Chapter 3- Underhanded Tactics
The Juggernaut tore through the airport security with nothing but ease. The security guards were tossed around the airport like rag dolls as the people in the airport stampeded towards the exits away from the huge behemoth. Kitty and Kurt exchanged worried glances before nodding at each other.
“Rahne!” called Kurt. “Go to wolf form!” Rahne looked around slightly confused. “Don’t vorry, the people are too scared to pay attention to you changing.” Rahne nodded. Kitty reached into her bag and pulled out a scarf. She wrapped the scarf around her head, hiding her hair. She then placed some sunglasses over her face. Kurt pressed the holographic imager on his watch. His pale skin was replaced with his natural blue fur. He turned to Rahne to see her human figure replaced with the image of a small brown wolf.
“Okay, everyone be careful,” warned Kurt. “Ve’ve got to get him outside and avay from these people.”
“Easier said than done,” said Kitty. “Getting him out of here will be like trying to move a mountain!”
“Then ve’ll have to do the best ve can,” said Kurt. With that, Kurt led the way towards the raging Juggernaut. He leaped over the debris that was flying towards him as the Juggernaut hurled it his way. “Is that the best you can do?” Kurt asked as he ported a out of sight. A long wooden bench exploded to pieces as it crashed against the floor. Kurt reappeared a few feet away. “Whoa! That was close!”
Rahne rushed up towards the Juggernaut. He stamped his foot into the ground as Rahne leapt from that spot. Suddenly, the Juggernaut could feel some extra weight on his helmet. Without warning, Kurt’s face appeared directly in Juggernaut’s view, only it was upside down.
“Neener! Neener! Neener!” cried Kurt. He even gave the Juggernaut a raspberry. Upset by the taunting, the Juggernaut reached for another bench and tried to smash it against his helmet. Kurt leaped backwards as the wooden bench splintered after colliding with his helmet.
The Juggernaut turned around to face Kurt, and then he started to notice that he was sinking. He looked down to the floor to see Kitty phasing him through the floor. He reached out, trying to grab something to hold on to, but found it useless as his hands continued to flow through everything as if he were a ghost. Once the Juggernaut and Kitty had disappeared from view, Kurt bamfed out of sight and bamfed back into place with Kitty at his side.
“Do you think that took care of him?” asked Kitty.
Suddenly, a large fist exploded out of the floor. “No!” said Kurt. The fist opened, and the massive hand smashed against the floor, knocking the floorboards out of sight and making a large whole. The Juggernaut slowly began to emerge out of the hole. “Uh-oh! He doesn’t look happy!” warned Kurt.
Rahne, still in wolf form, leaped towards the Juggernaut. However, he swung one of his arms, and knocked her against the wall. The small wolf fell to the floor, and immediately returned human form. She lay there unconscious. “Kitty, get Rahne and get out of here!” ordered Kurt.
“What? Kurt, what about you? You can’t take on the Juggernaut by yourself!” cried Kitty.
Ignoring her warning, Kurt leapt off to distract the Juggernaut. Kitty bit her lip, and then glanced over to Rahne. She ran over to the girl and draped her arm around the back of her neck. “Come on, Rahne,” said Kitty as she began to phase through the nearest wall.
Meanwhile, Kurt simply kept taunting the Juggernaut. Leaping from place to place, teleporting to dodge flying debris, Kurt did everything he could to avoid a hit. Suddenly, a green blast connected with Kurt’s chest and sent him flying to the floor. Kurt tried to get up, but the blast had taken more out of him than he’d thought. Suddenly, everything around Kurt went dark. The Juggernaut headed over towards Kurt’s body and picked up the blue-furred boy. He drew his fist back, ready to end it all then and there.
“Enough, Cain m’boy,” said voice. The Juggernaut looked back and then turned his attention back towards the Kurt. “The wee one’s had enough. He’s not gonna cause anymore problems for us.” The man stepped into view. He was tall with black hair, and a heavy beard. In one hand he had a wooden walking stick, hand carved. The tip of it was still glowing with green energy. “Let’s go m’friend. We have more important business t’tend to. Such as finding what ye came to help me find.”
The Juggernaut considered the words for a moment, and then tossed the small blue body into the midst of the debris. Then, he turned and followed the black-haired man. “Whatever, Tom,” said the Juggernaut, “as long as we take care of my… brother afterwards.”
Tom only nodded at the Juggernaut Cain Marko. Then, the two men headed towards the front door. Outside, the police simply parted away, and allowed Tom and the Juggernaut to leave of their own free will. They had obviously concluded that there was nothing they could have done. Once the Juggernaut and Tom were out of sight, the police cautiously entered the building.
“Spread out men,” said one of the officers. “A few people thought they saw that bloke tangling with a few nippers in here. Make sure they’re all right!” As one of the guards neared Kurt’s unconscious body, the blue-furred boy began to phase through the wall. A tiny head with a scarf and pair of sunglasses appeared through the wall, as her arms pulled Kurt’s body outside.
***
Jean and Betsy glared off at each other as they stared across the Danger Room at each other. Scott, Rogue and Evan stood next to Jean. However, the only one standing next to Betsy was Peter. Professor Xavier sat in the control booth with Ororo, Logan and the rest of the students as they prepared to watch the scrimmage match below.
“Are you certain that you want to go against these odds?” asked the Professor over the intercom. “It will be four against two… and my X-Men have proven to be very effective in the field.”
“No way, Prof,” said Betsy. “Think of it as a matter of school integrity,” said Betsy as she continued to glare at Jean. “Besides, Dr. MacTaggert has trained us very well. I’m pretty certain we can hold our own.”
“Very well, I wish you all good luck,” said the Professor. “And remember, this is only a scrimmage.” The Professor stared intently at Betsy and Jean. The pair of girls had not taken their eyes off of each other since entering the Danger Room.
“Good luck, comrades,” said Peter. “You’re going to need it.” Peter smiled as he issued the challenge. Scott could only return the smile. He’d finally have a chance to see how these two had trained. They seemed pretty confident considering the odds. Scott figured it was about time to see why.
“Good luck, luv,” said Betsy as she winked at Scott. Scott’s cheeks turned red. Jean let a low growl of frustration slip from her lips at Betsy’s little taunt. Suddenly, the bell sounded, and the fight started. Betsy leaped into the air, trying to deliver a kick towards Jean. Jean rolled out of the way, and quickly constructed a telekinetic shield. Betsy smiled, believing she had Jean on the run. Suddenly, Betsy’s right hand began to glow with some sort of pink energy. The energy seemed to form a blade around her hand. Betsy began driving the blade into the shield. Jean could feel the pain as blade tried to tear through the shield.
“You’d better come up with something else, Red,” said Betsy. “This is a telekinetic blade,” said Betsy. “It’s gonna tax that little mind of yours to the max if you try to block it with a telekinetic shield.” Betsy was on the verge of laughing as Jean tried with all of her might to maintain her telekinetic field. “Trust me girl, you’re way out of your league!”
“Well, so are you!” cried Rogue. Rogue’s foot came spinning across towards Betsy. Betsy raised her other hand to block the blow. Rogue tried to counter with a punch, but Betsy managed to drive her foot into Rogue’s stomach. Then, Betsy delivered a roundhouse that sent Rogue sliding across the Danger Room floor. “Whoa! But how?!”
Betsy only smiled. She had halted her attack on Jean for the time being. Jean was taking advantage of the break, recuperating from the attack. Jean hadn’t ever had the chance to spar with another psychic. However, she wasn’t about to be outdone by Betsy Braddock. Of that much, Jean was sure.
Meanwhile, Evan fired a series of bone spikes at Peter. Peter’s skin quickly became covered with a type of organic steel. Upon striking his metal skin, the bone spikes exploded into shards. Evan continued to fire at Peter as he approached the young man, but it was useless. Just as Evan decided to retreat and regroup, he felt Peter’s massive metallic arms ensnare him.
“Let me go!” protested Evan. Betsy heard the plea, and immediately leaped towards her partner. “Hey!” cried Evan as he saw Betsy pop into view. Her psychic knife reappeared from her hand and she drove it deep into Evan’s gut. “Ahhhh!” cried Evan. After a few seconds, he hit the floor completely unconscious.
“Evan!” cried Scott. Scott allowed an optic blast to rip from his eyes. Betsy immediately flipped out of the way, leaving Peter to take the blast. Scott’s optic blast clashed against Peter’s metallic hide, but it appeared to do little damage. Peter stood on his feet, taking the impact from Scott’s eyes as if they were nothing more than rays of sunlight. “What the…?” Scott said in awe.
“Hold on, Scott,” cried Rogue. “Ah’m gonna see if Ah can take this big boy down a notch!” Rogue pulled off her gloves and jumped onto Peter’s back. She placed her bare hand against Peter’s neck. Rogue could feel her own skin transform into organic steel. She dropped down on the ground and looked at her hand. “Whoa!”
Suddenly, Rogue felt a huge fist connect with her jaw. Her body went flying back and made a deep impression in the walls of the Danger Room. Rogue stepped out of the impression and rubbed her fist with her hand. “Now it’s mah turn!” she said. Rogue charged towards Peter and threw a punch that clanked against his jaw. Peter stumbled back a few feet and glared at Rogue. The two metallic teens then locked hands with each other and began to test their strength.
Scott looked on at the pair, standing by to give Rogue whatever help he could with his optic blast. Suddenly, Scott felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned to find Betsy standing there. Scott started to step back, but Betsy wrapped her arms around his neck. “I surrender,” she said. Then, without warning, Betsy pressed her lips against Scott’s.
Jean, saw Betsy throw her arms around Scott and immediately all of her emotion exploded into power. Jean lifted herself into the air telekinetically and focused her attention on Betsy. She used her telekinesis to thrust Betsy away from Scott. Betsy began to fly through the air, but quickly turned it into a flip and caught her footing. Betsy turned and glared at Jean.
“Jean! Wait calm down!” cried Scott. He started towards Jean, but his attention was immediately diverted as he saw Rogue’s metallic body fly just in front of him. Obviously, Peter had been too strong for her because she was unconscious now. Scott turned his attention to see Peter charging towards him. “Back off!” cried Scott. He let an optic blast rip from his eyes that stopped Peter in his tracks. Scott continued to fire the optic blast holding Peter in place as Peter kept pushing against it. If either lightened up just a little, then the other would gain the advantage. The only question now was whose will was stronger.
Jean flew off towards Betsy. With her psychic knife now ready, Betsy leaped towards her approaching opponent. The two girls met with such force. Jean grabbed Betsy’s wrist, and tried to hold her psychic knife away. Betsy then drove a kick into Jean’s ribs. Jean fell to her knees, but still kept the psychic knife at bay. Betsy tried to kick Jean again, but this time her foot collided with a telekinetic field.
“How long do you think you can hold that field, Jean?” asked Betsy. “Give it up, girl. You’ve lost! You lost this match… and you’ve lost Scott!” Betsy could feel Jean’s strength start to give as the psychic knife moved closer and closer towards Jean. “Give it up, Girlie! There’s nothing else you can do. It’s over!”
“It’s not… over… yet!” cried Jean. Jean quickly made a fist and drove it into Betsy’s stomach. The blow took Betsy by surprise. The psychic knife faded from view. Jean pushed herself up and drove her shoulder into Betsy’s chest. Then, still hanging onto Betsy’s hand, Jean flipped the Betsy over her shoulder and onto the Danger Room floor. Jean took a few steps back with a smile on her face. Betsy stared up at Jean, stunned by her display.
“Where did you learn moves like that?” asked Betsy.
“From you,” replied Jean. Betsy’s eyes widened in confusion. “You should really work on the psychic blocks in your mind. I can learn anything you know by simply taking a peek into your head. To me, your head is as clear as glass. And its only filled with your martial arts training and a bunch fantasy dream dates that I can assure you will never happen.”
“Really?” said Betsy as she got to her feet. “Well, take another peek inside, love, and tell me how you’re going to handle this.” Betsy reached over her shoulder and behind her back. She pulled out a katana forged from cold steel. The light reflected off the blade as Betsy looked into Jean’s eyes. “Hmm.” Betsy bit her bottom lip. “I wonder what you’d look like with short hair.” Betsy pushed the strands of her own purple hair behind her shoulder, and then charged towards Jean with the katana raised to her side.
Suddenly, Jean released another telekinetic pulse. This pulse sent Betsy flying across the room and landing on her back. The pulse also managed to throw both Scott and Peter to the ground. Jean stood in the middle of the room, and slowly began to levitate. She moved across the room towards Betsy. The raw emotion was clear on her face. Betsy tried to pick herself up, but couldn’t stand. She’d twisted her ankle. “Now, who lost?” asked Jean.
“That’s enough, Jean,” came the Professor’s voice over the speakers. “This match is over.” Jean slowly descended to the ground smirking with some satisfaction at Betsy. Betsy looked up at her, feeling some sense of defeat, and regret for having underestimated Jean.
“Betsy, are you okay?” The smirk on Jean’s face disappeared as she saw Scott rush past her and kneel down towards Betsy.
“Oh I’m fine. It’s just my ankle,” began Betsy. She tried to stand, but her ankle couldn’t support the weight. She started to fall, but Scott managed to catch her.
“Come on,” said Scott. Let’s get you to the med-lab.” Scott helped Betsy out of the Danger Room. He also cast a glance at Jean, but looked away. The smirk now rested on Betsy’s face as she cast a glance at Jean as Scott helped her out. Jean looked around, as everyone else started to pick themselves up. Jean even met Peter’s eyes. He looked at her with sympathy in his heart. Jean turned and exited the Danger Room, making a beeline for her room realizing that she may have won the match, but that Betsy was probably right. Maybe Betsy had already won Scott.