Author: Junkeeb, contributor

The action opens up with Gambit breaking into Vargas's pad and kicking the fanning of the twins. I must say, it is a very sweet intro. I love how CC makes Gambit a smooth charmer. His dialogue is very witty and none of that useless Lobdell over accent crap! Back to the action, Gambit makes short work of the twins to come face to face with Vargas! Gambit knows the man (which again good characterization on CC's part as a good thief always knows what he is up against). Vargas challenges Gambit himself!

We then catch up with the X-Treme team who are sitting around a campfire on the beach in Spain. Rogue is playing the guitar and singin' the blues! Who knew? They are trying to relax, but Neal is having none of it. He is very put out by Betsy's passing and can't understand why the team is so cheerful. Meanwhile Bishop gets sucked into a strange vision!

He sees Betsy and she comes to him. Bishop is sure she is an illusion and then… GATEWAY! Gateway has come to show him clues on what they (the X-Treme team are searching for). Betsy has come through this portal for a brief bit to show a page of Destiny's Diary to him. It is a page of GAMBIT NAKED! Apparently it is a page from a volume they do not have. Betsy leaves then. She cannot stay any longer and is enveloped by a bright yellow light.

As Bishop screams for Betsy to stay, the rest of the team casually walk through the bright yellow light and greet Gateway. They explain him to Thunderbird. He is there to show them a giant needle in the desert. Then poof, he is gone and they are back on the beach. This was a little confusing and was mostly exposition.

Next we find that Rogue's crazy powers perhaps summoned Gateway and her appearance changes to resemble him. It was actually cute to see her disgruntled over her appearance as her hair turns white and recedes. Bishop tells the team that the picture in the volume they do not possess is GAMBIT!

Meanwhile Gambit and Vargas are playing a game of wits. Gambit knows he is no match for Vargas physically. He tries to outwit him to buy himself some time. This was another clever scene. Everything Gambit tries, Vargas has an answer for. However Vargas is impressed by Gambit cajones. He askes Gambit, "What's your game?" Gambit replies "What have you got?" That cheeky bastard!

One thing this issue did do rather well was the character interactions. The scene where Storm is breaking into Destiny's old place was priceless as Bishop rails her about how long it takes her to pick the lock. She ends up telling him to stuff it!

Inside Destiny's place, we find that she had been expecting them. She has care packages and letters waiting for all of them. And we find that everything she had has been left to Rogue!

Back to Gambit and Vargas, it seems that Vargas is impressed with Gambit. He thought Gambit was there to steal the diary. Gambit says he has no interest in it. However, we never find out what he was there for as we see he will say anything to charm his way out of Vargas's clutches. Vargas shows Gambit a statue he has of Psylocke. He brags about how he vanquished her. Gambit rubs the statue's face with his hand and says " She kisses better, an loved to waltz. Now, you'll never know." Vargas is charmed like everyone else by the Cajun and lets him go.

As Gambit leaves he acknowledges his charm to save his butt. He then goes to Destiny's house to check on the X-Treme crew through the window! Apparently Gambit has been following the team and keeping his eyes on ROGUE! He spies them going through the things Destiny left for the team. Rogue finally returns to herself. And all seems to be well. We see that Gambit stole a diamond from Vargas in honor of Betsy.

But of course, all is not well that ends well. Vargas knows Gambit stole his diamond and that he went to meet up with the X-Treme gang. He seemed to have anticipated it.

Next up:
Deadline!

Again another solid issue. The art was really strong here. Salva & Liquid really seem to be making the most of this technique and improve with every issue. There were times that the definition could have been better like the hilarious moments of Rogue going through the boxes were a little fuzzy. Still it's a nice look to the overall style of the book.

CC is a little focused on exposition in this book, so the action is light. But he makes up for it in the scenes of Gambit using his charm and wit to out maneuver Vargas. And the character moments are priceless in some scenes but farfetched in others. Still the book was still enjoyable if flawed.