Author's Note: I'm about to hit 100 reviews! Woohoo! I love you guys! Thank you so much! I do this for you! As for this chapter… erm… I regret nothing! /flees
Chapter Twenty-Four
Shipyards
Remy knew he liked Rogue for a reason… and when the explosions were perfectly timed to his declaration… well… he really liked that Southern spitfire.
The building rocked as the data server room went up, the resulting concussion filtering out through the thin sheet-metal walls. Gambit and his Assassin back-up were expecting it and were the first to react. Moving swiftly out of the line of fire and into the fray, Gambit slipped several cards out of his sleeve and with a sizzle they sped towards their targets, the men on the catwalks. The Assassins, which had mixed amongst the others, shot for mid-torso only, letting the flak vests take the brunt of the assault.
Glancing up at the gallery, Julien was being ushered through a door by his second in command.
Henri's murderer was not getting away that easily.
No way in hell…
…
Gris Gris swung his assault rifle and smacked a man squarely in the head, the body slumping to a heap. A quick glance around revealed that his men were doing their job and while they were still outnumbered, that was about to change.
The explosion was an excellent distraction from the original distraction and LeBeau was able to get clear before the guards got their wits back. It would be the one and only time First Kill would do this for a thief, but only because his Patriarch asked him to.
The mutant thief used his spring step to clear the stairway up to the gallery in two bounds and disappeared through the door after the fleeing Julien. Considering that the Assassin Patriarch's son had killed LeBeau's wife and brother, there was no doubt in Gris Gris' mind what the thief would do when he finally caught up with the former Assassin...
"Gris," Fifolet asked behind him, "should we follow?"
"Yeah," he looked around, his Assassins not even breaking a sweat yet, "you and me, let da men clear da room."
Making it across the expanse, the two Assassins raced up the stairs and through the door, hot on the feuding men's trail.
…
As the attack groups advanced they received only minor resistance as most of the guards Gambit had knocked out where still laid out where they fell. Others were disorientated by the explosions and stood dumbly, unsure what they were supposed to do. However, there were still a fair few who reacted well and put up a fight.
Rogue rounded a large piece of steel haul that looked like it hadn't moved since the 70s and saw the attack too late. The metal rod came swinging at her and she wouldn't be able to dodge, but she could easily take the brunt of such a hit due to her invulnerability and threw up an arm to block.
Her wrist was caught in a strong grip, her body twirled and dipped like a dancer into a man's left arm while his right hand blocked the weapon with his cane. Rogue could hardly believe what she was seeing as the man then parried away the pipe and used his cane to strike the attacker on the head, knocking him to the ground. With just as smooth a motion she was brought up to stand face to face with a silver haired fox.
"I'm sorry, my dear," Jean-Luc said with a grin, "but I'm afraid you're much too young for me."
Gambit's father then kissed her gloved knuckles before disappearing around the discarded haul and back into the fray.
Rogue stood speechless for a good minute, at least.
Shaking off whatever that was, Rogue ran towards the main building she was heading to before getting sidetracked. She needed to get to Gambit before he did something he'd regret for the rest of his life.
…
When the building shook and the sounds of explosions could be heard going off in all directions, Julien, for all purposes pretense, panicked. Everything around him had fallen apart, LeBeau had picked away the pieces of his carefully built empire and now it seemed that nothing was left…
"Dis way," Phillip pushed Julien towards the office door when the shooting started and Julien moved automatically. Once he was inside and away from the visuals of his failure, the assassin was able to stop and gather his senses.
Momentary set-back.
Evade first then reassess your position.
With the precision he was trained for, Julien made his way to the back stairwell. Opening the door a small gust of heat rushed forward from the damage done below. The building was mostly metal, as was the server room, and so there wasn't much to burn.
Quickly they descended the stairwell to a back room, half the wall blown out and door warped. Julien kicked a piece of the sheet metal and it popped from its fasteners and fell to the side. Ducking under a fallen cross beam beyond, Julien and Phillip made their way over to what was left of the room next to the data servers. This one had a door to the outside and with caution they exited.
Fighting was off to the right, several Assassins were taking out his patrol guards and the fight from the building was now spilling outside. Julien headed left with his second trailing behind him.
Instinct told him to duck and one of LeBeau's playing cards narrowly missed him. Bolting off to the left behind a long building Julien pulled his Glock from his shoulder holster and pressed his back up against the wall. He heard a thwack and then the thump of Phillip getting taken out by the thief. The assassin brought his gun to bear, waiting for his pursuer.
As soon as he had a shot, Julien took several of them, not giving the mutant a chance to throw any more of his explosive cards. LeBeau let out a cursed as he pulled back around the edge.
"Give up yet?" the thief shouted with a bit of glib to his voice.
"No," he replied simply.
"Darn."
Five cards swung around the corner of the building making their way towards him and Julien pushed off the building to duck behind a small maintenance shed. The motor pool was the next building over, if he could just get to a car…
Letting off a blind shot towards the direction of the thief, Julien ran to the open bay of the large warehouse where his personal limo and other vehicles were being kept. Several guards were knocked out, some even tied up, but otherwise the attackers had cleared this area and moved on. Julien spotted a sedan that wasn't blocked in.
The former Assassin made it two steps before instinct kicked in again. Magenta charged playing cards flew past him as he skidded off to the side towards several metal tanks and crates. Julien pulled two shots off in the thief's direction as he hunkered in, his mag now empty.
"Now?" LeBeau shouted, the word echoing in the open space.
Julien slid the used mag from the Glock and dropped it, replacing it with his backup mag of fifteen bullets. "No."
"Pity."
…
The two Assassins entered the office with precision, Gris Gris checking the left, Fifolet the right. Upon immediately seeing it was clear they went to the open door and followed down the steps after the men. Cautiously they slipped through the broken wall and from there outside.
"Which way?" Fifolet asked as Gris Gris quickly scanned the area, listening for the distinctive sizzle of LeBeau's attacks.
"This way," First Kill started to jog to the left, following both sound and instinct.
…
On her way to the main building Rogue spotted Mercy using a bola to finish off a guard and ran to intercept the woman.
"You good?" she asked the House Matriarch.
"I'm good," Mercy nodded, retrieving her bola. "This way."
As they headed to one of the side doors, Rogue couldn't help but ask, "Mercy, yah sure Gambit's adopted?"
"Quite sure," they stopped at the door, "but he does turn dat whole nature vs nurture argument on its head."
"No kidding," she said wryly, then heard the now distinctive sound of Gambit's charged cards behind her, not in the building.
Mercy heard it too and since both women knew that wherever Gambit was, Julien would be, they turned and headed towards the noise.
…
For a good minute the two enemies traded fire, Julien with his gun and LeBeau with his cards. Julien tried to conserve his bullets knowing that the mutant would have much more ammo than he. Although, Julien did notice that the other man was very stingy with his attacks, could it be that he was running low?
The thief attempted to sneak around the very sedan that Julien had hoped to use as a getaway vehicle. Julien went to the edge of one of the crates and lined up his shot through the glass of the car windows. Taking a breath and holding it, the assassin prepared to pull the trigger.
…
Gris Gris and Fifolet came up to the motor pool, one of the first areas taken down in the attack. There were sounds of gunfire and explosions but the noises echoed in the open area and they couldn't be sure where it was coming from.
Faint traces of pinkish-purple lit up the far end on the right.
Not wanting to find themselves in the literal middle of a firefight, the two men veered off to the left and made their way down the side of the building. Once they had their eyes on Julien and LeBeau they could figure out their next move.
…
Rogue and Mercy got to the building just in time to see the two Assassins disappear inside. The women followed, sneaking up the middle as the noises died down, squatting next to the limo.
Mercy mouthed, "Where are they?"
She shrugged and shook her head. The building was long enough to put four limo's end to end and with all the other vehicles, crates, propane tanks and machinery…
CRACK!
A single shot rang across the building followed by sickening silence.
…
He got him, he was sure of it.
With a grin, Julien slowly stood from his cover, gun drawn but partly lowered.
Finally, he would be rid of LeBeau and at the very least he could use his death to break up whatever tenuous truce the thief had managed to create between the Guilds. It would take him some time to get back to the level he once was, but to be able to stare down on the mutant's dead body was worth all that he had lost today.
Moving carefully, Julien could see the mutant's hat lying on the ground having rolled away from the car… a few drops of blood smeared across the ground…
THWACK!
LeBeau's Bo staff came down sharply on Julien's hands and he lost his grip, the gun dropping away. Moving to defend himself, the mutant threw a punch which he managed to block. LeBeau twisted and brought the staff around again, this time striking him in the side. The assassin was able to see that he did hit his target, LeBeau favoring the staff with his right arm, his left throwing weak punches, sleeve torn and red.
Julien was able to get a punch in on the bleeding man's vulnerable spot but this only sent him in a deeper rage. The mutant managed a two hold grip of the staff and completed three swift strikes in succession, causing Julien to back up.
Defense was always the assassin's worse skill and he left himself open for LeBeau to plant his boot square in his gut. The force of the kick sent him flying back against the tanks, the man landing in a heap.
"How 'bout now?"
"No!" Julien snarled.
This is not how it was supposed to end.
"Shame," the mutant shrugged, slipping a playing card from his sleeve. "Still, can't say I didn't try."
Julien's eyes narrowed at the card as it began to glow, "What you gonna do, LeBeau, knock me unconscious with dat and kill me den? Figures, you ain't got da guts to look me in da eye when you do it, you unkempt demon spawn who wouldn't know honor if it dressed itself up like one of your whores and whispered into your ear everything Belle never will."
As if all the air had been sucked out of the room, which was a major feat seeing as the area was open to the outside, time stood still as Gambit's eyes literally began to darken and glower. Julien hit a nerve, good, anger makes him careless.
Slowly LeBeau's lips curved up into the highest, tightest, and most absolutely Joker worthy grin Julien had ever seen on any man before.
"I don't have to knock you out, Julien," the mutant's red eyes darted slightly up and to the right before returning to him, "in fact, I don't have to hit you at all…"
That's when Julien realized he had fallen against the tanks… filled with propane…
One perfectly aimed strike with LeBeau's kinetically charged projectile and Julien would find himself in the middle of a firestorm.
…
The two Assassins heard the shot and took cover. From their vantage point they could see the thief sneak around a sedan farther up the way and attack Julien, knocking him down. Some words were exchanged and LeBeau held a glowing card in his hand.
It didn't take a genius to see what was about to happen.
Julien may have betrayed his family and his Guild, but he was still the Patriarch's son. With no time to get to the mutant to stop him, Gris Gris brought his weapon to bear, center mass in his sights.
…
Rogue and Mercy snuck past the limo in time to see Gambit knock Julien into the propane tanks. The mutant slipped a playing card from his sleeve and it quickly charged. At first she thought he was going to simply knock the man out with the concussion blast… but then Julien said something and the mutant's body posture changed.
"Oh hell," slipped from her lips when she realized he was going to kill the man by setting the tanks alight.
At that very moment she saw Gris Gris move on her right, clearing an obstacle to get a clear shot of the thief. He was going to shoot Gambit because he was threatening Julien.
Too far away to get to Gambit in time… Rogue made a choice and hoped that the faith she had in her friend wasn't misplaced.
…
Every inch of Remy's body itched to destroy that which had taken away those he had loved.
Bella Donna.
Henri.
Vengeance was his at the flick of his wrist.
Peace was never an option.
Gambit let the card fly true to its target.
…
Gris Gris pulled the trigger, the bullet biting into flesh.
…
Nothing would ever be the same again.