Chapter 10: Killer Handshakes

            Jean frowned slightly as she shoved all the green, fuzzy crud off of court two with her telekinesis, cleaning it up at the insistent behest of Gambit.  Suspicion tingled the back of her mind, disturbed by Northstar's mysterious K.O. and Nightcrawler's vanishing without a trace.  The latter wasn't terribly unusual, but she wondered why nobody had seen what happened to Jean-Paul.

            "Hurry it up, 'dis is my lucky court and Gambit can't have all 'dis fuzz in his way!" Gambit didn't share Jean's concern.

            The last traces of the fuzz faded under Jean's telekinetic wind, leaving a momentary, lonely silence.  "Don't you see that something… strange is going on?" She suggested.

            Gambit shrugged.  "Like what, exactly?  'De Canadian's takin' a nap, and 'de elf got zapped wit' a phaser gun, right?  'Dat his fuzz littering the lucky court, right?"

            "No," Jean huffed.  "This is green, tennis ball fuzz-"

            "Bring it on!" Rogue interrupted the fuzz inspection, trying to keep her pace under control so as not to betray her new powers by running too fast.  "I'm ready for you this time!"

            "Ready for 'da rematch, eh?" Gambit greeted her patronizingly.  "Gonna play 'da game without a racquet, chere?"

            Rogue blushed, but nobody could see it due to the fact that her skin was slightly…

            "Blue?" Jean noticed now that Rogue was near.  "Do you feel alright?  Your skin is blue!"

            "It's what?" Rogue threw her hands in front of her face to see, cursed the gloves that almost constantly covered her flesh, and yanked one part way off.  She blushed again at the blue tint of her palm.  "Uh… just feelin' a little cold.  That's it.  It's a bit cold-"

            "In the middle of a beautiful June day?" Jean probed.

            "What I meant was," Rogue readjusted the glove.  "I have a cold.  It's nothin' really, thanks for askin'."

            "You gettin' blue in 'da face, chere.  What happen?" Gambit didn't believe any of this either.

            "Would you believe one of Beast's experiments went array again?"

            "Whatever you say." He said with disregard.

            "Well," She stormed.  "It's happened before!  In case you hadn't noticed, Hank's been blue himself after the last accident.  Would somebody hand me a racquet so I can get this game started already?"

            Jean had her arms folded tightly.  Rogue's lie was none too convincing, and she had her assumptions.  Convictions actually.  "Well why don't you take this one." She appropriated Northstar's racquet and presented it.  "Jean-Paul doesn't seem to need it at the moment.  Wonder why…"

            Rogue ignored the blatant accusation, took the racquet and herded Jean off the court.  "Blasted woman." She met Gambit over the net to make the formal pre-game handshake.  "You'd think she was suggestin' something!"

            "Hope you're ready for a beatin', chere, 'cause Gambit's not gonna go easy on ya."  Gambit returned the shake firmly.

            "Oh is that so, Sugar?" She tightened her grip on his hand and shook it more rapidly.  "You're gonna go down so hard, you'll think you're goin' up!"

            Gambit played along, squeezing her fingers tighter and speeding up the handshake.  "Jus' make sure you're payin' attention when Gambit deals the cards."

            Tighter and faster handshake.  "Gambit… this is sports…"

            Even more tight and more fast.  "You gotta be a good sport to play cards.  Same wit' tennis."

            And thus was born the tightest, fastest handshake humanity has ever witnessed.  "Awh, to Asteroid M with your good sportsmanship!"

            "That some handshake, chere." Gambit rubbed his battered hand casually when she released it.  "Tryin' to break Gambit's arm before we start?"

            "Courtesy of Carol Danvers." Rogue shrugged, and the players retreated to their positions.

            "So let's do 'dis 'ting!" Gambit made the 'come on' gesture, tossing his trademark quarterstaff aside to wield a sleek black racquet in its place.

            Rogue bounced a ball against the court shakily.  She hoped her two extra X-Powers would be enough.  "Happy to oblige.  I'd ask if you're ready, but you'll never be ready for this!" She finally allowed her Northstar powers to surface, giving in to the swift intake of breath.  For a moment, she thought the rate of inhaling and exhaling would have her hyperventilating in no time, but her body didn't complain.

The world slowed to a snail's pace.  Gambit's 'come on' gesture looked more like an incredibly boring exercise in slowness.  The twittering of birds droned into a deep, gradual trilling, each chirp lasting for long spaces of time.  Scott, Logan, and Jean were sitting on the bench overlooking empty court three, chatting amiably about their game.  Cyclops was nodding with encumbered sluggishness at something Jean was saying, her mouth dragging out the words as though reluctant.  Her legs were kicking back and forth, but so slowly Rogue had to observe for a while before even picking up the movement.

            She turned her head back to smirk at Gambit, confident that her choice of powers had indeed been sufficient.  After all, time itself belonged to her.

            Gambit's also found occasion to take a quick breath, shocked as Rogue's form blurred in movement as she served the fastest service ace he'd ever seen… or rather, hadn't seen.  He couldn't have been positive about the score at all, except for the sound of the ball hitting against the fence behind him forcefully.  "Eh… Gambit's not so sure 'dat was in 'da bounds."

            Rogue's fist flew to her hip in exasperation.  "Awh, come on, genius.  You didn't even see that one."

            "Well, uh… lucky shot, chere." He conceded, scooting over to receive the next serve.

            "You can keep your luck; I've got my own strategies." She ripped loose with another zipping serve.

            This time, Gambit thought maybe he did see a flash of green pass by.  Regardless, he couldn't have so much as blinked in response, let alone hit it back.  "'Dere's no way 'dat was in."

            "You can't be a bad sport about this!" Rogue chatted speedily.  "You've gotta respect the odds; and today they're against you."

            "'Da odds are never against me…"

            "Forty serving love!" She called.

            "No, no, no." He corrected her.  "It's thirty, not forty."

            "I think not.  I got one past you: fifteen.  A second: thirty.  And that last one: forty."

            Gambit found himself reddening, with no blue skin tone to hide the fact.  "What you sayin'?  What one?"

            "The one I just served while you were talkin' to yourself."

            He glanced behind him.  It was true.  There were three balls near the fence, one still freshly rolling.  THUNK.  Make that four balls.

            "That's game!" Rogue rejoiced.  "I'm beating you like a rug on a line, darlin'!"

            "Now jus' hang on 'dere one second." Gambit said.  "'Dis isn't right!  Gambit never loses…"

            Rogue tapped her foot impatiently, realizing that a drawback to super-speed was super-boredom as one waited for everybody else to catch up.  "Just serve, Gambit."

            He hoped she wouldn't be able to break his serve with this unexpected new talent of hers.  Best to let loose with every trick shot in his arsenal.  "You askin' for it now, chere.  'Dis gonna be an ace up Gambit's sleeve in mo' ways 'den one!"  He shot a great serve.  Right on the line, good power… she'll never return that one!

            She watched the ball bounce towards her, finding plenty of time to step into place and strike it back.

            Surprised, Gambit scrambled to intercept the return, just barely making it.  He smiled at the result.  The ball bounced near Rogue's feet and continued over her head.  A truly impossible one to catch, if he did say so himself.

            Rogue wasn't worried in the least.  She called upon her powers of flight and had the leisure to wonder if she was using her own flying power or Northstar's before even zooming up, slightly above the ball.  The slam was a thing of beauty, and truly, truly impossible to catch.

            "Hey!?" Gambit watched helplessly, losing another point just like that.  "'Dis some kinda joke?"

            "I wouldn't go so far as to call you a joke." Rogue lilted, landing gently.

            "Jus' last week you were an… an… an amateur!"

            "Well a girl can't stay the same forever, Sugar.  Now is this gonna get competitive or did I wear tennis shoes for nothing today?"

            Deciding it was worth another try, Gambit shrugged and served again.  This one had a lot of spin on it, but Rogue seemed to know which way it was going before it even landed.  She took complete advantage of her prediction and shot the ball to the far side of Gambit's court, far out of his reach.

            "What a buncha-" Gambit began a tirade, consisting of some less than desirable words, and other really angry sayings.  He concluded the tantrum by igniting his jet-black racquet and tossing it upwards to explode into little titanium pieces.

Elly: There's another chapter right away in exchange for the long wait.  I've been a very busy gal lately, sorry!

GWFan: And thanks for all the help we've gotten in the reviews!  To respond to one note, yes, this story is out of continuity (and giddily so).  It's also been a long time since TAS, so if Gambit's character is off… well, that's what reviews are for, right?

Elly: Thanks for sticking with us!  I hope you enjoy what's to come, and if I may take a moment to beg…

GWFan: Oh no, here it comes…

Elly: Um… I know this is stooping, but we also wrote a little fic called the TRUTH About Frodo that sank straight to the bottom of the LoTR humor page and has never been seen since.  If anybody's interested in some light, non-slash, Rings comedy you could look into it!  (smiles pathetically)

GWFan: Or to paraphrase Elly's appeal: please, please, please, please, we worked so hard, it would be great if you wanted to read it.  See you soon!