Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 4

Chapter 6: Nowhere to Run

They approached the roof, Remy looked around, the buildings were too far apart to make the jump across without instant death.  It was something he'd be willing to risk – but Kitty on the other hand would have no chance of making that jump even if he could.

"Where to?" Kitty panted, pain from the stairway run searing through her legs, sweat streaming down her face, she was physically fit but nothing could have prepared her for a run up nineteen flights of stairs. 

Remy rushed to the edge of the building, there was only one way down, a fire escape.  "Over here," he said, he jumped over the edge landing onto the fire escape about seven feet below, his feet made a loud clang against the metal.  Kitty climbed down carefully.

"Hurry!" Remy hissed, "no time for being careful," he said, he began to run down the stairs, no longer did he have the option to use stealth like in his criminal activities, this was one time that being perfectly silent wasn't going to help.  They rushed, the noise on the unbalanced fire escape increasing as they went faster.

Kitty was panting, "I can't believe you made us go all the way up to the top floor just to come down the fucking fire escape!" she gasped.

"Like you had a better plan!" Remy kept running, he was breathless and even though it was dark Kitty could tell his face was red and sweaty.  Kitty winced, "my legs are hurting, Remy!" she groaned.

"We don't have time to hurt!  Just run!" they were almost at the bottom of the fire escape, rain began to pelt down viciously from the sky.  Kitty could see the lights of the police cars near the bottom just outside the alley way, she could hear police radios, and people talking loudly.

"Remy I don't think we're gonna make it," Kitty gasped, struggling with the pain in her legs, her breath quick and uneven.

"Yes we are!" Remy leapt down from the fire escape as they finally reached the bottom, he helped Kitty down, he crept down the alley way and peered out, there were five police cars.  "Fuck," he whispered, "they must have got a description in…" he decided there could be no other reason five police cars would be sent for a mere break in.

Kitty held onto his arm, "there's so many cops…" she gaped, "how are we going to get through?" she asked tentatively.

Remy reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, beginning to charge it, he was about to aim it for the nearest car.

"Wait!" Kitty grabbed a hold of Remy's hand, "If you throw that at one of those cars it could explode!" Kitty said, "I mean SERIOUSLY explode, and cause a fire…" she looked at him with wide frightened eyes.  "You don't want to be accused of killing anyone else, do you!?!" she demanded impatiently.

Remy groaned, "what else are we meant to do!?  There's nowhere to run!" he growled at her.

"There he is!" came an unknown mans voice, followed by a cacophony of "stop! Police!" and various other comments Kitty and Remy didn't have much time to listen for.  They'd been spotted, and now were being approached quickly.

Kitty's head was pounding, her heart was thudding rapidly, her legs were aching and they were surrounded in moments in the small alleyway.  Remy, who had still been carrying his bo-staff, swung it at the nearest cop, causing him to fall over with a domino effect on three of them, he ducked out of the way as a cop made a run for him.  Kitty grabbed Remy's sleeve, "This way!" she phased them both through the nearest wall, they ended up back in the front lobby of the apartment building, unfortunately where there were more police were.

"Leave the planning to me next time," Remy groaned, looking around them, he stared left and right, as if he were quickly assessing the situation or looking for possible exits.  He saw none. 

"That's him!  That's the bastard!" the cat woman was coming down the stairs holding two of her cats, her wiry hair hanging out of her hat, her eyes wide with anger, she pointed a knarled finger at Remy.

Remy noticed the amount of guns that were suddenly raised into the air, all pointing at him ominously, "guns…guns…" he chided, "how fair, I have a bo-staff, and they have guns…" he mumbled.  "In a fair fight you guys wouldn't stand a chance."

"Shut up, LeBeau," a cop muttered in a growl.  "Hands on your head, now!"

"Watch out, he's a mutant," another cop bellowed, "he can explode things with his hands! – I read his file!  Looks like he can walk through walls too!"

Remy dropped the bo-staff and placed his hands on his head, already a plan was forming in his mind.  He glanced towards Kitty.  The first part of his plan was to get her out of harms way.  Luckily the cops seemed to have misunderstood the situation of how they had gotten through the wall – they were assuming Remy was the one with the powers, not Kitty.  This was quite opportune.

Kitty's head was pounding so badly she could barely see anything, her vision blurred, her legs ached so much she felt as if she would collapse.  "What now?" she groaned.

Remy stepped forward slowly, he noted the cops took a more defensive stance, readying their weapons.  "What else is there to do, Petit…" he looked over his shoulder at Kitty, "there's nowhere to run…I gotta turn myself in.  I'm a wanted man, remember?  I can't run forever."

"But you didn't murder Jared!" Kitty gaped, "we can prove it!"

"Stand against the wall, miss," a cop instructed of Kitty, he pointed a gun at her, he looked rather warningly at her.

Remy looked at Kitty, "stop arguing and just do as you're told…" he said, cops approached him, slapping handcuffs on him behind his back.  He didn't look as scared as he had before, in fact he looked calmer than Kitty had ever seen him in her life.

Kitty looked at him, "you are not turning yourself in!  Remy! You're a mutant, you can fight these guys!  I've seen you do it a hundred times!" Kitty was gaping incredulously, she couldn't believe he would just give himself up like this.

Remy looked at her, "don't worry about me," he feigned a smile, a smile that told her suddenly she didn't have anything to worry about, Remy was a master thief, and he probably had ways of escaping.  Right now, she realised Remy intended her escape to be first.

"Stand facing against the wall," a cop clamped a hand on Kitty's shoulder.

Kitty moved towards the wall.

"Frisk her, make sure she's not concealing any weapons," one of the cops ordered.

Kitty glanced guiltily over her shoulder at Remy once before she phased herself through it, dropping into the alley way again, she ran, keeping herself phased, she ran across the street to another building, she was still carrying her bag, as she ran she pulled out her cellular phone and switched it on.

"Time to call the X-Men," she breathed as she kept running.  She could hear the police hot in pursuit, one of them had gotten in a car, she could hear it approaching fast.  She couldn't run fast enough to escape it.

She tried to dial and pressed the call button, but it gave a strange static-sound and switched itself off, her powers had caused it to short out.

"Not another one," she groaned, she realised the best thing she could do for now, was find somewhere to hide until the police cleared out, then she could call the X-Men for assistance using a payphone.

With a sigh, she phased herself down into a sewer and through the nearest sewer wall finding herself in another tunnel.  She heard the sirens of the police car stop and she waited.

God why am I even running I didn't do anything, she thought despairingly, she listened, she heard a sewer grating being opened, and she heard splashes as the feet of cops in the next tunnel landed down in the sewers, she heard voices.

"Check that way!" a cop called, Kitty pressed her ear against the cold damp wall and listened, waiting silently, she phased her ear slightly closer into the wall to listen to what the cops were saying.

"We've lost her," one of the cops seemed to realise later, "I checked all through these tunnels…no sigh of her…its like she just evaporated," he sounded gruff.

Kitty frowned, "no, just phased," she whispered to herself.

She heard the sounds of heavy boots upon the ladder leading back up to the street, then the loud slam of the sewer grating being closed.  They were gone.

Kitty realised it was best to sit tight, and she and waited for a while, sitting on top of her bag, shivering, hugging herself, listening to the traffic above and the dripping of dampness in the sewer tunnel.  There was no light to see and nothing to do but think. 

She couldn't understand why Remy just handed himself over in that way, why hadn't he run, if he'd reached out and took her arm she could have phased them both out of harms way, but he'd let himself be caught.  She wondered if already he'd made his escape and was trying to find her.  He hadn't given much indication about what his plan was – she only knew that judging by the look on his face there had been a plan.

Kitty frowned slightly, she pressed her finger against the button that illuminated her watch, she'd been waiting an hour when she finally decided it was time to leave.  She made her way back up to the street, now smelling quite badly of sewer water, and feeling quite disgusting.  She pulled a quarter out of her bag and put it into the nearest payphone, keeping a watch out over the dark street, she dialled the number of the Professors office, and was thankful when she got a hasty reply.

"Charles Xavier speaking."

"Professor, oh my god," Kitty sobbed over the phone, "am I glad to hear your voice," she said, her sob rather in relief than remorse, "I'm kind of stranded in Illinois…Remy got caught by the police…I got chased, I had to hide out…I don't know where they took him…" Kitty spoke quickly, then took large long pauses to breathe, she wiped her tears on the back of her grimy hand, making her face even dirtier than it was to begin with.

"Calm down," the professor soothed, "where are you."

Kitty relayed her location, the Professor assured her someone would be arriving via blackbird to pick her up as soon as possible.

"What about Remy?" Kitty asked.

"I will do all in my power to find out just as much as I can," The professor promised, "keep yourself well hidden until the blackbird arrives, understand? There may still be police patrols in the area," he said wisely.

Kitty sighed, "yes, Professor…"

Kitty slipped back into the sewers silently, and waited until Scott Summers and Jean Grey arrived in the blackbird to pick her up.  As she dropped into a seat in the jet exhaustedly, the first thing she asked was "did the professor find Remy?"

Jean was sitting in the co-pilots seat, she glanced over her shoulder, "I'm afraid not…all we could find out was shortly after he was apprehended he got away…but we haven't been able to trace him…its as if he doesn't want to be found…"

Kitty rubbed her forehead, "terrific…" she dabbed at the tears in the corner of her eyes, this had been the most hellish four days of her life, and this day was probably the worst of all, first the funeral, and then running from the police, and now Remy suddenly missing, having escaped from the Police.

"You look exhausted, Kitty," Jean said sympathetically.

Kitty paused for a moment, "why didn't he come and find me…" she asked, she stared out of the window, "Remy is smart, he must have realised the first place I'd hide…he must have…why…"

"Maybe he just wanted to get away from the X-Men altogether," Scott said, "wouldn't be the first time he disappeared on us.

Kitty sighed, Scott was right.  Remy had been talking about wanting to forget his past, it seemed probable this is why he'd had chosen to not come looking for Kitty – so he could escape from the X-Men altogether and therefore, never be reminded of his past by them.  But Kitty didn't feel comforted by that at all, the fact that the man was alone out there somewhere with only a bottle of lithium as company was the most un-reassuring thing on her mind.  Other things began to play around in her mind, who had been in Remy's apartment, and what had Remy been looking for under the floorboards?  Kitty couldn't help but feel suddenly that something wasn't quite right. 

             I'll find him, Kitty vowed to herself tiredly, she closed her eyes to shut out the light that was making her head throb more intently.  Once I've gotten back to the mansion and feel a bit better, I'll find him and help him…he shouldn't be out there alone…

             Kitty frowned slightly as she wondered if perhaps she thought this because she was worried for his sanity and his health, or if it was because she was worried that he was up to no good.  Pushing those thoughts aside she closed her eyes, and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

- The end (or is it? Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahah)