1. LOUISIANA WOMAN, MISSISSIPPI MAN (or something like that)
Remy LeBeau strolled through the front door of his usual haunt like he owned the place. Technically, through a shell company and an alias that he would deny, he did. That night was his first night back in New Orleans after a not so extensive stay elsewhere. More specifically, he had been out of town on official Thieves Guild business, any more details than that and things wouldn't end well for the parties involved. Plausible- deniability, preventable narking- call it whatever you wanted.
The bar infamously known as the Cellar was, for all intents and purposes, a dive bar. The lighting was dingy, the floor was sticky, the crowds were questionable and Remy loved absolutely every second of it.
The bar itself encompassed an old warehouse, which left plenty of space for a completely stocked bar, a smoky backroom that hosted many a underground poker game, a caged in area for illegally sanctioned fights, various small stages that boasted sliver poles and scantily clad women and, of course, music loud enough in particular spots to deafen someone or conveniently interfere with any unwelcome listening devices.
Surveying the space around him, Remy noticed a crowd of people surrounding the caged arena. He paused at the bar, but focused his attention over toward the group with a sparkling curiosity.
Pierce, the barkeep, was a dark-skinned man in his late sixties who was still in good shape and had a full head of silver hair. He was also the best damn barkeep Remy had ever seen. Pierce wasted no time handing Remy his usual drink without so much as a word being exchanged between them. Remy nodded his thanks and motioned over to the crowd with his head.
"Somet'ing goin' on?" he asked with intrigue.
Pierce shrugged, "Gotta new fighter. Ain' lost a match yet."
Remy made a face," How long dis been goin' on?"
"Since yo' left." Pierce said offhandedly, cleaning out a glass with a rag as he smirked at some unheard joke.
"Mebbe I oughtta change dat." Remy muttered, downing his drink and smacking it against the bar.
Pierce chuckled, refilling Remy's drink, "When yo' get a look at dis brawler de las' t'ing yo' gonna wanna do is fight 'em."
Remy scoffed as if Pierce had just insulted his honor (if he had any), "You t'ink I'm scared o' some big homme?"
Pierce held up his hands, trying and failing to swallow the smirk on his lips, "Why don'tca go up dere an' show 'em what'ca made outta den... Oh, by de way, de big guy's name is Duke."
Remy eyed Pierce suspiciously as he left the barkeep and his newly refilled drink at the bar.
With Pierce's laughter ringing in Remy's ears, he edged his way through the crowd. Remy could have moved through the crowd with a liquid motion, but instead he chose to shove people out of his way, to make his presence known. Occasionally, men would turn around disgruntledly and looking for a fight of their own, only to be met with the dangerous glow of Remy's red eyes. Once they caught sight of his ominous eyes, they would turn back around and quietly move out of his way.
Once Remy was at the front of the mass of people, he finally understood what all the fuss was about. The man was huge. He was practically a blob of a person, taking up at least an eighth of the arena. Duke had an intimidating presence, to the average person that is. Apart from his sheer size, Remy was overall unimpressed with Duke.
Duke's opponent, however...
It was obvious that the crowd wasn't there for Duke. No, they were definitely there for his opponent. Said opponent was small and even looked a tad frail, clad in a formfitting black cat suit that left very little to the imagination. Duke's opponent had a gloved right hand and a bare left, save for some strategically placed tape over the wrist area up to the palm and some more tape wrapped around the skin between the knuckle and the metacarpal.
Remy's eyes widened as he took in the two blatant reasons why the few morals he had would not allow him to challenge the reigning champion.
Remy watched in awe as the woman bobbed and weaved around everything that Duke threw at her. In fact, Duke never even grazed a finger against the green bandana that was wrapped around her head. Remy presumed that it was to keep her hair at bay.
In one swift motion, the woman jumped into the air and round house kicked Duke with such force that he stumbled backwards, barely catching himself at the last second. As Duke started to regain his balance, the woman honed in with a right jab and followed it with a finalizing cross. When her bare knuckles scrapped across Duke's face, he collapsed to the ground like a rug had been ripped out from under him.
The horde of people went wild as the woman smirked down at Duke's unconscious form with a twinkle of smugness in her eyes. When she'd finished admiring her handiwork, she took a step back from him and looked up to take in the crowd from inside the chain-mesh. She threw her hands up in the air victoriously. As she glanced at the crowd triumphantly, she briefly made eye contact with Remy. She gave him a playful wink.
He returned her gesture with a lopsided smirk.
Remy found the woman not too long after their shared glances. With the fight finished and the commotion around it slowly disbanding, she was able to free herself of celebratory claps on the backs, offerings of drinks and one marriage proposal.
Remy loomed in a dark corner as he watched the woman break away from the crowd. Her first step was the bar, she and Pierce exchanged a few words and a laugh before he handed her a drink.
Her next move was securing a booth. She procured a booth in the far corner of the bar, away from much of the excitement of the strippers, pool tables and bar tap.
Materializing in front of the bar in a very Remy-ish way, Remy waited a beat for Pierce to pour him a drink. The barkeep did just that, albeit, this time he did it with a rather smug smile on his face. Remy took the drink and gave his mutinous barkeep a particular hand gesture that made Pierce audibly chuckle. Rolling his eyes, Remy moved away from the bar and over toward the mysterious woman who had peeked his interest.
She was still wearing that green bandana over her head and now had a matching set of gloves on her hands, complete with a dark brown leather jacket that should have clashed, but somehow didn't.
As Remy made his way over to the booth, he watched as another man beat him to the punch of sliding into the adjacent booth. This did not sway Remy from his intent, however. Instead, he observed the situation as he neared them.
The woman didn't bother looking up from her drink as the man mumbled out an introduction.
"Ah ain' interested." he heard the woman's melodious drawl say flatly to the man.
"Jus' lemme buy you a drink." the man tried again.
Closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose, the woman exhaled in annoyance. As she started to reply, Remy finally ascended on the booth. He glowered down at the lesser man that sat in his intended seat.
"Scram." he said dangerously, his eyes burning with the hope that the man would not comply with his order.
The man apparently recognized Remy, or recognized when he was out of his reach, because he scooted back out of the booth and scampered off into the darkness of the bar. With a new air of arrogance about him, Remy slid into the booth smoothly. However, his suave entrance was lost on the Woman because she still had yet to look up from her drink. Instead, she rolled the glass on its edge against the table and watched the ice cubes rustle.
"Ya should know that Ah don' like bullies." she said matter of factly, "But none-tha-less, Ah ain' interested in ya either. Don' need ya help neither." she added the last sentence as an afterthought.
Remy ignored the first and last sentences of her statement, "Cherie, I ain' even propositioned yo' yet." he said, amused by her demeanor. The Daddy-issues rolled off of her in waves.
"But ya was gonna?" She looked up at him, a twinkle in her green eyes. She didn't even look surprised or swoonful at his handsome face. That wasn't arrogance that was fact. "So lemme save ya some time. Nothin' ya say is gonna convince me ta crawl inta bed with ya." she paused to take a drink, "Specially considerin' tha wrath o' ya assassin o' ah fiancée."
Remy wasn't fazed by her veiled drop, so she knew who he was. That wasn't exactly uncommon in this neck of the woods. Especially as they sat in his bar. However, usually when a woman knew who he was, she wasn't so quick to dismiss his advancements. Technically, he hadn't even made a move... yet.
He could tell that this one would be a challenge.
It had been a while since he'd been presented with a worthwhile challenge.
"Done yo' homework on me, I see." he responded easily.
The woman shrugged, "Ah make it ah point ta research potential clients." she said simply, gazing at him boredly. However, the look in her eyes told Remy that she knew the weight of the bomb she'd just casually dropped on him.
"Client?" Remy repeated. "Client in what sense o' de word?" he asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. He knew this woman wasn't a prostitute, but he couldn't help himself. Besides, chances were that whatever she was selling, he wasn't interesting in buying. Metaphorically speaking, of course, Remy didn't buy things.
The woman rolled her glass again, "Ah specialize in ah particular sector o' security."
Remy scoffed, "Chere, yo know who I am, an' yo' dare imply dat I can' protect m'self?"
The woman shook her head, "Nah, Ah think ya can protect yaself jus' fine... however, word is that ya've acquired ah package from ah source that's gonna want it back... by any means."
Remy raised an eyebrow, "'Fraid I don' know what'choo talkin' 'bout." he said nonchalantly.
Internally, his mind was racing, how the hell did she know that?
The woman smiled as if he were a small child arguing about the existence of Santa. Her tone, it so happened, reflected the condescending adult, who would argue with a child about such matters,
"So in tha last month, ya ain' come across an item that was previously in tha possession o' tha X-men?"
Remy's poker face was good. The best, actually, but hers- if she actually was bluffing- was better. "An' where didja hear such slanderous t'ings?" he asked casually.
"Ah make it my business ta know who's an enemy o' tha X-men." she said offhandedly.
Remy crossed his arms across his chest, "Exactly what're yo' offerin' here?" the tone of their encounter had morphed from that of a would-be lustful mingling to a prideful standoff.
Leaning back against the leather of the booth, the woman's eyes met Remy's. They never wavered from his unusual retinas, "Tha X-men are gonna come searchin' for their valuable. Lemme tell ya how it'll play out, Cyclops an' Wolverine will lead their mutant militia down here ta tha bayou an' attempt ta take back what's theirs. Ah suspect ya'll be able ta hold 'em off... tha first time. However, then tha package's gonna have heat, an' that sorta thing gets around tha underground community. Nobody wants something with heat, so ya'll gonna haveta hang onta it even longer... prime pickin's for tha X-men." she explained. "Do Ah need ta draw ah diagram?"
Remy glared at her, "What makes yo' so sure it'll play out like dat?" he demanded, leaning his elbows on the table. As the seconds ticked on, he liked this woman less and less.
"Like Ah said, it's my job." she replied in annoyance.
Her job? Remy felt the anger boil up inside of him, "Jus' who de hell do yo' t'ink yo' are, anyways?" he snapped.
The woman laughed at some joke Remy didn't mean to make before replying, "That depends when ya ask me. Truth is Ah got many names runnin' 'round in m'head, Mr. LeBeau, an' not all o'them are mine. Ah believe ya understand tha semblance o' that statement. Presently, they call me Rogue."
Remy blanched at her, "Girl, yo' t'ink I can' spot a con when it's right in fronta me?"
Rogue shrugged, "It's ah gambit, yes, but remember, Ah found ya. It's only ah matter ah time till they do too."
Remy had no reply as Rogue excused herself from the booth. She threw a few dollars on the table and adjusted the bandana in her hair.
"Ah'll be ah-round if ya change ya mind." She threw over her shoulder before heading for the bar's exit without as much as a second look back at him. She did, however, throw a smile Pierce's way before bumping her gloved fist against his and laughing jovially at some joke Remy couldn't hear.
Unheard jokes seemed to be the theme of his night.
Remy was about to get out of the booth and go question Pierce on this elusive Rogue, but just as he started to heave himself up, a leggy blonde slipped into the adjacent booth, batting her brown eyes at him. Sparing one last look to where Rogue had just departed, Remy turned his attention to the new woman.
He could look into this Rogue later.
Outside the bar, Rogue ripped her gloves off of her hands hastily and stuffed them into her jacket's pocket. She undid the bandana from around her head and let her white bangs fall down into her face. She then stuffed the fabric into the same pocket that her gloves resided in.
To the untrained eye, that interaction would have seemed like a complete bust, but Rogue knew that she had just thrown out a very curious hook and now she just had to wait until that arrogant thief took a bite he thought he could manage.
She pulled a cellphone out of her other pocket. Pressing the number one, she initiated the speed dial. Lifting the phone to her ear, Rogue waited for the other line to pick up.
The ringing was cut off abruptly and a voice asked, "So?"
Rogue smirked; "Tha Gumbo's ready fo' stirin'." was all she said before flipping the phone shut and slipping it back into her pocket. She had played her opening gambit and now all her chips were all on the X-men attacking, she just had to hope they would do so in a timely manner, thus rendering Remy's options limited.
The thought made Rogue laugh. There would be nothing she would enjoy more than deflating his ego. In the meantime, Rogue decided she deserved a night off as she trekked deeper into the heart of New Orleans.
A/N: So this is my first published Fic. I've been on this site for years as a consumer and I've finally decided to take the plunge. I actually have this particular story completed, and am making my way back through it to edit. I will post new chapters regularly. Since I have it finished I will probably post the remaining chapters more quickly given if the story gets some attention. Oh, and I apologize for my terrible attempt at their accents, by the time I realized it was a mistake, it was too late. Also, I am slowly learning how to operate this site. Bare with me with formatting issues, I am trying.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the characters or the songs each chapter is named after.
Enjoy!