Katie didn't talk to Rogue after she left. Rogue hadn't even bothered to think about taking Katie with her. And in the weeks that followed, Katie had an actually civil phone call with Lance Alvers, passed notes with Pietro Maximoff, refrained from calling Toad an idiot for twenty four hours, and even managed to be nice to Fred Dukes for a while without feeling pity. She had no idea what was wrong with her.
So when they were forced to go to some stupid camp, Katie was ready to hijack the bus and just leave. Especially when they met the guy in charge.
"You will not be making wallets, neck ties, or paper weights. You will not be engaging in potato sack races, water balloon tosses, or pony rides. You will be taking twenty mile hikes, climbing mountains, and crossing treacherous waters with no more than a rope and all the courage you can muster." Katie blinked at the air, and sighed heavily. "Do you read me?"
"Sir, yes, sir," Katie answered tiredly. He gave her a look.
"What is your name?"
"Katie Jones."
"Well, Katie Jones, drop and give me twenty." Katie refrained from growling at him, going down and beginning the amount of push ups. "Hurry up or it's twenty more." Katie did growl this time, low in her throat, and thought rather heavily about touching her gloveless hand to his ankle and taking it out. Instead, she did as she was told and stood up when she was done.
"Welcome to Ironback Survival Camp." He walked toward Scott Summers as Katie leaned towards Lance. "Well, here we have a young man, Scott Sumners."
"Summers." Lance was silently laughing, and Katie smacked his stomach.
"Be nice, Alvers."
"I am, Jones." They shared a grin. To say that the two had been getting closer was an understatement. Katie actually answered his texts and phone calls, unlike with Toad and Pietro, and helped him out occasionally. When Pietro decided that he and Toad and Fred were going bowling, Katie and Lance stayed in to watch movies all night so they wouldn't have to deal with Maximoff's obnoxious voice. Which was pretty much every Friday.
So when she found that she had a crush on him... It was not good.
"...you will be following his orders," Sergeant Hawk said as he walked towards the Brotherhood. Katie shared a look with the other boys, and bit her lip so she didn't have to hear about it again. "You get ten minutes to stow your gear and report to the training field. Dismissed."
The normal kids were off before the Brotherhood and the X-Men. "Anybody know how to hotwire a bus? I'm officially MIA," Katie said, grabbing her bag. Lance, wearing gloves, grabbed hold of Katie by her arms in her short sleeved shirt.
"Whoa, girl. We gotta stay, you gotta stay."
"Actually, I can take this bus and bring you with me," Katie said, turning back to him. "I'm not staying here." She crossed her arms, black ponytail swinging.
"Well, pretty girl," Pietro said, pointing at her. "I think that if you bring him then you should bring me too. Forget the rest of them." He grinned broadly, and Katie rose a brow.
"What makes you think you're such better company?"
"Because I'm way better looking than he is."
Fred grumbled something about scholastic achievement and how he should be in charge. Then started Pietro insulting him and the Blob saying something about them being doomed. Katie thought they were so ridiculous that it wasn't worth really keeping up with their conversations.
"Yeah, I can hear it now. Search and rescue efforts abandoned for missing teens. No traces found." Katie found Toad entertaining, and that was why she kept up with his conversations.
Lance cut in. "Hey, easy guys. We'll hit them where it hurts most. In public, in front of everyone. Let's go."
If Katie was honest with herself, she didn't want to hurt anyone nearly as much as she wanted to hurt Pietro Maximoff. Perfectly understandable though. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she didn't want to hurt Pietro Maximoff as much as she wanted to hurt Mystique for beating the crap out of her the other day after Rogue left for the X-Men. And if Katie was perfectly honest with herself and the world, she didn't want to hurt Rogue at all, even if she left her for the X-Men.
But she wasn't being honest with herself. Because she thought she wanted Rogue to hurt as much as she did.
Katie was so disappointed in Lance that she was actually agreeing with the X-Men, including Jean Grey, for once in her life. They were climbing rope, Blob falling the first time five seconds after climbing up. Katie had been keeping up with Lance, her wonderfully ambitious goal. He had agreed that he would help her through, knowing that if she didn't have something to chase after that she wouldn't do it.
He did not keep that promise for very long.
After he zip lined, with Katie not too far behind, he and Scott got to the boats. Lance used his powers to make Scott fall in the water, and knocked her down in the process. "Lance!" she growled, grabbing a rock.
Spyke came up soon after herself, arm pulled back to pop Lance's boat. "Hey, we agreed no powers," Jean said, grabbing his arm. Katie crossed her arms, and glared at Lance. She felt Rogue next to her, but said nothing to or about her. Katie glared at Lance.
"Would it be wrong of me to wish you'd use your powers on him?" It was the first time Katie had spoken to Rogue in a while.
"Would it be wrong of me to wish we could both use our powers on him?"
"Not at all." Katie smiled a small smile. "Sorry about the show off. He's definitely out for blood when it comes to Scott."
Rogue smiled. "If he didn't like you and Kitty so much, I'd think that he had a thing for Scott."
"He likes Kitty," Katie corrected. "And I so agree. Head over heels for sure... Maybe Kitty is just a cover." Rogue began laughing as Katie couldn't hold it in. She saw that both herself and Rogue were getting the stink eye from Jean. And Kitty. "We might want to end this conversation. Your teammates are glaring at us."
"I wouldn't think you'd be worried about them."
"I'm not. I just so don't feel like getting in a fight whilst in a short sleeved shirt. No need to give your people another reason to hate me."
"They could be your people too." Katie shook her head, looking after Lance. "Oh, I get it. Someone has a crush."
"Coming from the girl who wants the guy in the water." Katie wasn't going to deny it to Rogue. "Sorry 'bout the last few weeks. I just..."
"Nah, don't sweat it. I'm sorry for doing that to you. I really should've thought about how you'd feel." Katie shared a smile with Rogue. "So, can I get your number? I'm tired of Pietro answering the Brotherhood phone."
"God, that's who he's been talking to?!" Katie face palmed. "He told me it was Jean."
"What about me?"
"Nothing." She saw Lance go in the water. "Nice shot." Scott ran through the finish line, and Blob, Pietro, and Toad turned up.
"Scott shoulda lost, and you know it," Blob said, pointing at the X-Men as Katie made herself scarce for a moment before reappearing beside Pietro.
"Yeah!" Pietro agreed. "Just because he slipped and took a bath, the guy went ballistic!"
"Slipped?" Kurt pointed two fingers at Pietro. "More like avalanched."
"He stole that first place ribbon," Todd said.
"No he didn't!"
"You want that ribbon so bad, I'll pin it to your forehead!" Rogue added to Kitty's comment. Then an all out fight erupted where Katie was mostly attempting to get out of it before she had to do something ridiculous because of their childishness.
And she nearly beat the crap out of the boys when they had to sixty push ups.
"Now on your feet." Katie stood up quickly, trying to show that she could take anything he threw at her and gain favor for whatever he decided the boys had to do. That she would have to do too because of them. "Here at Ironback, we have ways to weed the loudmouths from the tough guys," he said, looking at each of them individually. "We fight it out in the wilderness, against the wilderness. You guys wanna prove how tough you are, fine. First team to snatch a flag I planted up there on Mount Humiliation and brings it back to me wins."
"Cake walk," Pietro said. "I'll get it myself."
"Not if I beat you there," Kurt said, coming to stand next to Pietro in challenge.
"The whole team or no one," Sergeant Hawk said. "As proof, I want a snapshot of every member up at the top, are we clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir."
"You'll leave in five from opposite trails."
Katie was a good distance away when she heard Lance. "Hey, we don't need our powers to beat you."
"Fine then!" Scott said. "We'll play it straight, and you know what? We'll wave to you from the top."
"Good," Jean interjected. "That's the deal. We're all competing fairly, no powers. And I personally am very proud of yo-"
"Come on Jean."
"What's the hold up, boys?" Toad asks from his position up above the rest of the Brotherhood. Katie glares at him around Blob. "And Katie."
"Thought so, frog," she snorted, hanging on to the rope that held them to Blob. She glared at Lance. "Just had to make it power free, didn't you, Lance? No, no, we couldn't have Pietro hold the flag and let me take them out."
"Hey, don't blame me because you don't like to work," Lance grounded out.
"Too late." Katie sighed. "Sorry, Lance. Want me to blame Pietro instead?"
"Man, if he slips and falls, we are blubber history," Pietro said, not paying attention at all and watching out for himself.
"Fastest way to the top is a straight line Pietro," Alvers told Maximoff. "We are winning this race! Make no mistake."
They climbed like that for a while before she and the boys were left hanging suddenly. Katie yelped and nearly let go, Lance catching her with one arm. She held her breath for a moment, clinging to Lance. When she let it out, she quickly began supporting her own weight so not to be a nuisance to the brunette. "Little help here?" Lance called and they were suddenly jerked up.
Katie had the rockier path, so when she was being pulled *cough* dragged *cough cough*, rocks jabbed into her stomach and scratched her arms a little bit. She was thankful she brought jacket to hide the painful stabs left behind. She'd have to get to the top before looking at it.
"An abandoned mine?" Lance asked in an incredulous voice.
Blob nodded. "Toad's checking it out for a shortcut."
"Hey, there's like a tunnel in there that's a stair way to the top," Toad said, reappearing moments later and using two fingers as a diagram.
"Now you're talkin'! That flag is ours." Lance tore off the danger sign and walked in, Katie feeling reluctant to follow behind the boys.
"Guys, I think we should go around," Katie called. "This doesn't feel right." Lance stopped, shaking his head in exasperation.
"Do you want to win or not, Katie?" Lance asked in a growl. Katie split her eyes to the side. "Oh, come on!" He grabbed her by the arm roughly, and she let him drag her inside. She broke off in a jog as the boys began running to the tunnel Toad mentioned. They came to a stop.
"You bonehead!" Lance yelled, grabbing Toad and pushing him against the cavern walls. Katie flinched back. "We can't get through there! We probably lost because of you!"
"Lance, calm down!" Katie yelled, grabbing his arm with her jacket sleeves. "You're going to make it rain down on us!"
"I, uh, kinda figured you c-could, uh, you know, maybe avalanche it loose a little bit," Toad said, completely ignoring Katie as Lance glared at her.
"Yeah, he's right. Add a little more juice, Lance." Katie glanced at Lance imploringly. He pushed Toad into the wall before being an idiot and...
"Aww, man, it's comin' down!" Blob yelled over the falling rock. Katie glared at Lance as it came tumbling down.
Minutes later, Katie heard familiar screaming. Don't ask why she knew that scream. "Wait... Rogue! Rogue, we're down here! Ro!"
"Hey, guys, come help me. They're over here!"
"Don't leave us down here, man!" Todd shouted. "Not for some stupid flag."
"We won't," Scott called down. Kitty came down first.
"Come on, Katie," Lance said, helping her towards Kitty. "You're first out."
"You sure, Lance?"
"Positive," he replied with a regretful grin. Katie nodded, and climbing up the rope with limited help from Kitty Pryde.
Katie was almost asleep when she jumped from a loud voice warning the X-Men of needed help from Xavier, and enticing the Brotherhood to help Mystique. Still mad about the whole fight thing with Mystique, Katie wasn't sure she wanted to help her, but the prof was enough to get her movie. The two groups took a quick picture, Katie next to Rogue with their arms connecting each other since they both had either a sweatshirt or a jacket on.
Katie ran inside the house when they got there and grabbed her "suit" which consisted mostly of a tight long sleeved t-shirt and tight black legging with blue vines trailing up the side. She ran back out, changed before the rest of the boys.
Katie whistled when she found the Juggernaut tearing about the Danger Room. "Y'know, I had fits as a child, but not as bad as this," She said loudly, attracting his attention. "How are ya?" She slipped off her gloves.
"Well now. This is unexpected," Mystique commented. "Mainly because Katie came to save my skin."
"Correction!" Katie yelled. "I came to save the guy in the wheelchair! And this guy. Who is he?" She bent down next to Wolverine.
"Don't touch him," Rogue said. "He gets cranky."
"Thanks for the warning." Katie began paying attention when Jean threw the Juggernaut towards her. "Yo! Warning next time!" The Juggernaut reached for her and Katie grabbed onto his wrist, wrapping her arms around it. His whole arm jerked and flicked her away. He stared at his hand in amazement before shaking it out and regaining full control.
"Is it bad that I'm jealous?" Lance asked, helping Katie up.
"Nah," Katie mumbled, rolling up her sleeves. "But him throwing me like that hurt." Katie went in again, going for his eyes. She climbed up his arm as Rogue came through the wall thanks to Kitty's help. They grinned before Rogue unlocked another click on his helmet and Katie placed hers again his eye lids. With any luck, he wouldn't be able to open his eyes for five minutes.
The Juggernaut threw them off, and Katie hit the wall at the far end. She lost her breath, and stayed still for a minute or two. "That hurt," she winced as she sat up. A shudder ran through her as Toad grabbed the helmet with his tongue. Pietro came next to her, seeing her arms.
"When did that happen?"
"Camp. Blob dragged us up," Katie answered, pulling her sleeves down. "Don't tell Lance. He'll go ballistic."
"Come on, boys and Katie. Let's get out of here before you're invited to a slumber party," Mystique said, lifting Katie up. She passed Katie off to Lance and Pietro after a minute, who checked on her before letting her walk on her own.
"So, pretty intense, huh?" Lance asked to make conversation.
"Pretty intense." Katie bumped shoulders with him. "We should go celebrate this weekend. Movies, and I'll get my mom to send some money to pay for it."
"Sounds like a plan. Inviting those three?" Katie nodded. "Alright. I'll tell them about it Friday so Blob and Toad can have something to do." Katie laughed, and the six of them walked to the Brotherhood house before collapsing in bed.