Fireworks and Claws
Standard Disclaimer:
All Marvel characters are © Marvel, I make no money off of them, please don't sue, I have no money.
The story itself and any characters I make up, however, is © Me, please don't use or copy without permission
Chapter 1: Rollin' With the Hits
Her eyes opened slowly and then stared at the ceiling of the tent watching the ripples of kinetic energy flow through the air and the nylon fabric. Then with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, which she almost had been, she rose and began her morning stretches. She had found that sleeping on the ground made her stiff for hours unless she stretched. Moving smoothly from position to position she had settled into the final 'resting' position when she heard the hiss of bacon hitting a hot skillet. Jubilee smiled and stood up. Warming up her powers could wait until after breakfast.
Unzipping the flap that divided the 'bedroom' part of the tent from the larger 'living room' part she walked past the rumpled blankets Logan slept on and out the open door to where Logan was cooking breakfast on the propane stove.
His head turned slightly and he looked at her out of the corner of one eye.
"Go ahead and finish your warm-up. You have time."
Nodding minutely she turned and walked into the woods. Finding the nearby clearing where she practiced her powers she sat lotus style on the rock near the center. Closing her eyes she allowed her mind to wander even as she concentrated on the exercise.
Eyes closed
Hands on knees
Breathe in
Wind blows
Energy ripples and flows
Breathe out
Grass shivers
Air vibrates
Energy shivers
Breathe in
It had been a month since Logan had let her start riding with him. Fall was coming on and the Canadian forests were abloom with color. The falling leaves made perfect target practice.
Breathe out
A leaf breaks loose and flutters into the clearing on the wind
Energy ripples
TWIST compress
PAFF
The leaf explodes into smoke, ash and light
The air shocks
Breathe in
Two more leaves
Focus
PAFF PAFF
Another
PAFF
They had traded in the PAFF Bike's trailer for a larger model and she had gotten a PAFF helmet at the next town with a motorcycle dealership. They had PAFF PAFF gotten a bigger cooler, a few more cooking supplies and a sleeping bag for her. PAFF
Breathe out
Every leaf that entered the clearing for almost five minutes was reduced to confetti instantly. Then a fist sized rock flew at her head. PAM the rock was knocked away by an explosion going off directly in its path. Jubilee had learned the hard way that simply blowing the rock up could hurt just as much as being hit with it.
"Breakfast's ready."
They arrived in town a little after noon and ate lunch at the bar. While Logan stayed at the bar to drink beer and play pool, jubilee walked over to the library, about two miles away, and began to read. Logan had insisted that when there was a library, she would go and study.
If she hadn't agreed he would have taken her back to the School.
So she went, picked up some books on history, science and math and spent two hours reading each, taking notes in a three subject notebook that she carried with her. She really liked the science books, especially physics and chemistry; they helped her learn about how her powers worked. She only studied history and math because if she didn't Logan would give her a disappointed look. He never lectured her, or scolded but she knew that he couldn't remember his own history and so that subject was important to him, and she soon learned the importance of math to the sciences she enjoyed.
When she was done she tried to find one of the books that she was reading for fun, she had several since not every library had the same books. She found 'The Two Towers' she had finished the 'Fellowship of the Ring' last week. Opening the book she read until the library closed at 8.
She then made the trek back to the bar and upon arriving would tell Logan about her studies then he would teach her some French for about an hour. They had performed variations of this routine for almost two months now.
Today was different.
Some lowlife, drunk to the gills, had lost a lot of money to Logan at the pool table, and was now starting to loudly proclaim that Logan had cheated. Logan ignored the man, then he attacked, Logan countered, they fought. Then some of they guy's friends showed up, just as drunk as he, from another bar and joined in. A chair went flying, her eyes widened as she saw it headed for her, her hand came up and the chair was blown to splinters. Everyone was silent for a moment. Then with a roar all hell broke loose.
Logan stood ready, "You're sure?" In response she ran at him dropped, pivoting on one foot, swept his legs.
Or, at least she tried to. He hopped over her sweeping leg and in one smooth motion, landed and bending, drove his fist into her face, stopping just before he hit her nose. "That's a KO kid." He said kindly then opened his hand and helped her to her feet.
He had begun teaching her martial arts after a bar fight in which she had used her powers which resulted in everyone in the bar attacking them. He found that her extensive training in Ballet and Gymnastics made a perfect base to add martial arts training but as he told her, "One month of defense training isn't enough to go one on one with me. But keep working at it."
He set her some more exercises to perform and went to the kitchen for a beer. They had gone to his cabin when snow started falling and he had purchased a pickup truck. Grabbing a beer from the fridge he went back out to give Jubilee some more pointers. She was a wonderful student. In only a month of instruction she could perform each move flawlessly. Now the training on how to use the moves together would begin. He gave Jubilee a set of ten moves to perform together in sequence. And then he took off.
Arriving in town he bought some beer 'getting low' food to last a couple days and then he stopped at the library. He had gotten a card when they arrived at his cabin and had already gotten her books to study. These he dropped off and went to get some more. Three history books, one on Physics, one chemistry book, a geometry book, and the magazine 'Teen' later he was looking at novels. She wanted either 'Return of the King' or 'Speaker for the Dead' Finding the Card novel he checked out and drove home.
When he got home he found her dedicatedly working on the moves. Leaving the books in her room he proceeded to make dinner.
The kid was a natural; Logan thought as he deflected a punch to his throat and struck at hers in return. She sidestepped the strike and hit him in the left kidney. As he turned with the blow lessoning it's impact she suddenly was in a handstand and her foot hit the back of his head. He was still slightly off balance when she dropped and rolled into the back of his legs, knocking him over backwards. Even as he fell he tried to twist in order to land on his hip and roll away.
It would have worked too, if her foot hadn't struck strait up between his legs into his crotch.
His reaction was instant and instinctive.
SNICK
So was hers
BOOM
He found himself smashing into the wall and sliding to the floor almost ten feet away.
"Damn, Kid. You've got some power in you." Logan smirked and she flashed him that brilliant smile, her eyes flashed bright sky blue.
"It's official, Kid, you lasted all through a ten minute fight with me without your powers. I'm proud of ya kid."
Her smile got even bigger and the sky blue glow in her eyes began to spark "Now go read something educational, and I'll plan a celebration for graduating fighting class. You like malls?" She nodded her eyes blazing with sky blue light and sparks and turned away headed towards her room, But not before he saw tears of joy leak out of her eyes.
Grunting in satisfaction he went out the shed behind the house and pulled out the black wooden sword he had carved from oak, died black and attached silver trimmings. He had started carving the ceremonial sword a week after she had started training and had finished it only the day before. And had finished it's display stand only that morning.
The next morning he woke her early and had her kneel in the center of the floor. He presented her with the sword and again he saw the fierce glow of her joy. He gave her the stand and told her to put it in her room and get ready to go to the mall. He made breakfast and they ate.
"Ever been to the Mall of America?" he asked her. She shook her head and finished her bacon. "Well this one's bigger and it'll take us an hour and a half to get there so hurry with you eggs."
She made record time downing the scrambled eggs and was soon pulling on her winter coat. He made sure he had enough cash and followed her out to the truck.