Chapter 6
"Rogue! Rogue wake up!" The voice sounded familiar but Rogue couldn't place who it was. Her eyes fluttered open and she just felt…wrong. "Oh thank god you're up!" Was this person talking to her? She sounded familiar.
Rogue sat up and looked at the person talking. "K-kitty? Where am Ah? Mah head hurts."
"The team is here to break us out. We're going home."
"Home? "Rogue scrubbed a hand over her face as flashes of a mansion, an apartment, and house flashed through her mind. "How long have you been here?"
"That's not important, we need to leave now." Kitty urged
"Something's wrong. I feel… Wrong." Rogue had sudden flashes of people she couldn't recognize…but she knew them somehow.
"Like, wrong how?" Kitty fiddled with the
Rogue looked down at her hands and body. This wasn't her body or her clothes. She ran and reached up to feel her hair and found that that was not hers either. "What is this? What happened to my hair?"
"What do you mean? It looks the same to me."
"And my clothes, whose clothes are these?"
"You're freaking me out Rogue, what happened to your accent?"
"Stop calling me Rogue! My name is Carol!" Rogue grabbed her head in confusion.
"It's okay stripes, we are here to get you out."
Stripes Rogue thought I know that name.
"O-okay Carol. We have to leave now before--"
"Before what?" An Australian accent asked before fire surrounded them. "Before we find you here causin' trouble?"
"Kurt, get the girls out of here." Cyclops demanded. Kurt nodded and ran to Rogue first as the team jumped into action. Kitty continued to stay by Rogue's side.
"Can you walk?" Kitty asked
"I think so." Rogue continued to speak in a voice that was not her own.
Kurt put a hand on Rogue's covered arm. Rogue screamed and pushed Kurt away with such force that he almost flew across the room. Kitty looked at Rogue shocked and took a step back.
"We're trying to help, Rogue-- I mean Carol." Kitty looked at Kurt "Do you think she absorbed that other woman?" Kitty asked.
"What are you talking about? Who are you?" Rogue asked, distressed. "Who are you people?!"
"We're your friends. Don't you recognize us?" Kurt pleaded as he picked himself up off the ground.
Rogue watched as the fight unfolded in front of her. A man with claws had been knocked back and impressive distance by one of her captors. The other man shot lasers from his eyes? She felt a pang of concern for these strangers. She had never seen these people before…or had she? She then looked over at the unconscious body to her left. She had heard of out of body experiences before but nothing could have prepared her for the absolute panic she felt. What was her body doing over there? If she wasn't in her body, where was she?
"What is going on?! What is my body doing over there?" Rogue tried to get out of bed and make her way to the bedside of where she lied. Seeing his moment of opportunity, the blue demon took advantage of her shock, and with a touch of his hand, teleported her out of the room and outside where she was greeted by a sea of new faces. Rogue stood there, stupefied at what had just happened, jerking her arm away from Kurt.
"Rogue, are you alright?" Storm asked.
"Stop calling me that!" She yelled. Storm took a step back. "My name is Carol! Carol Danvers!"
"She seems to be struggling with a new persona." Storm said. "We must calm her."
Gambit stood up from where he was leaning, half concerned for his safety and half concerned for Rogue. Rogue took a defensive stance and looked at the people surrounding her.
"You are correct, Storm." Jean said. "There is another presence in her mind." Before Jean could continue probing, Carol's psyche took Jean by surprise and knocked her out of their shared mind with a punch to the chest. Jean faltered. "The other person in there is very scared, and also very strong." She rubbed her temples soothing the jolt of pain she received.
"If she won't calm down then maybe we should knock her out." Lance stepped forward clenching a fist. The earth beneath them groaned with the echoes of an eager threat.
"No Lance, we need to do this calmly so we don't hurt her." Jean readied herself to re-enter Rogue's mind.
"I'd like to see you try and knock me out." Rogue stood up straight and started to levitate.
"That's new." Lance said before Rogue rushed him, knocking him into a rock.
"Where is my body!?" Rogue yelled, tears stinging her eyes, threatening to fall. She looked back behind her and saw the entrance to the cave. Without a further thought she took off towards the mouth of the cave flying at alarming speed.
Kurt appeared in a moment with Carol's body. "This is the other woman they had captive." He said "She has a pulse but-"
"I sense very little in her mind, but Kurt is right, she is alive." Jean interrupted.
"This must be the body she walk talking about." Storm said calmly. "Kurt, fasten her body in the blackbird. Take care to ensure she is safe."
Once inside the cave Rogue heard the commotion and sped off that direction. She soon came across the med bay where she saw Wolverine and Cyclops fighting Pyro, Sunfire, and Sabretooth. She scanned the room and saw the bed that once held Carol's form empty. Filled with fear, rage, and confusion, Rogue flew across the room and knocked Sabretooth through a wall.
"Stripes?" Logan was surprised and Sunfire took this opportunity to strike. Rogue flew back through the hole she created and rushed directly to Pyro who took a punch in the face. Cyclops and Logan looked at one another in shock as Sabretooth rushed back through the hole and attempted to grab Rogue. She easily burst out of his grasp and punched him back across the room. "What did you do to me?! Where is my body?!" Tears streamed freely down her face now.
Suddenly Rogue looked pained. Emma had entered the room and was attempting to subdue everyone with mild success. "That's enough of that." Emma said. As she entered Rogue's mind she attempted to knock her out but she was greeted by Carol who went on the offensive. Emma's concentration was broken on Logan and Cyclops as she attempted to maintain control of Rogue. The distraction of Emma loosened Carol's hold on Rogue long enough to see what was unfolding.
Wolverine approached Rogue with his hands up, cautiously. "Rogue? I know you're in there, remember last time? Fight back. Gain control."
"Logan?" She asked.
"I'm here kid." He said as he continued to approach her. "We gotta get you home where we can take care of you." He was now close enough to touch if he chose to do so.
Emma tried her best to hold her own against Carol but her rage was so strong that she was overpowered. Having now rid herself of the distraction, Carol seized control of Rogue again. Having near total control she sought escape, knocking Logan over in the process. She flew past Cyclops and back out into the hall.
Seeing his moment of opportunity, Sabretooth ran to the console to press a series of buttons before turning tail and running towards Pyro's limp form. "Self-destruct sequence activated."
"Everyone! Get out!" Cyclops yelled. Sabretooth flung Pyro over his shoulder and then ran towards Emma.
"What about Rogue?! Logan demanded.
"I don't know Logan, but we can't help her if we're dead. We have to leave now." Logan and Cyclops made a break for the entrance, avoiding falling earth and navigating shifting tunnels. They sprinted through the main chamber, making it just in time before the cave started to collapse.
"Where is Rogue?" Kurt asked
"Still inside." Scott replied. We couldn't get her to calm down … and was she… flying?"
"Yes Scott. She seemed to have acquired a new set of skills from the other woman, flight must be one of them."
"Super strength too." Kurt said, rubbing his chest where Rogue hit him. The cave made a loud rumble and the opening began to fill with rocks. "Rogue!" Kurt shouted. Stoned continued to fall until the entrance was completely full just a few brief seconds later. With most of the team in shock, Kitty began to run towards where the entrance was. Kurt teleported on top of some of the rubble and Wolverine went to move what stones he could but before they could get any real work done the rubble started to move. One of the bigger rocks began to shift and then rise before getting tossed aside.
Rogue emerged from the rubble and stumbled forward. Kurt teleported to her just in time for her to feint. Her clothes were slightly tattered but there wasn't a scratch on her. He teleported back and showed her to the rest of the team.
"We must get these two back to Hank. Perhaps we can find out who this other woman is and return her to consciousness." Storm headed back into the blackbird and motioned for the others to follow.
Kurt secured Rogue in a similar fashion to the Jane Doe. Both were stretched out on makeshift gurneys, belted in and secured to the walls of the jet. He felt a pang of guilt for not going to check on her earlier. For not getting over his hangups and insecurities and just forcing himself to go. Perhaps this could have been avoided? He brushed her hair out of her face and then took his own seat further up in the jet.
Gambit recalled just how cared for Rogue was back when he had abducted her for his own plan. She was clearly loved by these people. She was shown more love and devotion than he thought was possible to have from one person, much less a group of people. He watched as Kurt took very special care of her, as if she was made of glass. Gambit knew that the harder the exterior the more fragile the insides and was both envious of, and happy for her to have this support.
He felt a pang of envy, remembering his own family's version of love and loyalty. He swallowed what feelings he had and returned to the present. Not much good in fretting over the past.
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The sound of Storm's shoes made a rhythmic clicking sound as she walked towards the med bay with a small caddy of drinks occupying her hands. It had a traumatizing and event filled last 18 hours or so, and most of the team had not yet slept.
Beast was monitoring the vital signs of both Rogue and Carol. Logan was seated next to Rogue's bedside slouched over and looking exhausted.
"How is everyone doing?" Storm asked. "I have brought everyone something to drink." She handed one of the steaming paper cups to Hank. "Tea for you Hank, as well as for you Professor." She then walked over to Logan. "Black coffee for you Logan." She then took a sip of her own beverage. "Have we made any progress on our Jane Doe?"
It had been about 12 hours since they arrived home. Logan had slept briefly in the small chair he sat in, and Beast had been working with The Professor to answer as many questions as they could.
"Yes we have." Hank said. "It appears her name is Carol Danvers and according to her culture she is missing the x gene. She appears to be a normal human."
"Interesting." Replied Storm. "Then where did Rogue's newly acquired abilities come from?"
"We're not sure yet." Charles said. "I have attempted to try to contact her in Rogue's mind but I have not had much luck. We have had to keep Rogue under for her own safety for now. As for Carol's mind…" He paused. "I have not yet been able to locate anything."
"Most of the students are not aware of the matter, but I imagine between Kitty and Kurt it will not remain a secret for long."
"Yes Storm, I suspect you are correct. We will deal with the matter when it presents itself. For now, we must keep our focus on helping these two young women."
"What of the other woman's family? Will we be notifying them?"
"As much as I would like to do that Storm, we must proceed with caution. We do not want to risk her family believing she is a mutant and risk disowning her or worse. We also do not need the attention should they choose to accuse us of abducting her."