Today had been a long day, and the show had barely even started. There had been a group of roudy individuals who were taking it upon themselves to be as disruptive as possible and Cornelius was even now talking to security about the possibility of throwing them out. Mostly it was insult shouting, their choice of topics ranging from the anti-mutant to the pro animal freedom. They were sitting in the front row.
Flora, her helpers and the animals were the first acts in the ring. While the lions were out, they had a sturdy, if easily deconstructed, cage around the ring. In case of emergancy and all that. The cage was made up of multiple pieces, each attached to the next one by a bolt.
"Yeah!" one of the hooligans was yelling, "You think you're so good you can talk to animals!"
"Hey, I have powers too," one of his friends said.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," and the young man pulled out a small gun.
As most everyone was paying more attention to the actual performance and not the young men (if they could avoid it), the possession of the gun wasn't immediately evident - until his shot missed going through the cage holes and hit one of the bolts holding the cage piece in front of them to the next. This causes the cage piece to move swiftly fall inward... and hit poor Flora clean on the head.
The boys laughed and didn't immediately notice the lions eyeing them.
"Damnit! Security, I want those boys out of here, now. Ummm..." Cornelius looked around. "Rogue! Could you go out there and fix the cage? Don't worry about the lions, the others will make sure they don't get you."
A couple of others were also heading out to lift the cage off Flora and make sure she was okay when Rogue headed out. Flora's helpers, on the other hands, were trying to deal with another problem: The lions had realised what the boys had done, and were now heading in their direction.
The crowd had noticed. They were all chatting loudly and nervously, and the tension was rising.
"Hell," muttered one of the staff as one of the lions got free and got through the opening in the cage.
Rogue took this all in in an instant, and did the only thing she knew to do. As she reached Flora and the cage opening, instead of helping put the cage back together, she nealt down, said a silent apology and touched her skin to borrow Flora's power.
*No!* Rogue shouted to the lion.
The lion, ready to pounce on the boys (who had finally realised the danger they were in), paused.
*You're not Flora,* he accused.
*No. I'm borrowing her power. I'm Rogue. Do not hurt them,* Rogue talked to the lion, trying to convince him to not attack.
The following few seconds were tense, although they seemed to go on forever. No one seemed aware of exactly what Rogue was doing, but all seemed to realise she was doing something.
Finally, the lion turned and returned to the cage. Rogue thanked him, then stepped over to the cage opening and when the men got the pice back up, used her atom maniplation to fix the bolt.
Security arrived then, and escorted the boys away (after confiscating the gun), and Rogue returned backstage, another hand carrying Flora. Cornelus greeted them.
"Is she okay?" was his first question.
"She ought to come to soon," he replied. "I'll take her to the healer to make sure."
"Good," and Cornelius turned to Rogue. "What did you do out there, young lady?"
Rogue then remembered that she never did reveal the true extent of her mutant abilities. She blushed.
"Ah'm afraid Ah'm a parasite," she said. "Or at least Ah have a parasitic power. When people touch muh skin, Ah absorb their lifeforce. Humans tend to go into a coma for a while, depending on how long I hold onto them for. With mutants and aliens... we'll they're fine, but Ah borrow their powers for a time. Also depending on how long I hold on. And either way Ah get their memories and stuff. Ah borrowed Flora's power - Ah just wanted to make sure that the lion wouldn't hurt anyone."
Cornelius frowned, but nodded.
"And you didn't tell us before... why?"
"Well, some people get uncomfortable - even other mutants - when you tell them your power involves taking a copy of people's memories, stealing powers and putting them into a coma."
"Point taken."
"That's how I got the aliens atom manipulation actually. Ah accidently absorbed a hybrid to death."
"What?"
"He... he was a mass murderer/rapiest, and he attacked me in the park one day. Ah was unconscious and he touched me, and well..." Rogue admitted. "It all went downhill from there. It's not an experience Ah'd like to repeat."
"But Flora..."
"She won't suffer any adverse effects," Rogue assured him. "Ah only touched her for a moment. She'll already have her power back by now. Ah'm sorry if Ah overstepped my bounds..."
"No. It was an emergancy situation and you did what you needed to. We can't now, but after the show tonight, you and I are going to have a little chat - I want to know everything about your power."
Rogue nodded in agreement.