Rogue
Rogue thought bitterly about how stupid she had been to get herself into this position. Hiding in a dark alleyway from a couple of men who undoubtable had horrible plans for her.
All she had wanted to do was see the movies and go shopping with her friends from Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted. But then of course, they run into this group of men, don't they? The ones who, for some weird reason or another, despise mutants. And why? Who knew! The world at large weren't even aware of their existance.
They had split up, each planning on dividing the group and/or diverting their attention away from the others. And just Rogue's luck, not only did two come after her, she managed to get herself lost!
Well, she had an excuse. She didn't usually go around New York at night.
Oh dang... she had been trying to lose these guys for hours!
She knew it was only a matter of minutes before they found her. And then what would happen? She shuddered, and dared not think about it any longer. Rogue knew there was only one way out now, and she winced to think what the after effect would be like.
Rogue waited for her moment, ungloving her hand as quietly as possible. One was growing closer and closer to her now. Two steps away. One step away. Now!
She leaned forward and touched his hand. He never had a moment to say a thing, just looked at her before he fell to the ground. The movement caught the attention of the second and he rushed to his comrad's side. Rogue winced, but touched his skin with her ungloved hand as well. He too, fell, shaking, and slipped into a coma.
Rogue stared at them for only a moment, then pelted out of the alley. She could feel them inside her head. She knew they would be with her for the rest of her life.
At least she had gotten one good thing out of this. The men hadn't been lost, like she had, and Rogue was soon able to get home.
Cyclops
Cyclops hugged his girlfriend one last time before she made her way back to her bedroom. He sighed happily. The night air was still, and it had been a perfect evening. Nothing could possibly ruin it.
He stood outside the front door of the building and just leant against a pillar. He closed his eyes for a moment and removed his head set. It wasn't often he could feel the breeze over his face without causing some kind of destruction.
Then he began to hear footsteps.
Hurriedly, he replaced his head set, and focused his eyes on the driveway.
"Rogue?" he asked himself.
As far as he could see, she looked tired, hungry, and everything else she shouldn't be. He jumped from the stairway, and ran over to her.
"Rogue! What happened to you? Quick, come inside," he indicated the front door.
Rogue
"Are the others back yet?" Rogue asked. "We were at the mall. There were... mutant haters there. We split up. Two followed me and I... I had to absorb them before I could get away."
Rogue shook a little in nervous shock.
"Oh please say the others are back. Please?"
Cyclops
Cyclops hesitated, looking up at the building, then down the driveway.
"I..." he began, shaking his head.
He couldn't finish. He could see how distressed she was.
"Just... why don't you come inside. We can get Jean to look you over and make sure you're ok," he beckoned for her to go inside again.
He didn't want to tell her there'd been no sign of her friends since she'd been out with them. But maybe once they were inside they'd hear something.
Rogue
Rogue sniffed and nodded. Hot dang, she wasn't going to start crying now was she? No, no, no, no, no! Couldn't do that... couldn't do that...
Apparently she could.
But as she walked through the doors, the tears seemed to stop. Instead of going to Jean, she started towards the library - the Professor was more likely to be there. She started walking faster. Then running even.
She had those men's memories. And she knew - she knew - some of their plans. She had to tell Professor Xavier, and now while they were fresh in her mind.
Kitty
Kitty was scared. She, Theresa, Jubilee and Rogue had all gone out when they were attacked by some men. Theresa had knocked a couple of the weaker ones out by screaming, and she managed to confuse one of them by running through him, while Jubilee and Rogue just ran. They agreed to separate and meet back at the mansion almost 3 hours ago. Jubilee and Siryn were back, but Rogue was still missing. The other girls had gone off to bed, but Kitty decided to wait up for Rogue.
"Where the heck is she?" Kitty asked herself. She was just about to go and tell the Professor what had happened, when she saw a very tired Rogue walk through the front door.
"Rogue! I was so worried about you! What happened after we got separated?"
Rogue
"They... they chased me... into an alley... I had to absorb them," Rogue said. "Hot dang... I have to get to the Professor now, Kitty."
Rogue burst into tears.
"It's horrible, just horrible! They're planning to... to..."
Logan
Logan sat up in his bed with a growl, his claws shooting out. A dream. Just a dream. His breathing slowly returning to normal, he decided to get up and have something to drink. Pity Xavier wouldn't buy any beer for the school, he could really use one, Logan thought darkly as he shrugged on a singlet. That and the dark grey track pants would cover him decently. He really didn't understand what all the fuss was about. The professor's precious students would drink, sooner or later. Why Xavier couldn't just buy a six pack so Logan could occasionally unwind a little was beyond him. With dark thoughts like these, Logan padded down to the kitchen, then he halted, his nostrils flaring. He smelt fear. Rogue's fear. With a quiet 'snick' his claws slid out and he stalked down the hallway.
Rogue was crying, one of the girls was with her, and Scott. Logan's eyes narrowed. "Rogue? What's going on here?" Logan growled as he stepped into the light, only withdrawing his claws after he noticed Scott's dirty look. "What happened? I thought you went out to catch a movie, or something." Rogue's fear was fading now, but the tears continued. "Kitty? Do you know what happened?" He pointedly ignored Scott.
Storm
Storm cautiously made her way through the mansion, feeling the fear well up in her chest. She was not in the mood for unwanted visitors, she thought as she listened to the muffled voices. She walked in the direction of the voices and stopped and sighed in relief, before realising that something was terribly wrong.
"Logan, Scott, what's happened here? Should I get the Professor?"
Logan
Logan turned slightly to see Storm, before stepping up to Rogue and brushing her hair out of her eyes, careful not to touch her skin. "What's the matter, kid? Do we need the professor on this?" She nodded, tears starting to stop. "OK. Storm." He turned to face Storm, one hand on Rogue's arm in a reassuring gesture. "Get Xavier. I think something's up, and when Rogue calms down a little, she'll tell us all about it. We'll go into the library to sit down, and relax a bit."
Storm/Professor Xavier
Storm nodded and ran off to find Xavier. She didn't have to go very far. He was sitting in the middle of the hallway, worry flickering in his eyes.
"I know." Was all he said.
"We didn't know what to do. They're waiting in the library."
"Then let's go to the library."
Storm glanced at Xavier and suddenly saw how weary he looked. They came to a stop outside the library and Storm opened the door, allowing the Professor to go through first. She follwed him swiftly and closed the door.
Logan/Scott
Logan stalked across the room, and then spun on his heel and headed back the other way. He wanted to do something, wanted to chase down whatever or whoever had scared Rogue and the girls so badly and tear into them with his claws. Make them hurt and be afraid. He sensed Scott's eyes on him, and glared at the obnoxious brat. Scott merely looked at him. Damn, he hated this kinda thing. He heard the door open and looked up, claws momentarily sliding out then slipping back in as he saw Xavier and Storm enter. He rubbed the tops of his hands thoughtfully as he saw Xavier. He looked tired. He usually didn't, always so full of that *light* and acting like Yoda or something. "So. What's going on, and can I hurt it?"
Scott stepped forward from the wall. "Don't you think that's a little simplistic?"
"Shut up. A lot of things can be finished with one good stab to the stomach." Logan raised one hand and let his claws slide out, making a stabbing gesture before letting them back into his hands again. "You'd be surprised how much that solves." He gave Scott a nasty grin.
Storm
Storm stepped in between Scott and Logan.
"Now is not the time." She gave them both a pointed look. "It's late, and we're all tired, so let's just work this out as soon as we can. Ok?"
Scott grumbled some sort of agreement, but kept his eyes focused on Logan. Storm shook her head and turned to the Xavier. He looked at Rogue, trying to read her thoughts.
Rogue
Rogue took a few breaths in an attempt to calm down.
"Okay, so as most of you know, me and Kitty and Bobby and everyone went to the movies and stuff. Well, we ran into some mutant haters, and they followed us. Well, we split up and two followed me. I had to absorb them before I could get away."
The strength of the recent memory made Rogue pause for a moment to contain herself.
"They're... they're... part of a group that... well, they're developing a weapon. Some sort of biological weapon intended to target mutant genes. It's in the testing stages."
Rogue forced herself to take another deep breath.
"The tests they have done have so far are... are 50% effective. That's why there were after us. They wanted to test it on us too!"
Logan
"That's it. They're dead." Logan's lips drew back form his teeth in a feral snarl. Never again. What had happened to him was not going to happen to anyone else. Not Rogue, hell, not even Cyclops no matter how the dick irritated him. His fists clenched and nuclenched as he tried to force his rage back under control. Not gonna lose it here. Christ, he wanted to go out and kill the bloody bastards so badly.
Storm
Storm reached over and put her hand on Logan's arm to try and calm him down.
"Logan, we can't take the 'attack now, ask questions later' approach. We have to learn more about this weapon so we know how to destroy it."
Storm worriedly bit her lip. This was why she was afraid of humans. They hated what they did not understand.
"Rogue, is there anything else you can tell us?"
Logan
"I know, I know." Logan spun off on his heel from Storm's calming hand. "It's just, dammit!" He really wanted a smoke right now. He needed something to do with his hands. "How did they know about us in the first place? Our existence ain't exactly what you would call public knowledge. The government knows we exist, but those closemouthed bastards wouldn't give the people the time of day if they can convince themselves it's for the public good. We havta know, we havta find them, and then well, we'll probably havta kill them." He flexed his hands, then gave up on the nicotine craving and felt carefully around on a high shelf. He retrieved one of the cigars and his spare lighter, lighting up quickly. He sat down in one of the library's comfortable chairs and inhaled drawing the smoke into his lungs. "What? Like Xavier didn't know I had some stashed around the place."
"That doesn't mean you can light up in front of students, Logan," Scott said angrily. Logan raised an eyebrow, and clenched the cigar in his teeth as he grinned nastily at Scott.
"Bite me. You're lucky it's not booze I'm hiding, seeing as how the professor won't let me buy any." He leant back and blew smokerings to the roof as Scott growled inarticulately. "So, Rogue, your story?"
Rogue
"Umm, not a huge lot... err," she thought hard. "Neither of the men were actually on the scientific side. Uhh... it... one of the previous test subjects... it was injected into him. I, I think they're creating it as a disease?"
Rogue frowned and sighed.
"I can't get any more than that."
Logan/Scott/Professor Xavier
"Dammit." Logan had leant forward to listen to Rogue's tale but now he slumped back. "I think the attack first, ask questions while inflicting pain would work great here. Or the professor can go into Cerebrum and do his thing?" Logan clamped his teeth on the cigar.
"Using Cerebrum is a risky thing," Scott said as he stepped forward. "I don't think you understand what you're asking."
"It's alright, Scott. Logan has a point." Xavier raised his hand calmly to forestall any conflict. Logan just grinned at the fuming Scott. "Shall we?" Xavier started to wheel out of the room. "The students should return to bed and sleep. You've got school tomorrow." Logan got up and followed the professor, along with the other X-Men.
Logan and Scott
Logan leaned against the wall as Xavier entered Cerebro with Storm. He could sense Scott's disapproving eyes on him, so Logan grinned, clenching his cigar between his teeth, before blowing a stream of smoke in Scott's direction. "What do ya think he'll find?"
Scott waved the smoke away. "I don't know. He might not be able to find them."
"Yeah." The two fell into nearly companionable silence as they waited for Xavier and Storm to emerge from Cerebro. "You know, this could mean a good fight."
"Is that all you ever think about? You know, that reminds me of this guy that hacked into our system a few days ago."
"Oh?"
"He flirted with Marie...a lot. I don't trust him, whoever he is."
"You don't trust me."
"True. He called himself Sabre, and claimed to have meet Sabretooth and beaten him in a fight."
"Sabretooth is easy to beat. He's all brawn and no brain. But, this Sabre sounds interesting..."
"To you, maybe. Just a threat to our security to me."
"Which is why XAvier needs to find those guys."
"Exactly." The two nodded at each other, agreeing about something at last.
Storm and Professor Xavier
Storm was always amazed when she was in Cerebro, being able to see all the mutants and the humans. She tried her hardest not to move, and when the Professor was finished, she let out the deep breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.
"Professor, did you find anything?"
He smiled sadly at her and wheeled past, saying nothing. Storm followed him reluctantly, afraid of the news he was going to give.
As the door opened, they were greeted with the hopeful faces of Logan and Scott.
"Come to my office."
Xavier wheeled past them again, leaving the 3 bewildered X-Men to follow.
Logan
There was no other word for it. Lgoan *stalked* after Xavier, inward turmoil at an all time high. Playing god again... the little humans were playing god again. Logan needed to know, needed to know what they looked like, where they were, their voices, their scents so he could hunt them down and bring them to a bloody and painful end. He could sense the claws right under his skin, just itching to get out into the air and shed blood. Time's like these, he was almost grateful they gave him such good weapons. They reached the office and Logan flung the door open, striding in ahead of Xavier, before fixing the older man with an icy glare. "So, what is going on?" Xavier raised an eyebrow clamly, and stared at Logan's cigar. Logan growled, then stubbed it out on his hand with a grimace of pain. "Can you tell us now?"
Professor Xavier and Storm
Xavier watched the burn mark on Logan's hand quickly disappear before he spoke again.
"There's nothing too specific. Like Rogue said, it's a biological weapon, and it can destroy us, and once it becomes stronger, they won't have to come here and to use it, they won't need us around, they'll just wipe us out from a distance."
"But not before we get them first, right?" Storm said, stepping forward to the Professor.
"If we can get at them in time. This weapon... it targets the cells in our brains... not all of them, just the ones that make us different. The ones that make us mutants."
Logan
Logan rubbed his forehead tiredly. "And I'm hoping that you have a plan, or will have one before it's too late. I'm going to bed." Logan turned and walked out of the room, shoulders slupmed. He was sick of this. Why couldn't they just leave him and his the hell alone? He wandered the silent halls for a bit, and then returned to his room to sleep.
Professor Xavier, Storm and Scott
Xavier turned to the remaining X-Men standing in front of him.
"We'll work something out, I promise."
Scott nodded tiredly as Storm struggled to stifle her yawn.
"And in the meantime?" Storm asked, still hiding her mouth.
"There's nothing that can be done tonight. We need sleep. First thing in the morning, I'll go back into Cerebro and see if there's more I can find out, and I'll talk to Rogue. You should go to bed. I'll let you know if anything happens. Good night."
Scott and Storm left his office said their goodnights and parted ways.