Notes: Thanks to all the people who reviewed You guys are awesome. I might even be brave enough to post more stuff now. I'll try to continue this, but I don't have a lot of plan so there might be big breaks between updates, sorry, but I promise I'm trying :P Anyways…Don't know why all my chapters start with Wolverine waking up…. But just go with it :P …Here is chapter 2 anyways, enjoy:
Wolverine woke up groggily. His breathing and posture didn't change and to an observer there would be no difference between a second ago when he had been asleep. But now he was awake, completely and totally ready to attack at the slightest provocation. He let his senses roam the room, testing for danger. The first thing he noticed was the uncomfortable position he was in, as if someone had tossed him into a corner. That was probably what had happened now that he thought about it. His cheek, which was touching the smooth metal of the cell was freezing and probably stuck to the shiny surface. Once he had sensed to the best of his abilities that there was no immediate threat he sat up. Yep, he was right, he grumbled as his check came unstuck. Who builds cells out of this stuff anyway? He groaned slightly. He hated inhibiter cells. His healing factor usually made it so that he didn't feel the aches and pains when he woke up. Not so today. He glanced around the room and saw the Cajun slumped against the far wall, a slight trickle of drool near him. He started to laugh. It was unusual to see the suave Gambit loose his cool, and he could just picture the Cajun's face if he noticed he had been drooling.
Gambit muttered to himself in his sleep. Logan cursed that he no longer had his acute hearing; he would be very interested to know what Gumbo was dreaming about, if not for blackmail purposes than at least for the sheer entertainment value of it. "Hey kid." He called "wake up. You and me have to have a little talk." Gambit only muttered slightly louder and Logan was almost sure he had picked up the word "Jean" this time. He quickly debated letting the Cajun sleep so he could hear more but in the end survival won over entertainment (although admittedly it was close). "Gambit." He said firmly, nudging the Cajun with his boot and finally Gambit began to wake up.
"Logan? You def'nitly not part of my dream. Gambit must be awake den, Non?" He sighed and sat up. "Wassup mon ami?" He said with faked cheer.
"I think you know exactly what's up Gumbo. I need some answers. Now." Gambit gave a mock sigh and a guileless smile, opening his hands out wide in a gesture that screamed innocence. Wolverine did not buy it for a minute, and simply glared at the Cajun. Gambit finally dropped his pose and looked up at the ceiling, as if considering his words.
"Not much to tell, eh mon ami? Gambit seems to spend a lot of time in de lab. Well, not dis particular lab, but dey all de same, oui? Don' know if dat be against de law. From what I hear dat somet'ing you yourself been doing quite a lot Wolverine. I was… working for Essex a while back, after I left de Guilds. He took a shine to dis Ol' Cajun I suppose. He made me an offer I couldn' refuse. Didn' know what I was getting into at de time. T'ings went bad, I got out. Is de past, neh?" Wolverine merely stared at him for a second.
"And you didn't think it was important for the X-Men to know that?" He said slowly, soaking up the information incredulously. Gambit gave a disarming grin.
"Need to know basis mon ami, ain't none o' de X-Men's business but mine."
"Gumbo, are you expecting me to believe that you just figured we didn't want to know?"
"Oui." Was Gambit's succinct reply. It was accompanied by another charming grin, but his eyes were flat and there was a hint of challenge in his expression.
Wolverine appraised him for a minute. Finally, he simply nodded. "That's not the whole story Gumbo, but you've never done wrong by the team yet. We all have pasts, including me. I'm trusting you for now, don't make me regret it." Gambit looked back at him and nodded, a hint of a real smile flickering on his handsome lips. He almost looked… grateful.
"Dat means a lot, Wolverine. But we done wit' dis? 'Cause personally, Gambit want's to be out o' here. Any plans?" The two spent the next half hour examining the cell professionally and methodically, looking for any weakness to exploit. By the end, they were both feeling a little hopeless. "Looks like we stuck here den. Don' worry, der hasn't been a prison that can hold dis here t'ief yet." He flashed his grin and Logan rolled his eyes.
"The Cajun charm isn't really my thing Gumbo, so stop grinning at me like that."
"Ah, Logan, ya wound me." The handsome Acadian grinned again and went back to trying to open the door, which, without a knob or hinges, was proving tricky for even a Master Thief such as himself. He glared at the door and sighed in frustration. Logan rolled his eyes and sat down against the wall, closing his eyes in a sigh.
Suddenly the door was shoved open. Remy jumped back, immediately in fighting stance, the lack of weapons not a problem. Logan was next to him immediately and the two glared at the door where Riptide and Blockbuster stood. Riptide was holding a complicated looking gun which he began firing at Logan. The X-Men moved lightning fast but Blockbuster just snorted. Logan looked down and noticed the multitude of tranquilizer darts sticking out of various parts of his body. "Your right, that was fun. Hey Cajun, long time no see." Riptide drawled. Gambit's eyes narrowed but he was silent. "What? No witty comebacks today? Don't want to be seen with us in front of your prissy new hero buddies? I'm hurt." Wolverine suddenly lost the fight to remain conscious and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed on the floor for the second time that day.
Riptide covered Gambit with the tranquilizer gun as Blockbuster moved to pick up Logan. Gambit dived out of range of the gun, landing a flying kick on blockbusters shin followed by a swift jab at the neck, using Blockbusters massive form as a shield from the tranquilizers. Blockbuster grunted in pain and reached out, grabbing Gambit's arm and twisting it. Gambit grunted in turn and was quickly forced to his knees. "That was pointless." He said, kicking Gambit across the cell and scooping up Logan's heavy body. He backed out of the cell as the Cajun rose unsteadily to his feet.
"Better luck next time." Riptide said flippantly, slamming the door as Remy jumped toward it. Remy collapsed against it panting hard and wincing in pain. He had landed on his injured arm. "Dat was stupid Remy." he muttered. What had he been thinking? He had just seen them and reacted. His fighting style was messy and random, his unearthly agility working at merely a fraction of its normal capacity; he had fought sloppy and paid for it. What was he trying to accomplish anyway? Protect Logan? Yeah right.
He hated being back here. Not just for the fact that he was now a glorified lab rat, subjected to demeaning and painful experiments, or even the sheer futility and helplessness of being a prisoner again, loosing his independence again. He hated it because it brought his long buried emotions to the surface. Emotions were bad. Emotions meant life was more than just a game. And then you've lost your edge. He had reacted on emotion when he saw the marauders and fought as such. He cringed at the memory again. At least wolverine hadn't seen him lashing out like that. It would be hard to explain just what the hell has happened to his fighting skill.
He hated being back in the labs. But most of all, he hated the fear that maybe the labs were where he belonged. That he wasn't fooling anyone and should stop playing hero. The labs made him reevaluate himself and he was never sure he wanted to look to closely at himself anyway. He hated the possibility that he wasn't really an X-Man and never would be. That the only one he was fooling was himself and maybe it was time to grow up and face who he was. He hated that. So he sat against the door in a shiny metallic cell, staring at his feet with his demon eyes burning, disheveled hair falling across his face, and brooded silently. Because sometimes that's all there is to do.