Disclaimer: I hereby declare to speak only the truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God...
The X-Men are the property of Marvel Comics, and I am just borrowing them a bit, without their permission, of course...
Please note that I am writing this for entertainment purposes only, and I am not receiving any money for my labour...
So please do not threaten me with a Law Suit, because I do not have any money, so I would not advise suing me, for you are not going to get anything anyways...
Furthermore, the name 'Sabine Rogers' is not my creation....It is the Brain Child of Vicki Lew, and I do have her permission for using it... (Thanks, Vicki. I appreciate it very much...)
I would also like to thank the kind people who want my little story on their sites... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
I think I must also let you know that I have used a few swear words in this piece, but it is nothing too major, (in my opinion) but you have been warned...
If you have any comments, good or bad, please send them to lomas@kimberley.co.za
And that's it folks!

The Homecoming
by Lomas

Part 4

"Welcome back, Sabine," a strong masculine voice rasped, with a tone that sounded like steel being torn away from bone.

Rogue was filled with fear as the voice reached her ears, and she backed away from it, her face filled with terror...

Oh mah God, it's him! It's Asgard. The fear threatened to overwhelm her, send her over the brink of terror, into the welcome realms of Insanity...

Then, the hard years of dangers faced along with the X-Men, kicked in, taking control..

Pull yourself together girl! Asgard aint' nothin' but a coward, and ya need not fear him!

Hot-cold rage boiled through Rogue's veins, and the fear that threatened to overwhelm her was replaced by cold, calculated anger...

Steeling herself, mentally and physically, Rogue drew herself up to her full height, pulling her shoulders back, proudly. She was not going to allow Asgard to manipulate her..

Rogue glared defiantly in the direction where the voice came from.

"What the Hell do ya want with me Asgard?" Rogue asked slowly, her voice barely audible, above a whisper, but the tone she used could have frozen the moisture in the air...

"Ah, I see that you have not lost any of your charm in the years that have gone by, little Sabine," Asgard replied calmly. The comment was followed by a snap of fingers, and the warehouse was slowly filled with white light.

Once her eyes were adjusted to the light, Rogue fixed her fiery green emerald eyes on the tall man that stood about five paces away from her...

He was about six-foot two inches in height, and he was dressed out in full raven-black military uniform. He had broad, powerful shoulders, and a well-muscled torso. His hips were lean and slim, trimmed to physical perfection through hard work. His legs were long and powerful, and he stood erect with a regal bearing that conveyed a picture of controlling dominance. His hair were long curled locks of raven black that freely hung down his neck to frame his dark, handsome face. His eyes were a flinty grey-green colour, further enhancing his outer beauty.

But it was the expression within those eyes that reflected the true nature of Asgard..

They were cruel, hard and cold, untouched by feeling and compassion. They were the eyes of an unfeeling killer, who would think nothing of killing you if you got in his way, and hidden behind that was the gaze of a man who was not entirely sane...

Rogue curled up her lip at Asgard in distaste and loathing, her gaze full of frost.

Asgard merely smiled at her, seeming to look amused.

"Ah repeat, what do ya want with me, ya maniac?" Rogue was onto full fury now, but she kept her voice even and cool, making her captor sound like an inferior, someone who was beneath her. She almost sounded bitchy...

It was her seeming calm that drove Asgard wild, and he was hard-pressed to hide it from her.

"She knows that I can kill her now, if I wanted to. She hasn't her powers to keep her safe, and even so, she looks at me as if I am some kind of imbecile, some kind of idiot!"

"Why little Sabine," he drawled slowly, as if speaking to a little child, "I have delivered you from the demons that stole you from us, those pitiful X-Men. I brought you back to the Brotherhood, where you belong."

This answer angered Rogue even more, and she exploded, giving in to the anger that threatened to overwhelm her...

"Oh mah God!" she spat. "If it aint' mah knight in shinin' armour, folks!"

She took Asgard completely by surprise by quickly crossing the space between them, and bestowing upon him an icy kiss. Knowing that she briefly had the upper hand, she grasped him by the shoulders, hooked her foot behind one ankle, just like Logan showed her once, and shoved back violently for all that she was worth...

It had the desired effect....

Asgard, obviously being the heavier of the two, toppled backwards, and the momentum from Rogue's shove, combined with his weight, sent him reeling back heavily. He fell back through the doors through which he had entered, unable to stop himself. He hit the floor of the secret room from which he came so hard that the back of his head bounced twice, with heavy, audible thuds..

"You will pay for this, Sabine!" he hissed through clenched teeth, but it did not sound very convincing. Asgard was used to bullying and manipulating others, forcing them to do his will. He was not, however used to being humiliated by a "mere" woman...

"I will remember this. You will pay!"

"Oh really?" Rogue screamed in defiance. "Do me a favour an put it on mah tab, ya fucking bastard!"

Her only answer was the dousing of the lights and the silent closing of the slider wall in front of her, sheathing her in total darkness once again.

The X-Men Storm, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Beast, and Jubilee and the human Trish Tilby were gathered in the War Room with Charles Xavier. All of them were awaiting Gambit's arrival.

Wolverine stood of to one side, his arms crossed over his chest, carefully observing them all...

Ol' Chuck really seems to stressed out 'bout Rogue goin' AWOL. Same goes for Summers and Red. Not that Hank and 'Ro are islands of calm by any means. Even Lee's jumpy. Hell, even I am worried 'bout Sabby, no use denyin' it.

I'd hate to see the face of the Cajun. He's goin' t'be delirious with anger, and then he aint' goin' to be good for nothing anyway...

As if summoned by some weird trick of Fate, the auto sensory door slid open, admitting Remy LeBeau...

The Cajun doesn't look to chuffed about Rogue bein' gone. Logan remarked silently to himself as he studied Gambit closely...

Remy was absolutely in a fit of rage at Rogue being gone, and them not being able to find her...

His eyes were smouldering with hot anger, and it seemed as if Remy would bolt anywhere, at any time, in an effort to go looking for Rogue. Even so, he took his place around the central table, along with the other X-Men, where Xavier gave all the others a quick brief on what had happened..

"So the bottom line is, Rogue has been kidnapped," Logan growled as he faced all the other members of the team. "And it's up to us to go and find her and bring her back home. Simple as that. Problem solved, end of story. So what are we all waitin' for? Let's go and finish this."

"It is not so easy as you put it, Wolverine," Jean interrupted. "First of all, we do not know where she is, for neither I nor the Professor could manage to find her mind. The same goes for Hank. He could not track her down either using Cerebro. She is just gone, without a trace, and we do not know where to start."

She did not finish the statement.

All of them knew that Jean was to scared to say that Rogue might be dead. They all were...

"Mphh." Logan grunted in a disgusted fashion, shaking his head slowly. "All of you trust your little gadgets too much, and we all know that Psi-tracking may be convenient, but that it does have it's drawbacks, and mistakes can be ma..."

"Oh yeah?!" Gambit exploded in a rage born of worry for the one that he loved. "An' you t'ink dat you have all de answers, non?! Dat's all dat you do, talk! Rogue is in trouble, maybe Rogue even be dead, an' dat's all dat you do! Den Remy say dat you can all go rot in Hell!"

Then, barely able to restrain himself further, Gambit flew up out of his seat, wanting to storm out of the War-Room, but Logan got in his way...

Grabbing the Cajun securely with both of his hands, Logan jerked Remy so hard that he almost lost his balance, and he was brought nose to nose with the diminutive Canadian.

"Look, Gumbo," Logan snarled at his taller teammate, brooking no argument, "we all know that you are worried about Rogue. It ain't no big secrets that you two kiddies are tootin' around like little lovebirds in your own li'l love nest, but I got a news flash for you. You're not the only one who's worried, we all are. The only thing is that if you go hauling your ass after her without knowing where to start, you aint' gonna get nowhere! Y'hearing me punk?! In case you have not noticed, we are a team, and we're gonna get her out, so siddown, and don't interrupt me when I'm talking."

All that Gambit did was stare unflinchingly into Logan's eyes, until Logan flung him back into his chair.

"Now that we got that out of the way," he growled in his normal undertones, "let's continue with business, shall we? We all know that Rogue has been kiddynapped, but the question is by whom?"

It was Storm who answered first, all regal and businesslike as usual.

"The reasons for her capture could be numerous, Wolverine. It could have been members of the Human Liberation Group, the Government, even maybe the Brotherhood of Evil, for all we know. The possibilities are endless." None of them knew how close Storm had dome to the truth of the matter...

"I guess we just have to narrow it down then, don't we, gang?"

Logan was interrupted as the auto-sensory door that slid open, and they all looked in that direction, but they were most surprised at who stepped through..

It was the huge six-foot two inch frame of Cable, leader of X-Force.

His hair was snowy white in colour. His one eye burned white with psionic energy, the other green eye showing the alertness that is accustomed to Cable.

He was dressed in his battle uniform with a snow-camouflage motif, his T.O-arm set on organia mode. As usual, Cable was accompanied by his plasma blaster, along with his plasma pistol, which was strapped to one leg, along with all the various grenades and sentient flares that was strapped to his chest bandolier.

Well now, who would have thought that Scott and Jeannie could produce something so big? He must weigh about 350 pounds, and it is all muscle. Wolverine commented dryly to himself.

Without waiting for anyone to say a word, Cable went directly to Jean's chair and stood behind it, opening up his thoughts to her, and to Scott.

~ Hello, Mother, Father. Good to see you again. ~

~ Hi Nathan. ~ they both chorused in unison.

Before anything else could be passed between parents and son, Xavier spoke..

"Greetings, Cable. You are always welcome here, although your visit was a bit unexpected."

"Thank you, Professor," Cable acknowledged the greeting.

"What brings you here? I am sure that it is not only to see all of us," Xavier indicated all of the X-Men with a wide sweep of an arm.

"You are right, Professor. This is more than just a little social call. I see that Rogue is not present. When you projected the thought of her capture to Jean, you were so distressed that I could not help but pick it up. I thought that the X-Men might need some help."

~ Thank you, Nathan. We appreciate it. ~ Jean spoke up inside the mind of Nathan Summers, and he gently lay a huge hand upon her one shoulder.

"Thank you for the offer, Cable. We were just discussing this issue before you decided to join us. We need all the help that we can get, and your offer is gladly accepted."

Cable merely nodded at the disabled man in the hover chair.

"Good. Now that we have all the flowery speeches out of the way," Logan said, "we can get back down too doing the business.

"As I was saying, we will just have to track Rogue down the old-fashioned way."

"What do you have in mind?" Scott asked, adding his worried voice to the discussion.

"Thought you'd never ask, Summers." Logan answered. "We pull off some Sherlock Holmes moves, and we track her down, the old fashioned way."

"How do you want to do this, Wolverine?" Storm inquired, her voice as regal as that of any queen.

Logan waved off the interruption. "We use the thing that never lies to us. The nose," he said, his voice filled with mock theatre, thumbing his own gently.

"Bottom line is, gang, I go down to the Subway where she was supposedly kiddynapped, and I sniff out any clues that can help us out. Anybody else got any better ideas?"

"I sup'ose dat you be right, Logan," Remy conceded with a sigh, hanging his head.

Logan's idea was met with silent approval by all of the other X-Men.

"All right then. It's been decided."

"I will accompany you, Wolverine," Cable rumbled in that voice that sounded like an avalanche in full flower. "Maybe I can pick up a physic residue. Now, c'mon, let's move."

"Glad t'have you along. Just don't get in my way."

"If I do not crush you underfoot first," Cable countered smoothly, as they left the War-Room together.

Rogue was sitting in the far back corner of the little prison Asgard provided for her. She sat with her knees drawn tightly to her chest, in an effort to conserve her body heat. She also had her torn leather jacket draped across her shoulders, but it did not seem to help overly much.

When she had confronted Asgard, adrenaline roared through her veins, and she did not feel any of the cold that seeped through the walls of her prison. Now that the earlier energy was dissipating, the chill in the air made her shiver.

The floor of her prison was cold, hard and uncomfortable, but even so, Rogue could do nothing but to endure her discomfort in silence. In an effort to try and ignore the cold and discomfort that she was feeling, Rogue forced herself to methodically think through her situation...

Okay, girl. Think through this shit. Asgard kidnapped ya, an his got somethin' up his sleeve.

He managed to nullify mah powers, through this collar, and this place is just about escape proof. He hurt me, but he didn't kill me...yet. She shuddered at the thought.

By now the X-Men know that Ah'm gone. An' most probably, the Professor can't psi-track me, otherwise the cavalry would've been here long ago. If Asgard can negate mah powers t'nothing, he can most probably black that out too. A sigh escaped Rogue's lips at the thought.

Ya know want's funny girl? For as long as ya can remember, you hated the fact that your touch sucked others dry, stealin' their energy, their memories, their lives. It's been the story of yer life. First it was Cody, then Carol Danvers, but it didn't stop there...

Even Remy had to go down, just because Ah kissed him...

Ya wanted that t'be gone for Ah don't know how long, just so that ya can reach out, touch someone, without havin' t'fear that they are goin' t'slip into a coma on ya.

Ya stealin' away their lives, like what ya did with Cody...

And now, now that ya finally got what ya wished for all those years, what does it help ya? Who is there t'reach out to? Who is there to touch? What did'ya gain?

Nothin'! Fucking nothin'!

As if to give voice to her pent-up rage, Rogue drove her fist into the concrete floor beside her, enjoying the pain lancing up her wrist and arm, for it took her mind of painful past memories.

Slowly Rogue drooped her head in despair, her dishevelled auburn hair falling back over her face.

It was not long before she gave in to the emotions...

A solitary tear slid down one grimy, dirty cheek, cleaning a track down to her jaw...

It was not long before Rogue let it all go...

Continued in Chapter 5

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