{Serenity} Remy had thought...? he spun to face the voice; and Rogue screamed. The confusion caused him to drop the card. Only the card fell directly onto Rogue's face and discharged.
Sinister stood and snatched Storm up by the collar, pulling her close, "You think you're clever don't you Storm?"
Ororo only looked back in noble silence, even when Sinister drew his hand back and hit her
across the face. Her head fell to the side with the force of the blow but the African woman remained
silent.
"Answer me!" Sinister rapped.
Storm flinched, expecting another blow. When it did not come, she opened her eyes and quietly
replied, "Do what you will, but I will not associate civilized communication with such a contemptible
being."
"No matter," Sinister said, tossing her across the room, where she landed on top of Wolverine.
"Sit in silence with your savage companion, if that's what suits you, Wind Rider."
He turned toward his two over-built cronies, "Slab, Hairbag--keep an eye on them. I think it's
time that I pay a personal visit to our guests' quarters."
"You touch 'em an'--" Hairbag cut Wolverine off with kick to the back of the head.
"Oh, now jealousy does not suit you, Wolverine. You two will join the others soon enough, all in
due time. I'm just going to make sure that your stay will be all the more enjoyable." With a smile that
made him want to tear Sinister into shreds thin enough to line a bird cage with, he turned on his heal and
disappeared from the room.
Beast and Psylocke had appeared outside the barred cell to see Emeryld standing narrow-eyed at
Gambit, a low rumble emanating from within her throat.
Beast watched as Gambit's crimson clouded eyes stared back before returning to the crumpled
figure below him, as if she were a second thought. He reached down to drag Rogue up from the floor, as
if to continue whatever abuse he had been eliciting previously.
Serina moved. Darting like an attacking snake, she yanked Remy back by his loose hair. He
dropped Rogue to the floor again, letting out a hissing breath.
"Duen touch her," Emeryld growled, "Ye've done enough to her."
Hank could not help but silently agree. His heart and sympathy went out to his teammate. Rogue
lay in a small heap. Her long hair a tangled mane that covered her face, hiding much of--if any sort of view of her condition. Only various red gashes and deep purple bruises scattered across her normally unblemished body hinted at the damage done. With a sinking heart Dr. Henry McCoy knew that she had been injured intensely.
"Kill him, Seri" Betsy whispered maliciously at Hank's side. She was still watching the cell with
a dogmatic stare. "Tear out his heart--"
"Elizabeth, please!" Hank whispered surprised.
"Don't tell me you're bloody defending him?" Psylocke burst out barely capping the rage that she felt as she spun on Beast. She gestured to the unmoving form before them, "Look at her! Death may be too good for the dreg!"
"I am neither defending nor condemning Gambit just yet. We have no idea of the
circumstances--"
"Hell with circumstances! No contingency merits rape and abuse, Hank. I don't care what it is or who demands it."
Beast looked back toward the cell. Remy lunged for Rogue again. Abruptly Serina acted,
kicking him away. Gambit fell and twisted on his back. Emeryld stood over him and bent to her knees.
"Dinnae ye just hear mae say nae touch her?"
Gambit shot up to a sitting position still not having said a word. His eyes burned with red haze, looking up at Emeryld. Serina only looked down at him then roughly grabbed him around the neck and kissed him hard.
Immediately Remy's hands went around Serina's waist pulling her to him. In response she drug her nails down the front of his chest, almost tearing his flesh into ribbons. A ravaged lament resounded from Gambit. Scarlet scratches trailed down from his pectoral muscles to his stomach. He jerked Emeryld directly into his lap, his mouth descending upon hers.
Serina roared digging her dangerous nails into his back now as she sunk her teeth deep into
Gambit's shoulder. Remy howled crying out with predilection traipsing the line of pain.
Beast could not help but stare in shock. Normally he would not have gawked at such an intimate scene--far from it--but he couldn't say that this was normal. It resembled the savage mating ritual of cats more than any sort of human intimacy. It was rough and brutal; far from what Hank would have imagined Gambit gaining his paramourous reputation at.
Hank looked back to Rogue's prone form. He was concerned, wondering if she was going to
survive, she hadn't moved or even made a single sound since they had appeared near the cell. "Have mercy on her," he whispered to himself.
"That's it Hank, we're going in there. You have to see how bad it is," Psylocke said, grabbing
his blue-furred arm and phasing back into the shadows. They appeared on the other side of the bars, next to their fallen comrade, where upon Beast went immediately to taking Rogue's pulse.
Serina glanced up looking at Beast with a solemn countenance and whispered, "She's alive,
McCoy. Barely, but she is alive."
Hank nodded in agreement as he found her weak unsteady pulse.
The haze that had been clouding Remy's eyes began to clear as he realized what was going on
around him. It seemed to Hank that the pain inflicted by Serina brought Gambit back to sound mind. "Mon Deiu, Rena!?," gasped in a dazed out-of-breath whisper.
Reluctantly Serina looked away from Rogue and the others, trusting that Beast and Psylocke
would care for her. Emeryld glanced down at Gambit, his eyes having cleared. He tried to sit up, but she suddenly pushed him back down and shook her head, "I'm here, Remy. Just hush, an' sleep now..."
Emeryld placed the sleeping suggestion into his mind, as she brushed his hair from his eyes. He didn't know what he had done, she realized as she entered his mind. He had completely no
comprehension of what had just happened. His mind was twisted, muddled--but was he drugged?
{{Sleep. It's better this way,}} she tried to convince herself, {{this way ye won't be underfoot.}}
Serina looked down at her husband's sleeping form with a sigh, before gathering the courage to
look at the carnage he had created.
"Hank?" Psylocke asked, awaiting his signal as she bent down with her hands braced under
Rogue's shoulders.
"On three we gently lift her and turn her on her back," he answered slipping his hands beneath
her bruised thighs for leverage, "One... two... three."
Rogue's head rolled to the side, hiding her face as they lifted her and placed her gently back on
the floor. Betsy grabbed Gambit's coat and wrapped Rogue in it to keep her warm. She then took the blanket from the cot in the corner and rolled it to form a make-shift pillow and placed it under her feet.
"Elizabeth, if you would hold her head in your lap to keep her stable and cushioned, while I
examine her?"
Psylocke nodded, kneeling down as she gently lifted Rogue's shoulders up to place her head in
her lap. Betsy began to move the tangled mane of hair away from the other woman's eyes. Her hair was matted with so much blood, but Psylocke couldn't tell where it was all from. Betsy stopped pulling her hair away when she realized it was too tangled and pulling would only hurt her more.
Rogue was bruised and had small cuts, but none that would amount to the amount to blood
pooled on the floor and elsewhere. One of her wrists where bleeding more severely maybe it had been from that. "Hank, about the explosion we heard..?"
Emeryld cast a sad glance toward Rogue and quickly turned away, when a ominous shadow fell
over the threshold of the cell door.
"I'm afraid visiting hours are over," Sinister announced almost congenially, stepping into the
light.
Serina growled, her emerald-topaz eyes flashing with deadly menace, as she turned to look at him. Sinister scarcely glanced in Gambit and Serina's direction before moving toward where Beast and Psylocke were crouched by Rogue.
Sinister loomed over the injured X-woman with a skeptical--scientifically trained--eye. Sinister
glanced back toward Serina and Gambit, who had been oddly quiet in the past few minutes, lying in
Emeryld's arms, "LeBeau, I do hope you haven't caused any permanent damage to the merchandise."
"He cannae hear you," Emeryld growled, placing Gambit on the floor as she rose to her feet, "And I've said before, Rogue is nae property, and she certainly does nae belong to you!"
"Serenity, I see you've recovered rather quickly from your little episode. How fortunate. Now if
you will please stand aside, I have come to collect my patient."
"Leave her Sinister," Serina growled not backing down, her teeth bared.
Sinister straightened, "You know as well as I that if she is not treated properly soon, she will
surely die."
"You cannae have her!" Serina cried, knowing in her heart that Sinister was telling the truth.
Part of her knew she had to let Sinister take her, but the other wondered if she had touched Rogue and teleported away, she might be able to fix everything.
{{{But teleport her where? }}} her mind screamed. {{{Miur Island is eighty miles or more
away... and you cannae teleport that distance before killing ye'self. Either way ye cannae win, Rena.}}}
"Emmy, we have no choice," Psylocke said quietly, shaking her head sadly.
"I see no other alternative," Beast added, "Gambit has wounded her severely--she needs
emergency medical care."
"You have a choice: Let me take her and save her life, or keep her here only to have her die in
your arms. Then she'd be useless to both of us."
Emeryld looked once more to Psylocke and Beast, and stared for hard moment at her friend. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and looked away. Her voice was a barely audible whisper, "Take her."
Sinister bent down then and lifted Rogue almost tenderly in his arms; yet careful as he was, her
head fell back in his arms revealing her burned face, which was still wet with blood.
Betsy sucked in a hiss of breath, "It's her face... the explosion hit her..."
Emeryld only made a tortured sound--her eyes clenched tighter--she dropped to her knees
sobbing whispers, "Please, dunnae hurt her any more..."
"Sinister, you will of course---" Hank began only to be cut off.
"She is no longer of your concern." With that Sinister disappeared with Rogue's fate hanging in
their enemy's hands.
Wolverine's head snapped up as the lights flickered then when out. He felt Ororo stir next to
him, she was bruised but otherwise unharmed. He'd make Sinister pay for all the trouble he'd cause them all, he swore then. But now wasn't the time for brooding, now was the time for acting. He doubted the sudden loss of power was due to dumb luck.
"Logan?"
"Hush, darlin'," he whispered raspily. He was waiting, listening.
His eyes adapted quickly in the absence of light. There was a dull hum as the emergency
generators powered up. He heard Slab and Hairbag stumbling in the dark. Wolverine could sense their confusion, smell it one them. Suddenly the room lit itself dimly--the generators quickly kicking in. Their captors grunted in satisfaction as a red glow filled the room.
"They weren't ready for whatever killed the lights," he told Storm in hushed gravel.
"Reinforc--"
"Get down!" he hissed, pushing her to the floor.
A crimson been of light hit Hairbag in the chest, while Slab was lifted into the air and dropped by an invisible force. The two of them were then bound by an ice belt--freezing them into place.
"The cavalry has arrived!" Iceman announced, sliding into the room.
"Thank Goddess!" Storm sighed in relief, as Archangel swooped down before them to release
them of their collars and shackles.
"Storm, what's going on?" Cyclops rapped out, noticing that the others were still missing.
"And where's Rogue?" Bobby added, his brow furrowed.
Storm raised her head and opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Ororo Munroe's
renowned composure dissolved. Wolverine glanced at Storm to see her avoiding the other's gazes.
Thunder rumbled over-head. She turned to Wolverine, suddenly, and began to cry quietly into his chest.
All she would choke out was the single name, "Gambit."
Wolverine wasn't sure what to do with her. He knew that the thought of what Gambit had done
had finally taken it's toll but he was unsure of how to help her. He let her cry and gave a fierce look
toward the others, his eyes falling on Phoenix.
Jean stood with a look of deep concern on her face.
{{ Jeanine?}} Wolverine pleaded silently. Jean understood what Wolverine didn't have the
words to ask. Her eyes met Logan's in silent communication.
Phoenix moved toward them, sensing the tumult of emotion flooding Storms mind, "It's alright, Ororo, don't rush yourself and just breathe deep."
Jean didn't devil into the other woman's mind, it wasn't necessary. A light psi-scan provided all
she needed. She glanced up to Scott and the others, "Whatever's happened it has something to do with a--fight?" She was uncertain how to express the emotional though, exactly, "Something dealing with Rogue, Serina, and Gambit."
"So what else it new?" Bobby commented almost bitterly, "those three are always fighting."
"No, not a normal quarrel, Bobby..." Jean continued, "it deals with something worse, something more complex."
Cyclops pushed, "Like dealing with Sinister?"
"Let 'er think, Summers!" Wolverine growled, still holding Storm who was slowly regaining her
composure.
"...there were... no threats? Remy's done it on his own... I don't know," Phoenix said sitting up
and shaking her head. "It's too difficult to explain. Storm doesn't want to believe whatever it is that's
happened and it's muddling my perception."
"So we're back where we started?" Warren asked.
Jean shrugged, "Well, whatever it is has her terrified. It's affecting her as badly as if it were her
chlostrophobia."
Cyclops turned to Wolverine, "What's going on, Wolverine. You'd know just as well as Storm."
"And where are the others?" Archangel added. Behind him Iceman looked more than a little
anxious.
Logan answered Archangel first, "The others 're in the catacombs with Sinister. As fer what
happened? Guess y'could call it a fight if ya used the term loosely. I'd sit down if I were you, Cyke, a
bomb is about t'drop in yer lap so t'speak."
***
"What are you saying?" Cyclops demanded, toe to toe with Wolverine.
"Y'know exactly what I'm sayin', Pretty boy, Rogue's yer lil' sister--an' the Cajun's gone an'
ravaged 'er."
"But Gambit wouldn't do that," Jean said in a shocked hush, "not to Rogue."
"Can an' did, Jeanie. Y'said yerself that 'Ro didn't want ta believe whatever happened. An' who
could blame 'er? Would you want ta remember seein' somethin' like that, knowin' that he was yer closest friend? Not ta mention what S'rina must'a felt, add ta that Rogue, who it was bein' done to--"
"SHUT UP!" Iceman yelled, bearly held tears shining in the younger X-men's eyes. "I don't
want to hear this anymore!"
"An' I don't wanna live this anymore, kid. I wanted to gut the first person responsible for what I saw. The girl was a angel in--"
"Yeah she is an angel. She was innocent and didn't deserve--" Wolverine cut Bobby off.
"Doesn't matter what was deserved. What matters is it happened an' we're all gonna have ta deal with it. Look," he said turning to Cyclops and the others, "Reason Sinister's had it done, was fer Audra ta be--"
"Audra?" Archangel asked confused.
Jean looked up and informed him quietly, "He means Rogue. Her real name is Audra Brooks...
maybe we should just stick with Rogue for now. We know her as that."
"Right. Rogue's the key to the genetic mutant puzzle that he'd been after all o' you for. She's yer
fam'ly, Summers, an' combine her with the Cajun an' a few DNA samples from S'rina--"
"--And you have what he's always wanted." Warren finished. "It makes sense, in a twisted and demented way... it makes perfect sense. I wish Hank were here to answer something, though."
"What's that?" Cyclops asked looking at his winged teammate.
"I wondered if that would explain why Rogue can't control her powers. I wonder if it's
inherited?"
"That's a good question, the two of you are the only two on the team who don't have control over--" Jean began.
"We can finish figuring all this out later! Let's get Rogue and the others out of here!" Iceman
interrupted.
"Th' kid's right," Wolverine growled, then looked down at Storm, "You alright, 'Ro?"
"I will be fine," she answered, getting to her feet, " Bobby is correct, let us get them away from
here as swift as possible."
Cyclops nodded, "Wolverine, you lead the way. Let's move people!"
Serina's eyes glowed in the sudden darkness that enveloped the entire cell. She paced. She
paced back and forth like a caged tiger. Scrambler and Scalphunter had slapped collars onto them for added protection and put them into two separate cells that faced each other. They had been separated into two groups, Emeryld and Gambit in one, Beast and Psylocke in the other.
Emeryld had been thinking. When she'd put Remy to sleep his mind had been muddled and
twisted beyond anything she'd ever seen in him before. But she realized, he hadn't been drugged. He really had done it all on his own. It hurt... she wanted to release the pain. Harm herself to the point where she could sink into the great nothingness, into the quiet shadows where it wouldn't hurt ever again. She wished for nothing more except maybe to see Remy die first. To see him die a slow and painful death as he begged for forgiveness.
Currently Psylocke stood glaring through the bars at Gambit, her fingers clenching and
unclenching around the bars. Gambit lay in utter silence; he was still asleep. Beast sat with a look of solemn perplexity, concentrated on Emeryld.
"I cannae stand being caged," she whispered to herself or to anyone in general.
"Stone walls do not make a prison, nor iron bars a cage" Beast commented in quiet consolation.
Emeryld let out a mirthless laugh, and finally looked up at Hank, "Lovelace never had t'endure
Genoshian collars an' a power-grid cell."
"Very true... Serina?" he ventured.
She momentarily paused her pacing, "Yes Hank?"
"Are you alright?" he asked, gesturing to her. Toward tangled mess of hair and dishevelled
appearance. "He didn't harm you did he?"
"Who, Remy?" Serina almost laughed harshly, "He could nae hurt me if he'd tried. Have ye seen
what I've done t'him? Those scars won't soon be healing." Serina became somber suddenly, tears
sparkling in her eyes. Tears she never let out, not for a long time. She was battling with the
consequences of her decision. She felt she should have done something, done anything. Her voice came out in a whisper, "Hank, was I right to let Sinister take her?"
"You didn't have a choice," he answered reassuringly.
"Didn't I?" she looked up, fighting the tears that threatened to fall, "Isn't there always a choice to be made? D'ye think that Rogue would have wanted me to hand her over? Wouldn't she have rather died first?"
"I couldn't say. I have no idea what goes on in the minds of my friends nor my enemies. All I
can tell you is, that it was the same decision I would have made were I in your position. At least now she has a chance at--"
A scream of utter agony cut Henry off in mid-sentence. A cry that Serina inevitably knew was
torn from Rogue's throat. Serina flinched at the sound, making her cringe, like some do when nails are ragged down the front of a blackboard.
Betsy looked to Serina with sadness and sympathy, "Seri, he's right. There's nothing we could do. Even if you teleported or I phased her out of here, what good would it have done? We didn't have the immediate and extreme care that could save her."
Gambit stirred on the floor of the cell. Serina saw Psylocke stiffen at the movement and look
away.
Remy moaned, then shot up instantly gasping, "ROGUE!"
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ace. Did you enjoy your little time out?" Serina said
without emotion, as he struggled to acknowledge his surroundings.
"Rogue, where--where is she?!" he asked desperately. Serina only lowered her gaze and turned away silently. She couldn't look at him right now, she couldn't speak to him. He was lucky she didn't kill him then and there.
"It's about time you came to your senses!" Psylocke spat at him, from her cell. "Because of you, we don't know if she'll--"
Another scream of pure torture echoed in their ears.
"What is he doing to her?!" Serina wailed falling against the bars. "I begged him to nae... I
begged him..."
"At least we know she's alive," Betsy said softening, as she reached out to Serina. The bars only allowed her fingertips to graze Emeryld's when they stretched their arms out toward each other.
Remy moved up to Serina and placed his chin on her shoulder, holding her tight, "It's gonna be
alright, petit', it gonna--"
"How could you!?" she growled. "How DARE you! Don't even think about touching me now or
ever again after what ye've done!" She spun on Gambit and slammed him hard against the wall, her cat-eyes staring down his red on black. Pushing mercilessly into the wounds she had inflicted during his mounting passion only an hour before, she held him in front of her. She felt him wince, and she grinned slightly with satisfaction, knowing he was being made to suffer. "Ye've taken something from her that she can NEVER have back. Ye've taken her dignity, her love, her passion, her grace, her LIFE! Ye've distroyed her inside and out. Ye've burned her, scarred her, and ripped out her very soul! Ye could have tortured me all ye wanted. Ye've done it t'me and I accepted it. I dealt with it! But you promised. Ye swore against everything, that ye'd never hurt her! I thought I knew you Remy LeBeau, but I was wrong. And the worst of it all was ye did it at the whim of one of Sinister's requests... ye make me sick."
"Shema you don' understan'!" he pleaded with her.
"Call me Shema one more time and I'll tear you in two," she hissed.
"Serina, please let him speak," Hank said as calmly as possible. "We should hear his side."
"I did it t'save you!" Gambit gasped, glancing from Beast to Emeryld, "He was gonna kill you if I
hadn' I done it, Serina."
"That's not excuse!" Psylocke demanded. "Since when has Seri not been known to take care of herself?!"
"Since when did you matter in dis conversation, Lil'beth!?"
"Since you drug us all into this with your damn secrets and lies. We're all involved here now,
Gumbo."
"I wasn' intendin' to hurt her, I swear. I was jus'--"
"Shut up! Your words duennae mean anything anymore. They're all lies. They always have
been. Duennae think I dinnae see what you did, or think I dinnae hear what you said. Ye said I dinnae mean anything to ye!"
"I jus'--"
"SHUT UP!" she growled.
"Y'gonna kill me once an' for all, Shema?" he asked, letting his eyes close for a moment, awaiting the death blow.
"NO," Serina's voice whispered, "I would nae give you the charity of that release. That'd be too
much like forgiving you for what ye've done. But I do know what your papa's got planned, Remy. I know why he had you paired with Rogue... or should I say Audra? Nothin' in either of our lives ever happened by chance. Daddy dearest has always had it all planned out..." she grinned, watching the surprised look on his face. He was silent. "What's the matter, Remy, cat got yer tongue?" she purred, cruelly.
Beast and Psylocke only stared incredulously.
"What did you say?"
"Ye heard me," Serina said, "Sinister is Remy's father."
"That's what Vertigo meant by made," Betsy stated in a whispered gasp.
"Oh, but she literally meant made. Remy here was genetically engineered by Essex--as an
experiment with is own genes. Didn't ye ever wonder why Gambit and Sinister are so alike.? Ever wonder why he could always get Remy t'do things for him?"
To Be Continued...................
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