Mark C: Yes, I have read Origin, and the as for the Howlett twin's relations to Logan (if there are any) well... you'll just have to keep reading and find out.
ldypebsaby: Yes there will be pairings. I hinted at a few in the last chapter, and I'm going to hint at a few in this chapter. And as for School, School starts just after the New Year's Eve party. Be patient.
TheLegendaryManHimself: I think you'll find that Rogue has things in common with both Joe and Nathan, and interests in both of them, but each has their own set of baggage that they have to get through in order to have any relationship. But later on I'll be producing a development that will make things very interesting... very interesting indeed.
Ayu: Nathan is Nathan, the Professor, Logan, and Rogue will be working for a long time to get him to open up, and when he does it's not going to be pretty.
c11thal: I know that I've been a slacker in the plot department, but it was necessary to stall that to get all the introductions out of the way and to give you some insight into the many different characters before the plot actually began.
CHAPTER 4: The Danger Room
Phone Booth, New York City, 2:15 PM
"I'm telling you it was him..." The young man speaking into the phone said hoarsely. "I know! I thought he was dead too! But he was there! I saw him! He roughed up some of my guys and we tailed him for a bit..." The man sighed in fustration.
"I KNOW! BUT I SAW HIM WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!!!! I SWEAR!" He screamed into the phone. "Look..." He said, his voice becoming quiet again. "Just come to New York and meet me, he's slipped town again, but I know where he went." He paused as the person on the other line spoke. "But he's not dead! Look, you took days to return my call, now I'm telling you that unless you want to risk it, you need to meet me, and we need to pay him a visit."
"Just meet me..." The man paused again. "Okay, okay, Tuesday, just after New Years? All right. You come then, and I'll prove to you that King is still alive."
MEANWHILE
"Ah, Kurt, Scott, you're back." Hank said as he looked up from the chess game that he and Mike were playing in the front hall.
"Ja, it iz good to be back." Kurt said with his thick German accent, right now Kurt had his holographic watch on, covering his true self from the eyes of others. "Iz diz one of the new students?" He asked looking over to Scott and gesturing towards the kid that Hank was playing chess against.
"Yeah, Kurt Wagner, meet Michael Young AKA Psychic. Mike, meet Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler." Scott said making the introductions as he hung up his coat.
"Nice to meet you Kurt." Mike said offering his hand for a shake, which was taken and shook by Kurt. "Now that's odd..."
"Vhat?" Kurt asked looking to Mike.
"Your hand..." Mike said taking his hand back politely. "It felt fuzzy."
"Oh, that is my mutation... you see, this isn't vhat I really look like. I look more like Mr. McCoy." Kurt explained somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah, well I assure you it makes no difference to me one way or the other. I've already met Mr. McCoy here, and of course Jessica." Mike said with a nod and a shrug as he turned his attention back to the game.
"Jessica?" Kurt asked with a brow slightly raised.
Mike looked to Scott who was standing slightly behind Kurt. "I thought you said that you were going to tell him all about us?"
"Uh... Well there's a lot of you, I just didn't get to Jessica yet." Scott said with a slight apologetic smile.
"Well the rest are waiting for you in that 'Danger Room' thing. Ororo and her nephew Evan arrived a short while ago, and the rest of the X-Men have arrived too. But I would suggest that Kurt go in as his regular self, in fact it would probably make the others from the Warriors feel more comfortable. Especially Jessica." Mike said as he moved one of the chess pieces in front of him. "Check."
"Ah?" Beast said looking over the board. "Hmm..." He pondered a moment before moving another chess piece.
"Checkmate." Mike said as he quickly moved another one of his pieces and reclined back with a smile on his face.
Beast stared at the board for a while and then smiled. "Good game." He said with a laugh as he offered his hand for Mike to shake. "But next time I think I'm going to think more about the wisdom of challenging someone who can read my thoughts, and know my strategies." He said with a smile as Mike shook his hand.
"Now you know why Joe warned you." He said with a smile.
"Yeah... vell uh, I guess Scott and I should get to the danger room." Kurt said offering a hand to Scott. "You vant to come?" He asked looking to Mike.
"No, that's okay, I have to track down Nathan, and try to convince him to get down there." Mike said apologetically.
Kurt shrugged and then in a puff of black and blue smoke both Kurt and Scott were gone. Mike waved his hand in front of his face as he coughed a bit. "Ugh... that stuff reeks."
Hank merely laughed as he stood up.
MEANWHILE
Kurt and Scott bamfed into the danger room to be met with something they weren't prepared for. Kurt's holo was turned off, and his battle suit was on already. There coming straight for them was a young man with huge bat-like wings coming from his back flying straight at them. At the last possible second he swooped up and twirled as he rose into the air. "Vhat the?" Kurt asked as he looked around bewildered.
The danger room suddenly whirled as whatever simulation had been going on stopped. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to the final member of the X-Men. Nightcrawler." Xavier said as he wheeled into the room.
Kurt was about to say hi when from behind he was suddenly tackled... more like glomped. "He's fuzzy!!!!" He heard a girl's voice cry as he started to fall, but the girls grip on him was so strong that he wasn't going anywhere. His eyes met with a young girl, probably his age, which had her face buried in his arm, she herself, to Kurt's surprise, was covered in fur much like his. Although her fur was golden brown in color, and he could see that she even had a tail, though it was more like a monkey's or a cat's and didn't come to a point at the end like his did.
"Guten Tag..." He said out of breath as the girl was suddenly pulled off of him.
"...Jessica..." The man who pulled her off of him said. Kurt looked in disbelief at the size of him. "Sorry about her." He said as he held her up in the air by the back of her shirt, well off the ground. He stood at least six and a half feet tall, and his muscles were... well... big, huge, monstrous was more like it. "You must be Kurt. I'm James, and this is my sister." He said looking to the teen-age girl he was holding up. "Jessica." He set her down gently. "Sorry, she probably just got a little excited. She reacted the same way to Dr. McCoy." James said with a slight smile.
"It's okay." Kurt said as he straightened himself, and dusted himself off a bit. He looked around; there stood the X-men that he recognized. Logan with a smirk, Ororo, Evan, Jean, Kitty, Scott, Rogue, and the Professor, along with nine other teen-agers not including James and Jessica.
"Kurt this is James, and Jessica King, Joseph McKinley, John, and William Howlett, Chris Hart, Megan Lamont, Elise Kain, Danielle Porter, Grace Rutherford and Rebecca Davis." Xavier said as he wheeled closer to them all. "I'm sure Scott has already told you about them."
"Some of them..." Kurt said as he rubbed his arm a bit.
Xavier smiled. "Well I'll leave Ororo in charge of this little training session. Logan and I have something to take care of." He said with a nod to Logan as he began to wheel out of the room.
Ororo looked up. "Okay, I want each group to pick three people. The fastest, the strongest, and the most versatile in each group." She said looking to both the X-Men and the Warriors. "We're going to try a little obstacle course."
The Warriors all got together, and within moments presented their three for the obstacle course. James, Jessica, and John. Unlike the X-Men, these teens were dressed in street clothes, and not uniforms. The X-Men presented their three. Scott, Jean, and Kitty. If anyone could get through an obstacle course, it'd be those three.
The danger room itself whirred to life as the obstacles came up, a maze of sorts, with each team starting from a different place, each section of the maze either had bamboo like poles to climb and dodge, or booby traps laid about it. The rest watched from the control tower as the games began.
James looked around them they were surrounded by ten-foot walls on all but one side directly in front. "How do we get to the end?" Jessica asked curiously.
"John, take a leap directly up. Tell us where the finish line is." James said in a commanding tone.
"And then what?" Jessica asked again.
"And then I make a path to the exit." He said shifting into one of his metallic forms by touching one of the gray colored rings on his gloved right hand.
"Roger." John said with a smile as he squatted a bit and then took an amazing leap up into the air. He went up about forty or so feet before falling back to the very spot where he had landed, and he looked to James. "It's that way. Directly to our left." He said with a nod.
As James began punching down the walls that stood in their way Jean was already flying above and had seen John's leap. She too saw the exit, and kitty was already headed to it, by phasing through the walls. Scott however couldn't blast through the walls, he didn't want to hurt any of the other team, and he didn't know if there would be any there, so he kept walking down the corridors as Jean gave him directions.
It wasn't long until James' group came along a trap. Quite suddenly lines started shooting across the path in front of them, and a switch appeared on the end of the corridor. The walls leading there were filled with holes, darts, or something a lot like darts was being shot methodically. Jessica leaped and dodged her way past, and James just trudged his way through, getting hit by nearly everything that was launched his way, but none of it really made a difference. John however had some trouble; he couldn't just use his powers to block the darts, because he would end up sending them flying everywhere. So instead he jumped up and leapt over the trap, landing in front of Jessica.
"Who's winning?" Rogue asked Ororo in the control room.
"So far Kitty is the only one to make it out, but she's left the rest of her teammates in there. James' group seems to be constantly waiting up for someone so that all three of them are together the entire time. But they're still making good progress, James just punched his way past Scott and Jean." She answered as she watched the monitors and the things going on down below.
MEANWHILE
"I don't get it. Why do you want me to talk to him?" Logan asked as he and the professor walked outside.
"Because you're the only one here that can actually get close to relating with him. Forgive me for being frank Wolverine, but you've killed before, and so has he, that's what he needs up dealing with, and I fear that you're the only one here really qualified to help him, and the only one he'll listen to." Xavier said solemnly.
"What makes you think he'll listen to me?" Logan asked as the turned the corner.
"Because you're the only person that can relate to what he's going through. You need to be honest, and tell him about what you know of your past. Release a little, maybe it will benefit you too." Charles said as the stopped on the patio.
"I'm still not sure I like this." Logan admitted gruffly as he sat down on the stone bench there across from Charles.
"I realize that this might make you a bit uncomfortable, but it is for the best." Xavier said reassuringly.
Logan grunted. "Yeah, sure. So when do you want me to talk to this kid? I haven't even met him yet, and I've been here almost all day."
"Tonight I think would be best. And speaking of your being here, or more specifically, your arrival, I think it would be polite of you to get Michael a new copy of The Scarlet Letter." Charles said seriously.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll pick the kid up a comic book later on. I have to go out and get some new cigars anyway." Logan said with a smirk.
Charles sighed. "Not a comic book Logan. Michael is older, and far more civilized and intelligent than you seem to give him credit for."
"Yeah? How intelligent?" Logan asked as he sat back.
"I don't know. But any man that can outwit Hank in a quoting contest deserves some respect, whether he be ninety four, or nine." Charles said with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Just how old is that kid anyway?"
"Fourteen. His birthday is coming up soon, the beginning of February. Valentine's day to be specific." Charles said as he looked to Logan.
"How'd you find that out?" Logan asked curiously.
"Thomas gave me a computer disk with information on the new students, it's quite detailed." Xavier said looking over the railing of the patio. "He even lists their shoe sizes. It's amazing the amount of detail he put into it."
"Guess he has too much time on his hands." Logan said with a smirk.
Charles smiled softly. "Perhaps. But Logan there is something else I wanted to tell you. While we were in New York, Scott told me that he saw someone."
"Who?" Logan asked straightening up.
"Magneto." Charles answered solemnly.
"What was 'old bucket head doing in New York City?" Logan asked looking over to the Professor.
"Apparently trying to recruit the same mutant we were, Angel, but he too was unsuccessful, and it resulted in a battle between him and Angel, and then Scott and Rogue joined in." Charles said and then cleared his throat again. "But after that Scott said that he saw him again in the Robaldi Music Center, when the owner was attacked. It makes me wonder what he was doing there."
"Want me to find out? I can try to track him down, but New York City is a place with a lot of smells, and it's been days." Logan said with a shrug.
"It'd be no use trying to track him down. The ball is in his court. Now we have to wait."
MEANWHILE
"Look! Scott's gaining!" Evan called as the rest of them watched the events going on in the danger room below. It was now an all out race, Scott and James just blasting and bunching their way through the walls to get to the finish line. Jean and Kitty had already crossed, and at the last minute so did Jessica and John. Scott and James were neck and neck each only three walls from the finish line. It was exciting, exhilarating, everything that James hadn't felt in years, since he'd left Chicago and gone into hiding. Scott was merely doing it to win, but to James it was a goal, it was an aspiration, a dream, and he always tried his hardest. With one mighty run he shoulder tackled the last wall and it fell as he ran through to the finish line, just before Scott.
"James won!" Joe called as he and Chris gave each other a high five, Joe of course was wearing gloves. "He did it!"
Ororo smiled and looked down... wait... something was wrong... James had shifted back to normal, but... he wasn't getting up, it looked like he was clutching his chest. Within minutes Ororo and the rest were down there in the danger room. Kitty ran up to Ororo first. "What's wrong?" Ororo asked hurridly.
"We don't know! I think he might be having a heart attack!" Jean called out as they ran up.
Ororo turned. "Evan, get Hank." She called. "Chris, find the professor, tell him to meet us in the medical wing."
Both rushed out the door before another word was spoken. James had collapsed and was clutching his chest, specifically at his heart area.
Jessica was next to him crouched, but quickly stood when Kurt came in, and turned away a bit, you could tell tears were coming from her face, wetting her fur, she didn't know what was happening.
END
Author's note: Would this be a good place to bring in James' heart problems? I hope so because I just did. Hope ya'll enjoyed that. If you did, then review and tell me what you thought! And if you didn't... well review and tell me why not!
Coming Soon... Chapter 5: Heart Trouble