School and Home

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the Marvel, I'm not making any money.

Part 4

" 'If I'm not back by morning at least you'll know where to start looking for my corpse'," Ororo read from the note she'd found slipped under her door when she'd returned from her date with Danny. "Come on Scotty, I'm sure if you really tried you could come up with something mellow dramatic."

"You knew there was another Friends of Humanity meeting tonight," Scott started.

"I forgot," Ororo defended herself.

"You should have been around to help me check it out. Instead you were out goofing around with Mr. Rebound."

"And how was this meeting different from the last two?" Ororo asked sarcastically. "Do you hear the wild geese honking?"

"I know there's something wrong about this FOH group," Scott said.

"Yeah, they hate our guts, along with half of congress and nearly every person you pass on the streets. Excuse me if I don't jump at the chance to subject myself to more of that sort of crap than I get reading graffiti. They didn't claim responsibility for the killings the other times, why would this one be any different?"

"That wasn't the point," Scott snapped. "We're supposed to be a team and you took off without a single word, again."

****** ****** ******

Remy made sure he got to his first period class early the next day. "Dis be proud of being a mutant stuff, yo' tell it to Michael Lanes too?" he said picking out the first of the victims they were investigating.

"Yes," the teacher replied.

"Yo' evah t'ink mebbe dat have somet'ing to do wid him being kilt?"

"Did someone threaten you?" Mr. Dumas asked, instantly filled with concern. "You've got to go to the police, you can't let them ignore this anymore."

"Why dis such a big deal for yo'?" Remy asked curiously. "No one cares 'bout mutants."

"I was teaching in LA last year when the Sentinels attacked," Mr. Dumas said. "I'm sure you remember that."

Remy nodded, he'd seen the reports on a TV in a department store window and promptly buried himself in the deepest hole he could find. Several weeks later he'd emerged from the subway tunnels to learn that the President really had called off those monsters.

"The reports said there were no civilian casualties," Mr. Dumas continued. "But eight kids from my school disappeared that day. We didn't even know five of them were mutants, all of them were just kids. No one said anything though, not even their parents, too afraid of what the neighbors might think. They were just gone and no one would even think about it. The world needs to know you're here..."

"So it knows when dey kill us?" Remy asked. "Rather take m' chances in de shadows den play de martyr."

"Nothing will change that way," Mr. Dumas said.

"I don' care 'bout dat," Remy said.

"I don't believe that."

"Den tell me who kilt dem. Michael, Tiffany, Mara, Kevin, what happened to dem? Yo' standin' by an' watchin' us vanish 'gain," Remy said.

"If I knew I'd have already gone to the police," Mr. Dumas said. "You have to be careful, take nothing for granted."

"Everyone a'way tellin' me to be careful," Remy said. "Nevah get rien done dat way."

****** ****** ******

Remy walked across the foyer, watching the girl slumped on one of the benches beneath the trophy cases. Her sandy blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail, displaying her well-pierced ears, her tee shirt was tight and ended just a hair higher than school policy allowed, her skirt fit the same description. Her eyes followed him as he approached.

"Yo' been watchin' me chere?" he asked.

"Maybe."

"Yo' like what yo' see?" he asked.

Her eyes scanned up his body, making no pretenses, when their eyes met she said. "Well enough. How 'bout you?"

"Like to see more," Remy replied suggestively.

"That could be fun," she replied. "Walk me to class?"

"Would like nothin' bettah, chere," Remy said offering her his arm.

As they strolled past the main office Remy wasn't even vaguely surprised when she tossed a quick glance through the windows then slid her hand in his back pocket. He just wished he could be as certain that the people HE wanted to tick off were also watching the show.

****** ****** ******

"Get a grip Dave!" Clair hissed, catching sight of the school's on campus police officer, his face flushed with anger, storming toward the hall.

"What the hell does Jennifer think she's doing?" he snarled.

Claire glanced at the object of his ire. "Oh for god's sake they aren't doing anything wrong."

"Jennifer is my daughter, I'll decide what's wrong for her."

"Then in that case, she's doing exactly the same thing as when she got her tongue pierced, she's getting a rise out of you," Claire said. "Now she's being a little forward with a cute boy, you're way too easy Dave, she does next to nothing and you fly off the handle. You know damn well if you go charging out there it's only going to lead to another fight with her mother. If you don't get a hold of that temper of yours you could loose your job."

Dave stopped, his mouth compressed into a thin angry line. "Well that freak better keep his hands to himself."

"Remy's a nice kid," Claire reprimanded. "Don't you go putting him in the middle of your family problems."

****** ****** ******

Scott scanned the cafeteria once more, then seeing Ororo he strode determinedly to her side. "You're here for once, so of course Remy goes missing," Scott said. "Why do you guys keep skipping out on me? This isn't some game."

"Lighten up, Remy can take care of himself," Ororo said.

"Okay, we better assume the worst," Scott continued ignoring what she'd said. "Look for any place he could have been cornered."

"Scott, don't you think you're over reacting?" Ororo asked. "First you've seen Remy sparring with Logan, do you honestly think a bunch of high school students could hurt him? And second, even if they could, it wouldn't be quiet, we'd know if Remy were in trouble because half the school would be in ruins."

"I'm not taking the chance that you're wrong," Scott stated. "Start looking."

"Yes sir Mr. Boss, Sir," Ororo snapped.

Scott sighed and started on his own search. Eventually he found his way to the camera loft over the gym. The door creaked slightly as Scott opened it, he heard a soft squeak of alarm and a flurry of activity that resolved into a girl glaring angrily at him from where she huddled under a trench coat. The coat's owner apparently felt no such embarrassment.

Remy grinned watching the brilliant flush crawling up Scott's neck to spill across his cheeks.

"Wrong door," Scott muttered backing out of the room, wondering why he was the one feeling embarrassed when Remy was the one missing most of his clothing.

Scott found Ororo several minutes later. "I found him. He's fine. Don't ask." Scott told her.

"I told you so," Ororo replied disinterestedly. "By the way, I'm skipping the rest of today. I just thought you'd want to know, bye."

As Scott watched her walk off he called, "Keep your comm. on." Then muttered to himself, "Would it really be such an awful thing if the Professor 'helped' their attitudes, just a little bit?"

****** ****** ******

Karen glanced at Remy and rolled her eyes in disgust. "You've got lipstick on your cheek," she told him.

Remy made a show of trying to wipe it off but only managed to smear it around.

Shaking her head Karen grabbed a napkin, tilted his head to the side and did it for him. "Everyone saw you with Jen Cardie earlier. I'm being a friend here, she's just using you to get back at her dad for cheating on her mom and having a Stone Age mind set."

"If dat was bein' used, can't say dat I mind," Remy replied. "Don' be jealous chere, I like yo' bettah."

"You know Remy, that was stupid even for a guy comment," Karen said. "Look, do whatever you like, but watch out for her dad, Officer Cardie, has a gun, a bad temper and works at the school. I'd feel weird if you ended up dead."

"Merci chere," Remy said. "Yo' been a big help."

****** ****** ******

Ororo played with the ends of Danny's hair, her body draped over the back of his chair as he worked on the computer. "Are you done yet," she whined.

"Almost," Danny replied. "I just have to finish debugging..."

"Couldn't you do that later?" Ororo interrupted. "I'm here now, wouldn't you rather play with me than that silly box?"

" 'Ro I'm sorry but this is important. If I don't get this finished my advisor will skin me alive."

Ororo shot a hate filled glare at her rival, then arranged her features in an appealing pout. "You're neglecting me," she claimed.

"Just give me a few more minutes," Danny pled.

"Alright," Ororo sighed dramatically moving to lean against the computer monitor as she superstitiously pointed a finger at the back of the computer. A small bolt of lightening leapt from her finger to slag the computer's delicate innards.

Danny stared, horror-stricken as his computer sparked, fizzed and died.

"Did something go wrong?" Ororo asked innocently. "Maybe it's a sign you should take a break."

Using a pen, Danny managed to extract a warped disk from the computer's drive. He looked ready to cry at the sight of the mangled piece of plastic and metal. "I'll have to start all over," he moaned.

"Come on Danny," Ororo said tugging playfully at his arm. "Let's go have some fun."

Danny pulled away from her angrily. "Don't you understand? This is important! It'll take forever for me to recreate the program from scratch. I'm going to be stuck in a computer lab from now until kingdom come!"

"Well fine!" Ororo snapped. "If you didn't want to spend time with me, all you had to do was say so! I guess that stupid box makes you happier than I do!"

"Since when is doing home work a capital crime?" Danny exclaimed. "What are you on anyway? I mean we go out on a couple of dates and then you act like I'm cheating on you when I'm trying to get some work done."

"I'm sorry," Ororo said, feeling ashamed and stupid. "I'll just get out of the way. I shouldn't have..." With a guilty sigh Ororo trailed off and turned to leave.

****** ****** ******

Remy loitered outside his next class waiting for his self- appointed bodyguard to show up.

"I really wish it were possible to embarrass you," Scott said. "Couldn't you have checked in with me before… well, um… Remy you can't have know her for more than a day, don't you think that was moving a little fast?"

Remy shook his head. "Mon ami, most femmes I meet durin' m' shows. Got mebbe twenty minutes to convince de chere she want to know me bettah, plus keepin' de rest of de audience entertained an' anyt'ing else I be doing. Knowin' de femme for a whole day be unheard of."

"Forget I ever asked," Scott replied.

"By de way, I got a lead. Yo' might want to check out Dave Cardie, de homme be a cop so dat 'xsplains Jean's leads bein' screwed wid, neh?"

"Okay, good job Remy," Scott said. "You should lay low while Storm and I check him out."

"Non, I disappear mebbe he get suspicious. Probably won' do a t'ing while I be here an' I'll even let Stormy give me a ride to de Denaras'," Remy offered. "Jus' to make yo' feel bettah."

"Alright, just..."

"... Be careful," Remy finished mimicking Scott's tone. "I heard it before."

"And if I actually thought you were listening I might quit saying it," Scott replied.

"Doubt that, me," Remy replied. "See yo' after class."

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