Gambit walked down the corridor, turning his head each way when he passed a room or another hallway, searching for Logan as the other mutant had requested he do when he had spoken to Rogue.

Where are you, Logan? he thought, a little annoyed.

Then a false cough in front of him made him start slightly. He turned his head to face the owner of the voice, and smiled, laughing.

"I've been looking everywhere for you."

Logan smiled his own smile, and motioned for him to follow, which he did. "I've been talking to Storm."

"Oh, okay. What for?" Gambit asked, curious if nothing else. It didn't really matter why Logan had been talking to Storm... he just decided he wanted to know.

"Ah, you'll have to wait and see," Logan laughed, mischievously.

Gambit stopped momentarily, his brow furrowing, before he moved once again after Logan, his own curiousity taking over his actions. Logan continued moving, into the elevator and Gambit followed.

Logan turned his head to him, and grinned.

"Going down."

* * *

Scott ducked under the blow Warp sent, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him across the room out of the way of another.

Warp did not smile when Scott was struck by one of his blows, he simply watched as the new mutant scrambled to his feet quickly and turned to face one of the oncoming blows.

He blew the material apart.

Turning to Warp, Scott smiled, looking up through his visor to Magneto, who watched from above. With a wave of his hand, he reactivated the belt, and Scott removed his visor, moving over to Warp.

"Nice try," he said, patting him on the shoulder.

Warp gave a little nod, and moved away to Serena's side, who watched patiently at the side of the room in a large doorway cut from the stone.

They moved away together, leaving Scott and Magneto alone.

Magneto lowered himself gently to the ground using his power, and landed softly before Scott, who was smiling happily to himself.

"That was impressive," Magneto mumbled, loud enough for Scott to hear.

Scott nodded, a little out of breath, as he fiddled with the visor.

"But still, I want you to continue training with the others."

Scott groaned. "I'm ready, Magneto."

Magneto shook his head. "I want you to be like my other team members. Like Sabretooth and Toad... and Mystique. You know how they fight... that's what I want you to be like."

Scott sighed heavily, and glanced up at Magneto with his blue eyes, which still now shocked the older man a little. They even shocked him. He had forgotten what colour they had been so many years ago, never having seen them in the mirror, or have a beautiful girl compliment him on them. Girls had in high school... they had told him just how blue they were, and they would stare into them, and smile at him. Just before the first incident, he had been told they were red... solid red, and no one had seen them after that. Not even he had. Now though, he could see them every time he looked in a mirror, or glanced down into the pools of water in the lair.

He liked it.

He nodded to Magneto. "All right."

"I'll send in Toad."

* * *

"Wow," Gambit exclaimed as they entered the danger room, which he had never even been told of until this point. It was huge, reaching at least thirty feet in height, and spanning great distances each way he looked about himself. The walls were padded and white, as was the floor. The floor was soft enough to walk and land on comfortably, but not enough to hinder one's movement.

Logan turned to him upon entry. "That's exactly what I said when I saw it for the first time." He removed his jacket, left wearing his white vest shirt, and looked up to Storm who stood in an operation room above in a higher level. "Everything okay?"

Her soothing voice could be heard through the high-quality speakers throughout the room, and Gambit found himself looking about to locate them. They were clearly hidden in the walls somewhere, as he was unable to locate even one.

"Everything's fine. We cleared out the systems, and now it's all back to normal. You two shouldn't have any problems."

"What did she just say?" Gambit asked, turning to Logan upon hearing Storm's words.

Logan grinned. "You heard her." He glanced up at the white-haired mutant, and nodded. "Go ahead."

A roar, and a loud feminine laughter filled the room, and Gambit whirled about to see the mutants known as Sabretooth and Mystique standing behind Logan, who was still smiling happily to himself.

"What the hell?" Gambit asked loudly, shifting nervously on his feet, as he glanced behind Logan to the mutants, then back at the smiling Wolverine.

"They're holograms. Very life-like, and in perfect working order, now." Logan laughed. "Me and you, Gambit... we're gonna do a little training."

"Huh?" Gambit was way beyond the point of confusion.

The bestial roar filled the padded room once again, and Sabretooth flew at Logan, who turned quickly, slid out his claws, and thrust them into the mutant's abdomen.

Gambit watched in awe as the image shimmered eerily for a second, and the hologram gave a loud roar of pain. He laughed, and watched as Logan rolled back and on top of Sabretooth, who swiped for him clumsily with his own claws. Logan stabbed at Sabretooth again, this time with both sets of claws, wounding him in the chest, seemingly killing him.

Then, Logan put his claws to Sabretooth's neck, and drove them in.

Gambit winced at the sound.

Logan looked up at him. "You can even kill 'em." Then he looked behind him at the image of Mystique as Sabretooth faded from beneath him. He glanced back at Gambit. "Your turn." He moved quickly over to the side of the room, and out of the door leading up to the operation room to sit with Storm.

"Hey!" Gambit called after him, but he watched as Logan appeared in the room above, and listened to the voice over the speaker.

"You'll be fine!"

Then, before he knew what was going on, something knocked him back and into the wall behind him, knocking the wind from him momentarily. He looked up to see Mystique, who glared back down at him. She seemed so real, and Gambit felt as though she had really hit him.

Fine, he thought, Logan wants to see me play... so I'll play.

As Mystique made another swipe at him, he held his staff up in defence, and her fist struck the metal instead. He stood hurriedly, and took on a defensive posture, as did the hologram of Mystique.

She kicked at him, and he ducked, knocking her other leg out from under her with his staff. She fell to the ground with a grunt, and Gambit laughed excitedly. It felt amazing, and he knew he would have fun.

He slipped his free hand into his pocket quickly, and felt the playing cards he had placed there earlier, after his encounter with Juggernaut. He concealed them in his hand as he brought them out of his pocket, ready for use if necessary.

Mystique stood, and punched him, but he made a quick comeback, making a high kick at her face, knocking her back.

Gambit watched her, and he moved backwards a little, slowly. He decided to show Logan and Storm what they hadn't seen yet.

His power.

He slipped all but one card back into his pocket, and held the other tightly in his gloved hand, keeping his eyes set firmly on Mystique as the two of them regarded each other warily.

She made no move to attack him, and seemingly... neither did he.

He could feel the card in his hand, and the heat building up inside it as he altered the charge inside it. He cast a quick glance down at his hand to see that telltale faint glow emanating from the shape he held. He had no idea why it did that... he just knew it was supposed to be that way. There had always been that faint purple light glowing from the objects he charged, and he had no intention of changing it... even if he could.

Mystique edged forward slightly, but Gambit edged backwards an equal distance.

* * *

"What is he doing?" Storm asked as she observed Gambit below.

Logan looked up at her. "I'm not entirely sure... but I have a faint idea."

Storm looked down at Logan, who resembled the Cheshire Cat from a children's tale. Obviously, he knew what was going on, and he wasn't sharing, and he intended to keep Storm in suspense as to what Gambit was doing.

Well, it was working.

* * *

As Mystique edged closer again, Gambit mimicked her movement, but in the reverse direction. He was running out of space, so he smiled at her, and she cocked her head.

Then he threw the card at her, having felt it was at just the right point of charge, just enough to show her what he was capable of... but not enough to end his fun.

The hologram's eyes went wide as the card drew dangerously close to her. Even if she had wanted to avoid it now, it would have been too late. It was too close to avoid the whole impact.

The card struck her, exploding on impact, knocking her forcefully backward, and into the far wall. She hit the wall hard, and fell to the ground.

Gambit smiled.

* * *

"Oh my god," Storm mumbled as she checked the vital signs of the hologram. Gambit's blow had cleanly knocked down almost half of its energy.

"Well, that was new," Logan said, clearly stunned himself.

* * *

Gambit was growing impatient with this hologram, as it took its time rising from the ground once more.

When it had finally risen from the ground, it rushed at him, ploughing into him, and knocking him off his feet. He lost the grip on his staff.

Mystique made a move to kick him, but he rolled away and stood, his weapon no longer in his hand. He was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.

She swiped for him, but he ducked under it, and struck her in the face.

They exchanged blows for quite some time before Gambit decided he had had enough of her. She struck him again, and he then knew he had to end it there and then.

Ducking under her high kick, he dropped to the floor and rolled to where his staff had landed, taking it in his grip firmly. He stood back up quickly, and watched as Mystique ran for him again.

He thought back to that time he had struck that man. This was only a hologram.

He tightened his grip of his staff, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the glow.

* * *

"What is he doing now?" Storm asked, seeing the purple glow emanating from the entire staff Gambit held in his hand.

She glanced down at Logan, and he shrugged, his brow furrowing. He too was in the dark as to what Gambit was up to.

They both watched the two figures below with interest.

* * *

Mystique drew ever closer, and Gambit kept the charge flowing into the staff, altering the atoms deep down in its structure.

Then, when she was close enough for him to strike... he did. He swung the staff round at her, leaving behind a faint purple streak of light that trailed behind it.

Mystique didn't notice until it was too late. Far too late.

With a mighty booming sound, the charged adamantium staff stuck her full on in the stomach, releasing all of the stored energy Gambit had put into it. It all flowed into the hologram, making it too glow a faint purple.

Gambit hadn't known this was going to happen.

Right before his very eyes, the hologram screamed... and exploded completely outward, destroying it. Gambit was knocked back, and rolled with the landing as he had learned to do. He kept his eyes closed until the bright light that had erupted from Mystique's form dissipated completely, leaving him once again in the white padded room, alone.

Panting, and feeling a little drawn, he stood; looking up at Logan and Storm, staff still in hand. The purple light had disappeared from that too.

"Do ya' think I killed her?" he laughed.