PREVIOUS PAGE – NEXT PAGE
TEASER | ACT I | ACT II | ACT III | ACT IV | TAG
1X09 – King of Hearts – Act IV
Sitting down, Jean suddenly she wasn’t sure which way was up as her inner ear was suddenly sending her all the wrong signals. She was able to momentarily counteract the effect on herself, but everyone around her was lurching and falling over.
Reaching out, she focused on Jean-Paul who was holding onto the settee, trying not to fall. She wasn’t exactly sure how the mutant ability was causing the vertigo, if it was an illusion, air pressure, or some other machination, and she didn’t really have time to figure it out.
Whatever physical effects might be happening to Jean-Paul, she mentally cleared his head of the ill feelings, giving him a sense of direction.
“Jean-Paul,” she told him as he looked up surprised that suddenly whatever was ailing him was gone, “they want Doosan, get him out.”
The man looked between her and the executive who was about to retch. He grabbed Doosan and put him over his shoulder just in time to see a woman walk through the door, completely unaffected by whatever was happening.
They took one look at each other and JP was gone, out the door and hopefully out of the building within seconds.
The blonde mutant wasn’t terribly happy at this and looked straight at Jean, focusing her ability at her with renewed vigor. Pressure pounded against Jean’s mind and she doubled over, trying to fight against it as she curled onto the floor.
…
Scott had a little zero-g training, but this wasn’t anything he’d experienced before and he struggled to get his body under control.
“So,” a woman walked into the bedroom, at least he assumed it was a woman by the high heels she was wearing, her voice was a little watery through his ears popping, “it’ll be easy you said, just a quick in and out you said?”
“Oh, shut it, Vertigo,” Arclight rolled her eyes, “and get me out of this.”
“We have to hurry,” the blonde, Vertigo, a fitting name, went over to Arclight and started to untie her, “I can’t keep this up forever and the red head is a telepath, she’s fighting really hard… Doosan escaped.”
“Damn,” Arclight stood up, “boss is gonna be pissed.”
Scott turned on his side just enough to see that Bobby was on the floor, presumably passed out. Arclight stepped over him and pointed her hands at the block of ice holding Blockbuster and within seconds it shattered.
“Alright,” Vertigo headed towards the door, “let’s go.”
“One second,” Arclight kicked Scott onto his back and grabbed him by his shirt, hauling him inches off the floor, “you think you Xavier kids are so high and mighty,” she snarled in Scott’s face, “living in your ivory tower like a bunch of lords and ladies, when you don’t have a clue as to what is going on in the real word,” her free arm reached back as if she was going to punch him, “I should put you out of your misery.”
“Arclight,” Vertigo barked, “you know the boss’s orders, you wanna cross him?”
For a moment, it looked as if Arclight was going to do just that, but instead she let Scott drop to the floor with a thud. Stepping over him, the three mutants left the room and all Scott could do was turn over and try not to throw up.
…
“Keep staring like that, cher,” Remy said as they were driving down the road, “and I’ll start to think you fancy me.”
Sekhmet blushed and looked away, pretending she was using her phone to check the records at the museum against the ledger, as least what records she could access via her phone. In truth, she did kind of fancy the mysterious professional thief, he was definitely one incredibly built man with a voice that she thought was only heard in the movies, but, “Your eyes, I’m sorry, they’re just so… different.”
“Been around the world and ain’t seen another pair like ‘em,” he replied easily but she knew she had hit a sore spot.
“Is it some kind of macular degeneration?” she couldn’t help but ask, “A cataract?”
“Why do you have brown hair, hazel eyes, and are nearsighted,” he shrugged and she didn’t think he expected her to answer, “because somewhere in your DNA it says so.”
“Right,” there were all kinds of genetic variations out there, she just hadn’t seen one so pronounced and up close before.
The conversation went quiet until Sekhmet realized they were pulling into a parking lot, “What are we doing back at the museum?”
“I left my jacket here,” he shrugged and got out of the car.
Sekhmet wasn’t sure what to do so she threw the ledger in the back seat and slipped her phone into her pants pocket.
They jogged across the parking area towards the entrance of the museum. Security guards and police had the building blocked off from tourists as the firemen packed up their trucks seeing as they would have found no fire in the building.
“Looks like we’ll have to take the long way around,” Remy commented and started to head down the walkway towards the side of the building.
They found themselves at the loading dock once again, this time the bay door was open and a truck was backed up against it. No one was in the cab so they crept up beside it to get a good look inside the building. They could see several crates lined up, ready to be loaded.
“We should get the police,” Sekhmet whispered into his ear, “catch him red handed.”
“That’s a good idea,” Jack’s voice was behind them and she turned her head to see him pointing a gun at her, attempting to look menacing with a bandage across his nose, like some 1920s gangster.
She looked back, half expecting to see that Remy had disappeared again, but he was there, frowning, but not at Jack. Following his gaze, there were two more men pointing guns at them.
Correction, the day did get worse.
…
“Everyone okay?” Scott helped Bobby into the sitting area and sat him down in a chair, letting him put his head between his knees.
“What happened?” Fred looked a little worse for wear, leaning on the back of another chair.
“Arclight called their partner Vertigo,” he rubbed his head as he tried to clear away some of the residual nausea.
“Bit on the nose, isn’t it?” Fred tried to laugh.
“Effective enough,” Scott sighed, “we’ve just lost our best lead on whatever was going on in Rowland’s lab.”
“We could always ask Magneto,” Bobby half joked as he managed to sit up straight.
Scott opened his mouth to tell the Iceman what he thought of that idea, but he stopped cold, “That might not be a bad idea.”
…
Sekhmet and Remy were led into the docking area at gunpoint, the former asking, “Don’t you have more of those snappers?”
“Don’t you think I’d use them if I had them?” he moved her behind him.
“Where is the ledger?” Jack didn’t so much ask as demand the information.
“Safely locked away where you can’t find it,” Sekhmet told him.
“Is that so?” he replied thoughtfully, bringing his gun up, “Then I guess there’s no reason to keep you alive then.”
“Woah now,” Remy held up his hands, “don’t you think shooting someone with the cops on the other side of the building might not be the brightest idea?”
Linton frowned, then turned to one of his goons, “Go get some plastic sheeting from the clean room, and find something to muffle the shots.”
Goon Number One nodded and headed off into the stacks leaving just Linton and Goons Number Two and Three to guard them.
“And that’ll be it then, huh?” Remy frowned at the man, “You kill us, take these artifacts, and retire to some island off Croatia?”
“Dubai actually,” Linton replied, “I think I deserve that much.”
“Why not,” Remy easily agreed with him, “hard working thief like yourself, been doing this for what, three years, four?”
Sekhmet frowned, she knew he had a look at the ledger.
“Six years,” Linton corrected him, “had to make up for a retirement fun that got destroyed in the housing market crash.”
“Really?” the professional thief was not impressed, “all this for your retirement? You made more than enough to retire. Nah, either you liked it too much, or your buyer wouldn’t let you quit.”
“My buyer?” he played it off but even Sekhmet could tell he was lying.
“Come on, mon ami,” the Cajun grinned, “everyone has a fence, there is no way you’re able to move this kind of merchandise on your own.”
“So what if I have a fence?” Linton was getting annoyed, “I am the one in control of this operation. I’ll stop when I bloody well want to stop!”
“Didn’t mean no offense,” Remy replied easily.
“You know what, you can just shut your mouth,” Jake swung the gun just slightly to the left to point more directly at Sekhmet, “and you, you just had to go poke your nose into things.”
“Someone was going to figure it out eventually,” she yelled back at him, “you weren’t going to be able to hide your thefts forever.”
“I could have tried,” Linton nearly shouted, but he took a breath, calming himself, “you’ll be a great loss Sekhmet, a victim of random violence, I’ll make sure they give you a memorial plaque and everything.”
“Oh, thanks,” she replied sarcastically.
Goon Number One came back into the area carrying a roll of plastic wrap like painters use to lay down, and in his other hand was a pillow like one found in the lounge room chairs.
“Good,” Linton gestured to an open area of the floor, “lay that out.”
“I hope you have a plan,” Sekhmet whispered into the Cajun’s ear.
“Trust Remy, he has a plan,” he replied with a grin.
She stared blankly at him, “Randomly referring to yourself in the third person is not a confidence booster.”
He continued to grin, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out an Ace of Spades. She was just about to ask what that was for when a snarling growl echoed off the metal and concrete.
A man, at least it looked generally like a man, leapt through the air and attacked Goon Number Two, knocking him fiercely to the ground.
Sekhmet knew she looked terrified, but Remy only blinked, “Okay, that wasn’t part of the plan.”
…
Sabretooth was not happy.
This isn’t actually a new thing, but today, after chasing the Cajun across the city only to end up back at the museum, he was especially not happy.
Finding Gambit being held hostage was laughable and if he knew how to use the camera on his phone he would have taken a picture of it. Clearly the thief had a plan, but Sabretooth wasn’t going to take the risk that he was going to muck up the mission over a pair of big brown eyes.
Going after the closest meat sack first, he knocked the man down and reached back, letting his fingers elongate into sharp claws. Two shots rang out and he felt the bullets enter his chest. He glanced down at the tears in his shirt, he didn’t really care about the shirt, but it was the principle of the thing.
“Creed, no!” Gambit yelled at him. “Don’t eviscerate them!”
Growling, he looked over at Gambit who had his hands out in a semi-pleading gesture. The woman next to him had her hands over her mouth in horror, a typical reaction to Creed’s presence, he was used to it.
“Why not?!” Sabretooth shouted back, holding the man under him by the neck as he squirmed.
“Because I had a plan,” he told him, “and it was a good plan, but I need them alive.”
Sabretooth rolled his eyes, balling his fingers into a fist and punching the man out.
He was going to strangle that Cajun when he got his hands on him.
…
Sekhmet watched the other two goons go after the man who must have been wearing a bullet proof vest of some sort, it was the only way to explain what just happened.
“Remy,” she shouted and pulled him down as Jack waved his gun towards them and a shot rang out.
The Ace of Spades flew from the thief’s hand and landed at Jack’s feet, exploding and kicking up some concrete. Remy grabbed her and they ran into the storage stacks.
“Is that a friend of yours?” she asked as they rounded a corner.
“He’s only tried to kill me twice,” Remy was looking back and forth, “so yeah, maybe, hard to tell.”
Another shot rang out, just missing them, and they ran down another aisle.
“I’m going to kill you both!” Jack screamed as he chased them, but he didn’t know which way they turned and that gave them a little head start.
“What’s in this?” Remy asked when they came across a large crate sitting out in the aisle.
“Um,” she quickly glanced at the label as he somehow popped the screws so the lid would give away, “staves, they are boxed up in individual cases—“
She didn’t have a chance to finish her statement as Remy picked her up and tossed her semi-gently into the box, closing the lid before she could even shout her indigence. She found herself lying on top of the individual boxes in the packing straw, in the dark.
“Ah, okay…”
…
Jack heard Sekhmet shout and followed the sound to the next aisle, it was the last one so they had to be there. Walking slowly down the aisle, he looked between all the crates.
“It’s no use hiding,” he taunted them, hoping for a reaction.
“You know,” the voice seemed to come from everywhere, “you might be right.”
Getting that feeling like someone was behind him, he whipped around with his gun at the ready.
Nobody was there.
There was a tap on his shoulder and his heart sunk.
Jack was barely half turned around when a fist landed against his temple, this time knocking him out cold.
…
Remy stared down at the man and shook his head.
Grabbing a piece of twine that was used on some of the crating, Remy quickly tied Linton’s hands behind his back so if he woke up before the police got to him then he’d have trouble escaping.
That done, he went back to the box he left Sekhmet in and pushed it off.
A four thousand year old mahogany staff was swung in his general direction and by reflex he caught it before it could contact with his head.
“Remy!” Sekhmet was visibly relieved.
“What’s this?” he gestured to the staff, “The Warrior Goddess has no faith in me?”
“It’s been a really off day,” she frowned and he helped her get out of the box, her eyes falling onto Linton, “he doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere.”
“This is the police!” he heard the familiar call from the loading bay.
“And the Calvary has arrived,” Remy grinned, and it was just in time too.
“Your friend,” Sekhmet realized.
“Hates the police more than I do,” he told her, putting the staff back in the box, “I’m sure he’s made himself scarce.”
“What do I do?” she looked down at Linton, “all the evidence I have is stolen, it’s his word against mine.”
“Good thing you recorded his confession then, non?” he grinned, pulling her phone from out of his pocket.
“My phone?” her hand went to her pocket and instead of her phone she pulled out a King of Hearts playing card. “How in the…?”
Gambit brought up the recorder app and let it play.
“Where is the ledger?”
“Safely locked away where you can’t find it.”
“Is that so? Then I guess there is no reason to keep you alive then.”
“Hah!” Sekhmet shouted in glee.
“Show the cops this,” he handed over the phone and keys to the stolen phone, “and the ledger, and I’m sure Linton will plea out, no trial, no need to admit in court where you got the evidence.”
“And no one will come looking for you,” she pointed out, quick thinker she was.
“It’s how I like it,” Remy admitted, a man in his profession usually did better when the cops weren’t looking for him, “Now, you better go meet them or else they might take forever to find you back here.”
“Right,” she chewed on her lip, “I guess this is it then.”
“You’ll do fine, cher,” he assured her with a smile, “you’re a warrior goddess, remember?”
“Right,” she repeated and turned to walk down the aisle, slipping the keys and phone back into her pockets.
He gave her four steps but she managed six before she turned around and rushed back to him. Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him against her and planted her lips solidly on his. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned into the kiss, following her cues to give her a kiss she would never forget… those where the kind of kisses he specialized in.
…
The man tasted like Cajun spice and smelt of the bayou.
As Sekhmet pulled away, she was very disappointed that she would never see this mysterious man again. She slowly let go of his shirt, nearly patting him as she wasn’t sure he was even real.
“Okay,” she managed to squeak, clearing her throat and turning around.
With her shoulders high she got to the end of the aisle before she turned to look over her shoulder. Linton was still there, passed out on the floor, but Remy LeBeau, professional thief, was gone.
Now even more determined, she quickly walked towards the loading dock, almost belatedly putting her hands up in a surrender gesture as she became visible to the police who were on guard as they were attending to the goons, two of which were still passed out.
“Hold it,” one of the policemen shouted, hand on his gun, “this is a crime scene.”
“I now,” she told them, “these guys tried to kill me.”
The cop looked at the goons before looking back at her, “Alright miss, who are you, what happened here?”
“My name is Sekhmet Conoway, Ph.D.,” she told them proudly, “and I am a Warrior Goddess.”
…
Remy walked between the police cars unimpeded, probably because he was wearing a policeman’s jacket he just happened to have appropriated. In his hands was a large brown evidence bag, sealed with red tape.
“Make sure you log the chain of evidence on that,” one of the other officers said as he passed.
“Will do, sir,” he dropped his Southern lit and went for something a little more local.
Getting out of the line of police cars he just kept walking, his exit masked by the fact that the sun had finally gone down. Once he was around a corner, he slipped the police jacket off and tossed it. He then tore into the bag and pulled out his brown jacket, grinning as he slipped it on.
Thankfully, his bike was still where he left it.
“LeBeau,” Sabretooth said his name nastily and Remy paid him little heed as he straddled his bike.
“Oui?” he asked innocently, pulling his own phone from his pocket.
“What part of ‘no one was supposed to know about the theft’ did you not understand?” the grumpy mutant was more grumpy than usual.
“Nothing like one theft covering another,” he shrugged, pulling the memory card out of the phone and handing it over, “now don’t you go losing that. I’d hate to have to go through all this again.”
“I’m sure,” Sabretooth growled and Remy wondered if he was trying not to crush the card out of spite.
“Au revoir,” Remy turned over the engine with a kick, then without so much as waiting for any form of comeback, sped off into the night.
…
Shaking his head, Sabretooth started to walk down the parking lot to his own vehicle. One of these days, he was going to make good on his promise to strangle that Cajun.
A car came towards him and it took him a moment to recognize the dark green Ford Taurus with New York plates. He waited for it to pull up beside him, the driver and rear passenger rolling down their windows.
“Creed,” Rogue said from behind the wheel.
“What are you doing here?” he asked them.
“Leeds called,” she answered with a clip, “said you were having some kind of issue and might need back up. Quicksilver was indisposed so we drove down.”
“I asked to drive but she wouldn’t let me,” Pyro said from the back seat.
“He’s lucky we came at all,” Rogue didn’t like Creed and she was never bashful about that.
“Whatever,” Sabretooth put his hand out with the card and nearly threw it at Rogue who managed to catch it, “make sure Magneto gets that a-sap.”
“Where are you going?” Rogue asked as he walked away.
“To drink a liquor store.”
PREVIOUS PAGE – NEXT PAGE
TEASER | ACT I | ACT II | ACT III | ACT IV | TAG
X-Men: The (fan fic) Series 
Leave a Reply