A Rogue's Tale (Earth-1992)

This story occurs about six months after Storm's Return

=Midnight Stroll= "I can't believe how long it has been. It has been almost two years since I lost one of the best things in my life," thought Rogue as she took a walk on the grounds of the Xavier Institute. She could see pretty well, since she had a bright full moon to walk under. She was having trouble falling asleep, so she believed some fresh air could help. Rouge then turned around when she heard a rustle in some bushes, but she couldn't see anything. "It must have just been some animal," Rogue thought to herself. She started to continue walking and thinking. "I miss him so much, but why would he try to do such a thing. I can't believe I am still thinking about this," Rogue thought. Anna then heard a twig break and turned around again to find nothing there. Rogue continued walking, but sensed something was wrong. A minute later, she caught a form of a man in the shadows. "Who's there!," yelled Rogue. She saw the form of the man stop in the shadows. She then saw a glowing card towards her. "No, it can't be," Rogue thought to herself as she rolled out of the way as the card blew up. "Remy!," yelled Rogue as she stood up. "Hello cherry. Long time no see," responded Gambit. "What are you doing here! What do you want!?," asked Rogue. "I think we both no the answer to that Rogue," responded Gambit as he lunged forward with his charged staff. She then jumped out of the way, and then she started to think of what power template to recall, out of the few she had. She has become more sparing with her powers after being wiped clean by the messiah baby. She then remembered that she had Mikhail's powers, and she decided to use those. As Gambit was lunging at her again, she shot an energy blast at him, and he went flying. "Well that wasn't fair cherry. You should have warned me," said Remy as he picked himself up. "But I never said I was going to play fair either," said Gambit. Rogue was a little confused when all of the sudden she was hit in the back by a flame, and she then blacked out. =Lock-Up= "My head," said Rogue as she woke up. "Where am I," Rogue thought. She then looked around to see she was locked-up in some cell. "I guess I will just have to bust myself out of here," thought Rogue to herself as she stood up. She then tried yo use her powers to find out they weren't working. She heard a door open, and then saw Gambit walk in. "Its good to see you awake Rogue. I was worried that our friend Sunfire might have hit you too hard in the head," said Gambit. "What do you want with me. If you wanted to kill me, then why don't you just finish your mission now!," yelled Rogue. "No need to raise your voice Rogue. A friend of my friend who helped me turn back to my "normal" self needed you.  So, I thought I would oblige.  With your help, we have also been able to bring back an old member back to Sunfire and my little gang.  With her help, there will be nothing in our way," said Gambit. "What are you talking about? Who did you bring back, and I would never have helped you!," said Rogue. "It took a little persuasion from my friend and I, but it wasn't that hard. With your help we were finally able to bring back Polaris to our club," said Gambit. "No, I don't remember. I wouldn't have. Where's Lorna?!," said Rogue. "She's held up tight right now as well. Just like you, and she's closer than you would think," said Gambit. He then walked out of the room. "Lorna are you in hear!," yelled Rogue, but there was no response. Rogue then eventually got really tired when nothing was happening, and fell asleep. =Kidnap Panic= "Hey. Have either of you seen Lorna? She wasn't at breakfast or lunch, and she wasn't in her room. I also haven't seen her anywhere," said Alex to Scott and Jean. "Sorry bro. I haven't seen her at all today," responded Scott. "I'm sorry Alex, but I haven't seen her lately either," replied Jean. "Thanks anyway guys. Keep an eye out for her though okay," said Alex as he continued his search. Later that evening, Alex decided to sit down on a bench outside. "I'm worried with her missing with her current mental condition. I hope nothing is wrong," Alex thought to himself. He then decided to take a walk through the grounds. Eventually, the sun was starting to set. Alex then thought about turning back when he saw something that caught his attention. He ran over to find several scorch marks, and a green and purple scarf. "Hey this is Rogue's. Maybe she can explain what happened here," thought Havok to himself. He then picked up the scarf and jogged back to the mansion. "Charles, have you seen Lorna or Rogue?," asked Alex. "No, I'm sorry Alex. Why? Is there something wrong?," responded Charles. "Well that's what I'm not sure about. I haven't been able to find Lorna anywhere, and while I was searching the grounds, I came across Rogue's scarf surrounded by a lot of scorch marks and the surrounding seemed like a fight went on," responded Alex. "Well this does sound troubling. I will try contacting Rogue to see if everything is alright with her," said Charles. Xavier then closed his eyes and was silent for a minute. "Attention! All X-Men report to the War Room now. We have a problem on our hands." A few minutes later many of the X-Men showed up in the War Room. "Our problem X-Men is something is wrong with both Lorna and Rogue. I haven't been able to contact either of them. With the help of Cerebro, I could only sense similar presences of both Rogue and Lorna here, somewhere north of London," said Xavier as he pointed to the coordinates on the holo-globe. I will send a team to go investigate. The team I will send will be Scott, Alex, Jean, Ororo, Logan, and Kurt. Jean and Ororo go prepare the jet," said Xavier. The team then left and started flying towards Professor X's coordinates. =Storming Rage= The X-Men a few hours later arrives at their destination.  They find themselves in an empty field with no buildings in sight.  "Well this is weird. Where do you think they could be," said Kurt. "I will try scanning for them with my telepathy," said Jean.  "I'll try smelling for them," said Logan.  "I'm picking up brain waves that aren't ours around here, but I can't pinpoint them," said Jean.  "I smell both Rogue and Lorna. They have been here recently, and there were three others. Wait, they are...," said Logan when he was then interrupted as a fire blast hit the ground nearby them. "Hello X-Men. A friend told us that some people were trespassing, so we decided we would get rid of them. I guess we will have a more fun challenge then we thought," said Sunfire as he was floating in the air above them. "Come on out guys. Let's have some fun," said Sunfire. Cyclops then said, "Team brace yourselves, and be ready for anything."  They then saw Gambit run towards them, while throwing a large hand of cards that were all fully charged and ready to blow.  "Logan, Kurt, and Alex, you all take on Gambit. Jean and Ororo, we are taking on Sunfire. Let's go!," ordered Cyclops. A great battle then started up.  Jean was using her telekinetic powers to shield herself as she shot concussive blasts at Sunfire, Storm was shielding herself with wind shield as she shot lightning bolts at Sunfire, and Cyclops was shooting optic blasts at Sunfire.  Wolverine would try lunging at Remy, Alex shot plasma blasts at Remy, and Nightcrawler tried to throw sucker punches at Remy.  As the battle went on, the X-Men noticed that Gambit's and Sunfire's agility, speed, and reflexes seemed to be beyond that they used to be, so they were able to dodge almost all of their blows, and when the team got hit by them, they noticed their powers seemed to have more of punch.  "We're not getting any where with this!," yelled Wolverine as Gambit dodged his slash.  "Yeah I'm beginning noticed," said Nightcrawler.  Ororo then got hit by one of Sunfire's radiation blasts and felt searing pain. "Ahhhh!," screamed Ororo. "How's T'Challa Ororo. I heard that the two of you had a little fight," said Sunfire. "I have had enough of this!," yelled Ororo as you could see she raw anger in her eyes. Ororo has been hiding a lot of emotion inside that she could no longer hold back. So, she let herself loose. "Take this!," yelled Storm as her eyes began to glow. Sunfire then noticed that the clouds above him. He then saw that many funnel clouds started to form around him. The shear force of the wind started beating up Sunfire as he was then sucked into one of the funnel clouds. "Ororo! Stop! The X-Men don't kill!," yelled Cyclops. Storm stayed in the air and didn't respond as she raised her hands to the air. "I call on the power of lightning!," yelled Storm. Then the team saw giant lightning bolts raining down upon the funnel cloud that Sunfire was in. "I'm sorry Storm, but I can't let you do this," said Cyclops as he took aim at Storm, but before he shot her, Storm was hit by a blast. =Surprise Switch= "No it can't be," gasped Jean. The team then looked up to see Polaris flying in the air with her arm stretched out towards Storm. "Why are you doing this Lorna? Why are you helping them?," asked Jean. "Because I finally feel free!," exclaimed Polaris. As she flew closer, the team noticed that she didn't look the same, but couldn't exactly tell why. As the weather started to settle, they saw Storm lying knocked out on the ground, and Sunfire started charging towards the X-Men even though he looked severely bruised. The battle continued, but with Storm out of it and Polaris there now to help Gambit and Sunfire, the situation didn't look good for the X-Men. "I can't believe this is happening. With her strained mental condition, it is no wonder that they were able to turn her on us," thought Alex to himself as he dodged a card thrown by Gambit. "Lorna stop! You don't know what you are doing. Come back to me. I love you! I can't stand seeing you this way. Please come back with me. The truth is I was looking for you yesterday to ask you something," said Havok as he was nearly hit by a fire blast. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. What I'm asking is... No what this time is better than never being able to ask you again. Lorna will you marry me?, asked Alex.  Polaris then stopped her rampage.  She went from her insane smile to a face that looked rested, but then she grabbed her head as she felt great pain.  During this distraction, Jean caused Gambit to set the rest of his deck off and made the cards fly at Sunfire where they then exploded causing him to fall and black out.  Gambit stopped as he looked in awe.  Havok then took the opportunity too shoot him in the head with a blast, which caused him to pass out. =Dual Identity= "Okay. I was able to put the power inhibitors on Gambit and Sunfire, they are both in restraints, and they should both be out of it for awhile with the amount of drugs I gave them," said Wolverine as both he and Nightcrawler were coming back after taking care of the two guys. "Storm is also resting on the jet, and her vitals are now stable, but I guess she won't wake up for a little while," said Kurt.  "Lorna, you are going to have to tell us who your "friend" and Rouge is. We have to help Rogue and take care of whoever did this to you," said Scott to Polaris. Polaris was still hunched over holding her head, and she didn't respond.  "Please us Lorna," said Alex as he grabbed Polaris's hands and then looked into her eyes.  He could see that she was crying.  "Okay. Follow me." Lorna then led them a few hundred yards down the field, and then outstretched her hands, which caused the ground to crumble as to large trap doors completely were ripped out of the ground.  Polaris then floated down the hole, and the rest of the X-Men then followed her.  They then went through many underground passages, until they came across a room where Lorna stopped and then completely crushed the door, and then walked in.  "She should be in here," said Lorna.  As they walked further in they were suddenly stopped in their track as they were surrounded by a force field.  "What's going on," said Logan.  They then turned around to see Polaris back down on her knees while holding at her head as she started sobbing.  "Thanks darling for the help," said a sinister sounding voice.  "No. Wait a minute. You must be that Mr. Insidious we were told about," said Scott. "I'm so glad that my fame has been spreading," said Mr. Insidious.  "Kurt, this is just a force field formed from Polaris's control of magnetism. You should be able to teleport out, and get Rogue, while I put up an illusion of you, while you are gone. Then when you get back, we are going to break out of here," said Jean, while speaking to Nightcrawler through her telepathy. "On it," said Kurt in his head as he then teleported out.  "I now know why my "father was so fascinated in you X-Men, especially you, Scott and Jean. I was able to see you all in battle, and you were all amazing. You're abilities and skills seem "uncanny," said Mr. Insidious.  "Oh, and I am sorry Lorna for allowing them to do this to you, but don't worry. I will be able to fix you soon. I'm so sorry that my "father" won't be able to see me accomplish a great achievement of killing the X-Men! But don't worry, I will put all of your DNA to a good use," said Mr. Insidious to the X-Men. The force field then went down around them.  "What is going on! Polaris, you must obey me! I order you to put back up the force field!," yelled Mr. Insidious. Polaris then looked up.  She looked like she didn't know what was going on, and then all of the sudden, she gasped.  Alex then looked up and stared in awe.  "What the...," said Alex.  The rest of the team turned around to see Nightcrawler walking towards them while he was helping support a woman trying to walk.  It was Polaris.  "This can't be," said Alex.  "Oh it looks like the cat is out of the bag," said Mr. Insidious.  "Anna you have to snap out of it. You're not yourself. It's me Lorna," said Lorna to who they thought was Lorna. "What are you talking about," said Alex.  As Mr. Insidious was trying to escape, Lorna surrounded him in a magnetic force field.  Lorna then explained the night when Rogue was knocked out, Mr. Insidious then used mind control on Rogue, so she would kidnap me, and then I heard him tell her to use her powers on me, so she would take the insane part of my mind, so then he could in a sense control both Rogue and I with excess to my power.  But he didn't count on Rogue using the last of her will to subconsciously also absorb my love for you all, so that you would be able to reach her.  Rogue looks like me right now because she is subconsciously using Mystique's powers to look at me, and you're able to touch her because with a part of my personality in control, Rogue doesn't have the mental inhibitions causing her to not be able to control her powers. "Come on Rogue. You know you are in there. It's time for you take control now. I know you have the will, power, and strength to do so," said Lorna. The team then looked to Rogue as she closed her eyes, and then her appearance changed from Polaris's to her own. Rogue then passed out afterwards. "Now what to do with you," said Lorna as she pointed to Mr. Insidious. "Well I plan on leaving. Until next time X-Men," said Mr. Insidious. He then clicked a button, and the magnetic waves around him dispersed. He then suddenly disappeared. "He must have been prepared to combat my powers if Rogue ever tried to plan on using them against him, and I was only able to use a portion of my power that wasn't taken by Rogue," said Lorna. "It's okay Lorna. I think our mission is accomplished here," said Alex. "You're right. Let's go team," said Scott. =A New Beginning-Alex/Lorna= Once the X-Men returned to the X-Mansion, Professor Xavier used his telepathy to heal the damage upon Rogue's mind by Mr. Insidious, which permanently got rid of the madness that used to be in Polaris's mind. Xavier then probed Gambit and Sunfire's mind to find that Rogue's mind wasn't the only mind to be manipulated. With his and Jean's help, Gambit and Sunfire's minds were returned to normal. Once they both awoke, they both apologized about they way they have been acting for the past couple years. Xavier said there was nothing that they had to apologize for, since they weren't in their right mind. He offered them both a place at the Xavier Institute, which they both accepted. Storm then started some unofficial counseling with Xavier, and slowly, but surely she started to get her emotions in control. Once Rogue felt better and Lorna was completely herself again, Rogue told her about how the only thing that stopped Lorna's insane personality was her love for Alex, and how Alex had proposed to her. Lorna then admitted to Anna that for along time she had been deeply in love with Alex, but since she was half insane, she thought Alex deserved a better person to be with. Lorna then went to Alex and told him how she felt, and the two of them became engaged, and were eventually married.