A/N: Here's Chapter 2!
I do not own X-men Evolution!
Chapter 2: The Trap
The weekend crept up faster than Rogue thought, but she was glad to sleep in after another restless night. She slept in until two in the afternoon, Kitty coming in and checking up on her and asking if she was okay, to which the resident goth mumbles she is fine and needed some much needed rest. The phasing girl gave her best friend a concerned look but tells Rogue to get some food to eat, then she phases out.
Rogue groans, sitting up and yawning, then she gets out of her bed and goes to the bathroom, exiting her room after washing her hands. She enters the kitchen, grabbing coffee and some fruit, then she sits down at the empty table and starts to eat. Her eyes wander around, glad no one else was really coming in, thinking most people were out enjoying the weekend. But she was wrong, as she heard voices outside, most of the mansions occupants playing a game of mutant baseball.
Rogue pushes her chair away from the table, grabbing her empty bowl and coffee mug and putting them in the sink. She sneaks back upstairs, hearing everyone coming back inside, as she did not want to interact with anyone. Unfortunately for her, Scott called a Danger room session, which she begrudgingly put her suit on and went down to meet the others. Scott looks around at the team, then opens the Danger room door. "Alright team, we're going to do a normal, routine Danger session. Work as a team, get through the course together and no one get hurt. If you're knocked down, use your powers to get back up. The main goal is to get to the finish together before the time is up. If one person is dragging everyone behind in the end, then we have to restart the course." Scott instructs, everyone groaning a bit. "All right, let's go."
The session starts up easy, everyone able to get through the first course with ease, then it gradually got harder, everyone using their powers to fight off obstacles, except for Rogue who uses only her hand to hand combat as she did not want to absorb any of her teammates to borrow their powers. This only did so much though, as she had near misses with some objects, Kurt luckily teleporting her out of the way or Kitty short circuiting the objects. "Come on guys! We're almost finished!" Scott yells.
The danger room session stops, the group pausing in confusion, Scott looking around wondering who stopped it. "Hey-!" He starts.
"Relax, Cyke," Logan says as he comes into the room. "I stopped it."
"Why?" Jean asks.
"Xavier needs us to go on a mission." Logan answers, his arms crossed. "Magneto's up to something and he wants us to investigate what."
"Alright. Let's go team." Scott motions the group to head out to the blackbird where Storm and Beast were.
Once everyone was inside the jet, they take off, Logan and Cyclops flying the blackbird to where they needed to get to, then land it in a spot that wasn't so conspicuous. Before getting out, Logan and Storm briefed the team on what information they did have, knowing it had something to do with the master of magnetism and his Acolytes. Scott breaks the team up, telling them all to go in different directions and to communicate to everyone if they need assistance. "Stay sharp and call for back up if you're surrounded." Scott says as they all head their own ways.
'Finally… somethin' ta distract mahself with' Rogue thought, though she was still exhausted, she hoped a good fight will get her adrenaline pumping to wake her up.
She takes off a glove, creeping along the side of a building. They were at a pier and there was no telling what Magneto's full plan was, knowing the older mutant likes to be full of surprises at times-or just well thought out. As she rounds a corner, she bumps into another figure, though she already knows who it is just from the strong scent and hand that wraps around her waist to catch her. "We gotta stop meetin' like dis, chère." Gambit grins, his bo-staff in hand.
Rogue makes a face. "Hands off swamp rat! Yoah the enemy heah!"
She goes to move her bare hand to try to absorb him, but he grabs it in a swift motion, Rogue leaning back now gazing at him im surprised shock while he kept his grin on his lips. "Y' gon' knock me out right away, cher? Thought y' liked playin' wit' dis Cajun?" Gambit smirks, his voice smooth, but to Rogue it just made her more angry.
"Let go of meh!" Rogue yanks her hand away only to fall on her butt.
Gambit shrugs, then leans against the wall, watching her get up and dust herself off. He noticed she still looked tired, but she definitely had a lot of fight in her. Rogue huffs, then she looks at him, noticing him watching her every move. "Not gonna kick meh back down?" Rogue moves her arms into a fighting position, noticing how he wasn't engaging.
"In y' condition, non." He shakes his head. "'Sides, 'd take it easy on y'."
Rogue purses her lips a bit, her eyes on him. "What is Magneto doin' heah anyway?"
"Not sure. He jus' wanted us Acolytes t' scout outside de buildin' in incase y' X-men showed up." Gambit starts to shuffle his cards, clearly not interested in fighting the goth, even if he was told to.
He knows that after what she has been through, he wouldn't want to cause anymore harm to her or herself as she was already battling against her own issues. From the moment he laid eyes on her, there was something that piqued his interest and to want to learn more about her. Finding out she wasn't the most happiest, nor touchable girl out there, he was still determined to get closer to this girl, even if that means observing her school schedule and where she goes outside of the mansion. She just interested him unlike any other woman. His mind was brought back to reality when she spoke, his body moving upwards instead of leaning against the building. "Well, if yoah not gonna fight meh, then ah'll just keep on walkin' and see where Magneto is."
She starts to walk away, but Gambit reached out and grabbed her arm. "Now hold on, chère," he starts, catching her fiery gaze snapping towards him when his hand grabbed her arm. "I can' let y' go in an' disrupt whatever Magneto's doin'. He said dere some mutants he's meetin' up wit' dat could really hurt y' an' both our teams. I suggest y' jus' stay heah."
"Lahke ah'll listen ta ya!" Rogue kicks him, then she sprints off, Gambit recovering fast and following after her.
She rounds a corner, running down a long alleyway, knowing he was right behind her, but neither one could see what was about to happen next. Rogue's foot steps down onto something, making her stop and Gambit slam into her a bit, but before the two could go at it, a clicking sound was heard and two projectiles hit them both, rendering them unconscious.
A very large man in a green uniform and a normal sized man in a red uniform enter the alleyway, both looking at the two unconscious mutants on the ground. "Were these the one he was talking about, Scalphunter?" The large man asks.
Scalphunter tilts his head, thinking. "No, these weren't the main ones he was trying to get. Arclight is talking to that master of magnetism mutant about capturing them, but these two were next on his list. Sinister will be pleased either way. Come, lets bring these two to our leader. He'll decide what he'll do with them."
The large man grabs Gambit and Rogue, following the man called Scalphunter down the alleyway and to a boat that was ready for them. He turns to his colleague, motioning to the two younger mutants. "Blockbuster, cuff them up and place them in a holding cell below deck. Arclight will be joining us shortly."
Blockbuster nods, cuffing their wrists and placing them in a cell, then he locks it. The woman called Arclight comes into view, noticing the two men on the boat already. "Did you catch them?" She asks, getting aboard.
"No, my trap caught the other two Sinister wants to look at. He'll be pleased either way." Scalphunter answers.
"He wanted Grey and Summers." Arclight growls, then crosses her arms. "Whatever, we have the other two that was on his list. Lets head out before those X-men notice their team mate is gone. I doubt Magneto cares about one Acolyte missing."
Scalphunter starts up the boat, driving off before catching a glimpse of one of the X-men noticing them. Logan sniffs the air, growling with his claws out. "Rogue?!" He looks around, using his nose to smell her scent out to find her, but it lead him to the docks where the boat has disappeared from.
He smells the air again, noticing it wasn't just her. "Great. Gambit's with her." He grimaces, then he talks into his comm. "Looks like whoever Magneto was meeting up just left but they took Rogue and Gambit."
"What?!" Everyone answers, astonished.
"Logan, stay where you are, we're coming to you, then we're all going to confront Magneto." Scott says.
Once the X-men regrouped, Logan was pacing, clearly not happy. "So, like, who took them?" Kitty asked, concern on her face.
"I don't know. I've never had a run in with these newer scents before. They could be potential mutant traffickers for all I know." Logan shakes his head. "I have a hunch that Magneto might know."
As if knowing the X-men would come, Magneto hovers above them, Sabertooth, Pyro and Colossus appearing behind him. "I do not know exactly who they are, Wolverine, but all I know is that they intended to take your Cyclops and Jean Grey. I'm sure your Rogue will be fine and they'll return her once she is of no use."
Logan snarls, claws coming out again. "It's not just Rogue they got! They took your Acolyte, Gambit too."
Magneto stared at Wolverine with a blank look. "Gambit can handle himself. He grew up in a guild. I am not too concerned for his well-being."
He starts to hover away, but Jean calls out to him. "Wait! You're not going to tell us who they are that took Rogue?!"
"The woman I spoke to never gave me her name, but made it known she was a mutant and part of a group called the Marauders. She had two other associates with her and she never gave way to what their goals were." Magneto answered without turning to meet the red heads gaze, Logan only getting more angered but he stood his ground, figuring the Professor would be more helpful in finding their missing teammate.
Rogue groggily wakes up, then panics as her vision came to and showed she was in a cage. She looks down at her cuffed hands, then her eyes dart around her surroundings. A groan next to her told her she wasn't alone though, her eyes widening as Gambit was coming to. "Hnh?" He looks around in confusion then sits up. "Merde, where are we?"
"How should ah know." Rogue answers back, trying not to let the panic in her voice be known.
Gambit looks down at his cuffs, already knowing he can pick lock them. He moves his hands to go to his pockets, but he stops once he heard footsteps coming down a small set of stairs, both younger mutants noticing they were on a boat. "Oh look, they're awake." Arclight comments.
"What do ya want with us?!" Rogue growls.
"Feisty one. You'll be fun to break." Blockbuster grins.
"Hey, he needs them alive and in good condition." Arclight jabs him in his side.
Rogue's eyes widen, Gambit sensing her fear. His red on black eyes stare daggers at the two captors, his voice hard. "Where are y' takin' us?"
"That's none of your concern right now, boy." Arclight walks over to their cage. "He just wants to make sure he could do what he needs to with you two since we couldn't capture Grey and Summers."
'Scott and Jean?! What would they want with Scott and Jean?!' Rogue thought, her heart racing.
Arclight looks at Rogue and gives a sweet, but venomous smile. "Oh don't worry, dear. If you do as he says, we won't have to kill you. Same goes for you bayou boy."
Gambit just glares, then the two go back upstairs to the deck of the boat, his hands going right back to his pockets to search for what he needed. "Are we bein' trafficked?!" Rogue asks, her voice hushed as she didn't want them to come back down.
"Not fo' long." Gambit answers, pulling out some cards that spread out on the cage floor, his hands move to his pockets again and brush against what he was really looking for, then he looks at Rogue in a serious tone. "Can y' swim?"
"What?!" She stares at him wide eyed. "Of course ah can, but not when mah hands are tied!"
"Don' worry, 'll take care o' dat. Jus' trust me, chère." He gives her a reassuring smile, but Rogue could feel deep down that this plan of his was either going to get them killed or miraculously they survive.
Gambit picks up a couple cards, charging them up, then he throws them through the bars, the charged cards exploding the wall of the boat. Water immediately starts to rush in, his hands digging into his pocket again for his lock pick and unlocks his cuffs. He rubs his wrists when they come off, then gets to work on the door to their cell. Rogue watched in horror as the boat started to list to the side as water seeped in, it was already coming up to her calves and almost to her knees. She can hear the three voices yelling upstairs, then hears the click of the cell door. Her eyes met Gambit's and he unlocks her cuffs for her. "Alright, let's go." He says as he rushes out, the water now half way up their chest.
Rogue maneuvers her way to the door of the cell, but felt her foot get caught on the bottom of the cage floor as it rose up a bit from the floor. She tugs at her leg, looking around to see Gambit had gone off, then huffs. She takes a deep breath and goes under, grabbing her foot that was caught in the grate of the cage and pulls it out. But that was when the boat turned onto its side more and the cage rolled over, Rogue bolting up only to hit her head on the top part of the cage. She felt some of her breath leave her as she sunk back down, her vision blurred as she needed to get to some air.
A pair of hands grab her and take her out, her lungs screaming for air as she hits the surface of the water. Rogue coughs and chokes, feeling sand hit her back as she tries to regulate her breathing. "Easy dere, chère." Gambit breathes out, catching his own breath as he sat next to her on the sandy beach. "What happened?"
"What happened? What happened is ya left meh without makin' soah ah was behind ya!" Rogue coughs out angrily.
"I came back, didn' I?" He makes a face at her. "I save y' from nearly drownin'."
"No thanks ta ya!" Rogue huffs. "What kind of a plan was that?!"
"De only one I could t'ink of at de time." Gambit admits, looking away from her. "I jus' hope dose people don' find us."
"Think again." Arclight says, angrily as the trio stood on the beach drenched.
Rogue gasps, then they both scramble to their feet and start to run. Scalphunter takes his gun out from behind his back, shooting at Gambit where a rope catches him by the legs. He falls down into the sand with an 'oof', while Rogue looks back and noticed he was trying to get back up. Groaning to herself she runs to help him, but Blockbuster knocks her away from him, her crying out as she hits the sand a few feet from Gambit. "Blockbuster! What did I tell you!" Arclight yells as she charges forward with Scalphunter. "Now he'll have to check her for injuries."
Gambit had stopped trying to untie the ropes as his eyes widen at the sight of Rogue laying on the ground. She struggles to get up, Blockbuster grabbing her and holding her up. "Leave 'er alone!" Gambit yells out.
"Or what?" Scalphunter aims his gun in front of the Cajun.
"He doesn't have all day. Get up, bayou boy." Arclight commands after Scalphunter tied his hands together and untied the ones around his legs.
Rogue was moaning in pain as Blockbuster carried her, Gambit's eyes darting to her every now and then as they walked. The walk was long, but they soon arrived at a cliff basin, a cave entrance appearing with a hidden doorway that opens up to let them inside a secret hideout. Gambit's eyes look around, noticing machines and test tubes and hallways and in the center a large chair sitting at a monitor with a large figure sitting with their back to them. "Have you come back with Grey and Summers?" The man asks, a black cape protruding outwards at all angles, almost like long feathers.
"No, Mister Sinister, but we have the other two you had on your list that were of great interest to you." Arclight answers, a bit uneasy.
The chair turns, a ghostly white face man with black hair, red eyes and a diamond in his forehead appearing before them, known as Mister Sinister. His sharp teeth grin as he looks at the two younger mutants. "No matter, Arclight. These two will do just fine." He then noticed Rogue's moaning form in Blockbusters hands, his face turning dark really quick. "What happened?"
"Blockbuster knocked the girl a couple feet." Scalphunter replies. "And this one blew up the boat and we all nearly drowned." He shoves Gambit with his gun a little bit.
Mister Sinister eyes the two, then gets up, Gambit gulping a bit at just how tall Sinister was. He looms over them, eyeing Rogue then motions Blockbuster. "Put her on my medical table so I may asses her injuries and take him to a holding cell."
Scalphunter jabs his gun into Gambits back, receiving a growl from the Cajun. His red on black eyes looked back at Rogue concerned as he walks down a dark hallway. He gets shoved into a holding cell, his hands untied, but noticed his powers didn't work once the door was closed. Gambit walks up to the bars, trying to see if he could look down the hall, but he couldn't get a good glimpse of what was going on.
Mister Sinister goes up to Rogue's barely conscious form, using a scanner to scan for injuries. He glares at Blockbuster, who cowers a bit as he looks over the girl. "She'll be fine, but you'll pay for damaging my specimen, Blockbuster. Put her with the boy. I'll asses her injuries again tomorrow."
Scalphunter carries Rogue to the holding cell he put Gambit in, noticing the young man was anxious to see her. Scalphunter places her on the ground of the cell, then locks it and walks away. Gambit moves quickly to Rogue, his hands gently touching her. "Rogue? Rogue, y' okay?" He asks, his voice soft.
Rogue groans, her eyes opening only to be met with a pair of concerned red on black ones staring at her. She blinks, then she tries to sit up, but winces at the soreness. "Easy, don' move t' much." He says as he adjusts her head to be on his lap.
"Where are we?" Rogue asks, putting a hand on her head.
"In anot'er holdin' cell." Gambit sighs. "I don' t'ink we can get out of dis one easily though. I can' use m' powers."
Rogue looks up at him, her emerald eyes wide orbs. "What?"
They hear footsteps coming down the hall, both alert as Mister Sinister appears in front of the cage, hands behind his back. Rogue's eyes widen in horror as the sight of him, sitting up in pain to move away a bit. "Ah, glad to see you up dear." Mister Sinister grins, Rogue seeing a glint of his sharp teeth. "I've made it very clear to my.. associates not to harm either of you, but it seems one cannot take orders very well, but after assessing your injuries, you should be fine. As long as he didn't crush your bones I can still move forward with what I need to."
"What do ya want with us?" Rogue asks, her voice trembling at the sight of the towering man. Everything in Rogue's body was screaming at her to run away.
"Well you see, Xavier nor Magneto probably recognize this with their students or members, but they possess some of the most powerful mutants and they aren't using them to their full potential. As you know, I was hoping to catch your X-men Jean Grey and Scott Summers," Mister Sinister answers. "Mr. Summers is classified as an Alpha level mutant and Ms. Grey is an omega level mutant. The two combined will give me the most powerful and perfect mutant. But you two, you both piqued my interest as you my dear are considered an Alpha level mutant and you, Gambit, are considered both an Alpha and Omega level mutant.
The potential you two can give me could make the ultimate and most powerful mutant there is. Hence why you two were also at the top of my list. Sure Ms. Grey is powerful, but absorption and kinetic energy that isn't even used at its full potential is sure to have lots of power."
Noticing the look on Gambit's face, Sinister smirks. "Oh? You thought you were using your powers to their full potential? You, Gambit, are only using a fraction of that. You could be controlling kinetic energy down to its molecular level if you tried. Magneto is wasting his time on you by not letting you reach your full potential.
And you my dear, could be using your powers to its full potential as well. Xavier has you on a leash, only letting you use your powers to a certain extent. I on the other hand can help you reach that point to where you don't even have to touch someone to use their powers."
The two remained silent, Gambit having an arm in front of Rogue while Rogue had her knees drawn up with her eyes wide. Sinister chuckles. "Just let it sink in. I'll be back in the morning."
With that, he left, leaving the two to let out breaths they never thought they were holding in. Rogue lets out a shaky breath, Gambit looking at her. "Y' okay?" He asks.
"We need ta get outta heah." She whispers, her eyes still wide.
"We can'," Gambit says. "He could kill us. Dis is a man we don' want t' mess wit'."
"Ya heard about him?"
"Never met 'im till now, but befor' I joined Magneto, he had someone come an' try an' get me t' work fo' 'im, but once I found out what he does t' mutants, I ended up joinin' Magneto. Wasn' goin' t' be a part o' dat."
Rogue frowns. "What does he do ta mutants?"
"Experiments on dem."
"He wants the most powerful and perfect mutant…. Ah don't want ta find out what he's gonna do ta get that."
"We'll figure somet'in' out t' escape. Gotta make sure none of dose henchmen hear us."
Rogue nods, then they go to the back of their cell and start coming up with a plan. Once they got their plan finalized, Gambit looks at her, his facial features soft. "Y' know, y' don' always have t' call m' by m' codename, chère."
"Then what would ya want meh ta call ya?" Rogue tilts her head, knees pulled up to her chest.
"Well, y' could call m' by m' name." Gambit smiles a bit.
"An' what's yoah name?" Rogue gives him a small smile, something he's only caught a small glimpse of at times.
"Remy," He says. "Name's Remy Lebeau."
"Well, ah'll keep that in mahnd instead of callin' ya swamp rat." Rogue then adjusts herself to lay down on the floor. "Night, Remy."
Remy lays down, his smile still on his lips. "Night chère."
A/N: Well... least she doesn't have to always call him Swamp Rat. Hope you enjoyed! Till next time!