Disclaimer: Marvel still owns the X-men and I still own Susana

Disclaimer: Marvel still owns the X-men and I still own Susana. No one's making any illicit cash here, and suing me would be...very dumb, as I own virtually nothing of value.  This chapter is half-and-half, set in DC and Westchester.  It's my attempt at writing an Obligatory Danger Room Sceneā„¢, so if it's too completely wrong, REVIEW and TELL ME SO!  Ok, the mini-rant is over now.  On to the story.


Notes:

sound
*thought*
} telepathic conversation {

Setting:  Washington, about 12:45 PM on Wednesday. 

Susana shifted restlessly in her seat at the Capital Grille, turning slightly to see if the senator had come in within the past few minutes.  When she saw no one, she turned back around and caught Jean's eye across the table before making a discreet face.  She picked up her water glass and took a sip, then checked her watch. 

*12:45...she's not supposed to be here till 1.  Why did we have to come early?  Never mind.  I know the answer.  But I'm still bored!*  She looked at Hank, significantly less blue thanks to an image inducer, and smiled.  Seeing him without his usual blue fur felt very odd.  She glanced around the room at the rest of the customers, and occupied herself for a few minutes by trying to guess- without the benefit of powers- which were legislators and which were lobbyists.  She had guessed about half of the tables in view before the maitre D led a tall dark haired woman to their table.  Susana stood and began to make introductions. 

"Senator Landrieux, lovely to see you again.  These people," she gestured as she spoke "are coworkers of mine at the Xavier Institute in New York. Jean Grey, Doctor Henry McCoy, and Jonothan Starsmore.  Please, have a seat."  After their guest was seated, the four X-men sank back down into their chairs.  They exchanged idle chitchat while they waited for their meals, and when the last of the lunch plates had been cleared away, Jean approached the topic that was the reason for their visit.

"Senator, we'd like to be given a chance to speak at the senate hearing on the Senate's new mutant bill."  Jean winced inwardly at how confrontational she sounded, then looked up at the senator.  She was laughing.  "What's so funny about that?"

"Nothing, dear, nothing at all.  It's just that...well, the move to dismiss the mutant bill lost a critical supporter yesterday evening.  The bill now has the votes and public support it needs to make it to a vote, so the subcommittee to study it has been disbanded and the bill goes for voting this Friday.  Passing it's a sure thing."  The senator shrugged expansively.  "Hopefully I'll get another committee appointment soon."

"Oh, my.  That's wonderful.  Might I ask who the lost supporter was?"  Jean tucked an escaping wisp of hair behind her ear and watched the Senator as she stood to go.

"Certainly you may.  It was me.  Have a good day, all of you.  And Ms. Blaine, do tell your father I said hello."  With that, she turned and headed back out the door, leaving four thoroughly stunned mutants in her wake.

"Did you..." Susana tapped a temple lightly as she looked at Jean, who shook her head emphatically.

"No!  Did you?"

"Most definitely not!  I didn't even mention my father when I talked to her, and I sure as hell didn't make her say that!  Not that I'm complaining about it, but she did this on her own.  Toldja she's a good person."  Susana stood and did a thoroughly undignified dance, waving her arms and wiggling her hips back and forth in a manner completely at odds with the sedate, staid atmosphere of the restaurant.

}Wasn't me.  And what was that little move there?{  Jono pushed his chair back and stood.

"Figured that much, love.  You didn't say a word to her, period.  'That move' was the booty shake of victory."

}So...what's next?  If we don't have t'go to that hearing, are we going home now?{  He sent the next comment exclusively to Susana.  }I'd like to see more of that.{  She pinched his shoulder and shot him a quelling glare.

"I think Jonothan's idea is an excellent one.  I left some samples in my lab which I would love to get back to as soon as possible."  When Jean and Susana both shrugged in agreement, Hank stood and pulled Jean's chair out from the table, then helped her up.  After checking to make sure they had everything, Jean led the way out of the dining room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

New York, that evening.

Scott maneuvered the jeep into a space, then hopped out to help Jean carry her bags into the house.  He was rather surprised she hadn't returned with something from her antiques-shopping trip, but shrugged it off, under the assumption that *if she bought anything, she'd tell me.  I'm sure of it.*

Susana slid from the jeep and pulled her suitcase from the back.  Extending the handle, she rolled it along the walkway and up the stairs to the front door.  She stood the suitcase to the side of the door and unlocked it, then pulled the suitcase across the threshold and into the foyer, leaving the door open for the rest of the returning travelers.  She muscled the suitcase up the stairs and into her side of the room she and Jono shared, then dropped it to the ground.  She considered it for a moment, then shrugged and opened a drawer.  Pulling out a sport bra and stretchy, leopard-print pajama pants, she headed into the bathroom to change while she waited for Jono to bring up his suitcase.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Jono was halfway through unpacking his suitcase.  He glanced up at her, then stopped and gave her generous curves a slow, thorough perusal.  She propped a fist on her hip and waved at him with the other hand.  "Hello, handsome, I'm up here.  You wanna hit the Danger Room with me?  I'm tense from the flight, and I didn't work out at all while we were in Washington."  She made a face, then straightened and crossed the room to the closet.  She grabbed a pair of ballet slippers, leaned against the doorframe to put them on, then turned to look at Jono.  "Well?  You want to go?" 

}Yeah, sounds good.  I'll be down there in a minute, ok?{

She nodded and swung the door open, then headed downstairs.  As she walked down the last few stairs, she was nearly run over by Bobby, trying to escape from the paffs an exasperated Jubilee was throwing his way.  Suddenly, the paffs stopped, the doorway Jubilee'd been standing in emptied, and the door slammed shut.  Jubilee's high pitched giggles could be heard through the door, as could Angelo's deeper chuckling. 

"Bobby, are you ever gonna learn that interrupting is always a bad idea 'round here?  I woulda thought you'd learned your lesson when Gambit threw that book at you last week."  She raised a disapproving eyebrow at him as he sputtered indignantly.  "I had to take the door to my and Jono's room completely off its hinges to repaint it...something I notice I didn't get any help with."  Bobby rubbed the side of his nose and looked at the floor, and she grinned and patted his cheek jokingly.  "It's ok.  I'll just recruit you when I paint my apartment.  What are you up to tonight?"

He jerked a hand to the door that had slammed.  "I was watching a movie.  But then those two decided that neither of their rooms was sufficient, so now I guess I'll find something else.  How about you?"  He glanced pointedly at her rather skimpy clothes.  "What are you up to, hmm?"

"Jono and I are heading to the Danger Room.  Air travel stresses me out, and I haven't had a good workout since Sunday.  You want to join us?"  He nodded, and she grinned.  "Jono's still unpacking, so he'll be a few minutes.  I'm gonna go find Scott, get him to run things.  I'll meet you two there as soon as I do that."  She pirouetted away from him, then walked down the hall to find Scott.  With a shrug, Bobby hurried up the stairs to change into suitable workout clothes.

"Hey, Scott?"  Susana peeked carefully around the door of Scott and Jean's room.  Even though she hadn't sensed anyone else in the room, Jean was still about twice as powerful as she was, and was quite capable of keeping her presence from everyone but the professor.  She was relieved when he answered from just past the door.  *Good, I'm not interrupting any "delicate moment"*

"What can I do for you, Susana?"

"Jono and I, no, wait...Jono, Bobby, and I, were gonna go practice in the Danger Room.  Would you mind coming in to supervise from the control room?"  She waited, then grinned as he closed his magazine and stood with a long-suffering sigh. 

"I suppose I could do that."  He leaned over and turned off the reading light, then straightened.

"Scott, don't give me that.  I don't have to be a telepath to know that you love it when anyone on the team asks for extra practice time."  She leaned against the doorframe, crossed her arms, and shook her head in mock disappointment.  "Tryin' to lie to a telepath.  C'mon, oh fearless leader...you can do better."

"You're right."  His stoic expression cracked, and he smiled back at her.  "What kind of session do you three want?"  He held the door back and gestured for her to go ahead of him, then turned the lights off and closed the door.

"I don't know about them, but since I'm the one who got to you first, how about that sorta jungle-looking one we worked with a couple weeks ago?"

"Yeah, I remember that one.  I programmed it myself.  Music?"  He cringed, sure that this was going to be a point of much contention once the other two got to the Danger Room.  While Susana's tastes ran the spectrum from rap to country, Jono's were limited to moody alt-rock and British punk, and Bobby's centered on Southern California punk and pop.  There was no happy medium.

"How about playlist 5 on my personal simulations list?  It's got kind of a mix, so it should only incite a small riot."  She rolled her eyes, then shrugged.  "They wanted to pick the music, they shoulda gotten here sooner than me.  Their loss."  She followed Scott up the stairs and into the control room, where she loaded the playlist while they waited.  She plopped down in the heavy rolling chair in front of the observation window and leaned back, stretching her arms as far over her head as possible. Lowering her arms, she rotated her wrists a few times to loosen the joints.  She had made it through a sequence of seated leg and upper body stretches by the time Bobby made it to the control room.  She pushed herself up from the floor as Jono walked in, then turned to him.  "Stand still for just a minute, will ya?"  He nodded, slightly confused, then gave her a surprised look when she propped a slippered foot on his shoulder.  "What?  I gotta stretch, don't I?"  }You wouldn't want me to pull a muscle or something...might endanger playtime.{  "Besides, you're exactly the height I need for a prop.  So keep still, I'll be done in a minute."  While she waited for the muscles of her leg to stretch, she reached behind her head and gathered her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck.  Pulling a rubber band around the knot, she shook her head to make sure it would stay up, then nodded approvingly.

}How could I disobey such logic?{

"S'what I thought.  Ok, that leg's done."  She stretched the other foot up to his shoulder, then leaned forward against him.

}It scares me that you can do that,{ he noted as she swung her leg down. 

"Good.  Maybe that intimidation theory stuff has something to it, after all."  She grinned at him, then pressed a button on the control panel and headed down the stairs into the Danger Room, pulling Jono behind her.  The music started, and Jono made a face at it. 

}Piano, gel{

"Just keep listening.  It gets more workout-appropriate, trust me."  As she spoke, the piano was replaced by energetic Latin music and Marc Anthony's voice, speaking in rapid Spanish.  Bobby came through the door from the stairs, and as soon as he closed it, Scott's voice came over the speakers to tell them about the session.

"Ok, your objective is to capture that flag," he looked down at the control panel and hit a button, which caused the lights around a flagpole at the far end of the room to brighten, showcasing the large "X" flag hanging on it.  "But...." at the pause, Susana groaned and cursed fluently under her breath.  "You have to stop your opponents from getting there first.  The Room's not against you on this one, it's all you three.  Chamber, Iceman: no burns or frostbite, if you please.  Bliss...well, no fatal shootings or burst eardrums, ok?"  At the murmurs and nods of assent, he flipped the switch that transformed the Danger Room's appearance from a metal-walled gym to a lush tropical rainforest.  "and...go."  Scott leaned back in his chair and watched the Room's floor on a wall-mounted video screen.

Down on the floor, Susana- who had been on the far left side of the group while they waited for Scott's instructions- was sidling away from what seemed to be an imminent showdown between Jono and Bobby.  Without missing a beat or turning from his standoff, Bobby reached behind his back and sent a column of ice and vapor at the floor under her.  When the vapors cleared away, her feet were securely encased in a block of ice.  She took a moment to glare incredulously, then concentrated on what she could do to get out of the ice block.  Crouching to get a better look at it, she ruled out breaking her feet loose with the gun.  Aside from the obvious danger of shooting herself, she was in no hurry to wear a cast for the next three months because she'd smashed her own foot in her eagerness to free herself.  *Ok, let's consider.  You can't do much with heat, unless you take over Jono's mind and make him help.  And that would piss him off big time, so what other options are there?  Damn Drake.  Well, whatever you do, you need to do it soon.  Ballet slippers are not made for warmth.*  She glanced up to see what the two men were doing, then grinned happily as she saw that neither was paying any attention to her.  *Perfect.  Now, let's see if this idea works or not.*  closing her eyes, she concentrated on making the highest pitched humming sound her powers could muster.  With a mutter of gratitude that the glass in the observation windows was tempered and could almost handle Banshee's sonic screams, she increased the volume of the sound until tiny fissures appeared along the edges and corners of the ice block.  Once she'd freed her ankles, she slipped her feet out of the slippers- still frozen into the block- and scurried into the "forest" bordering the cleared area.

A telepathic shout from behind her let her know that her departure had been noticed.  She cursed again, then threw up a temporary mental shield to keep Jono from finding her too easily.  Unfortunately, that made keeping track of him, and of Bobby, that much harder.  She shrugged to herself and ducked behind a patch of high bushes just before Bobby slid up. 

"Susaaana...I know you're here somewhere."  He peered down from his ice slide, and Susana worried that he'd be able to see her between the holographic images of brush.  To distract him, she used the humming trick to fracture his slide.  He tumbled almost to the ground before gathering his wits and making another slide, and while he was distracted, she raced further towards the flag.

}'Sana, gel, where d'you think yer goin'?{

*Damn.  Shield didn't work.*  }I'm going to the other end of the room, of course.{  She turned slowly so she was facing Jono, who was advancing cautiously.

}Y'shouldn't go any further, you know that.{

She took a step towards him, then stopped as he circled around to block the path to the flag.  "I know no such thing, Jono.  I know I should get to that flag, and you," she crouched, took a deep breath, and watched as his eyes fastened onto the top edge of her sports bra.  *You'd think he would learn to just not look.*  "Are in. My way."  He was close enough now that she could kick his legs out from under him, which she did with only a slight twinge of regret.  The prize in this contest justified the use of force when it was necessary.  She left Jono flat on his back, blinking up at the ceiling.

She made it nearly to the flagpole without another stop.  *Guess they're fighting it out back there.*  She slipped and went down on an ice patch.  *Or maybe not.*  Wheezing in an effort to get a good breath, she righted herself, making sure to keep her back to the flagpole.  She'd gotten this far, it would be a shame to let Bobby or Jono win without a hell of a fight.  She inched backward even as she spoke to Bobby. 

"You know I'm gonna win this, right?  I've gotten out of your ice block, I broke your slide..." She took a step back and crouched down as he advanced.  She lashed out with the same kick she'd used on Jono, a low, sweeping roundhouse kick.  This time, though, it wasn't effective, since Bobby- unlike Jono- hadn't been mesmerized by cleavage and thus was able to jump out of the way. The momentum of the kick carried her over onto her back, and she glared at Bobby as he slid by.  The angry glare turned to uproarious laughter as Jono blasted the front of the ice slide and continued to melt the ice Bobby worked frantically to make.  While they were occupied, she crabwalked back to the flagpole, grabbed the edge of the flag, and ripped it down.  Jono and Bobby were still trading shots, and it took a few tries before her telepathic announcement was noticed.

}Ya'll can stop now.  I got the flag.{

"Holy shit."

}Bobby, mate, I couldn't have said that any better.{

"Dude, Scott, that's so unfair!"  this was addressed to Scott, who had come down the stairs with a brown paper-wrapped box.  Susana and Bobby's eyes lit up at the sight of it, then Bobby's face fell as Scott handed it to Susana and took the flag off her hands.

"You were all good, but Bobby...I know you like the ice slide, but if they can both break it, you need to have a backup plan."  Scott was using his best 'fearless leader' voice, and Bobby simply nodded listlessly. 

He looked up when Susana poked him in the side and held something out to him.  It was...yes.

A plastic wrapper.  Clear.  With small blue numbers stamped onto a corner.  Full of processed-to-invincibility, able-to-withstand-Armageddon, we-should-make-uniforms-out-of-it-it's-so-tough-to-destroy, delicious-golden-cake-and-creamy-frosting, goodness.  It was, in short, the Holy Grail of Bobby's existence.   Susana grinned as he ripped the package open frantically.  "Shall we go take some of these to Hank?"

"mrphh mnnghk"  Bobby tried to speak around the entire mass of the Twinkie, then gave up.  Susana let herself edge in on his mind, then laughed when she caught what he'd meant.  Scott watched the entire exchange, then shook his head doubtfully and headed back upstairs to the control room.

"Bobby, you don't mean that.  Hank's your best friend.  Yes, I know Twinkies are Twinkies.  But you can get more.  If you share, Hank might even drive you to the Zip-Mart.  No, I don't think that that's possible, given Hank's physique.  We're going."  At his pained expression, she slipped another cake from the box and handed it to him with a long-suffering sigh.  "Ration it, Bobby.  You don't get another until 10 minutes is up.  Now, do either of you have any interest in taking these to Hank with me?"

}I'll go, luv.{  She turned to smile at him, and shrieked as he picked her up and carried her from the room.  Her protests echoed in the cavernous room, and Bobby snorted, then looked down at the Twinkie in his hands.  He shook his head, swallowed the last bit of Twinkie number one, then walked towards the door and Hank's lab, unwrapping Twinkie number two as he went.

A/N:  Whew, that took a lot of pages.  Hope you all enjoyed it.  Any bad practices in the Danger Room are all my fault, as I have no idea how to go about writing fighty stuff.  Eh.  I deal.  Now, look \/down there,\/ write somethin' in the box, then hit the button further down.  Because I *heart* reviews.