Chapter 3

The door to the underground apartment opened roughly as four drunken men walked in after a night out on the town. Magneto's Acolytes had spent the last 3 years living in this base where they did whatever Magneto told them to do, and in their spare time they went out drinking and picking up women. Over the last couple of months life had been slow for the men as they had no missions to do for their "leader", so they spent the time they had drinking and picking up various women.

"Iiiii'm..... telling you Rem... Rem... Remy that Shhhhheila was all... OVER ME!" slured a very drunk John as he walked through the door of the base they lived at.

"she was only all over you because you were so drunk you spilt you're beer all over yourself and couldn't clean it up." The large cat like man had listened to this argument between the two men all the way home, and frankly he was now fed up of it. Victor was a broody man who enjoyed a drink like his fellow team mates but sometimes, more often than not, the three young men just got on his nerves.

"Trus' me, if you hadn' of spilt ya drink all over ya'self, that femme would have been takin Remy home with her tonight" Remy looked at his friend and grinned his cocky grin. He knew he could have any girl he wanted and usually, if he wanted a girl, he would let her take him home for a fantastic night and then leave them to wake up alone, leaving no trace of himself. On this occasion however, his drunken friend had got in the way of his plans.

The men all said their good nights to each other and went their separate ways. Victor grunted and headed out the back while Piotr, who had been quiet all evening, said a polite good night and headed to his room, leaving Remy to carry john to his bed. The crazed Australian had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, leaving Remy to wonder the halls alone. As he headed to the rec room to watch some late night TV, he walked past Magnetos office door which had been left wide open. The tall silver haired man sat behind his desk reading a file. Remy ignored it at first but was taken by surprise when he was summoned into the office.

"Ah Gambit. Would you come in here for a moment?"

Remy stopped in his tracks and glanced over to the other man. With a slight hesitation he obliged to the request. "What can Remy do for ya Mags?"

"i have somewhat of a large favour to ask of you, and to some extent it will involve your thieving skills." He looked up at the tall Cajun and looked him straight in the eye. He knew Remy would never miss a chance to go back to his old habits. He knew Remy would love the challenge this task would give him, and it would be the biggest challenge he would have ever faced.

"i'm listening"

"5 years ago I had something very valuable stolen from me, a tool, or a weapon. After years of searching I have finally tracked it down, and it is here in Bayville. I need you to steal it back for me."

"won' be a problem, jus' tell Remy where it is, how big it is and the level of security."

"ah, now here lies the challenge. This weapon is not like a gun or a machine. It will not be so easy to take back. It will take time and effort on your part, alot of planning will be needed and you only have a couple of months to do this." Magneto slowly leant down and opened his top drawer of his desk. He pulled out a file and threw it across the desk to Remy.

Remy, Controlled by his intrigue, looked over to his employer and cocked an eyebrow. "what exactly is moi stealin' for ya?"

"Take a look." He replied, nodding towards the file and urging Remy to take it.

Remy picked up the paper folder and opened it to the first page. He was looking at a picture of a young girl. The profile next to it had no name but said she was 13 and a mutant. "ya wan' me to kidnap a girl?" he asked confused.

"Yes. And No."

Remy stared at the man blankly.

"I do want you to kidnap a girl. But not the young girl in that photo. That picture was taken just over 5 years ago. 5 years ago was when she was stolen from me. She is now 18 and living in Bayville with the brotherhood of Mutants. Her powers are extraordinary, making her the perfect weapon. Her time with me before was brief, so she will have next to no memories of me. I need you to make her join us."

"dat don't sound too hard, Remy just need to charm the femme into coming back with him, won't take more than a few days." He said confidently.

"Don't underestimate this task gambit, she is a dangerous being. She has the ability to absorb anyone she wants, taking their thoughts and memories, if they are a mutant, she will take their powers too and will be able to use them for a short period of time."

"Remy will be sure to stay on her good side then."

"she cannot control it. She can't choose who she absorbs and who she doesn't. Anyone who touches her feels the effects. She can't ever have skin on skin contact without putting them in a temporary coma."

Remy looked back and forth at the picture and the old man in front of him. This was a lot to ask of him but it was a tempting challenge. There had never been a girl that he couldn't get to do what he wanted, so bringing her here would be easy. However a girl that had never been touched properly, never been kissed. A virgin. Suddenly he was brought out of his train of thought.

"now she has come to an age where her mutation will evolve, she may be able to control it. We need her now before it happens, if it happens. You mustn't fail me Gambit. Her keeper, Mystique, is her foster mother. She is a shape shifter and very dangerous. She will not let go of the girl easily, she will kill you if she knows what you are doing. You may leave now." And with that he shook his hand at Remy to leave his office.

Remy turned on his heel and left. He headed for his room, taking the file on the girl with him. This was going to be an easy task. All he had to do was make the girl fall for him and she would be eating out of the palm of his hand. The challenge was in the touching. He would find a way around that too.

This was a very bad morning for Rogue. She had woken up late, giving her just enough time to have a quick shower and dress, leaving her hair to dry naturally. When she got downstairs she found that they guys had eaten all the bread and cereal, meaning she had nothing to eat. When she went to the coffee jar in the cupboard she found it empty so she also had nothing to drink either.

"Stupid stupid stupid stupid!" she yelled as she slammed all the drawers and cupboard doors shut. This was going to be a bad day, she just had that feeling.

She walked to the garage and threw her things into her car. She was too late to walk to school like she usually did so today she would have to drive. She slammed her keys into the ignition and turned. The car did not start. After letting out a low growl she tried again with no luck. "Stupid piece of crap car!" she cried as she took all her stuff back out and started to run to her school.

When she finally got there she was 20 minutes late to her first class. She walked in to see everyone in the classroom sitting in groups.

"Ah miss Darkholm glad you could join us. I'm afraid you missed group choosing so I'll have to put you with Kitty, Bobby and Jean."

She looked over at the table of x men who looked at her carefully as they all shuffled closer to each other, leaving a big gap for her to sit in, far away enough so they wouldn't touch her. Rogue glanced over to the window table where Wanda sat. She just shrugged to her friend indicating there was nothing she could do. This day just couldn't get any worse but Rogue was willing to bet that it would.

After an argument with the x men, the rest of her lessons, a lunch time detention and a fight with Duncan and his goons, Rogue finally finished her day. Running down the stairs outside the school she met Wanda who had been waiting for her.

"fahnally this day is over! Ah need to get a cup o' coffee before ah kill someone."

"Chill out Rogue, I'm sure it hasn't been that bad."

"trust meh, it has"

The two girls walked side by side down the street to a small cafe full of sofas and arm chairs sitting around small tables. They ordered their drinks and sat down at their usual table.

"so, how are things with Josh?" Rogue asked, recalling their convocation the other day in the kitchen.

"Got rid of him. Kept blowing me off cause he had basket ball games." She said with a disgusted look. "I said to him, 'what's more important? Your game or sex?' at the time the answer was sex, but after a heated session he said he really had to go play. So, I dumped his ass."

"Can't be too bad, ah'm sure you got plenty of others on the go to pass yah time." Rogue laughed.

"Well yeah! I'm meeting with Richard Palmer tonight. He's on the baseball team."

The two girls laughed and joked for the rest of the afternoon without a care in the world. Unknown to the two of them though, they were being watched by a tall dark stranger sitting in the corner behind a pair of sunglasses.