<strong>Name:</strong>Kevin Grunwald<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Local comic shop<br/><strong>Tagged:</strong>All, Nightwing<br/><br/>Although the sensation might not have been physical, the weight of a working week lifting from his shoulders was a sensation that Kevin Grunwald enjoyed as he stepped off the bus. It was a stroke of luck that his regular bus stop was five minutes walk from the apartment building where he lived, but it was even more fortunate that it was less than a block from Heroes' Hangout, the comic store he regularly visited. Opening the shop's front door he set his backpack down, exchanging a few quick words with the owner manning the front counter before heading deeper into the shop. An eager light burned in his eyes as he made his way towards his destination, occasionally squeezing past other patrons looking at or chattering about their new purchases - the shop's aisles weren't really narrow, but then neither was Kevin. He'd really gotten into comics when he was fourteen, after his older brother had been paralysed from the waist down in a traffic accident and he'd had to give up most of his free time to act as his unofficial carer. Raiding Joe's comics collection had first been a form of petty revenge on his brother, but Kevin had soon been caught up in the vivid and action-packed worlds of the X-Men, the Avengers, Daredevil and other superheroes. It was a fascination that twenty years later still held him in a grip as firm as in his mid-teens.<br/><br/>The blond man smiled as he caught sight of the titles he sought. Marvel's mutant series had always been his favourite, and they were his first stop whenever he visited the Hangout. Uncanny X-Men, Amazing X-Men, Wolverine, Cable & X-Force, the list went on. And then Kevin's breath caught in his throat as he caught sight of what he had been eagerly awaiting since it had been announced. Almost reverently he took the first issue of the new Gambit ongoing series from the shelf and gazed at the cover's crisp art. The Cajun thief had been a favourite of Kevin's ever since he had first appeared back in Uncanny X-Men, as a devil-may-care gentleman thief. Casually charming, all but irresistible to women, a footloose wanderer with light fingers and an intriguing history, in many ways he was the opposite of what Kevin was like in the real world. Maybe that was why the blond call centre worker had such a soft spot for the mutant hero. With his copy of Gambit #1 firmly in his grasp Kevin pushed through the crowded aisle, turning the corner and heading for a more quiet place to look at his prize -<br/><br/>The white-hot flash of pain hit him out of nowhere. One instant Kevin was casually walking through the shop, anticipating finding a quiet corner to page through his new comic. The next, his entire body seemed to burst into flame, not hot or cold but simply<em>burning</em>even as white light washed away his sight. Kevin gasped for air so that he could scream in pain, but even that option was denied to him as the world around him flickered and twisted before restoring itself just in time for him to collapse to the hard floor.<br/><br/><em>Wait a minute,</em>he wondered muzzily as he fought for breath and waited for the pain to die away.<em>The Hangout doesn't have hard floors - it's got carpet. What's going on?</em>Blinking his eyes rapidly Kevin pushed himself upright, grasping a nearby shelf to steady himself from the aftereffects of whatever the hell had just happened to him. Actually, thinking about it, there didn't seem to be any aftereffects - in fact, the pain and dizziness were fading as if they had never been. Taking a deep breath he looked around, his forehead furrowing in surprise. This place, wherever it was, definitely wasn't the Heroes' Hangout. It didn't make sense.<em>Okay, take it one step at a time. Calm down,</em>he mentally urged himself, bringing his hands up to rub his face in a habitual gesture. And then Kevin abruptly froze as he caught sight of his own hands clad in fingerless gloves. He hadn't been wearing fingerless gloves when he walked into the Hangout - hell, he didn't even<strong>own</strong>a pair of gloves! His eyes widened as he looked down at himself, catching sight of the armoured yet lightweight boots on his feet, the black trousers trimmed with a deep purple which matched the breastplate over his dark shirt, and the battered trenchcoat which topped the whole assembly.<br/><br/>"What. The. Hell?" Kevin murmured in disbelief. He'd never worn such an outfit in his life yet he was as familiar with it as his route to work. Maybe even better, as memories of a life he had never lived rushed into his mind. For a long moment he concentrated on the memories of Kevin Grunwald, struggling to hold onto his sense of self as the surge of foreign memories threatened to overwhelm him before he finally managed to put them in order. Almost certain of what he would see the young man moved to the new shop's door, looking in the glass panel with a mixture of dread and anticipation. His best guess and the memories which had bombarded him had been right on the money. Instead of a plump blond man in his thirties a lean wiry figure with long auburn hair and a gymnast's build was reflected in the glass. Most distinctive of all, however, were the eyes - instead of a pair of baby blues the orbs gazing back at him were dark with pupils glowing red like fiery coals.<br/><br/><em>I've become Gambit,</em>Kevin thought numbly. How it had happened, how it was even possible, Kevin had no idea, but the truth was inescapable. Taking a deep breath he took a long look around the interior of the shop, noting absently that he wasn't the only one wearing a superhero costume. A small group of men and women clad in costumes of other heroes was scattered throughout the shop, and judging by the uncomprehending expressions on their faces Kevin was willing to bet they were going through the same disbelief that he had. Standing next to him was a man clad in the costume of Nightwing, and he recognised others wearing the outfits of the heroes they so resembled - Zealot, Captain America, X-23, Spider-Man in his symbiote costume, Witchblade and others.<br/><br/>"Let me guess," he murmured in a husky yet sexy Creole-tinged drawl loud enough to be heard by the others, "none of you looked like this when you woke up this morning,<em>heh</em>?"<br/><br/>(http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2008/02/gambit-(3).jpg)<br/>