All of the characters depicted in this story belong to Marvel and are being used without their permission. However, the concept of the main character as he is shown here I consider to be mine.

ASH

Lori McDonald
July 1997

PART ELEVEN

"Allo, Pete."

"Pete Wisdom jumped about a foot and he hid a smile. The Englishman had been sitting sprawled in a chair, daydreaming- probably about Kitty- when he should have been paying attention. He was on monitor duty, watching for incoming calls in the comm room. He was also supposed to be guarding the terminals that gave access to the computer core of the island.

"Bloody 'ell!" The other man swore. "Where d' yer get off, sneakin' up on a body like that?"

He looked annoyed, but not cautious. Good. That meant he hadn't gotten any incriminating mail about him yet.

"I'm bored," he explained. "Can I take over de rest a your shift?"

Pete frowned. "You mus' be bored if ya wan' ter sit in 'ere." Nevertheless, he quickly stood up. "Feel free. It's set up so yer can't get into anything yet not supposed to." He hurried out.

He let the smile come. Oh, yeah. He'd definately been daydreaming of Kitty.

The door shut behind his teammate and he went immediately to one of the restricted terminals. It had layers of passwords and protections on it, but with time, skill and some toys 'borrowed' from Kitty's room, he hacked his way in.

Once inside, he gave himself root access and began to reprogram the security systems, taking care to cover his tracks. It took time, but he was very good at what he did. Almost as an afterthought, he set up Pete Wisdom's mail to come to him first.

The computer gave a soft beep sometime after three and he opened his eyes with a start. His nightmares had toned down since his talk with Magneto, but he still had them and Sinister had been about to cut out his heart when he woke up.

There was a weight on his left side and he looked down to see Rogue lying against him, her legs entangled with his and her head on his shoulder.

He'd come in a week ago to find out she'd had a door installed and moved in. She'd been in the process of taking over his closet space, green eyes flashing as she dared him to tell her she couldn't. He hadn't. More confident since Magneto as well, their lovemaking had improved as well, and while it wasn't at a level where it would shake the house down, it was certainly less confused.

Quietly, he slipped out of bed, giving Rogue a kiss as he did so. She hummed in her sleep and snuggled down deeper under the covers.

Feeling exposed not just by his nudity but by what he was doing, he sat at the computer and turned the monitor on, careful not to let the light wake Rogue.

He had one message. Or rather, Pete Wisdom had one message. He opened it.


        Return-Path 
        Delivered-To: Wisdom@muir.uk
        From: Monacle 
        To: "Pete Wisdom" 
        Subject: Remy LeBeau
        Date: Saturday 07 July 1997 03:10:22 - 0666
        MIME-Version: 1.0
        Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
        Content-Type: Text/plain; charset="UK-ascii"

        Hey, Wisdom, I got the info you wanted.  Remy LeBeau
        is clean.  No criminal record, no known aliases.  He
        has no birth parents, but was adopted and raised
        by a Jean-Luc LeBeau in New Orleans, Louisiana.
        Except for the powers, he's a typical kid.

        Before you relax too much, though, there's more.
        The name Jean-Luc LeBeau rang a bell, so I
        checked with some of my less official sources 
        and I found out the father is the head of the
        New Orleans Thieves Guild, and he's taught 
        his son everything he knows.

        Remy LeBeau's working name is Gambit, and he's
        classed as one of the top three Master Thieves in
        the world.  They don't come any better than this
        guy.  In fact, if I were you, I'd consider all my 
        records, computer files, everything, to be
        compromised.  Actually, I'd take him out 
        someplace quiet and put a bullet through his
        head.  I hope he's as brain damaged as you
        say he is, or you're in a serious world of shit.

        Good luck, man.

        Monacle

        End message - - -

He stared at the message for a long time. Gambit was the one Sinister had wanted, and he'd believe he died a long time ago in the lab. He was supposed to be Ash now, but he never used the name and here he was, stealing e-mail.

Rogue sighed and he looked at her sleeping form. He loved her, and he wouldn't lose her. Quickly, he erased all but the first paragraph and the signature and sent the message on. When Pete received it, he'd have no way of telling it'd been waylaid.

Done, he turned off the monitor and crawled back into bed with Rogue.

"Where'd ya go?" She mumbled sleepily.

"Bathroom," he lied, but she was already asleep again. He lay awake for a long time, though, and when he finally did sleep, he was the villain in his nightmares.

~~~~~~~~~~End of Part Eleven~~~~~~~~~~

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