xp_logs | REMY'S ELEVEN: Shot In The Face

Amanda botches her theft, and Remy is left with a choice.

The lights came on like a flashbulb, and Chambers kicked the doors open a half second later, his guard team swarming into the office with almost military precision.

"Geez, guys, not so rough in the doors. That's pure mahogany. You have any idea how much that costs? Oh, look, he scratched it. It's going to take hours to buff that out." Arcade said, ignoring the guard team or the young woman in black that they currently had under their guns. "Can you believe that, Eammon?"

"Sure." Remy's accent was faintly Irish, overlaid with a veneer of education. "But the gel attempting to rob you might be of slightly high importance right now."

Amanda ignored the gun that was being jabbed in her back, a sneer on her face, but all the while her heart pounding madly. Showtime. "So, yer Arcade are you then?" she said contemptuously, thickening her accent so it was nearly incomprehensible. All the better for Arcade to assume she was an opportunist, working for someone fairly low on the food chain that had just gotten greedy. "Nice place. Pity 'bout the security."

"Oh, see. This is the kind of thing that worries me. She's what, maybe fifteen at the oldest and already in a life of crime. It's terrible, really." Arcade said with a genial smile, before backhanding her so hard it made black spots swim in front of her eyes. "I mean, isn't respect important anymore? Education? Young lady, with a high school diploma you could have a job in any office you like."

"I think she's found a job already, Jacob. Looks like a piece of rough trade too." Remy said, sounding bored. "If she wasn't a mutant, she'd just be another skinny tom."

"Please, Eammon, there's no need for that sort of talk. I mean, she's got a family some where that would be appealed to hear that sort of thing." Arcade smiled again, leaned very close to Amanda and touching one of her piercings lightly. "Wouldn't they?"

'Everyone goes for the fucking piercings,' Amanda thought with some resignation, the side of her face hot and numb from the blow. Remy had warned her this part would get rough - it was just a good thing Nathan wasn't around for that particular pep talk. Still, at least it wasn't the nose ring... yet. "Ain't no business of yers whether there is or isn't, like," she replied, bracing herself for what was about to be a lot of pain.

Arcade smiled, and as expected, tore the eyebrow bell from her forehead. Amanda bit back a shriek, her face contorting with pain as the metal was ripped away. "I am not, by nature, a violent man. If you tell me what I want to know, life will go much easier for you. Mr Chambers, on the other hand, is by nature a violent man, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, I will let him take matters into his own hands." Behind Arcade, Chambers grinned coldly, changing position slightly so the material of his jacket strained against the muscles.

"She cracked your safe." Remy said, having wandered over to the cabinet that supposedly hid it. "Safe covers ajar."

"Is that right? You must be a good burgler then. That safe is one of the best in the world." He slipped his hand inside Amanda's shirt and she stiffened. "Oh, my dear, nothing like that. I'm not going to take advantage of you. You're a child. Only a truly perverse mind would consider that." He hand slipped back out of the torso pouch, with the encryption key in his fingers. "So why would you leave the stacks of money and the jewellery for this?"

"Heard it was worth somethin', t' the right buyer," she replied, ignoring the thread of blood running from her eyebrow and the flare of pain every time she moved any of the muscles in her face. 'Get this over an’ done with already, for fuck's sake...' she thought at Remy silently, careful not to make eye contact. "Word's out on the 'Net that there was gunna be a big auction, thought I'd try an' make meself some scratch. Set up a uni fund." Chambers moved as if to hit her, and she flinched despite herself.

"Right." Remy said. "She's obviously Brotherhood. Like I told you, Arcade, that Lensherr bastard wants those files, and I doubt he's interested in paying for them. This little bitch must have decided to take her boss's orders a little too zealously. According to my sources, Toynbee was supposed to hit this place a little later on tonight."

"And isn't it an interesting coincidence that you just so happened to be here for it, Eammon." Jacob said, his smile never faltering. "You know, I don't believe in coincidences."

"Better too zealous than betrayin' yer own kind," Amanda shot at Remy. "Fuckin' traitor - don't think Magneto don't have his eye on you an' yer operation. He..." Her rant was cut off as Arcade smacked her across the face again, blood oozing from a split lip when she raised her head again.

"She's so very loud. My dear, I grew up around videogames. The constant beep, boop, blip of lasers and aliens and that little yellow guy, uh-" Arcade snapped his fingers. "Pac-Man. That was it! Around Pac-Man eating dots and dying. Ms Pac-Man too. Made all the same noises, but she wore a pink bow. So, these days, my physical therapist says I should limit the amount of loud noise around me to cut down my stress. See, I connect noise with work. So, Eamonn, here's the situation."

"About fockin' time."

"I simply don't trust you. Not your story, of course, but you. You want something out of this, and it's not just money. So, slugger, why don't you can the 'aw, shucks' pretty boy act and tell me what it is you want. And don't say money. Please don't say money. It's so guache."

"Alright. Lady Di here got one thing right. Magneto does have his eye on us. In fact, he wiped out a team two weeks ago in Spain. The organization is about to split up."

"So, they didn't send you here, did they? This was your own idea."

"Yuh. So, the information I got, especially about what's going down tonight, and in exchange, I want a job."

"A job?" Arcade started to laugh. "This whole thing was a ploy to get a job. Miss Locke, don't we normally hire through an agency?"

"Look, you've got access to a lot of cash. And I know you're expanding into Europe. Unless these two can be in two countries simultaneously, you need more people. I also know you've been recruiting mutants for it. Mostly sad trash, but that shows a modern approach." Remy shrugged. "Agencies are cracking down on freelancers, and Magneto's fockin' Brotherhood just stuffed up my current work."

"See, now this, this I believe. You're not a very good liar, Eamonn."

"Those aren't the skills I get paid for."

"Now, how do I know this isn't part of your little scheme to get on the payroll? That this isn't your cousin who's doing a favour for you?"

"Strange t' say, but there's a difference 'tween English an' Irish accents, arsehole," Amanda piped up with a sneer. It'd probably earn her another slap, but she couldn't help herself. Arcade's seemingly deliberately cruel cheerfulness was getting on her nerves. "An' if I had a gene traitor like this cunt in the family, I'd fuckin' well kill him meself..."

"That does raise an interesting notion." Arcade pulled the gun Amanda had strapped to the small of her back, looking at it thoughtfully for a moment. "Does it raise a notion with you, flash?"

"Perhaps."

"Good." Arcade tossed the gun over to Remy who caught it deftly. "Because I want you to kill her with her own gun."

Remy looked at the gun for a second, shrugged, and shot Amanda directly between her wide and surprised eyes.