School and Home: Part Seven

"What do you mean, you can't find Remy!" Cyclops exclaimed.

"He wasn't at the Denaras' when I called," Storm replied. "They didn't even know he'd been out earlier. I've flown back and forth between their place and the hotel. No sign of Remy, but I found a rifle on the roof of the Denaras' neighbors' along with a singed playing card."

"I got the picture," Cyclops said grimly. "Get over to Cardie's as quickly as you can, we don't have time to play games anymore."

With that Cyclops tapped off the comm. badge and started across the street.

An optic blast shattered the door Storm had picked a few hours earlier giving Cyclops entrance to the house.

Cardie stumbled out of his bedroom, half dressed and carrying a pistol.

"Drop it," Cyclops ordered. "Or you end up like the door."

Responding to the ice-cold tone, Cardie surrendered. "What do you want?" he asked with false bravado.

"Who's killing them?" Cyclops demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cardie replied.

"The hell you don't," Cyclops said coldly. "You're covering for the killer, he's got Remy now."

"I told you, I don't..."

"If Remy gets hurt it's your fault!" Cyclops yelled. "You aren't listening! I KNOW! If not for you this guy would be caught and Remy wouldn't be in danger! Anything that happens to him happens to you! Understand?"

"I don't..."

Cyclops' optic blast smashed a hole I the wall beside Cardie's head.

"Stop wasting time," Cyclops said.

"I..."

This time Cyclops blew a hole in the floor at his feet, forcing Cardie to jump back.

"It's my nephew," Cardie said defeated.

Remy moved through the crowd of on-lookers who'd come to gawk at the fire, years of practice made him invisible.

The police were trying to push the crowds back in case the fire found any more ammo to blow up. The fire crews were hanging back, spraying down the neighboring buildings, trying to prevent the fire's spread, but less than willing to enter the Friend's warehouse. Everyone was talking and Remy was listening with all his strength. Listening to the words and the feelings swirling around him.

There it was, a swirl of hate and fear and guilt. Remy approached the knot of men projecting the ugly emotions.

"It was them," one man hissed. Remy stared at him, waiting for him to feel it. When the man met his eyes Remy paused for a beat then slid into the crowd working his way toward the dark shadows while the man roused his friends to give chase.

A slow, subtle chase in the crowd, none of them willing to draw official attention.

Remy waited at the edge of the crowd, making sure they spotted him, then he ran for the alleys.

"Directions," Cyclops demanded shortly. He sat in the back of the car, one hand hovering over his visor's trigger the other clamped around Cardie's upper arm as Strom drove.

Cyclops didn't have Wolverine's "You were dead the minute you looked me in the eye." presence but the fear and anger generated by the knowledge that Remy, who he thought of as a younger brother, was in danger created an edge of it's own and Cardie didn't doubt that Cyclops would make good his threat to kill him should they be too late to save Remy.

"Cyke look!" Storm exclaimed stomping on the breaks and gesturing to the hellish glow lighting a corner of the city. "You don't think..."

"That's where we'll find Remy, at the heart of the trouble," Cyclops finished. "Hit it!"

"If you don't need me anymore," Cardie ventured.

"Stay!" Cyclops barked. "After this is over you're taking us and your less corrupt colleges to where-ever you stashed Kevin Denara's body. He deserves a decent burial and to see his killer punished. All those kids deserve to be alive, but you can't give them that."

A few blocks short of the fire Cyclops caught the sound of a secondary explosion off to his right. "Storm," he said.

"I saw it," she replied wrenching the car into a hard turn.

Cyclops shoved Cardie forward so he could handcuff the already bound man to the car door. "Stop the car, we don't want to barrel in blindly," he said.

The two X-Men moved quickly toward the latest explosion and practically ran into Gambit.

"Get de hell out of here!" Gambit hissed as he recognized them. "Yo' goin' to screw-up m' plan!"

"What plan?" Cyclops asked, bodily dragging the younger mutant into the shelter of a recessed doorway.

"Got dem mad, not t'inkin'," Gambit said in a rush. "Ain't showed dem 'nough powers to scare dem. Dey gonna chase me right back into de arms of de cops, who ain't happy 'bout dem stockin' guns an' such."

Scott's face twisted with pained indecision. "Go," Cyclops said. "We've got your back."

Gambit darted out of the darkened hall; a minor explosion brought the FOH running.

As they passed the recessed doorway Cyclops whispered grimly to Storm, "If any of them draws a gun, drop them. If you even think that Remy's losing control of the situation or if I start shooting hit them as hard as you can."

"What the?" One of the officers at the scene of the fire exclaimed upon finding Remy's long discarded guide. The officer loosened the boy's gag.

For a few minutes the sniper swore and cursed almost inarticulately as other police officers, firemen and reporters gathered and he was untied.

"Gonna kill that red-eyed freak, just like I killed all them other freaks," Grady snarled. "No. Gonna kill this one slow, make him beg for it."

"Are you confessing to the mutant slayings?" one of the reporters yelled.

An ugly, hate-filled smile on his face, Grady looked squarely at the reporter and said. "It isn't murder, they're not human."

As Gambit neared the scene of the fire he slowed, his pursuers began gradually closing the gap between them. The card he'd used to draw their attention after Scott's interference was the second to last that he'd thrown. The last card hadn't even exploded; the charge had been so weak it had simply fizzled.

Just a few feet more and they were close enough for him to feel the blood lust pouring off of them. Gambit put on a short burst of speed as he broke into the street were the chase had begun.

"Keep yo' head down," he thought to himself as people turned toward the newest commotion.

"Help me!" Gambit yelled, stumbling.

Hearing Remy cry out, Scott felt his heart freeze, then a flash of memory showed him Remy kneeling in a pool of his power, hunted for months but still defiant, forcing the Marauders to back down. He saw Remy sparring with Logan, avoiding a strike with cat-like reflexes and an acrobat's style.

Storm's eyes clouded over as she called on her powers. "Wait," Cyclops said. "He's playing them."

Scott flinched as the fastest of the pursuers kicked the boy viciously in the side. Remy took the blow without resisting, keeping his gaze down, hiding his eyes Cyclops realized.

Then the crowd and the police descended, roughly pulling the FOH members away from Remy.

"Go get Cardie," Cyclops said. "Let's make our contribution to this little scene."

"What are you going to be doing?" Strom asked.

"Making sure things don't turn ugly when the crowd figures out why those guys were after Remy," Cyclops replied.

"Mutie freak started the damn fire, burnt our place down," the nominal leader of the FOH men spat as he was handcuffed.

"Yo' mean yo' de guy dat owned all dem weapons dat been blownin' up?" Remy asked innocently, then protested to the police. "I jus' lookin' to see what de do-see-do be 'bout, like everyone else. When I start for home dese creeps start chasin' me."

"Why'd they target you?" one cop asked and Remy finally looked up, letting them notice his eyes. That answered all their questions.

"Gala night huh," Remy heard one of the reporters whisper. "Fires, arms stockpiles, self-confessed serial killers, mutants, a would be lynch mob. I wonder what comes next; terrorists or an alien invasion?"

"I think this gentleman has something to say," Cyclops said. Remy turned to see Strom and the X-Men's field leader escorting Officer Cardie into the hullabaloo.

"I thought we told you X-Men to stay out of our investigation," the ranking officer, recognizing the uniformed teens.

"We were helping Remy settle in his new foster home," Cyclops claimed. "Your officer brought us back into the case, he mentioned that Remy might be the killer's next target."

"Why would you guys send the kid here since you knew about the killer?" a reporter yelled.

"There aren't many families willing to take obviously mutant foster kids," Cyclops replied. "And the lawyers were forcing the timing. But that isn't what he needs to talk to you about."

At a slight nudging from Storm, Cardie said. "I knew who the killer was, I hid the last body, screwed up some of the evidence."

"Dave?" the ranking officer asked, stunned. Then he glanced toward the car where Grady had been confined and a light went on. "He's family, a nephew right?"

Cardie nodded. "His parents said they had him under control."

"Aw hell Dave," the other officer sighed. "You know better."

"He covers up a murder and you feel sorry for him!" Storm exclaimed, outraged.

"Storm!" Cyclops said, hushing her. "They know him, he's a co-worker, its only natural. It's not like it will stop them from carrying out their duties."

Storm rolled her eyes and Cyclops quietly added, "At least not this time when the confession was made in front of representative from every major news agency in the area. So be gracious, we won."