Black Ice
To Aaron: Hey there, Aaron! Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Yeah, it was only a matter of time before Bobby started fighting with his own new teammates. Yeah, I can imagine that Bobby's actions and his attitude as of late can be seen by anyone as a sign that something is seriously wrong with the ex-prankster. I thought Kyle's nicknaming Bobby Anakin would be very appropriate. I've grown obsessed with Episode III, and it's given me many ideas. You have to admit, there are a lot of similarities between Anakin Skywalker and Bobby Drake in this story. They're both warriors, they both have a lot of troubles in their lives, they're both very powerful, and they're both dangerously close at this point to falling into darkness. I agree with you, Bobby just made a mistake. He never intended to hurt Elizabeth and kill her unborn child. Bobby's not heartless, he just screwed up. Maybe if Lucas didn't attack Bobby in "To Err is Human", Bobby would have stayed and cooled off. Yeah, training will not be pretty. Enjoy the new chapter, and I can hardly wait to hear more from you!
To todd fan: Hey there todd fan! Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Yeah, I thought the "Star Wars" symbolism would be appropriate. Bobby is like Anakin Skywalker: a young man with great power who is tempted by a horrible darkness. With Anakin, it's the Dark Side of the Force. With Bobby, it's the inner darkness growing within him. I feel sorry for him as well. Enjoy the new chapter, and I can hardly wait for new chapters of "Slugs and Snails" and "Random Tales of the Magic Roundabout"!
To Red Witch: Hey there, Red Witch! Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I read the new chapter of "Evolution XMJ" and I loved it! Poor Bobby, trapped in Emma's body. Something tells me we may see a new side of the Iceman after this. This is only a suggestion, but maybe you could take a "Black Ice" approach to Bobby after this. You know, like have him grow obsessed with getting revenge on Emma Frost and the Hellions after he gets his body back. Just a suggestion. Anyway, you went to the Star Wars premiere? Wow. I first saw it on videotape as a kid. It rules! Yeah, Anakin as a nickname fits Bobby. Enjoy the new chapter, and I can hardly wait for new chapters of "Evolution XMJ".
To Raliena: Hey there, Rae! Nice to hear from you again! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Will anyone get through to Bobby? Well, I'll certainly have everyone try. Enjoy the new chapter, and I can hardly wait to hear more from you again!
Disclaimer: "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." - Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Chapter 19: Training Daze!
Contessa Fontaine's room, Freedom Force HQ
Contessa Valentina Fontaine opened up her laptop in her room. She did some typing on it. A small microphone popped out from a tiny hole next to the keyboard. The gray-haired and eyepatch-wearing face of Nick Fury appeared on the screen.
"Good evening, Nick." Fontaine smiled. Fontaine and Fury had a very long history, so they did refer to each other by first name.
"How is Freedom Force doing?" Fury nodded.
Ever the professional, Fury. Fontaine mentally chuckled. "The kids are fine, Nick. Thy're doing alright."
"That's good, Val." Fury nodded. "You know how my old friend would feel if anything happened to Karma."
"Yeah yeah, I know." Fontaine nodded with a smirk. "We have a new recruit."
"Really?" Fury asked, his interest piqued.
"Name's Bobby Drake." Fontaine told the SHIELD director. His one eye betrayed his surprise.
"Well, I'll be. Drake." Fury remembered. "One of them X-Men, if I remember correctly. He disappeared of the face of the earth four months ago. After that encounter with the Hellfire Club and Nightshift (1)."
"So he left the X-Men." Fontaine nodded. "He told me that he spent the last four months in Canada, just wandering around. He's…got issues."
"Issues?" Fury wondered.
"Yes." Fontaine nodded. "He's really troubled. He's very…dark." The dark-haired Italian woman scrunched her face in thought. "He's distanced himself from the others, and he's extremely negative. He appears to be extremely bitter, and he holds grudges. Not to mention his temper." Fontaine shook her head. "Sometimes, small things can cause him to completely lose it. He also appears to be distrustful of women. Not to mention he flips out whenever someone cracks a joke about him. Even light-hearted inoffensive comments cause him to fly off the handle."
"Sounds like the kid got himself some issues, alright." Fury smirked.
"That's not all." Fontaine continued. "I think he is an Alpha-class, possibly even an Omega-class mutant."
"Omega?" Fury exclaimed. Fontaine nodded. "Good God…"
"I know." Fontaine nodded. "I can tell. He is extremely angry, and very bitter. Combine that with the power level of an Omega-class mutant…"
"No telling what could happen." Fury concluded. "And I thought Thunderbolt had a temper."
"For now, he seems quiet." Fontaine told the war veteran. "All he does is sulk. Karma's keeping an eye on him."
A cliffside
"I hate cliffsides." Bobby Drake grumbled. He and the rest of Freedom Force were standing at the top of a large cliff.
"You hate everything, Anakin." Kyle Wildfire snickered. Bobby growled.
"Cliffs bring back bad memories. And stop calling me Anakin!" Bobby snapped.
"Sure thing…" Kyle smirked. "…Anakin." Bobby's eyes shone light blue and his face contorted in anger.
"Settle down, Bobby." Lila calmed with a chuckle. "Kyle likes messing around with people. Just ignore him." Bobby grumbled under his breath.
"Loudmouthed arrogant little…" Bobby started grumbling and cursing under his breath.
"Alright, Freedom Force." Fontaine got the teenagers' attention. "Now we're going to have ourselves a little training race." She held up a harness. "You kids are going to go down to the bottom of the cliff, and the first one to get back up wins."
"Oh, this is going to be easy!" Terrell smirked.
"No super speed, Mason." Fontaine smirked. The Compton-born speedster's face fell.
"Awww!" Terrell groaned. He glared at a snickering John and Kyle. "Shut up!"
"Heh heh, looks like you lost your edge." Kyle smirked.
"Shiro, Kyle, no flying." Fontaine continued. Kyle's jaw dropped.
"WHAT?" The Boston-born electrokinetic howled. Shiro nodded.
"I can go without flying." Shiro said simply. The Japanese teenager shot a smirk at Kyle. "Looks like you lost your edge." Terrell laughed at the remark. Kyle glared at Shiro.
"Know your role and shut your mouth!" Kyle snapped.
"Lila, no teleporting."
"No problem." Lila shrugged. "I can't teleport short distances anyway."
"Ace, no claws." Fontaine continued.
"Awww." Ace gave a mock pout. "You really take all the fun out of this exercise." The LA-born, 80s-rocker-dressing feral laughed at his own joke.
"Karma, no mind-controlling to help you get up faster."
"When have I ever done that?" Karma rolled her eyes.
"Heh." Bobby smirked, crossing his arms. "Looks like I'm the only one who didn't get a special rule."
"Oh yes. Bobby, no ice structures or anything like that." Fontaine smirked.
"Grrr…" Bobby groused. Rictor snickered.
"Looks like I'm the untouchable one here, hombre." The young Mexico-born sonic generator snickered.
"Oh, brother." John Proudstar groaned.
"Hey Drake, ever done anything like this with the X-Men?" Ace asked. Bobby shrugged.
"Yeah." Bobby answered as he put on his harness. "We would do this kind of stuff in the Danger Room all the time."
"Danger Room?" Ace blinked.
"Yeah." Bobby nodded. "It's called that for a reason. The room is filled with all sorts of traps and devices to test us and allow us to practice using our mutant powers in missions." He fixed up his harness. "One of the X-Men has mutant powers that allow him to invent."
"Like Virus." Ace nodded. Bobby blinked up at the leonine teenage guitarist.
"Virus? Who's Virus?"
"I'm surprised you haven't met him in the X-Men." Ace chuckled. "I thought you guys knew all the mutant bad guys. Virus is this insane Brit, around our age. He's a techno-terrorist."
"Yeah." John nodded. "We've faced him a few times. One crazy Brit. He believes that he's a machine."
"He thinks that Earth was once a mechanical planet." Ace explained further. "He suffers from the delusion that organic life, i.e. us, took over the planet. He wants to free the machines and help them retake the planet."
"Guy thinks of himself as the Messiah of Machines." John grumbled. Bobby snorted arrogantly.
"He sounds like he needs his parents to smack him around." The ice-maker grumbled as the gang attached the ropes to their harnesses.
"He's a real sociopath." John added. "He's killed a lot of people. Guy thinks of killing a human the same thing as one of us smashing a cockroach."
"Huh." Bobby noted as the gang used their ropes and harnesses to scale down the cliff. "Sounds like his wires are majorly crossed."
"Ready…" Fontaine looked at her watch, oblivious to the conversation.
"Yeah, he can possess electronics like ghosts can possess people in addition to his inventing powers." Ace nodded. "I lost a good digital watch thanks to him."
"Get set…GO!" Fontaine whopped. The gang started using the ropes to scale the cliff.
"Hey, John." Bobby smirked.
"Yeah?" John asked as he pulled up the rope, scaling the cliff. He and Bobby were lagging behind. Bobby was doing it on purpose. John was never a good climber. The others were already managing to get very close to the edge.
"Virus sounds like my kind of guy." Bobby smirked.
"You are crazy." John shook his head.
"Think about it, Proudstar." Bobby smirked. "He knows what he wants, and he's willing to do what it takes to get what he wants."
"Yeah, and he wants to destroy the planet." John rolled his eyes. Bobby reached out and tapped John's rope with his finger. "What was that?"
"You might want to get your ropes winterized." Bobby smirked as he started climbing. John blinked.
"Hey Drake, what did you mean by-" John noticed a small patch of his rope was frozen through. "Hey what-? Bobby!" The frozen rope patch snapped. "AAAGH!" The Native American powerhouse managed to grab the end of the rope that was still attached to the cliff. It left him hanging. "Bobby! Help me up here! Bobby!" Bobby stopped climbing and looked down at the yelling Native American. The ice-maker sneered and continued on his way.
"Your problem, Proudstar." Bobby grumbled. He continued climbing until he almost reached the top. The ice-maker grabbed John's rope and started pulling him up as he finished the trip.
(1) - Nightshift is the name of the team of mutants that Lucas Xavier/Legion formed. Its roster is Elizabeth Guthrie/Amazon, Theresa Rourke/Siryn, Japheth/Maggott, Kyle Dibney/Wild Child, Alex Summers/Havok, Lorna Dane/Polaris, and Sammy Pare/Fish Boy. They first appeared with the name in "X-Men: Evolution, the Musical", which is no longer up on the site.
Next: Another Mission!