A/N: Sorry about the delay. A massive writer's block and you get a chapter two months (+) waiting. I wasn't going to update this until FTTB was finished, but I got a review (J) and felt a little inspiration, and here you go. Oh yeah, the only Malice I know was the one in Polaris' body, so that's that. As always, please review the chapter.
"Remy! Not here!" Marie hissed, staring at the glowing utensil in horror. Remy gave her a lazy smile before dissipating the energy. Bishop had his mouth open, frozen in shock.
"I think I made my point. Plus, I don' need powers t' take on that bulk."
"How'd you do that?" Bishop asked, wonder in his voice.
Remy just grinned and slumped down in his chair. It was a bit exhausting to go showing off like that.
"That's why we need the info on Essex as soon as possible," Marie explained, still frowning at Remy. She handed him a slip of paper. "Call this number as soon as you get it."
"Are you in trouble?"
"Yeah. And Bishop – hurry!"
Bishop watched as Marie dragged Remy out of the eatery. He just sat and thought of what he could do with powers like that. There'd be no more hustling or violence. Maybe he should go see this Essex guy and see if he'd hook him up.
"Slow down, Marie! Where are we going anyway?" Remy asked as they half ran down the street.
"I just thought of something. If you can catch this Legacy Virus just by being around someone, we probably shouldn't be running around all these people."
Remy stopped. "Do you know where you're going?"
Marie looked up at him, a slight panic in her eyes. "No."
"Come on. My safe house is on Main and 12th." He strolled, not letting anything bother him. It was the only thing he could think of to calm Marie down. Or irritate her enough to quit worrying.
"You have a safe house? Why in the world do you have a safe house? Wait a minute, you own a house?" Marie's attention was definitely turned.
"You mean you don't?" Remy asked, with mock surprise. "We'll just stay there until we come up with a plan to get Jean back. It's usually restocked on Tuesdays, so there should be plenty of food."
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The fog in her mind was beginning to clear. Jean lay in the man's arms, feeling safe and secure. Looking at the bars in the room around her, she pulled closer.
"Where are we?"
Scott frowned. "I don't know, but it doesn't look good."
"I want to go home!" Jean's voice cracked and she bit her lip to keep from crying. The weather mirrored her misgivings as a huge crash of thunder echoed in the room.
"But where's home?"
"Somewhere nice." She turned towards his body and closed her eyes. It seemed that the truth was hovering on the edge of her mind. If she could just concentrate…
"Are they ready?" A cold voice came from the speaker, startling Malice enough to drop her cards.
"Shit!" She muttered under her breath. "They're ready, boss." Then she turned to Creed and Logan. "I'm out. Let's go get the brat."
He heard footsteps coming closer. He slowly backed into the corner, moving Jean so she'd be behind him. He somehow knew that it was her that they wanted. He knew that it was his job to protect her.
She didn't protest. She peeked over his shoulder to see who their captors were. She did not expect the strikingly beautiful woman who stepped into view first. Logan followed after her. He grinned evilly and extended claws from his fists. They gleamed in the light. Jean's eyes widened in surprise and fear.
"Now, now, I don't want any scenes," Malice purred with a sinister grin. She unlocked the door and advanced on Scott. "Just hand over the girl, and there will be no problems. We'll return her later."
"Logan!" It all came flooding back to him. The school. The Virus. The struggle. Jean. Scott remembered how soft she was, how sweet she tasted. How he never should have kissed her.
"Hey kid. It wasn't supposed to be you, but the boss doesn't mind. He just wants to run a few tests on the golden girl here. We're here to help convince you to cooperate."
"Still just the hired muscle, huh, Logan?" Scott taunted softly. He worked side by side with this man for years. While Scott had been trying to help kids live up to their potential, Logan had been training them to kill, to manipulate. He sold them to the government while Scott didn't have a clue, playing the perfect little Boy Scout.
"Shut it, Scooter."
"Now boys, let's not let old grudges get in the way," Malice crooned. She pulled out a remote and aimed it at Scott. With the push of a button, she disabled him, sending a pulse of pain so severe that it shut down his systems. "Bring her to Lab 1 and lock her in."
Logan dragged Jean by her arm down the hall. She didn't even bother to struggle, instead taking the time to look around her and take in the surroundings. They seemed to be underground somewhere, obviously in some sort of lab. She shook her head at the monotony of their problems. Sometimes it was pretty shitty being so damn "special."
Essex was waiting for them. Jean looked in wonder at the man. His face was so pale and cold. His eyes held no expression and glowed as red as Remy's. The red diamond on his forehead shone against the white skin. She was sure he wasn't real.
"Sit here, Ms. Grey. Logan, you may go." He looked at her intently. "You are aware of why you're here?"
Jean silently shook her head.
"You realize what has happened to you?" He began an ordinary physical checkup. The commonness of the act further confused her. His hands were cold. She shivered at his touch.
Jean nodded, then shook her head. "Sorta. I have new talents."
"You are a mutant, Ms. Grey. The Legacy Virus that Dr. McCoy created has activated the dormant genes in your body. You are the next stage in human evolution." Through this, Dr. Essex didn't stop his checkup. He drew some blood from Jean's arm before having her lie down. "Do you have any questions?"
She thought about it. This man didn't seem so bad. "What do you want? Why do you want me and Scott?"
"I don't want you and Mr. Summers. I want you and your brother! The possibilities are astounding. However, Mr. Summers should prove to be an interesting study."
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"Sam, homme, I need a favor," Remy drawled over the phone. He watched as Marie went through all the cabinets looking for something to eat.
"Anything. What do you need?" Sam had him on speakerphone as he assembled the shelf for his office. He owned a construction firm in California. This all before he turned twenty-one.
"I need a couple of building plans and some extra help…"
"Can yah be more specific? How's your sister? Haven't seen the little beauty in years."
"Yes. I need help finding a secret underground lab. Once we find it, then I need the building plans for it."
Sam stopped screwing in the support and picked up the phone. "Ah'm sorry. I thought ya said ya need to find a secret underground lab. That sounds like something from a movie. A really bad one."
"Jeannie's gone, Sam. I need to find her fast."
"Fuck, Rem. Ya know Ah'll do whatever Ah can. Should I get in touch with Paige?"
"Depends. What's that girl up to?" Remy shook her head at Marie's offer of fruit. "Last time I saw her, she was working with the shelter. Don't want to uproot her if possible."
"She's my partner in crime," Sam said with a touch of pride in his voice. "Email me the info and I'll work on it. Where are you?"
"Canada."
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Jean was freezing. Dr. Essex, she concluded, was insane. He was so intent on his work, that he didn't notice that she was cold and starving.
"I want to go back," she announced. He didn't even turn around. Jean slipped from the table and opened the door. No alarm sounded, nobody tried to stop her. Jean wondered how far she'd be able to go before anyone even noticed. Just as she was through the door, Dr. Essex said, "Victor will let you back into your room." He was certainly not like any mad scientist that she ever read about.
Scott was pacing. The isolation was driving him nuts. Ever since he remembered what happened, he was agonizing over the past couple of days. He tugged anxiously at the collar around his neck. From listening to pieces of conversation, he didn't think that Jean was in any immediate danger. It seemed as if the lab was owned by a doctor who was interested in studying "mutants." Unfortunately, he couldn't discern any future plans for them. On the fiftieth time around the cell, he came face to face with Jean. Victor quickly locked the door behind her, and then stalked off, muttering about being a "babysitter."
"Are you okay?" he asked Jean, peering cautiously at her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly. "Jean?"
"I'm fine." She wished she couldn't remember again. The worries seemed to be piling up in her brain. Soon there wouldn't be room for anything else. Remy was going to come after her. Although this thought was on one hand comforting, it was on the other hand thoroughly upsetting. There was also something big going on in the world. She got the feeling that Dr. Essex was expecting something to happen. The news from across the globe was being broadcast on seven different television sets. And then there was Scott. She couldn't get the way he held her and kissed her out of her mind. She smiled as she remembered the way he told her she was beautiful and traced her face with his hand. And she worried that she would never feel that way again now that he remembered.
Scott wanted to smash the walls and run away. He needed to put some distance between them. He just had to make himself let go. "Jean, I can't…I mean, we can't…" And then she killed his resolve. She looked up with those wide emerald eyes, and he couldn't speak, lost.
Jean knew what was running through his head. It didn't take a telepath to know that he was struggling to do "the right thing." She had to convince him that they were "right." Surely he could feel it?
He knew what she was thinking, and she, like all women, was trying to lead him to what she wanted. He was amazed at how well he could read her. She was without guile, her face an open book. And she wanted him. Scott went over her faults. She was stubborn, willful, and hopelessly tenacious.
He gave it up before really getting into the fight. After all, he didn't have a chance.
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"Dr. McCoy, I'm sure you remember Dr. Reyes? She decided to join our little group and help answer some questions," Raven Darkholme said pleasantly. Cece struggled against the bonds that held her to the chair to no avail. She looked around at all the professionals and lab coats and knew that something big was going to happen.
"I already told you, I don't know anything. Dr. McCoy is the one who came up with the damn thing!"
"Yes, but you have experienced the effects first hand, and have seen some of the failures as well," a man said. He was peering at her as if she were some bug under a microscope.
"I don't…didn't understand what was happening. I didn't know that I was passing the Virus along, I swear." Cece thought of all the recent deaths that she oversaw. The bodies that deformed or burst into flames or just stopped breathing. All of these people died just from touching her. She thought she was doing her duty as a doctor, doing her best to save lives. All the while, she was killing them.
"Why did they die?" They peered at her from the dark corners of the room. They all looked at the freak, the girl who passed for normal but hid a dark secret. Cece couldn't even cry. After the horror she wrought, she deserved this.
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Remy read off a sheet of paper while Marie typed furiously at the computer.
"There are ten possibilities," Remy started.
"Four are out of the country, which we're counting out," Marie added, scrolling through the document.
"Three are on the west coast, two are on the east coast, and the last is in the middle of no where."
"Of the three on the west coast, only one is used primarily for storage, so we count out the Phoenix base," Marie said, making a black line through one of the choices on a sheet beside her.
"The one in the middle is used as a meeting place and go-between rest stop," Remy added, bouncing from one chair to the next in the kitchen and dining room.
"That leaves four possibilities." Marie slumped in her seat. This was going to take forever.
"Sam is trying to get the building designs for those four. He's going to send Paige down with them." He couldn't keep still. Not being able to do anything was driving him up a wall.
"So we have to gather the supplies needed to break and enter while holding off the thugs."
"While we enter a place we've never been."
"With foes that we've never faced."
They turned to each other. Remy grimaced as he went over the situation. Marie sighed and laid her head down. It never seemed to end. A day in the life…
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Dr. Essex watched the screen, transfixed by the results. Who would have guessed that he would have stumbled on something so earth shattering? It seemed as though that grabbing Scott instead of Remy was quite fortuitous. Jean Grey and Scott Summers, the perfect match, the next Adam and Eve for the new world.
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"Paige, Ah need ya to take over the office for me. Ah'm going to Canada," Sam said, throwing his clothes into a duffel bag. The building plans were carefully folded and put into his drawing folder. Paige sighed as she began to fold the clothes he tossed in her direction. Her blonde hair was tied on the top of her head. She sat on the bed, her back straining from the weight of her pregnant belly.
"What's going on? Ah thought ya were going to send me on vacation," she asked.
"It's not like that. Ah don't know how he does it, but Remy got himself into some deep shit. Take care." Sam cursed. He hoped he would make the flight.
Paige shook her head, and then emailed Remy about the change of plans. She was secretly grateful for being left behind. Now she could decorate the baby's room.
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A/N: Please review – I promise to answer a lot of questions next chapter. And I'll try to get it out in a reasonable amount of time.
*It has come to my attention that the last part sounds like Paige and Sam are together (thanks, nessa). This was unintentional, they are not a couple and having a baby together, and this will be clarified in the next chapter. Honestly, ewww.