I don't own X-Men Evolution.
Chapter 3 "Rogue Recruit"
Caldecott County, Mississippi USA
A girl with reddish brown hair with white streaks was resting against the railings of a beach home at a party in the country, oblivious to the music and the people around her. The girl was being nervously stared at by a blond man in a football jersey across the room. His pal with the black hair turned to face his companion.
"My good buddy Cody is now a pod person," he teased with a grin. "Gone in an evening from bad to sad, flame to lame. Nurse, he's coded! Personality Paddles, stat!"
"Oh come on, man," Cody said with a sigh. "I'm just…you know, picking my moment. Taking it slow."
"Cody, I've seen glaciers move faster than you," his friend said while shaking his head. "There she is the girl you've been staring at all week. Please tell me you at least know her name."
The blonde shook his head. The brown-haired teen face-palmed before sighing. "Dude you're hopeless." He pulled him over and the girl turned around to face them.
"Can ah help you?" she asked, looking at Cody.
"Uh…dance?" Cody asked dumbly. "I mean would you like to? With me, that is together?"
"Ah'm really just hanging around here…" the girl said before she noticed Cody's dejected look. "…Why not? After all, what's the harm in dancing?"
Cody smiled and led the girl into the restaurant.
Meanwhile, in the house where the girl lives, a woman named Destiny suddenly has a vision about the girl.
"No, don't touch him!" she suddenly shouted. "Oh, my dear child!"
After dancing for several minutes, the dark-haired boy looked behind him and whispered.
"Go on. Get closer, Cody." He pushed Cody into the girl, having them fall over.
Sorry about that," he said as he grabbed her wrist to help her up.
Suddenly, Cody and the girl froze. Without warning, Cody fainted as the girl held her head in pain. "My head…all these images." She gets up and sees Cody on the ground. "What's happening to me? What am I? Who am I?" she asked to no one in particular.
"Cody!?" his friend exclaimed in panic. He kneeled to his friend and started shaking him. "Cody? What's wrong?" He turned to the confused girl. What did you do to him?"
She didn't answer. She just panicked and ran towards the exit. When a big guy tried to block her, she just pushed him aside, like a football player would do.
"Woah," the guy said as he sat there, looking at the running girl. "I thought only Cody has moves like that."
Xavier's Institute
Crawling through the air ducts was Wolverine. Then he sprang off, landed on his feet, and opened the closest aperture. Glancing up, he noticed Storm standing with her arms folded in front of him.
"Impressive," she said. "You got past the automated defenses by using the air vents. But you won't get past me."
A tiny whirlwind was created when she lifted her arms and the windows blew open. It was too powerful for Wolverine to overcome. The air vents then allowed him to flee.
"Testing me, hmm?" Storm said with an amused look as her eyes glowed brightly. "Alright then, it's time to remind you why my name is Storm!"
After escaping, the man turned to face Storm. "Now that's just cold," Wolverine being a smartass.
A magnetic sound as wires whips aimed at Wolverine. He was whipped away and his body aimed at the wall with a grunt.
He saw Solenoid floating and said, "Care for me to cut in?" She waved the wire whips at him again as Wolverine jumped and sliced them.
SLICE!
"Heh! "You good kid," Wolverine then jumped in the air to strike. "But I'm better!" She used metal balls to form a shield.
BANG!
It blocked and then bashed him in the head. THUMP! Wolverine's head echoed sound but put him in a growing mood.
She never used his metal bones against him. It felt like she was using him against his will. She blocked him and then flew away for a safe distance.
Then formed a sword and started to fight with Wolverine.
KLANG!
Almost close to face as they swifter and thrust to block or counterattack.
'Not bad, kid!' Wolverine silently thought as he smiled as she always put herself to challenge him.
He cut up her sword and then kicked her away. She groaned as her body slid down. She was about to get up, but she was faced with his claws.
"Good, but not enough." He chuckled. But stopped when he saw her grinning. "Too bad, but I'm just a distraction, Wolverine."
He responded by aiming three more blasters at him. He began avoiding the blasters without thinking twice, and when he got to the first machine, he clawed it and broke it up into pieces. Abruptly, the machines slowed.
"Neat party trick," Wolverine said after obliterating the machine. "Is that all you got?"
Solenoid decided to make it fun.
"Just one more thing." She gave a mean whistle with her two pinkies in her mouth. "Whooee-uueet!" She is calling in for backup.
Wolverine looked dumbfounded, but he heard a growling sound. He was about to turn, but he was taken down by something bigger and animal than he was. Wolverine was on the ground when he saw the housecat. Stripe growled as he narrowed his eyes. He is caged in by this tiger.
He grunted and said, "Do your worst, bud!"
SLURPS!
That is not what he meant!
Stripes is a sloppy Wolverine with his tongue and drool.
He groaned in disgust. "Stop it! This is not how you fight! UGH!" He was trying to get Stripe not to do this every time they train. 'And Petals is encouraging this!'
Solenoid laughed as Storm came down to see this. Storm finds this amusing.
"That's enough," Charles chuckled through the microphone. Stripe got the jiff and then got off of him. He went to his mistress as she petted him while sneaking him a bacon treat. "Logan, it is, at the moment, as much as we can afford." He pointed at the laser that he cut them down.
Wolverine rubbed the drool off of his face. He grunted, Hey, when I give a demo, I give a demo," Wolverine said, taking off his mask.
"What kind of demo?" Scott asked. "Demonstration or demolition? What was the point?"
"The point, young Cyclops was to teach about finding weak points in sophisticated security systems," Storm said, walking up to him. Solenoid and Stripe walked up to join the team. Stripe is wearing a color with an X-Men daggling as a dog tag and a collar. Stripe purred and lay himself on the floor.
Wolverine entered the room. "Our security could use a little work."
"Dat was tight," Kurt said, hanging upside down. "I give it two thumbs up." He gave a thumbs up, which was pointing down. He realized this and turned it upside down. Solenoid looked at Kurt and giggled silently.
"Hmm…the air vents were easily breached," Wolverine mused. "Gonna need to fix that. Maybe electrify them or install poisonous gas sprayers…"
"Logan."
Storm gave him the look.
"Alright, alright. Just knockout gas," Wolverine said. Well, better than nothing, but still.
"Is it just me, or is it like seriously creep out by this?" Kitty said with a shiver. Oh right, Vyolet forgot that they got themselves a newbie. She has been training with them for three weeks now and Kitty is still not used to this.
"Relax, Kitty," Kurt said, waving his hand. He then teleported next to her. "Ve're right beside you." He then teleported again, holding some popcorn with his tail. "Popcorn?"
Kitty just grunted in frustration.
"Oops. Sorry," Kurt said with a chuckle as he got off the table. "I'll honk before I port."
"Whatever," she said, crossing her arms and turning away from him. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to, like drop, out." With that, she phased through the ground.
"Soooo, how long has she been here?" Vyolet looked at Scott. Scott placed his hands on her shoulders. "Cut her some slacks. This is new to her."
"New as in mutants? Or normal new to her?"
He has no answer for that.
Kurt sighed sadly as she disappeared. "She's not into the Furry Dude." Kurt has a little crush on Kitty, but everything he does seems to spook her.
Jean walked over to the blue demon. She puts a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright Kurt... She'll come around." Suddenly, Charles wheeled in with a serious look on his face. "X-Men... We have an emergency. Scott and Vyolet prepare the Blackbird for launch, and since it's a weekend. Get the full team." Vyolet and Scott nodded before Charles continued explaining.
"What's the mission, Professor?" Scott asked, curious.
"It appears Cerebro has detected a new Mutant in Caldecott County, Mississippi," Xavier replied as he went to the nearest screen. "My mental impressions from the scene indicate a highly disturbed individual."
Solenoid is curious. What kind of powers made this one highly disturbed?
"Our Mutant is a danger to herself," Xavier said, "And possibly to others around her."
He then focused on seeing what was happening to the girl as the X-men started suiting up.
Mississippi USA
The girl continued to sprint down the street. She didn't stop until a car approached her. The automobile struck the lamppost as it tried to miss her.
"Hey! Are you nuts?" the car driver yelled as the girl ran. "Crazy kid!"
Blackbird
"X-men, we have a rogue," Xavier said as the Blackbird flew up into the sky.
"A rogue?" Solenoid questioned her guardian.
As they flew towards Caldecot, Scott was teaching Nightcrawler how to pilot while Cyclops logged in their flight plan.
"Stealth mode's stable... Leveling off at ten thousand feet."
"Steady," Cyclops said to Nightcrawler, who was holding the controllers. "Now hold it right there and…there you go." He then gave Nightcrawler a thumbs up. "Nice job, Kurt. You'll make a pilot yet."
"Danks," Kurt said as he leaned his head on his hands and used his feet to pilot.
"I logged our flight plan with the FAA," Cyclops said as he turned to face everyone. "We're clear through Jackson. We'll take the van from there."
"Excellent, Scott," Xavier said with a small smile. "You're picking up logistics quickly."
The girls were talking among themselves. Solenoid is petting her pet as he closes his eyes in contentment. They made a special seat for him to lie on and seatbelt.
"Scott seems so, like, together," she commented. "So cool. And he's kinda cute."
"Cute? Uh, stiff maybe," Jean scoffed as she looked at Cyclops. "Exactly. Definitely…but…" she started using her hands to better angle Cyclops's face. "Hmm…from a certain angle…"
Kitty asked Solenoid a question, "So, what kind of guys would you prefer?"
She closed her eyes and simply said, "Boys are overrated." She doesn't see what a big deal with dating guys or girls is. She just sees them as nothing but trouble.
"O-kay." Kitty awkwardly said as Jean explained, "Don't take it personally. She was homeschooled all her life before entering high school so, her social skills are a little off."
Nightcrawler heard their conversation and looked at Cyclops then got the idea.
BAMRF!
Cyclops took over after Kurt abruptly teleported outside the Blackbird. Nightcrawler glanced through the glass and waved at their expressions of incredulity. Abruptly, he stumbled and flew in the direction of the window.
Solenoid groaned as she shook her head in disappointment. That's what they need, a class clown.
He teleported back and landed on Kitty.
"Kurt! The Blackbird's not the place to fool around... You scared Kitty." Charles said to Kurt as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, Kitty." Kitty pushed him off and got out of her seat.
"Just, like, stay away from me." She said walking up as she took the seat next to Wolverine. Solenoid used her powers to strap Kurt with a seat belt tight.
"Ormof!" Kurt grunted as he felt the tightening.
Solenoid whispered, "Do that again, you will learn the new meaning of pain." She tightened the hold as Kurt nodded in agreement quickly. He is now afraid of her.
"Good." She loosened her grip on the seatbelt. Kurt breathed in relief.
"Kids," Wolverine commented.
Later, Jean dressed as a nurse as she walked into the hospital to check on Cody. Hoping to gain information to find out where the mutant went. While Jean does that Solenoid goes to stealth mood. She broke in as she felt the metal to find the right codes to enter the record room.
She closed her eyes and focused as she sensed the right combination.
Solenoid entered and waited for Jeans to give him the mental message about this mutant.
'Anne-Marie Raven'
She heard the message as she used her powers to unlock the file cabinet and she flickered through files to find the name.
There.
She pulled out the file of that name.
"Okay, she was born an orphan with an absent mother and father. Yet at the age of four she was adopted by a mother named Irene Adler and her partner's name is unknown. She was checked regularly, but she wasn't allowed skin contact."
The rest of the medical reports are rather small. As if she was checked at the age of four but after that no more check-ups after that. In fact, she stopped going to the following year's checkups.
But she managed to find the home address. Solenoid wrote it down and quickly sneaked through air vents.
In her regular form, Mystique was sitting next to another woman in a limousine. Her hair is short and brown. She is carrying a tall cane and wears heavy shades over her eyes. She was wearing a black belt, blue trousers, and a green, three-quarter-sleeve shirt.
"Five years Irene.. We kept her hidden for five years in this backwoods town and in five minutes.. It all falls apart."
"She possesses the potential for limitless powers. We can not lose her. Especially to Xavier. You see the future, Irene. What do you see? Where will she go?" Mystique asked as Irene sighed. "Home... Or where she thinks is home."
In the meantime, the girl was gazing at the photos in a yearbook while she was inside Cody's house since she believed she was Cody.
"All this is me…" she said with great uncertainty. She closed the book and walked towards the mirror. Looking at her expression, she didn't see a blond guy in the pictures, but all she saw was a confused-looking girl. "Which me am ah?"
The girl was startled when the door suddenly broke down. Glancing over, she noticed Wolverine roaring at her as he entered the door. She was unaware that Wolverine was actually Mystique, who was attempting to instill a mistrust of the X-men in her, beginning with their most unruly member.
"W-who are you?" she asked, frightened. "What do ya want?"
"You, girlie," 'he' growled, popping the claws out. "I want you."
Wolverine then sprang toward her. The girl avoided the weird man's claws. She dodged the jagged claws as she hurried across the room.
"Hold still, and I promise to make this quick," Wolverine said as he followed the girl. "You're dealing with the X-men and you ain't got a chance!"
"One more turn of the screw and you'll be running in my arms," Mystique said as she morphed into Storm.
As the girl ran, she bumped into someone, which happened to be Destiny.
"Rogue, calm down," she said as she held the girl by the shoulder, trying to calm her down. "It's me, Irene."
"Ah don't…wait," Rogue said as she stopped and looked at Destiny. "Irene? What goin on here? Ah'm confused. Strange memories and people chasing me…" Just what is going on here? She doesn't know anymore!
Before Destiny could reply, she saw 'Storm' walking towards them. Oh no! Who is this person? Rogue is scared.
"We have no time," she said as she handed a piece of paper to Rogue, who saw Storm. "Quick! Follow these directions. They will lead you to someone who can protect you. Go! I will hold her for as long as I can."
With that, Rogue ran, following the directions Destiny gave her.
Outside they decided to go for her home address that Solenoid had gotten. "So does this like bite, or what?" Shadowcat asked walking down an ally as Wolverine snorted before. "The Prof. says the girl's mind is confused and unfocused. So keep looking." He sniffed around.
"What's wrong?" Solenoid questioned him.
"Fear." They ran down the ally and they saw Rogue with one glove on the ground in front of Irene.
Before they could talk to her, she screamed at the sight of Logan. "Run Irene!" Solenoid shouted, "Wait!"
They ran past Irene to get her. They just wanted to talk to her. At least help her understand. Kurt said something that made him serious about it. "Wait! Wolverine... She seemed scared of you. Let us try." Wolverine sighed before nodding. "Alright, kid. Just don't mess up capisce?" Kurt saluted before walking forward. "And squirt. Put on your best face. No need to scare the girl anymore."
Wolverine also ordered, "Petals, you fly over them. Make sure nothing happens."
"You got it, boss." She gave a thumbs up to him. Vyolet flew up in the air to watch over her team and the mutant. Vyolet looked above and saw this rogue still running. Well, she has to make sure her teammates keep up.
"Guten Tag Fraulein." Rogue jumped a little before turning around and saw Kurt on a swing. He decided to use his human image to not scare her.
"No need to be afraid." He teleported beside her and sat down on a birdbath. "What do you want?" She asked as Kurt smiled. "To help you. We're good guys. Especially me." Rogue crossed her arms as she stared at him.
As they were talking, Shadowcat came through a fence.
Vyolet saw and flew down to stop Kitty.
Shadowcat tried sneaking up on her until Kurt and Vyolet yelled at her. "Kitty No!" Kitty tackled Rogue down before she was pushed off. Kurt tried to calm her down, but she broke his watch revealing his true form. She gasped before pushing him with her ungloved hand causing both to hiss in pain before Kurt fell down, and Rogue teleported away. Vyolet cursed loudly and flew down.
She checked on Kurt. He looked passed out. Not in a coma which she is thankful for.
"Shadowcat! What were you thinking?!" She argues with her.
"What, I just thought…" Kitty was about to defend herself, but Vyolet shut that down. "Yes, you thought! But did Kurt and I agree on what you were going to do? That is why we work as a team. So we can make sure this doesn't happen." She placed Kurt's head on her lap. "You were supposed to calm her down. Not sneak attack her. Thanks to that, now we lost the rogue."
Kitty stood quietly as if she didn't know. Now thanks to her, Kurt could be seriously hurt because of her. Which made her feel even more guilty now.
Vyolet ordered, "Shadowcat, you need to come on this side. We need to make sure his blood and heartbeat are functional." She sent Kitty to work.
She's right! No time to feel guilty about this mistake now.
Vyolet decided to contact the Professor.
"Professor, Solenoid here. Kurt has been hurt."
Charles heard his godchild and responded. "What happened?"
"One mishap over our tag team. Right now, Kurt has been touched by Anne Marie. I think that is her mutation. She touches us and gains…well our memories, and abilities. Like she become…"
"The person she has skin contact with." Charles finished her sentence.
Yes, he was worried that this could happen. But this is a new troublesome power he has never encountered before. If fallen into the wrong hands, she could be vulnerable and easily manipulated.
Charles and Wolverine reach for Solenoid, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler.
"Professor," Charles quickly gets to work. "Solenoid, go with the others. You must try to stop her from losing control.
She nodded as she took Kitty's hand as they flew together.
Solenoid stopped in front of Rogue and said, "Wait, we need to talk…" But she got freaked out and touched her face.
"Ahhh!" Rogue and Solenoid screamed in pain. Solenoid collapsed. She felt her mind was fuzzy.
Solenoid never felt like this before. She felt weak and helpless. Rogue gained her powers.
Rogue groaned as she felt all the metals going around her. "Ah, ah don't feel so good."
She doesn't know what to do.
Rogue is slightly woozy. She heard a growling sound as she saw this weird-looking tiger.
Roar! It roared at her.
It pounced at her as he tried to swipe her.
She screamed, "Kya!" She then flew up in the air as the tiger growled at her still in the air. He glared at her.
Stripe will not let this person near Solenoid again. Rogue waved her hand then wires started to loosen the lamppost and send sparks all over. Rogue screamed more. More out-of-control powers started to burst out of proportion.
The electricity sparks out the trees and bushes. Fires began to spread.
At the graveyard, each time they try to make contact with her. She is scared and losing control of their powers. Stripe cooed and rubbed his head toward a still unconscious Solenoid. Solenoid mumbled, then saw the fire spreading quickly. Solenoid wobbly getting up as Stripe is using his body to be leaned on. "C'mon, boy. Get me close to there." She pointed to where the sprinklers were. Stripe huffed and walked with her in that direction. Slowly, little by little she felt the metal as she focused on those sprinklers.
'Now!' She fisted her hand and made an air fist.
Ka-Clunk!
Not one.
Not two.
But thousands of sprinklers were activated and let the water flow strongly. As the sprinklers did their work. It slowly, little by little has prevented a fire from spreading.
Solenoid sighs in relief. She collapsed on the ground in a sitting position. Stripe went to her side and he sat next to her. He bumped his head on hers which earned her a smile. She patted his back. "That'll do, Tiger. That'll do."
The X-Men gathered as they saw what Solenoid had done. Charles is impressed. While they were busy subduing Rogue of her powers. Solenoids did damage control to prevent danger around them and the town.
'She is growing stronger every day.' Xavier thought to himself.
"Good work, Petals," Wolverine commented as he helped her up in a bridal style. Stripe growled happily. "What about Anne-Marie?" She was concerned about her. After all, the way her powers burst when she touched her. It was like she remembered how out of control it was during her first mutation growth.
"She's gone, petals." Wolverine knows that Solenoid felt guilty of touching her and gave her powers. It is natural to worry if she is okay.
"What happened to her? Why did she freak out from looking at us?"
"We lost the girl." Cyclops said as Charles nodded. "Yes. Her mind's confused. I can't locate her. And I sense another person at hand here." Wolverine sniffed the air before growling.
"Mystique... She can change her body... But not her scent."
Solenoid sighs. Guess they failed.
They lost the chance to help her. Now Mystique is going to manipulate Rogue to her will.
"She needs to come willingly... Plus we need to tend to the others." Charles said as he moved his wheelchair.
They all walked back to the Blackbird as they knew this was a failed mission.
A Few Days Later, Bayville High.
Mystique in her principal disguise smiled. "Welcome to Bayville High. I'm sure you'll be very happy here. Happy and safe."
"Sure. Thank you."
Rogue walked out of her office before hearing a male voice. "She'll make a fine addition to our team."
She nodded, changing to her normal form. "Yes... We were lucky getting to her first." A shadow appeared behind her before he spoke again. "And you're certain the memories of the X-Men are gone?" He asked as she nodded. "Positive." She made sure of it.
After all, she hates losing.
"Good." Before the figure disappeared, he added one final thing, "Oh, and another thing, tell me, how powerful is this Solenoid?"
He is intrigued by this special mutant that Charles has been keeping from him. He can tell this one has more potential than all the other mutants he has ever seen.
She will make a fine addition to his cause.
After all, his dreams will become a reality soon enough.
The dreams that she had been dreaming of.
He will be the one to make sure her dreams come true.
Reviews are welcome.
