An Assassin In The Mansion

“I love you too,” she said as she hugged her. Back on the blackbird the team was decidedly quiet. The entire event was odd and though it appeared that Peter was
Going to be alright, seeing that blackness come off of him was unsettling. “We did good team” Scott said. “Our first mission with our new recruit has ended on a positive note,” he said.

Back at the mansion after she put her suit case away Gambit had not come to see her. At lunch he wasn’t there either and when she asked after him they told her that he never came in for lunch.

Serena found it odd that Gambit had never come to see her after they returned to the mansion. When he wasn’t in the cafeteria at lunch she became concerned and asked Colossus about him. No one had seen him so she walked down to his room and knocked on the door.

“Gambit?”

Gambit didn’t answer but Serena definitely heard something move inside the room. She wasn’t certain what it was.

Serena’s senses were on full alert and something told her that she needed to be cautious. She readied an energy orb in her hand as she slowly opened the door.

Near the far wall was Gambit. He was on his knees and his hands were tied behind his back. There was a man all in black right behind him and he held some kind of pistol to the back of his head.

The man was about average height and he had a hood over his head so she could not see his face clearly at all. All the lights in the room were turned off and she heard Gambit muffle a few urgent words but she couldn’t understand what he said.

“Keep your arms down or I’ll redecorate this room with his brain. Leave and I will do the same...Serena Stark I presume?” The man asked. “Do come In, I’ve been waiting for you,” He said though Gambit shook his head and grunted...something she did not understand.

As Serena stepped into the room the first thing she noticed was how dark it was. But as her eyes adjusted she saw Gambit on his knees with his hands behind his back. A man was standing behind him with a gun at his head. She breathed in sharply and tried not to panic. She looked at the man and then glanced at Gambit. She slowly lowered her hand and extinguished the energy orb.

“Let him go.”

“Oh I will...Come in and close the door,” he commanded in a more serious tone and he pressed his weapon up to Gambit’s head. Gambit was trying to tell her to leave and alert the mansion but all that came out were grunts that she couldn’t understand. When she didn’t comply immediately he cocked his weapon just to emphasize that he would do what he said he would. He had a silencer on his pistol so no one would hear his shots.

What this man didn't know was that when she had lowered her hands down she had discreetly pushed a button on one of her gauntlets. This was a new feature Hank had added that would alert him that something was wrong. Her gantlets had GPS built in so he would be able to locate her very easily. At the same time she was attempting to psychically reach out to Charles, who just happened to be with Hank. She kept her expression outwardly neutral as she stepped further in and closed the door behind her as requested.

Charles, I need your help. Somehow an assassin got in to the mansion and is now holding Gambit. He has a gun. We are in Gambit's room.

"Ok, I've done as you have asked. Please let him go."

The man tilted his head slightly as he looked at her. And then he shifted to point his weapon at her. As he did though Gambit has reached into his back pocket and charged a card. It was Serena’s card the queen of hearts but the only one he could reach. He charged it and then tossed it with his fingers.

As Serena saw the red beam from the man’s laser sight shift up to her face both she and the Assassin saw the card. Gambit headbutted the man in the groin with the back of his head and Serena felt a rush of air and a sudden bite of pain right above her ear. She also heard something hit the wall behind her. At the same time Gambitshoulder rolled forward as the Assassin bent over in pain.

Within a split second Serena’s eyes filled up with red as the card exploded in kinetic energy. She herself was knocked against the door. Gambit was thrown forward but she was forced to close her eyes do to the sudden force and smoke.

When she opened them again she was on her hands and knees and Gambit was near her unmoving and the arm of his jacket was actually on fire. The Assassin was charred and mangled nearly beyond recognition and the smell of burned flesh was thick in the air.

Within seconds of her seeing the card everything was over. She was thrown back against the door and then she fell down onto her hands and knees. Smoke filled the room and she began to cough. Out in the hallways she could hear people running and shouting. Serena's eyes fell upon Gambit's form and she began to panic. She immediately grabbed a blanket and put out the fire on the arm of his jacket. When it was fully out, she ripped off the remainder of the jacket. Thankfully, he didn't appear to be burned. Scott and Hank burst into the room as she was trying to revive Gambit. Tears were in her eyes. She didn't even realize that the bullet had grazed the side of her head above her right ear and she was bleeding.

"Gambit? Gambit?!"

Scott and Hank burst into the room. Scott went to check on the intruder while Hank helped Serena with Gambit. He ripped his bindings off with a claw then flipped him onto his back and checked for a pulse. He frowned and then slapped him hard.

Gambit woke up with a start and took in a large breath as if he hadn’t been breathing for a while. He looked up at them both and blinked as he tried to clear his vision. “Oh...Hello Hank,” he said as if he were still half asleep then his gaze fell on Serena and it all came back to him. His gaze shifted to where the dead assassin lay them back up to Serena. “Are you alright Cherie?” He asked. “Your bleeding,” he said as he reached up to take her face onto his hands.

Serena jumped when Gambit suddenly awoke with a start. She breathed out shakily and the look of relief was evident in her eyes. She was trembling from the adrenaline that had been pumping through her body only seconds ago. When Gambit mentioned she was bleeding, she reached up with a trembling hand to the side of her head and felt blood. However, she wasn't concerned about that.

"I...I'm fine. Are you alright?"

After a brief stay in the infirmary they were both released a few hours later. There was no Identification on the would be Assassin and in fact, no identifiable information on him at all. Gambit laid next to Serena on her bed lazily and turned his head to face her.

“Your not sleeping, are you still worried about that Assassin? He’s been dealt with and the mansion is secure,” Gambit assured her. “You rescued Peter and now he’s certainly better off than this morning,” he said. “Tell me what you are thinking Serena...please?” He asked.

Serena’s nerves were rather shot by the end of the day. She was glad to be released from the infirmary and relieved that Gambit was alright. As she lay with him on her bed she found she couldn’t sleep even though she was exhausted. She looked over at Gambit as he spoke to her and sighed a little.

“I’m just worried that Hydra will send someone else to try and kill me and that I will continue to put people’s lives in danger. But what is bothering me more than that is that I still don’t know why they are after me.”

Gambit thought about that for a while and he began thinking that perhaps they needed to get Pharaoh and Jean Gray together. But his next thought made him sit up suddenly.

“How?” He spoke aloud. When he saw her looking at him questioningly he elaborated. “How would they know that you and I were an item?” Gambit asked. As his mind cluttered through the possibilities he could only come to one conclusion. Someone in the mansion was working for Hydra.

“I think we have a problem,” Gambit said.

Serena thought about what Gambit said and suddenly she sat up too. How could Hydra have known about her relationship with Gambit. Her mind quickly tried to go through the possibilities. She didn't want to believe that someone in the mansion was working for Hydra, but that was ultimately the only logical conclusion.

"Shit."

She got up and began to pace back and forth as the ramifications of that settled in her mind. "So, what do we do? Go to Charles?"

“Scott I think. Then he’ll decide what to do,” he said. They went to speak to him and after they told him everything that they thought he ultimately agreed. He also agreed that it needed to be someone who came to the mansion recently. There were two possibilities, a younger teen girl named Alex Jovanovski and a teen boy named Joshua Sweaton.

“See if you can locate the girl and I’ll look for the boy,” he said. “And keep it all under wraps, we don’t want to start a panic,” he said.

Serena had not yet really met anyone so she would ultimately be relying on Gambit to locate Alex since he would already know who had been there. She and Gambit left Scott and began to wander casually through the mansion together. They decided to go into the cafeteria and they sat at a table where they could easily see the other tables. In order to not look suspicious they had each gotten a little something, even though neither of them was really hungry.

"So, do you see anyone you don't recognize?"

Gambit looked around but the entire cafeteria was filled with children. His eyes went from girl to girl to girl but he didn’t see anyone he didn’t know. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out,” he said and stood up.

“Alex Jovanovski!” He yelled and the whole cafeteria suddenly got quiet. A blue-eyed blonde girl turned to face Gambit and their eyes met. Serena could tell she looked surprised and also a little frightened as she stood up.

In a few minutes they were all in Charles office along with Scott and the boy. “She didn’t put up a fight or anything Charles. I find it hard to believe that they’d have a child spy for them,” he said. However Serena knew full well about Natalya. She could have done something like this easily at this girls age.

Serena blinked when Gambit just stood up and called out her name. So much for being subtle. However, his plan did work and they were able to locate the girl. She came quietly along with them to Charles' office and a moment later Scott appeared with the boy. She glanced at Gambit when he expressed his doubt about Hydra having a child spy for them.

"It's not impossible though. Natalya was doing this kind of work at an even younger age than they are now. I would rather not believe it either, but at this point we can't overlook any possibilities."

Charles looked at the boy first and then the girl. “Scott, please take Joshua back to his class please, You two stay here.” He said and Scott did what he was asked to do. After they were gone he looked at the girl. “Alex, Your power is invisibility yes?” He asked and the girl nodded. “Yes sir,” she said meekly. “Until now we only knew that you could only make yourself invisible, can you make others invisible as well?” He asked. And Serena saw the girls face change suddenly. From a lamb into a panther now that the fog was up. She knew the girl was going to try to run.

Serena trusted Charles completely and when he asked Scott to take Joshua back to his class she knew that Alex was the person they were after. However, she sat there and kept her expression neutral. However, as Charles continued to question her she suddenly saw the girl's expression change from meek to something more powerful. She saw that the girl was going to try and run. Serena was up faster than she was and blocked the door.

"I suggest you don't try to run."

Gambit looked at Serena oddly them moved to our anhand on the girls shoulder. Once he did that the girl grabbed his hand. “What the!” He uttered as she twisted it then flipped him onto his back with just a small motion. Serena saw her draw some kind of throwing knife from somewhere and she prepared to throw it at her.

Serena saw the knife and she immediately reacted. She formed an energy orb in her hand and was prepared to throw it but then she stopped. She lowered her hand and looked at the young girl.

“Go ahead. But know this. If you throw that knife at me you will be completely giving up your life as well. Hydra doesn’t care about you Alex. They are only using you and once you are of no more use to them they will kill you. Is that really the life you want to live? You can change your life though right here and now. You can take control back. The choice is yours.”

The girl appeared to pause in what she was about to do and she looked up at her. “There is no going back and there is no failure,” she said but then Serena saw her face change back to the emotionless face she had had before. However her arm did not throw. Instead her eyes took on a blank look and she dropped her weapons. Charles had intervened and stopped her.

Gambit got up off of the floor and he rubbed his wrist as he looked at the girl. Charles was searching her mind, trying to find out what information she was given. Gambit searched her and found more knives and pocketed them.

After a few moments Charles shook his head. “She doesn’t know anything. Only her mission. But I can tell you what she has been through...it would break your heart to know,” he said.