Remy's Training
Fury looked over to Logan.
“You are an X-man right?”
The feral nodded understanding why he was asking.
“Alex got her to the mansion. She is taking classes and hanging out with other mutants. No one is giving her odd looks. Although she is still talking about her purple eyed hero.”
He looked at Remy who was keeping his head down. Logan sensed that something was wrong but before he could ask, the boy looked up and asked with a soft voice:
“Can we train?”
Bruce was startled.
“Your feet are not fully healed yet Remy!”
But the cajun was keeping his eyes on Logan. After a few seconds the feral nodded.
“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you Gumbo.”
Remy smiled.
“I wouldn’t dare.”
He stood up and his face was filled with pain. But he didn’t pay any attention to it, pulled on his boots and headed towards the elevator. Quickly everyone followed him. Friday took them to the training room where everything had been repaired after their last training. Logan showed them all to go sit on the couches while he and Remy got onto the stage.
“All right Cajun. Stretch first.”
Remy nodded without any protests. He knew that Logan would push him. That was why he liked to train with him. Not even Creed or any of the other Marauders could make him tired and satisfied after a training session. But the Wolverine seemed to understand. Before he could start Logan suddenly turned to the others and said with a smirk:
“Come on up here. Try to do what he does. Just the stretching I mean. It will help you relax. But don’t try to do anything else he does. We don’t need any injuries.”
Slowly all the Avengers, Fury and Pepper went onto the stage. Logan nodded to Remy and the cajun started. First he folded his body in half and touched the ground with his fingers while his legs stayed perfectly straight. The Avengers followed his lead. Or tried to. The only ones that managed to hold that position were Natasha, Bucky, Sharon and Tony. The last one stood up again quickly and massaged the area around the reactor. He had forgotten about that. After a few seconds Remy stood up straight again and the other three followed his lead. They could see pain in his eyes but he seemed to be dead set on ignoring it. Bruce, being a doctor, was most worried. They followed some more quite easy exercises and, when Remy said that he was ready, Logan nodded. The others went back to the couches and sat down while Logan put himself a few steps away from Remy.
“Let’s start of easy. Get into a handstand.”
Remy bent down and placed his hands flat on the ground. It took him no effort at all to lift his legs into the air. He froze in a perfectly balanced handstand.
“One hand.”
Remy’s left hand left the ground and he held it out, away from his body. At the same time his whole body leaned to the right to balance it out. When he got into the perfect position he froze. The others were impressed by his strength. Logan tilted his head.
“Change hand in the air.”
They were confused but it was all explained when Remy slightly bent his arm and used it to get himself into the air. A second later he landed on his left hand. Once again he froze in a perfect position. “Normal handstand and walk around a bit.”
Remy fell back onto both hands and started to walk forwards on them. After a few steps he stopped and headed the same way backwards this time. Not once did he show any strain. Logan nodded in approval.
“Good. Sit down and make a valdez.”
Remy slowly sunk down and rolled with the use of his arms. He stopped in a sitting position, took a deep breath and placed a hand on the ground behind him. He then bent his body backwards while pushing off the floor at the same time. He slowly brought first one leg, then another, around. His feet connected with the ground carefully and he straightened up. His eyes locked with Logan’s and the feral knew. Time to get to the tough stuff. At least the one’s that were tough while Remy’s feet were hurt. Logan didn’t think any acrobatic trick could be a challenge to the agile thief.
“Front aerial.”
Remy took a step forward and then pushed off the ground. When he was hanging upside down in the air, his torso became completely still and he let his lower body continue around it. His legs landed without a sound but there must’ve been more impact this time because he dragged in a shaky breath as soon as he was standing upright again. Some gasps were heard from the audience.
“Nice. Handspring.”
Remy let his upper body lean down and placed his hands on the ground almost as if he was going into a handstand again. But as soon as his body was in a straight line, he used his hands to push off the floor into the air and flipped his body around so that he landed on his feet. The landing distance wasn’t long but he hissed at the pain in his feet. Logan knew that the kid needed to be pushed so he said with a calm voice.
“Somersault.”
For a second he thought that the cajun would call quits but then he nodded. He took a step forward, bounced off of the floor and made a perfect flip in the air. But the problem came when he landed. A quiet scream tore out from his throat and he fell onto one knee. He looked up at Logan with pleading eyes. And Logan understood the quiet message. ‘More.’ He raised one eyebrow and said in a commanding voice that he knew worked on the cajun.
“Again.”
He heard some of the Avengers protest but he didn’t care. His focus was on Remy who had now stood up. He took a step forward and leaped into the air again. Even this time he fell when he landed. Logan quickly pulled one of his claws out and put it against the cajun’s throat while he used his other hand to hold Remy’s head in place by keeping a strong grip on his hair. The boy stilled.
“Again.”
Then he let him go and moved away. Remy stood up, looked from the claw to Logan’s face and then leaped into the air. This time when he landed he didn’t make a sound and forced himself to stand still. Logan smiled.
“Good job.”
Remy’s stance didn’t move an inch and Logan wanted to curse Creed for putting such fear of ferals in the boy. Then he cursed himself for pushing too hard. But at the same moment Remy smiled slightly and Logan relaxed. It was still fine.
“Can you do a double?”
For a second Remy thought it through and then he nodded. He made another somersault but this time as soon as his feet met the ground he leaped into the air again. Another flip and he landed with perfect precision. Logan smiled. He pulled the rest of the claws out and nodded.
“Come on then. You start.”
As soon as he had said the last word three charged cards were flying towards him. He slashed through them which proved to be a mistake because they exploded when he touched them. Before he managed to collect himself Remy was in front of him. The bo staff hit him in the head and sent him flying. He hit the wall and put his hands up.
“Wait.”
Remy lowered his staff and tilted his head. Logan turned to the other Avengers.
“How about some real challenge? All of you against Gambit. Me, Miss Potts and the Director will watch over this and tell you when you are out. Of course you can back out by yourself too. What do you think?”
Bruce shook his head.
“His feet are badly burned! You can’t be serious!”
Remy sighed.
“I’m fine. Really. It’s a good idea.”
He and Bruce had a staring contest and in the end the doctor slowly nodded.
“I’m not letting the Other Guy out.”
The other Avengers got up and climbed onto the stage. Steve had his shield and Clint had grabbed the bow and fastened the quiver on his back. Natasha and Sharon had gun holsters fastened and Natasha had a few knives hidden on her. Neither Wanda, Tony, Vision or Bucky needed anything. Sam put on his wings and Rhodey called his suit. T’Challa went over to the couch that Pepper and Bruce were sitting on.
“I’ll sit this one out.”
Logan nodded while Remy smiled sadly.
“The heroes against Gambit. This will be interesting.”
The Avengers hesitated for a second. This was the first time they would fight together. Some glanced over to Steve. Before the fighting it would have been natural that they would turn to Steve for leadership. Now they weren’t so sure. Steve, remembering Natasha’s quick thinking during the attack and the way Tony always seemed to be able to calculate everyone’s moves, said:
“Tony, why don’t you take the lead this time. Or maybe Nat if you don’t want to.”
Tony looked shocked but nodded. They all stood around him.
“All right. Clint, Sam. I want you to keep distance. Cover us. Wanda. You and me will try to stop the things he will throw at us. Viz. You and Rhodey get into the air. Keep an eye on everything but don’t come in until it is necessary. Nat, Shari, Steve and Winter. You four attack him directly.”
Everyone nodded and they turned towards Remy who was standing with a smirk on his face. He kept playing with some cards. Tony smiled.
“It’s on.”