6
Three hours earlier...
There had been seven different locations that could have contained the target. The man responsible for this was, among many other things, thorough in his planning. It had taken Gambit weeks just to get enough information in order narrow it down to seven possible hideouts, and another three to narrow it down further. Even now, as he sat on his motorcycle outside what appeared to be pristine warehouse west of New York, he wasn't sure if this was the right place. There were too many holes in this plan for him to be completely comfortable.
Maybe that's what had first attracted him to Magneto, the near obsessive attention to detail the man had in everything he did. A master strategist, Magneto always seemed to be three steps ahead of everyone around him. Gambit liked that. Of course Gambit had found himself in the employment of the Master of Magnetism because the money was ridiculously good, but he also had liked working for someone who thought the same way he did. He didn't really care one way or another about mutants and humans since he lived on the fringe of society already, but Gambit was the type of person that had to have his jobs well planned in advanced, details discovered and exploited before he ever walked into the building that held his target. He might occasionally have to fly by the seat of his pants, but the Thieves Guild had pounded their motto into his brain, "Be prepared." Magneto had forgotten that when he rushed out to face Apocalypse, which is why Gambit now had no problem ending his contract by stealing something very valuable to Magneto. But here he was, ready to go in practically blind.
Gambit was thankful that Magneto had not moved this particular treasure to Avalon, but that still didn't make him feel any better about the job. Magneto was half the world away, but his mind was still a danger to Gambit. Even if this was the wrong hideout, there would still be plenty of traps and defenses the thief would have to get through before he realized it was too late. And he only had one shot at this. Once the alarm was tripped, and because he didn't know the full defense system of the base he knew he would eventually trip one, he had very little time to finish his business and get out to make a getaway.
He looked to his right, where a black van stood waiting. At least the getaway part was ready, his new employer had seen to that. All he had to do was get lucky, find the package in this building and get out alive. He checked his cards and staff one last time, and took out a pack of gum. Chewing kept his nerves calm and helped him focus. He popped a piece into his mouth and walked away from the building.
In front a building two warehouses down the line was a power relay station, which he casually brushed up against as he ran to a small gap between two of the buildings. Leaping from wall to wall, he scaled up the small chimney until he could launch himself upwards with one last leap, clearing the roof of the building. His feet touched the concrete just as the power box below exploded. Lights for blocks around clicked off, some bulbs shattering at the sudden surge of power. Yet another flaw in his plan, he had no idea if there were back up generators in the target building that would kick on.
Remy sprinted across the rooftops, leaping the gaps in between buildings until he stood on the target's roof. He continued to run, reaching into his coat and pulling out a small grappling hook. Reaching the edge of the building he jammed it into the small ledge surrounding the rooftop and leapt over the side. The cable attached to his belt unfurled the set distance and he swung back to the building, catching himself with his legs. He was level with a small ventilation grate just below the roofline. Pulling a pick from where he tucked it behind his ear, he had the lock on the thin grate open in a few seconds. He pushed the metal inward on its hinges, slid his body into the opening and pushed a button on his belt. The talons of the grapple closed and the cable retracted itself. He tucked it back into his jacket as he closed the grate and relocked it.
He was in a tight space, but for someone as limber as he was it was easily manageable. If the schematics of the building were correct, he had twenty five feet to go before the duct dropped down to a secondary duct that went through a dividing wall in the warehouse below. From there he had another fifty feet before there was an opening large enough for him to get through. He quickly moved down the narrow tunnel, slipping easily into the secondary duct and then down to the opening. According to the info he'd been able to dig up, the warehouse proper didn't have any sort of alarm system inside the building. He pulled out a small pocketknife and opened up a flathead screwdriver, loosening the edges of the grating enough to pull up and drop down to the floor below.
His increased agility allowed him to land and roll quietly and without injury. He figured he had another ten to fifteen seconds before any secondary generators kicked on, and he again sprinted, this time to a large, flat section of the wall. He reached under his coat again, pulling out a flat piece of metal. He jammed it into a crack in the wall and pulled. The lever was enough pressure to open the false wall enough for him to slip through, the door nearly closing on his coattail as soon as he was through. Ten seconds left at most.
He looked forward and found himself face to face with another wall, this one with a circle carved out of it and a metal iris built into it. "Dieu, da man really like his metal. Dis not gunna be easy," he said, reaching behind him under his coat and he pulling out his staff. It expanded with a snap as he attempted to jam his crowbar into the tiny cracks between each iris piece. With the power off the resistance was lessened, and he managed to make a big enough gap to get his staff in. Pushing hard, he again opened a hole big enough to fit through and dove through the opening. As he rolled forward into a crouch, he heard the sound of electricity kicking on and the iris snapped shut behind him. He was in and past the outside security alarms. As far as he could tell, he had tripped nothing.
He made is way cautiously down the staircase before them. The set up to this complex was similar to the one Gambit and his team had worked out of on the other side of the city, but the iris was a new edition, enough to have Gambit worried. He knew the security of the other base intimately, having both helped design it and broken in to it as a test. He had of course not told Magneto all of the holes he had found, knowing it was best to keep and ace in his sleeve for a rainy day. Luckily, thus far, the internal security remained the same. He deftly maneuvered around a series of laser trip wires, and through a few camera blind spots until he found himself in this base's version of the main control room. A few backdoor passwords later and the security systems were disabled.
He made his way to the back of the underground complex, where he found a large metallic door locked with an electronic hand print reader. "Don't t'ink de I'm on de guest list here. And best not to blow dis door, risky," he muttered to himself, pulling out the pocket knife again. He used it to pry off the front panel of the palm reader and began to work on the wirings. It was a little more complex then some of the systems he'd broken into recently, but he soon found the right wires to cross. The lock short circuited and the door slid open.
"Who are you?" came a voice from the other side in a thick Russian accent.
Gambit looked up from his handiwork to see a large man with graying hair standing in front of a woman and a small blonde haired girl. He smiled, happy that he had guessed right when he decided to look here.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Rasputin. M'name is Remy LeBeau, I'm here ta rescue you."
"How do I know you are not one of his men?"
"I was for a while, not anymore. Me and Piotr bustin' you folks outta here."
"Piotr?" the little girl cried, pulling away from her father. "Where is Piotr?"
Gambit knelt down and smiled at the girl. "He outside wit da car pitite, he not good wit da sneaking around like Gambit." Alarms rang out around him. Glancing back at the panel dangling from the wall, he saw it flashing a message about secondary systems detecting a break in. "M'ybe Gambit not as good as he t'ought." He scooped the girl up in his arms. "We best be running, non?"
The man grabbed this hand of his wife and followed Gambit as he ran back to the main control room. The doorway to the passage out was slowly closing like a scene out of Indiana Jones. Gambit ushered the two elder Rasputins through the closing door, rolling under with the girl himself. He was back in the corridor ending in the iris. They began running towards the sealed opening as the girl looking over his shoulder screamed. Behind him a net of lasers had activated and were sweeping towards them. Cursing silently to himself, he ran out in front of the girl's parents, looking for a way to open the iris. His sharp eyes could see, even from this distance that there was no panel on this side of the wall either. Only Magneto could determine who left here. With no time to put the girl down and charge a card, or run to the door and back, he did the only thing he could think of: he spit his gum the distance to the door. Turning to cover her with his back and to stop the parents from running long enough to be safe, the felt the force of the small explosion from the charged gum sticking to the metal doorway. He handed the girl to her mother and they continued down the hallway. Together with the father, he managed to pry the remnants of the door open enough for them all to escape.
Just as they were through, the false warehouse wall shattered, and a tall figure made of metal stepped through. "I heard the explosion, what is, Illyana!" he cried as the girl squirmed out of her mother's grasp and ran to her brother. He shifted his form into flesh once more and knelt to hug the girl. His parents joined her in hugging their son, the family reunited for the first time in over a year.
After a short while, the big man stood up and walked to Gambit, embracing the man as well. "Thank you my friend, you have brought hope to me again in this dark world."
"M' pleasure, mon ami, but I t'ink it's best time we get goin'. No tellin' if Magneto knows dere's an alarm an' gunna come lookin'."
"Da, the van is prepared."
"Den let's go fin' someplace safe for your family."
-------------
"And so you brought them here?" Xavier asked for clarification as they sat in his office. Around him, the Rasputins sat in the chairs in front of the desk, with Gambit and Colossus on either side of them. Behind him, Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Storm, Jean, Rogue and Nightcrawler leaned on the wall around the room.
"Best we figure, Magneto not gunna attack here, dey be safe wit' you."
"Yes, I find it highly unlikely that Erik would attack here just to recapture the Rasputins."
"Still doesn't explain why you blew up the gate Swamp Rat." Rogue said.
"We rang de bell, couple o' times. No answer."
"That may be my fault," Hank said. "The New Mutants were practicing in the field this afternoon, and Ray unleashed an attack that was a bit stronger then he expected. It took down a lot of equipment; I suspect the front gate controls were among the ones damaged that I didn't find."
"We had no idea if Magneto was behind us. I could not risk delaying, not when my family is involved," Piotr said.
"I'm more den willin' to pay for the gate, if dat gunna cost de Rasputins sanctuary."
"No, that won't be necessary Mr. LeBeau. We are more than willing to protect Piotr and his family, as well as yourself if you so wish. I imagine Magneto will not be pleased with your betrayal."
"You were really imprisoned by Magneto for over a year?" Storm asked. "I find it hard to believe even he would do that."
"No, he merely threatened them for a while to force me to fight for him. But after his return from his time with Apocalypse he felt he needed more to control me," Colossus said. "I could not allow it to happen any longer."
"Well, I'm sure it has been a hard night for all of you," he said, smiling at the sleeping figure of Illyana. "Jean, would you and Rogue please show them all to the guest rooms?"
The two girls got every up and out of the door. As soon as the door shut, Scott spoke up. "I don't trust them."
"Scott, you are forgetting that I am a telepath, and I sense no alterative motives within any of them. In fact, the concern for his family that young Piotr has is nearly overwhelming."
"We knew something was up with him for a while," Logan said. "Now we know exactly what Magneto had over him. He might have some information on Buckethead that we can use too. It's Gambit I don't trust."
"We will have to keep an eye on him. He is here to help his friend, but he is a crafty one and may take advantage of situations that arise."
"The X-Men don't need him Professor."
"While he could be great asset to him, the risk of putting him with the team is too great. He and Piotr will be granted sanctuary here, and we will protect them from Magneto, but the will be guest and not members of the Institute. We should, however, reach out to them in hopes that one day they will fully join us."
-------------
Jean had taken the Rasputins down the hall, leaving Rogue alone with Gambit and a new reason to hate Jean. The redhead my act like a goody-goody most of the time, but she had a real wicked troublemaking streak in her, Rogue thought. The situation further bothered Rogue by Remy's complete silence as they made their way to the room he would be staying in. She finally had enough and broke the silence.
"Why are you here Swamp Rat? If you think being tha knight and shiny armor for Colossus's family is goin' ta get ya on mah good side, ya crazier than Ah thought."
"Chere, don' flatter yourself. I helped Piotr 'cause da big man is m' friend. You have lots o' dem in dis big old mansion, but I don' have many of dem in dis world so I help dem when I can. In other words, dis ain't 'bout you."
"Yeah, lahke I really believe that."
"Believe what you want, Chere. Don' get me wrong, it nice t' see you again, but I'm here 'cause Piotr asked me to help him, and we both sick o' Magneto."
Rogue stopped and pushed open a door. "Here's your room LeBeau, try not ta steal anything while you're here."
"Gambit make no promises Rogue. Dere a lot of fine filles here wit' hearts to steal," he said with a wink, closing the door behind him.
-------------
Magneto surveyed the damage done to the base. It was minor, but the real damage was done with the rescue of the Rasputin family. The involvement of Colossus was understandable, but to have Gambit turn on him as well was an unexpected shock. It was no matter, both could be replaced with far more loyal members now that Avalon was nearing completion.
He lifted his hand and from the sphere rose a small communication device. He pushed a button on it. "Sage here," the device said in a small voice.
"It was indeed Colossus, and Gambit as well. We will need to step our plans to bolster our ranks. When is the earliest we can begin?"
"There earliest security gap that can be exploited is Friday night."
"Good, we will make our move then. Gather the idiots of the former Brotherhood and I will be there to brief them shortly. Our rescue of the girl may also yield us more immediate replacements for Gambit and Colossus."