It was late when I finally woke up trying to shake the feeling of having a bad day ahead of me. When I was munching my cereal Adrian came in with a smile, but it slipped.
"Anna have you seen Remy, we were suppose to play cards last night but he didn't show up." I felt my forehead wrinkle in confusion. Remy was slightly weird about when he wanted disappear, but he would never break a promise to Adrian.
"No I haven't seen him actually. I'll check around and then box him on the ears for missing your game." The boy smiled at the idea of me punishing Remy and that made me giggle too. After checking over the gym and then eventually his room. Remy wasn't anywhere though and that worried me, if what Adrian said was true then Remy had been gone all night and hadn't returned this morning. I was pondering over my cup of coffee when Storm came in and immediately picked up on my worried demeanor. When I explained my concerns and she gave me a sympathetic look, telling me that she'd keep her eyes out for him.
Later I had the idea to look around the grounds, maybe he was out walking. When I got outside I found not Remy but Logan. I could tell from the way he walked that something was bothering him, he usually liked to take walks outside when he needed to think clearly. Whistling sharply I broke him out of his meditations and his head snapped to me.
"Have you seen Remy today Logan? I can't find him anywhere."
"No" He answered without any hesitation, his voice had a venom that I wasn't use to hearing then he continued.
"In fact I'm glad that you haven't, and it would be smart of him to never show his lousy no-good face around here ever again." Logan's voice and body language made me gasp, he'd never made any secret of his distaste for Remy before but now he sounded deadly. Something has happened, and I most sincerely regreted having to ask.
"What's happened Logan?" He turned back to me looking ready to shout at me, but he took a breath before he could.
"The cajun has been lieing to us the whole time kid, he's in on the thefts." I reeled back a step and shook my head disbelieving.
"That's not possible Remy wouldn't deceive me like that. And even in he would I would have sensed it, and the professor would 'hear' him plotting." Logan looked at me with a sincere look that told me that this wasn't a joke, he was dead serious. He sighed and then said the most damning thing to my opinion of Remy I'd ever heard.
"I've got proof." Logan gently lead me down to an old room in the lower levels that he'd apparently set up himself. There were a couple of old t.v sets, he gestured for me to sit down as he began to rummage through a box. Finally he pulled something out of it and headed for one of the tv's.
"This is surveillance tape of the day I accused Gumbo of stealing from us." I blinked in surprise at what I was hearing.
"Tape? As in actual video tape?" Logan shrugged as he ran the film forward.
"Give me a break technology isn't my strong point. Besides I set up this surveillance myself, its practically impossible to manipulate." While the tape was still racing forward I crossed my arms at him.
"Logan if you had this all along why didn't you mention it before." He looked at me with a slightly irritated look that bleed into his tone.
"Kid do you realize how long it takes somebody to sort through hours upon hours of film?" I shrugged but didn't comment further. So Logan hit the stop button and then pressed play before taking the seat next to me. We didn't say a word as we leaned forward in our chairs and waited for what I feared would come. And soon enough there it was, Remy Lebeau quietly disarming any protocols from the opposite side of the glass door and going to the desk and removing something from the drawer. I sagged in my seat not daring to believe my eyes, I trusted him again and now he does this. Logan put a hand on my shoulder providing comfort the only way he new how.
"Sorry kid, I know you wanted to believe in him." I glanced back at the screen and my eyes widened. Jumping from my seat I rushed to the machinery and pressed rewind. Logan looked at my back dumbfoundedly.
"What is it kid whattcha got?" Not answering I ran the tape back to when Remy turned away from the desk back to the door and stopped it. There I found it, a brief moment so quick it almost wasn't there Remy glancing at the camera with a teasing look in his eye. Looking back at Logan wordlessly I pointed at the screen.
"Look right there Logan, he looked directly at the lens. You said that you set these up yourself, he couldn't do that if he didn't know the camera was there." Logan scoffed in a disdainful way.
"Probably teasing us at letting ourselves get fooled by the like of him." Not responding I turned back and looked at Remy's frozen form on the small screen. The look he was wearing was one he'd given me many times, like he was laughing at a private joke. It was a look that made me what to read into what he was saying more then necessary. Turning back to Logan I said with all the confidence in the world.
"Remy wants us on his trail. We need the Professor." I saw that he doubted me but all the same he didn't hesitate to follow me back to the school. When we found Xavier we took turns telling pieces of the story about Remy's thievery and disappearance. When Logan showed him the video his face got very grave, he looked at me with a serious face.
"This is very damning evidence Anna, is it possible that we both mis-read Gambit's intentions?" I was shaking my head even before he finished. Before I was certain, but now that I'd had the time to think I was doubly certain.
"Professor, believe me I know how bad it looks but I'm sure that there is more to this then what we see. I think Remy may need our help soon. Please, please try to track him in Cerebro I have the very strong feeling that he won't block you." Not answering in words Xavier nodded his head and began heading toward the Cerebro chamber. Logan and I followed close behind, he glanced at me as Xavier disappeared behind the huge doors.
"I'll deny that I ever said this but a part of me hopes that your right about this." I grinned at him in a way that made me feel a little better about the situation. You couldn't help but feel better about any situation when you had Logan by your side. We waited in tense silence for a full half hour before Xavier finally came out and gave me an ironic grin that said 'yes you told me so'.
"You where right Anna, he wasn't blocking me. In fact he was practically screaming out to me." I smiled so big I'm sure I was giving the joker a run for his money. Logan sighed in defeat and asked in his mission voice.
"Where will we find him?" Xavier and I both looked at him knowing how hard it was for Logan to admit he was wrong. Finally Xavier gave us our destination.
"Tokyo."
Please, Please, Please don't kill me for taking so long. But school just started and I'm trying to find my drive to write these days. Don't fret though I'm already planning some major twists.
