Flying Free: My Hero Evolution Wings of Change (X-Men/My hero crossover)

Chapter 38: Rouge goes Rouge

A shiver runs up Hawks' spine as his head whips back over his shoulder.  His wings flare out from his tingling body before propelling into the air.

"Where are you going?" Jean yells behind him as Hawks disappears into the sky.

'I'll tell you when I get there.' 

Jean presses her hands against her temples as she and Logan dash to the garage. 'Professor, Hawks is headed into the city. Grab the team. We're meeting him there, and from the way Hawks jumped, we're going to need all hands on deck.'

'See you there.'

Within minutes, the X-Men begin filing into the X-van. As Scott passes Jean, he stares back at her with dimness in his eyes Jean has never seen.

"Another of your boyfriend's death marches, huh? Who's it going to be this time?" He murmurs.

***

Following continuous clouds of smoke and commotion, Hawks circles the neighborhood being destroyed by — who the hell is that?!

Hawks takes a picture of the villain as he winds up to throw a car at a nearby building, where the people inside are scurrying to find protection.

Hawks sends the picture to Jean, then shoots five feathers to distract the villain, who begins swatting at the feathers like they are flies.

'It's Juggernaut.' Jean responds telepathically. 'Be careful, we're almost there.'

Juggernaut looks up to the sky, then casually picks up the closest car and throws it at Hawks. Hawks dive bombs at the villain.

Sudden blue flames stop Hawks in his track right as the X-van squeals to a stop.

From inside the van, Scott looks over to Jean when the group sees Dabi's blue flames being shot at Hawks. Jean blinks back tears of horror.

Scott leaps from the van as Logan's motorcycle squeals to a stop beside them.

"Cyclops wait-!" Logan orders as he jumps off his bike. Without breaking his focus, Scott shoots his laser eyes at Dabi, sending him through a brick wall of the vacant nearby building.

The X-Men run to the broken wall. "Stand down!" Logan commands, sending the X-Men to a shrieking halt. "It's not Dabi, it's Ro-."

Logan's sentence is cut off by the sound of Scott shouting behind them.

"You shady sack of shit!" Scott yells, picking Hawks off the ground by his shirt and slamming him back down on his feet. Scotts winds up to punch the very disoriented Hawks.

Logan rushes over to stop Scott before his punch lands on Hawks' staggering body. Scott snaps around to Logan, then realizing it would be a fight he would not win, heads to the van.

"Go ahead and protect that asshole. You are all a bunch of fools. We all saw it. Once again, we came running and are fighting Hawks' battles. We have enough on our plates. What's it going to take for you to finally see it? How many more need to get hurt? Somehow he has Professor and all of you fooled, but not me. The writing is on the wall; he's a double agent, and his interest is NOT us. I'm out of here and going to go find Rogue. Who's with me?"

One by one, the X-men follow Scott back to the X-van until only Jean, Logan, and Hawks remain. Scott turns back to the three.

"Jean, are you coming or staying?"

Jean looks at Scott, then back at Hawks, who is discretely nursing a burn on his neck. The way Hawks looks back at Jean triggers a flashback of an encounter that puzzled Jean when she went through Hawks' memories. She replays the flashback, seeing Dabi and Hawks on top of a building shaking hands. She distinctly remembers the same look in Hawks' eyes. Jean looks back to Hawks one last time, then, shaking her head, makes her way to the X-van.

As the X-van squeals off to find Rogue, Logan races back over towards the brick wall through which Dabi had been shot minutes before.

"Rogue, are you okay?" Logan shouts through the rubble. "We're your friends. We're trying to help."

Puzzled, Hawks chases behind Logan. Did he just say, Rogue?!

Storm rises up from the rubble, beginning to surround the area with grey clouds. "I don't have any friends." She says as a lightning bolt strikes near Logan and Hawks.

Logan backs up next to Hawks.

"What the hell is happening?" Hawks asks.

"Looks like every person she's ever absorbed is fighting to take over her."

As Rogue reaches the highest point in the sky, she transforms from Storm to herself, then her eyes go red as she shoots lasers from her eyes as she transforms into Scott. Hawks jumps to move himself and Logan out of Rogue's line of fire.

"I think she's gotten control of all those powers at once, and it's not a good thing." Logan groans, pulling himself off the ground.

Pulling out his feather swords, Hawks charges at Rogue. "Rogue, please stop. I know what it's like to feel out of control and unwanted. Please stop. We care about you."

Rogue transforms into Jean, pushing Hawks away from her. Hawks blinks back tears with the quick flashback to the look in Jean's eyes before she turned away from him and headed to the X-van only minutes ago, though it felt like centuries. Shaking off the fear of losing Jean, Hawks refocuses to remember it is Rogue behind Jean's frame. He falls to the ground when Rogue drops the fortress pushing Hawks back, then is lifted up by a red feather encircling him.

"Rogue, please listen to me. Trust is not easy, but it is worth it. Until I met you guys, I didn't know what it meant to be trust anyone but myself. I didn't know what it meant to be - loved. I know you haven't had a great childhood, and neither have I, but that doesn't define our future. Get control of your thoughts and powers. Be brave, Rogue. You can do this!"

"NO!" Rouge drops to her knees hands gripping her head. "I can't there's too many of them!"

"You can Rouge fight it!" Logan says coming to stand by Hawks. As Rouge pulls at her hair, before she shifts between all of those she has absorbed, starting with a random boy, to Kurt, Kitty a few people Hawks didn't recognize, Jean, Dabi, himself, and the person he first saw when arrived to the scene... Juggernaut, before she collapses fully to the ground Logan, catches her as Hawks stands there in shock of the people he saw, himself among them.

Logan looks to her with concern Hawks speaks after a minute.

"She's out cold, Silver Claws," Hawks says as he follows Logan back over to his motorcycle as he carries Rouge in his arms. "She's stable."

"We should head back home. The others must be waiting and she needs rest." Logan says.

"Right..." Hawks sighs. "Lets head back."