"Ah, Remy. Le long temps aucun voient."
"Jean Marc, good t' see you again, mon ami," Remy greeted back. He gave his old friend a hug and then stepped back. "Jean-Marc, 'dis is Rogue."
"Remy, you did not tell me, 'dat 'dis Rogue was so lovely. " He turned fully to Rogue. "Greetings Rogue, and welcome to New Orleans."
Rogue blushed slightly. "Thank you." She noted as Remy and Jean-Marc talked that Remy's voice and accent had taken on a Cajun twist now that he was with the Thieves Guild. He sounded quite a bit different.
Ororo finally emerged from the helicopter, running her hands hastily through her hair. Instead of using the foldout steps, she simply jumped to the ground, something that would have injured any normal person who couldn't just summon a few gentle wind currents to help them float to the ground. She landed and walked over to Remy, Rogue and Jean-Marc. "You owe me big Remy," she said. "It isn't every day that I risk my neck to go halfway across the country and try to bail you and whatever ladyfriends you happen to have made out of Brotherhood territory."
"An' don' worry Stormy, I don' take it for granted. I owe you one."
Ororo grinned. She then turned to Rogue, her manner indicating that she was sizing her up. "So what's your story?" she asked. "And what the heck kinda name is Rogue?"
Rogue looked down at Ororo, who was only an inch or two shorter than her. She didn't particularly like Ororo's turn, and considered none-too-nicely informing Ororo of that, but refrained. She'd just gotten here, and no matter how long she stayed, it wouldn't be smart to make enemies early. "I don't have a story. I'm just a homeless girl from New York who got caught up with Raven Darkholmme and the Brotherhood. As for my name, its just what everyone used to call me. Simple as that."
Ororo raised an eyebrow, and then headed inside the large complex that was the Thieves Guild's HQ.
Jean-Marc cleared his throat so as to get Rogue's attention. "While you arrival is a bit unexpected, we'll do 'de best we can t' accommodate you here in town, Remy can take care o' exactly where you gon' be stayin. What I want t' know is how much you 'member about 'de Brotherhood. Any information you got would be extremely valuable."
"I imagine."
A beeping sound suddenly began to emanate from somewhere on Jean-Marc's person. He frowned. And took his cell phone out of his pocket, flipping it open and putting it to his ear. Whatever the person on the other end was saying, it wasn't good, judging by how his demeanor changed.
Remy, noticing this, asked, "What's de matter, homme?"
With a click, Jean-Marc flipped the cellular phone shut and put it back in the pocket of his black trenchcoat. "Trouble. A helicopter wit' de Assassins Guild insignia just landed in a nearby field."
"Did we catch who was in it?" Remy asked, his mind racing. What would the Assasins Guild be doing so deep in Thieves Guild territory, if they didn't have a death wish."
"Several Thieves Guild operatives went to check it out. It exploded the instant they touched it, taking twelve of 'em out. No one was inside, although our guy who forced it to land in the first place swear there were two people in the cockpit prior to the landing. Don' make no damne' sense."
Rogue looked back and forth between the two men, the worried looks on their faces making her feel less and less at ease. "Well, what does it mean?" she asked.
Remy shrugged. "Could mean a lot o' 'dings, none of 'em good." He sighed. "I was goin' t' introduce you t' de newest members of de T'ieves Guild, but I'll have t' wait on 'dat. I need to go check on this." He turned his head to look at Jean-Marc. "Is my MV Karma fixed yet?" He was referring to the sleek new car that he'd had custom made. It had more special functions than a Swiss Army Knife, and was just as versatile.
"Yep, she'd good as new. Just had the car moved into Garage C."
"Good."
***
Logan had never thought he'd see the day when he needed, and especially ASKED for help from Andrea Spencer twice in the same week.
Apparently, such a scenario had never occurred to Andrea either, because she seemed just as surprised by the fact that Logan had even come to her for help.
"You want me to what?"
Logan half considered just trying to find the only lead he had on this unsanctioned case of his by himself, but that would be nearly impossible. Andrea, like every other member of Weapon X, was a mutant. Her particular power was exactly what Logan needed in this situation. Coupled with the ability to fly on waves of extradimensional energy, she had 'homing' powers that allowed her to telepathically track anyone's whereabouts. Logan needed to find those kids from the alley, it was impossible to go anywhere else in the case otherwise. And like it or not, Andrea was his best bet in doing that. "I want you to see if you can track down these two kids, I think they know something about the Eye of Death."
"Is that what this is about? You know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that."
Logan was grateful that he had at least some leverage here. "But you won't, not unless you want everyone to know about you and uh, what was his name, Jason."
Andrea, to her credit, didn't even flinch when Logan brought up that little tidbit of information that he should not have known. "That's over now," she said, "its been over."
Logan shrugged. "Something tells me that it still wouldn't go over too well."
He was right. Fraternization was not something encouraged in the least by Weapon X. Andrea's jaw clenched. She leaned back against the wall of her office. "How do you even know about me and Jason?"
Logan tapped his nose with his index finger. With a nose like mine, I can sniff what you ate fer dinner last week. Jason's scent was all over ya, had to pretty much plug my nose not to smell that blasted cologne o' his when you walked in the room.
Andrea went bright red from chin to hairline when Logan told her that. If he could d that, then what kind of secrets could she even hope to have? "So what, you're going to blackmail me into helping you?"
Logan cleared his throat. "And I quote 'you know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that'." It was an almost disturbingly accurate imitation of Andrea's slight Afrikaans accent. "You tattle on me, I tattle on you, simple as that, it's a concept I'm sure you learned back at preschool. I ain't gonna blackmail you into doin' anything, but think about it. This isn't just me and you, it's a whole city that's come down with rad poisoning, and you're my best bet for findin' the only two leads I've got right now."
Andrea's angry demeanor did not soften one iota. "I still can't help you, not unless I've actually seen the people I'm tracking."
"You've got telepathic powers, right?"
The door burst open right then, and one of the newer agents, a green-haired teenager, stuck her head through. "Ms. Andrea," she said, "The Director want to know if you've finished scanning the files he gave you." Lorna looked more than a little surprised to see Logan in Andrea's office.
Andrea reached into an open desk drawer and pulled out a small disk. "Yeah, I finished it this morning. Think you could give this to him for me?"
Lorna nodded, took the disk, and scurried off.
Andrea turned back to Logan. "You were saying something?"
"Yeah. Can't you just telepathically scan their images from my head or something to get a fix on their positions?" Logan had no idea of the intricacies or limits of telepathy, but it was worth a shot.
Andrea chuckled. "You want to let me inside your head?" Logan was one of the only members of Weapon X who had mental defenses formidable enough to keep out unwanted telepathic probes. You only peeked around in his mind if he let you.
"As much as it pains me, yeah."
Andrea shrugged. "Okay then. Open wide."
"What?"
"I was talking about your mind."
"Oh." Logan took a deep breath, and then complied, letting years and years worth of mental barriers and walls fade back. He knew he was gonna regret this, letting Andrea into his mind to have access to his deepest darkest secrets, but right now, he was concerned with finding that guy from the alley who'd been spooked off before Logan could have a decent chat.
"I hink I know who you're talking about," Andrea said as she silently shifted through his recent memories."
"Can you track him, or the girl?"
"I can try." Andrea called upon the part of her power that allowed her to determine an exact location for anyone anywhere on the planet. She'd thought that this guy would be somewhere in New York, and was rather surprised that there was no trace of him in the immediate area. She stretched out her mutant senses further, trying to get a fix on this person Logan wanted to find. It took her a good five minutes to come up with a definite location. "Logan," she said, "I've found him. He and the girl are in New Orleans."
"Huh. You sure about that? How would they get al the way t' Louisiana so fast?"
The door burst open a second time, cutting off any response Andrea would have made. And once again, it was Lorna. "Ms. Spencer, The Director says you forgot to do some of these files. He wants you to take care of them ASAP."
Andrea and Logan exchanged a glance. Logan shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, I know his general location, I can find him from there. You can get back to your files." Logan was actually very happy to leave, he didn't want to stick around and risk finding out what exactly Andrea had learned while pawing through his thoughts and memories.
He shut the door solidly on his way out.
***
"That was a freakin' waste of good hardware," Belladonna commented. She could still see the smoke rising up from the wrecked helicopter which had exploded thanks to a thermal bomb they'd activated right before Kurt teleported them a good three miles away. It had been difficult, especially given the fact that he had to take along a passenger, but he'd made it, although now he was quite exhausted.
"But it was necessary," Kurt said. It masked our entrance into Thieves Guild territory, it was the perfect cover, not to mention the fact that we killed at least a dozen of those Guild agents."
"Hmm, what now?" Belladonna asked.
"Now, we find proper disguises." Kurt turned a dial on his watch/image- inducer and instantly, he was turned into a different person. The fur became an illusion of smooth skin, his eyes went a bright blue, his ears became normal shaped, the fangs disappeared, and the three digits on his hands gave the appearance of a thumb and four fingers. As loathe as she was to admit it, Belladonna thought he looked rather attractive with all the inhuman features stripped away.
They were in a New Orleans hotel, a very low class one at that. It was dingy, and Belladonna had killed at least a dozen cockroaches that were scurrying around the floor. They'd combed the entire room for bugs or hidden cameras, and then shut the windows tight. Neither one wanted to fatally underestimate the Thieves Guild.
"Don't suppose you've got a spare image-inducer for me," Belladonna commented wryly. She'd set hers on the floor during the helicopter ride, and had forgot to grab it when Kurt teleported them out of the soon-to-be helicopter wreck.
"Nope, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. There are tons of ways to disguise yourself though. You can cut your hair, dye it, affect a new accent, walk a little different, wear some discreet shades, change the outfit . . . If you do it right, no one'll recognize you. 'Cept mebbe Remy, but by the time he's close enough to see either one of us clearly, he's dead anyway."
Belladonna nodded, then walked over to the window, and opened it a notch, so she could get a view of the city. It brought back a lot of memories from the past, memories of a time when she'd been innocent and carefree, a time that was long gone now.
Kurt began to unpack their bags. "well don't you want to hear the plan?"
"Sure, why not?" The beautiful assassin didn't bother to turn around.
"Well, first, we find a better hotel."
***
"Quelle Honte." Remy muttered when he saw what lay in the wreckage of the helicopter. Dead bodies were sprawled all over the place, with ten times as many operatives combing the wreckage and surrounding area. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Jean Marc, good t' see you again, mon ami," Remy greeted back. He gave his old friend a hug and then stepped back. "Jean-Marc, 'dis is Rogue."
"Remy, you did not tell me, 'dat 'dis Rogue was so lovely. " He turned fully to Rogue. "Greetings Rogue, and welcome to New Orleans."
Rogue blushed slightly. "Thank you." She noted as Remy and Jean-Marc talked that Remy's voice and accent had taken on a Cajun twist now that he was with the Thieves Guild. He sounded quite a bit different.
Ororo finally emerged from the helicopter, running her hands hastily through her hair. Instead of using the foldout steps, she simply jumped to the ground, something that would have injured any normal person who couldn't just summon a few gentle wind currents to help them float to the ground. She landed and walked over to Remy, Rogue and Jean-Marc. "You owe me big Remy," she said. "It isn't every day that I risk my neck to go halfway across the country and try to bail you and whatever ladyfriends you happen to have made out of Brotherhood territory."
"An' don' worry Stormy, I don' take it for granted. I owe you one."
Ororo grinned. She then turned to Rogue, her manner indicating that she was sizing her up. "So what's your story?" she asked. "And what the heck kinda name is Rogue?"
Rogue looked down at Ororo, who was only an inch or two shorter than her. She didn't particularly like Ororo's turn, and considered none-too-nicely informing Ororo of that, but refrained. She'd just gotten here, and no matter how long she stayed, it wouldn't be smart to make enemies early. "I don't have a story. I'm just a homeless girl from New York who got caught up with Raven Darkholmme and the Brotherhood. As for my name, its just what everyone used to call me. Simple as that."
Ororo raised an eyebrow, and then headed inside the large complex that was the Thieves Guild's HQ.
Jean-Marc cleared his throat so as to get Rogue's attention. "While you arrival is a bit unexpected, we'll do 'de best we can t' accommodate you here in town, Remy can take care o' exactly where you gon' be stayin. What I want t' know is how much you 'member about 'de Brotherhood. Any information you got would be extremely valuable."
"I imagine."
A beeping sound suddenly began to emanate from somewhere on Jean-Marc's person. He frowned. And took his cell phone out of his pocket, flipping it open and putting it to his ear. Whatever the person on the other end was saying, it wasn't good, judging by how his demeanor changed.
Remy, noticing this, asked, "What's de matter, homme?"
With a click, Jean-Marc flipped the cellular phone shut and put it back in the pocket of his black trenchcoat. "Trouble. A helicopter wit' de Assassins Guild insignia just landed in a nearby field."
"Did we catch who was in it?" Remy asked, his mind racing. What would the Assasins Guild be doing so deep in Thieves Guild territory, if they didn't have a death wish."
"Several Thieves Guild operatives went to check it out. It exploded the instant they touched it, taking twelve of 'em out. No one was inside, although our guy who forced it to land in the first place swear there were two people in the cockpit prior to the landing. Don' make no damne' sense."
Rogue looked back and forth between the two men, the worried looks on their faces making her feel less and less at ease. "Well, what does it mean?" she asked.
Remy shrugged. "Could mean a lot o' 'dings, none of 'em good." He sighed. "I was goin' t' introduce you t' de newest members of de T'ieves Guild, but I'll have t' wait on 'dat. I need to go check on this." He turned his head to look at Jean-Marc. "Is my MV Karma fixed yet?" He was referring to the sleek new car that he'd had custom made. It had more special functions than a Swiss Army Knife, and was just as versatile.
"Yep, she'd good as new. Just had the car moved into Garage C."
"Good."
***
Logan had never thought he'd see the day when he needed, and especially ASKED for help from Andrea Spencer twice in the same week.
Apparently, such a scenario had never occurred to Andrea either, because she seemed just as surprised by the fact that Logan had even come to her for help.
"You want me to what?"
Logan half considered just trying to find the only lead he had on this unsanctioned case of his by himself, but that would be nearly impossible. Andrea, like every other member of Weapon X, was a mutant. Her particular power was exactly what Logan needed in this situation. Coupled with the ability to fly on waves of extradimensional energy, she had 'homing' powers that allowed her to telepathically track anyone's whereabouts. Logan needed to find those kids from the alley, it was impossible to go anywhere else in the case otherwise. And like it or not, Andrea was his best bet in doing that. "I want you to see if you can track down these two kids, I think they know something about the Eye of Death."
"Is that what this is about? You know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that."
Logan was grateful that he had at least some leverage here. "But you won't, not unless you want everyone to know about you and uh, what was his name, Jason."
Andrea, to her credit, didn't even flinch when Logan brought up that little tidbit of information that he should not have known. "That's over now," she said, "its been over."
Logan shrugged. "Something tells me that it still wouldn't go over too well."
He was right. Fraternization was not something encouraged in the least by Weapon X. Andrea's jaw clenched. She leaned back against the wall of her office. "How do you even know about me and Jason?"
Logan tapped his nose with his index finger. With a nose like mine, I can sniff what you ate fer dinner last week. Jason's scent was all over ya, had to pretty much plug my nose not to smell that blasted cologne o' his when you walked in the room.
Andrea went bright red from chin to hairline when Logan told her that. If he could d that, then what kind of secrets could she even hope to have? "So what, you're going to blackmail me into helping you?"
Logan cleared his throat. "And I quote 'you know, I should just report you for keeping on this ridiculous case, against orders at that'." It was an almost disturbingly accurate imitation of Andrea's slight Afrikaans accent. "You tattle on me, I tattle on you, simple as that, it's a concept I'm sure you learned back at preschool. I ain't gonna blackmail you into doin' anything, but think about it. This isn't just me and you, it's a whole city that's come down with rad poisoning, and you're my best bet for findin' the only two leads I've got right now."
Andrea's angry demeanor did not soften one iota. "I still can't help you, not unless I've actually seen the people I'm tracking."
"You've got telepathic powers, right?"
The door burst open right then, and one of the newer agents, a green-haired teenager, stuck her head through. "Ms. Andrea," she said, "The Director want to know if you've finished scanning the files he gave you." Lorna looked more than a little surprised to see Logan in Andrea's office.
Andrea reached into an open desk drawer and pulled out a small disk. "Yeah, I finished it this morning. Think you could give this to him for me?"
Lorna nodded, took the disk, and scurried off.
Andrea turned back to Logan. "You were saying something?"
"Yeah. Can't you just telepathically scan their images from my head or something to get a fix on their positions?" Logan had no idea of the intricacies or limits of telepathy, but it was worth a shot.
Andrea chuckled. "You want to let me inside your head?" Logan was one of the only members of Weapon X who had mental defenses formidable enough to keep out unwanted telepathic probes. You only peeked around in his mind if he let you.
"As much as it pains me, yeah."
Andrea shrugged. "Okay then. Open wide."
"What?"
"I was talking about your mind."
"Oh." Logan took a deep breath, and then complied, letting years and years worth of mental barriers and walls fade back. He knew he was gonna regret this, letting Andrea into his mind to have access to his deepest darkest secrets, but right now, he was concerned with finding that guy from the alley who'd been spooked off before Logan could have a decent chat.
"I hink I know who you're talking about," Andrea said as she silently shifted through his recent memories."
"Can you track him, or the girl?"
"I can try." Andrea called upon the part of her power that allowed her to determine an exact location for anyone anywhere on the planet. She'd thought that this guy would be somewhere in New York, and was rather surprised that there was no trace of him in the immediate area. She stretched out her mutant senses further, trying to get a fix on this person Logan wanted to find. It took her a good five minutes to come up with a definite location. "Logan," she said, "I've found him. He and the girl are in New Orleans."
"Huh. You sure about that? How would they get al the way t' Louisiana so fast?"
The door burst open a second time, cutting off any response Andrea would have made. And once again, it was Lorna. "Ms. Spencer, The Director says you forgot to do some of these files. He wants you to take care of them ASAP."
Andrea and Logan exchanged a glance. Logan shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, I know his general location, I can find him from there. You can get back to your files." Logan was actually very happy to leave, he didn't want to stick around and risk finding out what exactly Andrea had learned while pawing through his thoughts and memories.
He shut the door solidly on his way out.
***
"That was a freakin' waste of good hardware," Belladonna commented. She could still see the smoke rising up from the wrecked helicopter which had exploded thanks to a thermal bomb they'd activated right before Kurt teleported them a good three miles away. It had been difficult, especially given the fact that he had to take along a passenger, but he'd made it, although now he was quite exhausted.
"But it was necessary," Kurt said. It masked our entrance into Thieves Guild territory, it was the perfect cover, not to mention the fact that we killed at least a dozen of those Guild agents."
"Hmm, what now?" Belladonna asked.
"Now, we find proper disguises." Kurt turned a dial on his watch/image- inducer and instantly, he was turned into a different person. The fur became an illusion of smooth skin, his eyes went a bright blue, his ears became normal shaped, the fangs disappeared, and the three digits on his hands gave the appearance of a thumb and four fingers. As loathe as she was to admit it, Belladonna thought he looked rather attractive with all the inhuman features stripped away.
They were in a New Orleans hotel, a very low class one at that. It was dingy, and Belladonna had killed at least a dozen cockroaches that were scurrying around the floor. They'd combed the entire room for bugs or hidden cameras, and then shut the windows tight. Neither one wanted to fatally underestimate the Thieves Guild.
"Don't suppose you've got a spare image-inducer for me," Belladonna commented wryly. She'd set hers on the floor during the helicopter ride, and had forgot to grab it when Kurt teleported them out of the soon-to-be helicopter wreck.
"Nope, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. There are tons of ways to disguise yourself though. You can cut your hair, dye it, affect a new accent, walk a little different, wear some discreet shades, change the outfit . . . If you do it right, no one'll recognize you. 'Cept mebbe Remy, but by the time he's close enough to see either one of us clearly, he's dead anyway."
Belladonna nodded, then walked over to the window, and opened it a notch, so she could get a view of the city. It brought back a lot of memories from the past, memories of a time when she'd been innocent and carefree, a time that was long gone now.
Kurt began to unpack their bags. "well don't you want to hear the plan?"
"Sure, why not?" The beautiful assassin didn't bother to turn around.
"Well, first, we find a better hotel."
***
"Quelle Honte." Remy muttered when he saw what lay in the wreckage of the helicopter. Dead bodies were sprawled all over the place, with ten times as many operatives combing the wreckage and surrounding area. "This doesn't make any sense."
