Chapter 10: Acceptance

Rogue sat in the back of the truck with Gambit and their new partner in crime, a man only known to them as Mockery. Why Mockery had chosen that as his alias for this mission was anyone's guess. Perhaps he found it as amusing as Rogue did.

The truck was filled with various crates and boxes, and the three of them were sitting by the back door.

Rogue and Gambit had arrived in West Virginia only hours before for their 'romantic getaway'. They were picked up from the airport by Rubix, stopped briefly to check into their hotel, went over the border into Kentucky, and finally met up with Mockery and switched to the truck. Now they were on their way to Donald Pierce's estate.

It was finally happening.

As they travelled, Donald Pierce's former right arm was attached to Rogue's residue limb. Try as she might, she still couldn't get it to respond to her. It remained a dead weight hanging off her shoulder.

"Still trying to get it to move?" Gambit asked her.

"Yep." Rogue glared at it.

"Oh, you might not ever get that thing to move," Mockery said from the bench across from them. "Pierce was replacing these for a reason, and it wasn't just so he could have the latest model. These things barely respond to me and I've years of experience with them."

"Oh?" Gambit asked. "I was under the impression that the adaptors were the problem."

"They don't help!" Mockery considered for a moment. "Well, actually, I guess they do help, what with them enabling us to communicate with prosthetics not meant for us, and all. But they don't make it easy!"

Rogue made another attempt to get the arm to respond to her, utilising one of the exercises that the prosthetist had shown her. Still nothing.

"Somehow, knowing this thing is past its use-by day makes me feel better," Rogue said.

Mockery grinned at her. "I bet that's one limb you can't wait to amputate."

Rogue stared at him for a moment, then giggled.


After what felt like forever, the truck came to a stop and the back doors were opened. The back of the truck had a great view of a blank wall.

"And we're here," said Rubix. "Got past the gate without raising suspicions. Cameras have been dealt with, so all we have to worry about now is witnesses and getting into Pierce's office."

Rogue and Gambit got out of the truck with ease. Mockery needed help getting his absurdly long legs over the edge and onto the ground. He was wearing long pants, which were still too short and revealed the prosthetic legs from just below the knee. He stood carefully, and towered over all of them.

Rogue looked around and found that, as planned, the truck has been parked in the garage. What she didn't expect was how large the garage was. It was dark, but she could see the outline of at least five garage doors, and there were several cars parked in neat rows.

A heavy shifting noise caught her attention, and Rogue looked back to see that Rubix had done something to cause the blank wall to slide open. A faint blue glow came from the inside of the room beyond. Rubix called everyone over.

Inside the little room was another car and the outline of another garage door on the wall opposite. The blue glow came from four panels, clearly intended to scan feet and hands. There was another box, dark, that was about eye height.

"Okay, let's do this," Rubix said gleefully.

"Ah, the moment of truth," Mockery said as he lumbered over. "Will we get in? Or will we be high-tailing it back to the truck and getting out of here?"

"Have a little faith," Rubix said.

"I'm here, aren't I?"

Mockery carefully lined himself up with the panels, but didn't touch them yet.

"Okay, Rogue," Mockery said and patted his right side with his only original limb. "Let's get you lined up."

Rogue walked over. She felt a little strange pressing her front against the side of a man she'd only met a few hours earlier. Since Rogue couldn't get the prosthesis to respond to her, Mockery and Rubix lifted the arm for her.

Mockery stepped onto the foot panels, and pressed his left hand onto its panel. Rubix lined up Rogue's right hand with the other panel and Mockery supported its weight.

Rubix then lifted up his phone and held it up to the retina scanner.

The room was silent but for the sound of the scanners. Blue light moved across the panels. There was a pause, then a click.

A pair of elevators doors slid open. They blended in so well with the wall that Rogue hadn't even realised they were there. Gambit quickly stepped in to make sure the doors wouldn't close before they were ready.

"There's another scanner in here," Gambit said.

"Yeah, but it should just be for a single hand," Rubix said.

"It is."

"Good," Rubix said.

Rogue and Mockery joined Gambit in the elevator. Rubix went back to the truck, pulled out the folding chair that had been left inside, and then got into the elevator too. With a gloved finger, Rubix pressed the button for the relevant floor.

They were all wearing gloves, hats, and glasses. Gambit had a temporary tattoo on his neck, and Rubix had a fake scar on his face. Rogue had a fake mole on her left cheek. When she asked, Gambit explained that it was to fool witnesses.

"You don't have to change your appearance very much, you just need to have a feature or two that will stand out. That way, if a witness sees you, they'll focus on that feature and not on what you actually look like."

"Hmm, so covering up my white streak is a must."

"A huge must."

The elevator went up a few floors, stopped, and let them out. Rubix peeked out, but there weren't any new security features on the other side, so they left the elevator. It was a short hallway with three doors, each one guarded by a hand scanner.

"He must enjoy having to placate security multiple times a day in his own home," Gambit mused as he set up the folding chair in the doorway of the elevator.

"Eh, this is what happens when you're rich and you have too many enemies," Rubix said as he walked to the nearest door, the one directly in front of them. "Rogue, if you wouldn't mind?"

Rogue lifted her right arm up and pressed it against the scanner.

"When you're poor and have too many enemies you end up dead," Rubix said cheerfully as the scanner did its thing. "Or maybe in jail. Probably still end up dead."

"Probably," Gambit said.

There was a click and the door opened. Rubix poked his head inside and looked around.

"Alright, nothing's changed. Let's get started. Mockery, I'll leave the elevator to you," Rubix said.

"Sir, yes sir," Mockery replied with a mock salute.

"Rogue, if you can keep this door open. And keep an eye on the hallway. Pretty sure we won't get interrupted, since Pierce doesn't let anyone in here without him, and he's out of town, but who knows. We might be surprised."

"Alright."

Rogue followed Rubix and Gambit inside and propped the door open with her own body. The room was an extensive office, with gorgeous paintings and other artwork, a beautiful wooden desk, and a computer setup that included nine different monitors. Rubix went straight for the computer. Gambit looked around the office.

"Alright, I'll go grab us a crate," Gambit said. "Be right back."

By this point, Mockery had moved the chair back inside the elevator and was sitting in it by the hand scanner. He pulled his hand away from the open doorway as Gambit came in and lifted his left arm up to the scanner. The doors closed.

Rogue waited in silence. She could hear the clacking of keys and the hum of the computer, but that was all.

After a time, the elevator doors opened again. Gambit stepped out, hauling a crate with a box trolley. He gave Rogue a slight grin as he headed back inside the office.

"Almost done," Rubix said. "I'll help you in a minute."

"No rush. I'm just going to grab the light stuff," Gambit said. "Oh, and there's another crate in the elevator. One of the ones for paintings."

"Great."

Rogue found herself watching Gambit more than she was the hallway. She started to feel sick. What was she doing here, getting involved in robbing someone's home? Okay, sure, Donald Pierce was a 'bad guy', that was hardly the point. Granted, she wasn't exactly innocent of stealing, and she had done a fair bit of it while she was homeless just out of desperation. But this wasn't desperation now, was it?

"And the upload has started," Rubix said gleefully and stood up from Pierce's very comfortable looking office chair. "Now for the fun part."

Rubix joined Gambit in loading up the crates. Between the two of them they made swift work in filling them, then they returned to the elevator and headed back down. The office was looking pretty stripped of valuables by that point.

Rogue waited, alone, at the doorway of the office. Waiting for them to come back up seemed to take forever.

"Are they coming back? Have they decided to leave me behind?"

Before the thought could take root, the elevator doors opened again, and Gambit and Rubix emerged with two more crates. Rubix gestured to Rogue. "Next door."

Rogue headed towards the door down the left side of the hallway while berating herself for thinking she would be left behind. She didn't know Rubix or Mockery, but she knew Gambit and he would never do such a thing. Rogue lifted the prosthetic arm up to the hand scanner and the next room unlocked. She pushed the door open to find some sort of vault or private museum inside. In addition to the artwork, there was also a lounge and a fake fireplace off to one side.

"Ah, so this is where he keeps all the hot property he can't have anyone noticing," Gambit said musingly.

Gambit and Rubix hauled the crates into the room and began stripping it down. Rogue wondered why it was always artwork, at least in the movies. Why did these rich guys never have extensive collections of movie memorabilia or comics or rare books, or obscure super niche things that no one else would ever want? And why was Pierce being so cliche? Rogue pondered that for a moment, then decided that maybe he did have a non-cliche collection of stuff around, but it was legit and in another part of the house. She concluded this thought was acceptable.

Come to think of it, he did have a pretty big garage. Sure, some of it could be staff parking, she supposed, but that didn't seem likely. Maybe he had a car collection. That would be less cliche and a lot harder to steal too.

Before she knew it, the two crates were filled and Rubix and Gambit were making their way out the door again. There was still quite a bit left in the vault, although they had made a noticeable hole.

"Okay, I just want to check on the upload and then I think we'll leave," Rubix said. "Rogue, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Sure."

Rogue headed back to the office door and unlocked it while Gambit got the crates back into the elevator. Rubix headed into the office and checked the computer. He did a few things, then headed back out.

"Upload done," he said. "Let's go."

"Shame about the rest of it," Gambit said as Rogue and Rubix entered the elevator.

"Yeah," Rubix said as Mockery pressed the button for the ground floor, "but y'know, don't be greedy."

"Greed has nothing to do with it. I just hate seeing a job half done."

"Ah, but the job was the upload." Rubix grinned at Gambit and patted one of the crates. "This was just a bonus."

"It sounds much nicer when you put it that way."

The elevator doors opened, and the four piled out. Rubix and Gambit loaded the crates into the back of the truck, then helped Mockery inside. As soon as he was settled, Mockery began exchanging Pierce's prosthetics with his own. Rogue and Gambit joined him int he back of the truck as before. Rubix closed up and headed to the driver's seat.

"Ah," Mockery sighed happily as he finished putting on his actual prosthetic limbs. "Much better. I feel like me again."

Rogue grinned at him and took off the prosthetic right arm. As soon as the liner was free from her residue limb, she breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn't believe how sweaty it had gotten there.

"Planning on getting your own?" Mockery asked her.

"Oh um, I'm thinking probably not. I don't know," Rogue said and shook her head. "Right now it just seems a lot of effort and resources for very little gain."

"Yeah, lots of people with one or less arms don't bother. Of course lots of people with one or less arms also don't have access to Reaver tech which is awesome and waaaaay better than all the other prosthetic arms on the market right now. Much better range of movement and sensory input." Mockery grinned at her. "Don't let Pierce's arm deter you."

Rogue smiled. "I won't. I haven't ruled it out entirely. It just doesn't seem worth it right now."

"Fair enough."

"So," Gambit said cheerfully. "How'd you enjoy the heist?"

"Um," Rogue glanced at her boyfriend. "It was okay. Kinda boring."

"Yeah. But technically boring is good," Gambit replied. "We got in, got out, no problems."

"We not quite out yet," Mockery said the same time Rogue repeated with a raised eyebrow: "Technically?"

Gambit grinned at Rogue. "I don't mind a little excitement during a heist. Makes things more interesting when the guards do their rounds early or something."

Rogue snorted.

"I think I prefer it boring," Mockery said.

"Yeah, well, probably a good thing this one was boring," Gambit conceded. "Still would've been fun blowing something up."

"What would you have blown up?" Rogue asked. "You're only doing little charges right now."

"A little charge strategically located can still cause a lot of damage."

"Mmmhmm."

Gambit just grinned wickedly at her.


It was well after midnight by the time Rogue and Gambit made it to their hotel, Rogue, usually an early bird, was half asleep already and had dozed off in the truck along the way. She barely noticed getting into their hotel room, let alone falling asleep in bed.

She slept late the next morning, although she was still up earlier than Gambit, night owl that he was. Rogue checked the news over breakfast, but there was no mention of Donald Pierce. Probably too soon for anything.

Gambit woke up a couple of hours later thanks to the alarm on his phone. It was earlier than he usually got up, but this was, officially, supposed to be a romantic weekend with Rogue and he actually wanted to spend time with her. It took a shower and a couple of cups of coffee before he was awake enough to have an intelligent conversation.

"I don't think I'll join you on any more heists," Rogue said as Gambit put his coffee mug in the sink.

"Decided it wasn't for you, huh?" he asked, and turned to look at her with a knowing smile. "I had a feeling you might."

"If it was just the data leak…" Rogue sighed. "Okay, I realise that most of what was in there was stolen already, so it probably shouldn't bother me that much—"

"No need to explain, ma chère," Gambit said and sat down beside her on the lounge. "This kind of stuff isn't for everyone, and that's okay." He wrapped his arm across her shoulders.

"It just… bothered me. I mean, I've stolen myself, when I was homeless and desperate, but I'm not homeless and desperate now and—"

"Lots of other people are desperate though," Gambit said firmly. "Look, what we did isn't going to stop crime - that's just a fool's errand - but it is going to help a lot of people get out of a bad situation."

Rogue shot him a Look. "Don't tell me I'm a hero."

"Why not? You are a hero." Gambit grinned at her. "This just ain't your most shining example of heroism."

Rogue's Look softened into a cynical gaze. Gambit's grin grew wider.

"How about you and me go for a walk before our massages?" he asked.

"Ooh, you booked a couples massage again?"

"Of course!"


Donald Pierce walked with a serenity he didn't feel towards his private plane. He wanted to run, but that would just attract unwanted attention. The sooner he left, the sooner he would make it to Vanuatu, and the less likely he would be stopped by the police.

He didn't know who leaked his data to Wikileaks, but he would find out, and make sure they regretted ever conceiving the idea. Now he had to get out of the country before the feds caught wind of things and managed to get a warrant for his arrest. Every moment counted, and the worst of it was that he was now in debt to Sebastian Shaw, or more specifically, his personal assistant, Tessa.

He didn't know what was more humiliating: being forced to leave the country before he was arrested, or being in debt to a mutant.

Donald Pierce, The White Bishop of the Hellfire Club, got into his private plane, and headed straight for the cockpit. Normally he had a pilot, but the leak meant he didn't know who of his personal staff he could trust. He certainly didn't want to take anyone with him that might leak his hiding place later.

He soon got clearance to leave, and acted immediately upon getting it. He felt better once he was in the air, but the tension didn't abate at all until he'd left the borders of the USA.


"You know," Gambit said as they walked out of the Lake Shawnee abandoned amusement park that evening, "for a place that's supposed to be so scary, it seems a little lacking."

"Maybe it's scarier during the on-season," Rogue replied with a grin as both their phones went off at the same time. "Or maybe we're just jaded."

"I don't think we can rule out either possibility." Gambit grinned at her and pulled out his phone. He glanced at the screen. "Apparently Jubilee thinks we really need to see something."

"Oh?"

Rogue pulled out her own phone, and discovered a link Jubilee had sent them both. She pressed on it, and an article came up: "Reaver Leader Revealed!"

"Donald Pierce of Pierce-Consolidated Mining is alleged to be behind the Reavers…" Gambit read. "Documents on Wikileaks… Pierce appears to have fled the country… Fun!"

"Yeah…" Rogue said slowly.

Gambit glanced at her as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Something wrong?"

"It just seems too easy. After everything that happened, after all this time, and how well um, our uh, heist went," Rogue said as they walked to the car. "I guess it feels anti-climatic. I'm just waiting for something to go wrong."

Gambit nodded thoughtfully. "I know the feeling."

Rogue glanced at him as she put her own phone away. "That's all you have to say?"

"Yep." He grinned at her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "It's good when these things go without a hitch. And sometimes you have gotten away with it, and sometimes it catches up with you later." He shrugged. "It's too early to say."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"You know me, chère, I like a good challenge and playing for stakes." His eyes sparked with mischief as they walked to their waiting taxi. "We won this round. Now we're onto the next. You may want to think about working on your poker face too."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Just… don't go knowing more about what happened than you should, hmm?" Gambit said.

They reached the taxi and the driver greeted them before Rogue could reply. She decided it would be best not to. The driver didn't need to hear this conversation.


Rogue determinedly ignored all the looks her way as she and Gambit returned to the airport for their trip back home. After all this time she still wasn't used to it. She wondered if she ever would be.

There wasn't much of a line, so it wasn't long before they made it to the counter and checked in. The only luggage they had were their carry-ons, so that was one less thing to worry about. They got through airport security with no problem and headed to their lounge.

Gambit was still rather sleepy, this being an early morning for him. So while he sat with their luggage, Rogue headed to the little cafe to get coffee.

The cafe line was also short, and there were muffins on sale, so she bought a couple of those as well as the drinks. The to-go drinks and muffins were put into a cardboard tray, which Rogue picked up after paying and carefully held close to her body to make sure of a firm grip. She started walking back to their seats.

"Oh hey there, did you want a hand?" asked a middle-aged woman who immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, winced in embarrassment, then dropped her hand slightly and said. "Sorry, I mean, do you want some help?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Rogue replied.

She continued walking and ignored it when the woman asked if she was sure, and that it would be no problem.

"Mommy! That lady's arm fell off!" said the voice of some nearby child.

Rogue glanced over and saw a young kid pointing at her and tugging at his mother's shirt. The mother looked at Rogue, then grabbed her child, hissed at him "Don't stare at people!" and hastily pulled him away. Rogue couldn't help but feel amused, and a little bad for the child.

Gambit had fallen asleep by the time Rogue back it back to their seats. She smiled and carefully sat down beside him. She set the tray on her lap, then took a few moments to flex her fingers and rotate her wrist a few times. Then she gave Gambit a gentle shake.

"Hey sugar," she said. "Coffee's here."

"Hmm?" Gambit's eyes blinked open. He looked around and then sat up out of his sliding slouch. "Oh hey."

Rogue grinned at him and handed him his coffee.

"Also got muffins," she said.

"Oh good."

They were in the middle of eating and drinking when the first call for their flight was announced. Since they weren't priority passengers, they finished off their muffins and drink at their own pace.

"I'll just toss this," Gambit said once they'd finished, and he gathered up their rubbish.

Rogue nodded and grabbed her bag in anticipation as she waited for his return. She stood and slung her backpack over her right shoulder first and then her left.

"Oh wow, what happened to your arm?"

With tears streaming down his face, Gambit released his left hand, "I'm sorry," and then his right.

Rogue's arm exploded.

Rogue scowled at the young man who was standing there gaping at her.

"Nothing is wrong with my arm," she said irritably. "It's fine."

The young man looked confused. "But you only have one arm."

"Exactly! And it's fine."

"But what happened to the other one?"

"I don't have another one," Rogue retorted as Gambit returned to her side.

"But—"

"I only have one arm, and it's fine. Why is this so hard to understand?" Rogue said as Gambit pulled on his own backpack.

"No, it's not, I mean…"

The young man's stammer was cut off by another call for their flight.

"Ah, that's us," Gambit said, and took Rogue's hand in his.

"Great," Rogue said and they walked off together, leaving the young man to stare after them. "By the way, sugar, as nice and productive as this weekend has been, I do have one request."

"Yeah?"

"Next time we plan a romantic getaway, tell Rubix his keep his nose out of it."

Gambit chuckled. "He has managed to crash every single trip we've had, hasn't he?"

"Yep."

"I won't even mention the next one," he promised her. "Well, maybe after we've come back, when it's too late for him to crash it."

Rogue grinned at him. "Sounds good to me. It's not much of a romantic getaway if there's some third party inserting his agenda into my alone time with the one that I love."

Gambit smiled at her as they joined the queue. "I couldn't agree more."


End!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for all of you who reviewed. It is much appreciated.

I'm already working on the next story in this series. Hopefully it won't take me a year to do like this one did. A year! To write 10 chapters! Meh. Really off my game lately *sigh*

Thanks again!