Regaining Rogue part II: So You Think You Can Rogue?

Remember Uncanny X-men # 182 ...?

It's the one where Rogue lost control of her mind and Carol Danvers' psyche finally managed to resurface, albeit temporarily... Well, that was just the first confrontation in the ongoing war for mental domination of the grey matter.

Remaining kind of dormant during the X-men's plights, even ignorning the fact Rogue died and was reincarnated during the battle with the Adversary, Carol was still alive and well inside Rogue's head when the two of them found themselves in Genosha during Uncanny X-men 236. The Genoshan mutant Wipeout had used his own mutant abilities to delete Rogue's, so she was a helpless, defenseless victim...

Even worse, without her natural ability to keep back the imprints of those she had taken over in the past, Rogue's mind ran the risk of being taken over by, well, anyone ranging from a random Dire Wraith to Loki and Captain America. Luckily, Carol was there to help out...

"You'll have to trust me!"

Carol Danvers took over from Rogue, right in time for the former secret agent to deal with the arrival of a few handsy Genoshans...

Carol quickly took care of them and then freed her old war buddy Wolverine. Together, they took the Genoshan regime down a peg or two, despite the fact Logan was severely weakened by the adamantium poisoning his now defunct healing factor used to keep in check. Luckily, Wipeout could be persuaded, nau, forcedto restore their powers, Wolverine was back to her old self and so was Rogue.

That is, until the Australian outback days of Uncanny X-men # 244  when Rogue threw a sudden temper tantrum.

"It's her, Storm, don'tcha see?! Ahh, golly-gosh, don't any of y'all understand?!"

Yup... After Genosha, Carol had used their arrangement to occasionally take over Rogue without warning... Let's see what she did with that self claimed liberty... 

"Look around... Without even so much as a by-your-leave"

For some time now, Carol had subtly been influencing Rogue's decisions... Which resulted in not so subtle things like redesigning Rogue's living quarters.  So when Rogue finally regained control for a second, she got pissed off... And understandably so.

Still, one might think it's only understandable a young woman like Carol Danvers, snuffed out in her prime, would also long to live a little... albeit vicariously through the woman who "killed" her.
Still, Rogue didn't quite see it that way and, fed up as she was with this mental time sharing deal, she begged to be released...

"Psylocke... You're a telepath! You can wipe Danvers outta my head!"

The presence of two seperate yet intertwined minds within one body, made Rogue and Carol's psyches not unlike Siamese twins. Psylocke was unable to cut and separate the two of them, condemning them to spend their lives together. It didn't go over well with Louisiana's favorite skunk haired river rat...

Storm had very little sympathy for her plight, though...

"Sorry about that"

Rogue's apologising? Ow, heavens no...

"I figured the kid could use a chance to cool off".

Carol took over, a change made clear by Rogue's eyes shifting from green to blue... Also, the whole 'not smashing stuff and yelling at anyone in sight' was kind of a tip off, along with Carol wistfully filling in her teammates on what had happened.

"... Finally, I got fed up and took over."

So, when she got half the chance, we got this resolution...

"You cannot keep her locked away forever, Carol"

Well, that's what Carol tried to do, until she and Rogue got sucked into the Siege Perilous in Uncanny X-men # 247.

When Rogue reemerged, the Siege had separated her from the Carol essence still inside of her. That stolen bit of lifeforce had also respawned as a rather horrific memory of sins and things past... And she came to get her revenge a little under two years later in Uncanny X-men 269 when Rogue and the Ms. Marvel remnant had a physical struggle to determine who was worthy to lead her life...

"We don't possess sufficient life-foce between us to sustain two independent beings. As one prospers, the other rots! And guess what, "shugah"... that won't be ME"

Oy, Rogue seemed to be in a real pickle... Freshly reincarnated by the Siege Perilous and freed from the Ms. Marvel aspect of her soul, she was about to die in the Savage Land... 

"No matter how hard ah try... nothin' works... She's drainin' me, body an' soul... like ah did her"

But just as Rogue was about to succumb to the Ms. Marvel remnants's madness, a certain someone stepped in to make sure the right gal won the struggle...

"ARRGH!" indeed...

"I chose you"

Magneto killed the newly spawned 'Ms. Marvel', allowing Rogue to survive. For some reason, despite being reverted to her old self thanks to a trip through the Siege Perilous, it didn't take long for Rogue to regain her powers...especially the ones she'd stolen from Carol.

So much for leasons learned...