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Chapter 9 – Each Beat

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Word had spread like wildfire that there had been a battle on school grounds yesterday. The entire mansion was abuzz with curiosity and speculation. It seemed that no one really knew what had gone on, except the senior staff and Remy. He could feel the students watching him, desperately wanting to ask him for information.

Kitty was the first student to gather the bravery to ask someone for the story. She had stared at Remy whenever she saw him throughout the day, and when he finally got up from Dinner, she was on his heels. "So Remy, like, what happened yesterday? She asked excitedly, pulling on his sleeve.

"Whatever do you mean petite?" He evaded.

"I heard a rumor that there was a battle by the Boathouse. No one has seen Rogue. Is she hurt or just pulling another disappearing act?"

"It be both." He said sadly. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you the story, though. Don't they make you kids go through briefings too?"

"Yes, but they haven't done it yet. The Professor is still in Cerebro and Ororro & Hank are working on things too. The rumors are getting out of hand." The small girl looked worriedly at him. "Rogue – is she going to be alright?"

"I don't know." He stated, trying to disguise his worry. Kitty's eyes grew wide at this admission, with what looked suspiciously like tears welling up. Remy could not handle that… Not from her, not about Rogue, and definitely not right now. Each beat of his heart pounded in his ears. "Petite" He said "Rogue is real good at getting out of scrapes from what I hear. I think we'll get her back, hopefully not too much worse for the wear." He said to her, extracting himself from her grip.

He had some goodies to pick up anyway, he told himself as he walked away. His contacts had sent him replacements of his favorite tools that had been lost when he was forced to take up residence with the X-men. They were just outside of the mansion grounds, and he needed to get to them quickly and without anyone noticing he was leaving campus. He'd be better prepared to rescue his favorite River Rat soon.

With that thought, Remy set out on a wandering path around the mansion, hoping to lose anyone that might follow him with more questions.

Rogue hated the damn cot. She hated the metal room. She hated the sound of Sabertooth growling the lyrics to country songs just outside her door, which he had done for what seemed like eternity. Especially since he didn't know any of the words and was mostly making the songs sound creepy.

Mostly, though, she hated being incapable of doing anything at all. By definition she was a wanderer, a fighter, and a doer of tasks.

She had noticed the lights going out some time ago, and Sabertooth had stopped singing or making noise. It seemed likely that he had finally gone off to sleep. Thus, she was busy trying to figure out a way to get the her body to respond enough to finally accomplish something. Anything more than a toe wiggle would be welcome.

It was more than a little shocking for her when the door creaked open slowely. Whoever had entered didn't turn off the lights, and that set the woman on immediate alarm. Nothing good came from creaking cell doors in the dark. Rogue increased her efforts to struggle upward.

"Hey… Don't worry it's me again." The warm female voice from earlier called out in the dark. A flashlight flickered to life, and the pale blond hair and skin of the woman who'd given her water earlier glowed white in the light of a weak flashlight. The woman turned the light down toward the ground and advanced quickly. "I couldn't let you just sit here like this. I'm going to take you to a restroom and get you some more water and such."

Rogue felt shock run through her system as the woman carefully hoisted her up and carried her over to the small restroom in her cell. She hadn't even been able to see it from her positions earlier, and was grateful that Sabertooth had left her hood off when he had returned last time.

The kind woman assisted her in relieving herself, which was embarrassing but so badly needed, Rogue never would have complained. Then, the blond sat her down and gave her some sort of smoothie through a straw. Rogue knew she should be less trusting & more suspicious, but felt desperate for the calories… Her stomach had been in hungry knots for what felt like forever, and the liquid was cool and soothing.

Her eyes misted over slightly in gratitude. The kind woman leaned over and whispered "I'm Carol. I hope the scientists have the sense to get you away from Sabertooth soon. He's insane."

Suddenly, the door thrust open with a bang, and a familiar horrible growl resounded throughout the echo prone chamber.

"Fuck." Carol spat out, and all the light in the room died.

Remy easily slipped off of the mansion's grounds and collected his treasures. Each object in the box put him more at ease and left him feeling one step closer to rescuing Rogue. (Damn did he owe that girl a favor, after all.) He had his trusty adamantium staff. His tiny & untraceable laptop & phone were back in his possession. His grappling hooks, extra cards, the ever impressive set of lock picks he loved… An assortment of other fun toys, each item so useful to his trade.

He quickly hid the items on his person and slipped back into the mansion. It was a laugh, really, how easily he could get around the high tech security systems here. They were no match to his contacts, training, tech, and style. The worst part about being so good, though, was that you couldn't ever really tell anyone about it.

He had already discovered that Sabertooth had been on his tail for several weeks from his contacts. He had apparently been contracted by a small company that was, in fact, a front for a secret project of a very well know scientific & energy corporation. What he didn't know, however, was where the heck they might have taken Rogue. The company listed over 50 properties, and it was more than likely that the one she had landed in (if they even risked taking her to their properties) was not one of their legal holdings or rentals.

Now that he had his information & toys, it was past time he talked to the X-men and compared notes. Perhaps his information coupled with theirs would be enough to send out a search party.

Normally, he would never dream of working with this team. He wouldn't share his information, and no way in hell would he tip anyone off that he was anything other than a drifting mutant… But this had to be done, and fast. Rogue was depending on all of them, and he wouldn't be the one to let her down.