Chapter 5, "End of the Innocence"
By: MidnyteRogue aka RogueBHS
A/N: A darker chapter to be sure...there, you're warned.
Blood splattered as I hit the guy's jaw, adding to the darkening red liquid that was seemingly everywhere in the room. A few bodies were already on the floor, and one or two had limbs at odd angles. Momma told me to make this look like a masacre, and it does. It is one as a matter of fact. But one that has a cause. Another man refused to pay us, now, the blood is on his hands, not ours. He's never seen any of us besides Momma, and she used one of her many forms when she made the deal. His problem, not ours.
Not that I mind. One of these SOBs shot my mommal, now they're gonna pay. I land another punch on this guy, and the loud, sickening crack assures me that atleast one rib is broken. When he spits up blood, I smile in satisfaction. One of those broken ribs punctured a lung, which means he'll be dead soon enough. The guy is looking at me in mute horror...it must be the smile. Fred has told me more than once that when I smile a certain way, it scares the hell out of him to see that sort of smile on a girl.
No matter. Dying painfully is exactly what the man deserves, and if he dies wondering how a girl could smile like that, that's his problem. I push him to the floor, and survey my work. He makes the body count go from 8 to 9 men...all dead because of me. All dead because of what they did to my family. Blood is all over the place, and I'm in the middle of it. The biggest mistake amatuers make is leaving foot prints or other ways to track you down...well, the shoes I'm wearing lead right back to the man who didn't pay.
I hear the door open and look up immeadiatly. My gun is in my hands before the door is even completely open, and I have it aimed at the door. Momma sees this and smiles in approval. She likes knowing her daughter can move fast when there's a threat. The smile widens when she sees my work, another thing she's proud of me for. She stays there in the hallway, then motions me out.
With a few steps, I reach the door, and step out into the hallway, making sure that the blood tracks out on the shoes. Momma slides her arm around me and leads me down the back stairs, complimenting me on my work.
Once at the car, I slide out of the shoes and hand them to Momma, knowing she'll take care of those while I get out of the black body suit. Shaking out my hair, I glance up at movement in the front seat. Nanna is turning to face me, and reaching out for my hand.
I slide my hand into hers and smile, but she doesn't return the smile. She only grips my hand, then releases it. Nanna slides off the sunglasses she wears almost 24 hours a day, and looks at me with her unseeing eyes. "You did good, Rogue, and I'm proud of you. But a word of caution, my sweet one, do not learn to enjoy the work like Raven does. If you enjoy it even for a moment, you'll regret it the rest of your life."
I frown and lean back in the seat. How could I ever regret repaying someone who hurt my family? Nanna must be wrong on this one.
Something tells me that now, Rogue would give anything to take back the enjoyment she may have felt doing that work. After all, Rogue acts as if she's paying a penance for her past sins by protecting all of us. She protects us with her own life, yet she now refuses to kill, no matter what. Whether that's her own choice, or because the X-men don't kill I don't think we'll ever know.