Alright, disclaimer here for the whole story:
Unfortunately, I don't own the X-men.
If I did, I wouldn't be writing FanFiction and I wouldn't be as poor, poor as I am…
My OC is the only thing I do own, but even she is inspired by Marvel, and as such I can't actually sue anyone over it. Bummer.
Please keep in mind that English is not my first language, neither is French, therefore mistakes will appear. Please don't flame me on them, I can't help it.
Oh, and the timelines aren't canon with anything. I am the author here, so I've just shifted them around till I got what I wanted. So no moaning about wrong ages and stuff. Really, I don't care about it.
Righto… let's get on with it then~
Remy gave an angry snarl as he was thrown into a cage, lined at all sides with bars, by the sneering, hateful guards. Fourteen, nearly fifteen years old, and he was a prisoner, not celebrating the holidays with his family as he should be doing. He hit the floor with a loud thud, rolling a bit to bleed off his momentum and prevent himself from breaking anything. Well, anything more. As the guards turned away with a derisive laugh, he swore foully in French and English, cursing the day he got careless enough to be caught by Stryker's lackeys. He had been taken, drugged into unconsciousness, from New Orleans about two months ago. Taken to some God forsaken island where the scientists used mutants as their own personal let's-cut-them-up toys. Suppressing another round of curses he pushed himself to his feet, taking in his new cell.
He had managed to blow up his old one, and because of that he would have to share, as one sneering guard had told him. In a corner of the cage was his new roommate. He chuckled mentally at that, well, cage-mate then. It was a girl, a young woman, looking to be his age with long dark brown hair around her head, and she was shackled to the bars of the cage, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. He didn't know anybody had managed to be enough trouble to warrant being shackled in their cell, but apparently this femme had managed it. He smirked, then decided to introduce himself. They would after all be stuck with one another for some time. "Bonjour, chere, Remy be jus' introducing himself den? Remy be guessin' we be stuck-"
He chocked on air as the woman raised her head to look at him with chilly, familiar blue eyes. "Dieu…" He breathed out harshly in shock. "Boudreaux. Din' know yo' was a mutant, hein?"
The woman in the cell just gave him a silent once over, then sneered. "Jus' 'cause yo' din managed t' be covert, LeBeau, don' mean odders don'. Bad form fo' a T'ief t' not 'ave 'n ace up deir sleeve, non?"
Remy sighed, then ran a hand through his hair. He had never expected to find an Assassin of all people also stuck in this place, and from the looks of it, she had been there longer than he. Andrea Boudreaux. He didn't know her, he just knew of her, after all, she was the niece of the Patriarch of the Assassins Guild. Therefore a serious threat and person to know of for any Thief of the New Orleans Guild. He gave her a half hearted grin. "Merde, 'ssassin, ne'er imagined dat one o' yo' would get caught."
She turned her nose up to him, looking down on him with a haughty air, but her eyes held an amused sparkle. "Jus' like a T'ief t' pass o'er de reason he is caught t' look at de odders mistakes, LeBeau." She shifted, her cuffs clanking against the bars and she grimaced. "Don' t'ink dey let yo' keep yo' tools, LeBeau? Dese cuffs be a mite uncomfortable."
Remy snorted. "Remy wishes. Non. No luck wit' dat, chère." He gave her a once over and sat down cross-legged in front of her. "'Ow long you been here, Boudreaux? De Guild ne'er heard yo' been missin'."
"Yo' wouldn' have, LeBeau. Was under Contract dat was s'pposed t' be fo' quite a few weeks. Bâtards took me during de briefin' on mah supposed marks. Trèsembarrassant. Been here now fo' 'bout five months. Ah t'ink" She grimaced. "Ne'er gon live dat down when Ah get back. Oncle be merciless." She gave a sudden raspy laugh, surprising the hell out of Remy. "Ah t'ink he'll be even more merciless 'bout the fact dat Ah been in a room wit' a T''ief an' were polite wit'out tryin' t' kill him."
Remy snorted at that, then laughed too. "Remy be worried when he go back, if he tell Henri he be looked at if he be losing 'is sanity. A polite 'ssassin? What de world comin' t'?"
"Mon oncle probably just give me more trainin' t' beat out de crazy." A raspy chuckle grated in her throat, but the sly smile that stole over her face couldn't be stopped no matter what she did. "Mais, t' get t' de point, yo' got any plans t' get outta here yet, LeBeau? After all, y' are de T'ief here."
Remy shrugged. "Non, not yet, mais if de inspiration strikes yo' be de first one Remy'll tell, hein?"
That got him a slow, playful smile, and the Assassin closed her eyes again, leaning back into the cold metal.
Andrea was nearly spitting fire as she cursed at the guards that were dragging her cellmate away to parts unknown. Well, technically she knew where they were taking him, but she rather didn't think off it. She had been in the experimentation facility for a bit over two years now, and had surprisingly, or maybe not that surprisingly, grown quite a bit closer to her cellmate. At first they had expected to be separated again after a while, but then more and more young mutants were brought in and the cells became fuller, so they kept more than one person per cage.
She didn't mind anymore. Sure, in the outside world the two of them would probably sooner have cut each others throat out than get along, but in there, they were the only support they had.
They had talked about their families, about their powers (hers being the manipulation of wind/air and some illusions, Remy with his kinetic charging and empathy), about what they would like to do when they got out.
They always kept saying when. Never if. Saying if was the first step to loosing hope, and they had sworn to each other that they would get out of there, that they would sneak out together and go back to N'Awlins and drink until they wouldn't know their own name anymore and then go out to the bayou and watch the sunrise. That was the plan. And they already were moving.
They had been mapping out all the pathways in the base they could observe when they were taken out, they listened in when guards and scientists thought they were unconscious from either pain, drugs or a beating they had gotten. One point in their favour was that they had finally stopped locking her in the shackles to the cage. The fools probably thought she wouldn't have any energy left. Shame on them. It was the oldest trick in the book. Those bastards should have known better than to place two professionals, an Assassin and a Thief, in one cell with the motivation to escape.
She settled back down on the floor of her cage as the guards disappeared from view, keeping her farce up. A snort came from the cage next to her and she turned to look at the blond haired girl who had made the sound. The girl sneered at her. "I don't know why you two keep trying. It's not like the two of you will get out of here on your own."
"Dat's what yo' t'ink, petite fille." Andrea smirked coldly at the girl. Emma Frost had been a pain in the ass from the moment she had arrived, always complaining and telling them that they couldn't escape on their own and that only her sister would mange to get them out. She also kept trying to make fun of the Cajun accent of her and Remy, and of the fact that they wouldn't give their real names, sticking to their mutant ones. The Frost girl tried taunting them with saying that they probably didn't even know their real name. It didn't bother them, really, mostly because the little girl had no grounds for her dislike of them and wasn't really good at insulting, therefore just giving them some entertainment in that hellhole.
Andrea allowed some of her work persona to come to the surface, and she knew she had succeeded when the girl flinched back. "Dis Cajun an' de T'ief will get out o' here, wit'out de help o' yo' sister. We don' like waitin' 'round fo' de obvious solution. Only cowards do dat, well, cowards an' fools, hein."
The girl sneered weakly and turned away, leaving Andrea to contemplate the escape plan she and Remy had hatched so far in peace. They knew the way out, they knew where to go first to destroy all samples and files that had been taken on then and all they needed now were tools to open the doors for them. Well, tools for Remy to open the doors for them. He was the Thief after all, and therefore the best at picking locks of the two of them. She murmured a soft prayer under her breath, then closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep until Remy would be returned.
The experiments this time didn't take long, so after three hours Remy was dumped back in the cage by the guards. He gave a pained smile to Andrea, then winced. "Zephyr, chère, yo' up fo' helpin' dis poor Cajun?"
Andrea smiled at the use of her mutant name, then rolled her eyes. "Poor Cajun? Don' know where yo' get dose idea's, mais dey be stupid, cher. Yo' no poor Cajun, Ah'm de only poor Cajun 'ere." Her smile became a smirk, then she crawled over to him, turning him over and taking in his wounds. "Gambit. Dey be quick dis time, non?"
"Ouias. Prob'ly buildin' up t' some odder experiment." Remy smirked, then with a sleigh of hand, unnoticed by all those watching, put a small piece of metal in her hand, then showed his arm, with held some wounds. He pouted. "Mais dey still hurt Gambit."
Andrea kept her expression smooth with ease of training, but she sent him a quick smirk to show him she got it. "Aw, yo' petit bébé, yo' want moi t' kiss 't bettah?"
With the ease of much practice they fell into their light bantering, keeping an inconspicuous eye on the guards and their fellow prisoners, until they were left alone. All the guards were gone and their fellow prisoners were asleep. Remy smirked and rolled up. Andrea smirked back and smoothly rose to her feet. "Yo' bettah pick dat lock fast, Gambit. Ah c'n smell dat freedom, homme. Ah ain't waitin' anymore."
Remy snorted, then took the little metal piece and started fiddling with the lock. A few moments later it gave a quiet click, and swung open. Andrea stared. "Merde."
She breathed out harshly, then shook her head, slipping out behind Remy who had taken point. Breathing a sigh of relief as she felt her powers return from them leaving the suppression field, she quickly constructed a light illusion around them, one that would make them mostly invisible. She murmured the completion of her task to Remy. "Done, Gambit."
He nodded, then slunk along through the shadows, Andrea on his heels. They managed to slip through the halls unnoticed, and it was only as they entered the room which held the files that they ran into people. Andrea quickly slipped past Remy and took the scientist out with a chop to the throat, enhanced with a sharp wrap of wind around her hand, cutting the throat. Remy raised a single eyebrow, then got to work, searching out their paper records as Andrea seated herself behind the computer and started hacking.
"Merde!" Andrea swore as the computer gave a beep, flashing the sign of entry cut off, just as she reached their files. "Desole, dey got onto moi, homme. Gon' have t' take out de whole system."
Her only answer was a crackle and pop as Remy destroyed their paper files, then he headed out. "Yo' do dat, Gambit'll take out de DNA bank, non?"
A terse nod was his answer and Andrea snarled. She would succeed and they would get out now. They would.
Remy gasped for air as he flung his tired body on the ground. A thud next to him informed him that Andrea had collapsed. He gave a giddy laugh. "We be out, 'Rea. Made 't out de prison, chère."
A breathless chuckle was his answer, then an arm fell over him as Andrea turned over to curl up beside him. "We save 'ere, hein, Rems? We be off de path."
Soft, rhythmic breathing came back and she chuckled again, closing her own eyes and dropping off into the realm of sleep.
They were free.
The city of New Orleans rose up in front of them, all twinkling lights and faint music wafting through the air. Remy took a deep breath, then he sighed. "We here, chère. What be de plan?"
"Get back home, den keep in contact, hein?" Andrea glanced at him, then gave him a small smile. "Ne'er t'ought 't would happen, mais yo' my friend, Remy LeBeau, so don' yo' dare t' ignore my existence. We jus' keep 't silent, therefore no moanin' o' de famille 'bout insanity, an' meet up fo' drinks an' such. What do y' say?"
A quirky grin greeted her as she peeked at him again, and she turned to face him properly. Then, before he had the chance to react, she threw her arms around him in a tight hug. After a moment of surprise he hugged her back, then let her go with a wide smile. "If yo' will hug Remy ev'rytime like dat when we meet up, Remy'll be dere fo' sure."
She laughed, then drew back from him, turning back to the sight of the city. She slipped a card from her pocket, one she had stolen from Remy a few days before when they had 'shopped' for supplies, such as clothes, food, weapons… and cards. With a grin she flipped it to him, laughing again as he caught the Queen of Hearts with a surprised look on his face. "Dat be mah number, cher, so yo' don' have an excuse t' forget t' call moi."
Remy laughed before moving away in the dark. They had decided to enter the city from separate directions and at different times. He would enter first, she would enter 38 minutes later. They were home.
Andrea snorted in derision as she entered the Assassins' Mansion, also known as the Boudreaux Mansion, unopposed, silently flowing from shadow to shadow. Sure, she had taken some lessons from Remy in sneaking, but they still should have spotted her before she came that far. She stopped in front of the door to the Patriarch's office, hesitating fro a moment before knocking swiftly. As her uncles familiar voice bode her to enter, she opened the door and gave a shaking smile as she took in the people in the study. Her uncle Marius, the Patriarch, was seated behind his desk. Her father was seated in one of the chairs in front of the desk, her cousin Belladonna was pacing in front of the fireplace and two of the Councillors were standing by the desk with their arms crossed. There was a moment of silence as they all took in who exactly was standing in the doorway, before Belladonna gave an almighty squeal and flung herself to Andrea. "Andy!"
Andrea grimaced at the nickname, even as she took her cousin in her arms and hugged her tightly, starting to shake. Then Belladonna was pulled away and her father Marcus was standing in front of her, stone-faced. "If yo' are truly Andrea, den what did yo' do on yo' fourth birt'day?"
"Ah set fire t' ma mere 'er dress, Ah was grounded fo' trois semaine an' Maman took all de matches in de house away. Ah din' even get any cake. " Andrea gave a tremulous smile as she reached out for Marcus, whose expression had lightened to relief as she spoke. "Vous manqué, Papa."
Before she could blink the was swept up in a tight hug as her father whispered prayers in rapid French in her hair. She started shaking softly, her arms clasped tightly around Marcus. A few minutes later they both composed themselves a bit and Andrea saw that the Councillors had disappeared and that Belladonna had taken a seat on one of the chairs. Marius quickly swept in and pulled her in a tight hug too, before he held her at arms length, giving her a quick once over. "Dieu Merci, p'tite, we t'ought yo' was gone. Yo' disappeared."
Andrea gave a nod, then allowed her father to steer her to a chair. She took a deep breath, then expelled it and started talking. "De Contract was a bust from de beginnin', oncle. Dey knew Ah was a mutant, an' dey were waitin' fo' moi. Ah was taken on de orders offa fils de putain named Stryker…"
Remy sunk back into the couch as he watched his father and brother curse the air blue in a mix of English and French. He had just told the entire story of his capture and stay with Stryker, without telling the name of his cellmate and only telling that they had split up once they had reached safe land. His family wasn't happy. Stryker would be in a lot of trouble once the Thieves would be going after him for hurting and threatening one of their own. He smothered a grin as he imagined the look on Stryker's face if he could realise that he had just made enemies of the two largest Guilds in the world, both of the Thieves and Assassins.
A bang on the table brought an end to the rant of both Jean-Luc and Henri, and they turned to face Tante Mattie, who held a rolling pin in one hand and had the other on her hip, a scowl on her face. "Yo' now bettah stop swearin', chil', b'fore Ah git annoyed. Alors, yo' gon' t' sit dere, an' do nothin', or yo' goin' t' plan revenge fo' dis insult?"
Jean-Luc scowled angrily. "Dat fils de putain won' be havin' a save place lef' in de world. We gon after 'im, an' we gon make him suffer. Yo' don' take une of mine, an' don' pay fo' 't. Call the Council, we got plans t' make."
A grin spread itself on Remy's face as he imagined that in the Assassins Guild similar events would be taking place around that same time. He allowed himself to be ushered away by Tante Mattie, first to the kitchen for a truly, good, filling home cooked meal, before she bustled him off to his room, which hadn't changed a bit even in the two years he had been away from home. After a quick shower he snuggled into his bed, delighted by the soft covers and mattress, before a beep from his stolen phone woke him from his daze.
Flipping it open he grinned as he recognized the number. Andrea had already sent him a message. His grin grew wider as he comprehended what she had sent him. Her Guild was up in arms, her father and uncle were out for blood and none of the Assassins dared to go against the Boudreauxs' on this, not that they wanted to. As almost an afterthought she sent him a time and place she would be able to make for their first meeting after seeing their family again.
Right now, life was good.