Disclaimer: Marvel owns the characters…you know the drill.
A/N:
Boy, when you get hit with ideas….again I apologize for the huge lapse in time
from when I first put this out and when I updated it. Thanks to everyone who
reviewed it was greatly appreciated and the feedback fairy is very happy! ________________________________________________________________________
Place: Danger Room
Time:
a couple of days after Chapter 3
Shissssttt
The
door closed behind Jubilee with a finality she wasn't all together comfortable
with. She was dressed in a new uniform, black spandex that enabled her mist to
flow freely, her hair tied up in a ponytail and a slightly worried expression
on her face. Up in the observation room, Sean was manning the booth while Emma
and Wolverine were hovering nearby, reminding him uncomfortably of overly
concerned parents. The rest of the team, after learning that Jubilee was going
to be trying to destroy had all remembered urgent appointments several miles
away from the campus.
"Ready
lass?"
Jubilee
nodded curtly and formed a plasma ball in her hand. "Let er rip."
Sean
smiled slightly and a few seconds later a target popped up on the far wall
across from her. Still looking around, Jubilee glanced up at him.
"Well?"
"There
it is."
"You
want me to hit the target?" Disbelief dripped from her voice as she put
her hands on her hips.
"Aye."
"With
my powers?"
"Aye,
lass."
"And
hit and the target."
Slightly
exasperated Sean nodded. " Yes, I want ye to hit the target."
Crossing
her arms, she narrowed her eyes. "Have you been here at all these past few
weeks?"
Wolverine
snorted, and Sean glared at him. "I want ye to hit the target in the
middle, not to destroy it. Give it a try."
Sighing dramatically, Jubilee cocked her finger and blast erupted from her
hand. Needless to say, the target was disintegrated. "See Sean? This is
stupid. I can get the bad guy, why the hell do I need to hit a dot 5 inches
wide?"
"Because
finesse is also needed. Do it again, and this time I want you to concentrate on
using a confined beam. Picture it in your mind, you have totally control over
your body, you just have to learn how to achieve it." The target
materialized on the wall and Jubilee took aim again. Frowning, a thin beam shot
from her hand, missed the target by three feet and bounced off the wall to
explode harmlessly on the floor. Before Sean could say anything, another
confined blast exploded from her finger, this time hitting the bulls-eye dead
center. Jubilee cocked her eyebrow at him with a smirk.
"Good
job. Do it again."
-Several hours later-
Sean
sipped his coffee as he watched Jubilee train. Once she had discovered new
levels to her power she had refused to stop. She had progressed step by step
until she was able to form various concentrations of blasts, beams and paffs
and aim them with remarkable accuracy. As far as Sean could figure, her healing
factor had increased her endurance level, which far exceeded any of her
previous performances. This was probably why, five hours into her training, she
hadn't paused to take a break. Down in the danger room, Jubilee was currently
in a jungle sim, fighting sentinels. She ducked and rolled under the foliage
evading her attackers with grace and ease. As the last sentinel exploded in
scrap metal, Jubilee held up her hand and Sean paused the sim looking at her
expectantly.
"Sean,
while target practice and frying sentinel are fun I want to fly. This would be
a hell..."
"Language,
Darlin." Wolverine muttered sleepily from his seat.
"Heck
of a lot easier if I could fly."
"Fine."
Sean shut down the jungle scene and Jubilee was left standing in the bare white
walls of the Danger Room. "Do ye remember anything from the lessons?"
Sean saw her face flush slightly and answered himself. "Of course not. Basically
flight is the same for all mutants, there has to be something propelling you,
pushing you away from the ground. When you flew outside the last time what
happened?"
Jubilee shrugged. "I had to get away and the next thing I knew I was
flying...and falling." she added thoughtfully. "I only stopped when I
pushed up really hard from the ground."
"Right..."
Sean scratched his stubbled face thoughtfully and frowned down at the console.
Before Jubilee could react the ground dissolved beneath her and she was plummeting
through space to a fast increasing ground. She screamed and pushed up with all
of her might but the wind still rushed past. Frantically searching her brain,
she remembered the file that she had pulled up once on herself just after she
had joined the X-men. It had said something about her being able to explode
things on a subatomic level. Maybe if she created a series of miniature
explosions under her…sweat beaded on her brow as she concentrated. Her feet and
legs began have a slight burning sensation, and suddenly as if something had
been ignited she shot up into the air. A huge grin on her face, she flew
forward and did a somersault in the air. Around the lower part of her legs and
feet, swirls of multicolored energy weaved around her, pushing her forward.
It
took a few tries before she was able to fly without thinking about it and even
longer before she learned how to stop without falling to the ground. More than
once Jubilee had found herself slamming into the ceiling, wall, and floor
headfirst as tried to slow down. After the first encounter, Sean quickly
programmed the computer to produce padding on the walls. Letting her enjoy the
new sensation for a few minutes, Sean finally stopped the program.
"Good
job lass. It's been a long day and let's take a break. We can start up tomorrow
morning." Sean nudged Emma and Wolverine awake. "We're done, let's
go."
Yawning,
both Emma and Wolverine filed out followed by Sean. Walking down, Sean patted
Jubilee on the back. Her hair and uniform were drenched in sweat, and she was
breathing hard as she walked out of the Danger Room. "Ye did a good job
Jubilee, I'm proud of you."
Wolverine
grinned at her and ruffled her hair. "Ya did good kid."
Emma
nodded in agreement. "Indeed, your perseverance has seemed to pay off. I
didn't think you could progress so far in just a day."
Jubilee
shrugged nonchalantly. "Well when you're as great as I am, it's pretty
easy. Besides, now I can fly. I can't wait to show the guys!"
"No."
Jubilee looked at Sean in surprise. "I don't want ye using yer powers before
you've been properly trained. Sure, you've had a good session but you've only
been working at it for a day. I told you, we're going to take it one step at a
time."
"But
Seeaaannnn..." Tired, hungry and thirsty Jubilee was not above a little
whining to get her way.
"No,
and until we've ascertained that you have control, you're off the
missions."
"What?!?"
Jubilee gaped at him in shock. "That is so unfair."
"Sean
is that really necessary?" Emma said softly.
"I
won't have the team compromised because she can't control her powers..."
Sean trailed off as Jubilee, near tears stormed out followed by Wolverine. Emma
pursed her lips and said quietly. "I am the last person that should tell
you what you're doing is wrong but keep in mind that she's fragile right now
and we don't want to break her."
Sean
rubbed his neck wearily, his green eyes troubled. "I know, Em, but I don't
want her in danger until she is in control. No one gets a handle on their
powers in one day, it takes weeks of training."
"Perhaps,"
Emma shrugged delicately. "But maybe we aren't dealing with everyone else
either."
"And
how long do you think she's going to listen to me anyway?" Sean said
tiredly.
Upstairs,
Jubilee was in the kitchen burrowing in the fridge for food. Ignoring Wolverine
she pulled out bread, meat, fruit, chips, soda, pickles and set about making
several sandwiches. Angrily slapping on some mayonnaise on the bread, Jubilee
tore open the packages of cheese and meat. "Darlin.."
"Don't,
just don't."
"Don't
what Jubes?"
"Don't
tell me how this is for my own good, and in the end it'll be worth it."
"Alright,
but maybe you aren't ready to be back on active status."
Jubilee
glared at him. "How can you say that?"
"Darlin,
just a few hours ago you were upset enough to let the program slash you
open."
"I
was just seeing how far my healing factor worked." Jubilee avoided his
eyes and carefully layered the cheese and lettuce onto the roast beef.
Wolverine
reached out and turned Jubilee's face to him, and looked directly into her
eyes. "You and I both know that's not what you were doing."
A
lone tear trailed down her cheek as she tried to avoid his eyes.
"Wolvie..."
"It
ain't worth it, Darlin. Nothing is worth it and I've lost more than I care to
count. Killing one man, sick as he was, isn't worth it. Don't let him
win."
A
sob escaped from her chest, as she dropped the knife she was holding. Choking,
she clutched at him, sobbing into the soft flannel of his shirt. His heart
wrenching for the girl, Wolverine held her tight, murmuring softly into her
ear. He had come to save his girl and now the only thing he could do was hold
her as she cried. Inwardly he sighed, and wondered yet again what the cost of
Sabertooth's death would have on the girl.
-fin-