Chapter Fourteen
Rogue and Remy rushed through their morning routine and headed down to the basement. Storm and Hank were waiting outside cerebro, everyone else seemed to have been banished to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Grab something to eat," Storm said. "Depending on what the professor discovers, we may have to move fast."
They nodded and headed into the melee, both grabbing breakfast bars as they seemed easiest.
The professor entered about fifteen minutes later and silence quickly descended over the room. Oddly, Emma trailed in behind him. Was she still here?
Scott, who had been keeping a low profile in the corner, stood up.
"Good morning," Xavier smiled at the room. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to talk with you individually about the past few weeks, but Storm has filled me in on most details." He turned and smiled at Rogue. "But I would just like to say, how very happy I am to see you safe and well, Rogue. Hopefully we will get a chance to talk soon."
Rogue nodded her understanding.
"In the mean time, I have discovered Jean's location."
"Where?" Scott asked.
"Nebraska."
Everyone exchanged confused looks.
"I now realise that Jean is in fact two entities, Jean Grey and the Phoenix, and I am sorry that I couldn't penetrate her mind deeply enough to discover that before. Now that I do know, I can tell that it is Jean who is in charge at the moment."
"The Phoenix is gone?" Scott asked.
"No, Scott, not gone, just dormant. I didn't probe her mind too deeply because I feared how she would view such an intrusion, but it feels as though she is hiding."
"From what?" Logan asked.
"At a guess, I would say us."
"Why would she be afraid of us?" Scott demanded.
"Well the last time we confronted her, we did attack her," Hank said reasonably.
"Or maybe she's frightened for us," Rogue added. "Now she knows what she's capable of, maybe she doesn't want to hurt us."
"I hope so," the professor said. "In either case, I have decided that Scott and Rogue should be the ones to approach Jean this time. The rest of us all played a part in trying to stop her and even if Jean doesn't view us as a threat, the Phoenix might."
"So we're going alone?" Rogue asked.
"No, we will all go but you and Scott will be the only ones to approach her, unless things get out of hand. Also, no uniforms; we don't want to frighten her or appear as anything other than Jean's friends."
A few of the X-Men still had their uniforms, but most had been destroyed with the mansion.
"So then what do we do?" Rogue asked. Getting close to Jean was only one part of the equation, stopping the Phoenix was surely the most important thing.
"I have spoken with Emma, and she tells me that before Hellfire Club changed their agenda, she believes that they had a way to stop the Phoenix. In fact stopping the entity was what they were originally formed for."
"How?" Scott demanded, glaring at Emma.
"The Phoenix needs a host to survive, so it must be forced from Jean's body. If we can keep it out for long enough, it will die."
"What's to stop it entering one of us?" Rogue asked.
"And how do we force it out?" Scott added.
"A psychic must force it out," Emma explained. "And the only way to keep it entering anyone else is with psychic force. Also, it can't enter people who can change their form, so Colossus, Kitty and Bobby should be safe."
Rogue supposed she could absorb one of them before she went to see Jean, but that didn't offer Scott or the psychics any protection.
"Are you strong enough?" Hank asked Xavier. "No offence, but you have tried to fight the Phoenix before."
"Then I was trying to trap it's power within Jean's mind, this time I will be forcing it from her mind. Emma has also agreed to help me; I think you will agree that two psychics will be better than one."
'Unless she still has an agenda,' Rogue thought.
"So when do we leave?" Scott asked, seemingly having no thoughts for his own safety.
"As soon as possible. At the moment, Jean is lucid, but there is no telling when the Phoenix might reappear."
Everyone began to stand up.
"One more thing!" The butts that had been hovering over seats descended once again and everyone turned to the professor. "Mr LeBeau. First I would like to thank you, and congratulate you on rescuing Rogue. We all owe you a huge debt of gratitude. Secondly, I would like to invite you to accompany us on this mission."
"I was planning on it," Remy smiled. Invulnerable or not, there was no way he would let Rogue go into battle without him at her side.
"Good." The professor smiled warmly. "Now, let us see if we cannot rescue our last missing team member."
On the plane ride to Nebraska they discussed their plan. Scott and Rogue were the first wave, they would approach Jean and try to talk her down. Remy argued that he hadn't attacked Jean either and should be allowed to accompany them, and eventually the professor agreed.
Behind them would come Bobby, Piotr and Kitty since they were immune from being possessed by the Phoenix, with the Professor and Emma, who were supposed to expel it from Jean and keep themselves, Rogue, Remy and Scott safe from it.
The rest of the X-Men would be the final line of defence should the others fail.
Plans went back and forth on the specifics for a long time. Could Jean decide to cooperate or would the Phoenix defend itself, taking her over again? The latter seemed likely, so what were they to do then?
It was suggested that Rogue drain Jean, that they stop off in New Orleans for one of those power suppression collars, and that they hit her really hard on the head.
Rogue draining Jean was ruled out because the Phoenix could pass to her, especially since she would have Jean's power for a time and would look like a good candidate to the entity.
The power suppression collar might not work on the Phoenix, only stop Jean from using her powers against it, so that too was ruled out. No one really wanted to hit Jean on the head and anyway, she was a telekinetic, so getting close enough to strike a blow was unlikely.
Rogue was hunched over, staring at the floor as she listened to the discussion with growing guilt but nevertheless, unable to speak up.
"This is Jean we're talking about!" Scott finally yelled. "We can't hurt her!"
The pain in his voice broke Rogue's heart.
"Scott, as much as I don't like the idea, we may have to," the professor said kindly.
Rogue felt like the lowest of the low. No, she was worse than that, she was scum. This was Jean they were talking about and as much as she might not like the girl at times, Jean needed her help.
"I can stop her," Rogue said so quietly that no one could make out her words.
"I'm sorry?" The professor asked.
She looked up and swallowed before repeating herself, a little louder this time. "I said, I can stop her."
That stopped everyone short.
"Perhaps you would care to explain?" The professor asked.
Rogue looked down at the floor again and began twisting her hands. When she spoke her voice was as soft as a whisper, but everyone was so intent on her that they heard every word.
"Weapon X were trying to teach me to recall old powers. I tried not to, then I tried to hide it from them but..." she swallowed.
Remy noticed that her hands were shaking, so he grabbed them, anchoring her to this time and place rather than the past. His other hand rubbed her back, comforting her as best he could.
"I can recall Dorian's power," she finished.
The silence that followed her statement was deafening until Wolverine finally broke it.
"His power stopped Apocalypse," Logan said.
"And he wiped out all power, not just mutant powers but electricity and weapons too." Storm added.
"Then that power is the best chance we got to stop this Phoenix long enough to get it out of Jean." Logan said.
"The psychics must be kept away from that power though," Kitty thought. "We don't want them getting powered down too."
"Rogue was able to direct the pulse last time," Logan assured her. "As long as they stay behind her, they should be fine."
Silence reigned again for a few moments. Everyone was so happy to have a solution that Rogue felt even worse about her deception.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." Rogue said, her voice catching as she apologised for her betrayal.
"I think that is quite understandable, Rogue. No one here blames you," the professor assured her.
Rogue sniffed but didn't look up. Having noticed her increased anxiety as she spoke of her new control, Xavier had to wonder if she would be able to use her powers, when just talking about it seemed to bring on a mild panic attack, which he didn't think was associated with her guilt.
"Rogue, I'm sorry to have to ask, but do you have enough control to do this?"
Rogue sniffed again and looked up, her former strength returning. She may have let them down by lying to them about her powers, but she wasn't going to do so now, when it really counted. And maybe she was still lying to Remy about the extent of her control, but she couldn't afford to think about that right now.
"It makes me tired, so I won't be able to keep it up for long if there's much of a fight, but I can do it if you all can act fast."
"We will," Xavier assured her.
"Can you control more than one power at once?" Emma asked.
Rogue narrowed her eyes at the other woman, figuring that she was just the type to be interested in her new ability. She'd probably sell Rogue out to the highest bidder the first chance she got, and only wanted to know the full extend of her control so she could ask a higher price. And if that sounded paranoid, Rogue figured that after everything she'd been through, she was entitled to a little paranoia.
"Why?" Logan asked Emma when Rogue didn't answer.
"Because she can absorb my diamond form, or Piotr, Bobby or Kitty's mutation for that matter, so that the Phoenix can't enter her. She will be the closest one to it and conceivably, the one in the most danger."
Okay, so maybe Emma wasn't the Antichrist, Rogue admitted. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't evil, just not pure evil.
"I'm already invulnerable," Rogue reminded her.
"Yes, but still an organic person. I don't think that being invulnerable is going to stop the Phoenix from getting into your mind."
"Good idea," the professor agreed, then turned to Rogue. "Can you use two powers at once?"
Rogue nodded. "I already have Kitty and Emma on file though," she tapped her temple. "I don't need to absorb anyone again." She didn't add that using two powers at once would weaken her more quickly.
Remy sat silently through the exchange, unwilling for Rogue to even be in danger, let alone the one to attack this creature. They didn't even know what it was and they had no guarantee that Rogue could control her power, or even that this Dorian's power would work against it, but he was fairly certain that if she failed, the Phoenix would be mighty pissed off with her.
"Then maybe Gumbo and Scott should stay back," Logan suggested. "Kitty and Piotr can protect Emma and the professor with their powers, but Bobby can't turn other people to ice yet, so who will protect them from this Phoenix?"
He had a valid point, and Rogue really didn't think she could use two powers at the same time and share one of those powers with someone else. Besides, that would require touching Scott, skin to skin. While she could touch now, she really wasn't ready for that final secret to come out yet. No, it was better to keep them out of harms way all together.
Needless to say, Scott and Remy fought them and argued their point for the rest of the journey, refusing not to be there while Rogue fought Jean and as they were nearing their destination, Rogue had had enough. She surreptitiously removed one glove, then quickly reached over to touch Scott's hand. He went out like a light. She looked to Remy, who held his hands up in surrender.
"Fine, you win," he assured her. The only thing worse than not being with Rogue while she took Jean on, was being unconscious while she took Jean on.
Rogue pulled her glove back on as everyone else stared at her.
Remy was willing to bet that no one would be breaking into her underwear drawer again any time soon. Rogue was back, and she was not to be messed with.
The professor was able to sense when they neared Jean and the jet landed a safe distance away, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. They then walked for a while and according to the road signs, away from the closest town, causing everyone to wonder exactly where Jean was holed up. A short while later they left the road and stopped at a fence.
"She's in there," Emma pointed to a barn in the distance. Being so remote added credence to Rogue's suggestion that Jean was trying to keep people safe from her.
The others stayed at the fence as Rogue, Emma, Xavier, Piotr, Kitty and Bobby began to walk closer. Emma had explained that she couldn't use her psychic abilities while in her diamond form, so Piotr took Emma's hand and transformed himself and her to his metallic form. Kitty took the professors hand and phased him, Bobby turned into his ice form and made an ice slide for the professors wheelchair, since he couldnt push the chair while Kitty phased him.Rogue meanwhile, decided to try Emma's diamond form, which she thought actually looked kind of cool.
Unfortunately they hadn't made it ten feet when Jean felt their presence. The professor began having a one sided conversation with her and although Emma could probably hear both sides, the rest of them were left trying to fill in the blanks.
"Jean, calm down, we're here to help you, not harm you." "It's all right, Jean, just keep calm." "No Jean, fight it! You can't let it gain control! Fight!"
But it wasn't enough.
Seconds later the barn exploded, the flames forming a giant bird which rose into the sky. Below it was Jean, her arms outstretched, her head thrown back, her red hair whipping around her head, looking like more flames. She appeared to be hovering slightly above the ground, then she moved, gliding towards the X-Men even though she wasn't looking at them.
The fence posts and railings began to come lose, then broke up into hundreds of smaller shards which hurled themselves at the X-Men who were heading towards the barn. The others rushed over to help and quickly became targets too, batting away wooden spikes that could easily kill them. Bobby created an ice wall around them to protect them, but the Phoenix quickly shattered it into a million pieces. Bobby rebuilt it; it shattered again.
Remy made his way to Rogue's side, despite her being perfectly safe from harm in diamond form.
"Can you blast it from here, chère?" he asked.
"It's too far," she said, taking off at a run towards Jean. She regretted not helping the others fight off the wooden stakes, but stopping Jean was the only real way to end this. Remy ran beside her.
"Get away," she told him. "They need you more than I do!"
"I ain't leaving you, chère. I can distract her while you knock her powers out."
Then from nowhere, Kurt appeared beside Rogue, took her hand, then they both disappeared.
"Son of a bitch!" Remy screamed, then a second later something hit his side. He looked down to see that a large splinter of wood, about the size of an old fashioned tent stake, had gone right through his side. He swore again, thinking that his coat was going to be a bitch to repair, then he continued towards Jean and Rogue, running as fast as his legs would carry him.
He could see that Rogue was already there and Kurt was gone, he had probably teleported away, the coward, then a ripple seemed to go through the air and suddenly, the flame's dissipated as quickly as they had formed.
Remy continued to run.
Kurt teleported the professor and Kitty close to Rogue then disappeared again. Then Emma and Piotr were teleported over and finally, Bobby. Remy kept running, his lungs burning as he raced to his Rogue. He didn't think he'd ever run this fast before, not even when he was escaping from the law.
Finally he was there and he bent over, panting. The pain in his side was killing him but he couldn't worry about that now. He forced himself to stand up in case he missed anything. Pete looked over at him and nodded, so he knew that at least one person wouldn't chew him out for doing this. Of all these people, Pete knew what it was to do anything for someone you loved. He had even turned to the dark side and worked for Magneto to protect his family.
The burly Russian then held his hand out and Remy took it, grateful for the protection. The pain in his side eased a little as his form became metal and he was grateful for the respite.
Emma and the Professor seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other, then Jean collapsed and something appeared over her. It looked like those heat waves that you see coming off a hot road, and it floated above and away from Jean. The blob of wavy air shimmered and whirled in an attempt to get away but it was seemingly being held well in place. He couldn't be sure, but Remy thought that it was beginning to get smaller.
Bobby darted in front of Rogue and pulled Jean's unconscious body behind her, then he lifted Jean's arm up so that Kitty could take her hand and phase her, thus stopping the Phoenix from re-entering her body.
Suddenly the shimmering air spontaneously combusted into a huge ball of flame. Rogue raised her arms and sent out another pulse of Dorian's power, causing the flames to die once more. Rogue stumbled afterwards though, as though tripping, yet she wasn't moving and had nothing to trip over. Now the ball really looked smaller.
It twisted and writhed, seeming to act more and more desperate as time went on. The flames burst forth again, quicker this time, but Rogue put them out once again, then fell to the ground. She slowly made her way back to her feet but it was difficult and she almost fell again a few times. The poor girl looked utterly exhausted and it was only her stubbornness and determination that was keeping her on her going.
Remy tried to pull his hand from Piotr's grip but his friend held fast. A part of Remy's mind new that if he let go of Piotr and reverted to his human form, the Phoenix could enter him and that would mean that Rogue's work would have been for nothing, but all he could think was that Rogue needed him and he wasn't at her side.
Rogue had to issue a forth blast of Dorian's power and fell again. Her diamond form faded then came back a few times, before Rogue screwed her eyes up in concentration and finally managed to hold onto the diamond form. This time able to do nothing more than sit upright. The flames again died away, then finally, with a very anticlimactic 'pift' sound, the shimmering air disappeared completely.
Rogue immediately let go of her diamond form and collapsed. Remy wrenched his hand out of Piotr's grip and ran to her.
"Chère?" he asked, turning her onto her back and pushing her hair off her face, careful not to touch her skin. She had a line of blood running from her nose, which, while not large, still terrified him. "Rogue, answer me? Wake up."
The X-Men formed a circle around them.
"Is she hurt?" Bobby asked. No one knew how to answer him.
The professor closed his eyes and raised two fingers to his temple for a few moments.
"She is fine," he finally declared, and everyone visibly relaxed, except Remy.
"How can you say she's fine?" he demanded. "She did the bulk of the work here and now she's unconscious and bleeding!"
"Not unconscious, Remy, simply drained. She will come around soon and after a good sleep, will be perfectly well again."
"She's given so much for you people, and all you care about is using her powers for your cause!" Remy realised that perhaps that he was perhaps being a little unfair, but right now it was how he felt and actually, he found that he had a lot more to say on the matter. "You couldn't even find her or rescue her! I suppose your high and mighty morals wouldn't allow you to ask in the underworld, would they! No, better to let Rogue suffer than taint your good reputation! Then, when your precious protege starts raising hell, you forget all about Rogue. She deserves better."
"We had no idea who or what had taken her, so we did not know to ask the criminal fraternity," Xavier answered calmly. "Had our search been more directed, we may well have found her, but there is no way to know. Believe me, if we had known who had taken her, we all would have moved heaven and earth to get her out, regardless of morality."
Rogue groaned, reminding Remy that he had more important things to do than berate a disabled pensioner right now.
"Come on, chère, wake up, you're starting to worry me. Chère, please."
She finally stirred and screwed her eyes up before finally opening them.
"Hey." She offered him a small smile.
"Hey." He grinned back, grateful that she wasn't dead.
"If you ever follow me after you promise not to again, I will hurt you." She assured him, though her words didn't have their usual venom thanks to her lethargy, and she didn't complain one jot as Remy pulled her into a bone crushing hug.
Remy released her then helped her to her feet. She swayed a bit and grabbed his arm for support, then seemed to steady herself enough to walk.
Kurt had been transporting the other X-Men over to them and everyone seemed thrilled that this was finally over, though many looked bruised and battered from the flying wooden stakes. Roberto seemed to have a bad wound on his upper arm which was bleeding badly, Kurt had his tail curled protectively against his body but the tip, about a foot from the end, was at a funny angle, probably broken.
Hank had a large patch of red fur on his hip but he didn't seem to be bleeding too much, and while Logan was covered in blood, he looked perfectly healthy how. The others looked like they had escaped any serious damage, though they all looked battered and bruised. Amara and Sam were missing, Amara because she was badly injured and Sam because he had carried her back to the Blackbird so that he could tie a tourniquet around her leg before she lost too much blood.
Piotr went over to Jean and picked her unconscious form up in his arms.
"Will she be okay?" Kitty asked.
"Yes, we put her to sleep when we expelled the Phoenix to spare her any further trauma," the professor assured her.
"What?" Kitty didn't understand.
"Though we expelled the Phoenix entity, it has shared Jeans body since she was a few weeks old. There was no telling if it might still be able to harm her, or even control her once expelled, so I thought I safest to put her into a deep sleep. She will awake naturally in a few hours, I assure you. Now, let's get back to the jet so that we can treat our wounded and of course, reunite Scott with Jean."
They all trundled back towards where they had left the jet but by the time they got back to the fence, Remy was seriously doubting his ability to walk all the way there. His side was killing him and the pain was making him light headed. He'd had worse wounds though, so he didn't really understand it. Besides he had to stay strong for Rogue, she was exhausted and leaning against him for support. If he collapsed, who would she lean on?
Someone else would help her of course, but it was his job, not theirs.
The jet was in sight when Remy's will was no longer enough to keep him upright and he fell to the road, landing hard.
"Remy!" Rogue got down beside him. "Oh my god, what's wrong?"
"I think Jeanie got me with one of her spikes," he said, though his words were slurred.
Rogue began searching him and he heard her gasp as she pushed his coat aside. The dark colours of his clothes had hidden the blood but now that she looked, she could see that his chest and pants were covered in something wet. She reached a hand out to touch his shirt, and it came away red with blood.
"Hank!" she screamed, and almost immediately there appeared a fuzzy blue mutant over him. Remy thought it was Hank, but his eyesight was blurred so it could be Kurt.
"He's lost a lot of blood." Yes, that was definitely Hank, Remy though as he closed his eyes. "His pulse is weak. We need to get in on the jet now! Kurt!"
Remy and Hank disappeared with Kurt, leaving a distressed Rogue on her own.
"Come on!" Kitty grabbed her hand they they ran back to the jet.
By the time they got there, Hank was already transfusing blood into Remy. Thankfully the jet was equipped with some medical supplies, although it was a shadow of the med lab at the mansion.
"We need to get back as soon as we can," Hank said.
Storm took the pilots seat and before the door had even closed, they were taking off and heading for home.
"I have to stop the bleeding," Hank said, and to everyone's surprise, he took out a scalpel and began cutting into Remy.
It was brutal to watch this makeshift surgery but that wasn't the reason that Rogue had tears streaming down her face. It was because she finally realised what an idiot she had been.
She was madly in love with him.
It didn't matter how much distance she had tried to put between her and Remy, losing him wouldn't have hurt any less. In fact she felt such a gut wrenching grief that it physically hurt, and she would give anything if he could just be okay again. She couldn't believe that she'd wasted so much time pushing him away, when she could have been enjoying him, enjoying them, and if he died now, that denial of her feelings for him would be her single biggest regret.