Chapter 6

Gambit hit the ground running hard for the trees. Trailing behind him was a string of French curses that would have anyone who understood them running as well. The main subject of his cursing was his own stupidity. He had somehow felt the need to impress his opponents with his toughness, and his vault over the wall had strained his wounded arm too far. It now hung useless by his side as he ran, clutching it to keep it from throwing his stride off. The rest of his curses were for his own carelessness. One of the first rules of his line of work was to not get distracted, and he had broken it in the first five minutes. Now he was paying for his lack of judgment with blood.

As soon as he got to the edge of the forest he stopped. He had to figure out how he had been discovered. He knew it couldn't be one of the telepaths, his mental shields combined with the unique nature of his mutant powers would keep any of them out. It had to have been that guy with the claws. He slowed his flat out run to a jog, his head starting to clear somewhat. In his profession knowledge wasn't just a luxury, it was life, and Gambit in particular had a knowledge of mutants. When he had accepted this job he had done his own research on each of them, and had come up with a name attached to professor Xavier. Wolverine. He had dismissed it at the time, thinking that a man with the ideals of the professor wouldn't associate with as notorious a figure as the Wolverine. Obviously that thinking needed to be adjusted. That Xavier would house a famous killing machine in the same house as children meant one of two things. Either he himself was being coerced (Ya right) or he had somehow managed to tame the beast. Either way, it meant a serious adjustment of plans and tactics.

The fact that his friend was part of their team also changed things drastically. He now had a personal connection, which was always dangerous. It also meant that Essex knew a lot more about him than he liked. He had deliberately not told him about Ororo to keep him from refusing the job and he hadn't told him about Wolverine to keep him from being suspicious. Maybe it was time to reevaluate the entire mission.



They all stood staring at Wolverine and Storm, dazed by what they had just witnessed. Xavier was the first to come to. "All of you, let's get Logan inside quickly. We need to find out what this Gambit did to him and see if we can reverse it."

Most of the students quickly surrounded him and herded him towards the house, leaving Rogue and Storm standing by the wall. Storm was staring at the place where Gambit had disappeared and Rogue was staring at her.

"Uh, Miss Munroe..." she trailed off for a moment, gathering her thoughts and her courage. "How... how do you know that guy, and who is he?"

Ororo sighed heavily and turned to face the young girl. "He is my friend." she replied quietly. "I met him a few years ago down in New Orleans. I had lost my memory and been wandering the streets for three days before he found me. Even though he was much younger, he wanted to help me. He didn't even ask for anything in return. I think he just wanted a friend, more than anything."

"But didn't he have his own friends? What I mean is, why would he be so desp'rate?"

"I'm sure you noticed his eyes. His mutation is very evident and it made it difficult for him to even be around people. Even those who should have been like family to him feared him. They called him Le Diable Blanc. It means The White Devil. Not something you would call friendly."

"But why help you? Ah'm sure he could have found someone who would accept him."

"Oh, he had people who accepted him. He was a member of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. One of the very best of a group of professional thieves. But he is a good person, despite his chosen occupation. He doesn't like to see people hurting," here she grinned quickly, "especially women. But that is beside the point. He was a good friend. When my memory came back, I remembered my mutant powers. When I used them, Professor Xavier found me and recruited me. I wasn't able to find him before we had to leave. Now it appears he was hired by an enemy of ours. I don't know what I can do."

Rogue reached out a gloved hand and patted her friend on the arm. "Don't worry. Ah'm sure things will turn out for the best." She left Storm standing outside and headed back to the mansion and her bed. She was too excited to sleep however, her mind going over and over the events of the night. She climbed out of bed with the sun shining through her window, bleary eyed, but with a terrible suspicion growing in the back of her mind.

She refused to talk to anyone at breakfast, thankful that what conversation there was was centered around Logan, who was up and about, his body having absorbed the energy that the metal bonded to his bones had been charged with. When Scott told everyone to pile in his car she complied immediately, without her usual wait. She even ignored his frequent glances at Jean and the playful banter between them. As her friends chattered away, she brooded about her suspicions. All night she had heard Gambit's smooth Cajun accent running through her head, threatening Wolverine. Her mind had inexplicably flashed back to that day, when Remy had given her a ride home. He had seen Logan and left in a rush, saying something to her about a rain check. She had thought at the time that his accent had changed from that painfully correct French accent to one much more like Gambit's. She had dismissed it as her imagination before, but now she wasn't so sure.

When they arrived at school she was the first out of the car, practically running to her first class. She had to find Remy and talk to him, and since they had their first class together, that seemed the logical place to begin. When she got to her classroom she found the door slightly ajar and, peeking in, saw Remy sitting at his desk wearing a long red sweater and aparently sleeping with his head resting on his folded arms.

As soon as she started to swing the door open so she could slip through Remy's head shot up and and looked right at her through his dark sunglasses. He broke into a tired smile at her surprise. "Hello chere." he greeted her quietly. "What brings you to the classroom so early?"

Now that she was face to face with him, she suddenly didn't know quite what to do. If he really was Gambit, then she had no idea how he might react. He may try to escape or he may attack her. If he wasn't then she would look like a fool, and there was little that she hated more than looking like a fool. She looked down at her hands to find herself wringing them in front of her. Stop that she told herself, putting her hands determinedly into her pockets.

Remy cocked his head to the, her obvious discomfort not lost on him. "What's the matter, chere?" he asked quietly. "You look upset." To his surprise, he genuinely wanted to know.

She looked at him cautiously for a moment, wondering how much would be wise to tell him. If he was the one who had broken in it wouldn't matter at all, but if he wasn't then how much should she say? How much did she want to say? "Well... last night someone broke inta our house."

Only years of practice kept any surprise from showing on his face. This was the last thing he had expected her to say. He had guessed by now that her nervousness was because she suspected who he really was, but that she would tell him this even in light of that stunned him. He found himself replying automatically. "Is everyone alright, chere."

There it was again, almost imperceptible this time. His accent had changed slightly when he had said chere. "Yeah, we're all fine. The only one who even really got hurt was the thief."

"How did you catch him?"

"Logan came home late and found him prowlin' around the place. 'Course, he almost got hurt himself, but he's fine."

Remy felt a strange relief at that. He hadn't wanted to hurt any of them, even if they were his targets. "That's good, at least."

Suddenly Rogue couldn't stand it any more. She had to know if Remy was the one who had broken in or not. His eyes would definitely give him away. For some reason she hadn't been able to get those smoldering red eyes out her head, and that silky voice had kept her awake most of the night. Her hand darted out to grab his sunglasses.

And stopped an inch short with his hand around her wrist, holding her tightly through the cloth of her shirt. "Easy chere, you know Remy has sensitive eyes," he said cooly, pulling her fingers away from his face.

She looked at him in shock. She knew she had possibly the best reflexes on the team next to Kurt. She had to since her powers hadn't afforded her any kind of protection before. She knew she was fast, and Remy had caught her with no warning whatsoever.

"Now chere, what was that all about?" he asked curiously, cocking his head slightly to the side.

Rogue pulled her hand away from his warm grip and looked away for a moment, biting her lip cutely. Taking a deep breath she turned back to Remy and looked him straight in the eyes. "Was it you?"

"Was what me, chere?" he asked innocently, his mind racing. What should I do? She knows.

"Don't play dumb with me Remy," she bit out savagely. "Were you the one who broke into our house last night?"

And for the first time in his life, the carefully crafted lie that was his alibi froze on Gambit's tounge, refusing to come out. He realized that, for some reason, he couldn't lie to her. With that realization came the sure knowledge that he was caught and his mission was over. Heaving a great sigh, he stood up and grasped her arm. "Come wit me, chere. We got tings to talk about."

Rogue was too shocked to think straight. It was him. The same accent. The same voice! She followed his tugging blindly as he led her from the room and down the hall, her mind reeling and trying to come to grips. Before she knew it she was sitting behind him once more on his motorcycle racing down the streets toward the mansion.



"I can't believe your defending that punk, Storm." Wolverine growled, pacing up and down the length of the study that the three resident adults of the mansion were gathered in. "He breaks in here, practically blows the place up, disappears off the radar and you say it's no big deal?"

"I am not defending his actions, Logan," she responded calmly. "I merely stated that what he did last night is of very little importance compared with why he did it. Gambit is a professional thief, and we need to find out who hired him, and for what purpose." She stared back at him almost challengingly.

"I agree, Ororo," Professor Xavier interjected before Logan could come up with a rejoinder. "I would very much like to talk with this young man. Aside from the knowledge we might gain of his employers identity and goals, his skills might prove very useful to us. Unfortunately I have so far had very little luck in locating him. It seems his mental shields are quite formidable. Is it possible that you might be able to locate him for us?

Storm sighed thoughtfully, shaking her head slightly. "I might be able to help him to find me. If I put the word out that I am looking for him, he may contact me on his own. I doubt that he would come here again, though.

"Yer darn right about that," Logan interrupted, unsheathing his claws. "Next time that punk comes around here, I'm gonna slice up more than his arm."

Professah!!!

Xavier heard Rogues voice ringing in her head, drowning out the impending arguement between Logan and Ororo. What is it, Rogue? What's wrong.

Ah found him. Ah found Gambit. He was that new kid at school. He's bringing me back to the mansion. What should ah do?

Try to calm down, Rogue. We will meet you outside. Xavier looked up at the other two who had noticed his silence and were watching him curiously. "It appears that Rogue has done our work for us. She has found Gambit, and they will both be here in a few minutes. I suggest we go outside to meet them."

Both teachers stood dumbstruck for a moment, staring first at each other and then at the retreating back of Xavier as he wheeled to the front door. Logan growled and stalked after him, with Storm following close behind. By the time they reached the warm sunshine outside, they could hear the throaty rumble of a motorcycle coming down the road.

"Harley Davidson," Wolverine remarked to no one in particular.

Suddenly the bike they had been hearing swung into the driveway and gunned up to them, sliding to a stop in front of the steps leading up into the mansion. Rogue leapt off the back and tore her helmet off, retreating to the safety of her teachers and Gambit swung casually off the bike.

"We gotta talk, mon ami," he said without preample to Xavier.

"Indeed we do. But first I must know why you are here," Xavier replied.

"I'm here to help my friend."

"Who sent you, kid," Wolverine demanded, unsheathing his claws for emphasis.

"His name is Sinister.