Disclaimer: Don't own Gambit; do own pretty much everyone else.
02
1 week earlier
Head against the windowpane of the aeroplane, the mutant's eyes were closed. The vibrating of the jet engines rumbled through his bones as he tried to sleep but couldn't. The numbness of being drunk toyed with him, muting the sounds of the other travellers around him. His stomach gurgled, discontented with its liquid diet. Stretching out his long legs, he pushed himself back in the seat, straightening out his spine so his pelvis lifted clear of the seat. He would have liked to stretch his arms as well, but he didn't have room on the right hand side because of the window. The seat creaked as he stretched, easing out tense muscles and aching joints.
Next, he rubbed his eyes vigorously with the back of his fists before he opened them. He had to blink for a few moments in the stark cabin lights before his vision cleared. He ran a hand through his mop of unruly chestnut hair, tugging a strand of it down in front of his face to see how long it was. It didn't quite reach his eyes, not yet anyway. He stretched again, this time sat up with his arms raised up above his head. He twisted his neck and waist, letting his gaze flick over the other passengers. Mostly they were sleeping or engrossed in the in-flight entertainment, headphones covering their ears. The cabin crew looked bored, this was after all just work to them. That makes two of us, Gambit thought as he got one of them to serve him another beer, but at least I can get drunk.
The sensation of having eyes watching him made Remy turn around in his seat. Of course soon as he looked round, she looked the other way, pretending she hadn't been watching him in the first place. She turned it on like a leaking tap, walking down the isle like it was a catwalk in her glamorous ochre cowboy boots. Her dark blue denim skirt was almost decent, sort of reaching her thighs. The navy blue skinny t-shirt made much of her ample chest and tiny waist, whilst her chocolate brown belt drew attention to her hips. She swooshed her long red curls over her shoulder, a wicked glint in her big brown eyes as she plummeted feather-like into the empty seat to Gambit's left. He looked her over steadily, shaking his head a little in mock-dismay.
"Your lipstick smudged," the girl glared at him as he spoke, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Not really," he told her, breaking into a grin, "At least it wasn't, eh Cherie?" For his joke he received a thump on his upper arm, and got called a tosser by the English girl. She leaned over him, pulling a lipgloss out of a pocket of her skirt and used the window as a mirror. On the other side of the glass, the plane blundered on in the early morning darkness. It was impossible to tell if they flew over hill or vale, sea, shore or sandy desert. As of yet, dawn was only a blood red glow humming along the equidistant horizon.
"How's your new friend?" Gambit asked the girl cheerily.
"Sated," the girl smirked in reply, leaning back over Gambit and dropping something in his hand as in the same motion she took his beer. "This what you were after?"
"Huh," Gambit laughed soullessly in the back of his throat, His red-irises-on-black-whites eyes sparkling dully at the trophy his partner-in-crime had relieved from her latest victim. Benefits of travelling first class, everyone had a wallet full of company platinum credit cards, just like this one. Better than stealing gold bullion, and a whole lot easier to carry. "You want your own drink Blaze, or you happy stealin' mine?"
"Happy with yours," Blaze smiled, settling back to put her headphones on and turning the volume up on her music so that Gambit too could listen to it. So generous, his Blaze… He shook his head and left her to it, raising an arm to beckon the cabin crewmember with the drinks trolley over one more time.
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Leaving the airport it was obvious they were on another continent. The air was different, more oppressive as they breathed. The varied fragrances of a new place could be both tasted on the tongue and smelt. The sun was mere moments away from bursting over the horizon. They could almost feel the energy, the life, waiting to launch the new day. At that moment that was how Africa felt to them, alive and wild, just like the two of them.
The stolen platinum card had already come in useful. The executive Blaze had fleeced had even been so kind as to scrawl the pin number on a scrap of paper he had in his wallet. Each thief was flush with cash from an airport ATM as they headed to hail a cab into the city. Loaded with bashed about canvass rucksacks and scuffed leather hold-alls over their shoulders, both thieves were visibly laden down. No taxis were waiting as they got to the pick up point, so the two dropped their bags and sat down on them to wait. No other passengers seemed to be struggling for transport; the two were totally alone. Yawning after her exertions, Blaze stretched a little, then rested her head against Gambit's shoulder.
Gambit smiled, enjoying Blaze's warmth against his arm and her perfume mingling with the sweet dawn air. He didn't move to put his arm round her or try to embrace her. It wasn't that kind of relationship and he doubted it ever would be. Instead he let her lean for only a few minutes, before shrugging her off in a motion that buffeted his body against hers. She groaned softly, an alluring noise, then pulled away from him. As their eyes met, neither could comprehend the hunger in the eyes of the other.
Blaze opened her mouth to start a conversation, but was cut off by a scuffling sound in the indistinguishable middle distance. Both mutants turned round, eyes scanning the darkness, looking for trouble. They didn't have to wait long. A figure was thrown from the blackness behind a building, to land face down on the concrete about fifty feet away from Gambit and Blaze. Two much larger figures loomed up behind the fallen individual. As Blaze and Gambit watched, they started to kick the hell out of the person on the ground. The kicks landed on bone and soft tissue, filling the outlandish smelling air with the sickening sound of flesh being tenderised.
Then something bizarre happened. A crackling field of blue light formed itself around the victim. At first Gambit thought he was imagining it, and tried to blink the lights away. Instead of disappearing the light grew stronger, until the victim glowed with electric blue lightning. The attackers, blinded by blood lust, hardly seemed to notice that their victim was changing before their eyes. Gambit had seen enough. The mutant needed help, and he was the man to give it to them. He lurched to his feet, knocking over his bags, and tugged a deck of cards from his trench coat pocket. Fifty feet was nothing, he could easily take both thugs out from here. Remy found himself relishing the image of destruction he was about to cause.
"Rem, no," Blaze grabbed his arm just below his elbow, tugging back to stop him throwing a card. He glanced at her, the card glowing at his fingertips, lighting her pretty face with an orange-fuchsia glow. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Please, don't lets get involved?"
"Dat mutant need my help," Gambit told her sternly, shaking his arm free. "So did you, once." Blaze fell silent and bit her lip. Gambit's cards zoomed through the air one after the other like flaming arrows. The first one struck, taking off an attacker's hand in a shatter of light, flesh and noise. Remy's overconfidence and the distance made him miss the second, the card falling short as it exploded.
The man he'd struck fell to his knees and cried out in pain. He clutched the stub of his arm where his hand had been with his other hand, trying to quench the bleeding. Blood welled up through his remaining fingers and ran from his elbow. The second man shook his head as the rush of air and flash of light from the explosions abated. He looked directly at Gambit and drew out a gun. Gambit grabbed Blaze and pushed her to the ground, falling on top of her as the first bullet ripped through the air overhead. Ignoring her protestations Remy rolled away, getting to his knees and charging another card.
Before the gunman could fire another bullet, Gambit had a card away. It caught the man on his shoulder, knocking him backwards as his finger squeezed the trigger reflexively. A second crack echoed through the air as the man slumped to the floor. Gambit felt a weight hit his back and he hit the ground rolling. He ended up in a tangled heap with a flushed-looking Blaze. She'd returned the favour of pushing him down out of harm's way as the gun went off for the second time.