Unchained Instinct ( Complete)

Chapter 86


Rogue ran her hand over the handlebar of Logan’s bike. He’d let her ride it once in a while. She knew it was his pride and joy and letting her take command of its power had been a moment of awe for her.

Emotions threatened to overwhelm her at the thought of all Logan had done for her, protecting her, defending her. He’d always been there for her and she intended to be there for him this time, hopefully stopping whatever Mystique had in mind for her mentor and adoptive brother.

Glancing up, Rogue saw Remy trotting towards her, dodging a car pulling out of a parking spot.

“They be here, chere. The witch and the brat. Found the car The Professor said they’d be driven.”

“Then that pretty much confirms it.” She turned and headed towards the main entrance to the lodge, a huge log structure she’d expect to see out in Yosemite or Yellowstone not in the foothills of the Blue Ridge.

A hand slid around her arm, gently tugging her to a stop. She turned on Remy with a glare.

“What, Gumbo? Gettin’ cold feet or somthin’?”

Remy took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly. “Remy don’t deserve that sharp tongue a yours, chere. We need a plan. What exactly you intendin’ to do in there?”

“Well...I don’t know exactly,” Rogue replied in an exasperated tone. “But it’s goin’ ta involve some Mystique and Pietro butt kickin’.”

“Don’t ya think we outta warn Logan and Kurt? Don’t ya think we outta get an idea what Mystique be up to?”

Rogue stared at Remy, fighting the urge to aim her pent up frustration and fatigue at him instead of the proper targets. She shook herself loose from his hold, ignoring a couple passing by who were way too interested in hers and Remy’s business.

“Go on now,” Rogue said with a sweeping motion of her hands. “Nothin’ happenin’ here.”

Remy pulled Rogue to him. “Just a little lover’s spat,” he said with that quirk of a grin. The woman’s eyes grew warm and a smile touched her lips. The man scowled and pulled the woman away from them.

“Now ya think ya can keep that temper a yours under some control, mon ami? We gotta keep our heads and take a look around...see if we can get a fix on how this things gonna play out...cause Remy get the feeling whatever it is, is about ta happen any time now.”

Rogue hated to admit it, but Remy was right. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let go, will ya?”

A lurid smile slid across Remy’s mouth. “That not what Rogue said last eve, mon ami.”

Pushing out of his embrace, Rogue flung Remy a mock glare. “A woman let’s her defenses drop just once and suddenly a man thinks he’s got some sorta right or somethin’.”

They worked their way across the parking lot and up the long stone walk towards the lodge proper. Twenty feet from the building Rogue clutched Remy’s arm and dragged him behind a hedge. “There,” she whispered, indicating with the tilt of her chin. “Over along that stone wall.”

Remy nodded indicating he’d spotted one of their quarry, apparently skulking and staying out of the circle of light thrown off by the large outdoor lamps. Yet the shadows couldn’t hide that bright white blond hair. Making a motion with his hand and disappearing, Rogue caught on and crept closer, ready to catch Pietro between them.

With Pietro’s attention focused on the lodge, Rogue had little trouble getting close before saying, “out for a breath of fresh mountain air, Pietro?” Rogue said, only inches from Pietro’s ear.

He whirled and staggered back, his eyes large bright pools of shock. “You!” he hissed. Then his gaze darted around as if he expected to see the rest of the X-Men descending on him.

“What’s the matter, Pietro?” Rogue asked, stepping towards him. “You not happy ta see me?”

He bristle and Rogue could all be see the cogs and wheels working in that deviant little mind, trying to come up with a plan or perhaps just an excuse for being where he was at this moment.

“Takin’ a little vacation trip, maybe?” Rogue offered. “Or maybe lookin’ for somebody?”

“Look, Rogue,” Pietro began. “It’s none of your business what I’m doing here...but yeah, I’m on vacation...just a nice little mountain vacation.”

Rogue pushed closer and all pretense of civility had disappeared from her expression and her tone. “You’re spyin’ on Kurt and Logan, ya snake in the swamp. Yer workin’ for that bitch, Mystique.”

Pietro backed away from Rogue’s sudden seething anger, uncharacteristically stumbling against the wall in his haste to back away from her wrath. He turned to run, his best asset and ran straight into Remy’s embrace.

“Goin’ some place, chere?” Remy asked in that mocking tone of his, grip tight in Pietro’s jacket. “Well then, come on,” Remy said, jerking Pietro towards a more secluded spot behind a copse of trees.

“Let go of me!” Pietro said, voice rising.

Remy’s hand moved up to Pietro’s throat and squeezed. “Hush, now, boy. You can talk all ya want here in a moment...soon as we make ourselves comfortable a ways off from the lodge traffic.”

Pietro struggled and squeaked his disagreement then shut up all together when Remy gave him a hard shake, like a dog would a rat in it’s mouth. Rogue followed and would have smirked to see Pietro in such a situation...if the situation hadn’t been so serious.

Finally, Remy deemed them far enough away for privacy and shoved Pietro hard against a tree, holding him there in spite of Pietro’s struggles.

“You can’t do this!” Pietro spat.

“Who’s goin’ ta stop me, chere?” Remy spat back. “You got some answerin’ to do to some questions we got. Answer ‘im truthful and you won’t get hurt so bad.”

Pietro’s eyes flashed defiance. “I’ve got nothing to say to either of you. And don’t think you’ll get away with this, Gambit. My dad don’t take well to traitors and that’s what you are. Nothing but a traitor.”

Gambit’s expression hardly change. “Your daddy’s too busy contemplatin’ his own navel to care who Gambit’s taken up with. Ya can’t be a traitor to somebody that’s no longer a leader.”

The defiance didn’t change, the sneer still plastered on Pietro’s face.

“We don’t got time for this, Remy,” Rogue stated, pulling off her glove. “I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

Fear replaced the defiance, narrowed eyes going wide and glassy with memory of Rogue’s capabilities.

“What’dya say, Pietro? Ya gonna make me take what I want ta know or ya want ta spit it out like a good little traitor?”

Pietro struggled anew. “No! Don’t let her touch me. He shuddered to a stop when Remy cuffed him upside the head. “No.” Nothing but a whisper. “Don’t. I’ll tell you.”

Rogue offered him a smirk of a smile. “Ah sorta thought maybe ya would. Now talk.”

Another glance around as if hoping for intervention, and a look of defeat crossed Pietro’s thin face. “She’s got a drug. Something she stole from a government lab.”

“What’s it do?” Rogue asked, stepping closer until she loomed over Pietro’s cowering form.

Pietro tried to speak, the words getting caught in his throat. He coughed and made to clear his throat. “It...it. Dammit Rogue! She didn’t really tell me. But I think it’ll make Logan want Mystique...want the woman she’s pretending to be right now anyway.”

“Like some voodoo love potion?” Remy asked with incredulity. “Ya gotta be jokin’.”

“No. No joke.”

“Why?” Rogue said with deadly intent. “Why won’t she let them be?”

Pietro flinched from Rogue’s tone. “She says it’s about breaking Kurt and Logan up. That she don’t want them together, but I think it’s more now. I think she’s obsessed with Logan.”

“Obsessed may be an understatement, chere,” Remy murmured. “Obsessed and crazy as a swamp fox, in Gambit’s humble opinion.”

“Where is she?” Rogue said.

“She was in the lobby last I saw her. She sent me out looking for the doomed lovers.” A hint of Pietro’s signature sarcasm was bleeding out of his tone and words again. “She was heading for the bar last I saw her.”

“What’d she look like?” Remy said in Pietro’s ear.

Pietro jumped. “Black hair, tall, beautiful. Black dress.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard ta spot then,” Rogue said. “What’d we do with him?”

Remy’s face lit up with an evil smile. “Ah could think of a few things I’d like ta do.”

“We don’t got time for fun,” Rogue snorted, allowing herself a moment’s pleasure at the terror that crossed Pietro’s face. “Sorry ‘bout this, Pietro.”

Like a lightning strike, Rogue touched Pietro’s hand with her bare fingers. He jerked, his eyes rolling back in his head, then slumped into Remy’s arms.

A surge of power rushed into Rogue, speed and thought, memories and dreams...someone else’s filled up her mind and body then settled in like a second skin. She could have dashed up the closest mountain without catching her breath, but the Rogue part of her remembered...there was Mystique to deal with now.