Spun

By Liz Wyatt

Chapter Eleven: Not Fair

He got away with the ultimate shakedown

He ran away from the scene of the crime

He got away from everyone in his way

Gone, and not a trace left behind

It's not fair

To catch me out

It's not fair

To leave me in doubt

No it's not fair

To not explain

It's not fair

To leave a mess behind

-Delta Goodrem

"Was she even real?" Rogue asked. The pain in her shoulder was subsiding, but she still found it difficult to maneuver herself into a position that would invoke a sense of an upper hand.

She felt angry, scared, and confused all in one. This combination showed on her features as her eyebrows knit together, her eyes widened, and her mouth bit down into a hard line.

"Yes. She is very real." Cold. Simple. No remorse. Rogue shouldn't have expected anything less.

A few hours earlier

"Professor, I don't know what happened to her. She was with me when I came to the door." She was just as confused as the men staring her down.

"I've been trying to get a lock on her location. My powers are not up to their full strength at the moment. I know that she is still in the mansion. Her mind's presence has not left. Yet she is too far away for me to attempt going inside her psyche." The professor stated.

Logan approached the door as Rogue turned to exit through. Logan crossed his large muscular arms, one over the other to rest across his broad chest. He appeared to be puffing it out to scare her.

"Not just yet. You two may have the pleasure of being in the know on this one, but me and blue here are not as quick to join that party. Kid, you mind telling me who this girl you came with is?"

"You already met her Logan. It's Teva."

His eyes searched hers. His nose crinkled as if he seemed to be running through a file cabinet of stored memories. Nothing was clicking.

"The girl you brought in from the rain." Rogue tried to remember how Logan had found Teva. That night seemed so far gone from their current situation. The truth was that it had only a little less than a week ago. "She…she smelled like vanilla I think. She said it was her moms…"

Logan's eyes widened.

"I've been searching for that damn kid ever since that day! Storm has been on my ass about her and you took her off to be some sidekick in your adventure!?"

The professor coughed as Logan raised his voice again. Rogue was getting tired of the professor's study. She wanted to push through the man who was towering over her and as she thought more about the notion her fingers began to play into fists.

Logan looked at her hands and back at her face. Wordlessly he stepped aside. Her face didn't feel like it had changed but inside she felt a sense of euphoria that Logan had backed down. She immediately rushed into the hallway and ran to search for Teva.

"Rogue!" Jubilee yelled as Rogue whipped by her on the staircase.

Rogue only paused on the last step to turn to her friend. "Have you seen her? The girl I came with. Did you see where she went?"

Jubilee replied, "Kitty found her. They walked towards the lifts, but I haven't seen them in a while."

Rogue looked down the hall to see the elevator. Her focus became those hidden doors in the paneling, but she realized that Kitty and Teva could be anywhere by now. "Was she alone?"

Jubilee looked confused. "Do you mean that girl or do you mean was kitty alone?"

"Kitty. Was she alone or…"

Jubilee smiled sadly, "Bobby wasn't with her."

"Did Kitty say anything about where she was going?"

"Umm.." but as Jubilee stood there trying to recall her memories the alarm on Rogue's x-men wristband began to wail.

"What the hell?" Rogue whispered.

Beast came down the staircase. He wasn't exactly running, but more like hopping. Rogue swore that he had probably run on all fours until the staircase.

"What is it? What's going on?"

"We aren't sure. Someone pressed the alarm in the lab downstairs. The professor sent me to see what it is."

He proceeded to go into the elevator. Rogue followed him in.

"I have a bad feeling I know who did it." Rogue stated as the doors slid closed. Even though the elevator ride was only a few seconds, Rogue's palms began to sweat. She hoped that the feeling that was now overtaking her would disappear, but as she went over the facts in her mind it all began to make more sense. She hoped that she would be wrong and that Teva would be waiting with open arms for her. She looked at her reflection in the elevator doors and immediately the thought of John standing behind her in that very elevator not too long ago made her stomach drop even more. She wondered where he was. What he was doing. What Magneto was brainwashing him with.

The elevator doors opened to the basement floor. The overhead lights were flickering, but the hall was not in complete darkness as the baseboard lit a trail into the laboratories. Slowly she and Beast approached the laboratories. They could see through the large glass windows that there had been a struggle.

Rogue signaled to Beast that she was going to go in first and even as he shook his head to disagree she pushed the door gradually in. The door pushed into broken glass and smeared serums. The floor was littered with more broken vials that stained everywhere they touched.

Then Rogue saw Kitty's body lying on her stomach in the corner. As Rogue rushed to Kitty she forgot about any looming danger. She flipped Kitty onto her side. She heard some low moans and mumbles, but Rogue was more concerned with the cuts across Kitty's face and hands. There also appeared to be some glass in Kitty's right leg as there was a streak of blood surrounding her lower half.

"Kitty! Are you alright? Where did she go?"

Kitty mumbled, but her face constricted as she was in obvious pain.

"I'm calling up to the professor right now to sound the full school alarm and then we need to get her into a clean lab." Beast said as he dialed the phone hooked to the wall nearest him.

Rogue nodded towards Beast. She was about to say something, but she felt Kitty's hand grab her forearm. Rogue quickly turned her head quizzically.

"She had a gun. I…I…my powers…they didn't work." Kitty began to tear up, "I don't know what happened…my powers…"

"It's okay Kitty. It's all going to be okay." As Rogue said that she heard a loud crash as Beast was thrown into the lab table. In the doorway stood Teva looking in Rogue's direction.

"Rogue." Kitty's voice squeaked out in a panic.

Rogue patted Kitty's arm to reassure her. Then she rose to stand facing the door.

"You get what you wanted?" Rogue said coldly.

"More or less." The voice was that of the sweet girl Rogue had met, but she knew that behind it was nothing sweet.

"I can't let you leave. You know that."

"I was hoping you'd feel some sort of guilt and let me go I mean you are the reason I got into this mess in the first place. If Pyro hadn't been so blind by you then he wouldn't have put me in danger."

"Shut up! It's pretty obvious you didn't need John at all."

"On the contrary. She did."

Rogue ran at the girl. She expected a fight to break out, but what she didn't expect was a gun to be drawn and shot before Rogue could reach the door. As she felt a shock rip into her shoulder her body fell to the ground. There were no bullets. She realized that this gun must have been the weapon that John had told her about back in the motel room. Rogue heard cries of pain, but it took her a few seconds to realize that those sounds were not from the body behind her, but rather her own mouth. The shock was still running down her arm and into her chest. She heard Kitty yell her name, but the world was muffling in her ears as the heat enveloped her face.

The girl that was Teva began to turn into the hallway.

"Was she even real?" Rogue yelled through the pain.

"Yes. She is very real." Cold. Simple. No remorse. Rogue shouldn't have expected anything less. Teva's eyes flickered to the true yellow ones beneath the surface.

Then she was gone. Rogue tried to push to her knees while holding her shoulder with the opposite hand.

Beast, apparently recovering from his unconsciousness was back at her side. He helped her stand.

"Help kitty." The words came out more as a growl. Rogue regretted being short with the man helping her, but her heart was hurting. In the moments that she realized that Teva could have been a character that Mystique had created she never thought that Teva actually could have been a real person that Rogue had met. Now she was left uncertain if Teva was safe and unclear if John knew the whole time.

The professor and Logan had arrived at the scene too late to stop Mystique from escaping. Even as Logan tried to follow her scent it was determined that she was too far for him to keep tracking. After hearing of the commotion Bobby came into the lab where the professor had moved Kitty. Rogue was propped on a chair in the corner-letting Beast examine the wound in her shoulder.

The pain was replaced by a numbness extending throughout one side of her body. She was amazed that the pulse hadn't shocked her heart right into cardiac arrest. Beast was more concerned with determining how the pulse was meant to stun the powers in mutants.

Bobby stood in the door staring at Kitty as the professor was bandaging her, but as he glanced into the corner where Rogue peered back his face swept between anger and concern.

Maybe he could still care after everything. Sure, Rogue didn't have sympathy for his situation, but she knew that what they had shared between them would not disappear. 'Could this be one of the stages?' she wondered. First you're upset and seeking revenge, but at some point you have to let the anger go and try to remember that you care about each other. Even with this possible enlightenment she knew that she'd have to wait and see how Bobby treated her because if he was still determined to be a jerk then she had no problem reintroducing him to her fist.

"Who did this?" Bobby asked the obvious.

The professor looked in Rogue's direction. She didn't know why he couldn't just tell Bobby since it was obvious that the professor knew the truth. It seemed on Rogue had been blinded by the girl.

"Mystique." Rogue said simply. Bobby's eyes widened and he moved swiftly to peer over Kitty.

"You okay…" he said quietly. Kitty's face moved into a smile small, but her eyes were wary. Rogue wondered what Kitty's apprehension meant, but she was too preoccupied to care.

Bobby raised his head and walked around Kitty's bed so the professor could continue bandaging his new girlfriend. He walked to Rogue and crossed his arms across his chest. Beast looked between the two and said, "all done here Rogue, let me know when you get the feeling back fully." He then proceeded to go to Kitty's other side.

Bobby remained looking at Rogue in silence.

"Is there something you wanted to say?" Rogue said a bit harshly, but she caught herself to smooth out her features to reassure him that she wasn't mad at him.

"Do you know why she came here?" Bobby asked.

"No. I suppose you blame me for not realizing that she wasn't an 8 year old girl though, right?"

His eyes were still guarded, as he replied, "no."

What did that mean? No he didn't blame her or something else? Rogue looked at him expectantly as though he should have more to say as some sort of confirmation.

After a few seconds he opened his mouth again to say, "Does it hurt?" he gestured to her shoulder.

She tried to move her shoulder up and down and while she saw it happen all she felt was the tingling sensation of pins and needles. "I've been better. I think your girl got worse off. Not sure what I'd do if I relied on my powers."

Bobby looked confused at her statement. Rogue knew he wouldn't understand and as much as she hated to admit it the only person who probably would understand was off playing villain. The truth was that Rogue wasn't scared when she got shot. If it had happened months before when she barely knew how to defend herself without relying on her powers then she would have been doomed. She knew that Kitty could fight either way, but she also realized that Kitty was probably more spooked than in actual pain.

"Thanks." Bobby said with a sigh. Rogue realized that she must have spaced out in her thoughts because she hadn't been paying attention to him. His eyes tried to convey his gratitude as he glanced at Kitty.

"Yeah…much good I did" Rogue said quietly.

Bobby heard her, but didn't respond. It was possible that he was feeling conflicted on his loyalties and responsibility towards his past and present girlfriends Rogue assumed.

"Rogue, do you have any idea where Mystique will be headed?" The Professor asked.

Logan appeared at the door then. Rogue spoke all the while looking between Logan and Bobby.

"She'll be going back to Magneto I suppose. He took John which means that he was either following him or had Mystique doing the tracking."

"We should determine the nature of these guns and in order to that we will need some government access." The professor stated towards Beast.

"I will try my best, but they have been blocking me out more and more it seems."

"Maybe they don't like their politicians getting wrapped up in fights against their own military." Logan smirked.

Beast returned the comment with a smile, "it would appear that way."

"What about Teva?" Rogue asked.

"Who?" Bobby asked.

"Teva, the girl that Mystique came disguised as."

"What about her?" Bobby asked again.

"We can't just leave her there with Magneto. We have to find her." Rogue said as she began to get off her chair.

"Rogue-" the professor began.

"No. I know that you all probably think I'm crazy, but she doesn't deserve to be held there against her will." Rogue stated and was surprised when no one was jumping to support her.

"Who says she's there against her will. Maybe she helped in this whole thing." Bobby said.

"No, she wouldn't do that."

"How do you know that?" Bobby was beginning to get frustrated with Rogue.

"I…" Rogue began, but couldn't think fast enough to respond. She wasn't sure what a rational reasoning would be. Did she really believe in this girl that much or was she really talking about finding John. Her lips tingled at the memory of his mouth on hers. It hadn't been what she expected and while she knew it was wrong she had regained some faith in her old friend in that embrace.

"Sorry kid, but we can't just go in there blind. Let's see what Magneto's next move will be." Logan said with a reassuring glance showing that he was hopeful that she would know that he was on her side.

Kitty was sitting up now and Rogue shrunk into her corner as the Professor helped Kitty to stand and Bobby came around to her side to support her if she needed. Beast also paid close attention to Kitty as he removed her heart monitor.

Logan was staring at Rogue as she quietly exited the lab and headed for the elevator.

"It's not about the girl." Logan stated in the hallway as she was waiting for the elevator door to open.

Rogue thought about what she would say to Logan. Her head swung to look him in the eye. "He came to me. He risked it all to help this girl. I can't just ignore that."

Logan didn't move. No smile. No reaction except a slight nod in understanding.

Rogue entered the elevator and sighed as her reflection appeared in front of her. She looked at her form staring back at her and raised her right arm. She pounded on the door in frustration. She was tired and although her tears sat along her eyelids she didn't let them fall. She rested her head on the reflection and took a few deep breaths to compose herself.

The doors opened to her floor and as she walked out into the corridors she realized how late it was. There were no sounds coming from the rooms and no movement in the corridor. When she finally trudged up in front of her door she hesitated. Her body called for her to rest, but her mind was telling her to run. She wasn't sure where she was meant to run to, but nonetheless her mind commanded her to do so.

"Hey." A voice said quietly from behind her. Rogue wondered if she could be imagining HIS voice.

"Rogue." The thick accent played with her name.

"Peter." Rogue stated more for herself as she turned to face him.

"You alright?" Peter asked concerned. "You didn't come back after the fight."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Bobby said you went AWOL."

"Yeah…I had a momentary lapse in judgment." Rogue said while refusing to look him in the eye.

"Kitty told me that you pummeled some bad guys." Peter smiled.

Rogue finally peered into his eyes. "Yeah I guess I did." She couldn't help smiling because his smile was infectious.

"Not to mention the job you did on Bobby." He was smiling wider.

Rogue turned concerned then. "Did he-"

"No, no. He didn't tell anyone. The bruises were noticeable enough though. He said it was the fight, but you could tell. Kitty let on after a while, but only to me and Jubilee."

Rogue laughed. "Guess he didn't want to admit that a girl got to him."

"Guess not. So…you sticking around for a bit?" Peter asked.

"Yeah… I think so." Rogue said.

"Good. I've got a few new moves for you." He put up his fists in a playful way to show her. He pushed out his right hand to show her a pretend punch and she caught it with her own hand while laughing. In a second Rogue felt a tingle in her fingertips and she quickly released his fist. He didn't seem to notice much, but Rogue was able to hear him lose his breath for a second.

Her eyes went wide and she threw her hands together behind her back.

"Rogue?" Peter asked bewildered.

"I…I've got to go to bed now." Rogue said as she shuffled to unlock her door. She threw open the door and shut it quickly behind her. Leaning against the now closed door she began to hyperventilate. She looked at her hands and yet she couldn't control her breathing.

Had she imagined it? Peter didn't seem to notice, but the sensation was so familiar.

A/N: So not a long chapter and I apologize for it not being AMAZING or up to par, but what can I say? I got busy with school and my birthday. It happens. I appreciate everyone that reads this chapter because it means you're still interested even as I am a sucky updater.

I think the problem was that when you try to be sneaky in your storylines and someone guesses where you're going you get kind of discouraged. Hopefully my writing makes up for my predictability. Happy reading and hopefully I can round things up in a few longer chapters because Rogue needs some loving.

Stick with me and I'm sorry again!