Government Intervention

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

Part 4/6

The blonde girl slammed the mansion door behind her angrily. "De boy said he'd be here, dere ain't no one here. I need to talk wid him now! Ain't got de time for dis."

Belle dug a cell phone out of her backpack and dialed back to New Orleans. After a few minutes Henri Lebeau answered with a distracted "Quoi?"

"Where de hell is your no 'count cousin!" Belle demanded. "I come all de way to N'York an' he ain't here!"

"Who is dis?" Henri snapped.

"Belladonna Boudreaux an' I gotta talk to dat boyfriend of mine so yo' damn well bettah tell me where to find him or I'll kill yo' de next time I see yo'," Belle threatened.

"Dat'll be de day," Henri snorted. " 'M not dumb 'nough to fall for dat innocent little girl t'ing of yours. Does your pere know where yo' are?"

" 'Course he does," Belle said rationalizing that her daddy could put two and two together better than most and if he didn't know where she'd gone he ought to. "An' he ain't gonna be happy if I don' get to talk to Remy!"

"Look, mon pere is up dere tryin' to get Remy home, so whatever yo' want wid him can jus' wait 'til den," Henri said then hung up on her.

Belle felt a cool tendril of worry working it's way through her anger. "If Jean-Luc knows where Remy is I'll jus' have to talk to him firs'," she said firmly.

She called another number. "Singer-chere, I need a petite favor. Could yo' find out who Daddy has watching Jean-Luc?"

"Dis 'bout yo' bein'..." Singer asked.

"Oui, jus' find out 'kay?"

"If I can' find dat I'll sweet talk Pierre into tellin' me," Singer promised. "Might have to 'xplain why yo' want to talk to Remy so bad dough."

Belle sighed. "Fine, whatever, jus' don' tell Rabbit. De boy's de wors' gossip I evah met."

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

"Nice office," Jean-Luc commented, hands buried in his pockets, leaning back casually against the wall.

"Glad you approve," Fury replied. "You want to tell me anything about the X-Men?"

"Yo' want to tell me anyt'ing 'bout m' nephew?" Jean-Luc asked. "Come on homme we bot' know dis ain't how dis works. Yo' want to blackmail me into betrayin' Remy's friends yo' goin' to have to prove yo' got de goods. 'Sides I want to talk to Remy."

Fury tossed a collapsed bo staff to Jean-Luc. "There's your proof," he said.

"What are yo' a kidnapper?" Jean-Luc asked angrily, slipping the staff into his jacket. "I want to talk to Remy."

"And I want to know what you found out about the X-Men," Fury replied.

Jean-Luc shrugged. "Dey were backed by de Hellfire Club. Dat be a bunch of rich cultist, dey worship somet'ing called de Phoenix an' dey're all dead as of 'bout a week 'go. 'M info's a bit over de 'xpiration date."

Fury glared.

"It's not m' fault. Yo' should of asked las' month," Jean-Luc said. "Now let me see Remy or 'M leavin'."

"You sure I'm going to let you leave without getting some satisfactory answers?" Fury asked. "You're services aren't indispensable to us and you are a criminal."

"Yo' t'ink you're spies can replace me?" Jean-Luc replied. "Yo' know what a spy is? A t'ief wid a limited skill set."

"I would have said a thief is little more than a spy without a sense of allegiance," Fury said.

Jean-Luc chuckled. "Dat be a good one homme, spies havin' loyalties." Then in an instant the good-humored expression vanished from his face. "I been givin'..."

"Selling."

"... Sellin' yo' 'formation since I was sixteen. I don' sell anyt'ing 'bout yo' cause dis is m' home an' I want to protect it. If dis country gets too unwelcomin', if I can't protect m' family here, I'll move on. Den I got no reason to be loyal yo' see."

"You wouldn't get the chance," Fury said.

"What's to say it's not a'ready done?" Jean-Luc asked. " 'M a careful, untrustin' type. Yo' know dat or I wouldn' be here. 'M also more den a little vengeful."

"Point taken," Fury said, gesturing toward the door.

Jean-Luc nodded and turned to leave. After he was gone Fury walked out and leaned on the secretary's desk just outside of his office door. "So what was he thinking?" he asked.

The woman looked up at him, baffled. "Sir, if I hadn't seen him walk out of your office with my own two eyes I would have sworn you'd spent the last fifteen minutes talking to yourself," she said.

"That sneaky son of a bitch," Fury said, impressed. "What the hell was I thinking when I let that kid go?" He tapped the intercom button. "Tell Thor I've changed my mind; I'm sending him as many people as we can spare to help him find Remy Lebeau."

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

"M. Lebeau!" a cheerful, exuberant, totally unexpected voice greeted Jean-Luc as he got off the elevator at the hotel.

Jean-Luc glanced over the girl who was camped out in front of the door to his room with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. Belladonna had combed out the braids she normally wore and pulled her golden hair back in a simple ponytail that left her eyes looking huge and innocent. Dressed in a baby-doll tee shirt and low cut jeans she looked like a typical Brittney Spears wannabe. "She might get a second look wid clothes like dat," Jean-Luc thought. "Or a disapprovin' glare from any educator an' mos' pa'ents, but no one would think she was dangerous unless dey knew her."

"Yo're 'bout de las' person I 'xpected to run into," Jean-Luc commented.

"Mais, I wanted to see Remy," Belle said. "Only dere wasn't no one at dat school of his. I got worried an' when I heard yo' were in town naturally I t'ought I should look yo' up an' find out what's become of him."

"Yo' been watchin' de news lately chere?" Jean-Luc asked.

"What's de news evah got to do wid me?" Belle replied impatience and agitation creeping into her voice despite her training and awareness that Jean-Luc was being followed. "I got m' own problems dat be more 'portant dan any stupid terrorist scare. I need to see Remy!"

"Act your age femme," Jean-Luc reprimanded. "Yo' be an embarrassment to your pere actin' like dis. Now come on an' let's walk, I been trapped in planes an' meetin's all day, need to stretch m' legs."

"Oui M." Belle replied chastised.

"Lemme get m' shoes changed," Jean-Luc said, giving a reason he'd come up to the room in the first place for anyone listening.

A few minutes later they exited the hotel and quickly blended into the sea of humanity that flooded the streets of Manhattan.

"You know how to block psi's?" Jean-Luc asked quietly in French.

"Don't need to," Belle replied in the same language. "Most of the Assassin's Guild has natural blocks."

"The Thieves are the same," Jean-Luc replied. "Alright, that terrorist you dismissed so blithely wants mutants ruling the world in six months. The government is too stupid to tell one mutant from another so they went after Remy and his friends. Of course it doesn't help things that Remy's professor hid Magneto from the government because he's more than arrogant enough to think he knew better how to deal with him. They say they caught Remy; they're trying to use that to blackmail me. You just nominated yourself as my go between. Henri will contact you with the details. Now let's have a pleasant little chat and you'll come by again tomorrow."

Home

Next

Please Send Feedback