You Aint Nothin' But Trouble

[Lana Kane]

That . . . wasn't . . . good . . .

Alcohol. It ruined everything! Shite! Here she was, just trying to do something simple, and what happened? The bloody human had to have one too many, and start thinking! 'It doesn't make any sense.' He said, shaking his head. This was going south and fast. It was easy to control a sober man's emotions. It was child's play. Yet give them some drinks, and let the emotions get unstable and pron to swinging and it was chaos. "I'll be goin' to the loo while you think that over, love." She told him, sliding off the bar stool and planning her escape.

However, he had something else in mind. Grabbing her arm, he kept talking. 'How did you talk me into driving so far out here?' Lana turned her head to look at him, "I said please, and you were a gentleman . . . unlike now." And she'd made him feel everything from eagerness to lust, to anticipation. 'I have a family!' "That's not my problem, mate." 'What did you do to me?!' He was picking up on it. That it wasn't normal. With mutants being known now, it would not be long before he made the connection.

Bloody effing hell! This would ruin everything! He could have walked her right in! "Sorry, love, but this is gonna hurt you a lot more then me." She told him, before her face turned to one of fear, and panic; even going as far as to have tears show themselves. "Please! No!" She pulled at his arm, and screamed her words, drawling the attention of everyone in the bar. "Don't hurt me!"

Lana wasn't a fighter, but she was damn good at making others fight for her. And right now, the fact that she was only five feet, and so small, while screaming for the man to not hurt her . . . she could feel the mood in the room shift. Many were not pleased and it would only take a moment for one or two to come to her aid.

[skullofbalerion]

Since leaving New Orleans, the young Remy LeBeau had travelled around. Moving from place to place, hitting casinos and bars, hustling men twice his age and leaving town before it was even realised by the drunken fools that he'd robbed them blind, Remy had headed west. Although still a young man, Remy had already been shaving for a couple of years, and with the stolen ID's he had acquired so far, he stepped into bars and casinos with confident assurance.

Houston, Dallas, then a long trip to Phoenix, Remy had been practicing his art and stealing from large-scale business-men and rich, horny, middle-aged ladies of leisure as he moved toward Los Angeles. Sometimes, whilst playing card games in the smoky back-rooms of dodgy bars, he'd even lose a poker game intentionally, maybe throw away a couple of hundred dollars, but only if it meant he already had the keys of his opponents Pontiac GTO firmly stashed deep in his pocket. Another game, another thieving masterclass. 

'Some people are jus' too damn easy...' the 18-ish-year old smiled in his mind as he had left the bar and made a dash to the thinly-lit car-park at the rear of the bar in downtown Phoenix. Remy enjoyed travelling, especially when it included cruising round in the aforementioned vehicle, in bright sunshine yellow.

'Ah woulda' preferred it in hot pink...' he had thought to himself when he first laid eyes on the car, until hearing the sounds of loud, angry yelling coming from the bar he had just vacated. Realising the game was up and he was being chased, Remy had decided that right now the colour of the car didn't really matter. Within seconds he'd made a hasty escape, the gang of men he had just stolen from reaching the empty space where the yellow Pontiac had been very neatly parked.

"God-damn motherf****n' Gambit asshole! He stole my f****n' GTO!!"

After driving for miles and sleeping in the car when he needed to, Remy finally reached LA in the stolen vehicle and rented a room in a cheap motel just outside of the city. It was the following evening that Remy had spied a cheap-looking bar that looked like a hundred others he had been in before, and stepped inside the door just in time to see a lady in distress. She looked like she was in her thirties, was quite a petite lady, and so didn't look able to handle this over-zealous drunk. This was something that the budding womaniser could not ignore. Plus, maybe this guy had a few dollars in his jeans.

"Don't hurt me!" the lady screamed, looking around the room for help.

"Hey there, mon ami," Remy stepped in, yelling loudly to the woman's assailant to let him know that someone was prepared to stand up to him.

"Ah think the lady would appreciate you let go of her arm, so ah think you better, else Gambit is goin'a teach ya' some ol' fashion'd manners!"

[Lana Kane]

Someone approached, and Lana didn't look at his way, too focused in the moment with making sure the M word never dropped. Once one drunk yelled mutant, the witch hunt began, and then it was running, and all sorts of other annoying bits. 'You don't understand.' The man told whoever had walked up to aid her, 'She'd in my head!' "I am NOT in your head, mate, a fact I am rather grateful for in this moment!" That was one thing she was unable to do--get into someone's head. At least with her powers. Lana had learned early on that she could do it with her humanly ways though.

She didn't have the mutant power to make someone do anything, but she could make them feel things, and if you batted your eyes, or shook your hips right as you were making people feel the right things . . . well, they'd do just about anything for you. It was also why she never to rarely ever used emotions like fear, and hate on people. They could react either way, cowards would run, but others would take their fear and become violent.

"Let me go!" She pulled at her arm again, but he only shook his head. 'No, your in my head! I think you're one of them--' He go no further before she slammed her boot into his knee, and brought it down on his toe. He yelped in pain and she was able to jerk her arm free and stumble into the man who came to help her. Looking at him for the first time she noticed two very important things--First was his size. Shite the kid was big. That worked for her right now!

Looking into his face she used her powers to make him feel protective, which in truth was a bit of a cocktail mix of adrenaline, the smallest spike of attachment, or a fond emotion upon seeing her, and another tiny dash of fear. "You're not going to let him hurt me, are you?" She asked, putting the idea into his head that he had to protect her. "I want to leave now. Will you take me out of here?" Before the drunk finally got the M word out.

Yet she was a bit too late, because right then the drunken human drove toward her, finding his anger amidst his drunken confusion. 'You bitch!'

[skullofbalerion]

The drunken man had quickly looked over to Remy, and then back to the little lady who was still struggling to get free of his grip.

"You don't understand, she's in my head!" Remy frowned at the retort, wondering for a moment what exactly was going on here. Was this woman some kind of telepath? Remy hadn't met a telepath face-to-face before, but he knew of their existence. But this lady didn't seem to be using telepathic abilities right now, Remy could work that one out.

"I am NOT in your head, mate, a fact I am rather grateful for in this moment!"

This was a strange situation, and Remy wasn't entirely sure if the lady was in need of help at all. There was definitely a sub-text to this scenario, and it put Remy on the back foot a little bit. The young Cajun had expected a straight-up damsel in distress situation, but that's not exactly what this charade seemed to be.

"Let me go!" the lady shouted, her accent revealing her as from the other side of the pond.

"Yeah, why don' you jus' let go of her arm an' we can all have a drink an' talk abou' dis..." Remy motioned toward the pair as he spoke, but was cut off by the man who was getting more and more exacerbated with every passing second. The tension was beginning to rise, and the barman was looking close to calling the cops.

"No, you're in my head! I think you're one of them--"

All of a sudden, the little lady interrupted the man's sentence with a shapr boot to the knee, and then the toe. Screaming out, the man grabbed hold of his knee as the woman pulled away from him and landed right in Remy's arms.

"Woah, chere, don' worry now, Gambit got you..." Remy spoke softly to the woman as she fell into him. Looking into her eyes, he felt some kind of strange protective urge toward her, even though she was merely a stranger. The care Remy felt for the lady only intensified as she spoke to him, her soft, serene voice, combined with her delicate English accent, almost hypnotic, and taking hold of Remy's emotions with a tight grip.

"You're not going to let him hurt me, are you?" Remy shook his head firmly, and then squinted as he stared out the drunken man.

"I want to leave now. Will you take me out of here?"

Looking back at the lady, Remy began to whisper in response, before the drunk jumped up from his seat and made a loutish grab toward the pair.

"You bitch!"

The man, his eyes now full of furious anger, sweat beading down his forehead, fists tightly held and spit shooting out from his mouth as he screamed. Remy firmly positioned the English lady to his side, as he attempted to protect her from the man.

"Woah there sir, ah don' think you realise what you are gettin' ya'self into here! the Cajun threatened, but the man didn't listen. He lunged at the lady, and Remy was forced to defend her. Taking a playing card from his pocket, Remy quickly flicked it, charging it with pink energy as it moved through his fingers. Tossing the pink-glowing king of hearts at the oncoming lout, the card hit the man in the chest and sent him flying back where he had come from and over the bar, landing in a heap on the other side.

"Ah think you're right, petite. Time ta' go." The whole room was now shouting angry obscenities toward the Cajun and the lady, and a bottle or two was now being thrown in their direction. Grabbing the lady and making sure she was unharmed, Remy made a move toward the door, just at the moment that the door swung open to reveal a gang of biker thugs right in the mutants' way.

"Okay chere, any ideas here?!"

[Lana Kane]

He called himself Gambit. Lana wasn't sure what sort of name that was but American's never failed to surprise with her many things, so she dind't think too much in to. Had she, then she might have picked up on it as a warning--He was a mutant. Instead she just kept feeding him the emotions she needed to in order to make sure he'd let no harm come to her. It was working too, he kept her close, make sure she was near and he was between the human and herself. Then . . . . things went south.

Gambit pulled a out a card. Really? A card? THIS was his weapon of choice? However, then it turned pink, and Lana realized what she missed earlier. He was a mutant too. THAT was the hindrance of being a empath and not a telepath--You got blind sided! "Shite," She whispered, more annoyed then surprised while watching it flair up and then he throw it--"OOOOHHHHH SHITE!" The card made the human end up over the bar counter, Lana jerked in a panicked sort of surprise for a moment, no longer annoyed but taken aback at what he could do . . . . and apparently so where the humans!

The mood of the room shifted, and began to grow anger. Frightened. It build to rage and anticipation. There was an eagerness that didn't mix well into the angry mob. The emotions of the room choked her for a moment, locking her up until Gambit pulled her toward the door. By the time they reached it she was able to tune out her powers enough to move more easily. Shite, though, this was getting out of hand! She had wanted to avoid the running and screaming tonight.

"Okay chere, any ideas here?!" Lana turned from where she was watching the men in the bar to see why he'd stopped. "Well, this is just not my night!" Pushing forward so she was between the bikers and Gambit, Lana held up her hands and pushed as much fear into them as she could without it backfiring into her. The bikers moved back quickly, parting from the door; their faces pale, and eyes wide. Turning she grabbed Gambit's jacket and pulled him toward the door. Lana was aware that she wasn't physically strong enough to actually pull him forward so she only hoped he would run himself.

Once outside she saw more bikers but they'd not noticed the chaos of the bar yet. Pushing more tears to her cheeks she ran toward them yelling with a voice full of fear, "Help! Please! They're fightin' mutants in the bar!" She told them, pushing urency and rage into them. They jumped from their bikes and ran to help their friends. Turning she looked at Gambit. Her voice was urent, but lacking the fear she'd just used when talking tot he bikers, clearing making the change from when she stopped pretending with him. "Please tell me ya drove here!" Cause she wasn't going to be able to out run a mob. Not in these shoes!

[skullofbalerion]

"Well, this is just not my night!"

The little lady stepped past Remy, who was quite surprised by the bravery she was displaying. Remy watched as she stood in front of him, and right in front of the bikers in the doorway who had slowly moved inside the bar. There were about four or five of the rather large, leather-clad, scruffy-haired, bearded ogres, and it looked like there were more outside, but the girl didn't seem too bothered. Holding up her hands, she motioned to the gang, whose faces demonstrated some kind of effect had been placed on them. Their face went from angry to petrified in a nano-second, the bikers reversing back out of the door.

"Well, that was... er... priddy strange, non?!" Remy was smiling as he spoke, an impressed look etched on his face. Just as he had finished speaking the lady with the English accent grabbed the Cajun's coat, Remy following her lead and speeding out of the door and outside of bar.

Seeing the gang of bikers, all leathered up like their friends, Remy realised there were one or two too many to take on directly, a brush with these guys would no doubt end badly. Humans or not, ten or twelve hairy bikers was a bit much for the young man from New Orleans to handle in one sitting. Luckily though, his new friend was ahead of the game.

"Help! Please! They're fightin' mutants in the bar!"

The lady was clever, and Remy nodded and smiled wryly as the rest of the gang dumped their bikes and ran shouting and screaming into the bar.

"Pretty good, mon petite. You haven' done this before, by any chance have ya'?!" The lady turned to Remy and spoke with clear urgency.

"Please tell me ya drove here!" she said, peering down at her shoes and then back up to Remy.

"You in luck, Gambit has one hell of a ride waitin' right over..." Remy stopped speaking as he tried to get his bearings, squinting his red and black eyes as he looked up the street to where he had parked the stolen yellow Pontiac.

"Ah ha, there it is," he nodded in the direction of the car, which was just up the street a few yards, now parked behind a lorry. "You are gonna like dis ride, chere. C'mon!"

Taking her hand, Remy hastily headed over to the car, pulled the keys from his coat and unlocked the passenger side first.

"Take a seat," Remy spoke as he opened the door, waiting for the lady to get in before closing the door for her. When it came to ladies, Remy was always a gentleman. Well, maybe not always.

Jumping quickly into the drivers side and slamming the door behind him, Remy noticed that the biker gang were beginning to filter out of the bar, looking up and down the street for the pair.

"Right, looks like we better get goin'. So where to?" Turning the keys in the ignition, Remy started the car. Just at that moment, one of the biker gang began shouting at his comrades, pointing to the yellow GTO.

"Ah know, ah'll just drive!" Remy skidded the car and put his foot on the gas, the car skidding in a circle and pulling away rapidly. Checking the rear-view mirror, he could see the bikers weren't going to give this one up, as they had got on their bikes and were beginning to chase the Pontiac up the street.

[Lana Kane]

"You in luck, Gambit has one hell of a ride waitin' right over..." For once tonight she was in luck! He looked around and Lana looked back at the doors knowing her lie would only give them seconds. "Ah ha, there it is," Good! "You are gonna like dis ride, chere. C'mon!" If it got them away from here quickly then she'd be impressed! Lana's steps were smaller then his, so she had to run quickly to keep up; but in this moment she didn't care. Faster was better.

Gambit opened the door for her and she raised her eyes brows even while climbing in. It had been almost ten years since anyone did something like that and never had it been in the middle of a chase. The men came out and it took them only a second to find them in the car. "Ah know, ah'll just drive!" "Just get us out of here!" Before the mob caught up. Lana held out her hand while he was driving, and took away what anger she could--though with a mob like this it took effort. Once they were away it would only come back, and the humans would know what she did; so at best it was a head start.

Once they were a distance away, she dropped her hand. Damn it. Everything she'd worked for these last few weeks went away with that human. He had been the key to getting to the exhibit she was going to steal and sell for a pretty penny. Turning she looked at this Gambit. Really looked at him for the first time. He was younger then her, by a good few years. His accent said not a city boy, but she couldn't place it. His clothing however said an whole other story. "They're gonna follow, so I hope you drive as fancy as you talk." Not that it was fancy, but she picked up the few French words mixed in the English. "Unless you got something besides a card you can throw at em."

Lana turned to look down the center of the car and out the back, waiting for signs they were following. By the time the anger kicked in and they shook it off, with luck they'd bee a few streets away and a hard trail to pick up. "What do you do anyway?" She might as well learn what they had to work with. "How'd you make the card do that?"

[skullofbalerion]

"Just get us out of here!"

"Okay, I'm goin' petite!" Remy exclaimed, his brow raised and his body beginning to shake. The Cajun had been able to control the depth of his powers since they first announced themselves just a few years previously. Now, as a young yet mature and streetwise eighteen-year old, his powers were starting to accelerate and grow in intensity. And with that intensity came a distinct fear of loss of control for the mutant, fear being such a rare feeling to Remy that it was unnerving (to say the least) for him in stressful situations.

Eventually managing to put the keys in the ignition, the Cajun put the pedal to the metal and skidded away. Noticing his accomplice raising her hands, Remy squinted as he wondered to himself just what this lady was doing, what was her power.

'Must be some kinda' telepathic thing, or somethin' like dat...' he told himself, eyes firmly on the dark road ahead with the lights turned on full beam and dust from the road spitting out from the tyres behind. The lady lowered her arms, and Remy looked in the rear view mirror to check for any followers, before sharply darting left down a side street and speeding along the darkly lit road.

"They're gonna follow, so I hope you drive as fancy as you talk."

"Well chere, as you can clearly see, I am one hell of a driver," the confident Remy was back, which meant his stress levels were lowering.

"Unless you got something besides a card you can throw at em."

Feeling cooler and more in control of the situation, the Cajun laughed as he pulled out a cigarette packet from the inside pocket of his coat. 

"Aah guess ah could throw one of these liddle t'ings, but that'd jus' be a waste'a good tabacca." Flicking the cigarette into his mouth and pulling out a lighter, he ushered the packet to his companion.

"You wanna smoke, chere?"

Remy lit his cigarette, took a long hard pull, and breathed the smoke out of his door-window, which was opened ever so slightly at the top.

The lady looked over at the Cajun and spoke with her English accent.

"What do you do anyway? How'd you make the card do that?"

"Well, truth is, an' in case you haven't kinda' guessed already..." Remy stopped mid-sentence and turned to the lady, pointing with the lit cigarette towards his unique red and black eyes.

"I'm a mutant and, well... Basically, ah can make things go bang." Feeling proud of his extraordinary gift, the Cajun sat back in his seat and took another pull of the now half-smoked cigarette.

"And what about you, huh? You got some strange ability ta' make people angry or somethin'?" Remy thought that the lady could be telepath. For him, it seemed like the way the lady had affected his emotive response was some kind of telepathic gift at work.

"So what's yer name anyway, petite. My real name's Remy. Remy LeBeau."

[Lana Kane]

Lana noticed the shaking, and she tried not to drawl attention to the fact that she noticed. However, that did not mean her guard did not go up, and her powers were at the ready. There was still a few tricks that she rarely showed anyone, because in their world, others not knowing what she could do meant they weren't ready when she used her powers to hilt. "Aah guess ah could throw one of these liddle t'ings, but that'd jus' be a waste'a good tabacca." What? She had been distracted by his shaking, but as he was stopping and getting control she looked up at what he was doing. Rolling her eyes, she leaned back on her door.

"You wanna smoke, chere?" "If I wanted ta die early, I could 'ave stayed at the bar." She muttered as her own reply before looking back at the road behind them. "Well, truth is, an' in case you haven't kinda' guessed already..." He pointed at her with that lit smelly thing, and she ignored it when she took a real good look at his eyes for the first time. Shite, what was he? "I'm a mutant and, well... Basically, ah can make things go bang." Oh really? The sarcastic thought came as she moved forward, to take his cigarette and toss it out his window, before grabbing his hat and fanning it around to clear the air. "Really? You're a mutant?" She asked with a load of sarcasm dripping from her, "I hadn't noticed."

Though his answer made her wonder if he even knew all he could do? She had always just thought her powers were limited to reading and pushing some control out. She had learned otherwise in her short stayed with two different teachers. Just as she had also learned to play her cards close to her chest. "And what about you, huh? You got some strange ability ta' make people angry or somethin'?" "Yeah, I make people go 'ahhhh'." She said it just like he had said 'I make things go bomb'.

"Do you even know whot you can do?" She asked, trying to find out if he was being vague or if he just didn't know. "Or why your eyes are like that? Cause see, I've never met a mutant who could only turn out one trick." She tossed his hat back at him, since she was done clearing the air.

"So what's yer name anyway, petite. My real name's Remy. Remy LeBeau." So Gambit was a mutant name. She'd had one of them back in the day when she ran with the brotherhood, but had opted not to use it when not working to make her harder to find. "Lana Kane."

"I was out here for a job, but that went south when the idiot had one too many back at the bar." She explained, while reaching out with her powers to give him a shot of eagerness right as she said her next line so he would think he wanted to go too. "Now I am going to head back east."

[skullofbalerion]

"Really? You're a mutant? I hadn't noticed."

Remy looked round at the lady and let out a little chuckle. The easy-going Cajun enjoyed the sarcastic tone, it downplaying the situation they had found themselves in with the bikers earlier and allowing the atmosphere to gain a level of normality.

"Do you even know what you can do?" the lady asked him, which made Remy stop and think for a second. He looked straight at the lady. "Or why your eyes are like that? Cause see, I've never met a mutant who could only turn out one trick."

The truth was he was still learning about himself and his abilities, and he didn't know if there was more to his mutation than he had imagined. The thought that there could be something else going on with his body made Remy slightly uncomfortable. In recent weeks he'd felt the kinetic charges in his body getting stronger, and he'd misjudged the pressure of energy he'd applied to a couple of cards a few weeks earlier in a bar brawl back in Texas. He'd also noticed he was gaining in his dexterity and his body felt stronger than it always had. But Remy had just put this down to reaching adulthood. Maybe there was more to it..?

"To be hones' wit' you chere, ah don't know the sciencey-stuff behind what's going on wit' me. Which is actually somethin' ah'd like to find out," Remy felt that he could speak honestly and candidly with the lady, although his recent banishment from his home city had affected his ability to trust.

Remy listened as Lana explained what she had been doing back at the bar... "I was out here for a job, but that went south when the idiot had one too many back at the bar."

"A job, huh? So, what is it exactly that you do? A purdy little thing like you in a smelly little bar like that, seems there's more ta you than meets the eye, petite." The young mutant was streetwise enough to read between the lines with people, having spent most of his life on the streets.

"Now I am going to head back east."

"Oh you are huh? Well, Gambit was headin' west, but for some reason, all of a sudden ah feel like I was headin' the wrong direction. Maybe east is where ah should be headin'..?"

The Cajun couldn't work out why his mind was changed, but all he knew was that he should head east himself. There was a strange pull that he couldn't explain, but he knew he wanted to head to wherever it was that Lana was going.

"Well, ah could tag along wit' you? Ah mean, you could do with the ride right? An' definitely the company?" Remy grinned a wide grin and headed down another side-street that would take the car towards the highway. It was time to head east. He didn't know why, but it just felt right.

[Lana Kane]

"To be hones' wit' you chere, ah don't know the sciencey-stuff behind what's going on wit' me. Which is actually somethin' ah'd like to find out," So he didn't a lot about his powers. "Yeah, well I aint no scientist but maybe I can help with that. If I can't then I know a guy who can." Lana was the first to admit that knowlage was power--the more you knew about any given situation the better you could predict and play it to fit you. That included someone's powers. Her own, his own, whomever was around her. Like for her, she knew that her powers worked best one on one, and that while she could make someone feel something, what they did with that emotion was up to them. It was why she'd learned the art of the con from early on. You could stay the right thing, smile a pretty smile, and then give them a cocktail of just the right emotions and -most- the time they magically agreed with her.

Playing off her size, and the fact that she was a girl, made men the easiest targets for her. . . . . at least when they've not been drinking. "A job, huh? So, what is it exactly that you do? A purdy little thing like you in a smelly little bar like that, seems there's more ta you than meets the eye, petite." Bonus points to him for not assuming she was a hooker. If one more person assumed that was what she was, then she was going to give them a cocktail of emotions to make them cry for their mother for a week. "Think of me as a rich man's personal shopper for things no on the market." Thief for hire.

"Oh you are huh? Well, Gambit was headin' west, but for some reason, all of a sudden ah feel like I was headin' the wrong direction. Maybe east is where ah should be headin'..?" Did he refer to himself in third person? Lana turned and adjusted herself int he seat so that she leaned on the door, with her elbow propped on the window and her fingers in her hair, so she could watch him. She didn't look surprised at his sudden wish to go east. That had been her goal all along, after all. "Well, ah could tag along wit' you? Ah mean, you could do with the ride right? An' definitely the company?" Lana didn't know how to drive, which was why she always needed a ride. "Would you really?" She smiled slowly as if he made her happy, while slowly turning up his emotions to make him feel pleased at the sight. "You really are a gentleman, aren't ya?"

"If you plan to travel with me, then maybe along the way we can see about figuring the science of your powers." The hell if she knew anything about science but she wanted to know what he could do. She'd been trained by two very powerful mutants, and had watched them work with others--how hard could it be?

[skullofbalerion]

"Yeah, well I aint no scientist but maybe I can help with that. If I can't then I know a guy who can."

Know a guy who can. This resonated loudly with Remy. Ever since his powers had manifested just a few years ago, Remy had found them tough to control. It had led to him being somewhat hesitant to use the kinetic-charge side of his mutation, after several incidents occurred that ranged from blowing up a kitchen to accidentally toppling a bridge. It seemed that Remy found it tough to judge the intensity of the amount of energy to transfer on to an object. This was where playing cards came into the equation. Remy knew the exact amount of charge to apply to a single playing card and so he developed his very own card trick. An attacker could expect a fully-charged ace of spades to be flung in their face if they went for Remy and usually, it did the trick.

"You know a guy, huh? Some kind'a mutant scientist, ah 'ssume?" Pulling up to a busy intersection, Remy caught sight of the red light which signalled him to stop the car and wait for the chance to go. The lady intrigued Remy. He still wasn't sure exactly what she did, what her abilities were and how they worked. Some kind of emotive control was definitely the case, but as Remy was unaware that he himself had been affected, he couldn't quite work it all out. The fact that he was in his late teens and, although a streetwise person, still relatively inexperienced in life terms, Remy could be forgiven for being a little naive.

"Think of me as a rich man's personal shopper for things not on the market."

'Things not on the market? Does she mean that she's a thief herself?' Remy had been a thief all his life, so to randomly meet a fellow saboteur on his first venture in the big bad world seemed strangely fateful.

"Well, ah mahself happen to be a kind of, how did you put it, personal shopper. You ever heard'a the Thieves Guild?" Remy felt comfortable enough with Lana to name-check the Guild, and he doubted whether she knew anyone from either of the Guild's personally.

"So where is it that we're actually headin' then, petite? You got some friends somewhere that we're gonna hit up?" Remy wondered where it was that the pair were heading. Moving the car forward again, Remy headed it for the highway, a sign showing cities to the east and the distances to them from their current location of Los Angeles.

"If you plan to travel with me, then maybe along the way we can see about figuring the science of your powers."

"Well, that'd be somethin', although ah don't know many doctors who'd wanna mess with mah head. Soon as dey see my lovely blood-red eyes, seems any interest in me wanes, shall we say." It was definitely an immediate aim of the Cajun's to find a way to gain some control of his powers, especially since they seemed to be getting harder to keep under wraps when getting particularly emotional and/or stressed.

"As long as you can help me stay cool, then there shouldn't be any, you know, accidents." Winking at Lana, Remy pulled out another cigarette and turned the car onto the highway, starting out on their long journey eastwards.

[Lana Kane]

"You know a guy, huh? Some kind'a mutant scientist, ah 'ssume?" Lana chuckled at that, starting to feel at ease her own self, now that it was seeming they were out of danger and that this mutant wasn't a threat to her. In fact she was looking forward to helping him with his powers. Being the teacher this time rather then the student. She wasn't sure what the hell she was going to do with him but how hard can it be to teach someone? "He's a school teacher." She told him, knowing that wasn't really what Charles Xavier was. "And he's one of us." Lana hadn't stayed with him, because while she believe the world of mutants needed him, she also felt the hate humans had for their kind and knew that something was building--and she wasn't going to fight on either side.

Xavier. Magneto. Both had offered her a place in their homes, and on their teams. Only one of them had honestly wanted to help her, and the other had saw her as a weapon they could wield. In the end, she'd left them both. If Erik ever saw her again, she knew he'd kill her for betraying him. Xavier however, she had left him on better terms. She could go back there if she needed, but she tried not to need any thing from anyone.

"Well, ah mahself happen to be a kind of, how did you put it, personal shopper. You ever heard'a the Thieves Guild?" His words pulled her out of her head, and Lana raised her eye brows. "I 'ave." She admitted, "And you're not the first bloke who has thrown their name at me while trying to be impressive." Though most you could tell where lying. It had been some name they'd over heard, or crossed and they wanted her to think they were bad ass. "Let me guess. You're one of em?" It would be easy enough to tell. Let them get on a job and he could prove his skills. "Never met em personally though. Just heard whispers."

"So where is it that we're actually headin' then, petite?" "East." "You got some friends somewhere that we're gonna hit up?" "Don't have friends." Other then the school teacher, and Jay; but she would protect both their secrets with her life. She would not take anyone to the school either. She'd ask Xavier first, let him make contact. "East is where the clients are. Clients are where the money is."

"As long as you can help me stay cool, then there shouldn't be any, you know, accidents." Time to be honest. "I can help you stay any way I want, love." Reaching out with her mind she made him feel sadness, then let it burst into a euphoric glow that almost mimicked the aftermath of great sex, followed by fear, that quickly twisted into a joy so great it would erase the negative feelings she'd made him feel. Then she pulled back, and let go of his emotions--all of them. No longer making him feel eager to go East, or connected to her.

Time for honestly. A little trust. Worst case she just make him her bitch again. "I can do more then anger." She admitted, holding up her hands to make sure he knew she meant no harm. She was also reading his untouched emotions very carefully to make sure he wasn't about to get angry and blow her up. "You want science? I can control everyone's emotions because I can control the chemicals that make you feel things. Endorphins. Adrenaline. There's like a million others, and I don't know their names. But I can feel everything you're feelin' and I can make ya feel anything I want. I can't however, make you do anything. I control feelings, your actions are yer own."

[skullofbalerion]

As Lana spoke, and whilst keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Remy slowly raised one eyebrow with interest, and some curiosity. Perhaps this gentleman could aide Remy in what was becoming a growing need to suppress his powers. Of course, Remy was still reeling from being thrown out of New Orleans, and for being a mutant. Well, not exactly for being a mutant, but by using his mutant power to defend himself, he had killed his new wife's brother merely days after their wedding, leading to his banishment. The episode had left a sour taste in the Cajun's mouth, forming new relationships was going to be a difficult thing to do. But he'd reluctantly admitted to himself after his last incident that he needed help from somewhere.

"Hey, ah'm not tryin' ta impress you, chere. If ah didn't feel like ah can trust ya, then Gambit would not have said a word, no?" Remy didn't namecheck. It was beneath him to do that, and he almost resented their memory, so fresh in his mind was the devastating betrayal by his own adoptive family. He had been made a scapegoat, and the young mutant would take a long time to forgive and forget the events in New Orleans.

"I can help you stay any way I want, love." Remy frowned as Lana spoke, the Cajun turning to face her for a second, before he started to feel a wave of emotions, one after the other. From a depressive state, Remy felt like he had arrived in heaven, a euphoric swell taking over his body, at which point he hit the brakes of the car. Just as he did, an overwhelming sensation of terror came over him like he was about to die. The car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the abandoned highway, and Remy experienced a surge of sheer delight that he couldn't help but let out a long, loud shouting-laugh, before finally feeling almost nothing at all, as if he had just awoken from a crazy dream.

"Okay, now you tell me, chere," turning his body round to face Lana head on, sitting forward and looking a bit shaky to say the least, Remy continued. "What the hell was that, ah mean, ah feel like I've jus' gone through a years worth of life in one day. I need some air..." Stepping out of the car, Remy looked up to the sky and exhaled a lungful into the atmosphere.

"I can do more than anger," Lana spoke through the open window, Remy facing away from the car towards the horizon as he recovered from his emotional trip. Turning as Lana continued, Remy took out yet another cigarette and listened to the Englishwoman as she described her condition.

"You want science? I can control everyone's emotions because I can control the chemicals that make you feel things. Endorphins. Adrenaline. There's like a million others, and I don't know their names. But I can feel everything you're feelin' and I can make ya feel anything I want. I can't however, make you do anything. I control feelings, your actions are yer own."

Remy took a long drag of his cigarette, before turning his back to the car again. Letting out the smoke, he turned back around to speak directly to Lana, his face as straight and serious as it was in any poker game he'd played in.

"So how many times have you used this power on me, chere? Ah'm not sure ah trust you all of a sudden..." Remy took another pull on his cigarette, before exhaling the smoke out quickly to carry on speaking.

"Ah want you ta' be honest me now, chere, y'hear?" The Cajun's face was serious, and his eyes were flaring slightly. "Did you coerce me ta do anythin', anythin' at all, since we met back there in th' bar?"

Remy's trust issues hadn't exactly been helped by his realisation that Lana could have been controlling his emotions all this time. He knew he was okay, nothing had happened to him, he was safe. But he still felt a weird kind of feeling, that he had not been in complete control of himself, and after what had happened to him in the last year the youngster was beginning to feel like he could trust absolutely nobody apart from himself.

[Lana Kane]

Lana ignored the first part of his words, as his later ones seemed more important in this moment--as he was stopping the car! She looked behind them, and gritted her teeth as he got out. In hindsight, perhaps she should have kept her mouth shut until the chances of him leaving her on the side of the road were less. "What the hell was that, ah mean, ah feel like I've jus' gone through a years worth of life in one day. I need some air..." He got out of the car! Great! They were clearly just going to have this out now! THIS is why she needed to learn not to trust people! However one fatal flaw with her was she never seemed to learn. Because she made people feel what she wanted, trying to judge what they would do and feel on their on became slightly harder.

"So how many times have you used this power on me, chere? Ah'm not sure ah trust you all of a sudden..." Turning her face away from the smoke, Lana waved the air clear before looking back at him. "Ah want you ta' be honest me now, chere, y'hear?" "You don't have to talk ta me like i'm three. I know what honestly means." She snapped, just annoyed this wasn't going her way.

"Did you coerce me ta do anythin', anythin' at all, since we met back there in th' bar?" Well here was were she decided honestly was over rated. "I got no fightin skills! Look at me! I'm half the size of even short men. My skills are getting others to do my bidding. So yeah, I got in over my head with the human. He had one too many drinks, and that makes it a bitch to control. I needed help, and I send out a wave to everyone in the bar. I didn't pick you out. I made you want to protect me." Among other things she would not admit to right now.

"But to be fair, had I known that you were a mutant, I might 'ave taken my chances with the humans! They get a little rough, throw a punch . . . Mutants blow shite up with a deck of cards and out everyone around them!" Which had started all the running she was trying to avoid! He looked at her with a blank expression, one clearly meant for her to be unable to read--but it wasn't his face she was reading, it was his emotions. And he couldn't hide them. "Look, I could have easily made you my bitch from here to East cost if I wanted. I decided ta trust you. I'm not using my powers on ya now. I was trying ta be honest. If ya gonna be a shite about it then just ditch me at the next town."

He wasn't really being mean about this, in fact compared to a few others he was handling it a bit better, however Lana had learned that no one trusted empathes or telepaths. They were the freaks among the freaks. Not even mutants really trusted them. The only person to ever let their guard down around her was Xavier, and that was because he was in her head and knew when she was toying with him. The only reason she was being a bitch about this was because Lana had learned the way to handle others knowing what she was, was to beat them to it. "And by the way, you can stare at me all ya want with that expression, but I still know what goin on behind it. That part I can't turn off. I've assaulted with everything everyone around me feels since I was a kid. So don't bother."

[skullofbalerion]

"You don't have to talk ta me like i'm three. I know what honestly means."

"Alright, ah'm sorry, it's just, well, it could'a been real dangerous, y'know petite?" His face fell slightly, realising how dangerous he could become, and feeling rather responsible all of a sudden.

"I got no fightin skills! Look at me! I'm half the size of even short men. My skills are getting others to do my bidding. So yeah, I got in over my head with the human. He had one too many drinks, and that makes it a bitch to control. I needed help, and I send out a wave to everyone in the bar. I didn't pick you out. I made you want to protect me."

"Uh huh? You made me want to protect ya, did ya chere?" Remy managed a thinly veiled smile through his still-quivering lips. "I hope you know, Gambit is a hero, okay chere? That means I would'a helped out anyway..." The Cajun wasn't trying to sound like some kind of saviour, or arrogant superhero-in-waiting with unending self-belief. He was merely being honest, something he thought was integral to any relationship. But at least Lana had come clean, even if it had been after a scrape with an angry gang of bikers.

"But to be fair, had I known that you were a mutant, I might 'ave taken my chances with the humans! They get a little rough, throw a punch . . . Mutants blow shite up with a deck of cards and out everyone around them!"

Tilting his head back as he laughed, Remy finished smoking his cigarette and tossed the butt over the edge of the road side. Now leaning on the car door, arms resting on the wound-down window, head poking slightly through the gap where the glass had been, Remy looked at Lana, directly in the eyes, trying not to show any kind of expression at all.

"Look, I could have easily made you my bitch from here to East cost if I wanted. I decided ta trust you. I'm not using my powers on ya now. I was trying ta be honest. If ya gonna be a shite about it then just ditch me at the next town."

"Hey now chere, I never said anythin' about ditchin' or any shit like that..." Remy stood back from the car door, leaving enough room to reach for the handle. "I just want you to be straight with me, and to promise me you won't go using your powers on poor little me without mah say so." Clicking the door handle, he swung open the door to clamber inside. "Is that fair enough?"

Clambering back in the car, Remy hadn't ceased eye contact throughout the conversation. It was as much to do with trying to work Lana out, as it had been trying to maintain a guarded perception. His instincts told Remy that this lady wasn't his enemy; she was witty and good company, and Remy hadn't felt that comfortability with someone for a long time. As for trusting, well, that was something on a completely different scale. If Lana didn't trust him, then fine, he was cool with that. But it was the same the other way around. Trust was a concept that Remy had trouble with.

Starting the car up and switching the head-lamps on to uncover the dark road ahead of them, Remy pulled away slowly, carefully. Oone thing was for certain in his mind;this was going to be an interesting journey. Hell, it already had been, it was sure to get even more intriguing. At the thought of this, Remy smiled, and put his foot down to accelerate the yellow sports car speeding down the highway in the early hours of the morning.

[Lana Kane]

Lana's foremost bad habit was getting defensive about things that sometimes didn't need that level of defense. She'd learned over the years that when others found out what she could do, they either went one of two ways. Thought her untrustworthy worthy and a freak; or treated her just like any mutant. It was beginning to be clear he was going to fall in the later. While made her shift from defensive, or more relived. "I hope you know, Gambit is a hero, okay chere? That means I would'a helped out anyway..." Maybe, but she had not been willing to take the risk that someone would have just played a hero. Not with her life.

"Hey now chere, I never said anythin' about ditchin' or any shit like that..." "Most don't. They just do it." Because powers that could control them, freaked most mutants out. She looked away for a few seconds, as his stare mixed with his unusual eyes was a bit unnerving.

"I just want you to be straight with me, and to promise me you won't go using your powers on poor little me without mah say so." Poor little him? Really? Lana's eyes moved over what she could see of him through the window. "Not so little." "Is that fair enough?" He asked, before getting in and starting their drive away. "Fair enough." She agreed, starting to feel a bit better about this.

Since he was accepting of her powers, it meant she could help him with them. "Which brings us back to your powers. You said that sometimes you can't control them when you feel certain ways. I can help with that." Make him feel a controlled form of whatever he felt when he lost control. Then work their way to the uncontrolled.

[skullofbalerion]

The episode in the car had left Remy a little flustered; he hadn't expected the rush of emotion he had just experienced and had to admit that this ability of Lana's, her unique mutant powers, were something extraordinary. All over the world powers of so many different kinds were popping up here and there, powers of all kinds, mutations that pushed the boundaries of scientific reasoning and logic. Sometimes, they were just downright weird. But Lana's was something the Cajun hadn't expected. Cool, nonetheless.

"Fair enough."

"Alright then," whispered Remy, his Cajun accent allowing the words to flow into the passing wind to make them barely audible.

As the car made it's way down the highway, the morning light began to crawl across the darkness of the distant horizon, spreading out across the plains and creeping ever so slowly towards the speeding yellow hulk of metal. Morning sunshine would be due to follow, and Remy began to feel a little tired from all of the night-time travelling. He yawned a long and wide yawn, as his eyes began to tell him they needed to shut-down for a little while.

"Which brings us back to your powers. You said that sometimes you can't control them when you feel certain ways. I can help with that."

Remy looked at Lana, an interested eyebrow raised above a curious red eye. "You can, huh?" Turning back to the road, Remy opened the car-door window to allow some air to wake him up a little bit. "How would you be able t' do that? I mean, ah don't even understand this 'power' of mine mahself, it might be a li'l dangerous to be messin' inside mah head!" The Cajun laughed, but he was serious inside. He did seem to lose control when he felt anger build up inside him. He wondered if his own mutation was related directly to his emotions in any way? And if they were, perhaps Lana could indeed help him, as she so fervently believed she could.

[Lana Kane]

"You can, huh?" He asked, before rolling downt he window, and Lana pulled her arms into herself some. With her small size she felt the cold more. She glanced around to see if he had anything she could wear to keep her warmer. All her things were with the human. "How would you be able t' do that?" It would be a challenge, but she was thinking of ideas.

"I mean, ah don't even understand this 'power' of mine mahself, it might be a li'l dangerous to be messin' inside mah head!" Dangerous. It was always dangerous to mess in a man's head. Fragile creatures they were. "I didn't wake up one morning and magicly know how to work my powers. I was taught." She'd had two teachers. "We could find some place away from everyone, I'd stand back, and give you a bit of whatever emotion you need ta work on controlling. Then we see what happens."

Lana looked over and up at him, "But if ya can't control it, and you start getting pissed at me, then you gots to speak up. All I need id for you ta start throwing shite at my head." The goal was to avoid that.