Disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel and if I did the ABOMINATION in the latest X-factor issue would NOT have happened. Grr.

Summary: They’ve all faced hardships before, but nothing was ever like this. Takes place two years after Rogue joined.

I’d like to thank the following people who reviewed the last chapter. Woot over 300 reviews! You guys rock!: Nightstargoddessofstars, Leafee LeBeau, xX Juno Xx, Jessie6612, SkyRogue, Rogue181, PetiteDiable, , Pyro Lady, CrazyAngel313, TWbasketcase and Goldylokz

The Scorned: Overcome

Destiny Revealed

“Are you unharmed?”

“You just killed all of those guys by yourself!” Pyro exclaimed. X-23 sighed, placing a hand on her hip as she stared at him.

“Are you unharmed?” she repeated as blood trickled down her uniform. She gazed down and brushed it away. He gave a slow nod and she looked towards the still closed door. “And Sage is not disturbed.”

“Well, that’s--” the Australian started. X-23 sighed again, releasing her claws. She rammed them towards Pyro’s face. He paled when they sunk into a person behind him. He froze and watched the person fall beside him. “Thanks for the warning.”

“A warning would have been too slow and you would be dead.” she snapped. “Maybe next time I will give you one.”

Pyro grinned. “Does this mean we’re friends now?”

“No.”

He placed his arm around her shoulder. “Oy think it doesss.” he sang.

“Remove yourself. We need to keep our guard up.” she hissed. Pyro nodded, pulling back.

“Oy could have tried to help you more.”

“You took out one of the mutants. He was attempting to sneak on me. I seen you knock him out from behind.” she scoffed. “That was help enough. Anything else and you would have been destroyed.”

“We really are friends now. Look at us, saving each other’s lives. Th’ others would be so proud.” he beamed.

“We are not friends.” she insisted. Pyro just smirked.

“Best friends.” he added in.

“I am going to kill you.” she growled. “Shut up and keep your guard before I--.”

“What’s wrong?” Pyro frowned, staring at her. X-23 sniffed the air, another growl curling out of her throat.

“That--he did not listen to me!”

“Who?”

“Pietro!”

Pyro snorted. “It’s Pietro, Sheila. He never listens to anyone. Except his father, of course.”

“You used to listen to him too.” the speedster announced as he basically appeared right in front of them. X-23 jumped forward, her emotions quite obvious on her face.

“I told you that I-” she began. Quicksilver covered her mouth with his hand.

“You’re not on the list.” he whispered. X-23 just glared and moved back to where she was positioned beforehand. Pyro looked back and fourth between the two for a moment. An amused look soon materialized on his face.

“Oy bet he jus said something romantic.” he grinned. “Pietro has a soul. Who knew?”

“Shut your mouth you little psychopath.” Quicksilver sneered, putting his hands on his hips. “I am not here for you.”

“Coulda fooled me with the way yer standing.” Pyro shot back. X-23 groaned. She walked over to the door. It suddenly opened, actually startling her. Sage emerged out of the room and shut the large piece of metal behind her.

“We must find the others.” she insisted, lowering her tech glasses.

“What about the virus?” Pyro brought up, his eyes narrowing.

“I did all I could. It’s gone. But we have Sinister to deal with now and we need to find the others. I assume Quicksilver is here to prove something, and I am fine with this. I’m sure he brought Iceman along as well, which I am not that fine with, but I will accept the help.” she explained. She sighed and reached into her belt. She pulled out a Zippo lighter and threw it towards Pyro. He practically cackled as he caught it. “I knew something was going to happen to his flamethrower.”

Quicksilver just stared as the woman began to walk down the hallway. X-23 pulled him along while Pyro staggered behind, playing with his new lighter.

“You shouldn’t have come.” she hissed.

“I wasn’t going to let you---you have blood all over you.” he blinked.

“It is not mine.” she sighed. “It would have been cleaner, but I had to keep an eye on Pyro.”

Quicksilver stared. “You mean you actually protected him?”

“Tell anyone and you’ll be the one with blood all over you.” she snapped, forcing him to hold her hand. “Stay close to me. You’ll probably get killed if you don’t.” she added, trying to give a reason for such a gesture.

Quicksilver just nodded. “Right.”

“Rogue, I told you to go find the others.” Psylocke snapped as she stalked towards Sabertooth. A glowing psychic knife emerged from her hand. “I want to handle this on my own.”

“Yeah and Ah’m sure ya can. But if Ah left you to face Sabertooth on yoah own Ah’m pretty Sage would kill me.” Rogue shot back, holding up a bare hand. “Besides, yoah telepathy didn’t work last time, so ya might need me. Ah can take him out if you can’t.”

“It might take awhile.” Psylocke said as the large man rose, flashing a growled smile towards her. Rogue shook her head.

“No, it won‘t. We have a mission to do. Ah know you want to hurt him, but this isn’t just about that.” Rogue insisted. “And if you don’t take him down fast, Ah will.”

Psylocke rolled her eyes and ran towards Sabertooth. The two interacted for awhile, easily dodging everything the other would throw against them. Rogue held out her hand and sighed. She telekinetically held Sabertooth in his place.

“Bets, jus finish him off.” she snapped. The telepath glared, then circled the stilled man. Her eyes darkened as she spun into the air and kicked him in the face. She flipped over, and kicked him in the exact same way. She did this numerous times, just hitting and kicking him with all of her strength, clearly trying to avenge what he did to her.

Even if it was Malice who had been controlling the actions.

“Betsy!” Rogue exclaimed. Psylocke nodded and finally stabbed him in the head with her psychic knife. He let out a low growl and passed out. Rogue paused, a little surprised that she had to be the voice of reason when it came to something like this. She knew that if it were her, someone would have to be holding her back too.

It then dawned on her why the team needed each other so much. They needed someone to hold them back. Every last member needed someone to stop them from going too over the edge. They might not have been X-men, but they were something so much more.

“So that only took twice as long as it shoulda.” Rogue spoke slowly. “We should go find th’ others.”

“I’ll look for them. Find your boyfriend, Rogue.” Psylocke responded, turning around.

“Ah sent him to go find everyone else.” Rogue insisted. “We find th’ others, we find him.”

“And you think he listened to you, Luv? He’s probably staring down from wherever you forced him to stay.” Psylocke pointed out. She sighed. “I’ll find Sage or Cable. You find Gambit and meet up with us as soon as you can.”

“Fahne.”

“Oh, and Rogue?” Psylocke called out, right before they were about to part ways. The Southerner stared.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” the telepath muttered before disappearing into shadow. Rogue gave a low nod before flying up. She frowned, realizing she didn’t have to pull up anyone’s powers to do this. She didn’t have to think of anyone and then channel the power that way. She could just fly.

It would make her feel free if the thought behind it didn’t make her think of the trapped woman inside of her head. She paused for a moment before continuing on.

“Remy?” she called out as she landed on the platform. She stilled, holding up a small glint of lightning in her palm. She could barely see anything. She noted dark marks around the walls that spoke of explosion. She hadn’t heard anything blow up, but the marks were quite new. She leaned down and touched them with her fingers. They were familiar. “Remy..”

“Hello Chere.”

Rogue stood up at the sound of his voice. She glared for a moment before putting her gloves back on. She grabbed onto his hand. “What are ya still doin’ here? Ya need to come with me. We gotta fahnd--”

“I’m not going anywhere, Rogue.” he admitted bluntly.

She frowned. “What? Why?”

“Sinister’s callin’ in my debt. I can’t----anymore.” Gambit said slowly, a bit of sadness peeking into his tone. “Jus had a lil talk wit someone. I gotta help Sinister now.”

“Remy, ya can’t go with him! Yoah not layke that!” Rogue pointed out, letting go of him. “Ah know ya owe him, but we can do something to--”

“I want you safe.” he muttered, taking his hands into hers once again. She looked up at him.

“We can fight Sinister! Don’t--Ya can’t leave me, Remy. We can fight this! Ah know Sinister is dangerous and all but y’ don’t have to go with him. Y’ have a choice.”

“When it comes t’ yer safety, Rogue, dere’s no choice at all.” he whispered, eventually wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for an embrace. Rogue tugged onto the sides of his jacket, trying to think of anything that could make him stay with her.

“Ah’m a lot more powerful than you. Ah can do all sorts of things. Ah can help ya fight this.” she vowed.

“No, you can’t.” he paused. “But I’ll be back.”

“Promise?” she uttered, pulling away. He nodded.

“Take my jacket. I’ll come back for it.” Gambit assured as he slipped the coat off and placed it into her arms. He kissed the top of her head lightly before turning to leave.

“Remy---mah real name---it’s--” Rogue called out, clutching the jacket tightly.

“Hush, Chere. I’ll be back for dat too.” He told her. The Cajun gave her a sad grin before turning to leave. “Love you, Rogue.”

“Ah love you too.” she choked.

And then he was gone.

“You shouldn’t wander off, you know. It can be dangerous.”

Scarlet Witch blinked at the person in front of her. She had stumbled into well lighted room, complete with all sorts of office supplies. The girl studied the area quickly before looking back to the woman sitting before her. “Jean?”

“Not quite.” The woman grinned, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward. “I have a mission soon that does concern her…in a way. But for now, I get to baby-sit you.”

“Yeah, well I just wanted to see what was in this room. Curiosity solved. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find someone.” Scarlet Witch snapped. “And since you aren’t going to fight me--”

“Oh, if you plan on leaving, I am going to fight you. Just sit and wait. He’s coming soon. He’s just making sure Scalphunter did his job right.” The woman smiled. Scarlet Witch just stared.

“Who are you?”

“Madelyne.” She spoke. She sighed and got out of her chair. “I really wish he’d hurry up. I do have a plane to catch.”

“Right.” the witch eyed. “You in a Jean Grey look-a-like contest?”

“I guess you could say that.” Madelyne grinned. Scarlet Witch folded her arms.

“You know, you’re a bit annoying. Jean was annoying too but in a goody way. You’re annoying in a way that makes me want to hex you into something.” she scoffed.

“I could have you restrained if you’re going to be rude.” Madelyne snarled. “I don’t like rude people.”

“You wouldn’t like my friends then.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Madelyne agreed. She approached Scarlet Witch, placing her hand on her shoulder. “But you wouldn’t like mine either.”

“Why? Do they all look like the X-men?” the goth snapped, forcing Madelyne away. “Listen, either your little boss comes in here right now or I’m going to find him myself.”

“Have patience.”

“You obviously don’t know me very well if you think I know what that word even means.”

“I’m sure I can find you a dictionary.” Madelyne smiled, her ruby lips turning malicious.

“That’s not necessary, Madelyne. Go catch your plane. Miss Maximoff and I need to have a word.”

Scarlet Witch whirled around too see a man draped in black. His cape was quite tattered at the bottom, and his skin was a familiar chalk white. His eyes were crimson, and his lips were stained black. His raven hair was slicked back, and he had a small red diamond on his forehead. Scarlet Witch almost fell back at the sight. She wasn’t one to scare easy, but the image of him was enough to do so.

“Call me Scarlet Witch.” she whispered. She turned her head to see Madelyne gone. “Where’d she go?”

“She has a mission. But that’s not what we need to talk about, Miss Maximoff.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Well I could call you Mrs. Allerdyce but I fear that we aren’t quite that far in your timeline yet.” he smiled. Scarlet Witch nearly shuddered.

“Okay--so you have my attention. And you really do look like Domino.” she stated.

“That is the popular opinion. Have you ever considered it is her that looks like me?” Mister Sinister questioned, approaching the witch. She stepped back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m sure I could inform you of our little Domino’s past…but, I believe you’re here for something else.”

“Y--yeah. Why’d you cure me?” she demanded slowly.

“I did not cure you, my assistant did.” he pointed out. Scarlet Witch rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, right. Why’d she cure me?”

“Because Malice was not supposed to have you infected. And if Pyro hadn’t killed her, I would have done something so much worse. In simple terms, you are not allowed to die. At least---not yet. I plan on having your around for many more years.” he explained.

“And why’s that?” she scowled.

“You’re going to do something very important, that is going to make my talents very useful.” Sinister told her as he began to circle her. “Your powers are rather extraordinary, don’t you think?”

“I can hex things. Big deal.” she sneered. “I basically have telekinesis with an attitude.”

“Modest, I see. You can do so much more. You just haven’t--had the chance. You are more powerful than you think.”

“So what, are you going to recruit me? Cause I ain’t joining your idiot ranks.” she growled.

“Of course not. You’ll need to stay on your team so these certain events to take place. You see, Wanda---everyone you hold close to your heart---every one of those people are going to shatter. Some will die, some will be lost to darkness. And you, my dear child, will lose your sanity.” Sinister lulled. Scarlet Witch frowned, her lip almost trembling.

“I’m not insane.” she whispered, unsure of who she was trying to convince.

“You’ll get there.” He insisted. “You’re going to be of such use to me in the future. It’s going to be incredible. All the things I will get to do and discover.”

“And how do you know this?” she questioned quietly, almost frightened of the answer.

“Why it’s Destiny, of course.”

“Where did she go? I mean, she couldn’t have gone far!” Polaris panicked as she paced.

“Lorna, it’s okay.” Iceman assured. Jade eyes flashed fierce at him and the X-man stepped back.

“She’s alone on Sinister’s base! She may be powerful, Bobby, but this is Sinister! He almost killed her!” she exclaimed.

“Ice-kid, calm your girlfriend down before I have to knock her out.” Domino snapped, holding up one of her guns. “If Wanda wanted to take a little tour of the place, that’s her own business. She wanted answers, and that’s probably the best way to get them. She’ll be fine. If anyone pisses her off, it’s not like they’ll live to tell about it anyways. Wanda can handle it.”

“You do realize you just did what you told me to do, right?” Iceman pointed out as he placed his hands on the now calm Lorna Dane.

“X-men are slow.” Domino shrugged, continuing on her way. She stopped in her tracks.

“Someone there?” Cable questioned, slinging his firearm ready. Domino nodded.

“It’s Betsy.” she eyed. “Where’s Rogue and Gambit?”

“Rogue is looking for him.” The telepath sighed. She studied the group. “Where is everyone else?”

“Right here.” Sage stated as she brought her own team towards the middle of the hallway. Domino perked an eyebrow.

“That was convenient.“ she snorted. “So we’re just without the Southerners?”

Sage nodded, and allowed her group to merge with the others.“We have to keep moving. Our task is done…and now we have to get to Sinister.” she uttered. “Follow me.”

Domino watched as the woman started off into the opposite way Cable’s team had been going. Domino glared and smacked her boyfriend in the arm.

“What was that for?” he demanded.

“I told you we were lost!” she exclaimed. She rolled her eyes and walked past him. “Idiot.”

The team continued on, walking back to the very place Scarlet Witch had disappeared to.

Rogue suddenly teleported in front of them. She looked tired, almost as if all the emotion had been sucked out of her. Strangely, she was wearing Gambit’s trench coat in place of her own.

“Where’s Gambit?” Pyro demanded. Rogue just stared.

“Let’s just fahnd Sinister.”

“Your team is going to be here soon. I can hear them coming.” Mister Sinister stated as he neared the door. Scarlet Witch eyed him.

“What, got no one to stop them?”

“They won’t be doing anything.” he assured her, smirking. "I have many years ahead of me."

“The future isn’t set in stone.” the witch uttered. “You seem to be an intelligent guy…you should know that.”

Sinister just grinned as the door opened. Domino jumped into the room, a rather large gun in her hands. “Fire in the hole!” she shouted as she blasted it towards Sinister. It slammed him across the room.

However, he just stood up as if nothing had happened. Domino nearly dropped her gun when she got a good look at him. “Yeah---in here.” she called out into the hallway. She slowly journeyed further into the room, coming close to Wanda as she did so. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Scarlet Witch lulled as Sinister walked back to them. Domino’s eyes grew wide.

“Sorry, Domino.” He smiled, holding his hands out. “But against me, even you have no luck.”

The girl gasped as a red beam shot from his palms and pinned her to the wall. She winced as her hair fell into her face. More people rushed into the room as he held her there. He was instantly blown away by another gun, this time from Cable. Sinister looked up, dazed at the sight of the futuristic mutant.

“You don’t know me.” the white haired male spoke, stalking towards him. He aimed his gun at Sinister’s face. “But I know you.”

Mister Sinister laughed and stood up, not at all afraid of the weaponry. He straightened his cape out and peered at the mutants in the room. “Ah, everyone’s here. Wanda, why don’t you fill them in?” he questioned, looking back to the shocked witch.

“Don’t look at her.” Pyro growled. Sinister stared at him.

“You’ve killed so many of my employees, Pyro. So has your friend."

"I am NOT his friend!" X-23 exclaimed. Quicksilver placed his hand over her mouth to silence her.

"--Of course," Mister Sinister continued. "I always have back ups. But it’s never the same. I really should kill you for that.” he uttered, his hand starting to glow. He suddenly lowered his arms and smiled as the glow disappeared. “But, we can’t have that happen, now can we?”

“This is the end of the line. You’re not going anywhere.” Sage announced, glaring. “It’s the end.”

“I’m sorry, Sage, but you’re wrong. I let all of you onto this base so easily. I just needed to talk with Wanda, and now that I have, I have other things to attend to. And something to recreate.” he told her as he pressed something on his wrist. A slight red glow began to surround his body. Cable scowled as he helped Domino up. He stared at Sinister, then back at her.

“Nate?” She whispered. He placed his hand on the side of her arm, staring down at her for a brief moment.

“I’m sorry. I can‘t let him get away.” he mumbled, racing towards Sinister. He wrapped his hands around the man's arm, and they both disappeared into a dim crimson glow. Domino’s arms fell at her sides, but she refused to let her eyes hit the floor.

Left the team, left her.

“Nate…” she repeated. As the team circled around the open space.

“Where the bloody hell did they go?” Psylocke exclaimed. Sage kneeled and touched the ground.

“They teleported.” she whispered. “I am not sure where to.” She stood back up and eyed as Scarlet Witch and Pyro embraced. “Wanda.”

“What?” the witch mumbled against her boyfriend.

“What did Sinister talk to you about?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Scarlet Witch stated as she pulled away from Pyro’s grasp. “He was lying. He had to be."

The two leaders circled the girl and began to question her. Rogue looked around as everyone was gathered into groups. She stared at Polaris and Iceman; X-23 and Quicksilver. She bit her lip and approached Domino.

“Gambit’s gone?” the girl questioned.

“So is Cable.”

“I’ll live.”

“So will Ah.” She paused. “Guess ya can have yoah own room back.”

“Yeah. I’m doing cartwheels because of it. Best day ever.” Domino shot back. Rogue shrugged.

“Or ya can stay whatever.” she muttered. “Sides, Ah’m pretty sure we’ll have some new housemates.”

“We'll needs replacements.” Domino eyed, the last word sour on her tongue. She sighed and finally looked towards her friend. “Looks like we did it.”

“Did what?”

“Overcame all the shit Sinister did.” Domino continued.

“Something tells me it ain’t guna be that easy. He gave me a real Apocalypse feel.” Rogue whispered. Domino stared at her, and the Southerner realized what they both needed to hear. They had each lost someone they held so close and even if it wasn’t true for them, they still needed to hear the phrase. “Yeah, Dom. We overcame.”

A/N: Holy hell. Writing this chapter was one of the most difficult and annoying things ever. But now it’s done so watch me dance. I know it wasn't a huge fight...BUT there is a reason for that. Which will be addressed in the next fic. I’ll probably put up the next fic in another week or so. And go back to updating every Wednesday. Anyways I’d like to thank everyone who reviewed this fic. You all rock. I hope everyone liked this chapter and please review.