Hello all! Sorry for the delay. I woke up with a migraine last Saturday that lingered until Tuesday evening. I ended up so behind that this is my first real chance to focus on this. But I'm here now!
Thank you to all the folks who reviewed the last chapter. I'm so glad everyone liked the Romy mush! You all are so sweet and so much fun! And to all the alerts and favorites, thank you all too! I can't tell you how much everyone's support means.
As always I don't own anything but the annoyed giant schnauzer beside me. She thinks I should be petting her instead of typing.
Dawn broke cold and clear over the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Wrapped up in Mercy's coat and clothes, Rogue held tightly to Gambit as he drove the motorcycle to where they'd planned to meet up with Logan. She was tense but calm as she mentally prepared for what she knew was going to be a difficult fight. Remy dropped her off in the clearing where Logan was waiting before riding off to park the bike where Logan had parked his, well out of the way of the upcoming action.
Standing with one hand on her hip she eyed Logan warily as he watched Gambit leave. With a resigned and gruff sigh, Logan focused on her. "I take it the Cajun is coming back with us," he said without enthusiasm.
Rogue narrowed her eyes. "He's got nowhere else to go, Logan. He's tryin' to get out of the Guild. And the professor's always talkin' about second chances." Her voice trailed off at the end, realizing she and Gambit had made their decisions without ever confirming with the professor that he could join the X-Men.
Logan snorted and gave her what passed as a sardonic smile for him. "The prof thinks it's a great idea. If you hadn't already asked, I was supposed to." He paused. "Glad I don't have to."
Rogue hid her own smirk at his words. Typical Logan. "You're willin' to help him with the Marauders. Why's it so hard to believe he wants to leave the Guild behind?"
Logan rolled his eyes. "It ain't the thieving I'm worried about, kid. I don't like the way he looks at you."
Rogue glared, crossing her arms over her chest and willing the heat in her cheeks to fade. As often as Gambit made her blush, she half wondered if it wouldn't end up permanently coloring her face. "You don't have a problem with Scott lookin' at Jean."
Logan grinned. "Sure I do. But we both know Shades isn't the trouble maker in that relationship. You and Gambit? Not sure which one will get the other into more trouble." He raised an eyebrow at her in challenge.
"It's not like Ah go lookin' for trouble," she muttered, looking away.
He snorted in protest but left it at that.
Conversations with Logan always worked that way. He pushed. She pushed. But in the end they both said their piece and let it be. For a while anyway. It's why they got along so well.
He had just finished giving her the layout of the land when Gambit jogged up. "They set off the alarm I left in the hotel room about twenty minutes ago. Shouldn't be too long before they get here."
Rogue looked at him in surprise. She'd seen him playing with some wires while she packed that morning, but she hadn't realized he'd actually been doing anything at the time. "You made an alarm with three wires and some chewing gum?" she asked.
He shrugged. "And the burn phone. I set it to autodial when they picked it up. Nothin' fancy."
Rogue glanced at Logan. He didn't seem that impressed. Apparently she was the only who didn't know how to MacGuyver an alarm out of a cell phone. She rolled her eyes at both of them, slid out of Mercy's coat and placed it on the ground beneath a tree where it would be out of the way.
Logan turned to her. "These two aren't the kind you want to have running around upstairs, kid. If you can avoid absorbing them, do. You don't need their trash in yer head." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the three syringes, handing one to her and one to Gambit. "Use'em if you can."
Logan broke off speaking, his head turning slightly as he listened. "They're almost here. Just a few miles out. Unless we have other performance engines in the neighborhood." He turned to Rogue. "Be careful, kid. These two don't play nice. And watch your left side. You're still leaving it open after a kick." He glanced at Gambit. "They don't get past us."
Rogue glanced at Remy in time to see him nod at Logan. The two men shared a ruthless grin before Gambit turned to her. He raised her hand to his mouth with a warm look, the quick kiss on her knuckles making her cheeks flush and that funny feeling rush back into her stomach.
They both grinned at Logan's growl of annoyance, and then the three spread out to wait.
Remy leaned languidly against a tree, his own hearing now picking up the sound of an approaching car. He saw no reason to waste effort on standing upright when he could take the last few minutes to relax and enjoy watching Rogue pace like a trapped lioness.
She had the kind of restless energy before battle that he'd long since had beaten out of him. It reminded him of just how young she was behind all the masks and quick temper. She noticed him watching and sent a quick, almost bashful smile as she paced.
The thought that he was letting a beautiful young woman have entirely too much control over his future crossed his mind, but he pushed it away. Yes, Rogue was part of why he was going to try being one of Xavier's X-Men, but she wasn't all of it. The more he'd considered what he would do and where he would go after leaving the Guild, the less he liked any of the other options. Although at the moment he really wished that Rogue wasn't involved at all.
The idea that she could get seriously injured dealing with his past bothered him a lot. He knew she was good in a fight. She was one of best X-Men when it came to hand to hand combat. But she'd been trained to defend and protect. The Marauders not so much. He figured the closest she'd come to fighting this sort of enemy was fighting Apocalypse's horsemen, and that had been something like six or seven against one. Two against three was a very different matter.
He straightened up as a sporty Mercedes coupe slid to a stop in front of them, pulling just off the road. As Scalphunter and Arclight approached, he gave them a quick look over. They didn't appear to have changed much since he'd seen them last.
Scalphunter still wore his extremely practical and very dumb looking mechanical part body suit. Gambit muffled a snicker, but knew better than to discount the results of the outfit. The bodysuit was storage for hundreds of different firing pins, gun barrels, magazines and other items which allowed Scalphunter to build up and break down weapons and tools with his mutant technoformation skills in very little time. On more than one occasion Gambit had been him assemble unique projectile launching systems and then dead-eye shoot a long distance target like it was nothing.
Arclight was still so muscled and strong that she had an almost masculine form. Gambit had seen her once or twice when she was off duty and knew she could look as beautiful and feminine as any other woman, but she used muscle and a slightly male stride to intimidate her opponents when working. A side effect of having worked as the only woman in an all male military special ops environment long before any other woman had even considered attempting it.
In terms of mutant power, she was a grown up and much more dangerous version of Avalanche. What Lance Alvers lacked in battle strategy and control Arclight had in spades. Combined with her natural resistance to injury and enhanced strength, she was a formidable opponent.
The two Marauders seemed momentarily surprised to find Logan there. Arclight in particular made a point of looking at him carefully as though trying to determine why he looked familiar, but it only lasted a brief second before her face was once again an impenetrable mask.
Smiling wickedly at the two newcomers he started shuffling his cards between his hands. "Long time no see. Shame it wasn't longer," he greeted.
Scalphunter sneered at him and separated from Arclight, leaving Logan and Rogue to her and moving to engage Gambit. There was an awkward pause while all five of them waited to see who would make the first move.
A rumble coming up from the ground spurred Gambit into motion. He tossed two cards, both charged to a bright, burning magenta. The blast disrupted Arclight's pending earth quake, but Gambit didn't stop to worry about her. Scalphunter had dodged the card's blast, throwing himself to sideways, his hands snapping pieces of metal together even as he landed on his side.
Gambit jumped, pushing off the ground with his half extended bow staff, his left leg narrowly staying below whatever it was that Scalphunter shot at him. Only barely registering the sounds of the other fight, Remy tossed another charged card at Scalphunter, forcing the man to shoot wide as he dodged the explosive.
With a viciously gleeful grin, Scalphunter swung his leg out, partially knocking Remy's legs out from under him. Rolling as he landed, Gambit used an arm to push himself to his feet. Unable to entirely block the incoming punch, Remy turned his head with it, deflecting as much force as he could. The two grappled for a moment, Gambit twisting and using the older man's weight against him temporarily in spite of the ringing in his ears.
He managed to throw Scalphunter down, but before he could reach for the syringe tucked away in a pocket of his trench coat a bone shaking rumble from the ground below him nearly knocked him over. In the second it took Remy to regain his balance the Native American man rolled out of reach and to his feet.
Risking a glance behind him, Remy saw Rogue dodge a kick from Arclight, but didn't watch long enough to see Logan plow into her from the side. He heard an agonized yell from a female, but barely had time to hope it was Arclight and not Rogue before he was moving forward and darting away from what he thought was a small caliber bullet fired at him, trying to maneuver so that Scalphunter always fired away from Logan and Rogue as he tried to hit Remy.
A sharp kick forced Scalphunter to drop the gun to avoid getting his wrist broken. Remy landed a quick jab to Scalphunter's throat, temporarily leaving the man gasping for breath and scrambling to get clear for a moment to regroup. Pressing his advantage, Gambit grabbed the syringe, keeping it slightly behind him in his left hand, leaving his right hand free to hold the bo staff.
Scalphunter feinted right, forcing Gambit to shift in response, putting the other fight behind him. He brought his right arm and bo staff up in preparation for a new attack. Before he could start a sharp, slicing pain cut into his right arm, and he flinched, dropping his right arm a few inches before training overcame instinct. A throwing knife embedded itself in the ground in front of him with a thwak.
Before Gambit could move to assess the threat coming from behind him two female voices sliced through the air, one in surprised terror and one with growling determination. The thunder crack of a bullet followed immediately after. It took a split second for it to register with Remy that Scalphunter had intentionally shot to the left of him. The lethal grin pulling his lips back confirming even before Remy turned to look that the man had hit his mark.
Rogue had a white knuckled grip on Arclight's uncovered arm with her bare hand; a dropped throwing knife lay on the ground between them. She looked Scalphunter dead in the eye with a defiant stare. There was no hint of defeat in her eyes as she held on in spite of having been driven to her knees by his bullet hitting her in her abdomen, just eerily calm control.
Forcing himself not to focus on Rogue, Remy spun back to Scalphunter, Rogue's unnerving stare having startled the man just enough that Remy was able to drive the syringe into his right arm. Fury took hold of Remy as Scalphunter tried to fight back, his fear manifesting as rage, and Remy viciously drove the other man into the ground, pinning him down by the throat until Scalphunter was clearly unconscious. He paused to be certain the man wasn't faking before turning to Rogue.
Logan was just rising from beside Arclight, having injected her with the solution as well. It was overkill with Rogue absorbing her, but better safe than sorry.
Rogue was still on her knees, both hands now pressed against her right side, just below her ribcage. Remy dropped to a knee beside her, trying to use his own hands to put pressure on the wound.
Rogue pushed his hands away. "Don't...touch my …skin," she gasped, trying to protect him. Gambit half glared at her as he examined the exit wound on her back. Whatever it was she'd been shot with had left a reasonably small exit wound. He'd been shooting to disable, not kill. A fact which left Remy mostly relieved and vaguely worried in the back of his mind.
A quick glance around the clearing showed Logan barking orders into a cell phone. He turned toward them, glancing at Rogue as he spoke. When he ended the call he turned to Rogue. "Can you hold on a few more minutes?" he asked.
Wide-eyed and feeling a fresh surge of anger, Remy started to argue that 'No, she could not wait' when Rogue nodded and managed to whisper "Ah'll be fine," her accent thickened by pain.
Gambit gave her a look of utter disbelief. Rogue offered a weak attempt at a smile. Despite the obvious pain, he could see pride in her eyes. Whatever side effects she'd received from absorbing Arclight weren't currently manifesting; her own personality was front and center and proud of taking down a formidable enemy.
"Thought you said something last night about not doing anything stupid," he rebuked lightly, reminding her of their conversation after they returned to the hotel. Rogue again gave him a half hearted glare before closing her eyes and focusing on breathing.
Remy glanced up at Logan. The Wolverine was all but shouting a threat to whomever he was speaking, emphatically stating that if they didn't get to the unconscious Marauders in very short order, Logan wasn't responsible for the fallout. With a final snarl, Logan hung up, his eyes raising and turning to look at the sky off to the northeast.
He trotted up to Rogue and Remy. "Laura's on her way." He turned to address Gambit. "You help her clean up the field. Fury'll be here soon, and we need to be gone before they get here." Remy nodded in annoyance, trying to get him to focus on Rogue, but before he could say anything Logan had knelt and touched his bare hand to Rogue's cheek. He held on long enough for a gash that he must have received during the fight to reopen on his forehead before passing out.
Rogue snarled a very Loganish sound as she pulled his hand away, Remy helping her lay the unconscious man down. She drew a shaky deep breath and relaxed, letting Logan's healing factor take care of her injuries.
Opening her eyes she looked at Remy in confusion, sniffing the air before she focused on his arm. "You're bleeding," she said flatly, her accent barely audible in the words.
Remy looked down at his right arm in surprise. "So I am. Nothin' serious though," he said with a shrug.
Rogue rolled her eyes, and Remy couldn't decide if the gesture was hers or Logan's, but she didn't say anything. She quickly turned to survey the field, taking in all the burn marks, skids, and divots of combat in the once pristine meadow as she pulled off her bloody gloves. "Should we burn the whole thing or just muck it up some more?" she asked as she started to tuck them into the waist band of Mercy's pants for lack of a better place to put them.
Remy stopped her before she could tuck the gloves in. Moving carefully to avoid her bare hand with his half gloved fingers he took the gloves, charged them, and tossed them up into the air. They exploded and disintegrated leaving behind no visible mess.
"Without your weather witch to control the fire, I don't really want to burn too much. Be better to just mess it all up more. Be obvious something happened, but hard to say what." Remy raised an eyebrow to see if she agreed.
With a quick nod Rogue was in motion. The two worked silently, dragging fallen tree branches across the skid marks and picking up bullet casings, throwing knives, and other dropped weapons. Remy was in the process of digging a bullet out of a tree with one of Arclight's knives when the X-Men's helicopter landed near the road.
The girl that jumped out and moved to help them was younger than Gambit had expected, but she had the sort of grim determination and single mindedness that he associated only with serious combat experience. She immediately began helping Rogue and Remy.
It took another ten minutes to sufficiently confuse the scene beyond recognition. Laura had pulled a container out of the helicopter and poured whatever it held over the ground covered in Rogue's blood. He assumed the chemical would destroy any DNA evidence the blood might have revealed. With a final look around, the three managed to half carry, half drag the unconscious Logan into helicopter.
Laura immediately moved into the pilot's seat while Rogue worked to strap Logan into the copilot's seat. Holding on without strapping in, Gambit and Rogue silently waited while Laura lifted off and then settled the helicopter back down beside Remy's and Logan's bikes. It took all three of them and a conveniently located fallen tree to load the bikes into the back of the cabin and strap them down.
As Laura again lifted the helicopter into the air, Gambit grabbed an open seat behind them and fastened the buckle. Rogue walked past him, grabbing her backpack and a pack of baby wipes that came from a cabinet before moving quietly to hide behind the last row of seats out of Remy's line of sight. A few minutes later, mostly blood free and dressed her own clothes with a fresh pair of gloves, she dropped wearily into the seat beside him.
As they headed north, a trio of military helicopters came in from the east, flying low over the tree line, but making no move to follow as Laura headed around the airspace over Johnson City. Assuming that the occupants of the inbound helicopters were the people Logan had called in, Remy allowed himself to relax for the moment. The two Marauders that were hunting him had been dealt with, with minimal injuries courtesy of Logan, and he was free of the Guild.
He glanced at Rogue. She was leaning tiredly back in her seat, eyes closed. Knowing that a whole different battle would be waiting when they arrived in Bayville, Remy figured she had the right idea. Lightly twining the fingers of his right hand through her left, he settled back for a nap. Her grip tightened slightly, and Remy smiled to himself. Might as well rest while he could.
So? Did ya like it? Tell me what you think, please!
I'm off to work on the final chapter for this sucker. I've written it four times and I still don't like it! Gah! But if I get that written then I can work on The Enemy of My Enemy, which comes after Only Trying To Help. ;-)