X-Men Fan Fiction ❯ Origins ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

See notes, disclaimers, and warnings in previous chapters

Words between / / are thoughts or mental speak
Words between * * are flashbacks
Words between ~ ~ are lyrics to any songs that may be used in the fic

Ch 19

Time passed and Remy was no closer to completing his mission, the success of swapping his blood several weeks prior notwithstanding. Despite the team leader’s approval to train with the rest of the group, he had yet to do so. Instead, drills had been conducted solo or with Wolverine, all the while under the watchful eye of Cyclops and the doctor. Remy could only hope that they were suitably impressed with his performances. They had not allowed him into the control booth of the Danger Room, though Remy doubted that he would be able to obtain anything useful in regards to genetic material from the computers there anyway. The most that could be learned, he guessed, would be the fighting styles of the various team members. That in itself might be worth something. Remy was thankful that he had not been called back to Hank’s medical bay for more tests or for the ‘discovery’ of his genetic makeup. Briefly, he wondered if they would find anything unusual about the donated blood, but decided not to dwell on it. Remy wasn’t a scientist – had no clue what types of information could be obtained from the blood – but figured that he had a reasonable shot at passing any scrutiny. After all, he and Dimitri were both energy based in their mutant powers. Hopefully, that would be enough.

The weeks flew by faster than Remy realized. The initial bite of winter brought a chill in the air; the loss of leaves on the trees as they broke from their branches and swirled in the wind to their deaths marking the passage of time. He spent most of his time with the feral, falling deeper and deeper into uncharted territory in regards to his feelings for the older man. And Remy could sense the Canadian returning those feelings, though they had yet to take things to their ultimate conclusion. His friendship with the wind rider has also grown into a solid pillar of strength. She became the family he no longer had. As for the other team members, he managed to keep them at arm’s length with charm and finesse, winning himself surface feelings of warmth along with those of mistrust. The one that confused him the most was the southerner known as Rogue, one moment she was thrilled to be in his company doing everything she could to gain his attention, the next she was confused and jealous with a touch of the possessive whenever Remy was in Logan’s company. He wasn’t sure where those emotions were directed, however, as he could tell she had more than a brotherly love for the older man. The firecracker they called Jubilee, chatted him up at all possible opportunities, much to the dismay of the blonde haired team member named Bobby. The winged warrior and his British beauty stayed distant from Remy for the most part, not that Remy had any complaints about that. Periodically, Worthington would ask a personal question or two which Remy would evade and effectively throw back at the man along with a small amount of his charm; anything to keep the man off track. The entrepreneur was still trying to figure out why Remy looked so familiar, something that concerned the Cajun greatly since he had no recollection of meeting the other man at any point in his life. As for the self-proclaimed ninja, she no longer probed at his shields. But, there was still the air of curiosity about her and he would catch her studying him whenever they were together in a room.

Towards the end of the third month in residence with the X-men, Scott had called him to his office. As Remy passed by Xavier’s door, he paused for a moment, feeling a modicum of guilt over his inability to open up to the man. Their last meeting had not gone so well, Xavier expressing his disappointment over the lack of progress. Despite Remy’s assurance that he was doing his best to let the man in, he knew that Xavier was no fool. The Professor did not press the issue, however. Instead, he told the Cajun that there would be no further need for their sessions until Remy felt the time was right to try again. Remy rubbed his temple and proceeded down the hall until he reached the team leader’s door, knocking on the wood and awaiting permission to enter. When Scott acknowledged his presence, he slid into the office closing the door behind him before moving to sit in the chair facing the massive desk of the man who claimed this space as his own.

“Remy, thank you for coming.” Scott placed his pen beside the papers he had been signing and sat back in his chair to eye the young mutant sitting across from him. “These past few weeks, we have been monitoring your fighting technique in the Danger Room, assessing your skill level before you start training with the team. After conferring with the doctor, we both agree that the time has come to integrate you into the group training sequence. Do you think you’re ready for that?”

Remy nodded and then cleared his throat. “Been ready. T’ink I have somet’ing to offer de group.”

Scott stared at him a moment, hands clasped in his lap and elbows resting on the arms of the chair. “Have you taken the opportunity to learn everyone’s codenames? In the field, we don’t want to use anyone’s real name for anonymity’s sake. I’m sure you understand why that is.”

“Oui on both counts.”

A smile made its way to the team leader’s face, a rare sight that had Remy admiring the curves and lines of classic beauty the man presented. Images of marble statues depicting Roman gods and Greek mythology that Remy had once seen in his adoptive father’s library came to mind as he surreptitiously gazed at the other man from behind his dark shades. “Well, then, I think all that’s left is to come up with a codename for you. Any preferences?”

“Gambit” Remy didn’t hesitate.

Scott blinked behind his visor and stayed silent for a moment as he stared at the Cajun. “Like chess do you?”

“Non, mas I play a mean game of checkers.” Remy chuckled.

Frowning, Scott reached towards his desk and picked up his pen, scribbling something onto one of the papers. Without looking at the Cajun, Scott spoke. “You know…a gambit is a move intended to sacrifice minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position.” He stopped writing and held the ends of the pen between the finger tips of both hands, pinning the boy with a deadly serious look. “Is your codename trying to tell me something?”

With a blank face, Remy returned the challenging look. “Dat name was given to me by my pere.”

“As simple as that?” Scott hedged.

“As simple as dat.” Remy bristled; not about to be goaded into revealing any more of his past than absolutely necessary.

Scott tilted his head downwards to stare at the pen as he rolled it over and over between his fingers. “I wonder if anything is ever as simple as that.” He muttered to himself.

What was it with this man? Remy wondered if that was his favorite catch phrase or something. He supposed it made the other mutant a good team leader to question everything; to be sure of the facts for the protection of the group. It didn’t make Remy any less irritated at the clear skepticism in Scott’s tone, especially when he was telling the truth. What could he do to get the other man to loosen up and just accept him? How could he make the other man trust him? There was always the possibility of using his charm to influence Scott, but he didn’t want to risk it when the man was married to a pregnant and hormonal telepath. Besides, it hadn’t taken him long to realize those two were mentally linked – what one experienced was more easily felt and heard by the other, even over some distance. There had to be something he could try. Caught up in his scheming, he missed part of what Scott was saying.

“…orning, then.”

Remy focused on the other man and furrowed his brow. “Eh, sorry homme. Musta drifted off for a moment. Can you say dat last bit again?”

With a sigh of exasperation, Scott repeated himself. “I said that the code name was fine and that you will start training sessions with the team tomorrow morning.” Shuffling his papers a moment, Scott glanced at his watch before turning back to the Cajun. “Now, if you don’t have any questions, I’ve got a mountain load of work to do.”

Prickling at the blunt dismissal, Remy reminded himself that he was here to do a job, not make friends. With a small salute he casually sauntered from the room, leaving the team leader to his duties.

*******

“Hey Wolfie!” Rogue called out to her favorite feral as he passed by the doors of the community room. “Whatcha doing sugah? Wanna watch a movie with me?”

Logan paused in his pace and smiled warmly at the girl. “No can do darlin’. Remy and me got plans tonight.”

Rogue frowned, but quickly caught herself. “Well, what y’all doing?”

“We’re headin’ out to Harry’s. Gonna play some pool and knock back a few beers maybe.” There was twinkle in Logan’s eye that she didn’t miss. It caused a painful squeeze in her heart and she resisted the urge to grab her chest.

“Maybe I can come with y’all?” she asked hopefully.

Logan eyes softened. “Awe darlin’, ya know I’d love to have ya come, but ya know the rules. Not til yer twenty one.”

“And he is?” she argued, not able to keep the hurt from her tone.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Logan sighed, his smile turning sad. “Not sure. Thing is, he don’t really know how old he is. Kinda like me.” He shrugged. “Guess in his case it don’t matter how old the body is. He’s seen more in life than most.”

Rogue bit her lower lip, slightly ashamed at the anger she had a moment ago. “Sorry Logan. I just…I guess I’ve just been missing having ya to myself.” She tried for a smile, but it didn’t really reach her eyes.

He waved her off before leaving the room. “It’s ok darlin’. I guess maybe I’ve been a little….preoccupied. How ‘bout we catch that movie tomorrow night? You, me, and Jubes.”

“Alright sugah. It’s a date.” Rogue beamed.

Logan nodded and turned to leave, pausing for a moment as he made a small concession. “Hell, I’ll even watch one of those romance things you two always wanna see.” The look of resigned disgust on his face, a slight sneer to his lips, was priceless and Rogue couldn’t help but laugh as she waved him off.

With a sigh, she flopped back into the couch seat and heard a dark chuckle to her left. She turned to face Warren with a scowl on her face. “What?”

“Oh nothing” the playboy drawled. “Just thinking that our Logan has it pretty bad for the charming newbie.”

“What the hell ya talking about Warren?” she demanded.

He smirked, pausing to run fingers through his golden locks before turning to look at the southerner. “It’s fairly obvious. Well, obvious to those of us with experience.”

Bristling at the overture to her inexperience, Rogue crossed her arms over her chest and reluctantly asked the question she knew he was waiting to hear. “And what exactly is so obvious?”

There was a glint of amusement as he pinned her with his gaze. “Our little feral is smitten my dear Rogue.” At the look of disbelief he saw, Warren continued. “Don’t you think it’s strange that he spends all his time with the boy? They are always playing cards, or going out for drinks. Danger room sessions have been mostly the two of them and Logan has taken it upon himself to show Remy around the area. Besides, there’s a sexual tension there that’s just delicious – the stares, the innuendos, the electricity of the ‘accidental’ touches.” Both hands came up and two fingers on each curled to form quotes in the air as he emphasized the last words.

“Shut up. You don’t know what your talking ‘bout.” Rogue was flustered. She had noticed these things, but dismissed it outright. They were both men weren’t they?

“Tell me Rogue, does it bother you at all that your precious Wolfie doesn’t spend time with you anymore?” He could tell he was beginning to get to her. Her jealousy had been visible to any that cared to look close enough. The boy had been grating on his nerves since day one; the nagging thoughts that he somehow knew the man were eating away at him. Warren had a plan to unleash some of that frustration on the very irritant that caused it. But there was a fine line to walk. She would not help him if she thought for one minute it might anger her precious Wolverine. “Wouldn’t you like to put the newbie in his place?”

She eyed the winged mutant warily. “Just what do you have in mind?”

Warren relaxed back into the cushions, one arm coming to rest casually along the back of the couch. “Nothing bad. Just a little fun with the man. You know, properly break him in and make him part of the team.” Warren shrugged as if it didn’t matter one way or the other if the girl wanted to participate.

Rogue chewed her lip, unsure of the suggestion. On the one hand, she didn’t want to hurt Remy. She had actually grown to like him over the last few weeks and was definitely attracted to him. On the other, he had stolen away all of Logan’s attentions and that bothered her more than she was willing to admit to herself. It had always been the two of them, along with Jubilee. But now she and the firecracker were a nuisance – in the way. “Alright, but nothing dangerous. Whadya have in mind?”

Warren’s eyes danced with mischief as he leaned forward and pinned emerald green orbs. “Nothing bad Rogue, I promise. Just a little game I call toss the Cajun.” He smiled at her, the display of perfectly straight teeth meant to ease her with the friendly gesture. Somehow, though, Rogue wasn’t reassured.

End ch 19
******** on to part 20

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