Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.
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"What are we doin' here?" Rogue asked, hugging herself against the chill only she could feel with the setting of the sun.
Unbolting the lock and sliding up the steel door, Remy could easily see into dark storage locker that was a relic of the one favour the very man he was now up against had taught him, always be prepared. In either corner were a pair of ragged box springs and mattresses both bare of any linens. Cardboard boxes were piled to the ceiling and between the makeshift beds was a tool chest full of drawers that hid every sort of wicked tool of the trade he needed now more than ever.
"We get some much needed rest here, and I make a phone call to someone that promise me something once." Remy replied with a gallant bow inviting her to his cramped accommodations.
"What promise?" Stepping in to look around with eyes that easily pierced the shadowy veil, Rogue stood still waiting for an answer.
Slamming the door shut and tapping the tips of candles that sat around on a couple of bookshelves, once saved from garbage day, he waited until the pop of his gift had them burning to turn on her pale face cast amber in the flickering light of the dancing flames.
"That if I ever be in over my head, I just call her. She promise that she and her friends come no matter where I be. Time to see if she was bluffing or bull shitting, non?" Remy smiled, trusting his curious eyes to hide how forced it was.
He expected many questions from her, right down to just how it was he knew what he knew, but she just forced a smile of her own and walked past to fall limply on the bed and curl up with her eyes clenched tight for a very long moment until they snapped open. Staring into the pained looking leaded glass windows of her soul, he thought again on how she had screamed after his attack back in his apartment and clenched his jaw to hide away the twisted knot that became his stomach.
"You okay?" Remy asked, breathing deep as he longed to gently brush his fingers against her beautiful eyes just to see them flutter shut without a hint of pain.
Her nod was sullen and tired, full of regret and worry and fear that he could understand all too well. He wondered just how long ago it was she was planning out her prom and just what College to go to just like any other girl. Now here she was in the same gutters as him, a Swamp Rat made good in Hollywood. Right up until his past came looking him up and making him a liar to so many promises.
"I be just a moment. Got to make a call from the payphone we saw." Remy promised again, this one he could keep.
"Okay."
"You hungry? There's a Chinese restaurant just down the street?"
All he wanted was to make her feel at home, take her out to one of his favourite places all dressed up and let her having some breathing room. To just come home to Jubilee either running up his payperview or find her fast asleep on the sofa with whatever delivery she ordered up all the while making sure to slip some cash back in her hot pink velcro wallet for the trouble. Instead everything had just come to a head that he should have known was bound to happen, a gambler like him knew that the house always wins.
"Sure."
Making his exit though it pained him to leave her curled up there staring off at the cinder block wall, never more in his life was he in over his head and in need of the kind of help that a woman had once promised years before in Cairo, Georgia. Then pawning some moody gold at the fences price after a little B and E to keep afloat, she had walked in everything a punk fifteen year old kid could be looking for in some eye candy to help him through the lonely night to come.
Pulling out the worn business card she had given him back then, it had been one of the few constants in his life after all the running and new names he threw about. He knew the number by heart, his fingers calling collect with a smile wondering just what it would come to. Holding it between his thumb and finger pressing it to his head, he waited listening to the automated message.
"Remy LeBeau."
It almost sounded odd to say his own name after so many aliases used, the latest his fondest just because it was the closest thinking just maybe he had run far enough with the Pacific standing against him and a coin toss left to decided which way next, North or South. The call was taken but no answer came forthright, sleepy mumbling in the background with his name thrown around amidst the yawns. Checking his watch again, it had to be a mix of late and early on that side of the coast.
"I hoped to never hear from you." The voice greeted him.
Finally the voice he remembered from those years before greeted him, turning over the business card thinking just how to reply to that greeting. He made it clear back then he wasn't looking for handouts or help, fiercely independent after that first helping hand that just took so very much from him.
"I hoped never to have to call you." Remy replied, pressing his brow to the glass of the phone booth and sighing deeply.
"I am glad you did, it means I was not mistaken about you."
"That I be calling you now Dame Munroe be that you were mistaken in me, this N'awlin's boy fucked up big. Be in the kind of mess I hope you and your friends you told me about can help with, I got two ladies that put their trust in me. Them and a girl little more than a enfant that had to grow up quick just like Remy himself." Remy had to hiss at admitting the truth, it was the reason he had taken his 'Petit' under his wing hoping to keep her from all the pain he had seen.
"You're in Los Angeles still?"
"Still?" Remy was a touch incredulous, but then again she had come looking for him in Georgia when he was still only days off the bus.
"We have ways of...keeping track. That and a rather odd call came from there only days ago, a call that helped us save a girl. Coincidence?"
To think of her keeping an eye on him after all these years was both a relief and disconcerting, taking a tally of his sins in those years and wondering just which of them she might frown on. None could compare to the sin committed earlier, letting his little Jubilation run off home thinking her safe only for a very big, bad wolf to come knocking at his door. Driving his knuckles into his eyes and struggling for breath, had he just listened a little closer that one sleepy night to her words to think them anything more than her usual colourful descriptions.
"We need your help Stormy, me, a rogue, and the little girl I wanted to protect. A very bad man hurt them both, I be over my head now. You promised..."
He hated asking for favours but he hated the thought that Victor was out there with Jubilee tormenting and likely torturing her in his own way. He hated the thought that somehow he had harmed his mysterious Rogue, swearing somehow to make it all right and bring back their sunny days.
"I did, and I keep my promises. Stay where you are, we will find you. I will help you Remy."
He wondered just where he would be if he had taken her up on that offer years ago, but all he had to do was think of those ladies in his life, queens them all to his jack of the dishonest trades. Loathe as he was to hand over his destiny, he had to admit fate just might well have been at work just so he could meet them all. Now he just had to swallow his pride and do whatever it took to save them both, Jubilee and his secret Marie, catching glimpses of that smiling girl he'd seen in the picture.
"We be waiting for you, au revoir. I have a lady I owe dinner and as much a night sleep she be finding in a storage locker. See you soon Stormy."
He could imagine her irritation at that nickname, just the slightest wrinkle of her brow, an alias her own overheard when a man had walked on in on them, looking like he had cop written all over him down to the Aviator sunglasses he wore. Storm he had called her, just too cut and dry, but Stormy, now that worked then as it did now. Dial tone was her answer with a sharp click, surprised to find a smile staring back at him in the glass. Feeling guilty thinking again of the two ladies depending on him just then, he turned away and left that smile behind for when he made it all right.
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Consciousness came at the cost of a headache that had her puking and the feeling of her arms painfully asleep, twisting and struggling to realize they were bound behind her back with no give whatsoever. Again her stomach rebelled and this time out of the awful memories of her last wakeful moments. Staring into those eyes and that predatory smile, she hadn't the breath to scream as she swore she would. Her one act of defiance had been her last, blasting him full in the face with everything she had to hear him roar full of rage. On her feet and running, she remembered again the feeling of the hand clutching her hair and the wall coming swiftly before the pain and darkness.
The tapping of glass had her look around with the world still shaky beneath her, finding something with her numb and useless fingers and struggling to figure out just what it was. The sound of a car door opening had her look up and this time find the breath to scream loud and long seeing him looming there with his feral smile growing as she struggled to put her very last gasp of breath into her cry for help.
"No one's gonna hear ya pup, so ya might as well get it all out now." Victor said between her breaths.
Feeling her terror renewed, Jubilee pressed herself against the opposite door putting as much as much space between her and him as possible, futile as the gesture was. Coughing, her throat tortured from all she had suffered and screamed, she didn't care that she was crying figuring if there was ever a time for it that now would be it.
"What do you want?" Jubilee meekly asked, spitting out a few chunks with a grimace.
"Ta get this job done and over with and see my payday. That and a few extracurricular activities I got in mind once this is all over with." Victor said with a shrug, tossing a grocery bag on the back seat and unwrapping a cigar.
Frozen in fear dreading just what those activities just might be, she saw him look on her anew and chuckle after pausing in lighting up his cigar.
"I'm many things girlie, and I've done many things. But don't ya go worryin' yerself, I ain't ever gonna be low enough ta go lookin' fer that kind o' fun in a kiddie." Victor admitted, savouring a leisurely drag of his cigar after his piece said.
His words didn't reassure her, but noticing the grocery bag with bottles of gatorade and gas station grab and go sandwiches, the knot that was her stomach ached painfully tight. Following her gaze, he reached down to snag a bottle and crack it open and peel off the tab inside. Holding it there at the open door, he watched and waited as she carefully crawled along the seat for her first sip to be swirled and spat rinsing her mouth out. Drinking heavily and not caring how much rolled down her chin, she gasped for breath when the bottle was taken away.
"Can...I have some more?" Jubilee asked fearfully, wholly helpless against him.
"Just as soon as we lay down some rules, comprende?" Victor asked, her nod given reluctantly.
"We're gonna be headed on in ta meet with the client, so I need ya to play nice. Yer small enough I can fit ya in a duffle 'n carry ya on in if'in ya don't wanna go walkin' on your own two feet. Course if ya force me to go that route, I'll be eatin' those sandwiches m'self. Got it?" Victor explained, fishing out one of the sandwiches to open it up for a bite.
Biting her bottom lip, she didn't know just how long she was out until she caught the tree line of whatever back road they were on looking alien and foreign to her. The sun was coming up from the east chasing off the night, even the air smelt different without the ocean lingering in every breath. It was a world of green and a humid dampness of a rain shower long since passed by. He must have noticed her watchfulness and approved, smirking and offering her the other half of the sandwich to wolf down.
"C'mon up ta the front, can keep an eye on ya better there." Victor ordered, grabbing the bag and walking around to the drivers side.
Squirming out and finding her legs just as shaky from her restless slumber, her feet were as bare as they had been when she had been rushing up expecting the pizza delivery guy. The gravel bit hard and she waited there shivering in her shorts and T for the door to be thrown open. Climbing in and trying to get comfortable, she was buckled up and the windows were all thrown down bringing much needed fresh air with the mess she left in the back.
"My arms hurt." Jubilee whispered.
"Too bad." Victor grunted, throwing on the radio.
Driving with the classics playing and sharing sips and bites, it wouldn't be much longer to New York and she'd be his clients problem. Not that he figured Erik would have much trouble with her, the man one of few people in the world he saw as a worthy rival if it ever came to it. That and the memory of watching Mystique blown off into the surf had him wondering just what grudge Raven might have for the tiny girl beside him.
"Ya ever been to New York kid?" Victor asked, holding the latest bottle of gatorade for her.
Spraying the dash and coughing hard in her shock, he took that as a no while at least giving her that little reward for just everything she noticed earlier. There were tears coming again and he had to figure she was likely feelin' all kinds of lost and alone, everything he wanted her to feel to keep her from doing anything stupid. Little did she know that Remy would be coming, and right along with him would be the package neatly gift wrapped for Erik.
Chugging the last of the bottle and throwing it out the window, he left her to curl up in the seat and cry softly to herself. Singing along to the radio and planning his evening, he had to wonder just how long it would take Remy to come looking for blood.
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Waiting alone, even this storage locker with just box springs and used mattresses was the height of opulence compared with all the places she had found snatches of sleep in on her trip across the country. The back seats of buses, shadowy corners of bus terminals and every bench in between. The candles made it feel that much warmer, working the courage to start looking in those boxes to find one full of bedding looking to have been found in the trash. Giving it a sniff, ratty as it looked Remy had clearly washed it all before boxing it up.
Tearing off her gloves feeling how soft it felt against her hands, she flopped back down on the bed fatigued. Curling up on her chosen bed and pressing her knees to her chest, she finally had time to worry after her friend who had saved her that day on the beach. It was all her fault, the girl had been nothing but a friend to her helping clothe, feed and shelter her and introduce her to this strange city. All her efforts had been repaid in him taking her, hurting her, and threatening her.
"You should be dead..." Rogue whispered.
She didn't believe the words though, something deep down in her gut told her that it would take more than that to kill him. Remembering the look in his eyes as she clawed at his face leaving it a bloody mess that her nails alone couldn't have accomplished, they were eyes without fear but a bored waiting in them for it to just be over with. He had done this to her, violated her again as he forced something into her she could feel prowling the corners of her mind.
Holding out her hand to hiss in pain as the claws unsheathed, he had forced an animal inside her that prowled around the cage that was her mind. Clenching a fist and ignoring the bite of claws digging into her palm, she struggled not to think just what those claws could do to the impish girl that had worked her way into her life right along with all the friends she had made along the way, Cynthia, Remy, and even that honest cop down at the dinner on whatever errand it was they were on.
The sound of familiar yet distant footsteps had her claws vanish with the only tell they were there in the bloody marks on her unmarred flesh. Sitting up lotus with the blanket wrapped around her, she sniffed and sure enough there was the aroma of American style Chinese food full of deep fried chicken balls and battered shrimp and chicken fried rice. Hearing a knock, she waited blinking back tears thinking even now in this place he was being the gentleman.
"I'm decent." Rogue called.
The steel door was thrown open with the racket of rollers and sliding panels, drawn down quickly as soon as he stepped in. He looked as tired as she felt and he wondered just who he had called and what promise was really owed. Setting the food down and digging through some boxes, he found a fold out table and set the buffet complete with a six pack of coca-cola that had her stomach growling ravenously.
"Bon Appetite." Remy bid, snagging an egg roll to nibble at and leaving her to help herself first.
Piling on chow mein, beef and broccoli and rice, she felt his hand lightly touch hers to stop her as she was about to add the first of the chicken balls. Turning it over, he looked down to the bloody marks there and lightly ran a gloved finger over them. She looked to her own gloves but he just held her hand tenderly in his, clasping it between them to place a kiss to his own knuckles right where hers would be.
"I promise to make this right." Remy swore.
Staring into his red on black eyes and seeing how pained they looked, with her free hand she snatched a shrimp and had a bite of it before offering the rest to him. He devoured it just as she suddenly longed for him to her own lips, casting off the inedible tail sitting with him at a table set for two in the candlelight.
"You said I'd know when it was a date." Rogue said, lightly pulling away her hand to find a fork.
He seemed taken aback by her words, his eyes full of shock and disbelief. She couldn't believe herself too, that she could think of anything like that after all the awful truths coming out and everything that had happened. Yet here in this moment, it felt right that she enjoy what might be her first real date with everything they were likely up against. He fought against a smile, setting his lips in a grim line and just nodding his head.
"This just be dinner between two people that really need it, but I promise you this...Marie, when this is all over...I take you on a proper date." Remy swore, taking a chicken ball and dipping it in the plumb sauce to press to her lips.
While not the kiss she longed for, it would have to do right down to enjoying the moment for what it was as far as she was concerned. Dinning together with shared mouthfuls and the brush of feet beneath the table, it was a promise to the date to come once the world had been made right, a date when they would come home to find their friend sprawled out on the sofa with the TV playing in the background.
"I'll hold ya to that." Rogue posed.
"Thieves honour." Remy swore.
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Author's Note : Staring to tie this back into the first X-men movie now, hope you all enjoy. Oh and to Lady of Imladris, I am so glad you gave this story a chance. Thank you so much for that kind review and letting me know you enjoyed it so. To everyone else that's been enjoying, reading and following and waiting, enjoy! Toodles!
