The buzz of a new mission never got easier. A blaring alarm undercut by shouts and galloping feet echoed through the halls and eventually channeled its way down to the Blackbird's hanger. Somewhere along the way one had to find time to swap out of your street clothes, into padded uniforms, and try not to think about what things those uniforms were there to protect you from.
Anna and her fellow students appeared in the hangar in what must have been record time seeing as the little Wall-E robots were still doing their prep work on the jet. What was an even more rare sight, was finding Xavier sitting in his wheelchair next to the Blackbird's open bay door. The tips of his fingers were pressed together, and under the overhead lights the angles of his eyebrows and cheekbones looked sharp enough to cut glass.
"Students!" He called, "Gather! Quickly!"
They followed his orders, gathering around him like players getting the opening play from a coach.
"Students", He paused oddly as if his tongue had suddenly doubled in size in his throat. "X-Men, this is no ordinary mission. A force - a singular force - has taken a course toward downtown Bayville in what I believe will be a single-manned reign of destruction."
Scott leaned in, "Brotherhood?"
"No. Not Brotherhood but they are a mutant. A mutant who is known for wreaking havoc and has a reputation for being unstoppable. His name is 'The Juggernaut.'"
"The Jugger-"
"Your mission is not to stop him. You students will help the authorities in evacuation efforts. I, along with Wolverine and Storm, will stop Juggernaut. I repeat you X-Men are not to engage the threat!"
Ororo, Storm, appeared from the other side of the jet's landing gear with a tablet in her hand. "Professor, the Blackbird is ready for lift-off."
"Excellent. Students, board quickly! Wolverine is already inside and will distribute additional armor as you board. Now move!"
They were coralled into the bay of the jet where Anna just managed to wrap her arms around a helmet Logan had shoved into her chest. When she and the others were secured in their seats, she spotted the professor rolling down the center aisle and taking Scott's usual spot as co-pilot.
Scott was still standing, his hand gripping the headrest of one of the chairs, "Professor?"
"I'll be joining you all and using the jet as a mobile base. Cyclops, find a spot and strap in, we are taking off as soon as the engines are primed!"
Apparently, the engines didn't take much, because Cyclops was barely sat in a seat before the jet was lining up the runway and blasting off. Anna was pressed deep into her chair from the sudden explosion of force and found it hard to breath as the craft blasted though the hanger doors. They shot up toward an overcast sky and were buzzing the gray clouds so aggressively Anna could see nothing but fog outside.
"The helmets have a built-in radio," Wolverine explained from somewhere behind Anna. "Just talk and we'll hear it. Of course, they cover your face too, but you might want to set your face scrambler on your watch anyway."
She looked down at the heavy thing her in lap for the first time since having it shoved into her arms, and found it look strikingly like a BMX helmet.
"These are to be worn at all times." Wolverine went on. "Cyclops, while Storm and me deal with this bastard, you coordinate rescue and evac of citizens. Cooperate with authorities but don't speak to them. Don't get too close to them either. If they ask questions, just reassure them you are there to help."
The jet lowered from the clouds and Anna saw it. Billowing smoke, fire, the flashing lights of cop cars and emergency services. As the jet banked to one side she saw a building had been completely leveled and a car was thrown like a spear into another.
"What the hell…"
"We are beginning our descent." Storm flicked a pulsing switch on the dash. "Cloak is active."
"Very good, Storm." Xavier wrapped his hands tight around the co-pilot yolk. "I'll take it from here. You and Wolverine prep the students for the drop."
Storm stood, her black cloak swaying behind her. "Unbuckle and join me in the bay! Prepare for touchdown!"
The constant swaying and fluctuations in speed made walking through the jet almost impossible. More than once Kurt had to give Anna a helping hand from behind, and Anna had to brace Kitty in front of her. By the time they reached the bay, the door was opening. Wolverine stepped out first and helped the rest of them make the step down onto the grassy hill. Storm was the last to leave and after her, the invisible force throwing clumps of sod and litter everywhere that had deposited them lifted off.
"Everyone's gear set?" Wolverine checked each of his little soldiers in turn. Anna could barely hear him through the thick padding of the helmet, but the radio in her ear made a digital rendering of his voice come in nice and clear. "Watches?" Anna and the others double-checked the facial distortion field was active on their watches, and nodded when they were sure they were live. As for Anna, she double-checked that her ray gun was safely strapped to her hip.
Wolverine pointed his chin at Storm. "Give me a bird's eye and I'll give you ground level. We coordinate from there. Let's plan to ice him and then I'll pop him." He then walked over to Cyclops and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "You got this. Take good care of them. Xavier is floating around if you need him. Understand?" It was then Anna couldn't help but notice neither Wolverine nor Storm was wearing any additional armor.
Scott only managed a nod before the only two adults rushed off toward downtown. He turned to face the others. "Alright -" He took a breath, nodded, and repeated himself with a little more gusto. "Alright! Three teams in the pincer maneuver as we worked on. Me and Phoenix, then Rogue and Spike. Keep a defensive posture. That means don't rush into a fight a be aware of your surroundings. Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, you two on keep out of sight and light on your feet. Keep your focus on the roads or stranded cars and help those stuck in the line of fire. If things get hot, get out and radio for help. As for the rest of us, we will canvas buildings near or around the warpath. Everyone, keep your coms open at all times. Alright, move out!"
Just as they practiced, everyone got with their buddy. With a flick of his arm, Spike formed a throrny bone shield with just enough room for the both of them to opperate behind. "Okay," Rogue got into position, took out her pistol and armed it. "Set the pace and I'll follow."
Kurt and Kitty disappeared pretty quickly after the group split, but Rogue and Spike kept within eye distance of Cyclops and Pheonix for a while till they diverted to the direction of one of the billowing pillars of smoke.
"Think we should follow them?" Spike whispered into her ear.
"Cyke wanted us to cover a wide area. Let's check the strip mall in front of us. People might be stuck inside."
To close the gap between themselves and the strip mall, they cut through a rusted chain link fence using a combination of Rogue's ray gun and Spike's talons. Soon they were upon a solid steel rear door with a fat white number on it. Spike was getting ready to tear a hole through the thing when Rogue grabbed his arm, tried the door, and found it was open. They slipped inside what looked to be a small thrift store.
"Is anyone in here?" Rogue called. "We're here to help!"
"Behind the counter!"
Only dim security lights lit sections of the walls while most of the store was still veiled in darkness. While there was a row of glass windows, the overcast sun outside didn't do much to help illuminate the store's interior.
"Call out! We can't see!"
The lights flipped on and stung Rogue's eyes. She then saw five people staring back at them from behind a counter stacked with hangers and a couple of shopping baskets. "What is that thing?" A woman shouted. "What's out there? Is that some sort of tank?"
Rogue rushed passed Spike's shield and for the people. "Is anyone hurt?"
The woman, a middle-aged-looking woman with a baggy top and jeans, looked back at her with a horror Rogue had never seen from an adult before. "That man! That thing! What - What is it? I saw it pick up a damn car!"
Rogue checked in on the others, but they all simply stared back at her with similar wide eyed expressions like the woman. "Can you all walk?"
An old man with thin lips nodded eventually. "Y-Yes! We-We… no one has -" He swallowed. "We're fine, ma'am."
"Rogue", at the call of her codename, she found Spike sizing up the street from one of the windows. "The cops have set up a barricade down the road. We should take them there."
"Aren't you both with the police?" The old man asked.
"We work for them." Rogue offered a gloved hand to the elder man and helped each of the people up in turn. Spike guided them toward the front door, which one of them unlatched.
"Go-go-go!" Spike led them out the door with shield raised and Rogue taking the rear. The police line was only half a block away, and when they got the citizens within twenty feet, Rogue and Spike backed off. A pair of paramedics broke off from behind the barricade and helped the five along their way. At the same time, a couple of uniformed police officers met Spike and Rogue halfway and shouted, "You too!" They waved at them to come toward the barricade. "Get over here!"
Rogue was trying to think of what to say when the sound of something big and metal being crushed ripped away her attention. When she turned, she spotted a man the size of a small building planting a fat foot on the front end of a cop car further down the street. The echo of gunfire rebounded off nearby buildings and pavement. She spotted muzzle flashes, but the way the huge man reacted, it looked like the cops were just firing pop guns.
The huge man grabbed the rear end of the car with his foot still rooted to the front, and with a sharp twist at the waist, he ripped it clean in half.
"Christ", Rogue heard a cop breathe behind her.
"The fuck is that thing?" Another asked.
The man arched back, bullets seemingly pinging off his skin like small stones, and roared with the same full throated snarling of a raging bear.
The big man, Juggernaut, balled up the rear end of the police cruiser and shoved it into the ground. It was when he raised it again did Rogue relized he hadn't just shoved it into the ground… he had squashed someone with it.
Something small launched from a mound of debris behind Juggernaut and tried to wrap around the top of him. There was a shout followed by the thing being slid off Juggernaut's forearm and chucked into a nearby building.
Rogue clutched her throat, "Was that Wolverine?"
"Wolverine! Come in!" Spike shouted on his radio.
The little figure leaped again, this time for Juggernaut's midsection. The figure was plucked up by the leg and cast aside like a ragdoll. By now, the police engaging Juggernaut had begun to back away. There were still cracks of shotgun fire and smaller munitions, but the uniforms were now starting to give him more space. It was then his body squared to face her. He picked up another cruiser, held it like a paper airplane, and chucked it in Rogue's direction.
Rogue and Spike dove out of the way just as the car smashed where they stood, flipped, and crushed the police's wooden barricade markers behind them. Rogue heard screams from the nearby people mixing with the voices on her radio. All of them ultimately blended with the ringing in her ears to form a cacophony of bleedingly loud white noise. She looked around and found Spike had smashed through a window when he'd dodged the car. He was covered in spikes and broken glass, but otherwise appeared fine.
She started to pull him back to his feet when a harsh gust of cold air knocked her to the ground too. She spotted Storm hovering over Juggernaught with air being sucked in from every direction toward them. At the woman's feet, a vortex was starting to form that was throwing papers, broken pieces of car, and bricks all over the place.
The goliath didn't even seem phased. He started jumping up toward her, just barly missing her feet.
"That's a guy, right?" Spike panted. "Where is his head?"
"He has to be wearing some kind of super suit or something." Rogue struggled back to her feet. "How else could he take all this damage?"
"He has to see somehow." Spike accepeted Rogue's offered hand and got back up. "And if its some sort of powered super suit, theres got to be an off switch somewhere, right?" He tapped his helmet. "Hello? Is anyone reading me?"
Rogue scanned the rooftops and the windows. "I'm just getting static."
"Same. Piece of crap! The vortex might be messing up the signal somehow."
A bright red light pierced through the flurry and punched Juggernaut in the chest. He tipped backward and then looked in its direction. Another blast rocked him back further. When a third fired, Juggernaut had claimed better footing and was starting to march in its direction.
"Shit, Scott's in trouble!" Rogue looked back at Spike. "He can't fly like Storm, and he can't fix himself like Wolverine. He's going to get himself fucking killed by this thing!"
Spike formed another bone shield and pulled her behind it. "Keep trying the radio, and I'll get us close!"
Try and try again, either in the helmet or on the watch, the radio only gave back static. As they got closer to Storm's spinning vortex, the air got thinner and harder to breathe. Rogue peered out from behind the shield and just managed to spot Cyclops and Phoenix standing side by side under the great clock in the middle of downtown. His eyes were at full blast, and she knelt, arms stretched toward the giant, likely in an attempt to slow him down through psychic force.
This close now, Rogue could see the proportions of this man were completely wrong. He had arms, legs, and a torso like a typical man, but he stood nearly twice her height. His biceps were like bus tires, and his leg muscles appeared as if they were made of coiled lengths of bridge cable. Where his head should be was only a slight bump in his silhouette, but there was still enough room there to make her think there was a brain somewhere in that space making decisions.
Rogue leaned to one side of the shield and gave the giant a full blast of her gun. He was knocked forward a little, then stood straight. She fired again, and he did something she didn't expect. He audibly laughed.
It was the sort of laugh like he had remembered a good joke from earlier that day. A snicker. Then it eventually grew into something a little more deranged.
"Helmet - ert… hes…" Rogue heard over her radio. She looked up and saw the Storm's vortex had all but faded.
"Students!" Xavier's voice came in nice and clear in Rogue's mind. "I can defeat Juggernaut if you remove his helmet! Give the helmet all you have and destroy it!"
When Rogue's attention returned from the sky, she found Juggernaut facing her directly. Under a long, stout, curved helmet were the sheen of two beady eyes staring down at her. Not at Storm, not the cops, they were staring at her, and she was staring right back. With a single hand, he picked up a compact car, wound it up like a baseball, and smashed it right on top of her and Spike.
Then there was blackness followed by the smell of sulfur. When Rogue opened her eyes next, she was inside a frozen yogurt shop. The chairs had been scattered and tipped over, and the doors were flung open with the store itself devoid of any life. At the edge of her blurry vision, she spotted Nightcrawler with his arm wrapped around her neck. On his other side was Spike, staring at him.
Before Rogue could fully process what had happened, Nightcrawler had slumped to the floor, and Spike dove for him. He laid him on his back and removed Nightcrawler's helmet. His nose was bleeding, and he looked as if he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.
"Kurt!" Spike shouted and shook the boy's head. "Kurt, can you hear me?"
"I'm okay… I'm okay…" Nightcrawler said between shallow breaths.
Spike held Nightcrawler's head in his hands, "Kurt. Stay with me, man. Do you know who you are? Do you know where you are?"
"Professor-" Rogue declared in her mind in an attempt to reach Xavier. "Kurt is seriously hurt. He's having a hard time staying conscious. We're in the ice cream shop."
"Pull him behind the building. Storm will meet you there."
Rogue looked out the front windows of the shop and spotted Pheonix holding a wall of broken bricks and twisted metal between her and Juggernaut. He was looming over her and Cyclops, and pounding on the makeshift shield as if he were trying to crack an egg. Rogue looked back at Spike, "Get him out of here!"
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to find this fuckers off-switch!" Rogue shoved her laser pistol in its holster and sprinted for the clock tower. Juggernaut was on top of Phoenix's shield, stomping on it, and had it so controted it was remarkable it still was holding up. She wasn't going to make it.
"Hey, you big jerk!"
At that moment, Rogue and Juggernaut both paused and looked up to a rooftop where they spotted Shadowcat holding a rocket launcher aimed at them. "Look what I found in the back of a SWAT van!" With a click, a bright rocket screamed through the air and struck the Juggernaut in the chest. In a powerful explosion, he was launched off Phoenix's shield and onto his back.
"Cute!" He shouted with a grizzly sandpaper-coated voice. He stood and picked up a huge chunk of rubble. "My turn!"
"I don't think so, prick!" Rogue shed her gloves and wrapped herself around his bare arms. Surges of energy pulsed from her hands and seized her muscles. It was like grabbing onto a live wire.
"Gah!" Juggernaut boomed, then flicked her off his arm with the action of a cracking whip.
Rogue soared upside down through the air. Helpless to save herself, she felt herself make contact with the middle of the clock tower and then through it. Her limp body tumbled out of a hole on the other side and fell several stories till coming to rest in a mound of rubble.
As she laid there, she heard screams and shouting. The world seemed to momentarily slow down as she noticed the nearby whipping sound of a helicopter.
"Anna," She heard a familiar voice in her mind. "I can feel your force, Anna. Can you move?"
She didn't know, she hadn't tried to move. In truth, she didn't really want to know the answer. She started with her toes and her fingers. When those moved she tried her flexing her hands. Then her elbows, arms, neck, and when she sat up she found she didn't even hurt.
"How… am I alive?"
"You absorbed some of the Juggernaut's power. Listen, Anna. The others are in dire trouble. I can save them, but you need to use your power to bring him down. You need to do it fast."
Rogue pushed herself out of the wreckage and felt, well… she felt pretty damn good, strangly. She felt as if she had just done the best set of curls in her life! She ran around the tower and discovered Jugernaught stood over Cyclops and a prone Pheonix. Cyclops looked up at him and, with a shout, fired off another blast of red energy. The giant smothered the light with his hand and wrapped his fingers around Cyclops' face.
"Hey, fuck face! Pick on someone your own size!" With that, Rogue kicked out Jugernaught's leg from under him like it was a stick and dropped him to a knee. He let go of Cyclops and looked at her.
"What?" He muttered as she threw a fist and cracked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He was ready for her second fist, however, and caught it in a hand that easily eclipsed hers. She could feel him crushing it in his palm. "I don't know how you're doing this, but this ain't a fight you can win, little girl!"
Even while he was speaking she could feel the energy surging through her by their connection. Her skin went taught and she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
He wadded his free hand into a meaty fist, but when he threw a wide punch in her direction, she caught it easily with her other hand. They were then suspended there, no ground being given either way. They stared at each other, and the sweat was starting to sting Rogue's eyes. The more she stared at him, she found the world around her started to melt away into darkness. Eventually, even Juggernaught started to grow fuzzy and out of focus.
She suddenly found herself standing in a long hallway that looked like it belonged in a hospital. There was only one source of illumination, the blinking florecent light above her head. If she looked either way down the hall she saw nothing but darkness.
Then she heard a skittering from something with many legs. It grew louder and louder till it suddenly stopped. From out of the darkness and pair of twisted red pincers attached to an amber bug head appeared. Long antennae capped with little barbs were attached just above two little beady eyes that loomed over her. Many hairy boony legs pushed its great red scally body forward as its mandables clicked incessantly.
Rogue's heart beat so hard she could feel it in her ears. She took a step back to twist and run, but it was too late.
The monster thrust its body through her and pierced her like the blade of a finely honed sword. She could feel it writhing, and she could do nothing but scream. And she screamed till her throat could give no more and her body seized. Powerful waves of emotion shot electrified her nerve-endings and ignighted her mind. Feelings of seething and blinding hatred. Anger like she had never felt before. She wanted to tear a man's head off just to see the spine inside. She wanted others to feel the pain she felt, and worse. She wanted others to suffer the grueling torment she was in that exact moment and burn in the same fires of hell she had to live in every single day.
"Breathe."
There was a voice. It was… her voice.
"Breathe and let go."
She felt her skin grow hot as the fury continued to boil from within.
"Breathe… and let go."
Rogue closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe despite the pain. Despite the bloodlust and pouring hatred for all life bleeding from her chest. With each breath, it got easier to manage, and the pain lessened. Eventually, the rage became a fading memory as it seemingly passed through her and on to the other side.
When next Rogue opened her eyes she was staring back in Jugernaught's ugly face and she smiled. She tensed her fingers around his then leaned her full weight into him. "Get back!" She commanded, and to her amazment, he did.
He was forced to take one step back and then another. Soon she had his back against a building and forced him to a knee. She saw Kitty's hands appear through the wall, grab the helmet, and use her power to pull it off his head.
"Professor, now!" Rogue screamed.
Juggernaught, who turned out to be a blonde man with blue eyes stared up at her till his pupals dialed. "Charles…" He mumbled and soon after she felt all the fight give out in his arms as they went limp.
Rogue fell over onto the cracked asphalt. The asphalt she now understood she had cracked from the force she had pressed Jugernaught into the ground. Her sweat mixed with spit and blood leaking from her mouth.
She pulled her helmet off the threw it. With her new peripheral vision, she could now see how many people were staring at her. Cops, pedestrians, people emerging from buildings, and news crews were all in stunned silence.
She struggled to her feet, the taste of iron prevalent in her mouth. Something took her standing over the horizon of onlookers. She extended her arms, held her forearms in front of her face, and formed an X. There she held it like a flag after a long battle fought before she lost the strength to stand and stumbled to the ground.
It was then she noticed the little white flakes softly falling from above. It was snowing.
** AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey there! I wanted to let you know that I've decided to publish the entire backlog of Rogue Evolution on my website, artoflupin.com. There you'll find chapters as far ahead as "Snow Fall 11.6", and in a couple of weeks, I plan on having the log on my website be a chapter ahead of any other site I post to!
If you'd prefer to wait for uploads here, no worries, uploads will continue here as scheduled.
Thanks! **