Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution doesn't belong to me.

Chapter Seventeen

December 1996

And so, it appeared, Magneto had yet another Acolyte, this time a telepath by the name of Mastermind.

Thankfully, most of the fall-out from the revelation of mutants' existence in August seemed to have disappeared; they still got some hostility, but nowhere near the amount at the beginning.

Only the original six team-members – Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Rogue and Evan – were still attending Bayville High School; Bobby and the other New Recruits had transferred to the Community College in the centre of town, with the exception of Jamie, whose powers meant that he had always been home-schooled. Remy stayed back with him – being two years older that Scott and Jean meant that he should have graduated already – but usually sat in on his classes, having never attended regular school back in New Orleans; this had the dual-purpose of making Jamie more focused as well, since he was no longer the only one there.

By the middle of December, the team was resettled and as strong as ever; Wolverine had even taken to putting both teams in the same training session to face off against each other.

If they had needed any more indication, both Acolytes were now positive they had made the right decision.

John couldn't remember being happier. He had friends who liked him for him and not his powers and he had the girl he loved by his side every day.

Remy was slightly less happy, but only because the girl he loved didn't know it yet.

And had just knocked him unconscious.

"Remy? Gambit? For the love of God, say something!"

Remy groaned. "Mon dieu, chérie, tu emballes un poinçon, fais-tu pas?"

"I'm not Rogue" A female voice responded. Remy opened his eyes to see Kitty looking down at him. "But we need to move fast; Sabretooth and Juggernaut are on the loose and…"

With a bamf, Kurt teleported in. "There's no time to explain. We think Rogue's having a power-surge. Sabretooth and Juggernaut were nowhere near us; it was her."

Remy climbed to his feet. "That explains how she managed to knock me for six just now."

"You've been out for several hours." Kitty told him. "And a touch like that should only have managed a few minutes."

"Come on." Kurt grasped both their arms and teleported them to Bayville, where Ray, Bobby, Logan, Scott and Jean were sheltering from a storm, in the midst of which was Rogue, floating fifty feet above the ground. "Oh, great, the Blackbird!"

"Tell them to stay back." Remy told him. "We can't all attack her at once."

But it was too late. Rogue channelled Magneto's power and the jet flew past her, hitting the tarmac and skidding to a halt. Within minutes, Storm had flown out, but was struck by a bolt of lightning that sent her crashing back to the floor; Jean caught her and set her down.

Logan narrowed his eyes. "You're up, Gumbo, and try to get her down here to talk to her. The rest of us have done more harm than good. Ice up, kid."

Bobby nodded and created a platform under Remy's feet high enough to take him eye-level with Rogue. "Sorry, Rogue." He leapt, his arms wrapping around her waist, refusing to let go. Her control over Storm's powers steadied them until they landed on the ground, several hundred metres away from the others. "Come on, Rogue; we can help you; we can fix it; we can make it through this. You can make it through this. Let us help you."

For a split-second, realisation dawned in her eyes. "Help me…" But the next second it was gone; her eyes glowed red and he dived to the side a split-second before the beam made contact.

"Listen, I haven't known you for very long, but I know this isn't like you. There are other people in your head, Rogue, but you can't let them push you around! The Rogue I know wouldn't let them do that. The girl I love wouldn't let them do that."

The red glow disappeared and Rogue fell to the ground. "I can't! There's just too many of them!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Remy saw Professor X approaching in his wheelchair and knew what he was trying to do. "Come on! You can do this!"

In front of his eyes, Rogue began morphing; first into a boy he'd never met, then Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, Storm, Cyclops, Blob, Mystique, her best friend Risty, Shadowcat, Sabretooth, Avalanche, another kid he'd never met, Magneto, Jean, Toad, Beast, Juggernaut, then back into herself, whereupon she gave one last cry of pain and fell into Remy's eyes.

As he held her close he looked up at the Professor. "She's gonna be alright, right, Professor?"

Professor Xavier looked pained. "I don't know yet. I just don't know."

"How long has he been in there?" Scott asked of Remy three weeks later.

At his side, Professor Xavier sighed. "He hasn't left her side."

"But she will be alright, won't she?" Scott frowned.

"Yes." Professor Xavier answered. "Of that, I am sure. But recovering from this and, even more, the truth about Risty will take a long time."

"He'll help her." Scott stated. "I wasn't sure about him to start with, but he'll help her."

In the aftermath of Rogue's power-surge, two things had been discovered. First of all, Risty Wilde had been Mystique all along. Second of all, Mystique was apparently Rogue's adopted mother, which shocked everyone, but it only strengthened the camaraderie Kurt felt for his team-mate – who had been the only one to really understand his need to find his real mother – now he knew they were siblings.

Remy, as Professor X had observed, hadn't left the Infirmary and didn't intend to until she woke up. As soon as Cyclops and Xavier had left, he took her hand and squeezed it gently, willing her to respond. "Betrayal's a difficult thing to deal with. I know. I've done it. But you don't have to do it alone; you're luckier than me in that respect."

"I know." The response was so quiet; he thought he'd imagined it for a second. But he definitely didn't imagine the tightening of her hand around his. "I have you."

Remy lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "And you always will."

Rogue smiled softly. "Thanks for talking me down. I heard what you said out there. I love you too."

Tentatively, Remy leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, ready to pull back if the surge had taken her control again, but nothing happened. "Je t'adore." He whispered.

Rogue squeezed his hand again. "What did I miss?"

"Not much." Remy shrugged, but a dry laugh from the doorway belied that.

"Not much?" Kitty repeated incredulously. "Boy, you really were in your own little world, weren't you?" She walked over and gave her room-mate a hug. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better." Rogue admitted. "So what happened?"

"Well, Evan had a power-surge as well." Kitty began.

"Something's in the water." Rogue commented. "He okay?"

"He can't absorb his spikes anymore." Kitty told her, her voice subdued. "And it wasn't in the water; it was in that new sports drink Power8. Apparently, it's toxic to mutants."

"Someone's done something about that, right?" Rogue asked, a scowl on her face.

"Professor X went to talk to the company owner." Kitty pulled a face. "Although I'm betting that did more harm than good."

Remy snorted. "I wouldn't take that bet."

"How is Evan?" Rogue prompted.

"Living with the Morlocks." Kitty sighed. "It's a long story, and I wouldn't bring it up around Storm if I were you."

"Duly noted." Rogue muttered. "Anything else?"

"Actually, yes. You know how Wolverine worked with SHIELD for a bit?" Kitty took a deep breath. "It turns out there's this enemy group called HYDRA and they wanted their own Weapon X, except obviously they couldn't steal Mr. Logan, so they made a new one, except pumping kids full of adamantium was killing them, so they took baby number 23 and infused it with some of Wolverine's DNA to give them his healing power and then gave them a metal skeleton. But the new Weapon X blamed Wolverine for it and escaped and turned up here, then SHIELD came, except Logan explained what had happened and helped them escape."

"So Logan has a clone." Rogue concluded, as always never revealing her surprise. "Do they act the same?"

"Not a clone; a genetically-enhanced copy." Kitty corrected. "And similar; managed to take us all out in the space of twenty minutes. Wolverine's never tried." She shuddered. "Nor do I want him to after that demonstration."

"What's his name?" Rogue prompted.

"The new Weapon X?" Kitty checked.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Yeah, who else?"

Kitty smirked. "She goes by X-23."

AN: I know it's shorter than the other chapters, but this is more of a filler, so bear with me. Also, I know Evan's power surge happened before Rogue's, but I'm already taking more than a few liberties with the time-line. Review please!

Translations:

Mon dieu, chérie, tu emballes un poinçon, fais-tu pas?- My God, dear, you pack a punch, don't you?

Je t'adore – I love you.