I just watched Origins again and I decided that I kinda like that whole 'oemgee the cards are FLOATING because he's so badass' bit. So I have decided to employ it for when Gambit loses his cool… heheh…

And, no, Jamie has not explained about Remy and Storm's last encounter as it is entirely the spawn of her imagination. That will be resolved in two (ish) chapters where things will really start heating up! OH NOES! The plot monster is back!

The ice spike pierced Remy's shoulder. He gave a grunt of pain before falling to his knees.

"Shit!" Storm screamed. Everyone in the booth looked at her stunned, Storm never cursed. "Jamie!" She pulled the little boy sitting in Rogue's lap, who had up until this point been toying with the Queen of Hearts, pretending that he could make it blow up. "I need you to go find Dr. McCoy!"

Rogue clamped her hands down on the edge of the chair o keep herself still. She took a deep breath and counted to ten, waiting for the voices in her head to quite down enough so that she could think. When they did, she found that she still had the urge to burn Bobby to ashes, cut him into little pieces, pull all of the iron out of his blood, and freeze the little charred, bloodless pieces of him with his own damn powers so that she could fully express how pissed off at him she was.

"Gambit will be fine, Miss Munroe." Kitty tried to keep the situation calm as Jamie scampered away. "We can patch him up here, it doesn't look too bad."

Storm looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm not worried about him."

Jamie ran down the hallway, his little feet propelling him as quickly as he could force them without falling and making another ten Jamies. He didn't see the man walking down the hall until he ran into him.

"Oof!" Jamie collided with the ground. Five other Jamies were scattered about him. "What are you doing h-…" His accusatory question to the man was cut off when he looked up at him. Jamie had never seen that man before in his life. He was tall and held a wide stance, with his hands propped on his hips, even when walking. He had long white hair and sharp features.

He wasn't the sort of man you would forget meeting.

"Sorry, kiddo," He leaned over and helped Jamies 1-6 stand. "I should try to watch where I'm going better."

"I shouldn't have been running." Jamie's polite roots took hold and he shook away the stranger's self blame. They nodded to each other civilly and started to turn their separate ways to embark on their separate tasks.

"Say, kid," The man looked back to him. Jamie turned around hesitantly, a little wary of strangers. "I don't know if you'd know, but I'm looking for two of my friends here. A tall guy with red and black eyes and a pretty girl with brown and white hair?"

"Mr. Gambit and Miss Rogue?" Jamie #3 spoke before thinking.

"That'd be them." He smiled down at Jamie.

Jamie nodded innocently, a little confused by the man in his home. But, he hadn't tried to hurt him and he knew Mr. Gambit and Miss Rogue, so he couldn't be a bad guy, could he?

Obviously, Jamie was just overreacting to a stranger in the way a child of his age was programmed to overreact to strange people invading their homes. But, this was the Xavier Institute. Strange people collected here in hordes.

Jamie was about to turn away, remembering that Mr. Gambit needed him, but was pulled back one last time by that stranger's voice.

"Just a word of advice- Stay innocent, kiddo." The man smiled at him before turning away. What could he say; Riptide had a soft spot for kids.

Remy was glowing with fury. Every article of clothing, every object surrounding him, cast off a hatefully spastic hue.

"Homme." His growl sounded like cold fingers around one's throat. "Y' gon' regret dat."

Bobby's smirk dimmed several shades, but did not altogether disappear.

"What are you going to do? Turn me pink?" He scoffed, icing over again.

"Boy," Remy stood up and bridged a deck of cards in his fingers. Pain shot through his shoulder, but he ignored it. "Y' ain't too bright."

"Ohhhh…." Rogue and Ororo said in unison from their spots in the control room. They both knew what was about to happen. Ororo, because she knew that Remy did not take kindly to hitting a man while his back's turned. Rogue, because one of Logan's blocked memories had just been forced upon her like a punch in the face. Casino. Smoke. Drinks. Laughter. Music. Glowing cards and violence. Now she knew what it was like to watch Remy fight. "Shiiiiiit…."

Remy spread him arms wide above his head and instead of falling to the ground like a deck of cards moving of their own accord would have, each little sheet of gambling paper suspended itself between his outstretched fingers.

The students in the control room watched with wide eyes. It wasn't everyday you were able to witness a clash of titans. …Or, rather, a titan, and a little ice boy who was suddenly in way over his head.

The emotions clashing around on the inside of Bobby Drake's little head were very, very clear to Remy. The panic and fear egged him on. The shattered pride and confidence made the edge of the glow in the cards so much more satisfactory in his eyes, knowing that his little deck of tricks had done that to a once high and mighty man.

"Question-" Remy flicked the top card on the suspended deck around in his fingers in much the same fashion as someone might with a coin as a nervous habit. "How many suits a' cards does it take to break de ice?" His purposefully bad pun was accented by a swift flick of the fingers and the largest explosion the Danger Room had ever been exposed to.

Bobby screamed as he was thrown backwards.

"Only one?" Remy clucked his tongue, honestly disappointed. He charged the rest of the deck. He was almost looking forward to seeing the bloody stain that the boy was going to be in a few moments.

Remy smiled. His eye teeth glinted in the scant lighting.

"Shut down the simulation!" Rogue yelled, working over the panel with Ororo by her side.

"I'm working on it!" She furiously typed in the pass codes.

Bobby tried to scramble away from him like the coward he was, whimpering. Remy felt scandalized by his fear. Outrageously offended. Remy knew what pain felt like. He knew the song of panic. He knew the hollowness of dread. He knew what pure, justified, and boundless hate felt like.

Bobby didn't.

Not yet.

But, by God, by the time Remy was through with him, Bobby would beg for the sad excuse of pain he was feeling now. Grovel at his feet at plead for the contrived set of emotions he was experiencing.

What would the girl think! His conscience prayed with him to see what he was doing.

Remy was to far gone to listen to the obnoxious voice of good inside his head when it was so very obvious to him that he was sin personified. His black soul was already tainted beyond any bleach a damn conscience could offer him. Remy knew that he was damned. Everyone who had ever met Remy knew that he was damned. Except for a little girl with a white stripe in her hair and too many problems to justify being associated with him.

Bobby's moan of pain snapped him back into action.

"And now," Remy growled, a card at the ready. "You die."

He pulled back his arm to give the explosion that would happen the proper spin away from him when something caught his eye and he hesitated a moment. The face on the card that glowed sardonically between his fingers looked at him with an understanding smile. The King of Hearts.

He had saved the Queen.

Did the King really deserve to be condemned?

The pink glow to the regal card faded slowly.

Bobby Drake had now been twice at the mercy of Remy Lebeau, and twice he had been set free.

"I wan' y' t' remember dis when y' 'bout t' do somethin' stupid, Iceboy." Remy growled. "I ain't gonna kill y'… Today… but watch y'rself. Not even the Queen 'erself will save you from mon deck a third time." His demon eyes bore holes into the pure blue eyes of the all-American boy scout's.

Bobby nodded his submission and Remy finished his swagger/limp he had started before.

"Hm…" Riptide watched from his hidden crouch. He pulled out his phone and began to tap in the number engraved in his memories. "My, my, how our Gambit has changed. A third chance? That girl must be having a positive effect on him." His eyes flicked to the girl with the stripe, who was almost weeping with relief as she ran down to meet him as he exited the 'Danger Room'

"Yes, Riptide?" The chilled voice answered his call after the first ring.

"I want a team." His clipped response was just the way his boss would approve- To the point.

"Done."

"How long?"

"Three days. Do you think you can wait that long by yourself?"

Riptide's eyes were again caught by the girl with the white stripe in her hair as she held her head, as if in pain. Gambit immediately seemed to forget his own pain and was all over the girl.

"Ah'm fine," She insisted in her honey-sweet accent, batting away his hands and trying to get a good look as his shoulder. "Are you alright, swamp rat?"

"Jus' fine, chere." Gambit held her gaze tenderly for a moment and the girl blushed.

"I think I'll be able to find something to amuse myself with." Riptide mused.