Author's Note: We're making good progress through the stuff I'd written in advance here (rereading, editing, making sure it makes some kind of sense for where the fanfic's probably going to go)... so I can't promise how many more chapters will appear in a timely fashion. Chapter twelve shouldn't take too much longer to appear, but chapter thirteen onwards needs heavy edits, so may take longer. (Although hopefully not two-and-a-half-years kind of longer...)
Chapter Eleven
The first flurry of guards had been dispatched with relative ease; Scott's eye beams and Ororo's swift punches had done most of the work, with Amara summoning fireballs - being very careful not to catch her allies in the spray - and Wanda even managing to disable one on her own. Granted, she had actually been trying to point at the guard sneaking up behind Ororo to shout a warning, but when its head fell off she decided to count that as a win nonetheless.
At this point, they could have tried to be stealthy, perhaps. They could have disappeared into the air ducts, or created a diversion to sneak around the guards. Maybe they could have used Kurt and Pietro's powers to evade the guards, and complete the stealth mission despite the alarms. Had Scott been in charge, they probably would have done something similar, but as it was they confronted the problem head-on, walking down the main corridor with no attempt to hide.
"Nightcrawler," Ororo ordered calmly as a group of guards took up position ahead of them. "Get me behind that group, please."
Kurt shook his head, muttering something in German that, judging from his tone, roughly translated as "You're crazy". Nevertheless, he took her proffered hand and they appeared behind the guards a second later. Half a second after that, Ororo was left alone as he teleported back to the relative safety of the main group.
In a real situation, Ororo probably would not have done this any more. Without most of her powers, she barely stood a chance of surviving this encounter, much less winning it, but this was a Danger Room simulation and the worst that could happen would be some aches and pains. Besides, the others were approaching to back her up - even if a few well-placed kicks and punches backed up by her powerful lightning could once have dispatched them even before Scott's hand reached his visor to fire.
A low kick to the back of one guard's knees knocked it off balance, while allowing the fired shots from the others to pass harmlessly over her head. A quick shoving motion conjured a sudden gust of wind that sent the stumbling robot falling into one of its comrades, and Ororo rolled to the side. "Cyclops!" she shouted, hoping the number of times they had been in this situation over the years would trigger enough of a memory.
"Got it," he called back, leaving the students to their own devices as he took cover in an alcove, taking aim and shooting through the head of the stumbling robot. Effectively dead, it collapsed on top of its comrade, pinning it helplessly.
Normally in this situation, a lightning-infused kick would have finished off the downed robot, but for now Ororo chose to ignore it. She heard a bamf behind her and spared a glance to see Kurt grabbing its gun before it could react and shooting it before disappearing again.
A blur rushed past, and one of the four remaining robots fell to pieces, sparking furiously. One was being grappled with by Wanda and Amara, which left Ororo facing two. Almost disappointed at the nearly even odds, she carefully grabbed the still-sparking guard Pietro had downed, hurling into the first of her opponents before summoning as much of her limited power as she had left. Trying not to feel frustrated at how little she had, she let her vision shift and her eyes clouded over. Normally, when she did this she was surrounded by so much static and gentle breezes that she could effectively see just fine, but now she was almost blind. She could see a few pathetic static shocks that fizzled into the air and floor, and she could just make out the edge of a tiny breeze passing over the two robots. She took a deep breath and unleashed her power in what would previously have been a lightning bolt to rival nature's best.
The bolt was barely more than a glorified static shock, but it served its purpose well enough, and the sparking robot exploded. Ororo let her vision slip back to normal and surveyed the damage. The robot she had thrown it into was badly damaged, and Scott had taken advantage of the distraction and was blasting the second into a wall. A pair of quick punches finished off the damaged guard, and she turned to see Amara and Wanda's opponent being quickly reduced to a small pile of molten scrap.
"Does every plan go this well?" Kurt asked faintly, still holding the gun he had swiped.
Ororo laughed, brushing some debris off her uniform and continuing with a calm air that almost covered how much fun she was really having. "No, don't worry. They usually go better than this," she reassured him with a smile.
"Some manage to go worse," Scott added dryly. The comment earned him a sharp look from Ororo, and he held his hands up defensively. "Hey, don't blame me! Remember the first training session after Jean joined us? I distinctly remember you promising Professor Xavier you could handle leading a stealth mission."
"I was very stealthy!"
"Sure." He folded his arms. "Very stealthy, for about four minutes. Then what happened?"
She grinned, enjoying the banter with one of her oldest friends, a chance she had never expected to have again. "I think then what happened is the Professor put you in charge of the stealth missions."
Scott nodded. "Right. Which is exactly why I'm going to be teaching this lot how to handle a stealth mission. I'm fairly sure even with half my memories missing, I'll do a better job. Unless they just do the opposite of whatever you're doing, that might work..."
"I'd be insulted, but you've probably got a point." She shot him one last smile, before turning her attention back to the mission. "The control room is just ahead. Considering the alarms, it'll be guarded, but I don't see the point of trying to be stealthy any more."
"You wouldn't," Scott muttered under his breath, rounding the corner and opening fire.
Ororo could feel herself tiring rapidly as she ran forward, conjuring a swift wind to knock one off its feet. She had overused her limited powers already, she knew, and would pay for it over the next few days, but for now she was determined to have fun. She relied on the others to provide a distraction as she ran straight into the middle of the group.
The fight was as brief as it was fun - for Ororo and Scott anyway, for the students perhaps less so - and the heavy security door lasted maybe a second against Scott's eye beams before being blasted inwards, effectively flattening whatever guards had been inside.
A quick blast of the controls from Scott ended the simulation, and the walls faded around them.
When Ororo got outside that afternoon to check on Jean's grave after taking care of the students for most of the day, she found a somewhat odd sight considering her orders to stay clear of the flames at all costs. A makeshift stand had been formed over the now shoulder-high flames, holding several marshmallows over the fire. "What is going on?" she demanded, alarmed and worried. "Who's getting close? It's dangerous..."
Kitty waved from a nearby bench. She was holding a stick full of roasted marshmallows. "Don't worry, Ororo! Logan's the only one going near the Phoenix."
That news made Ororo hesitate, before walking over and sitting next to her. "How did you convince Logan to roast marshmallows for you?" she asked, somewhat incredulously taking one and popping it into her mouth.
"Bribery," Kitty replied cheerfully. "Warren has a small stash of fancy beer from some place in England. Logan's never tried it, so he agreed to help us out in return for a few bottles."
Ororo could not help but laugh. "The best way to make him do anything," she agreed, taking another marshmallow. "Jean told me earlier she can take control of the Phoenix if we give her a minute. I think she was going to tell me more, but we lost contact. I'd guess she has some sort of help..." The possibility of the Professor's survival crossed her mind given both Scott and Jean being alive but she did not dare hope.
Before Kitty could think to reply, the flames around the grave completely died, almost looking as if they had been sucked inwards and underground into Jean's body. After a few seconds of worrying silence, the grave quite literally exploded.