2. THE FIGHTIN' SIDE OF ME

Remy woke up in his apartment just outside the Quarter later the next morning. Looking over, he noticed the woman lying next to him. A pit formed in his stomach when he noticed she wasn't a brunette. No, it was the leggy blonde who had claimed his attention after the mysterious brunette known only to him as Rogue had sauntered off.

Frowning, Remy attempted to remember the woman's name... Tiffany? Terra? Teresa? He didn't waste too much time on that hopeless endeavor. With a quick stretch of his limbs, he rolled out of the bed and checked the time. Eight am. Still slightly early. He decided to take a shower and give the woman a chance to sneak out on him. Spare them both an awkward encounter.

Not bothering to dress himself, Remy strut to the bathroom and turned the shower on. As the heat from the water began to steam up the room, his thoughts drifted back to Rogue. He wondered how much weight her rather ominous warning carried. It had been almost three weeks since he had come to possess an item formerly owned by the X-men. He had gotten out of their little club house scott free, he didn't even set off an alarm- of any kind... so how could they piece it back to him? How did Rogue connect it back to him?

As he stepped into the shower, Remy recalled a rumor about their leader, Professor X or something like that. It sounded awfully pretentious to him, 'Professor X', gag. Anyway, he recalled hearing through the underground grapevine that this Professor Pretentious was a very powerful telepath, was it entirely possible that Professor Pretentious had done some mental mojo and picked up some residual trace of him? Then the question was, how had Rogue stumbled onto him and how had she gotten to him before the X-men? The realization dawned on Remy that he didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle and that Rogue had to be working for or with a third party.

Remy struggled to figure out what type of game he was being sucked into. There were so many possible plays that he would need more information before he could narrow the selection down and come up with his rebuttal. A thief's work was never done.

Running a hand through his hair, Remy checked to make sure he'd gotten all the soap out. He had. Turning off the water, Remy found his towel in the hazy mass of steam. After drying himself, Remy wrapped the towel around his waist and re-entered his bedroom.

Of all the scenes he could have predicted to walk back into, what he saw was the most annoying of them all. The leggy blonde (Tonya?) was no longer lying in the bed. Instead, she was on her knees, clutching to the bed sheet like it was her lifeline as Belladonna held her by a fistful of hair. The heiress assassin also held a stiletto knife to Tammy's (?) throat.

Remy exhaled sharply. "Let de girl go, Belle." he murmured, his tone shouldn't have been as casual as it was, but then again, this shouldn't happen as often as it did.

"Why should I?" Belle seethed, "Mebbe if I start killin' yo' whores den yo'll be mo' inclined t'stay faithful."

Remy rolled his eyes, at this point they had had this confrontation so many times that they had this conversation down to a science. "Yo' an' I both know dat ain' true. Now, let de girl go." he said, his eyes glowing dangerously.

"Or what LeBeau?" Belle challenged him, "Yo' gonna t'row one o' yo' cards at me?"

"Belle, believe me when I say dat not'in would bring me mo' joy de watchin' yo' 'sploid. However, neither o' our Peres would like dat tres much." Remy replied out of the side of his mouth as he turned his back on his psychotic fiancée and his horrified hookup to find some clothes for the rest of his day. "Now, Belle." he snapped while opening his dresser drawer.

Remy waited to hear the sound of the woman's cadaver hit the ground, but it didn't come. When instead he heard Belle snarl obscenities and warnings at Tina (?) he released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. However, he continued his nonchalant attitude as he got dressed and Tamera (?) scampered out of the room, clutching her clothes in her hand. He had learned a long time ago that when Belle threw a temper tantrum that it was best to ignore her, least he feed the fire.

As he pulled a shirt over his head, he caught Belle's scathing glare from the other side of the room.

"Got somet'ing t'say?" he snapped at her.

Belle's lip curled before she took a deep and calming breath. "Only dat I don' deserve dis, Remy. I got m'faults but I ain' steppin' out on yo'. Never have."

Remy felt his stomach plummet to the ground, there were moments- like this one- when Belle regressed back to a normal and rational human being, back to the girl who he had once been in love with as a teenager. However, those days were long gone. He hadn't felt anything besides resentment for the woman in front of him in a very long time. It wasn't completely her fault; their fathers had a hand in his deep seeded contempt for the beautiful woman he was supposed to marry.

Remy's brow furrowed, he should apologize to her. But he wouldn't. He couldn't, apologizing would be like clawing himself out of this dark and desolate pit that he had intentionally dug to free himself of her. Like the flip of a switch, Remy's poker face was back, "Den call dis sham o' an engagement off."

Belle sighed, "I can' do dat Remy. Ain' m'call. Dis de hand we been dealt. Learn t'live wit' it or don' live at all."

A chuckle vibrated in Remy's throat, "Yo' gonna kill me, Belladonna?" he asked far more jovially than he should have. Something about her statement made him want to laugh.

Belle shook her head, "Non, I could never kill yo'. But dere are plenty o' people in m'family who'd gladly take off yo' head. De only reason dey don' is cause we're betrothed."

Remy's eyes narrowed, "Don' act like dere's an army o' assassin's wit' personal vendettas 'gainst me. Yo' talkin' 'bout Julien. An' I ain' scared o' him or yo' family for dat matter. Now get outta m'apartment. I'd like t'finish startin' m'day wit'out anymore attempted murder." he said harshly.

Five days later, Remy had yet to hear from Belladonna. He wasn't sure how to take that. On the one hand that was exactly what he wanted. On the other, it was never good news when Belle dropped off the grid. What it meant was someone was going to die. The question was, was she out on assignment for her guild or she was hunting down Taylor(?). With that latter thought in mind, Remy continued to check the obituaries and various news broadcasts for any woman fitting Tina's(?) description.

None so far.

In the week past, Remy had only been to his bar twice and had only seen Rogue there once. On the night he saw her, she had been sitting at the bar and was chatting animatedly with Pierce. The duo had seemed to become something of friends. The thought annoyed Remy as he made the mental note to actually interrogate Pierce on another night. He hadn't bothered to acknowledge either one of them as he ducked into the backroom to ensure that his poker legacy stayed intact.

In the meantime, Rogue had begun to consume his mind. Everything from those ever present gloves to her green eyes and matching green bandana. Everything about her screamed for him to stay away, but for some reason he didn't want to. At this point, her warning bared no fruit and was utterly useless to him besides messing with his head. Because of that, he was staying away from her purely to keep Belle off his back- and Rogue's... however, something told him that Rogue would be able to handle Belle in a fight.

Currently, Remy sat in the living room of the Guild's headquarters/ LeBeau family mansion. He was lounging on the couch flipping through the television channels as he ignored his cousin's rambunctious behavior. Theo and Etienne were Jean-Luc's late sister's kids, they were roughly five years younger than Remy and just grazing adulthood- but apparently someone had forgotten to tell them that.

Theo and Etienne wrestled on the floor in front of the couch. They rolled around on the floor, smacking each other with random flops of their hands and grunted swears. This went on until they rolled too far and knocked over a floor lamp next to the couch.

Etienne and Theo stopped messing around and stood up quickly to assess the damage they had caused. Theo righted the lamp as Etienne swept the shattered light bulb glass under the couch with his foot.

"Grow up." Remy snapped at the two of them as he settled on a channel.

Theo and Etienne paused their clean up job to look blankly at Remy.

"What's got yo' panties in a twist?" Emil mocked, "Ain' heard from de Queen o' de Damned an' suddenly yo' turn int' a raggin' assmunch?"

Theo shook his head and grabbed his brother's shoulder, "Yo' got it wrong, Etienne, ol' Remy hates dat hag. Non, it's another femme he's hung up on."

A wide smile engulfed Etienne's lips, "Ooohh, Remy's gotta side Femme. BD ain' gonna like dat. Neither will Jean Luc or Marius... Y'know what dis means? Remy's gonna get in trouble!" It wasn't long before his last sentence turned into a chant and Etienne and Theo began repeating it over and over in both English and French.

Annoyed, Remy pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket. The Marceauxs' eyed the deck warily but didn't stop chanting. Remy shuffled the deck as he attempted to calm himself, but the action only seemed to encourage his cousins. Their chants became louder and shriller until Remy lost his patience and tossed a lightly charged card in their general direction.

The Marceauxs shrieked as the card exploded dangerously close to their heads.

"Keep it up, an' de next one won' miss." Remy snarled.

"Cajun's right. The next one won't miss." came an unfamiliar snarl. Remy jumped to his feet and turned around to see a hairy little man with a petite young brunette at his side. The duo was standing in front of the far wall... twenty feet away from the closest doorway. "Here's yer one an' only chance. Give us back what'ca took an' we'll leave as compadres... eh, probably not."

Remy sunk down into a fighting stance, "Wolverine, I presume? 'Fraid I don' got no idea what'ca talkin' 'bout."

A feral grin encompassed Wolverine's lips, "Let's see if I can help ya remember." he said as six metal claws appeared out of his hands, three per hand. Remy whistled.

"Dat's a nice party trick. 'Fraid yo' gonna haveta do a bit mo' to intimidate me." he mocked, glancing at his stunned cousins. Useless brats could get in and out of the Louvre without breaking a sweat but put them in a fight and suddenly they had stage fright.

"Hear that, Shadowcat? The Cajun's asked us to call in back up. It is his house, so I'm only happy to oblige." Wolverine said jovially before launching at Remy.

"Theo! Etienne! Go get reinforcements!" Remy cried as he caught Wolverine in the air with a pair of exploding aces. Literally, the cards were aces.

As Etienne and Theo scampered out of the room, three more bodies entered. Unfortunately, none of them were on Remy's side. Remy briefly took a moment to survey them. In the newest addition to what was about to be an all-out slug fest, was a very large man made out of metal, a man with a glowing red visor and a woman with extruding bones in various places throughout her body.

Suddenly, Remy wished he hadn't dismissed Rogue's warning.

Remy pulled out a compacted bo staff out of his coat pocket and watched his opponents carefully. He extended the staff and fisted a handful of cards in his opposite hand.

"Well, I ain' got all night." he snapped.

"Bub, ya ain' got ten minutes." Wolverine howled as he kicked back up to his feet and started swiping his claws at Remy, aiming for his jugular.

"X-men," said Visor Boy, whom Remy would only assume was the famed Cyclops, "Spread out, find it!" the four remaining X-men split up and disappeared out of the living room through various exits.

Remy grit his teeth as he blocked Wolverine's advances with his staff. He was very relieved that he had sprung for the staff made out of adamantium opposed to one made from steal. "Ain' ya'll ever heard o' knockin?" Remy bantered as he kicked Wolverine in the chest and away from him.

"That's funny, I could ask ya the same thing." Wolverine snarled as he came at Remy again. Remy would give it to him, that was a fair point.

Remy and Wolverine exchanged more blows and blocks, locked into a stalemate. Any blow Remy managed to land on Wolverine seemed to have no effect, but any blow that Wolverine landed on him left a mark.

"Don' nobody move."

For some odd reason, Remy and Wolverine obeyed the order. Maybe it was the tone of the voice, or maybe it was just suppressed Simon Says instincts.

Jean-Luc stood in the doorway of the room, holding the boned woman close to him with a pistol pressed to her temple.

Wolverine's eyes narrowed, "Marrow, ya good, darlin'?" he asked tautly.

Marrow nodded, "He snuck up on me." she cast her gaze downward in shame.

"Call in yo' dogs." Jean Luc demanded, "Or I put a bullet in de femme's head."

"Do that an' I'll fillet ya." Wolverine snarled, pointing his claws at Jean Luc and turning his back on Remy. Remy smirked at his good fortune; Wolverine had just made his first and only mistake.

Remy jumped on the unsuspecting Wolverine, grabbing the metal claws with his hands. Remy didn't flinch as the metal cut into his palms. "Tell me Monsieur Claws, I hear yo' body can regenerate from anyt'ing. Could yo' regenerate if I blow up yo' skeleton?" Remy purred in Wolverine's ear as the metal claws began to glow a dull magenta

Wolverine growled dangerously, "Cyke, we've been cornered. The Cajun's got a gun ta Marrow an' me rigged ta blow. Abort mission." he said to no one.

"Ohh," Remy cooed, "Do ya got comms in?" he leaned closer to Wolverine's ear. "Cyke it is? Ya got duex minutes fo' I let de charge go. Sure, Wolvie might make it, but I bet Marrow here wouldn't."

"Ya'd kill us all." Wolverine said evenly.

"I'm jus' crazy enough t'do it." Remy cooed again, "Jean Luc," he continued, "Knock de girl out. No more." he stressed the last two words as he eyed his adoptive father wearily.

Jean Luc looked at Marrow with a slight tinge of sympathy on his face, "M' apologies, Cherie. 'Tis only slightly personal." he said before slamming the butt of the gun against her temple and catching her unconscious form before it hit the ground.

As the remaining X-men filed into the room Remy heard Wolverine hiss under his breath, "Alright, Jean Luc, give de fille t' Lt. Commander Geordi here." Jean Luc made a face that told Remy he didn't get the reference, "To Visor man." Remy said in exasperation. "An' Tin man, I suggest yo' power down, 'cause I can charge yo' metal too." He wasn't entirely sure his claim was true.

"Can't believe I understood that reference." Wolverine muttered under his breath as Colossus' silver coat was replaced by the toupe-ish color of his skin.

"See, Wolvie, we ain' dat different after all." Remy said jovially as Jean Luc handed Marrow over to Cyclops. "Now let's make our exit, X-men." Remy said, nodding his head out the door, still clutching Wolverine's claws.

Cyclops led the group out of the mansion with the remaining X-men flanking him as he carried Marrow. Wolverine and Remy walked behind the group, next to Jean Luc who still had his gun trained on Marrow's head. Their little posse eventually made it outside to a rather large jet that made Remy whistle.

"Gotta say, 'm impressed wit' dat plane." Remy conceded. "Here's how dis'll play out. Ya'll gonna board de plane, an' when I deem appropriate, I'll release de charge from de Chatton, here. Ya'll run home wit' yo' tails 'tween yo' legs or I'll blow yo' an' yo' pretty lil' jet t'Kingdom Come. Got it?"

The X-men disgruntledly obeyed Remy's orders and they boarded the plane with no resistance whilst watching their backs and the train of Jean Luc's gun carefully. When Remy finally heard the roar of the plane's engines, he pulled the charge back into his own body and gave Wolverine a shove toward the loading dock.

Wolverine stumbled but recovered smoothly to stand on the dock and glare down at Remy and Jean Luc. "This ain' over Cajuns." he growled before stomping up the ramp as it began to shut and the jet too to the air.

When the jet was out of sight, Remy let out a sigh of relief. Jean-Luc watched where the jet had been with a keen interest. "We outta get ourselves one o' dose." he said wistfully.

Remy felt a dark cloud hover over him, "What a loyal team or a jet?" he spat, glaring at Jean Luc.

Jean Luc rolled his eyes, "A jet, o' course." he said absently. "We're thieves Remy. Don' forget dat." he said before leaving Remy alone in the night time air.

"Can't forget it." Remy muttered to himself, staring up at the stars. "'Cause no one lets me." Shaking his head, Remy pulled himself from his stupor of self-pity. Instead, he pulled out a cigarette and charged the tip. When the embers lit on fire he took a long drag and pondered his next move.

He had two more things to do, he decided. First was finding Emil. Second was drowning his sorrows at the bottom of a particularly expensive bottle of Jack.

Rogue leaned against the banister of the second floor patio just outside her motel room. She gazed up at the half moon that was just barely peeking out from behind the cloud cover. She couldn't see the stars, between the street lights and the clouds, she hadn't really expected to.

When she felt her pocket vibrate, Rogue sighed. Reaching into her pocket, Rogue grabbed the phone and flipped it open.

"Ah'm assumin' this means the X-men made their play?"

"Yes."

"An' they failed."

"Yes."

Rogue fought back a smile, "As Ah suspected. Is my mission clear to continue?"

"Yes."

"Roger. Going dark until it's time to rendezvous." she said before she flipped the phone shut.

Rogue slipped the phone back into her pocket and frowned. There had once been a time in her life where the line between right and wrong hadn't been so blurred. And she would know, she had been on both sides of it.

A/N: In case you are unfamiliar with country music, every chapter and the title are named after songs. Sometimes because the title fits the theme of the chapter or because the song does.

So, who is Rogue working with/for? What did Remy take from the X-men? Did Belladonna kill Remy's one night stand? Will Remy ever remember that poor girl's name?