AN:

As mentioned before, Zoe and Shirow are comic-canon. The story Zoe tells is more or less what happened in the comics (the early issues of "Gambit" series 3). I altered the ending slightly to fit in with this continuity.

Chapter 15

It was silent in Zoe's car as she drove down the highway. The 'guys' car was not far behind her. Zoe glanced over at Rogue, who was staring sullenly out the window. Zoe had been looking forward to doing a job with Rogue, but her obvious bad mood was taking all the fun out of it.

"Did something happen?" Zoe asked finally. "Did you and Remy have a fight? Because I didn't think he was due to come back for another week and –"

"I don't really want to talk about it right now," Rogue replied.

"Okay, well, if you change your mind..."

"Thanks."

Silence fell once more.

"Zoe?" Rogue said after a time. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go right ahead," Zoe replied.

"I've just been curious – you don't have to answer if you don't want to – but... why did you get excommunicated from the Tokyo Thieves Guild?"

Zoe was quiet for a moment. Just as Rogue was thinking she wasn't going to get an answer (not that she blamed her), Zoe spoke up:

"My brother, Shirow, is a mutant with the ability to produce a special gas from his body. I know this is going to sound a little crazy but... this gas is a will-sapping gas. You get a lungful of this stuff and you will do anything you're told, even if you're told to walk off a cliff."

"Wow," Rogue said softly.

"Anyway," Zoe went on, "when his ability emerged, the Guild sent him off to some scientists. They told me they were going to help him but... but they were really planning on milking him like a cow and selling the gas on the black market. I rescued him as soon as I found out what was really going on and... well yeah, that's how we got excommunicated. We got chased here by another guy who had heard about Shirow and wanted to exploit him too. Remy ended up helping us, actually, and then we got accepted into the New Orleans Thieves Guild."

Rogue nodded. "I don't think I've ever met Shirow."

"You wouldn't have," Zoe replied. "After everything settled down, Remy mentioned a couple of mutant schools he knew about; Xavier's in New York state, and the Massachusetts Academy. Said as far as education was concerned, they were both pretty much the same; both schools for mutants, with mutant teachers and telepathic headmasters."

Rogue laughed.

"He must have gone to the Academy, then?" Rogue said. "Unless he went to Xavier's after I left."

"No, he went to the Academy," Zoe said with a nod. "Their headmistress – Emma Frost – she's a high ranking member of the Hellfire Club. We figured Shirow would be more likely to make some valuable connections at the Academy. He graduated last year."

"And he has valuable connections?" Rogue asked, only half-teasing.

"Hell yes," Zoe replied, grinning. "In fact, he's hopeful about being offered a place in the Hellfire Club in a couple of years. For now, he's busy studying."

"What is he studying?"

"Medicine. Neurochemistry or neurology or... neuro-something," Zoe replied. "He's interested in how the gas he produces actually works."

"I would be too."

"Oh, and he's also studying stealing," Zoe added with a grin. "We wouldn't want his skills as a thief to fall short now, would we?"

Rogue laughed and another silence fell.

"How did you know?" Rogue asked finally. "I mean, know that the N'Orleans Guild wouldn't try to exploit Shirow like the Toyko Guild or that other guy did?"

"I didn't," Zoe replied. "But I needed help, so I needed to trust them."

Rogue paused. "Right."

Zoe glanced over at Rogue again.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about... whatever's bothering you?" she asked.

Another silence followed.

"I found out I had a brother a few weeks ago," Rogue said.

"Oh yeah?" Zoe asked curiously.

"Yeah. His name's Kurt. He's the son of my adopted mother. We met a few years ago and he didn't even know she was his birth mother until recently. He's pretty cool. He's a priest."

"Wow..." Zoe said. "So, ahh, what does he think of you being a thief?"

"I was afraid to ask," Rogue admitted with a giggle.

Zoe chuckled.

"Actually, I'm not... I mean on the one hand it's nice to have a brother, I guess," Rogue said thoughtfully. "On the other hand, we didn't really grow up together. I don't really know him and we don't really have a brother/sister relationship so... I don't know. I guess I'm wondering, if I could ever trust him, you know? Really trust him. He saved my life once, but then Mama also tried to have me killed. And I know they're not the same person, but... And then he's a priest and I'm a thief. And... and I just don't know."

"And I don't know what to tell you," Zoe replied. "I guess, it's nice to be able to say 'you have to earn trust', but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and choose to trust someone before they've had a chance to earn it. Like this robbery for example; the guys and I are taking a leap of faith choosing to trust you."

Rogue frowned. "You are?"

"Uh huh. We know you as a friend, but we don't know you as a colleague," Zoe said seriously. "We have no idea how you behave on the job, but we're trusting you to get us physically in and out of the bank, loot and all. We have no way of knowing you won't just take the loot and leave us in the vault or something."

"I wouldn't do that!"

Zoe turned her head briefly to grin at Rogue. "But we don't know that. We're trusting you. I mean, sure, you have rank in the Guild and everything, but it wouldn't be the first time betrayal has occurred within the Guild."

"Well... I... I guess so."

Zoe chuckled.

"Trusting people has its risks," she said. "I trusted the Toyko Guild. They were our friends and family, and I trusted them to look after Shirow, but they were more interested in themselves, rather than training a member of their own Guild. Believe me, that stung. But, you live and learn. You move on. And you keep taking risks. Sometimes it'll work out, sometimes it won't; but at the end of the day, you can't do everything by yourself."

"I suppose not," Rogue conceded.

There was silence for a moment.

"You know," Zoe said slyly, "your brother probably doesn't know whether he can trust you or not either. I mean, you are a thief. How does he know you're not going to take advantage of him and rob him?"

Rogue giggled.

"I didn't think of it that way," she said.

"See? This trust stuff works both ways," Zoe said. "And you know what? I think that's way too much heavy conversation for one car trip."

Rogue chuckled as Zoe turned on the radio.

Some hours later, Rogue looked out from the balcony of the hotel room she and Zoe were sharing. The guys had a room next door.

"That's it," Zoe said from where she stood beside Rogue. "That's the bank, right there."

"Seriously?" Rogue asked in surprise, looking at where Zoe was pointing out the back of the bank.

"Yep," Zoe replied. "Andre and I came here for another job a few years back, that's how we noticed it. There's the cop shop over there."

"Interesting... you stayed in a hotel near a police station?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow.

Zoe laughed.

"Well, first, that's not something hotels always advertise," Zoe said. "And for another, it's not like there's a warrant out on us or anything, so there's no point in trying to avoid them. If anything, being right under their nose makes it all the more fun."

Rogue chuckled.

Rogue found that the others had put their plans into motion some time ago, when they'd originally conceived the idea of robbing this particular bank. Andre got into the vault, having opened a security deposit box there previously. This gave the team a chance to check up on any potential security upgrades and afforded Andre the chance to plant the device they needed in order to hack into the system.

They gave it a few more days, using the time to case the place and confirm the notes from the last time they'd checked things out, as well as doing the usual touristy stuff to avoid any hotel staff seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Finally, the night of the robbery arrived. Earlier that day, the five had left with reasonably stuffed backpacks. They spent the day doing the touristy thing that they had intended on doing, but instead of heading back to the hotel as soon as they got back, they headed to the bank. In their backpacks were dark jackets and hoodies to match their dark pants, as well as gloves and beanies, all of which they put on as soon as they were out of public view. Stephane used his phone to disable security (as previously setup with his laptop, still on at the hotel).

Rogue had made a slight alteration to the plans to phase them through the back wall – instead of phasing her friends, she phased the wall. Rogue also shape-shifted so she matched the wall, just in case a police officer looked out at an inopportune moment, although they considered this unlikely if they didn't hear a disturbance.

As soon as her friends were through, Rogue phased through herself and shape-shifted back to normal.

"That was so cool," Zoe said, grinning at her.

"Heh, yeah," Brad agreed.

"Come on," said Stephane. "Let's get to work."

The team worked swiftly then. The security deposit boxes were opened and things of interest removed. The cash was inspected for dye packs before also being removed. Everything was shared amongst their five bags, one for each of them.

Finally, the hard part; getting the loot back to the hotel without being notice by either the police or by any guests in the hotel. Rogue phased her head through and borrowed Logan's senses. After a moment she pulled back.

"No one on the balconies or at the windows," she reported. "Obviously, I can't account for the cops."

"All right," said Andre. "Let's go."

Rogue repeated her wall-phasing trick from before and the five casually made their way across from the bank to the hotel. Their beanies and gloves made their way into their pockets, and the five entered the hotel through the entrance like they had done nothing more than gone hiking all day.

The five were swift to pack up. They caught a few hours sleep, and then checked out of the hotel before the bank staff were due to arrive at work.

Gambit was nervous about Rogue's return. They hadn't really spoken much since she left and he was missing her like crazy. At the same time, he was also apprehensive, worried that things might be strained between them. He really hoped they could get past this.

He looked into the downstairs living room and spotted Mercy reading her book.

"Hey," he said. "Come to pick up Oli. Thanks for looking after him for me."

Mercy looked up, confused.

"Oh," she said. "Rogue already picked him up... I don't know, half an hour ago?"

"She's back already?" Gambit asked. "Huh, I wasn't expecting her back until this afternoon."

"Pleasant surprise?" Mercy asked with a grin.

"I hope so," he replied. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome," she called after him, and returned to her book as Gambit left her view.

Gambit made his way upstairs. Only Gris Gris was in their living room, so his next stop was for Olivier's room. He opened the door slowly and smiled when his eyes fell on Rogue holding and talking to Olivier on the lounge chair. There was a little soft photo album with them, one that they had bought for Olivier as a toy and filled with photos of family members.

"Hey," he said softly.

Rogue's head shot up.

"Hey," she said.

"When did you get back? I didn't think you would be back until later," Gambit said, walking into the room and kneeling down beside them.

"About an hour ago," she replied. "Surprise."

Gambit chuckled and leaned on the arm of the chair.

"How'd the bank robbery go?" he asked. Olivier reached out his hand and grabbed at Gambit's nose.

"Good," Rogue replied.

"Pa," Olivier said.

["Yes, Oli, Papa's here,"] Gambit replied, smiling. ["It's nice having Mama back, isn't it?"]

"Pa," Olivier said.

"You know," Rogue said, "maybe I should have waited before picking up Oli."

"Oh?" Gambit asked and lifted his head to see the wickedly coy expression on her face. "Oh... right now?"

"Hmm," Rogue said as she stood up and carefully put Olivier back in his crib with the album. "So reluctant?"

"Well," Gambit said as he stood up, "we were in the middle of a fight when you left."

"Ugh," Rogue replied, grabbing hold of Gambit's collar and hauling him out towards their bedroom. "Forget that."

"Forget? I don't think we can just –"

Rogue pressed her finger to his lips.

"Shh," she said. "We'll talk later. Robbing banks makes me horny."

Simultaneously, Rogue pulled him towards the bed and kissed him, her lips hard against hers and silencing his argument. Another argument came to his mind, and he put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away sharply. His eyes were cold.

"You're not Rogue," he said.

A sly smile appeared on her lips as her hands moved unrestrained across his clothed body.

"Okay," she said agreeably. "Who am I then? One of the maids? Shall I get one of their uniforms?"

"You're a shape-shifter," Gambit said coldly, catching her hands, "posing as my wife."

"Oooh, naughty, naughty," she said, pressing up against him and biting her bottom lip. "I like it when you're creative."

"That's funny," Gambit replied, jerking slightly as her leg snaked around him, tripping him up slightly, "because I don't like you at all."

"Mmm," she replied, pushing him down on the bed. "You're really getting into this. Why am I posing as your wife, anyway?"

He rolled out from under her and slipped off the side of the bed.

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked as he backed away from her.

"No, I don't think so," she replied, using the bed post to swing around and face him. "If I were really a shape-shifter, I think the last thing I'd do is tell you why."

She paused and watched him slyly as he walked around her.

"I think," she went on, pressing her back to the bed post and running her hands along the sides, "that you should try and make me tell you."

"Huh, you do, do you?" Gambit asked, continuing around to Rogue's side of the bed.

"Uh huh," she said, now running her hands down herself. "I promise you, I'm a tough nut to crack."

Gambit opened up Rogue's top drawer.

"Oh good," he said and lifted out a pair of handcuffs. "Think these'll help?"

"Absolutely," she replied, her eyes glittering.

They both knew Gambit was right and the shape-shifter wouldn't concede that fact. Gambit walked casually back over to her, knowing perfectly well that at her first opportunity she wouldn't hesitate to press her advantage.

Rogue-who-was-not-Rogue pushed away from the bed as Gambit approached. At first they circled each other, like two dogs fighting over the one rabbit. Each waited for the other to make the first move, to make the first mistake, and neither was in any rush to close the distance.

Gambit dangled the handcuffs almost lazily from his fingers, the picture of nonchalance. He looked forward to finding out who was posing as his wife and making her - or him - pay, not only for the insult to Rogue, but for having the audacity to go near Olivier. To say nothing of actually finding out why in the first place.

They circled continuously, and when the shape-shifter's back was to the bed for the seventh or eighth time, the handcuffs slipped from Gambit's fingers. The shape-shifter immediately reacted; not realising that Gambit wasn't quite as distracted as she thought. Although Gambit had knelt to pick up the handcuffs, he was well able to catch her ankle as she launched a kick at his head. A second pair of handcuffs appeared out of no-where - really Gambit's sleeve - locked around her ankle and a second later the other half was locked around the decorative bar at the end of the bed.

Gambit scampered backwards, grabbed the first pair of handcuffs off the floor and stood, a smirk on his face. The shape-shifter was at a distinct disadvantage now, what with the second pair of handcuffs trapping her right leg upwards. She tried to free her ankle, but to no avail and she couldn't afford to take her eyes off Gambit too long.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"What?" she responded. "You think that's enough to get me to talk? You're going to have to try much harder than that, lover-boy."

"Keeping up the pretence, are we? Fine," Gambit replied. "I'm waiting."

There was silence while Gambit smirked mischievously at the shape-shifter and she glared back at him.

"Waiting for what?" she asked finally.

"Waiting to hear what Rogue usually says when I handcuff her to the bed," he answered and he winked at her.

The shape-shifted pursed her lips. What Rogue usually said was: "Very funny, Swamp Rat. Now give me back my lock picks."

"Why don't you come over here, and I'll whisper it to you," she replied.

"Dirty fille," Gambit replied cockily.

He swaggered over, his hands apparently behind his back, just as the shape-shifter's hands were behind hers. Their eyes were locked as Gambit approached and leaned in. The hands came out; one of Gambit's with the handcuffs, and one of hers with a six-inch blade.

Gambit free hand wrestled with her knife hand as she attempted to plunge it into him. He succeeded in locking the handcuffs around the other hand, but her knife hand had momentum on its side and was dangerously close. He pressed into her, forcing her against the bed post. The shape-shifter seemed to realised he was gaining the advantage.

"By the way," she said as she transformed into a black-haired man. "The name's Questa."

Gambit faltered and the knife slit his coat. Gambit only just managed to slide out of the way in time before the blade could penetrate any deeper. That couldn't be right. Questa wouldn't go against Bella Donna, and in any case, he was supposed to be impersonating Gris Gris right about now. Besides, it was against protocol for Assassins to reveal who they were while on a mission.

Gambit still had hold of the handcuffs, however, and when he dodged out of the way of the knife, he moved around the shape-shifter, taking the handcuffed arm with him. Despite her - his? - struggling, Gambit succeeded in pulling it around the bed post. The shape-shifter thrust out blindly with the knife, knowing Gambit was behind and trying to at least poke an eye out or something. Gambit managed to grab some of the knife hand with his spare one, and with his other locked the other half of the handcuffs in place, so that the shape-shifter was now trapped on the end of the bed. Both hands now free, Gambit managed to wrench the knife away and backed off.

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "No nicks on the bed. That's good. It's a valuable antique. Been in the family for generations. And Rogue adores it. I'd hate for anything to happen to it."

The shape-shifter cursed at him. Gambit ignored it and put the knife down on the table. He then pulled out his phone and rang Henri.

"Remy," Henri said as soon as he answered, "I'm in the middle of -"

"I have a shape-shifter in my room, who posed as Rogue so she could try to kill me and is now claiming to be Questa," Gambit cut in, his eyes on the shape-shifter.

"I guess it is important then," Henri replied. "Questa huh?"

"Oui. Revealing himself bought him a tactical advantage, even if it was ultimately futile," Gambit said with false laziness.

"Not buying it?"

"Well, if the Assassins wanted to start a war, this would be the way to do it."

"You're still looking at him, aren't you?"

"Oui."

"Okay, send me a photo," Henri decided. "I'll show it to our guest and see what he thinks. Damn, you said he posed as Rogue?"

"Oui."

"Gris Gris would have known Rogue was away, and that she was coming back today..."

"You're not seriously suggesting that -" Gambit said and cut himself off, not wanting to voice his objection in front of the shape-shifter.

"I don't consider it likely either, but we can't rule out the possibility that we were set up," Henri replied firmly. "Call Rogue, find out exactly when she's due back. I'll talk to Gris Gris. See you soon."

They hung up and Gambit rang Rogue.

"Hi sugar," she said pleasantly upon answering.

"Hi chére," he replied. "What time you due home?"

"Umm... about two, give or take."

"All right then."

There was a paused and then Rogue asked: "Is something wrong?"

"Oui," Gambit replied after a pause of his own. "Someone posing as you just tried to kill me."

There was something gratifying about the swearing that followed.