This chapter is dedicated to angyl-devyl, for your absolutely wonderful reviews, especially the last. I got four gold stars! Yay! Anyway, enjoy and review!

Chapter Nine

Rogue blinked at the empty chair. The only evidence that Mitchell had been there was all the blood. Confusion quickly gave way to anger.

"Alright, where the bloody hell did he go?" she snapped, turning to Michelle, who was still gasping for breath.

"I don't… something pulled him… took him away… oh, God, it hurt. It felt… like all my insides were being… ripped apart… by claws. Oh, ouch. Ooof." She sat down heavily on the bottom step, head between her knees.

"They must have a teleporter," Kar said. "They got some poor mutant to teleport him. I've heard it hurts like hell."

"It does," Michelle muttered, taking deep, even breaths.

"You gonna be okay?" Alistor asked in concern, kneeling down in front of her, effectively putting his back to all the blood.

"Yeah, yeah… just gimme a minute. Ugh, being an empath sucks sometimes."

"What answers did we get out of him before he went bye-bye?" Ivy asked, ignoring Michelle's pain.

Rogue sighed and said, "How many mutants, what they've been doing, how they've been controlling them, how many members of their little faction, and a few names that could prove useful. It's not much, but… it should help."

"If you give me the names, Selene and I can run some searches," Jamie said, speaking for the first time since descending into the basement and seeing the blood.

"Yeah, sure. Michelle, get upstairs and rest."

"I don't think my legs will work right this moment."

"Easily solved," Alistor said with a grin, and scooped her petite form up, cradling her against his chest.

"Ooh, the muscles," Selene muttered to Kar, who snorted.

"See something you like?" he asked, just as quietly.

"Oh yeah."

Kar smiled wanly and trudged upstairs. Rogue frowned and followed him, touching his shoulder to make him stop.

"Hey, Kar?"

"Yeah, bosslady?"

Rogue hesitated. What could she say? She couldn't apologise because she wasn't sorry, but she hated seeing Kar so depressed. "I'm sorry you had to do that," she eventually said, and he smiled bitterly.

"Yeah, me too."

"If… if you want to leave… I won't stop you."

Kar smiled again, though not like he thought it was funny. "I'm a Dark Rose, bosslady, whether I like it or not. I ain't gonna desert."

"If it helps, I don't think we'll have to do that again."

"But we still did it, Rogue. I crossed a line and I can't go back, and… I'm scared of what's ahead."

"I never meant to turn you into a killer, Kar," Rogue whispered. "Please believe that."

"Ya didn't mean to, Rogue, but you are. Slowly but surely, you're turning me into… into someone I don't want to be."

Rogue frowned and sadly watched him leave. She had to wonder if she was truly doing the right thing. She had taken a bunch of semi-innocent albeit powerful mutants and turned them into… warriors. Not quite killers, but close. She had turned them into hard, cold-hearted people, all because she needed them. Sometimes she wondered if that made her a monster more than the killing.

"I hate my life," she whispered, shaking her head. Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh, she walked up to her room intent in writing in her journal.

Rogue had barely opened the journal before someone knocked on her door, and Jamie entered without waiting for permission. She looked slightly flustered, which meant she was highly agitated.

"Rogue, we have a serious problem," she said urgently, and Rogue frowned, gesturing for her to continue. "Some mutant teleported Mitchell from here and that means they know where we are. They could attack any minute!"

"Shit! Tell everyone to grab their gear and get out of here!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Cursing loudly, Rogue grabbed her duffel bag from under the bed and threw her clothes in it, adding her laptop, journal, weapons, and toiletries from the bathroom. She could hear the others rushing to pack, as well, but ignored them as she rushed back to her room. She threw the faded rug out of the way and used a knife to pry up one of the floorboards, revealing a nice hidey-hole that contained an old and battered cardboard box. Rogue grabbed the box and quickly checked its contents before shoving it in her bag and running downstairs.

Alistor looked confused, but Selene just snapped at him to get his things and hurry, dammit! Jamie looked more like her usual calm self than she had five minutes ago, her large backpack resting at her feet. Kar still looked a little troubled, and wouldn't meet Rogue's eyes. Ivy looked like she was starting to get pissed off, and kept flexing her hands.

"We shouldn't have brought him here," she said, the faintest edge of a growl in her voice.

"Well we did and now we have to leave," Rogue snapped. "We got information, and it's not like it's the first time we've had to move. Come on, everyone, let's amscray before a SWAT team shows up."

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Dr. Cathryn Tear was beautiful in a very unusual way. Her auburn hair had two white streaks, not completely unusual, but her eyes were definitely weird. They looked very much like a cat's eyes, with a thin slit for a pupil, and a deep blue iris with a thin purple band around the edges. She wore blue contacts to cover these eyes, as they drew the unwanted kind of attention. Because she was at her club, The Mutant Pitt, she was dressed in tight black leather trousers and knee-length boots. The top was a leather vest with long dark red sleeves to hide the scars criss-crossing her skin. Her makeup was dark and sultry, but didn't match the serious expression on her face as she listened to Rogue's story.

"Well, life with you guys is never boring," she quipped, absently tapping her fingernails against the desk. "Alright, I can get you a house in about two days, but until then you'll have to stay at a hotel. I'll send a couple of people over to clean the old place tomorrow morning, just in case."

"Hotels are gonna be a problem," Selene said from where she was leaning against the wall. "I mean, we're kind of a… motley group."

"Split up," Cathryn said with a shrug. "Though I would suggest not leaving the new guy alone."

"Sure, I'll take him to some run-down motel."

"No."

"Huh?"

"These guys are assuming you guys are poor or not-well funded, right? If anything, they'll be watching the run-down motels, and not the high-class hotels. Take him to some place expensive. Just use my credit card."

"Thanks, Cathryn."

"No problem. You want to stay for some drinks? Silver Scream are playing in a few moments."

Rogue smiled and said, "I think Jamie's a little young for this scene, but thanks for the offer, and we really should get to work on the names Mitchell gave us."

"You work too hard."

Rogue just shrugged and said, "Gotta stop them."

"True. Let me know how things are going, alright?"

"Sure. Thanks again."

Cathryn nodded and watched as the Dark Roses left her office. She waited a moment, pondering the haunted shadow she'd seen in Kar's eyes, and then picked up the phone, dialling quickly.

"Hello, Michael? Yes, it's me. I need you to take Jason and clean the house tomorrow morning, or tonight if you're up for it. Alright, thanks. Bye." She hung up again and adjusted the sleeves of her top, pulling them down slightly, and stood up. After glancing at herself in the full-length mirror and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she opened the door and walked out into the club.