Alright, so there are some things that are going to be explained next chapter. Like how come Katrina can read Sabretooth, but the others can't do it as well—and why the bad guys were all invisible at first. And what Rogue's up to.

In a couple more chapters Logan is coming back and I'm still keeping the intro to X2 the same or at least mostly the same. After that some stuff will be the same but then other stuff will be different.

Also, thanks to everyone who 'alerted' the story.

He watched her face and savored every emotion that flickered across it. Shock, disbelief, fear, a bit of sadness. You'd think after all this time that she would be happy just to be able to touch someone without killing them.

He smiled predatorily. Maybe she just didn't like being able to touch him. He got that reaction a lot.

"What does this mean?" she asked the Professor faintly. He smiled and shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but it is most interesting. Would you mind trying your it out again?" he asked in a genial tone, wheeling around to get closer to them.

Victor scowled. "How much longer do I have to be your Guinea pig?"

"Until I'm satisfied that you are indeed completely immune to Rogue's power," he answered. He nodded to Rogue who sighed and slowly reached out to touch his arm this time.

Without warning, Sabretooth grabbed her hand and snarled. She tried to struggle free but was no match for him and she looked up terrified into his black eyes. Then without warning he hissed and she felt the usual pulling sensation that she always did when she touched someone.

He collapsed limply back in his chair, holding his head. She held hers too but for a different reason. As she absorbed his psyche and memories, he howled in rage and his cries reverberated off the confines of her skull.

Meanwhile the Sabretooth that wasn't inside her head, looked up. "Guess I just couldn't control myself," he said, leering at her like she was nothing but a worthless toy for him to play with.

"I'm sorry, Victor, but I planted the urge to attack Rogue inside your head. I had to see if the response would be the same in a situation where she felt her life was in danger." Xavier said this all as if it were the most regular thing in the world.

"You did, huh?" Victor glared at him through narrowed eyes and tensed his hands, itching to teach him a lesson. "How about we see what your fear response is?" he growled, low in his throat.

"Professor, please don't ever do that again," Rogue said finally looking up. She wasn't as mad as Victor was because at least she knew now that she wasn't totally helpless against him should he attack her. And he would one day. It was in his nature.

"Alright now, Rogue, touch him again so we can prove that your power only reacts to Victor when you're in a state of fear."

"I don't think so," he snarled standing up. He'd never felt like he was going to die before and he didn't like it. "I'm outta here."

"Victor, we made a deal," Charles said.

"Screw your deal."

"Logan should be back in awhile. Or if you want, you can try your luck with him on your own," he reasoned.

Victor stopped and glared at him. Then he stomped back over to Rogue and held his arm out to her, right in front of her face, claws up.

His arm was tan, she noticed, and hard with muscle. She slid her hand over it just above the wrist and waited. Nothing happened.

"I guess it's safe to say that it only works when you're afraid," the Professor said. He wheeled back over to his desk and glanced up, hiding a smile as he noticed Rogue was still holding Victor's arm and staring at it. Besides being a prime physical specimen, Victor was the first person she'd been able to touch in a year.

"Rogue, you may let go now," he told her politely, pretending to look at papers while not noticing her mental embarrassment. "Tomorrow we'll begin your mental training."

She nodded and stood up. Sabretooth glared at Xavier and stalked out of the room with Rogue trailing behind at a distance. Her head was hurting more by the second and it was making even walking quickly a difficult task. She hoped the Professor's help tomorrow would make everything go away.

Well, well, Victor said inside her head. What do we have here?

The last thing you're ever going to see, Logan snarled, apparently unsheathing his claws.

"Logan, don't," Rogue said, accidentally aloud. "It could kill me or leave me brain dead."

"Talking to yourself is a sign of insanity, you know."

She dropped her hand whirled around to find the real Victor standing in the shadows behind her. "What do you want?"

He shrugged. "I'm surprised you don't know already."

Stay away from him, Logan told her, He's an animal. He'll rip you apart.

If I'm an animal, what does that make you… brother?

"What?" Rogue's voice was colored with shock and disbelief. "No way," she said firmly, holding her pounding head and turning around to go to her room. "There's no way that's possible."

"What?" he asked, already knowing what she was talking about.

She made it to her room, but could barely see where she was going. Logan yelled in anger and did something to Victor because the next moment there was a stabbing pain in her head and she hissed in pain.

The urge to vomit overwhelmed her and she curled up into a ball on her bed, still holding her head.

"Stop it," she moaned. "Stop fighting." Memories were surging through her consciousness making her feel as if her grip on her own reality was fading. Logan hesitated for a second out of concern for Rogue but his rage was hard to stop once it began and Sabretooth didn't give a shit about her.

The psyches clashed like pounding hammers in her brain while at the same Sabretooth's memories came in tidal waves. The murders, the rapes, the pain, the anguish, wars, death, jealousy, lust…

Everything was too much. She could see him standing inside her room and shutting the door. If he wanted to kill her right now, there would be nothing she could do about it. But, instead he stood off in the corner and stared at her.

She was looking at him but not really seeing him. He could smell every emotion and see the horror in her eyes and while he didn't care about her or her pain at all, her reaction unsettled him. He supposed that to someone who was still practically a child, his life had been a bit… rough.

When she had absorbed Logan, it had been the same, except that with him there had at least been some happy moments… happy impressions. A loving father, a fiancée. With Victor there was nothing but anger, rage, hurt, and death- from childhood to now. It was like a black hole was consuming her.

Just being alive hurt right now.

Sabretooth wondered if she died, would he get blamed for it?

Inside her head, Logan fought hard to keep calm instead of prolonging his fight with Creed. It was killing Rogue and he couldn't let that happen. He had told her that he would protect her. But, the rage he felt over what was happening to Rogue was feeding in to his rage with Creed and it was almost uncontrollable. He was not a creature that could be kept leashed.

Rogue tried to keep the pain at bay but lost the battle in a blinding flash of pain. She screamed and arched her back on her bed as she felt searing pain course through her body. How she ended up on the floor she didn't know but soon she was staring at the green carpet through her haze. Rage filled her like a pitcher filling a cup with water. She looked up at Victor and a second later stood up and punched him in the face with unnatural strength.

His head snapped to the side and then righted itself, eyes blackening and lips drawing back into a snarl, his pointed teeth revealing themselves. The back of his hand flew across her face, snapping her neck as her body flew against the wall. It crumpled there and Victor planted a fist through the wall next to him in a fit of rage.

The door to Rogue's bedroom flew open and he snapped his head up, eyes black and body trembling with the overwhelming urge to kill something. It was that red-headed telepath, the doctor. Her eyes glanced down at the girl and her face grew horrified, looking up at Victor in fury.

"I knew we should have killed you when I dragged you out of the river." She raised her hand and telekinetically lifted him in the air by his throat. He grinned and struggled to get free to no avail.

"Over her?" he scoffed barely looking at the girl's dead body on the floor behind Jean. "I've killed lots of girls. What's so special about her? Nothing much, the way her neck snapped so easy. Shouldn't have picked a fight with me," he laughed, infuriating her even more.

She telekinetically snapped his forearm to wipe the smirk off his face and relished the way he had to press lips together to keep from howling in agony. She could hear his thoughts racing from his mind as if he were screaming them at her. They were very violent and bloody, but only when he internally expressed the thought of killing everyone she cared about in the mansion, including Scott and the Professor, and then violently raping herself and Ororo, did she snap his other arm and dropped him crushingly to the floor.

He felt one arm heal itself and lay there breathing hard, waiting for the other to do so as well. He chuckled up at the ceiling, smelling others come running into the room as well. He turned his head to look over at them and spotted something off about Rogue lying on the floor.

Her head spasmed and jerked, righting itself with a cracking sound that only he could hear and one of her hands twitched. He smiled. He'd forgotten that, along with psyches or whatever, she also sucked mutant's powers out of them as well. His healing factor was kicking in and he could see her skin return to its normal pale color. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave a low moan.

Cyclops, Storm, and the Professor all surround Jean as she stared down at Victor. She raised her hand toward him and he felt his airway constrict. Bitch, he thought spitefully, wanting to tear her throat out and she narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip.

"Jean, stop," Xavier said suddenly, swinging his chair around to look at Rogue. The others turned too and looked down at her in astonishment. Xavier smiled.

"I was wondering why Victor's mutation wasn't affecting you, Rogue. It was only delayed it seems."

Scott strode over and helped her up, the bruise on her face fading fast. "Does someone want to tell me what the hell's going on here?" he demanded.

Rogue winced, still feeling odd from being dead for a few minutes, and looked down at Creed. "I think it was my fault," she said, rubbing her temple, "I attacked him. I didn't mean to, it just happened."

Jean didn't take her eyes off Creed. "The psyches?"

Rogue nodded. "After our session, Professor. My head felt like it was being forced apart from the inside. Logan and him started fighting and then one of them did something."

He frowned worriedly. "What?"

She winced and moved slowly to sit down on her bed. "I think it was like you said before. If one of them tries to kill the other it would hurt me. His psyche took over and all I could think about was killing. I was so angry," she shivered, staring off across the room.

"Professor, I don't care who started it," Jean said, "We can't let this happen again. If she had died…"

Xavier looked at her. "Jean, I know how you feel, but the situation is under control now. We can't lock him up like an animal. How will he learn to control his bloodlust?"

No one looked as though they really cared if he controlled them or not. They wanted him put down like a dog.

"Speaking of which," Xavier announced, sitting more upright, "there is a mission coming up and we'll need everyone—including you Victor. It involves a powerful young mutant by the name of Katrina. She's being held prisoner by some very nasty people and we need to rescue here and bring her here."

The others were more attentive now, but Victor looked fully at Rogue and when she caught him staring at her she frowned. The look in his eyes was not pleasant, like she was his next meal or something. When is Logan getting back? she wondered forlornly. He would put him in his place.

"Storm, Jean, I want you to do some reconnaissance first on the surrounding area and get a lay of the land. With Logan gone at the moment, Mr. Creed's assistance will useful."

Everyone stiffened but no one said anything. Victor stood up, his frame taking up a large amount of space in her tiny room, and stretched. "There any beer in this place?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Rogue reclined in the leather chair with her wrists restrained and ankles bound.

"I'm going to create a barrier in your mind hopefully strong enough to contain the psyches and prevent them from having to access yours. Are you ready?"

She swallowed and nodded. Whatever it took. She couldn't stand being connected to Sabretooth anymore. Just thinking his name caused memories to flash through her brain and a tear slipped down her cheek at the overwhelming emotions.

"What's wrong, Rogue?" he asked her quietly.

She swallowed thickly and more tears rolled down. "I can't stand it anymore. The memories. The horrible darkness. I had another nightmare last night. You know what it was about?" she asked and didn't wait for an answer. "I was walking in the woods late at night. It was dark but I knew where I was going because I'd been watching the cabin for over a week now. Inside there was a woman and her husband and… two little kids, happy and warm."

He bent his head and knew even without his telepathy what was coming next.

"Then I walked up to the door and knocked. They opened it and I… killed them all," she whispered, staring up at the ceiling. "But, I didn't just kill them quickly. It was slow, agonizingly so. The kids ran away to somewhere in the back but I knew where they were the whole time. I didn't bother chasing them. First I killed the woman and made her husband watch the things I did to her. Then I killed him, taunting him all the while. Last, I walked toward the very back of the house into the furthest closest, where the two kids were hiding. Instead of just letting them go, I killed them too. The girl first while her brother begged me not to and then finally him. Then it was quiet and I could hear my own footsteps as I walked back out, laughing the entire time."

Of course it wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory.

"Rogue, I know it's painful. But, having Victor Creed here is for the best. We could help him and prevent more murders such as that one."

"Don't call him that," she said flatly, "He doesn't deserve a human name. He's an animal. His name's Sabretooth."

Xavier sighed quietly. "I think you should know, Rogue, that what I'm about to do won't block the memories. It will only block out the voices. It would be very risky to erase all the memories you've absorbed because they are yours now. It could put you in a coma."

She didn't care. She just wanted it all to stop.

I'm sorry, kid, Logan said quietly inside her head. I should never have left you.

It's not your fault. It's what I am, she answered, sadly. "Can we start now?"

Xavier nodded and closed his eyes. She felt her own close and everything went black.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was time to go. Rogue zipped up her black uniform and stepped out into the hangar. The Blackbird sat regally in the back drop, behind the rest of the team. Rogue self-consciously looked from one X-man to the other, knowing all the while that they had only let her come to distract her. Her pale face bore the signs of her nightly struggle. She pulled on her thin leather gloves and, as usual, her eyes sought out Sabretooth.

It was like she couldn't help it. She had felt herself changing since absorbing Logan, but after this guy- she was different to say the least. Something about him was familiar now. She knew him better than anybody, except maybe Logan.

Her lips thinned and she tore her gaze away to pay attention to Cyclops. The Professor had made her promise not to tell Logan about his brother when he came back.

"This is very delicate, Rogue," he had warned. "A person needs time to come to certain realizations on his own. That is why I sent him to Canada in the first place. Each step is a piece to the puzzle. If he finds out about Victor Creed before he's ready… well, you know what happened inside your head. It would be a hundred times worse and innocents would suffer."

That was the only reason she had agreed. She remembered killing thousands of people, whether it was truly her or not, and didn't want to witness more.

"Rogue, you are to stay close to one of us at all times, understand?" Cyclops asked sternly, cocking his head and looking at her frowning off at the floor. "And remember your training in the Danger room."

She nodded and was only slightly annoyed at his tone. He continued.

"The mission tonight is simple. As quickly and quietly as possible, we are to slip in undetected and locate the girl. She's fourteen and a telepath. I don't know why she hasn't escaped yet, but…,"

"Drugs," Victor said, sneering at his denseness. They all looked over at him. "When you want a mutant to cooperate you drug them. That way they can't focus and try to escape."

He looked deliberately over to Rogue who suddenly grew wary. That was how Magneto had gotten her up to his machine on Liberty Island. He'd shot her with a tranquilizer.

No one else seemed to notice the look.

Storm sighed. "That means she will not be able to walk out on her own. One of us will carry her."

Victor smiled slowly, showing his teeth. "I'd be happy to oblige."

Jean glared. "No you won't," she snapped, "I'll do it with telekinesis, or Scott can. He's strong enough. Storm could even lift her with the wind. You are not to touch her in any way."

He shrugged. Then he turned and stepped back about a foot while they continued talking and looking over maps. He slipped up behind Rogue. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice at first.

"Sure you don't want to take a little extra back up?" he asked in a low voice.

She jumped and looked down at his bare arm that was practically touching her. A disgusted look crossed her face and she turned and glared up at him.

"I would rather die than willingly touch you again. Unless it was to kill you," she added, triumphantly noting the dark look that passed over his face. "I can suck your life and healing factor right out of your body. And while I'm doing it you'll be so incapacitated you won't be able to move. Ask Logan."

He stepped closer to her and bent his head so that only she could hear him. "I'd watch that pretty mouth of yours unless you want me to rip it off your face." He smiled and darted a look over at the others. They weren't paying attention.

"You know hard it is for Baldy and Red to read my mind? They can get bits of info here and there, but I'm too strong for them to get anything useful."

"Why are you telling me this, Sabretooth?" She was sure to use his codename. She thought of him as a monster and thought he should be called by a monsters name. His mouth curved into a smile.

"Because I'd start watching my back if I was you, Leech. That stuff I said about drugging mutants? I've done it a hundred times before. And it'd work on you."

She refused to answer him and turned away.

"Bad move, turning your back on an enemy. Especially one who'd love to see Jimmy's face looking over your gutted body. Like I was saying, if I gave you the right amount, the drugs would keep you from being able to be scared enough to hurt me. You'd want to be scared, but you wouldn't be able to."

Her lips were pressed together in anger and she finally turned around and looked at him. His arms looked as though they could crush her even without his enhanced strength. "The Professor and Jean might not be able to easily read your mind you bastard, but they're able to read mine just fine. All I'd have to do is think the word and they'd be on their way."

She looked at him cockily and was proud that she didn't back up when he bent close to her face. She kept her eyes trained on his mouth… and teeth.

"No they wouldn't," he whispered. He smelled like a completely wild thing, she realized, noticing that some of his traits lasted longer in her than others. He wasn't completely a man and yet not an animal either. At least not literally.

She looked at him coldly.

"Why didn't you kill me when you followed me into my room a few days ago? If you want me dead so much…"

He shrugged and straightened up, forcing her to step back. "It's not that I want you dead—it's that Jimmy wants you alive. It's personal between me and him. You wouldn't understand," he sneered, about to walk away.

Anger coursed through her at his mention of hurting Logan and she spoke up, stopping him in his tracks. "I understand more of your personal life than I care too. Your memories are clear as a bell, not like Logan's. I know every thought and feeling you've ever had."

His eyes darkened and he tensed his claws, wanting to rip out her throat for smarting off to him that way. She walked forward and some sort of black anger ran through her at lightning speed. She got really close.

"I remember your drunken father, how he used to beat you almost every night," she whispered, "When he wasn't screwing Logan's mom that is. It's really too bad he didn't just kill you and rid the world of your filth. Nobody would miss you. Logan hates you for everything you are. He's never had it in him to be like you. You disgust him."

Normally, she would never say that to anybody but bits of his darkness were in her now, along with his memories. The two kids he'd killed stood out in her mind.

He snarled loudly, hate filling his eyes, and she started taking off her gloves. Just as he would have pounced on her, a force knocked them apart and she banged her head on the floor and groaned.

Jean and everyone else stood looking at them angrily. "What's going on here?"

Rogue refused to speak and Victor stood up roughly. His rage was growing and Jean forcefully had to hold him back. "Unless you want to find her disemboweled body in woods tonight you'd better tell her to keep her fucking mouth shut," he snarled, trying to desperately to get at her through Jean's wall.

They all looked back at her and she felt defensive. "He started it," she protested and Scott shook his head.

"That's immature, Rogue. Of course he's going to goad you. That's what he does. But, starting a fight here in the mansion is not a wise idea. I think you should wait this one out," he said with finality, talking about the mission, and no one disagreed with him.

She looked at them dumbfounded and caught Sabretooth's menacing, yet triumphant expression. "You're taking his side?" she protested loudly, jumping up quickly. "After everything he's done?"

Cyclops held up a hand. "I'm not taking anyone's side, Rogue. I don't want you to get hurt out there, that's all."

She looked at all of them and then stormed away, slamming the door to the hangar as loudly as possible. She furiously ripped off her suit and threw it as hard as she could against the wall in the corridor. She had on some shorts and a tank top and dared anyone to get to close to her as she walked up the stairs and through the lower level toward the front door.

John and Bobby saw her and their mouths hung open. She heard one of them calling to her but ignored it and threw open the door. The last thing they saw before it slammed shut again was her soaring into the air and disappearing.

XXXXX

Victor sat in the jet, strapped in and smirking. Those idiots took his side instead of hers and he found that humorous beyond belief. That bitch had dared to talk about his father and nothing pissed him off more than that. He hated his father and had been relieved when Jimmy had killed him. It made him wish he'd done it earlier. She was going to pay dearly for her insults.

It was personal between them now. He shrugged. Thought she was tough because she couldn't be touched, well, he'd bagged and tagged tougher mutants than her in his day and he knew exactly how to handle her. He would time it right and then strike when the others were caught off guard.

The weather-bitch, who he so desperately wanted to sink his claws into, landed the jet about ten miles from where they needed to be. They had to hump it the rest of the way which was fine by him since he almost never tired. He raised his head sniffed the air. No one was around for miles except straight ahead of them. He smiled. This was exactly what he needed. If everything went his way he would get to kill some people tonight.

They walked in silence with him leading the way. If that annoyed Cyclops he didn't say so. Jean kept beside him and Storm flew overhead low to the tree line. When they got closer, Cyclops signaled everyone to stop and gather closer to him. They could see the house at the bottom of the hill a few miles away.

"Storm, do you think you can give us some cover?"

Her face spread with a smile and she lifted her head back. Exposing her throat, Victor noticed. Her eyes turned pure milky white and the air swirled around her. Thick dense fog crept in about ten feet high until they could only see each other.

"Creed, you can still find your way alright?"

He smiled and nodded. In any other situation it would be so easy to just kill them all. But, he reasoned, there were others awaiting him just three miles away. They'd do nicely.

Besides, it wasn't time for the X-jerks yet.

"Storm, you cover us from outside. Jean, Creed, you're with me. Jean you said there are about ten men armed and guarding the kid right? You locate the girl and grab her while Creed and I hold off the others. Everyone good?"

They all nodded, except Victor who rolled his eyes. He palmed a fist and looked longingly down at the house. When the hell were they going to get a move on?

His vision was blocked suddenly by Scott. "If you try anything funny down there, Creed, we will put you down and not think twice about it. Understand?"

Victor's blood raced hot and he answered the other man's challenge by stepping closer until he was towering over him. "You can try, Laserbeam. I got you once and I can get you again. Or don't you remember?"

"I remember," he said quietly, a muscle in his jaw twitching, "I also remember blasting you off Lady Liberty and into the river. I'm not a schoolboy anymore."

Victor just smiled. All these so-called X-men were going to get the surprise of their life one day. He was a predator. Patience was built into his very DNA. He could wait a long time.

They each gave the other one last long stare before Jean cleared her throat and they took off. The fog made it hard to see but they followed Victor, who could see just fine. Storm landed lightly on the roof and gave the signal she was in position. Cyclops circled the house and found a weak spot in one of the back windows.

"Everything's clear," Jean whispered and he nodded and lightly blasted the edges away to pull both panes out. Victor was too large to fit through just one.

They crept into the house and Victor sniffed. Something wasn't right. He smelled about twelve men all around them, but there was no one in sight. Jean was concentrating, but frowning.

"I sense people but I can't see them," she murmured. "Could they all be invisible?"

"Good guess," a voice said from behind them. Victor melted into the shadows and Cyclops blasted the empty space in front of him. Someone yelled and then suddenly there were about a dozen men surrounding them. One was on the floor bleeding. Apparently ol' Cyke had gotten lucky.

The fight began. Victor slashed and bit and threw everything that was within arms reach. He cut a swath through the enemy that gave them a great advantage. Just as Jean's head was about to be taken off from behind, Victor shoved his hand through the guys chest and ripped his heart out.

"You can thank me later," he told her and then bolted down the hall after a guy who was trying to get away. He didn't make it far.

Victor stood still and listened. He followed his ears and nose through a battered door and down some stairs to a basement. He hated basements. He spotted the reason for them being here tied up to a pole in the middle of the room. Someone had knocked her around pretty good. Her face was bloody and bruised and she opened her eyes when she heard him coming.

"Just do it," she whispered, through dry cracked lips. "Don't hurt me anymore. Just kill me."

He cocked his head and smiled at the irony. Then he ripped to ropes from around the stake and untied her. She was too drugged to struggle as he carried her up the stairs.

"Not this time, girl. Maybe later."

The sounds of fighting had grown dimmer, but it was still going. Jean and Cyclops were outnumbered three to one still. He walked outside and looked up at Storm who was waiting anxiously above the door.

"You wanna take this while I go save your pathetic friends?"

The girl was practically clinging to him and frantically opened her eyes. "No, please, don't leave me. You saved me. Don't leave me," she begged, crying hysterically.

Storm had flown down and was trying to soothe the girl, but to no avail. Disgustedly, Victor pried the weeping girl from his coat and dumped her on Storm. Then he smiled and turned back to the fight. As soon as he entered it was over within minutes. He ripped out the throats of three men, while the lovebirds took care of the other three.

They breathed heavily and looked over at him, this time with no malice. Jean had blood dripping from her thigh and shoulder, while Cyke had cut on his head that would need stitches.

"You found the girl?" he asked, helping Jean outside.

"She's with the other one," he grunted, walking past them to Storm.

The girl was on the ground shaking with her head buried in her knees. Storm looked over at them approaching.

"She won't let me near her. She's set up some sort of psychic shield around her body."

Victor looked down at her annoyed. "Well, break through it and let's get out of here. I'm hungry."

Jean looked over at him, with a pale face. He could almost taste the blood coming out of her. "She doesn't trust us. Forcing ourselves on her won't make it any easier."

He crossed his arms and glared at the girl. "Well, she's already been 'forced on' if you get my drift. One more time won't make a difference."

They all looked up at him sharply and he held up his hands. "Not by me. I was only down there three minutes. I'm fast, but not that fast."

"How do you know then?" Jean whispered, looking back down at Katrina with pity. The shield was keeping her out of the girl's mind. The psychic signature was also familiar, but she couldn't place it.

"I can smell it on her," Victor said bluntly, wondering if the girl could even hear them. Maybe they had beaten her stupid. No one said anything for awhile after that. Cyclops dressed Jean's wound and staunched the blood flow. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. If the girl wanted to die out here in the cold that was fine with him.

He stood up over her and glared. "Listen, we just saved you. If you want to die out here be my guest, but don't expect us to die with you."

Cyclops had stood up quickly to stop him, but before he could, the girl lifted her tearstained face. She was kind of pretty, but it was hard to tell with all the dirt and blood caked on her.

"You saved me," she said, looking up at him with some kind of hero worship.

He smiled, showing his canines. She wasn't afraid. "That's right, I did. You gonna to pay me back by making me freeze to death?"

She turned red and slowly stood up. She didn't look at anyone else but him. "Sorry," she muttered.

The others approached her cautiously and she finally darted them a glance. Her shield lowered and she wrapped her arms around herself. Storm raised a hand.

"It's ten miles to our jet. If you would like, I can fly you to it."

Katrina shook her head. "I'll walk."

"But, you're bleeding and weak," Jean protested, stepping forward, but stopping when the girl stepped back.

"I don't care. I'll be fine."

She looked at them and then back at Sabretooth. He had saved her. She would only trust him. She moved closer to him and hid half her body behind his while he looked down. If this girl only knew how fast he could snap her neck, she wouldn't be so quick to snuggle up to him. He shook his head and walked over to a large rock to sit. The girl scurried over with him. He eyed her with irritation.

They all looked at him and each other as if they couldn't believe it. Storm finally spoke up. "I'm going now. Wait here."

With her gone and the others resting, it gave him plenty of time to think about Rogue. His canines glinted off the moonlight and the girl looked up at him sharply, and then looked away. Rogue, Rogue, Rogue—what was he going to do with her? Maybe the easier question was, what wouldn't he do with her?

He hadn't had a woman in a couple weeks now. He was getting antsy. She would do nicely, but in the meantime he would amuse himself with someone else. He cast a sidelong glance at his recent acquirement and saw her tense. He smirked.

Don't worry. You're too young. Barely. She relaxed.

He turned his thoughts back to Rogue and his plans for her. Of course he had to kill her. Before she could do it to him. And he knew that she could.

But, before he killed her, he wanted to see her beg for her life- on her knees—and be the one to wipe that snotty, superior look off her face. Maybe he would actually wipe her face off her body. He smiled at that thought and leaned back. He would use her- destroy her- in every way possible until she begged for death and pleaded her sorrow at ever thinking that she could beat him. If he could somehow force Jimmy to watch, that would make his revenge even better.

He didn't notice Katrina's body going very still as he sat there thinking.