Sorry!

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A figure silently crept through the trees. He faintly heard voices surrounding him and they were talking about their captive and what was to come concerning the X-men. Carefully, he stepped to the mouth of the cave. He watched for a few seconds as the two women hovered over an injured man.

"So what is the plan? You may have gotten yourself noticed but what is going to happen from there?" he sternly asked.

The two twirled around, caught off-guard by the sudden presence. They gulped as he made his way further inside the cave. They took a few steps away from the X-man, wondering if they should leave him for the newcomer.

"Magneto, we were not expecting you so soon," breathed Katastrophe. "I am soon going to meet with Beast and Rogue. I was hoping to be able to pull off some sweet talk to do some convincing to her."

Magneto didn't say a word as he walked over to the prisoner and scrutinized him from head to toe. He found that Gambit was a lot more hard looking than what he normally saw the man. His hair was in a total mess, flopping down in front of his face, which was adorned with scratches. Claw marks adorned his body and some looked pretty serious.

"Have you managed to get any information out of him?" he demanded.

The two women shook their heads. Magneto motioned for them to back up, which they immediately complied. The Cajun gasped for air before he lifted his head long enough to see who had arrived and a snarl crept onto his face.

"I never tell your chatte anyt'ing and I don't plan to tell you either," Gambit gasped.

"You should be lucky, X-man. I've known Katastrophe for several years and I've never seen her to be this lenient with anyone before. Many others that have dealt with my dear 'chatte' ended up in a coffin," Magneto mused before turning to the two women. "Kat, I have been waiting and now am growing very impatient. I plan to help speed up the process to get you into the mansion. You are going to have a small chat with Rogue and Beast but not the way you initially planned. Get him up for we're going to bring him with us. I have an idea."

Mystique nodded as Kat unlocked the shackles on Gambit's feet and removed his hands, casing and all from the wall. They jerked him to his feet and forced him to walk despite the immense pain he was feeling. He gave a small grimace as he thought about what his friends were about to walk into.

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"So what is it Chuck? I've got a southern lady and a furry man to follow," Wolverine snorted.

The professor ignored the usual nickname as he thought about what had recently transpired within the small group meeting. He thought about Gambit's somewhat puzzling actions. Without making any sudden movements, he turned his attention to Wolverine.

"Did Gambit seem at all - unusual - to you today?" he wondered.

"The Cajun always seems weird to me," Wolverine replied. "But if you're talking more strange than usual, then yeah, I agree with you. Plus I don't know who or what the heck he was around lately either."

Xavier perked up in interest at the statement. He was hoping that Wolverine would give him the confirmation he needed right now for a theory that he was formulating. He patiently waited for the diminutive man to continue. He was nervous yet eager to what Wolverine would tell him.

"I had a good whiff of 'em if that's what you're wondering. Odd thing is, he still smelled the same as he usually does but there was something a little different about the man just the same. I just can't place it yet. Did you sense anything with 'em?" he said.

"I tried to sense his mind to see if there was any indication to his intent but something was blocking me. Even more so than normal. Either he's been replaced by a shape shifter or he's learned to block his mind to me more than usual," the professor replied.

Wolverine couldn't help but laugh at the theories but soon stopped as he thought about the two possibilities. One of them was soon enough nagging at his mind.

"Professor, I don't know if I quite believe the shape shifter theory. I'd smell 'em as soon as they walked through the door. Only way they'd get in here would be if they could effectively mask their scent from me somehow, which is hard to do," Wolverine voiced.

"I know. That idea is scaring me," the professor replied.

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Rogue and Hank walked down the street and she took notice of the surroundings as they moved on to the cafe.

"What can you tell me about this lady, Hank?" Rogue asked.

"Well, I found her to be very helpful and nice. She could potentially help use in the long run, even if she didn't stay at the mansion. I only wish there was a way I could show the others she means no harm," Hank replied.

Before Rogue could reply, a loud BANG! caught their ears and screaming began to fill the air. People started to run away from a section of buildings not too far away and the two X-men ran towards the commotion. They didn't see at first what was happening and then they saw him, filling Rogue with an intense amount of anger.

"Gambit!" she cried out.

The Cajun was hovering behind Magneto, a bloodied and battered mess as they moved through the air. Rogue's attention was quickly brought down to earth as she heard the firing of a gun and a blaze of fire and she saw a crowd of people quickly running from Mystique and Pyro.

"Mr. McCoy, Rogue, how nice of you to join us in our little soiree," Magneto's voice called to the two X-men.

Hank and Rogue watched the older man move closer to them. They quickly took to defensive stances, not know what to expect.

"Let Gambit go now!" Rogue demanded, a snarl creeping into her voice.

"Why should I? So you can have some fun? If you would to have him back, you're going to have to take him by force!" he replied.

A wall of fire rose up in front of the two and Rogue stood in front of Hank to shield him from the flames. As it died down, she looked to see Mystique aiming her gun directly at her. Rogue thought she could see the mildest of regret behind her hardened features. The shape shifter gulped, fully knowing what she was about to do. She glanced up at Magneto, who continued to hover above the tiny crowd.

"You are most fortunate X-men, for you have seen how much your friend has suffered already. He will be suffering even more soon enough," Magneto told them.

Rogue growled as she prepared herself to fly towards the duo when Hank placed an arm in front of her, essentially holding her back.

"What do you want from us?" Beast demanded to know.

He fully knew that Magneto would want something in return for Gambit's release, he was just afraid to what it might be.

"Tell Xavier I'd like to meet with him at the nearby park in four days time at sundown. He is to come alone and then I will bargain for your precious X-man's release," Magneto replied.

Both Hank and Rogue gulped, fully knowing that was the area with the current mutant attacks. They knew that they could be very well be asking the professor to walk into a trap. Magneto motioned to the nearby Pyro, who began to fire up his display. Rogue and Hank ran in opposite directions in order to avoid the flames. Hank thought he felt the fire singe his fur a bit. No sooner than he stopped, he looked up to find he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

"How did you even get him like this? Gambit has never been the easy to capture," Hank demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mystique wondered.

She pressed down on the trigger when a flash of red and orange streaked by the corner of her eye. Not turning her head, she knew exactly who it was and a guilty feeling settled into her gut as she fired the gun.

"No!" came Rogue's voice.

The next thing Hank knew, he felt his body forcibly connect with the ground. He twirled around to find Kat kneeling next to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Are you alright?" Kat repeated, keeping her stare in Mystique's direction.

He nodded his head as he climbed to his feet. Hank glanced over at Rogue, facing off against Pyro. Kat stood up herself and began to walk towards the shape shifter.

"Leave him alone, otherwise I will come after you," Kat warned her.

"Whoever you are, you make idle threats. I have no quarrel with you. Leave now and no harm will come to you," Mystique snarled back.

She was still aiming her gun as the cat and neither one moved. Hank carefully watched the two women as Kat climbed down to all fours. Her fur intensified to a deep shade of red and her body seemed to change to the structure of an actual cat. She lunged forward, catching Mystique off-guard. The blue coloured woman managed to get in a couple shots before Kat quickly forced her to a nearby building and jumped up to pin her against the wall. She grabbed the gun in her teeth, rendering it inoperable and tossing it to the ground. Kat backed off, growling as she carefully watched Mystique.

"Now get away from here before I decide to do something else," Kat growled.

Meanwhile, Rogue has taken down Pyro and was now watching the scene before her. She finally looked up to see Magneto has left and when she returned her stare the side of the building, Mystique had fled the scene as well. Rogue watched the newcomer as her fur toned back down to its normal colour.

"You must be Kat. I've heard so much about you," Rogue told her.

"I am her. It is nice to meet you," the cat replied.

"You manage to show up at the nick of time again. It's like you're looking out for me or something," Hank mused, a smile upon his face.

She smiled back as she staggered a bit. Placing a hand up to her face, she appeared to be in distress. As Hank grasped her arms in order to steady her, he was received with a pool of blood forming on her shoulder and she subsequently passed out into his arms.

"It was when Mystique fired the gun. She took the bullet for me," Hank sighed.

"Of course. I remember hearing it go off," Rogue agreed.

Soon, the sound of police sirens filled the air. The two glanced at each other before silently agreeing that they should get out of there. Rogue took to the air as Hank bounded from the scene, a limp Kat in his arms.

TBC...