Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel comics and the directors and producers of the X-men movies. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no money from this.

Devil Among Gods

Magneto was angry about something. Pyro looked up from his dinner (baked beans again, they were one of the few things he could cook) as the floor shuddered and shook. Toad, more adapted to such conditions, huddled in his jacket and continued scooping ice-cream out of the tub with his long tongue.

'What's going on?' Pyro asked.

Toad shrugged. 'Whatever it is, it's got him pretty angry.'

'Are we gonna get to fight then?'

Another shrug 'Maybe.'

What the hell was going on? A door slammed above him and then Magneto came sweeping down the stairs, closely followed by Mystique. Pyro grabbed his lighter and followed them, stopping only when Magneto turned to face him just in front of the door.

'Where are you going?' Pyro asked desperately.

'We need to clarify some details with our friends in the government.' Magneto sounded merely impatient, but Pyro could see that inwardly he was fuming.

'Can't I come?' He pleaded as Mystique turned into a smart blond business woman beside him.

'Don't worry Pyro.' Magneto waved his hand at a nearby car, which unlocked itself. 'Your time will come. If the rumour is true maybe sooner than expected.'

'What rumour, what's happening?' The last two words were shouted into the retreating car dust as the two of them drove off.

He wondered back into the house disconsolately. Toad looked up again as he entered and grinned, 'Got left behind fire-boy?'

He moodily kicked at the door-frame. 'Doesn't this house have a T.V or anything?'

'Nope. There's always workout in the basement.'

'That's pointless.' He flicked the lighter and pulled out a thread of fire. It was pointless. With the lighter he was unbeatable, without it, useless.

'Suit yourself.' Toad ambled back into the kitchen. 'We're running out of ice-cream.'

Pyro flopped down on the sofa. It wasn't that he was regretting his choice, hell no. He'd rather be here than stuck back in the Mansion learning physics. It was just…well, he'd expected the life of an evil mutant rebel to be slightly more exciting. More fighting, more secret undercover missions and less sitting around in a house that resembled a dump, waiting for Magneto to reveal what was going on.

'Whose house is this anyway?' He yelled into the kitchen.

'Dunno. Some friend of Magneto's.'

Well, that was a lot of help. He thought briefly about going down to the basement and chucking some fire around just for the heck of it before remembering that Sabretooth was there.

He sighed and poked some of the beans around moodily with a fork. They were cold. He pulled out his lighter and shot flames at them until they caught fire, leaving a black encrusted mark on the plate. That made him feel better. Slightly.

Toad reappeared, carrying another tub. Pyro was suddenly struck by an idea. 'Do you reckon we could go up to where the computer was and see what Magneto found out?'

The other man looked worried. 'Could be a bit dangerous. If he finds out…'

'He won't be back for ages.'

Toad pulled a face 'So far as you know.'

'It'd be more interesting than just sitting around waiting for him to come back.

Boredom won over eventually and the two of them crept up the stairs, still bickering.'

'What if Sabretooth gets fed up of working out and decided to find out where we are?'

'What'll he do?'

'He'll pull your head off, that's what. Mine too maybe.'

'It won't take long. All we've got to do is look at the … um history bar or something. Glance through the files'

'Mystique protects her work better than that!'

Pyro switched the computer on, while Toad stared worriedly at the screen. 'You're gonna get me into trouble.'

'Right. Now, what's going on?'

Toads hands flickered over the keyboard and mouse. Clicking, frowning, pulling up windows and closing them before Pyro even had a chance to see what they were. Toad seemed to know what he was doing though, so Pyro was content to wait.

He stared out of the small attic window. All he could see was a small patch of road that ran along the back of the house. There were more houses beyond it, and in on of the gardens he could just make out a woman hanging some washing out to dry.

'FDA?' Toad said, and Pyro turned back to the computer which was showing complicated lines of text and numbers.

'What?' he asked.

'They're trying to hack into the records of the FDA.' Toad scrolled down the page. 'Think they managed it too.'

'And what...' Pyro started but jumped as a noise came from downstairs.

Toad went pale. It had been the unmistakable sound of the front door slamming.

'Sabretooth?' Pyro whispered. He didn't dare to move.

Toad shook his head 'Can't hear the footsteps.'

They froze for a moment, then Toad started desperately shutting down the windows on the screen, shoving Pyro towards the door as he did so. 'Don't let him come up here! Say Sabre's locked in the basement or something, but don't let him come up here till I'm out.'

Pyro raced down the stairs, heart hammering, and wrenched open the door to the lounge. 'Magneto, Sir, Sabr …'

He stopped. There was a man in the lounge, but it wasn't Magneto. He was taller for a start, and younger, with dark brown hair that flopped into a fringe over his face. He was wearing a pale tan trench coat and was holding one of the empty ice cream cartons looking angry. He turned quickly as Pyro entered.

Pyro gaped. There was silence for a moment as his thoughts seemed to dissolve inside his brain. All he could think was: His eyes, holy hell look at his eyes.

'What you doin' here?'

'Umm.' Pyro swallowed. 'Are you Mystique?'

There was another silence. The other man looked puzzled. Feeling slightly bolder Pyro drew out his lighter. 'Get out.'

The man gave him a long appraising stare. Pyro wasn't quite sure what happened next, but the next thing he knew a large flaming ice-cream tub was flying towards him. He gave a yell and threw himself to the floor, then there was the sound of an explosion and something hit the side of his head. Something else grabbed the front of his shirt and the next thing he knew his back was smashed into the side of a wall and two pitch black eyes with red irises were staring into his, while a voice hissed in his ear. 'Let's try dat again, mon ami, what you doin' in Gambit's house?'

'Wha…' was all he could manage. The side of his head was hurting and even though he tried to keep his eyes fixed on the man in front of him he couldn't help but notice the large hole in the side of the wall where the ice-cream carton had gone.

'One las' chance.' A fist raised itself menacingly beside his head.

'Hey!' Sabretooth. Pyro had never thought of Sabretooth as a saviour before, but as he came running out of the basement Pyro couldn't ever recall being more glad to see anyone. Gambit swore under his breath, whapped Pyro round the head and dropped him. As he slid down the wall, just before his senses gave in entirely, Pyro thought he saw the man turn and pull out what looked like a playing card from his belt.

He came too on the sofa, feeling as if the world around him had been painted over in cotton wool. Mystique and Magneto were back, sitting at the table in the middle of a discussion. Mystique spared him a quick glance when she saw he was awake before turning back to the conversation.

The new man, Gambit, was leaning against the door post. The other two were nowhere to be seen. Pyro wondered vaguely, through the cotton-wool haze, whether Toad had made it out on time.

Magneto noticed Mystique's glance and turned to look at him. 'Recovered?'

'I think so.' He felt slightly nauseous and his voice seemed to be coming from a long way away. He remembered slightly too late that he didn't want to seem weak in front of Magneto 'Yes, I'm fine.'

'Good. Gambit says he didn't mean to hit you quite that hard.'

'Sure.' Pyro shot a wary look at the man leaning against the door. He grinned, but it seemed to be more of a warning than an apology. Inwardly Pyro groaned, just when he'd been starting to get some status someone had to come along to upset the balance.

'Is he one of us?' He asked, realising it was a stupid question as soon as it left his mouth.

The new man shrugged. 'Gambit one of hisself.'

'Ah.' Pyro sat up, his legs feeling wobbly and almost missed Magneto saying 'You cannot support them Remy, not over this.'

'Gambit don' support anyone.'

'They are trying to exterminate us.'

'Mais, it voluntary, non?'

'Now it is. But it will not be long before they start using it against us. They have in their power a weapon to defeat mutant kind once and for all. How long before they start using it?'

Pyro froze. He wasn't sure whether Magneto would like him to hear this conversation. His eyes flickered sideways and he noticed there was a large sheet of corrugated iron over the hole in the side of the wall.

'Dey get rid of us? Jus fo who we are?'

Magneto's face was taut and lined 'It's been done before.'

'Erik.' Mystique nodded to where Pyro was sitting on the sofa, still looking dazed. Magneto turned, frowning slightly.

'Do you know what we're talking about Pyro?'

He shook his head.

'They've made a cure for mutants.' His voice was harsh and angry. 'A cure!'

'They gonna try and get rid of us?' Toad appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Pyro wondered how long he'd been listening. He didn't seem to be injured in any way, so he'd probably managed to get off the computer in time.

'The news has not yet been officially announced.' Mystique took over. 'And so far the working documents state it will be voluntary only.'

'But how long before they start using it as a weapon?' Magneto finished.

A cure? Pyro tried to imagine it. 'But if it's voluntary, why would anyone take it?' He couldn't imagine voluntarily deciding to give up so much power. To have such a large part of who he was taken away from him would be unthinkable.

'Some people will want it.' Mystique said, 'People cowardly enough to care what others think. People who allow their mutations to make their lives miserable.' She shot a glance at Toad.

Toad kept silent. Right now, he'd choose his mutation over anything else the world had to offer, but he wasn't sure if ten years ago his thoughts would have been the same.

Pyro suddenly thought of Rogue. Bobby would want her to take it wouldn't he? Would she want to take it? A death touch was a huge amount of power but, he smirked, it did severely reduce your ability to screw your boyfriend.

'What are we going to do?' He asked.

Magneto raised his eyebrows 'Fight it. We may be fighting for the very existence of the mutant community.'

Pyro waited for the rush of joy, he would be fighting at last! But instead he just felt panicked and slightly sick. His head was still hurting. He tried to force himself to smile.

'Remy.' Magneto turned abruptly. 'We need you with us.'

The man shrugged. 'What's in it fo me? Don even know if you telling de truth'

'What if we get proof.' Mystique shot back.

He shrugged 'Gambit t'ink about it maybe.'

'Where would they keep the records?' Magneto asked. Pyro felt his head begin to spin, he'd never have dared speak to Magneto like that. Gambit was even rude to Mystique, and, amazingly, she hadn't tried to pull his head off with her feet.

It was as if this newcomer wasn't even part of their carefully ordered hierarchy, but a separate force unto himself. If they were Gods among insects, then this strange enigmatic man was a Devil amongst the Gods. Powerful, deadly, and not part of the overall chain of command but something separate and distinct from it.

Mystique thought for a moment. 'They'll have some records at the FDA. I could sneak in there tomorrow, they shouldn't be too hard to find.'

'And if there's proof?' Magneto asked Gambit again.

'Maybe.' He levered himself off the door post and headed upstairs. The footsteps disappeared into one of the rooms and there was a brief cry of 'Mais, what you done to my bed!'

Magneto looked at Mystique and raised an eyebrow. She nodded 'He'll do it.'

'He better.'

'I'll leave tomorrow morning. Once we have the records it'll be a lot easier.'

Notes: The plot, she is moving!

I've decided to restrict myself to one A/N per chapter, that way you don't get fed up with all my little scribbles. One question I really need answered: am I right in thinking that FDA stands for Federal Defence Agency?

So, how was Gambit? I have been google-ing and wikipedia-ing for information on Cajun accents and Gambit quotes, so hopefully it came out sounding reasonably realistic. If you spot any errors, tell me and I'll try to get it right next chapter.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. You guys review far, far more often than the Harry Potter fanfic readers, so all give yourselves a cookie!

For those of you who have only seen the movies and thus know nothing of the wonder that is Remy LeBeau (Gambit): He is strong, hot and Cajun (from New Orleans). He was an orphan who was adopted by a relatively rich and kind mafia-esque family and became a high-level thief. His power is that he can charge moving objects with kinetic energy (in clear violation of the laws of thermodynamics in case you were interested) and he mostly does this with playing cards. His loyalty swings, mostly he's good but for the purpose of this fic he's sort of freelance, which isn't too OOC I hope. He has romance with various people (but not in this fic!) mostly a sort of love/hate relationship with Rogue.