Relative Motion - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Monica Tamaru
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 2

Ruby woke up, stripped down to her underwear, and jumped into the frigid water. The day was warm and the water felt good on her tired skin. Scrubbing with the soap she found in the cabin, she made quick work of her makeshift bath and just let the water lap over her. Down the way, she noticed kids around her age playing in the water. She wished she knew what it felt like to not have to worry all the time. She wanted to be…normal.

She managed to pull herself out of the water when she noticed her fingers were getting shriveled. Upon entering the cabin, she noticed that fresh clothing had been laid out for her. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, she changed quickly. She had just finished when the door opened.

“Ready t’ eat, petite?”

“I’m not hungry.” Ruby really didn’t want to see anybody yet. Remy looked at her skeptically. There hadn’t been a meal she hadn’t wolfed down.

“C’mon. We’ll go out t’night.” Ruby pulled back at the offered hand. He grinned a cocky smile that made Ruby want to hit him. She defiantly placed her hand in his.

“I don’t know why I gotta dress like this. We’re just gonna eat,” Ruby grumbled. She stared at the dress and shoes, wrinkling her nose.

“Yes, petite, but we’re goin’ t’ go out wit’ style. Stop whinin’ an’ get dressed!” Remy was dressed from head to toe in black. Black slacks that presented his lovely tush to admiring females, black dress shirt that stretched across his frame, and a black leather jacket. He looked dark and dashing. Ruby thought it was ridiculous.

Remy borrowed a red dress from Jubilee. Ruby dressed in record time, frowning, as Remy looked her over. It was a little big and hung awkwardly on her thin frame, but it worked for what he had planned.

“Ya look good in a dress, petite.” She hit him.

“Can we just go now?” Ruby looked at the motorcycle. “You get me dressed up to go out on a motorcycle? Real classy.”

She approached the bike hesitantly.  “I don’t know about this…” Remy grinned and pulled her on. She squealed with pleasure as they took off down the road at 80 mph.

“Where is Gambit?” Scott asked irritably, “He should have been here with Ruby by now.”

“I am not picking up a trace of him in the vicinity,” Professor Xavier said.  “I will try to contact him with his communicator.”

Gambit, where are you?

“Me an’ Ruby be in Soho, takin’ dinner. Can’t talk now. the picture of innocence. She used her most calming voice and extended her telepathy to try to convince Gambit not to be mad. It didn’t work. “Get in the car.” Once the door slam shut, Remy peeled away from the curb. They walked into the mansion and were greeted by all of the residents. Jean and Scott looked disapproving, Professor X looked disappointed. Wolverine was at first relieved, and then headed towards a fury that matched Gambit’s. “Did ya have to tell everybody?” Ruby whispered to Remy, shuffling behind him. Remy sensed her fear and led her upstairs to her room. “Come Jubilee.” He didn’t think it would have been right to leave the other girl to the wolves. He wasn’t surprised to hear a low growl, and then heavy footsteps following them. “What were you thinking? You can’ jus’ disappear like dat, petite.” Remy yelled. Ruby was momentarily surprised, but narrowed her eyes which were a mirror image of Remy’s red ones. “Don’t tell me what I can do! I’ve been living on those streets for the past fifteen years. I know them better than you ever could. There was something important I needed to see to, and once it’s done, I won’t go back. Nobody was around anyway.” The glass window behind Remy’s head exploded with Ruby’s anger. He stood unmoving at this outburst. “An’ what were you doing? You know better than stealing a car to go joyriding!” Remy’s focus switched to Jubilee. “Ha, says the thief!” Ruby said, bitterly. Wolverine stood in the corner, watching Gambit muddle through this immense responsibility. He had experience dealing with the moody teenagers. He motioned for Jubilee to leave the room. He’d deal with her. Neither Remy nor Ruby noticed their departure. “You’re grounded for the next week!” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized how stupid they were. Ruby just stared at him in confusion. “I’m grounded?” She began to laugh. “Okay, I dare you to keep me in here. Now get out of my room.” Mon Dieu! What am I gon’ do wit’ dat girl? Remy felt old beyond his years. Ruby had cut off their link in her anger, and that had cut deeply through him. He also knew that keeping her inside the mansion was going to be impossible. They were too much alike; they needed to be free. His sensed a presence behind him, and he turned to confront whoever was sneaking up on him. “Hi Remy.” Ruby looked up at him hopefully. “I was talking to Logan, and he mentioned that I should talk to you about some stuff.” I wish you hadn’t ruptured the link, petite. Remy motioned for her to come sit next to him. “Sorry about that. Listen, there’s something important I need to tell you. When I was on the streets, there were a lot of different gangs and stuff. I’m sure you figured that because the streets are all the same in any big city. Anyways, I lived with this girl named Lily and Davy. Lily is really pretty, so one of the local groups of thugs decided to take her. Now we never got along, but we used each other to live. So I saved her. Storm, daring her to say a word. Ororo got the message, blandly explaining when breakfast would be ready and wishing her goodnight.

Remy was cursing under his breath in French as he left Professor Xavier’s office. Hearing a crash upstairs, he looked up and watched Ruby leap from the top of the stairs. Following closely behind her was Rogue. He grabbed Ruby around the waist, and then quickly pushed her behind him in case she pissed Rogue off. You don’t ever want to get someone who can throw a car at you mad.

“What’s goin’ on?”

“Nothing,” Ruby proclaimed, her eyes wide.

“She was goin’ through my stuff!”  Rogue’s emerald eyes glittered dangerously.

“Back off. I was not. I was just checking to see if your window was barred shut like mine!” Ruby turned to Remy, eyes red with her anger. “I don’t like feeling like I’m sort of prisoner here! I want it fixed now or the deal is off! I can’t -.”  This time Ruby was cut off as Gambit covered her mouth with his hand. He rolled his eyes at Rogue as Ruby began struggling.

“Calm down, petite. Remy will fix this,” he spoke in soothing tones that seemed to work instantly. Ruby stopped struggling and her eyes turned back to their normal gray. She stood completely still and leaned against him.

“Ah probably shouldn’t have, uh, jumped to conclusions,” Rogue said, a little guiltily. She looked at Ruby, who was standing there, docile as a kitten. “What did ya do to her, Remy?”

He grinned guiltily.  “I jus’ persuaded her t’ calm down. She’s fine. I’ll take her upstairs.”

Ruby looked up at him and gifted him with a beatific smile.

Ruby awoke slowly. The light filtered in through the open window, and there were faint sounds coming from downstairs. She remembered where she was, and smiled. The bed was comfortable, and she had her own room. This was too good to be true.

"Ruby?" a voice from the comm. unit on the wall hissed softly.

“Yes?”

"Breakfast is on the table in a half hour. Clothes are in the drawers; bathroom necessities are under the nightstand."

“Okay. Thanks.” It felt weird talking to a wall. Ruby quickly got ready and started down the stairs. Something felt weird, but she brushed it off as nervousness. This was too bad because Ruby’s instincts have never failed her before.

The mansion was attacked at breakfast, and this time, the security systems went off.

“We’ve got company. Friends of yours?” Scott asked wryly. Ruby had frozen on the bottom step. A feeling of terror overwhelmed her.

“They’ve come for me,” Ruby said to the closest person, who happened to be Wolverine. She thought her voice came out very calm. He thought it sounded like she swallowed an axe.

“Well, let’s make them welcome,” he said grimly, extending his claws with a SNIKT. The rest of the mansion’s inhabitants were milling around the kitchen. When the alarms went off, they immediately fell into battle mode, which had been ingrained into their reactions. Remy leaped over the kitchen table and dragged Ruby into a room. There was a huge screen on the wall, and several smaller screens surrounding it.

“Dis is the surveillance room. I wan’ y’ to stay here. Tell us telepat’ically where dey are, and stay here!”

“But…”

“I mean it, Ruby.” With that, he was gone, a pair of playing cards glowing from his hand.

She watched the invaders coming up the main drive, from the docks, and from the Morlock tunnels. She relayed the information dutifully. She knew that it didn’t matter where they stashed her, she would eventually be found.

“Did you miss me?” Quickblade said with an evil grin on his face. The door was in pieces. His huge frame filled the doorway. He was the one who taught Ruby the art of knife throwing.

“Not really.” If she played her cards right, she could hold him off until back up came.

“You know how this is going to end, don’t you dear?” Ruby shivered. No matter how powerful Ruby was she knew she was no match for him. Still, she wasn’t going to give up without a fight. As she set up in defensive position, she yelled, HELP! She hoped someone would reach her in time, but the screens showed that everyone was occupied. She reverted back to her instincts for survival.

Using her telekinesis, she created a shield of sorts to stop the blades the enemy was sending her way. As the knives hit her shield, Ruby’s strength wavered considerably. ‘Shoulda slept last night instead of hot-wiring the motorcycle for a joyride…’ Quickblade knew every move that Ruby was going to make since he had molded her skill from the very beginning. He was just toying with her, waiting for his leader to show up. Ruby had furrowed her brow, doing her best to keep her defenses up.

“Hey!” Ruby whirled around to confront the new enemy. Bad move. A searing pain shot through her shoulder and then another through her side. It was too much for the battle-worn Ruby, and she collapsed into a graceless heap.

As she slowly regained consciousness, she saw the Kennedy’s beautiful face staring down at her. She let out an unladylike grunt when she tried to get up.

“What has happened to you? You used to be tough, not given to weak actions like fainting.” Her mentor had a disdaining look on her face. “I need to whip you back into shape. That is, if you live through this. At this pace, I don’t think your chances are looking very good.” She had a firm grip on the girl’s arm, which she twisted behind her back in order to lift her to a standing position. Ruby managed to contain her cry. Blood was seeping out of the wounds in her shoulder and side.

“Now there ain’t any need to discourage the girl. It looks like her chances have just improved.” Logan’s grin was menacing as he released his claws. Gambit ignored the woman, and stared at Ruby. She nodded once that she was okay, and he relaxed.

“Tsk, tsk. I didn’t want to get in a big fight. All I wanted to do was kill LeBeau and the child and get on with things.”

“Why did you want to kill me? I was great at what I did!” Ruby asked, confused.

“It was part of the deal. Wipe out Gambit and everyone related to him. For this, I am getting highly compensated. Enough talk. ” With a swipe of her hand and a POOF, she was gone. She took Ruby with her.

When they reappeared, it was in a lab filled with machines. Ruby was a little dizzy from the teleporting, but her anger took precedence.

“You didn’t kill him! He was right there! What is the purpose of that? All you have is me, which is what you had in the first place!” Ruby yelled. “And now I’m hurt and bleeding all over the place. You accomplished nothing!”

“Shut up you little fool! I can make use of you, which is the only reason you are still alive so don’t tempt me.” Both of the females tensed at the sound of someone approaching.

“Ah, you saved the ungrateful wretch from the bad, evil X-Men.”

Ruby froze at the unfamiliar voice. It was dripping with sarcasm, and held an underlying warning tone. Upon hearing it, there was only one word that echoed in her mind . . .

“Sinister!” Remy felt a tug of dread as he said the word that was stark in his mind. He was shuffling a deck of cards, trying to abate the sense of unease that mired him in despair. All the while, he was telling himself that this worry of his was senseless. He didn’t really know Ruby.

“Oui. She doesn’ have anywhere else t’ go.” Remy turned away from her before the doubt crossed his face.