Gone Rogue

by: Marcus Shane

cyco1973@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: All characters are copyrighted by other companies. This story is meant solely for entertainment and in no way profit.

Geeking Disclaimer: Certain creative liberties may have been taken. This in no way is supposed to fall into any continuity of the Marvel Universe.

Chapter 1 - Trouble Brewing

She stood in line at the Burger Empire waiting her turn to order lunch. The white streaks in her hair stood in stark contrast to the dark brown of the rest of her ponytail. The unruly curls fell in long tresses down the back of her brown jacket. Even though it was a balmy New England summer Sunday she was completely covered from head to toe from her yellow high heel boots to her yellow leather gloves. That was because the mutant known only as Rogue took every precaution possible not to come in contact with any living being since she uncontrollably absorbs their powers, thoughts, and personality. "I would like a Big Empire burger, and a lahg choc-lat shake. Oh, and hold the ketchup shuga." Rogue ordered in her deep south Mississippi drawl. X-men assemble at the manner. It was Professor Charles Xavier's voice echoing in her head just as loud and clear as if he had been standing in line with Rogue. I’m On my way Professor. Rogue thought, fully confident that the telepath heard her loud and clear. She paid for her food and ran out the door, pausing only long enough to give her food to a homeless man. Calling on her innate ability, that she stole from Carol Danvers, A.K.A. Ms. Marvel in her Mystique-influenced past life, Rogue took to the air, flying at near supersonic speeds toward the Xavier School for the Gifted.

Psylocke, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm had already arrived when Rogue, followed closely by Cyclops and Jean Grey, walked into the parlor. Rogue caught the icy glare Logan shot at Scott. Cyclops and Wolverine proved that you didn't have to like each other to work well together. Colossus, Shadowcat, and Beast rounded out the squad. "Sorry to cut your day-off short, but we have a potentially serious problem." Professor-X started in his highly educated brogue. "It seems that Doctor Bruce Banner was trying to separate the Hulk persona from his id when the experiment triggered a transformation that left the good Doctor quite insane," the Professor explained. "The Avengers have requested our help in stopping the Hulk before he destroys the city. Rogue, given your history with the Avengers you will remain as backup along with Beast and Shadowcat. Jean, I need you to assist me here. Any questions? Good, X-men Godspeed, go." Rogue was despondent; her brush with the Avengers was several years ago when she was a part of Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. She had nearly defeated the Avengers until Iron Man stopped her. The group flew off in the Blackbird toward New York City.

Chapter 2 - Hulk Smash

"There, I see him." Cyclops yelled from the pilot's seat. They were about 100 miles away from the city in a fairly rural setting. There standing in a field was the nine-foot monstrosity known as the Hulk. Surrounding him on all sides were the unmoving bodies of the Avengers. Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Sub-Mariner, and Quicksilver all left immobile. Hulk was currently beating the Norse god Thor within an inch of his immortal life. "Scratch the backup plan, Beast, Rogue, Shadowcat we need you now." The doors to the blackbird opened as it floated to the ground. The team ran out as quickly as possible. Colossus turned on his living metal armor and hoisted Wolverine into the air. The berserker extended his adamantium claws just as he was launched like a mutant javelin toward the hulking green behemoth target. Logan bounced off of the nearly invulnerable Hulk's back, but it got his attention away from the fallen heroes scattered around him. Cyclops followed the "Fastball Special" attack with a full-powered optical blast. The ruby red laser shot forth with enough power to completely melt three-inch thick plate steel. It knocked the renegade monster back about three feet. Storm shot a blast of lightning into the giant temporarily stunning him as Beast tumbled into a dropkick trying to get the Hulk off of his feet. The Hulk staggered slightly, but simply became more enraged. The actual damage that was done to the behemoth was along the same lines as a moth hitting a semi at eighty. The Hulk smashed both fists into the ground knocking Cyclops down; his errant blast hit Storm full in the torso knocking her unconscious. Nightcrawler appeared next to Storm's plummeting form and "BAMPF" he teleported her to safety. Wolverine's melee kept the Hulk busy as Shadowcat phased through the ground behind him carrying Psylocke along with her. Psylocke attempted to stun the Hulk using her psychic-knife. The Hulk sensing their prescience launched a vicious backhand that would have surely killed both heroes if not for the agility of Psylocke. She managed to toss Shadowcat sideways and twist her body so that they would only receive a glancing blow. As it were, the two were thrown thirty feet away and were taken out of the battle. Colossus went into a blind rage of his own at seeing Shadowcat nearly killed. He rushed in and began beating on the Hulk with blind fury. He threw a left, a right, another left, each blow powerful enough to destroy a tank, but completely harmless to the rampaging monster. Hulk smashed a vicious left into Colossus's gleaming metal torso and launched him into a nearby barn both the building and the mutant collapsed in a heap. Rogue called to Nightcrawler, "Kurt, get me behind him." Rogue removed her glove from her right hand, as Nightcrawler appeared briefly beside her in a cloud of smoke and teleported them both behind the green giant. Rogue latched her left arm around his neck and placed her bare right hand onto his temple. An instant feeling of rage engulfed her as the emotions from the Hulk washed into her soul. Her delicate psyche driven to the point of madness by the entity of Ms. Marvel was stretched to the snapping point as the energy washed over her. She could feel the overwhelming power of the Hulk being captured inside her. The Hulk fought back for a few minutes trying to shake the stubborn Rogue from his back, but she held on tenaciously with the strength born of adrenaline and the alien powers of Ms. Marvel. The Hulk collapsed to one knee and began to shrink slowly transforming back to Dr. Bruce Banner. Rogue tried to let go, but the madness had fully engulfed her and all she could see was a blind desire for more power and the rage, always the rage. She simply wouldn't, no she couldn't, let go. Banner sank into a deep coma as Rogue leeched all of the strength from his Hulk persona and all of the intelligence from the good Doctor.

"Rogue, are you alright?" Cyclops asked. "He's down you can let go of him." Only then did she realize Wolverine and Beast were trying to pry her arms from around the comatose Bruce Banner. With a casual sweep of her right hand, Logan and Hank McCoy were hurled through the air. The agile Beast righted himself and managed to keep Logan from smashing into a barn. The combined might of Ms. Marvel and the Incredible Hulk was almost unfathomable. Rogue stood up slowly and turned toward Scott grinning madly, "Rogue, back up, I don't want to hurt you." Cyclops pleaded. "Rogue smash." Rogue mocked. Cyclops unleashed a massive blast at point-blank range into Rogue's chest. She simply walked through the beam and swung a devastating uppercut at Scott. If not for the quick reaction of Nightcrawler, Scott Summers would be dead. The punch made a sonic boom as it passed through the cloud of smoke where Nightcrawler had just teleported himself and Cyclops to relative safety. Beast, Wolverine, and Colossus surrounded the possessed Southern Belle. They closed in slowly, carefully. Beast leapt forward with a powerful dropkick. He fell straight down as if he had attacked a mountain. His agility righted him like a cat, just long enough for an enraged Rogue to catch him square in the jaw with a left-handed jab. Beast soared through the air and crashed into a tree. Hank laid very still in the mass of branches and splinters of the uprooted oak. Wolverine attacked the backs of Rogues knees trying to cripple her with his adamantium claws. He had no desire to kill his teammate. Logan's razor-sharp claws could make short work out of steel and granite. Against Rogue's flesh, it merely sliced through the pants of her uniform. Wolverine looked in disbelief at his claws. Rogue's flesh had dulled them to butter knives and he hadn't even scratched her. Wolverine jumped onto her back fueled by his berserker rage and began to pummel Rogues back with his claws extended. The adamantium was no match for Rogues invulnerable body. His claws dulled even further on the unearthly hard flesh of Rogue. He continued to pummel her back slicing deep into his own flesh from glancing blows that just would not penetrate Rogue's skin. Deep wounds bled crimson all over the ground and Rogue's back. Wolverine was completely unconcerned with the wounds knowing full well that his mutant healing ability would stop any permanent damage from happening. Rogue reached over her shoulder and snapped him over onto the ground. Wolverine smashed into the ground in a cloud of dust, his body making a six-inch indentation in the earth. His back shattered, Wolverine was temporarily out of the fight as he healed. Colossus charged in swinging with enough force to sink an aircraft carrier. His metal armor shining in the sun as his fist sped toward the beautiful woman's delicate face. The left landed with a thunderous report. Rogue's head barely moved. Colossus followed with a quick succession of rights and lefts landing blow after blow that could reduce a mountain range to rubble, but Rogue simply stood in place with her hands on her hips accepting each blow in stride, mocking, and taunting the mighty Russian with each insignificant punch he landed. "Come on sugah, Ah know you can do bettah than that." She teased in her seductive Southern drawl. Colossus renewed his effort, raining blow after blow into Rogue's jaw. Rogue caught his left fist and squeezed. Excruciating pain shot through Piotr's arm his living armor barely able to withstand the nearly limitless power generated by the petite girl's incredible fingers. Colossus lost his concentration, and with it the control of his armor. He reverted to flesh and Rogue completely crushed his hand, but worse than that she now had skin to skin contact with the mighty Russian. Her power began draining his power. She greedily lapped his power like a thirsty camel. Completely uninhibited by conscience or guilt she reduced Colossus to a catatonic wreck in mere seconds. With the strength of Piotr Rasputin added to the power of Hulk and Ms. Marvel, Rogue glowed with strength. The bio-steel skin crawled over Rogue's body and encased her in living armor making her unstoppable. Rogue threw the comatose Colossus into the side of the Blackbird. The remodeled SR-71 split in half from the impact of the unconscious mutant-made-missile. Shadowcat became enraged at seeing her lover treated so roughly, and fearing for his safety, she picked up a steel pipe and charged the powerful mutant. Rogue swung at Kittie, but she simply became insubstantial and phased through the ground only to come up behind Rogue and renew her attack in full. The blows were doing no real damage to Rogue, but Kittie Pride was becoming a pest. Not to mention the annoyance of the Nightcrawler. Kurt kept teleporting in with Psylocke, attacking, and teleporting out before the enraged X-man could retaliate, all while Storm unleashed a barrage of lightning from high above and Cyclops shot blast after blast of his optic beam into the pretty Southern Belle. It was as effective an attack as a swarm of mosquitoes attacking an elephant, but given enough time even a mosquito could fell the beast. Rogue waited until Shadowcat phased into the ground and gave a tremendous stomp. The ground cracked and shattered under her powerful foot. Kittie phased right into the open air and became instantly substantial since she was no longer in contact with anything solid. She plummeted twenty feet to the bottom of the crevasse and lay very still. The shaking of the ground knocked Cyclops off balance and his blast caught Nightcrawler as he teleported in blasting him to the ground, unconscious. This deprived Psylocke of her retreat. She attacked with all of her martial arts power and managed to evade Rogue's attacks for a short while, but in the end, a well-timed left handed slap lifted Psylocke into the air and into a pesky Storm. Both women fell to the ground hard and were out of the battle. Only Cyclops and Rogue were left standing. Cyclops was hiding behind a tree calling for help to Professor X. Rogue uprooted the tree and hit Scott full in the chest with it like a giant ball bat. Cyclops came to earth again nearly an eighth of a mile from the battlefield. Rogue surveyed the carnage around her. No one had been killed in the fight but many were moaning from the pain. She walked over to Beast and touched his face. She could feel the anger begin to subside as the mutant intelligence and agility from Beast entered into her body as well. The anger was replaced with cold-calculating logic. Unfortunately, the madness still existed. Rogue began to see the potential she possessed. She could become the most powerful being in the universe. All she needed was a few more victims, starting with a green skinned lawyer who happened to be coming over the horizon at that very moment.

Professor X along with Jean Grey attempted to contact Rogue. "It's no use Jean. Her mind has become too disjointed from the competing personalities and Hulk's drug induced insanity. We have to call in some favors on this one. I just pray that it's not too late to stop her.” The combined mental pleas went out to several heroes over the world as well as some that weren't exactly heroes as well. Spider-man, Venom, Black Cat, the Fantastic Four, the Brotherhood of Mutants, Juggernaut, X-force, the Xternals, and even Mystique and her brood all received the distress signal. Greetings to all, I know that many of us have had our differences in the past, but I'm afraid that this is much bigger than our petty squabbling. This is a matter of life and death for the entire world, possibly the universe. Rogue has gone insane and lost all control of her conscience. She craves power now with no regard to life or consequences. She has already leeched enough power from defeated foes to destroy the world, and I'm afraid she isn't satisfied yet. Please I implore you to help stop her, the Cerebro enhanced telepathic plea called forth. “Now we'll just have to wait and see if they agree to help.” Charles Xavier said, sounding much older than he had earlier that morning.

Chapter 3 - Power Hungry

The remaining Avengers: She-Hulk, Captain America, and Hawkeye, arrived just in time to witness the X-men fall at the hands of Rogue. Cyclops lay in a broken heap near where they were approaching the battlefield. "Rogue, it's Jennifer Walters. I know your still in there somewhere." She-Hulk called to her as Rogue was finishing up siphoning off the remainder of Thor's strength. With the added intelligence from Beast, Rogue discovered that she could selectively leech powers, memories, personalities, or any combination thereof from her victims. Rogue turned and smiled sweetly. "Sugah, y'all just saved me a heap of searchin'. Ahm goina enjoy this." Something was very strange about Rogue's voice. It still had the inflection and accent of her Mississippi heritage, but there was an ominous undertone that made a sound as if several people were speaking at once. She-Hulk saw her cousin, Bruce, lying comatose on the ground and her inner monster took control. Captain America threw his shield leading the attack. Rogue caught the missile and tore it in two like paper. Captain America couldn't believe his eyes; even the Hulk couldn't dent his shield, let alone tear it apart. Rogue disappeared and reappeared with a “BAMF” and a cloud of smoke right beside the timeless hero. "Ah do believe y'all dropped your toy sugah." She whispered in his ear. Rogue smashed Captain America in the ribs with the flat of his shield, shattering bone and doing untold amounts of internal damage. Captain America's broken body landed near Cyclops, but his consciousness was a great deal further away. Hawkeye ran in a circle shooting arrow after arrow into Rogue, explosive tipped, knock-out gas, stunning tips, razor tips, anything he could pull out his sheath, each just a useless as the one before it. Rogue called on Nightcrawler's power of teleportation that she had borrowed and appeared in a cloud of smoke right in front of the running Hawkeye. Unable to stop he crashed into her. It was like hitting a brick wall. Hawkeye collapsed in a heap only to be hoisted bodily by Rogue. She held the sturdy man off the ground with one hand. "Pathetic sugah," Hawkeye beat and kicked Rogue, anything to get her to drop him. His struggles were to no avail. Rogue casually tossed him a quarter of a mile away. Hawkeye lay broken and near death wondering what anyone could do to stop the behemoth Rogue. She-Hulk uprooted a telephone pole. She swung it with all of her anger, all of her grief for her fallen comrades, and all of her gamma-enhanced strength. It caught Rogue full in the abdomen. The pole shattered into a million shards, no piece bigger than a toothpick. Rogue crashed through a massive oak tree a football field's distance away. The ancient deciduous had stood through ten thousand storms, a dozen floods, four tornadoes, and even an earthquake, but its ancient trunk was no match for the superwoman-turned-projectile, Rogue. The oak splintered and fell. "You bitch! That actually hurt." Rogue exclaimed as she stood from the mass of firewood, "y'all are goina wish you hadn't done that." She said as she lifted the hundred plus feet of the ancient oak. She reared back and launched it like a javelin with one hand. The green goddess swung a mighty right cross that intercepted the massive spear. The tree exploded from the impact. Too late, she heard a "BAMF" behind her. Rogue grabbed the side of She-Hulk's neck. "Gotcha honey," Rogue said in a sugary tone. She-Hulk collapsed, her strength adding to the collective that was Rogue. Rogue finished draining the powers of the fallen heroes on the battlefield, Submariner, Kittie Pride, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch added to her increasing power. Cyclops managed to hide and pull Hawkeye and Captain America into a hole with him. Shattered and bloody all three men lay huddled in the ground until help could arrive.