"Then I totally saved Beast's furry hide just when Sabertooth was about to jump him!" Bobby bragged to his friend as they walked down the hall to their next training session. Roberto shook his head in disbelief.
"No way," Roberto argued. "You saving Teach? That's far-fetched, even for you."
"It's the truth, I swear!" Bobby insisted.
The boys stopped their conversation as Alex came around the next corner, waving to a short, black-haired girl as they parted ways in the hall.
"Alright, Lea, see ya at lunch!" Alex said to her as he joined Bobby and Roberto. She waved back.
"Okay, see you, Alex!" Lea called back as she walked off in the other direction with her girlfriends, Kitty and Danielle. Roberto and Bobby exchanged amused glances as Alex caught up with them.
"Dude," Roberto commented to Alex. "You and Lea sure get along well, huh?"
"Yeah, she's pretty cool," Alex replied, then backtracked, fearing the boys would assume the worst. "I mean, you know, for a girl…"
They didn't buy it.
"She's pretty cute for a girl too," Bobby teased with a grin.
"Com'on," Alex protested. "I mean, she is, but we're just friends."
"Uh huh," Roberto said with a nod. "That's what Scott said about Jean, and look at them…"
"It's not like that," Alex insisted.
"Okay," Bobby said, walking ahead of them. "Then you wouldn't mind if I… asked her out?"
Alex frowned at Bobby's back, his knuckles involuntarily going a little white in his tightened grip. Even though he had never thought on the matter before, that idea sounded like the ghastliest threat in the world. Suddenly the thought of sharing Lea with anyone else was something he couldn't bear to imagine. Even still, he couldn't back down now, so through gritted teeth… he lied.
"No…" he said with a shaky grin. "Of course I wouldn't mind. Why would I mind?"
"Good!" Bobby said, splitting up with them as he headed to a more advanced training session than their own. "Cuz it'd be kinda awkward if you did. Catch ya later, guys."
Alex frowned, but didn't say another word.
-
Jean dug through her closet, making a mess of the surrounding room. Where was it? She spotted the black duffel in the corner of the top shelf, where she had hid it from herself. Inside that bag was the most dangerous thing she had ever possessed. Its contents were never supposed to be opened again, by her, or by anyone.
She plopped the duffel on her bed, her heart pounding wildly as she carefully unzipped the bag, and gazed onto the ghastly sight once more… The horrific green vest, those dangerous leather pants, those dreadful green-heeled boots…
Her Sirens uniform.
It was a sight she had not seen in quite a while. She was almost afraid to touch it…
Almost.
-
Rogue looked at herself in the mirror, sporting her Siren's uniform, with more than a few extra changes this time around. Instead of the short brown jacket, she had exchanged it for a long, charcoal gray trenchcoat. Her boots had also been changed to gray, and the green tube top had been replaced with a deep red one. Her pants were still the same as before, and she was now thankful this leather number still fit. Denying those cupcakes were now officially worth the sacrifice. She looked to Alison for her opinion. Alison was the first of them to finish getting ready, wearing a purple leather jacket. A purple belt slung low on her hip, and rounded shades covered her eyes, as was trademark for a Siren.
"You have bad taste in clothes," Alison observed behind her, slipping on a purple boot for herself at the fitting room of a mall store. Rogue motioned to Alison's chunky brown highlights in her otherwise platinum blonde hair.
"You have a bad dye job, Zebra," Rogue replied.
"Look who's talking, Skunk-head?" Alison retorted, just as Rogue flipped her white streaks together to form a single stripe, only serving to prove her statement true. Rogue frowned in heavy frustration, unable to argue.
"Hey!" Jean said, breaking up the opposing girls. "Try to remember that we're on the same side, huh?"
Alison looked away, and Rogue rolled her eyes. Jean gave up on the two for now, slipping on a green sleeveless trench coat for herself, to replace the green vest she had worn before.
"Be honest," Kitty said, emerging from the closet in a brand new blue themed outfit, her cat-eyed glasses snugly in place upon her nose. "What do you think?"
Alison looked from herself to the others, each sporting a different color, Rogue in red, Jean in green, Kitty in blue, and herself in purple.
"I think we look like female Power Rangers."
Jean smiled as this, but overpowered her statement with one of her own.
"I think we're ready."
-
"Just focus, Alex," Scott coaxed him, pointing upward at the next target in the Danger Room. "Try to aim small."
The training session was going well so far, and Scott was especially proud of his little brother. The other new recruits, practiced with the other tutors nearby, such as Lea, now known in uniform as "Sway" for her ability to manipulate time, who was learning under Beast. Alison was here as well, now dubbing herself "Dazzler", as she claimed was her stage name back home. Dazzler was learning under the instruction of Storm.
Scott threw his attention back to Alex, who had kept Magneto's given code name of "Havok".
The blonde made ready to shoot, and concentrated his attention on the center of the target. No way he was going to make a fool of himself in front of the other kids… especially Lea.
As he was about to fire, he heard her laugh with Beast, giving the large blue gorilla a high-five in victory.
He didn't realize that he had fired already. Needless to say, he missed by a mile, hitting Lea's cannon instead and making it plummet to the ground, right above her.
"Oh no!" Alex shouted in fear. Lea thought quickly, snapping her fingers, and in the next instant, she was standing out of harm's way. She had used her time-stopping powers to move herself just in time. The photon cannon hit the ground with a loud crash, Scott not even bothering to shoot it out of the way, since it's destruction wasn't putting anyone in immediate danger. The other X-children gasped and pointed to the culprit, Alex, who was hiding his face in shame.
"Apology major, guys!" he called to them with a genuine sorrow. "My bad!"
"What's the matter, little bro?" Scott asked, throwing an arm around his younger brother. "I know you can make that shot."
"Sorry, Scott," Alex replied. "I guess I'm just a little out of it today."
Scott cocked his head curiously.
"What's got you so distracted?"
Alex glanced over to Beast and his short, little Asian pupil, Lea. Scott didn't notice. Alex just shook his head and turned to walk off.
"Nothing…" the blonde mumbled quietly.
-
"Ah still can't believe we're doin' this," Rogue complained from the backseat of Jean's SUV. Shadowcat, on the other hand, could hardly contain her excitement. They were in full Siren uniform, patrolling around town like a squad car.
"Isn't this great?" Shadowcat gushed. "Back on the streets, down and dirty. We're real heroes again!"
"Or real crazy," Rogue grumbled. "Ah still can't believe we're--"
"Somebody-- help!"
Immediately, Jean yanked the car around and screeched it to a halt. All four girls scrambled out and headed toward the voice, which came from a man in a corner pawnshop. Five men carrying bags of jewelry (and whatever else they could carry) ran from the store's front door. The four girls marched in a straight line, strutting down the sidewalk perhaps a little too confidently.
"Problem, gentlemen?" Shadowcat said, getting there first. The men all turned, and laughed at the girls.
"Who the heck are you?" the largest man in the center said.
"Uuuh…" Shadowcat didn't know what to say. They couldn't be the Sirens anymore… what were people supposed to call them?
"Uuuh--"
"At the moment, we're yer worst nahtmare, fellahs," Rogue said from behind. "Ah'll take the ugly one."
"No," Dazzler argued, getting in a fight stance. "I'll take the ugly one."
Shadowcat looked between all five of the men.
"And like… which one's the ugly one?"
They attacked, just as Jean said:
"Take your pick!"
As the man in the center charged at Shadowcat, she escaped by phasing through the store wall, taking the man's bag of loot with her. Rogue bit off her glove and flirtatiously stroked the face of another, catching his glass vase before it fell down with him. Jean lifted the television set out of another thug's hands, and gently put it back in its place on the store's shelf. Dazzler then came from behind the same brunette hooligan and blasted him roughly into the side wall. The one after Shadowcat wasn't confused for long, and lunged at her again. Kitty round-housed, getting him on the chin with her blue boot. It knocked him unconscious. Finally, Jean collapsed the mind of the fifth and final robber.
The store manager put a hand to his forehead, his face ashen white. He looked like he would've rather dealt with the five hoodlums than with them.
"Are you alright, sir?" Jean asked the man with concern. "You look a little sick."
"Don't hurt me!" he pleaded, frightened by their very presence.
"We just saved you!" Shadowcat reminded him. "Why would we hurt you?"
"Take whatever you want… just-- just let me go home!"
"Be mah pleasure," Rogue said, stepping aside to let him through. He ran off in quite a hurry.
"What's his problem?" Dazzler wondered out loud.
"He was late for a meetin' with his therapist," Rogue answered cynically.
She walked off with the others back to car, not noticing the glowing red eyes watching their every move…
-
A picture will be posted of the Sirens' new
getup soon. Please review.
Signed,
--RedRogue
