The Test

This is the first real X-Men fic that I've written. It's kind of short, but I liked the idea, so I went with it. Please, enjoy, and send feedback!

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. (However, if Logan were to be given to me, I wouldn't refuse... :) And I know my friend and beta Cindy would appreciate Scott...) I'm recieving no monetary reward for this, but if Stan Lee and the other people who own X-Men desire to reward me with something (or someone), feel free! :)

The Test
by ReySolo

"And remember, no powers this time," Logan warned. He and Scott were standing in the basketball court outside the mansion. Both men were wearing shorts, as it was far too hot out to play basketball in anything more.

"Hey, I'm not the one who punctured the ball," Scott pointed out.

"And I'm not the one who burned a whole in the spare," Logan countered.

Jean was watching from the sidelines. "Would you two stop bickering and just play the game?" She was wearing her usual tight outfit, not as concerned about the heat. She was appreciating the view, however. Just because she and Scott were an item didn't mean she couldn't enjoy watching both men on the court, though their constant arguing was getting tiresome.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a voice in her head. Jean, could you come see me, please?

Jean sighed, but tried to hold back her disappointment. Of course, Professor, she replied. "Sorry, guys, the Professor wants to see me. You guys keep playing."

Scott opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to rethink it. "Come back when you can."

"Of course. I have to make sure you don't kill each other, don't I?" she replied as she headed inside.

"Now, let's see how well you play when you're not trying to protect her from me," Logan challenged as soon as she was out of range.

"You think you can handle me?" Scott asked.

"You couldn't--" Logan's reply was cut off as he felt his skin getting tingly and the world began to shimmer around him. Suddenly the basketball court was gone, and he found himself in a cold metal room, along with Scott.

"What the heck was that?" Scott asked, looking around the empty room. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

Logan glared at him. "How should I know? I didn't transport us here--wherever here is..." As he spoke, his adamantium claws shot out, and he reached to claw the wall open, only to be repelled by some sort of energy field. The shock stung, and he brought his claws back in and rubbed his knuckles.

Scott pretended not to notice his discomfort and merely responded to the other's words. "Transport--yeah, that was weird the way we just appeared here. Kind of like Nightcrawler, I guess, only it's obviously not line of sight and we didn't do it ourselves. It's like something out of Star Trek." He took off his sunglasses and tried to burn through the door, but the energy from his eyes merely dissipated into the energy barrier apparently surrounding the room.

Logan smirked. "Yeah. Beam me up, Scottie."

Now Scott glared at Logan. "You call me Scottie ever again and I'll--"

He was cut off as the door slowly opened.

The man who entered didn't seem normal. There was nothing specifically unusual about his appearance; blond hair, blue eyes, fairly large build. It may have been the blank expression on his face, as if he were only a projection instead of a living breathing human being.

Logan got right up in the man's face. "Hey, Bub, what's going on here? Who are you, and why are we here?" Scott backed away, expecting a violent reaction from the mysterious stranger. If he gets himself killed, I'm not going to get involved in it.

The man turned unseeing eyes toward Logan. In a deep voice, he stated, "One of you must die."

Confused, Logan looked at Scott, who had a similar look of confusion. Suddenly, two spears appeared on the floor between them.

Now Scott was starting to get annoyed. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but this is kidnapping. Let us go, now."

The unseeing eyes turned to Scott. "One of you must die. When one is dead, the other shall be returned home safely. Choose now."

"I'm guessing these are the weapon's we're supposed to try to kill each other with?" Logan spoke to Scott, gesturing to the spears.

Scott shrugged, then asked the man, "What happens if we don't fight? If we just refuse?" Would he just make the choice for them?

Logan turned to look at the stranger, doubting the answer would be that easy.

The unseeing eyes looked first at Logan, then back at Scott. "If one is not killed within ten minutes, both will die. Choose now." With that, the man turned and left the room.

Scott raced to the door to try and keep it open, but was too late. It was locked again. He turned back to Logan. "I don't get this. We've never met the guy before. He just grabs two guys at random and tells them one has to die?"

Logan shook his head and didn't answer. The two sat in silence for a while, staring at the metal walls.

Logan broke the silence first. "Y'know, this is really ironic. Jean was just saying a few minutes ago that she had to keep us from killing each other. Now one of us has to, or we'll both die. I never thought I'd have to admit that I don't want to kill you."

Scott smirked, "Yeah, ditto. You can be pretty irritating, especially when you try and flirt with Jean, but I've kinda gotten used to you being around."

"Great, so we don't hate each other, and don't want to kill each other. Where does that leave us?"

"Forced to kill each other," Scott stated, shrugging.

Logan glared at him. "That's not the type of answer I'd had in mind."

"Well what would you suggest we do?" He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Now Logan looked at Scott, not glaring, just contemplating. "What do they mean by kill? Being impaled in the right place doesn't kill, except with infection and blood loss. Maybe if you spear me, they'll let us both go, and when you take the spear out I'll heal relatively quickly. Even if I don't, you'll still be safe, so Jean won't be trying to kill me."

Scott didn't like that idea. "I thought we determined that I don't want to kill you. There's no guarantee that'll work, or that they'll let you go when they think you'll die."

"Well, Scottie, it seems like the best plan we've got right now, and you've only got about eight minutes to come up with some brilliant plan to save us."

As Logan might have planned, Scott's temper flared. "Didn't I tell you not to call me Scottie?"

"Well, you never finished your threat. If the rest of you're threat happened to be, 'I'll stab you with a spear,' now's your chance."

Scott sighed, looking at the horrid weapons lying in wait, then looked at Logan with a new determination in his eyes. "Fine," he stated calmly. "But I'm not explaining to Jean how her prediction came true, so you'd better know what you're doing."

Logan just stared hard at him, his eyes showing nothing but determination. "Let's do it."

Scott reached down to pick up one of the spears, and ran his fingers over the tip. Looking up at Logan, he asked skeptically, "You really sure about this?"

Logan replied without hesitation. "No. But we don't really have a choice, do we?"

As Scott lifted the spear, getting it in position; Logan took a deep breath and held it.

The door opened once more.

The blond man with the unseeing eyes stepped into the room, commanding, "Stop."

Scott froze, turning to look at him. Logan let out the breath he'd been holding and leaned against the wall. Then, before anyone else could do anything, he walked right up to the mysterious man. "It was all a scam, wasn't it?" Logan accused.

The man remained silent for a moment, then replied, "A test."

Scott started to look almost as mad as Logan. "You set us up to see if we'd kill each other? For a test? Of what?"

"Humans."

With that reply, Logan and Scott were startled out of their anger. Humans? Then this guy was a...?

"You passed."

Before the two X-Men could ponder the strange revelations, they felt the tingling sensation again and found themselves back on the basketball court at Xavier's mansion.

They stood there for a moment in silence, both pondering what they'd just experienced. Scott turned to Logan to speak, but then Jean came out to join them.

"So, guys, who's been winning?" she asked calmly; she must never have known they were gone.

The two glanced at each other, silently debating whether to tell her about it. After a few seconds, a decision was reached.

Scott shrugged. "We're about equal. We were more testing our own personal bests."

"Not a competition? I'm impressed. So how'd you do testing yourselves?"

Logan looked at Scott while answering Jean's question. "We passed."

~fin~

Please, let me know what you think! R&R, or send feedback to ReySolo@aol.com!