Chapter 12: Suspicion

            Remy sighed and shook his head, only to appear a few minutes later with his coat, boots, and shirt on. He leans against the passenger side door and looks in at Rogue with a grin.

            "Bonjour, mon charmant, wha's a pre'y li'l t'ing like yo' doin' in a place like dis?"

            Rogue just folded her arms and looked straight ahead, trying to think more about Pietro's message than about Remy's little gesture with Kitty.

            "Ah'm not in the mood, Remy. Can we just go? Ah wanna get this ovah with."

            Remy sighed and walked around to the driver's side, cursing himself silently as he stepped in and got the keys from Rogue. Minutes later they were on the road, Remy's near-reckless driving had them going at a nice pace. Finally Remy broke the silence.

            "Why yo' mindin' wha' Remy do, p'tite?"

            Rogue had made sure to buckle up after Remy peeled out of the driveway. How could she forget that he thought he was some kind of stunt driver? Her mind was still trying to wrap around Pietro's call, wondering even more why he decided to tell her and not someone else more.. important. She was trying her damnest not to think about other certain things, until Remy suddenly questioned her. Rogue gave a ragged sigh, leaning one elbow on the window.

            "Ah don't know what you're talkin' about."

            "Remy not stupid, p'tite, he saw dat yo' didn' like him kissin yo' li'l friend. Ain' no secret, yo' ain' dat sneaky, aftah all." He reached out and put a hand on her leg, more near her knee so as to be not too inappropriate, and gave it a little squeeze.

            "Yo' don' have ta worry bout nuttin', p'tite, yo' still da only gal Remy gonna bug wit'out end." He glanced over at her with a little grin. "He jus needed Kitty ta go an' get Remy's t'ings. Dat's all." He had to take his hand off her leg to take a particularly hard turn without sideswiping a Mercedes.

            Just in time to have Rogue not shove it away. She crossed her leg over the other, purposely moving it away from him.

            "Look, Ah don't care what ya do with Kitty, but if ya just do it to make her do things for ya, then Ah don't appreciate ya manipulatin' my friends." Angry Rogue was back, and she looked at him pointedly. "An' despite what Kitty would have ya and everyone else believe, there is nothin' goin' on with us! So just drop it."

            He sighed and shrugged. "Jus' tryin' ta help, p'tite." He pulled up outside of the apartment building the Brotherhood took up residence at and parked it. "Here yo' are, wan' me ta wait fo' yo' ta come back out?" He looked up at the building and the surrounding bad neighborhood, then back to her.

            The only answer he got was the slam of the car door as Rogue got out. She took a glance around before walking up to the house and knocking on the door. Pietro was there in an instant, an annoyed, grim look on his face.

            "You're late."

            Rogue just walked past him, looking around. "So sue me. What's this about, Pietro?"

            He zipped around to her front.

            "Like I said before.. Magneto's-back-and-he-has-information-about-the-Sentinels."

            Rogue watched him for a minute, half suspecting something to be up his sleeve.

            "So why are ya tellin' me about this? Why are ya tellin' me at all.. Especially after the little stint at the football game?"

            Pietro shrugged, tapping his foot rapidly. "You-know-we've-always-had-a-soft-spot-for-you-Roguey. Besides, do you really think any of those X Geeks would listen?"

            Rogue shrugged. "Fine then.. What kinna information?"

            Remy frowned and shook his head. Something wasn't on the level. He should know, after all, since he was usually the one who tilted the playing field accordingly. He drove the car around the block and parked it again. He made sure to lock it and set the alarm before he jogged back to the house, to look for a proper place to look in on.

            Pietro wandered into the living room where Blob was sitting in the corner, looking more or less depressed. Rogue looked vaguely concerned. Whatever Magneto had to tell probably involved him too, he was there. Pietro motioned for her to sit down, but she shook her head.

            "Come on Pietro, just spit it out. What information, and what does it have to do with me?"  Pietro shook his head and got straight to the point.

            "Trask was working for some military organization looking to train mutants to be killing machines. The Sentinels captured a select few mutants to use as part of their testing.. I guess Gambit and Pyro and that metal guy were hired by Trask to do his dirty work. And now you're housin' that French maniac?"

            Rogue considered it before shaking the thought from her head.

            "Whatever, Pietro. That has nothing to do with it. Is that all?"

            Pietro frowned, fidgeting as if it were an effort to keep in one place for too long.

            "You don't remember too much about the testing, do ya Roguey?" Rogue waited for him to get to the point. "Well, Magneto enlightened us on some of the tests that were done on mutants. We thought you might like to know what happened to you."

            Remy found a place to look through the boards where he wasn't too noticeable and hunkered down to get everything he could. When he heard mention of Trask he frowned. What if they told Rogue about the things he'd done?

            That would pretty much destroy any chance he had with the girl. Even if he couldn't touch her he still thought he had some chance. That didn't matter right now, though, he had to concentrate to listen in on their grand news of what Trask did.

            "You absorbed a girl. You must know that. Her name was Carol Danvers. We don't know what connection she had with Trask, but she was a mutant. Trask wanted you to absorb her powers."

            Carol. She'd been pretty dormant the past few months, ever since Xavier repressed her. She'd be inactive as far as Rogue knew.

            "But Ah don't have any new powers.. Why would he want me to have them?"

Pietro glanced at Blob - he knew he was sensitive about talking about Trask and the lab - before continuing.

            "We don't know what her power was exactly.. something to do with making you fight better. If I knew I'd tell you, Rogue. But Trask wanted to make you, and others, into fighting machines. With your power you could absorb all kinds of secret information, knowledge, skills, powers - permanently. You'd be unstoppable, Rogue, and they wanted to use that."

            Rogue's gaze wandered as did her mind. It couldn't all be true.

            "Why are ya botherin' ta tell me now? Trask is gone, it's over with."

            "Trask is gone, but not the organization. Magneto thought you should know, your professor too, in case they try something again. Blob agreed that you oughtta know.. He knew he had trouble not knowin'."

            Rogue glanced at Blob, who was still staring out the window thoughtfully. No doubt he'd received news of his own that was just as troubling. Rogue thought some more and turned to leave the house.

            "Thanks for tellin' me, Pietro."

            Pietro zipped infront of her again. "I'm still curious, Roguey. Why-is-that-Cajun-guy-stayin-with-ya? Aren't-ya-at-least-a-little-suspicious-of-him?"

            Rogue hesitated before walking around him. "Thanks for the concern, Pietro, but Ah can handle Gambit."

            Pietro leaned against the doorframe looking like his usual macho self, watching her go.

            "You know where to find me if you need me."

            "How sweet."