It's A Lab Thing

Carl and Vi were trying to get a moment's peace in the living room. "It is beautiful here," Vi sighed as she looked out the window. "When things are normal."

Just then Xi and X23 crashed into the room. Vi and Carl screamed as they ran out of the combatants' way, for both were too intent on slashing each other and fighting for anything else. "AND WHEN ARE THINGS EVER NORMAL AROUND HERE?" Carl screamed.

Several students ran up and saw the carnage the two genetically altered mutants were dealing. Xi already had several cuts on his body. X23's cuts had healed but Xi had delivered vicious blows to her midsection, which took their toll on her. Their clothes were cut and torn all over their bodies and neither appeared to be slowing down.

"They're trashing the living room!" Bobby cried out as Xi dodged a slice from X23. She cut through the TV instead. "NOOOOOOO! NOT THE TV!"

"Nice to see where your priorities are!" Rogue snapped.

Logan and Hank ran up. "What's going on here?"

"Oh Xi and X23 are trying to kill each other," Rogue said sarcastically. "No biggie."

"Oh god…" Logan groaned as he followed them in order to break up the fight. "Break it up you two!"

Both ignored him and tried to kill each other through Logan. "Beast! I'm gonna need help here!" Logan shouted as he tried to restrain his clone with little success.

It took Logan, Hank, John and Scott to pry the two combatants apart. "What is going on here?" Ororo ran up with Dr. Reisman who had just arrived.

"Two of your resident maniacs went out of control!" Vi shouted at her.

"She started it!" Xi snarled indicating X23 with his head.

"I don't care who started it! The two of you should know better than to brawl like this!" Ororo admonished.

"She attacked my team mate!" Xi went on. "If anyone is to blame it is her!"

"Maybe we should talk this over after I look you over in the med bay and…" Hank began. He was interrupted by vicious snarls from both Xi and X23. "On the other hand maybe I can just do a little patch up job here. Your cuts really aren't that deep Xi."

"And you seem to be all right as well," Dr. Reisman cautiously looked over X23. "How did this happen?"

"He offends me…" X23 glared at Todd.

"Oh I should have known…" Logan glared at Todd.

"I didn't do nothin'!" Todd protested. "Why do you think I did something huh?"

"Because you're you that's why!" Rogue snapped.

"All I did was say hi!" Todd shouted. "I'm hopping along minding my own business when she shows up. I say hello. That's it. The next thing I know she's trying to kill me! Then Xi came along to try and protect me! I didn't do anything!"

"Technically…" Hank sighed. "I think your scent is a bit unnerving to feral types."

"I know he annoys me to no end," Logan glared at Todd. "But then again I'm not trying to kill him. Yet."

"Amphibians and Reptiles are traditionally repulsive to feral types," Dr. Reisman shrugged. "Plus X23 was trained to attack several other lab created creatures."

"You saying there were other mutants involved in Hyrdra's program?" Logan asked her.

"Mutated animals," Dr. Reisman sighed. "None humanoid. Several of them were amphibian or reptilian types."

"Oh this is just perfect!" Logan groaned. "Why the hell didn't you tell us this sooner Doc?"

"I didn't think it was relevant at the time!" Dr. Reisman snapped. "How was I supposed to know something like this was going to happen?"

"You're supposed to be the freaking expert!" Logan shouted.

"Even I don't know everything!" Dr. Reisman shouted back.

"Well that's pretty obvious!" Logan roared.

"ENOUGH!" Ororo shouted. "This bickering is pointless."

"I agree," Dr. Reisman said. "X23…"

"My name…" She snarled. "Is Rina…Call me that now."

"Okay…Rina…" Todd gulped. "Nice name."

"Is that why you attacked him Rina?" Hank decided to try to diffuse this. "His scent?"

"It is…repulsive…" Rina bristled as she shook off Logan's hold on her.

"It's not that bad," Todd folded his arms.

"You should have smelled him back in the days before he took showers," Rogue grunted.

"I don't like it either but that's still no reason to slice him into bits," Logan told Rina. "You have to learn to control your temper!"

"Said the pot to the kettle," Todd muttered under his breath.

Logan glared at him, indicating he heard what he said. "On the other hand…"

Xi shoved off Hank's arms. "You will not hurt him!"

"Why do you care what happens to him?" Rina made a step towards Xi.

"Toad is of my unit," Xi looked her in the eye. "I protect my unit."

Rina looked at Xi and sniffed him. "You are part feral?" She blinked.

"A small part," Xi told her.

They glared at each other then cautiously circled around in steps, each sizing the other up, never taking their eyes off each other. Rina took several sniffs of his scent. Xi reached out to touch her but she backed off snarling. Xi did not snarl back but stood his ground. Eventually Rina allowed Xi to touch her arm briefly. In turn Xi allowed her to touch him for a longer period.

"What the hell are they doing?" John asked.

"They're trying to figure each other out," Dr. Reisman told him.

"It's like something out of wild kingdom," Carl blinked.

"I know about you," Rina finally spoke. "You were created by Cobra."

"You were created by Hydra," Xi said matter of factly. Both gave each other a look.

"I…apologize," Rina finally said. "I will not attack him again."

"I will try to keep him downwind from you," Xi remarked with a wry smile.

"What am I a dog yo?" Todd grunted.

"You certainly act like something that belongs in a kennel," Rogue grunted.

"You off all people should know," Todd glared at her. Rogue glared back.

"Now what the hell are they doing?" John asked as Xi casually put his arms around Rina who responded by playfully yelping.

"Playing," Rina said as she shoved Xi and jumped on his back, giggling. Xi responded by casually getting down on the ground and rolling her off. Soon both were giggling.

"Unbelievable…" Kurt's jaw dropped.

"Well Xi usually doesn't hold a grudge," Todd shrugged.

"One minute you're trying to kill each other the next minute it's over just like that?" Scott asked the two mutants, incredulous to the turn of events. "Now you're friends?"

"It's a lab thing," Xi shrugged.

"Nuthouse…" Carl moaned. "We're living in a damned nuthouse!"

"You're just noticing this now?" Todd asked him.

"Six more days of this?" Scott moaned.

"What are you complaining about?" Kurt glared at him. "You don't have to sleep with them!"

"What?" Vi shouted.

"Maybe I should rephrase that," Kurt winced.

"Maybe it's time we found a hotel to stay at," Vi said sharply.

"Go right ahead," John said under his breath. "Had it with you looking down on us."

"What did you say?" Vi glared at him.

"You heard me lady," John shot back, louder now.

"Why you uncouth…" Vi fumed.

"What? Uncouth what?" John challenged. "Freak?"

"I did not say that," Vi snapped.

"No but you were thinking it lady!" John retorted.

"Well what the hell do you expect?" Carl shouted in defense of his wife. "You people are all out of control, running around trying to kill each other!"

"I know how this looks…" Ororo sighed.

"Yeah it looks like you people haven't a clue about what you're doing!" Vi shouted.

"Can we discuss this privately?" Ororo was getting a headache.

"Oh we are gonna discuss a lot of things," Vi left the room with her husband and sister. "Like any reason why I shouldn't sue this so called school!"

"As if we didn't have enough family squabbles around here…" Kurt shook his head.

"I suppose you guys are going to blame this on me as well," Todd folded his arms.

"Well I ain't taking the fall for her attitude!" John bellowed.

"Her attitude? What about your attitude?" Scott shouted. "You have been a pain in our backsides ever since you got here! And lately you haven't been contributing much to the team except to cause fights and shout out insults."

"Are you saying I'm not pulling my weight One-Eye?" John pointed at him.

"I'm saying you're not taking your responsibilities as an X-Man seriously and I'm sick of it!" Scott shouted at him.

"Listen kid," John got in his face. "Just because I haven't been here since day one is no reason to throw your weight around."

"I knew this was a mistake," Logan sighed. He glared at Todd. "You haven't even been here an hour and already things are a mess!"

"Yeah why not blame Toad?" Todd said sarcastically. "Your lives are all screwed up so why not blame me?"

"Naturals…" Xi shook his head as the others argued. "I will never fully understand them."

"Me neither," Rina agreed.

Next: A 'friendly' debate turns dangerous as a new threat arises.