Ch. 4 Roar at the Door, My Mind Can't Take Much More
Remy jumped off his bike and soundlessly scurried around to the back of the building. He crouched down low and stayed in the shadows as he scanned up the building. Five stories up Remy could see lights flash on from of the windows. With no way of being sure it was Claire's apartment, he was forced to scale the emergency ladder. It creaked a bit as it gave way to his body weight, but he made sure to make no more of a disturbance than the average alley cat would.
As he reached his target, he carefully peered in through the window. To his left, he could tell he was looking in through a living room and Claire was at the other end. There was an open kitchen attached directly to the living room and she was standing over the stove to heat up a pot of tea. Just then, Claire casually turned and walked into the living room. As she did so, she began to unbutton her suit jacket, revealing a skin tight black satin blouse. She marched through a door to the right and disappeared from Remy's view. His window options were placed right between a wall, so Remy ducked over to the window on his right. As he peered in, he noticed she had flicked on a small table lamp and had lifted the blouse overhead to reveal a very sexy dark purple lace pushup bra. She seamlessly leaned over her bed just a bit as she carefully began to unzip her skirt. Remy realized she was in the act of completely undressing and for once in his lifetime, he started to feel dirty while peeping in on such a private act of hers. So he ducked under the window and turned to rest his back against the wall in a low crouch. He could hear her humming along to herself as she nonchalantly visited several areas of her room. Remy could just picture that perfect silhouette of hers strolling gloriously around in the lace underwear. He was so tempted to sneak another peak, but he resisted. He heard another light switch click on and not too soon after he could hear the drumming of the shower water against the basin. What he wouldn't give to have a little bathroom window to peer through. Then he heard the worst sound ever; the door shutting. He carefully stretched himself out and peaked inside. It was true, Claire was all alone to herself in the shower now and Remy was left standing all by his lonesome on the emergency landing, feeling like a fool.
What was he thinking? Catching scents was Logan's thing. 'Why on earth would Sabertooth be here stalkin' Claire in 'de the first place?' Remy thought. He was probably just so taken by her that he was coming up with excuses to spy on her. Remy chuckled at the predicament that his overactive mind had lead him to and then proceeded to climb back down the protesting fire escape. It had just begun to drizzle and Remy lifted his head to take a quick sniff just to be absolutely sure. Nothing. So he leisurely straddled his bike, and was ready to start the engine. 'Dis is one for de record books', he teased himself.
Without warning, a window from above crashed open and a large object came crashing to the ground just behind Remy into the alleyway. Slightly startled, Remy looked up to see that it was Claire's bedroom window which it had broken through. He swung his leg over and jumped off his bike. A quick look proved the object to be a broken chair which had fallen. Remy wasted no time scaling the fire escape upwards all while scolding himself for not trusting his first instinct. Sabertooth or not, something was obviously wrong and Claire was clearly in danger.
He leaped onto the window ledge and peered into the now pitch black bedroom. Not even the bathroom light was on and Remy could make out that the door was wide open. There was no sign of Claire. However, something large and imposing began to move from a corner to his right.
"Did ya catch her?" There was a menacing growl and Sabertooth himself came swaggering towards him. Remy was confused by the question but had no time to reply as out of the darkness, a lamp was smashed over Sabertooth's head from behind.
"No." That was definitely Claire's voice and Remy was just a little relieved to know that at least up until now, she was safe. From here on out, he intended to keep it that way. Luckily, Claire had managed to catch Sabertooth off guard and he growled in frustration. Whatever had happened beforehand had caused him to believe that Claire was out of his fur. Although surprised at Claire's presence, Remy knew it wouldn't take long for the feral to recover and regroup.
Faster than the eye can see, Remy whipped out his bo staff, which he always kept hidden in the expansive folds of his duster, and extended it to full length. For once in his life he wished he had a deadlier weapon, like a samurai or even a bazooka. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of having to fight Sabertooth in close quarters with no backup and just his old fighting stick. On top of that, using his powers was out of the question in front of Claire. He flattered himself at being such a good X-Man by remembering the Professor's order about not letting Claire find out they were mutants.
Sabertooth bellowed and turned himself in Claire's direction, which was perfect for Gambit as it left the beast's back wide open. He launched himself in the air while winding his arms up and behind him as if preparing to take a swing at home plate. Most of the power in a mid-air attack like this had to come from his back and shoulders, but Remy was a skilled enough fighter to not need the assistance of leg muscles to deliver a massive blow. He aimed just at the base of Sabertooth's skull, where his spine started at the neck. Sabertooth wouldn't go down with one blow but this one was gonna come close and hopefully screw up a lot of his motor functions. If it could be seen in slow motion, a bystander would have seen the perfect fluidity of Remy's strike just as he came into range and then released everything that had been wound up like a slingshot. The Bo staff reached its intended target with perfect accuracy, as Remy ever so slightly slacked up his grip on the weapon to cushion the blow for himself. Crack!
It was a good hit. Sabertooth was now face down on the floor wide-mouthed and drooling with his eyes slightly rolled back. Claire had scrambled back into the shadows as Remy gracefully landed on his feet.
"Too bad fer you, fils de putain, you stink so bad you can't sneak up on no one."
Gambit's victory was expectedly short-lived as Sabertooth was already rolling to his side and curling his legs underneath him, preparing to pounce. Remy knew this wouldn't be a short tussle, but his initial goal had already been reached. The focus was now on him and not Claire. At least he had a fighting chance. She would have been like a lamb being lead to slaughter.
He took a step back to find a balanced fighting stance and began to spin the Bo staff in front of him in anticipation. He didn't see Claire but his spatial awareness told him she was holding fast along the wall. 'Smart girl', he thought to himself.
"Why don't you just butt out Runt!" Sabertooth interrupted his train of thought. He pushed off of all fours directly at Gambit with claws blazing out in front. The slow dance was over. Now it was time for the all-out brawl. Remy had kept the staff spinning to knock the heavy paws away. With deadly speed he palmed it over his right forearm and thrust it up into Sabertooth's jaw, by pushing down on the end close to his own body. The blow connected but it didn't do anything to slow the massive bulk of the feral mutant colliding with him. Not only was Sabertooth big, but he was all muscle. Remy could testify to that as he got slammed into with full force. He had managed to slightly twist to the right to protect his face and vital organs but he had still been dazed and knocked flat by it. He couldn't let this slow him down. The key to besting a larger opponent was to be faster than them. He shook his head clear of the cobwebs and saw that Sabertooth was lying on his back. Just beside him. Remy was pleased to know the large mutant was stunned as well. About half of his jaw had been knocked off the side of his face. A quick check of his grip notified Remy that he luckily hadn't lost his Bo staff in the collision. He couldn't afford to lose his only weapon. In that moment, he decided that he needed more space from his enemy, so he wobbly got to his fee. Sabertooth's eyes fluttered open and a low growling erupted from his lips.
"Whew boy! I sure hope you's got dental!" Remy shouted as he burst through the bedroom door into the living room. He turned at the sound of metal door hinges snapping and had barely enough time to duck down low as Sabertooth hurled the entire bedroom door in his direction. The cumbersome object went crashing into the open kitchen area. Remy afforded himself a glance back into the kitchen, as it made an overwhelming racket. 'Dat's sure to wake de neighbors, if M'sieur Tooth's ruckus hasn't already!' he thought. He didn't have much time to ponder if that was a good or bad thing as he heard Sabertooth begin to snarl again. His attention snapped back to the massive beast that was approaching him.
Just then, Claire flung herself from behind onto Creed's back. She began to pull at his fur and scratch at his face. All she had on was her lingerie and silk robe from earlier, so she was clearly not protected from his deadly claws. Adrenaline must have kicked in and clouded her senses because clearly the gal was outmatched. Sabertooth's eyes gleamed with murderous lust over Claire's mistake. When dealing with him, it was best to avoid the razor sharp talons rather than jumping into their reach. He began to laugh sinisterly as he clutched behind himself. He grabbed her robe and threw Claire over his head, onto the floor at his feet.
'Come to Poppa!' he bellowed. His yellow stained fangs were barred as he raised his claws at Claire; preparing to shred her apart as she lay in a messy heap, clearly terrified. Claire's wail brought Remy into action. He catapulted himself into a low run, scooped her into his arms, while rolling them both through Creed's wide-legged stance. Remy briskly pulled a curtain down from along the wall and whipped it over Creed's head. As Sabertooth struggled with it, Remy prepared himself to fight again, but not before sternly placing Claire along the wall out of harm's way. Before he could run off, she desperately seized his jacket.
"Wait!" she stammered. Remy was going to say something to her like, "Don't worry you'll be safe here", or, "I'll protect you", but she didn't give him the chance.
"Don't start any fires", she said under her breath. Having pulled his face closely, "I left the gas from the stovetop on!" she said. It was an odd thing to think of at that exact moment, but the worry in her eyes was very clear, which gave Remy an idea.
"I'll handle 'dis chere", he said, placing his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to signal her to stay put. He could hear Creed shredding apart the fabric obstacle as he snapped back into action. The monster was already clear of the curtain and rushing full speed at Remy.
'Perfect', he thought as he scrambled to reposition himself into the middle of the room with his back to the kitchen. He locked his Bo staff out in front of him with both arms and steeled himself for the hit as Sabertooth built up speed. Just before contact was made, the X-Man grimaced and released a shout of his own to provoke Sabertooth into using all of his power.
At the last possible second, Remy made a risky move by dropping his staff to the ground and clutching to the fur of Sabertooth's chest. Instead of thrusting against the feral's momentum, he used it by falling back with it. Remy smoothly rolled his back onto the ground and drove his powerful legs into Creed's gut. The move brought his opponent overhead and airborne in seconds. Once Remy knew all of Creed's bulk was being launched towards the kitchen, he let go and allowed inertia to do the rest of the work.
There was a deafening clatter as Sabertooth uncontrollably crashed onto the center island and continued to plunge down and through half of the oven. Gambit flipped onto his stomach and turned his head to get a visual on Claire. She had stayed where he'd left her this time along the wall near the window.
Before a second could pass, he reached with both hands into the pockets of his trench coat. He expertly slipped a card into one hand and fumbled out an old lighter with the other. It was clumsily maneuvered to light the card and wasn't really needed, but Claire was watching intently. Remy was still bound and determined to hide his powers from her. He leaked some of his kinetic energy into the card as he ignited it with fire. He focused on controlling a time-lapse in the detonation of his miniature bomb. Then he flicked it into the kitchen.
As soon as the flaming card took flight, he heard Claire gasp out a frightened, "No!" He gathered his staff to him and sprung off of the floor to race over to Claire. Out of instinct, she clutched at him while he scooped her into his arms.
Sabertooth growled and Remy just couldn't resist turning back to look as his little card settled on the countertop that Creed had crashed into. He knew he had only seconds before the time-release would go off, but that was all he needed. As Sabertooth was looking his way after finding his feet, Remy shouted, "Au revoir M'sieur Tooth!" He tossed in a quick two-finger salute from his forehead as well.
"Wait!" Claire suddenly screamed as she shifted out from Gambit's hold, throwing him off-balance. Without warning, the plan to escape was going to hell. He scrambled to grab her back while she started reaching inwards towards a chair. He noticed that on it sat her precious briefcase.
"Forget it chere!" he yelled, but that was all he had time to do as the charge went off and ignited Sabertooth, the kitchen, and over half of the living room. The aftershock sent him crashing through the glass window as he lost his already precarious hold on Claire.
'Dat was way bigger 'den I thought it'd be', he thought as the black of night outside abruptly enveloped him while the ground quickly rose up to catch him in its deadly grasp.
To be continued…
A/N: Thanks for reading so far. I try to speed up my updates as much as I can but I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it's hard for me to approve a final edit, plus I'm a bit lazy in the that I only write up a detailed summary, then write chapters as I go when submitting. A bit contradictory, I know. Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying, there is lots to come. Stick around, and if you feel compelled to leave a comment, I do so appreciate your graciousness.
Next up: We'll see what kind of condition poor Remy is in after his encounter with Sabertooth, and we just might get a little more insight on this mysterious Subject #3. More clues on the way!