Disclaimer: The same that it has always been, so don't sue me.
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! School's brutal. That's all I gotta say.
Chapter 6: What D'ya Mean, SENTINELS?
"So what's the big deal with this mornin'?" Sam yawned, running a hand through his hair as he came into the parlor, even as I glowered at him from my fetal position on the couch. "Ya and that gal? What was with the yellin'?"
"Nothing you'd understand," I defensively grated. A typical bratty teenager-like behaviour, but hey, I WAS a teenager, after all. A misunderstood one. So I'm whining - but it's not my fault. Really. I swear.
The Professor didn't have the same ideology as I did, though - heck, he just said that my behaviour to Cathryne - "The Bird" as I now call her - was unwarranted, and that I had no right spazing out on her. And that I would be grounded if I ever did anything like that again.
Stupid, in my opinion. The Professor didn't appreciate me voicing my sentiments though, and told me that (and I SWEAR this guy's mental) I had a Danger Room session at 3pm.
And he had the NERVE to tell me to stay alive for at least a minute.
Man, the truth hurts. But that was still incredibly MEAN!
"Try me," Sam said suddenly, and I looked up, surprised to find him sitting on the glass coffee table in front of me.
"You're still here?" He ignored my comment.
"Try me. You said ah wouldn't understand ya. Why don't you try explaining everything to me - or as much as ya want, that is. It might help you in some way."
My mouth fell open. "You're meaning an anger management session."
That elicited a smile from him. "If ya want ta put it that way, sure."
"No way -," I began, but when he arched an eyebrow, I sighed. "Oh, fine. But can we go somewhere where we'll be - " I stopped in midsentence, realizing how bad that sounded.
"Alone?" He supplied, and I flushed, nodding. His smile widened. "Ah know what ya mean, Kelsey, and ah know just the place where we won't be disturbed..."
---
"You are one SICK individual," I shouted, even as I dodged a projectile. Oh, he sure as heck wasn't kidding when he said that we'd be somewhere uninterrupted.
Of course, I hadn't realized that he'd be leading me right into the thick of a full scale battle between these VERY-big-and-tall-purple doll/robots and US.
Yep. The bloody Danger Room.
"I thought you said explicitly,'won't be DISTURBED'?" I yelled, diving to the side even as a blast obliterated the spot where I once stood.
"Well, we won't," He replied, taking to the sky - uh, roof. A fiery-gold aura blossomed into existence around him the moment he shot into the sky - ROOF, and I felt my jaw drop and hit the ground.
"You - you can FLY?"
He swooped down towards me, shoving me out of the path of a boot. Involuntarily (and I shudder every time I think back upon this time in my life), I screamed as it came down hard on Sam, and instinctively flung my hand out at the doll/robot - which, for some odd reason, was starting to look familiar, as if I had seen something like that before in my life - and I don't mean Barney.
Like it had done a few days ago, ice poured out of the palm of my hand, and struck the purple thing full force, freezing it in position. My head almost immediately began to ache, and I blinked in confusion, momentarily disorientated.
Then it went away. And at that precise moment I realized too that if Sam had survived the foot-coming-down-on-head incident, I had just frozen the robot/doll that now stood immobile upon him. In short, he was trapped.
Aww, man, what do you mean I trapped him? My only ticket outta this cursed place was under this sculpture I had created!
The remaining purples simultaenously raised their hands, as if hailing me, and I nearly returned it before realizing what I was doing, barely checking my self in time. And I had this nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach, as their palms began to glow.
I had approximately three seconds to do something before I got roasted. Alive.
One.
My mind drew up a blank, and I just stood there like a sitting - I mean, standing - duck, watching with my mouth slack. Terror bubbled up inside of me, and, overwhelmed by my emotions, knowing that death was only a moment away...I sat down. And now became a sitting duck.
Two.
Stared as their palms grew even brighter, almost like a supernova being born. And then, from out of nowhere, it hit me. No, the robot/doll thingie didn't hit me - it was GOING to, but it wasn't what struck me. What did hit me was enough to make me fall SITTING down.
THREE.
As one, bolts of power shot out of their palms and straight at me, the centerpiece. A whimper escaped my lips even as I screwed my eyes shut and huddled into a ball. Then, a voice from above thundered, "END THIS NOW!"
Okay, not quite. More like a voice from below hollered barely audibly, "End program."
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes when nothing hit me, uncurling from my position jerkily. And stared around.
The purple things disappeared. The streaking bolts disappeared. The pieces of loose debris disappeared. The ice sculpture remained though, and even as I watched dully, it exploded into thousands of now-flying shards, bursting in all directions. One grazed me on the cheek, but I barely noticed as a glowing Sam rocketed out from the disaster.
At least he wasn't dead...
Swooping into the air, he lithely alighted vertically beside me, and the moment his feet touched the ground the aura-thing vanished.
"What was that?" I gestured limply at him, implying his powers.
"My ability," He stated, sitting beside me. "Ah can generate this forcefield which propels me into the air. Ah'm also invulnerable while ah'm 'blasting'." The simple way he had said that came nowhere close to arrogance, and that made my respect of him rise a notch.
"So then," I groped for the right words. "what's your, um, codename?"
"Cannonball."
"Oh." I was silent for a moment. "Were you - were you one of the people w-who rescued me that day?"
If the question surprised him, he didn't show it. "Yeah." Was all that he said.
Something was nagging me in the corner of my brain, but I couldn't remember what. It had something to do with being hurt by Toothy...then being on a plane or something...then - wait, what was that -
Then an entirely different memory whammed into me, the same one which had occured to me when those robot-things were attacking me. My eyes widened. I remember seeing those things before...
"Oh God. Sam!" I shrieked, even though he was sitting right next to me. "Those things! Those - they were - weren't they - I was - SENTINELS?! You set us up against SENTINELS?"
"Hey, calm down, Kelsey!" He griped my shoulders. "What goes on in here is like in real life, but ya can't die in here. It's to train ya for the real thing. An' look," He gestured at the wet puddles on the ground (which immediately made me think of dog pee...). "You would've destroyed a Sentinel if ya were really facing it, you know? For a beginner, you're pretty good."
Er, second time, actually, but I'll just forget to mention that to him. I still hate this place though.
And - aw, sheez - I'd have to come back at 3pm!
Sam cleared his throat in the awkward silence. "So...are ya gonna tell me, or should ah just leave?"
I sighed, picking at invisible lint on my jeans. "Fine. But I warn you, it might get boring."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MidnightRebel: I agree wholeheartedly on that whole security thing...I find it SO irritating. There's gonna be more rivalry, I assure thee...and what's a Mary-Sue?
eeyore: Thank you! XD
Feedback is muchly, greatly appreciated...
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! School's brutal. That's all I gotta say.
Chapter 6: What D'ya Mean, SENTINELS?
"So what's the big deal with this mornin'?" Sam yawned, running a hand through his hair as he came into the parlor, even as I glowered at him from my fetal position on the couch. "Ya and that gal? What was with the yellin'?"
"Nothing you'd understand," I defensively grated. A typical bratty teenager-like behaviour, but hey, I WAS a teenager, after all. A misunderstood one. So I'm whining - but it's not my fault. Really. I swear.
The Professor didn't have the same ideology as I did, though - heck, he just said that my behaviour to Cathryne - "The Bird" as I now call her - was unwarranted, and that I had no right spazing out on her. And that I would be grounded if I ever did anything like that again.
Stupid, in my opinion. The Professor didn't appreciate me voicing my sentiments though, and told me that (and I SWEAR this guy's mental) I had a Danger Room session at 3pm.
And he had the NERVE to tell me to stay alive for at least a minute.
Man, the truth hurts. But that was still incredibly MEAN!
"Try me," Sam said suddenly, and I looked up, surprised to find him sitting on the glass coffee table in front of me.
"You're still here?" He ignored my comment.
"Try me. You said ah wouldn't understand ya. Why don't you try explaining everything to me - or as much as ya want, that is. It might help you in some way."
My mouth fell open. "You're meaning an anger management session."
That elicited a smile from him. "If ya want ta put it that way, sure."
"No way -," I began, but when he arched an eyebrow, I sighed. "Oh, fine. But can we go somewhere where we'll be - " I stopped in midsentence, realizing how bad that sounded.
"Alone?" He supplied, and I flushed, nodding. His smile widened. "Ah know what ya mean, Kelsey, and ah know just the place where we won't be disturbed..."
---
"You are one SICK individual," I shouted, even as I dodged a projectile. Oh, he sure as heck wasn't kidding when he said that we'd be somewhere uninterrupted.
Of course, I hadn't realized that he'd be leading me right into the thick of a full scale battle between these VERY-big-and-tall-purple doll/robots and US.
Yep. The bloody Danger Room.
"I thought you said explicitly,'won't be DISTURBED'?" I yelled, diving to the side even as a blast obliterated the spot where I once stood.
"Well, we won't," He replied, taking to the sky - uh, roof. A fiery-gold aura blossomed into existence around him the moment he shot into the sky - ROOF, and I felt my jaw drop and hit the ground.
"You - you can FLY?"
He swooped down towards me, shoving me out of the path of a boot. Involuntarily (and I shudder every time I think back upon this time in my life), I screamed as it came down hard on Sam, and instinctively flung my hand out at the doll/robot - which, for some odd reason, was starting to look familiar, as if I had seen something like that before in my life - and I don't mean Barney.
Like it had done a few days ago, ice poured out of the palm of my hand, and struck the purple thing full force, freezing it in position. My head almost immediately began to ache, and I blinked in confusion, momentarily disorientated.
Then it went away. And at that precise moment I realized too that if Sam had survived the foot-coming-down-on-head incident, I had just frozen the robot/doll that now stood immobile upon him. In short, he was trapped.
Aww, man, what do you mean I trapped him? My only ticket outta this cursed place was under this sculpture I had created!
The remaining purples simultaenously raised their hands, as if hailing me, and I nearly returned it before realizing what I was doing, barely checking my self in time. And I had this nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach, as their palms began to glow.
I had approximately three seconds to do something before I got roasted. Alive.
One.
My mind drew up a blank, and I just stood there like a sitting - I mean, standing - duck, watching with my mouth slack. Terror bubbled up inside of me, and, overwhelmed by my emotions, knowing that death was only a moment away...I sat down. And now became a sitting duck.
Two.
Stared as their palms grew even brighter, almost like a supernova being born. And then, from out of nowhere, it hit me. No, the robot/doll thingie didn't hit me - it was GOING to, but it wasn't what struck me. What did hit me was enough to make me fall SITTING down.
THREE.
As one, bolts of power shot out of their palms and straight at me, the centerpiece. A whimper escaped my lips even as I screwed my eyes shut and huddled into a ball. Then, a voice from above thundered, "END THIS NOW!"
Okay, not quite. More like a voice from below hollered barely audibly, "End program."
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes when nothing hit me, uncurling from my position jerkily. And stared around.
The purple things disappeared. The streaking bolts disappeared. The pieces of loose debris disappeared. The ice sculpture remained though, and even as I watched dully, it exploded into thousands of now-flying shards, bursting in all directions. One grazed me on the cheek, but I barely noticed as a glowing Sam rocketed out from the disaster.
At least he wasn't dead...
Swooping into the air, he lithely alighted vertically beside me, and the moment his feet touched the ground the aura-thing vanished.
"What was that?" I gestured limply at him, implying his powers.
"My ability," He stated, sitting beside me. "Ah can generate this forcefield which propels me into the air. Ah'm also invulnerable while ah'm 'blasting'." The simple way he had said that came nowhere close to arrogance, and that made my respect of him rise a notch.
"So then," I groped for the right words. "what's your, um, codename?"
"Cannonball."
"Oh." I was silent for a moment. "Were you - were you one of the people w-who rescued me that day?"
If the question surprised him, he didn't show it. "Yeah." Was all that he said.
Something was nagging me in the corner of my brain, but I couldn't remember what. It had something to do with being hurt by Toothy...then being on a plane or something...then - wait, what was that -
Then an entirely different memory whammed into me, the same one which had occured to me when those robot-things were attacking me. My eyes widened. I remember seeing those things before...
"Oh God. Sam!" I shrieked, even though he was sitting right next to me. "Those things! Those - they were - weren't they - I was - SENTINELS?! You set us up against SENTINELS?"
"Hey, calm down, Kelsey!" He griped my shoulders. "What goes on in here is like in real life, but ya can't die in here. It's to train ya for the real thing. An' look," He gestured at the wet puddles on the ground (which immediately made me think of dog pee...). "You would've destroyed a Sentinel if ya were really facing it, you know? For a beginner, you're pretty good."
Er, second time, actually, but I'll just forget to mention that to him. I still hate this place though.
And - aw, sheez - I'd have to come back at 3pm!
Sam cleared his throat in the awkward silence. "So...are ya gonna tell me, or should ah just leave?"
I sighed, picking at invisible lint on my jeans. "Fine. But I warn you, it might get boring."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MidnightRebel: I agree wholeheartedly on that whole security thing...I find it SO irritating. There's gonna be more rivalry, I assure thee...and what's a Mary-Sue?
eeyore: Thank you! XD
Feedback is muchly, greatly appreciated...