Queen of Diamonds
By: Loup-Garou
Part 1
Remy sat in his house, at a round table. He was pouring over a list of names. Though the list was long he was slowly ticking the names off. This
list first consisted of 25 names.... names of amateur thieves. No, he wasn't hiring assassins to kill them off one by one. In fact, he was
recruiting, well, checking them out, then if he thought they had potential, he would ask them. It had been a good 50 years since Jean-Luc,
Remy's father and King of Thieves, had conducted that mission, so long ago. Now, it was up to Remy to find and recruit the world's best
thieves. So far, he had met 24 candidates and asked 12 to join. Now, he only had one more person to check out. Funny enough, it was the
only woman on the list. Jubilation Lee.
He sighed in containment, the information on her was sketchy at best. Two thieves guild members had been sent to watch and follow her, but
every time she had managed to allude them. Even with their high-tech equipment, something always jammed their transmissions and they ended
losing her when she fell out of sight. Was it mere coincidence? Anyhow, it was a valuable ability to have in their line of work.
Somehow, he needed to get her to come to him. For if she didn't there would be no way to find her until she wanted to show herself. Also a
quality of a thief. The New York area was a big one and she could be living anywhere.
Lapin, his cousin, quickly snuck up behind him. He was about to yell BOO, but Remy spoke up, " 'ey Lapin, what you be doing, eh? You
know you can' sneak up on Remy." Lapin chuckled to himself. Remy always did have a knack of knowing when someone was behind him.
"I never could homme. Just wanted t'see if my luck 'as changed!" smiled Lapin. "You almost finished?"
Remy looked again at the sheet of paper on the table. "Yeah, one left. Une jeune fille qui s'appelle Jubilation Lee. (1)" muttered Remy.
"She oriental?" asked Lapin.
"I don' know, mebbe. Mebbe she only 'as one parent oriental, because she look white t'me.' sighed Remy looking at a blurry picture in front of
him beside the paper. "I don' 'ave much information t'go on, Lapin."
"She dat good?" he asked in surprise. The Thieves Guild databank had information on everyone, everywhere. It was the most extensive
databank of information on the planet. If people asked for information and they didn't have it, they would find it out and add it to the collection.
"Je ne said pas. (2)" said Remy in frustration. "I don' know if she be like dis on purpose or she just got lost among all does people in New
York."
"Well, t'ink logically. We know 'er t'be de Queen of Diamonds. She pulled off a lot of stuff dat some of de younger t'ieves guild members
couldn't of. I t'ink it's like dis for a reason. Dere's no mention of 'er being born, going t'school, so I'd assume she's a 'acker as well." finished
Lapin. Remy shook his head in agreement.
"D'accord (3), now... 'ow d'you get a girl t'come t'you?" asked Remy leaning back in his sear.
"Hey! D'you wan' me t'do all de t'inking f'you?" grinned Lapin.
"Lapin, I'm cold, I'm 'ungry an' I'm tired. I 'ave been spending de last 2 weeks looking at potential t'ieves. Don't give me dis shit!" growled
Remy.
Lapin took the hint and sat down, "Well, coz? What does every teenage girl wan'?"
"Hmm? Musique (4)?" asked Remy.
"Non, but t'ink broader." smiled Lapin.
"Des garcons (5)?" said Remy positively.
"Non."
"Den what?"
"Money. Quel d'autre? smiled Lapin as if he knew all the answers.
Remy thought about that. It seemed like a good bait.
"'ow would she find out 'bout it?" asked Remy. Lapin stood silent for a moment.
"Well, donate a large sum of money t'a charity an' make sure it gets good notice in de paper. Add vital details like what, who, where, when,
an' why an' poof, you 'ave one girl tryin' t'steal your money." said Lapin getting up from the table. Remy didn't even notice as he got up. He
was too busy formulating the plan. It was a good plan and one that just might work! An article to bring in the thief...
******************************************
The young mutant X-man and small time thief, Jubilee sat in a booth, in the back of the small cafe. For the neighborhood that she was in,
Michael's what a pretty shabby place to eat. Around the cafe, were mansions, large mansions. Who would come here when they would afford
better? There were more ritzy places down the block, but for some absurd reason, Michael's was up and hopping tonight. A band of three
people sat in the corner playing jazz. Jubilee listened with only half an ear. Her attention was riveted on the article in the newspaper, which she
had in her hand.
'Remy LeBeau revealed himself to be the mysterious benefactor to the organization, STPCBT (Stop The Petty Crime By Teenagers). He is
donating $250,000 in cash on June 9...'
Today is June 8, so I better get a move on. But first, some coffee!
"Waitress, a cup of coffee please." yelled Jubilee from the back. A lady at the desk saw her hand up and heard her yell. The lady then nodded.
Satisfied that her order had been placed, she turned back to the article. Rumor had it that this mysterious stranger, Remy LeBeau, kept his
money in a vault in his house. Easy pickings! She smiled to herself. The X-men didn't know about this little habit of hers. She always asked
other people for money. Not to mention, that without Bobby there, she was the most immature person there! But beneath the mask she lived
life in, was a different her. There was no way that she was hard up for money. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Being a free-lance, small time
thief had it's advantages!
After a moment of contemplating, the waitress brought her cup of coffee and left, not saying a word. Picking up the cup, she was glad that
Moira MacTaggart didn't make it. Her coffee was brutal! Sipping it slowly, she finished it.
Picking up her knapsack she walked over to the waitress, 'It was a wonderful cup of coffee. If you see a man with red glasses come in here,
give him a talking to. He stood me up!" The waitress smiled sadly down at the furious girl and promised that she would do just that if he came
in.
Satisfied that she had a pretty good cover story, she walked in behind the cafe. Reaching into her knapsack, she pulled out some things she
would need. Okay, I'm going to need the lock pick, computer hacking equipment... Glad that she had it all, she put it all back and started off
towards her target.
*************************************
"This is not a house, it's a shopping mall!" smiled Jubilee as she cracked the code to open the gate. Why was this so simple? Carefully taking a
look around, she decided to follow the road up to the house via the tress at the side of the road. Not thirty seconds went by before she
noticed a trap. A thin, concealed trip wire was put across the tress. Maybe this won't be as easy as I thought!
Taking her time, she quickly made her way through the forest that surround the road. By the looks of it, no one was home. There were no cars
in the parking lots and not a movement anywhere to indicate life. But listening carefully, she could hear shutters banging against the frames.
Ah ha! There is my way in! But looking up, she saw that this widow was three stories up. Taking a deep breath, she climbed some trellis that
was going up the side of the house. She climbed with no effort and before she knew it, she was in. The room was dark and dank. Something
wasn't right.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out dust and threw it into the room. Lasers sprang up from every direction. Although, looking around she
noticed that the floor wasn't protected. Getting into a low crawl, she made her way to the door.
Next, she checked to see if the doorknob was hot. Heck, she had seen Home Alone! Slowly turning the doorknob, she discovered that it was
locked. Not a big problem. After picking the lock on the door and opening it, she stepped into a large hallways, though she didn't stay in total
view. Putting her body against the wall, she looked for those annoying thing... surveillance cameras. She found three which she avoided with
ease. Almost like she faded into the background.
Now, if I was some rich bastard, where would I put my money? She scanned the doorways. 'Which one is not like the other,' she sang in her
head. Suddenly, she noticed that one didn't have a doorknob. Well, at least on the outside. Bingo! But how in the hell was she going to get in?
Looking up, she saw an old air conduct. Sucking in her breath to the horrors she was going to see in there, she slipped in. It was covered by
spider webs and she was sure mice had been in here. Pushing aside all these thought, she crawled in. As soon as she knew that she was above
the room, she carefully took the grate off and lowered herself in. There at the end of the room was all the money sitting on a table.
This was too easy! Something is not right. She needed to check out this room before taking another step. Power revealed lasers all around the
room. A panel on the wall showed a temperature of 23 degrees Celsius. Holy Shit! This room was heat censored! If it was heat censored,
then maybe it was sound censored as well. Well, she wouldn't take that chance. Quietly, she inched through the lasers.
Suddenly, something screamed at her from inside. She moved back to where she started. Looking around, she noticed that if she had gone any
further, the video camera would of seen her. She reached up to it and crippled it by yanking it off the wall.
Again, she tried to advance, but then realized that the floor was cracked! It was another trap! Anyone who stepped on that tile of floor would
of fallen into god knows what and be trapped. Clever bastard.
****************************************
Remy sat in a chair. Although it wasn't comfortable, it gave a good view of the monitors. He had since moved up to his mansion in New York
and put the add in the Daily Bugle. He was not a poor man, After all he was a thief! The article had gotten the response he had wanted...
perhaps too much of a response. So far over 52 thieves had tried to break into his house. None really getting far, only several had made it into
the house. He had almost begun to give up attracting this girl's attention. It was the last day before he had to give all this money away. You
could picture to relief on his face when he saw her at the front gate. Since then, he watched her overcome all the pitfalls he had prepared for
her visit. So far, she hadn't disappointed him.
*****************************************
She pondered what she could do. Somehow, she needed to disable the lasers, jump over the tile to reach the money and all without making a
sound or breaking a sweat. Grinning to herself, she remembered all those Danger Room sessions Scott had made her fo through. This was no
different.
Jumping high, she shattered the light bulb making the lasers visible. This way the heat censor would not move... hopefully. Damn these lasers!
What is she deflected them? Taking out mirrors from her knapsack, she began to deflect them. Although, she was short one mirror. Now
what? Then it hit her. She went back into her knapsack and pulled out her makeup mirror. With all the lasers deflected, she backed up for a
running jump across that tile.
This was a synch! Scott made her do this over and over again in the Danger Room. She quickly jumped over and landed without a sound or
raising the temperature of the room. Simple! It was now clear sailing to the money. Picking it up, she shoved it all into her knapsack.
Suddenly, hidden lights came on in the room. Startled, she spun around to see an incredibly hot guy, with piercing red eyes, standing by the
'impossible to open', open door.
"What d'you t'ink you doing chere?" asked the man. He sauntered over to her. Jubilee Cautiously looked around at all possible exits, but the
only one was being blocked by the man.
"What does it look like?" she retorted putting her hand on her hips, her knapsack on her back.
"I'll tell ya what I t'ink it look like. It looks like you be stealing from me." said the man.
Jubilee's mouth hung open. So this was the man 'giving' away all this money. "You're Remy LeBeau?" she choked out.
The man came closer, "Chere, I t'ink you an' I 'ave to 'ave a little talk, eh?"
"Well, I don't know about you.... but I think I'm going to take my leave," said Jubilee confidently
"Uh, 'ow would you get out?" grinned Remy mischievously.
"Oh, I have my ways." murmured Jubilee softly.
"Care t'share den wit' me, chere?" asked Remy grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Okay, if you insist." smiled Jubilee as she approached him, seeming as if she were going to whisper a secret into his ear. Then she quickly
Brought up her knee like Psylocke, the ninja of the X-men, had taught her and nailed him in the groin.
Remy doubled over in pain the last thing Jubilee saw as she left the room was the man screaming at the top of his lungs. She left with all the
money in her knapsack and a grin on her face.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"I had happiness, I had a family, I had respect and I had love," he cocked the gun. "Now I have nothing. What do you do?
What_do_you_do?"
Any comments??? They would be appreciated! But please only the constructive ones!
French terms:
1) A young girl whose name if Jubilation Lee
2) I don't know
3) Okay
4) Music
5) Guys
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