After Sabretooth had gone, Storm said, "Please, Shine, tell me you don't really think we are safe letting that woman go... How did you figure out she was a spy?"

"Partly how she acted and that it seemed out of character for Sabretooth to bring anyone," Shine said, "and partly I felt the Lord nudging me as soon as I saw her."

"God just tells ya stuff like that?" Logan said oddly.

"Of course," Shine said. "All the time... Not every time--but she wasn't that subtle anyway. I suppose it was just to keep me from dismissing my own suspicions as paranoia."

"She can lead anyone here," Logan said. "Who does she work for? Does anyone know?"

"Other than her brother, who I can't imagine wanting to find us, I have no idea," Shine said. "But Warren might. He isn't in right now, is he?"

"Not to worry," Storm said, "I will find him. In the air it is hard to hide."

"Okay then, Logan, we have to get the others," Shine said. "I will get Wally also. Pronto."

They all split off to do this.

A few minutes later they had the whole team there, except Hank, who was currently at work.

Shine lost no time filling them all in.

"Why did you just let her go?" Scott said. "We could have found out why she was here."

"Yes, you would have been able to penetrate the mind of another psion," Shine said dryly.

"She is right--it is doubtful we could have," Xavier said. "But we might have persuaded her."

"You guys don't know the first thing about interrogation," Shine said, "or handling obvious spies. I mean, you fall for it every time it happens."

The frowned at her.

"Isn't that goin' a bit far?" Rogue asked.

"Well, if you can name one time it hasn't happened..." Shine said.

No one could.

"It's not important right now," Wally spoke up. "Shine, I'm pretty sure you have an idea, don't you? You just showed her you could portal? That's not something you'd normally do."

"I admit it's a risk," Shine said. "But I thought letting her stick around to mentally pick up on people's thought waves was a bigger risk. And besides, this way works best for us. She's bound to either come back here, go to some hideout, or return to whoever sent her here. She couldn't have come on her own, not with Sabretooth. But he could be working for anyone."

"Well, there's a few people that come to mind," Logan spoke up. "Last time he was workin' for Apocalypse. That'd fit with 'im disappearin' after that blue--person did."

Morph looked up. "Apocalypse wouldn't send him here, though. That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, that's not really his style," Shine said. "Sinister might, but Sabretooth never worked for him in my memory."

They all shook their heads.

"In the past, he did work for my old friend Magneto," Xavier said. "But I assumed that had long since ceased to be."

"For what reason?" Shine said.

"Do you think Magnus would keep using him when we all know about it?" Scott said.

"I see no reason why not," Shine said.

Scott shook his head. "What about the woman?"

"If I may," Warren spoke up, "Psylocke is many things, but I didn't peg her for a hitman for some random backer. Why would she come here at all? Especially pretending to be interested. You should have let me talk to her."

"You weren't here," Shine countered. "And do you actually trust her?"

"Well, not exactly," Warren said. "But she's not all bad. A little misguided."

"This is not about yer crush, Pretty Boy," Logan said. "This is about 'er sneakin' into this mansion."

"More importantly, it seemed you were her target, Shine," Storm said. "This is unusual."

"It is," Shine said. "But Sabretooth has known about us. Only, I never thought he was suspicious, nor was he acting like he was earlier...more uneasy, like he knew he was caught. I can't see him telling anyone about us on purpose. It could only reflect poorly on him, couldn't it? Explaining to someone who could read minds, though, how could he hide it...? Which to me suggests she must not have questioned him that closely about us. Come, if he told her the truth, he'd look pathetic."

"Well, that could be why he cooperated," Wally said. "Blackmail."

"All right," Shine allowed. "That's a possibility, but my gut says it's not really a good explanation. We still have no motive. We never hurt him, except for one slap that he'd be ashamed to admit even happened, and we saved his hide. How does that translate to something to make her suspicious?"

"I did mention what you do," Warren said. "But she didn't seem suspicious at the time. Well...that's not entirely true--she was, but not of you. At least not over that."

Suddenly Shine looked at him more closely.

Then she put her hands over her mouth. "Oh no...I think... Warren, please, you didn't. Tell me you didn't mention it."

"What didn't I mention?" Warren looked nervous now.

"Yeah, what didn't he mention?" Logan and Gambit both demanded, now angry.

"Uh oh." Wally could read the look in Shine's eyes.

"Did you tell her about Mystique?" Shine asked. "I mean, the same things you said to us?"

Warren looked caught as a mouse in a trap. "Well, I might have mentioned it. I was still quite...uh, upset over it."

"You had no right to go talkin' about somethin' like that to some stranger!" Logan snapped.

"I would have to side with Logan," Storm said. "Could you not see that was a delicate matter and shouldn't be shared lightly? To be blunt, we did not even intend for you to know about it yourself. You discovering her was an accident."

Everyone was glaring at Warren, even Xavier.

"I hope you have a good explanation," he said.

But Warren didn't.

"I...well, at first I didn't think it would matter. She was already gone," he said. "But now that I think of it, Psylocke did say something about wondering if it meant more. And that she intended to find out... It's been months--I don't remember it very well. She left right away."

"Oh, and you never thought to mention this?" Shine said.

"I didn't think it was relevant," Warren said.

"Can I kill him?" Logan asked.

"Logan," Storm said, "that is not helpful. And, anyway, he's no use to us dead."

Warren did a double take at Storm.

"She's kidding," Wally said. "That's just Storm's way of making a joke...right, Storm?"

"Yes, I suppose, though it is also a statement of fact," Storm said.

Warren flinched.

"All right," Gambit said, "maybe he jus' stupid. But dis is why I say we not let him join us."

"Gambit..." Rogue sighed. But then, "But, Warren, how could ya do somethin' so stupid?!"

"Look, I'm sorry. It's not like we were exactly friends at the time," Warren said. "It wasn't on my mind. Anyway she's not a murderer--I don't think. This is strange."

"You know nothing about this woman outside of her trying to rob you," Shine said. "I thought it was odd she encouraged you to come here... Now I wonder if it was a set up from the start...but why wait so long to follow up...? No, I've been thinking about it while you were all talking, and I see only one explanation: She must have found Mystique already."

Everyone started at Shine uneasily.

"So what does that mean?" Rogue said finally.

Shine put her hands under her chin. "Depends on how forthcoming Mystique was."

"Knowin' her, I'd say very," Logan growled.

"But just what would she tell Psylocke?" Rogue said. "Are they even on good terms, y'know...after that kidnappin' business?"

"I think the real question is how far would Psylocke go to get information?" Shine said. "And what would she do if and when she got it? But, I somehow don't think she must have gotten all of what she knew. Think about it--why bother investigating this way if she knew as much as she could know from Mystique? Mystique was here for months. She knows our weaknesses, our powers, our beliefs, and our relationships. Psylocke had no reason to show herself at all if she got such info out of her. It's not guaranteed, perhaps, but I'd strongly suspect she must have had only small success."

"Well, much as I'd like to think so, I can't see Momma not not sellin' us out out of loyalty," Rogue said.

"No." Shine knitted her brows, thinking hard. "Looking at it from her perspective, she may not trust Psylocke with the information for other reasons, like what it might do to her if all that got out. She might have hidden how much she knew, just so no one would look deeper into it. After all, there were many humiliating situations while she was here." [See book 1]

"I think I'm following so far," Wally said. "But what I want to know is, does that mean Misty is still alive? Or...?"

Shine closed her eyes. "I promised not to look...but I think I'd sense it if she'd died."

"Can you do that?" Jean asked. "Like we can?"

"Not for the same reason." Shine opened her eyes. "It's not psionic...more like, on the job, there's a certain bond that forms...even if the other person doesn't want it to... It's hard to explain, but I often can tell if someone's is in danger."

"Isn't now the time to throw out a promise like that?" Scott said. "Just test it."

He got a scathing look in return.

"A promise you break as soon as it's convenient to do so is hardly a promise at all, is it?" Shine said icily.

"What about extenuating circumstances?" Xavier asked.

"Well, there's nothing stopping you from using Cerebro," Shine said.

"Yes...but your...uh, gift seems to be more accurate and unimpeded by distance," Xavier said.

"I think, more to the point, we ought to find Psylocke," Shine said. "And that is what I've been thinking. We can follow her, and she will lead us to something. If it's the real culprit, then problem solved. Also, then I do not have to break my word."

"Yeah, well, what if we find that traitor also?" Logan said.

"Cross that bridge if we come to it." Shine shrugged. "I wouldn't be too sure we will. It would be like Mystique to be questioned separately from the big chief of whoever is behind all this. That is who I want to find."

"Is it too soon to point out that this is exactly what we said would happen if we let her go?" Scott said.

Everyone else turned to glare at him, except Jean, who just shook her head.

"Just saying..." Scott looked down.

"I'm still holding out hope it is not as bad as you think it is," Warren said.

"Well, ya hope if it'll comfort ya, Fly Boy," Logan said. "I intend to get to the bottom of this. I'm goin' with ya, if you're goin' after the ninja," he said to Shine.

"I think most of us had better go," Xavier said. "I will stay here to monitor."

"Someone else must stay here," Shine said. "Sabretooth will probably come back rather than risk us going after him. Jean, Scott, you should stay."

"Why?" Jean said.

"And since when do you give us orders?" Scott said.

"I thought I was entrusting the fate of all these students here to you, the leader," Shine said, surprisingly smooth considering she was talking to Scott. "The two of you can handle Sabretooth--and question him too, if you like. Then you can contact us if you learn any more. But he'll be surprised if no one is here tomorrow. I'm sure you can make you being here to receive him believable, being the usual hosts and all."

Oh, wow, she was good. 

Scott and Jean couldn't find a problem with it.

"But shouldn't I be with the team?" Scott said.

"The kids are a big responsibility, Scott," Jean pointed out. "Someone has to stay here with them other than the Professor and Hank. There's a lot of them--and the other Morlocks also, they might be able to help, but they aren't trained."

"Storm can lead," Xavier said.

"Oh...should I really? I think Shine and Wally are handling it," Storm said.

"No, Storm you can lead." Shine waved her hand. "I'm fine with it. In fact, it might be nice. I can focus on trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do if we find the culprit."

"That's a decision Storm would be making," Scott said.

"I'd be perfectly willing to let Shine do whatever she wants," Storm said. "It promises to be interesting every time--and probably less violent than anyone else."

Wally laughed. "That's, like...the best description of it ever."

"Why is that so funny?" Shine said, a little tersely.

"Uh...oh, not that you're funny," Wally backtracked. "Just that the way she said it was funny. You're awesome."

Shine rolled her eyes. "I know you think it's amusing."

"What's wrong with dat?" Gambit said, always willing to make it worse. "You can be funny and effective at de same time."

"I will remember that the next time you try to quip," Shine shot back.

"What's wrong with my quips?" Gambit demanded.

"We're getting off subject," Storm said. "And suppose we find a whole team of enemies, as usual? Are we going to be enough?"

"Can I come?" Warren said. "I helped make this mess. I think I should help fix it. I owe all of you anyway."

"Might as well let him," Shine remarked. "He's not going to be any help hanging around here."

Warren took that meekly.

"As long as he's all right with acting as one of us, I'll assent," Storm said.

"Perhaps Kurt would be of use also," Xavier said, "if he is willing to go. You may need someone who is even quicker than Mr. West."

"I would debate that," Wally said.

"I think we settled that teleportation is faster," Shine said.

"Yeah, but his range isn't as big, so I could still beat him around the world," Wally said. "He'd never get there."

"Isn't that less about speed and more about endurance then, Sugar?" Rogue said.

"Well, you know, in a race you need both, so technically still the fastest," Wally said.

"I'll just go get him." Storm was tired of listening to this bickering already.

* * *

Kurt agreed to help. He'd missed all the excitement earlier, being busy studying and praying, but he was always ready to lend a hand.

They all used the Blackbird. It was not easy for Shine to navigate from inside a plane, but she was able to give them the general direction, and they'd stop to get more specific ones when they had caught up enough to their quarry.

Psylocke, in fact, was heading back to Magneto. She thought she was going to need more backup than she had thought, and she couldn't exactly phone for him. The place didn't have phone towers.

She'd managed to get a faster ride back, though, now that she knew where she was going. She just used her own private plane.

It would still take her at least a day to get that far, but she had no idea she was being followed and wasn't worried about it.

* * *

In all this time, Magneto had kept Mystique shut in one of the cells. She'd actually broken out on the first day, due to the locks being ridiculously easy for her to pick.

Magneto fixed this, once she was caught, by using metal to seal the locks so that she couldn't get them undone. Only someone with a laser or superhuman strength could have.

Mystique's only asset at the moment was that he did not know she still had a gun. Luckily she'd thought to make sure it wasn't a metal one, and she could use her power to hide that she had it on effectively.

But using that to escape was not going to be the easiest thing, without drawing attention to herself. She'd have to wait for the right time, when no one was around because of some of the disturbance...which in this camp, happened quite often, with so many violent and embittered mutants living around each other.

Nothing she wasn't used to though.

But the whole 4 days of Psylocke's absence, no such outburst happened, and Mystique was stuck waiting.

A fine thing, she thought to herself rebelliously. I do odd jobs for the mad man for months, never failed once, and this is the thanks I get. What did they expect me to do, tell them my life story? Not enough time in the day to go into all that went wrong as it is...

But she knew better, really. If she'd been honest from the start, Magneto might not have seen any reason to question her further. But how was she supposed to know that snoopy ninja would ever be interested in digging around this? She'd hoped no one ever would even know about it.

All this idle time drove her boredom enough to pull out the book Shine had made her take with her... She'd never thrown it away, but rather than having it found in her sleeping area, she'd just concealed it on her person instead.

Maybe it was some nod to how unfairly she'd ended the whole thing. She deserved to carry around a reminder of that.

But she'd never yet had the courage to inspect the note Shine had written in it... Oh, she'd read it, but all it said was:

"Not giving up. See Hosea 2."

It would be like Shine to use a book to point you to another book...especially that book.

Mystique had actually found a tiny Bible, half with the intention of looking up the reference just to see what kind of passive aggressive message was in it...but she always lost her nerve when it came to the point.

But since she had it with her...and it was really, really dull in here...on day 3 she finally cracked.

Sighing, she pulled it out and checked the table of contents.

"I'm just doing this out of curiosity," she told herself. "I couldn't care less what this book says, but knowing her, it'll be cryptic."

She found the book of Hosea easily enough. It was shorter than expected.

It took a second to realize that 2 meant chapter 2, not a second book. [Funny actually, usually we put the chronological order after the title, not before it, but the Bible books do that the opposite, because it's actually just shorthand for "the second book or letter of so and so." I bet a lot of people don't know that.]

The chapter didn't begin very cheerfully, and Mystique began to think the passive aggressive guess of hers was correct.... If so, minor point for Shine for getting her to do this to herself.

"Bring charges against your mother, bring charges....(6) therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes she will seek them, but not find them, then she will say 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now'".

Mystique paused here and blinked, then she frowned. What was this? Some kind of joke?

She re-read it.... No.... But...hedge up? With thorns?....That reminded her of Sinister and his stupid vines he liked to use--but walled in?

She looked around at the walls of her cell.

She looked at the verses more closely. Maybe if you took the other parts as metaphors...it kind of...made a weird sort of sense...

Shine was mocking her...

Somehow two months in advance!

That was just not fair! How could anyone do that? Did the woman put a curse on her?

Mystique had seen them tackling witches and strange sciences enough to not think that was entirely out of the question, and it made her shiver. She felt suddenly like she was being watched, though no one was around.

She was kind of afraid to keep reading for fear she'd read some description of what Psylocke did...but at this point, she couldn't resist the urge to know one way or the other, so she kept going anyway, but nothing really clicked for the next several verses of the chapter.

[Note: some of those verses are about being uncovered, and if Mystique knew biblical symbolism more, she'd know that uncovered is often a metaphorical way to say having your sins, or deceptions, exposed, so actually it does kind of fit. But perhaps it's just as well it'd go over her head. That would freak her out too much, would it? By the way, not something I planned, but it is hilarious, isn't it?]

There were some verses mentioning going after wealth that might or might not have been jabs at her, but Mystique wasn't entirely sure Shine would think that cruelly.

At verse 14 there was an odd tonal shift that made her wonder if it was even talking about the same person anymore.

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her."

From then on it was talking about betrothal and knowing the Lord. None of it making any sense to Mystique.

[I do recommend reading that passage for yourself though. It's beautiful. For those who don't know, bridal imagery in the Bible refers to how God views those who follow Him. Don't take it too literally. The Bible uses all relationships as metaphors or mirrors of the spiritual bond between God and us. If you look at it that way, it's very touching.]

Nothing really made any sense to her up until the very final verse, which she almost didn't pay attention to, but then there was a sentence there that she almost thought Shine could have written; it was like a puzzle.

"23...And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My People, 'You are my people!' and they shall say 'You are my God'!"

Mystique stared hard at it.

Somehow, she was certain now that this had to be the reason Shine had written to look at this chapter... It made too much sense.

Shine would not have mocked her, she realized.

In fact, it was what annoyed her so much about that woman. She never stooped to your level, even if you made it easy for her.

What a fool...she really was still hoping, even after all that. Mystique almost felt warm with shame when she remembered the things she'd said when she last saw her.

After that, she didn't deserve to be written a note, unless it was to a passage about hell maybe...

She hugged her knees.

Kurt, Shine...anyone who'd even for a second thought things would end differently, they were fools.

Shine was a fool to think she'd even read that note--or kept it.

[Is she not noticing that she actually did both those things?]

Well, if and when Psylocke found them, assuming they survived it, they'd no doubt learn it was her fault. That would convince them, wouldn't it?

What bitter irony that she hadn't even done it on purpose this time. But she never could help it. On purpose or not, she would betray people and sell them out. Hadn't she learned that before?

It seemed...a little unduly cruel, though, if they thought she'd been deliberately trying, after all this time of her ignoring them...

If she had the chance to tell them it wasn't on purpose...well, it wouldn't matter to the X-men, but it would have to Shine. She'd have taken that as a small sop of comfort, knowing her incurable optimism.

Mystique thought, though maybe a little comfort would have been nice, after all that cruelty she'd inflicted. Surely she could have afforded that small amount of decency. But she'd never get the chance to do so.

She thought suddenly...if she offered to tell Magneto all of what she knew...said she'd thought it over and changed her mind...she might get out of here.

It would be easy... Why didn't she think of this sooner? He'd come in every day to inform her there was no progress yet and also to apologize for this treatment, if it turned out she was right, but he still believed she wasn't.

Quite the gentleman about it, he hadn't even made a pass at her as compensation. She'd never had such a courteous warden.

Not that it softened her that much. He was still being an idiot.

But he might be enough of one, then, to take her word for it...

Mystique couldn't get away from the idea.

And of course, it wasn't long after that Magneto appeared for his daily look in.

"Well, still nothing," he said. "I trust the treatment here has been fair. We wouldn't want to be unduly cruel..."

Mystique was pretty sure the guard in charge had forgotten to bring her food, but she was in no position to start complaining.

"Oh, very," she said. "Quite the best treatment I've ever received while being held captive. Normally, people expect certain benefits, if they treat you well."

Magneto looked horrified. "Well, I assure you no one here expects that."

He was wrong. One of the guards already offered to let her out for that...but Mystique didn't think she'd have stayed free for long, given how closely she was being monitored, and had declined.

But she said nothing of this to Magneto.

"I've been thinking," Magneto said, "perhaps there is more to all this that Psylocke has not disclosed. Perhaps I can understand your wish to keep it from her, but now that she is not here, it might be better if you volunteered it. Something that would be useful. Provided it was the truth. Come, I think I have been more than fair, considering your history and deception. You could repay that with a little honesty."

Well, this was gift wrapped for her.

"What exactly did you want to know?" Mystique hedged.

"I've been looking into Xavier's guests in the time Psylocke has been gone. But nothing," Magneto said. "I can find no trace of them at all. However, it is of importance to me to note that the X-men have become associated with some religious establishments. There were some anti-mutant actions in them."

The actions were not in them, it was at them, Mystique thought. What second rate news channel did he use? Leave it to the mutants' underground to botch details like that. She'd long since given up relying on most of them for reliable info, only tip offs she investigated for herself before believing.

At least Sinister had been a reliable source, even if he was crazy...

"I'm sure they're wasting their time trying to change people's minds again," Magneto said. "But perhaps these new friends of theirs are part of some cult? That would make sense. What do you know about that?"

Was this information they'd care if she shared?

But...then she might have to share about their powers.

Bad idea.

Kurt was bound to get implicated if she did that...and she'd never mentioned him at all, nor had anyone else. Kurt had enough problems. She could at least afford him not making him a target to Magneto.

Right?

But...how could she answer, then?

Maybe it was foolish to try to spare anyone other than herself in this case...

A well worn patter in her mind, justifying her actions by this logic...but somehow it wasn't sounding quite as convincing right about now.

Shine's message was still weighing on her mind...but Magneto would never understand what all that meant. He would never believe it was sincere... That they were a cult, he'd easily believe, but that wasn't the truth...so either she'd be lying, or she'd be denying something.... Neither option was good.

Her long silence must have puzzled Magneto. "Is it really that hard to decide?"

Mystique looked up finally. "Let's think about this," she said. "You didn't believe me before. So my judgment on this is irrelevant, isn't it? Whatever I saw or heard, you think I'm taken in already."

"Well, perhaps. Perhaps not, depending on what you would tell me," Magneto said.

"And all I can tell you is what I told you before." Mystique didn't know why she said this, but she did. "That I think this is a wild goose chase and you're overreacting."

Then a wild idea popped into her head, and she did it without thinking about it.

She leaned close to the wall. "Besides, why do you think I left? I know when it's better to leave something alone. Psylocke is probably going to get caught. They aren't as big a fools as you think they are. And if they figure out who tipped her off, what do you think will happen? She'll lead them right back to you."

"Yes...perhaps," Magneto said. "If she is really that poor at her job. But I'd like to think not."

Mystique laughed. "You have no idea what you're dealing with," she said. "But would that be original? You'll make yourself a target when you wouldn't have been a thought in their minds until you did that. If that happens, don't blame me. I told you what would happen. You ought to call her off right now. Do you think I want to get discovered here either? I'm saying this to save myself also. I repeat, if you left them alone, they wouldn't touch your little group here, and what's it to you if they mess with the Professor? It's his own problem, isn't it?"

"Well, perhaps I am not quite as dishonest as you," Magneto said. "The least I could do is warn him, if they are discovered to be other than what they seem. But your insistence on this puzzles me. It is not possible that you are loyal to anyone other than yourself. Can you really assume it will be that simple for them to find us?"

Mystique was on the edge of giving away a huge part of their abilities, and she knew it.

But rather than do it, she leaned back. "Perhaps I am paranoid," she said, somewhat mockingly. "But if she comes back, and has failed, you should let me go, since I told you it would happen. Maybe I'll think about cooperating then, but as long as I have no assurance I'd be set free even if I tell you more, why should I give up my few chips?"

"That's...fair," Magneto said slowly. "If you think that way. But unwise, I believe. Still, suit yourself."

He left.

Mystique hoped very much that had not been the stupidest gamble of her life.

[I really doubt it is, Raven, if that helps.]

https://youtu.be/ikiA_PBTg3E