Chapter Seven

True to his word, Hank had my uniform done the next night, so I got to try it on after dinner. Claire wanted to come with, to make sure it looked good ostensibly, but really to flirt with Hank some more. So Genni tagged along, as well, and the three of us spent the evening teasing Hank in the one place where he couldn't really run away: his lab. He gave his fair share of the jibes, as long as he was speaking with me or Genni, but the moment Claire even glanced in his direction, the blushes came out, as did the stuttering. Anyone with eyes could see that he actually liked Claire, but was simply too shy to do anything about it. That is, anyone except for Claire.

Tuesday night was my very first team practice. It was also my first time actually practicing in my uniform. "Well, don't you two look gorgeous!" Claire proclaimed, coming out of the bathroom to see Genni and me in our uniforms.

I felt incredibly self-conscious, since the skintight outfit was a far cry from my usual blousy tops and filmy skirts. And Genni looked about as comfortable as I felt. Claire was the only one of us at ease. Then again, it wasn't all that different from her normal choice of clothes, except for the color. "Let's go, girls," she said cheerfully, dragging us to the door. "Our teammates are waiting."

Claire led the way down to the basement of the mansion, where a huge gymnasium had been arranged. From the looks of it, it was almost the size of the whole foundation of the mansion, filled with what seemed to be an obstacle course. A very intense obstacle course. The team looked a bit different than their usual, being in the uniforms, but no one more so than Hank. "You look muy hermoso in blue, my friend," I teased him, which brought out the blushes again. Of course, with his mutation out for everyone to see, his face turned almost purple, and he glared at me. "What? It's true," I defended, grinning.

"Yes, it is," Claire agreed, giving him the same kind of appreciative looks she did as when he was using his serum. He blushed more and went to hide behind Sean and Alex.

I couldn't interpret the look Alex was giving me, but once Sean had lightly bumped him with his elbow, he snapped out of it, pulling out two flags from behind his back. "Well, since we have two new teammates to welcome, I figured we could take it a bit easier today and just work on our team work. Let's play Capture the Flag."

Alex and Sean, the team leaders, quickly split us into two teams, as evenly as possible in regards to experience and strength, and then we were off. Being the two newest members meant that Genni and I were on different teams, and I felt a flicker of disappointment at not having at least Claire on my team. But I shrugged it off quickly, consoling myself that at least I had Hank to make up for it.

"Alright, team," Alex began, once we'd congregated behind what seemed to be a giant one-way mirror. "We've got to figure out where to hide the flag."

"We need to find some really obscure place to hide it," Veronica said imperiously.

"But then we would have to have someone nearby to guard it, and that would sort of defeat the purpose." I surprised myself, and most everyone else, by disagreeing with her.

But Alex gave me an approving glance. "I was thinking the same thing. If we put it in the middle of that nice big open space in the back, and have two people be the guards, then we'll be able to see anyone coming. Any volunteers for guard duty?" Viper volunteered, then he continued. "Perfect. Hypna, I want you to be the policing force, more in the middle, but backing Viper as needed. Sprite, we need aerial reconnaissance. Let us know where their flag is and who's guarding it. Tank and Beast, you'll be the distraction. You'll go in and hit them hard, letting Star and me slip in unnoticed, hopefully. Everyone understood?" We all nodded, some (Veronica) grudgingly. "Good. Remember, powers are allowed, but try not to actually harm anyone. Viper, go place the flag and guard it. You ready over there?" He yelled the last part over to the other team.

A piercing cry answered back, and as the rest of us winced slightly, Alex grinned. "Let the games begin," he shouted.

Hank and Thomas, also known as Beast and Tank, took off sprinting towards the other side. Sprite, or Miss Rachel, our tiny math teacher, launched herself into the air. Alex (Havok, I reminded myself) and I slipped to the side, keeping an eye on Sprite's location. Another shrill screech alerted us to Banshee's position, luckily for us, directly above Beast and Tank. An additional three, Mad Dog, Castor, and Bloody Mary, were converging on our teammates. "Should we help them?" I asked anxiously.

Havok shook his head. "No, they're distracting them for us. Sprite will give us any info on the last three members, but the rest is up to us. Let's go."

We slipped out from our hiding place, then went forward as best we could, making sure to keep some sort of cover between us and our fighting teammates. I had to admit that Hank in Beast form was mildly terrifying. "Remind me not to piss him off," I muttered.

Havok laughed shortly. "Never a good idea," he agreed.

Just then, Sprite dive bombed a specific area, about the middle of enemy territory, then just as quickly flew up again. She was doing something with her hands, though I couldn't really tell what it was. But Havok grinned. "It's sign language," he told me, seeing my confusion. "P for Panther, and G for Gemini. Ready to go up against your roommates?"

"Yeah," I said softly, mentally preparing to attack my best friends. It was not going to be pretty, I could already tell.

As Sprite was distracting Banshee, and Beast and Tank were still occupying the other three teammates we could see, Havok got ready to move. I was prepared to follow him, until a thought stopped me. "What about Sphinx?" I hissed. "Where's he?"

He halted, looking around for the large lion the last remaining teammate could turn into. "I can't believe I forgot about him! Good call," he told me, still peering around our cover. "But we can't wait. If Sprite didn't tell us where he was, he can't be anywhere near. We've got to go now. C'mon."

Havok moved out, and I was right on his tail. As we moved from cover to cover, I couldn't help but admire the smooth way he slipped around obstacles, quickly but never hastily. I grudgingly realized that I could learn quite a bit from him.

Soon enough, we were approaching the area that Sprite had marked for us. It seemed that the other team had the same idea I'd had; we could see their flag clearly, in a big, open area. And standing nearby, on either side of it, were my two roommates. "I'll try to distract both of them, and you grab the flag, okay?" Havok instructed. I nodded, then he grinned and took off, firing off charges to distract the girls.

I concentrated, feeling the familiar buzz of potential energy all around me. Pulling at it, I made several balls of light explode around my roommates, from the opposite direction I would be coming from. That, combined with Havok's energy blasts, served to distract them from my true location. I ran to the flag, keeping an eye on both girls, making energy explode in every direction to keep them away. The flag was just five feet in front of me when I suddenly heard, "There you are, Star," in Claire's familiar voice. A wave of confusion crashed over me, and I stumbled, trying to remember what I was doing.

"Get the flag!" Havok yelled, dodging Genni. "The flag, Stella!"

That brought me out of it. Firing at Claire, well, as near as I could without possibly hurting her, I ran the few feet to the flag. Grabbing it and turning, I found Claire directly in the path that would take me back to my side of the room. "Hey, Stell," she said, grinning evilly. "Whatcha gonna do now?"

And before I could even think of a reply, rage filled me. "Stella, the flag! Take the flag to our side!" Alex again yelled.

"Shut up!" I screamed, lobbing a ball of energy at him. Unfortunately, it didn't do any good. "Quit telling me what to do! Stop trying to hurt my friends!"

Alex was dodging Genni, and I kept sending energy at him. It wasn't until I heard Claire laugh that realization broke through, and I was suddenly clear-headed again. Keeping my back to her, I gathered more energy, then, spinning around, I threw it all in her direction. She suddenly found herself surrounded by glowing, pulsing, burning balls of energy. "Sorry, Claire!" I shouted, picking up the flag that I'd dropped in my anger. As soon as it was in my hands, I took off for my side. "It won't hurt you if you don't touch it!" I assured her as I ran past.

I saw Havok tackle Genni out of the corner of my eye, and with Claire pinned by my power, I was safe to run. Hoping that the main fighting between the heavy hitters was still in relatively the same area, I kept to the side that Havok and I had come in at, still trying to be cautious. I could see the middle marker soon enough, and I was home free. We would win!

Or so I thought. Banshee's triumphant scream brought me to a halt ten feet from the line. "We won!" he yelled. "Ha! We beat you, Alex!"

Soon enough, both teams gathered on the middle line, and I could see Sphinx, or James, since he'd changed back into his normal, human appearance, holding our flag and being cheered on by his teammates. Meanwhile, most of my teammates were glaring at Veronica. "What happened?" Alex asked the question on my mind.

"Hypna here decided to abandon her post and go after the flag herself, which meant that not only was she caught by Mad Dog, but she left me to be blindsided by Sphinx," Viper, a.k.a. Lucy, snapped, glaring at our teammate.

"I saw an opening, and I took it," Veronica snapped back.

"Obviously, it wasn't an opening," Alex said, authority filling his every word. "Hypna, you've got to learn to follow orders. When you do your own thing, you leave your teammates open, exposed. If this had been a mission, Viper could have been killed. Now, either you follow orders, or you're grounded, no more missions. Understood?"

Contempt and anger flooded her face, twisting her pretty features. "Understood, Captain," she spat, then turned to leave the room.

Alex sighed and shook his head. "Well, everyone else, good game. Hank and Thomas, great job keeping the others occupied. Connor, Marianne, and Daniel, you did good, working together the way you did. Rachel, you're definitely getting better at making your signs clearer. Claire, you did good throwing Stella off with the emotions, just need to work on duration and not getting distracted. Genni, you need to work on your strength. I know you didn't want to hurt me, but you're a feral. I shouldn't have been able to knock you down, much less keep you down. Stella, brilliant tactics, and you followed orders perfectly. Sean, anything you want to add?" he asked his second.

Sean grinned. "James, for such a big guy, you can be brilliantly sneaky. That was awesome! Lucy, way to man your station, especially once you saw a huge lion coming at you. Rachel, your aerial fighting has definitely improved. And Alex, you and Stella made a great pair throwing those energy charges around. We definitely need to work that into battle plans for the future."

"All in all, good practice, everybody," Alex told us. "Be ready for Thursday. We'll work on individual strengths then. Have a good night."

It wasn't until we were dismissed that I discovered how tired I was. "Adrenaline," was all Genni had to say, looking about as tired as I was. The three of us girls joined the others heading back up to the mansion.

"I think it's ice cream time," Claire proclaimed. "There's nothing like sugar to make you feel better."

"Yes, because that's exactly what you all need, more sugar," Marianne said, looking over the three of us snidely, lingering purposefully on my hips. "If you don't watch it, you are all going to get fat."

"I think we all worked off enough to make ice cream acceptable," Hank replied, sounding very scientific. "Is there any strawberry left?"

Claire's smugly delighted grin lit the hallway as she led us triumphantly to the kitchen. In addition to the three of us roommates and Hank, Sean and Alex joined us, as well. With Marianne's words still ringing in my head, I tried to beg off, but Claire wouldn't hear of it. "You are so fine," she hissed at me. "Don't you dare listen to Marianne. She's just jealous of your fabulous curves. Eat some ice cream." And she all but slammed a bowl down in front of me.

With that wonderful advice, I gave in. We spent the next hour or so laughing and talking, eating our ice cream, and just generally enjoying time to be teenagers. And slightly older than teenagers, in the guys' case. And it meant that Claire got to flirt with Hank more, or at him, in actuality. But it was progress, since he didn't run off this time. He still blushed furiously, looking a bit like a furry blueberry. It was adorable.

Thursday's practice took place in the weight room, and Alex set us all to working in pairs. Genni was paired with Hank, since he, as the only other feral in the group, wouldn't be hurt by her full strength. And Claire and I got to work together. "Stella, you did great the other night, encircling Claire with your energy balls. I want you to see how long you can keep that up, and I want you, Claire, to try and fight it with your empathy," Alex instructed us.

"Sounds like fun," Claire quipped. "Just make sure you don't singe my hair," she added in mock warning to me.

"I wouldn't dare," I teased back, then set to work. Concentrating on taking energy from all around me, but careful not to touch another person's, soon I had Claire surrounded again.

"I really don't like this," she huffed. In another moment, I felt confused, but I pushed back, making my energy flare, which made Claire yelp.

I caught sight of Veronica, and was instantly filled with the need to own her shoes. "I have to have her shoes," I whispered, then headed toward her, intent on getting those shoes at any cost.

"Where are you going, Stella?" Sean asked me, looking incredibly confused.

"I need her shoes," I replied, barely stopping to answer. But that pause was all I needed to get my head back to normal. By the time I'd turned back around, I flared the energy again, causing another yelp from Claire and the slight pressure on my mind to disappear.

"You really have good control," she huffed at me. "These things just won't go away."

"I've been training," I answered. "I don't want to hurt anyone with them." Ever again, I added silently.

Happiness then flowed through me, filling me up, pushing every bad memory to the darkest recesses of my mind. I'd never been so happy in my entire life. I felt as though I was so light, I could simply float away. Laughing, I twirled around, humming tunelessly. "This is so fun!" I cried. "Claire, come dance with me!"

"I can't, sweetie. You've got me stuck with your energy," she told me sadly.

"No! I'm so sorry!" I was devastated. How could I do that to my best friend? How could I make her so sad? Hurriedly, I released the energy, sending it all back to where I'd gotten it from, and Claire grabbed my hands, laughing.

"Thanks, hon! I couldn't have gotten out without your help," she crowed proudly.

Her words broke the control she'd had on my emotions, and embarrassment took over. "That was a bit mortifying," I mumbled, blushing a bit.

"Eh, only Sean saw it," she assured me, pointing out the guy who was nearly doubled over in laughter. "And maybe Alex."

Alex did, indeed, see it. He came over to us quickly, from where he'd been overseeing us all. "What happened, Stella? You just let her out?" His confusion was understandable, but my embarrassment didn't want to be explained.

Claire, however, didn't have that same compunction. "I made her so happy that she wanted me to dance with her," she explained with a grin. "But when I told her that I couldn't dance with her because of her energy ring, she got incredibly sad and let me go."

I groaned. "Madre de dios, I feel like an idiot."

"Don't worry about it," Alex comforted. "We've all done stupid things in training. And now that you know her trick, she probably won't be able to do it again on you."

At that, he had us practice until I was able to block her emotional meddling. When I was finally able to stop her assault on my feelings, Alex grinned. "Fantastic job, Stella." I blamed the flipping in my stomach on the emotional roller coaster I'd been on for the last hour. It definitely wasn't from Alex's grin. Definitely not.

AN: Sorry it's been a while! I had a hard time getting this chapter to work, but once I finally got past it, it just came flying out! Hopefully it won't be so long for the next chapter, but this one was the longest so far! I hope you enjoyed the team practice. And yes, I sort of stole the Capture the Flag idea from Percy Jackson, but it was the best faux war game I could think of for them. Thanks for the follows/favorites, and a big thanks to brigid1318 for her review, and especially for the shout out she gave me in her story! She beat me to it, but you should definitely check out her. She's got not one, but two fantastic X-Men stories featuring our favorite blue mutant, and they are fabulous!