Chapter Twenty Four

A soft sigh escaped the guard's lips as the light died from his eyes. Discharge grabbed his lifeless body before it hit the ground, quietly dragging him over to the other corpse. Tempus was waiting, a small bubble of shimmering air growing between her hands. She looked at the guards with glowing eyes and threw the bubble at them. It soared through the air in a graceful arc before splashing onto the first guard's body. It compressed, and had it been an ordinary bubble of water it would have burst, but it was directed by Tempus' will, her power, so it just grew in size, swelling up until it surrounded them, swallowing them whole, and they blinked out of sight, out of time, forever.

Gambit was already working on the door, disabling the electronic alarms as quickly as he could. Onix and Animal, being the two Roses with the best eyesight, were watching the windows of the Agency building, while everyone else was watching the street for any passers-by that happened to walk down the street. It wasn't likely, and Michelle had spread a field of anxiety and dread around them, meaning most people would hesitate to come anywhere near them, but it wasn't a certain science and they really didn't need to get arrested for breaking and entering.

They didn't have to worry about being seen from the inside of the building, as the doors were tinted black, nearly completely opaque, just about the only security feature that worked in their favour.

There was a soft click and Gambit pushed the door open, Rogue let a small grin twist her lips, watching as her team slipped quietly into the building before following them, one hand on the door so that it didn't slam shut behind them.

They were in a small, but somehow spacious lobby. There was a large, semi-circular desk in front of them, manned by two guards in black and grey uniforms. They jumped when the roses walked in and reacted immediately, showing that they were well trained. The blonde went for his hand radio, the brunette went for his gun. A psychic blast from Michelle prevented either of them from doing anything other than reach, and they watched as the two guards slumped down.

Walking carefully so as not to be caught on the security camera, they approached the desk. Tempus sent the guards out of time permanently, while Paradox worked on the security cameras. The plan was to just turn them off, but she noticed that they had set up an alarm for that, so instead she accessed the archives and set up a video-loop from three days ago, meaning that what the screens showed was real, just not to date. The best thing was that the computers in the security office upstairs wouldn't even show her tampering, except for a small glitch when she first set it up, but that would probably be dismissed out of hand.

Leaving Discharge at the desk to guard their backs, the others split up into two groups-Paradox, Tempus and Onix headed for the elevators, whilst Animal, Rogue and Gambit walked towards the stairs. The first team would be headed for the nearest computer, on the first level, whilst the other three would split up, heading to various levels to await the names of their targets.

There was a man working in the office, a scientist if the white lab coat was any indication, and he was obviously not prepared for three mutants to walk in. It was also obvious that he was not any kind of fighter, as he didn't even raise his fists let alone reach for a weapon, before Tempus sent him out of time.

There was a computer and a laptop in the office, so Tempus took the computer, while Paradox booted up the laptop. Working to their original plan, Tempus found the plans for the building, whilst Paradox found the employee list, or whatever was closest. When she had found the list, she read out the highest ranking and most important people who were currently in the building, and let Tempus match the names up with locations and assign either Rogue, Gambit or Animal to be the killer.

"Rogue's not gonna like this," Paradox muttered, absently opening files to see if she could find anything important.

"Not like what?" Onix asked from where he was standing in the doorway. He was gripping Stien tightly in his hands, and kept glancing up and down the corridor.

"Mitchell's not here, he's at the headquarters, which means she won't get to kill him tonight."

"Shit. She's gonna be pissed."

"Definitely. I wouldn't want to be the bad guy she meets after she hears that little bit of news, she's gonna slaughter him."

"Be quiet," Tempus said softly, eyes fixed on her computer screen. After confirming that her battle plan was the most efficient, she raised her hand and pressed the small button on the side of her watch. "Tempus to Rogue, I have the names and places."

"Give me Mitchell."

"Negative, Mitchell is not in the building."

A string of harsh curses came from Rogue, before she let out a deep breath and asked for the other names. She took the four most dangerous soldiers, gave Ivy the three other important soldiers, and gave Gambit the four scientists, leaving instructions for the others to kill anyone on sight.

Paradox was quietly confirming that everyone knew where to plant their bombs, cautioning them to do it perfectly or she'd thwap them.

"Alright, silence unless it's important," Rogue whispered, and got back various agreements and acknowledgements. "Let's do this. Rogue out."

Rogue sighed and turned away from Gambit's intense eyes, instead choosing to look out the window. A cold, empty feeling had settled in her stomach, like a few of her organs had vanished and been replaced with icy air. The feel of her weapons against her skin gave her no comfort, the knowledge that this was nearly the end held no solace, because it wasn't the end. Not really. Not for her. Because he still lived. It would never end as long as he was still breathing.

"Cher, we have a job to do," Gambit said quietly. Rogue closed her eyes, Mitchell's sneering, arrogant face looming in her mind. Even if she killed him, even if she slaughtered him and scattered the body pieces, he would always be with her. She would never be free of the memories he had given her, never shed the feeling of humiliation and shame he had forced her to feel.

"Rogue, we need you," Animal said, her voice as sane and reasonable as it ever got when she was in her feral form.

Yes, she was needed, she had a purpose, she couldn't fail her team, her friends, her family. Not again. Not ever again.