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Paid in Blood	By : Wiccamage Category: X-Men - Animated Series (all) > General Views: 4134 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Wolverine and the X-Men, the X-Men universe, it's characters or anything from the Marvel universe. I do not own, nor do I profit from any character or element of this story. Again, I do not own anything& do not pr

Chapter List
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It had been hours – four hours, twenty-two minutes, and thirty-eight, no thirty-nine seconds– since witnesses had watched Rogue get shoved into a white van by two men.
The two were out to do some holiday shopping. Rogue hadn’t wanted to go, but Kitty had whined and begged until the older girl gave in. They were just getting into the car to leave when they’d been jumped.
Kitty had woken up on the ground with a crowd of people surrounding her. She was told the paramedics had been and an officer was on his way from inside the mall.
“What, what happened?” Kitty asked as she grabbed her head and tried to sit up. Many gentle hands guided her to a sitting position and kept the disoriented girl from toppling over again.
“You’ve got a head injury, miss. Try to keep still,” an unfamiliar male voice spoke softly to her as she tried to pinpoint the source. “What’s your name?”
“Sha – uh, Kitty,” she responded almost automatically. Feeling the back of her head, Kitty groaned as she reached the tender area. “Did I fall?” she asked to no one in particular.
“Some men tried to kidnap you!” an elderly woman called from near the back of the crowd. “I saw the whole thing! He jumped out and hit you on the head while the big one grabbed your friend.”
Kitty’s eyes widened, “Oh my gosh, Rogue! Where is she? Is she okay?!” The young brunette tried to jump up to find her teammate, but the hands from the crowd coaxed her back down quickly.
“Whoa, calm down. You could have serious trauma,” the soft male voice coaxed again. “Do you have anyone you can call?”
Momentarily overcome with vertigo, Kitty nodded slightly. “My, my phone.” It was quickly retrieved from her purse (which was, surprisingly, still nearby) and handed to the male voice, which turned out to be the police officer. “Logan.” She muttered as she tried to make the world stop spinning.
Kitty closed her eyes and leaned against a tire as she listened to the officer talk to Logan.
“Hello, is this Logan?” Kitty could only imagine Wolverine’s gruff voice on the other end of the line.
“This is Officer Lillenquist with-…”
“No sir. Sir, sir, SIR!” The officer was obviously having a hard time getting Logan to listen.
“I’m here with Ms. Pryde now, sir. She was attacked in the parking lot and sustained a head injury. The paramedics will be here shortly.”
Her dizzy spell subdued, Kitty was now gazing up at the officer as he spoke with Logan. Noting that the young girl was staring intently at him, he turned away and spoke in hushed tones.
“We don’t know sir. No sir. There’s no sign of the other girl. We have more officers on their way. We’ve already filed an APB for her. Yes. Yes, of course sir.”
The officer took a deep breath and turned back around with a forced smile. “Your …friend … will be here soon.” Nearby Kitty could hear sirens coming closer. “It sounds like the paramedics are close,” Officer Lillenquist stated. “We’ll have them check your injuries and either take you straight to the hospital or wait for your friend Logan to get here.”
The paramedics were checking over Kitty’s head and vision in the far end of the parking lot when the X-Men arrived a few minutes later.
The officer was still waiting with Kitty when the team came running over. Storm hugged the girl, relieved, while Logan marched up to Lillenquist to get the full story.
As Officer Lillenquist relayed the situation, they discovered that an elderly woman had seen two men jump out and attack both girls. According to the witness, a tall, thin man had surprised Kitty from behind and knocked her over the head with a crowbar. Another much larger man had jumped out of a white van parked next to their vehicle and grabbed her friend before jumping back inside the vehicle.   When the two men heard the old lady yelling for help, they abandoned the little one and drove off.
Officer Lillenquist postulated that Kitty had been left behind because she was too far from the van to load quickly.   He claimed that it had been a lucky break for her, but all Kitty could think about was Rogue.
Thankfully, the paramedics declared she only had a mild concussion and would only need to be hospitalized overnight for observation. However, when Logan explained that they had a medical doctor on staff at the school, the EMT’s left with a signed waiver of liability.
Most of the parking lot had been cordoned off with police tape, so checking for clues was off the table for now. Instead the team headed home to check with Cerebro and the Professor. And, although Kitty was ordered straight to bed, she spent most of the following three hours hacking into security cameras in the surrounding areas.
The X-Men had no luck finding Rogue with Cerebro; likewise, they could not reach the Professor despite Logan’s constant, furious attempts. Kitty had managed to track the vehicle to the far side of town near the docks. Nightcrawler was left at the mansion to tend to Kitty while the rest of the team searched all the buildings in the surrounding area. As they left the mansion, Jean managed to pick up a tiny blip from Rogue, as if she had managed to brush against someone for a brief moment. Although Jean couldn’t get a full reading of Rogue’s exact location, it was a sign that they were on the right track.
Scott guided the X-Jet over yet another building as Wolverine, Storm, Iceman and Beast searched inside. As an empty crate crashed through a window and exploded against the pavement, even Cyclops and Jean could tell from the cockpit that Wolverine was having no luck finding their missing teammate.
“Wolverine,” Jean spoke calmly into her headset as she sat in the copilot’s seat and looked down toward the building. “If you continue on like this, someone’s going to call the police and we’ll have to abandon our only lead.”
On the other end of the microphone, she could hear Wolverine growl and retract his claws. “I know red, I know. I’m sure it’s the damn MRD’s. They’ve got to have a base out here somewhere, but I can’t even get a whiff of ‘em. This place should reek of those bigots.”
Scott sighed into the microphone. “We don’t know it was the MRD, Logan. It could have been Magneto.”
“Or Sinister,” Beast chimed in.
“You have a history with Weapon X, do you not?” Storm asked.
“And the Reavers,” Iceman joined from the far end of the building.
Jean nodded from the cockpit. “There’s the Hellfire Club, too.”
“Mojo,” Cyclops added.
“Mystique!” Iceman yelled.
“Nah, Mystique usually works alone, and she really doesn’t have a beef with us right now,” Wolverine deduced.
“No!” Iceman called into the headset, “It’s Mystique. She’s HERE!”
From the plane, Cyclops and Jean glanced toward Iceman’s location only to see Mystique slowly approaching the young man.
Wolverine and those on the ground quickly joined the young man as Mystique stopped about 10 yards away from the group.
The X-Men were clustered together in defensive stances as Mystique held her hands in the air as a sign of peace. In one hand she held a single piece of paper.
“Mystique,” Wolverine growled, “You behind Rogue’s disappearance?”
“No,” Mystique answered quietly. “I had no idea she was even missing until I got a call from my friend Destiny. She informed me that Rogue had been taken and that it was absolutely essential that the X-Men find her immediately.”
“Why the urgency?” Beast questioned. “What will happen if we do not find her?” Storm and Wolverine shared an uneasy glance as they awaited an answer.
“Destiny is a precog. She sees the future. If you don’t find Rogue – and soon – someone else, someone much worse will and it could lead to an Apocalypse unlike any other.” Mystique was growing anxious as she fiddled with the paper in her hands.
“I’ve got the map of her location here. Destiny was able to scribble it out before she sent me to find you. It’s an aerial view.” Keeping her head down, she was getting very antsy as she anxiously waited for Logan to take the parchment.
“And why should we trust you?” Wolverine asked. “How do we know it isn’t a trap?”
By now the two were only feet away from each other and Mystique suddenly looked up and met Wolverine’s eyes.
The rough Canadian was shocked to see light tears glistening in the woman’s eyes.
“Please,” Mystique whispered, “Please just trust me James. Just trust me and FIND HER before it gets any worse…”
With that, she gently stuffed the paper into Wolverine’s stunned palm and turned to leave. As she did, however, she touched her temple gently and paused, looking up at the plane. Then she quickly transformed into a raven and flew off into the dusk.
“Well,” Bobby cleared his throat. “That was … weird.”
Wolverine was unfolding the paper when Jean’s voice came through the intercom to the others. “Seven buildings North and three to the East,” she called out. “Mystique sent me the visual telepathically.”
“Checks out,” Wolverine confirmed as he studied the crude map and their surroundings. “Let’s go.” He broke into a run with the others on his heels.
As they headed for the building, the X-Jet zoomed overhead and landed about fifty yards from the building.
“Jean,” Wolverine yelled into his headset, “What ‘re you doing?! We ain’t plannin’ on hangin’ around!”
“Logan,” Jean spoke to him, Storm and Beast telepathically. “Mystique … told me what Destiny saw in her vision. She didn’t say anything before because she didn’t think Bobby and Kitty should hear it. Destiny didn’t see who the men were, but she saw what they …did to her.” Jean’s voice broke with unshed tears.
“Jean?” Wolverine demanded back.
“Just – just keep Bobby out of the warehouse, okay. I’m getting a stretcher and some blankets ready. Scott’s going to stay here with the plane and keep it running.”
“Jean!” Wolverine mentally shouted at the red head.
“Storm and I – we should go in first, in case she’s awake. You and Beast should probably wait outside.”
“T’ hell with that, Red. I can heal her. I ain’t stayin’ outside with the pup.” They were close now. Wolverine could see Jean as she wheeled the blanket-covered stretcher out of the plane and toward the front doors.
“You can’t,” Jean spoke to the group again. “Mystique said that Destiny saw Rogue get injected with something that removed her powers, but she didn’t know if it was temporary or not. She just knew that in one vision she saw you touch her and nothing happened.”
“I STILL ain’t waitin’ outside!” And with a violence the others had never seen in him, Logan finally reached the large steel doors and slashed away at them until there was very little left of the entrance.
“Logan, stop this!” Storm chided. “You’ll frighten her!”
“ROGUE!” Wolverine yelled as he stepped over the rubble.”Rogue it’s us! Where are you darlin’?” As the leader of the X-Men darted into the large warehouse, he was overcome with a torrent of atrocious odors and he bent over, coughing and gagging.
The others entered as Iceman stood watch outside and they instantly covered their faces.
“Goddess!” Storm exclaimed, “What IS that?”
Beast tried not to gag as he quickly tied a cloth around his nose and mouth. “Ach! It… it seems to be a mixture of human waste and other fluids, but it’s old - ripe with bacteria.”
“There’s blood, too. Fresh. Real fresh,” Logan commented as he tied a bandana around his nose too. “ROGUE! Where are you?!”
Jean touched her forehead as Wolverine took a whiff and coughed again. “This way!” she called, heading for the far end of the warehouse. “I can sense someone!”
Together the four X-Men ran toward the end of the warehouse with Jean and Beast pulling the stretcher. As they approached a small room tucked away in the back corner, Wolverine stopped.
“She’s here,” he whispered. With held breath, he turned the handle on the door. With a deafening creak, the door slowly swung open, allowing a sliver of light to enter the room and illuminate a shabby, blood stained mattress in the center of the room.
“Rogue,” Wolverine called quietly, but as he saw the huddled figure shrouded in darkness in the far corner, he ran over. “Rogue!?”
Kneeling down, his hand found her neck and felt for a pulse. “She’s alive, barely.” Removing both gloves, he placed his hands on her naked shoulders. No one moved as they waited silently for her powers to kick in.
“It’s not – I can’t…” Wolverine started, but he was suddenly overcome with the smells, his emotions, or both, and without warning bolted from the building.
“Wolverine!” Jean called after him.
“Jean,” Storm cautioned quietly, “Let him be.” Although her heels should have clicked and echoed on the concrete floor, Storm entered silently and scanned the room, taking note of the mattress and distinct lack of other objects in the room.
She found the girl in the far corner and carefully approached. “Rogue…?” the weather witch whispered. “Rogue, it’s us – the X-Men. We are here child.” She knelt down next to her teammate and gently peeled some of the girl’s hair away from her face.
“Jean, a blanket please,” Storm called to her friend, who was frozen in the doorway. “Beast, I need a knife and a neck brace please.”
Beast quickly dug into the large first aid kit as Jean draped the blanket over Rogue’s nude form. The furry doctor rushed the items over.
“Here,” he handed Storm the knife as he did a visual check of the girl’s wounds. He observed the angry red splotching across her left eye and cheek, as well as her slightly split lip. Her shoulders were both dark purple around the sockets and were hanging back at such an awkward angle that he knew they were dislocated, if not shattered.
Swallowing hard, he noted the prominent imprints of large, fat fingers along Rogue’s collar bone and chest before they disappeared beneath the fresh blue cotton blanket. He watched silently as Storm cut a crude leather dog collar off the girl’s neck and Jean instinctively reached to her temples to unlatch the cuffs around her wrists.
Beast leaned forward to get a closer look at the welts around Rogue’s neck, but he was startled to find her eyes were slightly open.
“Rogue,” he called to her softly, “Rogue can you hear me?” He snapped his fingers close to her face but received no response. “Rogue? We are here to take you home. Can you speak? Can you move?”
Still no response.
“She appears to be catatonic - severe shock. We need to get her home quickly.” With extremely delicate fingers, he slowly latched the brace around her neck. “Jean, can you depress the gurney and place it behind her?”
Jean did so quickly and once the portable bed was in place, Beast tried to speak to Rogue once more. “Rogue, we need to roll you back onto the gurney. Your shoulders are dislocated and this might be painful. Do you understand?”
Nothing.
Beast sighed before motioning to Storm and Jean. “Her arms are still at a very awkward angle. It’s going to be difficult to move her without causing pain.” He repositioned himself near her head, “Storm, I’ll need you to slide the gurney under her as we lie her back.”
The three X-Men were solemn as they positioned themselves quickly.   Jean’s eyes shone with unshed tears while Storm tried to remain stoic and focused on helping her friend. Outside, however, dark clouds were moving in and a light smattering of rain began drumming against the roof.
“Jean,” Beast spoke again as Storm readied herself on the other side of the gurney at Rogue’s back. “I need you to use your powers to stabilize her head, neck and shoulders as much as possible while I lift her.”
Jean nodded, and her voice was raw as she responded, “I can lift her telekinetically; just rotate her in the air.”
Beast smiled kindly, but shook his head. “I know. However, I’m more concerned about keeping her stable. I need your full concentration on making sure her head and neck do NOT move.”
Jean nodded again and remained silent as she placed her hands to her temples.
“On three,” Beast commanded.
They counted together in almost a whisper, the gravity of the situation having fully set in as they worked to extract their nonresponsive teammate from the nightmare she had endured.
Rogue’s eyes were still slightly open, staring out into nothingness as she locked herself away inside her own mind. Her friends might have thought her dead if it hadn’t been for the slow rise and fall of her chest as her lungs continued to function even though she herself could not.
As Beast picked her up from under her shoulders, they were all startled by the small whimper of pain that was wrenched from her pale, chaffing lips.
“Rogue?” Beast questioned as her eyes closed for a brief moment, inhaling sharply as her arms were slowly bent back to their proper position. She finally lost consciousness completely as Beast set her down fully on the gurney.
“Rogue!” Jean cried as she felt the younger X-Man succumb to the blackness.
“She’s alright,” Beast reassured the redhead. His fingers were braced against the girl’s neck, reassured by the thready thump of her pulse against his furry digits.
“Let’s move, QUICKLY.” Together, they lifted the gurney back to its full height and began rushing the cart out the door. “Tell Bobby to get some extra blankets and ask Scott to find the oxygen mask and tank!” Beast called to Jean over the clatter of the wheels against the uneven concrete as the sounds bounced and echoed throughout the large warehouse.
“Hank?” Storm questioned, her eyes darkening as a bolt of lightning struck a nearby roof.
“Her breathing is too shallow; she just needs a little assistance.” He reassured the two women with a small smile. “She’ll be okay.”
Inwardly, however, he knew it wasn’t really that simple.
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Paid in Blood