A/N: As promised we managed to get another chapter ready to post! We had some definite fun with this one so I hope you all enjoy this. And please, please, please review! I will beg if I have to!
And now we can get to…
Darkness Gathers
Part One of the Darkness Trilogy
Chapter Four
The next morning Renegade woke up early and tossed on a jogging suit before making her way downstairs and heading into the kitchen. She tossed Logan a quick good morning before ducking out of the room and finally out of the mansion for her usual morning run. As she jogged off she popped ear buds in and flipped on her iPhone. She always ran to heavy metal; something about it always managed to pump her up. While Logan followed after her wondering where she was running off to, Renegade began her five mile run. He was still distrustful enough to follow her and he headed after her easily picking up her trail. About forty-five minutes to an hour later, Renegade found herself back where she had started from and began her yoga routine in the front courtyard drawing Kat's attention briefly as she headed to the stables.
Logan took the long way back inside the mansion, passing Kat with a slight grin. Renegade was none the wiser to the fact that she had been followed all morning. Her yoga routine shifted into tai chi after which she headed inside and back to her newly appointed room for a hot shower and fresh clothes before heading down for breakfast. She opted for a pastel blue sundress, despite the fact that it was getting into late fall, leaving her black ringlets down to frame her ivory face. Satisfied that she looked sweet and soft rather than how she really felt she practised a few smiles in the mirror to herself before heading to the kitchen.
This trip into the kitchen it was full and bustling with people as she entered. The first thing she noticed aside from that was the Cajun standing in front of the stove and preparing something that smelled pretty amazing even if he did look as though he hadn't slept at all yet. She greeted everyone with a quick good morning heading for the coffee as the greeting was returned from all sides.
"Morning, Chere," Gambit greeted her with a grin. "You just in time for some good ol' fashioned Cajun cookin'."
"Great, I'm starving."
Gambit grinned and handed her a plate of…something though it smelled incredible and she headed off to the table with her breakfast and her coffee. As soon as she started eating everything else faded out and she devoured every morsel in front of her. When she finally tuned back into the rest of the room it was mostly empty. Even the Cajun was gone though she figured he'd taken off to go and get some sleep. Everyone else had headed off to either sit in a class or teach a class.
Scott, however, remained and was staring at her, "Well?"
"Sorry, I was having a bonding moment with my breakfast. What was it that you asked me?"
Scott wanted to tell her off for not paying attention to the group but decided against it as Kat appeared in the room and he glanced up at her as she seemed to fall into the same trance, "I was hoping to see what you could do. Are you up for a session in the Danger Room this morning?"
"What's a Danger Room?" Renegade asked puzzled.
"If you want to find out, then follow me," he told her in a down to business tone that told her there was no time to argue.
"Right behind you."
She pushed away from the table, leaving her dishes in the sink before following him from the room. Scott stopped off at a closet along the way once they reached the sub-levels of the mansion pulling out a leather body armour suit and handing it to her before telling her that she'd get her own uniform later.
"Seriously? I have to dress like I'm heading to a biker rally to get into your Danger Room?"
Scott only looked mildly annoyed, "That's about the short of it."
Renegade sighed, disheartened as she disappeared into a nearby women's change room. She changed quickly enough, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and pulling her knee high boots back on before she reappeared in the hall. Unfortunately she glimpsed her reflection on her way out and shook her head. Great, now I look like a dominatrix. All I need is the whip.
"Alright…suited up and ready to do this," she muttered to Scott.
"Right this way."
As she followed him, she found herself wondering if the man ever smiled. Finally he stopped in front in front of a large set of double doors.
"I'm sending you in for a solo session. Just head through these doors when you're ready; I'll be able to see everything you do and hear anything you say so if you find yourself overwhelmed just say stop and I'll shut the program down."
"First you dress me like this and now I get a safety word. This is starting to feel like the beginning of a bad porno," she grinned with a bit of a laugh.
Scott just gave her steady stare before walking away and she shook her head before turning and heading into the Danger Room. She stood alone in the middle of the empty room when suddenly it flared to life and began to change around her. She was more than a little impressed and a touch taken aback as dozens of FOH materialized around her and she sprang into action easily dispatching them as more men came at her from every angle. They were no match for her as she used a combination of karate, taekwondo and ju jitsu. Her abilities also extended to heightened speed, strength and agility making her a very capable fighter. Her only personal rule in battle was that she never killed her opponents fearing what she may become if she crossed that line.
As her last enemy fell, the room returned to its original state and Scott's voice filtered through the room on the loudspeaker, "How are you holding up?"
"I'm impressed but bored. You got anything with a little more challenge?"
"Hang on."
A moment later the room turned into a grassy field with a blue mutant with red hair and yellow eyes appeared before her. She lunged at Renegade in full fury forcing Renegade to back away barely managing to dodge and deflect the attacks until a leg sweep knocked her from her feet and she hit the ground. With a slight grin, she flipped herself back onto her feet moving on the offensive but scarcely able to land a blow. Deciding it was time to let go of most of her control she stopped holding back. A half-crazed grin flickered onto her face as she attacked with new found strength; her mind blanked as she let the primal side of herself take over. When she pulled herself back under control, her opponent was on the ground and struggling to get back up. At that point the room flashed back to its original state.
"Okay I think that's enough for today," Scott's voice filtered through again, this time in a mildly stunned tone.
"Just when I was starting to have fun. Hey, you have a zombie apocalypse on this thing?"
"No! Damn it why do people keep asking me that?!" Scott responded recalling some of the students had made the same request.
"It just sounds like fun," Renegade shrugged before making her way back out of room and back to change back into normal clothes.
Once she was changed, she made her way back to the kitchen with the thought of having another round of breakfast and laughed to herself. I should have been a hobbit…I want my second breakfast. She found the kitchen mostly empty still as she entered; the only person present being Beast.
"Hello and how are you on this fine morning?" he greeted her warmly.
"I'm well, thank you Dr. McCoy. It's nice to see you again," she replied settling in beside him at the table with a bowl of cereal.
"Please call me Hank."
"Alright, Hank," she smiled genuinely for a change finding it hard to keep her guard up around him; he was so friendly and warm that she couldn't cast her usual suspicions on him.
"So how are you liking our humble abode?"
"Honestly I'm enjoying it though I am finding it a bit of an adjustment," she replied as she worked through her bowl.
"Once you get used to it I'm sure it will get easier."
"Maybe but then I'd have to get used to life being easier."
Beast chuckled, "Well if there is anything I can do to make things a little easier…"
"Well now that you mention it," she grinned finishing off her second breakfast, "I could use the grand tour."
"Then it would be my pleasure," he pushed to his feet with a smile that showed a lot fang and offered his arm to her.
She stood, wrapping her arm through his thinking that this was a little old school even as she spoke, "You, Sir, are a scholar and a gentleman."
Beast chuckled and headed off to conduct the grand tour of the mansion and Renegade found it impossible not to enjoy his company. Emotional connections were dangerous and better to be avoided but being here it was going to be difficult to not form those connections. Once the tour was completed and Beast returned to his lab, Renegade headed off to her room trying to rebuild her shields.
The following morning she started her morning workout as usual but when she started her yoga routine she could swear she saw Logan skulking around the area as well. Later that day she took her car and headed out to find a cliff to do some rock climbing and swore she caught Logan's bike in her rear-view mirror. As she was preparing to start climbing a slight rustling caught her attention.
"You might as well join me since you're following me around anyway, Logan."
Logan stepped out and joined her as she started up the cliff. Not another word was spoken between the two of them. Renegade knew why he was there; he still had his suspicions about her and she saw no need to draw further attention to it. The trend of Logan joining her in the morning for her workouts continued over the next several weeks; he even found himself joining in with the yoga which surprised him a little. Renegade started to get used to the idea that she was never going to have space to herself.
Over those weeks things slowly seemed to settle in around the mansion and while Logan still remained distant and distrustful, the rest of the members were slowly starting to pull her into their lives. Kat and Renegade were slowly getting to know one another and Renegade was getting seriously tired of watching Kat and Gambit dance around one another. Although she could understand where the Cajun could be confused about the relationship between Logan and Kat; even she wasn't entirely sure but was coming to the conclusion that the two of them were more like siblings. Of course she had also noticed that Gambit had a habit of watching Kat any opportunity he could find.
That morning was no different as Kat slipped out of the mansion and headed for the stables after breakfast. It was only about ten minutes before Gambit was also heading out and towards the indoor arena. It was common knowledge that once Kat was riding she became oblivious to most anything else around her unless she was teaching a class.
Gambit leaned against the wall inconspicuously as Kat warmed up the black Hanoverian mare she usually rode. As he watched, he flicked a card between his fingers, a slight grin on his lips. He stayed there a while, watching as she worked on body control with the mare and then took her over a few jumps a look of exhilarated joy on her face. Gambit stayed there for a while until it was starting to look like she was starting to wind down her training for the day. As silently as he'd entered, Gambit slipped back outside; card still in hand as he pulled a smoke from his pocket with his free hand. Charging the card he used it to light the cigarette before tossing the card away, only vaguely noticing that it had been the queen of hearts and he chuckled as he wandered back to the mansion snuffing his smoke out before going inside.
As the door closed behind Gambit, Kat pulled the mare to a halt, her attention shifting in that direction and she caught the faintest whiff of Gambit's scent. Kat shook her head, brushing a few stray hairs from her eyes as she walked the mare out on a loose rein. The feral seldom rode with a helmet outside of competitions, something that generally annoyed the other members of the X-Men.
Once the horse was cooled out and looked after, Kat took a few extra minutes to clean her tack and sweep up before restocking hay bales in the barn for the night feeding. By then her class for the day were arriving and the information about Gambit being in the arena as she rode was pushed from her mind.
It was just after lunch when Kat made her way back into the mansion. She'd managed to get her three horses rode and her class taught, deciding she was going to take the afternoon to curl up with some bad movies after she ate or maybe do some sketching. That was exactly what she ended up doing until needing to head out and feed the horses for the night. She had just stepped back into the mansion and was shrugging out of her jacket, the fall chill had definitely started to settle in, when deft hands gripped the collar of her coat and she spun to deliver a punch to the offender before she even thought. Gambit chuckled as she slid seemingly boneless from her jacket as she moved, proving her flexibility once again to him.
Kat caught herself as she recognized what she was doing and pulled her fist back just shy of hitting him. Once again she found herself speechless with a bad case of dry mouth while butterflies took up residence in her stomach as usual around the Cajun. Gambit grinned to her and patted her shoulder as he handed her back her jacket before slipping past he on his way out for the night.
"Have a good night, Chere. Might wanna get dat hay outta your hair," he chuckled just before the door closed behind him and he was gone.
Kat bit off a growl and brushed past Logan with a snarl at his questioning look. Renegade received the same response before Kat disappeared up the stairs and slammed into her room.
"What the hell is up with her? She was fine when she was out in the stables," Renegade questioned as she stepped up to Logan.
"That damn Swamp Rat," he growled. "I don't know why she lets' him get to her like that. I keep tryin' to tell her he's not worth the trouble."
Renegade quirked a dark brow and stared up the stairs after Kat, "Maybe to her, he is."
Logan rolled his eyes and headed off towards the kitchen knowing that trying to talk to Kat at the moment was a waste of time but Renegade debated with herself. It was obvious, at least to her, that the two had a serious interest in one another. Finally she decided she'd had enough of watching them dance around the fact; each seeming to believe the other had no interest. With a frustrated sigh, she headed up the stairs after the female feral.
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Kat slammed her bedroom door closed and ran her hands through her hair, finding that stray piece of hay Gambit had mentioned. Without thinking she kicked the end of her dressed with the ball of her foot and growled a curse at the Cajun at his ability to drive her crazy while never knowing the effect he had on her. Drawing a deep, normally calming breath she leaned back against the wall and slid down to sit with her back against it, knees against her chest and head in her hands.
"Gods, I'm so screwed! Why can't I get rid of this feeling around that damn Swamp Rat!?"
She never even lifted her head when a knock sounded on her door assuming it had to be Logan. For a few moments she debated on just ignoring it but figured it would do no good.
"What?!" she finally growled through her fingers.
"Is this a bad time?" Renegade's sarcastic voice filtered through the door.
"A bit," Kat tried to keep the feral at bay as she answered. "Can this wait?"
"Yes but you can't."
Kat quirked a brow, confusion settling in at her answer further fuelling her frustration before she reached up and pulled the door open before dropping her hand back to her side, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Because," Renegade started stepping inside and closing the door before sitting on the end of the bed facing Kat, "something this painful to watch can't be fun to live through."
"What the hell are you talking about, Renegade?" Kat growled in utter frustration tempted to just read her emphatically.
"I'm talking about you and Gumbo," Renegade chuckled.
"Me and…oh let me guess; you're here to tell me to get over it too," she growled launching to her feet with another snarl.
"No, I'm here to tell you to do something about it."
"And what would you suggest?" Kat questioned pacing the floor. "It's not like Re…Gambit wants any more than a bit of fun at my expense."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Renegade simply watched her calmly. "There's more there than you're seeing."
Kat snorted and shook her head stopping in front of the other woman, "I seriously doubt that."
"I don't."
"Then you don't know the Cajun."
"Do you?"
"A hell of a lot better than you do."
"Then maybe you're too close to see it."
Kat snarled again shoving her hands through her hair in frustration as she fought the anger that was slowly building, "That implies I'm close to him."
"Maybe not yet but you'd like to be," Renegade grinned smugly, "and whether you realize it or not, he'd like to be too."
"Remy's only interested in…instant gratification."
"If that were true he'd pick an easier target."
"How do you know he doesn't? He's gone, alone, nearly every night…all night."
Renegade merely smirked, "I can tell."
"Then why does he always leave alone?"
"Aww are you waiting for an invite?" she mocked and Kat narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips at Renegade who smirked triumphantly. "You are aren't you?"
"How happy would you be if Logan disappeared every night and never asked you along…for years?"
Renegade shook her head, "Sure…that you notice but honestly he'd be safer that way."
"Safer? What the hell do you mean? This is Logan we're talking about."
"That's not important," Renegade deflected. "What is important is getting you two crazy kids together."
"Because that's going to happen with the Cajun; he's not exactly Mr. Relationship if you hadn't noticed."
Renegade flashed Kat a cocky smile, "Maybe he would be for the right girl. You're both living in the land of the blind. It's really just painful to watch. You like him, he likes you; neither of you can see the other's interest."
"So what do you suggest I do? Chance destroying what friendship we have and call him on it?"
"There's less risk involved than you think."
"I doubt that; besides it's not just me. He could make and effort or take the risk too."
Renegade's smirk turned to a slightly evil grin, "Do you really want me to have this conversation with Gumbo and divulge details from what you've revealed?"
"It wouldn't do anything aside from give him more ammunition in embarrassing me."
"We'll see," Renegade smirked before pushing to her feet and disappearing out the door.
"No! Renegade! Aw…fuck," Kat snarled slamming her door closed again only this time she did ignore any knocks."
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Renegade left Kat to fume and began to ponder who she could pump for information on the whereabouts of the Cajun. Immediately she ruled out Scott, Jean and Rogue followed by Logan. Finally she decided her best bet was probably going to be Beast. She made her way to his lab quickly to find him hard at work staring at something under the microscope.
"Hi, Hank," Renegade greeted.
"Renegade! To what do I owe the pleasure?" Beast smiled looking up from his work at her.
"I sort of need to track down Gambit. Can you help me out?"
"What do you need Gambit for?"
"Okay…well I've been trying to mind my own business but I can't leave Gambit and Kat to their own devices any longer. They're just too oblivious to each other so I'm meddling. Will you help?" she pleaded.
"How could I refuse but why don't you just speak with Kat. She's generally fairly receptive to criticism."
"I thread that. I slapped her in the face with the truth but she refused to see it. Now my only hope is to convince Gambit so that he can show Kat."
"Hmm, yes well…I suppose Kat is rather reserved which is understandable given her past…" Beast shook his head. "However my dear girl is there, somewhere buried beneath that shroud of mystery you have, a hopeless romantic?"
"Nah, you got it all wrong. I'm doing this for me. I can't stand another day watching them completely ignore the elephant in the room."
Beast laughed, "That must be it but I will help you. Gambit often plays poker at an establishment in town. Here's the address."
Renegade took the post it note that Beast had written the address on and grinned, "Thanks for the help, Hank."
"Oh it was no problem. I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic myself."
She wanted to protest but she knew it would make her look guilty so she just smiled, "See you later, Hank. I better get to meddling."
"Good luck," he called after her as she slipped out of the room.
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Half an hour later Renegade strode into the club quickly spotting Gambit in the back of the room at a poker table. Grinning to herself she made her way over to the table as one of the players finally walked away completely out of cash.
"Too bad, Mon Ami. Lady Luck not you're lady tonight," Gambit smirked as he shuffled the deck of cards in his hand.
Renegade dropped into the empty seat and leaned back, "We gotta talk, Gumbo."
"Can we do dat after da game?"
"Sure, but we really need to talk…tonight."
"So am I dealin' you in or you just gonna watch?"
"Deal me in, Cajun."
Over the course of the next few hours the two dwindled down the competition until only the two of them remained. For the most part they'd gone back and forth with winning and Gambit remained the dealer.
"So what you want to talk about, Chere?"
"I don't think you want me to have this conversation in public."
"Are we still playin' den or is dis important enough to call a draw?"
"Oh, you're going down, Gumbo! Deal the cards," she grinned.
Gambit returned the grin and started dealing out another hand of 5 card stud. Deciding to have some fun with the night, Renegade began faking a tell for a while, taking a good amount of Gambit's money with the ploy. She was having a hard time reading the New Orleans's native which was highly unusual in her life. Finally Gambit tossed the deck of cards in the center of the table.
"Alright, Chere you took enough of my cash. Where you suggest we go talk?"
"There's a park nearby within walking distance."
"Dat sounds good, Chere. Nice and private dis time a night."
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Gambit strode through the park a few minutes later well aware that occasionally Renegade's gaze strayed to his ass but he shrugged it off. After all he was used to it happening quite often when he was out. He had to admit that she had piqued his curiosity at her need to talk to him as he led the way to the swings dropping into one and swinging a little; watching as Renegade dropped into the one next to his.
"So what you need to talk to Gambit about?"
Renegade glanced over at him and smirked, "Kitty Kat."
"If she heard you call her dat…"
Renegade shrugged and chuckled, "I don't think I can piss her off more than I already have."
He shot her a quizzical look, "Dat's almost as bad as pissing off Wolverine."
"Bad? That's fun, Gumbo!"
Gambit just shook his head at her, "If dat's your idea of fun you need to hang out wit' Gambit more."
She grinned, "You might be otherwise occupied soon."
"What do you know dat Gambit don't?"
"Before I tell you that, let me ask you a question," at Gambit's nod she continued. "Do you ever see yourself in a relationship that lasts more than a night or two?"
"What's dat got to do wit' Kat?" he questioned confused.
Renegade smiled coyly, "Answer the question all shall be revealed."
Gambit shrugged and grinned, "For da right girl."
"If there's any chance you think Kat is that girl, you need to let her know…soon."
"Gambit's tried…many times. Its Kat dat's not interested."
"And that's where you'd be wrong."
"I don't think so, Chere. She's turned Gambit down so many times I lost count."
"If you show her you're looking for something lasting you'd probably find her more receptive. The girl's got it bad for you."
"How do you know dat?"
"Because she's sulking in her room right now over the fact that you never invite her out."
Shock and guilt warred for supremacy over his features at that revelation, "Oh…Gambit never knew dat."
"And that's why I'm here. Aren't you the one who's supposed to be good with women?"
"Dis isn't a da game Gambit usually plays," the Cajun sighed.
Renegade reached over and patted him on the shoulder, "Learn fast." She informed him before she started to walk away.
"Wait!" Renegade glanced back over her shoulder at him as he caught up with her. "Why you tellin' Gambit dis?"
"Because you two are painful to watch," she replied before leaving him there.
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A/N: And there is the end of this chapter! We've got a good chunk of the next chapter started we just need to flesh out a little more! Again I am begging…please review now that you've read!
Until next time…stay frosty!