Caught up in his thoughts and his reading, he was deaf to the lazy bickering between his two team-mates nearby.

" ... Aw, the Prof will be fine. Cooper's got all those guards to protect him anyway. It's not as if she's going to let anything happen to him..."

" Mebbe you say dat. But Gambit not so sure o' dis. Last time de Professor went, he got it bad."

" He can take care of himself, and he'd contact us if there was any trouble."

" Mebbe he can, mon ami, but still, Gambit is not happy 'bout dis." Remy shot a look at the switching channels. " Let the Gambit do the job: mebbe I find somethin' good."

Bobby shook his head. " I got it first. You want it, come and get it."

He was acting childish, but then again, Bobby had always been the ' class clown,' the joker, the prankster. Fooling around, it seemed, was a essential part of his make-up. When bored, he tended to play. Now, he was playing.

Gambit played along.

" You asked for it, mon ami."

He swiftly grabbed one card from the deck he had in his hands, and threw it towards Robert. It glowed orange with energy from his touch. Glancing nonchalantly at the card sailing towards him, Bobby raised a single finger.

From his finger, a white burst shot forward and enveloped the glowing card. It fell heavily to the floor, encased in ice.

Iceman grinned at Gambit. " Tsk, tsk. Too slow, Cajun. You're never gonna get anyone with that."

Remy flashed another of his trademark smiles.

" Mebbe. Mebbe not."

He walked over and placed his hand on the chunk of ice. His hand glowed orange for a second, then it seemed to pass the glow on to the ice block, which exploded a few seconds later.

Remy headed for the door.

" Nothin' left to do here, mes ami. The Gambit," he bowed with a flourish, " will take his leave."

Bobby turned his attention back to the television screen. Nothing on the boob tube today... wait, what was that?

He quickly switched back to the previous channel. " Hey Hank, Gambit, look at this."

Beast looked up at the screen, to see a reporter outside of what seemed to be a debate hall. Debate hall...?

" ... just minutes ago... glass showering down on the people inside... the abductors, masked, entered through the shattered skylight... security proved useless, with several guards helping the criminals escape... White House official Ms Valerie Cooper, was present during the abduction..."

The footage cut to that of a poker-faced Valerie Cooper. " ... we will do all in our power to find him. The terrorists will not go unpunished for their crime..."

Then it cut back to that of the reporter. " ... meanwhile, no news of the missing Charles Xavier has been received... one thing is for sure: even with the government's security, Professor Xavier has fallen into the hands of criminals... what kind of security can we hope for ourselves...? Rose O' Connell, NBC news, Washington D.C."

Bobby turned the set off. He turned to face his team-mates, whose faces revealed the shock at the abduction of their mentor.

" Merde..." Gambit cursed under his breath.

" About time I learnt to curse in French... sounds better..." Bobby, as always, muttered a joke under his breath.

Hank still did not seem to have recovered from the initial shock. Gambit punched the intercomm panel beside the doorway.

" Cyke... we gotta problem. A real big one."


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