Shaw gets the upper hand

Rogue was caught completely off guard by Shaw and she quickly found a power suppressing collar locked around her neck.

“What the fuck?” Rogue exclaimed as her eyes widened in shock, he'd got he drop on her.

“Just a little insurance policy to make sure you're willing to listen to me.” He responded.

“How about I just knock you out instead?” Rogue quipped as she took a swing at him, her instincts as a powerhouse immediately kicking in.

Shaw barely dodged Rogue's punch, grabbing her fist as it sailed past him and sending her into a wall, the shove was enough to daze her into temporary submission, giving Shaw ample time to give his pitch.

“I'd rather not fight you, Instead I have an offer that you might like.” That got Rogue's attention.

“I need a Black Queen and I think you're perfect for the position, I see something deep inside of you, Rogue, something dark that's waiting to get out.” He declared.

Something in his voice told Rogue he wasn't lying about either wanting her as his new Black Queen or seeing something much darker in her.

Normally she would have blown him off, maybe she would have agonized a bit over his words for a few days before some conversation with Gambit or Storm set her straight....but after the past few days, she was actually entertaining the idea.

It didn't hurt that the power suppressing device also had the ability to make people far more susceptible to attempts at corruption than usual.

"So...what do you see in me, exactly?" She asked nervously with a tinge of hopefulness.

"I see a woman who has been repressed for far too long." He began.

"A woman who needs to be touched and needs to be sexual and who needs to be powerful. I also see a woman who has allowed Xavier to brainwash her into thinking that it's impossible, a woman in a fractured relationship with little chance of something long term and who is not seen as an equal by the others but as a figure of pity, but most of all I see a woman whose looking for a way out of this whole mess." Rogue knew that he was was 100 percent right, even if she hadn't had the collar around her neck, she would have known that there was some kernel of truth to his words, but with the collar, his words held so much more weight.

She was so tired to her rocky relationship with Gambit and the way people seemed to pity her, they treated her like she was fragile every time they had a breakup.

She also had to admit she liked what he was selling: No more arguing, no more pity just sex and power.

Still, there was a voice in her that urged her to resist and be the hero she had spent years becoming, sure it was growing dimmer by the second, but it was there and it appealed to Rogue, but for her the question was did it appeal more than Shaw's offer did.

"Well, Rogue, now you have a choice to make: continuing this rut you've been living in and will probably stay in for the rest of your life or embracing all the pleasures the Hellfire Club as to offer you, which will it be" He asked, offering his hand to her.