Consideration: Chapter 3, or Magnetic Pulls
"What?" Rogue whispered. Her eyes widened and she felt as if she were drowning in her expectations. This was the last thing she'd have imagined him offering, the only thing she wanted more than anything.
Having caught her attention, Gambit leaned closer as a ghost of a grin sprang onto his face. "Guild legend says the 'sassin's have a stone hidden away somewhere. Say they've used it to give people their heart's desire. Power, money, fame," he said softly, his eyes boring into hers. Try as she might she found she couldn't draw away from him. Her body felt like someone else's as she leaned towards him, her hands drawing tighter around her glass as she listened. "Heard tell it made a woman fall madly in love with a man. Leastways until he did something the 'sassin's didn't like and they took her love away. Then she went after him with a butcher's knife and they're still dredgin' up pieces of him whenever someone gets a hankerin' for gator."
Rogue scoffed, whatever spell he'd woven broken by his crass humor. Of course the man would lay the solution for her life on the table in front of her then remind her it was nothing more than an old wives' tale. The reality that her powers would likely never be controlled hit her hard once more. Even with the power negating collar they'd found off of a Friends of Humanity nutcase had only slowed her powers, a stream where it had once been as wide and strong as the Mississippi itself.
"Those fairytales are about as useful as tits on a boar hog," she scolded, embarrassed that she'd let himself get taken in by the showman in front of her.
Gambit smiled at her and slid a cell phone across the table at her. She looked at him curiously and picked up the phone. A video was queued up, a stilled picture showing an empty warehouse lot at dusk. Rogue raised a questioning eyebrow and hit the play button.
At five seconds, a figure with long green hair stepped into the frame, their back blocking most of the lot. The camera shifted to a warehouse no more than one hundred yards away. After a few seconds, the camera zoomed in until the warehouse was the only thing in the frame. Then, with a piercing shriek of metal upon metal, the warehouse collapsed in on itself until. An offscreen voice orders, "Again," and the camera shifted to a second warehouse already falling.
Rogue watched, enthralled, as the camera pulled back until the woman and a third warehouse filled the screen. With little more than a flick of the wrist, the final warehouse fell in on itself.
The figure turned, a bored look on their face as if this was nothing more than a trip to the store. Sirens cut through the air and the woman was bathed in white light from above. Without ever looking up the figure tilted their head and a helicopter cam crashing down into the third collapsed warehouse. Flames flicked upwards and the screen went black. Rogue hit play once more as Gambit began talking.
"Polaris, ., Lorna Dane. Able to move small amounts of metals susceptible to magnetism, up to three pounds. Able to manipulate said metals in small quantities. Powers manifested in third year of college during interviews for a Master's placement in geophysics. Can produce a low level forcefield if placed under adequate stress. Delta class mutant," he said, his words sounding as if he were reading them from a file. Probably Magneto's intel, Rogue decided from the mutant classifying system.
"Least until about six months ago," Gambit continued, his voice slipping back into his natural patois. "Julian went looking for a mutant to manipulate metal and found Lorna Dane. Wasn't able to do more than bend spoons at that time, though. Then Polaris shows up taking out buildings and airplanes out on the Gold Coast."
"Why are you tellin' me all this?" She hit the play button again.
"Good authority says the stone created Polaris. And rumor says the stone's back in Louisiana"
Rogue snorted and put the phone down, the video still playing. "Rumor's been saying a lot lately. Might want to learn to keep their mouth shut. That all you have to offer?"
"Worth a look into, don't you think? Better than that meditation the spook's having you do," Gambit said idly, leaning back into his seat and stubbing out what was left of his cigarette.
Rogue scowled at him for the reminder of her 'training' sessions before she'd left. Despite her faith in her mentor, she couldn't help but agree with Gambit's assessment. Meditation did nothing for her mutation aside from teaching her how to ignore the crowds in her head. "Still doesn't explain why the X-Men haven't heard of such a powerful mutant."
He shrugged. "Who's to say they haven't? You been on the road what, four months now? She might be snug and cozy in your old bed for all you know."
"Please. If there was a new mutant Kitty wouldn't pass up the chance for gossip," she said. His words did their damage, though. Rogue hadn't heard anything outside of personal news when she did get in touch with the mansion. The students knew all too well that the less said about missions the better, especially over the phone. "Your little video doesn't prove a damn thing. Roberto and Ray could photoshop that in three days. Tops."
At her challenge Gambit's face lit up and he dragged the phone towards him. He tapped at the screen a few times and pulled up a different video before placing it in front of her. Grudgingly Rogue pressed play.
The opening shot showed the green haired figure - Polaris - rising above a rooftop. For a moment the mutant scanned the scene; once they spotted the camera, Polaris went into a full out run and the camera jolted around as the person filming ran from her. Rogue looked away quickly; shaky cameras always made her nauseous.
"Here," Gambit said after a few seconds, bringing her attention back to the phone.
Now the camera appeared to have been placed somewhere, set so that it showed a mostly empty car lot. Polaris hovered over the car lot, picking up cars and tossing them away as she searched for something. A dark figure slipped between cars leaving a trail of magenta light behind him. A few seconds later an explosion shook the camera, tilting the camera almost 90 degrees. Gambit rewound the video and pressed play again, this time at one tenth of the speed. As the explosion blossomed out, Polaris pulled each piece of metal to her, bending it into spears and sending them back towards the explosion. A moment later the camera went black.
"That was two weeks ago in Montreal," he murmured.
"Do I want to know what you did to piss her off?" she shot back. Rogue pulled off a glove and rewound the video before the explosion.
"Moi? P'tite, why you gotta always be thinkin' the worst of Remy?" he asked in faux outrage.
"Cause Remy never done nothing to prove otherwise," she shot back. "Still doesn't prove nothing."
He shrugged at her disbelief and slipped the phone into his pocket. "Doesn't disprove anythin' either." A silence fell between them and Rogue wondered how long he'd stick around after failing to convince her. "Tennessee next?"
Rogue narrowed her eyes at him. "Thought you gave up stalkin' me for Lent."
"Remy never stalks," he reminded her as he light another cigarette. "He only acquires necessary information. Besides, Chicken-Fry owed me a favor."
At the reference to Sam, Rogue ground her teeth. Next time she saw him, she'd make sure Sam knew better than to leak information to outside parties, regardless of any favors owed.
"And yet you're still here, occupyin' my booth, breathin' my air. You have no proof that rock did anythin' other than those two videos with bad graphics on them. Probably hitched her up to some pulleys and paid some kid fifty bucks to make that." Gambit raised an eyebrow at her obvious attempts to irritate him but said nothing. Rogue continued, trying to convince them both that the video wasn't worth the price he was asking for. "Even if Polaris is a mutant, that don't mean those powers aren't the result of a growth spurt or some hormonal thing. Last time Bobby shot up two inches he froze over the entire mansion for two months. In June."
"She's twenty-eight."
Rogue frowned. That meant Polaris was far too old for a growth spurt. According to Dr. McCoy the likelihood of an adult coming into or advancing mutant powers was impossible.
'If I may?' Mr. McCoy's specter began, far too polite to offer advice or information unasked. Rogue gave a small mental nod. 'It's not impossible, per se, for an adult to develop mutant powers. It's merely unheard of without outside influences such as genetic manipulation. One's mutation is, for lack of a better phrase, switched on once the body's natural hormones begin changing during adolescence and early adulthood. Hence why one's X-Gene commonly expresses itself during one's early teens."
'And this rock he's goin' on about is one of those outside influences?' Rogue thought.
'Indeed, though I would not be able to form an adequate answer without seeing it in action. I would advise treading carefully, my dear, as there is no guarantee that this 'rock' of his has any lasting effect, nor is there any way of knowing what repercussions it may bring if one were to come into contact with it,' Mr. McCoy said. He slipped into the back of her mind, leaving only the sorrow of failed attempts to control his own mutation.
Oblivious to her inner conversation, Gambit slipped another cigarette between his lips. "Believe me or not, your call. S'enough proof for me to look into. Good authority says it brought the Kennedy's power, gave an empire to Napoleon, made Hatshepsut a god among men."
Rogue rolled her eyes, refusing to let the spark of hope grow any bigger. "If 'good authority' is another one of your contacts, I pass."
"Y' give up too easy, Rogue," he chided. "At least ask what you really want to know."
She flinched at the temptation lacing his voice and reached to tug her glove back on. They both knew he was offering something more than just simple touch, that he'd been offering it since they'd first met. Yet Rogue continued to pretend that whatever it was didn't exist, that they were nothing more than occasional, forced colleagues.
"How do you know it works?"
He grinned and Rogue knew he was trying not to laugh at her stubbornness. "Magneto's files. All backed up by your Professor's Cerebro." Rogue stilled as he laid his winning hand on the table before her. "'pparently they both been looking for this thing a while, though neither's any closer to findin' it. Buckethead went all over looking for it and traced it to Peru before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Xavier hired someone in Australia last year to look for it after the number of mutants spiked down there."
Rogue reached for her glass and drank deeply to keep the sting of betrayal at bay.
'I had no way of knowing if the stone was real or a myth,' the Professor's calm voice whispered to her. 'Without solid proof it would have been cruel to raise your hopes on such a gamble, especially when we have no way of determining the stone's effects on -'
"But you know where the stone is," Rogue said, her tone flat as she shut out the Professor's plea for understanding. Gambit nodded. "Why should I believe you?"
"What other option do you have?"
None, she thought.
Rogue chewed at the inside of her cheek. If the stone was big enough that the Professor and even Magneto would try to track down, didn't that mean it was worth going after? She was almost twenty and she'd yet to have any 'break-through' with control over her mutation. Everyone else that had come through the mansion's doors had long ago surpassed her and had become an asset to the team. Yet she was still a liability, her mutation only helpful if she could touch someone and keep their mental imprint at bay. Lord knew she wasn't any closer than when she joined Mystique at fourteen.
She was tired of protecting everyone else from accidental contact, of protecting herself from the onslaught of voices in her head. She was tired of the knowing looks during the summer, of the subtle no-go zone that always followed her wherever she went. She was tired of landing herself in the Medbay when the voices became too much. She was tired of fighting off everyone that she touched.
But was she really willing to marry Remy Lebeau of all people for a chance at normalcy? More importantly, would she be able to live with herself if she walked away from this offer, from the possibility of control? Could she go back to doing the same damn exercises with the same failed results for the rest of her life?
This whole thing was so ridiculous, she thought. That the notorious skirt-chaser, the man with a compulsive need to touch everything, coming to her of all people. The woman who couldn't be touched, the woman who traded sanity for intimacy. The idea of it sent a wave of wry amusement through her and she couldn't help but laugh.
Gambit frowned and she wondered whether it was because he thought she was laughing at him or if he was concerned she'd finally snapped. "Something Remy said?"
Rogue did her best to quell her laughter and ended up snorting. "This whole thing's insane, ain't it? You off all people wanting to get married. And to me? The untouchable?" She snickered again and his frown deepened.
Instead of joining in he fixed her with a dark stare that quickly dampened her humor. "Who says I don't want to be with you, Rogue? Just because I can't touch your skin don't meant you can't be touched," he said, his honey bourbon tone licking flames down her spine.
Her humor now gone, Rogue absently tugged her sleeves further down her arms as she tried to forget another man who had told her the same thing. She knew firsthand just how touchable she really was, so long as her partner was brave enough to risk it. When her powers had first developed she'd spent nights lying awake trying to find ways around her skin no matter how ridiculous and practical it was. Yet Gambit was still the only one crazy enough to try every single one and relish doing so.
"And what's to stop you from going out and finding someone you can be with? Someone you can touch?" she shot back, unwilling to let him take the point. She flinched at how vulnerable her voice sounded. "I don't take kindly to cheaters."
Gambit's eyes narrowed at her implied accusation. "Neither do I. Always did believe in 'Til death do they part.'"
"Great, a thief with a morality code," she muttered. Rogue dropped her eyes to the table between them. "Next you'll be telling me you been helpin' lil' ole ladies cross the street and fixin' up broken down school buses in your free time." When he didn't respond, Rogue glanced up to find him watching her. "How do I know this isn't another play of yours?"
"You don't," Gambit admitted. He laid his half-finished cigarette on the ashtray and brought his hands on top of the table. "Could always get your answers the easy way."
Rogue froze as he leaned forward and laid his hands in front of her, palms up. Curiously, his hands were still gloved. With a start she realized that, like her, he never went anywhere without them. The only difference was that the fabric of his covered all but the last two knuckles of his fingers.
There was a thin, white scar that ran along the side of his thumb and she stared at it to avoid meeting his eyes. "Why do you always wear gloves, Remy? It's not like you need them," she said softly. When he didn't answer she dragged her eyes up to meet his.
Gambit's face had hardened and Rogue expected him to deflect her question with a crass joke.
To her surprise, he slowly peeled his gloves off and laid them on the table in between them, a supplicant making an offer at a temple. "First time I put a charge in somethin' I damn near blew my arm off. Took three months to repair the damage to the sittin' room," he said with a morose chuckle. His eyes dropped to stare at the gloves trapped between his arms. "Kind of like how your powers came about. 'Cept instead of takin', I gave."
He stilled as Rogue brought her hand, still gloved, to trace the scared webbing on his left hand, barely a whisper of air between the two.
"Couldn't touch anythin' without blowin' it up. Clothes, forks, pillows. Took some time but we figured I couldn't explode natural materials. Wound up wearing kid gloves for almost three years. I didn't do anything without them. Eatin'. Sleepin'. Trainin'. For a while I even showered with them on. 'ventually I learned how to pull the charge back in, but by that time I was so used to wearin' them I never stopped."
"Why cut off the fingers then?" she asked. They both watched as her fingers danced idly along one particularly nasty scar that went almost to his elbow. Gambit shuddered at her light touch and Rogue yanked her hand back at the look in his eyes.
"Have to touch something to make it burn, sha."
Rogue reached for what remained of her whiskey and finished off the glass. The cool burn did little to alleviate the heat his eyes left on her skin. "Still don't explain why you'd want to be tied to me the rest of your life."
He chuckled and the sound of it razed a deeper burn than his eyes. " 'm a thief, remember? And a mutant. If I'm lucky, I'll see this side of thirty."
"Funny, I thought I'd make at least thirty-five with the X-Men."
Gambit gave her a wry grin and waved down the waiter. While they waited she thought it over. There were worse offers, she decided. It wasn't as if she despised the sight of him. He'd made it clear enough in the bayou that if she wanted him to leave her be all she had to do was say the word. And he'd certainly never said they had to act as if they were married. From what he'd said the fact of a marriage was enough to keep him out of his family's drama. Besides, it wasn't as if they couldn't annul it when everything was said and done. He'd never said anything about staying in the marriage. She could pay the price of a few years for a lifetime of freedom.
"If I do this it don't mean I'm gonna' sleep with you," she finally said.
He jerked his head to look at her. As a grin slid onto his face Rogue felt as if she'd lost a battle she hadn't even know she was fighting. "Never said you had to. All Remy's askin' is that you sign where they tell you to, raise your right hand, and when they ask tell them, 'Why yes, I do take this handsome gentleman for my husband.'"
Rogue scowled and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Didn't think they took kindly to lyin' under oath." At his questioning look, she added, "You ain't any gentleman that I've ever met."
"But I am handsome," he said, looking as pleased as a child being realizing they were getting cake for breakfast.
"Never said otherwise."
With the grin still on his face, Gambit stood up and laid a few bills on the table. It isn't until he's halfway towards the door that Rogue calls out to him.
"What if this rock of yours turns out to be nothin' more than a faberge egg? What if it doesn't work?"
Gambit turns and gives her a look that makes her wonder if he's been thinking the same thing.
"Then I'll go to the ends of the earth and back to find you something that will," he says before leaving the restaurant.
He sounds so sincere that Rogue wants to believe him.
