How did this turn into a fairly civil meeting? The X-men were shaking their heads.
At least, it was civil for the DJs and Magneto, who were now talking.
Not so civil for Rogue, who flew over to Mystique now that there was a lull, and shook her.
"What did you do?" she said.
Mystique couldn't exactly answer.
"Time out," Morph said. "I get it, Rogue, but the whole thing isn't how it looks. I don't know what I believe and what I don't, but Shine accepted it."
"Wait...I know," Rogue said. "I still have Psylocke's powers: Did you sell us out?"
Leave it to Rogue to use violence first when she still had borrowed telepathy.
Mystique brushed herself off. "No...not exactly."
"That don't help," Rogue said.
"I was made to," Mystique said.
"You always say that." Rogue frowned. "But is that really true, Momma?"
"How could I have avoided it? You have the power yourself, don't you?" Mystique said. "You can tell if I lie, can't you? I don't know how Psylocke discovered I was here or knew about the house... One of you must have let that slip--who else knew? Or Sabretooth...but then, he never mentioned that..."
"No, it wasn't him..." Rogue said, suddenly frowning. "Oh...maybe those guesses were right, then. Warren told her."
Mystique looked surprised only for a moment. "I see...but how did he know? Other than what he saw on the island...but that wasn't that much."
"I guess he heard from the MacTaggerts, and it just went on from there." Rogue bit her lip. "And he passed it on to her...so that's why. Here I kind of hoped it wasn't his fault after all... Sorry, Momma."
"Sorry?" Mystique said. "That fool. What was he even thinking would come of it? I can't help them..." She stared at the ground. "Not that it matters. That little witch went straight to Magneto and told him the whole story, both true and false, as I take it. I don't know exactly. So yes, I told them some of what I knew, but mostly I was just trying to stay out of it. I know you know I'm being honest."
"I do, but I can't figure why," Rogue said. "And why did ya run off without so much as a fare-thee-well, anyway? This couldn't have happened if ya didn't do that, y'know."
"I really don't see what would have changed, other than the timing," Mystique said flatly. "And let's not pretend, Rogue. You didn't want to see me anyway. I did you a favor."
"A favor?" Rogue said. "I--wait, do you actually believe that?" She got an odd look. "That's real strange. I almost can't tell."
Mystique couldn't tell either. She half convinced herself with her own reasoning, most of the time. "I might." She shrugged.
"So are you telling me, dat she actually didn't?" Gambit was puzzled. "Dat jus' don't add up."
"Believe it or not, I guess so." Rogue shrugged. "Who knew?"
"That's the biggest surprise in all this," Logan said. "What's the matter, did ya finally grow a conscience?"
Mystique cut her eyes at him. "I don't answer to you anymore."
"Why, you--" Logan stepped forward.
"Let's not do this," Storm cut in. "I think we should be happy if her actions were, for once, less reproachable. Perhaps there is something in Shine's optimism after all. At least no one was hurt."
