:Yawn: I'm tired, but I'm hyper now thanks to my Pixy Stix. =) God, I love those things. It's like Kool-aid in a straw. Hehe- okay, I'm writing as much as possible of chapter 7 tonite. It might suck, might not. Flames and comments are all welcome. I've got a cold, so I could use some flames to put in my warm fire. =P Oh yeah- I have no idea who Remy would associate with. Just pretend, okay?

Chapter 7: Opposites don't Attract...Or do They?
PG13 again for some language
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"Rem, let's stop for just a sec. I can't feel my foot anymore!" Remy sighed as he slowed to let Kurt catch his breath. "Besides, just how dangerous could these guys be?"
"How dangerous?! I'll tell you. Imagine aving needles stuck up every part of your body, even in places you didn't know you ad. Being examined all over, being cut to see if you eal like a normal uman being. Dey shove you underwater to see how long you hold your breath. Dey infect you with de flu so dey can happily examine how your body deals with it. You want to know how dangerous dey are?!" Kurt had backed up a foot, staring in disbelief.

"Sorry..." Gambit slouched down a nearby rock and held his forhead in his hands. "Dese guys, dey're from a lab called Mu-Tech. It's a DNA lab. Dey want to know how to create mutants. Dey killed my buddy." Kurt slowly sat down.

"You vant to talk?"
"NON! Remy don need anybody now. Friends jus come an go, an if dey go in a bad way, it stays in your mind for de rest of your life. Who needs dat?"
"Friends can be the best companions in your life.."
"Dey only cause trouble."
"I only have a precious few friends in all of the six billion people on this planet. They mean the vorld to me." Remy didn't move, his head still in his hands. "Sometimes I don't show how much I care for them, but they're like my family. I could never turn against them or leave them. Just like I never vant them to leave me."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments.

"She was my bes friend. We were complete opposites, bu it didn't matter. She was a tramp like me, livin on de streets."
"Who was she?"
(AN: Enter the cheesy dream sequence -_- )
"Her name was Jubilation, bu dey called her Jubilee. We made a great team, pick pocketing all over Louisiana an de south." He smiled at the memory. "She could make little fireworks wit her ands. Our powers were really similar. She wanted to go to school, but Remy never bothered to go past 8th grade. Ain't got a family or nothin to elp me anyway. We parted ways for a while, before Mu-Tech came to rise."

Kurt listened as he began to gather nearby twigs to start a warm fire.

"Dey got her when we were hanging out on a corner. I tried to protect her. Dey had 5 against one! I jus couldn't do it! I used all my strength to explode dem straight to hell, bu dey grabbed her arms and threw her to the ground. Remy coudn't watch when dey beat her. Dey beat me too, for protecting her. I tried to get to her, bu she kept yelling at me to run away. I was able to get away finally- bu I shoud've been dere! I shouldn't have left! Dey took her to the lab, while I followed. It was disguised as a Hewlett-Packard company. I couldn't get in, bu I peeked in a window and saw her.."

He trailed off and tried to hold back all feelings.

"Dey had all dese needles in her, doin x-rays and all dis crap, she was jus a kid! Barely lived part of her life, but dey killed her! She never did anyting to any one of dem. I watched her die as dey injected chemicals into her to see de effect. Dat picture is never gonna leave my mind for de rest of my life. You tellin me friends are good? Non, cause when dey leave you, it wrecks you."

"But that's because you cared about her. You can't blame yourself." He handed over a small portion of soup he had been warming over the fire. "Come on, cheer up! We can get back to Westchester and Prof. X can help you. Get you back in school."

"Non, Remy told you. He's a loner. Always will be a loner. I don' need school. Don need pretty much anyting. Jus a couple of bucks and my cards." He then lay down against the rock and used his coat as a makeshift blanket. Kurt sat still, watching him for a while.

*A friend is the only thing he needs right now.*
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It was the next morning, and the two wanderers found themselves at the edge of a town. "Where's this?"
"I tink it's Fort Collins. We can go grab some supplies."
"And the way I look?"
"We can fix that." Remy smiled at his plan.

An hour later, they had found enough clothing to cover most of Kurt. He had on a shawl-trench coat.. like the one he had arrived off the train in. It was chilly outside, so he looked normal all bundled up. They then made their way down to a 7-eleven.

"How much money do you have? We spent 10 bucks on these gloves."
"Remy don' need money." He was walking up and down the aisles, with his backpack barely open in the back. Kurt stood slouched in the corner, trying to look natural.
"What the hell are you doing?" He hissed at Remy as he casually flipped a bag of chips over his shoulder, landing neatly in the backpack.
"Trust me, I got experience."
"These places have the most security anywhere! You're never going to get away-" Remy ignored him and continued to happily shop, flipping cokes and gum into the pack too. He squeezed by an obese man, and Kurt watched a wallet drop into the case too.
"Mein Gott, I can't believe dis idiot."

"Come on, dere's nothin here." Remy waved to the clerk and began to walk out the door and Kurt ran behind him. "If you go out that door, that alarm's gonna go off, you dumbass!"
"Don put down Remy's talents. Watch." Before stepping on the mat, he flipped a card in the air. It exploded and set off the alarm.

"Whoa, what happened?" He put on an innocent face as the explosion busted the sensors.

"Kids, you okay? Go on out, I 'll get that checked out." The clerk stared in disbelief at the wreckage. "Must've been the electricity." Remy then smiled and skipped right out the door.

They were well beyond the store when Kurt dared to speak.

"I cannot believe you.."
"I gotta survive, it's only a few tings."
"YOU STOLE!"
"Shut up, would ya? You want everyone to know?"
"The Bible calls that a sin, you know." Kurt stared at the ground in front of him, not wanting to look at Remy's face.
" 'The bible calls that a sin' " Remy immitated him in a prissy voice. "You and your Bible.."
"Hey, God is the only thing in the world I can believe in now, so don't start dissing Him, got that?" Kurt pressed Remy up against the wall in a second, who was caught by surprise.
"Okay, okay, Remy won't steal anymore."
"And vould you get your pronouns right? Talking in 3rd person all the time really creeps me out."
"Look who's talking. Say 'The weasel went after the wild, wooly walrus to Wisconsin."
"The veasel vent after the vild, vooly.. no, wait. The weasel went after the vild vooly.. aw, screw it." Remy laughed at Kurt's trouble.
"You can't even pronounce your w's right."
"That's how you pronunce w's in German. I bet you can't even really speak French."
"Parlez-vous Francais, mon ami?"
"Oui." They both broke into a cheerful grin as they munched on the sinful bag of chips.
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"Okay, this time, we're not gonna miss. Got it?" Alek and Blaine nodded quickly. "I don't want to know what Mr. Kain will do to us if we don't come up with some mutants soon. He may end up usin' us." All three grew silent on that thought. "Now Blaine, where are they?"

"They're heading out of Fort Collins, going west. I can see them, Trek."
"Great, when they get out onto the the fields and plains, they'll have no where to hide."
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"Please go find a payphone for me? It'd be so much easier this vay, you know."
"I ain't got money, duh. Besides, I tink it'd be a great adventure to go on foot."
"I believe you're forgetting I only have one decent foot." They were now about an hour west of Fort Collins, going across scattered meadows and farm pastures. Remy could sense the trio of hunters behind them, and he didn't want to stop.

"Could you teleport us farther away?" Kurt froze at the comment. "Are they near?"
"The longer you stop, the nearer they get."
"If we could call Professor X, he'd send out the jet to protect us."
"You have a jet?!"
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"Faster. You got the gun loaded?"
"The map shows one last forest ahead. It's just a lone conifer one, with a river cutting through it."
"Oh great.. we have to get to them before they get there."
All three began to follow faster, gaining on their prey.
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"You don't know how you met me, you don't know why..." Kurt had begun to sing the song he heard on the radio last week. Remy pulled out his harmonica when he recognized the song and began to play.
"Follow me, everything'll be all right. I'll be the one to tuck you in at night. And if you leave, you can garuntee, you won't find nobody else like me, I'm singin, follow me, everything'll be all right.."

"You're not a bad singer, even with that screwed up accent." Kurt made an attempt to slug Remy, who dodged easily. "You are weak, you know that?"
"Yah? I'd like to see you take on Sabertooth-.. what?" Remy had gotten that look on his face again. "Wunderbar.. are they coming?" Both turned around to see three figures coming over the hill. Kurt sarcastically sang. "Here they come to save the day!"

A bullet shot between both of their faces, making both mutants fall to the ground. "Crap, we're gonna get killed!" Remy got up to run toward the trees in the distance. Kurt made an attempt to run on all fours, but his foot could take no more.

"Help!" He fell to the grass a hundred feet short of the forest as Remy twisted around to grab him. They ran into the cover of the trees, only a few hundred feet ahead of the pursuers. "We gotta split up! Remember? Every freak for himself!" Kurt's adrenaline pushed the pain out of his mind and he raced on all fours toward the thick trees. Behind him, he heard several explosions.

"Remy?!" He paused, but only saw a large 18-year-old charging him. He had a tranquilizer gun in one hand, the other was pushing a button near his eyes. "Mutant, put your hands in the air!" Kurt twisted and ported to the treetops.
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"Here, mutie mutie mutie." Trek enjoyed these cat and mouse games he so often played with Remy. "You know I'll find you. Then I'm gonna make your life a livin hell, jus like your Jubilee friend."

"Don you EVER talk about Jubilee like dat!" Remy tackled him from behind and the two tossled on the ground punching and kicking. Remy had the upper hand.. until a metal claw slammed into his right eye and he rolled back.

"That's what you get for messin with Mu-Tech, buddy. You wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?" Trek ducked at a card thrown at his face. "Aw, I always knew you loved the hard way."
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Alek searched the treetops for Kurt. He had ported high up, into the shadows. They would never find him up..
"Alek, heat sensors show he's 50 feet up at 2-o-clock!"
...here.
Kurt's branch exploded and he fell to the ground, porting only a few feet above obliviation. He reappeared near the sound of a river.
"Straight that way!" Kurt sighed as he heard the footsteps coming closer. *Remy was right. You can't beat these guys. I'm gonna die..* He leaped up, away from yet another dart. His foot was slowing him down.. he leaped again, almost falling backwards. *I just vant to be home. Vith Kitty, and my friends. I'm safe there..*
"Remy! Vhere are you-" A large kick knocked the breath out of him, and he rolled out of the shelter of the trees. He only had a second to think before teleporting mindlessly again.
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Remy threw a punch at Trek, hitting him in the jaw. He then dodged the claw, and backed up out of the shelter of the trees. The previous punch made his eye swollen, already turning dark.

"Damnit, why are you doin dis?! What's in it for you?" Trek smiled at his suffering before delivering another punch.

"Just money, Remy. You of all people should know that money is important. It's all I ever need. 10,000 a head, maybe 20,000 for your fuzzy freak friend."

Remy paused, dazed at the word. *Friend? He's mon ami?* Trek shoved him into the dirt, tossing the remainder of Remy's cards aside. In his hurt and weak state, Remy forgot about the battle. He noticed the trees, the sound of a river nearby, the birds that twittered above the chaos below. *Jubilee always liked the forest.*

"Give it up, Rem. You're out of the game." Remy glanced back,and saw something running at him on all fours.

"Non, Trek. I'm not out. I don care about de money anymore. You said dat guy was mon ami an you were right!" Remy rolled backwards and stood up shakily. Kurt skidded to a stop at his side, and they backed up as the trio circled them.

"Gee, doesn't seem like your friend can do a whole lot to help you now, Remy." The entire group stopped when they noticed the sound- the roaring sound- of the river. Kurt glanced behind them, to find that the peaceful meadow river wasn't peaceful at all. It had carved a miniature canyon that went nearly straight down 40 feet. Below, many rocks caused terrible rapids. They were backed up against a cliff.

"No where to run. No where to hide." Alek cocked his gun and pulled the trigger.

"JUMP!" Kurt pulled himself and Remy backwards off the cliff, falling at least 20 feet. "What the hell are you doing?" The Elf then grabbed a rock edge and barely caught remy beneath him. His foot, with it's long flexible toes, held Remy's wrist.

"Oh God.. don let go, please.." They were just above some extremly jagged rocks.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna let go..." Kurt's voice was getting faint.
"Kurt? Port us!"
"No.. It's getting...dark.." Remy then noticed the dart, sticking in Kurt's right leg. Alek had gotten his target.
"Non, non! Don let it get to you!" The Cajun ripped the dart out, throwing it to the river below. "You have to teleport!" No response.
"Kurt! Don fall asleep!" It was too late. The chemicals had gone through his system, and he was nearly out.
"I'm..gonna.."

BAMF!



They reappeared on the other side of the river. Kurt lay limply on the ground, and Remy just didn't have the strength to go on. The last thing he felt was a heavy net falling on him, and a helicopter appearing overhead.
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ooookay, it's 1 in the morning and I can't stay up. -_- I'll write the next chapter tomorrow! Heh, I've neve been good with cliffhangers. (sorry about the crappy battle sequence, but oh well.) What will happen to our two buddies? Where are the x-men? Will they live? Will I stop asking questions? OW, my wrists hurt. =P Bye for now!

~Tikirz