Rogue looked through the door in the hanger into the hallway for Kurt. "Ya know for a teleporter you'd think he wouldn't take so long." she said idly.

"He's calling Wanda before we go. Let her know what's going on." Logan said folding his arms over his chest as he glared down the hallway.

Rogue slid him a glance. "What exactly is going on?" It had been three months since she had rejoined the X-Men and he was still acting cautious around her as though he expected her to hand them over to the MRD or something. It was insulting and at the same time she felt he deserved to walk on egg shells around her like she had had to do whenever she thought he was taking off.

"Chuck says Kelly is going to try and jump start the war by hiring some mutant to steal Magneto's helmet." He said.

What kind of mutant would go on a suicide mission like that?

"So wait it's just gonna be the three of us?" That was alarming. Just her, Nightcrawler and Wolverine against all of Genosha.

"Correction." He said, finally turning to her. "It'll just be you and Nightcrawler."

There went their chances by half. "Are you sure we're the best choices for this mission. I mean right now we aren't exactly Magneto's favorite people."

She had abandoned the Brotherhood and Kurt was his oldest daughters love interest.

"I won't be able to actually drop you off on Genosha so Nightcrawler will have to port the two of you to the island. And Chuck was specific when he said you had to be there."

This was the first time to her knowledge that the Professor had requested that one particular member of the team had to go on a mission. "So what's the mission?" She had to be at the top of her game if the Professor was counting on her.

"You remember Gambit?"

She had only seen him once. She had been with the Brotherhood at the time and had stolen the power neutralizer collar from Sybil Zane who had hired Gambit to steal it from the X-Men. In the end she had ended up destroying it instead of using it.

"Yeah."

"You will be concentrating on stopping him while Nightcrawler will be in talks with Magneto and the Scarlet Witch." He said.

"And did the Professor explain how exactly I'm supposed to stop him?"

She was no slouch herself, but Gambit was a world class thief, a Master Thief in fact. If what Logan had said about the man was true then he was also in the upper class of hand to hand combatants. He probably had done his homework on all the X-Men too and knew her powers. Well her original powers anyway. She had acquired the mutant powers of one Carol Danvers at some point in the last year that she hadn't let anyone know about.

It would raise too many questions right now, especially since she had just rejoined the X-Men.

"No, just said to leave it to you."

Rogue wished she felt the confidence that the Professor had in her.

XxX

The butterflies in her stomach hadn't stopped their fluttering once since they boarded the Blackbird. She had hoped her nerves would calm some with the long flight. Obviously it hadn't and when Logan slowed the jet down to a hover two miles off the shores of Genosha her stomach had done another flip.

"Alright you two." Logan said standing up. "Make me proud."

Both her and Kurt nodded before she took a hold of Nightcrawler's arm. Logan gave her one more reassuring smile and then she was traveling through space and time. And then they were no longer on the jet but in some sort of entrance hall.

It was massive, with high ceilings and completely made of metal. It figured he'd want his whole palace to be a weapon.

"Kurt." Rogue turned to see a woman dressed in a red corset with a cape come through a door to their left.

"Hello Wanda. Thank you for allowing us to come." The Scarlet Witch gave him a gentle smile.

It seemed like Wanda got all the good genes between her and Pietro.

"This is Rogue."

Wanda turned to face her with a weary look. "Yes the absorber."

Rogue gave her a dry smile. "Yep, that's me."

"Father is waiting for us in the gardens." and with that said she turned, her cape swirling behind her. Briefly, Rogue wondered if she could pull off a cape but quickly dismissed it. "Please leave your bags here and they will be taken up to your rooms."

An orange haired man with a manic came up and took their bags, giving her a devilish wink. She was almost certain that he was going to go pawing through her underwear. She sent him a glare that only seemed to excite him more. Pervert.

The Palace Garden's were beautiful with elegant water features and rows upon rows of flowers. Closer to the Palace she saw a maze of yellow roses, they smelled heavenly.

"Father." Wanda called and the Great Master of Magnetism himself turned around to greet them.

"Well if it isn't the Infamous Rogue and the Incredible Nightcrawler." He said giving them both hard looks. It was clear that he didn't want them here.

"Magneto." Kurt greeted and Rogue gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

"Wanda tells me you are here to root out Senator Kelly's spy?" He said. "Fortunately, Gambit has already come forth and has sought sanctuary on Genosha."

"We would like to talk to him ourselves if you'll allow it?" Kurt asked glancing at her out of the side of his eyes.

Magneto turned his regal gaze on her, giving her a calculating look. "If you absorb any information from him, do you plan to share it with myself?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that." She said carefully, aware that her answer now would set the tone for the rest of their visit. "But if I do absorb him then yes, I will share any information I gather from him with you as a sign of goodwill."

He gave her a nod of approval. "Very well. Wanda will show you to your rooms." he turned from them and walked away.

Wanda and Kurt began catching up with each other as she lead them through the roses to a green haired girl she recognized as Lorna. Lorna was of course Magneto's little princess and according to Pietro's memories, was completely unaware of what her father actually did.

"Hello Kurt." the girl said with a sunny but polite smile.

"Lorna, it is good to see you again." he said. "I would like you to meet my teammate Rogue."

Lorna turned her smile to Rogue and gave her a polite greeting before turning to continue talking with Kurt. She was an outsider in the relationship of these three. It didn't bother her all that much, she had always been a bit of a loaner as cliché as that sounded. Besides she would much rather enjoy the roses anyway.

The section of the garden they were in was comprised completely of yellow roses. Though looking up she saw a big beautiful red rose like a beacon amongst the yellows and greens of the garden. She was considering reaching up to touch it when a pinkish light flew across her vision and the rose fell from its stem and into her hand.

She looked to the side to see that Kurt and Wanda were too engrossed to notice anything. Though Lorna was looking up at the palace with some odd sort of expression on her face. Rogue followed her gaze to see none other then Gambit sitting in a window and giving her a smirk.

She frowned at him and dropped the rose to the ground. He tilted his head to the side and his smirk grew into a smile. She rolled her eyes before walking back over to Wanda and Kurt. They took the hint that she was bored, and after a quick goodbye to Lorna (who wouldn't look at Rogue) they walked back into the palace.