Chapter 15:
Last tahme Ah was kidnapped, that tahme with Magneto, Ah was welcomed back pretty much the way Ah expected. Warm hugs, statements of relief and excited requests to know what happened. Logan was casual abaht everything and left to follow up his lead and Ah was prety much left alone to make a lahfe for mahself at the school. This tahme Ah was kidnapped, this tahme with Remy, everyone's been making too much of a fuss! Desperate, emotional bear hugs, promises of fahndin'and guttin' Remy and concerned inquires abaht mah physical and emotional well bein'.
Logan's hoverin' arahnd me constantly, growlin' lahke a guard dog and Ah can't even shiver withaht at least three different people askin' if Ah'm all raht.
It ain't necessary! Ah mean, even if Remy was an actual threat to me, which they thankfully all still think he is, no way would he be more dangerous than Magneto. Let's just look at them in comparrison. Magneto: locks me up, almost kills me, powers are obviously very dangerous. Remy: length of restraint is simply holdin' me arahnd the waist and neck, doesn't even attempt to kill me, suspected powers couldn't even slow Logan dahn. C'mon people! Use ya heads, think and calm dahn before ya'll suffocate me!
Speakin' of suffocatin' me, ya know what they've gone and arranged? They've gone and called in the shrink friend of Hank's. So, on this nahce sunny afternoon that Ah could be spendin' ahtsahde, Ah'm stuck in the sittin' room with Dr. "ya can call me Mickey" Mackenzie. This guy has gotta be at least in his late forties and he's introducing himself as Mickey...Micheal Ah could understand, Mike or Mick is fair enough, but Mickey? Am Ah the only one who fahnds that disturbin'? Ya know what else is disturbin'? This silence. "Mickey" hasn't spoken since he told me Ah can call him Mickey. Ah always thaht the whole point of these kinds a things were for talkin', not sittin' arahnd in a creepy silence...Ah can't take it anymore! Ah'm gonna go nuts if someone don't start talkin'!
"Ain't somebody gonna start talkin'?"
"All right then. Tell me, how do you feel about being here?"
Ah hate it! It sucks! Get me the Hell ahtta here!
"Beats doin' homework Ah guess."
"I see. Don't you like doing homework then?"
What kinda stupid question is that!
"Do ya honestly think there's anyone who actually lahkes doin' it?"
"I suppose so...I've heard you've had a rough couple of months Rogue. You've been going out on your own a lot, sleeping irregular hours and you had some trouble with another mutant outside the institute a few days ago. Would you like to talk about any of it?"
No, so you can get lost nah.
"Do Ah have a choice?"
"Of course you have a choice Rogue. Do you not want to talk about it then?"
Woah, you're fast!
"Not much to say that Ah haven't already told the Professor."
Who Ah know ya've already talked to bahy the way.
"Okay. I've also heard you've been a little distracted lately. Why is that do you think?"
Because aliens have landed in mah mahnd and are tellin' me to go free all the kangeroos from the zoo.
"Just havin' an off period at the moment."
"I see...Tell me Rogue, where do you like to spend your free time outside the school?"
The zoo.
"The mall Ah guess."
"And why is that?"
Because aliens landed in mah mahnd and told me to free all the kangeroos in the zoo. Ah've already told you that! Pay attention will ya!
"It's the only place worth goin'"
"Mmm hmm...Be honest with me now Rogue, are you happy here at the school?"
No, Ah'm manically depressed and suicidal. Can't you tell?
"Yeah, Ah guess."
"You only guess?"
Well Ah can't be certain because Ah think all the teachers and students are evil pod-people who are here to destroy humanity as we know it and I'm the only one who can save man-kind.
"Ah am happy. That definate enough for ya?"
"There's no reason to get defensive Rogue."
Ah'll show you defensive!
"Sahrry."
"It's all right. Now, let's talk about your childhood. How do you feel about your parents?"
Oh Gahd...
Two weeks passed and Rogue was down to her last two days of being grounded. Her session with Dr. Mackenzie thankfully hadn't been repeated and she prayed it never would be. Things were settling down for her again, save for Logan who was still being a little over-protective and one other little thing; she hadn't yet had any contact with Remy. His parting words to her two and a half weeks ago had been that he's get in touch with her as soon as he could. She'd heard nothing though and was starting to worry. She couldn't help it. Being grounded gave her a lot of time to think about stuff.
At least at the moment, she wasn't thinking of possible, horrible scenarios that could've happened to Remy. She was too busy trying to keep her balance. It was training time for the X-Men and it was Rogue's turn to practice swift, but accurate, movements. In reality, all it really was, was walking across a suspended plank of wood, without falling off while Storm blasted her with gale force winds. Rogue actually quite enjoyed training sessions. It was an ideal time to let off some steam and basically just play around.
They were all instructed before hand to be aware of the strengths of their powers and things usually went along smoothly. Of course though, this is a group of arrogant teenagers we're talking about and things can't always be expected to run smoothly.
Finally losing her balance, Rogue fell off of the plank with a small grunt as she fell on her backside. She sighed in annoyance and went back to the end of the plank so she could start again. Not too far off from her, she was being watched by Kitty, Jubilee, Bobby and Tabitha, aka Bam Bam. Where as Kitty, Bobby and Jubilee were only half paying attention to Rogue's antics, Tabitha was playing very close attention, just waiting for Rogue to slip up badly.
It was no secret that Rogue and Tabitha didn't care for each other in the least. Rogue thought Tabitha was a common, ill-mannered show-off and Tabitha thought Rogue was a sappy, attention seeking mama's girl. Their rivalry had in truth only started when Tabitha began dating Bobby. Rogue had been convinced at the time that it was a ploy to get at her, Tabitha had been, and still was, obsessed with the notion that Rogue was going to try and steal Bobby back. Over time, Rogue had come to realise that her theories were simple paranoia and let them go. Tabitha however, remained convinced that she knew Rogue's alteria motives and so doubled her efforts to mark her "territory". She began to shamelessly flaunt her relationship with Bobby at any available moment and often tried to goad Rogue into arguements and fights. Thusly, the rivalry began.
From Rogue's point of view, the bitter feelings between them were fading. She had other elements of her life to focus on now and could no longer be bothered with the immaturity of it all. For Tabitha, they were intensifying. She saw Rogue's lack of interest in herself and Bobby as a ploy to lead her into a false sense of security. Tabitha "knew" that Rogue was waiting for the moment she dropped her guard and then she'd sweep in and steal Bobby. It was because of this extreme paranoia that her "brilliant plan" came about. Though in truth, she had only been planning it for the past half hour. Not quite long enough to call it a plan but not short enough to call it a moment of madness. It was when she saw Rogue start her walk again that she decided to go ahead with the idea.
"Anyone else totally bored?" Tabitha groaned from her position laying on the grass next to Bobby. Several grunts of agreement were her reply. "How 'bout doin' something then?"
"Like what?" Kitty muttered, liking Tabitha only a little more than Rogue.
"We could play a game." Tabitha suggested.
"Like what?" Kitty repeated herself, knowing full well she was annoying the other girl.
"I dunno. Something simple like tag'd do." Tabitha replied, choosing her words carefully so it sounded like a random idea plucked out of the air.
"That is so boring and childish." Kitty criticised.
"We could make it more interesting." The blonde mutant told her.
"How?" Jubilee asked, deciding it had been too long since she had last spoken.
"Erm..." Tabitha hummed, pretending to think. "Oh, I know! Instead of just touching someone to tag them, you have to hit them with your powers."
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Bobby pointed out.
"Not if we control ourselves. We all know how to control our powers so they're felt but don't hurt." Tabitha answered.
The other three looked at each other wearily. Tabitha realised they weren't going to take the bait and so, in panic,acted quickly. "Oh c'mon guys! It'll be fun!" She encouraged, jumping to her feet. "I'll even start." She offereed, already beginning to form a glowing cherry bomb between her cupped hands. She knew exactly what size it had to be to get the desired effect. She formed another two to give her three. Then struck. "Hey Kitty, think fast!" She laughed as the three small balls flew out of Tabitha's hands and intentionally soared over Kitty's head and kept going. Kitty and Jubilee snickered at her and even Bobby had to turn his head away to hide the smile that had surfaced.
"Nice aiming." Kitty smirked while Jubilee continued to laugh. Tabitha just smirked back at them causing Kitty's to fade as an odd sensation of suspicious dread passed over her. Then, as if on cue, Bobby gave a frightened shout:
"Rogue!"
Upon falling off a second time, Rogue all but gave up. Although she did try again, she no longer concentrated on the task and instead began to talk with Head Remy.
"What d'ya reckon the chances of Remy gettin' himself into trouble are?" She asked silently.
"All depends. Yo' sure dhe Wolverine didn' find him?" Head Remy checked.
"Yeah. He lost the scent 'cause Ah teleported arahnd too much and mixed it up with other stuff accordin' to him. Havin' said that though, Logan went out all day yesterday and he's been gone most of today...Ya don't think...He couldn't have tracked him dahn could he? What if that's the reason he hasn't called!"
"Do yo' honestly t'ink he'd be able to pick up dhe scent good enough after two weeks if he couldn' pick it up after two minutes?"
"Ah guess not...Still, whah haven't Ah heard anything from him?"
The conversation stopped abruptly when Rogue could've sworn she heard Bobby calling her though it was hard to be sure, because of the wind which howled around her. She turned to face the direction Bobby was in and let out a gasp when she saw the three glowing balls speeding towards her. Her arms instinctively came up to cover her face but her legs refused to move when she tried to dive away.
The small bombs hit her square in the stomach and exploded violently on contact. Rogue heard nothing but ringing in her ears and feltonly the air rush around her as she was sent rocketing back, her feet totally leaving the ground. Before she could shut her eyes in anticipation of her landing, she crashed into something hard and sturdy. Pain shot through her spine and the impact caused her head to lash backwards and smash into whatever had stopped her. When that happened, nothing more was felt.