If she traced the course of events backwards, Marie was pretty sure that she could determine where she had gone wrong.
Dreaming that she could one day journey by herself to Alaska.
That dream had inspired her to put the map above her bed.
The map had given her an excuse to invite David up to her bedroom.
David had kissed her while they had laid sprawled out on her bed.
Her as of then unknown mutation had kicked in, nearly killing David with a simple kiss.
David had spent three weeks in a coma and her parents had disowned her.
Packing her few meager belongings and heading to the only place she could think of.
North towards Alaska.
Hitchhiking through the states and up past the Canadian border.
Taking a ride with the wrong person and ending up stuck in a state of the art laboratory.
Locked in a clear prison that gave her full view of everything going on around her.
Marie had long since given up on her dream of going to Alaska. It had been the carefree dream of the innocent girl from Meridian, Mississippi. That girl was long dead. She had slowly been killed by endless days of watching other mutants being tortured in the name of science. Barely any of them had even noticed her presence. They had cared only for their own predicament and completely ignored the brown-eyed girl watching on in terror.
For a while, Marie had contented herself with cursing whatever fates had led her to that deserted road in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. She berated herself for her own stupidity. Muttering over and over again about how she should have known better. Or perhaps have fought harder to get away. Perhaps if she had touched one of them she would have been able to get away from the bastards that had captured her.
No matter how hard she tried, Marie couldn’t figure out what she had done that was so awful to warrant the fate she was enduring. Marie had always tried to be a good. She had obeyed her parents even when she hadn’t agreed with them. She had gone to church. Volunteered for various charities. Marie had tried her best at everything she did and still her entire life had gone to hell in a hand basket.
“Good morning, my pet. I trust you slept well.”
At the sound of his voice, Marie’s entire body began to shake. She shrunk back into the furthest corner of her clear prison, her wide brown eyes unblinking. She stared at the aging man with the thin, greying hair and thick glasses.
“Really, my pet, there is no reason to be afraid. Have I ever hurt you?”
Marie was too terrified to say anything. She just continued to huddle in her corner, waiting for the sadistic Dr. Montgomery to go away. Only when he was gone would she begin to feel even the slightest bit calm. She would be left alone again for a few precious minutes before they brought in Dr. Montgomery’s first victim of the day.
Unless....
“As soon as he arrives for his shift, Dr. Dwyer will be along to take him to the bathing facility,” Dr. Montgomery said, a twisted smile appearing on his normally indifferent features.
Marie cursed herself for not having remembered that it was Tuesday. Tuesday was the day that Dr. Dwyer was in charge of making sure that she behaved herself when she was allowed to have a shower. Tuesdays were days that Marie dreaded. None of the other doctors made her feel as uncomfortable as Dr. Dwyer.
“What’s wrong, my pet? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you weren’t fond of our Dr. Dwyer,” Dr. Montgomery taunted, giving her one more twisted grin before turning back to his work.
He was shifting through the files on his little counter and Marie knew that meant he was checking to see which of his guinea pigs he would be playing with that day. Suddenly his back straightened and his head went up. Marie knew that was a bad sign. It was always a bad sign when Dr. Montgomery showed interest like that.
Dr. Montgomery turned back around, holding a file out for her to see. “It would seem that today your friend is going to pay me a visit.”
Marie paled even further at the doctor’s words. Of all the mutants who came and went through Dr. Montgomery’s building, there had been only one that had actually acknowledged Marie’s presence.
The Wolverine.
The things that Dr. Montgomery and his team had done to him had been unlike everything that Marie had ever known. She had never even considered it possible for one person to willingly do things like that to another person. Mutant or not, the Wolverine didn’t deserve to have things like that done to him.
Lately, though, things had gotten worse. She couldn’t clearly hear them through the thick glass of her prison, but Marie had heard mumblings about her. For the past few weeks, Marie had been unable to figure out why they had taken her when all they seemed to do was leave her in her clear prison. The only time they let her leave was when they took her to get cleaned up every morning. She knew that the main reason they kept her separated was because of her skin. They didn’t want any accidents.
“You are strangely quiet this morning, my pet,” Dr. Montgomery said as he returned to his files. “Normally by now you would be cursing me for hurting the Wolverine. You seem rather attached to that animal.”
“Ah just don’t think ya should hurt him like that. He’s done nothin’ t’ deserve it,” Marie mumbled, drawing her knees up to her chest and fiddling with the cuff of her pants.
“We’ve been through this before, my pet. The man possess untapped powers that must be harnessed,” Dr. Montgomery said absently, not raising his eyes from the files in front of him.
Marie kept her eyes on him the entire time, wanting to have proper warning in case he tried anything. It was the not knowing that Marie hated. There were many things about the situation that Marie hated-- in fact pretty much all of it --but Marie had felt better with the small amount of control being on guard gave her. They wouldn’t catch her by surprise. Marie refused to let anyone catch her unawares. The last time she had been caught by surprise she had ended up in this place without any hope of getting free.
When Dr. Montgomery finally had his files back in order, he turned back to Marie and leaned against the counter. The grin on his face frightened Marie to no end. “I’ll bet you’re wondering what we have planned for you here.”
“The thought had crossed mah mind,” Marie confirmed, not moving from her defensive posture.
“I’m sure that it has,” Dr. Montgomery drawled, his grin turning into more of a smirk. “And as-- Why, good morning, Dr. Dwyer. You’re here earlier than I expected. Good. This will give you plenty of time to get her ready before they bring the Wolverine in.”
In another life, Marie might have found Dr. Dwyer attractive. He was one of the pretty boys with the perfectly styled hair and chiseled features. Marie had seen enough of his body to know that he was well built as well. Nice to look at or not, in this lifetime Dr. Dwyer was a sick as they came.
“Good morning, Rogue. How are you this morning?” Dr. Dwyer asked, calling Marie by the name she had chosen for herself after leaving home what seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Ah’d be better if ya weren’t here,” Marie growled, tightening her hold on her legs.
All that Dr. Dwyer did was laugh at her comment. “Now really, Rogue, I highly doubt those are your true feelings for me. I seem to remember a quite different reaction the last time we met.”
Suddenly, Marie was feeling incredibly nauseous. She wished that her cell wasn’t made of glass so that she could have some place to hide from his intense gaze. She could have simply hidden her face against her knees to block out the sight of the young doctor, but that would mean showing a sign of weakness. Weakness was something else that Marie didn’t like them to see.
“Can we please just get this over with? Mah hair is gettin’ all funky an’ Ah’d like t’ get it washed,” Marie demanded, rising slowly to her feet and walking towards the area where she knew the door to be.
In her high tech prison, that was as close to defiance as Marie was able to get. She knew from experience that it pissed Dr. Dwyer off when she was cringing and scared out of her mind. So she put on the pretense of confidence and waited for him to do whatever he wanted.
It wasn’t like she could actually stop him.
Marie had tried once and had been rewarded with a series of painful blows that had resulted in many dark bruises and an inability to sit comfortably for several days. So instead of outright defiance, Marie settled for small victories such as showing him that she wasn’t afraid of him even when she was seconds away from screaming in terror. Marie was incredibly thankful that he couldn’t smell fear like most predators. She have lost the battle of wills a long time ago if he was.
As soon as the door opened, Dr. Dwyer reached forward and latched onto her arm. His grip was bruising, but Marie had gotten used to it a long time ago. Just like she had gotten used to everything else he did to her. Like all of the other doctors who escorted her to the showers, Dr. Dwyer was outfitted in a wet suit. That gave him the ability to go into the shower area with her without getting his suit wet.
Marie knew from bitter experience that Dr. Dwyer was fond of going in the shower area.
She also knew there was a condom and a pair of handcuffs in the pouch on his right hip.
“Let’s go, Rogue,” Dr. Dwyer said as he pulled her out of her cell. “You need a shower.”