Remy LeBeau, known to many as Gambit, ran through the hanger doors and towards the Communications Room. Not more than an hour ago his house of cards had fallen down by removing the one that mattered the most to him. The Queen of Hearts. Rogue. He wouldn't, couldn't loose her. Especially not to the madman who was his father. He grimaced at the very thought of him.
Gambit ducked as a red energy beam nearly hit him. "Don't ignore me Gambit!" he heard Scott Summers scream.
Gambit glanced over his shoulder and towards Cyclops. "Ain't ignorin' y'mon frere. Have more important t'ing t'do now." Like find de clue.
As another beam came towards him, Gambit grabbed a handful of cards from his trench coat, charged, and threw them at Scott. "If y'value y'life Cyclops, leave me be!"
Gambit ran into the Communications Room. It was like it always was except that the main consul had a huge whole in it now. No. Where's de clue? Gambit ran towards the elevator.
"Gambit!" Cyclops yelled sending another optic blast at him.
Gambit rolled out of its pathway and into the elevator. "Top floor," he mumbled. The doors closed and he stood up. When they opened he ran towards Rogue's room.
He opened the door. Hanging from the ceiling was one of Rogue's stuffed toys with a note taped to it. He ripped the note off and threw the bear onto the bed. He tore the note open.
"Gambit!"
"I found de clue."
Cyclops grabbed the note from Gambit. "War Room now!"
Gambit's eyes narrowed. He was getting sick of Cyclops. Gambit please come to the War Room, he heard Jean say. He slowly followed Scott down the stairs.
Dr. Henry McCoy drowsily opened his eyes. Eye sight fine. Body numb. It appears you've been drugged. But by who and why? He lifted his head as best he could and his eyes grew wide with fear and delight. Oh my stars and garters . . .
Above him, all along the ceiling, were millions of tubes with names and DNA coding along them. His computers could never store this much information. It would take years to even collect this much data.
"Almost three hundred years to be exact, Dr. McCoy," Beast said from behind.
As Beast turned around he realized that he was in a glass cylinder some kind of and the Professor was in one next to him. Then he saw Sinister. "You've awakened, as I expected you would. I see you . . .do not worry Xavier is fine," Beast shuddered at his smile. "How long you both are alive depends on how well the game is played."
Game? Beast looked at him questioningly.
"The X-Men have your life and his," gesturing to Xavier," in there hands . . . you are wondering about Rogue. She is fine."
With that Sinister exited the room. Beast scanned the rest of the room. It was a laboratory, that much he could tell. But it seemed like that of a mad scientist in a movie. At the sight of the prisoners in the other cylinders he shuddered. God help us.
"What de hell do y'mean we should try de base!" Remy yelled at Cyclops. "Dat clue be what we should follow. Y'won't find anyt'ing at de base. Anyt'in' of value t'Sinister be wit' him already."
Cyclops looked at Gambit, fists clenched. "Then give us the co-ordinates of all the bases you know about."
"Sinister isn't stupid. He wouldn't take dem t'a base I knew about. If'n y'want t'waste y'time doin' so, fine. But count me out," Gambit grabbed the address from Scott. "I goin' t'get Rogue and de others back."
"You're not going anywhere Gambit. You're still on probation and you'll do as I say or-"
"Den I not be an X-Man anymore." Gambit walked towards the War Room door. "De co-ordinates y'want are in Sinister's file in de Prof's computer."
That was a bit uncalled for Scott. Jean glared at her husband.
Cyclops shrugged. I had no other-- "Wolverine!" Cyclops yelled as he followed Gambit out the door.
"Save it bub. A friend needs me."
Storm closed her eyes as Wolverine's gaze met hers. She silently said a prayer to the goddess and stood up. "Storm?"
"As Logan said, a friend needs me." With that she left the room.
Cyclops frowned. He turned back to the remaining X-Men.
Gambit threw some more clothes into the backpack. De idiot. He gonna get dem all killed. Sinister's smarter den dey t'ink. He zipped the bag up, grabbed his wallet and keys and started for the front door. He was genuinely surprised and happy when he saw Storm and Wolverine waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. "What took ya so long gumbo?" Wolverine asked.
He gave him a smiled. "We will find them, Remy," Storm said gently.
"I know Stormy. T'anks."
They went out the door. Mystique sat in the driver's seat of Wolverine's jeep wrangler. "Hurry up!" she yelled angrily.
Dis is goin' t'be soooo much fun. Remy shook his head and got into the jeep, closing the door as it sped off.
Forge walked into the War Room. Scott stopped his speech. "Yes Forge?"
"Has anyone seen Mystique?"
Sinister sat back in the chair and pushed a few buttons on the armrest. A screen slid down into his view. He typed in a couple of codes and the screen displayed works on the Legacy Virus he had 'borrowed' from the X-Men's computers. He smiled and pressed another button making a smaller screen appear. As he went to type in some codes the door swooshed open. He turned slightly and saw Vivien and the twins in the doorway.
"We have information you required sir," Thomas said as Timothy handed Sinister a disk.
"Timothy you know what you need to do." Sinister handed the eight-year-old another disk. Timothy disappeared. Sinister looked at Vivien and smiled. "That was a very good performance."
Vivien's eyes narrowed. "We're through Sinister. I paid my debt to you." She hit a button on her belt and disappeared.
Sinister's eyes narrowed. "Follow her." Thomas nodded and disappeared. Sinister turned back to the screens and began reading Beasts reports.
The eight-year-old ran out of the mansion and into the thunderstorm. Rain pounded down on her, soaking her nightgown and saturating her reddish brown hair. Tears streamed down her face as she ran towards the woods. The darkness made it difficult to see where she was going.
Slam.
Her face smacked against the cold wet ground. She bit her lip to stop from crying out in pain. Her body ached and her head was pounding. She didn't think she could move. "Sabine!" she heard yelled in the distance.
No, she thought as she pushed herself up. She ran again, dragging her left leg. Tears spilled down her face faster as she made her ways through the woods. She saw a house in the distances and tried to speed up.
She tripped against a root. Instead of falling against the ground two hands grabbed her from behind. The girl turned and saw her father staring down at her.
"Noooooo!" the child screamed pushing him away from her. "You . . .I saw . . .heard you." She squirmed out of his grip and began running away.
"Sabine, I can't let you get out of here child." She heard her father yell.
The girl ignored him and continued to run. Then she felt a deep, excruciating pain penetrate her right shoulder. She screamed out in pain and dropped to her knees. "I'm sorry child. I have to." She turned around to see her father with a shotgun in his hand. She heard another shot fire and fainted away.
Rogue woke screaming, tears streaming down her face. She grabbed the covers and brought them closer to her, burring her face in them. She tried to get the lingering images out of her mind. She couldn't. She knew she wouldn't be able to, ever. She had forgotten everything and now it was all slowly coming back. Rogue tried to stop the tears. She didn't want to remember anymore. All that she did remember was dark and hurtful. It was too much. She curled up in a ball in the bed pushing the images further back into her mind.
She sprung up in the bed at the sound of doors opening. Sinister stood in the doorway, a tray of food in his hands. She felt around for something to throw. She'd forgotten that she wasn't home anymore. Sinister had her.
"Good morning Rogue," He gave her a smile that made her feel sick. Then Rogue realized it wasn't Sinister making her sick. Her hands touched her stomach. She glanced down at it and then moaned. She felt to hands grip her shoulders. She glanced up and saw Sinister looking down at her. His smile was gone. He actually looked concerned.
"Get offa me."
His sinister smile came back. "A bathroom is through those doors." He pointed towards a sliding door and then left the room.
Rogue curled up in the bed. The pain worsened. She tried to concentrate on it and the pain subsided for about two minutes and then come back even worse. Rogue let the tears come and fall as she pulled the covers even tighter.
67 East Sherman Road; Hampton, Virginia
The jeep wrangler pulled up to the end of the driveway. The house was about a mile from another house, located in the middle of the forest. The four stepped out of the jeep. Gambit looked up at the two story Victorian house and blinked. I know dis house. Where . . .? He closed his eyes and tried to remember . . .
The three year old ran after the ball. He picked it up and turned around and gazed at his mother who sat on the steps of the house smiling down at him. "Remy--
"Remy!" Gambit's eyes snapped open Storm was in front of him. "Are you okay my friend?"
"I know dis house," he whispered.
"That's great, Cajun, but that won't help my daughter. Mystique snapped. "Let's go. She started towards the door.
The door opened before she touched it. Mystique raised her gun at the boy who stood before her. "Mystique!" Storm yelled.
The boy handed Mystique a disk and disappeared. "Dere's a laptop in the jeep," Remy said walking towards it. He opened his bag and pulled it out. Mystique gave him the disk. He turned it on and put the disk in. The screen came to life with Sinister's face on it.