Yay!! Now it's getting good into character development!!!       

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            The TV blasted the evening news. Another story of a mutant beaten up in the streets. The boy watching shook his head in contempt, and looked down at the game of solitaire set up on the table. He moved the four of hearts on top of the three of hearts, moved to four of diamonds over the five of spades. He flipped up the last remaining card with its face down. He'd won again. The TV suddenly blared the latest metal song.

            "Ah was watchin' that, mon ami."

            "No, mate, you were playin' with your cards." Pyro plopped down on the seat next to Gambit. His bright orange hair reflected the Aussie's personality; he was jumpy and full of excitement and energy. He pulled a lighter out of his red cargo pants. He illuminated the lighter, and sculpted two people dancing to the music on the TV. Gambit watched out of the corner of his black eyeballs. Pyro noticed his friend glaring at him, and the two people turned into two naked women. Gambit scoffed at the boy's tactlessness. Pyro chuckled. He loved bugging the hell out of Gambit. Pyro waved his hand at the two women on the table and they grew to life size. Gambit rolled his red irises around in his head at the kid. They were about the same age, but Gambit had enough experience in his life to age him, unfortunately, far beyond his years. He stood up, lest he be tainted by the psychopathic teenager. Pyro laughed at Gambit as the two fire girls gyrated against each other. He found his entertainment interrupted as a large glass of water was poured over his head. The girls dissipated. He looked up to see his housemate, Colossus, standing over him holding the empty glass. The stone faced man could squash Pyro under his thumb, so he resisted very little.

            "Why'd you have to go an' do that?" Pyro said as he leered his eyes and folded his arms.

            "You could have burned the house down." Colossus replied in his thick, emotionless, Russian accent. He walked back to the table in the kitchen, behind the sofa. Pyro got up to walk to his room to change his clothes and dry off. Gambit leaned against the threshold of the door to his own room when Pyro passed by. He smiled and laughed at the sopping boy.

            "That's what 'cha get, John. Some resident saint you are." He said in a cocky "I told you so" voice.

            "Don't call me that!" Pyro shouted back. He disappeared into his room and Gambit turned around. H began to empty the many pockets of his trench coat, small papers, candy wrappers, an empty pack of cigarettes, a cocktail napkin with a phone number and name scrawled across it – that one made him smile with ride- and his bo staff. He carefully set the small cylinder and its many accoutrements on the dresser against the wall. He caught an image of himself in the mirror on top of it. He ran his hand through his short-ish auburn hair and smiled at himself, and then he sighed, as if he had been kidding himself. He turned around to shut the door when Sabretooth appeared from behind it. The lion/man lunged at Gambit, and he had no time to react. He was pinned against the wall by Sabretooth's hand against his neck. He winced as the back of his head banged the wall.

            "What do y'want, Creed?" he managed to whisper as his red eyes flashed.

            "Where's my money?" the cat growled at him.

            "Get chyo' hand offa my throat and I'll get it for ya." Gambit staggered out as he fought for air. Sabretooth snorted at him, and then let him go. Gambit gasped for air as he guarded his throat. He never took his red and black eyes off of Creed. The cat merely threw an evil look at him.

            "Hurry up." Sabretooth growled again.

            "Attendez, Creed. Gambit don' have no lightnin' quick healin' factor." Sabretooth rolled his eyes at the bent over boy. Gambit finally reached into another pocket in his trench coat and pulled out a ball of cash and handed it to Sabretooth, who looked over it carefully.

            "Where's the rest of it?" Creed roared.

            "S'all I got… not a good day." Gambit replied, taking off his coat and laying it on the bed.

            "You're holding out on me." Sabretooth purred.

            "What makes you t'ink dat, mon ami?" Gambit said over his shoulder. Sabretooth eyeballed the cash in his hand and snorted at it. He left without saying anything, his long, cat hair whipping around him. Gambit gave himself a cocky smile and pulled another, larger, wad of cash from his pants pocket. "Gambit ain't never had a bad day." He whispered to himself.

            Three loud thumps on his door distracted Gambit from his thoughts. Then Colossus's calm, monotonous voice passed through the door. "Magneto is back, he would like a word." Gambit sighed and out his coat back on as he walked out of the room.

*          *          *

            Rogue waited anxiously in the professor's study. She looked around at all the books and smiled at how perfect it was. She noticed the book Dracula sitting on the table beside the chair she sat in. It immediately made her think of Sinister. His white, white skin that made her own porcelain death trap look dark. His fanged teeth she saw as he smiled at her and made her an offer. His voice, she knew, was tainted and evil, but what he said sounded so sweet as it rang through her ears. He offered her the gift of touch… for a price. She shuddered as she realized she had considered it, even if it was just for a second. She thought about his black widows peak that framed his Dracula like face. Then his burning red eyes. For some reason, another pair of burning red eyes flashed through her mind. Then she imagined Sinister standing over her with a bone saw. The harsh whizzing noise reverberated in her brain. She was scared, but she was unable to move, she was paralyzed as he pressed the saw into her bald scalp. She started to sweat sitting in the chair in the study. Her breaths grew much shorter and quicker.

            "Rogue, are you alright?" Xavier's voice snapped her out of her horrifying memory.  A memory that didn't belong to her. "Rogue?" the professor continued to ask as she regained her composure.

            "Ah… Ah'm… sorry. Ah didn't see ya come in…" She had to catch her breath.

            "Rogue, is everything alright?" Xavier asked as she looked up into his wise eyes.

            "Yeah, professor, Ah just…" She paused, "someone's memory surfaced. It just scared me is all."

            "I see." The professor said as he removed his hand from Rogue's shoulder and placed it under his chin. "Rogue, perhaps we should up our sessions to twice a week." He paused, Rogue nodded sheepishly. "Your reservations are becoming a liability, however." She nodded again. "This regression in the progress we'd made with your powers… I think it might be best if you trained with the new recruits for a while."

            "What?!" Rogue shouted at the calm man.

            "Rogue, your hesitation is a risk to the team as well as yourself. You're letting your emotions overcome you. It appears you need the same training as they do now."

            "Why don't you jus' sentence me to special ed, too?" She snapped back as she leaned back in the chair and folded her arms.

            "Rogue, please try to understand." was all he could say.

            "Is that all?" she barked at him. He nodded and she got up to leave. She stared at the floor as she walked out of the room. "As if I wasn't ashamed enough…" she thought to herself. Without watching where she was going, she bumped into Logan, standing in the doorway.

            "What if I trained her myself, Charles, everyday, before and after school… spare her the humiliation." Logan said, coming to her defense. Rogue looked back at the professor and her eyes lit up. He couldn't say no.

            "Alright, Logan. But Rogue, you're still on restricted missions until we've decided you made enough progress." Rogue nodded excitedly, until the thought hit her. Logan's danger room sessions, twice a day. Maybe she was better off with the new recruits. The professor couldn't help but smile as Rogue made her conclusions. She merely narrowed her eyes as she let the room.

            "Thanks a lot, Logan." Rogue mumbled with sarcasm as she passed him on her way out of the room.

*          *          *

            The Acolytes stood in the kitchen/living room as they waited for their meeting to begin. Gambit leaned against the threshold that separated the two rooms. This way he could see everything. Pyro sat on the couch flipping through the channels on TV, obviously bored.

            "I wish someone hadn't gone and soaked my lighter…" he said very loudly.

            "Lesbian porn is a sad waste o' yo' mind, garçon." Gambit replied, although he wasn't addressed.

            "And skill." Colossus mumbled from where he was hunched over the newspaper that sat on the kitchen table. His face gave no clues as weather he was serious about Pyro's skill, or being sarcastic. Gambit and Pyro both glared at the Russian then looked at each other before going back to what they were doing. They were shocked to hear the man speak, especially when he wasn't spoken too. Pyro flashed a proud smile at Gambit, in result to Colossus's high praise. Gambit merely rolled his eyes at him.

            Sabretooth paced back and forth across the room like a caged circus lion. "Where is he…" he growled under his breath. Just then, Magneto appeared from down the hallway on the opposite side of the rooms from Gambit. He wore his magenta body armor and purple cape. His matching helmet shrouded his face in shadows.

            "Gentlemen, we have a new recruit." The four men, who had just been restless, not stood at full attention. They all watched as Betsy stepped out from behind Magneto. Her petite Asian frame had been easily hidden by the man's overpowering presence. She obviously was not shy as she stood proud at the man's side. They were all stunned by her powerful beauty, until Pyro broke the silence.

            "Bonzer, mates. We got ourselves a sheila." His gaze at her was unphased as a goofy smile took over his face.

            "Dat ain't no ordinary femme, mon ami, that's Psylocke." Gambit announced as he developed his own, less goofy and sleazier, grin.

            "It's a relief to know, Gambit, that I'm more than just a passing thought like all your other women." Betsy broke her silence. Her sophisticated British accent as a surprise to Pyro, but Gambit continued to smirk.

            "You got yourself quite a reputation, there, mate." Pyro said as he elbowed Gambit in the ribs.

            "Dat ain't th'only reputation Gambit got wit the femmes." Pyro rolled his eyes and Colossus blushed at his comrade's candor. It was the first show of emotion Betsy had seen in the tank since she'd arrived. He quickly controlled his emotions and fixed his eyes back on his leader. Sabretooth snorted as he folded his arms.

            "What can she do?" he growled.

            "In due time, Sabretooth, you will see." With those ominous words from Magneto, Sabretooth turned around and disappeared into the hallway. Magneto followed down the same path. Betsy was left with Pyro, colossus and Gambit. She looked at Pyro and knew instantly what was going on his head. Colossus was an enigma, however. Many thoughts rolled through his mind. She left them blurred to herself so as not to invade his privacy. Despite the weight on his shoulders, he showed nothing. Her transfixiation was interrupted as Gambit grabbed her arm.

            "Come wit' me, Psylocke. Gambit'll show ya th'empty room." He dragged her slowly through the room to the hallway where everyone had gone to.

            As they passed Pyro, Betsy heard him say, "Me love you long time…" mocking her Asian beauty. Betsy just brushed it off, and she assumed Gambit hadn't heard it, but she found out she was wrong when he gingerly reached into his trench coat with his free hand and pulled out a playing card. He charged it up and tossed it over his shoulder. Betsy watched as it sailed over head, and out of instinct, Pyro tried to catch it. As soon as he realized that it was, he threw it away and tried to jump. The resulting KABOOM! caused Gambit to chuckle without looking.

            "Ladies get respect, mon ami. 'Specially dis one." Betsy blushed but quickly reminded herself of whom she was dealing with, and maintained her strong demeanor.

*          *          *

            Scott messed around with the computer in his room. The professor had given Scott and Jean each their own computer as a graduation gift. Although the ceremony was plagued with fears of the end of the world, they still made it. Scott was bored though. His thoughts saddened him. He was distracting himself by running people's names through a search engine just to see what came up. When he put in his own name or anyone else who lived at the mansion, for that matter, he got several articles on the anti-mutant hysteria. Since they were among the world's first known mutants, the media felt it was necessary to display their identities and photos of the children, despite their status as minors. The results depressed him so much; he started running people's names who weren't known mutants. He couldn't fid too much on Sinister… just a book he wrote back in the 1850's in the dawn of the Darwinian era. His next search was Betsy. He found several articles on a girl named Elizabeth Braddock. She was model in London, but in the pictures, she was a normal, English girl, not Asian. He figured it was just a coincidence… but then he found several articles from the BBC and tabloids about the disappearance of England's sweetheart around three years ago.

            His depressing boredom was interrupted when Jean walked in the room. "You're still worried about Betsy, aren't you?" Scott could detect a slight hint of jealousy through the special bond he shared with her. He brushed it off.

            "How could I not be, Jean? I know she wanted to come with us. She would be a great X-Man… a great leader. I know it."

            "Leader? You sound like you're looking for a replacement." She responded bitterly.

            "No, I mean…" he tried to compose his thoughts as she sat on the bed behind the desk he sat at. "I understood her, Jean. I felt like she and I connected… like we had a special bond or something." Jean scowled, openly angry.

            "Don't we have a special bond?" She was definitely jealous now. Scott was offended Jean would question his loyalty.

            "You know what I mean… I just can't understand her decision." Jean just sighed. Her insecurities melted away at his concern and sensitivity for someone he hardly knew.

            "She'll come around when she's ready Scott. If you know she should be an X-Man, and you feel like you understand her like that, she probably knows too. If she doesn't, then she'll figure it out eventually. When she was in my mind, she projected open-mindedness and compassion. I think she just had business to take care of." She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked into her beautiful green eyes, and she shut them as she moved closer to him.

*BAMF!*

            "Kurt!!" Scott yelled as he waved his hands in the air to disperse the black smoke.

            "Sorry, vas I interrupting somezing?" Kurt smiled fiendishly.

            "Maybe…" Scott folded his resentment, Jean just smiled it off.

            "I'll see you later, danger room session in an hour." Jean walked out of the room.

            "What do you want, Kurt?"

            "Oh man, the professor got our grades in. I failed my math class, I'm totally grounded till I go home, and I have to go to summer school. Could you tutor me?"

            "Sure, Kurt." Scott said. Nobody could stay mad at him for long, and Scott was no exception. They were like brothers.

            "Great!" Kurt responded.

*BAMF!*

            Just as quickly as he had arrived, he was gone.

*          *          *

            The room Gambit had brought Betsy to amazed her. It had a remarkably high ceiling. The room was small, but it had plenty of head room, reminding her of the flats back in London. There was a bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe closet. Everything was the same color green though. She turned around to face Gambit, who had shut the door to the room.

            "This is quite brilliant." She said excitedly. She noticed Gambit's serious expression. She waited for an explanation.

            "What a' you doin' here, Betts?" he asked rather bitterly. She shot him an expression as evil as his own.

            "The same thing as you, Remy. I'm a soldier in the inevitable war between the superior mutant race and the human oppressors." There wasn't a hint of emotion in her voice, but Remy still didn't need his empathic abilities to know she was being coldly sarcastic. He knew her better than that.

            "What are you doin' here?" He asked again.

            "I'm here to rescue you." She relented. It made him chuckle.

            "An' jus' what makes you t'ink Remy needs rescuin'?" He flashed her his irresistible cocky smile that made women throw themselves at his feet.

            "Your charm is lost on me, Remy LeBeau." She whispered to him just as seductively as he acted toward her.

            "No femme can resist Gambit." His red eyes flashed as he snaked a hand around her waist.

            "Most women don't know what I know." She said, seemingly accepting his advances.

            "Oh yeah? An' was' dat?"

            She put her hand around the back of his neck, playing his game of seduction. She fondled his ear lobe with her index finger as she whispered into it. "Green eyes… forbidden fruit." He instantly put his hands on her hips and pushed her back. His cocky smiled disappeared while she maintained hers. She beat him at his game.

            "You been snoopin' where you don' belong, girl."

            "Remy, if anyone wanted to protect their head from the wondering mind of a telepath, they'd do well to take a lesson from you." She pulled his hands off her robed waist. "the problem is, though, that I think your thoughts and memories are buried so deeply that not even you can find them." She sighed; Remy just looked at the floor. "We don't belong here, Remy. You know it."

            "An' jus' where d'you suppose we go?" He asked, mocking her lack of forethought.

            "The Xavier Institute." She replied bluntly.

            "The Xavier Institute?" Remy's face lit up, but not pleasantly. "What make you t'ink dey'd take us?"

            "They have to help us, Remy. They're X-Men, it's what they do."

            "Well, if ya been doin' you're homework, petite, you'd know they ain't exactly happy with Remy."

            "Well, they'll just have to grin and bare it." She began pacing around the room, inspecting the dresser and closet.

            "How d'you know I wanna go?" Betsy stopped cold in her tracks.

            "Beacause, Remy, you're not a mercenary, you're a warrior."

            "A warrior for what?"

            "I know you don't like it here. He makes you do bad things. That's why you left New Orleans, it's why you left Sinister, and it's why you're going to leave Magneto." She was forthright in telling him what she knew. "And you shouldn't be worried about getting infected with their kind heartedness… you've already got it." She smiled at him as she fixed down the collar on his coat. He looked down at Betsy, sadly.

            "Chère, does X-Men… they would sacrifice deir lives for dat crazy fool's dream." He tried to bring her head out of the clouds. She shot a sad look at him. She looked like she was about to cry. If there was only one thing in the world Remy couldn't handle, it was crying girl. They made him melt. He was putty to any girl, all they had to was shed a tear. But Betsy didn't cry. She spoke to him with pity.

            "How could anyone who wants peace be a fool?" she blinked and a single drop rolled down her cheek. Remy wiped it away with his thumb. One look in her eyes and he would do anything he could to make her happy again. "This is your chance, Remy. The chips are stacked against you and this you opportunity to even them out. Even you have to the admit, the X-Men are doing it right, even if they're running a never ending race, at least they're miles ahead of anyone else. Even if you don't think humans and mutants can ever live peacefully, at least you'll get to save the world." Gambit smiled at her tiredly.

            "You t'ink a lot a' dis t'ief, don' chya?"

            "Yes, I do. And maybe this will help you prove it to yourself." He hugged her and rested his chin on her head. His arms felt warm and safe.

            "How d'you suppose we gonna get outta here?"

            "We'll figure it out… hey, where's the loo?"

            "Oh… s'down the hall an' to the left." Betsy smiled and walked out of the room.

            "Oh, and just do you know, the pussy cat's been following you." Gambit smiled and shook his head as she shut the door.