Chapter Fifteen
Remy, X-23 and Logan had tracked Rogue to the airport and after using his skills to hack into the control tower computers, Remy discovered the destination of the only private flight that afternoon, which was Tibet, of all places. Although Remy could easily steal a plane and the mansion was some distance away, they had returned for the Blackbird anyway, knowing that it would be three, perhaps even four times faster than most private jets, such as the one Rogue was on.
Although he hadn't yet clocked many hours on the Blackbird simulator, Remy was a trained pilot and insisted on flying. Logan was happy to let him, assuming that at some point, he would be jumping from plane to plane, opening Rogue's like a tin can and extracting his girl.
That thought brought him up short, when had she become his girl? He thought of Laura in such terms but even if he hadn't fathered her the natural way, she was made from his DNA. Rogue was nothing to him, other than a prickly, gothic girl, with a lot of problems.
He couldn't deny it though, he thought of her as one of his now, a part of his pack. It was his job to protect her, just as much as it was Remy's, perhaps even more so.
He looked over to the Cajun in the pilots seat. He knew the bond between him and Rogue was one that he shouldn't contemplate breaking, lest he incur the wrath of both of them. Thankfully Remy had proved to have a lot more depth and drive than his glib exterior might suggest, meaning that Logan would let him stay with his Rogue. For the time being, at least.
***
"We've got company," came a voice from the cockpit.
Both Mystique and Mesmero made their way forward.
"What do you mean?" she demanded of the pilot.
He pointed at the on-board radar. "I don't know what it is, but it's two miles out and closing fast. Never seen a plane move that fast!"
"Increase the throttle, go as fast as we can." Mystique told the pilot, then turned to her partner. "You must take control of their minds," she demanded.
Mesmero closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. "There are three of them."
"So, take control and have them crash into the ocean!"
Mesmero didn't like being ordered about but she was right, they had to be stopped. He reached out with his mind again, searching for the pilot of the other plane, but he couldn't get into his mind. Given time he could break through the mutants mental shield, but they didn't have time. He could see the red dot on the radar getting closer and closer. He searched for the others on board. Having them attack the pilot would work just as well. His brow began to perspire with the effort of controlling three minds at once, two over distance.
***
'Remy, his control's eased, I can move my fingers!' Rogue thought.
'Good, now access my powers, chère."
Rogue thought about his charging ability and felt the energy flow through her body, suddenly Mesmero was gone!
'Go, chère, NOW!'
Rogue did as he said, punching a hole in the side of the aircraft. Immediately buzzers and warnings began to sound but by then, Rogue had spotted the Blackbird, which was flying rather erratically. Thankfully it steadied as she got closer, because thanks to trying to fight off Mesmero's control, she was tired and not at all sure that she had the power to carry the jet all the way home!
***
As soon as Wolverine and Laura came to their senses, Remy pushed them off and headed back to the pilots chair. Ignoring his many stab wounds, he did his best to steady the plane.
"There she is!" Remy cried, and the others were soon behind him, looking out. "Get the hatch open," he ordered, still too busy trying to correct their descent to do so himself.
The other plane was losing altitude rapidly thanks to explosive decompression but as long as Rogue wasn't in there, Remy found it hard to care.
Knowing that Rogue wouldn't have very good memories of Laura, Logan ordered the girl to strap into a seat and stay still, then he opened the hatch, gripping the doorway tightly and poking his head out to look forward. Rogue spotted him and aimed for the hatch, flying into the plane before landing. She fell into Logan's arms.
"Oh thank god! I thought I was stuck there. I was so scared."
"We got you, kid, you're safe now."
She pulled away. "Where's Remy?"
"Right here," he said, smiling at her from the pilots seat. She rushed over to him. "You saved me," she said.
"Well, I had a little help." He smirked at her praise none the less.
"No, Mini-Remy, that part of yourself that you gave me, he saved me. He told me to use your powers when Mesmero was distracted and it worked! We kicked Mesmero out of my head!"
She wished with all her heart that she didn't have any of her powers right now, because there was nothing she wanted more than to kiss him.
"Happy to be of service," he told her but his smile was a little lacklustre considering how happy he should be right about now. She looked him over.
"Oh my god!" She noticed that he had three rips in his shirt over one shoulder, rips that perfectly matched Logan's claws. He had another two holes on the side of his abdomen and a singular tear on his thigh. She got down on her knees to examine them and the amount of blood frightened her. Hadn't that girl earlier, X-23, had two knives in her hands and one in each foot? She looked up and noticed that she was here too. "What the hell did you two do to him!" she demanded, getting to her feet.
"'S fine, chère, Mesmero just had a li'l play with their minds too, that's all."
Seeing that he was close to collapse, Rogue focused her attention on Remy. Revenge could wait, for now. "Come on," she urged, setting the auto-pilot and helping him up from the seat. "Logan take over, and get us to the closest hospital as quickly as you can!"
She helped Remy into a seat, then tore strips off his shirt to use as wadding to hold over the wounds.
"Can I help?"
Rogue looked over at the girl. Not only was she the reason that Mesmero got his hands on her, she had stabbed Remy at least twice. Rogue wanted to hate her, but her face was so innocent, so earnest that she couldn't. Rogue handed her a piece of fabric.
"Press that over the stab wound on his leg, put as much pressure on it as you can."
Laura did as asked without question.
"Two beautiful nurses," Remy said with a sigh. "Maybe this dying lark ain't so bad after all."
"You ain't gonna die, swamp rat, you got that? And if you do, I'll just follow you to the other side and kick you ass, got it?"
Remy didn't have enough energy to reply, but his small smirk said it all.
***
"How is he?" asked a small voice.
Rogue turned to see X-23... no, Laura standing in the doorway.
"He's okay. The doctor said that if any of those stabs had been a fraction of an inch off, he'd have nicked an artery and died. As it is, they got the bleeding stopped and stitched him up."
"I'm sorry," Laura said.
Rogue wanted to be mad at her but she knew it wasn't really her fault.
"It's okay, he'll live."
"Can I come and sit with you?"
Rogue nodded and they sat in silence for a while, one on each side of Remy's bed.
"I'm sorry I attacked you too," Laura finally broke the silence.
Rogue looked over at her. "I know. It wasn't your fault."
"But it was. Logan's always saying that I need to stop and consider situations first but-"
"That's not how you were trained," Rogue finished for her. "They made you into a killer, they instilled that berserker rage in you."
"But I still attacked you."
"Just like I attacked you in our training sessions. That wasn't my fault any more than you attacking me was yours."
"But I'm not in Hydra any more. I should know better."
"You can be better," Rogue assured her. "It'll take time, but you can lead a normal life. Well, almost normal."
Silence reigned again for a few moments.
"Did you ever consider taking Logan up on his offer to join the institute?" Rogue asked. He had made Rogue a similar offer and she didn't know how to feel about it.
"All the time," Laura admitted. "It's just so alien to me. Plus, I don't know if I can go back to taking orders."
"Who says you'd be taking orders?"
"I've seen how it works there, the adults tell everyone else what to do."
"And the others listen out of respect, not because they have to take orders."
"Still, I wouldn't know how to act."
"You'll pick it up soon enough," Rogue reassured her.
"It's different for you though, they trained you to gather intelligence," her voice got steadily quieter, "But they trained me to be a killer."
Rogue could feel the other girl's pain, in fact she was rather too familiar with it.
"And after you escaped, who do you think they got to do their wet work for them?" Rogue asked, trying her hardest not to sound like she blamed the other girl.
Laura's eyes widened in shock. "I didn't know! I didn't think to get anyone else out, I-"
"Shh. I think we both need to stop taking the blame for things that aren't our fault. Granted, I haven't known them for that long, but I don't think anyone at the mansion will blame you for your past."
"Will you be staying?"
"I don't know. A part of me would like to, but I'm so used to running now that it's almost second nature."
Laura understood that sentiment.
"So, any news on the others?" Rogue asked deciding that a change in subject was in order.
"Most of them are on their way home. They found a tomb related to Apocalypse but he wasn't there. What was there was some kind of stone robots, so the injured are coming home and the others are staying to see what else they can find out."
***
Remy awoke to see a beautiful woman standing over him.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked with a smile, smoothing some hair back from his forehead.
"Like I got stabbed. But these sure are some good painkillers," he said, shaking his head as if to clear it.
"Good to have you back," she said, raising his bed slightly so that he could sit up.
"Good to be back, Stormy."
She smiled and let that one slide.
"Where's Rogue?"
"Down stairs in the cafeteria. I had to literally force her to go, she hasn't eaten anything since you were admitted."
"How long was I out?"
"Best part of two days."
"And how is Rogue?"
"She's fine, so far. I don't think she's processed anything that happened to her yet.
"I don't think they had time to do too much damage. And she's strong," he said with pride. "She'll be fine."
"I'd better go and get her, she'll be upset to think that you were awake and I didn't let her know."
Remy grabbed her wrist before she could stand, stopping her. "How long has she been gone?"
"Not five minutes."
"Then don't tell her. She needs a break." His eyes were feeling heavy thanks to the painkillers. "'Sides, I think I'll be asleep by the time she gets back here."
"Then sleep, Remy." Storm pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead as his eyes drifted closed.
***
The next time Remy awoke, it was to a much less pleasant sight.
"Logan? Where's Rogue?"
"Right here." He looked to the other side of the bed to see her sitting there. "How are you feeling?"
"As if I've been carved up like a thanksgiving turkey but other than that, I'm fine."
"Yeah, sorry about that, bub."
Remy looked to Logan who actually looked a little ashamed, which was completely unlike him. As was the apology, come to think of it.
"Don't worry, I chewed him out plenty, he won't be stabbing you again any time soon," Rogue assured him.
Well, that explained the apology.
"Wasn't his fault, chère, any more than running off with Mystique was yours."
Remy adjusted his position slightly and very gently, but he still couldn't help wincing in pain. Rogue was at his side in an instant but there was nothing she could really do for him.
"Do you need more painkillers?"
"No, I'm fine, chère." He gave her his most reassuring smile, with just a hint of a grimace. "What about the other plane, were their any survivors?"
"We don't know," Rogue admitted. "They're still searching the area but there's no sign of the plane or survivors."
Remy wasn't surprised, considering that the plane went down over the ocean, but he would feel better knowing that Mystique and Mesmero's bodies had been found. Without that certainty, he and Rogue would forever be looking over their shoulders.
"So, when can I get out of here?" he asked.
"The Doctor said tomorrow morning, but you are to have complete rest for a while."
"That's fine, I just don't like hospitals."
***
Remy was being settled into their bedroom back at the mansion. Thankfully Henry McCoy had returned with the injured, and so was on hand should Remy need medical help.
Remy had noticed the change in Rogue over the last few hours, as though she had something that she knew he wouldn't like on her mind. She was currently fussing with his pillows so that she didn't have to look with him. Remy grabbed her hand to still her movements.
"What's wrong, chère?"
"Nothing."
"It's not nothing. You know you can tell me anything, right?" He pulled her down until she was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well... I, I was just, sorta wondering if, well maybe... how would you feel about staying on here a little while?"
"How long?" He carefully kept his face neutral. Truth be told, he liked a lot of the people here, but moving on was second nature to him now and the thought of staying put was a little scary. The fact that Rogue was suggesting it also took him by surprise. "Don't take this the wrong way, chère, but you don't really strike me as a joiner."
"Well I'm not, not really, and I'm not suggesting we stay forever, but I sorta feel like I have a connection with Laura. I think both us ex-Hydra agents being here could be good for the both of us. And Logan, he gets me too, in a way. I can't really explain how I feel about him, but I like being around him, he isn't fake or anything, and he shoots from the hip; I like that. And then Kurt is my adopted brother, I feel like a owe it to both if us to at least try and get to know him. And I know that Kitty can be, like, the most, like, annoying person on, like, the whole entire planet-"
Remy smiled at her Kitty impression, it wasn't half bad.
"But for some insane, masochistic reason, I actually kinda like being annoyed by her. And the professor says he's on to something with my powers! Well, no, he said maybe, but he wont tell me any details until he's sure and he's been kinda busy lately. Which is my fault, I know, but I really would like to be able to touch you again and if he can do that for me, for us, I should give it a chance."
That statement floored Remy, that he might be able to touch her again. He could take her in his arms and cuddle her now, but just to hold her hand, skin to skin, was something he might never feel again if she didn't learn to control her powers. He could probably live without sex, he could survive with cuddles and hugs, but to never kiss her again? Never feel those soft, plump lips against his? That was a cruel and unusual punishment.
"Then there's Bobby," Rogue babbled on, ignorant of his own internal monologue. "And I know he is a total doofus but you have to admit, his entertainment value is pretty high. And Rhane is just so cute as a wolf. Did you know she's been curling up on your side of the bed at nights while you were in the hospital? I wouldn't sleep with anyone else but you, but I kept having nightmares and waking everyone up, so she came in as a wolf and curled up beside me and I was fine. Something about her being a dog just makes it... okay. Then-"
"Okay, chère, I get the point!" he squeezed her hands. "I don't think I have ever heard so many words come from Rogue's mouth at one time so the real question is, who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?"
She swatted his shoulder.
"Hey, don't hit the injured man!"
"Just answer the question, swamp rat!"
"There was a question in there?" he knew he was driving her insane, but he kind of liked it when she fumed, it made her eyes sparkle. Besides, her mothering of him was a little out of character, so he liked that they were returning to their normal status quo.
"How do you feel about staying at Xaviers for a while?"
"Oh that. Sure." He shrugged. "Why not?"
It took Rogue a moment to process that he had given in so easily.
"But what about stealing? I don't think they'll let us carry on with that while we're here."
"I'm rich enough. Besides, life as an X-Man looks pretty exciting and we're not staying forever, unless we decide we want to, right?"
"Yeah, I was thinking we'd just try it for a few months, see how we feel after that."
"Sounds good to me, chère."
Rogue placed her gloved hand over his mouth and kissed him through it.
"Thank you! I thought I was going to have to spend hours convincing you. God, I love you!"
They both stilled at the words, neither expecting the deceleration. Then Remy broke into a broad smile.
"Good, 'cos I love you too, Rogue."
***
Rogue sat in Xaviers office, wringing her hands and wishing that he would stop the polite chit chat and get on with it. He and some of the others had been in Tibet for the last two weeks, where Mystique's plane had been heading.
"So did you find the tomb or not?" she snapped.
"Apocalypse's tomb? Yes we did."
"So what will you do?" She was hoping he'd say kill the bastard, but their research had turned up that he was pretty much immortal.
"I wanted to move the body to somewhere else, somewhere Mesmero couldn't find him, but he is encased within a mountain and so far we have been unable to get through the protection around his resting place."
"So what's the plan?"
"The plan is to install additional barriers to his tomb. Magneto and his followers will be installing two new security measures, while the X-Men I will be installing a further two. Not only will that make it far harder for anyone, even Mesmero, to enter the chamber, it will provide us with an early warning system should anyone try to breech the barriers. There is also the additional benefit that if something should happen to you in the future, we will know exactly where to find you."
Rogue nodded and relaxed a little. Their measures couldn't stop Mystique or Mesmero from trying to kidnap her again (assuming they were still alive) but they could hopefully stop them from completing their task and releasing Apocalypse.
"Good," she declared.
"Now, Rogue, there is something else that I wish to discuss with you, if I may."
"Sure."
"I know thing have been hectic lately, to sat the least, but Hank and I have finally had the opportunity to study your MRI scans from when you were using your powers."
"Okay."
Xavier got some x-ray images out, which Rogue assumed to be of her brain.
"Now, in this image, we can see that this portion of the brain is highlighted. On this next image, taken while you were absorbing Logan and the power inhibitor was active, we can see that not only is a slightly different area is active, but it is a larger area."
This was all Chinese to Rogue. "What does that mean?"
"Well, this is just a hypothesis for now, but we believe that when your abilities first manifested it was traumatic, is that correct?"
Rogue nodded. "I put my best friend into a coma."
"Then our theory might very well be correct. What we believe is that when your powers were first used, they were untrained and they simply followed the path of least resistance in your mind. The event was so traumatic, that those incorrect neural pathways were, for want of a better word, set."
Rogue still didn't understand what he was saying, which must have shown in her expression.
"Think of the brain as a series of circuits. In essence, we both believe that your powers are using the wrong circuits. It gets the job done, but not as well or efficiently as if your brain used the correct pathways."
"So I'm stuck like this?" she asked.
"Indeed, no. When the power inhibitor is switched on, I believe that you are using the correct circuits. In essence, we need to strengthen those correct pathways so that they become the dominant ones in your mind."
"But how do we do that?"
"By keeping the power inhibitor turned on and on your person for the foreseeable future. Only prolonged and repeated use of your power, while they are forced to use the correct circuits in your brain, will strengthen them enough to become the default. Already on the scans, we can see that the areas of your brain using your powers are larger when the inhibitor is on. I believe that when strengthened, your powers could prove almost limitless."
"I could learn control? To turn my power off?"
"I believe so. I also believe that recalling old powers tires you quite easily, correct?" She nodded so he continued. "If we are able to do this, you could potentially have access to all previously absorbed powers without feeling drained."
Rogue didn't actually like that idea much, but she did like the idea is turning her skin off. To be able to touch Remy again, to be hold his hand, to love him... She felt tears pricking her eyes.
"Any idea how long?" she asked, swiping at her eyes before her tears could fall.
"Unfortunately, no. I suggest weekly scans to see how you are progressing and once we believe the new pathways have been sufficiently reinforced, we will begin testing your abilities and trying to find the trigger to turn your powers on and off."
Rogue broke out into a big smile.
"Thank you, professor, for everything."