Aria was a creature of habit, a dangerous thing for a hero. I warned her of this but it still didn't stop her from following her usual route. I could tell by the lack of crime in those areas. It was near the end of her route I found her - and him.
"Ah, Remy, so good to see you." Sinister said. The red gemstone in his forehead glittering. "I have been looking all over for you. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were living with another bunch of mutants. Trying to start your own band of the X-Men?"
"I've told you ‘fore, Sinister, de name is Gambit. Don' you call me Remy." Though I spoke to him my eyes were on Aria. Behind her was Riptide, actually, his clone. She had been tied up and gagged, her own mask used for the latter. I think about how much she likes to sing - in fact, her talent for mind control only worked right now when she sang the commands. Which was why she was called Aria. I could charge Riptide's very skin now, thanks to Sinister, but if I did that I'd risk harming Aria. I can't risk that.
"I see you noticed our guest. Quite a powerful mutant, actually, more so then she realizes." Sinister cupped her chin and jerked her face towards him. "She took out all my Marauders except Riptide here just by controlling Archlight, despite my own attempts to break the control. I shall enjoy adding her DNA to my collection."
The card felt natural in my hand. It was the first time since the fight with Sabertooth that I had even held one. For the training sessions I used my more developed powers. That was what Sinister was expecting me to do.
Instead I threw a charged King Of Hearts.
It caught Sinister off guard, blowing him backwards. Aria and Riptide flew off to the side, separating as they did so. I ran to Aria, slicing her bonds loose.
"Remy - Gambit - it's a trap." Aria said in a rush.
Indeed it was. Sabertooth roared as he grabbed me by the back of the shirt and threw me into the opposite wall. The breath knocked out of me. Thru the stars shooting about my head I saw Aria do a perfect sweep that knocked Sabertooth off balance. Long enough for me to start charging his fur.
Tooth roared in pain as his own hair follicles began to explode. Faster then his healing talent could keep up with. Aria ran only to be caught in the leg by Riptide's shirken.
I grabbed her and began to run. Charging everything in sight, but Tooth, healed now, and Riptide were not far behind. I fell heavily as Sabes hit me in the back.
I could smell his rancid breath as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "I just want you to know, it was all Rogue's idea. Before she died she made Sinister promise to kill you. She hated you. But oh - how she loved me."
Funny, I should've been angry. I should've been hurt. My heart should've broken again. Instead there was nothing but - apathy. It was seeing my hands stained with Aria's blood that brought the rage to a boil. Rolling over I threw Sabertooth off of me and began to pummel him with charged fists. Minor explosions ripping both of our flesh.
Suddenly a huge hand ripped me off of Sabertooth and placed me next to Aria. Next to her kneeled Marguerite, healing her. Pearl, or Facade as she was known in the field, stood there, glaring at Sabertooth.
"He's mine," Facade growled. "I knew you'd lead me to him, Gambit."
Tooth sniffed the air and grinned with his bloodied mouth. "I remember that scent. You've grown up, little brat. I wonder, will your flesh taste as sweet as your darling brother Andrew's?"
A roar of primal rage poured forth from Facade. Her EM-holograms began to pound Sabertooth. Old tooth looked surprised that she had such power. But I knew that it wouldn't last long at the rate she was using up her caffeine supply. Even as I turned to charge Riptide's shirkens just before he threw them at us I saw Facade popping and dry-swallowing more caffeine pills.
Unable to take the beating, Sabertooth and the cloned Riptide fled. Facade couldn't give chase though I could see she wanted to. At first I thought it was over. But then I heard Mar scream.
Turning around I saw the poor girl being held tightly by her hair. Sinister yanked her up and punched her full in the face, smashing her nose and jaw. Just as soon as he did it slime began to pour out of her, covering Mar like a cocoon. Sinister lost his grip on her even as Aria charged him, smacking him right in the glowing jewel in his forehead. Of course it didn't do a bit of good, but it proved enough of a distraction for me to charge the ground under Sinister's feet and sending him flying. He slammed hard into a wall and it crumbled on top of him.
When we cleared the rubble Sinister was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ripdash sat beside me, staring at the green cocoon that held the injured Marguerite. Everyone was assigned to watch it, to speak to it. "Remy, I wish to talk to you."
"Shoot, Rippy." She hated it when I called her that.
There was a pause from the shaman. "I have to go tonight. The spirits of my ancestors command it. Pearl provides the money for this team, Geneva is my second in command - but - I am putting you in charge. I want you to take them away from here. Someplace where they'll be safer. Especially Geneva."
"You honestly t'ink I'm gon leave dat woman behind, mon ami?" I gave Rip a side-long look. "I'll take de ones that want to go back to de X-Men. We can start rebuilding de team, finally."
"They all have to go. I will tell them this. It is their destiny." Ripdash touched the cocoon. "She will come out when I leave. The spirits have told me this." Standing, Ripdash extended a hand to me, dropping into my lap an obsidian pendant with a 3-eyed falcon. "There will come a day when I need the X-Men to help me fulfill my destiny. When it comes, that pedant will summon you. You must come."
"You know dat I will, Ripdash."
Ripdash turned and began to walk away. Then paused and looked back to me. "And Remy. Take good care of Geneva."
I looked up at Ripdash and we knew nothing more needed to be said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ripdash was right. As we packed up to go King shouted for us all to come to the infirmary. There on the table the cocoon had started to crack. Mar struggled inside and Cheryl produced a small dagger to help break it open.
When Mar stepped out we all gasped in shock. Though she was still - for now - covered in slime and still had the mis-matched eyes, Marguerite, much like a caterpillar, had been reborn as a beautiful butterfly. She still had the slime talent, but now it didn't show on her skin unless she chose it to. Her hair was thick and lush, her skin clear, her body perfect.
Yet, despite all this, she wasn't half as beautiful as Geneva. My heart swelled when I looked at her.
The Blackbird appeared along with a couple of smaller jets. There just wasn't enough room for all the people and the stuff, so Pearl had bought Xavier extra jets even though he didn't need them. I over saw the loading of everything. Then the new students began to file in.
"Where's Geneva?" Mar asked.
I knew. Down by a little stream on the property was two graves. Geneva stood there, staring at them. Fresh flowers laid there.
"How can I just leave them, Remy?" She whispered hoarsely before I could even speak. "They were more then my parents - they were my heros."
I gently wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. "Chere, we'll come back any time you need too. Just - please, don' make me leave you behind." I pushed her back enough to make her look at me. "Geneva Doheny, I love you."
Her voice cracked as she spoke, "I love you too, Remy LeBeau." The dam had burst and Gen fell into my arms, sobbing. Not out of grief, but joy. I cried too. Finally we found our way to the jets and boarded the Blackbird. Beast sitting behind the controls of this one. Psylocke was in the other and Wolverine in the third. As we began to lift off I heard the news that Jubilee had finally come out of her coma. There would be lots of intense therapy needed. Apparently, using Jean to block the memories, Scott had been molesting her the entire time. Now with them truly dead the memories came to the surface, which was why she had been in the coma so long.
The X-Men would never be the same, but as I looked at these people and took Geneva's hand, I knew this was just another cocoon to break out of. Soon, with the help of this rag-tag group of "Geneva's Strays" the X-Men would be reborn.
But best of all, my heart, my soul, my entire life was already reborn. Thanks to Geneva Doheny, who would soon be Geneva LeBeau.
~~The End~~
