A big thank you again to anyone who left a review and/or added this to their follows. I think I've already got more reviews for this than either of the first two and it's only chapter six! Hope you continue reading and enjoying, even with the reduced release schedule.

CHAPTER SIX

Cable knew they would be waiting in the entrance hall when he got back, lounging around as if they didn't have a care in the world: The four that Mister Sinister called the Marauders. Cable wasn't sure he liked them, even though Sinister told him they were their allies. He felt as though they didn't share the same ideals as Sinister and he. That they were simply there because they enjoyed the more unsavoury aspects of their crusade too much.

The largest of the four stood up as Cable approached. "Well, look who's back."

Cable was slightly shorter than the man but could still look him in the eye. "Get out of my way, Scalphunter."

"Well that doesn't sound very respectful."

"Who'd respect you, Scalphunter?"retorted the slightly built member of the group, Harpoon.

Scalphunter turned on him, drawing a weapon that his powers instantly converted to one loaded with armour piercing bullets. "I can think of several reasons you should show me some respect."

"Yeah?" Harpoon drew one of his spears, charging it with energy. "Let me show you how I feel about your respect."

As the two men squared up to each other, they suddenly found themselves becoming dizzy, unable to keep their balance. They staggered around for a few seconds until the woman, Vertigo, halted her attack. "Have you quite finished?"she asked.

Scalphunter gestured to Cable. "He got on my nerves."

"Mister Sinister has requested I bring him the blood samples as soon as possible,"Cable replied. "It might not be a good idea for you to upset him."

Vertigo nodded to the other man present. "Riptide, show him to Mister Sinister." She waited until the pair had left before turning on Scalphunter. "What did you think you were trying to prove?"

"That guy bugs me,"Scalphunter retorted. "All of a sudden, he's Sinister's golden boy. Why should he be the right hand? We were all here before him. And you know as well as I do where he came from. He's not even human."

Jubilee had let Gambit go after his abrupt departure from the scene of the confrontation with Cable. He had had the air of a man who wanted to be alone, plus her going after him would have been suspicious. But she'd found herself worrying about him, more than she'd expected. Their secret romance had always been fun and light-hearted and she'd never really found herself thinking too hard about it. A habit that she was more than happy to keep to now, as she pushed any thoughts about the true nature of her feelings for him to the back of her mind. She just needed to make sure he was all right.

She knocked on the door to his room. No-one told her to go away, so she took that as an invitation to enter and pushed the door open. "Remy, I was just wondering if…" She stopped short as she realised the room was empty. She was fairly certain he wasn't in any of the mansion's communal areas so where was he?

A sudden fear grabbed her and she ran to the wardrobe, pulling the door open.

It was empty.

Downstairs were a lot of confused people. Storm's announcement had been met with a large amount of bewilderment and much debate. "That guy was about twice the age Scott and Jean would be,"Wolverine argued. "He can't possibly be their son."

"And Jean couldn't have had a child without anyone noticing,"Rogue put in. "Could she?"

"It does seem extremely unlikely,"Beast agreed.

Xavier was steepling his fingers thoughtfuly. "That does leave one unfortunate possibility."

"You're thinking of what happened the other night, aren't you?"Storm asked.

Xavier nodded. "Someone took a tissue sample from Jean's body. If that someone was Sinister and if, as you say"-he nodded towards Beast-"he's a geneticist, then there's a lot he could do with that. Especially if he somehow got hold of a sample from Scott as well."

"Scott's body was vaporised,"Wolverine argued.

"Was it?"Storm asked. "We never found out for sure what happened to him."

Colossus was struggling to understand this. "Are you saying that Sinister created Cable?"

"Yes,"Xavier agreed. "Using genetic samples from his biological parents. You saw how he seemed to have both their powers: Telekinesis, the laser beam from his eye… I imagine having Jean's powers would give him a greater degree of control over that robot arm of his, in the same way my powers allow me to control this body."

"Is that why he took blood samples from us?"Bobby asked. "So he can create more clones like Cable from them?"

"A new generation of mutants, with Sinister in charge,"Storm observed. "He could pick and choose our powers at random."

"Not entirely,"Beast answered. "However advanced he may be, a human being still requires one mother and one father."

"But why would he take mine?"Rogue asked. "I'm not a mutant anymore."

"Well, you are and you aren't,"Warren answered.

All eyes fell on him. "You want to explain that one, bud?"Wolverine asked.

"The cure doesn't remove mutant genes, it just renders them inactive. You've still got mutant DNA."

At that moment, Jubilee came running in. "Professor! Remy…Gambit, he's gone. I went to his room to check on him and he wasn't there."

"He's probably just gone for a walk,"Siryn suggested.

Jubilee shook her head. "All his things are gone."

"So he's gone,"Wolverine replied dismissively. "His choice."

Xavier gave him a look of admonishment. "Many of us are apt to pursue our own course, Logan. It doesn't mean they're any less welcome here." Logan lowered his gaze, looking slightly ashamed.

"What Cable said to him about Sinister,"Kitty interjected,"it sounded like Gambit knew him."

"There's no record of a connection between them,"Beast replied. "But then our records on Sinister are less than complete."

"So we need to find him,"Jubilee insisted. "To find out what he knows."

"We do have other priorities rather than Gambit,"Xavier observed.

"Gambit looked after Kitty and me after the first battle with Apocalypse,"Colossus pointed out. "When we were left behind."

"So we look for him,"Kitty decided. "Return the favour. Just Warren and me."

"And me,"Jubilee added. Everyone looked at her in mild bemusement. "Well, it's not like you need me here."

"And the rest of you can get on with tracking down Sinister,"Kitty concluded.

Xavier glanced around the rest of the group. "Any objections?" He was met with a series of shrugs. "All right then. Good luck to all of you."