Authors Note: I felt it was so unfair that I did such a short and boring chapter last time that you deserve something a little extra, thus I did a double time on getting this done. Hope it makes up for the last one.

As for the language comment on Rogue's accent a couple of chapters back: Since I am about half way through the story I don't really feel like going back and changing it all but with other writings to come I have switched back to 'th' instead of 'd', it was starting to get too confusing and I have received several comments about it. Easier just to cut it off right at the beginning. So the 'd's are staying for the rest of this story.

Extra thankies to Simba317 for the extra long comment, yes, Bruce made a touch of a reappearing and am actually thinking of doing his own private comeback in a one-shot sometime in the future, but don't hold your breathing, nothing finalized yet. To Tigerlilly1234, trust me hon, I think most of us here lost our sanity long ago, that or never had it in the first place. As to the question why Rogue is only an 'assistant'. This is really just a cover for what she really does and you will learn more about Rogue's role and her view on it in later chapters.

Also, since I did a fast update the 10 points are still up for grabs for in what order, by who and what part Rogue's uniform got damaged without looking back in the past chapters. 5 points to Freak87 for almost getting it right.

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Chapter Ten: Not Exactly Cinderella.

New York City.

Rogue picked at the edge of her elbow length gloves, her covered fingertips preventing her from damaging the delicate light green patterning that decorated the trim of them.

'Stop it.'

Raising her eyes to Emma's blue ones narrowed in warning at her Rogue sighed, dropping her hands to her sides. 'But it's so borin'!' She whined, pouting over the telepathic line to her Queen as she could not to it physically in the full ballroom.

With a roll of her eyes in reply the White Queen turned back to Pierce, not even bothering to show interest in the man who was trying to impress the White King with his business connections. After several moments of obedient patience at Emma's side, her 'assistant' excused herself and moved away from the middle of the room, grabbing a glass of champagne from the tray of one of the waiters on her way past. Downing it in one swallow Rogue placed it on another passing tray and headed to one of the double doors leading out to the balconies. There was never enough alcohol to make these balls even remotely interesting.

Her fingers itched for a smoke. Hell, her whole body itched to get hold of that amazing Cajun she was ordered to absorb and drag him into her room, not letting him go until she fulfilled her urge with every naughty little situation she had learnt either through Emma, Selene or other Hellfire connections. But the smoke was more likely to happen.

Stepping into the shadows of the building so no one inside would see her Rogue disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to return a moment later with a cigarette and lighter in hand from Emma's limousine. Placing it between her red painted lips Rogue closed her eyes as she lit the smoke, inhaling deeply and holding it in her lungs before exhaling slowly. Her shoulders slumped as she leant back against the wall, all the tension releasing from her body.

She always hated the balls, ever since she was made to attend as an assistant at 16. Shaw said it was a good training exercise, she could learn more about the connections to the Club in case they decided to test the Hellfire's patience and would have to be visited by the Black Piece. It also taught her how to behave in high society, the unspoken rules that needed to be followed. Either way, it was just boring for her. There was always the same stuck-up, self centered people who only thought of how to further themselves in the world and were use to getting everything they wanted. The same need to act perfect and hide all flaws in case you were thought of as weak, to look pretty and smile when attention was placed on you. The only semi-interesting thing to Rogue was the dancing, but it was much to formal for her tastes and she normally got paired up with some new idiot trying to get himself into the Club by ranting and raving about his connections and powers. Well, she did find that funny in a way. Someone telling her how powerful they were without even knowing they were talking to someone who could crush their skull with her little finger.

'Rogue, Warren's here.'

Rogue smirked at the playful tone of Emma's telepathic voice, dropping her cigarette to the ground and crushing it under her high heel before exhaled her last breath of smoke into the night air. Lets see how the little rich boy would react to her. 'Ah'll be rahght there.'

Stepping back into the ballroom she wove her way easily through the crowd, pausing long enough to greet some of the Hellfire contacts that knew her supposed connection to the White Queen. As she got closer to her destination Rogue could already see the top of Warren's folded wings over the crowd but they gained little attention from others in the room, most - bar the new possible recruits - use to being around mutants connected with the Hellfire. Finally taking her position at Emma's side and noticing her talking to another male who bent low to kiss her knuckles. Emma gave a slight roll of her eyes at the act and quickly retracted her hand before turning back to Warren. The other man must be some of the new talent Sebastion was talking about.

"You remember my assistant?" Emma spoke up to the winged mutant, a hint of a smirk flickered across her face before disappearing again as she waved a hand towards Rogue.

Rogue held back her own smirk as she noticed his entire form stiffen, swallowing hard as he shifted his weight on his feet. "Miss D'Ancanto."

"Mister Worthington."

"Warren was just introducing me to his friend," Emma waved a disinterested hand towards the other man. "Mister Remy LeBeau."

Really, if Rogue thought of it she was grateful for her training in controlling her facial expressions as she was sure her brain suddenly stopped along with her breathing. It took a moment before everything started again and what just happened clicked into place. Turning her sight to the other man she felt her entire body tense up similar to how Warren's did.

As formal as the entire affair was Remy somehow seemed to give off as well as a completely confident vibe but a causal one. Dressed in a tuxedo as every other man in the ballroom he had altered it just enough to make the outfit more personal and stand out against the plain black and white, replacing the traditionally white shirt with one of deep crimson and traded the bow tie for a thin pitch black tie that ran down his front to cover up his shirt's buttons before disappearing beneath the perfectly tailored buttoned jacket. A silver bracelet that she recognized from part of his fighting uniform hung from his right wrist. Damn! Her mind screamed. It's unfair that man can look good no matter what he's wearin'. Stupid cute Cajun. But there was something wrong with his appearance. A touch of a frown crossed her face but quickly turned neutral before she could pick what was off, his eyes. They were brown. How borin'.

'Rogue, what's wrong?'

Snapping out of her daze Rogue rapidly blinked her eyes a few times and shot a look over at Emma. 'Noth... He's one of the mutants I was ordered to absorb,' She confessed, knowing Emma wouldn't take 'nothing' as an answer. 'But he didn't see my face.'

'Really?' Clearing her throat Emma spoke out loud. "It was... nice to meet you Mr. LeBeau, but if you will excuse me I need to discuss something with Mr. Worthington, I am sure my assistant can see to your needs." Spinning on her heel to move off she paused with a raised eyebrow towards Rogue. 'Find out what they are doing here, I have a feeling Warren is not playing by the rules.'

Giving only the barest of nods Rogue mentally kicked herself for lying to her best friend and watched as Warren quickly followed after Emma before returned her vision to Remy, finding him running his eyes up along her body.

As soon as Remy had stepped into the building that the Hellfire was holding the ball in it was like being thrown backwards into his childhood with the Guild. The environment was extravagant, the people expensively dressed, the whole event oozing money and power but he found it boring. To impress people that you would either never see again or didn't want to. To make polite yet pointless chatter so not to offend anyone and so you could boost your own social status. To stand there, smiling charmingly, bow low and kiss the hands of ladies that he would rather never see again or spend time in a more horizontal position, depending on his mood. He had always preferred the 'after party' that his brother, cousins and him always disappeared to in one of the cities clubs. Maybe with one of two of those females he wanted to 'impress' later.

Remy hadn't exactly made the best impression with Warren earlier that evening. Sure, he owned a tux, knew how to dress appropriate, even used his image inducer to cover his demon eyes with normal brown ones and could easily fit in to where they were headed, but it was the overcoat that covered his specially tailored suit that seemed to rub the rich boy the wrong way. Remy couldn't see anything wrong, Warren said not to wear 'the' trench coat but nothing against 'a' trench coat. It matched, it was black, it kept him warm against the night, and as it was an overcoat meant only for the outdoors it would be taken from him as soon as he enter the ballroom. And it was definitely worth wearing it just to see the look on Warren's face.

As Warren rambled on and pointed out several important figures around the multi story room which lead both out glass side doors to several balconies over looking the city as well as up a grand marble stairway that branched out and lined the room for those who wanted to stare down upon the dance floor from above Remy was doing his best to control his thieving instincts, the well dress and highly jeweled occupants tempting him with all the easy steals. It wasn't until he noticed a blonde-hairred woman dressed in a very tight and extremely low cut glittery white dress that seemed to show more than it hid that Warren fell silent and he moved about on his feet uncomfortably.

Raising one eyebrow at him Remy cleared his throat. "Something wrong homme?"

Taking in a shuddered breath Warren's wings twitched ever so slightly. "That is Emma Frost, the White Queen. A telepath that can turn her skin to diamond."

Remy gave a low whistle. "Dat's one big diamond."

Ignoring the comment a frown quickly crossed his face. "She's not with her."

"Who?"

"Miss D'Ancanto. She's always at the side of the White Queen."

"Maybe she went back to finish da X-Geeks off."

Shooting a quick glare over at Remy Warren instantly straightened his form and turned towards the approaching female. "Miss Frost."

It was pointless really to waste any 'charm' on this Frost when he was waiting for another woman, and it was not like he was ever going to see her again, right? Polite introductions, a well placed smile, light kiss against her gloved hand, and no empathy. She was only a step towards Anna, nothing more, something to get him in further to the Club she was part of. As he straightened up there she was, having sneaked in during the time he was focused on Emma Frost to be reintroduced to Warren. And really he was glad for the attention being off him, it gave him enough time to stop his jaw from falling open at the sight of her.

Strapless, mint green and so tight it seemed to be painted on the corset top hugged her chest and slim waist as a second skin before sloping down into a full length skirt at her hips, touching the floor and covering her feet. A decorative black stitching edged the base of the dress, raising up the center in an triangular form to knee level at both the back and front with swirls and curves. The black decoration matched her equally as dark elbow length gloves that were also pattered in the same elegant design but in the identical shade of green. A large gem made up of green and black whirls hung down from a delicate silver chain on her chest, only drawing more attention to the generous amount of cleavage. Her makeup was lighter than either time he saw her, dark eyeshadow replaced with emerald green to match her eyes and blood red covered lips. No death white foundation, no black lipstick, not any hint of Goth.

Sure the corset outfit or 'uniform' he had seen her in the other night was down right sexy but this just enhanced her natural beauty without becoming distracted by the amount of skin she showed that was just made to be touched. Elegant, divine and just radiating confidence she could easily be mistaken for one of the so-called Queens of the Club.

After taking in as much details of her as he could he bowed low and took her hand, brushing a kiss across her covered knuckles but locked his eyes with hers. "Would da belle lady like to dance?"

Pulling free of his grip Rogue moved off ahead of him towards the dance floor, not bothering to see if he was following but giving herself time to figure out how to play this. Just as she stepped onto the floor Remy's hand snatched out, grabbing her tightly around the wrist and keeping her from moving further before he tugged her back towards him. Holding her up tight against him for a moment his hand loosened on her arm, sliding down to link their fingers. Running his palm down along the toned curves of her arm he placed it lightly on her waist before taking a step back and allowing for a respectful distance for the current environment. "Non runnin' away dis time."

"Whah are yah here?"

"Monsieur Worthington invited Remy."

"Fahne, whah are yah and Warren here then? No lahin' to meh now."

Remy shrugged one shoulder, leading them in beat to the waltz. Who would of thought formal dance training in anticipation for marrying Bella would come in handy. "Ya made some enemies chèrie, dey wanted information on ya. Remy on da other 'and, wanted to see ya."

"Whah?"

He frowned at the question, thinking the answer was obvious. "'Cause ya attacked dem, dey want to know w'at dey're up against."

Rogue's neutral expression melted away into a slow appearing smile. "Ah meant, whah did yah want to see meh 'gain?"

His own smile joined hers as his hand slipped around to the small of her back, pulling her body closer to his. "Remy's still waitin' for dat kiss."

"Did Ah hit yah in the head or somethin' sugah? Ah did give yah a kiss."

"Oui, but Remy was hopin' for something more dan on da fore'ead, not dat 'e didn't like it."

"Well, yah know what Ah lahke?"

As his smile quickly turned into a smirk Remy lowered his head towards hers. "Quoi?"

"Yah eyes." Tapping a finger against his silver bracelet she passed it directly into the metal before she pulled her hand back, placing it over her mouth as her eyes widened in mock shock. "Oops."

Narrowing his now red on black eyes from the short-circuited image inducer Remy dropped his head down to prevent anyone overseeing as his arm tightened almost painfully around her waist, digging his fingers deep into her side. "Dat wasn't nice chèrie."

Rogue just smirked up at him as her body arched up against his with a moan. "Ah told yah not to hahde them Swamp Rat, especially here. No one would dare speak anti-mutant slanders around the Hellfahre, not if they want to live."

"Not even mutants appreciate dem all da time."

She shrugged one shoulder casually. "Their loss."

As the music called for a spin Remy released his hold on her waist, only to stop the spin midway and tugging her to him again so her back was now pressed against his chest. Replacing his arm back around her torso he felt her stomach muscles contract against his forearm. "Who are ya chère?" He whispered in her ear as his lips brushed against her skin, his eyes gaining a touch of glow to them.

"The girl who's tormentin' yah 'cause she didn't fall for yah lahke all the others do," Running her silk covered palm along his arm until it rested over his hand on her stomach Rogue tilted her head ever so slightly for her loose curled hair to rest on his shoulder and so she could watch his face out of the corner of her eye. "And don't even bother with yah empathy, Ah have yah powers as well as three telepaths in mah head to keep powers lahke yah's out. Yah charm won't work on meh, not that it ever did." She added smugly with a smile before resting her head back completely on his shoulder.

His eyes widened slightly before narrowing yet again, one way or another he wanted to get some answers and it seemed just asking was much more successful. "'ow did ya know?"

"Ah felt yah pokin' 'round in mah head, or at least trahin' to."

"Ok den, who are ya Anna?"

A brief frown flashed across her face but it was quickly gone again, yet the lingering feel of both surprise and frustration still got through. Hey, just because he couldn't play with her emotions didn't mean he couldn't monitor them. "Well, Ah would fit in with either Guild."

"Ya a thief?"

"And an assassin. The best there is."

"Well ain't ya da cocky one." Remy whispered against her ear again before lightly biting her earlobe and giving it a gentle tug.

Again her smile returned as her hand tightened over his. "Well yah would be one to know all 'bout bein' cocky."

"In w'at way yah mean chèrie?"

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Having followed Emma up the stairs and to come to a rest at one of the highly decorated carved overhang of the ballroom Warren waited patiently as she rested her palms against the surface of the handrail, watching Rogue and Remy down on the dance floor before speaking up.

"Did you really think you could hide what you are doing Warren?"

Snapping his vision around to the White Queen he pushed down his nervousness. "What do you mean?"

"Oh please!" Casting her eyes over to him Emma narrowed them dangerously. "I'm a telepath, you cannot hide anything from me. You are hiding something, and by the mental blocks that have just been placed in your head I say it has something to do with Charles Xavier and his students." Turning her entire body to face him now a dark smirk crossed her face. "You told them about the Hellfire, didn't you? That's why you are not alone, they wanted someone to come to try and protect you."

"I don't know-"

"Do not treat me as ignorant!" Emma snarled, cutting him off. "She recognized him."

"Who, Miss D'Ancanto?"

"No, the tooth fairy. Yes, Anna!" Tilting her head up to look down her nose at him the White Queen returned her eyes to the dancing couple, tapping a gloved finger against her lips in thought. "I may not see what you did because of those blocks but I know they would not be there unless it was for a good reason. Really, I expected more from Xavier." Shooting a look back at him her smile returned. "I know you are wanting to ask, so I will answer. She is the Black Piece, the Inner Circle's top assassin and thief. No one can beat her."

As Warren's mouth moved to talk Emma stepped in once again. "I will not tell Shaw or the Circle of your disobedience or betrayal to the Hellfire."

Hearing the unspoken 'but' he sighed. "At what cost?"

Her smirk just increased into a deadly grin. "You will see Warren, when the time is right."

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Authors Note: Oh, and if anyone is interested, Remy's outfit is taken from one he wore in the comics but is missing the sunglasses and gloves, almost making him look like a hit man. But so hot at the same time! It really is unfair that a fictional character is so hunky. Rogue's is actually taken from a dress I saw on Helle Berry, I just added the gloves, the necklace and changed it from white to mint green.