AN:
This story comes after King of Thieves and There is No Questhelper in Real Life. You could probably read this without reading the preceding stories, but I wouldn't recommend it. However, There is No Questhelper in Real Lifedoes set things up for this story and catches you up/acts as a reminder for the other stories in this series.
Thanks to Hopey Hannigan for her invaluable help with the parenting stuff in this story. Any mistakes are my own.
Also thanks to LizzieTurbo for her suggestion way back when I just finished writing King of Thieves involving certain phone calls Gambit ends up getting during this story.
There will be regular references to World of Warcraft. As always, I will do my best to ensure that those who are not familiar with the game do not get confused. For those who are familiar with WoW, this story begins not quite two months after the release of the Cataclysm expansion pack. Finally, it should be noted that I'm an altaholic, I've only used Vent once, and I haven't played any endgame instances or raids. I apologise in advance for any mistakes.
Hand Over My Body
Chapter 1
While Rogue packed up their things in the hotel room they had been staying in for their honeymoon, Gambit turned his phone on for the first time in two weeks. He grunted to himself when he found five messages on his phone, and wondered why people couldn't leave a man alone so he could spend some time with his wife. It wasn't like Henri didn't know they were on their honeymoon.
A little reluctantly, Gambit put the phone to his ear and listened to the waiting messages. To his annoyance, he realised the date of the first message was the first day they arrived. He was a little surprised, however, when instead of hearing Henri's or Emil's voice, he heard Storm's:
"Hi Remy, this is Storm. I can't believe I'm saying this but... I need to hire the Thieves Guild."
Gambit couldn't believe he heard her say it either. He knew she had reformed as a thief when she joined the school, and despite keeping her lock picking skills in practice he also knew that she no longer intended to steal anything. The next message was a few days later.
"Hi Remy, Storm again. I hadn't heard back from you so I thought I'd better call and make sure you got my message. Please call me as soon as you get this."
Gambit grimaced. If he had realised he might get a serious call he would have actually checked his phone.
"Hi Remy. Just had a call from 'Ro," said Henri's voice. "She seems pretty anxious to talk to you, but I'm guessing you're just not answering your phone while you're on your honeymoon."
"Hi Remy, Storm here again. I just spoke to Henri and he told me that you're on your honeymoon. I hope that you and Rogue are having a good time. Please call me as soon as you can."
"All hail King Remy!" said Emil's voice.
Gambit groaned and made a mental note to officially appoint Emil as the 'court jester'. Clearly Emil thought Gambit was bluffing when he said he'd do that. He deleted the messages off his phone and located Storm's number in his contact list.
"Hello?" Storm said upon answering her phone.
"Hey Stormy," Gambit said cheerfully. "I just got your message. Well, messages. Looks like I got the first one right at the start of our honeymoon. Sorry, I didn't call back sooner. Stuff went down with the Guild recently, and I was half expecting to get prank or nagging phone calls, so I switched it off."
"I can understand that," Storm said. "I do not think I would like to be contacted during my honeymoon either."
"So, what's so important you have to talk to me about it?" Gambit asked, watching while Rogue came out of the bathroom to drop their gear into one of the bags. "If you had a job, you could have just run it by Henri. He could have gotten someone else on it sooner."
"I realise that, but it's not exactly a conventional steal," Storm said. "Have you heard of Mister Sinister?"
"By reputation," Gambit replied, lying down on the bed with his legs hanging off the side. "That's quite enough for me."
"He's kidnapped a little boy—"
"So what else is new?"
"—he's two, almost three years old," Storm went on.
Gambit frowned. "That seems a little young. I didn't think he collected mutants until after they manifested. Although I guess there are some mutants that manifest at birth, even if it's only partially."
"He's second generation," Storm said. "We've already made two attempts to rescue him."
"And you want me to collect him," Gambit said, rubbing his forehead. "No offence, Stormy, but what makes you think this kid is even still alive? Or that there's anything left of his body to bury?"
"Because our second team—who got into the base while Sinister was moving out—found evidence of a nursery in the most secure part of the base," Storm replied, hating Gambit's line of questions, but unable to accuse him of being unreasonable. "It was empty, but it had Thomas the Tank Engine artwork on the walls."
Gambit was silent for a moment as he attempted to process that.
"Thomas the Tank Engine?" he said finally.
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry, my brain is having trouble processing this," Gambit said and didn't notice the strange look Rogue was giving him. "Sinister and Thomas the Tank Engine."
"We had similar reactions," Storm replied, sounding amused. "But it either means he intends on taking care of Nate, or he's an avid fan and has been keeping some sort of Thomas the Tank Engine shrine in his lab."
"Well, we all have our hobbies," Gambit said, sitting up. "Wow. Okay. I guess that'll do for proof the kid's still alive."
"We know where the new base is. We have no idea of layout or anything, unless the old base is any indication," Storm said. "The sooner you can join us, the better. You were going to accept the job, right?"
"Henri'll kill me when he finds out, but yes," Gambit said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Okay, Rogue and I have a flight back to New Orleans to catch. We'll pick up Olivier and I guess there's no point in unpacking if we're going up to New York straight away."
"We'll be happy to pick you up in the Blackbird as soon as you're ready," Storm said.
"Heh," Gambit said. "I'll give you a call then. Give me twenty-four hours."
"I'll make sure a room's ready for you, Rogue, and Olivier."
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Gambit realised Rogue was looking at him curiously from their collection of packed suitcases.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"Storm's just hired us to rescue a kid from Sinister," Gambit replied, pushing himself up off the bed.
"Who's Sinister?"
"You don't know?" Gambit asked and Rogue shook her head. "He experiments on mutants. But unlike Stryker, Sinister doesn't experiment on mutants because he wants to wipe them out, he does it because he believes mutants are the next stage of evolution and is obsessed with creating the 'ultimate' mutant."
Rogue raised her eyebrows. "Right."
"He employs his own gang of mutants to do all his dirty work," Gambit went on, taking hold of one of the suitcases. "They're called the Marauders. Do you have the keycard?"
Rogue pulled the electronic hotel key out of her pocket to show him.
"Marauders. I've heard that name before," she said thoughtfully, putting it back in her pocket and grabbing one of her bags. "I just can't think where..."
"Well, Sinister recruits the toughest and nastiest mutants out there," Gambit went on as he opened up the heavy hotel door and Rogue slung another bag over her shoulder. "Killers, all of them. He's attempted to recruit some of the mutants in the Assassins Guild before, but they couldn't agree on terms."
"Couldn't agree on terms?" Rogue queried as she walked through the doorway.
"Occasionally the Guilds contract people out," Gambit replied, following her and letting the door shut behind him.
"I know that."
"He didn't want to employ them through the Guild though, he wanted to employ them directly and he wanted DNA samples from them," Gambit said as they walked down the hallway.
"Yeah, I can see why they wouldn't agree to that. Never tried to force the issue?"
"What's he going to do? Send his Marauders after them?" Gambit asked.
Rogue snickered and pressed the down button on the elevator. "Good point."
"So what did 'Ro want?" Henri asked as he drove Gambit and Rogue home after picking them up from the airport.
"She had a job for me," Gambit replied.
"And you told her you'd arrange another Thief to take the job, right?" Henri said.
"Non—"
"Remy—"
"I accepted it myself."
"Remy, you can't," Henri said, glaring at him while Rogue smirked in the back seat. "You're retired remember? You have responsibilities as the Patriarch of the Thieves Guild."
"Oui, I do," Gambit replied calmly, having expected his brother to blow up with this exact line of objections. "And as Patriarch I cannot in good conscience send anyone but the best for this job, and that happens to be me."
"Oh come on, Remy," Henri said scornfully. "What in the world could the X-men possibly want that would require 'the best'? Seriously?"
"Breaking into Mister Sinister's base."
Henri was rendered silent for a moment.
"Okay fine then," he reluctantly conceded.
"And I won't send anyone who's incapable of holding their own against an Assassin," Gambit went on. "Mutants are preferable because at least we know that Sinister will prefer to capture them rather than kill them outright. Although is being experimented on really a preferable option to being dead? I don't know. The point is that if something does go wrong, they still have a chance to escape, which you don't have if you're dead."
"It's better not to get caught in the first place," Henri said.
"I agree," Gambit replied. "Which is why I'm sending me. Come on, Henri; can you honestly think of someone better for the job than me?"
"Yeah, I can," Henri said. "Anyone but you."
"Henri—"
"You're the Patriarch, Remy! You only just took the position. You can't just go gallivanting off doing your own thing all the time."
"Becoming Patriarch was not my idea," Gambit retorted hotly. "You and Père just sprung that on me at the last minute. You're the ones who decided to dump this on me right before my honeymoon, so if you don't damn well like me not being there the last few weeks it's your own damn fault. Besides, you practically run the Guild yourself anyway—"
"That's not the point—"
"I don't care! Look, Rogue, Oli, and I are going to New York. We're going to check things out, do the damn job, and come back. There's no reason why you can't contact me if anything comes up that needs my personal attention or intervention or whatever. Believe me, I want to do this job as quickly as possible without putting anyone in danger," Gambit said, mindful of this 'Nate' Storm wanted him to rescue.
"And what is it exactly that the X-men what you to steal, anyway?" Henri asked.
Gambit paused. "You're not going to like it."
"I already don't like it."
"A kid."
"Merde."
"He's a toddler. They have good reason to think he's even alive still," Gambit said.
"Remy," Henri replied tersely as he drove, "you may have missed this on orientation day, but we're Thieves, not heroes."'
"Henri—"
"I realise this may come as a shock to you after your daring rescue of Avril a couple of months ago, but it's true all the same. We're not even Robin Hood style thieves; we steal for our own benefit."
"No!" Gambit replied, pretending to be shocked at the very idea. "You don't say?"
"I do say."
"My mind is completely blown."
"That's what I thought."
"Dorks," Rogue said.
Gambit twisted in his seat to grin wickedly at her.
"Come on, Henri," Rogue went on. "Does it really matter if he's stealing a kid instead of...documents or whatever?"
Henri was silent for a moment, and then said: "The X-men don't get this as a freebie because 'Ro's our friend, or because the prize is a kid."
"Noted," Gambit said.
"I'm serious, Remy," Henri said. "We're not running a charity here."
"Well, you did just point out we're not Robin Hood style thieves. I kinda think that covers that," Gambit replied irritably.
"And if they want the best of us, they pay for it."
"I get it already, Henri," Gambit said glaring at him.
Henri muttered something about 'damn heroics' and the conversation fell flat.
Some hours later, Rogue wearily stepped off the Blackbird into the underground hanger of the Xavier Institute. She had the fat baby bag slung over her shoulder, and was carrying a very cranky Olivier in her arms. Gambit and Storm followed her out with their luggage.
"Rogue, hey," Jubilee said racing over to them. "How was the trip? It's Olivier, right? Hey Olivier!"
Olivier did not appreciate Jubilee's attempts to be friendly and immediately burst into loud wails.
"Hey Jubes," Rogue said, and turned her attention to her son. "Shh, Oli, it's okay. This is a friend. Yes, I know you're tired and your routine's all out of whack, but believe me, it's okay."
Jubilee bit her lip, wanting to apologise for upsetting him, and not wanting to upset either of them by speaking up at an inappropriate moment.
"Come on," Storm said. "We'll get you settled in, and then we'll deal with the briefing later."
"Can we deal with the briefing tomorrow?" Gambit asked as he followed Storm out of the hanger with their things. "All this travelling is taking its toll."
"Tomorrow will be fine," Storm said. "Would you like to eat dinner with us tonight, or in the privacy of your own room?"
"Let's go for the privacy tonight," Gambit said.
"All right. I'll have someone send you down something."
"Merci."
Sometime later there was a careful knock at the door and Gambit opened it to find Kurt standing there with a tray.
"Good evening," Kurt said, raising the tray slightly. "I come bearing dinner."
"Merci," Gambit said, holding the door open wider so that Kurt could come in. "How have you been?"
"Well, thank you," Kurt replied, glanced around the room, and put the tray on the table. "And yourselves?"
"We're good," Rogue said whilst rolling a ball back and forth with Olivier. "Mr Cranky-pants over here has finally cheered up. Of course, any minute now he's going to start wailing for dinner, isn't that right, sugah?"
"Buh," was all Olivier had to say about the matter, and he happily pushed the brightly coloured ball back to his mother.
Rogue smiled and caught the ball.
"Hey Oli," she said. "You remember your Uncle Kurt, dontcha?"
Kurt knelt down to Olivier's level. Olivier looked at him and started crying and reaching out for his mama.
"Aww, what's wrong, Oli? You didn't cry at all when you met Uncle Kurt the first time," Rogue said. "Sorry Kurt. He's objected to everyone today."
"You should have heard the ruckus he caused when Storm had the audacity to pick up him," Gambit said wryly.
Kurt chuckled.
"He even complained when we got back from our honeymoon," Gambit asked, considered and then went on musingly: "Maybe that's the problem. Maybe he's just concerned we're going to leave him again."
"Maybe," Rogue said with a shrug. "It's been a pretty chaotic day for him so..."
"Also true."
"Well," Kurt said, standing up again. "I shall take my leave. Breakfast will be a buffet in the dining hall tomorrow morning at the usual time. I won't be there; I already had plans to breakfast with Kitty, Betsy, and Hank in the medlab, but I'll see you after breakfast for the briefing."
"The medlab?" Rogue asked, giving him a puzzled look. "Why there?"
"Because Kitty... Storm hasn't told you yet?"
"Told us what?"
Kurt took a deep breath, considering the best way to explain this.
"One of Sinister's Marauders is a man named Harpoon, likely named because he carries around harpoons," Kurt said. "He charges them with bio-kinetic energy."
"Heard of him," Gambit said with a nod.
"Well, he threw one of those charged harpoons at Kitty while she was in phase," Kurt said gravely. "The charge disrupted the connections between her molecules and now she can't solidify. Her molecules are drifting further and further apart. Initially, she only had a few days before she would have disintegrated completely, but a friend of Hank's, Forge, was able to build a containment chamber to buy her a few more months."
"Merde," Gambit said, with a glance at Rogue. "Remind me never to throw one of my cards through you when you're using Kitty's powers."
Rogue just looked back at him with a sick look of horror on her face. Sure, Kitty hadn't exactly been on her list of favourite people these last few years, but that didn't mean she wanted Kitty to die.
"She can't leave the containment chamber, and if we move the containment chamber we risk decreasing Kitty's life faster," Kurt went on. "So she's been staying in the medlab. Betsy has been staying with her, mostly because her telepathy has been our only way of talking with Kitty. The good news is—"
"There's good news?" Rogue asked disbelievingly.
"There's always good news," Kurt replied. "In this case on the same trip to Sinister's base that Kitty got hurt, we also managed to, umm, acquire one of his cloning chambers. We're in the process of cloning Kitty now, and we're hoping that the containment chamber will sustain Kitty long enough for Betsy to be able to transfer her mind across to the new body."
"Hoping?" Rogue said.
"We're not exactly sure how long the cloning process takes," Kurt admitted. "Hank and Forge are estimating a few months."
Rogue nodded.
"You should probably know that Betsy is also in a different body from the last time you saw her," he said, paused and then added: "I assume you have met her before?"
"Yeah, briefly, during the Sentinel business last year... well, the year before now. Why? What's happened?"
"Her original body was killed by Sabretooth while her mind was on the astral plane," Kurt said. "She found refuge in the body of a clone of a woman named Kwannon. Originally, we took the cloning chamber in the hope of cloning Betsy's original body, but when she found out how long the cloning process was going to take, she said to clone Kitty instead. She felt that by the time the clone was done, her personality and Kwannon's would've merged and be indistinguishable from each other by then."
"Why would they have merged?" Gambit asked, frowning.
Kurt shrugged. "You'd have to ask Betsy. I don't really understand how that part of it works. Anyway, I'll go and let you eat before your dinner gets cold."