Ross Boss
Natasha was the first one that woke up the next morning. She changed into fresh clothes and went up to Tony’s floor since there was no kitchen on the guest floor. Ten minutes later Remy came into the kitchen. He was fully clothed and was flipping a deck of cards from hand to hand.
“Mornin’.”
Natasha was still a bit sleepy.
“Morning.”
Remy’s voice was clear, almost as if he had been awake for hours. Natasha looked at him with surprise.
“How long have you been awake?”
He glanced over to the clock on the wall.
“Around 10 minutes.”
Her eyes widened a bit.
“No way.”
He understood immediately and smiled.
“When you live on the streets you learn to get clothed and fully awake in a few minutes. After some time you do it automatically.”
He threw the cards around with precision and caught them all again. Natasha’s eyes were following them.
“Who are you? We never really got introduced yesterday.”
Remy looked over to her and put the cards on the table.
“My name is Remy LeBeau. To my enemies it’s Gambit.”
Recognition dawned upon Natasha.
“Gambit. You were the one that escaped from Stryker.”
He froze and the card he held in his hand glowed slightly purple.
“How do you know that?”
“I read his files. After he was taken. SHIELD got his files. He never broke you.”
The glow slowly disappeared.
“Never.”
She turned away from him and started to prepare toasts and scrambled eggs for everyone.
“I’m Natasha.”
He nodded but kept quiet. She glanced over her shoulder. He was, once again, playing with the cards.
“Why cards?”
He smirked.
“Because that’s exactly what they are. Cards. They will take all your weapons. But why would they ever take your cards?”
She turned back to the food.
“You’ve been through things. Something changed you right?”
He was quiet so she explained further.
“The look in your eyes yesterday. When Tony was having trouble breathing. I’ve seen it in other’s eyes. You were scared. That you would lose him.”
They were both quiet for a long time and she didn’t press him. In the end he spoke up.
“Tony is the only person I have left. The Thieves banished me. You don’t make friends on the streets. Tony… He is different. Not many people understand him. The real him. He is a good friend. Would give his life for his family. Even the ones that stab him in the back.”
She looked down at the toasts.
“You are talking about me right?”
He shook his head slightly.
“No. You saved his life. I don’t have anything against you. Besides. Life on the streets teaches you to not judge people by what others say. I would give you a chance even if you were a criminal. Even if you did something everyone hated you for.”
Natasha was struck by how what he said could so easily be referenced to the whole Civil War thing. If only they all could think like this man. But then something caught her attention.
“You’re speaking from your own experience.”
After a few seconds he nodded slowly. Pictures of dead mutants flashed before his eyes. The massacre. The children crying. The screams. Mutants ripped apart. He forced the images down but Natasha had noticed. If she would be anyone else she would have missed it. But she was a spy. And she saw it all. She saw the empty haunted look in his eyes. She saw the guilt. And she couldn’t understand. He could impossibly be much older than Wanda. What had happened in his life? He looked up at her and said:
“You’re curious.”
His voice was calm. Almost too calm. But he had learned. If he showed too much it would be used against him. She nodded and he sighed. Tony trusted her. And Tony’s trust was hard to gain.
“You ever heard about the Morlocks?”
She gasped. Had he been one of the survivors? Had he seen it? But the guilt… It didn’t fit in.
“You were one of them?”
For a second he was shocked. She thought that he… He quickly shook his head. They were his fault. How could she think that…
“I was the only one who knew how to get in there without getting noticed. I was the leader of Marauders.”
It took her a few seconds to grasp what he was saying. Her eyes flashed with anger.
“You led them down there?! You led them down there to slaughter the others?! There were CHILDREN there!”
He didn’t flinch. He had been through it already. The surviving Morlocks remembered him. Some of them had found him. Natasha was surprised. She had expected some kind of reaction. And suddenly she realized something. She was judging him. Even though she didn’t know the whole story. She dragged a chair out and sat down.
“I’m sorry. Can you tell me?”
He was surprised. Usually people tried to hurt him when they found out. But there was honesty in her eyes.
“I had problems with my powers. Sinister helped me but he wanted something in return. I created the Marauders. Thought it would be something like maybe stealing something. I didn’t realize what was happening until they started to fight. I tried to help the Morlocks. Creed got me.”
“You were hurt?”
Instead of answering he unbuttoned his shirt. There, across his chest, were old marks that looked almost as if someone had cut him with five knives. The scars looked almost as if they had been infected before they healed. The skin was standing up slightly and they were red with a tint of black in some places. They heard several gasps and both turned towards the elevator. All the Avengers plus Pepper were standing there. Some of them had changed into normal clothes while Clint, Sam and Wanda were in pyjamas. Remy quickly buttoned up his shirt. Clint was the first one to recover. He rushed over to the stove and moved the eggs around a bit.
“One more minute and we would be without food.”
Remy sunk down onto his chair and begun to flip the cards around. Slowly, one by one, everyone went into the kitchen. Wanda went over to Remy and sat down next to him.
“What was that?”
He smiled softly.
“I told you yesterday cherie. I was slashed when I fought.”
She looked really shaken. Pepper and Sam started to take juice, milk and more food out of the fridge while Natasha and Clint took care of the eggs and toasts. Then the door opened and Tony went in. He kissed Wanda on top of her head and Natasha on her cheek before he sat down next to Bucky.
“Morning everyone.”
Some of them answered while others were staring at Remy. The cajun, feeling very uneasy, put the cards on the table and said:
“I have scars. Can you stop staring now?”
They turned away from him. T’Challa smiled.
“I never thanked you.”
Remy was a bit confused.
“For knocking you out?”
T’Challa laughed.
“No, no. I hope you’ll never do that again although I would love to know how you got past my guards. But no. I wanted to thank you for helping Tony get me out of there. And for driving that fast.”
That made Tony remember something he was thinking about in the car.
“By the way. Do you even have a driver’s license Remy?”
Remy’s eyebrows shot up and Tony understood immediately. That was a no.
“You’re crazy.”
Remy just smirked. Pepper and Sam sat down and Natasha and Clint moved all the scrambled eggs and toasts onto the table. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Then Clint looked over to Remy and asked:
“Who are you by the way?”
“Remy LeBeau. To my enemies it’s Gambit.”
Clint tilted his head a bit.
“What kind of accent is that? I mean I don’t think I’ve heard it before.”
“Cajun. I’m a cajun.”
Wanda looked at him in interest. He smiled at her and she blushed a bit. Many of the other’s noticed that but no one commented. When they were done Tony levitated all the empty plates over to the sink.
“Okey. Talk now.”
Clint’s voice was curious.
Tony nodded.
“I got to the base as you know and was welcomed by some crazy overobeying man.”
“I’m pretty sure overobeying is not a word.”
Tony sent a fork flying at Remy but the cajun caught it without any difficulties. Wanda took it from him and gave him a glare. He smirked but didn’t say anything.
“As I said. I was taken to the lab and put in the chair.”
Bucky’s eyes widened but before he could say anything Remy quickly said:
“It doesn’t work that way on mutants. It’s a torture method. Pain.”
Everyone was staring at him. Clint was the first one to speak.
“And how is that supposed to be calming?”
Remy shrugged. Tony took over again.
“Then Ross came in. Don’t interrupt me. Please. He had me tortured a bit more. Then Remy came in and kicked ass. We got T’Challa out and got here. Oh, and one more important thing.”
He made a dramatic pause and then said:
“Ross is the boss of Hydra now.”
Clint spit out his juice over Sam.