Dismal Angel 2010 – Episode 1
Chapter 2: Captured
"I don't believe it," Kitty Pryde whispered near Jean Grey's ear, it was an hour later, and the X-Men – and Remy LeBeau who was known as Gambit - were all in the Blackbird Jet, heading towards Bayville, flying through a clear night sky.
"What don't you believe?" Jean asked in a low tone, she was sitting next to Kitty, rather primly, hands in her lap. Her telekinetic powers holding Remy LeBeau motionless to a seat.
"That we've found him after seven years," Kitty whispered, "and he acts like not a day has passed," Kitty folded her arms, "What are we going to do with him? Send him straight to prison?" she asked in a low tone.
Remy LeBeau seemed to be able to overhear, and although not a limb on his body could move thanks to Jean Grey's telekinetic abilities, his mouth was still quite capable of expressing his opinion on the situation. "Ain't a prison on this Earth that could hold me, remember who you be talkin' about, petit," he sounded somewhat amused.
Kitty glanced over at him, and threw him a look, but she then chose to ignore him, and she leaned closer to Jean to speak more quietly, "so we're taking him to the Professor?" she asked curiously.
Jean put a finger to her own lips, "the Professor will know what to do," she said, but she gave Kitty a signal to hush, at least for now.
Kitty chewed her lip, "You know what's going to happen, don't you?" she folded her arms stubbornly, although Kitty Pryde had aged seven years since she'd last seen Remy LeBeau, she'd barely aged physically at all, she was still the same petite height and weight, her hair cut short framing her face even seemed to make her look younger – and her flawless face barely showing a trace of being a day over eighteen, let alone being almost twenty-four. Although her intelligence was at peak, her maturity levels if anything could sometimes still show her as a child at heart.
"What's going to happen?" Jean sounded rather bored with the conversation already.
Kitty glanced back towards Remy, she could see he was listening in, "read my mind," she whispered to Jean, she didn't want the man overhearing anymore of this conversation.
Jean placed a hand to her temple, and concentrated, Kitty's thoughts echoed in her mind as if they were her own.
{Rogue is going to go ballistic…she'll kill him.} Kitty thought, looking right at Jean with wide blue eyes.
Jean seemed to dwell on this for a moment, {until we know the truth about what happened that night – I doubt the Professor is going to allow Rogue that privilege,} Jean projected her thoughts into Kitty's mind, she gave a glance over to Remy who was sitting a few feet away.
{He murdered her ex-boyfriend, I doubt even the Professor could stop Rogue from getting revenge…you know how strong she is.}
After a few moments of silence, Remy glanced around to the two women sitting quietly, "telepathically talkin' about me, eh? Can't say I blame you. I bet you got a lot of questions you wanna ask."
"We'll leave the questions for Professor Xavier to ask," Jean said squarely.
Remy looked at Jean, "Jeannie, how long you know me? Over eight years now? Do you think you really need to use your powers to hold me down? Can't you trust me?"
"Last time we trusted you, we ended up with a dead boy in our home," Kitty shot at Remy, her eyes narrowed.
Remy's eyes narrowed slightly too, he and Kitty had once been such good friends, he found it hard to believe how cold she'd grown towards him over the last seven years. "I never betrayed your trust, Kitty-cat," he responded, his voice very firm, but trying to remain nonchalant, "sooner you realise that, the better, eh?" he looked away from her, feigning a look of indifference, his eyes to the ceiling of the get, he let out a little whistle. "So…everyone seems to be still with the X-Men…"
Kitty shot him a look, "what does that mean?"
"Just observing," Remy said, he sounded as if he couldn't particularly care less, Kitty found his attitude strangely more aloof than she'd ever known him to be before. The years had seemingly changed him more than anyone else she'd met. "So…you're takin' me to Xavier then?" He called loudly up to the front of the jet, where Ororo and Scott were piloting.
Ororo glanced over the back of her chair, "unfortunately, Gambit, you are not in a position to object," she pointed out.
"Didn't say I was objecting, Stormy," Remy raised an eyebrow, "simply querying what's to become of me…are you gonna lock me away for murder or what?"
"Gambit, pipe down," Scott called down.
"Alright, but before I do, mes amis," Remy used a calm voice, he looked up to the front of the plane at Scott who was now glancing over the back of the chair, "I have a question?"
"What?" Scott asked, a haughty tone to his voice.
Remy cleared his throat a little, and spoke very firmly, and straightforwardly, that the question caught everyone by surprise. "Why arrest me…when you don't even know if I'm really truly guilty?"
No one had an answer, and no one said anything else the whole journey back to Bayville.
It had been seven long years since Remy LeBeau had entered the hanger area underneath the mansions grounds, where now, the Blackbird jet was situated. Jean pulling him out of the hatch using her powers. The hanger seemed almost smaller than it had so long ago, yet everything still sparkled and gleamed as if it were all brand new, and the all too familiar clicking of heels against the concrete floor reminded him of times past.
Professor Xavier arrived, no longer in an electric wheelchair, but in a silver chair that seemed to hover of its own accord. He looked good for a man of his age, and Remy felt he should have aged more than he had in the last seven years.
"Professor," Remy felt obligated to give a curt nod in some form of respect, but his head wasn't free to move at his will, thanks to Jean's powers. "Seems the years been kind to you, eh?"
"Jean, please, let him down," Professor Xavier instructed.
Jean moved back from Remy a little, she let him drop, Remy felt his body come back into full movement, he strangely tingly after having been under hold of her powers for so long.
"Merci," Remy bowed graciously to her, smirking a little with satisfaction, but his expression became somewhat serious when he saw the look on Professor Xavier's face.
"The years have not been kind to you, Remy," Professor Xavier noted, his voice rather emotionless, his eyes searching Remy's.
Remy shrugged, "should they have been? I'm apparently still labelled a murderer in Bayville…is it any wonder your lot haven't seen me in so long?"
"You are still wanted for murder by the Bayville Police," Professor Xavier remarked sharply, "I find it rather callous that you can even talk of Jared's death in such a informal manner as you are right now."
"What are we to do with him, Professor?" Scott asked, his arms folded, he stood at his full height proudly, his face grim. "Should we not contact the police?"
"Perhaps the police would not be the best to handle this case for the time being," Professor Xavier stated calmly, his cold piercing eyes staring right at Remy as if he were trying to see into the young mans brain, "I think we have more capability of finding out the truth from Gambit than the police have at present."
"How do you plan to extract the truth from me?" Remy asked, he glanced over his shoulder, Ororo Munro stood at his back, Bobby Drake somewhere near his left, Scott to the right. He hated the fact that those who he'd once considered team-mates were now standing by him as if expecting him to run again. Truthfully, he wanted to run, but something held him to the spot, and this time it wasn't Jean Grey's telekinetic abilities.
"I think you already know the answer to that, Remy," Professor Xavier said, his voice soft, "unless you plan on confessing."
"Confessing? Why should I confess?" Remy asked, his eyebrows knitting together in a serious frown.
"You did do it didn't you?" Kitty asked, Remy suddenly remembered she was there also, she was sitting on the steps of the blackbirds hatch, elbows propped on her knees, chin in her hands, she was looking at Remy with keen fascination.
"I'm not sayin' I did, and I'm not sayin' I didn't, petit," Remy stated to her, he lowered his head a little, looking to the floor, his eyes darkening.
"Then what did happen?" Kitty asked incredulously
Remy glanced over his shoulder at her and gave a confident smirk, "That's for me to know, and you to find out."
"I don't like his attitude," Scott Summers was pacing frantically, "too over confident, how can he be so confident and cold-blooded towards the situation…he's wanted for murder, for Gods sake."
The large office belonging to Charles Xavier was quiet, the X-Men who had been involved in the capture of Remy LeBeau all sitting or pacing, in a discussion about how they should deal with this situation. They'd placed Remy in a cell in the mansion's basement area, advising him that if he did try to escape, they'd capture him and this time turn him over to the police.
"I think he's guilty," Bobby Drake remarked, he was only half interested in the conversation, as his attention was on an ice model of the sinking of the Titanic he was making out of boredom.
"Why didn't he just admit it? Why did he say that…" Kitty asked, her blue eyes narrow as she thought long and hard about Remy's exact wording.
"Perhaps there is more to the story than we know…we have never known exactly what happened that night," Ororo was sitting on a large wing backed armchair, her back straight, legs crossed, hands on her lap.
"What do you propose we do, Professor?" Jean asked, she was standing near the fireplace, watching the flames waver and listening to them crackling.
"I suggest that we treat this like the law would," Professor Xavier said, "we'll allow him to give his version of the story, and we'll do our best to check the facts."
"Using telepathy?" Jean asked, the looks on the others faces told her they'd wondered this also.
Professor Xavier remained silent for a moment, he sat behind his desk, apparently deep in thought, then finally, the answer came, "We will use whatever means necessary to find out how Jared Rickman died…"