Take the Long Way Home
Chapter 9. Let's see what happens to Shawn when he enters…the DANGER ROOM! Mwahahahaha!!! *lightning flashes in the background as weird music plays* CUUTTT! *I stop and look around.* Ok, who's the wise guy who set up the stupid effects and changed the scripts? Was it you Bobby? "Un-uh; wasn't me." *Chuckling is heard from behind the X-jet.* DRACO!!! "What? That was the least I could do to get you back for that kid puking on me! As far as I'm concerned, YOU OWE ME!!!" Time out; let's recap. I'm the all powerful, god-like author, and you are a, I repeat a, as in singular, as in only one of many, muse. I don't see me owing you squat. Now on with the fic!
P.S. - marie, ummm, yeah… I'll think about it, but I've got some corny jokes and gags of my own as well. As for favorite reviewer? I'll have to get back to you on that. *Looks nervously at Legendary Warrior, who just happens to have a big sword and two very big pistols trained on me. Animeluvr1, who has whole hoards of different anime heroes at her beck and call. And D-Ark of Spirit, who has a huge shadowed form behind him (his digimon partner, I mean his name is D-Ark)* Can't you all be my favorite reviewers? "NO!!" A little help here?!? "Why don't you call one of your other muses to help you?" Draco calls sweetly. I am in such deep shit.
"AAA"-talking
'AAA'-thought
AAA-telepathy
AAA-self debate or conversation with "feral side" in Shawn and Rahne's case.
Disclaimer-Um, Duh?
Chapter 9- Into the Danger Zone
Shawn's ideal wake-up call was a beautiful girl with a twenty ounce cup of black coffee kissing him awake. Needless to say, half a bucket of ice cold water, complete with ice cubes, was not his ideal version of a wake-up call.
"Rise and shine Scales." Logan; of course it would be Logan. Who else would pour a bucket of freezing water on you at seven in the morning and sound like Christmas had come early? Immediately, Bobby leapt to mind. "C'mon Scales, you need to be suited up and in the DR by seven thirty. After the session, you'll find out how you rank up against the other, more experienced X-men and the other team, the New Mutants. Now move!" Logan stalked out, whistling, probably going to wake up some other unfortunate individual.
Shawn changed out of his soaked boxers, (Ladies let the drooling commence) glaring at his laughing roommate the whole time. "Next time, give a guy a little warning why don't ya?!"
"Ah'm sorry, but Logan said ta keep quite. Now c'mon, we got enough time for breakfast b'fore the session. Save the showers and all that fer afterwards when ya stink like a pig in a waller. Get yer gear together an let's go." Sam walked out of the room, leaving Shawn to get into his normal morning attire, a t-shirt and shorts, grab his Bo and walkman, plus a CD in a red case, and head downstairs. This should prove to be an interesting morning Bahumut yawned. You can say that again This should prove- Shaddap Note to self, do not antagonize Shawn before his coffee Damn straight
He wandered into the kitchen, heading to the coffee pot, as usual. He picked it up and tipped the spout. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that no one had put coffee grounds into the machine yet, and instead of the caffeine rich drink of the gods, he was pouring boiling hot water down his throat. At that point, the pot was halfway empty, so he just shrugged and poured the rest down. He put the pot back, wiped his mouth off and calmly set about fixing a bowl of cereal, pointedly ignoring the stares Sam, Bobby and Kitty were giving him. Rouge was there as well, but she just ignored him and ate her breakfast in silence.
"Didn't you like, notice that the coffee pot had water in it?" Kitty asked. Shawn growled in reply.
"Ummm, Kitty? I think he's the type of guy that gets mean if he doesn't get his coffee in the morning," Bobby hazarded. He turned and looked at the subject in question, "Right?" Shawn gave a conformational grunt, then returned to his Cheerios™.
After a few minutes, he finished his bowl and headed to the locker room with Bobby and Sam. He admired his battle suit for a moment before putting it on. The design was simple, a black body suit made of some sort of nano-fiber material, it allowed his wings and tail to sprout and be reabsorbed without actually tearing the cloth (it's the same stuff they made Spyke's costume out of). It had a belt with the X logo on the buckle, and two loops on either side of the belt to put his nun-chucks into. He had specifically asked that the shoulder guards be removed from the suit and that he could use a different pair of shoes instead of those glaringly bright boots. It was basically a New Mutant uniform that he had customized. He still couldn't believe that he and Logan were the only men at the Institute that knew how to sew. There was also a sheath across the shoulders where he could store his weapon when it was in staff form. Aside from that, there was also a small compartment for his CD player on the belt.
He and Wolverine had nearly come to blows when he refused to part with it in battle. When he had explained that it was part of his fighting technique, the instructor had pointed out that it would distract his teammates. Shawn had replied that he kept the volume low so he could hear what was going on around him. Wolverine had dropped that line of attack, switching to puzzlement over the fact that he seemed to need the device so badly in a fight. Shawn had countered by pointing out that he had beaten Maria in a fight when he hadn't had it. "It's a part of the fighting style I was trained in," he had said. "Not only does it help me focus on the fighting, and give me a more flexible style of fighting, it usually distracts my opponents." The argument had ended with Shawn being allowed to keep the CD player. He had however, managed to get on Logan's bad side.
Shawn slipped into the suit, grateful that it wasn't as flashy as Scott or Jean's combat gear. Never the less, he still felt that he could have fought better in his gi. He tugged at the collar. "Do these things have to be so tight?" he looked over at Sam. Sam just shrugged and headed to the Briefing room. Shawn sighed and followed. When he got to the room, he stopped in shock, and nearly swallowed his tongue. Maria was in an outfit similar to the one he was in excepting that it didn't have the CD case, or the places to store a weapon. It fit her form perfectly, hugging every curve and showing off her toned body (I can't believe this, I'm getting jealous of a character I created.) in detail. All in all, he had to take several swallows to get rid of the sudden excess of drool.
"Alright rugrats, listen up!" Wolverine barked as he walked in. "Today's session is simple. This is gonna be an extreme obstacle course, you against everything that me an the DR can throw at you. Oh, and Jamie," he looked at the boy in question, who gulped audibly. "You're gonna help me put these guys through their paces." The New Mutants all paled at this. "YESSSSSS!" Jamie whooped, streaking past Logan.
"Have fun," the feral X-man tossed over his shoulder as he left.
"Bum bum ba-bum bum ba-bum ba-bum ba-bum," Shawn hummed. Everyone else, excepting Maria gulped
"C'mon, how bad could it be?" Shawn shrugged.
"Are you INSANE?!?!" Bobby shrieked.
Shawn ignored him, he was busy taking out a small black device and fixing it into one of his ears.
"Like, what's that?" Kitty asked.
"Cordless headphones; very useful in a tournament fight. No cord for the opponent to grab onto." He finished fixing the device into his ear, and took out the red CD that he had snagged from his dresser earlier. He put the CD into the player and snapped the device back into place, then looked around. "Coming?" he said as he walked out the door. The others looked at each other for a moment, then watched Maria jog out. "Well, better get this over with," Ray sighed. The rest of them filed into the DR.
Logan's voice crackled over the speaker. "Hold onto your butt's!" he cackled. That was all the warning they got.
The DR hummed to life, as several walls opened up. Some spat out spider-like robots that were equipped with a variety of weapons ranging from buzz-saws and lasers, to tasers and long metal tentacles. Others revealed lasers and larger versions of the tentacles that the bots had. A few of the panels on the walls and floor stood up, independent of the walls, obviously meant to crush anything that got between them. Near the center of the room, a pedestal with a button on it appeared. Logan's voice crackled over the intercom. "You have fifty minutes for all of you get to the button, starting…NOW!"
Shawn jumped right into the thick of things, ducking and dodging laser bursts and saws, whacking away with a version of his Bo that the others hadn't seen before. He had separated the staff into two equal rods about three feet long, and was using them in the manner of swords, attacking with one while he used the other to block counter attacks. He had a maniacal look in his eye and a 'Christmas had come early' grin plastered across his face.
"C'mon guys, lets get in there!" Cyclops cried, blasting away at the hazards. Jean went airborne, using her powers to crunch the bots together. Cannonball was cannon-balling around wildly, barely touching ground before he was off again. Iceman, Sunspot, and Magma powered up, respectively freezing and melting targets while they advanced. Jubilee and Boom-Boom had teamed up, with Jubilee confusing the bots sensors while Boom-boom pitched time bombs at them. Wildcat was a veritable whirlwind of claws, scrapping any hazard that came in reach. Nightcrawler was dodging around, attempting to get the bots and other hazards to kill each other for him. Berserker was zapping anything that looked metallic. Kitty merely phased through each hazard.
Rouge was having the hardest time out of them all. She couldn't absorb the bots powers to put them down, so she had to rely on old fashioned punches and kicks to keep in the game. She was dispatching one of the robots, when a tentacle shot out of the ground almost right under her feet! She tried to dodge, but it came at her to fast. The next thing she knew, it had been turned into sushi by Maria. "Thanks Wildcat," she gasped. The other girl just shrugged and continued into the melee.
On the other side of the room, Shawn was hard pressed top keep the three different machines that had locked onto him at bay. "YO, CYCLOPS! A LITTLE COVER FIRE HERE!?" Scott shot away two of the offending tentacles, allowing Shawn to dispatch the saw that had been menacing him. Shawn put the two seconds of free space that he had just gotten to work, growing tail, wings and claws. He punched the play button on his CD player as he leapt into the air, with a whooping yell of "IT'S PARTY TIME!!" Most of the team gave him a look, those that weren't preoccupied with their own 'problems'.
He began to strafe the different obstacles with fireballs, performing a series of dives, loops and barrel-rolls to avoid the laser fire. He spotted a mass of bots converging on Kitty and moved in, opening his mouth wide as he readied his Bo.
Kitty looked up in surprise when Shawn bashed several of the robots 'heads' in, taking out three in one pass. But that wasn't what surprised her the most. No it was the fact that the big tough flying ninja was singing to himself in a low alto voice as he fought.
"Becky was a beauty from South Alabama/
Her daddy had a heart like a nine pound hammer/
I think he even did a little time in the slammer;
what was I thinking?"
"She snuck out one night; I met her by the front gate/
Her daddy came out a waving that twelve gauge/
we tore out the drive; he peppered my tailgate;
what was I thinking?" he sang while he landed and began to bash the bots in time to the fast paced song.
Then he began to spit fireballs again, blowing chunks of armor off and exposing wires and circuits. Each fireball was about the size of a softball and did about as much damage as a grenade. After giving Kitty some clearance, he took to the air again, leaving a stunned Shadowcat standing in the wreckage of seven different robots.
He was enjoying himself immensely; blowing stuff up makes any guy happy, be he ten or seventy, and he was no exception. This is better than the arcade! Well, it seems that you've gotten over your coffee depravation. Well blowing sh*t up is fun No arguments here kid. OOOOHH look at dem circuits fry!
Up in the control room, Logan, Hank and Xavier watched the monitors while Jamie operated the controls. "Send in about five more taser droids from the east wall," he ordered. Jamie saluted, then punched several buttons. Logan turned back to the screens. Commenting to Xavier, "The new kids good at ground combat, I'll give him that. But how good are his aerial combat skills?" He turned back to Jamie once more. "Kid," he grinned, "Send in some aerial attack bots. You know; the ones with the lasers. Targets are Scales and Red."
"Don't you think that that's a bit extreme Logan?" Beast asked. "I mean, even Jean had quite a bit of trouble with those things, and she's used to this sort of thing."
"What do you say Chuck?"
"We need to find out how well Mr. O'Reily can adapt to different situations Hank." The professor steepled his fingers, "Go ahead Jamie."
Back down in the DR, most of the team had gotten to the pedestal. The only ones not there yet were Draco,Rouge , Jean, Iceman and Cannonball. "C'mon Jean let's get this done with!" Scott shouted as he blasted another tentacle away from the group. At that moment, a hatch far up on the far wall opened. The robots that exited it were along the lines of small jets, each one armed with a single laser mounted on the nose of the craft. With a whine remarkably like that of a full sized jet, the ten robots split off into two squadron formations of five. Each squad veered off after a different target.
Jean was the first to notice the new arrivals, quickly raising a shield to ward off the laser blasts. "Scott, I need some help!" she cried as the mini-jets began to strafe her repeatedly.
"I'm on it!" he cried, blasting away at the little bots. Berserker and Magma took over the defense of their position, with Boom-Boom, and Iceman, who had just arrived at the endpoint, providing backup. Between Cyclops' optic blasts and Jean's telekinetic abilities, they were able to disable the squadron of mini-fighters.
Around the same time, Draco was assisting Rouge with the last few obstacles in her path. "Get going!" he yelled, as the bots converged on him. Rouge nodded in thanks before running the rest of the way to the endpoint. Shawn made to follow her, when his ears picked up the whine of engines. Incoming two o-clock high! Bahumut mentally shouted. 'Lets dance', Shawn thought punching the skip button on his CD player. It landed on number six. 'Sharp Dressed Man oughtta do the trick,' he thought.
He launched himself into the air as the song began blasting in his ear. Pouring on the speed, he began to fire wildly, performing barrel-rolls and double-backs to make himself into a harder target to hit. He used every trick he'd seen in video games; using the other obstacles to destroy the planes, even managing to get two of them to crash into each other! After about a minute and a half, he only had one plane left on his tail, and there was only about a minute left on the clock.
As he passed over the endpoint, he went into a sudden dive, then turned it into a double-back, so that he was headed straight for the plane! As he shifted to avoid the laser fire, he opened his mouth and spat a fireball straight at the plane! It exploded into a cloud of debris; which billowed a moment before Cannonball flew through it! Apparently, he had been attempting to catch the plane and destroy it when Draco had blown it up. At this point, the two of them were so close that there was no chance at avoiding a collision.
"OH…" Sam started.
"SHIIIT!!!" Shawn finished.
The two of them collided, crashing down onto the podium about a second and a half before the timer ran out. Coincidentally, they had pushed the button on the podium when they had hit. As the DR shut down, everyone gathered around the two. Sam got up first; his powers had prevented him from receiving any real injuries from the crash. Shawn however, wasn't in such good shape. Scott was holding him upright, while Bobby was gently slapping his face.
"C'mon man, say something!" Bobby urged. Shawn groaned for a moment, then cracked open his eyes.
"Easy peesy lemon squeezey," he sighed in a dreamy voice.
Bobby paused a moment, then started slapping his cheeks again, a little harder this time. "Say something else!" Shawn jerked, then opened his eyes once more. They were a little unfocused, but otherwise alert.
"Which way did he go? Which way did he go?" Strike that alert part. Maria chose this time to walk up, and slap Shawn right across the face! "You IDIOT!" she screeched, before turning and storming to the briefing room.
"Remind me not to get on her bad side," Roberto whispered to Sam. All of the boys in earshot nodded in agreement. The girls however, had a different view of the situation.
"How much you want to bet that she hooks up with him?" Amara asked Tabby.
"I got five on her making the first move," she replied.
"Ten says that he makes the first move," Jubilee chipped in. The girls huddled up as the betting began.
After a few more slaps, and an ice cube down the back, Shawn was alert as he was gonna get. The X-men all gathered in the briefing room to receive their final grades. Logan walked in with the professor and Hank right behind him. "Alright, listen up! Most of you know the drill, but I'll explain this for Shawn and Maria. You've all been graded on your performance in the DR. I'll read off the grades, lowest to highest. Anyone who got lower than a C will take the course again in two hours. Bobby; C. You need to work on helping out your teammates better. Ray, Amara, Kurt, Rouge and Kitty; C+. You did good, but you still need to work on your approach. Half of the obstacles you destroyed could've been avoided. Scott, Jean; B-. You need to look out for the whole team, not just individuals. Maria, Tabby, Roberto, and Jubilee; B+. Good teamwork and looking out for the others. Sam, Shawn; A-. Both of you did extremely well, but you need to keep aware of where your allies are at all times. All in all, good job, all of you. Since you all did so well, the professor and Beast have decided to give you the rest of the day off." There was a rousing, if ragged, cheer at the last announcement.
As everyone went to shower off, Kitty stopped Shawn. "Hey Shawn?"
"Yeah?" He turned and looked at her.
"What was, like, the deal with the singing?"
Shawn shrugged one shoulder. "Eh, it's just something I do sometimes when I get really into a fight." He gave a toothy grin. "Annoys the hell outta my opponents though." He turned and went towards the boy's locker room, intent on grabbing a shower.
A little while later, he came out of the shower, fresh and relaxed. Bobby, Scott, Ray and Kurt were still in the locker room, just finishing getting changed. "Hey Scott, what time is it?" he asked.
Scott checked his watch. "About nine, why?"
Shawn started changing into jeans and a t-shirt as he answered. "How bout we go get lunch in about a half hour? My treat."
Ray shook his head. "Sorry, but I'll have to pass. I gotta project due in Social Studies. At least I know Mr. Hendershot isn't automatically failing me like most of the teachers," he finished bitterly.
Shawn winced in sympathy. "Ouch." He looked around. "What about the rest of you?"
"I'm in," Kurt and Bobby chorused.
Scott shrugged, "Eh, your dime."
"Fine, I saw this little diner place with outdoor seating and stuff, looked kike the food was pretty good too. Now that we've agreed on it, lets go around…ah, lets go around eleven, beat the lunchtime crowd."
Bobby shrugged, "Whatever."
Shawn finished changing and walked out of the room. After a second though, he stuck his head back in. "Oh, by the way, Scott; since I'm buying; you're driving." Then he walked.
Scott palmed his face. "I knew there had to be a catch," he muttered as Bobby and Kurt started laughing their heads off.
That was low. I loved it!!! Bahumut crowed. Shawn smirked. I learned from the best. You Ain't it the truth Bahumut sighed.
---At Magneto's Base---
A lone figure stood in the center of the training room, staff held loosely. Suddenly, several holographic images sprang to life around him, each one moving almost to fast for the human eye to follow. The figure raised its staff and swung it in an arc. A crescent of silver energy pulsed along the path traveled by the tip of the staff, before exploding outward. It passed through all of the holograms and slammed into the far wall of the room. The figure lowered its staff and spoke into the hush that had fallen after the explosion had died down
"Soon I will wreck my vengeance upon the O'Reily clan for what was done to me!" the figure whispered in a tone that chilled the very soul.
---To be Continued—
So Shawn is treating some of the guys to a little lunch. For those of you who know me by now, you know that it's gonna be a lot more happening than just that. Wanna see what happens? Find out next time! In the meantime, Read & Review please!