Part 14- ‘Something About Betrayal…’
‘War is overdue
The time has come for you…’- Assassin- Muse
Subtlety had never been her thing, scratch that, subtlety was boring. Now this was fun, Rogue had her hands outstretched towards the camera’s pointing in their direction, she turned to look behind her, smiling sweetly at Remy, before she concentrated and watched as a fireball shot from either of her fingers and she saw them explode.
‘Cherie, ah like the way you think…’ Remy stood close behind her, she laughed slightly as the alarms wailed behind them, the maximum security complex churning into a state of panic.
She snaked her arms about his neck, his long leather jacket providing all the protection he could ever need from her. His arms naturally wrapped about her small waist, pressing her closer, tight against his chest, and she sighed loudly, shivering involuntarily as his leg moved to between her legs, nudging them apart gently widening her stance.
He smiled wickedly at her, and she shook her head, ‘Damn ya Cajun, ah’m beginning to like the way ya think as well.’
He couldn’t help but grin at her words, gripping her tighter as she concentrated and they began to levitate, gently rising above the ground her arms still about his neck, his eyes boring intently into hers.
They twirled round and around slowly as she lifted them higher, rising steadily, getting clear of the high walls, the barbed wire and glass at the top. With remarkable ease she floated them right over and down to the ground even as a small army of guards assembled waiting for them.
‘Mon ami…’ Remy looked down smilingly at her, cherishing the feel of her arms still about his neck, ‘time for you to do your thing.’ She nodded, no need to tell her twice. She turned to face the guards and smiled, they seemed a little taken back.
‘Ya know, the best thing for ya to do would be to run…now.’ She issued them a warning, hoping all the same they wouldn’t listen. They didn’t, she nodded appreciatively as they primed their guns and aimed in her direction.
Flexing her hands she stretched out her arms and used her telekinesis to pry the guns from them, she floated them high into the air, it was so easy and they were virtually powerless as they watched their only means of defence bouncing around meaninglessly in the air above their heads.
Rogue laughed as she brought her hands together quickly, linking her palms and fingers, the guns followed suit, clashing into each other, fusing into a mass explosion, fragments of twisted metal falling harmlessly to the ground.
The guards could only stare, too stupid or too shocked to move, either way they could only watch helplessly as her expression changed, no longer smiling, cold and calculated she shut her eyes and immediately a wind began to blow through the complex, it whipped up fiercely, the sky darkened over, heavy thunderstorm clouds blackened everything, she snapped open her eyes, now gleaming a fierce yellow, and down came the lighting striking within inches of the guards feet.
She floated upwards, her hair billowing around her, she seemed to pluck a fierce gust straight from the skies and aimed it straight towards them, and it hit the ground like a hurricane slamming into the poor guards like pins in a bowling alley.
Remy was inclined to make the same analogy as he watched the men go flying in all directions, some slamming into walls, others half way across the lawn and even a few ending up high in the trees.
She floated down to solid ground, the winds disappearing, the light returning, and she turned to face a proud Remy, ‘How ‘bout that Swamp rat?’ He nodded his approval and she laughed.
Turning to walk towards the building she called out to him, ‘Think ya better let the rest of ‘em in, don’t want them thinkin’ we’re havin’ all the fun now do we?’
Remy moved at last, heading towards the control station that operated the large security gate he and Rogue had floated over. He charged the door and watched it fly open underneath the force of the blast.
Making his way over to the controls he took out his pack of cards, he kissed the first one, Queen of Hearts, a long time favourite, now more so than ever, smiling as he watched his Cherie walk towards the main building. He replaced it in his top coat pocket, and patted it down, the rest he placed over the main console, charging them and barely making it out of the small booth before the computers exploded.
The ten foot high gate rolled open and there stood the rest of the Acolytes, Rogue barely slowed her pace as they caught up with her, Remy flanking her left and Magneto taking the right, she strode out in front, a leader, at last demanding respect and getting it.
With the fires still raging from Remy’s charged inferno, the bodies littering the yard and the peculiar smile Rogue wore as she walked, anyone looking at them would have to say it was something to behold, she looked like a demented angel, creating her own little hell, and anyone sorry assed enough to be sucked into that hurricane was beyond hope.
Her whole being lit with the orange glow of the fires as she walked was nothing compared to the rage of the embers that burned in her eyes.
The lights of the long corridors flickered incessantly, flashes on the grim set faces that walked with a purpose. Only Rogue seemed to smile, she’d rendered the rest who followed behind her obsolete; those who stood in their way were dispatched of ridiculously easily.
She swatted them away, with easy flicks of her wrists, telepathically, magnetically whatever it took, the guards and security melted away and it seemed as if nothing could stop her, she was a whirlwind, a force to be reckoned with.
Magneto placed a hand tentatively on her shoulder indicating she should stop, and she did in front of a particular cell, the heavy metal door with a number embossed clearly. They stood back as she concentrated, and watched as the metal heated and began to glow a fierce red, it only a few minutes for the metal to creak and give way before exploding inwards.
Rogue stepped into the room as the smoke cleared, curious as to what or who it was Magneto had insisted they rescue. She sat on an empty bunk, tied up into a strait jacket, jet black hair; heavy lids framed by a darkened, tired look, this girl couldn’t have been much older than she was.
She looked up at Rogue and snarled, Rogue smiled; maybe she’d like this girl after all. Her anger, all that fury and hate came off her in waves, and it was a sentiment Rogue perfectly understood. And then even as she watched the girl rose up from the bunk in a haste Rogue hadn’t anticipated and headed straight for her.
Only she wasn’t aiming for her, rather it was the person stood behind her who had her worked up, ‘you bastard…this long, it took you this long?’ Rogue took a quick look behind her, Magneto. All that rage was aimed at him, and much as she would have liked to see this demented strait jacketed freak pull the old man apart with her bare teeth, she had to think of the bigger picture.
Rogue halted the girl mid charge, holding out her hand she lifted her straight into the air, suspending her briefly before she began to turn her around slowly, undoing the buckles of the jacket as she did so. Free at last, her arms flailed catching empty air as she flapped her arms helplessly before Rogue let her drop to the floor.
The impact and Rogue’s interference only made her angrier, and she struggled to her feet, her swearing turning the air blue. She looked ready to charge again, but Rogue smiled and shook her head, and she faltered.
‘Get outta my way sweetheart, you don’t wanna know what I can do…’ she seemed to be charging up, but Rogue stood her ground.
She smiled wider, stretching out her arms, she opened her hands, a fireball in one hand and a ball of ice floating in the other, she floated inches off the ground, her eyes blazing a fierce red, and her hair billowing as a familiar wind engulfed the room. Everyone shielded their eyes as her voice, commanding and in control, boomed down to them.
‘Correction, ya don’t wanna see what ah can do, believe me…’ Rogue added a touch of bitter chill to the wind to make her point before floating back down and standing between Magneto and the newly freed prisoner once more.
Rogue stepped forward and smiled, ‘Look, ah ain’t the biggest fan of ol’ tin head, but he’s the one with the plans, so ya gotta appreciate the fact that ah gotta keep him alive.’ She looked directly at the girl, unmoving and unwavering.
The girl backed down at last, ‘What plans?’ she asked resignedly, the look of hate still firmly held in Magneto’s direction.
Rogue laughed, ‘Oh, ya know, kinda like stickin’ it to the asshole’s who put ya in here the first place.’
That was enough, she nodded and gave in to Rogue’s directions, her eyes flitted briefly towards Magneto, ‘but don’t think I’m gonna be forgivin’ you anytime soon…dad.’
It was Rogue’s turn to be surprised, dad? Well, it seemed the ol’ coot still had some tricks up his sleeve. She turned to leave, mission accomplished, stopping in the doorway, her soft gentle Southern lilt took on a menacing tone and her intention were clear as she looked back towards the new recruit.
‘By the way, ya ever think of charging me like that again, you’re gonna be lucky if ya end up in a place like this.’
Rogue stood stock still in the middle of the security complex lawn as a familiar scent flooded her senses and she smiled as she recognised everything about it, cigars and beer… Logan.
Sure enough, even as she shape shifted she spied the blackbird landing and her once X-men team-mates spill out. They stood in a wide semi-circle around her; only to them she appeared as she what she wanted them to see, not Rogue, but Magneto.
It figured Mystique would have to come in handy sooner or later, she stood in red and purple uniform, cape and helmet, and they were fooled.
Professor Xavier rolled forward, ‘Eric what are you doin’ here?’ he seemed to sense something was wrong, but couldn’t quite place it.
Magneto stepped forward, ‘Oh Charles, just meeting up with family, there’s nothing quite like a family reunion, don’t you think?’ He laughed then, looking around at the senior X-men, Logan, Scott, Beast and Storm.
‘Speaking of family,’ he continued, ‘strange how yours seems to have been dwindling of late, you seem to be losing recruits by the day Professor, first Jean…’ He watched as an incensed Scott stepped forward, his fists balled by his sides, ready to strike. ‘And now Rogue. If I didn’t know better Charles, I’d have to say you were getting a little careless in your old age.’
‘That’s it bub…’ Logan growled, ready to pounce, and not even Xavier’s steady hand would have kept him back as the sound of his adamantium claws grating together stung the air. But he stopped of his own accord, sniffing the air in recognition, a familiar scent, not at all like Magneto, but…
‘Rogue…?’ The name puzzled the rest, and they watched aghast as the familiar figure of Magneto shifted into the equally painfully familiar one of Rogue. Their friend, their once upon a time team mate, seemingly the good girl gone so bad, gone so wrong…
She laughed, and placing her hands on her hips, struck a pose for them, ‘How ‘bout it, ya like the new look?’ And it was then they realised how much she’d changed, not only in her shifting alliance, but even in the way she dressed.
She wore a long black army overcoat, a short top underneath, black and leather it barely covered the top half, her shoulders and stomach bare, the pale skin seeing the sunlight at last, and a short skirt, slit at the sides from the waist to the knee, bare long legs underneath. Heavy black boots with heels at least a few inches long, heavy zippers right up to the calf and more tellingly no gloves.
Long deadly fingers that she passed through that two-tone hair of hers, and then the smile faded as she looked towards Logan, ‘What was it ya said, somethin’ ‘bout betrayal stickin’ with ya? Guess you’re ‘bout to find out how right ya are.’
She stretched her hand towards him, and he felt it, the power she used to stretch the metal in his body, lifting him slightly, she punished him, twisting the adamantium, inflicting pain after pain, he could only grimace as the claws stretched and separated pulling his skin, ripping it apart.
He gritted his teeth and screamed until she let him drop, he fell to the ground gasping, waiting for his healing to do its thing; she looked around her at each of the X-Men in turn aching for the next one to make their move.
The rest of the Acolytes came to stand behind her, watching as she did, waiting for the fight to begin.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Anyone looking at them would have to say it was something to behold, she looked like a demented angel, creating her own little hell, and anyone sorry assed enough to be sucked into that hurricane was beyond hope.
Her whole being lit with the orange glow of the fires as she walked was nothing compared to the rage of the embers that burned in her eyes.
Her whole being lit with the orange glow of the fires as she walked was nothing compared to the rage of the embers that burned in her eyes.