Disclaimer: XME, no. Darcy Harper, yes.
Melt Me
Chapter Eight: Running in place
***
Xavier Institute, later that day.
Hank McCoy waited in the foyer of the mansion, gazing out at the grounds as he waited for Logan, Ororo Munroe and the Professor to return from Bayville High. He was concerned; the fact that the Professor had received a call from Thomas Dillard, the school's principal on the very first day of classes didn't bode well for the new school year.
"Any sign of them yet?" Rogue asked, joining Beast at the window. Hank shook his head.
"No. I'm starting to think it probably isn't going too well," he told her.
Rogue folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall next to the window to look out over the driveway with him.
"What's goin' on anyway? Logan and Ah were training and he took off lahke there was a fire somewhere." Rogue told him.
"Trouble at the High School," Hank nodded. Rogue straightened and put a hand on her hip.
"Already? It's only tha first day!" Rogue exclaimed.
The sparkle of sunlight off a windshield ended their conversation and they watched as the Professor's Rolls Royce made its way slowly up the driveway to stop in front of the mansion. The car had barely come to a stop when the door was flung open and Darcy flew out of the car like a bullet from a gun.
"Oh no," Hank murmured under his breath. Watching as the dark haired girl ran up the steps to the front doors. She didn't even wait for Bobby or Storm as they exited the car more slowly. The front door of the mansion slammed open and before Hank or Rogue could even think of asking what had happened or if she was all right, Darcy was up the stairs and gone.
So it was two very questioning looks that Bobby, Ororo, and the Professor were greeted with when the three entered a minute later. Bobby carried his backpack and Darcy's, and at first glance looked almost resigned. It wasn't until Hank got a good look at the Iceman's face that he saw just how angry and vaguely hurt the teen was.
"I'm gonna go see how she is," Bobby said in a flat tone, heading toward the stairs.
"Bobby," the Professor said, extending a hand toward him. "You did what you felt was best under the circumstances. You have nothing to feel guilty about."
Bobby stopped dead in his tracks, like he'd reached the end of his leash. "Guilty?" Bobby snapped, whipping around to face the Professor. "We got railroaded in there! And you let it happen!" Bobby said angrily.
"Bobby, I understand that you're upset about Principal Dillard's decision. But you have to understand that—" the Professor got out before Bobby cut him off.
"I don't have to understand anything! Especially why we're constantly having our hands tied." Bobby lowered his eyes from Xavier's and his shoulders slumped. "I just don't want to talk about it anymore right now, Professor. I'm sorry." Bobby said and headed up the stairs slowly to his room.
Xavier watched him go and he sighed heavily, before steering his wheelchair toward his office. Rogue, Beast, and Storm followed, the first two curious about the events that would make good-natured Bobby Drake behave in such an openly disrespectful way to the Professor. Bobby, although unorthodox and frequently irreverent, was one of the Professor's most loyal and unwavering X-men.
"I take it that things were not able to be smoothed over?" Hank asked, once they were behind the closed doors of Xavier's office. The Professor studied his blotter for a long moment before answering.
"The results were not as I might have hoped, but the situation was…salvaged." Xavier said enigmatically.
"What's goin' on?" Rogue asked, tired of all the double talk. Xavier folded his hands on his desk, his expression weary.
"There was an incident at school today. Three students provoked Bobby and Darcy. While the other students started the fight, Darcy used her powers on school grounds." Xavier said heavily.
"Well so what? Sounds to me lahke they got what they deserved," Rogue stated. The Professor nodded.
"Normally, I would agree with you, Rogue. But things at Bayville High aren't the same as when you attended. While Principal Dillard is not as bad as Kelly was when he was Principal, he has no love for mutants either. It took a lot of convincing to keep him from expelling them."
Rogue leaned forward in her chair, gesturing wildly. "For what? Because some bullies attacked them and they defended themselves? Ah always thought you told us that was tha time we could use our powers!" Rogue said hotly, defending her teammate.
"It's not so simple anymore, Rogue. Remember Mayor Kelly's Law," Ororo said quietly. Rogue folded her arms and huffed, blowing one of the white streaks of hair out of her face.
"That stupid thing? Ah think it's bound to fail," Rogue complained.
"Unfortunately, it passed. The City Council voted it in today with a majority. It is now illegal for a mutant to use their powers in a public place," Xavier said. Rogue shot to her feet.
"They can't do that!" she cried, aghast.
"Well, they did," Logan said. Joining them after parking the Professor's car in the garage. "And that weasel Dillard kept those kids, and us, outside his office waiting until it did too." Logan growled.
"What did they decide, Charles?" Hank asked. Xavier rubbed his temples.
"I was able to keep formal charges from being pressed against Darcy. And none of the students will be expelled, but that was all I could get him to agree to," the Professor said.
"So how bad is it?" Hank asked, concerned. "Detention? Community service?"
"Suspension," Xavier said quietly. "One week for Bobby. Two weeks for Darcy."
"That's outrageous!" Rogue yelled.
"It seems excessive, especially at the beginning of the term. How are they expecting Darcy to keep up?" Hank questioned.
"That's just it, they don't," Logan said. "It was a shitty deal those kids got, Chuck."
"I know it, Logan…but what was the alternative? Expulsion? Having one of our students arrested?" Xavier countered. Logan held up a hand.
"I ain't sayin' you didn't do your best, Chuck," Logan said. "I'm sayin' that it sets a bad precedent if we get smacked down that hard first thing out of the gate. Not to mention this bullshit law making it even harder for us to do our jobs," Logan growled.
"It's a definite setback, but it means that the X-men have to be even more vigilant and circumspect in our actions," Xavier told them. Rogue's chin jutted stubbornly as she folded her arms over her chest again.
"Lahke things weren't tough enough already," she grumbled. Hank, the only one to overhear Rogue's complaint, dipped his heavy blue head slightly in agreement.
"Indeed."
She couldn't take it.
The silence of the deserted dormitory floor – all the students still at school – just made the whirling chaos inside of her swell to gigantic proportions. Her skin sizzled with shame and fear. She'd gotten suspended from school, she'd never even been sent to detention before this. What would her father say if he could see how far she had fallen?
"Shut up, shut up…" she whispered to herself. It was the Reverend's fault all of this had happened to her. All his fault. She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes as the scalding hot tears that hadn't really stopped since she'd lost control in the hall earlier, rolled down her red and splotchy cheeks.
In the past whenever her thoughts had even started to turn to her past - or any other subject that caused her pain and suffering – Darcy had always managed to keep her volatile emotions under control by doing something else, distracting herself. Whether it had been surfing with Alex, taking a shower, or walking the waves, she'd always been able to push those thoughts and feelings away, burying them deep inside herself. Denying they existed. But now, it was like she couldn't stop them.
Moaning, she curled into a fetal ball on her bed, covering her face with her hands as she sobbed, she was so close to hysteria that nearly no sound escaped her lips. She just convulsed silently. It was too big, her powers wanting to be let free, that it took all of her will to just keep breathing as she gasped for air between wracking sobs.
This was stupid, she tried telling herself, she'd only gotten suspended; there was no need for her to lose it like she was. But on a subliminal level she suspected that this was the end result of not ever facing up to her true feelings about being a mutant, and the changes in her life that came with it. She'd been running in place emotionally, even as she'd been running away.
She felt the surge of power within her, the part of her that wanted to flatten Bayville and its hornet's nest of hateful bigots to the ground with one huge and devastatingly beautiful wave. She clasped her hands to her chest immediately, praying for forgiveness for even thinking such a thing. Being raised in a small community, the daughter of a Baptist minister, Darcy had always found a measure of peace in prayer. A connection between herself and the divine that let her believe that her life had purpose, even when her father constantly favored her younger brother over her. Despite everything she'd done to please him.
Her faith had been shaken to its very foundations when her powers had manifested. The Reverend - who although strict and a bit standoffish to her, was still her father and supposed to love her - had renounced her as an abomination. She could still see the Reverend's face as he'd said that she was dead to him.
Her family didn't want her. She'd felt like a tolerated burden at the Masters' house despite Alex's assurances that she wasn't. She'd come to the Institute to be with others like her and to learn some desperately needed control, and she'd failed at that miserably. Not only getting herself into trouble, but Bobby too. And he'd done nothing to deserve it.
Curling into an even tighter ball, Darcy wondered miserably where she would go when the Professor kicked her out. She couldn't go back to Alex and admit that she'd failed. It was what had stopped her from immediately going to Scott's room and demanding that he let her talk to Alex on his laptop. How could she tell him what had happened without sounding foolish?
And Bobby…how could she face him again? Knowing that she'd gotten him a punishment that he didn't deserve? Fresh hot tears slid down her face, she needed Bobby, more than she cared to admit. He grounded her somehow. His teasing and his easygoing nature helped keep her demons at bay. Nothing seemed as horrible when she was with Bobby.
Darcy's head pounded, and her eyes burned as she kept crying. Giving in to the grief and self-pity at last. She had oceans of tears inside of her it seemed, all pressing to get out. She needed to calm down, she knew it, but she couldn't. Everything had taken on epic proportions, there was no middle ground anymore, and she was being crushed under her unstable emotions, like she was at the bottom of the sea.
Still gasping between sobs like a fish out of water, she slowly made her way off her bed and over to the window. Opening it so she could hear the sounds of the bay. She needed the water to center herself, recognizing the irony that her power she constantly sought to deny, also had the ability to soothe her. Her hands gripped the window frame tightly as her ears strained to hear the waves breaking on the rocks, or the waterfall that hid the entrance to the X-jet's hangar. Anything that would calm the raging tempest inside her. It was starting to frighten her, the fact that she couldn't seem to calm down.
And then, like the answer to her prayers, Bobby was there at her side. He said nothing, just pushed the window all the way open to step onto the low sill. He gathered her up against his body and the next thing she knew they were sliding quickly down the ice skid Bobby formed to the ground. He half dragged, half carried her across the grounds to the swimming pool – the site of their daily lessons – before walking right into the shallow end of the pool with her in his arms.
The moment the water touched her it was like smothering a fire as all the rage, sorrow, and pain just melted away. Bobby still held her, waist deep in the water as she lay on the surface, his dark eyes concerned.
"You okay?" he asked softly. "You were starting to go all liquidy and weird on me."
Darcy blinked at him and sat up on the water's surface. "What happened?" she asked fuzzily. She looked down at herself to see that she had indeed transformed, but as she watched the transformation melted away and she was normal again. As normal as a mutant could get anyway.
"I was going to check on you, and see how you were doing, when all the water pipes on the second floor started creaking and groaning. When I went in your room I saw you trying to go out the window and you were kind of…half transformed. You had me worried," Bobby told her.
"How…why did you bring me here?" she asked, heat flushing her face that she'd worried him. Bobby half shrugged and looked away, a little embarrassed too. He didn't want to admit that he'd noticed she sought water like a kind of touchstone, that he found every little thing about her worthy of such notice.
"Seemed like the right thing to do…"
Darcy's eyes wanted to start leaking again that he was so sweet to her; even after the trouble she'd caused him. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand surreptitiously so Bobby wouldn't see, and in doing so she noticed that he was standing fully clothed, waist deep in the pool and her chagrin grew.
"Oh no," she moaned regretfully. "I got you soaked."
"Not as soaked as Donaldson and his idiot friends were," Bobby said with a grin. Darcy visibly winced at being reminded of her loss of control, and she opened her mouth like she would apologize, but he didn't let her. He didn't want her dwelling on what had just happened, there would be time enough for that later – like when Logan made their lives hell in the Danger Room for the next week. "Besides, I felt like a swim anyway," he told her. And to make his point he started backstroking lazily across the pool.
His shoes and wet clothes slowed him down, but the point was made as Darcy giggled weakly at him. Bobby tread water and his eyes took on a mischievous gleam as he watched her sitting high and dry on the pool's surface.
"Feel like joining me? Since you're already wet?" he asked innocently. Her eyes widened.
"I am?" she questioned, and predictably, fell into the pool like a brick once she was thinking about it. Bobby snorted with laughter as she came up looking remarkably like a drowned rat. "You did that on purpose," she accused. "I was dry."
Bobby looked innocent, as innocent as he could, considering. "Were you? My bad then." He ducked when Darcy splashed him, somewhat half-heartedly.
"'You want my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.'" Bobby quoted with a grin.
Darcy slanted him a look as she waded towards the steps in the shallow end of the pool. "Where did you come up with that one?" she asked, plopping herself down on the pool's edge to pull off her soaked leather boots.
"Wish I could claim authorship of it, but it's from M*A*S*H. I've just adopted it as my own philosophy, kinda appropriate don't you think?" Bobby asked her. Darcy shrugged apathetically.
"Sure," she said listlessly. Bobby waded closer to her until he stood in hip deep water right in front of her in order to look up into her face. Her eyes wouldn't quite meet his as she unzipped her other boot.
"You know what it means, right?" he asked. She shrugged again. Bobby put his hands on her knees to stop her actions and make her look at him. "It means, don't let things get you down. Don't worry about what happened today…it wasn't your fault, Darcy."
"I got you suspended. You didn't even do anything wrong! I ruined everything…you must hate me," she finished miserably. Bobby pulled himself out of the water to sit at her side on the edge of the pool and he leaned toward her, resting his head against hers as they dripped together. She didn't move away, just kept staring at her lap.
"Hey, being suspended isn't all that bad. We get a whole extra week off together," he teased with a nudge of his elbow. "And trust me, nobody here hates you, least of all me. How could I hate anyone as gorgeous as you?" Bobby said playfully.
"But…" Darcy started, but Bobby put his arm around her slender shoulders pulling her in close to his side.
"Listen, everyone here has lost control once or twice. Jean once had a power surge that nearly tore down the mansion. Kurt and Toad broke every statue in the east wing. Sam smashed the Professor's favorite painting. Storm's nephew Evan once covered the whole community room in spikes, I could go on and on…" Bobby said comfortingly.
"Have you ever…you know…" Darcy trailed off and looked up at him. Her eyelashes were still spiky with tears, and she shivered a little despite the warm fall sun. Her wet clothes molding to her small breasts, which Bobby took great pains not to notice.
"Had a power surge?" he finished for her. Darcy nodded. "Yeah, but not in a long time. It happened before I ever came to the Institute, when I was about fourteen," he told her solemnly.
"What happened?" she asked. Bobby shifted uncomfortably and glanced at his girlfriend. He'd rather not talk about it, since some of the memories of when his powers had gone haywire were alternately painful and embarrassing to recall, but he could tell by Darcy's expression that knowing would mean a lot to her.
"I had a time when I couldn't control what I froze, sometimes I'd touch something and it'd freeze, and sometimes it wouldn't. Like, I'd go and get a glass of water and freeze all the pipes in the house. Or end up taking an ice shower…stuff like that," Bobby told her. "For a while I was afraid to touch anything, I wouldn't go swimming in our pool, or play football with my little brother. I was even afraid to hug my mom..."
Darcy could tell that there was more to Bobby's story than just the inconvenience of frozen pipes or cold showers, but she waited for him to tell it in his own time. His dark eyes were distant as he looked out over the pool, watching the dissipating waves from their activity in it.
"You aren't afraid to touch me," Darcy said softly. Bobby didn't look at her, but he squeezed her gently in acknowledgement.
"I've learned to control it. Because I didn't want it controlling me, and it was. As long as I was afraid of what I could do, I wasn't in control."
"How did you do it?" Darcy asked, eager to learn his secret. Bobby had the most control she'd ever seen, she knew how angry he'd been at those jerks at school, yet he'd remained in total control of his powers. Darcy envied him that.
"I started using them. Practicing controlling them. I looked at my powers as being a muscle that needed to be worked out to get stronger…and eventually, they did." Bobby said sadly.
"But…that's a good thing, right?" Darcy questioned gently, confused by his melancholy tone. Bobby's lips twisted ironically.
"The end result was good. I learned to control them at an earlier age than most. And using my powers allowed the Professor to find me and invite me to come to the Institute," Bobby agreed. "But using them meant that my family found out about them," he said.
"Did they flip out?"
"I'd kept it from them when I first found out what I could do because I was afraid of what they'd say. But when I had my power surge it was kinda hard to hide them…" Bobby said evasively. Darcy reached out and laid her hand on Bobby's cheek, turning his face toward hers to make him look at her.
"Tell me what happened, Bobby. Please…I want to know," Darcy pleaded gently.
"You have to understand, I don't just make ice. I project extreme cold; I'm like a fucking great big walking freezer. And everything around me, water, metal, even the air is just…ammunition. Our bodies are like 75% water, you know…" Bobby lowered his eyes, but Darcy didn't let go of his face, just leaned closer to press her forehead against his.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," she murmured. She hadn't realized how difficult it might have been for Bobby. She took his clowning and good nature for granted, never realizing there was more to Bobby than joking around.
"My little brother, Ronny…he found out about my powers first. He thought they were so cool. He always wanted me to make him slides and animals and stuff. Even my mom and dad, once they got over the shock of their kid being a mutant, thought it was pretty neat. I could make ice cubes on demand, refreeze that melty ice cream from the store…" Bobby chuckled. "But it only takes one mistake to change all that."
"Mistake?" Darcy asked. "What did you do?" Bobby hesitated.
"It was a total accident. Ronny and I were out in the yard goofing around with the dog, Ronny kept wanting me to make bigger and bigger slides and stuff and I was showing off for him, and Pepper was there…and he jumped right in the way, I wasn't thinking and I just…froze him. And he fell and..." Bobby broke off. His mind replaying the sight of their black lab shattering on the ground, the sound of his little brother screaming, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.
Darcy bit her lip and brushed the hair out of Bobby's eyes. "You didn't do it on purpose, Bobby…" she said softly.
"But I killed him just the same. And it doesn't change the fact that every time my folks look at me now it's like they're a little bit afraid. And Ronny…I don't think he'll ever forgive me for what happened to Pepper."
Darcy wrapped her arms around Bobby, holding him close. It was on her mind to try and share with him all that she had endured at the hands of her family. That she understood how it felt to have your younger brother look at you with fear in his eyes. But Bobby's parents still accepted him, even if they were afraid. They still loved Bobby. No one loved her. He couldn't possibly understand what it meant to have the people you trusted the most turn their backs on you.
Bobby turned in her arms to embrace her back, the two of them almost clinging to each other as they sat wet on the edge of the pool, like they were survivors of some terrible apocalypse that only they could relate to. "I've never told anyone that before…about Pepper," Bobby said into her neck.
"It stays between us, Bobby," Darcy promised. Bobby raised his head, his eyes a little red as they gazed back into hers. And she understood the importance, the reverence and trust of the confidence Bobby was sharing with her. She felt so close to him then.
"I'm so glad I have you," she whispered, her heart in her eyes.
Bobby's lips found hers, cool against her burning skin as he kissed her deeply. No sweet sacred kiss to seal a pact, Bobby took her mouth hungrily. Like he'd been waiting forever to hear those words from her.
"Me too…"
In the Control Room of the Institute a three-foot high display screen normally cycled through the different security cameras that blanketed all areas of the Institute, inside and out. Now the monitor was filled with the image of Bobby and Darcy as they kissed at the edge of the pool.
The reflected light of the screen highlighted the angry tears that ran down Jubilee's cheeks as she watched her Bobby kiss that interloper.
She'd wandered down to the lower levels when she got home from school looking for Bobby, to sympathize with him for getting suspended. With any luck, he'd be furious at his precious little water mutant for getting him busted, and Jubilee wasn't above using that to her advantage. All being fair in love and war, after all. But instead, as she'd wandered past the control room, the monitor had cycled to the pool camera just as she passed, and she saw Bobby goofing around in the pool – swimming with his clothes on.
Intrigued as to what he was doing – and hoping he might shed some clothes to do it – Jubilee entered the control room and punched up the screen to remain on that camera and turned up the volume. She was pained to discover that rather than being angry with Darcy for getting him suspended, Bobby was actually trying to reassure her.
Jubilee fisted her hands at her sides, her perfectly manicured nails digging painfully into her palms. It wasn't fair, what did that blue haired, freaky eyed witch have that she, Jubilee - arguably one of the best looking girls at the Institute - didn't? Other than Bobby's heart?
Tears streamed unchecked from her eyes as Bobby confessed to Darcy about how he had inadvertently killed the family dog. A part of her felt just awful for Bobby, because of the two years they had been such good friends, her heart ached for him. But the obsessed part of her could only feel pain and bitterness that the person he was confiding his darkest secret to wasn't her.
It should have been her.
As Jubilee watched the monitor in the dark stillness of the control room, Bobby helped his girlfriend to her feet, before leaning in to tenderly kiss her. He made Darcy hold her hands out in front of her and close her eyes, and as Jubilee watched, Bobby laid his hands over her cupped ones. A sparkling blue white glow grew between them, and when Bobby took his hands away a small perfect ice sculpture lay in Darcy's upturned palms. A pair of swans with their necks entwined, perfectly rendered in shining ice. Jubilee ground her teeth, remembering the ballerina Bobby had made for her so long ago.
Darcy smiled widely at the gift, and looked up at Bobby adoringly. "You always make everything seem better," she said to him.
Bobby took Darcy's face between his palms, brushing her hair back off her face as he returned the smile. "That's what I'm here for," he told her, and then kissed her again.
With an inarticulate screech of rage, Jubilee lost her temper at last. Snapping the monitor off the infuriating image, she stomped out of the control room and in a fit of pique, kicked the corridor wall, pretending it had dark hair with a blue stripe and Village of the Damned eyes. Which then prompted a real howl of pain, because in a battle between stylish sandals and a metal wall…
The wall always wins. Just more fuel for Jubilee's fire.
Xavier Institute Grounds, morning, three days later.
The morning sun had just crested the trees, and the dew still blanketed the grass as the students gathered outside the mansion for their morning exercise. Standing in a rough half circle as they faced the core of the X-men: Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, Nightcrawler, and the Iceman. Behind them on a balcony overlooking the estate, Cyclops and Storm stood beside the Professor, looking on as Wolverine explained the rules. Jean and Shadowcat being excused because of their college courses.
"All right, listen up! Here's how we're doing this. You'll be broken up into three teams, all made up of different experience and skill levels. The goal of this exercise is simple, capture the flag from Rogue and bring it back here before your team gets tagged out. Keep it nice and friendly and within the grounds. Mansion is off limits. Any harmful use of powers answers to me, any questions?" Wolverine barked. Cannonball raised a hand.
"How do you get 'tagged out'?" Cannonball asked. Iceman grinned and thumbed his chest.
"That's if one of us catches you first," he explained, indicating the other X-men present. A chorus of groans greeted his statement, along with the vocal sentiment that Iceman should be on the side of his classmates, rather than the core team. Not to mention the consensus opinion that Nightcrawler being included as 'tagger' defeated the purpose of the soon to be 'tagees'.
"People, people…settle," Beast told them. "The teams are as follows; Team one: Magma, Sunspot, Leech, and Boom-Boom." He paused as Amara and Roberto did a little victory cheer for getting Leech on their team. Tabby just looked bored.
"Team two: Cannonball, Berzerker, and Husk."
"Yeah! Go Team Guthrie!" Husk cried, jumping in the air to high-five her much taller sibling.
"Ahem!" Berzerker said pointedly. Husk looped her arm with his and then grabbed her brother's.
"You're an honorary Guthrie," Husk informed him blithely.
"Lahke there weren't enough of them already without adding to tha population," Rogue mumbled under her breath and folded her arms. Nightcrawler, the only one to hear his adopted sister's comment stifled a grin.
"Team three," Beast continued patiently, "Multiple, Wolfsbane, Torrent, and Jubilee."
Iceman cringed to hear that his new girlfriend was going to be on the same team as his last girlfriend, and he made a mental note to steer clear of team three. He glanced over at Torrent to see how she was taking her team assignment and saw she didn't look thrilled at all, in fact she looked like she was about to go face a firing squad as she hung back from her group, and he went over to join her.
"Everything okay?" he asked quietly, trying not to show her any undue favoritism.
"No," she whispered miserably. "I suck at this stuff, you know that! How am I supposed to use my powers in the middle of the woods? I don't even know what I'm supposed to do!" she hissed fiercely, her eyes bright.
He stepped in front of her, putting his back to everyone else. "Listen," he said softly, "just do your best. Remember what we've been working on; stay calm and focused on the task at hand. Don't overthink it, don't get upset."
Torrent bit her lower lip, her eyes turning stormy as her emotions – fear of failing mostly – started to take over. "I-I can't…" she whimpered almost inaudibly.
"Iceman! Let's get a move on!" Wolverine called, as he and the others headed into the woods to start the game. Iceman reached out and put a hand on Torrent's shoulder and squeezed briefly.
"You'll do fine, don't worry," he told her, and trotted off after his teammates without a backwards glance.
Torrent took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. She wished she shared his confidence, as she made her way over to her waiting team.
Professor Xavier steepled his fingers under his chin thoughtfully as he watched the brief interaction between Iceman and Torrent below. He could sense her agitation over the day's exercise and felt how she managed to get some of her emotions under control when Bobby spoke to her. Interesting. Especially since he'd noticed from the corner of his eye the way the water in the nearby fountain had started churning along with Darcy's agitation.
"Cyclops," Xavier said suddenly. "How is our new student progressing?"
"Torrent? Not as well as we might have hoped, Professor. She has adequate athletic ability; Beast reports that she's showing some improvement in agility. But Logan is dissatisfied with her performance in team situations in the Danger Room," Scott reported from memory.
"I would imagine so," Storm interjected, before turning her blue eyes back to the slender figure below that halfheartedly jogged after her team as they headed into the woods as a group to try and capture Rogue. "Logan's training is not ideal for a mutant with her abilities. It is probably very frustrating for her," Storm said.
"Storm is right," Xavier said. "I think it might be a good idea if we set up an exercise that is more catered to Torrent's abilities for a change, rather than the others. It might bolster her confidence," he suggested. "What about her instruction with Iceman?" Xavier inquired, even though he already suspected the answer.
"He's the only one making progress with her," Cyclops said. "But for god's sake don't tell him, or we'll never hear the end of it."
The Professor smiled indulgently and said nothing. It seemed that Scott had not yet been able to look past some of Bobby's earlier immaturity to see the capable team member he had become. While Xavier felt that Bobby should be encouraged in his successes, he also didn't want to force the issue with Scott, who took the role of leader too seriously sometimes. Making Bobby his perfect foil.
The three teams headed into the woods from different angles, all with different strategies, but the same goal. Get the flag from Rogue.
Team One had the definite advantage with Leech on their side, and with Magma and Sunspot in the lead, they charged boldly into the woods intending to run Rogue down and flush her out, no matter who got in their way.
Fifty or sixty yards ahead, Iceman waited for them in a tree. He smirked as he watched Sunspot use brute force - rather than finesse – to cut a path through the woods. They weren't even heading in the right direction to find Rogue, whom he'd seen heading toward the gazebo before he'd split off to set up an ambush.
Right as Magma and Sunspot ran past his hiding place, Iceman froze the ground below and in front of them, sending them sliding down the slight incline and away from their vulnerable secret weapon.
Jumping down out of the tree, Iceman froze Boom-Boom and Leech's feet to the ground before he stepped up to the Junior High schooler and tapped him on the head.
"Leech is out of the game!" he called out, and then tapped his comlink on. "Nightcrawler, I have one for removal," Iceman said, grinning at Boom-Boom. Taking the hint, she used a couple of her charges to free her feet from the ice and she ran off down the hill toward where Magma and Sunspot were just getting back to their feet.
With a bamf to announce his arrival, Nightcrawler quickly appeared, put his arms around Leech and then teleported away, removing Leech from the field. Iceman turned toward the rest of Team One and rubbed his iced up hands together, an evil grin on his handsome face.
"Okay…who's next?" he asked jovially. Causing the remaining three to scatter.
Swinging silently from tree to tree, Beast stealthily stalked Team Two. They were at a distinct disadvantage in this exercise, having only three members to the other teams four. But in Beast's opinion Husk's enthusiasm and determination more than made up for their lack of numbers.
He hung upside down from a high branch, deciding which of the three he wanted to pick off, when they huddled together a moment, probably discussing their strategy. Beast hesitated, curious as to what they would do. Berzerker and Husk broke away from the huddle suddenly and trotted off into the woods in two separate directions, leaving Cannonball behind.
Interesting, Beast thought, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He wondered what Team Two was up to that they would split up in the middle of an exercise. Beast would think that they would want to stick together since there were only three of them.
Cannonball wandered around the small clearing, studying the ground like he was looking for some indication that Rogue had passed that way. Beast grinned, exposing his impressive fangs. The boy was making it too easy. By splitting up they were making targets of themselves, they should have stayed together in order to find Rogue.
Beast clucked his tongue quietly. It was a lesson they were about to learn the hard way as he swung into position to drop on Cannonball and tag him out of the exercise. He landed silently behind the tall blonde boy and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Better luck next time," Beast said. Suddenly, a high-pitched shriek came from the bushes behind him, and before Beast could react he was broadsided by what felt like a tiny mountain.
He went down like sack of bricks, whatever hitting him landing squarely on top of him in a classic quarterback sack. The impact sent Cannonball careening around the woods, bouncing off the trees like a pinball before he too landed in the pile on top of Beast, knocking the air out of the X-man with a whoosh.
Beast groaned and opened his eyes to a perfect little granite statue of Husk sitting on his chest. A living, breathing statue that looked insufferably pleased with herself as she grinned at him from ear to ear.
"Ha! You're out! We got you good!" Cannonball's metamorphing little sister told him.
Correction, Cannonball's very clever metamorphing little sister. Who had gotten the drop on him like a sucker, using her brother as bait, so she could transform into rock and take him down. Very clever indeed.
"You're not supposed to tag me out. You're supposed to be trying to capture the flag from Rogue," Beast reminded them. Cannonball poked his head over Husk's shoulder and grinned at him.
"Nobody said it was against the rules to thin out the opposition," Cannonball said. Husk wagged her finger at Beast like a teacher.
"That's right," she agreed.
"You have a point. No one said you couldn't take one of us out of the game. Have to give you credit for that," Beast told them. Sitting up once Cannonball and his now incredibly dense and heavy younger sibling had gotten off of him. He tapped his comlink on. "Nightcrawler, I have a removal," he said.
A second later Nightcrawler appeared in the clearing, an expectant smile on his fuzzy face. "Vell? Wer ist meine victim?" he asked. Rubbing his hands together. Beast gave a crooked smile.
"Me," he told his teammate, thumbing his chest. Nightcrawler looked confused, in fact comically so.
"Vas?" he blurted. "Sie scherzen!" His surprise making his English – normally very good – fail him.
"I'm not kidding. These two tagged me out," Beast explained. Nightcrawler doubled over with laughter that the tables had been turned on Beast.
"Well, I ain't sticking around here all day while you guffaw like a lunatic," Husk said. Her sweet voice sounding gravelly as it passed through a granite throat. "I wanna find Rogue and win this thing!" she exclaimed confidently, bringing her fist down onto her opposite palm with a resounding boom.
"Come on, Sam!" Husk ordered. Starting to move off out of the clearing. Cannonball grinned at Beast and Nightcrawler before he went to follow his sister. He didn't get more than two steps before Beast brought him up short, picking him up by the scruff of his uniform.
"Where do you think you're going?" Beast asked the boy with a toothy grin. "You guys tagged me, after I got you."
Halfway across the clearing, Husk spun around with a gasp at Beast's pronouncement. He and Nightcrawler gave her identical smug smiles while her brother just shrugged helplessly.
"Bye-eee!" Nightcrawler sang out cheerfully before engaging the bamf express.
On the other side of the woods, between the mansion and the cliffs that edged the bay, Rogue ran through the trees at a fast clip, the red sash that circled her hips – the prize everyone sought – trailing out behind her. She could hear her own breathing, steady and deep as she ran, her heart rate elevated from the hard run.
Wolverine kept pace at her side, his eyes flicking from left to right as they made their way swiftly through the woods. He wasn't even breathing hard yet.
A baying sort of howl came from the woods behind them, closing in. That same noise being what had flushed Rogue from her place near the gazebo and sent her into flight mode.
Wolfsbane.
Tracking her.
"Ah remember seein' this in a movie once. About ah jailbreak," Rogue panted as she pushed herself to keep up with Wolverine's increased pace. He lifted his nose and sniffed the air.
"Less talk, more running. They're getting closer," he said gruffly.
A crystalline crackling sound emerged on Rogue's left, and she glanced over to see Iceman on one of his skids, keeping pace with them. He grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up. "I've eliminated two from Team One so far," he told her happily. Wolverine glared.
"You want to give them a bigger trail to follow, Frostbite? Use your damn head!" Logan growled.
Immediately, Iceman abandoned the skid, jumping down to run beside them. Rogue noticed that he kept the skid going for a bit, angling it off into the woods to try and throw their pursuers off the trail. Rogue smiled at him for being resourceful, but Logan just snorted and proceeded to ignore Iceman as he tagged along on the chase.
A quarter of a mile ahead, Multiple and Torrent waited in the bushes upstream from the waterfall that hid the entrance to the hangar. Letting Wolfsbane and Jubilee drive their quarry right into the trap they'd set.
Jubilee had immediately taken control of the group when they entered the woods, predicting that Team One would use Leech as their secret weapon, and that Husk might impersonate Rogue to throw off the other teams. She correctly pointed out that their team had the distinct advantage because of Wolfsbane's tracking abilities.
She outlined a plan that had their team splitting into two, Wolfsbane and Jubilee would track Rogue and drive her toward the place where the stream was widest, about an eighth of a mile upstream from the waterfall. According to the plan, Torrent would hold back the river to a low, easily crossed trickle, while many copies of Multiple waited on the other side in ambush. Once Rogue crossed the stream, Torrent would release the river, cutting off Rogue's retreat while Multiple overpowered Rogue to get the flag.
"That's an excellent plan!" Wolfsbane had immediately exclaimed. Multiple agreed, asking Jubilee when she'd gotten so clever. The Chinese girl just glared at him.
"Um," Torrent had offered hesitantly. "I'm not sure I can hold that much water back. I've never done anything like that before." She flinched as three sets of eyes fell on her, one green, one blue, and one calculating black that seemed to size her up and find her lacking.
"This is the kind of thing that we're supposed to be being trained for," Jubilee said dryly, and then turned to Wolfsbane with a conspiratorial smile. "Guess we know what Bobby's been using his training sessions for," Jubilee laughed. Torrent's face burned. "You go, girl!" Jubilee nudged Torrent with her elbow.
"That's not true! We do stuff…" Torrent tried explaining. Wolfsbane and Jubilee kept laughing, giving Darcy exaggerated 'suuuurrrres' and winking at her. "I mean, he's trying to get me to hold the shape of—" Jubilee didn't even let her finish, she just started waving her hands in Torrent's direction.
"Ah! Don't tell me! I don't even want to know the end of that sentence!" Jubilee shrieked with laughter. Torrent folded her arms over her chest angrily, not finding their lewd assumptions funny in the least. Even Multiple was laughing at her.
"Fine! I'll do it," Torrent said through gritted teeth. To say she couldn't made Iceman look bad as a teacher. And as much as she doubted her abilities, she didn't want to tarnish his image.
"No, no…that's all right. We can come up with another plan. I mean…this was the best one. But if you aren't comfortable with it, then by all means…. We are a team after all, and a team is only as strong as it's weakest member," Jubilee said sweetly. Torrent's face flushed hotly again. It was like that time in the restroom when she'd first talked to Jubilee, she had the feeling she was being very subtly insulted. Her poison was sugar-coated.
"I said I'd handle it," Torrent snapped. Wolfsbane and Multiple looked surprised at the new girl's outburst, but Jubilee just kept smiling at her.
"I don't doubt it," Jubilee replied.
Now, as she waited in the bushes with Multiple she was starting to have her doubts. She chewed her lip incessantly as she looked at the swift moving stream beside her, and she didn't have to look at Multiple to know those baby blue eyes were on her.
"Ok?" he whispered. Her eyebrows came down sharply.
"I said I was," she replied, harsher than she'd intended to. Multiple wasn't offended, just smiled at her boyishly. He was such a sweet kid.
Two sharp yips split the air, the sound carrying in the morning silence. Wolfsbane's signal that they were getting close, it was time for them to get into position. Multiple said nothing, just rose and waited for her. Torrent took a ragged breath and got to her feet, ready to try what she'd never attempted before.
First, she had to get Multiple to the other side. She took his arm, like he was elderly and needed her assistance to cross the street. She stared at the rushing water, it was moving much faster than she'd imagined, and she focused on making the surface tension hard enough to walk on. It would still be like stepping onto a swiftly moving walk, and the change of speed would be jolting, she just couldn't be sure that jolt wouldn't cause her to lose her hold on her powers. Plunging them into the icy cold river.
Multiple twisted his arm under her hand and gripped her fingers, holding her hand. "I believe in you," he told her earnestly.
"Just shut up," Torrent moaned, trying not to think about the fact she wasn't just dealing with her life, but Multiple's too. She could see Jamie grin out of the corner of her eye, he was worse than Bobby…nothing offended him. "I don't…I'm not sure how to do this…maybe I should go first…" Torrent said nervously.
Another baying howl came from the woods, much closer this time, and the dark haired teen squeezed her hand. "No time. Let's do it. I know you can…" Multiple said confidently.
Taking a deep breath, Torrent kind of hopped onto the swiftly moving river and she started moving away from Multiple immediately. She bared her teeth, willing the water on the surface to remain stationary. It slowed, and she took an experimental step back toward the bank and Multiple.
He reached out his hands to take hers then and she grasped them tightly, anchoring herself to the bank by way of Jamie. She found her center and focused, just like Iceman had taught her. She saw her hands become translucent and then liquid as they held Multiple's. Power surged through her from her connection with the river, and she felt a little of her confidence return.
"Okay…step down carefully. I don't know how fast it'll be moving where you are," she said. Multiple tried stepping down awkwardly from the high bank, and ended up hopping like she had. Torrent had one terrifying moment when she thought she might lose him, his right leg falling through the surface to the knee as he started sliding away from her in a half circle before she yanked him closer.
"Oh man…got my boot wet," Multiple grumbled under his breath.
Torrent ignored him and she started picking her way carefully across the wide river. "Be careful…there's debris," she warned Multiple, as several large branches swept past in front of and underneath them.
"Whoa!" Multiple yelled suddenly, and Torrent felt his hand start to slip away from hers as a partially submerged log bobbed between them.
"Jamie!" she cried, spinning around and reaching out to get a better grip on him. Multiple lunged, trying to hang on to Torrent and her influence over the river as his feet started slipping out from underneath him.
He pinwheeled his free arm wildly as his feet went out from under him and he landed on his butt on the surface of the river, the impact making him multiply into five separate copies.
Desperately, Torrent tried to maintain the surface tension as Multiple and his copies started sliding away from her down the river on their backs, like they were on a water slide. Frantically, she stumbled after him, their fingertips brushing as she was almost able to grab onto him.
"Torrent! Help!" he yelled, as the farthest away of his copies slid into the river, reaching the edge of Torrent's influence. She lunged, and almost sobbed with relief as her gloved hand closed around Multiple's wrist.
"I've got you, Jamie," she said, stopping them on the surface. She helped Multiple to his feet, her heart in her throat that she'd almost lost him. And they watched as the other copies bobbed and struggled against the current as they were swept toward the bend in the river where they had planned the ambush on Rogue. Torrent breathed a sigh of relief that she'd managed to grab Jamie before the river bend and the white water farther downstream.
"Darceeeeeeee!" she heard one of the copies wail, as he bobbed under the water again. Her eyes widened and she gasped as the Multiple who's hand she was holding faded away into nothing as the original Jamie Madrox was swept around the bend in the river and out of contact range.
"Oh my god! Jamie!" she screamed loudly and started running. Trying to get to Multiple before he reached the white water. A submerged rock tripped her and sent her sprawling, skidding and sliding on her front as she bounced along the surface of the rushing water. She had to get to Jamie, no matter what, and she picked herself up to keep going.
To somehow beat Multiple to the ten-story drop he was rushing helplessly toward.
***
AN: Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger, but the chapter was getting on the huge side.
Thanks to: Rurouni Tyriel, Ashley, Mr. Badguy87, Camille, Mercurial1, LuluDucky, Teardropmess, Brandon, and Raining Star for reviewing. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know that you like the story.
Until next time, keep those reviews coming! ^_^