Chapter Eight: Lache pas la patate, Don't give up
WARNING! WARNING! ICEMAN CRITICALLY INJURED IN THE DANGER ROOM! IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION NEEDED! WARNING! WARNING!
Hank's head snapped up and then over at the one monitor he had set to the monitors in the danger room. "Oh my stars and garters..." he whispered as he all but leapt over his desk- and Logan- and started gathering everything and rushing about.
Down the hall and into the elevator Hank ran, pulling a gurney and other medical equipment with him.
#
WARNING! WARNING! ICEMAN CRITICALLY INJURED IN THE DANGER ROOM! IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION NEEDED! WARNING! WARNING!
Scott turned from his computer and the financial reports he was planning on having Bobby look over as Cerebro sent the message all through out the mansion.
:Jean?:
::Trying to contact Hank as we speak Scott..::
#
Half way to the restaurant Warren's cell phone started to ring. Looking at the caller ID he saw it was the mansion and sighed. "Should I?"
"meh, prolly Cyke jus' checkin' up on y'." Remy shrugged, watching the scenery go by.
Ignoring the call and turning his phone off, Warren went back to focusing on driving. Two minutes later his pager was going off.
"'Cyke 911.' Do you think something's going on?"
Again Remy shrugged and said it was up to Warren. "If y' want t' go back dat fine wit' me Ange. We can do dis some ot'er time."
Warren sighed and weighed his options. "If it was really important he'd have contacted me on my comm." he reasoned, mostly to himself.
"It be your choice." Remy reminded, trying to ignore the bad feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach.
Three minutes after that Warren's comm crackled with static as Scott called through.
/Warren you ass hole! answer me right now! It's bobby!/
Well that caught their attention. Pulling over Warren answered. "What? What happened?"
/I've been trying to get a hold of you for at least six minutes! Something happened...Bobby....he's...In medlab...War..get back here. Now./ Scott ordered, his voice cracking. Shit it had to be bad.
"On our way." it was terse, it was pain filled and they had done an u-turn and were tearing down the road before Warren finished it.
#
As the two men in suits rushed down to medlab, Warren all but flying, they were met by all the present X-Men -with the exception of Xavier, Jean and Hank who were presumably in Medlab.
Jubilee and Storm were crying, Logan looked about ready to kill something, Scott looked guilty and Rogue was just staring into space.
"What the hell happened?!" Warren demanded, stopping infront of Scott. All he got was a blank stare and a questioning sound. Grabbing the field leader's shirt, Warren shook him and yelled, "What the HELL happened to Bobby?!"
"We don't know...Cerebro alerted us to the fact that he was in the Danger Room and he needed help..Hank got there first and had him in there before I could get down here...War...he took all the safeties off." Scott choked out, grabbing his friend. Warren for his part did wrap his arms around Scott and tried to comfort him, but he was so shocked and numb at that moment he couldn't think straight. Slowly he and Scott sank to the ground and white angel wings surrounded them, as if in a subconscious attempt to shield them from the bad things happening.
All the attention was on the two friends, and no one noticed as Remy visibly paled and started to sway..
"all the safeties off..." safeties off..I taught him how to do that....baises.. A tear slipped past Remy's guard and as he shut his eyes and tried to keep from falling over, Logan looked over and saw the completely distraught Cajun.
"Remy?"
"M' fault..'s'all m' fault." he whispered, opening his eyes to look at Logan.
"What? Gumbo what the hell-"
"Taught him Scott's override code..he wanted t' mess wit' his new program...didn' t'ink he'd evah..Je suis desolee.." he whispered, eyes staring unseeingly at the double doors that separate them and the fate of their Iceman.
"What?" Logan growled as he slammed the cajun into the closest wall. Remy didn't flinch, didn't try to fight. "Why the hell did ya-!?"
"Puisque je ne pourrais pas dire le non,"(1) Remy whispered, staring into Logan's deep blue eyes. "Puisque je l'aime davantage que la vie et moi ne pouvons pas le nier quelque chose. Puisque je suis un imbcile."(2)
Logan growled slightly then let him go. Turning from him, the sometimes-feral mutant went over to his 'daughter' and his friend. Remy slowly slid down the wall til he hit the ground and drew his knees to his chest. Setting his forehead to his knees he tried his hardest not to cry, but he just couldn't.
Sobbing silently, he didn't hear Hank come out, nor did he hear him speak to Scott and Warren. One by one they all filed into Medlab, and passed right by him, not noticing how utterly broken he was.
#
It took two hours for Scott and Warren to notice that Remy wasn't with the rest of them in the den as Xavier explained what they thought happened based on Bobby's injuries and the tapes. Two hours of theories and hypotheses and questions and pain and grief. Two hours of Remy sitting down there, his self-loathing reaching new levels, sitting there on the cold tile floor listening to all the medical machinery working.
When they finally went back down to collect their Cajun thief they found him not where they last saw him, but in Bobby's room, by his bedside, holding his hand, asleep. Tears still escaped his eyes and he murmured in his sleep, "Lache pas la patate."
Scott turned to Warren, looking for a translation. "Don't give up." he whispered, feeling somehow responsible for this whole mess. He had wanted to make Bobby jealous and that jealousy would spur him into acting on his feelings and into making a fool out of himself. Make him tell Remy that he still loved him..but not this..never this...
Bandaged up like a mummy, tubes and wires coming from everywhere, hooking him up to life giving machines, you couldn't even tell it was Bobby under there.
Sighing, they left, knowing there was nothing they could do for Bobby now. It was in fate's hands and all they could do was pray to anything and everything that would listen to them that she would be kind for once.
Translations:
1) Because I could not say no
2) Because I love him more than life and I can't deny him anything. Because I am a fool.
