Government Intervention

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the Marvel, I'm not making any money.

Part 6/6

"They don't have Remy," Jean-Luc said speaking in French again. He trusted the noise of the crowds to shield his conversation from the men tailing him, but didn't want a casual listener eves dropping either.

"Is that a good thing?" Belle asked as they walked along the busy street. "Obviously they don't think we can find him if they lied about that."

"He might be dead," Jean-Luc said hesitantly.

"Non," Belle protested. "Remy can't be dead. If dey hurt him I'll kill everyone of dem."

"French," Jean-Luc hissed to the distressed girl.

"You'll help me," Belle said. "I know what happened to the last person who hurt your family.

Jean-Luc nodded, but said "We have to trust that he's alive until we have no other choices. Perhaps they're arrogant enough to assume if he's hidden too well for them to find we can't find him either. But they don't know Remy; you and I do."

"I'll tell Henri," Belle said. "We'll find him."

"Good girl, I can see why Remy likes you. You aren't bad for an Assassin."

"And you're passing fair for a Thief," Belle replied cheekily.

****** ****** ******

Remy sat curled quietly in the corner of the couch, watching as the majority of the X-Men left to implement Xavier's plan to talk with Magneto.

"Trust him," Xavier had said. He said he'd never given them a reason to doubt his judgment.

A harsh, painful laugh, almost a sob forced its way out of Remy's chest. Scott was dead, killed following Xavier's orders, if that wasn't enough reason to doubt his judgment... Mere hours after Scott and Logan had fought each other Xavier had sent them off on a mission together and Scott hadn't come back.

Remy curled more tightly around the ball of pain in his chest wanting the rest to not be real, but he and Jean both sensed it. There was something wrong with Logan's story.

Wolverine's mind had been conditioned to be impervious to telepathic scans but Remy was something different and according to Jean the Hellfire Club had made her something more than a telepath when they'd awakened the Phoenix.

Remy couldn't believe Logan could feel so little regret over Scott's death if he'd truly tried to save him. Jean said he'd let Scott die.

Remy pulled his knees in closer to his chest, wanting to disappear into himself. The first two people he'd trusted, looked up to... The ugly laughter that seemed to have replaced his tears erupted again... He'd adored them. In Scott he'd found an older brother. In Logan a mentor and protector. After Sinister's betrayal Remy had believed he'd never trust again. Never leave himself open to that sort of mistake. But he'd trusted them now both were gone. Scott dead. Logan to blame.

And Xavier. Xavier who said trust me and led them to ruination. Xavier who cared more about a dream than he ever would about a person.

There was nothing left for him here. No one left that he cared enough about to stay for. No one left to trust. Not Jean, who Scott had loved, she trusted Xavier implicitly. Not Ororo or Hank, they couldn't even trust themselves, didn't believe their thoughts were their own. Peter kept himself apart, outside of a fight he barely counted. Kitty was new, he didn't know her, she was a child, chronologically not quite two years younger than Remy, in every other way a life time younger. She mattered less than Peter. More than that she'd been on the mission with Scott when he'd died. No reason to stay, every reason to go.

Remy waited until Peter and Hank were occupied with their own concerns then he slipped past them to the secure com line Beast had set up. He needed to get away from SHEILD, from New York, from vengeful angels, away from the X-Men.

He didn't know that he could trust anyone anymore but Jean-Luc would take him back to New Orleans, take him outside of the search radius, from there he could disappear.

When Henri Lebeau answered the phone Remy begged, "Mon cuz, I wanna come home."

****** ****** ******

One glance told Jean-Luc that the man he was facing was a functionary.

"No one cares about your information anymore Lebeau. It's too late, we aren't in the market anymore," the man said.

"Yo're loss," Jean-Luc replied stiffly, turning and walking out of the building. "Serves yo' right if Magneto kills yo' all."

Several blocks away Belle fell into step beside him. "I was right, somet'ing happened, non?" she asked.

"Oui, dey ain't even botherin' to follow me anymore," he said taking out his cell phone. A few moments later Henri answered. "Mon fils, start checkin' de prison camps," Jean-Luc said. "I t'ing de X-Men been captured. De government ain't lookin' for dem anymore."

"Don' mattah, Remy ain't wid dem," Henri replied. "I jus' talked wid him."

****** ****** ******

Betty Ross hesitated on the threshold of Fury's office. "General if you have a moment?" she asked.

"Go ahead," he said waving her in.

"It's about the Worthington boy. We need some good publicity right now, something to prove mutants who register have nothing to fear from us, and that kid's a gold mine of potential. We rehabilitate him, fix up the blue skin and the metal wings, then ship him back to his parents. The news agencies would eat it up and getting his family behind us wouldn't hurt at all the next time we're looking for supplemental funding."

"Get some shrinks working on his head but leave the wings alone," Fury said. "We can't put a known mutant on the public team, even as a PR stunt, still Worthington has too much potential like he is to let him walk."

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