'Verse: X2 MovieVerse
Tiimeline: The night before Jean and Ororo left for Boston. Set during the events of X2. For the purposes of this story, the attack on the Mansion happened the night before the two woman investigated Nightcrawler, not the night of. That is all.
Rating: PG-13, for some thematic elements (God, I hate that phrase!) and some potentially graphic images.
Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one. (Wouldn't mind a stint with the Ragin' Cajun, though! wink) Marvel, Inc. and all associated subsidiaries does. Hope to make no profit off this story or any of my others on this site.
Breaking and Entering
(Unofficial "sequel"/follow-up to King of Hearts)
Started Thurs Oct. 2nd 2003, Completed: 3/11/04
Remy awoke with a start to the sound of heavy boots thudding in the hallway. Deciding not to wake Ororo, he picked up an Ace from his nightstand and "lit" it with energy, holding it aloft for light. Just then, the door burst open thanks to a kick from one of those aforementioned boots. Outside, there was a great deal of noise too, as if the entire mansion was under attack. (Little did Remy know…)
All Remy could see in the doorway was a shadow framed by the light in the hall, holding at its side a very large firearm. Ororo stirred, and Remy pitched the card, dead-on, into the man's wrists, dislodging the gun from his grip. The man started back in surprise.
Ororo, rising quickly to the challenge, silently tossed Remy a necklace across the dark room. With his expert reflexes, he caught it effortlessly. Realizing what she had intended him to do, he snapped the necklace apart in the middle and "charged" it, cracking it like a whip around the intruder's ankles, where it wound several times, tripping him. The stranger fell heavily to the floor with a grunt, hitting facedown, where the binding around his ankles glowed menacingly, furiously fuschia. From his bottom nightstand drawer, Remy withdrew a spare extension cord, and wrapped that around the man's wrists and charged it, too. Lastly, for good measure, he brought out a third, shorter cord and wrapped it around the man's neck, tying this one to the cords at his wrists, from which it, too, picked up a charge. He shot a quick look back to Ororo, because he knew of her fear. The space the two were caught in with the soldier was dark and small, and she was petrified.
Turning his attention back to the thug, finally Remy deigned to speak. Granted, he had a knee in the soldier's lower spine at the time… He leaned in low, close to the soldier's ear that his voice might be heard.
"Listen, you," Remy snarled almost good-naturedly, "Remy don' know who you t'ink you are, but you ain't und'r any circumstances jus' gon' come in 'ere wid'out no war'nin' an' make like somethin' outta' a spy novel and start harassin' me an' mine. 'Dis Remy' family 'ere, an' where 'e come from, y' don' mess wit' family… Whoever y'are, y'ain't got no right nor no biz'n'ss bein' 'ere, so you an' your crew gon' get gone jus' as soon 's you can, y'hear me?"
The man nodded fearfully, still silent. He could hear the low hum of energy in the bonds that held him. He was never briefed that mutants could be this dangerous…
"Now, jus' f'r bein' stupid enough t' come in 'ere, you gon' lose those feet, y' un'nderstand? But, if y' go on from 'ere an' don' give us no more trouble, Remy jus' feelin' charit'ble enough he gon' let you keep your 'ands, al'right?"
The man cringed as best he could, and nodded once again.
Remy nodded back and answered, "Remy see we' come to an understandin'…"
With this, Remy rose and took the charge off the man's bindings at his hands and neck, then planted a foot in the man's back where his knee was just moments before. He shoved the man, hard, out into the midst of a group of his comrades, who at the time were harassing some of the younger students. Not moments later, he heard the explosion, followed by sounds of disgust and countless scattering footsteps.
Remy turned to the stunned Ororo with a nod and made a dash for the back wall of their room, which fronted the gardens. He knew there was a forest nearby into which they and others could escape.
He grabbed her hand and, giving her one last meaningful look, told her, "C'mon, Chere, we' chargin' out'ta 'ere!"
He put his left hand up to the wall and there soon appeared a glowing purple circle of energy. Another explosion followed, after which he ran back to the door and called to the stray students in the hall "Follow us!"
Seeing that they were doing as instructed, he grabbed a pack of cards out of his top nightstand drawer, and picked his and Ororo's robe up off the back of his desk chair.
Seeing that it had snowed, he wished they'd had time to dress properly, all present still in nightclothes, but it couldn't be helped. He took hold of Ororo's hand again, and, nodding to the still-silent wind Goddess, they jumped out of the gap he'd created, borne down to the ground by a cushion of wind. Finally finding her voice once outside in the open, Ororo called upwards, "Children! Down here!"
Several small faces looked out the gap in the wall, and finally, one of them nodded to Ororo, and jumped. Doing the same for the student as she'd done for herself and Remy, she buoyed the girl safely down to the ground. Calling a stronger wind to bring down the rest, she turned to Gambit and with a look said, effectively, "Now what?"
His spoken response to her unspoken question was he'd take the children and hide, and she would go and suit up as if nothing had happened—After all, she did have to follow up the report on that strange mutant in Boston in the morning. With one final kiss, full of meaning, she buoyed herself up to the wreckage of their room and rooted in the closet until she found her uniform. She suited up in the bathroom and decided she'd spend the rest of the night patrolling for any further intruders. It would be long 'til morning…
Several weeks later
In the dead of night, a shadowy figure crept from the forest at the side of the house, followed by a number of smaller ones. The lead figure made his way to an unused set of basement doors, using one of the girls' bobby pins as a simple yet effective lockpick. He placed a finger to his lips to indicate silence, then motioned for the legion of smaller figures to follow him inside. As they traversed their way toward the stairs that would lead them out of the pitch-black basement, he sent out a quick psychic signal to alert the head of household to the group's presence.
::P'rfessor?::
A telepathic smile in his head answered his query.
::Greetings, Remy. I am pleased to see that you and the children are well.::
::As if you'd be expectin' an'nithing less?::
His visible smirk answered the invisible mental one, and if possible the psychic smile grew wider in response.
::No, not from you, I expect. I disarmed the security systems briefly that you might enter as you saw fit.::
Remy mock-scowled, ::Like Remy couldn'ta got in all on 'is own past all that technology? You offend Remy's honor as a gen'leman t'ief, P'rfessor…::
There was a faint hint of sardonic mocking in the voice that responded. ::I'll not deign to respond to that. Gentleman, no. Thief, yes. Finish bringing the children upstairs where they belong. The rest of us will take care of them from then on. You need a break, it would seem.::
Remy smiled again, though expressions were invisible in the psychic realm.
::'Pears that way,:: he answered wearily, ::Nev'r knew workin' wit' kid's 'd take it out o' y' like 'dis…::
The psychic smile refused to fade. ::Welcome to our world, Remy…::
Remy just shook his head with a grin and opened the downstairs door. Ushering the children through into the rectangular patch of light most were found to head for the kitchen, some for the showers and the last group straight for their quarters. For them, simple necessities like food and cleanliness could wait.
As for Remy, he went straight back for his 'Roro—He knew she wasn't gonna wait once she knew he was back for good…
He snuck into their shared quarters like, well like a thief in the night, and crept up behind the Goddess at her vanity table and kissed her—Hard. She was startled at first, and dropped her forgotten hairbrush where it clattered on the wood surface then melted into the embrace once she realized who had apparently accosted her.
"Remy! In the Goddess' Name, where have you been!?" Anger warred with joy in Ororo's voice as she spoke her first words to her lover in weeks.
"It' a long story, Chere—Jus' sid'down on th' bed, make y'rself comfortable, 'cause this one's gonna be a while in the tellin'…"
"Where did you go? And with all those children to look after…? How in the world…Are you all right?"
"Fine, Chere—And as f'r th' rest…All in good time. Y' t'ink as a t'ief Remy wouldn't'a had more 'n a few good places t' hide out 'round 'is area? 'Course 'e did! In 'is case, all of us had t' hide in a tunnel off the sewer system—Not th' cleanest place, by any stretch, but 'ere was enough space, and it was safe. We made do. An' every one 'f those kids is back alive an' in one piece. Not so bad, consid'rin'…An' we 'ad help, too, sometimes. Anoth'r group o' mutants—this one all underground 'cause 'ey don' trus' 'Topsiders'—took care of us when we most looked to be fallin' apart. Knew a couple o' these bottom-feeders from before, an' gotta say, sometimes it be good f'r Remy t' have friends in low places, non?"
"I'm just glad you're back alive. I honestly thought the worst had happened when you didn't come back those first two weeks…"
"Jus' 'ad t' make sure th' coast was clear, Chere. Remy mos' glad 'e's back, 'ough…"
Ororo smiled wickedly, pulling him into another embrace, purring "Oh, really…And why is that…?"
One more deep kiss (that led to a great deal more!) proved just why the loner thief was so glad to be back home. Back where he belonged—In the arms of his Goddess.