I crept back into the room and closed the window just as Suzie appeared in the doorway.
"Wha...what...was that...You said...you'd get us...at least 15 minutes." I wheezed out of breath.
"You only needed 10." She smirked, "right Tash?"
Tash didn't answer, as she was already busy assembling the pieces of her flute and piccolo. Suzie rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Figures." She laughed, "Alright, let's set this place up," and she reached for the bag containing her laptop.
I busied myself by pretending to look at my manga, but my mind was elsewhere. We were silent for a good half hour or so, while someone began a shower upstairs. Finally I decided to speak.
"You know," blurted out Suzie, "I think we should take a look around this place."
"Bloody psychic!" I laughed and tossed a pillow at her.
Tash looked up from her flute fingering. "Shouldn't we just wait until morning to do that? I mean I'm sure things can be explained without us breaking into everything all the time."
"Hey, we're guests here. We can do as we please." replied Suzie.
"Yeah, but..." Tash gave in. She couldn't stop Suzie right now, so the only thing she could do was come along and keep her out of as much trouble as possible.
"Alright, let's go!" and Suzie opened the door before I could remind her of the extremely temperamental hairy man on the other side.
"Oh don't worry about him." she linked, reading my mind, "He's gone to take a shower."
We walked down the hall towards the elevator and hopped back down through the hole we had originally come up through. Whether Tash would admit it or not, even was a little bit anxious about the contents of the mansion's stainless steel basement. So far we knew there was an infirmary and a jump jet in there, but there had been many more doors, and possibly hallways, to explore. More importantly, who were these X-men, and are they the type of people who would work with or against the private militia? Either way, their connection with it was undeniable.
"Suzie," I asked as we clacked down the metal hallway, "What was with that guy with the claws."
She smiled as we walked, "You'll find out, as soon as we find the filing room. He he he."
Oh Death, there was nothing she loved more than a little espionage, especially if it was computer espionage. Any victim of her hacking skills would spend months trying to un-do the living computer virus that was Suzie. Once again I ask, WHAT WERE THOSE MILITARY GOONS THINKING?!
"I'm sensing a large energy source," Suzie suddenly announced, "and it's coming from.... here."
I peered up at the large, double steel doors imprinted with a giant X. The side one the side proclaimed it to be the "DANGER ROOM!" For some reason, I found myself hoping that was a mis-print.
"Sounds like my kind of place!" Smirked Suzie as she activated the electric lock. The doors opened with a sudden "swoosh" and the three of us found ourselves staring into the abyss of a big black cave.
"Impressive," I said as Tash found the light switch. The room appeared. It was pure white, with many square panels, and a door and a window on the far side.
"Humph, doesn't look so dangerous." I sniffed as Suzie opened the door and Tash followed her up the flight of stairs behind it. I let my eyes wander around the room, wishing only that I had some paint. "But it's SO WHITE!!!" I complained.
"Yes Chris, they built this room just to torture you." Suzie linked.
Tash joked, "Maybe that room is dangerous. There's no telling what Chris would be doing right now if she had a bucket of paint on her."
"Well," I looked around the room. "I'd put something geometric on that wall, maybe a giant dance mural on that wall, a landscape on that one..."
"Awe geeze Tash, why'd you have to get her started?" Suzie moaned, "We'll be here forever now."
Tash looked at the floor. "I'm sowwy." She said, of course they were both smiling at the time...
"Hey guys, what do you think of a giant Emily Carr on the ceiling?" I asked. All I heard in response was a giant "thwud" from above. "What?" I asked.
Suzie got back to her feet and turned to Tash. "Anyway, let's get down to business. What does this control panel do?" Tash looked at it a moment, considering.
"There's a key hole here." She said at length, "If only we had the key..."
Something nearby began to power up. It must have been a very large something, because the walls and even the floor began humming with energy.
"Who needs a key?" Smirked Suzie as Tash searched the room uncertainly. After a moment in which nothing screeched, clanked, banged or blew up, she sighed with relief.
"Good, its safe." she said, as if for a second she didn't trust Suzie's ability. Suzie looked at her with a hurt expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked. Tash glared at her.
Suzie, "Hey, ay, that wasn't my fault, and it only happened once..."
"Uh guys?" Suzie stopped her excusing and looked down through the window at me. The room was beginning to change.
It started at the centre of the ceiling and worked downward. The panels on the walls began quickly sliding back, revealing a thousand little chambers behind, each equipped with a gun, movable arm, or sharp pointy object of some kind...
Tash, "Chris! RUN!"
I made a dash for the door, but was too slow as I found the floor in front of me give way to a pit filled with spikes. I swore and ran back towards the centre of the room.
Tash, "Suzie! Stop it!"
Suzie, "I'm trying!"
I stopped on the centre tile of the room and tried to think of a plan as the floor around me slid away. Unfortunately my brain was on vacation and the only thing that paraded through my head was a list of swear words and several thoughts of where I'd like to be buried. I nice spot, with trees and grass and...
Tash, "Chris!"
...a nice breeze drifting by, and....
Suzie, "Chris?"
Chris, "The tombstone should be marble I think, nice white..."
Suzie, "Uh, Chris..."
I stopped and looked up. "Whu?"
Tash, "...You're not dead you know..."
In fact I wasn't even injured. I stood on the only part of the floor that hadn't slipped away.
"Oh. Hmmmm." I bent down and tapped the floor. It was solid, not hollow like the rest of the room. I had been safe all along.
Chris, "Ha ... haha... hahahahaHA!"
Tash and Suzie observed me from the control room above as if I'd lost it, and I probably had lost it, as I danced around on my small white square of security"
Chris, "HA. TAKE THAT! Stupid Danger room! Can't hurt me! I am INVINCIBLE! Nyahahahaha!"
Tash, "Uh Chris?"
Chris, "Oh, I'm sorry Mr.Danger-room...NOT! Ha! Can't touch this. Mnnnn! Oh Doyle Rules!"
I stuck my tongue out at it. Suddenly the computer came to life in the control room.
Computer, "Pass word confirmed, starting program 3765, beginning in 5...4...."
Tash, "Oh no! Chris get out of there!!
Chris (singing), "I am, I am superman...
Suzie, "CHRIS!!!"
"Huh?" I came back to my senses.
Tash, "RUN!"
"Wha?" I was confused.
Computer, "Beginning program."
...Too late... I jumped as an electronic arm behind me suddenly came to life and grabbed at me. The panels on the floor began sliding in and out in random order, and various mechanisms came out of them to shoot, grab, squash or slice me in half. I jumped, dodged and fell in complete random panic, the string of swearwords and possible burial sites returning once again to my brain.
In the control room Tash yelled out, "Suzie, do something!"
Suzie was too busy searching the controls to listen. "What do I do?"
Tash, "There, the emergency switch. Hit it!"
Suzie, "Huh?" She looked around the panel, confused.
Tash, "HIT THE SWITCH!" Tash pointed at the big red button labelled "EMERGENCY"
Suzie, "Oh, right!"
Back in the "Danger Room" I jumped/fell backwards to avoid another arm. With no hope of recovering my footing, I braced myself for the end. I hit the floor....
.... After several minutes of nothing happening, I opened my eyes to stare at a completely white room, covered with lots of panels. I had never been so happy to see a blank wall in my life.
"Chris!" Tash yelled as she burst out of the control room door and ran towards me. Suzie was right behind her. "You okay?" she asked, as she got closer. I had to look myself over once before I could nod. Shakily, I got back to my feet.
"Wh...what was that?" I asked, not quite sure I was looking at the same room. It was Suzie who came up with the first explanation.
"It seems to be a type of training room, for fighting and stuff. I guess that's why they call it a Danger Room." She said, calmly looking around. My response was censored.
"No S*¥ð!!"
After a minute of pensive silence, Suzie spoke up. "Can I go next?" Tash glared at her, as I stared at her in disbelief.
"Awwe come on guys, you know how much I like danger!" She wined.
I looked at Tash. She nodded. We walked up to Suzie and, linking each of her elbows in one of ours, we dragged her out of the room.
Suzie, "Hey! Wait! Come on guys! I just want to have a little....leggo! Hey!..."
"No Suzie, you've almost gotten yourself killed once today, no more peril for you." Tash said as we dumped her in the hall outside of the danger room. I shut the door behind us.
"Awe, you're no fun." she said, and sat on the floor, sulking. Tash and I began scouting the area.
"I think that's it Tash, what about you?" I said, "There's the elevator, that's the infirmary, this is the...." I pointed at the danger room and Suzie "Humpfed" again. Then I saw another door. "Hey, what's that one?"
"The jet hanger," Tash prompted.
"Oh. Yeah, that seems to be...hey, wait a minute..." I peered down the hall that seemed to be a dead end. It might have been a trick of the light but I was pretty sure... "There's another hallway down there." I said. Tash followed my gaze and Suzie looked up from her sulking. I walked down to the end... "Yeah guys down here...Whoa." I turned the corner and found myself facing the biggest, roundest, metalest door I had ever seen. The "X" Stamped in it alone must have been at least a foot thick. I stared.
"What do you suppose that is?" I asked.
Tash too looked at it totally confused. Then, "It looks like a...."
Suzie, "a?"
Tash, "Ahh, never mind. Let's go." She spun around and began walking back to the elevator.
"Hold it!" Suzie yelled. Tash froze.
"I can read your mind," she said, "and you're right, I think it does look like a vault." A look of pure evil mirth spread across her face. Tash glared at her.
"Suzie, no!" she said in almost a growl, "Putting my personal feelings aside, robbing a well trained, really large, group of super mutants is...its INSANE!"
Suzie, "I'm not going to steal anything, I just want to take a loo..."
"NO." Tash stopped her. "We are going to go back upstairs, back to our room, and wait until morning for them to give us an explanation. I'm sick and tired of running around breaking into everything! Now, if you're not going to come, I'm going to walk up stairs and set off the security alarm, and you can fight them all by yourself."
Her voice sent shivers down my spine, and her glare at Suzie was so threatening it put shivers on my shivers. Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, I stood amazed at Tash. Standing only 5'4", she was challenging a being that very few full-grown men would have dared to take on. And yet, in a heartbeat, I knew Tash would win. Suzie, for all her power, knew she was just another terrible nightmare come true without the guidance and goodness of Tash. She knew Tash made her someone better, and so, whenever Tash drew her line, Suzie obeyed.
"Alright," Suzie said at last, "I promise I won't take anything, I won't even get any closer to it. But if there are files in there, we should at least let Chris go in to take a look."
Tash considered this, and after a moment, gave a nod of approval. I sighed.
"Great, just volunteer me to be the guinea pig." I cried in mock exasperation, trying to clear the thick air.
Tash laughed, "Oh don't start complaining, you're on a roll here."
"Thanks, " I rolled my eyes, smiling as well. "Ok, bring it!"
Suzie closed her eyes and began searching for the mechanism to open the door. There was a click, and a slight groan as the heavy steal doors parted diagonally. I looked out into the dimly illuminated room and stared.
"Well, Chris, is there any money?" Suzie asked. Tash whacked her in the side.
"It...it doesn't look like a vault." I said, still not quite sure what I was looking at. "It's...it's...oh just come here." I said. Tash and Suzie both stepped through the door.
" It's...a round room." Suzie observed.
"Yeah," I said as wee stood on the platform, "but what's it for?"
"I have no clue," said Suzie, "but one thing's for sure, its no vault. (There's no money.)
She looked at the ground disappointed.
Tash, "Suzie!!"
"Oh predictable death." I said, and continued to gaze around the room. Suddenly I spotted something. "What's that?" Suzie walked out to the end of the platform to look at it.
"It's a helmet." she said at length, bending down to get a closer look at it.
"Oh cool," I remarked, "But why's it so low?"
It was Tash who came up with the answer. "Must be for the professor," she said, "He's in a wheelchair after all."
"I knew that." Suzie said.
"Which means it must be for psychics," I reasoned.
"I knew that too," Suzie insisted, "Now stand back, I'm going to give this thing a test drive."
"Suzie," Tash yelled.
"That could be dangerous!" I chimed in.
"I know, " She replied calmly, "That's why I said stand back."
"That's not what we meant!" Tash growled at her angrily. Suzie wasn't listening.
"Don't worry." She said, "If that crippled geek can handle it, it should be no problem for me." and before we could stop her, she plopped the helmet on her head. There was a moment's pause.
"Well?" I asked.
"...Nothing..." she replied at length, "The damn thing must be brok...."
She never got to finish as a sudden wave of pain swept through her head, causing her to grab her head and scream in agony. I know it was agony, because in her panic, Suzie reached out to us through the link, and we all felt it. My mind reeled as I felt it being pulled from my head. Bits of logical and illogical information were jammed into my cranium, like candy into a piñata, and someone was already beating it with a stick. I saw mutants, good, and bad, happy and in pain, always moving further and further away from where we were.
Jean, "NO!!"
In a blur I saw Scott rush past me and pull the helmet off of Suzie. The relief was instantaneous, unfortunately, the floors in the stainless steel basement are hard. The world was fuzzy for a few moments. I heard people talking.
Suzie, "My...head..."
Logan, "Whaddaya think yur doing here! I knew it, they're spies. I oughta...
" 'Ang on dere Wolvie," It was Gambit, I was starting to come around, "You never 'it someone when dey down, let alone a lady."
"Besides," Scott said, "the shock of Cerebro has probably wiped all the fight out of them." He bent down to look at Suzie, "You okay?"
"Ohhhhh..." Suzie dragged herself to a sitting position, "Just peachy. What the hell was that?!"
"Cerebro's a highly advanced searching mechanism, a type of psychic telescope, if you will." Beast's technical mumbo jumbo was making my head hurt.
"And let me guess," I said, testing to see if my mouth still worked, "We just stared at the F*¤©ing sun right? ...oh..." Motion was painful, but I managed to pull myself to my butt.
"Cerebro can be dangerous when used by someone who doesn't have the power to control it. The mind can wander so far it has no hope of coming back," Jean said gently to us all. Then turning to Suzie she added, "You must be very powerful to have been able to with stand it's pull."
"Just...don't talk to me red." Suzie still held a grudge against Jean for messing up her ultimate attack earlier. Jean didn't seem discouraged.
"Either way," she said, " You must be very tired now after being up all night. We'll talk in the morning after you've had some sleep. Good night."
"What!!" Jean was ignoring her attitude. This pissed Suzie off and in spite of the pain, her pride dragger her up to her feet.
"I've never been more awake in my life!" She yelled as the X-men began filing out of the room. "You wanna go? Let's go! Come on...."
Tash and I looked at each other, and simultaneously whacked her over the head. "Shut up Suzie."
Chris, "...Ow, my head..."
