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"Stormy, when's the first boat out of here?"
The mutant known as Gambit carefully picked his way through the ruins of Muir Island. It had been only a few hours since he and his fellow X-Men had seen the island, a mutant research center privately owned by brilliant geneticist Moira MacTaggert, destroyed in a desperate battle against one of the team's oldest foes, the psychic creature known as the Shadow King.
For Gambit, one of the teams' newest recruits, the battle had been a rude awakening. A Cajun and thief at heart, he hadn't exactly signed on for life or death. He had followed the X-Men's leader Storm to the team after rescuing her, and had spent the better part of his tenure trying to convince her to leave the mutant superhero game behind. The recent battle only added more fuel to the fire.
Storm, busy using her elemental talents to collect debris from what was left of the research center's grounds, was more than a little irritated at Gambit's interruption, but tried her best to remain cordial.
"Gambit," she said as she landed gently, "for the last time, do not call me that ridiculous nickname."
"Keep tellin' you, chere, it suits you." He flashed her a devastatingly charming smile, his red on black eyes sparkling. He was handsome in an unkempt way, hair in his face, cigarette in hand, tall, slim and muscular with a perpetual five o'clock shadow. Most women burst into flames at the mere sight of him. Combining those attributes with his New Orleans accent made him damn near unstoppable. Thankfully for Storm, she wasn't so easily drawn in, maybe because her own exotic beauty had much the same effect on people. Looking at the two of them, one might think being beautiful was a prerequisite to being an X-Man.
"Is there something I can do for you, Gambit? This is hardly the time for a social visit. There is much to do to help Moira rebuild this facility." She looked inquisitively at Gambit. "Were you not assigned to Logan's cleanup crew?"
The Cajun grimaced. He and Logan, the X-Men's resident berserker Wolverine, didn't exactly get along. The two were too much alike to do anything but constantly butt heads. "Cleanup crew?! Pah!" He threw his hands up in disgust. "This is insane! We fight for our lives against some sick twisted creature that uses our heads to play out his revenge fantasies, and then just move on? I can't stay here anymore, Stormy. I've got to leave this place and so should you. This island's dead and so're the people who're here. We need to go, you and I. This ain't the place for people like us chere, it's nothin' but a rock covered in damaged goods."
Storm glared at Gambit and the low sound of thunder could be heard in the distance. The weather around her tended to reflect her mood and hers had just turned sour. "No one is requiring your presence, Gambit. You are under no obligation to remain an X-Man. I had hoped that you had found a place here, a purpose as I once did, and that you would wish to remain with us to become a part of something larger than yourself and your own ambitions." Storm turned her back to Gambit and summoned her power to lift more of the debris. "If I was mistaken, you are free to leave anytime. But these 'damaged goods' are my family and I cannot, will not, abandon them."
Gambit picked up a chunk of concrete and angrily threw it, charging it with his mutant ability as he did. The concrete detonated with the force of a small bomb on impact. He turned and began to walk away, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his battered brown leather trench coat.
Storm turned to him as she rose into the air once more. "If it is your intention to leave, you should know access to the mainland has been restricted. The next opportunity will be a ship bringing supplies, but it is not scheduled to arrive for nearly an hour. You will have to amuse yourself until then."
Frustrated and angry, Gambit stalked away, leaving Storm to her task. He had time to kill and the last thing he wanted to do was to be part of her little cleanup crew. These people irritated the hell out of him right now. They were so noble, so giving, so accepting. He had only been with them a short time and yet they had opened their home to him with few questions asked. How could he, a thief and a liar, even hope to live up to their standards? His encounter with the Shadow King had only made things worse. So used to being in control of everything and everyone, for him to suddenly be so manipulated had been unnerving. How did they stand it? How did they not go mad with threat after threat after threat? He still felt dirty, sick to his stomach at how easily he had been controlled. Storm had done better, she hadn't lost it. How could she think he had anything more inside to give?
His musings had taken him from the complex to the cold lonely shores of the island. The rock was a wasteland before, but now…
Gambit suddenly realized he wasn't alone. Floating silently in front of him, a few feet above the beach, was a young woman about his age. She was hugging herself in what Gambit thought was a feeble attempt to shelter herself from the island's chill wind. The effort was wasted, her costume completely shredded, hanging on only for modesty's sake.
She stared off into the turbulent sea, the wind whipping through her long hair. That hair gave him pause. Long and wavy, most of it was a rich reddish brown, but there was a dramatic white streak that ran through it, very distinctive. Gambit stood very still for a moment admiring the view. What was her name? Stormy had talked of her, the two had been teammates for a long time, and he had seen her face, had seen that hair, in a faded photograph Ororo had with her in New Orleans. Rogue. That was it. Tough girl, Gambit thought. He knew they had fought while under the King's control, but that hardly counted as a proper introduction, right? He stepped forward and his boots crunching on the rocks snapped Rogue from her reverie.
"I beg your pardon, cherie, but if we are t'be teammates I thought a proper introduction was in order, neh?" He flashed another trademark grin, but again he wasted his charm on another irate X-woman.
"So…" she said as she landed softly, voice thick with her Mississippi accent, "my waxin' your hide wasn't a 'proper' enough introduction?"
"Come now, cherie. As a true citizen of the South y'know that's not how it goes." He winked at her, but didn't get even the glimmer of a smile in return.
Rogue felt uncomfortable. She had come out here to be alone, needed to be alone. She had walked around for several hours in a battle-tattered costume, but so many people around made her nervous. Her mutant talent was absorbing another person's thoughts and powers with a touch of skin, but unlike Gambit or Storm or nearly every other X-Man, her powers were uncontrollable. The slightest touch knocked her victim unconscious. Extended contact meant far worse.
"S'bit cold to be walkin' around like that, isn't it girl?" Gambit came closer to Rogue. "Y'should be inside. Well," he gestured towards the ruins, "what's left of inside."
Rogue visibly tensed as Gambit edged closer. "I'd rather not be around so many people dressed like this, but there weren't really any spare costumes handy at the moment. I think some supplies are comin' in a bit but…y'know I really would rather be alone right now…"
Gambit shrugged out of his trench coat and tried to put it on Rogue. His gallant effort caused her to jump back.
"I don't bite, girl, least not until the first date!" Gambit grinned.
Rogue looked confused. "I'm sorry, it's not you…my powers are triggered by touchin' my skin and I can't control them. I'm sort of in tatters here." She gestured absently to her costume, not that Gambit needed to be shown how little fabric covered her body. He had been trying to at least not blatantly stare at her, but since she was giving him the opportunity…He looked her up and down and gave her a low, long whistle and smiled again.
"Ex-cuse me, suh!" Rogue covered up what she could with her hands. "That wasn't exactly an invitation!"
"Jus' takin' in the beautiful sights of Muir Island, cherie." Rogue's cheeks flushed a deep crimson, along with the rest of her body. More importantly to Gambit, she smiled.
"I'm gonna have t'watch out for you, aren't I, sugah?"
Gambit bowed gallantly and handed Rogue the trench coat. She gratefully accepted it and shrugged into the warm leather. "Y'probably already know this, but my name is Rogue." She held out a gloved hand to shake, but Gambit grasped it and kissed the back of it.
"De name is Gambit, Rogue. At your service."
She laughed. "I'll bet you are."
"So, chere, tell me," he began as the two walked closer to the shore, "how is it you're out here by yourself when everyone else worth the 'X' on their shoulder is busy takin' a dustpan and broom to the island?"
Rogue sat down on a large rock and sighed. "The power thing again. I was helping for a while, but I just felt so…exposed. I should be used to it, but I only recently got my powers back and I guess I got used to bein' a bit freer."
"So, these powers. They're triggered by skin contact, but y'didn't really say what they are…"
Rogue sighed as she looked out on the water. She figured as soon as she told this Gambit about her powers he'd bolt. Might as well get it over with. "I absorb people's thoughts, memories, powers. The process knocks them unconscious depending on how long I touch them. I kind of…become them for a while, after I touch them. I sort of see their lives…live them in a few minutes." Gambit was staring at her, his mouth open. "Not every day y'meet a girl who steals souls, huh, sugah?"
Gambit shook his head in disbelief. "Merde. What a thing you live with, cherie."
"I don't want, or need your pity, Gambit. Everyone else treats me like some sort of monster or invalid depending on the day. Would have been nice to find a friend who didn't do that. Guess that's not gonna be you, huh?" Rogue brought her knees up to her chest and fought back the sudden sting of tears. She had started to like this man and the attention he was paying her, but now she was kicking herself for even thinking he could be different from the rest.
Gambit sat down next to her, giving her enough room to feel comfortable. "Didn't have these powers for a while? That must've been crazy, you bein' all careful and tense for what, five, ten years?"
Rogue turned slowly to him. "Yeah. Ever since my powers kicked in. I was thirteen. On my thirteenth birthday if you really want to know. Real great present, my own special gift."
"Thirteen! Y'been dealin' with this since y'were thirteen? But how do you…oh, are you a vir…" he stopped himself, deciding it best not to go there, at least not today. He attempted to be a gentleman. Most of the time.
Rogue had gotten the drift of his question anyway, but for some reason wasn't upset. "That's what everybody wants to know, sugah. Yeah, I am. My powers kicked in during my first kiss. The boy's name was Cody. I kissed him, and he keeled over. I thought I was going crazy or something, I was seeing all of this stuff in my head, his memories."
"This Professor Xavier guy, he seems pretty damn smart. Y'been with this team for quite a while, hasn't he been able to do anything for you?"
"He's tried," Rogue replied flatly.
"If this skin thing is your special gift, how the hell were you flying when I came up? That seems like a weird combination. Y'borrow that or what?"
Rogue shifted uncomfortably. "That's…complicated." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Y'really haven't heard anything about me, have you? About what a bad girl ah used to be?"
Gambit laughed and slapped his leg. "Bad girl? Naughty virgin? Y'got me, chere, I'm totally hooked…tell me all about it!"
"Hate to break it to you, but it's not really funny. I began my brilliant career as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, lead at the time by my foster mother Mystique. Y'may have met her yesterday. The blue-skinned shapeshifter with the attitude? She raised me after I ran away from my real family." She had Gambit hanging on her every word, despite the lack of naughty virgins in her story. "For a mission, she needed me to borrow some powers from a retired Avenger living a civilian life. Ms. Marvel. Carol Danvers. Super-strength, invulnerability, flight. I caught her outside her apartment with her arms full of groceries. Something went wrong with the transfer and what was supposed to be temporary, like every other time I used my powers, became permanent."
"But…from what y'said you don't just get the powers, right?"
Wow, thought Rogue. The boy was paying attention a little too well. "Yeah. Carol lived, but my powers wiped her mind clean, like erasing a chalk board. Her memories became mine. I had swallowed her whole and I was just crazy for a while, couldn't tell where I began and she ended."
"Y'seem all right t'me, chere."
"Thanks to the X-Men. I turned to them for help even though we were enemies at the time. Worse, they were all friends with Carol. The professor had helped her regain some of her memories and life, but he was never able to completely fix either of us." Despite herself, Rogue felt her eyes tear up. "Such a stupid mistake. I was so cocky, thought I could handle anything. She's gone now, though, out of my head."
"How'd that happen?"
"Well, I had gone through an inter-dimensional portal called the Siege Perilous…"
"Uh, okay…"
"…its sort of ultimate reincarnation, giving you a clean slate, a new life in your old body…?"
Gambit blinked and scratched his head. "….right…"
"…Well, this portal decided to physically separate me and the Carol that was in me into two bodies. I think that's why I didn't lose my memory, see, like everyone else who went through the portal…"
"…of course…"
"…only we couldn't both live because we only had enough life force for one body, and our powers were split between us, so rather than fight I escaped through a portal to the Savage Land, this tropical prehistoric rainforest in the middle of Antarctica…?"
"…uh-hunh…"
"…only she followed and nearly killed me, but I was saved by Magneto…"
"Magneto?"
"…One of the most powerful mutants in the world? He was friends with Professor X when they were young, then he…"
Gambit held up a hand. "Chere, I may have no goddamn idea what a 'Siege Perilous' is or how the hell a tropical prehistoric rainforest can exist in Antarctica, but I do read a newspaper once in a while. I know who Magneto is."
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry." She smiled sheepishly.
Gambit smiled back. This girl was so adorable it was killing him. "So," he prodded, "Magneto saved you and fixed your powers?"
"Yeah, only at first they didn't work. Like I said, no powers for a while."
"In a tropical paradise with de 'Master of Magnetism'? I thought y'were my naughty virgin?" Gambit was picturing her in a leopard skin bikini riding on top of a sabretooth tiger and half expected her to punch him off the rock for his comment, but she looked like he had slapped her. The subject of Magneto was still a very sore one for Rogue, but she couldn't really be upset at Gambit. She had brought it up after all, and he had no idea of the attraction and separation she had just gone through. "Rogue, what's wrong…?"
"Everybody thinks that, too. Like I would just screw the first person that crossed my path if I was powerless. Give me a break." She shook her head and pushed errant strands of hair from her face. "New subject, Gambit. I've given you the life and times of Rogue the untouchable, how about you? Cajun? New Orleans boy, right?"
Gambit smiled broadly. They would revisit her story someday, but today he let her get away with the change in subject. "That obvious, eh?"
"Only to someone born and bred on the big muddy, chere." She smiled back just as broadly.
Could this girl be any cuter with her molasses dripping voice? Gambit was in heaven. "Don't tell me I've found a kindred spirit?"
"It would sure be nice to have another Southerner on my team for a change. So, Gambit, what do you do? I'm sure that I saw it when we were fighting under the King…was it some sort of explosive power? Blasts of some kind?"
Gambit flipped off of the rock. As he did, he slipped one of the decks of playing cards he carried with him from the pocket of the trench coat Rogue was wearing. "Would the pretty lady care for a demonstration?" He opened the box of cards and fanned them out.
Rogue's eyes roamed hungrily up and down Gambit's tight costume, one of the team's redesigned standard blue and gold uniforms. "Sugah, where the hell were you hidin' them cards?"
Gambit smiled a wicked smile. He had been looking her over repeatedly, it was nice to know she had been doing the same to him. He gestured towards the trench coat wrapped around her.
"How…" Rogue raised one eyebrow inquisitively.
"Just one of my many skills, chere. All of which I hope you'll experience." She blushed again. "Now, back to the show." Gambit activated his power, charging the cards with his mutant kinetic energy. Rogue stood up off the rock, her green eyes wide as saucers. "Pick a card, Rogue." He turned and threw the glowing pink mass towards the sea. His intention had been for them to explode harmlessly above the water, but the sea shifted and they exploded in the water, the force of it like a cannonball in a swimming pool. A giant wave crashed onto the shore, totally drenching the pair and knocking them onto the ground and into each other. When the wave receded, Gambit was on top of the soaking irate Southern belle.
"Sugah," she sputtered, "tell me you didn't do that on purpose?"
Gambit's face moved achingly close to Rogue's. Their eyes locked and with his gloved hand he pushed her wet hair from her cheek. "And what if I did, cherie?" he could feel her heart pounding. He closed his eyes and moved in for a kiss.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Rogue shrieked in his ear and pushed him, hard. Only his natural grace and agility saved him from being seriously hurt as he landed.
He breathed heavily as he crouched on the ground. "Chere, what'd I…" he stood slowly as she rose from the ground. She was visibly shaken and on the verge of tears as she backed away from him. He kicked himself mentally. He had seriously misjudged her playful flirting and had allowed himself to get caught up in the moment.
"Do you have a death wish? After everything we just talked about, y'try to kiss me!? Did y'listen to a goddamned word I said!?"
"Of course I did. Just thought, y'look like you could use a good kiss. Thought, y'know, it might be kind of fun."
"Fun!? FUN!? Why you lousy…" She was pissed off now, her fists balled up as she rose off the ground and headed towards him
Gambit had to defuse the situation before he got his ass handed to him. He hadn't really meant to make her so angry, but he was finding he couldn't help himself, her presence was making it hard to think straight… "I didn't mean to hurt you…You're just a sight for sore eyes…so beautiful I forgot myself…"
Rogue stopped midair, her expression shifting from anger to sadness. She bit her lip as Gambit walked towards her and reached up and took her hands in his.
"I'm sorry, girl."
"Me, too. It's just been a while since anyone tried that on me. Most people stay about twenty-four inches away from me at all times, y'know?" She landed still holding his hands. They stared into each other's eyes and smiled.
"I'll give you a good ten inches anytime y'want, chere."
Rogue blushed fiercely a very deep shade of red, but smiled and looked up at him with her green eyes flashing under her long eyelashes. "I bet you would."
He rubbed his thumbs along the knuckles on her hands. "Meant what I said. Y'need to be kissed. Often." He stepped towards her again.
She tilted her chin towards him. "Yeah, well, there's this little problem I have…"
Gambit smiled again and wrapped an arm around her small waist, closing the space between them. "Y'don't say?" His mouth was a whisper from hers. "I've been told I'm very creative. A real problem solver." He parted his lips and moved towards hers, feeling her warm breath mingle with his.
A gust of wind and a rumble of thunder broke the spell, and Rogue jumped from his arms as their teammate Storm descended from the sky. Ororo eyed them warily as she landed. She was carrying a small parcel wrapped in brown paper. "Rogue, the supply ship has come ashore. I have brought the garment you requested." Storm looked back and forth between the two mutants. "What is going on here? Why are the two of you drenched?"
Gambit winked at Storm. "Jus' bein' friendly." He raised one of Rogue's hands to his lips and kissed it, staring longingly into her eyes for a heartbeat. "Pleasure, chere?"
"For both of us?"
"Oui."
"Yeah." Rogue took the package from Storm. "Thanks, Ororo." As she walked away, she turned back to Gambit. "Thanks for the loan of the jacket, sugah." She shrugged out of it and handed it back to him.
"Anytime, cherie."
She flashed him a huge smile, her green eyes sparkling mischievously. "Talk to you later, Gambit."
He smiled back. "Count on it, Rogue."
She turned to leave, but called teasingly over her shoulder. "Enjoy the beautiful sights of the island…"
Gambit was damn sure she wiggled her perky little ass as she walked away. He was thankful for the trench coat he held in front of him.
When Rogue was out of earshot, Storm turned to him. "Gambit, you must be careful around Rogue. The slightest contact…"
Gambit raised one of his hands. "S'okay, Stormy. She told me."
Storm looked confused. "I know you well enough to recognize that look in your eyes, but it does not matter. You are simply unable to touch her."
"Stormy, you know how much I love a challenge, especially with a prize like that in the safe."
Storm rolled her eyes and prayed to the goddess Gambit was joking. "If it is still your intention to leave, the ship will be returning to the mainland soon."
"I think I've just been persuaded to stay. If you'll excuse me, Stormy, I've got some sweepin' to do." He whistled as he walked away from the bewildered Storm with a skip in his step.