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** ** indicates telepathic communication.
‘ ’ indicates thought
“ ” indicates spoken words

“Where is da Professah?” the look on the card slinger’s face is pure murder, his whole being running on pure adrenaline.

He doesn’t want to slow down. He dare not slow down. Slowing down will mean letting in other emotions.

Letting in love….

…letting in pain.

And, that is something he cannot afford right now.

----

They were in a battle…against, who else, the Brotherhood.

Almost the whole team, with the exception of the newly pregnant Jean and the wheel chair bound Professor.

Emma, Gambit and Iceman were wrangling with Sabertooth and the shape shifter Mystique. They were acting in tandem, with Mystique changing to Victor’s form and confusing the X-Men, giving Creed the time and opportunity to get his claws in.

Rogue was taking on the fast hitting Quicksilver, his backup Toad getting in his licks in too. But even she wasn’t alone. She had fearless leader on her side.

He had been able to get one shot in place and that had taken the speedster out of commission….for about ten seconds.

Storm and Magneto were wielding their respective elements. Staying back but providing valuable cover support.

That left Shadowcat. The younger ‘Cat had been placed on triage and sentry duty, and was manning the X-wing. She already had one casualty lying on the gurney behind her. It was her boyfriend, Piotr Rasputin, Colossus.

He had been taken down by a Magneto-Blob, one-two thump. Magneto had pushed him to the ground and in order to get up he changed form back to organic, only to have Blob land on him, knocking him out instantly.

Phasing the gentle giant, Kitty had been able to get him away from under Blob and safely to the jet.

And then, IT happened.

----

“He is still inside,” the diminutive Kitty answers softly.

The group is waiting on this side of an X-embossed door, the entrance to the mind-link, Cerebro.

“How much more do we need to wait,” Remy growls, digging out a cigarette from deep inside his coat pocket.

“This is a no-smoking area,” a tired Bobby reminds him.

“Yeah, whose gonna stop me? You?” the younger man’s warning is spat back at him.

“Remy, please,” an unemotional voice pleads from near the door.

“Hn,” he grunts noncommittally. “For you babe,” the cigarette goes back into the case. “And for the little one inside you.”

There is silence among the group, but only for the duration of the next ten seconds.

“How long is this gonna take?” Remy is losing his patience.

-----

“Rogue,” Cyclops spoke into his comm. link. “Get ready. I am going to try to dig him into the ground. That will give you the time to get a clean shot. Make it count.”

“Ya got it ‘clops,” the southerner answered with a thumbs up sign, readying herself for a punch that the silver haired Mags-junior wouldn’t forget soon.

The others were having mixed success. Iceman had managed to freeze-in Mystique a couple of times, only to have her shift to a small form and wriggle out.

“Emma change back to normal,” Cyclops order came in. “And knock out Mystique.”

“Sure thing darling,” Emma answered with her saccharine-sweet drawl. “Just tell the boys to keep that overgrown house cat away from me. I don’t want to crack a nail, nor do I have any wish to take a stroll through this troll’s mind, or whatever is there in that cranium of his.”

“Emma,” Cyclops cried out, his attention focused on the sliverish-white blur whizzing past him.

“NOW.”

----

“What are you doing ‘ere?” two cards are out and glowing with fluorescent energy, ready to be lobbed at the unwelcome newcomer.

There is no answer for him. Instead, the ruby-colored visor donning Scott walks up to his wife. “How long has the Professor been there?”

“Nearing forty minutes now,” Jubilee answers from her floor seating position.

“How are you feeling?” Scott steps towards Jean, only to have her shirk away from him. “Jean?”

Again there is no answer, instead dulled green eyes turn to the others.

“The Professor will be coming out soon,” she’s just been instructed telepathically. “He has asked that everyone gather in the war room.” With that she walks away, without even sparing a second glance at her husband.

Stopping at the elevator, she does turn to him, seeing him waiting at Cerebro’s door.

“Cyclops, he meant Everyone.”

-----

“Rogue,” Scott’s hail was accompanied by a burst of red, which was followed by a dust cloud and a gasped cry from a collapsed Pietro.

“Come n’ get it sugah,” using quite a bit of her super strength, Rogue’s punch landed right on the kisser, knocking the competition out for good, but not before a cry for help activated the Brotherhood’s ace-in-the-hole, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro’s twin sister.

Hearing her brother’s cry, she stepped into the fray and unleashed her reality bending powers.

The next instant, Rogue found herself under attack. This attack wasn’t a physical one, that she could have fought against. This attack was a mental one, one that came not from one mind, but from two.

Two very opposing personalities forced themselves into her. One was the ruthless and cold-calculating teammate of hers, the telepathic Emma Frost. The other was the even more ruthless and sadistic Sabertooth, whose surprise at being used as sucking bag by one of his own soon changed to anger and rage, all of which found its way into the girl’s mind.

“Rogue,” Gambit rushed towards his beloved. They had just done making up. He didn’t want to lose her again.

“AAAAaaaahhhh….” Her ear-splitting scream trailed off as she lost the fight against the double onslaught, finally giving into unconsciousness.

Is only she had stayed that way.

-----

“Did you find ‘im?” is the greeting that Xavier gets as soon as the door slides open.

“Yes,” Xavier nods his head.

“Den lets go get ‘im,” Gambit steps towards the door, his body still pumped up.

“Remy, wait,” Xavier’s words don’t seem to be having any effect on the bewildered Cajun.

“Non,” red on black eyes flash at the older telepath. “You said only he can save her now. So we go and get him.”

“Professor, where is he?” Scott doesn’t get a response for his question.

“Jean,” Xavier turns to a haggard looking Jean. “As of now, you are in charge of the X-Men.” That shocks everyone in the room. “Scott Summers, Emma Frost and Ororo Monroe are under suspension until further notice.”

“Professor!” Both Ororo and Scott start at the same time.

“Not a word,” Xavier’s tone has a hardness that no one in the room has ever heard from him. Not at least towards his star pupil, the man who until ten seconds ago was the leader of the X-Men.

“NOT. A. WORD.”

----

“How much longer homme?” Gambit called from the rear of the jet.

Rogue had been unconscious for almost half an hour now, the absence of a doctor only adding to the panic that was slowing setting in. Usually Jean or Henry accompanied them on the missions, but with Jean being out of active duty and the mission requiring human looking members, both Beast and Nightcrawler had been retained at the mansion.

“Fifteen more minutes,” Scott barked back.

“Uhnnnn….” The moan drew the attention of everyone including Scott.

“Who is that?” He called back. “Emma or Rogue?”

“Rogue,” Remy’s voice carried the barest hint of hope.

“Uhn-Emma…” was the first groaned word out of the girl’s lips. “Emma?”

“She be here Cherie,” Remy gently tilted her head to the side where a barely conscious Emma lay on an identical gurney.

“Scott?” was the next person queried, followed by a slightly stronger, “Ororo?”

“They are all here Rogue,” Kitty answered with tears in her eyes. She was relieved that everyone was recovering. Piotr had woken up and had shifted to his metallic state to hold back any possible internal injuries. Emma was weak but awake and now so was Rogue.

“Good?” Rogue’s smile turned into a menacing grin, her brown eyes flashing a feral gold, her pale skin showing luminescence of a diamond.

The next words she spoke held no hint of her southern drawl, but were spoken in a mixture of sophisticated and gruffly scathing English.

“Makes it easy for me ta kill ‘em.”

----

“Jean,” Xavier gestures to Jean to take over matters.

“Gambit, Iceman, Nightcrawler, you are with me,” Bobby and Kurt join Remy, who is already at the door. “So are you Colossus, but if only you feel up to it.”

“Da,” Piotr stands up. He is still in his metallic form. That allows him to function without breathing and makes him almost invulnerable.

“Jubilee, Shadowcat, I want you to go to Rogue. She is sedated, but given Sabertooth’s healing factor, we don’t know how long the effects of the sedatives will last. In case she wakes up, try and talk to her.”

“Yes mam,” both girls reply with a nod.

“But remember, under no circumstances are you to engage either the locks or the force field. If it appears that she is getting out of hand, follow the instructions that will be given to you by Beast.”

“Yes mam.” With that, the two girls leave the room.

“Storm,” it’s the weather witch’s turn next, she still cannot fathom why she has been placed under suspension. “You know what to do. I don’t need to tell you to take care of the children. That is something you do better than any of us.”

Ororo smiles an uneasy smile. Sitting next to her, is Davis, who had been holding her hand the entire time, but the shock of being ordered of the team and the prospect of seeing Logan again caused her to break the contact and close into herself.

“But before that,” now Jean glances at her husband, who has become a silent observer since his authority was stripped away and handed over to of all he people, his wife. “Both you and Cyclops report to the med bay. The Professor and Beast will take it from there.”

The orders given, Jean sent one last glance around the room. “Any questions?”

At getting no reply, she took a deep breath and started towards the door.

“Lets go get Wolverine.”





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