Chapter 4
Present Time:
The X-men decided not to tip their hand and reveal to Gambit that they knew where he was staying. Instead, once Logan had confirmed Gambit's motorcycle was in the parking lot, they kept a discreet watch and waited for Gambit to make the first move. It was only when Gambit stepped into a local IHOP for breakfast (at two in the afternoon) that Rogue approached.
"Table for one?" inquired the hostess.
"Make that two," Rogue said from behind.
The hostess looked at Rogue, then back at Gambit.
"Two," Gambit confirmed reluctantly.
Neither spoke again until after they sat down at their table. Gambit ran his eyes over Rogue as she sat down and slung her brown leather jacket over the back of her chair. She was wearing brown cowboy boots, tight blue jeans, a brown leather belt, brown gloves and a checked, long-sleeved, blue shirt. The top two buttons of the shirt were undone, and being one of the only things Gambit had seen Rogue wear that wasn't as tight as a second skin, he found it oddly alluring. Not that he minded her preference for skin-tight clothes, not one bit.
"So," said Rogue as she lifted her menu. "Win anything yesterday?"
Gambit smiled, realising she was referring to the horse race.
"Oui, actually," he said, looking at his own menu. "But one out of four could still be a fluke."
"True. Did you put anything down on the two races today?"
"Oui."
They said nothing more until after they'd placed their orders.
"By the way," Gambit said in a lazy drawl. "It didn't work."
"What didn't work?" Rogue asked, inclining her head.
"Your pathetic attempt to make me jealous," Gambit replied, pulling out a single playing card and flipping it through his fingers.
Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Make you jealous? I don't think so."
"It was really very cute the way you tried to pretend to ignore me and flirt with other guys," Gambit said with a smirk. "Especially since you were actually supposed to be keeping an eye on me like a good little X-Man."
"Who says I wasn't?" Rogue asked, frowning at him. "And hey, did it ever occur to you that I wasn't interested in listening to all the pathetic lines you use when you're on the prowl?"
"And yet, the first night we met, you couldn't wait to prevent me from, ahem, going 'on the prowl'," Gambit replied with a smirk.
"Puh-lease, if you were so interested in picking up some poor girl why the hell were you sitting in the corner by yourself?" Rogue retorted hotly.
Gambit smiled wickedly at her, having no intention of conceding the truth.
"Please, chère," Gambit went on loftily, "don't make this any harder than it needs to be. I've had many femmes try to appeal to me through jealously. You're the same as any other woman."
Gambit was rather surprised when, instead of an angry reply, he received a genuine smile from Rogue.
"Why thank you, sugah," she replied. "I do believe that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
Rogue leaned on her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers. She was rather amused by the baffled expression on his face. Gambit was silent for so long, Rogue could practically hear the cogs turning while he tried to figure out what she meant by that.
It wasn't until the waitress arrived with their drinks and he saw Rogue take hers with her gloved hand that Gambit realised where she had been coming from. In his experience, women liked to be told they were special in some form or another. No one liked to be told they were just like everyone else, no matter how true it might be. But Rogue really wasn't just like everyone else; Gambit could well imagine that Rogue had a hard time getting dates with her mutation. Undoubtedly prospective suitors had trouble looking past that. Upon reflection, Gambit decided he shouldn't have been so surprised she'd take "same as any other woman" as a compliment.
While Gambit and Rogue were busy eating, Logan, Jean, Kitty and Kurt were waiting in the X-van. Logan and Jean sat in the front, while Kitty and Kurt were in the back, Kitty with a laptop.
"Marauders are here," said Jean.
"Yeah?" Logan asked, looking around.
"Lady Mastermind, Vertigo and Arclight," Jean reported, then pointed behind them. "Somewhere in that direction."
"Hmm," Logan was trying to look through the back window.
"Allow me," said Kurt.
With a bamf he disappeared from the X-van. Jean followed him telepathically just to make sure Lady Mastemind didn't try any tricks on them. She didn't and Kurt soon returned.
"They're watching Rogue and Gambit inside," Kurt reported. "That's all."
"Well, let's keep a good close eye on them," said Logan.
The wait was boring but finally Gambit and Rogue emerged from the restaurant. No sooner than they were out the door, Lady Mastermind, Vertigo and Arclight approached.
"I'm going in," Jean had her hand on the door.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," said Kitty. "The Professor said—"
"I'm not just going to sit here," Jean said, opening up her door. "Rogue's mind might be hard to read, but Lady Mastermind doesn't need to read it in order to project an illusion."
She was out the door and crossing the street before anyone else could protest. Logan followed her and they got there just in time to hear Arclight say:
"…Sinister will provide you with information on your biological parents."
Gambit paused all so briefly and Rogue's eyes flickered with curiosity towards him.
"What kind of information?" Gambit asked Arclight warily.
"He knows who they are. Apparently your father is even still alive," Arclight replied, smirking.
Gambit hesitated for a moment.
"Okay," he said. "I'll take it under advisement. I'm still in the middle of investigating the X-Men's offer."
"See," Vertigo said scornfully to her teammates. "I told you he wouldn't go for it. Who cares who your biological parents are? Probably losers anyway."
"But just think," said Lady Mastermind, slipping a hand along Gambit's arm. "Knowing who your parents are can provide you with all sorts of interesting information, like family medical history." Leaning towards Gambit, her lips almost touched his ear. "A little bit of tweaking here and there and you wouldn't have to worry about family curses like cancer, heart attack, diabetes," she said, and added slyly, "going bald."
"Ahh," Gambit said with a grin, running his free hand through his hair. "You appeal to my vanity. Tell Sinister I am...intrigued by his offer. I'll let him know when I'm ready to make my decision."
Lady Mastermind glanced over at Jean and Logan.
"We'll be sure to do that," she said. "Oh, and Gambit? Let me remind you that we're not the ones following you around."
Gambit didn't reply as the Marauders sauntered off. He did, however, look back at Jean and Logan.
"Fancy meeting you here," he said dryly.
…...…...
"Okay new plan," Logan said once he was back in the X-van with Jean, Kitty and Kurt. "We're going to go to the Crowne Plaza, find out which room is Gambit's and search it top to bottom until we find the hand."
"What if he's not keeping it in his room?" asked Kitty.
"Then I'll beat it out of him," said Logan.
"I don't know, Logan," said Jean. "We have been provided the means to acquire Emma's hand, ahem, legitimately. Is this really necessary?"
"Jean, he was offered the chance to find out about his birth parents," Kurt said solemnly. "One of whom is apparently still alive. That's not exactly an opportunity you get every day."
Jean sighed. "I know what you're saying, but he didn't seem exactly enthused by the idea."
"Oh he was interested alright," Logan said. "He was doing the cool, calm and collected thing, but he was definitely interested."
"Okay," Jean said, a little reluctantly. "I guess we're doing this then."
"Right, let's go," said Logan, starting up the engine.
"What now?" asked Kitty. "What about Rogue?"
"She's keeping Gambit busy at the billiard hall," Logan replied. "Hell, he just had 'breakfast'. Now's as good a time as any to get into his room."
…...…...
5 Years in the Future:
Logan stopped talking mid-sentence as he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. The members of the resistance he was been meeting with in the alley glanced at him curiously.
"Logan?" inquired Jubilee.
Holding up his hand, he signalled for silence, stalking quietly upwind towards the entrance. He paused. Then in one swift movement Logan extended his claws, stabbing them through the man whose scent he had caught behind the corner.
"Madri," Logan said, glancing back towards the group. "We need to get out of here. He's probably already alerted the others."
No one said a word, but they all quietly followed Logan out of the alley and down to the nearest crossroads where they intended on splitting ways. Logan's nostrils flared in frustration, smelling the Madri everywhere. On the one hand, it was helpful that he knew the scent of every single one of Apocalypse's spies. On the other hand, the fact that all of Apocalypse's spies were duplicates of Jamie Madrox made it very difficult to tell just how many of them were around.
The crossroads were in sight when Logan stopped the group again and urged them deeper into the shadows. Although tempted, they knew better than to distract Logan with questions like "what's going on" when he was like this. Besides, odds were saying anything could alert the attention of whomever it was Logan didn't want them to get the attention of.
Then they heard the flapping of wings, followed by the landing of hooves. Jubilee dared to peek around the doorway towards the crossroads. She caught her breath sharply when her eyes laid on the Horseman of Death barring their way. Jubilee looked back in the direction they came from, the breeze blowing in her face. Logan caught her looking and shook his head. Jubilee got the message: they were trapped.
Logan signalled to the group, gesturing with his one good hand where he wanted them to go for the inevitable fight. His other hand was missing; lost when he had been busy relieving Scott of one of his eyes. Only a metal stump remained.
…...…...
20 Years in the Future:
One minute Professor Xavier was chatting with Magneto over coffee, discussing the completion of his final statue, the next he was standing outside by a wagon. The Professor frowned and looked around; there were a few other wagons and there were all in a square before a large gathering of people. The crowd was strangely quiet and it took the Professor a moment to realise that they were watching a play. Indeed, as he turned his head and looked around the wagon, he could see Forge, Toad and a few others he didn't recognise performing A Midsummer Night's Dream. He nodded to himself, remembering Rogue had said something about Forge running a theatre troupe.
That didn't answer the question of how in the world he got here, however.
He brought down the shields around his mind and listened telepathically to the people around him. It was then that he became aware of the band of Marauders surrounding them, and the unease of the crowd, despite the performance. He could hear the performers saying their lines only moments before they actually said them. The Professor was quite shocked when he came across the mind of one particular performer, a brown-haired man with a white streak, a blue glow in his left eye, and the most incredible telepathic presence he'd sensed since... well, since Jean actually. The Professor pulled back from him, not wanting to disturb his concentration.
A brief glimpse into Forge's mind told the Professor what he needed to know: Magneto had been the one to meet the Professor at the Mansion, and he had been the one to arrange for the Professor and Forge to meet after the performance. Where Magneto was now, Professor Xavier didn't know. Having nothing else to do but wait, the Professor watched the play.
The crowd was quick to disperse once the play ended, the performers quick to start packing up. The Professor hesitated, but waited where he was, and before too long, the performers returned to their wagons and Forge headed towards him.
"Professor," Forge said fondly, while leading him urgently into the wagon. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too, Forge," Professor Xavier replied, dipping his head to step inside the wagon. "I have to admit, I never expected to see you performing Shakespeare."
Forge chuckled. "Hank said the same thing. Coffee?"
"Please."
Forge set about boiling the water and getting the mugs ready in his technologically impressive wagon and the Professor sat down on a nearby lounge.
"Tell me," said the Professor. "What has happened? The last message I sent to the past was telling you of Gambit's whereabouts."
"Rogue kept Gambit busy while Logan, Jean, Kurt and Kitty searched his hotel room," Forge replied, leaning against the bench while he waited for the water to boil. "They couldn't find Emma's hand there, so they went after Gambit directly. Gambit died in the fight, and the Marauders—who had been hanging around—attacked them. Only Logan survived."
Professor Xavier frowned and steepled his fingers.
"I see," he said thoughtfully. "Had Gambit decided to sell it to Sinister after all?"
"As far as I know he hadn't made a decision yet," Forge said. "But Sinister had offered to tell Gambit who his father was, and Logan was pretty convinced that Gambit was going to take him up on that."
Anything more that Forge might have said was interrupted by the white-streaked young man entering the wagon. Forge smiled and gestured towards him.
"Professor, this is my adopted son, Nate Grey. Nate, this is Professor Xavier."
The Professor and Nate looked at each other and the Professor reached out his hand.
"Nice to meet you," he said.
Nate nodded and shook his hand. The water finished boiling and Forge poured the coffee.
"Nate's a telepath and a telekinetic," said Forge. "He grew up in those breeding pens of Sinister's."
"I see," said the Professor, getting what Forge wasn't saying: that Nate was likely the child made from the genetic material Sinister stole from Jean and Scott, prior to the incident with the Phoenix that had led to Emma's shattering.
"The Professor here has just woken up from a twenty year coma," Forge said to Nate as he handed out the coffee mugs. "The world was a lot different back then. The Professor has a way of communicating with the past. We're hoping that if we send back the right information, we can prevent this mess from ever happening."
Nate nodded slowly. "Does that include me?"
The comment made Professor Xavier quiet for a moment. If Forge was right about Nate's parenthood, it was likely that Nate would still come into existence, but what of other children that had been born in the past twenty years? What about Charlie? Since Rogue had died before her time, Charlie wouldn't have been born at all. For that matter, what about Marrow, whom he had met in the Sentinel ruled timeline? He had seen no sign of her in this one.
"Unless you're younger than you look," Forge said glibly, "then it's unlikely your birth will be affected. And that can be another message we pass on to the past; rescuing you from Sinister."
"Indeed," the Professor agreed. "And in the light of this information about Logan's attack on Gambit, I feel it's vital that I get to Cerebro and pass on that message as soon as possible. Since I've woken up in this... Age of Apocalypse, I have seen the timeline change three times now."
"Oh?" Forge asked. "How so?"
"For one thing, in the first two, Rogue was still alive," the Professor said. "What about Bobby?"
"He's alive," Forge said.
"So that too has changed."
"We'll go in the morning," said Forge. "It'll be curfew soon, and trust me, we do not want to be out during curfew."
"Curfew," the Professor said with a frown. "I don't recall Rogue mentioning a curfew here before."
"Maybe that's something else that's changed," Forge replied. "All I know is, this isn't exactly one of the friendliest neighbourhoods around."
"There are worse places," said Nate.
"Not by much."
The Professor hummed and thought that over. The men drank their coffee and talked for awhile before they finally prepared for bed.
…...…...
The troupe departed at first light the next morning, and chose to take the long way out of the city so they could stop by the Mansion. The Professor was feeling a little anxious, there was a limit on just how far back in the past he could send a message and he didn't want to lose the window of opportunity. Especially when it meant the lives of four of his beloved X-Men.
After what felt like a ridiculously long time to Professor Xavier, the wagons finally arrived at the clearing where Rogue usually parked her car. It saddened him to know that she was gone. Hopefully this new information would save not only her, but everyone else as well.
After the wagons stopped, the troupe exited and the Professor got his first good look and introduction to everyone. Theresa "Sonique" Rourke was Nate's red-headed girlfriend. Soaron, a green pterodactyl-like man. Brute, a large, heavyset man with brown fur. Jason "Mastermind" Wyngarde, an older man with the ability to create massive illusions and often did so to hide the troupe from prying eyes.
"Okay," Forge said to the group. "You guys stay here. Nate and I will take the Professor to Cerebro."
"Will do boss," Toad said with a cheeky salute.
Forge, Professor Xavier and Nate departed. As they headed up the trail, Charles inquired what it was like working with Toad when they were once on opposite sides.
"Nothing like a common enemy to get people working together, Professor," Forge replied. "Besides, Toad was hardly the most threatening of the Brotherhood. In fact, I'd say he's much more effective as a, ahem, spy, than he was ever capable of being a soldier."
"You could be right there," the Professor replied.
They finally reached the top of the hill and Forge pulled down the tree branch that hid the computer interface.
"Do you know the password, Professor?" Forge asked.
"No."
"It's 'he has to wake up sometime'," Forge replied glibly. "And it requires a thumb scan like so..."
The Professor watched as Forge pressed his thumb over the scanner.
"And voila! You've already been programmed into the system," Forge finished.
"Thank you," the Professor said.
The doorway appeared. Nate, who had been looking a little bored, abruptly turned in the general direction of the clearing.
"Nate?" the Professor asked, having noticed his inattention.
"Trouble at the camp, Forge," Nate said. "It's Domino."
Forge swore. "Alright, you go with the Professor—"
"Forge, I can help," Nate insisted.
"It's you she wants!" Forge exclaimed. "If you go there—"
"She'll what? Try to kill me?" Nate demanded. "She's already trying to do that, and now everyone else might get killed because of me."
"Nate, please," Forge said earnestly, "you haven't finished your training. Just go with the Professor."
"I think he can make it to Cerebro on his own from here," Nate said, as he backed down the trail. "I have to help them, Forge."
"Nate!" Forge called, but Nate had already disappeared down the trail.
"Go," the Professor said. "Nate is right, I can get to Cerebro from here. You should help your friends."
Forge gave Professor Xavier a nod, and then hurried after Nate. The Professor stepped through the doorway, determined to get to Cerebro as quickly as possible. The entrance shut and disappeared behind him.
…...…...
Domino held her gun to Toad's head.
"Where is he, Toad," she demanded.
"Uhh, where's who?" Toad asked nervously.
"You know who," Domino said, glaring at him. "I know he's here. Caliban tracked him."
Toad glanced over to the oversized hulk that was Caliban.
"Oh yeah?" asked Toad. "Well, huh, if he's so good then why doesn't he find him?"
Domino pressed her gun harder into Toad's head. "Don't push me, Toad."
"Let him go!"
Domino turned her head to see Nate appear in the clearing.
"It's me you want," Nate said, his hands up in the air as he walked towards them.
Domino didn't hesitate. She turned her guns on him and shot. Neither bullet hit the target, instead they slammed into the telekinetic wall Nate created. This didn't deter Domino from shooting more, counting on her good luck powers to see that at least one bullet would hit him.
"Aww come on Dom," said Toad. "Leave him alone."
"Shut it, Toad," Domino replied. "I have a job to do."
"Yeah," Toad said scornfully. "Working for Apocalypse. If he's so great and godlike, why does he need Nate killed? Unless of course, he's not so great and godlike after all."
Domino turned one of her guns on him and fired.