She should have been able to run faster since she was phasing through anything that landed in her path. But the thick fog of debris that hung in the air from all the explosions going on around her made vision impossible. She could feel them still chasing her and not being able to see them made her beyond paranoid. Why they were ganging up on her she didn’t know, she figured they’d try to take out the strongest first. But ever since the world ‘go’ she felt like she became the instant mouse in this sick cat trap game.
Not hearing the heavy stomping that had been following her she risked a look behind her. So far she’d been ten steps ahead of all of them but that one mistake ended up being the end for her. Not watching the front of her, her shins collided with the wooden beam that was sprawled out across her path. She went flying to the ground and landed hard on not the ground but something else. She flinched when the ‘boom’ resounded in her ears.
“Kitty, you’re dead,” Logan’s voice was ominous in the air.
“Dangit!” she jumped up to her feet. The brick wall in front of her cracked and groaned until a door appeared. She walked into the control room and sat beside David.
Huffing her crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, “This whole Battle Royal thing sucks.”
Logan turned his head slightly from the view screen so that she could see the look he gave her then went back to watch the various fights happening in the Danger Room.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Marie said from the other side of David, “I was out in like, two seconds. Everyone made SURE all their skin was covered before we even started.”
“How long you gonna whine about this, kid?” Logan teased, though he kept his eyes on the action.
“Until my mutation kicks ass too.”
“Yeah well I was out before either of you,” David pointed out, although he didn’t look very upset about it.
“How did that happen anyway?” Kitty asked him, “I mean, you turn invisible, right? You could have just hid somewhere till everyone else was out.”
“I didn’t exactly *mean* to step in front of Bobby’s ice blast. Which technology wouldn’t have killed me,” he said to Logan.
“If it’d been the Brotherhood it’da killed ya." Logan pressed the intercom button, "Hey, Yellow. You’re out!”
“Kitty!” Jubilee shrieked as soon as she stepped into room, “That little brat of yours transported me right into a damn mine!”
“Good.” Kitty stuck her tongue out at her.
Marie tried to tune out her friends’ continued bickering but it escalated into high pitched name calling. She patted David’s knee, who was covering his ears with his hands, and stood up and slowly made her way to Logan standing in front of the window. Leaning against his side she lightly rubbed his back with her left hand.
“How’s she doing?” she asked quietly, making sure the others couldn’t hear.
“Who?” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, making sure to keep one on the Danger Room.
“You know who,” Marie grinned on him.
His face cracked a little bit, the corner of his mouth twitching up slightly, “Good. She’s doin’ real good.” She nodded and tried to search the destroyed city for some sign of her. All she saw was Peter throwing rubble around and the occasional silver light that accompanied Chava’s movements.
************
She sat crouched behind the rumble of a concrete wall watching the silver sprite flashing across the war zone. Her strategy so far had been just to avoid the attacks they were throwing out willy-nilly at the beginning and just let the competition wipe themselves out. But now she was bored and the game had officially last too long. Slowly she eased one of her daggers out of her knee high boots and held it in anticipation.
The flash appeared a foot in front of her and she sprang. Grabbing the girls arm she threw her against the wall she had been hiding behind and pressed the knife against her throat before she was even able to scream.
“Dead,” Ricochet smirked at her.
“Chava, you’re out,” Logan’s distant voice affirmed her claim.
Chava pushed the other girl off her playfully before going through the door that appeared out of a dumpster to her right.
*************
All the guy had done was throw ice shards at him. And they were pretty sharp too except for his aim was completely crap and he just sprayed them in any general direction, so dodging them was beyond easy.
Philip could see how all the attacks were tiring the Iceman out and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would melt or not. But he decided he didn’t have the time to wait because the calls of hits where coming more often from over head and he figured there couldn’t be too many players left in the game. Beside him a down power line laid on the ground and a smile spread to his lips. He picked it up, using his mutation to keep the electricity away from his body.
Bobby’s eyes widen and he turned to run but made three steps before the thick black wire slammed into the side of his body and wrapped twice around his mid-section.
“You’re dead, Ice-cube,” Logan called out through the intercom system.
Bobby turned to glare at the boy who responded by saluting him before running off and disappearing into the rubble.
******************
“Tell me what the hell we’re supposed to get out of this?” Bobby sneered and sat beside Kitty, making sure to wrap an arm around her waist when he saw how close Marie was pressed against Logan.
“Don’t start bitchn’ now, Drake. I was starting to think you were doing alright,” Logan turned around then. His face was light and happy and his arm was nonchalantly laid across Marie’s shoulders.
“You just like watching us all get our ass kick,” Jubilee accused him.
“You got me there.” Logan admitted, “But, you’re also supposed to be learning something.”
“Like what?” Bobby sneered.
“Drake you got to think about stamina and making a damn hit, you didn’t take anyone out. Kitty, you need to be more confident. You took your self out, for fucks sake. David, you weren’t watching were you were going, which is dumb as shit in the middle of a fight. Chava, you fucking transported so fast and all over the place you didn’t know where the hell your head was anymore. Jubilee you let yourself get distracted, go figured,” Logan snorted.
“You didn’t tell Rogue how she screwed up,” Kitty pointed out.
“Kid,” he stared, hugging her tightly to him, “You fucked up big time. You ran around like a chicken with you head cut off till Philip was nice enough to take you out of your misery. It really was painful for me and little David over there to watch.”
“I’m not little!” David yelled.
Marie however went for elbowing him in the gut. He ‘humpf’ in pain, but there was still a smile all over his face.
“Sorry, darlin’, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em.” He grinned at her; the one he knew always made her blush. It had been a couple of days since their yelling match in the garage and things between them weren’t weird anymore. In fact they were a lot easier now then they’ve ever been. Now if he got the urge to touch her he didn’t feel like he needed to suppress it, else it’d make him a perverted bastard. And she wasn’t as nervous or embarrassed around him anymore, just kind of relaxed, which only made him want to touch her all the more.
The door slid open and they all jumped. Philip step through, rubbing his back. He looked up to find questioning eyes looking him over.
“Ricochet threw me off a roof,” he explained with a groan and carefully eased into the closest empty chair.
************
Colossus was providing a bigger problem then she thought he would. She never had to actually fight him before; at home he almost never trained with the team. She watched as Philip threw everything he had at him and only managed to knock him off his feet for a while. Of course she took the opportunity to get rid of him while his attention was else where.
Already she had emptied three clips from her gun and swore each time the bullets bounced off his metallic skin and he never so much as flinched. She was out of distance ammunition and now she was left with nothing but close range attacks.
“Ahh!!” she screamed jumping out of the knocked out dark window and grabbed him around the neck. He tried to reach behind him to grab her but his large, bulky arms couldn’t bend that far. Pulling out one of her dagger from under her shirt she rammed it as hard as she could into the space between his neck and his shoulder blade but the end of her knife only bent back, not even scratching his armor.
Peter was finally able to reach around his waist and grab her ankle. He threw her off of him where she landed ten feet away in a pile of wooden crates.
“Fuck!” She snarled and lifted to her feet, kicking the scraps of wood away from her. She had three knives left, not that it mattered, they were completely useless. The ground around her trembled slightly with his approach and she search around her for some kind of escape.
Her mind made up she jumped and grabbed the flag pole hanging just above her head. Using her body weight she swung around it and into the window just above, disappearing into building.
He was amazed at the rate she was moving, the only clue he had that she was still even in the room with him was that he occasionally saw her jumping out of windows from one building into another. There was no point chasing her, at some point she’s come to him, it was the only way she could win.
Suddenly it got very quiet in the simulation. With only the two of them left the others weren’t landing on land mines or setting of any of the other booby-traps making it dead silent. He stomped around, keeping his eyes on the windows around him figuring that’s where she’s come out of.
“Ugh,” he grunted when something heavy collided with the back of his head. He jerked around but his forehead clenched in confusion. There was absolutely no one behind him. Waiting, he watched the surrounding windows but there was no sign of movement. He took a step forwards only to have something else hit him from the opposite direction.
Again he turned and there was nothing or no one, aside from the two chunks of concrete now lying at his feet. From the beginning this had all been just a game to him but now that she had literally tried to stab him and cave his head in twice his was starting to tire of it.
Then he heard it, the tiny squeak of wood to his left. Wanting to end the game he marched over there and ripped the door of its hinges, expecting to see a scared little girl behind it. Instead a heavy sand bag swung toward him and exploded as soon as it collided with his face.
The dirt debris stuck to his eyeballs blinding him and he coughed vigorously to try and dislodge the particles that went down his throat when he foolishly gasped in surprise. He managed to stumble out of the doorway of the building back into the street but still couldn’t see anything. In his head he cursed her in Russian; if he’d known she’d take the game this far he would have just forfeited.
As soon as he was out in the open something else heavy collided into the side of him. Furious he roared and ripped it off of him, throwing it as hard as he could. He heard it plough through the solid brick walls of the opposite building and braced himself for whatever she was going to throw at him next.
******************
"No!" the strangled scream escaped Logan's throat before he had a chance to stop it. Beside him he could hear Marie crying out something similar.
Willing his heart out of his throat, he slammed his hand down on the emergency abort button. The door wouldn't open fast enough; panic was being to over take him. Pushing against the heavy metal doors he willed them to open faster and as soon as they allowed enough room he squeezed through.
"Ricochet!" He yelled running up to the center of the street.
Peter gawked at him in confusion, "Logan, what are you..." He couldn't get the sentence out because Logan had grabbed him around the neck and thrown him across the street.
"What the fuck is the matter with you, tinman?!" He snarled and Peter could only blink at him, it was obvious he was completely lost.
Frantically Logan ran over to the pile of rubble and began throwing bricks away, not caring which way they went. With each chunk his 'come on, come on' plea became louder and more desperate.
Just as he stretched to grab another piece the whole pile shifted. A small hand came up, throwing rocks away.
Ricochet sat up, dirt sliding off her body. She rubbed the backed of her head before shrugging, "Ow?"
Air once again rushed into Logan's lungs and he reached a hand out to her, "Holy shit, are you alright?! Don't move, I'll go get Hank."
"Oh, please," she groaned and pushed away the remaining rumble that kept her from getting to her feet. Before she could so much as brush the clinging grim off her uniform she found herself tightly gripped in Marie's arms, hands running all over her.
"Are you okay? Oh my god," Marie ended by sticking with the 'oh my god' chant as she checked her for injury and blood stains.
Timidly Peter approached, mindful of staying a good two feet away from Logan, "I'm so sorry, I…I didn't know it was her. I thought…”
"Save it, Rasputin," Logan snarled. "I suggest you get the fuck out of here before I rethink not gutting you."
He nodded, holding his hands up in peace, and backed away towards the door. Then he decided he'd better and another "sorry" for good measure before he left.
"I'm fine!" Ricochet huffed, pushing Marie's hands away from her. Once she was clear of the vast amounts of rumble she pushed Logan's shoulder hard. "Why the fuck did you call it? I almost had him!"
His eyebrows shot together. "You didn't have shit!" He yelled, his heart now beginning to feel the strain from the rapid shift of emotions. "You were fucking thrown through a god damn brick wall! The only thing you had was a god damn death wish!"
"Hello?" she pushed him again, "Mutant here!"
He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "Oh yeah? And what's your fucking mutation? Cause I sure as hell don't see no layer of bubble wrap around you. Not fucking yet any way!"
One eyebrow shot up on her forehead as she stared at him. Then suddenly she broke out into laughter, "You're threatening to wrap me in bubble wrap? Are you kidding me?" The look on his face however let her know that he was not at all kidding her and her laughter instantly died out. She forgot that he didn't know what she was capable of, since that was the one of the points of this little exercise. Looking at his face she felt bad that she scared him. And risking a look behind her at Marie she felt even worse.
"I'm sorry," she began. "You can keep your bubble wrap. I swear I'm fine. Ricochet? Means 'bounces back'..." She searched his face for understanding but he only frowned at her more. Sighing she continued, "I don't get hurt. You know, like you heal. Except I don't get hurt in the first place."
"You can't get hurt? That great!" Marie cheered and again grabbed her tightly in a hug.
"Well, not exactly," Ricochet admitted, "I *can* get hurt, it just takes a hell of a lot. Trust me, *a lot* more than a little brick wall."
Logan looked her over just to double check for any sign of injury, but her story seemed to hold up. Besides being dirty, she looked fine. In fact it was Marie desperately clinching to the girl that looked like she was in the worst shape. Secure in the knowledge that she was okay he allowed himself to be proud of her and how she handled herself in the simulation. Someone taught her some very advance maneuvers. Even he had a hard time keeping track of her with all the video surveillance equipment.
"Wow," Marie's wistful voice brought him out of his memory, "No pain, and no injuries. Man, why can't I have a kiss ass mutation?"
Unwinding Marie’s hands away from her Ricochet took a step back. "Oh, there's pain alright. I feel everything anyone else would feel. Like right now I feel like I've just been thrown through a brick wall. So I'm going to go hit the showers and then lie down." She smiled what she hoped would be reassuringly and made her way towards the door.
Marie watched her leave and couldn't help herself from once again going over to Logan and leaning up against him. When his hand came up to rest on her shoulder she completely relaxed into his arms letting the tension drain out of her. She could hear the others talking and leaving but she didn't want to move. She was content right where she was. Logan, on the other hand, must have had a different thought because he started walking, although not really pulling away from her.
"Where are you going?" She asked but tried to keep from sounding too needy.
"To go get some fucking bubble wrap," he growled.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan gets his first taste at being a dad. Hm.. I'm starting to think I'm just picking on him. Oh well, as long as we all enjoy it!