Disclaimer: I only own the figments of my delirious imagination.

Star-of-Chaos In chronological order: Read and find out. I don't think so. He should, really. If he wants to appear in any of my fics he will. Well, I hope that answers your questions. :)

Ishandahalf I think that when he was a little baby, he was dropped on the head. Very hard. Very, very hard…

Lonewolf I just enjoy threatening people. Makes it all a bit more interesting. Yes, I know, I'm evil. So call me Doctor and let me clone myself…

Vagus Eh...here, have some nice hot tea to calm you down. And don't worry, the clowns will not be appearing anytime soon. :)

Dark Elf3 Ah, IM means instant messenger. Probably should've figured that out by myself. I know, I know, I cheated a bit. I'm kinda running low on witty-things-to-say-after-if-you-can't-beat-them here, I mean, so far I've written thirteen of those (twelve if you don't count 'join them')…but I'm trying hard and I can promise you this one will have one. Not a memorable one, but one non the less. I'm building up mystery? Wow…I mean, yes of course, that was my plan all along. Butts will be kicked, but you'll have to read to know whose butt it will be.

Leann Extensive scientific research has proven that killing somebody can be harmful for that body's health. That's why no one will allow Gambit to kill anyone; bodies don't like to die.

Peace215 Scott will lighten up, when someone takes the stick out and replaces it with a light bulb. This may be a nice idea for Christmas…I think I've just discovered a gap in the market…Oh Scotty? Come here… ;

A/N Since I am so terrible at writing coherent phrases and paragraphs I have made yet another pathetic excuse not to write beautiful fighting scenes. These are fractions of the fight. Not the whole story, just the key-events. Sorry, hate to do this to you, but look at it this way…better, right?

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15. The fighting excerpts

Fissie

They were surrounded. Looking back, they should've probably expected it. Open doors are a bad omen. It's like an old saying says: When the door is open, there are probably a hundred men with guns hidden behind it just waiting for you to step into their trap.

''Okay, X-men...'' Cyclops whispered while the guns closed in on them. One of the attackers clicked on the lights. Bad idea. Now the x-men knew where to aim. It's good to know your enemy underestimates you.

Gambit cringed inwardly, his eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and he really did not enjoy the sudden brightness. Not that they knew, and no one needed to know, but still. When his blindness fell away, he was able to see his surroundings. It may have looked like a warehouse on the outside, the inside looked more like a hangar. The ceiling between the ground floor and first floor was destroyed to leave one larger hangar-like space. The place was filled with large steel containers and smaller wooden crates. Something that used to be a helicopter lay to rust in pieces. All the windows were blinded, except for a few high up. Trained thief eyes spotted four escape routes and many security cameras, no doubt part of a large-scale security system. Untrained eyes spotted thirty guns pointed at them, which worked just fine as security system. The guns closed in.

''NOW!'' Cyclops shouted as he blasted two of the men away, who started shooting. He rolled over his shoulder and stood, ready for battle again.

''Subtlety ain' y'r strong point ey?'' Came the relaxed comment. ''Where's de style?'' Two cards appeared from nowhere and elegantly slid into his right hand. ''Where's de nuance?'' They hit their target and threw a woman unceremoniously into a wall. ''Y'see, Cycke, it's all in de...''

A growl ended his explanation. ''Stop talking and start fighting, bub.''

And this, my friends, is when mayhem began.

Men in Green appeared from everywhere. Men and women, of course, but 'men in green' just sounds better than 'men and women of all sorts of cultural backgrounds and in various ages in green'.

Cyclops led the fight. ''Stay close. We have more chance in beating them if we stick together.''

Within no time, the group divided.

Spike used his ever-working strategy: randomness. Inspired by the tricks he used while skating he dodged every attack. His spikes ensured no one came near him. Of course, all that spontaneous movement made it very hard for Jean to try to cover his back.

''Spike! Stop moving around like that! I can't aim at anything!''

''Sorry Jean, but I can't! Gotta keep moving...'' He sang while throwing some bony spikes into one of the guns. ''Gotta stay sharp...'' He continued while jumping on some other crates. ''Gotta get...'' His chanting was interrupted a large shadow that indicated something large was hovering over his head. Jean had just been in time to prevent the container from being dropped on his head. He looked up and saw the people responsible for the falling of the container. They were held still by Jean's telepathic beam.

''Could you get away from there! I won't be able to hold it for long!''

Spike realized he hadn't moved yet and jumped to another crate. The container smashed into the crate he had been standing on seconds before, squashing it like a fly. In return of the favor, Spike threw some bony spikes to the immobilized people.

Gambit smashed one of the men into the ground. He planted one foot on his stomach and held the tip of his charged bo-staff right above the man's throat. He grinned evilly and started to lower the bo towards the man's neck, nearer and nearer and nea...

''Remember, X-men don't kill!'' He heard Cyclops say from somewhere.

Gambit looked up and surprise, the tip of the bo was mere inches away from burning into the man's throat. ''What? Cyclops! What d' y' mean 'don' kill'? At all? Come on, dis is self-defense!'' He said while pointing at the helpless man on the ground. He looked around but he couldn't spot Cyclops. Remy sighed. ''An' y' pick dis moment in time to enlighten me bout dat little detail?!'' In this moment of distraction, the bo was lowered to the floor right beside the man's head.

''Sorry.'' The apology didn't reach Gambits ears due to the fact that he got smashed into a steel container by that very man whose throat he was close to scorching.

Wolverine caught him before he hit the ground. Eager to get back into the fight, he lay the kid down against the wall to wake up.

''You okay, Gumbo?'' Two demon eyes did not open. ''Kid, wake up.''

Nothing happened.

''Kid, come on.'' Wolverine started to shake the unconscious body. ''Wake the fuck up!''

Remy coughed and slowly regained consciousness again.

''Mind not shakin' m' like a martini.'' He said still a bit groggy.

Wolverine dropped the Cajun on the floor. ''Well, that solves one problem.'' He grunted.
''What?'' Remy asked while rubbing his head.
''You won't be needing mouth to mouth.'' With that Wolverine left the kid and continued fighting.

Storm tried to use lightning to fight the two off, but indoors lightning never worked too well, so she was limited to using wind. No problem. A tornado blew a man and a woman through a high window but they managed to hold themselves to a ledge, only just barely.

''She's the one who uses lightning. Didn't you see it? We have to...'' One whispered to the other. Storm flew after them through the window. Thunderclouds gathered to meet with her. She was outside now, no limitations, no restrictions.

''Lightning, my friends? You have not seen lighting.'' She said calmly. The pair of FOH'ers heard the thunder, felt the rain, saw the light. ''_This_ is lightning!'' A massive bolt of lightning lit the skies and thunder roared through the air. The two assailants landed in the nearby pond, scorched and wet. They would not be bothering her tonight anymore.

''Gambit!'' Rogue flung herself to the attackers that tried to sneak up on Remy from behind and knocked one of them out.

Gambit turned around and kicked the other on the head, while leaning slightly on this bo-staff. ''Chere, dat almost sounded like you were worried.'' The kick threw the man in Rogue's direction. She, in turn, stomped him in Gambit's direction again. ''You wish Cajun.''

The same man was stomped back to Rogue by Gambit. ''I know it, chere.''

This was what you might call bad-guy Ping-Pong. The man got kicked back to Gambit again. ''Oh really? Then you must know Ah couldn't care less about ya. ''

And back to Rogue again. ''Aw, come on chere. Admit it. Y' like dis Cajun Swamp Rat.''

Rogue punched the man back to Gambit hard. ''In your dreams.''

The man never reached Gambit again; instead he fell to the ground, knocked out. Gambit stepped over the body and closed in on Rogue. ''Only m' sweetest.'' He took her hand and kissed her glove.

''Get lost!'' She shouted as she shook her hand away. Gambit grinned and left to fight some of the Men in Green that had just recently arrived.

Rogue stood still for a brief moment. Why did she enjoy that kiss? Why did she feel nice because of it? This guy was the lowest life form on the planet. Then why on earth did she feel this way? ~Ah'm going mad. Ah just know it.~ Mindlessly she knocked out some guy in a green coat.

Cyclops was encountering some difficulties. The blasts were aimed at his visor. Did they know that he would be lost and blind without it? Anyway, he was pretty much succeeding in shaking them off. From the corner of his visor he could see Gambit grinning, charging up a card and closing in on one of their attackers. It was the grin of a madman ready to kill. ~If that guy could just listen for once in his life!~ It would make everything so much easier. Then he would be able to focus on his own fight, instead of having to watch over someone else's fight, with the sole purpose of saving the life of an enemy. Things were getting confusing. As Gambit threw his arm back to launch the card, he warned him once more.

''Gambit! I told you X-men don't kill!'' A blow to the visor was scarcely dodged.

The grin disappeared from the Cajun's face. ''_I_ know dat, _you_ know dat, but _dey_ don' know dat.'' As he spoke the last words he flung the card hitting it's target. Cyclops punched his own attacker into some crates and turned his attention back to Gambit. He frowned.

''What?'' Gambit was genuinely surprised. He followed Cyclops gaze toward the bleeding man. ''He'll live. Sure, dat arm won' do him much good no more, but he'll live.'' The frown did not disappear from his team-leader's face. ''Could've aimed at his head, y'know...'' Alas, this disagreement had to wait until after the fight. New attackers emerged and the battle continued. Where did those people come from? The doors at the other end of the hangar-like space did not open at any time. It almost looked as if they just materialized out of thin air.

Shadowcat was putting on a great fight. But she had to admit; all that phasing was wearing her down. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to keep it up. They had not counted on so many of them. And the fight they put up was amazing. Those weapons...and no matter how many of them they beat, there would always appear more. She saw Rogue getting into some trouble, one of her sleeves had been torn apart and she was trying hard not to let anyone touch her. Shadowcat ran over to her, grabbed her covered arm and phased with her through the rusting helicopter and some crates, to a more quiet section.

''Let me go!'' Rogue shouted. Her mind was set on pay-back to the man who had ripped her outfit.

''Right, like, no need for thank yous''

''Ah could've handled them fine by mahself!''

"If having all their minds in your head is, like, your definition of 'handling them', I totally agree with you."

''He ripped mah outfit.''

''Here,'' Kitty ripped off one sleeve of her own costume and took a few safety pins out of a pocket. ''Take this and pin it on.''

''You always carry safety pins around?''

''Tottaly. They're, like, essential basics in any girl's gear.''

''Riiight.'' But no matter how stupid it sounded, it was highly effective. Within seconds, Rogue was up and ready to kick some butt.

Bishop aimed his gun at Gambit for the umpteenth time since he had entered this era. ~Dieu, can' dat man pick some oder time t' try an' kill m'?~ Of course, Gambit didn't see the two men approach him from behind. His senses were too mixed up, his spatial awareness was running low. He didn't notice two men as they got ready to pound a heavy metal bar onto his head. The only thing Gambit saw was a yellow beam passing his head at mere inches. He was going to comment on it, when he heard the beam strike two bodies behind him. At that point Gambit realized he had just been saved.

''Thanks mon ami.'' He said, a bit surprised, a much relieved.

''You would have done the same.'' Bishop replied.

''Don' count on it.''

''We shall see. For now, let us smash these roaches back to the holes they came from.''

This statement brought a smile on Remy's face. ''Love it when y' talk dirty, cher!'' The fight continued.

Nightcrawler was teleporting and knocking people out just with the smell of his powers. Normally, he didn't like people hating that smell, but now, he couldn't be complaining. It saved him. More than once.

Beast was not a fighter. He was a doctor. Of course, when attacked he would not be shy to use force. And when a fellow team-mate was attacked he could get quite feral. So when he saw Nightcrawler in a distressful situation, he assaulted the Men in Green that had caught the poor kid by the surprise squeezing the life out of him. He couldn't move, and, somehow, he couldn't teleport either.

When the assailants were all in need of medical attention, but not so urgently, as the considerate doctor had ensured, the hurried to the shaking Nightcrawler.   

''I never saw zem coming! I couldn't teleport! I don't know vhy. I just couldn't!''

''This is most peculiar to say the least. But it's good to see you're still well.''

'Yeah, vell, I'm not too happy about it. Zey wanted to make fuzzy blue mash!''

''Can you teleport agian?'' A small demonstration proved he could. ''Good. I'm afraid we are not done fighting yet. Perhaps we can discuss this phenomenon later?''

''Ja, bitte. For now, just look behind you and tell me you know vat to do.''

Beast looked around and saw a new line of people coming. ''Oh yes, my German companion, I know what to do.'' A feral growl, one of those rare growls Hank would let go, and that group of FOH-people knew they were in trouble.

Sometimes Gambit scared himself. Balancing on the thin line between life and death, daring his fate, beating the shit out of people, he didn't remember the last time he had had so much fun. His face was set on maniacal-grin. His eyes glowed. Part of it was training; he knew how to scare people. Part of it was true and actual enjoyment. He saw Bishop being attacked by five men at the same time. Cards would not suffice, so he took a piece of wood from one of the smashed boxes, charged it and flung it toward them, hitting all five assailants but not Bishop.

''Thank you.'' Something that looked like a smile crept on his face for about one quarter of a second.

''Don' mention it. Us family, we have t'stick togeder.'' Gambit answered in low and truthful voice and a bit louder he added. ''But enough wid dat. We ain' finished yet. An' dis fat lady don' look like she gon' be singin' any time soon 'f we don' do somethin' bout it.''

Some more men in green approached them fast. Bishop gave in a warrior growl and launched himself at them like a man who lost his mind. Which was close enough to the truth.

Gambit smirked. ''If you can' beat dem, ravage dem like a maniac, non Bish?'' He said while summer salting over a few crates and a few men.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

They had been fighting for over half an hour now. And Spike was not happy about the way this fight turned out at all. Every move he made, no matter how illogical, was predicted and counteracted. It seemed as though they saw every move coming. Nothing surprised them and worst of all, nothing hit them.

A few Men in Green had closed in on Storm. She fought her best, and was succeeding. She didn't see the crates above her. She didn't notice them being dropped on her. No one heard her scream as the crates closed her in. Did those men know she was claustrophobic?

Rogue was getting cornered by a few of them, she had fought them off pretty well so far, but now the safety pins were ripped off, they were trying to close in on her and touch her. At least, that's what it looked like. ~They act like Kamikaze-pilots. It's almost like they want to touch me on purpose.~ Remembering what she felt like after the last time she absorbed some of them, she fought like her life depended on it. It did.

Jean was worried. The fight did not go according to plan. According to plan, they should've gotten the children out of there within twenty minutes. They had been fighting for over an hour now.

It almost seemed as though those men knew what they had coming. As if they knew every move made and every weakness. No, not according to plan at all. Jean tried to warn the Professor telepathically, but was stopped by a huge hook being dropped on her, she needed all her strength to prevent that heavy thing from falling on her head.

They caught Kitty by surprise, she didn't even have time to phase through them. She was just too tired. Kurt jumped to her side and teleported them both out of the heat of the battle. He tried to get her to safety, when he was caught by the tail. He dropped Kitty to the floor and got pounded into some debris himself.

Jean saw it and shouted in every direction: ''Beast! Come over here! Hurry!''

Beast came as quick as he could to see what he could do. ''CYCLOPS! WE MUST FALL BACK! Jean, you carry Kitty, I'll take Kurt.''

Cyclops realized it was true. This strategy was getting them nowhere. ''YOU HEARD THE MAN, X-MEN! RETREAT!'' A thing he didn't need to shout twice. Rogue caught up on Evan and they both ran out as fast as they could. Bishop ran right behind them, covering them. Wolverine grabbed Storm on his way out, who had fainted from fear. He sniffed one last time. Good, everyone was out of there.

They got out of there, beaten, but generally unharmed. A few sprained ankles, a lot of very tired kids, but no real casualties. Luckily no one had followed them out. They got into the Blackbird and got ready for lift-off. Priority number one was getting the hell out of there.

Maybe they could form another plan. Maybe they could spy on them after all. Maybe they could...

''Where is he?'' Rogue asked. Five seconds of silence followed. Then realization struck the team. No one had seen Gambit for a while. The Cajun wasn't there.

''Gone!'' Bishop smashed his hand into the first thing in sight. A peaceful chair. ''The bastard, he escaped!'' Words could not describe his fury. How could he be so foolish? He should've killed him the second he dropped to this century.

''Maybe he's injured. We have to go back...'' Jean urged.

''We can't go back. We can't take any more. They'll kill us for sure if we do that. We must form another strategy.'' Scott realized.

''He could still be there...'' Rogue tried staring out of one of the small windows of the Blackbird.

Wolverine put a hand on her covered shoulder. ''He ain't there, kid. I would've smelled it.'' He tapped his nose to prove his point.

Rogue looked back at the building once more as the Blackbird took for the sky. Was he really gone? Had he really escaped? Could he be the traitor after all? ~Ah can't believe it. Remy?~

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A/N: Hmmm. This looks pretty bad, doesn't it? Bet you didn't see this one coming, did you?

On next: Where's Remy? Where's my common sense? Ah, and so the mind ponders…

Review, I need reviews like fish need water, like pigs need mud, like trees need rain, like this world needs Bush…hmmm, can't help but feeling something went wrong here…something just doesn't sound right…I wonder…

A/N Btw, did you notice my personal, somewhat weak, attempt to correct the most horrific punch line in the history of comics and cartoons? Can you guess which one it is? Let me give you a hint: it starts with ''do you know what happens…'' and ends with ''…to a toad when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to any other animal.'' (or something like that) I mean, it's not funny. It's not witty. It's not even true! Different things happen to different animals. When a toad is struck by lightning it will be scorched until nothing's left of it but some feeble black ashes. When a cow is struck by lightning it will be steak. Anyway, I hope you liked this 'fighting chapter' (although it is terribly written and, well I'm really not that happy about it, but I got tired of reading it over and over again) and sorry for this last burst of frustration, but I just needed to get it out of my system…I'm fine now, thank you.