The ambulance car finally arrived at the hospital and the waiting doctors rushed towards them. She stepped out off the car and scanned the busy emergency room, noting the security guards’ laceration being stitched up. A doctor led her towards a bed. “You seem unharmed but I will do a fast check up. There are two FBI agents who will question you later.” She simply nodded while a flashlight shone into her eyes checking her pupils.
“Where’s Marie?” She heard Josh asked and her view traveled through the room anew, becoming worried. She looked up to her doctor. “Where is the girl with the white strains in her hair? She accompanied a really bad injured man.”
“Oh, you mean the hysterically crying mutant?! She should be in the waiting area, the other mutant is in surgery right now.” The bald man answered.
The woman with the little girl Logan had saved walked up to the D’Ancantos holding her daughter in the arms. “I can show you where she is. She’s your daughter, isn’t she?”
Unsure if she could trust the strange woman she finally nodded. “Yeah.”
The other mother smiled. “I’m Amber Wilson. Your girl was really brave back then.”
Mrs. D’Ancanto returned the smile when her husband neared the two women. “She had grown up.”
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Pulling the blanket closer around her body Rogue looked at the small device in her hand eventually pushing a button. The LCD-display showed ‘rec complete’. She encircled the mp3-player with her blood covered hands holding onto it. A few nurses walked past her giving her frightened stares. She was already sitting for an hour in front of the room praying for Logan to make it when her parents lead by the woman with the little girl approached her.
Her mother bent down before her a metre separating them. “Marie? Are ya alright?”
Rogue met her gaze, tears welling up in her brown orbs. “Ya fear me again. Ah can see it in your eyes.” ‘And smell it.’ She added in her mind.
“Marie.” Her father didn’t know what to say.
“It’s fine. As soon as Logan is well again Ah'll be gone for good.” Her voice sounded sad and her words had a ring to them that made her parents shiver.
The D’Ancantos traded a worried view, her mother eventually took a deep breath before responding. “We never wanted ya to go.”
“It’s better for all of us when Ah’m finally gone.” Rogue’s eyes traveled over to the closed doors. “Ah just hope they will treat him like any other patient.”
The woman set her child down. “The doctor will do his best. Your friend saved his daughter after all.”
Rogue’s features relaxed slightly hearing this. “The doctor is your husband.” The woman seemed to be honest; her face didn’t hold the same fear her parents’ did. “Thank ya.”
The little girl climbed into the seat next to Rogue pulling on the blanket. “Hi, I’m Melissa. The claw-man gave you his superpowers.” Rogue met the child’s view. “Can’t you give it back to him? So he will heal.”
“Believe me. Ah wouldn’t hesitate a moment if that would be possible.”
“That’s stupid!” Melissa blew up her cheeks.
“Yeah, it really is.” Rogue had to smile, tears still running down her face. “It is up to your daddy to save him.”
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
The group sat in silence for the next half hour in the waiting area, her mother had brought Rogue a coffee, but the young woman was sure her stomach couldn’t hold it in. The brunette felt suddenly a part of Logan’s presence moving further away from her. It was similar to the feeling when he would physically leave her side for a little while. Just yet it was still different. Rogue concentrated harder but her love’s presence was pulled from her leaving only a shallow copy of Logan in her mind.
“Noooooo!” Rogue looked up from her knees her eyes wide as saucers starring towards the closed doors of the surgery. Frozen only tears moved down her cheeks while she held her breath. Seconds seemed to stretch into hours until the young woman leaned back relieved about feeling Logan return.
“What happened, Marie?” Josh asked the question everybody held, but his sister never answered, she only kept staring to the ceiling.
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Dr. Wilson approached the young woman, only a brown blanket hid her blood drenched clothes. She immediately stood up and met him half way, an elderly couple and a teenage boy followed her but kept their distance. “I was told you know the … mutant.”
The brunette’s eyes were red from crying when their gazes met. “How is Logan?”
“So Logan… Are you a family member of his?”
For a moment the thought of lying crossed her mind. “No.”
“Then do you know any contact infor-“ He saw the torment in her features.
A tear run down from Rogue’s chocolate eyes. “People like us hardly have a family. Ah am his only family.”
A sigh escaped his lips, the patient was weird enough and he wanted his curiosity being satisfied. As far as he knew this younger mutant had also saved the people at the mall and she seemed to be sincere. “Fine. I'll tell you. His condition is critical but he’s stable at the moment.”
“He… was dead, wasn’t he?” Her voice cracked.
“How do you know? … His heart stopped due to the extensive blood loss. We could bring him back.” He led her over to the chairs. “Please have a seat. … But I won’t give cause for false hopes. He got a bullet to the head and his brain suffered oxygen deficit during surgery. Even if he survives the next 24 hours, I doubt he will ever wake up again.”
“He will.” There was hope shining in her eyes suddenly. “May Ah see him?”
“This way.” He led her towards the elevators. “May I have your name, miss?”
“Rogue. It’s just Rogue.” Startling her family nearby extremely with this revelation.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
The D’Ancantos had asked their way to Logan’s room, being unable to turn their backs to their daughter. Mrs. D’Ancanto saw trough the large windows into the room the young woman sitting in a chair next to the bed. When her knock to the door remained unanswered she entered followed by her two men. “Marie?” No reaction. Her eyes wandered to Logan, from whose body various cables and tubes ran to monitors and other devices that kept him alive. “How is he?” Again no reaction. Her mother approached her. “Can we do anything for ya, honey?” She tried to jump beyond her shadow to make her daughter better. “Shall we get ya something to change?” The brunette kept staring on the other mutant, her eyes empty. Tentatively her mother moved her hand to the blanket covered shoulder making her flinch. “Don’t touch me!” Rogue screamed hysterically and her mother stepped away immediately.
“Ah’m sorry.” She took a deep breath. “Ya didn’t react. Did ya hear me?”
Rogue’s empty eyes never left Logan’s form. “In our car… there is a duffel bag in the trunk with mah old clothes. There should also be a shirt and trouser of Logan.”
Her father finally stepped closer. “Ah will bring the car here. Ya have to give me the keys.”
Suddenly her view broke away and wandered to her father’s face. Slowly she got up and walked over to the torn clothes that hung over another chair. She lifted the jeans up and retrieved the car keys and Logan’s wallet from the pockets. Then she placed the keys on the small table and returned to her former spot. “On the backseat there is mah laptop. Would please bring it, too?”
“Sure.” He picked the keys up and left the room trading an unreadable view with his wife.
Josh walked over to the unoccupied chairs and sunk down on one. “We will stay, ok, Marie?” A barely visible nod was her answer.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
An hour later her father had returned with the requested things placing the duffel bag next to his daughter on the ground. “Thanks.” Was all Rogue said when she opened the bag and fetched a long sleeved dark blue shirt, black trousers, fresh underwear and a pair of forest-green gloves. Without a word she entered the bathroom closing the door behind her.
Tears welled up again when Rogue striped out of her torn tank top. Turning the shower on, she stepped under the cold water. Her fists clenched, she hit the tiles crying again. A desperate scream escaped her lips when her legs gave away and she slid down to the floor. Hugging her legs she sobbed hysterically while the water ran down her body washing the dried blood from her skin. She heard a faint knock and her mother’s voice. “Leave me alone!”
Her skin was icy by the time she’d calmed and climbed to her feet again. Turning the water off she took one of the towels. After getting dressed she slowly opened the door and placed her blood drenched clothes on top of Logan’s old ones on the chair. She slipped a pair new socks on and opened her notebook.
Hesitating a little her mother approached the young woman, who just settled down on her chair next to Logan. “Marie? Is everything ok?”
“It will never be ok again, mom.” Her voice was calm, almost emotionless.
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The sun was already setting and Rogue listened to her mp3-player while typing on her laptop. Her parents and brother were still sitting on the other end of the room hoping that their presence would make their Marie better.
After a quick knock, the door opened and Dr. Wilson entered the room with a nurse. He smiled encouraging and checked the monitors. “You look a little better, Rogue.” This made the brunette close her notebook. “He’s stable, but his brain activity is disturbing.”
“He just needs time. In a few days he’ll be as good as new.” Rogue was calmer now.
Dr. Wilson instructed the nurse to get a new IV-bottle then he turned to the young woman. “You are quite sure about that. He is practically brain-dead.”
Rogue wondered about her mutation. She’d always thought to absorb a copy of other people’s personality, but it was something else with Logan. Maybe because she’d absorbed him so often. It was like an invisible bond she shared with him. It became stronger the closer they were. “Ah know him. He’s already a lot better.” She could really tell.
“I would argue if it wasn’t for his MRT.” The doctor moved a chair in front of Rogue and took a seat on it facing her. “How came that metal into his body? He may be a mutant but that metal didn’t fuse on any natural way with his bones.”
The brunette threw a gaze to her family, who was listening as well. “The government… the military perform experiments on mutants.” Rogue contemplated her next words. “Logan should become the perfect soldier….” She spoke slowly. “But he soon learned that the military section’s objective wasn’t to serve the country. He fought against them and freed the other test subjects. Nobody should ever learn of their experiment and so they erased his memories since they were unable to kill him.” She summed the story of his life up.
Wilson frowned doubting her words a little. “He can’t remember, but you seem to know a lot.”
“Except for some scraps of memories in nightmares, he can’t remember who he was.” Rogue’s eyes became sad. “For almost the past 20 years he is on the search for clues about his identity.”
Now he was curious. “So he found what he was looking for?”
“No, but the men who attacked the mall… the other mutant … he also belonged to that section.” She frowned shortly. ”Ah think he still does.”
As far as he knew those two were the first mutants he ever had met, he was indeed fascinated. “Whence do you know so much?”
“Mah mutation is to absorb other people’s life-force, mutant ability and memories.” The brunette just stared into the space before her. “Ah assimilated the enemy.”
A minute went by till Josh piped up from his spot. “So ya now have the answers, he's looking for?”
“Yeah, at least Ah now know where we should look next.”
An uncomfortable silence settled on the group. “Whats Logan’s power?” Dr. Wilson finally asked.
“Regeneration, enhanced healing.”
“I thought something like that.” After a moment he continued. “He is older than he looks, isn’t he?”
Rogue nodded. “A lot older.”
“You also absorbed him.” It was a statement not a question.
Her eyes wandered to Logan’s face. “Ah didn’t want to. He gave his life to me. He took my place. Ah should have died today.”
The physician rose from his seat. “You must mean a lot to him.” The young woman kept staring at her friend. “Anyway, you should get some rest.” He looked over to the brunette’s family as he was told from his wife. “You too.”
“May Ah stay here?” Rogue got a short nod as an answer.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
The next day already turned to its end and Rogue had hardly left Logan’s side. The food a nurse brought her on Dr. Wilson’s request was still untouched. Her family returned in the morning and was sitting since then on the other side of the room, waiting with her for Logan to wake up. To almost everybody’s surprise the monitor already showed brain activity and some of his smaller scars had already vanished.
Everybody of the survivors of the massacre was by now questioned by the FBI the evening before, all but the two mutants. On Dr. Wilson’s advice the agents waited with their interrogation of Rogue, giving her emotional state more time to stabilize.
Dr. Wilson was still not sure if the girl was in the state of mind to relive the traumatic moments of the former day, but the two agents were insisting to finally speak with her. “Rogue, there are some agents from the FBI here. They question everybody from the incident. They also want your giving of evidence.” He led the FBI into Logan’s room.
Rogue knew she was the only one left, not counting Logan, who wasn’t spoken to. “Sure.”
“Hello, we’re special agents Hood and O’Neill.” The red haired woman introduced them holding her identification. Rogue noted that she was O’Neill.
Her partner set down next to her and Rogue immediately pushed herself back into the seat. “It’s fine. We won’t harm you.”
“Ya don’t understand. Ah don’t wanna harm ya.” A frown appeared on the man’s face. “Ah did that to him.” Rogue motioned her chin in Logan’s direction. “Just by touching.”
At once Hood rose again bringing a save distance between him and the mutant. “We just have a few questions. We’re investigation all three of these incidences.”
“We have already talked with all the other survivors. They said you and that man fought alone against all those soldiers.” O’Neill continued in a firm voice.
Rogue looked up and contemplated her answer. This was a number too big for her to handle alone. “Ah want Dr. Henry McCoy to be here during my interrogation.”
“McCoy? The UN ambassador?” Hood was surprised.
“Yes.”
The agent was sure that an ambassador was hardly fitted to be of any help. “I don’t know. He might have other stuff to do.”
“Tell him, Wolverine was involved. He will come.” Rogue’s resolved eyes locked with Hood’s. “This is too grave for ya to handle on your own.” Her view wandered to the other agent. “Ah doubt ya know the background to all those massacres.” The two agents trade a short glance. “Ah won’t run away. It is too much at stake.”
Hood took a deep breath. “Fine. I'll call the embassy, but if Dr. McCoy isn’t willed to come, you will have to talk with us without him.”
Rogue nodded. “Just tell him that Wolverine was involved in the massacre at the mall.”
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Hank was more than surprised about the call from the FBI and his interest was caught by the revelation that Wolverine was somehow involved in that massacre. He might be UN ambassador now, but he still was a strong voice for the rights of the mutants and he knew the situation was heating up due to those incidents. The next morning he sat in the jet with his assistant Helen on their way to the small town.
When they arrived at the hospital the FBI was already awaiting them and led them to Logan’s room. Hank’s eyes scanned the room, noting the bad condition Wolverine was in and the elderly couple, the boy and the doctor, who were quite startled about his appearance. Eventually his eyes fell upon the young woman sitting in a chair near Logan. “Rogue, wasn’t it?”
The brunette looked up, a small smile on her lips. “Thank ya for coming, Furball.” It already slipped past Rogue’s lips, when she registered her own words. “Sorry.”
Hank saw the shocked expression on everybody’s faces and chuckled. “So you got your ability back. And have Wolverine absorbed obviously.”
Her features were troubled. “It just happened. Ah didn’t want to hurt him.”
Hank sighed. “I spoke with the professor. He already told me about you also assimilating other people’s personality.” He sat down next to her. “How are you? Is he bugging you?” Meaning Logan.
“Logan behaves. Ah indeed missed his presence in mah mind.” His voice was finally back in her mind completing her.
“You already absorbed him once?” Hank’s conversation with Charles was short and didn’t go that deep.
“Twice.” Rogue saw her mother’s hand wander to her mouth in shock. “The first time was an accident. And at the two others Logan saved mah life. He knew what would happen, but he didn’t care if it would only save me.” A lone tear ran down her cheek.
The blue giant looked over to the unconscious man. “So you tamed the animal Wolverine.”
“He has the animal under check. Logan despise killin'. He’s just good at it.” Rogue shrugged noticing the startled faces of all humans in the room. Knowing the other mutant, Hank wasn’t surprised at all and wanted to comfort the girl, but as soon as he moved his hand Rogue pulled back. “Don’t touch me!”
Hank saw the terror in the young woman’s features and remembered their first meeting and her excitement about the cure. “Poor child.”
“It’s a curse.” Tears welled up in her brown eyes. “Why didn’t the cure last?” Rogue sobbed and searched for an answer in the other mutant’s eyes.
He felt sympathy for the traumatized brunette. “It was only an illusion, but don’t give up. There are people who depend on you, love you. A place where you belong.” He gave his words a moment to sink in. “You should return there. They can help you handle your mutation.”
But to his dismay Rogue only cried harder. “Ah know they are my family, but that won’t change the fact Ah'll never be able to feel a touch again.”
“Don’t say something like that. Life turns around eventually. Didn’t it happen already for you once?” Rogue met his kind eyes. “When you and Wolverine came to the mansion.”
“Yeah. It already got better when Ah met Logan.” A small smile found its way onto her lips.
“See.”
Rogue needed a moment till she was calmed down and wiped her tears away. She noticed the eyes of the two agents on Logan’s still form. “He’ll wake up soon. Ya may also talk to him then, but maybe this will answer all your questions.” Rogue retrieved two CDs and two sheets of paper from the small table on which she had put Logan’s clothes and handed one exemplar to Hank, the other to O’Neill. “This is too crucial to get into the wrong hands. It may be able to forestall the war.”
Both agents frowned. “War?”
Most humans were so ignorant about the tensed situation between mutants and their kind. Hank began reading the paper. “What is this?”
“An audio file of the whole incident.” Rogue crossed her arms before her chest. “Ah recorded it with mah mp3-player when the first shoots fell. Ah transcripted the important parts, so it’s easier for ya to tell the voices apart.” Her eyes settled on the blue furred man. “Ah have copies and Ah’m gonna load one up to the mansion’s mainframe.”
“Do that, girl. They have to know.” Hank turned the sheet to read its back, his face worried.
“So we finally have some evidence.” The FBI agent leafed through one of his notes of the former incidents. “The surveillance cameras always were turned off or damaged, we never had any evidence of what occurred. We only had those reports of this special military team that took care of the mutants.” Hood frowned. “Some of the dead soldiers in the mall belonged to that unit.”
“Their files were classified.” O’Neill also started reading through the paper. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“On the contrary, Miss O’Neill. It makes perfect sense.” Hank met the confused view of the two agents and noticed that the doctor and the elderly couple that was sitting at the other end of the room the whole time had approached them. “That’s indeed bad.” His eyes met Rogue’s worried gaze. “Does anyone else know?”
“No, Ah wanted one of ya being here. Someone who knows what had happened in the past.” In truth it was Logan’s voice, who had told her to get someone whose words had some meaning in the media and the politics.
“That was the right thing to do, Rogue. Hopefully this will calm those supporters of that damn registration law and prevent the war.”
“What war? Would you mind to explain, Ambassador?” O’Neill gave the paper to her partner.
Hank traded a glance with Rogue. “There are certain groups on both sides, human and mutant, that think a peaceful co-existence is impossible and a war is inevitable.”
“But those soldiers, who attacked the mall, as you described it, were normal humans and only their CO was a mutant.” Hood faced Rogue with a puzzled view.
But it was Hank who answered. “Their common goal is to provoke a war.”
Rogue saw the need to explain this. “Victor is wherever he sees his chance to massacre innocents.” She paused a moment. “For him, war is a great thing he enjoys.”
Hank became worried about the way she talked, calling Sabretooth by his real name. “Rogue?”
Fear was evident in the brunette’s eyes. “Ah also absorbed Victor.”
“Oh God! He's in your mind?” Hank was shocked, he had heard about the other regenerating mutant and if the reports called Wolverine an animal, then Sabretooth was a sadistic monster.
She took a breath steadying herself. “Yeah, but it’s like Logan’s presence is beating him up, so he would shut up and give me a break.”
Hood frowned. “What does that mean? You absorbed him? Is he in your mind?”
“Something like that. Like a copy of him being in mah head.” Rogue was confused. It was always hard enough with those different voices in her head, with all those pictures, emotions and memories, but those were separated, different personalities. But with Victor it was more confusing. It was like his memories influenced Logan’s memories. Like a riddle unlocking itself. Their past was so similar, the pictures in her mind merged, till she could hardly tell Logan’s and Victor’s memories apart.
“So you know for whom he works?” O’Neill saw her chance of solving this case.
“Ah’m not sure. There are so many pictures, emotions of so many decades. So much information. It’s a chaos.” Rogue rubbed her temples. “But Ah think he got back to his old division. Victor worked for a military scientist named William Stryker.”
“Who is that man?”
“Was. He died at least Ah hope he’s dead.” More memories welled up before her mind’s eye. Slowly she understood this was Logan’s lost past. His presence in her mind began to remember. “He kidnapped mutants and performed terrible experiments on them to create the perfect weapon for the upcoming war.” More memory fragments fell into place. “He was the one, who put that metal in Logan’s body! Logan even died through that procedure! And it was him who took his memories away!” Rogue was almost freaking out when she relived the moment Stryker shot those bullets into Logan’s brain.
Her hands covered her face for a moment and all adults traded worried gazes. “Rogue? What just happened?” Hank was concerned.
It took a minute till the young woman removed her hands from her face, her eyes still closed. “Logan. He remembered.”
“The Logan in your mind? You have flashbacks?” Dr. Wilson became worried.
“Yeah.”
“Did this happen before?”
“No, not like this.” She finally opened her eyes. “It’s Victor. They were in the same division. His memories unlock Logan’s.” Her eyes fell upon her friend’s unconscious form. “They have done terrible things to him.”
Hank thought about the possibilities if Wolverine would remember. “So it’s better he don’t remember?”
The brunette met his eyes. “Maybe. But he has a right to know.”
O’Neill saw the curiosity in her partner’s features, but this was not the topic they were here for. “Rogue, if this man Stryker is dead, who is in control now? From whom gets” She read the name in Rogue’s paper. “Victor Creed his orders?”
The young mutant tried to concentrate on Victor’s voice shutting out everything else around her.
“Can you tell me where their base is?” The agent stepped a little closer to the girl.
The brunette’s eyes suddenly held a sinister twinkle in them and her lips curled up into a cat-like smirk. “Maybe if I get a scream of you, red.” Suddenly the nails on her right hand began to grow, ripping through the thin fabric of the gloves and nearing dangerously the agent’s face.
Only a second later the mutant’s eyes widened in horror as she stared on five sharp claws at the ends of her fingers. “What happened?” Rogue withdrew the weapons holding her right hand with her left one. Scared she looked up to the shocked faces of the humans and Hank. “Ah can’t remember!”
Hank tried to grasp what just happened. “I think Victor took control of you.”
The brunette sank down on her chair shaking. “It’s worse than ever before!” Rogue buried her face in her hands and began to cry.
“I could prescribe you some medies for schizophrenia.” Wilson thought this to be too early for the girl to talk about the incident to begin with.
She cried harder shaking her head. “That won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Ah have Logan’s and Victor’s abilities. They are immune to virtually all kinds of drugs.” More tears welled up.
Hank faced the agents. “It’s best we stop here. Rogue is not fit for further interrogation.” He lifted the CD up. “You should have your evidences.”
“You are right.” Hood looked down on the female mutant. “Thank you for your help.”
Rogue met his gaze, fear obvious in her eyes. “What’s going to happen to Logan and me?”
“We have to listen to your file first and new questions might come up.” The agent answered.
“Ah won’t run away, but Ah wanna stay here until he wakes up.” She met the other woman’s view. “We acted in self-defence and to protect the people.”
O’Neill smiled though still being a little shaken by the sudden change in personality of the mutant. “For the time being you are not a suspect. Just a witness.”
Hank watched the FBI leave the room and then he bent down to Rogue. “I have to make some calls. Will you be ok, dear?”
She nodded slowly. “Ah don’t think it will happen again.” On his puzzled view she continued. “Logan has Victor under control.”
“I will return later. I also wanna talk to Wolverine when he wakes up.” He rose to his full high and approached his assistant who was waiting at the door the whole time. Before he left the room he faced the young mutant smiling. “You truly are a X-Men…eer X-Woman.”