AN: Sorry for the late update, hope the chapter makes up for it! I'll respond to all your reviews another time, I just wanted to get this up. Once again, sorry for the delay!
Honor and ConsequencesBy: The Sphinx Minx
Chapter 13: Long Hist'ry
The entire team sat in the conference room discussing their options.
Betsy spoke; "I don't understand why we can't ask the Avengers, this does effect them after all!"
Beast responded, "Unfortunately, the Captain has great faith in the government, he won't try to underhand them, he doesn't see the need. As far as he's concerned, the government knows nothing…"
"He may be right," Jean said.
"He may be wrong Jeannie," Wolverine growled; "so we need someone with government access, they need to be able to get inside, someone we can trust."
"Well Wolverine," Scott sighed "Two out of three isn't bad."
All heads swivelled to where Scott was sitting.
"Vhat is it Scott?"
"There was only one person we could find willing to take the mission-"
Before Cyclops could finish, Wolverine slammed his hand down on the table,
"There's gota be someone else Slim."
"Come on! The suspense is killing me!" Kitty whined.
"Ahem…the only person we could find willing to take the mission was Mystique."
There was an outcry amongst the team. Rage, confusion, frustration, all at once. Scott raised his hand for silence; "and she has one condition…we asked her how we could trust her. She is willing to comply with our request that one of our people go with her, but her condition is that she must chose…she only trusts Rogue to accompany her."
"Dat's crazy! None of us would risk de mission, any of us could go!" Remy argued.
"Cajun's right, it ain't up t'her who goes with her."
"Unfortunately Logan, it is. Rogue? Xavier turned to Rogue
"Do ah have to?"
"Of course you have a choice…"
Remy frowned as he glanced at Wolverine who was looking at Rogue with a look of surprise that he quickly dropped. Gambit knew they were thinking the same thing. Rogue must have been seriously frightened by that light to be acting so cautious all the time. The old Rogue would have jumped right in, sacrificing whatever problems she had with her foster mother for the good of the team, and in this case, for the good of mutants everywhere. But maybe this Rogue had been hurt by too many people, too many times before, to keep taking risks.
Scott spoke up "Just keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't get up to anything else. We don't want this traced to us."
"Rogue, I will give you all the details if you accompany me to my office?" Xavier offered. She nodded and followed Professor X from the room.
She emerged 45 minutes later, relieved to close the door, God, ¾ of an hour of full interrogation and dictating, what is this man's problem? I had to act like I was fine working with Mystique, but she's the very last person I need to see right now. I was able to push the others away easily enough, but Mommy Dearest won't be as simple. Damn it! Well at least I'll learn about this light and be able to destroy it. Then I'll never have to worry about it again. She sighed as she walked down the hall Xavier told me specifically not to destroy it though…Seems the four boys haven't made a full recovery as hoped, neither have the X-Girls. He needs the light to reverse the effects. She scowled. If they tried to put her under that light again, she'd knock them all into next week. Everything was fine, maybe not perfect, the way it was.
"Bonjour Rogue" Remy nodded his head at the Southerner. She kept walking.
Gambit blew out his breath, fed up. "I would really love t'know what I've done dis time!" he called after her retreating back.
A voice behind him spoke as Rogue disappeared around the corner. "Maybe she needs a break from you Cajun."
Remy turned to face Joseph. He looked the white haired man up and down and took a step closer.
"Mebbe you need t' mind your own bus'ness."
Joseph didn't budge, "If it involves Rogue, it is my business."
"Dat's where you're wrong homme. Ya see, Rogue n me? We gota long hist'ry toget'er. We've faced it all an' come out shinin', a lil scuffed, but shinin; So you better listen real close, cuz I'm only gon' say dis once. You're noth'in, you're not a threat, you're not competition, you're noth'in compared ta what we've faced b'fore. So stay the hell away 'fore I get really mad and call in a favor from Bella Donna an' her friends."
"Everything all right here?" Wolverine and Cyclops approached, looking sweaty and tired after a quick Danger Room session. Cyclops shifted his gaze from Gambit to Joseph as he spoke.
"Yea," Gambit gave Joseph one last chilling glare, "we fine."
And with that, he walked past Scott and Logan toward the Danger Room. Cyclops shook his head and headed toward the showers. Wolverine waited until he was out of ear shot before speaking.
"Bub, that ain't a good way to make friends."
"I'm not trying to make friends" Joseph stared at Gambits retreating form until Wolverine stepped into his view.
"..then you're makin enemies, n you don't want the Swamp Rat as an enemy. 'N for the record, anyone who hurts Rogue like you did with your little chat in the cabin ain't no friend of mine neither, n' you really don't want me fer an enemy."
Joseph started down at the man in front of him. "Yea, I get it, everyone's a Rogue protector around here. Well guess what? She can look after herself."
"I'm the first to admit that bub, but you can never have too many friends watchin' yer back…some people, they show their true colors when you ain't lookin'" With that, Wolverine followed the path of Gambit, leaving Joseph standing alone clenching his fists in anger.
Wolverine entered the Danger Room "Computer pause 5455-567374"
Gambit emerged from the holograms, eyes literally flashing "Get out Wolv'rine, dis don't involve you."
"Listen bub, I'm here fer just one reason, be careful with Joseph."
Remy snarled "Oh yea? You de best of friends now?"
Wolverine returned the growl "Gumbo, don't get smart, you just can't afford to look bad to anyone on his team, especially Rogue. No one knows what's been going on with her, she's been pushin everyone, includin' me, away fer no good reason. The last thing we need is her confidin' in Joseph." Remy looked at Wolverine and reluctantly nodded. Wolverine smiled and popped his claws, "want some help?" Remy grinned.
"Computer, restart program 5455-567374."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rogue, please meet me in the Danger Room. Professor X's voice rang in Rogue's head. She gave a little shriek of frustration Why-won't-they LEAVE-ME-ALONE? She was fed up of all the questions, the training, the constant "are you o.k?'s from everyone! I'm well able to look after myself, I've done it up to now, despite everything, haven't I? They all think they know me so well. All they do is irritate me. And Mystique will be even worse. I'll have to watch myself with her. She won't put up with any crap. She sighed. She'd better not keep the Professor waiting any longer, or he'd start knocking on her head again. Better get dressed first. She looked around the room. The desk hadn't been replaced yet, so there was stuff everywhere. In the end, she opted for regular black spandex running tights, a white tank top and her usual elbow length gloves. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, clipping the annoying white pieces back. She laced up her Nike sneakers and ran to the Danger Room.
When she entered, Professor Xavier was already there, in a heated discussion with Joseph. The Professor raised his hand, silencing Joseph when she entered. "Ah Rogue, thank you for coming so quickly" he saw she was looking at Joseph and answered her unasked question "Joseph wishes to accompany you on your assignment with Mystique. I've already assured him that wasn't necessary…"
Rogue smiled and tilted her head "Thanks Joseph, that means a lot, ah appreciate it, but ah'd rather deal with Mystique on mah own."
He looked resigned and spoke awkwardly; "Rogue, I never got a chance to apologize properly for what happened in the cabin" Her big blue eyes blinked in confusion and he began to explain "um…on our walk."
"What? Oh! Yea, it's fine, don't worry."
"But-"
She lost her patience "it's fine Joseph, would you prefer it if I held it against you forever?" She glared at him with her gloved hands on her hips.
Unlike Gambit, who would have had snapped back a smart ass answer, Joseph was floored, surprised at her abruptness when she has always been so friendly toward him "Oh…ah, no of course not."
"Good, then if you don't mind, ah have some business with the Professor."
"Are you sure you can handle Mystique on your own?" Joseph was genuinely worried about his friend who had been acting so strangely lately and currently looked at though she would love to backhand him through a wall. Before she could comment however, Xavier spoke.
"Joseph, as I have already assured you, Rogue is perfectly capable of doing the mission, and I think we both would appreciate a little faith in her abilities. Now if you don't mind?" He nodded toward the door and Joseph took one final look at Rogue before turning and leaving.
"Now…Rogue are you ready?"
"As ah'll ever be…"
Xavier gave what he hoped was a supporting smile.
A door behind Rogue opened.
AN: Ok that was a pretty evil place to leave off, but I fit a lot into the chapter! We know who is going to accompany Rogue on the mission, and I even managed to work in a little Gambit/Joseph confrontation, which I think the Ragin Cajun walked away from triumphantly. Poor Joseph, he means well. Don't worry, he isn't going to stow away in the back of Mystique's car or anything annoying like that. He's really fun to write as an annoying character, even if it is OOC. What can I say, I write to please! Meanwhile, Rogue's a bitch isn't she? Don't worry though, this is Chapter 13, and we learn what is bothering her in Chapter 15! Ohh look at all the reviews, almost 100!! How exciting! Maybe I'll give my 100th reviewer a treat and write them into the story for a little cameo…hum we'll see, that wouldn't be too fair to all my other reviewers who've reviewed so faithfully EVERY chapter. I duno, I'll give it a think over. See y'all on Friday!