Gambit is forced to return to his southern roots by an ancient tithe, an old family feud and the kidnapping of his brother, Bobby.
As Gambit is enjoying some time with Rogue at the X-Mansion, he soon gets a call that requires him to return home to Louisiana as his brother, Bobby, has been kidnapped.
A flashback as Gambit heads home reveals why: Gambit and Bobby were part of the Thieves Guild, who were in a bitter family feud with a rival faction, the Assassins Guild. However, both sides called a truce whenever they needed to present a ceremonial tithe in tribute to the god-like X-Ternal for boons from her in reward for upholding their obligation to her. One time, however, the guy from the Thieves Guild who was supposed to present the tithe was tardy, and the X-Ternal wasted him for being late. At that point, to avoid a repetition, the X-Ternal dubbed Bobby as the representative for the Thieves Guild, and Gambit's ex-fiancée, Bella Donna, as the Assassins Guild representative, but warns both guilds that if they fail to keep their obligations again, the X-Ternal will punish the whole guild the same way she did the tardy member. It was also around this time that Gambit was engaged to Bella Donna and was going to marry her, but abandoned her at the altar and left, fed up with the feud and fearful the attempt at peace by marrying her would have led to their deaths either way.
Upon returning home, Gambit confronts Bella Donna about having Bobby and the Thieves Guild tithe released, but she reveals it was a trap, wanting Revenge on Gambit for jilting her at the altar; she ensures Gambit marries her this time by putting an ring that sends searing pain through him to keep him under her sway, and reveals that the tithe she let Bobby leave with is a fake, hoping to use the X-Ternal to wipe out the Thieves Guild entirely so the Assassins Guild is the Sole Survivor and winner of the feud.
With Gambit unable to warn Bobby or the Thieves Guild thanks to Bella Donna's machinations, Rogue and the other X-Men show up to help, but Bella Donna proves too powerful thanks to her boons. When the X-Ternal does arrive, everything seems to work in Bella Donna's favor until the X-Men try to plead with her, only for the X-Ternal to incapacitate them for disrupting the ceremony and prepare to punish the Thieves Guild for violating their oath. However, in desperation, Jean intervenes and shows the X-Ternal the truth of the whole situation. Furious that Bella Donna would dare use her and the boons she gave her to dishonor the tradition, the X-Ternal turns her fury on Bella Donna, who is unable to talk her way out of the situation.
Apologizing to the Thieves Guild, the X-Ternal offers them the choice of punishment for Bella Donna for her crimes. Bobby wants her, and the whole Assassins Guild executed, but Gambit is fed up with his brother and the need to kill to honor the mutant. He shoves him aside and asks the X-Ternal to strip Bella of her powers. The X-Ternal grants Gambit's wish before disappearing.
With that, Gambit tells Bella Donna off, along with Bobby, and declares he's an X-Man now and he's never coming back home ever again, finding the whole feud a waste of time and pointless. Back home at the X-Mansion, Rogue comforts Gambit over what happened.
Meanwhile, Magneto and Professor X continue exploring the Savage Land and soon have their first encounter with the Savage Land Mutates, who are under a new master that neither the Professor nor Magneto knows of.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: In the comics, Gambit's brother is called Henri instead of Bobby. This was likely to avoid confusion with Henry McCoy a.k.a. Beast.
- Adaptation Species Change: The X-Ternal is more than just a mutant, unlike Candra.
- Adaptational Villainy: Bella Donna in the comics often serves as an ally to Gambit. Here, she rigs a borderline Explosive Leash on him to ensure he can't back out of his wedding to her this time, and then backstabs the Thieves' Guild anyway with a phony tithe so they can be wiped out.
- Bee Afraid: Xavier exploits this to save Magneto from Barbarus by hitting a nearby beehive with a spear.
- Bittersweet Ending: Gambit is safe, but he refuses to ever associate with his old friends and family ever again.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Gambit saving Bobby. He doesn't even particularly like Bobby for making him a thief, but his morality got the better of him.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In the end, Cyclops points out that Gambit could have avoided a lot of trouble if he had trusted his teammates and asked for help.
- Dark and Troubled Past: We learn of Gambit's time as a thief and how the bitter conflict with the Assassins Guild caused him to run away and leave his girlfriend behind. Rogue is also surprised to learn that he even has a brother.
- A Day in the Limelight: A rare one for Gambit.
- Flashback: Flying back home, Gambit thinks back to the last offering to the X-Ternal, what happened to the poor guy who came up short, and how Bobby and Bella Donna were named the next chosen ones.
- Foreshadowing: Xavier and Magneto arrive at a village belonging to a local tribe, finding it ravaged and devoid of people. Barbarus then appears, indicating the Savage Land Mutates' new master is behind this attack.
- I Lied: The Assassins promised to free Bobby and the Thieves' offering to the X-Ternal in exchange for Gambit. They do let Bobby go, but they give him an empty box so that the X-Ternal will wipe them all out. When the Thieves point out they broke their word, the Assassins mock them for being so trusting of their most bitter enemies.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Rogue is distressed by the prospect of Gambit marrying Bella Donna but keeps her peace. The second she learns he has no intention of doing so, though, she happily attacks Bella Donna.
- Kick the Dog: Recognizing Rogue as a romantic rival, Bella Donna gladly tries to get under her skin.Bella Donna: Remy's kissed many women, chere, but love only me. [flaunts her ring]
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Barbarus, a four-armed Savage Land Mutate.
- My Greatest Failure: Gambit admits to regret over abandoning Bella Donna. He gets over it when severing ties with her and everyone else for good.
- Mysterious Past: Apart from generally understanding that it was Dark and Troubled, the X-Men know very little about Gambit's past before joining them. Even Rogue notes that Gambit rarely talks about his family, and she knows almost nothing about them. Thus, they're all concerned and confused when Gambit abruptly rushes home to Louisiana because of a never-before-mentioned brother whose life is at risk.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Jean sympathizes with Gambit's unwillingness to ask for help, as there are parts of her past she'd rather not talk about.
- Properly Paranoid: Ahead of the offering, Pierre knows that Bella Donna and the Assassins are plotting something.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Bella Donna was devastated by Gambit abandoning her when he ran away on the day of their wedding. She still wants to be with him, but she wants him to suffer first.
- Race Lift: The X-Ternal is portrayed as mixed-race instead of the very Caucasian and blonde Candra.
- Safe Word: Perplexingly averted with the Danger Room. When Gambit is running it, he gets distracted and turns the danger up so high it's basically impossible to win. Apparently, at full power, the Danger Room can really kill people somehow, even though it's just a hologram. You'd think something this dangerous would have some sort of emergency shutdown. (There's also the whole concept of making it possible to turn up the difficulty so high it's impossible to win in the first place).
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Gambit and Bella Donna are coming from rival guilds and were previously engaged. Gambit says they tried to bring both sides together in peace so that they could marry, but when that failed, he ran. He's certain they would've both been killed had they still tried to go ahead with their wedding.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: Gambit left home because he was scared of the deadly feud. He returns home as an experienced hero, so he finds the feud ridiculous and pointless. After the adventure, he insists he's done with all of them.Gambit: This is not my home. I am not Thief or Assassin. I am an X-Man, and I'm never comin' back.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Rogue comforts Gambit as he reflects on this adventure.
- Too Dumb to Live: One of the Assassin mooks lampshades how the Thieves never bothered to check the box's contents and simply took their biggest enemies at their word.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: The moment she sees Bella Donna using the ring to hurt Gambit, Rogue attacks her.
- Weird Trade Union: Both the Assassins and the Thieves' Guild.
- Wham Line: "They're gonna waste my brother."
