Groaning at the pounding in his head Scott shifted, suddenly aware of the fact that his visor was gone. Squeezing his eyes closed tightly he shifted, aware that his arms were bound behind his back with heavy chains, and there was a bitter, almost rotten taste in his mouth.

Licking his lips he tried to summon saliva to moisten dry tissue even as the sound of a key turning in the lock filled his head. It had become evident a moment after the first explosion that it was a set-up. Someone had beaten them to the kid, and was lying in wait for them. Cursing his foolishness at the obviousness of the ploy Scott waited impatiently for whatever was going to happen.

“Ooh good you’re awake,” the hard tone didn’t fit the image Scott got in his head of the voice’s owner.

“Kitty?”

“Don’t waste your breath,” the girl giggled coldly, sickly, “You’re in for the royal treatment… at least until I get bored.”

“I need my visor or something Kitty. I can’t hold my eyes closed forever.”

“You won’t need to,” Kitty’s footfalls were closer and a moment later he felt something cold, metallic brush against his face. “See I’m doing you a favor, I’m putting on a suppression collar. Tank designed it to help Rogue learn to control her gifts, and it works really well. So well in fact that she spent the entire night last night screaming out Logan’s name.”

Blinking slightly Scott shifted pulling back to stare through a haze of red at Kitty who stood dressed in a tank top and boxer shorts, “Thank God you’re alive.”

“Oh I’m not that girl anymore,” Kitty drawled emotionlessly. “That girl died the first night in that lab.”

“I’m sorry,” Scott whispered softly, “I really am but..”

“Save it. Just to save time I’m gonna fill ya in on some things,” Kitty shifted and looked at him, “First of all there isn’t anyone within ten miles that’s gonna hear you scream so if you want to feel free to… just don’t expect rescue. Second of all, by now one of our people is back at the mansion with a package for them. That package will seal your fate; see they’ll think you’re dead. We both know as long as they think that you won’t even be a blip on the radar.”

“Anything else?” Scott asked softly, unease filling him.

“Yes,” Kitty moved right up to him, the soft curves of her breasts pressing against him, “I’m the only thing that’s gonna save your ass so if I were you, I’d think of something real fast to make me want to keep you alive.”

“You gonna keep me here?”

“No, this is only temporary. We’re going to be moving as soon as Creed Inc. arranges for your more permanent home.”

“You didn’t deserve this you know? You shouldn’t have been on that mission..”

“So why were we, huh?”

Scott sighed, “I don’t know.”

“I can guess,” Kitty trailed her nails down Scott’s jaw, “Get rid of the competition. We all knew Jean resented the hell outta Rogue, we’d all seen it. Couldn’t for the life of me think of why though, I mean it wasn’t as though you were trying to get Rogue into bed…no the only one who was even considering that was Logan and he left. But he’d pay attention to her if Rogue was gone, if she was out of the picture Jean would have Logan all to herself.”

“You’re mistaken.”

“The only problem was no one would believe that Rogue would run, she’d promised Logan to stay put, to be safe so that meant there had to be a mission. But how to send her alone… she couldn’t so she made up some story about a kid needin’ help and poof suggested Rogue and us go. Eliminate three enemies with one blow. How’s she liking life now Scott? How does she sleep at night,” Kitty hissed her nails digging into his throat.

Wisely Scott held his tongue; he knew Jean wasn’t to blame, that the blame was equally within him as well. Watching Kitty’s movements around him he wondered just how much the girl had changed and swallowed harshly, somehow he didn’t believe he’d ever get back to New York. Somehow, something told him that if Kitty didn’t kill him, there were three more people waiting in line to do it.

“Nothing to say? Oh well I guess that’s alright. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say by the time I’m finished with you.”

The slam of the door had Scott slumping in his bindings, he wondered if the girl would ever trust him enough to let him go. Resolving to keep his head, he took a steadying breath, he would do whatever he needed to, and after all he had to make amends somehow.



With Kitty in a meeting with Helen and Rebecca the responsibility of feeding her new ‘toy’ fell to Rogue. Logan would just kill him and Kitty didn’t want that, she wanted him alive, wanted him able to feel pain, sorrow, degradation, emotions Kitty was very familiar with.

Jubilee refused flatly, the very thought was enough to make her throw up and she swallowed harshly as Rogue sighed and shrugged her agreement. Now Rogue was carrying Scott his meal, her booted feet moving rather slowly, only the thought of Kitty’s displeasure at the prisoners death kept her from dropping it on the floor outside his cell.

Resting the tray on one leg she unlocked the door and slipped inside the small, confined space. A lone bare bulb hung from the ceiling, the pale yellow light unyielding in the room. The sound of dripping water echoed within the steel enforced walls and Rogue hid a grin. Both the light and the sound were all means of mental torture and Kitty was obviously not ashamed to use them.

Turning slightly she scanned the room catching sight of Scott laying curled into a fetal position in the corner. His soft snore an indication that he was sleeping, walking silently over to him she kicked him in the gut and all but dropped his meal, “Foods here bitch.”

Crying out at the agony of a kick to ribs already bruised Scott gasped and choked as he rolled over, making his knees only through strength of will. Glancing up to see Rogue standing there eying him like he was some sort of insect he swallowed nervously but held his tongue.

“Better eat up princess,” Rogue chuckled harshly, “The Kitster might not be so generous tonight.”

Watching her stalking toward the door Scott shook his head and glanced down at the plate, “I’m sorry.”

Pausing before the door at the weakly spoken words Rogue turned her head slightly and smirked, “I doubt that very strongly Cyclops. You have no idea what regrets are…but you will. See I think we should have a talk, but I’m gonna make sure Kitster’s okay with it before we do. I’m not the girl you tossed to the wolves anymore. Now, now I fit my code name to a ‘T’.”

“I should have made them listen,” Scott winced as he sank back against the wall and stared at the woman before him. “I should never have let any of you go. It was a mission better suited to Logan, to myself.”

“It was a setup,” Rogue hissed and stalked toward him. Grabbing hold of him at his throat she lifted, her face pressed close to his, “You threw us away like trash. We were beneath your contempt, your disregard, but now we’re not. Now we’re stronger, we’re trained, we’re professionals. See I talked the girls into something, talked Logan into something and you know we’re having a helluva time with it. This time next week, Jean’s gonna be begging… and I do mean begging for mercy. She may think you’re dead, she may even be mourning your demise but she’s not suffering yet!”

“Please, don’t do something you’ll regret. This isn’t you Rogue, this isn’t…”

“Isn’t what?” Rogue asked sweetly, innocently, “Oh you have no idea who I am. See any debt I owed you bastards was paid in full when they cut me open and poured boiling metal onto my bones. Only the fact that I’d retained Logan’s healing abilities, and the drugs they pumped me full of kept me alive. See what you and the rest of your ‘friends’ did is reawaken Frankenstein. And we’re not about to go back to sleep.”

Swallowing painfully as Rogue dropped him Scott watched her walk away, the glare of the light minimal as she opened the door to reveal a familiar figure leaning against the wall.

Blinking as Rogue stood in the open door and Logan pushed off the wall and approached her. The sight of the gruff man’s hands sliding around Rogue’s waist to rest low on her back, over her buttocks was enough to rid Scott of his appetite, and he closed his eyes at the soft moan from Rogue when Logan pulled her tightly into him and kissed her through a shimmering piece of silk.

“Mm, you taste good. Let’s go to our room,” the words were low enough not to be obvious but loud enough that Scott knew Logan didn’t care that he’d heard them.

“Yeah,” Rogue turned slightly and chuckled at Scott’s slumped figure, “Let’s go fuck, it’s done for the day.”

The chuckle from Logan had Scott struggling not to cry openly, not to allow them to break him. When the door closed and the only sounds were the pounding of his own heart, his breathing, and that annoying drip of water he’d been unable to find Scott let the strength ebb from his body and he slumped onto the floor to sob silently. Huge racking sobs that tore through his battered body awakening the aches and the pain from Kitty’s last visit.

Laying there staring at the crude meal he’d been given, Scott couldn’t bring himself to hate them though, fear them yes, hate them…no. They’d suffered so much, been to hell and survived it there was no wonder they’d changed, hardened, become more like…Logan! Scott blinked at the thought, yes that was it, the girls had hardened into something very much like Logan. Crass, gruff, unyielding, self-aware and yet they each bore a remarkable grasp of honor and it was that honor that had kept him alive this long.


With one arm wrapped around Rogue’s shoulders Logan led her back down the hallway, away from Scott’s holding cell. He hated the way Rogue got whenever she was around Scott, the cold, impersonal woman that was more like a machine than a flesh and blood person but he refused to make her change, refused to take away her sense of self-worth, her control.

“How’d it go today?” Logan whispered softly, a gentle touch from Rogue had him glancing at her.

“It hurts Logan,” Rogue whispered, “He deserves whatever he gets but still…I don’t want to be like them. I don’t want to use whatever means I can to make someone else hurt. I know Jubilee doesn’t either. Kitty’s so deeply mired in her grief in her rage that she’s forgotten the woman underneath the scars.”

Logan nodded and sat on a bench in the hallway, pulling her into his lap he sighed, “All we can do is help her find her way Marie. Offer her support; offer her a rock to lean on… a shoulder to cry on. Let her heal.”

“How can we do that? We know where she’s coming from, know what’s going on in her mind and we can understand her need for violence.”

Logan sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. How could he explain what had taken him years to learn, how could he make them see that the road they were walking was fraught with pot-holes the size of Niagara Falls, twists and curves that would disguise the fact that those on it were never making any ground.

“I wish I could make it go away kid,” Logan started, tracing her curves through her clothes, his caresses slow, languid, soothing rather than arousing, “I really do. I know where she’s coming from, I understand that but you have to understand something. This is a lesson we can’t learn for her.”

“But it’s killing her! She’s spent the past few nights crying herself to sleep, this morning she was up pacing the halls to stand and stare at the cell door and cry. This isn’t what she wants, but I don’t know how to tell her that she doesn’t have to do this.”

Nodding Logan sighed and glanced up at the soft sounds of footfalls. Spotting Rebecca and Helen coming toward them he glanced at Rogue, “You miss a therapy session?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I see you two are comfortable,” Helen smiled at both of them.

“Just discussing stuff,” Logan replied gruffly.

“Good then you can help us,” Helen sank to the floor and leaned against the wall, her ankles crossed gracefully, “Under Rebecca’s suggestion Kitty’s been sedated. There’s an indication that she may be using physical violence on Cyclops as a way of relieve sexual tension.”

“What?” Rogue gaped at Helen.

“It would appear that Kitty’s blatant hostility toward the man has more to do with her desire to sleep with him than to hurt him. Making him beg and plead for the pain to stop has awakened the memories that she’s never put to rest. The ones from the lab, in her mind she sees that as a good thing. She doesn’t feel as though she’s a sexual being, and so she’s going to take it out..”

“So what are you saying?” Logan leaned forward. “She wants Cyke?”

“She did have a big crush on him for the longest time,” Rogue pointed out a frown of concern on her face.

“That crush may have manifested itself into other means.”

“Do you think she’ll grow more violent toward him?”

“Yes. The more she begins to revive those feelings, the more she thinks of him as a sexual object as it were the more likely she is to strike out,” Helen glanced at Rebecca. “We think it would be wise to release him before she kills him.”

“Let her,” Logan snapped angrily. “Prick deserves what he’s getting.”

“That may be Logan,” Rebecca stated calmly, “But its hurting Kitty. What she needs to do is work out a means of sexual exploration that would allow herself to become aware that she is a sexual person, that she’s not an object, not something to be hurt and abused.”

“There’s nobody here that’ll do that,” Rogue gaped at the woman. “You’re talking about Kitty having access to someone sexually just so she learns that she’s not dirty…”

“Yes Streaks I am. Katharine is on the precipice of a very dangerous cliff. If she falls, if she doesn’t allow herself to heal from this it will have far reaching, deadly consequences for her.”

Glancing at the two women Rogue sighed and moved back against Logan, glancing at him she bit her lip, “What about Logan?”

“Hell no,” Logan shook his head, “First of all I don’t see a woman when I look at her. I see a kid in pigtails! She’s not sexual to me; it would be like trying to get a hard-on for my own daughter.”

“Well we have to do something.”

Helen glanced at them then sighed, “What about Cyclops?”

“Uh you do realize she’s been beating the shit out of him?” Logan chuckled at the thought.

“Yes, which means it’s perfect. If we can make him understand that it’s a therapeutic means for her…”

“He may just be willing to become her ‘fuck-toy’,” Rogue rose to her feet and began pacing. “Would he do it though?”

“I’ll talk to him,” Logan volunteered with a sly grin, “I’m sure I can talk him into it.”

Rogue looked pointedly at him before shaking her head and turning her attention to Helen and Rebecca, “Does anyone else know about this?”

“Just Tank and that’s only because he’s her treating physician.”

“What does Kitty have to say about it?”

“She refuses to think about sex,” Rebecca stated, “Says it’s a painful, degrading exercise and she wants none of it.”

“We need to do it,” Rogue glanced at Logan, “This isn’t just about sex, this is about letting Kitty heal enough to let go. She needs to know that her scars aren’t bad, that they aren’t marks of filth, but marks of glory, of her status as a woman.”

With a quick nod Logan rose to his feet and cracked his neck, “I’ll go talk to our pretty boy and see what he says.”

“Don’t kill him,” Rogue warned and caught the grin Logan tossed her way. “I mean it!”
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