He was stunned into silence for a few seconds, the chilling voice of the caller etching into his mind and making him finally realize his fears for the last few weeks had finally caught up with him.
"MERDE!" Remy yelled in rage, grabbing the telephone and slamming it with a furious rage into the nearest wall causing a significant dent and crack of the plaster. Both hands shot to his head and pulled at his hair, closing his eyes in agitation as the present situation came to light - his mind ticking over all possible motives for the recent turn of events.
There was only one clear purpose that stuck out - it was a trap. He felt like ramming his head into a brick wall repeatedly at his inanity - they must have been following him closely ever since he left New Orleans, watching his every move and after the failed attempt at the ice cream parlor the previous night to catch him - they had obviously resorted to luring him back to where this all started - and they were using Rogue as bait.
He had to give it to them, for dense, sadistic assassins they had obviously put some thought into this - knowing that despite his own carefree and selfish facade, he was not one to let someone else take the brunt for his own actions and he realized now that they had taken perhaps the one thing in this world that had come to mean more to him than life or death itself.
He opened his eyes as the comprehension hit him - could it be? How could the pale faced, green eyed girl with a soul as lost as his own, have come to mean more to him than his own life. She had somehow unwittingly made her way into his conscience, into the very fiber of his being and he had fought very little against it – had he ever even had a choice?
He shook his head violently to stop himself from analyzing his thoughts too much, he needed to be alert as to what he was going to do exactly - though that was pointless, he already knew what he had to do and what he would do without any hesitation.
Rogue awoke groggily, her brain feeling as though it was about to break through her skull and her vision blurred. She moaned lightly as her surrounding shuddered momentarily, causing her head to bang against the wall behind her as she tried to remember what had happened and work out where exactly she was.
Her body was sat up against the wall, she could feel that her hands were tied securely behind her back and her feet tied before her. Another jolt woke her up further, registering the flat monotonous hum of a small aircraft and realized that she was in fact in the cargo area of such a plane, settled between a few square crates and canvas covered boxes.
Flashes of being accosted in a Seattle street, trying to get away before being hit brutally over the head - oh, she remembered it all now and she had a vague idea who was responsible.
The opening of a metal door made her look up and over to the sound as a large built man, ducked into the cargo hold. His piercing eyes staring straight at her from beneath a mane of mousy, tangled hair - she could have sworn he snarled at her.
"She awake yet?" Another male voice could be heard from what she assumed was the cockpit. Though she did not glance away from the monster glaring at her intently, doing her best to return it with as equal ferocity.
"Yeah" The man called back as he stooped into the room, a tall imposing figure that she would obviously not stand a chance against - for the first time in her entire life she was matching her stats against another's and so far was not liking the odds.
"Better check her ties. They said she was a bit of a fighter when they got 'er" The voice from the cockpit shouted out over the noise of the aircraft. Rogue watched vigilantly as the large set man stalked over to her and leaned down in front of her, pushing her neck forward roughly so he could see her hands still bound and then pulling the rope abruptly on her feet. Satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere, he looked to her face again, an eerily intimidating smirk rising at the corner of his mouth. Despite herself, her heartbeat raised intensely though she did not let up her stony glare as he moved closer and raised a hand to her face, trailing a finger down her cheek.
"Scream for me" He requested malevolently, making her tremble a little despite herself.
"Why would ah do thaht hairball?" She replied dangerously, trying not to let her voice wobble and narrowing her eyes at him - his face contorting into a vicious snarl at the name, looking as though he was about to reach out and tear her limb from limb.
"Hey Creed, what you doin' back there?" The voice from the cockpit shouted back, immediately diminishing the murderous look in 'Creed's' eyes. Rogue smirked evilly back at him at her apparent 'good-luck' as he raised himself slowly, eyes transfixed completely on hers before suddenly sweeping down and whacking her back into un-consciousness.
He drove furiously, swerving perilously around anything that got in his way - ignoring the tiredness hanging over him and the dull ache of his injured arm. He hadn't stopped yet since leaving Seattle and was already nearly at the Colorado/ Kansas state line and he had no intention of stopping either. He desperately fought the impending tiredness away, there was a life at his hands - a valuable one at that too - for now, his own bodily needs would have to come second.
The next time her eyes opened she found herself unable to see, not because of blindness she soon figured but because of the lack of light in the enclosed space around her. She could hear distant voices from behind her and soon realized from the jolting movement of her surroundings that she was now in a car - the trunk to be more exact.
Her hair stuck dankly to the side of her face which was throbbing like mad, 'Thaht hairball musta' split mah head, asshole!" she thought angrily to herself. She had no idea how long she had been out, but figured it must have been quite a while since she had been transferred from an aircraft to the trunk of a car without her knowing.
She winced in the dark as another large throb pounded from her head and she waited patiently for it to die down again - as it did, she tried to listen carefully to the voices within the car but she could only make out mumbles and the occasional snorts of laughter, nothing of which would help her.
Sighing jadedly, she strained to pull her knees as close and as high to her chest as possible and attempted to bring down her hands under them - she idly remembered seeing the maneuver on television a while back. Her hands strained and she moaned a little as she struggled desperately to pull her legs upward and her arms down. Panting a little, she quickly decided that this was necessary - if she was going to stand any chance at all in getting out of this and strained her limbs once again as forcefully as she could, biting down hard on her lip as her muscles clenched and stretched to the maximum.
Ignoring the metallic taste in her mouth as she bit harder into her lip, her arms finally pulled out from under her feet and she lie back in complete exhaustion, her eyes beginning to feel droopy once again. Snapping her eyes open as they were about to close, she began twisting her wrists inside of the rope - they had somehow become loosened during her struggle and after a few minutes of twisting against them her hands broke free, she instantly rubbed her wrists tentatively as the effects of rope burn caught-up as did the ache of her shoulders and upper arms where she had been positioned uncomfortably for who knew how many hours.
Recovering swiftly, she pulled up her knees and set about un-tying her feet, trying to keep herself as low to the floor of the trunk as possible as the vehicle bumped roughly up and down. Having done that, she rolled onto her back and let her arms stretch out, running her hands over every object in the truck - searching for a weapon of some sort, after all she would need one if she was going to get out of this.
The feel of cool metal hit the back of her hand and she gently felt around for it, pulling it towards her and holding it with both hands she figured it was a wrench of some sort - it would have to do as she felt the car slow to a halt and shake as bodies climbed out, slamming the doors shut. She fought to keep her breath slow and even as she motioned the heavy footsteps around the car, drawing to an end at the back of the vehicle. The click of the latch could be heard and she prepared herself as it slowly opened.
Leaping up as fast as her throbbing body would move, she slammed the wrench into the face of the first person who came into view, knocking them back with a grunt and she instantly made to get out of the car. Swiping her weapon again at another man who came towards her, though she missed as he deftly avoided the wrench approaching him and grabbed her wrists roughly, pushing her arms into a painful position so that she gasped and dropped the weapon onto the ground. She struggled as hard as she could against the mans grip, but found herself soon twisted about, her whole body held tightly so that she could not fight back.
"I'm gonna fucking kill that bitch!" The man she had hit with the wrench yelled as he approached her, a stream of blood running steadily from under his hairline down the side of his face. Her eyes widened instantly as she recognized him as one of the two men that had kidnapped her in the first place, 'Oh Shit!' she thought fearfully as he quickly advanced toward her.
"I don't t'ink dat will b' necessary jus' yet," A voice announced. Rogue looked over to the approaching figure, recognizing him instantaneously as the man who had threatened Remy at the wedding, blond hair, intense violet eyes - basically a male version of Belle. He stopped before her, looking her up and down with an evil smirk adorning his mouth.
"I don't believe we been formally introduced. Julien Boudreaux" He introduced himself politely.
"Ah know who ya are" Rogue sneered back in return, watching as his smirk widened.
"Y' a feisty one non? I expect y' clever as well. Y'd make a great assassin," He taunted, observing in amusement as her face contorted into a scowl.
"No thanks. Ah would rathah not have othah peoples blood on mah hands" She replied testily, his smirk dropping instantly as he held out a slip of paper and walked around her, feeling one of her hands being tugged open.
"Shame, why y'd prefer to be wit' dose stinkin' t'iefs instead I don't know" He thought aloud scraping a sharpened pen knife across her opened palm and smearing the paper over it. Rogue gasped as she felt the knife slice through her skin and fought to hold back a cry as she saw Julien walk back around in front of her once again, holding out the now blood stained paper.
"Jus' f' effect" He explained before turning to one of his lackeys and handing him the paper, before turning about and walking away.
"Oh an' try t' b' a good fille. We don't wan' t' have t' kill y' too soon" He called back, disappearing from whence he had came.
The bike stopped outside the house and he stared up at the familiar building for a few minutes, contemplating his next move. As much as he hated to do this, it had to be done - climbing of the bike he walked brusquely up to the elegant front doors, pressed the buzzer and took in a deep breath as he waited.
It was dark, sometime in the early hours of the morning he suspected as most of the windows in the street seemed to be black and nobody was around. The hallway light flickered on and he listened apprehensively as the chain on the back of the door was pulled away and the door opened, bathing him in artificial light.
"Remy! What y' doin here?" Henry cried in a quieted whisper as he caught sight of his younger brother on the doorstep.
"Bonjour t' y' too, can I come in?" Remy replied tiredly as Henry looked about behind him and stepped outside instead, closing the door shut behind him.
"Non, best not. Don't want t' wake Mercy and de bébé" He explained. Remy nodded mutely and rubbed a hand over his eyes, thinking how he often forgot that his brother was married and had recently become a father. He was an uncle and a brother-in law and he barely acknowledged it, a mistake that he promised himself to rectify someday. Opening his eyes he brought himself back to the situation at hand.
"I need y' help" Remy came out with quietly, feeling somewhat ashamed that he had come to his older brother for assistance.
"What? Non Remy. Y' made it quite clear dat y're family comes second t' y" Henry scolded, crossing his arms resolutely across his chest and staring sternly at his sibling.
"Please Henry. Dey follow'd us all de way t' Seattle an' den kidnapped Rogue. Now dey usin' her t' lure m' t'dem" He almost felt himself begging, for Remy it was like an out of body experience - but he needed help if he was going to go against the Assassins, he was a good fighter but not good enough to face off the odds he had against him.
Henry let this information sink in as he scrutinized the younger man in front of him - he looked tired as hell, if it wasn't for the adrenaline rush going through him right now he was sure he probably would have just collapsed right there and then.
"Y' love her don' y?" He asked abruptly, his conduct mitigating some. Remy swiftly turned his head to look his brother in the eyes at his question, several seconds passing as his dead-beat mind thought through the inquiry - did he love her?
"Oui, I do" He smiled to himself as the realization hit him, shaking his head in disbelief - he, Remy LeBeau was in love. Henry watched him intently, a small smile rising on his own mouth as his brother; the ultimate player accepted he was in love with someone.
"Alright Remy, I'll help y'. But not now, y' need some rest first hein" Henry sighed, placing a hand on his brothers shoulder. Remy looked at him incredulously before realizing that he was right, if he was going to get Rogue out of this mess then he needed to build up his energy first. He nodded silently and allowed himself to be led into the house.