Chapter 1

Gambit eyed the collection of bags on the floor of the bedroom he shared with Rogue.

"So, did yo' and Jubilee buy out the mall earlier?" he asked finally.

Rogue laughed.

"Not quite," she said. "Hmm, Ah suppose Ah should actually unpack everything at some point."

"Oui, I'd agree with dat," Gambit replied, bemused. "Otherwise we're going t' be tripping over everyt'ing every time we step inside."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him as she opened up one of the bags.

"I can t'ink o' much better uses fo' dat tongue," he informed her.

"Ah'm sure ya could, sugah," Rogue replied with a smirk. "Ah got cute clothes though."

"Oh well, dat's okay then," Gambit said. "As long as it's cute."

Rogue chuckled. "How do ya suppose their date's going?"

Bobby and Jubilee looked at each other across the table.

"So," said Jubilee.

"So," Bobby replied.

Silence.

This entire situation was awkward and they both knew they'd brought it on themselves. For months they teased Rogue and Gambit, pried into their sex life and made regular inquiries of when the proposal was going to happen. The natural response had been for them to tell Bobby and Jubilee to 'start dating already'. Bobby and Jubilee always denied having any of those kinds of feelings for each other.

In the end they made a deal, orchestrated by Logan; the day Rogue got her powers under control would be the day that Bobby and Jubilee started dating. Unbeknownst to the pair however, was that Rogue had been having some success with getting her powers under control.

So here they were, on their date, feeling more awkward around each other than they had in years.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Jubilee said.

"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "Very weird. Extremely weird even. Never thought -"

"Bobby?"

"Yeah?"

"You're babbling."

"Sorry."

Silence.

"I bet Logan knew Rogue was getting her powers under control," Bobby muttered.

"Probably," Jubilee said.

"We never should have agreed to that."

"Yep."

More silence.

"You know, I don't know why we're making such a big deal out of this," Jubilee said finally. "I mean, we're friends, we've always been friends and just because everyone says we should date doesn't automatically mean that anything romantic will happen between us."

"Yeah, that's right," Bobby agreed, sounding a little relieved. "I mean, we should date for awhile, you know, to keep them off our backs."

"Right."

"And if something happens - which I'm not saying anything will, but if something does, then it does. But if nothing does then well, that's okay too," Bobby said. "Plus it'll get them off our backs in the future."

"Nah," Jubilee said with a wave of her hand in dismissal. "They'll just start telling us to get back together."

"You may have a point there. Unless..." Bobby said thoughtfully. "Unless we have an enormous, huge spectacular fight and pretended that we hated each other or something and..."

Bobby trailed off, seeing the pitying expression on Jubilee's face.

"Don't think they'll buy it?" he asked.

"Not a word," Jubilee replied.

"Oh well, there goes that plan."

There was more silence as they picked at their food.

"We could always go the other direction," Bobby said.

"What other direction?" asked Jubilee.

"Well, you know," Bobby said, avoiding her gaze. "We could be all over each other. All over. To the point where everyone's all 'get a room' and stuff and then we can be all 'well you were the ones who wanted us to get together'."

Jubilee considered and pointed her fork at him.

"There are some prospects there," she said. "One down side, though."

"Yeah?"

"We have to be all over each other."

"Oh... right."

"How's it coming?" Kitty asked from where she was draped over the lounge.

"Good," Pete replied distractedly, concentrating on the canvas before him.

"Right," Kitty muttered, sighed and went back to starring off in the distance.

When Pete asked if he could paint her, Kitty thought it would be rather fun. Right up until she ended up sitting for hours on end, bored out of her mind.

After what felt like forever, Pete put his brush down.

"That is all I can do for today," he said. "The light is going."

"Ahh," Kitty replied, standing up and stretching with relief. "So you're going to want me to sit again?"

"Da."

"Oh. Right. Okay. Can I see -"

"No!" Pete exclaimed, noted the alarmed expression on his girlfriend's face and added: "Not until it's done."

"Okay."

Logan finished sliding the large pot plant into place.

"How's that?" he asked Storm.

Storm appraised the position for a moment and finally nodded.

"Yes," she said. "That will do quite nicely. Thank you, Logan."

"Any time."

He gave her a nod and left the arboretum.

"And how are you settling in?" Kurt asked of Pulse's image on the screen.

"Not too badly considering I've only been here a couple of days," Pulse replied. "My room's as tiny as a mouse's house but I have it all to myself, which is more than I can say for most people. Genosha is a lot more crowded than I was expecting. They're still getting in mutant refugees by the boatload."

"Really? Things haven't calmed down at all?" Kurt inquired thoughtfully.

"On that I couldn't say," Pulse replied. "But the USA is hardly the only country these guys are coming from. There are definite advantages to being bilingual over here, let me tell you."

The Professor and Hank looked down at the chessboard, considering. After what seemed like an immeasurable silence, Hank lifted one of his bishops and moved it into its new position.

"Check and mate," he said.

"Indeed," said the Professor. "Good game."

"A good game indeed," Hank agreed.

"And not before time too," the Professor went on. "We have a visitor."

"We do?" asked Hank politely.

But the answer to his query came in the form of Warren Worthington stepping into the doorway.

"Good evening, Warren," said the Professor.

"Good evening," Warren replied. "How are we all?"

"Quite well, thank you. Please," the Professor said, gesturing to a nearby chair, "have a seat."

"Don't mind if I do,' Warren said.

He walked over and turned the chair around she he could sit on it backwards.

"How's the game?" Warren asked.

"We'd just finished," said Hank. "And what brings you to our humble abode?"

"Just a social call," Warren replied. "And, I know it's late notice, but my parents are having a Masquerade Ball next month. I've got five invitations if any of you want to come."

"Five of us, to be exact?" Hank inquired. "Or are they 'plus one'?"

"Five exactly," Warren said, producing the invitations. "If you don't want to come, that's fine. It's probably just going to be a stuffy event anyway; lots of two-facedness, small talk, false sincerity, only this time people will be wearing real masks as well."

The Professor chuckled.

"Well," he said, "it may prove to be an interesting event. And how are your parents?"

"Same old, same old," Warren replied with a slight shrug. "They're still trying to pretend my wings don't bother them, but they still avoid me. I'm thinking about talking to Dad about opening a New York office. You know, that way we can go on pretending like everything's fine, but we'll have a legitimate excuse for avoiding those family get togethers."

Warren opted to stay overnight when the conversation went rather later than he expected, and in the morning he joined them for breakfast. One of his favourite things about the school was that it was full of mutants who, like himself, had some physical manifestation of their mutancy and it was normal.

"Bonjour, Warren," Gambit greeted, waving him over.

"Gambit," Warren replied with a nod as he approached the table with his plate. "Good morning all."

"Mornin'," Rogue said.

"Hey, no gloves," Warren said, sitting down and nodding towards Rogue's bare hands.

"Recent development," Rogue replied smugly. "Ah have muh powers under control."

"Well, that's certainly good news," Warren said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks. Hey, we should go for a flight later, or do ya have ta leave soon?"

"Nah, we can go for a flight. I'm not on a deadline or anything."

"Great. We should talk Storm into comin' with us too."

Warren chuckled.

"So, what else is happening?" he inquired.

"Actually we were just askin' Bobby and Jubes how their date went last night," Rogue said, smirking at the pair in question.

"Oh, you finally went out?" Warren asked. "About time."

"Would everyone stop saying that?" Jubilee demanded.

"Why?" asked Gambit. "Where would be the fun in dat?"

"So Remy, when are you planning on proposing?" Jubilee retorted.

"Actually I have no idea when I'll be proposing my next toast. Probably next time I share champagne wit' a group o' friends," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Not a toast! Marriage. To Rogue."

"Why do you harass us about getting married?" Rogue asked and gestured to Kitty and Pete. "They've been dating longer."

"Hmm, good point," Jubilee said. "So Pete –"

"Thanks a lot, Rogue," Kitty cut in.

"You're welcome," Rogue replied.

"It's more fun to ask Remy though," Bobby said thoughtfully. "Pete just blushes and stammers –"

"It's kinda cute though," Jubilee said with a wink at Pete, who promptly coughed in embarrassment.

"- while Remy responds with smart-assery," Bobby finished.

"Hmm," Gambit considered, rubbing his chin. "So Bobby… when are yo' planning t' propose?"

"Okay," Bobby said. "Jubes and I have only gone on one date, and only because we lost that stupid bet. The last thing I'm going to be doing is proposing marriage."

"Marriage?" Gambit replied innocently. "I meant a toast."

"Okay," Rogue said as the Blackbird took off with herself and Gambit on board. "What's the big hurry, Professor?"

"I believe we have another Overdrive addict going through withdrawal," the Professor replied over the communications system. "I've sent the co-ordinates –"

"Yes, Ah have them," Rogue replied. "Chuckin' a tantrum, huh?"

"It would appear so. Just one this time."

"Good. On our way," Rogue said, and after the comm system clicked off, added to Gambit: "Argh, this is the fifth one this week."

"Just the beginning, chére," Gambit replied solemnly. "We might have cut off the manufacture o' Overdrive, but we still have the users t' deal wit'. And it's only going t' get worse when the last o' the Overdrive still circulating finally runs out."

"That's what Ah'm afraid of," Rogue muttered. "Just how many addicts can there be? Ah didn't think the mutant population was that big, let alone with enough of them even capable of taking it without dyin' on the first dose."

"Why?" asked Gambit. "In a group of ten - yo', me, Logan, Stormy, the Professor, Iceboy, Firecracker, Chaton, Pete and Hank - trois o' us are capable o' taking it. Granted dat's a pretty small pool t' pick from but dat says thirty percent o' mutants are capable o' taking it. If dey only get one in trois, dat's still ten percent o' the mutant population dat have become addicts. What are dey estimating the mutant population t' be dese days, anyway?"

"Blazes if Ah know," Rogue replied. "Last we heard from Genosha they thought there was about eight million, based on the number of refugees they've been takin' in and the pre-existing population. If that's half the world's population, then by your reckoning there'd be... one million and six hundred thousand addicts."

"Well, you'd only count the countries dat dey'd actually manufactured it in," Gambit said. "The point is dat dere could easily be a few thousand addicts in the States alone, even if it was less dan ten percent o' mutants."

"Ah sure hope we don't have ta clean up after all of 'em," Rogue said.

"Dat makes deux o' us."

Twenty minutes later, the Blackbird had landed at their destination. There were police, fire and ambulance crews everywhere and it was quite easy to see from the extensive damage in the moderate town just where their addict had been. Shop windows were broken, car windows shattered and alarms ringing loudly. There was also a number of injured and a crowd of people watching.

"Come on out with your hands up," said a police officer through a megaphone from behind a hastily-erected barricade. "You're surrounded."

Rogue and Gambit looked at each other. Gambit shook his head and Rogue rolled her eyes. Right, like that was really going to help. Rogue moved behind Gambit and lifted him up into the air. Together they flew over the crowd and Gambit snickered when he head the officer with the megaphone proclaim "Hey you can't go in there! We have a dangerous mutant on our hands!"

They landed and looked around.

"Get out of there!" called the police officer again.

"First guess, this guy's a feral," said Gambit, gesturing to a set of recent claw marks across a wall.

"Okay, so we're probably lookin' at enhanced senses and a healin' factor, then," Rogue said. "They –"

Rogue was cut off by the sound of a low growl. The two stood stock still and listened. Gambit inclined his head towards one of the abandoned shops and Rogue gave a slight nod. Slowly they edged towards the open doors, having no delusions about their ability to sneak up on someone who likely had super smell and hearing.

There was a snarl and abruptly a long-haired man in ragged clothes launched himself out of the store on all fours. Gambit just dodged in time, his staff snapping out and extending out of reflex. The man caught himself before he could make an ungraceful landing, turned on them and snarled once more.

"We're here ta help ya," Rogue said softly, extending a hand and crouching down to his level.

"Dere's somet'ing –" Gambit began.

He got no chance to finished, however, as the man chose that moment to lunge at Rogue. Rogue toppled backwards - the downside of her crouching position - and her back slammed against the ground. The man attempted to claw her with fingernails that would make Sabretooth jealous, but of course, Rogue's invulnerability made penetration impossible. She caught his hands while Gambit hauled him up with one hand and shoved a gas mask in the man's face with the other. As the man breathed in the initial lungful of sedation gas, Rogue took over holding him up and Gambit fitted the mask in place.

"I'm t'inking dat withdrawl has made our feral feral," Gambit drawled.

"Indeed," Rogue said and glanced past them. "And here comes the cavalry."

Gambit slipped out his dark sunglasses and put them on as he turned. "I got dis."

Rogue smirked and began preparing the mutant for flight.

"Ahh, good," said Gambit, flashing a badge faster than anyone could take in what it was. "Just the people I was about to talk to. I am sorry we took so long to get here, but you can assure the civilians that they can now return about their business. Good work keeping the streets clear, by the way. I hope that no one was badly injured?"

"As a matter of fact –" the police officer began and cut himself off in shock at the sight of Rogue floating in the air with the unconscious mutant slung over her back.

"Sorry, afraid we can't stay and chat," Gambit went on blithely. "Can't leave the containment job only half done, after all. Have a good day."

Rogue scooped Gambit up from behind and before the local authorities could voice any more questions or objections, they'd flown off.

"Have a good day?" Rogue queried, sounding amused.

"I thought dat might do down better dan 'beat it and let us do our job'," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Besides, now dey can't complain 'bout us not being polite."

Rogue snickered. They made their way back to the Blackbird and Rogue kept watch on their passenger while Gambit flew them back to the mansion. Upon their arrival back home, their first stop was to the med lab.

"Got a new one fo' yo', Hank," Gambit said.

"Ahh yes, the Professor informed me we were expecting company," Hank replied, a little distractedly from his desk.

Rogue grinned and transported the mutant to one of the bed. She and Gambit set up the new gas mask, attached to a much larger gas supply and were just finishing when Hank walked in.

"Very good," he said. "I'll do the necessary scans and alert Kitty so she can remove the Overdrive stubs. I really don't know how we'd remove them from some of the patients we get in."

"We t'ink dis one's a healer," Gambit said. "Being a feral and all. Which reminds me, dis one was decidedly animalistic, what wit' all dat snivelling and snarling it was doing. Might not mean anyt'ing, but it did make me t'ink dat mebbe withdrawal is sending him feral."

"Hmm," Hank considered. "We'll make a note of that in the report when we send him to Genosha."

"And in the meantime," Rogue said, "Ah'm gonna get changed. Really, we need ta do something about these uniforms. These guys keep ripping holes in mine."

"I like the holes..." Gambit said slyly.

"Ya would."

Some days later, Professor Xavier, Hank, Storm, Logan, Gambit, Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee, Kitty, Pete and Kurt gathered in the war room.

"As you are all aware, Overdrive has caused a rapid increase in mutant crime since its emergence," Hank said. "Not just robbery, but also more violent crimes such as rape and murder."

"Yes," said the Professor. "Unfortunately, it's not so easy to grab them; they're usually gone by the time we hear about it, if we do at all."

"Exactly. The result is an increase of violent crimes towards mutants, particularly from active anti-mutant groups such as the Purifiers and the Friends of Humanity. As I'm certain you can expect, most of their victims are not the addicts, but innocent people, some of whom are not even mutants at all," Hank went on. "Anti-human groups amongst the mutants are growing as a result, which they cite as a defensive action."

"But it's just an excuse fo' more violence," Gambit observed. "The anti-humans kill the anti-mutants. The anti-mutants kill the anti-humans. So continues the spiral. And yo' people wonder why I prefer t' stay out o' politics."

"Ah thought the reason why ya haven't formally joined the X-men was because the Professor and Storm would make you give up stealin'," Rogue teased him.

"Minor detail," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Ahem," Hank cut in. "It is an unfortunate turn of events. Mutant acceptance was at an all time high prior to the emergence of Overdrive –"

"And now it's at an all time low?" Bobby suggested and then turned on the dramatics: "And now the X-men are all that's standing between all out war –"

"Don't laugh, kid," Logan said.

"We're hoping that it won't come to that," the Professor said. "Still, if it does, we need to be ready."

"We've been spending all our time here preparing for this possibility, Professor," Kitty said firmly. "We'll be ready."

The rest of the X-men expressed their agreement with confidence. Gambit and Logan shared a look that clearly stated "yeah they have no idea what they're getting into".

"I'm just amazed," said Jubilee. "Who would have thought that one thing would have caused so much chaos?"

"The butterfly effect," said Hank. "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"

Rogue jabbed Gambit in the ribs.

"Ya just had ta sleep with Andrea von Strucker, didn't ya?" she said.

"In hindsight," Gambit said with a grin and a glint in his eye, "we probably should have locked the door."