1Grr... I had this chapter half way done and then my disk goes berserk on me and deletes it! I was full of rage for a day, but now I'm back on track. Also: what do you think of the accents? Am I overdoing them or under- doing them or is Remy's not enough? More French will probably be used after I find my French notebook (), and this bit's still rocky. I have a grand master plan calling for things from all over Marvelverse, but that comes later. First we have to get through the nitty gritty (don't worry, the Romy will be, hopefully, a constant. Romy fluff is the best stuff EVER).
Rogue regarded the young man before her, fiddling with his sunglasses, and thought. They had no idea were the others were. She didn't remember leaving the MCF. She didn't remember Jean-Luc or Mattie. This Remy person she remember carrying her back to bed, like a cliched knight in shining armor. This whole situation, though... something wasn't clicking.
"Ah don't get this. So you're old friends of Storm. How did ya have enough money to ransom two mutant prisoners? It must have cost a fortune. And how do ya know Storm? How didja find her?"
Remy stopped shuffling and began to lay out a game of solitaire. The Ace of Spades came up immediatly as he went through the deck.
"Well, I myself dun' really know Stormy dat well. I only ac'ually met her a few time, when she visited and she dun' visit often. Bete Pere's gotta picture of her, in his office, so Remy jes' got used ta seeing her. You know anyt'ing about Stormy's past?"
"Yeah- her parents died, leaving her and her sister alone in Cairo. Someone at th' American Embassy found 'em wandering the streets, got them to America and inta foster care. Ororo went back to Africa and her mutation manifested in Kenya, and a few years after that, she came back to the States to go to college, and that's where she met the Professah. Professah Xavier is our leader."
Remy put the seven of diamonds he was holding onto the eight of spades, moved a row, and flipped a card to reveal the last Ace he needed, the Ace of Hearts.
"Yeah, Stormy filled us in on awl dat while yo' was out. De story's missin' a few bits, dough. While she was on da streets, Stormy was runnin' wit a gang o' pickpockets, ta feed her an' her liddle sister. Pappa- dat's Jean-Luc, he's mon pere, met her in one o' de safe houses. When he found out she was American, it was him dat got dem over here. Dey stayed in touch."
"But how did you get ta us? How did you have the money ta ransom us? This place- you LeBeaus are well off, an' all, but this just ain't commin' tagether! An' why are you so friendly ta mutants anyway?"
"Well, ma chere- dun' move, yo' gonna knock Remy's game over an' he's winnin'. We LeBeaus are de leaders of a secret underground criminal organization known as de Thieves Guild. On second thought, mebbe I shouldn' o' told you dat."
Rogue's eyes widened and she seemed torn between laughing or thinking she was about ta be killed.
Remy grinned at her before looking back down to his game. "Relax, petite, Remy's been aut'orized ta tell you dis. Jean-Luc, he figures dat yo' and 'Ro are gonna be wit us for a while, so why not tell yo'? Hey, if yo' any good, he might let you go out on a heist or two. 'M serious, dough. De LeBeau's are de leaders of de Thieves Guild, have been for an age and an age."
"Once upon a time, o' so de legend goes, in some lost civilization, dere were seven Guilds founded by dis Lady named Candra. Candra's de Benefactress o' de Guilds, an' she's an immortal mutant. Now, five o' de Guild's have been lost to us, even dere names- wheder dey displeased Candra, 'o jes' died out because o' lack o' numbers, o' were killed, no one knows. But dere's only been de two Guilds since at least de foundin' o de Roman Republic, in when? Around 486 BC? Jean-Luc has de Guild historian, Diego, crazy old coot, 'e t'inks Remy's de devil hisself, trying ta track down de oder five Guilds, and so far he t'inks dat mebbe one o' de oder Guilds was a Warriors Guild, but no one knows fo' sure. So, de Thieves have stayed around, and nowadays dere's pockets o' us all around de world. It's kinda like a Mafia- united under Candra, since we all gotta pay our dues ta her, cooperatin' but we more o' less keep to ourselves. De most powerful and proficient bunch o' Thieves get der leader made de Head o' De Thieves Guild, and right now dat's Jean-Luc. N'Awlins is the Thieves Guild base for de Eastern United States. He runs us jes' like de Mafia too, stays underground, and de right people know how to contact us. Corporate espionage, art theft, pickpocketin', de Theives Guild does it all. Only we don' kill no one."
Rogue had relaxed by now, and was content to listen to Remy's voice. It was low, and a bit rough, and full of flavor. She thought it was amusing how his eye brows quirked when he was thinking aloud, and how he grinned with pride when he mentioned the Thieves Guild.
"That's good."
"Naw, it ain't," Remy was fiddling with his sunglasses again. "Dat's where de oder Guild comes in. It's de Assassins Guild, and dey hate our guts. De problem is, de Assassins headquarters in N'Awlins, too, so we allays buttin' heads. No one knows where de feud started, but it's supposed ta have somet'ing ta do wit Candra's gifts."
"Candra- she founded your Guilds, she's an immortal mutant, and she gives you gifts?"
"Yeah, well, de Assassins, she gives de leader and some of his buddies powers- like mutant powers. But de Theives- our leaders get de Elixer o' Life. It keeps our leaders alive fo' a long, long time, until de Elixer cain't keep de body runnin' no more. Dey say de oldest Guild Master was over four hundred when he finally kicked it."
Remy put the King of Diamonds down and began reshuffling his deck.
"As to how we found out about you- Remy saw Stormy on de news. Henri hacked a few websites and found out where you was. As to de mutant t'ing, we just used to dem. Assassins loathe mutants, dough. Cain't figure out why, Candra's a mutant. But dat's why de last peace contract fell t'rough. Jean-Luc had it worked out dat I was supposed ta marry Belladonna, dat's de leader o' de Assassins Guild's daughter, but after de Supreme Court made dere descision, Marius decided his daughter wasn't marrying no' mutie."
"You were gonna marry Belladonna, but... why'd he call it off?"
"Didn' Stormy tell you? Remy's a mutant too." He set the cards down, and went to the window, pulling down the shades.
"Don' scream o' not'ing," Remy said. Rogue tensed, and Remy removed his sunglasses, blinked, then opened them wide so he could see.
Rogue inspected him carefully. His eyes were black where most peoples were white, and the irises were a deep red. Remy himself looked like he was waiting for her to start shrieking in terror, or fainting, or perhaps both.
"Is- is that it? Is your mutation just physical?"
"What? Oh, non. Here, lemme find de joker, I don' wanna ruin anoder deck o' cards."
He held it up, and the card began to glow pink. Tossing it across the room, it exploded with a small BOOM! and left scorch marks on the floor. "Mattie's gonna have my head for dat."
"Why didn't you say you were a mutant earlier?"
Remy shrugged. "Most people freak out. Dat's why Diego t'inks I'm de devil- cause o' my eyes. People used ta call me de Diable Blanc, de white devil. Say Remy's got demon eyes."
"Ah don't think that ya have demon eyes. Kurt has demon eyes- there all yellow and they glow. Your eyes- they're more like charcoal, or a fire when it's dying down, but still hot. Like if you touch the red part, you'll get burnt."
"Why, t'anks, chere. Here, let's start again. Je m'appelle Remy Etienne LeBeau. When I'm workin', dey call me Gambit. I'm a mutant and I can make t'ings explode."
Rogue didn't take his hand. "Mah name's Rogue, an' if my skin touches yours, Ah'll knock you out, and absorb your mem'ries an' your mutation because Ah cain't control it."
Remy's eyebrows quirked again.
"Didn' dey tell you, chere? You're mutation's turned off now. Dey did it at de lab. Your harmless."
"They what?"
huh huh...whoops, sorry guys. On first draft wrote "Cassandra" instead of "Candra" and then when I went back for research on...something that will happen later I realized my horrible mistake. And also thanks to BananaPanda, who pointed that out. Hopefully it will remind me to double check on stuff before I upload next time...
So glad your all loving the story!
