Hi Everyone. Thank you to those of you who have Story alerted this story and to those of you who have "favorited" this story. Knowing that there are people who do want to read my story is exciting and makes me want to continue this story. (Hint: I might update faster if more people review). Also, I was wondering if I should try to add in the accents of the people involved in the story. Review and let me know what you think.

If there are any serious typos that need to be fixed, please let me know.

Things have been hectic lately, so sorry for the delay.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men (though I can draw a few of them relatively well)

Anyway, here we go!

Chapter 3

"Now wait just a damn minute…what do you mean the MRD?" Riley asked.

"Recent information the X-men have gathered has confirmed that the MRD have decided to build a high-tech, high-security, underground base in Mississippi. The exact whereabouts were unknown…up until five minutes ago that is," Wolverine explained to the dumbstruck barkeep.

"Not likely! I would've known months ahead of time. There is no way the MRD have made a base here in Mississippi," exclaimed Riley.

"Actually, there is a high chance that the MRD have made a base here…right under your nose, Riley," Rogue commented without emotion. "After all, when was the last time your contact sent you any information?"

Riley was at a loss for words. Sure it had been awhile since his informant within the MRD had contacted him, but that was to be expected. It was a highly dangerous job, and getting information safely out was even more hazardous than procuring a job within the fanatical organization.

Several minutes had passed since Rogue had asked her question.

"That's what I thought," Rogue stated matter-of-factly. "Your spy has more than likely been captured or is already dead. Let's hope for her sake and ours that it's the latter, because if she is still alive, everyone is in danger. She can be linked back to you, and the MRD will come after you, Riley. If they come after you, they will find us too," Rogue elucidated on the serious consequences of a captured spy.

"You know me better than that, Sunshine. Ain't no way the damn MRD are finding their way back to me. But y'all should get the heck out of dodge," Riley all but commanded.

"Yes," Kurt agreed, thinking about protecting his sister.

At the same time Rogue said, "No can do."

Kurt and Rogue looked at each other (well, Kurt more glared at Rogue, while Rogue gazed back impassively), before Rogue gently sighed and began to explain why.

"I can't leave until I've settled my affairs. After all, this is a working vacation. If it was a vacation for fun, do you really think I'd go back to my hometown?"

Riley immediately understood the implications in Rogue's statement. After all, who would want to go back to a place filled with bitter memories, especially someone like Rogue, who tended to look on the worse side of life. Riley also knew about Rogue's "affairs" that she had to complete before leaving. Everyone in town already knew about her father's death, but no one believed his daughter would come back to their town to wrap up the family affairs.

Riley knew there was no use in trying to persuade Rogue to do anything other than what she was convinced she had to, but Riley couldn't just leave her to such a dangerous expedition. He was like her big brother and a father figure all rolled up into one, and there was no way he could just let her waltz into certain trouble.

"That's exactly the reason why you should leave, Sunshine! And don't you dare pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," Riley bit out at Rogue as he slowly stood up from behind his desk.

"You've got no right bringing that up Riley! You should know that by now, after all these years," Rogue coldly snapped back.

"No, Sunshine, you needed to remember exactly what happened because that's the same kind of danger you'll be in this time around," Riley painfully explained his actions, not wanting to hurt her, but knowing he had to bring it up to open her eyes to the danger present in the current situation.

"Don't worry Riley. I'm not five years old anymore. I am more than capable of taking care of myself," Rogue bit out as she did an about face and quickly left the office, leaving the four men staring after her.

'Yeah…and you'll push everyone away…again,' Riley thought.

"What the hell were you talking about, bub?" Wolverine questioned Riley with a murderous glare. No one upset Rogue while he was on watch.

Riley, with hid head bowed, calmly replied, "You'd better ask her yourself, stranger. Ain't no way she'll appreciate it that I told y'all her secrets."

"The homme be right mon ami. We ask chère, not someone else." Gambit reflected out loud.

"Yeah…and it'll be like trying to pull out one of Wolverine's teeth…impossible," Kurt dejectedly said as they slowly marched out of the office.

'Good luck X-men. I have a feeling you'll need it.' Riley thought as the office door swung shut with a flick of Kurt's (disguised) tail.

(On their way to a hotel for the remainder of the night)

"Rogue! Wait up!" Kurt yelled to her, as the men rushed to keep up with her as she stormed off.

So slowly, as to be almost unnoticeable, Rogue did slow down, despite her anger at Riley and his mention of that incident so many years ago.

"Where we headed darlin'?" Wolverine asked as the men caught up.

"Annabelle's motel…down in the old part of town, near the swamp. Ya should feel right at home, Swamp Rat." Rogue lightly joked as they headed toward their destination.

"Ah, ma petite. That cold." Gambit cried out as he playfully grabbed the area over his heart, as if Rogue had seriously wounded him. This caused Rogue to lightly smile, while Kurt and Wolverine only groaned.

"Keep it up Gumbo, and you'll really have something to whine about." Wolverine growled.

"Hey Rogue?" Kurt shyly said to her as Wolverine and Gambit continued their banter.

"Yeah?"

"Why did Riley call you Sunshine? It seems kind of…" Kurt trailed off, embarrassed.

"..out of place, considering my personality." Rogue supplied for him.

"Yeah."

"It's because of me initials, A.M. You know as in a.m. in the morning? Use to annoy the heck out of me, but it kind of grew on me." Rogue replied as she remembered the first time Riley had called her sunshine.

"He's a good man, chère." Gambit said as he overheard the last bit of their conversation.

"Yeah…he really is," Rogue replied softly, "Only real father figure I had in my life for awhile."

None of the men knew how to respond to this, and Rogue seemed to be lost in thought. Despite the easy conversation, she knew that sooner of later they were going to ask about Riley's comments back at Wicked Paradise, and she was betting on sooner rather than later.

Soon enough, they came across Annabelle's motel; a small looking building built near the swamp (or on it as some tourists liked to see it).

Heading up to the check-in, Rogue was sure Annabelle didn't recognize her. This thought was confirmed when Annabelle treated them like out-of-town tourists.

They quickly found themselves with a two-room connecting suite. Rogue would take the smaller room while the three men would make do with the other room.

After settling in, Rogue went through the connecting door to check on the three men. As usual, she found Gambit and Wolverine at each others throats (figuratively, of course), while Kurt sat silently watching them.

"Now boys, settle down." Rogue calmly said, while she gave a mental sigh. "What are y'all fighting about now?"

The men in question had the decency to at least pretend to look like they were ashamed of the behavior. However, neither of them would answer her question. It was left up to Kurt to supply an answer.

"They were arguing about the sleeping arrangements. Gambit seems to think you need a roommate and 'kindly' offered to be your roommate for 'protection' against the MRD. Wolverine here seemed to take offense to this idea and they began arguing. I decided to settle in while they were at it. It is almost as good as watching those T.V programs."

"Well, since I don't need a roommate, problem solved."

At this comment, Wolverine gave a slight nod as if showing his silent approval for denying Gambit's advances. Meanwhile, Gambit seemed exasperated at Rogue's denial; as if he couldn't believe she kept refusing him.

"Is there anything else y'all need before I go to bed?"

The three men glanced at each other, trying to decide how to broach the subject of what Riley had said back at Wicked Paradise. Finally, Wolverine asked her in his direct, to the point, no nonsense way.

"What the hell was Riley talking about at the bar, darlin'?"

Rogue knew what he was talking about, and she had no intention of answering the question. Just the mention of the topic seemed to infuriate her. "None of your business…any of you." She said as she glared at them before turning around, leaving the room, and slamming the door behind her.

"Wolverine, mon ami, have you ever heard of the word 'tact.'" Gambit asked as he looked at the closed door.

Wolverine only glowered at the Cajun before turning around to unpack.

Flashback (in Rogue's dream that night)

The cell door slammed behind the five-year-old girl as the men behind her threw her inside the cell. She didn't know how long she had been here and all she wanted was to go home, to Maddie. She knew the men had no reason to take her away from home. She hadn't been doing anything bad. She was a good, little girl who always followed orders.

'Why are they doing this to me?' thought the little girl as she lay on the floor of the cell, sobbing as she remembered what she had just come from.

(Flashback two)

"Strap her down. We can't have her moving around so much," the doctor irritably told the guard stationed at the head of the table. The guard moved to restrain the girl, causing her to yell even louder than she already was. "And would someone please shut the brat up, before I start to get a headache."

So, the little girl was bound down, and gagged, but her terrified whimpers could still be heard. The doctor slowly took several sample of blood form the girl before stepping back. He then proceeded to put the blood samples in a solution of other mutant DNA. This solution was placed on a microscope slide and set under the microscope lens. When the doctor looked through the lens, he saw the cells interacting in the normal fashion, the cells killing each other because they were incompatible, the same result that had happened every time so far.

"Stage one of Project Poison has failed. Prepare the girl for stage two." the doctor disgustedly spit out, as he looked at the girl as if the failure of stage one was solely her fault.

The scientists worked for the military and were being paid to harness the girl's mutant abilities, so they could create the ultimate weapon against other mutants. If this proved unsuccessful, they would find a way to control the girl's mind in order to use her as they wished; this was stage two of the project.

As the little girl was wheeled away, her last impression of the room was of a man's voice asking the doctor what would happen now, and hoe soon results could be expected.

(End Flashback two)

That had been hours ago and before they had subjected the girl to the horrible experience of having someone violate her mind. For hours, she had been forced to sit in a room with a telepathic mutant who had been paid by the government specifically for this purpose. The mutant had then proceeded to enter the child's mind and sweep through her memories. The child had been defenseless against the assault as the telepath had begun to try to compel her to do her bidding. However, the girl's mind refused to obey the commands of the mutant and the child fainted as the struggle for supremacy became too much. In sleep, the telepath had attempted to enter the child's mind yet again, but found strong walls present, sent up from the unconscious to protect the girl from further torture.

The child had awakened on the trip back to her cell, where she would be left alone, until the next bout of testing from the doctor.

In her cell, she cried until she fell asleep, only to dream of red-eyed monsters that looked suspiciously liked the doctor.

End Flashback

Rogue gasped as she bolted straight up in bad. She hadn't thought about that period of her life in years.

Rogue slowly got up out of bed as she thought about that incident in her life.

'Too bad I didn't know that my father was the one who sold me out to the damn military doctors. Would've been nice to know that the person I was counting on to save me was the one who betrayed me.' Rogue grimly thought as she stared out the window at the slowly lightening swamp area.

Rogue continued to look out at the swamp until it was time to get up, get ready, and leave.

(First actual day of trip)

"So where we headed today, mon chérie?" Gambit asked as they followed Rogue around town.

"You'll see, Swamp Rat. Just be patient." Rogue replied, as she walked in near silent contemplation.

They had been walking for near a half hour now, when Rogue suddenly heard a rather loud heated discussion coming from the direction in which she would've eventually headed off in. Rogue was willing to ignore said discussion until the sound of a heavy smack was heard. At this point, Rogue took off running, which took the men by surprise.

Rogue nearly lost the three of them in her quick turns in the neighborhood they were in. As it was, Rogue made it to the scene well before the men did. She was surprised to find that the argument had taken place at the destination she was headed to anyways.

She quickly took in the scene. A younger, white male was standing menacingly over an older, dark-skinned woman who was holding the side of her face as if the man had just struck her, which he probably had if the sound she had heard was any indication.

"What you think you're doing here?" yelled Rogue as she approached the woman on the ground.

"None of your business, stranger. Now get out of here before I call the authorities." the man said without looking at Rogue.

"Last I checked this was my property. So I recommend you leave, now."

With this comment the man did look at her, and still didn't believe her.

"Yeah right. Everyone knows in this town that the daughter of that old drunk isn't coming back. So why don't you take your little self back to the gutter you swam out of." the man sneered at Rogue.

"Like I said Shaw, you best leave before I get my daddy's shotgun from the mantle and run you off. Last I heard it wasn't illegal to shoot someone for trespassing." Rogue coolly said as she stared the man down.

The man grudgingly began to believe that Rogue was who she said she was. "This land and house are going to be mine soon, so don't you get too comfortable!" the man shouted before he turned around and hurried off.

"Yeah…over my dead body." Rogue whispered as she slowly turned her attention from the disappearing man to the woman looking up at her from the ground. By this time the three other x-men had been standing on the sidelines, watching the conversation between Rogue and the man. As the man left, the three x-men approached Rogue and the woman.

"Hey Maddie. How you doing?" Rogue quietly asked with a slight smile.

At this, the woman broke out in tears, and grabbed Rogue around her shoulders, bringing Rogue in for a fierce hug. "Anne Marie," Maddie repeated over and over while the three men looked on.