X-Themes: 2. Bites the Dust

Curtis flexed her fingers as she hid behind the metal box of protection in the Danger Room. She didn’t want to waste time focusing on her breathing but it was getting out of hand. Breaths, short and shallow and erratic were passing from her lips out of anticipation. She had to do this, and she had to do it without her powers.

She bent her knees lightly, squatting a bit as she tested her feet in her new boots. They didn’t really look like boots, more like big orange and black metal cones that she’d squeezed her legs into. But she had insisted on getting them. Heavy metal boots that made running and acrobatics not only difficult but dangerous, but also made for wonderful weapons. And she needed some kind of weapons for situations like these.

Rogue hadn’t wanted to do it anymore than Curtis had wanted it to happen.  But Mr. Logan had insisted. Separated by a clear wall Rogue was fighting off her own robot attackers haphazardly using Curtis’s powers. Curtis winced as Rogue made a barrier too thin and the robot’s fist crashed through it, catching the other mutant in the shoulder. Her own exercise was to fight off the same type of robot, but without any powers.

She gave a shallow squat again in the boots and prepared to make her move. She had been practicing with the boots for a month now, wearing them around the grounds to get used to the weight. She was almost able to run at her normal pace with them on now, but she still couldn’t fully compensate for their weight when she did her acrobatics. So far she had been forbidden from wearing them on actual missions, and this was the first time Mr. Logan had agreed to let her wear them into the danger room.  She couldn’t screw this up, but so far she hadn’t managed to scratch the robot. It had deflected her easily and was now searching for her among the metal maze of blocks.

Above her head Mr. Logan’s voice drawled out in his heavy edged way “Get a move on Lanes, your time is almost up.” Curtis nodded out of reflex but stood still a moment longer. She had been thinking about what she had to do for a while, but she was afraid to. Afraid of the implications such an action carried if it wasn’t a robot she was fighting. In the back of her head she heard Addam sneer at her and tell her to just do it. It wasn’t a human, it was a robot. Simple fact. His voice got louder as the metallic steps of the robot approached. MOVE.

Curtis skidded around the corner, right in front of the approaching robot. It drew back it’s metal fist to punch her and Curtis held her breath as she lunged forward. Pushing its hands apart she grabbed hold of the wrists, one in each hand. Hiking her right leg up she placed it on the left thigh and threw her weight back. The robot staggered a bit at her yanking it forward from its center of balance.

She drew her right knee up to her chest and then pressed the heel of the metal boot under the chin of the robot. Pushing with her legs and pulling her arms straight she kicked violently at the underside of the robot’s head.

The heavy metal boot combined with the force she put behind it jerked the robot’s head sideways and then back. The metal tendons in its neck snapped and the glow faded from its ‘eyes’. Curtis released its wrists and dropped to her hand and flung her legs back, landing in a crouch.  The robot fell into a silent metallic heap on the ground as her buzzer rang. On the other side of the wall were the dull sounds of Rogue pounding her own robot into submission.  The door opened and she watched Mr. Logan walk in towards her. She stood quickly as he nudged the robot with his foot.

“Good work, Lanes.” He growled out, staring down at the mass.

“Thank-you, Mr. Logan.” She smiled and tried not to let him hear how out of breath she was. She knew he could, but he had the tact to keep quiet about it.

“That was brutal.” He said, and her smile wavered at the corners. Logan looked at her, stare firm and the softest hint of smile at his mouth. “You hesitated because of that, it’s good to understand the level of force necessary for a situation.”

“Thank-you, Mr. Logan.” Curtis smiled brighter, and her tone was one of pride. Mr. Logan snorted at her and kicked the bot again.

“Get Rook in here, we still have about eight of you runts left to get through today.” She laughed wildly and ran off towards the door, her metal boots banging loudly against the metallic floor, echoing harshly on the walls.