Remy and Jake - Thursday Morning

[x-courier.livejournal.com]

Jake asks Remy for a job. It goes about as well as can be expected, really.



Jake Gavin had never asked for a job in his life--not hard when you were expected to enter the family business as soon as you were able. Even the two times he'd come to Xavier's, he'd been coerced and threatened into the responsibilities he'd picked up rather than seeking them out on his own. It was the sort of thing that had simply never been an issue before. So it was with some trepedation that he stuck his head into Remy's office, knocking on the door frame.

"You have a minute?" he asked casually, hooking his thumbs into the pockets of his slacks.

Remy looked up from his paperwork. "You are a trained intelligence professional, Jake. You don't need me to tell you where de closest bakery is to de office." He said, and took a sip from his coffee mug. Remy had been grouchy this morning, and was curt in his responses, although the reason hadn't been shared with anyone yet.

Jake smirked at that. "Three blocks over, one block up. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." He'd been hoping the other man's mood would improve, but frankly, finding Remy in a good mood would have made him more nervous. He leaned against the doorframe. "I was wondering where I could pick up an application."

"Do we look like WellsFargo, homme?" Remy said, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "Dere's a healthy sum of money waiting for you in Geneva, so it's not money dat you need. You also a dedicated coward, so it's not de thrills. What possible reason could you have for wanting to work wit' us?"

"You know, you could at least let me pretend like I had some privacy," Jake said mildly, stepping into the office and flopping down in a chair. He sighed, running a hand over his mouth absently. "Look, I don't want to put on leathers and gallivant around saving the world. I just want to work. And there aren't a lot of options out there that I would seriously entertain anymore."

"Dat's really not good enough, Jake. If you want de job because you bored, den I don't particularly want you." Remy's voice was oddly flat, unfriendly. "Dere's 'bout three dozen different agencies dat would be happy to offer you a job, and more den a few freelance places dat would love to have a person wit' you abilities on for corporate espionage. Dey pay a lot better too. You want de names?"

"No," Jake said flatly, straightening in his seat. He took a deep breath, trying to sort out exactly what he wanted to say. In truth, he'd been struggling to figure this out ever since his conversation with his father. "At the end of the day, those jobs are all about one set of bastards screwing over another set of bastards, and using me to do it. Not to imply that you lot don't have to be bastards sometimes, but," he shrugged, "you seem to have better reasons behind it." He looked Remy in the eye. "I don't want to be anyone's tool anymore," he said quietly. "And I don't just want to sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by, either."

"A desperate stab at nobility isn't going to help you here, Jake. Oui, we do have a reason behind what we do, but dis is still us happening to other people. At de end of de day, dere will always be more bastards, and once we're gone, dere won't be anything left but shadows of us." Grim, but honest. That tended to be habitual in the office. "You want to change de world? Go talk to Xavier, join his Institute, give de X-Men some decent intel and help dem decide where to go and be heroes. Here, de only thing we try and do is even de odds a bit, at de cost of ourselves."

"I know that," Jake said, still quiet. "I saw Wanda and Amanda and everyone else when I first got here, and I know how close that job was to going arse over teakettles for everyone." He rubbed at his mouth again. "I'll be the first to admit that I'd much rather run away to live another day. I'm not going to lie or try to pretend otherwise." He frowned, spreading his hands wide. "I know the risks, Remy. I know what you do here. And despite the fact that I'm a dedicated coward, as you so eloquently put it, I'm asking to sign up anyway."

"Why?" Remy was very still, his eyes hard and cold. "I don't need a bored rich kid who's looking to settle a score wit' his family, or trying to prove something to dem."

Jake tensed, fighting hard against the urge to squirm under Remy's gaze. "If I were trying to prove something, I'd be out selling my services and my information to their competition." He took a breath and met Remy's stare. "But the answer is that this is the only place where people treat me like I'm more than just a commodity." His gaze dropped down to the desk between them. "And I've missed that."

"You honestly telling me dat it's de warm family atmosphere you want to stay for?" Remy's voice was incredulous.

"You've seen my family," Jake said dryly. "You lot almost look normal by comparison."

"Jake," Remy said with a sigh. "Don't take dis de wrong way, but you a flake. Always have been. Twice now you've wandered off back to Infonet because you could. If you come on board, it means burning dat bridge completely, even if you dad somehow gets control of de company back and offers it on a silver platter to you. You still got de ability to walk away, Jake. You want to be here, it means giving dat up."

"To be fair, I think that bridge was burned out from underneath me," Jake pointed out. He sighed, running a hand through his hair while he tried to find the right words. "I can't keep waiting for the world to work like I think it should," he said finally. "The Infonet I want to go back to doesn't exist anymore."

Remy was silent for a long moment, measuring up the other man before finally shaking his head. "As de CIA used to say, better to have you inside pissing out den outside pissing in. We'll consider dis a trial position for now. I need more people in de field, working drops. I'll coordinate you wit' Morgan, Bishop, Jubilee and Sarah for now. You'll need to sit down wit' Betts and Marie-Ange, and we'll see what we can salvage out of you old Infonet contacts. De hours are long, you'll be overworked de entire time, but to compensate for dat, we'll also underpay you."

"At least the benefits suck, right?" Jake said wryly. He shook his head. "You guys need better recruiting material."

"No, we don't. Anyone who wants this job for any other reason then dey think it needs to be done is a person dat we don't need. Dat's de point." Remy leaned forward. "You walk away dis time, you burn us like you have, I will find you and end you. Dat's what taking dis job means."

Jake bit back the urge to make a smart-ass remark lest Remy change his mind. He really, really wanted to squirm. "Understood," he said finally. He thought about pointing out that he'd been at his last job for nearly thirteen years, but figured that wouldn't go over well. "Anything else I should know?"

"Dere's a lot you should know, but de only way you going to learn it is de hard way." Remy said, picking his papers back up. "Welcome to X-Force."