Chapter 20: The Danger Room

After breakfast, Logan dragged Jubilee down to the gym with him, where they went through a set of stretching exercises to warm up their (especially Jubilee's) muscles. Then Logan got her going on the bike for fifteen minutes, and then on to the weights…"Not ta make ya a bodybuilder or nothin'," he told her, "But ya gotta learn ta handle weight. If you get injured in a fight ya gotta be able ta get yourself and any other team member out of the way." Jubilee, gritting her teeth as she tried to press the weight bar, nodded and concentrated. Fifteen minutes on the weights, during which time Jubilee didn't complain at all (Logan was rather surprised; some of the things he asked her to do were the same things Scott asked her to do on a regular basis, and she always gave Scott lip about them) and then Logan took her to the Danger Room.

He started her off easy, with a few of the combat robots firing at her until she disabled them. Although they could be rebuilt, he challenged her to only touch them with a small spark, when her instinct, in the heat of the moment, was to let loose with everything she had. "This ain't about takin' em out, Jubes," he said to her. "It's about fine tunin' yer control in the middle of a battle situation." She went through it with only one mistake (one robot exploded when she tried sending paffs in three different directions at once, and hit the same robot with two small paffs) and when all the robots had been 'disabled' Logan stopped the simulation and allowed her to towel off. "Did good," he said gruffly, examining the robots. Most of them only had a light char mark on their casings, and only one would need to be rebuilt by Hank. "Now let's try somethin' else. I'm gonna shield the robots with the strongest shieldin' we got…and I want ya ta heave everythin' ya got at 'em." Jubilee gulped, eyes wide, but went back in without a murmur.

The first robot shot at her, and she paffed it. The thing shook slightly in its housing, and went on shooting. Logan activated two more for random shooting and sat back, watching her go while he watched the power output being absorbed. When Jubilee had disabled all three, he stopped the simulation. "Jubilee? You okay?"

She looked up at him, in the control room, puzzled. "Yeah, why?"

"Yer not puttin' everything ya got in yer shots," he said. "I've seen the readout after a regular Danger Room session; ya put out more then. I want you to throw everything you have. Come on, Jubes. Again."

The power outputs this time were marginally better; but it still wasn't the best he'd seen out of her. He hit the intercom again. "Damn it, Jubilee, quit wastin' my time! Hit 'em with everything ya got, NOW!"

Jubilee lost her temper. He saw her muscles tense; her face flushed, and she bit her lip. "FINE!" she hollered back at him. "Turn the damn thing back on!"

And this time, when he aimed the first robot at her, she did let go with everything she had. A tightly-focused arc of rainbow light lashed out at the first robot, fueled by Jubilee's anger that he would swear at her, and demolished the shielding. Then, almost gently, the sparks infused themselves into each separate crack and cranny in the camera and blew it apart from the inside out. Without missing a beat, she spun, sending that destructive arc of plasmoids against the second robot, and then the third. Her eyes were fairly snapping blue sparks when she turned to face him in the observation booth. "Is that enough?!" She snapped.

Logan nodded finally. "Yeah. Yeah, that was enough." He frowned. "Jubilee, just how much power can you put out?"

"I don't know," Jubilee said, staring down at her hands, anger gone. "I've never tried letting it all go. I mean, when I first got here, my problem was keeping it down; I worked so hard at toning them down to prevent damage to stuff around me when I got mad that I never stopped and tried to find out how much I could tone them up."

Logan frowned. "Why don't we try it."

Jubilee looked around. "Here?"

Logan shrugged. "It's as good a time as any. Wanna know what you can do."

Jubilee shrugged. "Suit yourself." She closed her eyes, and raised her hands. Her face grew still, oddly serene, as the rainbow of plasmoid sparks grew and grew to almost impossible proportions in her hands. When her eyelids flew open, her eyes were glowing—yes, glowing—with the power she was calling up from inside her. And then she released it, in a burst of light and sound.

Logan actually flinched away from the window in a purely instinctive reaction, trying to shield his eyes from the explosive force rattling the observation window. Even as the brilliance faded, he was taking the steps from the observation room to the Danger Room floor two at a time.

Jubilee was sitting in the middle of the room, looking very much as though her legs had simply collapsed under her. And she was blinking. "Jubilee? Are you okay?"

She turned toward him, still looking somewhat dazed. "Wow. I didn't know I could do that," she said, staring at her hands. "I never knew I was capable of that much power."

"Now we have ta figure out how to focus that power." Logan held a hand out to her, and she took it carefully, pulling herself up onto her feet…and then staggered.

Logan caught her, steadying her carefully. "Ya okay?" he said, looking at her face. She still seemed dazed.

"Yeah. I'm okay." she said, her voice small. "Logan?"

"Yeah, Jubes?"

"Think we can…do more tomorrow? I feel…kinda tired right now. Empty."

Logan peered at her…and then took a sniff. Aside from the smell of exploded air (it wasn't a smell he could ever explain to anyone; the closest he'd ever come to a similar scent was the smell of the air after Ororo had called down a burst of lightning) he could also smell her exhaustion. She had enough for today. "Yeah," he said. "Take the afternoon off. Seven o' clock tomorrow, okay?" She nodded wearily and started to trudge out of the room.

The doors burst open, and Scott and Emma stood there, with Hank, Bobby, Warren, Paige, and Remy behind them. "What's going on? Are you all right?" Then Scott saw the combat robots. "Damn it, Jubilee, when will you learn to be careful!?"

Jubilee backpedaled a bit, and Logan put an arm behind her shoulders, steadying her. "She did it 'cause I told her ta, Cyke," he said, trying to keep his temper on a leash. He didn't want to get in an argument with Scott right now. "We were testin' the limits o' her power." He added, a bit more testily, "Don't swear at her, it wasn't her fault."

Hank peered at Jubilee over his glasses. "Jubilation, are you aware that the shock wave from the concussive blast you released during your training exercise reverberated throughout the mansion? I am certain that everyone who felt the house quake will shortly be down here requesting an explanation."

Is everyone all right? What was that? What happened? came Charles' telepathic voice, just as Jono, Ororo, and Annie arrived in the doorway too.

What happened, gel? came Jono's telepathic voice.

Jubilee seemed to have recovered a bit. Rolling her eyes, she said aloud, "Wolvie and I were seeing just how much power I could call up. I was in control, if it looked like it was going to seriously damage anything I would have pulled it all back in, but Wolvie wanted to see what I could do," And she stepped back behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder, and said to him sweetly, "I figured something like this would happen. They'd all come running down here like I really tried to destroy the mansion or something, and we'd get in trouble. Ball's in your court."

Logan shot her a dirty look, which she replied to with a tired but wicked smile, and turned to everyone standing in the doorway. "We was practicin' around a little with her power." And to the absent but still listening Charles, he said, "Ya did say I could."

Emma's eyes went unfocused for a second, and they all heard her words. Charles, you would allow Jubilee to simply release her power like that? Don't you know she could have damaged the mansion?

I'm acquainted with the nature and intensity of her power, Emma, Xavier said, and his tone was so dry Logan had to suppress a smile. Jubilee knows as well. We've all experienced little examples of her particular ability going out of control. Which is why I told Logan he could go ahead and test and train her abilities.

But she already was trained at the Academy! Her control over her powers is much better, and she doesn't cause all that random destruction anymore! I trained her! Emma sounded indignant.

Xavier was quiet for a short time. We will discuss that at a future time, and not in public, and his mental voice got a few degrees cooler. For now, though…Logan, Jubilee is extremely tired, and perhaps a shower and some rest will not go amiss. I am sure you all have other things to do as well. It wasn't phrased as a dismissal, but it had all the finality of one. Logan watched as the knot of people melted away, like fog before the morning sun. Paige alone remained. As Jubilee slipped through the door on her way to the locker room and the showers, Paige intercepted her, and the two girls walked off together, whispering. Logan watched her go, smiling to himself, and then snapped to attention as Xavier said on a tight telepathic thread, Emma, Logan, Scott, I'd like to speak with the three of you in my study, if it's convenient.

They headed for his study.

Paige grabbed Jubilee's hand. I heard Logan dragging you out of bed this morning, but I didn't know what was going on," she said. "And why didn't you tell me?"

Jubilee stared at Paige in surprise. "Why? Should I have?"

Paige rolled her eyes. "Of course you should, Jubes!" They reached the shower room, and she turned around as Jubilee stripped off her sweat-soaked clothes and wrapped a towel around herself, then followed as Jubilee headed for the showers. "We're friends, right? We tell each other stuff. And if Logan's going to start teaching you how to use your powers more effectively than Frosty taught us, you should let me know!"

Jubilee's head stuck out of the tiny shower cubicle. "Really? You don't think Emma did a good job teaching us?"

Paige rolled her eyes again. "Neither Jono or I thought she did a good job. I mean, all that time you went missing, and she didn't notice! We thought you were safe back there with her, and in the melee that followed our return we thought she'd sent you back to the X-Men for safekeeping while she and Sean went looking for us! Imagine our surprise when you came back all worn out and scared looking and we found out where you were and what happened to you!" Paige's voice softened. "You had a lot of nightmares back then, Jubes. Worse than the ones you have now. You'd talk in your sleep sometimes. What Monet and I heard was enough to give us nightmares sometimes."

Jubilee's eyes dropped. "I'm sorry." Her head disappeared back into the shower.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. You were the youngest out of all of us, age-wise, although it didn't seem like it experience-wise." Paige cleared her throat. "After all, all that time hanging with Logan…you hadda have picked up something." And she yelped as Jubilee hurled a wet shower cap over the shower curtain at her.

"Just for that…" Jubilee said, a wicked, merry look in her eyes as she climbed into her clothes and emerged from the shower cubicle dressed, "I get first dibs on the roast beef in the lunchmeat drawer!"

She took off running, leaving Paige to run along behind her, wailing, "Jubilee, no fair, you had a head start, no FAIR!!"

Logan slumped into the chair across from Xavier's desk, staying quiet as Scott sat down in the other chair. Emma seated herself, very primly, on the arm of Scott's chair. Logan again wished, for the umpteenth time, that Jean were still there. He missed seeing her long legs draped over the edge of Xavier's desk, missed seeing her hips edged comfortably up on the cleared space at the end, space that Xavier still left mostly cleared, probably out of force of habit.

Xavier picked up on what Logan was thinking. He gave the cleared end of the desk a sad look, caught Logan's eye, and pulled a piece of paper over that corner so the bare wood was covered. He gave Logan a smile, then composed his features as he turned to Scott and Emma.

"Logan informed me, when he arrived home yesterday, that he was disappointed with the progress Jubilee has made toward gaining complete control of her powers. He felt, and I agreed, that certain…unfortunate events…of the past few years could have been avoided if Jubilee had a more conscious control and a better understanding of how her powers work."

Emma shifted on the arm of Scott's chair, and Scott reached out to steady her almost unconsciously. He used to do the same thing with Jean, Logan noted to himself, even though Jean was a telekinetic and could have righted herself on her own. "I trained her adequately," Emma said irritably, though to Logan's ears she sounded slightly defensive. "With all the other things that were happening—Sean and I did the best we could—"

"I am sure you did," Xavier said, although his voice lacked conviction. "But as you said, with all the things that were happening around you, there wasn't much time to do more than teach the basics, and that only in theory, on paper. Jubilee has learned, on an intellectual level, what she can and can't do…but there's a great deal of difference between learning theory and putting theory into practice. She has little practical experience, which was why I asked you, Scott, not to put Jubilee, Husk and Chamber in a team. I realize that alienated them a little, but they simply weren't ready.

"There weren't really adequate facilities for you to really concentrate on teaching her those practical applications, and Logan was kind enough to volunteer to help you in that regard. And I approved it. Logan has seen her in action, and has a better understanding of what Jubilee is capable of, precisely because they have been friends for many years."

"More than friends," Emma muttered.

Xavier raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem surprised at her comment. "Indeed. While many of us looked at their…relationship…as a father-daughter one, I think it's mostly been that of a mentor and protégé. If they choose to make that relationship…closer…now than they have in the past, it's none of our business. They are both adults, and as such are capable of their own decisions. Jubilee has had enough turmoil in her life, and Logan has been the one constant. I think it would be good for her to finally have an anchor to hang on to." Logan blinked in surprise, staring at Charles.

"That having been said," Xavier turned to Logan, "I trust that, in your training, you will remember that she is still young, and that she doesn't have a healing factor like you do, and she does have limits. And I really do not appreciate having my afternoon upset by what sounds like a volcano going off under my house." His twinkling eyes, however, said that he wasn't really upset. It was only as Logan looked down at the desk that he realized that Xavier had a cup of tea on his desk when Jubilee's mega-plasmoid had gone off in the Danger Room. The glass had shattered, and there was spilled tea all over whatever he'd been looking at. He looked up sheepishly. "In the future, I'd appreciate it if you would warn us before doing anything like that again, Logan."

"Yeah. I'll do that." It seemed inadequate, but Logan looked at the damp papers and said, "Sorry."

Emma and Scott left the room right after him, but neither one said a word to him, just headed off down the hall toward their own room,talking. Logan hesitated for a moment, but decided against confronting Emma now. Instead he headed for the kitchen. "If Jubes is eating junk food, I'll whack her ass," he grumbled to himself.