Since Nightcrawler, Colossus and Banshee were on some mysterious mission for the Professor, the breakfast group were the only X-Men present at the Danger Room session. The three men had been sent to investigate someone called "Eric the Red," while the rest were left behind. Accordingly, Scott programmed the room to take into account the diminished strength of the members. This didn't mean he'd take it easy on them. Not Scott Summers, love of Jean's life, part-time hero and full-time team leader.

Scott, Jean, Ororo and Wolverine waited in the bare blank vastness of the metal room, walls echoing with their footsteps, as Professor Xavier manned the controls from above. He looked down through what seemed like glass, but was really a two-way screen, and said, "Begin." If he chose, he could monitor the team completely unobserved. For now, he sat from his throne on Mount Olympus, majestic in his chair, and watched the proceedings. "Marvel Girl, your task is to cross from where you are now to the exit, if you can. Once you have succeeded or failed, the others may assist you."

Jean's thoughts were whirling. Did the professor suspect? Was that why he'd chosen her first? Too early to tell, and she didn't dare mind-scan him. Until she knew for sure, she would have to play it calm and controlled. The risk here was in revealing a higher level of power than previously shown, Ororo was looking at her oddly. "Jean, is there something amiss? You do not look well."

Jean shut her worries down and put on a brave face. "I'm woolgathering, Storm. I'll be alright." Lifting herself into the air, she levitated towards the exit, red hair tossing behind her. Should she do this? How proficient was her younger self at flying? It was getting harder to remember details that should be important. Rubber bullets were lancing at her, though, so memories would have to wait. Robots appeared from the ground to jump at her, silver mechanical menace that made her instantly uncomfortable. The Sentinels had wiped out so many friends of hers in the war.

These robots were not so big, but enough to make her breath catch and her heart pound disconcertingly. Their size, towering in the chamber, made her feel like a child. Smooth and shiny, featureless with a cylindrical body, metal pylons for feet connected by flexible cables and with grasping manacles for hands, they still reminded her of Sentinels. She didn't trust anything whose mind she couldn't read. She evaded the robots easily enough, anyway and put up a shield to deflect the bullets. Behind her, she could hear Scott gasp. She was making it look too easy. Marvel Girl would have had to strain to do simultaneous actions. For Phoenix, though, it was child's play to stop the bullets in mid air and waltz around the robots, dodging as easily as if this was an ice rink and her an Olympic gymnast on skates. The exit was right in front of her now, large sign saying "This Way to the Egress," a strange example of Xavier's humor.

As she was almost there,though, a siren blared and lights flashed, and she lost concentration to fall to the floor ten feet below. The Danger Room at this level would probably have had the floor extend a soft landing or trampoline, but she panicked. Keeping track of who she was supposed to be and what she was doing in the present left her dangerously off-guard, so she reacted with instinct. Invisible forces pushed at the ground below, stopping her descent. Countervening forces pushed left and right at the onrushing robots. They rocked back and forth like Tinker Toys, then exploded as she pulled their arms and legs off. The headless torsos, unsupported, crashed to the ground.

Jean knelt suspended only a foot off the floor, holding herself by telekinetic force, gasping atflashbacks to her past. Hands touched the nothing of the invisible platform, stabilizing herself as she breathed deeply, face white. "Stop the session!" she said hoarsely. "That's enough."

Apparently, Professor Xavier didn't think so, because more robots appeared from the floor, lumbering into place and swinging their great arms. Some had electric saws on the ends, others, lasers or guns, and a few presented pincers to seize and hold unruly combatants before tearing them apart. Jean reached into herself and prepared to invoke the Phoenix. But then she heard the magic words, "X-Men, attack!" as Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm took the field. Soaring on the winds filling her black cape, Storm was the first to reach her and blew the nearest robots away with the power of her namesake. Crimson beams from Cyclops felled another, and Wolverine jumped into action to disable one trying to catch him.

Jean had never been so relieved in such a long time. For a moment, she had forgotten this was a drill. The guns fired rubber bullets, the lasers would only sting, and the pincers not truly close enough to hurt. Professor Xavier was testing them, not assaulting them. Jean was unable to move, though, and remained in her protective bubble, watching the others fight. They kept telling her to help, Logan yelling "Snap out of it, Jeannie," and Scott telling her to "Get back on point, Marvel Girl. We work as a team or not at all."

If that was the lesson, though, she refused to learn it, and stayed like that until no more robots appeared. Only then did her field disappear, and Cyclops approach, as she fell shuddering into his arms. The rest of the team neared, but stared stunned, uncertain what to say.