Backdated: Remy and Betsy.

[x-psylocke.livejournal.com]

A late evening visit, plans are made, and some alcohol is imbibed.



In the cloak of night, walking from the back porch of the Manor to the front steps of the boathouse and not get noticed was a simple enough task. Doing so with a few bottles of Scotch was another matter entirely.

Betsy climbed up the porch, careful not to drop anything, and gave the front door a few hearty kicks. "Anytime you could manage to open this door would be nice." Betsy said, with another kick to the door. "My arms are killing me."

There was a bit of shuffling inside, and a rather puzzled looking Remy opened up the door. "Bit late for a social call, isn't it, chere?"
Remy opened the door further and stepped aside. "But Cain's already had his glass of warm milk and gone to bed, so I guess de living room is free."

"You've been sick and I haven't had an official welcoming into this Trenchcoat Brigade of yours." She said, handing two bottles over to him. "So, I thought I'd bring the celebration over here instead." She plopped down on the sofa and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. "But since Cain's asleep, that means another six bottles for ourselves."

"Eight bottles? Guess dat your way of celebrating is committing suicide?" Remy said lightly, collecting a pair of glasses from the cupboard and sitting down beside her. "Or are we starting to lay down our reserve already?"

"They'll be times, you'll be thanking me for thinking ahead." Betsy had been placing the other six bottles neatly on the side of the sofa. Her smile was bright, as she took one glass from him.

"However, Remy got dis feeling dat tomorrow morning, I'll be cursing your name for a while." He poured a generous measure of scotch into her glass and his before reclining back. "So, other den a king's ransom in de finest drinks dat make you blind, what brings you down to my excessively humble abode?"

"Jake welcomed me into this fine group with pastry, Nate thinks that I've made a good decision, considering. And well, I think it's finally hit me that I've joined up. So, I spent a few hours, looking about that place you call an office and from what I've gathered this was the screw job of a lifetime." Betsy tipped her glass to Remy. "Cheers."

Remy grinned and took a long sip. "Took you this long to figure it out, chere? Maybe Remy was wrong 'bout dat training of yours." Betsy made a rude gesture at him.

"But oui, dis is 'bout de worst job dat Remy can think of. Bad hours, too much travel, no snappy leather outfits or code names; and most of all, if we do de job right, no one even knows dat we get credit for it."
"Ah," Betsy made the little noise, almost a sigh of relief. She leaned deeper into the couch, her arms resting limply at her sides. "I do hope I wasn't interrupting your late evening plans?"

"You looking at my evening plans, chere." Remy said, motioning to the files on the coffee table, a drift of newspapers beside it, an pages of Remy's notes in the middle. "'cept wit' less scotch 'fore you showed up."

"Glad I showed up, then." Betsy sat up and inched closer to the paperwork in front of them. Drink in hand, she pulled a case folder to the edge of the table, and began reading. Taking a few sips from her glass, her dark purple eyes scrunched up in concentration. Her lips pursed, she set the Scotch aside and picked up the folder. "You're obviously working on rebuilding your Intelligence net in Europe," Betsy said after a few thoughtful minutes. " But why aren't you focusing on any of your far eastern contingents?"

"Number of reasons. Considering our threat profiles, and Wisdom's departure, Europe is de most important area to shore up at de moment. The contacts there were the most extensive of his, and dose networks took de most damage. Add on to dat Magento's networks and connections seem to be heavily European in origin as well." Remy leaned back with a sigh. "You right dat we've let areas slide, mostly because we don't have de manpower to cover dem yet."

"It'll take a small army of operatives to scour the Eastern sector of Europe alone," Betsy said with quiet realization, feeling tired by the mere thought. "That is of course, not even adding Magneto's group to the equation."
Looking over to Remy with a sardonic smile, "So where to first?"

"First, Spain and Germany. Been tracking de information dat Moira sent me from Muir. Genetic samples and de like gone missing from a year or so back. As well, we have our standard patch job on de rest of de network in regards to de Hellfire Club, and hopefully finding some information on Magneto." Remy took another sip. "Think dat might be enough to start?"

"That's an awful bit to chew on. "Betsy whistled, throwing the file back onto its' respectful stack. She reached for her glass and drank heartily from it. "Should be alright."

"If not, we going to know about it in a bad way." Remy said grimly between sips. "But we do have a couple of things to our advantage. I've been running a couple of ops profiles on our little group, and Remy like to get us all down in de Danger Room soon."

Betsy snorted at that. "May run into a bit of trouble there. From my understanding of things, the DR is well-overbooked and while we might be able to wrangle some practice time. I'm not so sure there wouldn't be some objections....." With her, for instance.

"I'm sure dat de Professor will make sure de schedule is clear." Remy said, meeting her eyes. "We not X-Men, true, but dat doesn't mean dat we can avoid de training. We going to be on de sharp end sooner or later, and dat means being ready for it. De boyscout will understand dat."

"We'll see," Betsy said, somewhat grimly. She turned away from Remy's intense red on black gaze. The subject had been closed, for now. She grabbed for the bottle and began refilling their glasses. "Maddie's given me an all-clear, at least medically, so that's one saving grace."

"Dis isn't de X-Men, Betsy. Long as you can do de job, you'll do it. Remy not interested in dere training rotations or unit formations. Dat's for de line animals." Remy sipped from his replenished glass. "For us, combat is the result of us fucking something up badly. We going to train, but de most important thing is your mind and experience, not you powers or body." Remy paused and raised an eyebrow. "Least, in terms of the job."

Giving Remy an incredulous look, Betsy laughed outright at his __expression. "I do hope you have a better line than that. Seriously. That is absolute rubbish. It probably garners on one of the most ridiculous pick-up lines I have ever heard." She patted his knee, encouragingly. " Do try and put some effort into it next time, eh?"

"Remy been sick. De pickup lines tend to suffer. Plus, telepath? Figure dat you already caught de idea 'bout you and de wading pool full of baby oil, so why fight it?" Remy swirled the scotch in his glass reflectively.

Betsy stared at the liquid creating a mini whirlpool within the glass. Her eyes flicked to Remy's face, thoughtful for a moment. "Something tells me that your love life is not the only thing that concerns you?"

"Shockingly enough, my love life is very much last on my set of concerns. Dere is a townful of semi-attractive and occasionally willing femmes, and de escourts of Europe still give de best value for de money." Remy smirked. "What concerns me is dat we dis far behind, and we up against a professional wit' a hundred times de resources backing him. And dat's just one of de possible threats."

"Oh, well." Betsy said, shaking her head slightly. She straightened up in her seat. "Our predicament is arsed, but we'll manage. It's all we can do. "

"So dey keep telling me." Remy took a long sip. "Still, I'm thinking of being a little more pre-emptive. De professor would beat me to death wit' dat brain of his if I tried to use de normal techniques I'd employ in dis situation, but dat doesn't mean we have to wait for it. Dis is JERICHO." Remy passed over a file with a yellow banner stickered across it.
She took the folder from him and began flipping through the pages within. "You're serious about this?" Betsy said, her eyes still on the folder and its' contents.

"Oui. If Wisdom openly moves against de school, we bring down all de active networks we know 'bout. We might not be able to stop him, but we can stick a fuckin' knife in his own intel." Remy said. "Jake's got de other other copy. Learn your part. 'cause if we activate it, we need to be operational on it inside of twelve hours. dere's also another file dere, on Danger Room protocals."

"I'm familiar with them," she said with some reservation, but nodded her head despite it.
"You know that if we follow through with this, it'll be a veritable shitstorm for all concerned."

"Dat's de only reason I haven't done it yet. But wit' de information some of those networks can provide if he turns hostile, dere's no way dat de X-Men can defend dis place." Remy pointed to a couple of links. "I doubt even de Professor's connections could keep de government from moving if dey leak and spin it properly through de Hellfire Club's pet politicians. And if Wisdom gets a whiff, de whole thing will disappear. So, if it comes to it, we hit dem fast and take down de whole structure. Which leads us back to de Danger Room. I want you to design de training structure."

"Alright." Betsy closed the folder, letting it rest on her lap. "You know, if you want a firm program, it'll take at least 10 to 14 days. And to incorporate...." Betsy sighed. "That could take longer.

"I know. However, we're going to need it, and neither Jake or I really have de small unit training you do. De basic combat simulations are fine, just covering each other's back and things. What I want are programs dat stretch our abilities applicable to what we do. Crowd movement, stealth options, fast escape, dat sort of thing. If we're in combat, it's because we've fucked up somewhere, and de canned programs will suffice for dat." Remy had obviously spent some time going over the specs of the room and it's capabilties.

"Well, the Danger Room is anything but canned." Betsy said with a knowing smile. "It's definitely an experience. Are you sure you'll be up for it?"

"If not, I'll be like de boyscout; sit up in de little room and laugh at you and Jake." Remy grinned. "Have a few ideas for some unorthodox things for it. Hopefully should help us refine some things for our operations."

"My captain, oh captain." Betsy snickered, taking a sip out of her glass. "And if Jake and I have to suffer through executing training tactics and ops, you'll suffer with us. For the team." Betsy tipped her glass to him. "Cheers."

"Guess dat means I'm in de room too." Remy sighed theatrically. He put down his glass and poured another measure of the amber liquid into it. "Hopefully dis is just precautionary."

Betsy snorted. "Is it ever just precautionary?" She gave Remy a nudge with her elbow. "Drink up. They'll be fewer days of this in our near future."

"Dat's de wrong way to think. If we kill everyone dat needs killing, we got time to head to de bar." Remy grinned and took a sip. "Or you just trying to get me drunk, chere?"

"In my life, I've rarely had to try for anything." Betsy said with a throaty laugh. "But no, I'm simply sharing company...with a co-worker."

"Dere's goes dat 'World's Best Boss' mug Remy was hoping for." LeBeau mock-scowled. "And I bet we be spending a lot of time together. Jake and I shared a motel room for three days in Denver."

"Oh joy," Betsy deadpanned. "Well, it's not like I care about my reputation, especially being associated with a cookie horder and a walking pair."

"You meet de nicest people in dis line of work. Like my old handler used to say, if you can't take the joke, you shouldn't have volunteered." Remy said jestingly. "If it help, Remy tell everyone you sleeping wit' Cain instead."

Betsy laughed outright. Her head falling back and her hair moving away from her face. Her body relaxed, she spoke. "I'm sure that'll help a bit. Cain, at least, makes sense."

"Course." She could see Remy' visibly untense, his body slackning and dropping into a boneless sprawl on the couch. "Just to harder to explain de love bites."

"Oversized mosquitoes, perhaps?" Her tone thoughtful. Looking up at the ceiling, her vision blurred. Betsy shook her head, sat up and placed her half-filled glass back on the table. "It's getting late and if I think about finishing that glass, I probably won't make it back to the school anytime tonight."

"See, dat was my original plan." Remy joked.

"In that case," Betsy said, standing up. "I should definitely be leaving. Enjoy the drink and let Cain know I said hello.....Or better yet, I'll tell him myself."

Betsy looked toward Cain's room and smiled. Satisfied, she walked carefully to the door.

"Careful," Remy got up and headed for his room. "Dat not de kind of homme to take no for an answer." He said over his shoulder, before disappearing.

"Considering how much he's helped me these past few weeks....." Betsy said, as she headed out the entrance. The sound the door closing firmly behind her.

~~......I'm counting on it. Night, Remy.~~~