The air was cold in the office. Raven still didn't know what she was doing here. It had been several months since the time when she had allowed herself to be captured. She was not here now as a prisoner, and she was not here for information- rather she was here to tell everything she knew.

Don't try to find me…

I don't need to try, Eric, I know you better than you think, she thought idly as she waited for the officers to prepare their recording equipment. She had recovered no trace of Eric or the others, no clue as to where they went had been left behind in the base. Eric had been efficient to take everything they needed, happy to leave her behind as she slept off the onslaught that he had unleashed upon her in the night.

It was a strange feeling to be suddenly so alone. That strange sensation had creeped up and down her spine and built into a thundering in her temples. Loneliness, fury and a desperate need for revenge had overridden any semblance of mutant pride that she had clung to. Eric was right, again.

She was no longer one of them, Mystique was gone, she had disappeared when the cure had been injected. Raven had returned, only now she was wiser and stronger than the girl she had been when Eric had found her and taken her in as his own. Raven shook her head- that was a long time ago, she was a human now.

And as a human, wasn't it her duty to inform the authorities of the impending danger and chaos that would soon befall Alcatraz Island? Raven sighed and shifted in her seat. The coffee was bad- so much money spent on political gain, and yet no one could spring for Starbucks?

Raven glared to herself as she thought of Eric- she cared nothing for mutant domination anymore, the flight had left her months ago, when she had fallen as one of the first casualties. She wanted him back in his big plastic box, deprived of his powers and driven mad by boredom, alone with only his memories left for comfort. It would be fitting, to have him back in prison, only this time he would know that she would not lift a finger to rescue him.

She sighed again. The door opened. Her eyes widened in surprise, it was the same man who had handled her interrogation all those months ago! Small world, she thought.

"Well, isn't this a lovely surprise. Ms. Darkholme, I presume?"

It had been a long time since she'd thought to use her last name. "Yes, hello."

He placed a tape recorder on the table top and sat down across from her at the table. She wanted to wipe the smug smirk off of his face, but she knew that she deserved it- she deserved all the taunting that she was sure to receive. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you here. My superiors have informed me that the cure is viable, and you are our proof of it. They also tell me that you've come to us, willing to cooperate in the capture of Magneto. Please, for our investigators, I'd like you to tell me everything that's happened between the prison trailer and today."

Raven sighed. "All right. Er- Magneto stopped the prison trailer. You already know that. We were releasing the other prisoners when one of your guards aimed a cure gun at him. I stepped in and was shot. I am here before you as a human- I've been human for these past months."

"You took the bullet for him." There was no mockery in the interrogator's voice.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Raven paused. "He…it doesn't matter now. May I continue?"

"By all means."

"John killed the guard who had shot me. My body morphed back to my human self, and we made our way to a nearby base. It's a large house, located about a mile or so from the site where the prison trailer was destroyed. We've been living at the base all this time- save for the occasions whenMagneto would leave to recruit more members to the Brotherhood. I don't know how large their numbers are, but by now I'm sure it's at least over a hundred."

The interrogator nodded and jotted a few notes on a steno pad. "Now, you're telling me that Magneto allowed you to stay on, even as you were a human?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Raven sighed, "I don't know. During that time, I never spoke with Magneto. I suppose that, as a human, I fell beneath his notice. He allowed me to stay…with the silent understanding that I kept to myself."

The man across from her nodded once more, scribbled another note. "I understand. You've been living among them, but no longer as one of them."

"Yes."

"Tell me what happened when you were separated from Magneto and the rest. What happened on the final day, he must have said something?"

Raven remembered the note, it was tucked away in her purse. "He didn't mention much. But you know I've worked with him for years, I know his habits. There is a meeting place where the whole of the Brotherhood will gather and Magneto will outline the plan of attack."

The interrogator leaned forward. "Tell me more, and you will be granted full amnesty, a new identity, everything,"

Raven sighed one more time, and then the words poured from her like a fountain.

One week later, Michelle Sanders, once known as Raven Darkholme, once known as Mystique, sat alone in a hotel bar in Manhattan and watched the war between mutants and humans rage on a wall-mounted television.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She told herself that it was just allergies.