The Rogue and Gambit Experiment

Sage was looking at the man standing in her doorway. Her eyes were cautious and her psi-shields up. She could feel him reaching out with his mind, prodding at hers. He smiled.

"I see that you still know how to keep your shields up. If I didn't know you, Tessa, I wouldn't find out in your mind."

"Professor," she said. "You taught me well. I thought you were... dead."

"So did I. Here I am though. Now the question is why are you here?"

Sage turned her gaze toward the window and the bright January day outside.

"They found out who I was and why. They put me in jail for months before Mystique and her brotherhood freed me. They all forced me to use my power over mutations. Blackmail, torture, threats... You can't imagine what last year was like. Rogue was my solace. She accepted me without any question or doubt."

"Rogue... She's more than she can guess in the middle of all this. Who found you out?"

"I don't want to talk about it. You sent me there. You abandoned me. I was merely sixteen, Charles. Four years of promises and vain words. I'm not your puppet anymore. Rogue needs my help and I'll give it to her. She's my priority now. I don't give a damn about your mind games."

"I'm sorry that you feel this way. I hope... I hope that you'll forgive me some day. I didn't foresee the trouble you found on the road."

"Get out please."

He complied. Charles remembered the day he met the girl. Cerebro had located her.

She was in trouble. It was during the summer break and all the X-Men were gone on a well-deserved vacation.

Charles alone had gone to her rescue. When he found her it was too late... She had killed. She had grown up in a country torn by wars. She was orphan and had learned to survive on her own. She had learned to use the weapons she took on the lifeless bodies of the men who tried to hurt her. Charles found her remorseless and shameless for what she had done. Covered in blood she faced him. No word was exchanged as they used telepathy to talk. He found in her a power that was raw but greater than his own. While he could reach minds in a rather wide range, her range was shorter but coupled with two other powers.

Her mind was a living computer with infinite storage and data treatment. She could reason as fast and as logically as a computer. She could also communicate with machines. She had named that power cyberpathy.

The third power was more subtle. She could sense mutations in any living being and make them 'jump-start'. If the mutation was already active, it was pushed to the next level. If the mutation was dormant, it started to manifest itself. She was only starting to acquire that power, her telepathy and cyberpathy were her main powers.

He trained her during the whole Summer break. Her computer-like logic frightened him. She didn't feel remorse or regret for what was an appropriate response to a death threat.

In the end of August he had summoned her to his office. He couldn't allow her to taint his innocent students but he had another use for her.

"Tessa," he slowly started. "I have a mission for you. I was waiting for the right person to show up and I believe you are that person."

"What mission?" she eagerly asked.

"You will enroll in the Massachusetts Institute. One of my previous students is the headmistress of that school and I believe she's gathering mutants for wrong reasons."

"Then I am an X-Men!" She said excitedly.

"No, you aren't. You'll be my spy, Tessa. You'll be my eyes where I can't go. You won't have any contact with the X-Men. If the X-Men were to fight against the Hellfire Club who controls the MI, they wouldn't know who you are and would treat you like a threat. It's a difficult but necessary mission."

They had argued but she eventually gave in. She had gone where he wanted and risked her life to be his spy. Now she was back she resented him and he understood. He wasn't any better than the people he had tried to monitor through Tessa. Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club. A part of his mind wondered what Rogue would think about her aunt being a member of a highly questionable organization with a hidden agenda.

Sage hid her face in her hands, sobs shaking her. Seeing her mentor arose many memories. When she met him she felt instantly linked to that man. Their abilities, so much alike, made her see him as the father she had never had. It made his betrayal so much harder on her. He prized his X-Men more than anything and she was denied the right to become one. She worked hard to be his spy. She had even become one of the most trusted members of the Hellfire Club. Until Emma Frost broke through her psi-shields and discovered who Tessa was.

They had locked her up, using her from time to time. Tessa had always wondered how a powerless Mystique had broken her out of the facility she was kept in. Destiny has been the main planner behind her prison break. A few days later, Rogue had arrived... And Sage had found a friend, hope and a new way to become an X-Man. Along with Rogue.

She was on the mending. She finally was able to trust someone, she found out she loved to help her friend and felt worthy to be a part of the team. If Charles denied her the right to stay again...

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by soft knocks on the door. She opened it and found Rogue.

"Sage, will you help me find Remy and the scums who hurt me?" she said without any kind of preamble. The girl seemed frantic and agitated. Sage's psi-shields being up, she couldn't tap into their link to read her mind.

"Come in and tell me more. What's your plan?"

"Vengeance, that's my plan. Will you help me? You're my best friend."

Something felt wrong with Rogue. Sage lowered her shields and read Rogue's mind. She stepped back. "You're ready to steal my powers against my will," she squeaked. "You need to calm down, Anna. I'm going to help you but we need to think things through."

Rogue sat on the bed. She started to bite at her nails and to tap her foot on the ground. She was the living image of impatience. Sage made her do some breathing exercises and relaxing before they could talk.

Sage's analytic skills allowed her to remain calm even though Rogue's thoughts were quite threatening. She knew the girl would feel remorse if she stole her powers and memories.

"Now tell me... How would temporarily steal my powers help you get revenge?"

Rogue fisted her hand and willed the bone claws to show up. "Now I have access to most of the powers I absorbed in the past." She said as she willed the claws to retract and summoned ice, then fire, showing off the most visible powers she had mastered through the night in the Danger Room.

"LeBeau left alone, Rogue. Why do you want to go after him?"

"Beast told me that he was in a bad shape and unable to efficiently fight. If I want those scums to pay for what they've done to me, I need to find him and help him. I... I won't get better if I don't confront them myself. I hear the whispers of all the psyches I have in me. Most of them agree on this."

Sage had remained rather silent during Rogue's speech. "Are you sure that you are ready for this fight? It won't be pretty and neat. It'll be dirty and you might feel remorse and regrets afterward."

"I won't. They hurt me, they'll pay."

Sage nodded. "I'll come with you. It takes too long to master telepathy and we can't risk you to jump-start any mutant you meet. You're my friend and this is really important to me."

Both girls packed and got a car from the garage. No one stopped them.

Someone really angry followed them. Really really angry.