Jade awoke with a groan, but didn't open her eyes yet. There was a slight pain in her hands she couldn't understand. Slowly blue-green eyes blinked opened as she lifted herself up. The light was bright and she had a flash of looking up into a lamp hovering over her hands, her claws exposed. A claw was forcibly pulled out with a tool and there was a loud scream.
Jade blinked and she realized she was sitting in a bedroom, the same one she passed by yesterday. The sunlight filled the room through the open blinds. Shaking her head she stood and looked for a clock. Realizing it was half past four o'clock Jade wondered towards the kitchen. She was having a hard time remembering what happened last night. She recalled training and meeting Robbie, talking to him about something. But what?
The kitchen was empty except for Roland. He was putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher but turned when he heard footsteps. "Ah, Miss West. We weren't sure when you'd awake."
"What do you mean?" Jade questioned sitting at the bar.
Roland looked at her, "Don't you remember?" Jade shook her head and Roland continued. "Apparently last night you asked Mr. Shapiro to perform some kind of surgery."
"I did? Wait...he actually did it?"
"Yes. Miss Vega was quite worried."
"Where are they?"
Roland gave her a soft smile, "In due time. I believe you should eat before you do anything else. Do you like pancakes?"
"Uh..yeah."
In a moment there was a plate with two pancakes on it. Jade was taken aback slightly, not having anyone cook anything for her since her mother was around. She sat there baffled, "Um...thanks, but I really want to test my claws out."
"I insist you eat something before you do. After you eat I'll inform you of everyone's whereabouts."
Resigned the Goth asked, "You got syrup?"
A loud groan escaped Tori's lips as her back hit the floor. Slightly dazed she sat up slowly. "In a fight you would've been rushed. You should avoid hitting your head if at all possible."
"This is just training Andre." Tori responded.
"Yeah." Andre nodded. "But what I teach you, you need to do in a real fight. Villains are ruthless and some won't hesitate to take you out in any way possible."
Cat nodded, "He's right. Ponnie has stated she will kill me if she gets the chance and I really don't doubt that."
Robbie was quiet, watching from the sidelines with Cat, though the two didn't have much interaction at all. They weren't even standing close to each other.
"You have powers. You need to learn to use them in battle." Andre told her, holding out a hand.
Taking the help Tori stood up, "What can I do with fire, ice, and flying?"
"Flight in fights gives you an advantage against anyone that's stuck on the ground." Cat said.
"You'll get better as you learn to be a hero."
The Irish-Latina looked at the assassin, "You think I can be a good hero?"
"For sure. Now come on, let's go again. This time I'll use whatever tricks I got."
Tori nodded and assumed a fighting stance. Andre reached into his belt and pulled out a small silver rod. With the push of a button the rod extended into a bo staff. Getting an idea Tori smirked and formed her own weapon, making an identical copy of the bo staff.
Andre commented, "You're learning." Then took a swing at her. Tori ducked under the weapon and retaliated with a swing of her own. Andre held the staff vertically to block the attack and this started a back and forth of attacking and blocking, which went on for a good minute or so. But Tori caught on and feigned a low sweep with the weapon, then went for an uppercut. Whether she tricked Andre or he let her have it, he took the ice staff to the chin and stumbled back. Tori went after him and this time did go for a sweep. The ice staff shattered on impact, but Andre did hit the ground.
"Yes!" Tori jumped excitedly, proud that she finally got Andre.
"Jade?" Cat questioned.
Tori spun around to see Jade walking in the door. "Jade! You're okay!" Tori smiled, but before she could do anything else Andre trapped her legs between his and the mutant once again hit the floor.
"Don't let yourself get distracted." Andre patted her on the shoulder before jumping up.
Jade walked over to them, "You're still training?"
"Been at it for hours." Robbie said.
"How are you feeling?" Tori asked.
"I'm okay. Did it work? Did you fix my claws?"
"They didn't need to be fixed." Tori said.
Robbie, however, nodded. "Yes. Have you tried them yet?"
"No. Roland made me eat first. Wouldn't even tell me where you guys were."
"Well try them."
Jade nodded and held out her fists. Tori watched, expecting her claws to pop out. What happened next wasn't what was expected. Jade let out an scream of pain and dropped her hands. Tori, Andre, and Cat all rushed over to her. Tori took her wrists in her hands. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know. I can't get my claws out. I can feel them but they won't.." She tried again but only felt the excruciating pain again.
Tori spun towards Robbie and glared at him. "What the hell did you do?!"
"I did what she asked. I coated her claws with adamantium." Robbie said calmly. "Maybe the process made her hands sore? Or it could take her body time to get used to the adamantium."
"So, I can't use my claws?" Jade questioned.
"I think it'd be best not to try it."
"Damn it!"
Andre patted her shoulder, "Maybe now you'll let me teach you?"
"You should let him, Jade." Cat said. "Ponnie and her gang won't stay quiet for much longer. You still may not be able to use your claws by then."
"Fine." Jade caved. "Where's Oliver?"
"He got a little more beat up then planned. He's resting." Cat said.
"Wimp. Okay, Andre. Let's go."
Three weeks passed quickly and not much activity happened. Cat did go out as Metal Lass to defeat a few baddies but the trio got left behind. Cat insisted they weren't ready. So Tori and Jade trained with Andre the whole time. Well most of the time, even Beck got involved with the training from time to time.
During the three weeks the group became close to Andre and Cat, Robbie to a lesser degree. Tori and Andre became best friends, while Cat and Jade grew to the same level of friendship. Not that Jade didn't get close to Andre or Tori avoided Cat, they just seemed to click when they talked. Jade would've been jealous of Tori and Andre if she didn't already know about the affair, which she informed Tori of. Tori was shocked about it, but didn't say anything else.
When Cat suggested they get costumes to disguise themselves, because more then likely they'd end up on the news, Tori light up like a Christmas tree. Since Andre new about technology and had smarts, she went to him to ask about making a costume. However, Beck stepped in and offered to make it. It turned out he had a photographic memory and had read every book in the Shapiro-Valentine home, there was no shortage of those. The demigod was actually quite smart.
So, it wasn't that long before Tori had a costume. She had got what she wanted too, down to the last detail. The fabric was made of a tough fabric that would take a lot of damage and have max protection. The main color was white, but there was a silver line going up each arm. It went down the shoulders on both front and back, continued down but then curved when it reached the ribs and met with the line from the other side. On the legs however the silver lines went straight down. The boots and gloves where white, with no fancy designs. She also had a white cowl made. It had a hole in the back so she could let her hair down and not have to worry about fitting her head in a cowl.
Despite the reluctance Tori eventually wore Jade down and she too got a costume. She decided that since everyone would think of her as a Wolverine clone she decided to get inspiration from his X-Men costume. Her outfit was made of the same fabric as Tori's, but there was differences. While Tori's was long sleeve, Jade's top was short sleeve and the main color was, of course, black. There were three marks designed to look like injuries from her claws on her chest and sides, three on each side. Her pants were also black with three claw marks going vertically, though she considered these designs were unneeded. She had black gloves and matching black boots. Her mask was similar to Wolverine's.
Beck didn't give himself a costume oddly. He had Andre and Robbie make him an Asgardian type armor, made of the most durable steels they had, but still lightweight. He also had a cape. When they finished it looked similar to Thor's.
With their costumes hanging on the wall Tori grinned. "This is so exciting!"
Laying on her bed, knees bent upwards and a leg draped over the other Jade merely continued to file her nails. "You're really into all this aren't you?"
"Of course! Who wouldn't be?"
"Sane people."
Tori dropped onto the bed next to her, "Turn on the news. I want to see if there's anything about that cure."
Jade flipped on the T.V. and Tori watched intently. The blonde newscaster looked from the right and back to the camera. "Thanks for the weather report, John. It's been two weeks and a girl is still missing. Rachel Barbra Berry reportedly ran out of her house and has yet to come home."
"Wait, Rachel?" Jade sat up and stared intently at the screen. A picture of Rachel was shown in the right hand corner.
"Her fathers say that all the windows in the house suddenly shattered and she ran out of the house, upset and crying. We managed to interview her friends."
The screen flipped to two girls Jade recognized. A short haired blonde and a brunette Latina with a ponytail.
"Rachel's been really worried about her cousin." The blonde said. "She hasn't been since in awhile and her house burned down. I think she went off to find her."
The Latina rolled her eyes, "That's wrong. Rachel's not the kind of person to just run off without telling her parents anything. Something happened to her."
"You're such a pessimist."
"Look, we're worried okay?" The Latina sighed. "We've been looking in the afternoon and we have no clue where she went. Someone has to have seen her somewhere."
Jade jumped to her feet and started to pace the room. Tori looked up at her. "Jade? You okay?"
"What the hell do you think, Tori!? My cousins missing."
"Wait that's your cousin?"
"Yes! I have to go find her."
Tori stood up and grabbed Jade's wrist. "And where are you going to look, Jade? Where do you think she is?"
"I don't know but I can't just sit here and do nothing!"
"Okay look. We'll get Robbie to do some looking around okay? If he sees even a girl that looks slightly like her we'll go straight there okay?"
Jade sighed. "Fine."
"Come on.." Tori gently pulled the Goth onto the bed and started to stroke her hair.