Please Enjoy
Chapter Two of
Taunting Repartee- RM'd
Action This Day
Rogue woke the next morning. She opened her eyes, and was disappointed when Erik was no longer by her side. She sighed as she turned over and looked at her clock. It read 5:59am.
'Great, I get a whole another minute of sleep,' she thought sarcastically as leaned over and turned her alarm off. With a sigh she got out of bed.
"So, with these new updates to the danger room, and the mansion in general, we should all be much safer. If there was any doubt before this that is," Charles Xavier said with a smile.
"Not in our minds, Professor," Jean said with a smile to match his.
"A comment I'm most glad to hear, Jean. Before we end for the morning, are there any questions?" he asked. Rogue looked around at everyone in the room. No one raised any concerns. "Then I will see you all later. Have a good day at school."
"Thanks, Professor," said Scott as he neared the door. "Anyone who's riding with me, I'm leaving in forty-five minutes."
"But, Scott, I can't be ready to leave for forty-six minutes," Kurt joked, eliciting groans from Evan and Jean alike.
"Knock it off, Kurt," Jean said.
"Aww, you should lighten up a little," Kurt said.
"Yeah, he was, like, just joking " Kitty said as they watched Jean, and Evan leave the room.
"You know you guys should hurry, before I really do leave someone behind," Scott said with a straight face.
"You're, like, kidding right," Kitty asked nervously.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Scott said, his face seemingly carved from stone for all its expression and life with his glasses covering half his face.
"He's bluffing," Kurt said with a smile.
"Yeah, you're totally buffing," Kitty said, and Kurt's grin faded a bit.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," he said with an emotionless expression. They both looked at him and then at each other. Rogue rolled her eyes as she watched Kurt quickly teleport him and Kitty out of the monitor room. Scott flashed her a small smirk. She smiled back. "You coming too, Rogue?" he asked.
'Now is your opportune moment to speak to Charles, my dear,' Erik said.
"I'll be up in a few minutes," she told him.
"Hurry up, okay. We don't want you to get left behind," he said with a grin.
'Neither do I,' she thought sadly as she took a deep breath and she walked up to the Professor.
"Yes, Rogue?" Charles asked surprised as he turned to face her.
"I- hmm… well," she staggered.
"Yes?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I…," she managed to say.
'Ask him,' Erik urged.
"…Never mind," she murmured as she quickly spun around and marched out of the room. She slammed her thumb against the button calling for the elevator.
'Cowardice hardly suits you, Anna.'
'I'll talk to him after school,' she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
'If you must,' he said dismissively.
'What's the difference between now and after school?' she asked, annoyed.
'You're the one who's avoiding the conversation. You tell me.'
She refused to respond. Mostly, because she needed time. A lot had happened the night before and she was - she hadn't had time to process it all. 'You're afraid that I'm right, aren't you?' he asked, pressing her regardless of any concerns.
'You can t be,' she said, almost automatically. 'The Professor cares about me,' she said and winched as he let out a disgruntled huff, wordlessly disputing her claim. The elevator doors opened and she eagerly stepped inside.
'Ah yes,' he continued. ' His compassion for you is so vast he's managed to avoid addressing the pain you feel each and every night. If he even has the power to sense it on his own premises. Anna, you toss and turn, scream out into the dark, and he does nothing. His voice seemed to grow in anger, for a shade of Erik, he had all his emotions. Either he cares for you so immensely he is or pretends to be completely unaware of your issues with intimacy,' he said, each point hitting her deeply. She tried to ignore him, but his words stung too much.
'Another paradigm of his extensive empathy, you ask?' he taunted cruelly.
'I didn't ask anything, Erik. I want you to shut up,' she said, knowing it wouldn't stop him from continuing.
'Well, since you made the request so nicely, I'll be more than happy to provide you with another example.'
'I didn't-'
'Charles' ability to read his students' emotions is so substantial that when a young mutant, such as yourself, walks up to him, expresses a desire to speak with him, but unable to form words, flees the room, his first reaction, of course, is to roll after her and find out what caused her inability to speak. Followed closely with discovering the reason why this young woman tried to converse with him in the first place,' he said as she felt tears forming. ' The very last action this benevolent teacher would take is to allow said young woman to continue out the hall, and into the elevator, away from his bleeding heart of abundant wisdom.'
The door to the lift opened and stood there unmoving.
'Why are you right?' she asked as she hugged herself as tears ran down her face. 'And why do you always have to be such an ass about it?'
' wish for you to see the truth. I have attempted to use more sensitive means to convey my points but you continually avoid the issues when I do so. I have found that stating the truth in the most brutal way is the surest process I can employ. You must admit, Anna, for a telepath of his caliber he's rather ignorant regarding the emotional battles waging within your mind, wouldn't you say?' he asked pointedly.
'Maybe, he's respecting my privacy,' she thought strongly as she stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway.
'Or, perhaps, he is not concerned enough to read too deeply into either your physical or mental signals as all the other interactions between the two of you would suggest,' he said dryly.
She didn't know how to respond to that.
'I'll talk to him after school,' she finally said as she entered her room.
'So, you claim now . We have been through this line of promises before. You say you will talk this afternoon. Then you find some excuse to put it off until the next day, and then the next, and then the next. I grow tired of these delays. You will have this conversation today,' he commanded.
'Huh?' she thought as she walked over to her dresser. 'Oh, I'm sorry, small fragment of Magneto in my head,' she said, replaying his cruelty with a bit of her own. 'I didn't realize you had somewhere else to be,' she thought smugly as she took out the clothes she was going to wear. 'I thought that you could wait a few hours, maybe a few days for me to be comfortable talking about a certain subject. But really if you can't handle my indecisiveness, then please, leave. You're free to do that any time you want, right ?' she asked as she changed her clothes. She heard Erik take a deep breath, as though he needed to breathe like she did. 'Great, you're gonna be all moody for the rest of the day,' she thought in frustration.
'No, no I'm not,' he said calmly. There was a tone to his voice she recognized but didn't believe could be present.
'Are…are you in a better mood now?'
'Perhaps.'
'Why? Can't be cause I yelled at you,' she said as she walked into the bathroom.
'No, of course not, my dear. That would be absurd. Who could possibly find solace in an act of reprehension? '
'You're the one in a better mood after being reprimanded. You tell me,' she said before he laughed loudly in response. 'What?' she asked, annoyed.
'We'll talk later,' he said as he slipped into the back of her mind.
'Erik…Erik I wasn't done talking…Erik, get back here!…'
Nothing.
'Yup,' she sighed as she finished putting on her makeup, 'He's moody alright, and I'm gonna have to deal with Bipolar Magneto,' she said as she threw her makeup back into the draw and slammed the draw closed.
Rogue's time at school that day was…interesting. Erik popped up whenever he felt like it. Sometimes Erik offered help, other times Magneto offered cold indifference. Bipolar was the best way she knew how to describe it. Sometimes Erik cared about her and offered help and advice as she required. She preferred this Erik, for obvious reasons. He was, thankfully, the one she had to deal with most of the time.
The other, the one she hated, she called him Magneto and he was a complete asshole, in her opinion. He would yell and scream at her, telling her she was weak for not using her powers. He didn't come out too often. He tended to show himself whenever he could inflict the most damage to her self-esteem. Moments when she questioned her ability to do things.
Moments just like the one that was happening now.
'Really, Rogue, a D-? Could you've aimed any lower?' he asked as they both looked at her History quiz.
'You're the one who kept distracting me,' she mumbled as she and Kurt walked on the school's grounds, towards Scott's car.
'I remember doing no such thing,' he claimed.
That was another thing that drove her up a wall. Sometimes, Magneto said he didn't remember all of their conversations. And the way his personality split, it only happened when he slipped into the back of her mind. She didn't know what to make of it- well, she had a theory-
Rogue wondered if it was possible that only parts of Magneto's mind resurfaced and that's why he became erratic. She's seen him angry, forgetful, full of disdain; a whole spectrum of negative emotions. It was the way all of the other fragments had behaved before she had absorbed him. God, she remembered the chaos. And even dealing with one bipolar Magneto was in improvement from the rampaging horde he replaced.
But then what did that make Magneto? A fragment of a fragment? But then why did Erik full so- complete compared to the other? Like she was talking to a real person? Maybe, because she had absorbed him for longer than the others, like she'd gotten more of his mind than anyone else's? Or did he just have the strongest will?
Did that even make sense? She wasn't sure and she wished she could talk to Erik about Magneto's erratic tendencies but- She'd tried, only once, and he'd immediately slipped into the back of her mind and she hadn't gotten Erik back for three entire days. She hated it and worrying that informing Erik would somehow harm him had caused her to hold her tongue.
The Professor might be able to really explain what was happening to her- but then she would have to admit to her daily chats with his arch-enemy and well- every instinct she had told her that wouldn't go well.
And okay, yes, maybe Erik wasn't a saint and even he had his moments of douchebaggery, like this morning in the elevator. And maybe she could understand why he and the Professor were enemies. But even when Erik was at his most callous, it was aimed to help, an attempt to make her accept some harsh truth. She didn't like the way he went about it, but at least she understood his intentions. And he was usually right- in fact, she couldn't recall an instance of him being wrong yet. And given the last claim he had made- she felt her stomach sink.
It was fine- she would deal and figure it out herself. Better to deal with one problem at a time. Like the one, she was holding onto in her hand at that moment.
"Oh man, I totally tanked that History quiz. Why do we have to study World War Two anyway?" Rogue vented rhetorically.
'Because history has a way of repeating itself,' Erik said, his tone sobering but filled with compassion. Rogue frowned at his comment, relieved he was back, and hoping it was for good. She was still looking at her quiz and didn't see one of the students walking up to them until he made contact.
"Clear the road, losers," he said as he forced his way between her and Kurt. They both turned to glance at the rude student.
"Ahh, I think the phrase you're looking for is, pardon me. "
"What was that, Shunk-head ?" he asked as he turned around and got in Rogue's face.
"Oh, you're gonna push me around, now? Please, lay a finger on me. We'll see what happens," she said tauntingly. She could use an outlet for her aggression and some asshole looking to pick a fight was good enough for her. Rogue watched as the boy raised his arm up like he was going to hit her and readied herself to dodge and counter. He was stopped by Kurt holding on to his wrist.
"Trust me, not a good idea," Kurt said as the boy took hold of Kurt's wrist twisting it around.
"What, you think you're tough?" he asked as he applied pressure to Kurt's wrist, breaking his image inducer.
' Oh no,' she thought in horror as she watched Kurt turn blue. The boy screamed out as he saw the transformation.
"What the heck are you?" he asked as he slowly backed away. "Some kind of rat?" Rogue walked up to the boy with a disgusted look on her face.
"Look who's talking," she sneered as she pointed at him.
"No way, no way," he said in disbelief as he continued to back away from them. "I'm gonna," he started to say as he turned around. She saw Jean behind the boy; she had her hand on her forehead, a sure sign that she was using her telepathy. "Yeah…" the boy whispered as he walked away like a zombie. 'I'm going..."
'That was close,' Rogue thought as she and Jean turned to look at Kurt.
"You okay?" Jean asked Kurt.
"Yeah…" Kurt said sadly from his position on the ground. "Growing up looking like this," he said with a sigh. "I've heard it all before," he said before he teleported away. She and Jean glanced at each other, the same look of sorrow on their faces.
"Do you know when Scott's heading back to the institute?"' Rogue asked.
"As soon as we get to the car," Jean said as they started to walk. A small smile came to her face. At least she would be able to cheer him up as soon as they got home.
Rogue ran up the stairs of the institute towards Kurt's room.
"Hey, Rogue. What's the hurry?" she heard Kurt ask her.
"I need to get to your room so I can-" she stopped running as she looked up. She saw Kurt using his tail to hang from the ceiling.
"So, you can do what?" he asked.
"So, I can cheer you up or something. I was worried after what happened," she said as she watched his tail let go. He teleported away, only to reappear in front of her a moment later.
"I'm fine," he tried to assure her. A smirk slowly appeared on his face. "So, what did you have in mind for this cheering up?" he asked. She returned his smirk with one of her own as she started to walk down the hall. He followed.
"I had no idea. I figured I'd let you decide," she said as they continued down toward her room. Just then the lights started to flicker on and off. She took off her backpack. "Power surge?" she asked.
"Or Cerebro at full power. Cool, let's go scope it out," he said with a smile. She smiled back as they dropped their bags and ran towards the sub basement. "Is this what you had in mind?" he asked as he reached out for her hand.
"No, but it'll do just fine," she said with a smirk as she gave him her hand. Kurt gave a small squeeze that she returned before he teleported them just outside the door to Cerebro. Once there he teleported himself to the other side of the door. Inside, the Professor and Logan were talking. She and Kurt looked at each other.
"That's what Magneto feels as well," the Professor said, Rogue felt her eyes widen at hearing Magneto's name spoken aloud. "Hence his recent activity," he continued. Rogue nodded at Kurt as they both peered in the doorway from their respective sides.
"So, you find him yet?" Logan asked.
'You could help Charles, my dear. You know where quite a few of my bases are,' Erik said, drawing her attention away from Logan and Charles.
'Only if I-'
'Look,' he finished with a groan. 'So-'
'So, what? You want them to find him?' she asked in disbelief.
'No, I want you to use your powers, whatever the aim might be... Allow me to force your hand.'
'How-' Her thought was interrupted by the sound "I ah," coming out of her mouth. She quickly put her hand over her mouth as she stepped out of the doorway. 'How the hell did you do that?' she asked, terrified.
'It doesn't matter, Anna. I did it, and it seems now you have no choice but to use my knowledge,' Erik said.
'How do you fig-'
"Well, the Rogue's got something to say," Logan said.
'Shit,' she screamed internally, but managed to keep her face neutral.
'Ah, what a predicament you found yourself in. If you explain everything to Charles, he'll explore my mind and then come up with some excuse why he must rid you of my presence. The voices we come back,' he warned.
'He wouldn't,' she claimed, her tone hollow, his claim mirroring her own concern.
He will,' he assured her. She didn't have time to argue with him. He had been right about a lot of things in the past few weeks. What if he was right again? She couldn't go back, not to the way her mind used to be, the screaming, and the fights. What if he was right about everything ? She couldn't take that chance. She wouldn't, at least not in the three short seconds she had to come to a decision.
'Then what am I supposed to do?' she panicked in Rogue, Kurt," Charles said.
'Think fast,' he said. She took a deep breath as she and Kurt walked into Cerebro.
"You know, you could wait for a girl volunteer," she said in hopes that maybe they would let the subject drop.
"No, time, spill it," Logan said.
"Remember when I touched old bucket head in New York? I got a dose of memories. They're kind of confused, but one's, like, this big metal dome half buried in rocks." She watched Logan and the Professor look at each other. 'I hope they believe me,' she thought to herself as she watched them turn back towards her and Kurt.
"Where?" Logan asked.
"The Sahara," she said. 'Only way to get in is…I am not letting Kurt go without me,' she thought as she looked back up at Logan.
"You couldn't, maybe, be a little more specific, could ya?" Logan asked with a smile.
"I'm sure I could recognize some landmarks," she said, her hand on her chin as she pictured the dome in her mind.
"You are not going along," Logan said firmly as he pointed to her.
"Then you ain't finding it," she said strongly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, from what I figure out nobody can get through that dome without the power of magnetism."
"Or," Charles started to say.
"Teleportation," Kurt finished. "Yes," he exclaimed, "the fuzzy man is on the mission," he said as they high-fived. She smiled as they started to walk out of the room to get ready.
"Meet in the hanger bay in ten minutes," Logan said with a groan.
"Yes sir," Kurt said as he took Rogue's hand and teleported them outside her bedroom door. "So, I'll come get you in a few minutes, okay?" he asked. She nodded and he teleported away. She walked into her room.
'That was beautifully manipulated, my dear. I couldn't have done better myself,' Erik's words of praise rang in her mind as she opened her drawer and took out her uniform.
'It's your fault I had to do that,' she thought as she slammed the draw close. ' Besides, that base I picked, from the few memories of yours I have seen, that's the one you use the least. I'm setting us off on a wild goose chase.'
'I rarely used that base, Anna. There's a chance you are leading Wolverine precisely where he wishes to be.'
'He's not gonna be there,' she thought with confidence as she put her uniform on. 'We're gonna teleport into an empty base, report to the Professor, and he's gonna say something about how Magneto musta figured I found out about his current bases. So, he abandoned them to avoid being found. Then the Prof won't bother asking me about anything else I've absorbed from you because Magneto's taking the proper precautions.'
'As I said, beautifully manipulated.'
'You know what,' she thought with a laugh, trying to ignore how proud he sounded. 'This is you we're talking about. That's probably what he's done anyway. So, that chance of us running into Magneto in the desert is slim to none,' she thought happily.
'You're quite the optimist today,' he commented.
'What? You think he's actually gonna be there?' she asked.
'I know that you don't know for certain either way until you are there. I would be prepared for the worst if I were you,' he advised.
She heard a knock at the door.
"Rogue, how long does it take to get dressed?" Kurt whined. She rolled her eyes at both of them as she walked towards the door.
'He's not gonna be there, ' she told him once more.
'We'll see.'
Rogue glanced out the window, watching the never-ending pool of sand sprawl beneath them as they flew toward an empty base.
'You still don't know that for certain,' Erik reminded her and she rolled her eyes.
"So, commander, clarify the operation particulars while we mentally prep," Kurt said.
"What?" Logan said as he shook his head. Rogue sighed.
"He wants to know why Magneto wants this rebirth thing anyway," she translated.
"Back in World War Two he saw it in action with Captain America," Logan said.
'When?' she asked herself. Pictures of the camps came to mind. She tried to ignore the more morose ones as she looked for Captain America.
'As pleased as I am that you're searching my memories of your own volition, there's something else you are supposed to be doing,' Erik said.
'Huh?' she thought as she looked at the images.
'The landmarks,' Erik reminded her. Her eyes widened as she looked up quickly.
"There, head east past that ridge of rock," she hastily said as she pointed to it. She sat back with a sigh. 'I wanna keep looking, will you-'
'I suggest you listen to Wolverine,' Erik said, interrupting her. She took his suggestion and turned her attention to Kurt and Logan.
"...had a flaw in it for humans, cellular breakdown. Captain America… was dying," Logan finished. She waited for him to say something else.
Anything else…
He didn't.
'Yeah, 'cause that was so informative,' she told him. Erik chuckled. She looked over at Logan again. She found his expression to be unreadable, which she knew meant he wasn't speaking again. Not for a while. She sighed as she glanced out the window. Pictures from Erik's mind filled hers. She scanned over them all. 'I don't see him,' she told him.
'That would be because I've never met the man,' Erik informed her.
'Then why does Logan think you did?'
'My dear…' he paused. 'I have no idea.'
'Maybe, I'm missing the memory.'
'Unlikely. You receive every memory the individual has. My mind should be no different.'
'That's what I thought too, but maybe we're wrong,' she said before pausing, she was getting dangerously close to telling him about Magneto's erratic behavior and now was not a good time to lose him, but she could use his advice. ' I've never looked at every memory someone has. There might be gaps that we don't know about,' she said.
'Hmm,' he said before pausing. She held her breath a moment, hoping he was still there. 'Given that argument and depending on the context of Wolverine's memory, it might be plausible.'
'So?' she asked, pushing her luck.
'So, ask.'
'I can't just ask him," she said.
'Of course, you can.'
'No, I can't..." She glanced up at Logan. 'Look at him, Erik. He doesn't want to talk about it.'
'Therefore you must be denied his knowledge? Anna, what sense does that make?' he criticized. She felt her eyes narrow.
'It's called considering other people's feelings. You should try it sometime,' she retorted, her tone matching his. She heard him let out a sight gasp of surprise. She blinked, replaying his comment and- his tone hadn't been nearly as harsh as she thought. God, she'd had so much whiplash today from how many times his personality had switched - but this time she was talking to Erik, he was showing concern, trying to help her, and she couldn't even explain why she'd snapped at him.
'Erik, I..." she thought while shaking her head. 'I didn't mean that,' she said meekly. 'I know you think about other people's feelings,' she said, giving him a moment to respond. She felt nervous when he didn't. 'I know you think about mine,' she added, hoping he would say something, anything. 'I never did thank you for what you did last night,' she said, her face blushing. 'It meant a lot to me,' she thought honestly.
'We can repeat the event tonight if you like,' he finally offered. She felt her face flush further as she envisioned him touching her, her hand on her cheek, his lips on hers. Her eyes closed a moment, the memory front and center in her mind. Her eyes snapped open as she heard Wolverine sniffing the air. She took a breath, trying to dismiss her attraction, hoping that Wolverine didn't smell anything worth asking her about. There was no way she could explain it.
'I...I would like that...' she thought. 'Just...'
'Just, what?'
'I don't know if we should... if I should make a habit of it,' she thought as she tried not to look at Wolverine, instead, focusing her gaze out the window, she did have something she needed to do at that moment.
'I hardly see the harm in...,' he stopped mid-sentence.
'Erik?'
'We'll have to discuss this later, I'm afraid,' he said as she recognized the clearing that was coming up.
'Definitely later,' she thought and- oh god, he slipped into the back of her mind, didn't he? She shook her head, needing to focus. She'd deal with it later. "That's it, up ahead," Rogue said as she pointed towards the base.
"Far as we go by air," Logan said. "I'll take her down. You two prep the XTV's," he said. She and Kurt both took off their seat belts as they headed into the back of the plane.
'Nevertheless, you should still ask him,' Erik said. She blinked confused, certain he had-
'We're back on this now? ' she asked. 'I thought we switched off this topic,' she thought as she put the bomb on her waist. She padded it twice to make sure it wasn't going to fall.
'It still matters.'
'I know...,' she thought sadly as she walked over to the XTV with Kurt. She watched Logan come down the ladder. She sighed.
"Can I ask what happened to the rebirth project?" she asked as she and Kurt got on the same XTV. "I mean, did they solve the problem?"
'That is not the question you were meant to ask,' Erik reprimanded.
'I'll explain later,' she thought quickly as she turned her attention back to Logan.
"...put anyone else through what he suffered. Cap and... another guy shut down the rebirth project, permanently. But apparently, there was a backup, and now Magneto has it,' Logan finished.
"Not for long," Kurt said.
"Good attitude, Bub. Just don't drop that bomb," he said as he lowered the cover on his helmet.
"And with that inspiring, motivational speech," she said as she lowered the cover on her helmet.
"Let's rock and ride," Kurt finished behind her with excitement as she rode out towards the base, following Logan.
'Moment of truth, my dear. If he is here then...' Erik thought.
"I wonder how long until we get spotted," she thought out loud finishing Erik's thought as she rode up to Logan's side. Just then she heard something crash next to her. It was a missile. 'No fucking way,' she screeched incredulously.
"I'd say about now," Logan said as he moved to avoid being hit.
'How can this be happening? ' she asked, shocked, and terrified as she drove left, the next missile missing them by only a few feet.
'I hate to say I told you so, my dear,' Erik said.
'No, you don't,' she thought. Her comment was met by one of his smug chuckles.
"We have to get closer," Kurt shouted from behind her.
'Okay,' she thought as she tried to avoid missiles. 'Okay, I can do this,' she tried to assure herself as she stayed close to Logan.
"Hang on," Logan said as they drove up a large hill.
'He wants us to jump?' she thought anxiously. They neared the top of the hill. She didn't have time to question his judgment, she could only react. As they flew over the top of the hill she grabbed Kurt's hand and jumped off of the XTV. They went flying through the air. She saw Kurt trying to grab Logan's hand. He wasn't having much luck, and the ground was rapidly approaching.
"Anytime, Nightcrawler," she yelled as they and the XTV's were falling towards the ground. If they hit the ground with the XTVs... 'We're gonna die,' she thought horrified as she closed her eyes, trying to prepare herself for the impact.
There was a shift in the wind. She felt Kurt's hand leave hers as they fell towards the ground. She quickly opened her eyes. They were inside the dome, and she was facing the wrong way. All she could see was the metal dome above her. She tried to turn around, so she could land on the ground safely, but she didn't have enough time. She felt something break her fall. With embarrassment, she realized it was Kurt.
"Oh yeah, that was smooth," she commented as she lifted Kurt's leg off of her chest. The both of them grunted as they carefully extricated themselves from each other.
"Better than getting squeegeed off the dome outside," Kurt added.
'Much, much better,' she thought, relieved to still be alive. She watched Logan dash past them with claws unsheathed as she and Kurt took off their helmets and placed them on the ground. She heard Logan growl, and turned her attention toward him.
"Somebody's already inside it," Wolverine said, anger clear in his voice. "Let's move." Both she and Kurt got up off the ground only to see Sabertooth punch Logan, knocking him off of his feet.
'What the hell is he doing here?' she thought in confusion. She hadn't seen her father since he tried to 'Kidnap' her and now that they were both here.
"Huh, nice of you to pay us a visit, Wolverine," Victor said, before charging after his foe. Yup, surprise, surprice, it was like she wasn't even here. She rolled her eyes as Kurt turned to her.
"Rogue, we should-" Kurt started to say.
"Wait until Logan tells us what to do," she said firmly, interrupting him. "We do not want to get in the middle of that fight."
"Slag that chamber, I'll handle this," Logan said as he faced Sabertooth.
"Come on," she said to Kurt as she started to run towards the chamber. 'Who's in there?' she asked herself as she grabbed the bomb off of her belt. Out of nowhere a large metal beam crashed into her forcing her back with enough force to knock her head against the wall.
'Does that answer your question, girl?' Magneto asked harshly. She ignored his tone, not trusting her instincts after snapping at him before as she looked down and sure enough inside the chamber, she could see Magneto.
'I don't understand. He knew I had information about him in my head. He had to. Why would he come here now ?' she asked.
'You've said it yourself, he uses this base the least . He must have assumed you would search his more frequently habited bases first. Giving him enough time to complete the chamber and use it, despite your knowledge. Your attempt to avoid my counterpart is the reason you found him so easily.'
'If I had told them about any other base we wouldn't be in this situation? ...that's bullshit ,' she yelled in her mind as she tried to push the beam off of her. Magneto's laughter filled her mind.
'Do you honestly think that's going to work?' Magneto asked condescendingly. She knew it wouldn't do any good.
'I have to try,' she told herself.
'Why?' Erik asked. 'Why must you oppose me?' he asked her, his voice sounded hurt. He was already slipping, switching between nice and cruel. She couldn't even remind him this was all his idea in fear of losing Erik for days.
'I didn't want to oppose you,' she said instead. 'I mean him,' she corrected herself quickly. 'I didn't mean to find him,' she cried 'I tried to go where he wasn't... I didn't want this,' she said.
'I know, my dear. I understand your surprise. But this is your current situation, which you must deal with accordingly,' Erik said.
'I know that...I,' she felt the bomb on her belt. She looked down at Kurt. 'If I could-'
'Anna?' Erik asked.
'I've got an idea,' she thought. "Kurt, 'port," she shouted to her brother as she threw the bomb.
"On it," he said before he ported away from the wall. She watched him catch the bomb and port towards the chamber.
'It's up to him now,' she thought.
' Wonderfull,' Erik said.
'He's not gonna pull the trigger,' Rogue thought confidently. From this distance, she could tell they were talking, but she couldn't hear what they were saying.
'Excuse me? ' Erik asked bewildered.
'He's not gonna do it,' she tried to assure him, seeing the look on her brother's face.
'How can you be so certain?'
'Just am.' She turned her attention towards her brother. His finger was on the trigger, but he was hesitating. 'See? He doesn't want to do it. He just needs a little more encouragement,' she told Erik. "Kurt, forget him. Just get on with it!" she shouted.
'What?' Erik asked, baffled.
'Just watch,' she said. Kurt turned back to look at Magneto, before she saw him bite his lip and turn his head.
"What are you waiting for, kid?! Pull the pin!" Logan bellowed from across the room. A heartbeat passed and Kurt let go of the pin. She watched Magneto stand up straight in the chamber, ready to receive the treatment. A bright light formed from inside the chamber.
'My dear, how did you know he wouldn't?' Erik asked in astonishment.
'Kurt's too nice for his own good,' she thought as she closed her eyes, the brightness from the chamber causing her to do so. She felt the beam holding her up fall away. She quickly opened her eyes again, as the light from the chamber faded. She twisted in the air. This time she landed gracefully on the ground.
"Time to bail, everybody," Logan screamed from behind her. She started to run in the opposite direction. She heard a blast from behind her; no doubt Logan had pulled the pin. She was only a few feet away from the dome's edge when she stopped running. She quickly turned around to see Magneto getting off the ground. She saw him notice the chamber's destruction.
"Wolverine!" Magneto bellowed.
'Great idea Logan, piss off the master of magnetism while we're completely surrounded by metal,' she thought to herself, aggravated as she got into a battle stance. She watched him turn around and start to lift the metal. He formed a large metal monster. 'Oh god, he's really pissed,' she thought terrified as it started to move towards them; one large tree-sized leg at a time. She gasped as she tried to run away. Not that there was anywhere to go, any hope of escape. She felt it grab her from behind and lift her high into the air. She looked down at Magneto.
'He's not wearing his bucket,' she thought before taking a breath. She knew he was telepathic, not as powerful as the Professor, but he should be able to read her thoughts, especially if she actively aimed them at him. She glanced down at him, intent on- Good, their eyes made contact. 'Magneto? Hello?' she thought as a look of surprise came to his face. 'Are you reading my mind?' she asked.
She watched his cock his head slightly, before nodding.
'Please, I know that we shouldn't have come here. I didn't mean to actually find you,' she said as she watched him raise an eyebrow. 'I'm sorry about Operation Rebirth, it shouldn't have been destroyed. I- ' her thought was cut off as she felt the metal holding her up slip away.
She turned to see Wolverine jumping off the contraption.
'Damn it, Logan,' Rogue shouted as she was falling through the air. She fell on the ground hard, she wanted to get up, but the sound of metal slamming into metal kept her where she was. She covered her head with her hands as pieces of the debris were falling around her. She finally managed to open and looked up to see Magneto, staring down at her intently.
'We're at your mercy, please… let us go,' was the last thing she thought before she fell unconscious.
She opened her eyes slightly. The first thing she saw was Magneto's feet walking past her. She stood up as fast as she could and ran after him. She tore off her glove and reached for the first spot of bare skin she saw. His face towards hers, ever slightly, and the next thing she knew she was lifted into the air again. She soon found herself put on the ground in between Logan and Kurt. A large metal spear hung above her, aimed at her neck.
"It seems I have you at my mercy," Magneto said, looking straight at her as he put his helmet back on. She sucked in a breath. "However," he looked down at Kurt, "you spared my life. So, I will spare yours." She watched the large metal contraption fall to pieces. The beam used to hold them down fell as well. The wall to her left opened up. She let out a sigh of relief. He was letting them go. "There was a small boy in Poland who owes you that much," Magneto said, looking at Wolverine. She saw Logan smirk.
'I don't understand,' she thought uneasily, 'What small boy? You and Logan were never in Poland together. He didn't meet you until…until you and the Professor were trying to recruit him.'
'Both of us are aware of that fact, my dear,' Erik said in her mind. Magneto's eyes made contact with hers again. A smirk came to his face. 'And I believe he is aware of your knowledge as well,' Erik told her. She continued to stare into his eyes.
"Rogue?" she heard Kurt say.
"Yeah?" she asked as she forced herself to break eye contact with Magneto to look at him. Kurt was holding out his hand to her. She forced herself to smile as she grabbed it. He helped her stand.
"Let's get out of here," Logan said as walked towards the exit, keeping a close eye on the man who was letting them go.
"Preferably before he changes his mind," Rogue said as she and Kurt followed Logan.
She heard Magneto chuckle darkly as they walked out of the base. A chill went down her spine. She heard that sound within her mind so many times now, but hearing it for real, from him, directly in response to something she had said.
She took a deep breath.
'Relax,' she told herself as they walked towards the plane. 'He's letting you go.'
'But for how long?' Erik asked, voicing the question she was too afraid to ask.
'What do I do?' she asked him, panicked.
'Confirm your fears, prepare for the worst.'
She looked over at Logan and took another deep breath, to make sure her voice wouldn't fail her.
"What small boy in Poland?" she asked.
"It's a long story, and I ain't got time for it now," he responded.
"Why? Isn't this mission officially over?" Kurt asked, walking up to the plane.
"Not yet, I gotta pay a visit... to an old friend."
"Are we going home first?" she asked.
"Huh?" Logan asked as he sat down. "Yeah, we're going there first," he said as he prepared the plane for take off.
"Then we've got the whole ride. How long of a story can it be?" she asked as she and Kurt took their seats.
"Yeah, I want to hear it too," Kurt said as he put his seat belt on.
"Alright, alright," he said as he took the plane up into the sky. "During World War Two, I was a soldier for the Canada special forces."
"Seriously?" Kurt asked. Logan nodded. "That is so cool ."
"Glad you approve, fuzzball," he said with a smirk.
"So, during the war, you helped some kid Magneto knows?" Rogue asked trying to stay on topic.
"Not someone he knows. Him. I helped Magneto escape from one of the camps."
'Oh no,' she thought in a panic.
"Which one?" Kurt asked.
"Auschwitz," Rogue answered softly as she tried to process the implications of what Logan had told them.
"How'd you know that?" Logan asked with a raised eyebrow. She looked up at him.
"The dose of memories I got from him in New York," she answered, swift to remind them all.
"Huh? What else you get from him? Any other bases?"
"Why? Are we gonna go storm them too?" she asked angrily. "I think it's pretty obvious at this point that that's a bad idea."
"It turned out alright," Kurt tried to assure her.
"Yeah, he let us go, but he didn't have to. He chose to, next time he may not be willing. I just don't think we should push our luck is all," she said as she stared out the window.
"So, was that a yes on other bases?" Logan asked.
"Yeah," she said quietly.
"So, you have more information about Magneto? Things we should know?" Logan asked her his voice slightly elevated.
"Maybe," she muttered, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Maybe?" Logan asked, clearly annoyed.
"Rogue, I don't understand," Kurt said, turning towards her. "Why wouldn't you tell us this?" he asked. She hugged herself.
"Why did you hide this from us?" Logan demanded to know.
"Why didn't you at least go talk to the Professor?" Kurt asked. She tried to block out their voices, but it wasn't working.
"Kid, this is messed up, you know that right?" Logan yelled.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Kurt asked.
"Because Magneto terrifies me, okay," she screamed. Both of them became quiet.
"Kid," he said softly. "We're always gonna protect you," Logan told her.
"Yeah, we would never let anything bad happen to you," Kurt told her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Can't promise to protect someone when they're a part of your first line of defense," she whispered.
"Rogue?" Kurt asked sadly.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said.
"It's gonna be brought up again," Logan informed.
"I'll deal with it then," she told him. "Not today."
'Anna, I be-' Erik started to say.
'I don't want to talk to you either,' she thought firmly. 'Not right now…please,' she added.
'Later,' he told her.
'Okay.'
