He watched from the shadows as the rest of the school held their farce of a memorial service. Just like with the others, there was no body to be buried and no casket. Only a cold slab of rock with one word engraved across it: ROGUE. That was it. There were no poem, no parting words, not even an epitaph - nothing to symbolize who she was. There weren’t even any dates to measure her life.
Logan wondered briefly if any of the others had known anything about the girl whose memory they were laying to rest. He doubted it. It seemed as if most of the people there were just waiting for the end of the ceremony Ororo was conducting. Rogue hadn’t truly been one of them. A few had accepted her into the fold, but it was more as a beloved pet than an equal. Even the boyfriend was so busy holding hands with another girl, Logan doubted he heard a word. He felt the deep rumble in his chest building as he watched this mockery.
He waited until they were finished and watched with little interest as most of the so-called mourners headed back inside the mansion for lunch. There were a few that stayed behind - four, to be exact. Ororo stood to the side, watching the rest of the school retreat from the memorial site. Logan knew that her emotions were genuine. The guilt had eaten at her when he had told her what they had found in Nevada. Her eyes no longer held the playful wisdom she had once been known for and her whole presence seemed to have aged overnight.
“Logan?” He turned in the direction the soft question had come from to where the others still sat, staring at the slab of concrete. He wasn’t surprised to find Piotr and Jubilee talking quietly. He could almost make out what they were saying, but didn’t think the extra effort was needed.
Warren sat just to the right of Jubilee, openly watching him, his eyes locked on his face. He had questions and needed to talk. Logan had a feeling that he would be the one to have to do it.
Logan slowly sat beside the winged man, chewing on the end of the cigar he had popped into his mouth midway through the ceremony. “You want to talk about it, kid?”
Warren sighed, his eyes finally darting away. He was uncomfortable, but Logan was used to that. He made a lot of people uncomfortable. “I didn’t know her, but I feel like I should be here, and even my sadness seems much deeper than some of those who were supposed to have been close to her. She wasn’t a bad person, was she? I mean those two seem deeply affected by it, and even Storm…”
“She wasn’t a bad person at all, Warren,” Logan rumbled lowly as his shoulders slumped. He watched Storm finally turn and head for the mansion, her shoulders hunched in defeat. “She was… She was very protective of herself, and it wasn’t easy to get close to her. But when she did let you in, she was one of the best people around here.”
“You two were close, weren’t you?” Warren hadn’t asked any questions when he had been told he would accompany Logan on the search. He had only assumed that Logan was going out of the sense of duty a teacher has for his students. This was beyond duty, though. Warren could sense the commitment, and he wondered if Logan would be so forceful if it were anyone else.
“Yes. She’s the reason I came back after leaving the first time,” Logan began, his eyes glazing over with the memory of that first goodbye. He sighed deeply, trying to find the words to tell this young man of the woman Rogue had been. “We understood each other, more than anyone else here. You have your groups and such, but there’s nothing here that was anything like us. We reminded each other that we were human and not unwanted trash. There were so many people who were afraid of us: me because, well, I like it that way, and her because of her mutation. There weren’t too many people around who tried to help her feel normal, even her boyfriend. So she’s pretty distant from most.”
“You don’t think she’s dead,” Warren said suddenly. Logan’s eyes snapped to the boy, understanding that he was being studied. “You think she’s alive, don’t you?”
Logan realized that Jubilee and Piotr had suddenly stopped talking. They were both looking at him now, awaiting his answer. He could see the hope in Jubilee’s eyes, though Piotr was slightly better at keeping his emotions hidden. He only hoped that this wouldn’t crush them further. “No, I don’t. It doesn’t add up, and it’s been gnawing at me since we got back. Let’s look at what we know: she went to get the cure, but was taken to this place in Nevada instead, where they were experimenting on mutants. Meaning, she still has her abilities. We were assuming that the people who held her had to find some way of keeping her mutation suppressed. We found out yesterday that we were right.
“That computer that we retrieved had information on a collar built to suppress the mutant gene and any active abilities, not including those mutations that could be identified as physical traits. Meaning, while the collar would work on suppressing my healing factor, it wouldn’t work on my claws or my senses.”
“Wow…” Jubilee said slowly, her eyes widening in surprise. “I didn’t realize you were such a computer expert!”
“Actually, that’s the way Beast explained it to me. I’m not sure I’m explaining it right.” Logan looked from one to the next, waiting for them to make any further comments. When no one did, he continued. “What else do we know?”
“There was a lot of her blood around that place, especially around some of those cells, too much to come off of hands. Which means that she must have helped the others in their escape,” Piotr replied slowly.
“What else?”
“She was in Victor’s cage, and she had killed at least one of those guards - the one that didn’t have anything physically wrong with him,” Jubilee chimed in.
“Anything else?” Logan asked, waiting for them to catch on. The only one with any real training was Piotr, but Logan was pretty sure that the boy had overlooked what was missing. When no one gave an answer, Logan shook his head. “The body. There was no body to bring back. Why?”
“One of the other mutants took it?” Warren asked, trying to piece together the picture.
“Why?” Logan asked again.
“Because, if she was still alive, they would want to try to help her?” Jubilee said quickly, jumping on Warren’s conclusion bandwagon.
“Exactly.” Logan couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. They were slow, but they were learning. “Creed wouldn’t have taken her, alive or dead. She wasn’t any use to him at all. It would have gone against his survival instincts. So, with her body being gone, someone else might have gotten her out of there, maybe because she helped them get out… What else do we know?”
“Most of her blood was in Creed’s cell, with the other bodies.” Warren looked to the others, waiting for someone to add on or challenge what was said. “But that could mean that she was hurt there first, and then made it out to help the others. Maybe after Victor took off?”
“It’s a fifty-fifty shot, but it’s something better than this. Just keep your ears open when you go on missions and things. I’ve got a couple of people working on this, too. We’ll find her.”
“And if she’s dead?” Jubilee asked quietly, cringing at her own words.
“At least we’ll be able to give her a proper goodbye, and there will be no more questions.”
She sought him out, unsure if she was doing the right thing. She wasn’t sure how he was going to take the news, but she knew that this would ultimately be the catalyst in her decision of whether to lead this team.
She found him sitting on the front porch, lazily watching the birds fly by. They were in a secluded area outside of the city, far from any highway. No one would notice. Not for the first time, she wondered why Mystique chose to keep up her disguise. Was it for the sake of another here?
But it wasn’t the time to dwell on such things. This was a conversation that needed to take place and as much as she wished it wasn’t up to her, there was no one else.
“Havok?” Rogue called as she walked to his side. She took a seat next to him on the only other lounge chair, carrying two beers and hoping that this conversation went well. “Brought you something cold to drink.”
She handed him the beer as he eyed her closely, almost waiting for her burst into flames. “It’s been a long time since a beautiful woman brought me a beer. It will have to be on me next time.”
“Who said that there would be a next time?” Rogue asked, eyeing him closely. She took in his casual appearance, noting the laid back attitude. “Actually, I need to talk to you about something… Important.”
He seemed to straighten somewhat as she got comfortable. The others in the house were all preoccupied with one thing or another, so she knew that they weren’t going to be interrupted anytime soon. “I take it Raven talked to you about what she and Irene are planning, right?”
Rogue cocked her head to the side, her mind wrapping around the information the man in front of her had unknowingly provided. Raven had been one of Mystique’s many aliases, one that she had used often, but she would have thought the shapeshifter would have shared who she really was with the entire group. Rogue wondered who else knew. Irene definitely. Victor and John, of course, but what about the others? Maybe Psylocke, but Rogue was pretty sure none of the others had any idea. She would have to talk to Mystique about this sooner than she planned. “Yeah, we talked about three days ago. I told her I would think about it. She wants to build a team to protect this place, kind of like the X-Men in New York. I don’t know, though. I’m not sure how well I trust her.”
“I’ve heard of the X-men,” Havok said slowly, taking the conversation in the direction she was hoping for. “They’ve done some good things, but… I’m not too sure how much good they can do in the long run. Not with the way things keep going. Pretty soon, it’s going to be every man for themselves.”
“The X-Men need to learn how to be more open-minded with their fellow teammates. That’s what will destroy them long before their work swallows them,” Rogue replied sourly. He was looking at her questioningly, almost as if she had grown another head. “What, exactly, have the others told you about me?”
“Actually, not too many people in this house talk to me much.” He looked away from her, taking a swig from his beer. His face twisted into a grimace, glancing at the label on the bottle. “What the hell is this? Piss?”
“Molson, actually. I asked Myst… Raven to pick me up a case last night. I didn’t think it would already be here, nor was I expecting her to buy enough to last me a month. It’s an acquired taste.” Rogue couldn’t keep her lips from twisting into a soft smile as she peered down at the label.
“What are you thinking about?” Havok asked playfully.
“The guy I acquired it from,” she replied slowly, not realizing what she was saying until it was too late. Pushing all thoughts of him away, she willed herself to think of someone else, someone important to the conversation that she was having. “Why don’t the others speak with you?”
“I don’t really know, honestly. It was right after we got here when you were still passed out. Mystique was making sure you and Sabretooth were both taken care of. John was downstairs with us, talking. Every time I tried to say anything, he would make it perfectly clear that I wasn’t one of them,” he shrugged his shoulders, taking another swallow. “I think this is one taste I really don’t feel like acquiring.”
“Drink up. It will put some hair on your chest,” Rogue said softly, knowing that the alcohol would dull the pain her theory was going to inflict.
“Is that why you drink it?” He was still trying to be playful, although there was a look of wariness in his eyes.
She shrugged a little, enjoying the banter. “Just remember, little man, my balls are bigger than yours. Don’t test me.”
He unleashed a laugh, and Rogue felt her heart jerk at the sound. It reminded her so much of another that she wasn’t sure she would be able to continue. But if she didn’t do it now, later would be too late. “What’s your real name, Havok? The name you were born with?”
He shook his head slowly, not sure where she was going with this. He hadn’t been asked that in a long time, and he wasn’t sure what to tell her. “Summers, Alex Summers. Why? Is it important?”
“Yeah, actually, it is.” She paused for a moment, knowing that this could go one of two ways, both extreme. “You had a brother, right? You were separated when you were kids.”
“There was a plane crash. Our parents died. Scott and I…” And there it was. Scott. She could feel the tears build in her eyes. After his death, the only time she heard his name anymore was in whispers, as if everyone who had known him chose to tiptoe around his memory for fear of some invisible wrath. “I was adopted, but I never knew what happened to him. He was a few years older than me so the family I went with didn’t want to take him, too. You know him, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Rogue said slowly, looking back to her beer, trying not to notice the hope in his eyes. “I knew him. He was one of my teachers and a good friend.”
“Was?” The hope seemed to vanish in an instant, and Rogue felt her heart go out to him. “What do you mean, ‘was’?”
She sat back in her chair, knowing that she couldn’t stop now that she had gone this far. She owed it to Scott, at least. “He passed away a few months back, just before I was taken to that place. He was a member of the X-Men. One of the leaders, actually.”
“My brother was Cyclops?” Havok was in awe, and Rogue only hoped that he would have time to enjoy it before reality set in.
She smiled slowly, remembering the nicknames some of the kids used to call him. Logan had bestowed a few of those. She pushed those memories away, not wanting to defile Scott’s memory. “Yeah. But he was more than that. He led a good life.”
She gave him a moment to soak in everything he had just learned. She knew the question was coming even before he asked, and she wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him. “How did he die?”
She took another swallow of her beer, trying to buy a few more seconds. “He was engaged to a woman about a year before his death. She died making sure that she saved the entire team, plus a few of the students. I was one of those students, and Scott was one of the people who would have died without her.” She paused again, reaching for the right words. “It took its toll on him. He became withdrawn and aggravated. He wouldn’t come out of his room and he stopped teaching. More importantly, he stopped leading the team. He left one day and didn’t come back. It took some digging before we found out that he was killed by the mutant known as the Phoenix.”
There was another moment of silence while she watched Havok soak up the information. There were going to be questions, and she was going to have to answer everything she could. “Did she go after him specifically or was it random?”
This was going to be difficult to explain, but he had a right to know. “Actually, Phoenix was originally a psychic who had disappeared a year before named Jean Grey. Her friends all thought she had died in an accident at a lake, but somehow she actually saved herself. Those details were never really shared with anyone, though. When she came out of it, she specifically called out to Scott, who couldn’t resist going to her.”
“Why would he do that, though? Just some strange mutant?”
Rogue downed the rest of her beer, knowing that this next part would show just what kind of man she would be dealing with. “Actually, I don’t think he could stop himself even if he had wanted to and she wasn’t just some mutant. Jean Grey was your brother’s fiancée.”
She had watched Alex finish downing his beer without a word. And when he asked for another, she fetched it for him without protest. There would be more questions later, but for now, what he knew would have to do. It was going to take time for him to heal.
They talked for a few more hours about other things, nothing serious though. She told him a few stories of her time at the institute and on the road, and he told her about life in Hawaii. They talked long after the sun set, bonding over the case of Molson, Alex steadily getting drunk and Rogue wondering why she was still sober after her sixth bottle. She shrugged, chalking it up to possibly still having Victor’s healing factor.
After Alex was good and drunk, she helped him to his room, making sure he was comfortable before deciding to head to the kitchen for a bite to eat.
And that was where she came face to face with Pyro.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked incredulously. “If you’re going to lead this damn team, do you really think it’s a good idea to include the weakest link?”
“And why, exactly, do you think he’s the weakest?” Rogue replied, her arms crossing over her chest. “I haven’t seen you spend any time with him, so how would you know what he’s capable of?”
John scoffed at her, realizing that she didn’t know everything he did. “He’s little more than a child, Rogue. He’s not serious about anything. Hell, he didn’t even learn to control his mutation until just before he was taken.”
She scowled at him, checking the urge to break his nose. “I still have no control over my mutation. What the hell does that say about me?”
“You’re different, Rogue. You’re strong and you’ve had the training. You’re serious,” John shrugged at her. “You’re the Rogue. What do you really know about this guy?”
“For one,” Rogue began, the urge to hurt him increasing with every word he uttered. “I know that from the first night, you turned the others against him. I also have a hunch you know that Scott was his brother. That’s probably why you’re giving him such a hard time.”
She could practically feel his anger rise, but there was no surprise. He had known, probably from the beginning. “I’m taking the job, Pyro. I know you want it, but Mystique’s right. You’re not fit for it. With you in charge, these people would be dead in a week.”
“And who are you going to make your second-in-command?” he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Havok?”
“No.” Rogue paused when she heard the deep growl behind her, knowing whom it was without turning around. She smiled slowly, realizing that this man alone would give her all the back-up she could ever need. “I’ll be her second. And if you don’t like it… well, I could always use your bones to pick my teeth.”
“How long you been up, Victor?”
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