Few of the various mutants that I have observed and studied over long years have fascinated me more than the Cajun thief, Remy Lebeau, more commonly know by the guaint moniker of Gambit.
Ironically, he represents both my greatest sucess... and perhaps my greatest failure.
What a fine pupil he could have been... what an invaluable asset to my Marauders. But like so many of his kind, he clings to a foolish sense of morality and honor- the same self-righteous Martyrdom that drives his teammates in the X-Men... that philosophy so long espoused by their mentor, Chalres Xavier.
Lebeau's teammates would do well to remember that morality is a fragile thing... and honor can be purchased if the price is high enough.
And I have certainly found Lebeau's price.
The X-Men, I always found it a trifle odd that they know even less about the mystery-shrouded past of Gambit - their loyal, trusted teammate - than they do of even my own... their sworn enemy. An orphan of unknown parentage -- to him, at least-- he grew up in New orleans, adopted by Jean-Luc lebeau, head of a secret society called the Thieves' Guild.
He married a woman named Bella Donna... daughter to the leader of an opposing clan, the Assassins' Guild. This served only to alienate lebeau from both his own clan, and his wife's, for there is a long and bloody history between the two factions.
This modern day Romeo and Juliet sotry had a predictably tragic ending... Gambit had to slay his own brother-in-law in a duel for the Clan's honor. Both Guilds agreed that the best thing to maintain the fragile peace between them was for Lebeau to go away - away from New Orleans, away from his Bella Donna, away from the pain of his memories... or so he hoped.
Indeed, his memories were still haunting him when I met him again... years later, after he had made a new name for himself as one of the foremost professional thieves in the world... and one with a great deal of contacts that would be of benefit to a man of my... agendas.
Acting under my directions, he gathered to me the core members of my private army - a collection of mutants, mutates and enhanced humans which I named the Marauders. Then, in what turned out to be his final mission for me, he led them into the subterranean refuge of the Morlocks - a hidden society of outcast mutants that I wanted exterminated, for their very existance polluted my work. Too late, Lebeau realized the true intent of the mission, and attempted to prevent the massacre. Unable to stop the carnage, Lebeau saved what lives he could and fled before the X-Men arrived to engage the Marauders.
I suppose that for those lacking my vision, such wholesale genocide could be quite shocking. So it was for Remy Lebeau, whose guilt over his role in the purge drove him away from my service... and back to his tortured solitary wanderings.
It was during this yimr that his path once again converged with that of those outlaw mutants he had narrowly avoided that bloody night in the tunnels beneath Manhattan. He ran afoul of the X-Men's weather-witch Storm - at the time reduced in age to adolescence - while liberating paintings from a mansion in Illinois.
Apparently, the youthful wind-rider's innocence and determination touched something in the romantic-minded thief, and he aided her and her fellow X-Men in their struggle against the insane psionic entity called the Shadow King.
It was not long after that Gambit was convinced to join the X-Men's ranks. Even a natural loner like Lebeau, it seems, has an intrinsic need for a family... even the disjointed, ragtag band of misfits and tortured souls that Xvaier's student have always been. After all, his own family was long ago lost to him.
It was not an easy fit at first. Lebeau is not an easy man to get to know... and is certainly not very forthcoming with information about himself. After the Morlock incident, it is rather clear why... though it would be some time before the rest of those fools would realize the truth. The team's resident berserker, Wolverine, was especially distrustful of this arrogant stranger, though these two men found common ground, appropriately enough, in their similarly private natures and checkered pasts. But it wasn't long before Gambit found a more... compelling reason to remain with the team.
Rogue. Even I have been unable to glean her birth name. Raised in secrecy by Mystique of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, she is a young woman possessed of powers and experience far beyond her years. The chemistry between she and the lonely, brooding Cajun was instant and undeniable.
Theirs was a star-crossed romance, however. Between Lebeau's reluctance to truly get close, his secrecy over his past, and memories of Bella Donna still haunting his heart, he suceeded mostly in keeping her at arm's length. And Rogue's inability to touch anyone without stealing their memories and lifeforce - an unfortunate but fascinating side-effect of her mutant power - certainly didn't help matters.
And of course, the inevitable, irrevocable breaking point was still to come.
nevertheles, they continued to grow close, fighting alongside each other as members of the X-Men, overcoming substantial obstacles to their growing love, and threats to their very lives as well. One of the greatest strains occured early on... when Bella Donna returned after years apart from her husband to help the X-Men against the alien Brood... only to apparently sacrifice her own life in the process.
Several months later, Gambit and the rest of Xavier's children were at the heart of a bizarre phenomenon I have yet to completely untangle. It seems that for an indeterminable period, reality as we know it was altered. I believe it was during this crisis that Rogue and Gambit shared what they believed to be a first and final kiss-- and in that moment, she saw his most shameful secret. The incident plunged Lebeau into a coma and shattered Rogue emotionally-- for though she'd for an instant glimpsed into her beloved's mind, she could not, or would not remember what she'd seen in those shadowed recesses.
The X-Men's travails eventually led them to Antartica... to a hidden base of the self-proclaimed savior of mutantkind, Magneto, which negated their mutant power while they were trapped therein. Rogue's inability to touch finally not a factor - and both of them believing they could very well die by the following sunrise - Gambit and the girl finally expressed their long-standing desire for one another.
But Remy Lebeau had stayed one step ahead of his past for too long.
it was also at that desolate complex at the bottom of the world that Gambit's greatest secret - his past association with me, to be precise - finally came to light - in a bizarre trial presided by a being claiming to be the alien conqueror, Eric the Red.
(I have my down guesses as to the stranger's true identity, but I digress.)
Gambit's past association with my Marauders, his role in the Morlock massacre, and hence in mainming his teammate Warren Worthington - actions for which Lebeau had long since atoned - were too much for him to bear before his fellow X-Men. And Rogue, poor dear, felt the most betrayed of all. Having absorbed his memories during the trial... she also absorbed his guilt and self-loathing. In a delicious turn of events, Gambit's own shame caused the woman he loves to leave him stranded at the South Pole! And though she returned several times to desesperately search for him, it was too late -- Lebeau would have to find his own way.
And of course, he did... though circumtances that remain unclear even to me. He is once again an X-Man... but things will never be the same now. Certainly he must earn their trust all over again... and perhaps Rogue's love as well.
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