"Will you stop hummin' that damn theme song?" Belle asked with frustration.
"I can't help it," Remy replied. "Everythin' I know about Dallas, I learned from de tee-vee show."
"I don't know why Tante Mattie let you watch so much tee-vee," Belle told him. "It's rotted your brain."
"Kept me quiet for an hour or so. Said she needed time to gather her wits. For de longest time, I thought that meant she was washin' a load of whites."
"God bless that poor woman," Belle murmured.
Remy heard Ororo laugh quietly. He wished he could see her face, see her smile. He was also desperate to see her regal bearing, her expressions of exasperation toward him, appear on a child-sized form. Unfortunately, it seemed that was not to be. Remy had a vague sense of very bright light, but for the most part he saw nothing. It made the random visions of crossed realities all the more apparent. Much harder to ignore.
He had a momentary respite in their hotel room when he placed an overseas call to Scotland. He was delighted to converse with Miss Kitty Pryde (an easy target), formerly of X-Men Original, and currently in a new X-Franchise known as Excalibur.
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a new system...of mutants," Remy paraphrased in a British accent.
"Oh my gosh, Remy. Do you know what time it is here? What do you want?" Kitty said. He could almost hear her eyes rolling.
He sang: "I know something you don't know!"
"I'm going to hang up."
"And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!"
"Katherine," Ororo said into the phone. "I apologize, I could not wrest the receiver from him in time."
"Storm!?" Remy could hear Kitty scream through the receiver, though his ear was no longer pressed to it. "We thought you'd died! Your voice! It sounds weird! Are you okay? Did Gambit kidnap you!?"
Hilarity ensued.
"Are we dere yet?" Remy asked, trying to situate himself in a more comfortable position. After seven hours, he'd been sitting too long.
"I'm about t'put you in de backseat and have just us adults sit up here!" Belle said.
Storm laughed again.
"I'm keepin' Stormy entertained at de very least," Remy replied.
"Ain't you gonna zap him again?" Belle asked Storm hopefully. "For callin' you 'Stormy'?"
"I must conserve my strength," Ororo replied drolly.
Remy laughed. "I have her on de ropes!"
"Don't think I won't set your ass on fire," Belle informed him.
"Now why'd you want to go and punish yourself, ma belle?" Remy asked. "It'd be your loss. The world's, really."
Belle dropped a bag into his lap. "Eat some candy," she told him. "Chew some gum. Just shut your yap!"
"Dis nicotine gum ain't doin' nothing for me," Remy complained, riffling through the bag and trying to figure out what package was which by feel alone.
"I might as well let you smoke yourself into an early grave if it gave me a minute of peace!"
"I didn't quit for you or me. I'm doin' it for little Marie-Antoinette."
"We ain't namin' de baby after some stuck-up royal tart," Belle said.
"Marie-Magdalene."
"No! She's not a nun either!"
"Marie-Jeanne?"
"Hm," Belle said, momentarily considering something.
"Am I on to somethin'?" Remy asked.
"What in tarnation is dat?" Belle asked.
"Like a combo of your dad's name and mine. Jeanne-Marie is also acceptable."
"No! Not the name!" Ororo interrupted. "There is a disturbance, up in the sky!"
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" Remy asked, confused.
"Remy! Shut. UP!" Belle was slowing their vehicle, parking alongside the highway. Considering the last time they were stopped, Remy did not like that at all. He cast his senses about, hoping for some clue as to what was going on.
"There is a-like a huge rip-in the sky!" Belle said. "With light pourin' out. The rest, the rest is all black. Everyone's tearin' out of de city in the outbound."
"Then why we stopped if there's no traffic inbound?"
"Because there's a huge swamp," Belle explained, "just up ahead."
"Is dis some kind of weather thing? Natural disaster?" Remy asked.
"No, my friend," Ororo replied. "Though it does appear to be snowing, this is not a natural occurrence of inclement weather."
"Is dat your weather witch powers speakin'?"
"No, cher. I can see it too. Dinosaurs are not a weather pattern you're gonna hear Willard Scott talkin' 'bout," Belle said.
"There's dinosaurs!?" Remy asked, alarmed. He complained: "And I can't even see 'em!"
"Do we turn back?" Belle asked Ororo.
"My friend, Forge," Ororo replied. "This is his home. He is at the Aerie…"
"Alright, we'll go see if we can find him," Belle replied.
"The tallest tower," Ororo said and presumably pointed. "That is Eagle Plaza."
"We're goin' to have to walk," Belle said, Remy thought, in his direction.
"Can't we ride a dinosaur?" he asked, then opened the car door.
"Do you want t'stay with the car?" Belle asked, not meanly. But considerately. Remy would have preferred the mean version. They were all standing outside of the vehicle now.
"I'm not about t'stay here," he said. But at the same time, he'd probably prove himself to be a hindrance and a danger to the two women if he went along. He said: "Don't worry about me. I'll figure it out."
"I will fly ahead," Storm said and Remy felt the wind pick up.
"Okay, padnat," Belle replied. "Don't get too far ahead, now."
Once Storm had departed, Belle told him: "Remy, this don't look good at all. Storm said dis man's a shaman? Can't be a coincidence then, that there's some magical hole in de sky, over his house."
"We let Excalibur know where we were headin'," Remy replied. "Hopefully, Kitty can track de X-Men down. Regardless, somethin' like dis is gonna bring some supes outta de woodwork. We'll have backup, I'm sure."
"That's good, 'cause me and you aren't meant for magical, supernatural, or otherwise freaky-deaky disasters on a global scale," Belle said and began to walk. Remy followed in her footsteps.
"Ma belle, me and you are in cosmic alignment," he said.
"It's really a blessing you can't see all dis, sha," Belle said quietly.
It was going to be a long walk, but after being in the car so long, Gambit truly didn't mind. What he did mind was occasionally tripping over or bumping into things. They were able to walk along the highway as there was no one driving on it. Cars were abandoned haphazardly on the pavement. Lake Ray Hubbard was now a swamp where dinosaurs congregated. It seemed a risky thing to traverse the bridge, but Storm, upon her return, assured them the creatures seemed peaceful enough. No T-Rex's apparently. Scratch that, Storm returned again to say the Tyrannosaur was at the mall eating the food court.
They came to a country club overrun with a herd of mustangs and bison. Belle informed Remy there were several men dressed as cowboys on horseback. And a pair of very authentically dressed Native Americans who sat on painted ponies surveilling the cowboys from afar.
"And I'm gonna guess they aren't historical reenactors," Gambit said.
"Think we can trade something for a horse?" Belle asked.
"Our wedding rings?" Gambit suggested. Belle poked him. "Well, I don't think they'll be interested in a Cézanne."
Belle offered the curious indigenous people a pair of knives, gestured to a horse hobbled nearby. An agreement was made.
"Mr. Pokey and Mr. Stabby were my favorites," Belle complained. Gambit boosted her onto the horse's back. Propelled himself up behind her. The horse startled a bit but calmed as Gambit spoke to it.
"Why your knives all misters, Belle?"
"Because they're all little pricks," Belle responded.
"I hope you know I am going to have you every way a man can have a woman at de first available opportunity."
"I hope you know I am willing and prepared to bend over backwards t'make dat happen, Remy."
Storm was somewhat surprised to find them on horseback when she returned. Having a new set of legs and eyes certainly helped prevent Gambit from falling into any sinkholes.
"Any clue as to what's goin' on, Stormy?" Gambit asked.
"I do not dare approach the source of this chaos by air," Storm began. "As we travel closer to Eagle Plaza, there is only more destruction and confusion. Several warring tribes, seemingly from different eras. Vikings, Maasai warriors, Han military, U.S. Army, and fighters from conflicts yet-to-be. It is bedlam. There are...numerous human casualties."
"How much farther out are we?" Belle asked.
"I would estimate approximately fifteen miles," Storm replied.
"Let's go, pretty pony," Gambit said, and tapped the horse's sides with his heels.
They started off at a fast trot, then a slow lope. They were still in suburbia, passing housing developments, then chain stores and strip malls. Storm indicated they should detour at a major intersection between the interstate and a highway, as the upcoming Chevy dealership was launching flaming refuse and scrap metal via trebuchet at the Toyota dealership, which was retaliating with energy beams. They found themselves at a sprawling golf course and Belle and Remy let the horse run full out over smooth grass.
"Comin' up on a patch of trees, cher," Belle told him.
Suddenly, they were brought up short when the horse reared and turned, nearly throwing the pair from their seats.
"Belle!" Gambit called.
"Someone's throwin' spears," Belle answered. "All across our path."
"Where's Storm?" Gambit asked.
"Here," came her voice from above.
There was some exclamation from the surrounding trees, male and female voices.
"Arsálu! Dimanthu!"
Gambit saw a flash, like an aura from an oncoming migraine, and the muttering of long-forgotten words filled his head.
"Lookin' like a bunch of dirty hippies over here," Belle said. "With Iron Age weapons. Actually, that one is de spittin' image of your cousin."
"Which one, de mean one or de nice one?" Gambit asked, trying to calm the horse as it nervously circled.
"Emil, the weird one."
"Chère, they all weird. S'iach brāteres!" Gambit announced.
"What did you just say?"
"I'm hopin' 'good health brothers.' Or it might've been: hey, you bunch of drunken bears."
There seemed to be much muttered confusion amongst the group, by Gambit's estimate, perhaps two dozen members strong. They were all talking at once. It was sort of like a family reunion. From Belle's description, all he could imagine was a group of people looking like his cousin; long red-blond hair, goateed, fair skin given to freckles. Not tall, not stout either, but long-limbed and well-built.
"Stay back!" Storm commanded, and was followed by a crack of thunder. Several shouts could be heard.
"Móruch drúidh!" Gambit told them, pointed in Storm's general direction.
"Where are you comin' up with this stuff?" Belle asked with alarm.
"Gambit, what did you say to them?" Storm asked. From what Gambit could ascertain, she had landed nearby.
"I might've told 'em you were a girl priestess."
Belle said: "Thinkin' this one wants to sacrifice himself to you, 'Ro."
"No! Do not do that! Stop! Please put down your weapon!"
"Arsálu!" Gambit added, and when Storm did not implore the person further, he assumed the man had obeyed his order to stop. Then to Belle: "Chère, I think these are my people."
"They argue like your people," Belle said idly.
"Ródhl," Gambit called, he pulled off his wedding ring. It was a gold ring, quite old (okay, technically ancient) and decorated in a pattern of swirls.
"What de hell do you think you're doin'?" Belle said hotly.
"Look, Belle, dis here thing belonged to my daddy, his daddy, and so on. And considerin' how their two marriages worked out, I'm like to think it's cursed," he told her. "You can steal me a new one later if you like, like a proper thief-wife. Now, which one's de leader?"
"None of 'em," Belle said. "Looks like a rag tag bunch 'a misfits."
"My guess is the one in the rear," Storm said.
"Heh, jus' like a thief t'hide," Belle commented, sotto voce. "Ow!" Gambit had poked her, hard.
"Ródhl, ródhl," he said again, gave the ring to Storm. "Here, go gift him dat."
"I got ya covered, chèrie," Belle told her. The firearm Gambit had stolen from the police officer was behind her back.
Storm departed amidst the murmuring group; apparently they were offering their obeisance. She returned. "He is following," she told Gambit.
The man announced from a small distance: "Dusios!"
"No, nope. Né dusios," he replied. It seemed people assumed he was the devil no matter what time period they came from. "Parisii toṷtā."
Apparently, this was a satisfactory answer because the man grunted. The Parisii clan must not currently be at war with the leader's own. It was a lucky break, considering the Gauls spent more time fighting amongst themselves and not uniting against the Romans, leading to their eventual destruction.
"Dái ródhl?"
"Dái, dái," the man said, agreeing that the gift was good. The man added: "Daga uimpi."
"Nope, not gonna happen," Gambit said, putting his arms protectively around Belle.
"What'd he say?"
"He thinks you're hot," Gambit told Belle.
Gambit continued: "Gwórethwiran, ma harwéra í adhú. Ernu tur."
The leader considered this polite request for help, guidance to the Eagle Tower. Gambit was imagining the leader with his own father's face, stoic as usual, betraying nothing.
"Have you seen any whoresons of Caesar?" the leader finally asked.
"Stormy," Gambit asked. "You happen upon any Romans while you were out and about?"
"A small cadre," Storm said. "In the direction we are traveling."
"There's a small group of them," Gambit translated for the Gaul. "West and then south of here. Heading towards the Eagle Tower."
The leader called to his people: "We are tasked with the honor of escorting the Druid Priestess and her contingent to the Eagle's Nest! And we are going to strike down those cock-sucking Roman bastards and send them to their Hades!"
"Death to Caesar! Death to the Romans! Glory for Gaul!" cried the group, albeit not all at once.
"They seem pretty happy now, cher," Belle commented. "And they all takin' off their shirts. They are your people, after all."
"What are de odds of us runnin' into these folks out here?" Gambit asked. "Must be my lucky day!"
"Every day is my lucky day!" called a voice from the trees.
Several spears must have flown in the voice's direction because he taunted: "Ya missed me!"
Belle aimed her sidearm. "Miss this, mullethead!"
"Stop!" Storm cried. "Do not shoot! Lower your weapons. This man is a friend!"
"Storm!" declared the voice, young-sounding and in an accent Gambit had never heard before. "Wow, look at you!"
"Longshot," Storm answered. "Yes. Please do not mention my condition."
"Who's dis guy now?" Belle asked Gambit.
"Y'got me," Gambit replied. "You got a description?"
"Skinny boy, blond. Black leather. Glowing eye….very easy on my eye, too."
"I knew I'd be the first to find you," Longshot said, approaching their group.
"Well, technically, I was de first to find her," Gambit said, annoyed.
"Don't quibble with him, cher. It's like kickin' a puppy."
"I hate dogs."
"Shh!"
"Who are they?" Longshot asked Storm.
"This is Belle and Gambit. My friends, this is Longshot," Storm said. "And this group of warriors has offered to bring us to Eagle Plaza."
"We're heading that way too," Longshot replied.
"Is he talkin' like a royal 'we'?" Gambit asked Belle.
"No, there's someone else comin'," Belle said. "A woman. Let's see. I'd say, de lovechild of Debbie Harry and David Bowie."
"Now that I'd like t'see," Gambit said.
"We can hear you, you know," said the woman in an annoyed, but at the same time melodious, voice.
"Daga uimpi," said the clan leader again.
"Yeah, brātīr. That's a no-go," Gambit told him.
"Alison!" Storm said, her voice pleased. "Are the other X-Men here?"
"We've got a whole party," Alison said. "Some are search and rescue. Some are putting out fires. Some are beating up dinosaurs or barbarians. If you hadn't already realized, things are ca-ray-zee around here."
"Y'think we can walk and talk at de same time?" Gambit asked. "My friends here are yearnin' to put a hurtin' on some Roman jerks."
"Yes, let us continue on to Eagle Plaza," Storm said.
"That's where everyone's supposed to meet up," Longshot said.
"Forge?" Storm prompted as they began to head West, the little band of Gauls out front.
"Trapped in the Aerie," Alison said. "Trying to figure out how to close the giant demon portal in the sky."
"But, who is behind this disturbance?" Storm asked.
"A chaos demon named The Adversary," Alison explained. "He's possessed, maybe killed, Forge's mentor, Nazé. The Adversary is up there, somewhere in that hole in the sky. Along with a prisoner. A goddess named Roma, of the omniverse."
"Oh, demons!" Belle said happily, then: "Dammit, all my blades are gone!"
"Would you like to use some of mine?" Longshot kindly offered.
"Why, thank you, mon brave!" Belle said in a tone of voice quite unlike any Remy'd ever heard from her.
"What in de world is de matter wit' you?" Gambit asked her.
"Oh, that happens when women meet me. Sort of a love-at-first-sight thing," Longshot explained as if this were perfectly normal. Gambit heard the clink of metal on metal as blades were turned over to Belle.
"Gross," Gambit muttered.
"You can be pretty charmin' yourself, when you want t'be," Belle told Gambit.
"It's not like it's a power," Gambit argued. "De gift of gab is not a mutant ability."
"If you say so," Belle said dubiously.
"If it were, then why do ninety-nine point nine percent of de people I meet think I'm a jerk?" Gambit countered.
"Jealousy," Belle answered. "Just plain jealousy for your raw, undeniable talent and amazing good looks."
"You're makin' fun of me."
"Who are these people again?" Alison asked Storm.
"Please do not regard them at face value, they mean no offense," Storm said. "They march to the beat of a different drum."
"So, aside from the demons we have another situation," Alison continued. "Freedom Force."
Both Belle and Gambit gave twin snorts, suppressing derisive laughter.
"Mystique's team?" Storm asked. "But why?"
"Apparently they are hunting down some mutants who failed to register for the MRA," Alison said.
"Then they came looking for us," Storm said gravely. "We were stopped at a checkpoint."
"But happily, we are all getting along!" Longshot said. "A truce. They're helping us with the dinosaur slash barbarian slash demon situation."
"Considering how bad things went for me and Longshot the last demon invasion," Alison said. "We're on scouting duty."
"Yeah," Longshot said glumly. He immediately brightened: "But hey! We've found Storm, so now we'll be heroes!"
"You were always heroes, my friends," Storm said warmly.
They were suddenly brought up short by the sound of gunfire.
"Dusios! Dusios!" came several shouts.
"Demons up ahead," Gambit said.
"Allons-y!" Belle cried and kicked the horse. Gambit clung to her as they suddenly surged ahead of the group. She placed the sidearm into his hand.
They rounded a corner and Belle jerked the horse to a sudden stop. "Not demons!" she cried.
"What-what are they?" Gambit asked.
"Neanderthals!"
"Oh, so your family then!"
He was elbowed in the ribs.
"They're attackin' some humans in a van!"
"Point de way!" Gambit said, raising the firearm. Belle adjusted his positioning, aimed his wrist.
"Fire," she said calmly.
Gambit built a carefully placed charge, pulled the trigger and even he could see a dim flash of light, feel the force of the explosion on his face that tore at his hair. He grinned.
"Fire," Belle said again.
Another explosion. The cries of victims who then turned and ran screaming away.
"They're headin' for de hills, cher," Belle told him.
They were soon joined by the rest of their party.
"Stay back, you...you freaks!" cried a voice, female.
"Was dis trip necessary?" Gambit asked rhetorically.
"Stop Manoli," replied another unfamiliar voice, a male. "They just saved our lives."
"Oo!" Longshot said. "Are we on television?"
"Don't start, babe," Alison told him.
"What's goin' on?" Gambit asked.
"Looks like reporters," Belle said.
"We're with NPR," the man said. "I'm Neal Conan."
"You guys owe me a tote bag!" Gambit snapped.
"Radio," Storm clarified. "But this is a satellite truck. Television."
"We've commandeered it. I'm afraid...the reporters we found are dead."
"Everyone deserves to know what you people are doing out here! The disaster you've caused," the woman, Manoli, said.
"'You people'," Gambit muttered.
"You'd better not be putting me on camera, girlie," Belle snarled.
"You had best come with us," Storm told the journalists. "It is not safe."
"Great, first mutants, now we're being ordered around by a tween girl," Manoli complained.
Belle turned the horse's head away from the journalists. "Let's ditch dese jerks," she said. "They can fend for themselves."
"Belle-," Gambit began, though he agreed with Belle's sentiment, he was certain the X-Folks would frown on that sort of thing.
"Perhaps you can yet fulfill your duties as journalists," Storm told the pair, her voice commanding, in spite of her apparent age. "You are correct. The people are owed the truth...of what it is we do. We will escort you to the eye of the storm."
"Some cajones on dis girl," Belle said.
Gambit smiled. "Thinkin' we better lissen t'her."
The journalists, along with Longshot and Alison, climbed into the satellite truck. Storm once again took flight.
"Well, toṷtā," Gambit told his tribe. "If you're still up for the challenge? No one's gonna blame you for turning tail."
"We choose to follow the woman-child. It is true our own women are our fiercest warriors. They are a terror to the Romans," the clan leader said.
"Some men can't handle a strong woman," Gambit said and the horse set off at a brisk trot.
The leader cried: "Onward, Dusios! We serve the greater cause! Towards a time of true peace. The Old Kingdom will return!"
Gambit wasn't too sure about that last part.
As they reached the shadow of Eagle Plaza, the dispersion of fighting and chaos was well underway. The combined efforts of the X-Men and Freedom Force had cleared the area of fighting, thankfully captured on camera by the two journalists. Belle dismounted, leaving Gambit on horseback. He was unsure what he would do without the animal serving as his eyes.
"Loh-er, Wolverine!" Belle cried, heeding the presence of the journalists.
"Belle?" Wolverine replied. "Shadowcat never said you were...Well, well. Look what happened to you! You-you're…"
"If you say 'glowing,' I'm gonna stick you full of holes!"
"I was going to say 'sweaty,'" Wolverine said and presumably called to Gambit: "What the hell, Cajun? When did this happen?"
"I'd guess 'round Mardi Gras time," Gambit replied, grinning in what he hoped was Wolverine's direction. "Musta been your wild animal virility in de air."
"Gambit," said a voice at his side. "Give me your hand."
"Is dat your dulcet tones, Posh?" Gambit said, reaching down a hand to take another and sliding from the horse's back.
"Your eyes…?"
"I know right, you miss staring into my lipid pools of hellfire?"
"There was an accident," Storm began. "I-."
"She blinded me...with science!" Gambit announced.
"I can be your eyes, Gambit," Psylocke said.
Gambit found he could finally, finally see. He thought perhaps there was still something amiss with what he was seeing however, as the world was painted in a strange light with oddly glowing shadows. He turned his gaze upward to see the giant horrifying tear in time and space. Immediately looked away to see Psylocke before him, Storm beside him. Not far behind Betsy stood Wolverine and Belle. He turned to see who else might have come along. There was the mullethead, Longshot. Alison, the tall blond woman, or as Psylocke conveyed to him, Dazzler. Yup, he now considered himself dazzled. Some guy in black wearing a birdcage on his head.
Havok, Psylocke said. Alex. Scott Summers' brother.
And there across the plaza towards the tower, Colossus and Rogue, helping lift debris from the front entry of the tower. They had not seen his and Belle's arrival.
"Storm," Havok was saying. "Thank god. I...I thought I'd killed you when I struck that ship!"
"A duplicate, nothing more than a mannequin. Created by Nanny. I will explain it all later," Storm told him.
It seemed there was quite the congregation of mutants in the plaza. Several people Gambit did not recognize. Oh, shit, no. That was St. John Allerdyce over there by the blue-skinned woman and the giant molehill of a man. He didn't have beef with Pyro, just found him super fucking annoying.
Psylocke was explaining: Mystique, Blob...
Gambit swallowed a chuckle.
Avalanche, Spiral, Stone Wall…
Gambit began to laugh.
Super Sabre…
"Hahaa! Oh, my God. Stop! Stop, you're killin' me!"
Crimson Commando…
"Oh, no no no. I'm cryin' now. I'm cryin'! Ah! Ha ha ha!"
"Gambit, focus!" Psylocke said out loud. "And that is Destiny."
Gambit wiped his eyes to see a woman in a gold, expressionless mask.
"She is a precog," Psylocke explained.
Though apparently sightless, it seemed he felt the weight of the woman's attention fall on him. Another rainbow flash in his vision (or lack thereof) and sudden pain had him gripping his head.
"Timelines tangling twisting tearing-fabric of reality fraying, rent asunder! What was, colliding with what will be...to consume, what is-all eternity-collapsing. No light-no Hope-naught before us...but Death!"
He heard it in his head as if he'd spoken it out loud. As if she'd spoken it out loud too, like the worst, creepiest duet ever performed.
"Gambit!" Storm was looking down at him now. She could see her face, a child with a seriously concerned expression.
"Did I just say dat out loud?" Gambit asked. He realized he was on the ground, laying on his back.
A strange pale man with red-blond hair and beard appeared upside-down in his vision. "Dusios Vindos," he said in awe.
"Yeah, yeah. White Devil. Got it, already."
"Ancherth," the Gaul said. Incorrect. "Né líu. Vindos, gweleth." Not white-color. Clear-sighted, seer.
"O-oh…" Gambit said, understanding dawning on him now. "Man, somethin' got lost in translation dere." Belle was beside him now, her expression grim.
"Y'alright, cher?" she said, crouching down.
"You want de honest answer? I'm not great."
"Renie?" the blue woman, Mystique, was saying with concern. Gambit sat up. Mystique was embracing Destiny. She had removed her mask. Destiny, as it turned out, was very, very old. Her eyes were blank white orbs.
"I fear, we are doomed," Destiny was saying. "But...no. I see a glimmer. Of Hope. At the top of the tower. In the Aerie."
"Well, on that note!" Rogue said. Upon seeing Destiny fall to the ground, she had rushed to the woman's side. Now she looked to the top of the tower. "Ah'll go check it out!"
"Spiral!" Mystique barked. "Beat her there!"
The many-limbed Spiral leapt into the air with a twisted grin. Rogue's jaw dropped as Spiral blasted past her. She cast a surly look at Mystique before following hot on Spiral's heels. They did not make it to the top of the tower before a blast of red and orange fire lit Spiral up like a Catherine Wheel. She fell, crashing into Rogue on her way and the pair plummeted to earth.
"I got 'em!" Blob called and they struck him with a force that imploded the street. The three now lay in the bottom of a crater.
"Did you get that?" Minoli, the reporter called excitedly to the man, Neal, who was filming. She was manning the satellite truck, transmitting the action to the airwaves.
Gambit climbed to his feet just as Rogue and Spiral were pulling themselves from the crater. Standing at the lip, Rogue helped the massive man from the hole. Gambit exhaled, relieved. Glanced at Belle, who arched her eyebrow at him. He grinned down at her, shrugged. She rolled her eyes, poked him in the shoulder. Smiled with a shake of her head. He winked at her. Who needed to be a telepath?
Gambit hadn't seen Rogue since Christmas Eve. When Logan came to visit, he'd half-hoped Rogue would come too. He wasn't disappointed to see Ororo instead, per se. She knew how to let loose every once in a while. Gambit hadn't heard from Rogue though either. She didn't respond to his letters (that he sent to the X-Men collectively, rather than directly addressed to her). When he caught her on the phone (he was the one doing the calling, for the most part), she would greet him and then quickly pass the receiver off to whoever was in the room. Gambit supposed that was what happened when you totally concealed the fact you were married and made the woman you were fooling around with into your piece on the side. So, he supposed he couldn't blame her for not ever wanting to see or talk to him again. Unfortunately, his heart was even less rational than his brain, and was having a big old sulk about it.
"Then we mount the tower the old-fashioned way," Mystique was saying.
"Now hold up, Mystique," Wolverine started, then paused. He suddenly turned to Storm and cried out: "Hey! I'm not leader anymore!"
If Wolverine was one to conduct "excessive celebration" post-touchdown, then he would have had a 15-yard penalty called on him just then.
Storm smiled at him. Bowed her head slightly. "Thank you for manning the helm in my absence," she told him. "Mystique. You are the leader of this government operation." Here, Storm swept her hand to the side to indicate Blob, Avalanche, Spiral, and the other hilariously named mutants standing in the plaza. "It is your duty to protect and serve civilians. It is our duty, as the renegades we are, to assume the risk and take the charge. The X-Men will climb the tower. We will pursue the hope Destiny has Seen. We have committed ourselves to this cause, to save the world at large."
And that was that. Except the X-Men also had a pair of hangers-on from the United Guilds trailing them, plus the cameraman, Neal. And two-dozen topless men and women from Somewhen B.C.
Once inside the tower, they were met with yet more strange sights. The entire building was filled with lush vegetation, oppressive heat and humidity, bursts of unexpected rainfall. Also the Viet Cong, who fired upon them. Having not found any Romans to stab, the Gaulish fighters made the best of things and took off into the jungle in pursuit of their new quarry. Having never seen the likes of Gaul's finest, the Viet Cong soldiers fled with much screaming. Gambit empathized, as he felt similarly prior to after-church potlucks with the other nine clans back home.
"It looks like Eagle Plaza isn't immune to the chaos," Havok said.
"No, there's so brimstone stink here," Wolverine responded. "This isn't demon-chaos. This is man-made. These are solid holograms. Part of Forge's technology."
Gambit wondered who in the heck wanted to spend their time in 1960s Vietnam, but at least the weather agreed with him. He glanced at Psylocke, who had kept by his side. He observed that she was "dewy." She cast him a "I might be amused, but I'm going to pretend you're annoying me" look.
"It does not look as though we will be using the elevator," Colossus said. "Or the stairs."
"Then we blast our way up!" Rogue announced and flew straight up and into the forest canopy. There was a crash and debris rained down from above. There were several more explosions, more chunks of cement, plaster, and metal tumbled down. The sounds faded somewhat as she continued to climb.
The rest of the X-Men sort of stood around looking at one another awkwardly at a loss for what to do. Gambit started laughing into the weird silence until Belle trod on his foot to get him to stop. The reporter attempted to interview Wolverine but was angrily rebuffed. Neal got a few soundbites from the rest of the team. Longshot was more than willing to respond to questions, and was significantly more telegenic.
"Why do you fight for this cause?" the reporter asked.
"To help my friends, of course!" Longshot cheerily replied with all the guile of a Disney princess.
"Is it really that simple?" the reporter persisted.
"Isn't it?"
Rogue eventually returned, floating downwards and brushing debris from her shoulders. Her dark black and green uniform was covered in white dust. "Ah think that's it! Should at least get us to the floor below the Aerie."
Rogue seized Logan and Colossus each by a hand and flew up with the two men in tow. A windstorm suddenly swept through the tower lobby, sending trees and vegetation whipping. Gambit reached out and clasped Belle's arm as he felt the winds begin to lift him from his feet.
"Stormy!" he called with alarm.
Storm fared him with a mischievous look. "Do not call me that," she said with a smile.
They were being pulled upwards through the hole in the ceiling, like a drain, but in reverse. Gambit had Belle clasped against him on one side, his free hand held Psylocke's.
Longshot zoomed past them and upwards. Apparently, he weighed next to nothing. "Whee!" he said.
"So on de list of de top weirdest things you've ever done…?" Gambit began.
"You're still de weirdest," Belle told him, her smile broad.
Storm's winds deposited the remaining X-Men at the topmost floor. It was another lobby with a grand staircase of floating glass risers going upwards to the Aerie. This place was even more densely covered with tropical vegetation. At the top of the staircase stood the man that could only be Forge. Gambit might've imagined the look on Storm's face as one of embarrassment, but he was going to be polite and say she was 'discomfited.'
"Ororo, what-?" Forge began. He ran a nervous hand over his head, his expression bewildered.
"We have a journalist," Storm said, cutting him off. "And it seems, little time for explanations."
The outer walls were made entirely of glass. Through them they could see the tear in the sky beyond, so much closer now that they were in the tower. The tear was growing ever-wider. Tiny figures tumbled from the tear...demons.
Forge nodded, signalled to their group to come up. Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Havok, Dazzler and Longshot climbed the staircase. Psylocke posed at the bottom step, turned and raised a hand to beckon. Belle and Gambit shared a look, then followed. The cameraman panned up the staircase, his camera watching the heroes climb light and glass against the backdrop of a dark and terrifying sky.
The Aerie was a technological marvel filled with various mechanics and clear glass floors. It might give one a sensation of walking through the air, that is, if the jungle hadn't encroached upon this place too. Vines, long grass, fronds and ferns tangled on the floor. They all stared up at the rend in the sky.
"The Adversary is in Roma's citadel above," Forge told them. "He cannot be destroyed. Only pushed back through his portal. He has Roma. Her powers sustain him."
"So we take the battle to him," Wolverine said. "Any thoughts on how to get up there?"
"Fly, obviously," Rogue said.
"The citadel is held aloft by a gale force wind," Forge said. "You may be able to get close, but not through. If Storm had her powers-."
"I have at least a portion of my former ability," Storm told him. "When I found myself reduced to this state, I regained the powers I had at the age of fourteen."
Forge looked somewhat relieved by this revelation, but equally ill-at-ease that his lady-love was now a teenybopper.
"We can just toss Longshot up there," Dazzler suggested. "He'd fly like a kite."
Gambit thought this was perhaps the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, but Longshot looked at Dazzler with glowing admiration. Rogue had threatened to launch Gambit into orbit once, and his reaction had been significantly different.
Forge handed Longshot a long coil of some kind of metal. "This won't break," he said. "I can affix you with a harness of the same material if you give me a few minutes."
"We're actually doin' this?" Belle said to Gambit out of the corner of her mouth.
"Well, you're not," Gambit told her. She looked furiously up at him.
"Like hell, you're going!" she shouted at him.
"What, you expect me t'just stand here and watch?"
"No! Seein' as how you're blind!"
Gambit pointed at her belly. "You want us t'raise a baby in a world fulla demons?" he hissed at her.
"Dis ain't our fight!"
"We pledged a life-debt," Gambit retorted. "I only got to save one of their lives, and it's even-steven!"
"You damned couyon! I won't let you throw away your life!"
Gambit suddenly felt a searing pain in his head. He clapped his hands over his eyes, unable to stop the hellish vision of a bloody and brutal war, horrifying atrocities, burning bodies, the bodies of nine men, dead. Their blood on his hands...Forge's hands. "...their life force I have claimed. Now let the strength of their warrior souls open wide this last and greatest gate that their death may be avenged! Spirits I have summoned in the ancient tongue and by the sacred ways..."
"Gambit!"
He found himself on the ground again, this was getting embarrassing. Belle looked stricken. Psylocke had her hand on his shoulder, her expression was very grave. She must have seen what he had seen. She was joined by Storm and Forge.
Gambit asked: "Ugh...does anyone have an air discomfort bag?"
"Another prediction?" Storm asked.
"No…" Forge began. "That was...from the past. When I originally opened the portal, and accidentally freed The Adversary. When the people in my unit were gunned down in Vietnam. And I thought to avenge their deaths...with magic."
Storm gazed at him first with a look of empathy...and then with fear. She stood, resolved. "If you can open the gate, you can close it as well."
Forge was shaking his head slowly. "No…I can't. I won't use the magic again."
"It is your birthright," she told him. "And our only hope."
Gambit perused his mental catalogue. Portal? Portal. Let's see. Porta Potty. No. Portkey? No, that was Harry Potter. Portents comma Of Doom? None of those were helpful. Damn, no entries under 'portal.' He climbed to his feet. The X-Men were committed to their stupid plan. Rogue punched a hole in the glass wall which exploded outward into the encroaching night. Longshot was strapped with a harness, the lead played out behind him. One by one, each X-person picked up the line.
These little angels all dressed in white. Trying to get to heaven on the end of a kite...
Gambit handed Belle his coat. "Hang on t'dis for me?"
Belle shook her head even as he draped the coat over her shoulders. He kissed her on the mouth, tasted her tears.
"Keep safe? You and de precious cargo?" Remy asked.
"Anne-Marie is a good name, I suppose," Belle responded, her voice tight. He grinned at her before turning to follow the X-Men. Belle called: "Wait!"
Gambit turned. Belle extended the blades she'd borrowed from Longshot. She told him: "Don't bother with playing cards. Demons hate steel."
Colossus was serving as an anchor. The armored man smiled and nodded at him as he approached, then made a gesture as if he were inviting Gambit to join a party. Gambit was about to assume his place at the end of the line….
One little devil all dressed in red. Trying to get to heaven on the end of a thread. But the thread string broke and down they all fell. Instead of going to heaven they all went to…
...when he was joined by the reporter. The man attempted to question him, but the answers Gambit provided were not to his satisfaction. Mr. Neal Conan glared at him with frustration.
"You realize the entire world is watching?" he asked.
"Really...? Hey, daddy! I'm on de tee-vee! Enh, Tatie! Love and kisses. Oh yeah, Go Saints!"
Then with a sudden jerk, he realized they were leaving. His hands gripped the metal lead and he was off his feet and headed up towards the hole Rogue had created. Both Rogue and Storm held Longshot by either arm as they guided him into the sky. Then came Wolverine, Forge, Dazzler, Havok, Psylocke, Gambit, that pesky reporter, and lastly Colossus, who transformed back into his human form so that he might be lifted as well. Rogue literally threw the Longshot boy at the citadel and sure enough, he was caught in a gale and then they were all cast into orbit. The winds ripped at Remy's clothes and hair.
Owing to the injury he sustained on his shoulder, Gambit felt his grip slipping. He dared cast a glance downward, the Aerie now far below. He struggled to pull himself back up the lead, fearing he'd take both the reporter and Colossus down with him. Suddenly, Rogue was there, gripping his arm, dragging him back to his position in line. She grasped the line as well, just above him.
"Y'alright, sugah?" she asked, gazing down at him with a small smile.
"Right as rain," he answered. His chest squeezed painfully tight, and not just due to the sudden lack of oxygen.
Storm was attempting to direct the winds. Longshot threw out a grappling line where it connected with an exterior wall. Dazzler fired a tight beam of light at the wall, burning a perfect circle through the building's glassy surface. Wolverine leapt from his place in line to fall into the circle, crashing through it and making an entrance. Longshot was pulling them all along now, arm over arm as Wolverine dragged on the grappling line to shorten the distance.
Stay close, Psylocke told Gambit. I will keep our link open.
Gambit agreed silently. Rogue helped pull him through the opening and all at once he found himself free of the tearing winds. The interior of the citadel was a confusion of both magical and technological strangeness. Wolverine was soon joined by Rogue, who began battering back a group of demons to allow the rest of the team to enter. Wolverine's claws made short work of the horned, clawed, scaled and winged creatures. One punch by Colossus had dozens sprawling, their skin burning and slavering mouths squealing in agony. Longshot's knives sent many more back to Hell. Storm held several at bay with her winds and lightning, protecting Forge as he was now resolved to prepare some kind of magical defense. He folded himself onto the floor. Criss-cross applesauce.
Gambit and Psylocke guarded the human reporter while making their way to a stone pillar at the center of the room. A woman was trapped within, half in-half out of the stonework. Dazzler and Havok were covering them as they made progress, blasting demons from the air. Psylocke was first to reach Roma. She was an ethereally beautiful creature who looked human but was somehow more. If Gambit wasn't a faithful servant of Christ, fallen and returned, he might have suffered another lapse of faith. Imposingly tall, fair skin, ink-black hair pulled into a long tail flowing from the top of her head. Psylocke searched for a way to free her from the column.
"I could try to disintegrate the stonework," Gambit said. "So how indestructible you feel today, mon ange?"
The creature smiled beautifically at him. "I will only be freed when The Adversary is cast back."
Her voice seemed to resonate inside of him. Gambit thought talking with gods was not something he was mentally prepared for. Pretty sure he was going to pass on any opportunities to have a meet-and-greet with Thor. He was experiencing the overwhelming sensation that he did not belong here.
"You are a fly in the ointment," she told him. "Misplaced in time."
"Can you help me find my keys, too?"
"But your presence is fortuitous," Roma said. "You were called."
"Didn't think my number was listed."
Psylocke let out a cry and Gambit turned his attention to her. She had launched a psybolt at a man who might have been related to Forge. Nazé, Dazzler had said. The man's presence emanated pure chaotic energy. Gambit felt something in him call out to the being, like an answering beacon. Hey, me too…
The creature grinned wide enough to split its face in two. Gambit felt overwhelming revulsion, even as he was inexorably drawn to the thing.
"Your psionic abilities have no ill effect on me," the man told Psylocke and strode forward, moving toward Gambit with a fervent gleam in his eyes.
A knife dropped into Gambit's palm. He charged it and his arm swept in an upward arc, throwing the steel blade at the man. The spike spiraled and struck the man in the eye. The creature howled, throwing himself backwards. When Wolverine attacked, several deep gashes formed in the being, revealing a vaporous form beneath. Colossus was suddenly rushing forward with the force of a freight train, pulverizing the menacing creature. The Adversary seemed to tear apart and what was then revealed was even more terrifying. Huge, hunched blackness that sucked in all light. A horrible red gash of a mouth and two more for eyes. Long limbs ended in hooked claws. Longshot swung past, his grappling line twisting around the column. Every time he passed he released a volley of spikes. The thing shrank back with a howl of rage. Gambit dropped another blade into his hand. It did not burn him. He wrapped his fingers around it, cutting himself. Bled perfectly normal red blood.
Across the room, amidst the flailing demons, a bright golden door opened in space. Rogue, Dazzler, and Havok were struggling to keep the hordes away from Forge, who was completely vulnerable. Storm crouched at his side and offered encouragement. But once the door started to open, the lesser demons began to be drawn to the portal. They struggled to claw their way back. But then The Adversary was drawn away too, taking a swath of demons with him. Gambit was half-afraid he'd be sucked in as well, but nope, all that nonsense about him being the devil was proved false. Totally human, over here!
The Adversary was clinging to the edges of the portal. Most alarming, he was grinning with his foul red mouth.
"You haven't the power to seal the portal," The Adversary told Forge in a satisfied voice. "You cannot send me back!"
"Psylocke," Roma said. "Project my voice."
Psylocke nodded and suddenly, they could all hear Roma speak into their minds. The power resides in the souls of those gathered. Nine warrior souls were stolen that day in the past, when the gate was opened. Nine warrior souls must return to seal the portal, willingly given.
Okay, quick math here...seven, eight, nine...not counting Forge and the reporter. Gambit hated math.
"But…" Forge began. "They will die!"
A noble sacrifice, to save the world, the universe. Nine is not so many.
The Adversary renounced the idea with a laugh. "Yes, willingly greet your deaths, mortals! Sacrifice your very souls! You've failed, Roma!"
Hell, what did this guy know? Gambit wouldn't do it for the universe, no. But for two people, just two, one waiting on earth below, the other not yet born, absolutely. Maybe Gambit wasn't the first to step forward, but he did fall in with the ranks. He passed the reporter.
"Why are you doing this?" Neal asked. "You're not even an X-Man."
Gambit shrugged: "Monkey see, monkey do."
Ororo told Forge: "We must truly die. Forge, I do love you still. May we meet again."
"Take the news junkie back, will ya?" Wolverine told Forge.
Elisabeth turned to the cameraman. "Brian," she told the camera. "Goodbye."
Rogue: "G'bye mamma...Renie. Ah love you!"
Alex looked down and away. "Good luck...brother."
Logan raised a hand in farewell. "Shadowcat. Nightcrawler. Jean."
Remy wasn't about to say his family members' names on television. "See you in de next life," he said instead.
And then Forge was chanting. Chanting and weeping. The demon, The Adversary, was squalling and ranting. Doors were closing upon him, yet still he would not budge. A blade, Belle's blade, flew through the air, striking the demon and casting him away. Remy turned his gaze in a different direction, not wanting to look at the glowing door and whatever lay beyond. He saw Rogue, and this time, when he offered her his hand, she took it. He thought Logan wouldn't go for the whole man-hug thing (Emil had certainly tested the man's boundaries at Mardi Gras). So Remy took Ororo's hand too, still stuck in a little girl's body, but more adult than he'd ever be. The light became so bright, it did not matter that Remy couldn't see with his eyes.
But then there was nothing. Nothing at all.
Next time: The Revelations will be televised.
A/N: A lot of this chapter has taken beats directly from Claremont's X-Men Fall of the Mutants storyline. Some of the more "extravagant" dialogue is his as well. Anything pertaining to Gambit, however, is my own creation as he was not an X-Man at the time.