The X-Project

Cain drops by the Snow Valley offices for some follow-up, and winds up finding out a bit more about how the trenchcoats operate.




Cain walked past the cubicles, giving a quick nod to Illyana over a cubicle wall and stopping to stick his head into one of the offices. Finding it empty, he frowned and walked a few doors down to one of the occupied ones as he rapped on the door frame.

"Hey, Remy," he drawled, ducking his head under the door frame and squeezing his way inside. "Wanda ain't in today?"

"Non. Decided dat after bathing in chaos she earned a week off. Remy's personal belief is dat she's locked and barred de door of her apartment since her boyfriend can just teleport in. You should hear de sounds." Remy tossed his pen on to a pile of papers and grinned. "Like dat time Haroun didn't latch de door properly, and de students walked by de room and wanted to know when de Professor had hired an autistic choir..."

"Oh, I know the sounds," Cain said with a wry smile. "Hell of a woman. Good to see Kurt going out and sowing his blue oats, though. Anyway, I heard it through the grapevine that you all here had something to do with putting an end to that..." one large hand traced circles around one temple as he tapped his head. "The weird big brain leech thing that decided to take up residence in my noggin for a few days. Ain't anyone at the mansion has the first clue what it all was, so I figured I'd talk to you folks on the Weird Shit shift." He shrugged and looked around Remy's office. "Hey, you got a balcony? Not bad for a former street rat, huh?"

"De largess of Emma Frost. Remy use it occasionally to get in and out of de office silently." LeBeau got up from his desk, pulling the trenchcoat from the hook. "Wanda's not in, and 'yana's got some important work to do, but 'manda's just updating de files on what's happened. Grab her on de way out and see if she's got some answers."

Nodding, Cain eased his way out the door. "So, now that you're all respectable on Miz Frost's dollar, it's about the time you picked up the tab on a 'working lunch', you guys call it, right? Grab Amanda, we can buy her a Shirley Temple or something." At Remy's nod and pointed finger, Cain looked over a cubicle to see where Amanda was carrying an armful of files across the office.

Smiling wickedly, Cain picked up a sheet of paper and rolled it into a ball, flicking it off the side of the young witch's head. "Hey, Wicked Witch of the West Side? Pack it up for the day, late lunch, on Remy!"

Amanda yelped, only barely managing to hang onto the files. "Bloody fuck!" she exclaimed, before registering Cain's presence and words. "Remy, huh? Thank fuck for that - all this archive diving's giving me hay fever." She dumped the files on her desk and scooped up her jacket from the back of her chair. "How you doing?" she asked, joining Cain as she shrugged into the stiff new leather.

"Aside from having some evil psychic issues, can't complain," Cain replied as he held the door open for Remy and Amanda. "One of the damn kids, wouldn't you know it, turns into water or something and his roommate flushed him. Had to tear the whole damn west wing's plumbing apart to find the little rascal."

Remy shrugged as they filed into the elevator. "De noise he would have made reforming would have been enough to find him quickly." They travelled down to the lobby of the building that housed the Snow Valley offices. It looked so typical; a place where accountancy firms and marketing companies jostled for space, without the slightest hint of their real purpose. "Hope you don't mind de pub. Emma's starting to make noises 'bout our expenses." Even if the X-Force people rarely expensed carefully, there were still sounds of a budget constraint for the first time.

Amanda scowled. "She asked me for receipts. For the petrol I use to get out to the mansion. I tried to explain the whole 'liaising with the school' part, but I don't think she's gunna buy it." After a week back in England, her accent had thickened back a bit closer to her original South London, and she shivered a bit in the biting wind. "Things settling down with the psis over there?" It was as close as she would get to asking after Nathan and Jean and the rest specifically.

Cain shrugged again. "As well as any of 'em get, I suppose. Nate's being a worry wart, Jean thought she was a kid, Dave's crazier than a pet coon, and far as I can tell, Chuck's still a twerp, so I suppose that's back to normal. Your Miss Betsy caused a bit of a stir, but seems like all's back to normal. So," he said as they rounded the corner towards the small pub, "any idea what caused it all? Because I ain't too fond of having more folks trying to take up residence in my brainmeats."

Amanda opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again, making a sort of helpless gesture with her hands. "It's complicated?" she said, glancing over at Remy.

"Complicated? One of de teachers at Xavier's went evil-ish, broke de whole world's psychic plane, and got me stuck at de Princess Bar in Madripoor." Remy pushed through the doors of Finnigan's Pub, waving at Beth as he crossed the floor. He paused for a second, and waved them towards a table that was occupied by Sofia. The staff psychiatrist looked up from her papers as the three found seats around her table.

"Yes, you may, as I assume you're going to conveniently forget to ask for permission to sit," Sofia said dryly, shifting her piles, once spread out across the table with a five inch margin to one inch, and freeing up some elbow room. "Hello, Amanda." She paused, regarding Cain and waiting for his name. "And..."

Cain blinked, snapping his fingers as he tried to remember. "Hey!" he finally said with a grin of recognition. "The hooker!"

There was a strangled noise from Amanda, in the process of sitting down. "Um, what?"

Remy looked from Sofia's suddenly frozen polite expression and the look of abject horror on Amanda. He looked over his shoulder for a second, making sure that Cain was referring to Sofia. "Dis is Sofia."

"You learned her name?" Cain said with a sardonic smile. "Dammit, Remy, didn't you learn anything? No, I remember you," he nodded to Sofia and raised the beer that the waitress brought by in a quick toast. "You're the gal that Pete picked up for Remy's birthday, right? I knew you looked familiar!"

A single, expertly manicured eyebrow raised, along with the air pressure in the room. "Excuse me?" Sofia asked coldly. "I've garnered from your rough attempt at the English language that you're slow, but surely they gave you a list of inappropriate words when you graduated from the remedial program."

Cain arched an eyebrow, then looked at Remy. "You know, either the hooker's got some learning, or I might have made a bit of a blunder here. So you, um, work with... Sophie or something?"

Remy took a deep breath. "Sofia is de shrink dat Emma appointed to Snow Valley. She's been out in de field in New Orleans and Africa."

Amanda's grin was unabashedly amused. "Yeah. We all spend some time on Sof's couch once a week."

Cain looked down at Amanda. "You ain't helping, kiddo." He managed to look contrite, though, as he slid onto one of the bench seats. He nodded to Sofia and held his hands out in a gesture of apology. "I'm sorry, darlin'. I just figured since you were the one person at Remy's birthday I didn't know, and, y'know, it was Remy..." He managed to look at Remy and whisper under his breath, "y'know, between her and your wife, you trying to collect the whole ice bitch set or something?"

"Not like Remy got much choice." LeBeau muttered back. "Sofia been wit' us since nearly de beginning. She's de one dat got 'Ro out of New Orleans alive."

"I'm also the one who can hear you even when you're very badly attempting to be discreet, by the way," Sofia added, almost sweetly, but for the amber glint to her eyes. "Not to worry. I do keep rather low life company for a paycheque." She patted Remy on the shoulder as he gingerly sat beside her, looking over at Amanda. "I mean him, not you, witch. You're more medium life."

"Which reminds me, I probably need to book the whole follow-up thing now I'm back from Old Blighty." Amanda wasn't in the least offended. "That whole 'using past traumatic damage in the course of work' thing." She glanced up as Beth approached the table. "Yay, distraction."

"Another for me, and-- hey!" Cain's attention turned to the pint of lager that was set in front of Amanda. "Well, if she's drinking with the big kids, might as well get down to business. So the whole psychic whammy psychic Jefferson Astral Plane thing, how in the hell did you guys take care of it?" His expression was slightly confused. "Way I heard it, all the telepaths got, what's the word the kids use these days? 'Owned'?"

"Something like that." Amanda glanced at Remy again, got a brief nod, and reached for her pint, sipping at it in obvious, practiced enjoyment. "Seems like Farouk got himself a psychic parasite, like one of those lamprey things? The fish that attach themselves to sharks?"

"Dey known as oil companies, most places." Remy sat back, exchanging a brief look with Sofia. "Don't know 'bout de details, but Farouk was in de middle of it. Marie-Ange made de call to take him out, but it seems dat he somehow took control before dat became necessary."

Cain nodded, then looked over at Amanda. "Makes sense. Who's Farouk?"

The look she gave him was a little incredulous. "Teacher at the school. Obscure history, brushy moustache, got the flamingly gay assistant?"

"Oh!" Cain exclaimed in realization. "The Lawrence of Arabia-looking guy? Well, then. You guys didn't, y'know," He mimed hands around a throat with a snapping motion. "Did you?"

Sofia gestured at the papers around her, shrugging. "I haven't got to the end of the story yet. Apparently 'Sofia goes to testify in court' means there has to be a disaster of some form. By the lack of requests to purchase Amanda a black dress, I'm going to guess no, so feel free to spoil me."

"Not so much, no. The psychic lamprey grabs Farouk, goes after you, grabs the psis as they go in after, trying to save you. Cue the whole three days of research thing, and then 'Yana and I got a lift from Strange, into the astral plane, with this whole wacky idea of using me as a conduit for what was pretty much a magical nuke, trying to flush this thing out." Amanda grimaced. "Curt gave me the all clear, by the way. No extra brain damage."

"Mostly because it not covered by her insurance." Remy took a sip from his drink. "Not sure what it's done to de astral plane though."

"Don't rightly care," Cain said as he gulped his drink. "Brain's my own again, that's what matters. Going to have a nice long talk with Pharaoh whatsisname." He cracked his knuckles ominously as he stared into the amber liquid before him. "Long talk."

"Wasn't his fault, tho'." Amanda took another drink, set her glass down, looking a little concerned. Only a little, however - the headache had lasted quite a while, even in London. "Whatever this thing was, it was feeding off him for years. Strange thinks it pretty much wore him out, and that's why it went after you. Fresh meat."

Finishing his first beer, Cain gestured for another, paused, then indicated the entire table. "So I suppose I owe you lot one. Can't say I cotton much to the idea of bein' anyone's puppet, so as long as you're certain whatever this thing was is gone, then that's good enough for me."

"Dere's nothing ever certain 'bout what we do. But at dis point," Remy paused to accept his drink and gestured at Sofia. "She's de brain expert here."

Making an annoyed roll of her eyes, Sofia finally pulled all her papers into one pile. "What part of 'I was not here, you interrupted my reading, I don't know him or care' was confusing?" she asked, shoving it into a folder and then her bag. "From what I glimpsed at, the only one who was there at the end was Farouk. You need to ask him."

"From what's left of the magic network that actually can still access the astral plane, it seems okay. Well, if 'okay' covers 'not exactly friendly to magic users'. Seems like if you force a whole lot of magic into the collective unconscious of humanity, it tends to take offence." Amanda gave a small shrug. "And it's not like any of the mages who threw in with us have that much power at the moment. They're all a bit tapped out, and I'm sure as hell not going back in there if I have a say in the matter. Way too fucking weird for me."

Cain made a mental note to visit the good Professor Farouk once he got back to the mansion. While he wasn't still completely at ease with the idea that half a dozen people had been traipsing through his brain over the last few weeks, hearing that people had gone into some weird brain-of-humanity world to stop the crisis spoke a lot. Even if Remy and his friends weren't wearing the leathers, that didn't mean they didn't know the meaning of self-sacrifice and duty.

"Well," he said, looking down into his beer. "All's well that ends well, ain't it? You ask me, world would probably be better off without people looking into other people's brains - no offense," he directed the last at Sofia, and dug a hand into the basket of fries in the center of the table. "Guess that makes you all the big damn heroes, don't it?"

"Aren't we just?" Sofia said dryly. "I suggest you all talk to your lawyers in updating your wills."

Amanda made to make a reply, then subsided, drinking her beer with a thoughtful, almost pensive, expression.

"I try not to let dem think of dem selves like dat. Bad influence. After all, look at what happened to Nate?" LeBeau said with a toast of his glass.


Later that evening

"This ain't bad bourbon," Cain said as he looked out over the balcony to the Manhattan skyline silhouetted against the nighttime lights. Accepting a lit cigar from Remy, he leaned out slightly. "It's funny. I know the stuff you do ain't exactly four walls and an office, but if you'd have asked three years ago if anyone could picture you here... hell, I don't think three years ago anyone would've figured you'd still be alive by now." He raised the tumbler of alcohol in a toast. "You ain't done half bad."

"Can't complain." Remy said, clinking the glass. The truth was that Cain was right; Gambit, a man so demonstrably evil that even in the cut-throat world of covert operations, his name brought nervous whispers. Now, he was working in that same field, but on ostensibly the other side, with a beautiful girlfriend, a dedicated team, for the first time knowledge were he came from before his training, and most importantly, a budding sense of self worth that was an entirely new experience. Remy couldn't make up for his Gambit years, but he also couldn't be expected to lurch along believing himself the monster and expect to survive to make a change.

"Dey good, you know. Marie-Ange, Doug, even Mark... in dere own ways, dey de equal of any of de X-Men dat I've worked wit'. Can't say if ultimately dis job dat we're doing is going to be important to de future, but dere's no one dat I'd rather be doing it wit'."

"Ain't too much different," Cain said quietly. "Talkin' about the future... this whole thing got me thinking, three years from now, who's gonna be around? Five years? Ten, thirty? You got folks like Amanda and Ramsey who could take over the reins. Keep the job going if it still needs to be done." He turned the glass slightly in his hand, then downed the rest of the amber liquid and took a long pull on the cigar. "Seems that while you weren't payin' attention, you went and got yourself a nice little family here."

"Not just here, but you not entirely wrong. De main thing is," Remy took a sip from the glass and rekindled the end of his cigar. "Dis is a job, and dat's how dey see it. Dere isn't a person here who wouldn't risk getting demselves for one of de others, but at de end of de day, dey capable of focused on what needs to be done first. It's an odd change."

Nodding, Cain looked out over the balcony. "Good people, Remy. Even that Sofia gal. Reminds me a lot of ol' Madelyn, don't she?"

"'cept in one very significant way, which Remy thankful for." LeBeau grinned. "You know she'd de one dat got 'ro out of New Orleans alive? Walked right into de heart of de storm wit' her, and brought her out. Dat would have been de end if she hadn't. Owe her some."

"You do right by them, and they won't let you down," Cain agreed. After a few silent moments, he laughed and looked over at Remy. "Still watching them weird soap operas?"

"Dere's a new one from China set in dis collective town up by de border." LeBeau blew a careful smoke ring, and let it drift over the balcony side. "Mark digs dem up for me, but Remy swear dat Doug's been stealing dem for relationship advice wit' him and Marie-Ange."

With a laugh, Cain turned and took a long drag on his cigar and nodded to Remy. "Kids these days."