Adaptation

By Fantasy Cat

Disc: Number Nine and nothin' mine. ('Cept for Brock of course).

Rogue woke up to the worse headache ever. Somehow during the whole choas at the Acolytes warehouse, she lost consciousness. Now she was lying in her own bed again. Still she felt depressed. She continued to blame herself for putting too much trust in Gambit.

"Feeling better Rogey?"

'Ho boy,' thought Rogue. Brock had somehow snucked in.

"Ch'yeah right," she grunted.

"Well, what's the matter?"

"Nothin'. Only that ya'll almost got yourselves killed because I got mad at Cajun boy."

Brock jumped onto Rogue's bed to her surprise. "Yeah, I almost got fried, but your boyfriend ended up stopping him."

"Gambit? He ain't my boyfriend." 'Then again,' thought Rogue. 'I wish…'

There was a knock on the door and Professor Xavier allowed himself in. "Well, I see we had quite a situation today. Rogue, I want you to know that the next time something is bothering you, it's best to talk with us about it before you go off and find your own solution to the problem."

"Like kicking Acolame butt?" asked Brock.

"Along those lines, yes," said Xavier.

Rogue sat up on her bed. "Soory, but they could've made that extract successful if ah hadn't led Gambit on so much."

"It was troublesome to know that the Acolytes have found loopholes to my telepathy skills. They are getting smarter. However, we shouldn't blame ourselves. The lab has been destroyed and extra security measures are being taken to guard Cerebro to the fullest extent. Now, Brock. Let us leave Rogue and you can come back later."

"Okay, bye Rogey!" Brock followed Xavier out the door.

"Tell me, Brock. Are you beginning to understand your powers?"

Brock shrugged. "In a way yeah."

"Then you understand that there is much responsibility involve in using those powers for good uses, such as with the X-men. You're doing some good work. However, I think you need more time at the recruiting level to understand who we are and how impactt the X-men can have on the world. Do you understand?"

"No problem. Just means I can still be the senor recrutie!"

It was now deeper into summer and due to boredom, most of the X-men got jobs. But mainly, it was to avoid summer sessions with Logan. Brock was still working at the music store and Jean and Scott had graduated and were preparing for college. Rogue was having trouble finding a job.

"Like, I'm doing life-guarding at the pool," said Kitty. "They have plenty of openings."

"Are ya crazy? Ah can't spend the whole day in the sun covered up. Ah'd burn to death. So how are ya and Kurt?"

"We're going out for our one month anniversary tomorrow."

"Sounds like fun," Rogue said sarcastically. She was surprised to discover that those two have been happily together for a month. She walked away and headed downstairs. "Na, ah'm okay with these summer sessions. At least the danger room is air-conditioned."

After the session, Rogue took a nap and then headed out the front door.

"Whoa, Stripes. Where do you think you're going?"

"Out," said Rogue. "Ah need some nature."

"Well this time, don't go off doing something stupid," he said. No doubt, Logan was upset at Rogue for that little stunt she went to pull on the acolytes.

"Ah hear ya." Rogue closed the door on him.

She walked by the music store where Brock was working. The construction was cleaned up now, but a few empty spaces remained. The air was getting dusty. The wind picked up and got into Rogue's eyes. Suddenly a card flew into Rogue's face and she knew whom it was from. She looked around to find a sign. The wind came from the direction of the freeway. A bridge was looking over.

Rogue approached the dark shadows underneath the bridge. She swore that Gambit's red eyes were glowing to reveal his presence.

"Has ma chere come to settle de score with moi?" He asked under his breath.

"Well, Brock told me that you saved us. Look ah guess ah was more worried about mah rep. Ah thought ah was gonna get thrown out."

"Ah but Chere is one of the good guys, no? Chere has good motives."

"And what about you?"

"Things are changing for dis Gambit. I have betrayed those around me, both good and bad and there is no in-between. So I must work alone, lest I find a group to trust me." Gambit rose up and walked out of the shadows into daylight. Rogue followed.

"But Gambit, ah trust ya now. And the professor will forgive ya and let ya back again."

"Sssh, sshh." Gambit put his glove to Rogue's lips. "That cannot be anymore. I will still come around Chere. You're a tough one to run away from." Instead of following Gambit, Rogue just stood there. The Cajun turned around and blew a kiss to her. She almost didn't notice it, but she was glad she did. Now his back was fading away from her and Rogue began to believe that a part of her want Gambit to come back and sit with her under the bridge.

Sorry to say, Brock was watching this scene from the parking lot through his binoculars. Bobbie and Jamie came up to him on their bikes. "Give it up, Brock," said Bobby. "It's obvious Rogue wants Cajun."

Brock dropped his binoculars. "Hmmpf. You're right. They'll be others crawling all over me."

"You mean like bugs?" asked Jamie.

"Speaking of bugs, now that my shift is over. We can catch dinner again for the group tonight." Brock hopped onto his moped and followed the boys out.

Professor Xavier was in the Cerebro lab testing the new security equipment when a "mutant conflict alert" came onto the screen.

"It shows that it's working," said Beast.

"Yes, but I think there's a serious situation and it's happening not to far from here." Xavier put his cerebro helmet on. Visions showed a car toppling over a cliff. Two girls were screaming from the back seat. The car fell into the water and the figures began to scatter.

"We have trouble. Beast, call up everyone in the house. We have some mutants in trouble."

"Trouble? Who would be giving two little mutant girls trouble."

"The Brotherhood"

Well, if you want to be notified about when the first sequel comes out review/email me and you'll get a legal sneak peek (cant post it on here though) beforehand. Thanks for reading. Tell your friends and review!