Sorry to everyone who has been waiting for this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. I plan on updating regularly from now on.

Chapter 8

Gambit made his way back to the abandoned house that he had claimed for this operation. Spreading his duster on the floor he lay down on top of it and closed his eyes. A moment later he heard a quiet beeping coming from his packs. Fetching them, he located the source of the disturbing noise. A slim black computer. With a sinking feeling he opened it slowly. The screen flickered to life, showing a face pale as death staring back at him.

"Ah, Gambit so good to see you again." came the carefully modulated voice, sounding impressive even over the tiny built in speakers. "How goes your job?"

"Jus' great," he answered carefully. Now was not the time to give away his position. "I tink de're startin' to trust me. I was able to get one of them to take me up to their mansion." He decided to dig just a little for some information, to find out where Essex really stood. "De're was a little problem dough. A man there dat wasn' on your scout reports. Any idea who dat might be?" He kept the accusation out of his voice, trying for the proper balance of professionalism and casual curiosity.

If Gambit hadn't been looking for it he never would have seen the slight hint of annoyance flash across Sinister's face, quickly replaced by consternation. "I have no idea who that might be. Perhaps it is time to move forward with our plans. Have you been able to get a feel for the group?"

Remy felt a slightly sick feeling. It was too soon for them to attack. If they struck now the X-Men wouldn't be ready. He had to find a way to delay Sinister. "De're pretty tight wit each ot'er. Give me a little more time to divide 'em and den you can come in and do de conquering." He silently held his breath as he watched the other man consider this information.

After a moment Essex shook his head. "I don't believe that will be necessary. If we strike at them in a public place they will be reluctanct to use their powers where others might see them. That will give us enough of an advantage. You may choose the place, just make sure that they are there."

"Ah still don't tink dis is a good idea..." he began almost desperately.

"I did not ask for you assessment of my plan. I merely require you to do your job."

Gambit swallowed. Dis ain't goin good. I gotta tink fast. He looked back at him steadily. "Fine den. I'll have dem in de park at eight o'clock tonight. Have your thugs be dere on time."

"Very well. Eight o'clock then."

The screen went black and Remy fell backwards onto his duster, hands over his face. He spent a few seconds indulging in the luxury of cursing in French. After he had gone through every combination he could remember he sat up and reached for his bags again. Opening the first aid kit he found there he stripped off his sweater and started reapplying a bandage to his left arm grimacing as he wiped the puncture wound clean with an alcohol swab. It's a good ting that Wolverine got some sharp claws. I can still mostly use my arm. Mebbe I'll be enough to make de difference. Resolutely he tightened the clean bandage around his and and reached a third time into the bags. This time his hands came back out holding his personalized body armor. It was a two piece set, the top having no sleeves and a light redish dye to identify him to other members of the thieves guild. The bottoms had the same tinting, unnoticeable except at close quarters. The entire thing was made of triple layered kevlar, woven through with sensor absorbing thread, making it extremely difficult to identify him with any kind of scanners, body heat sensors or other.

Gambit sat there staring at it for several long minutes. Ever since he had been kicked out of the thieves guild, he had tried to stay away from anything that reminded him of his past connection with them. This time, however, he had a feeling he was going to need every advantage he could get. He slowly stripped, his lean body shivering at the frigid New York air. Still ain't used to dis cold, he thought wryly. The old body armor felt stiff and unfamiliar as he put it on and stretched quickly. He finished his ensemble with his bo staff back in it's old pocket along his thigh and his cards, this time in twin wrist packs, and he even exchanged his regular Ray Bans for a pair of bulletproof polarized shades. He slipped back into his duster last of all and gathered up all of his belongings. Loading them on the back of his motorcycle, a cloud of dust was all that remained behind as he swiftly made his way back towards the X-Men's mansion.

"Hey Rogue, vere have you been?" Kurt asked amiably as Rogue set her tray down beside him at the table.

"Your teachers said you didn't show up for any of your morning classes." Scott said sternly, giving her a disapproving look.

"Ah didn't feel well, so Remy gave me a ride back ta the mansion. Logan just dropped me off."

"Hey, where is Remy?" Evan piped up.

"Who cares?" Rogue replied hotly. "He's a jerk."

The whole table looked at her in shock. "Why, what did he do?" Scott asked, switching from stern to protective leader mode. Any other time it would have made Rogue feel a little better to know that he was worried about her, but right now it just annoyed her.

"Rogue, he didn't, like, try to pull anything on you, did he?" Kitty asked in concern.

"Like it'd do him any good anyway," she answered bitterly.

An awkward silence settled on the table and no one spoke until the bell rang to send them back to their classes. Rogue pushed away her barely touched tray of food and stalked off, the others staring after her.

"Man is she ticked off," Evan commented into the silence.

"Yeah. You'd think she'd just been, like, dumped." Everyone stared at Kitty. "What?"

"Look 'Ro, I just don't like the kid. You said yourself that he's a thief for hire, and he's been hired to hurt us." Logan argued. He and Storm had been arguing ever since he had gotten back from dropping Rogue off at school. He had never seen her this angry before, and it was starting to effect the weather around the mansion, the air growing chilling, and a fog gathering on the grounds.

"I have told you, Logan, it is because he is a professional that we can trust him now. He took the job under misinformation, and that itself is ground for him to drop the job. Beside, you don't even know him." With that she stalked up the stairs to the remnants of her attic.

Wolverine growled under his breath. What did he care if she didn't agree with him. It wasn't his problem that she was upset. But somehow it was. It genuinely bothered him that something he had done had upset her. Yer gettin' soft he told himself with a grimace, going outside and sitting on the front porch to smoke his cigar. He had finished it, mulling over the problem with Ororo, and was just about to get back up when he heard the familiar sound of a mortorcycle coming up the hill. His eyes narrowed as his enhanced hearing picked up the subtle sounds mixed into it. It was the same bike. That Gambit kid was coming back.

As Gambit pulled up to the front steps he saw Wolverine blocking the front door with his arms crossed. Throwing his duster back he dismounted and stood looking warily at the older man, waiting for him to make the first move.

"What you doin' here, punk?" Wolverine growled at him suspiciously, not moving a muscle.

"You got bigger problems den me, homme. I need to talk to de professor."

"How bout I take care of the little problem first," he replied taking a threatening step closer.

"Dis isn' about me an you finishin' our spat, claws. Dis is about Rogue, an de others, bein' kept safe an whole." Remy said loudly.

"What? What are you talkin' about?"

"Sinister is gonna make a grab for dem tonight. I tol' him I'd get them into the park at eight. Dey ain't gonna stand a chance if we don' help em."

Logan looked at him hard for a few seconds, searching his eyes for any sign of deception. All he could could see were the eyes of a proffesional, someone like himself who had seen too much. And underneath that, almost completely buried, a concern and fear. "Let's go talk to Xavier then. We gotta do somethin'."

Gambit followed Wolverine down the hallways of the mansion, almost unconsciously noting the locations of potential exits as well as appraising the value of paintings and vases strewn throughout the building. They had reached a tall door, and Wolverine unceremoniously pushed it open and walked inside.

"Chuck, we gotta big problem." he said without preamble.

Xavier glanced past him at Gambit, mild surprise showing on his face. "I imagine this is something that we all should hear, let me have Storm come down." His expression went blank for a second, then returned to normal. "She will be down in a moment. May I offer you something?" he asked Gambit politely.

"Non." he said tensely, anxious for Storm to arrive so they could begin planning on how to protect the students. As soon as she arrived, he laid the situation before them in it's entirety, leaving nothing out. When he finished, there was a heavy silence.

"So this Dr. Essex is a geneticist who is apparently obsessed with genetic perfection?" Xavier asked with interest.

"Sorta," Gambit replied with a grimace. "From what I've heard, he believes in de genetic breeding and manipulation of mutants for his own goals. Somethin' about preparin' for de Apoclypse or some such."

"And he wishes to capture our students to forward his goals." Storm added quietly.

"Dat's right. He is most interested in Scott and Jean, and Rogue. He's plannin' on kidnapping as many as he can tonight." He was pacing the floor anxiously, red eyes glowing as he stared at the floor.

"So we go meet em and kick their butts. Problem solved." Logan growled, his claws shooting out with a steely shnict.

"I would prefer to avoid any open confrontations, Logan." the professor chided.

"Ain't gonna work, mon ami. If he don' get what he wants tonight, he'll jus' keep tryin' till he does. At least dis way we got de element of surprise. When know when and where he's gonna be, and he don' know that he'll be up against the three of us." He ignored Logan's surprised glance in his direction.

Xavier considered this carefully. "Very well, I see your point. I will contact the students and apprise them of the situation. Before you leave, however, I would like to ask you a favor."

Remy looked at him warily. "What is dis 'favor'."

"I would like to have your assessment of something. Having been able to break into this mansion without being detected you are obviously very good at what you do. I may have need of your talents."

Gambit smirked. "Dey don't come cheap, mon ami."

"If I find that I wish to employ your services, you will of course receive whatever payment you consider fair."

"You're serious?"

"Very."

"What's de job?"

Xavier smiled warmly. "Come with me to the danger room."

About an hour later Gambit emerged, panting and sweating, from the danger room. "Dat's some tight security dey got in dere. I didn' tink I was gonna make it a couple o' times."

"An excellent performance, I must say." Xavier lauded. "Your reputation is extremely deserved. You managed to wipe the databanks and shut down the main power to the facility. I am most impressed."

"I still didn' make a clean sweep of it." He scolded himself. "I shoulda known dere would be a backup generator. But I sure wasn' expecting dose big robots."

"Yes, and yet you managed to get away unscathed. You got farther than the entire team of my students. We could use your help."

"Like I said before, Proffesseur, school ain't no place for Gambit." he replied with a tinge of regret.

"Nevertheless, I may still employ your professional services."

"Gambit give you a special rate, 'cause you know his friend." he winked at Ororo, who rolled her eyes.

Wolverine entered the room at that moment. "The kids are back." he said shortly.