Darwinian Rhapsody
By LejindaryBunny
A totally awesome X-Men: Evolution fanfiction
A/N: Well, I didn't exactly realize when I said it that it'd only be two days before I passed one hundred reviews. But I am a Bunny of my word and thus I present to you, everyone's favorite devilishly handsome Cajun, a glowing personality with eyes and powers to match, a man recently called by one fangirl 'the flaming card guy'. Here he is without further adieu, Remy LeBeau!
*Grins* Why thank you mon petite, et bienvenuz a vous mes femmems. De writer herself tell me you jus' dyin' to see Remy an' he happy to oblidge.
Capslock: De Toad be an okay homme, non? An' petite a cute one. Bunny must be a good writer if Remy here. She say 'Merci a vous' Bunny is sometime insecure. Maybe you tink story better than it is for reading it at two am? De writer she say Kurt PI get his own story in a while. What dis about piranha worms? Remy tink you besoin dorimir, chere. Mon Dieu! Madmoiselle Capslock vous hit the nail on de head about de dream! And Chere Bunny was giving up hope anyone would, guess she wrong, non ? But what happen after those events come to pass de question, an' when did Frog boy go telepath oui? Bunny say she even has a good reason mon ami!
Queenducky: Oui, nous grand ecrivain is back. De killer mutant zombie cyborgs love you too chere, too bad dey de Sentinels, oui? You see what time I spend wit chere, mon ami an' remember to check de rating of dis fic pour moi. Not dat Gambit not up for some 'sale amour' but dat have to wait pour mon cherie, non ?
Blue eyes: Glad you like de story chere, who you tink she write more of, Cyclops et Jean?
Monitor: Like de lizard or de computer ami? Ton nomme, I mean. Bunny assures moi that she not stop writing if Wolverine 'ask' her. De frog boy deserve un femme oui ? You mean all femmes don' do that chere? Remy tink vous needs to curb your violent impulses, de morons not hurt petite too much. Stalking de best ting chere Remy knows. You don' cry for mes amies okay? Remy make sure tings go fine. Keep laughing. Remy assure you he be a better kisser than Todd without de homme's 'mutant adavatges' non? I am tres sorry dat Ebony ever have to call dat ting 'mere'. Why you type wit one finger chere? De more reviews de merrier! De creepy people tres suspisious, dey not act human very well.
Akasha : Good to see you too chere.
Muffinelf: Wax fumes or something more deadly chere, Remy wonder where his gym socks went!
Red Witch: De writer looking forward to votre sequel madam, 'specially since she know Remy be in dis one!
Todd Fan: It not take long at all, chere, check your e-mail now. What ton fic about, eh? Maybe you have saner dreams if you don' eat snacks a noir, non?
DecrepitMonkey58: petite lapin must be a tres bon writer if she can make so many fans for mon homme Todd. He not de easy kind to love, non? You Remy's favorite character too chere. I give you a card if you ever on de right side o' de multiverse.
Kyo Kusanagi: female verion: Dere a male one o' you around, femme? Elle writing tres vite pour vous.
Cat bodkin: I hosting now, oui?
Queen Kaylene: You not need get out de spork arsenal, Gambit can hold his own in a fight, oui? But good to know dey hurt my image dey up against an army de rabid fangirls. Dat scare any network executive Remy tinks. Now Remy has his own church of polytheistic femmes, vache. Dat French slang for 'cool' chere, incidentally it really mean 'cow'. Weird, non?
Well, Remy never know dere dat many cheres in dis world after him, maybe he give up being a mutant to come ne? But Remy don't tink Cable be happy if he took de time displacement core cheche les femmes, non? I have mon cherie anyway, dat enough pour moi. As pour dis chapter o de fic, it just another weekend at de X-masion.
Disclaimer: Cheres, all dis be happening in a parallel universe. We belong to ourselves. De title from a dubbed Sailor Moon song.
Chapter 21.Rainy Day Man
A distinct aura of tension surrounded the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters that fine Saturday morning. The students milled their daily weekend routines trying to ignore the miasma of anxiety that had descended upon the realization that the mutant hunting Sentinels were in their high school. In his office the Professor felt the oppression of this uneasiness on top of the strange presence he had been vaguely aware of for several days now. In the dining room Bobby did his best to crack jokes. In her bedroom Ebony still slept, for once ignoring the self-programmed impulse to get up for cartoons. Instead, Rogue who was usually one of the later risers at the Institute was awake and, even more surprisingly, making herself pancakes. She was even smiling, though admittedly she wasn't humming pleasantly to herself.
Someone came up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, he was warm, even if she couldn't feel his skin on hers.
"'Mornin' chere," he greeted.
"G'mornin' Remy ya want some pancakes?"
"Dat sound good to me." He turned and got a mug down from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee. Rogue finished putting the pancakes on two plates and set them on the table.
"How you been, chere?" he smiled as they sat down. "You sleep okay, non?"
"Ah feel pretty good, all things considered."
"Dat good, de whole maison seem pretty wound up, but Remy sure de Professor know how to settle de Sentinel ting."
She nodded. It had only been the weekend before that they had first really spoken, but already they were close, after Remy had given her a 'kiss'.
***
She was still in her room; she still hadn't turned on the light. The empty silver box was sitting on her dresser, and she was sitting on her bed, holding herself the tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know why but she felt even more vulnerable than before.
Someone tapped on her door.
"Who is it?" she whispered so quietly that she didn't expect anyone to hear.
"C'est moi, chere. May I come in?"
Words failed her. "Ah don' - shuah."
The door opened and he was framed for a moment in the light of the doorway. His face was hidden in shadow and his brown hair fell over his red eyes. "You be cryin' cherie? Pour quoi?" he smiled.
She could only look at him, "Ah don' know, I guess Ah'm lonely," she sighed.
"But Remy right here, non?" he strode over and sat beside her bed. "I see you get my kiss." She tried to look away but he lifted her chin with two gloved fingers. "You accept it, oui?"
"Ah, ah did, but-"
"Shh, mon cherie. Remy tell you before dat he love you, what you say?"
"Ah," she looked into his red on black eyes. "Ah do but-" he put a finger to her lips.
"Remy know what he getting' into, Chere don' need to say a word." He drew her close to him, careful not to touch bare skin. She wished he didn't need to worry. He was so warm and comforting. "We get tru dis together, oui?"
"Yeah."
***
That was a week ago, now they just sat across from each other eating breakfast.
"Make good pancakes, chere," he complimented.
"Thank ya," she favored him with a smile that was becoming less rare by the day.
"You wanna take a walk after breakfast, chere?"
"Ah don' see why not shugah." She hadn't of course, looked out the window.
***
Todd knocked on the door, it was almost noon and Ebony still wasn't up. He may not have known her an incredibly long time, but he knew that this was definitely unusual. There was no answer.
"Yo Eb, you awake?" There was still no response, he knocked again. "Yo, yo Eb'ny it's almost noon."
This time there was a muffled snort, followed by a string of mumblings and finally some coherent speech. "Huh? H'lo? That you Todd?"
He was relieved he'd been half afraid she was in a coma or something. "Yeah, S'me. You okay? It's 'leven -thirty."
"I'm fine, you can come in if you want." He opened the door, she was sitting up in her bed wearing a black nightgown her eyes had a cloudy look to them. "Sorry; I didn't fall asleep until pretty late last night." She smiled wanly.
"S'okay. I was jus' a little worried is all. Everybody's on edge this morning, me included. Don' think I told ya last night; it was me who found the Sentinels."
"You?"
"Yup," he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Found 'em plottin' in a dark corner of the hall way. You okay Eb?"
She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Not really, no. I want to know.why things are happening this way." She left unspoken her exact thought. Why was Cerebro registering the Sentinel Arachne as a mutant, and as her dead best friend?
He nodded. "I know whatcha mean. Seems like all the shit goin' down in the world lately is happenin' in an' around dear ol' Bayville New York. You'd think fate'd pick a better burg to terrorize, but nooo of course not."
She smiled at his sarcasm. "Is it really almost noon?" she glanced at the curtain; barely any light was coming through.
"It's supposed to rain today." As if on cue thunder struck and it started to pour.
Ebony laughed. "Do you mind the rain?"
He shrugged. "Not really."
"You wanna come outside with me?"
***
Rogue and Remy were all the way to Main Street when it started to rain.
"Ah shoulda known," Rogue stated amicably. "We're gonna get soaked if we don't get inside somewhere fast sugah."
"Come on then Chere, we can duck in here an' have lunch while we stay dry." Remy took her wrist and led her swiftly into a small family diner.
The diner was dimly lit and the state outside wasn't helping things. The two of them sat down at a booth and were promtly visited by a bored waitress.
"Nasty weather we're having ain't it?" the brunette stated. "Awful warm for the end a January though." It was true, over the past week it had been warmer than normal, although by no means unnaturally so. All the snow had melted and it must have been fifty degrees that morning. "So what'll you two be havin' hm?"
***
Hunter looked out the window of the apartment into the bleak weather. "It's you're turn to patrol, Gabriel," he stated both factually and expressionlessly, though the gilded haired boy would have sworn he heard a satisfied note in his superior's voice.
Gabriel tossed the team leader a bored glance and coolly rose from the chair. "Do we posses an umbrella in our inventory?" he asked with irony that amused only himself and was lost on the only other person present.
"No."
He shrugged untroubled and picked a long gray raincoat from the coat rack. He left the room, closing the door behind him and alone in the third floor hallway of the apartment complex allowed himself a satisfied smirk. "Bastard," he muttered amusedly and walked down the corridor and the stairs. Outside in the drenching rain he looked up at the black sky and grinned pleased at the fact that the storm really annoyed him. It had been a while since he'd been able to be annoyed. He started down the street.
Patrol consisted of just once around the city making sure that there was no detectable mutant activity. Gabriel ran a hand through his already soaking gold hair and made a face. Not that he minded getting out of the Hell Hole as he affectionately had begun to call it, but not when it was, he searched to remember the colloquialism, raining cats and dogs.
There were very few people outside today, lucky bastards. He looked up and down the street. Somehow he doubted there was going to be any 'mutant activity' this afternoon. Not like he cared, well, not like he wanted to care. Devoid of any attractive outside stimuli and very wet and uncomfortable he buried himself in his thoughts. Before his death he had been Andrew Roads, but he'd never liked the name really, and now despite the reasons it had been given him, he discovered he liked the name Gabriel far better. He thought it suited him. He was arrogant like that.
He heaved a sigh, this cold downpour really was miserable. If only he could go in some place and get dry. Well, why couldn't he? His orders were to patrol the city. They didn't, specifically, say that he couldn't stop for lunch on the way. Gabriel smiled; elated by each new time he managed to out maneuver his programming and swept smugly into a small family diner.
Immediately he was confronted by a definite problem. In a booth in the corner eating french-fries sat two previously identified mutants. It was hard enough to balk long enough to even try to reason with his orders; he knew this was going to be a challenge. But that was okay. He liked challenges.
The argument with his programming went like this. His orders were to identify any mutant activity and put an end to it, if possible to capture one. The master had contacted them that morning, specifying that he was tired of waiting and wanted to get his test subject soon. That meant if they didn't find anything on patrol that weekend, Monday.
So, he was supposed to accost anyone exhibiting mutant activity. He realized he'd found the key. Though these two were ID'd mutants they weren't exhibiting any mutant behavior. Therefore his orders didn't apply to them, therefore he could feel free to sit down and have lunch without his 'conscience' nagging at him to start a paranormal bar-fight in the middle of a family diner. As long as the two didn't use their powers.
He smirked triumphantly, his violet eyes sparkling under drenched bangs, and swiftly sat down in a booth across the room, took off his sopping wet coat and shook his hair out animalisticly. He ordered a hamburger and Pepsi from a friendly waitress, and particularly satisfied with himself, ate.
***
Rogue saw the Sentinel come in, saw him look at them grimly a moment then smirk and sit down. "Remy," she whispered, "it's one a them."
He looked. "Cool it Chere. De Professor say we not s'posed to start trouble, non?"
"But he looked right at us. What if he's here to attack us? The Professah said they wanted to capture a test subject."
"Remy say he not start trouble chere. He not say he wouldn't finish it. So relax. Maybe he just here for a bite, oui?"
Uncomfortably Rogue agreed and turned back to her food.
***
Ebony insisted on sitting up in the bare branches of a tree while they sat in the rain
"Yo Eb, aren't you afraid you gonna get hit by lightnin'?"
"C'mon, there are lots more taller trees around; this one isn't going to get stuck by lightning." She smiled. "C'mon up. Please?"
He sighed and leapt up next to her. "Man its cold out here." He rubbed his webbed hands together and pulled his jacket tighter. "Why you wanna sit out in the rain? It is nasty out yo."
"I like the rain," she smiled and pulled the ribbon out of her hair, letting the wet raven locks fall their full four feet. "It feels cleansing. I'm not fond of sunny days. Maybe I oughta move to Seattle."
Todd made a face. Well, at least she seemed happier now, he thought, shivering. Wish there it was something else that did the trick though. Luckily for the wet froggy boy he was rescued after only a few minutes.
: Toad, Ebony,: the professor mindsent, :get back inside before you both catch cold, or get struck by lightning.:
Ebony sighed. "Yes Nanny Xavier."
***
Gabriel returned to the apartment several hours later. The two mutants had left shortly after he arrived but he had decided to wait out the storm.
"I have no mutant activity to report Hunter," he told his Superior with deceptive truth.
The dark haired Sentinel nodded and left the room.
"Witless bastard," Gabriel muttered gratefully.
~
Hope you enjoyed this chapter because my spell check really gets pissed off when I write Remy and Rogue's accents. Yes, I do mean to fix Rogue's personality; they had no right to turn her into some dour goth chick. And that's not all I mean to fix eventually. *author grins maniacally* What do you think of our cheating scoundrel of Sentinel? Heh, can you tell he amuses me? What's going to happen on Monday when Hunter orders the attack on the mutants? Will it be during school hours? Will they manage to catch anyone? Will Gabriel even consent to fight? What's with Arachne? Find out, very soon!
By LejindaryBunny
A totally awesome X-Men: Evolution fanfiction
A/N: Well, I didn't exactly realize when I said it that it'd only be two days before I passed one hundred reviews. But I am a Bunny of my word and thus I present to you, everyone's favorite devilishly handsome Cajun, a glowing personality with eyes and powers to match, a man recently called by one fangirl 'the flaming card guy'. Here he is without further adieu, Remy LeBeau!
*Grins* Why thank you mon petite, et bienvenuz a vous mes femmems. De writer herself tell me you jus' dyin' to see Remy an' he happy to oblidge.
Capslock: De Toad be an okay homme, non? An' petite a cute one. Bunny must be a good writer if Remy here. She say 'Merci a vous' Bunny is sometime insecure. Maybe you tink story better than it is for reading it at two am? De writer she say Kurt PI get his own story in a while. What dis about piranha worms? Remy tink you besoin dorimir, chere. Mon Dieu! Madmoiselle Capslock vous hit the nail on de head about de dream! And Chere Bunny was giving up hope anyone would, guess she wrong, non ? But what happen after those events come to pass de question, an' when did Frog boy go telepath oui? Bunny say she even has a good reason mon ami!
Queenducky: Oui, nous grand ecrivain is back. De killer mutant zombie cyborgs love you too chere, too bad dey de Sentinels, oui? You see what time I spend wit chere, mon ami an' remember to check de rating of dis fic pour moi. Not dat Gambit not up for some 'sale amour' but dat have to wait pour mon cherie, non ?
Blue eyes: Glad you like de story chere, who you tink she write more of, Cyclops et Jean?
Monitor: Like de lizard or de computer ami? Ton nomme, I mean. Bunny assures moi that she not stop writing if Wolverine 'ask' her. De frog boy deserve un femme oui ? You mean all femmes don' do that chere? Remy tink vous needs to curb your violent impulses, de morons not hurt petite too much. Stalking de best ting chere Remy knows. You don' cry for mes amies okay? Remy make sure tings go fine. Keep laughing. Remy assure you he be a better kisser than Todd without de homme's 'mutant adavatges' non? I am tres sorry dat Ebony ever have to call dat ting 'mere'. Why you type wit one finger chere? De more reviews de merrier! De creepy people tres suspisious, dey not act human very well.
Akasha : Good to see you too chere.
Muffinelf: Wax fumes or something more deadly chere, Remy wonder where his gym socks went!
Red Witch: De writer looking forward to votre sequel madam, 'specially since she know Remy be in dis one!
Todd Fan: It not take long at all, chere, check your e-mail now. What ton fic about, eh? Maybe you have saner dreams if you don' eat snacks a noir, non?
DecrepitMonkey58: petite lapin must be a tres bon writer if she can make so many fans for mon homme Todd. He not de easy kind to love, non? You Remy's favorite character too chere. I give you a card if you ever on de right side o' de multiverse.
Kyo Kusanagi: female verion: Dere a male one o' you around, femme? Elle writing tres vite pour vous.
Cat bodkin: I hosting now, oui?
Queen Kaylene: You not need get out de spork arsenal, Gambit can hold his own in a fight, oui? But good to know dey hurt my image dey up against an army de rabid fangirls. Dat scare any network executive Remy tinks. Now Remy has his own church of polytheistic femmes, vache. Dat French slang for 'cool' chere, incidentally it really mean 'cow'. Weird, non?
Well, Remy never know dere dat many cheres in dis world after him, maybe he give up being a mutant to come ne? But Remy don't tink Cable be happy if he took de time displacement core cheche les femmes, non? I have mon cherie anyway, dat enough pour moi. As pour dis chapter o de fic, it just another weekend at de X-masion.
Disclaimer: Cheres, all dis be happening in a parallel universe. We belong to ourselves. De title from a dubbed Sailor Moon song.
Chapter 21.Rainy Day Man
A distinct aura of tension surrounded the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters that fine Saturday morning. The students milled their daily weekend routines trying to ignore the miasma of anxiety that had descended upon the realization that the mutant hunting Sentinels were in their high school. In his office the Professor felt the oppression of this uneasiness on top of the strange presence he had been vaguely aware of for several days now. In the dining room Bobby did his best to crack jokes. In her bedroom Ebony still slept, for once ignoring the self-programmed impulse to get up for cartoons. Instead, Rogue who was usually one of the later risers at the Institute was awake and, even more surprisingly, making herself pancakes. She was even smiling, though admittedly she wasn't humming pleasantly to herself.
Someone came up behind her and put his arms around her shoulders, he was warm, even if she couldn't feel his skin on hers.
"'Mornin' chere," he greeted.
"G'mornin' Remy ya want some pancakes?"
"Dat sound good to me." He turned and got a mug down from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee. Rogue finished putting the pancakes on two plates and set them on the table.
"How you been, chere?" he smiled as they sat down. "You sleep okay, non?"
"Ah feel pretty good, all things considered."
"Dat good, de whole maison seem pretty wound up, but Remy sure de Professor know how to settle de Sentinel ting."
She nodded. It had only been the weekend before that they had first really spoken, but already they were close, after Remy had given her a 'kiss'.
***
She was still in her room; she still hadn't turned on the light. The empty silver box was sitting on her dresser, and she was sitting on her bed, holding herself the tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know why but she felt even more vulnerable than before.
Someone tapped on her door.
"Who is it?" she whispered so quietly that she didn't expect anyone to hear.
"C'est moi, chere. May I come in?"
Words failed her. "Ah don' - shuah."
The door opened and he was framed for a moment in the light of the doorway. His face was hidden in shadow and his brown hair fell over his red eyes. "You be cryin' cherie? Pour quoi?" he smiled.
She could only look at him, "Ah don' know, I guess Ah'm lonely," she sighed.
"But Remy right here, non?" he strode over and sat beside her bed. "I see you get my kiss." She tried to look away but he lifted her chin with two gloved fingers. "You accept it, oui?"
"Ah, ah did, but-"
"Shh, mon cherie. Remy tell you before dat he love you, what you say?"
"Ah," she looked into his red on black eyes. "Ah do but-" he put a finger to her lips.
"Remy know what he getting' into, Chere don' need to say a word." He drew her close to him, careful not to touch bare skin. She wished he didn't need to worry. He was so warm and comforting. "We get tru dis together, oui?"
"Yeah."
***
That was a week ago, now they just sat across from each other eating breakfast.
"Make good pancakes, chere," he complimented.
"Thank ya," she favored him with a smile that was becoming less rare by the day.
"You wanna take a walk after breakfast, chere?"
"Ah don' see why not shugah." She hadn't of course, looked out the window.
***
Todd knocked on the door, it was almost noon and Ebony still wasn't up. He may not have known her an incredibly long time, but he knew that this was definitely unusual. There was no answer.
"Yo Eb, you awake?" There was still no response, he knocked again. "Yo, yo Eb'ny it's almost noon."
This time there was a muffled snort, followed by a string of mumblings and finally some coherent speech. "Huh? H'lo? That you Todd?"
He was relieved he'd been half afraid she was in a coma or something. "Yeah, S'me. You okay? It's 'leven -thirty."
"I'm fine, you can come in if you want." He opened the door, she was sitting up in her bed wearing a black nightgown her eyes had a cloudy look to them. "Sorry; I didn't fall asleep until pretty late last night." She smiled wanly.
"S'okay. I was jus' a little worried is all. Everybody's on edge this morning, me included. Don' think I told ya last night; it was me who found the Sentinels."
"You?"
"Yup," he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Found 'em plottin' in a dark corner of the hall way. You okay Eb?"
She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Not really, no. I want to know.why things are happening this way." She left unspoken her exact thought. Why was Cerebro registering the Sentinel Arachne as a mutant, and as her dead best friend?
He nodded. "I know whatcha mean. Seems like all the shit goin' down in the world lately is happenin' in an' around dear ol' Bayville New York. You'd think fate'd pick a better burg to terrorize, but nooo of course not."
She smiled at his sarcasm. "Is it really almost noon?" she glanced at the curtain; barely any light was coming through.
"It's supposed to rain today." As if on cue thunder struck and it started to pour.
Ebony laughed. "Do you mind the rain?"
He shrugged. "Not really."
"You wanna come outside with me?"
***
Rogue and Remy were all the way to Main Street when it started to rain.
"Ah shoulda known," Rogue stated amicably. "We're gonna get soaked if we don't get inside somewhere fast sugah."
"Come on then Chere, we can duck in here an' have lunch while we stay dry." Remy took her wrist and led her swiftly into a small family diner.
The diner was dimly lit and the state outside wasn't helping things. The two of them sat down at a booth and were promtly visited by a bored waitress.
"Nasty weather we're having ain't it?" the brunette stated. "Awful warm for the end a January though." It was true, over the past week it had been warmer than normal, although by no means unnaturally so. All the snow had melted and it must have been fifty degrees that morning. "So what'll you two be havin' hm?"
***
Hunter looked out the window of the apartment into the bleak weather. "It's you're turn to patrol, Gabriel," he stated both factually and expressionlessly, though the gilded haired boy would have sworn he heard a satisfied note in his superior's voice.
Gabriel tossed the team leader a bored glance and coolly rose from the chair. "Do we posses an umbrella in our inventory?" he asked with irony that amused only himself and was lost on the only other person present.
"No."
He shrugged untroubled and picked a long gray raincoat from the coat rack. He left the room, closing the door behind him and alone in the third floor hallway of the apartment complex allowed himself a satisfied smirk. "Bastard," he muttered amusedly and walked down the corridor and the stairs. Outside in the drenching rain he looked up at the black sky and grinned pleased at the fact that the storm really annoyed him. It had been a while since he'd been able to be annoyed. He started down the street.
Patrol consisted of just once around the city making sure that there was no detectable mutant activity. Gabriel ran a hand through his already soaking gold hair and made a face. Not that he minded getting out of the Hell Hole as he affectionately had begun to call it, but not when it was, he searched to remember the colloquialism, raining cats and dogs.
There were very few people outside today, lucky bastards. He looked up and down the street. Somehow he doubted there was going to be any 'mutant activity' this afternoon. Not like he cared, well, not like he wanted to care. Devoid of any attractive outside stimuli and very wet and uncomfortable he buried himself in his thoughts. Before his death he had been Andrew Roads, but he'd never liked the name really, and now despite the reasons it had been given him, he discovered he liked the name Gabriel far better. He thought it suited him. He was arrogant like that.
He heaved a sigh, this cold downpour really was miserable. If only he could go in some place and get dry. Well, why couldn't he? His orders were to patrol the city. They didn't, specifically, say that he couldn't stop for lunch on the way. Gabriel smiled; elated by each new time he managed to out maneuver his programming and swept smugly into a small family diner.
Immediately he was confronted by a definite problem. In a booth in the corner eating french-fries sat two previously identified mutants. It was hard enough to balk long enough to even try to reason with his orders; he knew this was going to be a challenge. But that was okay. He liked challenges.
The argument with his programming went like this. His orders were to identify any mutant activity and put an end to it, if possible to capture one. The master had contacted them that morning, specifying that he was tired of waiting and wanted to get his test subject soon. That meant if they didn't find anything on patrol that weekend, Monday.
So, he was supposed to accost anyone exhibiting mutant activity. He realized he'd found the key. Though these two were ID'd mutants they weren't exhibiting any mutant behavior. Therefore his orders didn't apply to them, therefore he could feel free to sit down and have lunch without his 'conscience' nagging at him to start a paranormal bar-fight in the middle of a family diner. As long as the two didn't use their powers.
He smirked triumphantly, his violet eyes sparkling under drenched bangs, and swiftly sat down in a booth across the room, took off his sopping wet coat and shook his hair out animalisticly. He ordered a hamburger and Pepsi from a friendly waitress, and particularly satisfied with himself, ate.
***
Rogue saw the Sentinel come in, saw him look at them grimly a moment then smirk and sit down. "Remy," she whispered, "it's one a them."
He looked. "Cool it Chere. De Professor say we not s'posed to start trouble, non?"
"But he looked right at us. What if he's here to attack us? The Professah said they wanted to capture a test subject."
"Remy say he not start trouble chere. He not say he wouldn't finish it. So relax. Maybe he just here for a bite, oui?"
Uncomfortably Rogue agreed and turned back to her food.
***
Ebony insisted on sitting up in the bare branches of a tree while they sat in the rain
"Yo Eb, aren't you afraid you gonna get hit by lightnin'?"
"C'mon, there are lots more taller trees around; this one isn't going to get stuck by lightning." She smiled. "C'mon up. Please?"
He sighed and leapt up next to her. "Man its cold out here." He rubbed his webbed hands together and pulled his jacket tighter. "Why you wanna sit out in the rain? It is nasty out yo."
"I like the rain," she smiled and pulled the ribbon out of her hair, letting the wet raven locks fall their full four feet. "It feels cleansing. I'm not fond of sunny days. Maybe I oughta move to Seattle."
Todd made a face. Well, at least she seemed happier now, he thought, shivering. Wish there it was something else that did the trick though. Luckily for the wet froggy boy he was rescued after only a few minutes.
: Toad, Ebony,: the professor mindsent, :get back inside before you both catch cold, or get struck by lightning.:
Ebony sighed. "Yes Nanny Xavier."
***
Gabriel returned to the apartment several hours later. The two mutants had left shortly after he arrived but he had decided to wait out the storm.
"I have no mutant activity to report Hunter," he told his Superior with deceptive truth.
The dark haired Sentinel nodded and left the room.
"Witless bastard," Gabriel muttered gratefully.
~
Hope you enjoyed this chapter because my spell check really gets pissed off when I write Remy and Rogue's accents. Yes, I do mean to fix Rogue's personality; they had no right to turn her into some dour goth chick. And that's not all I mean to fix eventually. *author grins maniacally* What do you think of our cheating scoundrel of Sentinel? Heh, can you tell he amuses me? What's going to happen on Monday when Hunter orders the attack on the mutants? Will it be during school hours? Will they manage to catch anyone? Will Gabriel even consent to fight? What's with Arachne? Find out, very soon!