Disclaimer:
All X-men characters are created and owned by Marvel. I am gaining no profit for this.Summary:
This is a story involving an original character I came up with. It's basically about how she meets the X-Men and becomes a part of their team. I don't wanna give too much away, but it's gonna be slow at first and then hopefully things will pick up a bit. Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, Warren, Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Storm, & Professor X will all be involved. And a few familiar X villains will appear too!Author's Note:
Ok hi everyone! Umm, I'm super new at this so don't expect too much. I also don't really know that much about the X-men, timeline wise, but I have a friend who's gonna help me with that stuff. Just know that this is post-Antarctica, but mostly everyone on the team is over it by now. Ok that's all I've got to say for now! Enjoy!Italics-
means thought*these stars*- mean a telepathic link
Bold
- means intercom**************************************************************************
Ch. 1: Waffle Mania
3AM
Deet deet deet.
Scott groaned. For once, just once, he wished that he wasn't the leader of the X-men. That he wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to get the training session prepared. No one ever seemed to notice all the hard work it took to get those things together. There was a lot to do! All he wanted was to just get up once and have breakfast with the rest of his team.
Deet deet deet.
No, wait. That was just the sleep talking. Scott loved organizing training sessions. From choosing who would be on each team to coming up with new scenarios to keep everyone on their toes, Scott loved it all.
Deet deet deet!
The only hard thing was getting out of bed.
Scott shut off the alarm and turned over on the bed to look at his sleeping wife. Jean. He reached out a hand and brushed a few wisps of hair off of her face. At least there's one person that appreciates all the effort I put in for this team. Scott untangled himself from the blankets and sat up. He got a cold chill when he put his feet on the cold hardwood floor. Man! And I heard today they were having waffles. I love waffles.
He finally stood and headed towards the bathroom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7AM
Seated around the breakfast table were, Logan, Warren, Jean, and Hank McCoy. The familiar scent of waffles and bacon permeated the air, as Rogue and Ororo cooked the morning meal.
"So got any idea what ya' hubby got in store fo' us Jean?" Rogue asked over a greasy pan of bacon.
"Nope. But whatever it is, it's going to be something tricky."
Logan snorted. "And how would you know, darlin'?"
She shot a devilish grin across the table. "Because. He got up four hours ago just to get it all set up. If the professor weren't at that conference, I'm sure he'd be in the danger room with him right now."
Logan gave a low chuckle. "Geeks."
"Ah! Gawd Damnit!"
There was a loud crash as Rogue dropped the pan with hot grease in it. And before it finally clattered on the ground, it had managed to splatter some on Storm. Once it was all quiet, she just stood there gently holding her burnt hand, while Rogue continued to curse in her Southern drawl.
Hank immediately rushed over to Ororo's side. "Don't worry. Damage control is here. Allow me to examine that, my dear."
"Oh 'Ro! Ah'm so sorry. Ah didn' mean to…"
"Do not fret. It is just a minor burn." Ororo said cutting her off. "I know you did not do it intentionally. And with Dr. McCoy treating it, I am sure that it will heal quickly."
Hank gently released Storm's hand from his grasp. "Come with me, Miss Monroe. I have a salve and some bandages down in the med lab."
Before stepping out of the kitchen with Hank, Ororo scanned the room. Everyone was staring at her with worried faces. Poor Rogue was on the verge of tears. Addressing everyone she calmly nodded and said, "I shall return promptly." She then turned and left.
"Well, there goes breakfast," said Warren.
Rogue angrily slammed the bowl of waffles into the trash. "Mah cookin' sucks!" She screamed and ran bawling out of the room.
"And there goes Rogue. I'll go get her." Warren jumped up from his chair and followed after her.
Jean watched Warren as he left. She then turned back to Logan and was surprised to see him staring back at her with a big toothy grin. "And what, may I ask, has gotten you in such a great mood?"
"Well there's still a whole pan of bacon left" he paused, "And now I only have to share it with one person." He smiled even more.
Jean laughed. "Dig in big boy! I think I've lost my appetite." Before she had finished, Logan was already face first into the bacon pan.
**************************************************************************
Ch. 2: Taking a Gambit
Scott leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief. Everything was set and ready to go. If everything went right, it could end up being the most challenging training session ever! You name it, the simulation had it. Scott had programmed it to start in an alleyway. Then, somewhere in the middle, it would change its setting to a lakefront area. But the final showdown was the best. An amusement park. Not only was there a large range of sceneries, but there were tons of obstacles. There was fire, water, explosions, and plenty of weapons. It was all the basic stuff, except, Scott had a few surprises planned. His favorite involved changing the frequency of sound waves in the room. It basically cancelled out the sound of everyone's voices. His team would have to learn to communicate in other ways. Of course, Jean would probably just make a telepathic link with everyone, but he planned to keep her busy. The real question would be if she could link with everyone while under pressure.
Scott glanced at his watch. 8 o'clock on the dot. Ok enough scheming man. Time to go get your team together. He got up from his chair, gave a stretch and a yawn. Then he headed for the kitchen. I think I'll just brief everyone in there. Hey maybe there'll be some waffles left over.
On his way to the kitchen, Scott ran into Warren trying his best to calm Rogue down. For some reason she was crying. Scott went over and addressed Warren. "Hey, what's going on Wings?"
"Oh we had a little accident at breakfast today and Rogue's a bit upset about it."
"A little accident!?!", Rogue interrupted, "Ah just about poured a whole pan a'grease on Storm! How could Ah be so stupid!?!" She put her hands over her face and began sobbing some more.
"Whoa. Is she ok?"
Warren went back to rubbing Rogue's shoulder. "I think she'll be fine. I don't even think Storm thought that it was a big deal."
"Ok. Take five more minutes out here, but then I want you two back in the kitchen. I have a couple of things to explain before today's training session."
Warren nodded and Rogue gave a small whimper to let him know that she had been paying attention. With that finished, Scott turned toward the kitchen. Inside he found Jean and Wolverine having a conversation. He let out a deep sigh as he sat next to his wife. "Good morning, Sunshine."
He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She turned towards him, placed a hand under his chin and passionately kissed him back. Logan, who had been watching the whole thing, immediately gazed down at the table. He always felt uncomfortable when those two turned on the heat. He knew it was because he still had feelings for Jean, but he would never act upon them. Not while Scott was around at least.
"Have you heard about what happened at breakfast?" Logan looked up again. Jean was speaking to Scott, which meant they were done with their lip-locking moment.
"Yes I talked to Warren and Rogue on the way over."
Jean looked at her husband. "So you're ok with going on without Storm?"
"Who said she wasn't coming? I thought she just got a little burn."
"Well it was little accident, but I just talked to Hank on the intercom. Her hand is actually burnt pretty badly. He had to bandage it all the way up." Scott shifted nervously. She could tell that he just become extremely worried for Storm, "Now calm down there Speedy! She's going to be fine. She just won't be able to do any training for a week or so."
"Well I'm glad she's ok. But…oh man! That's going ruin everything." Scott got up to leave, "I'll have to cancel today's simulation."
"Scott, hold on!" Jean got up to stop him, "You absolutely can't go on without Storm?"
"Well no, we could still do it but someone would have to take her place. It's a very complicated program today."
Jean thought for a moment. "Well maybe you could just postpone it."
Scott was just about to agree, but Warren and Rogue finally came in. Rogue's eyes were still red, but she did look a little less upset than before. Warren stood next to Scott as Rogue went to sit by Wolverine. "Oh, sorry guys but today's session has been cancelled. Storm's ok but there's no way that she could participate today. So unless we found a replacement, we can't do it today."
"How 'bout Gambit?"
All eyes went over to Wolverine. Rogue's jaw dropped and Warren started sputtering off a million reasons why that would be a bad idea. And during all the commotion, Wolverine just sat there staring directly at Scott, just daring him with his eyes to refuse the suggestion. Scott had to hand it to him. The man knew how to get a room going with just a single sentence.
**************************************************************************
Ch. 3: Coming in From the Cold
Scott stared helplessly at the entire situation. He really hadn't thought of asking Gambit to come along, but now that it had been mentioned, it didn't seem like a bad idea. "Ok Logan. I'll go with it for today. Jean could you-"
"Wait a damn minute here sugah!!" Rogue was up and out of her chair before Scott could even finish his sentence. "Look, Ah'm mostly ova' what he did ta them Morlocks and what he did ta us, but Ah thought he wasn't gonna be goin' on any missions any time soon!"
"Look Rogue you're right. He's not really an active member of the team right now, but he's still on the team. Meaning, when he does start going on missions again, he's going to have to still be in shape. This is just a training session. Storm is out, so we need someone to fill in. Why not Gambit?"
Rogue crossed her arms across her chest and pouted for a moment. Then she looked up at Scott. "Ah'right. But he sure as hell betta not mess us up!"
Scott looked over to Warren. If Rogue had gotten so upset over the matter, he had better check with him too. "So what do you say Warren. Are you ok with Gambit helping out for today?"
"Yeah. I don't mind as long as this doesn't mean that tomorrow he'll be an active member."
"I promise. Gambit's not going be a part of any type of mission for at least another month."
Warren nodded to show that the Cajun had been approved. Inwardly, Scott sighed with relief. Great. Now I won't have to cancel the simulation. He turned to his wife again. "Jean could you please contact Gambit and tell him that he is needed for today's training simulation."
Jean smiled and took a step over to the com-link on the wall. She knew that Scott had meant for her to speak with Gambit telepathically, but she knew better. Gambit was always almost invisible to her. It was because he had extremely tough mental barriers. She also knew that he felt uncomfortable when people contacted him like that. It was more polite anyway to use the com-system.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It was cold. It was always cold lately. Every way he turned, all he saw was white snow. The wind blew and he clutched his jacket tighter against himself. He was losing. He hated having to admit defeat, but it was true. This was a battle that he couldn't fight. So why was he trying to prolong his life. His whole entire body used to ache, but now a warm soothing numbness had started to set in. He looked down. The snow was starting to look different to him. He always used to hate it, but now it seemed like soft fluffy blanket. He laid down. All he wanted was for the puffy flakes of snow to cover him and wrap him in comfort. He would just close his eyes for a moment. Maybe take a quick nap. Why not just sleep forever. It seemed the best idea he ever had.
Wait. Something was wrong. That's not what had happened. Sure he had begun to lose hope out in that barren world of snow and ice. But that's not how it had ended. He remembered sitting down. Then out of nowhere the blackbird appeared. Logan had jumped out, run over to him, and carried him to the jet. Of course his memory was fuzzy. He had pneumonia. But he did remember some of what Logan had said.
FLASHBACK
Logan laid Remy on the medical table. The kid wasn't saying anything, just shivering out of control. He went to get a blanket for him. "Damn. Poor kid's a fuckin' Cajun Popsicle by now."
He came back and covered Remy with the blanket. "Here kid. Want me ta kick the heat up a notch?"
Remy squinted at Logan. He couldn't see very well. Everything was blurry. "L-L-Lo-" He took a moment to let his teeth chatter, "L-Lo-"
"Yeah kid it's me. I'm sorry we left ya out there so long. Everyone else is tryin' to play judge and jury back home, but I'll be damned if I let a teammate freeze to death!"
Logan looked down. The kid had just passed out. He went and turned the heater up. Then he went to pilot's chair and lifted the jet off the ground. They'd be home in a couple of hours.
PRESENT
The one thing that had stuck in Remy's mind had been that Logan had hinted that everyone knew where he was. The whole time that Remy had been out in Antarctica he had thought that only Rogue knew where he was. The only thing that had kept him going had been the thought that his friends where out there somewhere looking for him.
When he had finally woken up in the med lab and found out the real story, he had been devastated. Even his dear Stormy had known where he was, but even she couldn't find a reason to come get him. After everyone had calmed down, the decided that he could stay. But he didn't care anymore. None of them were really his friends anymore. They had left him to die. All accept Logan. He was the only person that he still really talked to. They had all thought they were punishing him by keeping him off the team for a couple months. He saw it as a reward. More time for himself. Maybe it was time to move on from the X-Men.
"Gambit? Are you there?"
There was a voice. Jean's voice.
"Chere?" Remy opened his eyes and sat up in bed. It felt colder than it should in his room. He looked down, only to find that he was completely naked. He reached for the blanket which had fallen to the floor. "Whoa whoa, hold on petite. Gambit not ready fo' visitors."
"I'm not in the room."
He looked around. She wasn't. "Why you in my head, Jean. You know Gambit don' like dat!"
"Calm down Gambit. I'm on the comlink."
"Oh, sorry. Gambit a lil' disoriented. I jus' woke up. Wha' you want chere?"
"Well….we were supposed to have a training session today, but Storm had a little accident. She's ok, but she won't be able to participate. We were wondering if you could fill in for her…"
There was a moment of silence. A training session didn't seem like a good idea. But, he was feeling a little restless. He had been practicing himself, but he had been banned from the Danger Room. "I guess Gambit not to busy. Gimme a second ta get dressed. A'right?"
"Sure. We'll be waiting for you outside the danger room. Jean out."
Remy jumped out of bed and went to his closet to get his uniform and his cards. It was time for Gambit to get back in action!
TBC
**************************************************************************
Author's Note:
Ok I'm perdy new at this writing stuff, so any comments are welcome. Lemme know what you think! And btw, since I am a college student and spending a lot of time in class, I've decided to block a coupla chapters together and then mark them as one here. It'll probably be easier that way cause then there won't be so many chapters to go thru. I'll try to update at least once or twice every week. Ciao!!