http://x_cable.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
x-cable.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
xp_logs2004-10-18 11:14 am
x-cable.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2004-10-18 11:14 am
Nathan and Remy, Monday morning
Nathan heads down to the boathouse, purportedly to see Cain, but really to get a good look at Cain's new roommate. Acknowledgements of shared history aside, the conversation goes rather... well.
He could tell himself that he was just heading down to the boathouse to see Cain and give him the little memento-of-LA he'd picked up, but that would be a big fat lie. Especially as he'd left said memento in his suitcase. Nathan strode down the path to the boathouse, outwardly relaxed, inwardly anything but. When he emerged from the trees and spotted a person that definitely wasn't Cain sitting on the dock, he smiled tightly and headed over.
"So," he said, once he was within earshot. "Settling in well, LeBeau?"
Remy's eyes flickered over, and Nathan had the uncanny idea that Remy'd picked up up a minute earlier. "De term entrenching suits better, homme. You de first wave, are dey planning an air strike instead?"
"No airstrikes." Nathan leaned back against the railing, eyeing him measuringly. "Though you might want to mind the firebreathing little Frenchwoman. Not entirely sure she's cooled off yet."
"Doubt dey will much." Remy flicked his butt into the lake and lit another cigarette. "Remy bout as popular as a German zampolit after de wall fell here."
Wall. Interesting choice of words. "I wouldn't worry," Nathan said mildly. "When I was in a position roughly analogous to yours a couple of months ago, I dropped a warehouse on the X-Men's heads and tried to shoot Charles. They seem to have forgiven me. They're really too forgiving for their own good around here."
"Dat's right. All about de redemption." Remy said, grimy chuckling to himself at the thought. He fell silent again, looking sightlessly at the water flowing around the dock. "Dey all tryin' t' be heroes." He said finally. "Heroes not supposed to hate."
"Bullshit. You ask Scott how he feels about Magneto sometime, if you're feeling brave. They hate, LeBeau. Just like we do." Nathan smiled thinly. "Maybe not quite as energetically."
"Focused. Dat's de word. Focused. You take all dat emotion and anger and fear, direct it at one point, and dats how de job gets done." Remy sighed. "One of dem special ops types. Was in Lebanon, back in '89. De lessons don' change. Dayspring, right?" Remy abruptly switched tracks. "How long you been a player?"
"Twenty-five years," Nathan said after a moment. "Twenty-three, if you knock off my conditioning and training." He stared down at Remy for a long moment. "I was wondering if you'd remember," he said more quietly. "Do you remember the other time?"
"Robotics places outside of Bilbao? Oui. Mother of all fuck-ups wit dat job. Guess your team was dere for de exosuit plans?" Remy said. "Just happened on de same night I was supposed t' neutralize a DARPA engineer gone way de fuck off de reservation."
"Mmm. Not a good night. You killed a friend of mine." Nathan folded his arms across his chest, leaning back a little more against the railing. "I'm tempted to ask you about the third time, but I was never sure whether it was you who took a shot at me in Lahore back in '99."
"Non, dat wasn't me. But I am de one you put a round through in Rome. De arms conference? Still got de scar." Remy said. He shook his head. "Dis is so fucked. Fifteen years of ops inside my head, like a movie with someone else playing me."
"Strange. All the myriad ways they find to screw with our heads," Nathan remarked, more lightly than he really felt. "You'd think they'd start repeating themselves after a while, but the well of ideas doesn't seem to run dry."
"All de oldest sins in de newest ways. Doctor dat did de job on me said dat." Remy's cigarette was buring down between his fingers, unnoticed. "Did you enjoy it, Nathan? Be honest, homme. In de field, de job... did you get to like it?"
"Of course I did. They wired me that way, LeBeau, and even if they hadn't..." Nathan stopped, smiling faintly, and shrugged. "I'm a telepath. I'm not supposed to like killing, but there have been times it felt awfully good."
"Guess I not de only former monster." Remy tossed out the cigarette. "So, dey started asking prices to take me out yet, or are dey going to do it demselves?" It was a weak joke, but the first real one he'd tried.
"I hadn't been approached, no," Nathan said dryly. "Then again, I am very publicly retired. Not that it would stop the handful of people around here who're convinced I'm still for hire." Manuel, especially... Nathan shifted, his expression darkening a little. "I probably need to make the token comment about our resident witch."
"Dat one is not going to go well. She-" Remy stopped, looking at his hands. "De night dey tried to reactivate me, she almost let him out first. 'manda's seen who I was. Dat not going to go away quick." He shook his head. "Not dat Remy LeBeau's been much nicer to her den Gambit either."
"Give her some space," Nathan suggested. "And avoid de la Rocha. Take that for what it's worth, but it's actually meant to be friendly advice. He's walking trouble, and you're not on his list of favorite people at the moment." He gave LeBeau a brief, wintry smile. "For my part... why don't we just say I told you to keep your distance and threatened to turn you into glass or something if you didn't? Not that I can do that reliably anymore."
"Dat fair. As for Manuel, well, de only good thing you can say about Gambit was dat he hated him more den I did." Remy smiled back bleakly. "So many mistakes, homme. Did you know I saved her life my second day here? First time I thought I'd ever killed someone too."
"She'd mentioned that to me, yeah." Nathan was silent for another long moment, his eyes drifting out to the lake. "I don't know what to say to you, LeBeau... where you are right now, I was seven years ago. Sort of. I at least knew what I was and what I'd done all along. Only thing that was different was that I didn't have Mistra's damned obedience compulsions in my head keeping me in line anymore."
A bird flew out across the water, dropped to snatch something from beneath the surface, then retreated to a tree. "I would have given anything for a place like this, back then," Nathan went on quietly. "Would've saved me from seven years of using the skills they'd taught me for my own benefit, just to spite them."
"Cept dat Remy's good at burning de bridges while he's still standing on dem. Got de point." Remy stood up, dusting off his jeans. "Dispite de Professor's warning, I think I could use a drink. If you see de hired assassins after me, tell dem I'll be down at Harry's."
"Not to worry," Nathan told him as the young man walked past him, heading back up the dock. "I'll tell them you're at Harry's and they'll decide you must be in the greenhouse or something. Isn't that how it goes?"
"Only if you trust de shit intelligence we used to get, homme." Remy stopped. "For what it's worth, well-" There was a long uncomfortable pause. "I don't know. Nothing really covers it."
"LeBeau... Remy." Nathan smiled a bit faintly. "Neither of us deserves this." He waved a hand at the lake, meaning the mansion and everything else, this whole little world-within-a-world. "But we got it anyway. Not sure whether it's dumb luck, or Charles is just that fucking altruistic, but here we are."
"Guess so." Remy finally shrugged. "Even I need at least a few weeks to totally fuck it up again." Remy lit a cigarette and walked off the docks, trudging towards the road and Harry's.
He could tell himself that he was just heading down to the boathouse to see Cain and give him the little memento-of-LA he'd picked up, but that would be a big fat lie. Especially as he'd left said memento in his suitcase. Nathan strode down the path to the boathouse, outwardly relaxed, inwardly anything but. When he emerged from the trees and spotted a person that definitely wasn't Cain sitting on the dock, he smiled tightly and headed over.
"So," he said, once he was within earshot. "Settling in well, LeBeau?"
Remy's eyes flickered over, and Nathan had the uncanny idea that Remy'd picked up up a minute earlier. "De term entrenching suits better, homme. You de first wave, are dey planning an air strike instead?"
"No airstrikes." Nathan leaned back against the railing, eyeing him measuringly. "Though you might want to mind the firebreathing little Frenchwoman. Not entirely sure she's cooled off yet."
"Doubt dey will much." Remy flicked his butt into the lake and lit another cigarette. "Remy bout as popular as a German zampolit after de wall fell here."
Wall. Interesting choice of words. "I wouldn't worry," Nathan said mildly. "When I was in a position roughly analogous to yours a couple of months ago, I dropped a warehouse on the X-Men's heads and tried to shoot Charles. They seem to have forgiven me. They're really too forgiving for their own good around here."
"Dat's right. All about de redemption." Remy said, grimy chuckling to himself at the thought. He fell silent again, looking sightlessly at the water flowing around the dock. "Dey all tryin' t' be heroes." He said finally. "Heroes not supposed to hate."
"Bullshit. You ask Scott how he feels about Magneto sometime, if you're feeling brave. They hate, LeBeau. Just like we do." Nathan smiled thinly. "Maybe not quite as energetically."
"Focused. Dat's de word. Focused. You take all dat emotion and anger and fear, direct it at one point, and dats how de job gets done." Remy sighed. "One of dem special ops types. Was in Lebanon, back in '89. De lessons don' change. Dayspring, right?" Remy abruptly switched tracks. "How long you been a player?"
"Twenty-five years," Nathan said after a moment. "Twenty-three, if you knock off my conditioning and training." He stared down at Remy for a long moment. "I was wondering if you'd remember," he said more quietly. "Do you remember the other time?"
"Robotics places outside of Bilbao? Oui. Mother of all fuck-ups wit dat job. Guess your team was dere for de exosuit plans?" Remy said. "Just happened on de same night I was supposed t' neutralize a DARPA engineer gone way de fuck off de reservation."
"Mmm. Not a good night. You killed a friend of mine." Nathan folded his arms across his chest, leaning back a little more against the railing. "I'm tempted to ask you about the third time, but I was never sure whether it was you who took a shot at me in Lahore back in '99."
"Non, dat wasn't me. But I am de one you put a round through in Rome. De arms conference? Still got de scar." Remy said. He shook his head. "Dis is so fucked. Fifteen years of ops inside my head, like a movie with someone else playing me."
"Strange. All the myriad ways they find to screw with our heads," Nathan remarked, more lightly than he really felt. "You'd think they'd start repeating themselves after a while, but the well of ideas doesn't seem to run dry."
"All de oldest sins in de newest ways. Doctor dat did de job on me said dat." Remy's cigarette was buring down between his fingers, unnoticed. "Did you enjoy it, Nathan? Be honest, homme. In de field, de job... did you get to like it?"
"Of course I did. They wired me that way, LeBeau, and even if they hadn't..." Nathan stopped, smiling faintly, and shrugged. "I'm a telepath. I'm not supposed to like killing, but there have been times it felt awfully good."
"Guess I not de only former monster." Remy tossed out the cigarette. "So, dey started asking prices to take me out yet, or are dey going to do it demselves?" It was a weak joke, but the first real one he'd tried.
"I hadn't been approached, no," Nathan said dryly. "Then again, I am very publicly retired. Not that it would stop the handful of people around here who're convinced I'm still for hire." Manuel, especially... Nathan shifted, his expression darkening a little. "I probably need to make the token comment about our resident witch."
"Dat one is not going to go well. She-" Remy stopped, looking at his hands. "De night dey tried to reactivate me, she almost let him out first. 'manda's seen who I was. Dat not going to go away quick." He shook his head. "Not dat Remy LeBeau's been much nicer to her den Gambit either."
"Give her some space," Nathan suggested. "And avoid de la Rocha. Take that for what it's worth, but it's actually meant to be friendly advice. He's walking trouble, and you're not on his list of favorite people at the moment." He gave LeBeau a brief, wintry smile. "For my part... why don't we just say I told you to keep your distance and threatened to turn you into glass or something if you didn't? Not that I can do that reliably anymore."
"Dat fair. As for Manuel, well, de only good thing you can say about Gambit was dat he hated him more den I did." Remy smiled back bleakly. "So many mistakes, homme. Did you know I saved her life my second day here? First time I thought I'd ever killed someone too."
"She'd mentioned that to me, yeah." Nathan was silent for another long moment, his eyes drifting out to the lake. "I don't know what to say to you, LeBeau... where you are right now, I was seven years ago. Sort of. I at least knew what I was and what I'd done all along. Only thing that was different was that I didn't have Mistra's damned obedience compulsions in my head keeping me in line anymore."
A bird flew out across the water, dropped to snatch something from beneath the surface, then retreated to a tree. "I would have given anything for a place like this, back then," Nathan went on quietly. "Would've saved me from seven years of using the skills they'd taught me for my own benefit, just to spite them."
"Cept dat Remy's good at burning de bridges while he's still standing on dem. Got de point." Remy stood up, dusting off his jeans. "Dispite de Professor's warning, I think I could use a drink. If you see de hired assassins after me, tell dem I'll be down at Harry's."
"Not to worry," Nathan told him as the young man walked past him, heading back up the dock. "I'll tell them you're at Harry's and they'll decide you must be in the greenhouse or something. Isn't that how it goes?"
"Only if you trust de shit intelligence we used to get, homme." Remy stopped. "For what it's worth, well-" There was a long uncomfortable pause. "I don't know. Nothing really covers it."
"LeBeau... Remy." Nathan smiled a bit faintly. "Neither of us deserves this." He waved a hand at the lake, meaning the mansion and everything else, this whole little world-within-a-world. "But we got it anyway. Not sure whether it's dumb luck, or Charles is just that fucking altruistic, but here we are."
"Guess so." Remy finally shrugged. "Even I need at least a few weeks to totally fuck it up again." Remy lit a cigarette and walked off the docks, trudging towards the road and Harry's.