July 28 - I'm trying my best to pump out the chapters, so don't blame me if I can't.

It's what you've all been waiting for! The kidnap! After this chapter it will no longer be Part One: Captured. It'll be Part Two, which I'm not telling you. Actually, I just don't know, but same diff. since you can't find out anyway. Oh, and if you haven't noticed, from now on all the chapters/parts will be in past tense (specifically -ed) form.

I don't think I have anything else to say, and if I do, it's at the bottom, along with the reviews.

Mannequins
Part One: Captured
Chapter Four: Ambushed

Do not always expect good to happen, but do not let evil take you by surprise.
- Czech Proverb

The terminal wasn't full of people bustling to leave New Orleans, which Rogue was glad for. It wasn't sparse, either, but compared to the night of club hopping she had experienced two days earlier, it was refreshing.

Since the mysterious package which conveniently held two ruby-quartz glasses had shown up on the doorstep of Kitty and Rogue's hotel suite, they had argued on how the rest of the vacation should be planned out.

Rogue's initial reaction had been to head straight home, but Kitty pleaded for her to wait. "Ya can stay if ya want, Ah ain't stoppin' ya," Rogue had said. But Kitty seemed to disagree.

"It'll be no fun without you!" She had whined. But after a day of debating, Kitty had finally relented, and agreed with Rogue. "I'll stay," she said, "but it's only because I'd feel guilty if the Professor spent all this money for us, and we just went back less than a week and a half ahead of schedule."

But she had accompanied Rogue to the airport. Her flight didn't leave for a good forty-five minutes, but after the unexpected manifestation of Cyclops' optic blast Rogue had been too afraid to leave the suite for fear of hurting someone, so she was feeling bored and strangely claustrophobic.

Unanimously, they had agreed to not tell the Professor that Rogue would be coming back earlier than expected, because they was afraid of what his and the teams reaction would be, or if they'd come down to pick her up themselves, escorted straight to the Med Lab and Mr. McCoy, and never be allowed to see the light of day again (which was only Rogue's paranoia). She'd tell them once she got there.

The girls had brought some food with them from a little café not unlike the one they visited earlier -- Kitty said that the last time she went to an airport, the food was, like, totally awful -- and sat down at a white, plastic picnic bench that fell underneath a spot of shade.

Rogue set down her suitcase and opened it, fishing the Styrofoam containers that held their to-go jambalaya. She handed Kitty her own (which was nearly nix-spice), and set her own in front of her and they ate in silence before a voice interrupted them.

"Smells good." Rogue jolted and turned around.

"You!" As if a nightmare come back to haunt her, the Cajun she had met the last time she went out -- supposedly named Remy -- stood behind her, complete with sunglasses, trench coat, and a cocky grin.

"Y' remember, chère! I t'ought y'd f'get 'bout poor ol' me. An' whose dis petite belle?" His grin changed into a smirk, and he lifted Kitty's hand and chivalrously kissed it.

"I'm Kitty," she giggled, and turned to Rogue. "Do you, like, know this guy?"

"'Member tha' Cajun tha' made meh leave Sparked a couple a' days ago?" She answered, "This is him. Who apparently also makes a livin' as a stalker." She glared daggers at him, hoping he'd catch the drift and leave her and Kitty with their jambalaya.

But Rogue's lucky day continued, and he smoothly sat down next to her. "I didn't make y' leave, chèrie, y' did dat jus' fine on y' own, wit'out so much as a name fo' me t' remember y' by."

"Rogue!" Kitty piped in, looking a little too smug for comfort. "Her name's Rogue."

He turned to the valley girl, sending a dazzling grin her way, before regressing back to his semi-permanent smirk and turning to the other girl. "Rogue, eh? Yo' parents call y' dat?"

She considered telling him that one of her mothers was an insane, blue, shape-shifting mutant terrorist who repeatedly used her, attempted to kill her teammates, and who posed as her best friend one point in her life to get information, but in turn Rogue pushed her off of a cliff. She decided that wasn't for the best, though, and settled for a curt "no".

"No? Well, mine call me Remy LeBeau. Nice t' meet y', chère." He held out his hand for Rogue to shake, but ended up retracting it when Rogue just glared at the hand as if it had committed a sin against her person. Which it probably would, Rogue thought wryly, if it had the chance.

Kitty watched this all with interest and decided to "help" them out. "So, Remy, what brings you here?"

"His daily pick-up-a-stewardess run," Rogue answered bitingly.

"B'lieve she said "Remy", remember?" He turned to Kitty. "'M meetin' a friend from New York. M' cousin, actually."

Kitty's eyes brightened. "Really? Well, Rogue's heading to New York right now!"

"Twist o' fate, den?"

Rogue snorted. "Yeah. As they say, fate's cruel."

"'M gonna have t' disagree, wit' y', chère. De only t'ing cruel about dis is dat I might never see yo' sunny face again."

"Trust meh, Ah'm a hulluva lot sunnier without cocky Cajun's botherin' meh day an' night."

"Really? Den mebbe I should hop on yo' plane an' see dat f'r m'self."

She stared incredulously. "Do ya hear anythin' Ah say? Anythin' at all? Evah? Here, let meh clarify." She raised her voice, drawing attention from the people milling around, "Go away!"

Kitty gasped. "Rogue! That's, like, really mean of you!"

"What are ya gonna do, Kit? Take out the nuns' ruler? I've been tryin' ta get him leave, but he mus' be the mos' irritatin', thick-skulled boy Ah evah met! An' Ah live with Bobby, an' Kurt, an'Jubilee, an' about every othah annoyin' person on planet Earth!"

Remy watched this amusedly, never batting an eye against Rogue's onslaught. "Dat so, chère? Well den I won't bother y' no mo', since it's time fo' me t' leave anyway." He lifted Kitty's hand and kissed it. "G'bye, petite. Good luck calmin' yo' friend down. It's probably jus' her time a' month again, neh? An' by de way, nice shades." He winked and walked away, his trench coat fluttering behind him, leaving a blushing Kitty and fuming Rogue.

The second Kitty thought he was out of sight, she turned to her friend and demanded, "What is wrong with you! Did you not see the way he was flirting with you? Obviously not, because that guy was really hot! How could you pass up that opportunity?"

"Opportunity, Kit?" She took off her glove had showed Kitty her pale hand. "With meh, there is no opportunity. What? Did ya want meh an' him ta have passionate sex before ya help meh bury the body?"

Her friend shifted guiltily. "Well, no, that's not what I... well... it's just... I don't know! Maybe you could have tried to be a little nicer! You probably came off as a complete lunatic!"

"Gee, thanks. So what if Ah had been nicer? Flirted back, even? Then what? Ah'm leavin' in," she checked her watch, "thirteen minutes. Not like Ah'd evah see the guy again."

"Exactly! Live a little! You could flirt with him and no one would be the wiser! You could keep up your whole "the Rogue, Ice Queen" thing."

"Yeah, except fo' yo're big mouth. Ya'd blab it all ovah the Institute before ya even get in there."

"Not if you really didn't want me to! Next time you meet a super-hot guy who flirts with you to the point of insanity-- "

"'Cause tha' jus' happens all the time."

"Flirt back!"

"Not if they're as annoyin' as he is. Ah swear Ah nevah met a guy tha' stupid an' thick-headed." Kitty looked at her doubtfully. "Well..."

"Duncan." They chorused.

"But, still. Ah can't believe Ah met tha' guy twice! Ah mean Ah really think he might be a crazy psychopath stalker or somethin', 'cause what are the chances?"

"Little to none," Kitty said thoughtfully.

"Right. Ah can't believe mah bad luck, sometimes. An' ya think Ah'd expect it eventually, too, with all the stuff tha' happens ta us." Rogue returned to her food, and the smaller girl did likewise. "We aren't exactly lucky, are we? Ah mean, look." She gestured to her eyes, which were hidden by ruby-quartz glasses, which she hadn't dared to take off.

"You're kind of showing yourself up there, Rogue. I mean, yeah, the blast wasn't all that lucky, but the glasses?"

"Ah sincerely doubt this is luck, Kit." She took a bite of her jambalaya and swallowed, clearing her throat, "Ah've been thinkin' 'bout it, an' Ah can think of only one person who'd have the foresight ta know Ah'd need Cyke's glasses before Ah did, an' get it ta me the same day." She waited for Kitty to answer, but when she only stared blankly and chewed mechanically, Rogue sighed and answered for her, "Destiny, one of mah mothers. She's a precog, so she can see inta the future. She mus' of saw this an' had Mystique or someone send 'em."

The valley girl considered this for a moment. "Huh, musta been hard to, like, break curfew, huh?" she joked.

"Tell meh about it. B'lieve meh, Ah've tried, an' one time, when I was climbin' out mah window, Ah nearly landed on her 'cause she right below! Ah was grounded for a month."

"Ooh. Harsh. My parent's weren't that bad, 'cause I was an only child. Must of sucked, having a terrorist for one mom and a psychic for another. Imagine if the Professor was your dad. You'd never be able to get away with anything."

"The New Recruits get away with a lot a' things, an' they have him an' our Fearless Leader an' Logan an' everyone else on their asses nearly 24/7."

"True, but if you were his daughter, I don't think you'd be allowed out of the room. No doing anything. No life. That one guy? David, his son? If he wasn't crazy and evil and stuff, I'm sure he'd be even more stiff than Scott, with the Prof breathing down his neck," she stopped for a second, "Not to say he's a bad guy. It's just he has all these views of the world and... junk," she finished lamely.

"Yeah, Ah guess. But what about Logan? Ah mean, if he knew we'd be goin' club-hoppin' Ah swear he'd blow up."

Kitty shuddered. "Scary. Don't tell him, 'kay?"

"Sure, but it's hard keepin' a secret 'round tha' place. Remember when Rahne brought tha' li'l puppy in from the streets? Real quiet an' nice, an' she always kept 'im hidden. But Bobby found out and tol' Ray, an' he tol' Roberto, an' he tol' Jubilee, who tol' everyone, 'cept Scott, Jean, an' the adults, but they ended up findin' out when Ororo brought in Rahne's laundry an' the puppy jumped on her."

"What happened to the puppy, anyway?"

"Hit by a car. Ya nevah heard 'bout tha'? The Professor let Rahne keep the dog, but Bobby an' the othah boys brought it out an' he got hit. Rahne was cryin' fo' weeks, an' wouldn't talk to any of the New Recruits 'cept Jubes an' Amara fo' two months."

"Really? I don't remember any of that."

Rogue was about to respond, but was interrupted by the intercom. "Flight to New York, New York will leave in seven minutes. All passengers please board the plane."

"Time fo' meh ta go, Kit. Ah'll call ya when Ah get settled down, but tha' might be awhile. Ah'll call you, 'kay?"

They stood, and Rogue lifted her suitcase. "Yep. I really wish you'd stay, but I guess it's too late for that, right?" She hugged her friend, being careful of her deadly skin.

Rogue returned the gesture, and smiled, "Yep. But I gotta go, 'cause I need to go to the bathroom really bad. Don't think the jambalaya settled well."

"Ew, not the plane bathrooms! Oh, gross! They can be really unsanitary sometimes. You have enough time to go to a terminal bathroom, right? Go there."

"Ah don't think there's enough time, Kit." Rogue said doubtfully.

"You don't have to wait for a bunch of hours 'cause the plane ones a nasty. Just go, and I'll just make sure they don't leave before hand."

"Nah, don't bothah. Jus' go home, an' I'll call you later," Rogue trotted to the bathrooms, calling behind her, "Bye!"

Kitty waved enthusiastically. "Bye!" She turned and left for the hotel, wondering when Rogue would call, and hoping that the blast wasn't anything serious, like when Rogue lost control of the psyches in her mind.

Rogue broke out into a run, dragging the suitcase behind her. She only slowed when she was inside the port and could see the bathrooms. She still hurried, and reached the door with the "WOMEN" marker on it. She pushed it open and stopped, the hairs on the back of her neck tingling.

Turning sharply, she was barreled over by a dark figure. Automatically twisting and attempting to shove the attacker off, Rogue struggled to remove her gloves. "Get offa me!" she cried, but stopped as she felt something covering her mouth, recognizing it automatically as chloroform. She continued resisting weakly, her eyes blurring and losing focus. She tried to see the face of the assailant, but couldn't.

She didn't have to see his face, though, when he spoke to her calmly. "Jus' go t' sleep, chère, an' don't worry 'bout anyt'in'. It'll come crystal clear soon enough."

Her last conscious thought was that she was right, Kitty, this guy is a crazy stalker.
So then, that's over. Well it's finally happened! The next chapter will, of course, explain a few things, and (hopefully!) raise even more questions.

Only one thing I think I want to explain:

Rogue and Kitty are basically best friends. I really loved their relationship in X-Men: Evolution, so I wanted to expand on it. That's Kitty's role here, as Rogue's best friend. It explains Rogue's tolerance with Kitty's perky attitude.

French Translations

petite belle little beauty

Thanks to: enchantedlight, WolvGambit Le Diable Blanc, Chained2aMask, Chica De Los Ojos Cafe, Lucy Wood, Spicy Sweet

bored247: Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you right away. You'll have to wait, just like everyone else. Actually... if you really wanted to know, I could probably e-mail you, since it'd be good to run some plot points by someone. And how was it confusing? I agree, I thought I wrote some sentences too drawn-out and complicated, but I really wanted to get that chapter out...

ishandahalf: I'm glad you commented about Kitty's unusual giddiness, since I didn't really see the time to address it in the text, but I wanted to tell somebody. Trust me, it's not natural. No outside forces are affecting her, or anything, its just Kitty's gone into overdrive trying to get Rogue out of her shell and have a good time. She's just strangely deluded on how to do that. And, like I said, Rogue is Kitty's best friend and roommate, therefore deals with excessive Kitty-perkiness all the time.

As regards to the Guilds morals, here's another hint: they do have them. Now you have to think on yourself why they'd kidnap someone.

And the reference was extremely, EXTREMELY subtle. I definitely wouldn't pick up on it, had I been you. Even on my best day.

SickmindedSucker: Thank you! Especially for congratulating me! I'm really happy about it, and I just swell every time somebody mentions my coming into aunthood. Yeah, I'm sure my sis is happy and all, but hey! I'm gonna be an AUNT! Can't you feel the excitement?

Carla-p: Thank you. That was a really great review! And I'm especially happy that you like the meeting. OOC-ness is one of the worst things I see in fan fiction, so I'm happy you see the meeting as coming across as true-to-the-characters. And I'm really happy that you congratulated me too! Hope to see more of ya!

Pamela: Wow. Um, thank you! That's really flattering... but are you sure you've never read anything this good before? 'Cause I can point you to a thousand different Romy fan fictions that are way better. Or just authors, who've written a bunch of great ones. Eileen Blazer, ishandahalf, Neurotic Temptress, angyxoxo, Ludi, Seven Sunningdale, Shira's Song, SLH... and lots more. Those were just the ones that come to mind when I think "Great Romy's". Check 'em out!

Rogue238: I know there were tons of typos! I only saw them after I finished updating... how sad. But thanks for the slack! Makes me feel better. How the glasses got there? Well, that's a mystery, but not a very important one, so unless you really want to know, you're gonna hafta wait, just like everyone else. ; ) BTW, did you have a nice vacation? And I made a reference to your fic "777 A Split In Reality". Did you catch?

So, that's all, and a record update! It only took... eight days! So what if it's shorter! If I continue to update like this, it'd be worth it, right? Well, if not, tell me through review! Please?

- E.V.A.N. B.

August 2