Getting Warmer Chapter 3

First I just want to say thank you to everyone for your wonderful words of support and encouragement. Secondly, thanks to the rest of you for sticking with this story throughout the years and for not threatening to draw and quarter me for taking so long. Thirdly, Holy Smoking Hot Pants Batman! Thanks to all of you who added me as a Favorite Author or Story!! I'm absolutely stunned and humbled by your appreciation.

Sorry for being a few days late with this one, hopefully it will be one of the last "Short" chapters. Someone explained to me that they generally will not open a story that has 25+ chapters and I don't want mine to turn into such a thing, either. However, I will say that if you have not read "Giddy" or "Love of My Life" by Seven Sunningdale, you are missing out on one heck of a thrill ride. They may be novelettes (seriously, one story is probably 1000 pages – rivals Harry Potter!), but who boy howdy is it worth the time. BEST. FANFICS. EVER.!!

Well, without further ado, here's chapter 3. Oh, and I own nothing, I just like to borrow for my own sadistic pleasures…

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Last chapter in X-Men Evolution: "Getting Warmer"

"How? Why?" Magneto asked again, this time with more force.

"He is somehow using Rogue as a source of power. It seems that his absorption of her abilities only lasts as long as they normally would for her."

Scott interrupted again, concern lacing his voice. "You mean he's draining her like a battery?!" His voice rose as he finished the question, making everyone aware of the full gravity of the situation.

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"What do we do, yo?" Todd spoke up suddenly, hopping closer to Xavier.

Freddy too, walked up to the X-Men's leader. "Yeah, we wanna help too."

Kurt scoffed, his tail swishing in annoyance. "Vhy would you vant to help us find Rogue? I thought you hated us."

"Look fuzzy," Lance stepped up into Kurt's face, who in turn tried to make his self a little taller, "she may be on your team now, but she was with us once too."

"A mistake she gladly rectified, Alvers." Scott stepped up to Kurt's defense, certain that the Brotherhood could not be sincere in their concern for Rogue's safety.

Pietro zipped up to Cyclops and stood at Lance's side. "Lance is right," he said evenly, (which was the third "first" of the day) "she was one of the Brotherhood once. She didn't leave 'cause of us, she left because of Mystique. And she's definitely not happier with you dweebs."

"What are you talking about Pietro? Of course she's happier with us!" Kitty intervened, her tone laced with scorn and just a hint of curiosity.

"He's talkin' bout all the stuff she did with us, yo." Todd stood at his full height beside the Brotherhood boys as the two teams had now formed an imaginary line dividing them and creating even more tension in the room. For once though, Xavier did not interfere; he was far too interested in what the other boys had to say about Rogue.

Freddy joined his team and stepped forward slightly to speak his peace. "Rogue may look like a Goth on the outside, but there's a hell of a lot more to her than that. Sure she acts like a badass and ya she kicked our butts every so often, but she ain't always like that, y'know? She's well, she's…"

Blob turned a desperate glance to his teammates as he lost the words. Lance took over, "She's different than what you all think. Heck, I'll bet you guys don't know the first thing about her."

Kitty, Rogue's self-proclaimed best friend, elbowed her way to the front of the crowd, "I know a lot about her. She talks to me all the time." she stated proudly.

"Fine," Lance challenged arrogantly, "what's her favorite color?"

"Pfft. Are you kidding me? It's black." Kitty scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Wrong, yo," Todd interrupted, "it's green, same color as her eyes."

"Now look who ze idiot is?" Kurt jumped in eagerly, "Rogue's eyes are gray."

Pietro shook his head. "Not when she's happy, or excited, or royally pissed off. And oh boy do they sparkle when she's on a sugar high." He smiled a bit at the memory.

"Man, I'm surprised you even remember that." Lance pointed out.

"Yeah dude, you were literally running on the walls." Freddy cut in with a smile.

Toad snorted. "Until Rogue tripped ya, and you went face first into the garbage can. Remember that, yo?"

A quick look at Pietro's reddening face told the boys that he did and the three chuckled loudly. They stopped quickly however, when Magneto turned a warning eye in their direction.

Lance began again, "The way she laughed after that, it was just..." This time Lance lost the words as he focused on the memory. The boys all became quiet as they entered a state of nostalgia.

"Beautiful." Freddy finished, and they all nodded - Pietro included.

Scott spoke up again, softly this time, "So why'd she join us if she was so happy with you guys?"

The boys shrugged a little. Lance replied again, "She may like us behind the scenes, but Rogue's really set in what she believes. She felt we were fighting on the wrong side and that tore her up. After she found out about Mystique, she talked to us a few times and tried to get us to join the X-Men too."

"Yeah," Pietro agreed, "didn't take with us though. She was willing to give up a part of her life, part of herself, to fight for good and right and all that junk. We weren't. So sure she got all the creature comforts: big house, big pool…"

Fred cut him off with a droopy tone, "Big kitchen…"

"But the point is," Pietro continued with a glare at Blob, "she's not happy - not really anyhow."

Amidst all the down-trodden faces, Jean spoke up, "What about the nasty attitude though? Are you telling us it's all just a façade?"

"Pretty much, yo. See, Rogue keeps people at a distance to protect 'em. She's kinda… trained herself to be all mean and nasty. But once you break down the barriers, she's a totally different person, ya know?" Todd answered the red head with a half-cocked grin and an assured look in his eyes. It was probably the wisest and most profound idea that ever had or ever would grace his lips.

"Only problem is," Lance continued after a strange look at Todd, "once one barrier falls, she feels like she has to build another one up even stronger to keep it from happening again. She shows even the slightest bit of pleasantness and she goes around bein' all bitchy for the next week to try and maintain the 'goth' image. Almost like she keeps forgetting that she can't be herself."

At this point, Xavier wheeled forward, incredibly curious about what the boys were saying, "So you mean to tell me that she spent six months with you and you managed to break past her 'barriers,' yet she's lived with us for almost four years and we are just now starting to see what the real Rogue is like?"

The four boys nodded lightly and shrugged. They had all lost the courage to speak up now that Xavier was involved.

Logan stood behind Charles and sighed, "Well I'll be damned..."

Xavier, excited about the possibility of a breakthrough with his most challenging student, ignored Logan and began to grill the boys for more information.

"Could you explain how you managed to work past her defenses? Did you use your powers? Did you each try individually, or as a group? When did you..."

"Ahem," Xavier was cut off by Magneto, "I hate to ruin your little epiphany Charles, but we must FIND Rogue and Apocalypse first and we do have injuries to attend to as well." He motioned around the room for effect.

Xavier looked back toward his X-Men with an apologetic expression, "Of course, please forgive me. We can take the X-Jet back to the mansion and get everyone medical attention while I search for Apocalypse and Rogue with Cerebro."

He made a move to go when Beast put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to interrupt Professor, but the X-Jet is still in Egypt..."

"Oh yes, of course." The Professor's nose scrunched up subconsciously and Beast had to hold back a smile.

"Well," Logan started, "we got a couple of stolen jets to return to the airport, so we might as well take those."

Xavier nodded in response, as Magneto strode up to the telepath, "If you would like, I can take some of your people back myself."

He emphasized his statement by hovering four metal globes outside the tomb. Logan looked to the Master of Magnetism and agreed with a small grunt and a grimace.

"He's right; those planes don't have enough room for everyone, maybe five each at the max."

Xavier nodded again. "Alright. Storm and Beast, I'll need the two of you to go get the X-Jet. You'll take Jean with you; she'll need to convince airport security not to arrest you."

"Blob and Pietro, you will join them. Sabertooth and Avalanche will load Mystique on the second plane." Magneto barked out, careful to keep Xavier in check without seeming overly suspicious or commanding.

Xavier calculated the math quickly and commanded the remaining X-Men, "Logan, Scott, and I will join the others on the second plane and head to the mansion." He looked to the remaining three X-Men: Kitty, Kurt and Bobby.

Magneto took over once again, "I will bring these three with me, but you will need to double up. I haven't the energy to carry you each individually."

Bobby and Kurt looked to each other and then to Kitty. They obviously didn't want to share a metallic prison with one of the Acolytes, but they couldn't very well leave Kitty with one of them either.

"Rock, paper, scissors for it?" Bobby suggested with a lopsided grin.

They counted out and Bobby pulled rock. Kurt pulled paper and smiled triumphantly.

Groaning, Bobby took a deep breath and bravely strode over to Pyro, "Look, we cancel out each other's powers, so there's no way either one of us will start something, right?" His voice was even and empowered, but the slight quiver in his hand betrayed his cool exterior.

Pyro, however, broke out in a maniacal grin, "Sure mate, wha'ever you say." Suddenly Bobby was unsure of his decision and looked back to Kurt and Kitty desperately.

Kurt began to timidly walk over to Kitty when the valley girl rolled her eyes and grabbed the Russian Acolyte by the hand, "Come on Colossus. You can tell me more about yourself on the ride back."

The large man stuttered incoherently, but allowed himself to be dragged away by the young woman.

Kurt meanwhile, stared open-mouthed and dejected at the retreating pair before turning around and looking to Toad.

The furry mutant stared at the ceiling before crushing his eyes shut fiercely, "Vhy me?!" he muttered, "Vhy is it always me!?!" Nightcrawler then dragged his feet slowly to Toad, but was careful to keep his distance for the time being.

"Is that everyone?" Magneto questioned when everyone was placed in their designated groups.

Xavier looked around briefly and nodded, "Yes, I believe it is."

Magneto glanced around, confused for a moment, but quickly shrugged off the nagging thought in the back of his mind.

The teams were headed toward their modes of transportation when Pyro spun around a few times and yelled out, "Hey! Where the bloody hell's Remy gone off to?"

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WooHoo!!! How exciting! I finished another chapter, yea for me!! The next one shouldn't be far behind, so don't tarry too long.

Again thank you for everyone who reviewed; the more of them I get, the more excited I get about updating and the sooner I do it! Just a little incentive for you to click the lovely blue button!

And I'm really, really hoping the next chapter will be longer!

Love and light,
Wiccamage