"Okay teams, prepare yourselves. The first simulation, capture the flag, will commence in just a minute. Best of luck to both teams," Cyclops said through the lookout of the Danger Room. Suddenly, the digital imagery began to activate in the Danger Room and an entirely new environment began to materialize before them. Soon, they were in a junkyard, a maze of cars and other machines. There were magnetic cranes on either side of the yard. The other team's base was about a quarter of a mile away from theirs. Lindsey took a look around. They were in what looked to be some sort of office with windows facing the length of the yard. The flag was on a stand in the back of the room, in open sight. Caleb must've caught it before she did.
"Okay, let's find a little bit less obvious place for this," he said aloud. The simulation had started and she could bet that the other team was already on their way. She knew the rules about these exercises though: no execution without delegation. She couldn't go ahead with her part of the job until Caleb—Shockwave—gave the order. She would have to start getting used to the whole X-name thing. She didn't have too much trouble remembering the others' names because most of them had introduced themselves with their X-names. For her and Caleb—Shockwave—she would have to try a little harder. They could, however, ask for orders.
"Orders, sir?" she asked, half-serious-half-jokingly, the only language Shockwave spoke or heard.
"Oh yeah…orders…yee-ha. Okay, Palisade, Nightmare, go get their flag and get it fast. Druida, bird form and start scouting…Chrona, we're holding down the fort," he delegated. He gave a hand motion that said, "make it so." She looked over at Palisade and he gave her a nod. They walked out of the small building and into the yard and could already feel the change in the wind. Vortex was no doubt taking flight from somewhere. They looked up and could see him making a beeline for their fort in the air. No doubt there would be a telekinetic shield around him to protect him.
"Can you get rid of the telekinetic shield around him?" Palisade asked slyly. He was clearly thinking the same thing as she was. The junkyard setting was at night with only streetlights around the border to light it. She could move around quick as a whisper and even take flight as long as she wasn't in the direct beam of a light. She also knew that her shadow energy would completely cancel out the telekinetic shield because of her power.
"Can you create a barrier from this far away?" she asked, filling in the blanks for the second part of the plan. Poor Vortex. He'd never know what hit him.
Or what he hit, she felt bad for making light of it. He could really get hurt with what they were planning to do to him. Lifestream could heal him lickity split but they were still going to injure him. She conjured a shadowy spectre of herself and sent it as fast as she could towards Vortex. She saw, through the eyes of her spectre, the blurry, spherical haze protecting him. It was Hypno's shield. She forced the spectre to kamikaze into it full force.
She could no longer see through the spectre as it dissipated so she transformed into her shadow form so that her vision would be enhanced. Instantly, darkness was as day to her and she could see that the shield was gone.
"Okay, the shield's gone. Do it before Hypno sets up another one," she urged him, grimacing.
A pink wall suddenly appeared in front of Vortex, which he crashed into headfirst. He reminded Lindsey of a bird when it runs into a glass window at full speed. He spiraled to the ground, landing hard on a pile of cars. He rolled to the ground, and other than the steady rise and fall of his chest, he was not moving.
"Oh, I hope he's okay," she knew they couldn't check. Cyclops would be livid. She understood what he was trying to do: train them to be seasoned for combat. At that moment, Vortex was their enemy.
"Let's go," they moved as quickly as their feet would let them. She could've moved a lot faster if she wasn't with Palisade. She was sure, however, that she would soon come to appreciate his protection.
"Stardust sees you guys and it won't be long before she starts in with a shower of sparkles. Be careful," Druida radioed to them.
"Druida, can you sneak up on her and take care of her?" Caleb suddenly asked over the com. She and Palisade held still, keeping behind a broken car.
"I'll see what I can do," she replied. No doubt, she was morphing into one of her strange creatures and seeking Stardust out.
"Guys! Keep the talking to a minimum. My brother can retrieve radio signals too!" Palisade warned. "Let's get moving again," he said to Lindsey. She gladly complied, sneaking around, weaving in and out of cars. The night air, or the simulation thereof was cold and wet. It felt as if it had just rained or was about to. That would certainly add some interesting aspects to the whole thing. Suddenly, a brilliant explosion of white light hit the car window next to her head. She put her hands over her face to keep the glass shards away. More explosions lit up the yard with a flashy bang. It was coming from Stardust, that much was apparent. One of the smaller, residual sparks hit her in the arm and she yelped in pain.
It shouldn't have hurt as badly as it had, but the reason was clear. She was just as allergic to Stardust's power as she was to Lifestream's. That probably meant that they were resistant to hers. A direct hit from one of her sparkles would case a lot more damage to her than to anyone else.
"Can I get a shield, please?" it wasn't a question at all. Soon a pink, translucent sphere enveloped them. The sparkles exploded outside the shield, leaving them completely unscathed. She welcomed the shelter. Since the hue of the shield was so neon and pink, they were easy targets whenever Palisade had his shield up, a downside to his power. They would have to hope that Druida took care of Stardust quickly, so that they didn't have to approach the enemies' camp in their state—a bright beacon saying, "here we come!"
Druida was soaring high above the yard in her bird form. She could see everything, clear as day and from far away. Even though she was a scout, she'd been given the mission of eliminating Stardust, who was making quite some trouble for Nightmare and Palisade. She opened her wings and dove downward, zooming towards Stardust at an unruly rate. Since Vortex was no longer in the sky, flight was easy for her. At jus the right altitude, she flared up her wings to slow her descent, landing soundlessly behind her target. Stardust was her friend on any other day but today. She didn't want to face Cyclops for hesitating in battle.
She began to morph into her human form. She thought, for a split second, as to which form would be best to fight Stardust with and none came to mind. She wanted to show off how apt she was to combat anyway. They were on a high ledge and falling would mean certain injury, though only a deliberate dive would result in death. If Beast thought, even for a moment, that one of them were in mortal danger, he would take all the necessary measures to cushion a fall, lighten or blow or whatever. One could fill in the blank with whatever scenario; the point was that Beast was really in control of everything.
She hoped she'd be able to give Stardust one good shove off of the stacks of wrecked cars she'd climbed up, but she had no such luck. Her foe turned and faced her just in time. They didn't speak; they just started fighting. At the range she was at, Stardust couldn't afford to use her sparkles because the blast of one could send both of them flying off the platform. Hand-to-hand combat was the only way to go and Druida was glad. She was the much better fighter of the two of them and had proved it in countless sparring matches. She had never lost to Stardust and she didn't plan on today being any different.
She struck first, attempting a jab to the face…blocked. They circled each other, fists raised for combat. Stardust tried a front kicked, easily blocked and Druida countered with a punch to the solar plexus and a punch to the chin. Her friend lost her balance and she kicked to knock her off the platform. She wasn't swift enough. Stardust caught her leg, spun in towards her, giving her a backhand to the cheek. Druida felt her good foot being lifted from under her and suddenly she could see the stars. She didn't have time to hesitate. She whirled her body and her legs around, catching Stardust off balance. That gave them both time to get back to their feet and go for round two.
They engaged again, punching, kicking, blocking and dodging. It was all instinct now, she realized. Cyclops had promised her that she would become a much better fighter when everything that she'd been taught became like second nature to her.
A blow to the cheek caught her off guard. She endured a punch to the gut and a kick to the knee. Stardust followed up with a quick uppercut to the chin, sending her stumbling backwards. A white-hot spark hit her squarely in the chest. She felt herself falling off the platform and she grabbed the inside of a car window for support. She dangled there, unable to gain footing a climb up. She had to think of something soon.
You're a metamorph…use your head.
She used her feet to kick off as she vaulted herself into empty space. She flipped backwards and dove towards the ground headfirst, morphing as she fell. She was in her bird form quick enough to take flight before she hit. The black and gray feathers kept her camouflaged in the night sky. She circle around to the cars and morphed back into human form. She was on a different stack of cars, about ten piles away from Stardust. She bolted towards her and Stardust began firing. Druida dodged, left, right, ducked, jumping from car to car, careful to keep her balance.
She leapt through the air, morphing as she went, into her panther form. She landed on all fours, dark and sheik as the night. Soon she was picking up speed, covering car jumps in single bounds. She dove forward and forced her panther body to flip around, against its instinct as she morphed into her human form. Her kick hit Stardust in the gut, the momentum, enough to send her flying off the pile of cars and into another one. She watched as she fell down onto the yard ground with thud. Druida saw that she was moving around a little, not dead or unconscious but still not going anywhere for a while.
"Stardust is taken care of, Captain," she announced, reaching for her communicator in her ear, "any other orders?"
"Good work, Druida. Get back in the air and keep scouting. Keep us posted with anything we should know," Shockwave ordered from the other end.
"Yes sir," and she was in her bird form again. Soon she was up high, looking down on the yard again. She could see that Lifestream was trying to sneak to Vortex and heal him. That could mean seriously bad news for Druida. She'd be unable to fly if Vortex decided to take to the skies again. She didn't have time to unmorph, speak to Shockwave, remorph and stop her. If Lifestream was successful in reviving Vortex, there was no way that Druida could fight them both off.
That's not your job, Mereani, she reminded herself, you're a scout.
She had been the captain of the team before Shockwave had come along. She always thought that she'd done a fine job. Shockwave was much better suited for the job, because of his natural leadership abilities and she respected that. She had earned her stripes enough to make a decision she knew he'd give her permission to do. She circled down and went for Lifestream. Just as she slowed her descent, she unmorphed and tackled Lifestream to the ground.
She didn't expect to lose this fight either. The shy girl was never very good at hand-to-hand combat. As Lifestream was getting to her feet, Druida decided not to give her the chance and she kicked at her, aiming for her head. The attack was blocked and Lifestream pulled out a handgun from a holster on her belt and aimed it at Druida's chest.
The blue-green blast hit her like a ton of bricks, sending her flying into the pile of cars behind her. She recognized the gun all too well…it was one of the plasma weapons specifically designed to drop a foe in a single shot, without killing them. Her vision began to fade to black as she lost consciousness.
Lindsey and Palisade continued sneaking towards the enemies' camp as soon as Druida initiated attack with Stardust. They had covered a little more than the halfway distance before their trek was interrupted. With Vortex and Stardust out of the way, all they'd have to worry about was Hypno. They'd send Lifestream out to heal her fallen comrades, and all that Typo could do was deactivate their coms.
Not true—flashbang grenades could be pretty deadly to you as well.
Adam did not possess the same stopping power as Hypno or Shockwave, but he was more than capable of throwing a grenade. No matter what, she'd have to be on her guard.
As long as Hypno didn't have flashbangs too, she'd have no trouble handling him because of her natural resistance to his powers. She would not dare tussle with Lifestream or Stardust. Everyone else had the advantage of being able to have Lifestream heal them if they got hurt. She had to heal the traditional way if she was injured—over time.
They felt the wind pick up again, which could only mean that Lifestream had put him back in business. It also meant that she had to be somewhere close to where he'd fallen, and not near the base where she would pose a threat to her. That only left Typo and Hypno unaccounted for.
"There it is!" Palisade pointed. She followed his gaze to the enemies' base, an identical—no—mirror image of their own base. Their flag was sitting brazenly out in the open where everyone could see it. The room was also very well lit so she would have to rely on Palisade to protect her. It seemed to be unguarded, but Lindsey knew better than that. One of the two unaccounted for would be there to jump out a moment's notice.
"Can you maintain your shield from this far away?" she asked.
"Yeah. Go get it. I'll stay here and make sure nothing gets you. Go!"
She wasted no more time, running full speed towards the base. Suddenly, Palisade's shield materialized around her just as car seat smashed into it. It bounced off, leaving her unharmed but a split second later and she would have been hit in the head. Markas—Hypno—was on the roof of their base. He picked up, with his power, of course, two more random things lying about in the junkyard with intention to throw them at Lindsey. She moved forward slowly as the shield moved with her. She still couldn't help but jump when the pieces of rubble smashed noisily into the sphere protecting her. Scary as it was, she was protected; Hypno could not break the barrier.
A flashbang grenade went off behind her and her shield disappeared. Adam, decked out with all kinds of guns, armor and other gadgets, came from where Palisade was hiding. Whatever he'd done to Palisade, she was no longer protected and that meant she was left to fight the two of them alone.
She shadowported, a word she and Nightcrawler had invented. It wasn't teleporting as he did but it was just as fast, and she had to be in her shadow form to do it. She grabbed Markas in a chokehold that Gambit had taught her and flooded him with as much deliberate shadow energy as she could muster.
He screamed in pain and fear, whirling and writhing around like a madman. When he turned, intense pain suddenly radiated through her body and she was forced back into her regular state. It was Typo, shining a hi-beam flashlight at her. It was sad that her power could be rendered useless by something so simple as light. Hypno, no longer affected by her shadow energy flipped her over his shoulder and vaulted her across the roof. She fought to grab hold of something but she couldn't find anything. For a split second, the light was no longer trained on her. She transformed and shadowported behind Typo. Taking advantage of her position, she snagged the remaining two flashbang grenades from his belt and knocked the hi-beam out of his hand. She pulled the pins on the grenades and shadowported again behind Hypno. She threw the grenades on the roof on either side of Markas and ported behind a car before they ignited. She plugged her ears but the bang was still quite loud. At least she didn't have to be exposed to the magnesium flash; it was likely to knock her out if she were too close.
Her thoughts fell briefly on her memory of her fight with Hybrid. She shuddered at what his flashbang grenade had done to her.
It nearly killed me.
She knew that she was nearly invincible in the dark, but every day she became more aware of how vulnerable she was in the light. It was time to stop thinking and start acting.
She shadowported and punched Typo in the face, shadowported and dealt him a sucker punch to the ear. She continued her attack, mimicking the patters that Nightcrawler had showed her. Even with all of his fancy gear, he was no match for her in the darkness. He tried to hit her with a stun gun but she ported away and knocked it from his hand.
She gripped his head in her hands and glared in his eyes, showering him with shadow energy. Something new was happening now. The longer she held on, the more of Adam's fears she was able to see. Trivial, instinctive fears such as falling down and loud, sudden noises were the ones that she saw first. Then fears of being alone, self-esteem fears, and finally childhood fears of boogeymen and werewolves came up. Against his will, he was showing her everything he was afraid of.
She also learned all of the things that he was ashamed of, the things he was afraid that people would find out. She learned his dark secrets that he wouldn't tell anyone, prying them from his mind.
I'm feeding off of it, she realized. It was energizing her. It was invigorating and intoxicating. She wanted more but she feared that if she held on too much longer, she would kill him.
She watched as streaks of white appeared in his hair as streams fell from his bloodshot eyes. She let go and he dropped to the ground in a fetal position, unable to do anything but try to cope with the pain of his worst nightmares. It was time to end the game so that he could be healed. She felt guilty about hurting him and Hypno, but she felt guiltier about the emotional trauma she'd caused him.
She felt as if she knew him better now, and in some ways, she did. She knew his worst fears and secrets, the things you don't tell anyone. The thing that bothered her the most out the entire thing was how much pleasure she'd taken out of seeing his pain. It was as if she were a leech of his dark thoughts—a vampire of the mind. She would have to talk to Jean as soon as the game was over. She snatched the flag and ported to Palisade. She'd only recently learned that she could port people with her but it gave them the same effect as if she were attacking them. He wouldn't like it, but it'd be over quickly. She ported, moving lightning fast over the junkyard with Palisade in her grasp. She landed in their base and touched their flag with the enemies', ending the game. It was over; she'd won it for them.
"Congratulations, Team B. You win the game," Cyclops announced over the intercom. The holograms disappeared and her team, minus Druida and Palisade came over to her.
"Good job! Whoa! Lin! What's up with your hair?" Caleb asked her with a bewildered look.
"What?" she asked. She went to look into the mirror in the girls' dressing room. She gasped. Her hair had dark brown, almost black streaks in it. It was the same shade as Typo's hair.
"Okay, lemme get this straight: kind of like how Rogue steals peoples memories and mutants' powers, only I steal their darkest thoughts and their hair color?" Lindsey was trying to make sense of it all and it was sounding pretty ridiculous to say out loud.
"In so many words, yes. The effects on others seems to be temporary but it appears as if you'll retain those streaks you stole from Adam," she replied.
"His hair went back to normal?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes…well it will eventually. You didn't completely change the hair down to the root, it'll grow back in his natural color."
"Well, at least we won't have a bunch of white-haired people running around here," she joked running her fingers through and examining her hair.
"Storm and Rogue have naturally white hair—Storm a little more so than Rogue."
"What is the point in stealing peoples' hair color, except to make mine look like a beautician's failed experiment?" she pondered.
"I'm not sure it serves any practical purpose at all. Sometimes, our mutations can have side effects that we do not understand—some of them seemingly useless. I'm sure you can color it out," Jean encouraged.
"I'll have to! I look like Halloween with this black against red," she smiled, holding a lock of her hair.
"I'll have Jubilee get you all fixed up. She's got some really good stuff she uses."
"Do you color your hair or is that natural?" Lindsey had been waiting to ask her. Jean's hair always appeared bright red to the root, as if it were natural. Her color was so bright and vivid it didn't seem real sometimes.
"This is all me, believe it or not. It's been like this since I was a baby."
"Lucky you. I have to color mine to keep it like this. My natural color is kind of a reddish blonde, but it's not as bright as I'd like it to be—hence the color."
"It looks good on you. You might want to consider getting a streaky style now that your powers seem to gain you a little extra color," Jean suggested.
"That's a good idea. I could use a fresh look anyway. Can't have two many red heads around," she smiled brightly. "Well then, I guess I'm off to Jubilee's salon."
"Okay, take care of yourself, Nightmare."
"Thanks, Jean."
"Hey…are you okay? I mean, are you doing okay? I know this adjustment, living here and dealing with your losses can't be the easiest thing to deal with," she winced and Jean's words.
"It hasn't been and it's still not easy. I'm doing alright though, really. It's been easier since I know someone here and everyone's been real nice so far," she looked away. She didn't mean for 'so far' to sound as if she expected people to start being mean to her now.
"Don't worry about Adam. I talked to him and he's fine about the whole thing," Jean assured, obviously reading her mind.
"I'm still gonna apologize to him. Can I be honest with you about something?" Lindsey asked, daring to change the subject.
"Sure."
"I don't think that the tournament was a good idea. If we're a team, we should learn to work together, not against each other," she heard a little bit of Caleb's blunt honesty oozing out as she spoke. Spending so much time with him had rubbed off on her.
"Your team won, I never told you congratulations. If you feel that way, you should talk to Cyclops," she suggested, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
"He just gave us a speech about not questioning his authority," Lindsey objected.
"He's a little different one-on-one than he is when he's leading. Really, you should talk to him. He's not going to blast you or anything," she laughed. Lindsey wasn't going to cross Cyclops and Jean knew that. Was this her nice way of avoiding what she thought of Lindsey's opinion?
I'm not a mind-reader, she is, Lindsey reminded herself.
"Maybe…I don't know if I'm willing to take that chance," Lindsey joked.
"You could always get Caleb to say something. He has no trouble speaking his mind and I'm sure he feels the same way," Jean offered.
"That's way too much testosterone in one place," she raised her eyebrows thinking of what a catastrophe it could be. Jean laughed.
"You're probably right about that one. Take care, Lindsey," she called as Lindsey was leaving.
"You too, Jean," and so she was off to makea hair appointment.
