Chapter 2

They were met with the sight of a huge room full of wooden crates. It had no
other doors or windows. There was nothing but a small pathway otherwise blocked
by a wall of crates that went to the ceiling. They slowly walked through the
break of crates to the other side, and were met with the sight of none other
than the blindfolded girl. She was tied to a chair. They looked around, but
curiously enough no one else was there. Still cautiously they walked up to her,
but nothing happened. Storm kept a watch on the door while Gambit untied the
woman.
"How're you, chere?" He asked, grinning at her. She brushed off her clothes
and looked up at him, seemingly noticing him for the first time.
"What took you so long? Man my eyes hurt. They been blindfolded the whole
time!" She complained.
"Did you....have your cash and jewels stolen by them?" Storm asked, hinting
about her deal about them getting the money no matter what.
"....what jewels and money?" She asked. Suddenly a look of remembrance came
over her face. "oh yah...uhh.....I don't know where they put it. Let's just
go." She replied. Gambit and Storm exchanged looks, and watched as she made
her way to another door.
"C'mon, here's the front door." She said. Gambit stood stock still and stared
at her.
"How you know where de door is, if'n y'd been blindfolded the whole time?" He
demanded. She stared back at him, her mind obviously racing. Gambit
concentrated on making his glare more menacing. His eyes brightened and the red
glowed like fire. She backed up a bit, visibly intimidated by the ferocity of
his eyes. Suddenly a shout of warning from Storm broke his concentration. He
whirled around and saw three burly men walk up behind them.
"Great job, Tasha. You can go now." The middle one said. Gambit looked back
at her walking towards the door.
"Tasha." He shouted over his shoulder. She looked back at him, and the let a
charged card fly towards her face. She screamed as the card exploded, but he
had stopped watching by then. His full concentration was on the three men.
One was holding a chain, the other a lead pipe and the final one had brass
knuckles on. They had obviously been waiting for them.
"Look alive dere, Stormy." Gambit said as he threw a handful of charged cards
at them. She summoned the docile wind and made the cards shoot towards the
'kidnappers' even faster. The crooks dodged and split up with minimal damage
and the man with the brass knuckles came towards him. He watched the man with
the lead pipe advance on Storm. The middle one--the obvious leader stayed where
he was, methodically wrapping the chain around his hand, over and over--waiting
for the outcome.

While fighting the brass knuckled man, Gambit snuck a look over at how Storm
was faring. He knew that she could take care of herself, but this was
different. It was inside and her powers were noticibly weaker. She had no
access to lightning, or anything else that couldn't travel through the building
without killing everyone inside, and her wind was weak. Gambit threw several
cards in the direction of his attacker hitting him head on, and after seeing him
laying unmoving on the floor, he faced the man with the lead pipe.
"D' y' enjoy fighting little children, homme?" He shouted, holding out his
bo-staff. The man grinned at the chalenge and took a few steps forwards.
Gambit was just ready for an attack when Gambit heard Storm scream. He looked
over at her and saw that Tasha was holding onto her, and covering her mouth with
her hand. He suddenly realized Storm was screaming to warn him. The blow to
the back of his head make everything flash colourfully. He stumbled forwards a
few feet and tried to right his thoughts. He was just pulling cards out of his
trenchcoat when the man with the lead pipe slammed it in his stomach. He
dropped the cards and doubled over with pain, cursing the fact he had forgotten
the man with the chain. A knee connected sharply with his face, and at the same
time the chain wrapped around his ankles, and yanked him off his feet, and onto
the ground. Looking through his squinting eyes, he saw Storm break free from
Tasha. She ran a few feet and stopped when she saw him shake his head 'no'.
She paused regretfully, and flew in the air out of reach. The no had meant go.
It was a meaning just for moments like this. Tasha seemed unconcerned that she
had gotten away, and was watching the two men kick Gambit viciously. The girl
flew up throught the way they had come, and watched what happened next throught
the sunroof with tear-filled eyes. She left it propped up slightly to hear what
they'd say. Tasha was still holding one side of her face. When her hand came
away, Storm saw that the skin was charred and burnt from the card Gambit had
flung at her. She grinned despite the situation. Tasha was no longer
beautiful. Gambit was being held up by the lead pipe man and the newly
recovered brass knuckle man. The man with the chain was swinging the chain
around idly and pacing back and forth in front of Gambit, who seemed unable to
stand at all. His head drooped, but Storm could still see a bloody lip, and a
gash across his forehead. His breathing seemed to pain him itself, and she
guessed at broken ribs. The brass knuckle man let go for a second and Gambit
slumped down a bit on his knee. Storm saw that the back of his head was upset
with blood. She felt a rage rise up inside of her. They were going to pay! It
was an unfair fight to begin with. She suddenly concentrated when she heard the
main man speak. He had stopped in front of Gambit and was holding his chin up
so that he could look him in the eyes. The brass knuckle man was holding him up
on his side again.
"Us criminals, we been after you for ages. Not only're you a mutant freak--you
been gettin' rid of all our merchandise. I heard a snippet that you couldn't
stand seein' a lady in distress. To top it all off, we put her with money.
Knew you couldn't refuse the offer." Storm saw Gambit's eyes glaze a bit. He
was going unconscious. The lead man whacked him on the side of the head until
Gambit looked back at him.
"Get him to the basement." The man said, walking away. Storm watched the two
men half carry, half drag Gambit in through another room. Tasha looked
nervously at the lead man, opened her mouth to say something but changed her
mind. Quietly she left the building. The lead man paced around a bit
muttering, then started looking out the window.
"That little runt ran off. Hah, bet that made the cajun feel good. His own
friend deserting him." He laughed a bit, then after half an hour he walked
through a hidden door in the wall. Storm saw a well lavished room on the other
side before the door closed. For the first time in her life, Storm had no idea
what to do. A job had never gone wrong before, and Gambit was always there to
help her make decisions...but now she was by herself. What should she do? She
could phone the police...but then they'd know. Gambit always said the police
should never be called. "People, dey should take care o' dere own problems.
Den dey'll end f'r good. T'rowin' de people in jail jus' makes dem madder when
dey get out." The word of advice was so clear, Gambit might as well of been
there to re-tell it to her. But he wasn't, and she was going to save him.
Right now! Slowly she lowered herself down the sunroof and landed almost as
quietly as Gambit could on the pavement floor. She could see a small pool of
his blood on the ground a few feet away. She went up to the door the two men
had gone through and listened to the other side. No noise whatsoever. She
opened it and saw a small grimy descent of stairs. That was all that was in the
room except another door at the end. She could hear two people arguing on the
other side.
"It's your turn to guard!" One voice shouted.
"I did it last time!" The other growled back. She grinned and made her way
down the stairs. This must be the basement they had spoke of. It was very
dark. She wished she could see in it better, but she couldn't. There wasn't a
single window out, and she groped on the wall till she found a small switch.
Switching it up, a small dingy light bulb lit the room. It was surprisinly like
a normal warehouse basement. She went past the crates and found another door.
Walking through it, she gasped at the transformation the basement went through.
It was fashioned as a prison, and in the back wall, shackled by his wrists to
the wall was Gambit. His head was on his chest, and he didn't move.
"Gambit!" She whispered furiously, as she knelt down by his side. She shook
his shoulder lightly, and he groaned.
"Gambit!" She said, louder this time. His eyelids flickered, and his eyes
opened.
"Stormy, whachoo doin' here, 'tite?" He asked, his words slurred slightly by
his split lip.
"I am going to get you out of here, Gambit. Do you think you can walk?" She
asked.
"Anythin' f'r a friend, Stormy." He replied. She studied the shackles and
noticed them to be of primitive make. All it was was an iron pin holding it
closed. She opened them and Gambit slumped on his hands and knees.
"Jus gimme a minute, 'tite. I be alright in a moment." She waited patiently
until he had caught his breath and regained his composure, before he stood up
shakily. Storm stood next to him, and flinging an arm over her shoulder, Gambit
walked steadily by her side. They made it up the stairs slowly but surely, and
passed the door where the two goons were arguing. The most suspensful part was
when they passed quiet as ghosts past the wherabouts of the hidden door, and it
seemed like hours before they reached the crisp cold air of the early morning.
In the distance, the sun was threatening to rise any moment.
"'tite...Gimme a moment." Gambit said, limping over to the building wall.
There he firmly placed his two hands and slowly but surely, the wall began to
flare a light red. He paled visibly and began to sweat, but kept at it. He had
to time it right so he wouldn't disturb the buildings beside him, but enough to
kill everyone inside. Hoping his estimate was right--he let go, and running
next to Storm, the two of them made it behind a car before the explosion rocked
the street. Gambit and Storm hit the ground, and Gambit threw his arm over
Storms back, protecting the two of them from falling debris with his trench
coat. The people inside never even got a chance to scream.


Several alley's behind them, a woman with a half burnt face watched with scorn
and disgust at the pair before she ran off into the shadows.

The End

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That was a fun story to write. I think I'll write more about Gambit and
Storm's adventures of robbing criminals, and Tasha is a sure return. She'll be
angry at Gambit for making her ugly.

~*Card
Gambit*~