Chapter 20

Rogue was pulling herself to her feet, slowly gripping onto the wall. She quickly looked round as she saw Gambit running towards her from around the corner. He stopped, staring at her as she stood.

"Yo' alright, now!" he noted delightedly as he walked towards her.

Rogue spread a small smile, slightly hurrying towards him and pulling him into a unexpected embrace. Her head settled upon his shoulder, squeezing his form tightly to hers.

"What's dis?" he said softly as he looked down at her, "Remy though yo' wer' mad at 'im, cherie."

"I am," admitted Rogue as she turned her head to look at him. She relented with a smile, her shoulder slumping, "I was."

At this, Gambit gave her a charming smile, "Good. Cos we got places to be. Don't know if ya heard, but we is all goin' back to yo' mansion!"

"We are?" replied Rogue with a curious face, "Is it safe?"

"According to Jean-Luc they've fallen back and probably declared it abandoned. Yeah, so, Marrow is gonna show us the way to the mansion through the sewers."

Rogue blinked a little. She'd missed a lot. Deciding against asking for an explanation she answered with a vague, "Okay.."

"Come on!" said Gambit in a decidedly cheerfully tone as his bare hand took hers and he pulled her out of her hiding place. The pair hurried back to the other mutants, who were preparing themselves for the trek through the sewers.

The X-Men looked round as Gambit and Rogue appeared, casting the latter a curious once over. The last time they saw her, she was unconscious. "Ready, Sarah?" asked Gambit swiftly to Marrow who was stood conversing with a small group of Morlocks. At being addressed, she quickly looked round with a glare fixated on Gambit. "Yes," she answered sharply, "An' it's Marrow."

Gambit shrugged slowly, looking round to the entrance, "Where's Jean-Luc?"

"He left, per request," explained Charles with a slight inclination, "He needed a little.. encouragement." There was a mysterious glint in Charles' eyes that Gambit was sure he imagined. The Professor turned his attention to Marrow, "When you're ready, Marrow."

Marrow gave the group a slight scowl before she turned, stalking up to the steps out of the den, leaving the Morlocks behind as the X-Men and their students followed. The dark tunnels beyond were now empty of oncoming danger. Previously, Gambit had led them so fast he was running blind to directional choice, and it was mere luck that brought them to the safety of the Morlock's Den. He would have never been able to lead them back through the maze of identical tunnels.

However, as the X-Men followed Marrow, she was leading them swiftly left, going in the opposite direction to the Den completely. "I suppose I should be thanking you," she said grimly to no one in particular.

"For what?" asked Gambit quickly as he came up alongside the woman.

Marrow instinctively threw Gambit a dark look. "For helping us with the soldiers. We might have had more casualties if it were not for the teamwork."

"Those Morlocks hit with the needles will be alright soon," said Gambit quietly, "Jus' let 'em sleep it out. When they wake up their powers will be knocked off for a bit, but they should come back."

"You gonna tell me what that was about back there?" suddenly cut in Marrow, changing subject at the speed of light, "With Jean-Luc?"

Gambit regarded her thoughtfully as they turned a corner, "Look, 'e was tellin' the truth. But 'onestly Marrow, I ne'er tried to hurt Healer purposely. Things jus' got a lil' outta hand, a bit too energetic. 'Course, I knew, even by accident, the effects it would have. So I ran, like a guilty man."

"And Jean-Luc has been hunting you down all this time? All year?"

"Yeah," admitted Gambit, a frown marking his normally cheerful features. "I'd been hidin' down here for most of it.. kept sneakin' up top to get some info' 'bout what was goin' on in de outside world. Dat's when I 'eard 'bout de X-Men and their capture. So, like a good boy, I goes off to save their necks, an' they in return saved mine. Now we're square."

Marrow raised an eyebrow slowly, "So, if Jean-Luc isn't hunting you any more, why are you coming with us now? You could go and do anything you wanted."

"Oh, I got my reasons, Marrow."

A short while later, the mutants exited a tunnel where there was a large opening split by a wide river of water. A metal bridge led narrowly across the stretch over water, and above was a large circular ceiling of the largest, vaster tunnel. Weak lighting was installed on the walls, and a metal ladder dropped from the ceiling to the concrete platform on the other side of the water. Marrow quickly moved forth, making her way across the narrow, grated bridge until she slipped down onto the platform. Leading the mutants towards the ladder, she nodded upwards, "That'll bring you right into the bottom of the grounds," she explained swiftly.

Scott stepped forward, nodding his head slowly, "Alright. I'll take a look." He quickly ascended the ladder, disappearing high up to the ceiling where he pushed back a grate. A sudden blast of steely grey sunlight shone down into the sewers, casting Scott's torso in a heavenly glow. Drops of rain were falling in through the hole and splashing softly on the concrete floor. The man quickly shielded his eyes against the new light with a grimace before he peered out once more. He spent a short moment studying the area before he dropped down a few rungs and nodded, "She's right. And it's clear at the moment."

Marrow folded her arms, "I'm not going up," she said quietly, looking oddly clearer as the light shone upon her. Years of darkness under the surface had done nothing for her. The ray of light upon her shone a beauty even beneath the oddity of the bones that arched from her forehead and cheeks. "You know where to go now."

"Thank you, Marrow," said Charles politely as he made his way towards her. "I hope we can keep in touch over the goings on of Stryker's soldiers."

Marrow nodded in silence before she stepped away from the ladder and the strip of light that shone down. She backed into the shadows and observed the crowd that gathered around the ladder rather petulantly.

The mutants began to climb the ladder, with Charles being swiftly teleported in a cloud of swirling blue smoke. Gambit took up the rear of the group, watching as the younger mutant hurried on up with anxious faces. Eventually, just he and Marrow was left alone. Gambit regarded her with gentle eyes, a hand taking hold of one of the rungs. "I'm sorry, for everythin', Sarah," he said softly, "An' I promise you, I ne'er meant to do any wrong with de Morlocks."

Marrow shrugged slowly, although her gaze was still harsh. "I suppose, for now, I'll have to let it go, won't I?"

With a slight nod, Gambit turned to the ladder. He looked back with a quiet, "Good luck," before he swiftly made his way upwards, tails of his trench coat flapping under his climbing form. He pushed himself through the circular opening with ease and joined the other mutants. With one last nod to Marrow he closed the grate, sending darkness upon her world once more.

Up across the lawns stood the mansion, ominously crowned by swirling clouds that thrashed an increasingly violent rainfall down onto the grounds. The sunlight was a sharp grey, peeking weakly through the above clouds.

"Keep back," said Scott softly as he retreated into the shadows of trees at the bottom of the ground. Safely submerged in the darkness, he turned to the group. "What are we going to do?" he said softly, "take it by force?"

"If there's only a few soldiers around, then yeah," growled Wolverine as he glared up at the mansion. "Make it quick and easy." His claws shot from his fists with a soft sound.

Turning her back on the mansion, Storm regarded the group for a moment. "I think it'll be easier if we split into groups, cover more ground and more soldiers that way. If we meet in the underground levels afterwards?"

"Y'all sound very confident," commented Gambit airily.

Jean nodded her head, "We know our mansion well, we know the routes around it and we are determined to get it back."

"I shall stay here with the students," said Charles quietly, "And keep a mental watch on the mansion as you enter."

"Alright," said Scott with a nod, "Three floors, including the grounds. Eight of us, so we'll split into pairs. I'll go with Jean, Storm and Nightcrawler? Wolverine, you better keep an eye on Pyro. Bobby – "

"I'll be goin' with ma cherie, here," said Gambit as he indicated to Rogue, "So dats another pair."

"Also an odd number," replied Scott with a little irritated sigh. "Bobby, come with me and Jean." He glanced out to the mansion, "Who wants to go where?"

"We'll take the grounds," growled Wolverine swiftly.

Scott nodded, "We'll do the ground floor. Storm, Nightcrawler, first floor. And that leaves – "

"Us to do de second floor," finished Gambit with a little grin, "Alrighty." He seemed far too eager about this."

"Right," muttered Scott quietly. "Wolverine, is it clear?"

Wolverine quickly looked round sniffing as he inspected the rain soaked grounds, nodding his head, "Yeah, if we make a run for the side door… now!"

With only seconds of hesitation, the X-Men broke into a swift sprint across the soggy lawns, their forms quickly drenching in the downpour that had steadily got worse since they arrived on the surface. Wolverine led them towards double doors at the side of the building, led onto by small steps up a patio. Wooden tables and chairs had not been touched by the intrusion of Stryker's men, and left the mansion looking almost safe. Until they turned towards the steps and where suddenly met by a shadow with a torch-lit gun.

They skidded to a halt in the mud, staring at the sudden blockage to their path. But moments later, a blast of red light flattened the soldier onto his back and left him unmoving. Scott indicated that the X-Men follow him as he ran up the few steps and across the patio. The double doorway, locked, received the same treatment as the soldier and was blasted open by a beam of red laser. The X-Men hurried inside, coming to a halt as they stood in the middle of an empty corridor, the only sounds being the patter of falling rain outside and their heavy breaths.

"See you later," muttered Wolverine as he turned, running back out onto the patio and leaping over the small wall. Pyro belatedly followed after him, the pair disappearing out of sight.

"Top floor it is," Gambit said as he turned, running down the corridor. Rogue, having not expected his sudden departure made a little gasp before she scrambled round to follow after him.

"Gambit! Be careful up there," called Storm in a hushed whisper.

As Gambit rounded the corner he gave a soft chuckle, "I'm always careful."

Silence greeted them at the upper floor, the very faint sound of their footsteps keeping them company. Gambit passed softly against the wall, pressing his back against it as he leant his head carefully around the corner. He shook saturated strands of hair from his eyes before he studied the distant corridor. He raised his hand, gesturing for Rogue to follow him round as he quietly made his way down the corridor.

Many doors were lined either side of the corridor, each of which Gambit regarded with curious eyes. Rogue softly trod besides him, explaining in a whisper, "These are the student dormitories. My room is actually just at the end of this corridor."

"If only we could stop for a visit," replied Gambit as he gave the girl a small smirk.

Rogue quickly looked up at him, "If we clear out the mansion, you can see it."

"That's not what I meant, chere," murmured Gambit, training his eyes on the end of the corridor. "Careful now. We got company."

Through the darkness of the corridor, there was a beam of torchlight at the end, shining on the opposite wall where it moved searchingly. Gambit quickly darted against the wall with Rogue in tow, swiftly, but silently heading towards the corner the oncoming soldier was around. "Watch my back," he whispered softly the closer they got.

"Always, Remy."

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