***
Disclaimer – I don't own X-Men: Evolution
_
"We attack tonight."
***
"I swear to god Rem, if you bite me one more time I'm going to rip out all your teeth with pliers so you can never bite anyone ever again."
"Mais chérie, you're the only one this Cajun ever wants to bite." He moved in closer to her, to wrap his arm around her thin waist but his arm went through her. He didn't understand fully at first, but then he remembered about her stolen powers. "That's cheatin' Ro'."
"Will you two quit it?" Henri asked sounding annoyed. He was sitting at a desk, looking through papers and taking notes.
I'll be right back. Rogue said telepathically to Remy before quickly leaving the room. Shrugging, Remy walked over, behind his brother and glanced down.
"What's the matter, Henri? Can't understand the blueprints?" He asked, slightly amused as he felt Henri's raging frustration.
"Non." Henri mumbled, squinting down before himself. "Can't concentrate when hearin' all your shameless flirtin'."
"It ain't shameless." The younger Cajun said with a grin.
"Don't even know what it is you like about that fille." He turned around in the chair and looked up at Remy, whose grin had faded. "A mere river rat." He spat, rolling his eyes. "Never saw 'er as your type."
"Better watch it, Hen'." Remy admonished, his red eyes narrowing down. "The walls have ears." And he left it at that as he turned on his heel and walked out of the small office.
***
Piotr was just having another day at the institute when two arms popped out from the wall, grabbed him and pulled him into the wall. He immediately knew who it was: Kitty. She was the only one he knew who had that type of power.
"We're in the Professor's office." She said, her voice no higher than a whisper. "It's locked so I'm really the only one who can get in here. I hope you don't mind me dragging you in here it's just that I'm totally, like, bored." She sounded nervous, which almost matched her nervous smile.
"It is understandable Kitty." Even though he lowered his voice, it came out loud.
"Rogue went to Lousisina." Kitty said, ignoring the fact he didn't even ask. "And I have to keep it a secret as long as possible."
"Why?"
She made a face. "I don't know exactly why, but there's a good reason." She bit down on her lower lip. "I think."
***
"Hey 'Mara, your ears look a mite red."
"Shut up before I—"
Pyro grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Before you do what, 'Mar?" A goofy grin surpassed his face.
How could you use your power of fire against someone who could control fire? Life wasn't fair, Amara decided with a heavily sigh. "Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?" She asked, scoffing.
"Where are your parents, Amara?" He asked, after blinking down at her momentarily. His grin faded from his face.
"Back home." She said, after carefully deciding her answer. It made her realize how much she missed home, but when she remembered the plane ride over from Brazil, and how sick she had felt, she reminded herself that she wouldn't be visiting back anytime soon. "Where are yours?"
He just stared at her blankly before pointing down and walking off.
***
Remy carefully studied Rogue, who was leaning against the counter in the kitchen talking to Mattie. His eyes roamed up and down her slender figure, stopping at her face. Oh, how she had changed in the past several years. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly against his body; he never wanted to lose her, not again at least. Unprintable images floated around in his head until he realized he was still craving a cigarette.
"It's good havin' Remy back home, Marie." Tante Mattie said, smiling as she took out a cutting board and placed it next to several potatoes and a cutting knife. "And you."
"It's good to be back down South." Rogue told her as a small smile curved onto her lips.
"How did you get back down here, child?" The older woman asked as she began to cut the whole potatoes into thin slices.
"Flew." The Southerner said with a smirk. "I borrowed an old jet from the institute."
They both turned around when they heard Remy's hearty laugh. "Dieu Ro'." He smirked, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Sometimes I wonder if you were born into a family of thieves." Oh, the irony.
"No." A faint smile came across her face. "Just born into the world with a curse and a crazed mutant mother."
"But now you've married into a crazy vengeful family of thieves." Mattie said softly, looking up long enough to give her a wink.
Rogue shot Remy, who had a slightly deadpanned look on his face, a look. "Yeah, how lucky I am."
Tante Mattie just smiled to herself as she continued cutting up the potatoes. They think they can pull a fast one on Mattie do they?
***
"You can't go out there!" Kitty
hissed, grabbing Piotr's arm. "By now they know you're missing."
"I do not think they would notice if I was missing." He said quietly, avoiding any eye contact.
"They, like, so know we're friends. The second they see you they're gonna question you."
"We are friends?" The Russian asked, blinking in the darkness of the room. He usually wasn't the one to easily make friends. He was even surprised when St. John talked to him, and Remy. He had only considered them teammates, but they soon became comrades.
Instead of saying 'duh' like she usually would have said, Kitty nodded, "Yeah. I think we are." A smile curved onto her thin pink lips.
Piotr just blinked, and almost smiled.
***
"I'm finished. Now all you have to
do is memorize the blue prints." Henri proclaimed proudly as he handed his younger
brother the large piece of paper. Being able to draw maps out of only notes and
such was the only thing Henri was useful for, and just about everyone
knew it.
"You want to look this over, Ro'?" Remy asked glancing over at the other Southerner who was sitting on the loveseat in the small office.
"Nah. I'll just absorb the information from you." She replied, picking at something underneath her nail.
"That's comfortin'." He easily sensed Henri's confusion so he mumbled, "You don't want to know Hen'. Although you're sittin' ten feet away from someone who can suck information out of you." He wiggled his brows at Rogue, who stuck her tongue out at him.
"Suck?" Henri mused, not fully understanding. Remy just shook his head.
"I said you don't want to know."
"What kind of sucking? Is there something I—" He stopped abruptly then just blinked.
"Thank ya for the map, Sugah." Rogue said, standing up. "Can ya leave me and Rem alone for a few?" She waited until he left to speak again. "Bein' a telepath ain't half bad. The less they know about my powers the better. Your father already knows I can absorb. That won't be for long." She turned to Remy, her eyes now a unusual dark emerald color. Almost immediately, they flashed back into their familiar grey-green color. "Supper should almost be ready. I'm gonna go help Mattie out, husband dearest. Au revoir mon amour." She mumbled rolling her eyes. Rogue then hurried out of the room before he could say anything.
***
"I love you." Remy kissed his bo staff before inserting it in an inside pocket of his trench coat. Rogue sat on his bed, one brow raised. "Quoi?"
"Do ya kiss your cards too?"
"Only mon 'lady luck.'"
"Should I be worried you have a fetish for inanimate objects?" Rogue stood up, facing the cocky Cajun. "O' should I be jealous? Perhaps I'll file for divorce." She allowed his arms to encircle around her waist.
"You don't like being married to this Cajun?" He asked, smirking down at her. With one arm still around her waist, his other hand slid down and squeezed her buttocks. "We can have so much fun together."
"Oh yeah." She purred, resisting the urge to slap him across his smirking face. "Right until I absorb you. How does that sound Rem-Rem?" She cupped the side of his face with her gloved hand.
Right as he opened his mouth to respond there came a loud knocking at the door.
"Remy? Rogue? You ready?" Jean-Luc asked; unaware of what was going on inside.
"You ready?" Rogue asked, in almost a shaky voice. Why was she doing this? Oh yes, For Remy. She brought her gloved hand to his mouth. He bit down the excess materiel and she slipped her hand out of it. With her bare index finger, she lightly touched his cheekbone and quickly pulled away, getting more than enough information. Her glove fell from his mouth.
Feeling a little lightheaded, he gave her a nod.
***
Later that night, Kitty allowed Piotr
to return to his room. By now, all of the other mutants were sound asleep, or
so she prayed. She tiptoed through the wall and quietly walked down the hall.
She knew she couldn't go back into her room, for all she knew they
booby-trapped it. She slipped down the hall and made her way downstairs; she
was famished. As she made her way down the stairs, she heard a small noise from
outside the doors. Kitty cautiously walked over to the door, silently wondering
if it was Rogue; maybe she had changed her mind, or something, and came back. What
should I do? She asked herself as she put her hand on the knob. Wouldn't
Rogue try to contact me with her telepathy? Wouldn't she bamf in here or go
through the door? She heard another noise, only this time it was louder.
The door suddenly burst open and before Kitty had a chance to react, something
shot into her neck. She could only remember falling to the ground before
slipping into the darkness.
***
"I thought we'd be goin' to their
house." Rogue whispered to Remy as they got out of the car.
"Non, Ro'. This is their headquarters, o' somethin'. Ask Henri 'bout it when we get back." He mumbled, not seeming to care much. "Can't you teleport us in there?"
She shook her head. "I can't teleport blindly. I'll end up teleporting us in a wall o' somethin'." A light bulb clicked on in her head. "But we won't teleport into a wall if we phase through it at the same time!"
He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "Quoi?" He took a step back when she took a step forward. "Non. Let Remy enjoy his cigarette." His fag was suddenly pulled away from him and tossed several feet away. Damn that telekinesis.
"I want to get this over with." Half a block away from where they stood was the Rippers HQ. She stared down the long dirt road and sighed. "What exactly are we doing?"
"Gettin' somethin' for Jean-Luc." Remy replied, rummaging around for another cigarette. "A 'rare and valuable jew' o' somethin'."
"And we're doing it because..?"
"I owe 'em. It won't take long. Anymore whining and you're goin' back, Rogue."
"You can't do this without me."
"Oui, I can. I'm a t'ief, chérie. Bein' a mutant just is the side dish."
"Then what am I? The dessert?"
He nodded, smirking slightly at an unprintable thought. "Exactly."
A small blush crept onto her cheeks; she knew what he was thinking. Deciding to change the subject, she held out her hand. "Let me see the map."
"Quoi? Non. You absorbed me for the information."
"Give me the goddamn paper." In the darkness of the night, his eyes glowed like two cigarette light burners. Rogue blinked. 'Two cigarette light burners.' She mentally shook her head, knowing she absorbed his craving for cigarettes.
"Don't worry about it. I have everything memorized."
"But I don't."
"You're a goddamn telepath." He reminded her and pointed at his temple.
"Oh. Right."
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed her arm. "C'mon lets go. I can get us past the censors."
"How do ya know about the censors?"
"Henri." He sounded irritated; not a good sign.
"How does Henri know about the censors?"
"Come on Ro'."
"Never was the patient type, were ya?"
"Oh, come on!" He said impatiently and dragged her through the wooded area, easily sensing the small smile on her lips.
***
The power had been cut off.
"Ray!" The younger mutants had all been sitting around in Jubilee's room, watching movies when the screen went blank, and the room went dark.
"I didn't do it." He mumbled from Jubilee bed. The Asian was sitting on the ground, next to her bed.
"He's been laying here for the whole time. Someone should go to the basement and check the box." She looked around in the darkness. "Amara? Could you please give us a light? Or Pyro?"
"They're not in here." Bobby explained, right as a crash was heard outside the room, in the hall.
The room went deathly silent.
"It's probably jus' St. John an' Amara." Sam spoke up. "C'mon y'all let's go check the circuit box. We can't let 'em get to us."
"You're right, Sammy-boy." Rahne said from her seat on the floor next to him. She felt him get to his feet.
"That's why we choose you."
"It's probably just Kitty. We're mutants. We can handle this." Bobby stood up, took a step forward and tripped over Jamie. Suddenly the room got even more crowded, by Jamie's duplicates.
"But where's the door?" Jubilee asked, looking around, which was pointless seeing as how she couldn't see anything in front of her face.
Ray just sighed from his prone position. "Find me a light bulb."
"Unless you light the bulb from where you're sitting, I doubt we can find one." Someone, possibly Bobby, had remarked.
"There's a lamp next to my bed." Jubilee blinked, realizing her nightstand was less than a foot away from her. "Everyone—don't move!"
Five minutes later, after much cursing and grunting, a small light lit up the room. And right as it did, the door had burst open.
***
"Get us onto the roof."
"Why the roof?"
"Don't ask questions—"
"When I just can read your mind?" She didn't need to read his mind by the sudden look she received from him. "Shutting up."
"You sound like Pyro." Wow. Now that was an insult. Well, unless you love Pyro. Unlike Rogue.
"He's practically been living at the institute. Don't blame me." She encircled her arm around his. "Now, where shall I beam us, Remy?"
"Roo—"
Bamf.
"—f."
"Shh." Rogue warned, playfully elbowing him in the side. "Now what, Mista grand master thief?"
He shrugged. "I've never started from the roof before."
Rogue's face deadpanned.
***
Kitty felt herself getting picked up. Her body felt too weak to respond, she was surprised she was conscious. She then felt herself being set down on a cold surface and something large and bulky snapped around her neck. "Ugh." She managed to say before losing consciousness once more. You're not Rogue…
***
'It doesn't look like anyone is here.' Rogue squeezed the Cajun's arm as she looked around absentmindedly. She was waiting for someone to pop out at them with a bazooka. Of course she'd hide behind Remy when that happened and she would yell, 'Take him first!'
'Let's just get whatever we have to get and go. I hate doin' this stuff anymore.'
'It's not like being a thief is in your blood.' He shot her a look at that comment. 'But somethin' seems weird about this.'
'I just think it's weird havin' your voice in my head.' Now it was her turn to shoot him a look. 'Not that I be complainin' chérie."
'We're standin' here like a bunch of idiots. Let's go.' She tugged on his arm. 'You before me.' She gestured. 'The quicker we get outta here, the better.'
It wasn't hard for Remy to sense that she was uptight about this. Her earlier words… "I can feel it, Rem. Somethin' bad is gonna happen." … Floated around in his head, followed by dramatic music.
***
Wolfsbane dashed down the hallway, on all fours. She didn't understand what was going on but she knew she had to run; get out of the institute. With the mansion now being surrounded by strange men, she didn't know what to do. What was she supposed to do? Maul someone to death? The Scottish lass came to a stop when two heavy boots came out in front of her.
Her yelp could be heard through out the frantic halls.
***
It may have been Remy who was the first one to hear the footsteps, and signaled to Rogue to be quiet, but it was Rogue who attached herself to his arm; she didn't want to get caught. He backed against the wall, dragged the Southerner, who refused to let go of him, with him.
'Who is it?' He tried to contact her as he glanced down at her. She didn't look up at him, or show any signs that she had heard him. She was the damn telepath, not him. He shifted his arm, which was starting to feel numb, which lead her to look up at him.
"What?" She asked, blinking. The footsteps stopped. Every stand of hair on Rogue's neck and arms stood up straight. "Oh. Sorry!"
He actually wondered if she was a natural blonde. White hair was considered..
'Shut up.' Her voice broke through his thoughts as she brought one hand up to her mouth and while biting down on her gloved middle finger; she slid her hand out of her glove.
The footsteps got closer.
She detached herself from him and took a few steps forward.
Remy breathed in sharply when she had came face-to-face with Julien.
***
"Show no mercy." Senator Kelly said, stepping foot on Xavier's property. He smirked over at his accomplice, Bolivar Trask. He watched as one of his men carried a brunette out of the house, as more men moved in. "Make sure you keep an extra tranquilizer by her. I want no accidents."
Trask only smirked, as he imagined the future, a mutant free future.
***
Julien fell unconscious to the ground. Rogue swayed on her feet. Remy immediately put a hand on her shoulder, to steady her. "You okay, chérie?"
"Oui, Je devine si." She mumbled, not sounding sure of herself as she rubbed her temples scarcely. A minute had passed before she said anything. "Je veux aller." Rogue said, her voice shaky. Her face was unusually pale, unlike its usual white color.
"What?" He asked, slightly making a face. "But—"
"Non." Her voice was oddly husky with a French accent. Before mumbling a few more words in French, she grabbed his arm, her grip was tight, and bamf'd them out of there.
***
With the blink of an eye, Remy now stood on the dirt road, only several feet away from his parked car. "What do you think you're doin'?" He asked, turning to Rogue who had let go of him after they teleported outside.
"Do you want to piece together unwanted memories in your head?" She asked, snapping at him. Her grey-green eyes flashed with anger. "Somethin' doesn't seem right."
"I still have to finish the job."
"No ya don't." Her eyes met his; they weren't full of anger now. "The Rippers and your family are workin' together. This was supposed to be a set up."
***
"The line has been disconnected." Rogue was now sitting on Remy's bed, holding the cordless phone as she watched him stuff a few items back into his duffel bag. Everyone in the house was supposedly asleep, and now, Remy wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
"What?" He asked, zippering up the bag in a hurry.
"At the institute."
Remy merely shrugged, not thinking too much about it. "Maybe the Bald one forgot to pay the phone bill."
Rogue shot him a look. "I have a bad feeling. I want to go back home."
Remy sighed heavily, running a hand through his thick copper colored hair. He wasn't even sure of what to do anymore.
***
"Come on, Logan. Lets go back home." Charles Xavier said quietly to Logan as he glanced over at Storm, who was packed and ready to go. "We have an unpleasant mystery to solve."
"Oh joy."
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Crappy Part Four completed – February 5, 2004
Thank you hnh for beta reading. 333
This fic isn't going to be updated for a while. Possibly just a week or two. Just until I finish (or rewrite the half finished chapter of) Learning to Trust. I love y'all.. =] Thanks for putting up with me..
Yours until the base balls,
-- Aro 3