A/N Thanks again, reviewers, Rogue237, themistressmalfoy, EmeraldGreyClouds, Fostersb, Lucida Lownes, Chica De Los Ojos Café, yingyanggirl, massi14, Sharky237, Alicia Jo and Chellerbelle!
Rogue stared down at Gambit's unconscious form. Wow, if this was how he saw the world all the time, it was no wonder he was always wearing sunglasses. Everything was so vivid, so detailed. The brightness could easily cause massive headaches, but she could see EVERYTHING.
"So," Kenny said, twirling the knife. "Seven fingers left and plenty of times."
"Actually, cinq fingers and deux thumbs." Kenny cocked his head at her sudden Cajun accent. Rogue lightly charged the ropes that bound her wrists behind her back. "Threatening t' pull out teeth is a lot scarier by de way." Kenny frowned. With a slight fizzle, the ropes fell and Rogue burst from the chair and right at Kenny. He flew backwards, Rogue backhanding him into the wall. Rogue whipped the rope up and pressed it across his neck. Before he could say anything, she charged the rope.
"One move, I blow your head off," she hissed. Kenny gaped like a fish staring into Rogue's black and red eyes.
"Devil," he gasped. He flung himself around in Rogue's grip, trying to break free.
"Listen," Rogue hissed. "Yo' see dis glowing rope? If yo' move, it'll blow your head off. So yo' are going t' tell me exactly what I want t' know."
Kenny nodded very fast, eyes wide. "Y-yes, okay."
"Good boy. Now, how many are out dere?"
"Uh, I don't know, like 20, I think," he stammered out.
"Are dey armed?"
"Like, with tazers, and some knives, no guns I think, Pastor doesn't like guns."
"Oh but your pastor is fine wit' kidnap and torture? Lovely religion yo' got here." Rogue removed the charge from the rope a split second before her elbow smashed into his temple. Kenny crumpled in a heap at her feet. Rogue bent down and hauled Gambit over her shoulder. She gave Kenny a kick to the ribs on her way out the door.
Storm, Logan, Bobby and Kitty stood, breathing heavily. Around them were the unconscious bodies of over two dozen people, a mix of hired security guards and the church's volunteers.
"Assholes," Logan grunted. Storm shot him a look before turning to the others.
"Kitty, you and Bobby look for an office, get whatever you can from it. Logan and I are going to look for Remy and Rogue, and anyone else."
They split, Kitty and Bobby running down one hall and Logan and Storm going down the other.
"I feel like we should have seen someone else by now," Storm whispered.
"Yeah I-wait," Logan stopped her with an arm in front of her. "Someone's coming." He pulled her into an open doorway and unsheathed his claws. The uneven footsteps drew closer and closer. Logan lunged into the hallway claws inches from the person's face.
"Want t' relax dere, mon ami?" Rogue asked, holding a charged card between them. Logan glared at Gambit's eyes staring out at him from Rogue's face.
"Well that's unsettling," he muttered. He grabbed the unconscious Cajun from her back and slung him over his own shoulder. "What happened?"
"I'll explain later, let's get de hell out o' here first." Logan glared at the Cajun accent.
"When we get back, we need you to tell us everything."
"Sure Monsieur Stabs-A-Lot."
"Kitty," Storm called over the com device. "We have Gambit and Rogue."
"Are they okay?" Kitty's response came.
"More or less," Storm answered. "Did you find what you needed?"
"All that we can find. I deleted everything off the computer once I got what we needed."
"Meet us back at the jet, we need to get away from here in case the cops show up."
"We found three more captive mutants, we're bringing them too," Kitty said.
"That's fine." Storm closed the communicator and they all walked up the ramp onto the jet. Everyone except Rogue.
She stood, staring at the front of the huge Victorian house. The sign in the front yard stated in happy blue writing, 'Church of Holy Purity, we welcome those pure of heart, mind and spirit'. Rogue growled, eyes glowing red. The cards in her hand began to glow. She jumped as Logan placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Not a good idea, darlin'," he said. Rogue turned back to stare at the church.
"It deserves t' be burned. For what dey've done? I should burn it down wit' everyone inside o' it."
"That's the Cajun talking."
"No, it's not, it's me. His psyche doesn't get t' control me, yo' know dat." She sighed decharging the card. "I can't blow it up."
"Good choice."
"Not for any moral reasons," she said, turning to him. "It would look like a hate crime. Ironic, no? Mutants blowing up a church, de public wouldn't like dat."
She tapped the card against her leg before turning on her heel and marching back to the blackbird. Disturbed, and in vague agreement, Logan followed.
It was close to two AM when they made it back to the mansion. Rogue had been gone for over a day and the entire place was dirty. Papers were scattered around from various efforts to track her. There were multiple laptops in random places from the rec room, one on the stairs, even some building plans on the floor of the hallway. Rogue ignored this all and made a beeline for the med lab, following Logan and Gambit.
Hank had made it back and was waiting for them. Logan, surprisingly gently, set Gambit onto the table.
"What happened?"
"He was hit in the head and knocked out. Then…then I absorbed him." Logan wrapped his arm around Rogue's shoulder when her voice broke. Hank frowned and pursed his lips. Logan pulled Rogue away from them as Hank went to work.
"I absorbed him," Rogue hissed. "He was already unconscious and I absorbed him! How much longer did I put him out for?" Logan rubbed her back in slow circles.
"Relax, Rogue. You did what you had to. Gambit will understand."
Much to Logan's displeasure, nothing he said could convince Rogue to leave the med lab. He even threatened her with his claws, though given their history, they both knew he wouldn't do it. She merely blinked her still black and red eyes at him before going back to staring at the comatose Gambit. Logan eventually gave up and just brought her food a few times a day. He did however, after hours of threatening and very nearly begging convinced her to absorb just enough of him to heal her contusions and broken fingers.
On day six, Logan came to sit with her for awhile. "You know," he said, reaching over to hold her hand. "The Cajun was in a hell of a state when you were gone."
"Hm."
"Running around, barking out orders at people, researching like hell. I mean, you saw the mansion right? That mess? That's from him, or the tasks he assigned to everyone to find you."
"Oh."
"He was scared for you."
"I know," she said, tapping her temple. "I saw'."
"Ah." Logan was quiet for a minute before speaking again. "You know Rogue, I'm not happy with this habit you've developed of getting kidnapped."
"I'm not too thrilled about it either," Rogue answered dryly.
"That makes it by both sides now."
"Hm?"
"You've been kidnapped by both sides of the mutant gauntlet. The anti-human terrorists, and the anti-mutants."
"Great," Rogue said. They sat for a few minutes, listening to the bleep of Gambit's heat monitor. Rogue took a breath. "Funny isn't it? How the actions of one hate end up looking exactly like the other?"
Rogue continued her vigil by Gambit's bed for another day before a groan from the bed caught her attention. Gambit shifted and snorted loudly, finally opening his eyes to Rogue's anxious face. He managed a smile.
"Hey," Rogue said roughly. "Hank!"
"I'm in de med lab den?"
"Yeah, sorry. I know you hate it." Hank came in, rushing to Gambit.
"How're you feeling?" he asked, checking Gambit's vitals.
"Sleepy," Gambit said. "Which is very weird for me." Rogue managed a little laugh. "And uncomfortable. When will I get t' sleep in my own bed?"
"I'm afraid it'll be at least a night. You've been out for a bit and I'd like to keep you under observation."
"How long it 'a bit'?"
"A week," Hank told him leaning over to take his blood pressure.
"A week?" Gambit looked at Rogue, taking in her anguished face. "Oh, chère…"
"I'm sorry," Rogue mumbled, tears in her eyes. "You were only supposed to be out for a few hours but we think there were complications because you were already unconscious. I'm so so sorry!"
"Rogue," Gambit said firmly, stopping her. "So let me see if I have dis right. I got knocked out in my attempt t' rescue yo', meaning I failed. Den t' save us, yo' absorbed me, correct?"
"Yes," Rogue said quietly. "I didn't think I'd held on for that long."
"Chère, t'ank yo'."
"Thank…what?"
"T'ank yo'," he repeated. "Yo' saved my life and more importantly, yo' saved yours. I would never forgive myself if anything had happened t' yo'. Though it yo' ever feel like telling me, I'd be curious about what yo' saw."
Rogue snorted a laugh through her melancholy.
"You really feel ok?"
"Oui, I do," he promised. Gambit frowned, suspiciously scrutinizing the bags under her eyes and tired expression. "Chère, when was de last time yo' slept?"
"What? Just now."
"In a bed?"
"Oh…uhm, Thanksgiving eve?" Gambit glared.
"Rogue, yo' know I'm always thrilled t' see yo', and waking up wit' yo' here kept me from bolting out o' dis evil hospital room. But please, go get some rest."
"But…"
"I'm sure. I'm about t' go back t' sleep myself. Please?" Rogue sighed and stood. She leaned over and kissed him, Gambit wrapping his hand around her neck.
"I'm glad you still want to touch me."
"Nothing could make me not want t' do dat," he assured her. With a slight smile, Rogue left.
"How are you really feeling?" Hank asked once Rogue was out of the room.
"Just tired, weak," Gambit assured him. "Which like I said, is very weird for me."
"Good."
Gambit received a steady flow of visitors over the next day. Storm dropped by with Logan, who didn't even so much as threaten him. Quite the opposite in fact. Logan leaned over and clasped the other man's shoulder.
"Thank you," he said gruffly, glaring as if it caused him actual pain to be civil.
Rogue made a number of visits, at one point bringing a very stressed and worried Sarah with her.
"I promise I'm fine," Gambit said, holding Sarah's hand. "Dr. McCoy even is going t' let me out tonight."
"Really?" she asked eagerly, perking up. "You're gonna get to leave?"
That snapped some of the worry out of both Sarah and Rogue. Storm returned to visit while Rogue was bringing Sarah back upstairs.
"Just so you're aware, you're a huge topic of gossip now," Storm said wryly.
"Why is dat?" Gambit asked with a frown.
"Well, the students are all back now and you're noticeably missing. Some of them even think you died over the break."
"As much as I hate t' disappoint, I'm very much alive," Gambit smiled. "Seriously though, how's Rogue been?" Storm sighed, lacing her fingers together.
"She never left your side. Logan had to bring her meals. If you hadn't pulled out of it, I don't know what she would have been like."
Gambit groaned. "I was hoping she'd be okay."
"She is okay. She was terrified that she put the man she cares deeply about in an irreversible coma. I think that qualifies as an understandable worry."
Gambit groaned again. On the upside, he was tickled pink at how much Rogue cared about him. One the other hand, her being worried over this was completely irrational. It had to be down.
Rogue made it down later in the day to escort Gambit back to their room. As soon as she walked in, he was practically jumping over himself to leave.
"Not anything against yo'," he told Hank, nearly bouncing out of his shoes. "Just miss de sunshine, people, Rogue under de covers…"
"Okay, you're free to go!" Hank said hastily. With an arm around Rogue's waist, Gambit nearly skipped through the mansion. He was greeted enthusiastically by Kitty, Jubilee and Pete. Even Bobby begrudgingly admitted that he was glad Gambit didn't die. Gambit winked at him.
"So, you're coming around t' me eh homme? I don't know how Rogue will feel about yo' going after her man," he said in mock concern. Bobby's face twisted in disgust and he stalked off. Kitty, Jubilee and Pete laughed.
"Good to know your sense of sexual innuendos hasn't been damaged," Jubilee commented.
"Oh petite, I will never run out o' innuendos. For example, hey Roguey…"
"No," Rogue said firmly. "Time go upstairs, bedroom, now-"
"Aw yo' stole de punch line."
"-rest."
Gambit stuck his tongue out before adding, "Dere are so many better uses for dis tongue, too." Rogue smirked.
"That's for later." Kitty squealed and clammed her hands over her ears.
"Ew!"
It only took Gambit another day or so to get back to his usual, energetic self. When he started teaching some circus-esque acrobatics as a special your-teacher-is-feeling-amazing treat, Storm officially declared him as back to normal and scheduled a meeting to fill him in on exactly what had happened. He'd heard a vague version from Rogue, but it had bits and pieces missing. So he found himself seated in the war room three days after waking up, along with Rogue, Storm and Logan.
"We were in the front half of the church trying to battle our way in," Storm started promptly. "We met a surprising amount of resistance." Gambit said nothing, having already seen that for himself and heard similar things from Rogue. "While we went looking for you and Rogue, I sent Kitty and Bobby to search the place for any information. They found an office, and it's not good."
Rogue leaned forward, clasping her hands together. Storm and Logan had been fairly hush-hush on any information they'd gathered, telling the team that they needed more time to go over it all.
"They had no hard copies of anything, everything was stored on a computer. Kitty managed to get nearly everything, though." Storm pulled out a few print outs and pushed them towards Rogue and Gambit. "These are records alluding to the kidnapping of other mutants."
Rogue sucked in a breath as she looked at all the names and locations listed.
"That's a LOT of names…"
"And they're calling it 'conversion seminars'," Gambit added, disgusted. Storm nodded gravely.
"This is a lot bigger than I'd expected. The fact that this 'church' has spread so rapidly under our noses is alarming."
"So far, it looks like they're in New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, even San Francisco and Seattle," Logan reported.
"San Francisco and Seattle?" Rogue asked. "They're two of the most openly inclusive states in the U.S."
"People full of hate find their way everywhere," Gambit said softly.
"Do they have an endgame?" Rogue asked, rifling through the papers.
"We don't know," Storm conceded.
"We think it might just be a very, well organized and successful hate group, working to gain popularity," Logan said.
Rogue nodded looking over the list. Gambit looked at the names silently. Near the end of the list was 'Marie D'ancanto (Rogue)'. At least four names were listed after hers. In the nationwide chain of churches, they'd taken four more people in the time it took them to rescue Rogue, about 24 hours. How many did they have now? Rogue said it before Gambit could.
"We can't sit on this," she said firmly. "We can't pretend we don't know about what they've done, we have to do something."
"I agree, but until we know how, there's nothing we can do," Storm said.
"What?"
"We aren't running in there half cocked with no idea what we're getting into," Logan said gruffly. "That's how to lose people."
"So instead we sit wit' our thumbs in our asses?" Gambit nearly yelled in outrage.
"Do you have a plan? Because I'd love to hear it," Storm said. The stress in her voice made Gambit pause. "If we go in now, we might save a few, but might lose more. Plus, then they'll go even more underground. Luckily so far, it seems they're taking what we did as an isolated incident. But if they disappear, they'll take or kill all the mutants they have now, if they're even still alive. So until we have a way to go in smart and cover our bases, we're not going in." Storm stood and marched out of the room.
"We're working on a game plan. If you come up with anything, let us know," Logan said before following Storm. This left Gambit and Rogue alone, staring helplessly at each other.