The first thing he remembered was the pain pounding inside his head. Hank groaned, placing a hand on his forehead as he tried climbing to a sitting position. He tried to focus his eyes and look around at his dark surroundings. As it cleared completely, he quickly took notice of a familiar figure lying on the ground next to him. Horror slowly filled his mind as Hank realized who it was.

"By my stars and garters, Gambit," he breathed.

He rushed over to his friend's side and it was only then that he quickly realized that his arm was shackled to the nearby cave wall. Thankfully, it was long enough to allow him to reach the stricken X-man. Hank took a quick one-over of Gambit's condition and he could tell that the Cajun was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration in the few days he was missing. The bruises and scratches that he could see upon his friend's body weren't helping to ease his mind. The possibilities crossed his mind as to what had gone on since he last saw him with Magneto.

"Gambit, how are you feeling?" he whispered.

A soft groan escaped Gambit's lips and the Cajun managed to crack open his eyes enough to see Hank hovering over him and the worried look that sat upon his face.

"Beast... de chat," he breathed.

"The cat?" Hank asked himself, the confusion clear in his voice. "What cat?"

"I do believe he's talking about me," a voice called over to him.

Hanks' face drained of colour as he turned his attention over to the mouth of the cave to find Kat standing there, arms crossed. With a lopsided grin sitting upon her face, she watched Hank's every move. He tried to reach for her but the chain sitting around his wrist prevented him from doing so.

"What is going on here? Why am I chained up like an animal?" he demanded to know.

"Haven't you got some inking as to why you're here like this Hank? I'm the one you're looking for in terms with the attacks and now your mindset that I could do no wrong has succeeded in you becoming my prisoner along with him. You should have listened to your friends Hank for they were right about me," Kat explained to him.

Hank gulped as the reality of what he got himself into slowly began to sink in. A feeling of dread settled into his stomach as he studied Gambit's prone form next to him before he turned his attention back to the feline.

"What are you truly planning for the two of us?" he barely managed to say.

"As for Gambit, we are indeed planning to send him back with your professor tonight. Whether or not he's alive is a completely different matter. Be assured though, there is a way to 'persuade' me to let him live another day. That's where you come in dear Hank," she explained.

Hank gave a sharp intake of air as he listened to her. He was getting nervous as to where she was heading with this and feared that he was not going to like what was about to come. He watched as the feline sauntered over to him with a knowing smile sitting on her face. Gently, she reached out to Hank, who could only give her a snarl as he tried to edge his face away from her hand. As soon as he reached the end of his chain, her hand finally made contact with his cheek. After a few moments of stroking his face, she leaned in closer to him.

"I'll promise to let him live if you swear to stay here with me for the rest of your life," she purred into his ear. "But before you immediately say no, just take a good long look over at your friend there and think about him. Do you really want his death on your conscience?"

Hank's mouth dried and found he couldn't say anything as he watched her walk to the side of the cave. She stretched her arms out and slowly lowered herself down into a ball. Within a few minutes, Hank could tell that she fell fast asleep. He wondered now what he should do as he turned back to Gambit, who was now stirring again. The Cajun carefully pushed upwards a bit and then fell with a barely audible thud on his side so he could face the blue-furred mutant sitting beside him. Hank's heart sunk as he watched the man's body unconsciously tremble. He couldn't imagine what Gambit had already suffered at the hands of Kat and whoever her accomplices were.

"Gambit..." he started.

"Beast...she is dangerous. She will...kill you," Gambit managed to sputter out.

He tried to talk further but found he was unable because of his parched mouth. He began to cough and Hank placed his hand gently on his comrade's shoulder. He knew he had a choice to make between allowing himself to become her puppet versus allowing Gambit to potentially die by her hands. Neither sounded like the ideal choice but he was slowly realizing that he walked right into this mess by believing that the cat sleeping soundly before him was a good person.

'If there was only a way I could get us both out of this,' he thought.

But he couldn't think of anything right away that could get them out of their predicament and he also knew that she was right. Gambit would be on his conscious if he decided not to stay. He hoped that whatever happened tonight, they would come across some sort of clue as to where to find him.

00000

Jean gingerly stepped through the hallway, a strange sensation settling in her gut. She couldn't explain why the odd feelings came upon her all of a sudden as she glanced from one wall to another. She worried about Hank for a moment. It had been sometime after he had left the mansion that she began to experience this feeling and she wondered if it had anything to do with him. In fact, she wasn't even certain if he was still out or he had returned. She wandered up to his bedroom door and was tempted to knock to see if he in there but a noise down the hallway caught her attention. She glanced to see Rogue standing several feet away from her, a curious look sitting upon her face.

"Is there something wrong Jean? I've been watching you for the few minutes and you seem a little off," she asked.

"You haven't seen Hank yet today, have you? He left early this morning with Kat to meet up with a friend of hers and I haven't seen or heard from him since. I'm getting a little worried about him since he hasn't been in touch," Jean explained with a sigh.

"Sorry hun, I haven't seen him at all today. I just assumed he would've come back already. Even though he is with someone who adores him, it's still worrying to know that," Rogue posed.

Jean was at a loss for an answer to the subject for she simply had no idea what was going on. She felt as though nothing would completely comfort the butterflies swirling around her stomach until he laid eyes on Hank again. Rogue stepped closer to the telekinetic and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We have to worry about when the professor meets up with Magneto in a couple of hours. Just thinking about what they've done to Gambit makes my blood boil for I just want to get back at whoever hurt him," she quietly said.

Jean nodded, knowing that there was nothing that she could do about Hank yet. She tried to put her mind at rest, thinking that they had simply lost track of time and they would walk through the front door at any moment. Yet something was still nagging the back of her mind that she couldn't seem to shake and she hoped that whatever it was, they would find out before it was too late. Rogue soon managed to persuade Jean join her downstairs to meet up with the others and as they walked into the room, they could tell that something was wrong. Rogue watched the screen sitting before Cyclops and Storm as she walked over to them and leaned on the back of an empty chair next to them. The professor remained in the corner, silently watching as the knots forming in his stomach. The events of the past few days were greatly worrying him and Hank's sudden disappearance hung in the room like a fog.

"What's the matter?" wondered Rogue.

"It seems we're having some technical difficulties with the computer. We've tried several different operations and they're either really sluggish or we're getting static. I can't understand why unless there was something wrong with the computer itself," Cyclops replied.

"Maybe that cat-lady friend of Hank's knows what's going on. There's something about her I don't like. Something I don't completely trust since I can't get a real good whiff of her. Where would she be now anyway?" Wolverine put in.

Everyone turned to the diminutive Canadian with varying degrees of horror. At the back of the group, Jean could feel her heart sinking into her stomach as the one possibility slowly crept into her mind.

'Hank wherever you are, I pray that you are safe,' she thought.

00000

Kat looked out the mouth of the cave and watched as the sun began to slowly disappear behind the trees. Glancing over her shoulder, she took a glance over her two prisoners. It took Hank a few moments to realize that she was standing there and snapped out of his sleepy state in order to stare at the feline.

"Well, we have to take your friend out. What will be your answer Hank? Are you going to stay here with me? Or are you going to allow him to die?" she asked him.

Hank gritted his teeth, his mouth unwillingly to talk. Her request haunted him all day long knowing that he had a major decision sitting in his hands. After a moment of silence, he finally gave a deep sigh, prepared to give her what he wanted to hear.

"I'll stay here just please don't kill him."

A grin crossed her face as a shadow began to make its way into the cave and Hank couldn't bear to look at the man whom it belonged to. Kat had confirmed earlier in the day that she was indeed working for Magneto and he had even visited that afternoon to check in on things.

"I'm glad you could see it my way Hank. Boy are we going to have fun," Kat sighed, a mischievous crossing her mouth.

Hank gulped as he watched Magneto lifted his hand and formed a bubble of magnetic energy around the injured Cajun, lifting him off the ground. He stole a look towards Kat and nodded before he silently glided out of the cave. She momentary looked back at Hank and gingerly stepped up to him.

"This is all for the better Hank, believe me," she whispered.

Hank watched in horror as she carefully removed her garments before she gently knelt down next to him. She could tell that he was nervous over the uncertainty of what was going to happen next and confirmed his suspicions by reaching out and forcibly grabbing him. A gasp emitted from his mouth as she kept her hand firmly right where it seated. She smirked at the surprised written all over his face.

"This is only the start Hank. There shall be so much more that you come to thoroughly enjoy," she whispered to him.

Removing her hand, she moved in closer to his body and Hank could feel the embarrassment overwhelming him even though no one else was there.

'What have I gotten myself into?' he thought.

00000

The professor glided his chair over the grass as he watched the sun slowly in the distance. The worry wracked his mind for he wasn't completely certain on Gambit's condition. It was slowly eating at the minds of all his X-men, especially Rogue. On top of that worry, Hank hadn't contacted the mansion the entire day and no one knew where he had gone to and neither he nor Jean could find him telepathically. Soon enough, a familiar figure appeared before his field of vision. He drew closer and sighed once he saw Gambit lying on the ground beside him.

"Hello Magnus. I wish I could say it was good to see you but after what's happened to Gambit..." he started.

"Charles, to make things clear I have done nothing to your precious X-man. You should know me better than this. Everything was all perpetrated by an associate of mine and this act of good faith on her part is the result of an exchange," Magneto interrupted.

Xavier was horrified at what he was hearing. He couldn't possibly imagine what kind of dealings had taken place so far. He glanced back down at the Cajun, who remained motionless the entire time.

"What kind of exchange was made?" Xavier demanded to know.

"You see, my associate has had their eye on someone for quite some time. He has agreed to stay with her in exchange for bringing Gambit back to you here alive. You should thank him if you ever see him again," Magneto explained. "You wouldn't happen to be missing anyone at the mansion, would you?"

Xavier's heart dropped for he knew exactly who Magneto was talking about.

"Hank," he breathed.

TBC...