Disclaimer: No, I don't own x-men, their affiliated characters or Six Flags
Great America...not that that has anything to do with the story but it gives
you a perspective on how much I actually do own, which is not much.
************************************************************************
X-23 opened her eyes as sunlight peeked through the curtains. She propped herself up into a sitting position. Was she supposed to be somewhere? Thinking about it for a second she flopped back down, unwilling to leave the comfort of the fluffy blankets. Ignoring the cries of hunger from her growling stomach she once again closed her eyes.
A click at the door caused her to bolt upright, the "snikt" of her claws piercing the air. "It's just me," a woman's voice told her, poking her head into the room. "I thought you might be up," Ororo continued, "so I made breakfast for you. Its downstairs if you want it. If not the others will soon be up to eat it themselves. So, do you want it?" X-23 nodded. "Then I'll wait for you in the hall."
The clothes themselves fit alright, a little large but what did that matter? The belt provided kept the pants from falling off her hips and the shirt didn't have to fit exactly right. X-23 stole a look at herself in the mirror. The purplish jeans and gray shirt went well with her tanned skin and brown hair. Speaking of hair it still seemed to be at least half a mess but at least it no longer had pinecones and leaf pieces in it.
She walked out into the hall and looked up at the tall, white-haired woman. She herself might as well never become a woman. She would never get any taller since the adamantium had been grafted to her bones, even if they hadn't her genetic donor, Wolverine, was no giant himself. Besides that any physical signs of maturity could take forever to make themselves known. Surely she wouldn't be getting white hair for another couple hundred years. Thinking of this she sighed.
"Don't worry, you look fine," Ororo told her running her fingers through X- 23's hair, causing the girl to jerk away. "This way to the kitchen," Ororo guided. The smell alone of bacon and eggs could have led her through the house. She sat down to a large breakfast table, plates set all around. Stupidly she chose a seat from which she could gaze out the window, leaving her back to the door. She wondered if she should move when she heard the creak of the door open and close. Her muscles tensed as the intruder stepped closer and closer. "Decided its warm enough out today to forget the jacket, Amara," a boy's voice asked. Reflexes took over as she felt the pressure of his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed the boy's arm and quickly flipped him to the ground. Her foot was placed on his chest as a blade shot out from it.
The boy held his palms outward to her. "Take it easy, I wasn't going to hurt you. I thought you were someone else." Her primal, anger driven mind screamed out to kill him, that he knew too much. Her newer self however, the one that made her come here to begin with told her to back off, let him go. She stared at his wide blue eyes. Light brown hair fell around his face, messed up during her attack. He flinched as she lifted her foot... and set it on the ground.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and stopped cringing, getting to his feet. " I'm Bobby. You look vaguely familiar; have we met?"
"Not really," re replied, taking a new seat, this one facing the door.
"Oh my God! You're that girl who took us all out a couple months back! What are you doing here?"
"I have my reasons. Calm down, I'm not going to do anything."
"Well, that's a relief." He took a seat across from her. "So, you're related to Wolverine huh?"
"In a matter of speaking."
"What's your name?"
X-23 stared at him. Her name? Did she even have one? No, they had never given her a name that she could recall, at least not a real one. She was always referred to as "the project" or "number 23". Eventually they just called her X-23, plain, simple, and unattached. "X-23", she told him.
"That's not a name."
"Sure it is."
"No, its not. I'm looking for a name like...Beatrice or Sally."
"I'm sorry if my name doesn't fit your standards," she quipped.
"So I'm supposed to call you X-23. You know that's more of a code name. Could I call you something else if I wanted to?"
"I suppose..."
"How about canary?"
"A useless bird? You want to name me after a dumb yellow bird?"
"Well, you act kind of like a caged bird and that's the only bird I could think of besides a parrot that a person puts in a cage. And you are deffinately not a parrot, you don't talk enough." He looked at a covered dish on the table. "What do you suppose is under there?"
X-23 sniffed the air. "Bacon."
Bobby lifted the cover ever so slightly to glance underneath. "Sorry, its sausage."
"What?"
"Just kidding," he laughed.
"I am not amused."
A bamf accompanied the arrival of the blue furred demon on the far side of the table. Other mutants quickly filed in through the door as Ororo came back in with another two dishes piled with food. X-23's senses were going wild. It was so noisy, smells were everywhere, and hands came seemingly out of nowhere to grab steaming food. The thing that got her the most was no one seemed to notice she was there. Did she really look so much like this Amara person that they just assumed she belonged?
"Quiet down everyone," Xavier's voice cut through the conversations to bring silence throughout the room. "now, I would like you all to meet our newest member. With any luck she will be staying with us for quite some time." A commotion broke out when they recognized who the new comer was. "Calm down, she's not here to harm you in any way. She's just here to get on her feet so to speak. She'll start training sessions with the other new recruits tomorrow."
"What," X-23 asked. "I have been trained in combat since I could walk. There's nothing you could possibly teach me and I refuse to train with children."
"You forget that you, yourself, are a child as well. Besides, there are other things you need to learn. Right now you know how to work by yourself, a lone wolf. You need to learn how to cooperate with a group. That is why you will be working with the new recruits. Trust that this is something you need to do."
X-23 stared coldly at him. How dare he presume to know what she needed. She could barely tell herself what she needed, so how was this old man supposed to figure it out for her. "Fine," she spat.
"Besides that we'll be catching you up on your lessons."
"Like what?"
"Oh, everything you may not have had the chance to learn before. The stuff that will get you into school and back into normal society. Math, Science, History and Literature."
X-23 cocked her head quizzically. She had never really learned anything besides the basics of reading and then combat. The idea of learning something new intrigued her. "When do we start?" The whole table stared at her.
"You want to go to school," Jubilee asked.
"I want to learn", she replied.
"We start this afternoon, as soon as you and Ororo return from your shopping excursion."
"Shopping?"
"Yes, we can't have you perpetually running around in Amara's clothes, they don't seem to really fit you anyways."
"Professor," Roberto asked. "What are we supposed to call her?"
"You can call her X-23 for now. Her codename you'll find out in the danger room tomorrow. When she picks a regular name for herself you can call her that. Oh, I almost forgot, we need to measure you for a uniform as well."
"A uniform? But I already have battle gear."
"I'm sure that was fine when you were out in the woods by yourself but now that you're here you need a uniform, an x-man uniform."
************************************************************************ Another chapter bites the dust. Took me a while to type this up since I've been kinda busy. I'll try to get the next one out soon. Until next time, ~Shield-Maiden
************************************************************************
X-23 opened her eyes as sunlight peeked through the curtains. She propped herself up into a sitting position. Was she supposed to be somewhere? Thinking about it for a second she flopped back down, unwilling to leave the comfort of the fluffy blankets. Ignoring the cries of hunger from her growling stomach she once again closed her eyes.
A click at the door caused her to bolt upright, the "snikt" of her claws piercing the air. "It's just me," a woman's voice told her, poking her head into the room. "I thought you might be up," Ororo continued, "so I made breakfast for you. Its downstairs if you want it. If not the others will soon be up to eat it themselves. So, do you want it?" X-23 nodded. "Then I'll wait for you in the hall."
The clothes themselves fit alright, a little large but what did that matter? The belt provided kept the pants from falling off her hips and the shirt didn't have to fit exactly right. X-23 stole a look at herself in the mirror. The purplish jeans and gray shirt went well with her tanned skin and brown hair. Speaking of hair it still seemed to be at least half a mess but at least it no longer had pinecones and leaf pieces in it.
She walked out into the hall and looked up at the tall, white-haired woman. She herself might as well never become a woman. She would never get any taller since the adamantium had been grafted to her bones, even if they hadn't her genetic donor, Wolverine, was no giant himself. Besides that any physical signs of maturity could take forever to make themselves known. Surely she wouldn't be getting white hair for another couple hundred years. Thinking of this she sighed.
"Don't worry, you look fine," Ororo told her running her fingers through X- 23's hair, causing the girl to jerk away. "This way to the kitchen," Ororo guided. The smell alone of bacon and eggs could have led her through the house. She sat down to a large breakfast table, plates set all around. Stupidly she chose a seat from which she could gaze out the window, leaving her back to the door. She wondered if she should move when she heard the creak of the door open and close. Her muscles tensed as the intruder stepped closer and closer. "Decided its warm enough out today to forget the jacket, Amara," a boy's voice asked. Reflexes took over as she felt the pressure of his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed the boy's arm and quickly flipped him to the ground. Her foot was placed on his chest as a blade shot out from it.
The boy held his palms outward to her. "Take it easy, I wasn't going to hurt you. I thought you were someone else." Her primal, anger driven mind screamed out to kill him, that he knew too much. Her newer self however, the one that made her come here to begin with told her to back off, let him go. She stared at his wide blue eyes. Light brown hair fell around his face, messed up during her attack. He flinched as she lifted her foot... and set it on the ground.
The boy slowly opened his eyes and stopped cringing, getting to his feet. " I'm Bobby. You look vaguely familiar; have we met?"
"Not really," re replied, taking a new seat, this one facing the door.
"Oh my God! You're that girl who took us all out a couple months back! What are you doing here?"
"I have my reasons. Calm down, I'm not going to do anything."
"Well, that's a relief." He took a seat across from her. "So, you're related to Wolverine huh?"
"In a matter of speaking."
"What's your name?"
X-23 stared at him. Her name? Did she even have one? No, they had never given her a name that she could recall, at least not a real one. She was always referred to as "the project" or "number 23". Eventually they just called her X-23, plain, simple, and unattached. "X-23", she told him.
"That's not a name."
"Sure it is."
"No, its not. I'm looking for a name like...Beatrice or Sally."
"I'm sorry if my name doesn't fit your standards," she quipped.
"So I'm supposed to call you X-23. You know that's more of a code name. Could I call you something else if I wanted to?"
"I suppose..."
"How about canary?"
"A useless bird? You want to name me after a dumb yellow bird?"
"Well, you act kind of like a caged bird and that's the only bird I could think of besides a parrot that a person puts in a cage. And you are deffinately not a parrot, you don't talk enough." He looked at a covered dish on the table. "What do you suppose is under there?"
X-23 sniffed the air. "Bacon."
Bobby lifted the cover ever so slightly to glance underneath. "Sorry, its sausage."
"What?"
"Just kidding," he laughed.
"I am not amused."
A bamf accompanied the arrival of the blue furred demon on the far side of the table. Other mutants quickly filed in through the door as Ororo came back in with another two dishes piled with food. X-23's senses were going wild. It was so noisy, smells were everywhere, and hands came seemingly out of nowhere to grab steaming food. The thing that got her the most was no one seemed to notice she was there. Did she really look so much like this Amara person that they just assumed she belonged?
"Quiet down everyone," Xavier's voice cut through the conversations to bring silence throughout the room. "now, I would like you all to meet our newest member. With any luck she will be staying with us for quite some time." A commotion broke out when they recognized who the new comer was. "Calm down, she's not here to harm you in any way. She's just here to get on her feet so to speak. She'll start training sessions with the other new recruits tomorrow."
"What," X-23 asked. "I have been trained in combat since I could walk. There's nothing you could possibly teach me and I refuse to train with children."
"You forget that you, yourself, are a child as well. Besides, there are other things you need to learn. Right now you know how to work by yourself, a lone wolf. You need to learn how to cooperate with a group. That is why you will be working with the new recruits. Trust that this is something you need to do."
X-23 stared coldly at him. How dare he presume to know what she needed. She could barely tell herself what she needed, so how was this old man supposed to figure it out for her. "Fine," she spat.
"Besides that we'll be catching you up on your lessons."
"Like what?"
"Oh, everything you may not have had the chance to learn before. The stuff that will get you into school and back into normal society. Math, Science, History and Literature."
X-23 cocked her head quizzically. She had never really learned anything besides the basics of reading and then combat. The idea of learning something new intrigued her. "When do we start?" The whole table stared at her.
"You want to go to school," Jubilee asked.
"I want to learn", she replied.
"We start this afternoon, as soon as you and Ororo return from your shopping excursion."
"Shopping?"
"Yes, we can't have you perpetually running around in Amara's clothes, they don't seem to really fit you anyways."
"Professor," Roberto asked. "What are we supposed to call her?"
"You can call her X-23 for now. Her codename you'll find out in the danger room tomorrow. When she picks a regular name for herself you can call her that. Oh, I almost forgot, we need to measure you for a uniform as well."
"A uniform? But I already have battle gear."
"I'm sure that was fine when you were out in the woods by yourself but now that you're here you need a uniform, an x-man uniform."
************************************************************************ Another chapter bites the dust. Took me a while to type this up since I've been kinda busy. I'll try to get the next one out soon. Until next time, ~Shield-Maiden
