[OP: "Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego?" --uploaded by batmek 22]

Mystique's old team told them the same as the others--and insulted her also.

It seemed to bother her less. She had a low opinion of them.

They said she got Pyro and Avalanche arrested.

"Actually that was us," Scott said. "We can add you to that, or you can cooperate."

"They're telling the truth," Emma said wearily. "Not that they don't deserve it."

They backed up. Telepaths made them as nervous as Mystique.

"The only one we haven't tried is Vertigo," Storm said, as they walked back to the plane. "But it seems unlikely she'd know any more. The others all work for Magneto now. We can't go to their camp."

"If that is our only lead..." Emma began.

"No, that's foolish," Scott said. "Better to bring them to us."

He looked at Shine.

"Kidnapping is beneath me," Shine said. "Thanks."

"This is an emergency on par with Apocalypse. You don't think you could bend your rules?" Scott said.

"Bending rules at your first convenience renders them pointless," Shine said. "I don't want to stoop to their level. We can do this the right way. Don't ask me again." She crossed her arms.

"There is one person you could try," Mystique said. "But none of us would like it."

"Who, Sabretooth?" Logan said.

"No," Mystique said. "But close... Creed." She folded her arms.

"Your...son?" Rogue said.

"The lunatic?" Gambit said. "He'd never have worked with Sinister."

Mystique shrugged. "He knew a lot about the X-men; Sinister spied on them a long time. When Creed tracked me down, I always wondered how he did it. Sinister would know how..."

"But why would Sinister help him destroy mutants?" Shine said.

"Perhaps that was not the original deal, but neither of them would think anything of double crossing the other," Mystique said. "All the info on Morph, Creed had. I didn't tell him. I only found out later. He knew other things too. Technically, Sinister is not a mutant. Perhaps Creed would work with him on that technicality."

"I like that even less than the others," Logan said.

"I sent Creed a care package," Shine said, "some time ago. I know where he's being held."

"Why would you do dat?" Gambit said. "He not want it."

"I know," Shine said. "Why does that matter?"

Gambit was silent.

"Who is this Creed?" Emma said. "What is this FOH you're all thinking of?"

"You don't have that?" Kitty said. "Lucky."

"Yes, the MRD is so much better," Emma said sarcastically.

"If we have nothing else to try..." Scott said. "But they won't let us see him."

"Oh, yes, they will," Emma said, with a determined look.

* * *

She was right...once she used her power on them.

"Telepathy is really OP," Wally said, as they walked in, unhindered, escorted by some guards, who were convinced they were authorized personnel.

"Don't they have visiting hours?" Morph joked weakly.

"Yes...then they would record us," Emma said disdainfully.

Most of the X-men had to wait outside. They would be recognized otherwise.

The two shape-shifters were allowed to come, and Emma, who had little to lose by being seen.

At the door of one cell, the guard knocked.

"Hey, Creed, you got a visitor," he leered. "From the State."

"About time," Creed's voice answered, coming to the window.

Emma knocked the guard out mentally.

Creed looked out. "What are you?"

"Nobody," Emma said, putting a hand to her head.

After a minute, she said, "It seems your little hunch was partly right, Mystique. He has been contacted by Sinister...in the past...but nothing new."

"Mystique?" Creed suddenly looked furious. "What...? Is she there?"

He banged on his door. "One of you lousy mutants is hiding there? Trying to pretend to be a normal person?!" Then he saw Shine and Wally. "You! You mutant lovers!"

"Has all this time not taught you anything, Grayton?" Shine asked, once he had stopped yelling for a second.

Grayton swallowed. "You think your pretty words mean anything to me? You're all the same."

"He's lovely," Emma said. "You must be so proud." Looking at Mystique.

Mystique shrugged. "It's not his fault," she said. "His father turned out to be...crazier than expected."

"Oh, don't act like you suddenly care," Creed said. "Are you here to kill me, is that it?"

"If we wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already," Emma said snootily. "We just want to know about Sinister, you buffoon."

"And you're a mutant too?" Creed said. "Why would I help you?"

"You owe us," Wally said. "We didn't hurt you before--we could have. Twice."

"I don't owe any favors to you," Creed sneered.

"All this anger you have," Shine said, "it's so...tiring. Aren't you tired?" She looked at him intently. "Doesn't it get weary holding all this inside yourself? All alone."

Creed started to look uneasy. "Don't try to spin a story to me, you sorceress."

"That's a new one," Wally said.

"What is she doing?" Emma asked Morph. "I need to probe him more."

"Just hold on," Morph said. "Wait."

"Did you know--Sabretooth has been put in prison also?" Shine asked. "Finally. With any luck, he'll be in for a while."

"I heard," Creed sneered. "Too little, too late for that monster."

"Perhaps one could say the same about you," Shine said. "You have turned on your own kind, in your words, as well as mutants. But come, you can at least answer our question. Sinister gave you information, didn't he? All we need to know is if you ever heard anything about him dying?"

"I don't even know who Sinister really is," Creed said. "His tip offs came through video messages. If you must know."

He sniffed. "Not that it matters. He was after mutants, wasn't he? Did he off one of you, or is that too much to hope for?"

"Why, you--" Emma began.

"Shush," Morph said.

"I've never seen him so calm," Mystique muttered.

"This is him calm?" Emma was appalled. "Ugh...horrid."

"Look at it this way," Wally said, "if you help us find him, he'd have a chance to do that, so it's a win-win for you."

Creed seemed to try to fit his brain around that.

"Well, I don't know anything," he said. "But if you want to find people who are after mutants, Genosha is the place to go. Maybe you'd get yourself caught there."

"He did have those collars," Shine said. "And so did that hideout we found. Creed may accidentally have hit upon something...but I don't like it. Trask is long gone, isn't he?"

"They were never part of the FOH," Creed said disgustedly. "They want to use mutants, not eradicate them. They're fools."

"Has it escaped his notice that by all biological probability he should be a mutant?" Emma said. "Why, I bet if he was put in one of those high-stress testing machines, he'd develop a mutation."

"Don't you ever say that to me!" Creed said. "I'm normal! not like you freaks! Go away!"

"Your fear of mutants is irrational, Grayton," Shine said. "I hope you realize that someday...before you waste away your whole life in prison for trying to fight a war no one will ever win. Did you ever get that package I sent, by the way?"

"I destroyed it," Creed said.

"Shame," Shine said. "When are you going to understand your real enemy is within?" She frowned. "Evil. It got your father. Will you let it get you too? Then you will be like him."

"Shut up," Creed said. "I hate him and my mother! She's one of you, isn't she? Doesn't even have the gall to show herself."

Mystique frowned.

Then she reverted to her true form.

Creed was surprised that his jab had worked.

"You don't have to answer him," Morph said. "He's crazy."

Mystique shrugged. "I know crazy."

She glanced at the others, then she stepped closer. 

"Why are you here?" Creed said.

"I suppose it doesn't matter now," Mystique said slowly, "but I guess it should be said... It's true I left you with Sabretooth... At the time, I did not know what kind of man he was. Things were different then. I am not apologizing, but the level of cruelty he is capable of was not my expectation. That is the best I can offer you."

"You think I care?" Creed said. "You're still a mutant! And you abandoned me. Even if I had been one of you disgusting mutants, what difference does it make to monsters like you?"

"This isn't easy to hear even for me," Wally hissed to Shine. 

"I can't apologize," Mystique said. "You were right about me--I act to save myself. I suppose that it the one thing you got from me."

Perhaps that was a worse dig than anything else would have been. It silenced Creed for a split second.

"Still, harming you was unintentional," Mystique said. "That's all."

She hesitated. "My life is not one that makes having a child easy. It seemed better at the time not to trying to fit one into it. Better for both of us. It's cold comfort now, I'm sure. But I didn't put you in prison." She frowned. "So you made little use of your chance at a normal life. They'll let you out though. No one cares about people trying to murder mutants. I'd use your freedom wisely if I were you. Not many mutants would have let you go. Your brother is a rare individual."

"Didn't make you treat him any better, did it?" Creed sneered.

"My treatment of him was never driving his actions," Mystique said, "for which you should be quite grateful. It's the only reason you're alive."

She turned. "We're wasting our time here."

"Wow," Morph said.

"What?" Mystique said.

"That was quite the soap opera," Emma said. "But he'll call the guards on us the moment we're down the hall, so--"

She knocked him out.

"I could suppress his memory of what we said," she said, "but I have felt you'd want him to really savor that last part...so I think I'll just suppress the part where he remembered why we were here and how we got in. No one would believe it as more than a hallucination if he told them."

"That's devious," Wally said. "But I guess.... I don't know. Is that okay, Shine?"

"I suppose a bump on the head might do as much," Shine said. "I don't like memory suppression, but those details don't seem very relevant. It's...a grey area. But only that, Emma. I suppose we can't stop you if you want to... We could, but I don't want you all to be in danger."

"Done already," Emma said. "Why would you even be chary about such a small thing? It's good security. You humans are so jumpy about the littlest things."

"Being human has nothing to do with it. Enough of them would jump at your offer," Shine said. "I've had my memories erased more than once. I don't take it lightly." She frowned at Emma.

Emma had no retort.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Shine asked Mystique aside, once they were outside, and the others were being filled in.

Mystique nodded.

"That was brave," Shine said. "Being honest like that."

Mystique shrugged. "It wasn't... I just figured Kurt has known the truth for some time--and Rogue. Perhaps it was only fair if all of them did."

"Yes, but it's still brave to make that call," Shine said.

"What can he do to me with that information?" Mystique said.

"I wish we could tell him that you stood up to Sabretooth over it," Shine said. "It's...not wrong to try to care just a little, you know. Even if it's late. We all have our lapses in judgment."

"Yours don't get people permanently scarred mentally and physically," Mystique said. "But it is what it is. I'd probably do it again, if it happened again."

"But you didn't want to leave him," Shine said. "Not really... It's not like you knew how he'd turn out then."

"I suppose how he turned out is my fault also," Mystique said. "It came back to bite me...not his father though. Ironic, isn't it?"

"And unfair," Shine said. "All you did was leave...but he is so scared of Sabretooth, it is easier to blame you for leaving him to that, than to say you didn't know and try to see it your way. It was hard to see things my parents' way, after what they did to me."

"And you see it now?" Mystique said. "Would you justify it?"

"No," Shine said. "My dad is a wicked man, and I can't argue that. He had a few good points...but the good points are almost rubbing salt in the wound sometimes. Though I'm grateful. But nothing I've looked at from his perspective makes what he did okay. I can understand how he didn't know better about some things, but others, I know he did. He did them on purpose ,and he hurt me, on purpose," she said, shaking her head. "But I forgave him, even though I know he wanted to hurt me. Wanted to, you understand, Raven? Not that he did it and just didn't think it was so bad. He would make me cry and then laugh at it. I learned to hide tears early."

Mystique looked up at her. "And you forgave him?" she said strangely.

"People have forgiven their parents for trying to murder them. I know of such," Shine said. "And for other things that are horrible, too. True, it stings that he knew me and pretended to love me, and everyone believed he did, I think...but people lie to themselves. I know all about false love, Raven. But that is why I had to forgive him. God commands it. If I didn't, he would always have power over me; I'd always want to pay him back...and I would become just like him. We all make choices in life, what we want to become. And we all reach a point where we know we are choosing one or the other. I hit that point early on, because I have the gift of insight...a terrible gift to have, if it goes wrong." She shuddered. "My father has it also...and it is terrible. He knows how to hurt you bad. But I pity him. His wickedness makes him have a miserable life, always, and he is inconsolable, because he is too busy mistreating people to let them help him. Is that not sad? But he likes it, in a sick way. He'd tell you so himself, I think.... Sabretooth reminds me of that, a little, but even he isn't quite so deliberate about it, I think...but cruel, yes." She shivered.

Mystique just shook her head.

"My mother, though," Shine said, "is different. She made mistakes, but she tried to learn, later, from them. We are better now than we've ever been. Is it what I wanted? No...but you make what you want, later on, or you find a new dream, I think. I made it this far, with God's guidance, if not parental guidance. That's the good thing--God can take over if your mother and father forsake you. That is what He says in Psalm 27, one of my favorites. Another place it says, 'I was cast upon you from my mother's breasts, from birth I was made to trust in you.' David knew what it felt like to be alone.... I think that is why he was so close to God. My loneliness drove me to Him too--and Kurt's."

She shrugged. "You don't need to feel ashamed over that, you know. I stopped shaming my mother.... It is what it is. I didn't get one good, but I got another kind of good, and God is better than parents, even if it takes a long time to accept it. Kurt would agree with me--you know he would. We are all going to fail people, you know. I have too...but the ones who know God, they have forgiven me most. Because they don't need me to be perfect."

Mystique hugged her sides.

"Hearing that," she said, "makes me realize something.... You know what I am, and how I hurt Kurt...and you know what it is like to be like Kurt...yet you do not despise me.... I don't understand it."

"But he doesn't either, so why should I?" Shine said. "Remember the day I met you? I treated you as Kurt would have wanted." She shrugged. "To me, all that mattered was Kurt forgave you. What had you ever done to me? Just because I have my pain about it doesn't mean I will project it onto you. I could, but I've learned to control myself. We are not unhappy people, are we? So why be angry? Our lives were not ruined, though at one time, I thought it might have been. But that was just the evil one talking. It's not true." She patted her shoulder. "Don't carry that kind of burden. People choose what to do with their pain. Grayton has his father's temper.... That is his problem. Not just what happened to him. They both strike at people who hurt them by trying to hurt everyone else like them. They don't see their own hypocrisy. That has nothing to do with you, my friend. If you had done everything right from the start, but the rest had been the same, I have a feeling Creed would have turned out the same way. The weakness of men like that is they like to feel powerful, because they are so scared. His fear goes beyond just being mistreated, I think."

Mystique shook her head. "You're too easy on me."

"No," Shine said. "I just never saw any point in coming down on someone who already knows they screwed up. Waste of time and energy. What can I tell you that you don't already know about it? Except the good side. You know what I find consoling in all this? Not punishing people like my family, but seeing them healed...God gave me that, in my family, in different ways, even if not with my father...so far...but we have a lot to be grateful for. I want to see that with other people. That is what makes the pain go away, not hatred."

She shrugged again. "The way I see it, telling Grayton the truth, even a little, is more of a step that direction, so I at least found it inspiring...but whatever your reasoning, it beats hatred, doesn't it?"

"You assume I didn't just want to anger him more," Mystique said.

"Even anger can be a form of forgiveness," Shine said oddly. "If it is anger over the foolishness of someone else hurting themselves, and not anger over your own injuries. I don't know, I'm not inside your head, and Emma wouldn't figure this one out even if she read your mind. You will have to decide."

"Are you two done talking?" Scott called impatiently. "We have other places to go."

"You need to stamp my frequent flyer card if I'm getting back on the plane again today," Shine called back.

"Not funny," Scott said.

"You know," Shine said, in a lower tone, "I think I'm remembering why I don't like him. But, oh well, can't like everyone." She winked. "Come on, before he drags us."

"Sure," Mystique said dryly.

She was quiet.

"Are you okay?" Morph asked, on the plane. "That conversation looked serious."

"Is it any of your business?" Mystique replied.

"No," Morph said. "I didn't ask what it was about, just if you were okay."

"I--" She was going to say something snarky, then she changed her mind. "Actually I think so. Weirdly enough."

"Okay." Morph sat back.

Emma noticed this but didn't comment. She wasn't the type to make fun of this kind of thing. She had boundaries.

No one else had anything to say about it.

"So to Genosha?" Rogue said. "I guess..." 

"Fun," Gambit said.

"This is like a episode of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?" Wally said.

https://youtu.be/lt-FPtnyxvs

[Be My Escape-- Relient K.]

* * *

Of course, just flying into Genosha was not the easiest thing for a mutant.

"Better let us go first," Wally said. "What if they have scanners?"

"I can hide from those," Morph said.

"How?" Rogue asked.

"I...don't know...just can," Morph said.

"We can't just let you go in alone," Scott said. "I'm not even sure what we're looking for."

"Oh, that's easy," Shine said. "We find the jerks who are in charge of making those collars, or who were, and we find out who they sold them to. I hope they live here...but surely some record of it has to exist."

"In that case, I'm coming," Emma said. "It seems I am the only telepath around here who actually uses my powers to gather information. Why didn't the Professor or Jean do this before?"

"I don't think they can just pick info out of people's minds," Rogue said. "Not that easy. How are y'doin' that, anyway?"

"Yeah, ya just keep readin' our minds without us even feelin' it," Logan said. "How?"

"It's...not that difficult," Emma said oddly.

"Interesting," Shine said. "Telepathy seems stronger in her dimension...but that's not uncommon--for powers to vary in intensity. But it works out well for us, doesn't it?"

[According to the wiki, Emma Frost may also just have a special talent for absorbing information specifically as a telepath. Not that the others can't do it, but that she is able to do it extensively and easily. It seems each telepath has their own strong points--Jean's is emotions, Xavier's is locating and communicating with people and getting into their trauma, and Psylocke seems more to focus on weaponizing hers and using it intuitively. But it makes sense that it would vary, and where's the fun in it if they are all the same?]

"Seems more concernin' ta me," Gambit muttered.

Emma had heard things like that all her life and didn't think much of him saying it. Even if some of the others shot him warning looks.

"Perhaps someone should guard the plane," Scott said, "if we have to go in. Someone might find it."

"Let Colossus," Colossus said. "I no speak English very well. No good for going through records. Better in fight."

This made sense.

Kitty seemed nervous to leave Colossus behind, though. They were a solid team in training and had gotten comfortable combining their powers.

She stuck close to the others.

Genosha was not quite the same sort of slave island as before... Mutants still worked there--and probably under unfair circumstances--but Sentinels were in short supply and had been replaced with other weapons and guards.

"So much for welcomin' mutants," Rogue said. "What are they so afraid of anyway?"

"What are you afraid of when you walk out your door?" Shine asked in a low voice. "Isn't it that people can hurt you? Cowards are afraid, period, but we humans make agreements with the other things we fear, mostly. We pretend we can avoid them, with laws, or medicine, or seat belts, or carrying a weapon. Of course, you can't really avoid danger. But when something like a super-powered being presents itself, there's no protocol for it. So cowards will rush to make one. I can't say I agree with it, but I can understand the temptation to guard yourself. That's all most of these people do. The ones who really hate just for the sake of hating are much fewer."

"What difference does it make?" Logan said. "They have all the power."

"I don't know, Logan--you have the kind of power in your one body that a whole fleet of their weapons does not have," Shine said. "More so because you're a living being who can think and use it effectively. Some might argue the advantage is on your side. It is all how you look at things."

"I never blame people for being a little nervous around us," Wally said. "But it gets more surprising over time how people get used to it and diss on supers--who could literally crush them. Supes has all kinds of haters. Ever notice the villains never get that?"

"Who would insult someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill you over it?" Shine said. "We insult good people, usually. It takes real grit to insult the evil ones. I take insults as a compliment in a way."

Some of them laughed at that.

"What an odd person," Emma muttered.

Walking in, with the help of Frost, as well as Morph's shape-shifting, it wasn't the smallest matter to find the right establishment.

Wally just buzzed around real fast, looking for somewhere important, like the city hall--or whatever their equivalent was.

Finally he found it after about 5 minutes.

"It's guarded and has a fence and stuff," he said. "Real creepy lab kind of stuff, but it must be where they keep their dirty secrets, right?"

"I wonder if Magneto will take over this place here also," Emma mused. "Deck out the whole thing in metal? Hard to see how it would be any different."

"Magneto having his own island sounds about as terrifying as his own asteroid," Shine said.

"His...what?" Emma gave her a look like she thought she must be messing with her--and it bugged her that she couldn't tell.

"She's serious," Rogue said. "Couple of us almost got caught there. Some nut job named Cortez tried to nuke the world."

"Who is Cortez?" Emma asked.

"Some idiot with a big head and hatred for humans," Gambit shrugged. "He dead now."

"Didn't you basically handle that situation on your own?" Shine recalled.

"I helped," Logan said.

"Had ta call in de cavalry," Gambit said.

"Gambit always gets in trouble on his own," Rogue said, with a half smile.

"That reminds me of one time I had to do that with the League," Wally said. "That was a weird day."

"Can we get on with this?" Scott interrupted. "Do you want to give the government of Genosha a chance to notice we're here? We have to get to those records."

"Say no more, Scott." Wally saluted. "Seriously, don't say anything. We'll be there in two shakes of a lamb's tail, whatever that means."

He dashed away.

"Didn't he forget something?" Emma said, gesturing to them all.

Shine smiled, and a portal opened.

"Short memory, Emma," she said. "Everybody in."

Emma said nothing as they all walked in.

* * *

Wally managed to evade the guards by timing things right, so they weren't caught.

"But we still have to get through the fence," he said.

"Speed matters more now," Shine said. "I think we might want to bring Kurt in on this. I can't keep portalling us for every little thing--we need to save that for escaping--but he can use his to dodge these minor obstacles."

"Fine," Scott said. "But discreetly. Everyone can see those big, flashing doorways."

"Sorry my portal form isn't to your liking," Shine said sarcastically. "Mr. Subtle-with-the-Ray-Bans-Summers."

Wally cracked up.

Shine brought Kurt there.

He kind of guessed why they wanted his help--but was shocked that they were in Genosha of all places.

"I have heard of this but never been here... Vhat a strange tragedy, luring mutants in," he said.

"Ever hear the saying 'if it looks too good to be true, it probably is'?" Emma said.

"I have." Kurt didn't really catch the snideness in her tone.

"Kurt, can you get us all in there?" Shine asked. "I want to get us back to the place; I need to conserve."

"If course, Fraulein," Kurt said. "A few trips is all it vill take."

He poofed with Wolverine and Gambit--and hit the fence instead.

The fence zapped them before the others could yank them back.

"Gambit?" Rogue grabbed him.

"Logan?" Storm said. "Kurt? Are you all right?"

Logan rubbed his head. "Stupid fence must be a trap."

"Oh..." Wally said. "I bet it keeps out mutants.... Makes sense, they wouldn't want them to get in here."

"Now what?" Rogue asked.

Storm shrugged, then she summoned lightning and shot it at the fence, after everyone had stepped back.

It flashed...and then started smoking...overloaded.

"I believe the problem is solved," she said.

"That was OP as heck," Wally said.

"Except now they know we're here," Scott said.

"Oh, they might just think a fuse blew if we hurry," Shine dismissed it.

Kurt tried again, this time successfully.

A moment later he had them all inside.

"Okay," Scott said, "let's spread out so we're harder to spot. Just try to find a room with files on things like how they control the mutants here. Don't hurt anyone though. The goal is not to be seen. I hope this doesn't end up being a wild goose chase."

"At least we have the fun of team-building," Wally joked.

Scott ignored him.

Everyone split off.