The Prince of Thieves

Chapter XXI: Something Is Going Down Soon

By: Michelle

DISCLAIMER: I just write fanfics for fun. It wouldn't be pointless to sue me because I don't have shit.

I would have had this chapter up sooner, but #$& Hurricane Ivan caused my family to make a run for it. Stupid #$& hurricane. We drove nine #$& hours to run from the #$& thing and it didn't even #$& hit us.

Anyways, on with Prince21.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Wolverine growled as Gambit let him up. He growled under his breath as Storm walked in the Danger Room with the Junior X-men. He brushed past her and managed to say. "I'd be wise if your little friend would stay clear of me for a while. I won't be held responsible if he becomes shish kabob."

"Well someone's in a mood." Storm said to Nightcrawler.

"He's not the only one." Nightcrawler replied folding his arms. "I'm going to my room to pray."

"Kurt." Storm sighed as he walked off. This is not good. She ran her fingers thru her hair and walked over to Gambit who was surrounded by the students.

Gambit was in heaven with all the attention he was receiving from Rogue, Jubilee, Colossus, and the limping Shadowcat. He smirked over to Storm as she came over.

Storm smiled but couldn't help but think about Kurt. Boy was he upset. Maybe he will calm down after some prayers. She turned her attention back to Gambit and noticed something. "OH Goddess. Damnit. Did you have to blow off that cast?"

"Cast? What cast?" Gambit said trying to play it off like he never had one.

"The one that was on your arm." Storm fussed. "And don't play dumb with me."

"OWWW." Gambit winced in pain as she touched his arm.

Storm sighed. "Come on. Let's get you and Kitty both down to the med lab."

"Come on Kitty."

Shadowcat felt herself become scooped up in Colossus's arms. "Can I like get Mr. Wagner to bring me there?"

As the other's left the Danger Room, Iceman and Rogue stayed behind. Iceman picked up a part of Gambit's blown off cast and looked at it. She signed his cast.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remy looked on the new cast on his arm. Damn and I just got that other one off too. He hated the med lab and envied the fact Kitty was already out of there. He would have made a run for it already, but Ororo was to make sure he wasn't going to escape. "Can I go now?"

"No." Ororo replied. "You need to let that cast dry some more."

"But Stormy." Remy began to whine. "I don't be liking it here."

"Then, you shouldn't have blown your cast off." Ororo replied. "Just a few more minutes and you can go. I just want to make sure it is completely dry."

"Dat's like forever." Remy griped.

Ororo shook her head as she listened to him complain. "You know my students don't complain as much as you do."

Remy rolled his eyes at the comment. As Xavier wheeled over to check on the cast, he got extremely uncomfortable.

"You did some excellent fighting out there, Gambit." Xavier said as he examined the cast to make sure it was dry. "I was very impressed."

"Yeah Whatever." Remy replied.

"I was wondering if..."

"Look, I be out ya hair, or lack dere of, in a couple o' days." Remy said before Xavier could finish his sentience. "So it be dry or what?"

"It's dry." Xavier said not pushing his question. "You can go."

"Good." Remy replied and hauled ass as fast as he could out of the med lab.

Xavier watched as Gambit rushed out of there. He hated to see someone so young and so full of possibilities, throw their life away. Gambit was only 22, and never seemed to trust anyone. It was a shame really. He didn't want to see Gambit go thru life never wanting to have peace in it.

Ororo sighed as she looked at Xavier. "I'm sorry he acted like that to you."

"Ororo, you have no reason to apologize." Xavier said to her. "Gambit is quite capable of making his own choices on how he acts."

"That's not an excuse."

"No it isn't." Xavier agreed. "But Gambit makes up his own mind. No one else does it for him."

Ororo nodded. The one thing Remy had told her that he wanted most in his life was to be able to make his own decisions about how he was to lead his life. "Yeah, I know." His freedom gave him that opportunity. "I know."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Bobby clenched his fists as he and Rogue walked down the hall. Tiny ice shards hit the floor every time he thought about the cast. Why would she sign his cast? "So, why'd you do it?"

"Huh?" Rogue looked over at him. What is he talking about?

"You know what I mean." Bobby replied. "Why did you?"

"Why did I do what?" Rogue asked. He's not making any sense.

"Come on Rogue." He replied. "You were the only on who signed it."

"Signed what?" Rogue asked beyond the state of confusion.

"His cast." Bobby answered. "Why'd you sign it?"

"This is about a cast." Rogue replied. He must be joking.

"Not a cast." Bobby corrected her. "His cast."

"His name is Remy." Rogue informed him. "And who cares if I signed his cast or not."

"I care." Bobby replied. "You're my girlfriend."

"SO." Rogue replied. I can't believe I'm hearing this. "That doesn't mean you own me." She said getting an attitude. He's jealous. "If I want to sign his cast, I will. And nobody. Not you. Not Kurt. Or, even Logan's gonna stop me."

'So what if you kiss him again?" Bobby demanded for an answer. "Does that speech qualify for that too?"

Rogue stood there with her mouth hanging open. "You're so jealous."

"I am not."

"You are."

"Well I guess I am." Bobby replied admitting the obvious. "After all, you had your tongue down his throat. And, you do nothing but push me away if I get too close to you."

"For one, it's your fault you lost the stupid bet. You should have never used me as a prize. Especially, when you know you suck at pool!!!" Rogue yelled. "And two, I can't help the fact I can't touch you." She said and her face streamed with tears. "I can't." She said and ran down the hallway to her room. She didn't look back, nor did she want to.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Mystique walked towards the jewelry store with a Bo staff in hand. Her body shifted from her red hair, blue skin, and black leather mini skirt and top into auburn hair pulled in a ponytail, tan skin, and a black and fuchsia body suit with a brown trench coat.

She stopped in front of the door and smirk as she slammed the Bo staff into the window. The alarm sounded off loudly and she quickly got to work.

She smashed open the jewelry cases and stuffed the jewelry into a bag. She could hear the sirens already turning the corners down the street. And knew it was time to go. This time she wasn't going to just leave a marked of Gambit. This time she was leaving something much more. If he didn't know his name was being destroyed then, he sure was going to now. He should have thought twice about double-crossing Magneto.

Moments before the police arrived, Mystique was gone from the scene and ready to hit the next spot.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Logan parked his bike and strutted into Harry's bar. Being in his black leather X-suit, he got several looks from some of Harry's newer customers. "Whatcha lookin' at?" He growled past them and took a seat at the bar.

'Hey Logan." Harry greeted as he dried a mug. "What can I getcha?"

"The usual."

Harry nodded and got him his beer. "So what's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

"I've been running this place for over 20 years and I know when someone comes in with that look you have on your face, it means that something is up." Harry replied. "So what's up?"

Logan shook his head. He could never get mad at a guy like Harry. Harry was the type of guy you could talk to about all your problems and who would never share your secrets. "Guess there's no fooling you."

"'Fraid not."

Logan lit up a cigar and puffed away. "'Ro brought in this punk kid she knows to the mansion. He's a real troublemaker." He said and took a swig of beer. "Anyways, the kid. Well, I say kid but he's 22 or something like that. Anyways, he's not what he seems to be."

"He's shittin' everyone."

"Exactly." Logan replied and took another swig of beer. "And 'Ro don't see it either."

"Have you tried beating the shit out of him?" Harry asked. "That would be a method I would take."

"Yeah." Logan replied but didn't want to even think about the Danger Room. "No comment on that method."

"That bad."

Logan placed his empty beer on the counter. "It was that bad."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

With his eyes closed and his unique three fingered hands holding his rosary beads, Kurt prayed silently in his room. He heard the door of his room open softly and familiar footsteps along the floor. "Hello Ororo." He said never losing his focus.

"Hey." Ororo answered softly.

"Vat are you doing here?" Kurt asked fingering the next bead.

"I want to talk to you." Ororo said taking a seat next to him on the floor.

Kurt sighed and made the sign of the cross symbolizing the end of his prayers. He could have ignored her if he wanted, but he could never do something like that to her. He loved her too much. So, he opened his golden eyes and turned to stare into her sapphire ones. "Ja."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be." Kurt said trying to make her feel guilty. "You made Logan and I look like a couple of fools in front of those kids."

"You and Logan have been boasting and showing off for far too long." Ororo replied. "You two had it coming."

"You set us up." Kurt shook his head. "You knew what he could do and you set us up."

"Yes, I did." Ororo answered honestly and stopped him before he could say anything else. 'But you had it coming and you know it. Besides, I thought it was quite amusing to see the two of you run in terror."

Kurt gave her a look. "I didn't think it was that amusing." He answered. "Besides, I wasn't running in terror."

"Oh really." Ororo smiled. "Cuz that's not what I saw."

"You vere seeing things." Kurt teased. "Logan was the one running. Not me." He smiled. He knew she was right, but he wasn't going to admit it.

"My eyesight is just fine." Ororo replied and kissed him softly on the lips.

Kurt didn't object and welcomed it when she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lay her on the floor and began sliding his hands down her body.

He's being bold. Ororo thought to herself as she felt his tender touch. She wanted him and kissed hungrily at his lips.

Kurt winced slightly and pulled away as she bit at his lip.

"He got you good, didn't he?" Ororo said.

"He kicked me in the jaw with a steel boot." Kurt replied.

Ororo smiled and traced his lip with her finger. "Poor baby."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Remy closed his laptop and sighed. It seemed like the more he looked at the disk, the more aggravated he would get because he couldn't figure out what Magneto was up to. So, he closed his laptop.

He ran his fingers thru his hair and cursed Stormy for chopping it all off. He knew she was across the hall with Kurt and was debating whether or not he should barge in and break up the make out fest. Stormy will kill me if I did. What the hell she sees in that loser anyway. He was determined to find out, but he was more curious about Magneto's plans.

Remy threw the covers off and climbed out of bed in just his underwear. He needed to get out of there. He needed time to himself to think.

He debated about going out and roam the mansion. Being nosey was always fun, but he wasn't in the mood to have anyone breathing down his neck with every step he took. So instead, he opted to sneak around.

Remy opened the window and felt the small breeze. It was fairly chilly considering he was still use to the hot humid Louisiana nights. You would think he would welcome the change in weather, but that was not the case. He missed home and welcomed any memory of it.

He slipped on his trench coat and climbed out on the window ledge. Using a drain pipe, he quickly scaled the wall up to the roof. He thought once he was up there that he would have the place to himself, but that was not the case. It was quite obvious; he wasn't the only one who needed to be alone.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Xavier sat alone in his study looking at the various papers Ororo had Gambit's brother fax over. He was learning a lot about Gambit: his full name, when he was adopted, what kind of grades he made in school and of course his five hour wedding.

He stacked the papers neatly and placed them in a folder on the desk. He turned on the TV and watched another breaking news report with Gambit's pictures and description init. But if that wasn't bad enough, the police now had something else.

This is April O'Neil Channel Six News. I'm here love at K-Swiss Jewelers where another robbery has taken place nearly 15 minutes ago. Here, at the scene of the crime is Detective Carl Frisby, Head of the NYPD Burglary division to make a comment on the story.

"Thank you Ms. O'Neil." Detective Carl replied. "The description of the suspect is that he is a male Caucasian with auburn hair, red eyes, with the height of 6 feet and weighing approximately 170lbs. He's been spotted wearing a black body suit with a fuchsia torso and a brown trench coat. We believe the suspect is a mutant, but at this point in time we are not sure of what he is capable of doing."

"I see." April nodded. "Detective Carl, it there any new information that has surfaced in this robbery."

"Yes, Ms. O'Neil. There is." Detective Carl replied. "At various burglaries made last night, we found several playing cards at the scenes. This burglary was no different. However, this time the cards were set up waiting for us."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Tonight, we found 52 cards, a full deck, spread out on the floor spelling the word GAMBIT."

"Huh." April replied. "That is rather strange."

"Indeed it is." Detective Carl replied. "We believe this thief is toying with us now. He knows he's good and wants to be recognized."

Xavier sighed and folded his hands. He knew the situation was slowly going out of control. Something was going to go down soon.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&7

Rogue sat on the roof in her nightgown and black hooded cloak. She and Bobby had gotten into a fight and it wasn't pretty. She just wanted to be alone and away from everyone who didn't understand.

Remy sat down next to her. He could feel the emotions coming off of her. Rogue was upset and depressed. He wondered why see was feeling that way and what he could do to make her feel better. "Hey."

"Hey." Rogue replied softly. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Waz wrong Chere?"

"Bobby and I got in a fight." She replied. 'He's mad at me."

Remy raised an eyebrow. "Why he mad at you?"

"Cuz." Rogue sniffled. Because I like you. "Cuz he's jealous." She wiped her eyes and told him only half of the story. "Storm suspended him from the team for two weeks. That means he get private drill sessions from Logan." She explained. "I've been improving with my training a lot, so Xavier and Storm might let me go on missions soon. That means I'll be apart of the team. But Bobby, he hasn't been doing as good as me."

She's lying about what's really upsetting her, but then again she is telling the truth. "Bobby ya boyfriend, right." Remy asked and watched her nod. "Den he be a fool ta be jealous of ya. If ya be my girl, I's be proud of ya."

Rogue turned to look in his ruby eyes to see if he was telling the truth. "Really?"

"Yeah." Remy smiled.

Rogue wiped her eyes. She felt a lot better. He's sweet. She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Remy wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He wanted to ask her how much she knew about his association with Magneto, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her. Instead, he debated to himself on why he didn't want to stay.

A few hours later...

Logan growled under his breath when he found them in the 'hangout' roof spot everyone went to in order to have a moment alone. It was quite obvious that both of them were asleep. Without flesh to flesh contact, Remy was laying on his back with his arm around Rogue. She was snuggled up next to him with her head on his shoulder.

He carefully picked up Rogue without waking up either of them. He brought her to her in her room and tucked her in her bed. On the way back up to the roof, he wondered what would attract a sweet beautiful young woman to that garbage pail punk of a kid Ororo brought in.

When Logan got up to the roof, he glared at the sleeping Gambit. It would be so easy just to throw him off the roof right now. He thought as he lit up a cigar. "Rise and shine." He puffed on the cigar and nudged Gambit with his foot.

Remy opened his ruby eyes to see Logan standing over him. I could have lived without seeing his face. Then, he realized Rogue wasn't there. Oh shit. Did she fall off the roof? He looked around ready to panic.

"Relax." Logan puffed on his cigar. "Rogue's in her bed, far enough from you."

Remy gave him a glare and stood up. "I's surprised ya didn't try ta throw me off de roof or something."

"I was tempted." Logan replied and tapped the end of his cigar. "But I don't want a thunderbolt shoved up my ass."

"Why?" Remy smirked. "Ya head be taking up most of de room."

Logan growled. "Listen you little punk." He said as he put out his cigar in his hand. "If 'Ro wasn't my friend, I would have kicked your ass a long time ago."

"Yeah." Remy rolled his eyes. 'We dun saw how well dat went."

Logan grabbed Gambit by the collar of his trench coat and growled in his face. "Don't push me kid." He said placing his fist against his neck. Slowly, he extended his left and right claw. "There's always room for the middle claw."

"I ain't no assassin." Remy touched one of the claws against his neck. "So don't be making me paint de roof wit ya blood."

"You don't have the balls." Logan challenged.

"Ya sure 'bout that?" Remy said as he began charging the claw. "Alls I got ta do is let go."

Logan glared into Gambit's eyes. He could tell he wasn't kidding, so he loosened his grip on the collar.

In return, Remy pulled back the charge from Logan's claws. He smirked as Logan retracted his claws and let him go. "Dat's what I dought." He said flipping up his collar. "See you later, Monsieur."

"You may think you got away, but I'm on to you." Logan yelled to Gambit as he walked away. "You're going down real soon."

Remy paused when he heard Logan's last comment. It was true. He could feel it. I got to get out of here. He sighed and began climbing down the mansion to his room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Well, another chapter done. I guess I better get cracking on Prince22. Got to get in gear for some fighting. Muhahahahha.

Yeah, I know I described Mystique from the X-men Evolution TV show, but I'm not a fan a naked Mystique. GIVE ME A NAKED GAMBIT OR WOLVERINE ANYDAY!!!

And Yes, April O'Neil is the reporter from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm a fan of the TMNT so I couldn't help but give her a cameo.

I have posted the first two chapters to Sweet Little Lies. I will have another chapter out for that one in a few days.

Anyways, thanks for all the reviews. I'll see you next chapter or story.

Michelle