Second Time Round
I don't know why I keep sayin' that I, ProFool, am writing this . . . maybe it's for the people who suffer from short term memory loss or long term depending on how long it takes me to update.
Disclaimer: Lots of people say seven is a lucky number, so maybe I don't need a disclaimer. Now, watch as seven lawyers swoop in on me.
Note: I owe my knowledge of how the Brotherhood trains to Burger King, weird huh? They used to have X-Men: Evolution toys that came with comics. They were funny Pietro got beat down in two of 'em, poor boy, but his fight with Toad really showed off how much potential Todd really has.
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Lance slowly walked down the darkened corridor, the clanking sound his uniform's boots made whenever they came into contact with the metal floor irritated him. The prize he sought was at the far end of the passage and he was already halfway there. In the briefing Magneto had told him it would be well guarded, but there was nothing; no sound, no movement, he couldn't even pick up on any tell tale vibrations with his powers. Only his stupid boots clanking across the stupid metal floor, and it was just plane annoying.
Even with the lights as dim as they were, he could see the chest that Magneto had sent him in to retrieve just up ahead. Lance couldn't stand it any longer he set off in an all out run to the end of the corridor, he almost hoped some obnoxiously loud alarm would go off as he ripped the chest from its pedestal and began his mad dash back to the passage's exit.
Lance was at the point where he could have chucked the chest through the archway marking the corridor's exit. His boots ceased beating loudly against the metal tiling. Lance almost toppled over as his boots stuck firmly to the ground. He tried to yank his boots loose with one arm while his other arm held the chest. Vibrations resonated through the ground in front of him as someone dropped down from the ceiling.
"Can't feel vibrations when your opponent's hangin' from the ceilin', huh Avalanche?" Toad chuckled before he snatched the chest from Lance's loose grip with his tongue.
"Toad! I should have figured, this place has 'mugged in a dark alleyway' written all over it."
Lance shouted angrily as he prepared to drop the ceiling on Todd, as to save him the return trip up to it.
"Out!" Rogue called as she grabbed Lance's face from behind.
Lance tried to turn around and look at her as he pulled her gloved hand away from his mouth. "How'd you get behind me I didn't feel any vibes . . . Wait why aren't you sticking to the ground!?" Lance asked very confused as he realized high collars made it very difficult to see behind yourself without turning.
"The same way I'm gonna get you unstuck!" Kitty giggled as she phased him out of the slime Todd covered the floor with.
"You planned this just to annoy me." Lance muttered as he blew a few stray hairs out of his face.
"Pretty much." Todd admitted as the lights came back on and Magneto entered the room.
"So, like, how did we do?" Kitty asked Magneto as she walked up to him in hope of catching a glimpse at the notes he'd taken during their training session.
"Your doing exceptionally well Shadowcat, I thought you'd only be able to phase one other person besides yourself, if any, by this time." Magneto told Kitty, while he covered his notes. Kitty smiled up at him sheepishly realizing he was on to her. Then he turned his attention to Todd and Lance. "Toad I want you and Avalanche to switch places next time and try not to destroy my base, Avalanche."
"It's not like you can't just put it back together again. Everything in here is metal." Lance pointed out.
"Yes, I could and I have numerous times since you've joined the team. It's getting a bit old." Magneto informed him.
"Wha' about me?" Rogue asked hopefully. "When do ah get to use mah powers in training sessions?"
"I would have let you this time, but I was worried about the amount of destruction you could have caused with Avalanche's powers." Magneto explained as Rogue frowned slightly. "I intend to let you use them in your next training session against Toad."
Rogue's demeanor noticeably brightened. "Really, ya mean it?" She asked, Magneto nodded. "Gee, thanks Magneto!"
"Ya thanks, yo?" Todd added sarcastically, "So, glad I get to train with Rogue minus the gloves." He muttered.
Todd could hear Lance snickering behind him. "Serves you right." He laughed.
"All right, that's going to have to be the last training session today." Magneto announced, "It's a good thing you won that jeep Avalanche or you'd be late to school with all the time it takes you to change out of your uniforms."
"Cause you know I'd just hate to miss that test first period." Lance quipped sarcastically as he followed the others out of the training room.
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"Hey, watch out!" Lance yelped as Duncan Mathews dashed around a corner almost knocking him over. "Stupid Meathead." Lance muttered as he watched the jock run into a couple freshmen further down the hall.
"Wonder wha's got him so spooked." Rogue stated thoughtfully.
"Who cares, yo? They rock!" Todd said happily.
"Like, maybe Mystique got us a new teammate." Kitty said with a shrug.
Lance and Todd just stared dumbstruck at her for a second. "I'm gonna go find out." Lance proclaimed before charging down the hall to Ms. Darkholme's office.
"Lance! Wait your gonna be late for first period!" Kitty called after him.
"Don't worry, Boss Lady'll clear us." Todd told her before hopping away. "Wait up, yo? I wanna ditch first too!"
"Ah swear those two wouldn' pass a single class at this school if they didn' live with the Principal." Rogue commented as she and Kitty headed of to their own classes.
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Lance stopped outside of Ms. Darkholme's office after taking notice of the nearly demolished lockers. "Fred was here alright . . . do you remember what his first period was?" He asked Todd as he approached.
"I can't believe we forgot about Freddy arriving today, yo? He's already met Jean, how we gonna stop him from gettin' in a fight with the X-Geeks?" Todd asked as he absent mindedly kicked at one of the locker doors that had been knocked open by Freddy.
"I dunno" Lance muttered angrily, "I-" Lance was cutoff by a loud resonating crash as the badly damaged set of lockers decided to fall over. It would have crushed Todd if he wasn't granted heightened reflexes and the ability to leap several feet backwards.
Ms. Darkholme burst out of her office to investigate, she immediately happened upon Lance, Todd and the pile of scrap metal that used to be a set of lockers. "You two in my office now!" Ms. Darkholme ordered of the two young mutants. She looked on with satisfaction as they strolled into her office without an argument, she smiled smugly knowing how much this simple feet impressed the office staff that knew of the boys' troublesome reputation.
Lance and Todd sat down quietly in Ms. Darkholme's office. Then Ms. Darkholme stepped in and shut the door behind her. "How many times do I have to tell you two, 'No powers outside of training!', before it finally sinks into your thick skulls?" Mystique shouted aggressively as dropped her Ms. Darkholme guise.
"It wasn't us." Todd whined with an almost instinctive flinch.
Mystique rounded on him almost as though she sensed his fear. To her Toad was only a number, and a pathetic one at that, as easily manipulated as her own molecules. "Care to explain further how the set of lockers in front of my office was demolished and you two just happened to be standing there far from your first period class?" She demanded loudly of him. Todd shot Lance a pleading glance. "Well!"
Todd didn't know what to do. How could he tell her they had been looking for a new recruit that they weren't supposed to know about without raising many more unwanted questions. To make the matter worse he couldn't think strait with her baring down on him the way she was and he knew she was never going to let Lance talk! Unfortunately his confused silence seemed to clench Mystique's suspicions.
"If you two of you want to be destructive and ditch classes then I'll take you out of class and give you something productive to do." Mystique growled in an almost seductive voice.
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"Join Drama Club Yo!" Todd read aloud as finished dotting the exclamation with his paintbrush.
"Judgment Day Draws Near!" Lance read with a smirk holding up his completed sign.
"Mystique ain't gonna like that, yo?" Todd pointed out as he started cleaning off his paintbrush.
"Fine, 'Have A Nice Day!' So, what's left on our lil to-do list?" Lance asked as he taped his new sing to the bottom of his old sign, so it read: 'Judgement Day Draws Near! Have A Nice Day!'
"We get to finish painting the gym and moving out the excess bricks." Todd read off the list Ms. Darkholme had provided for them. "And it says 'NO POWERS!' in big bold red letters at the bottom." Todd muttered as he stuffed the paper back into his pocket.
"Is what she's makin' us do even legal?" Lance asked skeptically as they walked out to the scaffolding that was currently surrounding the gym.
"Anything's legal with a parent or legal guardian's signature nowadays, yo?" Todd said as he looked around to see if anyone was watching, "And you know who are legal guardian is."
"I should try harder to get on Mystique's good side." Lance thought out loud as he watched Todd jump up onto the scaffolding. The whole structure shook on impact. "Be careful Toad, if you think she was mad about a few messed up lockers just wait 'til ya knock this thing over with all your jumpin' around up there!" Lance called up to him before he started to climb up the side.
It wasn't long before the lunch bell rang and Ms. Darkholme came out to check on the progress they'd made. "Having fun boys?" She asked with a slightly amused look on her face.
"Oh, ya loads!" Lance called down sarcastically. "Can we eat now?" He asked.
Ms. Darkholme frowned up at them. "Not until you've completed the task at hand." She stated cooly.
"But that'll take all day, yo?" Todd complained in an exasperated tone.
"It will teach you to be more efficient and less destructive if nothing else." Ms. Darkholme informed them as she walked back into the school.
Lance glared angrily after her retreating form, until a strong southern accent demanded his attention. "Looks like someone shouda gone tah class."
"Take your shirt off!" Kitty called up to Lance mockingly.
"Maybe later." Lance told Kitty with a wolfish grin.
"He'd take it off now, but he's tryin' to get on the Boss Lady's good side. I, however, am not." Todd called down with an evil grin as he pulled his shirts off.
"Gah!" Kitty cried, "That is, like, so totally icksome!"
"We'll see ya boys after school, ya'll can pick us up at the park." Rogue informed them as she and Kitty headed off to the cafeteria.
Lance waved after them as they left. "You get back to work and for heaven's sake put your clothes back on Toad!" A quick glance down revealed Ms. Darkholme to be the one yelling at them.
Lance tried not to give in to the urge he had to accidentally drop a bucket of paint on Ms. Darkholme's, while Todd pulled his shirts back on. "That's better." She commented smugly as Lance and Todd started painting again.
Lance watched her leave out of the corner of his eye. "If I chucked it, I could still douse her with paint." He said lifting up his paint can.
"Ain't fair, yo? You'd get to douse her with paint, but we'd both have to pay for it." Todd told Lance snatching the paint can away.
"Why are you so afraid of her?" Lance asked in an exasperated tone as he went back to painting the gym.
"Cause she's scary." Todd said simply.
"You're tellin' me that you can stand your ground when faced with a fleet of sentinels, but you can't even look her in the eye most of the time. She's not that scary." Lance snorted.
"Easy for you to say she don't beat on you, she's afraid of you." Todd complained without looking over at Lance.
"What makes you think she's afraid of me?" Lance asked with a look of confusion.
Todd laughed slightly. "She's always been afraid of you ever since Magneto sent her your background info." He said careful to focus on his current task.
"How'd you find that out?" Lance asked a bit shocked by the new information.
"She likes yellin' at me, you'd be surprised some of the junk she's told me in her rants over the years, guess she just figures I won't tell anyone." Todd stated with an almost bored expression.
"She was right, I mean you never told me before." Lance pointed out.
"Y'never asked, yo?" Todd explained with a shrug. "So, how we gonna stop Rogue from blastin' Freddy into the dump again?" Todd asked without warning.
Lance just stopped and stared blankly at the wall for a second unable to comprehend the change in subject. Then he realized how difficult it was going to be to stop history from repeating itself with Ms. Darkholme on guard to make sure they couldn't wander off and perform any sort of intervention. "We'll leave the second Darkholme heads to her car."
Time seemed to pass even slower than it usually did at school while Todd and Lance continued painting. When the last bell finally rang they still had to paint about ten feet worth of building.
Todd hopped onto the roof and watched Ms. Darkholme drive off in her car. "Y'know the least she could've done was say bye." Todd mumbled as he hopped back onto the scaffolding just in time to get splattered by paint as Lance splashed the last bit of wall with all the paint that was left in his bucket.
"She didn't want us to know she left. If we knew, we might get ideas about leaving ourselves." Lance explained with a smirk as he used his paint roller to cover over a couple remaining dry spots. "There all - Woah!" Lance shouted as the scaffolding shuttered violently. "Toad! Knock it off with the jumping around you idiot!" Lance shouted as he clung to the side of the structure. The shaking subsided for a moment Lance was about to continue yelling at a very shocked and confused looking Toad when something large struck the lower section of the scaffolding causing it to collapse.
Lance looked down at the quickly approaching ground and spotted Freddy. The fact Freddy was probably using his body as a human shield to protect Jean at the moment didn't register in Lance's mind all he was thinking about was how much pain he was about to be in. It wasn't a happy thought and the best thing he could think of doing at the moment was clinching his eyes shut.
Everything went dark first he felt something hit him in the side hard, then he heard the scaffolding crash down loudly. Lance realized something was wrong, he was still in the air instead of being smashed into the ground. He opened his eyes just in time to watch Todd unceremoniously drop him onto the ground a good thirty feet from the pile of scrap metal and wood that used to be the scaffolding. After a moment Freddy burst out of the debris cradling Jean's limp form.
Despite the circumstances Todd couldn't help smiling at the sight of a friend he had once been convinced he'd never see again. "Hey Freddy!" Todd called out as he leapt back over to him.
Freddy looked up when he heard his name. A couple of guys he'd never seen before in his life had just watched him almost kill Jean. Fear swept over Freddy as he rose to his feet still holding Jean. One of the guys was already heading toward him, they were going to try to arrest him or something he just knew it. It wasn't his fault, but they wouldn't understand, no one ever stopped to hear his side of the story, no one cared. Freddy panicked as the guy stopped right in front of him.
"Get back!" Freddy shouted as he knocked Todd out of his way and took off with Jean.
Lance walked up to Todd as the younger mutant hopped back onto his feet. "That wasn't one of your better ideas." Lance commented as he tried to spot where Fred had run off to. "Any idea where he took Jean? No one ever told me. They just made me help look for him afterwards." Lance explained.
"No," Todd grumbled, as he dusted himself off, "But, Rogue will."
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Rogue and Kitty strolled leisurely through the park. "Y'know ah was really kinda hopin' the guys would be able tah come along." Rogue confessed when she spotted Scott sitting at one of the picnic tables. He waved almost over zealously as they approached.
"Don't sweat it, I'll be here and besides they aren't allowed to use their powers in public." Kitty reminded Rogue as they reached Scott's table.
"Hey, Rogue. Kitty, if it's all the same to you, could we have some privacy. I don't really want an audience yet." Scott explained hoping Kitty would fulfil his request.
Kitty looked Scott over and decided he wasn't much of a threat at the moment. "Oh, alright, but I'll, like, be close okay, Rogue?"
"Ah'll be alrigh', ah guess." Rogue told Kitty and sent her off with a wave, good bye.
"So, I guess I have to start, huh." Scott said before clearing his throat, "Fair Katharine, will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will enter at a lady's ear and plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?" Scott read out loud stumbling only slightly over the lines.
"Your majesty shall mock at me; ah cannot speak your England." Rogue sighed as she quickly read through her lines.
"O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue." Scott paused for a moment, "Do you like me, Kate?" He asked never raising his eyes from the script.
"Pardonnez-moi, ah cannot tell vat is 'like me.' " Rogue said with her best French Accent, then looked up from her script to watch Scott give his delivery.
"An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel." Scott read in soft attractive tone.
Rogue couldn't help letting out a slight giggle, "The girls are right. You are a charmer."
Scott took slight offense at the comment. "Look, I'm just reading the lines, okay?" He told Rogue bluntly.
"Ya, ah know." Rogue sighed, "It's jus', sometimes . . . ah wish . . . "
"Yeah? Wish what?" Scott asked as a look of genuine interest crossed his face.
"Wish . . . " Rogue continued, she glanced off into the distance as she gathered her thoughts, "I could get close to somebody. But you know what happens when I do." She confessed to Scott.
Scott looked like he was about to say something when Kurt teleported in landing right on top of the picnic table. Causing Kitty to scream and fall out of the tree next to them. She ended up on top of Scott on the ground.
"Whoa! Tender moment here? Sorry to interrupt." Kurt laughed, "But seriously Scott, you need to start inviting me to zese rehearsals!"
"Like, why do these things always happen to me?" Kitty pouted as she quickly got off of Scott.
"Ah swear, he's like an annoyin' lil brother." Rogue complained, while she glared at Kitty for spying. Kurt stuck his tongue out in response, while Kitty just blushed a bit.
"What's the problem?" Scott asked as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Jean's been nabbed!" Kurt exclaimed as he remembered why he'd been sent to the park in the first place.
"What!?" Scott shouted grabbing Kurt by his uniform.
"Easy on the exquisite costume, mein freund! Wolverine's on the scent, but I'm supposed to collect you." Kurt explained as he freed himself from Scott's grip.
Scott hit the table angrily. "Blob! If he's hurt her, I'll–" He paused from his would be rant to glare at Kitty and Rogue who were now trying to avoid making eye contact with the enraged X-Man "You know anything about this?" He asked in a harsh accusing tone.
Rogue stared up at Scott resentfully. "No! And even if ah did, ah wouldn't tell you!" She yelled at him aggressively.
"Then I hope you can live with your conscience." Scott told her with disdain, "Teleporter to maximum, Mr. Wagner." Scott said turning back to Kurt.
"Aye, captain!" Kurt quipped in his best Scottish accent.
"Engage." Scott muttered before they both disappeared.
"Like, what was all that about?" Kitty asked in confusion, "Who's Blob anyway? Hey, maybe he's that guy that went ballistic in the cafeteria today. What do you think, Rogue?"
"Ah think we should go help 'em." Rogue said as she rose from her seat at the picnic table and started walking.
"What?" Kitty exclaimed as she caught up with Rogue. "Like, why help them?"
"Well, for one it's the righ' thang tah do. Plus what if somethin' happened tah one of us and they said no when we asked them for help? 'sides ah'm startin' tah think ya'll was righ' abou' us gettin' a new team member." Rogue stated as she continued walking.
"Let me just point out that they never asked us for help. They, like, accused us of being involved, but your right, I guess, we should help them and if he is on our team . . . then I, like, seriously hope he's just having a really bad day." Kitty told Rogue, then she thought for a second and asked, "Where are we going anyway?"
"Name a place no one goes." Rogue said as she hailed a taxi.
Kitty looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about that old abandoned ironworks factory at the South end of Bayville? You know, the place Lance said would make a good training area." Kitty asked then noticed the odd look the cabby was giving her.
"Funny another couple o' kids wanted a ride out that way earlier, there some party I dunno 'bout?" The cabby asked with a smirk as he started driving.
Kitty and Rogue just stared at him for a moment in disbelief, then Rogue simply said, "Ah'll pay ya double your regular if ya get us there in half the time."
"Yes, Ma'am!" The cabby chuckled as he happily accelerated to well over the marked speed limit.
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"This is gonna be the best night you've ever had. Dinner, dancing-" Fred said placing a napkin across Jean's lap, he felt maybe if he just pretended everything was normal it would be all right.
But then Jean had to go and cut him off, "Fred, this is all wrong. Now, you can't force someone to like you." She tried to reason with him before and it hadn't really worked, but there wasn't much else she could do with two iron bars strapping her to a chair. She had already contacted the Professor. Now, all she could do was wait and hope they'd get here soon. For now reason was all she could do.
"Why not? I'm stronger than everyone." Fred boasted and flexed his muscles in an attempt to prove he wasn't just a tub of lard.
"Being nice usually works better." Jean told him with a hopeful smile.
Fred smiled back, maybe she was finally stating to smile again. "Oh, yeah. I just remembered. I've got a surprise for you." Fred announced before he left the room to fetch his record player. He'd already lit several candles to set up the mood now all they really needed was some good theme music.
Freddy was shuffling back to the room he'd left Jean in when suddenly Wolverine burst in through the door. Wolverine didn't even pause to look at Freddy before attacking with his claws fully extended. Luckily for Freddy, he was one of the few 'substances' on earth that Wolverine's adamantium claws couldn't cut threw.
Freddy flung Wolverine off of him with all his might, but the older mutant still managed to land on his feet with cat like reflexes. Wolverine charged forward for another attack, but this time Freddy wouldn't be caught off guard as he lifted a large piece of machinery and chucked it at Wolverine. It stirred up a lot of dust when it hit the ground and at first Freddy wasn't sure if he'd hit Wolverine at all.
Freddy smiled smugly thinking he'd won after Wolverine had not charged him for a third time. Just as he was about to go back to his 'date' and continue pretending everything was perfectly normal, Wolverine struck again. He had managed to swing himself up into the rafters while the dust was still settling.
Wolverine leapt down at Freddy his claws extended, perhaps the kid's face would be so invulnerable. Freddy grabbed Wolverine by the arms before his claws could make contact and held them as far away from his face as he could. For a moment both mutants were at a stale mate. Freddy had learned better than to try and throw him away again and Wolverine was two short to inflict any sort of damage while Freddy was holding him.
They stayed in relatively the same position for a couple beats while Freddy wondered what to do next and Wolverine struggled to break free with no success. Then finally an idea popped into Freddy's head and he body slammed Wolverine.
"Can't . . . Breath . . . " Wolverine choked, just as Freddy had hoped.
Freddy smiled as he realized he was going to win for once. "Jean's my friend! You can't take her!" He threatened in a 'look who's laughing now' tone. Wolverine's claws retracted as he lost consciousness, he never heard Freddy's last taunt.
Scott, however, had heard and answered with a warning blast from his visor. "We're just giving her away out. Through you, if necessary." He told Freddy as he walked in through the opening Wolverine had made when he first arrived.
Scott raised his visor again, this time making sure his shot hit Freddy dead on. Freddy smiled as the optic blast had no effect on him. A new plan formulated in his head, he picked up the still unconscious Wolverine and hurtled him across the room. Wolverine's adamantium infused form struck Scott hard knocking him back into Wolverine's motorcycle. Scott struck his head and was out like some of the candles in the other room.
Having overcome both of his foes Freddy returned to where Jean had been watching horror struck the entire time. Ororo had left earlier on in the week to spend some time with her sister's family. Her Professor was on Cerebro so he could track Freddy incase he tried to make a run for it. Jean had contacted Kurt, but he was currently caught in traffic halfway across town and too far away to teleport in. Jean knew she had to fend off Freddy alone for now and try to reawaken Scott and Logan with her psychic powers as soon as possible.
Freddy walked into the room and was immediately smacked in the face with an old filing cabinet. Freddy managed to force the hunk of metal away from his face. "No one respects me and you're the worst! You pretended to be my friend!" Freddy hollered emotionally as he chucked the filing cabinet back at Jean.
Jean caught the filing cabinet in midair with her telekinesis and set it down next to her. Hope rose in Jean for a second as she watched Freddy walk out of the room again, but it quickly failed as she saw him heading back toward her with an even bigger piece of machinery than the one he'd thrown at Logan.
Freddy stalked forward holding the large machine over his head. He got ready to slam it through the door at Jean. Then suddenly Freddy got zapped by an optic blast right at the base of his neck. It didn't really hurt so much, but the shock of being hit from behind was enough to make him drop the machine before he could throw it at Jean.
"Leave her alone, ya yahoo!" Rogue yelled. There was an eerie red glow around her eyes. She had stolen Scott's powers.
"What a' ya gonna do to me? Make me wear bad makeup?" Freddy asked as shoved the machine out of his way.
While Freddy was distracted by his new opponent, Kitty phased into the room with Jean, and phased Jean out of her iron bonds. Kitty motioned silently for Jean to follow and phased them both out of the factory through a wall.
"Didn't Mystique tell ya what mah power is?" Rogue asked as she dodged a couple of Freddy's punches.
"No, cause I don't care!" Freddy explained angrily as he tried to hit Rogue.
Rogue ducked his last punch and grabbed his bare arm with her bare hand. "Mah power is your power, and ah can take more than one!" Rogue declared as she drained away some of Freddy's super strength. She used it to throw Freddy aside and then she blasted him with Scott's power.
Freddy got back up having sustained no real injuries. "Ha! I got to much power even for you! You can't hurt me! I'm the Blob!" He panted victoriously.
"Nah. You're just garbage that wanted a date! Now, tell ya what . . . " Rogue paused, she had been about to give him a chance to surrender, when she saw Freddy charging toward her, "Ah'm taking you out!" Rogue shouted at him as she combined Freddy and Scott's powers to make a concussive force strong enough to blast Freddy strait through the ceiling and a good distance into the air.
Kurt pulled up in the X-Van to where Jean was just now waking up Cyclops and Wolverine. "Ach! I alvays miss dey party." He sighed.
Rogue walked out of the ironworks factory, she noticed Scott's visor was on the ground, so she picked it up and handed it back to its rightful owner. "There you go. Ah only took a short-term dose of your power. You should be back to normal soon." She explained.
"You are like an Angel, Kate." Scott sighed as he smiled at her.
"Mah name's not Kate and ah'm no Angel." Rogue told him sternly as she walked over to where Kitty was standing off by herself. She'd seen into the minds of to love struck men today and never had she been more envious of the girl she had just helped rescue. "C'mon Kitty, we should go." Rogue sighed sadly.
"Yeah, like, we've wasted a whole day saving your x-butts." Kitty commented as she followed Rogue down the road, it was going to be a long walk back to the Boardinghouse and when they got there . . .
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Freddy landed with a loud thud in the city dump sending the seagulls flying, and cackling, into the sky. Freddy got shakily back onto his feet, he grabbed an old tire and hurled it up at the birds. "STOP LAUGHING AT ME!" He yelled as he slipped and landed face down in the garbage again. The last bit of Freddy's rage broke down into a fit of angry sobs as he stayed down.
"Need a hand?" a voice called down from one of the junk hills.
Freddy sat up with tears still streaming down his red face, he didn't care anymore. He wiped his face so he could see more clearly just who was addressing him. "You two again?" Freddy asked in confusion as he spotted the couple of guys that had been by the collapsed scaffolding back at Bayville High. "Wha' d'you want?" Freddy sniffled trying to regain his composer.
"We're here to help, yo?" Todd called down to Freddy. Lance and Todd had gone to the dump after being unsuccessful at finding Kitty, Rogue or Freddy anywhere else.
Freddy's brow furrowed in confusion as he stopped crying. "Why would you guys wanna help me?" He asked.
"Cause, as corny as it sounds, that's what the Brotherhood's all about. It's why Rogue saved you from Jean and the rest of the X-Men." Lance yelled down at Freddy. "We tried to warn you before."
"Brotherhood? Rogue . . . " Freddy muttered to himself, "You mean you guys are mutants too?"
"Yeah, yo, we're part of the Brotherhood with Mystique, but Jean ain't she's part of the X-Men. We tried to tell you that earlier today." Todd told him as he leapt down to where Freddy was.
Lance followed half sliding to the bottom on accident. He held out his gloved hand for Freddy to shake. "I'm Lance and he's Toad."
Freddy sat thinking for a second, he wasn't so sure he could trust these guys. It could be another trick. "Well why did that Rogue girl attack me, huh?" Freddy said with a scowl.
"Listen Freddy, she knew you wouldn't get hurt, she just wanted to get you as far away from the X-Geeks as fast as possible. Cause they woulda hurt you, maybe even killed you to get at, Miss Perfect, Jean." Lance explained he knew if he could play Jean of as the ultimate evil in this situation Freddy's little fight with Rogue would be forgotten.
Freddy stood and gave Lance's hand a good shake, "Name's Freddy."
Lance smiled. "C'mon, my jeeps this way and you might wanna thank Rogue when we get home." Lance stated as he started hiking back up the junk heap.
"Yeah . . . I guess." Freddy said, he was still a bit confused, but Lance seemed to know what was going on better than he did at the moment. He started up the hill after Lance and Todd, who had reached the top in one jump.
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Rogue and Kitty stood stalk still in the doorway of the Brotherhood Boarding House. Inside Lance was talking to Mystique which was perfectly normal since he was the team's field leader. Todd was trying to stay out of Mystique's sight, still normal, but the fact that Freddy's massive form was what blocked him from view was far from the norm. In fact it was quite terrifying when you thought he might want some payback for being shot into a dump earlier.
Then Freddy spotted them and walked over toward them. "Hey thanks for the help earlier, Rogue . . . and you must be Kitty, huh?" Freddy asked with a smile. Freddy noticed the confused looks on their faces. "Oh! It's alright. Lance and Toad explained everything to me already."
Rogue and Kitty looked over at the boys Todd smiled back, but Lance was still engrossed in explaining why everyone was late and why all the boys now smelled as bad as Toad. "Oh . . . that's good." Kitty said as she realized they weren't going to be crushed.
Lance looked over as he finished talking to Mystique. "Yeah, good work getting Freddy away from the X-Men, Rogue." Lance said in a congratulatory voice.
"Uh, thanks Lance, twas nothin' . . . " Rogue said what she thought was the answer he wanted.
"Rogue is it true you managed to combine Cyclops and Blob's powers?" Mystique asked as she looked Rogue over a couple of times.
"Yeah . . . it was the only way to get ol' Freddy away from the X-Men." Rogue told Mystique as she started to catch onto Lance's story.
"Amazing, your gaining control over your powers faster than even I thought." Mystique muttered as she headed upstairs to start typing up a status report to send to Magneto. She stopped at the top of the stairs wheeled around and looked at the clock. "You should all go to bed I'm calling a double training session in the morning."
"Now that ya mention it, I am a bit tiered." Freddy yawned.
"Ya need any help findin' your room?" Rogue asked as Freddy started plodding down the hall.
"Nah., Mystique, let me drop off my stuff here before I went to school. I know where it is." Freddy muttered as he disappeared down the hall.
"So, like, how did you guys convince him not to kill Rogue?" Kitty asked as soon as she heard Freddy's door shut.
"Easy, we blamed it all on the X-Geeks, yo?" Todd told Kitty with a sly smile.
Rogue frowned. "Y'know, Magneto says all us mutants are gonna have to pull together and fight on the same team one day." She reminded her present teammates, wiping the smile off Todd's face.
"I know, yo? It's just that it's more important to get our team united first . . . then we can worry about gettin' the X-G - Men to see things our way." Todd explained in a hurried fashion, Rogue nodded understandingly, but it was obvious she still didn't think it was right.
Lance sighed heavily. "Yeah, believe me . . . we know."
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I should right stuff here, really I should, but it's 11:00 pm. I can't even remember what happened at the beginning of this Chapter. I call it Stupid Chapter 7. . . a lot. It's 16 pages long, more than last time. Wow. I had to watch 'Mutant Crush' So many time I lost count . . . It was funny the last time. I laughed like Pyro . . . so maybe I'm just crazy, oh well. I'll write more tomorrow.
Next Chap: Pietro and Evan . . . I know you're all ecstatic. Maybe it will be typed faster cause Pietro's fast and then we'll all be happy and laugh like Pyro.
I don't know why I keep sayin' that I, ProFool, am writing this . . . maybe it's for the people who suffer from short term memory loss or long term depending on how long it takes me to update.
Disclaimer: Lots of people say seven is a lucky number, so maybe I don't need a disclaimer. Now, watch as seven lawyers swoop in on me.
Note: I owe my knowledge of how the Brotherhood trains to Burger King, weird huh? They used to have X-Men: Evolution toys that came with comics. They were funny Pietro got beat down in two of 'em, poor boy, but his fight with Toad really showed off how much potential Todd really has.
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Lance slowly walked down the darkened corridor, the clanking sound his uniform's boots made whenever they came into contact with the metal floor irritated him. The prize he sought was at the far end of the passage and he was already halfway there. In the briefing Magneto had told him it would be well guarded, but there was nothing; no sound, no movement, he couldn't even pick up on any tell tale vibrations with his powers. Only his stupid boots clanking across the stupid metal floor, and it was just plane annoying.
Even with the lights as dim as they were, he could see the chest that Magneto had sent him in to retrieve just up ahead. Lance couldn't stand it any longer he set off in an all out run to the end of the corridor, he almost hoped some obnoxiously loud alarm would go off as he ripped the chest from its pedestal and began his mad dash back to the passage's exit.
Lance was at the point where he could have chucked the chest through the archway marking the corridor's exit. His boots ceased beating loudly against the metal tiling. Lance almost toppled over as his boots stuck firmly to the ground. He tried to yank his boots loose with one arm while his other arm held the chest. Vibrations resonated through the ground in front of him as someone dropped down from the ceiling.
"Can't feel vibrations when your opponent's hangin' from the ceilin', huh Avalanche?" Toad chuckled before he snatched the chest from Lance's loose grip with his tongue.
"Toad! I should have figured, this place has 'mugged in a dark alleyway' written all over it."
Lance shouted angrily as he prepared to drop the ceiling on Todd, as to save him the return trip up to it.
"Out!" Rogue called as she grabbed Lance's face from behind.
Lance tried to turn around and look at her as he pulled her gloved hand away from his mouth. "How'd you get behind me I didn't feel any vibes . . . Wait why aren't you sticking to the ground!?" Lance asked very confused as he realized high collars made it very difficult to see behind yourself without turning.
"The same way I'm gonna get you unstuck!" Kitty giggled as she phased him out of the slime Todd covered the floor with.
"You planned this just to annoy me." Lance muttered as he blew a few stray hairs out of his face.
"Pretty much." Todd admitted as the lights came back on and Magneto entered the room.
"So, like, how did we do?" Kitty asked Magneto as she walked up to him in hope of catching a glimpse at the notes he'd taken during their training session.
"Your doing exceptionally well Shadowcat, I thought you'd only be able to phase one other person besides yourself, if any, by this time." Magneto told Kitty, while he covered his notes. Kitty smiled up at him sheepishly realizing he was on to her. Then he turned his attention to Todd and Lance. "Toad I want you and Avalanche to switch places next time and try not to destroy my base, Avalanche."
"It's not like you can't just put it back together again. Everything in here is metal." Lance pointed out.
"Yes, I could and I have numerous times since you've joined the team. It's getting a bit old." Magneto informed him.
"Wha' about me?" Rogue asked hopefully. "When do ah get to use mah powers in training sessions?"
"I would have let you this time, but I was worried about the amount of destruction you could have caused with Avalanche's powers." Magneto explained as Rogue frowned slightly. "I intend to let you use them in your next training session against Toad."
Rogue's demeanor noticeably brightened. "Really, ya mean it?" She asked, Magneto nodded. "Gee, thanks Magneto!"
"Ya thanks, yo?" Todd added sarcastically, "So, glad I get to train with Rogue minus the gloves." He muttered.
Todd could hear Lance snickering behind him. "Serves you right." He laughed.
"All right, that's going to have to be the last training session today." Magneto announced, "It's a good thing you won that jeep Avalanche or you'd be late to school with all the time it takes you to change out of your uniforms."
"Cause you know I'd just hate to miss that test first period." Lance quipped sarcastically as he followed the others out of the training room.
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"Hey, watch out!" Lance yelped as Duncan Mathews dashed around a corner almost knocking him over. "Stupid Meathead." Lance muttered as he watched the jock run into a couple freshmen further down the hall.
"Wonder wha's got him so spooked." Rogue stated thoughtfully.
"Who cares, yo? They rock!" Todd said happily.
"Like, maybe Mystique got us a new teammate." Kitty said with a shrug.
Lance and Todd just stared dumbstruck at her for a second. "I'm gonna go find out." Lance proclaimed before charging down the hall to Ms. Darkholme's office.
"Lance! Wait your gonna be late for first period!" Kitty called after him.
"Don't worry, Boss Lady'll clear us." Todd told her before hopping away. "Wait up, yo? I wanna ditch first too!"
"Ah swear those two wouldn' pass a single class at this school if they didn' live with the Principal." Rogue commented as she and Kitty headed of to their own classes.
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Lance stopped outside of Ms. Darkholme's office after taking notice of the nearly demolished lockers. "Fred was here alright . . . do you remember what his first period was?" He asked Todd as he approached.
"I can't believe we forgot about Freddy arriving today, yo? He's already met Jean, how we gonna stop him from gettin' in a fight with the X-Geeks?" Todd asked as he absent mindedly kicked at one of the locker doors that had been knocked open by Freddy.
"I dunno" Lance muttered angrily, "I-" Lance was cutoff by a loud resonating crash as the badly damaged set of lockers decided to fall over. It would have crushed Todd if he wasn't granted heightened reflexes and the ability to leap several feet backwards.
Ms. Darkholme burst out of her office to investigate, she immediately happened upon Lance, Todd and the pile of scrap metal that used to be a set of lockers. "You two in my office now!" Ms. Darkholme ordered of the two young mutants. She looked on with satisfaction as they strolled into her office without an argument, she smiled smugly knowing how much this simple feet impressed the office staff that knew of the boys' troublesome reputation.
Lance and Todd sat down quietly in Ms. Darkholme's office. Then Ms. Darkholme stepped in and shut the door behind her. "How many times do I have to tell you two, 'No powers outside of training!', before it finally sinks into your thick skulls?" Mystique shouted aggressively as dropped her Ms. Darkholme guise.
"It wasn't us." Todd whined with an almost instinctive flinch.
Mystique rounded on him almost as though she sensed his fear. To her Toad was only a number, and a pathetic one at that, as easily manipulated as her own molecules. "Care to explain further how the set of lockers in front of my office was demolished and you two just happened to be standing there far from your first period class?" She demanded loudly of him. Todd shot Lance a pleading glance. "Well!"
Todd didn't know what to do. How could he tell her they had been looking for a new recruit that they weren't supposed to know about without raising many more unwanted questions. To make the matter worse he couldn't think strait with her baring down on him the way she was and he knew she was never going to let Lance talk! Unfortunately his confused silence seemed to clench Mystique's suspicions.
"If you two of you want to be destructive and ditch classes then I'll take you out of class and give you something productive to do." Mystique growled in an almost seductive voice.
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"Join Drama Club Yo!" Todd read aloud as finished dotting the exclamation with his paintbrush.
"Judgment Day Draws Near!" Lance read with a smirk holding up his completed sign.
"Mystique ain't gonna like that, yo?" Todd pointed out as he started cleaning off his paintbrush.
"Fine, 'Have A Nice Day!' So, what's left on our lil to-do list?" Lance asked as he taped his new sing to the bottom of his old sign, so it read: 'Judgement Day Draws Near! Have A Nice Day!'
"We get to finish painting the gym and moving out the excess bricks." Todd read off the list Ms. Darkholme had provided for them. "And it says 'NO POWERS!' in big bold red letters at the bottom." Todd muttered as he stuffed the paper back into his pocket.
"Is what she's makin' us do even legal?" Lance asked skeptically as they walked out to the scaffolding that was currently surrounding the gym.
"Anything's legal with a parent or legal guardian's signature nowadays, yo?" Todd said as he looked around to see if anyone was watching, "And you know who are legal guardian is."
"I should try harder to get on Mystique's good side." Lance thought out loud as he watched Todd jump up onto the scaffolding. The whole structure shook on impact. "Be careful Toad, if you think she was mad about a few messed up lockers just wait 'til ya knock this thing over with all your jumpin' around up there!" Lance called up to him before he started to climb up the side.
It wasn't long before the lunch bell rang and Ms. Darkholme came out to check on the progress they'd made. "Having fun boys?" She asked with a slightly amused look on her face.
"Oh, ya loads!" Lance called down sarcastically. "Can we eat now?" He asked.
Ms. Darkholme frowned up at them. "Not until you've completed the task at hand." She stated cooly.
"But that'll take all day, yo?" Todd complained in an exasperated tone.
"It will teach you to be more efficient and less destructive if nothing else." Ms. Darkholme informed them as she walked back into the school.
Lance glared angrily after her retreating form, until a strong southern accent demanded his attention. "Looks like someone shouda gone tah class."
"Take your shirt off!" Kitty called up to Lance mockingly.
"Maybe later." Lance told Kitty with a wolfish grin.
"He'd take it off now, but he's tryin' to get on the Boss Lady's good side. I, however, am not." Todd called down with an evil grin as he pulled his shirts off.
"Gah!" Kitty cried, "That is, like, so totally icksome!"
"We'll see ya boys after school, ya'll can pick us up at the park." Rogue informed them as she and Kitty headed off to the cafeteria.
Lance waved after them as they left. "You get back to work and for heaven's sake put your clothes back on Toad!" A quick glance down revealed Ms. Darkholme to be the one yelling at them.
Lance tried not to give in to the urge he had to accidentally drop a bucket of paint on Ms. Darkholme's, while Todd pulled his shirts back on. "That's better." She commented smugly as Lance and Todd started painting again.
Lance watched her leave out of the corner of his eye. "If I chucked it, I could still douse her with paint." He said lifting up his paint can.
"Ain't fair, yo? You'd get to douse her with paint, but we'd both have to pay for it." Todd told Lance snatching the paint can away.
"Why are you so afraid of her?" Lance asked in an exasperated tone as he went back to painting the gym.
"Cause she's scary." Todd said simply.
"You're tellin' me that you can stand your ground when faced with a fleet of sentinels, but you can't even look her in the eye most of the time. She's not that scary." Lance snorted.
"Easy for you to say she don't beat on you, she's afraid of you." Todd complained without looking over at Lance.
"What makes you think she's afraid of me?" Lance asked with a look of confusion.
Todd laughed slightly. "She's always been afraid of you ever since Magneto sent her your background info." He said careful to focus on his current task.
"How'd you find that out?" Lance asked a bit shocked by the new information.
"She likes yellin' at me, you'd be surprised some of the junk she's told me in her rants over the years, guess she just figures I won't tell anyone." Todd stated with an almost bored expression.
"She was right, I mean you never told me before." Lance pointed out.
"Y'never asked, yo?" Todd explained with a shrug. "So, how we gonna stop Rogue from blastin' Freddy into the dump again?" Todd asked without warning.
Lance just stopped and stared blankly at the wall for a second unable to comprehend the change in subject. Then he realized how difficult it was going to be to stop history from repeating itself with Ms. Darkholme on guard to make sure they couldn't wander off and perform any sort of intervention. "We'll leave the second Darkholme heads to her car."
Time seemed to pass even slower than it usually did at school while Todd and Lance continued painting. When the last bell finally rang they still had to paint about ten feet worth of building.
Todd hopped onto the roof and watched Ms. Darkholme drive off in her car. "Y'know the least she could've done was say bye." Todd mumbled as he hopped back onto the scaffolding just in time to get splattered by paint as Lance splashed the last bit of wall with all the paint that was left in his bucket.
"She didn't want us to know she left. If we knew, we might get ideas about leaving ourselves." Lance explained with a smirk as he used his paint roller to cover over a couple remaining dry spots. "There all - Woah!" Lance shouted as the scaffolding shuttered violently. "Toad! Knock it off with the jumping around you idiot!" Lance shouted as he clung to the side of the structure. The shaking subsided for a moment Lance was about to continue yelling at a very shocked and confused looking Toad when something large struck the lower section of the scaffolding causing it to collapse.
Lance looked down at the quickly approaching ground and spotted Freddy. The fact Freddy was probably using his body as a human shield to protect Jean at the moment didn't register in Lance's mind all he was thinking about was how much pain he was about to be in. It wasn't a happy thought and the best thing he could think of doing at the moment was clinching his eyes shut.
Everything went dark first he felt something hit him in the side hard, then he heard the scaffolding crash down loudly. Lance realized something was wrong, he was still in the air instead of being smashed into the ground. He opened his eyes just in time to watch Todd unceremoniously drop him onto the ground a good thirty feet from the pile of scrap metal and wood that used to be the scaffolding. After a moment Freddy burst out of the debris cradling Jean's limp form.
Despite the circumstances Todd couldn't help smiling at the sight of a friend he had once been convinced he'd never see again. "Hey Freddy!" Todd called out as he leapt back over to him.
Freddy looked up when he heard his name. A couple of guys he'd never seen before in his life had just watched him almost kill Jean. Fear swept over Freddy as he rose to his feet still holding Jean. One of the guys was already heading toward him, they were going to try to arrest him or something he just knew it. It wasn't his fault, but they wouldn't understand, no one ever stopped to hear his side of the story, no one cared. Freddy panicked as the guy stopped right in front of him.
"Get back!" Freddy shouted as he knocked Todd out of his way and took off with Jean.
Lance walked up to Todd as the younger mutant hopped back onto his feet. "That wasn't one of your better ideas." Lance commented as he tried to spot where Fred had run off to. "Any idea where he took Jean? No one ever told me. They just made me help look for him afterwards." Lance explained.
"No," Todd grumbled, as he dusted himself off, "But, Rogue will."
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Rogue and Kitty strolled leisurely through the park. "Y'know ah was really kinda hopin' the guys would be able tah come along." Rogue confessed when she spotted Scott sitting at one of the picnic tables. He waved almost over zealously as they approached.
"Don't sweat it, I'll be here and besides they aren't allowed to use their powers in public." Kitty reminded Rogue as they reached Scott's table.
"Hey, Rogue. Kitty, if it's all the same to you, could we have some privacy. I don't really want an audience yet." Scott explained hoping Kitty would fulfil his request.
Kitty looked Scott over and decided he wasn't much of a threat at the moment. "Oh, alright, but I'll, like, be close okay, Rogue?"
"Ah'll be alrigh', ah guess." Rogue told Kitty and sent her off with a wave, good bye.
"So, I guess I have to start, huh." Scott said before clearing his throat, "Fair Katharine, will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will enter at a lady's ear and plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?" Scott read out loud stumbling only slightly over the lines.
"Your majesty shall mock at me; ah cannot speak your England." Rogue sighed as she quickly read through her lines.
"O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue." Scott paused for a moment, "Do you like me, Kate?" He asked never raising his eyes from the script.
"Pardonnez-moi, ah cannot tell vat is 'like me.' " Rogue said with her best French Accent, then looked up from her script to watch Scott give his delivery.
"An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel." Scott read in soft attractive tone.
Rogue couldn't help letting out a slight giggle, "The girls are right. You are a charmer."
Scott took slight offense at the comment. "Look, I'm just reading the lines, okay?" He told Rogue bluntly.
"Ya, ah know." Rogue sighed, "It's jus', sometimes . . . ah wish . . . "
"Yeah? Wish what?" Scott asked as a look of genuine interest crossed his face.
"Wish . . . " Rogue continued, she glanced off into the distance as she gathered her thoughts, "I could get close to somebody. But you know what happens when I do." She confessed to Scott.
Scott looked like he was about to say something when Kurt teleported in landing right on top of the picnic table. Causing Kitty to scream and fall out of the tree next to them. She ended up on top of Scott on the ground.
"Whoa! Tender moment here? Sorry to interrupt." Kurt laughed, "But seriously Scott, you need to start inviting me to zese rehearsals!"
"Like, why do these things always happen to me?" Kitty pouted as she quickly got off of Scott.
"Ah swear, he's like an annoyin' lil brother." Rogue complained, while she glared at Kitty for spying. Kurt stuck his tongue out in response, while Kitty just blushed a bit.
"What's the problem?" Scott asked as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Jean's been nabbed!" Kurt exclaimed as he remembered why he'd been sent to the park in the first place.
"What!?" Scott shouted grabbing Kurt by his uniform.
"Easy on the exquisite costume, mein freund! Wolverine's on the scent, but I'm supposed to collect you." Kurt explained as he freed himself from Scott's grip.
Scott hit the table angrily. "Blob! If he's hurt her, I'll–" He paused from his would be rant to glare at Kitty and Rogue who were now trying to avoid making eye contact with the enraged X-Man "You know anything about this?" He asked in a harsh accusing tone.
Rogue stared up at Scott resentfully. "No! And even if ah did, ah wouldn't tell you!" She yelled at him aggressively.
"Then I hope you can live with your conscience." Scott told her with disdain, "Teleporter to maximum, Mr. Wagner." Scott said turning back to Kurt.
"Aye, captain!" Kurt quipped in his best Scottish accent.
"Engage." Scott muttered before they both disappeared.
"Like, what was all that about?" Kitty asked in confusion, "Who's Blob anyway? Hey, maybe he's that guy that went ballistic in the cafeteria today. What do you think, Rogue?"
"Ah think we should go help 'em." Rogue said as she rose from her seat at the picnic table and started walking.
"What?" Kitty exclaimed as she caught up with Rogue. "Like, why help them?"
"Well, for one it's the righ' thang tah do. Plus what if somethin' happened tah one of us and they said no when we asked them for help? 'sides ah'm startin' tah think ya'll was righ' abou' us gettin' a new team member." Rogue stated as she continued walking.
"Let me just point out that they never asked us for help. They, like, accused us of being involved, but your right, I guess, we should help them and if he is on our team . . . then I, like, seriously hope he's just having a really bad day." Kitty told Rogue, then she thought for a second and asked, "Where are we going anyway?"
"Name a place no one goes." Rogue said as she hailed a taxi.
Kitty looked thoughtful for a moment. "What about that old abandoned ironworks factory at the South end of Bayville? You know, the place Lance said would make a good training area." Kitty asked then noticed the odd look the cabby was giving her.
"Funny another couple o' kids wanted a ride out that way earlier, there some party I dunno 'bout?" The cabby asked with a smirk as he started driving.
Kitty and Rogue just stared at him for a moment in disbelief, then Rogue simply said, "Ah'll pay ya double your regular if ya get us there in half the time."
"Yes, Ma'am!" The cabby chuckled as he happily accelerated to well over the marked speed limit.
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"This is gonna be the best night you've ever had. Dinner, dancing-" Fred said placing a napkin across Jean's lap, he felt maybe if he just pretended everything was normal it would be all right.
But then Jean had to go and cut him off, "Fred, this is all wrong. Now, you can't force someone to like you." She tried to reason with him before and it hadn't really worked, but there wasn't much else she could do with two iron bars strapping her to a chair. She had already contacted the Professor. Now, all she could do was wait and hope they'd get here soon. For now reason was all she could do.
"Why not? I'm stronger than everyone." Fred boasted and flexed his muscles in an attempt to prove he wasn't just a tub of lard.
"Being nice usually works better." Jean told him with a hopeful smile.
Fred smiled back, maybe she was finally stating to smile again. "Oh, yeah. I just remembered. I've got a surprise for you." Fred announced before he left the room to fetch his record player. He'd already lit several candles to set up the mood now all they really needed was some good theme music.
Freddy was shuffling back to the room he'd left Jean in when suddenly Wolverine burst in through the door. Wolverine didn't even pause to look at Freddy before attacking with his claws fully extended. Luckily for Freddy, he was one of the few 'substances' on earth that Wolverine's adamantium claws couldn't cut threw.
Freddy flung Wolverine off of him with all his might, but the older mutant still managed to land on his feet with cat like reflexes. Wolverine charged forward for another attack, but this time Freddy wouldn't be caught off guard as he lifted a large piece of machinery and chucked it at Wolverine. It stirred up a lot of dust when it hit the ground and at first Freddy wasn't sure if he'd hit Wolverine at all.
Freddy smiled smugly thinking he'd won after Wolverine had not charged him for a third time. Just as he was about to go back to his 'date' and continue pretending everything was perfectly normal, Wolverine struck again. He had managed to swing himself up into the rafters while the dust was still settling.
Wolverine leapt down at Freddy his claws extended, perhaps the kid's face would be so invulnerable. Freddy grabbed Wolverine by the arms before his claws could make contact and held them as far away from his face as he could. For a moment both mutants were at a stale mate. Freddy had learned better than to try and throw him away again and Wolverine was two short to inflict any sort of damage while Freddy was holding him.
They stayed in relatively the same position for a couple beats while Freddy wondered what to do next and Wolverine struggled to break free with no success. Then finally an idea popped into Freddy's head and he body slammed Wolverine.
"Can't . . . Breath . . . " Wolverine choked, just as Freddy had hoped.
Freddy smiled as he realized he was going to win for once. "Jean's my friend! You can't take her!" He threatened in a 'look who's laughing now' tone. Wolverine's claws retracted as he lost consciousness, he never heard Freddy's last taunt.
Scott, however, had heard and answered with a warning blast from his visor. "We're just giving her away out. Through you, if necessary." He told Freddy as he walked in through the opening Wolverine had made when he first arrived.
Scott raised his visor again, this time making sure his shot hit Freddy dead on. Freddy smiled as the optic blast had no effect on him. A new plan formulated in his head, he picked up the still unconscious Wolverine and hurtled him across the room. Wolverine's adamantium infused form struck Scott hard knocking him back into Wolverine's motorcycle. Scott struck his head and was out like some of the candles in the other room.
Having overcome both of his foes Freddy returned to where Jean had been watching horror struck the entire time. Ororo had left earlier on in the week to spend some time with her sister's family. Her Professor was on Cerebro so he could track Freddy incase he tried to make a run for it. Jean had contacted Kurt, but he was currently caught in traffic halfway across town and too far away to teleport in. Jean knew she had to fend off Freddy alone for now and try to reawaken Scott and Logan with her psychic powers as soon as possible.
Freddy walked into the room and was immediately smacked in the face with an old filing cabinet. Freddy managed to force the hunk of metal away from his face. "No one respects me and you're the worst! You pretended to be my friend!" Freddy hollered emotionally as he chucked the filing cabinet back at Jean.
Jean caught the filing cabinet in midair with her telekinesis and set it down next to her. Hope rose in Jean for a second as she watched Freddy walk out of the room again, but it quickly failed as she saw him heading back toward her with an even bigger piece of machinery than the one he'd thrown at Logan.
Freddy stalked forward holding the large machine over his head. He got ready to slam it through the door at Jean. Then suddenly Freddy got zapped by an optic blast right at the base of his neck. It didn't really hurt so much, but the shock of being hit from behind was enough to make him drop the machine before he could throw it at Jean.
"Leave her alone, ya yahoo!" Rogue yelled. There was an eerie red glow around her eyes. She had stolen Scott's powers.
"What a' ya gonna do to me? Make me wear bad makeup?" Freddy asked as shoved the machine out of his way.
While Freddy was distracted by his new opponent, Kitty phased into the room with Jean, and phased Jean out of her iron bonds. Kitty motioned silently for Jean to follow and phased them both out of the factory through a wall.
"Didn't Mystique tell ya what mah power is?" Rogue asked as she dodged a couple of Freddy's punches.
"No, cause I don't care!" Freddy explained angrily as he tried to hit Rogue.
Rogue ducked his last punch and grabbed his bare arm with her bare hand. "Mah power is your power, and ah can take more than one!" Rogue declared as she drained away some of Freddy's super strength. She used it to throw Freddy aside and then she blasted him with Scott's power.
Freddy got back up having sustained no real injuries. "Ha! I got to much power even for you! You can't hurt me! I'm the Blob!" He panted victoriously.
"Nah. You're just garbage that wanted a date! Now, tell ya what . . . " Rogue paused, she had been about to give him a chance to surrender, when she saw Freddy charging toward her, "Ah'm taking you out!" Rogue shouted at him as she combined Freddy and Scott's powers to make a concussive force strong enough to blast Freddy strait through the ceiling and a good distance into the air.
Kurt pulled up in the X-Van to where Jean was just now waking up Cyclops and Wolverine. "Ach! I alvays miss dey party." He sighed.
Rogue walked out of the ironworks factory, she noticed Scott's visor was on the ground, so she picked it up and handed it back to its rightful owner. "There you go. Ah only took a short-term dose of your power. You should be back to normal soon." She explained.
"You are like an Angel, Kate." Scott sighed as he smiled at her.
"Mah name's not Kate and ah'm no Angel." Rogue told him sternly as she walked over to where Kitty was standing off by herself. She'd seen into the minds of to love struck men today and never had she been more envious of the girl she had just helped rescue. "C'mon Kitty, we should go." Rogue sighed sadly.
"Yeah, like, we've wasted a whole day saving your x-butts." Kitty commented as she followed Rogue down the road, it was going to be a long walk back to the Boardinghouse and when they got there . . .
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Freddy landed with a loud thud in the city dump sending the seagulls flying, and cackling, into the sky. Freddy got shakily back onto his feet, he grabbed an old tire and hurled it up at the birds. "STOP LAUGHING AT ME!" He yelled as he slipped and landed face down in the garbage again. The last bit of Freddy's rage broke down into a fit of angry sobs as he stayed down.
"Need a hand?" a voice called down from one of the junk hills.
Freddy sat up with tears still streaming down his red face, he didn't care anymore. He wiped his face so he could see more clearly just who was addressing him. "You two again?" Freddy asked in confusion as he spotted the couple of guys that had been by the collapsed scaffolding back at Bayville High. "Wha' d'you want?" Freddy sniffled trying to regain his composer.
"We're here to help, yo?" Todd called down to Freddy. Lance and Todd had gone to the dump after being unsuccessful at finding Kitty, Rogue or Freddy anywhere else.
Freddy's brow furrowed in confusion as he stopped crying. "Why would you guys wanna help me?" He asked.
"Cause, as corny as it sounds, that's what the Brotherhood's all about. It's why Rogue saved you from Jean and the rest of the X-Men." Lance yelled down at Freddy. "We tried to warn you before."
"Brotherhood? Rogue . . . " Freddy muttered to himself, "You mean you guys are mutants too?"
"Yeah, yo, we're part of the Brotherhood with Mystique, but Jean ain't she's part of the X-Men. We tried to tell you that earlier today." Todd told him as he leapt down to where Freddy was.
Lance followed half sliding to the bottom on accident. He held out his gloved hand for Freddy to shake. "I'm Lance and he's Toad."
Freddy sat thinking for a second, he wasn't so sure he could trust these guys. It could be another trick. "Well why did that Rogue girl attack me, huh?" Freddy said with a scowl.
"Listen Freddy, she knew you wouldn't get hurt, she just wanted to get you as far away from the X-Geeks as fast as possible. Cause they woulda hurt you, maybe even killed you to get at, Miss Perfect, Jean." Lance explained he knew if he could play Jean of as the ultimate evil in this situation Freddy's little fight with Rogue would be forgotten.
Freddy stood and gave Lance's hand a good shake, "Name's Freddy."
Lance smiled. "C'mon, my jeeps this way and you might wanna thank Rogue when we get home." Lance stated as he started hiking back up the junk heap.
"Yeah . . . I guess." Freddy said, he was still a bit confused, but Lance seemed to know what was going on better than he did at the moment. He started up the hill after Lance and Todd, who had reached the top in one jump.
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Rogue and Kitty stood stalk still in the doorway of the Brotherhood Boarding House. Inside Lance was talking to Mystique which was perfectly normal since he was the team's field leader. Todd was trying to stay out of Mystique's sight, still normal, but the fact that Freddy's massive form was what blocked him from view was far from the norm. In fact it was quite terrifying when you thought he might want some payback for being shot into a dump earlier.
Then Freddy spotted them and walked over toward them. "Hey thanks for the help earlier, Rogue . . . and you must be Kitty, huh?" Freddy asked with a smile. Freddy noticed the confused looks on their faces. "Oh! It's alright. Lance and Toad explained everything to me already."
Rogue and Kitty looked over at the boys Todd smiled back, but Lance was still engrossed in explaining why everyone was late and why all the boys now smelled as bad as Toad. "Oh . . . that's good." Kitty said as she realized they weren't going to be crushed.
Lance looked over as he finished talking to Mystique. "Yeah, good work getting Freddy away from the X-Men, Rogue." Lance said in a congratulatory voice.
"Uh, thanks Lance, twas nothin' . . . " Rogue said what she thought was the answer he wanted.
"Rogue is it true you managed to combine Cyclops and Blob's powers?" Mystique asked as she looked Rogue over a couple of times.
"Yeah . . . it was the only way to get ol' Freddy away from the X-Men." Rogue told Mystique as she started to catch onto Lance's story.
"Amazing, your gaining control over your powers faster than even I thought." Mystique muttered as she headed upstairs to start typing up a status report to send to Magneto. She stopped at the top of the stairs wheeled around and looked at the clock. "You should all go to bed I'm calling a double training session in the morning."
"Now that ya mention it, I am a bit tiered." Freddy yawned.
"Ya need any help findin' your room?" Rogue asked as Freddy started plodding down the hall.
"Nah., Mystique, let me drop off my stuff here before I went to school. I know where it is." Freddy muttered as he disappeared down the hall.
"So, like, how did you guys convince him not to kill Rogue?" Kitty asked as soon as she heard Freddy's door shut.
"Easy, we blamed it all on the X-Geeks, yo?" Todd told Kitty with a sly smile.
Rogue frowned. "Y'know, Magneto says all us mutants are gonna have to pull together and fight on the same team one day." She reminded her present teammates, wiping the smile off Todd's face.
"I know, yo? It's just that it's more important to get our team united first . . . then we can worry about gettin' the X-G - Men to see things our way." Todd explained in a hurried fashion, Rogue nodded understandingly, but it was obvious she still didn't think it was right.
Lance sighed heavily. "Yeah, believe me . . . we know."
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I should right stuff here, really I should, but it's 11:00 pm. I can't even remember what happened at the beginning of this Chapter. I call it Stupid Chapter 7. . . a lot. It's 16 pages long, more than last time. Wow. I had to watch 'Mutant Crush' So many time I lost count . . . It was funny the last time. I laughed like Pyro . . . so maybe I'm just crazy, oh well. I'll write more tomorrow.
Next Chap: Pietro and Evan . . . I know you're all ecstatic. Maybe it will be typed faster cause Pietro's fast and then we'll all be happy and laugh like Pyro.