Chapter Fourteen
Rogue was exploring the Library, just about the only quiet place in the mansion since the Brotherhood and Acolytes had arrived, when Magneto finally found her. He had been waiting for a chance to talk to her alone.
"Did you find anything interesting, my dear?" he asked as he approached her.
Rogue took a defensive stance and backed up as he walked closer. Magneto stopped walking and held his hands up in surrender.
"I mean you no harm, child," he assured her. "And yes, I do remember your assassination attempt, but it has also been explained that you were under someone else's influence at the time. Can we not let bygones be bygones?"
"That depends on what you want?" She had straightened her stance slightly, but was still ready for an attack.
"Want? Nothing, my dear, except to get to know you a little. You are an intriguing young woman, and the daughter of a one time friend of mine. I think a little interest in you is natural."
"Then why aren't you having this talk with Kurt? Or did you think that he might not take kindly to the man who experimented on him as a child?"
His eyes widened slightly but that was the only sign he gave that he was surprised. Actually he was shocked that she knew of his experiments and wondered how she knew.
"That was a long time ago, Rogue, and I was a different man then. I've changed."
"Have you?" she sounded cynical.
"I don't expect you to take my word for it, but yes. I rescued the other mutants being held in Area 52, just like I promised your friend I would-"
"My boyfriend," she interrupted to correct him.
"Boyfriend, then. Just ask Charles if you don't believe me. As for what I did in my younger days," he looked away, as if he was too ashamed to meet her eyes. The problem was that Remy had schooled her on body language, how to fake it, as well as how to read when someone else is faking it. He was faking, and Mini-Remy agreed with her assessment.
"I believed I was working for the betterment of mutant kind. Now I have learned to be more constructive about it."
"At the expense of humans," Rogue added. The students had been filling her in on some of Magneto's exploits and she didn't like them one bit.
"I wouldn't expect you to be any lover of human kind," he remarked pointedly.
"Humans turned me into a mercenary, that's true, but it was mutants who gave me to them, it's mutants who want to kidnap and use me now. Being a mutant doesn't make you special, you just think you are."
"They want to wipe us out, Rogue."
"And you want to wipe them out, how is that better?"
"Survival of the fittest, surely you know a little something about that?" was his barbed reply. He had hoped, given her background and upbringing with Mystique, that she would be more malleable. He didn't like being proved wrong.
Rogue flew at him, pinning him to the wall by his neck. She knew there was no way he could break her hold because her clothes didn't have any metal.
"I could snap your neck like a twig, which I guess makes me 'fitter' than you. Does that mean I have the right to take your life?"
"Good girl," he smiled as though he was proud if her. "I had hoped that Charles hadn't tamed you too much. We could use a girl like you."
She could see his words for the manipulation that they were, and she could feel his pulse quicken under her fingers, so she knew that he was afraid, despite his bluff. She didn't answer but slammed his head into the wall again.
"Don't play with me, Magneto," she warned, her eyes furious. "I'm through being anyone's puppet, including yours."
The helmet she was wearing rose an inch from her head.
"Now, Rogue, we don't need to be enemies."
"You want your helmet back?" she sneered. "Go on then, take it."
The helmet rose another inch then paused, but he knew as well as she did that right now, it was their only protection against her being used to resurrect Apocalypse. Magneto was angry but he wasn't foolish.
Rogue squeezed a little harder on his neck and after a moments hesitation, the helmet fell back into place. Rogue let go of his neck and stepped away.
"Don't try and manipulate me, Magneto. I don't take kindly to it."
She walked out of the library, leaving a rather surprised Magneto in her wake, rubbing his sore neck.
***
The adults discussed a lot and put forth a lot of ideas about Apocalypse and where he might be buried, but everywhere they checked out was a bust.
Rogue was still keeping to the mansion, although she wanted nothing more than to fight her own battles and go with them. She was a danger to them though, because if Mystique got her hands on Rogue, that would likely mean that Apocalypse would be set free. It was safer for everyone if she stayed in the mansion and while Rogue was feeling a little stir crazy, she wasn't stupid.
She did, however, have a touch of cabin fever, especially since all the new mutants had arrived, making everything so much more crowded. She couldn't even use sex to vent her frustrations since the power dampener didn't work on her any more. So she did the only thing she could, which was work herself to near exhaustion in the danger room.
Remy worried about her but he understood how she felt. He stayed with her but he didn't have to, he was free to go if he wanted, without risking unleashing a monster. Rogue didn't have that freedom, and wouldn't until Mystique and Mesmero were stopped.
The others did what they could for her, especially Kurt and Kitty, who took it upon themselves to create some very inventive Danger Room programs. Kitty designed a Pirates of the Caribbean simulation and a mall simulation; Rogue loved the former but hated the latter. As well as his existing bowling alley, Kurt created a pool hall sim, a horse riding sim and a skiing sim, all of which Rogue enjoyed. For a few hours at least, it felt like she wasn't in the mansion, even if she was. The riding and skiing sims especially, since she felt like she was outside with both.
Still, everyone was worried about her, which made most of them walk on egg shells around her, which irritated her even more, if such a thing were possible. Sometimes she felt as if she might spontaneously combust from the frustration.
***
For once the Mansion was relatively quiet as almost everyone had shipped out to Egypt for the third time. Just Rogue, Remy and Logan remained.
The others hadn't found anything the last two times they went to Egypt, so Rogue had no idea why they thought that this time would be any different. Despite not liking the overcrowded mansion, now it was almost too quiet and it unnerved her a little.
She was in her forth hour in the danger room when the simulation froze.
"God damn it!" she cried, turning to see who had interrupted her fun. Logan was standing in the doorway. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"Because this ain't healthy."
"It's the only thing keeping me sane."
"Fine, but at least do it out side."
"There's no Danger Room outside." She said it as if she was talking to a moron.
"No," he smirked and unsheathe his claws. "But there is me."
Rogue grinned and followed him through the mansion.
"Rogue? Where you off to?" Remy asked as they passed through the kitchen. He was preparing dinner for that evening.
"I'm gonna kick this guys ass," she answered.
"Good luck!" he called after her.
They headed away from the mansion a little so that they didn't damage any fountains or masonry, then began sparring.
***
X-23 now went by the name Laura. She didn't particularly like the name but people looked at her like she was a freak when she said her name was X-23. She was used to being alone and despite Logan's tempting offer to live at the mansion, she couldn't accept yet. She didn't particularly like coming back here, since it reminded her of something that she wanted but wasn't ready for, however she had heard that Hyrda had been here about ten days ago, and she needed to check that Logan was okay.
Instead, she saw one of Hydra's operatives fighting with him. She didn't recognise Subject 12 immediately because of the unusual helmet that she was wearing, but there was no mistaking the white stripes of hair that she pushed back under the helmet while they fought.
She had fought Subject 12 before and while she was a challenging opponent, she didn't have Laura or Logan's enhanced senses. Using that to her advantage, Laura crept closer, surprise being one of the best forms of attack.
She saw the moment that Logan knew she was there as his nostrils flared, so she acted quickly, before Subject 12 noticed that something was wrong. With giant leap from the tree branch, she landed on Subject 12, pushing her to the ground as her claws hit her stomach. The claws couldn't break her skin, but all the pressure on two small spots would definitely hurt her.
She heard yelling but was too involved in her fight to pay much mind to it.
Pressing her advantage, she picked Subject 12 up off the ground and delivered an uppercut to her chin, causing Rogue's head to snap back and her helmet to fly off. X-23 then let her other fist fly, complete with extended claws. Subject 12 fell to the ground again but Logan's arm wrapped around Laura's waist, preventing her from attacking any further.
"Leave her! She escaped, like you!"
Logan's words finally penetrated the haze that regularly over came her when she fought and Laura stilled, just in time to see Subject 12 get to her feet, but something was wrong. Her movements were dull and lifeless, almost robotic. She turned to them.
"Thank you," she said, without a hint of her usual southern accent.
Logan looked from Rogue to the helmet, almost in slow motion, then as he looked back to Rogue, she flew off into the sky.
"God damn it!" Logan yelled.
"What?" Laura demanded as she wriggled out of his grasp.
"You knocked her god damn helmet off!"
"So that I could hit her better! She was attacking you!"
"We were sparring, and the helmet was to stop Mesmero getting into her head and taking control of her!"
"Well I didn't know that!"
"Because you didn't bother to find out! You always leap before you look and now they have Rogue and the world is going to end. Are you happy now!"
"Hey!" a third voice entered the argument, "What's all the racket? I'm trying to make dinner in there but I can hardly hear myself think over..." Remy's words trailed off as he spotted the helmet on the ground and no Rogue. He felt the blood drain from his face. "Logan?"
"She's gone, Cajun," he confirmed. He didn't mean to sound harsh but it was his nature to be blunt. At least he had remembered not to call him Gumbo, which quite a feat for Logan.
Remy was having a hard time processing those words. Rogue and gone just didn't compute. "What? How? She never takes that damn helmet off, she even sleeps and showers in it!"
"It fell off in the fight. I'm sorry, Remy, it's my fault."
Laura looked at her father figure and wondered why he was taking the blame for her. She wasn't afraid of this other man, so she didn't really understand it.
"No!" Remy backed away. "No, this is a joke, isn't it? Come out Rogue, very funny but joke's over!"
Laura noticed the panic in his eyes, the way his breathing and heart rate had sped up, and he looked incredibly pale. Whatever she had done in knocking that helmet off, it was causing this man a lot of grief and pain, pain so great that he couldn't even admit it yet.
She felt something odd in her chest, a feeling that she didn't have very often. Was it, perhaps, regret?
***
"No, if you're making progress over there, professor, you stay there. Logan is looking for her scent so we can track her." Remy spoke into the communicator.
"Are you sure? We could be back in a few hours."
"Oui, I'm sure." Part of him wanted them to rush home but he had to think with his head, not his heart. The professor and his team were working on finding Apocalypse. Logan, Laura and Remy would search for Rogue. Hopefully both teams would meet somewhere in the middle, having found Rogue safe and sound.
The alternative didn't bear thinking about.
"As you wish. Keep us informed of any progress you make and we shall do the same."
"Understood. Good luck, Professor."
"And to you, Remy."
Remy closed the communicator and resumed pacing the mansion hallway. Reasoning that Mystique and Mesmero couldn't be far away and that Rogue would have flown to them, Logan and Laura were out scouring Bayville. They had split up and said they would be faster without him, so he had stayed to let the others know what had happened.
Now he just had to wait until he heard from one of them.
Back and forth he paced as the minutes ticked by, painfully slowly. Many thoughts were running through his mind. Part of him wanted to kill Wolverine for being so reckless, but he knew that he needed the man's senses if he was to find Rogue. He went back and forth between dreaming up inventive ways to kill Logan slowly, and reasoning with himself as to why he must live, at least for now.
He hadn't failed to notice the bond that had formed between Rogue and Logan. It was hard to define and unlike anything he had come across before, but it seemed that some kind of shared pain gave them a unique understanding of each other. Would he do anything to save her? Remy couldn't say for certain and there was no affection visible in their bond, but he did seem protective of her, and he had been visibly distressed by Rogue's kidnap.
Part of him wondered about Laura, or X-23. She was such an odd girl. Wolverine was protective of her too, although Laura didn't seem to want it. She was as spiky and as snarly as it was possible for a girl to be, but given that she had been created and raised by Hydra, Remy wasn't surprised. What did surprise him was that she seemed to genuinely want to help search for Rogue. Wolverine had told her no, that she had done enough, but Laura was persistent. It was Remy who, after making sure that she had Logan's enhanced sense of smell, insisted that she be allowed to help. Right now he would make a deal with the devil if he thought it would help find Rogue.
Suddenly, almost two hours after they'd left, his communicator flared into life.
"This is X-23, I have her scent, it's fresh. Meet me at the corner of Satinwood Road and Bayville Park Boulevard."
"On my way," he answered, as Logan said something similar. Remy hopped on one of the mansions motorcycles and headed to the rendezvous point.
***
"She needs to absorb more mutants," Mesmero stated.
"She has been absorbing mutants since she was fourteen, she must have imprinted a hundred or more by now, that is enough," Mystique answered as she gazed down at her daughter.
"It is never enough. Apocalypse will need all the power he can get, and she is the key."
"The only place I know if with a plethora of mutants is Bayville and I don't know about you, but I think staying there any longer would have been suicide. We got lucky back there, but that luck will not last forever. Apocalypse will just have to make do."
Mesmero didn't agree or disagree but Mystique was right and he knew it, which is why he stopped arguing.
"Can I talk to her," Mystique asked Mesmero. "You can let her personality out and still keep her controlled, can't you?"
"I would not advise it," Mesmero answered.
"Why not? She is my daughter, I have to make her understand that I'm doing this for her."
"Even I know that is a lie. You are doing this for power, for privilege, because you want Apocalypse to be grateful, to feel beholden to you and seat you at his right hand as he rules."
"I want that for Rogue! She is the worlds most powerful mutant, she deserves to rule beside him."
"And she will," Mesmero assured her. "And the power she has will be influenced by you, as her mother."
"Not if she won't forgive me it won't!" Mystique snapped. "I have dedicated the last fourteen years of my life to this girl, to making sure that she fulfils her potential. I must make her understand that."
"She can hear every word you say, Mystique. Plead your case to her if you want, but I cannot release my control of her until Apocalypse has awakened."
***
Rogue didn't often feel like crying but right now, she wished that she could. She could feel his black and red necklace against her skin, resting between her breasts. She had stolen it, but only because it reminded her of Remy's eyes, and he had been the one to put it on her, so it was his necklace as far as she was concerned. More than anything right now, she wished that she could raise her hand and hold it, take courage from that little symbol of him. He would be frantic with worry and doing everything that he could to find her, but would that be enough?
All her worst fears had been confirmed and she was now just an instrument for the woman that she had once thought of as her mother. There was no care, no love, only a relentless mission to make her strong and powerful, a mission that would soon end with her being given to this Apocalypse, like some kind of sacrificial lamb. She didn't want to rule at his side, she didn't want to rule at all, but since when had what she wanted mattered to her mother?
But it mattered to Remy. He loved her, he cared about what was best for her. Even before they became a couple, he had risked death to give her the knowledge that she might need to keep her safe.
'Remy?' she called out in her mind. Her body may not be under her own control, but her mind was in tact.
'Chère?' Mini-Remy's voice acted as something of a balm, soothing her frayed nerves a little.
'I'm scared.'
'I know, my love, but we will get through this. I'm sure that Big-Remy is right this moment tearing through Bayville, searching for you.'
'We're not in Bayville any more.'
'Do you know where we are?'
'On a plane, but I don't know where we're heading. They'll never be able to track us.'
'Never say never, chère. Besides, I have an idea.'
'You do?'
'Oui, but we have to wait for the perfect moment, until Mesmero's control relaxes.'
'Why?'
'Because his hold is too strong, we have to wait until he is distracted. Trust me, please?'
Could she really trust anyone, she wondered. Hadn't everyone betrayed her at some point or other? But Remy wasn't like them, she would bet her soul. In fact, she may very well be about to bet her soul.
'Always.'