(Three)

After the unfortunate incident at the Camp, 'Shay had really calmed down. She did as she was told without argument and completed her training, no longer fighting anything. She didn't cry or express any emotions, she had shut everything off and moved about as if in a fog. She did as she was told and then lay in bed, silent. Leon continued to test her with Headmaster Nate's cats and she did as she was told, wishing only for the plasma to take her away from all this.

Kyle had recovered from his shock at the Quitter's heartless murders, but he was still shaken. He was even more puzzled by 'Shay's mask of apathy, he didn't trust it. He knew well enough that she was merely hiding. Who knew when that mask would fall and Cameron's little killer would pop out?

Lakotashay's training resumed as planned and Cameron was pleased with her progress. He decided a little test was in order to see how she would fare in a real world operation. To this end he planned a series of simple break-ins and robberies here in Baltimore. He wanted to shake down some enemies anyway and desired some extra cash, his regular supply of money was all tied up in repairs to his Club. If 'Shay proved capable, he would have her officially assigned to a regular team, probably with Kyle.

After a couple more weeks of training, they moved out of the training camp and to another house, this one in Baltimore proper. They settled in, happy to be back in the city where there was decent television reception and other entertainments. As before, 'Shay was bunked with Leon. No one saw any need to change that, it seemed the two had formed a sort of friendship, at least that what it looked like on the surface now that Lakotashay was no longer resisting her Master.

'Shay entered the house, carrying her baggage, and found her room. She plopped her bag on the floor, lay on her bed and shut off, moving only after Kyle called her to tell her Cameron had arrived. She shuffled out to meet her Master, dropping down submissively, her eyes cold and empty.

As a token of his appreciation for all her hard work, Cameron wanted to give 'Shay a present. Not whores, he had learned his lesson there, but something far more valuable in his eyes. He gestured to a wooden box on the table. She opened the box numbly and looked down at two high powered handguns, a pair of Desert Eagles and highly prized. They were pretty all right, but did nothing to raise the shroud of blank emptiness she had become. There was nothing here to relieve her pain, any attempt to use these as she truly wished would be thwarted.

"Don't you like them?"

"Yes, Master," she said softly and withdrew without another word.

Kyle sat quiet, watching her with distrust. He had been given medications to calm his jangling nerves, but it did little to help. He was trapped here, waiting for 'Shay's next act of brutal violence. The killings of the two male prostitutes went unnoticed in the public and she was never punished. He had expected more trouble but she had changed, seemingly this time for good.

'Shay did as she was told, saying only "Yes, Master," or "No, Master," , even to him. He had become the mouth of Cameron and she deferred to him as such. She completed all the lessons she was given. She practiced the sword with her advanced instructor and had mastered it. She could conjure it at will as Zander had, she knew all of his lessons and would perform them on command without fail. She could break down or assemble any gun she was given and she was now an excellent shot.

Lakotashay was dead inside. She did not smile or laugh anymore. She didn't play or do anything for pleasure. She did her work, took her hits of plasma, and lay in bed until called for. Kyle couldn't know of all of her activities of course. Leon still brought her cats and she killed them without passion. The night before they had left for Baltimore, he grew tired of that and dragged her to the barn where he ordered her to slaughter a cow with her bare hands. No powers. She did so, no mean feat in spite of her superior Siskan strength. The cow was swift and evasive, she had to stalk it down and climb on top of it to get a good enough grip on its head to snap its neck. Later, Leon finally let her use her power fly the carcass away so it wouldn't be found. Kyle never learned of it.

Now, their first day in the City, Leon had brought her a present of his own. He called it a test of her will, of her commitment to their cause. He gave her a bundle in some rags. She pulled the dirty rags back to see it was a human baby. Leon wouldn't say where he had gotten it, only that someone owed him a favor and he had been waiting until they came to this house to cash it in. It might have been a lie, but the Quitter was beyond caring. 'Shay looked own at the tiny creature nestled in her arms as the cat had been. It was deformed, but not a mutant. She could see its shine shimmering in an unhealthy way. It was already dying.

"Kill it," Leon ordered. "It's a norm. They are all a threat to us, to the team. Show me you will honor your promise."

Cold, dead 'Shay looked down on it and saw nothing. "You'll give me plasma?"

"Don't I always?"

"I wants ta be real high." It was the most she had said in days.

"Sure."

She did as she was told. It was a mercy, right? The child was dying. The truth was, it wouldn't have mattered. She killed it, twisting its tiny neck just as she had the cats. It died without making a sound, its tiny voice silenced by her vicious wrenching. She lay the dead infant down like a used up doll and took her hit of plasma. She lay down on her bed, buried in blankets, wanting only oblivion. Later, when Kyle came to check on her, she was stoned and laughing softly to herself, the only time she ever made a happy noise. The baby was gone, the evidence taken away. All Kyle saw was an empty living corpse in the shape of a man he had grown to miss more than anything laying on a bed, stoned beyond coherence. 'Shay was a terrible accident waiting for a place to happen.

Kyle didn't have to wait long, it happened a week later. They had performed the various office raids as Cameron had wanted and at first things seemed to go okay. What Kyle knew now was that they had only gotten lucky in the beginning - in those first raids they hadn't been interrupted and 'Shay had been content merely to cover their backs. But when they raided the Baltimore Friends of Humanity office and that security guard stumbled in upon them, Kyle had stood in numb shock there while she blew that security guard away like it was nothing. He was horrified, not quite sure what to do. He never saw the security cameras that were filming them, but Zander did.

It wasn't Kimble that looked up and made that plea for help, oh no. The Lover was still curled up and away from the world. It was Zander. He saw the cameras and figured the X-men just might be able to help him out. He did his best Kimble imitation and begged for mercy. He had no way of knowing SHIELD would get to the disc first.

When they got home, Kyle went off on Cameron for making him take 'Shay along. Cameron wasn't the least bit fazed. She had been ordered to protect and she had done so, what was the big deal? The big deal was SHIELD of course. The video was all over the news and now Kyle was looking at a death sentence if he got caught. He had never been in that position before. A battle between factions was one thing, this time an innocent had been killed. Cameron was trying to reassure him, he was using his connections to try and squash the video, but Kyle was swiftly losing patience.

Cameron did his best to sooth Kyle's jangled nerves. "Pull one last job for me and then we will go into hiding. It'll all go away."

"What job?"

"Smithfield Bank."

"Are you nuts? 'Shay will kill everyone! I won't be party to a slaughter!"

"It'll be all right. I'm giving you Franklin. He's a teleporter. There will be no reason for panic. You 'port in, take the money, 'port out. Simple."

Kyle had wept, he was losing it. For the first time in his life, he was really losing it.

"I'm sending them in, Kyle. It'll go faster with you than without you."

"This is it, my last job."

"Yes, the last job."

Kyle had no choice but to agree. He mumbled his assent and walked out.

(break)

"You get all that?" Wolverine grumbled.

"Loud 'n clear, mon ami."

Remy sat back in the driver's seat and rubbed his eyes. Cameron was an idiot, thank God. This house was unprotected and it hadn't taken long for him to break in and plant bugs all over it so they could listen in. They were going to take Kimble, they were just planning the best way to get in there and were picking the right moment to act. He and Logan and Rogue were parked just outside and a tape player was looping on the space between the front seats, recording everything.

"Kyle's ready to crack," Rogue observed.

Gambit wasn't on good speaking terms with her still, they were doing a good job of not speaking about the elephant in the room between them, but he couldn't disagree with her comment. There was no mistaking the sound of a man on the edge. It was something he was very familiar with. He looked at Logan. "We goin' in, or what?"

"Nope. We call SHIELD."

"What for?" Rogue was asking. She was in the backseat, poking her head up to the front.

"To do this right, we're gonna set up Kyle at the bank. SHIELD gets the gang, we get Kimble. I already got it worked out. They'll back us up. It'll go down nice and easy."

"What makes you t'ink dey gonna give Kimble up after 'e kill dat guy?"

"Fury owes me a favor."

Nick Fury was the head of SHIELD and he and Logan had a long history together. They met in the field when Wolverine was in the service and still pulling odd jobs for the US Government as well as Canada. They got along well and their friendship was lasting, it wasn't so much favors owed as mutual respect passed back and forth. If Logan really wanted this, it would happen.

"B'sides..." Logan continued, "Fury'll get Kyle and Kyle's gonna give 'em Cameron. He's the one Fury really wants anyhow."

"Why Kyle gonna do dat?"

" 'Cause 'Shay just made sure he's gonna get the death penalty if he don't."

"Let's get outta here, this girl is starvin'," Rogue commented.

It was late and they were all hungry. They pulled away and went to a diner close to the hotel they were staying in. Logan watched as Remy pushed the food around on his plate without eating very much of it. He was under Henry's orders to eat, but wasn't holding up his end very well. At least he had stopped smoking, though Logan figured it was probably only temporary. The boy was really quiet, keeping to himself. It wasn't just because Rogue was here, Gambit was actually behaving well considering. He didn't start any arguments and wasn't his usual cocky self. Logan knew Henry had put Remy on several medications including an anti-depressant and figured it was probably the drugs making him feel down.

When a group of young girls came in, Wolverine realized he couldn't be more wrong. Like a hunter, Remy's eyes went up and his nostrils flared slightly, breathing in their smells as they walked by. One of them noticed him and winked. Remy shuddered, he couldn't help it. His face flushed with arousal, but his eyes held only tortured pain. He couldn't touch them, he didn't dare. He could have another freak out climax and lose it, maybe somebody might get hurt. It was stamped plain as day on his face and his fear came off of him as a slight change in scent. Logan could smell it, but didn't understand the why of it. Remy tore his eyes away and scowled down at his plate, unhappy.

Logan wasn't about to ask him about it, certainly not at the table with Rogue here. What Logan could sense, he couldn't exactly define. Gambit was crumbling, his scent was off and had been ever since he had been recovered from Boston. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Gambit's scent had been off ever since they had come off the Lucky Dragon and it was only getting worse. There wasn't a whole lot Logan could do about it except to keep a more watchful eye on his teammate and this he would do.

They finished eating and went to the hotel where they caught up with the others. The whole Blue team had been sent out here to Baltimore with a some new recruits to back them up and fill out their ranks. No one had any idea what to expect and they wanted to be as prepared for anything as possible. Jean and Scott had come down with them from the beginning, but were later joined by Iceman and Warren. Once they had Cameron's house staked out the next wave came down, consisting of Storm and Nightcrawler, plus a couple of new people, Trevor and Casey.

Trevor was a cheery young fellow. His power was not unlike Bobby's, but he could turn things to a kind of stone instead of ice. He could change his body into a moving rock hard statue that was unbreakable as well as construct walls and hurl conjured rocks from his fingers. He was a bit of a chatterbox, but handy to have around. Casey was a telekinetic, but not as powerful as Jean. She was young but doing well in her training, she was nearly ready for the trials to be placed on a team full time. In spite of not yet being qualified for a team, she would be useful defensively.

Logan was happy to see that Kurt had arrived with Storm, the teleporter would prove to be a vital asset. He could teleport small groups, but left behind a calling card. Like the demon he appeared to be, he jaunted with a soft bamfing noise and a cloud of sulfur smelling brimstone smoke. He greeted Logan with a cheer, and they left to go have a drink, a little calm before the storm of the coming operation.

Gambit declined their offer to go out, again on Henry's orders but he really wasn't in the mood. He walked up to his room and lay down to brood.

He hadn't liked the voices he had heard on the tape. Not once had Kimble spoken, it was always Lakotashay and her voice was a flat dead nothing. It broke his heart and he was trying desperately to keep himself under control. The fact was he was in a constant emotional turmoil. He hadn't been right since the day he walked out of Xavier's after his fight with Rogue.

The two months he had been gone still haunted him. He couldn't get the sight and smell of those girls from the diner out of his mind. He wanted them so badly he could taste them in his mouth, feel them shiver under his fingertips. His desire for them was matched only by his loneliness. He knew if he went back there, he could easily get one or more of them in bed. He had done it a hundred times, he could do it as easily as breathing. He wanted it, almost needed it to take away this pain that was growing inside of him. It was what would happen after that frightened him. He couldn't control his new power and didn't know if his backwash could damage anyone. What if it caused his bio-kinetic energy to go out of control? He had been there before and wanted none of it. What was he going to do? He needed help. He needed Kimble here so the pilot could help him through this. He just didn't think anyone else would understand.

He was still better off than he had been before, he would admit that much. He didn't know where he would have ended up if Wolverine hadn't showed up in Boston to bring him home. He had been sick past the point of being able to eat and wanted only to die in a ditch somewhere. He had been rescued and the medications Henry had prescribed for him were helping to take the very edge off. The pain in his guts was gone and he could think more clearly, but no magic pill was going to block out the emotional vibrations he was being bombarded with almost constantly. He was surrounded by people and they were swamping him. He could tone down some of the worst vibrations, but it was exhausting. He wanted a drink, he wanted a nice big pill to make his mind shut off.

So, all that crap aside, here he was, back to work again. He was trying to see how they were going to pull this off without Kimble getting killed, but it was looking less and less real. Logan wanted to wait until the bank robbery to retrieve their wayward Siskan, but Remy failed to see how any cop wasn't going to just blow Kimble's brains out on sight. He had made a promise to Seth he wasn't sure he could keep.

Seth had been pensive and paced restlessly on the grass while the team loaded up the Explorer for the trip down here. Remy noticed and went over to him to offer him some comfort. Seth looked up at him as he came over, unable to hide his relief that he had been noticed. His eyes were filled with adoration and worship as he took in Gambit's face. "You won't let them kill Kimble, right?"

Remy nodded and pulled Seth into his arms, something he wouldn't normally do to anyone else, and gave him a good squeeze. Gambit tried to ignore the vibration of worry that cascaded into him from the contact. Seth's vibrations had been the strongest he had felt so far from anyone and the hardest for him to hide from. He didn't know that the sensitivity was mutual, Seth had never commented that he felt what Remy was silently releasing. Seth had done his best to be supportive and was grateful to have Gambit as his friend. Remy was glad for it as well, it was Seth's love for Kimble that helped him through all this. Holding Seth was like holding Kimble. "Gambit's gonna really try," he promised.

Seth could feel a strong vibration of Remy's love, but also sensed Remy's fear of failure. Seth wanted to make Gambit feel better, he was sorry he had put so much pressure on the thief. "I know you will. Whatever happens, happens."

Gambit backed up and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a bar of chocolate and opened it. "Anyone ever give you any of dis, mon ami?"

"No," Seth replied. It was the one thing he hadn't gotten around to yet.

Gambit broke off a small piece and gave it to him. He smiled when he saw the look of delight on Seth's face as he enjoyed what he was given. "Dis yo' brother's favorite. Mine, too. You take dis bar, neh? When you scared an' lonely while we both gone, you take a piece and we both gonna be wit you, 'kay?"

"Okay," Seth replied softly, tears spilling from his eyes.

" 'Ey, now. Dere be none of dat now, mon petit fils," Remy said, wiping them away. Mon petit fils, my little son. It was his new nickname for Seth and it kind of stuck. It showed how he felt loving and protective towards Kimble's younger brother. "You be strong now. Gambit's gonna call you."

"Every night?"

"Every night, though I'm 'opin' we won't be gone dat long."

"Every night. You know I'm always up late. It's okay if you call late," Seth stammered, not really wanting Remy to go. He felt a bond with this man he couldn't explain. It was like there was something electric and magical, like Remy was some kind of knight and everything was going to be okay so long as he was around.

Gambit gave him another squeeze and hopped in the car, wanting to get underway as soon as possible. That was three days ago. It had taken them that long to track down Cameron's Baltimore house and rig up some decent surveillance. Gambit just wanted to go in cards blazing, but Wolverine was being cautious. He didn't know what security Cameron had set up and didn't want a bloodbath. They would watch and wait and use SHIELD to back them up.