Remy struggled against them again, charging up his own gloves and stripping them off so that they blew up right behind him, only Arclight's quick thinking keeping her, Blockbuster and Remy from being incinerated.
"Dammit, Blockbuster!" She shouted, grunting with the effort of keeping Remy's arms pinned. "Why didn't you hit him harder?"
"How was I supposed to know he'd wake up in a few hours?" Blockbuster moaned, sincerely thankful he could absorb the blows he was receiving.
"Would you two get it together?" Vertigo snapped, offering no help as she inhaled tobacco smoke.
"Ah!" Blockbuster squeaked as his uniform started to glow a violent pink.
"Permettez-moi d'aller se battre moi comme un homme que vous bâtards!" Remy shouted, keeping his hand firmly planted on Blockbuster's arm behind his back.
"I don't know what he's saying!" Blockbuster started to strip off his shirt in a panic.
"Je vais te tuer, faites glisser vous hors de l'enfer, tuer vous à nouveau, et cracher sur vos tombes!" Remy swore vehemently, not really paying attention to what he was shouting, just knowing that they were threats.
"Someone calm him down!" Harpoon shouted.
"J'ai une question particulière à régler avec vous," Remy turned his burning gaze to Harpoon. "tu m'as tué une fois. Je n'ai pas oublié." He growled out.
"Somebody shut up his crazy-ass French babbling!" Vertigo snapped, pressing her fingers to her temples.
"Where's the girl?" Arclight choked out as she was repeatedly kicked in the stomach, working hard to keep a firm grip on his wrists. "He backed down when there was a knife at her throat!"
At the mention of Rogue, Remy tensed his muscles and growled deeply in his throat, but stilled his thrashing movements, breathing heavily.
"Hmm." Vertigo hopped down from the stack of boxes she was sitting on as the train they had stolen away on shook with the tremors of movement. "He really is quite smitten with her." She grinned coldly as she trailed her fingers down the side of Remy's cheek, tracing his jaw line. "I admit that she's cute, but I never really took you for one to go for the untouchable type."
Remy, being completely restrained and fully pissed off resorted to snarling and gnashing his teeth at her.
Vertigo quickly withdrew her fingers in shock.
"Animal," She spat, and removed herself from being close to him. "You're lucky we have very, very direct orders not to kill you."
"Just tell me where the other bastard you brought with you is wit' ma chere and I'll be outta y'r hair." Remy exhaled a sharp breath through his nose.
"Riptide?" Vertigo mused, placing another cigarette on her lips to feed her addiction. "Him and you 'chere' decided to take up residence in a different boxcar." She turned around and added under her breath "Away from you."
"If he touches a hair on her head-." Remy started to grind out more threats.
"Oh, calm down." Vertigo huffed. "He's not going to be touching any part of the girl. She's poison."
Remy accidentally charged his own shirt as his rage spiked, completely uncaring of the burning against his skin.
"Tut tut, Cajun." Harpoon grinned at him. "You can't save the girl and live happily ever after if you blow yourself up." He laughed sharply. "But then again, guys like us don't get happy endings, do we, Gambit?"
"I'm nothing like you!" Remy spat, internally wincing with declaring something so vehemently when he wasn't even entirely convinced.
"Sure you aren't." Harpoon smiled. "Sure."
Remy growled deep in his throat at him, but couldn't come up with anything else to say to him, so just hung his head in a slightly shameful silence.
"When am I gonna see 'im again?" He mumbled in a barely audible whisper, not wanting to hear the answer.
"In about an hour." Harpoon supplied. "We'll have to tie you up like a birthday present to make sure you don't do anything tricky, as you've been known to do in the past, but you'll be seeing the boss face-to-face."
"You know." Remy looked up and grinned. "They don't call me the greatest thief in de worl' 'cause I can be kept tied up." He informed them, grinding his teeth against each other. "And when I get out, and trust me, it'll be sooner rather than later, I'll send your murdering asses straight to hell so fast the devil will get whiplash." He growled out, lunging against the arms restraining him again.
"I'm bored with this," Harpoon sighed. "Vertigo, what time is it?"
Vertigo pretended to glance at her non-existent watch. "Hot damn, it's about half past Gambit-should-shut-the-hell-up."
"My favorite time of the day!" Harpoon laughed, cocking back his leg and letting loose a vicious kick aimed at Remy's temple.
-
Lovely, lovely fire.
Pretty red, orange, and blue.
My beautiful fire.
She looked up at her parent with a big smile on her face, proud of the high marks she'd pulled off on her assignment. She knew how they didn't like it when she didn't do well on assignments, but now she was trying harder. She had done well.
"What is this?" He r mother sneered down at her because, even for a ten year old, she was very small and malnourished.
"It's my haiku." She smiled broadly. "Look, I got 100% on it." She pointed out, only to be ignored.
"You wrote a haiku?" Her mother's lip curled with disgust. "Where do haikus get you in the world? Do haikus put bread on the table? Do haikus sober up your father?" She demanded.
"N-no." She began to fear she had done something wrong. The bruises that ran the length of her arms started to throb with the memory of beatings past.
"Damn straight 'no'!" Her mother screamed. "You don't do anything for this house!" She struck out, slapping her hard across the face. "I don't care what your bitch of a teacher says! You aren't anything! You'll grow up to be just like your father!"
"Momma," She moaned, holding her own cold fingers against her burning cheek. "Daddy doesn't mean to-."
"Bullshit!" Her mother shouted, tearing up the paper she held in her hands. "He knows exactly what he does to me!" She used a candle set out on the counter to her right to tight the piece of papers on fire. "It's exactly what you'll do to me, too." Her mother held up the burning papers, the child's writing was still visible through the flames. "Give me your hand, John."
She hesitated.
"I said give me your fucking hand!." Her mother shouted and she immediately stuck out her hand, wishing the world would just disappear, to just burn away. "Glad you could do something without fucking it up." Her mother spat, getting a firm grip on her wrist.
"Momma, don't!" She started to cry as the flaming pieces of paper were lowered closer to her flesh.
"Take it like a man, John." Her mother spat.
"Stop!" She whimpered, tugging at her wrist. "Please, stop!"
"Make me." Her mother snarled, pressing the fire against her skin.
Something broke inside of her. A new emotion that she had only experienced before in small doses. It now consumed her.
"I SAID STOP!" She screamed, the fire flared around her as if to express her fury.
Her mother stumbled to the ground, eyes wide with fear as she watched the fire contort in the air.
"What are you doing, you little freak?" The woman shrieked.
She breathed in heavy, ragged gasps, fueled by her hateful tears. The fire expanded and contracted with each shaky gasp.
"I'm burning the world." She growled, the fire flared up around her, consuming the house.
Rogue gasped for air, flying into an upright sitting position on the cold hard ground.
"Musta been a scary dream." Riptide commented, leaning against the wall opposite from her.
"Who the hell are you?" She spat. "Where am I? Why am I tied up? Answer me, dammit!"
"You don't remember?" He turned to look at her.
Her eyes were brown. Borderline red.
Odd. Riptide cocked his head to the side, almost positive they hadn't been like that when he had bashed her head in. He shrugged and turned back around.
Calm down, Rogue. John murmured in her mind. It was just a scary dream.
Rogue blinked. Her chest throbbed painfully as the collapsed ribs were stress as she sucked in a deep panicked breath, returning to her right mind.
Ohmahgawd! She thought wildly, tears building in her eyes as she tugged at her wrists and found them bound behind her back as well as her ankles.
Calm down, Erik said soothingly. Take stock of your situation before you decide on action.
Rogue closed her eyes and took a more tempered breath, still wincing as it contorted her broken ribs uncomfortably, and opened them again.
Before she could inspect her environment, or attempt to wriggle her way out of her bounds, or find some other means of escape, a question burst out of her mouth faster than her survival instincts could kick into effect. She felt it was much more important than her own survival, anyway.
"What did you do with Remy?" She snarled.
Riptide casually turned back to her. "What makes you think Gambit has anything to do with this? Maybe I've just decided I'm going to kidnap you and add you to be one of the members of my crazy serial killing spree across the country."
He's lying. Logan growled.
"You're lying." Rogue repeated, glaring at the man. "You don't know me. If you wanted to kill me, you would have killed me. The only reason to keep someone alive is if you're using them. And the only person I know you know that you'd be able to use me against is Remy. So, I'm gonna ask you one more time sweet-like before I start gettin' pissed- Where is Remy?"
Riptide smirked at the girl. Not as dumb as she looks. He awarded her. Wait… weren't her eyes brown a second ago?
"You see somethin'?" Rogue snapped, catching the man's confused look.
"Yeah," Riptide snorted, pulling himself together. "A little girl who fell in love with the wrong kind of man."
"What?" Rogue breathed, blushing furiously. "Ah am n-not-."
Riptide rolled his eyes and waved away her stutterings. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Say what you will, missy, but I know and he knows, and you better start coming to terms with this shit before we have to kill both of you."
Rogue was too stunned to say anything to that. That was silly. She'd know the man for a week. It was impossible to fall in love in a week…
Besides, he was silly, arrogant, perverted…
Denial! John coughed inside of her head.
…Sweet, charming, good natured…
Oh dear lord… Logan sighed heavily.
…Stubborn, egotistical, 'won't-go-to-the-damn-hospital' bastard! No, she didn't love him. She wasn't allowed to love. Who needs love? Love sucks. She hated him. Look at all the shit he'd gotten her into! Right now she was sitting in what appeared to be a damn boxcar because of him. She'd nearly lost her mind twice because of him. She couldn't even decipher he own goddamn thoughts because of him. He made her confused. With his stupidly gorgeous eyes and his damn grin. He made her stupid. She shouldn't have let him touch her.
I think that maybe you are being a bit harsh on the man. Piotr offered.
Shut up! I am totally rational! Rogue screeched.
You're really scary when you're rational… Bobby commented meekly.
Rogue physically growled.
The movement of the train ground to a halt.
"We're here!" Riptide interrupted her thoughts, tying a blindfold around her eyes.
Low down, no good, dirty Cajun. Rogue continued to curse as she was hefted over Riptide's shoulder. Egg-exploding, useful mutation, accented jerk! She grunted in pain as she was jarred as Riptide leaped down . from the train. Keeps gettin' me into trouble. She continued to brood as Riptide continued to walk. Shouldn't have touched him. Jackass. I've known him for a week! A week! Even Logan didn't get me into this much trouble in the first week I met him. Sounds of doors opening and closing. And he stabbed me in the chest! I shouldn't have stolen his wallet. Damn him and his wallet to hell!
"Ah," Riptide spoke again after what seemed like a lifetime of internal swearing and wincing in pain every time he took a step. "Here we are," The blind fold was ripped off of her eyes as she was thrown into a room.
Rogue grunted in pain, sucking in a tight breath as she rolled across the floor with the force that had been used to hurl her there, eyes sealed shut as she ground her teeth, barely holding back her curses. After a few moments of five men screaming in her head that it would be best of she found out her situation before she started kicking and screaming she opened her eyes.
Darkness shadowed the entire room, so it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. And when they did, she wished they hadn't.
"Shit!" She gasped, wriggling as fast she could with her arms and legs tied to the other figure on the floor. "Remy!" She panted, looking over his battered form with a sharp pain in her chest that had nothing to do with her ribs. He looked like hell. Unconscious, possibly dead, hell. A cut ran across the length of his cheek bone, marring his rugged good looks, the blood from it ran down his face and smeared across his jaw line. His lean body was scattered with bruises and burns that were visible through his torn clothing. His shoulder was bleeding again. The back of his head was damp with blood as well. "Remy!" She yelled louder and tried to jostle him awake, tears building painfully behind her eyes and in her throat. "Remy LeBeau! Yah wake tha hell up rahght now, or so help meh Jesus Ah will kill yah mahself fah dyin'!" She screamed.
Remy groaned and mumbled something unintelligible, where the only words that Rogue could make out were 'chere', 'belle', and 'ange' and unconsciously moved a hand to rest on arm.
"Thank God," Rogue gasped and pressed her face into his shirt to blot out the tears and to feel his warmth. At least she was here with him.
Told ya' so. John snorted and something that sounded like a high-five reverberated around the inside of her head.
"Didn't I say they were cute?" Someone said from behind her and Rogue snapped her head around, her eyes green fire. Riptide leaned against a wall next to four other figures she didn't recognize.
"Very." A colder, darker, scarier voice commented and Rogue whipped her head around again.
Two glowing red orbs which she could only assume were eyes dissected her from the shadows.
-
Not exactly what I saw myself doing with this chapter when I posted the last one, but I like this much better. Just wanted to comment here at the bottom that for anybody's who's interested, I have posted a to-do list on my profile full of all of the fun projects I have coming up. (But it's cool if you don't, I know people have better things to do than read my crazy.)
And now, for the French!-
Permettez-moi d'aller se battre moi comme un homme que vous bâtards- Let me go and fight me like a man you bastards
Je vais te tuer, faites glisser vous hors de l'enfer, tuer vous à nouveau, et cracher sur vos tombes!- I'll kill you, drag you out of hell, kill you again, and spit on your graves! (It is entirely possible that Remy gets a little violent when captured.)
J'ai une question particulière à régler avec vous, tu m'as tué une fois. Je n'ai pas oublié.- I have a particular issue to deal with you, you killed me once. I have not forgotten.