(prologue - New Orleans)
Bandit hands out the weapons brought by Detective Noreen Tanaka to his fellow guild members. He doesn’t think Gambit will be much of a problem after this. He tells Noreen that they’ve probably got enough firepower to take down the rest of the X-Men too. Noreen smiles back at him and agrees. Unseen by Bandit, Noreen has kept a devastating weapon for herself.
(the next morning)
At the scene of the weapons theft, Agent Riley of S.H.I.E.L.D. speaks with Captain Riley of the N.O.P.D. He asks the captain what’s going on. He informs Riley that they’re still piecing things together. He lost a lot of good people last night; four uniformed officers, two lab techs, two drivers and one of his best detectives. Somebody shot them and made off with a truck full of high-tech weaponry. He adds that another detective, Noreen Tanaka, is missing. Riley asks if he thinks the bad guys might have taken off with her. The captain replies that he thinks Detective Tanaka might be one of the bad guys.
Agent Riley says he’ll need her psych profile, permanent record and list of any commendations and citations in her jacket. Lewis is happy to oblige if it will help. He thinks it’s a shame. Tanaka used to be a darn good cop before she started becoming weird and obsessed. Another officer appears and informs his captain that Tanaka left some case notes on her ongoing cases in the truck, along with files on her open investigations. Riley says he’ll need those too.
Captain Lewis then informs Riley that she’s been following a colorful new thief of late, goes by the name of Bandit. Riley asks whether he means Gambit. Lewis replies that he’s involved too, but her focus has been on Bandit. Riley grabs the file and takes a good look. As he reads, another Agent Riley appears and asks Lewis if he’s the man in charge. Gambit overhears this and realizes he’s been rumbled. Lewis looks over to him, as Gambit makes his escape, still carrying the file.
(later)
Gambit has dinner with his ex-wife, Belladonna. He tells her that it was only a matter of time before Tanaka came after him. He wanted to be ready, and stealing those files will help. He explains that Madame Camille picked up news of a weapons truck getting jacked on the police scanner and connected it to Tanaka. He just had to sniff around to figure out her angle. Bella hopes he got the information he required. Remy says he did, but almost got his tail shot off as a result. Bella wanders over to him and smiles. “That’s my Remy. Never met a foolish chance you wouldn’t take, have you?” She moves her lips close to his, and he reluctantly points out that this probably isn’t a good idea.
Bella knows this. He has his true love, Rogue, and she has her Donyell now. It’s clear she’s in love with the guy. She wonders if they could double date sometime, or would that be weird what with them being exes an’all. Gambit pauses, before informing her that some of the information he picked up wasn’t quite what he was expecting. Tanaka’s been keeping tabs on Bandit. She has a little “iddy biddy” file on himself, but Bandit’s is big. He thinks Bandit has been using Belladonna to climb his way to the top of the guilds. There’s plenty of other sneaky stuff he’s been doing behind her back. He asks just how well she knows this character, anyway.
Belladonna slaps him hard. Remy would like to rewind to the part where they were almost kissing, but Belladonna picks up a vase and hurls it at him. She accuses him of being jealous, and asks how long he’s been with someone else. Can’t he just be happy for her? Remy insists it isn’t like that, but Belladonna is in no mood to listen. A tear rolls down her cheek, as she tells him he could have stayed in New Orleans and run the guilds with her, but he had to go and run back to his precious girlfriend and his stupid X-Men. She thinks Remy’s just like Tante Mattie, Jean Luc, Emil and all his other friends. They never had anything nice so say about Bandit either. They didn’t trust him, and she’ll tell Remy the same thing she told them. She orders him out and to leave her alone. If she sees him around there again he’s a dead man!
(and so)
Noreen Tanaka is upset at the delay. She had hoped Bandit would have killed Gambit by now. Bandit replies that LeBeau’s not stupid. He’s got several dozen of the deadliest killers on the planet, all armed to the teeth and gunning for him. By now, Remy probably knows it. It’ll take a while to find out where he’s hiding, but find him they will and then they’ll smoke him out. Until then, he adds, they’re just going to have to be patient. It’s not like the most hunted man in New Orleans is just going to drop into their laps.
Right on cue, Remy crashes through the skylight and lands on the table between Bandit and Tanaka. “Word is you’re looking for a rematch,” he grins. Three guys enter the room and Tanaka orders them to kill Gambit. The X-Man uses his incredible agility to avoid their gunfire but, as he lands, he falls victim to three charged balls fired at him by Bandit. They cause him pain, and the distraction allows Taylor to get behind Remy in order to strangle him. He tells Remy that he shouldn’t have come back to his town. He’s not going to allow him to just stroll in and take back leadership of the guilds.
Gambit somersaults over Bandit’s head, bringing his assailant to the floor. “Shouldn’ta come back?” enquires Remy. He has news for Bandit. He’s been back and has no interest in running the guilds, but he isn’t going to stand back and let him run a scam on his ex-wife neither. Bandit stands up, but Remy delivers a powerful punch into his stomach, which knocks the wind out of him.
Remy has read his file, and reminds him that he has a girlfriend back in Chicago or wherever he’s from; some girl from the New Warriors. Did he leave her when the money ran out, or is he just cheating? Bandit snarls that what Belladonna doesn’t know isn’t going to hurt her. Out of nowhere, Belladonna appears, and tells him that what she does know might knock his teeth out. She delivers a thumping uppercut, which results in a spray of blood from her now ex-boyfriend’s mouth, almost leaving him out cold.
Belladonna then looks at Remy and tells him she knows he was right about Bandit. She hugs him, and he tells Bandit to do himself a favor. “Stay down!” He lands a hefty punch, which panics Bandit a little. He calls for his guild members to kill them both, but Belladonna orders them to ignore him. Nobody’s shooting anybody. The guild members are a little confused over whom to take orders from. One guy suggests shooting all of them, before Detective Tanaka appears, holding a green cylinder in her left hand and a trigger in her right.
She gives a nasty smile. “Keep an ace up your sleeve. Isn’t that what you always say, Remy? Well mine just happens to be nuclear.” Encircled by the guild members, she orders them not to step any closer or she’ll blow the entire rotten city sky high. She turns to Remy, and adds that she’ll do it, unless he thinks he’s fast and accurate enough to cut a half-millimeter tripwire from a distance of fifty feet, before she can press down on the detonation button.
Remy fingers a couple of cards in his pocket with his right hand, as Tanaka warns him to stand down. She is confident he will back off, but Remy has news for her. He tells her she doesn’t know the first thing about him. With tremendous speed, he forgets the cards in his right pocket and unleashes three from his left. One strikes Tanaka in the chest, whilst another strikes the nuclear device. As it drops to the floor, Remy tells her that for her information, he is that fast, and accurate. She turns to see the wire has been cut in two by the card, effectively rendering the device harmless.
She bows her head, and Remy tells her that it’s over. Unfortunately, one of the guildsmen reminds him that, despite not wanting to seem ungrateful for him saving their necks, something occurred to them while they were fighting each other. They don’t really like taking orders from any of them, so if they are taken out, guild leadership is pretty much up for grabs. His cohorts agree with his reasoning.
Remy holds his hands up and asks them to hold on a minute. He explains that leadership of the guilds isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. People keep on trying to kill you for one thing, he adds. Bandit asks him to look around. There are too many of them. He can’t win. He picks Bandit up from the floor, and agrees that maybe he can’t, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to try.
He whispers that this bunch ain’t planning on letting him leave there alive either. He used to be a hero. Maybe he should try that again and see if it’s a better fit. Donyell still doesn’t think that two of them against an entire crew of assassins loaded with the latest in high-tech weaponry will suffice. Luckily, Belladonna throws her experience in with them. She isn’t letting Donyell off the hook. If they survive, the first thing she’s doing is kicking his butt all the way to the state line. He still doesn’t like the odds, but Gambit’s confidence inspires him to take the fight to the guild members and, before long, the fight is over.
(later)
Gambit leaves Tanaka’s stolen truck outside a police station. An officer emerges and tells the fleeing X-Man that he can’t leave his truck there. He walks round the back and discovers a pile of unconscious guild members stacked high, along with Detective Tanaka, bound and gagged. A sign stuck to her shoulder reads, ‘I’m guilty!’
(and later still)
Remy and Belladonna turn up at Madame Camille’s. He asks her to look after his ex-wife for a while. She could use some friends right now. She has a habit of latching on to guys who end up breaking her heart. Ginny appears from behind the curtain, and tells him he knows all about that. Remy points his finger at her. He’s had just about enough of her stupid schoolgirl crush. She coulda caused him a lot of trouble. She tries to talk back, but he’s having none of it.
Instead, he searches the surveillance discs in her archive and finds the one of the recent zombie attack. He asks her if she remembers the handsome fella with him. His name is Brother Voodoo. His civilian identity: doctor. His marital status: single. Ginny smiles.
He then heads outside and gets on his bike. Madame Camille asks if he’s leaving town. He says he is, for a while anyway. At least at the X-Mansion he gets a moments peace every now and then. He tells her that the big easy is anything but peaceful. Every time he comes back it’s the same ol’ thing. Nuthin’ but trouble.
