"There Are Ways Around It"
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Last period had arrived and all of the students from the ages 15 to 18 had gathered into the Danger Room, all of them changed into gym clothes.
Storm, Jean and Cyclops were all gathered in the room and were wearing black leather uniforms, each one designed in a different way to match their powers.
Cyclops' uniform was black and it covered his body from head to toe, wearing matching gloves and black boots while he wore a metal visor that was made to release his optic blasts at different levels of power.
Jean wore a uniform that was a female version of the one Cyclops was wearing; only she had a dark belt that had an X on the buckle.
Storm was wearing a uniform just like Jean's with a buckle that had an X on the buckle, but her own outfit was outlined in white and she wore a cape.
Much to the surprise of Rogue, she found Willis and Davey, or mars and Black Kat, walking out of the locker rooms dressed in uniforms as well.
Mars was wearing a black sleeveless top and black pants which were outlined in light green while he wore boots and fingerless gloves.
A green belt that had an X on the square buckle was tied around his waist.
Black Kat was wearing a black tube top with a leather jacket over it, black fingerless gloves, black pants, pink knee high boots and a pink belt that had an X on the square shaped buckle.
Covering the bottom half of her face was a black facial mask.
"Bobby, why are Willis and Davey wearing those uniforms?" Rogue asked him.
"Because they're official members of the X-Men team. The rest of us are still students and trainees." Bobby explained.
"Yeah, we don't get our uniforms until the Professor says we're ready." John rolled his eyes.
"What are the X-Men?" Rogue asked making the two boys share a look.
There was still quite a bit they had to explain to the girl.
Passing by Cyclops, Black Kat noticed that the man had his phone out and was staring at the screen, his lips pulled down into a frown.
"Hey, what's up?" Black Kat asked.
"Yeah, I thought we had a no cell phone rule in the Danger Room." Mars added.
Sighing, Cyclops turned his phone off and shoved it into the pocket on the inside of his uniform.
"It's different when you have an emergency. Turns out, my parents are having some trouble with my brother." Cyclops revealed.
"Vulcan? What's wrong with him?" Mars questioned.
They had never met the boy before, but Gabriel "Vulcan" Summers was popularly known as the youngest brother of the deceased Havok and the current X-Men leader Cyclops.
The boy was 16 years old and had a power that was similar to Havok's, only it seemed to be growing stronger with each passing year and was becoming a greater danger to the people around him.
"His powers are getting more difficult for him to control. He almost destroyed the school today because some jock insulted him." Cyclops explained.
"Didn't you almost destroy the school because a jock was hassling you?" Storm brought up.
Cyclops' cheeks burned pink as Black Kat and Mars snickered at him, enjoying the mortified look that was on his face.
"No. It was the boy's room. And I only blasted off the door." Cyclops huffed.
That made the two youngest X-Men laugh at the team leader, finding enjoyment in learning the mistakes he made in his past.
It wasn't because they wanted to tease or taunt him about it; it was because it made them feel better about any mistakes they have made when they lost control of their powers.
Clearing his throat, Cyclops turned his attention back onto his teammates as Jean came walking over to join them.
"Anyway, let's get started on this session." He ordered.
"Actually, Davey, I think you should take Rogue out of this session. It's her first day. I think you should ease her into everything by teaching her some self defense moves." Jean instructed.
"Sure, works for me. After all, it's not like we can train her to use her powers when she won't tell anyone what they are." Black Kat shrugged.
"I wonder why that is." Mars mused.
"Don't try to weasel it out of her." Storm scolded.
Gasping in embarrassment at the words she used, Storm turned her attention onto Black Kat, sending her an apologetic expression while Cyclops, Mars and Jean all snickered.
Shaking her head in amusement, Black Kat sent the African woman a grin before she made her way over to where Rogue was stretching with Bobby and John, also known as Iceman and Pyro.
Seeing the girl walking over to them, Pyro nudged Iceman in the side and pointed over to her.
"Hey, Davey." Iceman greeted the girl.
"Hey, guys." Black Kat smiled at them.
She then turned her attention onto Rogue.
"Anyway, Rogue, you're coming with me. Today I'm going to be teaching you some self defense moves to help you catch up with everyone else." Black Kat informed.
"Um, okay. Is this going to be hard?" Rogue asked nervously.
"Don't worry; I'll go easy on you. Come on, let's go get started." Black Kat smiled and pulled her mask down, hoping it would help the girl feel better.
Nodding, Rogue followed Black Kat as she led her off out of the Danger Room, taking her outside while Cyclops started the session for the day.
"Why do we have to do this outside?" Rogue asked as they stood in the back yard.
"Because the Danger Room is gonna be set up with a hologram of a forest or whatever. The whole point of the session is for everyone to break off into teams and use their powers to work together and keep away from the X-Men. Think of it as the ultimate game of tag." Black Kat grinned.
Realizing how hot it was outside, she shed off her jacket and tossed it onto a bench nearby.
"Aren't you going to take off your sweater? You're gonna suffer in this heat if you're all bundled up." Black Kat said.
Sensing how nervous and uncomfortable the girl had become, the weasel took notice of how Rogue was tugging on her gloves, ones that she had been wearing ever since she first arrived.
"I-I just don't feel comfortable showing too much skin." Rogue stuttered.
She was avoiding eye contact and looked very upset.
Thinking things over, Black Kat was able to finally put the pieces together.
"Rogue... Do your powers have anything to do with skin contact with others?" Black Kat asked.
There had once been a mutant that came to the school who had the ability to paralyze people with a single touch.
Because of this, the mutant never touched anyone and always wore gloves.
They didn't stay long since they felt like they would be a threat to the children and took off, joining a group of mutants who lived far away from civilization.
"H-How did you know?" Rogue asked as her eyes grew wide.
"You're not the first mutant who has powers that are activated from skin contact." Black Kat stated.
"Oh. I-I just don't like it. Whenever I touch someone, I hurt them. It's best if I stayed all covered up like this, even if I hate it." Rogue stared at the ground sadly.
Giving the girl a sympathetic expression, Black Kat then tried to think of a way to make it easier on Rogue to deal with her powers.
Glancing down at her hand, the weasel then thought up a way that she could touch Rogue without the Southern girl harming her.
Willing the shadows to rise from the ground, Black Kat watched as they molded to her body and covered her skin in a thin layer of protection.
Staring down at her grey tinted skin, Black Kat then took a step closer to Rogue and gently reached out with her hand, touching the girl's cheek with her finger tips.
Feeling the warmth of the girl's touch, Rogue gasped and jumped away, fearful that she would hurt Black Kat accidentally.
When nothing happened and Rogue didn't feel the sudden jolt of her powers being activated, she stared at Black Kat in awe.
"How... Why aren't you-? What did you do?" Rogue asked in confusion.
Grinning with pride over how she had found a new way to use her powers, Black Kat simply strode forward and held her hand out towards Rogue.
"I managed to find a way to stop your powers from affecting me. Now, you don't have to worry about hurting me with any skin contact." She said.
Curious to see if this was true, Rogue hesitantly pulled off her glove and reached out to touch Black Kat's extended hand.
Placing her hand on top of Black Kat's slightly smaller one, Rogue was stunned and released a laugh of disbelief when she found herself able to actually touch her without causing harm.
Smiling for the first time after she discovered her powers, Rogue turned her joyful gaze onto Black Kat who was grinning up at her.
"See? If I can find a way around your powers, then I'm sure you can, too. One day, you'll be able to freely touch, hug and kiss whoever you want. Now, get that sweater off before you faint from overexposure to the heat. We have some training to do." Black Kat said.
"Right!" Rogue nodded with a thrilled expression on her face.
Shedding her sweater off and leaving her in her t-shirt, Rogue stood in front of Black Kat and waited for the lesson to begin.
To be continued...