Hello!

Thank you so much for the kind comments and support! They make my day every time I log on and see people are also enjoying this fic. I'm so happy you guys are liking my writing and the characters seem in character (which is a priority of mine I hope to keep working really hard at). I really appreciate people sharing this and stopping by to encourage me and compliment the fic-I feel like I've been writing at the speed of lightning because of it. Genuinely, I hadn't expected such a positive response and I'm really grateful for it :)

Also YES I did put in what I feel like is an obligatory 90's show joke of Rocky Horror Picture show. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I always run into it (and it worked for what I needed)

Thanks always to my bud, thehazeofdusk-this chapter originally was way shorter and I was so not happy with it until she gave it a read and got my brain where it needed to be.

Without further ado, it's time to get back to Team Pow-R8 =P

Chapter 5

"Let's just get this over with."

"Y' got a problem, boy scout?"

"My problem's you sneaking your way onto this team just so you can piss us off and harass Rogue."

A snort. "I'm on this team for the exact reasons I tol' Magneto and Wolvie and your Professor. Gettin' t' piss you off's just a bonus."

Rogue felt her eye twitching, fists clenching at her sides. They literally just walked off the damn plane. Literally. Two seconds after the door closed, those two were already going at it.

"Yeah, I bet you had no ulterior motive whatsoever."

"Not sure what you're insinuatin', One-Eye. Where I come from, 'm the best in the business with this kind of job. The bossman knows that. Not my fault you don' get to control everythin' this time."

Scott scoffed. "Best in the business. Yeah, cause that's something to be proud of."

"Y' know, maybe if y' didn't have a giant stick up y' ass y'd actually be able t' lead y' team well enough adding someone competent onto y' mission wouldn't be necessary." It was a low blow, and Rogue knew if Gambit was going for the jugular so suddenly this situation was about to blow up quick.

"And maybe if you weren't just some hired gun who doesn't care about anything but money, I wouldn't have to be so uptight to make this mission successful."

"Don' see how my day job interferes with bein' able to complete this mission, 'specially when 'm here because of m' skills from that job."

"Well of course you don't. Because all you're focused on is stirring up trouble and trying to piss us off. Neither of us want you here, Gambit, so let's just get this over with," Scott gestured to himself and Rogue then, including her in his statement, and she felt her brows furrow in frustration at being pulled into this conversation and bristling especially at the insinuation she felt the exact same way as Scott.

"Don' say it like y've solved some giant mystery, cub scout. And since when'r you in charge of speakin' her mind?" Gambit gestured to Rogue, his face clearly saying he didn't believe Scott for a second. Somewhere deep down, she was grateful he knew she wasn't pissed at him for that. Every inch of Gambit looked lethal as he stalked towards Scott, eyes narrowed although he still continued to calmly shuffle his cards.

Scott didn't back down from the challenge and the two men were quickly almost face to face, glaring at each other with such an intensity Rogue couldn't help but be confused where this much animosity was coming from, especially from Gambit, who hadn't seemed to pay Scott much mind back in New Orleans. "I'm not speaking her mind. I'm standing up for the best interests of my friend. Who also doesn't want you here. Besides, I'm right. You don't want him here, right, Rogue?"

Gambit whistled low, wicked amusement playing across his features, which seemed to only piss Scott off more. "Seems to me, Rogue's pretty good at speakin' up f' herself, 'specially when she's pissed." He took on a tone mimicking Scott's when he spoke next: "Y' fine with me bein' here, right, chère?"

"You kidnapped her and spent, what, 24 hours with her max? What makes you think you know her better than her friend who she's lived with for years?"

"Please. Don' take more'n a minute t' figure out gal's a southern spitfire who's gon' speak her mind," the low baritone of Gambit's voice only served to increase the sarcasm in his lazy drawl.

"Oh wow, you figured out she's from the south and she's got a temper! Someone give him an award!" Scott's voice was raising and his face was getting redder the longer this conversation went on.

Gambit chuckled, still taking on what Rogue considered the mentality of a seven year old and mocking Scott's tone. "Oh wow, y've lived with her for a few years yet y' don't actually know a damn thing about her outside'a how useful her powers can be t' y' team."

"T-that's not true! And who are you to talk about how I run our team? At least none of us have kidnapped a minor for the hell of it or chosen to work with Mystique!"

"SHUT. UP." Two heads whipped in her direction. "Both'a you!" Scott started to protest but had no shot. "Scott, what part of knowin' me for two years makes you think I won't kick your ass if you don't shut the hell up right now?" Unfortunately, this only made Gambit's expression even more smug, apparently thinking she was taking his side. She spun on him next, finger poking in his chest. "You too, Swamp Rat. You wanted in on this mission so bad, so let's just do the damn mission and get this over with."

Without looking to see if they were following, Rogue stalked toward the Pow-R8 plant.

What the absolute hell?

She heard two sets of steps following behind her, but she ignored them in favor of deciding neither of them existed right now. She had a sports drink plant to destroy with their help or without. She did not have time to listen to them bicker about nothing or remember and focus on the fact that Gambit, who had just saved her life and held her so intimately close less than an hour ago, was working with her mother.

She knew it was Gambit who caught up to her first by, of course, his cards. He walked next to her and with all of her might she dared him to even try her right now. Luckily (for him), he kept his mouth shut, choosing to keep pace with her but not draw her ire in any other way. The silence that stretched between them was strained, but not awkward. It was clear he wanted to talk to her about something, but for once he was holding his tongue. She was still fuming, and he was at least smart enough to not set her off any more than she already was.

The southerners reached the building's perimeter fence quickly. The fence was about seven or eight feet tall with barbed wire across the top. Not the worst fence Rogue had ever prepared to climb, she thought to herself as Scott finally made his approach and parked himself on the opposite side of Rogue. Although she knew Scott was still focused on the fight, Gambit was immediately in his zone now and she was fascinated to see him taking in everything around him, eyes sharp and precise as he assessed the situation.

Scott pulled out his toolkit from his belt, immediately looking for the right tool to cut the wires.

Gambit scoffed and turned to look at Scott in annoyance. "Y' gotta be kiddin' me, right?"

"I'm sorry, are you wanting to vault the giant fence?"

Gambit rolled his eyes and put his cards in his pocket before handing Rogue his bo staff. He then bent down and started lightly charging along the fence links, tracing a shape large enough for them to fit through, each explosion small enough it was only a slight crackling sound.

"Well, what does that accomplish that my tools won't?"

Rogue rolled her eyes, getting real tired of this competitive shit. "Scott, this is way quicker."

True to what she'd said, Gambit was already done and he lightly kicked the piece of the fence out of the way. He crawled through first and stood, allowing Rogue room to crawl through behind him. As she went to stand, she looked up and saw his hand being offered, eyes inscrutable as he looked down at her. She let out a quick breath from her nose and frowned, frustrated to see him try to flip back to the "friends" mode when she knew now he was working with Mystique and hadn't bothered to tell her. Maybe, she thought to herself, friend was the wrong word...but she couldn't think of what else to call him that also justified the very valid anger she was feeling towards him. She slammed the bo staff into his hand and pulled her own hand away quickly as she made to stand on her own.

She crossed her arms and stood waiting for Scott to come through, doing her best to glare in the opposite direction of Gambit. She knew storming ahead now that they were past the fence might not be the right call: there would be cameras and alarms from here on out and Gambit was here for a reason. It still didn't make it any easier to pointedly ignore him, even as Gambit continued to keep his eyes locked on her face.

As Scott crawled through the hole in the fence and began picking up the fallen piece to put it back in place, Rogue made the mistake of turning in Gambit's direction and found herself, for what felt like the hundredth time that day, falling into his eyes as he continued to looking at her with the same inscrutable expression, except this time when she looked closer she could see his eyebrows slightly furrowed and a very slight frown across his lips. She couldn't help but notice the hand holding his bo staff hung almost limply by his side.

Rogue was almost glad when Scott stood and spoke first, breaking the connection that glued her eyes to Gambit's. When he spoke, Scott's tone was controlled and tight. "Alright, Gambit. You're the expert. Lead the way."

When Rogue turned back to look his way as well, she found him still staring at her, the look in his eyes unnerving her. She met his gaze levelly, trying to follow Scott's lead and keep her own expression blank. This response only seemed to annoy Gambit more as he turned around, hands shoved in his pockets, and stalked towards the building, not bothering to see if they would follow.

"Oh no. No way."

Well they'd made it maybe five minutes without one of the three antagonizing another...

It was an impressive time span, but nowhere near as long as Rogue would wish for. She sighed, jumping in before Gambit could respond.

"Scott, I know you don't like this plan, but it makes sense. Gambit is the only one of us who knows how to disarm all the systems without drawing attention our way, which we need if we don't want a Sentinel to look over here while we're working, and you and I can communicate through comms any trouble or updates if I'm watching the cameras."

"That doesn't mean we should split up and I should leave you with him," Scott hissed. Well, at least Scott was just being openly aggressive towards Gambit now instead of passive aggressive.

Gambit rolled his eyes, defensiveness and frustration clear in his face and voice. "What exactly do you think I'm gonna do t' her, huh?"

Scott chose to ignore Gambit and turned to Rogue, determination in his eyes. "You know, there is another option. He and I could both go wait to explode things if you watched the cameras and disarmed the alarms."

In the time she'd spent around Gambit, limited though it was, she'd seen many different expressions on his face. Although she couldn't always identify what each facial expression said exactly, she knew she'd seen enough different microexpressions to (sometimes) have a pretty good grip on what emotions he allowed others to read on his face. She'd seen him frustrated plenty (she wasn't the easiest person to disagree with, she knew). Mischievous was another she recognized (easily, mostly because it almost seemed to be his default). Shocked was another she was confident she could identify (from when she kicked him straight out of the train car). She'd also seen him annoyed with Julien and resigned irritation towards his father, but until this moment, she was certain she'd never actually seen him angry. Really angry.

His eyes were definitely glowing now (no doubt about that-maybe that was just a thing they did?), his olive toned skin flushed all the way from his hairline to his neck. Although most of his face remained impassive and blank, a small quirk of his eyebrow told Rogue that Gambit was now beyond tired of hearing Scott argue with him every step of the way, from the mission to her powers (although it was nice for a change to have someone other than Kitty back her up on not using her powers, she couldn't help but want to roll her eyes. He'd only had to put up with hearing Scott talk like this for maybe an hour. She'd been putting up with it for months) and Scott had managed to piss Gambit off to levels that made even Rogue a little nervous. His bo staff, still in his hand, began to glow as he advanced on Scott, drawn up to his full height. When he spoke, his voice was controlled in terms of volume but not so much tone, disgust and frustration seeping from every word. "Or y' could listen t' the guy who's been doin' this his whole life and stop worrin' 'bout someone else's powers."

Rogue almost growled in frustration and cut Scott off before he could respond, muscling her way in between the two men and pushing each back with an arm. "Enough!" Scott looked at her, betrayal in his eyes. "Seriously, Scott. Cut it out. This mission is never gonna end if we don't get movin'. Now Gambit's gonna take care of the alarms, and that's final. Even if I used my powers I wouldn't have his muscle memory to go fast and we could very well have an unconscious teammate on our hands."

She knew the Swamp Rat was happy with her response by how she could feel his chest relax under her hand, a subtle movement, but one she felt clearly all the same. She wished he would wipe that smug expression off his face even if Scott was starting to push things too hard (even for his standards). Besides, it wasn't as if Gambit wasn't pushing right back just as hard.

She kept her eyes on Scott, channelling as much of Logan as she could while she tried to be the logical one here. "I'm gonna go with him and watch the cameras to give you heads up if anything's comin' your way, and you're gonna deal with it and go wait to explode shit until we come meet up with you." She turned to Gambit, whose smug expression had slid into a mask she was unfamiliar with, although she was relieved to see most traces of anger gone from his eyes when he returned her gaze. "Now which way we going, Gambit?"

He didn't even bother to glance at Scott before nodding his head in their intended direction and so she didn't even bother to wait for him as she took off in that direction.

"Chére."

…

"Chére."

…

"Chérie…," he sounded exasperated. Good. Now he knew how she felt.

…

"Rogue."

"Gambit."

"Remy."

"Rocky!"

Gambit paused as an almost cute, confused look crossed over his face.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Don't try to tell me you don't know Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gambit."

"Remy. And f'course I do. Jus' wasn' expectin' y' t' crack a joke, is all."

She sighed and came to a stop at the door labeled 'Office Personnel Only'. "Don't worry, Gambit. Won't happen again. This door?"

When he didn't answer, she turned back to look at him questioningly. He was still standing where he had been moments before, that same curious expression on his face as before that made her stomach clench. It was unnerving when he stared at her like that, especially when he walked towards her like he was right now. His eyes were locked in on her face, alight with...something. She could stop herself from continuing to stare back, feeling a tension fall over them again as he drew closer, coiling in her stomach. He stopped a few inches away from her, looking down at her and she was overwhelmed with the warmth he brought with him. When he was looking at her so carefully, she had to actively keep herself from being sucked back again into memories from months ago.

He'd come close enough now that she could see the small wrinkle in his brow. She knew he was thinking hard about something, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to know what. Sunlight peeked through a window from up above, serving to highlight the angle of his cheekbones while obscuring the rest of his face in shadows, only making the red of his eyes come to life even more. His jaw was tight, but his mouth was almost relaxed. His lips weren't necessarily in a smirk, but they weren't a frown either, nor were they in a completely neutral expression. This was perhaps the most emotion she'd seen play over his face, but it did her no good because she had absolutely no clue what any of it meant. The more she looked at his lips though, the more her stomach flipped, so she forced her eyes away from his, focusing instead on the tip of his long nose.

"Gambit?"

He was paying attention she knew, but he was choosing not to answer her; just slowly closing the distance between them even more, eyes locked on her face. She fought within herself to not back down. She would not let him intimidate her. She tried his name again, pouring as much of Logan's gruffness into her tone as possible. "Gambit. Which door?"

He'd come to a stop now, still looking down at her with that curious expression on his face and she was close enough she could now almost recognize the question in his eyes, although not much of anything else.

She tried once more, standing her ground and refusing to let him win, no matter how uncomfortable his proximity made her. She tried to make her voice even more assertive, knowing he would see right through it anyway, and did her best to glare back at him. "Gambit. This door?"

He continued to look at her, yet didn't reach out to touch her as she'd thought he might. As thankful as she was to have him somewhat out of her space, she still couldn't fight the feeling of being covered in him all the same. It was incredibly unfamiliar and made her heart race. He spoke softly as he reached around her, a small explosion sounding from the door handle. "S'not my call who else m' boss hires, chére."

She opened her mouth to speak, but he had already opened the door and started to move past her.

This time, it was her who saw the attack coming first and she tackled him to the ground just in time to save his head from becoming a burnt crisp just like the giant scorch mark on the door they'd just been in front of. This time, she was the one straddling him when they landed and she'd never been more thankful for killer robots as she was in that moment; he was more focused on kicking the door shut than their incredibly suggestive position, which saved her from having to hear his innuendos for now at least. They both froze, looking at each other in panic. Would the Sentinel still find them anyway if they stayed frozen? Was it even worth trying when it already had seen them? Luckily Gambit seemed to have the same concerns and they both quickly stood, facing the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw he had held his hand out to her, not taking his eyes off the door, his offering clear once more: he wouldn't try to make her use her powers or guilt her (like Scott), but he would freely offer up the option to be able to better protect herself against the Sentinels.

"That'll only make things worse if you get knocked out!" She hissed at him. It was the only logical reason she could think of that she shouldn't take his powers.

Again, his eyes never left the door but she did see an eyebrow raise and a smirk grace his lips, humor in his voice as he spoke next. "Think I can handle a small tap from y' powers jus' fine at this point, chére."

She almost broke her concentration on the incoming doom behind the door in confusion. "Gettin' zapped by me once don't mean you can suddenly handle it, Swamp Rat."

He looked as confused as she felt as he turned his head slightly in her direction. "Only once? But-" he stopped mid sentence as they heard the Sentinel crash to a halt right outside their door. She saw Gambit tensing and knew she was doing the same, but all the same his hand remained where it was, palm up and waiting for her to decide. He wiggled his fingers slightly for emphasis. "S'jus an option, Rogue, but you're gonna need to decide quick here."

Just an option, he'd said. An option, Rogue found, she was ready to take. No use debating and fighting over it when his psyche had disappeared pretty quickly last time anyway. Besides, she couldn't be annoyed by a psyche in her head if she was dead. She took a deep breath and started removing her glove. If he was surprised, he didn't let it show. Gambit's eyes had still not left the door, his body tense even as he continued to hold his hand out to her so casually.

She took a deep breath and tugged the glove off her fingers, but she was still too late, despite how relatively quick she'd made her decision. The Sentinel kicked in the wall and they both dove out of the way of the flying drywall as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, they didn't dive to the same side of the room so any chance of following through on her sharing his powers was out the window. With the Sentinel so close, she didn't want to risk having to haul his unconscious body out of danger anyway.

Immediately, Gambit's cards were flying at the Sentinel at lighting speed even as she saw him simultaneously focusing on crossing to her side of the room. His cards were a deeper gold now with almost a pink glow at the heart of each explosion. The contrast to the bright yellow, barely glowing cards he'd thrown at her earlier was stark. Despite the large number of explosions he landed on the Sentinel, nothing seemed to leave a mark. Rogue winced, knowing without looking that her shoulder had begun bleeding where she'd been hit by the Sentinel in the crate yard. She stood as quick as possible and balled her fists, quickly looking around for something, anything she could use as a weapon or defense.

Gambit was already a step ahead of her, something she was grateful for just this once. "Chére!" She turned as he called her and had just enough time to see his bo staff come flying towards her to catch it. Almost immediately upon catching it, she swung at the giant hand coming towards her, jamming the end of the staff in the wrist joint, using whatever leverage she could get as she did her best to cause some damage to the machine's circuits.

This seemed to give Gambit an idea and the second she'd dislodged his staff he aimed a card for the joint she'd just damaged. The Sentinel's hand severed from its arm at the wrist, the empty spot now sparking with open cords. Rogue turned towards Gambit and found a boyish grin on his face to match her own before they sprung into action.

She'd learned how well they worked together on the streets of New Orleans, but in the time since then she'd forgotten that fighting next to Gambit was...probably the most fun she'd had in a while. There was something about his exuberance, his tenacity; he was most alive when he was in action. He was precise with his attacks, smart with his movements, and, above all else, in a constant state of having the time of his life. They worked in perfect rhythm, she would stab at a joint, use whatever leverage she could to crack open the joint, and then dodge out of the way so he could send an explosion that way. Lather, rinse, repeat. A few times, the explosion would not work, giving the Sentinel the upper hand, but so far luck had been on their side.

"Havin' fun yet, chére?"

Rogue rolled her eyes, unable to stop the small laugh that escaped. "Oh, yeah, battling robots. Every gal's dream."

"Y' should have said, p'tite. Woulda found us some sooner. Given you plenty t' dream about," He had the audacity to wink at her before throwing another card.

"You wish, Cajun," she snapped, although not fully in her normal abrupt tone.

"Now, now, chére, just cause this Cajun ain't make y' dreams come true yet, it don't mean m' wish won't come true."

She pulled his staff from the Sentinel's shoulder with perhaps more force than was necessary. "Do you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice?"

He chuckled. "Now where'd be the fun in that, chére?"

Just as Gambit went to throw another card at the Sentinel, it powered down, all movement coming to an abrupt halt. Gambit stood from his crouch, rolling his shoulders to relieve some of the tension he must be feeling. Rogue was about to ask him what now when a loud clammer came from the hall, like two giant feet walking their way. They exchanged nervous glances with each other, backing up. Rogue's communicator jumped to life and Scott's voice came crackling through.

"Rogue, we gotta go! There's at least five Sentinels in the Pow-R8 factory alone. If the noises outside are any indicator, they're not alone. Make for the fence-I'll meet you there."

Gambit turned to her, hearing sound originating from her earpiece. "One Eye?"

This time she is the one who kept her gaze locked on the empty space, watching for whatever was coming their way. She nodded. "He says we gotta go. There's at least five just in this building."

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Gambit frowning. "This ain't right. It's like they're coordinatin'. Like they workin' together."

Rogue turned to him, not liking the implications of what he'd just said. "You really think they could?"

His face darkened considerably and he refocused his attention on the empty space, both of them waiting for the Sentinel outside the destroyed room to finally reach them. "Don't think we should stay an' find out."

She nodded and finally the Sentinel came into view. This time instead of its guns immediately charging to fire, it focused in on them like it was searching and an electronic voice sounded from where its head was.

'Mutant Life Signs. Confirmed. Codename: Rogue. Affiliation: X Men. Orders: Capture. Codename: Gambit. Affiliation: Ma - "

Gambit swung a handful of cards at the Sentinel, sending sparks flying with each separate explosion. He turned to Rogue, and she was shocked to see worry on his face. He turned back to the Sentinel and just as she was about to start up their previous pattern he darted away from her to the other side of the room, cornering himself against a wall before flinging another round of cards at the Sentinel. The Sentinel immediately turned its focus solely to Gambit and Rogue was horrified to see the robot building a charge to fire, aimed straight at Gambit, who was staring determined at the Sentinel but otherwise not moving. Why wasn't he moving? His eyes were locked on the Sentinel, a determined set to his jaw, watching as the gun charged and he wasn't moving out of the way. She gasped, hearing herself call his name as the gun fired, before she felt his weight land on her as he dove to the side just in time, rolling them as he did so that when they stopped moving, he was easily able to stand quickly and hauled her up with him.

"Gambit, are you insane? What the hell were you thinkin', Swamp Rat?"

Gambit simply grabbed her arm and pulled her with him as he began scrambling over the fallen remains in their way. He didn't stop, just ran for the open hole in the building the Sentinel's blast had created. As she started sprinting with him for the second time that day, she decided it was fury propelling her forward, not his hand on her arm or the terror of a killer robot to their back. "Cajun, are you fucking kidding me? You couldn't have found some other way to get the Sentinel to blast the wall? You had to almost get blown to smithereens?"

She's not sure if she heard him chuckle before responding, but he better hope she didn't if he wanted to continue to stay alive. "'M touched, chére, but y' can yell at me all you want later. Now we gotta get movin'." Yeah, definitely fury.

"You have got to be kiddin' me, Cajun!"

She knew she didn't see him roll his eyes, but she felt it all the same in his response, just as she felt the accompanying smirk as he ordered her, "Rogue. Later. Run for life now," and she didn't know what she hated more: him or the fact that he was making her feel like a small child.

If fury hadn't been fueling her before, it was now. She ripped her arm out of Gambit's gasp, forcing herself to pump even more speed into her legs. She couldn't outrun him, but she could make it to the plane and lock him in the bathroom where she didn't have to see him.

...although on second thought, perhaps a barricade of or letting Logan loose would be more effective considering how little effect a lock would have on Gambit.

They made it to the fence just as Scott was kicking out the hole they'd crawled in through. Rogue slid under, keeping her forward momentum going and soon the three of them were sprinting towards the Velocity at speeds Rogue didn't know she'd had in her, lasers firing from the Sentinels chasing them from behind.

She should have known something else would go wrong. To her left she felt more than saw Scott go down, tumbling into her and sending her flying as well. She rolled with the hit as best she could and stood as fast as possible before looking back to see Scott, still struggling to stand as the Sentinels loomed closer. All the while aware of Gambit hollering after her, she turned back, running to her teammate. She got to Scott just in time to help him stand, ready to run the second he was, trying to stay calm as she looked back and saw how close the Sentinels had made it. Before she even had the chance to start helping Scott pick up speed again, Gambit was there pulling her along again, gripping her hand in his tightly. She watched for Scott out of the corner of her eye and wasn't surprised to see him stumble (she'd seen the state of his leg as she'd helped him stand). What she was surprised about was seeing Scott and Gambit simultaneously make eye contact and nod to each other over her head. Almost immediately, Scott's speed slowed slightly and before Rogue could slow with him and help her teammate, she had the sudden sensation of being flung through the air before everything went topsy turvy.

She lifted her head up after finding herself upside down, face far too close to Gambit's very pert ass for her comfort and everything clicked into place. She lifted her head up and saw Scott still running, but apparently at a speed his leg could handle. Rogue was suddenly incredibly aware of Gambit's arm across her thighs and his hand holding her calves down as he sprinted them towards the jet, not slowing for Scott.

She watched on in terror for her friend, heart sinking as the Sentinel got closer and closer. It felt like hours watching Scott struggle, helpless to do much of anything as Gambit sprinted them to the plane, arms like iron bands holding her over his shoulder. When he finally slid into the plane, Rogue began to squirm hitting against his back to put her down, but Gambit held tight to her, not letting her off his shoulder until Scott finally made it in the jet.

Sentinels continued firing as the jet took off at top speed but it wasn't until they were in the air and officially out of the Sentinel's radius that Gambit finally put her down. She immediately swung at him.

"You coulda gotten Scott killed!" she roared.

"No, you would've gotten y'self killed tryin' t' save him. 'Sides he made it just fine, right, Cyke?" Gambit grunted out amidst the punches Rogue was throwing.

Rogue stopped swinging at him immediately, glad for the fact that the only people currently on the jet were Gambit, Scott, Jean, and herself. Scott had gone over to Jean immediately and she was already checking on his leg while he took control of the plane from her. Scott was fine and clearly not pissed, but that didn't mean Rogue couldn't be.

"I didn't need your help, Gambit!" she hissed as she balled her fists at her sides and fought to keep herself in control. "I was fine on my own."

Gambit towered over her and his eyes bore into hers as he stepped closer, bringing them almost chest to chest. His tone was no louder and no less angry than hers as he bit back, "Maybe y' think y' didn't need my help, but clearly y' did. If I'da left you there, you woulda gone at Cyke's slowass pace and then we woulda been waitin' on both'o'ya to take off or y' woulda gotten y'self killed tryin' t' be the hero."

She narrowed her eyes, fists landing on her hips in indignation. "Cajun, did you listen to a damn word I said? I don't. Need. Your help. I can take care'o myself."

He scoffed, almost a sneer running across his face and when he spoke his voice was every bit as unnerving as the look in his eyes. "Just cause y' don't need help don't mean y' should have t' do everythin' y'self. An' maybe I was jus' lookin' out f' y', chérie."

"Well maybe I don't want you to look out for me. I survived Apocalypse all on my own just fine, thank you. I think I can handle a few Sentinels." The second she finished her sentence, all expression was gone from his face, even the anger and frustration. Even his eyes, which usually held so much life, were carefully blank as he stepped back from her. He opened his mouth, about to respond, but before either of them could say anything else, Scott was calling from the front of the plane shouting orders so they could land quickly, get everyone else from the main battle zone, and take off so they could regroup.

She shot one last look at Gambit, unsure of how they had just gone from fighting and bantering together to fighting with one another. But how could he not understand how that would make her feel? Scott too, she realized. Both of them had decided for her what was going to happen. She knew her lack of powers made her pretty useless, but she didn't think she was so useless they needed to treat her like a child.

As the rest of the mutants loaded on the plane and they took off a second time, the anger had started to fade away and while she was left with plenty of frustration with both Gambit and Scott, she realized as she snuck a glance at the back of his head that some of the frustration was with herself for whatever she'd said that had pushed him too far.