The door opened again and Gambit entered the room looking pleased with himself. At the obviously uncomfortable atmosphere, and refreshing breeze, he laughed out loud. "Looks like Remy just missed some fun," he said to the room at large. Everybody ignored him.
"Hmm, guess Remy still be in de dog 'ouse den," he said turning his best charming smile on the room. He gave an expressive shrug and collapsed onto the sofa between the two women, arms spread wide running along the back of the sofa. Storm continued to look irritated, Jean mortified.
The addition of another serious masculine presence in the room obviously got to both Scott and Logan. Logan moved to a leather armchair and sat down looking mightily relaxed, except if you paid attention to the sinews in his neck. Scott went and perched on the arm of the sofa, hand gently caressing Jean's neck. Gambit gave a 'My work here is done,' smile round the room and pulled out a battered cigarette packet. A look from the Professor stopped him from lighting one. Just in case anyone was in any doubt as to who was Alpha 1 in this outfit.
"We have just received intelligence from Ms Jacobson that had British Military Intelligence been aware that your membership of the Brotherhood of Mutants had lapsed they would not be pursuing you," he said in a soft calm voice that wasn't at all reassuring.
"Don' believe it, dere'e no way Mick's gonna leave Remy alone."
"We were given to understand that he wouldn't have a choice. Although from what Ms Jacobson said I could quite understand his reluctance," continued the Professor.
"Why haven't you confronted them and explained?" demanded Storm. "You put more than your own life in danger yesterday."
"Hey, Remy though' we were a team," he said. "He thought we were looking out for each other. Like he looked out for little Stormy."
"I was a kid," Storm said with narrowed eyes. "You are supposed to be an adult and you ought to think about people besides yourself." She turned and looked at the Professor. "Since we're discussing staffing issues I think we should talk about his continued employment."
Gambit turned a jeering look on her but almost everyone else in the room looked like they agreed with Storm. Realising this he took off his sunglasses and leaned forward looking serious. "Look, I don' believe dat de Department's are gonna stop chasin' Remy. He blew up dere headquarters when he was with de brotherhood. If dey got any evidence dey'd be stupid to stop."
"Is it possible that they don't have evidence?" asked Scott.
"Remy don' know," he said. "Remy's pretty good."
"So it is possible, in which case they would have no reason to continue pursuing you. And that is information to which Ms Jacobson could well have access…" said Scott, explaining the situation logically to let the pupil work out the solution. Patronising.
Gambit shrugged looking irritable. "Fine. Remy'll talk to da fille."
"Fine then. We were discussing Ms Jacobson's teaching methods," Scott said.
"Ve liked the lesson," said Wagner eagerly. "But Ororo has some concerns about vhether Ms Jacobson is trustvorthy."
"'Ro's not the only one," growled Logan. "She ain't a mutant, what reason do we have to trust her?"
"You think because she is affiliated with Service she could be a problem?" asked Remy.
"Well you have to admit it's a possibility," said Hank.
"No. If you have a problem it's going to be wid de brotherhood. Her favourite brother is a member. Dat gives Magneto leverage. He's good wi' levers. An'" Remy sat back now, hands behind his head looking mightily relaxed, "Remy did some checkin' wi' Kitty. Dat stuff she quoted from the web. It's all dere, do a google search and one of de first tings dat pops up is dat Uzbek Empire crap. But it wasn' dere diss mornin' Kitty an' me did a little research and guess wha'? It was posted from an account registered to a pub in North Wales. A pub whose landlord is one Danny McFarlande, step-brother to Ollie, Amanda, Mick and Martin Jacobson. " He cocked his head on one side looking satisfied. "Ollie lives dere and it's Remy's guess dat de fille rang him dis mornin' to discuss her little visit from Magneto las' night."
"I thought I told you to stay in the staff room until you were called," said Storm. "I thought I said I didn't want the kids seeing you until after you spoke to the Professor."
"Merde."