Disclaimer: It belongs to Marvel and if you ask me again, I will gut you with my floppy!
Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I was going along in the story and realized that I had made a mistake and that I didn't want to go in that direction. So, I'm replacing this chapter and deleting 12. Hopefully things will work out better this way. Please tell me what you think.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Belle gave the two mutants a tight hug. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer petits, but I pushed it as long as I could wit' Nicky gettin' sick. Time fo' me t' be goin'."
Lucretia and Nicky squeezed back. "We understand, Belle," Lucretia muttered, "We all got work t' do."
It had been three days since Belladonna had arrived and Lucretia had seemed to become colder during that time, more distant. It was as if her mind was always somewhere else. She could almost always be found in the danger room training or out on the grounds meditating. She would visit with Nicky occasionally and then disappear for hours on end. Her eyes had an empty look to them now. Everyone worried, but anytime they tried to help, she lashed out violently at them or ignored them completely. Sometimes, she could be heard muttering quietly to herself.
She suddenly let go of Bella and sat on the step, staring into the sky. Bella merely sighed and turned to Nicky.
"Keep an eye on her, alright?"
He nodded, "Take care, Belle."
Bella turned to Rogue and Gambit, giving each a hug in turn. She smiled sweetly to Kurt and gave Logan a firm handshake.
"Aurevoir!"
And she was gone.
Remy turned and looked hard at Lucretia for a moment and then turned to his wife. "Start packin' y' bags, Chere. It's time we took her back to Nawlins."
Rogue nodded while Kurt stared at Remy in shock, "Back? But you just got here."
Remy smiled at him, "It won' be fo' long, mon ami. Dere are t'ings we need t' take care of back home, and I t'ink it would do Cretia some good. It'll be her first birthday at home in a long while."
"Ah, and what are you planning for her?"
Remy looked at his daughter again and then back at Kurt, placing a finger over his lips, "Shhh, don' ruin de surprise. We'll talk later." He gave the fuzzy blue mutant a wink and walked inside.
Kurt smiled knowingly, but it quickly faded from his face. Lucretia still sat on the steps, engrossed in whatever it was she occupied herself with these days. Only a week ago she had been lively and passionate, but now she was cold and distant. He sighed, perhaps a few days back in her beloved city would bring her back.
Lucretia stood and walked blankly inside the mansion, leaving Kurt and Nicholas alone on the steps. The two mutants looked at one another in an instant of understanding. They could not lose her.
A few days later, the entire Lebeau family was packed and ready to depart. They said their goodbyes and that was it. Remy knew it was the right thing to do as soon as they sat down on the plane. Lucretia kept shifting nervously and looking out the window as if expecting to see the lights of New Orleans instantly. Rogue squeezed her husband's hand, "Thank you." All he could do was smile.
The plane touched down in Louis Armstrong airport hours later and soon after, Lucretia was back in New Orleans. She breathed deep and sighed. This was home. Gambit, however, wasted no time getting to business.
"Rogue, take de petite wit you today and pick up a few t'ings for de Ascension."
She nodded.
"But Pappa," Lucretia began, "we just got here...."
"I know petite, but you got t'ings t' do first, non? Work befo' play."
She gave an overexaggerated sigh and sneaked a sly glance to her brother. He gave an equally sly grin and winked at her. They knew this town like the back of their hands and they especially knew how to sneak away from parents and other authority figures.
Lucretia walked out of the first shop with her mother, terribly bored. Lord, how she hated shopping. Oh she liked the things she bought, she just hated the act of looking for them. Rogue turned her back for a moment to examine a flier for a concert downtown and Lucretia took it as her chance to bolt. But she only made a few steps when something tugged hard on her hair, yanking her back. She looked behind her and was met by a stern glare from her mother.
"And what do you think yoah doin?"
Lucretia bit her lip, "I...."
"Uh huh. Ah know you don't like to mind me, but just for once, consider someone othah than yoahself. You think Ah don't get in trouble when Ah don't do somethin' yoah Pappa asked me to do? He tol' me t' take you shoppin, and that's what Ah'm gonna do."
Lucretia couldn't help but stare at her mother. Had she just put her in her place? She was completely amazed.
Rogue smirked, "That wasn't so hard, now was it? Y'know it would hurt ya to show me a little more respect a little more often, Ah am yoah Momma."
She just nodded mutely and followed quietly behind her mother. They stepped into the next shop. She found two wide, beetle black eyes staring at her in disbelief. Luckily, Rogue hadn't noticed. She signaled to the mutant behind the counter to drop it for now. She would contact him later.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Lucretia obediently followed her mother in and out of shops, trying on clothes and lugging bags. When her mother shopped, she really went all out. Sure, Gambit had told her to pick up some things for her Acension, but that by no means meant that Rogue couldn't pick up a few extra things for Lucretia and herself. They finally came home, late that evening, both of them completely exhausted, but Lucretia knew that the day wasn't done yet.
She grabbed Nicky after dinner and pulled him aside.
"I ran into Harold today..."
Nicky raised an eyebrow.
"Meetin's t'night."
"Dey certainly move fast."
"Dey prolly knew we were here before de plane finished taxyin' into de gate."
He nodded, "Be ready in a minute."
Mutant Hunter 87 threw the file down on the desk. A middle-aged bespectacled man looked up from his computer.
"Can I help you?"
"Look through that 23," the man known as 87 started, "tell me if you see anything familiar."
The older man sighed, "George, how man times do I have to tell you, my name's..."
"Shhh," 87 cut him off as he glanced at an unconcious mutant being dragged off, "You should know better by now than to use names."
'23' rolled his eyes, "Kids," he muttered as he flipped through the file. His eyes widened as he flipped to the coroner's photos. He held one up to the light. "Looks like this poor bastard was blown up from the inside out."
87 nodded, "That's what I thought as well."
"No leads?"
"Hound couldn't pick up anything and the perp left the place clean as a whistle."
"You sure it was just one?"
"What do you mean?"
He sighed, "Back in my days on the force, before all this 'Mutant Hunter' crap, I caught wiff of a group of thieves and assasins for hire."
"Mafia types?"
'23' shook his head, "Naw man, these guys were somethin' else. Had special powers and no one could ever catch 'em. They got safe houses everywhere, but nobody knows where. They went in, cleaned house, and then they were gone. Got close to one of them once, went by the name 'Gambit'. Apparently his little group had ousted him."
"What happened?"
"Fucker disappeared, hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since. Word has it, he used to work out of Weschester with Xavier's band of freaks."
"You think he might have done this?"
The detective shrugged, "I couldn't tell ya. Never really was sure what his powers were, he was born before the tagging laws came out. But, George, he's gotta be almost 50 by now, if he's still alive. Looking at this report, this thing was probably done by a couple of young punks..."
87 raised an eyebrow, "Does this 'Gambit' have children?"
He shrugged again, "Dunno, like I said, he was never tagged, and since we don't know his real name, I can't give you more than that."
"Do you remember what he looked like?"
'23' raised an eyebrow, "There's no guarantee that this is the guy."
"Just tell me what you can."
The meeting place changed everytime, and the meetings themselves were infrequent. They were only held when new information was discovered or a situation changed. This time, they were meeting in a dug out old tomb in one of the city cemetaries. Nicky and Lucretia were the last to arrive. They nodded to everyone to proceed and took their places.
The man who had called the meeting together, the black eyed mutant named Harold, stood and took a deep breath.
"I know many of you were counting on the upcoming liberation, but there's been a delay." Mutters and grumblings came from the gathered mutants. Harold held up a hand, "I am sorry, but they have moved him."
"Again?" someone shouted.
"Yes, again, the only thing I can think of is they have caught on to us."
"How? Is there a leak?"
"Doubtful, more than likely, they noticed a pattern among our operatives."
"Den we just have t' change dem out," Lucretia spoke.
"It will take years to re-establish proceedures and positions!"
She stepped forward, "We don' have a choice. Dey know us, or at least dey suspect us. And besides, our operatives can' neccesarily move everytime he does. Keep dem where dey are for a while and have dem slowly filter out. In de meantime, find out where he's been moved to."
"And who exactly do you expect to replace our people?"
She gave a thin smile, "I have just the man. He'll be here in a few days, he has some business in New York t' take care of firs'."
"And we're just supposed to trust..."
"WHO'S DOWN DERE!"
Everyone froze. Lucretia put a finger to her lips and slowly crept towards the steps. She turned around to motion everyone to leave when someone jerked her out.
"GOT YA!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now how do you like that, I come back and the first thing I do is put in a cliffhanger. Yes, I am evil. Go review.