Bobnap chapter 4: Inside Rogue's Mind

[Magneto]

(OOC - In the cluster of Rogue's mind....)

The memory or rather personality of Magneto which resided within Rogue's mind was a rather different one from the one they all knew now. This one was still bent on mutant superiority, but there was also a lot that he had missed out on, a lot of certain situations which weren't the same. The news of the cure and the death of Charles Xavier were foreign to him, even if he did have some sort of uneasy feeling when it came to the subject of his old friend. Sure, Magneto had found a way, as all the other psyches had, of tapping into certain parts of Rogue's memories, but whenever he came across anything having to do with Charles, Rogue seemed to lock it away, forcing him to start all over once again.

The others who were locked inside this mental prison with him, seemed all too keen on avoiding him and like it or not, Magneto had to deal with that. Of course, not all his time here had been alone, there were a few times when he and the others had to team up in a way to subdue "her", not Rogue but another, someone like her and someone who made Magneto very nervous.

The mention of his name and the feeling within Rogue which came about anytime she thought of him, roused this false Magneto's interest and he knew he was being mentioned on the outside. Of course, he could try to overwhelm Rogue, try to make his presence the dominate one, but the girl proved too strong for that, to determined to keep him shut up and kept locked away in this forsaken memory of Liberty Island.

[Rogue]

Josh begins to explain, and Rogue absently steps a little closer, leaning against the wall to one side, watching him. Her arms are crossed, and her expression is somewhere between concern and anger, yet somehow almost blanked out.

“…Then John stuck him with a needle full of something that knocked Bobby out. I tried to save Bobby, but John had a teleporter blink him out. “

So he didn’t only hurt a friend – he kidnapped one, too? This seems a well-thought out plan on John’s part, and she cant help but to shoot a What do you know? thoughtpoke Pyro-psyke’s way. Who knows how long this has been in planning? From the beginning, maybe…?

"…I tried to convince John that we could protect the both of them. He seemed to think that Magneto would kill Bobby if he didn't bring him back to their headquarters. I pointed out Magneto's just as likely to get rid of Bobby when he's finished with him, but John wouldn't have it."

There’s a slight stirring of activity from Magneto’s psyke at mention of him. Of course he would be interested in what he’s doing in the real world…

"The really screwed up thing, though, is that he actually seemed to think that it was in Bobby's best interest. I think…I think he actually does love Bobby... as fucked up as that may sound."

Okay, so maybe her first theory isn’t as accurate. Besides, could she even see John doing that? At the moment, it’s hard to venture an answer to that, so she doesn’t bother thinking on it long. Besides, there’re more important things than trying to figure out someone who’s as complex as she is.

"We've got to figure out where they're holding Bobby….He's out of my range, or is being shielded."[/color]

She’s momentarily thinks to suggest Cerebro, to ask if that would be able to overcome shielding – but then realizes something: she has a direct connection to the Brotherhood – the psykes. They don’t need Cerebro, or telepathy, or any of that…Magneto’s out – he’s “outdated” – a Liberty Island version, and they couldn’t possibly still be in the same base as back then. But John’s recent – he’s from Halloween. He knows where the base is…

John..? she calls mentally to his psyke, I need y’help, sugah…

[Toni Craft]

"I followed Bobby all the way to Baker Mansion[...]He met John there." Oh, well, this isn't going to be good.

A thought invades Toni's mind and an image of Bobby, scorched on the ground immediately comes up. No. John might be disgruntled, mislead, corrupt, a total hothead, impolite, inconsiderate, somewhat unkind and totally carefree, but he wouldn't do anything to Bob. Sometimes she wished her thoughts weren't so long winded.

"Then John stuck him with a needle full of something that knocked Bobby out...had a teleporter blink him out." The pessimistic little voice inside her head puts her hands on her hips and snickers. Told ya so.

"Date rape?" Toni asks, the tone joking but her face angry. "It's not John's style." This time both voice and face are serious. No, definitely not John's style. A little bell starts ringing inside her skull. My Toni sense is tingling.

"He seemed to think that Magneto would kill Bobby if he didn't bring him back to their headquarters. I pointed out Magneto's just as likely to get rid of Bobby when he's finished with him, but John wouldn't have it."

"John's always been as stubborn as constipated elephant." Toni's still angry. Furious actually, but in comparison to what it was just minutes before, she's perfectly calm. She crosses her arms and drops her head slightly, deep in thought.

"We've got to figure out where they're holding Bobby."

"No shit." Toni mutters, not bothering to conjure up an apology. "But there's a reason why they call it their secret headquarters," She rubs her eyes and looks over to Warren and Josh. "And I'd love to find it before someone decides to do the hokey pokey on Bob's frosty ass...and I don't mean the fun kind of hokey pokey."

[Warren Worthington III]

Warren is, admittedly, only half-listening to the conversation, being more focused on Josh’s state of health than the events that made it an issue. But that’s enough to follow the gist of it, anyway. " I should have stopped him, " he chastises himself. " I bet John would tell us where their headquarters is if we ‘asked nicely’."

He wracks his brain trying to come up with a strategy for getting that information. All he can think of is maybe Sheppard could track Bobby or John down using Cerebro, but he’s sure that’s already been thought of. Other than that, he draws a blank.

Well, he thinks, they also serve who stand and wait. " Looks like this is going to be a long meeting. Anybody want coffee, or anything?" To Josh he adds, more solicitously: " Are you feeling all right? You need anything?"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> I should have stopped him.

"Hey, I'm plenty happy you didn't waste any time on John, Warr." He inclines his head upwards. <You saved my life, Warren. I'm sorry if I gave you a scare.>

> Are you feeling all right? You need anything?

"I think..." Josh takes a second to assess himself. "I just feel like crap, overall. Everything hurts, except I'm assuming Toni here has me on something extremely strong, so nothing hurts... if that makes sense. I can't say I'm looking forward to when the drugs wear off." He touches Warren's arm. "Thanks, though. I could use a glass of water, maybe."

> And I'd love to find it before someone decides to do the hokey pokey on Bob's frosty ass...and I don't mean the fun kind of hokey pokey.

"You and me both. I honestly don't know what John was thinking. He seemed to think that he could keep Bobby safe from Magneto, which leads me to believe that he wasn't thinking." Josh briefly reaches out to the boundaries of his telepathic range. "Unless I was knocked out for longer than I thought, they've got to still be in my range. If only I knew where to look! They've got to have a telepath clouding their HQ over." He makes a dejected sound and stares off into space.

[Pyro]

What do you know?

What the hell could he know? He only knows what she knows, after all, and clearly what she knows is wrong. (Psyche!John having all of Real!John’s ability to totally deceive himself… and all of his intense dislike of thinking about things which make his brain hurt, so his imprint isn’t even going to try and figure out how the real/imprint dynamic actually works) Yep. She’s misinformed… It happens. He only has her information and opinion to play off, and she’s got the wrong end of the stick and…

… okay, maybe not.

This is fucked up. Of course he can’t know what the him outside is thinking – the disparity between the Bob here and the one he *knows* is evidence enough of that – but this? No way.

I need y’help, sugah

Goes without saying that *here* (and yes, the geography of the mental landscape is another thing he doesn’t think about… along with whether he’s more of an it than a him) is not the best place to *discuss* (another… yeah, you get the idea.. mainly he just carries on as if he’s still real, because otherwise things get complicated) this… so he’s ducking off radar. It’s not too hard to convince the powerless kid (Co.. something. Rogue’s first love, awww… ick) to take over while he drops into some older memory. He’s found that anything where she still thinks of herself as Marie is a good bet for some alone time, if you can stand either the parochial southern *charm* or the rain… This time he opts for the rain, and some anonymous swampy place.

[Rogue]

He doesn't reply, and she can feel his presence, such as it is, anyway, edge out of the front of her mind, Cody slipping into the slot, as if he were covering for him.

She'll have to concentrate to find him now, and that can't be done as she is right now, as half of her attention is split to listening to those outside her mind speak.

"I migh' b'able t'get th'location." she says, a little quietly, but loud enough o be heard, "I absorbed John on Halloween - he'll know where the base is. I jus' gotta...get 'im t'tell me."

She knows there has to be a way to just focus on the memories, sort through, and find the one she wants - but she doesn't have the time for that right now. She's never done it - so she has no idea how much ffort or time it might take. Now, asking is the best way.

John? Come back here... she thinks at the psyke. Why should he be trying to avoid her? Shouldnt he want to find Bobby? His psyke is recent - he should be a version that's with bobby - one that would care if he was going to be hurt...right?

But she can't get to him. The rear of her mind - the areas the psykes stashed themselves for "alone time" was too far for her to do more than think at them in - she couldn't reach in there and grab him, so to speak. And getting to that area involved being unconcious - the only time her mind was focused internally enough for it.

Unless...Xavier had gone in there before, and she'd been tugged along. It had been a reletivly interesting session, but she'd sayed in the lighter areas of her mind, while he'd taken a look at things. The farthest she'd gone was the place the psykes had caged Template.

"Josh? Are y't'tired t'help me out a li'll? Do a bit'a brain-divin' with me? I can' get t'im, 'e's t'far back..."

[Bobby Drake]

(( OOC: in the brain ))


> What do you know? … I need y’help… come back here…

It’s not the first time he’s heard Marie’s Voice echo through the roots of the world like this, though it’s never been directed at him, and it isn’t now.

Not all the psykes can hear it, but he learned how, back when he still tried to stay in touch with her… back before he realized they weren’t going to be like they were, and before the outside world got strange enough that he stopped wanting to know about it. Anyway, it always means something is happening, something important.

Which, now that he knows, he knows he already knew. After all, much as he likes to pretend he’s still Bobby, he knows he’s really just a ghost, and one of the advantages of that is he knows what she knows, when he wants to. The thing is, he doesn’t want to. Not any more than he already does, which is already too much. Not about what he’s been up to out there, what he’s been doing with John, not any of the rest of it.

So he stays in the swamps, staying dry in the rain. Staying out of it.

Except it’s never that simple. Even here, even in this forgotten memory of the middle of nowhere at no time in particular, he gets found. In this case, by John’s ghost. Which figures.

"Hey. What’s the Lady Upstairs want?"

[Pyro]

Figures it would be Bobby he ran into. This world’s Bobby, who still hates him after Alcatraz and refuses to succumb to whatever strange brand of insanity has possessed the real!Bob. Wonderful.

Apparently, Icicle... – it’s better to play along and not push it, because this isn’t Bob, just a ghostly impression (and thinking that highlights that he’s not real... but this is John-logic, so he can ignore that fact), not add any unnecessary warmth into his tone because it’s not this Bob he’s in love with and, given how Rogue greeted his suggestion that she go touch the *real* Bob, isn’t likely to ever become him… It hurts, sure, but he can kid himself he’s used to it on the rare occasions they meet and count on Bob’s awkwardness to make these meetings as rare as possible because he seems to be dead set on avoiding him - Apparently… heh, get this… apparently the me out there has gone basthit insane, beaten Josh to a pulp and, erm, kidnapped the you out there… and Her Upstairs seems to think I know something about it… How’s your day been?

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> Do a bit'a brain-divin' with me?

Rogue's question breaks Josh out of his reverie. ...me? An image of the two of them lying in the med lab with severe brain damage flits into his mind, but he squashes the thought. Hey, I was taught by three of the best telepaths in the world... right?

He nods his head, once. "I should be able to handle it. Depends on where he's hiding, though... but it's worth a shot." I hope I don't lose my strength and black out during it... no idea what would happen to us then.

Josh motions for Rogue to step in front of him. "If we're in physical contact with each other, I'll have to expend less effort to make the connection." A moment later, a blush spreads across his face. "Or, you know. As close as we can get." Without you putting me into a coma, that is.

He idly realizes that things would be much easier if it was Warren that had the information trapped in his brain. Except, you know. Warren doesn't have multiple personalities trapped in his skull. He'd heard Rogue's nightmares, back in the days before she'd learned to deal with the other psyches.

Hey, Jake... wish me luck. In theory, the human mind was a telepath's domain, and he should be able to protect himself from anything there without much of a problem. In practice, things weren't quite that simple, especially when dealing with someone as complex as Rogue.

Josh gives Warren's hand a quick squeeze, and looks to him and Toni. "This should be pretty straightforward, but if anything seems to go wrong... go get Jake. Alright?"

[Bobby Drake]

> " Apparently… heh, get this… apparently the me out there has gone basthit insane, beaten Josh to a pulp and, erm, kidnapped the you out there… and Her Upstairs seems to think I know something about it… How’s your day been? "

Bobby blinks… what do you say to that? The protestations of love were bad enough, but… beaten Josh to a pulp? Kidnapped Bobby? WTF?

He feels a little more solid, somehow, as he approaches John. The rain is soaking him now, and he’s vaguely aware that whatever he’d been wearing before has morphed into his X-Man uniform… the full-body one he wore until Alcatraz, not the new abbreviated version. He’s gotten used to that sort of thing by now, a side-effect of life as a symbol among symbols… he can even do it on purpose sometimes.

He isn’t thinking about that right now, though. He’s thinking about John – the real-world John, who he keeps being told has hooked up with Bobby’s… counterpart? Predecessor? Parent? Even after all these months Bobby still isn’t sure how to properly frame his situation. But now… kidnapped? Well, maybe that “relationship” wasn’t ever what it seemed, then. Maybe there was some kind of plot involved… mind-control lasers, or something.

And if anyone knows, it’s bound to be John.

"Well," he asks, reaching out in an attempt to grab John’s arm.
" Do you?"

[Rogue]

"I should be able to handle it. Depends on where he's hiding, though... but it's worth a shot."[/color]

She offers a grin, and nods slightly. “Thanks. I owe ya one, hon.”

He motions for her to move closer, and she does so as he speaks. "If we're in physical contact with each other, I'll have to expend less effort to make the connection…Or, you know. As close as we can get."

She nods again, smile still on her face, and offers a gloved hand, unphased by the reminder of her powers, because right now, they’ll be coming in handy, and this is important. ”This work okay?”

He seems uneasy – at least, a little. She’s not sure if that’s a bad thing, or if he’s just not confident in his own abilities. Honestly, she doesn’t know just how strong he is, but she knows he’s mentioned training with the new headmaster, so hopefully this should be cake for him, and they can get the location quickly.

"This should be pretty straightforward, but if anything seems to go wrong... go get Jake. Alright?"

That he mentions something going wrong, and instructions for if it does to those around them…isn’t reassuring. But it’s not going to scare her out of this, either, because there’s just not time to wait for Jake to get in here, for her to explain her brain’s situation to him. And who knows what they were doing to Bobby over there? Every minute could be important. Josh already knows at least a little of what to expect, she’s pretty sure, and besides, she knows him well enough that it shouldn’t be as odd as having someone she barely knows in there.

Maybe he’s worried about what her mind might do to him, since he does know at least somewhat her mind’s odd “boardinghouse” effect. Xavier had been in and out without problem, but, then, he was uuber-powerful and all that. Still, nothing had even almost hurt him, even tried to, so…what could go wrong?

Throwing more confidence into her voice and smile, she shrugs a little. “Ready when y’are.”

[Pyro]

John’s not going to waste time thinking about what he was wearing before he started talking to Bobby, because he has an uncomfortable feeling he wouldn’t like the answer much – he’s content to pretend that it was this, and that this is safely anonymous and not the outfit *he* was wearing last time he was facing Bob in that suit (which would be a lot easier if the wrist-lighters hadn’t also manifested). Generally costume doesn’t seem to matter around here, and you don’t notice except when it becomes important as a part of some memory or other. He’d found that out pretty early on - that Rogue-as-God, or other psyches, could mess with things like that – and the most likely explanation is that on some level Bobby’s doing that now, which makes him more than uncomfortable. Reading into it (because you have to, really, when you realise you’re facing symbols and codes and layers within layers) it’s got something to do with… Bobby playing the hero, most likely (yep, not them being enemies…) – from what he’s been able to piece together, this *version* of Bobby was still dating Rogue, so it’s not surprising he’s playing Prince Charming…

… and he’s over thinking this way too much.

Back to the question.

”Why would I?” He pulls back from Bobby’s attempt to grab him, tugging on his collar and rolling his shoulders in a typical post-don’t-touch-me. ”I’m still in love with y..” John stops himself before they can launch down that road. ”with him. Same way you’re still stuck in the fucking closet and unable to work out why he’s started loving me back… Whole fucking this doesn’t make any sense.”

[Bobby Drake]

> "Why would I? I’m still in love with y.. with him. Same way you’re still stuck in the fucking closet and unable to work out why he’s started loving me back."

Which is yet another reminder of why Bobby has avoided talking to John ever since that weird Holloween incident. It was bad enough before, when they were enemies, but all this "love" stuff just makes him anxious. All of which distracts him enough that he doesn't notice how John has evaded his question as neatly as he evaded his grip.

He's not entirely sure why it makes him so nervous. John keeps implying it's because he's really a closeted homosexual in denial, but that's silly... Bobby likes girls, he knows that much (even if he's never been with a girl that way in his life... that's just because of Marie's power-thing, not because he's some kind of closeted homosexual. Besides, why would he be in denial about it? It's considered "normal" these days. He just doesn't want any part of it, is all. John trying to kill him is one thing, but John falling in love with him just isn't right).

And as for real-world Bobby returning those feelings... well, Bobby isn't sure he believes it. Sure, he knows Marie saw them cuddling and stuff, but maybe it was really Mystique pretending to be Bobby. Or maybe John was mindcontrolling him. Maybe there was some kind of crazy mutant sex-pollen in the air. Maybe it was all a setup for this kidnapping stunt. Who knows what's really going on out there?

"So," he replies, anxiously changing the subject -- or, rather, forcing the subject back to what it was originally -- "howcum you're running, then?"

He tries not to be menacing about it... fights here in "brainland" rarely lead anywhere, and he finds it's best not to start them. On the other hand, even if he and Marie aren't what they were, she's still just about the most important person in his life, especially in here where everything around him is permeated with her essence.

He's wondered, more than once, if that's like being God... after all, she did create this world, and everything in it exists in accordance with her will. He squelches the thought every time, the whiff of heresy making him uncomfortable, and resists the urge to capitalize pronouns in his head when thinking about her.

More and more, though, his feelings about Marie have mutated from loving affection to zealous adoration, and if John is opposing her in some way Bobby knows exactly where his allegiance lies.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

"Okay, here goes nothing." Josh's eyes become unfocused, staring out into space.

Hmm. How to do this. Linking minds with Warren was usually almost effortless. Their mental bond ensured that the strength and range of any connection between the two of them beat out anything he could manage with another. With someone else, things were a little more difficult.

Josh darts his mental presence around blocks in Rogue's mind. And he thanks her for for trying to keep as many as possible open, but the fact was that Rogue' mind was extremely complex. His astral presence bounces off a block, and he feels slight frustration.

Here's a thought. If he can find a memory where both himself and John are present, he might be able to slip in undetected. He stealthily begins to pick over nearby memories. After a few minutes, he finds a suitable candidate. Bingo.

Josh's presence surges through and solidifies where the memory of himself was supposed to stand. He looks around.

"Rogue? You here?" Where are we? It was rather dark.