A Rogue's Tale

The Trouble With Assassins Part 4

After Rogue left the diner that morning, she decided that she needed to do some shopping. She really needed to get herself some new clothes. It was strange being in this city, and she felt like she had been here before. As far as she knew she hadn't. Still, she seemed to know her way around. She thought it was possibly some left over memories from absorbing Julien the night before, but his persona had faded mostly away. Even so, she felt a piece of him still lingering. She tried to block him out, but she could feel a faint shadow of his voice in the back of her mind, along with Cody and the mutants she absorbed that fateful night.

She reached the shopping center and looked around in the stores for several hours and bought some new shoes, jeans and some long sleeve tops and few pairs of gloves. She had lunch in the food court and decided to see a movie. It wasn't a very interesting film, but anything was better than going back to the hotel where she would just sit in her room pondering on her messed-up life.

As the sun went down, she returned to the hotel with several shopping bags and a bout of exhaustion. She placed her bags in the corner and plopped down on the bed and closed her eyes momentarily not realizing she had left the door ajar. A shadow crept over her causing her to gasp and bolt up to a sitting position.

"You're quite de little rogue," a man's voice came. She looked up and saw a stranger standing a few feet away from her bed. "Dat is your name, ain't it?"

"That ain't none of your business," Rogue said as the man approached her bed.

She rolled to the other side of the bed and slid off. Her feet hit the ground, and she tried to run for the door, but there were two other men blocking her way. The man that had approached first grabbed her from behind and twisted her arms behind her back.

"Let go of me!" she shouted.

"Shut up, an I won't have ta hurt you," he said, but his words only made Rogue angry.

"Fat chance, asshole!" she shouted as she continued to struggle. She then felt his hand go across her mouth. He had gloves on, just her luck. She wasn't down yet, because she was able to open her mouth before his hand pressed down on it and bit him through his gloves.

He screamed in pain, throwing her to the floor. She tried to pull off her glove, but one of the other men approached her grabbing her by the wrist. "Oh, no, chienne," he said slamming her against the wall. The impact sent a sharp pain up her spine. "We know your little tricks. You ain't gonna do to us what you did ta Julien."

"Like ah said before, let go a me," she screamed, "or you'll get the same as Julien."

"Not a chance," he said.

The other man who was blocking the door approached her as well. "Ole Marius wants you alive," he said, staring intensely at her. He grabbed her throat in the attempts to choke her. "But he didn't say anyt'ing about damaged."

"Yeah," said the man of whose hand she bit. "Gag her," he ordered. "An' tie up dose pretty little hands a hers."

At that moment Rogue kneed the guy who was holding her in the crotch. She had almost reached the door when she felt her body being slammed to the floor. The impact knocked the wind out of her. She tried to move, but there was an incredible amount of weight preventing her from moving.

"Get off me!" she shouted, struggling to get free.

"I said gag her! Don' wanna hear her whinin' 'til we get her to de boss."

"You ain't takin' her nowhere," a voice came from the door. Rogue was barely able to look up. It was dark, but she saw a pair of glowing red eyes, familiar eyes. She knew exactly who it was and had never been so grateful to have a stalker then that moment.

"Get out a here, Gambit, dis don' concern you," said one of the men. Rogue was still being held down by the other two.

"If it concerns her, den you gotta deal wid me," Remy said.

"Marius wants her, and dat's all you need to know," he said. "Now get out a here and let me do my job."

"Like I said, you ain't takin' her nowhere," Remy said and exposed the card in his hand. It glowed brightly within seconds. The three men backed up, but before they could get away, Remy threw the card towards them.

They dived out of the way in different directions as the card exploded. It left a large whole in the wall that led outside, and the three men scrambled through the opening and ran out into the night. Rogue had her face covered until the noise died down. She looked up to see Remy's handiwork.

Remy squatted down next to Rogue who was still lying on the floor. "Hey, you alright?"

She tried to sit up, but she felt the pain in her back. "Damn, that hurts," she said.

"Take it slow," Remy said as he helped her onto the bed. "Dey hurt you." It was more of a statement. "Damn assassins."

"Assassins?" Rogue asked, a look of fright in her eyes.

"Yeah," Remy said. "Dey would a killed you."

"No, they said that someone, Marius ah think, wanted me alive."

"Merde!" Remy said and paced the floor. "Chere," he said, looking over at her. "You ain't safe here, not if Marius wants you."

"Why? What would he want with me?" she asked.

"Don' know," he said. "Maybe 'cause you're a mutant."

Rogue turned away as tears fell from her eyes. Remy sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, Rogue. I'll protect you, I promise." She turned to him while drying her eyes. "Won' let dose damn assassins get dere hands on you."

"You mean that?" she asked. He nodded as she gave him a small smile. Then she leaned into his chest. She felt his arms around her, his touch was so gentle, and for some reason she felt she would have been content to stay there forever.

After a few minutes she raised her head to look in his eyes. "Gotta get you outta here," he said.

"Ah got nowhere t'go," she said.

"Don' worry, Rogue," he said. "I'll take you ta my place."

"Wait, ah can't do that," she said. "Ah don't want ya t'think..."

"What?" he asked. "Jus' wanna protect you. I promise, I be a perfect gentleman." Rogue hesitated for a moment. "Can' you trust me to take care a you? An' if I get outta hand you jus' knock me out with that power of yours."

Rogue genuinely laughed for the first time in days. "Alright, just remember ya gave me permission."

He stood up from the bed and took her hands and helped her up. She was still in a bit of pain, so he picked up her bags that she left in the corner and walked with her out of the hotel room.

Okay, that the end of this long chapter. There's more to come in the next chapter when Rogue and Remy realize that the past they both dreamed about actually did happen. Is there romance in the air, or more trouble on the way? Be here next time to find out.