Rogue had one mildly sane thought before she took action, and that thought was- What would Logan do?
The sound of cards scraping against wood and being patted back down was still echoing in her ears, giving away the exact position of whoever else it was in the room.
What would Logan do?
That was actually a really simple question with a really simple answer.
She took a deep breath, pulling herself out of that topsy turvy world and into reality, and without a second thought, hurled herself at whoever it was playing cards.
The fall had been farther then she had expected, but the desired result was just the same, she pinned down the man with her knees on his shoulders, cocked a fist back, and…
"Gambit?" She looked down at the man, slightly dumbfounded, and then even more so when she realized that her clothes and her setting had changed. Instead of her usual green over black tops, she was wearing a light blue button down dress shirt, and she seemed to be in a sparsely furnished loft of some sort.
"Not that I exactly mind this position, cherie," Gambit smirked from underneath her. " But it's a tad bit uncomfortable."
Rogue glared at him, and brought her fist back a second time, about to punch him just because he deserved it.
He anticipated her move, quickly snagging her wrist and pulling down, setting her off balance. He dragged her underneath him and mimicked the way she had pinned him down. "That's better, non?" He smiled down at her, his demon eyes sparking with mischief.
"Let me up Swamp Rat! Tell me what the hell is going on!" Rogue demanded, struggling against him.
Gambit looked down at her with a cheeky grin. "Gambit is almost offended, all of de femmes would love for him to be this close, but he's gon' let you off the hook for the moment." He rolled off of her. "Now, take off your shirt."
"What?" Rogue screeched, stunned into paralysis. She knew that he was flirty, but to be that blunt about it…
"Ya were shot, chere. In the back." Gambit explained, grinning at the reaction he had gotten out of her, but looking concerned non the less. "I need ta check it now dat we've been rollin around on the ground and such."
"I was… shot?" Rogue looked up at him stupidly from her place on the ground. She would have imagined that it probably would have hurt more to be shot… her back just sort of ached.
"Yes, petit, shot." He looked like he was trying to explain something to an uncooperative five year old.
Remy looked down at her, amused by the confused look she was giving him, but, through his empathy he could sense some anger starting to boil inside of her. He set out quickly to diffuse it, not wanting her to attract any attention with some sort of raving.
"You don't remember?" He asked softly.
She shook her head, the anger dying down slowly as she sat up. He helped her stand completely, letting his gloved fingers linger against her gloved fingers for a second longer than necessary against his will.
She bushed and took a step back.
Remy took a moment to stare at the tips of his fingers. The tips of his fingers could do horrible things, they could cause pain, they could cause destruction. And, his eyes flicked down to her fingers for just a moment, the tips of her fingers could do just as much… maybe even worse.
How … fitting…
"Would you mind explainin' things to me?" Rogue asked snippily, getting slightly antsy under his constant gaze. It wasn't that people didn't look at her. People looked at her all the time, hell, men looked at her all the time. But no one ever looked at her like that.
It made her nervous.
"Right," His smile flashed back into it's normal place. "First, off with the shirt." He commanded.
Rogue felt her face glow red with the awful heat of embarrassment. "Do I have too?" She whined.
"Oui." Came the curt response as he tapped his foot and crossed his arms dramatically.
The embarrassment tripled as she turned around so that her back was facing him and pulled the shirt above her head.
"Damn." Gambit said from behind her.
"What," Rogue started to panic… she couldn't feel anything except for a slight soreness, could it really be that bad? "What is it?"
"It's all healed up." He sounded disappointed. "There's Wolverine for ya'. Doesn't even know where we are, and he's still keeping' me from getting your shirt off. Even if it is just his damn healing powers."
Rogue quickly pulled the shirt back over her head and turned around with her hand outstretched as if to strike him. He ducked underneath her blow and then tackled her to the ground again, pinning her in much the same manner as before, only rougher now that he knew he couldn't hurt her.
"Let meh up!" She hissed, her accent spiking again.
"First," Gambit waved a taunting finger in front of her face. "Admit that I might actually be doing something for your own good."
"Fine." Rogue snapped, struggling harder against him.
"Say it." Gambit demanded, pressing down on her one shoulder gingerly, as if he was trying to avoid hurting her.
Rogue muttered something incoherently.
"Louder." Gambit prompted.
"It could be, maybe, possibly that somehow, perhaps, you could be doing something that might be for my own good." She glared up at him, a thousand questions burning in her mind.
He laughed at her, she noticed the way the grin made the corners of his eyes crinkle and decided she liked that a lot better then the usually impassive expression he always wore.
She quickly shook those thoughts out of her head and kneed and punched at Gambit until he rolled off of her again.
"Deiu, you are in a bad mood." He laughed at her.
She 'harrumphed' and crossed her arms over her chest. "You better start explaining things now or I'll siphon answers out of you."
He laughed again. "But that would require touching me, cherie, and you do not want to do that."
Odd, thought Rogue, stunned momentarily. That phrase sounded weirdly familiar. It took her a second to realize why exactly, and then she launched herself back on top of Gambit, trying to claw out his eyes with her gloved hands.
"You were following me?" She accused, trying to get a firm grip around his neck.
"Maybe a little bit," Gambit admitted with a smile, skillfully avoiding all of her attacks. "That was only for your protection, however."
"And what about the part where ya' kidnapped meh," Rogue snorted. "Was that fo' mah protection to?"
"I'm a t'ief." Gambit shrugged. "I steal t'ings. Now, are you gonna try and kill me, or are you gonna let me explain?"
Begrudgingly, Rogue put down the chair she was about to break over his teeth, and listened as he explained about the explosion, the crazy mercenary named Deadpool, the MRD being severely beaten by Wolverine, and how he had discreetly relieved them of the duty of watching out for her for the next few days… or longer if need be. He conveniently left out the parts that didn't have to do with the plan.
"Huh…" Rogue rested her chin in her palms after he was done explaining. "How the hell did I get so popular so fast?"
Gambit gave her a smile, one of those ones that made her confused to be a woman, and said, "I'm sure a belle femme such as your self was plenty popular without havin' to be tracked down by the government."
"And I really don't know if you're bein' sincere or a smart ass."
"A little bit of both." He smirked.
-
Logan slouched slightly, an unusual gesture for him in itself, but the company he was in made it even odder.
"I just don't know what to do, Chuck." He said to the professor.
The bald man looked at him with a pensive gaze it the stark nirvana he and Logan usually met in when Professor Xavier contacted him from the future. It had been the team's decision that Logan should meet with the professor before they took any actions, if anything, just to get the elderly man's opinion on the odd situation.
… And, Deadpool had accidentally locked himself in the danger room, and Logan had thought to do something constructive while waiting for Scott and Kurt to bust him out.
"Hmm." Was all Xavier had to offer at the moment. "Could this be how it all starts?" He questioned himself, pacing on his mechanical legs.
"How what starts, Chuck?" Logan asked gingerly.
"Oh," The professor looked up as if just noticing that Logan was there. "Uh- Nothing, nothing." He turned his back to Logan and chuckled. Charles Xavier chuckles for two reasons, and only two.
One could be that he actually found something quite amusing, never being know for actually bursting into gales of laughter and always being known for having a good natured smile on his face, a chuckle was a mark of success when getting on Charles Xavier's good side.
Another reason Charles Xavier chuckles is when he is nervous. A general crease of the brows was his usual way for showing displeasure, his smile faltering for a moment and his eyes striking a new tone of seriousness that differed slightly from the earnestness they` always held, but that only made clear a situation was to be taken seriously. But, when a nervous chuckle escaped his lips, something beyond his control had happened and it made him anxious. Nervous chuckles were not good.
Logan couldn't tell which one this was.
"Does this mean Wade Wilson is here presently?" Xavier asked as he turned back to Logan, no emotion lingered on his face for Logan to try and detect what the man might have meant.
"Yeah," Logan answered. "But I don't know how I feel about taking his word. He doesn't smell like a liar… only like Lucky Charms… but who knows, the man is crazy, he could be making everything up."
Charles put a reassuring hand on his student's shoulder. "Trust him for the time being." Xavier said firmly, Logan noticed that he didn't specify what 'for the time being' meant.
"When do we stop trusting him, Chuck?"
"Hopefully not until he steals your motorcycle and a box of our sugar cookies," Xavier said gravely. "Hopefully."
"What about Gambit?" Logan said, trying to wrench his thoughts away from what'd he'd do to Deadpool if he stole his motorcycle.
"Gambit…" Charles looked like he put a lot of thought into answering that question. "The decision will be yours when the time comes… if he can do the right thing, for Rogue, for the X-men, for humanity, then I expect that he might even be welcomed by you." He paused a moment. "But there is a chance that my interference will have an adverse side effect and erase these paths that have already been drawn in the future."
Their connection started to fade away, but Logan still burned with questions.
"How will I get Rogue back?" He asked quickly, before the connection was broken entirely.
"The future is not set in stone, Logan." The man said cryptically. "And thus, neither is the past."
The connection broke, Logan was back in an empty room, staring at a comatose man.
Trust Deadpool… consider trusting Gambit… The professor was sure asking a lot this time around…