CHAPTER 8:
Argue
"Are y'all out of yah minds?"
Later in the evening, after the church and some FOH members were arrested, the X-Men and Brotherhood went their separate ways. Except for Rogue.
Instead, the X-men decided not to trust her judgment and council. They came up with a plan together. Gather information to determine who the enemy was and where they would hit next. In jumping the gun, Sam and Tabitha's life was put on the line, with nothing to show.
Before Sam went to bed for the night, he escorted Rogue to the professor's office. She patiently waited in a cushioned chair by the window. For twenty minutes, she talked herself to calm her anger and not blow up in their faces.
Then, she saw Scott's face and erupted from her chair.
"A simple intelligence mission." She snarled, "no fuss. No muss. Yet yah jumped when Ah advised yah against it."
Scott huffed, "they were planning on getting away."
"That's the point, genius!"
Silence stretched throughout the room. Logan stepped in between them, allowing Rogue to take a step back and breathe.
"Now, Ah have to correct yah mistake because yah couldn' wait." She put her hands on her hips. The urge hit him firmly. "If yah trusted me—"
Scott scoffed, "Trust you? Why would I trust the person in bed with Mystique?"
A battle of wills waged between her and Scott. Rogue wished to go through Logan and put Scott's smug face into the carpet.
What he fails to understand, tonight wasn't about Lord Magneto and or her mother. Tonight was about getting terrorists off the streets. Protect mutants and their allies. Let's face it, reader, the bombing at the rec center was geared toward human partners. Rogue wants the group off the streets, yet Scott thinks she did all this for Magneto and Mystique. The FOH hate them the same as mutants, if not more. They think it's betrayal.
"Ah, a mind of my own."
"You have a funny way of showing it."
Rogue pulled a disk from her bomber jacket, "Here's the footage we gathered from the rally. People yah lookin' for are Cameron Hodge and Graydon."
Logan took it.
Scott rested his hip against the couch, "No last name?"
Rolling her shoulders, Rogue shoved her way around Logan toward the door.
Xavier finally spoke, "Are you sure you want to nullify our relationship?"
Rogue said over her shoulder, "For a partnership to work, yah gotta trust all parties involved. Y'all have a goodnight."
Out the door, she shook her head.
In truth, she didn't wish to get the Circle involved. One, they stopped caring about the stakes after the Miami bombing. It wasn't a priority. No money or status was lost. Now she must find the words to get them interested.
Rogue went; all eyes fell on Scott.
"What were you thinking?" Xavier was displeased. Without tipping his hand, he can't keep an eye on her and figure out her true intentions. The partnership they held with The Brotherhood and Rogue crumbled.
Scott's brow rose above his glasses, pointing to himself, "Me?! We had the leaders in the church. It was time to act."
"By blasting your way through the doors?" Storm got up from her spot on the couch. There's more to her relationship with Rogue than she's letting on. Her past business is hers alone. Though it seems odd, Xavier isn't sure if it's helping or hurting the X-Men.
All will be revealed in due time.
He hopes before it's too late.
Changing the subject, "Isn't it odd Rogue mentioned Cameron's last name, not Graydon's?"
Xavier pushed back in his chair, "what are you suggesting?"
"She could know him," Scott spoke plainly.
"And protect him," Logan shrugged.
"Are you sure?" Storm said, standing up for Rogue, "or are we trying to make Rogue look like the villain because she does things differently?"
Fair point.
"Ororo is right," Xavier wasn't sure he'd agree Rogue was innocent. Focusing on her could take up resources on the FOH and the big players. "Let's reconvene tomorrow and look at this with fresh eyes."
Scott was the last to leave, but Xavier stopped him, "oh, and Scott, tomorrow. You will head over to the boarding house and apologize to Rogue. You may not trust her, but she is right; you ruined a vital mission and then blamed her for going wrong."
Scott nodded. His shoulders slumped.
Xavier leaned farther into his chair. There are too many players on the chess board. Taking them out isn't easy. One crisis at a time, right reader?
Unlike the Four Seasons' formalities, the Inner Circle members came together in its cigar room. Rogue stepped into the room. She looked left and right and saw all the furniture was set up similarly. The same brown leather couch, chocolate brown single chair, lights, and shelves for cigars were set up mirroring one another. The black court sat on the left, looking at the white. A deep brown table sat toward the back of the room, where the shaded window sat perfectly in the middle of the wall.
Upon her arrival, the members of each court moved to the conference table. The white and black kings sat on either end of the table. The opposing queens to his right, then bishop and rook. The white Queen's princess sat behind her, legs crossed, eyes glued to Rogue.
Rogue took the empty seat offered to her by Uriel Worthington.
One of the cigar girls came over to the Black King, Peter Shaw, lighting his cigar. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"You called this meeting Anna (Rogue); you can start us off." His voice was soft with a bit of grit. The ladies adored it until his wonderfully awful fiancé spooked them away.
She's jumping the gun, reader.
For those who don't know, the Shaw children, Peter, Sebastian, William, and August, were born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The industrial city of the east coast. Their father worked alongside the Essex family for years, gaining funds to beat into their children. At the young age of 21, Peter saw his first billion after creating his technology company at 17. William is on his way, thanks to the booming worldwide clubs. She forgets what Sebastian does, but she's sure he's also a billionaire.
He had the idea, with her and a few young mutants, of creating a society of strong, powerful, and influential mutants to manipulate mutant rights in their favor. Up until now, it's worked.
"Ah, know who the face of the FOH is," Her eyes landed on Warren, the white bishop, "it's yah old roomie."
His bright blue eyes bulged out of his head, "You're not serious."
She wasn't too sure what the falling out was. All she learned; it wasn't pretty. Warren feared for his life and asked to be removed from Gray and Cameron's dorm. Why? She'll ask when she sees Graydon.
"Haven't seen him since graduation."
"Okay?" Emma snapped, "This isn't about you."
When and how she and Warren started warring with one another, Rogue wasn't too sure. Another conversation she'll have offline.
On Peter's right, Emma sat. The White Queen. A stubborn woman. One Rogue learned to trust. Emma isn't the nicest person in the world, far from it. She feared the ice-cold Queen would eat her up and spit her out again. Instead, Emma took her under her wing, and they're closer than ever.
"And you want us to do what?"
Rogue leaned deeper into her chair, humming, "kill the bastard." She said plainly.
The table erupted into laughter. Unbelieving she was severe.
Wiping a tear from his eyes, Warren sobered, "Rogue, they're in the public eye."
"And here Ah thought Robert Kelly was in our pocket," Rogue craned her neck to the side, studying each member around the table. Her glance stopped at Peter.
His eyes turned a storm gray, "What do you mean, was?"
Inspecting her chipped nails, reminding herself to get a manicure, Rogue's eyes flicked around. A smug smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, "he supplyin' the damned Friends of the got damn Humanity. While Cameron and his partner endorse him for Mayor." She leaned forward, "Did y'all spies miss that lil' detail?"
Peter's brow furrowed, "Your job as the leader of the Brotherhood is—"
"Put people back in line," Rogue scoffed, "and apprehend any key information for key layers involved. Ah can put Kelly back in line, but Cameron is a problem y'all need to deal with."
Peter shot out of his chair. His hands raked through his hair, trying to think.
Rogue smirked. Shaw is a sharp tool in the shed. Sometimes, the most brilliant.
"Continue to monitor the FOH in Bayville, Kelly, and Cameron," Peter commanded. He took another deep breath, "We'll deal with the brains of the operation, Graydon Creed, and the council of the FOH."
Rogue blinked.
From the corner of her eyes, Lyla was silent.
A smug smile crawled back to his lips, "Oh yes, we know about your dearest brother being in charge of the FOH, started it up with his bare hands." Unbuttoning his sleek black blazer, Peter sat back in his chair. A thorn in his eyes. His dark gaze slid over to Lyla, clapping, "I think we will have Lyla deal with him. Her job as a Rook is to protect all threats against the court."
Lyla's neck snapped in his direction, disbelief written on her face.
She wasn't sure who she wanted to protect more. Lyla cried wolf, saying Gray used to abuse her while living under the same roof. Rogue didn't believe them because he treated her like a princess. Treated her better than Owen, her father, and Raven. It made no sense to her, but she didn't want Lyla to snap and let all her years of 'trauma' inflict pain and death upon their oldest brother. Rogue wanted him to at least explain himself.
If need be, she'll kill him herself. But she wanted the right, not Lyla.
"If yah want the Brotherhood to do its job. Then we will take care of all the FOH. Graydon included."
Peter tilts his head, "Are you doubting Lyla's capabilities?"
"Due to the nature of our history—"
Selene raised her hand, stopping her from continuing, "Are you saying I haven't trained my Rook appropriately?" The black Queen specializes in breaking all the recruits. She broke them until they couldn't handle it. She wasn't sure when her training with Lyla occurred, but she could agree it was torturous.
Change yah tune gal; she told herself, "Ah'm sayin', Ah don't want that burden on—"
Her phone buzzed on the table, snapping the seriousness out of the room. She sighed and pressed it to her ear, "What?" She whispered harshly.
"Are you still making it to the Bayville basketball game?" Tabby asked from the other side.
"Are yah serious? Ah'm in the middle of an important meetin'," Rogue smiled at the table.
"Right," Shuffling and screams were heard, "Well, I tried to tell you the FOH were here…separatin' the mutants from the humans. How they know our faces, no clue."
Then, the phone went dead. She said tabby's name a few times but didn't respond.
Shit.
Rogue gathered her things on her way out when she stopped, "If yah so much as kill him before Ah had a chance to talk to him, Ah will find a way to kill yah myself." Rogue snarled toward Lyla.
Peter whistled, "A bit harsh, don't you think, Annie?"
Her response to him was the slam of the door.
She doesn't have the time to deal with them right now. Her team needed her, and she would not neglect them because suits tried to pull her somewhere else.
AN: This is a shorter chapter, reader but I promise the next one is worth your wild. Some things will reveal themselves to you.