Disclaimer: Hey, guess what! I don't own any of the characters formerly trademarked by Marvel Comics. Which sucks, cuz maybe then I'd be a little better off, and not a starving college student. So PLEASE don't sue me. All you'll get is debt.
A Gambit's Edge
Some people thought that nighttime was when the big heists happened. That darkness concealed the truly brilliant thievery. To some extent those people were right, but a cardinal rule of the art of Thieving was: People see what they expect to see.
Gambit sauntered through the heart of New Orleans at nine in the morning. The biggest heists went off at around seven. People were at their most vulnerable, because they were at their most blind. Gambit was tired. His chin length auburn hair was tousled, and his lean form ached from being cramped for so long in such a tiny space. Ventilation shafts were seriously substandard in office buildings.
The southern morning was beautiful though, and Gambit couldn't help but smile as he walked through the French Quarter where he was raised. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, as usual, but today he fit right in. He had had some trouble in the past over his 'devil eyes' - he smirked sardonically at the recollection. But he wasn't going to let that ruin his morning. Up ahead the manor he called home came into view. It wasn't a manor as you would find farther north, or into the country. It was simply a big house, with a larger property than usual, a bit outside of the hubbub of urban life.
He reached the gate, took off his sunglasses and looked into the camera so his eyes were clear. Then he walked over to the PC system next to the gate, and said " 'De cat 'as come home, mon ami. Now open 'de gates, I am hungry." The gates swung open, and Gambit slipped past the polished iron work, and up the clean driveway to get inside.
The inside of the house was quieter than usual, no thieves bouncing off the walls and each other, to see what the youngest master thief had brought home. He couldn't hear any of the little ones pretending to be masters themselves, or running around and laughing. He was struck by a momentary unease, and he walked over to the wall where his favorite weapon had been left earlier in the morning because it was too big for the ventilation shafts. His bo-staff was leaning right where he had left it.
" 'Ey, papa? Are you 'dere? I 'av 'de groceries for you lunch." His throaty voice was confident, at home in his own domain. No reason to suspect anything is wrong.
Suddenly Jean Luc's voice came over the intercom which was in the entry hall. "Oui, Remy. Come to 'de office, and I will make us a sandwich."
Gambit's eyebrows twitched, and he walked upstairs, bo-staff in hand, his steps echoing on the wooden steps, and into the open room below him. It was distracting to his highly tuned senses. Something was wrong - but, then again, you didn't have to be a master thief to know that. The whole house felt … violated, intruded upon, or something.
He left the steps, and sped up once he could see the office at the back of the house, he was running once he could see his father, bo-staff in his right hand, Ace of Spades in the other. But when he burst into his fathers office, no one else was there. It was just him, and his father. His senses were still screaming at him that something was terribly wrong, but he didn't know what it was.
His father looked up at him, and held his hand out. There was a glint of eagerness which Gambit had never seen there before.
"The files, Remy." he said. "Put them on the desk."
Gambit looked at him closer, " 'Ey, papa, you are sick, non? What happened to you voice? It is yours, but it is no the language."
His father glared at him, and slammed his hand onto the desk. "Too many years in 'dis place, sometime I talk like 'dem, non?"
Jean-Luc's face was strained, and odd looking. His kindly blue eyes, and gray mustache were both crinkled and angry looking. For a moment, Gambit could have sworn he had seen his father's eyes turn completely blue - even the whites of them, when he had hit the table.
"Put 'de files on 'de desk!" his father yelled.
Gambit took a step back, out of instinct, and his father snapped his fingers together. Instantly, in the mirror behind his father, Gambit saw two of the biggest figures he had ever seen step in front of the door to block his way. Gambit turned so that he could see his father out of the corner of one eye, and the beast things out of the other, his back to the wall, and facing a window which led to the side garden - just one floor up from it.
The figures which had come into the office now faced him, awaiting the word from his father. One of them had long blond, thick hair, a huge upper torso covered by a yellow suede and fur trench coat. His eyes were almost completely black, and he had fangs. Big ones. The other guy was just huge. He looked like someone you would want on your side in a bar fight.
"Now, Gambit" said a voice from his father's side of the room, which he had never heard before "do be a doll, and give me the files you stole this morning. I wouldn't want this to become unpleasant."
Gambit turned back to where his father had been before, and he sucked in his breath, eyes widening at the sight before him. His father was nowhere to be found. Before him stood a woman. At least he assumed she was a woman. She was slim, with short red hair, tall - almost as tall as Gambit was himself - nude, and completely blue.
Her demand came to his ears, and he snarled at her " Non! I do not know what you are saying, but I am no tief! Where is my father?"
The blue creature's oily smile was replaced by a grimace, and she signaled to the two goons to attack. Instantly Gambits bo-staff was up, and the card he had been carrying earlier was thrown at the attackers. A small explosion had occurred before two steps were taken. Then the bo-staff came into effect, as Gambit kept them at bay with his fast fighting. The hairy one got in past his defenses, and Gambit made a quick tuck off the floor, and came up behind them both, hitting them on their backs, to stun them, and then behind their calves as they turned around, effectively putting them on the floor.
He had ended up by the window, and he took another card out of his pocket, "Trust me, blue," he began "You don't want me to charge this. Listen to me… I am leaving New Orleans. I'm taking these files with me. Therefore there is nothing here for us. If you want these files unharmed, then you will leave this house and never come back. If you want them, than you have to find me. Have fun."
He winked at her, and tossed the lightly charged card at her chest. He didn't want her to die, and have some blue-person guild attack the Thieves Guild for revenge. But he did want her unable to follow him.
As the card exploded, Gambit jumped out of the window into the garden a story below him, and took off running down the driveway, bo-staff still in hand.
He was so busy looking behind him, that he didn't notice his real father before he ran into him. They both fell onto the gravel at the bottom of the property, his father landing on top of him.
"Remy! Why do you run so fast from 'de house?" he asked laughing, "You are no stealing from 'de tiefs are you?" he got up, and pulled Gambit off the ground.
"Papa! You must warn 'de tiefs, 'dey are in danger. 'De house has been found out! I do no' know how, but 'dey are after 'de heist from 'dis morning" He stopped to look back at the house, waiting for the blue lady to emerge. "I mus' leave 'dis place, Papa. To protect 'de tiefs. I am sorry. I do be stealin' from 'de tiefs, I will explain why someday, maybe. I love you, but I mus' go!" And he started to leave. His fathers hand stopped him, and he handed to Remy an oversized trench coat - dark green, with lots of pockets inside. His father always wore it.
"Call us when you able. Tings in 'dere can help you. Lots of 'de money. Be careful."