'It's too quiet in here." Remy thought as he walked through the main floor of the safehouse. With so many people in and out of the place all the time, it was usually bustling with activity.

He took the stairs to the second floor two at a time, only to find silence on that level as well. Then he remembered the Professor telling him that Emil had said the assassins had the thieves in the basement.

"Dat would explain de silence." He said grimly, making his way back down to the main floor so he could get to the basement.

Remy paused with his hand on the doorknob. He had to wonder what he would find when he went down there, and he admitted to himself (he would never have admitted it to anyone else) that he was worried and more than a little frightened at the possibilities. True, he had always been the outsider in the Guild, and his father had even kicked him out at one point, but now he was the Guild patriarch, and that meant something, even to him. He was so sick of the conflicts between the assassins and thieves, especially how Gris had it in for Emil like he did. He just wanted it to end. But when he went down there to confront Gris and the assassins, what would the outcome be?

Remy wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he also knew he didn't have a choice. If Emil had traveled all the way from Louisiana to New York when he was severely ill, it was important. The thieves had to be saved. That was all that mattered, to Emil. And to Remy.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Remy screwed up his courage and opened the door, heading down the stairs.

Remy turned pale when he saw what was going on in the basement. He had been able to slip in unnoticed by anyone save for Tante Mattie, who never missed anything. The old woman smiled slightly when she saw Remy, and he nodded at her, motioning for her to not let anyone know he was there.

Tante Mattie, Bella Donna, Theoren, Mercy and Zoe were lined up against one wall of the basement, tied up, but no longer gagged. Singer was standing watch over them, not saying a word, her eyes invisible behind her dark glasses. Remy briefly wondered why they had Bel tied up as well, but decided to find out the answer to that when it was safer to do so.

To one side of the room, close to the stairs, Genard was lying on the floor, unconscious. Remy looked at him quickly and saw that he had been severely beaten. In the middle of the room, Gris, Fifolet and Questa were handing the same punishment to Claude, who was putting up a fight but not really succeeding.

Remy sighed quietly, wondering what on earth he was going to have to do to stop this mess from continuing. As Gris grabbed Claude and slammed him against the wall, chuckling evilly as the thief fell to the floor in a heap, Remy stepped out of the shadows, deciding it was time to take action. What he had seen thus far was more than enough to piss him off.

"You boys jus' don' listen, do ya? I don' know how many times Bel an' I have told you to leave dem 'lone, but you jus' keep goin' at 'em. Well, t'ings are gon' change. Right now." Remy said. The three assassins froze and stared at Remy like he had two heads. From his spot on the floor, Claude had to smile even though he was in pain. The tables were about to turn.

Emil woke up a few hours after Remy left New York. The coughing fit he had upon waking affirmed what he already knew. He had a spitting headache. He sighed and opened his eyes, getting a surprise when he learned he wasn't alone in the room.

"Oh!" the young Asian woman exclaimed, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. Emil figured she was probably around twenty-years-old, but then, he was no real judge of people's ages. "Hank told me you probably wouldn't wake up this soon…I'm sorry…" She faltered, averting her bright blue eyes.

"Dat's okay. Don' be sorry. I'm so tired dese days I'm kinda surprised I woke up myself. I'm Emil." Emil replied, smiling in spite of his aching throat and head.

"I'm Jubilee. Is there anything I can get you?" Jubilee asked, flashing him a bright smile and subconsciously running a hand through her shoulder-length black hair.

Emil thought for a moment before replying. "As a matter of fact…do you have any lime popsicles?"

Jubilee laughed. "Lime popsicles? I'm not sure, but I can check if you want."

"T'anks. Dey're my favorite kind. I've been cravin' dem since I got sick, but we didn' have any at home. An' could you get Dr. McCoy for me?"

Jubilee's face clouded over with a slight frown. "Sure, I can get Hank for you. Is something wrong?"

"Headache. Dat's all. I'm assumin' I need de doctor's permission to take somet'ing for it, since I'm on antibiotics." Emil replied.

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll tell Hank to come in, and I'll see about getting you that popsicle. If we don't have lime, what other flavor would you like?"

"Orange, s'il vous plait."

"Okay." Jubilee replied.

"Jubilee said you have a headache?" Hank said, joining Emil in the MedLab room with a smile on his furry face.

"Oui. Woke up wit' it. Can I have some Tylenol or somet'ing?" Emil asked, coughing some more.

"Of course. We can't have you suffering with headaches when you're trying to get better." Hank replied, handing his red-haired patient a glass of water and two small white pills. After Emil took the medication and handed the glass back to Hank, he continued. "Aside from the headache, how are you feeling?"

Emil pondered how to answer that question. As a thief, he wasn't used to confiding in people other than his Guild family. He didn't trust many people. However, he knew that Remy trusted the big blue man, and so he decided to tell Hank a little bit.

"Physically, I'm startin' to feel a little better. My throat doesn' hurt so much, I t'ink de antibiotics you have me on are workin'. Emotionally…." His voice trailed off. He didn't really want to talk about it.

Hank raised his eyebrows. "I get the impression you aren't comfortable talking about it. Don't feel that you have to tell me anything."

Emil sighed. "I'm sorry, Dr. McCoy…"

"Don't be. It's alright." Hank replied as Jubilee bounced into the room, a smile lighting up her face.

"Hi! Sorry for taking so long, but I had to fight Bobby for the last lime popsicle. I won though!" she exclaimed, handing the popsicle to Emil. "Here you go, one lime popsicle, just for you."

"T'ank you, Jubilee." Emil said, savoring the cold treat. It felt really good on his sore throat.

"If you two will excuse me, I have to talk to Professor Xavier about something." Hank said.

"You t'ink you can stop us, LeBeau?" Gris asked, ignoring Claude for the time being.

Claude took advantage of this and crawled over to where Genard was lying on the floor. As hurt as he was himself, he turned his unconscious friend over and cradled him in his arms. Then, knowing that a fight was going to break out any second between Remy and the assassins, Claude did the smart thing and pulled himself and Genard out of the way.

Remy walked over to where Gris was standing and faced the large man unflinchingly. "I don' t'ink I can." He said. "I know I can. Dis has gone on way too long, an' it's time to put an end to it."

Questa tried to sneak up on Remy from behind, but Remy saw or felt him coming and quickly flipped out a playing card. The second the card was charged with energy, Remy threw it at Questa, who just barely managed to leap out of the way before the card blew up. Questa didn't give up easily, though, and came after Remy again, but Remy decided to stop him. He threw card after card at the objects around them and blew a bunch of boxes and rubble down on top of the assassin, knocking him out and effectively taking him out of the game.

Fifolet tried the same thing, from the other side, but this time Remy's card trick didn't work quite so well because Fifolet made himself intangible and the card had no effect on him. With a slight grunt Remy grabbed Fifolet at the exact moment the assassin became tangible again, and flipped him over his shoulder, slamming him to the floor.

Gris stood by and watched, along with everyone else. He clapped slowly when Remy was finished. "I'm impressed, LeBeau. Not many would be successful in doin' what you jus' did."

Remy cast a quick glance at his friends, at Bel. He was worried. He knew he would have to fight Gris, and he'd feel much better about it if they weren't present. He didn't want them to get any more hurt than they already were.

"Let dem go, Gris. You wan' fight, fine, we'll fight, mais leave dem out of it."

Gris-Gris snorted. "Let dem go? Leave dem out of it? Oh, LeBeau, I don' t'ink so. You see, I'm gon' win dis t'ing, I'm gon' have my way. I will not lose. Dey are gon' die, an' so are you."

"Someday, oui, but not today, sorry." Remy replied, pulling out his bo staff. "You won' let dem go? Fine. I'm ready when you are, homme."

The Professor looked up. "Is something the matter, Hank?"

"I'm not sure, Charles. I was speaking with him a few minutes ago and I got the feeling he wasn't telling me everything."

"He's a thief, Hank. Remy still doesn't fully trust people either, you know that." Xavier replied. "I haven't been expecting Monsieur Lapin to be open with us, not when he just met us. He doesn't know us. Give him time, he might tell us more later. Perhaps when Remy returns."

Hank sighed and sat down. "I know what you're saying is correct, Charles, but I can't help thinking he's hiding some serious emotional baggage. Perhaps it would be useful if you or Jean would talk to him. It might help him get over his illness faster."

"I'll consider it, Hank. I can't promise you anything, but I will consider it. And I'll discuss it with Jean." Xavier said. "The last thing I want any of us to do is push in where we're not wanted."

Hank thought about that and nodded, getting up and leaving the room after thanking the Professor.

Xavier sighed and leaned back in his chair. He, too, had gotten that feeling from Emil, and it worried him. He felt that the young thief was suffering severe emotional damage, and he wanted to try to help him. However, what he had said to Hank was also true, and he decided upon thinking about it that he would not approach Emil about his problems until Remy was back.

"We need to know more before we can even begin to attempt to help him." He said quietly to the empty room.