"Weapon X." she smiled, "At last we meet."
It took a few seconds for the words to reach the midget, but the effect was instant. The surprise vanished in a flash and was replaced by rage so fierce I could almost see sparks in his eyes. He dropped into a fighting stance, growling as a sneer played on his lips and the light glinted off his claws.
Suzie did the same and within seconds, they were at each other's throats. I wasn't looking. Staring hard at the ground, I could see where this would lead, and if I was right, it wasn't just Weapon "X" who could lose his life. I needed a plan.
As far as I could see, we had two
options. Pull Suzie out of the fight long enough to calm her down, or render
her unconscious. Since the former was impossible, without getting hacked to
bits, I figured the latter would have to do. However we couldn't execute the
latter, without getting everyone in the room killed, which is what we were
trying to avoid in the first place. "Not good," I thought, "not
good."
"Roar!" yeah ok,
that's not how cheetahs sound, but at this point I looked up to see Tash trying
to get my attention. She had a plan! Perfect! Now if only I could figure out
what she was trying to say!
She shook her head and pawed her face. No good. As hard as I tried, I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say.
"Shit!" I swore aloud and thought, "If only I could read her mi..."
"Where's your psychic?" I demanded.
"Wha?" The Cajun looked at me confused. Obviously I'd gone too fast for his small mind.
"Where is your psychic?" I said it slowly, pronouncing each syllable as if I was talking to a four year old. It worked.
"Oh, jou mean Jeanie? She ova dere." He pointed to some red head standing in the corner. I began to drag the Cajun over there, when I found my path suddenly blocked.
"Yiah!"
WeaponX landed on his back about a foot in front of me. I felt myself being jerked backwards again by Gambit as Suzie leapt on top of him, trying to staple him to the floor with her claws. He blocked, only by entangling their claws together, inches from his face. They were both sweating and breathing hard, neither of them seemed injured. Suzie was smiling.
"Too slow old man!" She watched his rage grow.
However X wasn't beaten yet. In the blink of an eye he arched his back, setting Suzie off balance, just long enough to free his claws and attack. He slashed across Suzie's stomach, the blades penetrating several inches into the flesh. Her shriek was deafening as blood began to spurt from the wound. Weapon X grimaced, and Suzie jumped on the opportunity.
She blocked his next attack with one set of claws, and stabbed the other through the flesh of his hip. Using these as a pivot, she swung her legs around, kicking him hard in the face twice, and then pushing herself to her feet. She grabbed her wounded stomach and fell once again into an attacking stance. She was ready to dive at X again, when suddenly Rogue lifted her off the ground.
"That's enough, the both of you!" She began floating away from X, who was getting to his feet, dragging Suzie with her. Suzie closed her eyes, preparing to attack.
"No, don't!" I screamed, but it was too late. A large bolt of electricity came out of Suzie's body and hit Rogue, frying her like a bug on a cage light. The Cajun ran to her as she slumped back down to the ground lifeless. I couldn't tell if she was still alive.
Suzie, bleeding and breathing hard, turned back to the midget, who was already waiting for her. However the onslaught had begun, and now she wasn't just facing WeaponX, she was facing all of them.
The Cajun's attack came first. In one clean move he grabbed two playing cards out of his pocket and turned them a bright glowing pink. With a flick of his wrist he threw them at her with amazing speed and accuracy, but Suzie dodged them and they exploded as they hit the brick fireplace. As she landed however, the guy with the red glasses attacked her, his red beam sweeping her off her feet and blasting her into a corner. She the wall hard, and small plaster chips began to fall off it as she slumped to the floor, struggling with consciousness.
I grimaced. As evil and as insane as she was, she was still my friend, and she was obviously in pain. She got to her feet slowly, her knees trembling beneath her, the blood running off them like water. WeaponX and his friends formed a semicircle around her, trapping her, and out numbering her. Suzie panicked, all logical human thought leaving her mind. She was like a wild animal, cornered and wounded. She would do anything to keep from being captured. Anything.
"STOP!"
"ROAR!"
"ENOUGH!"
I broke through the semicircle of the advancing party and stood between them and Suzie. I soon realized that I wasn't alone. Tash was standing beside me, and beside her, was the psychic Jean. I looked at her, confused, then at the group of fighters in front of us. Then I realized the Cajun had stripped me of all my guns when he'd caught me, and that I didn't have a weapon to my name. As they say in Japan, "Baka."
I put my fists up and tried to look threatening, while Tash continued to snarl beside me. I realized soon, however, that we were wasting our breath, as everyone else was staring at Jean.
"That is enough." She repeated, calmer this time. Her eyes surveyed her teammates in an almost threatening fashion. They stood, too shocked to move. She continued, "There will be no more blood-shed. I have talked to these girls and they do not wish to fight us. This will be resolved with words, not fists. Now back away."
Slowly they began to obey, each one stepping back, keeping one hand on whatever weapon they had. In my head I heard an intrusive voice, the same voice I had heard before, speaking to me.
"You're friend, the cheetah, has explained to me about your other friend. Don't worry, we will not threaten her anymore. Can you calm her down?"
I looked behind me at Suzie, who was still leaning against the wall, searching the room with wild eyes. She saw me, and by the puzzled expression on her face I could tell she still didn't recognize who I was, and why I was defending her. I looked at her calmly, not moving, not fearing, and slowly, she began to remember.
Then I lost her. In one quick second her eyes darted beyond me, and locked on a target. She sobered again, crouched, and before I could stop her, she was flying through the air, aiming her claws at WeaponX. He was already waiting for her, claws drawn, feet planted. They were about a foot apart, when Suzie froze in mid air.
I blinked, and there was a general moment of surprise from everyone as Suzie began to float to the ceiling, held there by Jean's telekinesis. I watched as Suzie began to kick and scream, struggling with all her might against Jean's will power, but it was to no avail. There was only one thing left she could do, one final attack that would destroy everyone in this room instantly, possibly even herself. She closed her eyes.
Tash ran for the farthest corner, but even she wouldn't be quick enough, and I knew that at such close range, these morons's would be fried into carbon dust by Suzie's attack. In desperation I came up with a plan, and praying it would work, I ran towards Suzie.
She was already finished drawing her power, and was just opening her eyes and spreading her arms to take aim. Just as I heard the static crackle, signaling her attack, I jumped, grabbed her by the hair, and hung on for dear life.
Instantly her head jerked backwards and her hands flew up to her head. The pain of having her hair yanked sent her screeching and screaming, as Jean's telekinesis faltered at the added weight and we began to sink slowly to the ground. In her panic, Suzie unleashed her attack, expelling gigavolts from her body in a spectacular light show of white electricity. The sheer force of it burst the light bulbs in the room and showers of sparks rained down upon us like sparklers on New Years Eve, however, that was about the worst effect it had.
By pulling Suzie's hair I had destroyed her aim, and now in her pain and shock, she had little control over the electricity that was coursing through our bodies. As an added bonus, Jean's faltering had brought us to the floor, and without Suzie's control, the energy took a natural course straight into the ground where it dispersed, almost harmlessly. What was left gave everyone a momentary jolt, and an instant Afro, but no one was seriously hurt.
In five seconds it was over, and we both came crashing down, Suzie's two hundred pound adamantium skeleton landing on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. I rolled away, and then lay on the ground for a moment, my body struggling to absorb the massive amount of wattage it had just received. My heart pounded as my lungs struggled to breath the air they could almost reach, and the world was like a tie-dyed circus as I tried to blink the sunspots from my eyes. For a moment, I was almost unconscious with confusion. Then Gambit made it all clear to me.
"'Ey! She's alive!" I opened my eyes and looked past the sunspots to see him staring down at me as if a miracle had just been preformed. I struggled to sit up, coughing as I did, looking around at some of the other faces above me. I took a deep, painful breath and managed to blurt out, "Suzie."
The sunspots cleared and I saw she was lying on the ground, not too far from my left. Tash was with her, nudging her slightly but getting no response. Swiping away the hands that tried to hold me down I crawled to her and checked for a pulse. I already knew what I would find. With a charge that big, it was no surprise that her heart had stopped. I used all the precious air in my lungs and swore.
"Her heart's stopped." I said to no one in particular. Everyone heard.
"What!"
Hands threw me back and three people, Jean, Hank and Scott, formed a tight ring around my friend. Within seconds the beast was doing CPR while Jean examined Suzie and Scott ran to get the defibulator. He was almost out the door before I finally managed to collect enough air to yell, "STOP!"
Within seconds everyone was looking at me like I was insane. Ignoring them, I got to my feet and, with Trash's help, shooed everyone away from the unconscious Suzie. As they watched, confused, I dragged her by the wrists to the closest light socket I could find, and waited while Tash found me something thin and metallic, a fork.
I put the fork in Suzie's hand and jammed it into the plug as Einstein yelled, "Wait! Dat dangerous petite!" I ignored Gambit and continued with my treatment. After five seconds I pulled it out again, and checked for her pulse. It was there, I sighed in relief.
"Will she be alright?" Asked Scott.
I nodded and I took my first deep breath as I watched my friend begin to breath again. She would be fine.
I suddenly realized an awkward silence had filled the room, and looked up to take it in. They were staring at us, their gazes so intense I looked away from their eyes and surveyed the damage of the battle. Gambit was holding an unconscious Rogue, Hank was a fir ball with a scratched face. Tash and most of the others seemed fine, if not slightly dazzled, and WeaponX stood slightly apart from the others, glaring at us with vicious eyes. He looked so fierce I almost forgot he had a skewered hip and laser burn on his chest. I looked away and stared at the ground. What was going to happen now?
It was gambit who at last broke the staring match with the first nearly intelligent words I'd heard him say.
""Ey Jean. We'd better get Rogue to da infirmary."
"Infirmary?" I repeated as my friend's blood spilled across the floor.
Jean, and everyone else, seemed to come out of a daze as she spoke. "Of course! Gambit, will you grab Rogue? And you two," she lifted Suzie up again with her telekinesis, "Follow me."
Mindlessly I followed her through the doors and back down the halls to the elevator. Behind me, I was aware of WeaponX, mumbling and cursing under his breath as he limped along. If she noticed, Jean didn't seem to consider him a threat. I hoped her assumption was correct.
We reached the elevator, and I was distracted as I felt Tash nudge my hand. It took me a second before I realized they had pushed the "down" button, which led towards the lab type place. My throat tightened.
"Um, excuse me?" my voice sounded small and squeaky. Jean turned around and looked at me, an encouraging smile on her face. I continued, "Is the infirmary down there?" Once again the phrase, new recruits, passed through my mind. Jean answered my question with a nod. I took a deep breath.
"Um, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we'll have to pass." I kept my eyes to the floor as I waited for her to ask why, she didn't.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I looked up, surprised at her apology, "I should have thought of that sooner. We'll use the recovery room instead. This way."
Tash and I stood confused, as Jean turned to go down another hall. She was stopped by a loud, angry voice that sounded to me like sandpaper on granite.
"What the hell is this?" WeaponX demanded. His eyes met mine and I suddenly felt about three inches tall. Even short as he was, with his injured leg, I was still afraid of him. He continued to pick on me.
"Beggars can't be choosers kid," growled, "an you being the ones who started all this, seems to me you should be glad we're helping you at all!"
He narrowed his eyes at me until they were nothing but small, black pinpoints of light under his bushy eyebrows. Tash growled at him, but I lost my nerve and looked away, stammering. "Um... well...you see..."
"If I remember correctly Logan," Jean interrupted, "You didn't like the infirmary either when you first got here."
It was obvious she'd hit a mark as he looked through me and glared at Jean. He balled his hands into first and flexed his jaw in rage, but could find nothing to say in reply. Beaten, he turned away, once again cursing under his breath. Jean whispered something to Scott and he headed down the elevator alone. I breathed again as we started walking forward.
When we finally reached it, I saw the recovery room was a middle sized, well-lit room with three beds, in three curtained partitions. A 24" television was mounted to the ceiling close to the door, and there was even a small bathroom off to one side. I saw Tash nod approvingly.
"I think this should do," said Jean, laying Suzie down on a bed. "It doesn't have all the equipment the infirmary has, however I should be able to patch your friend up fine right here."
I smiled. "Thanks, but there shouldn't be any need." I nodded to Suzie. Already she had stopped dripping blood, and her pale white skin was beginning to show at the edges of the ripped leather.
"Incredible!" said Hank, who was now nothing but a blue fuzz ball with static.
"An I thought Wolvie was fast." Said Gambit.
"Shaddup Cajun," Said Logan.
Seeing we were right, Jean let Suzie alone and went straight to Rogue, who was still quite unconscious. She put her in one of the beds and, shooing Gambit out, closed the curtains and began her work, leaving the rest of us outside. It wasn't long before the staring match began again, Tash and I, against three of them.
Personally, I didn't know whether to run, reach for the sky, or try talking to them. It was now obvious that they were mutants, and that we were too, so this wasn't Genosha. However it wasn't a regular school either.
No one in this room looked under twenty, and some looked as old as forty, if not older. There was a jet and a high tech lab somewhere below us, and I doubted they wore spandex for the fun of it. They were dressed in battle uniforms, but for what?
Jean finished with Rogue and then told Gambit to take her to her room. She then went to Logan, who grunted that he was fine without taking his eyes off us. She insisted, and an argument broke out that ended with Jean giving up just as Scott and Gambit re-entered the room. Scott was not alone. Behind him followed the old, bald guy in the hover chair I remembered seeing from the jet hanger. He also seemed to be the head hauncho of the place. As he entered the room, all eyes turned expectantly to him.
He surveyed us with calm, curious eyes that seemed to penetrate deep into our minds. I guessed quickly that he was a psychic, and that he was trying to probe our minds for information. To counter, I occupied my mind with the decoration of the room and the tiles in the ceiling. He took the hint, and after a moment, spoke.
"Pardon me for being so detained," his manner was that of someone who was late for a business meeting. "I was doing some research on the computer downstairs. I must not have heard the announcement."
I was almost at the point of believing this man had no intention of fighting, and no secrets to hide, until gambit spoke.
"Computer?.." he seemed confused, "Oh, jou mean Cerebro!"..."
Everyone glared at him a moment, as if he had let some big secret slip. He instantly backed off as the professor continued.
"I'm sorry for the rather rude reception you girls have received," he said, "please allow me to introduce myself. I am professor Charles Xavier, and this is my school for gifted youngsters."
I looked at him, then at Tash. We were both thinking the same thing, school? But then another fight wasn't something we wanted to start. So I just answered as formally as I could.
"Nice to meet you, and we're sorry for trespassing on your property. If anything this is our fault, not yours."
"Ass kisser!" I recognized Suzie's link pattern. She was laughing.
"Shut up," I linked, very relieved that she was alright, "and stay asleep"
"Well if you're going to be like that!" she linked, pretending to be hurt.
"What were you doing here in the first place?" Growled Logan, I snapped back to reality.
"Well...uh..That's a long story," I stammered. Why was I so afraid of a shrimp like him?
He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wall. "We ain't going anywhere," he said, his eyes boring holes into my head.
"Our car crashed, and we were looking for a phone to call for a tow truck." I looked at Tash, who had suddenly returned to her normal form. "If it's alright with you, we'll just phone a cab and be on our way." She finished.
"Smooth!" I thought. I had never heard Tash fib before, and I looked at her somewhat impressed she had managed to come up with something so good so fast.
"Why thank you!" Linked Suzie. I should have known.
"If you're sure that is what you want to do," said the professor, "I'll be glad to help you out. However, may I suggest something?" I looked at Tash and nodded cautiously. "It's very late, and your friend may not be up to much travel right now. We have many spare rooms that you're welcome to use for as long as you wish. You may even use this one for tonight." he gestured to the three beds, and paused before continuing.
"Also, I realize that you are all quite gifted, and have great skill in using your powers. I mentioned that this was a school for the gifted, and we have several programs that are set up to help youth such as yourself learn to deal with your powers, both physically and mentally. Perhaps you might find it advantageous to join us." He paused, and gave each of us time to mull this over in our minds, before concluding, "However, if you wish to call a cab, there is a phone right here you may use, line two is the outside line. If there is anything more you need, or wish to discuss, feel free to use the intercom. I'm at line four, and the kitchen is just down the hall to your left. I assume you haven't eaten. I will get Scott to bring you something."
He had finished making his sales pitch and was now going to leave the three of us to our devices, so we could choose out actions. He concluded.
"Now, if you will excuse us ladies, it is getting late and we all need our rest. Sleep well, if you so choose, and good night."
"Hold it right there."
Logan stood up and blocked his way as the professor turned to leave. He glared at him for a moment, and then looked around the room at each of his teammates before he finally spoke.
"Did I miss something here?" His fists were clenched and he seemed like a wire about to snap. There was a venomous hiss in his voice as he waved a hairy hand in our direction. "That psycho bitch just tried to fry us all, and you're treating them like guests?" He glared at us. "We don't even know who they are, or why they're here. They're probably spying on us, for Magnito, or Apocalypse, or..."
"The Canadian Army?" I looked back at Suzie, who sat up slowly to prevent herself from feinting again. There was a mocking smirk on her face as she spoke next. "Is that what you're afraid of old man?"
I saw his eyes flash in rage as he ground his teeth, furious. Suzie had hit a nerve, striking a crucial blow to his pride. Everyone knew Suzie was right, he was afraid of us, at least on some level.
"That is enough!" said the professor.
"No it aint!" Logan wasn't going to give up. He glared directly at Suzie.
"Who are you, and how did you know that name?"
She shrugged in response, smiling and playing innocent. "Lucky guess?" she suggested.
Logan roared, "Don't play innocent with me bitch! We both know that ain't true! Now are ya gonna say what is, or do I have to claw it out of you?"
He brought his claws out and brandished them taking a step towards us.
"NO ONE is going to claw ANYONE! IS THAT CLEAR!" the professor was more than a little pissed off. "Logan, you will leave this room immediately. Is that clear!
Logan whirled around and glared at the professor so furiously I thought he would rip his head off. The blood vessels in his forehead bulged out and even the stubble on his chin was standing on end, tense with rage. For a second, I knew he was going to lose it, but to my surprise, he didn't.
"Fine." He took a deep breath and brought his claws back in. A second later he seemed to have calmed himself back to a reasonable level and he spoke. "I'll leave the room." he said, "but I ain't leaving this hall." Glancing back over his shoulder at us he continued. "After all, it's a big place. We wouldn't want you getting lost on your way to the front door now would we? You might miss your cab."
He smiled, but not because he was happy. It was as if to say, "Fine, we'll play it your way. I'll still win." and with that he turned his back to us and stepped out of the room. The others followed him, seeming somewhat comforted that Logan would be keeping watch over us. Only the professor paused for a moment to see if we would have any problems with him being there.
We looked at each other, and shrugged. No, we didn't mind. The windows worked, the door locked, and we could talk in link. Tash nodded to the professor that he could go, so with a quick good night, he left, and we were alone.
"Link conference!" Suzie declared, in link. Tash and I sat down on her bed and nodded. I went first.
"Glad you're ok Suzie, sorry about the hair."
"That's ok." she laughed, "Sorry about knocking the wind out of you."
"No problem." I replied. "Now then, down to business. Do we stay or go?"
"I think we should stay." Tash.
Suzie, "GO!"
I had expected as much. Being the third person, it was up to me to decide. I sighed. "Well let's consider who we're dealing with." I suggested. "The professor is the boss here, and he seems fairly reasonable to me what about you?"
"He really seems to want to help people," linked Tash, "and God knows we all could use a little help controlling our powers." I agreed, then Suzie linked.
"Or he could just be acting." She contradicted. "Who knows what he uses that lab down there for? Think about it Chris, it's not small enough to be just an infirmary. There were lots more rooms down there we didn't see."
Another good point.
"I don't think we should stick around here to find out either." she continued, "I think we should just pack up and leave now, while we still can...."
She stopped as the door opened and Scott stepped in. He had lost the visor and was wearing wrap around glasses of the same red tinted glass instead. In his hands he was carrying a platter with pizza on it and three cans of coke. He smiled at us.
"I hope you don't mind pepperoni," he said, "It was the only one left."
I looked at Suzie, to see if she would answer. She didn't. Instead she sat there, perfectly still, as her cheeks began to turn pink and a shocked smile played on her lips. I almost fell backwards off the bed.
"Pepperoni is fine," she said. Her voice betrayed her giggliness. "Will you be...joining us for dinner?"
I hid my smiling face with my hand as he replied, "No thanks, I've got some work I have to do. If you need anything though, I'm at line 6, ok?"
"Sure!" Suzie said, a little too enthusiastically. I could barely contain myself. The second the door shut Tash and I fell off the bed laughing.
"What?" Suzie asked, which just made me laugh harder.
"Oh predicable Death!" Tash chided her. "If you were any redder!"
Suzie put a hand to her face, "Was I blushing?" she asked, terrified.
"And giggling." I confirmed
"Was I that obvious?"
Tash and I could only nod in response. I calmed myself and grabbed a piece of pizza before stating the obvious.
"So we're staying?" I asked. There were enthusiastic nods from Tash AND Suzie. I smiled and linked, "Then I guess we'd better get our stuff!"
