Summary: Set after the third film, following the AE where Rogue doesn't take the cure. Remy gets involved in a rivalry fight between two arch-enemies and against all his better judgment hires himself out to a cute little X-man with suicide lips. ROMY.

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men nor am I affiliated with Marvel in any way.

Author's Notes: This time working with the alternate ending of X3, where Rogue does not take the cure. I'm currently fascinated with jealousy and betrayal and what desperate people do for the love of another. Love is blind, afterall. I also wanted to write a story concerning Remy as his fabled 'Mercenary for Hire' status and what all he's willing to do under a contract payroll. I'm taking a different turn here, with Marie being the one invoking the hair-brained scheme, ultimately hiring Remy as a means to an end and Remy being the slightly saner of the two. Rated M for sexual content and most likely offensive language.

As per usual: I don't speak French, I rely on internet translators along with help from my friends. I write with minimal accents, we all know our leads have them, so I feel it's unnecessary. The power of imagination works better than all my misspelled words and apostrophes.

It was a good start to a bad week. All Marie wanted was some time alone with her boyfriend, like dinner and a movie—a nice mundane and normal date. She scoffed at that last thought. Her life had become anything but normal these days. She glanced over at Bobby, who was using his ice mutation with abandon on his former best friend, John. She knew her life would never be normal, but she still wanted to at least try.

She turned her attention back to the unfamiliar mutant who had attacked them along with John. The Brotherhood was up to its old tricks again, causing trouble and discord all in the name of mutants.

This time, she suspected the attack was deliberate, probably goaded on by John and Bobby's constant rivalry. It was an eternal sore spot with her. Regardless, she and Bobby had been followed and jumped outside the empty movie theatre by John and his new teammate. John had immediately gone after Bobby, leaving the new guy to fight with her.

The guy actually complained about it.

"Why do I always get stuck with the girls?" A thick Cajun accent had growled.

"Because," John had yelled back. "This one's personal!"

So here she was, at her current situation, attempting to grab hold of some bare flesh on the guy and suck his life away. And that was a problem for her. He wore too much damn clothing. I mean, really? Who wears a trench coat in midsummer, she thought rather annoyed. He also wore black leather gloves, to which Marie silently cursed. She felt she was at a severe disadvantage, because to top it off, he had a bo staff and she was unarmed. Completely unfair.

To his defense, he never used the staff as violently as he could have. He was only using it to knock her off balance, to which she again silently cursed. This fight was not in her favour at all. He was too quick, and almost too good.

He'd had plenty of opportunities to finish her off, but never took the final blow. It made her angry that he was dummying the fight down for her to keep up. Which was silly, she should have been grateful she was still alive, not offended that he'd hurt her pride and was clearly the superior fighter.

She was by no means lousy in hand to hand combat; she did her training in the mansion's Danger Room. More often than not, she survived each training session, but this guy had his fighting skills down to an art form. If all the Brotherhood's new recruits were this good, her team would definitely have their hands full.

Magneto hadn't even resurfaced yet, although the rumours of the cure's effect wearing off on him spread like wild fire. He was hiding away somewhere, gathering up his army again for whatever new plan he had tucked up his sleeve. This was just the first tiny taste of the new Brotherhood.

She glanced over at Bobby again for a brief second. At least he was winning his battle. John was bloody and on his knees, shivering, his defeat close at hand. Soon, Bobby would be rushing to her aid to fight with this guy and it made her even angrier. Most girls appreciated their boyfriend coming to their rescue. Marie didn't. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate teamwork and all that—it was just that she hated needing a hero when she was supposed to be one herself.

As she expected, Bobby was heading over to her fight, concerned, leaving John down on the ground. The guy noticed Bobby heading over to. He reacted by slipping off his coat. Marie was excited to finally have an opening, only to have that dashed when she saw his long sleeved, black T-shirt instead of bare arms. She just couldn't catch a break tonight. He caught her off guard, snaring her into his coat tightly and pulling her close to his chest. Stuck, she could only stare into his eerie mutant eyes.

Marie became vaguely aware of a soft, magenta glow surrounding her. He'd done something to the coat she was wrapped in. Something not good. It dawned on her that he was finally using his mutation. She dimly realized he was getting ready to shove her into Bobby.

"Sorry, ma cherie," he whispered hoarsely, his warm breath sending shivers across her face. "Nothin' personal, but you're dead."

She'd found her opening.

"So are you," she whispered back and kissed him.

To her surprise, she felt his tongue slide past her lips as he kissed her back. Then he slumped, unconscious to the ground as her mutation took its full effect. She'd siphoned away his energy, letting him go just before it was too late. The magenta glow faded from the coat with his falling hand. When she looked up from his body she saw Bobby staring at her.

She had just kissed another man in front of her boyfriend. Whether it saved her life or not, Bobby did not look happy.

Yeah, it was definitely going to be a bad week.