She's Alive
They were all sitting in the living room again. Small talk was going on between some of them. Fury was keeping his eyes at Remy who was playing Go Fish with Clint and Sam. He was leading and the others got more and more amazed and annoyed.
“LeBeau.”
Remy put his cards down and looked over to him.
“Yes?”
Fury took a deep breath. Apologizing was not something he often did but he felt that he had to do it now.
“I’m not going to say that I’m sorry for insulting you and saying that you might side with the Marauders. But I am sorry about saying that you belong with Sinister. That was not true. And now that Logan has explained about what was going on with Creed and you, I might change my mind about the first thing too.”
Remy’s head snapped over to Logan.
“You told them?”
The man didn’t even turn away from the conversation he had with Bucky. Remy rolled his eyes, muttered something about stupid ferals and turned back to Fury.
“Well, as you see me and Victor have a not so nice history. He was like a brother to me in the beginning. But the blood changed him into a monster. Even more than he was before.”
Fury nodded slowly. Then he realized that the young man was staring at him. Almost as if he waited for something. Then Remy suddenly closed his eyes and hung his head.
“You knew someone there right? One of the Morlocks.”
That drew the others attention to them.
“I was adopted into a family where all women were mutants. My sister had black eyes. We could have fixed it with sunglasses while she was outside but her daughter Sarah… They couldn’t let her stay. It would be too obvious. She had bones sticking out of her face. So Anna took her and went down to the underground. We thought they would be safe.”
“Bones…”
For a second Remy looked almost shellshocked. Logan turned his head towards Tony.
“Is there any way to get some footage from those tunnels?”
Tony shook his head. Then suddenly green smoke appeared above the table and when it disappeared they saw a dvd lying there on the table. Next to it was a note. Sam lifted it and read:
“Be glad that I know when I’m needed. I think we are even now Stark. This video will show you everything else you need. And your AI still has the other clips.”
At first Tony looked confused but then he face palmed.
“Amora. Yeah. We are even.”
Now it was Visions turn to face palm. The sight of him doing that made Clint chuckle. Vision looked over to Tony.
“I should have guessed when the first clips appeared.”
Tony waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. He went over to the player and put the DVD in. But before he started it he looked over to Remy. The cajun shivered but nodded. Wanda moved closer to him and took his hand. Tony sat back on his seat and Friday played the clip.
Remy followed a big, wild-looking man into a room full of mutants. A pale man with red eyes and in a black and red suit was standing in front of the crowd.
“Sabretooth. Gambit. Just in time.”
The man called Saber tooth went over to the front of the crowd while Remy kept away from them. The man smirked.
“It’s a great pleasure to meet you all, my Marauders. I know we’re going to do great things together. Gambit, the next phase of this briefingneed not concern you. But I have something of yours that I meant to giveyou. You do superior work, Mr. Lebeau. You’ve impressedme-- and I’m not easy to impress.”
He threw something over to Remy. The thief caught it without any problems and looked at it.
“I done what I was paid to do. Don’t need your compliments now. Just need our debtsettled, non? This was the last. Don’t call. Don’t write. I’m out of this game here and now. As of today, you can’t afford me no more.”
All the others were looking away except for Sabretooth that kept his eyes on Remy. Sinister turned away from the thief.
“Have faith, Mr. LeBeau, that you will be out when you hear from me that you are out. And that will only be after one more job.”
Remy hung his head.
“What kind of job?”
Sinister smirked.
“Scruples? From the great Gambit? I’m shocked.”
Remy closed his eyes. The man continued.
“My new associates require your specific talent for insinuating yourself into places where you don’t belong. They need a guide. A shepherd. What could be the harm in that?”
It was quiet for a long moment and then Remy opened his eyes and lifted his head.
“This is the last one?”
Sinister nodded.
“Fine then. I’ll do it.”
Behind him Sabretooth grinned.
Remy was keeping his eyes on the screen even when the clip had ended. Wanda started to move her thumb on top of his hand to calm him down. T’Challa turned to Remy and, when he noticed the thief’s distress, asked with a smile.
“Insinuating yourself into places where you don’t belong? That how you got into my palace?”
Remy looked to him and managed to smile.
“Kinda. It wasn’t that hard. You really should up your security.”
A few of them smiled. Some of them were shocked that Remy had been the one that kidnapped T’Challa. Logan glared over to Fury.
“He never belonged with Sinister.”
Fury nodded.
“I know that now.”
The screen came to life again.
Remy was leading the Marauders through the tunnels. The man that looked as if he was partly made out of machinery said quietly:
“Keep your eyes peeled, LeBeau. Some o’ these Morlocks got powers too. Wouldn’t want them getting wind of us before we’re ready.”
Remy just smirked.
“They won’t.”
He pointed his finger in one direction.
“That way.”
The man looked at him with anger.
“You don’t sound so sure.”
Remy’s answer was calm.
“I’m sure.”
“Sabretooth, take point.”
Creed moved to the front and ahead of them without saying anything. They jumped out of one of the tunnels into another. Now they had water up to their knees. The one that looked as if he was made out of crystal said:
“Place is a maze.”
Arclight jumped into the water and said with disgust:
“No. It’s a sewer. What does that tell you about the people who live in it?”
Remy rolled his eyes and followed the machine man further into the tunnel while the others slowly followed them. They met up with Creed. Next to him floated a dead body of a man with green hair. The machine man seemed completely calm.
“Anything, Creed?”
Creed bared his teeth.
“Just this one little guy. He didn’t give me no trouble.”
Remy moved to the front and his eyes widened in shock.
“You… You killed him.”
Creed kept looking into Remy’s eyes as he brought his blood soaked fingers to his lips and licked the blood. Remy looked disgusted while Creed spoke.
“Naw, really? That’s too bad. ‘Cos smashing his head to a pulp was just my way of saying hi.”
Remy must’ve understood that he would not get a straight answer from Creed so he turned to the mechanic man. He put his hand on the other’s arm and asked:
“What is this about? What did we come here for?”
The man looked at him with anger in his eyes.
“You might want to move that hand, LeBeau. ‘Fore you lose it.”
But Remy was angry now.
“Answer me, Scalphunter! I’m warning you…”
The man took a calming breath and said:
“Your part ends here. You’ve done what you were hired to do. Got us in through the door and took us to where we need to be. Now you can go.”
For a second it looked almost as if the calm tone had convinced Remy. He hung his head and let go of the man’s arm. But then he whispered:
“Non, Greycrow.”
He looked up again.
“I’m sorry to say this but I don’t think so.”
He used the staff in his hand to jump into the air and kick the man backwards. Scalphunter flew through the tunnel and landed in the water. Remy was already on his feet with cards in his hand.
“Take him down! NOW!”
The crystal man tried to but got hit by Remy’s card.
“You sure you wanna do that mes amis? I’m not a kid. And I’m not unarmed. Could get ugly.”
Remy’s voice was taunting. The green haired woman put her hands up and sent out a wave of energy towards Remy.
“I guess we’ll take our chances.”
The wave didn’t affect Remy but it was visible that he became scared when Creed charged towards him. Before he could move, Creed had taken a hold of his coat near his throat and lifted him into the air. His voice was irritated as he spoke.
“All you had to do was walk away LeBeau. Was that so hard? Just to walk?”
Remy looked almost pleadingly at Creed but the feral continued.
“Gonna be hard the next time you try it.”
He swung his hand and his razor sharp claws slashed through Remy. They destroyed the coat and clothes. Cards were sent flying around them. But instead of dumping his motionless body Creed moved down and gently placed him on his hands and knees into the water that instantly turned red. Scalphunter smirked and turned away from them.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Take your partners for the first dance.”
They all started to walk away. Creed stood another few seconds and stared at Remy’s body and then he too turned away and followed the others. Remy slowly tried to move onto his side.
“Non! Not…”
He screamed as he brought his hand up to the wounds. His eyes were shining purple. He stood up and kept mumbling as he moved towards the opening of the tunnel, using the wall as a helper.
“Not gonna let you… Sinister… Not gonna be… A part… A part of this…”
He stopped at the end of the tunnel and steadied himself on the metal bars.
“Massacre!”
The Marauders were slaughtering Morlocks. Remy slowly moved from tunnel to tunnel until he came out to a opening. Dead bodies were everywhere.
“Non. Ça peut pas…”
As he moved around the bodies he suddenly heard a woman talking.
“H… Help me! Help me, please! My little girl! Don’t let them hurt her! Take her! Take her out of here!”
The woman’s eyes were completely black. She was holding a little girl with bones sticking out of her face. The child was crying. Remy turned to them and kneeled in front of the woman.
“I’ll take both of you, femme.”
But she frantically shook her head.
“No! No, don’t! I can’t… Feel my legs. I won’t be able to run. Or to climb. Save her. Save my Sarah. You got a good face, mister. I trust you. I know you wouldn’t hurt no one.”
His eyes filled with pain as he picked the child up and started to walk away with her but he ignored it. The child wriggled in his grasp and he hissed when a bony knee hit his wounds.
“No! Mommy! No!”
The woman smiled.
“Go with the nice man, baby. Mommy… Mommy will see you later!”
Remy stopped and turned to the woman. His eyes were almost filled with tears as he said:
“She’ll live. Je te jure, madame. On my word, she’ll live.”
The child kept crying as she gripped his coat tightly. He held her close to his chest as he sneaked through the tunnels and past the fighting crowds. The girl had quieted after some time and was hugging him tightly. Finally he managed to get to the ladder leading up. As he climbed using only one hand and holding the child with the other he almost screamed in pain. But he kept quiet. Finally up on the street he managed to put the child down before he fell to his hands and knees and started to cough. The girl looked at him with concern. When he met her eyes with his still purple ones he forced himself up. She understood that they were going because she took his hand and whispered:
“Pull the coat more around you. They won’t see the blood.”
But he shook his head.
“It won’t work. Victor... No, Creed. Creed will find me. He knows my scent.”
They walked a bit and then he led her to a back alley. There he stopped and pointed to a big house.
“The man living there is a mutant. His name is Alexander Summers. They call him Havok. Go to his house and tell him everything that happened. Say that the Marauders attacked. Ask him to take you to Xavier’s school. Even Sinister is afraid of Xavier. You’ll be safe there. I’ll stand here and cover you. If anything happens run to the house as fast as you can. I’ll fight as long as possible. You remember all that?”
She nodded and tears appeared in her eyes again.
“The Marauders attacked. Ask him to take me to Xavier’s school.”
Remy smiled and she quickly hugged him. He hugged her back and whispered:
“Take care of yourself, ma petite.”
She let go of him, turned around and ran over the road and into the garden. Remy kept his eyes on her and a charged card in his hand. After a few seconds the door opened and he saw Summers eyes widen. The mutant quickly let the girl in and closed the door. Remy let the card go and fell to the ground. He crawled into the furthest corner of the street and hid under some old newspapers that someone had dumped there. His whole body was shaking and he was letting out small whimpers from time to time. And as he looked up to the sky the purple glow finally disappeared from his eyes. He gave up.
Everyone looked at each other. To everyone’s shock, Fury was crying. Remy had let his eyes close somewhere in the beginning. Wanda’s, Tony’s and Bruce’s eyes had changed color. Pepper and Sharon looked shocked while Clint and Sam were not only that but also impressed. The one that kept his calm was Logan. Then Fury suddenly whispered:
“She’s alive.”