Chapter 3- Soul Deception
Rogue watched Remy as he raced over the lawn toward the mansion. She waited until he slipped inside the door before racing after him. Once she saw the door shut, Rogue jumped against the wall and grabbed the ledge. She pulled herself over the brick wall and landed on the other side. She briefly surveyed the lawn and raced towards the front door. She turned the doorknob, and found that it was locked.
"Oh great!" cursed Rogue silently. She glanced fumbled around in one of pockets and pulled out lock pick. She stuck the thin metal through the keyhole and twisted and turned the pick and until the she heard the door unlock. "Thanks, Mystique," she whispered to herself.
Rogue crept into the house and pushed the door closed silently. Then, she turned and saw the vast foyer. The floor was glazed with shiny black marble, and on the other end of the room was a wide staircase with wooden banisters spiraling off at the end. Rogue began to walk softly across the marble floor. Then, she heard a door shut up ahead to the right. As Rogue studied the door, she noticed a trench coat on the chair next to the door. Rogue quickly hurried to the door, where she silently turned the knob.
As she slightly opened the door, Rogue peeked inside. She saw Remy in the room pulling a book from a shelf. After he did so, the shelf in front of him came forward in pulled itself aside. Then, she watched as Remy disappeared into the bookshelf, and the opening closed behind him. Rogue saw her chance. She ventured into the room and began examining the shelf that Remy had been in front of.
"Which one did he pull?" she said aloud to herself. Rogue raised her hand and ran her finger across each title. None of them seemed to stand out as a clue. Rogue sighed as she stood their frustrated. Rogue closed her eyes. "Heart, don’t fail me now," she said as she reached up and randomly pulled a book from the shelf. Once Rogue pulled the book from the shelf, she opened her eyes and waited.
"I guess that was a long shot," said Rogue. Just as she started to place the book back onto the shelf, the shelf began to move. It pushed itself forward and to the side, just as it had done for Remy. Rogue looked at the book in her hand. It was The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. She smiled as she placed the book back into its place and slipped into the hidden passage.
As Rogue walked through the dark corridor, she found herself wandering if she had made a mistake. She looked back at the opening, and saw that it had already closed. "Oh well, girl, look’s like you don’t have a choice now," she said. Rogue continued to walk forward. Rogue was beginning to wander if she had missed another opening, because the tunnel seemed to be endless. Then, she saw Remy up ahead. He appeared to be looking at something very closely on the wall.
"Remy!" called Rogue. Remy turned around completely surprised to find Rogue here.
"Rogue! What are you doin’ here?!" he asked. His tone seemed more upset than surprised. "Forget about it. Just leave, now!"
"Why? Remy I don’t understand?" she said.
"Please, Rouge. You don’t know my uncle. He…" began Remy. However, he became speechless when the wall disappeared to reveal none other than Dr. Essex standing at the opening. His hands were behind his back. He looked from Remy to Rogue.
"So, Remy, you brought us a visitor?" he said in interested voice. "Well, do come in, both of you." Dr. Essex stood to one side to allow the two teens to enter the lab. Rogue marveled at the laboratory as she entered. She had never seen anything like it. "And whom, do I have pleasure of meeting this evening?" asked Dr. Essex as he raised Rogue’s gloved hand to his lips.
Rogue smiled and blushed slightly. "My name’s Marie, sir," said Rogue. She looked at Remy who still appeared to be upset. He almost seemed like he was worried about something.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Marie," replied Dr. Essex. "Oh, forgive me, where are my manners. I am Dr. Nathaniel Essex, Remy’s uncle." He released her hand and stepped away from them. As he began to walk through the lab he raised his arms, placing emphasis on the lab itself. "And this young lady, is where I will make history, thanks to your help, of course."
"I’m glad I could help, sir," said Rogue. "Your idea just sounded to good to pass up. The chance you’re offering mutants will make a big difference in a lot of lives."
Dr. Essex turned his attention back to Rogue. "Really?" he said. "What exactly has my nephew told you about my research?"
"He said that you were able to turn off the mutations of mutants, so that they could be normal," answered Rogue.
"Well, that is true my dear," said Dr. Essex, "but that’s not my current intention just yet." Rogue noticed the warmness in his voice disappear. She looked into his eyes and saw that the same person she had just met didn’t appear to be there. Dr. Essex no longer seemed to be as friendly as when she first arrived.
"I think I better go," said Rogue. As she started for the exit, the opening closed and she found herself with her palms pressed against the solid wall. "Open the door."
"No, my dear," said Dr. Essex as he approached her, "I’m afraid I can’t do that."
Rogue turned around to find Dr. Essex approaching. She tried to dart away from him, it was too late. He grabbed her arm and held on tightly. "I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere my dear. I have… other plans for you."
"No!" called Remy as he approached. "Let her go, Unc! You got what you want!"
"You’re right, Remy," said Dr. Essex, "I do have what I want. And I have you to thank for it. Not only do I have the samples from Xavier’s X-Men to create an army of super mutants, but I also have an actual living specimen to work with."
"You knew?!" said Rogue as she looked at Remy. Remy looked deep into her eyes and saw the hurt as the tears began to fill her eyes. "How could you Remy? How could you lie to me?"
"Cher?" said Remy.
"I hate you!" shouted Rogue. "I hate you!"
As the pain and realization set in, Remy found himself speechless. He was barely able to look at Rogue as the tears began to flow from her eyes, as well as his own.
"I do grow sick of this pitiful display of affection," said Dr. Essex as he began to drag Rogue away. She continued to struggle until she felt something pierce the skin on her neck. Almost immediately she fell unconscious. Dr. Essex placed the syringe on the table and lifted the girl towards one of the stasis tubes in his lab. As the glass door hissed shut, Dr. Essex turned to find Remy standing behind him.
"Please, Unc, let her go," pleaded Remy.
Dr. Essex shook off the pitiful display and moved away from the tube. "He went back to one of the table and began examining the hair samples under some sort of molecular scanner. After a few stroke of the keys on the computer console, a three dimensional model of DNA appeared on the screen. Dr. Essex looked away from the screen and at Remy once again. The boy was staring at the tube with his hand pressed against the glass.
"Forget about the girl," said Dr. Essex, sounding somewhat annoyed. "She found the lab, and would be able to identify us. There’s no way she could have left and you know it." Dr. Essex stood up and walked towards Remy. "I did this for you, Remy. To protect you. She never really cared about you. You heard it from her own lips. I’m the only one you can trust Remy. Remember that."
Dr. Essex placed his hand on Remy’s shoulder, but the teen threw Essex’s hand off his shoulder and ran from the lab. As the boy disappeared from the lab, Dr. Essex shrugged and went back to the computer with the DNA helix on it. "That boy is becoming more trouble than he’s worth." Dr. Essex continued to scan and study the other samples as he prepared to begin the final stages of his super mutant campaign.
***
"Ahhh!" cried Kitty from the bathroom. Within seconds everyone was standing outside the door.
Kurt began ramming his shoulder against the door trying to get it open. "Kitty!" he called. The desperation in his voice was obvious. "I can’t get the door open. I’m going to teleport inside," he told everyone outside. However, before he could teleport, the door opened and Kitty was standing in the doorway in a bathrobe.
"What is it, Kitty? Are you all right?" asked Jean.
"It’s my hair," said Kitty. "This lock of hair is exactly 2.23 cm shorter than it was yesterday." Kitty was holding up two strands of hair to show them the difference.
"You measure your hair?" asked Evan.
"And look," continued Kitty, "it looks like it’s been cut."
"You measure your hair?!" repeated Evan with disbelief.
"It had to be Rogue! And just think, I went out of my way to help her with Remy! I can’t believe she’s still sore because I stained her favorite blouse two weeks ago!" fumed Kitty.
"You measure your hair?!" said Evan in disbelief.
"That’s right, I do! And I do it every morning and every night! Now, do you have a problem with that?!" Kitty scolded as she jabbed her finger into Evan’s chest, pushing him back against the wall.
"Nah. I was just making sure I heard you," he replied softly.
"Ororo, could you please go into girls’ room and ask Rogue to come out?" asked the Professor.
Ororo opened the door and looked inside. "She’s not there, Professor," replied Ororo. "Have you girls seen her this morning?" Jean and Kitty looked at each other and then shook their heads. "Boys?" Each of them shrugged, obvious not knowing where Rogue was.
"Okay, the first thing we need to do is get dressed. Then, we can start searching…," began the Professor. He stopped as Logan held up his hand. "What is it, Logan?"
"Someone else was here," he replied. He sniffed the air again, trying to determine if the scent was familiar.
"Do you know who it was?" asked Ororo.
"No, but why don’t we ask him what his name is," said Logan. Logan took a few steps backwards where the living room met the hallway to the bedrooms and the bathroom. He reached behind the corner and grabbed a young boy by his clothes. He pulled him into view of the others and pushed the young boy up against the wall.
"All right, kid, where’s Rogue?" said Logan.
"Remy?" said Jean. "What are you doing here?"
The boy looked at Jean briefly, but then back at Logan. The boy was afraid, especially as Logan began to growl. "I—I came to tell you, dat Rogue’s in trouble," he said.
"Where is she now?" asked the Professor as he wheeled himself closer to the boy. Remy looked at the Professor, but immediately turned his attention back to Logan. The Professor sensed the boy’s fear, and gestured Logan to let him go. "Now, Remy, where is Rogue?"
The boy gulped as he straightened his brown trench coat and tried to relax. "She’s at my uncle’s mansion, here on the island."
"Remy, what did you mean when you said that Rogue was in trouble?" asked Ororo as she stepped closer to the boy.
"My uncle, you gotta stop’em. He’s gonna hurt Rogue!" said Remy. "I never meant for Rogue to get hurt. You gotta believe me!"
"We do believe you child," responded Ororo. "Now, can you take us to the mansion?" Ororo looked at the eyes of the boy. She too, noticed his red color of his eyes as well as the black, which should have been white. The boy nodded after meeting Storm’s eyes. The bright blue eyes and her long white hair made her seem almost like an angel.
"Remy I must ask you one more question," said the Professor. "What is your uncle’s name?"
"Nathaniel Essex," he replied.
"Dr. Nathaniel Essex?" asked the Professor. Remy nodded. The Professor closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He allowed his mind to search for the essence he knew as Dr. Essex, the same scientist he had met yesterday. Then, he found it, but it was much more different than before.
The essence seemed darker, and more sinister. In his mind he saw the face of Dr. Essex, a normal human. However, as the Professor began to probe deeper, he found a single crack in the image. An astral image of the Professor reached out and touched the crack, the face before him began to crumble away. What was left was an even paler face, the skin practically snow white. His lips were black and his eyes red. And rested on top of his forehead appeared a single, red diamond-shaped mark.
"Now, now Charles… no peeking," said a voice. The Professor immediately felt himself being pushed away from the essence of the scientist.
"Dear God!" cried the Professor as he opened his eyes. "We must hurry! Rogue is in great danger! And if we don’t stop Essex now, the rest of the world will fall to its knees before him. Because if what I sensed is true, he has a plan that will make him unstoppable."