Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men :((
A/N: This chapter came out pretty easily compared to some of the others I wrote, even though I got a little stuck in the beginning. Next chapter is coming out pretty well to, so I hope to have it ready soon, probably in 2 weeks.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed my fic. Keep the reviews coming, because they make me feeling much more inspired!
This chapter is made of a contrast: while part of the story seems to be going high, meanwhile there's something else digging low low low. So things are working in very opposite directions. I want to see how far this is going to make me. But I assure the light will be brighter, and the shadows even darker than this.
By the way, remember I updated every chapter before this one and the last one! Read them all to see everything new I wrote :)
On Monday and Tuesday, Rogue sneaked out in the middle of the night to meet Remy on the roof and, though he avoided talking the way he did the first time, it turned out to be pretty relaxing for the both of them. They just lay in silence under a blanket, looking at the stars, making little comments every now and then. When her eyelids got too heavy, Rogue would jump up and go back to her room, much to Remy's disappointment. He had hoped they would fall asleep the way they did on the first night. By Thursday, Remy's mood had improved, though not enough to be called normal.
He felt guilty about what had happened in the bank, but now that he knew Essex was involved, somehow he had a sense of inevitability to what had happened. If that man wanted more deaths on his account, just to prove him a point, which he had no idea what was, then sooner or later he would have done it, no matter what Remy did. Remy knew that even if he hadn't asked for more money, the mad scientist would've found a way to kill and spill the blood on his hands. Yes, in his own opinion, he was guilty. But his guilt was contacting Essex many years ago.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a way of finding redemption in the Institute after all. Rogue's speeches made him hope for that, crave for that. He repeatedly thought about his conversation with Essex on the tunnels and came to the conclusion that, since no X-Men would be hurt and all he had to do was to steal the diamond and give it to Magneto, then they would never need to know he had been the traitor. He would be able to stay! And through his actions he would clean himself from his guilt. Redemption. Just steal the diamond and come back. For redemption… and for her.
"Ok, class, I've got a surprise for ya'll today." Remy told the little students that were standing in front of him outside. He grabbed a huge plastic sack from he ground next to him and showed the content to the confused kids: lots of small balloons filled with blue, pink and red paint. "Ya'll just stand there quietly?" He said with faked exasperation.
"What's that for, Remy?" The cat-like girl, named Lilly, asked him innocently.
"Petite, I thought it was time to make things a little more challengin'. You're gettin' bored, I'm gettin' bored. And after all, Scott is on a trip, so he doesn't need t' know, n'est-ce pas?" He took one of the balloons and gave it to Lilly. She took it and sniffed it. "Since today is the first time we divert from the original program, we'll make somethin' simple. Has anyone ever played paintball before?" All of them shook their heads negatively. "So, in the actual game people use paintball weapons, but dat would drive Stormy insane. We're using balloons filled with ink then and throwing them with our hands. I've also changed the rules a bit. Basically, y' have t' throw the balloons on each other and avoid gettin' hit in the meantime. Each color is equivalent to a certain amount o' points: blue is ten points, pink is twenty, and red is fifty. By the end o' the class, the person with less points on his own body is the winner. The thing is: avoid gettin' hit. I've put some places for y' to hide, as y' can see." Remy pointed to the piles of wooden cases, barrels, and tires on the floor. "Bien, are y' ready for some fun?" He smirked and the kids laughed and nodded in approval. "Oh, an' I forgot one thing. Y'all be divided in two teams. Dis way, we'll have one winner and a winning team. Dere's a prize for each."
"Cool!" All the kids cheered, delighted. They soon formed the teams. Only the boy with big insect eyes, whose name was Joshua, seemed to be left behind but Remy convinced one of the teams to stay with him.
He knew Joshua had lots of difficulties in physical activities. The boy was very clumsy, always tripping and stumbling on something, and extremely timid as well. In some moments, Remy could swear the boy was nearly blind, but in others, he seemed to be fully aware of what was going on around him. Joshua was the only one in the class who didn't really seem to be paying attention, even when Scott was there. He was always turning his head, looking around. Probably, with those eyes, Josh could see things in a very detailed way and that kept him entertained with the world around him. Remy couldn't blame him for his lack of attention.
"Alors… I've got a sack of balloons for each o' y'. Take one and get ready! Each team is stayin' on one side o' the field." He said and waited for the kids to get to their places. After making sure everyone was ready, he whistled.
All the kids ran to hide, and soon they were throwing balloons at each other. Remy walked around the field and watched to analyze each kid's performance. They were not supposed to use their powers, so they had to rely completely on their physical capacities.
He was circling the field for the third time when he saw Rogue coming out of the mansion with Jubilee by her side. She was wearing a beautiful green dress with short sleeves he had never seen her wearing before, and her long brown gloves. He was pleasantly surprised to see her walking so confidently with less clothing pieces than she would normally wear. It was windy so her hair was flying around, and she tried tying it back twice, unsuccessfully. When the girls were finally passing by the field, they saw him and waved. Remy waved back and was about to call them when Rogue screamed his name, as if trying to warn him of something.
"Wha…" He barely finished his question when a balloon hit him right on the head, splashing red ink all over his clothes.
"Oh my God!" Jubilee screamed and started laughing hysterically. Rogue couldn't stop laughing either. "Headshot! There's blood all over you, Remy!"
Remy looked around and saw Lilly ducking on the ground and Will standing a few meters away, with a shocked expression and his left hand frozen in the air. All other kids had stopped what they were doing to stare, some covering their mouths.
"Bad move, mon ami." Remy frowned, and Will lowered his head, ashamed of what he had just done. He then walked to the nearest bag, took a handful of balloons and threw one straight on Will's chest, making the kids laugh. "Now we're even!" He said, chuckling too.
"Heey, that's not fair! You're not playing!" Will complained, only to get hit by another balloon.
"I am now! Y' put me in dis game yourself!" Remy said, while Lilly cheered. "And never lower your guard, remember dis."
"Sugah, that's mean! Give him a break… Hey, what the hell do ya think ya're… No!" A pink ball hit Rogue on the head, and Jubilee screamed when the same happened to her. "Mah dress! Ya're paying for this, swamp rat!" Both girls joined the fight on Will's side and in a matter of seconds they were all covered in ink.
Remy rescued Lilly from the cross fire and they ran to behind the piles of tires, while Rogue and Jubilee ran with Will to the empty barrels. They reunited with their teams and it wasn't long before the fight started all over again.
By the time the class was over, everyone was so covered in ink that Remy declared there was no winning team, and he distributed the chocolate bars he bought to both teams, including Rogue and Jubilee. The only one to get two chocolate bars was Joshua, because he was the player with less hits, something Remy thought was amazing.
"Congratulations, Josh. Ya' surprised us all!" Remy messed up the boy's hair and got a shy smile in return.
"It wasn't that hard." Josh whispered and walked away hesitantly but happily, eating his chocolate. Remy scratched his head, not sure of how that was possible.
"If Scott finds out what you did here today, getting kids covered in ink and feeding them chocolate, you're in big trouble." Jubilee joked, interrupting his thoughts.
"You've ruined all the discipline he took so long to build." Rogue giggled, cleaning the ink from her face with her gloves. "And you've ruined mah dress too!"
"Aww chérie, y' don't need no clothes, I've told y' before." Remy said, checking her out. "And the ink will come out with water, don't worry. Y' thought I'd risk gettin' my trench coat ruined?!"
"This was the best class I've ever seen here, hands down. Why doesn't Hank do the same thing in his chemistry classes?" Jubilee complained to Rogue.
"What would we do then? Throw stink bombs at each other?" Rogue snorted and Jubilee chuckled.
"Merci, Jubilee. You two are welcome in my class any time." Remy said, happy his first class planned by himself had gone so well.
"Oh, I wish we could! But we normally help Ororo out in her greenhouse at this time. Luckily, today she's in an urgent conference call with the Professor." Jubilee said.
"Urgent? What happened?" Remy's interest peaked.
"I'm not sure. She just dismissed us and rushed to the Conference Room." Jubilee shrugged.
"Ah think she will tell us later, maybe." Rogue suggested. "So, are we cleaning all this mess?" She pointed to the field.
Remy sighed, a bit disappointed for the lack of information. "Oui. I need t' carry dese tires, barrels, and wooden cases t' the deposit. If y'all want t' help, I'm not complaining at all." When Jubilee went ahead to collect the tires, he walked by Rogue's side and whispered: "Y' look great wit' dis dress. Is it new?"
"No, Ah've had it...it's been a while, but Ah've never felt like wearing it before. It used to make meh uncomfortable." She whispered back with a discreet smile, as if they were speaking of something secret.
"I'm glad it doesn't anymore." He whispered in her ear even lower, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close into a half-hug (which she didn't try to avoid), then let go before Jubilee could see it. Rogue's smile grew wider and she gave him one last glance before moving to help her girl friend.
"Ya're still paying meh for getting mah dress all dirty, swamp rat!" She yelled over her shoulder.
Meanwhile, in the Conference Room, Ororo, Hank, and Logan sat listening to the image of Xavier on a huge screen describing his and Scott's mission in England. Apparently, five mutants disappeared mysteriously near the same location in the last six months, the fifth one having disappeared two days ago. The police had done a little investigation, but didn't seem to be taking things too seriously. A close friend of the missing man had called the Institute and talked to Xavier the night before, and he and Scott decided to fly to London to check the investigations and help if possible.
"For now, we only spoke to the parents of the victim and the investigator in charge. He didn't seem happy to see us there… Said he knows how to do his own job. But at last he finally agreed to let us help." Xavier explained.
"He should be thanking you for the help. I bet it's a good excuse for him to just sit back and let you two do his job." Logan said from his chair.
"Scott made clear we are not doubting his capacity nor trying to diminish his authority, only trying to be useful. If we find something, the credit will go to him. That made him satisfied enough."
"Why isn't that surprising?" Hank mocked. "When are you starting to look for clues?"
"I'd say tomorrow morning. We are studying the other cases to see what else they have in common other than the location." Xavier showed them a few papers. "These are the files. I'm sending a copy to you so you can run through it. Maybe one of you can spot something we didn't."
"Should we tell the younger X-Men about it?" Ororo asked.
"Not yet, Ororo. There isn't much they can do for now, and if there are too many of you working on this mission, things will get confusing. The information has to be as less scattered as possible so we can figure this puzzle out. If we find something more solid, then we'll talk to them about it." Xavier answered. "We have to go now. There are still many things to read before we go to the police station tomorrow morning. Scott is sending you the copies of the files right now. Good luck. If you find something relevant, feel free to call us any time." With that, he hung up and his image disappeared.
Hank printed the files and handed a copy to each one of them. "It seems we've got a lot to work on."
"Yes. I suggest we read this carefully and then reunite to discuss our thoughts on it. You think you can finish by tonight?" Ororo asked. Hank nodded enthusiastically and Logan shrugged not so enthusiastically.
"I'll read this and start some research. Hopefully, I'll have something useful later. If any of you need anything, I will be in the library." Hank said and left, already running through some pages of the file in his hands.
"I'd be more useful there, not here." Logan complained, clearly frustrated with the huge pile of paper he had to read. He was a man of action, not one to sit and read while things were happening. Patience was not a virtue of the Wolverine.
"Charles wanted this mission to be as quiet and pacific as possible in this first moment, Logan. We can't risk starting a conflict with the investigators."
"Who said I'd start a conflict?!"
Ororo rolled her eyes. "Logan, I'll get some coffee and go to my room. I'll call you when it's time to meet."
"You sure you don't need help?" Logan couldn't hold back a grin but Ororo had already turned to leave.
"Go to work, Logan!"
Logan perused the first two pages of the huge pile, yawned, and then groaned. "I need a beer."
Sinister stood from the place he had been sitting and analyzing some samples of Jean Grey's blood, took some notes, then locked the notebook in a vault. After putting the key around his neck, he took the elevator to the lower level of the building. When the doors opened, he stepped into a large room where around ten people, two women and eight men, worked on a machine. Its circular base was linked to a computer and had four holes in it, seemingly to attach something else. The upper part of the machine could've been mistaken by an aquarium: it was made of a thick glass that nearly reached the ceiling. On the top, there was something that looked like an antenna, with another hole, this one much smaller.
"Forge!" Sinister called out and one of the men rushed to him.
"Master." The man looked like a Native American and was in his early forties. His hair was long and black, and his eyes normally were black as well, but now they were a pale blue. His expression was cold and his voice automatic, resembling a robot.
"How is your new helper doing?" Sinister pointed to a young man connecting some wires to the machine.
"Perfect. He is full of useful knowledge. We need only a few more weeks now that we have his help." Forge replied.
"Are you sure you will be able to transport this to Egypt safely?"
"Positive. Every measure has been taken. We made the device as light and simple to transport as possible."
Sinister nodded, walking among his workers and examining them. All of them had the same blank expression and pale blue eyes. "And the bracelets?"
"I've nearly finished them. I still need to run some tests."
Sinister observed and touched the machine as if it was sacred. Things were taking shape, at last. There were a few details in need of fixing, but mostly everything was working the way he had planned. It made Sinister very satisfied, in addition to the excitement he felt from previous news. Earlier, one of his employees called to let him know that one of the most important pieces of his plan was now closer to him. Much closer…
'The right moment approaches… A moment of rise and fall of an old order, and the rise of a new one. The future will rise from chaos, from fire… from pestilence, famine, war, death. It will rise from the ashes.' He thought, with a fanatic glow in his eyes.
R&R, pleeeease!