The X-Project

Ororo finds Remy with the details of what happened.



Not too long after she left the brownstone Ororo found herself tracking Remy down at the Snow Valley offices, though this visit was not a social one. She half-ran up the stairs to Remy's office, hoping to find the Cajun quickly in order to fill him in on the information the stranger had told her. She was a bit shaken by the encounter with the woman she had recognized from over a decade ago; she wished she had more knowledge about who she was and where she came from, but the other woman had proven less than forthcoming. Still, if the story about Sarah's capture was true then those details were secondary. All that mattered was bringing Sarah to safety.

Remy was sitting in his office, going through some of the information that Bishop had dug up and trying to see if there were any international connections to the Gene Nation group. Once Sarah got back, he'd have some first hand intelligence about the scene in question, and be able to figure out if they was really something that might be a threat. Currently, he was still leaning towards the idea that this was some local group of activists attached to some university group advocating immediate genetic equality or something.

"Remy." Entering the office abruptly, Ororo forced herself to pause for a moment to gather her thoughts and catch her breath. "I just had a very bizarre encounter that I need to speak with you about immediately. It is about Sarah."

Remy looked up from his desk and frowned. "Sarah? She's following up on a bombing in de subway a few days ago. Bishop too. Why? Did she get jumped, and bury a bone into some police officer or something?"

"Not exactly." She took a seat, smoothing her hands over her thighs in a distracted manner. "I believe she may have gone into the tunnels - possibly to investigate this bombing - and is in danger. When did you last hear from her?"

"Not since she left. Why would she going into de Morlock tunnels? She thinks Gene Nation is using dem to hide out in?"

Ororo nodded. "I recently spoke to someone who was... tracking Sarah, for lack of a better word. This person claims she saw Sarah enter the tunnels, but has not seen her emerge. And she thinks she may be in trouble."

"She tracked Sarah? In de tunnels?" Remy shook his head. "Someone is trying to run some kind of scam on you, chere. Dere's no one dat can track Sarah down in dose tunnels, not even Logan on his best day. She grew up dere, knows every nook and cranny in dat place. 'less your person grew up next to her, dere's no way dat she followed Sarah."

"Yes, I know..." And yet. "Remy, I think she may be telling the truth. I do not know exactly why, but this woman... I believe she does know Sarah, and the tunnels. She had information about them that only someone who has been there would know. And she is genuinely worried. I do not know why else she would approach me, or what she would hope to gain from tricking me." Well, that wasn't exactly true. If this woman still held a grudge, revenge would be more than enough reason. "If this Gene Nation is using the tunnels, Sarah could be in real danger. They would not welcome her there."

"Knows de tunnels?" Remy shook his head. "Who is dis person, 'ro? Because de only people who know dose tunnels are de Morlocks, and dere not a lot of dem left."

"But there are some. And it seems likely that this woman, whoever she is, knows more than she should about such things. I think she may have been there, Remy."

"Great. If she knows dat Sarah works wit' me, you're right. She'll be a target." Remy tossed his phone over to her. "Try and get her on de phone. Bishop!"

Remy called for the man from the door while Ororo dialed. "What do you have for me on dat scene?"

Another file was tossed onto Remy's desk as Bishop walked up. "My old ESU unit was the response. I got the layout, the tactical report of the incident, and the officer statements. I also got the op order for their next move so we an avoid it. In fact, there are a lot of next moves in there. Apparently everyone thinks this is their case and they're all coordinating so they don't pop each other, so there's a delay for us. I remember a case just like this from a while back... sometime, I'll keep thinking on it and get back with you." He waited for a moment just to make sure that was all. He didn't figure he'd missed anything but when it came to reports he was thorough and that meant checking not just saying everything off the top of his head.

"Merci." Remy said to the man as he left. He had to give Emma credit. Bishop was damn good at what he did, and he seemed to have New York wired at the street level. He flipped through the file as Ororo tried in vain to reach Sarah. Despite her words, Remy wasn't actually hugely concerned about the young woman. Anyone trying to take Sarah would be in for a bad time on the end of her bones, and between Betsy's and Logan's polish of her natural fighting skills, no sewer dweller had a hope in hell against her. There was something bothering him in the police presence. It wasn't a local investigation, and it wasn't proper ATF either. Someone was keeping it in the middle ground to keep their options open.

Remy LeBeau froze, the blood draining from his face. There was a digital photo from one of the briefings on the situation, with NYPD and FBI specialists involved. In the very back of the room, there was another man in black fatigues, obviously military, deep in conversation with a man well known to Remy: David Langstrom.

"'ro, you have to go after Sarah, and get de rest of de people down dere out of de tunnels." LeBeau said as he got to his feet so fast his chair crashed into the wall behind him.

Ororo started; she certainly wasn't used to seeing Remy react that way, even to the most alarming information. "Why? What is happening?" she asked, standing as well and leaning over the desk to peer at the photos.

"Less den a decade ago, I was used to kill virtually everyone in dose tunnels. Dey 'bout to do it 'gain." Remy pulled on his trenchcoat. "Get Sarah and get out. Remy going to see what I can do to delay dem from going in."

Her nerves tightening, Ororo stepped closer to Remy, slipping his phone back into his pocket and raising a hand to his shoulder. "Be careful," she told him, though it was a needless admonition. "Be safe."

The look Remy gave her was chillingly resigned. There was obviously something that he wasn't telling her yet. "Dat's not going to be possible dis time. Just Sarah out of dere, chere."