The Uncanny Sirens

Chapter 10: Three Blondes and a Guthrie

By

The Uncanny R-Man

Disclaimer- All familiar characters belong to Marvel. Gale belongs to Agent-G.

Shout Outs-

Needles- Yes, Lucy and Gale are together in this story. Jay is a member of the New Mutants in this.

GothikStrawberry- Yup, Lucy and Gale are a cute couple. Gotta love the Cuckoos. What's not to like about a trio of miniature Emmas?

TheLegendaryManHimself- Sabes will never be able to live down the fact that he got his butt kicked by the Sirens. Heh.

Agent-G- More Gale/Lucy fluffiness coming right up.

Xavier's-

The young mutant girl known as Penance, or as Penny by her friends, woke up with a groan. Penny's roomie, Valeria Richards, was still snoring away like a freight train. Val always was a heavy sleeper.

Penny pushed aside her sheets and winced as her claw-like hands tore several large gouges into them. She'd better ask one of the grown-ups for some more.

Penny threw the ruined sheet onto the floor and looked at her pillow, that to had been shredded by her razor-sharp skin. Even more stuff that she'd have to get from the grown-ups.

Penny reached out to put on the special gloves that the fuzzy blue cat man (1) made her but decided against it, she needed to stretch her legs. Luckily, the window was already open. It had been quite a warm night so Val had left the window open to let some air in. Penny carefully clambered out onto a tree next to the window.

Luckily nobody was around to see her clambering about, not even the stinky hairy man with the claws (2) who was always up and about early. Perhaps he had gone to see the nice lady with the white hair. (3) Penny may have been a little naïve in the ways of the world but she knew that there was something going on between them.

Penny carefully climbed down from the tree and loped across the lawn to the small forest beyond the mansion.

Even though Penny and her friends had defeated the nasty cat man (4) a week or so previous, Penny felt that it was her duty to guard her home and her friends from any attacks that may come. That was one of the things that she often did back when she lived with Yellow Coat (5) and the others.

Penny quickly made sure that nobody could see her before loping into the forest to begin her guard duty.

Later-

When Penny was sure that the mansion was in no trouble of any attacks, she clambered back in through her window and got ready for breakfast with the others.

That is where Penny was now, sitting in the cafeteria with the rest of her teammates. Val, Sharon and the others were gossiping about their usual stuff, boys, boys and more boys. Penny was just poking at her food; she never did have much of an appetite.

Val noticed her friend's sombre expression.

'Pen, you okay?' Val asked concernedly.

'M'fine.' Penny shrugged as she poked at her apple.

'C'mon Penny, you can tell me.' Val replied. 'I'm your friend, it's not as if I'm going to spread all your dark secrets around the mansion.'

'I'm fine, really.' Penny said. 'There's nothing wrong.'

'It' Jono, isn't it?' Val asked. During the Sirens' getting to know you sleepover, Penny let it slip that she had a crush on Jono Starsmore, the X-Man and her former Generation-X teammate known as Chamber. Her crush was never to come into fruition however, as Jono was already spoken for and Penny didn't want to anger Ms Moonstar by hitting on her guy.

'No…' Penny lied. 'It's not about him.'

Val just cocked a sceptical brow.

'Really?'

Penny sighed reluctantly, there really was no use in lying to Val.

'Okay, maybe a little bit.' Penny admitted. 'I'm never going to kiss him, am I? Not with my skin. I'll hurt him if I even touch him.'

'What would you say if I knew a way to help you soften your skin?' Val asked.

'There's nothing that can do that.' Penny replied. 'I'm going to be stuck like this forever.'

'Meet me in Mr McCoy's lab after our Danger Room session, I'll tell you there.' Val said, a small smile growing on her lips.

Penny just blinked in confusion at her friend's words, could there be a way to cure her problem or was it just a dream?

Hank's lab-

Penny was nervously walking down the corridor that led to Hank McCoy's lab. Her mind was going a mile a minute. Had Val come up with a way to help Penny with her mutation? Penny stopped for a moment and ran over her thoughts. What is Val actually had made something to help Penny? Kissing Jono was a no-no so she had to set her sights on somebody else. What about Kentucky's (6) brother? The one with the wings. All of the other female students thought that he was cute.

A small smile spread across Penny's face at that, Jay Guthrie was awfully cute. And that singing voice, wow.

Penny was so immersed in her daydream that she didn't hear Remy and Rogue approach.

'Don' tell me McCoy's got you to test dis new doo-dad.' The Cajun mutant said. 'He already press-ganged Roguie into dis.'

Penny jumped slightly at the Cajun's sudden voice.

'Oh! Mr Gambit. Sorry, I was just thinking…'

'About Paige's li'l brother ah bet.' Rogue chuckled. 'All the other galls're doin' that. An' I must admit, he is a hottie…'

'Chere, de boy's jailbait, remember?' Remy replied. 'Dat kinda t'ing is freaky.'

'Says the guy with the three telepathic stalkers.' Rogue teased.

'So, dis new doo-dad McCoy an' Val have invented…' Remy said, swiftly changing the subject.

'Dou you think they've really done it?' Penny asked. 'Made something that can help with my powers, I mean.'

'Well Monsieur La Bet has never let us down before.' Remy replied. 'So I've got faith in him. What about you, chere?'

'Ah kinda gave up hopin' really.' Rogue shrugged. 'So ah'm gonna wait an' see if it actually works before dancin' up an' down.'

'Ah, felicitations everybody.' Hank said as he popped his head out of the door to his lab. 'Valeria has finished making the preparations for the experiment. If you would all like to join us in the lab?'

'Well, no time lahke the present.' Rogue shrugged.

Hank just nodded and stepped out of the way to let everybody walk in.

Penny timidly followed everybody into the lab and looked around. The lab didn't look all that different than it did the last time she was in there, all shiny metallic floors and walls and cluttered desks. One thing that was different about it was the fact that Val was standing in front of a table with her hands behind her back and a huge grin on her face.

'Why do ah get a sense of impendin' doom?' Rogue muttered to herself.

'There's really no need to be worried, Rogue.' Val replied. 'It has already been safely tested.'

'An' who would de unlucky victim… test subject be?' Remy asked.

'That would be Mr Summers.' Val replied. 'We suckered… requested his help and he helped us.'

'It's quite extraordinary what young Alex will do for five dollars and a couple of Twinkies.' Hank said.

'So, we gonna get this show on the road or what?' Rogue asked.

Val just nodded and picked up some watch-type objects.

'These are based on a combination of Kurt's old image inducer and Forge's power nullifier.' Hank explained. 'I will spare you the details so you can feel free to put them on at your discretion.'

'Uhh, wasn't Mr Forge's thing supposed to be permanent?' Penny asked. 'I heard that when Miss Monroe was zapped by it, she lost her powers for months.'

'That's why we've included a failsafe switch.' Val replied. 'Just put the watches on, flip the switch and your powers are temporarily cancelled out. And Pen, the strap on yours is a special blend of leather and adamantium, just like your gloves.'

Penny and Rogue just looked at each other nervously.

'Wanna try it at the same tahme, hon?' Rogue asked.

Penny just nodded silently.

'Okay, after three.' Rogue said as she placed the watch on her wrist. 'One. Two. Three…'

Both Penny and Rogue closed their eyes nervously as they flicked the switches on their watches.

'Well ah don't feel any different.' Rogue said as she opened one eye. 'Just a li'l bit tingly.'

'Me too.' Penny replied. 'I thought it would feel… different.'

Hank and Val just looked at them both with knowing smiles.

'Try and use your powers.' Val challenged.

Penny nervously stuck out her hand towards Hank's desk, expecting her skin to cut straight through it. Quite to her amazement, all Penny could feel was the coldness of the metal desk against her fingers at they lay there on top with no sign of damage to the desk.

'Whoa.'

With that, Rogue decided to try to use her powers. She carefully reached out for Remy's hand. Instead of the usual dizziness and queasiness of her absorption powers kicking in, she felt the sensation of warm and slightly clammy skin against hers.

'Oh mah God…' Rogue said as she put her hand to her mouth. 'It actually worked!'

'Wow, I'm… soft.' Penny said, looking at her reflection in the veneer of Hank's desk. 'I'm cured!'

'The watches will last for several days of continuous use before needing to be recharged. The indicator on the face of the watch will flash red and emit a beep when it is low on energy.' Hank explained. 'It just used regular watch batteries.'

'Well ah know what ah'm gonna be doin' for the next few days.' Rogue said, tightening her grip on Remy's hand.

Remy's face slowly spread into a smile.

'Are you sayin' what a t'ink you're sayin'?' Remy asked.

'Well let's just go an' see.' Rogue chuckled as she dragged Remy away.

Penny didn't even realise that they had gone, she was engrossed in her new reflection. She gently prodded her cheeks and felt the soft skin underneath hr fingertips. She still had her pale blue eyes and her red hair, but instead of being spiky and razor-sharp, her hair was soft and luxurious, the same way it would feel if it had just been washed.

'Well Pen, d'you like it?' Val asked.

'Wow. I'm just… wow.' Penny said.

'Looks like Jay's all yours now.' Val grinned.

'Do you really think he'd go for somebody like me?' Penny asked.

'I would.' Val replied. 'Y'know, if I was that way inclined. 'You're a hottie.'

Penny's cheeks flushed slightly.

'W-well, I think I-I'd better go see…' Penny said as she slowly backed out of the lab. 'Wow, I'm beautiful. Wow.'

Val and Hank turned and smiled triumphantly at each other.

'Was this just a ploy to pair young Penance up with Jay?' Hank asked.

'It might have been.' Val replied coyly. 'Now I just need to work my magic on Sharon and the others…'

'Oh my stars and garters…' Hank groaned 'And I thought Katherine was bad.'

TBC…

Next: Three Blondes and Murderworld

During a night out at the movies, the Cuckoos are kidnapped and end up in the clutches of the new Hellfire Club where one the Inner Circle has a revelation for Sharon…

Notes-

(1)- Penny's nickname for Hank McCoy.

(2)- Penny's nickname for Logan.

(3)- Penny's nickname for Ororo.

(4)- Penny's nickname for Sabretooth.

(5)- Penny's nickname for Jubilee.

(6)- Penny's nickname for Paige.