What's with all the traffic on this site lately? Took me a few days more than it should have to post this, but here it is. I hope you read, review, and enjoy. :)

Logan paced between the three groups, scowling at each of them as he passed.

"Alright, since most of you already know how this works I'm gonna keep it short. The goal is to get to the endpoint of this maze," at his words, 10 ft tall metal walls rose out of the floor, turning the empty space of the Danger Room into a twisted, gleaming maze of steel. In other words the room looked like something out of one of Magneto's wet dreams. Pietro heard Lance whistle in awe which mirrored Pietro's feelings exactly. However, it seemed that everyone else was accustomed to this procedure as no one even batted an eyelash.

"To do this your team captain will split you up into sub-groups to navigate through the maze. You can use your powers, but keep it clean, ok? First team to get all member to the end-point wins, got it?" Logan asked. It looked like all of this explaining was taking a lot out of him. Only the few students who had been paying attention nodded their heads, but this seemed to satisfy Logan who turned to leave.

"By the way," he added over his shoulder, " I'll be watchin' from up there and if I see any of you punks try somethin' funny you'll be dealing with me."

Pietro looked up at the ceiling and saw a large dome with glass viewing panes. There was no doubt that that's where Logan would be watching from, but Pietro hoped that he would be paying very close attention. A maze meant that there would be more dead ends than Pietro had anticipated, which meant more chances for him to get cornered. Pietro was really looking forward to getting out of the Danger Room now; preferably all in one piece.

"Pietro! Get over here!" Kitty yelled. Each team was huddled together to go over what there strategy would be. Pietro raced over to his group and squeezed into the circle that they had formed in between Kitty and Ray.

"You called Pryde?" he asked, flashing her an obnoxiously overconfident grin.

"Ugh, don't flatter yourself," Kitty answered pushing Pietro away.

"Guys, can we keep it together here?" Bobby asked from his spot in the circle in between Ray and Jubilee.

"Aye aye captain," Pietro saluted, causing Jubilee to giggle.

"Oh brother," Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Be serious man. I don't know about you guys, but I want to win," Bobby said, frowning at Pietro.

"Psh, what do we even get if we win?" Pietro asked.

"We get…what do we get?"

"Beats me," Ray shrugged.

"Well it doesn't matter what we get as long as we win," Bobby said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms as he looked up at Pietro who was at least three inches taller than he was. Pietro grinned at the younger mutant, thinking all he needed was the hat, and he would make a perfect Napoleon. Kitty nodded in agreement with what Bobby had said.

"Can we stop wasting time already? It's almost time to start," Jubilee begged.

"I guess," Pietro answered plainly, "So Bobby, what's the plan?"

"Ok, Jubilee comes with me and the rest of you stick together. Jubilee can send up fireworks if we need you guys."

Pietro wasn't the only one who saw the holes in this plan.

"Bobby what am I gonna do if we run into someone and you get hurt? Shoot fireworks at them?" Jubilee asked frantically.

"Uhh…ok, Ray comes with us then," Bobby said.

"Fine with me," Ray answered.

"Ok, everyone's good with this? Good. Ray, Jubes, let's go," Bobby said quickly, pulling Ray and Jubilee away, leaving no time for the other two to argue. Pietro gaped after them, speechless. He had hoped that his partner would've been someone a bit more intimidating than little Ms. Kitty Pryde. Besides, it didn't take a genius to see that she hated his guts.

"Groups get in your place," Logan's voice commanded over the intercom. It was time to start. The smaller groups were now assembling on square compartments in the floor Pietro hadn't noticed. They were labeled A-1, A-2, B-1 etc. He wasn't surprised at all to see Scott and Evan sharing a square. From the giddy look on Evan's face it might as well have been Christmas. Pietro knew at once that it was in his best interest to avoid those two entirely.

"Come on already," Kitty said grumpily, dragging Pietro by the wrist over to a square marked B-2.

"Is that any way to talk to your teammate?" Pietro scolded, pulling out of her grasp. Kitty just glared daggers at him in return. Although he was well-adjusting to dealing with people who hated him at this point in his life, Pietro could not understand why Kitty got so worked up around him. He had not spoken to her more than five times altogether, and he figured she would have gotten over the life-saving incident by now.

"May I ask you a question Pryde?" Pietro asked politely once they were standing on their square. Kitty grunted and didn't look Pietro's way.

"Why do you hate me?"

Kitty turned sharply and looked right into his eyes, "Because! You, you…ugh! You're totally self-centered! And you're arrogant and rude! Just being in the same room as you makes me want to puke!"

"Oh," Pietro said softly. For some reason her answer caught him off-guard. He wondered if this was how everyone else felt about him too. It probably was. That was just the price Pietro paid for not letting anyone see what he was really like. He wouldn't expose anyone to that, so he acted the way he did so no one would feel bad for him; so no one would know the truth. He had been so successful at this, that he had no friends, and no one could even guess the pain he was carrying with him every day of his life. Wanda was the first person who was starting to get close, but only because she had gone through experiences with Pietro that no one else would understand.

Kitty's expression softened a little when she saw the damage her words had done, but instead of apologizing she busied herself by staring at her shoes. Pietro did the same, looking down at the dumb yellow boots he was being forced to wear. He didn't care whether Kitty apologized or not; she had no idea what she was even talking about, so it didn't matter to Pietro. Nothing mattered. He wished he could see Wanda right know, but he knew that even if he could he wouldn't tell her what he was going through. Just being in her presence, though, made him feel better because she was just as screwed up as he was. And in both of their cases it was Magneto's fault.

Pietro sighed, drawing in confidence from some unknown source inside of him, and looked up, waiting for the next instruction.