A/N: DONNNNNNNNNNNNNNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM EXCITED!!!!!!! Wrote my last final today, teacher took me aside and told me I led the class, I'm like ohh haha and he said I would probably get an honor roll certificate, he started explaining them and I said "haha, yeah I'm familiar with those". I feel so fucking awkward when teachers conga rat (yes that's how I insist it's spelled) me on my work, it's hilarious. I have no idea why, I should just be like aww thank you. Haha oh yeah I won another scholarship . This will mean a reception again, and I already know how I can screw those up. I have more bad luck for awkward situations than the characters I write. Last one I missed the reception room, found the hall 10 mins late, and I was literally 'that person' who rushes in after the anthem and sits down in the back row. HOLY EMBARASSING. Then I started to leave the stage while they were still talking...oi...come back girl we're still thanking people here...lol

It is now my school break...and...I have a week of full time work lined up! YAAYYY...hey wait a minute that's not fun...I have a day planned with my friend though =) and I can do a bit more writing in the evenings cuz I'm not cramming for four things simultaneously (that's actually possible, I've done it).

O.O

YAYAYAYYAAY X-force #14!!!!!! and a very interesting scene with Laura and Hope!! Also, I hear they pick up where #13 left off in X-force #17 (July 22/09 or something). Cross your fingers for Hellion! I strongly wish to see some panels with him and Laura, both alive ;-)

Oh and apparently Uncanny X-men #509 has some shots of Surge running around in an X-suit, looking just fine and dandy. WTF? Seriously? Did the writer even bother to go stand in a comic shop for half an hour and riffle through a few issues to find out what the characters are doing? If he had, he might have thought, Hmm, you know, seeing as she is currently injected with a deadly virus and likely to explode at any moment, killing hundreds of others, maybe I'd better not have her running around in broad daylight, smiling. Unless it's a drug induced hallucination. The comic titles have less communication than my school's departments! The only other logical reason for this panel I could see is a flashback. Still...WTF man.

Okay okay here's your chapter, enjoy and I will be posting more updates + Prisoner: Y Chapter 1 sometime in the next few days ;-) if you don't know what the latter is, h t t p : / / prisoner . forever . as (or author page link)

I'm off to write for 2 hours!! Got Slipknot on!! Yay!!


( Volume: 3 Arc: "danger room" 8 Issue: 4/5 )

Chapter 108: counseled


"Field day is coming up soon, Julian. We need to figure out what those symbols mean," Sofia said, standing over Julian, Laura and the Shrimps at lunch.

"Sofa!" Rachel squeaked. Laura glanced at the little girl, amused.

Julian struggled to swallow his too-large forkful of potatoes. ""S—fine—mmph—we 'ave plenty of time," he said, as soon as he'd gotten enough
down. "We have till the seventeenth. That's ages away."

The two females stared at him. "What day are you living, Keller?" Laura asked.

"…Monday," he said, his eyes widening slightly. As he realized he'd been living Monday for a bit too long now.

"It's Friday, you idiot," Laura said.

"No way. I just…aw, shit," Julian gave up, realizing he had a few problems to fix, including, now, a late lab report. "Fucking exams…I pull one all-nighter and
I almost forget what year it is," he grumbled.

Sofia smiled slightly, amused; Laura rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Learn to use a calendar, jeez. Why do you think I keep putting those blank day planner
sheets in your binder?" she asked. "Or do you not know how to read one? This is just typical."

Julian ignored her.

"So, yeah, I guess we do need to get crackin'," he said calmly, looking at Sofia as he spoke. "Let's get the team together tomorrow…at the Grindstone?"

"Are you sure you want the team together in public?" Laura asked. "I mean—really—we had to wait for the Shrimps to grow up before we took them places—and
I consider the team less mature than they are—"

"Yes," Sofia said. "I will inform my squad. One o' clock?"

"Sounds good to me," Julian said.

"Whoa, whoa! What about the Shrimps?!" Laura demanded. "What if there's no babysitter available, Keller? What then?"

"Then we bring them with us, simple as that," Julian said, looking at Nate. "If they're as grown-up as you say, then maybe they'll be able to figure the code
out for us. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

Laura drummed her fingers on the table. "Yes, awesome," she said, clearly not excited. Sofia smiled at Julian and left, her heart rate faster than normal.


Julian stared at his grade, horrified. He'd never gotten a lower mark on anything, and this was the test he thought he'd done alright on. He blinked a few times
to see if it was his contacts, reread it, and even turned the paper around to make sure he wasn't reading it upside down or something (confusing 7's for 1's). It
was still an incredibly low grade. He swallowed, squared his shoulders and handed the paper back to his teacher, tried act nonchalant as he returned to his seat,
even though he was quite disturbed, and it obviously showed.

During break, everyone began to compare grades, a tradition Julian hated.

"Hah!" Nori whispered, happening to be his neighbor. "You failed, didn't you?"

Julian was silent. He was mentally calculating how much he'd just pulled his entire grade down, and it was a lot. Quite a bit, yes.

"Get a lunchbox, Keller!" Nori teased, knowing she'd struck a nerve.

Julian closed his eyes calmly, ignoring her.

"David got a hundred…"

"Yeah, well, you didn't, did you?" he interrupted. "If we're going to start comparing partners, Laura got a hundred and ten when she did this—last term."

Nori fell silent, annoyed. Then…"What did you get?" she asked.

"Why on earth would I tell you?" he asked, scribbling his mark in the grade section of his outline and shielding it with his hand.

"I got sixty-seven percent," Nori whispered.

Julian leaned on his elbow. "Not giving you more ammo," he said in a bored tone.

"Holy—you got eleven percent?!" Josh gasped, looking over his shoulder at the mark.

"Fuck you, Foley!" Julian snapped, slamming his binder shut. "What is wrong with you people? Jesus, let me fail in peace!"

"HAHAHA!" Nori pounded her table. "Oh my god! How is that mark even possible?!"

Julian rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ashida—can you tone the immaturity down? I'm trying a new thing where I don't give you what you have
coming. All of you just shut up, please."

"Aww, buddy, take it easy," Josh said. "Eleven…isn't…uh…that bad…"

"Not at all," Nori grinned. "Grade 11 Physics, after all, is like rocket science for you, Keller! You should be proud. See if you can get a—"

Crrrk! Nori's chair made a loud, rude noise similar to gas escaping, and she straightened, her face turning red as everyone around her snorted with laughter.

"KELLER!" she snapped.

"Wasn't me," Julian deadpanned. "I'd rather they were loud, Ashida…it's the silent but deadly ones you got to watch out for."

"How'd it go?" Laura asked, not looking up. She was on the sofa, her head bent as she intently studied the outline of a lab report.

Julian dropped his backpack on the kitchen table. He'd been hoping she would simply forget to ask. Ever since the subject of 'career planning' had come up, Laura had
watched his grades like a hawk, actually demanding him to keep records to show her. She forced him to cram for exams, lent him her old notes, and tutored him on
insurmountable problems (with seemingly more patience than times past, now that her future depended on his ability to pass courses).

"Uh, fine," he said.

"Bring it here." She held up her hand. Meaning the outline, with his grades.

Julian wavered, wondering if he could get away with an excuse that the Shrimps had gotten it, but he was silent too long. She turned around on the couch, her eyes
narrowed. "Keller…I said bring it here, now."

He rolled his eyes, pulled the binder out of his backpack and brought it to her, his head bowed.

"WHAT?!" Laura gasped. "What the--eleven! KELLER! What the hell—"

"It wasn't a good week," he said, glaring back at her. "If you remember…you damaged my car and humiliated me. Oh, yeah, and the Shrimps had that enormous smack
down the night before the exam, meaning I was running on like two hours sleep—"

"Excuses, excuses!" Laura fumed. "Whoa—where do you think you're going, mister?! Get back here." Julian had been heading towards the bedroom, peeling his shirt
off as he had decided to take a shower.

"So you can yell at me more? No thanks."

Laura stood up. "It's only three o' clock. We can fix this, but we're going to see Bobby now."

"You're kidding." Julian froze, his arms tangled above his head, and he peered at her with one eye (the other hidden by the collar of his shirt).

"I am not."

"LAURA! You can't! It'd be the most—"


"—embarrassing thing ever," Julian grumbled, his arms folded. He was sitting, slouched, on a bench, in the hallway, outside Mr. Drake's office, beside
Laura, who was still holding his outline, with his grades.

"Shut up, Keller. No one's going to give a chance to someone who won't help himself."

"Whatever, mom," he said, looking away.

She held up her hand. "He just hung up." She got to her feet, pulling Julian along and knocking on the door with a sharp rap of her knuckles.

"It's open," Mr. Drake called. "Oh—Laura? What brings you here? I thought you—ahh," he said, as Julian followed her in.

Laura waved the paper in the air. "I'm not happy! He brings this home and he'll set a terrible example to the Shrimps! Don't you think he should have a
chance to correct whatever the hell he did wrong on his first go?"

Mr. Drake grinned. "Aheh. Exams are a one-time shot, Laura...you know I can't let him rewrite it."

"I tried to tell her," Julian said. "She's stubborn. She must be related to Wolverine or something…"

Laura calmly ignored this jab. "You can do whatever you want, Drake," she said. "He had unacceptable circumstances and outside stress during his exam, and
not enough study time. He's willing to work really hard, and I'll show him what he did wrong…please let him re-write it. Give him till Monday."

Mr. Drake raised his eyebrow. "How is this fair to the rest of the class?"

"How is the fact that he's dealing with two science experiments at home fair to him?" she asked. "Anyone at this school could have been abducted for that
purpose. It's hardly his fault. The Shrimps had quite a fight on the evening before his exam…I could've filmed it and sold the tape to the WWF."

Mr. Drake grinned. "But he should've come to me about this before the exam."

"It would have been three AM. I wasn't aware you offered round-the-clock counseling," Julian mumbled.

"He's also got this complex where he hates to admit he's not superman and can't handle a million things at once," Laura said. "I'm sure you'd have done the same thing in his place."

Mr. Drake considered, then pulled a block of paper out of his desk and a pen. He scribbled for a few moments, then tore the sheet off and handed it to Julian.

"Three o' clock, Monday. You fail this one and you don't get another shot."

"Thanks," Julian mumbled, his face beet red.

"Make sure he doesn't lose the paper," Mr. Drake added, unable to help himself.

"I will," Laura said seriously. "Come on, Keller."


Laura leapt over the couch, moving as if she was in the Danger Room. Julian opened the door just in time to see this; he was about to comment, but then he
noted she was holding a washcloth in her hand, and slammed the door shut in alarm, then joined the chase.

"NATE!!!!!!! GET BACK HERE!" Laura screeched, chasing the small, naked toddler into the kitchen. "Keller—go keep an eye on Rae! She's in the tub!"

Julian ran to the bathtub, suspicious—it was too quiet. Sure enough, Rachel was sitting on the bathroom counter, dripping water, and unplugging Laura's electric razor.

"The hell!" he barked, startling her into releasing the plug with a guilty look.

"Nett," she said, kicking her feet.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was," Julian mumbled, moving over to the girl and scooping her off the counter. "Don't do that again, okay? You've got to learn to stand up for yourself, kid."

"Nett wants," Rachel said again, as if this was an acceptable answer.

Julian carried her back to the tub and set her down amongst the bubbles and bath toys, including a rubber ducky. "Well, you're not Nate, are you?" he reasoned, ruffling
her thin, wet black hair. It stuck up into a soapy peak on her head and she blew a raspberry.

Clatter, from the kitchen, and the sound of Nate giggling loudly (meaning he was winning whatever was going on). Julian sat down on the closed toilet and watched
Rachel as she played with the foam.

Laura finally entered the bathroom again, carrying a squirming, fluffy pink towel, suspiciously toddler shaped. "NATE! Quit it!" she snapped. She rushed to the bathtub
and released him into the water, her face red from exertion.

"EHEHEHE!" Nate was scrambling at the edge of the tub again.

"Keller, don't you dare let him out!" she panted.

"What happened to all the stuff where you're in perfect control of them, hmm?" Julian asked teasingly, although he knew the answer. All reason disappeared when
the Shrimps heard the word 'bath'. They were fine with showers, which they received at least daily, accompanied by a parent; but when they bathed them for a more
thorough cleansing (which they did once a week), they went absolutely AWOL.

"Shut up." Laura brushed hair out of her sweaty face.

"Why the hell were you trying to do it alone? You know it's impossible," Julian said. He was currently enclosing the bathtub in a green energy bubble, and Nate was
sulking, sitting in the water with his back turned to both of his parents.

"I thought I'd get it out of the way tonight…I want you to work on your physics…and we're going out tomorrow for the team thing so…" She flushed even more. "I didn't
want to be the asshole that brings dirty toddlers, okay?"

"It's good to have a dream, I guess," Julian said, grimly looking at the Shrimps soaking in the tub, and thinking they would be dirty the instant they got out. It was
somewhat like the character Pigpen from Charlie Brown, he mused. He kept expecting to see the dust cloud.


"Nate, stop that," Laura warned, holding Rachel's hand tightly as they prepared to cross the street. "We want to leave Julian's hair alone. If you pull too hard it
might come out, and then he'll be a worthless bald man."

Julian turned to glare at her, annoyed. Nate was sitting on his shoulders, piggy-back, his small hands buried in his spiky hair suspiciously deep.

"I don't have problems in that department, thanks," Julian grinned.

"Wouldn't want to take chances, now, would we?" Laura said, in the same sing-song voice of explanation that made his toes curl in irritation. He was about to
comment, but the white 'walk' sign went on at that moment, and when he reached the other side, Laura was already at the door of the Grindstone, Rachel
trotting along behind her.

"Wait up! He's heavy!" Julian called, panting.


"A twizzler…a bird…a mountain...and a stick figure that looks like its glowing," David said, holding the metal dome in his hands and studying the rough
inscription on the inside. "This is even more random than the last one."

Both squads were seated around two tables shoved together, staring at David expectantly, hoping he'd have an answer so they could start preparing.

Julian especially—he didn't want a repeat of Danger.

"That's one fat stick figure," Santo grunted. "Looks like the Michelin tire guy to me."

"Heh, you're right," Josh said, leaning over David's shoulder. "I think you need new glasses, Davie-boy."

"At least you don't need bottle-caps like Keller here," Nori grinned.

"Shut the f—" Julian began, but suddenly became conscious of Nate staring at him expectantly. Waiting for him to say his favorite word. He gave the boy his
best disapproving look. Nate hadn't dared to try saying it yet, but it was obvious he was going to eventually.

Nate looked away.

Julian held out his hand, and the dome yanked free of David's grasp.

"Hey!" Nori snapped. He grinned and tilted the dome over.

"That is so not a bird. It's a plane, dumbass," he said after a second. "Look at it. That's totally the X-wing. It even has a little flame on the end…see?"

Several people leaned over his shoulder, including Sofia. "Yes…I see it," she said. A long lock of her hair (which was lose today) fell onto his neck; neither
commented, but Julian tensed slightly and glanced up. Laura didn't see this, preoccupied with feeding Rachel a piece of cookie.

"Ok…so far we have a twizzler, which must be another cable," David said. "So we're obviously supposed to open a door again. And take the X-wing. To some mountains…"

"That's ridiculous," Laura said. "They wouldn't want us to actually leave the school. It's got to be in the Danger Room."

A pause, then David nodded in agreement. "She's right. Okay…so we break into the Danger Room again…and the X-wing will be ready. So we have to fly it to the right
place…which has mountains… and fight the Michelin tire guy?"

"Dude! That's awesome!" Santo said. "Someone bring a camera!"

"Who's a fat villain, who glows?" David asked, not convinced.

"I'd say Blob, but he doesn't glow…unless…ewwww…" Nori wrinkled her nose.

"What about Mojo? Y'know, that weird guy with all the arms?" Cessily asked.

"This guy has two arms, and two legs," Julian said. "He is posed kinda weird though. Like he's pushing his chest out."

Laura leaned over and plucked the dome out of his hands without asking and examined it critically. "You guys are all retarded," she said, arching her eyebrows.

"Huh?" Julian asked.

"It's written right here…Nimrod," she said, her finger pointing to a tiny line under the figure.

Everyone stared at her.

"That's a scratch, Laura," Julian said.

"Uh-uh. It's plain as day to me. Well, I kind of have to squint a little…the writing is small but…"

"Of course!" David said.

"Wha?" Santo asked.

"She's Wolverine's clone! He has incredibly keen eyesight. He can see something like a few miles into the distance. I bet it works up close, too…" David sounded excited,
having solved a puzzle. "They knew, they had to. The first step of solving this was getting the right person to read it."

Laura stared at him. "So, what, I'm a microscope now?" she asked.

"Aww, my little science experiment," Julian said, amused.

"Shut up, Keller."

David suddenly stiffened. "I've heard of Nimrod before," he said. "Oh, jesus…are they serious?!"

"Nah, I'm sure it's all a big joke," Santo said. "You know Cyke…he's such a kidder!"

"Hah," Nori said.

"Guys, I'm serious…Nimrod is bad news. He's this big pink robot from the future, a super-advanced Sentinel. I've seen footage of the X-men fighting him."

"Personally, I stopped worrying when you said he's pink," Laura said.

General amusement.

"Guys—"

"Yes, David, we understand," Sofia said seriously. "We need to know more about this Nimrod. What are his weaknesses? If we have a plan, we will—"

"That's just it!" David said. "He doesn't have a weakness! He's the ultimate mutant killing machine. He will screw us up."

"I'm sure the safety's on," Julian pointed out. "The purpose is to test us…not to murder us."

David still looked uneasy.