*
A/N:I know I said that I'm leaving for two weeks. But I have been dabbling in this fic way before finals and finally finished it while I was taking a break from studying (at three o'clock in the morning no less). Exams are half-way over, only three more to go (two written and one oral). And I had an exam this morning, or rather, yesterday morning (it's tomorrow now, by my watch, if that makes any sense). I really would appreciate the feedback.
*
Again, as with my other fic, I am writing without the accents because I know I would only mess it up. As for Pietro, I chose not to run the words together or hyphenate his speech because as a reader, I hated it. It takes effort for me to understand what he's trying to say. So just imagine everything in your head. Sorry.
*
Warning: Experimental. AU. The mutants of Bayville High haven't been exposed yet. The X-Men vs. the new and improved Brotherhood. I placed Kurt and Rogue (whom I gave a different characterization) in the Brotherhood to even the odds a little. There are no New Mutants yet, but the Brotherhood and the X-Men are in a race to recruit mutants for their cause.*
*
*
Ideologies*
*
*
Chapter 1*
*
*
Remy LeBeau casually leaned on his motorcycle. He knew he was attracting more than a few stares, mostly from members of the fairer sex. He couldn't help but smirk. He was hot. And he knew it. Uncaringly, he took out a cigarette from one of the more obvious pockets of his trench coat. He absentmindedly tapped it a few times on the back of his hand. He was about to light it using his fingers when he remembered he wasn't in New Orleans anymore.
He wasn't in Thieves territory.
He was in Bayville.
He winced. In Bayville High in particular.
He immediately lost his smile as he pocketed the cigarette back. His fearless leader told him in no uncertain terms to keep his powers under wraps. And as he didn't carry a lighter with him, he would have to postpone his smoke for later.
At eighteen, he had never had any formal schooling, having grown up in the streets. And when Jean-Luc LeBeau took him in and eventually adopted him, his education was focused…elsewhere. But when he got into Bayville, he took the aptitude exam and they told him that he was qualified to be a senior student.
Great. Woo-hoo. He was in high school.
He made a face. His father assured him that this was only on a trial basis and he was given half a month to decide. Well, his decision was made and it didn't even take him half a second. He was a thief at heart. Forcing him to go to school was a cruel and unusual punishment. He would much rather pickpockets than do a chemistry experiment.
He hadn't even unpacked his bags yet, knowing full well that he would be gone the moment they let him.
Which would be in twelve days, six hours, and twenty-five minutes.
Then, the east door of Bayville High burst open.
A stunning redhead glided out, a sparkle in her green eyes and a smile on her lips.
"Hey, Jean! Wait up!" A guy with ruby-colored glasses named Scott Summers, the guy whose orders Remy was supposed to follow, ran in after her, followed by a petite brunette called Kitty and a golden-skinned skater boy known as Evan.
"G'afternoon, chere," a lazy Cajun drawl floated to their ears as they drew nearer to where Remy parked his bike.
More than a few women in the campus sighed, wishing that they were the objects of his attention. But what chances do they have against the princess of Bayville herself, Jean Grey?
Jean smiled at him. "Hello, Remy,"
Though hidden behind the glasses, most of the people who were watching just knew that Scott was glaring at the Cajun.
But before anyone could react, the west door opened. Out strutted the resident bad girl, a woman that most men wanted but nobody could touch. She flipped her chin-length, two-toned hair carelessly to the side to keep it from her pretty face. Her emerald eyes glittered with the promise of mischief and wickedness. Her short leather miniskirt exposed bare long legs which were the fantasy of every man and the envy of most girls.
More than a few men wanted to ask out the Rogue, the untouchable one.
But right now, she was flanked with two men who nobody, not even the worst bullies in the campus, would want to cross. Beside her walked Lance Alvers and Pietro Maximoff.
The two groups of people met each other in front of the Cajun Casanova's bike.
They stared each other down.
"Well, are we all just going to stand here, glaring at each other, or are we gonna go?" A cold, calculating voice demanded.
A smirk crossed Rogue's pretty face. Even without turning around, she knew that that was her friend and roommate, Wanda, Pietro's twin sister.
"Let's go then," their leader, Lance led the group into walking to their ride, his jeep. "Hey, Kitty-Cat," he greeted the brunette as he passed by.
But as Rogue passed Scott, she couldn't help but hold out her right index finger and lightly touch the older teen's chin. "Hey, sugah," she drawled with a very sexy Southern accent.
Scott reddened as Jean frowned.
"Remy's jealous, chere," an amused voice whispered in her ear as Rogue walked forward, a hand briefly touching her waist. "And don't believe we've met,"
Rogue smiled sweetly at him. But the words she spat out were anything but. "Touch me and die, Cajun,"
Remy was more turned-on than put off with her statement because of her Southern accent. But he did immediately remove his hand from her.
Rogue walked after her friends, known to them as the Brotherhood.
Remy grinned as his eyes followed the retreating team. The Brotherhood, Evan had told him, and the X-Men, the team of mutant teenagers he was currently living with, have a long-standing rivalry, all of which started with their mentors-benefactors, Eric Lensherr and Charles Xavier respectively.
Remy looked from Rogue to Jean. The two women couldn't be anymore different, but they both intrigued him.
Jean Grey was Miss Popularity, well-liked and famous in the campus. She was a straight-A student, a member of most of the varsity teams. Heck, she was even a cheerleader. She was beautiful and smart and kind-hearted. She was the type of girl that every guy fell in love with at least once. She was almost perfect, an angel that had graced the halls of their pathetic little high school.
Rogue, on the other hand, was Jean's opposite, though no less popular. Favoring dark-colored clothes and make-up, and hanging out with the bad boys, she had this inaccessible air about her. She was the forbidden fruit, someone that a man can only have in his darkest and wildest dreams. She was temptation personified.
"Need a ride, cher?" He asked Jean.
Jean hesitated for a moment before determinedly nodded her head.
And if flirting with the school's two most beautiful women in Bayville would piss off the fearless leader of the X-men, then that would simply be an added bonus for Remy.
The smirk was back on his handsome face. Maybe he will give Bayville a chance after all.
*
*
*
"Here," Pietro tossed a blanket towards Rogue who was seated on the back beside his sister.
"Thanks," Rogue grinned as she draped the blanket around her legs to avoid Wanda accidentally touching her bare skin.
"What I don't understand is why you keep on insisting on wearing such revealing outfits." Wanda grumbled as Lance started the Jeep.
"I like livin' dangerously," Rogue replied with a wicked smile.
"That's my Roguey," Pietro laughed, but he immediately sobered up upon his sister's glare.
"Where's Kurt?" Rogue asked.
"Walking his girlfriend home," Lance grumbled.
"Jealous?" Wanda sneered. All of them knew of Lance silly infatuation with the brunette freshman member of the X-men.
The Brotherhood and the X-men had arrived in Lance and Kitty's hometown around the same time, but Kitty opted to go with the geeks while Pietro was able to convince Lance to 'go with the winner.'
But that doesn't mean Lance has to like his separation with his Kitty Cat.
"'S funny," Rogue told them as Lance drove out of the school ground. "Out of the five of us, it's only the Fuzzy Elf who has anything resembling a love life,"
"Speak for yourself, Roguey," Pietro, from the front passenger seat looked at her through the rearview mirror. "I've got four dates lined up this weekend."
Wanda snorted. "As if father would let any of us out of his sight, not after we failed to recruit the Cajun,"
"Well, we never really had the chance to recruit him, him being that Weather Witch's friends and all," Pietro snorted.
"And thank God for that," Rogue interjected. "Can you just imagine him living in the Boarding House?" She shuddered. "As far as I'm concerned, they can have him,"
"You really don't like him, do you," Lance mused in amusement.
"No, she would rather hold hands and make gooey eyes with Scooott," Pietro teased.
Rogue rolled her eyes. "Oh, grow up," she told Pietro. "I like Scott, he's nice."
"And nice translates to boring," Lance added helpfully. "I thought good girls go for bad boys,"
"Don't worry, Lance," Rogue told him. "Girls like Kitty would be all over your bad boy image." She grinned sexily. "As for me, I've never been a good girl myself,"
*
*
*
The woman known as Mystique easily breached the security of the heavily guarded government facility. Adopting the physical form of the man she just knocked out, the lower-ranked guards let her pass through without much question. And when she reached the door, her extensive knowledge in computers and electronics, along with her ability to duplicate the fingerprints, retina, and voice of a person, allowed her access to the chamber where one of the most powerful mutant reside.
She immediately spotted the console.
Walking towards it, she then punched in a complicated string of numbers and letters that she had memorized just moments before.
She grinned as the red light on the small panel before her turned to green.
Her mission was a success.
In a few hours, Cain Marko, better known as Juggernaut, would be set free.
*
*
*
"Rogue! Hey, Roguey! Can you keep it down? Some people are trying to think here!" Pietro knocked loudly on the girls' room. "Rogue!"
Suddenly, the door swung open but instead of the smiling face of Rogue, he saw his sister's scowling face. "What do you want?" She demanded harshly.
"Eep!" Pietro shuddered. He would much rather face his father's anger than his sister's wrath anytime of the day. "Nothing," he said quickly as he disappeared from her sight as quickly as he can.
Rogue, who was walking up the stairs to the room she and Wanda shared, felt only a breeze that ruffled her already-messy hair.
Wanda saw her. "And what happened to you?" Wanda frowned as she took in Rogue's messy hair, sweaty body, and rumpled clothes.
"Rough session with Sabertooth." Rogue flinched as she walked into the room and collapsed on her bed. "I swear, Wanda, that guy is out to kill me,"
Wanda shook her head. "What I don't understand is why you're killing yourself with all these exercises. I mean, you have more sessions than the rest of the team combined!"
Rogue sighed. This was a conversation that repeated many times in the past. "Wanda, you know that if I wanted some control on my powers, I have to push myself harder than others."
"I know." Wanda frowned. "But look at you. You're half-dead." She paused. "Not that I care or anything,"
Rogue grinned. She knew that she was probably Wanda's first friend, having grown up in a mental facility where her father had kept her when her powers were too much for a kid to handle. "You should talk," she chided her. "You spend more time with Miss Agatha Harkness than I do with my trainin' sessions,"
"That's different." Wanda crossed her arms. "I like my sessions with Agatha."
"Right." Rogue nodded. "But I like the results I'm getting from my sessions. I mean, look at me now, I can manifest the powers of the past people I absorbed before without touching them again,"
Wanda frowned. "Rogue, that wasn't a result of your training. You got that from touching the dying shape shifter half a year ago."
"I didn't touch him," Rogue winced. They barely talked about that incident. It was one she would rather forget. "He touched me," she said in her defense.
"Sorry,"
"'S OK," Rogue shrugged as she closed her eyes. That memory was shoved down in her subconscious. She would much rather forget about that.
*
*
*
X-Men, assemble quick! The telepathic order still gave Remy the creeps. He would never get used to a spook in his head.
When he wandered in the meeting room, most of the team is already there.
"Juggernaut was able to escape his containment facility, again," Professor X was saying.
Scott balled his fist. "We've got to stop him,"
"Who's the homme?" Remy asked as he lazily shuffled his cards. "Old friend?"
"My half-brother, actually," the professor replied.
"Yikes,"
"Wolverine and Storm are both out of the country," the professor continued. "So that means everything depends on you, X-Men,"
"We understand, professor," Scott nodded.
"Remember, take his helmet off. That protects him from psychic attacks. I'll take care of the rest once you've done that,"
*
*
*
Remy, better known on the streets as Gambit, took out his last deck of cards from his trench coat that he insisted on wearing above his X-Men issued uniform. He took one card from the deck and charged it. "Merde," he muttered as Juggernaut took Cyclops by the neck and flung him back towards a building. Great. Out of the original five, only him and Jean Grey were conscious, the rest were knocked out or only half conscious.
He threw the card at the large mutant's feet, hoping to distract him away from Miss Grey. "That's right, come to Gambit," he taunted the man.
Slowly, Juggernaut turned to him. "You want to die, boy?"
Remy smirked. The plan was to take off the helmet, right? And should be a no-brainer for a thief like him.
Twirling his Bo staff on one hand, he went off to a running start. Using his Bo staff for leverage, he took off the ground and launched himself at Juggernaut, hoping to use his speed and thief skills to steal the helmet.
But it seems that he underestimated the large man's speed.
Juggernaut quickly used his thick arms to deflect Gambit, throwing him forward.
Gambit turned in mid-air so he was able to land on his feet. "Dieu," he muttered.
Juggernaut threw a large boulder at him, but Jean Grey deflected it with her telepathy.
"Thanks, Jeannie," Remy grinned at her.
"No problem," she smiled back.
"Argh!" Juggernaut started to attack.
Remy and Jean were immediately on the defensive.
But before anything could happen, a hooded figure placed himself in between the two X-Men and the Juggernaut.
"Do you have a death wish, mon ami?" Remy called out as the cloaked figure didn't even try to place himself out of the path of the rampaging mutant.
But the mysterious figure simply held out her hands.
Then, Juggernaut was lifted up telekinetically.
Jean frowned. The mutant has a telekinesis stronger than hers.
But Juggernaut struggled and that caused a break in the concentration of the newcomer. Juggernaut was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.
"Remove his helmet!" Jean called out.
The hood moved, indicating to the two that he was nodding. Once again he held out his hands.
Remy and Jean waited expectantly.
Nothing happened.
"Uh-oh." A familiar voice said.
Jean frowned. "Rogue?" She asked.
Rogue shrugged as she took off her hood. "I can't access Mag's powers," she said as she tried again.
Nothing.
"What now, chere?" Remy asked her.
"Guys? A little help?" Rogue called out. "I could use a hex bolt or something,"
Wanda stepped from the shadows and directed a doze of her power towards Juggernaut.
Juggernaut charged forward, but fell down violently.
"Remove his helmet, you say," Rogue focused on Pietro's power. She was on Juggernaut's side in an instant. The helmet was off in a flash.
Professor. Jean called out.
But before the professor could reply, Rogue had removed her gloves and placed her hand on Juggernaut.
Two tortured screams filled the air.
*
*
*
"Rogue, have you been putting on weight?" Lance grumbled as he removed Rogue's form from his shoulder and dumped her on her bed.
"Omph," Rogue groaned as she was too tired to protest.
Wanda shook her head. "Yet another power to add to your growing repertoire," she muttered as she opened the windows to let the breeze in.
"Do you think that the X-Men made it through OK?" Lance asked.
Wanda rolled her eyes. "Yes, Lance, your pretty Kitty's fine. Last thing I saw before we took off was Wolverine loading her up in the Geek Jeep."
"Hey!" Lance frowned.
"Aw, shut up." Rogue mumbled as she buried herself deeper into her bed.
Lance and Wanda looked at each other, for once in their lives in perfect sync. Each grabbing a pillow, they simultaneously threw it at the prone girl.
"Hey!"
*
*
*
"It certainly was no accident," the professor told Storm and Wolverine as he tinkered with the console as the tank that held his half-brother's body slowly descend into a containment chamber below.
Wolvervine sniffed. "Mystique." He snarled.
"Yes. Quite." The professor nodded. "But why? What does she have to gain by setting him free?"
*
*
*
~tbc
*
P.S.
I would love to hear what you think so far. So read and review! Thanks! Kisses!