Remy barely got his hand in front of his face in time to keep from smashing his head on the ground. He used the extra momentum to execute a flip that distanced himself from Rogue.

Rogue put her hands up in the fighting stance that Raven had taught her. This Remy person was a good fighter, better than Rogue as far as talent went but Rogue was near invulnerable and multiple times stronger. She kicked out, a feint that Remy didn't react to react to save for a slight movement in his hand. The next thing Rogue knew, four cards, all with macabre skeletons on them, appeared in his hand.

"You plan on gamblin'?" she asked sarcastically.

"Dese look like playin' cards to you?" Remy countered. Too late, Rogue remembered what those Remy could do with those cards.

WHAM! Her world went hazy for a moment as one of the cards hit her right in the face, sending her head snapping back. Another card collided with her abdomen, doubling Rogue over while three and four exploded on the very ground she was standing on, hurling Rogue about five meters away. As Gambit had expected, she got up, even though anyone else would have to be scooped up in lots of tiny little pieces after a barrage like that.

"You can't hurt me," Rogue said. "Just give me back the diamond you stole."

"What?"

Rogue's eyes narrowed into slits. "I don't have time to play games Mr. LeBeau. So how about you just return it before I have to take it, and your arm, away by force." Inside, Rogue laughed. That had sounded pretty cool, pretty menacing.

"Well you know what," said Remy, "I didn't steal this."

"Yes you did."

"No, I did not."

Rogue paused before hurling another 'Yes you did' back at him. He looked sicere, and if he was lying, Rogue certainly couldn't tell.

Remy smiled. It looked like he was getting through to her. He pulled the Eye out of his pocket and showed it to her. "This gem right here," he said, "is for some reason deadly to normal humans. All it takes is a close proximity to kill most people of a radiation-like sickness. Raven never owned this, but she's wanted to. She hates humans, she'll barely tolerate those that serve in low positions in her criminal organization. Can you imagine what she would do if she got her hands on something that kills all homosapiens?"

"What do you mean when you say 'criminal organization?" Rogue asked warily.

"I mean that the sleazebag you're working for is a crook. Shoot, she's wanted in like ten different countries." Remy pulled out a photo from his duster and approached Rogue, who surprisingly didn't step back. He held the photo up.

Rogue snickered. "Who is that supposed to be?" The grainy black and white photograph showed a middle aged walking down a sidewalk amongst a large group of people. It looked as if she didn't know she was being photographed.

"That is not Raven," Rogue stated matter-of-factly. She was slightly confused as to what he was getting at.

"Yes, that is her," Remy corrected. "Look closely.'

Rogue frowned and squinted her eyes. The woman bore absolutely no resemblance to Raven. She had a different build, different height, different-. In mid-thought Rogue saw it. "Mah God," she gasped, so surprised that she allowed her strong southern accent to show. The woman was wearing the scarab necklace. Raven wore the same item all the time and had even told her it was very rare.

"You see?" asked Remy.

"Well yah, but it doesn't prove anything. There could be a hundred different people who wear that necklace."

"There are, but only Raven has hers custom made like that. If you will notice, the pincers on the gold scarab are unusually long and there is an extra abdomen on the ornament. There isn't another like it in the world. You see, that is actually a surprise weapon. The extra abdomen you see there holds a deadly poison called Siron which can be injected through the pincers."

"How do you know all this?" asked Rogue.

"We know everything about the Brotherhood, and vice versa of course."

Rogue knew that was true as she recalled how Raven had seemed to know an awful lot about Remy. She could not begin to understand the complexities of the everlasting conflict between the two factions.

It seemed crazy. Unbelievable. But for some reason that Rogue could not comprehend, she believed. Maybe it was that it all made sense. The little trips Raven and the Acolytes had made at times among other unanswered questions made sense now.

There was one way to find out though. With a grim face, Rogue reached up and touched her hand to Remy's forehead. His eerie red-on-black eyes narrowed. And then came the shock.

Remy felt like he'd been run over by a Mac truck, the sensation slamming into him like a tidal wave. He reeled back and then dropped to his knees, gasping for breath as a million different thoughts sprang up in his mind.

Rogue felt like a child who had stuck a metal fork into an electrical outlet. Her eyes began to burn but then all of the sudden, she could see clearer, even though it was dark. Every little bit of light or heat seemed to be magnified.

Then came the memories. She saw a man middle aged man in a brown jacket, a beautiful blonde in a purple bodysuit with a large, wicked looking sword on her back. And then Raven. But she was doing something. In this memory, she was looking straight at Remy so Rogue could see the metamorph's eyes in her mind's eye. They were glowing yellow. And then her skin turned blue, her hair turned a deep crimson. Those eyes though, there was something evil in them that made Rogue shudder. Then all the images ceased to appear.

Rogue took a deep breath, putting a hand to her chest. She had never experienced such wild sensations upon physical contact with anyone else, human or otherwise.

"What the-" Remy muttered weakly. He lifted his head to find Rogue looking down at him. He wobblingly stood to his feet, looking as if he were half unconscious. The only think he could think of was that it was her mutant power, making people feel so crappy they wondered if they'd been dropped of the Sears tower, and then tossed into a giant blender. He felt so out of it that he barely heard Rogue say, 'I believe you.' He tried to process that.

"I said, I believe you," repeated Rogue. She had 'seen' enough, and it made sense.

"Oh, well that's-that's good." Remy walked over to the side of a building and leaned on it. "So you blindside me with whatever the heck mutant power that is but you believe me. Yeah, that makes sense."

Rogue rolled her eyes and turned away as she pondered what to do next. Without Raven, she was right back where she'd started. Then again, she would no longer be trapped in the middle of the deadly war that seemed to be brewing over the Eye of Death.

She turned around and gave a wry smile. "You know what, keep the bloody diamond. I don't care anymore."

Remy blinked. "Uh-"

He didn't get the chance to say more because he stopped when he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. His light sensitive eyes made out that they were the two men from back at the alley.

Logan and Sean approached, casting long shadows down the pavement. Wordlessly, Logan flipped out a small yet powerful flashlight and shone it ahead. He had lots of questions and he figured that the folks ahead could answer him. They both looked pretty messed up. The girl, her skunk-striped hair was a mess and her face had a lot of bruises and smudges on it, without which she probably would have looked quite appealing. The guy looked as if he'd come out of the short end of a fight with Bruce lee. There was blood running from the corner of his mouth and his movement seemed sluggish.

"Hello guys," Remy said genially even though the very act of moving his mouth was difficult because of what Rogue had done to him.

"Hello yourself," Sean replied. "would ye mind telling us what this is all about?"

"What?" The question came from Rogue.

Logan and Sean exchanged a small glance. "The Eye of Death. Have you-" Logan stopped talking in mid sentence when his acute hearing picked up on the thwop thwop thwop sound of the backup helos he'd requested. "Bad timing," he muttered. The last thing he needed was to spook off these guys.

Too late. Remy's head swiveled up and his fiery eyes widened when he made out the approaching helicopters. Rogue too looked up and by then the sound of the swinging blades could be heard.

"Wait," Logan called. But Remy darted down a side alley anyway and after a moment's hesitation, so did Rogue.

Sean muttered something after his breath. It was an Irish word but Logan had a pretty good idea what it meant and right then he probably would have agreed.

***

Remy whirled around. "What are you doing following me?" he asked rather unkindly.

"Like I have a choice," Rogue retorted. "I can't go back to Raven now, not in good conscious anyway."

"Listen little girl, I don't have time to babysit a mutant kid who just a while ago was throwing punches at me, OK. Why don't you just go along and do whatever it was you did before Raven suckered you into the Brotherhood." Rogue ignored his placing her in the 'little kid' category and shot back, "Before I was 'suckered' into the Brotherhood, I was a homeless pickpocket who pinched wallets and watches for a living. Not that you know what that's like."

There was a pause before Remy said, "You'd be surprised.

His cell phone rang and he wordlessly took it out of his pocket. "Hey."

"Hey yourself Remy," Jean-Marc said on the other end. "Do you have the diamond?"

"Yeah."

"Great!" Jean Marc exulted. "I'm tryin' t' sneak a helicopter out dere t' pick you up."

"Would it have arrived already?" Remy asked, wondering if the helicopter he'd seen had in fact not been a government craft.

"Uh uh. Ororo's piloting an' she's not that experienced wit' usin' a machine t' take her place. She's used to summoning winds an' all dat' t' fly."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Don't worry about findin' her, she'll find you."

"Good. Hey Jean-Marc, listen. There might be a second passenger."

"Who?" came the immediate question.

"A mutant who goes by the name of Rogue."

"What's he do?"

"It's a she. And other than pretty doggone near knocking you out by touching you, I don't know what she does."

Jean-Marc considered asking for details, but if he kne Remy, there was a reason he was taking this "Rogue" person along. "OK, I'll let 'Ro know that. Bye."

"Bye." Remy flipped the small cellular phone shut and neatly slid it back into his pocket.

"What was that?" Rogue asked. Remy supposed he could have pretende like he didn't know what she was talking about but didn't for some reason.

"You are a self-proclaimed ex-acolyte," he explained. There's no telling what kind of valuable intelligence you could give the Guild."

"But you are taking me with you."

"You've got it."

"You trust me enough to take me back to your little base or whatever."

"Its hardly a base, but yeah." Remy gave a crooked little smile at the way Rogue looked at him. She seemed to think he was out of his mind. Actually, he probably was, he reflected.

***

"We've lost her," Raven said to herself as she clicked the off button and the handheld receiver she carried. Unknown to Rogue, there was a tiny little receiver on her bodysuit that not only traced her movements but picked up on anything she said and most that was said to her-it was a little security measure.

Raven had heard enough. It wasn't like she'd been caught totally by surprise. She'd known that Rogue's loyalties weren't certain. She just wished that Rogue had made the smart choice.

Raven picked up the telephone and dialed, waiting for three rings before it was picked up on the other end.

"Mother." The greeting held a trace of a German accent, although one could barely tell. Kurt Wagner said the title with little respect, even a trace of sarcasm.

"Glad you could recognize me," said Raven.

"I must admit, I'm at a loss as to why you would be contacting me."

"I have an assignment for you," Raven clarified.

Kurt laughed. "Oooh, this is interesting. You have need an assassin when I'm sure there are tons at your disposable."

"This is no regular task. I'm not even sure if you can pull it off."

"Is that supposed to bait me?"

"Not really." Raven paused. "I want you to take out Remy LeBeau."

"You are joking with me, right?"

"No. He has been a thorn in our respective sides for years, and I'm sure the Assasins Guild would especially yearn to kill him. Thing is, Mr. LeBeau has just deprived me of one of my best acolytes. It made me realize that it was past time I took care of him. Of course, I have no one under my command who could undertake such a task but then I thought of you."

"We of the Assasins Guild would have no qualms about killing a Thieves Guilder, but I'd of course have to be well compensated."

"How does 3 sound?"

"Million?"

"Billion."

"Now we are, how do you say, talking. Yes that's it." Mystique could just imagine Kurt stroking his chin in thought. "I might even take Belladonna with me. She has a bit of a personal dislike for Remy."

"Yes, I would imagine. The money will be wired to you shortly. Half now, half upon completion."

"Excellent."

A/n Gosh, I'm sorry for not updating but I've been kinda busy with school and all. Hope you like and as always, reviews and comments and suggestions are welcome.

Pleasant day,

Godfather.