Chapter 2: an Arrival

The chime of the bell stopped me half way up the stairs.

"Who's going to get that?" I yelled.

Alex pelted down the hall. "I will." He opened the door and froze, mouth hanging open.

"Emma."

"Caitlyn. Good to see you."

I walked back down the stairs, carefully keeping my mind blank. "Who called you?"

"No one called me. I…" she made a face, "I need help."

"Thought I'd never see the day. Fine, you'd better come in. But if Scott tries to fry me, I'm hiding behind you. Alex, close your mouth."

I waved Emma inside and lead her down the hall to the study smaller study Scott had claimed.

"And how is everyone?" she asked.

"Scott? His usual stick-in-the-mud self." I answered, and then added silently, "You really did care, didn't you."

Emma showed no reaction, instead raising an eyebrow meaningfully. "Would you like to tell me why you're limping?"

"I am not!" Blood rushed to my face.

"Who's the guy? Not Logan…"

"Goddess no!" I squawked, "You don't know him."

We stopped outside the door and I knocked three times. I heard the chair scrape back and Scott pulled the door open.

"Emma… uh…" he noticed me with some relief. "Caitlyn, would you mind explaining?"

"I know about as much as you do."

Scott adjusted his glasses and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind us. "How important is this?"

"Very."

"I'll get the others, then." Scott said, disappearing down the hall.

Emma sat down in a soft chair and propped her head on one hand. Now that I looked closely, I could see dark circles through her makeup and her eyes were glassy.

"Are you alright?"

She shrugged. "I'll explain everything later."

We waited in silence for five minutes before Scott came back into sight. "Everyone's waiting in the library."

I followed him in to the large room and sat down next to Remy at a circular table tucked into one of the reading rooms. When Emma entered the room, he immediately lurched to his feet.

"Ya-"

"Gambit."

I looked from one of them to the other. "You two… know each other?"

"Ai met her at Alkali Lake. Didn't know who she was or anythin'. Jus' someone ta talk ta. When Ai got out, she was… in testin' an' Ai couldn't get her out too."

"That's actually why I'm here. After Alcatraz, Pyro and a few of the others disappeared. We- Janos and I- thought that they had just run away. But last week," she paused for a moment. "Last week we were attacked and Janos was taken. I managed to get a bit out of the guards' heads."

"Why should we help?"

"Logan!" Storm snapped.

"At least let me finish. I found out that they came from a place called 'Base 14' run by Rebecca Stryker."

Everyone went perfectly still.

"She wants to finish her uncle's work. She's kidnapping mutants so she can make something that will attack anything with the X-gene."

"We'll help you. Tell us everything you know." Scott ordered.

"That's it. I know where the guards came from, who's in charge, and what she's trying to do. That's it. They were unconscious going to and from the base, so I can't tell where it is."

"Well dis is jus' great." Remy snapped. He pushed past Emma and out of the room.

"Is that it, Emma?" she nodded, "then I'm leaving."

Remy was leaning against the ash tree, playing with his well-worn deck of playing cards.

"Do you want to talk?"

"'Bout what?"

I slipped my arms around his shoulders. "You were at Alkali Lake, I remember the tags. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

His breath whooshed out of him and he sat down. I sat with him.

"Dey kept us in cages, mine was made o' real thick wood so's Ai couldn't do anythin' with it." he started shakily, "All de guards were very careful naut ta give me anythin' Ai could use. Every day, Ai gaut set ta de lab an… dey's run dese tests. All day. An…" he swallowed, "Da guards, dey, some o' dem… Non-"

I rested my hand on his cheek, "Remy…"

"Dey liked hurtin' us. Sometimes, dey just start beatin' on someone fo' no reason. Some o' dem were 'bout as decent as dey could get, played cards with dem. Used the coins Ai gaut ta get out."

"Goddess… I'm sorry."

"Ai'm fine now."

"For a card player, you are horrible at lying." I muttered.

Remy kissed my forehead. "Really, chere, Ai'm fine. What cette femme said brought back some memories."

"Alright… but really, if you need anything?" I kissed him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Anythin'?"

"You nymphomaniac!" I shrieked.

He laughed.

I settled down next to him and let my head rest on his shoulder. He slipped an arm around my waist.

"Do ya want ta tell me why an' Jean looked madder den hell every time ol' Scott looked at Emma?"

My mouth twisted into a grin. "Scott and Emma… well." I coughed meaningfully, "Jean got him back, but she still doesn't like her."

"Scott and Emma?"

I nodded.

Remy glanced down at me. "Ai really need ta give him some credit."

I poked him. "I don't want his ego better any more inflated. Soon, his head will be so full of hot air we could use him for a blimp."

"C'est vrai. Want ta get away from de school fo' a while?"

"Like… a date?"

A/N: I know a lot of people hate Emma Frost, but she's really fun to write and I either had to deal with her or Riptide and I just don't know enough about his character.