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Rogue took the elevator down with the other mutant she partnered up with. "Be sure your skin doesn't touch mine. Mah mutation'll knock you on your ass." The man chuckled. "Maybe I would enjoy watching you knock me on my ass."

Rogue smirked and held back a chuckle. It was nice to joke a little in the face of danger. The elevator stopped at the sub basement but the doors had been programmed to remain closed without a key. "Pardon me, miss." The mutant shifted into rock form and body slammed the elevator doors before prying them open and allowing her to pass before he made his way into the lab.

Rogue looked at the lab, the tables were full of operating instruments. Some mutants were dead. The lab had jars of pieces of specimen that were being preserved. Rogue pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to suppress a gag before shaking her head and moving to the cages. She heard pleas for help and it nearly broke her heart. "We're here tah help. Everythin's gonna be alright. Just stay with me."

She went through, cage by cage and started releasing the prisoners with the help of her partner. Mystique's voice made Rogue look up and wave to her mother. "Momma! We're almost done here!"

Rogue made her way to one of the tables that had a weak mutant woman on it and began to unhook huge straps. How long was this woman sedated and strapped down? Was she even alive?

Like she had heard Rogue's internal question, her eyes shot up and the woman reached up and grabbed Rogue, cupping her cheeks and pulling herself close to her. "Don't leave me! Please!"

The assault of memories began. Try as she might, she couldn't shake the blonde woman. "Momma!" Rogue shouted for Mystique's aid but saw she was busy holding off guards. Rogue panicked. She needed to help Mystique. But she needed help too. "Let go! Please, let go!"

The needle injected into her skin, on the inside of her elbow. Rogue squeezed her eyes shut, forcing a single tear out of her eye as the serum was pushed into her blood stream...

Over time, she had realized that her mutation was just too valuable to them. They kept taking and taking from her. Sample of blood left her body every day to feed the war against mutants and help them build more powerful sentinels. Of course she wanted to live. Of course she wanted to go and fight alongside her team. But not at this expense.... Not at the cost of more people dying because her blood was furthering their research. Rogue begged the fates for death. Her blood would be useless if she was dead. They needed living cells and tissue to push for new technologies in Sentinel technology. In her haze, she had heard them talk. They weren't afraid of her listening. Rogue was incapacitated,drugged up and strapped down to a table in Cerebro. The school had been taken, raided. And with Sentinels, the job was done much more thoroughly than when Stryker had done it. This time during the raid, she had fallen and become one of the missing. Did anyone even know she was alive? It didn't matter. The place was heavily guarded with Sentinels. One person wasn't worth risking several lives for. Rogue willed her friends to stay away. It was something she prayed for every night.

Forget about me. Ah never existed. Please, just forget about me.

The drugs took over and Rogue's eyes fell heavy until she was in darkness.

Every night was the same dream. Nightmare. Every night, she woke up in a cold sweat, the vivid imagery of being captured repeating in her mind every single god damn night. She had come up against a Sentinel... It was a model that was programmed to capture, not kill, one of the early prototypes. It wasn't until she was brought to a doctor scientist that she was approved to keep alive. When the discovered her mutation, they knew they wanted to weaponize it. Rogue wasn't a mutant to them, she was the solution to the mutant problem. If she could take away the mutations, then they would need her body for samples, tissue, organs, anything they could get their hands on... The first thing they did was keep her covered and strapped down. It was once a day she was dragged into a room and hosed down after she was stripped down.

The first time she went into the room, a man in a hazmat suit stripped her down, tearing the hospital gown from her with her hands in cuffs that dug into her wrists, being bound didn't stop her from fighting. She might have been a prisoner and a specimen, but she was still Rogue. And she still had all the fight in the world left in her. Rogue thrashed and kicked, slamming into the man in the suit. She didn't even bat a lash at being naked because that's what she had to do to survive and get out of here. A team against one mutant woman who had no enhanced strength or actual combative mutation was a stacked fight. But she had lost with pride. They had not been kind that night. With he hands up in chains, she was hosed down with cold water until she was deemed clean and ready for testing the next day. They gave her new garments and left her in a dark room with no blanket, no sounds, no stimulation.

How long had it been since she had seen sunlight? She lost count of the days... She lost count of all of time. How old was she? When she was captured, she was twenty four years old, a woman with a bright future ahead of her... And now she had been reduced to a lab animal. They had learned early one with her, that keeping her sedated was best. Most days, she was fed through a tube. When she did come out of sedation, she could barely stand or move... How long until her heart gave and finally stopped beating? Dead, she would be useless to them.

There was a day when a specimen was brought in for a test to see how far her abilities went. That specimen... That woman.... She did not survive. That was the day Rogue became a killer, a murderer. She was forced to have skin to skin contact with another mutant until there was nothing left of the other. The test results were studied for months. Little did they know that Rogue had not only absorbed memories and knowledge and life force, but that woman's mutation. If she had been able to walk around instead of being a strapped to a medical table, they would have seen her ability gained. Instead, she was a slab on a table for most of her captivity.

The drugs began to fade and as usual, she was greeted back to consciousness through the bright lights inside of Cerebro. Her hands were weak, clawing at the surface of the table to see if she was still strapped down. And she was.

When is this going to end... When am ah gonna die?

A man with a hazmat suit walked up to the table after watching her vitals rise again on a screen. He leaned into her to get a better look at her face before putting his flashlight pen to her eye to watch her pupils shrink. Rogue squinted and turned her head away, but the man held her head still, and pinned her eyelid back with his gloved thumb. As expected, her pupil shrunk in her green iris. Everything was normal and she was deemed healthy enough for testing to continue. Too weak to do much, Rogue turned her head to the side and stared off when he finally let go of her head. This place was once used for good. It was the birthplace of good and mutants who wanted to do good. And now, it was being used for the exact opposite.

Anna rolled her eyes at the boy. "Really? Ya are bleeding out and mutie bitch is all you can say?" Anna slapped him upside the head. The kid needed some manners. Him and his friends were the one assaulting the woman. She defended herself and the only reason he was bleeding was because he couldn't leave well enough alone. "Ah have a mind to just let ya die here, but your life ain't in mah hands and neither is your fate. So you shut your trap and accept the graciousness of this here lady, and show some gratitude before ah convince her to go elsewhere with me and have a drink while we leave you here to die in the alley of a bar. Ya hear me, boy?!"

Manners. Fuck. Even Magneto had them. Anna was human now and it really bothered her that humans were usually the ones without manners. Way to give her kind a bad rep.

Anna nodded to the woman. "Ah can call from inside. Ah don't have mah phone on me." Anna slipped an arm around the boy and looked to the woman. "Ah can do that. Ya better get going before police get here. The law isn't fond of mutants. Ah can't do much to protect you from law enforcement, miss."

Rogue had nothing left to say to Magneto. He wouldn't bend. He was much too set in his ways to bend. Right now, all she wanted was to go get her friends and get back to life at the mansion. Where was Piotr? He was helping the students and she hadn't seen him since... And Jubilee... Rogue was worried sick for her friends. She prayed internally that they were alright. Forget sleeping in her own tent tonight. With so Magneto and Mystique around, Rogue wanted to go stay with Bobby and sleep beside him. It would be dangerous but she would let him make that call... After absorbing him at his parents house, he probably would say it was a bad idea...

She wouldn't know until she tried.

Rogue turned away when Magneto started speaking again...

She stopped in her stride and let the words sink in. At that moment, she couldn't help but wonder if the man had some point. Sure her gift was a curse to her, but it was still a gift. God had chosen her to bare it. It made her special. Before her power came to light, there was nothing special about her. Hell, even her white streak came from her powers and from Magneto. Everything that happened was a part of her, regardless of if she was fond of her past or not.

Erik was a part of her. Logan and Bobby were a part of her. Maybe it was why she was so stubborn yet compassionate. Maybe they were the reason she had so much fight in her. She blinked and let the words repeat in her head before slowly turning to look at Magneto once more.

"Ah'll remember that... Thank you." 

Rogue wasn't the only one who treated her gifts with fear. Everyone else viewed it as an obstacle to be overcome. Erik might have been the first person to speak of it in a positive light... Even though she really wanted to slap him silly earlier for all the things he had done... Rogue couldn't help but feel just a bit of fondness for the old man.

Without another word, Rogue continued forward and made her way to the camp to find Bobby. The sooner she found him, the sooner she would turn in for the night.

The night was busy. Exactly how Anna liked it. The door opened and let in a thick gust of air that was hot and heavy, ripe with humidity. Inside the bar, it was cold and dry with cold drinks being served up round the clock. Anna was behind the counter as usual and making drink orders as fast as she could.

A woman had set down a stack of cash to pay for her tricks and upon picking it up and examining it, noticed it was far too generous of a tip.

Waving the money, Anna called after the woman. "Miss?! Ah think ya left too much!" The woman left the bar without hearing her call after her. Sure, she needed all the money she could get now that she was on her own, but never did Anna want to take advantage of someone's kindness.

Moving through the crowd of people, it took her some time to get to the door through the sea of people. The door opened and Anna slipped past the people who were entering.

"Anna! Get back here! Ya got drinks ta make!"

"Ah'm takin' a fifteen, boss! Ah'll be back!" 

Her boss took her place behind the counter and started serving up drinks as Anna left the bar, only to see the woman being grabbed. Sparks were flying...

"Oh mah stars..." A mutant? Cured or not, Anna didn't stand for anti mutant violence. It still made her angry. Instead of addressing the men, she charged head on at the man who was grabbing the woman and slammed her shoulder into him.

Her name was Marie...

The sound of it made her kick the dirt beneath her boot. Marie was exactly who Pyro had described. She was weak, and normal. There was absolutely nothing special about her. She was afraid, like all humans. She didn't belong with Xavier's school anymore. She had traded in her teaching career for a life on the road and the first destination was the south.

Things were never going to be easy for her. Not that she expected it to be. What kind of life was without conflict? But to have the life she had thrust upon her? It made her feel powerless, even when she had powers.

For now, she was holed up at a bar as a server behind the bar. Strictly drinks for her. When she was hired, she was hired under the name Anna. Marie and Rogue wee a thing of the past. There was no need to carry that kind of baggage her whole life.

It was a typical Thursday night. Crowd was a bit slow, but there were some travelers on the road that needed a drink before continuing the rest of their journey out of town. Anna made her rounds with the drinks and even took some new orders before heading back behind the counter, dumping some glasses in the sink and whipping out some fresh ones and sliding them under the tap.

At least the tips were good. A sweet little number like her was able to keep the conversation going with her patrons, enough to dial up that southern charm and keep the cash flow rolling in. Hey, it was a living.
[Tag: Raven]

Rogue stood outside the building with her mother, unflinching as she gave the height a once over. Cake. With the two of them working together, this heist was going to be easier than cutting a slice of pecan pie. Dressed typically in hood and cloak, Rogue had her hands at her sides, gaze narrowing at the entrance they were about to take. She was focused. Knowing that people like her were being held captive was not something she would ignore. She had power and she would put that power to good use. If that meant taking out a few humans, then she would. What kind of people would hold people captive for being gifted? It made Rogue angry.

"Ah remember..." Mystique recited it again and oh course, Marie didn't interrupt. Mother knew best and she was just as worried about Rogue she she was about the prisoners that were being held in that building. "Ya do what ya do and ah'll do what ah do. Ah'll take down security, you slip past and head to the containment cells. Ah promise, ah'll be right behind ya." Once her touch was out to use, Rogue knew back up would arrive in droves. It wouldn't be a fair fight but it didn't mean she would lose the fight. Mystique raised her to be strong, trained her to be a fighter. She crossed her arms and smirked, giving a slight tease. "Momma, ya worry too much. Ah can handle this."

She was head strong, heart strong, country girl strong. The combination of strengths were deadly. Without another second to pass by, she took a step forward and approached the building ahead of them without even looking back. Her walk wasn't one of an uncertain girl, the one she use to be. Instead, Mystique would witness a calm and confident saunter,p resembling that of a wild cat stalking its prey.

Yanking at her right glove, she pulled it off and tucked it into her belt for later and entered the building. The guard at the desk stood up and held his hand out.

"Woah miss! You can't be here! This is a classified area."

Rogue cocked her head to the side. "Calm down, Sugah. Ah just need a phone. Mah car broke down down the road and ah think there's someone following me, mind if ah use yours?" The guard clearly didn't care too much about the woman's well being. He approached her and yanked her by the wrist.

"Get out, you can't be here!" He was walking her to the door and when stopped moving with him. His hand slipped from her wrist and took her bare hand. The pull began and Rogue blinked, taking in the information on the area, the underground specifically. They weren't just holding people. They were experimenting too. The man fell to the ground, out like a light when Rogue let go of his hand and motioned for Mystique to head on in.

Rogue walked over to the guard's desk and pulled up some files to dig around.

Vagrant.

Noun.

Definition: A wanderer without a home.

If the shoe fits...

Back at the mansion, she was known as Rogue when she was a mutant. Marie was her human name. Marie was an optimistic human girl who had thought that she could coexist with her past and manage just fine...


Her burn in the alley with Pyro proved her wrong.

Rogue died when she too the cure. And Marie? Marie's light at been doused by the fire manipulating mutant, and rising from the ashes was a completely different woman. There was no fear there, no holding back from her. Anna was a woman released from her gift and past. That encounter with Pyro had opened her eyes and given her the courage to take a step forward and seize the day, seize her life and make it what she wanted it to be.

But what she wanted was something she would never be. Normal.

There was nothing normal about the girl who came back to Mississippi to tell her parents that she was cured. White streak in her hair, she still stood out like a sore thumb. Her parents wouldn't have her. Her life in the past would only spit her back out. The best she could do was start over. And start over she did.

It was in a rundown bar that Anna hung her hat and kicked up her boots, only it was behind the counter, serving up drinks. Pretty girl like her? She took home big tips, especially since she had a strict rule of not handing out her phone number to the regulars. The more elusive the woman, the more the man wanted her.

But that wasn't her play. Anna had a lot to accomplish before even considering getting involved with anyone. She had to build a life and a home.

The sound of billiard balls smacking against each other cued up another round of drinks for the bikers in the corner. They were placing bets on who would win, which was all in good spirit. Give them a little too much liquor, and sometimes the place got rowdy. Anna knew exactly when to cut them off, and half the time, he patrons would get angry about it, to which she would dial up the charm and say something so sweet such as "Sugah, ah'm only worried for ya. What if somethin' happened to ya if ah didn't cut ya off? It'd break mah heart. After all, ya are my favorite regular" and finish it off with an emerald eyed wink.

Anna swung past the counter with a tray full of beers in frosty mugs, maneuvering around the tables, she made it to the gentlemen having their little competition and presented them with the cold beverages. "Now Ah'm warnin' y'all, ya keep this clean and fun and we won't have a problem. If ah hear any threats or see any shovin', Ah'm gonna just deny ya'll any more liquid courage. Do ah make myself clear, fellas?"

Yea, she served beers and made drinks for a living. But that didn't mean she was gonna let anyone walk all over her. Those days we're behind her. The days of a mousey school teacher just begging for acceptance were through. This was her life now, and it was gonna be exactly how she wanted it.

Rogue actually chuckled. What a smartass. It was actually one of the reasons she missed him.

She got comfortable against the wall. What was she going to do anyways? Run down the street and hail a cab? She couldn't call anyone without causing a panic. Being here was better than being at the mansion right now. Pyro had a point. She didn't belong in their world. She had no place staying with them. She had betrayed them all when she turned in her powers for touch and a picket fence. Being normal was something a Rogue had wanted. She didn't have a power that could be harnessed to help people or protect the people she loved. Instead, her power seemed all about destruction. It wasn't something she could handle if she as given the option... It made her realize what a coward she was. She couldn't handle the fate that was in store for her and so, she ran from it. Instead of accepting the human consequences, she stuck around in a mansion full of mutants when she should have assimilated back into the real world. So how was that going to work? Pack up, leave the mansion and go to what? Nowhere? With nobody? She had no human friends. She had no parents at this point.

It was going to be her against the world... Wandering aimlessly.

Not all who wander are lost.

She wasn't lost. She just had nowhere to be. Rogue could almost thank Pyro for this encounter. It had opened her eyes to what was her next step in her story. Travel the country, go place to place, and start a life wherever she felt like it was home... Maybe she would go down south... She had always missed the sounds of cicadas in the middle of the night during her bare footed walks.

Bobby would be alright. He deserved someone special, someone who had gifts and enjoyed them. Not someone like Marie who was lost in her own mind and willing to give back parts of herself to make her life easier. "Honestly, you wanna know what we have in common?"

Rogue chuckled and looked back up to him, eyes lit up with amusement. "You. You're a pain in both our asses.."