"Hiss... ha."
The stubbly, square-jawed man watched the white mist from his breath vanish from the corners of his mouth. He breathed twice more into his cupped hands, then vigorously rubbed them together while they were still warm, loosening his stiff knuckles a little.
Faint noises drifted in from outside the blue-black circular prison cells. He tilted his head and listened. It seemed there was some commotion on an upper level. After a while, a string of footsteps arrived at the eleventh-floor cell where he was being held.
Hiss. Boom.
"Remy LeBeau, the Warden is summoning you upstairs."
The alloy door, over two meters tall, unlocked section by section and twisted open. Remy leaned down against his bed, looking at the pairs of boots outside the door as he scratched his chin and grumbled impatiently, "How many times do I have to tell you? Call me 'Gambit.'"
Gambit slowly got to his feet and instinctively stretched, but the energy-suppression restraints wrapped from his shoulders down his spine like a vest left his whole body feeling uncomfortable.
"Your boss itching for another beating again? Heh heh, wasn't the last beating I gave him enough?"
One of the guards chuckled instead. He let Gambit walk in front and did not put many shackles or chains on him as he scoffed, "Hehehe, LeBeau, your strongest ability must be that hard mouth of yours. No matter how badly you get beaten, you never lose verbally. A word of warning—Warden Barnes thinks you've improved lately. You're tougher than expected, so he might not be quite so 'gentle' anymore."
After climbing only two steps, Gambit froze for several seconds. He sucked at his gums, sighed, then craned his neck to glance twice toward the tenth-floor cells, chatting familiarly with the guards.
".The new guy? Come on,