Chapter Eight
Rogue's fitness had improved in leaps and bounds and she had begun sparring with Remy after their workout. Unfortunately, it didn't matter how fit she was or how long she'd been training, Remy was the more skilled fighter.
A few memories of him training surfaced in her mind, and they weren't pretty. The Thieves, and Jean-Luc in particular, were hard task masters and the punishments metered out for not coming up to par were harsh, even harsher than most for Remy and Henri. Rogue saw glimpses of Remy being made to run until he threw up, being locked in the gym for days with no food until he completed an assault course, being hit, whipped, locked in cupboards.
'And I thought Mystique and Logan were hard,' she thought, suddenly not minding losing to him quite so much.
Remy had also begun to school her, giving her tips as they sparred. She found his teaching style to be much nicer than Logan's; Remy encouraged and suggested, rather than yelling at her.
When they had finished they hit the showers, and Rogue had time to think that she was grateful for these sessions since as well as getting her back in shape, they helped her work out some of her sexual tension. Remy was a very hard man to resist, but she just wasn't ready to do anything sexual yet. She was a 19 year old virgin who had begun to think that she would never have a boyfriend, so this was taking a lot of getting used to.
Thankfully Remy didn't pressure her at all but unfortunately, she felt the pressure of her own desires all too strongly.
Remy was finished before Rogue, as usual, and waited for her outside the changing rooms.
"You are a very hard man to find, Gambit."
Remy froze then turned to the voice. "Mystique. I didn't expect to see you here."
"I don't doubt it. I on the other hand, was expecting to see you a week ago or more. I made the second part of your payment four days ago, now hand over my daughter."
"That wasn't our agreement. I said I'd ask her if she wanted to see you, that's all I promised."
"And you haven't even done that."
"She isn't ready yet."
"I paid you very handsomely for your services and I expect something in return."
"Rogue is safe, isn't that enough?"
Suddenly Remy heard a noise behind him and turned to see Rogue standing there, her eyes wide with shock and betrayal.
"Rogue!" He took a step towards her but she took off running, pushing Mystique aside as she barrelled past her.
Remy turned back to Mystique. "You stay away from her, you hear me? You have no idea of the hell they put her through and I will not have you adding to her problems."
He took off after Rogue, Mystique's reply unheard against the wind in his ears. He didn't know where Rogue would go so he headed for home, hoping that she would be there. She was, throwing her things into a bag. He stood in the bedroom doorway watching for a moment.
"Please, Rogue, let me explain."
"What's to explain? You lied to me! I asked you if anyone paid you to get me out and you lied!"
"I didn't lie, chère. Do you think I blew my hands up practising on those damned collars for a fee? You think I voluntarily put one of those around my own neck to practice, risking getting my head blow off, for money? I know I didn't go through what you did, Rogue, but surely even you remember the horrors that they do to mutants before they get to the facility. No amount of money would make me do that to myself."
"Then why did you promise to deliver me to her? And why the hell couldn't you be honest with me?"
"Do you think those X-Geeks you call family would have asked for my help? If it hadn't been for Mystique, I wouldn't even have known you were gone."
"You still took her money!" she spat, pausing in her packing to look at him. "And you lied about it. You're nothing but a low-life thief and I never should have trusted you!"
She had tears shining in her eyes but her words stung him too much for him to be mindful of her feelings.
"So you're just going to run again?"
"I don't run!"
"Your powers flared up and you ran to the brotherhood. You found out about Mystique and you ran tot he X-Men. Your brother wouldn't talk to you so you ran away with me-"
"You kidnapped me!"
"But you didn't go back when I let you go, did you? Hell, when your crush goes on a date with someone else and your friend turns out to be Mystique, you even run from yourself, letting those voices in your head take you over!"
"I didn't let them do anything!"
"Oh please, you are the dominant personality in your head, chère. You said yourself that when you get upset, the voices get louder. I think it's because you want them to, you want the distraction, you want to give up."
His speech had momentarily silenced Rogue, so Remy went to his closet and opened a safe in the back. He took out an envelope then closed it again.
"For the record, I didn't take a dime from Mystique."
He threw the envelope onto the bed in front of her and left the room.
Rogue had been hurt by him, and Mystique, but for some reason she also felt bad. She had judged Remy without hearing his side of the story and maybe that was wrong. But he had lied to her! He had promised to hand her over to her mother on a silver platter, for Christ sake, the woman who had done nothing but use Rogue since day one!
'That wasn't our agreement. I said I'd ask her if she wanted to see you, that's all I promised.'
Why did her god damn conscience have to remind her of that! Okay, so maybe he hadn't said he'd hand her over, but he had taken Mystique's money and he had lied about it!
She was too overwhelmed to continue packing so she sat down on the bed and picked up the envelope that Remy had tossed there. She gasped as she pulled out a bank statement in her name, with a balance of $150,000.
Now she felt like a tool.
She stayed where she was for a few minutes, until she was certain that she wasn't about to cry or rage, then headed into the living room, but Remy wasn't there. She sat on the sofa, wondering how long he'd be gone.
Rogue had begun preparing diner when Remy got back but she put her knife down as he entered and went through to the living room.
"What is this?" she asked, picking up the statement off the breakfast bar. She thought she had an idea, but clearly making assumptions wasn't a good thing to do.
"A bank account I set up in your name, that's the first payment from Mystique. The second half should have gone in by now."
"$300,000?"
"That's what we agreed."
"Why did you take it? Why not just throw it in her face?"
"Why not take it?" Remy shrugged. "After everything she put you through, I thought that at least you deserved something from her in return. Money might not be what you want, but it's better than nothing."
He sighed then sat down on the sofa, resting his elbows on his knees and burying his head in his hands.
"Jean-Luc didn't do much for me but he did teach me how to get money. That money allows me freedom. Freedom to buy this place, freedom to stay with Sarah when she has nightmares. Freedom to hire Tante Anna to teach her so she doesn't have to be bullied in regular school. I though... I don't know what I thought, I just... I was going to tell you, chère, I swear, but you've been through so much that I didn't want to burden you yet. I'm sorry. If you want to leave, I understand. I have some friends in New York who'll put you up if you want to be closer to the Institute."
He felt Rogue's hand on his shoulder and the couch dip slightly as she sat beside him. He dropped his hands and looked over at her.
"I'm sorry I judged you before hearing your side. I shouldn't have done that."
"Considering what that woman did to you, I can't blame you."
"You should have told me," she gently admonished. "But considering everything that you've done for me, I should also have trusted you. Or at least heard you out before jumping to conclusions."
"Can we both agree that this wasn't out finest hour and put it behind us?"
Rogue nodded.
"Thank you." He meant it.
Rogue bit down on her lip.
"What?" he asked, sensing her hesitancy.
"I've been thinking about what you said, about my voices taking over."
"I was hurt and angry and it was a stupid thing to say. I'm sorry, chère."
Rogue swallowed then looked down at the floor. "Sometimes I think you're right," she said in a soft voice.
Remy put an arm around her shoulders, clearly sensing that this was going to be difficult for her. He didn't press her for information, but simply held her.
"My powers had been flaring all day but I was too angry to think much about it, then after I'd absorbed Mystique and found out she was Ritzy, I remember thinking that I'd had enough, that was one final betrayal too far. I don't remember what happened then but I was myself again a while later, and Mystique told me that she'd adopted me when I was a child, that she was my mother. I did give up then, I just couldn't face it, so I let them take over."
She was silent for a few moments and when she continued, her voice was even softer.
"In the facility, I used to try and make them take over but my powers were switched off most of the time. I willed them to come and take my place every day but they didn't."
She began to cry. Remy took a deep breath while he considered how to respond.
"We all feel like that sometimes, chère, but the rest of us are lucky enough not to have a legion of other people willing to step in and take over. Thinking that doesn't make you a bad person, only human. Given what they did to you, I think wanting to escape is not only understandable, it's normal."
Rogue leaned into him and he wrapped both arms around her as he sat back on the couch, pulling her with him and settling her into his embrace.
"It was horrible," she said. "I could deal with most of it, the healing factor tests, the pain threshold tests, even being made to absorb other people. What I couldn't deal with was the total inhumanity of it all. I wasn't even a person to them, just a number. They hardly ever spoke to us and when they did, they never called us by our names, we were just 'subjects'. I was 'Subject 1882'."
Remy held her and listened as she recounted some of her thoughts and feelings of her time in Weapon X's custody. Most of it he knew from reading her file but this wasn't about what had happened to her, this was about her coming to terms with what happened to her.
In the movies, she would recount her tale of woe and miraculously everything would be fine again, she would be healed. Unfortunately, real life isn't that cut and dried. Recovering from something like this was a process but she had just taken the first step, for which he could only admire her strength.
Sometimes she wept as she spoke, sometimes she got angry, but Remy stayed with her and listened. She didn't need to be told what to feel or how to think right now, she just needed someone to listen. Soon he would suggest professional help, perhaps the doctor who had helped Sarah with her PTSD, but he wanted to hold off for a while, still hoping that they could find the X-Men and the professor before he brought in outside help.
It was getting on for five o'clock when Remy's cousin, Emil, and Sarah returned from their day at the fair. Thankfully they could hear Sarah's chattering voice as she approached the apartment, giving Rogue enough time to escape and refresh her makeup so that she wouldn't face difficult questions.
Sarah was almost literally bouncing when they came in and she ran to Remy, talking a mile a minute about everything she had seen and done that day. Though he had been there for everything, Emil listened with a smile on his face.
Finally she ran out of things to report, just around the time that Rogue returned from the bedroom, looking as though nothing bad had happened. Remy realised that while Rogue had been preparing their dinner, he didn't much feel like cooking tonight. She probably didn't either.
"So, what do you say we head out for a night on the town, ladies?"
"Really?" Sarah's eyes lit up.
"Does that include me?" Emil asked.
"If you're a lady it does."
Emil smirked.
"What about the food?" Rogue gestured to the kitchen.
"It'll keep for a day," Remy assured her.
"Okay then, I could go for that," Rogue agreed. "Nothing too upmarket though."
"I know this great little place in the Quarter," Emil said. "Tiny really, but it serves the best jambalaya in all of New Orleans."
"You sure going into the Quarter is wise?" Remy asked.
"It's too early for the Rippers to be out," Emil shrugged. "Besides, you got me there to protect you!"
Remy laughed and shook his head. He knew the place Emil was talking about and it was good food. After their recent run in with Bella Donna, he wouldn't take Rogue and Sarah in to the Quarter if it was just him, but with Emil there too, he felt that his girls were protected enough.
He hadn't told Rogue because she didn't need any additional worries, but Bella Donna and her friends had tried to cross the line into the Thieves' territory four times now. He would have to do something to placate Bella Donna sooner rather than later.
"Hey, call Mercy and see if she, Henri and the little Louis want to come," Remy suggested. "We'll make it a family outing."
"Yay!" Sarah jumped up and down at the thought of seeing her playmate, Louie, again.
Rogue and Remy had finished their workout and were just about to begin sparring when his cell phone went off, the ring tone was Wild Boys.
"I'd better get that," he said, heading over to the weight bench where his trench coat was sitting.
Rogue hadn't heard that ringtone before so she guessed that it was reserved for someone important.
"Bonjour? Oui. You did? Where? Okay, give me the details."
Rogue watched as he got a piece of paper out and wrote something down.
"Merci, Jacob. I owe you one." He ended the call and turned to face Rogue. "That was a friend of mine, Jacob. He says that the White Queen of the Hellfire club, Emma Frost, was spared the explosion. Apparently she and her club had a disagreement and went their separate ways about two weeks ago."
"And you think she can tell you why this Phoenix was after her club?"
Remy shrugged. "Worth a try, non?"
Rogue nodded and watched as Remy dialled another number.
Reports of the phoenix had dried up after the second explosion, so either the mutant in question had done what it needed to do, or it was laying low now that people had noticed a pattern. Rogue hoped that this Emma Frost at least knew why the Phoenix attacked her friends, although she doubted that the woman would know where her friends were now.
"Emma? It's Remy LeBeau."
"Remy, darling, long time no speak," Emma purred.
"Well you crept out and didn't leave me your number," he said, turning on the charm. He turned his back to Rogue, unsure how well she would take him flirting with someone else.
"So you tracked it down," Emma sounded happy. "Though I have to say, your skills must be slipping if it took you two years,"
"Yeah, I got a little side tracked. Forgive me?"
"Always. So, I assume you aren't calling for a rematch?"
"As nice as that would be, no. I'm actually calling about what happened to your friends in Los Angeles. You see, that thing attacked some friends of mine and I was hoping that you would know something about it."
There was silence on the other end.
"Emma?"
"I'm only telling you this because I like you. Leave it alone, Remy. That thing will kill you, your friends and anyone you care about. You can't stop it, you can't control it, your best hope it to stay out of it's way."
The line went dead. And Remy stared down at the phone.
Rogue hadn't seen Remy use his charm in a while and she felt a little unsettled to hear him charming some other woman, even if it was only over the phone. The fact that they'd also had sex irked her too. She knew that he had other sexual partners but she didn't exactly like her face rubbed in it, especially when that was something they would likely never be able to do.
"So?" Rogue asked, only having heard his side of the conversation.
"She knows something," he said, looking over at her. "But she wouldn't tell me. She said it can't be stopped or controlled and to stay out of it's way."
"So that's it, we just give up?"
"Hell no," he said, a wicked smile forming on his lips. "Now that I have her phone number I can track her. Once we find her, she either tells us what she knows, or you can drain the answers from her."
Rogue didn't like the idea of Remy meeting up with an ex (or another ex), nor the idea of using her powers. And now that she thought about it, she wasn't liking the idea of leaving New Orleans either. This place had become a kind of safe haven and she never felt afraid that Weapon X might find her while she was here. The rest of America though? Well she didn't know what to expect out there.
It was silly though. She needed to find out what had happened to her friends and she couldn't stay here forever, she needed to go home at some point.
So she swallowed down her fear, took a deep breath and looked up at Reme.
"Let's go get her."
With a little hacking, Remy traced Emma Frost's cell phone to Chicago and they caught a flight out that evening.
Sarah was dropped off with Tante Anna and Rogue was surprised to see that the girl wasn't at all tearful, just resigned. She supposed that after having lost so many people, Sarah was probably expecting people to leave her. Remy had assured her that he would be back as soon as he could and asked her what she wanted him to bring back. Her answer had been Rogue.
Remy had dropped to one knee in front of Sarah.
"I can't promise that, petite," he said gravely. "Rogue has friends that she's looking for and when she finds them, they'll want her back."
"I promise that whatever happens, I'll come back and visit," Rogue said, trying to cheer the girl.
Sarah just nodded. "Okay," she said, sadly.
Remy hugged her tightly, kissed her cheek and promised to bring her back something extra special, "As special as you are, petite."
Then Rogue hugged her carefully and kissed her hair. She wished that she could have promised to return with Remy but there was just so much that she didn't know. If her friends were alive, she needed to be there for them. She secretly hoped that somehow everything would work out so that Remy and Sarah could join them back at the school, if it reopened, but she and Remy hadn't discussed that much. Plus there was no saying that the X-Men would accept Remy because he had been an acolyte, and he and Sarah were a package deal. She would try and convince them to accept Remy, obviously, but some of the X-Men were more than a little stubborn.
Of course, if they did reject Remy, she could always leave and go with him but again, they hadn't discussed it. Would he want her to hang around forever? Maybe it was better to end this pseudo-relationship while things were still good, before he got bored of not being able to touch her.
She tried to push such thoughts aside as Remy used his phone to get an update on Emma's location.
"Looks like she's at a bar down town," Remy said.
Rogue started the hire car and followed the signs for the city centre.
They drove in silence for a few minutes until Remy broke the tense atmosphere.
"You know, you're more than welcome to return to New Orleans with me."
"You just don't want to let Sarah down," she teased, trying to keep things light.
Remy didn't play along. "I just don't want to lose you."
Rogue glanced over at him and bit down on her lower lip as she considered her answer. "I don't want to lose you either but-"
"You don't want to leave your friends. I understand." His tone was unreadable, as was his expression.
"They're not just friends, they're family. Literally in Kurt's case."
"Do, uh, do you think they'd welcome a new member and his surrogate kid?"
Rogue glanced over at him again before answering.
"I don't think it'll be easy, but if anyone can change their minds, it's you. And rescuing me will earn you major points."
She reached over and took his hand.
"Would you really want that though? I'm pretty sure that you'll have to quit the guild." She kept her eyes on the road, unwilling to see a negative reaction.
"I can give it up." He said with confidence. He hadn't stolen when he'd worked for Magneto (except for the few thefts that Magneto ordered him to do) and he'd been fine. It was the adrenalin rush that he really loved, the challenge of a job, not thieving itself.
It was fitting in at the mansion that he was uncertain of. He was pretty sure that the professor would be okay, even Magneto had a fair amount of respect for the man but what Remy wasn't sure he could do, was take orders from Scott and Logan. Neither would easily come to trust him, let alone like him.
Rogue bit her lip, having guessed that he wasn't being totally truthful with her.
Remy squeezed the hand he still held. "How about we cross that bridge when we find your friends?"
Rogue nodded.
"Take the next left," Remy said, checking his phone. He directed her down a few other turns until they pulled up outside the Golden Dragon Cocktail Lounge.
"She's in there," Remy said as they got out of the car. "Can telepaths read your mind?"
"Not easily, there's too many other people up there."
Remy nodded and pulled his gloves on. "Take yours off, just in case she isn't helpful."
Rogue did as he said and he took her naked hand in his gloved one. It felt very odd to Rogue, to touch something with her bare hands and it made her feel vulnerable. She tucked her other hand into her pocket.
Remy looked around the bar and was surprised to see Emma drinking alone in a booth. He ushered Rogue to the side so that they could watch her unobserved. In the ten minutes that they waited, three men approached but all were quickly turned away. The bartender also approached with a drink but he too was sent away, drink still on his tray. Remy assumed that she hadn't ordered it herself.
From the way she was dressed, Rogue wasn't surprised men were chancing their arm, she looked like a high class hooker. Even without her mutation, Rogue was pretty certain that she would never show that much skin.
"Here," the barman said to Rogue as he came back around the bar, handing her the cocktail.
"I-"
"Thanks," Remy interrupted her, smiling jovially at the barman. "Blondie's a real ball-breaker, huh?"
"Yeah," the barman agreed, looking over to Emma's table. "Though to be honest, she is way out of the league of the guy who ordered this drink for her."
"Unusual to drink alone in a bar though," Remy commented.
Rogue sipped the cocktail and to her surprise, she liked it. She didn't drink much alcohol (well she was under-age) so Logan's beer and Remy's wine was just about the only things she had tried. This was much nicer than the French liquor Remy had given her when Henri and Marcy came to dinner. That was drinkable, but this was delicious.
"Not really," the barman answered Remy as he wiped glasses. "I think she's lonely, she looks sad."
"You don't think she's waiting for someone?"
"She's been here almost three hours, that's a long wait."
"Maybe she'd like some mixed company," Remy suggested. "Someone who isn't trying to hit on her. Come on, chère."
They made her way over to the table and Rogue slipped into the opposite side of the booth, while Remy slipped in next to Emma, blocking her exit.
Emma sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, you always were persistent, LeBeau."
"What, no Remy?"
"No," she glared at him. "Look, I know why you're here and I don't know, so leave me alone."
"I don't believe you," Remy said. "We've come a long way, I'll pay for the information if I have to."
"Like I need your money." Emma rolled her eyes.
"Then just tell us what you know, for old times sake?"
"Please, you weren't that good in bed."
Rogue stifled a smirk at Remy's affronted expression.
"Emma-"
"No!" she turned to him, giving him the full force of her icy glare. She wasn't called Frost for nothing.
"Fine." Remy made to leave so Rogue stood up and leaned over the table, holding her hand out.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, sorta," Rogue said.
Emma hesitated for a moment, but good breeding won out and she shook Rogue's hand.
"Likewise."
Rogue held on for perhaps five seconds and Remy laid Emma down on the seat when she let go. No one seemed to have noticed, so Remy went to the bar.
"She passed out on us," he told the friendly bartender. "Maybe someone better see she gets home okay."
The barman nodded and sighed. "I hate it when people can't hold their liquor."
Remy steered Rogue out to the street and as soon as they were outside, Rogue put her hands to her temples.
"Rogue?"
"Just gimme a sec."
Remy steered her to the car, dug through her pockets for the keys and put her in the passenger seat. He got in the drivers side and pulled away, looking for the first hotel he could find.
"Getting any better?" Remy asked her.
Rogue didn't answer but continued rubbing her temples.
Remy thought about Ginny, the hypnotist who had helped him. She was still living in Philadelphia and he wondered if he should take Rogue straight there rather than finding a hotel. It would be about a twelve hour drive, maybe less if he put his foot down. She could have the help she needed by tomorrow morning.
Finally Rogue removed her hands from her temples.
"You okay?"
"I'm not sure."
"Did you get anything?"
Rogue swallowed. "I'm afraid to look," she confessed.
"Afraid?"
"There's so many new voices in my head that aren't properly filed away, and there's something in Emma's memories that's going to upset me, I think. I don't trust myself to look at them without losing myself."
Remy nodded his understanding. "That hypnotist that I told you about, she lives in Philly. I can get you there by tomorrow."
"She's not related to Mesmero, is she?"
"No, not as far as I know."
Rogue thought about it for a moment then nodded. "Okay."
Remy headed towards the I-90.
"Why don't you try and get some sleep," he suggested. "Maybe when you wake up, we'll be there."