Author's Note: Thank you again for your reviews, they mean a lot! Gambit is one smooth talker, you'll be seeing more of that later, but for now, enjoy Rogue to the rescue, sorta? ;-)

Chapter Nine

Laundry Room, Park-Hyatt Hotel

"She's with me," Rogue heard Gambit say right before the Cajun threw his staff at the closest dryer, the impact of his kinetically charged weapon causing it to shutter violently, shards of metal and plastic flying everywhere.

Gun fire rang out and instinctively she jumped up into the air, a move almost never expected by those who didn't know of her mutant ability and it was the easiest way to dodge while getting into position to do some damage herself. With her near-invulnerability due to the strength she absorbed from Danvers, basic 9mm's bruised and stung like a bitch but otherwise didn't harm her.

At least a dozen bad guys stood on top of the dryers and she took off after them, ploughing down the first three, knocking them to the floor below. One of the men jumped after her from across the machines and she blocked two punches before landing one of her own square in the man's gut. He doubled over and she grabbed him by the arms, flinging him around and tossing the assassin at his brethren, the whole group sliding across a dryer and disappearing over the side.

In her peripheral she could see a dozen or so of the Yakuza run out the open spot where the door had been. She considered following but an assassin started to rudely shoot at her. Rogue jumped down between the dryers, flying around quickly to come up behind, a swift kick ending the threat.

Dropping between the machines she saw Gambit finishing up, knocking out two of his attackers with his recovered staff. When she found the restaurant in tatters she had feared for the man's life, maybe more so than she should have, but she'd been in his position before…

"Thanks for da assist, cheri," the thief grinned, a little blood trickling from a wound in his hairline, "though next time you want another date, you only need but call."

Rogue rolled her eyes, the man absolutely exasperated her. "Come on, if they don't have tha stairs covered then it's an easy out."

"You go ahead, petite," Gambit moved past her, "but Shingen still has da file on Henri, gonna get it from him."

"Yah really think he brought it with him?" she tried not to laugh at the man, "He was planning on killing yah."

"Shingen is sadistic," he said he walked quickly towards the door, "he'd take great pleasure in knowing I was within reach of da answers and he took dem away."

Gambit got to the door when she called after him, "He could be anywhere in tha building by now."

"Then I'll search da whole building," he shot back, a hard edge to his voice that she was all too familiar with. It was the kind of pain that leads a man, or in her case, woman, into situations they had no reason to be in and making mistakes no one should ever make.

"Wait," she shouted as he was about to exit, "I have an idea."

He turned towards her. "Petite?"

"I'm improvising," she mumbled as she pulled her glove off squatted next to one of the men who had been part of Shingen's personal guard.

Odds were the man wasn't a mutant so she just brushed her hand across his face, letting the momentary contact throw her into his mind. One of his last thoughts before getting knocked out had been of his duty to his boss. All the information she needed was there, easy reach, gratefully so.

"Tha roof," she said as she stood, "exit strategy is they'll send for a helicopter instead of trying ta make it down to tha ground floor in case tha building's compromised."

He stared at her, it was a different look than she had ever seen from someone who witnessed her use her ability. Some were impressed, others terrified, many simply glad she could get the job done. His expression she could not quite place, sadness perhaps, maybe regret but there was no time to examine it.

"Alright," he nodded, putting his poker face back on, "da roof."

With that they ran down the hall towards the stairs. A few guards had been left behind to cover the retreat but either a tossed playing card or thrown punch later and they were out.

Barreling through an exit door they came out on the roof, large cooling units blocking the view of the helicopter landing pad. Off in the distance they could hear the approaching copter, they'd made it just in time.

"I got Shingen," LeBeau whispered loudly over the howling noise of the wind and condensers.

Rogue nodded, slipping between the whirring machines as he jumped on top of them. Coming to the edge she could see the guards, most of them facing the approaching helicopter, but a few actually keeping watch of their flank.

Easy as falling off a log.

…

Shingen hadn't expected the female, all reports listed LeBeau as a loner and said nothing of a woman with incredible strength and flying capabilities. It was a factor he was not prepared for. He did not get to where he was by being stupid and quickly exited a situation that he had lost control over.

He had the writing box and LeBeau was still no closer to his brother's killer, he could list this one as a win.

"Umph!" a guard shouted and Shingen turned to see the female plough into the man, using him as a battering ram to knock down another.

A flash of movement and he brought his sword up to block the strike from the thief's staff. LeBeau tried to press his weight against him but Shingen held against the blow, eventually coming to the breaking point where the thief had to back off or else get himself overextended and open to attack.

"Just give me da CD," the thief growled, "den we all go our separate ways."

Shingen's answer was to sweep the sword at the thief's middle but it was parried away. A few more strikes and the Cajun took the offensive, trying to knock the Yakuza officer off his feet. Over the man's shoulder Shingen could see one of his men take aim at LeBeau only to be tossed aside by the red head.

The helicopter appeared above and a down gust of wind drove them both to the edge of the building. Sword locked with staff, Shingen kicked out to catch the thief's foot and the two tipped against the three foot ledge. Spinning, LeBeau pushed him away.

With two heavy swipes of the blade, LeBeau was forced to back up, jumping backwards onto the barrier. The theif had incredible balance, but with the heavy winds generated by the height and the helicopter even this was precarious for him and Shingen let himself smile.

"You're through, LeBeau," Shingen started his approach.

"Yes, I am," he winked, showing his left hand holding both the CD case and the bag containing the writing box.

"What?" the assassin looked down to see his jacket pulled open. Fury overtook the man and he would see the mutant plummet to his death, even if that meant the loss of the box.

"Time ta go!" the woman shouted as she flew past, snatching up the Cajun like an eagle after her dinner and they sped off into the night.

…

Ian Anthony Dale as Shiro Yoshida (Sunfire)

Outside Tokyo

"Ow," Gambit recoiled a bit as she dabbed at his wound, making sure there was nothing still in it.

"Big babies, all of yah," Rogue mumbled pouring some alcohol into the cut, washing it clean over her latex gloved fingers.

"Some of us ain't near-high invulnerable, cheri," the Cajun grumbled back.

"But yah like to think yah are," she retorted, wiping the area dry. "Don't think yah need stitches on this. Head wounds do like ta bleed."

"Will this work?" Shiro asked as he stepped into the room carrying a padded yellow envelope.

"Très bon," Gambit said to the man as he judged the dimensions. "You done dere, petite?"

Slapping on two white band-aids which were meant really to just hold the skin together as it healed, she patted him on the head like a child, "All done."

"Merci, petite," he grinned up at her just a tad bit suggestively and she moved away from him to clean up the mess she had made on Shiro's kitchen table. The Cajun had been a little too close for comfort at times as she worked on him, but he did manage to keep his hands to himself.

"Thank Shiro," she deflected his gaze, slipping off the latex gloves, "without him I wouldn't have known where ta find yah."

"Yes," Shiro gave a bit of a laugh, "Rogue comes to me and says she needs to know who is the most terrible Yakuza who also happens to be in the Assassin's guild. Shingen first comes to mind… then I wonder what business she could have with such a despicable man."

Shiro Yoshida was a diplomat's son, handsome to no end, and rather well off. It was his lovely home that they now sat in. Rogue knew him from when she had spent the better part of a year in Japan on a mission with her mother not long before her death. The two had become friends, Shiro being a rather amiable fellow when not being generally anti-American. Apparently Rogue didn't count as she was a mutant and thus a kindred spirit.

Also, it was obvious that he liked her a bit more than a man then-twenty, her seventeen, should have. Not that she minded, had her condition not limited her options, Shiro could have easily been her first, but it was never going to happen. Rogue let the man get any amorous feelings out of his system so they could move on to the friendship stage.

"Rogue had no business with Shingen," Gambit started to scrawl something on a piece of paper Shiro had given him earlier but grinned in her direction. "I think petite missed me."

"Hardly," she had taken off her jacket while she doctored the wounded man and she pulled an item from a pocket, "I only came for tha card."

Gambit stared at the worn King of Hearts for a moment, his eyes flitting between it and her, likely trying to figure out when she lifted it, not that she'd tell him. He finally said, "Tell you what, cheri, you can hold onto dat for a bit seeing as you possibly saved me a few broken bones, but I'll be having it back soon enough."

"Uh huh," she challenged him, slipping the card into the inside pocket of her jacket and pulling it on, followed by her regular gloves.

With a chuckle, Gambit finished what he was writing and laid the paper on top of the bagged writing box as he addressed the envelope.

Rogue snuck a look, "'Thanks for tha loan, came in handy, Kindest Regards, Remy LeBeau.' Yah really know how ta make friends don't yah."

"You prefer I keep it, petite?" he asked her playfully but there was that touch of seriousness in his tone that continued to confuse her.

Shrugging, she slipped into one of the high-backed dining chairs. "Shingen is gonna be madder than a rattlesnake, he gonna come after yah."

"Non," was the simple reply as the Cajun slid the box into the envelope.

"He's right," Shiro agreed with Gambit, "Shingen can contain this failure among his own men, but if he tries to reach outside Japan to go after Mr LeBeau, he'll have to explain why, and that means explaining how this thief got the better of him."

"Ah," she should have figured that one out but wasn't completely sure how the Guild system worked, "so you'll be fine as long as we can get yah out of Japan."

"And as long as he doesn't come back," Shiro added.

"Now what would be da fun in dat?" Gambit chuckled, then reached down and slipped something from his boot, a gold coin. He placed it on top of the envelope and slid it over to Shiro. "Overnight dat for me would you?"

The man nodded his acceptance of the task then turned towards the fire pit that bordered between the kitchen and living room, "I'll make us some tea." With a flick of his hand a ball of newly formed fire swept from his fingers and landed amongst the timber, igniting it immediately. While her friend Pyro only had the gift of controlling the element, Shiro, often called Sunfire, could create it by igniting the air itself.

"Coffee would be better," the thief said as Shiro took a kettle from a hanger and went over to the sink to draw water, "but whatever you have, mon ami."

Rogue thought she heard the man mumble something about 'Americans' but he continued his task of setting the water to boil over the fireplace.

"Alright, let's see what we got here," Gambit pulled Shiro's borrowed laptop over and lifted the screen. Waiting for the system to kick on he took the CD from the case and stared at it. There were no markings to read, Shingen hadn't bothered to label it, so it was good bet that the man was seeing through it.

Popping the CD into the drive, the thief tapped away at the keys for a good minute before cursing out in French, fist pounding on the table.

"What is it?" she leaned forward, curiosity getting the better of her.

"It's encrypted," he grumbled, pushing the laptop back from him.

Shiro came over with a tray of classic Japanese tea cups, "You can't… hack it?"

"I'm a thief, mon ami," he sounded offended, "fooling alarm systems takes art and style… dis… dis is brutal and vulgar."

"Yah looped tha cameras at Worthington's," she pointed out his not-to-uncomfortable turn at the computers.

"Learned dat out of necessity, cheri," Gambit was almost apologetic, "and it's not dat hard."

"Well," Shiro took the kettle from over the fire as it started to whistle, "I know of a few men up to the task, I can put in a call, should have someone here by tomorrow afternoon."

"Much obliged, mon ami," Gambit waved him off, "but da longer I'm here da more likely Shingen will find me. I would be remiss as a guest to ruin such hospitality with an invasion of Yakuza."

"Shingen wouldn't dare attack me," the fire mutant said a bit too gleefully, "he's swine, but he isn't stupid."

Gambit nodded appreciatively, "Still, I have contacts of my own and best if I leave Japan tonight, dis isn't your fight."

It wasn't Rogue's fight either but ever since she saw the memories of Henri dying she had been drawn to find out who was responsible. Not because she felt LeBeau's own drive towards answers, but because it reminded her of what it was like after her mother died. For years she had wondered what she could have done differently… and one fact that always came back to her was she should have accepted the help when it was offered.

"Yah know," Rogue came to a decision, "I have hacker friend too, and he was recently rolling around in my head," she reached over and grabbed the laptop, sliding it in front of her. "Let's see if he's still there."

"Rogue?" the thief questioned, "You don't have to do dis."

"Gonna anyway," she ignored him, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. Going into the recesses of her mind where she hid away all the voices she searched for the one she wanted. Several tried to latch onto her psyche but she threw them off, the pain echoing in winces on her face. When she finally found Pyro and pulled his stolen conscious to the forefront, she opened her eyes.

…

Bright baby blue, that's what Rogue's eyes were… normally they were deep sea green, the kind of color a person could get lost in. Now it was she who was lost to whoever's mind she was accessing.

"Ah, would you look at that," she laughed, her voice slipping from her usual Southern lit into an Australian parlance as she pulled off her gloves. "Think they're being right clever, aren't they."

Australian hacker, had to be Pyro. And it wasn't just the woman's eyes that had changed color, her whole demeanor had as well. The way she sat in the chair, the curve of her grin, the timber of her laugh, she wasn't Rogue anymore.

"Aww, 128-bit encryption," she said playfully to the screen, "isn't it cute, like a baby wallaby."

Her fingers tapped away quickly, not a single bit of hesitation, her grin spreading as she attacked the computer system. She started to mumbled something about it being stupid to put a password on a CD since the CD itself would contain the password, encrypted, so you'd only have to decrypt the one thing and the rest would take care of itself.

Or make the software think you've decrypted the password.

There was also a few random references to… Drop Bears?

The flames of the fire pit leapt up, growing higher and wilder the faster she typed. Gambit exchanged a look with Shiro, the man shaking his head, "That's not me."

This had gone on too long.

"Rogue!" he shouted at her but she didn't register the name.

Reaching over he grabbed the woman at her wrist, just above the end of her jacket cuff, his fingers awfully close to bare skin. Whatever part of her conscious was still there registered the dangerous move and she went stock still, staring down at the precarious position. She glanced up at him and he said the word again.

…

"Rogue."

The word meant something to her and it frightened her that she couldn't be sure why.

A voice screamed in her head, just as familiar, reminding her who she was. Sharp pains shot from her temples and she doubled over, breaking away from the Cajun's grasp before something bad could happen. Taking deep, quick breaths she dragged Pyro's memories away, tossing them into the crowded abyss of her mind.

Rogue blinked away the pain, her eyes shifting back to their normal green. Again she swore she could see Danvers yelling at her but she pushed that away too. She didn't need her guilt getting the better of her, not in a moment like this.

The Cajun quickly poured tea from the kettle into a cup and passed it to her. Rogue almost reached out for it but realized her gloves still lay on the table. He laid the drink down and backed his hand away as she quickly slipped the thin leather back on. Some people had nightmares of going into crowded areas having forgotten to put on pants, Rogue never felt more naked than when her gloves were off.

"You okay, petite?" the thief asked though it looked like he beat Shiro to the question.

"I'm fine," she said defensively, holding the warm cup in her hands, breathing in the calming aroma, "had it under control."

Neither of them looked like they believed her and the Cajun's, "If you say so, petite," didn't sound convincing either.

"I finished the hack," she diverted the subject, trying to refocus the men's gaze as she sipped the liquid. "But it's in Japanese."

"Well," Shiro cleared his throat and pulled the laptop over, "that would be my cue."

One would think the thief would be more curious about what was on the CD but his eyes never left her, watching her with that same expression she saw when she dragged the information out of one of Shingen's guards. Shiro had been obvious, he feared for his friend, but Gambit, she still couldn't read the man's poker face.

"I'm sorry, LeBeau," Shiro looked up from the screen, "but this does not list the contractor by name, just a series of bank accounts."

That finally drug the man's attention away from her, "Accounts dat have been cancelled and wiped clean by now."

"More than likely," Shiro said regrettably.

"Write dem down for me would you, mon ami," the thief slid over one of the sheets of paper, "I know a good money launderer, perhaps he can find something."

"Gonna keep looking?" she asked the Cajun.

He turned his dark red eyes towards her, "Would you?"

Rogue didn't answer, the look on her face telling the man everything he needed to know.

"Here's something," Shiro pointed at the computer screen. "Says here the contract was dropped off via courier, perhaps you can back trace through them."

"A courier, or the courier," Gambit immediately asked.

"Translation is sketchy," the man admitted, "but it was delivered to Guild headquarters and they keep complete logs of everyone who sets foot in the building, including surveillance."

Shiro turned the computer around and against a dark screen of Japanese text was a black and white image looking down on a man who was standing, waiting to be let past a check point. He was a suave looking gentleman, the kind who would look perfectly suited next to a Disney princess in some kind of fairytale. She had a feeling she had seen him before…

Gambit's voice went cold, "Jacob."