Raven Darkholmme was a very bad person. She was responsible for the deaths of

dozens of dignitaries, senators, and other political figures as well as the terrorist attacks

that killed ordinary citizens every day.

Every night before she went to bed, she looked at the FBI's most wanted list and

laughed; laughed until tears came rolling down her face. It tickled her pink at how

clueless the Federal Bureau of Investigation really was. What was the FBI so clueless

about? It was the simple fact that six of the top criminals they were after were in fact all

one person. In fact, they had no idea what this person looked like or that this person even

existed and this person, Raven Darkholmme, liked it that way.

She was a mutant with dark blue skin, piercing yellow eyes, and bright red hair.

Her power was the ability to morph into anyone, right down to their DNA. She was good

too, which was why the government had no idea that all of these terrorists and crooks

they were after were simply different morphs of Raven's. It was these abilities that had

gained her leadership of the Brotherhood, a deadly crime ring in New York. Among her

inner circle were the Acolytes, her mutant henchmen .

Raven was looking for more mutants though, especially with the Eye of Death

Diamond being such a big deal. According to her sources, it was right here in New York

which meant that the more help you had, the better the chance of finding it or taking it

away from whoever did find it.

So here she was in New York, following covertly behind a girl with a way too big

New York Giants jacket and a beaten up Mets cap. Raven would never have even given

her a second glance were it not for the handy dandy MSD (Mutant Signature Detection)

unit that she had recently purchased. When the unit had detected this girl, the readings

that it displayed were incredible. Raven had only seen higher mutant power readings on

Alpha mutants.

For a brief moment, the Giants jacket disappeared in the bustling crowd and

Raven inhaled sharply. Then it came right back into view and she let out the breath,

vowing not to let that jacket, or rather the person wearing it, disappear out of sight again.







***







Rogue decided it was about time she went back to the little shelter she'd set up for

herself deep in the alleys. She now had a collection of two wallets and what looked to be

a very expensive watch. She leaned against a graffiti covered brick wall and opened the

first wallet, a brown one with a picture of a cowboy boot pressed into the leather. There

was a drivers license, a ten dollar bill, a couple of business cards, and a picture. Rogue

took one look at it and then crumpled it up. "What a nasty man," she muttered before

pocketing the ten dollar bill. She began to open the next wallet when all of the sudden, a

dark figure stepped right in front of her.

"Hey baby," he growled.

Rogue almost choked on the smell of alcohol on his breath and his body odor

didn't help much either.

He put a hand on either side of her trapping her. "Mikey, Carl, look who I found

all by her lonesome."

Rogue, who had been pretty scared before was a lot more frightened now when

two other men stepped out from the shadows.

The one named Mikey grinned. "Hello." The way he said it made Rogue sure that

he was being anything but polite.

"Ah would appreciate it if you all would leave me alone now," she said while ever

so slowly sliding her glove off of her right hand.

"Leave you alone? Why would we do a think like that?" Carl asked, imitating her

southern accent.

Rogue didn't answer, instead she took the glove all the way off and tapped her

index finger right on the forehead of the man who had her trapped against the wall,

bracing herself for the flood of foreign memories and thoughts that was sure to come.

"Aggggghhhhhh," the man screamed and fell back dropping to his knees. He

wavered slightly in the kneeling position before collapsing fully to the ground.

"Holy cow!" Mikey yelped at the sight of his unconscious friend. Carl reached

into his pocket and pulled out a knife. He started towards her.







***







Raven had seen enough now. This was the perfect opportunity to gain this girl's

trust. She morphed into human form and sprung forward.

WHAM. First she chopped the knife out of Carl's hand with her right hand before

delivering a vicious side kick to his left knee. He shrieked and fell to the ground.

Mikey pulled out a gun and fired, missing Raven by mere inches. Raven ducked

to the ground and did a sweep kick, knocking his feet out from under him.

She flipped back into standing position and, after kicking his gun away, yanked

Mikey to his feet and put him out with a well placed nerve block. Raven dropped his limp

form and then turned back to the girl. "Are you all right?" she asked.

The girl nodded. "Um, yeah, thanks."

"No problem." Raven looked closely at her. "Say, how'd you do that thing?"

"Ah- Ah don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Oh, come now," Raven cajoled, leaning against the wall beside her, "what you

did to that man who had you pinned up like that."

"Lucky blow Ah guess."

"That was no blow," Raven said. "You just touched him and poof, he's out."

"Ah really need to be goin' now," Rogue said nervously.

"You are mutant, child." Raven felt she had no choice but to come right out and

confront her with it.

"No, Ah'm not." Rogue was scared now. Was this some kind of government

agent hunting down mutants?

"Yes, you are," Raven responded. "And you don't have to hide it from me

because, you see, I am a mutant too. Watch." Raven smiled and then morphed into an

exact image of Rogue.

"Oh mah God," Rogue murmured.

Raven morphed back into her normal human form. "My name is Raven

Darkholmme," she said, offering her hand.

After a moment's hesitation, Rogue took Raven's outstretched hand and shook it.

"Mah name is Rogue."





AN/ Raven Darkholmme is Mystique, okay. I'm just using her real name in the AU. Don't forget to review, reviews make me write faster.

-Godfather