Hello there readers! I know another chapter already. This one contains violence which might be a little scary for some readers. You've been warned. Also so happy I've got so many views after starting to write again. The support is tremendous and I'm really grateful for it.

Chapter Six

Inspiration

She loved Rogue. She knew she did. Why else would she so long to have her back? She missed her when she left, and it was perhaps the strangest of emotions Raven could fathom. She'd never really cared for anyone in such a way and having the girl apart from her hurt. It was this feeling of being at loss she had to correct. Otherwise Mystique would never feel quite as powerful as she had before. She felt weak. Every time she thought of the girl being happy because of someone else's action envy boiled within her.

It was the early morning and the sun was only rising over the city. In the form of an old woman she stalked along the streets to the alley they'd arranged to meet. He was standing there, a smug grin on his face.

This was the man she'd hired to shoot the Cajun, a proud member of The Friends of Humanity and a police officer. He was dressed in his uniform, his working day was about to begin. Mystique was disgusted that she'd ever associate herself with such bigoted scum. She tossed him a small clear bag of money, mostly fifty dollar bills.

"Why thank you ma'am." He said cheerily. His podgy fingers dipped into the bag and an ecstatic grin came to his face.

The old woman shook her head, "The pleasure is all mines, and you did what I needed done."

"Well if you ever need more than a shot to wound you know where to find me. Grim things are mutants. If I had my way I'd have us shoot the lot of 'em." He took a step to leave the dark alley and he grimaced as his eyes adjusted to the harsh morning sunlight.

Raven's body started to tremble. She knew the man was bad, being a member of FoH and all but that was like a personal attack. Fury started to bubble within her.

Two hands with long strong fingers grabbed his shirt and pulled him back with such force that it couldn't have been the sweet old woman he'd done business with. His body was pulled further back, until he slammed against one of the walls. The impact on his head and neck made him bite through his lower lip. Involuntarily he yelped like a little dog. Blood started to seep down his chin.

"Where are you!?" he called out, still leaning fearfully against the wall. There was no answer, in the dark he saw little. The woman who had only moments ago given him money was gone.

A black shadow moved. A black shadow with glowing yellow eyes moved. It was no cat. His heart started to beat hard against his ribs. Fear swept through him and he froze to the spot.

There was a cackle, a hard, wicked sound. The female voice was not old, it was ageless and menacing. "You are the very reason that people like me exist. You are the scum of this Earth. But I'm going to prevent you from ever spreading your hatred and lies ever again."

The blue face with the red hair and the skull necklace was suddenly inches from his, she reminded him in that instance of an African tribal mask. The officer tried to scream but nothing escaped him. Then there was that twisted smile with the teeth that were just too unnaturally white and the curl of the lips that just made his every instinct scream. He in a place beyond danger.

"And you call us the monsters?" Suddenly he was no longer looking at a mutant but at himself, as if he was gazing into a mirror. "The only monster I can see is you!"

And she shot him with his own gun, in hands that would only leave his fingerprints. The body slid down the wall. There he sat against the wall, with a splatter of crimson decorating the grey bricks behind him. She lay the gun beside him and checked her hair in his badge, as if this was all perfectly normal. Returning to daylight she morphed back into the innocent old women she had been before.

She knew what had to be done. That encounter had inspired her. The thought hit her more abruptly than those rays of golden light.

Violence.

That was where she felt both of their hearts lay. LeBeau she knew had been brought upon among family feuds and crime. He was brought up around it. Though by researching as much as she could about him after hearing the recordings and seeing the photographs she had found him to be quite the noble character now. Somewhere deep within that mutant there had to be the remnants of violence. It fragmented like glass. The little shards could lay buried for years before a sudden jolt would cause a bleed.

Then there was Anna Marie. That was her name, little untouchable Anna. Raven had taken her in, at first out of pity and of awe at the potential of the girl's as yet unharnessed power. The girl had been put through so much after the powers manifested. Her trailer-trash father, as ignorant as they come had hurled abuse at and disowned her. Then there was Rogue's unfortunate time in the brotherhood. Though Miss Marple was silenced, Mystique had the suspicion others would have an adverse affect on the girls psyche. Every touch made her take in a part of someone else and not everyone left a positive mark.

Thus they were a doomed combination she thought. Both had burning passion, but that fire would create embers of anger and irritation, particularly with their lack of physical contact. Raven saw it as almost inevitable that as a couple they would turn on each other and rapture the X-men 'family', where as within the bounds friendship they had not. With only a little effort she would gain her daughter back.

Smirking, the little figure of an elderly female marched on.

The city was waking up.