Title: The House of the Rising Sun, Chapter 3
Author: Goddess Evie
Date: October 15, 2002
Genre: Romance (Remy/Rogue, Scott/Jean, Lance/Kitty), Action, Drama, Angst, AU, heck, it's got it all…just not all in this chapter-prologue thingie. ^_^
Rating: G, and I really don't think this'll get above PG.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own X-Men of any incarnation. I am but a poor, fanatical, poor, college student who much enjoys a show so that she writes extensive (and hopefully intriguing, enjoyable, and highly popular) fanfiction to feed her insatiable hunger for anything X-Men and is poor, if I haven't mentioned that already. Also, the song lyric I use as the optional title doesn't belong to me either. I'm quoting the song "Shelter" by Sarah McLachlan, my absolute favorite-est artist in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! Which is why you shouldn't be surprised when you see so many of her song lyrics as Chapter titles, though I AM trying to throw some variety in there, I swear! But, sadly, I own nothing but the plot so don't sue me cause I can't even pay for college! WAAAAH!
Summary: Xavier detects a new mutant, can YOU guess who it is? Believe me, it's not that hard. And Ororo takes a small contingency to go confront this new mutant. Also, Logan finally finds Rogue, thanks to the fact that she's lying unconscious in the middle of the road! It's a good thing she's already absorbed Ms. Marvel's powers….eheh.
Author's Note: This one came out longer than I expected because Remy's scene ended up being so long, but I hope it's still enjoyable, and it's definitely a crucial part to the story. So, you're just going to have to deal with it. Also, if you're wondering about the "(1)" at the end of the title, that just designates that there will be more than one chapter with this title, and this is just the first one. I think I have at least 2 planned, so look forward to the second one! Sadly to say, this is all of the fic that I have finished. I will have much writing and MAJOR EDITING to do before any proceeding chapters come out, and that might take a while thanks to an overload of work and school, but I promise to work on it as diligently as possible. Cross my heart and hope to die. I started just today on Chapter 4, but no telling when I will feel that it's ready enough to be posted. I really am a perfectionist. Even today, when I was re-reading for the hundred-billionth time the prologues and first three chapters, I was making changes. I don't think I can ever make this story good enough for myself. I only hope you think it "good enough" for yourselves. For now, just enjoy these three prologues and three chapters. Read them over and over again until I post more. Finish writing your own version of this story. I don't care, just PLEASE be patient with me? Please…pretty please…?
Chapter 3: "Shelter-give them shelter from the coming storm." (1)
Despite his enhanced eyesight, Logan didn't see the object laying in the middle of the road until the last second. With a jerk of the wheel and a squeal of tires, he swerved to miss whatever it was and stopped his truck to investigate. With the motor still running Logan exited the vehicle and jogged back to where the something had been laying. Even in the dark of the night he could make out its form.
He could also smell it, and the familiar scent that assaulted his nose sent him to a dead run, dropping hard to his knees next to Rogue's unconscious form. Gently rolling her over onto her back, he looked her over for any obvious damage as his mind reeled with questions. He had no time for them now, however, and he knew it. Seeing that there were no severe wounds needing immediate attention, Logan took the unconscious girl in his arms and headed back to his truck.
Somehow he managed to open the passenger door and get her settled on the seat. He propped her up with help of the seatbelt, so that he wouldn't close the door on her, then quickly made his way to the other side of the automobile and climbed in. Remembering that he had passed a small town just a few miles back, he turned his truck to point in the direction he had been coming from, shifted it into drive, and sped off.
With Rogue silently unconscious, and nothing but the hum of the tires to keep him company, the questions that Logan had previously pushed away now came to rest in the front of his mind. Where had she been? What had she been doing? Why had she been unconscious in the middle of the road? Why was she dressed like she was? He inhaled deeply through his nose, hoping to find some clues in her scent, but there was too much intermingled and all overpowered by her own natural odor for him to make anything out. He would just have to wait until she woke up and could question her for himself.
But at least his search was over, now. It was incredible luck for him to find her so suddenly when he'd found next to nothing for the long months he'd been searching. Finally, he could return to Bayville and the X-men, with Rogue. He knew he should have kept in contact with Charles, but he didn't want to get up any false hopes in anyone's mind. He had remembered the smell of guilt surrounding Scott and the overpowering scent of loss and grief that had enveloped Kurt. He hadn't been able to handle those two, not to mention all the other students wandering around also reeking of despair, depression, and even more grief. And so he had left to find her, knowing that now everyone was counting on him. If only Rogue had known how much she would be missed, would she have left so suddenly?
But that was a question to be answered when Rogue awoke. And she was still in a deep sleep, leaning against the cool window of the passenger side door. She was here, though, with him, soon to be back at the Mansion where everyone would celebrate her return and things could get back to normal.
Still, he couldn't help wondering…
Pulling into the parking lot of the small motel located in the middle of the town, Logan pushed those questions from his mind. He parked the car and turned it off before climbing out, telling Rogue, unconscious as she was, that he'd be back soon. Quickly he entered the grungy office of the motel and ordered a room for the night. The attendant on shift wasn't up for chatter of any kind, as she took Logan's money and got him a key card, and for that Logan was glad. He'd always hated the kind of employees who wanted to chat and learn all about your life. Logan's life was his own and no one else's business, not even Professor Charles Xavier's.
Key card in hand, Logan took the time to find the room, unlock and enter it, turn on a few dim lights, and prop the door open before returning to get Rogue. Just as gently as before he extracted Rogue from the truck, kicking the door closed, and carried her to the room. He hooked the chair he'd placed in front of the door to keep it from closing with his foot, pulling it out of the way so the door would swing shut and then laid out the unconscious mutant on one of the two double beds that took up most of the room.
Now that they were relatively safe, Logan took the time to do a more in-depth search of Rogue, being extremely careful not to touch her skin. Even in sleep her mutant ability was active and potent and she didn't need any of him running around inside her head with everybody else she'd absorbed. He found that she had no weapons and he could detect no internal injuries. There were some old bruises on her neck that were now faded and yellow along with some burns in various stages of healing, though none so bad that they needed treatment, and Logan had to wonder who or what had caused them. More questions to be answered when she awoke. Overall, she seemed to be fine and had settled into a deep sleep.
Logan allowed himself to fall back onto the edge of the other bed, his chin supported by his fists as he watched Rogue sleep. Glancing at the phone on the bedside table he briefly considered calling the mansion, but once again he knew he couldn't get anyone's hopes up without first finding out with whom Rogue's loyalties lay. At this point he could only hope and speculate. And with Rogue, that wasn't easy. Unlike Scott or Jean, Rogue's ideas of right and wrong weren't black and white.
She'd had a long hard life that few at the institute could imagine or truly sympathize with, not that she had ever made it easy for those who tried. And because of her mutant ability, it seemed everyone wanted her for some diabolic plan. She'd been a member of the Brotherhood before she'd come to live at the Mansion and be an X-Man. No one was ever sure whether or not she would turn sides because a villain had an arguable point. Logan knew that at least one or two of the students had decided that she'd finally decided to turn traitor and had left with the Brotherhood the day of the junkyard incident.
Well, at the moment there wasn't much that he could do, except wait for Rogue to wake up. Making himself comfortable, Logan resigned himself to a long wait.
Professor Xavier sat perfectly still in his wheel chair, as Cerebro did her job. He was at his daily ritual, looking for newly emerging mutants. He spent at least an hour a day doing this, sometimes more if he thought he'd found one. He'd been at it today for almost forty minutes with no mutant signatures detected. Twenty more minutes and he'd give up for the day. When he was linked with Cerebro he had a very clarified and distinct sense of time that he hadn't yet been able to explain.
Although he'd never tell anyone, he'd also found another reason for this day-to-day custom since the beginning of the summer. He hoped that perhaps he'd be able to find Rogue again. For the most part he'd been unsuccessful in his search, although there had been a couple of times when he'd thought he'd gotten close. But each time he'd lost the signal, whether it had been her's or not. Other than that he'd not sensed a thing.
Ah, but today it looked like he might get lucky. Cerebro was picking up a mutant signature and even now pinpointing it. Somewhere along the east coast-no, further in than that, but still east of the Appalachians. In his mind Xavier could see the Appalachian states in his mind as if he were looking at a map. Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky all zoomed by before Cerebro slowed halfway into Tennessee. Focusing closer in, Charles watched as cities and towns in the rolling hills of Tennessee sped by in his mind's eye, but Cerebro didn't stop at any.
In fact, Cerebro never stopped at all. Instead, she zoomed in on a highway and followed it at blinding speed, bypassing cars, trucks, semis and other vehicles with ease. If Xavier had been watching the scene with his real eyes he would have gotten dizzy and possibly even nauseous. In real life, he suffered from motion sickness and thus traveled only when necessary. But when he was on the astral plane, without a physical body, all physical limitations were also gone and Xavier could do as he pleased.
Cerebro soon found herself, with Charles in tow, up beside one of those huge charter buses, hovering along and in and around it, until finally it settled upon the face of a young man staring out the window. A ruffian by the looks of it, but Charles tried not to make judgments before he actually met the mutant. Quickly, he locked onto the coordinates and programmed Cerebro to keep track of the young man and link with the Blackbird. Then, pulling the helmet from his head and setting it carefully in its place on the console, he activated his wheelchair and left the large, spherical room Cerebro was housed in.
Ororo was waiting in the hall outside like always, ready in case he picked up anything. She had the same hopeful look in her eyes and serene look on her face. Ororo was one mutant who had come to terms with her powers and mutant status. He nodded at her and she smiled.
"Take a small group of students with you. Cerebro is already linked with the Blackbird and the coordinates are locked in. I'm afraid this one is currently on the move, so approach with care," Charles told her.
"Of course, Charles," she squeezed his shoulder as she passed by.
*And as always, be safe,* he sent to her telepathically.
Rogue awoke from the dream she was having to a sunny room and the most comfortable bed she'd slept in for months. For a while she just let herself lie there with her eyes closed, enjoying the luxuriousness of it all. After living with the Brotherhood, this was paradise.
But eventually her mind coaxed her into opening her eyes, sitting up and taking a look around. Alarm bells were going off in her head as she wondered how she'd arrived here. The last thing she could remember was flying through the air when Carol Danver's memories had assaulted her until finally she had blacked out. How had she gotten here? Who had found her and brought her to this place?
Her first instinct was to suspect the Brotherhood. It was obvious by the way that they had shown up at that bar in New Orleans that Mystique still wanted her. But they would never have left her alone and unguarded. At least one of them would have been left behind to keep an eye on her. So, then, who?
Just at that moment the answer decided to walk through the door. The biggest smile Rogue had ever worn since discovering her mutant powers broke onto her face as Logan let the door swing closed behind himself.
"Logan, yer an angel," she told him.
He raised his eyebrows at her at that comment as he walked around to the other bed and settled himself down on the edge of it. He set a bag down on the bedside table that had the most delectable smell coming from it, causing Rogue's stomach to rumble as a reminder that she hadn't eaten since before she'd escaped from the Brotherhood of Mutants.
"You hungry?" he asked as he uncrumpled the top of the bag and stuck his hand in.
"Yes," her answer came out a little too eager and she looked away with a blush.
"Here then," he said, making her turn back.
She watched as Logan pulled two meals out of the bag, sandwiches, fries, and bottled sodas. Without waiting Rogue dug in, shoving french fries into her mouth and swallowing them only half chewed.
"So where ya been?" Logan asked when everybody else would have told her to slow down and chew.
She slowed her fry gorging and finished masticating the food in her mouth and swallowed before she answered.
"Where d'ya think?" she asked snidely.
"Just answer the question."
That was Logan for you, straightforward and no nonsense as ever.
"With the Brotherhood," she said as she uncapped her soda for a drink.
"And what were you doing with them?" he asked before taking a huge bite of his burger.
"Doin' their dirty work," she answered disgustedly as she munched on more fries.
He looked her directly in the eyes. "And why would you be doing that for them?"
She ignored the accusing tone in his voice, remembering that this was Logan, eternally suspicious.
"Look, Ah didn't want to. Mystique captu'ed me an' forced me t'do her biddin'. If Ah'd had a choice that wouldn't have been it," she assured.
"Then what happened that day?" Logan kept on with his relentless questions between bites of his food.
Rogue sighed as she let her hand drop into her lap, still clutching the last of her fries. She knew exactly what day he was talking about. The day the X-men and the Brotherhood of Mutants had rumbled in that junkyard. She didn't like to remember that day and what it had meant for her. But she knew Logan wouldn't leave her alone until she answered, so she forced the memories out of the recesses of her mind and told her story to Logan.
"When we all split up, Ah went with Scott. We'd chanced upon Toad and Scott was tryin' to shoot 'im down. Ah was doin' muh best t'stay outta his way. That's when Kitty showed up, said Kurt was in some kahnd of trouble an' wanted me to come with her t'help 'im. It looked t'me lahke Scott had everythin' undah control, so Ah followed Kitty," here Rogue paused and squeezed her eyes shut. She expected Logan to order her to continue her story, but he sat silently. Finally, as Logan remained quiet, Rogue continued. "It wasn't Kitty really, just Mystique in disguahse. But Ah didn't know that until it was too late. When she had the chance she revealed herself t'me and kidnapped me."
"Why?"
"Ah don'know. All summah she's been sendin' me out with the Brotherhood t'do this or do that. Lahke Ah said befo', Ah didn't want to," Rogue reminded.
Logan wiped his fingers on a napkin, then reached out and pushed her hair away from her neck, keeping a check on their position in relation to her skin. "What happened here?"
Rogue put her hand to her neck, massaging it, Logan pulling his hand away quickly in response to the action. She could still feel some of the burns from the collar she'd been forced to wear. "Mystique's way of controllin' me. If Ah didn't do what she wanted me to, she gave me a nasty shock," Rogue explained. "And she had no qualms about knockin' me out if she thought it was necessary."
Logan nodded, not saying anything. As she finished the last few bites of her hamburger and washed it down with a long gulp of soda, she waited for him to pass judgment. He never did, however. Instead he rose from the bed and headed for the door again. He opened it as if to leave, but stopped and looked back at her.
"There's an extra key card here for you," he gestured to the desk where a small white card was sitting. "Feel free to get out and walk around. Just be ready to go in three hours."
She nodded at him and he left.
Rogue's first order of business was to take a nice long bath. She soaked in the steamy water until she was prunie all over. When she was done she toweled off, put her cat suit back on since that was the only clothing she had, did her best to finger comb her hair and decided a nice walk was exactly what she needed. So, remembering to grab the key card and stick it in one of the various pockets of her cat suit, she left.
The town was small, at least compared to New Orleans and Rogue soon found herself leaving the downtown area and entering the suburbs. She let herself relax for once and just enjoy the late summer weather, the green trees lining each street and the well-groomed houses and yards. Without a watch she couldn't very well keep track of the time, but she'd had two hours of Logan's three hour free time left so she figured she had plenty of time to get back to the hotel.
It was on her way back that she found the trouble she hadn't even been looking for. It came to her in the shape of three young men out looking for some last minute summer fun. One of them had a video camera in hand and was filming his two buddies performing their stupid and immature antics. Rogue rolled her eyes at them and kept walking. But the three boys refused to be ignored.
"Hey, hey!" the one with the video camera commented as he turned the lens on her, sweeping it up and down her body. "What have we here?"
The attention of the two other boys was soon on her, too, and they jogged across the street in order to catch up to her.
"Hey baby, want to be in our film?"
"I'd say it's not a porno, but then I'd be lieing," another one taunted her.
"Leave me alone," she growled, refusing to look at them.
But the one with the camera got right in her face, and thus in her path, forcing her to stop.
"Come on, don't be shy," he told her. "The camera loves you."
The other two sidled up close to her, getting liberous with their hands. Rogue remembered her newly acquired mutant powers just in time to stop herself from pushing the three away. She knew she didn't have much control over or experience with them and so she tried not to do anything rash that might get anyone hurt. Instead, she pushed herself past them, walking swiftly back in the direction of the hotel. The three insisted on following her.
"Come on, girlie, don't be shy."
"Yeah, make love to the camera darling."
"Ah said, leave me alone!"
Rogue had had enough and she made one final, desperate attempt to get away from them. Before she realized what was happening she had lifted into the air with the help of Danver's powers and was flying away, leaving the boys on the ground, staring at her in awe, the lens of the camera following her all the way.
*Logan'll kill me if he finds out,* she scolded herself.
She knew that what she had just done was stupid, especially with no Professor Charles Xavier around to erase their minds and destroy their camera, but she couldn't undo it, so she just kept going. If she didn't tell Logan, he'd never know…hopefully. And if he somehow he did find out, well, she'd just have to see how clever she could be. When the boys were out of sight, Rogue set herself down and walked the rest of the way back to the hotel.
Not sure if Logan would be back already, she made sure that she looked and acted normal before sliding the key card through the door lock. The electronic lock beeped, the small light turning from red to green and she pushed on the handle to enter the room before she lost her window of opportunity and had to go through the process of unlocking the door again.
To her relief, Logan wasn't back yet. Checking the clock on the bedside table she saw that she still had an hour or so before he'd probably return. Deciding it was probably best to stay in until he returned, Rogue tossed her key card back onto the desk and flopped onto the bed. With a flick of the remote the TV was on and she spent the rest of the afternoon watching whatever looked interesting.
Remy's bus was making a two-hour pit stop in some small podunk town somewhere in Tennessee. Everywhere he looked he saw cowboy hats, farmers, hicks and mountain men. Even worse than that, the music coming from cars, shops and radios was all country western. How he missed the jazzy rhythms and spicy beats of the Deep South. Amidst all these two-steppin' cowboys and girls greeting each other with a "Howdy" he felt completely out of place. What he wouldn't give to hear a real bluesy song and someone calling out "Bonjour, mon ami".
And why were these people so obsessed with barbequed everything? Didn't they appreciate a good gumbo, succulent crayfish, or syrupy sweet Pecan Pie? How could people live like this? As hard as he looked, Remy couldn't find anything that even resembled good Cajun food. Oh, how he was missing Louisiana already.
Realizing he wasn't going to get any decent food, he walked himself into the first restaurant he came to. The woman who seated him took his drink order- coffee, nice and black or it wasn't worth anything-and left to quickly return with a mug full of coffee, informing him that refills were free and his waiter would be with him in a moment. Remy took a sip of the hot liquid as he opened his menu and looked through his choices. Just as he suspected, it was all countrified and probably had no kick to it.
"Are ya ready ta order?"
Remy looked up to see who the owner of the perky, twangy voice was and smiled when he saw a young woman not much older than himself, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and her hazel eyes sparkling softly at him as she waited for him to place his order.
"Well," Remy drawled, looking back at his menu, "what would you suggest?"
He smiled back up at her and she chuckled.
"Today our special is chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy," she offered, her voice sounding even peppier than before.
"Well, den, I t'ink I will jus' have dat," he requested with a wink.
"Alright, then, yer food'll be ready in just a few minutes," she told him before taking his menu and walking away with a bigger smile than when she'd first approached his table.
Remy watched her discreetly over the rim of his coffee mug, smiling smugly to himself as he watched her gush to her girlfriend, gesturing in his direction and giggling like mad.
"Yes, LeBeau, ya cert'nly got it," he mumbled to himself as he settled in to wait for his meal.
And that was when the woman sat down at his table. He recognized her, of course, from her pictures, and hoped that his look of recognition came off as a look of surprise.
"May I help you?" he asked, putting on an easy smile.
"Actually, I was more interested in whether or not I could help you," she responded, sounding as professional as any of the business men Remy had pick pocketed back in Orleans.
"And how might you do dat," he asked, raising an inquisitive, and slightly skeptical eyebrow at her.
"I have an offer I'd like to propose to you," the woman told him as she swept her white hair over her shoulder.
"Who are you?" Remy asked as if he didn't already know.
"My name is Ororo Munroe," she told him truthfully.
Remy nodded. "Well, den, what's dis offah ya have?"
Ororo paused before answering, placing her hands gracefully on the table and leaning in toward him, looking straight into his eyes. Without knowing what was happening, Remy found himself getting drawn into her gaze as she spoke, the rest of the restaurant seeming to disappear.
"You have…a special talent, an ability that you can't explain," she spoke authoritatively, making her comments into statements instead of questions. "I come from a place where there are other young people just like you, who are learning to control and use their abilities in hopes that someday they will be able to live in a world where…mutants…and humans, can live together in peace."
"Can I get you something ta drink?" the voice of the waitress broke whatever spell Ororo had put over him.
"Just some water, please," Ororo requested.
The waiter left to get it with a huge smile for Remy. Ororo patiently waited for the girl to leave hearing distance before she made eye contact with Remy once more, ready to start her proposal over again.
But Remy had other ideas. "What was dat hocus pocus you jus' did on me? No more o' dat."
Ororo closed her eyes, sighing defeat. "That was another mutant displaying her abilities. I have brought some of the students with me, if you would like to meet them?" she raised one fine eyebrow at him questioningly.
Remy didn't see why not and he let her know, shrugging at her. She smiled warmly at him and then spoke softly into some kind of comm. device as she made room in the booth. Remy followed suit, scooting over on the bench into the far corner, although it made escape that much more difficult.
Eventually, they were joined by three more "mutants" who stuffed themselves in beside Remy and Ororo. Two of them Remy recognized right off the bat as Jean took the space directly next to Ororo and Evan Daniels next to her. The girl who seated herself next to him with a polite smile Remy couldn't put a name to, although he did recognize her from the pictures.
"I would like you to meet Jean Grey, Evan Daniels, and Jubilation Lee," Ororo introduced each mutant.
They all greeted him courteously, Jubilation telling him to call her "Jubilee" and Remy replied dutifully.
"More drinks, I see," the waitress commented as she reached over to set a glass of water in front of Ororo.
"Can I get a glass of milk, Auntie O?" Evan asked immediately.
"Of course, Evan," Ororo assured.
Evan smiled up at the waitress as Jean requested water with lemon and Jubilee decided on a cherry coke. Once again the waitress left to get the orders for Remy's now crowded table.
"So which one'a you was doin' dat voodoo t'ing," Remy asked.
Jubilee giggled as Jean proudly fessed up to being the perpetrator of the act.
"You learn dat at de school Miss Munroe was tellin' me 'bout?" he inquired.
Jean nodded. "Yes, Ororo and the other teachers help guide us all in developing and controlling our mutant powers."
"It's really cool," Jubilee jumped in. "Before I went to live at the Institute I was blowing up electronics all over, but now I've got better control and I'm not afraid to go near a video arcade anymore."
"Plus you meet a lot of girls there," Evan joked with a grin.
Remy chuckled as Evan received a cool look from Jean and a roll of the eyes from Jubilee. Ororo obviously decided to ignore her nephew's comment.
"We would really like to have you. If you're interested you can come with us to get a better insight into what we do at the Institute. If, after that, you don't think it's for you, then we'll take you wherever you want to go," Ororo assured.
"Free o' charge?" Remy couldn't help tacking on, thinking that Ororo was sounding like a telemarketer.
Ororo chuckled and nodded, responding, "Yes, free of charge."
"Well, Remy dunno," he told her as the waitress set down everyone's drinks in front of them and slid the Cajun his food across the table. He looked at the four mutants surrounding him as he picked up knife and fork and dug in. "What're ya powers?"
The question was direct, bold and it shook up the others visibly. They hadn't expected him to ask that so soon, but they recovered quickly and, with a nod, Ororo directed her charges to explain their abilities to him.
Jean began, looking as confident as she had in any of the pictures Remy had seen of her. "I have developing telekinetic and telepathic powers."
"What's dat supposed t'mean," Remy asked as he sprinkled his food liberously with Tabasco sauce.
"Well, I can move objects with my mind," she smiled as Remy's spoon whipped off the table and landed on the floor. Remy nodded appreciatively as she continued. "I can also read people's minds, although I don't without permission or urgent need, and the Professor says someday I might even be able to control people like he can."
Remy didn't respond in any way to that admittance, although he had to admit, the prospect was scary. Ororo looked at Evan and he grinned before detailing his mutant abilities.
"I can't do anything with my mind like Jean," he started just as a waitress came by and bent down to pick up the spoon, "but I can shoot bone spikes or plates from my body. It's pretty cool, wanna see?"
"Not now, Evan," Ororo reminded.
"I know, Auntie, I was just joking," Evan assured right before a big gulp of milk.
"Evan's ability depends greatly on the calcium supply in his body, which he must constantly refresh," Ororo explained.
"It's a good thing I love milk," Evan commented as he banged his now empty glass on the table.
"All right, Jubilee," Ororo signaled them to move on.
Jubilee collected herself before she began. "My mutants powers…well, they're kind of hard to explain." She paused again before she continued. "They're like little sparkles that don't like electronics," she finally giggled.
Remy raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Ooooo-kay," he told her.
"I'm sorry," she giggled again, nervously as she wracked her brain for a way to explain her mutant power.
"Is okay, chère," he told her with a smile.
She smiled back, blushing. "Well, I have the ability to shoot small sparkles from my fingers," she tried again. "These sparkles really don't do anything, except they tend to fry electronic devices. If I got too excited at any arcade, for instance, I'd usually end up short circuiting the game."
Remy nodded, "Dat's a power dat could come in handy, if ya know how t'use it correctly."
Jubilee smiled proudly at the praise as Remy looked Ororo directly in the eyes. "And what's your power?" he asked just as boldly as before.
Ororo stared back, the whole table silent. Remy couldn't read the expression on the woman's face, she kept it as calm and cool as any poker shark, but he, too knew that sometimes you just had to call a person's bluff. This was one of those times.
"Alright," she finally answered with a small nod of her head, "My mutant ability is control over weather."
Her answer was complete and at the same time there were many questions he wanted to ask about her. Control the weather? How did a person control the weather? But instead of asking any questions, he pushed his finished plate away from himself and put his hands on the table, ready to ask more questions.
*Don' get too carried away,* he reminded himself.
"An' you aren' de only ones at dis school?" he asked aloud.
Ororo nodded in affirmation. "This is only a very small fraction of the students the Institute houses. And the numbers are growing all the time as new mutants emerge."
"You get to meet some very nice people, make wonderful friends," Jean piped in.
Remy studied his hands as they were spread out on the table. "Well, it don' sound too bad, t'be trut'ful."
"So you'll come," Jubilee asked excitedly.
"Give it a try, man. It really is pretty cool," Evan urged.
Remy shrugged. "A'ight, why not?" He grinned at the mutants surrounding him.
"Well, then, shall we be on our way?" Ororo suggested digging in her purse for some money to pay the bill.
"Chère, lemme get dat," Remy offered setting some bills on the table before she had a chance.
"Thank you," she said with a smile.
"Oui," he replied, with a few fingers to his forehead in lieu of tipping the hat he wasn't wearing.
Already the other three had slipped out of the booth and waited. Ororo and Remy followed suit, Ororo immediately taking the lead as they headed out of the restaurant. They passed the waitress that had served them, and she looked up as they went by, smiling and blushing at Remy, who grinned and winked at her. She was blushing even deeper when she turned back to the table she'd been serving.
Out in the bright daylight, Ororo lead the group to a jeep parked near the entrance. She took the driver's seat and Jean immediately took the passenger seat beside her. As he climbed into the back with Evan and Jubilee, Remy wandered if there was some kind of unofficial ranking that these mutants were following. Of course, Ororo was the leader, being eldest and these three's guardian, but Jean had automatically assumed the spot next to Ororo both in the restaurant and now here in the jeep. Neither Evan nor Jubilee had protested Jean's sitting in the passenger seat while they were doomed to be squished in the back with him, nor had anyone "called dibs" on it or fought over it.
Remy sighed, knowing he'd figure it out sooner or later. It would just take a little bit of observation on his part, and maybe even some innocent seeming questions. There was one question on his mind that he was tempted to ask, although he kept it to himself. Did they know Rogue, or at least know of her? Could they tell him more about her? Surely there was a possibility that the fact that both Rogue and this group of mutants lived in New York was more than a coincidence. Would it really be that much of a stretch, and too much hoping on Remy's part, to believe that perhaps Rogue had been a part of this group at one time? But that only caused more questions to spring to the Cajun's mind. If she had been a part of this group, then why had she left? They seemed like nice enough people, willing to help and offering it freely.
Remy shook his head at himself and put his mind back on the here and now. "Eh, I gotta get m'stuff from de bus station," he called up to Ororo.
"Just tell me which way," she called back.
The directions Remy gave were easy; the bus station wasn't far. Remy had walked from it to the restaurant they'd all met at. Shortly they arrived and Remy was quick to grab his duffel bag and cash in his ticket for the remainder of the bus trip that he wasn't going to be traveling. Then, with his duffel stashed in the very back, they were off again.
As they left the small town, Remy wondered if he was destined to be squished in the back seat between Evan and Jubilee, the wind whipping at his face and through his hair, the whole way to New York. There wasn't much room in the jeep with the three of them all sitting back there. Raising this concern, he got grins from all three of the younger mutants.
"Don't worry," Evan yelled to him over the roaring wind, "We like to travel in style!"
Remy had no idea what he meant by that, but he would find out when the time came. And it came sooner then he thought it would. Ororo turned off the highway onto a small side road that meandered its way through the back hills of Tennessee. They followed it for a couple of miles before she turned once again, and this time the road was dirt and gravel. With rocks flying up everywhere, and the dust billowing around them, Remy was forced to cover his face the best he could with his trench coat sleeve in order to keep it all from getting in his eyes or breathing it in. And the roughness of the road kept him knocking into Evan and Jubilee.
"How much longah'?" he yelled his question, getting a mouthful of dust.
"Not much," Jean yelled back to him.
"Not much" was still too long for Remy, and he sighed in relief when the jeep finally came to a stop. They were somewhere in the back hills of Tennessee, and the rolling green meadows were devoid of any life forms or signs of civilization besides themselves. Nobody was moving, although Remy got the feeling that they were all waiting expectantly. Looking up into the front seat, Remy watched, impressed, as Ororo called up a hidden console from the dashboard and started to key in a sequence that, even with his quick eyes and sharp sight, Remy couldn't quite make out.
When everyone else's eyes looked ahead at the empty green fields, Remy did too, not sure what it was that they were looking for. If he hadn't been wedged between Jubilee and Evan, he would have fallen out of the jeep at what next happened. A ripple moved through the air, following the silhouette of some huge object that Remy couldn't quite make out. And then the something huge appeared, crackling in as if it were a hologram coming to life.
"Dat…dat's not real, is it?" he asked, looking around wide-eyed as the mutants surrounding him.
"It certainly is," Ororo assured as she pressed the gas and they began to move toward it. She was tapping on the console again as they did and a hatch in the back opened up.
"I told you we liked to travel in style, man," Evan reminded with a nudge.
Remy could only nod as they hit the ramp that entered into the huge aircraft, the ride suddenly becoming smooth and debris free. Bringing the jeep to a halt in the middle of the cargo bay, everyone began to pile out as Ororo shifted the jeep into park, put on the parking brake and turned off the engine.
Remy stood beside the automobile, looking around in awe. This had to be the styling-est way to travel he'd ever seen.
"Pretty cool, man, isn't it?" Evan caught his attention and Remy turned to see the boy was grinning and had already grabbed his duffel bag from the jeep.
"Pretty nice setup ya got here," he admitted with appreciation.
"Well, you haven't seen nothing, yet. Follow me," Evan offered, adjusting the strap of the duffel bag on his shoulder and heading toward a door that had to lead to the cockpit of the ship.
Remy did follow amid the hiss of air and the hum of hydraulics, the light fading as the hatch closed. When it got almost too dark to see artificial lights flickered on, showing the way to the door. Already the women had entered through it and when Remy and Evan joined them, they were all seated and buckling in. Evan placed Remy's duffel bag by the door and then went up to sit by Ororo. Remy took the seat behind Jubilee, taking their example and buckling in also.
"Welcome to the Blackbird," Jean looked back to smile at him.
"T'anks," he replied with a small nod of his head as his eyes explored the cockpit.
"Alright, Evan, start us up," Ororo instructed her nephew.
Remy's eyebrows shot up when he realized that it would be Evan in control of this huge craft and not Ororo.
"And remember, don't kill us," Jubilee jibed with a laugh.
Remy added his silent agreement.
"Hey, I got this part down," Evan objected lightly as he his hands moved across the control panel, pushing buttons and flicking switches. With a soft hum the engines ignited and Remy could feel the power of the craft vibrating beneath his feet. The wraparound screen above the control panel lit up with the view of the outside. This really was one amazing machine.
"Hey, can I fly, too?" Evan asked.
"When you've logged your hours in the simulator," Ororo told him as she took control of the craft.
Remy sighed in relief.
The liftoff was vertical, no runway needed, which made Remy feel a bit easier. He'd wondered how they had planned to get the speed and distance for a regular liftoff with the rolling hills surrounding them. With long earned ease and control, Ororo sent the Blackbird soaring through the sky. There was a lot less G force than Remy would have expected. For a moment, when they'd first started forward, there had been the feeling of being pressed back into his seat, and then the pressure was gone and he could move freely again.
"So, what do ya think?" Jubilee leaned around the edge of her seat to look at him, Jean doing the same across from her.
"Well," Remy said looking between the two girls and flashing a grin, "Très bien."
Both girls looked at each other and smiled, giggling. Gambit smirked to himself and thought, *I def'nitely still got it.*