Disclaimer: The main characters are not mine, this is an amateur effort written purely for the fun of it, and no money has exchanged hands, and it is not intended to breach the copyright: The X Men, Logan, Gambit and all other related characters are the property of Marvel Characters Inc and Marvel Entertainment, and their relative artists and writers and for the Sentinel, Paramount and Pet Fly.

 

X men Story, non-cannon. AU

This story is part of a arch of stories, in the next story,  Brotherhood of the Dark Guide. This story will be crossing with a GDP AU.

 

This story is for Gail, Casey and Chrissie.

With thanks to Connie for the beta reading, and for Mary for the help with the French.

All mistakes are mine.

 

Warning for adult situation and language, h/c

 

Part One

In the near future the genetic code of man will begin to change, and soon a new species of man will walk the earth, Homo Superior, gifted, or cursed, with powers beyond those of normal man, they will be hated and feared, and unless determined people take a stand, it could be the end for everyone.  Battle lines had been drawn.  On one side Professor Charles Xavier, vocal spokesman for the integration of mutant and humans sharing a joint destiny.  On the other, Dr Nathaniel Essex, a powerful mutant himself who believed that in the mutant gene, only the strong could be allowed to survive, to create the Homo Superior that would take their place as the elite of the planet, and he was willing to do anything to achieve his dream.

 

Dr. Nathaniel Essex looked at his newly acquired mutant. He believed with a fanatical passion that the gene pool of mutant life should be kept pure, and those mutants that failed to fit his profile should be destroyed, before they could breed and pollute the gene pool. 

 

This latest addition would serve as his enforcer. The Canadian Government had created him as their ultimate weapon, a killing machine that never failed in its mission, Weapon X. 

 

The mutant was secured to the examination table, the restraints were holding, but for how long? The cuffs kept his wrists and hands secured flat to the table to prevent the three, twelve inch adamantium retractable claws that emerged from the back of both hands from being used to help him escape.  The same metal covered his entire skeleton, which, coupled with his mutant healing powers, made the man nearly impossible to kill. The punishment he could take and survive was legend in the Weapon X program. Now all Essex had to do was turn Weapon X into his own private weapon of destruction.

 

Essex was lost in thought when he smelled the cigarette smoke, turning on his heels, he glared at the newcomer.  The tall young man was leaning against the doorjamb, his handsome face showing no emotion, one hand in the pocket of a full-length black duster.  Without reading his mind, he knew that Le Diablo Blanc would be fingering the pack of cards that he always had with him.  In the hands of this particular mutant, a simple plastic playing card could blow up a car, and a pack could take a building down.  Le Diablo Blanc was an Alpha mutant, and more and more Essex was beginning to believe that he might even be that most rare of all mutants, an Omega.  The young man had quite formidable shields to his mind, but nothing that Essex could not batter down, taking what he needed. He sent that message now, and saw the minute shiver run through the lean frame.  He backed it up with a verbal command.

 

“Get out.”

 

The young man tossed the cigarette away and it exploded like a firecracker, and then he left.  Essex made a mental note that he would be punished for that; later Le Diablo Blanc would learn his place.

 

Now Essex was alone with his new prize.  He heard a low, deep-throated growl, looking down into hazel eyes that had changed to yellow, and a feral rage burned from them.  “Good morning Wolverine, its time you met your new master.”

 

0-0-0-0-0

 

The two young girls sat in the cell.  They could not see the lab from there, but they could hear the screaming, and somehow that made it worse. Mandy and Katherine had been kidnapped while on a holiday with their uncle and aunt in Chicago.  They had been drugged and brought to god knows where, and all they knew was that somehow they had to escape.  So far the Doctor had kept his hands off them, it was as if he was waiting for something, but they knew that the clock was ticking.

 

On the plus side, the Doctor would not know how powerful telepaths they were, and what they could do when they linked, and that might just be the ace up their sleeve.

 

Hearing footsteps they looked up and saw the man that had lead the gang of Marauders that had kidnapped them.  He was walking slowly, an ever-present cigarette burning in his hand, still wearing the floor length coat.  Come to think of it, they had never seen him without it.

 

Kat linked with her sister, forming a circle of power between them, and then she reached out to grasp his mind, and manipulate him into helping them. But she cried out in pain as he threw her out of his mind, “Merde, petite, y’ can get hurt in dere, keep out of places you’re not invited.”  His smile had a sardonic edge to it, which made Kat take a step back, they had seen what he was capable of doing, and he seemed to be on a hair trigger

 

Kat felt the shock wave of a telepathic strike, it was like a tidal wave rushing towards him, hitting with a physical impact, the man’s body arched, the cigarette dropping from his fingers as he fell to his knees, his hands clawing at his head as he screamed.

 

Too late Mandy realized that they had not severed their attempted link to the Marauder, and the telepathic backlash struck out at them. She grabbed her sister’s arm, and clung onto the bars of the cell to keep them upright.  The link between the three was stronger than before and his emotions washed over them.   His shields had been reduced to rubble, and he was broadcasting a raw sexual attraction.

 

Her face flushed bright red, she shook her head to try and clear it.  With a groan of pain, he managed to drag himself up his feet and stagger out. The heavy door at the end of the hall slammed shut behind him.

 

 

 

 

Leaning on each other, the girls managed to make it to bed. Kat was still out of it, as Mandy tried to break the link between them and the Marauder, but instead it was growing stronger. She grabbed hold of her sister’s hands as through the link she began to see images from him, blurred and indistinct.

 

The other Marauders, Essex’s clones of his first team, men now long dead, were drawn to the younger man, circling him, attracted by the raw sexual heat he was broadcasting.  He was outnumbered, but fought as they tried to attack him.  Glowing cards flashed through the blurred fog that surrounded the images.  Cards flashed and people died, then he was brought crashing to the floor, a kick to the stomach sent him flying across the room.  He tried to roll to avoid the follow up kick, but received a glancing blow to the head that left him defenseless. 

 

His attackers closed in to enjoy their prize, only to fall under slashing claws as a creature from hell swept them off the now almost unconscious Marauder.  When the newcomer turned, Kat screamed, and Mandy mentally pulled her sister back from the link, so that she could no longer feel what he was feeling. 

 

But she has seen the vision from hell, his claws covered in blood, dismembered bodies scattered on the floor round their Marauder.  The creature was kneeling down, reaching out, his claws ghosting over the Marauder’s face, then bending he gathered the man into his arms, one clawed hands holding him almost gently in his arm, and his head coming up, growling at another presence that only the creature could see.  The Marauder’s hand pressed against the creature, charging his shirt, blasting the man away from him, the younger man hit the floor hard, and he knew nothing more.

 

 

Sometime later, drained, the girls fell asleep.  Mandy woke first, the link was raw, just outside the bars she saw the Marauder, curled on the floor opposite them.  With almost a physical shock she realized that he must have, on some level, followed the thread that connected them back to their cell.  He was huddled on his side, slowly rocking, his arms wrapped round his waist, hugging his coat round him, his long hair like a veil across his face, and he was still broadcasting his emotions, unable to raise his barriers to protect his mind.  She blushed bright red, uncomfortable with the sexual heat from his emotions and shook her sister awake.

 

 

“Mister,” Mandy tried again, “Mister.”

 

This time his eyes opened, and she found herself looking into the demonic red on black eyes that showed so much pain.  “We can help,” when he looked as if he was going to ignore them she added, “Please Mister.”

 

She reached a hand out and for a long moment it just hung in space, and then, in great pain, he crawled over, she pulled him closer against the bars. Kat was already awake.  “Mister, we’re going to try and boost your shield okay?”

 

They took his hands, making their circle, but this time including him.  Mandy would act as the anchor while Kat went in, at that moment it didn’t matter that he was a Marauder, he was hurt, and would be hurt even more if they could not shut the sexual lure off.  Even though he had accepted their help, entering his mind was still dangerous. 

 

The mental shields that had thrown them effortlessly out earlier were blasted apart, and in his mind Kat ducked through the hole in them, moving deeper, her sister acting as her lifeline.

 

Memories flooded through to her mind, some were horrific, so working quickly she began to patch the hole in his shields, gradually feeling the sexual heat fading as it was blocked out.

 

Getting out was going to be harder, so far he had not made an psychic appearance, passively allowing her to help him, but she got a bad feeling about this. All the time she was working she was looking round for him, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  She pushed back any idea of trying to leave an implanted thought in his mind to make him let them go, it was too dangerous.  With one final look at the shields, she began to withdraw along the anchor line only to find that the shields were moving, rippling like water, his mind was now coming back, and she was trapped.

.

Mandy swore but hung on to Kat’s essence as she felt the change.

 

Still in his mind Kat felt his presence, no longer dormant, but active; she whirled round to see him stood there, leaning against the shield, dressed exactly as he was in body.  She watched him light a cigarette, and then slowly exhale the smoke.

 

She knew it was not real, but the mental projection of her self still batted the smoke away.

 

 “Why y’ doin dis chile?”   His tone was curious, his accent heavy, she could not place it, and then gave up trying, realizing she was becoming sidetracked.

 

 “Duh, trying to help you, don’t know why, since you’re the one that got us here.

 

“Den why?”

 

“Look mister, you were hurting and broadcasting,” she could feel the embarrassment and he was not going to help her, “sex okay, you were broadcasting sex.”  She shifted uncomfortably, “ didn’t seem right.” 

 

“Mon memories?”

 

“I didn’t see anything,” she saw the look on his face, “Okay, a bit, but nothing I understood,” she shuddered, “whipped cream and chocolate, and that thing,” her hands making a vague shape in the air, “was impossible, it would be impossible right?”

 

A slight smile twisted his lips, “Sure cher, impossible, time to lower de wall.” There was a hint of mischief in his voice.

 

“Er, I wouldn’t, its like being propped up at the moment, if you don’t mind giving me a back door, I would appreciate it.”

 

He gave her smile and pointed behind her.

 

“Thanks mister.”  She approached the door.

 

“Merci cher.  Ne pas renonce l’espoir, y’ nevuh know.” 

 

Kat pulled back from the link and gave her sister’s hand a squeeze, as his eyes fluttered open and they looked into the red on black eyes again, but there was calmness in them now.

 

“Wow,” Mandy muttered, the effect was breathtaking.  Quickly she checked the link, pleased that this time she hadn’t broadcasted her comment to the older man.

 

There was a noise coming from along the hallway, “Gambit get your ass in here.”  It was Fitzroy, the Doctor’s assistant, a sleazy creep.  Shakily the Marauder got to his feet, he was clinging to the bars of the cell.  For a heartbeat his face showed the pain he was in, then he shut it away, pulled himself upright, and walked out, only Mandy and Kat knowing what it cost him.

 

0-0-0-0

 

Dr. Essex didn’t like the crudity of what he had done, but Gambit was a loose cannon, he always had to learn the hard way, and blasting his shields so that he could not control his empathy, or what the ignorant barely literate swamp rat called his ‘Charm’, had been a way of punishing him, until he was needed. 

 

Weapon X was like an feral animal, the Canadians had pointed him at the target, programming him with the information he needed to complete the mission, afterwards his mind would be wiped clear until the next time, each time losing a little more of the man, until only the animal remained.   They had kept Weapon X in a cell, denied any human contact other than that of his sadistic guards, until the next time he was needed. 

 

But to Essex it lacked finesse, Weapon X, code name Wolverine, was the world’s most dangerous killer.  He would be Essex’s enforcer, his own personal assassin, but he needed a keeper, and the journals in front of him had given him the clue that he needed, which had just been verified by Wolverine himself. 

 

Essex smiled to himself.  He had released Wolverine when the Marauders had attacked Gambit, putting the creature in direct conflict with his own men, and it had been educational.

 

He pressed the button to replay the tape, Wolverine had been like a rat in a maze given two exits, one would take him to the surface, if Essex had been disposed to let him escape, and the other would take him to Gambit.  Wolverine halted, his claws sliding in and out with a soft snitk sound, his head coming up, and he inhaled deeply.  Turning, he began to run down the hallway.  A bare foot had sent the door to the mess room flying open, and he had attacked, at the end of which only one other man had been left breathing, that had been Gambit. 

 

It has proved the report, now was the time to step up the experiment, anger replaced the smile as he saw Gambit standing in front of him, he had to make an effort not to show his total disgust at the idea that he had to use the Antiquarians personal whore to achieve his goal.  He snarled, “go and shower. To Weapon X you smell like the Bourbon Street whore you were when I found you.  Once you’re finished get back here and meet your new partner.”

 

The Doctor enjoyed the fear that he felt flood through the tall Marauder, but

he was also puzzled, Gambit’s shields should have been destroyed, but instead he detected they had been re-erected, not strong yet, but back up.  He toyed with crushing them again, but he needed Gambit back in the laboratory, and if he shattered his barriers, the other Marauders would try to jump his bones. 

 

Once Gambit had left, the doctor concentrated on Weapon X, the man’s mind was so fractured that he was unable to read it fully.  Revenge, death and hatred of all that was human burned through him, the man replaced by the feral Wolverine at this moment, the hazel eyes were yellow.  Without the restraints he would have been slicing the doctor open without a second thought. 

 

Essex ran a hand over the metal gloves that kept the three 12-inch adamantium blades from extending from Weapon X’s hands, the same metal that wrapped every bone in the Canadian’s body, making his skeleton unbreakable, a formidable weapon indeed and one that Essex was determined to control.

 

Finally leaving his prize, Essex returned to the report by Dr. Blair Sandburg of Rainier University, Cascade, Washington.   The Doctor had uncovered a new type of Sentinel, the only mutant one long accepted by the human population, a people that saw the enhanced sensed Guardians as the only defense against the rabid mutants that threatened their lives.  But Sandburg has set academia on its head when he had discovered the Sentinel Primal, the Dark Sentinel, who had shared so many traits with Wolverine that he had seen Sandburg’s work as a way of controlling the feral beast

 

Key to his plan was the Cajun Marauder Gambit, a strong empath, a level 10, he was going to be perfect, the trigger for the ultimate weapon.  Once bonded or joined their minds would merge, and Gambit would support Wolverine’s fractured mind, filled with so many lies and half-truths programmed into it, that even memories were nothing more than a snapshot of untruths.  The only truth the feral wolverine would accept would be that Gambit was his partner, and where the Cajun led Wolverine would follow. Gambit would give Wolverine the stability he needed for the man to return to dominance over the feral beast.

 

Gambit would be the keeper of the animal, and only when ordered would he allow the feral animal to come forward, it would prevent the berserker fury that had seen Wolverine kill 20 guards when he escaped the Weapon X compound, and happened every time the animal lost control to berserker rage. 

 

Now was the time to re-introduce them, and bring the experiment to its logical conclusion.

 

0-0-0-0

 

Mandy was thoughtful, “you know it would be a lot easier if he spoke English,” she paused and looked at her sister “do you have any idea what he said?”

 

“Don’t give up hope,” Kat shrugged, “at least I think that’s what he said.  I hope that’s what he said,” she added with feeling.

 

0-0-0-0

 

Gambit tugged the black body armor from the bag by the side of his bed, and for a moment just looked at it fingering the dark red stripes at the top of the sleeves. They were the mark of a Guild that would never accept him, and had a contract out on him, his very existence was an insult to them.

 

The Cajun Marauder pulled his armor on. He knew what they had planned for him and Wolverine, Earth Quake had made sure of that, for some reason the man liked him, and had even watched his back during their missions together.  He had been about to flee when he remembered the girls, he could not leave them now.

 

0-0-0-0

 

 

The explosion threw the girls from the beds.  As they got up the hall was flooding with smoke and through the murky light they saw the tall Marauder.

 

“Stand back chile,” the warning was given just before he pushed a glowing card into the side of the lock and an explosion blew the door open.

 

He grabbed Mandy and pulled her out, as she dragged Kat with her. “We’re out of here.”

 

“What the hell,” Kat muttered, what did they have to lose, they rushed through the maze of hallways, twice Marauders got in the way, but went down in a flurry of cards.

 

“Gambit,” the name was roared, striding towards them was Dr. Essex.

 

The Cajun pushed the girls behind him, “get out of here.”  They only got half way down the hallway when they turned back, the Cajun was charging and throwing playing cards, which exploded with the force of hand grenades but seemed to have no effect, Dr. Essex would stagger back, but keep coming.  Mandy threw her sister to the floor as she saw him discharge a full deck at exactly the same time that Essex discharged a ball of energy.  The two collided in mid air, the floor jumped up and then everything began to collapse, a hole opened up and the Cajun disappeared down it. 

 

“Shit,” Kat screamed.  Coughing, fighting for breath, visibility nearly zero in the dust clogged air, they crawled back, the man had helped them and they could not leave him. The red emergency light flickered and then went off for one heart stopping moment, and then it came back again.  At the edge of the hole they looked down, all they could see was flames, but the link was still there, he was alive. 

 

“Gambit,” Kat yelled his name. Then she saw movement a little further down, the floor had collapsed and crashed down through two of the lower floors, The Marauder was laid unmoving on a narrow ledge, and time was running out.

 

Carefully, Mandy balanced her sisters powers, as they struck down into his mind, his body arched under the pain, getting ready they struck again, his head arched back and he screamed, as the telepathic strike cut through his mind, and his eyes flashed open.

 

“Up here Mister.”

 

0-0-0-0

 

Weapon X looked down from his vantage point, as he saw the two young females and the other older male emerge from the billowing smoke, across the river from where he had emerged.  The male was leaning heavily onto them; both the females had and arm round him, supporting him as he choked on the smoke. Blood coated the side of his face from a head wound, and blood oozed from his mouth and nose.

 

A snarl rumbled from the throat of Weapon X as he watched his soul keeper heading away from him, but the river blocked him, and the sound of sirens cut through the air, others were arriving now to prevent him stalking the man and reclaiming what was his.  But he would find him one day soon, and then no one would part them.

Part 2