Cammie and Remy (Slightly backposted due to interweb outage)

[x-scorpion.livejournal.com]

Cammie attempts once more to get her foot in the door, as it were.

A quiet drink. Didn't seem like he had that many of them these days, Remy considered, sipping the bourbon slowly and idly watching the news on the television over the bar. It was mostly work, to the point that even with Ororo living with him, he didn't see that much of her. Something had to give eventually, and he was worried what would be left when it did.

Cammie was on the prowl. Though unlike when she normally was hunting for something, she wasn't looking for cheap thrills, fights or one night stands, all of which had sort of defined her life thus far. The time had come to attempt to bash down the door she had stuck her foot in earlier.

There were a lot of bars in the city, and it had actually taken quite a bit of leg work to find him, but she had. That should count for something. Unlike some 'tough' kids who claimed to be streetwise, Cammie actually was.

She slid into a seat next to him, "You know, until recently, I never really did understand the whole drinking thing."

"Remy imagine dat it's hard to get a buzz off of antifreeze and motor oil. Not dat I have direct experience wit' dat."

"I didn't get a buzz off of anything," Cammie said, "The stuff just tastes good."

"What a shame." Remy said, obviously not entirely serious. "Remy don't think dat dey have any industral cleaners on tap here."

"I can still taste booze, even more now," it wasn't like she had been able to enjoy the taste of very many things for the last few years.

Remy just waved for a second glass, and filled it from the bottle at his elbow. The staff at Finnigan's had learned it was easier to just sell him the bottle and keep it behind the bar until he was done.

"So, random chit chat blows, so let's get down to business," Cammie said, "This is me shoving my foot in the door part two."

"You should settle for de free drink. It's likely de only thing you getting today."

"You're so kind," Cammie returned, "I'll buy my drink. I don't like handouts, even well intentioned ones, and this time I'd also like for you to hear me out."

"Seemed to Remy dat last time pretty much settled de deal. Not sure why you want to revisit dat."

"Yeah, well, I'm even more sure now," Cammie said simply, "And the least you could do is listen to me for five minutes and then if you want you can spend ten laughing your ass off."

"De least I could do is ignore you, which is what Remy is tempted to do. Better be interesting, and fast."

"Also true," Cammie admitted with a nod of her head, "But I'd sort of rather you not do that," she said. "So I don't waste a lot of breath I don't have to, do you know what happened recently? With that bitch in District X, the one that was running that clinic?"

"De depowering thing? I heard a little bit about it from people. Why?"

"Well, other than the fact that she was occasionally doing this without permission from the people involved, the end product was a kid she was shoving all this crap in. I think that's the kind of crap that should be stopped before it starts, you know?"

Remy made a non-commital noise, taking another sip from his drink. in actuality, he knew an awful lot more about it than he was letting on, but that's how he operated. "Sounds like a problem."

"It is a problem. Especially since it could have been prevented," Cammie said, "Some kid, piled on with a bunch of crap that wasn't his in the backroom of a holistic clinic. Sounds like a horror movie plot."

"Dat it does." Remy nodded his head. "But dat's more de X-Men's territory."

"Oh yeah, and I am SUCH a great fit for them," Cammie returned, "But you see, it got me thinking about the people who are worse than that." Like her mother.

"Dat something you have experience wit'; people worse den dat?"

"Only one, but one's enough," Cammie said with a shrug, "And it happens to be my mother. And fuck, I wish I was just being an over dramatic teenager about this."

"'bout having a salope for a mother? Dat's worth a little drama." He motioned with his hand. "So what is it dat you trying to build up to saying?"

Cammie snorted, "Yeah, if only that was all she was," she knew various slang words. It was part of the joy of being well traveled, well, well traveled for a runaway. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that stuff like that needs to be stopped. In some cases, some of these people deserve to die, or need to before they can do anymore damage. But there's more to it than that. I'm not a fucking super hero, but if you can stop a kid from being holed up in a closet and slammed with powers that aren't his, or stop someone like my mom from making someone like me whatever you have to do would be worth it. And I have to admit, the poissiblity of going up against my mother so she can get her taste of my handiwork just smacks of the type of irony that I love in life," she said dryly. "Look, I'm really not good at articulating my point at this kind of stuff, but it's something I want to do. And I think I'd be good at it, or at least parts of it. And I learn fast for the stuff I'm not."

"De problem, Cammie, is dat isn't really what we do." Remy steepled his fingers in front of him, looking at them for a moment. "What we do is go after de big picture; where it's not one kid getting stuck wit' someone's powers by a well meaning madwoman, but a pipeline for a hundred kids being turned into weapons to send after another country. Or someone looking to make a killing in illegal mutant organ transplants. Half de time, de people we use and occasionally destroy are not bad guys. Dey not monsters. Just people in de wrong place at de wrong time, or worse, ones dat dere loss, while regretable, is necessary to get further up de chain. If you want to save lives, you looking in de wrong place."

"Gee, and I thought I was a pessimist," Cammie returned, "Look it sucks to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I've dealt with that too. Hell, the first person I killed," which her tone was not bragging about, "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You get further up the chain like that you are saving lives. Just not the same way most people do it."

Remy grunted in response, picking up his drink and taking another swallow. His eyes didn't leave Cammie's; a careful evaluation going on behind them. "So, what's it worth to you?"

"More than I can really express," Cammie returned, "I'm not good with words, I'm really not. I'm more of a 'prove it with action' kind of person. But if my word's not enough, you can talk to Logan about it. And I'll go with whether or not he says I can handle it, and if he says I can't, I'll stop bothering you."

"Hmm." Remy said, topping up his glass. "Remy think 'bout it." He took a sip and paused. "Dat was my not so subtle hint dat you can go away now."

"Gone," Cammie said, turning around to leave, "I can take a hint. Not my kind of place anyway."

"We'll see how long dat lasts."