A/N:Thank you again for the reviews, lovee them, keep them coming.
Chapter 4
"Look at dis here. I be the thief, chere...and there you go off stealin' my heart."
Gambit, Rogue Ltd. Series #2
The drive to wherever they were going was a mostly silent one. Remy tried to make conversation occasionally, but the young girl in the seat next to him just wasn't very talkative. He guessed that she was simply anxious. When she finally spoke to him, it came as a surprise.
"Gambit?" Rogue's voice was meek and small.
"Call me Remy." He smiled at her, trying to be friendly to the coy girl.
"Remy?" Rogue asked again, still sounding undersized.
"Oui, chère?"
"Will this work?"
"Je honnêtement, don' know" Remy answered truthfully. /I honestly\
"Ah don' think it will either." Rogue's tone was full of regret and strained spite.
Remy gave her a sideways glance; he could see Rogue's emerald eyes glistening with unshed tears. His heart went out for the young girl.
"Y' jus' got t' 'ave faith, petit. Don' get down on y'self."
"Yeah." She mumbled, unconvinced. Her faith had left her the first time her powers had manifested, the moment she put David in that coma. The implications of her touch had been blatantly apparent to her, even then. Then the Cure had come and Rogue had hoped in it so very much, but it too, was a failure.
Silence filled the car yet again until they arrived to their destination. As Remy parked the car, Rogue realized that this was the place. Her eyes widened in amazement; she never thought she'd see a place bigger then Xavier's institute, but this place was definitely much bigger.
"This is it?" Rogue gasped in amazement, awed by the gigantic building.
Remy grinned at her expression. "Oui, dis is it."
"It's huge!" Rogue continued to stare at the monstrosity, feeling quite small in its presence.
The mansion was as big as a castle. The land could have easily fit three football stadiums, not to mention a passive car park for each of them. The walls were painted red, which went perfectly with the black roof and black window panels. The front door was a massive double French door with beautiful swirls decorating the glass.
"Rogue, dere are a few t'ings I want t' go over, okay?" Remy's tone was serious. Rogue nodded accordingly, listening quietly. "First off, let me do all de talking—don' speak unless y' spoken t', an' even then, keep it as minimum as y' can. De women I'm taking y' to' is a telepath, so if y'can, try and keep y' mind closed t' her an' whatever you do, don' go wonderin' around. Stay close t' Remy, y' got it?"
Rogue noticed the worry in Remy's voice; it surprised her that he was actually concerned. She had known seeing these people Remy had spoken of might be dangerous. Remy's cautious tone and strict rules only reinforced that idea.
"Y' ready?" He asked, wrapping the crystal that she had helped him steal in a big blanket.
Rogue was nervous. "Ready as ah'll ever be."
They both left the car to walk up the massive courtyard, which was decorated with a small statue of a mermaid who had water shooting up from her mouth into a stone treasure box. Remy was about to knock on the imposing French doors when they opened of their own volition. A chill went down Rogue's spine; she wanted to turn around and leave, but this might be the only way she could have a fraction of a normal life.
Remy entered first and Rogue followed quickly after him. The inside of the house was just as grand as the outside. The staircase was like one that could be seen in fairytale, all windy and over-extended. The walls looked as if they were plated with gold and the floor was covered in expensive marble.
All around the room there were pictures, portraits of mutants using their powers. One was of a mutant who was wearing a black leather corset, black leather knee high boots, and a black leather cape. She had jet black hair and her skin was pale as death. Around her, objects were floating randomly. At the bottom right of the portrait, the name Selene was written neatly.
There were loads more portraits, but Rogue didn't have the time to get a proper look at them before Remy was at the foot of the stairs, already rushing up ahead of her.
"What is this place?" Rogue whispered, worried of being overheard. This seemed to be the type of place that would have plenty of cameras and the vast halls looked as if they'd echo grandly.
"Y' really don' want t' know." Remy replied easily, loping up the stairs two at a time.
"Is it really that bad?" Rogue asked cautiously, scurrying to keep up with him.
"Well, dat sort of depends on de way y' look at it." Remy replied thoughtfully. To him, it really wasn't that bad here, but to an X-man, he was certain she wouldn't approve.
"What way do yah look at it?" Rogue asked, catching Remy off guard. He definitely was not expecting a question like that. Remy continued walking, purposely ignoring Rogue and her question. The second floor had many rooms, all equally as big as one another. Another staircase could be seen leading to the third floor, but it spiraled off into an unseen abyss.
Remy stopped outside one room. "Well dis is it." Rogue took a deep breath to calm her nerves and Remy opened the door.
On the other side of the door, a stunning blonde woman sat on chair as if it were her own personal thrown. She was the most beautiful woman Rogue had ever seen. She had long blond hair that ran all the way past her shoulders and stunning blue eyes. Her skin was smooth and untouched, her lips were an immaculate shade of red, and her dazzling eyes sparkled; she really was perfection embodied. The woman had a white leather top that showed plenty of cleavage and ended at the bottom of the breast, the sleeves were extremely long and ended in a pair of long, delicate gloves. On her bottoms, she had plain white leather pants with white leather, knee high boots and even though it looked stunning on the woman, Rogue wouldn't be caught dead in the outfit.
"Remy LeBeau, well, if it isn't my favorite mercenary." The woman smiled graciously, revealing stark white teeth to go along with her other perfections.
"Emma Frost, Le regard comme beau comme toujours." /Looking as beautiful as ever\ Remy smiled back and kissed Emma's hand.
"Toujours comme charmant comme toujours." /Still as charming as ever\ Emma accepted, nodding.
"It's been too long." Remy chuckled, basking at Emma's obvious compliment. For as long as he could remember, they had flirted, but nothing had come out of their playful jibes. He had tried a number amount of times, but always got the same answer: "Have you changed you mind about mixing business with pleasure yet?"
"Remy LeBeau, you are a shameless flirt. Business is always pleasurable, but when you start sleeping with your employees that's when things start going wrong." Emma stated in her posh accent. Rogue wasn't at all surprised to the fact that Remy was attracted to Emma; the woman was beautiful enough to turn a straight girl gay.
"Je suis seulement un coup de téléphone loin quand vous changez d'avis."/ I'm only a phone call away when you change your mind\ Remy purred. Rogue wished she'd listened more in French lessons.
"I'll bear that in mind, should the occasion merit it."
"Y' don' know what y' missin', chère." Remy winked.
"Have you got what I asked for?" Emma asked, dismissing Remy's flirtations.
"Does Remy ever disappoint?"
"You're a man, your kind is predestined to always disappoint." Emma responded bluntly.
"Not dis one." And with that, Remy unwrapped the blanket and handed the crystal over to the beautiful telepath.
"Wonderful." Emma smiled, not even fazed by the crystal's beauty. "Now, who's the girl?"
"Dis is Rogue." Remy introduced, nodding at Rogue, who was still standing by the doorway afraid to come in. Emma gazed deep into Rogue's eyes as if she was reading her.
"She's an X-man! You brought an X-man here! Remy LeBeau! How could you be so stupid! I knew I should never have trusted a mere thief with something so big!" Emma hissed. "And you expected me to help her!"
"She helped me find de crystal an' I promised t' help her control her power, that was our deal. The X-men don' know anyt'ing about dis, dey t'ink Rogue's just doin' a project an' I'm helping her." Remy explained quickly, not wanting to piss Emma off more than he already had.
"Yes, your deal! I have nothing to do with it!"
Rogue frowned. She had gotten her answer. It didn't matter, she had expected the worst to keep her hopes from overriding her. Remy sighed, he felt bad for promising Rogue something that he couldn't deliver, but he had tried his best, there was nothing more he could do.
Just as the pair were about to leave the White Queen called them back.
"Wait." She called just as they were at the door.
Rogue came to a sudden halt, her heart thudding.
"You have the power to absorb memories, feelings, and mutations?" Emma asked, already knowing the answer and smiling thinly as her thoughts raced.
"Yeah." Rogue remembered what Remy had said about keeping her speaking to a minimum.
"Interesting." Emma paused. Remy didn't like this one bit. He knew Emma and the rest of the members of the Hellfire Club, and he knew that they wouldn't do anything unless it benefitted them. "You do know that I can't take your power away, don't you?"
"Yes, Ah know that." Rogue was painfully aware of the fact that nothing could take away her power. The failed Cure had proved that enough.
"But you just want them to go. Why would you want such an amazing gift gone? Do you know what you could do with that kind of power? You could be extremely powerful, Marie."
A small chill went through Rogue's body as Emma used her real name and at the mention of power. It never really occurred to Rogue that she could be extremely powerful, but she didn't care. She just wanted control.
"Then again, what's the point of having power that you can't control?" Emma continued, urging the girl on in her own manipulated way.
Remy still stood by the door with his arms folded across his chest, listening to Emma ramble on, he knew she had her own agenda for helping Rouge and he wanted to know what it was. Rogue listened to Emma, completely hypnotized. Everything she said was true, but Remy wasn't taken in by the telepath for one second. She was plotting something.
Emma was silent for a moment, sitting in her big white chair like royalty; she made a pretence of thinking hard for a moment before she announced her decision.
"I'll help you, Marie."
"Yah will?" Rogue beamed.
"Yes, but in return I want a favour."
That was what Remy was waiting for, the Emma Frost he knew. He listened carefully, wanting to know what she wanted from the southern X-Man.
"Anythin'." Rogue readily agreed; she was so desperate to have control that she really would do anything for it.
"I want you to promise me that, when the time comes when I need your help, I'll have it."
Remy shook his head, tempted to interfere, but he couldn't. He, too, owed a favour, but not to Emma, to someone much higher up in the power chain.
"Ah promise, Ah promise." Rogue agreed, hope shining from her whole appearance.
"Then we have a deal. You will come here every week for an hour and I will work on control with you, we will start next week. I'm very sorry for your loss: Charles was a brilliant telepath and an even more brilliant man, and Scott was an inspiration; as for that Jean, I never had the pleasure of meeting her, never wanted to, if I'm being honest. The professor had gone on about her extensively, but she only sparked my interest when she became her true potential, The Phoenix"
Rogue ignored Emma's obvious curiosity about The Phoenix; after all, it had killed the professor and Scott.
"You knew the Professor and Scott?"
"Charles and I were good friends, even though we had nothing in common." Emma explained, referring to the Hellfire Club and its less-than-peaceful activities. "As for Scott, well, we met in a very traumatising time..."
"Emma, je crois que c'est assez." /Emma, I think that's enough.\ Remy interfered, not wanting to re-live those memories that had brought them all together so long ago. To him, they were dead and buried times.
"Souvenez-vous de votre endroit dans tout cela." /Remember your place in all this\. Emma hissed at him, angry that he'd dare interrupt her in anything.
"Désolé." /sorry\ Remy mumbled.
"Marie, if you wouldn't mind waiting outside, Remy and I have a few things to discuss."
"No, not at all, Ah'll jus' be out here." Rogue smiled the most genuine smile that she'd given in years. She was finally going to be able to control her curse and maybe turn it into a gift. Bobby was going to be so happy, and she could finally wipe that smirk of Kitty's face. Ever since Rogue had taken the cure, they had used her only as a prop in the danger room. She had been the victim in all of the scenarios, it had been judged too risky to let her participate any other way. Well no more! She wasn't a defenceless girl anymore.
Once Rogue had left the room, Emma turned to talk freely with Remy.
"I need you to get me something else." She informed Remy, who sighed before nodding. There was no point telling her no; he couldn't, she owned him as far as he was concerned. "I need you to get me some books called The Books of Truth. I don't know where they are or even what they look like, but he wants them and he will be very disappointed if he doesn't get them."
"Den he will get dem."
"I don't think you understand this task. The Books of Truth were hidden the very day they were written, nobody knows where they are, but I think that Marie could help in finding them."
"When does he want dem by?" Remy asked, just wanting to get out of the place. Emma chuckled, making the thief shiver. At times, Emma could be the nicest person ever, she was so beautiful, but Remy knew how frightful and manipulative she really was.
"You're not listening to me Remy. As good as a thief as you might be, The Books of Truth aren't something you can simply recover in a day, some people spent their entire lives searching for them, and they still remain lost."
"Why do y' t'ink dat Rogue knows where they are den?" Remy speculated that these must have been what Emma wanted Rogue for.
"She doesn't know where they are, but Destiny is, well, she was Marie's foster mother."
Remy nodded, even though he didn't have a clue who Destiny was or what she had to do with these books Emma wanted. He turned his back on the White Queen, hoping that that was all she wanted. He really wasn't in the mood for anymore. Yeah, at times they were friends, but she never let him forget that he worked for her.
"Oh and Remy, is there anything you want me to say to him?"
"Yeah, y' can tell him dat he's a soulless bastard and Remy will fin' a way t' kill him someday." Remy didn't even hesitate with his words, every single one of them came straight from the heart.
"That's a no, then." Emma smiled. Countless times she had saved Remy's neck from the man above them all. Deep down, she really did like the Cajun, but she could never let her friendship for him come in between work; after all, he didn't just own Remy, he owned her as well.
Remy smiled back at Emma, even though she was a manipulative bitch, she really was alright.
Now, all you have to do is click the blue button underneath. Hopee you liked this one 'cause i did.