Dismal Angel Revelations - Episode 1

Rejected By The Light

Chapter 2: 00067

Okay, Remy LeBeau thought. I need the X-Men, that part's obvious. But how do I get to the X-Men. There's no way in hell I can walk all the way there – if I can at all walk. Doesn't feel like I can feel my legs…Anyway…Even if I could walk…it's at least a hundred miles or so…by the time I got there, what would I do? Would anyone hear me?

Remy might have perhaps sighed if he had lungs, but in this ghostlike state he appeared to be in, he didn't have any reason for breathing. Is that what I am? He thought, a ghost?

He paused.

No, ghosts come from DEAD people. I'm not dead, I can see myself there breathing. So what am I exactly right now? He looked down at his body again and tried to touch it but his ashen fingers passed right through it as if perhaps they were never there to begin with. Crazy. I must be crazy. Maybe I'm going to wake up and this is all a dream.

He looked around him.

No, this isn't a dream, this is a fucking nightmare. One huge fucking nightmare…and I can't even pinch myself to wake myself up!

Remy sat there on the floor folded legged – a floor he couldn't really feel under his backside. He could see his legs now, and he could rest his hands upon his knees, yet couldn't feel them at all beneath his fingers.

There's a term for this thing I'm going through, he realised suddenly. During some late nights when I couldn't sleep, I'd watch TV at night…and I used to see those 'Unexplained Mysteries' reruns on cable about this. Outer-body experience. This is what it is, it has to be.

He spent some time considering this.

But with outer-body experiences, aren't the people usually clinically dead – even for a minute? I can SEE I'm still alive there. Okay, so what does this mean? I'm having an outer-body experience for some reason.

Remy looked at himself there on the floor, mesmerised for several moments. So how do I get back into my body again? He asked in thought, he reached over and tried to touch it again but was unable to make any kind of physical contact with it what so ever. How can I get back into it if I can't touch it? He noted the watch on his left wrist, the time showed it was just past 2am. He wondered if he might be able to press something somehow in order to send out a signal to the X-Men that he needed some urgent assistance.

He reached out and tried to tap the button under the LCD display of the watch, but his fingers passed right through it as if that watch were made perhaps of nothing but air.

Ghosts can move things, and this is almost like being a ghost, I guess. How come I can't move anything? Am I not concentrating enough? God, WHAT am I gonna do? He thought worriedly as he sat there in some kind of ghostlike form he didn't quite understand, and there was no one for miles, and no way to summon help. What am I gonna do?!

Ten minutes previous, in Bayville…

"I hate being on nightshift," Jean Grey yawned as she propped her arm up on the counter by one of the control panels in the war room. It was necessary to always have X-Men on duty twenty-four hours a day in the mansion, whether it be taking turns watching out for any events on the news that might need their attention, or, like Jean was doing now, standing by in the war room poised for emergency action in the event of an emergency call.

"Oh, it's not so bad," Hank McCoy – who was sharing nightshift with her this particular night – gave a large toothy grin, fangs gleaming in the dim lighting of the war room. "I can think of far worse things than doing a nightshift stint in the war room," he admitted a moment later, "like being on nightshift in the war room with Bobby."

Jean raised an eyebrow, "Bobby is your best friend, Hank. Why would being on nightshift with him be such a bad thing?" she asked.

"Because he hasn't been himself, I suppose," Hank confessed, "you know how Bobby used to be – it was always a gas being on nightshift with him, he'd find some way to keep us entertained – and awake…now he just sit there talking non-stop about Rogue...."

"And that's a problem?" Jean asked softly.

"I taught the girl, I've spent eight and a half years fighting by her side, do you honestly think I need to hear about her favourite colour and the perfume she wears?" Hank said after a moment of reflection. "Do you think it's love, or merely obsession?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Could be love," Jean admitted, "although, to be honest, Bobby never struck me as the type of guy who falls in love. The kind of guy who has relationships on and off, they work out fine, and end fine, but not the kind of guy who just goes in head over heels."

"I've tried to get some info about him, but he doesn't say much, just does the usual – changes the subject." Hank sighed.

"I don't understand how this relationship with Rogue started. Sure, I noticed he'd spend a lot of time around her," Jean confessed, "And sure, I always knew he had a slight crush on her."

"Who wouldn't?" Hank asked, "Rogue has blossomed into what I can only deem a severely beautiful woman. If I hadn't known her so long and been a mentor, teacher and friend, I might have felt the same way…but that's not to be, and would be most unorthodox, not to mention somewhat perverse," He confessed.

Jean tapped her fingernails upon the counter top absently, "more or less the moment Rogue came back from that so-called vacation merely hours after they left – it seemed that Rogue and Bobby just took to each other. It's so strange…"

"I tried talking to Rogue about that," Hank confessed, "she wouldn't tell anyone what happened. Kitty mentioned something briefly about a break up with Remy and that was all," he admitted. "Perhaps – although it might be bold to say so excuse my bluntness – that this relationship with Bobby is merely one of those 'rebound' situations that women seem to read about in 'Cosmopolitan' magazines all the time…" he suggested.

"Could be. But even with Rogue, I would have thought she'd take a breather from her relationship with Remy before jumping into a new one with Bobby..." Jean tucked her red hair behind her ears, "I know Rogue and Remy were deeply in love – a strange love that probably even me or Scott could never really understand or appreciate…" Jean's green eyes stared into space.

"What are you getting at?" Hank asked curiously.

"I just…I think…in all honesty…that if it had been me and Scott breaking up in the way that she and Remy must have, then…it would have taken me a lot longer to 'get over' what had happened. It was barely three days later when Rogue and Bobby came back holding hands from a date – they've been inseparable ever since."

"Whatever Remy did, it must have been something very drastic to make Rogue fall out of love with him so quickly," Hank commented.

Jean was about to say something else when a very unfamiliar beeping began to go off in the war room, she jumped, and turned towards the control panel, "what's the beeping?" she looked frantically for any kind of information on the monitors.

"Oh…" Hank raised an eyebrow, "it's one of the watches…" he pointed to a very small monitor near his left side. Hank, and the Professor had created watches specific for the X-Men several months before. The watches worked as two-way communicators, tracking systems, they could even tell the temperature of the environment the wearer was in, plus the added necessity of a watch – to tell time. All the X-Men and the students were required to wear them at all times.

"What watch…"

Hank glanced to the monitor near him, and he hit the 'I' key on the keypad to bring up more information, "watch number 00067," he said.

"who's 67?" Jean asked. Each member given a watch was designated with a watch number.

Scratching his head, Hank hit the 'Q' key to query the number. The information scrolled down over the screen

00067

Elizabeth Braddock

Blue Team

Member Status: Hiatus

"Oh my…" Hank said, "it's Betsy."

Jean got up quickly and leaned over Hank's back to look at the screen he himself was staring at, a profile of Betsy Braddock appeared on the screen, along with her watch number, and vital statistics. Underneath, flashing in red text, was the word 'pulse dropping'."

"Pulse dropping?" Jean asked.

Hank got up quickly and ran over to the opposite side of the war room where a large plasma screen was mounted upon the wall, he hit the "T" key on the keyboard underneath the screen and waited for the prompt to appear, "me and the professor were testing out a new feature with the last ten watches we created," Hank responded, "the watch detects the average pulse rate of it's wearer, and if the pulse rate drops, it sends out an automatic distress signal – which is what the beeping sound was – it was alerting us that one of the X-Men needs medical attention."

Jean watched as Hank typed in the number 00067 and a map of the world appeared in colour upon the plasma screen. Moments later, the image began to zoom on the United States, and then zoomed further upon an area just outside of New York, "he's not far," she said, sounding quite relieved.

"We should alert the team," Hank suggested.

"Who are we going to alert? The Blue team are away on a mission, Ororo and Kurt are also out on a mission," she reminded.

Hank bit into his lip as he watched the pulse monitor on screen, "Betsy is going to DIE if we don't do something soon, Jean…we need to get out there as soon as we can."

Jean rushed over to the door, "okay, I'll go get suited up…"

"You can't go alone," Hank gaped.

"What choice do I have? Someone has to be here in case of an emergency call…"

Hank stood quickly, "I'll go with you…Kitty can keep watch in here."

"Kitty is eight and a half months pregnant! She doesn't need that kind of stress."

"Kitty will be fine. She doesn't panic, if anything comes through she'll react calmly and accordingly…besides, what choice do we have?" Hank asked.

"Fine," Jean sighed, "But I'd rather not have her working in here whilst in her condition."

"She'll be fine, Jean, I promise," Hank put his large hand on her shoulder, "go get ready. I'll prepare The Red Eye 2."