Chapter Seven
Over the next four months, Rogue and Remy pulled three jobs. He explained that before he had her, he was limited to one man jobs, or the occasional job where he could trust a friend to act as distractions but the jobs that required two thieves were out, because he couldn't ask his guild friends for help any more.
Now that he had Rogue, he let it be known that he could take on bigger jobs.
She was eager for a military job as that seemed to be the only type that she hadn't pulled yet, but in the mean time she was satisfied with what came their way.
The first contract was for a top secret computer chip prototype. Security was all over this thing like shit on a blanket and the only time that the chip would be slightly less well protected, was in transit. Once he had decided that, Remy allowed Rogue to do all the planning, watching her carefully for any mistakes but she seemed pretty good. She did pause a few times and seem to be off day dreaming but Remy guessed that she was talking to the version of him in her head, which she confirmed when he asked. It was weird, but it was also what he wanted, for Rogue to know what he did. It didn't really matter if it was him or Mini-Him who offered suggestions or told her what she was doing wrong, just as long as someone did.
They decided to hijack the truck in a tunnel, causing an explosion at the entrance (that should stop the security behind from following) and filling the tunnel with sleeping gas that would soon knock the front security escort out. Thankfully the tunnel was on a incline and the convoy had to keep the speed down for fear of damaging the chip, so no one should be seriously hurt by losing conciousness at the wheel. Besides, all the vehicles were top notch with roll bars, air bags and crumple zones, so they were confident that there would be no fatalities.
Clad in gas masks, they shut down the tunnel's ventilation system and waited in a service tunnel while the canisters of gas (which had been expensive to acquire illegally in such quantities) seeped into the tunnel. The gas proved it's worth though, and knocked everyone out within seconds.
After that it was like taking candy from a sleeping baby.
Getting away was their next difficulty, as they knew that the rear security escort would be digging through the rubble, and the other end of the tunnel would be blocked by the emergency services with in minutes. All it really required though, was a little parallel thinking. They had come dressed as EMTs, then stashed their gas masks in their medical kit. They easily blended in with the crowd and took a passed out security guard with a broken wrist to hospital in one of the ambulances, which Remy easily hot wired.
They couldn't travel far in the vehicle as it would be lo-jacked, so they drove straight to the hospital, handed the patient over to the ER staff, went to the restroom and disappeared into the city; their paramedic jumpsuits and gas masks stuffed into the backpacks that they had stored in a janitors closet.
They celebrated the success with a week in the Caribbean.
***
Their next client wanted them to break into a heavily guarded celebrities home, her ex-husband to be exact, and steal back her dog, which he was holding to ransom until she agreed to his divorce terms.
On the face of it, it sounded easy, until you realised that said celebrity was more than a little paranoid and was spending an awful lot of money on guards, cameras and electronic security. Nothing Remy couldn't handle, of course.
Thanks to Rogue however, it quickly became child's play once again. She explained that she had once been made to absorb a shapeshifter and that while she couldn't hold that shape indefinitely, she could assume anyone's form for up to four hours.
So she absorbed the information she needed from the housekeeper, assumed her shape, and went to work in her place. Three hours later she left the mansion with a grocery list, the marks unlimited credit card, a very tasteless but expensive diamond ring, and a sedated Lhasa Apso in her oversized purse (cutting discrete air-holes in the bag had been interesting).
The fee for that one was only 100 grand since it wasn't that hard (hence why Rogue also took the card and ring) so Remy let Rogue keep it all. She had done all the work, after all, while he had simply driven their getaway car.
After that they decided not to go on holiday, but headed from Los Angeles to Las Vegas instead.
***
Their third heist was robbing a casino and for themselves, not a client. Rather than stealing what they wanted, Remy taught Rogue how to count cards while playing blackjack. They spent two weeks in their hotel room practising, then Remy pointed out the security features in the casino's. She had died her white streaks again since there were cameras everywhere, and there was no telling who might see the footage and recognise such a distinctive feature. She also styled it differently and wore very dark make-up, something that she hadn't been allowed to do while she 'worked' for 'them'.
Over two nights, they hit three of the cities biggest cassino's using the skills she had learned. They cleared $145,000 in total but decided that was enough.
Rogue wanted to try again but Remy explained that while counting cards could net you a small fortune, the casino's would soon catch on. They had eyes everywhere, they shared information with each other, and they really didn't like to lose. While what they were doing wasn't illegal, rather than being banned from the casino if discovered, they would be beaten up, forced to give the money back and if they really upset a casino, killed.
Rogue wasn't sure she believed him, but he knew more about this than she did. Besides, he had just taught her how to make a quick $50,000 in one night, for emergencies and such, and she knew she shouldn't get greedy.
If for some reason she ever was cut off from her money, Rogue could now hustle pool or play a few hands of poker to get her starting cash. With only $500 or so, she could then head to a casino and walk away with up to 50 grand. Not bad for less than a weeks work.
After Vegas, they moved onto Denver, then St Louis, just taking things easy and seeing the sights as they went.
***
Thanks to him disabling the GPS chip and a helpful piece if software installed on the phone companies servers, that kept false data for all Thieves Guild phones, Remy's phone was untraceable. Rogue had wondered if he kept his old phone because he hoped that his family would call, until he explained about the software. Still, she thought that part of the reason he held onto it might be sentimental.
Keeping that phone also meant that his old clients could contact him, which is how Magneto found him.
"Remember how you said that you wanted to break into a military base, chère?" Remy asked her when he was done with his phone call.
"Yeah?"
"Looks like you got your wish. The homme who fried that chip in your brain, used to be a frequent client of mine but since I left the guild, I haven't been able to take on his larger jobs."
"Magneto?" she asked and he nodded. "I tried to kill him, what if he recognises me?"
"We won't meet up with him until the jobs done and you don't have to be there for the handover. I'm guessing he'll be so pleased to have his son back, he won't give you a second look, especially if we hide your white streaks."
"His son back? What exactly does he want you to do?"
"Break his son out of captivity."
"Does he know where he's being held?"
"No, finding him is part of the job, but he does know where he was captured and that will give us a starting point."
Rogue began hacking that afternoon, with Remy supervising, since she hadn't tried computer hacking before. Despite having his knowledge, she actually wasn't a born hacker and Remy took over, since they couldn't risk being caught.
The mutant, Pietro, codename Quicksilver, was first held on a base in New York but in transit to somewhere else (top secret), there was a failed break out attempt. Remy still didn't know where they were heading with the mutant, but now he did have the names of several soldiers who received injuries on the same day as the break-out attempt. Following those names, he discovered that two of the lesser injured soldiers were now at Area 52, soon destined to return to their own barracks
"Area 52?" Rogue asked. "Don't you mean Area 51? That's where they took the mutants after that sentinel incident."
"Qui, and they escaped. I guess this time they're being clever."
"Clever how?"
"Area 52 is like Area 51, but on a smaller scale and with much tighter security. It's owned and operated by SHIELD."
Rogue nodded her understanding. She may not be as worldly as Remy, but she knew exactly how bad ass SHIELD was, because she had been sent to gather information on them twice. The impression that she got from those she absorbed, was that SHIELD were the good guys, but not above manipulating, conniving and scheming to get what they wanted.
"So what do we do?" Rogue asked.
"Mags only gave us three days, so we get to work."
"Wait, three days? We can't do it in three days!"
"Sure we can, Rogue, plus Mags has loaned us one of his team members and believe me, he will create the biggest distraction that you can imagine. Now all we need to do is find the right person for you to absorb and impersonate."
***
Rogue drove up to the gates disguised as Agent Thomson, with Remy in the passenger seat, gagged and handcuffed.
"You're late," said the guard watching the entrance.
"Yeah, cos this mutie freak picked my pocket. Let us in so I can stop fighting this jerk."
"I.D.?" the guard asked.
Rogue handed over Thomson's card, then keyed in his pass code. Agent Thomson was going to wake up in a few hours with a massive headache, some missing time and most likely, facing treason charges.
When she absorbed him, Rogue had seen that they experimented on mutants here, and it sickened her enough that she didn't care if Thomson was falsely imprisoned. Once inside the base, Rogue used his memories to find and then park in his space. She led Remy into the holding cells, where he was secured in a chair while his data was entered into the computers by the scientist on duty.
Rogue left him there and headed to 'her' office, where she logged onto his computer and accessed the data while she waited. Not five minutes later, the base alarm sounded and moments after that, she heard a massive explosion. That wasn't Remy, that was Pyro, Magneto's man. His ability was to control and manipulate fire and although he was outside of the complex, he had directed his fire to the fuel storage shed, hence the explosion.
Rogue pulled the flash drive from the computer and stored it in her sock, then she headed to the security office for an update. As she got there, the fire alarms began to wail as Pyro spread his fire to anything that was flammable. The camera feeds she could see were mostly full of flame
"I want everyone, and I mean everyone, fighting these fires and taking down that mutant!" she barked before leaving the security office. Her orders were soon blaring out over the tannoys, although it was difficult to hear above the alarms. She made her way back to the holding cells to 'check' on the prisoners, flying up and ripping the security cameras off the wall as she went. She didn't much care if she was seen since she looked like Agent Thomson at the moment.
As expected, all non essential guards had been resigned to fire fighting duty, while the two who remained had been knocked out soon after Remy picked his handcuff locks. He had already disabled the cameras in here with exploding cards.
Remy was now standing over the computer, typing.
"Cell C21," he said, standing up and heading towards the cells. He didn't bother to look behind him, he knew that Rogue was efficient and that the footsteps he'd heard were hers. Besides, he didn't enjoy seeing her looking like a 50 year old, balding man, it was just creepy.
They quickly found the cell but as they got closer, Rogue's powers faded.
"They have a dampening field!" she exclaimed.
"Keep calm," Remy said, keeping his voice even. "We knew they might." He risked a look at her and if the situation hadn't been so serious, he would have laughed to see her dressed in a suit that was miles too big for her small frame. Instead, he looked through the small cell window to see a white haired mutant, Pietro.
"Keep calm, mon ami, your father sent us. There's gonna be a big bang in a few seconds, so take cover."
The mutant nodded.
Remy charged six cards and squeezed them between the lock and the door frame, then he grabbed Rogue and they ran to the end of the cell block. The explosion rocked them but didn't knock them off their feet and when they turned around, they could see that the cell door was ajar. They hurried back and got Magneto's son out.
"How did you do that? Powers don't work in here!"
"Trade secret, come on," Remy said to the young man, grabbing Rogue's hand and running.
As soon as they left the row of cells, Rogue's powers returned and she transformed back into Agent Thomson. She felt much better now, knowing both that she had her powers back, and that her unique hair was once again disguised. Shield might not be the ones who had taken her, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't want her.
"Okay," she said, taking hold of both men around the waist and launching forward into flight. She flew as fast as she could through the base, using her head as a battering ram on the doors. Once outside, she flew high until she was above Pyro's flame, then ducked down for him. Remy caught his outstretched arm and Rogue flew them all away as fast as she could. Shots echoed around them but the flames Pyro had created kept them from being very visible to the soldiers on the ground
They flew about a mile east, then Rogue landed beside a nondescript Ford, which they all climbed into and drove off. Remy and Pyro had the front seats and Rogue and Pietro were in the back.
"Here," Remy handed Pyro and Pietro watch like devices. "They're holograms, just turn them on and you'll look like someone else."
Pietro turned his on and transformed into a black haired Asian man. Pyro laughed.
"You look great, mate!" he activated his own watch and soon resembled a middle aged, dark haired school teacher. He pulled the rear-view mirror around to see himself and cackled. "Ha ha! This is fantastic!"
"Would you shut up, John!" Pietro barked.
"Don't know what's got you so sour, mate; in case you missed it, we just rescued you!"
"Yeah," he said darkly. "Which means my father is going to be pissed."
"He wouldn't have hired us if he didn't want you back," Rogue tried to cheer him up.
"Who are you anyway." Pietro asked.
Pyro looked pained. "Mate, you don't remember me? I'm hurt, I tell you, hurt!"
"Not you, you two."
"The names Gambit and this is Rogue, we're thieves." Remy said.
"So why did my father hire you to break me out?"
"Because I am the best," Remy smiled. "And I've done a few jobs for him in the past. How about you, Pietro, any injuries we need to know about?"
"Nah, they hadn't had time to do much to me." He looked glum. "What about the others in there? We should have got them out too."
"How many people do you think Rogue can carry, mon ami?" Remy asked. "Besides, we got the data on all the mutants being held for your father. I don't know what he intends to do with it, but I bet he doesn't plan on leaving them there."
Pietro nodded, agreeing with him.
After about half an hour, Remy pulled into a gas station and Rogue grabbed a back pack from the boot and slipped into the bathroom to change. She reverted to her normal form and gladly changed into normal clothes; that uniform that Agent Thomson wore itched like crazy. Then she pulled off the Shield beret, stuffed the suit into her backpack, hid her streaks under a baseball cap and left the restroom.
Pyro and Pietro whistled as she got back into the car.
"I must say, I like this look a lot better than the old one. Why didn't you tell us you were a sheila?"
"You didn't need to know," Rogue answered. She didn't like it when people noticed her or her powers, she preferred to remain anonymous.
"So what else can you do?" Pietro asked. "I mean you can shapeshift and fly, that's an odd combination, isn't it?"
"That's all I can do," Rogue insisted. "I can't explain why I have these powers any more than you can explain why you have white hair and move really fast."
"Sorry," he could tell that he'd upset her, but he liked her and that wasn't his intention. "So, what's with the gloves?"
He had noticed that she had worn gloves since they met her.
"I'm a thief, I don't like leaving finger prints," she lied. She couldn't explain why, but she had a really bad feeling about this whole job. She wished that she knew what was upsetting her, but all she knew was that she felt anxious.
"You shouldn't hide under that hat," Pyro said, grabbing the baseball cap off her head.
"Hey!" she snatched the cap back, his strength no match for hers, and jammed it back on her head.
Remy returned to the car after he'd paid for the gas, and tossed a bag of snacks into the back seat.
"So where are we meeting Bucket Head?" Pyro asked.
"About two miles away. Why?"
"Just curious how long I've got to make the sheila fall in love with me."
"Don't even try it, mon ami, she's spoken for."
Pyro looked from Rogue to Remy and back again. Rogue still looked angry about the hat incident, and now Remy looked pissed off too. A lot of people thought that Pyro was insane, but he wasn't, not really. He was smart enough to notice that his Cajun friend was territorial, and he knew well enough not to cross him.
"Hey, no harm done, mate. I didn't know she was your girl, that's all. Now I do, we'll just remain friends."
Remy relaxed a little and Pyro turned to Rogue.
"But hey, if you ever get tired of the Ragin' Cajun, gimme a call. I'm not kidding when I say, you won't believe how hot I am."
Remy growled and Rogue tried to suppress her smile. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," she assured him, though her tone said the exact opposite.
***
The handover went cleanly and Remy collected their fee while Rogue waited in the car, her distinctive hair hidden under a baseball cap. Magneto looked into the car for a moment longer than Remy was comfortable with, but then continued as if nothing was amiss. When Remy handed over the flash drive, Magneto assured them that he would be freeing every mutant on it as soon as he could. He then took Pyro and Pietro back to Bayville, while Remy and Rogue headed off into the sunset.
Unfortunately, Rogue had been right to be worried.
It seemed that Pietro had a little crush on her and wouldn't shut up about her rescuing him. Pyro simply wouldn't shut up about the whole rescue and between them, they made sure that most of the mutants in Bayville knew all about the beautiful, feisty mutant, with white stripes in her hair and an unusual mix of powers.