Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution or I ever will.

The Gloves Are Coming Off

By Yumiko

Chapter 2

¡°I wonder who the other survivor is?¡± she asked herself as she walked along the dark corridor.

Silence surrounded her apart from the rhythmic tap of her boots. She suddenly grinned. If it was Stick-Ass or ¡°I swear it¡¯s natural¡± Jean Grey¡­. Well, let¡¯s just say she¡¯d die laughing.

Suddenly, warning bells rung in her head. Modifying her nose with Wolfbane¡¯s power, she sniffed the air. Cigarettes, cologne, and bourbon.

Swamp rat.

She turned around, and who was she to come face to face with?

A dirty ol¡¯ Cajun, a dirty ol¡¯ one really hot Cajun as a matter of fact.

Rogue frowned as Gambit bowed.

¡°Bonjour, chere. Bon day, non?¡± Rogue¡¯s insides melted at his voice. Was it her fault Gambit was equipped with kinetic powers, empathy, and an amazingly sexy foreign accent? No. It was his fault. But as Rogue¡¯s inner self was liquefying-soon to be evaporating-her exterior shell just hardened.

¡°Tres bon, swamp rat,¡± Rogue lifted her hands, a spark of lightning and an ember of fire on each alternate finger, ¡°tres bon.¡±

¡°Pretty,¡± he merely replied, ¡°but mine¡¯s prettier.¡± His staff was now glowing, kinetic energy flowing from him into his weapon.

She snorted in disbelief, ¡°Pink just ain¡¯t a very attractive color, Cajun.¡± White-blue and red-orange streams spiraled together, creating small tornados, ¡°But this is.¡±

¡°It ain¡¯t pink river rat,¡± he feigned a look of pain, ¡°its magenta.¡±

¡°There¡¯s a difference?¡±

With that said, the customary verbal attack was over and the battle began.

The tornados grew in Rogue¡¯s hand, soon towering well over the two. She flicked her hand and they were released. Those should stay there for about thirty minutes, she thought, but after the two spinning funnels of ¡®death¡¯ are gone, my absorbed powers are gonna expire as well. Stupid swamp rat, he¡¯s gonna force me to absorb him. I¡¯m gonna talk in third person for week, shit!

But from above, the scene the two southerners were making was quite peculiar. Two spiraling funnels of ¡®death¡¯ wildly sending shrapnel into the air unconscious bodies lying every which way, and the river rat and the smelly Cajun circling each other in spandex and trench coats: it was impossible not to laugh. So, Logan laughed.

And it wasn¡¯t just a laugh; it was a genuine laugh-coming from iLogan/i. I don¡¯t blame him though. I would¡¯ve started rolling on the ground, clutching my stomach, and laughing like hell.

¡°Logan!¡±

¡°What¡¯d I do, ¡®Ro?¡± his voice a tad bit too loud.

Storm scrunched up her nose, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, Logan.¡± She hit the back of his head, ¡°Plus, you make the worst innocent faces.¡±

¡°Hey!¡± he reached up to rub his head, ¡°That actually hurt!¡±

She looked at him, ¡°What do you think I was trying to do? Picking a bouquet of flowers from your head?¡±

Augh, that fille is gonna be de end of Remy, was the Cajun¡¯s current thought. Right when he had finally got a clear shot at the girl, she phased. And that girl had the nerve to not phase back!

¡°By the way kids,¡± Logan¡¯s voice echoed throughout the warehouse, ¡°winner gets offa two weeks chore duty.¡±

Remy grinned; he had trash duty those two weeks. And he wasn¡¯t about to lose, not even for a belle fille. Do you know how many people lived in the institute? They lived in a god damn mansion and they only had a couple more rooms left: and some people shared a room. That meant four holy friggin¡¯ five by three foot black trash bags to lug from the kitchen at the back of the mansion all the way to the outside of the gates. And black trash bags don¡¯t look very attractive.

¡°And,¡± Logan continued, ¡°Loser gets to take over the winner¡¯s chores.¡±

Awww, the poor Cajun¡¯s never gonna know what hit him. Gambit¡¯s gonna have a hard time dealing with the idea of washing the dishes tomorrow, dirty plates with Kitty¡¯s latest Home Ec projects. Much fun-que evil cackling.

Rogue¡¯s lithe form slowly crept along a beam. She looked down to see uncombed hair and a tattered trench coat. Remy Lebeau was hot. There was no way to deny it. Too say he wasn¡¯t, was like saying Scott didn¡¯t have some kind of six foot object up his anus-but like she was ever going to say that to his face.

She might finally overload his ego and cause another atomic explosion. Everyone within a ten-mile radius would die, and everyone within a thirty-mile radius would be exposed to dangerous radiation and die of multiple forms of cancer.

Stop it, she told herself, I beginning to talk to myself again. Ok, let¡¯s get down to business. How am I going to get the ¡°Rajun¡¯ Cajun¡± to lose?

SHINK

Now on a different beam, Rogue looked to her left. A metal staff had made a dent in the spot where she had just been sitting in; namely Remy Lebeau¡¯s metal staff which almost impaled her. That ass, he was going to have to get a new stupid pole after she got her revenge.

Then she looked up, the dirty swamp rat was there, bow staff now in hand staring right back at her.

¡°REMY LEBEAU!¡±

Remy just smirked that all-so-familiar-smirk. ¡°Remy tol¡¯ chere dat one day he was gon¡¯ make y¡¯ scream my name.¡±

After an unearthly shriek, Rogue leapt onto his beam and charged towards him with her naked hand stretched out in front.

Huston, we have contact. Remy knocked away her bare hand but was left defenseless as she crashed into him. The two mutants felt themselves falling towards the ground.

AN: IMPORTANTE!!! I must have some one be my beta. Please, please, please, someone! Anyone!

Special thanks to PomegranateQueen for not being scared of giving a little constructive criticism. And in no way was the long delay by any means caused by you. It was my own procrastinator ways.

Ishandahalf, thank god you finally started writing a fic. I kept on clicking on your profile and wondering, ¡°WHERE ARE THE FICS?!?!¡±

RoguesHeart, yes burning gloves. The mental image is fantastical! ?is that an actual word???

Rogue14, I wrote, but unfortunately never expect an ASAP from me ^^;;

Rogue77, well now you know the last one standing. It¡¯s the hottest man on the face of the earth. Too bad he¡¯s not real¡­.

Psychoromychica, there¡¯s the Romy that you have been frantically looking for. I actually didn¡¯t plan on making it Remy. I was about to make it Scott or Jean.

Suppi-chan, *sigh* I want to hug you right now. You actually said you liked my style of writing. THANK YOU SO MUCH. Although I don¡¯t think that¡¯s actually true, but thank you! I feel a bit happier.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO GET THESE STUPID FRIGGIN LITTLE WEIRD SIGNS THAT REPLACE THE APOSTRAPHES AND QUOTATION MARKS?!?! It keeps on showing up on my comp. And it really makes me feel like pulling out my hair¡­.