On some distant planet in the great beyond, Cyclops walked past a crashed X-Jet. It exploded, catching his attention and allowing some weird alien tentacle to wrap around his ankle and pull him down.
Scott was being dragged back to where the tentacle was coming from. A horrid, disgusting squid-like creature that also held Rogue and Jean.
"Help!" Rogue called on Cyclops for assistance.
Cyclops used his optic blast to slice off the tentacle around his leg. Now free, he sliced the ones holding his friends, releasing them from the space alien's grasp. The disconnected tentacle tried to attack Scott, only to be blasted away.
With nothing else in his way, Scott shot a huge blast into the creature's mouth, disintegrating it. The surrounding area then changed, revealing it to be nothing more than a Danger Room simulation.
"Come on, Gambit." Scott complained. "Can't you make this program a little tougher?"
In the control room, Gambit was playing with his cards as he watched Scott's progress. "What? You don't like Gambit to be gentle?"
"Our enemies won't be." Scott said. "Crank it up."
The phone next to Remy rang, and he picked it up. "Xavier's school."
"Remy?" The person on the other end asked.
"Who is this?" Gambit demanded in a suspicious tone. "How'd you find me?"
As he turned around in his chair, his elbow accidentally hit a switch, setting the Danger Room to its maximum level.
In the Danger Room, Scott was back on the planet when he was confronted by Omega Red, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, and Juggernaut.
Scott backed away from the group of bad guys, only for some lizard man to sneak up behind him and try to grab him. Scott thankfully rolled out of the way.
Gambit didn't notice the danger Scott was in as he listened to the person on the phone. "Remy, it Pierre. You got to come down quick. It Bobby. He's in trouble."
"Then let him get out of it." Gambit snapped, not wanting to be pulled into one of his brother's shenanigans.
Scott's luck in the danger room was starting to run out as the lizard man swiped him with his tail as it roared at its enemy.
Gambit was still ignorant of Scott's plight as he let Pierre explain the situation. "But Remy, it's the tithe! Bobby disappear!"
Scott blasted the lizard man away before the other villains started to gang up on him.
"And if he ain't there tonight with the tithe, you know what gonna happen." Pierre told Remy.
Scott blasted Omega Red away only to be punched by Apocalypse, who glared down at him in his giant form.
Scott barely dodged a second punch as he finally realized that something was wrong. "Wait a second. Something's wrong!" He was then snatched by the space-squid he dealt with earlier. "Gambit!"
Outside the Danger Room, the monitor was beeping. Luckily, Rogue was passing by with a cup of coffee in her hand. She pressed a button and saw the trouble Scott was in.
"Cyclops!" She dropped her coffee and raced to the control room as she scolded Gambit for his carelessness. "Gambit! What in tarnation are you doing?" She pressed the override button, releasing the injured Scott from the training program. "Cyclops was alone in there! You could have killed him!"
"I got to go home, chere." Gambit said. "They're gonna waste my brother."
Jean ran toward her injured lover. "Scott!"
Scott moaned in pain. "Gambit... Stop... Stop..."
Rogue came up to them. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know yet." Jean replied. "What happened?"
"Something spooked Gambit bad." Rogue answered. "Something about a brother."
Danny was watching TV when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Danny, Remy need your help." Gambit said.
"What do you need help with?" Danny asked.
"You fight ghosts? No matter how powerful or mean, right?" Gambit pressed Danny for information on his career as a ghost hunter.
"Yeah, why?" Danny was wondering what point Gambit was trying to make.
"There trouble back home." Gambit explained. "Gambit think that you will be needed. Bring some weapons if you have to. Meet me in the hanger in five minutes."
Danny was caught off guard by Gambit's seriousness, but he complied as he got ready. "Wonder what's going on with him?"
He later met Gambit in the hanger as they got on one of the jets.
As they took off, Danny heard Gambit mutter to himself.
"That fool. That thieving fool."
"So can you tell me what's going on?" Danny asked.
Gambit sighed. "Back home, there are two guilds. Thieves and assassins. Every ten years, they gave tribute to External."
Danny was now intrigued. "What the hell is External?"
"External. No one knows. Some say she a great spirit." Gambit revealed. "Anyway, External blesses them when given tribute. But if not, she destroy the chosen one from the group that displease her."
"Chosen one?" Danny caught on. "What chosen one?"
"External choose a chosen one to give tribute from both sides." Gambit explained. "They are the one who suffer her wrath if she's angered."
"So we're dealing with a ghost that forces people to give it tribute under the threat of death?" Danny asked. "That's just great." He said sarcastically.
"Last time External came, the thieves didn't offer the tribute in time, so their chosen one was destroyed. Before she left, she picked the next chosen one of the thieves."
Danny was sitting on the edge of his seat. "Who was it?"
"My brother. That why Gambit need your help in case something go wrong." Gambit said.
"Don't worry, Gambit." Danny assured him. He wasn't going to let Gambit lose anyone from his family. "I won't let this ghost cause anymore damage."
"Really, I feel better." Scott protested from his bed in the infirmary.
"Whoa, partner!" Rogue gently pushed him back into bed. "We'll round up the stray X-Men while you heal."
"Something was very wrong with Gambit." Jean stated. "When he was running to the plane, I sensed his feelings. I felt a deep sense of dread that I had never felt in him before."
"I never knew old Gambit cared so much about his family." Rogue mentioned. "Heck, didn't even know he had one."
Wolverine came into the infirmary. "I hear you need help tracking a Cajun."
"And a ghost." Rogue added, wondering why her boyfriend left without telling her. "That old phantasm hopped on out of here without telling me."
Wolverine leaned over the foot of the bed as he examined Scott's injuries. "Well, well, looks like he got his licks in before he left."
"That was an accident." Rogue said. "Now Gambit's gone off alone, and he dragged my boyfriend on some wild adventure." She said this with irritation. "So do your thing and help us find them."
Danny and Gambit exited the jet as Gambit called out for his friend.
"Pierre!"
A man in a boat waved them over. "Over here, Remy!"
They joined Pierre in the boat as Pierre noticed Danny's presence.
"You didn't say you were bringing a friend."
"Have you found Bobby?" Gambit demanded, not in the mood for pleasantries.
"Yeah." Pierre replied. "We... We got word..." He couldn't finish his words.
Gambit was now even more worried. "What's the matter? Tell me!"
"The assassins have him and our tithe." Pierre said. "They attack on the day of the tithe! No one has ever..."
"Who cares about the stupid tithe?" Gambit yelled; tired of this stupid rivalry. "When will it stop? Assassins kill thieves. Thieves kill assassins. For three hundred years! No one knows why anymore. This feud is crazy!"
Gambit then calmed down as he gave a glance at Danny. "But Gambit hopes to end it once and for all."
Danny placed his hand on Gambit's shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to your brother. I promise."
Gambit could feel the sincerity and determination in Danny's words as he gave a real smile for the first time since he got the call from Pierre.
"They don't want to kill Bobby." Pierre said timidly.
Gambit turned his attention back to him. "No? Then what?"
"They want an exchange." Pierre answered. "Bobby and the tithe for you."
The Blackbird flew over New Orleans as Jean spotted the jet.
"Look, there's their plane."
They landed right next to it as they got out.
"Leave it to Gambit to grow up in a swamp." Wolverine grumbled, not wanting to be here any longer.
"I think Gambit never wanted to come back to this place." Rogue opened the cockpit of the jet, letting Wolverine sniff Danny and Gambit's scents. "I don't want to find out why."
Wolverine followed the trail for a bit before he gave up. "Dead end. They took a boat."
"I wish he could have asked us to help him." Jean said. "Wonder why he only went to Danny?"
Wolverine had a theory on why. "Maybe he needs Casper's help to deal with a ghost."
Rogue contemplated the idea. "Danny is the only one here with experience with that; makes sense Gambit would bring him here. But what kind of ghost are they up against?"
Danny, Remy, and Pierre stood behind some bushes as they gazed at the headquarters of the assassins.
"Careful, Remy." Pierre warned. "You been gone a long time. But to them, you still a thief."
They approached the guards at the entrance.
At the guard's questioning looks, Gambit revealed why he was here. "Remy LeBeau. Here to see my brother."
One of them pointed to the door, which Gambit took as a sign that he was allowed in. He entered with Danny behind him, who was invisible.
The guard opened a secret passage to the basement as Gambit was escorted down.
Down there was a dungeon, and Gambit was taken to one of the cells that held Bobby.
Bobby could see a shadowy figure at his cell's door. "What you want now?" He bit out.
The door slid open, revealing Gambit. "It me, Bobby."
Bobby's eyes lit up. "Remy!" His eyes then became bitter. "So the big X-Man finally come home for a visit."
Gambit didn't have time for this as he grabbed his brother by his jacket. "You know why I come! Thieves! Assassins! I want nothing to do with you! Any of you!"
"I thought you wouldn't come, Remy." Bobby said. "I thought you'd let me die."
Gambit narrowed his eyes. "I should have! You got me in the Guild, Bobby. You made me a thief. Why? I was your brother!"
Danny was watching this interaction and felt awkward listening to this private family moment. Although he could relate to Gambit's dilemma. Like him, he loved his parents, even though they often made life difficult for him with their obsession with destroying his alter ego and building inventions that often got him hurt. They also ruined Christmas for him for a long time, but he still couldn't bring himself to hate them. They were his parents. His family.
The same reason Gambit wouldn't leave his brother to die.
Gambit told his brother about the offer the assassins had made. "Pierre says the assassins will let you deliver the tithe tonight. Where is it?"
"She has it." Bobby said.
"Who?" Gambit asked, silently praying that it wasn't who he thought it was.
"I do, Remy." A feminine voice came from behind him.
Gambit recognized that voice. "Belle?"
"How nice! You remember." Belle was a blonde woman who had her hair in braids, but the look in her eye showed that she was still deadly. "You like the dress?"
"Belle, why you do this?" Gambit asked.
"You never saw it, did you?" Belle made a hurt expression. "On the day we were to be married!"
"We tried to bring the guilds together." Gambit said. "You know it didn't work. They wouldn't have let us live."
'Ok, now it's turned from a family drama to some weird romance movie.' Danny thought to himself as he watched.
"You could've taken me with you!" Belle cried in betrayal.
Gambit's voice was soft and quiet. "We were young. I was scared."
"I still wear your ring." She showed it to him. I have one for you." She pulled it out for him. "Wear it, and your no-count brother is free to deliver the tithe."
Gambit slowly accepted the ring and placed it on his finger as a guard untied his brother and gave him the tithe.
Bobby walked out of the cell. "Sorry, brother. Goodbye."
"What this mean, Belle?" Gambit asked.
"You leave me once..." Belle's eyes glowed as Remy felt the ring shock him. "I been waiting ten years for this moment. You not leave me again!"
"My powers!" Gambit cried as he pulled out some cards, but they wouldn't glow.
Danny was about to assist him when Gambit held his hand out, hoping his invisible friend would see it, signaling him to keep hidden.
Danny reluctantly complied with Gambit's request.
Jean, Wolverine, and Rogue approached the abandoned building that, according to Xavier's records, was Gambit's home.
Wolverine eyed the building with distaste. "The Cajun actually lived in this dump?"
Jean looked at the information she had brought. "That's what the professor's records say."
Rogue just wanted to get this all over with. "Let's just find him and Danny and get out of here."
They entered the building and looked around.
"No wonder Gambit's so messed up." Wolverine said, looking at the disgusting place.
Rogue snorted at Wolverine. "I've seen some of the rat traps you've holed up in."
Jean felt someone approaching them. "I sense people nearby. Not Gambit or Danny. It's..."
The floor opened up underneath them as they fell into a secret passage. They found themselves in a bunker where bright lights were shining on them.
"Don't move!" A man said unable to be seen by the X-Men because of the lights. "What you want here?"
"Some answers, mush-mouth." Wolverine said.
"And a little better hospitality." Rogue glared.
"The assassins sent them!" One accused as he walked forward with a gun in his hands. "Where's Bobby? Where's our tithe?"
"I suggest putting the pop gun away if you don't want me to feed it to you." Wolverine showed his claws.
Jean used her telekinesis to make the gun fire on the lights, allowing the X-Men to see their opponents.
Wolverine sliced the man's gun and tackled him.
Another pressed a button as a wall came towards Rogue, but she held her arms out as the wall broke upon contact with her fists. "I like a man who'll open a door for a lady. One of the things that I love about my spooky."
"Mutants!" One of them gasped as he realized who these people were.
Pierre ran in with the tithe in his hand. "Jacques! Stop! Remy came. He made the switch."
"What switch?" Rogue asked.
"For his brother." Pierre said as he handed the tithe to Bobby. "For the tithe." Pierre then pieced together who they were. "You must be the X-Men. Remy leave us for you?"
Wolverine got into Pierre's face. "Remy isn't a piece of meat to trade for anybody." He pulled out his claws to threaten Pierre. "Sometimes the claw slip. Take us to Gambit, and it won't."
"She bring him to the tithe." Bobby said.
"What about Danny?" Rogue asked.
Bobby looked confused. "Who's Danny?"
"The one that came with Gambit!" Rogue yelled. "Where is he?"
"I don't know who you're talking about." Bobby said. "Remy came alone and was taken by Bella Donna, leader of the assassins. Their chosen one. His woman."
Gambit stared at himself in the mirror as he looked over the tuxedo he was wearing.
"I saved it for you." Belle said. "You will need it." She placed her head on his shoulder and rubbed his cheek. "After the tithe, when we marry."
Gambit heard Danny whisper into his ear. "You sure you still want me to stay invisible?"
Gambit gave a subtle nod and went back to speaking with Belle. "Why pretend, Belle?" He tore the tuxedo off, showing his uniform underneath it. "You know the thieves won't let me stay with you."
Belle's eyes glowed yellow. "After tonight, there be no thieves!"
Gambit groaned in pain as Belle examined herself in the mirror.
"You think I give them the real tithe?" Belle opened a drawer, showing both tithes were in it. "You were traded for a worthless brother and an even more worthless box! And when he give it to the External, she destroy them all!"
The X-Men and the thieves were waiting at the location where External would appear. The fake tithe was placed on a tree stump.
"Where the assassins?" Pierre looked at his watch. "The External come in less than five minutes."
"What do you care?" Wolverine asked. "From what you say, the assassins don't show; the boogie woman melts them, and you take over."
"I don't trust Bella Donna." Pierre said. "Until she arrive, and the tithe is done, anything could happen."
The Assassins then arrived, with Gambit and Belle at the front. Danny was tagging along, still waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.
"Looks like they made it to the party after all." Wolverine said as he saw Gambit with the assassins.
Belle addressed the thieves. "The assassins are prepared for the tithe and welcome our newest member, Remy LeBeau!"
Gambit then shoved Belle to the ground and shouted at the thieves. "The tithe she gave you is a fake!"
"Traitor!" Belle activated the ring, making Gambit fall to the ground in pain.
Danny decided enough was enough and phased the ring off Gambit.
Gambit saw the floating ring in front of him and realized what Danny had done. He then facepalmed. "Why didn't Gambit think to ask you to do that earlier?"
"Don't blame yourself." Danny said, still invisible. "I should have thought of that as well."
The thieves were angered by the assassins going back on their deal.
"You assassins betray us!"
"You crazy woman break her word! You assassins got no honor!" The thieves pulled out their guns.
"You thieves too stupid to check the box." One assassin said as his group also armed themselves. "We not gonna tell you. Soon it make no difference."
Jean used her powers to snatch up all their weapons. "I can't stop you from hating each other, but I can slow you down."
One assassin shot a beam of energy out of his hand at the weapons, releasing them from Jean's hold.
Jean tried to make them see reason. "Please!"
Both sides paid no mind as they battled each other.
Rogue flew over to Bella Donna. "Hand over the box, bitch. I had enough of all this tomfoolery. You can blast me away a thousand times, but I'll get you sooner or later."
Bella Donna looked at Rogue with indifference. "The thieves are not your people. Remy was wise to leave them."
Wolverine tried to grab the box, but Bella Donna used her energy to hold him up in the sky.
Bella Donna gave the X-Men one last chance. "Go now, and I'll let you live."
"Okay, I really think it's time to show myself." Danny whispered into Gambit's ear.
"No!" Gambit whispered back harshly. "You reveal yourself when the External comes."
"It's no good fighting, Wolverine." Jean lowered him back to the ground safely. "Unless we find the real tithe box, every thief here will be destroyed."
"I don't care which spirit ladies do what to which Cajuns." Wolverine replied. "I'm here to stop a wedding."
From the corner of their eyes, they noticed a light.
"What's that?" Jean asked.
"The External!" Bobby cried
Bella Donna smirked. "The time has come!"
"Now you show yourself." Gambit said.
Danny finally turned visible. "About time."
"Danny!" Rogue brought him into a hug. "Where were you?"
"Here." Danny answered. "Invisible." He was a bit annoyed at waiting so long. "Because Gambit said so."
They all then looked as a burst of water came out of the river and formed a vortex that revealed External.
For a ghost, she looked pretty human, as she didn't have a noticeable aura. She was a dark-skinned woman wearing a royal purple outfit. Her hair was orange and in braids. She had some ancient markings on her eyes and forehead.
"Ten years have passed." The External announced. She then saw the fake tithe. "The tithe is false! Chosen ones, assassin and thief, step forward!"
Bella Donna and Bobby stepped forward as they kneeled in front of the powerful being.
Bella Donna offered her tithe. "The Guild of Assassins honors you with this tithe, great External."
"Your tithe is true." External said in approval. "By our covenant, your powers shall be increased."
Bobby tried to explain the fake tithe. "The Guild of Thieves..."
"Dishonor the tithe!" External interrupted.
Bobby was frightened by External's anger. "No, it was the assassins. I..."
"The boy's right." Rogue defended him. "It was that low-life mop-squeezer over there who..."
The External blasted Rogue as she screamed in pain.
"Rogue!" Danny shouted. He glared at External for daring to hurt his girlfriend. "How dare you!"
"You dare speak to External that way!" External was angered by this mortal's disrespect.
"I'll speak to you like a person who's fed up with all your bullshit games." Danny said. He sent an ecto-blast at External, knocking her to the ground.
Everyone watched in amazement as Danny managed to hurt the great External.
External got up as she looked at Danny with wide eyes. "You hurt me. No one's ever been able to hurt me." Her tone of awe changed to one of rage. "You will suffer!"
She fired a blast at Danny, who merely blocked it with a shield and sent a flying punch at her. He then threw a couple more ecto-blasts at her before he froze her legs to the ground.
"Your little game of goddess is over. I've had enough of you forcing these people to jump through hurdles to please you, only for you to kill them when they aren't enough for you."
External broke out of the ice as she glared at Danny. "Who are you? You are certainly no mortal I've ever encountered."
"I'm Danny Phantom." Danny replied.
External gasped at the name and looked at his symbol, showing that he wasn't lying.
External felt fear, something she hadn't experienced in a long time. "You..." She stuttered at being in the presence of someone more powerful than herself. The same feeling that the thieves and assassins had when they were around her. "You are the hybrid that defeated Pariah Dark."
"I am." Danny simply said.
External got on her knees, knowing that she was outmatched. "Please, great one, forgive me for hurting one so close to you." She begged. "I didn't know that she was your beloved."
"I'm not the person you have to apologize to." Danny pointed at Rogue.
External apologized; her hubris was gone at the moment. "Forgive me for attacking you."
Rogue didn't know what to say. It wasn't every day that a ghost apologized for attacking you. "Uh, I forgive you."
"That settles that issue." Danny said. "Now I want you to leave the thieves and assassins alone. No more challenges or offerings. You've caused enough damage to them."
"It is done, Great one." External complied.
"Also, I want you to take away her powers." Danny pointed at Bella Donna. "Because of your influence, she has abused them and hurt a dear friend of mine."
"No!" Bella Donna cried.
External blasted Bella Donna with her energy, removing her powers. "It is done."
"Now leave this realm and never come back." Danny commanded. "If I ever catch you causing more chaos again, I'll come after you like I did to Pariah Dark."
External nodded frantically as she faded away.
Gambit thanked Danny. "Thank you, mon ami. Now we are all safe from her wrath."
Danny smiled. "Anything for a friend."
Bella Donna, now powerless, came up to Gambit with tears in her eyes. "Remy, don't leave me again."
"This is not my home. I am not thief or assassin." He returned her ring. "I am an X-Man. And I'm never coming back."
The thieves and assassins watched as the X-Men left.
Rogue pecked Danny on the lips. "Next time, give a gal a warning before you go off on some crazy adventure."
Danny grinned. "I will, I promise."
Rogue smirked. "I'll hold you to that."
Back at the institute, Scott was informed by Jean about the recent events that had just happened.
"I still don't understand why he didn't tell us about the problem in the first place." Scott said.
"There are parts of our pasts that none of us want our friends to know." Jean told him.
"But being an X-Man should mean something." Scott argued. "Gambit has to trust us."
"Trust takes time. With the professor gone, you and I will have to be the ones to make sure he gets it." Jean said. "And I think it won't be long. He trusted Danny, so he'll eventually come around to us in no time."
"Will there never be an end to this madness?" Magneto said as they journeyed through the Savage Land. Magneto gazed at the destroyed huts with sadness. "When I left, the Fall People were living here peacefully. Even at the ends of the Earth, the horrors of war find their way into the human heart."
"We have seen much suffering in our lives, Magneto." Xavier said. "Each must find his own way to fight against it."
Vlad heard footsteps behind them. "Over there!"
The three were greeted by a man in a tribal outfit who had four arms.
The four-armed man glared at them. "Someone named Magneto taught us that the fight goes to the most powerful!"
"Barbarus!" Magneto yelled. "I did not create you for this!" He pointed to a ruined hut.
"You made him?" Vlad asked, wondering how Magneto was able to achieve that.
"We mutates follow a new master now, and you must surrender to me." Barbarus said.
"Never!" Magneto refused as he and the other two started to run.
"Get them!" Barbarus ordered his troops, who were riding pterodactyls.
They chased after them. Xavier, seeing they were being followed, grabbed a piece of rope hanging from a tree and made a trip wire to knock one of the men off his pterodactyl.
"Nicely done, Charles!" Magneto praised.
Barbarus then grabbed Magneto from behind.
"Magneto!" Vlad cried. He observed his surroundings and saw that hanging above Barbarus in a tree was a bee hive.
"Farewell, creator." Barbarus said as he prepared to finish Magneto off.
Vlad spotted a nearby spear, took it, and threw it at the hive, causing the insects to swarm around Barbarus, forcing him to release Magneto.
Barbarus shouted in pain as the bees stung him. "No! Stop!"
"Come on!" Vlad grabbed Magneto and started to drag him away to safety.