She loaded into an airplane along with the X-Men, dressed now in similar dark uniforms. Jean and Storm got into the cockpit, and the other three sat, but Lauren was the only one to buckle in.

As they walked to the X-Wing, Storm had explained how they had an airplane and its hangar hidden on the school grounds: it all lay underneath the basketball court. Inside the X-Wing now, the ladies in the cockpit hit some buttons to start the plane and Lauren presumed to retract the basketball court above. Once it opened, they hovered out of the hangar and disappeared into the clouds.

The flight over to New Jersey would take less than an hour in the jet, so she looked at Logan sitting across from her—talking would help ease her anxiety. "So, are the claws and the heightened senses the only things you can do?"

He scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Add an entire Adamantium skeleton, the ability to heal far quicker than a normal human, and an extended lifespan—I've gone through all the wars since the Civil War. I'd say I can do a bit more."

Her eyebrows shot up. Logan looked to be in his mid-thirties, not over a century old. She glanced at the other X-Men. "What about them? Except for Jean; she's told me about her abilities."

"Storm can fly and manipulate weather—hence the name. And Dick-Face over there," —he gestured over at Cyclops— "can shoot lasers out of his eyes."

Scott scowled at him; Jean had a smile on her lips as she shook her head.

"Run it over with us on what this Gambit can do, so we'll be prepared," Logan said.

Lauren did as they flew over to Secaucus, New Jersey. Storm pressed a button on the control panel to make the plane invisible before they descended out of the clouds—if not for the cloaking device, they would be visible to the ignorant humans walking on the sidewalks. The X-Wing silently landed on the roof of the warehouse Gambit and Nitall were in.

After pressing a button to lower the door, Jean and Storm unbuckled themselves; Scott and Logan stood. Lauren hurried to do the same.

Wolverine loomed over her and looked her dead in the eye. "You do exactly what we say, kid; got it?"

He could be scary when serious and giving out orders; Lauren nodded quickly—not wanting to make him mad by hesitating. She knew that if she saw Remy in trouble, she'd probably not listen to them. But he needed to see that she would be a team player.

He held her eye for a moment longer—like he knew what she thought—before looking at the others. "Let's get this over with."

When Logan passed her, Jean came into view. Lauren jolted with guilt: she had forgotten that the mutant was a telepath. The red-headed woman had a knowing look in her eyes as she waited for the other X-Men to exit; once they were alone, she headed over to Lauren with a smile on her lips.

"I know you'll do anything for Remy, but look first before you run to his rescue," she whispered.

"You're not mad?" Lauren asked, confused—she had practically lied to Wolverine.

Jean shook her head as she draped an arm over her shoulders and they headed out. "No; when the Professor demanded you come, we all knew how difficult it would be to keep you still. Love makes you ignore the danger.

"I've done some pretty reckless things for Scott, and he's vice versa. Just... try to be logical, seeing as how you have no powers."

Lauren stayed close to Jean as the three women followed the men through a rooftop access. They silently crept down the stairwells; Logan constantly sniffed, but he never stopped them from detecting danger. They got down to the floor level and had yet to come across any soldiers or Nitall's henchmen. She thought it odd and disturbing—she bet the X-Men were thinking it was a trap too.

After creeping down a long hallway of shut doors and empty offices, they came into a small room opening onto the warehouse's floor. All three of the bay doors were closed; large wooden crates, boxes, barrels, and pallets sat in designated areas; fluorescent lights hung overhead, providing decent lighting; forklifts and other heavy machinery sat quiet.

Lauren wasn't as experienced as the X-Men, but the place screamed ambush.

Wolverine looked back at her and motioned for her to stay put. Storm gripped her shoulder as she and the other X-Men headed into the wide space. She watched them head further away from her, looking for any kind of danger—same as she.

A figure suddenly dropped down from the rafters where he was hidden and landed in front of the X-Men—he held a staff glowing pink. He landed in a loud, echoing boom, and a powerful shock wave emanated from him, blowing all the X-Men back off their feet. Lauren ducked behind the wall before the force hit the open doorway; after it passed, she looked back into the warehouse.

Remy rose and blankly observed the mutants on the ground before him. He looked okay, other than the bruises and cuts from the car wreck. But even from where she stood, Lauren could tell there was something different about him. Maybe in the way he stood or the lack of emotion on his face...

"I guess you're the Cajun..." Logan said as he pushed himself back up.

"And you're the X-Men I've been warned about," Gambit said.

"Warned?" Scott repeated.

He didn't reply; his eyes roamed over them to rest on Jean. "You can stop trying, mademoiselle; you're not getting in."

Storm took a step forward. "We don't mean you any harm."

"Non? You mutants come dressed for a fight and your telepath tries to worm her way into my head... That tells me you do intend harm. So, unless you long for a fight that you will lose, I'd suggest you turn around and leave."

There was a stunned silence; Lauren had told them he could influence people to do what he wanted. She hoped he hadn't been able to get to them.

Storm looked at her comrades. "Maybe we should just go..."

Jean shook her head before Scott or Logan could agree with her. "No; we're staying. Snap out of it, guys."

"Alright, bub; that's enough with the tricks." Wolverine threw both of his hands down and the Adamantium claws slid out of his knuckles. "Where's Nitall?"

Gambit smirked. "Oh, you haven't even begun to see my tricks, monsieur."

He didn't flick his wrist like usual to make the playing cards appear; he just threw his hand out and the pink flaming cards flew out at them. With a hand against the side of his eye-gear, Cyclops shot three of the speeding projectiles; they exploded in dense puffs of smoke. Wolverine only got to slice one, but when he did, it exploded and he coughed on the thick smoke.

Before the smoke cleared, Gambit came soaring through it with a flying kick to knock Scott away. When he fell back, Gambit whirled the staff around to hit Logan across the back of his head; he stumbled forward, and Remy jerked the staff back to drive it into his stomach, then kicked him away, too.

Nonexistent wind suddenly picked up and Gambit was raised up into the air. Storm's blue eyes were now a glowing-white; she had her hands out to control the wind. As he flailed in the air, Gambit threw cards down at the two women. Jean diverted their paths with her telekinesis. Storm looked to shove the air, and Gambit went flying to crash among boxes and crates.

"I thought you promised a fight, bub," Logan taunted.

Lauren grimaced—he shouldn't have done that.

Many boxes glowing pink flew toward them. Some suddenly halted in midair as Jean caught them; the ones she missed, Scott shot down. Coming behind them were more cards. A blizzard suddenly started and blew the cards off track to explode harmlessly. Wolverine growled as he vanished into the blizzard toward where the cards kept coming from.

Something large and dark shot out of the blizzard; before it could be identified as a forklift, it slammed into Cyclops—he disappeared under it with a yell. Jean turned to help her fiancé when she suddenly jolted and cried out in pain.

No one had seen the pink light skidding across the concrete, so no one noticed a water pipe breaking through the concrete and rupturing. Water had pooled over their feet and had frozen due to Storm's blizzard.

The black woman immediately ceased the blizzard and ran out to Jean to help. Multiple cards flew at them and struck each woman in the head; they both dropped and remained still.

When the storm cleared completely, Remy and Logan were locked in hand-to-hand combat. Amazingly, Wolverine's Adamantium claws didn't cut through Gambit's staff when he caught the metal from slicing his face or chest. The two men were expert fighters—each landing staggering blows on each other. Lauren needed to do something to stop them before they seriously injured or killed the other, but she was scared to with those flaming cards flying everywhere—she could get hit.

Logan kneed Remy in the gut and he dropped to a knee. He quickly threw a card up into Wolverine's face; it exploded and blinded him. He clawed through the air to protect himself as he backtracked. The staff swung out and took Logan's feet out from under him. When he landed, he rolled over to his knees to get away when Gambit relentlessly banged his staff on his back.

Wolverine struggled to stay up on his hands and knees. Lauren could tell from the intensity of the hits that Gambit was going to kill him. He brought the staff back to pierce it through Wolverine's back; she ran out of the room.

"Remy, stop!" she yelled.

Remarkably, he did. After hesitating for a second, he turned with confusion on his face to see her standing a few feet away.

"Kid, run," Logan said in a strained voice. He still couldn't see, but had heard her.

Gambit looked down at the man at his feet, then, with a quick twirl of his staff, knocked Wolverine out cold.

He kept the staff in his hand as he walked over to her—the puzzlement never faded. When Gambit stopped in front of her, he had more bruises, a bloody lip, and bled from claw marks on his shoulder. No recognition flickered in his eyes.

It hurt seeing that he didn't know her. "What did Avaleyn do to you?"

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Lauren Binns. We met when I came to watch you perform in Chicago, then you saved me from Nitall. We've been running from her ever since until that car wreck, and she took you. You even met my parents."

His eyes would narrow every now and then, as it looked like memories were starting to come back.

She thought about the queen of hearts he had given her and reached for it. Gambit quickly seized her hand; his hold wasn't gentle, and alarm was writ on his face.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Remy; I just want to show you something. Trust me."

They looked at each other for a long time—him searching for any malicious intent, and her patiently letting him hunt. Eventually, his alarm faded, and he released her hand. Lauren didn't say anything as she reached into an inner pocket and pulled out the slightly bent card. His eyes dropped down to see what she held.

"It's from your deck. We played Three-card Monte, a kid destroyed your stand and took my money, but because I had won, you let me keep it. Remember?"

Gambit looked at the card in her hand for a long time; he traced the edges of it with a finger. She could see the lightening in his eyes that he was fighting to remember.

Lauren suddenly felt extremely weak and tired, like the energy was drained out of her. The last she saw was Remy looking up and meeting her eyes.

He still didn't remember.