Rogue bit the inside of her cheek while Logan leaned against the door of the war room. He looked livid as he waited for her to make the first move. But Rogue stayed quiet and Logan began to grow more impatient.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" he barked at her. Rogue avoided looking into his eyes. "You almost got yourself killed."

Rogue casted her head down, she said nothing as she took a seat by the desk.

"You got anything to say to me?"

"Like you care."

Logan pounded his fist on the table. The contents on the table rattled, but Rogue remained cool and unfazed.

"I watched you as that Cajun filth thought about letting your guts turn inside out. You don't think I care?!"

Rogue stood up, "Now you know how Ah felt. All those time Logan; yah didn't think that Ah wanted to know where you were?"

Logan rubbed his face "Look kid, I didn't-"

"Ah'm not a kid Logan! Is that what you still see me as? A kid?" she brushed past him to walk away, but Logan grabbed her arm.

"Fine, you're not a kid. But you sure as hell are acting like one."

"Ah'm not."

Logan smirked and for a second the two felt better. It felt like old times, just Logan and Rogue goofing off and joking like nothing had ever happened.

But reality set in and Logan was determined for Rogue not to visit the new injured visitor.

"He's wasn't going to do anything to me." Rogue stated calmly, "He was just scared. Remember when you-"

Logan raised his hand to stop her; he didn't feel like going down his short and dusty memories.

"I don't want you anywhere near him. And not just because of what happened Rogue, but if he is actually friends with Wade Wilson, then he's more trouble than I thought."
Rogue sifted through the memories she absorbed through Logan. She vaguely saw Deadpool in his memories. And those memories were not pretty.

"Maybe Ah can absorb some of his memories? Then maybe we can-?"
"There's no 'we' in this Rogue." Said Logan curtly, he grabbed some files that Hank left for him to look through and started to work on them.

Rogue crossed her arm, annoyed that this was the way their little chat was going to end. "You're gonna hand him off to the MRD, aren't yah?"

Logan never cared to look up, "End of discussion Rogue."

Rogue briskly turned on her heels and started to walk out, but paused when she got to the door.

"Yah know everyone here just accepted yah when you first came here Logan. The Professor could have called the police when he found out what you came here for; he could have sent you off to some other mutant death camp."

Logan didn't look or say anything to her.

"Gambit might be a traitor, but you're a hypocrite." She slammed the door.

Rogue never heard Logan flip the gigantic desk over in rage.

Bobby bit deep down into his apple as he watched Hank and Kitty learn more about Gambit.

"I don't know why you two want to know so much about this guy, he'll be gone before the week's through." He told them, he leaned back against his chair and rested his feet up on a pile of books.

"We're just trying to better understand him." Hank took off his glasses and wiped them down, "Any luck Kitty?"

"No," Kitty pulled out two of the books that were supporting Bobby's feet, causing the young blond to fall back.

"Hey!"

Kitty rolled her eyes and tugged on her braids in annoyance, "I can't find anything on this guy. I've looked through all of the records in every hospital in Louisiana." She turned her swivel chair around to face Hank. "Nothing. It's like this guy was born from thin air."

Hank looked through all of the data she pulled up from the computer, "Have you tried other state hospitals?"

Kitty nodded, "I've tried Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Nada."

The idea of an out-from-nowhere mutant suddenly interested Bobby. "Weird. Maybe he wasn't born in the south?"

Hank rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe. Could be that he wasn't born in the US at all." He sighed, "Keep looking through other state's record. There could be something." He told Kitty.

"Any luck with you, Beast?"

Hank looked through the slides of Gambit's blood.

"Actually, yes." He pulled up a scan of Gambit's DNA. Bobby and Kitty surrounded his desk as they took in the scan compared to a normal human and mutant DNA scan.

"It's..it's…" Bobby fumbled for a word to use.

"It's been clearly been fussed with." Hank declared as he examined Gambit's blood samples. He pulled out a folder full of colorful pictures of Gambit's operation.

"Ew. What is this?" Kitty squealed while trying to avoid looking at a picture of Gambit's brain.

"Dude…those sutures are seriously messed up." Bobby leafed through of pictures of Gambit's skull. "The guy is like a mutant Franken Stein or something."

Hank agreed solemnly, "Who ever has been conducting surgery on Gambit has done a number on him."

"Why would anyone want to get brain surgery? Did he actually need it?"

The three jumped at the sound of Scott's voice. The former X-men leader looked disgusted at the pictures and scans.

"No, he didn't need it. His reasons were about control." Henry picked up a scan of Gambit's frontal and parietal lobe.

"The frontal and parietal control most mutant's powers, and as you see here Gambit has had a lot of surgeries done on those two lobes, along with minor operations on his occipital lobe. What ever his power level is now is probably more than ten times weaker than his original power level." Scott snatched the picture from the doctor's hand, something caught his attention.

"Kitty, Bobby. Leave, now."

"Hey, we're helping here." Kitty snapped, pointing to her lap top and books as evidence.

"Now!"

Bobby and Kitty begrudgingly left, "If you need us Beast, you know where to find us." Scott didn't even wait for them to turn around; he shut the door right in their faces.

Hank crossed his arms, "Well, dare I say you seem more jovial than usual." He commented sarcastically looking crossed at Scott.

"Do you remember when Sinister kidnapped Jean and me?" Scott asked him. The question brought back the nightmare of a memory for the furry blue doctor. For about two weeks the X-men were looking for Jean and Scott non stop after the two were kidnapped from the park. Sinister had wanted them so he could create the "perfect" mutant off-spring. Unfortunately for Sinister, the X-men were able to find them.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

Scott picked up an x-ray of Gambit's skull. He studied it for while, trying to figure out if his hypothesis could be plausible. "I don't remember everything that happened during those two weeks. But I remember getting a glimpse of x-rays that Sinister was showing me."

He looked at Hank, who looked bewildered but slowly Hank was catching on. "You don't think-?" Fear ran through Hank's mind at Scott's conclusion.

Scott cocked his head and sighed, "Stranger things have happened."

Kurt eyed the damage done to the war room through the web cam. He was in Genosha helping to rebuild when Wanda told him that Storm and Emma were calling for him.

"Is everything alright?" Kurt asked worriedly. From what he could see neither Ororo nor Emma looked as if they were in a fight.

"Depends on how you look at it." Emma smiled, fully enjoying the fight between Logan and Rogue.

Kurt looked at Emma bitterly, he didn't like the telepath nor did he trust her. There was something so off putting about her.

"Ororo?"

The white haired weather witch picked up a part of a chair that had been sliced off, "Logan and Rogue are having problems of the late."

"What about?" Kurt couldn't recall those two ever fighting this badly before.

"Mostly about Logan abandoning Rogue. Along with trust issues on both sides." Emma informed him.

"It's also about Gambit."

Kurt suddenly turned angry, "Have you found him yet?"

"Actually we have him. He came here last night in very bad shape."

Kurt sniffed, his blue tail waving eagerly behind him. "Serves him right. Is Logan sending him here or to the MRD?"

Kurt and Emma missed Ororo cringe at the thought of Gambit being sent away.

"Logan hasn't decided yet. I could look into head if it weren't for a certain somebody." Emma turned her head and looked at Ororo, giving her a very haughty look.

Kurt caught on quickly, "He almost killed everyone here. We could know more about what his agendas really were."

Ororo bit her lip, how could she explain to them?

"The Professor wouldn't approve of us looking into someone's mind without permission, especially if that person came here in need of help."
"He's a traitor Storm! How dare you stick up for him?" Kurt shouted over the web cam. His eerie yellow eyes began to glow brighter through his dark blue bangs.

"He was also shot twice in his side, suffered a broken leg, nose, arm, a concussion, second degree burns, and a number of stitches." Ororo replied angrily. Emma could hear the sounds of lighting and thunder as Ororo's eyes began to turn white.

Kurt casted his head down, the two women barely heard Kurt mumble "He deserved more."

"Why do you care so much for him?" Emma asked casually. Before Ororo could answer Emma stopped her, "And please, do not think I believe 'it's what the professor would have want' junk."

Ororo mulled over the possible answers, and for a second she thought of telling the truth. But now wasn't the time for that story.

"Gambit came here for our help. And that is what he is going to get."

She stared down at Emma, daring her to talk back.

"Is that understood?"

Kurt blanched, he could hear lightning strike the mansion from Genosha.

Emma gave a ghost of a smile. "Crystal, darling."

Later…

Rogue was sure she locked the garage after she came back from store. But sure enough the garage door was wide open; she peeked in and found a dark haired man in a dark grey trench kneeling down by Logan's bike.

She thought it was Scott.

"Yah know how Logan feels about it his bike, Slim." She joked. 'Scott' got up and faced her.

It was Gambit.

"What are you doing here?" she growled at him. She spotted a lock pick in his right hand.

Gambit didn't care much about being caught in the act. He leaned slowly back down and continued to pick the lock on Logan's bike.

"Somewhere out dere someone has got Wade. And your petit amis aren'thelping." Gambit sneered. The lock came off a second later, Gambit grinned smugly as he hotwired the ignition to start and mounted the bike.

Rogue put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You almost got yourself killed out there. Can yah at least wait till Logan gets some information about your friend?"

Gambit shrugged, "Sure."

Rogue arched her eyebrow in confusion. She thought it would take a lot more to persuade him.

"Is your boyfriend gonna give me de info before or after he sends me off t'de MRD?" Gambit asked bitterly, his eyes were glowing dully and his mouth was set in a hard straight line.

Rogue stepped away from him in shame. He knew about Logan's plans for him. "Ah don't blame you for wanting to find your friend or for running away." She looked at him pleadingly. "But you can't go out there when you're being hunted down like an animal."

Gambit snapped, "We're mutants cher, don't matter what powers you got or how you use them. We're different, somebody is always gonna be hatin' us or huntin' us." He revved up the engine. "Get used to it."

He was ready to leave when Rogue warned him, "You move a foot away and Ah swear Ah'll yell out for Logan."

Gambit turned off the engine; he slowly got up and leaned against the bike with his arms crossed. "Now why would you do dat, cher?" Gambit asked her. His voice was as smooth as silk, it made Rogue's shiver with excitement.

He stood up and got closer to her. She craned her head up to look at him since he was a good half a foot taller than her. She watched his eyes pulsate, to her surprise she could feel her heart go into the same rhythm.

He gingerly slid his good arm around her waist, "Tell you what. Why don't you come wid me if you're so worried about moi?" His accent made her skin cover in goose pimples.

She could feel his hand on the small of her back. Her tongue felt as heavy as her eye lids; she barely recognized her voice when she responded.
"Okay. Ah'll help you."

Gambit smiled, showing off his dazzlingly white teeth. Even with all the bruises and stitches, Rogue thought he looked beautiful.

"And your boyfriend won't mind, cher?" he asked her, gently cupping her cheek with a gloved hand. He smile grew wider when she leaned into his hand.

"He's not mah boyfriend." Rogue could feel her heart skip a beat when she saw the spark in his eyes flicker.

"Bon."

Ororo was a bit scared as she brought a tray of food for lunch to Gambit's room. There was a good chance that he didn't remember her or maybe he was waiting until the moment was right to bring up their past.

When she got to his room she gently knocked on door. But no answer came to her.

'He's probably asleep.' She thought silently as she opened the door.

The lights in the room were still on, the monitors were off, the window was locked tight, the bed sheets were wrinkled, and the bed itself was empty.

All that was left was a single playing card.

The ace of spades.

"Goddess." Ororo let the tray of food slip from her hands. She dropped to the ground in distress. Her brother was gone.

Bobby dropped the spoonful of cereal in disgust, "Dude, what we say about the uniform?" Bobby groaned, trying his best to shield himself from looking at Scott.

They (Bobby, Kitty, and Emma) were eating lunch in the kitchen when a very pissed off looking Scott walked in.

Emma craned her neck to get a better look of Scott's backside. She wasn't even trying to act discreet.

"I must say his assets are really amazing."

Kitty and Bobby's face both cringed simultaneously. "Ew."

Scott rolled his eyes at their behavior, "I went into my room to find my jacket missing." He looked at Bobby. "You know anything about that?"

Bobby looked somewhat offended and amused, "Why would I want something from the rejected noir season?" he joked with Scott, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Well maybe Logan took it?" Kitty suggested.

Scott thought about that before approaching Bobby, but Logan didn't seem like a likely suspect "Why would he steal my coat?"

Kitty shrugged nonchalantly, she took a few sips of her can of soda, "I don't know, you can ask him when he comes back."

Emma scanned the grounds of the mansion, "He's still on the grounds."

"No way, I just heard his bike pull out five minutes ago."

Bobby grinned as he watched the others try to figure out what was going on. "Let's see. A trench coat is missing along with a motorcycle." He ticked off the two things on his hand. "Now who do we know like those sort of things?"

"Gambit!?"

Bobby laughed while the three ran fast to Logan. He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled "Bingo!"

Downstairs in Forge's lab Logan, Hank, and Forge were going through files, videos, and disks from the Weapon X project. The last time Logan had seen any of his former teammates was when they kidnapped him and the Hulk.

"Are you sure that Deadpool is not with them anymore?" Hank asked as he leafed through files belonging to Deadpool. Each piece of paper described the crazed assassin and the things he had done in the past. Hank shuddered at the thought of meeting him in person.

"Positive, he walked away from it all." Logan explained, looking through some grainy videos of his fight with Deadpool and Sabretooth at the Weapon X facility. "Maybe old Cornelius misses his pet project."

"But that doesn't explain how Gambit is involved in all this." Said Forge, "I mean beside the fact that both Deadpool and Gambit have insane jobs and have been cut open more times than a cow, what other link is there? How would those two even meet?"

Hank nodded in agreement, "Not to mention why Cornelius, if that is in fact who kidnapped Deadpool, would want Gambit?"

Logan fell back into a chair and sighed. He couldn't figure it out. Unless Deadpool and Gambit met up on a project or if Gambit was hired by Cornelius's crew…

There were so many possibilities in how these two could be connected. But did any of them make any sense.

"Logan!" Ororo ran into the lab out of breath. Tears threaten to fall from her shiny blue eyes, "He's gone."

The three men stopped what they were doing, "What?" Logan barked at her "How did leave?" Hank carefully led Ororo to a chair.

"I-I don't know. I went to his room to give him his lunch and he wasn't there."
Just then Scott and the others came in.

Forge bit his tongue from laughing at Scott's uniform, Logan only groaned in disgust "Slim, didn't we warn you about the suit?"

Scott let out a soft growl before he spoke, "That's why we're here. Gambit stole my coat." Logan grinned in amusement ", along with your bike."

The grin turned south.

Hank scratched his head in confusion, "Now how does one drive a motorcycle with a broken arm and leg?
Logan sniffed the air and let out a snarl, "Where's Rogue?"

No one answered. They all watched as Logan snatched his coat from the back of his chair and leave.

"Ororo, cover for me!"

Rogue kicked the tall lamp post angrily. "You slimly little git! How dare you?!" she shrieked at Gambit.

Being yelled at by a woman in front of a gas station while others watched in curiosity didn't faze Gambit at all. In fact he enjoyed this sort of attention.

After a three hour ride to Albany, Gambit's spell over Rogue had worn away. Leaving him to face a very angry southern belle.

"Now cher, you offered to drive. How could I turn down such a sweet gesture?" his smirk only made her madder.

"Ah didn't offer you anything!" she could feel the anger rising at his calm demeanor and the stares that the gas station patrons were giving them. She lowered her voice "Yah basically kidnapped me. Not to mention stole Scott's jacket and Logan's bike!"

Gambit looked offended, "You gotta admit cher, de jacket looks a helluva lot better on me den it did on dat homme." Her facial expression didn't falter a bit. Gambit gave up on being funny and sighed "You think I could kidnap you like dis?" he asked her showing off his injuries. Rogue started to notice he could move his leg and arm better, and that the bruises and burns on his face and neck were clearing up.

"Not only are yah a traitor, but you're a liar." She seethed "How long have you been faking your injuries?"

Gambit's mood shifted, he was impressed that she figured it out. "My healing power works real slowly. Y'little blue doctor helped it go along faster when he patched me up."

"Ah'm calling cops."

Gambit watched her walk away. "And what you gonna tell 'em chere? Dey never gonna believe dat a mutant like you would be kidnapped."

Rogue turned around slowly. "What?"

He cocked his chin at her clothes, "You could have absorbed me back dere."

Rogue's jaw went slack and her brows went up high, "Ah never told you about my powers."

He chuckled and took off his leg brace as he leaned against a pillar for support, he bended his knee to see if his leg was fully healed. He did the same with his arm "You didn't have t'tell me. You're covered up head to toe. Eit'er you got some major body issues or you can't control your powers."

"How did you know Ah could absorb people? Some mutants were special clothing to control their powers."
Gambit smiled, the stitches around his cheek and mouth were beginning to become undone and were starting heal on their own. "When ever you got close to your friends dey would flinch. Like dey were scared of you or something."

Now it was Rogue turn to be impressed. "My, aren't you observant."
Gambit smirked as he put away the pump back into the holder. "Part of de requirements of being a thief, chere." He put his index finger to his lips, "Don't tell nobody t'ough. Old secret." He winked.

Rogue shuddered, either his charms were still working on her or she was beginning to grow fond for the Cajun.

"Fine, Ah'll just call Logan then."

Gambit quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. She struggled against him, "Let go!"

He spun them counter clock wise so that she know could see the station above his shoulders, "I may have healing powers, but dat isn't going t'help me."

"See if Ah care." She hissed at him.

He wouldn't let her move an inch.

"Chere, be reasonable. You wouldn't want me being cooped up in some prison now?"

Rogue sucked in her cheeks, the thought of him rotting in a prison cell was bringing anything but guilt to her at the moment.

"For kidnapping? Sure. Why not?" she snapped sarcastically. Gambit gave a strong tug on her arm when she tried to walk away.

He cornered her; his whole body was pressed up against hers. "Dere are two ways dis could go." He whispered in her ear with his arms around her waist. To anyone walking by them it looked like a romantic gesture.

"I could charm y' again and dis could all be over wid. Or you could take off your glove and do what ever it is you're supposed to do." His lips brushed her ear making Rogue weak in the knees. "Gotta tell you t'ough, I wouldn't mind your hands on me."

Rogue's face twisted in disgust.

"Perv." She sneered.

Gambit didn't even care to respond. He just continued her options for leaving him. "Although if you decide to do dat, de woman behind me wid de blue sedan would pull out her phone to report an attack by a mutant. So would the two guys in the truck and the attendant."

Rogue peeked over his shoulder and sure enough the woman and two men were watching them with somewhat interest. Along with the attendant from behind the little bullet-proof window, who looked like she wasn't trying to watch them.

Rogue sighed and got on the bike. "Ah hate you."

Gambit looked hurt. He dramatically clutched his chest and pouted "Aw, chere. Dat really hurts."

"Doubt it." She started the bike's engine. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Tahlia's Lovely Tea Shop." Said Gambit, he adjusted the lapels of the jacket a bit uncomfortably. He could feel Rogue give him a strange look.

"It was Deadpool's favorite place." He explained defensively to a giggling Rogue.

"Ah'm sorry. But how could a guy with the code name "Deadpool" like going to a tea shop?" Rogue could barely contain her laughter.

"Wade is…he's a tres etrange homme." Gambit shook his head, not caring to explain any more as he got behind Rogue on the bike.

Rogue stiffened as she felt his arms go around her waist again. He was so close to her this time, too close for comfort. His chin was mere inches away from her shoulder. "Can yah leave someroom, Swamprat?"

His laugh made her stomach churn, "'Swamprat', eh?" Rogue could have sworn she felt his lips on her neck for a quick second. "We gotta work more on dose pet names, mon cher."

About two hours later the two were standing in front of small quaint lavender painted building on a not so busy street. The flowers around the shop were huge, sunflowers as high as the door ran along side the building while a mixture of roses, lilies, and lavenders covered the front of the shop. Painted in front of the window in pretty blue/grey cursive was "Tahlia's Lovely Tea Shop."

It was late; the parking lot had only a few cars. Rogue looked around the lot and noticed that large chunks of asphalt were either missing or destroyed.

"Guessing this is where they took your friend." Rogue commented kneeling down to examine a gate that separated the parking lot from the side walk on the other side. The gate was sliced to oblivion and a part of the gate was missing. The other part looked ripped off .She looked up at Gambit who was running his hand against the sliced metal.

Deadpool loved swords.

He took a close look at the metal and noticed that it had some dried blood on it. "He was here alright."

Rogue noticed it too, along with the dark stains on some of the asphalt. "Yah don't think he was killed?"

Gambit massaged the back of his neck, thinking what could have happened.

"Gambit?"

He snapped out of it. "I-No, who ever took him couldn't have killed him. He can't be killed any way. That's one of his powers."

It happened all too fast one minute Rogue was talking to Gambit about what to do, the next Gambit was being pinned to the gate by none other than Logan.

The feral mutant was able to track the two on Rogue's bike and attack Gambit from behind. He was ready to kill him when the two had stopped for gas, but he wanted to know how and why Rogue was with him.

"Logan, NO!" Rogue yelled. Logan had Gambit a foot off the ground, his metal claws a speck away from Gambit's neck. All he needed was just one little swipe to end the Cajun's miserable little life.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't gut you like yesterday's fish." Logan threatened him.

Gambit was trying his best not to laugh. This scene was all too familiar to him. He wondered why Logan couldn't remember the first time they met. "Come on Howlett, you don't want to kill me. You owe me, remember?"

Logan's hold on him tightened, "What did you call me?" His claws nicked the Cajun on the neck; the exact same spot were the burn mark was healing. Gambit groaned in pain as the blood flowed from the blistering skin.

Rogue peeled off both her gloves and rested them closely against Logan's forearm. "Let him go, Logan. Now!" she warned him, her voice was strong and clear.

Logan didn't let go, he just stared at her. "You wouldn't."

Rogue shrugged, "You got two choices. Let him go or you'll be passed out before you even blink."
Logan dropped Gambit without a warning and retracted his claws. He had to give some credit to Rogue. The girl knew how to make a deal.

She held her head high as he pulled her over away from the Cajun. "Does anything I say ever make it through that thick skull of yours?"

Rogue snorted, slipping on her gloves, "Could say the same to you."

Logan wrinkled his brow in anger; his heavy hairy arms were crossed over his chest as he waited for Rogue to recognize the seriousness of the situation.

"He just wants to find Deadpool. Shouldn't we care that someone is trying to kidnap mutants?"

"Wade isn't a mutant, he's a messed up science project created by Weapon X." He unsheathed his claws again, "Same people who did this." He was satisfied to see the fear and worry in her face. "You sure you want to find these nut jobs?"

Rogue looked between Logan and Gambit. Logan didn't know for sure if the same people who ran Weapon X were behind Deadpool's disappearance. "We can at least try to help him."

Logan sighed into his hands and ran his fingers through his hair, "What am I gonna do with you?"

Before Rogue could respond with a joke Gambit butted in. The cut on his neck was slowly starting to heal. "So de blade family behind dis?"

"What?"
Gambit made a slashing gesture, "Blade family. Creed, Yuriko, Omega…dey all in dis you t'ink?"

"Maybe. Not sure yet."

Gambit sucked in his cheek and staggered as he stood up. "Look, I got a missing friend to look for." He shifted his eyes over to Rogue "See you oiseaux d'amour later." (1) The bitterness in his tone was obvious. Rogue could feel her heart give a little tug as Gambit started to walk away from her.

"Logan." She silently pleaded.

Logan gave up, "Fine. We'll help." He pointed at her, "If he puts you in any sort of danger I get to have his head on a platter."
Rogue cringed at the bloody thought, but relented to the deal anyway. As soon as Logan gave the go ahead she caught up with Gambit.

Logan turned to face the scene of the crime and sniffed the air around him. He could barely smell the scent of dried blood, but that was all. He picked up a piece of the gate from the ground.

"Bub, what have you gotten yourself into?"

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Wow. Thanks for the reviews :-) Hope you all like this chapter just as well.

Some spoilers from Hulk vs. Wolverine and WATX

(1) Love birds.