"This is so not going well." Logan whispered to himself as he turned what seemed to be the hundredth corner in a maze of back alleys and empty midnight streets. By the time they landed in the one horse town and asked a few questions it was way past dark. They decided to wait to search for the kid that the town folks called 'Gambit' until morning, but as luck would have it they crossed paths on the way to the hotel. That was an hour ago and they are still chasing after the kid.

Of course in retrospect if Bobby wouldn't have yelled "Look there he is." when they saw him maybe the mutant would not have started hightailing it in fear. Ever since then they had been chasing the boy around in circles and dodging small explosive objects this Gambit had been throwing. So far the mutant had only managed to hit Cyke once, and it was really only a minor burn, but it was enough to piss both the leader and Bobby off. Now they considered the new recruit a new enemy and were treating him as such.

He turned the last corner swiftly but came to a stop to catch his breath when he found his faster teammates had Gambit against a brick wall with no way out. Logan slowly walked up to the scene, analyzing everyone to see what the best move would be. He noticed that Scott was not making any attempts to shut their youngest teammate up and didn't think the leader was going to make much in negotiations any time soon, but they were both safe for now. So he needed to worry about the kid they had trapped.

That is when he got his first good look at the kid. Even in his current disheveled state the picture didn't do the boy justice. He was tall and lean, long beautiful auburn hair that looked like newly woven silk even though is was dirty and drenched in sweet from running and the eyes, hot damn those eyes. They were dark crimson and ebony, so full of emotion just one look could break your heart or steal it. It was obvious the kid was scared no matter how hard he tried to hide it, Logan could see the slight shaking in the long limbs, the Canadian wasn't sure if it was from fear or exhaustion, but seeing the dark circles under the boy's eyes he guessed a little of both. He really couldn't blame him though, they had managed to turn a routine search and recruit to a find and destroy and now had the young man cornered with no way of escape. The kid was pacing frantically back and forth like a caged animal in a dingy alley lunging for escape occasionally only to be pushed back into the corner by the leader and his overzealous partner. He rolled his eyes when Bobby began spatting more insults and threats at the scared boy.

"Will you shut the hell up." Logan growled and pushed his younger teammate a side so he could step closer to the frighten young man. He walked forward slowly and carefully, putting his hands up in the air as a sign of truce. "We don't wanna hurt ya. This just got a little out of hand. I promise nothin' will happen to ya." he continued to quietly and calmly mutter reassurance as he approached the scared teenager. He heard Gambit's breathing pick up and stopped deciding he was close enough. "We just wanted to ask ya a few questions and offer ya a place to stay."

"Non." Gambit whimpered, backing further away from the stranger. He was hoping that would be enough to get the strangers to leave, but he knew better really.

"Will ya hear me out first?" Logan was interrupted by the juvenile shaking his head. He clenched his teeth. He normally did not have the patience for this, but something made him try harder with this one. He needed this one to come home with them. He wanted to protect this one. Take that haunted look and fear from those eyes. "What if I tell them to leave? Will you talk to me? No strings attached kid."

Scott rushed up to protest. He was surprised at Logan taking the lead in the matter, but was willing to let it slide this time until now. "Logan?"

Logan put his hand in the air waving Scott to stop, never taking his eyes from Gambit, waiting for an answer.

Gambit glances at the two that first engaged him and then back to the older of the small group in front of him. He was so different then the other two. He seemed sincere, concerned, almost genuinely worried. He wanted to drop his shields just a little to see if his emotions were true, but feared the repercussions if they found out. They all were obviously mutants and could easily kill him if they became angry enough. He finally decided that if would be better to at least get rid of two of them, if anything it would make it easier for him to escape if needed. He gave the older mutant and nod.

Logan smiled and nodded back before turning to Scott. "Alright. I'll meet you two at the plane."

"What? No, Logan, this is not going to work this way!"

"Too bad. You had to go all gung ho and try to attack him without askin' questions first. Now go back to the plane I'll meet ya there in about an hour."

Scott smirked at the familiar speech, one he had given to Logan a million times. He shook his head lightly agreeing to go sure Logan could easily handle the situation. "Alright, this is your show. Don't screw it up. Come on Bobby."

"No way! This sucks!" Bobby whined while following the leader out of the alley.

"Logan's right, we screwed up. It's all him now. I bet he can get him to come home us." Scott smiled again at the night's turn of events and glanced over his shoulder at the two men talking before rounding the corner out of sight.

Bobby took one last look as well and caught the demon eyes of the new recruit. He sent a steely glare down the alley towards the teenager. Smirking when Gambit turned away quickly. "I hope he doesn't come to the mansion." he whispered and jogged to catch up with Scott.