Chapter Eleven
In two days Ah was good to go. All Ah needed was some rest and no stressing situations. Angie made her mission to provide meh with both so Ah was asleep half of the time. During the time Ah was awake Ah didn't do much either. Swamp Rat was pretty much avoiding meh, looking preoccupied with his thoughts. Nothing new here. To mah and, most certainly, Remy's relief Logan didn't pester him about… things. Angie's step-parents insisted on him staying for some reason, Angie and Logan went along pretty well. When Ah asked her why, she said, "Remy and Mister Logan are very much alike so it is easy for meh to treat him like another big brother." Ah am glad Logan didn't hear any of that. Cause there could be a lot of misunderstandings.
And so Logan goes to his mountain camp and we go back to Vegas with an update on Scott Summers (Ah am informed about this huge detail only when we are on our way to the Boss right after our arrival into the city). As it happens Scott actually took mah plea to heart and contacted his family for arrangements for him to go into rehab. Ah haven't told anybody about his real reasons of breaking down and going into self-imposed exile. Ah have no right to tell these things, especially to the Boss – a soulless money-making machine. He doesn't ask so Ah tell nothing, that's not a lie.
The atmosphere in our apartment is as if Strom made a visit, thought the conditioner was out of order and chilled the air to the maximum or minimum, take your pick. Remy is avoiding meh again, but now there is nowhere to escape.
"Rem, can Ah talk to you about something?" Ah catch him stepping over the threshold of his room. If he is in his comfort zone, it is impossible to get a straight answer out of him. Mah attack must be swift and straightforward.
"Go ahead," he drawls indifferently, but Ah see how his back tenses at mah question.
A share a couple of laughs with mahself. Swamp Rat must be thinking Ah want to have the 'talk'. Well…
"Can you show meh some moves from the martial arts you use? Ah seem kinda out of form."
"Excuse-moi?" Oh, yeah, his lost expression is priceless.
"Spar, you know. That enormous contraption must have a gym somewhere in its depths which the employees can use."
"D'accord."
"Ah want to start as soon as possible." Ah have to admit Ah sound like a girl-scout. Brrr…
"Are you sure your condition allows you, chere?"
"Ah just fainted! Ah wasn't even possessed, for Chris's sake! Stop fussing already!"
"You went into a coma."
Ah wish it was a joke, but it doesn't look like one if Remy's calm features are any indication. He wears his cocky smirk all the time and can make a joke or a flirty comment out of almost anything, but when real danger comes, he is completely calm since it is calm before the storm. A storm you may not even see coming.
"Coma?" Ah squeak, mah throat going dry from fear. Fear for mah very life. Ah treated the whole trip to Scott like a mission, an adventure of sorts, even if Scott's life was at stake. Ah believed in powers Ah inherited from Jean. Ah haven't trained in telepathy much, used it only occasionally and at close range. Ah am a fool to think they will work like a charm just because they are stored in mah mind. Ah could've died if not for – "You charged mah brain?"
"Oui."
"It wasn't the first time you did it, Ah hope."
"Oui. You were completely safe."
"This is not what matters," Ah retort exasperated. How can he talk about such things so idly? Does life has no value for him at all? "You saved mah life!"
"You thought Remy wouldn't?"
Guilt washes over meh, seeing his hurt expression. "Of course not. Ah just… nobody has ever done anything like that for meh. Ah owe you thanks." Ah hope Ah am not blushing, but hasn't it turned hot all of a sudden?
"No sweat. Just make sure you return your debt. Remy's gonna make us a snack."
Ah watch as his lean body disappears behind the refrigerator door. In the world of Remy LeBeau, as far as Ah managed to decipher, food means peace offering. Does this mean we are good now? Or did something irrevocably change in our little world?
…
Ah almost begged mah manager on mah knees to give meh two nightshifts a week so Remy and Ah could spar in the gym during the day. He is still worked raw in the casino, but he managed to negotiate fifty hours instead of sixty but still six days a week.
Ah am not interested much in sparring (even if Remy's teachings are indeed invaluable; he is on much higher level than Ah am) as using it to learn to accept another person's touch. Fighting is mechanical: no feelings, no consequences, no thoughts whatsoever. You more feel than see a fist or a kick coming your way and react accordingly.
By the end of the first month Ah reduced mah sportswear to a top, short sport-trousers and wrappings around mah knuckles – the arms and neck left totally bare. Remy doesn't ask questions, he must've deduced what Ah am getting at. His perceptiveness astounds meh, while Ah can't understand anything about him, even if the Cajun drops some clue phrases once in awhile, Ah just don't get him. Am Ah stupid or something?
…..
It is yet another night at the casino, Ah work the floor of the full house. Everything looks just dandy until Ah hear a deadly calm voice from mah ear-bud (they are used for communication between managers and employees since telepathy is blocked).
"Queen of Hearts, we have a situation. Are you in?"
"What kinda situation?" Ah throw offhandedly, picking up a tray with another order of drinks.
"Security of the storage area was bridged by fifteen armed mutants," is rapped up into mah ear.
That kinda of situation, hah? Well, Ah have been itching for action for quite some time and the work outs of the last month made meh oh so ready to kick some intruders' asses.
"Just tell meh where Ah can find a change of footwear and Am already there," Ah answer the mysterious woman Ah've never heard before, must be with the security. No matter, Ah am cracking from excitement to get into a real fight.
"Please finish with your current customer and proceed to Section D on Level Five."
"Hell with the customer, you are being robbed!" Ah hiss so no-one nearby could hear meh, but Ah am surely getting pissed at that mechanical voice.
"In the Coliseum customers are always the first priority, Queen of Hearts."
Ah have nothing to do, but grab the tray discarded earlier and make a bee-line to the table with the awaiting clients, who have an animated conversation and generally have great time. Mah plastered smile reassures them everything is alright and couldn't be better, because Coliseum is the safest place for mutants to be. And this must stand no matter what happens behind the scenes. No matter what happens the show must go on and Ah am a part of it.
As Ah am the part of the group who is dispatched to deal with the problem in the storehouse. There are twenty of us including Remy. Under normal circumstances we could've easily overpowered the robbers even if they are armed. But only half of us seem to have combat training, moreover we have never worked as a team before. Ah've never even met the third of them. The appointed leader, someone by the name Firebolt, doesn't know the strengths and weaknesses of his team either, so it gets pretty messy pretty fast.
The explosions go off everywhere, Ah am happy Ah won't be the one to receive a lecture about damaging the corporate property after this is all over.
"Dammit, Ah can't even get close to them!" Ah curse, shifting behind our self-made barricade.
"We'll get them as soon as their ammo runs out," one of mah comrades reassures meh.
"Like Hell! Those are pros, half of them is getting the goods out and the other half covers them. The moment they finish loading they are out of here, and that may happen much earlier then they run out of bullets to shoot at us!" Ah yell over the quick squirts.
"What are we gonna do then?"
"Those with long range powers get on the rafters and attack them from above," an order comes, but not from Firebolt, but from right beside meh.
"Are you nuts, LeBeau? You can be lucky or something, but we'll be turned into a Swiss cheese up there. There is no cover and nowhere to retreat!"
Remy just turns and goes for the rafters. Alone. He could've called them cowards, insult them into coming with him, but he didn't. Ah trot behind him, but the Cajun blocks mah path.
"You can't do anything up there, chere."
"Ah can't do anything here either. Ah feel like a sitting duck!"
"Get the car."
"What?"
"Grab the guy who gives electrical shocks-"
"And damage the gateway car. Rem, you're a genius!"
"Remy is just a good thief, chere. Good luck."
Before Ah even manage a reply, he is already climbing the metal rafters. "Take care," Ah utter under mah breath, not daring to think what gamble he is taking upon going up there.
The operation of stealing the gateway car runs not so smoothly. First of all, because there are two of them. So what, you are asking. One circuit, two circuits, what's the difference? Well, the problem is that Spike, mah partner in crime, hates his mutant power (Ah totally understand him. In the age of electronics he is like an anomaly) and learned to suppress it to the point of not to be able to shoot large pulses to jam electrical currents, not to mention two in a row.
"We are fried," he states, looking out from behind a pile of boxes – our current cover, and acknowledging armed men constantly moving around the trucks.
"Keep your jargon to yourself. We need to stop those trucks, and we are gonna do exactly that."
"So you jump whenever your brother tells you to jump?"
"Well, Ah don't know, mah boss as in your boss told meh to stop the robbery. And that's what Ah am gonna do. And if you are such a fried chicken then Ah don't understand what you are doing here, Spike."
"Wanna go out after this?"
Ah grind mah teeth at his cockiness. "Listen, pal, Ah am refraining from hitting you only because your cries of pain may draw attention to our hideout. But if Ah hear something even remotely similar Ah won't stop mahself. Get it?"
"Kinky, hah?"
"Gud, where's that Cajun when you need him?" Ah ask the Heavens, or the ceiling in our case. Right on cue, a rain of sparkling cards starts falling onto the loaders. This is our chance. Ah grab the horny electrician and pull him toward the trucks.
"Do your thing, Ah'll cover you," Ah shout, giving a nice kick to one of the robbers who attempted to stop us. Like Hell! Ah am in mah element now, no-one can stop meh. And nobody does.
The operation and the intruders are wrapped up within an hour. We receive an official thanks from the Boss through our ear-buds and are relieved from our duties for today. Ah get to the showers and only there the exhaustion hits meh full force. Ah was lying to mahself believing Ah've got into form already. Far from it.
Ah text Rem about meh getting home right away and fall asleep the moment Ah get under the covers. Mah travelling in the dreamland is interrupted however by an insistent ringing of mah cell-phone.
"What?" Ah bark half-asleep.
"The Boss requests your presence on urgent matter."
Ah am very well prepared to send the Boss and whoever is calling into the depths of Hell, but catch mah tongue in time. "Now?"
"Yes. A vehicle can be sent to pick you up."
What's with the special treatment? "That would be nice. Ah am doubtful Ah am able to ride mah bike at the moment."
"The car will be at your door in half an hour."
"Okay." Ah get out of bed and look at the time: half past five in the morning. What the Hell is going on?
Exactly half an hour later Ah get into a black limo that takes meh to one of the back doors of the Coliseum. The rather dashing driver takes meh to Section F – the section where the security is stationed. A door of dozens like it and Ah find mahself face to face with the icy-eyed Boss, but he is not who mah gaze is glued to. There is a room behind a glass and in that room is Remy, walking in circles. Only usual self-restraint stops him from running around. And that's not claustrophobia, it is a fear of cages – a disease of all criminals. And that's exactly who Remy is right now – a caged animal.
"What is the meaning of this?" No way Ah am going to address him with 'sir' right now.
"Today's intruders didn't hack into the system to open up the gates and disable security measures. They had codes."
"An inside job? And you think Remy is involved? This is preposterous! He went to those rafters with no back up to save your goods! There is at least eight meters up there! He was a clear target!"
"Perhaps he was sure his father won't allow him to be shot down."
Mah blood runs cold. "His father?"
"One of the robbers confessed the job was commissioned by the Guild of Thieves. And the codes were provided by the Guild too. Conclusions are obvious."
"But Remy can't lie to you! Just ask him if he did it. Why are you torturing him like this?" Ah throw another glance full of sympathy towards the man behind the glass. His hair is in a disarray, there is still blood on his split lips and forehead. He must've been kept there since the end of the attack. How long was it, three hours? Four?
"You see, miss LeBeau, there are people of certain occupations who can lie even to a lie detector. Those are professional liars, con-artists, spies, thieves… You understand my predicament?"
"So you don't have any power over him. Is this it? That's why you put him in there? To gloat? To show him you still have ways to make him submit? Gud, Ah'm gonna be sick."
"I'll turn a blind eye on everything you have just said even if I do value opinions of my employees about me."
Like Hell you do, you pompous ass.
"As you must have already deduced, I need your help in finding out the truth."
"How can you be sure what he tells meh is the truth?"
"Well, Mister LeBeau won't lie to his own sister, will he? Especially if she has a special way of seeing the truth for herself."
Oh this grin of the predator. Such usage of people disgusts meh to the core. At least if it is meh then Ah won't blabber out all Remy's secrets. "What exactly do you want to know?"
"That's a good girl. Let's proceed then."
We enter the neighboring room. An empty room as mah mind registers right away, Burgess must be afraid of Remy throwing something charged into his perfect face.
"So Remy is an inside man now?" the prisoner barks the moment the Boss steps in. "You must know, Burgess, Remy LeBeau always works alone." No surprise the great thief has already connected the dots. "This is all a set up to bring Remy back to the Guild. And you must be blind not to see it, but if you want to sell Remy to Jean-Luc then you don't bloody own the merchandize in the first place!"
"Calm down, Mister LeBeau, you are not as important as you wish to be. There are bigger figures at play. Now, your sister gladly accepted to clear up this misunderstanding."
Remy doesn't even spare meh a glance. "You have no right to bring her into this."
"You are the one who did this, Mister LeBeau."
The way how he addresses Remy irks meh for some reason. As if it is not just a name, as if there is history behind it and not only Remy's.
"What should Ah do exactly?" Ah interrupt their staring match, which looks quite uneven with Remy towering over Burgess.
"Why check his memories, of course," the Boss explains offhandedly, as if it as easy as check a pulse.
Ah slowly head towards Remy, sensing the waves of hostility covering meh whole. Ah want to apologize for betraying him like this. Ah hope he understands mah reasoning without words. Ah am doing it for his own good, how can't he understand?
"Please, Rem, just do what he says," Ah plead with mah proud brother.
"Promise, you won't regret it."
Ah promise even if deep sown Ah believe otherwise. Ah do seek knowledge about Remy's past, but with every uncovered fact Ah become more afraid of mah image of him becoming ruins. On one hand, Ah accept him being a thief and even a murderer, but on the other – Ah want him and mahself to be decent beings even if mutants.
Coming face to face, Ah can't help but remember the last time Ah absorbed Remy's powers. Ah glance at his lips, always in a smug smirk, but now bloody and broken. They still beckon meh though, but Ah hold mahself back. It's not the time yet. Moreover what if Ah am not be able to stop?
"You need to sit down, you'll definitely faint this time."
"I doubt, Mister LeBeau is so weak-"
"Don't you care at all about the health of your best dealer? If you want him to be at the table tonight you can at least provide a chair!"
Of course, no chair is brought, but Ah am quite satisfied with mahself after managing to get mah point across to the stuck up boss.
Remy flops down onto the floor, not even bothering to hide his tiredness. Ah seriously hope Ah won't overdo it.
"What are you waiting for, chere?"
Ah glance at his lips once again. Their corners start to rise to form that famous smirk if his, he must've guessed what Ah am thinking about. Sneaky Cajun won't have the satisfaction! Ah brush the blood from his scrub chin and a cascade of memories floods mah mind. There are chaotic and fragmentary, but there is definitely no connection to the Guild activities. Except for… another shock in store for meh.
Ah measure Burgess up from head to toe and understand what a fool Ah've been not to see the similarities before. "You are Pierre LeBeau, Jean-Luc's younger step-brother. You are Remy's uncle. This farce is not about the robbery, you want to know with whom Remy's loyalties lie. With you or his step-father."
"Neither, as it seems. It is you who are in the possession of the loyalty of Remy LeBeau now. Cherish it, dear niece."
