The lights in the metallic room came on overhead, it looked like the
simulation of a warehouse, boxes and shelves everywhere, spread out enough
in the middle for decent fighting space.
St. John crept along behind a row of boxes, waiting for Bobby to get closer, suddenly he shot out flames and shaped them into a vicious tiger, making the fiery beast pounce on the ice boy.
It caught Bobby off guard, but only for a second, he shot a bolt of ice at the creature, who dispersed and reformed into a eagle, flying around over Iceman's head until getting close enough to land on his shoulder, it might have burnt him if he hadn't been in ice-form.
"Ha, nice try" Bobby taunted Pyro, "I don't see you doin' much better, mate" the Australian retorted, realizing that using fire against the boy wasn't an option, he did create a whirlwind of flames for a distraction, though, while he tackled Bobby from behind.
Iceman managed to get free of his grip and grabbed hold of St. John's wrists, icing them to the floor, the speaker overhead started to blare out the seconds that Pyro was down.
But Bobby didn't notice there was still some fire loose and Pyro manipulated it over to his frosty binds, melting them away and jumping to his feat, the voice over the speaker stopped at thirteen seconds, "What do ya' know, I beat my own record for escape time"
Iceman frowned and squirted a sheet of ice in Pyro's direction, St. John shot a sheet of fire right back, his fire could only melt so much at a time though, so it continued like this for a while, ice and fire trying to cancel each other out, but never getting past the point where they met.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Mean while Piotr Rasputan, known as Peter to his American friends, was trying to catch Kitty Pryde, who kept phasing through his metal form.
She smiled teasingly as he chased after her, thinking the whole time how cute he was and how she was sooooo over Lance.
Kitty hopped on top of a crate, waiting for him to get closer, she knew he was trying to sneak up behind her, she crossed her legs and began to study her nails, feigning boredom.
She counted every second off in her head, until finally he reached out to grab her, she giggled and did a backwards summersault, phasing right through him.
"Had enough?" she asked, doing a little victory dance, he grunted and folded his arms, she grinned, "You know you look, like, so totally handsome when you're annoyed"
Colossus blushed, Kitty didn't see it, but she knew he had when she saw the change in his expression, *Oooooo, like, how sweet*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Remy couldn't believe how dense Cyclops was, he was practically on top of him and Summers was looking around the shelves like some kid lost in a department store.
The Cajun couldn't understand why they had named him leader, he was completely unaware and un-alert, Remy slipped three cards out from his trench coat and charged them.
He leaned forward from his hiding place and expertly aimed the cards so they would land in a triangle around his opponent, Scott looked up in surprise, Gambit smirked, "It's 'bout time, mon ami"
He jumped down as the cards exploded and tackled Summers to the ground, Cyclops was able to blast the shelf behind Remy so it would fall on the thief's back, but Remy predicted the action and rolled them both out of the way just in time, still managing to hold Scott down.
The speaker over head began to count, and soon one eye was out of the game, Gambit shook his head and smiled, "Now to go find me a real challenge" he reached out with his spatial sense and located Rogue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Rogue was crouching behind some crates near Jean Grey, *Can't wait to take this one out* she thought with a smirk, Jean couldn't read through her mental shields, so she didn't detect Rogue's presence until the Goth was only a few feet away.
But Rogue kept herself hidden extremely well during Jean's mind sweep, while the telepath was looking in the other direction Rogue jumped off a crate and tackled her.
Jean put up a telekinetic barrier that forced the girl off her, Rogue fought the barrier with her own mind, she could penetrate it somewhat, but she wasn't telepath so she couldn't push it all the way back.
It was hardly a minute before Rogue's head started to pound hard with her effort, she finally gave up and dodged through a weak point in the shield while Jean got her bearings.
Before Jean knew it she was being pinned to the ground, and the speaker blared out her time, since she was on her stomach and Rogue was pulling her hands behind her back, it was going to be a hard escape.
Rogue tensed as the voice over the speaker got to five seconds, she didn't know it would be this easy to get Jean down, she was still sure the girl might try something.
Finally the time was up, she let go of the older mutant and stood up, "Oh, c'mon you hardly put up a fight" the Goth complained, "That's kind of hard to do when you've got my hands pulled so tightly behind my back they go numb"
Rogue frowned and folded her arms, "You're a telepath, all you need is your brain, you still could've pushed against the concrete with telekinetic force"
Jean didn't reply, she just gave her hair an arrogant toss and walked towards Danger Room doors, Rogue made a gagging face, "She makes me sick"
"Not a good thing to say about your superior" Warren commented, swooping down beside her, Rogue snorted, "Superior, in what way? She's seventeen with the combat intelligence of a five-year-old, not to mention her I'm- popular-so-do-whatever-I-say attitude, wouldn't matter if she had the I.Q. of a cockroach, she'd still be "get whatever I want" teacher's pet"
Angel smiled, "You're cute when you're angry" Rogue gave him her infamous 'Death Glare', it only made him smile wider.
"I need your help taking Nightcrawler out" he motioned to some shelves a few yards away, "I could fly you up then dive bomb, and you zap him out on the way down"
Rogue nodded, "Good plan" she slipped a glove off and Warren wrapped one arm around her waist and one closer to her knees, Rogue grinned as they flew up, she would never in a million years admit it, but she was enjoying this position immensely.
Kurt soon came into her view, he was hanging upside down on one of the shelves, watching St. John and Bobby battle it out below him.
Angel went up a little higher, then did a semi-flip and dove straight down, Rogue yanked Nightcrawler's arm on their descent, they gained speed and the blue elf was out in seconds, she let go of him and caught him in her covered arms.
Rogue sensed something was wrong as the ground got near and Angel didn't pull up, "Damnit" she heard him curse.
He wrapped he wings fully around her and Kurt and told her to be prepared for a hard landing, she closed her eyes when they hit the ground.
A few barrel rolls latter they came to a stop, Rogue opened her eyes and felt Warren's arms and wings still around her, she looked up at him, "You okay?"
He winced, "Never been better" they pulled apart and stood up, Nightcrawler was just starting to come out of unconsciousness, Angel took him and flew him out the Danger Room doors, then came back in to see if he could help Pyro beat Bobby.
Rogue sat on top of one of the boxes and inspected her injuries, making sure none of them had reopened, then she leaned back on one hand and used the other to massage her neck witch had cramped during their crash landing.
Suddenly Rogue tensed and her senses became alert, she felt a presence near her, she reflexively got into fighting position, Gambit emerged from the shadows, shuffling a deck of cards.
Their gazes locked and Rogue couldn't help put be entranced by the look in his eyes, it was playful, dangerous, and challenging, her mind instantly sent off a warning signal when her body reacted.
She narrowed her eyes devilishly, basically saying "Come closer" and "Back off" all at once, he came closer, *What else did you expect?* she asked herself in amusement.
She wondered how she was gonna tackle him, he was unpredictable, if she kicked his legs out from under him and pinned him down, he could charge more than the cards.
But if she was able to get behind him and pull his hands behind his back, that might just work, *Alright, Cajun, lets dance*
Rogue stepped forward, ready to play his game, he smiled and with a flick of his wrist, the deck of cards that had been in his hand disappeared.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, *Try'n to catch me off guard? Sorry, it'll take a lot more than that to make this girl swoon* she matched his smile and slid her gloved hands up his chest, he wasn't expecting that she knew, though he never showed his surprise.
Rogue decided to beat him to the punch and put a finger under his chin, she could tell he was amused if not enjoying this display.
Wham, the boy never knew what hit him, she had him on his stomach in a matter of seconds and his hands behind his back.
But he was physically stronger and soon overpowered her, rolling over and pinning her arms down, she frowned, "Huh, no fair, Swamp Rat" she stuck her tongue out rather childishly at him, he chuckled, "Keep looking so hot and I may keep you in this position longer"
She frowned and attempted to struggle out of his grasp, she didn't know how but she managed to loosen his hold and get away just before her time ran out. She was pinning him again, but he wasn't trying to get away, she was fully aware of how close they were and did her best to ignore the chill that ran down her spine when she felt his warm breath on her neck.
It seemed like an eternity before he was officially eliminated, she got up as quick as she could and watched him walk out with a grin on his face, as soon as he was out of sight she shivered, *Damn, Swamp Rat*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
By the end of the session, Colossus and Rogue were the only ones left, Rogue and Warren had taken out Kitty, then Bobby had taken out Warren, then Colossus had taken out Bobby.
Logan grunted his approval, "Good job, Stripes" she smiled and slapped high fives with Pyro and Angel, then everyone, save Rogue, filed out of the observation booth, she lingered behind to talk to the Professor.
"What is it, Rogue?" he asked, steepling his fingers, "Ah was wondering if Ah could have another week off school" she didn't give him time to say anything before continuing.
"Ah've got to take care of something and it's really important, it would help me gain a better emotional balance and it might guarantee that Ah never break down again" she held her breath, waiting for his reply.
He considered it for a moment, "I am not sure, your grades weren't doing very well to begin with and you've already missed two weeks"
"Yea, but all the anti-mutant teachers were gonna fail me even if Ah was doing good, and Ah'll be out of High school for good in a couple more months" she was practically begging him, she didn't want to keep having these mood swings, and dealing with too many people at once would just make them worse.
"Fine" he relented, Rogue thanked him and rushed to her room, glad something was finally going her way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
(A/N: You're probably wondering by now how I managed to get five chapters up in one day, well I've been working on this fic for a while and just now got around to posting it:)
St. John crept along behind a row of boxes, waiting for Bobby to get closer, suddenly he shot out flames and shaped them into a vicious tiger, making the fiery beast pounce on the ice boy.
It caught Bobby off guard, but only for a second, he shot a bolt of ice at the creature, who dispersed and reformed into a eagle, flying around over Iceman's head until getting close enough to land on his shoulder, it might have burnt him if he hadn't been in ice-form.
"Ha, nice try" Bobby taunted Pyro, "I don't see you doin' much better, mate" the Australian retorted, realizing that using fire against the boy wasn't an option, he did create a whirlwind of flames for a distraction, though, while he tackled Bobby from behind.
Iceman managed to get free of his grip and grabbed hold of St. John's wrists, icing them to the floor, the speaker overhead started to blare out the seconds that Pyro was down.
But Bobby didn't notice there was still some fire loose and Pyro manipulated it over to his frosty binds, melting them away and jumping to his feat, the voice over the speaker stopped at thirteen seconds, "What do ya' know, I beat my own record for escape time"
Iceman frowned and squirted a sheet of ice in Pyro's direction, St. John shot a sheet of fire right back, his fire could only melt so much at a time though, so it continued like this for a while, ice and fire trying to cancel each other out, but never getting past the point where they met.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Mean while Piotr Rasputan, known as Peter to his American friends, was trying to catch Kitty Pryde, who kept phasing through his metal form.
She smiled teasingly as he chased after her, thinking the whole time how cute he was and how she was sooooo over Lance.
Kitty hopped on top of a crate, waiting for him to get closer, she knew he was trying to sneak up behind her, she crossed her legs and began to study her nails, feigning boredom.
She counted every second off in her head, until finally he reached out to grab her, she giggled and did a backwards summersault, phasing right through him.
"Had enough?" she asked, doing a little victory dance, he grunted and folded his arms, she grinned, "You know you look, like, so totally handsome when you're annoyed"
Colossus blushed, Kitty didn't see it, but she knew he had when she saw the change in his expression, *Oooooo, like, how sweet*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Remy couldn't believe how dense Cyclops was, he was practically on top of him and Summers was looking around the shelves like some kid lost in a department store.
The Cajun couldn't understand why they had named him leader, he was completely unaware and un-alert, Remy slipped three cards out from his trench coat and charged them.
He leaned forward from his hiding place and expertly aimed the cards so they would land in a triangle around his opponent, Scott looked up in surprise, Gambit smirked, "It's 'bout time, mon ami"
He jumped down as the cards exploded and tackled Summers to the ground, Cyclops was able to blast the shelf behind Remy so it would fall on the thief's back, but Remy predicted the action and rolled them both out of the way just in time, still managing to hold Scott down.
The speaker over head began to count, and soon one eye was out of the game, Gambit shook his head and smiled, "Now to go find me a real challenge" he reached out with his spatial sense and located Rogue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Rogue was crouching behind some crates near Jean Grey, *Can't wait to take this one out* she thought with a smirk, Jean couldn't read through her mental shields, so she didn't detect Rogue's presence until the Goth was only a few feet away.
But Rogue kept herself hidden extremely well during Jean's mind sweep, while the telepath was looking in the other direction Rogue jumped off a crate and tackled her.
Jean put up a telekinetic barrier that forced the girl off her, Rogue fought the barrier with her own mind, she could penetrate it somewhat, but she wasn't telepath so she couldn't push it all the way back.
It was hardly a minute before Rogue's head started to pound hard with her effort, she finally gave up and dodged through a weak point in the shield while Jean got her bearings.
Before Jean knew it she was being pinned to the ground, and the speaker blared out her time, since she was on her stomach and Rogue was pulling her hands behind her back, it was going to be a hard escape.
Rogue tensed as the voice over the speaker got to five seconds, she didn't know it would be this easy to get Jean down, she was still sure the girl might try something.
Finally the time was up, she let go of the older mutant and stood up, "Oh, c'mon you hardly put up a fight" the Goth complained, "That's kind of hard to do when you've got my hands pulled so tightly behind my back they go numb"
Rogue frowned and folded her arms, "You're a telepath, all you need is your brain, you still could've pushed against the concrete with telekinetic force"
Jean didn't reply, she just gave her hair an arrogant toss and walked towards Danger Room doors, Rogue made a gagging face, "She makes me sick"
"Not a good thing to say about your superior" Warren commented, swooping down beside her, Rogue snorted, "Superior, in what way? She's seventeen with the combat intelligence of a five-year-old, not to mention her I'm- popular-so-do-whatever-I-say attitude, wouldn't matter if she had the I.Q. of a cockroach, she'd still be "get whatever I want" teacher's pet"
Angel smiled, "You're cute when you're angry" Rogue gave him her infamous 'Death Glare', it only made him smile wider.
"I need your help taking Nightcrawler out" he motioned to some shelves a few yards away, "I could fly you up then dive bomb, and you zap him out on the way down"
Rogue nodded, "Good plan" she slipped a glove off and Warren wrapped one arm around her waist and one closer to her knees, Rogue grinned as they flew up, she would never in a million years admit it, but she was enjoying this position immensely.
Kurt soon came into her view, he was hanging upside down on one of the shelves, watching St. John and Bobby battle it out below him.
Angel went up a little higher, then did a semi-flip and dove straight down, Rogue yanked Nightcrawler's arm on their descent, they gained speed and the blue elf was out in seconds, she let go of him and caught him in her covered arms.
Rogue sensed something was wrong as the ground got near and Angel didn't pull up, "Damnit" she heard him curse.
He wrapped he wings fully around her and Kurt and told her to be prepared for a hard landing, she closed her eyes when they hit the ground.
A few barrel rolls latter they came to a stop, Rogue opened her eyes and felt Warren's arms and wings still around her, she looked up at him, "You okay?"
He winced, "Never been better" they pulled apart and stood up, Nightcrawler was just starting to come out of unconsciousness, Angel took him and flew him out the Danger Room doors, then came back in to see if he could help Pyro beat Bobby.
Rogue sat on top of one of the boxes and inspected her injuries, making sure none of them had reopened, then she leaned back on one hand and used the other to massage her neck witch had cramped during their crash landing.
Suddenly Rogue tensed and her senses became alert, she felt a presence near her, she reflexively got into fighting position, Gambit emerged from the shadows, shuffling a deck of cards.
Their gazes locked and Rogue couldn't help put be entranced by the look in his eyes, it was playful, dangerous, and challenging, her mind instantly sent off a warning signal when her body reacted.
She narrowed her eyes devilishly, basically saying "Come closer" and "Back off" all at once, he came closer, *What else did you expect?* she asked herself in amusement.
She wondered how she was gonna tackle him, he was unpredictable, if she kicked his legs out from under him and pinned him down, he could charge more than the cards.
But if she was able to get behind him and pull his hands behind his back, that might just work, *Alright, Cajun, lets dance*
Rogue stepped forward, ready to play his game, he smiled and with a flick of his wrist, the deck of cards that had been in his hand disappeared.
He wrapped an arm around her waist, *Try'n to catch me off guard? Sorry, it'll take a lot more than that to make this girl swoon* she matched his smile and slid her gloved hands up his chest, he wasn't expecting that she knew, though he never showed his surprise.
Rogue decided to beat him to the punch and put a finger under his chin, she could tell he was amused if not enjoying this display.
Wham, the boy never knew what hit him, she had him on his stomach in a matter of seconds and his hands behind his back.
But he was physically stronger and soon overpowered her, rolling over and pinning her arms down, she frowned, "Huh, no fair, Swamp Rat" she stuck her tongue out rather childishly at him, he chuckled, "Keep looking so hot and I may keep you in this position longer"
She frowned and attempted to struggle out of his grasp, she didn't know how but she managed to loosen his hold and get away just before her time ran out. She was pinning him again, but he wasn't trying to get away, she was fully aware of how close they were and did her best to ignore the chill that ran down her spine when she felt his warm breath on her neck.
It seemed like an eternity before he was officially eliminated, she got up as quick as she could and watched him walk out with a grin on his face, as soon as he was out of sight she shivered, *Damn, Swamp Rat*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
By the end of the session, Colossus and Rogue were the only ones left, Rogue and Warren had taken out Kitty, then Bobby had taken out Warren, then Colossus had taken out Bobby.
Logan grunted his approval, "Good job, Stripes" she smiled and slapped high fives with Pyro and Angel, then everyone, save Rogue, filed out of the observation booth, she lingered behind to talk to the Professor.
"What is it, Rogue?" he asked, steepling his fingers, "Ah was wondering if Ah could have another week off school" she didn't give him time to say anything before continuing.
"Ah've got to take care of something and it's really important, it would help me gain a better emotional balance and it might guarantee that Ah never break down again" she held her breath, waiting for his reply.
He considered it for a moment, "I am not sure, your grades weren't doing very well to begin with and you've already missed two weeks"
"Yea, but all the anti-mutant teachers were gonna fail me even if Ah was doing good, and Ah'll be out of High school for good in a couple more months" she was practically begging him, she didn't want to keep having these mood swings, and dealing with too many people at once would just make them worse.
"Fine" he relented, Rogue thanked him and rushed to her room, glad something was finally going her way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
(A/N: You're probably wondering by now how I managed to get five chapters up in one day, well I've been working on this fic for a while and just now got around to posting it:)