Scott stretched before sitting in his chair at the War Room table. It had been one very long morning since they picked up Logan at the airport. They had woke the Professor, after being convinced by Logan. They started Cerebro on the search, which was turning up nothing. Now he had called a morning briefing, which should start any minute, to tell the others. What the hell am I going to tell them, that we left Remy behind again. Jesus how could we have been so blind. I could tell the difference between Jean and Madelyne, why couldn't I tell the difference between Remy and a clone.
Jean walked into the room and up to her husband. "Honey, stop blaming yourself about Remy. Be happy that there is a chance he is alive. If that was a clone, it wasn't alive, if it were we would have probably seen through the lie." She slipped behind Scott's chair and began rubbing his shoulders.
Scott closed his eyes and enjoyed the stress relief his wife was administering. "I just don't know what to tell everyone. We don't know where to look for Remy. I don't want to get their hopes up and not be able to find him."
"I know your worried, but hope is what will find him, and we need some around here, lately we have been running low." Jean sensed the others coming down the hall. She gave Scott a quick kiss on the head and took her seat next to him.
Bobby entered with Ororo and Betsy. Betsy and Bobby took there seat across from Jean and Ororo next to her, taking Jean's hand for support. Jean gave Ororo's hand a squeeze and smiled at her. Soon they were joined by Bishop, who took his seat then spoke. "I don't think Worthington will be joining us, it seems his room is empty."
"Damn it." Scott muttered under his breath. "Fine, then we are all here. Hank and Logan already know what is going on, so they will not be joining us." Scott stood and rubbed his forehead, trying to think of the right words to say. "What I brought you all down here for is that Logan returned with some information that makes us believe that Remy is still alive."
Everyone in the room reacted instantly with cries of questioning and wonder. Ororo was sobbing into Jean's shoulder, Bobby and Bishop were demanding answers, and Betsy was showing her disbelief. Chaos had taken over the room. Scott sighed and sat back down in his chair. This is going to be a long afternoon.
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Scott walked into the main computer room, looking even more tired then when he left a few hours before. Coffee in hand he sat in one of the available chairs and propped his feet on another. "Find anything or anyone?"
Hank turned from the computer and looked at Scott. "Not yet. Cerebro cannot pick up Sinister or Remy, they are both untrackable with the system unless we can search a location, even then they barely show up on the search.We have done a check with the detection equipment we installed in the St Louis, Royston, Mobile, Normandy, and New York labs. We also did a sweep of the dozen labs that Domina had destroyed, so far he has not set up shop in any of the old labs. We are running a check on the lab in Canada, but I doubt we will find them there, since it was mainly a decoy. So how did the briefing go?"
"Chaos."
"Chaos? That bad huh?" Logan asked while walking into the computer room with a tray of sandwiches. "'Ro seemed pretty damn happy about it, she is upstairs talking Chuck's ear off right now. I think this is the first time it hasn't been raining in weeks."
"She was happy after she got over the initial shock. She broke down crying and the others were yelling at me. Took me ten minutes to get everyone to shut up so I could tell them the details. I know Jean and Ororo believe that he is out there, Betsy refuses to though, Warren wasn't even there, he has taken off somewhere, and Bishop and Bobby....well, I hope you don't mind but they are outside digging up the casket."
"What?" Beast and Logan asked in unison, their mouths half full of sandwiches.
"I don't know, Bishop said something about not believing me, even though I could tell he really wanted to. Bobby came up with the bright idea of digging up the body for proof. I told them it wouldn't do any good, decay would have destroyed the majority of the body by now, but they wouldn't listen to me." Scott snatched one of the sandwiches from the tray and started eating.
"Actually, they will save me some time, I was wanting to exhume the body myself. If it was an unused clone husk the decay will take longer to consume the body. There may not be much left, but scaring on the bones and dental records can still be used if all else fails. Sinister must have missed something. The material and information he used had to be at least 4-5 years old. It will prove once and for all that it is not Remy." Hank looked over to Logan. "But of course if you don't want me to examine the body I understand."
Logan shrugged. "Go ahead, it's not Remy, and if ya have to cut up the body to prove it, do it."
"Good, I will do that tonight, after they do all the hard work." Hank grinned and turned back to the computer.
Scott stood and sat his mug on the now empty tray. "I will go tell them to bring the casket to the lab after they have dug it up. Where do you want it?"
"Actually if you could take it to the morgue it would be better."
Scott nodded and left. Finally the computer chimed, stating it was done with the last sweep.
"Anything?" Logan questioned.
Hank shook his head. "Nothing, no activity. This was the last lab, Logan, I don't know where to check now. Did Sabretooth say anything that might pinpoint where he was?"
"No, I don't think he's working for Sinister anymore. From what I was told, his previous employer fired him, that's why he was in Madripoor. I can only guess that previous employer was Sinister. I've got a friend of mine tailing him, I can call her and ask about his movements. I think it is too early for him to go anywhere, but maybe she can tell us something."
"That may help, anything would at this point."
Logan stood and grabbed the tray. "I'll go call her now. I'll tell ya what I find out." Logan left the office as the Professor came in. "Hey Chuck."
"Logan." Xavier hovered over to the computer, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the door was properly closed behind Logan. "Did you speak to him?"
Hank took of his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "No, I was going to say something but then Scott came in. I didn't want him blurting out anything on the subject in front of Logan. He has a tendency to say things he shouldn't in delicate situations such as this."
"Yes, that I have not broke him of. I just thought it would be better coming from a friend."
"A friend that can sedate him when he goes feral again? Truthfully, I think it would be best to wait until I do the autopsy on the exhumed body, make sure that Remy is still out there. If the body does prove to be Remy, and he is truly dead, I don't think it is something we should tell him."
"I find it odd that Logan does not know, the trauma had to of caused some permanent damage. Remy must have had some problems being that close with another man. Maybe Logan already knows about the events that occurred and thinks he is hiding it from us."
"Professor, if he knew he would have gone after Creed a long time ago, that is just the way Logan is. He probably would have dragged the poor boy down to my lab as well, the young man sneezes and Logan is practically carrying him down here for a check up."
Professor chuckled, remembering the time Logan dragged Remy to the lab for a small cut from a kitchen knife. "Was there any luck with the scans of the labs?"
"No, but Logan is checking in with a friend. He has someone watching Sabretooth, he thinks maybe it will give us a lead to Sinister. He will tell me what he finds out and we will go from there."
The door behind them opens and a very dirty Bobby stomps in.
"What's the big idea of making us dig up the body and then sending Scott to tell us we can't open the box?" Bobby walked up to Hank, leaving a trail of mud across the floor. "Do you know how hard it was to get that thing out of the ground? Ororo has been making it rain for weeks now, it was like mud wrestling."
Hank could not help but snicker at the picture that popped into his head of Bishop and Bobby mud wrestling in the Cemetery. Professor caught the mental image and had to suppress a laugh himself. "Bobby, if you and Bishop opened the casket and destroyed the remains I could not conduct a proper autopsy. I do thank you both for digging up the body for me, and you will be the first to know the results. But please, get out of my lab before you cover the floor in more mud." He patted Bobby on the back as he walked away grumbling.
"Do you need someone to clean this up Henry?"
"No Professor, Thank You, I will take care of it."
"Very well then, please let me know the results of the autopsy and what you find out from Logan." With that Xavier hovered over the mud covered floor and left the lab.
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Logan walked into the computer room to give Hank the information he got from Rose and found no one. He shrugged and headed down the hall to the lab and again found no one. Finally he stepped into the morgue and found Hank and Bobby staring at the casket that was drudged up. "Here ya are, I have been looking all over the mansion for ya. Heard ya drug in half the backyard bringing this up kid." Normally he would be kicking Bobby across the room for all the shit he put Remy through, but Jean had sat him down and told him about everything Bobby had done after the mission, including breaking Warren's nose, so he was now alright in his book.
"Yea, it wasn't as much fun cleaning it up as it was dragging it in that's for sure, we need a maid, or at least need to get Jubes to move back in." Bobby grinned.
Logan snorted. "I can't even get that girl to pick up the clothes off her bedroom floor. Anyway, she will be back soon enough, I gave her a call and she is coming over to stay a few weeks."
Bobby smiled. "Cool, someone to boss around, sucks being the youngest around her all the time."
"You aren't the youngest, Remy is about 2 years younger then you. Remy was about 23 wasn't he Logan?" Hank asked as he threw a crowbar Logan's way.
"Yea, 23-24 that is the rough estimate." Logan looked at the crowbar and back to Hank. "What do you want me to do with this? Just lift the damn lid."
"Well, his father wanted it sealed so that what we are about to do wouldn't happen, so we are going to have to pry it open." Hank shrugged and began to pry open one end.
"Remy was really that young? He never acted like it." Bobby shook his head as Hank slipped and almost hit himself with the crowbar.
Logan rolled his eyes and took the crowbar from Hank. He threw it on the floor with a loud clang. "Look out." He warned as he unsheathed his claws and unsealed the casket. "There." He waved his hands at the now unlocked casket like a game show model and turned back to Bobby. "He just had a hard life Bobby, he had to grow up too fast, it makes him seem older."
"Yea, I can imagine. I don't think I could have gone through what he did. What Creed...." Bobby was interrupted by Hank clearing his throat.
"Bobby can you please help me open the casket?" Hank asked while giving him a look that told Bobby to stop the conversation.
Logan looked at Bobby and then at Hank. What is going on. First Scott and Hank, now Bobby too. I have a feeling I'm missing something. Guess I'll have to beat it out of someone. Before Logan could press the subject he heard Bobby gasp and saw Hank's eyes grew wide. He thought it was just the general reaction to a decaying body, but when he glanced around the corner of the now opened casket he saw what the surprise was about.
"Remind me to ask Jean-Luc where he got this coffin. I want to look that good when I have been in the ground for a month too." Bobby muttered as he starred at the perfectly preserved body.
"Hank, it's not suppose to look like that is it?" Logan asked as he poked at the chest of the body.
"No Logan, its not, and stop that, its morbid." Hank cringed.
"Well isn't it suppose to be squishy and smelly?" Bobby asked as he followed suit and poked the arm.
"Yes, Bobby I would think so. Both of you stop! It's not a toy." Hank shooed Bobby away from the body. "Sit over there if you are going to stay. Logan I need your help getting him out and onto the table."
Hank and Logan carefully moved the body to the table, sitting it down gently on a medical table. Bobby got up and walked over to the body, picking up the wrist in his hand.
"Bobby what are you doing?" Hank asked as if Bobby was an annoying child.
"Checking for a pulse, he looks pretty damn alive to me." Bobby chuckled, followed by a snicker from Logan.
"I think I liked it better when you two were fighting. Now both of you stop poking and prodding the body, that is my job." Hank sighed, he knew they were as curious as he was. "Logan, help me roll him over, since he seems to be preserved quite well we will check for that tattoo you keep talking about."
They slowly rolled over the body and pulled back the already cut clothing. Logan grinned from ear to ear not seeing the tattoo on the body. "See I told ya, no tattoo."
"Well I can't imagine it disappearing. I have to say that this convinces me that this is not Remy, but I want to run a few other tests. Actually roll over the body again". Hank helped the body over and then opened the mouth and looked inside with a small mirror. "This confirms it. This Remy still has his bottom two wisdom teeth. Remy had them cut out about two years ago. I remember him coming in for pain medication for the toothache. He had them cut out the Monday after. This is not our Remy." He smiled and looked at Logan. "Guess we need to work on looking for the real Remy."
Logan nodded. He knew in his heart that Remy was still out there, but this confirmed it in his mind, no doubt, he was alive. His smile started to fade as he thought about everything his lover could be going through right now in the hands of that maniac. "We have to find him fast Hank, who know what Sinister is doing to him."
"I agree, did your friend know anything?" Hank asked as he took a blood and tissue sample from the clone for experiments.
"Not really, not enough time for him to really do anything. He did book a flight to Seattle, but it doesn't leave for another week." Logan shrugged.
"Did you say Seattle? Remy has been there before." Bobby offered.
"Remy has been a lot of places, Bobby."
"No, Seattle had something to do with Remy's past. Rogue ended up there, that's where they had the big break-up, well the first one. When I asked Remy why Rogue was so drawn to the place he wouldn't answer me." Bobby looked at Logan, hoping the information was useful.
"Remy mentioned a theater to me once after a nightmare, but didn't tell me where. Could have something to do with Sinister, maybe he has a lab under or near it?" Logan looked at Hank.
Hank shrugged. "It is worth checking out, we don't have anything else to go on. Logan, you and Bobby go punch it into the main computer. I will go tell Professor my findings and confirm we are looking for Remy. I'll meet you down there when I am done."
Both Logan and Bobby rushed out towards the computer room. Hank took one last look at the body and pushed the table into the morgue drawer. "Good Night, who ever you are."
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Xavier knew Hank was at the door, but let him knock anyway. "Come in Henry."
"Good Evening Professor." Hank greeted with a smile.
"I take it your findings are good?" Xavier inquired as he pointed to the chair in front of his desk.
"Yes, we have confirmed that the body downstairs is not Remy. It does not have the tattoo that Remy and Logan adorned themselves with, and he seems to still have teeth that Remy had removed. The fact that the body still looks as fresh as the day we buried it is quite odd as well."
"That is fascinating. I assume you will be doing test to find out the cause of the phenomena." Xavier nodded as Hank showed him the test tubes of blood and tissue, silently answering his question. "Any luck with Logan's friend?"
"Maybe, Sabretooth seems to have booked a flight to Seattle. Bobby mentioned that there was a theater there that Rogue visited on her trip down Remy's memory lane. There may be a link, they are checking it out now."
"Good, one last thing, have you mentioned the rape now that you know he is alive? If you would prefer me to do it I can, I do not want to burden you."
"Bobby almost let it slip, so I think Logan knows something is going on. I will speak with him later about it, I just have not found the right time to do it. He seems so happy about Remy being alive that I hate to ruin it with news like this. I'm also worried about finding Remy, his condition that is. If he was taken from the lab alive he must have been by Creed, do you think he would do something like that again? Being a prisoner of Sinister's is frightening enough."
Xavier sighed. "I worry about that too, but first we must worry about getting him home safe. Once he is here we can work through any damage that has been done. We all must be there for him, he will need our support no matter what the trauma. That is why I have decided I do not want Warren on the mission to rescue him, he has done enough damage."
"I will bring that up with Scott, I don't think he will argue. If there is nothing else I am going to go downstairs, put these in the lab, check with the boys of the search and then retreat to bed. I am exhausted."
"Yes that is all, have a good nights rest, you deserve it after today's events. Please ask Logan and Bobby to rest as well, they will need it if that search comes up with a clue."
Hank nodded and walked to the door. "Night Professor."
"Good Night Henry."
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Logan punched in the last coordinate and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet on the edge of the large computer console. "Well, now we wait. I have it searching for Sinister, the Marauders, Remy, and any tesseract activity." Logan turned and gave Bobby an angry glare. "Since we are going to be here for awhile, why don't ya tell me what's going on?"
Bobby eyes widened and he shifted in his chair. "What do you mean Logan?"
"Ya know what I'm talking about. Ya were about to say something in the morgue and Blue stopped ya, you're hiding something. Scott and Hank did that same thing on the way home when they picked me up at the airport."
"I was just going to say that I couldn't survive what Remy went through, the rape and all. I don't know what Hank and Scott are hiding, or why he interrupted me....unless you didn't know." He noticed Logan turn away from him and light a cigar. Oh shit, he didn't know, me and my big mouth. After several minutes of silence, Bobby was starting to worry. "Logan, I'm sorry, I thought you knew about it."
"I did. I didn't think everyone else knew though." Logan almost whispered and took another drag of his cigar.
Bobby took a deep breath. Thank god he knew, I don't think I could handle telling him something like that. "We didn't until Remy's father came in for the funeral, he told Scott. Scott kinda told everyone else."
Logan turned and gave Bobby a puzzled look. "Remy said he never told his father."
Bobby mirrored Logan's puzzlement. "From what I understood it was his father that came and got him after it happened."
Logan shook his head. "Remy didn't even know his father then, he wasn't adopted until he was about ten."
Bobby stared at Logan, both men were totally confused, not understanding what the other was talking about. Both were about to ask the other what was going on when Hank walked in the door. Logan swiftly turned and glared at Hank.
Hank noticed the glare and the frightened look in Bobby's eyes and sighed. "You told him didn't you?"
"Told me what?" Logan growled.
"I thought he already knew, he said he did, but then we started talking about it and the facts don't match up. I said his father told us, he said his father didn't know...I'm so confused." Bobby looked at Hank pleadingly.
Hank sat down in a chair between the two men. "Alright, what did Remy tell you Logan?"
Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he hated to talk about this. "Remy just made the mistake of trusting the wrong person, he was young, he didn't know better. He said it wasn't anyone he knew, just a man on the street that offered him some food and a place to sleep for the night. When they got to the man's apartment he beat and raped Remy then locked him in the closet overnight. In the morning he raped him again and threw him back on the streets. Remy was really messed up by it, he still has nightmares and flashbacks. He told me he never told his father about the rape, and it doesn't make sense that his father picked him up. He was only around eight when this happened. He wasn't adopted until several years later."
Bobby shook his head slowly, his eyes never blinking. "That's not the rape we were told about."
It was Logan's turn to be stunned. He look from Bobby to Hank begging for an explanation.
Hank rung his hands, not knowing what to say. "Logan, I want you to stay calm when I tell you this. You have to worry about finding Remy right now, not revenge."
"Spill it Blue." Logan whispered. He wanted to sound threatening, but he couldn't manage it. When Remy told him about being raped it tore at his heart to know his lover went through something so horrible. He didn't want to hear he went through it again.
"Do you know about the young girl in Paris?" Hank questioned.
"Yea, everyone knows about that thanks to Creed." Logan snarled. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"The night after that occurred Remy and his brother Henri got very intoxicated. Creed took the opportunity to attack them in their hotel room. He overtook both of them, knocking Henri unconscious in the bathroom. When Henri came to, he found that Creed had brutally raped Remy. He called their father, that is how Jean-Luc knew about this rape. I don't know if his father knew about the earlier attack." Hank looked at Logan, trying to register his emotion, and saw nothing, which worried him. Logan was just starring at him, mouth agape, his hands were shaking. "Logan?"
"That fucking bastard!" Logan suddenly yelled and slammed his fist against the console. He stood and began to pace and rant. "Why? Why didn't Remy tell me? Tell anyone? Jesus, we brought his rapist into his home for Christ sake!" Logan sat back down and covered his face with his hands, he wanted to destroy something and cry all at the same time. Suddenly it hit him, the conversation he had with Creed in the hotel. He shot up out of the chair, knocking it to the ground. "We have to find Remy now! Creed has had access to him this whole time! I swear if that son of a bitch has touched him...."
"Logan, calm down, we are all angry about this, but that will not help Remy now." Hank picked up the chair and pushed Logan back down into it. "We have the computer searching now, that is all we can do. If we run into Creed when we rescue Remy, I don't think anyone will stop you from killing him, but lets worry about that later. The sooner we find Remy the faster we can get him away from Sinister and Creed." Hank looked down at Logan, waiting for some kind of response.
Logan looked up at Hank with tears running down his face. "What if we don't find him Hank? What if that mad man has messed him up or already killed him."
Hank bent down to be eye level with the sitting Logan. "We will find him, none of us will rest until he is home safe."
"Well, we may be resting soon." Bobby said excitedly, pointing at the screen. "Cerebro is picking up tesseract activity right under that theater. There has to be a lab there."
Hank quickly stood and punched in several commands. He waited a few moments then smiled at the information on the screen. "Not only do we have tesseract activity, we have two Marauders, one mad scientist, and one very alive Cajun."
"What the hell are we waiting for, lets go get him!" Logan stood ran out the door with a smile. "I'll wake up Cyke and the others, meet us at the Blackbird!"
"Bobby can you send the coordinates and information to the Blackbird? I need to go pack a medical kit, we may need some things when we find Remy."
"Do you think he will be alright? Do you think Creed hurt him again?" Bobby could feel his stomach knot with fear of not only the upcoming mission, but the condition Remy would be in when they got there.
"I am not sure, my friend. Not only has Creed had access to him for over a month, Sinister has also had free run of him for experiments." Hank shook his head as if to remove his current thoughts. "I just want him home Bobby, and preferable alive, we will help him heal when he is safe."
Bobby nodded as Hank left for the MedLab. He turned to the computer and put in the commands to download to the Blackbird then left to meet the others in the hanger.
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In a matter of minutes Scott and the whole team were awoke by alarms and Logan knocking on doors. All were running on a few hours of sleep, or less, but the mention of finding Remy was enough to wake everyone. They all were scurrying to collect supplies and weapons to meet in the hanger where the briefing would be held. Logan was in full uniform and running through the main hall to go down to the hanger when he ran into a screaming Jubilee.
"Will someone stop and tell me what the hell is going on!" Jubilee was thrown off balance when Logan grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the hanger. "What is going on, I get here and I don't even get a hello. I just get dragged down the hall. I know it is late, but come on!"
"We are going to Seattle." Logan smiled at her.
"Your smiling? Why? Did you find him?" She stepped in front of him, stopping him. "Did you find Remy?"
"Yea kiddo, we did, we're on our way to get him. Want to go?" He ruffled her hair, which he didn't even get a complaint about like he normally did.
"Damn straight I want to go! Did you really have to ask!" She grabbed Logan's arm and started pulling him down the rest of hall to the hanger.
They both rushed into the hanger, where half the team stood looking over maps and blueprints. Jean caught the door before it closed as she carried in two large decanters of coffee and several mugs. She gave Logan a smile. "Figured we all may need this." Logan nodded and took a mug.
Scott turned and took a mug from the tray, noticing Logan and Jubilee for the first time. "Good, now we are only waiting on Hank, he is packing a medical kit, just in case." He looked at Jubilee. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Oh don't you even start with me! I am going with you!" Jubilee snapped.
"I don't think so, this is too dangerous. We are going to one of Sinister's labs. You can stay here and get the lab ready for when we return." Scott pointed towards the door.
"No, I'm going with you! I'm going to be on that plane to make sure you bring back Remy. From what I heard, you have a real problem with forgetting him." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Scott.
Scott looked at Logan who shrugged at him. "Fine, I don't have time to argue with you, but you stay on the plane, you're not going into the lab."
"Fine." She turned away from him, then smiled.
Scott huffed and went back to briefing the others around the maps and blueprints.
"Ya did good kiddo, he just needs to be kicked in the ass sometimes." Logan slung his arm around Jubilee's shoulders.
Jubilee looked up and smiled at Logan, a gleam of accomplishment in her eyes. "Like I was going to let you go get Remy alone. He's part of our family now, us LeBeaus watch after one another."
"Oh, now we are all LeBeau's huh?" Logan said while kissing Jubilee on the head.
Jubilee gave him a nod. "Yep! You took the name, and so will I. Would have taken yours, but you didn't have one."
He laughed and pulled her towards the plane. "I am sure Remy would love to hear that from ya when we find him. He's always wanted a family."
Jubilee ran up the Blackbird ramp to her favorite seat, which just happened to be Bobby's favorite seat as well. Logan took a chair next to her and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Well now Remy has got a family, and we aren't that easy to get rid of." She whispered and closed her eyes to catch a quick nap on the way to Seattle.
TBC