Gambling: VIII: New Times, New Teams

Logan leaned against a large tree and stared at the woman he had loved from the moment he set eyes on her. He was speechless. Absolutely speechless. He simply refused to believe the tale she had just shared. It couldn’t be true. His Jeanie would never have done such a thing.

“I can see you don’t believe me,” Jean said with a soft, sympathetic look. “And I don’t have to be a telepath to read your thoughts right now, Logan.”

Logan’s hands tightened into fists at his side, his adamantium claws itching to break the skin at his knuckles. But he kept his inner beast in check. There was no enemy for his claws to slice. “You can’t be serious about this, Jean.”

The red haired doctor stepped closer in front of him. She reached up and lay her palm against his rough cheek. “Logan, you’re the only one I trust to do this. If The Phoenix should take over, you will have to be the one to end me. The fate of humanity, all humanity, will depend on you stopping me should I lose control.”

Wolverine lifted his hand to hold hers to his face before turning to kiss her palm tenderly. “Then you had best make certain you don’t lose control.”

His eyes looked past Jean toward the roof of the mansion where he could sense the Cajun. He didn’t care for the audience, but better Gumbo than One-eye. “What about Cyclops?” he asked, knowing that it was a question he had to ask even when the answer scared him almost as much as Jean’s request.

Jean pulled her hand away from Logan, and crossed her arms over her chest as if suddenly cold. “Things with Scott are stagnant.” She bit her lip and turned away to look deeper into the thicket at the back of the institute. “I am too volatile for him. He needs someone steady and stubborn.”

Wolverine took a deep breath. “Okay Jean, I promise I’ll do what it is you ask.” He reached into his inner jacket and pulled out a cigar. He flicked his lighter and set the tip to flame. He took a heavy drag. “I just hope to God I don’t have to do it. You died on me once and I don’t want to have to go through that again.”

“You know that even if never comes to what I requested of you, that eventually you will outlive me,” Jean said softly. “Like Rogue what you have is both gift and curse.”

Wolverine said nothing, knowing she was right. He toyed with the idea of asking Jean to help him regain his memories that were denied the day that Stryker died at the Lake. But perhaps forgetting the memories were a survival instinct.

“They will come back when they are meant to,” Jean said reading his thoughts. She took his hand and tossed his cigar aside. “Let’s go back inside. We must wake early for practice if we want to beat the Blue team.”

Logan’s jaw tightened at the audacity of Jean tossing his cigar aside. She burst out laughing. “Very well, I’ll ask next time before I snatch your cigar,” Jean promised.

“Stop reading my mind woman.”

Jean pressed herself against his arm and batted her eyes at him. “Why Logan? Are you afraid that I might blush from what you’re thinking?”

“I think you should probably back away from me right now, especially since we have an audience.”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s not even watching us now. His thoughts are elsewhere.” Jean smiled in the darkness of the night. “He’s contemplating how he might sneak over to Rogue’s balcony.”

Wolverine tried to pull away from Jean but her grip on his arm only tightened. “Don’t try to stop me Jean. I’m not letting Gumbo sink his fangs into the girl.”

Jean laughed once again. “Calm down Logan. Rogue dated Bobby for years and I don’t remember you acting quite this way.”

“Yeah well the Iceman isn’t quite the forked tongue charmer that the Cajun is, now is he?”

“I’m sure she can take care of herself.”

Wolverine grinned down at her and wrapped his arm comfortably around her waist. “Don’t suppose you could put up a psychokinetic force field around the entrance to her bedroom just for fun?”

“Devilish!”

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Rogue paused to wipe the sweat off her brow. She looked up at her sparring partner and frowned. “I still don’t understand why you won’t tell me how you got those burns on your hands.”

“Chere,” Gambit said with a mocking tone. “You gonna make conversation with all your opponents?”

Rogue kicked out to sweep his feet out from under him, but his agility kept him balanced. He reached out and caught hold of her shoulder and her hip and tossed her to the matted floor. Rogue struggled unsuccessfully from under his weight. She noticed his gaze lingering on her mouth and decided on a different strategy.

She lifted her face to kiss him senseless. It only took a few seconds before she had the use of both his strength and his disorientation. She flipped him underneath her. “Round goes to me, element of surprise.”

Gambit’s red irises glowed brighter as a slow smile spread across his lips. “Gambit like it when you play dirty, Chere.”

“Rogue, are you ready to spar with me?” Colossus asked standing near the entrance of the gymnasium. He stretched his arms over his head, his muscles rippling with the movement.

Rogue started to rise, but Gambit caught hold of her wrists and held her in place with surprising strength given the fact that she drained him quite a bit a few seconds before. “Gambit don’t want you playing dirty with anyone else though, Rogue,” he said quietly.

His voice, spoken at such a low volume reminded Rogue of aged bourbon sliding effortlessly down one’s throat, dark and smooth. “Sugar, is that jealousy?”

Gambit released her wrists and rose effortlessly to his feet. He eyed Colossus menacingly, the fact that the Russian giant was half a foot taller didn’t worry him. He sent his new teammate a look of warning before he left the two alone.

Colossus raised his eyebrow in question at Rogue. She dusted off her pants before shrugging. “I ain’t got no idea why the Swamp Rat should be so territorial,” she muttered.

“The unattainable beauty, the rogue, is the ultimate challenge for him perhaps,” Piotr suggested standing in battle stance.

Rogue waited for Piotr to make the first move and then was careful to use the momentum of his own size against him. “You really think so, Petey? That I’m just a challenge to him?”

Piotr tossed Rogue into the air, only to have her flip over his shoulder like an acrobat. His brows furrowed. “New move for you,” he commented.

Rogue decided not to mention that it was a borrowed move thanks to the Cajun in question. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Colossus landed hard on his back after Rogue managed to trip him up. He smiled up at her, towering over him. “I think that no one but Gambit knows Gambit’s motives.” He then kicked out and sent Rogue flying several feet away.

“Where’s Kitty?” Rogue asked after regaining the breath that had been knocked out of her. She and Piotr were now easily blocking each others’ attacks.

“Perhaps somewhere with Bobby,” he answered with a slight frown as one of Rogue’s fists managed to slip past his guard and hit him squarely on the jaw. He stepped back and rubbed the tender area. “Quite a punch you pack there.”

“Should she be consorting with the enemy?” Rogue asked, grinning at her success of landing a hit on the Russian giant.

“It’s not my business,” Colossus answered. He caught Rogue’s next swing and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “We’re done here. It is time to eat breakfast.”

“I don’t need to eat breakfast,” Rogue protested. She might have gotten out of Colossus’ grasp if he hadn’t transformed himself into the man of steel. “You’re cheating you know.”

“As you cheated earlier by absorbing Gambit,” he countered.

“How did you know?”

“Oh please, as if I did not recognize some of his acrobatics back there.”

“Is nothing private in this school?”

“Nope.”

OOOOOoooooOOOOO”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“What do you mean, ‘absolutely not’? You have no right to make such decisions,” Emma protested.

“And you have no right to make any decisions regarding the X-men,” Scott argued.

“I have every right, as I am a part of the X-men myself now.”

“You are not an X-men,” he sneered back coldly.

A white blond brow arched at his reply. “Oh? What does this big X on the chest of my uniform stand for? Is it X marks the spot so that you know where to fondle me whenever you gain a backbone?”

Scott’s eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped open in disbelief. “What?” he managed to sputter. He took a step away from her, and then another just to be sure.

Emma tossed back her long mane of blond hair. “Xavier said this incident needed investigating. Why shouldn’t we go to investigate?”

“It’s Professor Xavier, speak with more respect Miss Frost,” Scott snapped at her. “And the X-men will investigate, but it will be the original X-men. We know how to work together. It will be easier and quicker.”

“We are a team Scott Summers,” Emma said jutting her finger into his chest. Her heart pounded in excitement at seeing the normally stoic Cyclops riled up. And to know that she was the catalyst! She wondered how excited he would be when she got him to bed. She imagined a similar passion would show itself if he could just get that stick from out of his butt.

“Don’t poke me again,” Cyclops warned.

“Or what?” Emma poked him once more. “You’ll spank me?”

“I just might,” he hissed in frustration.

“Oh, I am a naughty, naughty girl,” she whispered huskily near his ear. “Why don’t you discipline me?”

Absolutely speechless, Scott pushed the blond tempest away from him. He didn’t like being affected this much by anyone. Even in his teens when he first met Jean she didn’t get under his skin this much. And thinking of Jean, the woman avoided him like the plague. Maybe Emma was right and it was time to trust the next generation of X-men. “All right, get the rest of the team together. We’ll meet at the Blackbird in half an hour.”

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Gambit strapped himself inside the Blackbird and watched with pride as Rogue was the one to sit in the driver’s seat with Cyclops serving as co-pilot. It was an interesting argument he had the privilege to witness outside between the two. Cyclops arguing that he was the more experienced pilot and Rogue that she was the more talented.

When Rogue brought up his poor skill at landing Cyclops was absolutely speechless, he had no argument for it. The memory made Gambit grin like a fool to see his fille stump their fearless leader.

In the chair beside his sat Frost and he couldn’t help but notice her attention was riveted towards the man in the co-pilot’s chair. If he didn’t know her motivation for suddenly wanting to join the X-men team before, he knew now.

Behind him sat Colossus and Shadow Cat. Both were impressive, idealistic youth. They might have been the same age as his Rogue, but he considered them both light years younger in terms of experience. A sly smile stole across his lips when Rogue eased them into the air. Maybe later he’d ask her for private lessons? He stretched his legs out before him and decided his life was in safe hands for the time being and he could afford to get some shut eye.

Unfortunately, fate seemed to hate him and riddled him with nightmares instead of the blissful nothingness he had hoped to enjoy. In his nightmares the blood red, glowing eyes, so similar to his own shined out of the darkness. He wasn’t sure who they belonged to, but he was certain that he should know. It was probably one of those repressed memories, something so horrible he blocked it out.

He’d have asked the professor to help him remember, except he didn’t want to remember. Another reason he didn’t want to remember, was he was happy in his ignorance. And as long as he was ignorant, whenever Rogue might incidentally absorb his memories she wouldn’t be tainted by his past.

His eyes snapped open when a gentle hand shook his shoulder. “Something wrong, Chere?”

Rogue’s green eyes swam dark with emotions. “You tell me, Remy,” she countered softly, saying his name instead of one of her affectionate nicknames.

“Everything is just great, you flew the bird right nicely.”

A proud smile spread across Rogue’s poisonous lips. “I did, didn’t I?”

Gambit unlatched his safety belt and rose to his feet. He noticed that the other team members were already off the jet and were apparently waiting for them—some more patiently than others.

“About time,” Cyclops said with a pointed look at his watch when Gambit and Rogue walked down the ramp. “We’ll split into two groups,” he began.

“Like, three is a crowd Cyc,” Kitty argued. “And like, two move better in stealth.”

“Yeah, I thought we had agreed to use three teams of two back at the institute,” Piotr pointed out.

“I changed my mind,” Cyclops answered.

“You can’t change the operation like that,” Rogue argued. “We’ll go in the three groups we agreed upon before we took off.”

Cyclops opened his mouth to argue again and Rogue’s eyes narrowed. “When you were off wallowing in self-pity the past year the rest of us had been doing plenty of missions.” She gestured toward herself, Kitty, and Piotr. “We’ll be continuing with the original plan.”

“You’re not the leader,” Cyclops said quietly.

Rogue stepped toward him and looked him in the eye. “Well you’re certainly not acting like one yourself, so someone has to step up.”

Cyclops cheeks burned crimson at the statement. Emma laid a hand on his arm and he shook her off. She invaded his thoughts instead. ‘Look Scott, I know I’m the reason you want to change the plans, but don’t let your personal feelings about me affect your sensibilities to lead properly. Rogue is right and you know it.’

“Fine, three teams then,” he reluctantly agreed. “Kitty…” he began.

“Right, me and Pete we like find the main computer terminal and start hacking,” Shadow Cat interrupted. “I already hacked into the security system from the jet and so we’ve got thirty minutes before they should realize we’re here.”

“And me and Gambit, we’ll be searching the lower sections of the complex while you two check out the upper levels,” Rogue finished.

Cyclops threw his hands up in the air. “What do you need me for then?”

Gambit took hold of Rogue’s hand and took off running. “He makes a good mascot, no?” he whispered.

Rogue laughed softly. They slipped through the corridors and traveled deep into the bowels of the structure. “Do you think it’s true?” she whispered.

Instead of an answer, she felt Gambit throw his body over hers, his trench coat hiding them both in the shadows. She barely glimpsed the flashlight of a guard moving past them. “I have an idea.” She started to follow the guard.

Gambit kept his eyes and ears open for the evidence of any other unexpected visitors. The place kept lights at a minimum, the corridors relying on a few flood lights sparsely populating the corners. He knew Rogue’s plan. She’d find the guard and knock him out with a touch, while also absorbing his memories.

They would soon know whether or not what the Professor found out was true. Whether there was a young mutant named Leech who’s blood was being used to create a ‘cure’ for the mutant gene.

Rogue stalked the human easily enough. He had started whistling to himself some sort of merry tune, making it easier to approach him. He was in the middle of a particularly interesting trill when Rogue’s ungloved fingers gently touched the back of his neck. He promptly fell at her feet and she propped him up against the wall.

She took a dizzying step away from him and then shook her head. “He’s two floors below us; it’s very tight security though.” She frowned as she slipped her gloves back on. “He’s not being held hostage though, he’s here voluntarily.”

“We don’t know he’s here voluntarily,” Gambit argued. He was about to say more when his eyes grew wide in horror at the sight of the familiar red eyes behind Rogue’s shoulder. He pulled out a card and was about to charge it when he felt a stinging sensation in his neck.

He fell to his knees; feeling drained of his strength just like the human Rogue had knocked out moments before. Rogue collapsed before him and he reached out for her. His last thought before the imposing figure in black, with the hellish red eyes bent over him was that his past had caught up to him and had endangered the southern spitfire that had captured his heart.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Emma stopped mid-stride. “Gambit and Rogue have both been cut off from me telepathically.”

“What?”

She turned to Scott, a look of complete surprise on her face. “Rogue had told me that Leech was down in the lowest floor and that he did exist. And then snap, she’s gone. And I could sense from Gambit was a feeling of absolute horror and fear.”

“Where were they last?” Cyclops demanded. His bitter feelings at having Rogue, his friend, demean his authority vanished in an instant when he learned she was endangered. “See if Kitty can manipulate the security system to see what happened.”

“I’ll try, but,” Emma paused. “Scott, they aren’t here anymore. They’re not even in this same city!”

“But, that’s impossible!”

A/N Revised 6/5/2008