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Ranma looked around cautiously, taking in every single detail of the room he was in.
It was a large, illuminated lobby, with close to a dozen tiled, sturdy pillars running in two rows towards an elevator and two sets of stairs. Almost every surface of the space was tiled with white or grey polished stone, and the doors at the end of the lobby were metal.
The entrance was standard for modern offices, glass and metal, with a set of two metal detectors set up at a security station that all had to pass through.
Ranma was not wearing his normal clothes, consisting recently of jeans and cotton shirts, but rather dark clothes and boots covered by a black leather coat that would have swept the floor if he didn't stand properly.
The even more unusual thing about Ranma in this case, was his accessories – though the sunglasses weren't really odd.
Guns.
In each hand, Ranma was holding a shiny Mark XIX Desert Eagle with forty-four magnum clips.
Hiding behind the pillars were several heavily armed and armoured men pointing their rifles and shotguns at him.
It had been two weeks since the Carnival incident, and every morning since, he had done this – after all, it had been Risty who introduced him to this and she hadn't steered him wrong yet.
"FREEZE!" one of the men yelled in an authoritative tone, accompanied by the cocking of weaponry for effect.
"Let the show begin," Ranma smirked.
Developing his own kata for Gun-fu had been a strenuous job, but he felt he was getting the hang of it. He would have to return later that day to run the simulation again and see if he was right.
In order to perfect his kata, Ranma had gotten Logan to attain a simulation of the Lobby fight from the movie Risty had recommended he watch. This would allow him to safely develop his skills without the risk of actually being shot at – which was most likely the entire point of the Danger Room, practice without being in mortal peril.
Some kid named "Forge" had apparently been thrilled to make the simulations Ranma had requested and been surprisingly quick about it – somehow managing to make them within a day of the request. According to Logan, the boy was looking forward to more challenges, and was already looking into improving the simulations to make them more real or difficult.
The first few days had been hardly anything but a few evasions followed by his brutal and bloody death – something Ranma hardly thought fair, as he was a Master of Anything Goes even if he had yet to be given the title, he should have been able to figure out a way to avoid being hit long enough to reduce the resistance to nil.
He had realised on the fourth day that like all fighting, muscles have to be tensed in order to fire a weapon, even in simulations – this gave him a small edge, as he could predict when someone was about to fire their weapon.
Over the next days, after figuring out that in order to avoid bullets, he would have to see where the attacker was looking and when they were pulling the trigger – Ranma found out that there was a certain pattern to the shooting. A pattern that determined where and when someone would shoot – as well as where the attackers would be in correspondence to him, which made aiming for them less necessary as long as he memorised their position and his movements. He would have to be careful not to rely too much on these statistics, though, because becoming too rigid in one form could result in death or defeat – both of which would be equally bad in a serious situation.
The discovery of the statistical bullet trajectories felt to be on the level of a scientist from the fifteen hundreds discovering a computer with modem connection and a full database of scientific facts and inventions, but like that scientist, there was little Ranma could do with that information without a thorough review of his skills and resources.
It had only been after a week and a half that Ranma discovered that he could make the kata into a dance of evasion and attack – contorting and bending out of the predicted paths of the metal projectiles while removing any enemies from the equation with returned fire or crossfire.
Though he was not going to outright murder anyone that fought him, Ranma had realised that fighting to subdue while his enemies fought to slaughter was not an intelligent thing to do – he had gotten lucky with Saffron, but had ended up killing the demi-god anyway. He might not like having to kill, but Ranma knew that no matter how much he tried to avoid such circumstances, they would happen eventually.
This did not mean that even if he trained in Gun-fu, he would rush out to get himself a weapon at the soonest convenience. It meant that should he end up in a battle-zone, he would use what he could find against his enemy – which was why he was going to further develop the kata to incorporate different types of weapons or objects in his arsenal.
But despite his enthusiasm concerning the development of his new style of Martial Arts, Ranma did not neglect his school work or his Martial Arts Calligraphy. Immediately after school, he would usually do his homework – he would visit the Manor if time allowed, and finish the evening by pondering his difficulty in producing the Gravity Seals he had thought up.
Tabitha Smith a.k.a. Boom-Boom had made herself quite at home in the Brotherhood Boarding House, which in turn had the positive effect of drawing attention away from Ranma. This meant he didn't have to wade through all sorts of destruction to get in and out of his room every day.
Unfortunately, it also put some pressure on him, as Tabitha seemed to have gotten a crush on him – if the sauntering and flirting was any indication. She would also invade his personal space while he ate, saying that she really shouldn't have whatever he was eating, then snatch a bite anyway. It had gotten to the point where some students of Bayville High were under the impression that they were indeed a couple – which they weren't.
But returning to the present, Ranma was still not satisfied with his progress. Marking his clothes were several holes and nicks where he had just barely managed to evade the incoming bullets – his timing was off a little, and he needed to fix that.
However, he could contemplate this further at school, because if he didn't hurry, he might be late, something he was sure would be frowned upon.
On his way, he passed the students of the Institute, and exchanged nods of greeting with them – though he exchanged frowns with Scott. After all, he was no longer going to make an effort to remain friends with someone who clearly didn't like him – and Scott still insisted that Ranma was a mutant, even if the tests came back proving that for now, his powers were inactive.
During assembly, Ranma felt something off about the entire event.
"And, it's those team mates who unanimously voted their choice for this year's Most Valuable Player Award; Jean Grey!"
The student body cheered enthusiastically, showing not only school spirit, but appreciation for anything that got them out of classes for a while.
Jean, modestly surprised, had stepped onto the stage, and accepted the award, which looked like an oblong octant with the abbreviation M.V.P. printed down the middle, and a female soccer player in gold placed on top.
Risty tried to make her more enthused about the event, but Rogue was not very happy – being of the opinion that Jean got enough attention as it was, and probably feeling jealous because of the fame combined with the ability of physical contact with other humans as well as the easygoing manner the redhead had about life in general. Everything seemed to come running to please Jean … or so Rogue seemed to think.
Ranma's guess was that Rogue, who had been very bad at hiding her small crush on Scott, was jealous that Jean had the affection of Scott instead of her.
"Thank you, Principal Kelly," Jean stated with a gracious smile as the man stepped away from the podium. "I want to thank all of you-" Ranma suddenly felt a disturbance and the girl halted with a confused look on her face. "I – eh-"
The disturbance did not seem to affect anyone else, but felt like a brush against his mind being swatted away.
Whether coincidence or as a result of the mental swat, Jean screamed in pain and stumbled back until she knocked over the trophy table behind her, sending all the trophies to the ground and noticeably decapitating the figure on Jean's trophy upon impact.
The telepath recovered almost as soon as her trophy broke, and rather than panic, she picked up the severed golden head along with her trophy and held them up.
"Sorry," she announced sheepishly. "Lost my head there for a sec …"
The joke was a hit, and chuckles spread across the assembly hall.
The only ones to realise something was wrong, were Jean's house mates, Ranma, and the other mutants at Bayville High, but only those who had more contact with her than seeing her in school every day knew this was not something to be taken lightly.
While not overly concerned, Ranma stayed back after assembly.
"Jean," he called to gain the girl's attention before she left.
"Ranma?" the redhead curiously approached, sans the trophy which had been taken by Principal Kelly to display it in the school's display case - or maybe to have it repaired, given the damage done to it.
"What happened during your speech?" Ranma asked bluntly.
"I don-"
"There ya are, babe," called a voice Ranma didn't much appreciate: Duncan Matthews, typical jock and cocky bastard – coincidentally also Jean's boyfriend. "This creep botherin' you?" the blonde boy asked as he put his arm around the mutant girl.
"Excuse me," Ranma replied tersely, trying his utmost not to raise his voice or call out insulting names that were sure to egg on a fight. "We were having a conversation … It is considered rude to interrupt, and ruder still to insult the ones you interrupt, now, be a good boy and run along while we finish up."
"Ranma, Duncan, stop it," Jean interrupted before Duncan could escalate things to a fight – there was no way the jock could win against the destructive force Ranma was when he was playing, let alone being serious and annoyed. "Ranma, I'm sure we can discuss this at the party tonight. Duncan, stay away from Ranma, I've seen him practice, and he can beat you with both hands and feet tied behind his back without even trying."
"There's a party?" Ranma couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, consider yourself invited, right, Duncan?" Jean insisted firmly.
"Whatever," the blonde jock grunted and skulked away with the redhead on his arm. However, he did manage to deliver a parting glare before leaving Ranma's sight.
Shrugging off the glare, Ranma considered the party invitation as he proceeded to his English class.
Even as he adjusted to the surroundings, noisy shadows flitted behind the pillars of cement, metal and stone and human figures supported themselves on them while remaining mostly covered and aiming various rifles and shotguns at him.
It was unusual for him to train in this manner twice a day, but for some reason, he felt like letting off some steam until he had to leave for the party.
"FREEZE!"
Ranma did not comply with the barked command, and instead raised his guns.
-BAM!-
Two guards on either side of the lobby recoiled, falling backwards like marionettes with their strings cut off, fountains of blood spurting from the new holes in their heads just below the helmet-line, colouring the wall in red.
This action heralded a violent shower of bullets from the comrades of the downed guards.
Instantly moving into his kata as soon as he felt the quickest of them tense their muscles, Ranma managed to evade the hail bullets, making it look like he was dancing around the incoming projectiles. It was enough to make Ranma feel a small sense of accomplishment, but he didn't hold on to the feeling, as such confident thoughts would lead to injury or worse.
-BAM!-
A pair of men with shotguns fell to the ground, holding their trigger hands while trying to hold in their screams and blood-
-BAM!-
Imitating the first two, the injured men slumped to the ground with new cranial orifices, leaking fluids all over the floor.
Dancing around the ongoing torrent of bullets, Ranma made an extra flare with his arms to raise his coat above the predicted bullet path, making himself look somewhat more impressive in the process – hadn't a bullet strayed a mite from its probable path and made a strafing cut in his pants just below his right knee.
-BAM!-
A third pair of men was forced against the wall, where they slumped lifeless as the holes in their heads bled freely.
Bits of concrete exploded as bullets missed their intended target, and dust rose and fell, obscuring the view of the intruder from the guards, but not doing much to hide them from him.
-BAM!-
Twin spouts of blood stained the obsidian wall behind another two men, and the bullet holes in their necks pumped out more blood onto their clothes as they futilely attempted to stem the flow from their bleeding arteries.
Crouching in mid spin, Ranma felt a swarm of bullets passing over head, taking four gunmen out of the fight.
-BAM!-
Damn, miss. Ranma gritted his teeth in irritation as his shots barely nicked the helmets of his targets.
-BAM!-
Mistake corrected.
Spinning back to upright position, Ranma jumped and fired the last bullets of his current clips. One round struck between the plates of Kevlar within the vest, burying it in the man's gut. The second struck a guard's knee, nearly blowing the limb off.
The two injured men stumbled in pain, and sadly ended their lives as they fell into the line of friendly fire.
Reloading his guns as he landed, Ranma stepped into the line of shot of a rifleman and leaned aside, letting the bullet whiz by and impact the wall as he struck the gun with one elbow and the man's torso with a whipping kick, disarming him and sending him crashing into the stone wall with enough force to cave it in around him.
"Three to go," Ranma remarked, doing a quick headcount of his opponents.
Picking one of the men for his next victim, Ranma ran at such speeds that his coat whipped about behind him as though it had been hung to dry on the wing of an airborne fighter jet.
The guard Ranma ran at panicked, seeing what this maniac had done to his comrades, and failed to raise his gun in time for it to be used effectively. At the same time, he was unable to prevent Ranma from jumping and planting both feet in his chest, sending the guard sailing through the air and into the closed elevator door behind him, making a sizable dent and making it impossible for those doors to open.
Simultaneously, the remaining guards dropped to the ground with bloody peepholes running through their skulls.
With a flourish, Ranma returned the Desert Eagles to their holsters hidden under the coat, and brushed off imaginary dirt from his shoulders.
Parts of masonry crumbled from the walls and pillars that had been severely weakened by the countless new bullet holes put in them.
This training had taken less than twenty seconds. Maybe next time he should start unarmed …
"End Simulation!" he called out to Logan in the Control Room. It wasn't as though he enjoyed training in the art of killing, but the need would likely arise where he would need it.
"Just in time, kid," Logan's voice responded over the intercom. "Scott's about to leave for the party, and agreed to drive you there."
"What did you threaten him with?" Ranma asked knowingly as he exited the Danger Room, everything around him within the room dissolving into pixels, including the coat. The hole at the knee was not given any thought – boys his age usually found such things a very fashionable addition to any wardrobe, so it was unlikely that a single hole would make anyone think him crude.
"A week of my special morning workouts for the entire school, compliments of him," Logan chuckled.
"Wimps," commented Ranma. He'd been through Logan's Run, as he'd named it, and it wasn't near as bad as many of the insane training methods he'd gone through during the years – actually, it was very tame by comparison even with the weapons firing lasers and spinning saw blades at the runner. "Well, I'd better get going. Don't want to give Scott another reason to dislike me by being tardy."
With those parting words, Ranma marched through the metal hallways of the underground facility of the mansion to the elevator.
Upon entering the entrance hall of the mansion, Ranma spotted Scott's car parked just outside, without its owner in it, which meant that "Cyclops" hadn't gotten there, and that he wasn't late.
As he was approaching the sports car, Ranma discovered some moisture on the ground.
Feeling mischievous, Ranma subtly used the Soul of Ice to the extent of rapidly cooling the air around him as he came to the car.
He wouldn't get the blame, Ranma knew, because "Iceman" and "Jubilee" were flirting with each other on the other side of the car – and given Bobby Drake's lack of complete control over his frigid powers beyond his attention's focus, it would only be natural to assume that he was responsible for the newly created patch of ice.
True to his prediction, Scott soon came trotting out of the mansion, and started slipping on the ice.
"Whoa- Drake, clean up your ice!" Scott called in a panicked command as he slid and desperately tried to remain on his feet, failing as soon as he came to the car. It was all Ranma could do not to laugh as Scott managed to pull himself into the car, while trying to retain his composure.
"Ready," Ranma asked in a teasing tone. "Or do you feel like taking another side trip before we go?"
"Shut up, Saotome," Scott grumbled as he slumped into his seat. He clearly wanted to say more, but his behaviour reflected on Professor Xavier and the institute, so he wasn't going to do anything that would outright embarrass him. Besides, Logan's threat was still valid, and the last thing he wanted was a week of Logan's training for saying something improper.
As Ranma had expected, Duncan's house was clearly not small, nor modest, and it was placed on top of a cliff that had a swimming pool at the bottom and a clear view of the ocean on the eastern short side.
From the number of cars present and the noise coming from the house, the party had already started.
-BONK!-
Ranma could hardly contain a snicker as a ball bounced off Scott's head the moment they had gotten out of the car.
Scott was instantly on the alert, looking for the enemies that attacked him, while Ranma caught the ball as it was drawn back down by gravity.
"That was very careless," Ranma tsk'ed and tossed the ball into the air before power-serving it in a volleyball style.
The ball zipped back towards the house where it had come from, through the open balcony doors and the satisfying thud of impact against a head cracked a smile on Ranma's face. Of course, Scott would have reprimanded him on misusing his abilities, but the sound of Duncan using profane language to describe his agony was much too amusing.
"Shall we?" asked Ranma mockingly as he indicated the house and festivities. "Or would you like to continue our game of throwing various sports implements at our host?"
Rather than dignify this question with an answer, which might come out wrong, Scott started towards the house.
Smirking at having gotten under the tense teen's skin, Ranma casually followed.
Inside, things were going rather calmly despite outwards appearances. The music may have been loud, but hardly anyone danced – they rather stood or sat along the edges of the room and held conversations with each other – some of the conversational topics may not have been worthy of mention, but most revolved around sex in some way, direct, indirect or by an application of Freudian psychology.
The sole exception to the common behaviour was that of the football jocks, who had crowded around their leader, Duncan, who rubbed the back of his head in a pained manner.
The jocks were confused about whether they were supposed to be upset about one of their own getting attacked by a ball, or laugh at his misfortune. Most of the half dozen boys settled for barely contained snickers, while trying to assure Duncan that no one was paying him any notice. His image as the "cool-guy" was maintained – or so they said. The only reason no one was looking at Duncan, was because they had noticed the newly arrived Scott and Ranma.
Ranma idly noted that Rogue and Risty left out a side door without having seen him, but didn't call out for them – after all, Risty might get some ideas about what to do to liven things up a bit, which could possibly involve soaking him in cold water to give the guys something to ogle and the girls someone to speak badly of.
As it were, Ranma didn't fit in well with the people inside the house, and soon found himself on the veranda above the cliff and swimming pool. Scott and Duncan had almost immediately started a semi-contest of Ping Pong the moment they saw each other, the contest being mostly what one could call a battle for the position as Alpha Male, but no one really caught on to this comparison to the animal kingdom.
The view was quite spectacular – the near full moon was already out and its reflected sunlight rippled beautifully on the surface of the sea in the cove created near the Institute leading in towards town. The sky was clear and the stars were starting to come out of hiding.
Ranma felt quite comfortable under the stars – after all, they had been one of the few constants in his life on the road with his pops, and it was reassuring to know that they would always be there and never hurt, mock or betray him.
The sudden cessation of the fierce sounds of the Ping Pong ball being hurtled back and forth made Ranma look back towards the insides in time to see an irate Jean stomping outside to cool down.
Ranma was about to call out to her, and let her know of his presence, when the redhead stumbled, grasping her head in pain.
He had gotten a step towards the girl, when Scott came out as well.
"Jean," the bespectacled boy asked with concern. "What's wrong?"
The girl stumbled back and forth a little more until Scott had nearly gotten to her, then she cried out and a pressure pushed not only Scott, but Ranma off the balcony.
"JEEEAN!" Scott cried in surprise.
Ranma was cursing himself for not being more attentive to Jean's energy output, so he would have known something was coming, but he prepared himself to land on the water below – he did not want to get wet.
However, mere inches before either he or Scott touched the surface, they stopped.
Suspended in the air, Ranma didn't need to ponder what caused his sudden halt in momentum – Jean was practically hanging off the railing of the balcony, her left hand extended, and her power output indicated conscious use.
Jean's gift of telekinesis was one of the powers Ranma could not truly figure out how worked – the energy output for something like that was massive, more so than anything he could afford, and figuring out what needed to be done in addition to concentrating on keeping a perfect flow of energy made the gift one Ranma could not even attempt for years to come. It vexed him greatly that he could not figure out a way to bypass those obstacles, but he had bigger things to figure out than how telekinesis worked or could be used by him – he still had his Gravity Seal, his Gun Fu style, and he was slowly working on copying the "gifts" displayed by the other mutants of Xavier's Institute.
In the time since the Gymnasium had "collapsed" during the carnival, Ranma had done some experimenting with his clone technique, and come to the conclusion that he would need to be within one kilometre of it for it to remain solid. He had also gotten to the point where he only got a mild headache when the memories of the clone rushed back to him.
He even gave Jamie "Multiple" Maddox a few pointers to controlling the cloning gift, not that the boy followed them …
However, the Gravity Seal still eluded him.
"Jean, what's going on out here?"
The voice of Duncan was not a welcome one-
-Ker-Splosh!-
-because it meant that Jean would have to stop using her gift, and Ranma did not have time to gather and distribute enough energy to keep from breaking the surface of the water before the telekinetic hold on him gave away and dropped the two teens into the pool below.
The blonde teen leaned over the railing to look down at whatever Jean had been watching.
"Hey, Summers! I never figured you for the type to take a moonlight swim!" Duncan laughed after a moment of silence. "And who's the hot redhead?"
Scott looked around and found Ranma calmly treading water next to him.
"If you say something, I'll make sure you'll never have children nor enjoy the process of making them," threatened the now female Ranma in a growl. Scott shivered both from the water and killer intent directed at him – he was far too attached to said bits to risk losing them, so he wisely kept his peace.
The only bright spot in the whole ordeal was that Jean no longer seemed in pain.
This resolution was aided by not sharing a class with Jean until Physical Education, where he kept up his refusal to participate in contests with his classmates. Frankly, Ranma was almost insulted at the continued urging for him to either race or jump with his classmates, as though he had no willpower or resolve. Instead, he did these activities alone and with a mock expression of strain as he held himself far below his honest skills – it would scare the mundane students to see his real abilities more than it had already frightened the mutants in the school.
It also surprised him that the PE class consisted of different years – though it was possibly because of the PE coach, Hank McCoy, who was doubling as the Chemistry teacher and not being able to be in two places at once, which would have been bound to happen what with the number of students at Bayville High.
Thankfully, not all years had Chemistry at once, because of the schedule change, so Mr McCoy didn't have to run around much or show up sweaty for class. Though, according to what he had heard from Rogue, Kitty had attended the man's Chemistry class immediately after a PE class, which indicated that there were more than one PE class but still less in number than Chemistry classes.
"Come on, you wuss!" taunted one of the less intelligent boys in Ranma's class as he and his friends jogged by on the tracks.
Ranma ignored the boy and instead prepared for his own turn. Maybe he should aim for a speed just below that of an Olympic athlete just to shut the boy up once and for all – nah, better to take it slow and do a few extra laps instead.
Meanwhile, he could finish his warm-up Tai Chi and-
"Matthews! Hit the showers!" the stern voice of Mr McCoy called out.
On the other side of the field, Scott was crouched to the ground, feeling around for something while McCoy came up to him and Duncan grumpily left the field. So, their rivalry had made the blonde jock do something petty that got him caught – interesting.
McCoy handed Scott something – ah, his shades, that explained why he had to feel around for them.
A sudden increase in energy on the field had Ranma stop his warm-up and turn to see Jean kneeling on the grass, hands grasping her head in agony.
Various sports equipment, such as several shot-put balls and a javelin, rose into the air and hurtled themselves around.
The javelin almost skewered the girls on the starting line of the hundred yard dash, and would have if a sudden and violent seismic activity hadn't occurred directly beneath them and thrown them to the ground. Lance was in the stands with his hand extended, and the remnants of energy were his, so it was comforting to know he could do something decent once in a while.
The shot-put balls were next.
One came directly at Ranma, and he stopped it with a flat palm before it could hit his chest as it would have if left unchecked.
He noticed two more were stopped by McCoy in a similar manner, making him wonder about him and made him determined to examine the man later.
The final one nearly took Scott's head off, and would have if he hadn't ducked and blasted it away from its continuing path towards the departing Duncan. The result was a smouldering hot metal ball being propelled through the air in an arch above the blonde boy and a crash of glass as it entered the Principal's office. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, only a great deal of surprise and alarm radiating from the room.
Ranma had dropped the ball and was headed for Jean when for the second time in as many days–
-Splish!-
-water drenched the Japanese teen.
Glaring at the ruptured sprinkler head on the edge of the field, Ranma continued towards Jean, noting that McCoy was surprised at her change in gender, but wasn't shocked, which indicated some knowledge of unusual things and abilities.
This was another reason to examine the man later.
Luckily no one else had looked that way, given the wonder at the spear that suddenly appeared embedded into the short wall separating the stands from the track – and surprise at the cannonball that had apparently been fired into the Principal's office.
"We need to get her back to the Mansion!" Scott urged.
"I'll take her," Ranma stated and bent to pick up the cringing redhead. "You follow in the car!"
"You'll never make it that far in time!" argued Scott.
"Watch me," growled Ranma and started her run with Jean draped over her right shoulder.
While nowhere near Pietro's maximum speed, or even half that, Ranma was very fast when she wanted to, especially while female. That was the difference between her boy and girl sides – the boy side was stronger, while the girl side was faster. As such, she would be almost capable of keeping pace with a bullet train while in girl form, and possibly be on par with a race car in boy form.
However, this was not important – getting Jean back to the Mansion without causing too much of a scene and without losing time was the main priority.
To achieve this, Ranma resorted to roof-jumping until she was through the town of Bayville, then tree hopping followed among the tops of the wooded area.
It was only when they got to the wall that Ranma slowed down. It was difficult to decide whether to make this into a job mission or just barge in – she chose to try a mix and gave a super jump over the wall, and landed on the stairs leading to the main doors. It was one of the few places that had no motion detectors when the Mansion wasn't on full alert.
However, Professor Xavier greeted them as soon as Ranma stepped through the door. By what means he used to detect their approach, Ranma didn't know, but suspected it had nothing to do with her.
"How is she?" he asked in concern.
"Unconscious," Ranma replied. "She was knocked out from a surge in her abilities during PE … where do I put her?"
"The infirmary," was the immediate answer.
Ranma knew the way, having been there once or twice since she first awoke there after her first day of school at Bayville High, and didn't bother waiting for the Professor to get there before placing the fellow redhead on the examination table.
It was a very sterile room – having all the appearance of being part of a space station, as everything seemed made of metal. Ranma didn't like it there – it felt foreign and cold.
Ranma didn't know, nor care how the elder man managed to get that cumbersome wheelchair up those stairs, but he appeared not long after Jean was on the table.
The bald mutant stopped his wheelchair at Jean's head, and with a serious expression, placed his hands at each side of her head before concentrating.
Ranma knew better than to interrupt someone in a trance, or someone concentrating on something that could be of vital importance for someone else, and sat down along the wall to watch. It was strange – Ranma had expected him to send her from the Infirmary, given that disturbances could be dangerous. Perhaps it was the man's way of saying that he trusted her …
Now that she had time to think, she hoped McCoy would either cover for her absence, or Scott would have cited some emergency that involved her before he took off after them. On second thought, Scott would not do anything for her, considering he probably expected to catch up with them in his car and have the chance to say "I told you so" – which was now a moot subject as Jean had been delivered and Scott had yet to-
"Professor!"
-arrive. Damn, she really needed to work on her timing.
Barging into the room, Scott was almost at the table when the Professor gasped and was pushed against the wall by an unseen force, and Scott was soon to follow, involuntarily of course. Ranma didn't feel much, as she was already against the wall of her own volition, but there was a bit of pressure pushing against her like a gentle breeze as opposed to the full storm the others were experiencing.
A tray for surgical tools was thrown around, and other loose items shortly imitated it.
Jean's hair started whipping about in an unfelt wind, and her body rose from the table before it too was thrown around. Parts of the walls collapsed from the pressure that Ranma didn't feel much of, and the debris had managed to tear off a piece of Scott's gym shirt.
"You need to work on your bedside manner!" Ranma yelled at Scott before grabbing the neck of his shirt and picking up the stunned Professor. It was time for a tactical retreat.
Outside the Infirmary, Logan had arrived, and led Ranma away from the damaged room to somewhere they could strategise without pieces of construction impacting their heads or the sound of countless items bouncing and scraping off the remaining surfaces of the wing drown out their words.
They entered an elevator, and moments later emerged in the entrance hall, where the rest of the original group of students at this Institute had assembled. Kurt, Kitty and Evan were wearing their X-Men uniforms, and ready for action – which was odd, considering things hadn't gotten out of control until moments ago. Perhaps they got home, found no one and decided to entertain themselves with a game in the Danger Room?
"Vhat is going on up there?" asked Kurt. The question was followed by a quake of the building, shaking loose dust and ceiling particles to fall down on them in a drizzle.
"Is Jean all right?" Kitty questioned, clearly upset about not seeing the redhead that lived there.
"No, she's not," Professor Xavier replied, holding his head in a manner that suggested a strong headache. "Her powers are evolving too rapidly for her to control."
Another quake shook the entire building.
"I've got to get back up there!" Scott declared with unwavering determination.
"Yes, because the first time you went up there went so well," Ranma commented and crossed her arms across her chest to spare herself a lecture on feminine modesty due to her shirt not having dried entirely yet, displaying the gifts Jusenkyo gave her.
"Kid's right," Logan chimed in, unconsciously stepping in Scott's path to prevent him from doing something stupid. "We need a plan."
"You say there's too much goin' on in Jean's head?" Rogue asked the Professor seriously. At the man's nod, she removed her glove. "Then I'll drain some off."
"It's too much for you," Professor Xavier warned.
"I can handle it!" Rogue protested. "Just let me try!"
"There's too much chaos in her mind," Xavier continued. "What she needs is something to focus on."
Scott didn't waste an opportunity when he saw one, and stepped closer to the girl with the white stripe in her brown hair. "If Rogue can clear her thoughts, then maybe I can get her to focus on me!" he suggested.
"We don't have too many options, Charles," Logan added grimly.
Charles Xavier closed his eyes in thought and regret, before he nodded in agreement.
He absently stepped aside as the examination table impacted the ground where he had been standing in the hallway leading from the elevator to the Infirmary.
There, in the middle of the Infirmary, Jean Grey floated nearly two metres off the ground – debris circling her like a meteor belt around a planet, or like a solar system around a star, her hair whipping around in an unfelt wind, and her face turned towards the sky with a pained expression while her hands were hanging limply from her shoulders.
"I fear we haven't much time," Charles called over the racket caused by the swirling wreckage.
"Clock's running," Scott, currently in his Cyclops costume, declared. "Let's move!"
Ranma did not like being commanded around, but such matters were hardly important in this situation.
Forming a ki shield along his left arm, Ranma led the way into the storm of rubble, batting away small items, while standing firm against larger ones, protecting the string of people behind him.
Scott remained at the entrance of the Infirmary, and focused on shooting down debris before they became a problem.
Evan was a little closer to the others, and did the same with his bone spikes, pinning mid-sized debris to the walls – or what remained of them.
Logan had donned a ridiculous dark yellow and black costume, and spent his time hacking floating pieces of construction, decoration and equipment to bits before they could reach Scott, Evan and the Professor.
Kitty was holding on to Kurt and Rogue, in case Ranma's escort failed, Kurt was there for the same reason and in case Kitty's "Phasing" ability wasn't enough.
Bracing himself and digging his feet in, Ranma stopped a particularly large piece of roof from crushing him and his charges. It took all of his strength and tree-climbing skill to keep it from pushing him backwards.
"Look out!"
Kitty's warning barely sounded over the racket, and barely gave Ranma enough time to look as a group of sharp surgeons' tools came flying at him.
-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-Thud!-
Another Ranma had appeared in their path, blocking the incoming instruments with the examination table.
The clone dispelled immediately after, and allowed the group to continue forward before the table once again became part of the mess floating about the room.
"Told you it was a good idea!" Rogue called smugly at Ranma over the din. It had in fact been her idea for Ranma to make a clone and keep it ready, should he not be as perceptive as he believed himself to be – and though he wasn't about to admit it, he would have been hard pressed to manage keeping the large piece of roof away while at the same time deflect the surgical implements. He could have managed it, but it would likely have been more taxing than making a clone to stand by – not that he'd admit that to Rogue, though. 'Never admit to a woman that you're wrong and they're right, or they'll never let you hear the end of it. Just avoid answering when possible.' One of the few words of advice Genma had managed to pass on after Jusendo – and for the most part, Ranma agreed.
Finally, the quartet reached the eye of the storm, so to speak, and using Ranma as a base, Rogue was assisted to his shoulders where she had easy access to the exposed arms of Jean's Gym uniform. Kitty held on to Rogue in case some stray piece of wall or equipment came in that far, while Kurt held on to Kitty and Ranma in case Kitty was unable to make them all out of phase.
To make matters worse, there was a form of updraft in the centre that barely had them capable of keeping in touch with the ground. Only Ranma was capable of maintaining solid grip on the ground, so now the others weren't just holding on to him in case they had to escape, but because they didn't want to get sucked up the centre and outside where they might suffer a painful and instant death by a sudden confrontation with gravity and centrifugal forces.
Strange, really – before entering the vortex of items, there was no wind, but in the centre, it was strong enough to start pulling heavy things from the ground.
"Got her!" Rogue declared an instant before her bare hand grabbed onto Jean's arms.
A surge in power nearly had Ranma losing his concentration, and he barely managed to keep Rogue from being hurled away into the storm of debris by the force.
"JEAN!" Scott called following through with the plan. "IT'S SCOTT! PLEASE LISTEN TO MY VOICE! FOCUS ON IT!"
"Scott? Where are you?"
The voice, though definitely Jean's, didn't come from her floating body – it came from Rogue.
Braving the storm of objects, Scott rushed to the centre, where Rogue was being lowered to the ground.
"Jean?"
"Help me, Scott!" Jean's voice called through Rogue.
"I will, Jean, just focus on me!"
"I can't!" Jean's voice desperately groaned, as though struggling just to speak. "I'm losing you!"
"Don't say that! I know what you can and can't do!" Scott argued vehemently. "I know you better than anyone ever can or will! You can do this!"
"Scott?" the dual voice from Rogue and Jean's bodies asked before another flare of power ceased the storm, and dropped Jean to the ground along with everything else that had been floating around.
Ranma was conveniently helping a confused Rogue to her feet directly below at the time, and became an impromptu cushion for Jean's fall.
"Hey, cutie … where've you been?"
Ranma ignored Tabitha's question as he entered the Brotherhood Boarding House and went to his room.
It had been a stressing few days, and he needed to lie down.
Sorry for the delay – my muse is currently on strike, so I had to force everything along, something the Union for Collected Inspiration frowns upon and placed all sorts of blocks in my way – this had the added effect of reducing the quality and length of the chapter. Adding to that, I just got my hands on the last Harry Potter book, and could not resist the Siren Song that is the writing of J.K. Rowling (Nor the call of Eric Nylund's Halo – The Fall of Reach … or J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit … I'm weak! I can't resist temptation!)
I also apologise for the excessive use of interrupted sentences in this chapter, it can get annoying, but I don't plan on doing it often – but then, man plans while the gods laugh (or is it the women, ah well, probably the same deal, as one seem to have just as much power over men as the other).
And finally, I apologise for following the plot of X-Men; Evolution Season 2 episode 3 "Power Surge" too closely. I tried deviating as much as I could without ruining the centre plot or making Ranma replace a character in the plot.
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