Morphed
(Normal POV again)
Stephanie fell off her ripstick and threw herself to the side of the road, at the same time the car was screeching to a halt where Stephanie had just been standing and where her ripstick still lay. The thunderous snap nearly brought tears to her eyes, her precious ripstick had been broken. She panted as she tried to catch her breath and steady herself as she got up. The car was a new mustang, deep sea blue, and tinted windows. It was nice. The car had come to a complete stop almost 20 feet away, Stephanie watched as the car door slowly opened. A foot appeared and another along with a pair of legs and a body. Logan.
"Hey you alright?" He shouted.
"Yeah just peachy" Stephanie replied. 'But my ripstick isnt' she thought.
Logan came to her and threw his hands up in the air as a loud boom cracked and lightning lit up the sky even brighter. "Stephanie?!"
"Yeah Logan"
"What are you doin out here and in the middle of the road?" He asked. Stephanie told him everything minus the part about riding around in the mansion and Scotts disapproval.
"Kid you are such trouble"
"I can be " Stephanie smiled. Logan shook his head and motioned towards the car. Stephanie got in while he picked up her shattered stick and tossed it in a box in the trunk.
Back at the mansion Steph took the box to her room and changed into dry clothes than went downstairs to find Drew, Scott and Logan in the kitchen. When she walked in they all looked at her. 'Had Logan told everyone that he had almost hit her' she thought, 'oh god i hope not'. Steph sat down next to Drew and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Im bored" she said.
"We could go play around donwstairs Steph. Virtual reality stuff, Scott showed it all to me today" He smiled.
"That sounds fun", she said and thought 'I guess he didnt tell anyone'.
Downstairs was the professor's "x-men in training" stuff. But he allowed students down there along with supervision of course. Logan joined Steph and Drew and they all left Scott in the kitchen.
Downstairs Steph found the demo room, where fancy technology created a virtual world for training. Logan left Steph and Drew in the room while he went into the control booth to start up the first scenario. Drew and Logan decided on a simple defense scenario based on a real life situation. The room disappeared under a wave of cubes of light that molded the room into an open park, at night.
"This is so cool" Steph said as she looked around. The trees, the benches, the grass, everything was real to the touch.
"Stephanie this is a scenario for defense practice. So use your knowledge to protect yourself" Logan said. his voice reigned over the park.
"And Steph im here for you" Drew said as he took a spot by her side. He was kind of worried about how this would all play out for Steph. She wasnt weak but sometimes she didnt think straight when she was under pressure.
In the shadows of the park a group of young men hung around a big tree. Steph caught their eyes and they looked at her with troublesome looks. A few smiled, others approached her. Steph tried to concentrate, 'ok fight scene i can do this i just gotta use my head' she thought. She took in that there were 6 of them, two carried bats, two were unarmed, one had a chain, and the last one seemed to be unarmed. They approached in a steady walk and stopped a few feet away. Steph stood, her eyes never leaving the group and she braced herself. When she was young Steph had taken 5 years of karate and self defense so all she really had to do was remember what she'd learned and use it. Drew stood calmly by her side taking in deep relaxed breaths. The man with the chain hung the chain on his pants and approached Steph, he grabbed her roughly and pulled her off to the side while the remaining five staretd after Drew. They jumped, lunged and lost. Drew kicked each one of their asses. four ran and disappeared beyond the trees. Drew not oly had been in basic training in the military, he was qaulified for the best of the best, marines, navy all of that stuff plus he had T.I training which teaches pressure points and restraints. Not only did his training help him and his intelligence but he had also gotten very strong over the years and was fast and tough. The last man and Drew circled each other waiting for one to make a move. Drew feinted at him and the man stumbled, he scrambled to his feet and ran. A coward with his tail between his legs. Drew stretched his arms over his head and caught his breath. He hadnt done anything like that in such a long time but he still had it. Meanwhile. Steph was struggling to get this guy off of her. In the process of roundhouse kicking him in the face and throwing a punch to his gut which dropped him to his knees and him grabbing her around the waist Steph had strained her back. She hadnt done this in years and she most definitely needed practice again. He picked her off her feet and body slammed her on the ground. The force knocked the air out of her lungs and Steph gasped for breath with the man now sitting on top of her. She couldnt move, she threw her fists at him and he caught her unsteady hands and held them above her head pinned with one of his hands. The other hand raised up over his head in a fist. Time seemed to slow, 'this is it' Steph thought. As failure seemed more and more evident she threw her mind into instinct mode, she thrust her hips up and knocked him off balance. He rolled off of her and Steph got back up. He lunged at her and threw her back to the ground. This time in his shaking hands he held a crowbar above his head, ready to strike. Steph threw her hands over her face and screamed at the top of her lungs:
"DREW!!!" She screamed. Drew looked around and found the man on Steph with the crowbar raised.
"STEPHANIE YOU FOOL!!" Drew threw his hands up in the air and started walking away. But it wasnt over.
Steph noticed Drew retreating. Tears floded her vision but anger flared up inside her. "Im not weak" She said through gritted teeth. and she threw a clenched fist up at the guy on top of her, her fist collided with his chin and she heard something crack. He dropped the crowbar and recovered on the ground, blood pooling out of his mouth as he stood. A huge wave of fury flowed through Steph's body and she shook with anger. She clenched her fists and ran at the attacker. With speed and strength she jumped up and came down on top of him with both hands laced together above her head kinda like a fist and she let her hands slam him in the head. He collapsed with her on top of him and he was unconscious. Steph breathed heavily and stood up kind of shaky. She looked over her shoulder and saw Drew standing against a tree, he was smiling. Steph grunted and crotch stomped the unconscious man as hard as she could then just stood there. The scenario ended and the room faded back to the large dome-like room it had started out as. THe park was gone and so were the men. It was just Drew and Steph. Logan came out of the control booth and walked to Steph.
"You ok kid? Man i would hate to be on your bad side" He laughed.
"Yeah" Steph wiped off some sweat from her forehead and streched, letting herself twist to crack her back and her neck then she cracked each of her knuckles.
Drew put an arm around her shoulder. "Every time" He smiled.
"You know Drew I hate your techniques of motivation but it works" She smiled and hugged him. Logan looked at Drew with a puzzled look.
"You make her mad enough and she can do anything" He laughed. "It works for everything"
"Well all i gotta say is you guys are well on your way to being ready to be x-men" He laughed. "But still too young"
At this Steph stopped smiling and she darted a glare at Logan. "I think im gonna go see Scott" and she walked away.
Drew and Logan just stood there. They were both a little shocked at the sudden change in Steph and stood in awe as she left. Steph went upstairs and found Scott in the garage with his motorcycle.
"Scott can i ask you a favor?" She asked.
"Uh yeah sure" Scott set down a wrench and picked up another one.
"Will you train me to fight?" At this Scott dropped his wrench and stood up.
"You mean you want to be part of the x-men. Steph you are too young and well its adult stuff" Scott went back to working on his motorcycle and whipped a tool at the ground.
"Whatever. Oh and Scott" she said on her way out. "You forgot a bolt and the wrench you got aint the right size" With that she was gone. Scott looked down at the wrench and held it to the hole where a bolt was truly missing, it really wasnt the right size. Damn.
(In the professor's office)
"Stephanie I will not lie to you. We havent had to worry about Magneto or Mystique and the brotherhood in a long while but that doesnt mean that we will never see them again. I think that as a student here you should know about everything that concerns yours and everyone elses safety." The professor quickly explained Magneto, Mystique, the brotherhood and the liberty island incident.
"Wow. I never heard anything about that"
"Thats because we did what we could to cover it up" He smiled.
"Oh"
"But Stephanie if in any case that our enemies were to appear again in an attempt to complete their mission we would do what we could to stop them again"
"Ok. i guess"
"If you ever need to talk Stephanie I am here" The professor whispered inside Steph's head.
Steph smiled. "Thanks Professor " And she left the office.
(Meanwhile)
Mystique watched from afar. The mansion was busseling with students. Drew was sitting on a bench talking to another student. But the girl, Steph was no where to be seen. Erick's idea just might work this time but last time the x-men had ruined everything. This time the plan wasnt much different but this time the bad guys would have the upper hand and the x-men would not be able to stop them. Mystique took in all the detail of Drew and watched how he acted, his personality traits, the way he walked, she took it all in and noted it in her head.
