There has been some things added here. Major things. Like Lizzy's first danger room practice.
Lizzy spent every morning that she was stuck in the medical bay, which a girl named Kitty told her this place actually had a name, with Kurt. The routine was the same every morning. Kurt would bring her breakfast; of course she wouldn't eat it all, and he would also bring her some clean clothes to change into, courtesy of Kitty. After breakfast was finished, Kurt would take her outside and they would talk, or when he had Danger Room practice, she would watch him practice with the others.
During her trips outside, she was introduced to some of the other mutant kids that lived here. None had a physical mutation like Kurt, but in the danger room practices saw their powers were much more dangerous than Kurt's. None of them were as dangerous as her ability to control fire though, which no one knew about yet, although the professor hinted at being tested in the danger room one day.
All of the kids, and all three adults, tried to talk to her, but she always used short answers. Eventually they got frustrated with her non-descriptive answers to their elaborate questions, and left. One girl that seeked her out every single day was a red head named Jean. It was easy and fun to bug her too, but she really annoying most of the time. Usually she was too annoying for her to be fun too Lizzy.
There was another annoying girl, but unlike Jean she was always hyper and looked happy. She also noticed the girl used the word 'like' way to much in her sentences. She was called Kitty. This girl was also persistant one, but she didn't ask anything about her past like Jean and the others. She asked questions that had to do with Lizzy's likes and dislikes. These types of questions were hard, but Lizzy tried her best to answer them fully, because frankly, Kitty's happy mood rubbed off on her sometimes. Kitty reminded her of her sister Maddie, when they had first escaped the lab. Although, these people will never see that version of Maddie even if they ever met her. Maddie only revealed that side to two people. Lizzy and Kamua.
The dudes were okay most of the time. Immature at times, but she was used to it from the labs. At the labs the scientists preferred guys, because they were said to have a better chance at survival than girls. Also, their powers were more destructive and dominate. She was the exception though, because of her fire abilities.
After two weeks she still couldn't make a decision of whether to stay or leave. It would be nice to have a bed to sleep in every night, to know when your next meal is, and to go to a real school and actually learn something that didn't have to do with survival. But if she stayed, and someone came after her, everyone in this city would be in danger. Mostly the kids at the institute would though. She knew all too well how much the scientists loved to have mutants already born with the abilities.
She needed to get to Alan, and show him that she was alive, and then convince him to help those she knew. That is, if they were still alive. She needed his help to find her family. Those were the only ones she cared about right now.
She knew that Kurt wanted her to stay here, and so did the others, but it didn't feel right that she was here enjoying life, when her family was sitting in cages dying of starvation and dehydration, or worse being forced to do life-threatening experiments
"Are you leaving?" The Professor asked as he wheeled into her room. She was sitting on her bed, ready to leave. Although her wounds had long since healed, they kept her in the medical bay until she decided what she wanted to do.
She looked at the crippled man. She ran through everything in her head once more. Maybe she could contact Alan from here, but there was always the possibility that the phones were taped. Plus, if Alan came here, questions would be risen. Maybe she could find her family from here. These people had to find her somehow, so maybe they could find her family or another lab where they might be. She would figure it all out along the way, but for now it might not be so bad staying here for a while and gathering some information, and possibly making some allies.
"I will stay here for now if that's alright." She answered. She would stay here for now and gather as much information as she could, but the minute she saw danger she would leave. That was her new promise to herself.
The professor smiled. "Then I will show you to your permanent room. We had it prepared just in case you decided to stay. Tomorrow, you will join the others at the local high school." He wheeled out of the room, assuming Lizzy would follow. Lizzy got up and followed him, as he had assumed. He led her to an elevator.
"This is the way that everyone gets down here, instead of the way Kurt has been showing you." He said, pressing the button to call the elevator. Of course he knew Kurt took me out every day, but she felt embarrassed when he put it like that. She didn't know why though.
We boarded the elevator, and rode in silence all the way to the second floor. He rolled down to the end of the hallway, and pushed open the last door on the right and waited for her to enter first. Lizzy entered the room, looked around quickly, and smiled. The floor had brown carpet and white walls. It had a closet, small dresser and a single bed. It wasn't much, but it was more than she ever had before. She felt almost sad though, because this was all for her. There wasn't Maddie or Kamura here to share with her.
"There are some clothes in the dresser that Kitty has graciously donated to you. Jean has promised to take you to buy some better fitting clothes Saturday, so I hope you don't mind wearing those for now. You can decorate the room however you please, but please keep any pictures appropriate." He said. "And no you cannot paint the walls." He added quickly, like somehow he knew what I was thinking even with my barriers up. "I will let you get settled in. Jean will be up shortly to show you around."
Lizzy
My face dropped when he said that, he left before he could see though. In the short time I have known the red-headed bitch; I have learned she is annoying, possessive, and a know-it-all. The first day we went outside, she came up to us, and practically yelled at Kurt for bringing me outside. If my body wasn't so weak, I would have jumped up, and kicked her down where she stood. Although, I found it was much funnier to annoy her though, since burning her wouldn't be such a good idea and wasn't possible at the time.
I lay down on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. The bed was comfier than it looked. I thought about putting glow-in-the-dark stars on the celling, and then do some paintings and hang them on the white wall. Also rearrange the room, so the bed was in the middle, the dresser closer to the closet, and maybe get some kind of fluffy pillows to put in the corner for when I wanted to work on something.
When I was with Alan, I had learned that I was naturally good at drawing and I loved it. I used to draw pictured of everyone that Alan had helped so he wouldn't forget them when they either were old enough where they didn't need to hide and could live their lives, or were caught again. It was fun for a time, but them Alan had me draw pictures of the dead. I would always draw them smiling, and draw them in nice clothes and in a nice place. I always wanted to cry when I was done, because I really hoped that there was a better place for them than there had down here.
"Are you ready?" Jean said walking into my room without knocking and her voice interrupting my memories. I sat up quickly and sighed. Reluctantly, I followed her as she started to walk out and we started the very long and boring tour of the institute, complete with a full history. I kept my mouth shut, and started day-dreaming about what school would be like with the others, and how I could get in touch with Alan without anyone finding out. If only I had one of the private phones from one of the bases Alan had set up.
"Are you even listening to me?" Jean asked suddenly and annoyed.
"I was paying attention, don't accuse me." I said with a smile on my face. One of the scientists once gave some speech, he called on one of the boys involved in the test, and that was exactly what he said. I always thought it was funny, and had always wanted to use it, but not on Alan because he had been generous to me and my family.
Jean rolled her eyes, and then started talking again. 'Is she still talking? Oh my god, even a lot of the guys I've known aren't even this stupid. Not even any of the girls either…she really needs to get laid or killed. Either one would work.' I thought to myself. I wasn't a virgin, and I really didn't care. If you were locked in a cage with a guy, and both of you thought you were going to die the next day what would you do? Well you'd do it.
"So what do you think of the Institute?" Jean asked me casually.
"It's nice, how often are danger room practices again?" I asked innocently.
"Pay attention already, every day after school, unless one of the teachers says otherwise." Jean said, looking pissed. Her expression was priceless, and made me want to break down laughing. She had the same expression that one of the scientists had when one of the guys kept asking why.
We both were standing in the library at the moment, so I turned around and walked out the door, making Jean more pissed off, exactly what I wanted to do. Success.
Just as I walked out the door, the professor rolled toward me, and called out my name. Reluctantly I turned around, and looked at him.
"I need you and Jean to come down to the Danger Room. It's time you had your first danger room test." He said. How wonderful…
Lizzy traded in Kitty's clothes for some that allowed more movement. She didn't wear the weird suits that others wore, but some yoga pants and tight tank top with some leather gloves on her hands for protection. She didn't have a suit, and neither did she want one. Spandex was stupid and restricted her movement. She knew from previous experiences with Alan.
"Are you ready?" The professor's voice came overhead. She stood in the middle of the metal plated room called the Danger Room. She knew kind of what to expect, but Kurt told her that they use diffent simulations to test new people. She would just have to keep on her toes.
"Yeah," She answered. She was used to fighting, so she wasn't scared of nervous. She was tense though. She had seen danger room practices, but she was alone so this one was going to be different. She had fought most of her battles by herself though so she should be fine.
It started off with some moving, red and white targets. Most she could just run at, and break with her fist, but a few were out of reach. The targets were made of wood so she was now grateful to the leather Evan had given her. She used small burst of fire, which were weak, but strong enough to break the far way targets. They wouldn't be useful for fighting, but maybe for distractions. She's never been able to test it though.
The targets moved faster now, so she was forced to use fire. After a few minutes of that, things started to get dangerous. There were robot like creatures, some walked, and some flew. After she destroyed a few of those with her hands, they started to come alive with spinning saw blades for hands. Now she was getting into using her big fireballs. One fireball easily took out a few of the flying ones or one of the walking ones.
As she got closer to her limit, the robots stopped coming. She was able to throw one more before running out of steam. It was perfect since there were no more robots. She had officially broken her previous limit of thirteen. Now her new limit was fourteen big fireballs, which made her smile.
"All done?" She asked loudly with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. She heard mummers, but he heard no defined answered. She rolled her eyes and headed out of the danger room and went up the observation deck. She expected just the professor, and maybe some teachers. She was surprised to find that all of the students and teachers were up there. Everyone was arguing, but she couldn't tell about what. She guessed she made a good impression by not getting hurt, caught, and not missing a single target, at least she thought.
Instead of standing there trying to figure it out, she left the room and went upstairs to her room to think. She wanted to have some ideas of how she was going to find Alan or her family.
Days later
Lizzy hated school, mostly not entirely though. Like for everyone, there were classes she liked, and hated, people she liked and people she didn't, and of course, good days and bad days.
First period every morning she had gym, which was pretty fun most days. The teacher was teaching them how to play volleyball, and he said that we would learn how to play all the sports during the school year. She was in an all-girls class with Kitty, since gym classes were not co-ed in this school. Kitty agreed with her that Jean acts like a know-it-all, and we talk when we can in that class. This was probably her favorite class and one of the easiest to get an A for her. Most of the girls in that class struggled though.
Second period was English. Basically we read short stories in class, and we have to read four books per quarter. She knew how to read so that wasn't going to be hard. Writing…that was another story. She could write it just she didn't have that much of an imagination when it came to writing. She shared the class with Rouge, who seemed to hate it. All the stories they read sounded boring, and were written at least ten years ago. The teacher lady said they were going to read "Romeo and Juliet" which sounded like a love story with a happy ending, even though I knew it wasn't. It was a tragic love story and something they made fun of in the labs sometimes.
Third period was Math. It was probably her second easiest class, but it was number one on her most boring list. She shared with two boys who were the 'enemy' as Jean had explained to her the first day. They were Lance and Todd. Todd was nice to talk to if you didn't mind the smell, and his sickening cowardness. Lance was impossibly annoying though, and was constantly hitting on her. She was tempted to bitch slap him a few times, but she didn't want to mess up her shot at going to a real school by getting expelled in the first week.
Fourth period she had Biology. This was her hardest class, because there were so many confusing and difficult words to memorize. To make things worse, she shared this class with Lance too. So far, Lance was trying to walk next to her and kiss her during the passing period between math and this. The teacher was a bitch too. Every day she had an assignment with partners or groups. Usually this was a good thing, but she picked the groups, and every time she put her and Lance together.
Then she had Lunch, funniest time of the day for her. She would sit with everyone, and usually they'd have some funny story to tell or Kurt would make jokes. As far as she could tell Jean and Scott were juniors. Rouge, Kitty, Her, and Kurt were sophomores. And Evan was a freshman. Poor Evan, he was all alone as a "freshy".
Sixth she had world history. It was two on her top class list since it was really easy and very interesting to her. She shared with this girl named Wanda. Wanda looked like the kind of girl you'd regret getting mad. She was nice to her and helped her out when she looked like she needed it. Jean told her that she was dangerous and the 'enemy'. I think Jean needs to look up the definition of enemy, and then take a look at the underground world for mutants. That's where the real enemies were. These were just kids, but so was He. He was different though. He was made into that, and he enjoyed every second of it.
Seventh was Spanish with this guy named Pietro. He always talked fast, and hit on her like Lance, but Pietro wasn't as smooth. She already knew Spanish so she didn't see the point of taking the class but dropping it would mean another class, or a boring study hall. Most days she skipped, and hanged out in an empty classroom down the hall. The janitor had been convinced to "give" her a spare key, and said she could use the classroom as long as she didn't destroy anything, and that she didn't say he had given her the key. If someone found out she was supposed to say she stole it.
How did she know Spanish you ask? Well it turns out Mexican kids are really easy to kidnap. As long as she got an A in the class, the Professor didn't care if she skipped.
Last she had study hall with Kurt, and a guy named Fred. Fred was a nice guy to talk to, as long as you didn't mention his weight. They would sit near each other along with some other kids from her other classes. Fred was also considered the 'enemy', but these kids are more like punks who want to be noticed. They weren't worthy enough to be considered enemies. Not like Him.
After school, Scot would drive them all back to the institute. A quick danger room practice with everyone was done. Then she would leave to go for a solitary run through the forest before dinner to think about the day and her two other dilemmas. Sometimes she would take a different route and run through town to the library to do some research. The research was concentrated mostly to finding Alan without make it obvious to third parties, or would the lab be a second party? She didn't know nor care. After dinner was finished, Kurt would meet her in her room, and they'd help each other with homework or just talk.
Danger Room practices were considered dangerous when it involved her. The professor expressed to her over dinner that her power was incredible destructive and needed to be controlled. For now she wasn't allowed to use that much fire when she had practice with the others. It was completely bullshit though. She had fought with other people before; she knew how to control her power when she was with other people. The only reason she had used her big fireballs was because she was alone. She had developed other techniques to use when she was fighting with others. The professor didn't know that though. She would go along with it for now.
