Six months earlier
Remy knew it had to be bad news when Mystique voluntarily came to the Institute with "information."
It was hard to say who trusted her least, with Wolverine, Rogue and Cyclops never taking their collective eyes off of her as soon as she entered the mansion.
"Believe me, there is perhaps no other place I would rather be, but I still share this with you all. Take my advice or don't, I don't care what you do," she addressed the senior members of the team in the War Room.
"You remember the Gems of Cyttorak, yes?"
Scott's scowl deepened. He wasn't often reminded of that terrible time when he and his brother, Alex, were coerced into touching the gem and developing their powers to the extreme. He knew it was a precarious upgrade, that the gem's effects were fickle, and there were limits on how much power a mutant could handle. Scott felt like he and Alex had cheated death that day, even though Magneto and Mystique had somehow managed to escape and keep their boosted powers.
"I was assured by Erik that the gems that disintegrated on Asteroid M were the only ones known to us," Xavier said.
"In this case, Magneto spoke the truth. Not even he knew of any more in existence," Mystique said. "And we know he would stop at nothing to regain that power.
"More gems have been discovered. I doubt the name Nathanial Essex, known as Mister Sinister, is new to many of you?"
Remy's heartbeat involuntarily quickened when he heard that name. The guilt he had for carrying out Sinister's demands would never leave him. Remy had been willing to do whatever it took to control his powers after he had lost control, and Sinister had taken advantage of that.
"It is hard not to be acquainted with that madman and all that he wishes to accomplish," Storm said.
"I knew him as a researcher of questionable morals, when we all thought he was merely a harmless eccentric," Beast added. "Then the accident in his lab happened, and the man we once knew was gone."
"Ok, but what's he actually done?" Kitty asked.
"Take the medical interest of the Weapon X program, Magneto's desire for mutant-kind to become the dominant species, and Apocalypse's taste for global domination, and you've got Nathaniel Essex in a nutshell, Petite," Remy said. Rogue squeezed his gloved hand in silent support.
"Gambit, you do not need to share today anything more than what you have shared with me previously," Xavier said.
"Non, I want to get this over with. I knew the truth would come out eventually. And if this is really happening, the whole team should know," Remy said.
"I don't have to explain to any of you the fear and desperation of not being able to control your powers. Especially when those powers make things go boom, you know?
"My powers were a surprise, of course, but I was slowly gaining control. I thought I was handling it. Then one day, my powers got a major growth spurt. I was trying to go outside to get rid of that extra energy. Except I didn't know ma tante was coming out to try to help me. She caught most of the blast on her face and arms. Doctors said it was a miracle she lived but I don't know what kinda life it is now with her injuries, even after all the years and all her surgeries.
"I swore to myself I would do anything to try to fix my problem. I swore to her, mon pere, mon frere, everyone. I knew I couldn't return home until I could control it. I couldn't let everyone down again.
"It didn't take long for Sinister to find me. A kid who can blow things up tends to get noticed real quick, yeah? He found me hiding in an abandoned warehouse, told me he could help me. Told me he had helped others like me. That I could be someone my family wanted and not someone to fear. I felt like I couldn't say no to that. He seemed like the answer to all my prayers.
"He was a man of his word. He was able to train me when no one else could. I didn't bother asking how, I was just so grateful not to be a liability anymore. He said he was helping me, but for a price, because 'nothing in this world was free.' He knew I was a thief, knew I could get in and out of places without ever being seen. I never thought he'd want me to do more than what the Guild asked of me.
"He knew I'd say no when he started demanding more of me. So he told me he knew where ma tante was recovering, that he could sneak people into the facility and torture her for hours before anyone knew she was gone. He gave me so much information on her, I knew he wasn't bluffing. How could I say no when she was the reason I went to him in the first place?
"I'm not proud of myself. I may be just a thief but we have a code of honor that we don't break unless it's the only option left. Sinister made me cross that line, using my family's lives as blackmail. He justified it in the beginning, saying that these were bad men who hated mutants and wanted to kill them, or they were rapists who got off on hunting down and attacking defenseless mutants. I'd still have blood on my hands but maybe I could convince myself I was actually doing something good. I even knew one of the targets, knew that he had tried to assault my cousin's friend once. His attack on her made it ok to kill him. That's what I had to tell myself.
"Then I had to take care of a man who didn't really seem like the others. Sinister gave me the usual intel but something felt off 'bout the whole thing. I learned he wasn't who Sinister said he was, but only after the fact. He was a husband. A father. He didn't do what he'd been accused of. He was an obstacle Sinister had to destroy and I was the lucky bastard chosen to do it.
"That was the last straw. I was able to run away, make it back to N'orleans. I couldn't rest for a month because I knew he was out there, looking for me. But that month passed, then another, and I thought he really wouldn't come back. Ma tante healed up, I left N'orleans and signed up with Magneto. Y'all know what happened after that."
"I want it understood that this is not an injunction on Remy's past. He was forthcoming with me when he joined the team, and I know he has earned the trust of everyone in this room," Xavier said.
"Can we get to the point here? While some of us are still young," Wolverine said.
"Yes, yes, it's a regular afterschool special in this god-forsaken mansion," Mystique said. "As I was saying, Sinister has found more gems. We don't know what he wants with them yet. When Magneto had control of them we knew he wanted to better mutant-kind." Wolverine rolled his eyes at her ridiculous glass-half-full description of Magneto. "We just know that whatever his interest in us may be, Nathaniel Essex is not a mutant."
"How's that possible?" Kurt asked.
"He was born with human DNA. His body was altered on a genetic level during the lab explosion. He has become a strange inbetween-creature with no allegiance to anyone but himself," said Mystique.
"What does Destiny say? I know she's the one with the information and the one who told you to come here." Rogue hoped Mystique could read between the lines that ultimately, she thought Mystique was really nothing more than Destiny's little messenger girl.
Mystique narrowed her eyes briefly at Rogue's implication. "We cannot deny, this is one of her more… opaque visions. All she can say is that the X-Men will be his first target. Gambit is likely to be at the top of that list, given his sordid past with Essex. And yes, even with scant information, she wanted me to come here to share this with you. Now that I have done so, I will be leaving. Immediately. And don't even think about trying to detain me. I came here in good faith though I owe you all nothing. Do not make me regret this act of kindness."
"Well in order to keep the kindness going, I insist on seeing you to the door, Mystique," Wolverine said as they walked out of the War Room. "Wouldn't want you thinking the X-Men are just a bunch of uncultured swine."
"Jeez, it's like we can never know a moment's peace around here!" Bobby said aloud.
Jean ignored Bobby's outcry as she turned to Scott while speaking to the entire team. "What are we going to do?"
"What we've done every other time we've faced an enemy. We train, we protect the team and we look out for each other. Every one of us," Scott said, looking pointedly at Remy.
Remy nodded. He remembered when Rogue had stood up to Scott in Remy's defense a few months into his stay, pointing out that many X-Men had questionable pasts, that some had even had to kill before, but they were still valued members of the team. And wasn't that the ultimate goal, to get bad guys to become good guys? Or were the X-Men just a bunch of hypocrites? Magnanimously, Scott hadn't argued Gambit's presence on the team again.
Xavier looked on at his team with quiet pride. Every time the X-Men stepped up to help each other, to do the right thing, he saw his utopian dream become a little clearer.
"We will update our security immediately using this new information. Kitty, will you please reach out to Forge? I believe it is time to invite him to 'take a crack' at it, as he's been requesting for years. Training will continue as normal, though I imagine Wolverine is planning new Danger Room scenarios as we speak. I would also like to initiate daily perimeter walkthroughs in which we pair senior X-Men with junior members to teach them how to scout and defend the grounds. I intend to take Mystique's warning seriously."