Gambit picked himself up off the floor yet again. Dis get'tin old, he groused to himself as he rubbed his sore backside.
"Concentrate Lebeau!!" Yelled Bishop as he dove then rolled out of the way of an opposing robot drone.
"Wha'?" Gambit turned just in time to avoid the robot that missed Bishop with a backwards hand spring.
"Gambit!!" Yelled Sam. "Look out!!"
Sam's warning came too late. Gambit was knocked down, for the fourth or fifth time. He was blind sided by another robot drone that came from the opposite direction. He landed with a loud 'thud' unceremoniously on his back several feet away from Sam.
He closed his eyes against the soreness and pain of his body. Other than the loud ringing in his ears, he could hear the alarms going off, signifying that the sessions was halted. He could also hear the oncoming footsteps of his team members gathering around him.
"Is he out?" Asked one. "Cajun, is anything broken?" Asked another. "Can you hear me father?" Asked still another.
Gambit slowly opened his eyes to see the concerned faces of his team mates. He turned his head toward Bishop who was crouched down next to him. "Wha' hit me?"
"How many fingers?" Bishop held up two fingers.
"T'ree ... No, Four," said Gambit. He then laughed at the expression on Bishop's face. "I not hurt dat bad Pup."
"Honestly Lebeau, you pick the strangest times to make jokes," groused Bishop before he offered him a hand to help him stand. "He's fine. Give him room." Bishop pulled on his hand.
Gambit slowly stood back up. He noticed how everyone was giving him strange looks. "Wha's de mat'ta? Yah'll not see a body get knocked down five, six times in a row, Eh?" The gathered crowd started to disburse. Some of them waved a dismissing hand at him, others just shook their heads.
"It's not that Remy." Gambit turned toward the direction of Jean's
voice as she entered the room from the control booth. "It's just
that we are not use to 'you' getting knocked down five or six times in
a row. You are not concentrating." She reasoned. "Why
isn't your Spatial Awareness kicking in?"
"Don' know Jean," he scratched his head. "All I figure
is somet'ing else taken priority in my head."
Scott Summers, now leader of the X-Men Combat Team entered from the same door as Jean. "Gambit!"
Oh no, Not him!! "Yeah Boss man, wha' is it?" He turned to Scott's scowling figure as he drew near.
"You want to get yourself killed or paralyzed, that's one thing, but your lack of concentration is jeopardizing the team's safety!! Now you either concentrate on the task at hand or relinquish your slot to someone else!"
Gambit 'jis luv's him. "Yeah, I hear ya." Was all he said as he began to restretch his muscles to pull the sore kinks out. Get ya back soon, I promise, he thought as he eyed Cyclops out of the corner of his eye.
Jean pulled Scott out of Gambit's earshot, "Excuse us Remy." He did not answered, just nodded back as he bend over, touching the palms of his hands to the floor between his opened stretched legs.
"Don't be so hard on him Scott." She whispered.
"Why not? He has an obligation to his team to be there for them. Someone could have really gotten hurt." He whispered back.
"But no one did. He appears to be fine." She point at Gambit as he now was flexing then stretching his arms and chest. "It's obvious he can't concentrate because of Rogue being sick." They both paused as they watched him. "Dismiss him for the rest of the day."
"What?" Complained Scott. "That would not be fair to everyone else."
"You said so yourself that he is no good to the team if he can't concentrate," she reasoned. "Well he can't."
"All right Jean." He had to admit that her logic was sound. "Lebeau?" Gambit looked over at the two of them. "Could you come her for a moment?"
Gambit bend over, stretching his lower back once more before the trotted over to Scott and Jean. "Yeah."
"Since you can not concentrate, I'm releasing you from today's session."
Wha's up with him? Is what he wanted to say, but, "Really ... Why?" came out.
"You can go see about Rogue."
" 'xcused? Wha' 'bout my slot on de team?"
"Sam or Warren can stand in for you." Gambit gave him a sideways glance. "You can have it back tomorrow."
This was so unlike Scott. Gambit suspected that Jean had influenced him. He turned to look at the beautiful red head. His suspicions were confimred when she winked at him.
"Cool." Wha's de catch?
"Report back tomorrow evening for a solo session."
Dere it is. I knew it! He nodded to Scott and smiled at Jean, then winked openly at her. He knew it would rattle Scott. His satisfaction was to see Scott press his mouth into a thin line before he turned away, smiling, heading for the door.
Everyone stared at him. "Where are you going father?" Asked Bishop.
"Ta take care of my woman," he said as he pulled off his duster. "If she feel better, come up later. We'll watch de game on my set." He called over his shoulder to Bishop. "Exit Gambit." He told the automatic door opener. Immediately the side door opened to let him out.
"Gambit Exit Confirmed." The controls answered back as
the door shut behind him.