Chapter 9 Doing It My Way
Laying low meant sticking to motels and bars, the kind of places where people don't actually pay attention to who they're dealing with. Cash is always better than a name. With enough, secrets can be bought and handshake deals can always be broken. I had to get rid of the car. It stood out, and that meant unwanted attention. I was lucky that a paid lot wasn't far from where I wanted to start.
I had to let my sense of smell carry me ahead. If she could copy whatever form Mystique took, I could be staring right at her and not know it, but I will never forget what she smells like, even covered up or smothered in god-awful perfume. Underneath it all, it's still Marie.
At this hour, she was probably still hung over. I'd smelled the remnants of a night crashing the mini bar, and the remedy for such things would be the next best thing. No one in that state would be doing much moving. Day light allowed me watch the side walk, locate the bank the professor said will be the location for the set up. Information too conveniently accessible, too easily shared or left to be found. A coffee shop directly across had a window with a bar, perfect for viewing. I grabbed a paper and a cup, and staked out my spot, the door and the alley all within a glance. I watched the guards at the door change and saw an armored truck enter and leave the alley. The guards covering that door packed some heat, fully visible, with extra magazines on their belts. I was beginning to wonder if they were at the ready, planning for an invasion, expecting to combat someone as dangerous as all the fears about every mutant put together. If Marie could only see what she was up against. Five o'clock rolled around, doors closed, lobby lights were turned off. Two guards stayed posted at the door in the alley.
Now that I knew the layout of the bank, it was time to look for Marie. I decided to start at a bar close to four motels. A place where business men would never tell their wives' that they had been. Smoky enough to forget a lot about yourself, dark enough to be a part of the bare-it-all business done around the corner. A waft of air sunk into my chest, a pull, something familiar grabbing deep within, feeling like hesitation and the need to be ready to fight. I closed my eyes to concentrate, trying to single out who it could be. My nerves were excited, and without a further second, Mystique came to mind, as the air became more concentrated with more of her. She was here. God only knew who she was or what she was doing with the assumed banker she was seducing. I froze, eying the door. I had to get out. She knew I would be chasing Marie. If she saw me, they would split, run and any hope of finding Marie would be back to the professor. The bartender came my way. I waved him off for a refill, fumbling a ten out of my pocket, kept my back to the crowd and all but ran out the door. It was dark, the glow of the neon lights gave me a cover to watch through the few windows. A group of suited balding types filled a booth, a woman who looked a lot like Jean was in between the worst looking two. I watched them laugh and smoke, and saw her conivingly never refill her drink. In less than an hour, bottles and empty rock glasses covered the table. She had a talent like no other for making anyone tell her their deepest secrets and getting them drunk was probably the fastest way to do it. I watched the woman stand, and her bare mid drift gave me all the answers I needed. I branded her seven years ago. Her little secret was my way to find Marie.
It wasn't long before she left with only one of the suits, walking to a motel nearby. The sound of her heels on the wet pavement were easier to follow than any other trail. The exterior door to her room was going to make it harder to keep tabs. No lobbies or halls to pass through, no one to remember coming or going. The clerk wasn't hard to convince to give me a room near hers. I listened to how she built his drunk ass up, how he so easily gave in. I could see how they could walk through the other banks with so little resistance. Their little passion play was disgusting, but it didn't last long. I could hear him snoring through the paper thin walls, and then I heard her slip out not long after.
I followed her shadow, watched her change two more times, from the woman who sank the banker, to a man sliding into a gay bar, then to a seductress dressed for the night, even as the sun rose. I buried the memory deep so even the Professor will have trouble finding the history of that night.
The daylight was making it harder to keep a safe distance. Fewer people on the streets in this section of town meant I couldn't get lost in the crowd. The diner she went into was going to be impossible to cover. The glare from the sun off the expansive window meant I couldn't watch from across the street and the bell on the door blew any chance to slip in and hope for a seat at the bar. I grabbed a paper and a pickle bucket and leaned against the phone booth perched not too far from the door. I could at least detect her leaving if she didn't stay in her current form.
Mystique left first, still looking like she could murder a weak-hearted man with one glance and a quick wink. But not too far behind was everything I was waiting for. I knew it was her before my eyes by the outline of her body. Tthe breeze had blown her scent my way, burning me to the core, waking the hunger that I had been controlling for months. Her hair caught a bit of the wind, lifting up a few strands of her white hair that shimmered in the sun. Marie had trailed behind Mystique, rushing to be at her side, and fortunately walking the opposite direction from where I was sitting. Had she seen me, I would have given away my cover with the shock of actually finding her and everything would have been lost.
I was actually glad to see her alive, but I couldn't let the anger take control. I was hoping that what the professor told me wasn't real, or she was doing it against her will. But that little bit of hop in her step led me to believe she was almost enjoying it. I had to mind my distance. I knew she could still have some of my instincts, 10 feet too close and they'd both be off and running.
I watched them duck into an alley, but whether it was an instinctual defensive maneuver or if they knew, even subconsciously, that they were being followed, I wasn't sure. I slipped behind a dumpster catching them in view again, seeing Mystique grab Marie's arm and hold on. Without fear, she didn't flinch, bracing for the pull, a ripple of blue skin swept over her face and down an arm, her body reacting to the force of Marie's touch. Far behind, I watched the streak fade from her long brown hair as it shortened. A change to her posture and her hands as if she had endured years of physical labor. They exchanged a few more words and split ways. Marie stood briefly, trying to accept her new identity, adjusting herself in her clothes, finding a new center of gravity. She started walking toward the entrance to the alley. The dumpster didn't give me as much coverage as a wanted. I caught the site of her face, a change to the color of her eyes, the shape of her chin, large dark circles sitting on top of sunken in cheek bones. She easily hailed a cab, not more than twenty feet away from me, close enough so I could overhear the directions to the driver. She was heading to the bank, and unbeknownst to Marie, she wasn't going alone.
I ran to the paid lot and grabbed Cyke's car. She couldn't be more than a few minutes ahead of me. Driving across the front of her end destination, I got there just in time to see her entering the bank I staked out the day before. I backed into a parking spot under the shadows of a taller building across the street, not knowing if this would be the big sting, or just a scout out. I highly doubted this was the main event. They weren't prepared. They were unarmed. I found myself in the curious position of hoping Marie was carrying a gun, fully loaded, even though it would be for something sinister. I didn't want her caught off-guard, empty-handed if those bank guards got antsy.
She came back out, still looking like the middle-aged haggard woman whose physical identity she had stolen. Marie grabbed another cab, which I followed no more than two car lengths behind, to another hotel where I watched her walk up a flight of stairs to a row of doors. She never lost focus once, letting her true self slip through. Her hair never changed, her skin never showed her true youth. She acted totally alone, never shooting a glance behind her shoulder, hesitating or second guessing any move. She was practiced, her movements easy and graceful, never showing any fear.
I parked at the far end of the open parking lot in front of the motel. A string of similar establishments lined both sides of a four-lane highway, some separated by restaurants and bars, a great place to hide out in the wide open. The constant stream of passing trucks made it hard to concentrate on the mission. I had to convince her to come back with me, I couldn't loose control, I couldn't let anger consume me. I couldn't let the animal lust after her. This was going to be a battle of wills. Hers, the animal, and me trying to tame all of them.
The sound of my boots seemed to echo louder than I was expecting against the metal stairs to Marie's room. It felt like I was announcing myself with a megaphone, blowing the surprise. I didn't know what to expect out of her, the same angst ridden kid that I got on the phone, or would she be primed to actually defend her ground?
I fisted my hand and hovered it over the door, nothing but a few inches of crappy metal holding me back from Marie. I felt the blood drain out of my head, but my face felt so hot. I would trade a firing squad for this feeling right now, this fear of the unknowable reactions of someone you thought you had known.
I let my knuckles hit the cool surface as I tried to conjure the idea to fight. Adrenalin has always been my friend. I felt the metal in my bones smash into the door like a drumstick hitting a cymbal.
Muffled scurrying, and then I hear her voice. "Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming, hang on a second."
That got me going. This time, I had to force myself not to dent the door as I threw my hand harder, peeling paint chips with each whack.
"Alright, alright. What?" The knob turned and in slow motion I heard all the barrels click, and an adhesion of
grime peel away as she pulled the door open. A quick gasp and a frozen stare of shock grabbed me as our eyes met and locked onto each other. Her pale cheeks flushed with color, and an uneasiness fell upon her, something she has never experienced around me before. I forced my way past her, feeling myself fill the tiny room, not leaving space for much of anything besides the tension.
"Do you have any idea how long it's taken to find you, kid?" Four months, three days, and one sleepless night. But right now she doesn't seem to care. Her eyes kept darting at me and then away, her hands fidgeting, and finally settling as she crossed her arms defensively.
The room smelled beyond lust and sex. A slight beading of sweat around her hair line raised more questions than it answered. Her tight t-shirt gave away her braless bust, sharply outlined underneath the thin fabric. Her hips filled out a low cut pair of jeans, well worn, with a few frays around the pockets, much like mine. One flick of a claw and the animal would get what it wanted so easily, and my god she's no kid anymore. I leaned against a cheap old table, crossed my arms and my feet hoping to hide the affect of being around her once again. The silence was so thick, I couldn't tell if either of us was breathing. She was acting a bit vulnerable and I had to keep the upper hand.
"So what you doin' here kid?" I couldn't really look her in the eye, not like she was reading me either. Clothes were everywhere, looking more like a kid's room at the mansion than an adult managing on her own. "Marie?" That should have chipped at the wall between us. That was a secret we kept together, something personal only I knew.
I swear I heard bugs running under the carpet. I could almost make out a TV on in a room about three doors down. A pin drop would have sound like a bomb exploding for how quiet it was. The shock of my actual presence started to wear off. She adjusted herself and started to speak.
"It's Rogue, And I'm fine." Her accent was a bit played up and thicker. She was lying to herself to try to get it past me.
"That's not what I asked."
A slight wrinkling of her forehead, a narrowing of her eyes, and tightening of her jaw, all so slight she might not have noticed herself what she was doing, but she was pissed. Her large eyes staring at the door as she tried to walk passed me, my hand instantly grabbed her upper arm, almost gripping to her bones. Her muscles were hard, but life on the run let her body lose some of it's strength and endurance. I knew I'd leave a bruise. This time I could smell sex wafting off of her, her cheeks so red, deeper than her lips. I forgot that I was so close to her skin, just beyond the crook of her elbow the sleeve ended that separated my bare hand from her easiest weapon. The heat radiating off both our bodies raised the temperature of our shared personal space. I always wanted to be this close to her, but now is not the time. I let her go after I felt the direction of her energy change, away from bolting out the door.
"What you doin' here?" I have waited for answers. I needed her to tell me something, anything, and right then, I'd have taken a lie just to have something to work with.
"I should be the one asking you that question."
"So ask."
"What if I don't care?"
Yeah, you do. I needed to get away for her reacting to everything I was trying to chip at. Just this once, I wished I had the professor in my head. He was good at this stuff, and anymore of this bullshit and I would have thrown her in the car, screaming or not, to get her home.
"Were you alone?" She rolls her eyes, lets out a held breathe like she wished it was fire searing my skin off.
"Alone? Well, I am now. Back window. You scared him. He thought you were my boyfriend returning."
Yeah, right. Why didn't she try to lie a bit smarter? She knew better than that. Quiet fell over us again, the corners of her lips turned up slightly, like she was going to laugh about something, but she seemed to like playing with the idea of blackening her virtue.
"So, you come here just to discuss my sex life?"
"Marie-"
"It's not how I pay my way or anything, or at least, not anymore," Matter of fact, so casual, so practiced, but she had apprehension falling off her faster than Niagara Falls.
I slid forward slightly until my face was inches away from her, even closer than last time. I could see the pulse throbbing down her throat, the angle of her shoulders fell towards her neck. How intoxicating she was becoming.
"Strange that I can only smell one scent then. Yours." Try something better next time.
I couldn't tell what she was more disappointed in at that moment, herself for thinking that would work, or that I was winning this little game.
"Go away, Logan."
"No."
"So what? You just gonna stand there all day?"
"I think that you've got some explainin' to do." I still hadn't gotten her trust to come back to the mansion with me.
"In what way?"
"Well for a start you can explain why the hell you took off!" I knew I should have thought about that one before it slipped. If I could have rewound time, even for a brief second, that would have been it. She exploded on the inside, trying her best to contain all hate she held for me at that moment.
"What right have you to care? You weren't there!"
"It doesn't matter where I was. I get this call from 'Ro, then another from Jubilee sayin' you'd gone missing. They thought you were with me."
"So what, they don't own me. I can do what I like."
"They don't own you? Kid, they care about you. They were your friends! D'you have any idea what you put them through?"
"Look, spare me the lecture, okay? Why are you here? Have they sent you to come and get me? Am I a mission now?"
"Come to take you home. Where it's safe."
I can't let any idea form in her mind that I know what she has been doing, what she might walk into. It feels so wrong to let her walk into that trap.
"You're livin' in a motel room."
"It suited you fine for long enough."
"That's different." That's the only way I knew how to live, the only way that felt safe for the first few years.
"Ha ! Yeah. Right. You say it often enough maybe even you will start believing it."
"Marie." She can't go there right now. I'm not going to handle this for much longer. She wants to fight, she'll get one.
"My name...is Rogue." And with that something pops, trying to push past me, but I stop her again, her energy focused so hard on that door. Rage is creeping bit by bit. One of us going to get set off.
"It ain't that easy, kid. Didn't come all the way down here just to have you walk out on me."
"And what? You think you can stop me?" Anger, adrenalin, and hating everything I have come to represent was taking over for her. I had to get control back.
"Why are you doing this? Thought you were happy back at the Mansion."
"You don't notice much do you?"
"I wasn't around much."
"I know!"
"Was that a problem?" We had never talked about what it was that we were to each other ever. I always thought it was for the best to stay away, lost moments I will always regret.
"No. Why would it be?"
"Then why are you out here? What d'you want?"
"What I want is to be left alone."
"Is it because of that boy? Drake?"
"What?"
"Kid, when you run away, you run away from somethin'."
"Well, you oughta know."
"Somethin' made you hurt."
"No something did not make me hurt. I'm fine."
"Was it the cure?" I'm picking at straws, and I hesitate to state the obvious.
"Was it me?" Long silence. I watched her swallow hard, not sure if she was holding back tears, trying to stay ready to fight. "Marie?"
"Not everything is about you. The only person that this is about, is me. Not you. Not Bobby. Not anyone else at that FUCKING mansion. Just me. My choice."
She was grabbing the last of her stuff, getting ready to run away from me this time. She stopped in front of me, but looked at the floor, inhaled a slow, deep breath, let it out again. "I don't have a life there anymore. Let me go."
"Kid..." She finally edged her way past me, the only barrier between her and her exit to her screwed up life. "Wait-"
"No." Without hesitation, she grabbed my arm, with her bare hand, and I wasn't sure if I forgot to react, to pull away, out of shock at her actually using her skin as a weapon against me, or because I knew I had to keep her from seeing my mindset. I had to guard what she would see. The sting was almost impossible to bear. As the light around me faded and I felt my legs give out, the last thing I saw was the silhouette of Marie shutting the door behind her.
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