"What the hell are ya'll doin' here?" asked Rogue, still crouched defensively.
"Just admirin' the view," he replied with a smirk. She got the impression he hadn't meant the sunset, and she suddenly wished she'd gotten such revealing clothes.
After her confrontation with Kitty she was determined to finally enjoy her new freedom, and in the late spring heat she'd elected to grab her black halter, but left her usual green see-through blouse behind, and the just grabbed a pair of shorts and sandals to go with it. Normally she would've been pleased to have others eye her as something other than deadly, but not this card-freak.
Rogue got up, starting to head into the house.
"What? Something I say?" he said with a smirk. She didn't reply, just kept walking, so he played his trump card. "Sorry about that card."
"What card?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and glancing back at him.
"Card I gave you back at the Sentinel base... didn't mean to give you quite so much of a scare," he said.
"You coulda blown my damn hand off!" she retorted angrily. She failed to mention that it had been mostly due to her own carelessness and... well... distraction... that she'd nearly gotten her hand blown off in the first place.
"Oh come now, if there's one thing I know its how to appreciate beauty. The card barely had enough energy to create a flash and a noise... it wouldn't have hurt you too much," he replied, sitting down on the bench she'd previously been on and patting the seat next to him. Rogue scowled, making her way over to him, but remained standing.
"Why not?" she asked.
"'told you... I know how to appreciate beauty..." he added, reaching out a hand to take hers. Since hers were bare, she instinctively drew them back, but he was quicker, grasping her wrist and drawing it in close to plant a soft kiss on the back of her palm in a most gentlemanly manner. She blushed in spite of herself.
"You're not exactly like I pictured you," she said honestly.
"What? You spend your time picturing me?" he asked with a smirk. Rogue grumbled, yanking her hand out of his.
"Shut up! That's not what I meant and you know it!"
"Then elaborate," he replied, leaning back on the bench with a self-satisfied smirk Rogue would just have loved to slap off his face. Still, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I mean you're not like Magneto... or his other henchmen. You're almost a good guy, even if you do have an ego the size of the Mississippi," she said, crossing her arms, watching him deflate a bit. Score one for the Rogue, she thought.
"Naw, Magneto ain't that bad... 'sides, I ain't in it for the whole Mutant Superiority thing he has goin," he started.
"Then why do you work for him? You do work for him, don't you?"
"Just a bit of fun," he replied with a smirk, reaching into his coat and bringing out a deck of cards, which he started to shuffle. "Nothin' I likes more than a challenge," he added, flipping a card up and showing it to Rogue. It was the Queen of Hearts.
"Cute," she replied deadpan. "Now you gonna pull it outta yer hat?"
"Naw... too easy..." he replied, flipping his hands and the card disappeared before Rogue's astonished eyes. He smiled, holding out his hand. "Remy LeBeau, at your service chere..."
"Stop callin' me that," she replied, though she none-the-less took his hand and shook. "My name's Rogue."
"Really?" he asked, though he knew it was the case.
"Yeah. I had it legally changed."
"Really?"
"Of course not," she added with something of a laugh, removing her hand. "But you ain't gonna find out my old name, so you're just gonna have to call me Rogue."
"Sounds fine to me, chere," he said. "But I think I can find somethin' else out about ya..." he added as he sprang to his feet and moved in close, until the two of them were only a foot or so apart. He towered over Rogue, and her first instinct was immediately to back away, but she glared up at him instead, not wanting to show how afraid she was. Afraid, of him? Of course not.
"Like what?" she asked.
"You like to hide cards," he replied with a smirk. With a surprisingly deft and delicate move, he plucked his missing card from behind her ear as she gasped in shock, surprised he would get so close to her... she was literally stunned for a second that he had the audacity. Yet another part of her, the part that was enjoying her newfound freedom from her curse, was wondering what else he could do with such deft hands...
"Your card, no?" he asked, flipping it around and comparing the portrait to her.
This snapped her back to her senses, and the part of her that was enraged took over, and she angrily punched him in the arm.
"Stay the hell away from me, you bastard," she shouted back at him over her shoulder as she stormed into the house, determined to grab something more decent before dinner rolled around.
Remy smirked, gathered his cards and placed them back in his trenchcoat as he watched the retreating Rogue.
"Didn't say please, Chere."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Evan was wondering down the hallways, searching for Stall, when he ran into her.
"Evan!"
"Auntie O!"
They cried as they embrace, holding each other tight after so long apart. Breathlessly Ororo asked how her favorite (well, admittedly, only) nephew had been as they both dried their tears away.
"Things are fine, Auntie O... really they are," he said. "But I have to be going back now..."
"Why Evan? You're fine now... look at you. No more spikes. And your mother and I have been ever so worried about you."
"I told you not worry about me," he replied, as the two of them walked down the hallway together. "Listen, Auntie O... I found a place I belong. A place I can fit in. The Morlocks are really good people..."
"But you belong here, with your family," she interrupted.
"I never really fit in here," he replied, growing somber. "Auntie O you saw how I struggled. I wasn't cut out to be an X-Man. I'm still not..."
"That's not true," she started, before she got the look in his eyes. He wasn't just being some immature, selfish brat. He knew what he was talking about.
"Auntie O, I promised Callisto me and Stall would return as soon as we were done here... I've already delayed it far longer than I should have when I went to help the Brotherhood... but I really should go."
"Can't you please just stay the night?" she asked, desperate. She couldn't let him go, flit away his life in the sewers with the other Morlocks. He would end up just like them. Little did Ororo know, Evan was now just like them.
"Alright," he finally gave in with a sigh. "As long as you can get a sleeping bag for Stall..."
"Alright Evan," she said with another good, motherly hug, as she headed off to fix dinner and get Evan's friend some sleeping accommodations. She didn't notice the tears that formed in Evan's eyes as he turned around and headed towards his old room. It hadn't changed, everything was where he'd left it. A thin layer of dust told him that no one had been in since he'd left, so long ago. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? Time had little meaning in the Morlock tunnels, but he had missed his family. Still, it was as he'd told Ororo. His place was not here. It was there, with them. With her.
She needed him.
Evan sighed and shrugged off his green t-shirt, tossing it aside and grabbing some of his old clothes in the hopes of finding something without holes he could wear for dinner. He might as well make Ororo happy in what little time they had together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Storm's surprise, instead of finding Kitty in the kitchen, half-buried in ingredients that were poisonous to mutants and regular humans alike, she found Fred.
Ororo watched curiously from the doorway the young man cook, tossing the pan up and down with vigor and enthusiasm that any other student on dinner detail (a rotational system) save Kitty would've lacked. The giant of a man seemed to have his own kind of love for cooking as he did for food itself, slicing up some vegetables and tossing them in with the rice, setting aside some shrimp to cook separately as Ororo watched with a professional nod. She was very impressed.
"I see I'm not needed here," she said, watching with just faint amusement as she totally startled the giant of a boy, who whirled around to see who was there.
"Oh... I'm sorry, were you supposed to cook tonight?" he asked, looking slightly frightened. She smiled reassuringly, and he relaxed. He seemed a much different person than what she'd heard. Though most of that had been from Jean, after she'd been kidnapped. Could this strong, innocent boy do such a thing? Possible, she supposed, but she refused to believe it was out of evil.
"Actually no, it was Kitty's turn to cook," she replied, coming over to admire his work so far. It sure did smell good.
"Oh that explains why Lance was so quick to suggest I cook instead..." replied Fred, going back to his work with a practiced hand.
"I take it your friend had a run in with Kitty's rather, er... special... muffins?"
"Yup... even passed some on to me," he added with a fake shudder. Ororo laughed lightly.
"So what -is- for dinner?" she asked with a smile.
"Mongolian stir-fry," he replied, squirting some teriyaki sauce all over the rice concoction and little it simmer a little, filling the air with sweet smelling steam and the hiss of cooking. "My favorite, picked up the recipe from this all you can eat place... since they tried to ban me," he added.
"Oh... how unfortunate," Ororo said.
"Nah, its okay," replied Fred, adding some spices for flavor. "I agreed to stop coming if they gave me the recipe... its really simple if you have a pan and the ingredients... lucky you guys do."
"Indeed," she replied. "Well thank you, it was most kind of you to cook for us," she said as she left to go take care of other tasks.
Fred smiled to himself, genuinely glad for the praise that he rarely received. Humming a little tune to himself, he continued preparing a feast fit for mutants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner that night was, to say the least, interesting.
Eric Magnus Lensherr, Magneto, sat at one end of the table. To his immediate right was Pietro, and on down that line was the remainder of the Brotherhood and those Acolytes present. Professor Charles Xavier sat at the opposite end to his old friend, Scott to his right, and down along him were those X-Men who'd decided to join him. Most of the new recruits had simply grabbed their food and some plates and headed elsewhere to dine. Of Sabertooth and Logan there was no sign. Professor X was mildly relieved to see their guest, Amanda, had joined them.
Things were, admittedly, tense between the two sides, but Xavier had enough trust in his students to restrain themselves from immature insults or, worse, flinging food.
No one touched their meal, they all seemed to be waiting for some sort of signal.
Finally Eric raises his glass of wine (the students had only water in theirs) and offered up a toast.
"To New Alliances," he said simply, sipping his wine with finesse. The students and Charles did the same. Then the meal began.
"Professor Xavier," came a voice, and Charles raised his head. It seem the young Russian Acolyte, Peter by name, was the one who'd spoken. "I have heard you have a practice room on these grounds for training, is that true?"
"It is," he replied, grateful someone had started a conversation. "The Danger Room is located down below. I am sure one of the students can show you after the meal."
"I'll go Professor," said Kitty with a smile. She was starting to like the tall, statuesque fellow. It annoyed her to no end how quiet he was though. Still, she had a thing for the strong, silent types.
"Thank you Kitty," replied Charles, continuing with his meal. Comfortable silence reigned for a few short moments as the others continued to enjoy their meal.
"This is delicious," said Kurt between mouthfuls, then grimacing and quickly swallowing, doing his best to appear civil. Amanda, to his side, giggled. "Better than the stuff Oma's cooking back home, Ororo."
Ororo laughed then, musically, and shook her head.
"Much as I'd love to take credit for this it wasn't my doing..." she said.
"Oh... uh... Kitty?" asked Kurt. All the mutants there felt their stomachs clench fearfully.
"Nope, wasn't me either," she replied, and all those around breathed a sigh of relief. "Somebody already beat me to it."
"It was Fred actually," said Ororo, pointing to the large teen, who blushed and waved off their compliments, though in truth he was proud of what he'd done. It was so much more satisfying than throwing cars around.
"Awww it was nothing," he replied.
"'There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself'," quoted Hank, sipping his own wine. Eric nodded approvingly.
"Shakespeare?"
"Indeed."
Charles relaxed a little, seeing the two teams starting to chat casually like ordinary teenagers and adults, carrying on casual, even polite conversations. It was a balm to his troubled soul.
Suddenly it looked like the young man... Remy, he believed his name was, shot up in his seat from a slouched position, wincing painfully. Across from him, Rogue frowned and stood up, removing her napkin and tossing it onto her plate.
"Ah've lost mah appetite," she said, turning on her heel and marching off. Remy smirked, but Kurt growled, low and menacing.
"Vhat the hell did you do to meine schwester?"
"None of your business," replied Remy, rubbing his ankle where Rogue had kicked him. She certainly had spunk.
Kurt wisely chose to discontinue the conversation, especially since his attention was divided primarily between his meal and his girlfriend playing footsie with him. His transformation had left him without shoes or socks (none had fit his original feet) and Amanda had simply slid off her sandals.
Finally, dinner came to an end, good-nights were bid. Though it was early, some of them were exhausted from their long day of work.
Kitty smiled and took Piotr's arm, leading him down to the Danger Room while Lance watched in fury, anger, and a little sadness.
Still, he wished the poor dumb fellow luck if Kitty had her eye on him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Piotr walked alongside the young valley girl as she gave him the ten cents tour on her way down to the Danger Room, pointing out this and that as she all but bounced along ahead of the big fellow.
Finally the two of them reached the Danger Room and the door slid open under Kitty's touch (all X-Men handprints were on record) to reveal the big, empty, open room.
"I was under the impression this was a training facility," stated Piotr, obviously not very impressed.
"That depends on what kind of training you want... you wait here, I'll head up the control room," she said, closing the doors and leaving him alone for a few moments.
Then her voice came on over the loudspeakers and his keen eyes spotted the little missy up in a central booth high above the center of the room.
"Well what did you have in mind, uh..." she asked, trailing off... clearly unsure of what his name was.
"Piotr," he replied. "Just something basic should do for now."
"Level 1 it is," she said with a smirk, tapping the appropriate buttons and switching the main console from lethal to non-lethal. Logan must've been in here last, she figured. "Enjoy," she replied with a final tap of the button.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hank and Charles bid Ororo good-night as they headed to their respective rooms, as Eric left for the elevator. Due to lack of space, most of the Acolytes and the Brotherhood had been forced to take rooms in the underground complex, where the X-Men had been housed during the mansion's reconstruction. Fortunately, it seemed they just barely had enough room for everyone without forcing them to bunk up.
The lights started to go out as the inhabitants of the Xavier Institute started to fall asleep for the night.
Stall would, at her own insistence, be sleeping with Evan. Though Ororo had not seen much of the little Morlock girl, her meeting with her had indicated she looked up to Evan as her protector, and he took the role very seriously. More seriously than anything he'd ever done in his life. Evan was growing up too fast, becoming too hardened to the world. The Morlock ways were bad for him, but there was nothing she could do to stop him if he was so determined.
Ororo sighed as she sat down at her piano, idly running a few fingers along the ivory keys. Even thought it was dark, the moon shone through the window, giving her more than enough light to see by.
Ororo didn't realized she'd started playing until midway through the song, an old melody she'd learned in Africa. She didn't know the words, it was just some nameless tune about hope and determination, how love conquered all or some such. But it never failed to put her mind at peace, or entertain those who came to listen when she played.
"Nice song," came a low, guttural voice from the doorway. Ororo paused, glancing over, but could not make out the figure in the dim light. Whoever it was, however, was very big. At least six feet tall, and very broad shouldered. The rest was obscured in shadows.
"Hello?" she asked nervously.
The figure stepped into the light...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That went rather well."
"Indeed."
"We are ready to proceed then?"
"Tomorrow. We'll begin as soon as the remaining machines are operational."
"Excellent."
"Take that repulsive thing back to its prison."
"Yes sir."
Authors Notes:
Evo Remy seems to be free of the 'speak in third person' curse that afflicted Comic and the old animated series Gambit (something that really ticked me off). The much awaited reunion between Storm and Spyke, and a few hints of Evan/Callisto tossed in (because they seem close to each others age to me in Evo). And a little time in fanfiction for Fred. I'm a big fan of under appreciated characters, and he's one of the biggest (pun intended). If you don't believe me check out Neva's 'The Inside Story.' I somehow doubt any sort of meal between the groups would've been anywhere near as peaceful, but it worked out well enough. Especially the interaction between certain team members on opposite sides. As for poor Ororo, well, you'll just have to see who the mysterious fellow is, but feel free to take a guess anyway. As always, more to come.
Victim: Glad you like it. As always, more to come.
Elisabeth Braddock-Grey: Oh alright, since you're so insistent... and such a good kisser... I'll bring in Psylocke. But unless she shows up in an Evo episode, it'll just be a brief appearance, 'kay?
Todd Fan: Just now you get an ominous feeling? Oh you just wait... it's gonna get worse. By the way, you and Elisabeth Braddock-Grey gotta learn to share me, 'kay? ^_^
Son of Logan and Ororo: I figured as much, but thanks for reminding me to make note of it. I was going to have Logan slowly dying (because he's no longer ageless) but this'll make things even more interesting. Thanks for the input, much appreciated. If you liked that, you've love the next chapter. I guarantee. Both your parents are in it. ^_^
Spontly: Unfortunately, there will be little Kitty x Piotr in this, since I am sticking the original XME timeline as much as possible. Thus, while they may share a look or chat, nothing past that. Still, I do have a cute scene or two coming up. Keep reading.
Gyuumajo: Kurt and co. are around. Like the writers for Evo, I have to juggle around a ton of characters. I got the Kurt and Amanda out of my system in the beginning, but don't worry they'll be back for more cute scenes in the next chapter.
*B: Actually the thing that sold it for me was Tabitha calling Amara 'my girl' all the time. Now if she'd been a guy, does that not sound like couple behavior? I dunno about the Sabertooth lifting Spyke thing, I never paid much attention to it. But meh.