Hi y'all! Did you miss me? Sorry about last week. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 9

Breakfast was wrapping up in the kitchen, and Merry had become more comfortable, relaxed after the third round of seconds between Piotr and Logan. Jokes were cracked, teasing was rampant, and Merry found herself laughing more than once, especially when Storm got in on the teasing between Cyclops and Logan. She also learned more about both the personal and code names of the team. Storm's personal name was Ororo and Cyclops's was Scott. Logan's code name was Wolverine, Kitty's was Shadowcat, Piotr was Colossus, Erik's was Magneto and Bobby was Iceman.

"And Pyro's real name is John, and Rogue's is Marie." Kitty was more than happy to divulge the information, her talkative personality taking all questions in stride. There's others on the team as well, but you might not meet them for awhile."

As the table started to empty, Logan pointed at Kitty. "Hey Bub, it's your turn for dishes. Pick someone else to help clean up. I'm outta here. See you in the training room at 9:30 sharp."

Kitty looked at Piotr. "Well Colossal? Do you want to help me out? Bet you we could get them done in no time!"

"Sorry to disappoint, but I promised some of the boys that I would help them practice baseball before school. In fact, they should be finishing up their breakfast now. Soo, I should get going…have fun with the dishes though. Give my love to Dove." With these words he quickly left the kitchen. Merry turned to Kitty.

"I can help." She offered quietly. Kitty perked up again.

"Okay! Here, I'll wash the dishes, you dry. While I get the sink ready, you wanna clear off the table?" Not waiting for an answer, she turned the water on and swirled some soap on the bottom of the right side of the sink. Each time Merry put another load of dishes on the counter, the sink was more full of fluffy bubbles. Kitty started putting dishes in the soapy water and washing. Merry found dish towels in a drawer next to the sink and grabbed one. She and Kitty attacked the dishes with gusto, Merry fast enough that there was hardly dishes in the rinse side of the sink. Noise from outside the window over the sink caused the girls to look outside. Piotr was catching pitches from three boys that were spread out around him, expertly catching and throwing back in turn. His throws always made their mark, and Merry couldn't help but smile.

"Does the school have a baseball team?" She asked, not able to take her eyes off of Piotr and the boys.

"No, not really, but Piotr and Bobby like to put together baseball games every once in awhile. I think they're planning one in the next two weeks. If you let Piotr know, I'm sure he'll be able to put you somewhere…They're a lot of fun, even to just watch. Jubilee and I bring out the popcorn machine and hand out popcorn for the spectators, and Artie leads up the cheering section." Kitty started rambling again, and Merry did her best to stay focused on what the girl was chatting about.

Merry enjoyed watching Piotr interact with the boys, fondly instructing on what to and not to do. The boys treated him as an older brother, and Merry wished she had not been an only child.

The girls wrapped up the dishes, Kitty helping Merry put them away, in the process showing a more detailed tour of where everything went in the kitchen. Kitty wiped down the table while Merry tackled the counters. Kitty blew away the random hairs in her face, and grinned.

"Well, we finished cleaning up the kitchen. That means we won't have to for awhile." Glancing up at the clock, she twisted her mouth up in a thinking pose. "Looks like I'll have juust enough time to change into my uniform and get down to the danger room. You coming?"

"Danger room? But that sounds…dangerous. What do you do in there?" Merry wasn't sure she liked the sound of it.

"Aw, that's just what we call our training room. Professor and Logan never give us more than we handle. Trust me. 'Sides, I never get hurt. I always just phase through things." Kitty boasted. As she left the room she threw back over her shoulder, "The Danger room console is the fourth door on the right from the elevator on level B1. Just knock and then Forge will let you in. He's the guy who runs most of the electrical stuff around here. See you in a few minutes!"

Merry briefly debated staying topside and wandering outside, but her curiosity got the better of her. She walked out to the elevator, pushed the button and waited. While waiting, Bobby, the young man from earlier, came up beside her.

"Did you enjoy breakfast?" He asked, his grin infectious. Merry grinned back.

"Yes I did, thank you. I especially like the orange juice chilled to perfection. That was a nice touch." The elevator dinged open and Bobby stepped inside. He turned around and gave Merry another smile. "You coming? Cause this elevator isn't going to wait much longer."

Merry smiled back and joined him. Bobby pushed the button for B2.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"B1. For the console room." Merry replied hesitantly.

"Ah. Going to see us get whipped?" Bobby asked with puppy dog eyes.

Merry didn't answer as the elevator door had just slid open. She stepped out and waved at the blonde as the doors slid shut. He grinned one last time before he was gone. Merry turned and found the correct door. Knocking, she heard a "Come in!" and opened the door, which surprisingly was just a regular knob. Looking around, she discovered that the far wall was full of wall to wall windows, looking out into a big gym like area. She heard a grunt that brought her attention to a pair of legs sticking out from underneath the console.

"Hello? Um, are you Forge?" Merry asked tentatively.

The legs scrambled to get out from underneath, and a curse word slipped from the lips of a dark haired mechanic as he popped up in front of Merry. He gave a low whistle as he saw who was talking.

"Here to watch robots beat up mutants?" He asked.

"What? I hope not." Merry was shocked at the way he phrased his sentence.

"Well no matter. I've done what I could, but the machines might start doing what they think is right half way through this exercise. We'll just see what happens." He whistled a tune as he bent over a microphone on the console and pushed a button. "You guys ready? I'll give you 5 minutes for any late comers. Get ready, I'll start without any other warning." He chuckled to himself and seemed to remember he had company. "You can stand over there to watch." He motioned to a spot right up near the window. Merry crept closer and saw down on the floor below several people. Piotr stood out, as well as Logan and Storm. A few were doing stretches of various sorts, but not all. Cyclops was down there as well. Kitty burst through the door, apologizing profusely to anyone who would listen. Logan grunted in response.

Forge pushed another button and the lights in the gym area started flashing as panels slid open and various robotic machines made their entrance. Logan made fists and then, to Merry's surprise, long steel blades protruded from his knuckles. Storm rose slowly from the floor to about mid air. Piotr grew taller as his skin turned into a cold blue metal. Forge pushed another button, and at that instant all hell seemed to break loose.

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