Gambit moved gracefully across the rooftop, his purple and black light armored costume barely making a sound as the thief cat-walked his way along. His brown overcoat swirled a bit in the soft breeze, the many hidden pockets weighed down by throwing blades and other such items. Quietly the brown haired, thin figure reached the side of the building, then balancing carefully on the edge of the roof he drew forth a small device. Leaning over the side to a waiting window he studied a small box that was built into the wall, then clipped on two wires from his device. A press of a button and he tensed up, waiting for a possible alarm, then relaxed once he saw things were still quiet. It had been a few months since he had left the X-men, but Gambit had kept himself busy. Reverting to old habits Remy had redefined himself as a Robin Hood like figure, hitting the crime families then passing on much of the profits to the disadvantaged. Of course it was dangerous work, but he had to admit he loved the thrill of the jobs too. Carefully Gambit slid the window open, then swung his body off of the roof and onto the room as silently as a cat. Looking around the dimly lit room he made his way stealthily to the door and out into a hallway. Drawing on the map he had memorized Remy made his way to the office on the second floor, easing the door open... "You're late," the voice sounded amused as the lights came on. 'How did they sneak up on me?' was Gambit's first thought as he rapidly took in the two figures standing nearby. In the front was a tall, brown skinned man, muscles rippling beneath a combat vest loaded with ammo, a cannon over his shoulder along with a sword and a mysterious looking side arm. Beside him was a pale looking young lady with black hair, oddly dressed in black lace and frills, reminding him of someone from another era. "Sorry, my friends, I didn't realize I had a appointment," Gambit smiled charmingly, trying to maintain a casual attitude. "I had calculated you'd reach here in under a minute," the tall black man noted, "you disappoint me." "Maybe you should have told him that, Ninja," the young lady noted with barely restrained amusement. "So," Gambit studied them both warily as he asked, "you knew that I was coming here, Mr. Ninja?" "Hollowpoint Ninja," he corrected flatly. "We were able to calculate this was your most likely target, yes," he agreed. He looked to his partner, "Gothic Lolita?" "Smashing and bashing duty calls," Gothic Lolita smiled as the pale woman moved with inhuman speed and grabbed at Gambit. With his usual grace Gambit tried to break free of her grip but was shocked at the power in her hold on his upper arm. 'She's super strong,' he realized, debating using his kinetic charging ability on her. "Good night," Gambit never even saw the blow from Hollowpoint Ninja that knocked him out. "Awww," Gothic Lolita sighed as he collapsed to the ground, "I wanted to play with him some more." "Entertain yourself later," Hollowpoint Ninja said flatly as he picked up Gambit, "we have a job to do." "Of course," Gothic Lolita conceded as they silently made their way out of the Advanced Ideas Manufacturing safe house. A reddish brown haired young woman stuck her head out the window of the waiting jeep and called, "He was late, wasn't he?" "Correct, Stem Cell," Hollowpoint Ninja agreed as he walked over to the vehicle, Gambit casually slung over his shoulder. "I'll contact the boss," Stem Cell cheerfully said as she picked up the covertly modified cellphone. Dialing the number quickly she waited for the pickup then reported, "Ma'am? Our objective has been obtained." "I wonder if Social Butterfly and Cornfed are finished their mission too?" Gothic Lolita asked as she climbed in the back seat, taking Gambit from Hollowpoint Ninja and laying him out in the back of the jeep. "We haven't heard from them on internal communicators," Hollowpoint Ninja noted as he got in the passenger side, "therefore they're probably still working." "We're on our way," Stem Cell nodded as she hung up. "Okay," she started up the engine, "we're off." "Where to?" Gothic Lolita asked her as she stuck her head up between the front seats, her twin pigtails looking oddly cute. "Deliver Gambit to our boss' local base," Stem Cell said simply, "then we'll be finished our obligation to her for helping repair the team." "Hmm," Hollowpoint Ninja nodded slightly. Stem Cell drove efficiently, but she couldn't help looking at her teammates fondly. Just a short time ago Stem Cell and her comrades had been badly damaged, a nearly non-functioning team of androids called Livewires. Assembled from nanotechnology by SHIELD they had been tasked with finding and shutting down black projects, covertly funded operations developing illegal technology for terrorist groups. In what nearly became a suicide run they took on a modified SHIELD hellicarrier along with a army of Hydra Life Model Decoys, a battle that slaughtered the team. Only Stem Cell had been left alive after that, and had been faced with the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding her comrades. 'Which is when Genesis contacted me,' Stem Cell thought. Using technology that was incredibly advanced even to the tech savvy Stem Cell the woman calling herself Genesis had regenerated the Livewires, them with Stem Cell's assistance had uploaded their damaged memory files. Her cost for restoring them seemed small enough, too, collecting a former X-Man as well as one other thing. The jeep bumped as they made their way into the small town, passing by the traditional corner store, small bank and other small town touches. "This almost looks like a bad Norman Rockwell painting." Gothic Lolita noted. "I don't like it," Hollowpoint Ninja noted as a child raced across the street to follow a bouncing ball. "Social said they're at Victoria and Baker," Stem Cell said as they turned onto Victoria street, cruising past seemingly prosaic homes. BOOM! "Step on it," Gothic said firmly as a explosion went off just ahead. Stem Cell floored them the jeep accelerating forward with a little jump. The fire up ahead lit up the sky, smoke pouring out of the home of Victoria and Baker. As they squealled to a stop Hollowpoint Ninja leapt out, scanning their surroundings. "Are they...?" Stem Cell asked as she got out, Gothic Lolita following. The front door blew out and three figures emerged, two smoking quite badly as their artificial flesh burned. Social Butterfly was a blonde, today, with a slim build and sexy eyes, dressed in a torn jumpsuit while Cornfed was his usual tall, bulky form with light brown hair and a oddly folksy attitude. "Status?" Hollowpoint Ninja demanded as he searched for possible enemy forces. "We're fine," Social Butterfly smiled sweetly, "just a bit singed." "Who did it?" Stem Cell demanded. "Dunno," Cornfed said as he hauled the woman over to the waiting jeep, "but the target's fine too." "Good," Gothic Lolita nodded. She tilted her head to the side in a questioning way, "Stick around to see who did this, or bolt?" "Unknown enemy with undisclosed capabilities," Hollowpoint Ninja noted, "it would be tactically unsound to stay." Stem Cell nodded, "Everyone in the jeep, we're moving out." "Ninja, can you ramp up your sensors?" Cornfed asked as they piled into the jeep, "Might give us some early warning." "Will do," Hollowpoint Ninja nodded. "Little tight in here," Social Butterfly complained good naturedly as she, Gothic and Cornfed climbed in, their two guests slung into the rear storage bay. "We'll be out of this soon," Stem Cell promised as they raced off in a squeal of tires. 'But why does Genesis want Gambit,' she looked back towards their dusky skinned captive, 'and the supervillain Frenzy?' To be continued... Notes: Livewires was a six issue miniseries by Adam Warren featuring robotic heroes fighting black projects. Very cool book, strongly recommended.
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