The mutant hero team known as the X-Men were scattered on the ground of a large prison cell. Each of them had a bulky power neutralizing collar around their neck. Slowly the mutant known as Cyclops began to stir, he sat up and looked to his fellow teammates who were also waking up. He did a mental head count and listed off his fellow X-men; Jean, Wolverine, Arc Angel, Iceman, Beast, Psyloche, Rogue, and Storm. Good they were all here, wherever here was.

"Is everyone alright?" Scott asked as he climbed to his feet. He put his hand out for his wife and pulled her up.

"Define 'alright', bub." Logan growled out as he inspected the strange casings that sat on his knuckles preventing him from extending his metal claws.

Bobby groaned and rubbed his stiff neck, "Oh man! What happened?"

"Your pathetic team attempted to destroy my research. Attempted and failed." A dark voice answered from a doorway. A pair of glowing red eyes was the first thing the X-Men saw as the stranger stepped out of the shadows. "You were easily over taken and now you are in my custody." Mr. Sinister, also known as Dr. Nathaniel Essex, crossed the large laboratory to his computer.

"Sinister!" Warren hissed out at the scientist.

"Yes indeed, Mr. Worthington. A pleasure you see you as well." His attention focused on the computer screen in front of him. After a few moments he tapped a final key and looked at the vigilante group once more. "As annoying as your laughable attack was it did present an interesting opportunity for me. With you all here now I am able to kill two birds with one stone."

"What the hell do you mean by that, Dr. Frankenstein?" Logan asked gruffly, not in any mood to play some sick mind game.

"Instead of halting my genetic research you are now aiding me by being a fine group of samples and test subjects." Sinister said as he skimmed a few papers.

"And the other part?" Hank McCoy asked as his eyes warily searched the medical tools laid around the lab.

Mr. Sinister looked to the X-Men, satisfied that he had their undivided attention and put down his paper work. He grinned evilly, "The second part is really more for fun." Jean clung to Scott and shuddered. "Really, I should be thanking you, X-Men. You had recently returned a most invaluable tool to me. Without you I would not have been reunited with such a treasure."

"What are you talking about?" Rogue asked, tired of Sinister's cryptic message.

"See for yourself, X-Man." Essex turned his eyes to the same doorway he entered from. As it opened many of the prisoners gasped. Stepping into the lab was a person they never thought they would see again.

"What the hell?" Yelled Logan as he jumped against the bars.

"Traitor!" Warren screamed.

"How-" Rogue asked but was cut off my Bobby's yell of anger. All other cries were drowned out by Dr. Essex's cold humorless laugh.

"Brother," Storm whispered as she sank to the floor of the cage, her own legs unable to support her, "how could you?"

Remy LeBeau stood eerily still- his face emotionless as he looked to Sinister across the room. In over six months no one had heard from him, he had been assumed dead after his team escaped Antarctica without him. He was dressed in an all black uniform, a gun on his thigh and a large knife strapped to his side.

"LeBeau, come here." Sinister ordered the mutant. Quietly he walked to Essex, his attention completely focused on the scientist. He stopped in front of the man, ignoring the people in the cage. "Don't be rude, Gambit," Sinister said with a dark smile, "Say hello to your old teammates."

Gambit slowly turned his body to the X-Men. "Hello." came the monotone greeting. His eyes looked at the mutants in the cage but no true recognition could be seen in his red on black eyes. Jean and Psyclocke exchanged a glance and turned their attention back to their past member.

"Murderer! It figures you would crawl back to this sick madman!" Warren yelled at the thief.

"Remy? Sugar, look at me." Rogue called to her past lover, trying to get his attention.

"Don't talk to him Rogue!" Bobby snapped at her.

"Shut up!" Logan stared intently at Remy. "Look at him."

"What?" Barked Warren.

"That's not the Gambit we know." Jean whispered.

"What?" Scott asked and also studied the young man standing next to the scientist. The X-Men looked Remy LeBeau up and down, trying to figure out what would make Jean say that. His hair was slightly shorter and he was a little thinner, but other than that he looked the same.

Betsy nodded slowly, "Something is wrong with him." Her eyes locked on his dull red and black eyes.

"Something wrong?" Essex feigned surprise and concern. "Tell me, LeBeau, are you unwell?"

"No, sir." Remy stated, his attention back on the scientist, his profile facing the cage.

"He says he is fine, but perhaps we should check? Better safe than sorry, right?" Sinister grinned at his own joke. "LeBeau take out your knife." In a swift fluid movement Remy had his blade out, presented to the man in front of him. "Good. Now place the blade on your jugular."

His former teammates were stunned as he pressed the sharp point to his neck. "No!" Cried Storm, her plea fell on deaf ears as Remy only focused on Essex.

"Tell me LeBeau, would you slice your own throat if I asked you to?"

"Yes sir." There was no irony or dishonesty in his voice. Remy LeBeau was truly ready to drag the blade from one ear to another if Dr. Nathaniel Essex gave the word.

"How about if I asked you plunge that blade into your heart?" Remy raised the blade above his chest ready to enter a new sheath.

"Yes sir." No emotion could be detected in his once smooth Cajun drawl.

"What if I asked you to plunge the knife into Storm's heart, would you do that?" Silence thundered in the X-Men's ears as Gambit slowly turned his eyes to the woman he called sister. She shook her head, tears streaming down her face for the man she loved as her own family. As his eyes locked on her, Ororo was mentally begging that he would say 'no'. Not for her sake, but for his.

"Yes sir." Sinister laughed as the X-Men tried to recover from their disbelief.

"No, Gambit seems to be in perfect working condition."

"What did you do to him, you monster!" Rogue cried out.

"I saved his life! Isn't that right LeBeau?" Sinister looked at his young companion.

"Yes, that is right." Remy said- his eyes still locked on Storm, knife still tight in his grip.

"You may put your blade away." Gambit slid the knife into its holster and turned his eyes to Sinister once more. "As I said before, you returned a priceless item to me, and for that I offer my thanks. If you hadn't abandoned Remy in Antarctica I may have never had the chance to perfect my work with him."

"Abandoned?" Scott whispered.

"Yes, LeBeau tell them how you were left to die."

Remy turned to the cage and spoke, "After my condemning trial the base started to collapse, Rogue picked me up and flew me to safety, then dropped me in the snow and recanted her love for me. Then she flew away." For such a devastatingly sad memory, Remy spoke with no emotion, almost as if he was repeating a list.

"You what?" Storm gasped at Rogue, her team's eyes went to her for confirmation.

"I tried to fight it," whispered Rogue as she sobbed, "But his guilt and self loathing was so strong, when I touched him I absorbed that too. I dropped him and," she sobbed again, tears escaping her green eyes, the eyes that Remy didn't focus on as he looked past her, "It was overwhelming the guilt from his part in the morlock massacre. Remy! I am so sorry, Remy."

Essex chuckled, "Thanks to you Rogue I was able to pick up LeBeau from his impending doom and bring him back into my servitude. Of course, he wasn't too happy with that, were you Gambit?"

"No sir."

"Even on death's doorstep he still fought." Sinister 'tisk'ed at the young man as he gripped the back of his neck. "Quite futile, wasn't it?"

"Yes sir, it was." Remy didn't respond to the hold on his neck, he just kept his eyes forward.

"How long did you last in the cold fallen city before I came for you?"

"About five days."

"How did you survive such extreme cold? And no food?"

"I charged my clothing for warmth and ate anything I could find in the city-most of it is not considered food."

"At least you had plenty of water, right?" Sinister smirked at his own joke.

"Yes sir, plenty of water." Essex turned his attention back to the cage.

"Due to his constant use of his mutant power Gambit was extremely weak, he would not have lasted much longer. After I picked up my pet thief here I was able to work on reprogramming him." Sinister ran his sharp nails through Remy's hair, brushing his long auburn bangs from his eyes.

Beast felt sick, he could have stopped the young man's suffering and torture if he had just spoken against the decision to leave the arctic wasteland without looking for their teammate. He was a man of science, educated and well studied. As his doctor he should have spoken up for his patient's well being.

"What do you mean, reprogramming?" Bobby chocked out, his anger was gone and in its place a sick fearful awe overtook him.

"Exactly what it sounds like. I suppose we would need to start at the beginning of our involvement together." Essex grinned and walked back and forth in front of his prisoners as he began the story. "When Remy LeBeau was still a young man his mutant powers were beginning to flourish past the point of his control. I approached him after he had accidentally demolished a theater. In exchange for reducing his powers I asked for him to work for me until his dept was paid. Even though Remy's conscience was heavy with lives of the people he killed he knew that I was an evil man and denied me. But not for too long, right Gambit? Tell them the state you were in when you finally agreed to my terms."

"My mutant abilities had advanced to the point where I was unable to touch almost any object without charging it. I could sense an objects movement up to a mile away and was unable to calm my mind and body enough for sleep. The power was so strong my joints and muscles ached and nothing could relieve it. On the third day Dr. Essex came to me and presented me once more with his bargain."

"He was held up in a cheap motel, almost naked, burning hot, and unable to eat or drink. If he opened his eyes anything in his line of sight began to charge. That is when this stubborn young man finally agreed to come with me." Essex grinned like a cat playing with his dinner.

"Oh Gambit." Scott sighed in sympathy, he too knew what it was like to be scared of your own body, why hadn't he ever shared his experience with the younger mutant.

"As I was conducting the surgery to reduce his powers a though had occurred to me. Yes, Gambit had a great reputation for holding up his end of a deal, but he seemed to kind hearted to do most of the work I would require of him. So while he was unconscious I installed a small microchip into his brain. This microchip sent out strong signals to Remy's mind making it almost impossible for him to resist my command." Sinister started to run this fingers through Remy's red hair again. "It was working so well too, until his mission to purge the genetically impure filth that inhabited the underground. As soon as the killing began he fought against the impulses sent to his brain-therefore shorting out the microchip." Sinister grabbed a fistful of Remy's hair pulling hard. Still Gambit's face was emotionless even through his discomfort.

"Furthermore, Creed acted against my wishes to apprehend him and attempted to kill him instead. Luckily, LeBeau escaped and I am sure you know the rest. Since he had joined your team I was unable to quietly take him back and repair him, until now that is." Sinister grinned and stepped away from Remy.

"He wanted nothing to do with you or the massacre?" Warren chocked out, his past assumptions about the thief were gone, only his own self resentment remained.

"That is correct. He felt guilt because he remembered his involvement with the Marauders, but he acted irrationally even in his own mind. Until I told him of the chip he thought he had gone crazy during his stay with me." Sinister chuckled evilly at the stunned faces of his enemies. He walked the length of the holding cell once more and smiled. "So again I say, thank you. Thank you X-Men for the gift. LeBeau- stay here. Do not interact with the prisoners and if they try to escape, kill them. Understood?" Sinister ordered his slave as he left the laboratory.

"Yes Master."