Rogue Recruit

At a house party in Mississippi, a group was dancing to a song on a boombox.

A young woman that had brown hair with a white streak in it stood alone on the house's deck.

"Hey, Rogue." A voice called out. She spun around and looked at a blond-haired teen. He had come outside with one of his friends.

"Oh, hi Cody." Cody Robbins was a football player at Rogue's high school.

Several feet away, a pre-teen boy with black hair and blue eyes was staring out towards the water. His outfit consisted of a red sweater, yellow t-shirt and a pair of jeans. This young boy's name is Billy Batson. After a encounter with a ancient wizard known as Shazam, he was granted the ability to change into a adult male after being struck by a bolt of lightning.

"Would you like to dance." Cody offered.

"Yah, sure." Rogue agreed. Cody smiled and grabbed a hold of her hand.

Cody and Rogue walked onto the dance floor and began dancing slowly to the music.

After a few moments, the two stepped closer to each other.

Billy was observing them from a distance while minding his own business.

Rogue and Cody's lips then connected.

Suddenly, Rogue reeled back as if she felt something strange. Images flashed inside Rogue's head. She ran through the party and out the door. She wanted to get as far away as she could.

'I don't like the looks of this.' Billy thought to himself.

He climbed down a nearby tree and once alone shouted.

"SHAZAM!" A lightning bolt shot down from the sky, enveloping Billy.

A adult male with a muscular physique was in his place. He's known as Shazam, and is also referred to as the World's Mightiest Mortal.

Shazam flew over the house in pursuit of Rogue.

From her vantage point, Mystique dropped down and reverted to her original appearance.

"It's time." She said to herself before shape-shifting into Wolverine's form.

Mystique then chased after Rogue as well, to make sure Professor Xavier didn't get to her first.

As he was flying after Rogue, Shazam heard a voice speak in his head.

'Do you need any help.' The voice said.

Shazam stopped flying and looked around for the person that was speaking to him.

"Who's there!" He demanded.

Appearing in front of Shazam was a green-skinned figure.

"I am J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter." J'onn greeted Shazam.

X-Mansion

The X-Men were down in the subbasement, having gathered together in the Danger Room.

Superman has volunteered to show the team how many powers he possessed. Cyborg was also in attendance to witness this.

"You ready for this?" Cyborg asked Superman.

A tall and broadly built man with short black hair and dark eyes framed by a pair of glasses stood in the control room. His name is Henry "Hank" McCoy, another member of the X-Men.

The Danger Room then flared to life, which meant it was time for Superman to get to work.

Turning around he was faced with about a dozen drones that were armed with rifles. The drones fired at him.

The drones continued firing at him, but the shots ricocheted off his chest. Then Superman remembered the purpose of this simulation, reduce casualties.

Those guns had to be taken out before he could eliminate the drones.

As fast as lightning, Superman zipped through the drones at unbelievable speeds, disarming them and crushing the guns into a single pile, and then, just as quickly, tore the drones apart.

"Someone, help!"

Superman then flew across the city to find the source of the cry. A gunman was holding up a young woman. He descended, lifted the gunman off the ground, ripped the gun out of his grip and flew away, leaving the assailant with a police officer.

Just then, screaming got his attention. A bill-board was close to falling on some people.

Superman floated below the sign and stopped it, before putting it back in place and using heat vision to weld it.

Suddenly, he heard a tell-tale cracking noise from far away. Flying to its source, Superman saw that the dam was breaking, threatening to flood the entire city.

Taking a deep breath, Superman let loose a huge gust of his freezing-breath, freezing the entire lake solid, halting the tides of the flood, before he used his eye-beams to weld the cracks in the dam shut.

'Okay,' Superman thought, 'what next?'

THUD.

'I had to ask.' Superman thought, as he turned...and saw a huge, hulking robot, over fifty stories high, stomping through the city, citizens fleeing in its path.

'Well, that's original.' Superman thought with a smile, shaking his head; he knew who was goofing with the controls. 'Kurt, you nut! You've been watching too many sci-fi movies!'

Superman flew after the robot, firing his eye-beams, searing holes in its armor. In response, the robot fired a huge missile at him; Superman easily evaded it, but the missile continued on...

...heading for a hospital.

Instantly, Superman broke off his attack, and flew after the missile at top speeds. He quickly caught up to it, and flew under it, pushing up, and altered the missile's course, as it missed the hospital completely. Once it was high enough, Superman fired his eye-beams, incinerating it.

Spying a construction site, Superman flew down, grabbed a large steel girder, and picked it up, flying towards the robot, and then threw it with the accuracy of an Olympic javelin-thrower, piercing the robot's skull, hitting its CPU. Instantly, the robot just stopped, standing there like a monument, now the world's largest paperweight.

"Nice job." Bishop said over the intercom.

Superman touched down at the Professor's voice over the inter-com, the Danger Room deactivating, the holographic city vanishing. Then, Cyclops and Jean walked into the Danger Room. "That training program worked without a hitch."

"I run a similar one in the Fortress. It's really not a big deal." He remarked.

"Well, it certainly works." Jean said.

Thunderbird then walked into the Danger Room. "Until someone got the bright idea to tamper with the controls."

He glared up at the control room, or more accurately a fuzzy blue elf still inside it.

Bamf!

Nightcrawler appeared in a cloud of brimstone. "Aw, come on; I just vanted to see if Superman really could take on a giant robot!"

"Well, you got your answer lad." Banshee called down to him.

"Clark, you were awesome!" Shadowcat exclaimed as she ran into the Danger Room. "And the way you took out that robot...it was just incredible!"

"X-Men, report to the control room; you should all take a look at these results." The Professor said over the inter-com.

Cyclops, Thunderbird and Jean headed out of the Danger Room, and Superman followed them, with Shadowcat following, as Nightcrawler 'ported himself to the control room.

In the control room, Cyborg, Beast, the Professor, Banshee, Colossus, Gambit, Bishop, Storm, and Wolverine were waiting for them.

"The results of your simulation just came in. I really think you'll want to see this." Cyborg directed him over to a computer screen. It displayed a image of someone with various colors filling it in.

"These are the readouts from the most recent simulations before this one." He explained.

"Yours however, well check this out." Beast brought up Superman's results from the simulation.

Everyone gasped in amazement: Clark's readout showed almost entirely red and orange.

Bishop narrowed a eyebrow in surprise. "I've never seen a readout like this before. You must be very powerful to get this kind of a result."

"Whoa..." Cyclops murmured.

Nightcrawler let out a low whistle.

Jean didn't speak.

Shadowcat started to open her mouth, but then closed it again.

"Your medical scans shed light on your internal processes, Clark." Hank continued. "Essentially, your physiology and anatomy are practically identical to that of an average human's: nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, circulatory system...for the most part, you're exactly like an average human male."

"So, what's the difference?" Cyclops asked Hank.

"This." Hank said, gesturing to another screen; this screen depicted an X-ray image of a person's – Clark's – outline, with numerous, spherical organs dispersed throughout his body.

Jean blinked. "I'm guessing that those aren't lymph nodes."

"No, they're not, Jean; I have no idea what they are." Hank agreed. "However, I have an idea of what they do; I subjected Clark's energy-scan to a finer scale." He tapped a few keys; the energy-scan now showed mostly red and orange, but with numerous spherical patches of very dark red dispersed throughout. Hank tapped a few more keys, and the two scans moved together...overlapping each other perfectly.

"Whatever these organs are, they seem to form a kind of internal 'energy transfer system'." Hank said. "Clark, you said that your body draws strength from the sun, correct?" Clark nodded. "Well, based on this data, I'd say that these organs are how you do it! It's absolutely fascinating!"

"Wow." Clark said; he'd often wondered exactly how his powers worked.

"'Wow' is putting it mildly!" Hank exclaimed. "Clark, this system is your primary metabolic system; your digestive, respiratory, circulatory systems...they're all just 'back-ups' to this system! You don't need to eat, you don't need to drink...Clark, you don't even need to breathe!"

"Whoa! Zat is cool!" Nightcrawler said. "Kinda veird...but cool!"

"Furthermore, this system interacts with your other biological systems; it converts food directly into energy – absolute efficiency, something that no other organism on this planet can boast of!" Hank exclaimed. "It seems to be also capable of doing the reverse; it can make everything a cell needs – glucose, amino acids, nucleic acids...everything! All you need is solar energy! Your body's immune system also seems to derive energy from this system; scans of your immune cells show higher levels of immune cells than any other human, but with no signs of inflammation! Your body must be capable of neutralizing any pathogen or cancer cell that invades or forms almost instantly! I bet not even the Ebola virus or the HIV can phase you! And through this system, none of the 'negative' nutrients can work – fats, cholesterol – since they all get burned off and reassembled before they can do any harm!"

Shadowcat lightly frowned. "Okay, no offense Clark, but that is so not fair!"

"To put this into perspective." Hank finished, "Scott, your powers also draw from the sun; your body takes in solar energy, and re-channels it through your eyes. Basically, you're a kind of 'solar battery'."

Cyclops chuckled. "Yeah, with no 'off-switch'."

"Clark, however." Hank added, "Takes in solar energy, and can convert it directly to matter, or transfer it around his body, converting it to other forms as he needs to; he's a living solar reactor."

"Thanks for the science lesson, Hank." Wolverine said, "But I'm still waitin' for the bottom-line."

"Long story short, X-Gene based powers probably won't work on him." Bishop told his companion.

"Okay." Cyclops said, "Time for some team-work simulations."

"Aw, come on, Scott! We've been running these ever since we got back from school!" Shadowcat cried.

"Ja, man! It's zhe veekend!" Nightcrawler protested.

"The first team will be...Kurt, Kitty, and Clark." Cyclops said.

Suddenly, an alarm went off.

"Looks like you'll have to do that later." Bishop commented.

"Cerebro has just detected a new mutant signature." He moved to a console, bringing up the data. "Rogue, 15 years old, in Mississippi. Her power is that of life-force absorption; a touch of her skin enables her to draw the energy and memories from the one who touched her. If the person is a mutant, it also allows her to temporarily assume their powers."

"Those powers would make her extremely dangerous." Thunderbird replied. "She could absorb the abilities of any mutant."

"Which is precisely why you must find her first." Xavier said. "I'm also detecting other mutant signatures in Mississippi, but I can't locate them; it's possible that others are after her, as well."

"Who?" Jean asked.

"I'm not entirely sure." Xavier said. "I may have an idea...but I don't want to say until I'm positive."

"Professor...what are you hiding from us?" Cyclops asked. "Why won't you tell us?"

Xavier looked terribly haunted.

"Because I fervently hope I'm wrong." He admitted.

"We should get going." Bishop said as he walked out of the Danger Room.

After that Superman, Cyborg and the rest of the X-Men raced to the Blackbird.

In minutes, they reached the Blackbird's hangar, and the X-Men all got into the plane, with Superman remaining outside. As the Blackbird began to take off, Superman took to the air, flying beside the Blackbird, as they headed towards Mississippi.

Rogue didn't stop running until she was far away from the party. She just wandered around the neighborhood, trying to figure out what on Earth had happened.

She barely realized it when she stopped by a house she had never seen before, walked up to it, took the spare key from under the mat, unlocked it, and headed inside.

She walked up to a bedroom, and looked around.

She saw all sorts of trophies and awards on a shelf overlooking a desk.

...she could remember getting one plaque for a First-Place win in Public Speaking...

...she'd gotten an MVP trophy for that pass in last year's game...

...and that certificate was for being on the honor roll for several years in a row...

Rogue shook her head to clear it. What the...Ah neva did any of that stuff! Cody' did!' she thought. She looked around; this was Cody's house! How had she gotten here?! Suppressing a horrified sob, Rogue ran down the stairs.

"Lost, are we?"

Looking around, Rogue screamed as she saw a burly-looking man in black and orange tights...with metal claws extending from his knuckles!

The man roared in feral rage, and slashed at her. Rogue managed to duck under the attack, and ran for her life. She kept running, even after she was out of Cody's house.

She never wanted to see that maniac again.

After Rogue fled from her, Mystique resumed her natural form; her plan was working perfectly.

'I am sorry, my dear Rogue, but this is for your own good.' Mystique thought to herself. 'I won't lose you to Xavier.'

With that, she changed into a crow, and flew out of the house, to track Rogue from the air.

Shazam continued to track Mystique from the air alongside Martian Manhunter as she flew after Rogue.

The Blackbird silently touched down in a clearing outside Louisiana. Cyclops was the first one off, as Superman touched down a few feet away.

"We'd better get moving; we have to find this 'Rogue'." Cyclops said. "Superman, you and Storm should take to the air – see if you can spot her."

"We can help with that." Cyclops raised his head and spotted Shazam and Martian Manhunter descending.

"My name is Billy Batson. You can call me Shazam, World's Mightiest Mortal."

"And I'm J'onn J'onzz the last son of Mars." Martian Manhunter added.

"Superman, Storm, Banshee you three help Shazam and Martian Manhunter look for Rogue from the air. The rest of us will search from the ground."

At that, the group spread out, and began to move through the brush, looking for Rogue.

"We've got her in our sights." Banshee spoke through his communicator. "She's not far away from the cemetery."

"Get to the cemetery, and wait for us there; we'll follow her on foot – going in from the air might scare her!" Cyclops replied. "Okay, people, let's move!" With that, they all ran towards the cemetery.

Wolverine met them at the cemetery gates, as Superman, Shazam, Martian Manhunter and Storm touched down.

"Okay." Cyclops said. "Everyone head in, spread out, and if you find her, try to keep her calm. We don't want to..."

But he was cut off as a tremor shook the earth.

"Well, who do we have here?" A voice asked, as Lance – Avalanche – stepped into view, wearing a dark blue bodysuit, with reinforced chest padding, grey boots, and a glass dome over his head. Then, Toad – in the armored uniform he'd worn when he'd infiltrated the Institute – hopped out next to him.

"Lance?!" Shadowcat cried. "What're you doing here?!"

"Hey, pretty Kitty." Avalanche sneered. "A friend of mine told me that you X-Geeks were looking for a new recruit..."

"...so we figured, hey, why not see if we could snatch her first?" Toad finished. "The new Brotherhood of Mutants could always use new members!"

"Change of plans." Superman said. "You guys go on ahead."

"The three of us deal with this." Shazam declared as Martian Manhunter descended.

Avalanche glowered at Superman. "I was hoping you'd say that, Super-dork. I've been itching for a second crack at you."

Toad, however, wasn't so bold. "S-Superman?!" he cried. "Whoa, Lance, y-you never said that he was the guy you tangled with!"

"Oh, for the love of...will you quit whining, Tolansky?!" Avalanche snapped.

Cyclops nodded to Superman. "We'll find Rogue."

Jean smiled. "Don't kick their butts too hard." She said. With that, the rest hurried into the cemetery, leaving those three to handle the "Brotherhood."

As Superman, Shazam and Martian Manhunter were left behind by the others, Avalanche started to form an earthquake. With one mighty foot-stomp, Superman canceled it out, sighing. "Can't you try something new, Lance?"

Avalanche smirked. "Like this?" he shot back. "Toad!"

At once, Toad hopped at Superman, and fired a huge glob of goo, completely covering his face.

"Ha!" Toad declared. "You were right, Lance! What a total chump! What a..." but he froze...as he saw two glowing red eye-spots appearing in the slime.

Instantly, the hardened goo blasted apart as Superman's eye rays incinerated it, his face none the worse for wear...with an annoyed expression on it.

Toad smiled sheepishly. "Uh...about that 'chump' crack...completely out of line!"

Martian Manhunter grabbed Toad and phased his legs into the ground, trapping him. Shazam then slammed a electrically charged fist into the ground, knocking him out.

Superman then spied Avalanche getting ready for another quake. With one powerful foot-stomp, Superman caused Avalanche to bounce right off the ground. As the earth-shaking youth landed, Superman stomped again, sending him bouncing a bit higher. After two more bounces, Superman zipped over to where Avalanche landed, casually reached over, his hand inches from Avalanche's chest...and just flicked him with his finger.

That tiny flick had more than enough force to send Avalanche flying, to land hard on the ground; he'd be sore, but otherwise okay. Superman inhaled, and blew his freezing-breath, coating Avalanche with enough ice to keep him there for a little while, but not enough to give him so much as a cold.

"Just chill there for a little while." He said.

"With those two out of the way, we can resume our search." Shazam replied.

"Let's go." The three ran into the cemetery.

After they'd split up to search the cemetery, Jean tried to scan for Rogue with her telepathy, but the girl's confusion made it difficult to zero in on her; not only that, a thick fog was rolling in.

Suddenly, Jean saw her, running through the rows of graves.

"Wait!" Jean called, running after her. "We want to help you!"

Rogue stopped, turning around, looking terrified.

"W-Who're you?!" She cried.

"My name is Jean Grey." Jean said. "My friends and I have been looking for you, Rogue."

"H-How do ya know about meh?!" Rogue demanded.

"Please, we just want to help you." Jean soothed.

"If ya want ta help meh, then just keep that lunatic away from meh!" Rogue cried.

Bamf!

"Jean, I'm not having any luck..." Nightcrawler began, but paused as he saw Rogue. "Oh. Uh...Guten Tag, Fraulein." he greeted. (5)

"AAAAHHHH!" Rogue screamed. "W-What the..?!"

"No, it's okay!" Jean assured her. "This is Kurt; he's one of my friends!"

"Jean, I'm pickin' up her scent!" Wolverine called as he came into view. "She's right about..."

Rogue let out a blood-curdling scream. "GET AWAY FROM MEH!" she screamed, and she pushed Kurt out of her way...

...her bare hand connecting with his face, by accident.

Nightcrawler went limp, falling over, as Rogue 'ported away, sing his power.

'Scott, get over here! Kurt's down!' Jean telepathically cried. In seconds, the others, including Scott, had gathered around their fallen friend. "I lost sight of Rogue." Jean said. "She used Kurt's powers."

Just then, Superman, Shazam and Martian Manhunter ran up to them.

"Is he alright?" Superman asked.

"We lost track of Rogue." Cyclops said. "Dammit, we can't see in this fog!"

"She isn't far." Superman said, listening. "She's near an old warehouse, at the edge of the cemetery, a few feet east of here."

"You go on ahead." Cyclops said. "We'll follow on foot." Superman nodded, and flew off, as the others followed, with Wolverine lifting Nightcrawler onto his shoulders before following.

Nearly in tears, Rogue ran far away, coming to an old, abandoned warehouse, just outside the cemetery gates. She climbed over the gates, and darted into the warehouse, to hide. She climbed the stairs to the second floor, standing under the big hole in the ceiling, before she decided to hide in the shadows in the corner of the room...

"Please, miss, don't be afraid. We want to help you."

'H-How'd they find meh so fast?!' Rogue mentally wailed. She turned to face her pursuer. "Just leave meh alone!" she yelled at the guy. "First Ah get chased by some nut with claws, then Ah get ambushed by a blue thing, an' now Ah'm talkin' to a guy in a Superman costume!" She started to back away.

The guy noticed. "Miss, please, that floor...it isn't safe..." He started to move towards her.

"Just leave meh alone!" Rogue screamed, as she took another step backwards...

...and the floor gave way.

Rogue screamed as she began to fall...and stopped as the stranger grabbed her hand, stopping her fall. "Easy, now; I've got you." he said, smiling gently. "I won't let you fall." Then, as if she weighed nothing at all, he pulled her back up.

"Don't touch meh!" Rogue cried, yanking her hand out of his grip. "Every time someone touches mah skin..." Then it hit her.

He'd held her bare hand...and nothing happened.

Slowly, gingerly, Rogue reached out...and touched the stranger's nose with her fingertip.

Nothing.

Slowly, she touched his nose for a few seconds longer.

Still nothing.

Then, taking a deep breath, she touched her hand to his face.

Zip.

"Oh mah Gawd..." Rogue murmured. She looked at him carefully. "What...are you?"

Just then, a very angry-looking Jean came storming up the stairs.

"I tried..." She hissed at Rogue, "...I tried! But some people just won't be helped!"

"Drop the act!" Shazam angrily demanded. "I saw you change forms earlier, lady."

...and then another Jean came up the stairs, followed by a few other people in suits, too.

"Rogue, please don't be...what on Earth?!" The second Jean cried, as she saw her duplicate.

Shazam brought his fist down and sent a surge of electricity towards "Jean" causing her to cry out...in a different voice.

Slowly, the first Jean began to change...into a blue-skinned, red-haired woman.

"A shape-shifter..." The guy with funny-looking goggles murmured.

At that revelation, everything made sense.

"You..." Rogue said, her eyes narrowing in anger, "...it was you! You were the one chasing meh!"

At her anger, the blue-skinned woman looked hurt, saddened...and then she glared at the one who'd exposed her. "You ruined everything..." she hissed, standing up.

"I have no idea who you are and I really could care less. You need to leave." Shazam told her with narrowed eyes.

The woman glowered at him. "You..." She spat. "...just made the biggest mistake of your life." With that, she changed into a crow, and flew away.

Now Rogue looked among these people.

"You...weren't tryin' ta hurt meh?" She asked.

Jean – the real one – smiled, and shook her head no.

"We want to help you, Rogue." She said.

"We're from the Xavier Institute, where mutants like us learn to control our gifts." The goggles guy said. "We wanted to ask you if you were interested."

Rogue gulped. "And...if Ah say no?"

The burly guy – the real one – chuckled. "We'd be disappointed, Stripes, but we'd respect your decision."

Rogue lightly smiled.

"Whah not?" She said. .

"Who are you?" she asked. "Ah just wanna know."

The stranger just smiled gently, looking at her as if she already knew.

It hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh mah freakin' Gawd..." Rogue murmured, "...that ain't a costume...you're the real Superman..."

"Pleased to meet you, Rogue." Superman greeted. "Now, let's get out of here, okay?"

Rogue smiled back; somehow, she knew she could trust these people.

"Okay."

It hadn't taken them long to get back to the Blackbird.

Superman watched as the others made preparations to take off.

Once all the X-Men had returned to the Institute, along with Rogue, they had told Charles what had occurred. It had badly shaken him. So, it was' her that I sensed there...' he'd thought. After musing on what this meant, Charles decided to tell them.

Currently, Charles, Ororo, and Logan had gathered all the students in his office, once they'd had time to don their street clothes.

"So, Professor." Scott began, "Who was that blue woman?"

Charles took a deep breath. "Raven Darkholme...A.K.A 'Mystique.'" He said. "She's arguably one of the most ruthless, most elusive, most dangerous mutants I know of. Her ability enables her to shape-shift, to assume any form she so desires, for as long as she desires...and she is perfectly willing to assume any form, use any means necessary to achieve her goals."

"And she wanted ta scare meh away from joinin' ya." Rogue said. "Whah?"

"I do not know why, Rogue." Charles admitted. "I simply shudder to think what might have happened if she hadn't been exposed."

"Now that we know Mystique is out there, Clark, your abilities will be more vital than ever, for Mystique has the ability to elude telepathic probing – including Cerebro – completely...which makes you the only one of us capable of exposing her."

Clark nodded.

"There's more, isn't there, Professor?" He asked.

Charles sighed. "Although Mystique herself is a significant threat...what she represents is more frightening, still." he said. "You see...Mystique is a known colleague...of Magneto."

"Who?" Jean asked.

"I've heard of Magneto. His real name is Erik Magnus Lehnsherr. He's a Holocaust survivor who believes mutants are superior to ordinary humans. The guy is one of the most powerful mutants on Earth. He can control magnetism and will stop at nothing to make mutants the dominant species on the planet." Bishop explained.

"That's part of what you were afraid of with me, wasn't it?" Clark asked.

Sadly, Charles nodded. "Where Mystique is, Magneto is never far." he said. "I do not know what Erik is planning, but, for the sake of this world – human and mutant alike – he must not succeed."

Scott was the first to speak.

"We'll stop him, Professor." He said.

Clark nodded.

"Whatever he's up to, it's not going to happen." He agreed. All the others nodded in agreement.

Charles smiled.

"Thank you all." He said softly. "I am honored to have each and every one of you – and all those yet to come – as my students." Smiling, he finished, "That's enough for now. You should all get some rest." With that, the X-Men all headed out of the office, leaving Charles alone with his thoughts.

Rogue was sitting on the balcony outside the second-floor window of the main hall, in her usual outfit, except now she wore black gloves. She sighed sadly to herself; her prognosis looked grim...

"Can't sleep?"

Turning, Rogue saw Clark – Superman – standing behind her, wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt, looking like anyone else.

Rogue shrugged.

"Nah." She said. "Ah'm just thinkin' about everything that's happened."

Clark nodded.

"It can be a lot to take in." He admitted, "But I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

Rogue snorted. "Doubt it." she said. "Ah heard what the Professor said 'bout mah powers; they're uncontrollable. Ah'll neva be able to touch anyone without killin' em."

"Then you also heard that the Professor will do everything he can to help you gain control." Clark parried.

Rogue turned an incredulous eye to Clark. "How the hell do you do that?"

Clark looked confused.

"Do what?" He asked.

"That! Somehow find a way to make everything positive!" Rogue replied.

Clark just shrugged. "I don't know."

Rogue sighed. "No offense, Farm-Boy, but Ah don't see any reason to be positive 'bout mah powers." she said. "You just can't understand..."

"...because they're dangerous." Clark finished.

Rogue stopped. "Excuse meh?"

Clark looked haunted. "You know these powers can be dangerous, that they could hurt someone – possibly someone you love – if you're not careful." He said. He looked right at her. "Rogue, I've had my powers ever since I was a baby. Ever since I was old enough to walk, I've been terrified of hurting someone with them. I have that fear now, to this very day. I had to hold back, every single day of my life."

Rogue looked at him; he wasn't lying. "How did ya deal with it?"

Clark sighed. "It's simple in theory, but in practice, it's a lot harder." he said. "You just go one day at a time, Rogue. It's hard, but it works."

Rogue half-smiled. "Thanks, Farm-Boy."

Clark smiled back. "Any time, Stripes." he replied. "Good-night." With that, he turned to go.

Rogue just smiled as he left. 'Ah can't believe Ah'm thinkin' this,' she thought, 'but that man has ta be the best damn hope this whole planet's got.'

"You lost Rogue."

Mystique scowled as she spoke to Magneto on her phone. "Maybe I wouldn't have lost her." She hissed, "If I hadn't been exposed. Someone by the name of Shazam caught sight of me turning into Wolverine."

"I was not aware of this." Magneto replied.

"Yes." Mystique said bitterly. She had intended to infiltrate the Institute, perhaps even impersonate Xavier himself...but with that Superman's vision watching the Institute, it would be nigh impossible.

"This is very troubling, Raven. Without Rogue, we have no way of countering his power."

Mystique scoffed. "Even if we had her, it would have made no difference. I saw him touch her – no effect whatsoever."

That actually silenced Magneto. "You're...certain?"

"Absolutely."

"I must confer with my associate, Raven. I will contact you later." With that, Magneto hung up.

"Problems?"

Standing in the home of Destiny – her old friend, now in her late forties – Mystique sighed. "Irene, why didn't you warn me?"

"Raven," Irene said gently, "I've been warning you for the past nineteen or twenty years."

"About what?!" Mystique snapped. "All you've been going on about is that...stupid..." her voice trailed off, as Irene smiled knowingly. "Wait...are you saying that...this 'Superman' is..?"

"...the Child of the Star." Irene finished. "Who else could it be?" She sighed. "For the past twenty years or so, I've been getting bits and pieces of that prophecy. I knew that this Superman had to be him...for when I first heard about him...the prophecy finished itself, in my mind. I could see the entire thing."

Mystique was amazed. "What did it say?" she asked.

Destiny took a deep breath, and began to recite:

"'All of you now, from near and from far,

mark well the Child that comes from the Star!

Great power he has, which no man can match,

the dark he will fight, and swiftly dispatch.

Death will fall from the sky, with unquenchable fire,

but the Child will strive on, and shall never tire.

Monsters shall rise, in a world full of hate,

yet the Child will bring light, to challenge this fate.

Another will come, with might equal to he,

but he will still win, in ways we can't see.

And all around him, mutantkind shall unite,

to drive back the dark, in a terrible fight.

And hope shall be gone, as victory seems far,

but hope shall return, with the Child of the Star.'"

Her prophecy finished, Destiny said, "This was the first time I had ever heard such a prophecy."

Mystique was astounded. "So...Superman – the Child of the Star – is an alien?"

Destiny nodded.

"Does Magneto know about this?"

"Almost certainly." Destiny said. "I once told him part of it...the last few phrases, 'And all around him, mutantkind shall unite.' That certainly got him excited."

Mystique smiled. "I imagine it would have." she agreed.

"I'm certain that Magneto will actively try to recruit Superman in the near future." Destiny said.

Mystique frowned. "If that prophecy is true..."

"It is." Destiny said.

"...then Superman has a very important part to play in things to come." Mystique finished.

That fact did not bode well with her.