Disclaimer: These events take place in the X-men movie universe, and the story draws from some events in the movies but differs in some ways as well. If you disagree with a direction I take characters or stories, remember this is nothing official and you are welcome to write reviews.
Chapter 1: Deal Me In
The door to the holding cells of a high security prison for mutants slid open and two figures entered. One was a warden at the prison, a tall African American man who had the look of military personnel about him. He had a thin mustache and a stern look about him as he spoke with the second man, an older, bald man who sat in a motorized wheelchair.
"We had to put him in a special cell, Professor," said the warden. "The first day we locked him behind bars, and he blew the door open. We knew he was a mutant, but we didn't know how dangerous he was until then."
The man in the wheelchair, Professor Charles Xavier, looked over a chart he held in his hands on the prisoner in question. "Yes," replied Xavier, "I have been watching this one for a while."
"What do you mean?" the warden asked, somewhat confused.
"Do not worry, Sergeant Hardy," said Xavier. "He will be safe with me at my school."
"I'm not worried about him being safe," said Sergeant Hardy, "I'm worried about everybody else."
"Don't be," said Xavier with a reassuring smile.
"Here we are," said Hardy. "Stay back when I open the door, in case he tries anything."
The sergeant swiped his security card through the door and input a code on the number pad. A slight hiss accompanied the opening of the cell door.
A tall, slender young man with shaggy brown hair sat in the corner, wearing his orange prison outfit. His room seemed devoid of anything other than a simple cot and a toilet, both of which were made into the floor and would not detach. The young man held a deck of playing cards, flicking them across the room one at a time, striking the wall with a thump each time.
"Someone here to see you Remy," said Hardy. "Be nice and he might hold your ticket out of here."
"Mr. Remy LeBeau?" asked Professor Xavier.
"Who's askin'?" replied the prisoner in a thick Cajun accent. As he looked at Xavier, Remy's eyes momentarily glowed red like hot coals.
"I am Professor Charles Xavier," he replied. "I want to help you."
"That's what everybody always say," Remy said, flicking another card across the room, this one hitting the metal wall exceptionally hard. "Then I jus' end up right back where I started."
"Remy," Xavier continued. "I run a special school for mutants, where you can learn to fully control your powers and have a place to live around others of your kind."
"My kind?" Remy flicked another card, again hitting the wall hard. "My kind always end up in here or dead in a gutter, and don't nobody care. Bad enough bein' a thief, but a mutant thief… I may as well jump in the Mississippi."
"You don't have to steal any more, Remy," said Xavier. "Your schooling, your housing, and your food will all be taken care of if you join my school."
"Let me get this straight, mon ami," said Remy. "Some rich school teacher shows up and offers to get me outta jail and give me a place to stay and free food? I don't buy it!" He drew another card from the deck, but this time before throwing the card his eyes began to glow again. Soon the card began to glow the same as his eyes, and he flicked it across the room as he had done before. This time, when the card struck the wall, a slight explosion triggered, startling both Xavier and Hardy.
Hardy drew his weapon, which held tranquilizer darts and prepared to fire.
"No Hardy," said Xavier, holding out his hand to push back Hardy's gun. He looked into Remy's eyes.
"You like to play games of chance, I hear," said Xavier.
"Tha's why they call me Gambit," said Remy.
"How about we settle this with a game of chance then," said Xavier.
"Name your game and your terms," said Remy, shuffling his cards.
"The terms are as follows," Xavier began. "If you win then we release you from prison and you may go about your life how you see fit. If I win, then you return to my school with me and enroll as a student, never to leave without permission."
"Xavier, you can't just make a deal like that," said Hardy.
Trust me, Hardy heard Xavier say, but he did not see the man's lips move.
"The game shall be blackjack," said Xavier. "Now deal us in, Remy."
Remy began to shuffle the cards again, his nimble fingers working very quickly. He dealt both himself and Xavier two cards, one facedown and the other face up, Xavier showing a five and Remy a ten.
"I will stand," said Xavier without even looking at his facedown card.
Remy laughed. "You must never have played blackjack, mon ami. You don't stay with a five face up and not even knowing what you got facedown. "Remy looked at the deuce in his own hand, and having a total of twelve knew he only needed sixteen at most to win the hand. "Okay, I'll take a hit."
Remy flipped over the top card, and a ten showed face up. "By gumbo!" said Remy flipping over his cards, having gone bust with a total of twenty-two.
Xavier smiled and flipped over his other card, which was only a three, giving him the win with only a total of eight. "Looks like I win."
"How'd you do that?" Remy asked. "You tricked me. Nobody tricks Gambit!"
No tricks Remy, said the voice of Xavier in Remy's head. I want to help you, not use you as so many others have. There are many like you at my school. Remy was then bombarded with images of other mutants who had led difficult lives but found their redemption at Xavier's school.
"So Gambit," Xavier said. "You won't be known as the gambler who breaks agreements will you?"
Remy closed his eyes and shook his head to gather his thoughts. "I guess not," he said. "But I need to add one more condition."
"What might that be?" Xavier asked.
"I gotta have some better clothes than this," he said, indicating his orange jumper. "No way the ladies gonna join my game with this getup."
"Very well," said Xavier with a warm smile. "Then let's go, Remy."
"Name's Gambit, professor," he replied. "I say we leave Remy back on the Bayou."
"Alright, Gambit."