Challenge Fic

Challenge Fic: Inescapable

The mission to find out about this Golgotha thing was starting to get weirder and weirder. Remy and Rogue had found a necklace whose main charm was a metal piece cast to look like that blasted creature they took back to New York with them. That meant that people had at least seen the damned thing before and that it didn't live its entire existence in Antarctica.

The thing that bugged Logan so much was that he had come out of that dusty cave with Alex and... he felt like he could see better-- which was odd, since he had always had good eyes. He was, after all blessed... or cursed with superhuman senses in the first place. What he saw was something that he never thought he would understand. He had never wanted to understand it, really. It had never mattered before.

He understood why everyone-- both men and women, fell all over Remy. Gambit had been bringing over the little charm that he and Rogue found so they could start putting pieces of this puzzle together, but Logan had seen him... as if Remy weren't the same, or as if Logan had new eyes. Remy had been the same man he always was... he just looked much more attractive, and Logan felt his heart rate skip up.

When Remy got close enough, he could normally have smelled the cheap French cologne that Remy tended to wear, but this time, for some reason, Remy wasn't wearing any and his own scent wafted over to Logan. Weak in the knees, he struggled to stay up and Remy had reached out to help him. "Logan?" he asked and supported Logan by the arms. His voice was like honey dripping over him and Logan took deep breaths trying to get his head on straight.

He tried to hide his reaction and look at Remy to tell him that he was all right, but looking up at his concerned face had been a mistake. His heart lurched at seeing those ruby on onyx eyes and smelling him up close-- spicy and just a hint of sweat in this dry heat. His cock pulsed in his colors at being so close and imagining the perfect mouth that was set in worry sucking and licking at him. Logan's teeth gritted in want as he stared at the young man whose red hair framed his eyes, complimenting their color.

"You okay?" he asked with that voice like honey and the smell of cloves on his breath. Logan didn't know if he was okay because the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was drag Remy back to the hotel room he had and get inside him however he could. He had seen that beautiful body and his colors and his trench coat hid just enough of his body to entice.

The thought of them, just them, lost in a sea of sheets, Logan invading Remy, plagued his mind and he couldn't get it to stop until he was shocked out of the image by its culmination.

He jerked himself upright and leaned away from Remy. "Yeah...." he mumbled out. "Guess this heat is gettin' to me. I need some water," he said, and he did feel parched, but he didn't think it was the heat so much.

Remy watched Logan go off in search of water and turned to explain with Rogue what they had found to Alex. Remy was a little worried about Logan being that he wasn't usually bothered by that sort of thing, but he let it go easily.

Logan was in his hotel room later that evening and found that he couldn't stop thinking about what happened with Remy that afternoon. He had been trying to convince himself that he was a perfectly normal man who was interested in women. "Then why the hell did I go for Remy like that?!" he asked himself as he paced and slammed his fist into the bathroom mirror, with a posture of absolute torment.

He had never had inclinations of this sort before.... he thought as he leaned away from the mirror with broken shards of the mirror in his hand. He hoped that he wouldn't have them again, but he hadn't seen Remy again for the rest of the day. One thing was for certain... he couldn't avoid him for the rest of his life and he was going to have to figure this out.

Sitting on his bed, waiting for the cuts to heal and the bits of glass imbedded in his knuckles to be excised, he tried to imagine Remy as he had seen him before Logan had been completely aroused by him... and couldn't manage to. Every time he tried to think of him in a way that was silly, or stupid he always ended up with the image of him at the archaeological site in his head... and then the clarity of that moment... or was it the haziness of the moment, started to be applied to all of those pictures of Remy.

Everything that he did that had been stupid-- the exploding cigar on the dock, plowing his bike into the street, a covered mistake in the Danger Room, all had that clarity-- that smell associated with them and he could imagine Remy smiling that charming smile, or even a self-conscious one.

The images he was conjuring of Remy were starting to become more along the lines of his first fantasy after his experience with new eyes. He hadn't been privileged enough to see Remy's face in sexual pleasure, but he had seen his eyes close in pleasure at food over the dinner table, or at a good glass of wine. All of his expressions flashed in front of his face, from his laughing to his pain, and as his heart rate picked up again. Logan feared he was falling in love.

How could that be?!!! He wasn't in love! Not with him! He couldn't be... but then the question popped back into his mind-- then why the hell did I go for Remy like that?! He had noticed that he had stopped thinking of him as 'Gambit' and he was now Remy. They had certainly known each other for long enough for them to be on a first name basis... but he usually called him 'gumbo' or 'Cajun,' not his name. God, even his name is sexy, Logan moaned to himself cringing at the floor.

He started pacing again, hoping to come up with something that would tell him that this was just some weird phase that he would get through, or that the Hand hadn't lost their control of him completely, but the latter excuse seemed... very improbable.

Logan tried to go to sleep, but whenever he got settled in bed, he would get restless and start wanting... sex... Remy. He punched his pillow over and over, banged his head into the wall and growled at himself, but there were only two options when he thought about it... he could either stay up all night, continue fighting this and not get any sleep, or he could accept it... and ease his craving in order to get to sleep. They had a lot to do tomorrow and he would need to be alert, but could he objectify a friend like that?

How would Remy ever know? It wasn't like he hadn't thought about Jean that way and not given the slightest clue to anyone the following day that he had elaborate fantasies, although his attraction to her was obvious. If he went down the path of acceptance, then he would have to be more careful about hiding his attraction to Remy.

No! I'm not going to do this! He would know what he had done and that would be enough. He cursed himself over and over. By morning his room was a wreck and he needed coffee, but other than that, he was his usual self... albeit a bit more grumpy than usual. He downed the coffee at the restaurant and hoped that the others didn't think it weird that he would need a stimulant if they saw him. He also needed food and figured he ate the restaurant out by the time he finished.

Thankfully, he didn't see the others until later. Logan had gone down as soon as he knew a restaurant would be open and Alex and... the others were probably sleeping in. That brought an unwelcome picture of Remy sleeping peacefully amidst his sheets and Logan squelched the image promptly. Logan was feeling much better when the others decided to come down for breakfast, and Remy looked like he had taken a cold shower before hand because his hair was still wet and his disposition wasn't near as bright as the sun that was beating down outside.

Logan couldn't imagine what could have caused Remy to be grumpy that morning-- not at all. He and Rogue had most likely shared a room, but he wasn't even going to ask. He didn't need to feel like gutting Rogue too.

He tried to ignore Remy that day, but he caught himself looking at him for longer than he should have-- when he thought it was safe. It had been safe, if all he was worried about was Remy, but it wasn't really safe when Alex was watching Logan's gaze. Alex didn't say anything, but he did notice, and tucked the little tidbit in his back pocket. The issue didn't need brought up-- after all it was just a glance or two that lasted too long.

By the end of the day though, Alex had started to wonder whether he had all of Logan’s attention or not. He didn't think he did, and had to remind him where his attention was supposed to be several times.

All their investigation did really was lead them back to Antarctica and Remy sighed as quietly as he could, but Logan heard it. He felt sorry for the man having to go back there so many times. It couldn't bring back any sort of good memories and he sympathized, but followed Alex back along with the rest of them. He wanted to comfort Remy in light of their destination, but it was Rogue's place to do that... even though she wasn't comforting him and she was the one who gave him those bad memories.

Logan shook himself out of staring at him yet again and concentrated on the landing they were about to do courtesy of Alex. The bird landed just fine and they were off again to that little fortress of death and horror. Logan had stayed outside last time because he could smell the stink from out there in the icy wind and wasn't about to smell the festering death from inside.

This time, they came back to a place that had been cleansed by fire. The bodies all cremated because they couldn't just leave them there to rot. When they had left, the place was ablaze and just ash was left when they entered, although it was still gruesome, it was now only a visual gruesome and not so much of an inescapable stink-your-nose-off stench on the air.

Alex watched Logan watch Gambit as they looked around for any trace of clues as to how that thing got there, but they were running up against pretty big obstacles. Alex was getting a little miffed that Logan wasn't really with them and he felt like someone put itching powder on his skin.

“Logan, if I have to tell you to get your head out of Gambit’s ass one more time, so help me—“ Alex never finished his sentence.

Logan was pouncing over to throttle Alex. How dare he say something like that??!! He had touched a nerve.

Remy was up against Logan restraining him with his forearm in an instant and shouted to him, “Leave him, man. He ain’ worth it!” Logan looked to Remy’s deep eyes and calmed down slowly. His eyes were looking at him adamantly asking him to not do this. Then he couldn’t look at Remy—at all. After Remy saw that Logan was calm, he let him go and backed one pace away. He was going to ignore that little exchange in hopes that it would go away. This didn’t need to be drug out, especially not in front of Rogue and Bobby, who were kind of tertiary at the moment. Logan was probably just bent out of shape that Alex had implied anything resembling gay thought on Logan’s part.

Remy sighed and started to look for traces of how the creature got to Antarctica again with the others. It certainly didn’t get there how he got there the first time he visited this rotten continent. Well… unless it came from space and landed there, but then how would the people in the Middle East know anything about it if it had?

They came up with a theory, but no one knew how far fetched it was. This colony had tunnels underneath it that looked and felt like they went pretty deep. They were warm, which wasn’t saying much, given where they were starting out, but Alex postulated that this thing had tunnels that ran under the ocean and all the way to the Middle East. It was certainly possible and the most likely theory they had so far.

They did, however elect not to go running through the tunnels, but rather discussed flying. “You sure dat’s a good idea?” Remy asked and Logan was jarred by his voice since he hadn’t heard it in hours.

“What do you think we should do, Gambit?” Alex asked, his voice full of scorn.

“I’m jus’ sayin’ dat dese tunnels ain’ necessarily from dat ting, an’ even if dey were, who’s t’ say dey don’ stop sudden-like and we all go boom?”

“Why do we do anything at all?”

“Alex, what are we gonna gain by knowin’ how dis ting gets around? We’ll have ta go real slow in de tunnels so we don’t blow ourselves up, an’ den what will we have gained? We have a theory dat seems to work ‘bout how dis ting got here. Good f’ us. Why don’ we go see what Emma found? I tink dat would have more relevance in dealin’ wit’ it.”

Logan thought that Remy had a point and couldn’t help but note how he couldn’t stop thinking of him as Remy instead of ‘kid’ or ‘gumbo’ or even ‘Gambit.’ He was doomed. “I agree with Remy. We should probably head back ta see if Emma has anything. The thing’s mode of transportation ain’t exactly our key objective right now.”

“Who’s leading this team?” Alex flared.

“It’s a team, bub. We all contribute. Otherwise it’s a solo show, an’ I ain’t gonna be dragged around ta watch you try ta be yer brother,” Logan growled.

“Everybody leave my brother out of this!” he shouted frustrated ready to blow holes in the walls.

“Alex, woah. Take it easy. Let’s just take a break. Nobody likes it here and they just wanna get home, okay?” Bobby intervened and tried to make light of the situation that Alex felt was near insubordination. Alex glared at Bobby and then back at Gambit.

“Fine. Back to the Blackbird.” He was pissed and as he was passing Logan, he said quietly, “If you fuck him while we’re there, you’re off my team.”

Logan was shocked to hear that and launched himself at Alex again in a rage, only this time Remy was too late. Logan had the wherewithal to not pop his claws though, so all Alex was going to have was a bruised rib or two. Remy grabbed Logan and kept him from punching Alex further. “Logan, ease up! Logan!” He got under Logan and took a punch or two that was directed at Alex. He wasn’t happy about it, but it got Logan to stop.

Looking at Remy, Logan looked like he was hurt. “Remy….” He seemed to fall a step away, still clenching his fists. How could he have hit Remy? How could Alex have said something like that?! He hadn’t even masturbated last night and he was still having this problem? He hoped that Remy didn’t see this and figure out what was going on. He could just see the hurt in his eyes… and that was one expression that Logan didn’t want to have to see on Remy’s lovely face.

“What was dat all about, hunh?” he asked Logan. He turned to Alex. “You say somethin’ stupid again, Alex?” Remy asked the man under him.

“I only gave him a warning,” he groaned.

“Y’ should know by now dat Wolverine sees warnin’s as threats. C’mon. Let’s get t’ de Blackbird. I’ll drive,” he offered. Steering him out the colony doors and up the ramp of the Blackbird, he shivered violently in the cold. He still had a very thin skin when it came to the cold. Bobby set his hand on Alex’s side to help the swelling. He didn’t feel like he was good for much sometimes, but he was always an ice pack.

Rogue walked slowly back with Logan, not talking, but not wanting to leave him alone either. Remy got them ready to go while Rogue got settled with Logan… on the other side of the plane from Alex and Bobby. Remy sighed and started take off, then Logan got up and went to sit next to him in the copilot’s seat.

Remy wasn’t about to ask Logan about what Alex had said that got him so mad judging from the first comment he made about them. He flew kind of single-mindedly. He wasn’t happy about how things had turned out. Tensions were always higher there and he was hoping that they would get through this without ripping each other apart. That’s what had happened to the other mutants in the colony in Antarctica and he had certainly felt the effects of the creature first hand. It hadn’t been comfortable thinking about that horrifying event in his childhood… but it was the not being able to stop that had made it hurt.

Part 2

The mansion was in chaos when they arrived. Students were running everywhere and Remy landed the bird as quickly as he could. Both Alex and Logan had calmed down considerably on the flight to the mansion, but they were hyped up and ready to rush out the ramp as soon as they landed at the school. Alex was behaving just like normal, leading like normal, although he still had a little bit of residual guilt if Remy read his expression correctly.

Logan refused to look at Remy the whole way home and he couldn’t help but feel a little alienated by the man who was his friend. They had always had a common ground. Remy pushed the observations from his mind and hopped out of the jet with the rest of the team.

The students they found were mostly running for their lives and didn’t stop to look too closely at their rescuers. Who they were being attacked by were… the Cukoos! The three blonde girls who used to look exactly like Emma now had blood red eyes and their expressions looked… rather focused and a little bloodthirsty if Remy recognized the look at all.

Behind the Cukoos were several other students with the same blood red eyes. Remy hadn’t seen it before, but he had an idea of what it probably was. “Dey’re possessed!” he called to the others and started charging heavily, slinking back toward the others. He needed to hide them all from the Cukoos mentally. He wished he could do more as he watched the Cukoos grab another student telepathically and turn them into the same bloody-eyed servant of Golgotha. Remy cringed and leaned in closer to the others, putting his arms out to keep them from advancing.

“What-- What’s going on, Remy?”

“I’m hidin’ us from dem. Dey see us, but dey can’t get us—yet.”

“What are you saying?”

“Dere’s no time to explain, Alex! We gotta find Emma an’ see what de heck happened t’ all de kids!”

“Will this—thing wear off if we leave you?”

“Oui… got a very small range, ami.” The Cukoos were advancing and Remy lashed out at them with his bo, trying to knock them out.

“Be careful, Gambit! We can’t hurt the kids!”

“I’m bein’ as careful as I can!” he objected as he collected the Cukoos and stuffed them in a closet. “I’d appreciate some help in incapacitatin’ de li’l darlin’s,” he shouted and whirled around to rap another over the head.

Logan was already there and he slugged a few of them, though he was pulling his punches quite a bit. “Rogue—careful not t’ touch any of ‘em,” Logan said as they inched down the hallway.

Remy had to launch a card sometimes to keep from blowing everything up, but they were all strategically located to cause minimal damage to the school. Occasionally a blast would hit pretty close to a kid and Remy would cringe, but he hadn’t hit any yet.

The closer they got to Cerebra, the more irritated and tired they all felt. They had to be creative in dealing with a few of the students since they were still in control of their mutant abilities. The students just didn’t seem to be in possession of all of their mental faculties.

“Stick tighter, I don’ wanna lose any o’ ya,” Remy said after he noticed them drifting apart. The kids were drawing them away from him and he couldn’t have that. “Don’ chase ‘em!” he shouted to Alex. “Get back here.”

Alex marched over to Remy as he let the kid go and shouted, “Why don’t you lead this team, hunh?”

“Alex,” Remy objected again and jabbed at the student who was coming up behind him. He knocked them unconscious and left him where he lay. “I’m not tryin’ ta usurp y’ position—I need y’ t’ stay close.”

“How about this??” he asked and pressed himself up against Remy. “Close enough?!”

Remy was sweating and a little dizzy from protecting this many people for this long. “Alex… dat’s a little too close,” he whispered. Logan growled from behind them and was ready to punch Alex again.

“Oh, that’s right! Logan wants to be here! Would you be happier if we traded places?” he asked with venom in his voice.

“What?” Remy was confused and at that point he couldn’t afford to listen to Alex any more. He tuned him out and kept fighting his way down the halls and was vaguely aware as the men around him fought.

“Quit talkin’ trash, Summers!” Logan growled and hit a kid such that he went sailing into Alex, breaking him away from Remy. Alex made sure the kid was unconscious and tossed him into the wake with the others.

“What—are you defending his honor? You think you can hide how you feel about him for much longer? What do you think, Rogue? Should I suspend these two creeps and let them put on a show for you?!”

“Shut up!!” Logan shouted and punched Alex in the jaw sending him staggering, but not out of Remy’s mental shelter.

Remy was coming to the end of his endurance in both energy and pain when they finally reached Cerebra. Emma was just outside its doors and looked at Remy with angry eyes. “You!” Remy tried to look at her, but he was under assault from her and couldn’t keep up his charging for much longer. He threw another card, this one aimed next to Emma, but it didn’t help in breaking her concentration much. It helped to alleviate his pain a little, but he was still fighting this raging head ache.

“Knock her out—please!” Remy shouted wincing in pain. He advanced with the group so that they could get at her effectively, but she turned to diamond on them. “God damnit!!” Remy shouted and collapsed to his knees. Logan crouched next to Remy while Alex blasted at Emma.

“Remy… ya holdin’ up?” he asked quietly.

“I can’t! Logan—take her out!” He handed Logan his adamantium bo and knew that he would be able to handle the weapon. He couldn’t use his claws on her and have Emma come away unscathed, so this might help in knocking her out.

Rogue crouched next to Remy once Logan was off trying to fight Emma with Alex. Bobby was covering the rear and the lovers had a moment alone amidst the fighting. “Remy… Ah know that this ain’ really the time… but it might be the last time Ah get ta talk to ya…” Rogue began and that got Remy’s attention. His control slipped, but he maintained it.

“Chere…” he mumbled out. “Non….”

“Ah have to, Remy. She ain’t gonna stop fer nobody else. This… no touchin’ thang… it is getting’ ta me too, Remy. Just… Ah love you an’… Ah hope Ah’ll get ta see you again… but Ah don’t think it’s evah gonna be the same.” She wished that she could kiss Remy one last time, but they needed him conscious. Rogue squeezed his hand and Remy was squeezing hers so tightly that when she slipped out of his grip, she slipped out of her glove and dashed into the fray. Alex was using his powers on Emma, but she sucker punched him in the ribs, right where Logan had attacked him earlier and he yelped in pain, clutching his side. Rogue touched Emma’s skin and Emma fell unconscious.

“Anna!!” Remy cried but he couldn’t bring himself to stop the necessary concentration to keep the group safe.

“Rogue!” had been echoed by Logan and Alex, but neither one could have stopped her.

Emma’s telepathy was transferred to Rogue and she was starting to form herself into diamond, but Logan was quick enough that he struck her head with Remy’s bo and she fell unconscious.

Remy was clutching Rogue’s glove tightly on the floor, holding his head that had the pressure suddenly relieved, which was somehow more painful than when they were under constant attack. He curled up over his knees and shuddered, hoping that Rogue and everyone else was going to be okay.

“Okay, guys… let’s move them all to the Danger Room,” Alex said quietly. Now that the fight was over and they were down another member, he didn’t feel like fighting. He felt like figuring this whole mess out. “Logan—I…”

“Can it, Summers,” he said tersely and turned on his heel to grab Rogue and carry her to the Danger Room. They had to work quickly.

Alex went to Remy and knelt beside him. “Gambit… I’m sorry. Can you get up?”

Remy was still shuddering, but he leaned up a little. “Gimme… gimme a minute. Den I’ll help.” Alex nodded and patted his shoulder and went to help Bobby with the students in getting them in the most secured area they had.

The effected students were away in the Danger Room, which had a power suppression field around it, and they had located a few that hadn’t been affected. Remy was walking around kind of numbly, holding his head occasionally. After all the students had gathered in the living room, Remy sat on the couch, trying to massage his temples. Logan stood behind him and took off his gloves to massage Remy’s head for him. “What did ya do back there, Remy? I’ve never seen anythin’ like it.”

“I… only used it ‘couple times before… never on so many,” he said with a moan as another stab of pain shot through his head. Logan rubbed all over his head, running his fingers through Remy’s hair. “Could y’ pull on m’ hair a li’l?” he asked quietly. Logan took small handfuls of his hair as he massaged and tugged gently and steadily on them. Remy moaned in pleasure as the pain ebbed and new feelings replaced it. Tension eased out of him and he felt like he would just be a big pile of bones on the couch by the time Logan got through with him.

Smelling Remy’s hair and his relief was something that Logan felt was nearly intoxicating, even in the situation they found themselves in. He took a deep breath and leaned away from Remy in order to orient himself better. The kids were gathered and interviewed as a group there in the living room.

Remy was nearly oblivious to the proceedings as Logan kept massaging his scalp and Remy was fading into unconsciousness. He was so tired. The darkness came over him so gradually that Remy couldn’t tell when he fell asleep. Logan massaged him through the whole interview process with the kids. They had said that they were watching a news broadcast about the “night of the mutant” in LA when the Cukoos came in and started grabbing people and turning their eyes red.

“’Night of the Mutant?’ What is that, some horror flick?” asked Bobby.

“We wish. Ten people were murdered by mutants last night. That was crazy,” one of the students offered.

“Hmm… crazy, hunh?” That sounded like what was going on there… and was definitely like what had happened in Antarctica, which was certainly worth looking into. “Okay. Two of us should go and check it out… but two of us should stay here to keep the Golgothans in check.” They had put a power suppression field around the Danger Room, so even if they were to wake up, they would be powerless, but they needed to have a monitoring group should something go wrong.

“Remy an’ I’ll go t’ LA,” Logan offered.

“Oh? Why do you think you should go?”

“’Cause I can sniff out trouble an’ Remy’s the only protection we got against this thing if it’s got hold of a telepath. You’re injured and ice cube’d call too much attention.”

Alex debated Logan’s points… which were kind of hard to ignore. Logan was really good when it came to things like forensic evidence—like a blood hound that could talk. Alex smirked to himself at the thought, but nodded his head. “Okay. You and Gambit get ready to go.” Alex looked at Remy unconscious on the couch. “Will he be okay?”

“Just a head ache. He’ll be fine in a couple o’ hours,” he supplied, but he only assumed that was true.

“Okay. Brief him on the way then. Take the Blackbird.”

Logan nodded and patted Remy on the shoulder. “C’mon, Remy. Time ta wake up. We gotta take off.” Remy breathed in his first conscious breath deeply and looked around.

“Where?” he asked groggily.

“LA. I’ll tell ya about it on the way,” he explained and helped Remy up. Remy nodded and leaned on Logan a little. He was grateful for the support, but more the emotional support than the physical support, although he was still a little weak. They made it to the Blackbird and Logan was in the pilot’s seat starting her up while Remy plopped into the copilot’s seat and dropped off nearly immediately. Logan could probably let him sleep for an hour before he needed to tell him everything that was going on. He wished he could give Remy more time than that to sleep, but it just wasn’t in the cards given the situation.

Part 3

It was an hour into their flight and Logan had to wake Remy up so he could be briefed on what the heck they were doing. He had set the bird on autopilot and gently shook Remy's slouched shoulders. Remy moaned and woke up, looking over at Logan and his face crinkled in worry.

"What's wrong?" he asked squinting a little at Logan.

"Briefin' time," he said simply and leaned back into the pilot's seat. Remy sat upright in his seat and looked at Logan attentively.

"What's goin' on? You said we were headed to LA? What’s in LA?"

"There was a massacre... ten humans, killed by mutants, reportedly. It was just plain crazy, so Alex thought it worth lookin' into, but while you were sleepin' I got the local police station on the line. Witnesses said all of 'em had red eyes."

"So dey're all possessed," Remy said.

"Yeah. Which means we gotta figure out who's controlin' 'em and deal with them. My guess is we'll find another one o' those creatures there an' have ta off the sorry thing."

"Did dey kill de one at de mansion?"

"They already took care of it. They're takin' pieces of it ta Hank's lab by now. The others are bein' kept in the Danger Room fer observation. None of 'em have woken up yet, so we'll have ta see." Remy nodded. He looked at Logan and pursed his lips.

"Why'd ya wan' me on dis mission wit' y', Logan?" he asked quietly.

"I figured that trick o' yours'd come in handy if we ran up against another telepath that was possessed. They have a containment field 'round the others, so they should be safe, but I'd still be vulnerable. Hope yer feelin' up to it."

"No' quite yet, non. Might take a day or two f' me ta be able t' pull dat off like I did again."

"Ya mean yer out fer the count?"

"I don' know. I've never had t' push it dat hard b'fore. Before, it was jus' Stormy an' me hidin' from de Shadow King. Was jus' fer a few minutes an' jus' her, y' know?"

"You hid Storm from the Shadow King?"

Remy sighed. "Oui."

"She know?"

"Probably not."

"Why didn't ya say anythin'?"

"Wasn' necessary, y' know? I mean, people knew dat it was hard fer 'paths t' read m' mind. Dat wasn' a big secret. I like ta keep surprises 'roun' f' sometin'. We'd a been at a disadvantage if Emma knew I could do dat. She mighta found a way before hand ta get 'round it, y' know?"

Logan smiled. "Knew there was a reason I liked you." It was smart of Remy to keep to himself and Logan respected that... although this blatant display of power made him curious about Remy.

Remy smiled shyly at his lap, then his mouth slowly formed a frown and his brows drew together. "Logan... Alex implied--" he kind of stumbled, but Logan interrupted him before he could get any further.

"I know what that junior dick implied, Remy. Don't listen ta him." Remy nodded and seemed to feel better about whatever was bothering him-- which was obviously the implication of what Logan had been unable to admit the past day and a half. He still wasn't able to put it in words that would be understandable or succinct in any fashion. All he could really admit was that he couldn't get Remy out of his head. That he was having fantasies about him was also undeniable, to himself, but he would never acknowledge that to anyone.

"I didn' tink it sounded much like you. What made 'im say it?"

"Hell if I know, Remy." Remy nodded and looked like he might drop back off to sleep. "Hey, Remy, before ya zonk out again, just wanna let ya know we'll be goin' to the scene o' the crime first ta talk with the police about it an' see if we can't pick up any scents or anythin'." Remy nodded and slouched down into his chair again to catch some more shut eye before he might be called upon to work again.

Logan watched him sleep for the entire rest of the hour it took them to get to LA. They were flying in a super sonic jet, after all. Logan's mind however, wasn't on the supersonic jet; it was on the young man sleeping in its copilot's chair. His head was resting against the back of the chair and on his shoulder. The position looked uncomfortable, but he figured that if he were tired enough, he could probably sleep anywhere.

Looking over the man, he could see his slight stubble and his long eyelashes... details he had never been able to just observe casually. The shadows that played over his face accentuated the shape of it. Logan found himself studying the face, as Remy slept unaware of the inspection.

With an hour to play with, Logan's imagination started going wild even though Remy was just sleeping next to him, nothing but his chest rising and falling to signify his life among the hum of the engines. It started as imagining caressing his face. He bet it was an interesting transition from the soft skin of his cheeks to the stubble of his five o'clock shadow. He wanted to feel how soft his eyes were and run his fingers through that silky hair again. How could a man be so soft?

From there it was easy to imagine a kiss. What would those soft lips be like? Would they feel different with a tongue passing over them? He bet Remy's tongue would taste heavenly, like spicy liqueur and smoke.

Having seen his body before, Logan knew that Remy looked better than a god and wanted to play with him. He imagined running his hands along his chest, over his pecks, playing with his little nipples. They would start out being soft, but he bet they were responsive. He could almost feel his mouth itching to have one of them and lick it.

What am I doing?! he shouted at himself. Trying to pull back from the fantasy, he settled into the pilot’s seat and looked out at the clouds they were passing through. But inevitably his mind drifted back toward the one thing he wanted to keep it away from.

Remy woke from his slumber about three minutes away from LA. "Nice timing," Logan commented as Remy woke up and looked around. Logan had concluded his fantasy about ten minutes ago and had berated himself for it until Remy woke. Remy didn't seem to notice the musky smell of arousal in the air, but then again, Logan wouldn't expect something like that from Remy.

"Almost dere, den?" he asked, rubbing his eyes a little.

"Yeah. The police know we're on the way." Remy nodded. As a thief he was always wary of the police, especially in light of recent events down in New Orleans, but as an X-Man, he enjoyed a certain amount of protection. He felt pretty safe with Logan there, and to be honest, if he really needed to get out of one, there wasn't a prison built that could hold him. With that assurance, he walked with Logan to the Police station after they landed and stepped into the building. He didn't feel as confident as he normally did, but he was pretty drained.

"We're here ta see Detective Denison," Logan said to the desk clerk.

"You're the X-Men?" she asked incredulously.

"We ain't attorneys, lady," he commented, as if the uniforms should obviously mark them as X-Men.

She gave Logan a funny look and picked up her phone to call the detective and asked him if he was ready for his visitors. She set the phone down and told them which office to go into. Logan muttered a ‘thanks’ and walked past the lady. Remy managed a weak smile on his way past the lady at the desk.

The office they were looking for was easy enough to find and a pair of detectives were waiting in the room, one seated behind the desk in the office, the other seated on it. "Mr... Logan, was it?" asked Detective Denison, who was the one sitting on the desk. Logan recognized his voice. Denison was a clean cut dark haired white boy with a tie and the whole nine yards. The officer behind him was less so. He looked more relaxed, but less like he was the one in charge. He was a man of obvious Hispanic decent and lacked the tie, but other than that, they looked very similar.

"Yeah," he said as he entered with Remy behind him. Denison got up to shake Logan's hand, but paused when he saw Remy. Logan had said he’d be bringing someone else, but he hadn’t known what to expect. The pair looked quite odd as his companion was nearly two heads taller than Logan.

"And this is...?" he asked as Logan shook his hand firmly.

"Gambit," Remy introduced himself. The detective saw his eyes and started. They looked tired, but their color alone would inspire fear in people Remy didn't even mean to intimidate.

"You're aware that those who attacked the victims all had red eyes," he said to Logan, distrust of Gambit apparent in his voice.

"Hey, this kid is the only reason me an' half the X-Men ain't part o' those red-eyed creeps right now an' they ain't takin' over the world. Cut 'im some slack."

"Logan, 's okay. Dey jus' doin' deir jobs. We do ours too, non?" Logan nodded at him and looked back at the detectives. It would help if they could get some cooperation in trying to do their jobs, but he saw Remy’s point.

"Okay, so can we go to the crime scene?" Logan asked. He wanted to get a good sniff around and hope that he could recognize a scent or two that might be lingering. Denison nodded and leaned off his desk in order to leave the office.

Denison and the other detective, who was introduced as Rodriguez, showed the two to the mansion where the massacre took place. Remy frowned as they walked around the broken home. Logan had a grim set to his mouth too, but he was looking at things more closely than Remy was.

"Was dere any sign o' struggle in de victims?" Remy asked quietly to Rodriguez.

"Some, but they didn't really get a chance to defend themselves." Remy nodded and stepped closer to Logan.

"You smell anythin', Logan?" Remy whispered to him. Logan shook his head. He smelled a lot, though. Human blood, of several types, and mutants who were very different from each other, had all been through there, but the scents of the mutants were quickly being dispersed and overpowered by the still present blood.

"Nothin' familiar." Remy gritted his teeth. He wished that they had a telepath there who could sniff telepathic stuff out. He wasn’t sensitive to that sort of thing. “You get any readin’?” he asked. Remy paused at that and looked at Logan oddly.

“What—you tink I’m a telepath?” he asked.

Logan looked away from the chalk marks to Remy’s face… which was much more appealing than the crime scene anyway. “Well—yeah. Since you, y’know, defended everybody from Emma, I thought—“

“Well, y’ thought wrong,” he growled and turned around to leave the scene. He could still see blood on the ground, since nothing had been cleaned in consideration for evidence, and Remy didn’t want to see it any more. Logan followed him out of the creepy house and put a hand lightly on Remy’s arm.

“Hey, Remy,” he objected, concerned. “What’s goin’ on?” he asked.

Remy breathed in the cool air around him and was thankful that this was California where the weather wasn’t near as cold as Antarctica where they had just been. He looked out at the sky, trying to distance himself from all of this. “Logan… I spent a long time… tryin’ ta hide dis. I don’ regret usin’ it….” After all, it did save their hides, just like Logan had pointed out to the detectives earlier. “I jus’…” He sighed. He didn’t know how to phrase it. “It’s not somethin’ people’d understand, y’know? Dey tink telepathy de only ting dat can block out telepaty, but it ain’.”

“I don’t get ya,” Logan said.

“F’ me ta block a telepath—I charge. It protects de people ‘roun’ me… t’day I tink I found de radius some’m like… six feet. T’ought I almost lost Alex dere.”

Logan grumbled at their leader’s behavior, but nodded. “I’m sorry I called ya a telepath,” he said. Remy smiled at the implication that being called a telepath was an insult, but upon examining it… felt that was kind of true.

“’S okay, Logan. Misunderstandin’s cleared up.” Although, he would probably have to clear up the same misunderstanding several times. He sighed. “We doin’ anythin’ else here?” he asked. He could really use some sleep right now if they didn’t have any leads, even though he had slept for two hours on the way there. He had a feeling that he was going to be tired for some time. Along with the charging though, was a degree of concentration that Remy hadn’t figured out yet… but he wasn’t a telepath! He wasn’t!

Logan said that they were about finished and he went back to the detectives to ask about any witnesses. “The witness was a neighbor, who lives across the street. It was a long ways away, but she said that she saw the eyes from there—like they were glowing.” Logan nodded and thought that bringing Remy on this mission wasn’t maybe the smartest thing he had ever done when considering how sensitive people were being to the fact that these were mutants.

“Can I talk to her?” Logan asked, knowing that Remy would probably not be the best person to accompany him—especially if he didn’t get telepathic readings of any sort.

“We’ve got her under guard in her home, since we don’t know who might be trying to attack her when.” Logan nodded and followed the detective over to the lady’s house. He told Remy to stay put as they headed over and Remy nodded and pulled out a cigarette.

Part 4

One question was really plaguing Alex at that moment and it was one he posed to Emma. “Why has everyone been acting so… crazy?” Everyone had noticed it. It was as if their faculties had left them for minutes at a time. Those who had been in the Danger Room had been let out once the creature was disposed of and most of them were feeling better, but the lasting effects were mild distemperament.

“The pieces of the creature that are in Henry’s lab suggested that the fungus is simply an amplifying device when used with a telepath of the correct caliber,” she observed looking at the readout that was on her screen in the War Room.

“You’re saying somebody is doing this on purpose? That it’s not just some creature?”

“The specific thoughts are not induced… just the—scrambling nature of them?” Emma said, and shrugged. “At any rate, this thing puts out slow telepathic waves that are meant to cause insanity.”

“We have to warn Wolverine and Gambit,” Alex said, heading to the communications console. “How long will this… insanity stay in effect?”

“We don’t know, Alex. We only hope that it is as impermanent as its direct control of people. We haven’t cut open one of the students to find out how permanent the insanity is going to be,” she said sarcastically at him.

Alex looked at her funny, but then went to trying to reach Wolverine through his comm. badge. “Wolverine? This is Havoc, do you hear me?” he asked.

“I hear ya, bub. What have ya got for me?” he asked putting up a hand to the actress he was squatting in front of.

“The fungus—it causes insanity. It’s being controlled by a telepath though, so you have to locate them if we want to stop all of this.” Logan nodded as Alex spoke.

“Okay, so we find the telepath, and arrest ‘im.”

“You might need to take him out depending on the amount of control he can exert over you, Logan.”

“That’s what Gambit’s here for. I’ll give ya a progress report when I got somethin’ else.”

“Okay. Havoc out.” Logan tucked away his badge and looked at Mrs. Bary, who was a little choked up. “Did it look like one of ‘em was leadin’ the others?” he asked. With this news, he knew more about where to direct his questions, which was helpful.

“Yes. He was up front in a baseball cap. He was average built… he looked the most human of them all. He had medium brown hair—he looked like he wasn’t supposed to be with them… except for his eyes….” The actress trailed off. “He was the first one to go up to the house—the first to enter and the first to leave, and he led them away when they were all done….”

Logan nodded. “Thanks. Ya been helpful.” He stood and went back out to go see Remy. Mrs. Bary followed him with her gaze until she saw the other man he went over to. Her heart picked up and she ran out to Logan.

“Wait! That’s him, don’t go near him!” she shouted frantically as she approached Logan. Logan stopped in confusion and looked over at Remy, who was enjoying a cigarette not too far away—well, not far enough away at least. His eyes were visibly red from that distance.

“Hey, it’s okay. That’s just my partner. He’s not one o’ them,” he said as he intercepted the hysterical actress.

“But his eyes, his hair—everything!” Remy looked over at the near hysterical woman that Logan was trying to calm down and squinted, perplexed. He didn’t know if he should approach them or not, but figured since she was pointing at him that he had better not.

To Logan, Remy’s hair was medium auburn, not brown, when he looked at him, but his eyes… his eyes were hard to explain. Even so, he had a look at a Golgothan’s eyes and they were completely red, not red over black like Remy’s were. “I need ya ta calm down, lady,” Logan said. “He’s helpin’ us get the people that did this, okay?” he said reassuringly.

She looked disbelievingly at Remy, then back to Logan. Since Logan’s eyes weren’t red, she nodded and backed off. She went back into her house where the guards were waiting for her. She took a last look at Logan before hiding inside her home.

“What dat all about?” Remy asked when Logan was within hearing range.

“The witness freaked out at yer eyes,” he said casually and Remy nodded. Not like that was unusual or anything. Growing up where he did, the worst that happened to him was a beating by strangers who thought he was the devil’s spawn, so this wasn’t much of a sting. It still bothered him that people could make blanket judgments… but one like this was made clearly out of immediate self defense.

“Shall we get outta here den?” He wanted to go collapse on a couch or something… maybe get Logan to massage his head again. He mentally moaned. That would be nice.

“There’s been a development.” Uh-oh. Remy didn’t like the sound of that.

“What sorta development?” he asked, uneasy.

“There’s a telepath controlin’ the mushrooms.”

“Merde!” Remy hissed.

“Yer tellin’ me. We gotta find ‘em as soon as we can, ‘fore this place is ripped apart.”

“If we’re goin’ up against a telepath, wouldn’ it be better ta have our defenses actually in place before goin’ after ‘im?” Remy asked.

Logan thought about it and looked at Remy critically. “You just wanna nap, don’cha?”

Remy cringed and looked at Logan with puppy dog eyes. “No nap?” he asked shyly. He held his breath, hoping that Logan would allow him time to rest before he was called upon again to work so hard.

Sighing heavily, Logan said, “Nah. We can find a place fer ya ta rest up. It won’t do anybody any good ta have me on their side.” He really didn’t want to rest at this point. He wanted to get this whole thing over with so he could go back to being normal and unmolested by thoughts that obviously weren’t his.

Outline

Okay—monster takes over school through Emma…. So that means Emma is trying to fight this thing, but is maintaining little control. So… Emma is trying to… infect other students—key, blood red eyes.

The X-Men come and find some of the kids scurrying away and others with blood red eyes that are using their powers to catch the others in order to increase their numbers in this little hodge-podge army.

So… X-Men have to fight their way down to Cerebra in order to get through Emma and the kids, but without hurting them and without turning on each other and ripping each other to shreds because the monster is the key to all the negative vibes. Suspect more than one monster.. Suspect three—one in NY, one in Calvary, and one still in Antarctica. Kid and parents?

Itching powder on everbody’s skin—

1. Rogue is mad about Remy and her not touching, (big surprise)

2. Remy’s mad about not touching and whatever the hell is going on between Alex and Logan in what seems to be an argument about him that he isn’t privy to

3. Logan is mad at Alex for being a jerk and he is touchy about any mention of Remy especially in a sexual reference

4. Alex is mad at Logan for being insubordinate and not listening to him or paying attention to him—and nobody paying attention to him, now that you mention it

5. Bobby is mad that he can’t be close with a woman and is being all self centered and nasty, like he usually is, only worse—also jealous of Rogue ‘cause he likes her.

This is going to get comical.

They get all of the kids sealed in the… Danger Room? With Emma and Golgotha so they can’t get out and the team… in whatever shape it happens to be in—gets to take a breather. Searching for what happened, they talk to the kids that got away unscathed—just a handful, like the fliers and teleporters.

The news happens to be on and it tells of a horrifying massacre in LA that was definitely perpetrated by a mutant. Investigation is certainly a necessity, but keeping the school contained is also a priority. Bobby could stay behind to encase the thing in friggin’ ice—Polaris because she controls metal—Rogue was incapacitated and turned Golgothan during the fight Alex is also injured so he gets to stay and be treated by Polaris! Yay! Logan could sniff out trouble and… doesn’t want to stay because of what he might have to do should any of them get out, so Alex stays so the other three can go investigate. He wanted Remy as protection from this thing too.

Part 3

Tension builds between Remy and Logan with the news brought out in the fight that Remy still didn’t understand because he was a little busy to be paying attention to it. He only got a hint of what might be the problem.