Title: A Cure
Fandom: X-Men 3: The Final Stand
Rating: Teen
Length: 1,070 words
Content notes: Mild violence, language, emotional turmoil, mild h/c. Also for my X-men A-Z with the prompt, "Little Big Town's Tornado"
Summary: Rogue wants the cure. Why shouldn't she have it?


"We don't need a cure! We don't need a cure!"

Rogue eyed the protestors warily. She didn't want a confrontation; she'd had enough of those to last her a lifetime. She just wanted to slip inside this building, get her shot, and start living a normal life. They might not need a cure, but she did.

Suddenly a rock whisked over her head. Rogue and the woman before her ducked with a shriek. The police guards closed ranks and raised their weapons. She couldn't see where the rock had come from, but Rogue guessed it was the area where the crowd was turning on itself. She saw a dozen mutants throwing punches and other things at each other. It appeared that one of them had some kind of spike projectile he was shooting at the others, and another was blasting water from her hands. Meanwhile, the furious chant continued.

"We don't need a cure! We don't need a cure!"

In that instant, Rogue was sick of those blind people. She was tired of mutants who had no idea how dangerous their powers could be. Children like John who had been obsessed with their own importance, rather than the downside and responsibility that came with their mutations.

Standing up, Rogue pushed past her police protector. She was in more danger from the crowd now, but she hadn't spent all that time in the danger room being completely useless. "Hey!" she shouted.

No one paid her any attention, so Rogue did her best to recall the way she had felt the last time she had touched Storm. It was draining to do this, but she had been working at it in training. Adding a burst of thunder to her voice, Rogue bellowed, "HEY!"

Slightly shocked that it had worked, Rogue watched as everyone turned to her. The crowd silenced, the fight ended, and even the human guards stared at her. A bit nervous at all the attention, she nevertheless continued.

"I'm a mutant, just like you," she said clearly. Though she had gotten rid of the echo, the crowd still hung on her words. "Except, I'm not like you." She slowly pulled off one of her long gloves. "If you really think that there's nothing wrong with us, then come here and take my hand."

There was silence for a long moment, and she looked challengingly at the crowd. "Come on. If none of us need the cure, then there's no reason not to. It must be perfectly safe, right?"

Finally, one man stepped out of the crowd and walked towards her. "What do you do?" she asked.

In response, he summoned a large glowing dragon with one hand, before quickly waving it away. "Impressive," Rogue said. "Now try mine." She held out her hand, and confidently, he slapped his own into it. A second later, the smirk was wiped from his face, and he began to gasp as Rogue waved her free hand. A glowing dragon sprang forth and swirled through the air over her head. Another followed it, and another, as the mutant fell to his knees.

Releasing him and momentarily ignoring her creations, Rogue turned back to the crowd. "Who's next?" she demanded.

No one moved, and the block was still silent, save for the gasping of the man at her feet. "Come on! I asked you who was next! Who doesn't believe that there's anything wrong with me? Who thinks that none of us need this cure? Who wants to prove it to me now?" She shouted as the dragons roared.

Finally two mutants swaggered forward. One was the woman who shot water from her hands, and the other tossed out small explosive sparklers from his hands in order to clear the crowd. Rogue smirked. Stepping over the still panting man, she grabbed the woman by the hand. Water shot from her other hand in a giant torrent, raining down on the crowd. Releasing the woman as her legs buckled, Rogue grabbed the other man before he could move. Suddenly sparklers were shooting up with the water, exploding safely over the heads of the crowd. Her three glowing dragons took off, winging through the rain and sparklers and occasionally diving at the crowd.

"Now that I have your attention," she shouted, adding a bit of a boom to her words to compensate for the sounds of the rain and small explosions. "You should know something. I'm sure this looks cool! I'm sure you're just green with envy right now. But let me tell you something. I can't turn it off! I can never touch anyone, ever without hurting them! Can you even imagine what that's like? Most of you appear normal. Most of you have family and friends and can walk through a crowd without being afraid that you might accidentally kill someone at any moment! I can't! And I'm tired-" her voice broke, as Storm's residual power faded away. "I'm tired of it."

She waved her hand, and the water, dragons, and sparklers faded away. "Not I want you to look me in the eyes, and tell me that I can't have that cure," she dared them.

When no one spoke or moved for a long minute, she turned away. One of the human guards had moved forward at some point, and he had his gun half-aimed at her. "They need a little medical attention, but I didn't touch them for that long," she reassured him quietly. "They'll be fine in a week or so." He didn't look entirely reassured by this, so she slowly, carefully, pulled her glove back on.

"I'd like to go inside now please," she said quietly. She was exhausted, and felt sick at touching those people for so long, and honestly she just wanted to lie down and cry. But she was here, and she had made her point, and she was getting that cure.

The guard moved aside, beckoning two of his fellows towards the mutants she had left on the ground. As she walked towards the doors, she cautiously glanced at the first few mutants there, the ones who had been ahead of her in line. They looked frightened, but also supportive, and the woman who had been directly in front of her even smiled and waved her in.

Returning the smile, Rogue walked through the doors, never to return. When she came back out, she would be Marie again.


Thought you'd take a swing
Try another girl, try another night,
But it's the pain that brings my force of nature back to life
…
I'm a tornado looking for a soul to take
~ Little Big Town, Tornado