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 4 - Homecoming

Rogue looked down; she hadn't even noticed during all of the fighting and energy blasts her costume was in tatters. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, this will never do," she said in her strange multi-voice. "A goddess needs a more impressive costume." She thought for a moment then her eyes lit up, virtually glowing, as an idea formed in her mind. Off she flew at blinding speeds, south using I-75 as a map until she was south of Atlanta. She landed in the front yard of a ramshackle home, a pretty blonde older woman stepped out onto the front porch. "Rogue is that really you?" The middle age woman said, "Hi momma." Rogue replied. "It sho is good to see you honey, what happened to y'all's clothes?" the lady said as she wrapped a blanket around Rogue being careful so as not to touch exposed flesh. "Give momma a hug." The lady told Rogue as she opened her arms wide. Rogue slipped into her grasp and they stood there embracing. Rogue's momma slid a nasty dagger out of a hidden sheath in her sleeve. Green contact poison dripped from the tip. The woman's arm thrust the dagger at her foster daughter's back only to harmlessly pierce Rogue's insubstantial flesh. Rogue's danger sense had warned her that Mystique was about to double cross her, and she had quickly called upon Shadowcat's power. Rogue ducked quickly out of her grasp and teleported away. "Do you think ah actually still trust y'all Mystique?" Rogue said in her echoing hive-like voice from directly behind her momma. "Rogue, honey, I'm sorry, Xavier sent out a distress call and said you were very sick." Mystique begged as her blond hair and aging pale skin began to shift. Her skin turned a dark blue, and she grew much taller becoming very shapely and dangerous looking in her form fitting white dress and solid white eyes. Her dirty blond locks became perfectly coifed and full, reddish-brown shoulder length hair. There stood Mystique, Rogue's foster mother, with a look of absolute terror on her face. Rogue smiled unpleasantly at her. "Rogue, you know I love you, I just want to help." Mystique continued. "Y'all wanna help little ole me? Kinda like you helped me after ah got Ms. Marvel stuck in mah mind? All you wanted to do was use me. Well y'all wanna help? Ah need an indestructible costume fit for a true goddess." Mystique recoiled slightly, "How can I help with tha...” Her interrogative was cut short as Rogue latched onto her shoulder. "It's easy momma, just hold still." Mystique swung her dagger backwards in a last ditch effort. It caught Rogue full in the chest and failed to penetrate, however, the fast acting poison seeped into her skin. Rogue's face contorted in pain, Mystique smiled at Rogue until the pained look left her foster daughter's face. Rogue smiled evilly, "Logan's metabolism sure does come in handy sometimes." Mystique collapsed, Rogue tossed her unconscious form into a pond half a mile away with the flick of her wrist. Rogue's skin took on the shimmer of leather. Using Mystique's shape shifting powers she transformed her body into a living costume. She combined Mystique's abilities with Colossus's steel skin to create a form fitting suit of black and red armor accented with spikes, a flowing regal cape, leather gloves, midriff-bearing bodice, and high-heel thigh-high boots. She nodded approval, "Better." Her hair straightened and shortened slightly, turning darker and darker until it became midnight black, a small streak turned snow white, as she didn't want to give up her identity entirely. Her body heaved and swelled in all the right places so as to make her form true perfection. She entered Mystique's hideout and looked at herself in a full-length mirror. "Now that's what perfection looks like." She said to herself as she admired her handiwork. "I liked you better without the attitude." A figure in yellow and orange said. Four figures approached from the hallway. Avalanche wearing red and white, Toad, Pyro in his orange and yellow uniform, and the enormous Blob walked toward her. “Mystique said to be ready for you.” Avalanche told her. “Oh, she did, did she? Now what makes y'all think that ah care what she told y'all?” Rogue sniped back. “She's not around anymore, but ahm sure she'd be proud of the commitment y'all have made.” Blob charged. The one-ton immovable Blob ran full tilt at the petite southern girl. “I'll squish you.” Blob screamed in his typical slow-witted dialect. Blob had run over trains, houses, tanks, and assorted other large pieces of matter. Nothing moves the Blob. That was the Blob's battle-cry for years and years, and for the most part it had been the truth, until he ran head long into hyper-Rogue the newly enhanced collective of half a dozen plus superheroes and villains. Then his battle-cry had to be modified to nothing moves the Blob except for a five foot eight female mutant from Mississippi, and she moves the Blob easily. Rogue stopped the charging behemoth in his tracks and hoisted him over her head. The Blob made a massive hole in the roof of the house as he exited against gravity's will. The Blob crashed down to earth several hundred yards from the house and created a crater in the ground when he landed. Rogue dusted her hands together. Toad launched a super-kick at her head, but bounced off; using his super agility, he was able to rebound and land on the ground without getting hurt. Avalanche launched his concussive earthquake causing blast at point blank range into Rogue's guts. The front of the house blew out under the force of Rogue being blasted backwards through the front door. She hit a truck in the driveway and smashed it to tiny bits. Pyro shot his flame-throwers at the truck. He used his mutant control of fire to cause the fire to vortex into the area where Rogue had landed. He then superheated the fire to a temperature approaching the heat of the earth's core. The truck exploded under the white-hot fire, rock instantly melted and turned to steam, trees twenty feet away blasted outward because there sap instantaneously turned to steam. Through all of the destruction, the silhouette of the Mississippi goddess could be seen. She scooped up a handful of liquid rock and threw it at Pyro. He lost control of the flame as he dodged away from the fiery projectile. Rogue teleported behind him. Her metal body glowed from the heat; she grabbed Pyro in a massive bear hug. His powers bled from his body into the leeching Rogue. The propane cylinders on his back couldn't withstand the pressure Rogue exerted and exploded engulfing them both in a fiery shell. Pyro's burnt body fell to the ground in charcoaled pieces. Toad ran, bouncing off of anything that could get him further away from the renegade X-man that had just dispatched Pyro and easily defeated Blob. Avalanche tried to knock her off of her feet causing a massive earthquake that caused the house to collapse. Rogue simply smiled at him and walked through the tremors. "Nothing moves the Rogue." She quipped. "What the...you barely touched him, how could you absorb his powers through your gloves?" Avalanche asked dumbfounded, as he poured more and more of his energy into the most intense, and seemingly useless, quake of his life. "You stupid little man," Rogue, said as she allowed her flesh-turned-wardrobe to melt away exposing her perfectly formed body. "Mystique never wore clothing she just turned her body into her costume." She grabbed Avalanche by the throat draining his energy into her collection of powers. Rogue lifted Avalanche off the ground and launched a brutal punch into his ribs that completely crushed his lungs and liquefied his rib cage. When Avalanche hit the ground almost a mile away, he was quite dead. Toad never looked back as he ran from the devil-Rogue.

Professor X dropped his head into his hands. Pushing the Cerebro helmet back, he rubbed his temples as he shook his head. "Mystique failed, and Rogue has her powers now as well." He told Jean. "Can you calm her down Professor?" "No Jean, she isn't possessed by rage any longer, only chaos. It's like trying to contact a colony of bees. She has a hive-mind now. May God be with Magneto. I think he's in Atlanta with my brother."

Juggernaut was in his cell in a specialized prison in Cobb County Georgia, one of the many counties that makes up the metropolis of Atlanta. Juggernaut knew that he could escape if he truly wanted out of his cell; however, he also knew that he deserved to be in prison for the rather generous five years he had been sentenced. Jennifer Walters had done a masterful job defending the reformed half-brother of Professor Charles Xavier, along with being masterful at some other, more private things. Juggernaut thought about that night and grinned. The bars on his window exploded outward leaving a massive gaping hole in the wall, eighteen stories from the ground. There standing on a floating metal disc in his glorious red armor was Magneto, the master of magnetism. "Juggernaut, we require your assistance. Your brother sent a distress call, Rogue has gone completely mad." Juggernaut sat on the edge of his bunk. "Sorry Magnus, The judge was lenient as a favor to She-Hulk, and I can't betray their trust." "She-Hulk has been hospitalized, along with the rest of the Avengers and a goodly number of Xavier's X-men. We've also lost contact with Mystique's brood." Juggernaut walked over to the door of his cell. "Hey Sal, looks like the world needs me, I'll be back soon," he yelled to the guard outside of his cell. Magneto's protective shield was being pelted by hundreds of bullets from the guards on the ground. Juggernaut leaped into the air, crashing through the wall and escaping into the night with Magneto in tow.

Chapter 5 - Revelations

Rogue wandered the wreckage of the house that her surrogate mother had recently called home. She felt a sense of nostalgia at seeing a picture of her as a child. She pulled the picture from the wreckage of the broken frame and looked carefully at it. Her eyes began to water up thinking of her past then she wadded up the photo and threw it into a small fire that had sprouted out of the wreckage. Rogue saw a glint of metal in the dirt next to the house. She dug down slightly and found a vault just below the ground. Pretty clever hiding job, Rogue thought to herself. She punched the 6-foot-diameter steel vault door. It folded around her fist like aluminum foil. Rogue grabbed the edge and casually tossed the 10-ton steel door the length of two football fields. She walked down into the darkness. Alarm claxons sounded loud in the silent darkness. The only lights were from red rotating warning lights throwing a foreboding crimson hue over the entire area. Rogue continued down the corridor completely oblivious to the poison gas that had been released. The deadly combination was released in a quantity sufficient enough to destroy the entire population of a large metropolitan city. Rogue reached the vault door to the inner sanctum and made short work of it. Rogue absentmindedly folded the door in on itself wadded it into a ball and nonchalantly dropped it behind her. A massive clang echoed louder than the alarm sirens as the door hit the ground. Large banks of computers were on the other side of the door. Good old Mystique. She always did keep immaculate records. Rogue's shape faltered slightly and reformed in the guise of Mystique. She looked into the retina scanner and placed her thumbprint on the pad. The computer bank came on and the sirens stopped. The lights came on all over the laboratory and the corridor. The sound of fans and scrubbers could be heard as the toxic gas was cleared out of the corridor. Rogue called upon the portion of Mystique's memories that she had absorbed and found the password and user name she needed. A message appeared on the computer: Place hand on scanner for DNA sampling. Rogue looked questioningly at the computer. She reluctantly placed her hand on the scanner, not sure whether Mystique's disguising power actually rearranged the DNA structure or if it was simply a superficial change. It was really a moot point anywise as a stainless steel needle tried to pierce her skin and take a blood sample. The needle bent and became lodged into the cylinder on the way back down into the machine, rendering the delicate equipment useless. Access Denied. That was the message that kept flashing over and over on the computer. “Dammit,” is all that Rogue said. She almost lost her temper as the rage from the Hulk began to creep into her consciousness again, however, Beast's intellect took over and she thought about the problem logically. She looked around and saw an access point into the computer system, a simple USB plug that would allow complete access to the computer system once she could break through the security program. First, she had to find a way to access the computer though. She looked down at her finger and an idea popped into her mind. Her finger morphed into the shape of a USB plug and she used Colossus's power to coat it in a steel sheath, then she used a combination of powers to coat her nervous system leading directly into her brain with a thin steel coating making her nervous system one thousand times more efficient at processing information. This could come in handy other places too, Rogue thought. She plugged her finger into the computer. Suddenly her sight became that of a computer program as she saw herself approach the security wall that was locked. Using Mystique's memory of the security protocol Rogue broke through the wall with ease. At that point, Rogue's uncontrollable leeching took over unexpectedly and drained the entire memory bank of the computer directly into her brain. Rogue's eyes flashed wide open at the feeling from the unexpected flow of knowledge and newly discovered powers. The feeling was almost overwhelming -- orgasmic. Every nerve in Rogue's body twitched from the electric impulse completely flooding her body with feelings as close to pure utopia as the human body can withstand. Rogue's vision slowly changed. She was on the ground naked, as she had lost her concentration that held her morphed disguise together. The light was harsh and bright as if Rogue had just opened newborn eyes onto a brilliant new world. She began to weep as she recalled the amazing sensation of adsorbing the computer's “power”. She could still feel the knowledge. It was trapped in her mind along with the dozen or so personalities that she had leeched recently. Rogue paused; an evil smile contorted her delicate, beautiful features into something almost demonic. “Ah know mah destiny!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. “Ah was born to rule the world.” Rogue's eyes became mere slivers of color and white as the wheels of her mind formulated a plan. “First, ah need an army.” The neurons of her computer enhanced mind filtered through the myriad of information in Mystique's database until…”There, I've found mah army.” And Rogue shot off the ground like a bullet, not even using the door to exit the chamber, she tore through the five foot thick steel vault walls and ripped through the additional twenty foot of earth and rock, exploding out into the sunlight and heading northwest toward Chicago.

Magneto and Juggernaut arrived in time to see the blur that was Rogue blast out of the ground. Magneto removed his helmet, Charles are you there, he thought, concentrating on Professor X's visage. Yes Magnus, have you found Rogue? Came the reply in Magneto's head. We found her, but she was gone before we could stop her. She has demolished Mystique's Brood and her base of operations as well. I see Mystique; I'll check on her, while you use Cerebro and tell me where she is heading. Magneto slipped his helmet back on effectively ending any reply that the professor may have coming. Mystique was waking from unconsciousness as Juggernaut and Magneto approached. They made her comfortable and after a few minutes found out what had happened here. “Juggernaut, I know that you don't want your mystical armor back, but I believe you may need a surrogate suit in its stead.” Magneto said as he ripped large sheets of steel out of the vault and fashioned them into familiar semi-cylindrical shapes using his control over magnetism. The armor pieces flew all around Juggernaut attaching to him and sealing the seams where pieces met. After a few minutes, Juggernaut stood completely encased in gleaming metal. "Not bad Magnus, this will do nicely." The behemoth said as he appraised the armor. "Charles where has that bitch gone?" Ah dear brother why must you use such hate filled language? Cerebro has detected our wayward Rogue outside of Chicago. It appears as though she's in Gary, Indiana to be more precise. Came Professor-X's response. I'll send Logan and a few others to meet you in Indianapolis. Most of my people are still out of commission. Magneto surrounded himself and Juggernaut with a magnetic sphere and away they flew to intercept the X-men and then to confront Rogue.

Chapter 6 - Army of One

Rogue came upon a small unremarkable field behind one of the seemingly infinite number of deserted steel mills in Gary. Her mental map told her that she was in the correct location. She looked at her feet and noticed a small crack in the ground. Rogue swung a massive sledgehammer blow onto the area of ground near the crack. The ground exploded upward as her fists concaved the massive steel vault hidden just under the ground. Rogue tore the 12-ton vault door out of the ground like a weed and threw it over her shoulder. The door crushed through the abandoned steel mill and collapsed the wall revealing a company of M1 Abrams tanks. Hundreds of elite troops came storming out of the vault and surrounding buildings. They surrounded her, fifty soldiers in advanced tactical combat armor-ATCA, complete with missile batteries and Gattling guns, one hundred more soldiers with more mundane battle-armor and advanced weaponry, and twenty-five modified M1 tanks. "All of you for lil' ole me? Ah do so love a man in uniform." Rogue taunted. "Stand down, lay on the ground with your hands over your head or we will open fire. You have twenty seconds to comply." A man on top of one of the tanks said over a loud speaker. "Sugah, this won't take that long." Rogue answered, and BAMF...she was off. She reappeared in the midst of the ATCA soldiers causing a tremendous amount of chaos. The combat armor had a lot of firepower and protection, but it wasn't overly agile. Before the first ATCA could come to bear on the southern belle she had already killed half of the soldiers, tearing their armored suits in half like paper, rending limbs, shattering bodies with profane punches and kicks, Rogue quickly decimated the ranks of elite guards. The remaining ATCA soldiers unleashed a barrage of depleted uranium tipped bullets at Rogue along with a deluge of missiles. Rogue's skin became solid steel as she called on the living armor residing in her body. The bullets and missiles bounced harmlessly off of her impervious skin. A massive crater was created from the sortie of firepower. Rogue stood glistening in the center. The red molten rock on the inside of the crater reflected in her armor giving her a hellish appearance. She smiled and leaped out of the hole landing in the center of the remaining ATCA soldiers. The remaining soldiers opened fire along with the tanks heedless of their comrades in the line of fire, knowing that they were going to die from this beautiful, terrifying woman. Rogue destroyed the remaining armored troopers quickly throwing several armored troops into their less protected brethren crushing a dozen men under the weight of their fallen comrades armor. Each suit was as heavy as an Armored Personal Carrier and Rogue tossed them with one hand with ease. Bullets ricocheted off of her gleaming body, many unfortunate troopers died from stray bullets. The tanks unleashed their city-leveling firepower blasting huge swaths of earth into the air with each shot. Rogue waded through the carnage and arrived at the first line of tanks. The soldier on top of the tank emptied his belt of bullets into Rogue trying to slow her down with the high-powered 60 mm chain-gun mounted on top of the tank. Rogue lifted the tank off of the ground overhead and threw it into the next tank. Both tanks exploded upon impact. “Fall back, fall back!” The commander screamed frantically over his loud speaker. Rogue unceremoniously lifted the next two tanks off the ground in one hand each and smashed them together in front of her like giant camouflaged cymbals. They exploded in a glorious fireball. Soldiers were beginning to run away when Rogue threw the next tank into their midst crushing several soldiers as the tank flipped end-over-end through the retreating ranks. Rogue teleported onto the top of the retreating commanders tank. She tore the turret clear from the tank like a cardboard box lid exposing the tank crew inside. She smiled. “Well, hello sugah. How are y'all doin'? Mind if I join y'all?” She quipped. Rogue jumped down into the tank and grabbed the commander and driver and teleported straight up into the air. She dropped them from over a thousand feet in the air. The screaming men hit the earth with a bone-shattering thud. Rogue hovered in air and swooped in killing soldiers in each pass, throwing them all the way into the middle of downtown Chicago, crushing them in gore-riddled bear hugs, tearing their bodies in half, dropping the remaining tanks on them, in every conceivable grotesque, vulgar display of strength that she could imagine Rogue killed them all, except one. There was one soldier left. He hid inside the bunker. Rogue walked around the battlefield witnessing the butchery and nodding with satisfaction. She let her skin form her costume and dropped her steel armor. The soldier stood out of the bunker with a clear shot at her back. He fired his weapon a shoulder fired tactical nuclear missile capable of leveling an entire city block. The missile caught Rogue completely unaware, her danger sense not picking up the hazard for some unknown reason. She took the full blast in the back without her protective armor. The subsequent blast demolished the entire complex flattening the buildings and annihilating the remains of the battle. The soldier had managed to take cover inside the bunker and had suffered severe burns and a broken collarbone, but was alive. He peered into the sky and saw the mushroom cloud form. He pulled himself to the top of the ramp and was blinded by the reflection of light on the glass around blast center that had formed from the extreme temperature of the explosion. He grinned to himself as he saw the hole where the wicked woman had been standing. His grin melted as he saw a pile of debris move. Rogue stood up shrugging off the tons of detritus and molten hot steel, dirty and somewhat disoriented but seemingly unharmed. Her danger sense had ignored the missile since it was of no danger to the indestructible goddess. “Shit! What do we have to do to stop her?” The soldier whispered to himself. He tumbled back to the bottom of the ramp when he heard a small explosion behind him and a waft of smoke surrounded him. He slowly turned around to come face to face with the most terrifying sight of his life, a petite southern girl named Rogue. “Nice shot sugah. Too bad it's your last.” Rogue said evenly. She threw the poor soldier into the steel walls of the bunker where his body exploded like an overripe melon. Gore oozed down the wall long after the body hit the ground. Rogue walked down the hall to the door at the end. It was a massive structure that sealed itself into the walls, floor, and ceiling. Twenty-five feet in the air, twenty feet wide, and ten feet thick the structure dwarfed any door that Rogue had ever seen. Rogue approached the mammoth structure, when a familiar Cajun voice said, "Rogue, cher, stop dis madness. Why all da hate, you used ta be about love, mi amor." Rogue slowly turned around and there silhouetted by the incoming sunlight was the tall, lean, tussle-haired, Cajun love of her life, Remy LeBeau, the X-men's Gambit.