Disclaimer: All X-men characters are created and owned by Marvel. I am gaining no profit for this.

To Bethy: Bethy Wethy was a bear. Bethy Wethy had no hair. If Bethy Wethy was a bear and Bethy Wethy had no hair, then I guess Bethy Wethy wasn't Bethy…….Wethy? YAY! Hi Bethy!! Oh and Bethy, I finally have a scarf of my own to steal from…well from me! I made it m'self. Hee hee

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Ch. 15: Stolen Power

Sandra rushed into lab 4 and ended up running right into Mathen on his way out. "Oh! Sorry Mathen." Sandra backed up so that they could have a little privacy in the hallway. She smiled at him "What were you doing in there?"

"Turns out we missed one of them. I've gotta go back and get her."

Sandra began to look concerned but he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close. "And you're coming with me."

Sandra's smile widened. She knew what Mathen was hinting at. They would have plenty of time alone to get naughty. "Wonderful. Meet me in the main lab. I still have to speak with my father."

"Ok" He quickly kissed her nose and let her go. As Mathen walked away she took a second to straighten herself out. With a quick sigh, she opened the door.

Luckily, her father had been occupied with looking over test results so he hadn't even noticed they little scramble in the hall. "I hear I am to assist Mathen on another mission?"

Sinister didn't even look up. Jean's experiment was going perfectly. "It's still the same mission which he started. He irresponsibly forgot one of our new subjects. Her name is Storm. You need to come along because she is very powerful. There's no way he could collect her by himself."

"How strong are her powers?"

"She can control the elements."

This concerned Sandra. Of course she wanted time alone with Mathen, but she didn't want to put his life in danger. He had no mutant abilities therefore he was fragile. At least to her he was. "Maybe I should just go by myself."

That was enough to make him look up. He couldn't take that risk. Mathen had to come along to make sure she only captured Storm and then got out. If Sandra found out that it was a school or that all of these mutants were a part of a team, she may begin to distrust him. "No. I have a solution."

Sinister left Jean's side and went over to Rogue's sleeping form. "Have I told you about Rogue here? She can take a mutants power and use it for herself."

Sandra moved next to her. She smiled when she realized what her Father meant. So she reached her hand out and onto Rogue's forehead. There was a brief flash of light and it was done. Suddenly, a machine gave out a loud beep to alert them to a failure in one of the test subjects……

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Mathen waited in the main lab for about twenty minutes. While he had been waiting, Gambit had woken up. And he wasn't to happy about where he was.

Remy's head was finally clear of fog. He remembered his mental shields being down and not being able to move. He even faintly remembered a young woman helping him. But he wasn't sure if it had only been a hallucination or not. He decided to check his surroundings. He turned his head as far as he could. Obviously he was in one of Sinister's labs. The whole whiteness and chemically smell of the room gave it away. Remy also noticed that Warren was strapped onto a table next to him. He was still in dreamland though.

Gambit looked to his left and then noticed a tall blonde haired man staring at him. He was all in black, and although they had never met Remy knew him. He was Mathen Spires. A world famous thief, like himself. His specialty wasn't jewelry or art though, it was technology. Mathen had managed to steal over 6 million dollars from a European bank without ever even once stepping into the place. Somehow he had done the whole deal electronically. This was definitely an impressive man. But Gambit was not so impressed at the moment. "You know, m'seuir. 'Dis deal you working' now's got no honor, eh?"

Mathen crossed his arms across his chest. He really didn't want to talk to this man. "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

Remy shook his head. He knew what the guy was feeling, but he also knew that it was wrong to help out a man like Sinister. No matter what that devil was holding over your head. "Look homme. You don' gotta do 'dis! 'Dere's plenty of other 'tings dat you can do. Please, Remy beggin' ya. Help us out 'ere. Make tings right."

The man had struck a nerve in Mathen. He had never felt comfortable working for Sinister, but he really didn't have a choice now. Maybe a month ago yes. He would have walked away from all of this without even a second look back. But now…..he loved Sandra. Sinister's daughter. And he refused to leave her behind. "You're Remy LeBeau right? Thieves Guild?"

"Not for a long time. Gambit got a new family now."

Mathen knew what he was talking about. The X-Men. Mathen knew a lot about them too. They were mutants who were fighting on the good side. They had quality and honor. He used to have that, but not anymore. He was about to tell Remy that he felt sorry for him. He really did, but Sandra walked in.

"Oh good! He's awake."

She was staring right at Gambit and he at her. So he hadn't imagined her. She was real. For some reason he felt like he had some kind of a connection with her. He didn't know how, but he sort of felt like he was getting a crush for her. She was fascinating. Not only her eyes, but her hair, the way she moved. Her stride was smooth and graceful like a cat's. Gambit could tell just by her walk that someone had training her well in quite a few combat arts. She seemed meek and powerful all at the same time. And her skin was as smooth and silky as an Angels. H e so desperately wanted to put his hand on her cheek and kiss her tender lips.

He was brought out of his dreaming, when suddenly he saw her reaching for him. Gambit began to struggle because he could feel that this was not sign of compassion. She was going to do something to him. His efforts were useless, he was bound to that table. Suddenly her hand was on his forehead and her felt his power being drained from him. Just like Rogue. He felt his thoughts becoming hers. What de hell did you do to Rogue? Dat's her power you got! Before he could continue, Gambit lost consciousness again.

"Ok come here Mathen."

Mathen was certainly confused. He had no idea what Sandra was doing but he stepped toward her anyway.

"This will only take a second, my love." She touched her hand onto his cheek and immediately, he had Gambit's thoughts and memories. But most of all, he had his powers. He looked at Sandra in shock. How had she done that? Somehow she had been able to give Gambit's powers to him. And he had complete control.

"It's a new trick. You like?"

Mathen hugged her close. "I love it. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes. My father wants us to report to him. He's going to open a portal for us to get right into the mansion. But we will have to find our own way back."

"Ok don't worry about that I'll take care of it. Let's go."

Mathen glanced at the two prisoners in the cells. And saw both of their faces were covered in shock and sadness. Mathen followed Sandra out of the room. But for some reason his stride was not as brisk or joyful as hers.

TBC

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Ch. 16: The Battle of Wills

Storm sat alone in the living room. There was literally nothing she could do. She was angry at herself for not rushing to aid her friends. And she would if she knew where to rush to. So far all she knew was that someone had taken out the entire security grid. It was still down actually. She had made up a list of known enemies, but it was so large that she knew it was pointless. She now sat by herself in an arm chair. A few tears crept down her cheek as the winds outside picked up to show her frustration. Soon she would be unable to hide her feelings, and an enormous rainstorm would come.

But without warning, a tesseract opened up on the other side of the room. It was Sinister. She should have known. She stood, ready to face her opponent. But unexpectedly, a man fully dressed in black with a face mask and a woman jumped out. The strangers looked completely opposite. The woman had long untamed red hair and fire for eyes. She wore some sort of corset top which had a large glowing red jewel in the middle. Her stomach was exposed, and Storm noticed that this woman was very fit because her stomach was flat and muscular. To top the whole out fit off she wore a skirt of all different reddish tones which reminded Storm of a fire. She then had bright gold high heeled shoes on her feet. The woman certainly didn't look as if she were prepared to fight.

The man on the other hand did. He had a form fitting black leather suit on and he had covered his entire face. He also had a large belt with weapons and other gadgets attached to it.

Storm stared in disbelief. Who were these people and how had they managed to kidnap the X-Men. Well she thought enough standing around. It is time for me to take these villains down and save my comrades. Storm lifted her hands to the sky to call forth the power of the sky to help her. As she did so the man turned to the woman. "Hellfyre! I'll handle her! You go get that jet I told you about!"

She looked at him with concern, but he touched her shoulder. "Don't worry I'll be fine"

She nodded and ran off. Fine if you want me to defeat you in singles than so be it. Ororo called for the winds to emerge. She then clenched her hands in fury and threw a thunderbolt at the man. He was quick though, so he easily jumped out of harms way. This would not deter Storm however. "Surrender now and I will not cause any major damage to you"

The man smirked as he dodged another bolt. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing. The boss is dying to get you reunited with your friends."

Storm stared at him. "So this is the work of Mr. Sinister."

The man didn't reply. Instead he came running toward her and began a roundhouse kick. But Storm had seen him coming so she blew a large gust of wind directly at him. The intruder was knocked off course and ended up crashing into a coffee table. He recovered quickly though. Soon he was back on his feet and he had grabbed something out of his belt. Whatever it was, it began to glow red and he tossed it at Storm.

Strangely, he was clumsy with the object. As if he weren't used to throwing such a thing, because it only landed on the ground by Storm's feet. She had only a second to look at it before it exploded. She jumped back and stared at the man in disbelief.

The object that he had charged was a playing card. And the power that he had used was from Remy, without a doubt. Storm slowed her winds and warily stared at the man. Her face filled with worry and her voice shook as she spoke. "What have you done to my Brother?"

Before she could get a reply the man threw another object at her. Except this one hit its target and it wasn't a tiny card. Instead it was a large black of metal that knocked Storm into a wall. It then separated into five pieces and pinned her to the wall by her arms, legs, and neck. It was over. She was trapped and wouldn't be able to throw any more thunderbolts at him. No. She wouldn't give up that easily. Storm used all of her strength and caused the winds to blow at hurricane speeds. She brought on the rain and even caused the room to shake.

The man couldn't stay on his feet. He was knocked around like a small puppet. But then he took out some kind of remote from his belt and pushed a button. Then everything stopped. Storm knew what he had done. The metal around her neck was interfering with her power. She bowed her head. Now it was over. He had won.

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Mathen walked over to his captive. And felt a pang of guilt. This woman was strong and mighty and within a few minutes he had torn her from her high thrown. She was now weeping. He knew it wasn't just because she had lost. It was because she had been the last chance to save her friends. Her family. And she had failed. He was interrupted from his thoughts.

"I ask you again. What have you done to them?!"

She was staring at him. Her blue eyes cold and filled with hatred. And then, something in Mathen clicked. He couldn't do this anymore. He didn't want to do this. Mathen had always seen himself as a righteous man. Not some evil wretch who did what his master told him to do. He worked for himself. And he would be damned if he let himself destroy such a beautiful spirit as the one that stood before him.

Storm continued to stare down her attacker. She waited for what seemed like forever for a reply. But surprisingly he held his head down and slowly took off his mask to reveal his face. Ororo's heart broke. His eyes. They were red on black and she had a feeling that Remy was dead. She began to breathe in ragged gasps. But the man just stared at her.

A tear fell from the man's eye. A with a barely audible whisper he said "I'm sorry"

He then charged a card and snuck it into one of the metal cuffs holding Storms hands to the wall. He gave her one more sorrowful look and then ran out of the room just before the explosion hit.

TBC

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Author's Note: Ok I know I'm really confusing you, and probably the only person who isn't confused is the Orange Pop Messiah. But don't worry, soon you will all be enlightened. For now let me ease your pain and let you know that don't worry Storm is definitely dead. Now Rogue and Remy on the other hand……….nope! I'm not telling you'll just have to wait! Hee hee, me so bad!

Also, I like to pretend that I can draw. I am a very visual person especially when it comes to clothes. I don a few small drawrings of Mathen and Hellfyre, but I don't have a scanner or anything. But maybe, somehow I will figure out how to show them to you all. And they're not really about the actually drawing, they're about the costumes. I'll explain it better if I ever get 'em up. Ok? Later. Bye!

Oh oops! I mean Storm is definitely not dead. Get that, NOT DEAD. Hee hee.