X-men: The Pummeller

Jean-Gray was checking out the bar where Wolverine and Rogue had come from for the people he had said he thought might be one of them. They were one of the cage wrestlers and had almost beaten Wolverine (well he said they were an easy match, but Jean could tell he was bending the truth a little).

She went up to the barman and asked if there was a Pummeller there. He pointed to the cage that took up most of the centre of the room. There was a girl and a man fighting in the cage. The girl had dark hair tied up in a ponytail on the top of her head to keep it out of the way. She wore combat trousers and a sleeveless t-shirt. She was standing in a ready position waiting for the man to get up. Her face was impassionate and impatient as she looked down upon her opponent. Her opponent had a shaved head and no shirt on. He wore plain jeans and had no top on.

He lifted himself up off the ground. Jean could see a fist mark coming up on his stomach. The girl stood in the corner smiling slightly as she waited for him to get over his dizziness. Jean didn't think that this man could possibly be a mutant and that Wolverine must have been mistaken. She was about to leave when he charged forward at the girl. She dodged his blow as quick as lightning. As he rammed his fist into the cage wire she spun round and lifted her leg up bringing it down with a sickening crunch on the man's back.

The referee counted, "One, two, three. He's out! The winner is Pummeller!" So she was Pummeller. Jean agreed with Wolverine. She was a mutant. Jean started to make her way across to Pummeller but a crowd had formed around the bar and she could not get through. Excusing herself to the Betters trying to wangle some money out of the barman she pushed through the crowd. But when she finally got to the cage Pummeller was nowhere to be seen!

"Are you going to buy a drink or not?" the barman asked Jean impatiently. She had been waiting at the bar for a while waiting for Pummeller. Whilst she was waiting she had been pondering about the girl's name 'Pummeller' it seemed a rather odd name. She was pretty sure it wasn't the girl's real name.

There were some steps from the corner and a pair of combat trousers appeared coming down the stairs. They were closely followed by the belly button of a teenage girl wearing a black top, with netting over the sleeves, that said 'You're F Before You Start'. Then last of all came he head. Her soft, shiny, styled hair framing her turquoise eyes. She promptly walked up to the counter slapped a slip of paper on the bar-top and said, "Cough it up Danny, I'm outta here." Danny pulled up a six-pack. Then he opened his cash register and pulled out two crisp twenty-dollar bills. Pummeller contemplated them for a moment then slapped her hand on the table, "Damn it Danny, I'm not joking."

"Are you sure?" he asked carefully, "Yes, I'm sure. Now hand it over." He opened the cash register again and this time pulled out six fifty-dollar bills. Pummeller counted them and checked they were real. She promptly stuffed them carelessly into her pocket, picked up the six-pack and made her way out of there.

She had gone a couple of paces when she noticed that the strange woman from the counter was following her. Without stopping or looking back she said, "What d'ya want, lady?" Jean was taken by surprise by this abrupt question but she didn't let it phase her, "I want to talk to you," she said carefully. Pummeller stopped and turned around, her feet making circles in the snow. "Why?"

"I know what you are, who you are." Said Jean simply. Pummeller said, "No ya don't." she turned back around and started walking again. This wasn't going to plan; Jean was supposed to retrieve the girl and bring her back to the Institution. 'Listen to me' said a voice in Pummeller's head. She turned and saw the woman looking at her. Even though they were standing in the freezing cold, snow falling on them Pummeller put the six-pack on the ground, put her hands on her hips and asked, "Who are ya?"