Chapter 6: Getting Started
Saturdays at Xavior's School for Gifted Youngsters meant three things to Logan: peace, quiet, and boredom. He hated spending weekends on the school grounds with no classes to teach and more than enough children and teens with a penitent for trouble to keep an eye on. But, things looked to be a bit more interesting this weekend following the girl's arrival.
Jaina had found her way to the dining hall before him, and he entered just in time to see Marie beacon the Solo girl to sit with her and Gambit. Of course, the gumbo started laying on the charm immediately. Logan's jaw clenched, and he fought back a growl. Something about the Cajun rubbed him the wrong way, and he found himself as oddly protective of Rouge and Jaina as he had been of Bobby. He didn't know what was worse, Gambit's flirting with Marie or Jaina. The situation with Marie at least made sense. The poor girl felt she was doomed to a life without love because she couldn't touch anyone without hurting them, and gumbo's constant flirting just in poor taste. Jaina could take care of herself. Logan knew this first hand, only having escaped being sore after their sparing match the night before due to his abnormally fast healing, but the Cajun's advances still irritated him.
Curiosity as much as boredom drove him to go looking for her once he'd finished his own breakfast. He followed her scent to the infirmary, where Hank told him she had checked in on little Ben before going to begin repairs on her ship. Logan couldn't suppress a grin at the giddy look on the scientists face as he contemplated examining the Falcon.
"Don't spend too long workin' down here, Hank," Logan teased as he headed toward the infirmary door after checking on the gurgling infant. "Or she might be done fixin' the hunk of space junk before you get your hairy blue butt down to the garage." The Beast's good-natured chuckle followed him out into the hall.
The repair garage was suspiciously quiet as Logan approached, but he knew Jaina had come this way not long before. The citrusy scent of her shampoo still hung lightly in the air. He found her standing in quiet contemplation of her ship, surveying the damage as if she had no clue where she should begin.
The underside of the ship's prow had crumpled and peeled back under the heat and strain of reentry and impact leaving the underlying circuitry exposed, though remarkably none appeared damaged. They had managed to lower the front and rear port landing struts, but the rear aft strut was wedged firmly in its compartment. It had taken several of them and a couple hydraulic jacks to hoist the ship's side enough to place it on magnetic jacks until the damaged strut could be fixed.
Seeming to make up her mind, Jaina reached into her pocket and used a tie she pulled from it to pull her hair into a messy ponytail. Logan smiled and leaned against the doorframe to watch her work, wondering how she planned to repair the wreak of a ship without serious tools and an entire team of workers.
Jaina raised her hands toward the ravaged underbelly of the ship as if she was about to attempt to smooth the twisted metal like it was made of paper. Logan once again felt the pressure on his eardrums he'd felt the night before as the hull began to smooth itself. The high pitched groan of strained metal filled the air, causing Logan to wince and grind his teeth against the pain in his overly sensitive ears as Scott and Jean arrived with Charles and Ororo.
"Remarkable," Xavior breathed. "Raw power, perfectly controlled."
"How did she manage to learn such control so quickly?" Jean asked. "She can't have had use of her powers for more than four or five years."
"You're assuming a Jedi's powers develop the same as ours do," Xavior chided. "It is entirely possible they are born with their abilities fully developed and active."
"Lord help the poor parents if that's the case," Scott murmured, drawing a slight glare from Jean and amused grins from Charles and Logan. "Can you imagine how much trouble an infant with telepathic and telekinetic powers could get into?"
"No more than a teen with the same abilities," Ororo answered wryly.
Charles and Jean both blushed pale pink at the mild jibe, and the group fell quite for the next several moments, simply watching Jaina work. She continued smoothing the rumpled hull back to its original shape so it could be welded later. Logan had grown somewhat used to the metal's protesting groan, but the ever-present pressure on his ears was making his skin crawl.
"Do any of you feel that?" he finally asked.
"Feel what, Logan?" Charles answered.
"Every time Jaina uses her telekenisis, I feel a pressure on my eardrums like there's a sound too low 'n deep for me ta hear," Logan explained.
"And you don't experience something similar when Professor Xavior or I use our powers?" Jean asked.
"No," Logan answered, watching as Jaina finished with the damaged hull and turned toward the jammed landing strut. The strain such an extensive use of her powers caused was evident in her stance and flushed complexion. He barely registered Jean's fevered musings about the differences in the abilities of a telekinetic mutant and a jedi as Jaina unzipped the front of her flight suit down to the waist. She shucked the material free of her arms and let the overly warm material fall, leaving her upper body encased only in the cooler white tee previously hidden beneath.
Jaina pushed the free flying tendrils of her slightly dampened hair away from her face as she neared the damaged landing gear. She studied the damage, still seemingly unaware of their presence. Then, having apparently decided her powers wouldn't work in this case, Jaina reached into the compartment and began trying to pull the strut free with an obvious increase in force with each attempt. Nothing seemed to budge with the first two attempts, but the third rocked the ship almost imperceptibly. Then, with Jaina's fourth jerking pull, the magnetic jacks wobbled enough to pull free of the hull and fall to the floor. She hit the floor, rolled, and halted the ship's downward progress before they had a chance to react.
The five seemed glued to the spot, stunned and unthinking. Wolverine's first instinct was to run and pull the fallen girl free of the ship, but he wasn't sure if she could keep her hold on the massive vessel if he did so.
"A little help here," she called to them as the ship faltered under her control. "I can't hold it much longer."
The cry for help pulled the X-Men out of their stupor and into action. Within seconds the ship steadied as Jaina seemed to crumple, her arms falling gracelessly to the floor. Logan recognized Xavior and Jean's taking over as his signal to pull Jaina free. He didn't notice Scott had joined him until he saw the man move to right the jacks out of the corner of his eye as he moved the exhausted young woman out of the ship's shadow.
Logan ignored the others gathering around him and Jaina as she began to rouse from her faint. His heart was pounding, the sound of it roaring in his ears and drowning out the others. He was frightened and relieved, but mostly, he was just angry. Angry at Jaina for pushing herself so close to her limits for something as stupid as repairing a vehicle. Angry at himself for not stopping her before she nearly got herself squished by the death trap her father called a ship.
"What do ya think you're doing?" Logan demanded as Jaina tried to lift herself off the floor and pushed her back down. "You just collapsed. Nearly got yerself killed for no good reason. Keep still till the doc's had a chance to look ya over."
"I tried to pull too much power too quickly," Jaina answered, fixing Logan with a glare he was sure set her squad mates shaking in their boots before moving to get up again. "It's nothing a decent snack and a nap won't cure."
"And what if we hadn't been here? What then?" Logan demanded, refusing to back down and uncaring of their audience.
"I overestimated your supports," Jaina conceded. The calmness of her voice and expression served to further irritate Logan, and he was unable to suppress a low growl. "I won't make the same mistake again."
"Yer damn right ya won't make the same mistake again," Logan growled. "I'm not lettin' ya near this pile of crap by yerself again!"
"When was I by myself this time?"
"Enough!" Charles bellowed over the duo's shouting as he wheeled toward them. "I believe we'd all agree that none of us want to see a repeat of what just occurred, and I'm sure Miss Solo will take further precautions in the future." Logan mumbled about pigheaded women under his breath, but managed to put up enough of a calm front to appease Xavior. "Though, I think it would be best if you took a while to rest," Charles suggested to Jania.
"I agree," she answered with a small nod. She had turned her back on Logan, and she pointedly ignored him while turning to the other four. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to rest and freshen up before keeping the plans I have with Rogue and Gambit this evening."
At the others' accent, she left without looking back leaving Logan slowly turning red in anger yet unvented.
Jaina woke a couple of hours later feeling greatly refreshed. She had stopped by the kitchens and obtained a suitable snack with the help of a student. It was something called a PBJ sandwich and milk. The white liquid was an unusual form of milk but not unpleasant. After she had eaten, she'd gone to her quarters and settled down for a short nap. Now, rested and refreshed, Jaina made her way to the 'fresher to get cleaned up.
Someone knocked on her door shortly after she'd finished with her shower and was rummaging through her things, trying to find something that looked more like what the locals wore than her preferred flightsuits. Sighing, Jaina pulled on a set of Jedi robes and belted them around her like a dressing robe before answering the door. She was somewhat relieved to find Jean and Rogue standing on the other side of the door in place of one of the numerous males housed in the school.
"We thought we'd stop by and see if you'd like a little help looking more like one of us Earthlings," Rogue said, holding up a bundle of clothes and shoes.
"Actually, yes," Jaina answered, moving aside to let the other two enter. "I don't believe I have anything even vaguely resembling any of the things the students here wear."
"I'd be surprised if you did," Jean said as she and Rogue walked past Jaina and into the room. "We humans can't seem to decide what styles we prefer from one state or country to another let alone one planet to another."
Jaina agreed, chuckling nervously as she watched Rogue lay out the clothing selections she'd brought. Everything looked small, too complicated, and a little revealing for her tastes, but Force knew how long she'd be stuck here. So, she took a deep breath and steeled herself to grow accustomed to blending in with the populace of the strange little backwater planet she'd found herself on.
Author's Note: I hate cursing, and I don't likeusing it in my fics. However, Logan not throwing in at least one expletive just seemed completely out of character for him.