Wow. Two posts in one night. This is a record!
Before everyone asks, my Remy has a slight accent but not much of one. The Remy in my head has the voice of the Remy in the Evo cartoon. So Jean-Luc, Marius, Julien, etc have the accents they have in the show too (heavier than Gambit's). Hopefully you guys still like this Remy anyway... :-)
As always, let me know what you think! And enjoy!
She'd almost expected it when Henri insisted that they blind fold her once they were in the car. Not that it didn't annoy her. She just wasn't particularly surprised. Sitting in the center row of a large SUV surrounded by five men she didn't know from Adam with a blind fold tied around her eyes, she considered just how stupid she was being. Her mental Logan snarled in agreement. She was being extremely reckless. Granted Henri had apologized for the blind fold and hadn't tied it all that tightly, but still. This wasn't going to win her any points in the "well thought out, not personally dangerous plan" category.
The drive didn't take long, but involved lots of turns and winding roads. The group remained silent; they clearly didn't trust her much more than she trusted them. When the car finally stopped and the doors opened the smell of swamp and bayou surprised her. She didn't think they'd driven that far from the French Quarter.
A hand moved behind her and removed the blind fold. Blinking to adjust to the new light level she looked around. The beautiful southern style mansion in front of her reminded of her the one in Blood Moon Bayou. It had the same sweeping elegance of times past that was at odds with the security patrols she could see making rounds.
With a charming bow, Henri offered Rogue his arm. Watching the way he moved and the smooth way he smiled at her, and the way the other men slid their eyes her way, Rogue began to wonder if Gambit's charm with women wasn't something he'd picked up from the family instead of his own personality. Just what I need. An entire Guild full of charismatic Cajuns, she mentally grumbled to herself.
The group escorted her through the front door and moved her quickly into a side sitting room. Henri gestured to one of the men, and he stepped out after winking at her.
Trying not to give the impression that the room impressed her, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, shoulders slightly hunched, setting her backpack at her feet. The other men arrayed themselves around the room clearly waiting to watch the show about to play out.
She heard him before she saw him. "What's so important y' can' stop smilin'?" Gambit asked warily.
Rogue took no small amount of satisfaction at his dumbstruck expression when he saw her. Ruby eyes widened in obvious shock. "Rogue." With a quick blink he recovered, his smooth smile and voice masking any further reaction. "Well, well, Chérie. What brings y' back to my neck of the woods? Miss me that much?"
Rogue rolled her eyes with disdain. "Keep dreamin', Cajun. Ah have some information for you." She reached down and pulled a folded stack of papers from her backpack. "And now that Ah've delivered that to you, Ah can go." When she straightened, he'd crossed the room and was watching her carefully, his eyes guarded but intent.
She handed him the papers and waited.
His reaction wasn't pleasant. Red eyes burning, he took hold of her arm, not hard enough to bruise, but close. "Where did you get this?"
Unimpressed with his temper she held his gaze. "Essex's lab in New York. We took him down yesterday. Ah found that," she gestured to the papers, "when Ah was going through his files. Check out the back. He's hunting you. And the two he hired to kill you went dark last night after agreeing to the hit. With the time change, they're leaving Paris in the morning. And they have your phone number."
Gambit kept his hold on her but relaxed his grip. Flipping the pages and reading one handed he went through the e-mails between Essex and Arclight and Scalphunter. "Marauders," he hissed before looking up at her, eyes appraising. "I think, Chérie, it's time you started at the beginning."
"Sounds like a good idea."
They both turned to see Jean-Luc standing in the doorway, his eyes focused entirely on Rogue. "So nice to see you again, m'mselle."
After moving her to a larger room, Rogue found herself seated on an old fashioned couch facing roughly twenty thieves, all of whom were watching her very closely. Gambit was propping up the wall off to her right, his arms crossed, and eyes going back and forth between watching her intently and watching his family wearily. Given his position Rogue couldn't tell if he was staying close as some sort of protection or if he simply wanted to be the first one to land a hit.
Jean-Luc finally spoke up, putting an end to the hum of curious chatter that had sprung up as soon as he'd told Rogue that's she wasn't to say a word until the necessarily people arrived. The last of the 'necessary people' was a dark skinned woman of indeterminate age whose dark eyes that made Rogue more than a little nervous. The petite, older woman didn't seem to fit with the men arrayed around her, but she obviously had their respect.
"Now, Ms. Rogue, why don' y' tell us just what brought y' here, and how it's connected to my son." Jean-Luc's voice was smooth, but she didn't miss the threat in his voice or his suspicious glare in Gambit's direction.
Not wanting to let him have the upper hand she fired back. "My family and Ah, you remember my family?" She gave him a fierce grin before continuing, making sure to hold his gaze as she spoke. "We heard about a man who was capturing and experimenting on mutants. His name is Dr. Nathaniel Essex. With the help of some friends we were able to locate his lab. We staged an assault and captured the man."
She looked away to hide her discomfort; even talking about it made her sick and brought up memories of her time with Trask. "We pulled 25 mutants out. Ages ranging from young kids to adults. He'd done extensive experimentation on all of them. We captured Essex and dumped him with S.H.I.E.L.D. The prisoners we brought back with us for medical care, along with Essex's files."
She glanced at Gambit out of the corner of her eye and continued. "Ah came across Gambit's file when Ah was going through the others. It led me to the e-mail chain about Essex hiring Arclight and Scalphunter. Ah came to warn him." She crossed her arms and gave Jean-Luc a blank stare.
It was Henri who spoke up first. "Y' obviously have Remy's number since you recognized it in the file. Why didn't y' just call?"
Rogue shot him an annoyed look. "Wolverine doesn't just hunt with his nose. He's former special ops too. You get a phone number, the first thing you do is track all incoming and outgoing calls for the weeks prior to set up patterns. If Ah'd called to warn him, a random phone call from New York right after hit goes out, that would have raised a few flags. Ah don't know how loyal they are to Essex, but if they find out he's been taken down, the X-Men are going to be the first place they're gonna look. No way in hell Ah was going to make it any easier for them to find us."
If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought there was approval and pride in Henri's smirk at her answers and not disdain. Either way, it made her more nervous.
"So you just hurried on down here to warn my son," Jean-Luc drawled, his words more statement than question. His eyes were narrowed, watching her closely.
Not enjoying being the center of attention, especially with the head of the Thieves' Guild watching her like he was waiting to trap her, she snapped back without thinking her response through. "Just 'cause Ah happen to like his eyes, don't mean Ah want them in a jar on my bedside table."
Crossing her arms over her chest and trying to will the blush out of her cheeks, Rogue wondered if she could have possibly given a worse response. No one was supposed to know she liked his eyes, especially not Gambit himself. So focused on trying to mask her embarrassment, she didn't notice the matching look of surprise on all the faces watching her.
It was the dark skinned woman who spoke up, pulling Rogue back into the conversation. Her accent was even stronger than the others. "Dey want his eyes?"
Rogue nodded without actually looking at her. "That's proof of death. His eyes and some blood samples. To be delivered to Essex's lab."
The woman spoke again, this time addressing Gambit. "Remy, dey gon'ta seek revenge for losin' der boss?"
Gambit shifted, finally looking away from Rogue, who was deliberately avoiding his gaze, to focus on Tante Mattie. "The Marauders are mercenaries. They only work for Sinister 'cause he pays them well. And they like the work. They enjoy hunting mutants. But if Sinister ain't there to pay 'em, it's not likely they'll stay."
Jean-Luc interrupted. "Why do you call him Sinister?"
He pushed off the wall lazily and moved to lean against the arm of Rogue's couch. "It's what he told me to call him. Never heard him called Essex except the first day we met with him, just Sinister."
"Will they keep after you if they find out their boss man ain't gonna be able to pay?" one of the men who'd been with Henri at the jazz club asked.
Gambit shrugged. "For anyone but me, non. But they have issues with me. Don' like that I found a way to slip my Marauder leash. They might let it alone, but I wouldn't bet on it. Especially if they come all this way before finding out."
Together again in New Orleans. With assassins on the way. why is everyone so suspicious of Rogue's motives? All this and more next time.