Gambit solved the problem by asking Essex to re-implant the grey matter his future self had excised back into his brain. This gave him advanced kinetic abilities, enabling him to return himself and Courier to the present several months after they had left. Gambit hoped that he’d be able to control the power now, unlike his younger self.

A pleasant side effect was that his powers now were an external field around his body, enabling him to touch and kiss Rogue without her absorbing him. That happiness was to last only shortly, though, as they found that their mutual tendency towards secrecy and their own issues and problems made them unable to sustain a relationship right then. So, they decided to call it quits.

In addition, Gambit’s powers once more started to take on uncontrollable levels, threatening to blow up anything he touched. As if this wasn’t enough for him to deal with, his father stepped down as Guild leader, making Gambit the new leader, a rather unexpected move, as up to this point he was still considered exiled. Meanwhile, the New Son, for unknown reason, changed his plan to create a new world and, over Fontanelle’s protest, called out a killing contract on Gambit, taken up by all kinds of assassins and mercs, including Gambit’s ex-wife, Bella Donna. [Gambit (3rd series) #16]

Gambit survived a first assassination attempt of Bullseye, thanks to the arrival of the Assassins Guild under Bella Donna’s leadership, who wanted the kill for themselves. In the confusion, Gambit managed to slip away, find shelter with the Thieves Guild and, with the help of Tante Mattie and his hypercharged powers, he was capable of healing himself from the lethal injury Bullseye gave him. More villains arrived and Gambit was saved by FBI Agent Denti, of all people, made rather strange by the fact that they were attacked by Denti’s alter ego, the X-Cutioner. [Gambit (3rd series) #17]

In the battle between the different villains and assassins, all trying to earn the money on Remy’s head, Gambit and Bella Donna were buried under a falling building. Gambit used his powers to create a pocket for them. During their conversation, Gambit figured out that the New Son had hired several killers, but not the Guild. Bella Donna had volunteered them because she was looking for a way to get closer to him, to figure out if she still loved him. While Gambit admitted he didn’t know how he felt, they agreed that, now that they were Guild leaders, they could stop the war between their factions and work together to figure out the Guild prophecies about the Old Kingdom and restore some normality to their lives. Gambit then freed them by charging and dissolving the entire debris around them. It turned out, though, Remy wasn’t aware that New Son had started the assassination game to force Gambit to escalate the use of his powers. [Gambit (3rd series) #18-19]

In the meantime, the X-Man, Archangel, had been contacted by New Son to attack Gambit (having been mutilated during the Morlock Massacre, he was not exactly Gambit’s biggest fan), though actually Warren only pretended to work along, double-crossing New Son. Gambit and some X-Men followed Archangel to New Son’s Crystal Cathedral, a place outside time, as Gambit finally let them in on his connection to the New Son. New Son - an energy being – reacted angrily to the double-cross and claimed that he was trying to save the world from Gambit and that he was trying to make Remy realize the scope of his power, by force if necessary. Shockingly, New Son was revealed to be another, older version of Gambit. The battle destroyed the citadel and the X-Men left though one of Quiet Bill’s portals to their world, while the New Son vanished through another. [Gambit Annual 2000]

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