"He said he would meet with you." Jean smiled as she bit into her Ruben sandwich at their favorite deli, just two blocks from her law firm.
"Wonderful. When?" Ororo grinned back as she sipped her lemonade, twirling her onion ring around a slender finger.
"Whenever you want. It seems to be important."
"Then you won't mind if I bail on our lunch do you? I don't have much of an appetite, and I won't until I get this problem resolved."
"Go ahead. It's not like I can't eat alone." The microphone in the salt shaker picked up their laughter, and Ororo's departure after Jean gave her directions. As she watched Ororo leave, Jean reached for one of Ororo's onion rings and knocked the shaker onto the floor, causing Murphy to cry out with the metallic screeching upon impact. "Oops…" Jean said as she picked it up, signaling for the check.
Murphy called Scott and waiting to get sent through three people until he picked up. "What's going on?" Summers asked.
"She's going to the FBI."
"Damn."
"How do you want this done?"
"It's too risky to follow her to the building."
"I know."
"Then why did you call?" Scott asked irritably.
"Because I wanted you to know. How do you want this handled?"
"Just come back. We'll need to talk to the leader."
"I can talk to the leader without you." Murphy reminded him, not without a lot of smugness.
"I know. We need to regroup."
"Since you were so nice, I'll come back." He laughed and hung up.
*
"A Mister Remy LeBeau. I have a standing appointment." Ororo beamed at the bored secretary.
"Please, wait right here." She motioned to a group of chairs and Ororo sat, nervous and relieved as she crossed her legs. A few men came by for some reason or another and admired her, but she ignored them as usual, and looked at her watch. Two minutes later a tall man walked out of an office and looked around, spotting Ororo.
"Dr. Munroe?" He asked.
"Yes. Hello." She stood and offered her hand to the handsome stranger.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Pressing matters presented themselves. I'm Remy LeBeau." Ororo nodded and sighed.
"Is there somewhere we can talk?"
"Sure, how about my office?" They walked the quick distance and he closed the door behind them.
*
"Jean?"
"Yes?"
"There was someone on the phone who said you've had a break in and you need to talk to the police. They're already at your house." The secretary said discreetly, whispering as she leaned her head into the spacious office.
"Shit. This destroys my schedule!" Jean said shakily, covering her fear as she threw a few folders into her briefcase. She missed the sympathetic frown of the secretary's mouth as she rushed past, almost sprinting to her car.
*
"That's quite a story Dr. Munroe." Remy said as he twirled a pencil.
"And it's all true."
"I believe you. Do you have hard proof?" He tried not to sound too eager.
"Yes, of course. Is what they're doing illegal?" Ororo asked. The wheels in Remy's head turned at a fast pace, assessing what the Bureau had in their possession. A woman who worked at the firm they had been tracking and trying to bust for decades, but she didn't know what they were doing. Not really. She thought all they were doing was not helping people when they could. That of course isn't illegal, but some of the other things they participate in are, like the use of the warped variant of her concoction. Time to lay on some facts.
"Quietly they have bombed villages with biological sprays, and none have survived. Your questions and answers match our investigation, which has been going on for years."
"They've actually done it? Oh dear lord…" She raised her hand to her throat absently.
"Dr. Munroe, it is no longer safe for you to be at home." Remy started as the door opened. Ororo turned and watched a man walk in and close the door. "You would be safer with us." She looked from the man to Mr. LeBeau in shock.
"I can't just get up and leave. I'm working on a crucial experiments!"
"Do you want to die?" the newcomer asked suddenly.
"What kind of question is that?"
"A pertinent one. Dr. Munroe, meet Mr. Logan MacLean, witness protection." Lebeau made the introductions.
"I don't need protection."
"Oh, yes you do." Logan produced a manila folder and handed it to Ororo. She looked down at it in her hands, unmoving. "By all means, read it. Really get to know your employers." Her hesitating hand finally opened it.
*
"Hello?" Jean yelled s she opened her door. Nothing was out of order, and she didn't see a cop car around. "Hello?!" She never saw the man with the large knife. His gloved hands came around her slender face and pulled her against him, and he stabbed her twice in the stomach.
She screamed in agony against the glove, feeling faint. The man felt her struggle and smiled as he stabbed her three more times. Jean could no longer think as her life ebbed away, her last moments in total pain and torture. The man brought up the bloody knife and let her see it, her life blood splashed all over the blade and spilling onto her hunter green pant suit from the jagged holes in her abdomen. He quickly sliced the sharp edge across her neck, finally ending her life. The dead body of litigator Jean Grey hit the ground wetly, the sightless green eyes watching the escape of her murderer.
*
"They've killed employees?"
"Seventeen."
"Three since I've been hired. I was told they were let go. I never worked with them, so I couldn't verify, nor did I care. I was too busy trying to get promoted."
"You must testify." LeBeau stressed. Ororo looked up, and for a brief second, he pitied her position.
"In court."
"Yes."
"Fine."
"And you need protection." Logan said gruffly.
"I will not be treated like a prisoner. I'll pack some bags and go stay with a friend." Ororo closed the folder. She wished she had never opened it. Lists of illegal activity and treasons done by her company were extensive. 12,000 people they've killed in villages alone, testing their airborne viruses they've then turned around and sold to other governments, almost half the number of people killed were a child.
"Do you want to be exterminated?" Remy stood, trying to stare her down.
"No. I'll come back whenever the court date comes." She said firmly.
"At least let me escort you. You're an important witness, and they won't hesitate to try and kill you." Logan said, removing the patronizing tone from his voice. Her demeanor softened and she assented.
*
Logan drove Ororo's Explorer as if he owned it, maneuvering through traffic quickly. She told him an address and he frowned. "That's not your address."
"No, it's my friend's. I've got to tell her I need to leave." Loan drove there quickly, and parked beside the green SUV already in there. Once the engine was silent Ororo hopped out, and as soon as her pumps hit the cement, Logan was right beside her, looking around and scanning the tree lined street. She pushed the doorbell to the side door and waited, but there was no answer. Frowning, she touched the door knob and it swung open, slamming against the wall behind it.
The kitchen looked normal and Ororo stepped in. Logan Un-holstered his gun and steeped in front of her, and they slowly began their progress into the house. He stopped and looked into the living room, stopping too late to shield Ororo from the sight. She saw the large puddle of blood on the cream carpet and dread welled up inside of her as the couch fell away from her line of vision and her best friend's body came into view.
Ororo suppressed a scream as a feeling of numbness over came her. "I'm sorry." Logan said, genuinely concerned as he saw the abject grief in her luminous eyes. In his subconscious he heard a slightly beep, and his eyes widened. Picking Ororo up he hauled ass out of the house as it exploded.
They were thrown by the force of the blast, Logan slammed to the pavement as Ororo hit a tree. She fell to the ground unconscious, oblivious to the burning house.
*
"The Leader is pleased, but he wants Munroe dead." Murphy said as he looked down at Scott. Scott was drinking a stiff drink, trying his best to ignore the tone of Murphy's voice.
"I want her dead as well, but the FBI are involved, and the two who are most immediate have not been approached by the society." He downed the rest of the drink.
"It's not a problem."
*
Ororo opened her eyes and looked into the face of Logan. "How are you feeling?" He asked, helping her up into a sitting position on the bed.
"I've been better." She mumbled. Logan turned away to check his gun, silently cursing himself at his stupidity. Just being near that woman made his instincts off kilter.
"The woman's not in any pain now." He said, resisting the urge to comfort her.
"The woman," Ororo said sarcastically, "was Jean Grey! My best friend for ten years! She liked to read, ski, eat, and argue while we watched good movies." She scrambled out of the bed. "She was always there for me and I was always there for her!" Logan turned at her shouting. "And you don't care, all you want is for me to live until the court date, then I could just jump off a cliff and it wouldn't matter to you." Logan wanted to say something, but didn't. It was best to let her get it all out now, but he surely did not want her dead.
"She would always say something funny, come over for breakfast and eat all of my muffins. Inviting herself to dinner and expecting me to do the same on an almost nightly basis. I had a permanent room at her house and she had one at mine. We wanted to have children at the same time and I fought hard to get her to wear a color besides green." Tears coursed down Ororo's brown cheeks as her grief ran a quick course.
"She liked Cherry Garcia Ben & Jerry's ice cream and she liked to run like I did." It was getting hard to breathe and Logan brought his arm around her slim waist. "I…I…" She started to sob, large cries wracking her slim frame as he held her close, stroking her head and murmuring. After a while, the shock of the day and death of her best friend was too much, and she passed out into a deep sleep.