Author's Chapter Notes:
Comic books made heroes.Tragically unrealistic at best, more often than not they were saviours whose distinctions were drawn, black and white, good and evil. Lines as simple and finite as all that, never wavering and never wrong. Jubilee knew all this yet she had made a hero out of her saviour, Rogue.

What wasn’t there to admire about the Mississippi broad, given her Southern lilt, her strength and her amazing powers. She wasn’t a comic book hero; the distinctions were less clear, the lines all too easily blurred.
Part 9- ‘Making Plans And The Problem With Ethics…’

Rogue sat atop the warehouse roof cheerfully swinging her legs, she turned to look at Remy with a gleeful smile. The roof had become their own special sort of place, away from the rest of the Acolytes, the X-Men and the rest of the world. Rogue still didn’t trust the Cajun swamp rat but she was beginning to enjoy his company a lot more.

She found she could be herself around him, as sullen, angry, quiet or as loud as she liked, no questions asked. She liked that clause, no questions asked. Nobody move and nobody got hurt.

It had taken her a while to fully appreciate the telekinesis or the telepathy; she found she had to be watchful around the mansion, if she didn’t take care she would find herself invading other mutant’s thoughts. And what the other Xavier Academy attendees thought was scary!

Kitty’s secret crush on Kurt was laughable, because if she only thought to ask him she would find that Kurt felt the same way about her. Other’s worried about normal teenage stuff, parents, school; those thoughts comforted her awhile, whatever else was happening in the world, however they were perceived mutants worried about things as normal and everyday as any human.

Of course there were minds she deliberately kept away from, the older mutants, Storm and Beast who would know in an instant if their mind was being probed. And Scott’s mind, she had caught a glimpse of his state one evening as she had walked past the room he had shared with Jean. Her mind’s eye immediately transported her in the room alongside him; he was lying prostrate on his bed, his arms crossed protectively over his chest. She couldn’t help but be pulled further, deeper into his mind, further into his memories of Jean.

And Rogue saw things she did not wish to see, a cloudy vision of happier times, Jean walking about the room, laughing…twirling, it was all a mess, a tangible mass of memories and recollections. Then all at once the images were focused and she seemed to be intruding on the last conversation they had ever had together.

And it got harder to breathe; because they were talking about marriage…and children. Rogue hitched a breath, vainly trying to pull away, but however much she pulled she couldn’t move.

All of a sudden the image vanished and Scott sat bolt upright seeming to sense a presence in the room. That was Rogue’s cue, forcing her mind back she pulled herself outside to her physical being still stood outside his room.

Scott rushed towards the door flinging it open with an urgent fury looking first one way then the other… only to find there was nobody there.
Rogue waited until she was sure he had gone back inside and locked the door before she floated back down from the ceiling.

The Professor’s mind she also avoided, attempting any intrusion on his thoughts would be like sending out a flare, he would detect her new powers in an instant and she sure as hell wasn’t about to explain herself to Professor Xavier or allow herself to be probed and investigated by Doc McCoy, something she was sure would happen once they knew how far her powers had extended.

And then there was Logan, his mind she avoided for so many reasons, principally because she knew something of the nightmares he regularly suffered. To be caught up in something like that was far too much for her to bear. However angry she was with him, she would hate the idea of knowing just how much and how far he suffered.
And maybe, just maybe if she read his thoughts she would discover how deep his feelings were regarding her.

It would mean she’d have to confront her own feelings about him, and for whatever reason, however much she could flirt with him, drive him crazy by blowing hot and cold…she wouldn’t, couldn’t force herself to recognise what she felt for him. She wasn’t ready for that, scratch that, she was past ready. Somewhere along the line the moment had passed, and every minute that passed made it harder.

Harder, because somewhere along the line she had changed, and not just with her power, some part of her had died along side Jean, a hope, some notion things would get better; and it was an ideal she had been happy to bury. The delusion of a better day had lifted, it was to the future she looked, and it was a future that couldn’t lie with the X-Men or with Logan.

That didn’t mean she would stop having her fun with him, there were few things in life more satisfying than knowing just how far she got under his skin.

‘Cherie, ye know if you do this, there’ll be no going back…they won’t want ye back. You ready for that fille?’ Remy looked across at her and seemed to read her thoughts perfectly.

She sighed and smiling looked around her. His playing cards were floating around them both in a wide circle. She was using her telekinesis to keep them afloat and he had charged them with his own power. The whole thing looked remarkably beautiful, a ring of fire, burning around just the two of them.

She lifted her hands and instantly they began rising higher until they floated high above their heads. She looked towards him with a clear gaze and an even clearer resolution.

‘Ah know…just like ah know ah won’t wanna go back.’ Suddenly she brought both her hands together in a tight clasp. The pack of cards still charged collided together creating a huge column of light that reached far into the night.

‘Ah hope ye got a new pack of cards swamp rat…’ She smiled widely at him as the now obliterated cards rained down on them in tiny pieces like crude confetti.

He patted the left side of his coat, ‘Right here…’


Comic books made heroes. She knew that, comics made heroes out of strangers who had suffered, boys who had lost parents and as a result turned into dark knights. Heroes out of teenagers bitten by radioactive spiders who began climbing walls and shooting webs, comics made heroes out of the least likely of souls.

Tragically unrealistic at best, more often than not they were saviours whose distinctions were drawn, black and white, good and evil. Lines as simple and finite as all that, never wavering and never wrong. Jubilee Lee knew all this yet she had made a hero out of her saviour, Rogue.

What wasn’t there to admire about the Mississippi broad, given her Southern lilt, her strength and her amazing powers. She wasn’t a comic book hero; the distinctions were less clear, the lines all too easily blurred.

In the few weeks she had been at the mansion Jubilee had seen Rogue in all her various guises, at once sullen, at times sweetly sarcastic and even amazingly blasé with what Jubilee was certain had to be the scariest mutant on the planet, Logan.

But Jubilee was true to her word and kept Rogue’s secret, the power she had witnessed in her she had discussed with no one. Though she had revelled in holding many of the students enthralled as she had told them of how Rogue had dispatched of the thugs in the alley. Her natural exuberance made her a hit with just about everybody, though Logan did find her noise a little excessive at times.

She breathed a fresh air into the mansion, and even the Professor could be found smiling just that little bit more. But for Jubilee the hero undoubtedly of Xavier’s mutant academy was Rogue.

And Rogue was not entirely indifferent to the kid either. ‘Kid’, Rogue smiled at the term, the same word Logan had used for her for so long, it seemed she had inherited the same trait and coined the phrase for the strange Asian girl, who for some reason had grown attached to her.

She stood watching her in the open door of the professor’s study as he taught his class about ethics. Well she remembered these lessons, it felt a lifetime ago when she had sat the back eager to learn, desperate to do better. She shook her head even now she could see herself, wide eyed and hopeful. Such fools then, like Jubilee and so many of the mutant kids who sat there now, swallowing the same false hope and dreaming of better days.

Professor Xavier could sense her presence over his shoulder at the door, could feel her disapproving eyes bore into his back. He sighed deeply before continuing, ‘The greatest challenges are yet to be faced by mutants…’ He wheeled his chair to the other side of the room, so he could face Rogue but still address the students.

‘I’m sure you have all heard of the proposal for the Mutant Registration Act, and I am sure all of you are aware what such an act will mean for our kind. It does not however have to be a cause for consternation and conflict between our race and the human kind. Open dialogue, concessions and compromise from all sides will see us avert a head on collision.’

He looked up sharply at Rogue, who was by now wearing a cynical smile and shaking her head, the tension between her and the Professor was clearly caught by the students who all felt this was somehow going to end up being quite a different sort of lesson.

Professor Xavier continued all the same, ‘The debate and dilemma for the humans is a broad one, should they accede to the rights of the individual, with regards to freedom of expression and actions, or should the greater responsibility lie with the needs of the wider society, and their rights to live in safety without fear or harm. Therein lies the question, does the right of the extra-ordinary, the super-powered individual such as mutants fall into this equation? Can we claim to demand the absolute rights to our powers, or does society have the greater claim on us, if not to constraint then at least monitor these powers of ours…?’

The whole class waited with baited breath, waited on Rogue, she merely huffed and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. The Professor smiled, ‘Rogue? Would you care to join the debate?’

She smiled and stepped into the room, ‘Ah’ve heard this fairytale before Professor, there’s no happy ending to this one.’

‘There is no doubt the debate will rage on Rogue, perhaps it is not even for this generation to find the answer…’ he gestured towards the roomful of students.

‘Perhaps because there is no answer Professor, your wish to avoid conflict, may prove to be just that…a wish. Confrontation is comin’, professor, never mind all the platitudes. It’s easy for us all to bury our heads in the sand, and warn the next generation of the monsters hidin’ under their beds, meanwhile we’ll find its all too easy to scream when we’re bleedin’, and vainly wishin’ we’d spoken out before…’ She stood up straight wearing a peculiar smile.

Professor Xavier eyes narrowed and he concentrated, he kept his gaze fixed on Rogue. ‘You see class, Rogue was one of my best students for an ethical debate, right here in this classroom, and lately it seems her views have changed.’

‘Adapted…. Professor, ma views have adapted. Wasn’t it you who said that we are all programmed to wanna fight to fit in, our nature’s ya said, humans and mutants alike, to wanna be accepted, to survive, that’s the natural law of all things…right?’ She looked towards him coldly.

She turned to walk out of the room; she stopped at the door and called over her shoulder,
‘Guess ah’m wondering why some of us are forced to fight that much harder…’

Rogue hurried out of the class, shaking with suppressed anger. She needed to hit or hurt something; the various voices in her head were calling for blood, never mind the danger room this was a far greater need, far more base and sadistic.
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