Partners in Crime (X-Men ROMY)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Chère?" Remy gently shook her shoulder. "Chère, wake up."

Rogue groaned and rubbed at her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"Just a few hours. I went and got us some groceries. Help me prepare lunch?"

Rogue looked to the television that was now dark, then to the kitchen. Part of her wanted to know what was happening but the talking heads, talking mostly bullshit, decided her against it for now. Silently she got up and went through to the kitchen, Remy following behind her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Fine, why?" She was cold and closed off.

"You were having nightmares."

Rogue shrugged, so he dropped the subject.

Rogue couldn't cook toast when he met her and he had been slowly teaching her some of the basics. She was now chopping peppers for their omelets while he sliced choritzo.

"The scientists thought mutants were a blight on humanity, they wanted to wipe them out," she said out of the blue, and so softly that Remy had to strain to hear her. "Of course, that didn't mean that they were opposed to using mutants to fight their cause."

Remy didn't know what to say or do, as any action on his part might cause her to clam up, and he wanted her to be able to trust him. Still, at the same time he also wanted to comfort her, the pain behind her words almost broke his heart.

Rogue finished with the peppers and moved onto the onion.

"They turned me into the perfect mutant, gave me new powers, taught me how to control ones I'd previously absorbed, and put a nice little chip in my head that meant they could control me. They used me mostly to gather information, I'd use my 'feminine wiles'," she said with scorn, "to get close to the target, then absorb what they needed to know."

Remy wondered how long that had been going on for, she was only 17 now, had they been using her as bate since she was a child? The idea sickened him.

"How'd you get away?" he asked softly.

"They sent me to kill someone called Magneto, but my chip got fried by his powers. I didn't realise at first; I was so used to following their orders in case they gave me a shot of pain, so it was another week before I began to hope that the chip might have been damaged. I began to rebel in small ways. If they told me to break in through the front door, I'd use the rear, things like that. After a half dozen tests, I was convinced. Back at the base my powers were always inhibited, unless they were doing experiments, so I knew I couldn't break out. I waited until they sent me on my next mission, and just flew away."

She was softly crying and she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Remy went behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back into his chest. Rogue fought him, but not strongly.

"Damned onions!" she said, but she could fool him. Still, he let her go as she clearly didn't want to appear weak.

"How old were you when..."

"Thirteen."

Her tears began to fall harder and Remy handed her some kitchen paper.

"For the onions," he said when she gave him an odd look. She accepted and wiped at her eyes.

"They uh, they captured my momma," she said, returning to her onions, although she had already diced far more than they needed. "She wasn't my real momma, but she and her friend had looked after me for as long as I can remember."