O-o-o-o-O
This is all Toad's fault… Pietro thought to himself. It was late Friday morning; he had planned for the Brotherhood to pay a little visit to the Social Services office and find out where Rogue is being kept. It wouldn't take very long. Just have Wanda give a few of her infamous glares, maybe have Lance shake things up a little, and those bureaucrats would be peeing their pants in no time. Maybe even have Blob throw a piece of furniture or two just for fun. But noooo…because of Toad they were here at the mall. That stupid twit just had to go and piss off Wanda while they were out for breakfast this morning, the end result being holes in the wall of a downtown diner, and hollandaise sauce, eggs and Tabasco landing all over hers, Toad's and Lance's clothing. And as none of them had brought any spare clothing on this trip as they hadn't been sure how long it would last, they had put a halt to their plans to visit Social Services in order to visit the nearest mall instead.
Toad had been easy to shop for; a t-shirt bought at the dollar store suited him just fine. And it was definitely an improvement to have him in clean clothes; Pietro couldn't remember the last time Toad did laundry and was now thinking maybe they should have ruined his clothes sooner. It would certainly be easier than trying to get him to take a bath. Lance took a little longer as he was slightly more fashion conscious. Pietro figured it was because he was still trying to make a good impression on that X-girl, Kitty. He didn't know why, as the girl didn't seem to have eyes for anyone except Nightcrawler, but that wasn't his problem. Personally Pietro thought that if he wanted to make a good impression, then Lance should start by getting a haircut. The shaggy look he usually sported looked just a little too 80's. Finally though, Lance found a shirt he was happy with, and he and the rest of the boys were sitting in the food court, waiting on Wanda. She'd been inside what seemed to be the local version of Hot Topic for the last half hour. Pietro hadn't thought that Goths could be so fashion-conscious, but apparently they were just as bad as any other girl when it came to clothes. He wanted to get out of here; they had a job to do and the sooner they got out of here and found Rogue and/or Forge the sooner they could leave, but he valued his life too much to try and hurry his sister up.
In the meantime the four of them were bored. Well, not all of them. Blob had visited one of the vendors in the food court and was happily munching on French fries and reading a comic book. Lance and Toad were playing cards, with Toad flicking his tongue out occasionally at a fly that was buzzing around his head, but it didn't seem like he was really trying to get it, which Pietro was eternally grateful for. Finally Lance laid down his cards.
"Gin." He said, not really sounding too excited about having won.
Toad made a face, and flung his cards down on the table. "Yo, how much longer is that girl going to take? She don't need to take this long to be beautiful, she's gorgeous already, you know?"
Pietro snorted. "You wanna go and tell her to hurry up?"
Lovestruck as he was, Toad paled a little at this suggestion. "Um, no…that's okay, she can take as long as she wants."
"Man, why does she get away with whatever she wants?" Lance griped, picking up the cards to shuffle them again.
"'Cause she can kill us all with just her pinky?" Blob remarked from the neighboring table, which he had to himself.
"…besides that." Lance said.
"That's enough for me." Commented Toad, before flicking his tongue out and swiping one of Blob's fries. Unperturbed, the huge young man continued to eat.
Bored with watching the card game and disgusted by Toad's oral antics, Pietro idly watched the various shoppers as they passed by. Just everyday boring humans, the occasional cute girl but other than that nothing interesting. And it was while he was watching a particularly hot redhead go by that he missed seeing a very familiar dark-haired man…
O-o-o-o-O
This is all Belle's fault… Remy thought to himself as he and Rogue made their way through the mall. He'd planned on having a normal day. From the start however it didn't look like it was going to go that way. First of all Martine had called in sick, having caught whatever 24-hour bug was going around, so there were no lessons for Rogue today. But that was okay; Remy figured they could hang out, play some games on the computer, maybe even go out to lunch. Henri and Emil were out working, and after losing her breakfast for the second day in a row, Mercy was back in bed again, so he and Rogue were pretty much on their own after Tante Mattie left to do the grocery shopping.
That was before Belle called, of course. She had called to remind him again about the wedding rehearsal tomorrow, with a family dinner afterwards, and asked if he had gotten himself a tuxedo for the wedding. To which Remy calmly answered that of course he had bought a tux.
After he hung up the phone, he announced to Rogue that they were going to the mall, as he needed to get a tuxedo. Since the wedding was next week, he didn't have time to have one made, so he was going to have to rent one. Belle didn't have to know, and what she didn't know wouldn't hurt him. It wasn't like wedding dresses anyway; people didn't expect guys to pass down their tuxedos throughout generations. Now why couldn't brides be that way about dresses? It would be so much easier than all the trouble they go through to find a wedding dress, and maybe there wouldn't be as many 'bridezillas' or at least as many as there seemed to be on the shows that Mercy liked to watch sometimes. Remy didn't get why his sister in law liked watching those reality wedding shows. She was married already, so what was the point? Just another thing that she told him he'd never understand. It was just as well though; it seemed like something he wouldn't want to understand. He was glad Rogue wasn't like that.
Remy had stuck his head into Henri and Mercy's bedroom to ask if he could borrow her car, and after hearing what sounded like a mumble of consent from the lump underneath the covers, he had brought Rogue over to the mall, where they were now heading over to the menswear store, which was over on the other side of the mall, past the food court. He felt a little bad having to bring her along while he tried to find a tuxedo, but there really wasn't much else he could have her do and anyway she'd tucked a book into her backpack so at least she could read while he tried on suits.
The two of them were just entering the food court, Remy not really taking any particular notice of the passersby as he was caught up in his own thoughts, when his arm was grabbed from the side, bringing him to a stop. As he had Rogue's arm tucked in his, this also brought her to a stop, although much less gracefully as she had less warning as to what was going on. Remy turned his head to see the face of Rogue's apparent stalker, the mysterious John Anderson. Mouth set tightly in a grim expression, the man looked deadly serious.
"This wasn't how I wanted to do things, but no time to explain; you've got to go." The man said. "Take her and get out of here, now." A shout came from within the food court, and both Remy and Anderson looked, the latter obviously not liking what he saw.
"Damnit." He said, letting go of Remy's arm. "Get out. Get her out of here. It's not safe."
"What's going on?" Remy demanded, pulling away from the older man and drawing Rogue closer to him. This was the opportunity he'd been looking for. He had a lot of questions for this man, and he intended to get some answers.
Anderson however, wasn't in the mood for answering anything. "GO!" he said, then looked back into the food court. Looking in the same direction, Remy saw a group of four young men, most of whom looked to be around his age or maybe slightly younger. Gathered at two tables, they were staring back at him and Anderson, looks of recognition and disbelief on their faces. One of them, an arrogant-looking blond, finally spoke up.
"You idiots, get him!" he called out to the others. Then before Remy could even blink the blond disappeared, only to reappear a second later next to them.
"Hello Forge." He smirked at Anderson, disappearing and reappearing in various places around the man. "Long time no see. You've been a bad boy; Father wants to have a nice long talk with you. And who are your friends?" He asked, coming to a stop and giving Remy a brief glance before setting his gaze on Rogue. "Is this Rogue?" he grinned, and stuck out his hand. "Hiya Roguey, good to finally meet you. Oh wait, forgot you can't see me. What a shame, your loss." He said, not sounding that regretful at all, and put his hand back down. "Sorry to hear about Destiny but to be honest she's better off; Father wasn't too happy after you two disappeared."
"Quicksilver….." Anderson growled, and pulled his fist back in an apparent attempt to throw a punch, but the younger man did his little disappearing act again, this time reappearing on the other side of Rogue. Remy realized the man wasn't actually disappearing though; he was just moving very, very fast. He was like a hummingbird on crack.
"Really think you can hit me, old man? I'm too fast for you, too fast for anyone." The oddly-named Quicksilver laughed.
Rogue looked bewildered. "What's going on, Remy?" she demanded, grabbing his arm and tightening the grip on her cane.
"I don't know, chere, but this new friend of yours is here, and seems to have brought trouble with him." Remy said, and with his free hand drew a card out of the pocket of his coat, charging it so it glowed brightly.
Quicksilver's eyes widened a little, but he didn't back down. "Guys! Get over here!" he shouted, and the people around them, who had given them a wide berth once the shouting started, began to scream as the earth began to shake. Remy was surprised too; when the hell was the last time they'd had an earthquake in New Orleans? But looking over at Quicksilver's friends, he saw that one of them was standing up, fists clenched, a grim look of concentration on his face, and he understood that Anderson, or Forge….Forge? where had he heard that name before?...or whoever he was, had some strange, powerful enemies. Remy didn't know a lot of mutants, other than himself, Rogue, Ororo and her friends up in New York; now they seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. And the connection seemed to be Rogue. What did they want with her? Remy could think of a few ideas, but there wasn't time to think about this though, or ask questions. Anderson was right; he needed to get Rogue out of here. Quicksilver's other two friends had also gotten up and were now approaching. One of them, a huge mass of flesh, leaned down and actually ripped a table out of the floor before throwing it at them. Remy threw the charged card he had in his hand, and it connected with the table, causing it to explode in midair. People ran frantically, screaming, and Remy backed away, moving Rogue with him.
The shoppers weren't the only ones startled by Remy's actions. Anderson and Quicksilver looked surprised, but the former recovered more quickly, grabbing a gun that looked kind of like a phaser from Star Trek out of his pocket, and aiming it at Quicksilver, fired a beam of red light at him. As he wasn't paying attention, Quicksilver was unable to dodge in time and so was blasted back, sailing through the air until he hit a wall and slid down, landing on the floor of the mall.
"Nice little toy." Remy said, eyeing the 'ray gun', not sure what else to think of it as. He still wasn't sure who this guy was, but he seemed to be on Rogue's side, which made him a little okay with Remy, at least for now until he could get some answers out of him.
"Thanks." The older man said tersely. "What the hell was that just now?" he asked, then fired again at the huge man that had thrown the table. Unlike Quicksilver though, Anderson's little device seemed to have no effect, as he just kept coming at them.
Remy shrugged. "Charge some playing cards with energy. Give 'em a toss. They hit the target, they go boom. Problem solved." The three of them stumbled as the earth began to shake again.
"Or maybe not."
The large man swept the debris from Remy's explosion like it was nothing, and he started toward them, followed by the one who seemed to be making the earthquakes and the smaller one. Remy noticed as they approached that the latter looked slightly greenish, and he wondered what his power was. Leaping up, the boy attached himself to the wall, and a long tongue flicked out as he grinned at them and crawled over the wall, moving past frightened shoppers more quickly than he probably would on foot.
Ewww… Remy thought to himself.
"Someone tell me what's going on!" Rogue insisted, gripping Remy's arm tight enough that it hurt. "Are we having an earthquake?"
"Not exactly." Remy said, and pulled her backwards with him, getting ready to make a break for it but not sure how quickly he could get them away while having to lead her. "Who the hell are these friends of yours?" he asked Anderson/Forge. "And for that matter, who the hell are you?"
The older man shook his head. "Long story. No time to tell it right now. Just consider me an old family friend." He said. "Can you fire off a few more of those cards of yours? We can use the distraction to get out of here. I'll keep them busy; you just take her and go."
Remy wondered how the other man could manage to hold off these guys by himself, but already he had taken the gun he had used to shoot Quicksilver and Remy watched in morbid fascination as Anderson lifted up a piece of skin from his arm, revealing circuitry of all things. Remy remembered Otis telling him that Anderson had a prosthetic hand, but apparently that wasn't all that it was. He pressed a couple of buttons and a slot opened up in his hand, which he fit the gun into. A red button lit up on the gun and Anderson aimed it at the three that were moving towards them. They didn't seem to be in any hurry, and Remy figured they were confident in their ability to take them out. Remy had a feeling that Anderson had a surprise up his sleeve though, so to speak.
The other man glanced at him, noting his surprise. "You can say I've had an interesting life. It's part of that long story that I'll hopefully get to tell you later. Now get to blowing things up."
"Whatever you say m'sieur." Remy said, and grabbing a handful of cards out of his pocket, charged them before throwing them at his targets. None of them actually hit the others, but he didn't need them to hit, horseshoes and hand-grenades were not the only things that close enough was good for. And he was right; the charged cards landed a few feet away from the three men, with the resulting explosion big enough to throw them backwards.
"Nice. Now beat it." Anderson said, and fired his gun, with whatever adjustment he had made causing the beam to be larger than the one that had hit Quicksilver. It hit the obese man just as he was getting up again, and this time was strong enough to knock him back down again.
This time Remy decided to take Anderson's advice and leave. He seemed capable of taking care of himself; besides, what did he really care if these guys got him? He still didn't know who this guy actually was, but they could figure that out later, if the man managed to get away from his 'friends'. The main thing right now was to get Rogue away from here.
"Come on." He said, and started pulling her away as she began to protest. "I'll explain later; right now we need to go. Now run." Remy said, and started off as fast as he could manage with her stumbling behind him. He felt bad doing this to her, but he could always apologize later.
The level of panic had increased after the second explosion. More people were screaming, others were running like chickens, while other stood and took pictures. Remy figured YouTube was going to be loaded with videos of this in minutes. The world was full of idiots. He knocked people aside, ignoring their protests and curses as he tried to clear a path for himself and Rogue. She tried to keep up as much as possible, but people kept bumping into her, and without being able to see it made her slow down and Remy wondered how much longer Anderson, or Forge, or whoever he was would be able to hold those guys off.
An explosion sounded behind them, but it wasn't anything like the sound of the gun that Anderson used, and Remy wondered whether one of the punks had a power he hadn't seen yet or if a new player had entered the game. It was too late to go back now; they were finally reaching the mall entrance and the only thing Remy wanted to do now was escape, as he'd thought of a new problem. The police were going to show up sooner or later, and he didn't need be caught at the scene of what people would interpret as mutant terrorist attack. He supposed it really could have been a terrorist attack; after all, he had no idea who those guys were, but ultimately it was very personal. They had been after both Anderson and Rogue. So no, there would be no going back. He didn't care what blew up; Remy was already in enough trouble with the powers that be as it was.
In the parking lot, he found Mercy's car, got them both inside and drove away from the mall as fast as he could without attracting attention. Police cars were pulling in, and he managed to put a nervous expression on his face; just another frightened shopper trying to escape the scene of the attack. This was rather true of course, but they hadn't exactly been innocent bystanders.
The minute they started driving, Rogue started in with the questions. "Alright, what the hell is going on? You'd better start talking fast, Swamp Rat." She demanded, and her tone of voice told Remy that she was dead serious this time.
Remy sighed and scratched the back of his head as he drove.
"I'm not exactly sure what's going on, chere, but that man back there was the one we ran into at the café, the one who tried to follow us. There were four other guys, mutants, and they're the ones who attacked. The one who called you Roguey is super fast. There's also a really big, strong man, a guy who seems to be able to cause earthquakes, and one who seems kinda like a frog. Apparently they were after both you and the guy who followed us, John Anderson. I don't know if he's a mutant but he doesn't seem to be completely normal either. He's got a prosthetic arm he can use to power up a gun. Pretty cool, actually." Remy admitted.
Rogue gave a faint nod. "That one guy, the one you said was fast, he called him 'Forge', too. I heard him. Wasn't that the name of the man Kurt and Ororo had mentioned, the really technical guy who disappeared?"
I knew I'd heard that name before. Remy realized.
"You're right. I wonder if these losers had something to do with him going missing?"
"Well they didn't seem too happy with him." Rogue said. "But what do they want with me? And why did they call Irene 'Destiny'?"
"I don't know." Remy replied. "Seems like every time we find an answer to something in this, even more questions pop up. Anderson, or Forge, or whoever he is, he sounds like he knows the answers though. Makes me wish we hadn't left him behind."
"Yeah. We still don't know how to find him either. What if he leaves the city? What if those guys chase him out?"
Remy shook his head. "Non, I don't think he'll do that. He seems too interested in your welfare. He's gonna stay right here, but we're gonna have to wait for him to come back to us. If it was me I'd stay out of sight for a little while, and he knows where to find you now, at least when you're at the home." He sighed and pulled up to a stoplight. "I don't like this. I want you to stay at the house this weekend, where I know you'd be safe, but I've got the wedding rehearsal and dinner tomorrow, and the family will be gone all day." Remy then realized something.
"Merde, I never got that tux." He said. Belle would have his hide if he didn't have a tuxedo for the wedding. Remy turned onto his street, did a beautiful albeit highly illegal U-turn, and drove back onto the road they'd been on. There was another rental shop in a different part of town, and since they were out anyway, he might as well go and get the damn tux business over with anyway. Besides, who's going to look for them at a tuxedo rental shop?
O-o-o-o-O
Forge took a quick glance behind him to make sure that Remy and Rogue were getting away, and after seeing them hurrying off in the other direction he turned his attention back to the problem in front of him. Four problems, actually. Toad leaped from his position on the wall, meaning to tackle him, but Forge dodged out of the way and the young man landed in a crouch on the floor.
"Give it up, yo. You're outnumbered." Toad smirked, and leaped at him again. Forge found himself wishing that he hadn't sent Remy away; the young man was rather handy in a fight. It made him more curious as to who he was and how he'd come into Rogue's life, but that was something that could be found out later. For now he had to deal with the fact that Toad was right; Forge was in fact outnumbered. With advance warning, he could have put together an arsenal that would send Magneto's second-class errand boys running with their tails between their legs; but Forge hadn't expected to run into the Brotherhood so soon here, and not in the middle of a mall, so he only had the one weapon on him at the moment. With Cyclops' help, he'd created it to generate an energy beam very similar to what the younger man shot from his eyes. And while it was a very effective weapon, he was still only one person and wouldn't last long if he didn't do something that would allow himself an escape.
An explosion from the other side of the food court caught everyone's attention and Forge looked to see a familiar face. It was the girl from the Acolyte base, Magneto's daughter; and apparently whatever quarrel she'd had with her father and brother were resolved, if she was here now helping Pietro. She looked better than she had previously; calmer, and while Forge still didn't know why she had helped him previously he doubted he'd get that lucky this time, and he'd seen what she could do back when she was trying to kill her father. Desperate to get away before she joined her teammates or got down to the business of attacking him, Forge raised his gun and fired a beam into the ceiling, moving it in a circle until a large section of ceiling came crashing down on top of the Brotherhood. Forge ignored the resulting cries and just turned and ran. He couldn't take the time to wait and see if any of the Brotherhood managed to avoid the collapsed ceiling, especially not Quicksilver. People were in his way but he shoved them aside, heading as quickly as he could for the exit. Once outside he found his car and tried to get out of the mall parking lot but found the exits blocked by police and terrified shoppers who were also trying to escape. Finally Forge drove over a strip of grass and sidewalk, ignoring the shouts and indignant hornblasts of other drivers, and managed to get onto the main road. This really wasn't how he had envisioned his day going. Denise at Social Services had met with him after the blood work was done for the paternity test yesterday, and told him that she'd arranged for him to have a supervised visit with Rogue on Monday. Because of this, Forge had decided to go to the mall and get some new clothes; something nice enough for a formal visitation. It was while he had been looking for the menswear store that he had caught a glimpse of the Brotherhood, as well as Rogue and Remy. So much for getting a new suit; there was no way he could go back to that mall. Forge knew there were other places to go, but with the Brotherhood out on the prowl for him, he didn't dare show his face around town. But what about Rogue, had she and her friend with the exploding card trick made it out okay? Forge wanted to go straight to the home to see if she was there, but for one thing he doubted they were there, they were probably wherever it was that Remy took her during the day. And for another thing, if the Brotherhood caught up with him he didn't want to lead them to her by mistake.
Forge looked behind him; there were no signs of any maniacal teenagers following him, but then again he didn't know what they were driving. As much as he hated it, but the only thing he could do right now was go back to the hotel, at least for the moment. Later he would go to Azalea Lane and try to catch up with them, maybe even get some answers finally as to what had been going on in the past two years.
O-o-o-o-O
Oddly enough, the rest of the day went rather quietly, which is how Remy had wanted it to go in the first place. He found another menswear store and rented a very respectable-looking tuxedo. It wouldn't be seen on anyone at the Oscars anytime soon, but it looked good enough for the wedding and all the picture-taking that would follow, which is all that mattered. Not wanting to stay out in public any longer than necessary in case Anderson's friends from earlier showed up again, Remy took Rogue back to his house immediately after he finished his business at the menswear store. By this time Mercy was up and feeling better from the morning's bout of illness, and they spent some time in the kitchen helping Tante Mattie make lunch. Rogue even helped in this, as Mattie told her she could peel shrimp just as well as anyone, doing it by feel, and Rogue seemed please to find that she was right. The afternoon was eaten up by games on the computer, listening and laughing to standup comedians on the televisions, and just hanging around and joking with Mercy and Emil, who had finished his job early. Finally though, Remy had to take Rogue back to the home, and he led her out of the house reluctantly. He wouldn't see her again until Monday, as the weekend would be taken up with the rehearsal and other activities for the wedding.
Turning into the parking lot for Azalea Lane, he saw a familiar figure sitting on the bus stop bench across the street, and frowned. Remy knew he would show up eventually, but part of him had hoped that this morning's activities at the mall might have sent him running out of New Orleans and away from them. There were enough problems going on here already, with the upcoming Mutant Registration act and all, that he and Rogue didn't need any more trouble. No such luck.
After leaving Rogue at her room, he peeked into Candace's office to check in for the evening, but the woman was on the phone and just waved him away. Remy left the building and instead of going to his motorcycle, he walked across the street and approached Anderson.
"Don't you think it's a little stupid, coming here?" Remy asked, standing near the older man.
Anderson put down his newspaper. "Maybe. But I think I managed to get away well enough that they weren't able to follow me. That bunch isn't exactly known for their subtlety anyway; I'd notice if they'd picked up my trail."
Remy gave a faint nod. "So should I call you Mr. Anderson, or do you go by another name?"
Anderson shrugged. "Call me Forge. I'm more used to that name."
Remy nodded again. "Alright. Forge then." Then he grabbed the man's collar and pulled him up from the bench. "Now tell me who the hell you are and what you want with Rogue." He snarled.
Forge blinked in surprise for a moment, then grabbed Remy's wrist with his prosthetic hand. "I'd suggest you let go of me, if you want to keep this in one piece." He said calmly, and squeezed tightly. Remy felt his bones grind together painfully, and realized that the man had enough power in that hand to break his wrist badly. He also knew that he could charge that hand, but not before his bones were snapped. Reluctantly, Remy let go, and Forge sat down again.
"Have a seat. I doubt you want to attract any attention, do you?" he asked, and Remy sat down.
"Okay. Now back to my question. Who are you?" Remy asked.
Forge picked up his newspaper again. "I could ask you that same question. Who are you and what are you doing spending so much time with Rogue?" he asked, and Remy saw an almost menacing look in the man's eyes. He didn't want to answer, but he needed answers from Forge for Rogue's sake, and he saw that the only way he was going to get those answers was to cooperate at least a little.
"Remy LeBeau. I'm Rogue's companion, but she's also my friend. And you?"
"You can say I'm an old friend of the family." Forge said. "Anything else will come after I've spoken to Rogue."
Remy stared at him in disbelief. "You expect me to let you anywhere near her with just that for an explanation? How come she's never heard of you?"
Forge looked at him contemptuously. "Who the hell do you think you are to say who has any contact with her? I will get to see her soon, and there's nothing you can do about it. To answer your question though, Rogue has met me, but I'm not surprised she doesn't remember. It's been several years. My work keeps me very busy, and lately I was….busier than usual." he said. "I was out of contact when Irene became ill, and I didn't find out about her death until recently. This would never have happened if I'd known." Forge said, pointing to Azalea Lane.
There was something the man wasn't telling, something major. Remy could see there was something Forge was avoiding, but he seemed rather adamant that he wasn't going to talk to anyone but Rogue.
"So I'm just supposed to sit here and believe you?" Remy asked.
Forge shrugged. "You don't have much choice, do you? The only reason I'm talking to you at all is that you're Rogue's friend. Sure, you could hurt me with that power of yours, but you'll never get any answers that way, and you'll only be hurting Rogue in the end. Do you really want that?"
Remy shook his head. He really wanted nothing more than to charge the man's hand or clothes, try to force an answer out of him, but Forge was right. Dead men couldn't talk. And if he really was the family friend that he said he was, then Rogue wouldn't thank him for hurting or killing him. He then remembered something, and looked at Forge, narrowing his eyes.
"Actually I do think I know something about you. You're the Forge who helps out at the Xavier Institute, aren't you?"
Forge's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at Remy warily. "What do you know about that?" he asked.
Remy smirked, glad to finally shake up this mysterious man a little. "Ororo Munroe is an old friend of my family." He said, but the smirk faded as he realized something else. "I know someone else, too. Kurt Wagner. If you know these people, and Rogue's family too, why didn't Rogue know about her brother? Why has she thought that she was alone?" Remy demanded.
The Native American man's face actually managed to turn pale, and he looked haunted. "Rogue…knows about her brother?"
"Oui. They've even met. No thanks to you though, apparently." Remy said. "Did Rogue's foster mother know about this? What kind of messed up family are you friends with, anyway?"
Forge became angry when Remy mentioned Irene Adler. "You have no right." He said in a tight, quiet voice. "I don't owe you any explanations for what I have and haven't done. There's only one person who has the right to demand anything from me, and she gets to hear this before anyone else does." With that he got up and stalked toward his car, which was parked a little way down the street. Unsure what to do next, Remy watched as Forge got in the car and drove away. He did know, however, that he was going to have to warn Rogue that she was going to be approached soon. Whether this was a good thing or not, he still wasn't sure.
O-o-o-o-O
Candace sat in her office chair, phone at her ear, doodling on a pad of paper as she listened to the woman on the other end of the line talk.
"What can I do for you?"
.
.
"I see."
.
.
"Really?" Candace's eyes widened at what she'd just heard. "I thought the girl didn't have any family. Are you sure about this?"
.
.
"I see."
.
."Yes, I can do that."
.
.
"Yes, I'll let her know. Monday afternoon. Right. Okay, well thanks for letting me know, Denise. You have a good weekend."
Candace hung up her phone and sat back in her chair, lost in thought. This was certainly a surprise. The supposedly orphaned Rogue wasn't as much of an orphan as everyone thought, assuming the blood test came back the way Denise thought it would. Apparently there was a man in New Orleans claiming to be her father. Candace had a feeling that this John Anderson was probably telling the truth. Why on earth would someone want to claim paternity of a mutant girl anyway, unless it was true?
And the man would be coming on Monday. Denise Adams had arranged for him to visit Rogue, and wanted Candace to let the girl know and to be ready. Normally she would do this; she'd wanted Rogue off of her hands ever since the girl had come to stay at Azalea Lane, and this would have been perfect. But there were other plans for Rogue now. Candace had been advised by her friends in the Friends of Humanity who had certain connections in the government that the Louisiana Mutant Registration act would be passed, and there was a little surprise planned for the mutants in the area to celebrate that legislation. Mutants in other areas would feel the effects of this as well. So there was really no need to let Rogue know about her father's upcoming visit, since by Monday she wouldn't be here anyway.