Dismal Angel 2010 – Episode 1
Chapter 3: Confrontational
The man known only by the name Logan stepped down the metal-walled hallway, the heels of his boots making a soft thud on the metal tiles under his feet, he followed the corridor right down to the bottom and took a turn, ending up in an even narrower passage-way, with two doors on each side, he approached the nearest door.
He reached up, pulling a small square hatch open on the door, he stood slightly on his toes to peer in, the room was in semi-darkness. The man known as Remy LeBeau sitting on the solitary bunk, his back pressed against the wall, one knee pulled put to his chest, arm propped up upon it, fingers dangling as he flipped a lone playing card between his nimble fingers.
"You're lucky Xavier is so willin' to let you have your say, otherwise your ass would be cut up all over that floor for what you did, LeBeau," Logan snarled through the hatch.
"Why you makin' such a fuss, you didn't like Jared anymore than I did," Remy raised his eyes to the hatch.
"Just because we don't like someone doesn't mean we have the right to murder them, LeBeau," Logan shot, his voice gruff, and hostile.
"If that's true, Mon Ami, then you're not exactly going to be allowed the privilege to come in here and cut my ass up, are you?" Remy mused, he raised an eyebrow, "you here for a reason? Or just to make idle threats?"
"Just to inform you," Logan replied, frowning, his cold eyes peering through the hatch at the younger man, so far, Remy LeBeau's attitude was not winning him any support, "this evenin' at seven, formally in the War Room, you're on trial for murder, LeBeau."
"Trial? If that's so then I got a right to call my attorney," Remy smirked.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, LeBeau, before I come in and wipe it off for you," Logan growled, anger rising within himself. Perhaps it wasn't his place to be angry, as Remy had said, he hadn't been Jared Rickman's biggest fan either, but this was murder they were talking about, and what seemed like an unfair murder at that.
"Make me," Remy retorted, his voice full of amusement.
Logan slammed the hatch shut, he wasn't about to let the Cajun rile him up anymore. He swallowed his anger, trying to remain calm, "watch yourself, LeBeau," he muttered, more to himself than to the man in the cell. With those final words, Logan left.
Morning came with very little sunlight, and rain poured down outside, clouds looming precariously over the Xavier Mansion in Bayville. A taxi-cab pulled up outside the main gates a few minutes past nine am. Marie D'Ancanto – also known as Rogue - reached over to pay the driver, and stepped out, her tote bag hanging from one shoulder.
She'd been gone for the weekend, a solitary vacation to cure a dose of stress caused by overwork in the danger room and too many missions – however successful they may have been. The vacation had seemed boring, and Rogue was glad to see the mansion again even after only three days having been away.
Rogue waited until the taxi-cab left, before allowing herself to type in the access code to enter the gates, and soon, she was walking up the driveway, she heard the gates creak shut behind herself.
Rain spattered down upon her, but she didn't care, it was good to be home, and that was all that mattered. She approached the large stately mansion, and let herself in, the foyer was empty. "Hello!" she called out, "I'm home!" she shook some water out of her hair.
Footsteps came from downstairs, Kitty Pryde, still wearing pyjamas, her short hair a mess, the hem of her robe flailing behind her like a pink cape. "You're home!" she said brightly.
"I said that already," Rogue's petal pink lips curled into a soft smirk, "I tried to call last night, but I couldn't get through to anyone…where were you guys?" she dropped the tote bag on the floor and headed over to a small table, a pile of letters addressed to the various team-members were set there, she flicked through them until coming across a few under her own name.
"Most of us were on a mission," Kitty closed her robe around herself, and made a reasonable attempt to try and flatten down her short layered hair, "Juggernaut was on the loose in Illinois last night, we were on stake out," she explained.
"Catch him?" Rogue queried absently, she opened a credit card statement, her eyes darting across the text, left to right.
"Uh…no, we had managed to trace him so far, but lost him…someone else showed up, Rogue," Kitty realised she might as well be the one to tell her friend of the events involving last nights chase.
Rogue raised her eyes from the piece of paper, her eyes bright with curiosity, "who?"
"Don't get mad…and don't freak out," Kitty held her hands out as if to already calm her.
Rogue began to feel suddenly quite concerned, "uhm…who is it?" she asked, her eyes meeting Kitty's, narrowing a little in her confusion.
"Promise me you're not going to freak out, first," Kitty begged.
"Oh come on, I'm not a kid anymore, when was the last time you saw me freak out?" Rogue gave a soft laugh, she tucked her long hair behind her ears, a few damp curls of her white streaks coming loose and falling across her tan face.
"The last time…we…talked about…him…" Kitty looked away, chewing her lip, she was expecting an outburst, thankfully, there was none.
"Him…?" Rogue raised an eyebrow, "who is 'him'?"
"You know who, Rogue…" Kitty looked at her seriously, eyes widening a little in that dramatic way they always did.
Rogue's mouth dropped a little, "not…" her heart began to pound like she hadn't felt it pound in years.
Kitty felt defeated, and finally admitted it, "Remy…okay? He's here…"
Rogue's fists clenched immediately, her eyes growing narrower, her face twisting in anger, "Where!?!"
"In one of the cells…but you shouldn't go down there!" Kitty noted Rogue spinning on the heel of her black leather boot immediately, she tried to grab her, but missed lousily.
"Try and stop me."
The cell door opened with a very loud ominous scraping sound that made Remy LeBeau snap to attention despite his exhaustion and lack of sleep, he stood immediately, readying himself, expecting some kind of attack – perhaps from Logan. He was surprised when it was not Logan approaching through the now open threshold, but the woman known as Rogue, her face full of emotion he couldn't read in the bad lighting.
She looked taller than he remembered her, her figure had become fuller, her face softer, her hair was long, and seemed to be damp, it was almost straight, but tousled at the ends, wisps of her white streaks hanging in front of her face, even in the bad lighting of the room, Remy could see Rogue had gained some colour in her face, she wore a lot less makeup, and her eyes seemed brighter than the last time he'd looked into them. She was wearing clothes that once, she would have turned her nose up at, her top a soft lilac shade, her pants dark grey pinstripe, the same kind of fashionable boots she would once make fun of Kitty Pryde for wearing. She'd changed so much, Remy could barely believe it.
And the sheer sight of her was enough to weaken him to the point of wanting to tell her everything, and yet, he stayed silent, gawping at her as if she were some vision.
"I've waited a long…long time…for this…" Rogue remarked, she swung out towards him, her fist colliding with his jaw, knocking him backwards, he slammed into the wall, barely making a sound, he looked at her, he was not appalled.
"I guess I deserved that…" Remy tasted blood, and his tongue was smarting, he realised dolefully he'd probably bitten it on the impact of her punch.
"You deserve a lot more than that!" Rogue threw her fist out again, catching him in the stomach, winding him, he doubled over, letting out a soft wheeze.
"Rogue, stop it!" Kitty had caught up with her, she caught Rogue's wrist before the third punch could be made, Rogue tried to left punch at Remy, Kitty made a grab, catching her fist in her own.
"Let me go!" Rogue screamed, struggling violently, she tried to kick at Remy, Kitty focused all her energy into phasing them both, and watched Rogue's foot effortlessly sail right through Remy's head.
"Why is she in here?!" demanded a voice, Ororo Munro come running through the door, white hair sailing behind her.
"I tried to stop her," Kitty was still holding onto Rogue, concentrating on phasing her to stop any more hostile behaviour towards the young man who was crouched in pain now near the corner.
Remy swallowed the taste of blood, looking up at the three women, Rogue's expression was wild, Kitty's was extremely frightened, and Ororo's was mixed with anger and concern.
"Rogue, you must not harm him!" Ororo used a sharp tone of authority.
Rogue's eyes were still ablaze with rage, the look on her face made Remy's blood run cold, as if liquid ice were pumping through his veins. "He murdered Jared!" Rogue shrieked, "He deserves the same punishment."
"It is not for you to decide his punishment," Ororo put her hand on Rogue's quivering shoulder, looking at her with her sky blue eyes, "Now go to the war room at once, Professor Xavier wishes to see you," she commanded.
Rogue spat at Remy before pulling free finally of Kitty, turning around and stomping out of the cell in a rage.
Remy held onto his aching stomach, "she's still got that temper," he mused with a weak laugh, he gave a little cough.
Ororo threw a look at Remy and decided to ignore his inappropriate amusement, "do you need medical attention?"
"I don't deserve it, Stormy," Remy replied, he let out another small cough, his voice barely a whisper after having all the air punched out of him, "just let me be," he glanced up to Kitty who was looking at him with a mix of emotion showing on her face.
"Kitty…I trust you can lock up?" Ororo asked.
Kitty gave a nod, she stood with her arms folded, looking down at Remy. Something in her wanted to allow herself to drop to her knees beside him and check that he was okay, but for the most part, her thoughts kept reminding herself of what he'd done and why he was here in this cell, and she grew cold towards him. She couldn't find anything to say, she had a thousand questions she wanted to ask, and yet she kept quiet, knowing all would be hopefully answered in due time.
Remy allowed the awkward silence to pass between them, "Rogue changed…"
"For the better," Kitty looked down at her feet, "Dragging Rogue through all this crap is the last thing any of us want, Gambit," Kitty let her arms fall to her sides, she looked at him. He looked as if he hadn't aged a year, let alone seven, he was rough around the edges, but still looked the same. It was almost as if no time at all had passed. "We've spent so much time helping her get through what you did to her, LeBeau," Kitty remarked coldly, "and here you are again, and it's gonna mess her up good – every time you come here you mess her up."
"It wasn't my idea to come here, petit," Remy reminded, "You chased me, I hadn't done anythin' wrong, you didn't even know who I was…you could have left it," he said. "It was just bad timing I had to be there…"
"What the hell were you doing there anyway?" Kitty demanded, frowning slightly.
"Man's gotta work," Remy responded.
"In other words, someone was about to be robbed blind," Kitty rolled her eyes, looking away from him with absolute disgust.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Remy gave something of a laugh, but it soon faded, he watched her serious face, her blue eyes oozing with mixed hatred and confusion over what she felt. He was still someone she'd been friends with, and he could see the part of her that so much wanted to be able to speak to him on the terms of friendship and ask him for the truth, but he could see the other part also, the part of her that had grown older and wiser, and become more weary of him. He couldn't blame her.
"None of us find you funny anymore," Kitty headed towards the door, "jokes aren't going to help you when you're being questioned for Jared's murder, Gambit," she glanced over her shoulder at him, throwing him once last dismayed look, and then she left, slamming the metal door behind herself, and soon, the click and beep of the computerised lock sounded, leaving Remy secured in the prison cell alone.