Chapter Text
“So.. Mah understandin’, Mr. LeBeau, is that you’re a thief ‘round these parts. Correct?”
The scruffy redhead shifted in his seat, wrists bound tightly with rope behind the back of the chair. The smug expression on his face made Rogue desperately want to sock him in the mouth.
Eyes darting around the room, he answered, “Oui, chère. Now, was all this really necessary?”
Cyclops gave an unamused huff, adjusting his visor. “You already pickpocketed me, and judging by your eyes, you’re a mutant just like us. I don’t see any reason why we should trust you. You’re clearly smart enough not to reveal your ability around us either.”
The Cajun sneered, red eyes gleaming under the lamplight. “Fair ‘nough.”
“Anyways,” Rogue cleared her throat, pushing a fluffy strand of hair behind her ear, “since you’re local, we were hopin’ ya’d be willin’ to help us out. Heard of the rougarou? Beast of Gévaudan ring a bell?”
For a split second, Rogue thought she saw the man hesitate—like she’d struck a nerve of some kind. It was gone almost as soon as she’d noticed it.
“La Bête Noire,” he murmured, half to himself. “The Black Beast of Gévaudan.”
“Sounds like you know it well,” Cyclops crossed his arms, leg bouncing impatiently.
Rogue shot the brunette a sharp look. “Scott.”
“Everyone here does, homme. This ‘bout the attacks, ain’t it?”
She nodded. “We were hopin’ someone might know if the attacks have a pattern a’ sorts. Other than, well, it seems like it only comes out at night.”
Remy fell silent, eyebrows knitted as he looked down at the floor in front of him. Rogue could nearly see the gears turning in his head. After what seemed like ages, he finally gazed up at them again.
“Sorry. Can’t,” he faltered, as if he were ashamed.
Cyclops exchanged glances with her, then gestured to the door and began walking towards it.
“S’cuse us. It’ll just be a minute,” Rogue sighed, turning on her heel to follow Scott.
Shutting the door behind her, Rogue crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at her fellow X-Man. Looking over his shoulder at the window behind him, she could see the brilliant orange hue of the setting sun mixing with the blue Louisiana sky.
“He’s hiding something.”
“Ya don’t think Ah know that, sugah? How are we supposed to gain his trust if we treat him like a prisoner?” Rogue insisted indignantly.
Scott pressed his fingers to his temples, exhaling. “He’s a thief, Rogue—he should already BE in prison! That man won’t give us any leads, he’ll just run us in circles. We don’t know anything else about him, and until we do, I refuse to believe a word that comes out of his—“
A muffled crash, followed by an explosion sounded off in the room where Remy LeBeau was being held. Eyes widening, Rogue whipped around and busted down the door with Cyclops right on her heels. When she entered the room, the redhead was nowhere to be found. The smell of smoke wafted in the air and a giant jagged hole in the wall was all that remained, bits of broken glass and drywall littering the ground.
“I swear we patted him down,” Scott hissed. “If he had a bomb, we would’ve confiscated it.”
“Maybe it ain’t bombs we should be lookin’ for,” she hummed, kneeling over something on the ground that caught her attention—an ace of hearts that had nearly been burnt to a crisp. Turning it over, a note written in neat cursive read:
Au revoir!
— Gambit
Letting out a groan of frustration, Rogue ran a hand through her mane of chocolate curls. At that moment, Jean and Jubilee ran in with their powers activated, joined by Nightcrawler teleporting.
“What.. happened here?” The blue mutant surveyed the disastrous scene before him, looking more perplexed than anything else.
Equally as confused, Jubilee butted in with her own question, “Where’s the thief?”
“He escaped while I was talking to Rogue outside the room,” Scott admitted, his own irritation evident in his tone. “I hate to be that guy, but all I can say is I told you so. We can’t trust him.”
“This is mah fault. Ah’ll find him and bring him back here maself,” Rogue resolved, hands balling into fists.
“We’re coming with you,” Jean nodded, the other X-Men chirping in agreement.
“No you’re not. Ah don’t need any protection, sugah. Ah’m more than capable of handlin’ maself out there,” she said assertively. Might be long, but ah’ll try to be back before it gets too late.”
Kurt was about to protest, but Scott stopped him. “Call if you need anything.”
With that, Rogue stormed over to the newly made hole in the wall and climbed through, stepping onto the darkening New Orleans streets. The others didn’t bother stopping her, knowing the routine by now. Once Rogue has her mind made up about something, there isn’t much you can do to convince an unstoppable force otherwise.
…
The city feels like passing through a dead calm, Rogue thought to herself. It was eerily quiet, only occasionally broken by the call of some bayou animal in the distance. Despite the street lights lining the streets, the area still felt dim and lonely. Rogue guessed that everyone was shut in after all the attacks began circulating on the news.
“What was ah thinkin’?” she muttered to herself, stopping to scan her surroundings. “Geez, ah’ll never find that Cajun out here. He’s long gone by now.”
Searching for someone in the dark wasn’t exactly the brightest of ideas, but she was glad she blew off the steam. If she stuck around any longer, she might run into more members of that guild of thieves that Remy mentioned briefly.
Turning around, Rogue began to stroll in the opposite direction, back towards the house they were staying in temporarily. She was hardly a few feet from the crosswalk when an earsplitting scream sliced through the silence. Not wasting a second, Rogue shot into the air, hair whipping wildly behind her as she skyrocketed towards the source of the sound. Looks like it’s going to be a long night after all.
More screams rang in her ears, getting louder and louder as she effortlessly closed the distance in flight. Rounding a building, she saw it—a large black doglike creature stalking towards a small group of people in an alleyway. There was one man on the ground, curled up and painfully nursing an injury that Rogue couldn’t quite see. Diving down like a falcon ready to descend upon its next catch, Rogue swung her leg forward and slammed it into the animal’s flank. She heard the crack of bone as her shin connected with its side, sending the mass of dark fur barreling against a building while she landed gracefully on the pavement.
“Ya’ll alright?” She said in between breaths, eyes darting from the man on the ground to the rest of the group. They were younger than she’d thought and clearly shaken by what they’d seen—maybe early or mid twenties.