Dismal Angel 2010 - Episode 8

Chapter 3: A firm offer

          Kitty Pryde left the hospital wing and headed towards the foyer, Piotr was leaving the kitchen, a can of soda in his hand.  "Hey, can I have a word?" Kitty asked softly, she wandered over.

          "Of course," Piotr looked down at her, "would you like some soda?" he offered the can to her.

          "No," Kitty sighed, "No this isn't about soda, this is about what you said to Remy…" she stated flatly.

          Piotr pretended to be quite vague about this, "I…do not know what you are meaning."

          "Yes you do," Kitty sighed, "You were intimidating Remy in there, as if…I don't know, as if you knew something or thought he was up to something – which he is NOT.  We can all assure you he really HAS lost his memory, Piotr.  I just want to ask WHY you did that…?"

          "Are you angry with me?" Piotr seemed to try and change her attention from the question.

          "Yes, and don't change the subject," Kitty sighed, "Why did you do that?"

          "I do not trust his intentions…I worked with this man before you all knew him, I know he has many secrets…many…skeletons in his closet."

          "Many of which we know of already," Kitty responded, "look, Remy is not the bad guy anymore, he's one of us, has been for years…yes, we all thought he was guilty of murder, but he's innocent, okay?  It was just a stupid accident…"

          "It is not that…" Piotr sighed, "I just…I heard some very bad things, Kitty.  Things I am not sure I should be telling you…"

          Kitty frowned, "what…things…what are you talking about?"

          Piotr sighed, he put the can of soda on the nearest table, he pulled her over to a bench that was against the nearest wall and made her sit, he sat beside her, "do you know where he was for seven years?"

          Kitty paused, "Uhm…no, I know he's been in Illinois for the last year or so I guess…?" she shrugged, "why…what have you heard?"

          "You must promise me these details remain between us until I can gain more evidence of this…" Piotr said softly.

          "Okay…I promise," Kitty said, sounding quite confused.

          Piotr looked away, as if trying to recall some incident, "I was in California when I met with my cousin, Ivan coincidentally…I had not seen him in ten years," he frowned, "Ivan has the ability to track any mutant telepathically…which I had not known about," Piotr explained, "he was using this 'gift' to help people trace mutants for various things – the police and mutant bounty hunters, he was well known for it back home, apparently…"

          "And you never knew this until recently?" Kitty asked.

          Piotr nodded, "Well…it had been in the papers about Gambit – with him being on the run for murder as well as many robberies – it was headline news.  We happened to see this paper…and Ivan recognised Gambit instantly from a photo on the newspaper," he explained.

          "Recognised him from where?" Kitty asked.

          "A man had gone to see Ivan…asked him to trace Gambit…the payment was very generous… it ran into a six figure number, Ivan said."

          "A man?" Kitty asked, "What man?"

          "He gave no name, and Ivan did not seem to care…he said the money was all he was interested in receiving for the trade of the location of Gambit – so he did this.  Located Gambit in Paris."

          "When was this?"

          "Two years ago," Piotr replied.  "What the outcome is, I do not know, all I know is that if some man would pay Ivan this amount of money for Gambit's location then it could not be good…"

          "He never mentioned it," Kitty admitted softly.

          "Gambit has always been very secretive, you know this, so I doubt either of us should be surprised," Piotr responded.

          "But I mean, this was two years ago, why should he mention it, and what if nothing came of it, we don't know who this man was, for all we know he could have just been a potential client trying to hire Remy to do a major heist…remember, Remy IS a master Thief."

          "Yes, I am aware of this, of course," Piotr explained, "but I have already considered this fact and dismissed it – if this man could afford to pay such amount to my cousin for tracing Gambit, then he would pay Gambit more to steal something, surely…" Piotr explained.

          "So?" Kitty shrugged.

          "If Gambit had received such payment, why was he living in a very bad apartment and using petty thievery to pay rent?  It is all in the newspapers, Kitty…" Piotr explained.

          Kitty sighed, "I know, I read the articles…" she sighed, "when he gains back his memory he's probably gonna go ballistic when he finds out about it all coming out like that," she added.

          "I know," Piotr said, "this is why I have come, Kitty.  I am suspicious and…concerned, for you all," he placed his hand upon Kitty's arm, "I feel it is necessary to find out the truth."

          "Okay," Kitty nodded, "I'll talk to him, okay, but…don't say anything to anyone else, they're all still really…suspicious of him themselves, and weary of him…" She explained, "I don't want him stressing anymore because of peoples suspicions about him…he barely knows who he is, he barely knows what he's done…"

          "When are you going to tell him all these things?" Piotr asked.

          "Tonight," Kitty said, "Unless I have other plans, that is."

          "Other plans?"

          "Well, it is Valentines day," Kitty looked away.

          "Oh…right," Piotr nodded, "so…you have a date?"

          "No," Kitty stood up slowly, "no dates."

          "Same here.  I am taking Illyana out to a movie…"

          "Oh…" Kitty looked away, slightly disappointed, "right, well…I'm gonna go take a nap, suddenly I feel quite tired."

          "Alright…" Piotr nodded.

          Kitty gave him one last longing look, before heading upstairs.

          Rogue stared out over the danger room training session from the control annex above the danger room itself, she gazed out the windows, watching the students as they worked hard to complete the mission objective.

          "Hey," Bobby Drake entered the control room, he was in shorts and a sweatstained tanktop, he'd obviously been working out in the gym.

          Rogue glanced over her shoulder at him, "hey," she said, she turned back to watch the students, "Look at this…" she said, "Monet St. Croix…she's so…calm…she takes it in her stride."  Rogue gestured towards the window.  In the danger room, the girl known as Monet, a gorgeous Algerian with long silken black hair, perfect skin, dark eyes and a lithe figure was soaring in the air, large cannons were shooting out from every direction, she barely had to swing her hands out with any effort as they collided with her fists and dropped to the floor in dented heaps.

          "Reminds me of you, a bit," Bobby smirked, he walked over, leaning on the control panel to gaze out better of the window.

          "I'm not that calm during a training session," Rogue muttered, she folded her arms stubbornly.

          "No, but you have a relaxed confidence because you know you're pretty much invulnerable," Bobby said, "You don't panic as much as you used to," He added.

"Well…it means I don't have to worry about my own ass as much and can concentrate on keeping an eye on other peoples safety," she shrugged, "what's so bad about that?"

"Nothing at all," Bobby sat down in the nearest chair watching interestedly, "but you know what the Professor, Logan and Ororo always used to tell us when we were training back when we were their age," he gestured to the young mutants in the danger room.

"Yes, yes, I know," Rogue smirked, "don't rely too much on your powers," she said, "they might just let you down at some point…"

"That's probably something you need to teach Monet, only something tells me she'd just assume she knows better than you," Bobby admitted.   "Yours and Monet's powers are quite similar really, I guess it isn't surprising she fights like you in the Danger Room," He observed

          "I like to think I'm much less arrogant in the danger room," Rogue said, "She's diving in stopping all those cannons NOT to help the team at all, but to make herself look good, as if she can do it all, a one girl team…and the fact that her arrogance NEVER causes her to make mistakes or slip up once bugs the hell out of me," Rogue sighed.

          "Have you tried to cause her to make mistakes to teach her a lesson?" Bobby asked.

"I always try to pull surprises out on her in the Danger Room, surprise attacks and stuff…nothing fazes the girl.   She acts like she knew it was coming.  Nothing gets to her, nothing hurts her, nothing surprises her…and she's just so damn perceptive," Rogue added, "she knew about Remy having messed me up – I don't know how she knew, maybe rumours, or maybe she just saw it in my face, but she…she just knew…"

          Bobby looked up at Rogue, "she's really intelligent apparently…Jean told me Monet has the highest I.Q. in the mansion – except from Professor Xavier's…there's like 3 points between their I.Q.'s or something," he shrugged.  

          "Not very comforting, really," Rogue said, "makes me wonder why she's even here, I mean she can control her powers perfectly…she should be at college or something instead of taking High School classes with us…" she sat down also and rested her elbow on the counter, "she'd be great in the Team except…her attitude…"

          "Yeah, her attitude stinks, I agree," Bobby shrugged, "but she's a kid," he added, "And…besides, you're probably the best one to relate to her, you had a kind of 'attitude' problem when you first came to the mansion – or so I heard."

          "You heard wrong," Rogue made a face, "Anyway, to change the subject…is that Pity Date still up for grabs?" she asked with a smirk.

          "Sure, it's a firm offer."

          "Great, then I'm interested, I definitely need to get out of this place tonight…if I have to spend Valentines day listening to Monet's lectures about 'Hallmark' holidays and commercialised romance, I'll scream," she said, although secretly the only thing she was thinking was that she didn't want to have to spend Valentines day in the mansion thinking of Remy.  She needed something to take her mind off of it, and Bobby seemed to have the solution. 

          Bobby laughed softly, "okay.  It's a date."