I own nothing in this fic
Danny stood outside of the Danger Room the following Monday morning in his New Mutant uniform. With him were Magma and Berzerker. They were waiting on the number four of their group, Twilight. The combined efforts of the Professor and Kitty managed to convince Max to try out using his powers around others within the confines of the Danger Room. As for Twilight, it was what Max had decided would be his code name.
As Danny waited, he thought back over the day before. He had gone back to Amity to help convince Tucker's and Sam's parents to let them come to the institute. Tuck's parents didn't have a problem since he would still be in school. Sam's parents wanted nothing to do with her leaving for a freak school, until her grandmother told her to go. When they tried to put their foot down, Grandma Manson threatened to remove their wealth from them, seeing as how she really owned most of it.
But in the end, both Tucker and Sam moved into the institute.
The one thing that did get Danny was the fact that not a single ghost has shown up in the past two days. Not that he was complaining, it was nice to take a break from the fighting, but something just didn't feel right about it to him. The Box Ghost alone shows up at least once a day, if not more.
Max's approached shook Danny from his thoughts, "hi guys."
They looked up and saw him in his own New Mutant uniform and a bit nervous.
"Hey," said Danny giving a half smile, "ready to kick some metal can?"
Max gave a shaky nod, and the four walked into the Danger Room.
They looked up to the control room to see the Professor, Logan, Hank, and Tucker in it. Hank and Tucker were off a bit to the side working on something as well as in deep conversation.
"Alright Twilight," came Logan's voice over the intercom, "this is your first run with a team. It's not the full team because we know you're still not comfortable around others. Just watch their backs and they'll watch yours. You all need to run the course as a group and score above five hundred points."
The group nodded, and head off to start the run.
Up in the control room, Logan and the Professor watched as Twilight and the others began working together. Twilight used his shadow creatures to scout the area ahead to point out where traps were, and the others were able to take them out.
Over to the side, Hank and Tucker were working on a separate computer system. Tucker had been asking ever since he got to the institute to check the things out, and he just gaped at what he saw.
"I can't believe this, not only are you using a Swiss cheese version of a Romus XP firewall," exclaimed Tucker, "but your antivirus is way outdated, five programs running trying to all do the exact same thing in different ways, and your working at half the RAM you should be."
"Those programs are the safety commands of the Danger Room, so leave those alone," replied Hank, watching over Tuckers shoulder as he tried to keep up with the teenager. Screen went by so fast that it was starting to give the scientist a headache, but Tucker seemed like it was normal for him as his hand flew over the keyboard. Hank pinched his nose seeing it as he went on, "and what do you mean by half the RAM? We have more the five hundred Gigabits of RAM working for the Danger Room."
Tucker actually stopped and looked over his shoulder, "you're only working with five? No wonder your burning parts out so fast. Something like this, you need at least a Terabyte of RAM, more if you can get it."
Hank gave the boy a look, "A Terabyte, isn't that over doing it a bit?"
Tucker laughed as he went back to the computer, picking up the same speed as before, "are you kidding? The more RAM you have, the less your computer will freeze up, the less you need to replace it, as well as other parts, and you'll actually be able to do more with the computer then before. Like for those holo simulations. You could run them longer, smoother, and you'll be able to put more into them."
Tucker continued to look through the computer as Hank stood and thought it over. They didn't use the Danger Room's computers at full power because of those problems. They only ever had one console running most of the time, and when more would be up they had a tendency to freeze. And the holo simulations weren't often used because a good third of the time they would go down, and the scenery could never be full expanded as it could be.
Tucker stopped, seeing a stranger file, "hello, what's this?"
Hank looked over Tucker's shoulder at the file. It was named 'Sunhcet.exe,' and it wasn't a file he had seen before.
"I don't know, open it and we'll find out," said Hank.
Tucker nodded, not assuming the file could be anything bad on these computers.
"Safety Protocols offline, engaging full Danger Room sequence," came the automatic voice.
Tucker blinked as text came up on the screen. He read through it aloud, "You fools, for you have unleashed the room's full power upon opening this file. For I, Technus, left this within your computer so that the weapons room would not only kill all human kind, but also learn and grow to where it can grow and stop any aggressor." Tucker looked back at Hank, not need to read the rest of the fifteen-page speech, "oh shit."
"PROFESSOR, HELP," came Amara's scream. They looked out to see everyone weapon within the Danger Room activate and aim at the four teenagers. Ghost was in front, fighting them off as best as he could, right behind him was Magma and Berzerker letting loose everything they had. Right behind those two was Twilight, doing his best to control his shadow creatures and help out where he could.
Tucker went back to the computer, his hands flying over the keyboard at twice the speed, panic written over his face.
"I'm going in there," cried Logan, who turned and ran out at full speed to the Danger Room.
'Damn it, this code's complex,' thought Tucker, watching as screens passed by in half a second, just having enough time to see the information he needed.
Hank moved to help, when the Professor stopped him, "Hank, he knows what he's doing. We'll only slow him down."
"No," said Tucker, "I need him to run a reverse pattern trace. It'll take to long if I do it, because I have to wait for that, and I've got a million other things to worry about."
Hank nodded, "alright." He moved to the keyboard, his own paw like hands flying with practiced skill.
The Professor looked back into the Danger Room. Ghost was still standing, but barely, as he smashed another weapon. Magma was in full magma form for added firepower, but she was hurting to, since one arm was just hanging limp. Berzerker was completely out cold on the floor, and Twilight looked close to passing out. The boy had blood running from his nose and a bit out of the sides of his eyes from using so much of his power.
The Professor sent out a call to all of the mutants, then concentrated on those still standing in the room, "Focus, all of you, help is on the way. We are doing everything we can to shut it down," he sent telepathically, being that the intercom went down with everything else.
"Hurry Professor," shouted Magma as she melted a spiked mace that had been sent flying at her. She didn't see the fireproof tentacles come up behind her. In a quick snatch, legs, arms, and neck became bound as she was lifted into the air. From above, a buzz saw started coming down right for her neck. She screamed.
"C'MON," shouted Tucker, screens flashing by even faster.
"Tucker, 15.27.18," shouted Hank.
Tucker shouted his thanks, knowing what Hank meant. He followed the path back to where a file was, which Tucker accessed.
"Mess with the best," said Tucker, altering the code of the ghost's virus, "fail like the rest." With the hit of the enter key, the automatic voice kicked in.
"Safety Protocols online. Disengaging full Danger Room sequence. Shutting down Danger Room."
Tucker sighed as he leaned back in his chair exhausted, seeing that in fact, the Danger Room was shutting down. That had been the most complex code he has ever come across, and this coming from Technus was a surprise. Add to the fact that four people, one of which was his best friend, nearly were killed.
Tucker looked back at the file that caused the trouble, when it clicked. "Oh god, how stupid could I have been."
The Professor, who remained with Tucker, looked over curious. Hank had run off once the danger had passed to help check over the four New Mutants. "What is it Tucker."
"The file, the name's a freaking billboard and I didn't see it till just now," he replied. "Sunhcet is Technus spelled backwards. It's my fault."
The Professor wheeled over and placed a hand on his shoulder, "it's alright Tucker. We had no way of knowing. We would have come across it at some point."
Tucker could only nod, while looking over the now useless code. His eyes went wide, "I guess it is a good thing though. This was set to go off in the next day. Midnight would have started the code, and the next time it was brought up online, the virus would become active. Had it been a single person session, they would have been killed, and we would have been screwed."
The Professor nodded, "then I suppose it was a good thing we find it now, rather then that happened. But it's already in the past. Now come, let's see how they are."
With that, he began to roll out of the Danger Room.
Tucker followed after a moment, thinking, 'coming here was definitely a bad idea.'
Danny slowly woke later that day, having been exhausted from the run in the Danger Room, and god did he hurt. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in Med Lab. Looking around a bit, he saw Max and Ray also out cold, and Amara awake but look bored with a cast on her arm.
She looked over and saw he was awake, and waved with her good arm. "Hey," she said quietly.
Danny nodded in her direction, still not all there mentally.
Becky came in, teddy clutched in her arms, fresh tears in her eyes. "Danny," she said quietly, "your awake."
Danny nodded, "yea, and I wish I was still out cold."
Becky didn't even smile at Danny's try for a joke. She flew in close and put her arms around him and cried softly.
Danny became concerned, patting her gently, "Becky, what's wrong?"
"Your hurt," she replied, looking up with fresh tears, "and I didn't help you. I'm sorry."
Danny gave the scared girl a kind smile, "hey, its ok. I would rather you stay safe then get in the middle of a fight."
"But I still should of helped," she stated, going back into his arms.
Danny just sat with her quietly as she sobbed into him. Amara watched with a small smile.
"She really is special," she said out loud in thought. Danny just smiled and gave a nod.
When his stomach growled, he looked at the fire starter, "what time is it?"
Amara looked at the clock, which was right next to her, "quarter past two. The others showed be home soon."
Danny nodded when the door opened.
In walked his mother, who stopped when she saw him up.
"Danny," she gasped. Quickly but quietly she moved to his side and brought him into her own hug, being careful of Becky. When they broke apart, Maddie was giving him a look over, "Danny, how are you feeling?"
"Tired and hungry," he replied, his stomach growling in agreement.
Maddie smiled at her son and looked to Becky, "sweetie, can you go see if someone would bring down some food and tell Hank Danny's awake."
Becky gave a slow nodded, and with one final squeeze, she flew up and through the ceiling.
Maddie looked back to Danny after she watched Becky go through. "I'm so proud of you," she said.
Danny looked back confused, "Why?"
"Even though Hank said most of the systems were down, the camera systems were still active," said Maddie. "We saw how well you defend the others. And I can't tell you how proud I am of you. And I know your father in the same."
Danny just gave a kind smile, "thanks mom."
The door opened again to revel Hank, along with Rogue and Kitty.
"I here our resident half ghost is awake," said Hank with a smile.
Danny smiled as his mother moved away a bit for the doctor to get in, "yea, though I kind wish I wasn't."
Hank nodded as Rogue held back so as not to get in the way. Kitty though went over to where Max laid still, sitting next to him. She moved his black hair out of his closed eyes and just watched him sleep.
After a few moments, Hank proclaimed that after a couple of days rest, he would be good as new. With that, he and Maddie left, leaving Rogue and Danny.
Danny just sighed where he lay, "I can see why you don't like waking up in here."
She smiled as she moved up, taking Maddie's now empty seat, "ya, thou a lot of people find it funny on how ah have the record of waking up in here."
Danny nodded in understanding. He smiled, "at least I've got something beautiful to look at."
Rogue blushed a bit, "flatter."
Jean placed her textbook down on her desk with a sigh. She had two essays to write for English and Biology. Add on top of that her math homework and studying for the history test for this coming Friday.
It was turning out to be a long week, and it was only Monday.
The door opened and she heard Jazz, her roommate, enter.
"God, is it always this bad here," she asked, putting her backpack down on her bed.
Jean looked over, "being exposed as mutants doesn't help things."
Jazz just nodded as she rubbed her temples from a headache she's had from most of the day. Pietro tried again to ask her out, and it finally took her screaming in his ear that she wasn't interested to get him to leave. And the add workload for school didn't help ether.
Jean smiled at that. She adds to try and make Jazz fell better, "at least you've got someone to study with."
Jazz gave a small laugh at that, "yea. But I don't think I could really study right now with Danny still in the infirmary." After a moment she stood and made her way to the door, "I'll think I'll go check on him."
Jean looked over, "I think Kitty and Rogue already went down."
Jazz stopped for a moment and looked over, "your point being." Then she stopped and realized that Rogue was Danny's girlfriend. She still wasn't used to that.
Jazz looked over at Jean and saw that the telepath knew Jazz figured it out, and sighed, "Fine, I'll give them a few minutes before I poke my head in. I think I'll go grab a quick bit before dinner."
Jean nodded as Jazz left, and began sorting out the books she needed to work with.
Then she felt someone else enter.
"Scott," she said without turning, "haven't you ever heard of knocking?"
His voice replied, "yes."
She turned and looked at him as he did his best to hide a smile, "I could have been changing, and you do know I have a roommate now so you can't just barge in."
"Well," he started, "I just saw your roommate leave, so I know she wasn't in here, and I would have known if you were changing."
She raised an eyebrow, "oh really?"
He just smiled back, "yes really."
He pulled her into a kiss, not that she was complaining. When they broke apart and she looked up into his shades, "so slim, what can I do for you?"
"I'm going out with Tucker and Sam to help get them things to help them settle in," he replied. He went on, "and I was wondering if you would be interested in joining us."
Jean sighed, "I'm sorry Scott, but I've got way to much school work to deal with. I'm just to swamped to go out and do anything." She looked up with pleading eyes, showing that she really did want to go.
Scott just smiled, "its ok, I understand. I thought I would at least ask you before I left and ended up getting chewed out."
She smiled, "now why would I do a thing like that?"
Scott laughed and was going to reply when Kurt stuck his head in.
"Does no one knock around here," asked Jean as she threw her arms up.
Kurt just blinked in confusion, then looked Scott, "vhat did you do now?"
Scott just glared at the teleporter, "what do you need Kurt?"
"Oh, can I get a ride vith you to the mall," said Kurt, "I'm going to meet vith Amanda there."
Scott nodded and walked over to the door as Kurt's head disappeared. He turned back for a moment, "I'll see you later Jean."
She smiled at him, "of course you will."
And with that he left.
Jean turned and sat down at her desk with a smile. She opened her Biology book to the chapter she needed to work from and began reading. She got the second line when she stopped with Scott in her thoughts. After a few moments of thinking about her boyfriend, she decided that she really couldn't work right now with everything that was going on.
She nodded to herself with the thought that she could just work with Jazz later and stood back up.
"Maybe I'll go see if she's still in the kitchen," Jean thought aloud. And with that, she left to go find her friend.
With thoughts of Scott still in her head, which sent a pleasant tingle down her spine.
I apologize if the ending was a bit weak, but alot of this chapter was mainly filler. I also need at least one Scott/Jean moment, so I went ahead and put it in here. So just tell me what you think with a review. It just takes a minute out of your time anyway.