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#25
FEB 11 |
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“Endgame”
Remy LeBeau tensed as the crystal – the M’Kraan Crystal New Son had called it – began to glow brighter and brighter. He knew he had only minutes before his powers, combined with those of New Son’s, caused a portal to New Son’s home universe to open.
He fought down the panic inside him and began wiggling his hand back and forth. Finally he’d worked his glove down and his bare flesh was in contact with the strap that held him immobile. In response to the contact, the strap began to glow.
New Son was so focused on the crystal that it took a moment for him to realize that Remy was smiling. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Dis,” Remy replied. The strap detonated a moment later, sending New Son flying back. The crystal fell from his hand and danced to the floor.
Remy quickly released his other hand and feet and looked up just in time to see New Son’s boot coming toward his face. The kick sent Remy down as New Son landed in a crouch in front of him.
“Not bad,” New Son said as he stood. “But this is all futile.” He brushed dust off his coat and stepped forward. “You will open that portal.” New Son smirked as he studied Remy. “You can’t even control your own powers. Watch out or you’ll charge your own leg and blow it off.”
“Guess dere’s just one way to handle dis, den,” Remy said as he pressed his hands against the room’s door. It began glowing and detonated as Remy ducked aside.
New Son dodged the door’s fragments and watched as Remy ran out into the hallway and he smirked. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable,” he said. He pressed a stud on his gauntlet and started to follow after picking up the crystal in a gloved hand and sliding it into a pouch on his belt.
Remy LeBeau was running down a hallway when Shadowtechs appeared in front of him. He pulled a deck of cards out of his sleeve and began throwing. As each Shadowtech was struck by a charged card, they detonated into an inky black smoke.
Behind him New Son watched the action. He extended a hand and a Shadowtech presented him with a glass of wine. He sipped it and smiled. “That’s it,” he murmured. “Get frightened. I want you to lose control of your powers. Then there will be no way to stop me from reuniting with Rogue.” He laughed.
Remy LeBeau finally fought free of the Shadowtechs and ducked into a lab. He locked the door and caught a glimpse of his hand, which was beginning to glow pink. He leaned against the door and closed his eyes, trying to force his heart rate back to normal. He knew what would happen if he lost control. He remembered the room his father had prepared deep in the catacombs beneath the Thieves’ brownstone.
“I’m sorry, Remy,” Jean-Luc LeBeau said as he locked the door. “We will do everyt’ing we can to help you but now yo’ just too dangerous.”
The teenaged Remy LeBeau looked around. He was in a small room that had moss totally covering every surface. He’d been placed in there naked so there was no inorganic matter that his powers could affect. “Pere!” he called. “Don’t leave me here!”
“I’m sorry, Remy,” Jean-Luc repeated as he fought back a sob.
“Pere!” Remy screamed as he heard Jean-Luc’s foosteps receding from the cell.
He didn’t know how long he’d been in there. Food and drink had been brought to him, but the loneliness was beginning to affect his mind. He was curled up in the corner of the cell sobbing when it was filled with a brilliant light. Remy held his hand up to block the glare and when it receded he saw a man standing there in an energy portal. The man had jet-black hair and skin as white as ivory.
“Well, well, well,” Mr. Sinister said with a smile. “It looks as if my information is correct.” Sinister paused a moment as Remy fought to hide his shock at his appearance. “You have a choice, young man: you can stay here and rot or you can come with me.” Sinister extended a hand. “I can dampen your powers and allow you to return to normal life safely.”
Remy didn’t hesitate as he stood and grasped Sinister’s hand.
The portal swallowed them and they were gone.
“Dis is a nice pickle yo’ in now, Remy,” Remy muttered to himself as his breathing returned to normal and the panic subsided. He studied the lab and his normal smirk returned to his face as a plan started to form in his mind.
New Son finished his wine and returned the glass to the attending Shadowtech who took it and faded into the walls. He began walking down the hallway and located the door that Remy had hidden behind. “It’s no use,” he said. “This is my home, I know every inch of it and every inch of it obeys me.” He pressed the control to open the door.
New Son went flying backward as the lab table Remy had leaned against the door fell to the ground and detonated. He picked himself up and tore his coat off. “Coward!” he yelled.
As the smoke cleared, Remy could be seen standing in the hall with a smirk on his face. “Who’s de coward?” he asked. “I ain’t runnin.’”
“Excellent,” New Son said as a smile spread across his face. “Time to end this..”
“I agree,” Remy said. He flicked a card into his hand.
“The old reliable, eh?” New Son asked as he extended a hand and a Shadowtech deposited a deck of cards into his hand. He cracked the deck open and flexed them before shuffling them from hand to hand. “It’s been a while, but I understand it’s just like riding a bike!”
Remy dodged as the cards flew toward him and detonated. He threw back and New Son dodged as well.
Remy returned to his feet and New Son lunged toward him, sending him slamming into the wall. Cards fell to the ground around them.
“I’m in no mood to play war,” New Son growled as his forearm pressed against Remy’s throat. “I’ve waited too long for this. If you won’t help willingly, I’ll just have to push you a little harder.”
Remy head-butted New Son, who staggered backward as blood began to flow from a cut on his forehead. New Son smiled like a shark and attacked.
Their mutant powers were forgotten as the two began trading blows.
Thousands of miles away, Fontanelle walked to her window and opened it. She stepped out onto her balcony and studied the city below her. “It’s all coming to an end,” she whispered as a tear trickled down her cheek. At least New Son’s recent silence was explained. She only prayed that Remy LeBeau was strong enough to survive.
Remy fell to the ground, blood flowing from cuts to his face and one eye was already beginning to swell shut. New Son wiped blood from what appeared to be a broken nose and smiled. “You see?” he asked. “There’s always someone better.”
He seized Remy’s hand and pulled the crystal out of its pouch. He forced it into Remy’s palm and the glow began again.
“Let’s try dis my way,” Remy said through clenched teeth. He kicked New Son away and held the crystal aloft like a dagger before he brought it down.
New Son staggered back. The crystal protruded from his abdomen and the glow was growing brighter and brighter. He fell to his knees as blood ran from the wound and dripped onto the floor.
“Not like this,” New Son said in a determined voice as he wrenched the crystal free. He used one hand to hold the wound closed and threw the crystal behind him. “I will not die without being with my Rogue,” he vowed.
Remy’s eyes widened as a portal emerged from the crystal and started opening. New Son turned and smiled. “It’s working,” he whispered. “It’s working.” He turned back to Remy. “Now all I need is a bit more power and everything will be perfect!”
Remy gazed into the crazed eyes of New Son as his hand flew up his sleeve to withdraw one final card. Remy smiled as he saw it was the ace of spades. “I don’t t’ink so,” Remy said. “Time fo’ you to go home.” Remy threw the charged card and it struck New Son in the chest and detonated.
ELSEWHERE
Magneto gazed into his wife’s eyes. There was no need to talk. They both knew what was coming.
“Rogue,” a voice said from below them.
Magneto gazed down on the fallen Gambit with a look of pure hatred. “Remy?” Rogue asked.
New Son, this reality’s Gambit, turned just in time to see the portal close. Like the others in what had been Apocalypse’s stronghold, he knew what was coming. “No!” he yelled as the last sight he had of the normal reality was Gambit watching him. He extended a hand to where the portal had been as if to pull it back.
He saw Magneto and Rogue kissing goodbye and looked up. New Son was still screaming as the nuclear missiles struck.
Jacob Gavin was growing nervous. He’d disguised himself as Remy LeBeau but hiding in plain sight in the Thieves’ brownstone was starting to wear on his nerves.
He checked his phone again. Nothing from New Son. The extended silence spoke volumes to Gavin.
“You’re on your own,” he judged. He changed shape to resemble a different Thief and hurried out of the brownstone. Once on the streets his face and hair changed again as he vanished into the crowds.
Remy watched as the portal blinked closed. He nodded once and walked down the hall toward the throne room.
The throne room looked remarkably untouched. The only things that were out of the ordinary were the missing New Son and Shadowtechs. He climbed the steps and sat down at the throne.
“Now Tante Mattie told me about dis,” he muttered to himself as his hands worked the controls. He smiled as he saw a portal open with the familiar streets of New Orleans on the other side.
He glanced down as something bumped his thigh. A small compartment had opened in the throne. He reached in and withdrew a battered deck of cards. The back bore a logo for a club called Heaven that Remy had never heard of.
A smirk crossed his lips as he gave in to temptation and flipped through the cards. He quickly selected five and placed them on the seat of the throne. He placed the rest back into the hidden compartment and walked into the portal.
As the portal closed behind Remy, the cards remained on the throne. Two black aces and two black eights were showing with the fifth face-down.
Gambit blinked as he found himself back in New Orleans. He smiled and took a second to fish a cigarette and his lighter from the pocket of his coat. He lit it and took a drag while looking around. Then, with his cigarette dangling from his mouth, Gambit walked into the crowd on the sidewalks. Seconds later he had vanished from view as the sun shone brightly overhead.
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The End...
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