Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men, or any of its original characters. Nor do I have any type of claim to those characters. However, the characters of my creation belong to me, and cannot be used without my permission.
Cajun Heat
By
Moonchampion
"Come on, Rogue! Stop hogging the bathroom!" cried Kitty. "You've been in there for over an hour already." Kitty stood outside the bathroom in her bathrobe with her towel draped over her arm. She stared at the door a few moments longer, and still there was no change. "I'm not kidding, Rogue. If you don't come out right now, I'm coming in!"
Suddenly, the door opened, and Kitty found herself face-to-face with Rogue. "Calm down, Kitty," said Rogue as she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in her bathrobe. She ran her fingers through her wet hair as she smiled at Kitty. "It's all yours, short stuff." With that said, Rogue stepped across the hall and entered their bedroom.
Kitty stared after her until the door closed. As her frustration began to build up, Kitty stuck out her tongue at the closed door. "Tomorrow, I'm going first!" Kitty turned around, and found a cloud of brimstone appear directly in front of her.
"Excuse me, Kitty, but it's an emergency," said Kurt. Then, he rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
Kitty rushed to the door and began pounding on the wooden door and yelling after Kurt. "Hey! Get out of there, right now, Kurt! I've been standing here for over an hour!" The only response was the sound of the shower starting to run. Kitty growled at the door and pounded on it a few more times. "You're going to regret this, Elf!" Kitty dropped her towel onto the floor, and sat down next to the door. Then, she added as an after thought, "And keep your hands off of my Herbal Essence Shampoo!"
"Vat are you talking about?" asked Kurt. "I never used you shampoo!"
"Oh yes you did!" screamed Kitty, who was back on her feet. "I found your blue hairs all over the bottle!"
The two teens continued to argue through the closed bathroom. Their voices filled the entire house. Rogue listened to their muffled voices as she got dressed. She sighed and shook her head as she pulled her gloves onto her hands and looked in the mirror. Finally, after getting dressed, Rogue left her room and headed downstairs. The voices of Kurt and Kitty were still chattering away at each other. Now, however, Kurt was continuing the argument with his head sticking through the slightly open bathroom door.
Rogue shook her head and headed downstairs towards the kitchen for some breakfast. On her way into the kitchen she saw Logan heading in her direction. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and his eyes were glued to the newspaper in his other hand. "Morning, Logan," said Rogue as they passed each other. Logan replied with a low grunt that was meant as a welcome.
Rogue entered the kitchen to find that breakfast was already waiting on the table. The table was filled with tall stacks of pancakes, bacon, toast and eggs. There was even a basket full of bagels on the table, along with some jam and creamed cheese. Rogue couldn't decide what she wanted so, she decided to check the mail. Perhaps by then, she would have made up her mind about what she wanted.
Rogue went over to the counter and picked up the large stack of mail. She checked the mail simply as a habit, because she wasn't expecting a letter from anyone. After all, she couldn't even think of anyone that would send her a letter, especially since she couldn't remember. Rogue continued to thumb through the letters, noticing that most of the other students were getting mail from family members. Scott had gotten a letter from his brother Alex. Jean had gotten a letter from her little sister. Kitty and Evan had gotten letters from their parents. Even some of the new students, who had only been there a couple of weeks, were receiving mail. Rahne Sinclair, Wolfsbane, received a card from her mother on Muir Island, and Sam Guthrie, Cannonball, received quite a few letters. A bunch were from his family back in Kentucky, but one of them came from his sister Paige, enrolled at the Xavier Institute in Snow Valley, Massachusetts.
Rogue was just about tired of thumbing through the mail. She placed the stack back onto the counter. As she did so, several of the letters fell onto the floor. Rogue sighed, and bent down to pick them up. Rogue collected the letters and placed them back on the counter. However, something on the counter now caught her attention. It was a letter addressed to her. She picked up the letter and stared at the envelope. There was no return address in the corner. Rogue was confused. Who would possibly send her a letter? She looked at the postmark printed over the stamp.
"New Orleans?" said Rogue as she read the postmark. It only took a few moments before she concluded who had written her the letter. "Remy," she whispered to herself.
Rogue tore open the envelope and began reading the letter immediately:
Rogue,
I need your help, Cher. I don't know who else to turn to. Someone is after me, and I can't stop them. With this letter, I sent you a train ticket and an address where we can meet, here in New Orleans. Please come Rogue. You may be my only chance.
Remy
Rogue folded the letter and looked at the train ticket and the address that had been inside the envelope. She swallowed hard as she started to consider what to do. Why had Remy sent her a train ticket? She could have very easily flown with the X-Men in the Blackbird down to New Orleans, unless… unless he wanted her to come alone.
Rogue didn't like the idea of traveling on her own all the way New Orleans, especially without telling anyone where she was going. The Professor would be furious if she pulled a stunt like that. Still, Remy needs her help. She had to do something. Rogue looked again at the paper with the address. It was a hotel suite, reserved for one night.
"Why there, Remy?" Rogue said to herself. "What have you gotten yourself into now?" Rogue folded the papers and quickly dashed up to her room. On her way upstairs, several of the other students were coming down. They waved and said the morning greetings to Rogue, who simply nodded and continued up the stairs as quickly as possible. Kitty and Kurt were still arguing at the bathroom door. Rogue quickly slipped into her room and shut the door. She then dumped all of her schoolbooks out of her backpack and threw an extra change of clothes, along with her X-Men jumpsuit, into the bag.
Rogue started towards the door, and then thought it would be better if she left the house without anyone noticing. She decided to leave through the window, and climb down the tree next to her window. Rogue did this with ease, and softly landed on the grass below.
"Is something wrong with the stairs?" grumbled a voice. Rogue was shocked as she turned around to find Logan standing a few yards away. "Where ya headed River-rat?"
"Uh, well," stammered Rogue. "I – I have a – uh test to make up. So, I need to get to school a little early."
"Really," said Logan suspiciously. "And why are you climbing out of windows all of a sudden?"
"Uh – exercise?" said Rogue as she chuckled half-heartedly at her explanation. There was no way Logan was buying any of this. Still, it was the only chance she had.
Logan continued to eye her suspiciously. After a few more seconds of Logan staring directly into Rogue's eyes, and she would have easily broken down and confessed everything. However, the next words brought some relief to Rogue's troubled heart. "Come on, I'll give you a lift?"
Rogue followed Logan as he led her to the garage. They entered the building and walked down the row of cars until they came to a black SUV. Rogue and Logan entered the vehicle, and for the entire drive remained silent. Logan pulled up to the front of Bayville High School and Rogue climbed out of the car.
"Thanks for the lift, Mr. Logan," said Rogue.
"Yeah, sure," he replied. "Hey Rogue, what kind of test is this anyway?"
"Geography," replied Rogue, after hesitating briefly. Logan simply nodded after hearing her answer and pulled off. Rogue started towards the main building. However, once Logan was out of sight, she broke off into a run towards the bus stop on a street adjacent to the school grounds. When she reached the bus stop, she sat down on the bench and waited for the bus to come.
After a few minutes, the bus pulled up, and Rogue hopped on board. She road the bus into New York City, where she got off at Penn Station. As Rogue entered the station, she saw that she only had a few to reach her terminal before her train left. Rogue dashed through the crowds of people and found her way to the train. She quickly climbed onboard and found her seat. It was isolated, and in the back of the car. Luckily the train wasn't full, so she didn't have to worry about anyone bothering her on this trip.
"Mind if I check your ticket," said a familiar voice. Rogue looked up as she reached into her bag for her ticket. However, when she saw who was facing her, the ticket fell from her hand onto the floor.
"Logan," said Rogue. The color from her face was quickly draining as any idea of an explanation continued to escape her mind. Logan reached onto the floor and picked up her ticket. He studied it briefly and turned his attention back to her.
"A little early for Mardi Gras, ain't it?" he asked.
"I – I can explain," she stammered.
"I'm waitin'," he replied.
"No, I can't," she said, as any good lie remained just out of her grasp.
"How about you try the truth?" he said.
Rogue sighed, as she reached into her backpack once again and produced the envelope she had received from Remy. Logan took the letter into his hands and began reading. After he finished he handed the letter back to Rogue and stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "I'm sorry. I guess you're going to take me back to the Institute, huh?" Rogue began to stare at the floor as she waited for his answer. Surprisingly several seconds passed before he actually sat down beside her and produced a ticket of his own. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going with ya," said Logan. "I caught a LeBeau's scent back at the mansion when I checked the mail before you came down. I figured he must have ya a letter. But, seeing you trying to sneak outta house is what made me suspicious."
"Sorry, about that," said Rogue.
"Forget it," Logan said. "I'm gonna call the Professor, and let him know where we're going. That way, if it's necessary, the others can come and join us." Rogue nodded as Logan pulled out a cell phone and began dialing the number. As he got onto the phone and began talking, Rogue stared out the window. The train had started to move. After a few minutes, New York City began to disappear, and Rogue's eyes began to get heavy. Eventually, everything faded into blackness, as Rogue drifted off to sleep.
Remy raced down the alley as fast as his legs could carry him. As he dashed through the dark allies, he glanced over his shoulder. Both of them were still on his tail, and getting closer. Remy quickly turned the corner and ducked behind a row of garbage cans. He had to catch his breath. His legs were starting to ache. It seemed like he had been running an hour, nonstop. Remy peeked around the garbage cans to see if he could see his predators. No one was in sight. Remy sat there and continued to catch his breath.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the garbage can he was leaning on began to glow and whine louder and louder. Remy got to his feet as quickly as possible and began to run. Within seconds, an explosion occurred behind him. The force of the explosion threw Remy forward and onto the ground.
Remy was slightly dazed as he began to shake his head. He tried to get to his feet, but it seemed useless. Remy glanced back, and saw two figures coming towards him. One of them was a large man with dark skin. He was wearing a black leather uniform and a long black leather trench coat. On the buckle of his belt was the X-Men emblem. His hair was straight and long. He also had a moustache and goatee, and was sporting a pair of sunglasses. His companion was a woman. She was also wearing a black leather uniform with the emblem of the X-Men. She also had dark skin, but her hair was short and blonde, with the exception of a single, long braid that fell somewhere near her knees. Both of them however had the letter 'M' tattooed over their right eyes.
As they got closer, Remy could see that the man also had a large sophisticated rifle in his possession. It was unlike anything, Remy had ever seen. The bulk of the gun alone proved that it wasn't an ordinary weapon. The woman with him however, didn't have a gun. In fact, her hands were glowing with green energy. Remy tried once again to get to his feet, but found that his attempts were still futile.
Remy heard the man cock the gun once again, as he prepared to fire. Remy was running out of time, these people were getting close. He needed some sort of distraction. Remy looked on the ground, and saw a wooden crate lying next to the back door of a restaurant. Remy reached for the crate and touched it. The wooden crate began to glow. Remy started to crawl as fast as his arms and legs would carry him.
"There's no use running, boy," boomed the man's voice. He spoke softly, but his voice was so deep, that it almost sounded like thunder. "The game's over and you lost." The man lifted his gun and pointed directly at Remy.
"Don't pick up the chips before the last card is played," replied Remy. Just as he finished his sentence, the crate Remy had charged with his own kinetic energy exploded. The explosion engulfed part of the restaurant's back wall, which created a cloud of smoke and debris that shrouded the view of the dark-skinned man.
"No!" shouted the man as he fired a few shots into the cloud. As the dust began to settle, the man saw that his target was gone. "I don't believe it! He got away again!" Suddenly, the sounds of sirens began to fill the air.
"Come on, Bishop. We have to get out of here," said the dark-skinned woman. She reached for his arm, and started to walk away, but Bishop wasn't moving. "Come on, Bishop! It'll only complicate matters if the police find us here."
Bishop continued to stare down the alley, which is the only direction Remy could have gone. He placed the large rifle in a holster underneath his coat. He pulled his glasses off, and held them in his hand. "You got lucky this time, Cajun. But I promise you that it is the last time." He then turned to his companion. "All right, Shard, let's go."
The pair turned around and walked out of the alley calmly. Remy swallowed hard as he watched them leave from underneath a manhole. He allowed the cover to fall into place as he slid down into the sewer, and rested against the wall. His knees began to buckle, so he sat down. Remy's rested his head on his shoulder as fatigue began set in. The teenage Cajun's eyes began to feel heavier and heavier. Eventually, the calm of the darkness embraced him as fell quickly asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED…