Marvel owns the characters that you recognize, and we are not making one
red cent off this story. Jacques, Frances Benoit, Therese, Red Beard McCartney,
belong to Missy Red and Kaleidopy. If you use them without our permission,
we will send the Assassins after you, and they take no prisoners.

Devil Days
Part Seven
MissyRed and Kaleidopy

Later that afternoon with the house empty, the boy began his second run of
exploring the large house. He started upstairs in Therese's bedroom,
finding
nothing exciting, he turns his attention to the huge bedroom that Henri
occupies when he is home. Looking at several books on the bookshelf, he
pulls one down and sits on the carpet to read it.

"Hey, what you doin' in 'ere?" Henri walks in, grabs the book out of his
hands and puts it back in the bookshelf. "I don't like people snoopin' into
my affairs."

"I wasn't snoopin', I was readin'!" The boy yells at him. He grins a toothy
grin. "Or can't you tell de difference an' b'sides, I wasn't doin' anythin'
wrong."

"Y' look like a stupid jackass when you grin like dat." Henri glares at
him.
"Dat's how I know you be lyin' through your teeth."

"Don't have no idea what you talkin' 'bout." The boy huffs and crosses his
legs.

"Get up, we're goin' downstairs so I can keep my eye on you."

"I ain't goin' anywhere." The boy glares up at him defiantly. "An' you
can't
make me move."

"You petite picouette!" Henri begins to chuckle as he walks over to the
boy.
" You comin' wit' me or must I carry you?"

"Non!" The boy eyes him carefully. When Henri reaches down to grab him, he
rolls away and under the bed. "Betcha can't get me now."

"You want t' play games wit' me?" Henri kneels down, looks under the bed
and
locates the boy. "Jus' don' say you were not warned." His lightning fast
reflexes catches the boy unprepared. Grabbing the boy by the arm, he yanks
him out from under the bed. "Dat de best you can do?" He holds him up in
the
air laughing at him. "Therese can do better dan dis."

"I wasn't ready." The boy protests as he is thrown over Henri's shoulder
and
the two leave the room and go down the stairs. "Dis not fair, Henri, I
wasn't ready."

"You de one who dared me t' get you, did you not?" Henri tosses the boy
onto
the couch before he sits down beside him. "Life isn't fair petite, you need
t' learn dat you never lay all your cards on de table, never leave y'self
out in de open without some sort of backup plan, you understand what I am
tellin' you?"

"Oui!" The boy smiles in acknowledgement before he rolls over on his
stomach
and tries to pounce on Henri. "Gotcha!"

"You haven't been listenin' t' one word I have been sayin'." Henri takes
him
down over his lap and pins him before the boy could even touch him. "Dere's
a penalty for not listenin' an' you are 'bout t' find out what dat penalty
is." He throws the boy back down on the couch, face up and begins to tickle
him.

"Stop, stop!" The boy giggles uncontrollable. He tries to squirm out of
Henri's grasp but is unsuccessful. "Henri!" He manages to scream through
his
giggles. "I'll listen t' you, I will."

"Too late now." Henri continues to tickle him unmercifully. The boy is
gasping for air by the time Henri lets him up. "You goin' t' listen t' me
de
next time I try t' teach you somethin'?"

The boy breaths heavily as he nods his head. Henri wraps his arm around the
boy's head and pulls him back down in his lap. "I can teach you a lot if
you
be willin' t' learn."

"Henri, can you teach me t' pick locks?"

"Oui, but why you wanna learn t' do dat?"

"I jus' wanna learn in case somethin' comes up." The boy explains. "Me
bein'
on de streets you never know when it's gonna come in handy."

Henri eyes him suspiciously and then shakes his head. "Alright, but under
de
condition dat you listen t' every thin' I teach you. You jus' once start
goofin' off an' de deal is off, dat clear?"

"Deal!" The boy offers his hand out for Henri to shake, once he does, the
boy changes the subject. "M'sieu LeBeau told me de story 'bout de dagger in
his study. He say dat it comes from de guild's enemy, is dat true?"

"Papa told you 'bout de Guilds?" Henri is shocked as the boy nods his head
before flashing that big grin of his. "Papa must have somethin' in store
for
you if he told you 'bout de Guilds." He pauses for a second to think. "You
don' tell nobody 'bout dis, you hear me?" The boy wondered why Henri was so
worried about it after all it was only a story.

"Henri, who would believe me?" The boy asks him point blank. "I'm a mutie,
nobody believes muties." He lowers his head. "Nobody wants a mutie."

"Hey, you don' talk like dat." Henri grabs him by the chin and forces him
to
look into his eyes. "You be special t' Tante, Therese, Papa an' me." He
shakes his head slowly. "Oui petite, you can't tell me dat you don't know I
be speakin' de truth."

"It don't matter, dere's been ot'ers who pretend dat dey care an' dey..."
The boy's voice trails off for a moment as if remembering things in his
past. He quickly smiles back at Henri. "You show me how t' pick locks now,
huh?"

______________________________________________________

Henri spent most of the night showing the boy how to unlock several
different kinds of padlocks. He had especially asked about the padlocks.
Henri didn't ask any questions, just showed the boy how to master the
basics. Finally around two in the morning, the boy had hang of it. "Ok,
enough for tonight. You ready for bed?"

"Oui," The boy gives out a fake yawn. He goes upstairs and turns out the
lights in his bedroom and waits for a hour before he was sure the house has
settled down enough for him to leave the house. He had secretly watched
Tante program the security system, he pushes the code numbers and slips out
the front door. He takes off in a dead run, completely unaware that someone
was following him from the shadows.




It took him almost three hours to reach the warehouse but the boy managed
to
get there without anyone noticing him, or so he thought. He quickly picks
the lock on the entrance side door and sneaks in. He carefully makes sure
that the warehouse is empty before going down to the lower floor. Unlocking
the door to where the kidnapped children were, the boy swings the door
open.
"C'mon, we gettin' out of 'ere."

"I knew you would come back, I just knew it." Jenny runs over to the boy
and
gives him a hug.

Michael gathers the children and hurries them out the door, glancing down
at
the boy. "Thought you forgot about us, Shrimp."

"Jus' cause you t'ink I'm street trash don't mean I don't keep my word."

"Look, I'm sorry I called you that." Michael glances up the stairs before
taking the lead. He makes sure everyone is together before he puts his
finger to his lips to silence everyone. Whispering to the boy, "Do you want
to lead them outside or create a diversion?"

"Diversion, I'm good at dat." The boy grins proudly.

"Yeah, that I do know." Michael replies as he opens the door slightly
enough
to peak out. He glances out into the dark warehouse. "Ok, the coast is
clear, when this door opens, I want everyone to run to the door and do not
stop for anything." He opens the door and waves everyone out. "Follow me."
He takes off running, opening the side door, he holds it open as the
children run out of the warehouse and down the street.

The boy was about to leave the warehouse when three silhouette figures
blocked the side door. "Going somewhere, Devil Boy?" Jarod slams the door
shut. "This time we ain't risking McCartney's wrath by letting you get
away
again."

The children now free stop running. Michael makes a quick head count and
turns around and realizes one is still missing. Jenny already knew who it
was. "Where's the Shrimp?" He looks around frantically trying to find the
boy. "Where is he?"

"Dat's what I want t' know as well." A voice comes from behind them. The
children turn around to see thirty men dressed in black and wearing black
ski masks.

The boy was beginning to panic, in the darkness his weird eyes can see
where
others cannot. He sees the three coming closer, almost as if they could see
him as well. He suddenly rushes for the door but two sets of hands grab him
and slam him down on the floor hard. Jarod stands over him grinning. "When
you wake up you will be in a whole new country. We don't want your kind
here."

The boy slowly gets back to his feet only to have the two other boys grab
his arms and hold him in front of Jarod. The boy kicks Jarod in the groin,
then manages to bite one of the boys holding him in the arm. With just
Wayne
holding him, the boy kicks him in the knee cap, now free he runs for the
door. Turning around to see where they are, he is suddenly yanked around
and
a fist connects to his stomach. The force of the blow knocks him into a
stack of wooden crates.

"Ya see that ya punks?" McCartney steps out of the shadows and lights his
cigar. "He wasn't so hard ta catch, was he!" He walks over and grabs the
boy
up by his hair and takes him over to the three teens. The boy starts
coughing, and desperately trying to catch his breath, tears are streaming
down his face as McCartney jerks him harder by the hair and swings him in
front of him.

"Uh R.B.?" Wayne speaks up. "That little freak just let all those kids
loose, you're holding the only one left."

"WHAT!" McCartney screams out his outrage. Glaring down at the boy, he
yanks
his head back causing the boy to cry out in pain. "Ya little devil, yer
gonna pay for stealing money outta my pocket." He grabs the boy up by his
collar and shakes him as hard as he can. "Stinking mutant freak, yer
parents
shoulda drowned ya in the Mississippi River when ya were born."

The boy was being choked by the big man's hands around his throat, he
glares
at McCartney and spits in his face.

"Ahhhaarrggg," The man yells as he hangs onto the boy with one hand and
wipes the spit off his face. McCartney points in the direction of a large
cage sitting on top of a stack of pallets. He walks over and opens it.

"What you goin' t' do?" The boy's voice starts trembling with fear.

McCartney slams the boy into the cage, the boy's body hits the other side
with enough force that the cage is knocked off the stack and knocked to the
floor upside down. The boy's head hits the concrete floor and is knocked
unconscious, blood trickles down the side of his face. "Get on the radio
and
contact the ship and tell them I got the one he wanted but I want double
for
him or the deal is off."

"What if they don't agree?" Jarod asks.

"Ya stop asking too many stupid questions, boy and do as I told ya." He
yells at the leader of the group.

Jarod turns around and climbs the stair to the office above. He suddenly
stops in his tracks as his way is blocked by a figure in black. The teen is
startled so badly that he trips and falls down the stairs.

McCartney turns around to find himself surrounded by ten men dressed as the
one on the stairs. "Who are ya guys?" He demands. Movement caught his eyes
as ten more completely surround the building from the inside. He was
becoming a little unglued. "I'd ask ya before, who are ya guys?"

A figure comes forward to stand in from of McCartney, he seems to McCartney
to be the leader. "I wan' de boy."

"Boy? what boy?" McCartney lies while staring at the masked man. "Ya mean
those three over there?" He points in the direction of the three punks.
"Take 'em and get outta here. I gotta contact coming any minute."

"I saw de boy come in 'ere." The man squints his eyes clearing showing his
anger with the man he was talking to. He jams his finger into the husky
man's chest. "I'm not playin' games wit' you, de sight of you makes me
sick."

"What ya want with th' boy anyway?"

"None of yer business." The leader continues to glares at him. "You tell me
where de Chile is or I got ways of gettin' it outta you." One of the men
in
black whistles for the leader to come to him. "Watch 'em an' don't let 'em
move." He orders three of his companions. Walking over to where the man
stood waiting on him, he glances down and sees the cage with the boy still
inside it. He reaches down and pulls the boy up into his arms and cradles
him gently.

"Th' brat is worth a lot of money ta me and ya ain't about ta rob me of
that
money." McCartney yells. " He is mine and I ain't giving him up, ever." He
quickly shuts up when three of the men circle him.

The leader holding the unconscious boy in his arms is dumbfounded. He had
to
blink twice because he could not believe what he had just heard. "You
sellin' kids? What kinda monster are you?"

"Their only mutie brats, nobody wants that trash." McCartney answers as he
manages to stick his cigar back in his mouth. "So I sell them ta some
contacts that pays a lot of money and doesn't ask any questions."

"How much you want for dis one?" The leader asks while nodding at the small
boy in his arms.

"Ha ha ha," McCartney laughs as he blows smoke from his cigar. "Ya ain't
got
enough money ta buy that one, those people want him more than anything."

The leader motions with his head to the nearest man beside him. He throws a
black rectangular box at McCartney who catches it in the air, but doesn't
look at it. "Dat should be more dan plenty for me t' buy dis petite's
freedom."

"We'll see about that, Mister." McCartney opens the box and stares down at
the object that is in the box. He pulls out the gold dagger and examines
it.
After studying the stones, "This thing is worth a fortune, ya got a deal
and...." He looks up and the men are gone. "Hey, where did they go?"

"They just disappeared like the wind." Jarod runs over to his boss, his two
friends quickly behind him. "You want us to go find them?"

"No." McCartney holds to dagger up in the moonlight for the punks to see.
"As long as I got this, who cares who they are." He starts laughing. "This
thing is worth millions. C'mon lets get outta here." Just as they take a
few
steps the door is kicked in and thirty men dressed in black come bursting
in. "Hey ya guys back so soon, sorry ya ain't getting it back." He begins
to
laugh. "A deal is a deal." He holds the dagger up to show them he means
business.

A man emerges from the group in front up him, he turns on a flash light and
shines it into McCartney's face. "Don't know what you blabberin' 'bout, but
you got somethin' of mine dat was stolen thirty years ago." He rips off his
mask. "Do you know who I am?"

"Should I?" McCartney smirks at the man.

"Beaudreux!" The man reveals his name as he walks over to the four, eyeing
every single one of them, "And nobody steals from de house of Marius
Beaudreux." He yanks the dagger out of McCartney's hand. "Dis dagger has
been handed down from generation t' generation, it is de single most
important item dat my family has owned. It is sacred t' me an' my guild."
He
waves over some of his men. "I received an anonymous call tellin' me dat de
dagger was 'ere, I see dat de man wasn' lyin'." Marius takes the black box
from McCartney and puts the dagger back inside. "I swore an oath dat who
ever was found wit' dis dagger in dere possession would pay de price wit'
dere lives."

"Look this is obviously a setup and I do not like ta be play fer a patsy."
McCartney looks up at the Assassin leader. "Let's join ta gather and find
th' ones who did this."

"Don' waste our time wit' dis trash, Father." One of the masked man speaks
up. He pulls out a long sword and points it into McCartney's chest. "You
stole de dagger an' now you stand 'ere quiverin' like a yellow coward."

"I'll handle dis, Julian. You step down." Marius orders his son.

The dock door suddenly flies open and a group of men stand ready with
machine guns in hands. "I don't know what is going on and I don't care."
One
of the new strangers comes into the warehouse, glancing around he spots his
contact. "McCartney, I want my cargo."

"Dis is Assassin business, M'sieu." Julian glares over at the strangers.
"You best be gettin' back on dat ship of yours an' forgettin' what you seen
'ere or you goin' t' be joinin' dem."

"Don't threaten me, or I'll put enough bullet holes in you before you can
swing that fancy sword or yours." The man responds. "McCartney, where are
those kids?"

"Gone!" McCartney smiles back at Marius. He knew his contacts were going to
protect him and he turns his full fury on the Assassins. "Ya think ya could
stick yer noses in our business and get away with it?" He turns back to the
man. "That mutant brat ya wanted so bad freed all those kids."

The man stops dead in his tracks. "You let a kid destroy my operation!" He
turns back to the group he had came in with. "Let's get out of here." They
slam the dock door shut as McCartney screams for him to come back. Everyone
inside the warehouse hears the boat's engine roar to life and leave.

"You were sayin'!" Marius raises his eyebrows.

McCartney raises his hands to his chest. "Ya got yer toy back, just let me
outta here and you will never hear from me again."

Julian starts laughing maniacaly just as he runs his sword into the belly
of
McCartney. Removing it out slowly, he turns to the three punks as he wipes
the blood off his weapon. "Tie dem up, I got somethin' in store for dem."

The three punks try to run but they were hopefully out numbered. Quickly
tied and gagged, they try to scream for help through the gags.

Outside, the children who had been stolen were taken to the police station
and their parents were called. Three other children, who are homeless stay
with their rescuers. Jean-Luc stands by himself, a worried look on his face
as he continues to look for someone. Tante, who had insisted on coming,
points out into the darkness. "Jean, look, it's them."

Twelve men come out of the darkness and joins them. The leader is still
carrying the boy in his arms. He manages to pull his mask off and still
hold
the boy in one arm. "Pere, dey hurt de petite. We better get him t' de
hospital."

"I will tend to dis chile, myself." Tante walks over and touches the boy's
face. "No hospital is goin' to touch him as long as Tante can care for the
boy."

Jean-Luc pulls off his long coat and covers the boy with it. "Give de
petite
t' me, Henri." Once he has the boy in his arms he notices that the child is
stirring. Before he could call out to the boy, a loud explosion rocks the
night sky. Everyone looks to see that it is the warehouse that is in
flames.

"Pere, dat be Assassin work!" Henri whispers to his father. "Mebbe it's
best
if we get outta 'ere b'fore de police show up an' start askin' a lot of
questions."

"Oui, Henri get de men outta 'ere an' meet back at de house as soon as you
can." Jean-Luc orders his son, he waits until they had gone before he turns
to the remaining children. "We gonna find homes for you children." He nods
at Tante, she quickly takes the boy out of his arms. "Tante, you turn thief
now?"

"We best be gettin' dis chile home." Tante rocks the boy in her arms, who
has opened his eyes slightly. He turns his head slightly in the direction
of
the burning warehouse and then closes his eyes as he slip back into
unconsciousness. "You goin' to be jus' fine, Chile. Tante is goin' to make
you dat promise."

The group walks down the street, get into several cars and drive off into
the night as several fire engines and police cars speed pass them on the
road.