy."
"Play nice," warned Rogue as she closed her eyes once more. She was still completely oblivious to the fact that her pillow was really Pietro.
"Fine, I'll go to New Orleans and bring back the mutant we need. But I'm takin' Pale-Face with me. That way I ain't wandering around the swamps for weeks on end."
Caliban was silent, but then he nodded in agreement. "The young ones should be alright holding down the fort on their own."
"Right," murmured Rogue close to sleep.
"We'll be back in a week," warned Sabertooth. "That means you have a week to put the Brotherhood back in shape, Whitey. I don't give a damn if the boss is your old man. Do the job right and maybe I won't kill you."
Pietro didn't say a word as he watched Sabertooth usher Caliban out of the abandoned house. He glanced down at Rogue who was now fast asleep. He scowled and shifted so that her head rested on his chest and not his shoulder. Pietro leaned back on the couch and shut his eyes as well. It really had been a long day.
A/N—Alright, so I'm trying to plot out the next couple of chapters…but I might just wing it from now on. Winter break is coming—and my computer is due for an update, so I'll try and get a few more chapters up really soon. Just to warn you I'm going home for Christmas Break, so I'll try and write out the chapters, but I'm not sure how much computer access I'll actually get. So bear with me, okay? Thanks.