Chapter 11
"Dammit, Bobby, you almost
got us killed back there by those those those. what the hell were those
things?" Kitty exclaimed as she whacked Bobby on the chest for pulling the
stunt he just did.
"Oww! Kitty, if you didn't
notice, I just saved our hides!" He responded quite loudly.
"Hush! Both of you. Ve do
not want to bring any more attention to ourselves." Kurt reprimanded, as
he kept looking around to see if any of those monsters they just fought had
caught up with them.
Shadowcat, Iceman, and
Nightcrawler were team #3 and had entered the secret headquarter of Mr.
Sinister via the southeast entrance. The X-Men had divided into three teams
since there was three entrances into the underground headquarter. According to
Gambit, the three entrances all lead to the central room of the headquarter. Yet,
there were many different rooms and a series of misleading tunnels along the
way.
"Okay, vere do ve go
now?" Kurt asked as he tried to figure out whether they were supposed to
take the left or the right passage in front of them.
"All I know is that we
don't turn around and walk back. Those ugly things were a bitch to fight."
Bobby said as he rubbed the back of the neck where one of Sinister's henchmen
had given a good hit.
"Well, maybe you deserved
it for icing the whole floor." Kitty snapped back as she rubbed her
bruised behind.
"Hey! If I hadn't done
that, they'll still be chasing us right now. You should thank me!" Bobby
snapped back.
"THANK YOU?!?!? First, it
was because of your stunt that I slipped and almost fell behind to those
things! If it wasn't for the fact that Kurt teleported me to where you were,
which was about a mile down the tunnel already, I would probably be dead!"
She cried as she was about to lunge at Bobby.
Kurt teleported in front of
Bobby and blocked Kitty from attacking his comrade.
"Look both of you, ve are
here to find my nephew. So, get over yourselves and start looking. Now, I'm
going to repeat this again, vere do ve go now?" Kurt asked seriously.
"You're right, Kurt. I'm
sorry for acting so childish. Anyway, Gambit had said that once we entered the
tunnel, we keep going straight until we hit the third passage which should be
on the left."
The three of the X-Men turned
to the passage on the left.
"No use standing around. Let's
go." Bobby replied as he iced himself up once more in preparation to face
whatever it was that was waiting for them.
***
Jean Grey kept looking around
the surrounding her, Cyclops, and Psylocke were in. She tried to look for any
signs that pointed to where Jeremy was. As her eyes gazed over to a dim candle
by the side of the wall, she realized that the three of them had already been
through this chamber.
"Cyclops, I think we've
been here already." Jean pointed out quietly as she sighed with disappointment.
Cyclops, Psylocke and Jean were
part of team #2, entering through the headquarter via the southwest entrance. The
three of them tried to stay with Gambit's description of where to go, but
somehow had managed to get lost along the process.
"It can't be. We took a
different passage the last time, it should bring us to another chamber or room
or something else!" Psylocke replied with impatience.
"Jean's right. That's the
same damn candle over there. We just keep going into circles. There has to be a
way to get to the central room." Cyclops said with a hint of tiredness in
his tone.
The three of them had walked
around for over an hour now, and seemed to have gotten nowhere closer to
finding Jeremy. Not only that, the three had found nothing existed in any of
the chambers they stumbled into except for an odd candle here and there. This
meant they had been walking around in the dark for quite some time too.
"This is so goddamn
frustrating! Fuck, I'm going plunge the psychic blade of mine into Sinister's
big fat head!" Psylocke ranted to nobody in particular as she restrained
herself from punching the wall. Betsy had known that finding Jeremy was easier
said than done, but she didn't expect to be walking in the dark, in circles for
so long. She did not like not knowing what lies in front of her or feeling like
a lab mouse in a maze.
"Just calm down, Psylocke.
We just have to retrace our path back to the chamber that had the four
entrances, or was it three. I don't even know anymore." Jean said as she
retraced their steps in her head.
"Ladies, I think we should
just go straight. Who knows, maybe we'll hit something different." Cyclops
suggested as he began to walk ahead with the two women following.
After walking for another
fifteen minutes or so, team #2 had approached two doors.
"Which one do we
take?" Psylocke asked as she tried to figure out which one lead to Jeremy.
"I don't know, Cyclops,
you're the leader so your call." Jean said as she looked at her husband
for his decision.
"Fine. We take the left
one." He strongly stated as he opened the door and the three entered.
"Cyclops I think you chose
the wrong door." Betsy said as she saw five of what looked like zombies
coming after them.
"Oh shit."
***
Wolverine, do y'smell anything?" Gambit asked as he looked down the
tunnel, trying to spot any traps or even worse another one of those genetically
engineered mutants.
"Wolvie, do you pick up on
Jeremy's scent?" Rogue asked anxiously, as she kept her eye out for any
sign of her son.
Wolverine, Gambit and Rogue
were team #1 that had enter through the north entrance of the underground
headquarter. In general, they had kept up a good pace and for the most part,
Remy had remembered which passages led to traps and which ones led to the
central room. Yet, they did not seem to pick up any signs that indicated where
Jeremy was and had run into a few of Sinister's genetically engineered
soldiers.
"No, I don't. Let's just
keep forging ahead." The Canuck answered as he kept walking ahead trying
to pick up any scent of his godson.
The three walked straight for
another ten minutes before they reached an open chamber. This chamber however
had to possible passages.
"Remy, which one do we go
down?" Rogue asked as she looked up at the father of her son.
Remy thought for a few minutes
as he tried to remember which path lead to the central room. To no avail, he
couldn't come up with an answer.
"I don't know,
chere." He answered quietly.
"Well, then we'll go down
both. You two go down the right, I'll take the left." Wolverine replied as
he got ready to head down the left tunnel.
"Wolverine, non. You can't
go by yourself." Remy said as he placed a hand on Wolverine's shoulder to
hold him back.
"Cajun, give me one good
reason, why not?" Wolverine growled as he looked up at Gambit.
"Because you don't know
where you are. You take Rogue with you down dat tunnel, and Remy will down de
right. At least Remy knows and remembers parts and pieces of where he is. You
two are better off if you stay t'gether." Gambit reasoned.
"He does have a point
there, sugah. Let's just do it, we've wasted enough time as it is." Rogue
answered in agreement. She turned to Gambit and wrapped her arms around him.
"Don't do anything foolish
on meh, Cajun. Ah expect to see you and our son when this is all said and done.
Y'understand meh?"
"Oui, chere. I expect de
same. Remember, je t'aime toujours." He whispered into her ear and
embraced her with the same intensity. He then brought her face to his, and gave
her a deep passionate kiss just in case it may be the last time.
"Okay, loverbirds. Let's
go." Wolverine said as the couple broke apart. Gambit gave a quick
reassuring squeeze to Rogue's hand and let go. Gambit watched Rogue and
Wolverine head down the tunnel first before proceeding down his designated one.
***
Gambit and been walking down
the dark damp tunnel he was in for quite some time now. He barely remembered
this passage and the strange thing was this passage had no doors, chambers, or
alternative routes. So, he kept walking straight and spotted a dim light in the
distance.
"Finally." He mumbled to himself with some relief.
He began to run towards the
light, thinking that once he reached there he would have a good idea of where
he was. As soon as he hit where the light was, he found three doors and
unfortunately, three of Sinister's men waiting for him.
One of them immediately shot
what looked like balls of flames from his hands towards Gambit. Gambit ducked
and rolled out of the way in the nick of time. He immediately charged a card
and chucked it at the thing that attacked him. The thing managed to dodge out
of it's way.
Another one of the genetically
engineered soldier stretched his arm out from across the room to grab a hold of
gambit's throat. He lifted Gambit off the air and tried to strangle the life
out of him. Gambit noticed the glove the soldier was wearing, and charged it
with his neck, causing the soldier to panic and let go of it's hold on Gambit. He
landed and immediately rolled out of harm's way, as the hand of the soldier
exploded.
Not only did the mutant no
longer have his hand, his whole body started to burn up as his skin started to
melt. Within seconds, the soldier was just a pile of pink mush on the floor.
Witnessing the effect of what
his powers just did to the mutant, Gambit quickly charged another card and
threw it at the mutant that seemed to be charging him at an incredible speed. The
card hit the soldier right in the chest and caused his whole torso to explode.
The one who had threw balls of
flames at him before kept up his attack by increasing the amount of balls that
were thrown. Gambit had managed to dodge most of them except for one which had
hit the side of his trench coat. His coat started burning, and Remy struggled
to take off the coat as fast as he can. As he got out of his coat, he charged
it and threw it towards the mutant. The mutant immediately blew up within
contact.
Gambit was now standing in the
middle of an open chamber around three piles of pink mush.
"Damn those fucking
things!" He cursed angrily. Not wanting to wait for more to come after
him, he quickly took the middle door.
He entered the room, and closed
the door on him quickly. He tried to catch his breath as he still kept his hand
tightly pressed against the door.
"Hiya!" a voice came
from behind him.
Gambit turned around
immediately and found a little boy with green on black eyes, staring right into
his own red on black eyes. It was Jeremy. Gambit ran towards the boy and
scooped him up into his arms. He held the child tightly as emotions of
happiness, relief, and love overcame him. He silently vowed to always protect
this boy, his child, with all that he had in him.
After a few minutes of holding
the child tightly, he lessened the embrace and brought the child up to eye
level. The boy looked at him for a moment, and then repeated, "Hiya!"
"Hi petite." Gambit
said as tears filled his eyes.
"Who are ya?" The
little boy asked with curious look on his face, trying to figure out why this
man holding him had black eyes like himself.
"My name is Remy
Lebeau." Gambit managed to spit out while still studying every feature of
his son's face.
"Lebeau? J'remy too! M'name
is J'remy Lebeau. Nice t'meet ya, Remy Lebeau." Jeremy replied as he
giggled at the fact that the two names were so similar and felt that it was as
if he was talking to himself.
Gambit just smiled at the boy
as the paternal feeling overcame him entirely.
"Nice t'meet ya too,
J'remy. What say we get outta here, petite?" Gambit asked as he prepared
to leave the room with his son.
"Okay. J'remy don't like
it in here. Too cold." J'remy replied with a big smile still plastered on
his face.
"I don't think you two are
going anywhere." A voice said from the corner of the room.
Gambit turned around to face
the direction of where the voice came from. He tightened his hold on Jeremy as
he saw the owner of the voice step out.
Sinister.
~~~~~~~