A/N: I now present to you the 7th chapter. First off.. I am aware it is SOO long – but it had to be done! I had a lot to establish. Now, the character profile things at the end of the chapter are terrible, I know.. but I wanted to make sure everyone know who was who and so on. Meh.. I don't much like this chapter.
Nellybell515 – thank you for the lengthy review and message! I appreciate your opinion, I do find I worry too much. You certainly gave me the wake up slap I needed!.
Skoolkid17 – thank you very much for your review, I'm glad you like it. I won't stop updating, but I am finding it harder and harder as I'm staring a new job soon. The end of this was kind of to your request about the the kid's powers, but you'll see them more in other chapters. I just don't want to confuse everyone.
Chapter 7: Squad training.
The next morning was a rush. Me and Charlie had both overslept, and it was only Annabell almost banging the door down that woke us. We washed and dressed quickly, with much tutting from Annabell, and sped off to our Mathematics lesson with Professor Mc Coy.
"All that rushing and he isn't even here yet... nice one Annabell" I muttered to her as we neared the classroom finding a large cluster of students chatting idly outside.
"Well its better than being late!" she snapped back, obviously annoyed that all her persistent nagging was for nothing.
We made our way over to group, and I spotted Jean Grey with Lacey and another girl I didn't know, who I was quite sure had a tail of some sorts poking through a hole in her skirt. Upon mentioning it to Annabell and Charlie, Annabell began to glare (if that was possible through her multicoloured eyes) at Jean. "Never mind her skirt, look at Jean's! Far to short.. she's only been here three weeks and already she's making herself 'Queen Bee' or whatever..." she said in a hushed whisper as we walked closer.
Jean turned and greeted me and Charlie, and then threw a dirty look at Annabell through her sparkling green eyes. "Max, this is Lacey, I don't know if you've met" Jean said kindly, while the tall, blonde and very pretty Lacey simply stared at the floor, shifting her feet.
"Ermm.. Hi Lacey" I said loudly, extending my hand. She looked up at me as if I was mad and then shook it slowly, resuming her foot staring. Me and Charlie shared a look, and Jean looked slightly disappointed by her friend's reluctance.
You can be talking to her and all of a sudden she'll turn on you, getting really angry. Or she'll go the other way and go quiet and stuff. The conversation with Bastion flashed back to me.. I guess this was her quiet.
"Have you guys seen Alex this morning? He wasn't at breakfast" Jean asked, looking around the corridor as if he hoping the tall blond would materialise from nowhere.
"Afraid not" I replied with a shrug.
"Don't mention food Jean... I'm starving. We overslept and breakfast wasn't on the cards" Charlie sighed, patting his stomach. Jean simply rolled her eyes – but Lacey's head shot up, her blue eyes widening. She let out a shriek of laughter so loud that it caused nearby students to jump.
"Thats funny!" she said, in between laughs. I couldn't help but stare at her, while Annabell seemed a little disturbed and stepped a little away. Charlie, however, turned a deep red and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Umm.. thanks" he mumbled. However, seconds later, Lacey had subdued and was now nervously playing with her bag. She really was... weird.
"This is just like him.. he says he'll do something and never gets round to it. We were supposed to go for a walk" Jean huffed, frowning. Her long red hair was up in a ponytail, and it complimented her navy v-neck jumper perfectly.
Annabell gave an audible, unimpressed sniff. Jean's head whipped round to stare daggers at her. Annabell gave the stare back just as hard, it being slightly scarier with the effect of swirls of colour in her eyes. "Is there something wrong Annabell?" Jean snapped "Did you only get an A on your last essay?" she said with scorn.
"Oh be quiet Jean, its too early for your 'Little Miss Prep' act" Annabell retorted.
Jean let out a mocking laugh. "You seem to forget Annabell, I'm a telepath!. And just because you think I don't hear your whispers when your walking over, I can hear your thoughts loud and clear! You don't even know me, so before you make assumptions why don't you have a look at yourself!" Jean shouted. Lacey was now looking positively furious, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched, staring at Annabell.
Sensing the rising anger, I raised my hands. "Guys... calm down. Its a bit early, and everyone's probably tired.." I began, but Jean cut across me.
"No, its got nothing to do with that. I've been hearing her thoughts practically screaming at me since day one here, every time I walk past her in the halls. Jealousy is a terrible disease Annabell" she turned to a slightly shocked me and Charlie. "I feel sorry for you two, having to put up with that uptight know it all" and with that she turned on her heel and stormed over to join a few other students further up the hall.
Lacey didn't say anything for a moment, but looked on the brink of either screaming or punching Annabell. She settled for leaning forwards. "Watch yourself" she said, her voice thick with menace.
Annabell had stood through the onslaught, slowly turning red. As much as she annoyed me, I didn't like to anyone get upset. "Thats enough Lacey" I said strongly. She seemed to have forgotten anyone else was there and blinked at me, dazed.
"Oh hello Max" she said simply before striding after Jean.
"Are you okay?" I asked Annabell, going to put a hand on her shoulder, but she simply shook it off, nodding.
"Does anyone get along here?" I sighed to Charlie.
"Theres always been tension between those two. Just wait until later" he said with a half grin.
The blue, furry form of Professor Mc Coy, dressed again in his long white lab coat appeared around the corner, carrying a mountain of books. "Morning students! I apologise sincerely for my lateness. If someone could take the key and open the doo-" he had been trying to fish the key from his pocket as well as balancing the books on one clawed hand, but a second later they began to tumble.
Without thinking I opened my mind to the echo in my head, and with a fling of my hands, the books halted some distance from the floor, surrounded in a purple glow.
"Ah, thank you Max!" he said with a grin that showed two long fangs. He quickly collected the books from there confinement in the air and opened the door, ushering us in.
"Nice one" Charlie said, patting me on the back.
Once inside and seated, Professor Mc Coy began to hand out thin tests we were to undertake. Annabell looked pleased with herself, and I remembered her pouring over a mathematics book the night before. "Now, when Miss Grey and Miss Stanard have finished whispering, I can begin" Professor Mc Coy said with a raised eyebrow.
Halfway through a hushed whispering session, Jean froze and let out a giggle. Lacey however, glared up at Mc Coy. She opened her mouth to argue back, but Jean laid a hand on her arm and gave her a significant look.
"Thank you ladies. Now, a simple test just to see where we all are at the moment. You will have thirty minuets, and may not use a calculator. No talking and no communicating with each other – obviously – and raise your hands if you have a question.. ah, yes Miss Grey?" Jean's hand had shot up.
"Do you know where Alex is?" she asked bluntly.
"Alex Summers is currently in the headmaster's office. Professor Summer's found him attempting to hot wire his beloved car late last night. It goes without saying, he is getting... 'whipped' as you youngsters refer to it" A round of laughter swept across the room, but Jean looked very angered by this.
"Hush now. Begin" Mc Coy said, opening up his laptop and taking a seat behind his desk.
Overall the test went.. okay. I, personally, was terrible at maths, so I wasn't expecting good marks. Annabell seemed confident (as always) and the prospect of a test had cheered her up. We made our way straight down two floors, and entered Professor Xavier's room, next to his office, for my first Ethics lesson.
My stomach flipped over as the three of us sat down at a round table to be joined by Bastion, who gave me a wink. The lesson turned out the be relatively interesting – Charlie was keeping up a long chain of hushed whispers about how hungry he was, but the way Xavier spoke made third world ethics so much more interesting. Unfortunately it was a 'listening lesson', and we didn't get the chance to interact with each other. That, however, had not stopped me from sneaking glances at Bastion, in his tight fitting polo top.
"Thank god!" Charlie exclaimed as he pulled his plate, piled high as ever, towards him. I grimaced and began to take slow, meaningful bites of my own food. Annabell was still in lessons, having opted to stay behind for Ethics to copy out extra information, and Reya, being younger than us, took lessons with students her own age.
The ever timid Samuel sat opposite us, playing with his food, looking glum. "Whats up Sam? You don't look to happy"
"Oh.. nothing really..." he had begun to trail off before a angry look flashed across his face and he slammed his fork down. "Its that Alex air-head Summers!. I hate being in his squad! All he does is bully and jibe me, he makes me feel rubbish about my power! I'm starting to dread squad sessions now" he said, the loudest I had ever heard him talk.
I frowned. "Don't listen to him. Your not the only one who doesn't really like him" I said with a sniff.
"Really? All the girls love him, all about his buff arms and dimples or something" Samuel replied with a glower.
"He's a muscle head. Ignore him" Charlie agreed, before returning to inhaling his food.
"What exactly is your power anyways Sam?" I asked, intrigued.
"Oh well... its.. it is a bit rubbish, but it can be useful too!" he said, as if defending himself from an imaginary Alex Summers. "I can.. I can swap people's powers" he said so quietly I had to strain to hear – his face flooded with colour.
"Oh.. oh right. Well.. thats certainly different, never heard of that!" I said slowly. It was rather random. "But I can see it coming in very helpful – it would throw off the other team for sure" I said with a nod. He gave me a rather sheepish grin back and returned to eating with a slight smile.
The rest of the day's lessons had more homework ("Its supposed to be summer!" Charlie hissed in Professor Munroe's lesson, earning him a cold, unimpressed look from the lady herself) and trivial chit chat with everyone else. I had noticed however, that in the last lesson, far from looking tired and bored, a majority of people were sat up, glaring at the clock, as if wishing it go faster. Charlie was one of these people.
A tall, tanned dark haired attractive boy who had sauntered into the lesson late with many apologies now sat on the edge of his seat, staring at his watch. His eyes were unnaturally blue – almost seeming to glow from there sockets. Another boy, with a two foot high black Mohawk and various tattoos sat straight backed, his eyes darting from Professor Monroe and the door.
Once the bell finally rung, the Mohawk boy practically threw himself at the door. Charlie was calling from the door to hurry up. I scooped my stuff and was practically ushered to dinner. What I got from Charlie and Reya between hurried mouthfuls of food, everyone was eager for the squad training. How could I have forgotten?
"Yours fits better – thats not fair!" Charlie exclaimed from the mirror, where he had been observing himself and had turned to see me in mine. I rolled my eyes. "You look fine" I moved across to view myself, once again in the padded black suit – my hair was messy as usual and in dire need of bleach. I couldn't but help grin back at myself.
We reached the elevator just as the most exotic looking girl did. She stepped in – she was also dressed in a black suit like mine and Charlie's – but the most eye catching thing was the waist length, thick luminous green hair. Her eyes were exactly the same colour.
"Hello Charlie" she said in a well mannered voice. He waved back.
"And who is this?" she said with a wave to me. I had been growing tired of being introduced by Charlie or someone else over the past five days, so I stepped forwards and held my hand out.
"I'm Max" She took my hand and smiled politely. "I'm Lorna"
As the elevator began to descend smoothly, I had to confess my love for her hair.
"- a lot of people ask, but its really not dyed. Had it since I was born, Xavier thinks it might be some side effect of my powers. God knows what magnetic fields have got to do with hair colour but oh well. So, is this your first squad session?"
"Yep! I just want to know who I'm with, and get going" I said with a determined feeling mixing with my excitement. Eventually the lift stopped and the three of us folded out and strode round to the X-door. I felt a sense of marvel at the subbasement, but as I guessed a lot more people were going to be in the Danger Room this time, I didn't want to come across as a stupid awe struck newbie.
The doors opened to confirm my suspicion – a group of about fifteen students filled the viewing bay. Xavier, Logan and Professor Summers stood by the controls, hands flying across the buttons. A few cries of greeting sounded, and Lorna strode over to her friends, while Charlie made his way to stand with Annabell, Reya and a well built boy, a head taller than Charlie who had straw coloured hair. I hadn't seen him around before.
Blinking, I realised a lot of these students I hadn't seen before. I suddenly felt quite stupid standing by the doors and hovered over to Charlie. "I don't know where I have to stand" I muttered, glancing around.
"I can answer that question, Maximus" came Professor Summer's voice from behind me. I turned around, frowning at the mention of my full name.
"Yellow squad for you" he said very bluntly before walking over to address his brother. Alex glowered and seemed to shrink as Summers approached. I smirked. Still in trouble from the hot wiring stunt.
"Yellows over there, bro" Charlie said, patting me on the back and pointing to the other side of the room. I suddenly remembered and left Charlie and the Blue Squad looking a little disappointed.
I felt a little sad too, and nervous. The three main people I had made friends with were in a different squad, leaving me to probably be by myself. But as I looked up, and found Bastion standing there looking gorgeous in his own black suit banded with yellow, suddenly I didn't mind.
"Here he is everyone – this is Max" he said, placing a muscled arm around my shoulders and motioning to the three people that stood before him.
"Mario Di' Costa" My eyes fell on the tall tanned boy I had seen earlier that day, with the sparkling, unnatural blue eyes. I could see the Italian in him, and really, he was devilishly handsome, with a strong figure. He gave me a nod and a grin that I could tell, made girl's melt. "Code name's Aqua though" he said.
It was as though Bastion had seen the grin, seen my cheeks flush a little and turned me a little more faster to face the other boy I had seen today. The boy with the two foot black Mohawk was extremely tall, and very lanky – his face had been cleared of the many piercings, and he looked a lot better for it. "Terrance Bennet's the name, but you can call me Blackout" he smiled, with a very cockney English accent.
The last person was the only girl of the squad, and was Japanese. She was also the shortest, only a little smaller than me. Her chin length, messy hair was dashed with pink streaks and she had adorned her eyes with matching eyeshadow. She was quite pretty really, once you got over the bright colours. Before Bastion had chance to speak, she stepped forwards. "Sasuki – but call me Suki. Or Spitfire" she said brashly.
"Well, thats all of us" Bastion exclaimed.
"Is this your first squad training session?" Mario asked, his voice smoldering. I felt myself nod – all these new people was a little overwhelming.
"Well, we don't all go in at once or anything. We go in squad by squad, the others get to watch" I felt my face drop."Everyone else.. watches?" I said faintly.
Suki let out a cackle of laughter that ran straight through me. It was the most bizarre sound I had ever heard. "Don't worry Max, you'll be fine. Bastion told us about your Danger Room session last week, I can't wait!. Besides, we haven't been beaten yet" she assured me, reaching up to pat my shoulder.
The one called Terry? Terrance spoke up. "So, whats your codename?"
That had been something I had been thinking of since Charlie told me his, all that time ago. Now I had finally found out what my powers were, and some degree over them, I had finally got one. "Its going to be Eko" I said – Suki and Mario exchanged a nod of approval "I get these weird echoing headaches when I use my powers... well... I like it" I had mumbled off under Bastion's ever staring gaze.
"I think its good" he said finally, which set a huge grin across my face.
"Students! Quiet please" Professor Summers, Xavier and Logan had now turned from the controls, and Summers was trying to hush everyone talking, although everyone seemed to oblivious.
"SHUT IT!" Logan suddenly roared, three long metal claws extending out of his.. skin! They gave a schink noise. Everyone jumped and spun round, silent, including me. I heard Bastion let out a soft laugh, right into my ear. I forced myself to pay attention.
"Thank you Logan" Summers said, with what sounded like a lot of effort. "Now, the Danger Room is ready. The order you'll be going in is decided on the squad's points – Yellow first, then Blue, then Red" I felt the bubble of nerves that had been building up inside me burst and flood all my body. "Bastion, you're the leader, come and choose the course" he held out a small bag, which Bastion placed a hand in, drawing out a disk case with the words 'SEARCH & DESTROY' on it.
Summers took the disk and turned back to the controls. "Off we go!" Suki said excitedly, letting out a horrible cackle again – it was strange to see such a strange noise come from such a small girl.
"Good luck Max!" Reya called from her squad, which Charlie and Annabell echoed the cheer.
Alex Summers however, who had been standing with Jean Grey, Lorna, Samuel and Lacey didn't share the positive attitude and began to shout a few choice words of discouragement. Bastion whirled on the spot, giving a horrible cold look I associated with him and Annabell. Suki, however, was the first to react and began to wave her fingers about in very rude signs.
"Enough! Yellows, get down to the Danger Room. Summers – do you really want to push your luck?" Professor Summer's shouted, putting a glower on his younger brother's face.
We reached the metal platform. "Ignore Alex... he's a dick" I said to Bastion, who still looked angry.
"He's jealous! His squad come last every time Ha! If he paid more attention to what he was doing as he did to Jean and Lorna, maybe they'd actually equate to something" Mario said with a laugh that Suki echoed.
"Hows your side?" Bastion asked. "Fine – Mc Coy's machines and painkillers did the job, all good to go" I replied with a dorky thumbs up. Oh god, what was I doing!
The metal platform reached the Danger Room floor and we all stepped off. I looked up and could see the viewing bay, and everyone crowded round to stare. My butterflies worsened. "Search and Destroy Max, is pretty much what it says on the tin mate. We have to search and well.. destroy two generators. As quickly as we can" Terrance explained, cracking his knuckles in preparation.
"Program Live" came a cool, digital female voice. At once the projector type devices flashed a harsh light – once I opened my eyes, I felt my jaw drop again. The Danger Room had surpassed itself. It now resembled the inside of a power station, with cramped, metallic corridors full of grates and vents, with wires stretching across the walls.
"Okay, go!" Bastion commanded, and we ran forwards as one squad. Mario and Terrance had to duck to fit in the corridoors.
"Chances are, it'll be easier for us to split up to complete the task quicker. If needs be, Blackout and Spitfire, you go with Eko. Aqua, you come with me" Bastion was referring to us in code names now. Everyone nodded, when Blackout let out a warning cry.
"Watch out!" I heard Mario shout – I looked up and saw our way blocked by a group of floating, robot type machines. "Drones! My favourite!" Spitfire called with another amused cackle – she leaped over me as easily as Reya would have and threw her hands in front of her.
Her brown eyes glossed over bright blue, and her wrists suddenly began surrounded by a floating circle of what looked like glowing blue bullets. With a screech as the Drones opened fire, so did Spitfire – small blasts of blue energy burst from her palms, so it looked like she was barraging the Drones with a machine gun, the circles on her wrist turning as she fired more.
As two Drones fell however, three more rounded the corner to join them. "Charge!" Bastion roared as he ran forwards, his fists sparking with green energy. As he launched his fist into the side of a Droid's head, it was as if his fist let loose a explosion as the head shot off down the other corridor, while the body fell with a defeated groan.
I stepped up next to Spitfire, feeling the tingling in my hands and began to blast purple bolts – the last two Drones fell. "Nice work Eko" Mario said, patting me on the back as we turned the corridor and reached a fork.
"Aqua, we go right" Bastion said. It was very strange, because he was no longer trying to act all tough and difficult, he was really taking charge of the situation. Mario and Bastion sped off down the right, while me, Spitfire and Blackout made our way down the left.
"So.. do we have any idea where the generators are?" I asked, slightly out of breath as we turned another corner. "Nope. But normally if the Drones are going up in numbers, were close" Spitfire said over her shoulder with a wild smile.
As we turned the corner, Blackout jumped back, pushing us back. "Drones, but there facing the other way. We've got the surprise factor" he said with a grin. "What are you waiting for! Smoke em out!" Spitfire urged, pushing him forwards.
I glanced around the corner, indeed seeing a group of Drones standing guard with there backs to us. With a nod over his shoulder, Terrance held out his arms, small black orbs appearing in his hands. With a well aimed toss, the orbs landed right underneath the Drones and exploded. There was no flash of light or bang, but the corridor was suddenly filled with thick, black smoke. Even I couldn't see anything except billowing black.
I felt a hand on my wrist. "Come on, hold on. When I say shoot, do it" Blackout hushed to me and Spitfire. As he pulled on my wrist, I was led blindly further into the smoke – I could hear the sparks of what I hoped was a destroyed Drone.
"Shoot!" I heard the tell tale blat blat blat of Spitfire's powers, and I blindly sent telekinetic blasts into the smoke.
"Bingo!" Blackout said, re gripping my wrist and leading us forward. A moment later we emerged on the other side of the corridor, into light and normal air. I turned to see the smoke beginning to clear a little, showing the destroyed remnants of Drones.
"Nice one!" I told him as we rushed forwards, reaching another fork. As we reached it however, Spitfire let out a fuck!. Both ways were blocked by Drones, and unfortunately, both groups had seen us. They began to advance, firing off the arm mounted lasers, hovering off the ground.
"I'll take left, you two go right" I heard Blackouts shout from behind me. In union, Spitfire and I raised out arms, blasting away. However, our blasts seemed to be falling short – or stopping for some reason.
"They've got a shilelder! Get the purple one!" she hissed, lasers singing her arm. I spotted the purple Drone, right at the back of the group, and I noticed the purple aurora it gave out – our blasts were smashing into that aurora, doing nothing to the Drones.
"Its too hard, its being protected by the other ones" I shouted over the sound of carnage. I chanced a glance behind me and saw the left side completely filled with the black smoke – I also spotted a fallen Drone and had to hope Blackout was fine.
We were slowly backing up as the Drones advanced – I had to admit the constant stinging sensation of the lasers being fired at us was starting to get irritating. My headache was getting worse too. A deflected blue blast, from Spitfire shot off the Drone's shield and was flung upwards, smashing into the roof. I noticed the roof panel come loose a little.
Instinct took over once again, and I raised one hand, focusing hard on the large roof panel. With a grunt I swung my hand down, the roof panel coming off clean and crashing downwards with a almighty crash. More importantly, it smashed straight through the shield and rained down onto the Drones. "Good thinking Eko!" Spitfire said with another horrific cackle. We spun to find the tall lankly figure of Blackout came striding of the smoke.
"Dead end that way" he muttered. He looked fine except a few scratches. He looked up and found the collapsed roof panel and laughed. "Sorted! Now, come on" He led the way over the panel and crushed Drones.
I realised then that I didn't feel nervous or anything anymore – the simulations were so real I wasn't aware of everyone probably watching. I hoped Bastion was okay.
We turned another corner and the corridor opened out into a large room, which was dominated by the large cylinder. "Jackpot!" Spitfire grinned, raising her arms to open fire.
"Wait!" I shouted, quickly stepping in front of her. I could feel her and Blackout glance at each other. "Just... wait a second. This is to easy.. way to easy" I said slowly. My eyes scanned the room – aside from the generator and a few crates it was empty.
My eyes followed the cables on the walls that curved upwards, not like the other ones. I gazed upwards and found myself staring through a transparent roof, with a large group of Drones and more menacing looking robots. I pointed it out to the other two.
"Roof drop... they've done it before" Blackout said in his ever strong English accent. "Well, the only thing to do is to destroy it otherwise we fail. We'll just have to deal with the drones"
"Wait... or we could just do this" Spitfire said with a confident grin, raising her arms and firing a 'round' of blue blasts at the cables. With a hiss they snapped in half. "No roof drop for them"
I frowned, surely it wouldn't be that easy. But Spitfire and Blackout were already halfway across the room so I caught up. "Do we smash it up?" I said with a nod to the generator.
"No.. theres a core at the top. You have to open that and smash that up. Then you run" Blackout replied with a laugh. "Would you like to do the honors?" he asked. With a laugh I approached the generator, trying to figure out the best way to climb up.
As soon as my hand touched the metal, a horrible lurching sound rung from above. The transparent roof had swung open, letting the Drones and larger robots drop down. The Drones hovered down silently, already opening fire, while the bigger robots – even bigger than the ones I had faced in my first Danger Room session, landed with a crunch of there long legs. Instead of small arm mounted lasers, one arm consisted of a huge barrel like device, lighting with a threatening orange glow, firing a large blast.
Instantly I began to fire of blasts of purple telekinetic energy, and I felt Spitfires shorter body against my back. I spied Black out, dive rolling out of the line of fire before leaping back up and swinging a vicious round house kick into a Drone, knocking its head straight off. But even as we shot back, we had become closed in against the generator.
"Too many!" I heard Spitfire shout. One of the larger robots loosed a large orange blast, that struck me in my shoulder, slamming me back against the hard metal of the cylinder. "We need some serious help!"
Blackout was holding back from using his smoke inducing powers because he knew he was the only one that could see in it, but we needed cover or something. "Eko! Can't you do something with your telekinesis!" he roared as he smashed a fist point blank into a Drone. He was looked a little worse for wear now.
"The roof's already caved in, in case you didn't notice!" I shouted back, grimacing as another blast struck me. With a shout of anger I threw my hand forwards, sweeping it. A group of the closest Drones were swept right ways, smashing into one and another. But even as they were pushed away, more Drones moved to close the gap.
"Can't you try something like that, but on a bigger scale?" he called. There was nothing else I could think of - "Fine!" I shouted, swearing as more lasers hit me. It seemed no matter how many we hit, there were more to fill the gaps.
Blackout threw himself threw the first line, so that he was standing between me and Spitfire, all three of us cornered up to the side of the generator. "Get ready" he said with a grunt – he clapped his hands together and then opened them, revealing one large smoky orb which he over headed into the middle of the ranks.
With a muffled noise, it exploded, black smoke billowing to swallow the lines of Drones. He had aimed it right so that we remained outside the cloud, and could still see. Even so, lasers and orange blasts still fired at us, just not as many. Spitfire let out a screech and released even more 'bullet blasts'.
"Here goes nothing..." I muttered as I raised my arms. I was trying to direct the energy in a different way, but I hadn't tried it before. I brought both my palms together with a grunt, and I felt surges of telekinetic energy burst forth from my joined hands. A huge shock wave of purple energy cascaded forwards, not only sweeping away the smoke, but also cutting straight through the robots and Drones.
As the last robots fell in a shower of sparks I fell against the generator, catching my breath. "Whoa! Nice show Eko!" Spitfire said with a screech of laughter. I was to tired to respond except for a nod. "Generators all yours" I said between breaths.
As I caught my breath, Blackout helped Spitfire climb up, and onto the generator. There she neared the middle of it, fumbling for a few seconds before removing a thin long green cylinder. "Get ready to run" she grinned before releasing a single blast into the tube.
We ran as fast as we could, crossing the room and coming out the other side in seconds, streaking down the corridor. A large booming noise sounded behind us and the walls rocked a little. "Wahoo!" Spitfire shouted.
"The program hasn't finished yet... Bastion and Aqua are obviously still trying to get rid of theres" Blackout murmured.
Ten minuets later the three of us came to another fork. "I don't get whats taking them two so long" Blackout said with a frown. "Obviously in trouble"
"How are we supposed to find them?" I said with a hint of desperation. My legs and arms now ached, not to mention my head.
"Follow the water!" Spitfire exclaimed, pointing to the tiny river of water that had nestled between the groove down the corridor, leading off to the right. We chased up the cramped space, the sounds of crashes and.. splashes reaching my ears.
We turned the corner to come to a identical room we had just left. The generator stood in the middle of the room, with the tall tanned Mario – or Aqua, on top. Drones were hovering up to engage him on top of the generator, but Aqua, whose eyes were now bright white had other ideas. From where I was standing I could see a floating blue sphere in his left hand and with one fluid motion he swung his left hand around him, and the sphere elongated into a thin whip.
He swung around, and I realised it was made out of water as more flew up from puddles and spills, increasing the whips size. The Drones had reached the top of the generator, but with a graceful snap of his arm, the whip smashed through the Drone's, sending them back to the ground in bits.
And then I spotted Bastion, surrounded by the larger looking robots, his fists swinging, surrounded by green. Every time he made contact with something, a small explosion of green sent the robot flying away, but more were approaching.
Spitfire had already jumped into the action, sending barrages of blasts to a group of Drones who had been hovering towards Bastion. Blackout ran over to Bastion, pulling up his sleeves. "Eko! Block the door!" Aqua called, the whip now two large spheres that shot from his hands, creating various circles of another group of Drones which fell, wet and destroyed.
My eyes found the double set of doors in which Drones and robots were pouring in. I sped into the room properly, looking around for a way to block the door. A blast in my back sent me sprawling forwards, colliding with the ground. I struggled to sit up at first, my head cloudy from the collision.
As I began to stand a lone robot stood right before me, inches away, its orange arm ready to fire. Before I even had chance to move however, its head shot off with a spark of green, and its body fell, revealing Bastion standing behind it with a grin. "Hello there handsome" I felt my knees weaken. God, even in the middle of this he made me feel faint. "Lets get the door"
As we crossed the space between us and the door, more drones poured out. I could hear Spitfires 'battle screech' and the smell of smoke in the air told me Blackout was still fighting. I turned – Aqua was removing the green cylinder, enabling him to strike the tube. But as he drew back his hand, the water now forming a floating dagger, the Drones that had poured through the door hovered up and struck him. He was sent rolling across the top of the generator, almost falling off.
"I take the bots, you shut the doors" Bastion grunted, his fists blurring as he threw himself into the Droids. The doors weren't large but every time I forcibly closed them, they sprang open again. Swearing, my eyes suddenly fell onto the crates stacked by the wall.
I raised my hands, focusing on the crates and with a grunt they lifted up – they were extremely heavy on my mind, but with a mammoth effort I swung my hand round. "Out the way!" I called to Bastion, who threw himself down, the crates flying over him, into the Drones, and coming to rest stacked up against the door.
Bastion stood up, flashed me a grin and called to Aqua. "Now!" The tall Italian nodded, launching the water formed dagger into the core and launching himself off the generator.
Bastion ran towards me, half dragging me as we threw ourselves out the room. With a satisfying boom, much like the other generator, it exploded – and everything began to fade away. Blinking from the harsh light I found we were once again standing in the huge metallic Danger Room. "Program complete – well done" came the same cool computerized voice. We all let out a unified cry of joy, but Bastion approached me, staring right into my eyes and placed his arms around me. I glanced up at him, and he leaned down, as if he was going to kiss me.. my heart was hammering more than it had during that whole exercise. His mouth was so close to mine... but then he grinned. "Well done" he said softly before removing his arms and leaning back. Tease!.
We were greeted by a lot of 'Well dones' and cheers from Reya, Annabell and Charlie once we reached the viewing bay. I felt so tired, and Blackout had a few very nasty bruises swelling – Bastion however, only had minor scratches. As soon as we entered however, Charlie's squad exited, making there way down to the Danger Room floor.
"Well dun' you lot. Not the best time.. but a lotta' smart ideas" Logan said, finishing with a nod.
"Indeed Logan – I am most impressed by the way you integrated Max into the team almost instantly. The way you executed teamwork type moves is most promising – well done. Terrance, Professor Mc Coy is awaiting you in the Infirmary" Xavier said. With a relieved look, Terrance raised a hand in parting and slouched out of the doors.
The Red Squad still stood over to the side. "Well done Max!" Jean congratulated "Its a bit scary, your first session, isn't it?" she mused. "I'm looking forward to watching you" I replied with a polite smile. Alex sauntered over, placing a hand around Jean's shoulders.
"Nice work Maximus. Beginners luck eh?" he sneered. I opened my mouth to reply but decided he wasn't worth it and ignored him. Luckily, Bastion called me over to the control panel where Suki and Mario stood too.
As I walked over, I heard Jean's voice. "Do you always have to be such a jerk, Alex..."
"All new additions to the squads are able to look at the Squad stats – just so you have a fair understanding of what your up against and so on" Professor Summer explained, staring with that strange visor. He pointed to one of the monitors and I began to read. There was a picture of each member, with some very basic information next to it:
Yellow Squad:
Leader – Bastion.
Real Name: Bastion Mills
Age: 19
Mutant Power: Able to radically increase molecule activity to create bursts of energy around fists, the molecular activity also greatly increases his healing process.
Aqua
Real Name: Mario Di' Costa
Age: 19
Mutant Power: Hydrokenisis – the psionic control of water.
Blackout
Real Name: Terrance Bennet
Age: 17
Mutant Power: Able to create spheres of thick black smoke. Only his own eyes are able to see through the smoke.
Spitfire
Real Name: Suki Ayame
Age: 16
Mutant Power: Able to release energy blasts through hands.
I then came across my own picture.. it was terrible!
Eko
Real Name: Maximus Clarke
Age: 18
Mutant Power: Telekinesis. Psionic energy generation.
Blue Squad:
Leader – Furnace
Real Name: Charlie Brooks
Age: 18
Mutant Power: Able to convert body parts into pure fire, which he has a certain level of control over. Also immune to high temperatures.
Celestia
Real Name: Annabell Race
Age: 18
Mutant Power: By tapping into mystical energies radiated from stars and space itself, she can convert herself to a near indestructible form of 'stars'. Along with flight and super strength she can also charge objects with the same energy that composes her Celestial form.
Dasher
Real Name: Reya Richardson
Age: 14
Mutant Power: Superhuman acrobatic abilities, super flexible body and increased muscle mass.
Trainwreck
Real Name: Thomas 'Tommy' Tiles
Age: 19
Mutant Power: Super Strength and Super Durability – can also use bursts of Super Speed. However he is unable to change direction.
Red Squad
Leader – Havok
Real Name: Alex Summers
Age: 18
Mutant Power: Absorb ambient cosmic energy, process it and emanate it from his body as waves of energy that heat the air in the path, turning it into plasma in the form of a blast or discharge, with a tell-tale concentric circle pattern.
Transfer
Real Name: Samuel Cody
Age: 17
Mutant Power: Can switch powers with someone when touching them. Can also act as a middle man and switch two other's powers
Polaris
Real Name: Lorna Dane
Age: 18
Mutant Power: Magnetic field manipulation.
Jean Grey
Real Name: Jean Grey
Age: 19
Mutant Power: Low level telekinetic. High level telepath.
Muse
Real Name: Lacey Stannard
Age: 19
Mutant Power: Is able to 'mind control' someone once she has touched them. However, she must re-touch the person every few hours to maintain strong control.
I stepped away from the console, taking it all in. "Some of you guys can do some seriously cool things" I said with a laugh. Pain shot through my head like a cleaver and I grasped my head with a hiss. Bastion was at my side, looking concerned. "Just a head ache.. I'm a bit tired..." I muttered. Xavier, however, was giving me the X-ray stare. "Bed. Now Maximus. We can forget about our lesson tonight".
Bastion offered to walk me back to my room, but I felt too embarrassed. I obviously wasn't as adept as I thought I was with my powers. I would also miss watching everyone else's squads, but the pain was making me feel ill. Once I reached my bed I wasn't sure if I fell asleep or passed out. Either way, I was out like a light.