xp_logs | Bleeding: Storm and Nightcrawler (Reply)

Kurt and Ororo follow Remy's lead to the Ambassador Hotel, and find something very disturbing.

"Mlle. Munroe? I am Inspector Jacques. We have been waiting for you." The police officer who approached Ororo and Kurt as they entered the hotel wasn't overly tall, but gave the sense of a lot of energy packed into a small space. His dark eyes fairly sparked with intelligence as he took in the two X-Men, and he gave the impression he didn't miss much. He turned to Kurt. "And you must be M. Wagner. Thank you for your assistance in this matter."

"We are happy to help however we can," Ororo told the man, nodding to him politely before sweeping her gaze over the hotel lobby. There wasn't much chance they would find the students there, but it didn't hurt to try. "Thank you, as well. What is the situation here; what have you seen since you have been monitoring the situation?"

He took in her glance around the room with a short, approving nod. "We have maintained a watch on the room since we received your information, but we have not interfered with the occupants in any way as per your request. Several hours ago three of the occupants - the two young men and the young lady - left the building. They appeared to be preparing to go to a nightclub, or some such place." He flipped his notebook open, pursing his lips slightly as he found the information he needed. "Two of my men attempted to follow, however they were prevented from doing so due to an incident with a bellboy and an overloaded baggage cart in the lobby. By the time they extricated themselves from the luggage, the three young people were nowhere to be seen, I am afraid. A complete accident, no-one could have foreseen it." He turned back to the notebook. "The hotel records show there is a fourth person staying with them. A nurse, hired from one of the local agencies who provide such services for invalids. She - and her patient, whoever that might be - remains in the room."

Kurt glanced at Ororo at the mention of the freak accident, it being as clear an indicator as they were likely to get that the young lady in question was Jennie. He turned back to the policeman. "And you will take us up to speak with this nurse?"

"Certainly. She is a local girl, Claire Dupont. Nothing remarkable or pertinent in her background and the hotel staff have given us no indication that she is being coerced or has been harmed in any way. Her interactions with them have been perfectly normal." Jacques' tone was clipped, but more for economy than because of rudeness. "I believe her charge may also be a mutant - there have been some strange requirements, such as industrial-grade protective gloves. Our best approach might be for myself to take her aside and speak with her, whilst you and some of my men search the room?"

"Yes," Ororo agreed, glad to have found an actual, concrete lead to investigate. With any luck the nurse or her mystery charge would be able to provide them with some information that would help them along in their attempts to locate Jennie and Marius. "Please, Inspector, lead the way as soon as you are ready."

"If you would please follow me?" The police inspector gave her a small half-bow, and turned to lead the way to the elevator. "The room is on one of the upper floors. Not the most expensive the hotel has to offer, but certainly not, how do you say, a backpacking hostel? These students of yours, they have been living the high life," he continued as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

"They would not have been lacking for money, if they are together", Kurt agreed quietly, following him into the elevator. "Not until recently, at least."

Ororo glanced at him and nodded; they were both thinking the same thing. The ride up was quiet except for the pinging of the elevator and the hum of the mechanics. Ororo couldn't help but wonder what they would find when they reached the students' room. She was more than slightly worried about the involvement of another mutant, as it threw a wild card into the already unsteady situation. All she could hope for now was that they would be able to find Jennie and Marius and speak with them and that the situation, whatever it was, could be resolved by a calm and reasonable conversation.

They were met at the elevator by two more police officers, a young man and an older woman. "Officer Chaubert and Officer Charlebois have been restricting access to this floor," Jacques explained as they alighted. "Officers, this is Mlle. Munroe and M. Wagner, teachers from the school in America. They are here to assist us in this matter."

The young man - Chaubert - smiled and nodded, whilst his fellow officer - Charlebois - gave the pair a brief nod. "A pleasure to meet you. This way, if you please," Chaubert said, standing aside and indicating the hallway lined with doors. "Room service was ordered not so long ago, so Mlle. Dupont will be expecting a knock on the door."

Ororo and Kurt followed Jacques down the hallway, trying to prepare for whatever might be behind the door. There was no indication that they should be alarmed save for the fact that Marius and Jennie were apparently employing a nurse to care for an unknown person in their hotel room, but that was indication enough for Ororo. The entire situation was suspect, and she hoped that the chain of events had already started that would put them in touch with the students and set things right.

Chaubert stopped at the door in question, the one at the end of the hall. A corner suite, with a balcony, according to the hotel layout. Knocking twice, the police officer was rewarded with a woman's voice, speaking in French. From the tone, she was obviously asking a question.

Jacques nodded at Charlebois, who replied in a voice far less imposing than her demeanour implied: "~Room service!~"

Muffled footsteps, and then the door was opened by a rather plain looking young woman in her twenties. She was dressed simply, dark coloured skirt and white blouse, and there were several bandaids on the hands she raised to her mouth at the sight of the police officers. "~What is wrong? I haven't...~"

"~Mlle. Dupont, if you would come with me?~" Jacques replied smoothly, taking her arm and directing her out of the room. "~You are not in any trouble, but we wish to speak with you about your employers...~" Continuing in that vein, he nodded at Ororo and Kurt, indicating the open room before them.

They certainly had spared no expense on living accommodations, Ororo thought as she took in the hotel suite. The room was large, with a well-furnished sitting area with doors on three sides - one to the hallway, one to the bedroom, and one to the spacious balcony overlooking the neatly-pruned gardens below. A couch in floral upholstery was surrounded by two armchairs and a glass-topped coffee table, which was surprisingly empty of clutter.

From where she stood Ororo could see out onto the balcony, and she noted the plush deck chair situated to catch the most of the afternoon sunlight. Thick curtains bordered the glass doors to ensure absolute privacy to the guests, and the state-of-the-art locks on the door did not go unnoticed by the headmistress either.

Kurt followed her into the sitting area, taking in the whole room - and its emptiness - at a glance. "The patient must be in the bedroom", he said, already moving that way with a look over his shoulder at Ororo.

The bedroom was mostly dark, the only light coming from a lamp set on a side table and two electric-blue points of light inside the room itself. In the middle of the large four-poster bed was a darker pool of shadow, defeating even Kurt's vision to make out. As Ororo turned on the light switch, the sudden illumination revealed the shape to be a girl, tiny in the large bed. She was lying on her side amidst a drift of shredded bedding, loosely curled up and her long-taloned hands resting limply open on the coverlet. The leather and buckles she was dressed in were beginning to wear, hints of dark-red skin peeking through here and there and her blank blue eyes were open and unblinking, unresponsive to the sudden brightness or the appearance of the two X-Men.

Dear goddess, what is going on here? Quickly Ororo moved forward towards the bed, kneeling down to the girl's level. The mutant girl was still, barely seeming to breathe at all. If there was a nurse taking care of her, it stood to reason that she was not well, but why? "Kurt, what do you think? What could they want with her here?"

Kurt was already hastening forward to kneel on the other side of the bed, looking the girl over. His face paled as he saw the signs he'd been afraid of. "I... I am afraid she was here as a source of food for Marius. Look here, and here... these are the marks of his feeding."

Peering closer, Ororo could see the marks of which he spoke. "Surely he would not do something like that," she protested, despite having evidence to the contrary staring her right in the face. Suddenly the full impact of it hit her – this girl was trapped for whatever reason in a state of placid immobility and being used for involuntary donations – and she had to stand and move away from the bed, one hand covering her mouth. She felt sick, her stomach churning and a sour taste invading her mouth.

Kurt didn't move, looking sadly into the girl's unresponsive face. "I do not want to believe it either. But he fed on me, once. The marks are unmistakable."

"I believe you, Kurt," Ororo murmured. "I just cannot imagine what his justifications are for doing something so… wrong." Swallowing, she turned back to the bed, her lips set in a thin line. "I never imagined, when this began, that we would find our students so changed. If I had not seen it myself, I never would have believed it."

"Trust me", Kurt said grimly, "I will be asking him. When we find them."

Nodding, Ororo took several slow steps towards the bed, leaning over the prone figure once more. Reaching out, she moved one hand to brush a lock of hair out of the girl's face, only to jerk back a second later, wincing. "Do not touch her," she told Kurt, watching as blood welled up from the deep cut on her finger. "There is obviously a very good reason for the need for gloves."

Kurt nodded, remembering the sight of the band-aids on the nurse's hands. "Even told to use the gloves, I think that nurse was hurt by touching her." He sighed, straightening up. "I think we must leave her in the care of the police. We cannot just leave her with the girl. If Marius should return..."

"I am sure we can arrange something with the police. Thinking beyond tonight, however, we cannot leave her on her own. The school may be the best place for her… I am sure the Professor will agree." Ororo wiped away the blood with the dark cuff of her shirt, moving to stand closer to the window once again. She couldn't stare at the girl's frozen features for too long before beginning to feel the twisting sensation in her gut.

There was a polite cough from the doorway, and they looked up to see Charlebois standing there. "The inspector, he wishes to see you," she said, her halting English revealing why she hadn't spoken much before. Fortunately, said inspector soon entered. His face went blank at the sight of the girl.

"She is alive?" he asked, almost curtly.

"Yes, she is. She has been... injured, somewhat, but I do not think her condition is critical. Of course, it would be best to have that checked by a doctor." One proficient in dealing with mutations... which I doubt we will be able to find at a moment's notice. "Also, it would be best not to leave her here. Is there a way that you could take her into custody, at least temporarily?" Not the best plan, but the only one that would be workable in the middle of all the other things they had to accomplish.

Jacques considered the idea. "That would be the best course," he agreed at last. "We can have a doctor attend to her and begin to ascertain her identity, although I do not think that will be easy, given her condition. Mlle Dupont has told me of the precautions needed..." He nodded at Ororo's bleeding cut. "I see you are hurt. Do you need medical attention?"

"No, thank you," the weatherworker said, shaking her head. "I appreciate all you and your team have done so far, Inspector. With any luck we will be able to get in touch with the students tonight and begin to rectify this whole situation."

"If my men and I can be of any further assistance in finding your students, please let me know. I will be expecting to see you again, once things have been... rectified." There was a certain hint in his voice that he had accepted none of the evening's events were standard police procedure and would likely continue in that vein. "We will take good care of the little one, back at the police station."

"Thank you", Kurt said quietly, finally straightening from the girl's side. "And we will be called, if they should return here?"

"Oh, but of course."