Jean-Luc walked into his room after a very long conversation with
son. From what had just been exchanged in the conversation, Remy was not
going to be home for a while. Never in Jean-Luc?s life had recruiting taken
so long. Remy had been gone for days, and according to his son, judging
what he had so far, things may not move that quickly at all. The longest
any recruit had taken was when they wanted someone from Japan, but communication
was a main factor there.
Jean-Luc spread out on his bed, rubbing his temples from the headache that had developed throughout the day. He wanted, almost needed, for Remy to come home. It was now that he wished Jubilation Lee never had ties and loyalties to this particular grouping of people, which Remy had described. He wished that Ms. Lee would have never insisted on taking Kitty Pryde, of all people, with her - and this Rogue character was going to cause some problems. He wished that he would have, and he could have, sent Lapin instead of his own son. There was a potential great need for his prince to be there and he desperately wished that he could be here. Most of all, he wished the Boudreauxs never came into existence.
It took the new foursome a gruesome total of four hours to get from Westchester to the north side of New York, due to an accident on the main highway. Although, Remy was the only one who had noticed the elapsed time. The girls were so busy playing with the ?toys? in the limo. As Remy thought back on the event he couldn?t help but think how hypocritical he had been. Barely patient himself, he was supposed to teach it to Jubilee. Oh le Bon Dieu aider moi, he thought. For he knew that this was going to be a very painstaking process.
To top things off, he had just gotten off the phone with his father. His tone had been fairly detached, but nonetheless, he was still serious on the matter discussed. That of which was not the best news Remy could have received at the certain time. Though, he supposed he didn?t have the best news to trade with Jean-Luc either, so all was fair game.
He had just gotten in the door and started introducing Rogue, Kitty and Jubilee to ?Toinette when he head someone shout: "Remy- est-ce-que tu est la? Le telephone est pour toi. C?est ton pere."
So the girls had to be shown around by ?Toinette and got to know the area a little bit while Remy engrossed himself in ?family business?. This hour in which he had until he had to be in New York for a meeting was his time to rest.
But with Jubilee in the same house that you are, until about three in the morning, rest was a non-existent word. A lesson in which Remy was soon about to learn.
This is soooooooooooooo awesome! Jubilee was walking down the hall trying to find Remy, but her findings had been less than successful as of late. She had never been in a house this big - not even the Xavier Institute - except for the time she had ?visited? his house that one time. Okay, and behind door A is... she opened the door only to find: nothing, again. How long was this going to take? She had been at this for twenty minutes already, like shesh! Open, close, open, close, open, closer, open, close and on and on and on... And again open, but VOILA! There was Remy almost asleep - but how could a person sleep at this time of day? It was like way past noon, it was almost five, so like get a life man! So she could just not let this insanity go on any longer. She had to save him from this; she needed to wake him up.
Remy had heard the door open, even though he had told ?Toinette not to disturb him unless it was of utmost urgency. So what was the matter, what was the urgency? There appeared to be none at all, for when he opened his eyes he saw a form coming right for him. It was running and it jumped on the covers that Remy was under. At the moment Remy needed to get Jubilee out of his room, for the covers that he was under, were his only shield from revealing himself au naturel. And this was not the kind of thing Remy wanted to do!
"Rise and shine you lazy butt! It?s like almost five, the cock crowed a long time ago!" Jubilee projected her voice loud enough for Remy to hear her clearly, but not loud enough to actually be yelling. But that, of course, was not yelling only be her standards.
To Remy though, it was yelling, "Okay, enough already! I?m up... okay." Remy figured that Jubilee was not going to let him get away with just saying he was up, but he wanted to sleep! Though, it might be for the better, seeing as how he was supposed to be somewhere in about forty minutes and still wasn?t groomed and it took about twenty minutes to get to where he needed to go. This girl on his covers needed to go though, before he could really do anything of the sort. "I?ll meet y? downstairs in a bit."
She shook her head at him. "Nope, nada, no way... you have to get out of bed before I buy anything. I mean, who?s to say that you won?t just fall back asleep on me?" She moved to jab him in the stomach, "Hey mister.... Hey, huhn!" She tried to annoy him out of bed, but Remy seemed to be protecting himself with the cover. What did he have to hide?
"Look petite, I ?ave t?get dressed for a meeting I ?ave dis evening, so I need t?be up as it is." But Jubilee did not look convinced of this, although she did look more curious than before. This could be more beneficial to him now that she was intrigued, for she might be more co-operative with him.
All right, if this man was going to be stubborn, she could be too. And the best way to be stubborn was to stare a person down. So, she looked in his eyes and was very awed by what she saw - is was a tapestry of red and black, almost as if someone had blown paint with a straw of red on black paper. They were amazing, but she didn?t know whether to consider them demonic or sexy.
Remy saw that she was going to be stubborn and stare him down - but Remy could be stubborn too. As the first few seconds of this contest, Jubilee looked to be lost in thought. This was a good thing, for Remy could use this to his advantage. And he did:
"Jubilee?"
"Uh hun?"
"I?m up - y? can let me get ready non?"
"Uh - hun."
"Bon. Aller!!!"
It worked, and Jubilee gave up and went to the door of the room still lost in thought. Which was good for Remy because he needed to get dressed without Jubilee seeing anything. So off he went to his closet to find something appropriate to wear.
Remy sighed just outside the doors that guarded the room that he was about to enter. But he had to go through them no matter how badly he didn?t want to. It was now down to a matter of step, push and enter.
And he entered to see eight faces around a long table. All representatives from Guilds across the world who had all come to discuss the matter of recruiting and to see which Guilds would get who. From Sacramento there was Daniel Blake, London: Thomas Smyth, Egypt: Nari Marazne, New Orleans: Lapin DuBois, New York: Rob Fitzgerald, France: Michael Valjean, Vancouver: Mike Donalds, Asia: Poe Chan Ng. Remy was the ninth - the one to break the tie in a vote if there ever was one. So he had to start the meeting soon if he wanted even the remotest chance of sleep that night.
"Allo, ladies an? gentlemen." Smiled Remy.
"LeBeau." They all responded giving him the respect of his rank as Prince of Thieves, not to mention being the youngest master thief ever.
"Let?s get dis over wit? quickly. I?ve had no sleep in a long time." He said with a slightly yawn. He pulled down an overhead screen and turned on the overhead.
He clicked on the button to change the slide. "Dis is Mark Johnson. He comes from Miami. He is 18 years old an? likes t?play football. As y? can see, he has hair dat is easily seen an? noticeable, it?s orange, brown an? red. He is very touchy when it comes t? takin? orders an? is very opinionated. He got t? de last room an? tripped on de second trap. I t?ink dat wit? four years work he could become a very productive member o? our Guild." As he went through the kid?s information, he showed clips of him in daily life and that while he was thieving. The Guild members nodded their heads. This kid was good.
"We wan? him." Said Michael Valjean.
"Good, ?cause we wan? t?give him to y?." Grinned Remy. The man nodded in appreciation.
"Next, we have Josh Goldstine. He comes from L.A. He is 19 years old an? spent his life on de street. As y? can see, he can blend into a crowd. His hair is brown an? so are his eyes." Remarked Remy.
"They are almost piercing." Shuddered Thomas Smyth.
"The kid has brains." Remarked Daniel Blake appreciatively.
"I guess his attitude can be described as slick an? street smart. I t?ink dat he deserves t? be workin? wit? a Guild Master an? in two or t?ree years, he could be one o? our best. He got t? de 7th trap in de last room." Said Remy.
"I want him." Daniel Blake instantly.
Remy looked around the room. "So would we." Said Nari Marazne.
"Why do y? want him Guild Master Blake?" asked Remy formally.
"The boy is streetwise and in a city like ours, you have to be. We also have an Assassin Guild to contend with." He said. "I would take up his training myself and I think he would benefit from learning in such an environment like ours."
"An? y?, Thief Marazne?" Asked Remy.
"Our Guild is close to Europe and we have need of more thieves as demands have been increasing for the past year and a half." She said simply.
Remy thought for a moment. "He will go wit? Guild Master Blake." The man smiled a huge smile. "I say dis Marazne ?cause education comes first. But, I?m goin? t? send y? four t?ieves anyhow, t? help y?." She smiled and nodded her head. Her task was accomplished. Remy finished going through Josh?s slides.
Remy switched the slides once more. He only had one picture of her to show them. "Dis is Jubilation Lee. She got into de last room, got t? de money, stole it, AN? got away." He groaned silently at the thought. Everyone in the room went silent.
"What do you mean ?she got away??" asked Lapin.
Remy winced, "She canned me."
The room erupted in laughter.
"I know, I know." He groaned. Everyone settle down to hear more about her. "She be 17 an? o? Asian descent. She knows how t? speak Japanese an? English. Black-brown hair an? blue eyes, make her not very noticeable. She is cool under pressure, patient, secretive? she hides under masks an? de one dat comes to mind de most is her ditzy act. I t?ink dat wit? 8 months she can become as good as me. Dat is if I undertake her training an? I am. Dere?s no mistakin? dat. She is going? t? de New Orleans Guild. An? t? top it all off, she be a mutant."
Everyone started to murmur. "You are right Remy. It?s dangerous to have a mutant anywhere else." Sighed Poe Chan Ng. Remy was glad that he was getting no argument. Perhaps this wasn?t going to be so bad after all.
"An? remember, next year, de people dat get people dis year, don? get one." He reminded gently. They nodded their heads. Dis wasn?t so hard at all!
But Remy? thoughts were interrupted when the figures of Rogue, Kitty
and Jubilee came tripping over their own feet through the doors that guarded
this particular room.