Notes: This chapter is dedicated to angyl-devyl for your mile-long review. It was a wonderful thing to wake up to!

Chapter Twenty Six

Rogue frowned thoughtfully, looking up at the ceiling. She needed to put her last bomb in the very top corner, but she couldn't figure out how to do it. There were no chairs, tables, windowsills, anything she could use for leverage. She hadn't planned for that, and chided herself for it. She'd been so focused on the killing parts of her mission, that she'd let the rest of it slid. It was sloppy, and now she was paying the price for it.

Okay, time to see if she was as acrobatic as she really hoped she was. If she wasn't, she was screwed. If she failed here, in this simple, easy task, she would never forgive herself, and that, more than anything, drove her to succeed.

Rogue took a few steps back, and looked up at the corner. She took a deep breath, let it out partly, and ran forward. She jumped up, raising one foot to push against the wall and drive herself higher, bomb in hand, and just managed to slap it in the corner, the tiny feet in its base digging into the wall, before falling down to the floor. She looked up at the bomb and smiled.

Then she turned, and sprinted down the corridor, her rapid footsteps falling silently despite her speed. She crashed into a soldier when she was nearing the exit, killed him quickly, and fled into the night. Her team were waiting, serious, quiet. They would not celebrate yet, would not get triumphant and smug, until the building crumbled. They smiled when they saw her, and Tempus handed her the slim detonator.

"It will implode, right?" she asked. "I don't want to hurt any civilians."

"Trust me, we planned it perfectly," Paradox replied. Rogue nodded and looked at the small black stick of plastic in her had. Then she looked at the building before her and pressed the button.

The sound of the bombs exploding was muffled, and there was no fantastic explosions to mark such a dramatic event, the building merely crumbled down, folding in on itself until all that remained was a pile of rubble. Sparks of electricity danced, cackling and fizzing, from loose wires, and the occasional splash of blood and organs decorated the stones.

The Roses looked at the mess for a moment before turning and walking away. With Kar and Envee both at home, no one was in the mood to make jokes or bragging remarks. They walked in silence, their emotions heavy and dark, but hidden from each other. They would celebrate, or mourn, or do whatever, in their own, private way. Maybe that would involve someone else, maybe it wouldn't. They all knew that, and respected it, because some things just aren't meant to be shared.

Rogue looked at the pavement as she walked, her thoughts tumbling around inside her head, the sound of broken sobs haunting her ears, the stench of death assaulting her nostrils. It was fake, the smells, the sounds, the sights, just a ghostly memory sent to her by her subconscious, but that didn't make it any easier to bear.

It wasn't that she regretted the actual act of killing them, she had saved them in the only way possible, but she did regret that killing them was necessary. If she had just gotten there sooner, a week, a day, even a minute might have made a difference, might have let her save one more mutant. Six seemed like such a pitiful number compared to all the blood, pain and tears that the Roses had suffered for the past year. It wasn't fair, they should have been able to save more. What kind of heroes were they if they could only save six fucking mutants?

Michelle whimpered and fell to her knees, clutching at her head. Two tears slowly ran down her cheeks, falling from pain-filled eyes. "Stop it," she murmured. "Stop it, please. I can't take it anymore."

Jamie had apparently planned for this, because she took a hypodermic needle from her pocket and slipped the protective cap off the end, squirting a small amount of the sedative into the air to get rid of any bubbles. Michelle had fallen onto her side, and was curled up in a tight ball. Jamie knelt down beside her and rolled up her sleeve, pushing the needle into her skin and injecting her with the sedative. It took a few seconds before the empathic girl slowly relaxed.

"Alistor," Rogue said quietly, and it was all that was needed for the tall mutant to pick Michelle up in his arms, letting Selene carry his sword.

Kar was waiting for them outside the house, a small mutant child asleep in his arms. He looked concerned, and then relieved when he saw they were all alright. He shifted the child so that she was balanced more securely on his hip, and ushered them all inside.

"Why isn't she with Chalice?" Alistor asked, sitting down on the sofa and pulling off his boots.

"Started kicking and screaming as soon as I let go of her, so we agreed she could stay the night here. That okay?" Kar turned to Rogue, who just shrugged.

"Sure. Is Chalice relocating the others?"

"Uh-huh, she started working as soon as I stepped through the doorway. The kids are tucked up in blankets on the dance floor, and she is finding them homes as we speak. She had a doctor look at them, and a couple of them are at the hospital overnight, but the others are fine, relatively speaking."

"Good." Rogue nodded and started to walk up the stairs, intent on taking a long, hot shower. Kar spoke again when she was halfway up, and she froze.

"She asked if you were okay."

For a split second, emotions raged within Rogue, crashing together with violent clashes, drowning out all thought, but then she gained control of herself, forcing the emotions back. Her hand tightened its grip on the banister, but she made no other indications of her inner turmoil.

A month ago, or even a couple of weeks, she'd have gone to the club to see Cathryn, to tell her about how the mission had gone and to plan the next big mission, and just to talk, to be normal, to relax after the tension of the night. And a part of her wanted to, she wanted to grab her coat and go see her friend.

Despite everything, she still couldn't believe that Chalice had betrayed her, hurt her, manipulated her. A small part of her kept insisting that it was a mistake, some sort of sick joke, and that she still had her best friend. She felt so lonely with Chal. She still had her family, her Roses, but it wasn't the same. She'd known Chalice for so long, she'd always been there for her, and to suddenly have that gone was… scary.

She knew that it didn't have to be that way, that she could try to bridge the rift between them, but it wasn't that easy. She couldn't forget the pain of betrayal, it was like a constant ache in her heart. She would always remember that crystalline moment when her world had fallen apart, splintered and shattered to lie at her feet like shards of glass.

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes. "Tell her… I'm dealing as best I can." It wasn't the best of answers, but it was truthful, and Cathryn would take comfort in the fact that she had actually given a reply, instead of just ignoring the question.

She quickly pulled off her clothes and body armour, leaving them in a heap on the bathroom floor, along with her weapons. She stepped into the tub and turned on the shower full-blast, letting the hot water pound against her skin, washing away all the dirt and blood she could only see in her mind. Amidst the hot water of the shower, her tears were invisible.