Chapter 7
Present Time:
There was a knock on Rogue's door while she was just putting on her boots and she called for them to enter.
"Oh good, you're awake," said Kitty. "We just got a message from the Professor."
"Yeah?" Rogue asked, zipping up her boot. "What's happening this time?"
"Well, the good news is that Gambit's going to agree to sell to us. The bad news is that when he tells Sinister, the Marauders are going to come after us," Kitty filled her in. "They've got newbies as well. Logan wants us to meet in the war room so we can discuss what the Professor told us about them."
"Okay," Rogue nodded and stood up, "I'll be right down."
Towards the end of a somewhat lengthy discussion in the war room, Rogue glanced at the clock and noted they would have to get going soon if they wanted to be able to follow Gambit before he left the hotel. As she was about to say so, Scott piped up:
"You know what's wrong with this plan?" he said. "Jean's involved in the fight."
"Excuse me?" Jean said, glaring at him.
"We know they're going to be after you, Jean," Scott insisted, looking at her earnestly. "We know that in the future the Professor has seen, they succeed. You should stay here, at the mansion with Hank and Forge. Besides, assuming we do get Emma's hand back, without you we can't bring her back and we'll be down two X-Men."
"You need me to protect you against Lady Mastermind's illusions," Jean said stubbornly.
"Rogue can absorb you."
"Uhh, Scott," Rogue said. "There's kind of a time limit on these things."
"Kurt can teleport Jean to you right before the fight," Scott said. "We know when its going to be, after all. You can absorb Jean then Kurt can take Jean home and come back for the fight."
"And if the Professor was right about the Marauders watching us—" Rogue began.
"He is. I've sensed them on and off," Jean said, still glaring at Scott.
"—then they'll know Jean isn't there and that I have her powers," Rogue finished.
"But you're not their priority target, Rogue, and you can always absorb Logan's healing factor if things get rough. That's more than what Jean can do," Scot said, then looked towards Logan. "You agree with me, right Logan?"
Scott was sure that if there was only one person he could count on to help keep Jean safe, it was Logan. Even if his reason for believing that was based on the fact that he knew Logan had eyes for her. Before Logan could reply, however, Hank spoke up.
"If I may offer an alternate opinion," Hank said. "Keeping Jean here at the mansion may not keep Jean quite as safe as you would hope. We know that the Marauders are watching us. It may be that upon realising that Jean is not with us, they would then split forces and send the second team to the mansion. It's the most logical place, and while our defences are formidable, they are not foolproof. It is possible that we may win on the battlefield, but end up losing on the home front."
"You, Forge and Jean, all dead," said Storm gravely. "And if that is not bad enough, they may also choose to take Emma back to Sinister."
"She's almost completely back together too," said Forge. "We should be finished by the end of the day, other than her hand that is."
"Jeannie comes with us," Logan said, looking directly at Scott. "We know they're after her in particular, and that give us the best chance of protecting her. Besides, we do need psychic protection and that's Jean's forte, not Rogue's. Rogue of greater value to us if she can concentrate on the physical battle."
"Thank you, Logan," Jean said.
"And on that note," Rogue said. "I believe we have a certain Cajun thief to catch up with."
Gambit eyed Rogue curiously when she showed up wearing her X-Men uniform. Although he had seen the others in theirs, it was the first time he'd seen her in one. He wouldn't have let it bother him, except he realised Rogue was really edgy about something. He took these two things to mean that she was expecting trouble. Question was, were they expecting trouble from the Marauders or were the X-Men planning on making trouble for him?
He didn't let his concern show, just continued to keep an eye on Rogue, making sure to keep out of arm's reach of her. Rogue treated his usual diligence with disdain.
After 'breakfast' they headed to The Dirty Glass where they mostly bummed around playing pool. Gambit's poker playing friends weren't there yet, and wouldn't be for a few hours. After their umpteenth game of pool, Gambit glanced at the time, then checked his PDA for the race results.
"So," he said, looking up at Rogue, who was leaning on her pool cue. "Just how many of these horse race results were you planning on offering me?"
"Ten," Rogue replied, feeling a little weird taking on the job Storm was going to do.
"Twenty," Gambit said.
"Fifteen, take it or leave it."
"Done. Congratulations, the X-Men just bought themselves a diamond hand," Gambit said. "I prefer payment via electronic transfer."
"We have a daily limit," Rogue said. "It'll take a few days before we can get you the full amount. But I can get you the fifteen races today."
Gambit nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, races today, and when the first transfer appears in my account—tomorrow, I assume—I'll give you the hand."
"Okay," Rogue fished out her phone. "That's fair. I'll get the list prepared and ask Kurt to teleport it here."
"Bon," Gambit said.
While Rogue rang the team, Gambit wrote his account details on the back of a playing card. He then rang up Sinister to inform him there would be no sale. They both hung up at roughly the same time, Gambit gesturing to a nearby table. There was a solemn look on her face that concerned him.
"I'd say this is cause for a celebration no?" Gambit said as she sat down.
"Sure," Rogue replied with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Gambit eyed her for a moment, then went to the counter to order a couple of glasses of champagne. He returned to the table and slid Rogue's over to her.
"I suppose you've been wondering why we want the hand so much," Rogue said, looking at the glass in front of her.
"Not really my business, chère," Gambit replied, sitting down and leaning back in his chair with feigned disinterest. "As long as you can pay our agreed price, you can desire it for any reason you want."
"It belongs to a friend of ours," Rogue said wryly. "Emma Frost."
"The telepath?" Gambit inquired. "Member of the Hellfire Club?"
"Yep," Rogue said slowly with a nod. "She has a secondary mutation, she can turn into a diamond form."
Gambit sat very still. He looked down at himself and then back up at Rogue.
"A diamond form," he repeated cautiously.
"She was shattered during the recent Sentinel attack," Rogue went on, deciding to leave out all the Phoenix messiness. "We gathered up the pieces with the intention of burying her but Jean discovered she was still alive."
Gambit felt just a little bit sick. He had the good fortune to pick the pockets of someone who had managed to find Emma's hand and a number of shards. The hand had been wrapped up but the shards were jumbled up together in a bag, scratching each other. He wasted little time in selling off the shards but the hand he knew he could get a very good price for. The idea that they were pieces of a real person horrified him.
"We've been collecting all the pieces and trying to put them back together so we can restore her back to life," Rogue went on, oblivious to Gambit's train of thought. "Don't know if it'll work, but we have to try. The hand is the last piece we need."
Gambit nodded slowly. "Cute story, chère, very heart-warming, but you're not getting a discount."
Rogue made a rude noise.
"We never told you because you've been known to sell out your own kind for money," Rogue wasn't hiding her disgust. "I'd say the odds were pretty good you'd try to exploit the situation to get a high price. Or accuse us of playing the sympathy card."
The thief gave a slight shrug and leaned forward. "Well, the deal's done now," he lifted his glass towards her. "I wish you good luck in saving your friend."
Rogue looked at him in silence for a moment, then lifted her own glass to clink it with his. "Thank you."
Smiling, he took a good mouthful of the champagne. Rogue only took a light sip before putting the glass down again. Was that another reason why the fight had gone bad? Had she drunk too much champagne when the Marauders arrived?
"What about your father?" Rogue asked after a moment. "I realise you've given up your chance to find out who he is by dealing with us."
"Knowing my luck," Gambit shrugged, "I'll probably end up dealing with Sinister again, although I'd really rather not. And frankly, Rogue, while I'll admit to some curiosity about my biological parents, if someone like Sinister knows who they are, I'm probably happier not knowing."
Rogue laughed. "You have a good point there," she said with a nod of her head.
Gambit grinned at her, taking another sip of his champagne, noting the smile from Rogue's face slowly die away. She was awfully subdued for someone on the verge of saving her friend's life. Before he could come up with a way to find out what was bothering her, however, there was a bang outside. Turning his head, he was just able to see the X-van being blown off the road by Arclight.
"Just remember Gambit," she stood, her eyes focused on the outside, noting that Kurt had teleported everyone out of the X-van. "We made a deal this day. Whatever happens with the Marauders, I expect you to honour it. Sinister doesn't even want Emma's hand; he just wants us dead."
Rogue ran outside before Gambit could summon a reply. He did, however, jump up and follow her to the door. The X-Men had formed a loose, protective guard around Jean Grey and the Marauders surrounded them on all sides. Unless Gambit missed his guess, it looked like all the Marauders except for Multiple Man were here. That made sense; the last time Gambit had seen Multiple Man, he'd been assigned as Sinister's personal bodyguard.
Scalphunter and Harpoon let loose bullets and harpoons towards the X-Men while on the other side, Riptide spun in circles, letting loose his shurikens. Iceman shielded the group from the initial volley with an ice wall and Cyclops blasted Harpoon's harpoons before they could get close as they were the only things that could get past the ice wall.
Storm took to the skies and wrapped up Riptide in a whirlwind of her own. While Riptide was almost certainly still shooting away, Storm's winds contained the shurikens. Both Jean Grey and Lady Mastermind had their hands to their heads as if concentrating on the psychic level. Iceman iced Scalphunter over before he could do any more shooting.
Harpoon switched to throwing his projectiles at Storm, Cyclops kept blasting them. Arclight disrupted the X-Men's formation around Jean, but was immediately attacked by Nightcrawler. Gambit watched in fascination as Nightcrawler teleported after each blow.
Vertigo made Shadowcat, Iceman and Wolverine dizzy so when Blockbuster knocked Scalphunter free of his icy prison they both verged on the shaky X-Men along with Scrambler. All at once, Scrambler disabled Iceman's powers, making him revert to his human form; Blockbuster attacked Wolverine; and Shadowcat stood up and started walking towards Vertigo. It took Gambit a moment to come to the conclusion that Shadowcat's phasing must protect her from Vertigo's powers.
While Shadowcat and Vertigo tangled, Rogue sneaked up behind Blockbuster, absorbed him and threw him at Scrambler. Blockbuster and Scrambler flew a little way through the air and came to a crashing stop, Scrambler being squashed by Blockbuster's unconscious body. Iceman's powers restored quickly while Rogue headed for Lady Mastermind. Unfortunately, the newly defrosted Scalphunter opened fire on Wolverine and Iceman. The bullets shattered Iceman to pieces and Wolverine tackled Scalphunter who exchanged his gun for his sword.
"Jean!" Cyclops yelled.
Gambit turned his head just in time to see Jean hit a wall with a sickening thud. Judging from the blast point on the ground, Arclight had managed to let off another shockwave, a big one undoubtedly intended to disable Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler appeared in midair just behind Arclight and fell to the ground. Arclight turned on the blue mutant to deliver the final blow and Gambit gaped as he saw Acrlight being iced over. How? Iceman died didn't he?
The Cajun turned his eyes towards the icey pile that had been—and still was—Iceman and gave a low whistle. Iceman's body slowly reformed back into shape. He didn't know the young X-Man could do that! The thought occurred to Gambit that if Rogue hadn't gotten rid of Scrambler when she had, Scalphunter's bullets would have penetrated Iceman's flesh-and-blood form, and then he really would have been dead.
Thinking of Rogue, Gambit's attention went back to the saucy Southern woman who was tangling with Vertigo. Lady Mastermind was on the ground, undoubtedly comatose just like Blockbuster. Shadowcat was rubbing her head and looking around disoriented. Gambit's guess was that after Jean had been disabled, Lady Mastermind had trapped Shadowcat in an illusion and when Rogue absorbed Lady Mastermind she freed Shadowcat of the illusion. Rogue then tackled Vertigo to prevent the Marauder from killing her teammate.
Scrambler finally managed to pull himself out from underneath Blockbuster. He grabbed Cyclops, who was still zapping Harpoon's harpoons in between fretting over Jean. Cyclops would have liked to have shot at Harpoon directly, but the Inuit Marauder wisely stayed out of Cyclops' direct line of sight. Cyclops was then forced into hand-to-hand combat with Scrambler when his powers became disabled. Storm started deflecting Harpoon's weapons as well as keeping Riptide contained with her winds.
Vertigo dropped to the ground when Rogue's hand grabbed her forehead. Shaking her head and blinking a few times, Rogue ran lightly towards Riptide using Vertigo's powers to disorient him. Without his personal whirlwind to keep him in place, Riptide was swept up by Storm's. Flying up into the air he was flung a long, long way away. Gambit wondered if Riptide's power would come back before he hit the ground.
Her main concern dealt with, Storm turned her attention to Harpoon. As the Weather Witch's whirlwind dissipated, Gambit raised his eyebrows at the number of shurikens that clattered to the ground. Rogue used Vertigo's powers on Scrambler, Harpoon and Scalphunter in that order. Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine took advantage to disable them.
Gambit turned his head at a tap on the shoulder. It was the barman. "I just called them MRD," he said. "You might want to make yourself scarce."
"Merci, mon ami," Gambit replied.
The barman gave him a nod before heading back behind the counter. Gambit swaggered outside towards the X-Men, who were busy collecting themselves. He gave them a slow clap.
"Well done, mes amis," Gambit said loudly, half walking to the X-Men and half moving towards his motorcycle. "Been awhile since I've seen the Marauders have their butts handed to them. Actually, I've never seen the Marauders have their butts handed to them, so kudos to you. By the way, the MRDies have been called, so you may want to think about getting out of here. Oh and Rogue? I'll see you at the Outback Steakhouse at about seven. Be sure to have that little 'deposit' we discussed earlier."
"The nerve of that little—" Scott began.
"Forget him," Logan said as Gambit drove off on his motorcycle. "How's Jean?"
"Unconscious. We need to get her to Hank," Scott told him.
"Kurt's out for the count," Logan said, glancing at Kurt. "Rogue?"
"On it," Rogue said, passing over her keys. "For whoever takes my bike. Want me to lift the X-van upright before I go?"
"Sure."
"Kitty?" Storm said, kneeling by her young friend.
"I'll be okay," Kitty said as Rogue used Blockbuster's super-strength to put the X-van back on its wheels. "Just a little dizzy."
"Alright, Bobby, ice over these guys would you?" Logan said grimly. "We wouldn't want them to give the MRDies any trouble."
Bobby, who had now fully reformed, took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think I can do that."
"Here, allow me to assist you," said Storm while Rogue walked over to Kurt and absorbed him.
Storm took to the air and sprinkled a little rain which Bobby used to freeze over the Marauders. Rogue picked up Kurt in her arms and carried him over to Jean. Rogue knelt down beside her and touched her covered shoulder. In a bamf, Rogue, Jean and Kurt were gone. Logan checked the X-van and determined that it would still start. Storm drove off in the X-van with Kitty and Bobby, while Logan and Scott took the motorcycles.
By the time the MRD arrived, there were seven people encased in blocks of ice waiting for them, and a big mess to clean up.
