Disclairmer: I do not own the X-men
The following morning, Rogue was on her way downstairs, heading to breakfast, when a sudden burst of laughs reached her ears. She soon discovered its origin when she walked into the kitchen. There sat the new student, surrounded by a great passel of the mansion's female population, looking like the prince of a harem, oozing charm and confidence, with that sly grin she was learning to hate on his face. For some reason, just the fact that he was looking incredibly hot in that ripped off jeans, plain white shirt, trench coat, and boots, with his auburn hair tied back, made her pissed off. Of course that heat in her chest was annoyance.
"…but the life of a bounty hunter can be so lonely." He was saying, his smooth voice that pretended to be upset making all the girls sigh.
"Don't worry, darling. We'll make sure you won't feel lonely ever again." One of the girls said, leaning over the table in his direction.
"With such a warm welcomin', I really don't doubt so, belle." Remy answered, giving an almost obscene look to the girl and caressing her arm with the tip of his fingers.
Rogue felt the ultimate urge to slap herself on the forehead when all the girls giggled. 'This is pathetic.' She thought, walking to the refrigerator in search for something to eat. As she passed by the table the group was sitting at, Remy raised his eyes to her.
"Bonjour, chérie."
"Hey." It was all she answered, not even bothering to look at him. Remy, on the other hand, let his eyes wander all over her body, feeling a little disappointed that so much of it was covered in clothes. 'Can't believe dat body I saw yesterday is hidden under all o' dis.'
"Want t' join us?" He asked.
"Not at all." Rogue found a yogurt and a cartoon of orange juice, and immediately took it before it was gone. She turned around, and located Kitty and Piotr sitting by the window. As she walked to join them, she had the tingling sensation of being watched. Piotr was resting his chin on his hand, slightly intrigued as he watched Remy's table.
"How does he do this?" He murmured, nodding in the group's direction.
"Simple. All he had to do was run a hand through his hair and the girls were throwing themselves to his feet." Rogue said, still not lifting her eyes from the food. "No wonder he has a super sized ego."
"He does look good though." Kitty stated, and then shot a glance at Piotr. "But I prefer the quiet ones."
Piotr choked on his milk and started coughing.
"Watch out, man!" Bobby arrived and slapped his friend's back. When Piotr finally started breathing normally again, his face as red as a tomato, Bobby sat down. "Good morning!"
"Hi, Bobby." Rogue tried not too sound too upset with him, but her eyes betrayed her feelings. Still, Bobby was too busy fixing his bowl of cereal to notice it. Kitty, on the other hand, exchanged a glace with Piotr and shook her head.
As the four of them shared an awkward silence, another round of laughter came from the girls around Remy. Bobby stared at the group for a moment, apparently trying to murder Remy with his glare, and then muttered to Piotr: "Can you believe that?! What's so interesting about this guy?"
Right in that moment, Jubilee walked into the kitchen and when she passed by Remy, he called her. Rogue watched with a gaping mouth as her friend not only rushed to sit by his side but also moved her ear to his lips as Remy whispered something in her ear. Jubilee whispered something back that made him laugh. His eyes fixed on Rogue's, giving her the uncomfortable sensation of a prey about to be attacked by a wolf. From the corner of her eye, she could see Bobby shift on his chair and turn his head slightly on her direction. Once more, she focused her attention on her food, acting as if nothing had happened.
A couple hours later, Rogue was leaving Literature class when Jubilee caught up with her in the corridor. "Wait, Rogue!"
"Hey, Jubs." Rogue smiled to her and reduced her pace. "How was the breakfast at the harem?" Jubilee punched her arm, chuckling. "Seriously, even you?"
"I was going to refuse, I swear, but when I looked at him… I forgot how to say no. And forgot to eat too… I'm starving."
"Of course. Is that lapse of memory also related to the fact he was whispering in your ear?" Rogue grinned to her friend.
Jubilee squeaked and fanned herself with her hands. "Don't even tell me! I still have goose bumps when I think of it. Such a voice… But you would never guess what he asked me about." She challenged Rogue.
"Ah'm honestly scared to hear about it." Rogue didn't even want to imagine what kind of perverted matter…
"You." Jubilee interrupted Rogue's thoughts abruptly, stopping them in their tracks.
"Meh?!"
"Yep. He asked why you are so anti-social, refusing to sit with him…" Jubilee raised her eyebrows, fully aware of what was about to come.
"Anti-social?! Meh? Because Ah didn't want to… So, Ah'd only be a nice easy going person if Ah took part on that harem of his?!" She raised her voice in indignation.
"Hey!" Jubilee frowned and pouted.
"Sorry… but this is just too ridiculous. What did ya answer?"
"I told him it would be weird if your boyfriend saw you having breakfast with him."
"And…That's it?! Bobby's the only reason? Even if he is a narcissist, perverted, egocentric, with no sense of sense of privacy…"
"Oh, c'mon Rogue." Jubilee interrupted her. "You're telling me that if you weren't dating Bobby, you would still turn Mr. Hot down?!" She crossed her arms and twisted her mouth.
"Hell, yeah!" Rogue exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Hmmm, sure. He said one more thing." Jubilee waited but since Rogue said nothing, she went on. "He also said you got a really nice moon tan, although I'm not entirely sure what that means. But he asked me to tell you that."
Rogue smirked against her will. Jubilee observed her from the corner of her eye and then poked her. "Admit it! If you were single, you would totally be sitting at that table with him, wouldn't you?"
"Ah told ya already, there's no way!"
"Why?"
"Ya know what kind of guy he is." Rogue checked her clock and started walking again. Jubilee followed close behind.
"So what?"
"Jubilee, are ya kidding meh? Are ya seriously asking meh this?" Rogue rushed upstairs, conscious she would be late to help Ororo at the greenhouse in the attic.
"Is it because of your powers? Looking is not touching, do you know that?" Jubilee insisted, raising her voice since she was getting behind, and Rogue groaned.
"Ah'd rather stay away. And guys like him are not in search of girls for looking at, do ya know that?! Now stop bothering meh with this conversation! Ah'm late!"
Outside, Remy stood in front of the kids, who were as organized and disciplined as soldiers, while Scott presented each of them by their names. Remy observed surprised their average age seemed to be around ten years old. He never imagined someone at that age could stay quiet and still for so long without interrupting a teacher. At least, he was never able to do that… even now. Meanwhile Scott talked about their usual activities Remy looked around, shuffled a deck of cards, tapped his foot to the rhythm of a song stuck in his head, waved at a couple of girls who passed by, and yawned a few times.
"Any questions?" Scott finally turned to him, crossing his arms.
"What time does dis class ends?" Remy asked with his hands in his pockets. Scott sighed at Remy's lack of interest.
"At 3 pm. Make sure you don't finish it earlier or they will ask for it every time. Anything else?"
"What about their powers? How do y' work with it?" He felt genuinely curious about each of those children's powers. Some of them had a very… interesting appearance. A little girl standing on the last row had cat ears and, from what he could see, a tail too. A boy who was standing closer to him and seemed tall for his age had greenish skin; another boy had huge golden eyes, almost like an insect, and kept moving his head from one side to the other, as if seeing many things at once.
"They don't use their powers in this class. We focus on the physical activity. Besides, it could get dangerous for some of them to use their gifts." At that, Remy could see one of the boys got clearly embarrassed. "They will learn how to use it properly when they are a little older."
Remy felt his excitement wither as he heard those words. "So I'll just have t' teach them some exercises and discipline?"
"That's it. It may sound simple now but you'll see it doesn't get boring. Believe me, every class is exciting and fun." Scott patted his back and smiled, but it didn't encourage Remy very much. From the kids' faces, he could tell things weren't exactly that way. "I made up a program so it would be simpler for you. You just need to follow it and you'll do fine." Scott gave him a clipboard with some papers and started explaining everything written in it while Remy directed all his strength to the effort of keeping his eyes open.
Erik Lehnsherr was sitting in front of a huge computer screen, lost in thought. Soon, Gambit would give him the piece that was missing for his machine. 'Only a matter of weeks.' he thought, remembering his collaborator's words. He wasn't used to partnerships and sharing, but he was somehow grateful to the man who had given him the direction to his plan. It was really hard to find genius scientists willing to give you exactly what you wanted, and even the means to get it.
Of course, he was doubtful in the beginning, but he had heard about Essex many years before. A famous geneticist who was misunderstood in the scientific community for his… unusual methods.
'I must admit, what you have told me is very good news, Essex. I just don't see why I should believe any of it. If all you said is true, why would you want to help me?' Erik raised his eyebrow to the shadowy figure in front of him, covered in a long coat and wearing a hat to hide his face.
'Lehnsherr, deep inside, we are business men. I'm helping you so that you will help me too. This project I started is too big for only one person to develop, as you can imagine. I guess your real doubt refers to why I'm helping you specifically. One of the reasons is your undeniable knowledge about the X-Men. I need information about them, especially two of them. Also, they possess one of the diamonds I told you about, as you have already realized. However, the most important reason is that you can get me the one who will make this project work, the one powerful enough to generate all the energy we'll need.'
'Yes, powerful indeed, AND out of control, let's not forget that.' Erik still felt there was something behind that story. 'So, for what I understood, you plan to enslave humans… that sounds very ambitious, even to me!'
'Not enslave all of them! Some will be used as…a sacrifice. I'm sure you won't weep for this loss. But I'll leave others alive since I need some, er…let's use the rude expression "lab rats". Many human lab rats.' Essex's voice seemed to be empty of any human emotion. 'As you see, this project will work for both our purposes. You want the Homo superior to prevail, and I need some humans for my experiment, not in good conditions but still alive. We're both interested in the evolution of the species, which is being held back by the Homo sapiens. Understand? I guarantee you'll be satisfied with the results.'
'This human sacrifice you are talking about…' The feeling that something was wrong, that something was missing, struck him again. That wasn't the whole story, that's what his gut told him.
'Never mind it! You must not worry about it. The only sacrifice you must worry about is her.' Essex lowered his voice to barely a whisper, but Erik flinched as if he had been screaming in his ear.
'Is this really necessary?'
'Both of us have blood in our hands, Lehnsherr. However, this sacrifice is for a noble cause. It will be the start of a better world for all mutants. Every cause needs a martyr, you know that.'
'Yes, I'm aware of that.'
'Everything you fought for all these years is only one step from being accomplished.' Essex eyes narrowed as he approached Erik. 'Think about it and then contact me. I've got the right man for the service.'
'I will think carefully about it.'
'I'm sure you will.' Essex turned around and soon disappeared in the dark alley they were standing in.
There was no doubt the sacrifice he had to make wasn't going to be easy. 'But it's for a noble cause.' he thought.
Later that day, Remy headed to the Danger Room, slightly nervous about what to expect from it. It would be his first training in it and even if Xavier had told him not to worry too much about it, since it was only for evaluation purposes, he knew he'd better have a good result if he wanted to join the X-Men in the near future. He went into the changing room and changed into his usual uniform he brought with him, then put his trench coat over it.
"Cajun, you ain't going to a party, it's just training." Logan said, coming into the changing room as well.
"A man always has to look charmin', mon ami. Besides, de trench coat is not jus' for de looks. It's where I keep my cards."
"Cards?" Logan raised an eyebrow.
"You'll see." Remy told him with a devilish grin on his lips and made his way to the metallic doors, with Logan by his side.
"So, do you have any experience in fighting?"
"Y' can say so, yeah." Remy shrugged.
The doors opened and revealed a large round room with metallic walls. A large glass window was to the right, at about 8 meters from the ground. It didn't look menacing to Remy since it was just a huge empty place.
"So, what happens here?" he asked. He walked to the middle and looked around, searching for something unusual.
"We fight. Get ready, Gambit." Logan said and his claws came out with a snikt. "Simulation number 4, start!" he said out loud and Remy gasped as the room changed around him.
The walls around him seemed to fade away, and it suddenly seemed they were in the top of a building at night. Remy was still surprised about it when Logan jumped in his direction. He only had a second to dodge and avoid being shred to pieces. The other man was surely pretty dangerous for such a short guy. Logan ran to Remy again and jumped, but this time he was prepared. His hands barely moved and a charged card flew in Logan's direction, throwing him from the edge of the building. He regained his balance and used his claws to avoid falling. Remy thought he had fallen, so he just walked to the edge of the building, getting his bo staff and extending it on his way.
Before he could look down though, Logan jumped up and Remy only had the opportunity to use his staff to block the attack and he fell on his back. Logan was still on top of him and the only thing keeping the claws from Remy's face was the staff. He used his legs to push Logan backward and got up, only to block another attack. This time he swung the staff and swept Logan off his feet. He threw another charged card at Logan, who rolled to his side and avoided it.
Remy threw another one but Logan stood and used his claws to tear the card apart before it exploded. He took advantage of Remy's surprise and attacked again. Remy then decided to use his reflexes and kept dodging Logan's furious attacks, twirling his staff. The more Remy hit Logan, the angrier the man seemed to get and the faster he attacked. After a few minutes, the fight seemed a frenetic dance, and neither of them had much time to think.
Both were fast opponents. The difference was Logan would use his strength to attack Remy, and Remy used his agility to dodge and attack as well. The problem was Logan didn't seem to get tired. Every wound he received healed very fast, while Remy already had several cuts on his chest, arms and legs. None of them was serious, except for a painful one on his arm, but they were surely making him lose his velocity. He decided it was time to attack for good too.
He charged a handful of cards and threw them in Logan's direction and at the same time put all his weight on his bo staff hit Logan's chest with both feet. He then aimed at his face and kicked it. What he didn't expect was the feeling of kicking a metal bar. The sting of pain on his foot made him nearly fall back, and gave Logan the time to stand, grab him by the coat and point his claws at his neck.
"Adamantium bones, bub. Ever heard of it?"
"Heard of adamantium once. Never on the bones though." Remy gave a quick glance to his bo staff, still breathing heavily and flinching.
"Now you lost." Logan said.
At that, Remy just raised an eyebrow.
"Y' sure, mon ami?"
As he said that, Logan had the feeling of something warm beneath his skin, coming from his hand. He looked down and saw that his claws were glowing in a bright magenta color, right where Remy was touching.
"Now, y' see… y' could kill me, but it wouldn't be very smart. Y' can heal, but I don't think y'r body would heal if it was reduced t' exploded pieces. What y' think?" Remy's grin grew wider and wider as he saw Logan's anger showing on his face.
After a while of standing like that, Logan let go of Remy's coat and smiled slightly.
"Y' fight good, kid."
"Merci."
"Now, can you get rid of that?" he grunted, his smile disappearing.
Remy chuckled and the glow faded. Logan retracted his claws and headed for the door as the simulation ended and the room went back to what it was before.
"So, do I get feedback?" Remy asked.
"I said you fight good. That was your feedback, Cajun."
"I'll consider dat good as an amazing compliment coming from y'."
"Yeah, whatever. You should go to the Med Lab to check those cuts." Logan said over his shoulder and left.
Remy stood there feeling worn out. That was one hell of a fight. He decided to head to the Med Lab as his arm was hurting him.
The Med Lab was located down the corridor behind elegant glass doors which opened when Remy approached them.
"Hello, Mr. LeBeau. What brings you to my humble laboratory?" Hank McCoy asked, coming from behind a desk next to the further wall.
"Monsieur Claws." He answered, pointing to the large cut on his arm.
"Oh, I guess it was your first training session?" Remy nodded. "That was a minor damage, compared to some other occasions. Sit on that bed and I'll see what I can do."
Hank then turned around to get some medical material on a cabinet, and Remy was able to see what was on the desk.
A small yellow stone shone brightly amongst a few strange pieces of equipment. Remy's heart skipped a beat as he realized it was the gem he needed to steal.
'Not yet.' He thought, closing his hand and looking away. Hank walked to him and started to clean his cut. Remy didn't really feel good in that laboratory. It brought some bad memories but he tried to remain calm, thinking he was safe there and not in the hands of some mad scientist anymore.
"Well, this will do. You only needed ten stitches, so that was a good start with Logan." Hank gave him a positive nod of the head and took the equipment away. "If you need anything else, you can come and see me. Don't be shy." Hank smiled at Remy, realizing the boy was sitting stiff on the bed, looking nervous.
Remy thanked Hank and took a deep breath before standing.
"As long as I don't have t' face de needles again, I can pay y' a visit." He tried to joke but his voice was weaker than usual. At that, Hank laughed and came closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't need to worry, Remy. Hospitals are not as bad as they seem. Try not to get hurt and you'll be able to stay away for a while, though it's not an easy task if you live here. If it makes you feel better… here." He took a candy from his pocket. "It always makes the kids feel better."
Remy couldn't hold back a snort. "Yeah, make fun of dis poor Cajun."
Hank tapped his shoulder and went back to his desk.
"Hmm… I guess I'll be goin' now. Merci for de…stitches."
"You're welcome. See you later, Remy."
Remy looked once more at the diamond on the table and left.
Hank lowered his head and went back to analyzing the gem. He had discovered that whenever he applied some kind of energy to it, it seemed to absorb it and reflect it ten times stronger. He believed it was probably because of the shape of it. The thing is, that if such a small gem could do that, what could the bigger one do? That was a scary thought. And the use Magneto could find for it was even scarier.