Disclaimer: I do not own any of Marvel's characters, and I'm sure I'm way off with their personalities. Forgive me ahead of time, I have little info and knowledge to work with. My characters on the other hand, are my creation, and I can do with them as I see fit. In fact, since this is my story, I can do what I want with any characters as I see fit. If you have a problem with that, then... I dunno, do what you want. It is a free country. But enough with this disclaimer, on to the story. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Eternal Rivalry Hits Home

Westchester, New York. It was a quiet town. Not too far from Manhattan, while not too close either. Its biggest trademark though, was being home to Charles Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, also known as the X-Men's headquarters. Having been rebuilt numerous times, due to super villains, evil mutants, and Sentinels attacking the X-Men here, this place was no stranger to danger.

A few hundred miles away, a motorcyclist was driving down a highway at some decently high speeds. He weaved in and out of what little traffic there was, narrowly missing the cars and semi trucks. He reached a gas station, and pulled up close to the front door. Taking his helmet off revealed Remy LeBeau, also known as the X-Man Gambit. His trademark black face mask absent, his eyes would still stand out, giving the reason he was wearing sunglasses under the motorcycle helmet.

He walked into the gas station, and the first thing that hit him was the annoyingly crappy music playing inside. It was some old country folk music, played on an old radio setup, with what had to be old and frayed wires, cause the quality of the music was static-y at best. It hurt the ears to be bombarded with the music, and he did the best he could to ignore the music. He wandered over to the beverage area, and started window shopping for something to catch his eye. He considered liquor, but knowing his long drive, he opted against it. Then considering water, he realized he wanted more substance than what water could supply him with. Energy drinks were out of the question because of the awful taste that accompanied their kick, and sodas didn't affect him like it would most people. He was very used to caffeine, and he didn't get the sugar highs associated with sodas and pops. He was about to give up hope when he remembered a new drink that was like a combination of a soda and an energy drink. He found it, and pulled out a few bottles of the stuff. He took them up to the counter, paid for them, and walked back out to his bike.

Gambit noticed that his X-Communicator had gone off a few times while he was inside, but he ignored them, and erased the messages without even listening to them. He put the energy soda bottles in his bag, and started up his bike. The roar of the engine was good to hear after the gas station's music, and he was quick to put his earphones on, and turn on his mp3 player. Heavy metal blared through the small ear phones, and once he put them in his ear, only he could hear the music. Ah, good to have gotten these 'phones and mp3 playa from my friend before headin' out from da mansion. Gambit thought to himself, I almost asked where da music was coming from so I could charge it up, and watch it go up in sparks as I left. He backed up, and then took off in the direction he was heading before stopping at the gas station.

Gambit continued on his path for a few hours, not stopping anywhere, until he reached a stretch of road surrounded by a forest. The sun was setting behind the trees, and dusk had approached fast. He drove in a few miles into the forest, and then took a sharp right north. He weaved in and out of the trees, and when he was about to hit a log that had fallen over years ago, he stopped and turned off his bike. Gambit got off, and sat down on the log. Figuring this was as good as any place to set up for the night, he opened his bag, and pulled out a small case the size of a prescription bottle. He depressed the top, and there was a sudden "pop" as smoke shot out from the case. In an instant, there was a perfectly set up tent, along with a camp fire.

"Ah, good to be outdoors on my own." His Cajun accent hung heavily in the air, and he leaned back on his log into his bike. "No Jubilee to bodda me, no Jean to scold me, no Scott to tell me what to do. Dis is da life." Gambit began his journey to where dreams and fantasies were real.

A few hours later, Gambit awoke to his X-Communicator going off. He walked over to his bike, and reached down to turn it off, when he stopped in his tracks. He looked closely at the communicator, and saw that it wasn't from the mansion, or any of his X-buddies. Now paranoid, and worried, he thought about turning it on to see what the message was. He decided against it, and instead turned on his cycle's radio to see what they had to offer for music selection in this area. He was very surprised with his findings.

Upon turning on the radio, he was met with a booming broadcast of someone's voice. "... and if you do not know who we are, then you will be in for the ride of your lives..." He tried to turn down the radio, but it had no effect. Getting annoyed, he opted for changing the station. Tuning upwards, he found no change. Cursing out loud, he began to tune downwards. Once again met with no change in the broadcast, he turned off the radio. Only then was he met with silence. "Mebbe my mp3 playa will still have some juice," Gambit thought out loud. But when he turned it on, and put his headphones in his ears, he found the same broadcast, in the same loud booming voice, and with the same volume as with the radio. Ripping his headphones out of his ears before his eardrums blew, he threw the mp3 player to the ground.

"Wha the hell is goin' on? Everywhea I turn dat broadcast is playin'." Gambit reached down to turn off the mp3 player, but when he heard the beginning of the repeating broadcast, he stopped.

"Greetings good citizens of Earth. I broadcast this to your planet with our best technology, to insure that everyone gets this message." Gambit stared at the headphones on the ground, jaw slack, and completely amazed. "We are currently in orbit around your planet, and will be here for some time to come. For all of you who are asking, 'we' are an alien race that has saw some potential in your planet, and wish to put that potential to use. We are known widely in our terms and locale as the 'Black Dimension Council' or in acronymic terms, the BDC."

Gambit stepped on his mp3 player, and it crumbled beneath his feet. Picking up a rock, he reached into it's potential energy, and brought it out as kinetic energy. He hopped on his bike, and started it up. With his rock glowing pink, he threw it at his campsite, and it burst into an explosion that left no trace of his being here, save for the small charred remains of some of the log. He then sped off back towards the mansion with all haste.