The next morning, Naomi found herself being given a tour around the school by Bobby, otherwise known as The Iceman. He was younger than most of the other X-men, and would not normally be her first choice in friends, but Jean and Storm, though roughly her age and the same gender, had acted so unfriendly around her. She wondered vaguely what she had done wrong, but was too distracted by Bobby's constant, perky atmosphere, and the wonder that was the Xavier mansion to remember petty offense.
The were dozens of rooms, almost none of them filled. There were classrooms as well, but they too, were lacking in students. When she asked Bobby about this, he launched into some endless explanation that she didn't really follow, about some joker named Magneto and a war against his army, or something like that. Naomi grinned. The way the boy smiled and laughed about everything reminded her of herself before her whole world had come crashing down.
Distracted even more as her thoughts turned darkly to her disastrous 18th birthday, Naomi didn't pay attention as Bobby took her hand and pulled her into a viewing room over a large arena. It wasn't until she heard the words 'danger room' did she look up and finally saw what was actually in the arena.
There were all the X-men, in all there glory battling a platoon of dragon looking robots that breathed fire!
Naomi panicked, wondering what she should do, while Bobby stood next to her and beamed at the spectacle. He saw her panicked look, and shook his head, teasing.
"You haven't heard a word I said, have you?"
Still uncomprehending, Naomi frowned and took a good look around the room, seeing controls and panels labeled with the names of different dangers and villains she had seen in the news. Comprehension dawned.
Danger room! Of course! Somehow, the room had created these foes, for the X-men to practice against.
Peering down, Naomi noted that they were doing a pretty good job, too.
She didn't see Kitty or Wolverine, but everybody else was there. There was Angel, the cute boy with giant wings, flying high and distracting the creatures while Scott uses his laser beam to cut their heads off. There was Nightcrawler, the blue, devil looking guy appearing here and then there, using the element of surprise to aim surprisingly affected attack here and there. She felt a blush staining her fair cheeks, and shook it off. No distractions, she scolded herself sternly, and focused back on the scene below. All of the X-men worked together and effectively, like a well-oiled machine. Even Bobby probably fit somewhere in there plans, when he wasn't escorting newbies like her around.
"Would you like to try, Miss Forman?" A voice said, somewhat amused, from the doorway.
Both mutants turned around, and saw the Professor standing in the doorway. Or rather, sitting, always bound to his wheelchair. Naomi was not surprised. The telepath seem to have a way for appearing unnoticed, almost as if he had Nightcrawler's power, instead of his own.
What he had just said finally registered in her ears. "Really? You mean it?" She asked, fighting to keep the childish excitement out of her voice, but she couldn't. To try the danger room on her very first day! That would be epic!
Ten minutes later, she found herself standing alone in the vast expanse of the danger room, with seven pairs of disbelieving eyes staring down at her. She had gathered from the whispers of the other mutants that nobody had ever been allowed in the danger room on their first day before. This fact made her very anxious, and she knew that she would have to work hard to prove herself.
She took a deep breath as a low hum filled the room, something the Professor had told her would happen when the danger room was calibrating. Bright lights flashed, and suddenly a huge crash resounded through the empty room. Through the now broken wall on the other side of the area floated a giant, ugly head.
She blinked. The effects of the room was amazing! This was Modulk, a high-tech villain she had often seen on the news, backed by a small army of silver robots with guns. Not really what she was expecting, but she would deal. This was her chance to prove herself, after all.
Modulk snarled. "WHERE ARE THE X-MEN?"
Naomi grinned, evilly, eager to please. "How do you know your not looking at one?"
He- or it, she wasn't sure, growled, impatiently. "I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR JOKES, WEAKLING."
She felt her temper, rising, never a good thing. "Weakling? I'LL SHOW YOU WHO IS THE WEAKLING IS!"
Naomi launched herself at Modulk, passing right through a flimsy red beam he projected, smashing down onto his big, ugly face just in time to see a look of surprised fear. She flung him aside, easy as a toddler flings a toy, and moved on to the silver robot army. This too, was relatively easy. As she she ripped of robot heads and deflected bullets , she pondered how it looked from up above. They were obviously setting it on easy, but she hadn't really set a plan. She was just smashing through with brute strength. They probably thought she was crude, but she didn't care. Her days of worrying about being perfect were over.
As Naomi sucker-punched the last robot into oblivion, she heard the *pssshhhh!* sound of the danger room doors opening. All the X-men rushed in, in uniform, then stopped, looking astonished.
"Guys?" Naomi said uncertainly, eyeing their battle wear. "Is everything okay?"
She turned around to see what they were staring at. Nothing was there, besides the wreckage she had just caused. "Ummm, shouldn't that have disappeared by now? Is the danger room broken?" "Did...did I break it?" What a great first impression.
Nightcrawler stepped up to the front of the group and spoke gently, his voice tinged with... Could that be pride?
"The danger room was never on."
Naomi stared wide-eyed, at the golden eyed mutant, puzzling over his words.
"You just took out a level five villain...by yourself."
As realization crept over her, she felt herself grow light-headed. "Ohhhhh..." She moaned, swaying slightly.
Nightcrawler moved swiftly towards her and gently lowered her to the ground.
The last thing Naomi saw was his surprisingly handsome smile as she fainted.
"Welcome to the X-men, Naomi Forman."
