Somewhere I Belong

Chapter 14

Almost twenty minutes later found the Cajun still seated at the table, shuffling his cards silently, trying to figure out why in the hell he had finally decided to come to Xavier's instead of going straight to Magneto, as he now, obviously, should have. Not that he really cared about the girl, since he didn't really see why Magneto was going through all this fuss to turn her away from the X-Men, but something had been nudging at his mind as he made his escape from Alton's building. He could lie to himself and say it was the fact he was closer to Xavier's school then anyplace that Magneto was to be, but really, Gambit knew it was because he wanted to impress the Master of Magnetism, prove he was better then those daft gits in the Brotherhood.

Though, sitting in a room in Xavier's school, busted by a fuzzy boy, a skunk-head girl and the Wolverine, wasn't going to be impressing to Magneto, no matter how this was to end.

The door began to creak open at this time, causing Remy to lift his gaze from his cards to the far wall. When it was finally open, Professor Xavier's wheelchair rolled in quietly, stopping near the end of the table. Logan and Scott both followed Xavier in, Scott taking the other empty seat while Logan began pacing behind the Cajun.

Xavier stared at the boy across from him and laced his fingers together atop the table, leaning slightly towards Gambit. "Logan says you do not know where Shay is," Xavier tried speaking quietly, hoping the Cajun would ante up any information he had easily.

"Dat's right."

"Then why are you here tonight?" Scott demanded from beside Xavier. His trust was pretty thin with anyone who was associated with Magneto.

Remy stared back at Scott, not answering.

"Look, kid," Logan's hand feel heavily onto Gambit's shoulder. "Answer the Porf's questions," one long claw began to slowly unsheathe itself, passing right by Gambit's throat, "or answer to me."

"Logan," Xavier shook his head at the other man. Logan removed his hand, SNAKT, the claw disappearing.

"Something's happened to Shay, Charles, and this kid knows," Logan pointed to the back of Remy's head.

Xavier looked back to Remy, staring him straight in the eye. "Gambit, I don't have to tell you that whether or not you tell us, I can find out for myself how much you know. You can either aide us willingly, or I'll search your mind for what we need."

Remy's eyes dropped down to the look at the table top, then back up to Xavier. He was not going to let the old man into his mind.

"Gambit's not sure where Shay's been taken, dat's de trut'. I came tonight t'-," he stopped and thought for a second. "T' check up on somet'in'."

"Check up on what?" Scott asked.

Gambit just shook his head. "All y'need t'know is I don' know where she is."

"We'll just use Cerebro then," Scott looked towards the Professor.

Remy shook his head. "Won' work. Dey'll use a helmet like Magneto's." Gambit paused for a second, then looked at Xavier. "I'm sorry," he said softer then normal, his eyes actually showing a small sign of sympathy.

Scott opened his mouth to ask how Gambit knew all this, but Xavier stopped him. "Thank you, Gambit," the Professor spoke softly. Suddenly, his chair moved back slowly from the table.

Scott followed Xavier out of the room, Logan following suit after giving Gambit a harsh stare.

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"So what now? We can't just sit here, Professor," Kurt said hurriedly. He stood to the far side of the War Room, arms crossed, looking quite fidgety. After Gambit's interrogation, Charles had used Cerebro, but to no avail. The Cajun had been telling the truth, Charles couldn't pick up a trace from Shay.

"I know, Kurt. You all want to help find Shay, but there is nothing for you to do tonight," Charles said from the head of the table. Surrounding him were the prime members of the X-Men, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Rogue, Evan, Ororo, Hank and Logan, who was standing near Kurt, apart from the others. His arms were crossed like Kurt, though he hadn't said a word since leaving the interrogation room.

"What are we gonna though? Ah mean, if Cerebro can't find her, how are we goin' to?" Rogue was off to Xavier's side, leaned back slightly in her chair.

"Well, if Gambit is telling the truth, then there's, like, no way to find her, so we got no starting point," Kitty's voice was softer then normal, her worry for Shay pretty obvious.

"Thank the Cajun for that one," Logan finally spoke up from Kurt's side.

The room was quiet for a few moments, most minds working over how to find Shay while one thought about hunting down Magneto to finally kill the bastard. Suddenly, a voice spoke up from beside Ororo. "I think I know someone who can find her."

Everyone turned to look at Evan, the youngest person in the room. He sat, elbows leaning on the table, head down as he looked at the table top. "I don't know how willing he'll be to help…" he trailed off.

"What is it Evan?" Scott voiced the thought on everyone's mind.

Evan looked up. "Caliban might be able to find her. He's a Morlock. He's tight with Callisto, so he's probably still in the Alley."

"How can he help?" Kitty piped up.

"Caliban can pick up a mutant's signature, much like Cerebro," Xavier explained to his students. "Though, where Caliban's range of detection is only 20 to 25 miles, Cerebro can search the whole world." Xavier paused for a moment, in thought. "Yes, Evan," he directed to the young mutant. "Caliban would be able to find her, though I'm not sure how willing he'll be to help."

"Oh, he'll be willing. He'll be delighted, actually," Logan said as he straighten, "when I'm done with him."

"Logan," Xavier began, but the other man had already begun moving out of the room. "Logan!"

Evan climbed out of his seat and took off after Logan, Kurt and Kitty following suit.

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Shay's eyes opened slowly, fuzzy shapes forming before her, or rather above her. She lay on a table, arms, legs and chest strapped down. She could feel her wings pressed underneath her, numb from the loss of blood circulation. She tried to move, but the binds were too tight. She lifted her head slightly, to look at her restraints, but the sudden movement caused pain to shoot through her head. She groaned softly and set her head gently back on the table.

What in the hell happened? She remembered being in the air, heading back to the mansion, actually. The night was exceedingly beautiful, a sky full of stars and a soft breeze, a perfect evening for a night flight.

But then something loud had rocketed through the night, pain in her side, but what was it? The sudden feeling of falling flashed in her mind. Losing control, she'd plummeted towards the ground, too scared to scream.

So, now where was she? Nothing else was coming to her, and she was still strapped to a table, body sore from only God-knows-what.

Suddenly above her, bright lights flashed on, causing Shay to squint her eyes, turning her head slightly to the side. "Hey," she tried to say loudly, but it barely came out more then a whisper. She swallowed a few times, trying not to gag. Her mouth was sour, her throat raw.

Shay heard a voice from beside her, and she opened her eyes again. A man stood beside her, dressed just like a doctor would before an operation. Had she been hurt from the fall? The pain in her side? Why would she be strapped to the table if so?

"Hey," she said a little more loudly this time. "What's going on?"

The man looked down at her, most of his face covered by the surgical mask. His eyes connected with Shay's for a brief moment, but then they were gone, looking across Shay's form to the man on her other side. "Ready to begin?" his voice moved across Shay as though she wasn't even there.

"Yes," came a reply from someone Shay couldn't see. Her head was beginning to spin, her mind clicking in and out on the whole situation. Was she passing out?

"Wait," she tried once again, but no one listened to her. Suddenly, from her abdomen, a blinding pain rocketed throughout her body. Pouring over her like red hot lava, the pain washed away any other though or feeling in her mind. A scream ripped from her throat, echoing throughout the room.

"She's not healing herself," one voice said above her. Shay had quieted for a moment, catching her breath, but the pain still stayed on.

"I believe this mutant doesn't heal itself, just others," the other voice replied. Now, a new pain erupted in Shay's chest. It felt like someone was pealing off her skin, but that couldn't be. Why would someone do that?

An odd noise poured from Shay's throat, the same noise a wounded animal would make. Her mind was numb, trying to shelter itself from all the hurt, all the pain, but it wasn't working.

"How big of a sample will we need for the skin analysis?"

"I'd say about three ounces, maybe a little more to be on the safe side."

"Can you believe this skin. This silver, it's extraordinary."

"Still red blood though."

"What did you expect? Blue? Black?"

"Maybe pink, to match her hair."

The voice over Shay began to fade away, along with the ceiling and lights. She was blacking out. For once in her life, she was happy to fall into the darkness.

****Notes****

Oh, by the way, did I ever tell you guys that the secret to getting the chapters faster is by reviewing? ::winks:: Another thanks has to go to Amy Michelle [dark_english_rose] for putting up with me long enough to translate a little Remy Speak to a Cajun accent.