The X-Men watched as Rogue stepped onto water like it was concrete. Electricity and fire swirled in her hands. With all her powers unleashed and running the show, it seemed she could do anything. Her hunter green catsuit was covered in rips and tears, but shielded skin that could no longer be cut. Her eyes were mad with power as thunder cracked above them. The former Weapon X project moved to enter the water, but Jean stopped him.

'No, Logan. Look.' Live, electric wires had fallen into the water and made it conductive. This meant extra-certain death, to his adamantium plated skeleton. Ororo's hands jittered as she looked at the dangerous puddles surrounding them, half the manhattan bridge pulled to the ground.

"Rogue," Scott called out, right where he left off. The team edged behind him, like they were cornering a wild animal. Their friend was not herself, and they'd never seen this side of her. Not even when she wiped the floor with them the first time her powers spun out. This was different. Kurt stood beside him, two fingers digging into his black X-Suit. The wind was raging around them. "Your friends are here, it's going to be okay."

'Friends...' A lot of faces flash in her mind, but they all serve to make Her angry. 'Help me...'

"She no longer has friends." Rogue answers in a voice that isn't her own. She raised a fist, one that now contains the power of the galaxy. One that can defeat them all, easily. It glowed fiercely as she sneered at them, eyes cold and blue. Jean rockets forward and is determined to stop her. 'I must-' Rogue hits the ocean with such force, the sea floor is visible. Jean is repelled by the blast, barely falling into Scott's arms. Ororo screams into action, using her mastery of the elements to keep them from being crushed by sea water.

Jean shields everyone from the rest, her hands raising a telekinetic shield that glows bright pink, showing how her powers have grown. "Rogue! Focus!" Kurt called out through the spraying winds. "It's okay, ve're here!" He could barely hear himself over his sister's screams, the sound making tears spring to his eyes.

"She's never coming back!" Another's voice screams at them all. "She's never-"

Charles' eyes open abruptly. He wasn't praying on the jet, portable Cerebro on his hands. His student wasn't tearing the city down. The military was no longer surrounding him. He was in the medbay. "Are you listening to me?" A man with an eyepatch and another man known as Iron Man both stared impatiently at him. It'd been a horrid day for everyone. A day where everybody seemed to lose something. Some property, some colleagues. Emotions are pulled tight and everyone's a second away from making a rash decision.

People are pounding on the doors to the infirmary, begging the psychic to listen.

"Will you meet any and all of our demands?" Fury says, his eye somber.

"In exchange for her freedom." The bags under the inventor's eyes are mile along, only rivaled by Charles'. He watched the strongest woman he knew be taken, and by one of them. There was no limit to their power, they were now all aware.

'Professor, let us in there. We'll protect you, both of us!' Jean begs from the hallway.

"Chuck-"

"Yes. I will." Nick Fury and Tony Stark exchanged looks. This was far from enough, but it'd be a start. Fury nodded, and Tony reluctantly raised an arm.

"Yeah. Avengers teams, stand down." He looked into Charles' eyes, the look weary and distrusting. "We have cooperation."