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Taunting Repartee
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rogue had been searching through her memories for the last four hours now. Unfortunately for her, one years old babies rarely pay attention to what the adults around them are talking about. Her younger self spent most of her time staring at whatever had caught her interest, or trying to get her hands on something she was not supposed to touch, nevertheless put in her mouth.
After an hour of only catching a few words here and there she had jumped ahead in her mind to the age of two. Where she found her younger self to, at least, be listening in on the conversations. At the time she had barely understood what was being spoken; till grasping to learn her first language. But each and every word she had paid attention to was stored perfectly in her memory; ready and waiting to be analyzed. She felt herself let out a gasp as she saw spotted Magneto in one of her memories. She focused in on it; choosing to relive it completely.
Rogue sat on Ameila's lap in the kitchen of Ameila Vought's Home For Wayward Children, half eating, half playing with a small bowl of Cheerios in front of her. Her younger self glanced across the table at the other adults present; Irene Alder, and Magneto.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Ameila said.
"Of course, Ms, Vought. Destiny, what do you have for me?" Magneto asked.
"I detest the code names, as well you know. If you prefer being called Magneto that is your right. But please call me, Irene," she said. Her younger self happened to glance up at Magneto; she recognized annoyance in his expression.
"My apologizes, Irene," Max said. "It will not hap-" he said. Her younger self was now staring at Magneto's hair; she had never seen anyone else with white in their hair likes hers. Ameila adjusted herself in the seat; distracting Rogue. She glanced up at Irene who was now speaking.
"-Mortimer Toynbee. His mutation will manifest early." she said.
"How early?" Magneto asked.
"Twelve," Irene answered.
"Thirteen," Rogue counted quietly. Ameila hushed her.
"-old is he now?" Magneto asked.
"One," Irene said.
"Two, three, four," Rogue whispered.
"Shh," Ameila hushed as she handed her a Cheerio. Rogue took it out of Ameila's fingers and ate it.
"-His parents have abandon him," Irene said. "He resides in an orphanage in York.".
"I'll go and retrieve him myself," he said. "Of course, we'll have to change the boy's name," he said.
"Is that really necessary?" Amelia asked as she handed Rogue another piece of cereal; she ate it with a smile.
"The legal process to bring him to America in daunting to say the least. Besides what explanation could we have for our desire to transfer him from one orphan-" Magneto started to say before Rogue saw a butterfly, fly across the window. She gasped as she reached out; wanting to grab it.
'Wait a minute,' Rogue thought as she paused the memory. 'Is that a camera?' she asked as she glanced at the window. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a camera in the top corner of the room; near the window. 'What kinda orphanage has cameras in the kitchen?' she asked.
She resumed the memory.
Ameila shifted her to the other side of her lap. "With a name such as Mortimer; the boy might thank us some day for riding him of it," Magneto said with a smile before Rogue reached out for another cheerio.
"-Todd Tolansky will be his name," Irene said.
"I'll have Odekirk draw up the documents," Magneto said. "Todd will be here by next Wednesday," he said.
"Thursday," Rogue shouted before she ate another cheerio. Both Magneto and Irene stared at her surprised.
"Sorry," Ameila laughed. "I've been teaching her the days of the week," Ameila said.
"Shouldn't one start with numbers or the abc's?" Magneto asked. No sooner had the words left his mouth before Rogue was singing the Abc song.
"I swear, I had barely sang it twice before she was singing with me," Ameila said over Rogue's singing.
"H, i, j, k l, m, n, o, pee," Rogue sang loudly.
"Shh," Ameila hushed. Rogue stopped singing and glanced up at her caretaker. "Anna Marie," Ameila said in her strictest tone. "The adults are talking. You know what to do when the adults are talking, right?" Ameila asked. Rogue nodded before she put her finger against her lips.
"Shh," Rogue hushed.
"Good girl, Anna," Ameila said before kissing her cheek; Rogue giggled at the contact.
"Ameila," A voice shouted from the other room. "Could you give me a hand?" she asked. The sound of young children laughing emulated from the hallway.
"Would you please excuse me for a moment?" Ameila asked.
"Of course," Magneto said.
"Irene would you-" Ameila started to ask as she stood up.
"Allow me," Magneto said as he stood up and reached out for Rogue.
"Thank you," she said as she handed Rogue to Magneto. Ameila left the room as Magneto sat down, placing Rogue on his lap.
Rogue pulled out of the memory out of breath. After all the times she had sat down on that man's lap she would never had guessed that the first time was when she was a child.
"Fucking creepy," she muttered.
"What was?" Kitty asked. She glanced up to see Kitty sitting on her bed.
"Magneto, who else?" Rogue asked.
"What he'd do now?" Kitty asked.
"When I was like two I was sitting on his lap," Rogue explained before she felt a shiver run down her spine. 'Why the fuck would he want me to see that?' she asked herself. .
"What's so creepy about that?" she asked.
'Oh, right, Kitty doesn't know,' she thought. "I've sat on his lap since then," she said.
"When?" Kitty asked.
"At the cafe...while we were kissing," Rogue muttered.
"Ew," Kitty exclaimed. "You were kissing Magneto? Gross," Kitty said. "He's, like, ancient," Kitty said. Rogue couldn't bring herself to say anything; she just laid back down.
"Hey, Rogue?" Kitty called. She glanced over at her roommate. "Do you wanna come watch tv with me and Kurt?" Kitty asked.
"Maybe after dinner," Rogue said. "I gotta finish watching this memory," she said.
"The one where you're sitting on Magneto's lap?" she asked.
"Yup," she sighed.
"Why?" she asked confused. "No one's forcing you," she said. That's true, no one was.
"I know. It's just that him and Irene were- They were talking about something important. Something I think I need to find out about," Rogue said.
"Why?" Kitty asked.
"Because it's my life," she exclaimed. "Wouldn't you wanna know?" Rogue asked.
"Maybe," Kitty said. "I mean, I guess it would, like, depend on what I was asking," she said. "What are you asking?" she asked.
"I don't know... I- no, I do. Irene raised me for five years and all that time she said that she cares about me. I guess I just wanna know if she was telling the truth," she said.
"... So, I'll see you at dinner?" Kitty asked. Rogue nodded. Kitty turned to leave the room.
"Kitty?" Rogue called out. "Could you come and get me when it's time for dinner? I just gonna get lost in my own head again," she said.
"Sure," Kitty smiled before she left the room.
"Maybe, I should just stop,"she said as she closed her eyes. "... Whatever they're gonna talk about next- it can't be worse than what I've already been through, right?" she asked herself. Rogue took a deep breath before she pulled the memory back up.
Magneto placed Rogue on his lap.
"Speaking of children who need to be placed. Do you know who this little girl should be living with?" Magneto asked.
"My visions tell me that the time is not right to remove Rog- Anna Marie from this locati-" Irene said.
"What was it you were about to call her?" he asked.
"I was not-" Irene started to say.
"Irene, do not play games with me. What were you about to call her?" he asked strongly.
"Rogue," Irene sighed. "Later in life she will be known mainly as Rogue," she said.
"You can tell me that fact, but not who her parents will be? Irene, you are withholding information," he said. Rogue noticed the table was shaking.
"Magneto, you need me. What good are your threats?" she asked. "I will tell you when the time is right for the child," Irene said.
"Ameila is clearly attached to the girl. This relocation should happen sooner, rather then later. I do not wish to lose the caretaker of this facility for the sake of one child. Perhaps she should go live with her Aunt Carrie? I'm certain the woman would be overjoyed to learn that Anna Marie is still alive," Magneto said.
Rogue paused the memory. 'I have an Aunt?' she asked in disbelief. She shook off disbelief as she restarted the memory.
"Magneto, you know full well why we can not allow that. You know what I saw. Her father moles-" Irene started to say as Rogue reached out for the bowl of cheerios. Magneto leaned forward and brought the bowl closer.
"Owen would be dealt with," he started to say as he handed Rogue a piece of cereal. "Yet I ask-"
"Thank you," Rogue whispered as she looked up at him. He smiled down at her.
"You're very welcome, Anna. Now, the adults are talking so?" he asked.
"Shh," she said as she put her finger on her lips. She stopped making the sound before she ate the piece of cereal; keeping her finger on her lips as she chewed. Rogue watched him turn his attention back to Irene.
"Yet, I ask, why have I not taken this course of action?" Magneto asked. "You have not uttered a bad word against her Aunt. Why should she not be raised by family?" Magneto asked.
'Yeah, why the fuck shouldn't I be raised by family?' Rogue asked.
"Because the-" Irene started to say.
"Wait," Magneto said. After a moment Ameila walked back into the room.
"Thank you," Ameila said as she took Rogue from Magneto.
"My pleasure, Ameila," he said.
"I'll just be back in a minute. It's time for her nap," Ameila said with a smile.
"Please do not rush on my account," Magneto said as Ameila walked out of the room with Rogue in her arms; and away from the conversation.
Rogue continued to view the memory hoping that she might overhear just a few more words that could help her understand.
'Damn it,' Rogue thought as she pulled out of the memory. 'They didn't want Ameila to hear anything. Why were they keeping all that from her?' she asked herself.
"Rogue?" Kitty asked. "You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess so," she muttered.
"It's time for dinner," she said.
"Thanks, Kitty," Rogue said as she sat up.
"Yeah, anytime," Kitty said with a smile."You sure you're okay?" she asked again.
"No, I guess, I'm not," she admitted as she stood up.
"What did you find?" Kitty asked as they left the room.
"I'm not sure, yet," Rogue said the walked down the hall. "I gotta spend more time looking at it," she said. 'I probably got it from Max's point of view too,' she thought as she and Kitty got into the elevator. 'After diner,' she thought as the doors closed.
Rogue had eaten her dinner as fast as she could without getting stared at. She wanted to get back into her head. She had too many questions and not nearly enough time to explore for the answers. The one thing she was thankful for was that now she was back to searching within her own mind. As she had been two months ago searching for gaps in Magneto's memory to account for both his and Logan memories of Max's escape from the camps. It was nice not having to rely on another, namely Magneto, to tell her the truth.
Rogue stood up with her plate; pulling out her chair she started to head towards the kitchen.
"Rogue," Charles said.
"Yeah?" Rogue sighed as she turned back to look at him.
"Please wait for me in the kitchen," he ordered gently.
"Fine," she sighed.
"Rogue's in trouble," she heard Bobby taunt from behind her; she rolled her eyes as she got to the door.
"Mind your own business, and eat your food," Logan ordered. Rogue smiled as she went through the door. Maybe everything would be okay between them.
She walked over to the sink and rinsed off her dish.
"Rogue," Charles said as he came up behind her. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she put her dish and fork in the dishwasher.
"May I ask about your findings?" he asked.
"I thought we said we were gonna do this tomorrow," she said annoyed.
"Yes, we did. Am I not allowed to check in on you?" he asked. "I'm worried, Rogue. That is all," he said. "Should I be?" he asked.
"Probably," she muttered as she say down at the small kitchen table. She sighed. "I have a Aunt," Rogue said. Charles' eyes lite up in surprise. "At least I had one when I was two. I don't know if I've ever met her before or anything. And I have no idea if she's still alive today. I need to look more. I need a last name," she told him.
"I agree, perhaps I can be of assistants? Please allow me to help," he said. Honestly, at this point, she wished she could let him help. But what if he looked at the wrong thing? What if he saw something about Magneto that would cause him to go through with his threats? She sadly shook her head no.
"I know you don't understand why, but this is something I need to do on my own," she said. "I only got like five more hours till I need to go to bed. So, can I please go get started? It took me four hours just to find that memory," she told him.
"What memory?" he asked.
"I'll tell you tomorrow morning, okay? Like I said I was gonna," she said annoyed.
"Alright, alright," he said defeated. "Please come and find me if you change your mind," he said.
"Okay," she said before she stood up. "Thanks," she added.
"Your welcome," he said before she headed back to her room.
After about an hour of searching Rogue, drenched in sweat, sat up on from her bed with a start.
'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,' she thought in a panic. 'That can't be right,' she thought to herself as she shook her head in disbelief. She had spent an hour looking through Magneto's memory trying to find the rest of the conversation she had been taken away from.
'Why isn't it there?' she asked herself panicked. She had glanced through almost fives years of Max's life. There wasn't one memory of this location in his mind. 'Why isn't anything from Ameila's in his memory?' she asked herself.
Of course, she knew the answer. She wasn't meant to see it. Ameila's Home for Wayward Children was something that Max had intended to keep from her.
'Oh, god what the fuck do I do now?' she asked herself. 'Tell, Prof?' she asked herself. 'But if he meant to hide it and if I tell Prof all about it... what will he do?' she asked herself concerned. ' ...I ain't telling him about anything from the facade and we haven't talked about this place so... yeah, he can't take me from here for talking to him. Goes against our deal.'
'Shit, I have no idea when I'm gonna see him next,' she realized. 'Could be in a month, could be tomorrow,' she thought her eyes widening in fear. She took a deep breath. She couldn't focus on that. When he planning to come back for her was out of her control. If she let herself think about too much she would drive herself insane.
'Have ta think about what I can control,' she thought to herself. 'Toad was there,' she realized. 'Maybe he might've over heard something,' she as she laid back down. She closed hers eyes and pulled up fragment.
She paused for a moment. The last time she had searched through Toad's memories Magneto had shown up; keeping her from being able to tell anyone anything. A fear fulled shiver ran up her spine.
'Relax, girl, last time Max was living in the institute. He was making sure that no one realized Prof was gone. He had eight, fucking, telepaths in Bayville. Course he knew where I were looking. But he ain't here now,' she thought.
'How can you be certain he is not present?' A dark voice in the back her mind asked. She gasped at the voice.
'Cause he- cause he would've stopped me by now,' she replied as she took a deep breath. 'There is no way in hell he would've let me find out about Ameila's and about my Aunt Carrie, and my father's name if he- if he was here. He would've pulled me out've my thoughts hours ago,' she thought as she felt relieved. Her logic made sense; at least to her.
After another deep breath she pulled herself into Toad's memory; searching...
As it turned out, Toad paid even less attention to the adults then she did. Even at age six he was barely taking in anything those around him were saying; even when the were talking to him. She had only found out two interesting things while searching in his memories; Lance had been a resident of Ameila's and there were a lot more cameras in and around the house. She had taken the time to glance at each and everyone she saw; noting their locations. After an hour or so in Toad's mind she was almost certain she knew where they all were.
'Wonder if Freddie was there too,' she thought as she pulled up Lance's fragment.
Turns out Blob had lived at Ameila's but only for about a month.
'So, that was no help,' she thought annoyed; lamenting the half hour she had wasted.
Worst news of all was that after 1990 Magneto rarely visited the place. There was one trip he made in 1993 but she was already with Raven and Victor; and neither Todd or Lance hadn't overheard everything of interest.
'God, this is frustration. Three hours of my life gone and what the fuck have I got ta show for it?' she asked herself. 'Great, so what do I tell Prof?' she asked herself. 'What do I know?' she asked herself. 'I have an Aunt named Carrie and my birth father's name is Owen,' she thought.
As she had watched the memories she had seen so many different children; but no one used last names. Well accept forAnna Vought; Ameila's adopted daughter. But aside from her no one used last names and no one talked about what the kids powers were going to be. She wasn't even sure if most of the kids knew they were going to be mutants.
'Toad's real name is Mortimer Toynbee. Reason his name was changed is cause Magneto kidnapped him from an orphanage,' she thought in disbelief. 'If my dad was still alive then I was kidnapped too because Irene told Magneto about me,' she realized. She took a deep breath as tears ran down her eyes. 'Why? Couldn't I go live him and my Aunt? Because I had to be raised by Raven and Victor? So they could abandon me? So I would have ta go live with Irene, so I would have ta be in the brotherhood?' she asked.
'God, how much does Irene know?' she asked. 'She knew I was going go by Rogue. Does she know about all this? About Magneto blackmailing me?' she asked in disbelief as tears continued to flow. 'Why isn't she doing anything to help me? God, why isn't Graydon doing anything to help. He's knows too. He knows what Magneto's putting me through,' she cried. 'The only people who care about me have no idea what's going on. It's- it's,' she thought as tears ran down her face.
"It's not fair," she muttered. She glanced up at the clock on the night stand. "I have two hours before I have ta go to sleep," she said as she wiped tears from her face. She took a deep breath "What can I tell Prof?" she asked herself. 'A list of first names would be fucking useless,' she thought. 'Only thing that never changed was the cameras... I could draw him blueprints,' she realized with a smile. 'Okay, okay, I can do that. I can handle that,' she thought. "I just gotta find paper big enough," she said as she stood up.
Rogue sat in sub-level seven. Large papers spread out on the table; she was furiously adding marks here and there. Trying desperately to complete the blueprints of Ameila Voght's home for Wayward Children before someone tried to get her to go to sleep. It was already eleven pm; thankfully since she had told Kitty she didn't want to watch a movie she had been left alone to work.
Rogue glanced up as she saw the Professor enter the room.
'At least until now,' she thought bitterly. She turned back to her work. She had completed the layouts for all the floors and the grounds outside. They only thing left to do was mark the location of each camera in the house she was aware of and ink all the blueprints. She was almost done with the third floor; only a few more cameras.
The Professor opened his mouth to speak.
"I know what time it is," she said strongly cutting off whatever his first statement would have been.
"So, you know you should be in bed," he said gently.
"Can't sleep," she said as she made another mark pointing out a camera on the third floor of the building.
"You are clearly exhausted," he pointed out.
"I'm not going to sleep until I finish this," she said strongly.
"And what is all of this?" he asked concerned as he got closer to the table and her.
"You can't recognize blueprints when you see them?" she asked sarcastically. He sighed.
"Yes, of course. But what are they blueprints of and why can this not wait until tomorrow?" he asked. She stopped a moment; taking a deep breath; fighting back her tears.
"I think you were right," she mumbled.
"About what?" he asked.
"About it being a mistake. I think he fucked up yesterday when he let me borrow his car. I don't think Magneto meant for us to find this place," she said as she marked he last camera on the third floor.
"This is the orphanage?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said with a nod as she pulled the second floor blueprints in front of her. "I'm afraid Prof that when he finds out we know about this place and when he figures out what I could know about this place that he'll do what he can to keep me from telling you or anyone else about it. So, yeah this can't wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow might be too late," she said before she closed her eyes; pulling up imagines of the second floor. "Ten cameras," she muttered as she moved to write down the location of the first one.
"Rogue?" he said concerned. "What use are the position of cameras from what was it ten years ago-"
"Twelve," she corrected.
"Even more to the the point. What use are those going to be? The layout is more than enough. You can stop now," he said gently.
"I got memories from that place from almost a decade, Prof, and not once during that time did a single camera get moved; I checked," she said. "I think Magneto assumes that no one was ever be able find out about the place. So, they haven't bothered to change anything and if you ever decide to go there, then you're gonna need to know where this stuff is," she said as she marked down the next camera.
"I appreciate the thought, Rogue, thank you. But-" he started to say.
"Irene used to live here too," she said cutting him off. "Irene, my foster mother," she said as she looked up at him. "I don't know if you know this but Irene's a mutant. She can see the future possibilities of what's gonna happen," she said before she turned back to the blueprint; continuing her work as she explained the situation to him. "Back then, Magneto didn't need a Cerbro unit or anything like that to find mutants. He didn't even have to wait until their mutation manifested. All he had to do was ask Irene who was gonna be one and she pointed them out to him. She told him about me; its why I was living there," she said bitterly.
"She told him about all the brotherhood's members. I looked into that too. Todd and Lance spent about five years there before they were put into foster care. Freddie a month when his grandmother first lost custody of him. And I lived there for three years before I was adopted," she finished ranting. "Don't you get it. This place is how Magneto's building his army," she explained as she wrote down the location of the last camera on the second floor.
"Rogue, I understand all that-" Charles started to say.
"No, I really don't think you do," she muttered. "You don't understand what's he capable of. None of you do. He hasn't shown anyone how much harm he's willing to do; what means he'll use to get his way Not in over twenty years. But I've been in his head. I know what's he capable of and it scares the shit outta me," she cried. She had to pull back from the paper; she could cry on them. Couldn't let all her hard work get washed away.
"And he wants me, Prof," she cried. "He wants me by his side and he knows that I know what he is; what he'll willing to do to me, to those I care about," she cried her voice cracking; tears were freely running down her face. It was taking every ounce of will power she had not to break down completely.
"And it fucking terrifies me," she shouted "and all I can think about is how I know he won't physically hurt me," she started to say; every fiber of her being was telling her to stop. That what she was about to say was too close to the truth. But she couldn't will herself to stop ranting. "No, he'll take me away from the institute, all of you, my family. Claiming that he can give me better. That I'll be happier with him than I've been with anyone else," she said tears running down her face. His claim hurt more than she had allowed herself to admit; she honestly wasn't sure if he was wrong anymore. Maybe she would be happier with him.
"And all I can think about is how I gotta tell you as much about this place before he does that," she said sadly. "That I gotta prepare all of you to fight him. So, that you, Kitty, Kurt, everyone, so that no one gets killed," she cried her voice cracking again. "And telling you about this place; how's he recruiting his army is the only thing I can think about right now. So, please, let me finish," she said as she sat down. "Just- just let me finish, please," she cried; unable to hold it back any longer. She pulled her knees up to her chest; hugging them to her as she let go of her control. She winched as she felt a his hand on her back.
"Rogue, please know that I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening," he said gently. It took a moment, but she managed to glance up at him.
"I- I know that, Prof. Really, I do. I know that you would fight to the end to keep him-... it's just... I-... I just don't think that everything you've got is gonna be enough," she muttered. They held each other's gaze for a few moments before Rogue closed her eyes. She rested her head on her knees as she took a few deep breaths.
"Rogue," Charles said. "Ororo and I are going to escort you and Kitty to and from school tomorrow. Nothing is going to happen. However, if Magneto does made an appearance-" he started to say. Her head shot up.
"You have to make sure that Ororo doesn't attack him with lighten. It's electricity. He'll just throw it back at her," she warned quickly. She gazed at his surprised expression.
"I- I will make sure that she is aware of that," Charles said with a nod.
"O-okay," Rogue muttered.
"Thank you, again, Rogue," he said. "The suggestions you've made today and all of this," he said; both of the glanced at the set of blueprints on the tables. "It's extraordinary what you've accomplished within the last twenty-four hours. Thank you for that... But perhaps this search is not a good idea," Charles offered.
"It's my past," she said again.
"I know, Rogue, but look at what this search is doing to you. It is not healthy," he said.
"This is how my powers work," Rogue said. "I'm only like this cause I found something disturbing. That doesn't always happen," she explained.
"I know, but-" he started to say.
"Prof, I already told you I'm not going to be bed until I finish this, and I know you're not gonna leave the room until I do. So, you can either sit there talking to me; slowing me down. Or you can pick up a pencil and help me finish this faster," she said as she gazed down at him. He let out a sigh before he reached forward and grabbed a pencil.
"What can I do to help?" he asked. Rogue smiled as she showed him where to draw the cameras.
Thank you to, Tenchi13, Lost O'Fallon Girl, Gah, Hotgirlow, and BasialM82 for reading, reviewing and voting! And thank you Moonlove2527 for reading, reviewing and all the alerts!
I would like to give a special shout out to Gah! Thank you so much for your review! The idea about the butterfly was too cute; I couldn't help but steal it! I was also going through a little writers block last week :( But the imagery in your review was really inspiring! You seriously helped me write this chapter. Thank you so much for that!
Please review for this chapter! I can not tell you how many times I've been inspired by a review!
Thank you!