I do not own the x-men, but they live in my head so what can ya do?

The day had finally arrived, and no amount of training had prepared them for the madness that ensued. It was around 2 o'clock in the morning, and all was relatively peaceful around the grounds of the X-mansion. Most were asleep, with the exception of Bishop who never slept, and Wolverine who was carving into a cold turkey breast left over from dinner as a late night snack. No one could have anticipated what was just around the corner. No one, including the Professor, could have ever seen it coming. In fact the only one who did was 18 miles away, pushing his Harley to a speed that even he could barley control.

Gambit was racing against time, racing against the inevitable doomsday that he had only just discovered was minutes away. He had stumbled across it quiet by accident, during a recon mission for the Thieves Guild. Although he was not officially still a member, Jean-Luke often made small requests for his talents in guild related matters. This time, he had asked Remy to hack into some important government files that were only to be found in Washington D.C. The task was simple enough, but some what dangerous considering the high tech security most government run facilities had. Gambit got in with out a hitch, found the files needed, and started the down load, easy as pie. He let his mind wander to his up coming date with Rouge the fallowing evening, smiling to himself as he pictured her face after he told her were they were going. She had lit up, those beautiful, luscious lips widening into a smile, framed by that gorgeous face and her soft flowing hair.

That was when he noticed it out of the corner of his eye, a file by the name of, "Mission:5212-X." None of the other files had letters in them, and for some unexplained reason, Remy knew in his gut what the X stood for. Hesitating for only a moment, he swallowed hard and clicked open the file. It was classified as expected, but he just let his little password decryptor that was plugged into the hard drive do all the work. With in seconds the file had been opened and as the bluish white glare of the screen lit up Remy's face, a look of horror filled his demonic eyes. On the screen was a list of all the different X teams beginning with the X-Men. Each team had an attached file with the location of all it's bases of operation, head quarters, and a complete map out of all the security and codes. There was information on each member of the teams and their families, their allies and even their enemies. Mure Island was listed as a point of attack containing important mutant information. And even Magneto was listed as a situational alie, with all of his bases and security layouts. The list went on to include the Hell Fire Club and other such Mutant based organizations. Remy worked fast to down load these new files, feeling a serge of panic, he had broken out in a cold sweat. Finally his eyes locked on one last link that read, "Date of Execution." He clicked on it and practically choked as he saw the date and time, only a few hours away.

Gambit took a turn too fast almost wiping out, but amazingly did not. He had to get back to the mansion and warn them. The X-Men were first on the list, the first to be attacked. Soon, the beautiful grounds of the X-Mansion would be completely over run by an army of sentinels accompanied by an army of men with stun guns. They had a power dampening field along with an arsenal of weaponry to counteract the Mansion's security system. That combined with the intimate knowledge of each X-Man, their strengths and weaknesses, was enough to make the normally confidant Cajun, less then confident. Once they took down the X-Men, they would move on to X-Factor, claming to need their services and luring them into a trap. They were after all a government funded unit, but now mutants had been deemed to dangerous, so the very people that had created them, would help destroy them. On to X-Force, Generation X, Excalibur, the list was a mile long. Almost every mutant group ever formed for good or evil was about to be rounded up like animals and thrown into cages. He had even found a list of locations for the mutant prisons that had already been constructed. They were scattered across the country, each in a desolate location, heavily guarded and surrounded by energy fields that would suppress any mutants powers. It was an operation years in the making and each soldier had been hand picked and trained for this exact purpose.

That was why two hours out of D.C, he broke into a small library and hacked into the system. Shoving the disk into the Hard drive he sent the files to every mutant based operation he could think of, with the title of the emails headed, "EMERGANCY!" Then, deciding he had to get the info out to the general public as well, he sent the files, slightly edited for individuals safety, to every major news casting network on the planet, that way, the mutants he couldn't reach, would find out one way or another. He also thought about stopping to warn the Morlocks but decided time was of the essence, and it was.

Gambit was coming up on the last turn toward the mansion. He looked down at his communicator that was only receiving static, he had guessed the attack forces had already put up fields surrounding the mansion, making it impossible for him to contact them, or for them to contact any one else for help. As he approached the turn, a sixth sense, he often attributed to his empathy told him to stop and go into the woods. With out a moment of hesitation he did just that, veering off into the woods along the road and parking behind some shrubs and trees. Less then ten seconds later he saw eight army trucks headed for the mansion, off in the distance he could here the approaching helicopters and the sound of countless sentinels closing in. It was at this moment that Remy's mind began to weigh his options.

He could, A) Turn his bike around and head as far away as possible, wishing his former team mates the best of luck. Clear out his Swiss bank accounts, resort back to wearing sun glasses all the time, and travel to some tropical island where the term mutant has yet to be heard of. This, he decided immediately was not an option and cursed himself for thinking of it first. Plane B) He could realize that any chance of winning this battle was futile and hope for the best, leaving his team mates to their own devices and head off to warn others of doomsday. Maybe if he could rally up the other teams, and possibly get Magneto to help, they could track down his captured comrades and form a rescue mission, that is, if he had any team mates left alive to rescue. Sighing he shook his head.

With a mighty thrust, he pushed his bike forward as it roared to life. Time for plane C), get to the mansion seconds before the army shows up, warn his friends, and if necessary, die fighting. He was once again headed toward the mansion, cutting though the woods instead of the road to buy him some time and because the roads were already occupied. He cursed in French for having to use his magnificent Harley as a dirt bike, darting threw trees as branches scratched his face and tore at his clothes. He was so near now he could see the wall that ran along Xavier's property. With a move James Bond couldn't have pulled off he used a fallen log as a ramp, launching him up toward the wall. Unfortunately his Harley wasn't going to make it so he released his iron grip and pushed him self from it, flipping over the wall and rolling as he hit the ground. His masterpiece crashed on the other side with a small explosion, and his heart ached for a moment for his pride and joy. But the moment he stopped rolling he was on his feet running as fast as he could. The estate was large and had a lot of ground to cover. The part of the wall he had surmounted was still about half a mile away from the mansion, but the explosion would have set off the alarms, awaking his team mates.

He was almost to the door when he was greeted by half of the team, all in sleep wear but posed for fighting. The sound of helicopters and sentinels was closing in and so were the army trucks.

"Gambit!…….What's going on?" Scott asked.

"WE GOTTA GO!………..GRABE DE OTHERS AN GO TO DE BLACK BIRD!" Remy was still about 50 feet away, but was running fast.

"Goddess,……what is that sound?" Storm was rising in the air to get a better view of the sky when suddenly a cold shiver ran through her. Her powers were gone and she began to fall from 20 feet in the air. Remy quickly out stretched his arms, catching the startled weather goddesses. "My powers!" She gasped as the others all tried in vain to use their own.

"We can' use em',……….and we soon tah be out numbered!" Remy panted as he set her down.

"Out numbered?…..By who?…..What was that explosion?" The questions were almost simultaneous as his confused team mates glanced at one another then back to Gambit.

"NON!…….DEY COMEING!……..SI VOUS PLATE!……WE MUST HURRY!…….NO TIME TO EXPLANE!" Gambit's voice was bordering between fear and urgency, a tone that was not commonly used by the laid back Cajun. Wisely, the others decided not to argue.

"RIGHT!…….YOU HEARD HIM PEOPLE, GRAB ANY AVALBLE WEPONS AND HEAD FOR THE BLACK BIRD, JEAN AND STORM, LOCATE THE OTHERS AND TELL THEM THE SAME!……..WE'RE OUTTA HERE IN 5!." Cyclops had on his commander voice and every one went scattering. He turned to Gambit and took in his appearance, thin bloody scratches across his face, and his trench coat torn. Remy's eyes were glued forward to the distant sight of little men in black hurtling over the walls

"Gambit, what….' But before he could say another word Remy pushed them both inside and locked the doors. Then he punched in an emergency over ride code that sent the security systems on high alert, guns came out of the ground and started shooting any thing that moved. It was then that the earth began to shake as sentinel after sentinel landed right out side their door. The two men were off down the hall way toward the hanger. They threw themselves into the elevator just as the front door exploded open.

"Gambit!" Cyclops demanded, still in his night shirt and sweats.

"Here!…….Take dis!……It explain every t'ing!" He shoved the hard disk into Scott's hands. "We gotta go help X-factor!…..Dey next on de list of attack!"

"But who's attacking!" Scott demanded.

"De government Cyclops!……Dey finally coming for us!" Both men stared at one another, sharing a gaze of dread. The day had finally come. The elevator opened and they ran out, just as the power shut off. Every thing went black, then was lit up by an eerie green, as the emergency generators kicked on. As they made their way toward the hanger they practically collided with Beast, Arc Angle, Betsey, Ice Man and Bishop.

"Where are the others!" Scott demanded.

"We took the stares, ……they must have taken the other elevator, but the power is down so they may be trapped!" Warren answered.

"I will locate them!" Betsey put her hands to her head then looked up in shock. "My powers have been neutralized."

"Oui,……….Dere be an energy field suppressing our powers!………Dats why we must leave now!" Gambit whispered as they stood silent, listening to the sound of people running though the upper levels. Orders were being shouted and the unmistakable sound of Sentinels crashing threw the roof caused them to hold their breaths.

"Every one get in the plane and prepare it for automatic lift off, Bishop, you and your gun come with me!" Scott's voice was low and cautious. Gambit ignored the orders and fallowed as well, feeling that for some reason, this might be the last time he got to see Rouge.

As they round the corner, the familiar sound of adomantium ripping through steel echoed in the hall. Wolverine jumped down the rest of the elevator shoot then sliced open the doors, the others fallowing. He staggered out into the hall way, feeling slightly dizzy from lose of blood, his long claws still out, red droplets falling off the tips. His hands and for arms were covered in his blood, as was his white tee-shirt. Logan growled at the throbbing pain, numbing his arms. Storm was next down the shoot, her brow beaded with sweat and her long snowy hair was becoming tangled. Remy felt disconcerted with how fragile they now looked, no longer powerful and fierce.

Colossus was next, still tall and muscular, but only as strong as a normal human. He reached his arms up as Jean and Rouge lowered Xavier down to him. As the mighty Russian held their founder in his arms, Charles's eyes locked on Gambit. A look was shared; one that communicated the Professor's awareness of some unspoken finally to this nightmare, one that Gambit could feel in the pit of his stomach. Jean hoped out, concern etched across her face as she ran to Scott. Then Rouge was there, in only a green tank top and white underwear. Similarly, some of the other X-Men were in only boxers or a night slip. Her long auburn hair, so like his own, was pulled back in a messy clump of hair, lose strands falling all over, her white streak, gently caressing her left cheek, resting curled at her collar bone. Her sparkling emerald eyes were big and round, like a frightened deer. And she bit her bottom lip nervously as she ran forward.

"Remy!" Was all she could say before a loud explosion shook the under levels of the house, as smoke and debris came flying down the elevator shaft. She fell forward into his strong arms that quickly lifted her up as they all took off running toward the Blackbird. She was stunned at how vulnerable she felt with out her normal strength, and with out much covering her. As they made their way into the hanger, the voices of men were right behind them, and a stun dart came sailing threw the air, embedding it's self in Bishops arm. Cyclops quickly grabbed him, pulling him threw the door just as a ten more sailed toward him. Pounding out the lock code in hast, the door slammed shut just as the army men closed in. Bishop was stumbling over his own feet and his gun fell to the floor. Gambit set down Rouge as he and Scott, attempted to hold up the barely conscious man, dragging him into the Blackbird, the others right behind them.

Quickly they all got settled as Warren prepared for lift off. Every one was talking at once, asking questions that seemed to have no answers. Rouge and Gambit were instantly in each others arms. Her eyes wide as she reached up touching the pink and red scratches on his face. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes as he felt her bare skin instead of gloves. She was just about to ask him what happened when they heard Warren curse.

"FUCK!" He shouted slamming his fists on the dashboard.

"What is it?" Scott was by his side. Every one grew silent.

"They've jammed up the controls to get the hanger open, and put a lock on the over ride system……..We can't take off unless the hanger is manually opened, and even then it will have to be hacked, and held that way until were out!" Warren's voice was exasperated. No one said a word as it sunk in what had to be done. One of them would have to stay behind and sacrifice them selves for the good of the team. The air grew stale and the sound of every one breathing became amplified. It was then that Gambit knew what he had to do. After all no one was as fast at hacking into computer systems besides Beast, and a doctor would be needed fare more then a thief. He sighed as if resigned to his fate.

"I will go." His voice was clear and untainted with fear or hesitation. They all looked to him in surprise.

"Remy,….No!" Rouge squeaked as she held him tight, her eyes pleading.

"Gambit be de logical choice Chere!…….I be fast at hacking and got a better chance at escaping wit out any mutant powers!" He looked to Xavier who nodded solemnly.

"No way!……If the Cajun stays then so do I!" Wolverine growled. "Why should he get all the fun!" Logan was slumped in a chair, still bleeding as he wrapped his torn tee-shirt around each hand.

"No Logan,….Your in no condition to fight!……..I'll stay!" Cyclops said sternly.

"No mon amie!…….You got a team tah lead!…….Dey gonna need ya!" Gambit stared hard at Scott until he finally nodded.

"Gambit,………..if you do not escape,……..they will interrogate you…..possibly, torture you." The Professor said looking into his demonic eyes with sorrow.

"Don' worry Prof!…..Remy know how tah keep his mouth shut!………Got trained by de t'ives how to separate moi mind from de body,………I won't say a t'ing!" Their was confidence in his voice and beneath that a need to prove himself, to show them once and for all that he was worthy of being an X-Man. That he deserved their trust. After another moment of silence a loud bang shook the hanger as a sentinel landed on top of it and began to dig down to find the metal ceiling beneath the ground.

"Uh guys,…….were in a hurry here!" Bobby said nervously.

"Shut up Bobby!,……Remy……Ah……Ah can't abandon you again!" Rouge had tears in her eyes. "……Let me stay with you!" She begged.

"No Chere, dey gonna need all de help dey can!" He said softly stroking her cheek.

"Gambit,….." The professor placed Cerebro on his head as Remy knelt down in front of him, already knowing what had to happen. " Despite the suppression field around us, Cerebro emits a protective field of it's own, affording me the slightest amount of my telepathy…………I do not doubt that you would not intentionally betray us,……….but we are not certain of what methods they may employ to find out the information they want." He placed a hand on Remy's head, concentrating. "If it gets to be to much,……..and you can no longer remain in control of your own mind,………I will give you a code word,……..and the second it passes though your lips,……….your mind will be swiped completely,………but not lost,…………just hidden, deep in the recesses of the mind that are as of yet uncharted, un used." Remy felt a buzzing tingle, like his brain was on vibrate, then the word flashed threw his mind, the password to oblivion. He opened his eyes and nodded as Xavier looked upon the strong independent young man before him. "We will come for you!" He held Remy's face and the Cajun leaned forward, kissing his teacher on the forward. Gambit turned to Storm, who was crying silently, they embraced and kissed each other on each cheek.

"May the Goddesses be with you my brother!" she whispered in his ear. Cyclops was next, grabbing his for arm and resting his other hand on Gambit's shoulder.

"Be careful!…..None of that cocky bullshit your known for!……..As soon as you can get away……."

"Oui Cyke,……I promise!" A smile drew on his lips. Jean Kissed his cheek, Bobby punched him in the shoulder, and Beast lifted him in a bare hug, squeezing tight.

"Use that pretty head of yours for more then flirtin!………..Stay sharp Gumbo!" Wolverine growled, feeling the need to say something more, but unable to. The hanger shook again as the ceiling began to rip apart. The sound was unnerving and Gambit headed for the ramp, but not before he swept up Rouge in his arms, and with eyes burning with passion, he kissed her deeply. Their lips pressed together as their tongues became familiar. It was a kiss beyond compare, one not soon to be forgotten, and it spoke more then words ever could. At last he reluctantly pulled away, whispering in her ear.

"Je amour!…….You be moi heart!" She sobbed softly as he slipped his trench coat off and wrapped her in it, leaving her with one last kiss, before running down the ramp and toward the hanger exit, flashing them one of his famous Cajun grins. He picked up Bishops gun as he ran. Reaching the exit, he typed in a series of codes on the control panel until it short circuited, the doors springing open. Warren turned on the vertical thrusters and as they flew away, they caught a glimpse of the Sentinels crashing threw the hanger as the army men blew open the doors, surrounding their team mate and friend. Gambit ginned as he began to fire Bishop's over sized gun. They gazed back at the over run mansion, their home, and their doomed amie.

Remy fought long and hard, taking down half of the army and two sentinels before the gun ran out. Then he opened his retractable metal Bo staff and went to work, knocking out every man that came with in 5 feet of him. Through sheer force he drove them back far enough for him to run threw the open doors into the mansion, but everywhere he turned there where more army men, and soon he was cornered, surrounded on every side. Gambit sighed to him self, better to die fighting, then in a prison cell. With that thought in mind, he swirled his bo, and gave the solders his most shit eating grin.

"Ya wanna play wit Gambit?…….Lets see what ya got?" He stepped into a fighting stance, his demonic eyes, glowing bright red in the eerie green of the dark hall ways. Every gun was pointed at him, and the air was deathly silent. A man stepped up, in what looked like a general's uniform. He frowned at the mutant, observing him closely. He recognized him at once as the X-Man known as Gambit, real name Remy LeBeau, a trained thief and suspect of numerous innertpole investigations, none of which found enough evidence to actually make an arrest. The man seemed confidant, if not cocky, but that was just a cover up. He knew he was finished, that there was no way out of here unless he surrendered, but that would not likely happen.

"Your out numbered Mr. LeBeau!…….Drop your weapon or we will be forced to take it from you!" The General's voice was cold and unfeeling, a man who was completely desensitized to violence. Remy knew men like him, men who could stare right threw you and see nothing but a block of mass, dehumanizing you. It made him shiver, and his stomach crunch, but even more unnerving was the fact the man knew his name. It made sense of coarse, he had seen the files, but still, Remy was used to his anonymity and to have it taken away made him uneasy.

"No t'anks, I like de odds!………..an' you can forget 'bout me dropping dis here bo staff, ain't gonna happen!" Remy grinned again, eyes fierce as hot coals.

"Fine,……..suit your self!.……..Shoot him!" The words had barley left his mouth when his soldiers started to fire their stun darts at Remy, who in return dodged and back flipped to avoid the attack. Spinning his bo at a ridiculous speed, he managed to deflect most of the attack. But even his supreme agility and speed could not keep up with the constant flow of fire from the increasingly numerous troupes, and finally, he was struck by a dart, then another. Staggering a bit he pulled out the darts and advanced forward, sticking out even as he fell to his knees. Every thing seemed slow and heavy, and a warm fuzzy, dizziness threaten to sallow him. His arms dropped as numbness worked it's way trough his system, and soon his iron grip on the bo was loosened, until the weapon fell to the floor. His breathing slowed as did his heart rate, and the last thing he saw and herd as his blurred vision faded into blackness, was the cold hearted words of the general.

"Now will see just how long it takes to brake an X-Man!" He laughed in a low chuckle as the demonic eyes closed and the mutant's body went completely limp, crumbling onto the floor.