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 Consequences

            By: The Sphinx Minx


Chapter 14: Enter Mystique

Thoughts

telepathy

*flashback*

"Now…Rogue are you ready?"

"As ah'll ever be…"

Xavier gave what he hoped was a supporting smile.

A door behind Rogue opened.

A sarcastic voice rang through the empty Danger Room. "Hello…daughter."

Rogue spun so quickly, her sneakers squeaked on the freshly polished floor, the only sound for a few seconds after Mystiques greeting.

When Rogue said nothing, Mystique made the first move. She sauntered across the hall, heels clicking. "Charles" She nodded her acknowledgment at her long time foe. She then turned to face Rogue and looked her up and down. "You're looking well Rogue."

Rogue quickly regained her composure, "ah try."

Xavier observed the reunion and decided it was best to get professional. "You are both aware of what you need to do?"

"Charles, all I have to do is get in, get the paperwork for this light, if possible, get the light, and get out. Rogue here needs to do as she's told. For once in her life-"

**She sighed, frusturated with herself for snapping at Remy, she patiently tried to work out what he said…"So that's why ah took so much from Cody? Because ah wanted him? And Carol? Because ah was so young, n so naïve, and so needin of love that Mystique promised me? Makes some bita sense Cajun, you been readin those psychology books again?"**

"-or she'll sacrifice the mission, can you assure me your little X-Men will do as tol-What the hell!?"

Oh God, Focus!

Mystique was looking at Rogue as she spoke condescendingly to her. Suddenly, Rogues eyes had melted from blue to green and then slipped into a blank white, then quickly to blue at Mystiques yell.

"Rogue, what the hell is happening to you!?"

"Mystique, that is a side effect of the light, now do you believe how important it is that we find the light and reverse the effects of it.? Rogue continues to suffer from conscious struggles. Her eyes color reflects those struggles."

"How do I know that she won't go schizo during the mission? I'm surprised at you Charles, she's obviously a risk."

"Rogue is no more a risk that I am, and lets not lose sight of what's important. This mission isn't your chance to dictate orders to Rogue, she is present merely to ensure everything goes to our plan." He placed emphasis on "our."

"Don't tell me how to do my job Charles, I'm not one of your lapdogs. I'm only doing this because the government needs to know that we are called homo superior for a reason. Anything they do, we can destroy. And I don't want to get stuck looking like nine different people one of these days."

"Huh, better than hearing nine different people" Rogue quipped and immediately regretted it.

"Charles, Rogue is the only one on your little team that I can trust not to kill me when I'm not looking, but if she needs a shrink, then I'm doing this alone."

"Out of the question Mystique, even you appreciate that we can not release you into a government facility unsupervised. You requested Rogue; here she is, in perfect health. Her brain patterns show only one dominant set of brain waves. The rest are unfortunate echoes."

"Don't worry 'Mom' I'm in complete control."

"This is ridiculous, the girl never lost her mind under my care." Mystique flared.

"I lost much more" Rogue snapped back.

Xavier looked at her questioningly, but said nothing to her. "Enough, let's discuss the strategy. We are using our government connections through SHEILD to infiltrate the building where we believe the experiments are occurring. You must prepare for everything, especially other mutants, who may have been experimented on by the light, and may be used against you."

"Do we know anything about the organization doing this?"

"No, Fury has assured me that he has not authorized any experimenting of this kind. But he doesn't deny that its possible SHEILD is involved. He did a little digging about some nameless branches of SHEILD that have been receiving funding and got slapped on the wrist for it. That has helped us narrow the field of possibilities. Magneto's people managed to gather some additional information. It all leads to a sect of SHEILD working covertly. We don't know where they're getting their orders from, or who authorized such a division. We hope to find that information when you get in, Mystique."

"Alright Charles, I know what I have to do. By the way, I don't give a damn if you don't like it. If I'm doing this, it's getting done my way. Come Rogue, we leave immediately, get your bag."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mystique strode down the hall of the mansion as if she owned the place. But that was how she walked everywhere.

Everyone she passed responded to her in some form. Wolverine snikted his claws and snarled. When Mystique morphed to Sabretooth and blew him a kiss, Jean placed a hand on Wolverine's shoulder and glared at the shape shifter.

Gambit stepped in their path, obviously intending on giving the visitor a word or two.

Rogue wouldn't even give him the respect to stop and listen. She kept right on walking; Mystique followed her daughter's footsteps and smirked at the Cajun.

Poor Kurt nearly got the shock of his life when his mother appeared around a corner. His yellow eyes widened in surprised as the women strode past. Kitty touched his arm and whispered to him, trying to soothe him. Mystique received similar, hostile, responses from the rest of the team until they finally reached the privacy of Rogue's room.

"You never were a neat child" Mystique commented as she looked around at the mess in the room. "Where's your desk?"

"Long story."

"Well that's good…we're going to be spending some time together, might as well get some bonding in."

Rogue clenched her teeth, "I hope you have a plan Mystique. A good one. Because I'm not going into this place with a death wish, I've finally sorted out my life, and I don't feel like throwing it away over some science experiment from hell." She threw a suit Jean loaned her for the trip into a bag. "Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, the women were sitting in a tinted car, looking at pictures of an old building located in the suburbs of Washington DC.

"This is it?" Rogue asked sceptically "doesn't look very high tech…"

"If it's one thing you should have learned by now, my dear…"Mystique began shifting as she put the car into gear and began driving "it's that appearances can be deceiving." Rogue glanced at Mystique, who had taken on the appearance of Nick Fury.

Rogue was dressed to look like his secretary. Her hair was in a tight bun, and she was wearing light makeup. Small square glasses balanced on the tip of her nose. She was wearing a well cut trouser suit that flattered her nicely, but still gave her the air of someone not to be trifled with. She was the type of secretary Fury would have employed.

A bit later, they parked outside the building, and walked up the pathway. "Are we just going to walk into the place?" Rogue questioned quietly.

"I am." Faster than Rogue's eyes could follow, Mystique threw her hand into the inside of Fury's long coat, pulled out something out, and slapped it on Rogue's neck. It was a slave collar like the one used by the Goth to neutralize mutant power, but without the mask. The effect was immediate.

Rogue grabbed her fosters mother's arm, green eyes pleading "Mystique, please-!"

The disguised mutant cut her off by flicking a button on the remote in her pocket, turning off the collar. Rogue took her hand away and blinked, and the blue eyes returned. "I…I thought you were gona leave me powerless."

"You wish…but you would be useless to me with no powers. Now go!"

"What the hell are we doing?!"

"Oh please. You think your face isn't recognizable to these people? You're high profile my dear, and that makes you key. So shut up and go along with me unless you want both of us to end up dead." She pushed Rogue forward and opened the door.

They faced a wall of guns held by a lot of pissed off looking people.
"FURY! What the F*** are you doing here!?"

Mystique/Fury was unfazed, "did you really think I wouldn't find out about your little operation? I suppose you thought I was too soft? Too mutant loving? Well face it boys, this light is perfect. It weeds out the potentially threatening mutants and has their own deformity destroy them. Not even I can argue with the logic of that. The dangerous mutants are killed; the harmless ones survive. Now, do a check on this one for me. As you saw on your seven cameras outside the door, she was posing as my secretary. Anyone care to take a guess who she is?"

"Yes SIR, codename: Rogue; affiliate: outlawed X-Men" one eager young man responded. Upon hearing her name and recognizing her face, the rest of the team took a cautious step back. They had heard of this one. A leech.

 Mystique pushed Rogue forward again. "What do you say we see if this one's dangerous or not?"

The man who had spoken before spoke again nervously "are her powers off?"

Mystique/Fury clicked the switch in her pocket again, turning on the collar, and only Rogue noticed the difference. Her eyes turned emerald green but before she could react to her situation, Mystique/Fury slammed the end of her gun onto the back of Rogue's skull. There was a sick crack and the young woman fell to the floor, unconscious.

Mystique/Fury gave her body a nudge with her foot. "Bring her to the lab, I want to see this for myself."

AN: Ohhhh what is Mystique up to? Evil Writer! Shame on me for cutting off here!