Marie and Remy, Monday

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Marie asks a favor of Remy. He most assuredly declines.

Marie had been visiting Snow Valley fairly regularly since it's inception, what with three of her friends now calling the place home, but neither Doug, Amanda or Sarah were the object of her visit today. This was a business, not a social, call and she had a specific goal inmind to accomplish from her trip to New York. Unfortunately, said business involved a scruffy Cajun with whom she had a rather rocky history. The success they had in Egypt had helped ease some of their problems, but Marie had still been worried Remy would turn her down if she tried to set up a meeting, so she found herself knocking on his office door unannounced.

There was a long pause before she received a quiet 'come in' from the otherside. As she entered the office, she found LeBeau at his desk, leaning back in his chair. Even compared to Egypt, he looked like hell. His breathing was shallow and strained, and his face as a mask of alternating tight and slack muscles, as if he was at war with his body.

"Marie? What are you doing here?" His voice seemed fine, but there was something indistinct in his gaze, the murky eyes having trouble maintaining their gaze.

Remy looked worse than the last time she had seen him, but then again she probably looked worse for the wear as well. He seemed a bit distracted, but she expected her next words would help to focus his attention. "Ah came to ask a favor of you." Despite rehearsing this speech many times, Marie found herself having trouble getting started. She perched on the edge of a chair and bit her lip, deciding to wait for his initial reaction before further explaining her request.

"A favour? Dat never means anything good." Remy started to move towards the coffee maker and stopped. His legs were a little unsteady. It was easier to just sit. "So what is it dat you want? Something dat I can pass off to de staff?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," she said while picking nervously at the cloth of her gloves. "The X-men are good at what they do, but from what Ah understand, there are things ya can do here that we just can't." She sighed and tried to make eye contact with Remy, but couldn't seem to catch his gaze. "Ah'm just gonna be blunt. Ah want to know if y'all have any leads on Erik." She held her breath as she awaited his reply, unsure of what she truly wished the response to be.

"Why?" Remy seemed to clear up momentarily, his focus growing sharper. "You not an operative, Marie. Unless dat Summers changed his program a lot, you not an assassin and you not trained to go in after Lensherr alone. So why you going to be part of dis?"

Crossing her arms defensively, Marie did her best to stare the Cajun down. "No, Ah'm not, But Ah have the right motivation. Ah'd do anything it takes to make sure he never hurts another person." Ah need to be a part of this.

"Dat right?" Remy scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to dispell some of the tired confusion the pain medication was lacing him with. He'd been able to focus through the pain and the drugs before, but it was getting to the point that even too many pills weren't cutting the pain, and he was having trouble thinking straight. "Magneto is smart and dangerous, Marie. You got a cool head in de middle of trouble and dose powers make you a hell of a fighter, but he's a killer. Cold, ruthless and to de bone murderer. Dat means sending back to de plastic prison isn't necessarily de way you might have to stop him."

"That's not how I plan on stopping him," she said coldly, clenching her hands into fists. "That's why Ah came to talk to you. If Ah just wanted him back in jail, Ah'd be at the mansion." She leaned back in her chair, looking at a small piece of wall over Remy's shoulder. "Ah have killed before. It is not something Ah look forward to doing again, but it is something Ah wouldn't hesitate to do to Erik."

"Because de Professor and Magneto are old golfing buddies, and de X-Men think dat killing dere opponents might not be considered as heroic by de local media, dey only going to send him back to prison. So, you here to ask us dat if we find Erik, you want us to put you in a situation where you can kill him." Remy blinked a couple of times, trying to keep focus. "Dat sound 'bout right?"

Marie opened her mouth, ready to snap back that it wasn’t that simple. Instead she sighed and nodded. “Ah’m not asking that you set it up so Ah can kill him. If there’s a better way to get him…,” she trailed off as she shrugged. “Ah’m just saying that given the opportunity, Ah would.” She stood, slightly anxious to leave now that she had said what she came to say.

"Den de answer is non." Remy sagged back into his chair and closed his eyes. "I don't care what you have of his in your head. Dis isn't you."

The pain rippled up his leg, and Remy automatically popped a couple of pills in his mouth. He opened his eyes back up to see that Marie hadn't moved. "Didn't hear me, Marie? Me, I wouldn't give a second thought to putting a charged card between Magneto's eyes, and I've got a sorts of good reasons to do it. And I don't think dat you'd hesitate if it came to a choice between you or him to do it. But what you asking for; what you came here wit' dat prepared speech to ask us is about making peace wit' de idea dat you going to find him to kill him. People dat do dat are assassins. You aren't." He sighed. "And Remy be damned if I'm going to help make you one, either."

“Ah heard you, Ah just don’t agree.” Marie raised an eyebrow as she watched him pop more pills. “You may not give it a second thought, but Ah can’t see you getting close enough to do anything.” Not in that stupor. She turned to leave, pausing when she was already halfway out the door. “An’ Ah don’t think you know me well enough to know what Ah am and what Ah’m not, what Ah will and what Ah won’t do.” How could you when Ah barely know?

"Maybe you right. But I hope dat I am, because being a killer is a hell of a thing to live wit'." Remy settled back. "Go. Remy tired." He waved her out the door and slumped in his chair.

Marie was gone almost before Remy finished telling her to leave. She knew it was pointless to tell him that she already knew what it felt like to be a killer, even if she hadn’t done all the killing herself.