Gambit yawned, a little weary, and twirled his adamantium staff in boredom. He cast a glance across the white room to Wolverine who stood in front of the gigantic mutant who stood imprisoned behind adamantium bars. They had only been able to get his name out of him; Juggernaut.

Gambit thought for a moment he recognised the name, but then dismissed it. He couldn't have possibly come across this mutant before; he would have remembered such an encounter. But still, there was the faint feeling deep in his subconscious, one of recognition.

"Come on damn it," Gambit complained, "he ain't gonna tell us anything, Logan. Why don't we just go?" He ran a hand through his soft brown hair, and frowned.

Logan turned to him, removing his black, red-striped jacket, and shook his head. "No way. We've gotta find out something about what he was doing here. I mean, he tried to rip the Professor to pieces for crying out loud."

Gambit sighed. "Fine. But I'm telling ya' now, he won't tell us anything." Of course, he didn't know that for sure, but he just had a feeling. By simply looking at the mutant named Juggernaut, anyone could tell he wasn't one for leaking information.

"Just tell us why you were gonna kill the Professor. What's the matter. not a fan?" Logan asked, cocking his head. He stood before Juggernaut, looking up into the dark eyes of the intruder.

Luckily, Dmitri had been close by, and had heard Juggernaut make his destructive entrance. He had got there just in time to stop Juggernaut from basically ripping the Professor apart, for some unknown reason.

Juggernaut simply glared at Logan, and grunted.

"Told ya' so," Gambit mumbled with a grin on his face, one that Logan didn't see. Then he snapped his head up with a sudden thought. "Hey, Logan?"

"Yeah, what?" Logan replied without turning away from the object of interrogation.

"What about using the Professor? He's psychic, isn't he?"

Then Logan did turn to him, and a smile appeared. He turned back to Juggernaut and laughed at him.

Juggernaut didn't look in the least bit impressed, or enthused by the whole idea. In fact, Gambit was certain he heard the large mutant growl. He allowed his brow to furrow, and stood to go and fetch the Professor.

He exited the room, and twirled the staff a couple of times, mainly just to test his skills with the weapon he had found so effective in times past. Sometimes, it was a little awkward to carry, but it was always helpful when he got into fights. He was able to charge it, and he had even struck someone in anger with it once whilst it had been charged. Apparently the man hadn't recovered for some time, and Gambit had needed to make a quick exit to avoid harm from the man's friends, who had been quite angered by the whole thing, having realised that he had been -and still was, obviously- a mutant. They had appeared after him one day with guns, and Gambit knew he couldn't have taken all twelve of them on by himself. He wouldn't have lasted very long.

But then he had met Dmitri and Jubilee, and they had stuck together for quite some time now. At least three years, he realised, and a smile crossed his young face. He hadn't actually noticed before that it had been so long. Now he and Jubilee were like siblings, and he cared deeply for her. Dmitri kept an eye out for the both of them, like a guardian of some kind, also being a lot older than the two of them. Still, Gambit was in charge out of the three of them. Jubilee was only eighteen herself, and Gambit. well, he was almost thirty now. He had forgotten the exact date of his birthday quite some time ago when he realised nobody actually cared anymore, but he knew it wasn't all that far away. It didn't really mean all that much to him anyway. Just another year on his life, nothing more.

He didn't understand why people made such a big fuss over it. It wasn't really anything special. not to him anyway. Dmitri was nearing fourty, or so Gambit had come to believe, told by the big guy himself. Maybe he was older, no one really knew.

He cared for Jubilee like a younger sister, and he always treated her as one. Well, not always, as he knew she needed a break from him every now and then. But he had always looked out for her, like a big brother should do, and had gotten her out of a few messes in the past.

He entered the elevator, and waited as it swiftly made its way up the shaft to the upper section of the mansion. The door slid open quietly, and he walked out and into the large hallway. The door closed behind him, giving the wall a normal appearance. He had supposed on arrival that not many of the kids knew of its existence, and so it had been designed so it would simply 'melt' into the wall after use.

He walked down the hallway to Xavier's office, and listened to the sound of his combat boots as they struck the varnished surface of the flooring. A few kids passed him, and smiled. He smiled back briefly, and then pushed the door to the large office open.

"Hello, Remy," Xavier greeted him upon entrance.

Gambit paused, and smiled, a little forced. He wasn't keen on his real name, and much preferred his mutant pseudonym of Gambit.

He nodded his own greeting, and decided to get straight down to business. "We were wonderin' if you could help us out down below."

"Help you out? How exactly?" Xavier asked, taking a sip from a cup that Gambit thought must have contained tea.

"Well, Juggernaut isn't talking, and we were just wondering if-" He hadn't even finished his sentence when the Professor cut in.

"I'd rather not read his mind, Remy, thank you."

Gambit's brow furrowed once again, and his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why not?"

Xavier regarded him seriously for a moment, and then turned his wheelchair to glance out of the window. He replied in a quiet voice, "Never mind. I'd just rather not, sorry."

Gambit was taken aback. The Professor was usually so keen to find answers, and this mutant might have had something to do with Cyclops' disappearance.

"Fine," Gambit mumbled to himself in surprise, and turned, leaving the room without another word.

He made his way back to Logan, to tell him of what had just happened.

* * *

"He said what?" Logan asked in disbelief. They stood outside the room where Juggernaut was imprisoned, and Gambit leaned against the far wall whilst Logan paced.

"He said that he didn't wanna read the big guy's mind. He didn't say why either, not even when I asked him," Gambit replied, glancing up at Logan momentarily, then idly performed another trick with the deck of cards he held in his hands.

A moment later Logan thundered through the doors to Xavier's office in a fit of rage, and prepared to give the Professor a piece of his mind. Seeing the look on the Prof's face, he hesitated. A rare thing if ever there was one.

"Why won't you pry his skull open and have a look?"

"Because, Logan, I honestly do not know if I am capable."

"Why in the hell not?" The Professor turned away, a distant look in his eyes. When he turned back there were unshed tears in them. Now that Logan realised, Xavier had looked kind of pale and drawn when he had entered.

The Professor sighed, and hung his head a little.

Logan moved further into the room, and allowed his brow to furrow in confusion. He had never seen the Professor like this before, and it had him a little thrown if nothing else.

Xavier looked him in the eye, and began to explain, "Well, if I'm going to tell anyone... it might as well be you, Logan."

Considering Scott isn't here, I suppose he doesn't have any other choice! Logan thought, seating himself opposite the Professor and listening intently as the man told him his story.

"Juggernaut... I've known him for many years now, and I can't remember ever liking one of them. You see... we have a connection of sorts, one which I have never told anyone of before." He appeared to be hesitating, so Logan encouraged him to go on.

Xavier stared right at him, and he seemed to have to struggle to get the words out.

"Juggernaut and I are half-brothers."

Logan felt as though he had been slapped round the face, and he stood suddenly at the shock of the sentence as he took it in for what it truly meant.

"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell us earlier you had a half-brother who was a mutant... especially one like that!" Logan hadn't meant to shout, he was just so stunned.

Professor Xavier shrugged lightly. "I saw no need to tell you, but now I see he is working for Magneto, I knew someone had to know."

Logan stopped dead in the centre of the room, and glared wonderingly at Xavier. "Working for Magneto? How do you know that?"

"I am psychic you know... plus I saw Mystique outside the wall when he broke in." His eyes narrowed in thought. "I saw another as well, but I didn't recognise them. I only saw them for a split second, enough to tell they were male, but nothing more. They grabbed Mystique and left, rather quickly as well."

"So," Logan said, his hands on his hips, "how are we gonna find out what we need to know from the big guy?"

* * *

Gambit entered the room again when he heard Juggernaut banging against the bars, and shouting loudly. Maybe he had gone mad. He moved into the white room, and tossed his staff over to the side of the room.

"Hey!" he called to the large mutant, who seemingly paid no attention to him at all.

He moved closer. "Hey, stop it!"

Juggernaut continued.

Gambit moved closer until he was nearly up against the bars, and shouted louder.

"Hey! Stop it! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

Suddenly, one of Juggernaut's huge arms thrust through the bars, and his gigantic hand clasped round Gambit's throat, pulling him forward and slamming him into the metal bars. Gambit gave a little cry.

Juggernaut laughed, and tightened his grip just enough to let Gambit breathe in the slightest way. If he were to tighten his grip any more, he would probably break Gambit's neck.

Gambit tried to cry out for help, but failed.

Juggernaut laughed again. "If you let me out, I won't kill you."

Gambit closed his eyes, and tried to pry Juggernaut's huge hand from around his neck.

Juggernaut slammed him against the bars again, and repeated his demand. "Let me out of here, now!"

Gambit desperately wished he had his staff in his hand, but knew it was on the opposite side of the room. His cards had been in his overcoat, which he had removed and left in his room... and now he was completely defenceless, at the mercy of Juggernaut.