Of Thieves and Martyrs: Chapter 28
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"Is he going to be ok?" Rogue asked while watching Remy clean John's wound and bandaging him up. She wasn't sure where they were, she remembered John driving pass the Garden District in New Orleans then took a hidden path off the dirt roads until they landed in this small cabin. There wasn't much here, a very essential supplies but Remy assured them it had the most important thing, secrecy.
"I don't know, Chere, he only got part of the elixir when Stryker ripped it from him, don't know what that'll do. Body looks to be fine, mind is what worries me. We'll have to see what happens when he wakes up." Here he was again, watching over the man that Marie loved while she pined for him. He wondered what he had done in his life to bring him to this point.
It seems the powers that be wanted to teach him a lesson, after years and years of leaving a trail of broken hearts and scorned women he had finally met someone that meant something to him only to have her belong to someone else.
"How did you know I was in trouble?" Marie turned to him, taking her eyes away from John briefly.
"I didn't, my brother, Henri told me that Belladonna was up to no good, apparently the Big Easy is at war again. I knew I had to protect you and I knew you would be protecting John."
"Thank you, we were so close. He was going to restore John's memories, I don't know why but he was and we were so so close." Her eyes turned to John again and Remy can see all the dreams Rogue had for her and John in them and it gutted him.
"I know why, your past, it defines who you are. For your powers to grow you have to grow with it. John couldn't evolve his powers if he didn't know who he was." He said it so matter of factly that she believed him, after all he was the one that taught her how to control her powers.
"I still don't understand why Stryker would want John though, he's not Jean Grey or Magneto, he's not- we're not powerful mutants."
"Stryker doesn't care about how powerful your powers are, he cares about what they can do and how he can use it. Believe me, I've been his lab rat before. I remember him being on a mad quest for a mutant that can create energy, lucky for ole Gambit, I can only convert energy and not create it." Rogue was starting to understand why Stryker wanted John but she didn't see where she fit in the picture.
"I still don't get it. Why now? Why didn't he try to get John back in Alkali Lake?"
"Because," a familiar and not welcomed voice entered the cabin and right away Gambit got up, almost too defensively. "He didn't know you existed," Emma Frost breezed right in with Wanda right behind her. "When Stryker first created Weapon 11 it took years, lots of resources, and money. On top of that Weapon 11 was unstable because he didn't know how to evolve all of the powers given to him. He can repair his body from the stress due to his healing powers but not his mind and eventually the powers given to him became dormant. Stryker found that if a mutant can create energy, the repair time for their body was a lot quicker. So someone like John can take a lot of hits and still be ok, not quite the same as self healing but usable. Then he discovered you, Rogue, a mutant that can steal another mutant's powers and their memories. It's in your DNA that he can cut the amount of time and resources it takes to make another viable living weapon and the Hellfire Club is behind him."
"You did this! Your Hellfire Club did this to him!" Rogue screamed and came at her until Wanda stepped in her way.
"Rogue, calm down, Emma is trying to help."
"How could she? She wanted to kill John, why would she help us now." Rogue was angry and everyone can feel it. Gambit smirked a bit at the hatred Rogue had for Emma.
"You stupid, stupid girl, this is not just about you. This is about the mutant race. Experimentation on mutants, weaponizing mutants, this is bigger than you, the X-Men, and the Hellfire Club. What do you think will happen when Stryker starts mass producing weaponized mutants with your DNA and Johns? We need to stop this and because of your stupidity Stryker almost got what he wanted."
"Believe it or not, Emma is right. We need to stop Stryker and we need to stop Sebastian Shaw." Wanda urged Rogue as the young mutant finally calmed down and stopped fighting her.
"How?" Rogue asked, briefly looking back at John to make sure that he was ok.
"I kept him in Jean-Luc's care because there are groups even the Hellfire Club won't interfere with and the Guilds are some of them," Emma explained as the group listened. "The Guilds are good about hiding their members, Remy, you know this. Sebastian won't step into Guild business because of the potential enemies he made but it looks like he's already made an ally." Emma's eyes were now angry and the anger was towards Remy. "That little girlfriend of yours, Belladonna, brought the Hellfire Club into the Assassin's Guild and now they know about John and Rogue, everything!"
"She's no girlfriend of mine," Gambit said smugly. "As you know of course, I don't keep girls longer than a few days." He knew that comment would infuriate Emma but he didn't care. She was getting under his skin. All of this world issues bothered him and quite frankly he could less if Stryker succeeded or not, in fact had Rogue not been involved, Gambit would have stayed neutral.
"Emma, there's no reason to blame anyone for this. Do we have a plan? What do we need to do to protect the kids?" Wanda asked, trying to ease the tension in the room. "If they're trying to get John and Rogue then we need to keep them safe."
"No," a weak and gruff voice said and everyone turned to see John coughing and lifting himself from the bed. "We can't," John said, holding his hand to his chest, trying to cough out the phlegm in his throat.
"John," Rogue exclaimed and quickly sat down beside him, taking his hand into hers. "You're awake, you came back to me?"
"Marie, I didn't think I'd ever see you again," he said as he grabbed the side of her face using both of his hands. "I've missed you so much," he said and pulled her forehead until it touched his.
"I've missed you too," she said, letting herself get lost in his scent.
"As sweet as this reunion is," Gambit interrupted them, almost on purpose, "We need to get you guys out of here. The Guilds are at war."
"Because the Guilds are at war we need to stay." John said as he slowly got up, his legs trembling a bit. "The Assassins are looking to take down the Thieves, my family, I have to stay."
"Sorry mon ami," Gambit interrupted him, "This is my war, not yours. You and your little X-Men best leave and let Gambit handle it."
"Who do you think you are?" John was getting angry and Rogue can sense it. "It's my family, my father that's in trouble."
"Your father? Jean-Luc? Believe me if you want him you can have him but it's my fight, my family," Gambit said taking a step closer to John.
"Wait," Rogue shouted stepping in between the guys. "What do you mean your father John?"
"The elixir," Wanda said, "he didn't get all of it. He must still have the artificial memories Emma and I created for him."
"Wanda, you did this to him? Why would you do that? I don't understand, you knew I was looking for him and you did this, you made him leave, you took him away from me." Rogue went on her rant and everyone can see how hurt she was. Everyone who she thought she could trust no longer seemed to be who she thought they were.
"Rogue, we had to, to hide him from the Hellfire Club, from Stryker. They knew everything about John, things they could use to track him. The Guild is one of the places where Sebastian Shaw wouldn't dare interfere with." Wanda tried to explain to Rogue, hoping to calm the young mutant down.
"Until you," Emma stared at Remy with such hatred and disdain. "Belladonna brought Stryker and Shaw into the Guild because of you."
"Belladonna does what she's going to do. No one can control that girl." Remy tried to defend himself, still looking worriedly at Rogue. "We still need to protect you Chere, get you out of here, you and John."
"No, we have to find Jean-Luc first." John chimed in and took Rogue's hands inside his. "Real memories or not, he still protected me and was there for me. Probably more of a father to me than anyone in my life."
"Until you disappoint him," Remy added in, disgusted by the pedestal that John clearly put on the man that turned his back on his real son.
"He's still a good man," John defended his surrogate father, "are you going to help me or not?" He pleaded to Rogue in the only way that he knew where she wouldn't refuse.
"Ok," Rogue said to him, "I'll help you find Jean-Luc but after that then can we get away from here?"
"Yes," he said to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"If Belladonna is running the show then there's one place that I know she has Jean-Luc," Remy told them and they listened to him and his plan. Rogue never knew this about Remy and it just hit her how his air of confidence and reassurance came about. He was a natural born leader and was a leader in one of the oldest secret societies in the world.
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It was a hard conversation for her to have, lying to Bobby about her involvement in Rogue's capture. It was especially difficult looking into his eyes and seeing that he did not believe her. He left her shortly after to try to find Rogue even if he didn't know where to look. She suspects that he probably looked into his X-Men contacts to help him as she aimlessly walked the streets of the Big Easy.
She wasn't like him, she didn't have a familial upbringing like he had. She didn't have a support system or really anyone to look out for her, that is until she met Bobby and ruined it all.
"You can still help them," she heard someone say behind her. "It's not about what you've done that he cares about, it's about what you can do."
"It's too late," she said and continued walking.
"Lorna, please," the tall woman pleaded with her. "Polaris," she said the name that the young mutant had been afraid to hear for a very long time. "You can still help them. They need you."
"Wanda, they don't need me." She stopped walking away from Wanda and turned around to face the Scarlett Witch. "They were fine before me and they'll be fine without me. All I am is trouble."
"That's not true," she said and walked up to the mutant, placing her hand underneath her chin. "You're such a very special person Lorna, with an incredible bloodline, you just don't know it yet. They're going to need your help in Stryker's facilities. You know where it is, I'm sure Belladonna told you."
"What good am I, Wanda? They have Rogue, they'll be fine without me."
"Lorna, you are an extraordinary person. I trust you'll do what's right. Here," she handed the green haired mutant a piece of paper. "Be at this address tomorrow night. They're going to need your help."
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